#31daysofarcana

“Mercedes! Hey, hey, hey, that’s a wall!”

This is one of my favorite scenes in Lucio’s route, so I don’t even regret spending like 8 hours on this, pfff... so I hope you enjoy the playtime with M&M and their very special ghost dad.

Separate doggos under the cut!

DAY 1 - Dream, Asra                                                    DAY 2 - Tea, Nadia

Here we are doing the 31 Days of The Arcana again!

Day 14 Alternate Universe

It was between animal crossing and aggretsuko, but animal crossing won over in my heart.

I’m incredibly sorry to Julian stans because this ain’t it for him... but I did my best!

muriel x reader

the mountain man doesn't go out of his way for most people, but you're the exception

warnings: none i think, it's muriel, the most i should warn you about is jealous muriel? super fluff???

muriel allowed you to stay with him being that asra had left yet again. believe me when i say that he was not happy when you'd first showed up uninvited to his home. maybe it was when you tripped over his chicken. he seemed particularly annoyed with you then.

the tension had eased some. there was no doubt in your mind that it had. it wasn't the fact he would give advice when you whittled some nights. it wasn't how he would cook a little too much for both him and inanna.

it was what he did today.

inanna was already quite pleased with your visits to the hut. often times she would sleep with you by the fire when you found yourself worn from helping muriel with his chores. but winter had come a little earlier in vesuvia this year.

usually, sleeping on the cushions and collected fabrics in front of the fire was enough for you but last night was particularly cold. it was nothing you couldn't handle as you snuggled into inanna who simply curled into you.

this morning. this morning, you woke up with that cloak muriel wore nearly all the time. the ripped fabric was so worn down that it was soft to the touch. inanna was still curled into you, her head resting beside yours with some of the blanket covering her haunches.

you sat up and replaced the fabric wrapped around inanna with one that you laid on. creeping towards the door and sliding out as to not wake up inanna.

but when you turned and found muriel crouching in the snow, you forced a hand over your mouth to stop the oncoming gasp.

muriel was crouched in front of a deer the size of a horse. it stood alert, two nubs sitting between ears that were turned in your direction. it stared you down when muriel noticed the baffled look on your face.

"it's so pretty.." your voice was nothing more than a whisper as you clutched the makeshift cloak to your shoulders.

muriel turned to open his palm a little wider to the deer. it cautiously eyed you as it leaned down to eat whatever it was from muriel's hand.

"what is it?"

muriel lifted his other hand. his finger brushing the ear of the animal, making it twitch before it went back to where it was turned in your direction.

"reindeers from the north." muriel gently let his fingers run over it's head and watching it with the smallest of smiles. "she usually stops by time vesuvia gets winter."

you inched forward, going as far as the deer would let you without getting too overwhelmed.

she inched over to you, the snout only a hair away as the deer sniffed your face and trailed to get a whiff of your body.

"what is she doing?" you winced only making the deer press on, now moving the blanket as you let your body fall back into the snow.

without a word, muriel stood up catching the doe's attention. he turned to walk toward the abandoned chicken coop and scooped up a bag of feed.

the female deer eagerly approached the mountain man when barking sounded from the hut. it took off, running into the forest upon being startled.

your feet were moving to keep up with the doe that was quickly disappearing into the woods, but a tug on your clothes kept you from moving.

"inanna—" your voice died upon seeing a large hand wrapped in the dark fabric clutched to your shoulders.

muriel's usual apathy was replaced with something that looked akin to worry. a faint pink colored his cheeks, but it was assumed it was from being out in the snow.

"thanks. for the cloak i mean!" you smiled, starting to peel off the fabric when muriel shook his head, turning his eyes away from you.

"you'll get sick." his voice low as his fingers toyed with the dark green pants he wore.

"did you name her?" your sudden question making him ponder a moment, glancing at you before nudging snow on the ground.

"eeka." he muttered, "thats the sound she makes when she runs."

muriel's evergreen eyes flickering up at you he nudged you towards his hut. the visitor definitely had you wide awake now, but your mind was still foggy with thoughts of sleep. you watched him for a moment trying to get your bearings.

he wore a shirt. one asra gifted him with, a simple black long sleeve that made every curve of muscle on him.

"w-why are you staring at me?" muriel's voice snapped you back to reality and understand just how long you'd been staring.

you unfurled his cloak from your shoulders, "your shirt looks nice."

muriel grunted out his thanks. something nudged your legs and you peered down to find inanna looking up at you. never had she looked so smug. you scratched her head.

