#eventually the guild stops prodding them for their stories

[cloudydayjoy]

Concept: The hero keeps vaguely remembering personal events without being able to identify any of the people or places involved.

They do, however, remember jumping off a cliff and breaking both of their legs when they tried to fly as a kid. And getting in a brawl with an adult over a gummi. And... other stories that raise more questions than answers.

Why isn't anyone laughing with them?

[summonerscenarios]

For sin night, how about Mc regaining most of their memories from the previous loops, and use that info to mess with people. One day, they're asked by a group if they recall memories of sex, and they respond yes. How would Hati, Tadatomo, and Suzuka respond to Mc 'subtling' winking at them when asked "Who was your favorite lover?" Bonus if they share a detail or two with them in private to prove themselves being serious(like a small birthmark or something)? Sorry if this is a lot on one ask

Had to leave Tadatomo for this one as I had no idea what to write for him but I do hope the other two were well worth the wait! It definitely made for an interesting scenario~! --------------

Hati

It was honestly pretty fun to regain more of your memories - at least the ones of past loops. The information that you’ve been recalling is select, not really providing much help in means of figuring out everything to do with the game and its main players; however, what you have recalled has given you the perfect opportunity to mess with others with the information that you know.

You’ve been able to recall more than a few embarrassing memories, all of which you’ve been more than eager to use to your advantage just to watch your friends to either blush up a storm or burst into laughter. It’s been a great way to lift the mood, though you’ve taken a few hits to your ego for the sake of getting people to smile again, which is exactly what you expect is going to happen this time around.

Aoyama guild isn’t exactly the best place to crack out the sex stories, which is probably the reason why it’s just a small group of you huddled around together off in a nondescript part of campus - it gives the lot of you some privacy, which is frankly all you need when the questions start getting asked. It’s entertaining watching their reactions, whether they flush bright red at the mere mention of sex, or crack in a few jokes at your expense to coax you into telling more, but you let your words get the best of you, confessing more than you probably would have under normal circumstances. 

The question about your favorite lover comes out of the left field, and you genuinely have to stop to think about it. Some of the memories and faces are still blurry, whether that’s thanks to you being forgetful of what you’ve learned or something else you have no idea; however when you actually take a second to mull over the old memories that you have the first thing that comes to mind is a certain idol-adoring wolf. You don’t remember how the two of you even got together back in those loops, but the images are vivid. The kisses shared, the long nights behind closed doors, the marks left over the mornings after…

One of your friends notices you flush, teasingly asking you what’s got you blushing, but you don’t look over at them, instead automatically casting your gaze over to where Hati’s leaning against the wall, listening in on the conversation. The therian meets your gaze, seemingly expecting your next tangent about your greatest lover, and yet he’s instead greeted with a wink before you sigh and lean back against the grass, saying that you can’t say for sure even as you keep glancing over at Hati, trying to gauge his reaction.

The subject doesn’t get brought up again, at least not until everyone’s leaving to head off to their next task, and you’re getting ready to head off campus yourself when someone stops you, a hand catching your wrist as you stand back up. Turning around, you’re greeted by Hati, and he speaks before you can even ask what he wants.

“You’re not lying.”

The question catches you off guard, but after a beat of pause you shake your head, watching the conflict flashing across the wolf’s face - or maybe it’s embarrassment? But then he settles you with a firm gaze.

“Prove it” 

“What?”

“Prove that you were telling the truth.”

For a moment you weigh his expression, trying to figure out if he’s being serious - but Hati’s not the kind to joke around like this. When you realize he is actually being serious you purse your lips, humming for a moment before you shrug.

“Alright, let me juuust~”

This time there’s no hesitation when you move in to close the distance, coming to rest chest to chest as your arms snake around Hati, sliding down his back and coming to grasp at his tail. The reaction is instantaneous - Hati’s breath hitches and his tail thrashes in surprise, though all too quickly it settles into wagging back and forth with increasing excitement as you run your hand down the length of the appendage. He makes no move to pull himself away, though he makes a choked noise when you purposefully press your fingertips into the spot directly above his tail.

“I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty convincing argument” you’re biting back a chuckle when you catch sight of his expression, leaning a little bit closer.

“And of course let’s not forget how sensitive you are at the base of your-”

“I believe you!” Hati’s voice comes out in a strained yip as he guides your hand off of his tail, blushing hard enough that you can hardly believe this is the same therian that just asked you to prove that you’d slept together.

 You have to admit, it’s cute watching him get this flustered - you’ll have to make sure to put that knowledge of past loops to good use more often.

“Well,” you’re smirking as you flash him another wink “If you need any more ‘proof’, you know where to find me~”

You don’t wait for his response before you turn away and focus back on collecting your stuff, though you can certainly feel the therian’s gaze watching you lean down with a newfound interest.

Suzuka

“You’re lying.”

You’re pinned against the wall with enough force to make you wheeze, and your hands fly up to the two hands buried into the collar of your jacket, trying to ease their grip even a little as you flash what you hope is a disarming grin.

“Come on, Suzuka - since when have I lied to you?”

Suzuka’s face is stern, but the scowl on her face is betrayed by the pink hue that’s taken to her cheeks as she retorts.

“Oh, I can think of a few times-”

“Look, birthdays technically don’t count as ly-”

Another shove makes your chuckle turn into grunt and you’re suddenly starting to regret your little stunt earlier.

It’s not like you’d planned for the topic to come up, but with more and more memories of past loops gradually filtering back into your head you’ve been recalling a lot of information about both yourself and your allies. Happy times, sad times, and, to your surprise, a few intimate times as well. They shouldn’t have been so surprising, really, especially since there’s so many people in Tokyo trying to jump your bones at any given time, but you’re still kind of conflicted seeing those same people walk around not knowing that the two of you had gotten so close in Tokyo’s past loops.

So you’ve tried to take it in stride, making light and joking about it where you can if it ever comes up - humors a good way to deflect a conversation you’ve found. But apparently, all it takes is some liquid courage and a particularly rowdy night at one of the Outlaw’s clubs for that humor to toss you straight into the deep end of honest conversations. The question had come up as a joke, with someone prodding enough for answers about your ‘endeavor’s in the past loop that you’d finally cracked and decided to spill. You’d left out names, deflecting with a few teasing remarks if someone tried to pry too hard, but when the question was posed about who your favorite lover was it had given you pause.

