#mcd hayden

[iridiss]

Part 7 of the Wrong Laurance au, this is the prelude to the Laurance and Cadenza chat

also yes that is Joh everybody say hello to the design I had to make up for Joh because apparently we’ve never seen Joh before in canon ???? Joh and Hayden are married <3

[lyraofthestarsss]

The Hayden assassination arc is really getting to me. The universe really said the Zvahl siblings are orphans and will STAY orphans

I feel like Hayden’s death really showed the most of Laurance’s greatest flaw. He’s angry, almost uncontrollably so. But the issue is not the anger, but how he manages it. His anger is tied to his shadow knight abilities, and he HATES that part of himself. He’s terrified of becoming a monster with no control over himself. So in an effort to maintain that control, he buries any and all negative feelings deep within himself. But all of that pain festers inside, and the suppression only creates even more explosive anger. It’s a viscous cycle

There were a few moments where I was a little angry at Aphmau for not realizing how much pain he’s in and instead focusing more on the murder investigation. But then I realized that’s it not her job to take care of his mental health for him. She can comfort him of course, that’s what friends do. But she is not responsible for this cycle of suppression and explosion he put himself in

It’s heartbreaking though. Watching someone come undone in front of you, and only being able to watch. The Zvahl siblings have lost so much. Cadenza is practically paralyzed in her grief and depression. And Laurance is forcing himself to carry on when he is not yet ready to

[xerith-42]

Glenda

Remember Glenda? No you don't, only I do because The Tragedy of Cadenza Zvahl haunts me in my every waking moment.

Here's an entire essay about a character who shows up in a grand total of... I think 5 episodes? And yet she has one of the greatest and most forgotten impacts on the narrative.

For those of you who need a quick refresher, Glenda is Hayden's head guard in Meteli, first introduced in episode 26 of the first season, along with all the other Meteli characters. She's initially shown as a pretty strict, no nonsense guard. But in episode 27 we get to see her open up. At the time Cadenza is missing, and Glenda expresses great worry for her safety and says the following line

(sorry for how dark this is I took the screenie on my phone at like midnight)

So uhm. That's a bit of a big deal right off the bat, right? Cadenza is an orphan. Just before this Hayden speaks about how he found Cadenza picking flowers next to a burning village, about how she lost everyone and he took her in. And while Hayden acted as her father, Glenda acted as her mother. Cadenza had a mother.

This is where things get a bit... Mirky. I think a lot of us forget this, but Cadenza and Laurance being siblings isn't something that's revealed until [checks my notes] Episode 54. Which might not seem like a big deal, but Laurance has multiple conversations between episodes 26-40 (he dies in ep 40) about Cadenza, about growing up in Meteli, conversations where he could have said something, anything to indicate that Cadenza is his sister. But he doesn't.

He doesn't refer to Hayden as "our dad", he never refers to Glenda as Mom (which I'll get into later), he doesn't even say the phrase "Cadenza is like a sister to me" until AFTER they've both undergone their transformations. Me personally if I was the head guard of the swamp village, my sister goes missing, and my dad and her not boyfriend start fighting about it, and then some random woman shows up to help, I'd mention to the woman that this missing girl is my sister and this is a family affair. But Laurance... Doesn't.

This makes me think that them being siblings is an idea that came to the writers at some point after Laurance was introduced, but before he came back from the Nether. But this idea was either never incorporated, or they decided to put off incorporating it until after Laurance made his redesigned return.

Who knows. All I know is that Laurance and Cadenza were not intended to be siblings at first, and later retconned into that. And that's fine! They're not related, they're both adopted orphans, it's totally fine to make this retroactive change. But this change is important to remember regarding Glenda.

Yeah that's still who this post is about but there's so little to say that I padded it out with my whole tangent about the Zvahl family retcon. Anyways, Glenda, like everyone in Cadenza's family, is incredibly protective of her daughter, and clearly worried for her safety. This worry doesn't extend to... Doing anything, but that's because Aphmau had to show up and main character her way through things.

But it does lead to criticizing Aphmau when she seemingly fails as a main character. Aphmau does know where Cadenza is and knows that she's safe, but she lies to Hayden and Kenmur about it so they don't hurt Castor, and Glenda is PISSED. Not only because Aphmau promised she'd find Cadenza and failed, but she took one of their swords the last time she was in Meteli too! The disrespect of this woman! And she's the Lord of Phoenix Drop?! How low has this world gotten...?

