#m9 kids au

[everywishway]

How is sprinkle with fjord and jesters kids?

(He's obviously not dead)

WOO! I GET TO TALK MORE ABOUT MY M9 KIDS AU! It's been a while since I've written about this. Super excited. If you want to read more of this au, a link is at the end of this post

Trigger Warning: Almost Child Death during Birth

By the time the triplets are born, Sprinkle is pretty up there in years probably the only reason he's still alive is Artagan occasionally possessing him

Like, the longest-living ferret was 14 years old, they average 5-7 years

He was probably 7-8 years old when the triplets were born and kinda chilled out a bit in his older age (he still looks like a feral red rat but he's not freaking out at anyone's touch)

He mostly chills in Jester's bag or around her neck like a scarf, people think he's a pelt until he starts moving

When the triplets are born he looks at them weirdly, seeing Jester and Fjord crying over baby Pandora.

This summons Artagan who manages to channel all of her excess chaotic magic so she lives, this is why her given name, Arte, is her original name before she gave herself the "Virtue Name", Pandora

She does keep Arte as a middle name though

As the triplets grow up into toddlers, he doesn't like being picked up or played with by them

They will chase him around the house and he sprints away, causing chaos around the Lavish Chateau

He does lay down with them in their cradle, they're warm and relaxing when not awake

Here's the link to all my thoughts in posts and docs

[silversky-art]

Here’s my Beau design! (both levels 1 & 10)

[tiny-vermin]

I want to know more about the m9 artist au!! I remember reading a post or two about it a billion years ago (and would love to read them again) 💜

hi jess!!!! thank u for being interested hehe :")

so ever since i drew that lil thing of essek painting a frank stella inspired painting (or even before), ive been thinking of what kinds of art each of the m9 would do. essek ofc is inspired by a minimalist show that i went to here, all the big names from that movement were shown, but those really dark, sinkhole-like paintings are speaking to me. another artwork of boxes made of mirrors also seems like the thing he would do too

there's a kiln here that we visited which was huge, and surrounding it were artists' studios and some other ceramic sellers, i imagine the clay family having a place like this in the middle of nowhere amongst the trees, and caleb would do his work there

anyways because at heart im a shadowgast luver its centred around them,, they meet at an artist residency or something like that and its an incredibly slow burn that involves talking and not-talking and looking and not-looking. in the end i am but a simple wong kar wai fan so. that kinda vibes would definitely influence this, i would describe it as a quiet burning i guess?? time skipy and words that are not said

i think im gonna rant a bit more about their different mediums and styles so i'll keep it under the cut

i think caleb sculpts figures and portraits, but in a sad, kathe kollwitz charcoal vibe. maybe some funky looking animals, perhaps some pots and vases to look at the pretty glazes. he's interested in using fire to burn texture into different mediums, like ive seen it being used on shellac to make a really cool net of ink looking structure.. but yknow, just seeing the aftermath of glazed ceramic from the kiln is enough, and probably better for him to keep his distance anyways

the clay family produces most of the ceramic to sell, vases, pots, plates, cups, teapots, yknow just a whole array. and its really colourful too, depicting every family members different style. i think caduceus would do some matte glazes with a lot of different colours, theyre all a little wonky but theyre better off that way anyways. he does some really mean ink calligraphy and painting though

jester definitely does,, everything, whatever her heart desires kinda thang. she makes pastel textile installations and lighthearted cute paintings, but theyre always so contemplative and soothing. she gets m9 a lot of work cus her mom has connections, etc etc. i really love the idea of jester creating works that talk about the female body and femininity (definitely not projecting no)

beau is a printmaker and photographer who's really experimental, she loves cyanotypes and printing flowers (for yasha), idk she seems like she would put fabric and rocks into the washing machine to see what would happen. u would probably catch her in someone elses studio learning about what they do or in the library learning about what old people did

veth works in a museum as a curator, getting beau to help her sometimes with gathering artworks and artists etc. she probably organises community art projects for kids and public art installations. her house is full of m9's artworks and various other artists shes worked with.

yasha does bouquets as her post-retirement part time job, prior to that no one really knows what she did ("she probably murdered a bunch of people and is now hiding from the government"). fjord draws comics for fun but is also not a job for him, molly is a question mark for me. but these guys probably wont be in it as much anyways

im still not sure what format i wanna do this in, im actually having fun just writing it in my notebook now (digital does not facilitate the creative juices) but i do want to do some visuals like fake movie stills or storyboards. maybe they will work together well???? dunno. working on the other shadowgasty thing im doing made me realise how much easier it is to draw when there's a script already there, so im writing the script for myself

im definitely not as practiced in writing as i am in drawing, but idk im just gonna have some fun and see where that takes me, meanwhile try not to feel too bad that its fanart HAHA (very bad habit)

edit: i just saw my previous thoughts on beau being an art journalist, but i kinda like this better.. but maybe she can do both muah

[kyoodledoodle]

For anyone who happens to be so interested, I thought I’d put some tidbits about my modern M9 au :)

Fjord- Vandran= good childhood foster dad; Uk’otoa= bad teen years foster dad, in school for fisheries and water management, student apartment

Jester- Emt, dropped after a year or two and is now in art school, has a dorm room with Beau

Beau- teenage runaway, works at library, reluctantly taking community college courses in social sciences

Veth- teen mom (19) w/ an apartment in the city with Yeza and Luc, bachelors in chemistry

Caduceus- Emt with Jester, now works at flower shop, has a student apartment

Molly- alive :), college dropout and runs small business next to Cads flower shop, he lives above the shop and Yasha stays there most of the time

Yasha- Storm lord= boss at car workshop; Obann= icky old foster dad when she moved into the country as a teen, works at car shop, taking horticulture classes with Cad,

Caleb- biochem major, aiming for a PHD, has an apartment across the city from Veth

Other bits

They’re all in their mid 20s or so: Caleb (27), Beau (21), Yasha, (22), Molly (26), Jester (24), Fjord (25), Cad (26), Veth (24)

No specific location

A lot of moments will be translated to happenings in the au (ex: Molly’s death’ll probably be that he got big time stabbed trying to protect the others, and went into cardiac arrest or something bad, but survived)

everyone just crashes at Veths apartment from time to time

I think Molly might sell jewelry, crystals, and decor of the sorts (Jessie would help him with stock a lot)

Cad doesn’t own the flower shop (Nila does :D) but Cad is literally always there

Jessie teaches art to kids, and Kiri is her favorite little menace student

Yee :D

[rainbowcaleb]

FICLET FRIDAY : XOXO

Prompt: an AU you haven't done yet | Rating: T | CW: None | Words: 372 | Paring: Gen M9 / pre-ship

There’s a rumble of thunder from the hallway and Beau comes sprinting into the room, a sheen to her forehead betraying how far and fast she’s run. She hoists her phone aloft as she bursts through the door. 

“Have you guys fucking seen this?”

The scene she beholds is grim. Caleb barely registers her entrance, his hollow eyes glancing at her phone and sinking lower in his chair. Veth has her phone in a white knuckle grip, holding it in the air like it’s infectious. 

Beau doesn’t slow her speed and haphazardly races into Caleb’s room, crash landing against the dorm bed. She lurches back up to read over Veth’s shoulder to confirm her fears. “Shit! Who else got this?”

Veth doesn’t look away from the screen. “Considering how many times Jester called and left voicemails in the last five minutes, I think it’s fucking safe to assume everybody did.”

“Oh fuck.” Beau slides down onto the floor, taking a sheet with her. 

“I share your sentiment.” Caleb’s voice seems to come from deep inside a well. 

“What do we do?” Veth spins to look at them both. 

“Don’t look at me!” Beau glares. “Somebody must have talked.”

“No.” Caleb replies sharply. “Do not let this turn us against each other. I feel… that seems to be what they want.”

