#I hope this reaches ppl

[glitter-in-the-grillcheese]

I think it's interesting how often we trust people to be honest on the internet, despite its reputation for chaos, falsehood and misinformation...

[magnificentmicrowave]

girls nighttttt

[ironunderstands]

Yapping about why I love Aventio and what I feel makes it a great ship 

(If you hate it I urge you to read this, because you don’t have to agree with me, but I want you to get where Aventio shippers are coming from at least)

I’ve just really wanted to talk about why I love Aventio because the people do not get it like I do and GODDD ITS SO GOOD WHEN DONE CORRECTLY UGHHHHH

Also this is gonna be VERY stream of consciousness I do not have a plan besides dragging you through my brain so enjoy the ride.

I guess the best place to start is the fact that Aventurine and Ratio are my two favorite characters in the game. Like even if they have no interactions with each other ever and might as well be from different pieces of media I would ship them, because I like seeing characters I like interact and the fun police cannot catch me. That’s a really shallow personal reason though and I feel like the rest I have will be able to be appreciated by others.

GOD THE DYNAMIC IS SO GOOD RAAAAAA

Two emotional constipated dumbasses circling around each other like black holes trying desperately to deny and run from their feelings when they have both fallen hard. The lack of acknowledgement of feelings on both ends is TRAGIC and it makes me want to rip my eyes out in a good way, let’s start with Ratio.

Unfortunately my glorious king Ratio has been mischaracterized to hell and back but we will get to that (and the Incorrect Reasons Why People Hate Aventio) later. Instead I will go over his actual character; a deeply insecure, intelligent man who desperately wants the rest of the galaxy to come to the realizations he has long since stumbled upon, but has been so isolated from his peers from such a young age that he’s doomed to fail in literally every social interaction he has and be misunderstood by both the audience in universe and irl (the autistic coding isn’t helping him either).

Ratio is tragically misunderstood again, both in universe and by the audience, which is why it means so much that Aventurine Gets Him. Aventurine pushes his buttons, tears down that literal cold marble facade masking the deeply silly and caring man beneath (this man bathes with rubber duckies in the privacy of his own home 😭), and that scares the shit out of Ratio. People aren’t meant to see through him, Ratio acts rude not just because he believes it’s the best way to help people, and because he believes he himself is mundane and the conclusions they come to should be their own, not his.

No, it’s also because on some level Ratio is afraid to be vulnerable around people. As much as he pretends like it doesn’t affect him, Nous’s rejection has hurt and haunted Ratio for his entire life. And I do mean his entire life, even in high school he had already set up a strict routine for himself, something commented on by his teacher, Ratio has quite literally always been striving for some sort of perfection and the fact that he cannot achieve it kills him.

Moreover, the guy just grew up way too fast, he didn’t have time to develop social skills. We see it in that afformentioned relationship with his teacher, in which they recommend Ratio (who is again in high school) to be moved up to college level stuff and transferred due to his success. He has quite literally never been able to just relax in a environment of his peers, Ratio for some reason we don’t yet know has always been dedicated to constant improvement and that leaves no room for dealing with failure.

On some level, he knows this too, that he can never be perfect. Ratio is part of the Mundanites in the Intelligenica Guild for a reason, he doesn’t just see himself as mediocre because he believes everyone is and that’s ok, but also because he looks down on himself for being too mediocre for the Genius Society, being too mediocre for Nous’s acknowledgement, being too mediocre for anything.

Which is tragic because Ratio is very accomplished and he is very smart, and his character stories aren’t even told from his pov, but rather in the style of documentaries and letters (his professor) and other works on his well acclaimed life. We don’t ever get to see how Ratio really sees himself, just the tiny cracks in his marble facade that let the real man behind the character shine through.

Because that’s what he’s playing 90% of the time, a character. Whether it be at the Herta Space Station in which his real goal was to uproot the researchers blind worship of the Genius Society, or in Penacony in which he plays up the arrogant, narcissistic scholar both people in universe and irl make him out to be, both to serve a goal bigger than himself. 

Sincere moments from Ratio are RARE but god are they beautiful, his conversation from Screwllum in 1.6 and his note to Aventurine in 2.1 will forever haunt me in the best way possible. If you want to understand Ratio as a character, yes read his character stories, but just watch that damn scene with Screwllum it is phenomenal. He cares so much and is so, so bad at expressing it, he drives me nuts, Veritas Ratio the man you are. 

And the thing is, it seems like he’s always been playing a character and doesn’t know where the real him ends anymore so he just sticks to the way people perceive him a lot of the time. Like as a kid he was constantly striving to be the best so he missed a lot of necessary developmental shit, and as an adult he’s a celebrity so it’s hard for him to attach himself to others anyways because society and his students will hound him for it.

And then you throw Aventurine into the mix, and oh boy does shit get interesting.

Veritas Ratio, perfect “unfeeling” Veritas Ratio and the one person who gets him well enough to push all his buttons and expose the vulnerable underbelly he thought he hid so well. On a fundamental level, Ratio understands this, which is why he doesn’t bother with the alabaster head, as pretending the real him is just as unfeeling and uncaring is easier.

