#acrelazareth

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silly little Acre doodles (and his bro)

Not me getting sad over lore I decided to keep myself lmaoo

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At last!!!! Lotus' parents!

Outfits can be applied to both versions, just wanted to show them on both monster and human

They used to have a complicated on and off relationship before they had Lotus.

It took longer than I wanted because I struggled with Acre.. felt like he looked too much like Fell so I made a lighter version of the outfit as well

ANYWAY info dump time:

Acre:

Mysterious and closed off. Not much is known about him, not even if it's his real name. Koda knows the most but he doesn't really tell Lotus, the kid never saw him smile.

Until a certain point in his life, he used to be a scientist and almost a professor, now he stays at home due to his health

He felt trapped and overwhelmed at the thought of having a child because of his past and personal reasons, plus they were both into their late 30s/early already.

He had a hard time bonding with the child and emotionally distanced himself. He does regret it later.

Random fact: He's the reason little Lotus became a bookworm, he always had something interesting laying around

Koda:

Most of the time calculated, matter-of-fact, likes being ironic. Has manipulative tendencies. Aside from being a straight up god/personification of death in the monster/magic humans universe, in the human one he is a veteran. He met Acre when he was deployed; after ending with the Army, he established a funeral home (for the magic human world it would be a cover up to live with regular humans). Comes from "old money" but doesn't like to show off his wealth

Even though he made many mistakes, he genuinely loved Lotus. He was offended at the thought of getting rid of him, despite the fact that he never thought about a child of his own before. While he knew having him wasn't ideal, he also hoped it would give Acre some excuse for them to stay closer, meaning and stability

(It did not, not really. But that's how he got his name-Lotus flowers represent rebirth, he was supposed to be a "fresh" start).

What a beautiful family I sure hope it isn't disfunctional

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Been thinking about my headcanon of the Lotus-Acre-Koda dynamic

Mostly Acre?

It's not like he's cruel just for the sake of it or because he likes it.

Like. The reason why Lotus suffers because of him go way back (I need to drop the lore bomb 😞)

Lotus is not even the first kid he had to take care of, he started off as a foster parent to his own brother. He treated him like his own child at some point and he was rather lonely while doing it but he liked it, they had each other, everything was cool. When his bro got a little older he got more busy with his job as a scientist but still tried to make some time for him, he felt a little guilty about it but he had to make it work.

And then boom, something terrible happens and not only does he lose his job and his own health but his little brother too. He lost everything he loved and worked for, how do you even pick yourself up after that?

He doesn't know if his brother is gone as in dead or just missing

It took some time before he stumbled upon Koda but yeah, It felt nice to feel like someone cared about him again. The way he was after what happened didn't scare Koda off and the other was happy too that there was someone who didn't mind him being around. There were actual feelings there but it was hard to make Acre's fear of commitment and attachment work when Koda was all over the place and going so fast. The reason why Acre agreed to go with him in the first place was because he wanted to give himself a chance and felt like he will be able to leave anyway if anything goes wrong, he liked having that option.

But god did Koda become exhausting after a while, he clinged to everything, believing that holding it together is better than facing abandonment or failure. He didn't know how much of a suffocating atmosphere he created sometimes (and still did years later), he tended to mistake dependence for stability and it rubbed off on Acre. And then Lotus happened. He was scared as heck of another commitment and the anxiety ate him alive, unfortunately like in real life not everyone is able to overcome it. So the only way was to retreat, not physically because he was unable to start all over again.

When Koda found Acre he was at a hard spot in his own life too but for completely different reasons. Service didn't do him any good (even thought he loved the power trips from being important) and his love was married off to this other stinkhead and god did he miss home. When he found that newly met guy struggling and played Mr. Altruistic to make himself feel better about his own life he started to catch actual feelings. And since he's a stubborn bastard hungry for success if he sets his mind to it (he already failed once he won't fail again) he will get their heart. So he did everything he could to warm Acre up to himself then off they went back to his home. It wasn't easy because he himself was always taught to only do things that will be beneficial (and how dare he catch feelings towards an avoidant smartass that gives nothing but tiny bit of love back /s) so he was doing this against his nature a little too.