You weren’t thinking when your eyes flickered over to Suzuka, it was a knee jerk reaction before the question had even fully registered.You’d be lying if you said you didn’t remember it - you remember it quite fondly actually - and maybe it was remembering that experience that led to you sealing the glance you shared with a subtle wink as you hid your smile into your cup. The wink didn’t go amiss, and almost immediately you could see the shock on her expression, nearly choking on her drink as she slammed it down and tried to pass it off as nothing.

She wasn’t the only one who noticed, as when you’d looked away you’d caught Tetsuya watching you, and you don’t need words to realize that he’d spotted the exchange. However if he did he didn’t bring it up, instead stepping in to steer the conversation into another direction, giving you the perfect chance to slip away.

You’d have to thank him for that later - if you can get out of this confrontation in one piece.

“You’ve got some nerve pulling a stunt like that.” Suzuka growls, grip on your collar just barely loosening. “Honestly, like I’d believe that you and I were...w-were-”

She loses momentum, her face taking a slightly more redder hue than before as she tries to find the right words to keep berating you, and you take the moment to interject.

“Suzuka, I swear it’s the truth - look-”

You reach out your hand, hesitantly at first so as to give her the opportunity to stop you if she wants. When she doesn’t actively try to break your wrist, you eventually bring your hand behind her head, cupping the back of it just beneath her ponytail and flexing your fingers in a motion akin to a massage. For a second you watch Suzuka’s expression flicker, the anger from her face momentarily disappearing before her brows knit together and she lets out a shaky sigh. Her expression is a perfect mirror of the past loops when the pair of you were together, eyes closing for but a second as she leans just a bit more into your palm, and you find yourself feeling bittersweet as you remember those times. She was more relaxed then, smiled more, and you kind of hope that she can be like that in this loop too, even if it’s not with you. 

“See, you told me about how sensitive this spot was,” your voice is soft as you address her, fingers massaging at that spot you’ve memorized with your fingers. “I used to do it all the time when we-”

In the blink of an eye Suzuka seems to catch herself and pushes herself out of your grip,  cheeks taking on an especially ruddy hue as she sputters.

“I-I-!You-!”

You genuinely think that she’s gonna sock you - her fists balling up at her sides as she steps away, turns around, then circles back around on you. Her hand comes up, but instead of any kind of hit she jabs a finger into your chest, glaring at you as she mutters with red cheeks.

“Ask next time.”

And like that Suzuka steps away from you and turns on her heel to walk away from you; you lean back against the wall with a sigh of relief. However, you can’t help but grin as you turn to watch her leave, smoothing a hand through your hair and trying to straighten out the creases in your jacket as you call out to her.

“Next time~?”

She doesn’t dignify you with a response, only casting you a pointed stare before she slips round the corner and moves to rejoin the get-together, leaving you alone.

[splendidlyimperfect]

When a magical mishap transforms Natsu, Sting and Rogue, Gray finds himself responsible for a horde of dragons.

Chapter Summary: Being in Isvan brings back memories from Gray's past.  

Chapters (9/?): 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 Relationships: Rogue Cheney/Natsu Dragneel/Sting Eucliffe/Gray Fullbuster, Laxus Dreyar/Freed Justine, Levy McGarden/Gajeel Redfox Additional Tags: Canon Universe, Fairy Tail Dragon Slayers, Magical Accidents, Spells & Enchantments, Transformation, Dragons, Fluff and Crack, Crack Treated Seriously, kind of, baby dragons are basically kittens, I make the rules here, Fluff and Humor, Cute, like super fucking cute, it’s just dumb and fluffy okay, Nonbinary Character, Freed’s enby, because i say so

**i'm basing everything about isvan on inuit (ᐃᓄᐃᑦ) culture and language (specifically inuinnaqtun). unfortunately my only source for inuinnaqtun comes from a dictionary, so if any inuit folk are reading this and have corrections for me, i warmly welcome them!

-----

“This was probably not my best idea.”

Gray sat next to the campfire, keeping a careful eye on Natsu as he stalked toward the flames, tail flicking back and forth in excitement. “Be careful,” Gray warned, holding Sting in his lap and stroking behind his ears. Sting purred happily and rubbed his head back against Gray’s fingers.

Natsu gave Gray an offended look, then pounced forward, eating some of the flames. He scrambled backward after a second, smoke spilling from his mouth, then turned to Gray and opened wide to breathe out a line of fire.

“Not at me, you little idiot!” Gray yelped, quickly patting out the tiny fire that started on his sleeve. Sting made an indignant noise on Gray’s behalf and pounced at Natsu, knocking him onto his back and nipping at his neck. Natsu kicked at him with his hind feet, growling half-heartedly as the attack turned playful.

Continue reading on AO3

“Hopefully he doesn’t burn down the tent,” Freed said mildly from the other side of the fire where they were bundled up and holding their hands out to keep warm. Laxus had already proven he could use his lightning magic when he ate the sparks from the flint for the fire, and he watched Sting and Natsu’s battle with something like disdain from where he was settled in front of Freed. Rogue, who seemed to have taken a liking to Laxus despite his initial uncertainty, was curled up next to him, fast asleep with his tail over his nose.

“I probably shouldn’t encourage him,” Gray mused, shifting close to the fire and prodding at it with a stick. Sparks drifted up into the sky, highlighting the soft flakes of snow that drifted slowly down around them. The area where they had made camp was sheltered in a grove of pine trees, and Freed had created a rune barrier above them to keep out most of the snow.

Sting, who had scampered away from Natsu’s retaliatory attack, dove into a pile of snow just outside the area they’d cleared. When he surfaced, his muzzle was wet from the snow he’d eaten. Natsu stalked toward him, then yelped when a blast of white magic hit the ground next to his front paws. Sting made a chittering sound that was almost a laugh before pouncing back onto Natsu and sitting on his stomach.

“I think he wins,” Gray said, laughing at the outraged look that Natsu managed to throw his way. Natsu turned back to Sting and bit his foot, kicking him off when Sting stumbled back in surprise. A line of fire shot out from Natsu’s mouth, scorching the ground in front of Sting and lightly singeing the fur on his chest.

“Natsu!” Gray chided, reaching out for him and grabbing him by the scruff of his neck. “Don’t be an asshole.”

Natsu whined, twisting in Gray’s grip and trying to nip at Gray’s fingers. “I know you’re excited about your magic,” Gray said, setting Natsu down in his lap and scratching the top of his head. “You can’t just light everything you see on fire, though.”