So he brushes off Aventurine’s jests as if they are an insult to his very existence, he can’t look in Aventurine’s eyes when he “betrays” him because his poker face would break, he leaves as soon as he’s done talking because lingering would allow the weight of their conversations to sink in. Part of it is because for pretty much all of Penacony, up until the note Ratio gives him, Ratio is acting, trying to play up the role of the arrogant, unfeeling scholar to make Sunday buy the betrayal plan, because to Sunday this behavior is signs of a bad relationship between the two (honestly the fact that the audience also interpreted it this way makes me mad like did yall seriously not pay attention, but also happy because if even the players were fooled that means Sunday buying it is believable). 

However, even if it feeds into his insecurities, Aventurine knows that false facade and loves tearing it down. It’s very telling that the second time we see Ratio really freak out (the first being at Herta Space Station) is at the suggestion that he came to narrate Aventurine’s demo not because of knowledge or respect for the show or whatever, but because he genuinely likes the guy. What makes it even better is that Aventurine is the one who suggested it, and already figured out the excuses Ratio was going to use to deny it. Ratio can fool everyone else in the galaxy, but he cannot fool Aventurine, and on a fundamental level that is what makes their dynamic work, because Ratio knows Aventurine in the exact same way.

Aventurine can shove away people who care about him, out of distrust and fear that they will leave him like his family did. He can believe he’s unloveable and a person so detestable that even the actions he performs in order to stay alive condemn him to hate himself as much as the rest of the galaxy hates him. But, Ratio doesn’t see him that way.

Aventurine doubts his intelligence, if he has really earned anything he’s done and in his voiceline about Ratio, doubting if Ratio even sees him as smart or worthy. However, Ratios voiceline about Aventurine is about how he believes Aventurine is smart and worthy, and that his doubt will be his downfall if he doesn’t come to the realization that he isn’t worthless. 

Ratio knows Aventurine’s one weakness, the one thing that could stop him; himself. That’s why he gives him the note urging him to stay alive and keep on living because ultimately Aventurine will only ever fail if he gives up. And The Note Is Enough, Aventurine walks into the event horizon of a black hole, confident he can return alive on the other side because someone cares about him, BECAUSE RATIO CARES ABOUT HIM, and wants him to live on even if Aventurine doesn’t feel that way towards himself.

In the metaphorical and literal manifestation of the meaningless of the universe, in the face of overwhelming nihility, Aventurine survives because someone loves him, and with that love he’s strong enough to brave even that. 

Even if they can’t admit it out loud, these two deeply, deeply care for one another and trust each other perhaps more than anyone else in the narrative. The betrayal plan would have never worked if there was not mutual trust, Ratio wouldn’t have gone to Penacony in the first place if he didn’t trust Aventurine, and Aventurine wouldn’t have asked him to come if he did not trust him. We don’t just see this trust between Aventurine and Ratio either, and Jade and Topaz both trust him with their cornerstones, but ultimately it’s Ratio who’s physically with him the whole time, risking his life alongside him for the sake of their plan. 

As much as people like to ignore it, lying to the Family members, to Sunday, is extremely dangerous and puts Ratio’s life in danger as much as it does Aventurine’s. Ratio is not an irrational person, he wouldn’t have done that if he didn’t have faith Aventurine would succeed, he would not have done if he didn’t think he would return. They have absolutely faith in one another and it’s beautiful. 

Aventurine’s first constellation is named “Prisoner’s Dilemma” for a reason. A social experiment in which two prisoners are captured and separated, if they sell the other one out and remain silent, they go free but the other remains in jail for 20 years. If they both sell each other out, they get a sentence of 5 years. 

But if they both remain silent, trust the other, they even if they physically can’t communicate and don’t know what the other says, they get the best possible outcome, only one year in jail each. It requires a sacrifice on both ends, they both still have to go to jail, but only for a year, and only if they trust each other completely, as if the other sells them out they will be in jail for 20.

The prisoners dilemma relies completely on trust, and it’s the exact situation Aventurine and Ratio face in the Penacony quests. Aventurines doubts if Ratio’s betrayal was real or not, even if he set it up himself, and Ratio worries about Aventurines survival, if continuing this plan will end well. “You can’t expect a featherless bird to take flight” isn’t just Ratio chastising Sunday, he’s genuinely worried that this plan will put Aventurine at too much of a disadvantage to continue on. 

But they both trust each other, and if just like in the Dilemma neither come out completely unscathed (although it’s much worse on Aventurine’s end), they ultimately achieve their goal. 

God is it sweet and corny in the best way possible 

I want to kill this fandoms perception of stoic, emotionless Ratio because once people realize he’s actually the corniest mf ever is the day I sleep easy. He makes statues of himself doing Jojo poses, he plays chess versus himself, he named himself Veritas (truth), he loves rubber duckies, he literally sits in a bathtub couch, and Aventurine breaths and he gets flustered.

Ratio so deeply silly, chronically corny, it’s a crime he needs to be locked up someone stop him. 

