Allen let out a content sigh as he finished washing his face. The street perfomance of earlier had given him decent money, however it also meant he needed to move. He didn’t want to risk the wrongs ears hearing about the street performer, even if not many knew how good Allen was with acrobatics. More than that, the recent weeks had taught him to be cautious, too many close calls in the first few days had made him unwilling to get cornered.
His eyes stopped on the shadow watching in the reflection, grinning at him. Allen had grown used to it, and even used to the vicious attempt at taking over. It didn’t mean it wasn’t hard to push it back when it happened; and Allen appreciated any amount of time passing with the 14th remaining tranquil.
He sometimes wondered if Apocryphos hadn’t triggered the 14th to try harder to take over, which how close Allen had come to being... absorbed. What is it with people wanting to erase me?
Nuzzles in his hairs snapped him out of his thoughts, lips forming a genuine, fond smile at the reflection of Timcampy in his hair. “Time to go, right?” The golem only fluffed the white strands more, making Allen chuckle. “Alright, alright.”
Dressed plainly, Allen left the inn he had been resting in behind, musing over which direction to take now. As usual, he paid no attention to the shadow in any reflective surface. If he did though, he would have seen the gaze it send elsewhere, to a familiar blond.
Alas, only Allen could see the 14th’s shadow, and so both remained oblivious to the fact Nea knew that they had been noticed. It wasn’t as if he could communicate with Allen yet though; but he was ready to try and do something, if the man’s presence spelled bad news.
REPOST. DON’T REBLOG. post TEN characters you’d like to roleplay as, have roleplayed as and might bring back, then tag ten people to do the same. ( If you can’t think of ten characters, just write down however many you can. Feel free to go over ten, too. )
All of my blog themes have been minimal and muted because I like it that way. And like, I know everyone’s allowed to make their own fun, but I kinda wish those super fancy themes didn’t exist sometimes.
The thing I can’t stand the most is when the navigation links are scattered all around the page or blending into the background.
Send “✎” and I will write 10 headcanons about our muses interacting
1. Link can use his baking as ‘positive reinforcement’ to get Allen a bit more tolerable to be with, but only to a certain extent-mostly if Allen’s getting huffy are annoyed about something. But since both he and Allen have limited free time he can’t use this offer lightly.
2. If Allen stretches out Timcanpy too much Timcanpy might flee to Link’s head instead.
3. Sometimes Link lets some physical distance grow between them in order to observe what Allen does when he thinks he’s by himself. Allen hasn’t done much except interact with other people in the order, mostly his friends instead of strangers as rumors about him spread.
4. Allen has volunteered numerous times to sleep on the floor and let Link sleep in his bed but Link has refused.
5. If Allen starts getting seriously tired of paperwork he will write so fast that Link can’t even decipher his lettering or his grammar. After a period of time his handwriting and grammar have gotten more neat and efficient.
6. Link usually stays with the finders when Allen goes off to fight akuma nearby.
7. For the sake of convenience Allen and Link have quickly gotten used to changing in the same room.
8. Sometimes Allen feels restless if he hasn’t exercised all that much for a few days, and will quietly try to sneak out of his room. Link pretends not to notice but follows him soon afterwards. Allen usually goes off to the training room to blow off some steam. Other times Allen sits somewhere and quietly talks to Mana. Link usually pretends he had found Allen at some point.
9. Although Allen does not want conflict with Link, if Link gets in the way of one of his promises he won’t hesitate to get angry and push him aside.
10. Allen’s gotten to a point where he’ll talk to himself even if Link isn’t there, because he’s gotten a bit too used to being around someone who will question and listen attentively to him all the time. When Allen was on his own and running from the Order, Link might have thought he was found out a few times but it really was just a lonely Allen just saying things he would say if Link was really there.
// Hi I just wanted to say your layout, icons and color scheme look amazing!! Legit gorgeous '3'
// *wheezes a little loudly because cake mum blog* Thank you so much! However I do have to credit my amazing friend @bkmnjr and her many blogs for making all of it for me. I really cant code or do anything for the life of me and her works is so amazing! She even did all the work on my Alma blog and she is too sweet!
