#Rahas is a popular character XD

[theshatteredrose]

Hello, I wanted to say I love your writing so so much and feel so blessed to have found it. I was wondering if I could bother you and request a Simmons/Rahas with Rahas being "nice" to Simmons because of their connection to Shiki? It's such an intriguing plot line

AN: Sorry it took me so long to get this written! I have a few excuses, but their all generic. And there was no way I could say no to such a polite anon! Thank you for the kind words! I hope you’ll enjoy reading!

Title: Being Nice

It was late at night, probably around midnight, when Rahas made his way back to his room. He decided to go through the door this time; he couldn’t be bothered heading for the window. It was getting colder at night anyway, and Lirit was starting to resent the window being left open. Lirit wouldn’t outright say anything to him, as he was polite, but he may accidentally mention it to someone else, who would then mention it to Lynus, who would then chide him for keeping the window open and increasing the possibility of catching a cold.

His mothering had gotten worse, if that was at all possible.

Pushing open the door to his room, he was unsurprised to find Lirit sitting up in bed, also awake. He had his covers pooled at his waist, though, which meant he had been sleeping at one point. The nosy troubadour probably heard him coming up the stairs anyway. His hearing was a little too potent.

“You’re back,” Lirit said for the sole purpose of interrupting the silence.

“Yeah,” Rahas replied simply as he kicked off his boots and began to ready himself for bed.

Lirit watched him for a moment before unexpectedly commenting; “You’ve been hanging around with Simmons a lot these past few days.”

Rahas winced defensively. “Yeah, so?”

“Not being negative or anything like that,” Lirit passively replied. “I’m just curious.”

Nosy, was more like it. “Whatever,” Rahas said dismissively with a sharp shrug of his shoulder.

Lirit, however, wasn’t going to let his short, sharp answers deter him from his interrogation. “It’s good that you’re getting along.”

Rahas shrugged again as he pulled off his coat and slipped on a shirt he uses to sleep in. He couldn’t stop a frown and a wince of guilt from appearing on his face, so he promptly turned his back toward Lirit. “If you can call it that.”

Lirit unexpectedly sighed loudly and there was a rustling noise, as if he was folding back the blankets to that he could sit on the edge of his bed. “…What have the two of you being doing?”

“Nothing,” Rahas muttered as he pulled back the blankets on his bed and slipped beneath them.

“You must be doing something.”

“Training.”

“Is that all?” Lirit sounded disappointed. “You two should so something nicer together.”

Rahas rolled his eyes as he flopped onto his side, his back toward Lirit once more. “No.”

“Don’t be like that,” Lirit said, and Rahas could just hear the frown in his voice.

Rahas felt agitated as he rolled onto his back and pushed himself up onto his hands as he looked over at Lirit. “Look, I don’t do ‘nice’, ok?” he said.

Surprisingly, Lirit seemed to squint at him in disbelief before he sighed in a manner that was a little too close to the maternal sighs of disapproval Lynus would unwittingly emit.

“Yeah, ok,” Lirit said, almost in a patronizing manner. “Maybe you could ease into it? Get him something small. Cheap if you want to. Just throw it at his face and walk off. Besides, this is Simmons we’re talking about. He’ll readily accept anything you give him.”

That could work actually…

But he wasn’t ready for having this kind of conversation with anyone. Especially when they were pushing him into a more…romantic pairing with the landsknecht.

“Go to sleep, Lirit,” Rahas said as he flopped back onto his bed and onto his side once more. As he pulled the blankets up over his shoulder, he decided to add a final touch to their late night conversation. “And if you tell Macerio about this conversation, you will find yourself the bed mate to several hedgehogs. Is that clear?”

“V-very.”

… … … … …

As he glanced down at the small, fluffy, bunny-shaped plushie in his hand, Rahas could hardly believe what he had done.

He had actually taken what Lirit said last night into consideration. And he had actually went through with the first part and bought something with the intention of giving it to that blue-haired landsknecht.