And Aven brings that out of him. His teasing reveals the goofball trying so desperately to disguise himself as a serious scholar. Ratio is very smart of course, but that only makes his silliness better, as you watch this absolute genius of a man behave like a tsundere schoolgirl. 

It’s not like Aventurine is some paragon of seriousness either, he’s the one teasing Ratio, fucking around even in a serious mission. Yeah it’s partly because he wants Sunday to think he’s incompetent, but it’s also because Aventurine genuinely is having fun, enjoying himself before the serious part of the plan kicks in, and the meantime he does that by messing with Ratio.

Their dynamic of Aventurine messing with Ratio, and Ratio trying desperately to pretend like it doesn’t affect him is as hilarious and heartwarming as it is tragic, and that dichotomy is why I love them so much. It’s fun and it hurts so so much because their interactions being this flavor of silly leaves almost no room for the sincerity they both desperately need from one another. 

AND GOD I NEED IT TO HAPPEN. RATIO MENTAL BREAKDOWN SCENE PLEAASEEE LET HIS WALLS CRUMBLE PLEEEEAASEE PLEASE PELADE PLEASEEEE EPLES DOLS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA 

They’ve gotten closer and closer and closer and soon something’s gonna snap because they are so close yet so distant and if something doesn’t change the tension is just gonna boil over AND I NEED IT TO HAPPEN. I need more Ratio scenes I need more interactions with him I need him with his guard down I need him to profess out loud that he cares about Aventurine I need him to break please he needs it, it would be so good for him. It doesn’t even have to be from Aventurine, just Ratio snapping and revealing the fucking mess he is under his facade and not being rejected by the people he cares about for it is enough.

I honestly doubt it will happen in the story though, as much as I want it to. Although Aventurine’s character demo somewhat changed my mind against this, I feel like hoyo is like “ok they get the vibe between these two we can move on” and the shippers are left to extrapolate how this relationship would go beyond what it is now. As much as I want a breakdown scene for Ratio in general, it probably wouldn’t happen in a while but devs if you are reading this PLEASEEEE. 

The only time Ratio ever gets slightly out of his element is with Aventurine but I need it to go further because god it would be interesting.

Well I’ve deemed that enough yapping about why I love Aventio (for now 😈) so let’s talk about why people hate the ship and why most of the reasons behind it a fucking stupid. (Massive disclaimer of course you can dislike it it’s just a lot of the “oh it’s a horrible ship and anyone who likes it sucks” shit isn’t grounded in reality in the slightest and I’m tired of the slander)

“Ratio was racist to Aventurine”

Now this is a spicy one because if this post was made in 2.0 I would 100% agree with you (during that time I shipped a non canon version of them in which that did not happen because how dare u do my boy like that hoyo). However 2.1 changed a lot and I mean a lot, and basically reframed the 2.0 quests for everyone.

Essentially, Ratio and Aventurine were both acting in that argument scene, making the things Ratio said to Aventurine not how he really sees him, and actively something Aventurine wanted him to say, so you cannot blame him for what he said. I’m not even joking or exaggerating, retrospectively it quite literally does not make sense if you view it in any other way, and honestly even with just the knowledge of 2.0 the scene doesn’t make sense if played straight, so let’s get to why.

a) Ratio and Racism do not mix fundamentally. Ratio is a person who believes that everyone deserves and education regardless of background, that it is a scholars duty to help others achieve that, and no matter who you are, you are capable of intelligence, learning and becoming the best version of yourself, and that those qualities are just limited to geniuses.

THIS AND RACISM DO NOT MIX. “Oh yeah education and improvement is possible for everyone except this specific group of people for some fucking reason!!” Like not only would this scene being serious contradict Ratios entire character, the man who believes people should not be judged for their educational background judging Aventurine for his educational background (that’s actually what the Sigonian upbringing line meant, it was mistranslated in the EN version)??!?!! Make it make sense.

Moreover, half this perception also come from the fact that hoyo made the incredible writing decision of naming Aventurines planet after a slur for Romani people, so unfortunately literally anytime its name, Sigonia, is brought up you’re essentially saying a slur. It’s much worse in the CN version, in EN it’s not obvious at all, because our version of the slur (it starts with a g and ends with a y that’s all the hints you’re getting), doesn’t look like the version of the slur that the name for Sigonia was derived from, which is partly the source of this misconception as I’m pretty certain most people assumed Ratio (and by extension Sparkle) said a slur elsewhere in the conversation when in reality them referring to Avens ethnicity/background/planet IS the slur.

Anyways terrible writing decisions aside, Ratio supposedly being racist doesn’t just contradict his core motivation, it contradicts his job. He’s a scholar, for fucks sake, and racism is inherently illogical. Mmm yes I’m gonna base my identity around finding truth for myself and I will believe government and social propaganda about specific groups of people! Very logical, very scholarly, we all clapped. 

