Previously on The Lightning Thieves… 

On the morning of Winter’s Crown, Astrid’s deep, exhausted sleep finally breaks with the light creeping in through her window. Her eyes open slowly, and she blearily takes in her surroundings. This is her room. They made it home. A cough forces its way out of her throat, and she sits up. Avasha above, she feels awful.

It takes a while, but after she sorts through her foggy memories, she pieces together what happened the night before. Blue brought her home. They… tried to sneak around? Cantio saw both of them. The faint taste of cocoa lingers on her taste buds. That’s right, he made them drinks before sending them to bed. Did Blue ever get the gifts settled by the hearth?

Dread pools within her as she thinks about the possibility that Cantio saw everything already. As sick as she is, she barely has the energy to care. With great effort, Astrid pushes the covers aside and swings her feet out of bed. Slowly. Take it easy… She rises to her feet and trudges across the room.

Where is her hammer? Unable to spot it immediately, she uses what little energy she has to summon it from wherever it is. The icy war hammer manifests in her hand, and when it does, she gets a jolt of warm, healing energy. Suddenly, she’s feeling a lot better. This feels normal. Whatever bond she has with this hammer, Astrid is grateful for it. Her nose is still stuffy, but she manages a deep, refreshing breath.

Okay, she thinks she can face the day now.

What day even is it? Is it Winter’s Crown? Oh, she hopes it is. She hopes she didn’t miss it. She can’t have missed her first Winter’s Crown with her family. Everyone talks about how special this holiday is! Shoot. Shoot.

Setting her hammer down gently, Astrid walks out of her room and down the hall. “Da? Blue?” she calls unsurely. “I’m up!”

Of course, she’s completely forgotten about how dirty the owl onesie she’s wearing is. It’s stained with dirt and patches of blood in the shoulder and abdomen with holes to match. Not that she intended for it to look like this, but, well, what can you do when a crazy, revenge-driven bounty hunter attacks you unexpectedly?

Astrid heads toward the living room, peeking down the stairs to see if anyone is down there. She gets a glimpse of all the things they've left out for Cantio. They seem untouched. She thinks. 

Blue Raspberry sat in their room. They weren't sure what to do, being worried about Astrid because of how sick she was, but also being told by Cantio not to stand in her room and watch her sleep. They also just couldn't fall asleep themself because of how worried they were. In the end, they'd ended up deciding to just pass the time by doing their own special meditation. Sitting there and focusing on drawing more slime out of their inner storage space and adding it to themself, condensing themself more and more.

Suddenly, Blue felt an odd, uncomfortable feeling in their stomach that interrupted their condensing. What was that? Ah shoot! They knew what that was! Astrid had summoner her hammer from inside them! They'd forgotten they had eaten a buch of her equipment before heading out to rob that nobles' house that turned out to be Cantio's parents, and still hadn't taken it all back out. They were way too concerned with Astrid to remember that. If Astrid just summoned her hammer, she must be awake!

Blue shot up and ran to their bedroom door, throwing it open and running out into the living room, still in their damaged blue wolf onesie.

"Astrid! You're awake!" Blue shouted excitedly as they ran and slid right into Astrid, picking her up in a hug.

He’s been abuzz ever since Astrid and Blue came home; with Astrid sick, Cantio spent much of his time ensuring that she was okay. For a time, he had busied himself with tending to Astrid. Where they are, and what they had been doing, had simply… slipped his mind; Astrid and Blue were home safe, except Astrid was sick, so it took most of his attention.

He tended to the sick girl with cool rags to rest on her forehead, fretful late night check-ins, and ensuring that any blankets she kicked off were replaced and she were tucked in snugly. He checked Blue’s temperature too with the back of his hand against their forehead, but then wasn’t sure if oozes can even get sick, so he had told Blue to get some rest and let him know if they felt weird at any point.

At some point, all of his fretting over his two returning children culminated in Cantio eventually passing out at the kitchen table, a cold cup of hot cocoa, or perhaps coffee, just out of reach of his fingertips while he snoozes. It’s not until he hears Astrid’s distant calling that he starts to stir— and then bolt awake when Blue’s voice rings out through the living room. “Huh? Wh—? Hm?” Cantio scrabbles on the table, blinking drowsily as he sits up and turns his head towards the noise. “Blue? Astrid?” He calls uncertainly.