Anyways the next time we see Glenda she's debating if she'll sign her life away. Now... I could go on about The Oath for... [glances at Oathbreakers word count] a while. But I'll try to keep it brief and focused on Glenda, who it actually has the most direct impact on. In episode 42 Garroth makes all the guards signing an oath swearing that they will take their own lives before they become a Shadow Knight and kill their lord, or to prevent themselves from doing so as a result of Shadow influences.

And while everyone else at the guard meeting is largely down with this, Glenda isn't. She's hesitant. Unsure. We don't get an explanation as to why in the episode, at least not the true one. But there are two things we can get from her. One, her eye color has changed. Which Aphmau doesn't notice at all or even comment on.

Two, she jumps immediately to leaving Hayden's guard, but stops herself because Cadenza is missing. And that's all that she says on it. Because after that, Glenda quits her job. She abandons the guard and we don't even hear about that happening until EPISODE 86. WE GO A FULL 44 EPISODES WITHOUT HER HAVING ANY RELEVANCE TO THE PLOT OR MENTION BY ANY CHARACTERS WHO KNEW HER LIKE I DUNNO

HER DAUGHTER???

And when she comes back in episode 86 we get the big reveal that Glenda was actually a Shadow Knight! And she framed Castor for murder all so she could draw Cadenza out, get her alone, kidnap her, and then sacrifice her to open a Nether portal and presumably return home.

There's a lot of questions this whole series of events raises, but not a single one of them are answered. I'm not even being hyperbolic, once Cadenza wakes up she is (understandably) more focused on the fact that her dad is alive and getting him back to safety. But she doesn't say anything about Glenda, doesn't give any sign of grieving or insight on the matter to Aphmau, she doesn't seem to care because her dad is safe.

The only details we're given are from Laurance, but these also raise questions. He says that Glenda must have become a Shadow Knight "at some point", and quit Hayden's guard because she planned to kill him to gain immortality. But... If that was the case, why fake his death? Why not have him actually be fully murdered with all the other evidence still stacked against Castor? Why not kill him, get immortality, and then kidnap your daughter and try to sacrifice her. Is it because she still cares about Hayden? Is it because she doesn't want to hurt Cadenza? She's about to kill her so I doubt it's that.

So much just doesn't add up with Glenda, so much that I have a never ending series of questions. When did she become a Shadow Knight? Was it in the Nether when they left Sasha behind? Was it before that? Did she go on that mission to save Hayden as a Shadow Knight and somehow not blow her cover? Or was it after that, in the brief window of time between Sasha coming back and Cadenza going missing, that she somehow ended up dead, in the Nether, and then back in the over world without raising an eyebrow? Or was she a Shadow Knight the whole time? Did Cadenza spend her entire childhood being raised by one?? Will I ever get answers as to any details regarding Cadenza's childhood outside of Laurance?! (The answer to that one is no)

But then one question made me really stop and think. One that matters more than any questions if lore, or continuity, or a series of events to follow.

Did the writers remember that they made Glenda Cadenza's mom?

And let's be clear, it's not like, a sin if they forgot. I'm a writer and I forget my own plotlines all the time. I go back through my drafts and other chapters all the time to make sure I'm maintaining at least some semblance of continuity, and I know that in a world as big and full of characters as this one, some details are going to get left behind or forgotten.

But it is mad disappointing because if the writers did remember that Glenda was a maternal figure to Cadenza, then they would also then realize that every member of her family has been either killed by shadow knights, nearly killed by shadow knights, or become shadow knights. Every. Single. One.

If Glenda was able to properly be Cadenza's mother there's a wellspring of character work to go down. It's never directly stated where Cadenza learned to sew from, so what if she learned it from her mother? One of her greatest forms of self expression is seemingly forever tainted with the presence of the monster who took the place of the mother who taught her everything she knows.

And how does Laurance feel about all this? He never refers to Glenda as a mother, even after he starts tossing around the Dad word around Hayden. It gives a sign that maybe Glenda didn't have an interest in raising Laurance, perhaps that while Hayden and Joh may have had some kind of co-parenting or gay marriage set up, Glenda was exclusively focused on being the mother of Cadenza. Or maybe she tried but Laurance pushed her away and she never tried hard enough. Maybe Laurance rejects the idea that he can have a mother. A father can be replaced, but a mother? Nobody can replace the woman who nearly gave her life just to bring him into this world. No one.