So yeah, doesn’t make sense on a character level, to the point that in 2.0 I concluded that they must be using Ratio as a plot device in that scene to deliver some of Aven’s backstory to the audience due to how OOC it was for him 😭. However I wasn’t necessarily wrong, Ratio was delivering some of Aventurines backstory to AN audience (not just us), and he was behaving OOC in the 2.0 scene, but it was on purpose.

b) The betrayal plan 

Aventurine forms a plan in which him and Ratio pretend to betray one another in order to sneak the Aventurine cornerstone into the dreamscape by replacing it with the Topaz stone (red herring + black hole scene dialogue implies she and Jade are there for other reasons) and the Jade stone (perfect dupe). 

Now this betrayal hinges on Sunday, their main antagonist buying it, actually believing that Ratio would betray Aventurine on a mission as important as Penacony, and it requires Sunday also buying that he is winning the whole time, that the loss of the cornerstones was somehow a fumble on Aventurine’s end rather than something he planned all along. 

So, they stage the 2.0 conversation. Ratio yells at Aventurine for losing the cornerstones, something which was part of their plan the whole time. He then insults Aventurine’s background allowing Aventurine to reveal key details of his past that Sunday would not have learned otherwise, which he uses in the trial against Aventurine. Seriously, Aventurine only found out he was the last Avgin when he became a Stoneheart, do y’all think Sunday summoned that info with his mind or something during the trial (like do you guys genuinely think Sunday read his wiki or something)

Moreover, Ratio not only insults him, but portrays Aventurine as useless, disposable to the IPC because he is apparently already sentenced to death. Why does he do this? Well, so Sunday feels confident enough to do the same to Aventurine. Seriously, sentencing an IPC member, especially a high ranking one to death is a risky move, even for someone as convicted as Sunday, he would need the confidence to do so and learning Aven might already die would give him that ability. 

Because well, it doesn’t matter that much if he’s already going to get disposed of in the near future. I also think the IPC plans to use Aventurine’s “death” as leverage against the family because they were pleased to hear of his death sentence according to Dr. Ratio, meaning a) he likely did not have one from them at the time, although in the past he was sentenced to death and b) even if Aventurine succeeded in getting the cornerstone his seeming loss in the rest of the conversation wasn’t actually a loss at all, getting sentenced to death/“dying” at the very least was part of the plan all along as the IPC could still use it as leverage if things went south.

Continually, Ratio treating Aventurine in the exact same sh1tty way the rest of the galaxy does perfectly slots him into the arrogant, uncaring scholar role, which Sunday knows are some of the most easily manipulated people in the galaxy, considering he tries to bribe Ratio with knowledge about Stellarons it seems he bought this idea hook line and sinker. Sunday isn’t even subtle about it either “I heard you and your companion haven’t been getting along lately” where did he hear that from? Ratio didn’t tell him, and even though we know Sunday was 100% watching the two of them on their little adventure pre-meeting him (the bird and hound statues) that scene hasn’t happened yet so where did he get that from?

Some other interesting proof for it is that the Final Victor lightcone likely depicts Aventurine trying to convince Ratio of this plan of his, the events of which must occur  pre-Penacony for several reasons, the least of which being that we just never see it happen on Penacony which if you think it did we would see it. Moreover lightcones are canonically condensed memories and the Final Victor lightcone released in 2.0, meaning it’s the memory of something that happened before then. 

All signs point to the 2.0 scene, the one people use to paint Aventio as toxic being staged. And I have so much more evidence for this, (Ratio would never agree to go without a plan, Aven clearly formed his pre-Penaocny, so much of the plan like Ratio opening the cornerstone box, which he can’t do up until the betrayal as it’s in Sundays possession, rely on him arriving knowing how to do so, the time discrepancies, the complete 180 in personality Ratio would have to do to go from distrusting Aventurine to putting his whole faith in him, etc), but I will reupload one of my old slideshows to elaborate more on it. Basically the one thing that people use to say it’s toxic is not true and is in fact a greater show of the trust between those two. 

“The shippers are all weird and racist” 

Now this one actually has some truth to it because yes there are some incredibly fucking weird Aventio shippers and I do not blame yall for disliking them.

HOWEVER, most Aventio shippers are normal and hate that shit just as much as you guys do. Like do you realize most shippers also really like these characters and have something insane called morals so they don’t automatically excuse racist fujoshi goobers just because they are making content for their favorite ship. Trust me someone doing that pisses me (and most other Aventio shippers) off significantly more than people who hate the ship. Also free Ratio from this shit man poor guy is getting mischaracterized as a slaveowner by his fans and haters 😭

And like guys, have you ever been in a fandom before, like ever? Weirdos are always gonna be weird and it’s not Aventio’s fault they are this months victims. For a fun little example of how gross other fanbases can be, one of the most popular Overwatch ships on ao3 is Genji Shimada X Hanzo Shimada WHO ARE BLOOD RELATED BROTHERS. THERES LIKE 300+ FICS OF IT, SHIMADACEST IS LITERALLY A TAG ON THERE. I WAS IN THE TRENCHES SEARCHING FOR GENJI HANZO ANGST FICS (Hanzo killed Genji it’s complicated doomed siblings will always get me) AND HAVING TO COMB THROUGH THOSE ABOMINATIONS IN THE PROCESS.