He pushes himself out of his chair, letting the feet scrape along the floor before he wanders into the living room. “Astrid? What are you doing up already?” The fellblood sounds drowsy but worried as he wanders into the next room— where he sees Astrid and Blue. His tail sways lazily. “How are you feeling? You were running a heck of a fever when you got home…”

He approaches the duo, reaching out to brush Astrid’s bangs back so he can feel her forehead with the back of his hand. She feels… a lot better, in terms of temperature. He blinks sleepily at her, before looking at Blue and doing the same to them. “Blue, you’re not feeling sick, are you?” They feel just a little cooler, but he’s still not sure if it has something to do with Blue being an ooze… Can an ooze run a fever?

Still, Cantio looks relieved as he pulls his hand away. “It feels like your temperature’s gone down a lot over night.” He breathes a sigh, “Thank goodness. I was…” He looks at the two; but then something catches his attention that had, somehow, managed to escape it all throughout the night.

He furrows his brows slightly, looking at Astrid, then Blue, then back.

“…W-wait, what happened to your clothes!? Is that blood? Are you hurt!?”

Suddenly Cantio is very awake.

Astrid has only just made it to the edge of the living room from the hall when she hears Blue burst out of their room. In no time at all, she’s scooped up into their arms in a hug. “Oof!” she gasps, but it quickly turns into a surprised giggle. “Aye, I’m awake. Mornin’, Blue! Good ta see yer alright.” With a bit of a wiggle, she’s able to turn and face them, throwing her arms around their neck for a proper hug. “Glad we made it home, bud. Thanks.”

At about that time, Cantio’s bleary calls echo through the house. “Mornin’ da!” Astrid calls back, dropping to the ground when Blue releases her. “I’m feelin’ alright now. Woke up on me own an’ was feelin’ pretty cruddy, but I got me hammer, an’ I feel about normal. Bit sniffly still, but fine.” She looks up at the worrying fellblood as he feels her forehead for a fever only to find none. “See? Told ya.”

Astrid looks Cantio up and down. He looks exhausted. Wait, he didn’t come out of his room. Maybe he was in the kitchen. Did he sleep? Oh, she hopes he slept. She knows how he can worry. But the pause in his worrying catches her off guard. He’s staring. Why is he staring? Astrid looks down at herself, finding that she’s still in the owl onesie, marred by dirt and blood long since dried, and then her eyes glance over to see Blue is still in there’s, and then she looks at Cantio again. What does she even say?

“Uh… We um…” Astrid fumbles her words, looking between herself and Blue and trying to formulate an excuse. She comes up with nothing. “Uhhh… No! No, we’re not hurt! Well, I s’pose we mighta been a little hurt. Just a coupla scratches though, nothin’ major.” It’s a lie. She has small holes in the fabric where the blood stains it. Something definitely stabbed her, and Cantio’s not convinced. In some desperate attempt to persuade him, she starts unbuttoning the onesie and pulls it off her left shoulder, only revealing that her white sleeveless shirt underneath is also stained with blood and there are scars on her shoulder to match the marred fabric, wounds that healed inexplicably fast thanks to the magic that bonds her to her hammer.

“Look, I’m fine!” she says. Her voice is a bit nervous though. The last thing she wants to do is worry Cantio – he’s done enough of that already. “Really, I’m–” Then she loses her words as the events in Sol City come rushing back through her mind. There was another fight with that champion again, and she was out to kill. It was a tough fight, and at the end of it all, she ended up so sick she couldn’t even carry herself home.

Astrid admits defeat, her head hanging and her voice low. “We um… got into some trouble in Sol City… We were tryna do somethin’ good fer folks, but I don’t s’pose it was exactly… legal.” If anything, she feels the worst about wrecking their special animal onesies Cantio worked so hard on. Her fingers play at the damaged fabric, a guilty air about her.

Crap, where’s all of the stuff they brought back? Astrid vaguely remembers Blue doing something with it the night before. Has Cantio seen it? No! It was supposed to be a surprise! “Hey, um… Blue? Where’s… the stuff we got?”

Blue let Astrid go, dropping her back onto her feet, before standing back up from their kneeling position. They'd made it home just fine, mostly. She seemed much better now than she had then, though. They were glad to see it. They didn't know much about being sick, but it seemed awful.

They looked to see Cantio walking in, scraping his fuzzy slippers on the floor. They were glad to see he was doing fine too, though he seemed a bit tired. Did he just walk out of the kitchen? How long has he been awake? Did he make breakfast? No, they couldn't smell anything cooking, so maybe he'd just been sleeping in the kitchen. Weird, since he had a bedroom, but maybe that was just something people did sometimes. Astrid slept in her workshop a lot too.

Blue glanced up in confusion as Cantio put his hand against the ooze's forehead. What was he doing? He kept doing the same thing to Astrid. Was that supposed to tell him if they were sick?

"No, I feel fine. Don't really know what sick feels like though, but I don't think I am." Blue replied as they reached their own hand out and put it on Cantio's forehead to try and see what he was doing. They didn't really know what they were feeling for. There weren't any lumps or anything. Well, Cantio was probably fine then.

Blue froze and glanced at Astrid in panic as Cantio finally noticed the damage to their clothing that he hadn't last night. Oh no. They hoped Astrid could come up with a good excuse, because Blue certainly couldn't. But, she didn't come up with an excuse at all. She just told him what happened. At least she left out most of the details that probably would have just made Cantio more worried. Like the explosions, and the poison, and the crazy lady with the crossbow, and Blue accidentally eating her leg, and the guards chasing them, and Blue jumping into the ocean. Yeah, that was kind of a lot, wasn't it?

Blue's smile faded and they looked at Cantio, downcast. "I'm fine. Sorry. We didn't think there'd be any fighting. We were just trying to get some presents for people." Blue muttered sadly.

"The stuff? Oh, it's over there, under the tree like you told me to put it. Wait. Right? It was under the tree, right? Wait, was it supposed to be under the fireplace!? Hold on, I'll move them! Don't look!"

Cantio blinks; the surprise is visible in his expression when Blue reaches out to feel his forehead— he’s touched that Blue cares, but there’s something a little more pressing at hand! His attention drifts to Astrid though; golden eyes wide and worried as she fumbles between her words. “A couple of scratches?” He echoes the girl; he can see that not only Astrid has sustained injuries, but so has Blue— in fact, where are the sleeves to their onesie!?

He looks between them, trying to take in the information from both of his children.

Trouble in Sol City. Possibly illegal trouble in Sol City.

“Did… did Zarius put you up to something weird? Were you chased by the guards?” He asks; he has no idea when both of his hands cupped beneath his chin like a shocked and fragile maiden, but here he is. The fell blood’s tail twitches back and forth, “I just… what…” he trails off, trying to work through a haze of worry, paranoia, guilt, and concern.

How did he not notice immediately!?

He wants to ask why, and who, and what in the world could have been so important that they thought to risk their very lives for it; the onesies are the last thing on his mind— it’s what they could be hiding that worries him, but Astrid reveals she’s not hurt, but… there’s still a scar, and… she was still hurt at some point; and even if Blue is an ooze, they’re missing their sleeves! Obviously they were hurt, even if maybe it doesn't work the same way as Astrid or himself getting hurt.

In the end, Cantio steps forwards; he pulls them both in towards him with an arm. Astrid by the shoulders, and Blue by the wrist before they can escape; and he hugs them both tight. Everything else said goes over his head, “Gods above, I’m so glad you both got home safely.” He murmurs, his voice trembling slightly as he squeezes them tight (which is not really all that tightly for a man of his strength).

He pulls back, his brows still furrowed despite his smile. “You’re sure you’re okay?” He continues to fret; his palm, on Astrid’s shoulder and on Blue’s arm, lights with a warm, golden glow. The sea which emits is soft, radiating throughout the two of them that would heal any wounds that might remain: or a simple, refreshing wash of light despite any insistence that they are, in fact, okay. ⁽¹⁾ Small holes in their onesies become enveloped by a similar light, threads of shimmering glow weaving into their torn, cut, and sliced fabrics until their clothings have become whole again— mostly. ⁽²⁾ Blue’s sleeves he’ll have to fix, himself.

