Nalu Walker

She/Her|Born in 2003|Demi|Multifandom

[harperd]

This is practically just me rambling but my mind has been playing on loop, on repeat, the idea of a vampireAU Reinsuba fic, I am such a sucker for medieval old timey even Victorian sets and vampires with religious undertones and yadda yadda,

I've written like around 1k words in a spur on some random Monday about like the prologue of such an AU and it's just been plaguing my mind so here's just like a rough idea,,

-I think it's quite obvious but Reinhard as a Vampire Slayer and Subaru as a vampire.

-Od Laguna being treated as more like a Christian god-esk, churches to pray for blessings etc, this would solidify how Reinhard would be seen as like, a sign of Of Laguna's existence and benevolence (and the title of sword saint in of itself as one of the major blessings to be bestowed) seen as more of an entity instead of a mechanism.

-This might be crazy but no spirits or affinities, the only real magical properties would be Reinhard's blessings and the existence of vampires. Beatrice still exists, maybe just a trapped vampire waiting for the day a hunter comes to slay her instead.

-Witches are seen as the roots of vampires, the cause and reason for their existence. Witch factors are seen as gifts bestowed upon selected vampires and passed down whenever one passes (it's a big deal to kill one I mean) RBD kinda falls into this category of gift, Subaru is oblivious of RBD until his meeting with Reinhard.

-I'd like to keep the theme of Subaru being rather weak going, so by vampire standards and human standards he is still very, very, inexperienced and weak and is basically never perceived as a threat even if he is a vampire. Though he can go longer without consuming blood than other vampires can, and he has the ability to hamper his bloodthirst.

-Felt, (Contrary to popular belief) is not a vampire, she's just blessed with unfortunate genetics of looking VERY SUSPICIOUS. Cue hijinks.

-Subaru had been isekaied like around 2 years (give or take) before main timeline and holed up with Felt and Rom in the meanwhile when he realized he was a vampire, initially thought Rom housed vampires because of Felt's VERY SUSPICIOUS looks and once proven wrong, Rom did take pity on him when they realized Subaru's threat level was close to nonexistent and let him stay as long as he could contribute.

-Vampires have a subtle scent of blood that will always cling to them, usually in history this was used to aid Vampires in finding other Vampires but trained hunters can hone their sense of smell to also capitalize on this, the miasma is tied to the witches which is another very telltale sign. (Not all vampires have miasma.)

-Witches cult usually recruits vampires, their goal is more like vampire superiority I guess.

-Emilia is not a vampire. Totally not a vampire. No, not a vampire.

- Vampire pecking order =

Turned Vampires (bitten, later turned.)

Partial Vampires

Born Vampires

Fiends (Basically on par with archbishops I suppose?)

Witches

-Subaru is considered a Turned Vampire as he was turned into a vampire when he got isekaied, vampires just have a natural sort of second sense to this pecking order so even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to masquerade as a born vampire.

-Reinhard cannot turn into a vampire, Subaru stop nibbling on him it's not going to work. Love the enthusiasm though.

-Demi-humans don't exist, arggg I know this might cause me some plot holes to try and frantically patch up which I did however expect when it came to wiping magic off the table as well, but the setting is old timey medieval vampireAU, for the sake of it Demi-humans are partial vampires, not under the same scruntiny as normal vampires because partial vampires don't have bloodlust and cannot turn humans into vampires.

I might sprinkle more stuff later on as it's quite late atm and I might just be missing some stuff, the title is "Of Blood And Silver", or OBAS for short.

Idk let me know what you think!! I'm a huge sucker for VampireAUs or RoyaltyAUs lmao

Edit: I think this is relevant enough to preface, the au is reinsuba centric, it's not world building centric.

Some plot holes are just going to be plot holes because if it was to be adapted into a fic, they'd all be background plot holes in places that the fic would never be focusing on, I won't be going in depth about things that wouldn't pertain to the main point which is, well, ReinSuba and their relationship as the main plot.

Also I'm writing this half awake so please give me some benefit of the doubt as I can barely keep my eyes open let alone try and activate my neurons to remember plot lmao

[chese-basil]

Ok so hear me out on the the fact that this joke fits them pretty well

[holtsclaws]

I definitely need to do more reading before I really start writing the "Arc 2" of Heart on Trial, though I have an outline that's kind of coming together. It is, of course, due to Reinhard mostly. I need to see more of his reactions in the side stories before I really get down how he reacts in certain situations, but I also want to be able to showcase Subaru's ingenuity in a way that doesn't get completely overshadowed by Rein.

But I can at least explain some fun details that don't get into spoiler territory all that much. Here's more info about their bond:

In Heart on Trial, Reinhard and Subaru's soulmate connection is one that has been documented before in history. To scale its rarity on scale of 1-10 with 10 being only one documented instance, it is about 6/10. It is called the "Heartline" soulmark. A hidden-type soulmark, it must be activated in some part by one or both parties, and physical touch of the hands is a required prerequisite to activate it. Otherwise, it is completely undetectable as a bond unless someone does a specialized "test" that finds the mirroring "marks" in their Ods.