Beau groans. “Call Jester back. Time for an emergency team meeting. And emphasize its A-fucking-S-A-P.”

Veth hurls the phone onto the bed where it bounces twice before settling, still open to the message that has shaken them all to the core.

Have you heard the news? The friend group that's made a splash on campus has been very naughty, and I don’t mean in the fun way. I’ve heard a certain redhead has a certain item a very interested party would like to have. How he got it? I’ll let you decide. It’s kiss or kill out here. Two crowns are looking for you now kid, time to polish up the stealth skills.

But perhaps this is fortune for us both. I’ve got secrets of my own, you know. Maybe it’s time we got into bed together, if you can find the right bed in time. 

xoxo gossip girl 

[romeoandjulietyouwish]

ooo may I request soulmate au?

Marion hugs Fjord constantly whenever she sees him since Jester told her that they were soulmates. He's been feeling her hugs since he was a little kid and it's just so comforting to him.

When Caleb has been working too long at the Academy, Essek will flick his own forehead so Caleb feels it. And it always works for summon him home sheepishly.

Yasha always knew that she had two soulmates. Even though she was with Zuala, she could feel Beau. But after Zuala died, when she was under Obann's control, she didn't feel anything. She thought that when Zuala died, so did her capacity to have a soulmate. And then she woke up in the temple and she felt the rain on her skin and she felt a pain in her hands that certainly wasn't hers.

I think that Molly and Yasha are also soulmates in this au, there's really no other way to explain it. So just imagine that she felt him die...

All of the M9 use their soulmate bods to summon their partners to them when they're in need. Especially Jester, which Fjord finds very endearing.

[blorbologist]

Hello yes I would like to know more about your Fullmetal Alchemist AU because that was amazing. The Ashari doing alkahestry, *chef's kiss*. Delilah as Envy, genius move. Saundor as Lust, perfect casting is perfect.

Vex with the title of Sewing Life Alchemist, much better person than the original holder of the title. And that Truth took part of her heart, oh that's good.

!! Thank you so much! I love this AU but it has so many moving parts it's hard even for me to juggle them sometimes pfft.

God there's so much to talk about uhhhh:

It's a super complicated AU in part because I'm including Campaign 1 PCs as the older cast (Vex, Vax, Percy, Pike and Grog are all in the military, Keyleth gets a bit of Scar and Mei's roles, Tary is Somewhere) and the Campaign 2 PCs as the younger (Beau and Caleb fill the role of the Elrics, Jester is probably Winry-ish with some Mei elements, Veth is a chimera, idk what Fjord is up to, Yasha is likely Ishvalan, Essek gets to be Ling <3, idk what I'm gonna do to Molly and Kingsley. Probably terrible things. He might be Hoenheim/Father/idk. Maybe he'd fit better as Ling then Greed but I Like Essek Best Ok). Which is complex enough on its own (I can get conflict between the kids and their military babysitters with Beau and Percy butting heads), but what makes it extra dicey is the homunculi. I want to try and ensure that the main villains have a good balance between CR1 ones and CR2's, but whereas many of VM's antagonists are connected (Vecna/Sylas/Delilah/kiiinda Ripley, all the Conclave), the M9's are very disperse - and with all these enemies it's hard to unite them under one goal. Do I include the Conclave? What about the Iron Shepherds? Lucien's group? Avantika? So for the oneshot I just said fuck it and narrowed in on the most Perc'ahlia relevant information (and had Keyleth there instead of Jester, to stick to the C1 cast).

