#miscneilleaneous

I don't think he was surprised by how mortal they were exactly, I mean the first thing he did after corruption was obliterate everyone from their village. He probably saw a fair share of wounding and death when he and Dream were kids and then after the apple incident I imagine he spent a lot of time just wandering aus causing accidents and death so he could suck up that sweet negativity.

I think he was surprised to start caring about it though.

Growing up and being immortal (and also all the bullying and corruption and [gestures vaguely at Nightmare's situation]) probably warps your sense of attachment. Lifetimes pass while you stand still so why would you bother getting attached? Mortals probably seem like flies to him and Dream, they buzz around for their short little lives and then they're gone, he and Dream continue going.

But then he got Killer, on more of a whim than anything. Take in a mortal and task them to fight his brother, either they do well and it's effectively a living shield for him against Dream's arrows, or he forces his brother to kill another monster in self defence and gets to feast on the grief. Win/win for the goopy man.

And Killer did well, so Nightmare kept him. And Killer turned out to be loyal, so much so that it surprised Nightmare a bit. His only real interactions with mortals to this point had been betrayal and fear after all, and Killer didn't seem to project either.

Killer needed company though, and his brother had also recruited some help, so he ended up with Dust (and that worked out fabulously as I'm sure you can imagine) and then he ended up with Horror. And at some point, when one of them tried to get in the way of an arrow fired at him, it had stopped being amusing and started being alarming. It was no longer "this mortal will block my brother's attacks" but "don't jump into attacks, do you have a death wish??".

I need to rewatch it!!!

Just look at that animation!! 🤤

And an example of a scene where the horses communicate entirely through facial expressions and body language. The is no dialogue between the animals in this movie!

ALL THE TIME, NEILL. ALL THE FUCKING TIME DO I THINK ABOUT THAT SCENE WHERE SILCO'S ENTIRE WORLD VIEW BEGINS ITS SLOW FLIP.

He doesn't love her immediately, no... but he understands her. He understands her arguably better than anyone else can, or ever could.

So I don’t usually do “authors choice” but I will for you Neilles cause I know (roughly) who you like 😌😌

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Blue: He takes it in stride! He’ll smile, place his arm around your shoulders and lay his head on yours. He’s a pretty physically affectionate friend (only if the other person is comfy obviously) so this type of affection is nice, but it doesn’t have him internally freaking out even though you are his crush. It’s especially nice because it’s you, but he’d rather enjoy this than think about his feelings for you.

Bee: Oh dear stars… he stiffens and peeks down at you. You… you’re just willingly cuddling up next to him? His anxiety spikes as he starts worrying if he smells weird or if his bones are too uncomfortable to lean on, but the longer you stay, the more he relaxes. This is… nice.

Boss: He smirks. This is probably when he’ll start to think about telling you his feelings. It seems you might harbor similar feelings, so he should press on. Of course, he won’t confess now, he has to plan it and make it perfect! But, he will stroke your knuckles with his thumb and enjoy this moment.

Tilly: So, he’s 8’3”… your head would probably only make it to his upper arm. But if you leaned against him like that, he’s absolutely stunned. You… want to be close to him? Have you seen him? He’s too wrapped up in his own anxieties to just relax and enjoy it - which he’ll be extremely disappointed about later when you pull away.

Mal: He pauses in whatever he was rambling on about (this man talks a lot) and looks down at you in surprise, before smiling softly. Ah, this is nice. He’ll lean into the touch and continue with the conversation.

Basically, The Innkeeper shows up in a time of desperate need and offers them a job. She warns them this is their one and only chance, and most of the time they accept just to get a away from their situations. (Especially the horrors)