It is forcefully activated on first contact, like many soulmarks are in this world, and like most instances of this, it can be dangerous to separate physically during this first activation. Possible effects include less severe consequences like temporary extremity numbness to the more dangerous like permanent heart arrythmias.

While somewhat mundane from the outside, it is considered endearingly romantic due to the intimacy of it, and it is a favored bond among romance novel enthusiasts. There are several things it does:

A white line connects the tip of the ring finger to the heart simultaneously in both of the affected that completes in about 3 minutes. This mark and several others have this common pattern, and it is why rings are traditionally often worn on that finger, for it represents connection to the heart.

Clothing on the hands, such as gloves, does not affect its ability to activate or its potency.

Emotions are mutually felt between the two during the connection that get stronger the closer the lines get to their respective hearts.

Surface-level thoughts can be detected, but only once the connection is fully formed. Those with strong mental fortitude can control the mind-reading more easily, but thoughts more easily slip between the cracks when the person is distracted by something.

About a minute into the completion of the bond, one or both parties can affect the rhythm of both hearts beating. This can be done to synchronize heartrate, or, when more closely concentrated on by one person, can will the other's heartrate to go faster or slower. This is matched in the patterns of white lines with "pulses" going towards the side that is most being affected and alternating in a case of mutual synchronicity.

This latter ability has been documented as being medically and psychologically significant! Soulmate partners with this bond can calm each other down by projecting soothing emotions and thoughts while physiologically bringing down the other's racing heart. The exact opposite can be done when someone is experiencing something that slows down their heartrate too much.

The last part is what Reinhard did for Subaru in my prologue oneshot after he got wounded. He was speeding up his heartrate to keep his heart pumping against the blood loss while Emilia healed him as much as she could.

A major difference in heartrate between the two, however, can be potentially dangerous. Someone trying to influence another's heartrate can be easily brought to match a dangerous rhythm if they aren't careful, which is why it is often helpful in medical situations to have another person observe that can separate the two if one is being accidentally overpowered by the other.

If you were to ask Subaru and Reinhard their opinions on the particular bond, at least near the start of the story, and they were being (almost) completely honest, this is what they would say:

Reinhard: Is incredibly endeared by the depth of the connection as it further proves to him that they truly were meant to be together. It feels more special to him then his Divine Protections of Empathy and Telepathy because it is purely born of his own personal fated connection and not simply a tool to be used by the Sword Saint. When the connection is at its max, he even believes that the emotion-reading capabilities are more detailed than his Empathy skill.

Subaru: Mixed feelings, obviously lol. He would be wary about this connection with most people but would find a way to work through his nerves to be there for his partner, especially if the bondmate was a beautiful girl. He would probably have completely overwhelmed the other person with his enthusiasm if he knew what the connection meant at the start, and he wasn't currently in the middle of a sexuality crisis lol. He is a hopeless romantic after all. He has a lot to say about being bonded to a guy but can't bring himself to resent the connection to Reinhard specifically, however. Subaru finds it hard to really feel wary about Reinhard in general, and if he had to admit it out loud he would say, "I guess if I had to be forced into this with a guy, it works with someone as nice and patient as him. Nothing more than that though!"

[holtsclaws]

Here me out: Love languages in ReinSuba

For preference receiving? Both are quality time. How they give? Subaru is physical touch and Rein is a mix of acts of service/words of affirmation.

What catches each off guard the most?

Rein: Physical touch

Subaru: Words of affirmation

No wonder this pairing is so priceless.

[holtsclaws]

ReinSuba Omegaverse Ficlet Background

Here comes the contextual yap-athon:

Subaru is an omega. The Omegaverse exists as fiction like we know it in Subaru's world, and he gets assigned a secondary gender when he gets isekaied. He's not having a great time. Between his insecurities about his masculinity and the desire to be a strong heroic main character, he has a lot to process and wishes desperately he could have been an alpha or beta. His instincts grow gradually but strongly. He doesn't really understand how to appease it and care for himself. He develops a bad habit of not being able to control his subvocalizations, and this often gets him into trouble. He starts to have reactions to other alphas no matter male or female, and this starts to confuse the hell out of him. How much of this is what this world has changed in him, and how much is something he wasn't acknowledging beforehand?

Reinhard is an alpha, which is what people would expect even if his personality is rather docile. But he does not, however, really have to "deal" with it. Being covered with as many Divine Protections as he is, he never really had to deal with the reality of “truly” presenting as a full-blown alpha. He's aware of his instincts and ruts in a sense but they're extremely muffled. Nobody would've even suspected he WAS an alpha if he didn't have the scent of one. Reinhard is indifferent about his presentation and is more focused on being the Sword Saint and Lady Felt's knight.

The Felt and Emilia Camps get into a close alliance to combat the Witch Cult. Reinhard and Subaru are around each other a lot more than canon. Subaru had a pretty quick realization that Reinhard falls into this group of "alphas he can't help but instinctively like”, but he starts to feel it a lot more strongly. Even moreso than with Emilia.

Meanwhile, Reinhard's Divine Protections controlling his instincts start to become less effective. He notices that it only really happens around Subaru. He's no fool and knows what this means, but he doesn't want to act on them because he 1) Knows Subaru has a huge crush on Emilia, who is also an alpha 2) Doesn't want to chance losing his friendship.

This results in an unresolved tension building up between the two. Subaru starts to suspect something more than instinctive attraction is going on, and Reinhard is starting to get more distressed the longer he realizes he’s not going “back to normal.” He starts to avoid Subaru in his panic, and this results in them becoming estranged for a while.

And then, there’s a large social event. All of the Camps are there. It’s a big thing hosted by a very prominent noble family. Under multiple stressors, Reinhard makes the glorious decision to try and reconcile with Subaru in the middle of the event by just being honest with him about everything. But Subaru isn’t alone. He’s talking to another person, and they’re an alpha. And they’re clearly trying to flirt with Subaru.

This escalates quickly, and before Reinhard knows it, he’s in a standoff growling at the other alpha. Nothing’s really happening beyond it, but its sudden, and its loud, getting the attention of everyone else at the party. A combined effort of intervening betas and Subaru helping to calm Reinhard down deescalates the situation, and Reinhard, when he comes back to his senses, is horrified.

While this ends up being part of the big reveal that finally gets the two of them together, it has lasting effects for Reinhard. It inspires an increased public wariness of the Sword Saint, and the Council takes action, putting Reinhard through an increasing amount of jobs, tasks, and publicity stunts to show the kingdom that they have the world’s most dangerous alpha under control. Many uses of the Collar of Submission happen to further prove this. Reinhard takes it all in stride, believing that he deserves this. Felt and Subaru are livid, but between the hunt for the archbishops and the sudden negative public attention, it’s hard to find a way to improve things…

[holtsclaws]

ReinSuba Omegaverse: Subaru's Health Issues

I feel possessed. Some more fun thoughts on this AU. Still trying to think of a name for it. So far, acting title is "Buried."

The sudden changes to his biology and sheer horrific experiences Subaru has gone through post-isekai have combined to really take its toll on him. While still worryingly good at compartmentalizing his stress on the daily, he has pretty consistent issues with a variety of things, including night terrors and erratic, painful heats. Ferris has even been called out a few times to check him over, and there have been a couple of scares with abnormally high fevers.

He'll also have random spells of nausea, lack of appetite, and irritability. He often gets into bouts of sleepwalking immediately before and after a heat. Basically, it's the unfortunate truth of severe hormonal imbalances and stress not mixing well together and wrecking everything. He's slowly acclimating to the changes, but it's all very exhausting and everyone in the Emilia and Felt Camps try to help him out with special diets, medicines, and plenty of space and nesting materials during his heats to help him ride out the storm. They're stocked and ready no matter which manor he's visiting at the time.

Since getting together with Reinhard, this has actually helped him out quite a bit since alpha pheromones, especially from one an omega is attracted to, can have a soothing effect on omegas. However, he still has issues with night terrors and the occasional sleepwalking episode.

Well before they start dating, Subaru develops a habit of falling asleep in weird areas around the Astrea and Miload manors whenever he gets into a particularly bad spell of this, usually in spots that are frequented by a lot of people since that's where he feels safest. Sometimes he half-heartedly gathers together a few pillows and blankets to make a shoddy nest. Sometimes, he just sits down for a quick break and dozes off.

Either way, he gets embarrassed when people wake him up and try to move him somewhere more fitting, and it often just ends up with him forcing himself to be "awake and useful" so he can stay around other people. People learned not to give him a hard time about it, and if there suddenly seems to be an increased number of comfortable couches and armchairs in these areas he frequents, no matter how bizarre a placement, nobody comments on it.

...Though the one in the kitchen is a little weird, but it was kind of a nice place to sit when cooking meals with long prep times.

Reinhard always felt a little guilty stepping around Subaru whenever he caught him in these moments, but the sight of seeing a vulnerable omega he was crushing on sleeping out in the open and not nesting properly distressed his alpha instincts. And as much as Reinhard felt compelled to be next to him and stand guard, he didn't want to cross any boundaries by hovering. Besides, he was safe at home and had everyone else keeping an eye out for him. It's not like he was necessary.

During the time Reinhard was avoiding him, he found Subaru asleep on the couch in the kitchen when he returned home late at night and was grabbing some food. He couldn't stop looking at him when he was eating and caved just this once, covering him with his uniform coat to act as a blanket.

Subaru thanks him awkwardly for this at breakfast the day after and returns his coat. (He doesn't tell him that he woke up soon after that and went back to his room, cuddling the coat to help him sleep. Funny enough, it was this little act of kindness that finally made Subaru realize that what he felt for Reinhard was real and not just omega instincts messing with him.)

