fandom: witch hat atelier (tongari boushi no atorie)
characters: qifrey, olruggio, original male character, (mentioned) beldaruit
relationships: qifrey & original (child) male character, olruggio & original (child) male character, (hinted) qifrey x olruggio
tags: fluff, sfw, original character (oc) insert, original male character, original child male character, general backstory details, found family, platonic relationships, future dads, major manga spoilers (chapters 90+)
word count: 1044 words
series: tales of an atelier: light of dawn
masterlist: tumblr masterlist
description:
First came fear.
Second came curiosity.
Third came attachment.
part 1, part 2, [part 3], tba.
author's note:
major manga spoilers! from chapters 80-90 onward (i forgot the specific chapter number, sorry).
this is my favorite out of the three parts that i wrote. i love qifrey's character so much and i love exploring how his brain works.
The first time that Qifrey set eyes on Eos, the first emotion that coursed through him wasn’t confusion or even surprise. No—it was something far more raw.
Fear.
He could still remember the way his hands shook under his sleeves, eyes widening slightly as he struggled to control his expression. He couldn’t let anyone see the way his face fell—the way his body grew rigid as he looked at a boy who seemed so similar to him it made him feel scared.
One thought ran through his head like a repetition spell set to loop forever.
‘Is he also cursed?’
A part of him wondered if it would be a good thing, to find another cursed person. It could serve as a lead towards the people who did this to him in the first place—who planted the horrid parasite that still writhed in his body like worms.
However, a larger part of him hoped—prayedto any god that might exist somewhere out there—that his suspicions were unfounded and false.
‘Please god,’ he silently begged, ‘don’t let this child suffer the same pains I do.’
He doesn’t remember when Beldaruit approaches them. He doesn’t even think he properly greeted his former master. All he can remember was learning the boy’s name.
Eos.
In the olden languages, it meant <i>dawn</i>—a visual embodiment of new beginnings.
Distantly, Qifrey wondered if the same meaning could be applied to the young boy.
His body moved before his mind could fully comprehend what he was doing, and next thing he knew, he was crouched down in front of the boy’s apprehensive form, introducing himself in a soft voice that he hoped didn’t waver.
The way the boy seemed to close himself off reminded him so painfully of his younger years that it made his chest ache from something other than the branches that lingered beneath his skin.
‘Do not be like me,’ he whispered desperately inside his heart, ‘never become like me.’
Seeing the boy’s apprehensive look, Olruggio decided to do what they did best: magic. The spell was simple—a temporary ball of light conjured from his palm quire. It wasn’t anything grand or fantastic—nothing like the spells Olruggio usually performed—but the way Eos’ eyes lit up… it was as if a whole new world of wonders opened its doors right in front of him.
For a moment, curiosity overrode his initial fear almost completely.
The boy, at least at the time, was four years old. He had lived in the Great Hall throughout his entire life, and yet a single light spell was enough to make his eyes widen with wonder. The spell was incomparable to any of the theatrical spells Beldaruit usually performed for the children, and given how the old man spoke of the boy, he had obviously frequented this place and seen said spells numerous times.
So what was it that made the boy so enamoured by a light spell?
The more Qifrey thought about it, the more intrigued he felt.
Just like that, the page was turned, and another variable was unexpectedly added into Qifrey’s life.
They visited the Great Hall again the next day, then the day after that, and after that—
Despite Qifrey’s complicated and mostly negative feelings towards the underwater fortress, he still came back, each and every time, all so he could come visit the little boy with white hair and blue eyes of differing shades. He wasn’t being subtle about his growing attachment to the boy—he was more than aware that it was near impossible for him to hide it by the second consecutive day he came back to Argentgard.
He could see it in the way his mentor smiled at him as he passed by to pick up Eos for another “tour”. Qifrey wasn’t covering up anything—and somehow, he was okay with that.
It didn’t take long before they found out more details about Eos—specifically, information regarding this condition. The hair and the eyes weren’t just pure genetics—well, they were, in a sense, but it was from some form of mutation.
Qifrey could still remember the way his breath hitched when Beldaruit told them about it. It was different from his own condition—the base origins, at the very least—but he still couldn’t help but instinctively feel afraid.