I've shuffled around a lot of the alchemical signatures of several characters due to what fits and what doesn't - for instance, though Vex neatly fills a lot of Roy's role, she is never associated with fire. Caleb, however, is, so the Ed-equivalent gets to be the Flame Alchemist. As a Ranger, Vex is very difficult to make fit into the State Alchemist system, so I made her role more research-focused (while still keeping with the terrible guilt and shame that Roy has that I think fits Vex nicely as well). As the Sewing Life Alchemist, she can be a more successful Shou Tucker: I figure she stumbled on Trinket (an early state-made chimera), tried to learn how to fix him, and so ended up roped into that research division to keep her from blabbing. A lot of her research focused on healing and accelerating growth, and she has a knack for using every ounce of power offered by Equivalent Exchange; as a result it was easy enough to slot her in with the team creating viable human-animal chimeras - the people who originally fucked up Trinket. By that point, it's too late to get out. So she has a lot of Guilt <3 Elaina died either to plague (like Trisha Elric) or got burnt in one of those staged conflicts to get souls/blood for the nation-wide array. Vax gets to snipe up bits of Hughes, Havoc and Nina's roles in the story: I'm unsure of if he's been used to keep Vex in line before, but he certainly gets fucked up by Lust. I'm unsure if the military then steal him away and turn him into a chimera, or if Vex is forced to do that to her own brother to keep him alive. I really want to include some thematic nod to 'take me instead you raven bitch', though, so. Help?

Nixing the up-and-coming Colonel being the Flame Alchemist also impacts Percy's role: I knew I wanted him to be tattooed with secrets like Riza (if you cant tell from Get your hands dirty, I love the concept), but without Flame Alchemy, what could be worth hiding? After some fanangling, I decided that the de Rolos have a decent lineage of military service, especially as State Alchemists, and though Percy never showed the knack for the magic aspect he grasps the theory very well (and instead tinkered with guns). So, as the spare, he offered to get the family's research tattooed on his back. Least he could do - until the estate was swarmed and everyone was killed by some fuckers and Percy was tortured for the code to the notes on his back. Envy (Dewiwah) and Dr.Ripley were behind most of it, with Delilah taking on the faces of people Percy knew both to get her foot in the castle and to torment him. He joined the military in an attempt to protect himself, only to slowly start figuring out that they were the ones who ordered the hit, at which point he stages a lab accident and has Vex heal his back juuust enough to maintain functionality but otherwise ensuring it scars. I'm suspecting the secret was either that his family stumbled on the nation-wide array or something that put Father's plan in huge hot water. Cass is probably a hostage-ward of the Briarwoods and might not know Delilah is responsible for anything given her changing face :D

[ariadne-mouse]

🌀🌧☔️ for the ask game?

Hi there! :) The first two are for The Unhinged AU, since that's what I'm trying to work on at the moment.

🌀Post the fic summary for a fic you haven't written/published yet. It can be hypothetical or something you really plan on releasing...

Supermodel and fashion entrepreneur Essek Thelyss doesn't believe in fate - only probability. But it seems probability has it out for him too, because his life is getting turned upside down by a series of ridiculous situations, each more improbable than the last. Why does he keep running into the same man? And more importantly... does he want it to stop?

🌧️Share something angsty from your WIP.

“You weren’t focused in your shoot.” Essek continued to seek the meaning of the universe in his ghostly reflection in the hotel room window.  Uraya was a faint blob of color in the background. He sighed.  “I know.  I just haven’t been feeling… motivated.” The blob drew closer.  “Burnout?” “Language,” Essek tutted. “Do not speak such evil here.  …And no, not exactly.” “You had a nice time at the museum, didn’t you?  You certainly stayed late enough.” “Yes, it was fine.”  Essek flicked his wrist, fanning away further inquisitiveness.  “It is only just… I feel like I go to these shoots and everyone knows me already and they have all these expectations and presumptions.  It’s like a trap.  I’m obligated to be the popular version of myself.”

“That’s being famous.”  The couch cushion dipped next to him, and Uraya’s face became more clear in the reflection overlaying the far-below topography of Zadash.  “Or so I’m told.  I’m only the PA.” “The best PA,” Essek corrected. “Yes, yes, that’s understood every time I say it.”  A pause.  “You could call Verin.” “No.” “Deirta?” “Not looking for a lecture about the family legacy, thank you.” “Hm.” Essek laughed. “The list does run out rather quickly, doesn’t it?”

☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?

