@dorkbajirchronicles @acavatica @lilacsolanum I’m laying the blame on all of you for making me consider this desperately sad post.
Cassie keeps up a little garden of Andalite grass with Ax (that they stole… somehow? Probably with a bad plan and some graphic violence), and that’s the headcanon I’m sticking to so that I can feel better.
I AM. SO HONORED TO BE A PART OF THIS.
Honestly my first thought (I saw the art/tags without reading the rest of the post, maybe she was very quickly peeking at her phone at work where such things are frowned upon, maybe she wasn’t) was a Dome salvage. Visser Three caper is VERY, VERY good. I love the idea of the kids putting themselves in danger so their friend can eat. But we are all overlooking sweet, sweet Gafinilan coming to Ax’s scoop, just before it gets to where he can’t leave his own scoop ever again, just before there are no more good days, and helps Ax plant a garden of good plants that can sustain him. There is too much risk in Mertil visiting Ax and Tobias’s woods, so when Gafinilan is gone, Ax is helpless at gardening, and it takes a certain amount of talent to get alien grass to grow in Earth soil. Cassie’s the only one who can do it. Jake is more helpless than Ax when it came to growing things and was eventually banned from the garden. Rachel is allowed to help, but only if Cassie is there. Tobias is Cassie’s second in command. Marco is entirely uninterested in the whole thing, but he does come to keep Cassie company one day. He brings an old and horrifically out of tune guitar and attempts to “play” it while singing 1970s folk songs to accompany Cassie’s whole aesthetic. He, too, gets banned.
When Ax gets back to Andalite, he is small for his age, has trouble digesting homeworld grass, and is far below average in sight and lung capacity. His doctor’s think it’s a miracle he isn’t damaged beyond hope. Ax knows it’s not a miracle. It was just hard work and Cassie.
“It was just hard work and Cassie”. Oh wow, break my heart, why don’t you. That was really lovely! Sweet, sweet Gafinilan… this scenario is perfect, and Marco with his guitar teasing Cassie is such a great image.
I meant to just write a short thing to add on to yours, but it grew into nearly a whole damn fanfic, so I’ll put it under a cut: