Let Cale Slack

Alberu in the background 😂​​ Is that Choi Han or Archie creating the wave?

I mean....

LOOK AT THEM.

LOOK AT THEM AND TELL ME THEY AIN'T THE CUTEST

(Yes, I mean all 4 of them, don't worry)

Cale also looks so sweetly at them that I just can't--

Cale exudes fatherly energy, and the children cling to him and won't let go. He doesn't really try to push them away, even while complaining and thinking he needs to pass that "baggage" on to someone else. And I simply love this side of him, even more so when we see his interactions with the children from the perspective of other characters who always describe the tender looks and gentle smiles that our adorable redhead gives the children without even realizing what he's doing.

He may only frame it that way for the kids (like how it is the duty of the adults to take care of kids), but even with the young adults (Mary, Jack, Toonka), he is the same. He helps them and cares for them, even if it is different from the kids.

For the kids, he actively cares for their well-being, and is very physically affectionate (carrying, petting, hugging and even letting them climb all over him). With the young adults, he guides them, helps their cause without overpowering their agency. He gives them the choice that he rarely got himself when he was their age as KRS.

But then I got to where I am (chapter 304-ish) and it makes sense. Man just doesn't STOP. He fought in the gorge of death. Then his plate got fucked up. Went to get it fixed, was laid in pain for like three days. Immediately after, he got up and went to meet with the crown prince for scheming. Messed with both Arm and the Mercenary's guild at the same time. Went to help Toonka. Went to the jungle to talk with Litana. Went to the empire to talk shit about Aiden, then went to pretend to be Aiden's ally for profit and to smack him in the back later (I laughed out loud when he was basically in EVERY side of the war AT THE SAME TIME). He was coordinating with the Whipper side, while also seemingly helping the Empire, WHILE ALSO conspiring with his own people (I loved the bit where he asked Raon to bring Saint Jack over because he knew he was gonna have to act out in front of the Empire, but since he didn't want to lose his hard earned clout with the people from the Empire, he used their own patron God's Saint to back up and support himself as justification lmao). Stopped the golems, and then, WHILE STILL IN THAT FIGHT AND LITERALLY TREMBLING FROM EXHAUSTION, he is like 'gotta wrap things up quickly here so I can go help the Jungle, they can't deal with the golems on their own'.

i like my grown men traumatized and whimsical

bonus

I just love scheming Alberu.

People tend to forget how smart and manipulative Alberu is, because most of TCF is from Cale's POV, who is on a similar calibre to our crown prince.

But if we look at them objectively, he and Cale are absolutely terrifying. (Alberu especially, given how young he is in comparison to KRS!Cale who is 38 years mentally)

The thing about Cale is that he does not sit with his emotions, rarely even gives them proper time to process, until absolutely confronted by them. Instead, he usually avoids, reframes and pretends they are "efficient decisions". He tells himself he is doing things for convenience, profit, stability and minimum damage.

Meanwhile, the oblivious bastard is:

collecting children

building a found family

throwing himself in front of bombs

overworking to protect people

losing sleep over their safety

That’s not a man who is cold and analytical. I mean, he is in certain cases but not always. That’s a man who refuses to admit what he wants.

Now, to the yearner part -- He is one, just not on the poetic, staring-at-the-moon way media advertises nowadays.

He is a suppressed yearner (just as suppressed as he is emotionally). Don't tell me you didn't notice how much he canonically yearns for:

stability (in the name of slacker life, but yeah)

a place that doesn’t disappear

a home he can return to

people who see him and stay beside him

He just translates that yearning into "I want to live quietly" and "This is the most efficient route" rather than the typical "I want you" we are used to.

He craves domestic things (playing with kids, napping, reading peacefully) but never admits it as such. He is afraid of losing the same (Wind Island Test???) but would never say "Don't leave".

Why? Because he is too used to losing everything he holds close anyway.

So instead, he goes "Do what you want." and then does everything to position himself so they don’t have to leave.

Cale does not do the self-aware stuff (too delulu on slacker life dream). In fact, he even rejects his narrative framing as the hero despite all that he is doing.

That is also why I love him, tbh. He is not overly analytical about himself, not even remotely curious. To Cale, he is an 'ordinary' man with trash personality. He is emotionally avoidant, highly observant, and strategically minded, and that is such an oxymoron (sometimes more moron than oxy) that it makes me laugh yet want to smack him upside the head.

He will do everything for the people he cares for, because that's all he knows how to do. Act.

He is a man who says, "That’s inefficient." while rearranging the world so the people he loves never have to suffer.

And fuck, do I not love a yearner like that, someone who would build his life around you in the name of 'using you'.

Anyway, simping aside, this is why Cale is a yearner, just not a traditional one. He loves deeply, builds his life around them silently and would care for you with actions more than words.

Especially this part below:

Cale loves very deeply and has rarely found anyone long enough to stay by his side as KRS to pour his all into them.

Now he has, and he makes sure to show it through actions as much as he can, because we all know how bad he is at words unless they are to scam people or sigh at his own antics, as if he didn't start the shit himself.

Study art went too far

Second version because idk