#temperance x reader

[dodgeballstuckonthegymceiling]

haiiii!!!! do you do gld? if so can u do temperance x reader? If not no worries!!! Ik he didn’t have much screen time but i luv him sm. and i don’t see much content of him 😔 again if u cant do this it’s ok!! Tyyy!

I never really thought about writing for Temperance/Diligence before. They don't have a whole lot of lines in the pilot. Or screentime, as you pointed out, so there wasn't much to work with. But I can try?

If you like my work, please consider commissioning me or leaving a tip on Ko-fi (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

Knowing Temperance

★ First off, he definitely works too much. Temperance spends hours -sometimes days -couped up in his lab. Working on God knows what. If you asked, he wouldn't tell you. Keeping his projects to himself.

★ Temperance seems like the kind of person who doesn't think things through. Or overlooks obvious issues. Following plans to the letter, while ignoring the repercussions his actions might've caused. Thankfully Diligence balances this out.

★ He's usually very calm. Never raising his voice in front of you. When he's upset, he just gets quiet. When he's stressed, he shakes his leg up and down without noticing.

★ If you associate with Temperance, chances are you've run into the other virtues. Whether or not you like them is a whole other story. Diligence, for example, is a bit of a prick. And arrogant too. Like a retail manager.

[grimpath]

Temperance x human!You

Dark romance ones. As much as I see it possible with a distant mad scientist.

— his understanding of romance is limited to very distant memories from his former life, when he was a living person and not an immortal dead one.

— his way of loving you is to minimize your suffering during procedures and manipulations.

— after thousands of years of permissiveness, it's difficult to treat anyone else as anything other than a consumable. but with you, he really tries. at least because you are one of the most significant projects of his.

— he practically created you. you are not just a child of an angelic parent. to give birth to a human being, there's at least one other human needed. or a mastermind who is brave enough to commit violence against nature.

— your genome was modified during the earliest stages of development. you are not the first attempt, but you are one of the few that were successful. you are alive and thriving, having successfully survived the early and most important years of growth.

— however, there is beauty in the destruction of one's own creations. to dissect, explore, and understand the essence. to create again, and to create better.

— but it is not possible to predict everything, especially when dealing with a living person, who is an inherently unstable factor.

— it turned out it wasn't you who was unstable at all, but rather, it was him. because you haven't even yet developed a stable personality. but he, over thousands of years, has formed an impression of himself as a cold, unbiased scientist.

— which was destroyed the instant you were born. he could have forever proclaimed himself a dispassionate one, but in that moment he felt a twinge of a long-lost sentimentality.

— he isn't tactile. maybe because his almost completely mechanized body hardly feels anything that could be compared to your sensations. to him, his whole self feels like a big phantom limb that he has to operate with.

— each of his actions has a practical purpose. it may seem like he's displaying feelings when he suddenly runs his hand over your skin, but in fact, he is scanning your vital signs at that moment — from pulse to oxygen saturation. he is touched by the fact that your heart is beating much faster because of his antics. he knows that it is not fear that is causing such a reaction.

— you've learned to control yourself when you expect interference in your personal space. but when he catches you off guard like that, you can't be prepared for it. you hope he doesn't notice, but deep down, you know that he can read you like a book.

— he always speaks quietly, and you've learned to listen to him whenever, whatever. trained like pavlov's dog to respond to his calls when they occur.

— "little mortal one, come here", not a request, but a demand. sweetened up with a nickname that is dear to your heart. it never ends well. it sounds nice, tempting, and promising, but when he calls you like that, there's only one meaning: another round of procedures that are never pleasant is awaiting.

— you experience most of these procedures while being unconscious. and you don't know whether to be grateful for it.

