hi zak, my luke plush got a bit dirty and dusty.... do you happen to have a guide on how to wash (and care) for your luke plush properly?? thanks ueuueue ;;-;;

hi hi chika!!! i see youve finally gotten to the quintessential luke plush owner milestone of having to give your boy his First Bath!!!

i wouldnt say i know the textbook Proper way to wash luke plushie, because when i got my luke plushie i lost the official hyv tag he came with so i never got to read the wash/care instructions (if there were any) BUT i can tell you how ive been washing my luke plushie because it seems to have worked so far!!

without further ado

step 1: pre-wash

youre first gonna wanna remove his clothes, luke plush is a lot easier to wash when hes naked, and it's also easier to wash the clothes fully when theyre off of his body

(pictured: the plushie family and clothes, separated)

i'd also suggest using a lint roller at this stage to get some of the surface dirt off, just so washing him is easier once hes in the water

once hes naked and lint-rolled, its off to the bath!!

step 2: bath time

we're going to be hand washing him, not machine washing because machine washing a plushie is scary to me. theyre all alone in there.....

anyhoo, fill a basin with cold water and drown your luke plushie in there. make sure there's enough water to fully submerge your boy.

once hes all wet, add gentle detergent, the gentlest you have

both the water temp and detergent kind is to prevent any color fading. very much avoid any harsh chemicals like bleach and whatnot.

this is not part of the washing process but now is the perfect time to pause and take a picture because luke plushie will look like hes in a bathtub

(pictured: bubble bath time for luke plushie)

anyhoo, once youre done taking a pic, gently GENTLYYYYY scrub at any portions that have dirt or grime on them. gently GENTLLLYYY rub everywhere else that doesnt have any visible dirt.

repeat with the clothes, and take extra care because ive found that his clothes are very fragile.

dunk luke plushie's head under the water and gently GENTLYYY squeeze, so his stuffings and braincells also get washed.

do this for a few minutes until youre satisfied or until the visible dirt has been removed

once done, set luke plushie and clothes aside, dump the sudsy water out, and fill the basin again with clean cold water. dunk luke plushie and clothes in the cold water to rinse them off, swishing luke plushie and clothes around under the water.

after some swishing, you can run luke plushie and his clothes under a running faucet or hose to further rinse him out.

keep rinsing until the water no longer comes out with sudsy bubbles. you may have to squeeze his head GENTLY GENTLYYYY a few times in between this process to get all the suds out of his cranium, so just be patient

once the water is no longer sudsy, it's time to dry him!!

step 3: drying

since the clothes are thin, you can hang those up right away to air dry. for luke plushie, however, his head is huge and currently filled with water which makes him very heavy at first.

to get some of that water out, place him on a towel, fold the towel over him, and press down on his head gently or roll him around in the towel. do this a few times to get as much of the water in his head Out so he isnt so heavy when you hang him

once his skull has been drained of most of the water, hang luke plushie on a hanger by his legs, since it's easiest for clothespins to clip onto that

(pictured: just hanging out)

if luke plushie's head is still too heavy from the water to be hung from his legs, another alternative is tying a ribbon around his neck and hanging him from the ribbon instead. i just dont do this myself because it VERY MUCH EMOTIONALLY DISTRESSES ME to see him choking like that, but objectively it's a good workaround

IMPORTANT NOTE: if youre air drying them outside, place them away from direct sunlight. this is, once again, to prevent color fading.

i find that leaving them to hang out for one full day is enough to dry him completely!!

and thats it!! once everything is dry, you can clothe luke plushie once more and he'll be all clean and fresh

oh one last note. if your luke plushie had slight blushies on his cheeks (like it was sprayed on), you might notice that thats faded a bit after the first wash. this is normal and unavoidable (at least in my experience), but you can add his blushies back with makeup, if you have any

also, i'd highly suggest getting a lint roller for when luke plush gets dusty but isnt dirty enough to warrant a full bath!! just gently give him a bunch of rolls like so to keep him dust free :D

i hope this helps!!! i wish you the best on your luke plush washing adventures!!

hi zak!!! deliriously asking this at 5am, but don't you ever think about every time marius (and i guess that whole von hagen family in that sense) celebrates his own birthday is he reminded about his mother's death? like... the way you share birthday with your mother's death anniversary.... haha how does that go............

first of all, I HOPE U WENT TO SLEEP AFTER SENDING THIS MESSAGE!!!

second of all, AUUUUUUUUGGGGHH //wailing in agony

i have thought about it in passing and it hurts my heart....frankly i think marius, once hes old enough to understand what happened (and also old enough to be blamed for what happened) (which...wasnt very old at all, he was still a child) takes it hardest. of course, giann and austin grieve, but i like to think that because theyre older (and thus more mature and capable of compartmentalizing) that their grief for carenina is separate from their joy of having marius in their lives. it wasnt a "deal" or a "trade" in their minds and in their hearts.

for marius though, it is. he sees the beginning of his very existence inherently tied to the death of his mother. he sees his existence as a sick "trade" by the universe; lose someone you love and gain a child thats a burden and a reminder of who you lost. hes much harder on himself, and i think thats partly because he never got to meet his mother, so he didnt get to experience how excited she was for his birth, he didnt get to experience first hand how much he was loved by her even before he was born. giann and austin got to experience this, and, even with all the bumps in the road, they continue this love for marius. in a way, it's a form of remembrance too. but marius had it different. what he knew was once upon a time there was a perfect family, and then he came along, and grief loomed over them like a shadow theyll never be rid of. marius feels like he was a thief. marius feels like he stole life of his mother.

semi-related: i actually have an hc that marius' mother did not die during childbirth (and thus not on marius' birthday), because canon never confirmed that it was during. instead, canon just said that the strain of giving birth was too much for her deteriorating health, so it's not without the realm of possibility that carenina lived for a few months after childbirth before passing away.

why i have this hc is because:

1 ) i hc she was the one who gave the nickname "king". she'd whisper it to him delightedly, boop his little nose and tease him for being a pampered little baby, calling him "my little king" as she cared for him in her last days.

2 ) i just want carenina to have met marius, even if marius cant ever remember it. i just think it would be nice, and that it would be fitting. one of the last moments she had was cradling her beloved son in her arms, and she was at peace when she went

she was full of love and had no regrets. to her, this wasnt a "trade" either. this was her choice, and she was glad to have made that choice.

but of course, marius cant remember the experience, and he thinks otherwise. to him, being born was his first sin among many.