Like please I’m relatively new to fandom culture but yall cannot be acting like this is weird for fans to do, it’s weirdo behavior but it is not unique to the HSR fandom or even Aventio. And even if understandably this makes you not like the ship, don’t paint the people who enjoy it as being the people who do this kinda sh1t. It’s not our fault peak gets tainted by miserable creatures ok, let normal ppl have their harmless fun and stop lumping people together into a monolith. 

?????

Well that’s it that’s all the “valid” reasons people have for hating Aventio, at least the ones I can remember. Everything else is just personal opinion and not at all an objective reason.

“They’re so sibling coded!”

Anyways again obviously you can still dislike it not everything is for everyone, I really just wanted to make this post to demonstrate why I and many others like it, and why the reasons people use to say it’s problematic are incorrect. Feel free to call it mid, block it whatever I don’t care, just don’t harass shippers for having some harmless fun, because the characters aren’t real but the people who like them are and in doing so you are really just being a jerk for no reason. If you somehow hate Aventio and read this the whole way through I congratulate you on your ability to actually listen to other people, and regardless of whether you changed your mind or not I respect you for doing so anyways. Thanks for reading and I would love to hear your thoughts. 

[lylahammar]

I’m so happy I’m fat 🥰 I love grabbing substantial handfuls of my tummy and feeling its comforting weight 💕 I love shaking my body around and feeling myself jiggle like pudding 💖 I feel really sexy when I wear bodycon outfits and fill them out, or let my fat rolls peek under my crop tops ❤️‍🔥 I love that my my body is a comfortable place for my girlfriend to lay, and that I can carefully squash the lights outta her when she wants pressure 💘 I love that my body fat keeps me warm when the power goes out during a winter storm and our house gets down to 32 degrees inside 💗 I’m so glad that I got over my teenage obsession with staying skinny and grew into a fat and happy adult 😊

[tenderlyhands]

just a little appreciation for my current fave enbys from one enby to another :)

[skylie-spiderlillis]

Turns out Charles' cross earring is not really a cross?

I don't know if anyone noticed if it was obvious I just always thought it was a cross (maybe because I never wear my glasses lol).

I have been looking at Charles' photos to get a better look at his cross earring for cosplay purposes and then I discovered it's not a cross at all-

(yeah tumblr's quality is not the best but if you will find a high quality photos you can see it better, it's clearly not a cross).

It looks like some kind of a four- pointed star with elongated lower point? What sure as hell it doesn't look like a cross to me.

Does anyone know this symbol and what it means?

It makes a lot more sense for his character it's not a cross actually, I don't really see him as the cross wearing type personally.

[drivebypainter]

Hey my fellow SVSSS enjoyers! I need a little help!

So I wanted to give Shang Qinghua a nickname/name of endearment in this fic, but I really don’t want it to be connected to his courtesy name (For some reason I feel like it cheapens the endearment if SQH gets “A-Hua” when SQQ gets to be “A-Yuan”).

However, I know that Shang Qinghua doesn’t have a canonical real name outside of his Peak Lord name, so I was wondering if anyone has any ideas for a pre-transmigration name I could give him? Triple the kudos if you can give me both a pre-transmigration name and a pre-peak lord name.

[transmechanicus]

Really fucked up that two ppl can care about each other and make their best efforts to communicate and still end up hurting each other so badly they cannot stand to be in the same room.

[kamaluhkhan]

im working on a new luke series inspired by my tsitp one where reader was actually the prophecy kid, left camp afterwards for a while to have a normal life (potentially started a band 👀) and then this summer has to come back....lots of romantic tension with luke + summer vibes + childhood friends to lovers fluff

SO reader has to be a child of one of the big three AND i want reader to have a younger brother....it's either gonna be daughter of poseidon (younger brother would be none other than percy jackson himself 🌊) or hades (for books fans this would mean more cameos from our goth gay bb, nico di angelo 🖤 and his sunshine boy will solace ☀️)

[shedidntevenswear]

Something about karlie fucking kloss being in the audience when taylor announces a rerecord that her buddy sc**ter made necessary in the first place irritates me to no end

[corallapis]

*NOT necessarily your current favorite. (also, for the purposes of this poll, 10/yana does not count as a version of d/m prior to 10/simm. aka if nuwho s3 was your introduction to d/m, count 10/simm as the first version you saw.)

please feel free to elaborate on the exact moment that made you ship it in the tags!

[plan-3-tmars]

thinking about how in kazui's first birthday timeline he tells haruka that he enjoys his birthday because it gives him a good excuse to start a conversation with friends he hasn't seen in a while,,

"Hey, it feels like it's been a while, doesn't it? /

Oh, by the way, it's my birthday today. / Want to have a smoke together?

- 2023 Bday Timeline with Shidou

"Well, come over if you feel like it. Staying alone all the time will make you feel down. I can keep you company if you need to relieve some stress."