[holtsclaws]

ReinSuba Omegaverse: A/B/O Distinctions and Felt's Placement

As fascinating as I find Omegaverse stuff, there is the stuff I like to touch on to subvert for the obvious reasons of giving the middle finger to gender inequality. Also about Felt:

Presenting subgender usually happens around age 15, and I honestly think Felt fits being a beta to a tee.

There are plenty of stereotypes abound for all 3, but the case of alpha=dominant, omega=submissive, and beta=boring tends to be an oversimplification and a harmful one at that. Though there are people that fall into packs with that kind of look, they're largely considered unrealistic stereotypes as the interplay of personality, presentation, and relations are more nuanced than that.

If it had to be summarized, the most accurate description would be this:

Alpha: Alertness and action ("Protect, Provide, Attack")

Omega: Balance and observation ("Soothe, Connect, Defend")

Beta: Anything that is needed ("Adapt, Adapt, Adapt")

This still goes off of a biological and evolutionary basis of function and fitness, though, and is by no means a limitation to any one subgender.

Oftentimes, if you take scent and other identifying traits out of the equation, you may be hard-pressed to tell the difference between two people with different presentations because their personality can work with their instincts in ways that make them act similarly.

Ex: The alpha impulse to protect doesn't manifest as straight up aggression in Reinhard because staying calm when others are in danger works for him. His chill personality doesn't clash with his instincts. He is at odds with his instincts when there's a distressful situation he can't solve with a fight or talking through it.

Ex: The omega impulse to connect leads Subaru to do whatever it takes for those he loves, whether it's taking charge in a fight like during the whale or stubbornly trying to get Beatrice out of the library. He is at odds with his instincts when he hides his true feelings from others or feels isolated.

And back to Felt? EVERYTHING ABOUT HER IS ADAPTATION. She needs a lot more credit for going from loner slum-dweller that only cares about one person to leader princess that is in charge of multiple subordinates and her own public image.

Additional neat details and traits:

Betas tend to have less intense instincts due to their ability to take alpha-like or omega-like roles in a pack if there's a lacking dynamic.

Alphas usually are taller and have denser muscle mass and less fat with the opposite being true for omegas.

Omegas also have thicker skin and, interestingly enough, sharper teeth and stronger bite force than alphas and betas.

Having fangs now doesn't pair well with Subaru's tendency to bite his lip. He forgets about this many times.

Omegas tend to deal with stress more easily than alphas. This is kind of reflected in Subaru's unnerving level-headedness in dealing with Return by Death.

While relationships and emotions can cause it to vary, alpha scents tend to act as depressants to omegas, while omega scents are stimulants to alphas.

All 3 groups can make a range of subvocalizations, but only omegas can purr. Purring has a soothing effect that affects alphas more readily than the other two.

[holtsclaws]

Reinhard Headcanons 1

Help. I have no clue if some of these are accidentally things I've picked up from QnAs or something, but based on some of his existing Divine Protections as well as some logically useful things I feel like he would have, I wanted to find a spot to organize them. As well as other things:

Reinhard can tell the passage of time with complete accuracy down to milliseconds. It annoys Felt when she asks him because he replies with the exact time and starts counting as the seconds go by.

Judging by his impromptu "one-way trip" in Arc 5, I would imagine Reinhard can hold his breath for a ridiculously long time. Not sure how long I would clock it for though, but it's enough for it to be far greater than what a human could do. His heartbeat slows down when he does this.

He wakes automatically when somebody enters a room he is sleeping in. To counteract any unnecessary disturbances, he obtained the [Divine Protection of Sleep Induction] to be able to fall quickly back into REM sleep.

My answer to his luck-based abilities leans more into his logic, knowledge, and intuitive DPs. Simply put: he can calculate simulated probability and factor in slight mundane adjustments to improve his desired outcome. This is how he won the coin toss with Felt in "Felt Rises to Center Stage."

I like exploring what makes him human and what makes him inhuman. One of these things is that he can go unnaturally still when he's focusing on something. He tries not to do this in front of other people so as not to creep them out.

In my romances, I like writing him as demipanromantic and demipansexual, though the only person he has ever had a crush on is Subaru. The pan part is moreso to go into the fact that he's also attracted to Natsumi and whatever label Subaru would go with if he wanted one.

I swear I saw this in a QnA somewhere: He can go a week without sleep, but once he completely falls asleep, he can rest a few hours and wake up back to normal.

[holtsclaws]

Feel free to skip this if you don't care about crossovers and just want Re:Zero-only stuff.

You know, the reason I decided to name my Omegaverse AU Buried actually came from my love of the Magnus Archives horror anthology. Anybody who knows the whole story could probably understand why I would associate that word in particular with Reinhard especially.