A small puff of smoke wisped up from Natsu’s nostrils as he huffed, then slowly relaxed under Gray’s hands. When Sting clambered up next to him, Natsu made an apologetic noise and started to groom the singed fur on Sting’s chest.

“That’s better,” Gray said, leaning back and shifting so they could both curl up between his legs. “So, what about you?” He looked over at Rogue, who blinked at him sleepily as he uncurled from his sleeping position, then stretched out his front legs, kneading the ground as he yawned.

“He should be able to just…” Freed gestured around them vaguely. The sun had set not long ago, and the forest was filled with shadows cast from the bright silver light of the moon. Rogue ambled over to the edge of the makeshift campsite, watching the dark spots on the ground shift and flicker with the light of the campfire. Gray watched in fascination as the shadows solidified for a second before they disappeared into Rogue’s open mouth.

Rogue turned back to the two of them, looking pleased with himself before he disappeared.

“What the—”

Gray’s panic was short lived when Rogue reappeared on the other side of the fire next to Laxus, who jumped in surprise and bared his teeth.

“Interesting,” Freed said, reaching out and running their finger across Laxus’ head until he stopped growling and settled next to their leg. Rogue followed, standing on his hind legs and headbutting Freed’s other hand. “So it’s not just their breath magic.”

“Well that’s inconvenient,” Gray muttered, raising an eyebrow at Rogue, who purred happily as Freed petted him. “The last thing we need is him disappearing. They’re small enough as it is.”

“You’re not going to disappear on us, are you?” Freed asked Rogue, voice shifting into a soft, fond cadence as they scratched beneath Rogue’s chin. Rogue flicked his tail contentedly, then wriggled his entire body and hopped up onto Freed’s lap. Laxus gave him a quiet growl and Freed rolled their eyes, holding out their hand so Laxus could scramble up as well.

“You’d better not disappear,” Gray said seriously as he grabbed the stick from next to him and poked at the fire. “We have to stick together; it’s just going to get colder the farther north we go.”  Natsu, who was now curled up underneath Sting and using him as a blanket, grumbled.

“It would help if we knew where we were going,” Freed pointed out, shifting so their feet were closer to the fire. “Does anything seem familiar?”

Gray stared at the flames, watching the patterns as it crackled and spit. Fragments of memory had come and gone all day, but any time he tried to focus on them, they drifted away like smoke into the night.

“Sometimes,” he said eventually. “It’s hard to know what’s real and what’s dreams. It was a long time ago.”

Freed nodded, shuffling closer to the flames. “Memory is a strange thing,” they said softly. “Especially when it’s tied to trauma.”

Gray continued to stare into the flames as heat crept into his cheeks, and he nearly dropped his stick into the fire. Freed was his best friend, but even they only knew bits and pieces of Gray’s past.

“I think—we might be close to where I lived,” he said hesitantly. “With my parents. Before Ur. I’m not sure. I think—that lake we passed, earlier today… I think I went there with my paappak.” When Freed made a curious sound, he clarified, “My dad. I remember that much. And amaamak – my mom.” The words felt foreign in his mouth, and they filled his chest with a soft sense of longing.

“You don’t talk about them,” Freed said. A cold breeze picked up around them, tossing small flurries of snow into the air. Freed reached out a hand and made a few simple gestures, pulling the barrier above them down until it surrounded them on three sides and kept the wind out.

“It was a long time ago,” Gray said. Sting made a soft trilling sound from his place on top of Natsu, and Gray smiled, scratching behind his ears. “It hurts to talk about them,” he admitted quietly. “I miss them. And forgetting… it feels like I’m losing them. I wish I remembered more.”

“Of the language, you mean?”

Gray nodded. “I didn’t even speak Fioran until Ur adopted me,” he said. “I know other people up here must speak Isvanian, but nobody in Fiore does, so I don’t have anyone to speak it with. So it just disappears, bit by bit, and it feels like I lose them even more.”

“I could learn,” Freed offered. Gray looked up at them and they smiled at him through the flames. “I’m good at languages, you know that. I’m sure there’s books on it somewhere.”

“That’s a lot of work.”

Freed shrugged. “I like work,” they said simply. “And you’re my best friend. If it helps you feel connected to your past and your culture, I want to do it.”

Gray swallowed against the lump that suddenly pressed against his throat. Sting, who seemed to sense the change in his mood, purred loudly and squirmed off of Natsu, sitting up on his back legs and pressing his paws to Gray’s chest. Gray laughed, kissing the top of Sting’s head and helping him clamber up until he was tucked into Gray’s hood, head resting on Gray’s shoulder.

“Ilannaq,” Gray said, looking up at Freed. “It means ‘friend.’ Actually, ‘ivjurnauti’ would be better, it’s—like best friend, I guess.”

“Ivjurnauti,” Freed repeated. Hearing the word spoken by someone else after so many years made Gray feel warm – like he was little again and sitting by the fire while amaamak told him stories. “What else do you remember?”

A memory of pain and blood flashed through Gray’s mind and he pushed it away, soothed by Sting’s soft purrs and the way Natsu burrowed closer to him, making soft, contented sounds.

“There was another village,” Gray said, closing his eyes to try to pull the threads of memory together. “I don’t remember what it was called. My grandfather came from there and we’d visit sometimes. The way we’re going, it feels like we’re close.”

“Hopefully we’ll find it tomorrow,” Freed said, covering their mouth as a yawn escaped. “Maybe someone there can tell us about the guild.”

Gray nodded and rubbed his face as exhausted slowly started to overtake him. He scratched behind Natsu’s ears as he relaxed back against the log behind him, tipping his head back to stare through the rune barrier at the sky. Millions of stars spilled across the deep black night, forming unfamiliar constellations.

They sat in silence for a while, watching the campfire smoke drift up into the sky. Eventually the horizon started to shimmer, and a faint green light began to paint itself into the night. It drifted higher, twisting and turning and spilling out lines of pink and purple as it trailed overhead.

“Aqhalingiaq,” Gray said softly as memories of sitting on his father’s lap and watching the northern lights filled his mind. “The light,” he explained when Freed looked over at him. “That’s what it’s called.”

“I’ve never seen it before,” Freed said, tipping their head back to stare at the brilliant display. The lights gave their hair a soft bluish tinge “I’ve only read about it in books – it’s beautiful.”

Laxus, who had fallen asleep in Rogue’s lap, blinked slowly awake and stretched, then tipped his head back to stare at the sky along with them. Sting made a contented sound and rubbed his cheek against Gray’s before yawning and cuddling closer.

Gray sighed happily, closing his eyes and letting himself drift into memories. They came in bits and pieces – some of them painful, some of them not – and he let all of them wash over them, releasing them when they hurt too much. It was easier here than back home, and Gray felt a comfortable warmth fill him as he let himself exist and remember, surrounded by love and the snow and the northern lights.

~

That night, Gray dreamed about his mother.

Instead of crying next to her still body, dream-Gray was little – two or three years old, peeking over her shoulder from where he was tucked snugly into the sealskin akuq she wore. She was sitting outside under the bright winter sun, carefully sewing tiny beads into the fabric on her lap. Her hands were small and quick, the soft brown skin weathered from years of work.

The needle flew in and out of the fabric, pulling beads after it that told stories Gray couldn’t remember. After a moment, his mother began to sing an Isvanian lullaby as she rocked back and forth.

“I am proud of you,” she said softly to dream-Gray, reaching back and touching his cheek as the dream started to dissolve. “And I love you very much.”

~

Gray woke to the sound of cursing.

“Stupid lizard!” an unfamiliar voice shouted. Gray was immediately up, throwing off the heavy blankets and scrambling out of the tent into the clearing. Two women stood near the extinguished fire, one of them holding her bleeding hand against her chest. Natsu sat on the ground a short distance away, growling and spreading his wings to look as big as possible.

“Natsu!” Gray shouted, darting forward and grabbing him while forming a shield of ice to block the blast of dark energy that flew from the other woman. It smashed against the barrier hard enough to shatter it and knock Gray onto his back. His head hit the ground as his breath rushed out of him, blurring his vision for a second before he managed to scramble backward and push himself to his feet. Natsu struggled against Gray’s grip, growling fiercely at the women as Gray stumbled toward the tent.

“Gray! Get back!” A wall of purplish runes sprang up between Gray and the attackers as Freed appeared behind him, looking disheveled but ready to fight. “Is it—”  

“It’s them,” Gray said, immediately recognizing the Vengeance Soul guild mark on the back of both the women’s hands. A hot, stinging fear rushed through him, and suddenly all he could see was Sting lying on his back, blood dripping from where Gray’s hands were pressed against the devastating wound his side. “Where are the other—”

Gray’s panicked question was interrupted by the appearance of Sting, Rogue and Laxus at the flap to the tent, all peering curiously out at the commotion. Gray quickly dropped Natsu next to them and nudged them all back with his foot, keeping one eye on the women as he formed a blade of ice.

“You did this,” he hissed at them, gripping the hilt of the sword. “What do you want?” Neither of the women responded, and the one in the back held her hands out as a dark, rippling miasma began to form above them.

“Get them out of here,” Freed said, right hand holding up the barrier as their left hand started to draw symbols in the air. “Dark Ecriture: Pain,” he murmured as a blast of runes flew through the air. The woman in front easily deflected the magic with a flick of her wrist and Freed’s eyes widened in surprise.

Gray shook his head, eyes dropping to the scar on his wrist. “It was a trap,” he said quietly, exhaling as he let the demon markings appear on his arm. A wave of nausea flowed through him, just like every time he used the magic, and he shook his head to get rid of the dizzy sensation. “They just want me.”

“You can’t just let them take you,” Freed hissed. “I can use—”

“You can’t use Darkness Magic,” Gray said quickly, grabbing Freed’s arm. “It’s demon magic. I don’t know what’ll happen.” He gestured to the markings that crawled down his arm and made twisting patterns across his skin. Images of Natsu with bared teeth and dragon scales appeared in his mind and he shuddered. He wasn’t about to repeat that fight.

Another blast of dark magic shattered Freed’s barrier, knocking them back into the tent. Gray quickly stepped in front of them as his devil slayer magic started to take over, spreading a bone-deep chill through his body.

“Go!” he shouted, shoving Freed back toward the dragons. Before they could argue, Gray dropped to his knees and pressed his hand to the ground, satisfied when a wall of ice sprang up behind him. He could hear Natsu and the others whining in confusion and his heart ached as he ignored the sounds and stepped forward.

“Don’t worry,” the woman in front said as she stepped forward. “We’re not after them. They aren’t much a threat like that anyways.” Her laugh was grating.

“You did this to them,” Gray growled, pushing himself to his feet. “It was all just to get to me? What do you even want with this?” He held out the arm that was patterned with black, showing them the scar. “You already tried to cut it out, what more do you—”

Before he could finish his sentence, the woman disappeared. Gray blinked, then cursed as he felt a sharp pain in the side of his neck. When he tried to reach up and touch it, he couldn’t move his arm.

The last thing Gray saw before everything disappeared was the woman’s grinning face, and a set of glowing red eyes.

[nelvana]

In which the lake guardians arrive at the town

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which they arrive at the guild Previous: In which two dungeons are explored

    They knew the Lake Guardians had arrived when Pokemon Square became strangely quiet.

    The B Squadron of Team Galaxy, plus Gardevoir, had explained to Spinda and Gulpin what they had found of about what happened to Maurice once they were in a better mindset, and then when Maurice himself got up, he confirmed the story. News like that didn’t stay a secret for long, and while the B Squadron managed to keep them from knowing about the world’s balance still being upset, everyone knew about the Lake Guardians.

    They knew the Lake Guardians had arrived.

    It was only a couple days after Ceebee had left; she had only popped in shortly after visiting Murky Cave to quickly check up on things before returning to the rest of the traveling group. It had only been a couple days since then.

    The Lake Guardians had arrived.

    Bobo was perched on Hiram’s shoulder again when they arrived. He found that he enjoyed perching up high, and Hiram didn’t mind carrying the smaller grass-type around with him. The two of them had been simply wandering around town, waiting for the rest of their group to rejoin them for some missions. Noticing the new arrivals, Bobo poked at Hiram with one of his claws, whispering quietly to him.

    It didn’t take long for the other townsfolk to notice either, and the town grew silent. A tension arrived in the air that could have been cut with one of Hiram’s arm blades.

    Directed by Bobo, Hiram turned to face the trio, along with the lethargic ditto slumped nearby. In the moment, it looked nothing like the beast that had attacked Maurice, but Hiram knew better to underestimate the transformation pokemon.

    “Greetings,” Uxie said once Hiram locked eyes with them. “We, as you may know, are the Lake Guardians. We are on an incredibly important mission from Palkia. Would you happen to know where a gardevoir would be around here?”

    “Nope!” Bobo replied all too hastily, surprisingly Hiram momentarily at his ability, albeit poor, to lie at all. “There’s no gardevoir around here, or ralts or kirlia.”

    Uxie narrowed their eyes with displeasure, “please, do not lie to us. We are aware that you know her.”

    “Why do you care?” Hiram spat, despite knowing the answer; perhaps he could buy them some time for the rest of their team to arrive.

    Out of the corner of his eye, Hiram noticed Bobo gesture to someone behind him. Whoever that was, was well out of his vision, so the scyther kept his stare on the legendary trio.

    “We require her,” Uxie responded courtly, “we also require some others, but we can tell that they are no longer here.”

    “Alright, I’ll cut to the chase. You aren’t getting her, or any of our friends,” Hiram hissed, lowering his body to a more battle-ready position. “We already know that you want to kill them. That isn’t happening.”

    Uxie flinched, but composed themselves quickly. The other two hid their surprise of Hiram’s knowledge better, though Mesprit glanced momentarily at Ditto; considering their options.

    “I see. Spinda warned you then. We would have hoped that he would have come to his senses and chosen better,” Uxie murmured, “that will not stop us, however. We have a mission and we will complete it. Where. Is. Gardevoir.”

    Ditto squirmed under Mesprit’s returned gaze, though it seemed that they would not be forced to undergo a transformation for now. Hiram’s own gaze flitted from the trio to their servant, and then back to the three legendaries. Naturally he wanted to help Ditto, it was his job to help out after all, but he realized he may not have that option right now.

    “We aren’t telling you! You can’t make us!” Bobo shrieked, bouncing on Hiram’s shoulder.

    Something flickered in Bobo’s eyes for a moment, almost glazing like Hiram had seen before with some parasect around the Mushroom forest where his friend lived, but the change disappeared as soon as it appeared.

    Uxie, on the other hand, had their stone on their forehead glow for a few seconds. Hiram could feel almost as if someone was trying to prod around his mind, but the psychic shield Ceebee had begun keeping up for the entire team kept the mind reading at bay. Unable to continue, the glow faded and Uxie’s eyes narrowed again.

    “The corrupt celebi…” they muttered, glancing back at the other two with them.

    Before any of the trio could consider an alternative plan, Rayden, Pearl, and Baguette arrived from the café and stood by their teammates. Baguette’s feathers fluffed up, almost uncharacteristically for how composed he typically was, and both Pearl and Rayden glared down the Lake Guardians. Bobo smiled nervously back at them, and it dawned on Hiram that they were probably who the paras had gestured to before.

    “So, you dare show your faces here!” Baguette snapped, pointing his leek towards the trio aggressively. “You are not welcome here.”

    “We will not be here long,” Uxie replied, unfazed by the threat. “We simply need to complete our mission here. I do hope one of you will be more cooperative than the others. Where is Gardevoir?”

    “BZT. WE WILL NOT BE TELLING YOU EITHER,” Rayden stated, pointing one of his magnets towards the trio, which sparked periodically. “WE KNOW WHAT YOU WANT TO DO WITH HER. WE WILL NOT LET THAT HAPPEN. BZZ BZZ.”

    “You are all foolish and blind. She is contributing to the end of this world. If she is not ended, everyone will be soon,” Uxie growled, seeming to grow irritated with their lack of success.

    “That is simply not true,” Pearl told them, “she, nor any of our other friends are the cause of the world’s balance falling again.”

    “You dare doubt legendaries?” Uxie questioned, “this is simply the truth. You must accept it.”

    “DIALGA WAS NOT CORRECT WHEN THEY KEPT THE DARK FUTURE IN THE OTHER TIMELINE. BZZ. PALKIA IS NOT CORRECT NOW. LEGENDARIES CAN BE INCORRECT,” Rayden responded.

    “We are wasting our time, Uxie,” Mesprit spoke up, turning to their ally. “We should find Gardevoir and leave. We have no need to meddle with these mortals here.”

    Hiram laughed dryly, “it’s funny you think we’d just let you do that,” he said darkly, “we aren’t afraid of you.”

    This was, unfortunately a lie on the latter part. Though he would never admit it, Hiram was terrified of what these legendaries could do to him and his friends. But he also knew that he could not allow himself to back down here. On his shoulder, he could feel Bobo shift his footing restlessly, and Pearl herself had to rest herself down on the ground because of her arms shaking. It was hard to tell how Rayden was feeling, and Baguette was far too consumed by his anger to let fear overcome him for now. But they all stood together.

    “If you continue to oppose us, we will have no choice but to remove you,” Uxie told them, “if you step aside, you will be unharmed. None of you are a part of our mission, you do not have to get involved.”

    “We were involved the moment you started harming our friends,” Baguette replied, continuing to hold his weapon in front of him, straight as an arrow.

    Azelf turned back to Ditto, and Mesprit followed their gaze, the both of them ready to follow through with Uxie’s promise of battle, but Uxie themself held up an arm to stop them.

    From behind the Team Galaxy B Squadron, Maurice marched up front, moving his way to stand beside Baguette, right at the front of the ground and across from the Lake Guardians. His arms and legs shook, but he held himself firm, staring coldly ahead at their foes. His right arm was still in its cast, and he had his hat back on his head.

    “Ah, Spinda.�� Uxie blinked. “Admittedly, I had not expected to see you again. Not like this, at least. You have gone back and warned the very people we requested you to stop.”

    “I have,” Maurice replied, holding his head high. “You are wrong about them disrupting the world’s balance, and I won’t let you harm innocent lives.”

    “I would have hoped our message would have brought you to your senses about this, but clearly that is not the case.” Though Uxie did not spare a glance to the bandages Maurice had on his arm, keeping eye contact with the spinda instead, it was clear that was the message they had referred to. “Ho-oh was mistaken about you.”

    “No, they weren’t. Palkia is the wrong one here, not Ho-oh. Ho-oh gave me their feather because I beat their trials and proved I was pure of heart. If anything, this proves that even more,” Maurice insisted, his right arm twitching instinctively to hold his hat, but as he was reminded of its condition, it remained at his side.