Oh good question. Hmmmm I don't have a nice meaty fic concept to explain because I store those in my cheeks like a chipmunk does chestnuts for winter & the optimism of actually writing them someday. But! Sometimes my brain likes to process other media I watch by suggesting very niche crossover ideas. They don't have many legs to stand on other than the novelty of mashing worlds together, so they have the least momentum to mature into actual writing. For example:

Witcher crossover where Essek, Jester, and Caleb land in Witcher!verse? Excellent, inflict Essek and Yennefer on each other. The townsfolk probably would be alarmed by drow and tiefling looks, too, not being present in that world.

Riddick crossover purely for the fun of Essek with Darkvision looking at Riddick's silvered eyes and going "lol you're not special"? Great, put some of the M9 on a spaceship and have the fish-out-of-water experience. I like Essek and Fjord for that team-up, and maybe a hypothetical Fjorjester kid to activate Riddick's moral code about not endangering children.

Shadowgast wash up on a deserted island, their magic isn't working, and something is hunting them? Why yes I did rewatch some of the first season of Lost.

Anyway these are all in the "very indulgent snippet" kind of category, or maybe "brain movie to pass the time while you're in a boring meeting" stuff.

[criticalfic]

Lay Your Bones

Lay Your Bones by LadyOrpheus (53,587 words)

a post-campaign 2 AU in which Verin and some other Dynasty soldiers come to arrest Essek after learning of his whereabouts, only to find him with his child. They still take him back, but Verin ends up staying behind, meeting the Mighty Nein, and eventually helping them to free Essek. i loooovvveeeddd this fic! i was itching for something long and plotty recently, and i found this, and what a delight it was!!!! i think the plot is super cool and has layers to it that i didn’t expect, and verin is a delight, and the m9 make for a great ensemble cast. i fully admit i know nothing about kids, so idk if the kid character in this is realistic, but i thought she was cute and believably childlike. the action sequences really reminded me of critrole episodes too, which is always a hard thing to do in writing but i thought this author nailed it

[faultyhammock]

Get To Know Me!! thanks @thecryptkeeperskeeper for the tag dear god why would you do this to meeeeeee

Rules: Answer and tag nine people you want to get to know better and catch up with.

Favorite color(s): I am an absolute sucker, a complete slut, just down horrendous, for a good steel blue/grey blue (think that one tumblr color palate). I know it's probably boring, but a good version of that shade just gives me the good brain scratchies. Other than that, probably dark blue, any green, and black.

Last Song: The Winner Takes It All, while listening to my Better Call Saul playlist. Before that, probably Dead End Kids by Ratbag, it's quickly become one of my go-to's on the drive to work.

Currently reading: The Unbroken, by C.L. Clark, it's been on my recommendations and the fanart is cool, and by golly I need to read more books still. The main mistake is that I got it from the library to read in my downtime at work, and then I went and gave myself a creative project that's been taking up all of that time.

Currently watching: I'm two and a half episodes into EXU: Calamity at the moment, before doing the M9 reunited twoshot and going into Critical Role's 3rd campaign. Also rewatched Scream the other evening, and I think at least I'm going to get to the rest of those since I've never seen them, and we've thus far rather failed at my big long list of movies to watch in October. oh yeah also gotta rewatch Arcane season 1 very soon in prep for the incoming emotional devastation that will be season 2

Currently craving: I could probably go for an oreo or four when I get home from work, life is too short and precious to waste with the single-stuffed ones.

Coffee or Tea: Neither really? I don't know if I've really given tea its fair shake, so I should probably do that in the future, but I just don't care for the way coffee tastes at all. It's a shame, because both of them smell wonderful, but I just cannot abide the taste (of coffee).

Hobby To Try: Also definitely DnD, it had been on the "to learn" list for forever, and then I got into Critical Role, and went straight from that into playing BG3, which was helpful because at least now I should have a decent idea of how things work, my memory willing lmao. There's a couple ideas for characters that I've got rattling around in my head that I really ought to do something with, so help me. But also it requires like, actively seeking out people and talking to them and bothering them, and frankly nothing in the world horrifies me more.