Fear of the implications—fear that the young child would suffer the same way he does even if they didn’t share the same curse.
It was around that point that Qifrey realized he had grown far too attached.
One evening, as he and Olruggio sat at the dinner table, he found his mind drifting towards the what-if’s and the maybe’s. His thoughts kept going back to Eos’ bright smile—the way he would hold onto their hands during their walks, the way he would stare in awe at even the simplest of things—
Selfishly, terribly, Qifrey began to wonder, ‘If I take in a child like that, will the silverwood calm its writhing?’
The amount of self-interest behind those thoughts made Qifrey feel sick. The boy didn’t deserve someone like him—someone who was thinking of taking him in just for his own selfish gain. Eos deserved someone who would love him wholly and unconditionally—not for some ulterior motive like this.
Then, his eyes drifted up towards Olruggio, and the storm that brewed inside his mind faltered.
If they took him in… then at least Olruggio wouldn’t be alone anymore.
He might not have the purest of intentions, and he didn’t know if he could love Eos the way he deserved.
However, Olruggio was different. He had seen the way the other man looked at the young child—the way his eyes narrowed with a fondness so unfiltered it was unmistakable.
Qifrey might not be able to love Eos the way he deserved, but he knew that at least Olruggio could.
The words escaped him before he could even hesitate.
“... Should we… take him in…?”
The next day, when they came back to the Great Hall, they offered their hand towards Eos.
An offer for safety—an offer of home.
Looking back, despite everything, Qifrey could never bring himself to regret his choice.
fandom: witch hat atelier (tongari boushi no atorie)
characters: qifrey, olruggio, original male character, (mentioned) beldaruit
relationships: qifrey & original (child) male character, olruggio & original (child) male character, (hinted) qifrey x olruggio
tags: fluff, sfw, original character (oc) insert, original male character, original child male character, general backstory details, found family, platonic relationships, future dads
word count: 1258 words
series: tales of an atelier: light of dawn
masterlist: tumblr masterlist
description:
First came surprise.
Second came fondness.
Third came affection.
part 1, [part 2], part 3, tba.
author's note:
thank you for taking interest and reading! honestly i had a bit of fun trying to figure out how to write this. hopefully i can finish the next idea i have soon!
When they came to visit the Great Hall for supplies that had gone out of stock in Kalhn, the last thing that Olruggio expected to see was a young boy sitting by the roots of one of the silverwood trees of Argentgard. His hair was cut short, though the uneven parts of it made it seem as if it was out of necessity rather than preference. His lack of bangs made it so that his eyes were impossible to hide—one of them was a brilliant shade of light blue, while the other was a darker shade of the same hue.
The first time Olruggio spotted him, he had to look twice to see if what he was seeing was real.
The boy was a spitting image of the man that stood next to him—of Qifrey.
It was almost uncanny how similar they were at first glance. If the boy’s hair was longer, Olruggio would probably question whether or not they had accidentally walked through a wormhole that sent them into the past rather than the entrance to the Great Hall.
As Olruggio stared, he could see Qifrey stiffen from his peripheral vision. Olruggio could only guess that he had spotted the boy as well, and was just as surprised as he was when he realized that it was like staring into a mirror of the past.
When he looked, however, Qifrey’s face was largely unreadable—like a blank slate of marble.
If Olruggio stared for longer though, he could almost see the way Qifrey’s eyes grew wider by just a fraction—how his eyes shook just enough to be barely noticeable.
To him, that reaction was more surprising than the boy.
Was he… afraid?
As for why he would be—Olruggio had no clue.
At some point, Beldaruit had spotted them and began making light conversation after sending the other children off to play amongst themselves for a while. That’s when Olruggio learns of who the boy is.
Eos, no last name. He was an orphan of entirely unknown origins, found at the steps of the orphanage he’s lived in his whole life. No one knew who his parents were, and any speculation they originally had faltered from lack of evidence.
The more Olruggio listened, the more the boy reminded him of the man who stood right next to him.
They weren’t exact copies of each other, but the similarities felt so strong it was almost uncanny.
Surprisingly—although Olruggio thought that he really shouldn’t be surprised at all—it was Qifrey who approached the boy first.