He takes a breath, looking between them.

"Okay... okay. What... what exactly happened? What did you need presents for, and... what stuff are you talking about? Is everything okay?"

---

^{(1) Major Healing}

^{(2) Mending}

“No, no!” Astrid says, shaking her hands to push the accusation away. “Zarius weren’t part of it at all. Um… we were chased by the guards, but they weren’t the ones that, um, hurt us.” Her hands fall to her sides as she averts her eyes, though one comes up to rub the other elbow. How does she explain what happened? It was all so crazy. One minute, they were unpacking stolen items to be distributed to or sold for the less fortunate, the next moment they were being attacked by a vengeful fallen champion.

But Cantio’s less worried about the illegal activities than he is about their safety, and when she and Blue get wrapped into a hug, Astrid just leans into it, pressing her forehead against Cantio’s chest and hugging him in return. “Me too,” she says quietly. “It was… um… It was scary.” When Cantio separates them, Astrid’s eyes stay low, and she’s hesitant to release the hug, but she does. With a bit of golden magic, Cantio repairs the holes in her onesie, but that doesn’t change that the holes existed in the first place. “S-Sorry fer worryin’ ya… It wasn’t s’posed ta be that dangerous…”

It’s unlike Astrid to fidget, but she does, her fingers playing at the hemmed fabric of her onesie. Internally, a debate with herself rages on. If she tells Cantio that the champion from The Pits showed up with a vengeance and that she’s still out there, definitely even more angry about a failed attempt to kill her, he’s just going to worry more. But if she doesn’t tell him, he might get caught off guard or targetted himself.

So, with a deep breath, she starts, “Um… do ya remember when I told ya I went an’ fought in the pits with someone from the Fighter’s Guild? Well… either the guards hired ‘em or they were just after me or somethin’... I dunno. They um... They attacked us.” In truth, she really doesn’t know why Ceena showed up or seemed so hellbent on killing her – revenge is just her best guess. Still, her presence put other people in danger, including Blue. It feels pretty awful.

“We were droppin’ off stuff we uh– stuff we stole,” Astrid adds to Blue’s explanation, trying to add more context to the story. “It wasn’t just regular stealin’ though! There was a group of people stealin’ from the rich ta give back ta poorer folks fer Winter’s Crown, an’... I… Well, this is me first Winter’s Crown havin’ people ta spend it with, an’ I just–” She drops her hands and shrugs, still not meeting Cantio’s gaze. “We thought we could do somethin’ good fer folks who don’t have much.”

As Blue starts to jump to go move things to the fireplace, Astrid grabs the fabric of their wolf onesie and keeps them from rushing off. “No, no, the tree’s the right spot! If ya put stuff by the fireplace, it might melt or catch fire.” Her eyes cut to Cantio, finally meeting his worried, golden gaze with some level of panic. “Uhh…. It’s stuff….. Fer ya. Presents fer Winter’s Crown! That we got totally legally. Yup.” He’s going to see through that. She deflates. “Um, so fer this… robbin’ from the rich thin’... I think we might’ve… Um…”

Astrid’s eyes clench shut as she just blurts it out. “Weeeee _{might’verobbedyerparents.}” One eye peeks up at him to see his reaction, for the first time actually afraid Cantio would be genuinely upset at her. It's not like they purposely picked his parents' estate.

Blue just stood with their fingers together as they let Astrid explain what happened. She did a much better job of it than Blue could have. They just added their own input, mumbling quietly as Astrid spoke.

"I accidentally ate their leg." Blue mumbled sadly. That lady that attacked them had been trying to kill them for sure. She shot them with poison, and just so many crossbow bolts! So many! She deserved to have her leg eaten! They didn't feel bad about it. They felt much more bad about letting the onesie Cantio had made them get damaged. He had used magic to fix it mostly, but half the sleeves were still gone.