    Uxie hummed, “you are courageous, I will give you that. You are, however, still foolish. You will see.”

    “Where did the others go?” Azelf asked suddenly, “if they left, why did they leave Gardevoir behind? You speak of righteousness, and yet those you defend are not as innocent as you claim.”

    “From an outside perspective, maybe,” Hiram hissed, finding his blood boil at that comment more than anything else. “Gardevoir wanted to stay behind to help out here. They respected her choice. You don’t get to talk about innocence when you want to murder the ‘mons you’re talkin’ about.”

    The trio, surprisingly, paused for a moment to take this information in. They were silent long enough that Hiram almost wondered if he said something he shouldn’t have, giving away where Gardevoir was, but eventually Mesprit simply shook their head, looking at Uxie again.

    “Uxie,” Mesprit pressed, “we are wasting time.”

    “This is not a waste of time,” Uxie insisted, but did not divulge more on the subject, even through telepathy as their stone remained dull and dark. “This is your final chance. Tell us where Gardevoir is, or back down. Otherwise we will have no choice but to force our way forward.”

    “Screw you,” Baguette spat, and Maurice placed a gentle paw on his back to soothe his partner slightly.

    “Hold up!” another voice cried out, “you aren’t doing anything!”

    Stumbling over to the group was Spinda, who pushed his way up to stand beside his nephew. Inexperience with this sort of scenario was evident by the way he loosely held himself, unable to quell the teetering that Maurice kept mostly under wraps to be more prepared in case of a fight. From behind Spinda came Gulpin as well, moving to stand beside his partner as well, appearing more nervous than any of the others, but staying firm where he was.

    “We’re going to help too! We don’t want you to hurt Team Galaxy, or Gardevoir!” Caterpie cried out next, squirming his way up to the growing group.

    “Yeah! They’re really nice!” Diglett agreed, helping carry Metapod with him as they followed their friend.

    Pearl’s expression softened slightly, “oh, you three should probably stay back for this…”

    Fortunately, this was a day where both Butterfree and Dugtrio were present with the children, and brought the three of them further back from the others.

    In their place, however, Lombre, Bellsprout, and Snubbull moved up. All three of them not doing terribly well at hiding their own fear, but like the others who couldn’t hide their nervousness, this did not stop them from standing strong by the group.

    Kangaskhan moved up next, her own expression uncharacteristically hard. She stomped her way over to the back of the group, towering over everyone. She palmed a fist in her hand, snarling over at the Lake Guardians. Not long after she arrived, Persian prowled away from her stand as well to join everyone else, her tail swishing behind her menacingly. The kecleon brothers moved away from their store too, stepping up just behind Team Galaxy and those from Spinda and Gulpin’s Café.

    Even as all them showed up, more pokemon continued to follow and join the crowd. Without a single word, they all stepped up to defend against the threat. Various townsfolk who had barely said much at all during the few times the B Squadron had been around, travelers who had just stopped by the café for a drink. A few pelippers flocked to the area as well, and while Peaky and the pidgeotto they had grown familiar were not part of this flock, a few of the pelippers were recognized by the team members.

    Slowly, and yet so suddenly, the crowd opposing the Lake Guardians continued to grow. This had not been discussed prior to now, and in fact Hiram had expected most of them to flee at the first sight of danger. And yet, now nearly the entire town had united together without saying anything. Many of them lacked any battling experience. Against a trio of legendaries plus an impossible ditto, a fight was guaranteed to be a challenge. Even the B Squadron had been scared, but that hadn’t stopped anyone from stepping up and helping.

    The Lake Guardians themselves did nothing to stop the accumulating numbers against them, only watching as more and more pokemon joined the crowd, all glaring down at the now small group opposing them. They did not react, only watched.

    Finally, pokemon stopped appearing from around town to join the now huge group, and silence returned. The citizens of Pokemon Square were clearly waiting to see how the B Squadron would command this further, and the B Squadron themselves still awaited a reaction from the enemy.

    “Curious,” Uxie finally murmured, “all of you… I would never have expected to see this. None of you stand a chance against us, and yet here you stand together. You have so much faith in this Team Galaxy that you would risk your own lives against legendaries?”

    “Team Galaxy has saved our lives!” Snubbull barked, “they have done everything they could to help, and they are doing it again! Even now they’re going out to find what’s really going on here, not your ridiculous theories from Palkia!”

    “We’ve made the mistake of not trusting them before,” Lombre added, “they are our friends and our saviors; we aren’t just going to let you try to harm them without doing something ourselves for once!”

    The rest of the crowd cried out in agreement, molding together as one yell. A yell for what they believed in, a yell for battle. Inexperienced as they were, no one was going to back down.

    “We know you are wrong because they have already found what is causing the disruption of the world’s balance,” Maurice spoke up again, “and they are going to fix this. You insist that killing them will save us, but we know that will only doom us.”

    “And you all believe that?” Uxie questioned, their gaze drifting over the crowd. “You are all foolish, but most interesting.”

    “And you are not welcome here,” Green-Kecleon snarled, “leave this town, or follow through with your threats and meet your defeat.”

    Again, the crowd cried out. It was strange, in a way, to hear them like this. Usually the noise they made together was more akin to a cheer, but this was just a yell. And yet it seemed to carry so much more than the cheering ever could.

    “Uxie.” Mesprit’s voice was quiet this time.

    Uxie sighed, “no, you are right. This is not worth our time anymore. We shall have to return for Gardevoir after removing the others. Perhaps then you all will come to your senses.”

    “Don’t you ever come back,” Hiram hissed, “we’ll still be here, and we can still beat you. This changes nothing, you hear that? Nothing. Never come back here.”

    “You are sorely mistaken. We will return, and there will be nothing you can do about that. You were fortunate to protect Gardevoir this time, but nothing more than that,” Uxie replied, “perhaps, were this for something else, your stubbornness and unity could be inspiring. Unfortunately, you are all on the wrong side of this fight. I do hope you realize what is really happening soon.”

    With that, and an exchanging of nods between the other two, the Lake Guardians turned and left, with Ditto reluctantly trudging behind them.

    Part of Hiram wished to give chase, to provoke a fight. Maybe they could even defeat the Lake Guardians and then save Ditto. He could tell that many of his teammates, Baguette especially by how fury had begun shaking the leek, would follow this idea if he started it, and so would the townsfolk who had joined this crowd.