- 2024 Bday Timeline with Mikoto

[orviposition]

yoo joonghyuk is lucky kim dokja said that no matter how dirty or smelly or unkept yoo joonghyuk is he would still look hot because the entirety of astronaut arc raises some extreme concerns regarding yoo joonghyuk's personal hygiene

[anguishmacgyver]

[cosmobrain00]

sorry but characters whimpering in pain has gotta be the hottest thing ever can we all agree

[rosedforbes]

made another drabble for my dearest @galvanizedfriend !! just like the other one, it's connected the Yokan's series THE WOLF on AO3!! this time, I'm bringing Kol + child!Eve to the table :)

DISCLAIMERS: Eve is NOT my character; English is NOT my first language; please, be nice 🙏

He misses being a witch with his whole being, would even trade a sibiling or two just to spend one single day with pure magic flowing through his veins again. However, he can't help but admit that being a vampire has its perks.

Most people only focus on immortality, conviced that the possibility of becoming as old as dirt really is the best part of being a vampire, but Kol has learned that it's more of a curse rather than a blessing, especially if you had to spend half of it closed in a dusty box. Some of them, the slightly smarter ones, believe that the strength and the speed are the real gifts of vampirism, alongside the over-developed hearing. It makes sense, Kol thinks, particularly for the ones who lived like a prey for all of their life, constantly devoured by the thought that their next breath might be the last.

But his personal favorite, the one that everyone seems to forget about, is the ability to get into someone's mind.

Truth is, it doesn't really work the way people expect it to, just looking in their eyes and – poof, I know that you think about your ex whenever you look at your new flame, Susan. No, it's a bit more complicated than that, but when you're as old as Kol, you learn a trick or two to make sure that even the strongest mind will fold at your touch.

Even though Kol is so fond of this little advantage, he never feels the need to use it with Caroline. Nobody does.

She is his favorite member of their twisty and cursed family — not that he will never admit it out loud, not to her, certainly not to Rebekah — but God, that girl could have a stake pointed at her big golden heart and she'd still be unable to lie. Caroline Forbes excels at so many things, but concealing her thoughts and feelings will never be one of them.

And that's why he's counting the minutes that will take her to walk inside his room and ask whatever the bloody hell she wants.

It was funny when he reached five minutes. A little less when he got to fifteen. Very annoying when he counted twenty. By the time the thirty hit, his patience was already five meters under the ground.

"Finally," Kol exclaims in relief as soon as she enters the room. "I was beginning to think that you'd forgot how a door works." he says, earning nothing but a dirty glare.

"Ha-ha, very funny," Caroline mocks, although he can see how she's trying to hide a little grin. "I need a favor."

Kol dramatically gasps, placing his hand on his chest. "You don't say! Color me impress-"

"Can you watch Eve?" Caroline cuts him out, not really feeling the need to listen to the rest of his mockery.

Kol stares at her for a minute, blinking repeatedly while moving his head a little to the side, like a confused puppy. "You waisted half an hour of your time just to ask me that?" He says, visibly impressed and annoyed.

Caroline huffs, fixing a loose curl behind her ear. "I'm sorry, it's just... I used to leave her at the camp with Mary, so she could go around and play with other kids all day and eat all the sweets she wants — even if they both deny it." She drawls around an eye-roll. "But since we got you all back, Eve has been reluctant to go there." She explains, looking at him with a mixture of exhaustion and...fondness.

Kol gives her a small, tight-lipped smile, with his eyes firm on his fidgeting hands.

He lied before. Caroline is on the podium, but she's not his number one of the family. No, that place has been taken by a little girl who made him realize that maybe Nik's mischievous grins, accompanied by a pair of dimples and witty eyes, are not so bad, after all.

Ever since they got back, his niece has been looking at him and at the rest of sibiling with a look full of curiosity and eagerness, like a kid who discovers that there are different types of chocolate and can't wait to taste them all.

The situation is still a bit unsteady and Kol is constantly busy doing something from dawn until dusk, but whenever he goes home to catch a moment and maybe grab a bag of B+, he always finds Eve with at least one of his siblings.

Of course, most of the time, it's Nik, and he really can't blame either of them. He would've never put his money on it, but Niklaus does make a great dad, although he knows most of the credits go to Caroline and Eve rather than his brother.

Still, if she's not with the brother with anger issues, then Eve is with the one with the commitment ones, making pancakes with more rainbow sprinkles than flour. They are good, and it always takes him a minute to debate if he should keep it to himself and not give Elijah his satisfaction, or if he should admit it to see a proud smile breaking through his niece's face.

If she's not making diabetes-azard-pancakes with that retired-looking-lawer, then Eve is with either Freya or Rebekah, playing with the light of the oldest's candles and giving opinions about some old fashion style with the youngest.

Kol knows what she's doing. She wants to compensate for the time they have lost together. It makes him joyful and bitter at the same time.

he snaps back to reality when Caroline starts to talk again. "Klaus and I have to go meet Bonnie to talk about some of the spells of the house, while Freya, Elijah and Rebekah are going on a journey to see another witch who thinks can find a way to make us immune to Marcel's venom." She rambles. "And besides, you two hadn't been together for a while. She misses you."

Kol feels a pang through his chest, looking at Caroline with guilty eyes. "I'm... sorry. I've never meant to make her feel ignored or disengaged, I had so many-"

"Kol," she says softly, showing him a comforting smile. "I know — Eve knows. I'm not blaming you, I just thought this would be an opportunity for you to both take a break and spend some time with her."

"I..." Kol gulps, trying to recollect himself. "Of course. You don't even have to ask, Caroline. You know I'd never say no."

Caroline sighs contently as she gently squeezes his hands as a form of gratitude. "Thank you, Kol."

──────

"You're thinking about it too much, Spawn. You're so focused on the words that you forget to actually put energy into it." Kol explains to her, looking down at the two leather cords.

How did he end up in this situation?

"Come on, Unc' Kol!" Eve whines. "You always say that your knowledge about magic is so vast that it would take you five lifetimes to write it all down!"

Kol keeps pretending to read the newspaper, a tactic that he had to muster to protect himself from his niece's puppy eyes. He has seen tons of them during his life, either on the face of his victims a moment before their last breath, or when his lovers tried to convince him to take their relationship to another level, deluded by the thought that they could change him, fix him. Ironically, both situations ended with Kol walking away from a corpse with a full stomach.

With Eve, though... He always finds himself incapable of not obliging. Kol really doesn't know how she does it. He's half convinced that Eve actually knows more magic than she lets them see, and she found a spell that helps her bewitch everyone with a single look.

"And I stand by that," Kol tells her. "But your parents are going to kill me if I teach you a new spell without their approval and supervision." He points out, and really, he can hardly recognize himself. He was never one to follow the rules — actually, more the reason why they were created, due to his wild and chaotic spirit. But now... He spent centuries trapped in a box, and so the last five years. He has no intention of going back in a coffin.

"Well, good thing you're immortal, then!" the little devil says, giving him a large, not-so-innocent smile.

Kol lowers the newspaper enough to show Eve his scowl. "You are hilarious, Spawn."

she huffs in defeat. "Please, Unc' Kol," she says in a sad voice, looking at him with those puppy eyes he tried so hard to avoid. "Just one?" She repeatedly flaps her eyelashes at him, just to give him the final blow.

Kol drums his fingers on the table near him for about a minute before sighting in resignation. "Fine, you win!"

Eve's anger brings him back to the present. "it's not my fault! These cords are broken!" she takes the latters in her firsts. "I told you we should've gone with the resurrection spell." She grumbles, giving him a pout.

Kol replies with an arched eyebrow, not falling for the cute scowl like he did for the puppy eyes. "And I told you I'm not teaching you any of that stuff until you're at least sixteen." he replies while taking the cords from her hands. "Besides, how do you think you will succeed doing a spell as complicated as the resurrection one, when you're having troubles with the basics?" He says to provoke her.

Usually, Eve is the type of person to always pick up a dare. Just like her mother, whenever someone tells her she can't do something, she will do everything in her power to prove them wrong. Most of them use this little trait of her for their own advantage — such as daring her to eat all the vegetables in less than fifteen minutes, for instance.

This time, though... Kol expected to receive a glare from Eve, followed by a performance of her rolling up her sleeves and getting ready to try again the spell; instead, she stares at him for a few seconds before looking down at the cords, her eyes brimes with tears.

Kol has been walking on this earth for longer than a millennium, but he never felt as much guilt as right now. "Sweetheart, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh..." He coos as he covers her tiny face with his hands.

Eve sniffs while trying to take down a sob. "It's not fair! I'm trying so hard, Unc' Kol, I swear," she wispers the last words, and Kol is sure he heard his heart breaking. "But it doesn't matter how hard I try, I can't get it right! Is something wrong with me?" she asks with such a sadness in her tone that hits him worse than a white oak dagger.

"Spawn, there is nothing wrong you." He coos as he washes off a stained tear on her cheek. "Despite your uniqueness, you are still a young witch. I have met witches from all over the world, during different stages of their life, and trust me when I say that most of those of your age have troubles lighting up a candle. A linking spell is already hard for a seventeen years old witch, let alone for one who's seven."

Eve gently pulls away from him, rubbing her hands on her face to wash away the remaining of her breakdown. "Seven and a half." She mumbles, and Kol can't help but let out a low chuckle.

"Listen... let's take a break, mhm?" Kol says as he stands up. "We will get you a piece of cake, and then we will come back to chords. Deal?" He asks, giving her a little grin.

Eve is about to say yes, but she suddenly has a change of heart, narrowing her adorable eyes at him. "I want half a cake."

"You'll get diabetes, darling."

"Aunt Freya can cure me."

"It doesn't work like that."

"Fine. Then we'll call Aunt Bonnie, too."

"Won't make any difference."

"You just made me cry!" she protests, giving him a daring look. come on, she's saying, try to say no again.

Kol lets out an exhausted sigh. "Three pieces of cake. Take it or leave it."

His exasperation must be showing on his face, because Eve gives him a sympathetic little smile before nodding. "Deal."