As it is in canon, Glenda is a footnote in Cadenza's tragedy. Just another shadow creature that tried to hurt Cadenza, without a proper recognition of just how significant her betrayal is. If Glenda's status as Cadenza's Mother was used to its fullest effect, we could have a family tragedy to surpass the Ro'Meave's, one where a single girl can be at the center of so much shadow and still barely manage to be a beacon of light in the darkness, even if her own family tries to kill her.

I've just. I dunno I've been thinking about Glenda a lot recently

[kurithedweeb]

Prophet Enki the Keeper and Wanderer-incarnations Joh and Laurance. Man.

Enki, who sees another man's body cradling in its chest the soul of his beloved, of the father of his children, of the World's Wanderer. Who wakes before Kul'zak with tears on his face and a hitch in his chest, and he looks beside him at Kul'zak's face, slack and peaceful in sleep as something in his dreams braids his hair with flowers that do not exist in the waking world, budding and blooming as though they grew from Kul'zak himself. He brushes one of these braids from Kul'zak's face, knowing he will not wake at his touch.

They're not yet twenty. Their life together has only just begun.

In his dreams, Enki sees his husband's smiling face in a village built on stilts and gangways, and he sees him with a child, two. Their children, young, and their children, grown. And he sees a man with Kul'zak's smile and Kul'zak's wanderlust and Kul'zak's soul, in a village built on stilts and gangways, with his own husband and his own children. Two of them, young, and two of them, one growing old as the other never will again.

He sees the man with his husband's soul with an arrow through his chest, saying his goodbyes to his son as he begs him in Kul'zak's language not to go Baba please please don't die. Enki's sons will someday call Kul'zak Baba. The younger will call Kul'zak Baba as he sends him and his brother off to their own homes after family dinner on the night that his husband will die. He grows old, Kul'zak, and he dies happy with Enki at his side despite his aches and wounds and the infection festering in his side from a wound he had received on his latest venture out of town that had been beyond help by the time he made it home.

Enki has known for a long time his husband will die tonight, and when he wakes to find him cold beside him Enki cries himself to sleep and when he finds Kul'zak is in his dreams he doesn't wake up again. And Enki's soul will return to Gal'ruk.

Kul'zak's will remain on the mainland. And Kul'zak will have another life. Another husband. More kids. Far away where Enki will never meet him again.

And then he dreams of the man Kul'zak's soul will make a home in dying in his son's arm, and as Kul'zak's soul is untethered his other life's son holds him tight, and the pieces breaking off his soul sink into the grieving son's. And he will never know he carries his father with him. And Enki will see his love again after all, and never know what they once were.

In the present, or what he thinks is the present, when they are not even twenty and are sleeping curled together among the roots of an ancient tree on the side of a well-traveled trail, Kul'zak's eyes flutter open. He smiles, and it falters as he wipes tears from Enki's cheeks. He murmurs a good morning in Galenk, and he kisses Enki so sweetly, and by the time Kul'zak asks what's wrong, Enki has forgotten what he was dreaming of that made him cry in the first place.

Nothing, he says instead. I love you.

[starhvney]

What are the ethnicities you hc for the aphmau characters?

𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐌𝐀𝐔 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄��𝐇𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐌𝐒

𝐀/𝐍: i love this question ty so much for asking me!! it’s so fun to just freeball it since the characters are literal pixels haha. on top of the ethnicities, i also paired my updated face claims i have for them.

(in advance, i’d like to apologize if i give an ethnicity to a character and the face claim i gave doesn’t really match it? i personally have a hard time associating features with ethnicities, and i pulled the pictures from pinterest so it was hard to confirm all of the face model's origins. i tried my best to do the research.)

anyways, i also included some diaries characters in here as well! i tried to group them all in a way that was coherent so i hope it all makes sense!

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐊 & 𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐄𝐋 𝐋𝐘𝐂𝐀𝐍: i really can’t see them as being anything other than native american. i just think it’s a perfect match for them

𝐀𝐀𝐑𝐎𝐍 & 𝐌𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐒𝐀: native american, obviously like their parents. 

side note: i did some research and found out that some native american people have short hair and cut it, while others keep it long for tradition and only cut it for grieving purposes. so i think it makes sense to hc them as this—though long hair on all of them would be awesome, too. anyways, please educate me if i’m wrong on this!