Current Au: I'll be honest I'm not normally much of an AU person a lot of the time? Maybe I'm a filthy coward idk, I just tend to gravitate towards things where the story of the thing itself is what rips me apart, and so I usually try to stick to stuff that keeps that aspect to it. I can do it sometimes for funsies, I'm not that way all the time, just most of it lol, so probably some random caitvi modern au that was in my bookmarks.

Tagging if you want to join! I think I would rather spontaneously combust than actively tag other people tbh

[thoughmymindcouldthink]

Compilation and General Update

I've spend the evening reorganizing/archiving a lot of this blog, and I've noticed I talk around a lot of ideas rather than explaining them.

First on the docket, I revamped the organization system to be more streamlined and easier to use (at least for me, hopefully for visitors as well). Secondly, I archived a lotta (most) projects that I'm not really reserving brain space for at the moment. They're all in varying states of archived-ness in my brain, but they're all squished into one folder for blog purposes.

I'll continue to use this blog for resources, inspiration, challenges, and the like, but I have also picked out the Big Projects throughout the years to organize them better.

Current Projects

Handholding through Hell: the translation of a current dnd campaign into more traditional prose storytelling. Five party members wake up in a hell-like demi-plane with no knowledge of how they got there. On their hunt for a way back home, they discover that their pasts have followed them (or brought them?) here.

All or Nothing: Widofjord Uni AU, loosely based on the novel Coffee Cake. Heavy focus on Fjord, who needs to save his slipping grades to keep his athletic scholarship for rowing. Secondary focus on Caleb, who's recovering from some very intense drama in his ridiculously competitive academic program by working at the local cat cafe. Caleb offers to tutor Fjord and they begin to explore a romance. A semi-magic USA university AU in which Mollymauk deals fake IDs, Artagan’s a disillusioned ex-grad student, and Yasha gets to major in gardening.

BeauYasha Kidfic: Inspired by domestic beauyasha in the m9 epilogue, a vague idea of a future fic in which they help fjord overturn the orphanage that harmed him and end up with a half-orc kid of their own. got spooked when a lot of the after talk was quite similar to this idea and put it down.

Archived Original Projects

Vampire Apocalypse: Steampunk Lady Pirates: Hollywood fell to a vampire underground, and one young woman spearheads a resistance of sky pirates, all to get her sister back.

Antonita, the Spanish Contrabandista: A rewrite/update/retelling of an 1850s novella of a female pirate and her adventures with a Texan navy captain and his wife.

Outlander & Urchin: A traditional western fantasy story about two orphans who help each other survive while a magical war wages across the land. Reunited as adults, they realize their lives may be bigger than they thought.

Golden Gay Bridge (aka Gone): technically my undergrad thesis & 2016 nano project. A young woman loses her mother to cancer and goes on a roadtrip to find her elusive biological father and unearth half of herself.

Archived Fanfiction Projects

Rockstar AU: Louis is a rockstar; Harry is the label's new popstar. The two are forced to tour together for publicity. Liam is management, Niall is Harry's bestie, Zayn is Louis's bestie. Harry/Louis enemies to besties main plot, Ziall + Louam subplots.

Playboy AU: Harry runs an escort business; Louis and Niall are bunnies, Zayn and Liam are bartenders (Ziall + Louam)

Uni+ AU: Niall and Zayn fall in love at University, but their futures conspire against them – until they meet again. Essentially a uni!AU + a second chance trope.

Proposal AU: a ziall retelling of The Proposal (2009). That's it. That's the project. ALT: Cutting Edge AU (similar premise).

B99/1D crossover: Requested by bestie in like... 2015. An AU in which the 1d boys are Brooklyn police officers. Will likely not touch this one again.

[circuslollipop]

JESTR for the fandom meme :)

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr

tbh that's how i got into most of my fandoms that aren't books. this includes critical role!

