memento mori; memento vivire

A shot from an old fanfic, but one of my favorites

Fanfic:

(which are a struggle to get right up until stratt forcibly relocates him to a boat and, after reading his medical files, sets up regular shots for him.)

WHAT IF THE JUNIOR TRIO WERE PART OF STREGA?

(STREGASWAP AU PT1, designs + bios)

First off, he's 17. Second off, cults are notorious in taking in people deeply struggling and abusing their struggles for their own gain. Half of Nozomi's dialogue involving the cult screams "I am being manipulated". He is constantly betting everything on the cult and on his coping mechanism of eating because literally nobody has ever given him a chance ever.

But you know who does give Nozomi a chance? Minato. He see's the genuine parts of Nozomi like rank three where they try spicy fish ramen or how Minato is always asking if Nozomi sick. Not judgmental, concerned. He sticks around because Nozomi isn't evil and he still calls him out when he goes to far.

And I'm gonna be honest? I think Nozomi does take accountability for his actions. I think he returns the money he stole and tutors the kid he conned and then he leaves Iwatodai for his food trip to get support small businesses. The reason I think this is because Minato never asks. He doesn't prompt or pry the question, he just knows Nozomi will do the right thing. You as the player aren't privy to the satisfaction of that answer and you don't need it to suspend your disbelief that Nozomi changes and takes accountability.

Nozomi's link to me is someone flawed in the ugly way and still having someone come along and stay by his side. One day he will be worthy of the Gourmet king title but until then he needs to do better in the moment. Minato trusts that, he doesn't need to say it out loud. Sometimes you just need to be there, speak up when things go wrong, and have faith. That's what makes this link work for me.

You may have liked your artwork or you may have been like 'meh, not my best work', but literal hundreds of generations after you died, a person speaking a language you cannot understand, living in a future so alien to you that you couldn't possibly imagine it, made a sculpture of your art and shared it with thousands and thousands of people on a communication network that uses lightening inside flattened rocks and invisible waves of light that travels to where the stars live and back. And they all love it. Everyone who sees it is like 'aww, that's nice' or 'holy shit I love this'.

They never knew. They, their kids, and their kid's kids never knew that this would happen to that art.

Artwork I did for the Femc mod on gamebanana! I don’t really use tumblr but thought I’d repost it here too 🥳 femc my beloved