𝐙𝐀𝐂𝐊: hispanic, though i haven’t decided on specifics

𝐒𝐘𝐋𝐕𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀: hispanic, more specifically latina/mexican

𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐌𝐀𝐔: just like jess, i’ve always viewed her self insert as latina, too.

𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐑𝐘: i had trouble deciding for both him and travis, but i think i landed on him being french

𝐓𝐑𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐒: we don’t see his mom in mys, but we see her in mcd and she literally just looks like him. so i’ll say travis is also mostly french and possible mixed with another ethnicity to account for his nice tan

𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐓𝐄: that is a white man. he’s from o’khasis, so i feel like he’s straight up an englishman.

𝐙𝐈𝐀𝐍𝐍𝐀: i see her as a small amount of mediterranean, specifically greek, mixed with scandinavian. 

𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐎𝐓𝐇: garroth takes more after garte, though i think he’d have the bits of green in his eyes and tall nose from his mother. 

𝐙𝐀𝐍𝐄: zane looks more like his mother, with his dark eyes and pale skin, though he has his fathers eyes and the curse of burning in the sun like a vampire from the english side.

𝐕𝐘𝐋𝐀𝐃: he looks the most like zianna, and the unknown biological father seemed to have been european as well based on his skin?

𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐂: scottish (af) (samesies)

𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐙𝐀𝐁𝐄𝐓𝐇: british

𝐊𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐘𝐍 & 𝐊𝐀𝐂𝐄𝐘: british and scottish. the whole family is paler than a sheet of paper

side note: i wish we saw more of katelyn’s other little brothers :(

𝐇𝐀𝐘𝐃𝐄𝐍: undecided, though i’m leaning towards maybe spaniard and croatian? pretty sure the face model i chose for him is part italian, though.

𝐋𝐀𝐔𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄: he was difficult for me to decide on, because i feel like canonically he kind of presents as just a tan white man, but i like to think of him as a mix of northern italian and romanian!

𝐂𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐙𝐀: i personally view cadenza as being a little mix of scottish or irish, with her pale skin, ginger hair, and big blue eyes, it just makes the most sense to me.

𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐀: puerto rican mayhapsies?

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐄 & 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄: i’m not sure why, but i always thought of dante and gene as being mixed with being hispanic and asian ever since i was younger. in my subj3 fic, i more specifically wrote them to be half puerto rican and half korean!

𝐒𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐀: russian/eastern european

𝐙𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗: i have a face claim for him, but i haven’t thought of specifics on him yet. i’m leaning towards at least part hispanic, though.

𝐇𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐀: i’m not sure, but definitely european.

𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐃𝐀: since hyria is white, i like to think lucinda is half white and mixed with a little greek and a little indian from her father!

𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐀𝐒𝐇𝐈𝐃𝐀: based on her name and her character design being clearly based off of japanese culture, i view her as being fully japanese!

𝐍𝐈𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐄 𝐕𝐎𝐍 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐆: if not clear by her last name, she is so very clearly german to me. both by her last name and her coloring.

𝐓𝐄𝐎𝐍𝐘: jamacian

𝐊𝐈𝐌: ukranian

𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐄: mostly indian, and a small bit african

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐄𝐋: i don’t know, he honestly just exists in my head. if someone could pls let me know what ethnicity the face model i chose for him looks like, that would be great!! ty!

𝐃𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐈𝐄: mainly dutch!

𝐑𝐘𝐋𝐀𝐍: wasian, i’m so sorry but i haven’t put much thought into specifics for him 

𝐈𝐕𝐘: english

𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐘: half english half spaniard

𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗: surinamese chinese

𝐌𝐈𝐂𝐇𝐈: her name is japanese, but she has that pretty tan skin and those green eyes, so i’d say she’s part japanese, part filipino, and part kazakh! i'm aware her face claim isn't accurate to this, sorry ;^;

𝐄𝐈𝐍: i had a really hard time deciding on him. i feel like he’d also be native american and some puerto rican as well

𝐁𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐎: belgian

𝐈𝐕𝐀𝐍: peruvian

𝐊𝐀𝐈: i think he’d be wasian, ¾ japanese and ¼ irish (ginger)

𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐀𝐍 & 𝐊𝐈𝐊𝐈: brazilian and egyptian

𝐊𝐄𝐍𝐌𝐔𝐑: genuinely i cannot see him as anything other than a nerdy british man so that is what he shall be

𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐘𝐍: very obviously based on her coloring, she is also european of some sort. though, i haven’t decided specifics. it would honestly be so fun if her and kenmur were the stereotypical nerdy british couple though. so cute

𝐋𝐎𝐆𝐀𝐍: scottish

𝐃𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐀: since her village was in the water, an ethnicity from a northern european country by the water made sense to me. perhaps dutch?