Olruggio could still remember the way Eos’ face lit up in that innocent child-like wonder when he conjured a small ball of light from his palm quire. If such simple magic could make the child smile like that, then Olruggio couldn’t help but wonder how big that smile would grow if he showed him other spells he’s created over the years.
That was how it all began—their little song and dance.
They would come back to visit the Great Hall a number of times, trying to subtly seek out Eos. Something about the boy drew them in more than they could ever admit out loud, though given the way Beldaruit watched them from afar, Olruggio had a feeling that they were being the complete opposite of the word subtle. They pretended that they wanted to be shown around the winding streets of the fortress—even though they knew its pavement like the back of their hand, just like any other witch who grew up here at some point in their lives. It was a flimsy excuse to try and spend more time with the young child, but said child didn’t seem to mind at all.
A part of Olruggio wondered if it was because they were the first people to genuinely show that they wanted to spend time with him specifically. From what he had observed, Eos was a lonely child, often sitting in the corner while other children played just a few ways away. Never too far, but always just out of reach.
The thought of it made something inside him ache.
It didn’t help that the more they interacted, the more fond Olruggio grew. He discovered that, despite his body’s tendency to easily tire and leave him out of breath, the boy surprisingly loved to wander around outside and just… admire things. From the occasional flower growing through the cracks to even moss clinging onto the side of a rock. It was strange how easily infatuated the child was.
It made him all the more endearing, though Olruggio never had the heart to admit it at the time.
He knew that the more time they spent together, the more attached he grew towards Eos.
How could he not, when the boy smiled in such a lovable way at even the simplest of things?
It was another difference between Eos and a younger Qifrey. Eos was truly a cheerful little ball of light, once you let him come out of his shell. It was a sharp contrast to how gloomy Qifrey used to be when they were younger.
‘He’s also more well-behaved,’ Olruggio sometimes mused to himself.
Olruggio really ought to stop comparing the two. They had no relation to one another, other than the similarities in appearance, although Eos’ white hair and light eyes were apparently a result of some genetic condition—though it was hard for anyone to fully conclude when they didn’t even know where Eos came from—or, rather, who.
It answered a lot of their questions, to an extent—like why Eos’ lighter blue eye seemed to gleam red under certain lighting. It was simply because his eyes lacked a lot of color, so the blood beneath it shined through—something like that.
It wasn't anything dangerous, though some children found him scary regardless.
Children tended to fear what they couldn't quite understand, and Eos, in their eyes, was akin to a strange anomaly. In turn, Eos seemed to readily accept being pushed to the side and would rather stay away if being close meant making others uncomfortable.
Beldaruit had apparently tried to integrate Eos back into interacting with others his age, but any and all efforts proved futile. It was difficult to get the boy to open up to his peers when he had been rejected so vehemently in the past.
It was probably why he stuck to Qifrey and Olruggio like glue.
To Eos, almost all Great Hall witches were untrustworthy because they distrusted him simply for how he looked. However, in his eyes, Qifrey and Olruggio were not witches of the Great Hall. They were something unprecedented in Eos’ mind, and that made him more willing to give his precious trust.
Olruggio held that trust in the palm of his hands like it was made of the most delicate of glass.
At some point, while eating dinner back in the atelier that, at least by that point, held no actual apprentices, Qifrey suddenly asked the question that had unknowingly been burning in the back of Olruggio's mind as well.
“... Should we… take him in…?”
Just like that, a decision was made that same night.
The next day, they came back to visit Eos in Argentgard.
However, this time, they weren't just there to spend time under the guise of a faux tour.
They were there to ask the boy if he wanted to come home with them.
To this day, Olruggio thought it was one of the best decisions he had made in a long time.
Do not trust people like me. I will take you to museums, and parks, and monuments, and kiss you in every beautiful place, so that you can never go back to them without tasting me like blood in your mouth. I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible. And when I leave you will finally understand, why storms are named after people
fandom: witch hat atelier (tongari boushi no atorie)
characters: qifrey, olruggio, original male character, (mentioned) beldaruit
relationships: qifrey & original (child) male character, olruggio & original (child) male character, (hinted) qifrey x olruggio
tags: fluff, sfw, original character (oc) insert, original male character, original child male character, general backstory details, found family, platonic relationships, future dads
word count: 741 words
series: tales of an atelier: light of dawn
masterlist: tumblr masterlist
description:
There once was an orphan, born in the shadows of the night.