"thank you." you held out muriel's cloak, "i didn't think i needed a blanket."

"you were shivering and inanna was worried." he muttered, putting another log on the fire. doing anything to distract himself from your presence.

"inanna was worried?" you smiled, plopping down on the bed and inanna came up to you, setting her head on your knees with a whine. "aww, he didn't care, 'nana?"

from the corner of your eye, muriel flustered, turning his head away from you, "i care when you're not teasing me." he grumbled.

you laughed, rubbing up inanna's neck so she let out a pleased whine. if you hadn't come up from staring into inanna's face then you wouldn't have been able to see the small smile on muriel's face as he fiddled with the wooden figurines across the room.

"do you.. can.. c-can i show you something?" muriel asked, turning his head away from you.

in the months you've been visiting him, never had muriel directly offered you anything.

he blushed deeper upon seeing your eyes light up, practically buzzing with excitement from where you were perched on his bed.

this was how you ended up following muriel through the forest. he insisted that inanna stay home today for the sake of what he refused to call a surprise.

both of you trekked through snow, muriel was easily walking as if nothing had changed, but you were tripping over yourself. your foot catching buried roots and rocks every so often.

muriel stopped and motioned ahead of you to an opening in the trees. it seemed as if all the breath had escaped your lungs.

there in a clearing stood an entire herd of reindeer. muriel ventured out into the clearing and sat down on one of the boulders peeking out of the snow. you cautiously followed as the herd's attention turned to you.

"muriel.." you whispered, hands shaking as you slowed your walk.

he slid over on the boulder, "if you sit, they won't think you're a predator."

you sat on the cold rock, pressing into the mountain man as the does began coming towards you. eeka was practically trotting over, but the sight of the other much larger females approaching made you nervous.

"why are they getting closer?"

muriel held up a burlap sack, a small smile on his face when eeka started sniffing his face and hands. "you didn't get a chance to feed eeka."

your stomach errupted into butterflies and your heart swelled, but upon being surrounded by creatures much larger than you, anxiety forcing you to grab at muriel's sleeve.

muriel opened his hand, allowing one of the deer to eat from his palm.

with wide eyes, you watched as muriel, with all the confidence in the world, fed the female reindeer. he glanced at you, a shy smile on his face as he held out the sack to you. "do you want to try?"

you tentatively reached into the sack and let the grainy chicken feed spread in your palm. almost immediately after you brought it from your chest, two of the reindeer started feasting from your hand.

you were unaware of how you were leaning closer into muriel's side. he noticed, watching you intently. he saw the way you were smiling and gazing at the deer with the same bright eyes you gave him.

suddenly he was envious of the deer, but before he could say anything, the doe you were feeding swiftly jumped away. you watched them scamper over to muriel when you noticed the mountain man's wide eyes. he stared at something behind you.

a stag, twice the size of the doe leaned down to eat from your hand. it's wide antlers keeping the doe from reaching the food in your palm and framing your body, unintentionally distancing you from muriel.

it snorted upon lifting its face to yours and sniffed at your cheeks before standing upright. it curled it's head around you and gave a firm push so you stood upright.

it nudged you toward the rest of the herd that grazed further into clearing when it jolted and swung it's antlers behind you.

muriel was standing, never flinching as the antlers were directed at him. his arms falling to his side when he met eyes with you.

his green eyes had taken the same tone as grass in spring, bright and lively except the worry that creased his brows made you falter.

"what's wrong?"

"he.. he wants you to.. uh..." his arms hesitantly reaching for you, "join his herd.."

"oh.." you turned and set a hand on the neck of the stag. it stared at you, snorting and pawing the ground. "i'm sorry."

you stepped around the deer and stopped at muriel's side, making the mountain man ease a little now that you knew about the stag's intentions.

but when the stag stepped forward you tensed until muriel did the unexpected.

his arms wrapped around your waist and pulling you flush to his front. when you looked up, his eyes were set in a glare, his hold tightening on you as he took a cautious step back.

the stag had ran off, but you were still captivated by the abnormal dominant side. you didn't realize you were staring until muriel's eyes had met yours.

back to their original shade and free of worry. you set a hand over his arm, smiling up at him. "not worried, huh?"

muriel flushed and let you go, picking up the chicken feed as fresh snow began to shower down from the sky. he muttered about it getting cold, glancing back at you, an invitation to follow him.

you hurried along, ducking under his arm and pressing into his side with a smile.

"in case that big deer comes back."

he rolled his eyes, turning his head. he didn't pull away, but he did in fact hide his smile.