He had yet to do so as of yet. And he was honestly debating if he should. If Macerio was to found out, he’d never hear the end of it. Of course, he could counter with something about Lirit, which would quickly shut that gunner up.

It…wouldn’t exactly hurt giving the plushie to Simmons, would it? If it got out, Rahas could just pin the blame on Lynus telling him to do something nice for Simmons for a change. After all, Simmons had given Rahas a tonne of gifts. He was just being polite.

Still, he was going to make sure to give it to Simmons when there was no one else around. Not even his guildmates. Oh sure, Gerald wouldn’t care and Kerri would probably approve. But listening to Tiffany wail about Simmons getting more gifts than she was something he didn’t want to risk his hearing listening to.

After a bit of stalking around the streets and not finding the blue-haired landsknecht anywhere, Rahas assumed that he was out in his usual training spot on the outskirts of town, away from the entrance of the labyrinth to ensure that no one else would stumble across him and interrupt.

…Ok, time to get it over with. Throwing it at him and leave. Yeah. That’ll work.

“Oi, Simmons! Merry birthday or something!” Rahas yelled as he threw the plushie at the unsuspecting landsknecht.

“Eh?” Simmons managed to mutter as he paused in his training, only to have the plushie smack him right in the middle of his face. His head reeled back slightly, more from the surprise than by the force, and his hand immediately flew up toward his face. As the plushie fell, he managed to catch it with his hand and he immediately stared at it with wide eyes.

“What’s this?” Simmons asked as he quirked his head to the side in question.

“Nothing,” Rahas immediately refuted, as was his natural habit, before wincing slightly as he reminded himself that he was tying this ‘nice’ thing that everyone was harping on him about. “A good luck charm or something.”

“Is it yours?” Simmons unexpectedly questioned as he finally looked over at him, confusion etching its way onto his face.

Rahas folded his arms over his chest. “No, it’s yours.”

Simmons blinked at him, his confusion not lifting for a moment. “I don’t remember having this.”

“No, it’s yours now.”

“Huh? But you had it.”

“Yes, that’s because I was giving it to you.”

“To me?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Rahas bristled in an almost violent manner. “Because I’m a nice guy!”

Finally, Simmons nodded his head in acceptance. “Ah, ok,” he said as he glanced back down at the plushie.

…And he just accepted that excuse?

Rahas ran a hand over his face. He should have known throwing the gift at the guy and leaving was not a fucking option. Simmons would have likely tracked him down and handed it back to him. In front of someone. Either Macerio, Hamza, or Lynus. All three, most likely. With his luck.

Turning his attention back to Simmons, a terse ‘later’ on the tip of his tongue, he unexpectedly paused. Simmons was gazing down at his new lucky charm with a…soft expression on his face. A small smile on his lips, his eyes half-lidded, his expression surprisingly calm and…wistful.

It caught him off guard.

“What?” he asked as he took a half step forward.

Simmons snapped his head up to look over at him, his expression half that of surprise that he was still there and sheepish that he had been caught in thought. “I think…I had something like this when I was a kid,” he muttered.

That caught Rahas’ attention and he unintentionally took another step forward. “You think?”

Simmons shrugged but didn’t answer. He glanced up at Rahas for a moment before turning his gaze back down to the rabbit-like toy in his hands. As he did so, a slight breeze picked up and Rahas noticed something he hadn’t before. Just under Simmons’ hairline, on the left side of his head was a long, jagged but white line. A scar that had been healed years ago. Healed enough to make it as unnoticeable as possible. But it was still there. The scar was still visible, if one was looking.

And since there was a scar…that meant the wound was deep and possible life threatening.

“That scar,” Rahas said as he motioned toward Simmons forehead with his hand, though ensuring that he didn’t physically touch the other. “Where did you get that?”