When dawn came, he had become a little prince.
[ part 1 ], part 2, part 3, tba.
author's note:
i haven't posted on tumblr in a very long time, so honestly this feels a bit strange but i'm happy to be here. i also don't know if i tagged any of this properly honestly, i'm far more used to the ao3 tagging system, and i generally just copied how i see other people tag on here.
i got heavily into this fandom as of recently and i sort of went off the rails. i can't guarantee that this will be all that grand. in all honesty this au is heavily self-indulgent and meant for the sake of keeping me sane during university chaos. this is going to be a series of however many oneshots, so if you decide to stay, thank you for reading and coming along for the ride!
For as long as Eos could remember, he had always been alone. His first memories consisted of the constant monotony of the orphanage he grew up in. Everything there followed a certain routine—one that he had memorized before he even knew how to spell his own name. As he grew older, things were added on to his daily life, but the core events of his day-to-day remained largely the same.
It was only after meeting the old man by the silver trees of Argentgard that his life slowly began to grow more unpredictable variables compared to before. The old man said his name was Beldaruit, and though Eos didn’t realize it at the time when they first met, he was apparently one of The Three Wise—The Wise of Teachings, to be precise. He watched over the young witches and their education, and was apparently fond of seeing just how brilliant a child’s mind could be.
When the orphanage grew too crowded and its hallways grew too loud with the chatter of caretakers and other children, Eos would spend his days inside of Argentgard, quietly watching as Beldaruit showed the other children performative spells meant to make them laugh and wonder.
It was on one of those seemingly normal days that Eos’ life suddenly changed.
Two adults had come to visit on that day—people that Eos had never seen before. They didn't seem like the parents of any of the other children that huddled around Beldaruit, nor did they look like anyone who frequented the general area at all.
Eos soon learned their names—the one with the white hair was Qifrey, and the one with the black hair was Olruggio.
From what he knew, they lived somewhere far away, outside the waterlogged walls of the Great Hall. The notion of it fascinated Eos more than he would ever admit—the idea of living somewhere with open fields, and the entire sky above your head. It sounded like something right out of a fairy tale.
Eos doesn't exactly remember how he ended up speaking to the two men, but one thing led to another, and suddenly they were showing him their own spells while the other children stayed gathered around Beldaruit.
The old man's smoke illusions were beautiful, but to Eos, nothing was more beautiful than the small ball of light that the man named Olruggio conjured from his palm-sized notebook.
More than anything, that spell was what made Eos think, ‘I want to be a witch too.’
That night, Eos slept while dreaming about dancing flowers made of light.
The next day, to Eos’ surprise, the two men came back to visit. However, this time, they weren't there to visit Beldaruit.
They were here for Eos.
It was the first time anyone showed special interest in him specifically. Beldaruit doted on him, sure, but he was like that with all the children that came to him.
With Qifrey and Olruggio, it just felt… different, somehow. They took him for a trip around the Great Hall, saying that they “needed a tour guide” and wanted to go “sightseeing” and that they knew he was “the best they could have”.
A part of Eos knew they weren't telling him the whole truth, but the words made butterflies flutter in his stomach regardless.
He did his best to show them around, though they admittedly didn't get very far before he felt himself getting winded and tired.
Olruggio carried him back to the orphanage that afternoon so he could rest.
Back then, Eos tried to fall asleep while his eyes grew teary, wondering if it would be the last time he would see them again.
As fate would have it, it was not.
They continued visiting, each and every day afterwards. They quickly learned that Eos struggled with running or even walking long distances without struggling, and instead of reprimanding him like other adults had, they began carrying him around whenever he reached his limit.
Then, one day, they sat down on the grass of Argentgard, and asked if he wanted to come home with them.
For as long as Eos could remember, he had always been alone.
However, from that day on, he found that he wasn't alone anymore.
When dawn came, Qifrey carried Eos away from the imposing walls of the Great Hall.
It was the first time Eos saw a sunrise so clearly.