I saw a small bit on here about a Re:Zero/Magnus Archives crossover with Julius and given that "Otherworldly" was Dandadan-inspired, I thought: why not expand on this a bit? If you're a fan of surreal horror anthologies with an overarching story, I highly recommend TMA. I'm hard to scare when it comes to horror nowadays, and that stuff terrifies me.

Obviously, major spoilers for the revealed antagonists of TMA below as well as mentions of TMA characters and their Re:Zero parallels:

So TMA is a horror anthology of seemingly unrelated scary stories where unexpected and creepy things happen to people that are recorded as statements by the Magnus Institute. Sightings of impossible occurrences? Malicious infecting bugs? Cursed books? You name it. Over time, though, they start to attract attention, and the employees of the Institute are attacked. As time goes on, we learn that there ARE patterns in these stories: influences from 14 cosmic entities known as the Dread Powers, the manifestations of the major human fears. The Powers desire to be brought into the world and closer to humanity via certain rituals. There are people that are marked by their encounters with certain artifacts/events of these things. There are people who are aligned to them. And there are the avatars. Avatars are people that have been changed by the Powers and are a representation of the associated fear made manifest. They are considered inhuman monsters as much as they are victims of the Powers, willing or not. Avatars have special abilities granted to them, but in turn they must "serve" their Entity in some way by acting out to spread its fear and feed it. Otherwise, they are fed on in turn. Becoming an avatar is an active choice, and some sort of "death," whether literal or not, needs to happen in order for the person to be changed. Fun stuff, yeah?

Like come on: crushing, inescapable weight? Like the "heavy" responsibility of being the Sword Saint and being the strongest? "You're at the center of everything and it all pushes down on you." Reinhard would be marked by the Buried for sure.

Assuming we go modern AU again for this, I would probably have it that the Astrea family were highly decorated and involved policemen/detectives, and Rein followed in their footsteps. He gets entangled in the Dread Powers somehow like countless others and becomes an avatar of the Buried. Somehow he ends up trapped in the Coffin, an artifact of the Buried, for a long time.

Decades later, Forensics student Subaru, on a dare from some classmates, stumbles into the old graveyard by his college and finds the Coffin. He opens it, and Rein comes stumbling out, no different than the day he was locked inside.

I would imagine Subaru by this point has experience with either the End, the Lonely, or both. Maybe he was an attempted sacrifice for the Silence ritual? Maybe he did actually die, but the End brings him back with RBD. Either way, he's still not an avatar.

In an effort to get them both out of this mess, they get involved in the Magnus Institute, and it all goes downhill from there. Oh well, at least they'll kiss eventually.

Would the Institute be filled with any characters from TMA? If not, I kinda wanna replace Elias with Echidna. Tim kinda gives me Ricardo vibes. Trade Martin for Otto. Sasha for Rem. Throw in Ram for good measure. Maybe more Anastasia Camp people too? Anastasia sounds like she would be Head Archivist. Perhaps Emilia was the old one, and it's a mystery on what happened to her?

I would imagine Rein is in an even unhealthier state of depression and dissociation than normal. In order to not get fed on by his Entity, he was forced into becoming a debt collector (Crushing poverty and financial issues are a common manifestation of the Buried). And he's done quite a few things he wasn't proud of. Made all the worse by the fact that he wants so hard to be kind to people. And considering he's an avatar, he literally is a monster in this, even if he LOOKS pretty normal.

Combine that duller emotional state with his natural composure and the fact he's probably a little tweaked out from being stuck in the Coffin for DECADES and kinda starved for human contact, I imagine Rein is quite scarier than he is in canon. Subaru definitely doesn't trust him at first, but he needs all the help he can get to get out of this mess and Rein is still ridiculously powerful. I would think he'd have quite the reputation among the other avatars and aligned people so they're left alone more often than not.

Now for others:

Perhaps Satella works closely with the End, but being an avatar of the Corruption fits her better (Unhealthy relationships fall under this one)

As I was implying, the Eye works well for Anastasia and her greed. It fits with Echidna as well, but I like her better as an avatar of the Web for her manipulative side, but perhaps she could work for both the Eye and the Web?

Beako is with the Lonely. Maybe she's an archival assistant in the Institute that pops in and out of being perceived by other people. Subaru is the only one unaffected because he also was touched by the Lonely.

The Slaughter works well for Garfiel. He can parallel well with Melanie's story.

Oooo come to think of it, maybe Subaru and Emilia could've had a thing before she disappeared? That could be how Subaru feels tempted to look into the archives for a solution. I can kinda combine Gertrude and Georgie's story into one for Emilia then?

Capella is an avatar of the Flesh or Corruption. I imagine all the witches and archbishops are avatars.

Sirius fits with the Desolation well.

Roswaal is with the Circus of the Unknown due to him being an actual clown and I think the guy that switches bodies all the time would fit well with the Stranger.

Considering that the Not-thems are like being gluttonied but crueler, I would link those archbishops with the Stranger as well.