"It's my first Winter's Crown too..." Blue mumbled quietly as they looked down at the floor. It was the ooze's first Winter's Crown ever, not just their first one with family. It was nice that it was with family though. They just thought every Winter's Crown was supposed to be like this, but from how worried Cantio seemed, maybe that wasn't right.

Blue was glad they'd but the presents in the right place, but that didn't stop them from feeling awful about making Cantio so worried.

Both of them look nervous; a generous observation, given Astrid’s lowered eyes and Blue’s sheepish posture as they stand by, listening to Astrid’s explanation just as Cantio is now. The fellblood listens quietly, doing his best to remain neutral through the anxiety clawing at his stomach; he does his best to tell himself that the past can’t be changed, and it’s the fact that they’re standing in front of him now that matters.

It’s hard, though; he’s a man used to living in the past.

His golden eyes widen slightly when Astrid reveals that someone had attacked them; the very same person she’d fought at the pits some time ago… The fellblood purses his lips, tail swishing back and forth with an anxious slight to its motions. “They attacked you?” He repeats, his voice small; but it grows louder when he repeats, “You ate their leg!?”

To be fair, they definitely deserved it for attacking his family, but at the same time, it’s…

Mixed feelings.

The ever-present, lingering feeling of, ‘If only I’d been there to help,’ overtakes him, albeit briefly. “O-okay…” Sure, stealing is wrong, but— is stealing from those with plenty to give to those with less wrong? Yes and no, maybe; it’s complicated morals, but Cantio is familiar with the myths of the Red Rogue— and their many copycats… Not to mention, Astrid had been one of those with less once— and no matter how glitzy and gaudy Veliky had made her new home— it’s been less than a year since he’d met her, hadn’t it? He can’t say he argues with the idea— especially when so many nobles in Sol City simply…

Well, they’re selfish, to say the least.

Cantio listens to their story and takes a breath to calm his nerves; and then promptly chokes on that same breath. He coughs, “—you robbed my parents!?” He looks at the duo, utterly baffled by the statement that’s been presented to him. After a moment of pause, the fellblood breathes again; he bubbles into a laugh akin to a bark before covering his mouth with both hands.

Of all the nobles in Sol City, they robbed his parents!?

He can’t help but picture the looks on their faces.

He remembers them owning so many useless trinkets and baubles; paintings and instruments; all unused, and all for show. Things he could never touch, never play with; unsentimental, pretty and ornate garbage.

He clears his throat, lowering his hands as he looks at the two of them; he breathes a sigh between chuckles, “Out of all the nobles in Sol City, you robbed my parents?” He wonders, looking between Astrid and Blue with an expression that seems a little tired.

He blinks, running a hand through his hair as he looks towards the tree, then back at his children.

“Stealing is… not right in most cases; I don’t want either of you to make a habit of it… but I’m proud of you for standing up for what you believe in to help others— and goodness knows you probably did my parents a favor, too… They’ve always had so much expensive, useless junk sitting around that would better be used elsewhere…” He shakes his head, the smile on his face weak. “It’s absurd the kind of things they used to keep for no real reason other than to look the part.”

He looks at Blue, golden gaze warm as he reaches up and ruffles the ooze’s hair, “And we’re going to spend it together, here, at the house— with family. I appreciate the gifts, and I really am so happy you thought of me, but…” He lifts his hand from Blue’s head, looking between them, before he pulls them into another hug by each of their arms. “…I have you two home safe on Winter Crown, and that’s really the best presents that I could have after everything you’ve been through...”

Oh, right, Astrid and Blue probably never told Cantio that Blue has definitely eaten people. Maybe they don’t elaborate on that too much? It is kind of messed up, and Astrid tries really hard not to think about it or let them eat people if she can help it.

_{“They deserved it,”} she murmurs.

What Astrid doesn’t expect is Cantio to… laugh(?) at the fact that they’re pretty sure they robbed his parents. The fellblood doesn’t really talk much about his parents, which is fair. His memories of them aren’t pleasant, and their current odd little family has focused much more on just moving forward with their lives together. Honestly, the laugh helps Astrid relax a little. He’s not mad at least – not that she thought he would be.