    However, he was still clear minded enough to know how reckless of an idea this was. If they had to, all these citizens could defend themselves, but they still were not properly trained. Purposely throwing them into battle when given the option to avoid a fight was selfish and a huge risk.

    So, instead they all silently watched as the group left. There wasn’t much to be done, though they may have wished to. They had protected their town and Gardevoir though, and that would hopefully be enough for now.

     And slowly, as all sight of their foes disappeared into the distance, the silence was replaced by a hesitant chatter, and the return of cheering over yelling.

    The Lake Guardians had left, and the town was no longer quiet.

    “I was so scared…”

    “I know, I’m so glad that worked!”

    “We did it! We stood our ground!”

    “I sure hope they won’t come back.”

    “If they do, we’ll defend our town again!”

    “Yeah, with all of us together, and with Team Galaxy, we could surely win!”

    Hiram blinked as he stared over the crowd, allowing himself to slowly relax again. They had done it. They had stopped the Lake Guardians from hurting anyone here. Though worry bubbled up at the back of his mind at the thought of the trio chasing after the others next, but he shoved it back down. They would handle it. Everyone here had done their job, their best.

    Normally he didn’t like crowds. It was why he preferred to live deep out in the Overgrown Forest. But suddenly… with everyone expressing such positivity, a unique oneness that came from bonding together against a common, powerful enemy. No one had to come out to help the B Squadron when the Lake Guardians had shown up, they could have stayed back and left the rescue team to deal with everything alone. And yet so many pokemon had come out, just trusting in them and standing their ground together, without any words. Everyone had unanimously agreed to help, and that felt like that a stark and comforting contrast to the first time Hiram had stayed in Pokemon Square that he found his eyes getting teary.

    They had done it. It wasn’t over for good, but they had done it.

    “Thank you,” he whispered to no one in particular. “Thank you.”

    Gardevoir herself eventually met up with the group, drawn over by the noisy celebration that had begun. Since Ceebee had left, she had taken up to training on her own. Being a quiet spot, and the intended location for training, Gardevoir had been in the Makuhita Dojo the entire time. Makuhita had been there as well, supervising, and Hiram figured that was why he hadn’t seen him join the crowd with everyone else.

    They told her what had happened, and were startled when she started crying. Through her tears, Gardevoir expressed her own thankfulness for being defended like that.

    “I never would have thought that anyone would have done something like that for me…” she admitted.

    “Of course! You’re our friend, we’ll always make sure to help and defend you!” Bobo chirped, having had plenty of time to calm down and return to his usual self.

    “Still, thank you,” Gardevoir insisted, wiping tears from her eyes.

    “Let’s hope now that the others have gotten a good enough head start that the Lake Guardians won’t become a problem for them,” Hiram sighed, finally voicing his worries that had plagued him for most of the afternoon.

    “They will,” Pearl assured him, “they will,” she repeated.

First [ARC 1]: In which the human is transformed First [ARC 2]: In which a present is prepared Next: In which they arrive at the guild Previous: In which two dungeons are explored

[lovepmd]

first - second

names and events subject to change for any reason or no reason (bit more true for this one lol, debating on one part in particular)

Inverse AU: “Secrets”

It had been three full days since the incident. Not much had changed overall. Hermes figured the best time to do the therapy sessions was at night, where he’d escort Lulu to the cafe and then bring her back home. According to the “water therapist”, it took a bit for the buneary to open up and start talking, so she said they’d need to talk often in order to start making progress. Of course she doesn’t tell Dianne what has been said so far, the milotic is known for keeping secrets well.

And while Dianne knows and respects that, it bothers her at the moment. Lulu hasn’t talked to her too much, only doing small talk now and then. But she knows to not prod either her partner or her therapist too much about it, maybe things will change eventually.

In the meantime, Dianne has been bored. Without being allowed to go on jobs yet, she hasn’t done much. It’s like back when she first came into the pokemon world and moved into town, she didn’t like going outside with her bright scales and she hadn’t been hired into the guild yet. 

Even though nothing is stopping her from walking around outside, she still hears the whispers of the townsfolk. It has lessened a little bit, but she hates the feeling of their eyes looking at her and then hearing their hushed voices.

The shiny had been playing with the puzzle game the apprentice gave her. It reminded her a puzzle she once played as a human, but like all her thoughts and memories about her past, it was hazy and not complete. And it did help time pass by, but she grew bored of that as well.

It was late at night now, and Hermes already picked up Lulu for her therapy session. Dianne tried to stay awake for when they came back, but sleep was quickly winning her over. She closed her eyes and slowly began to drift to sleep.

tap tap tap!

Dianne flinched and raised her head at the sound of knocking. Who would be knocking at this hour? And if they were back already, they would just come inside. She yawned and debated on getting up.

tap tap tap!

She sighed and stood up in bed, arching her back for a moment before hopping off and heading to the front door. Dianne opened it just enough to peer outside and saw a jolteon standing there.

“Rai,” she muttered, trying to stifle another yawn. “What is it?”

The jolteon looked around the area before addressing her. “Sorry for stopping by so late. Can we talk?”

“Can it wait until morning?” Dianne’s eyes were halfway closed.

“I work in the morning like I do every day. There’s something I want to ask you. Can you come with me?”

Dianne sighed and slowly opened the door enough to step outside. “Alright, fine. But if the guildmaster and Lulu come back before I do, that’s your fault.”

Rai huffed and muttered something under his breath, but she didn’t hear it. He looked around the area again before walking away. Dianne closed the door behind her and followed.

The town was so quiet and still at night. The small remaining flames from various lanterns flickered in the wind, the moonlight from above providing the most light. All the store fronts were closed and locked up, and there wasn’t another pokemon in sight.

The jolteon led her across town to the very edge, and went down a small path. Dianne was aware where this led, she had been to this lake before but only during the day. They reached the opening, and Dianne took in the sight of it.

The water reflected the moonlight beautifully, it looked like little lights danced across the surface. She heard odd sounds coming from nearby and looked around to try to find the source.

 “Kricketots and kricketunes,” Rai explained. “They like hanging around the lake at night, but aren’t too fond of strangers. Don’t worry, they’re not hostile.”

Dianne nodded and sat down, looking over at him. “Alright, what did you want to ask me? And why drag me all the way out here?”