Food means different things to different people. Sometimes it has a religious meaning. Sometimes it carries childhood memories or comforts from a life once forgotten.
Steward Howard Link returns these small comforts to his friends.
(Mainverse drabble with @wachhvnd‘s Link. All other characters are from this blog. Mihai’s friends are here. Nastusia is here.)
Kneading bread is almost therapeutic for Link. It’s a mindless activity that helps him clear his head from the day’s work of carrying news, tending to the Hunters, washing linens, and delivering supplies. Even though his arms will be sore in the morning, it’s worth it.
He frequently checks a list in front of him to ensure he’s making the bread by the recipe as requested. Link has a line of requests from various Hunters in the Compounds for foods from their home countries. He is more than willing to oblige.
The smell of fresh bread wafting through the kitchen is a familiar and comforting scent to Link as he pulls out a batch of cranberry muffins. He’s barely put them on the cooling rack when a figure approaches the doorway. Link recognizes Sarah and gestures for her to sit down at a stool while he fetches her batch.
“Ist Fritz nicht bei dir?”
“Nastusia hielt ihn auf dem Flur, um zu reden.” Sarah speaks a different dialect than Link, but they work around their linguistic differences well enough. It’s comforting for Link to converse in his native language when French and English are the prevailing languages in Avignon.
Link doesn’t miss the way Sarah’s gray eyes light up when he returns with a basket of pletzel. She doesn’t wait for him to go to her; Sarah immediately hops off the stool and takes the basket from him. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply, savoring the smell of the onion and poppyseed bread.
When she opens her eyes again, Link sees tears glinting at the corners.
“Danke Link, es ist genau so, wie ich mich erinnere.”
Link’s heart swells with pride to hear Sarah say that. Even though he never became a Hunter (although he had ample opportunity) he always wanted to support the warriors who sacrificed their livelihood to keep the peace. He can’t give them a normal life, but at least he can renew their memories of a time long gone.
Fritz arrives soon after, and Link fetches a basket of laugenbroetchen for him. He sprinkles a little coarse salt on the rolls to finish them off, and he’s rewarded with a rare smile from the stoic man.
“Nastusia wollte, dass ich dir das gegeben habe.” Fritz accepts the basket and hands Link a strip of parchment with a recipe for povitica. Link takes it and bids the two Hunters farewell.
The next batch fills the air with the smell of tomatoes and roasted garlic. Link is just taking out the focaccia and putting it on the cooling rack when Nina comes in to see him.
“You’re a little early,” he says. “I just took it out of the oven. It needs more time to cool.”
“I’m sorry. Should I come back later?” Nina fidgets with her hands.
“No, it’s fine.” Link gestures to the stool where Sarah previously sat. “Please, take a seat.”
Nina obliges and watches Link as he rolls out the next batch of dough and cuts it out. Somewhere between twisting the dough into circular shapes and sliding it into the oven, Link gets the feeling that Nina wants to say something to him.
He waits patiently for her to speak. Nina is the most anxious of Mihai’s friends--she’s not bold like Mihai, not confident like Sarah, not blunt like Fritz and Nikita. Link busies himself with cutting up a few cloves of garlic and putting together an egg wash.
His patience pays off when Nina hesitantly asks, “would you come to Good Friday Mass with me?”
It catches Link off guard but it’s not exactly surprising. Nina is the only Catholic out of Mihai’s friends, and because she renounced her previous pledge to take back Rome, the other Italian Hunters shut her out. He feels a kernel of sympathy for her.
The focaccia is ready now. Link places it in a basket, sprinkles it with Parmesan cheese, and hands it over to Nina. Even when she’s turned away from her people, she deserves a connection to her culture and previous life. Link hopes to give that to her.
“I would be honored.”
Nina smiles broadly at him as she accepts the basket. “Grazie mille.”
It’s early in the afternoon the next time someone enters the kitchen for bread. Link barely hears his guest enter but they give themselves away when they knocks over a mixing bowl. It clatters onto the floor and spins in a circle before stopping.
Link turns around and folds his arms over his chest, his expression shifting into disappointment.
