#mod ceae

Elsword shows up with a bouquet of red roses and shyly confesses, despite all his normal enthusiasm. Sure, it’s a classic move, but Elsword is a classic boy. It’s a unique side to him that not many will see.

Aisha has trouble verbally expressing her affection, so she writes a confession letter to her crush and hands it to them before taking off awkwardly. She’ll probably follow it up with some actual talking.

Rena just mentions it casually. She’s learned over the years that it’s better to get a confession over with quicker; otherwise, it’ll consume her alive. Typically, though, she tries to stay away from romance. Elven lives really are too long.

Raven has done a confession one (1) time in his life and it involved screaming from both parties. He’s not very good with confessing. Don’t ask Raven for advice on how to confess.

Eve is not sure what a confession even is. She prefers to wait for the other person to take the initiative. However, if worst comes to worst, she’ll ask them out to a romantic dinner and confess there.

Chung sketches his crush carefully, writes “I love you” along the bottom of the sketch before signing his name and tucking it into a heartfelt, handcrafted card. Hey, he was sick often as a kid, so this kind of stuff is second nature to him.

Ara tries her hardest to prepare a box of chocolates, but probably chickens out at the last moment or trips and dumps the entire box over her crush. It’s a memorable experience, but definitely a stressful one. Eun spends the whole time cackling.

Elesis rehearses a perfect confession, even learns how to hide a rose in her sleeve and extract it extravagantly when needed. Will she ever do it, though? Hell no. After some pushing from her friends, she might try, but she might also have a meltdown afterwards.

Add has to convince himself that he doesn’t have a crush first… And fails miserably. And proceeds to cry. And maybe send his crush a “get out of my face” message so he suffers slightly less. Add isn’t good with confessions either. Don’t ask him for advice.

Lu just figures, if I like them, they have to like me back, right? She doesn’t even bother confessing. She just gets up all in her crush’s personal space and acts like they’re a couple anyways. 

Ciel sends his crush a cute confession message along with heart-shaped cookies. After all, the easiest way to anyone’s heart is through their stomach, right? What his crush doesn’t know is that he’s toiled over the recipe for months.

Rose gets all red around her crush, and has to duck away to not embarrass herself. Eventually, at some point, she’ll make awkward eye contact with them, choke out a hasty “I like you!” and run. Don’t ask Rose for advice, she won’t give you any. She could probably use some herself.

Elsword is awestruck. Woah, he gets taller! And his sword is super cool! Does this mean he’s going to be a Velder Knight? Why does he get a cape? The awe turns to questions quickly, ones that go unanswered from the lack of information.

Aisha is similarly awestruck, but in a very quiet way. She sits wordlessly and admires the magical constructs that she can’t recreate yet, and tries to find an incantation for those flames. Hang in there, Aisha, you’ll get there soon!

Rena laughs happily, because future her must be free to do what she wants. She zeroes in on the lack of knee guards, though - kicks can be harsh on her knees, and if she really doesn’t need knee guards, she must be super strong.

Raven accepts it with a curt nod. For him to wear the symbol of Velder… He must have sought (and gotten) forgiveness for his crimes. That’s all he needs to soothe his fears for the future.

Eve doesn’t show it, but she’s alarmed by the wings. Aren’t those an extension to the forbidden Queen’s Throne code? If she really does go down that path in the future… Eve saves the photo to remind herself of her future power.

Chung freaks out entirely. How is he supposed to walk around in a Freiturnier like that? Why is his cannon so huge? What happened to his hair? It’s only much later that he realizes it reminds him of his father.

Ara panics and asks Eun why she’s so flowery. While she’s happy that older her is clearly much more graceful and less clumsy, she’s also a little worried - that skirt cannot be good for battles.

Elesis whoops but is also a little hurt. Why is future her wearing a skirt? At least past her is wearing shorts underneath. Nonetheless, the large flag of Velder that future her holds gives her hope.

Add notices immediately that future him is no longer covering his scar. That means future him has confidence in himself. Add backs the hell away from that thought.

Lu is certainly confused. Is this a human thing? Because demon military uniforms certainly don’t look like that. Future her looks hella hot in that jacket though.

Ciel gives Lu a history lecture on human military uniforms and how they differ from place to place. No, Miss Lu, don’t do your narcissist thing where you make faces at yourself. Aside from that, he’s pretty accepting of this 3rd job.

Rose is aghast. The Princess would have a heart attack if she saw this outfit. What happened to dressing conservatively like an Empyrean guard? She puts the image down and goes to wash her eyes out with soap.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the guild, everyone was celebrating, except for one boy of dreams unfulfilled…

“Hey,” Ara says, coming to sit next to Add. Her reindeer antler headband is lopsided. “Are you alright? You haven’t talked to anyone.”

“I guess.” Add looks down into his mug of hot chocolate. The candy cane stuck in it is slowly melting. “Why should you care, anyways?”

Ara frowns. “Why shouldn’t I care? You’re putting a damper on everyone else being happy. We’re all worried for you, Add.”

They sit in silence for a while. Add takes a cautious sip of his hot chocolate. It’s still too hot. “It’s lonely,” he remarks quietly.”I miss Christmas with my mother. She always made peppermint hot chocolate for me.”

He’s surprised to turn to find Ara’s nose turning red, a sign that she’s about to cry. “We didn’t really have Christmas where I came from,” she says, “but my brother gave me a gift every year. Now that he’s gone, it just doesn’t feel right.”

“There’s always that one little tradition that’s missing,” Add says, nodding. “But they’re gone, so I guess there’s not much we can do to bring that feeling back.”

“Yeah.” Ara rubs her eyes and grins. “But hey, there’s always time to make new traditions and new memories, right?”

Hey, it’s a start. He takes her hand, and they go together to partake in the Christmas cheer.

Soda and cookies put under the tree, in hopes that Santa’d set presents for three.

“You said your father always put soda under the tree instead of milk,” Eve says as she hands Chung a can of cola. “Why is that?”

Chung looks surprised that she’d even remember this. “We ran out of milk one Christmas, so instead Father put a can of soda there instead.” He smiles. “Thank you.”

Ara is an angel, and Add is a broken shadow. 

Her laughter is beautiful, and it heals him slowly. His heart is filled with joy whenever they speak.

It never would have occurred to him that they’d become such good friends. She is a girl from a world of demons and spirits, and he is a boy from a world of viruses and databases, but somehow they are friends, perhaps something more.

Perhaps that is why he cannot stay close to her.

Ara is an angel, and Add is scared to taint her purity.

So he moves away slowly, pretending to have other things to do when she comes to talk to him. He buries himself in his time travel equations and forces himself to fixate on the past. There is no future for a broken boy, after all. He lives the present while he can and reminisces over a tattered past.

He tries not to focus on the the fact that she has other friends to turn to. Rena and Aisha often braid her hair. Elsword helps her sneak candy from the pantry all the time. Chung talks to her just as much as he does.

Ara is an angel, and Add needs to forget her before he hurts her.

“I don’t deserve you,” he says one day when she finally catches him and forces him to talk to her. “You’re an angel, Ara, and I’m only going to hurt you if I let myself get close to you. Please, go be happy with the others.”

She shakes her head. “You’re hurting me by staying away,” she says quietly. “Don’t leave me again, please.”

They hold onto each other. Ara confides to him that she isn’t an angel either. She is a broken shadow, just like him. The healing process is slow, but they’ll heal together. She kisses his forehead, and he kisses her lips.

you’ve heard of

now get ready for

and for some cross-language shenanigans

Elsword immediately goes for a baseball bat. After being told no, you shouldn’t go around wielding a baseball bat as a sword, he swaps it for the largest foam sword he can find. It’s literally taller than he is.

Aisha gets one of those plush toys where you get a code to access an online game, like Webkinz or Littlest Pet Shop. She doesn’t even want the plush toy. She just wants to play the bunny hop game.

Rena gets a design kit, where there’s fabric inside and you can make your own clothes for your dolls. She doesn’t use any of the fabric, though, because it’s really pretty and she doesn’t want to cut it up.

Raven gets a book about animals. He curls up in a corner while the other kids wreak havoc and reads quietly.

Eve can’t be a kid, Nasods are born fully fledged. But if she were, she’d buy a toy car and one of those scooter boards, disassemble the car and put in a strong motor, and hook it up to her new carriage.

Chung was sickly as a child, so his dad gets him a watercolour set so he can paint from his bed. His favourite thing to paint is water. Helputt is extremely proud and puts up all his works on the walls.

Ara chooses a doll and names it something along the lines of Lily Baby Heartflower. She combs Lily’s hair so many times a day that Aren finds loose doll hair in his underwear.

Elesis also goes straight for the baseball bat, but because she’s a bit older than her brother, she’s allowed to get it. Her first time playing baseball consists of her nearly killing a man with said bat. Elkashu regrets everything.

Add isn’t allowed to buy any toys aside from books, but his mother relents and lets him choose one small cat plushie. Years later, he’ll find it and reminisce over his broken childhood.

Lu doesn’t want a toy. She wants food. More specifically, she wants cookies. After getting her cookies, she wants a toy, and more specifically, she wants that princess crown that you can decorate yourself!

Ciel didn’t really have access to toys as a child, but given the chance to, he’d choose one of those bake oven sets. His parents are a little alarmed when their son starts making actual pizza in the bake oven.

Rose wants to be like her father, so she asks him politely for a little toy revolver for her fifth birthday. This ends up being a problem when General Testarossa accidentally misplaces his own revolver. At least Rose has the sense to put the safety on.

Lord Knight: boi

Rune Slayer: EXPLODONATE

Infinity Sword: Kirito but with more swords

Grand Master: Ready To Fight

Blazing Heart: may all your bacon burn