#poor phoenix

Day 13: Betrayal

“How do you do… Mister Lawyer? I’m Matt Engarde.”

Did you guys know that my favorite case is Farewell, My Turnabout?

Now you know :D

What is more suited to Narumitsu than a good Hanahaki Disease fic? The term "Hanahaki disease" literally comes from the Japanese words "hana" (花, flower) and "haki" (吐く, to vomit).  Hanahaki au stories are often tragic, with the protagonist struggling to breath, their lungs becoming overgrown with flowers. It can be fatal, and can only be cured if the beloved reciprocates the feelings, or if an invasive surgery is performed that removes the flowers but also the memories and feelings associated with the beloved. Many Hanahaki victims refuse to give up their 'unnecessary feelings' and so the scene is set for some delicious angst and confessions, a perfect set up for our two sweet (and often idiotic), long suffering attorneys.

I should also mention that all the fics listed below are whumpy ‘lite.’ I would say all fit in the hurt/comfort category, but do read the tags.

As usual, these are in no particular order, because fics are to be enjoyed and celebrated, not ranked ;p

Enjoy!

Fall Where They May by flybykeylimepie

Rating: M Words: 9,014 Read time: 40 mins

A really creative and unique Hanaki story. I tend to come back to this one over and over when I'm feeling that need for something a bit whumpy but romantic. Recommended if you likes your beauty cut with a little pain. (Seriously my lungs kinda hurt at the end of this... but it's so good 🫁 🌸)

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

Hibernation by nonisland

Rating: T Words: 5,607 Read time: 25 mins

"The petals he spits out, wet and brilliant, curl at the ends. He wonders why they’re always blue. It is hardly as if he is in any danger of forgetting who this is for." A beautifully written ficlet from Miles' point of view.

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

and when the morning comes, i'll breathe again by quantum27

Rating: T Words: 1,747 Read time: 10 mins

Interesting and fast-paced take on a Hanahaki au. Covers major milestones of the trilogy plus a bonus Larry fic!

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

Cyclamen Persicum (Resignation) by Axolotl_Supremacy

Rating: T Words: 10,467 Read time: 45 mins

Cute , wholesome and satisfying (well, as cute and wholesome as bloody flowers and an angst filled Hanahaki tale can be), filled with affectionate little nods to the characters we love.

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

Blood red (golden yellow) by Ballad_Of_Firefly

Rating: T Words: 326 Read time: 5 mins

A bloody charming little ficlet about unnecessary feelings.

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

Perseverance by Udaberri for narcissasdaffodil

Rating: G Words: 2,336 Read time: 10 mins

Beautifully written hanahaki disease one-shot. I really enjoyed some of the imagery and phrasing in this one. "As the years pass, he’ll gain a reputation for ruthlessness, but his breath will still smell of flowers..."

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

feelings are fatal by spacekidmidge

Rating: M Words: 5,118 Read time: 25 mins

“I have been in love with you, dumbass!”

Haha! Brilliant.

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

love most definitely requited by TheEclecticLibrarian

Rating: T Words: 9,556 Read time: 40 mins

What a gorgeous title and what a gorgeous story… Seriously, I feel like this one should be on the 'Required Narumitsu Reading List.' (hmm, I think this might be a future post?)

Franziska, Kay, Maya and Trucy are featured strongly and there is dialogue between Franziska and Miles in the opening that just got me right in the feels. And finish it with a beautiful and funny confession scene? This fic deserves all the flowers.

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

Love Ridden by redmorningstar

Rating: T Words: 3,634 Read time: 15 mins

Super sweet Hanahaki one-shot with one of my favourite versions of Edgeworth: worried and action-driven {;-)

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

not a flower on the wall by PennamePersona

Rating: T Words: 5,166 Read time: 20 mins

Excellent take on this genre: Hanahaki as a neurological condition, with a very kind of bitter-sweet ending. Refreshing and creative.

—ڿڰۣ✿ڿڰۣ—

OOO! BONUS!!! Freshly posted work in progress by a Narumitsu Master:

Mourning Bloom by Evelinessa for ElAurian

Rating: T Words: 50K eventually? Read time: 20 mins

One of my favourite authors is tackling hanahaki disease? Sign me up! Only one chapter is up at the time of me posting this, but oooh, it's a good one.

—ڿڰۣ✿ ڿڰۣ—

!!! And a BONUS bonus!!! Thank you to @alpin-the-floof’s recommendation for

The Prosecutor’s Lament by Gheyn for moonlessnight125

Rating: T Words: 2,780 Read time: 10 min

There are just so many things to love about this fic! Miles learns to make the most out of his Hanahaki condition. Like, so many things…

🍋🥧🍋💕

and well heck, look at that: a BONUS bonus bonus!! Freshly posted work (as of Jan. 26):

Electric Blue by picsofspiderman

Rating: M Words: 39,451 Read time: 2 hours, 40 mins

This one has been keeping me company for the last few days. At turns funny, dramatic, but overall incredibly wholesome and sweet (with some really nice and romantic non-graphic sexy times towards the end), this fic will leave you with a memory of flowers in your lungs but a smile on your face. One nice thing I appreciated about this fic, is how it takes the reader past the climax to navigating what a relationship really would look like for the two of them. Enjoy!

—ڿڰۣ✿ ڿڰۣ—

And that's it for now! If you have a favourite Hanahaki fic, please share it in the comments or tags!

Photo taken by Natasha Trace, babysitter of two adult children and designated driver.

My phoenix sucks at math, their handler only now finds this out

He got his name from the fact that when he was smaller he went through not one, but two periods where he didn't move for weeks at a time and I assumed he was probably dead, only for him to eventually wake up. Because of these long periods of inactivity, his growth has been behind his siblings for a long time.

But for the last couple of months, Phoenix had appeared to be acting completely normally and had grown a lot. I thought he might eventually catch up with his siblings, but always was aware he was probably a "runt" from the beginning and might have something invisible wrong with him.

A couple of days ago I was doing some maintenance on my snail's tank and two of them were AWOL, so, as I had done tons of times before (mostly when they were younger), I sifted through the soil with my hands to find them and get them out. But then I touched something that crunched... For whatever reason, as my hand encountered Phoenix where he was sleeping in the soil, part of his shell came away...

It was the rim area of the shell that had basically peeled away in layers like onion skin. Since there was no obvious damage to his body, I still had a fair bit of hope that he would be able to survive it (I've seen on r/snails that snails can recover from MUCH worse-looking shell injuries than that), and put him in a corner of the tank to see if he could recover from the shock and go back to living his little snail life.

Sadly, it was not to be. He hadn't moved since then, and this time I know for absolute certain that Phoenix is no longer with us: part of his "foot" is exposed, and it doesn't recoil from me when I poke it. It seems that whatever happened to his shell was too much for my little survivor to deal with.

I genuinely don't blame myself much for what happened when I dug him out of the soil, because snail shells definitely aren't supposed to do that so there must've been something wrong with it before I picked him up and caused it to break off. I tried my best with the little runt of the litter, kept giving him chances when it seemed like he was done for, but sometimes it just doesn't work out.

I started with 6 hatchling snails and lost two very early on, which didn't affect me because it's expected for an animal that has hundreds of offspring at a time, but Phoenix is the first one who lived long enough to have a name and a personality. I always kept myself ready for this to happen due to him being a runt so I'm not too devastated but I'm gonna miss the little fella and I'm really sad he couldn't overcome whatever was holding him back.

Rest in peace, my smallest snaby.