He didn't plan on Lotus either but he was really happy to have something that ties them together more (and he's still got that mental setting of a rich influential guy who needs a hier to feel secure and fulfilled) and he really throught Acre could just warm up to the baby after a while (and made Acre believe that too)

He excused Acre all his life from that point forward. He remembered how the other opened up to him and he knew what he was capable of, he knew there had to be something that he felt towards their child. If Lotus would complain Koda would shut that down quickly because he knew what Acre dealt with even though he knew it wasn't fair (Lotus started to excuse him too in his head after some time, along with the "I need to impress him to maybe get some love" phase. After many years every once in a while Lotus still ends up crying himself to sleep because he suffered all this time for nothing and he knew it might not be his fault and that maybe he's not the one who's lacking but he still felt like he was and that Acre was excused)

The point is, what made blows from Acre hurt more was that Koda was trying his best to raise Lotus (wow so much money wow so many lessons and books and anything materialistic he could get him!) but when it came to feelings Lotus couldn't count on him either, no matter how much Koda declared the love for his child.

There were moments that made Lotus think there's maybe something he can lean on but it all quickly went back to "well is it good for you to XYZ? Or to feel ZYX?" (Which is confusing in the long run because it's like getting a taste of sugar once in a while but you never get the entire candy. Does the candy even exist? Did Acre get the candy and it made him stay or did he get fed enough sugar to believe the candy is real too while he was starving for something sweet?...)

And then boom Lotus couldn't be happy even about his materialistic things anymore (he hated all of it anyway maybe except his books) because Koda decided it would be an awesome boding experience for him to just start being at home less and leave Lotus to look out for everything once Acre got worse!

He cleaned and cooked and did everything himself (just like he did when he was small and Acre didn't do anything while Koda was at work. At least Demetria had some dinner for him sometimes). The only "plus" was that he thought he saw Acre's shell cracking the longer he spend time with him that way.

Back to Acre, he hated that he was also dependent on his child now and Lotus was so serious about it despite hating it too. He knew the kid didn't deserve it and he was so pissed at Koda, it wasn't supposed to be like this. He felt a bit of relief when he saw Lotus started to rebel against them and it even motivated him to try to actually do something just so there would be no problems (no matter how much he wanted the ground to swallow him whole every time he moved off his couch). He didn't rat Lotus out to Koda when Rurik would come over no matter how much he complained about the noise or Rurik's way of behaving because if the two couldn't give Lotus something then maybe at least this odd kid will. He doesn't talk about it once it's over (just like with everything) but he really hoped something would come out of it so Lotus could get away

He wasn't surprised when Lotus had problems though but he knew a lot of them came from the two of them, just another big ball of guilt he'll carry to his grave. Huh

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One of cool agreements Lotus has with Acre is that Lotus provides him with any book he wants. He needs or wants it, he gets it. Like, dooon't worry pops, your baby has access to any library and the archive. And even if he currently doesn't need any, Lotus will find some and bring him anyway

Acre likes writing things so it was helpful when he would make articles. Besides he likes to read just for the sake of it too. He has a lot of time

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"My parents' behavior didn't affect me" okay Lotus then tell us about how Acre would randomly disappear and make you panic because you knew something could've happened to him and then he always came back acting as if nothing happened

Or the time you were left alone with him but decided he can just chill so you hanged out with Rurik and you came back to Koda not finding him (again) then worrying so bad that he snapped at you for leaving as if your father was a 5 year old who needed supervision ✌️ (he just went to get some groceries)

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What if Lotus manages to find Acre's brother someday actually

Probably not by accident

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Koda: Hm. At first, I was pleased that Lotus finally made a friend. But then, I noticed he's becoming a bit too much of a distraction. And before I knew it, I had my kid sobbing on my lap, which rarely ever happened. That's how I knew it was serious, he didn't tell me everything, but I'm not stupid.

For me the worst period came after Liderc decided it would be a fun idea to play a little soldier, from there it was a downward spiral that I had to try to stop. I didn't really care 'bout Rurik until that, I was more concerned with Lotus. I thought I taught him better than following some reckless nobodies...

*cough* Apologies, dry throat. I'm just glad it's over, they both seem to be doing better.

Acre: Who, that blond? I remember Lotus tried to act all nonchalant about him until he couldn't and that's about it, young people being foolish. As for the kid himself, I always thought he's there just for the money. He used to be all over our place, then disappeared.