⌗ kotoku

With a sigh, you retracted your hand. Sunday resumed preening his feathers atop his cage, fluffs of feathers popping off and landing on your clothes. 

“Well, we’ll get there someday. Right, Sunny?” You watched as he preened his feathers, directing his focus back onto you after he was satisfied. He cooed at you in response.

With a smile, you raised the millet towards him. “Even though you didn’t step on my finger today, you deserve the millet for the effort.” 

Sunday’s head turned to look at the treat, eyes slowly blinking. Before you could react, Sunday hopped onto your finger, nibbling away at the millet. 

“Wah— careful!” You yelped, stabilizing your hand after the sudden addition of weight. You weren’t expecting him to hop onto your finger so unexpectedly! Was this the unlocked power of the millet?

You stared at him, eyes unblinking as he continued to snack away on the millet. 

“Well, we have finally done it! We’re getting somewhere, Sunday!” You cheered, letting him hop off your hand as you threw away the barred millet. 

“I'll cut up some of your favorite fruits and veggies as a celebratory snack!” 

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

You woke up the next morning with a headache, did work really stress you out that badly? With a grunt, you slipped out of bed and sluggishly walked towards your bathroom.

You searched the medicine cabinet for Ibuprofen, taking one tablet with some tap water from the sink. You should eat breakfast soon.

After doing your morning routine, you walked out into the hallway to go check on Sunday. 

“Good morning Sunny! I hope you had a nice res—“ With a startled gasp, you dropped the blanket that once covered his cage. “Wha- what happened!? Sunday, are you okay?!”

Kneeling to the cage’s level, you opened the door, gently picking up the small dove. Sunday was laying at the bottom of his cage, eyes closed as his feathers remained puffed up. Was he sick!? 

You quickly pulled out your phone, dialing the nearest vet clinic. You cradled Sunday close to you, being mindful of his current state. After a couple of rings, you heard the phone get picked up.

“Hello this is the Honkai Vet Clinic, how can I assist you?”

“Hi, yes- my pet bird was found—“ You listed Sunday’s current state, his diet, his activities, etc.. anything that the receptionist needed. You peered down at Sunday as he rested in your arms, the steady rise and fall of his feathers providing you comfort as you conversed with the receptionist. 

“Alright, I have an opening for 9 AM today. Is that fine?” The clicking of computer keys accompanied by the sound of a printer brought you back to the call, eyes glancing at the clock on the wall. It was 8:42 AM. 

“Yes, that’s fine.”

“Great, see you soon, Mx. _____.”

With the call ending, you carefully got up to place Sunday in a carrier. You made sure to lay down some towels beforehand so that he would be comfortable.

Packing some of his food and water, you placed them in a bag with your phone and wallet, grabbing the car keys as you slipped on some footwear. You placed Sunday securely on the seat, ensuring his carrier wouldn’t topple over. 

“You’ll be okay, Sunday. We’ll be at the vet soon enough.” 

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

“We ran some tests and fortunately, his vitals came back normal. There’s nothing to worry about, Mx. _____. I think Sunday here is just a drama king.” The vet spoke, clipboard in hand as she handed over Sunday’s papers. You flipped through the pages, scanning the information with a breath of relief. 

Looking down at Sunday who’s carrier was in your lap, you saw him peeking up at you with his beady eyes. He’s much better and livelier than earlier, you sighed, maybe he really was just being dramatic. 

“Thank you, Doctor.”

“Not a problem, Mx. _____.”

Pushing the doors open with Sunday’s carrier in hand, you couldn’t help but clutch your chest in relief.

“Thank Aeons, I almost had a heart attack.” You cried, opening the car door and setting Sunday down inside. You circled around the car to the driver’s side, buckling your seatbelt and starting up the car. 

“Let’s get you back home, Sunday.” 

The morning sun filtered through the blinds, casting its light against your slumbering form. Aventurine, who had slowly revealed his cunning and mischievous nature, slept peacefully beside you, swaddled in the comforter of your bed. 

He stretched his arms and legs out, yawning while doing so as he cracked open his eyes to look around the room. Aventurine had felt you stir in your sleep, so deciding to engage in his troublesome acts, he climbed atop your side and sank his claws into the fabric of your shirt, kneading your skin. This action thus propelled you awake, almost flinging the poor cat to the other side of the room.

“Aventurine! That hurt!” You cried, rubbing the side he was kneading. Lifting up your shirt, you saw some scratch marks that began to redden in color on your skin. “You little—! Don’t make me banish you from my room!” 