— every time you wake up from those unnatural dreams, he softly runs his cold palm over your warm cheek, his face inches away from yours. it's as if he's waiting for you to open your eyes, only to recoil the same second. perhaps he's simply making sure that you have regained consciousness, but you can't help but feel that this is a reward for your obedience, a display of his intimacy. it's a sign: "I'm always here". the clear message, the subtle reminder: he was the first thing you ever saw, and he'll be the last.

[grimpath]

Temperance x human!You

Darkish. Unhealthy, kind of!

Ahhh to be with a morally incompetent scientist...

Disclaimer! These are not problematic relationships in terms of incest. They are problematic in a different way, but not that one. Temperance has raised the reader, but they don't have the parent-child bond! These are creator-creation relationships. The scientist-project ones. They do not see each other as family at all. I've described their situation in previous headcanons. I just don't want to repeat myself every time. It may be uncomfortable for some people, so I felt the need to mention it.

— you are not the first human. nor you are the last. you've seen him dissect black-bloods. moreover, he has taught you to do so.

— but you've never experienced being around your own kind, especially grown-ups. therefore, it's not fair to call you callous.

— the virtues, the paradise lost, are your everything. and that's not a place to call bright and cozy. but again, you have nothing to compare it with. it's your norm.

— he often guides your hands during procedures, teaching you how to operate properly. you love when he does it. however, it also makes your limbs tremble. and heart fasten. you aren't sure why. there must be something wrong with your damn living flesh. so many problems with it...

— you often wonder why you even survived. it's not a mistake — he doesn't make such egregious ones. he chose you. it was intentional. but what were the intentions or reasons? you probably will never know.

— because you asked. several times. and he... didn't change the subject, didn't brush it off, didn't make up an answer just to get away from you. he just ignored you, like he hadn't heard you.

— from the moment you were born, he protected you as if you were the most precious thing in the world. not as a parent, but as someone who cherishes the rarest of treasures. but you are human, and you make mistakes. and that's okay — who doesn't?

however, the first significant mistake, which happened to be a cut, changed everything. you were scared. ashamed. you watched the tarry blood ooze out. you tried to wipe it off, to hide it. but the placement was too conspicuous. when he noticed, he froze. the moment seemed endless.

— "that's unfortunate. but not fatal"

and that's when he started teaching you how to handle flesh. and your first lesson was sewing yourself.

but before that, he took several samples of your blood. since then, you have not been treated as well as before. you have gained a lot of scars all over your body, and not all of them were obtained by accident. many of them resemble runes, but he does not explain their meaning.

— the second turning point occurred when things were no longer enough. he had reached the boundaries he had set for himself. it was time to step beyond.

you happened to break your leg. you didn't really know how bad it was, but it was indeed painful.

and that was a perfect moment. the first time you experienced anesthesia, the first time you lost more than just a little of blood.

when you woke up, ah, it was a sight. the sight of your limb resembling one of his own now. the sight of you becoming something more than human, you thought.

— you were doomed ever since. you were sentenced to be an on-air experiment. you considered yourself lucky, you became happier with every limb that was chopped off. a walking embodiment of theseus's ship, what makes you who you are?

— the oil that lubricates your mechanical limbs is your black blood. he didn't take that away. it is an essential part of you, your defining feature. one of the things he loves most about you.

— when he ran out of limbs to replace, he turned to organs, even perfectly healthy ones. it was a matter of curiosity, a thirst for excitement, not a necessity.

it got to a point where you no longer needed anesthesia, at least not general one. you watched, observed, and even learned from these procedures. you felt his clawed hands picking through the remains of your insides, how he cut off the vessels that supplied them, and then replaced authentic organs with mechanical counterparts.

— however, your original parts did not go to the trash, at all. he has succeeded in keeping them in perfect, functional condition. outside of the body. and you can already guess what exactly for.

— you don't know what love is. you have never even heard the word. you have never seen people being in love. but you know you feel it. you know this is what keeps you awake. this is what you feel when he's a little too close. this is what makes your real heart — the only original thing besides brain that's purposefully left in you — race when he's looking at you like you're the most interesting thing he ever had. and that is what he feels too. but he, unlike you, knows what it's called.