Again, Simmons shrugged vaguely. “Dunno,” he answered, though he knew exactly what scar he was talking about.

Rahas furrowed his brow, somewhat annoyed with the short answers he was getting. He also couldn’t help but feel that it was somehow…attached to that ‘thing’ he was trying to become stronger than. That ‘thing’ where he would hear a noise that would make his head hurt and essentially black out without memory.

That thing.

Surprisingly, Simmons sighed loudly and sat down on the ground, his legs stretched out in front of him as he cradled the plush bunny toy with his two hands. “My earliest memory was waking up in hospital with my head wrapped in bandages. I don’t remember much before that. Just some strange dreams.”

Rahas was genuinely surprised by Simmons admission and found himself dropping to sit on the ground near him. He immediately wanted to know more, but he held himself back. It was…none of his business, truthfully. But if Simmons was willing to talk…

“What kind of dreams?” Rahas asked.

Simmons kept his focus on his gift, idly pulling at an ear or picking up an arm to make it appear as if the toy was waving its paw. “I can hear my mom yelling at me to run. To hide.”

That…

He…Simmons didn’t really think it was a dream. Rahas could tell. The look on Simmons’ face; the slight down-turning of his lips, the faraway look in his eyes. Someone must have told him it was a side effect to the head injury or something. Something he didn’t immediately believe but felt to be logical in a way.

B-but what about his father? What about…Shiki? Did he remember him?

N-no, he wasn’t ready for that yet. Not yet.

“…How old were you?” Rahas asked quietly instead.

“Twelve,” Simmons replied, still looking at his gift. “My parents went missing before that. That’s what they told me. I don’t…really remember much of my parents. Just a few things. Cass and Gerald told me more about them after I got out of the hospital.”

Gerald? Was that the reason he was-?

“Hey, Rahas?” Simmons suddenly said as he abruptly turned to look at him. “What about your parents?”

Rahas grimaced internally and externally. He should have figured that question would come up one day. He…couldn’t tell him the truth. Not yet.

“They’re both…gone. When I was a kid,” he answered, carefully choosing his words.

He wanted to say that they were dead in every meaning of the word, but for some reason didn’t want to actually say that word in front of Simmons. Not after learning that he believed that his parents were simply missing. Though there was a possibility that Simmons also felt that they were no longer living, saying the word out loud gave the impression that it was true.

Sometimes…it was better to let someone cling to a small bit of hope.

Besides, answering that they were dead was likely to prompt further questions about them, and Rahas honestly only had a few answers himself.

“Do you remember them?” Simmons went on to ask.

Only one of them, unfortunately. “No,” Rahas said instead.

Simmons gave him a small, sad smile. One that held a sense of understanding to it. “You’re like me, then.”

“Yeah,” Rahas murmured. “Seems so.”

But unlike his own, Simmons’ past was accessible. Gerald and Cass knew. Hell, Hamza probably did, too. The truth of Rahas past was likely to stay hidden to everyone, including himself. And that was fine with him. However, he could learn more about Simmons past, of which seemed to still be haunting and hurting him.

And it seemed a lot more intriguing then he had anticipated. In fact, the landsknecht himself was proving to be a lot more interesting as well.

Rahas was pulled from his thoughts when Simmons suddenly took to his feet. He spent a moment attaching the bunny lucky charm to his belt before looking down at Rahas with a hopeful expression. “Want to train with me?”

Surprisingly, Rahas didn’t find himself hesitating in answering. “Sure.”

The smile on Simmons’ facing was practically beaming.

[theshatteredrose]

With Halloween right around the corner, what would all of your lovely boys wear for it, if they would at all? Who hands out the candies and who goes out trick-or-treating? Who plays tricks?