[holtsclaws]

Fuck it. Reinhard and Subaru start a Minecraft world together in "Otherworldly:"

Subaru has a character skin based off his recent anime/videogame hyperfixation. This may change several times over the course of them playing.

Reinhard makes the skin just himself (Subaru: You know you can make anything, right? Why not something different? Reinhard: I see *Gives himself blue hair*)

Subaru's player archetype is the fighter/miner. He loves to explore and collect.

Reinhard is the builder. He starts off slow and uncertain, but really gets into it. He is very attentive to the farms and livestock.

When Subaru is having a hard time delving into the big caves or Nether, Reinhard comes with him to help.

Subaru obviously expects him to use the sword as his weapon like him, but Rein really takes to the bow and arrow (Eventually goes for infinity over mending enchantment)

He's a beast with accuracy on that thing. He gets the "sniper duel" achievement on the first day of playing.

Subaru is so safe spelunking in those large caves because Rein just sits somewhere up high and shoots any mobs that spawn as Subaru quickly puts down torches.

Subaru dresses in all armor at whatever highest tier he can feasibly get. Reinhard just has a pair of chainmail boots.

Preference for wood in building? Subaru likes spruce. Reinhard likes jungle.

Rein figures out how to make realistic flowerpots from dirt and trapdoors before Subaru tells him there are actual flowerpot decorations in the game. Rein proceeds to use both.

Rein is definitely on a mission to collect every flower in the game and put it on display in the house.

Favorite biome? Rein likes seeing the cherry blossoms he now sees all the time in Japan. Subaru likes the mesa biome for the colors and gold spawns.

Seeing all the different biomes and mobs gets Rein to start exploring more. Subaru acts as his wiki and explains what each mob he finds does.

Rein's first death was to a creeper because he didn't know what to expect. It blows up in the middle of his wheat farm. Subaru laughs (He considered it a rite of passage and didn't warn Rein) and helps a disappointed Rein fix his farm.

Rein struggles with being creative at first. He takes to a lot of real-life examples for his building.

He's the literal definition of "I did a little bit of mining off screen." Several weeks into playing, Subaru logs on to see a beautiful replica of Tokyo Tower sitting right behind Rein's humble little oak cabin.

Another time, Subaru logs on to see a replica of the Astrea manor in Hakuchuri. Reinhard wanted to try and share a piece of his world with him. This is how Subaru finds out Rein is actual fucking nobility.

Rein puts his and Subaru's beds next to each other, which prompts a lot of jokes from Subaru.

Rein doesn't care for creative mode. He enjoys making steady progress on his own and with materials that Subaru brings back.

I imagine Subaru got really into learning advanced redstone engineering to impress his friends in the past. He mainly uses it for mob farming though.

When Reinhard's not building or farming, he enjoys fishing. He eventually gets a lot of nametags through this. Subaru explains how they work. Subaru will regret this.

Favorite non-aggressive mob? Reinhard likes the snow golems without the pumpkin head. Subaru likes the rabbits😇

Subaru has never defeated a wither before and successfully does so with Rein. They build the beacon next to Tokyo Tower.

Reinhard is very good at remembering coordinates for things. Even without writing them down.

Unsurprisingly, Reinhard's least favorite hostile mob is the creeper (Though he's also not fond of the witches). Once he finds out cats scare them away, he gets so. many. cats.

Subaru hates the skeletons the most. Though he also hates baby zombies.

When Rein goes exploring, he often runs into villages and stays a while, building up defenses, terraforming, and trading with the villagers.

In times where Subaru Returns by Death, he feels strangely melancholic seeing Rein's progress on the game erased. He already sticks close to Rein after these deaths. He'll do this in the game as well, and Subaru will help him build. Subaru thinks it's dumb that it kind of helps him feel better afterwards. Rein notices the miasma every time. Oftentimes, this is paired with Rein making him a cup of his favorite tea as he tries to gently get information out of him about what has him bothered.

He never finds out. Reinhard tries not to feel like he's failing his friend.

[holtsclaws]

Ao3 Fics I Enjoyed That Had Reinhard and Subaru

Exactly what it says on the tin lol. I was asked about some recs, and I feel like this would be a nice thing to keep track of and add to over time. I also just want to give these fics more love lol. Please go give the authors some appreciation!

Also note:

A lot of the authors here have more than one fic that fits in this category, so please look at ALL their other stuff so you don't miss out. If I listed everything, then I'd be here all day lmao.

Some of the platonic fics are still marked with the "/" in the fic tags too because they COULD be read that way.

PLATONIC:

"Re:Viled—Starting Life With The Cursed Saint From Zero" by xtenn8: Reinhard is the widely hated Cursed Saint, quiet and resigned to his fate. Heinkel is a controlled mastermind, and Subaru, Rom, and Felt get trapped in his web. Tagged as slowburn friendship and found family.

"When Your Friends Finally Get Tired Of Your Family Drama" by Only_Slightly_Obsessed (A_Stressed_Cupcake): Knight squad calls out Wilhelm's behavior toward Reinhard.