“Well, it weren’t them on purpose,” Astrid says, though she can’t say she’d have been deterred if she knew about it from the start. In fact, they probably would have explored even more of the house if she’d figured it out sooner. “We know stealin’ ain’t right, but they really did have a buncha stuff…” Maybe they shouldn’t be rich jerks, then they wouldn’t have been targeted by the Red Rogue group.

Being pulled into a hug with Blue, Astrid is happy to accept the warm embrace of two people she loves dearly. They are home safe for Winter’s Crown, and they all get to spend it together for the first time as a family. It’s a special one, and she’s so happy to have made it back in time and to be able to celebrate. Even as a kid, she can’t remember a single Winter’s Crown celebration. She remembers people around Sky Peak celebrating it, but she has no memories of doing anything of the sort with her mother. That’s alright, though, it’s time to make new ones.

“Will ya at least let us show ya what we brought ya?” she asks, peeking up at Cantio. “I think ya’ll like it a lot. An’ if ya don’t, then Blue can eat it again!” With a giggle, Astrid steps back and turns to the living room where Blue has laid everything out. Since they know where everything is, she figures they can present it, and she’ll help.

"I didn't mean to, she kicked me in the stomach and it just...." Blue trailed off and shrugged before motioning to their stomach. "Went in. And didn't come back out..." They finished, looking a bit embarrassed. For some reason, it felt a lot worse to admit to Cantio that they'd eaten human flesh than it did with Astrid. Maybe because she'd witnessed it personally before, when Blue hadn't yet known it was wrong. But now it was like telling their dad they'd committed a crime. Which, they were also kind of in the middle of doing, but that wasn't as embarrassing as the whole leg-eating-thing. Their emotions right now were complicated.

Blue felt incredibly relieved when Cantio pulled them into another hug, even after finding out they'd eaten someone's leg. They realized that was why they had been so affected. What if he'd been afraid of them after hearing that? But he wasn't. He'd accepted it, and the ooze felt kind of... warm? Like he'd accepted a part of them they hadn't realized they'd felt the need to hide.

When Cantio reached a hand up to ruffle Blue's hair, they leaned down slightly to make it easier with a smile. They were happy to be spending their first Winter's Crown with their family. Blue nodded to Astrid and took Cantio by the hand to lead him over to the tree.

"We didn't know it was your parent's house, but we figured it out once we found that." They said, pointing to the sketch of Cantio's performance. "And then we found your room and we thought you might like all of this stuff." And they motioned to the rest of the presents. The clothing, the sketchbooks. They showed everything they'd found in Cantio's room that had seemed meaningful. Finally, they finished by showing his old violin.

A chuckle breaks the warm silence, and the fellblood nods in response to Astrid’s question. “Well… I can’t argue with that.” he chuckles. Cantio follows without resistance when Blue takes him by the hand; his steps are soundless, muffled by his slippers, while he trots across the floor after his kids.

Their first Winter’s Crown…

It’s hard to believe it’s only been half a year since he’s known Astrid and Blue; it already feels like a lifetime since he’s known them; a lifetime since Blue moved in, and Cantio grew adjusted and comfortable in their presence. He looks around the tree with a surprised blink, golden gaze focusing on the sketch of him, and it’s…

W-wait…. Wait, hold on.

That’s a sketch of him now, isn’t it?

As in: the musician he became after he ran away from home and never deigned to contact his family again? Did that mean one of his parents had been at his performances to sketch this? Or, was it…. Was it just a coincidence that they had something like this?

The idea of his parents knowing who he is settles strangely in his stomach; heavy and cold, as though he’s swallowed a thousand rocks to weigh him down. He doesn’t want to think about it too hard though, so he keeps a smile, watching Blue run through all of the things that they grabbed from his house.

He gasps when he sees the Ravenbear. “Oh my goodness! Mister Raven Bearnard! Aw, it’s been so long since I last saw him… Where’d your little bowtie go?” he takes the Ravenbear plush from Blue, nostalgia glittering behind his eyes while he looks over the well-worn stuffy. Next, comes the sketchbooks; Cantio looks through them fondly and laughs sheepishly— every terrible scribble that he made in his teen years of outlandish costume designs sits behind the leather covers.