Well, let’s see~

I don’t know how popular Halloween would be in places like Lagaard (they have real monsters to contend with after all XD) but any reason to celebrate and have fun, right? Also it is cute to imagine the kids of the town dressing up as cartoonish characters of the monsters, haha~

I imagine that the Guardians would be invited to all the parties, but most likely chose the one at the bar because they know Cass and the majority of the patrons there, and they are encouraged to dress up a little in costume. I think the pinkettes would insist they do as well. Some of them at least.

Though a few of them wouldn’t head to the party until after they’ve escort Binah, Becky, and Abigail as they go trick or treating in the afternoon. The girls would dress up as their favourite classes - Becky as a troubadour, Binah as a medic, and Abigail as a princess~

Also, the inn is likely to get a few trick or treaters as well, so someone would stay behind there to help Matron with handing out the snacks and candies. Not Macerio, though, as he would likely hog the treat bowl to himself. The girls would eat their treats in front of him, only for them to get stomach aches after eating too much and Macerio finally gets his chance to laugh at their misfortune. He does get his fair share of candy, though. He gets Chi-hung to walk around with a jack-o-lantern shape bucket in his mouth, prompting others to coo over him and give him something.

Lynus would have to be dressed as an angel. Everyone would suggest that. Little fluffy wings on his back and white and violet robes. Oh, and a flower crown. He would look stunning. He also would be quite popular. Someone outside the guild would no doubt suggest sexy nurse outfit, only to get a punch to the face Axel would be picked to be a vampire. No reason other than he would look hot as a vampire, am I right?

Imagine Jhon dressed as a survivalist and Tobyn can’t stand it because he looks hot without all his armour. Tobyn would be told to dress as a ninja because he’s silent and lethal, but he won’t because he doesn’t like to dress up and he’s shy. He does spend the night acting like a possessive protector toward Jhon, though~

Magnus would be insisted that he dress up as a cat type outfit. Furry ears that suit him perfectly and a furry tail (which he clutches in his hands for the entirety of the night). His ears don’t twitch or move, which is rather fortunate for Shen as he would just lose it if they did. Seeing Magnus with cat ears alone is enough to test his fortitude and restraint. Shen would be another grumpy-bum who won’t dress up, though he does wish he did find a mask to wear so that he didn’t have to work so hard on keeping his stoic appearance up around cat-eared Magnus~

Lirit would be dressed similar to that of a story book forest pixie with little butterfly wings on his back while Macerio would dress up similar to that of a werewolf, including furry ears and a tail. The ears would suit him, too, and when he stands with Magnus others can’t help but coo over how cute they are, prompting Lirit to latch onto Macerio in a genuinely possessive way.

Cedric would dress up as a war magus. Or more specifically, a war magus that looks just like Hamza. More specifically still, he wears Hamza’s clothes. Scandalous, probably, but no one is all that surprised. Hamza is too refine and dignified to dress up - which makes Cedric laugh and laugh~

Rahas would want nothing to do with this dressing up nonsense, but he does wear a pair of bat/demon wings on his back to keep Binah and Lynus happy. He also thinks they make him more menacing and emo (they don’t). And Simmons would dress up as a lumberjack. Don’t ask why; it’s an excuse to wield his axe. He does spend the majority of the night tagging behind Rahas and the very real and shiny axe on his back has unwittingly prevented a few drunkards from trying to chat up Rahas.

Shiki would dress up in garbs similar to that of his old dark hunter clothes. Pray for poor Gerald. Though Shiki wanted Gerald to dress up as a dark hunter instead of him but Gerald refused, so Shiki decided to get revenge :D

And Tiffany dresses up as a ghost. A simple white sheet with eye cut-outs because she’s embarrassed by Shiki in leather and Gerald practically drooling over him. Kerri floats around with a rather scary jack-o-lantern on her head, scaring unsuspecting people. I also imagine Kerri is the only one who would do any tricking just to get a stoic kick out of scaring people. She’s really good at it. Tiffany is her favourite victim~

[theshatteredrose]

Man, rereading through some of your fluff again is very destressing~ It aslo makes me wonder what little small things your lovely couples would do when they have peace to themselves