"Decompression" by Only_Slightly_Obsessed (A_Stressed_Cupcake): Second part of a 2-part collection. Read "Peer Pressure" first to get the context. The second part just has more Reinhard. Several people get tortured! And the aftermath of that.

"On the Cusp of Tomorrow" by Avaricious_Trash: Reinhard notes Subaru's suspicious behavior and ends up learning about RBD.

"Breezy" by Turcoverdin: Reinhard dies for a moment and ends up in a strange place with...Subaru?

"Fate's Promise" by petalil: Platonic soulmate AU where Rein, Ferris, Subaru, and Julius are all soulmates and have the power to appear as time-traveling ghosts up to a certain point.

"(k)night(s) out" by NightsMistress: Subaru nearly dies but then gets to hang out with friends yay!

"Heavy Endings Burn Bright As Flames" by PricklyLamb: Subaru has some complicated feelings about Reinhard being able to die

ROMANTIC:

"Fate, Worse Than Death" by Turacoverdin: A popular fic for a reason! And has a great grasp of Rein and Subaru's particular habits and idosyncrasies. A chance DP acquisition spirals into Reinhard learning more about his friend than he ever would've imagined. Suffering abound and Subaru deals with the Mortifying Ordeal of Being Known.

"The Demon Who Wasn't" by Snor2: Reinhard is the least demonic demon out there, and these two idiots have no clue what they're doing (You can skip chapter 2 if those tags are not your cup of tea).

"32" by Honcamaron: A fantastic introspective fic of Subaru wondering about if he wants to take his and Reinhard's ambiguous relationship to the next level and if Reinhard even wants him (He does, you idiot).

"Covert" by Harperd: Moments between Rein and Subaru after they confess to each other at the start of Arc 5 (They write a TON of these two. Check out their other fics)

"my sin, my pride" by an anonymous author: This nameless author has a TON of romantic stories of sizable length for these two, and this one in particular deals with Subaru being isekaied as the Archbishop of Pride...and immediately giving up any evil by getting into a marriage deal with Reinhard. Please check out their collection this is under called "grocery list." Also trends more towards writing SubaRein than ReinSuba.

"Prideful Cinderella" by Pinkshuchan: Pride brings back Natsumi Schwartz to infiltrate a ball and meet Emilia. He instead ends up spending an unexpected amount of time with the Sword Saint (Hasn't been continued for a while, but I very much still enjoyed what was there!)

"Meant to be a Graveyard" by Zeivira: FemBaru is taken by Regulus instead of Emilia and Reinhard intervenes, catching a glimpse of some concerning behvior.

"What If the Stars Could Dance? Would You Dance With Me Instead?" by RavenCentauri: Reinhard has a stressful conversation and gets some well-deserved affection from his mutual crush.

"First sight" by ame_81: Adorable modern AU young love. Reinhard meets Subaru and struggles with understanding what exactly he feels about him as time goes on.

[sufferu]

To be honest I think that was tappei trying to get through how Reinhard Julius and Vincent came off and how their presence felt rather then implying he was attracted to men to be honest when I see series coming from one persons view point they have to use that person to describe someone which sometimes cause things to come off homoerotic

If the genders were swapped and Subaru started saying — like — that Ram made him feel “a strange sensation,” or “there’s another reason why I’m on my knees right now” while at Priscilla’s feet before fantasizing about her punishing him for refusing to do as she asks, or that Anastasia had “a voice that any man would describe as reminiscent of an angel,” or that Crusch had “beauty transcendent of gender,” or that Frederica had “surprisingly supple hips” —

If Subaru started saying ANY of that shit about the female members of the cast — would you argue that it’s just Tappei’s writing style and that it doesn’t show any actual interest in women on Subaru’s behalf?

Also — it’s worth mentioning that there’s a pattern here? Subaru doesn’t say this shit about EVERY man in the series. He doesn’t start waxing poetic about Ricardo’s DILF energy, or Rom’s musculature being the absolute pinnacle masculinity, or whatever the fuck Groovy Gumlet is. He doesn’t say shit about Aldebaran. When it comes to men, Subaru very specifically goes after pretty-boy ikeman types of noble background that he explicitly describes as androgynous, graceful, and brimming with power and authority. And then he ACTS a certain way around them, too, because he always gets very huffy and agitated in a way he just ISN’T around basically anyone else.

(Meanwhile, Subaru’s type around women is pretty explicitly demure, pure-hearted maidens, with a special emphasis on long hair, around whom he tends to either get very shy or start jumping around them like a puppy (depending on how far along he feels their relationship has progressed).)

[chese-basil]

Look I think Greed if is so fun…. particularly cause I like torturing Subaru

Under the cut, some details of it so that you can see everything better and tumblr doesn’t fuck up everything.

[j2x3e]

Reinhard and his cat friend

[chese-basil]

Reinsuba in the greed if has the flavor of toxic codependency that I delight in. Delicious, tasty, different. Feed me your headcanons about them, please? Or your thoughts? Pleaseeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[holtsclaws]

Don't ask how I got in your house just hear me out: ReinSuba soulmates where they start meeting in each other's dreams when they're kids.

