Perfection Is,

Why is Cale so lovable, actually? What's his secret??

Here's the thing: despite his flaws, KRS-Cale's charisma is insane, even for protagonist standards. Why is that?

Sure, it's a standard protagonist quality to use the ✨Power of Friendship✨ to save the day, but Cale has the unique ability to – completely unintentionally – turn EVERYONE around him into simps, sometimes even his enemies. And that, bizarrely, includes the audience. No don't lie to me, I've been in this fandom for a month already, I have eyes!

So, how does that keep happening, exactly??

To answer that question, allow me to first introduce you to a very important concept for healthy relationships: the 5 languages of love.

Words of affirmation

Quality time

Physical touch

Acts of service

Receiving gifts

A no, this does not apply only to romantic relationships - it's ALL relationships. Every person has their own preferences, both in showing and receiving them, usually 2 or 3 of them being the most important ones for a person. For example, I'm a "words" and "touch" person myself: I like hugs and people telling me they care about me. Pretty simple concept.

So, here's the thing. I've been re-reading TCF, and I came to a very important conclusion: Cale, completely by accident, absolutely excels at all five love languages.

It's so subtle you might not realize it at first. It does't sound like someone with such a closed personality, does it? It's especially confusing when you consider his background: an abused orphan who was pretty much always alone. But perhaps because he never recieved much affection growing up, he currently compensates by subconsciously sharing what he always wanted to receive, yet never got as a child. And because he ends up in a world where he's surrounded by abused children who didn't get enough affection, it's so darn effective, winning people's undying love and loyalty instantly.

Let's look at these one by one, shall we?

1. Words of affirmation

Cale has a tendency to accidentally say exactly what the listener needs to hear. But it's not all bluff, and not all luck. Cale is actually quite wise. He gives proper words of encouragement, based entirely on his knowledge and judgemment. For example: he tells Choi Han that he can protect people. He tells Raon that he should live freely and that he's great and mighty. He tells Alberu he deserves to rule the kingdom. He tells Mary not to "listen to nonsense". He tells Rosalyn she's reliable and capable. The list goes on and on.

Cale might not be saying "I love you" directly, but he is saying "Good job, take good care of yourself"... which pretty much amounts to the same thing.

2. Quality time

It might sound ridiculous, but... taking down Arm and saving the world is actually their perfect family quality time. Laugh if you want, but I'm serious! They're not a regular family, after all. They were all hurt, scarred and/or betrayed by the secret organization at some point. By destroying them and saving the world together, Cale not only gives his friends a purpose - he is also giving them closure. Revenge, retribution, healing, moving forward... it's all there. THAT'S some quality time!

3. Physical touch

While he's certainly not hugger or anything (not counting the Choi Han battle hug or Alberu's showman embraces, those were always an act), Cale is not averse to touching people either. Head pats for the children are quite common. Cale also touches people on the shoulder a lot, have you noticed? Like when Jack cried over Hannah, or when Cale congratulated Choi Han on a job well done after rescuing Raon. It's subtle, but it's there: his touch means support, affection and respect. It definitely counts.

4. Acts of service

Pretty much everything Cale does ends up helping other people, one way or another. Considering the sheer scale of Cale's actions, it's only natural that combined with the other love languages, it makes others feel great admiration towards Cale. He might not like it, because he sees those acts of service as "self-serving". But I think Cale was the most honest about it at the beginning of the story: when he gave On and Hong bread for the first time. "You don't need a reason for things your heart draws you to."

Cale actually, genuinely wants to help others. It's just he's so overworked already, he doesn't want the expectations and responsibility that comes with other people relying on him. As an orphan, he was made to believe that taking care of his own interests is inherently selfish, but somehow, he only applies that when thinking about himself. Despite everything, he actively encourages others to take care of themselves while neglecting himself. No wonder people love him.