𝐘𝐈𝐏: native american

𝐑𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎, 𝐋𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐎, & 𝐋𝐔𝐂𝐀: scottish and dutch

𝐙𝐎𝐄𝐘: tall and sharper features fit the “elven” phenotype, so i think she’d maybe be estonian?

𝐌𝐀𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐇𝐈: undecided

𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐍: undecided, though i’m leaning towards just making him british lol

𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐀: half native american half latina

𝐋𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐆𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐄𝐓: undecided

𝐍𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐊𝐎(𝐍𝐄𝐊𝐎𝐄𝐓𝐓𝐄-𝐓𝐀𝐍): half japanese, quarter korean and quarter hispanic.

𝐃𝐌𝐈𝐓𝐑𝐈: hispanic, korean, and german, though he looks more like dante than nicole.

𝐃𝐀𝐋𝐄: german

𝐌𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐘: french

𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐒 & 𝐁𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐍: german and french (obvi lol)

𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄𝐘: persian

𝐄𝐌𝐌𝐀: german

𝐊𝐘𝐋𝐄: persian and german... i guess? he got most of his looks from his mom

𝐉𝐄𝐅𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐘 & 𝐀𝐁𝐁𝐘: english/british

𝐂𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐈𝐂𝐊𝐄𝐍 𝐒𝐇𝐀𝐌𝐀𝐍 & 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐃: undecided. idek man i just put them in here cause they make me giggle lol

𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐍 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐘: sean

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my posts as your own.

taglist: @wasting-away-on-the-internet @angelhyperfixates @valentique @arienic @dazedbydeath @theaquaticplant @starsbrightly @kalegrinch @izzybella1807

[stellisketches]

if any character in Diaries deserved to have a gun it was Hayden motherfucking Zvahl. That man was from medieval-fantasy florida in the middle of the bumfuck swamp with gators and hellrats and a psychotic perpetually-hammered chicken man and had to put up with more bullshit in however-many-months than a majority of the characters did throughout the entire series, including but not limited to his husband getting shot, a punk ass twink trying to take control of the town, his daughter disappearing, Castor in general, his son dying in the nether, his son getting revived in the nether as a fucked-up hell knight, his daughter moving away five minutes after she randomly showed up again, being betrayed by his guard who is also a shadow knight, getting kidnapped and beat within an inch of his life, finding out his daughter had magicks and was attempted-sacrificed to open a nether portal like 200 feet away from his village, having said village later literally razed to the ground, fighting in a war, and having your son disappear off the face of the earth never to be seen again. All I'm saying is that he deserved to have a gun to shoot any and all things that slightly inconvenienced him after chugging whiskey and smoking 5 packs of cigarettes a day to keep himself from finally snapping and stabbing someone to death with a table leg. Plus it just fits his aesthetic.

[raisunomii]

Laurance zvahl slut of all time I don’t know how Hayden functioned with the kids he did thot son and gay daughter oh my god poor poor man……

[oldmeteli]

wow what a happy family i really hope nothing bad happens to any of them!!

[cinnamontoastcroonch]

discussion time.

topic: JOH ZVAHL.

ok. so. to begin: this man in my head most definitely screams jack sparrow. in the cuntiest way. jack sparrow if he was more tidy+a lord

speaking of him being the lord of meteli; i still think that despite the formality he still has that style—it fits my idea of meteli culture—esp old meteli. just everyone serving pirate realness throughout the village. lots of gold jewelry. leather. blouses. pearls. the works.

ALSO. this is where laurance gets most of his spunk from. this is why he has a lock of hair permanently braided w/ beads (forgive me on the terminology) by his ear. this is why he adores ships and the sea. because that ocean breeze and dry salty air is one of the few places where he can hear whispers of his father. (sobbing).

don’t forget about one of my favorite hcs too.. the necklace/pendant laur has from joh that he NEVER takes off. ever. perhaps i will draw it? stay tuned.

did joh give it to him as a final token of remembrance as he was dying before him? we may never know. mwhahahah angst

god the designs i would do if i had the means for digital art

alas, here are my doodles. just some concepts/ideas.

[strxwberry-swtichblxde]

@laurencezvahlslefteyebrow @cinnamontoastcroonch

Okay Joh :

In personality he’s pretty similar to laurance , aka he got more of his flamboyant nature from joh

Again: he taught laurance how to cook

Probably more of a “chill” parent compared to Hayden

He’s biologically laurances uncle

Really loves his husband

Probably taught cadenza her fashion stuff

Definitely taught laurance lowkey manipulation techniques

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

thinking about how hayden would’ve had to tell cadenza that laurance was gone, trapped in the nether and likely dead

[maziodyne]

tbh to me it makes more sense if cadenza or literally even hayden (because im 90 percent sure hayden was still alive during this) were laurances ties to the overworld. familial love is just as powerful, if not more, than romantic love.

drifted apart or not, those two were the only people laurance had for stability at that point in the story. laurance is inherently protective and paranoid about losing people hes close and dear to; aphmau, to him, really should have been just another girl hes flirted with.

also.... he was a head guard. protector of the lord. after johs death im sure he was even MORE paranoid about losing the next lord on his watch, parental figure or not (though the fact that both joh AND hayden are his adoptive fathers certainly boosts this).

[pheonixdrop]

Joh is Laurence and Cadenza’s original adoptive father. In MCD, he dies and is replaced by Hayden. (All the way back when Laurence is ginger and doesn’t know aphmau if I’m remembering right)

I think that’s bullshit and they should’ve been a gay couple.

BASED AS HELL. Here’s a design for him

[noble-guards]

Mcd Minor Character Tournament

[gonedreaminggg]

crack baby laurance headcanons

- laurance was found like a rat on the street. basically baby cadenza came home one day with laurance tucked under her arm like "can we keep him??? 🥺🥺"

- for a guard, laurance fights DIRTY. yes, he has probably the most professional training in the region, and made the jury of nine list. HOWEVER, he did that to make a grade. when he's in an actual fight, defending what he believes in, he is NOT fighting fair.

- laurance doesn't really remember his bio parents. however, they're from Tu'la, and that's why he has a darker skin tone. I hc laurance as Brazilian, but in the world map i've made of mcd, Tu'la is basically south america.

- what he does remember of his parents is this one song his mother used to sing him. it's in a native Tu'layan language.

- laurance would climb literally everything in Meteli. whether it be trees, houses, the well in the middle of town, both of his feet were NEVER on the ground at the same time.

- cadenza was usually "in charge" of laurance. he would play pranks on her by hiding right when they got called home for dinner. she would end up panicking, and then laurance would have to apologize to both her and hayden.

- laurance eats worms. still does it occasionally as a sad excuse for a party trick. he also used to run around Meteli stepping on ants.

- his wadrobe resembles that of a pirate. Meteli is right on the coast and lots of pirates stop there to restock. sometimes, they end up trading their clothes for other supplies. laurance found their outfits to be extremely cool and bought a lot of pirate clothes for himself.

- cadenza used to feed the stray cats in Meteli. laurance would chase them around with a big ass stick. he only stopped when one time he fell while running and almost impaled himself. cadenza will never let him live that down.

- also BONUS; i mentioned this in my laurance hair essay but it has to be said again. when laurance was 8 his hair was really long and unkempt. one day, him and cadenza were playing in the backyard and she pushed him a bit too hard. he ended up getting his hair stuck in ths chicken wire fence and hayden had to cut him free. after that, he never let anyone touch his hair.

[starhvney]

𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐘

𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆: mcd laurance x fem!reader

𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘: he's lost too many people he's loved, he can't lose you too

𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐒: diaries!laurance, hurt/comfort, laurance and reader aren't explicitly said to have a relationship or feelings for each other but it's implied, reader and laurance are travelling for a mission together

𝐂𝐖: nightmare, descriptions of blood but no specific description of injuries or violence, mentions of character death

𝐀/𝐍: why is it so hard to write endings >:( anyways kind of short drabble but i needed to get this idea out

𝐌𝐀𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐓

before he could ever see anything, he could smell it.

that familiar metallic scent of blood soaking into the ground. he smelled it when joh was shot right under his nose. he smelled it when he was in the nether and the scent of his own blood was his only reminder that he was still alive. when he was barely conscious but felt the life of ungrth draining next to him, that same sickening smell invaded all of his senses.

it can’t be happening again. his chest fills uncomfortably with panic, his rib cage feeling like it could break at the seams and burst through his skin. not again.

one second you were right in front of him, that sweet smile on your lips and that certain sparkle in your eyes that you seemed to reserve just for him. he must have blinked, or turned for only a slight second, but that was enough for you to slip from his fingers and out of his sight.

for a moment he froze. the sight of blood trailing into the dark forest ahead replacing the warm image he had of you just a moment ago. it’s deafeningly silent, before a scream echoes ahead. your scream. his feet carried him forward before he even realized he was moving. wind rushed past his ears and twigs snapped under his feet, your name frantically falling from his lips. he usually ran faster than this. why couldn’t he run any faster?

and the smell. it nearly staggers him to a halt as it hits him like a tidal wave.

he finds you, sprawled in an uncomfortable heap on the forest ground. your chest heaves unevenly, every gasp of air was followed by a pained whimper. and your blood. it was everywhere. smeared across your skin. seeping into the moss below you. there was so much he couldn’t even tell where it was coming from. 

he drops to his knees next to you, lifting you up to hold you in his arms. he moves your hair out of your face, cupping your cheek and rubbing it like it would put more life into the paled, blood-drained color.

“come on. don’t do this to me.” he says through clenched teeth, hoping for some sort of response but getting none.

not you. not you. not you. 

he repeats your name, his voice strangled and desperate. he feels your blood staining into his clothes, that metallic scent seeping into his skin.

he lightly shakes you as he’s once again met with silence. complete silence. your chest doesn’t heave for air, and your body now lays completely limp in his arms.

it feels like suddenly his own blood has been drained, all feeling in his limbs numb as he cradles your body to his chest as you go cold.

no, no, no.

“laurance…? …up…”

no. no. no.

“…wake up. laurance, wake up!”

he shoots up from his bedroll in a panic, barely giving you enough time to move back as he nearly bashes his head into yours. his panicked breaths fill your shared tent as you contemplate reaching out to him.

“woah, woah. it’s okay,” you try to reassure him, leaning over to catch his gaze.

frantic eyes meet yours, and before anything could be said, you’re yanked forward into an almost crushing hug. laurance’s hands grip on to you like you could disappear at any moment. fingers thread through your hair as he holds the back of your head, tucking you into the crook of his neck as his other arm wraps around your waist.

“you were having a nightmare… it’s okay.” you whisper to him, voice slightly unsteady.

you’d never seen him so shaken. not since he thought hayden died, or ungrth sacrificed himself. even then, he managed to keep some sort of composure. now, his muscles tremble and tense weakly, the adrenaline from his dream dissipating and wearing him down.

“…laur-“

“just. stay here. for a moment.” his voice hoarsely strains out.

you go quiet, hugging him back. a few minutes pass like this. with your chest pressed against his, you feel his rapid heartbeat eventually slow to a less panicked pace. he regains some control of his breathing, each breath in your ear shaky and stuttered. 

“what did you dream about?” you ask tentatively. 

he doesn’t respond at first, but you feel his breathing and hesitate pick up for a moment. 

“stay with me.” his voice is muffled in your hair.

“…what?”

“don’t leave my side. don’t go out of my sight for the rest of the journey.”

“we’re only two days away from phoenix drop, i’ll be-“

his arms tighten around you, squeezing some of the air out of your lungs. you try to squirm to get a better look at his face, but you can’t budge even an inch. 

“…okay.” you agree, hoping to calm whatever anxiety had been caused by his dream.

“promise.”

“i promise.”

his grip slowly relaxes again, but he still doesn’t let go. instead, he leans back into his bed roll, taking you down with him. you make a small noise of surprise as he does, grasping into his linen shirt to steady yourself as you practically lay on top of him.

“…do you want to stay like this till morning?” you ask hesitantly, moving your head to finally get a look at his face.

there’s a light sheen of cold sweat across his face, his eyes shut tight as he seemingly tried to focus on his breathing. slowly, he nods, exhaustedly extending his arm out to grab the blanket from your bed roll. he yanks it over you, respectably keeping contact with you while using your blankets as a barrier.

“try to go back to sleep and get some rest.”

you wrap your arms around his neck, running your fingers through his hair and shifting up to tuck your chin over his head. laurance releases a shaky breath, steadying himself as he relaxes further into you. soon you hear nothing but the crickets outside of the tent and his deepened breaths.

“i’ll be here when you wake up.”

©starhvney, 2024. please do not steal or repost my works as your own.