Your scolding fell on deaf ears, however, as Aventurine started to lick his fur. This cat… 

With a grunt, you throw off the blankets that were tempting you with its comfortable embrace, heading towards the bathroom. Aventurine followed after you, cutting between your legs before you could even stop him from entering. 

“I need to use the bathroom, Sir.” You placed your hands on your hips with a huff as he sat atop the toilet cover, preventing you from using it. “I would very much appreciate it if you could, out of the kindness of your heart, wait outside so I can shit in peace.”

Aventurine only continued to stare at you with his doe eyes, refusing to hop off. You rolled your eyes.

“Fine, you asked for it.” You quickly picked him up before he could dodge you, carrying him out of the bathroom and plopping him onto the ground. Quickly shutting the door, you let out a sigh of relief.

“Mrowww…” Muffled cries came from the other side of the door as your pain-in-the-ass cat pawed at the wood. 

“No, you can’t come in. I need to get ready for work, Aven!” 

As you can probably tell, Aventurine’s ‘shy’ personality was all just a facade! It only took a day for him to unleash his chaos onto your home (and you). The sweet cat you once thought was going to be shy was actually a smug troublemaker, just like what the old lady warned you about! You should’ve taken her words into consideration, you sighed internally.

After going about your business, you nudged open the door just in case Aventurine was sitting in front of it. Expectedly, he was. 

“Mroww!” 

“I’ll have to leave for work soon, but I’ll spend some time with you beforehand, okay?” You gave him a couple pats on the head, moving past him to head towards the kitchen. 

You had moved his food bowl near the dining table since Aventurine seemed to always cling to you. He took a seat at his food bowl with an expectant look. You took the memo and refilled his food before getting started on breakfast. 

You had a long day ahead…

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

Fumbling with your keys, you unlocked the front door to your house, stumbling inside as Aventurine greeted you with a meow.

“Hey buddy..sorry I’m back so late.” You groaned, kicking off your shoes and setting your bag aside. Aventurine rubbed past your legs, looking up at you with a look that says, ‘Finally! I’ve been waiting for you all day, human.’. Chuckling, you bent down to pet him, finding comfort in stroking his back. 

“Work was such a pain..nothing but paperwork and sitting in a cubicle for 8 hours.” You sighed, letting your shoulders fall back as you stood up, dragging yourself to your bathroom to take a relaxing bath. Aventurine trotted after you, tail straight up in the air as he meowed persistently at you. Was he trying to tell you something?

“Hm? What’s gotten into you?” “Mraowww!!” 

You gave Aventurine a worried look, scanning over him for any injuries. “I left you some food while I was gone, did something happen?” 

“Mrow.”

“...Okay, are you just trying to get my attention?”

“...Mrow.”

“Hm.”

You breathed a laugh at his response, he was so human-like sometimes.  

“I’m going to go shower now, it won’t be too long. Wait here, okay?” Shutting the bathroom door with a click, Aventurine sat outside, staring up at the handle. 

It was unusual for him to be this clingy, did something happen while you were gone?

“Bad.”

“Veritas, I’m literally eating cereal–”

“Bad.”

“Don’t judge me for my life decisions! This is all we had–”

“Bad.”

You sighed in defeat, continuing to eat your cereal as Veritas, your pet bird for 1 week, paced around the dining table, eyeing the cereal you were eating. When you weren’t working or doing something ‘productive’, Veritas would repeat the word ‘bad’ until you either ignored him or did whatever he was hinting at.

For a bird, he sure acted a lot like a human. You were sure he’d be a professor if he was one anyways given his intellect. He reminded you of your parents whenever they’d scold you…

But besides that, it was your day off! How dare you let a little bird such as Veritas Ratio police you around! 

“Bad.”

“I’m not gonna let you boss me around on my day off! I am your giver of fruits and veggies so you will let me do as I please.” You huffed, shoving the spoonful of cereal in your mouth. Ratio gave you a side eye, letting you know he was heavily criticizing your diet. 

“You know, you remind me of my parents, always telling me what to do or what not to do–” another spoonful, “--I can’t imagine if you were a human. That’d be a nightmare.” Finishing the last of your cereal, you scooted your chair back, taking your dishes to the sink. 

“Thank goodness you’re just a cute little- gah!” As you said that, Ratio flew over to your shoulder, wings flapping against your head as he squawked at you. “Okay okay! I’m sorry!” You cried, brushing your hair away from your face so you weren’t blind. He stopped his squawking, opting to silently mumble words next to your ear instead. Rolling your eyes, you turned on the tap water, squeezing some soap onto a sponge.

“...”

“Did you just shit on my shoulder, Veritas?”

“...No.” 

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

For the rest of the day, Veritas just sat on his perch near the living room window, gazing at the greenery of your neighborhood. He was awfully silent compared to earlier, was something bothering him? 

You were seated on the living room couch watching a movie, so Veritas was always in your peripheral vision. Every now and then you’d turn your head to watch him as he would pace back and forth, bobbing his head up and down every now and then. His behavior was a little odd, but you figured he was just enamored with the scenery outside. 

Turning your gaze back to the TV, you rewinded the movie back to where you last paid attention to.

𝄃𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄀𝄁𝄃𝄂𝄂𝄃

Night had finally come, the darkened skies only lit by the moon and stars. With the bedside table lamp on, you flipped through some pages of the book you were reading. You had already put Veritas to bed, so you were only winding down by catching up on a book you’ve never touched in a month. 

That was until you heard a commotion coming from the guest bedroom. Veritas’s bedroom. 

Scrambling from your bed, you abandoned your book and hurriedly ran to his room, flipping the light switch on so both of you could see. The commotion ceased.

“Ratio? Ratio! Are you okay?” Slowly pulling off the covers on his cage, you saw him staring back at you with his chest heaving rapidly. Did something startle him? You hadn’t heard any fireworks or loud noises so what could’ve caused him to become scared? 

You opened the cage door, Ratio hopping onto your finger as soon as you offered it to him. 

“What happened, Veri?” You softly asked, lightly petting his head. His breathing slowed down a bit as he stayed puffed up on your finger. Poor guy…

After some time had passed and everything had settled down, you let him retreat for the night, placing the covers back over his cage. You plugged in a dim night light that illuminated the bottom half of the cage. 

“Just in case he needs to see.” You muttered, standing up from your kneeling position. Turning off the bedroom light, you retreated back to your room.

“Goodnight, Veritas.” 

You hoped nothing would occur the next morning.

“Boothill no!” 

For the past 30 minutes, you had been chasing Boothill around your house. Currently, he was on the other side of your coffee table with one of your shoes in his mouth, staring at you with a certain gleam in his eyes. You, on the other hand, were in a crab pose, shimmying from side to side as you tried predicting your pet’s movements. 

“Come..on..!” You hopped towards your right, but before you could dash at Boothill, he made a run for the hallway. “Agh no!”

Hurrying after him, you looked around the different rooms, shutting the doors when you saw no sight of him. After confirming he wasn’t in the second to last room on the right, you slowly stalked towards the final door on your left— your bedroom. 

Quietly peeking inside, your eyes narrowed as you scanned the room from left to right, top to bottom. You stepped inside, closing the door behind you with a ‘click!’. 

“Boothill… I have some treats I can trade for my shoe…” You called out, walking towards your bed. It wasn’t a complete lie; you did have some treats for him but he’d have to give you back your shoe if he wanted to get any. 

You heard shuffling from beneath you, seemingly coming from under the bed. Sighing, you slowly bent down to look underneath it. Unsurprisingly, Boothill was there lying beneath your bed with your shoe tucked between his front paws. He gave a loud huff, resting his head on your drool-covered shoe.

“Come on, buddy. I’ll give you a treat— 2 treats!” You begged, literally on your knees as he only stared at you.

There was a tense silence before Boothill made a noise akin to a whine, taking the shoe into his mouth before worming his way out from beneath your bed. 

Standing back up, you stretched out your back with a relieved sigh, thanking the Aeons that this 30 minute game of chase has ended. Boothill plopped the shoe in front of you, sitting as he peered up at you. 

“What’s gotten into you, huh buddy?” You hum, scratching behind his ears as you bend to put back your shoe. Boothill trotted behind you, stopping to paw at your legs as he gave you an indiscernible look. 

“Hm? Looking to spend time with me?” Smiling, you plopped back down onto your couch, patting the empty seat beside you. “C’mere, I’ll put on a movie.” 

Boothill’s ears seemed to perk up at the opportunity of spending time with you (and possibly free snacks) so he hopped up onto the cushion and laid down, head resting on his paws. Internally, you cooed at the sight, wrapping a blanket around your shoulders while using the remote to sort through movies. 

Although his behavior seemed a bit off, you figured Boothill was having a rough day,

✤✤✤✤

✢ Laios would honestly adopt you as his little sibling, treating you akin to Falin (protecting you, rambling to you, doting on you…)

✢ After the party loses Falin, he’d grow very protective of you– not wanting to lose you like his sister

✢ Laios can be a bit dense when it comes to the wonders of puberty/adolescence (it’s been a bit), so he just needs a little time to understand and find a way to support you

✢ I feel that Laios would start to become so protective of you that you might get into a small argument, he’s just worried though! (how could he not?)