From then on, the little orphan became an atelier's little prince.
To be honest, I live in a pretty boring place… It's just very regular, probably a lot like where most everyone reading this will live. Not very glamorous, nothing too cool or photogenic very close..
I love photography though, and I love taking photographs. I try to do it all the time, so that I can continue to improve, because God knows that I need it lol.
Here are a selection of some pictures taken literally just walking around my neighborhood. It will probably look very much like everyone else's; especially if anyone else here is from New England, lol.
I try to elevate the things around me by practicing good composition and photographic techniques, and by trying to see beyond what is obvious, and to see everything with new and fresh eyes. I hope that those of you reading or viewing will enjoy my neighborhood, and my pictures of it :)
I love this post so much I have done everything in my power to make sure I will never forget it via reblogging it every October 5th, in memory of discovering it for the first time
"I have depression." - character who has been through extensive therapy.
"I feel dead inside all the time and nothing helps!" - character who does like, regular introspective thinking and is aware of the concept of mental health.
"Leave me the fuck alone I'll be fine once I get over my stupid shit." - repressed character.
"It's fine I'm just having an Empty Time. What? Yeah, empty times, you know, when everything is like bzzzzzz in your brain and you don't shower for two weeks. Why, what do you call it?" - ooooughhh now we're talkin
#this post is a jillion times better than all the posts that complaina bout therapyspeak #this one SHOWS the relationship between characterization and conceptualization #of depression #as an example of that relationship in general (via @rubynye)
Haven't really seen anyone on here talking about it, so:
If you have psychosis, do not use ChatGPT or any other AI model to do reality checking. They're trained to agree with the user, say things to encourage further discussion/input, and in general provide "customer satisfaction." So if you ask if the moon is made of green cheese and seem really intense about it, the AI is gonna tell you it might be a possibility just to keep you happy as a customer.
Hopefully I'm preaching to the choir and everybody is leaving AI alone for mental health issues, but an AI program's willingness to go along with whatever the user is saying and exacerbate a mental health crisis is becoming a serious problem for the mentally ill. Researchers are currently studying it.
Also LLMs tend to use the same phrases and structures as "psychics" and other cold-reading based con artists. It is not being insightful; it's being vague enough that you fill in the details, and moving the goalposts as the conversation goes on to make itself look more accurate than it was.
The new era of tech seems to be built on superstitious behaviour
tired of villains/master manipulator characters who dress up their manipulation strategies as chess metaphors. i will make one who exclusively uses go metaphors instead. fuck you.
this is only half a joke btw, it could be so awesome to represent a slightly different worldview.
"can't you see it? she's just using you as a pawn. you're nothing, so long as the more important pieces are safe!"
"pawn? ha, what a limited worldview. pawn, king, queen... for me, i always preferred go. you see, all pieces are equal; all that matters is how you use them."
me holding a gun to a mushroom: tell me the name of god you fungal piece of shit
mushroom: can you feel your heart burning? can you feel the struggle within? the fear within me is beyond anything your soul can make. you cannot kill me in a way that matters
me cocking the gun, tears streaming down my face: I’M NOT FUCKING SCARED OF YOU
Dark Matter by @mysterycyclone and art by @spidey-art 🖤
she’s finally finished!! this has been in the works for like nine months now, but i wanted only the best so she truly feels like my baby after all the time and work that went into it.
i wish i could have found a way to include more of the gotham/batfamily side of things in this since thats literally the premise, but honestly i have so many batman binds peter deserves a bind all to himself 🖤
this is one of my all time favorite fics ever and i knew as soon as i read it that i would have to make a bind worthy of it and i’m pretty happy with it! i actually scraped my entire original design that i came up with back in like january when the last chapter came out because i realized it just wasn’t the direction i wanted to go with it. so when i couldn’t find anything that really matched what i had in mind for the chapter number designs and headers i drew my own. please be kind, abstract goop is not my usual style lol
anyways! everyone should read this and check out @spidey-art ‘s art because it’s beautiful and they were so kind as to let me use it for this bind!!!
DO NOT BUY OR SELL FANFICTION! please respect fandom and the authors and learn bookbinding or ask a friend who binds! this was entirely handmade and not for sale!