5. Receiving gifts

Despite liking money so much, he's extremely generous. He lets go of five billions when selling Toonka – whom he "doesn't even like" – some documents back from the magic tower pretty much "just because". Sure, Alberu told him to do it, but Cale wouldn't listen to him if he didn't want to. You'd think his previous life of poverty would make him greedier than that. But while he steals from bad guys with no remorse, he gives to his allies freely with even less remorse. Sure, he expect them to "repay" him with their services, but you'd have to be blind not to notice how beneficial those deals are for everyone involved. And his kids? Cale downright spoils them. Sure he "scams" Raon by letting him pick one magic gemstone out of hundreds, or a single coin out of Alberu's pockets... but that's just responsible parenting more than anything.

And remember how he asked Basen and Lily what they wanted as a gift at the beginning? There was absolutely no ulterior motive to that: zero. He did it literally just because. Remeber when he gave Raon an additional pouch with healing potions when he just met him? Or when he gave Choi Han the same pouch when he sent him off to find Lock and Rosalyn? Yeah. Cale does that pretty much all the time in the novel.

Conclusion: the reason why Cale is so lovable is because he's already so loving 😊

Temptation ➝Shinkane Week 2019 Day 4 ➝WC: 7225 / Rating: explicit

Upon his return to the country, Akane visits an old friend to get drinks and catch up.

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Icing on the Cake

For: @books-tea-ghosts

From: @samantha-girlscout

 Hello lovely, Lily! I’m sorry that you were the one ghosted this year. I thought about continuing Quality Ingredients (I swear I will some day), but nothing was coming out for that and instead this did. In a way it’s kind of a spiritual successor to that and A Small Reprieve (where the OC in this came from), But it’s also it’s own thing. It mostly came from your comment about how Naru deserves to be happy. I agree whole-heartedly. I hope you like this!

Naru knew something was up the moment he opened the front door.

It was just him and Ellen this Month. Mai had some business back in Japan and they’d decided it was better for the two of them to stay behind. It was the start of Ellen’s ninth grade year and Naru had work he still had to attend to at the main SPR office. It only made sense for the two of them to stick it out until she came home.

Currently, they were almost three weeks in, and they’d established a system. Unless Ellen wanted to hang out at a friend’s house, she would come home and work on homework until Naru came home with dinner. Occasionally, his mother and father came over to cook, but that was only about once a week. Otherwise, it’s easy, familiar, and routine.

Until today.

It had been a rough day at the office. One of their investors wasn’t happy with the results of one of the most recent cases coming out of the Japan office. It had taken far too much of his day calming the man down so that he wouldn’t pull his funding. Between the amount of time it took and just how demanding the man was, Naru was ready to call it a day.

But, as he entered the house, he gave pause. It smelled as though something were burning. Thinking the worst, he immediately dropped everything and ran into the kitchen. As he crossed the threshold he found Ellen, in tears, looking dejectedly into a baking dish.

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Rafayel!!!!!

Link: xhslink.com/uEpFVD

Take me away

Fall In Night Chibi and Poster

Cale’s definition of “quiet”: Invade a villa, steal a dragon, etc.

Cale’s definition of a “hit-and-run”: Blow up a motherfucking island

Let’s be honest the one who does the most property damages in the whole fucking novel is Cale, not the villains lmao

G: You all right, Kougami? K: Yeah. More importantly, something bothers me.

I’m making a Ghost Hunt personality quiz and wow, Masako is a sad, sad person. It makes me feel awful that everyone seems to hate her. And for what? They think she blackmailed Naru? Maybe Naru felt like he had to be nice to her so she’d keep his secret, but I don’t think she saw it that way. She never would have revealed his secret. She was just a lonely teenage girl who was isolated because of her powers (which are waning) and she thought maybe, just maybe Naru understood from a similar situation and actually liked her for more than her fame. I actually think Naru took advantage of her. He’s used to playing nice to get what he wants, and that seems to be what he did here. But I’m not blaming Naru; he needed his identity kept secret because his very life might have depended on it. I just think Masako deserves a little more love. And don’t even try to tell me she doesn’t because of her bad personality. We all know who has the worst personality and we all still love him.