Awwww, thank you~ ❤❤ 

Well, let’s see what the CtS and ALE/C crews get up to during their down time;

Guardians

Axel/Lynus - they spend their time together, naturally, either snuggling somewhere like in bed or in front of the fire place talking or taking a much needed nap, or wandering around aimlessly around Lagaard, checking out some the ‘unexplored’ areas and popping into any cafe/restaurant they take a fancy to for some tea/lunch. The locals of Lagaard are well aware of these two you could say~

Jhon/Tobyn - they spend their sweet/tender/intimate moments in their shared room together as Tobyn isn’t much for PDA, which is ironic considering he goes into full-on clingy/possessive mode whenever Jhon receives unwanted attention at the bar XD They spend their free time either catching up on sleep (in the same bed~) or visiting Jhon’s adopted father and spending time there acting like a pair of newlyweds checking up on their ailing parent.

Shen/Magnus - when they spend their time together, it really is just the two of them. Shen likes to take Magnus into the first stratum of the labyrinth as despite the dangers (which he can swiftly dispose of) it is peaceful and serene and Magnus prefers the tranquillity of nature as oppose to the hustle and bustle of the city. Their time spent together is also very innocent; wandering around aimlessly, hand in hand and just quietly enjoying each other’s company.

Lirit/Macerio - Lirit likes it when it’s just the two of them, Macerio resting his head on his shoulder or lap as plays his lute with no real intention in mind; that is true peace to them. But they also like to wander around town together and hanging out at the bar, or visiting any fair or event taking place, and just generally running around being teenagers.

Hamza/Cedric - whenever Hamza has a free moment, he spends it with Cedric at his place, either lying around being lazy and gossiping about his guildmates with Cedric, or ‘harassing’ Cedric in the kitchen~ Of course, they like to head out for dinner once and while and a few drinks at the bar where they talk about their former guildmates while quickly gossiping about their current ones.

Simmons/Rahas - although they haven’t actually reached the stage where either of them are considering a relationship, they spend their down time together unintentionally, not doing much mind you, mostly training (Kerri pops in on them every now and again to tease the hell out of Rahas because why not?)

Phaedron

Bryce/Varuna - they don’t have much down time due to them escorting the younger brothers of the guild through the many labyrinths from the beginning, but they still have their quiet moments; sitting together in front of the fire whenever they camp, one sleeping against the other as the other keeps a look-out, curled up in bed together to get their much needed sleep, scheduling excursions with just the two of them to gather materials, that sort of thing~

Achyuta/Nitish - reading together quietly, searching for interesting/intriguing books, checking the flea markets for anything of interest, walking hand in hand around the city, and developing recipes together ^^ Being completely and unabashedly domestic as shit~

Zesiro/Roxbury - ah, I’m pretty sure you know what Zesiro pulls Roxbury into whenever they are alone >:3c Even when they’re not exactly alone either (much to his guilds protective annoyance).

Telem/Falkner - Falkner spends his free time trying to teach Telem the fundamentals of what it means to be an explorer mostly and Telem slowly revealing the trails he and Durriken had faced when they returned to an unwelcoming empire :(

Xander/Ciaran - the ever popular wharfmaster doesn’t get much peace to himself, which was fine with him at the beginning, but now that he has Xander, he uses the excuse of test flying an airship to get out of the city and take to the air with only Xander for company. Their relationship is purely innocent, though, so they just spend their time together innocently reaffirming their commitment to each other and maybe doing a few little experiments~

Logre/Kirjonen - it’s purely 'coincidental’ that the two of them are being paired together for missions/quests issued by the Count~ They spend that time musing and talking about whatever topic comes to mind, and not doing much else as their relationship is still in the 'just friends’ phase.