He picks her up with the same ease he would use to lift up a feather, before walking in the kitchen while thinking about a way to blame on Freya — or Elijah, but that's plan B — the missing third of the cake.

──────

Kol felt something tugging down at his jacket just as he hunged up with Caroline. As soon as he turns around, he's welcomed by a very proud smile on Eve's face, accompanied by her little hands holding up a knot. "I did it! " she almost screams with excitement as she goes on her tiptoes to show him better her achievement. "I made the linking spell!"

Looking down at the jumpy young girl in front of him, so proud of herself and eager to see his reaction... it does some little tricks to his wicked heart. It's something completely new, Kol doesn't even know how to call it, or if there's even a name to such emotion. This thing inside his chest... it feels quite like pride, but it's not it. Kol knows that feeling all too well, maybe for the wrong reasons, but nonetheless, he's very familiar with it. This is something more. A mix of emotions that he has never felt since he turned into the beast he is today, more than a millennium ago.

He crunches down to Eve's eye level, giving her a knowing grin. "See? I told you, Spawn, you just needed to let it go. Feel the magic running through your veins, surrounding your body every single day." he tells her with a tone that is supposed to be comforting and soft, but judging from Eve's change of expression, he can tell she felt the bit of melancholy that accidentally slipped in.

"Unc' Kol..." She begins while looking down at the strong, knotted cords on her hands, as if she can't bear to look him directly in the eyes. "Do you think I'll lose it? The magic, the connection we have." She wispers the last sentence, almost like she's scared to jinx it.

"Of course not, Eve. Why would you?" Kol asks as he gently takes the tie from her grasp, an attempt to regain her attention back to his face.

"Mom lost it when she became a vampire. You did, too." she says as she switches her look back to him. "Will I lose it too, when I'll turn?"

That unknown, but not unwelcome, feeling he had before is suddenly replaced by something uglier, a storm of emotions he knows to heart, even though he has never shown it on the outside. Confusion, concern, panic, sadness. All of them are roaming free through all his body like it's a damn highway. Eve was talking about a deadly disease like it's just a band-aid a few seconds ago, giving it for granted. How did they come to this? how did she?

For the first time in his life, Kol finds himself at loss for words. Eve is seven, for God's sake. She's not supposed to think about this stuff. Hell, she's not even supposed to know. Despite his childish nature, Kol is not familiar with kids, but he's sure they're supposed to play with crayons and beg for candies before bedtime instead of worrying about the day they will die.

Eve, a child after her mother's heart, can't handle the silence very well, so she decides to take word after watching Kol's failed attempts to say something — anything. "I know what I am, Unc' Kol. I'm a tribid, which means I'm part witch, part werewolf, and part vampire. Now I'm just a witch, but eventually, I'll turn into the other two, too. I am fine with that — it's not like i can change what i am — I just... I don't want to lose this," she says as she lights up a candle near them with a flick of her fingers. "In the process." She concludes, looking at him like she's expecting something. Comfort, reassurance. A bunch of pretty, soft words that will put at rest her big heart.

It's not like Kol doesn't want to send away these demons that are roaming inside her thoughts, on the contrary. He just... refuse to lie to his niece.

Eve is the very definition of loophole. A child born from an original hybrid and a former witch who managed to cure herself and her mother while she was still in the womb. It's thanks to her if Caroline is still here with them, if those furries in flannels have the powers of a hybrid without the need to put an end to their pathetic life. You would expect that, with this background, she can survive everything. Always victorious, with zero defeats in her path. But the wicked truth is... nobody knows.

Eve has always been full of surprises, and Kol doubts she'll ever stop to leave them impressed, but that also means that they don't know how to protect her. Does she have a weak spot? All of the power she has, will it destroy her? do they have to keep living like this, in the shadows, to keep her safe?

He wants to cradle her between his arms, kissing her forhead, and telling her that she doesn't have to worry about anything. that nothing will ever be able to hurt her. that her magic will always be a constant. But he can't. Because he knows, deep down, that turning into a tribid — killing to be a werewolf, dying to be a vampire — is a matter of when, not of if. and the worst part is... a side of him is relived at the thought that she will turn into something eternal, immortal. And Kol is disgusted by himself.

What kind of person finds comfort into thinking that the sweetest girl to ever exist will turn into a walking corpse?

Kol's head is pounding. This is too much. it's not his place to talk about it, not before Nik and Caroline.

"Don't tell your mother, but I know where she hides the Froot loops," Kol says, a pathetic way to slip out of this conversation. It's lame, he knows, but his mind was still too occupied to put at ease those dark thoughts. "And if you ask nicely, I might give you more than one bowl." he offers as a little and playful grin, which doesn't quite reach his eyes, appears on his face.

Eve is silent for a few minutes with an expression he can't decipher,  no matter how hard he tries, before offering him an understanding smile. "Let's go, Unc' Kol." She says while taking his hand in hers.

He stands up and follows her to the kitchen, but his eyes are fixed on their jointed grip. Eve is actually holding three of his fingers, her little hands disappearing into his own. Kol wishes he could do the same with those worries that are festering Eve's mind. Just put them into his hand and make them... disappear.