✢ However, after watching you fight tooth and nail in the dungeon and talking with him (courtesy of Senshi, Marcille, and Chilchuck bringing you two togther), he’d let up and not worry as much

✢ Laios would ramble about monster facts, formulate new potential recipes, and complain about Marcille’s teachings to you

✢ You’d also help Laios with understanding people better, or at the very least, reading the room (nudging him into the right approach when needed)

✢ All in all, a very supportive relationship!

✤✤✤✤

✢ Great, another brat for him to take care of sigh 

✢ Regardless, Chilchuck still watches over you from afar, even if he doesn’t want to admit it

✢ He deosn’t want to show his worry or concern for your wellbeing, so if you do something risky or dangerous, half of him wants to help and scold you while the other half stays quiet with restrained fear (even if you’re twice his size)

✢ At some point, this facade cracks and he ends up dumping all of his feelings into the open– about how he thinks you should leave the party and find yourself a stable job uptop, ect…

✢ Chilchuck, just as he is with his daughters, takes care of you in his own ways 

✢ He’s almost like a stern father, lecturing you about safety and interpersonal relationships within a party

✢ You just roll your eyes and go along with, knowing he means well and wants the best for you

✢ I feel that he’d be protective but not as protective as Laios and Marcille, he knows when to give you space

✢ Although Chilchuck rarely says it, he does care about you very much and there is a gnawing fear that you’ll be heavily injured (or killed) while venturing with them into the dungeon 

✤✤✤✤

✢ Ahh Marcille.. where to begin?

✢ She’d take care of you as if you’re her sibling– gushing and fretting over you

✢ Like she does to Izutsumi, she’d help brush and style your hair, find new clothes that are a perfect match to you, and make sure you’re properly cared for

✢ Like Laios, she’d be super worried about you while venturing into the dungeon

✢ She has her healing magic/spells ready in case you get injured or bruised

✢ With you being a tall-man, Marcille can’t help but feel sad (and the creeping existential crisis) as she watches you grow throughout the journey

✢ However, sometimes it feels as if Marcille is the youngest of the two of you here, whining about how “gross” the recipes are and such

✢ Just as she does for you, you’d help take care of her as well, brushing her hair when she’s tired, feeding her spoonfulls of any dish Senshi makes, and tucking her into bed

✢ Despite Marcille’s clumsiness and quirky behaviors, you still care for her very much! (even if you don’t want to admit it)

✤✤✤✤

✢ He’d call you kid, youngin’, etc… no lie

✢ Senshi is pretty lenient with you but he knows when its time to step in to prevent you from doing anything rash

✢ Just as he does with everyone, he’d make sure you’re fed the necessary nutrients a teen like you needs for growing

✢ If you aren’t a fan of vegetables or fruits, he’d try to come up with a recipe that masks the taste

✢ The way you and Senshi spend time is by cooking together; he’d guide you every step of the way when it comes to harvesting ingredients, prepping them, and then cooking

✢ When you take it upon yourself to cook a dish using ingredients from the dungeon, he’d be very proud!

✢ That said, he’d also teach you the ways of the dungeon and how to preserve certain elements of it to maintain harmony

✢ Senshi is almost like a wise old grandpa to you!

✤✤✤✤

✢ It takes a while for her to come around as her upbringing was very different from yours

✢ You are likely helping her with her hygiene and health since she is unable to properly care for herself or eat her vegetables

✢ Considering the two of you are closer in age, I feel that Izutsumi would eventually find some similarities with you and confide in you about certain things

✢ Eventually, she’d grow comfortable and would tease or bicker with you a bit, getting into harmless fights and challenges (who can hunt down the most monsters, eat the most meat, etc…)

✢ You guys are basically siblings!!

𝙗𝙤𝙣𝙪𝙨!!

✤✤✤✤

✢ Again, like Laios and Marcile, she’d treat you as if you’re her younger sibling

✢ She’s not as protective as Laios and Marcille, but she still frets over you after confrontations in the dungeon

✢ Falin would enjoy helping you with any issues or concerns that come with growing up, considering you’re both tall-men and she has been through the changes that come with adolescence and early (early) adulthood

✢ Falin would enjoy gossiping with you from time to time, or just simply chatting with you during night watches and such

✢ If you’re having trouble sleeping, she’d help lull you to sleep through stories or humming tunes from her hometown

Just look at his outfit during Emily’s heart event. 😭