Childhood nicknames!

Reinhard is Haruo and Subaru is Suba.

They talk all the time in their dreams.

Subaru infodumps various Earth media and fun facts that Rein just eats up.

Rein tells Subaru about magic and knights and mabeasts.

Rein understands that soulmates "end up marrying" but Subaru has no idea.

Subaru's parents are very worried about his fixation on "his best friend Haruo who lives in a faraway magical kingdom"

Subaru spends a lot of time in therapy and his parents tell him Haruo isn't real. He stops telling them about him.

Heinkel's just steadily declining as his son gets more and more OP and has to deal with Reinhard doing shit like parroting the entire plot of Inuyasha and being like "Suba looked so pretty yesterday I wish I could give him a flower:("

Rein confides in Subaru at first about his family and Subaru will hug him as he cries.

And then one day, Rein visits him acting different. He never cries again.

Subaru learns about his new job as the "Sword Saint" and Subaru's stuck between saying "That's so cool. You're so cool, Haruo" and later on as they get older "Aren't there child labor laws there?"

Subaru is responsible for Rein obtaining several very stupid Divine Protections like knowing what color something is by licking it or some shit.

Subaru actually gets very good at kendo in middle school thanks to Rein giving him tips.

They give each other makeup and outfit tips.

Rein is very worried about Subaru's mental state when he stops going to school, but Subaru just keeps brushing it off.

And then Subaru gets isekaied and dies several times trying to help a pretty half-elf lady.

Rein goes to help a stranger by scaring off some thugs. The stranger turns around and it's Suba.

Rein goes to hug him immediately. Subaru has only enough time to realize 1) Haruo is real and 2) He's not alone anymore and he just grabs him back and cries.

[sufferu]

SUBARU IS NOT NON-BINARY, TRANS, GAY, OR BI

HE'S A DRAG QUEEN. YOU CAN DRESS IN WOMEN'S CLOTHING AND STILL BE CISHET, IT'S 2025

EVEN IF HE WERE GAY HE'D BE A TOP BECAUSE HE HAS ISSUES WITH HIS MASCULINITY AND WOULDN'T BE COMFORTABLE BEING TO SUBMISSIVE TO ANOTHER MAN /serious

…The guy went on a two-page rant about how “there’s another reason I’m on my knees right now before this stunningly beautiful man,” “those beautiful eyes would force anyone to prostrate before him,” and “in my soul, I know I must submit to him” the very first time he saw Vincent’s face, and then like a day later responded to a command by saying “and what if I say ‘I don’t want to’?” before fantasizing about the guy punishing him for it (and then Rem echoed that phrase back like thirty minutes later just to make fun of him for it because it was so outrageous). He has been going on about Julius’ “voice like an angel that exists solely to vex me, specifically,” “surprisingly supple hips,” “graceful eyelashes,” and more, as well as about “the strange sensation that he inspires within me” and how “we’re not friends, but something infinitely more annoying.” He has been described as “grabbing other men by the balls” and “being way too good with men” in reference to him being an enormous flirt with guys, often for FUN. He refers to Otto as his boytoy, and then insinuates that Otto likes men in a way that DIRECTLY parallels a scene where he explicitly projects his love of crossdressing onto Otto while saying that Subaru himself DEFINITELY doesn’t enjoy it. He has several scenes with Julius that directly parallel romantic moments he’s had with Emilia. In Mimigau Subaru refers to Aldeheid as having “a voice like a love song.” He has an identifiable type when it comes to both women (pure-hearted, demure, graceful, long-haired (preferably)) AND men (noble, graceful, androgynous-looking, powerful), as opposed to describing ALL men or ALL women in the same flowery manner. At this point I think it’s way more textually supported to say that Subaru is bisexual than it is to say that he’s straight, and also I feel like I know way too much about this guy’s “preferences.” (I seriously almost threw my phone at the wall when I got to that two-page “I MUST get on my knees before this perfectly attractive and astoundingly beautiful man” rant.)

As for Natsumi — there’s a difference between simply liking to dress in drag and doing shit like attempting to live out your school life by blending in as a woman, wishing that you still had your androgyny while lamenting that puberty “has not been kind to you,” and referring to your swapped-gender self as your “ideal self” — plus all the meta details about “Natsuki Subaru” being one of the only androgynous names in the cast, Subaru having an incredibly easy time slipping “into character” and referring to himself with feminine monikers when Ferris explicitly has to spend like thirty minutes every morning getting into character, or Subaru filling out the more feminine role in the gender binary of the narrative that he himself defines for the audience. It’s up to interpretation, but that goes both ways: there are a LOT of ways to interpret this shit.

And yes, it’s 2025. Which means characters can be something other than cishet without it being this big deal. Not every male protagonist has to be the straightest guy ever.