Isiah/Kalan - their down time is very quiet, though they often sit at the table with cups of tea and bitch about the relationship of others. Mostly, though, they just potter around at the clinic, Isiah working and Kalan keeping himself busy, the two working easily. They are also rather domestic, though they don’t realise how much.

Ah, I think that’s everyone? :3 I also think I got carried away a little bit. I could talk for days about my characters though, so it’s no surprise!

[theshatteredrose]

Have you ever thought of different AUs for your guys? Like say, the basic School AU or like the different franchise AU (Harry Potter, Pokémon, etc...)

I’m honestly awful at thinking up AUs! D:

I will admit that I have entertained the idea of a highschool AU (who hasn’t?). Can you imagine it, though? CtS characters Hamza, Cedric, and Gerald would be teachers. Hamza as chemistry (the one who almost sets the school on fire daily), Cedric as music (who often forgets that he is in fact a teacher), and Gerald as the reluctant and gruff gym teacher (the type who appears to have become a teacher unwilling, which doesn’t make sense).

All the other characters in the same class as students. Lynus would be the school sweetheart who everyone likes. Axel the popular hot guy who is genuinely nice and protective of the school sweetheart. Jhon the polite hot guy, second in popularity to Axel and completely oblivious to it all. Tobyn the quiet kid who keeps to himself but is dragged along to events to be more ‘social’. Shen the ‘edgy loner’ who everyone assumes is part of a gang or mafia or something. Magnus the skittish kid who used to be a bully victim until Shen took him under his wing. Macerio is the loud kid who tries to make jokes out of everything. Lirit the kid who tries to reign in the loud kid. Rahas the dark, emo kid who tries a little too hard to be dark and mysterious. Binah, Lynus’ interfering little sister who gets away with so much shit. Zeryn is the strange foreign exchange student.  Topaz is the ridiculously rich kid who is naïve and book smart only. Mahogany is the kid with the ‘psychic’ powers who does tarot card readings to scare the other students. And Simmons the block-head jock who people can’t help but like. Chi-hung is the school mascot that no one knows where he came from and they just kinda roll with it.

Wait, wait…what if Hanna/Matron was the school principle? Or Cass! Holy shit, I can’t breathe…No, ok, it has to be Minister Dubois.

The ALE characters could be from a rival school XD Imagine Isiah as the school nurse. No one would want to go to the nurse’s office at that school. Varuna and Nitish would be the ‘mysterious’ twins who seem to be telepathic. Bryce is the argumentative jock who has high grades. Blayden is Bryce’s annoying little brother who tags along with him and his friends. Falkner the cool kid who does ‘unusual’ sports like archery. Fletcher is Falkner’s little brother who also follows him everywhere just to spy on him and get some dirt. Roxbury is this school’s sweetheart. Mahalah is the one everyone turns to for advice. Miach is the airheaded kid who unfairly gets the top score on every single test. Zoran is the school mascot and sprite, so not all the students can see him. Biast is a teacher who everyone assumes is some guy in a furry costume but is actually pretty cool. Achyuta and Zesiro are the school’s other twins, Achyuta the ‘good’ twin, while Zesiro is the ‘bad’ twin, which he carries with pride. Kalan is the school deadpan snark who has a sarcastic comment for every occasion. While Telem and Durriken are the school’s weird duo who keep to themselves but always seems to be there in the background to every single event. Ciaran is that kid who is obsessed with cars/planes and can tell them apart by noise alone. Xander is that kid with military parents, so everyone assumes that he knows how to snap a neck in a heartbeat, so avoid him mostly. Logre will probably be a teacher, though no one really knows what he teachers. Kirjonen and Wiglaf are the Beautiful People; perfect in every way until you get to actually know them and they’re actually a pair of nerd friends. Yasmina is the skittish kid who has an obvious crush on Wiglaf but is in complete denial of it. The Count will be the school principle who loves the shit out of his students and let them get away with just about everything.

There are also a few couple based AUs that I’ve thought about. Other than that, I’m really quite lame in the AU department…