The clothes he isn’t sure he can fit into anymore; but there’s something about seeing his old work— and then looking at Astrid and Blue’s onesies— that makes him feel warm.

Lastly, the tiny violin… “Oh, that was my first violin…” Cantio sets down one of the sketchbooks he was looking at to take it gently from Blue’s hands; he breathes a laugh. “My mother got it for me on my… fourth birthday? I sounded just awful, but it didn’t stop me from playing this thing everywhere I could in the house.” His smile is warm while he thinks of times in his youth when he sprinted from his room to wherever he could find his parents, in order to perform a slapdash series of scales, or a simple melody he had been practicing.

He wanted… so much, to be like them, back then.

Cantio plucks the strings of the tiny violin, listening to the flat notes of an instrument which hasn’t been tuned in ages… something he thought he’d never see again… His warm nostalgia for the past turns into something more melancholic; and he takes a breath as he lifts his head to gaze around at all of his old things— including Mister Raven Bearnard, who sits in his lap comfortably.

It’s so easy to think that he hasn’t changed a bit since he left home; and it’s strange to see everything he had left behind. Strange to see where he was before he left; the rough sketches of an angry hand trying to design something through roiling emotions, the rough stitchwork of old clothing made by shaky hands worried of being caught, and even the well-loved Ravenbear plush, which he had hugged onto as a comfort well into his young adult years.

But he’s changed a lot in the presence of this little warm, accepting family, hasn’t he? They’re small, and subtle changes; but his sketches are calmer, and his stitchwork is neater; his hands steadier, and his heart more full. He wants to be his own person, not a copy of his parents; and despite the steps being slow, he's made them.

Cantio breathes a sheepish laugh to avoid bursting out into tears, “This is… really… it’s really wonderful. I never thought I’d see all this stuff again.” He remarks, his voice trembling with emotion. “Thank you both, I really love it.”

It isn’t without a great amount of apprehension that Astrid watches Cantio go through all the things they brought back for him. Sure, it’s bad enough they unwittingly robbed his parents house and also might have been spotted and also got into trouble at the docks, but none of that matters. What matters is they did their best to do something they thought would be nice for Cantio. Still, the brief glimpses of Cantio’s past Astrid caught at the time temple on the edge of the desert make her anxious. What if these things bring up bad memories? What if he left these things behind because he never wanted to see or think about them again?

Luckily, this isn’t the case, and Cantio goes through things with great care and some amount of nostalgia and admiration for his things. The painted sketch seems to make him the most worried, at least what shows on his face. Astrid didn’t think much of it when she grabbed it. To her, she thought that having found that and showing it to Cantio maybe would be some reassurance that his parents think well of him as a musician. It never really occurred to her that the mask was as much to conceal his identity as much as it is to help his stage fright and social anxiety. How many red-skinned, gold horned fellbloods play the violin on stage anyway?

“M-Mister Raven Bearnard?” Astrid echoes, stifling a giggle. It’s a good name! She has no idea what she’d name a stuffy like that! She’s never had one. “That’s real cute.” Once the atmosphere relaxes, Astrid sits down on the couch slowly as she watches him talk lovingly about his old violin and old costumes. In all honesty, she’s really happy that he likes it all, and she gives Blue a victorious grin. The two of them did something good in all of this.

Cantio has never been good at hiding the trembling in his voice, and Astrid shifts her gap-toothed smile up towards their dad. “Yer welcome, da. I’m… real glad ya like it… I didn’t think that it might upset ya at all… I just thought it’d be cool ta see again.”

Her eyes land on the violin especially, tiny thing as it is, dusty from disuse. There are few things she can relate to in all of this, but the violin… takes her back. Astrid’s eyes drop to gaze at the floor, and her hands fidget, fingers locking and interlocking, hooking and pulling at each other. “I um… I remember me first hammer. Erm, it weren’t a real hammer, per se, no, that’s the one ya and Mister Zarius got me. That’s me first real hammer. I mean um… Well, I made a hammer with a rock an’ a stick, an’ I stole ma’s good pot lid fer a shield.”