E - Have you added anything cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what

i can't think of any like. concepts i've added. but i've definitely had some shitposts that got like 3k notes (i think the one w the most notes is the one with the m9 portraits and the florida man headlines)

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

modern au jester is a graphic novelist. she's made graphic novels for both kids and adults!

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending, about anything at all (gender identity, sexual or romantic orientation, extended family, sexual preferences like top/bottom/switch, relationship with poetry, seriously anything)

mollymauk is a 6'3 beanpole who only looks small because he's always standing next to yasha [lighthearted, i think all molly height headcanons are good; this is just what im sticking to skhfk]

R - A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

......does it count if it's two ocs in my head that i have yet to talk about? uh if not. i do enjoy tyffial/avantika

[silversky-art]

Here’s Caleb my sad wizard boy’s refs! (Both level 1 & 10)

Posting Beau’s design tomorrow!

[lessattitudemorealtitude]

1019 words of omega shadowgast

236 words of Aeor shadowgast fic

228 words of omega widomauk fic

604 words of blumendrei

MyMarWriMo: 9787

I actual managed to write five hundred words while I was looking after the kids on the trip, everything else was me dithering about yesterday. 

And of course, I saw a post about avatar AUs for the M9 and now I have yet ANOTHER WIP haunting my brain

[romeoandjulietyouwish]

I would be such an enormous sucker for Mighty Nein Kindergarten Parents AU. Kiri, Luc, Beauyasha kid, Fjorester kid, maybe Caleb and Essek kid? I would simply pass away

Oh my god yes I love this so much sooooo

Beau and Yasha have their little Cricket

Veth and Yeza have Luc

Fjord and Jester have Andra

And Caleb has Kiri

Essek is currently in hiding so he is a classroom aide despite not knowing the first thing around children.

And Molly is a kindergarten teacher because lets be real, he would both love and hate it.

They all meet for the first time on a field trip to the zoo where they're all chaperones and of course Jester is just immediately trying to make the best impression and talking up a storm to everyone there.

Caleb is very intimidated by her and the other parents so he just watches Kiri quietly, wanting to make sure that the other kids aren't bullying her for her lack of speech.

Veth comes up to him and starts asking him about his daughter which makes him so happy and he starts to open up more and more.

Yasha and Molly are already friends so they mostly stick together.

And as they get to know each other more, they have playdates with the kids and slowly the kids become best friends. Andra and Cricket are like two peas in a pod.

I think it's all of their kids bonding and being friends that forces the M9 to come together and be friends as well.

[highintlowwis]

(I'm putting in another one because HNGGGgghh(also can you tell I'm a Caduceus stan?)) Caduceus has names for the beetles that live in his staff, he gets them mixed up a lot but it's the sentiment that counts. A few of them have the names of his siblings, parents, and aunt while others are random or just sounded nice to him. Calliope thinks it's endearing, Colton HATES it, Clarabelle LOVES IT.

HI AGAIN!!

This is SO sweet, I love it!! He gets them mixed up a lot, except he can always pick out the tiniest one that has a brighter purple iridescence than the others -- that's Belle, of course

After traveling with the Nein for a while (and collecting some new insect friends along the way), he starts to name some of them after his friends. They're very confused, but a little flattered?

Yasha asks to meet her beetle, and they become good friends. It does look delicious, but she holds herself back for Caduceus' sake.

Beau has a sort of silent understanding with Beetle Beau, they respect each other from afar.

Nott does try to eat her beetle a few times, but that urge dies down when she becomes a halfling again. She's pretty sure the beetle is holding a grudge, though.

Fjord stays far away from all the beetles.

Jester LOVES her beetle, and constantly insists that it's the prettiest one of them all. She tried to put a ribbon on it once, but it didn't work very well.

Caleb's not really sure what to make of it, but he always makes sure there's an extra beetle enclosure full of food in Caduceus' room in the mansion. And if he finds himself smiling at his beetle sometimes, well, that's between him and the bug.