[grimpath]

Temperance x human!You

Based on the theory that humans are born more often than 10k years. Mel exists at the same time as the reader. The timeline is before Ken showed up (for obvious reasons). These are quite morally questionable, as for me. It may be even uncomfortable to read. So be careful. (No NSFW, just darkish) As you might notice, I am not a big fan of the idea of "bad guys becoming good". I always try to look at things from a different perspective, seeing how they could be with all their flaws. And the Virtues themselves are absolutely not a healthy relationship material.

— your survival is the result of his curiosity. you were meant to be used to feed the "machine", but he saw a different potential in you — a prophetic one.

— under the guise of a greater good, he is experimenting on you.

"little mortal one, I need you to drink something", he declares, rather than asks, as he brings the vessel with suspicious-looking liquid to your mouth.

and you do as he said because you don't want to risk finding out what could happen if you refuse his offer.

— he may seem courteous, modest, and harmless. however, he is responsible for the most inhumane things in the paradise lost.

— he is truly dangerous, but he is helpless in a direct confrontation. however, if you find yourself in his use... he might even be able to kill an immortal. for the sake of interest.

— he has a pragmatic approach to everything. in favour of science, he neglects morality.

— for him, you are a successful creation, although not entirely the result of his efforts.

— however, he does not consider himself a parent. you also do not see him as a member of your family. your relationship has always been rather cold. he has taught you many practical skills, but he has not nurtured your emotional intelligence, so you have to learn everything on your own.

— the thing is, you are human. a human who experiences everything for the first time. a human who craves emotions in this apathetic and rotten world.

— you try to reach out to him, but he ignores your attempts unless they are related to his field of interest.

— he doesn't talk much. if he does, it's usually to himself, mumbling under his breath. you love that part of him, but he gets uncomfortable as soon as he realizes that you're listening in.

— there's even a hint of tenderness towards you in his monologues

"no, it will lead to the denaturation of the proteins. my poor unmarked thing will not survive this"

— tactility, apart from scientific manipulation, is unacceptable to him. he's wary of accidental touch.

— oddly enough, he completely ignores your personal space and time if he needs it. he perceives you as an object of research and not as a conscious, living being with some kind of "boundaries".

— he scares you most when you are rarely, but seriously ill. it's obvious from his behaviour that he is calculating whether you will survive. further manipulations depend on the outcome — if you won't make it, then why not go all out?

— he is a stickler for science, but he also seems to accept the prophecy. he is incredibly polite to you and never doubts your words, and he does not impose his own opinions. it's as if he is unconsciously trying to ensure a place on the ark, just in case.

— the sight of your blood doesn't seem to affect him in the best way. his movements become more calculated and less considerate, although still careful. it's as if he no longer feels the need to be concerned about your comfort in these moments.

— maybe once, he was a follower of a highly moral approach to science. however, after thousands, tens of thousands of years of existence, one might get fed up with humane methods. they just don't work anymore. they do not expand the boundaries of knowledge. and the thirst for new things is only growing stronger. wouldn't one cling to the spring that's just a step away?

— there's a lot to learn about living flesh, and you come to be the only thing he can study in this field. so you have to bear the burden of being the primary source of research.

— you've learned to enjoy, cherish, and even look forward to his touch. cold, mechanical, purely exploratory, but still desirable. these are crumbs from the table of his affection, which you have learned to feed on.

— you don't know what romantic love is — you've never seen it around. you don't understand whether this is the right feeling or if it is forbidden. being so lonely in your kind, it doesn't make it easier for you to experience this strange and incomprehensible longing, as if you are missing something important... something you can't talk about with anyone.

— he knows. he notices. observing and studying is his endless life's work. he knows what he's doing. and this is also part of the experiment. which he also fell victim to but completely denies it.