She tries to laugh at the memory, even let out a chuckle, but it isn’t a moment that lives on as being warm and fuzzy for long. “She got real mad at me about it even though I was real proud of it. Real dwarves carry hammers fer smithin’ an’ smashin’. Thought she’d be happy ta see that.” Her shoulders lift and fall slightly. “But she weren’t.”

Astrid looks over at the tree in the corner, meticulously decorated by Cantio with some help from her and Blue. She remembers the three of them trying to find the best things to hang on it in the market in Sky Peak and then coming back to hang everything and eat cookies and drink cocoa. Her eyes water a little thinking about how much fun that day was together, and she lets her gaze fall again. “We never did nothin’ like this before, me an’ me ma. I didn’t know folks did nothin’ like it ‘til I was watchin’ ‘em in Sky Peak when it got real cold out. So um…”

Hard as she tries not to, Astrid loses her words. “I-I um… I dunno. I...I’m real happy we all met, I guess...”

Blue froze for a moment as Cantio asked where Mister Bearnard's little bow went. They stuck their fingers in their mouth and pulled out a little ribbon that used to be tied around the stuffed toy's neck. How it came off in their stomach, they didn't know, but they handed it to Cantio with an sheepish smile. They made sure the ribbon was clean and not dripping in blue slime. In fact, it was probably cleaner than Cantio might have remembered it being.

"Me too!" Blue agreed with Astrid, happy that they'd all met. They felt like meeting Astrid had been a huge moment that had completely changed their life. Meeting Cantio had all been thanks to Astrid as well, and they were happy to have the Fellblood that they now considered like a father to them in their life. They'd never had parents before, or maybe they had, but couldn't remember. Did oozes have parents? Maybe it'd be more accurate to say they have one parent that they budded from, but even then, Blue had no memories of anything before waking up in a glass jar on a boat. How they were born was a mystery even to them.

They had no childhood stories to share like Cantio and Astrid did. They didn't even know what Cantio meant by "birthday". They'd have to ask him about that later if they remembered. For now though, they were just happy to feel like part of a family. A really weird, completely unrelated family somehow formed through a dare at a Black Harvest Ball and a sudden invitation to come live with a crazy kid that got a house from a Halfling with an army of robots that maybe wanted to kill the ooze. A perfect family.

“I thought it was very clever.” Cantio admits when Astrid giggles about Mister Raven Bearnard’s name; he laughs a little, wiping at the corner of his eyes with a subtle smile creasing his lips. He sniffs, looking to Blue as they pull the stuffy’s bow out of… somewhere. He’s not really sure where, but he doesn’t think too hard on it.

“Thank you,” he laughs; and takes it, gently wrapping the bowtie back around Mister Raven Bearnard’s neck; but when Astrid speaks, he looks up to give her his full attention. He listens quietly, smile softening somewhat when Astrid mentions her first hammer made of a rock, and a shield made of a pot lid. It’s a sweet and childish gesture; innocent in every way; and so when Astrid admits her mother was unhappy with that, he frowns a little.

When her eyes grow glassy and she looks down, Cantio reaches up with the intent to gently encourage Astrid to sit down with him; and if she does, he reaches over and squeezes her into a hug. “Not everyone likes this kind of holiday,” he admits, “Maybe your ma had her reasons. My parents didn’t really like it either; to them, it was just another day on the calendar…” He looks up at Blue, motioning for them to come join he and Astrid so he can properly squish the both of them into a hug.

If he could give them the world, he would; but he can’t.

He feels emotional just thinking about it.

“…and to be honest, I didn’t like it much either because of that. Things are different now, though; because I met you two, and we got to be a family. I look forwards to everyday, but I look forwards to the holidays the most, so I can watch you enjoy them.”

It’s a little embarrassing to admit, but this really was Cantio’s first year properly celebrating the season; and he’d done his best to go above and beyond with the tree, the decorations, the food— the gifts— despite the fact that he had a rough time affording all of it. He’d even asked a few Sky Peak locals their usual customs so that he could adjust and adapt to a holiday that his family had minimally and unenthusiastically celebrated.

“Even if you hadn’t brought all this stuff back, I would enjoy every second of the holiday with both of you.”

Cantio squeezes Blue and Astrid into a hug.

“Being your father is the greatest present I could possibly ask for, after all.”