Cana: We are going to Hargeon!

Natsu: By train again?!

Cana: No, they say the train went off the rails. I'll ask Mest to take us.

Erza: It seems to me that Mest went off his rails as well.

Natsu: Whadayamean?

Erza: He said he "was going to natsuate so hard that a handsome Rune Knight in glasses arrests him again".

But he's nott

His powers are COOL and the teleporting and mind messing is Useful!!

But he's nasty waste of cool useful powers

Nothing makes me angrier than the fact that Mest had the coolest powers and biggest potential to the most captivating, saddening backstory. Even his quirk could be explained — he has this need to taste everything bc he messed with his memories so much he forgot basic knowledge that he learned as a child: he never grew out of the oral fixation part. Or maybe he did, but anyhow his powers come at a cost, and Makarov made him use them constantly without knowing the side effects. They’re irreversible.

And then there’s the angst that comes with not knowing if his life is real. Memories are fragile, they get harmed every time he messes with them. He has no sense of who he is, really. And he can’t use other people’s memories to help him bc he messed with their memories too, regarding his identity.

And he also struggles with understanding his feelings for Lahar — is it love or is he confused? Does Lahar actually like the real Mest? Or is it Doranbolt he actually loves, not Mest? Where does one draw the line between two true lives? He’s constantly worried about this.

His life is ruined by his power, yet it’s too powerful for to not use: it would be immoral to avoid using such skill, when it would save so many lives.

not like, the "oh wow big booby" kind of fanservice, but the thing mashima does where he writes things into the story almost exclusively to please mainstream ft fans. he includes well-liked jokes, he highlights the characters everyone likes, he makes popular ships canon. he's really good at seeing what his audience likes and working with that, and he does it to the point that it actively makes the writing of the series worse. (ex: gray and juvia)

during and before the tartaros arc, there seemed to be a genuine effort put into making mest at least somewhat sympathetic. we're supposed to enjoy watching him work through his trauma from loosing fairy tail. we're supposed to enjoy his interactions with lahar. but when mashima revealed the twist that he was actually part of fairy tail, everyone understandably hated the twist (and by extension, mest) so much that mashima saw how determined the fandom was to hate him. so he just went "ok :). here he is being a creep and stabbing people for no good reason. here is your hate sink!" mashima just essentially gave up on putting effort into writing mest as a likable character because he realized how much everyone liked hating him.

Important: Please do not vote if you don't know the characters.

Buddy it has been a minute since I was on my Doranbolt shit but here we go:

First off, since Doranbolt was a perfectly functional character who was then smashed into a brick wall of mess the moment Makarov called him "Mest", we call him Doranbolt exclusively in this house. Calling him Mest is like calling the Oracion Seis "Crime Sorciere". Nope, you can say it but I'm not hearin it.

🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍🌈 GAY GAY GAY HE'S A GAY MAN HE LIKES DICK

That little earring he wears is an aid to his sensory powers and it'll jingle sometimes if some sort of concealment magic is being used.

Doranbolt has a history as a small-time gangster, and developed his teleportation and memory manipulation powers to aid in getaways and snitching without getting caught. Less successful attempts at this when learning it early on are how he got those scars on his face.

Idk whether it's a side effect or a requisite ability but this dude has total recall and he holds grudges so don't piss him off.

Homeboi is traumatized and has acute PTSD from watching Acnologia seemingly destroy Tenrou Island and everyone on it. He does not like bright lights or loud noises, and the guilt eats him alive if you couldn't tell by his getup in X791.

Doranbolt owns a very expensive pair of Gale Force reading glasses and if someone were to break them it would have to be repaid in blood.

Everybody on this god forsaken site is always fantasizing about "smol introverted gorl who likes reading and is nice to everybody but can secretly kill you" bitch that babygirl is DORANBOLT wake UP.

Surprisingly into romance novels and movies. No one can know.

Has two modes: Council Mode where he's super mannered and reserved, and Everywhere Else, where he's still reserved and nice but swears constantly.

Had to have Lahar explain "malewife" to him despite being the one usually explaining slang to Lahar. Immediately began referring to Lahar this way and hands were nearly thrown.

''Do you have the slightest clue how many people I've seen dying on my watch?!'' He suddenly blurted out loud as he leaped forward as far as his shackles let him.

She jumped back. His eyes were bloodshot and his figure had turned slender after days of magic deficiency. Veins on his neck and face were throbbing as the wall kept him in place.

''Seven years,'' he hissed, his teeth gritting in anguish, ''I spent seven years thinking I left you all to die on Tenrou.''

She didn't know how to respond. He was far gone. It was impossible to have a conversation.

''Fourty-seven,'' he continued, almost foaming at the mouth from anger, ''that's how many graves I dug behind the council building to bury my colleagues and my best friend.''

''That wasn't your-''

''Shut up!'' he roared and Cana took another step back in fear. ''No matter what I do, I'm never able to protect the guild or even the people close to me! Makarov was in the wrong to appoint me for that secret mission for ten long years!''

She let her head hang and slowly turned towards the exit. It was no use, she thought, something in his head that had been there for a long time snapped, and nothing could get through to him anymore.

She walked away, covering her ears to ignore his screams echoing loudly through the dark underground. They weren't even sentences anymore, just aimless echoes of pain. Tears welled up in her eyes and, before she even realised it, she let out a sob of despair.

-------------------------------------------

For this year's Mescana Day I drew this scene from chapter 1 of No Way Back! I'm very happy with the result, I haven't drawn in a while.

The story is part 3 of the Mescana Trilogy and can be read on ff.net and Ao3!

Mest Gryder is a Pureblood wizard that was born on the 26th of October 1978 and started attending Hogwarts on the 1st of September 1990, being sorted into Slytherin house.

He grew up in the Fairy Tail Orphanage and has dreamed of working for the Ministry of Magic since a young age and eventually became a spy for the Order of the Phoenix during the Second Wizarding War.

During his time in the Ministry, he meet and got married to a coworker named Lahar who was eventually killed by Death Eaters during the war and Mest never remarried after that.

The Death Eaters inside of the Ministry eventually found out that he was a spy for the Order which forced him to go on the run before he returned to Hogwarts to participate in the Battle of Hogwarts.

While he did survive the battle, he started to suffer from extreme survivor's guilt since he was the last person to see the people that fell victim to the broken Time Turner and he eventually became an alcoholic due to his depression over not being able to save them.

He recovered soon after their return and eventually started working as an Auror for the Ministry.

He has a Spruce wand with a Phoenix Feather Core.

His Patronus is an Osprey.

His favorite subjects are Defense Against the Dark Arts and Charms.