“I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take anything from the kitchen that isn’t yours, Nikita.” He taps his foot impatiently, waiting for the “culprit” to reveal himself.
The small Hunter steps out from the corner, holding up his empty hands. “I didn’t take anything; I’m just here for my bread.” His blank face says otherwise, but Link isn’t about to interrogate him. “What, do you not trust me?”
He’s not wholly incorrect. Nikita is the hardest of Mihai’s friends to read; even harder than the closed-off Fritz. Nikita would make a great Investigator if he could follow orders. Only Mihai can break through Nikita’s walls and get him to smile and interact with the others. Even then, Link wonders if Nikita’s smile is fake.
But there’s nothing fake about the childish look in his eyes when Link produces a basket of Borodinsky bread and hands it to him. Nikita has a difficult relationship with food, namely not having enough food when he grew up. He takes too large portions and eats too fast until he winds up with a stomachache.
Nikita bites into a piece of the sourdough loaf and chews slowly, savoring the taste. Link tries to imagine what he’s thinking of. Does the bread remind him of the food in his childhood that he struggled for? Is it strange to go from stealing your food to people just handing it to you?
“Благодарю.” Nikita cradles the basket close to his chest as if it were a small child. His smile is soft and genuine. “I’ll tell Mihai you have his batch almost done.”
Link hears Mihai before he sees him. Mihai enters the kitchen, singing a song in the Romani language.
“Have you been in here all day? It’s your day off!” Always expressive, Mihai doesn’t hide his concern. His brow furrows and a frown replaces his earlier smile.
“Idle hands are the Devil’s playthings.” But Link and Mihai knows it’s more than that. Link isn’t the kind of person to sit around and do nothing. He enjoys being useful, especially while living and working alongside people who gave up their way of life so that others may live safely.
Mihai’s expression relaxes slightly, but he remains worried for his friend and steward. “Nikita said my batch is done. Can I have it?”
Link goes and retrieves Mihai’s basket of cozonac cu mac. He won’t lie; he’s a little worried about this one. There aren’t many Romanian Hunters he can test this recipe on, and Link never had it before. He got the recipe from Mihai himself.
Link highly respects Mihai as both his steward and his friend. After Nikita, Mihai is the furthest from his home and the most homesick. He hopes he can assuage some of Mihai’s homesickness.
Mihai flounders for words as he accepts the basket. “It’s...perfect.”
“Is it?” Link’s forehead creases slightly, giving away his worry.
Mihai nods, shifting the basket to one arm so he can wipe away the tears in his eyes with the other arm. “La fel ca și tatăl meu a făcut.” He misses many things, but his father Sorin and mother Crina are the ones he misses the most. “Mulțumesc.”
A lump of tears wells up in Link’s throat and he forces it down. “You’re welcome.”
Overcome with emotions, Mihai puts the basket down on the table and throws his arms around Link’s shoulders in a tight hug.
After a minute of hesitation, Link returns the gesture.
As predicted, Link’s arms are burning and tense for days after his day-long bread baking. But everyone got their breads, and everyone was happy. That’s what makes everything worth it.
Link returns to his room, tired and sore. It’s late and he has a full day of work waiting for him tomorrow.
But there’s something else waiting for him. Sitting on his bedside table is a basket with a cloth napkin draped over it. Link’s curiosity overtakes his exhaustion and he steps towards the basket to lift the napkin.
A long-lost sight greets him: Bauern Brot. Link hasn’t seen the dark rye bread in years, and faraway memories of a once-happy home threaten to bubble to the surface.
The loaf isn’t perfect. It’s uneven on one side and slightly burned. Link breaks off a piece and puts it in his mouth.
It tastes just as he remembers, and it’s warm. It’s a small comfort in exchange for all of Link’s hard work.
Send me “MUSIC” and I’ll pick a song that reminds me of your muse
((Inhibition (re-Mastered) by Mili! I think the title fits Link’s restraint and the melody portrays his willpower. The blending of violin and piano just remind me of Link and Allen/Neah’s relationship, although I’m not sure they’d be so in synch yet))