“Privacy,” he muttered, sitting down nearby. “And another reason, but less important.” Rai looked at her, almost suspiciously. “Is it true what Lulu said?”

“Is what true?” Dianne asked in return. It had been a little while, but-

“Are you really a human?”

Oh. The jangmo-o almost forgot about the fact her partner spilled her biggest secret. Hermes hadn’t talked to her about it yet, but he had been busy with guild work. And Rai was there, of course he heard it too. She suddenly remembered how other pokemon woke up and peeked into the room at the time. Did anyone else hear it? Not as far as she was aware, all the whispers she heard had been about Lulu, not her. 

She was quiet for a long moment, and then she sat up straight and looked at him in the eyes. “Yes,” she answered. “I don’t remember anything but my name and the fact I was once human. I don’t know why I woke up here or anything.”

Rai stared back at her and she could see the gears turning in his head. He was truly mulling over her words and then he looked out at the water. “Ok.”

Dianne was taken aback and snorted. “’Ok’? That’s all you have to say about that?”

“It’s more common than you would think. You have to ask the right pokemon, but there are various stories bout humans appearing in this world for different reasons.” Rai sighed and for once, Dianne saw some sadness in his eyes. “My partner used to be a human.”

She stared at him in silence as those words slowly processed in her mind. “...What?”

“I came from a different continent. I wasn’t...a very good child back when I was an eevee.” Rai shook his head. “One day I found a pokemon in the middle of the woods. I thought they were dead at first, but then they woke up. We ended up teaming up, and we caused a bunch of trouble together.”

“You sound like quite the duo,” Dianne muttered.

“We didn’t hurt anyone or anything, we were more a couple troublesome kids than actual criminals.” Rai paused and sighed. “We...stole something we shouldn’t have. Some kind of blue orb. We didn’t know what it was and no one else did either. So we just kept it. I did tell him once that I did want to join a guild someday, but I didn’t think anywhere would accept me for who I am.”

“A jerk?” The shiny asked.

Rai glared at her. “Yes, a jerk.” He looked back over at the water. “But he told me that he knew that I had a good heart. And that I would be part of a guild someday. Then...we were going through a dungeon one day, one that was mostly in water. It was a cave we wanted to get through to get to the next town. We got into the deepest part of the dungeon, and there was a huge underground lake there. Strange symbols on the walls. They were faded, and we just didn’t think much of it. Then his bag began to glow and the blue orb came out and floated in the air.” The jolteon took a deep breath. “It shot off into the water and the whole cave started to collapse. We ran as fast as we could, but...something stopped him at one point. We were almost out, and I looked back and he stopped and stared at the water. I yelled at him to keep moving, but he wasn’t listening. The water rushed in and it spat me out of the dungeon, but...I never saw him again.”

The jolteon lowered his head and Dianne saw his whole body shiver. They were both quiet for a minute and then she mumbled, “I’m sorry.”

Rai nodded. “It was years ago at this point. I went into the next town for help. Most of the water somehow vanished, like it just drained out of the dungeon overnight if not sooner. We didn’t find anything, no trace of the orb or my partner. Eventually everyone gave up, and I moved here. Found this town, trained at the guild and started working there. I told Hermes I was better on my own and I didn’t need a partner. But the truth was that no one could replace him.”

“So you never told anyone about this?” Dianne asked.

“No, you’re the first. I doubt anyone else would believe me. And I would appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone.” Rai looked at her. “And I won’t tell anyone about how you were a human before.”

Dianne rolled her eyes. “Fair enough. We’re even then.” She thought for a moment before asking. “You said that it’s more common than I think for humans to appear here and how there were stories.”

“Yes, I did some poking around afterwards about humans, but never told them why I was asking. A few pokemon told me of stories they heard where humans came in in order to save the world. Even a couple stories where they ended up living peacefully here without doing anything extraordinary. Maybe there’s a purpose to some humans coming here and maybe it’s sometimes a mistake.” Rai shrugged. “I don’t know anything for sure. But...if you need anything, I got your back.”

Dianne was a bit surprised, but nodded. “Right. Thanks, Rai.”

Rai nodded in return and looked around. “It’s getting late, we should go back.”

Without another word, the two stood up and made their way back into town.

-

Rai only escorted her back halfway before he left to go into the guild. Dianne went home and stepped inside, looking around. It was quiet and no one was in the front room and she closed the door behind her.

“Where did you go?”

The jangmo-o jumped at the voice and looked back to see Lulu standing in the doorway of her room.

“Out,” Dianne simply answered.

“This late?” The buneary tilted her head at her.

“Yeah, I was bored.” Dianne yawned and headed towards her room. “Sorry if I worried you at all.”

One of Lulu’s ears lowered and she pawed at the fluff on the end of it. “Um...”

Dianne stopped and looked at her, curious. “What?”

The buneary sighed and looked at her. “I uh...I want to talk to you about some things tomorrow.”

Dianne couldn’t help but feel happy at the sound of that. “Sure, that’s fine with me.”

Lulu gave her a small smile and began stepping back into her room. “Right, ok, goodnight.”

“Night,” Dianne went into her room and plopped on her bed, curling up. Tomorrow better be a good day, she thought as she drifted to sleep.

[itsya1upboy-blog]

So I was outlining what units I wanted to use in Cross, and writing their names in kana so I’m not fumbling over it on unit creation. I decided that one cool idea would be to have my Runemaster from EOIV, but grown up and a Zodiac, in one of my guilds. I have one party that’s all old units from previous games, but this one only has Mia returning- the other four units are all new characters that I’ve come up with. I’m not sure what I’ll be calling this guild yet, but I want to post everyone’s bios here! Even Mia’s because the timeskip with this guild is a bit large...

Mia Kiatvlos (ミア・キアトヴロス) [Age: 18] [Zodiac default #3 customized to roughly have Runemaster alt #2’s hair and eye colors as well as tanned skin] [Zodiac/Imperial] (books) A mage who has traversed the Yggdrasil of Tharsis. Though she spent her early childhood in Tharsis, she had a mental snap after the traumas of exploring dungeons full of vicious monsters and betrayals from close allies, and tried to murder a comrade who was given a second chance. She was thus sent to an academy in Armoroad to get the help that she needed. From the age of 10, Mia attended the Midgard Library Academy of Magical Sciences in Armoroad and took an interest in astronomy there, and honed her magical abilities into astrological magic. Shortly after she graduated, Maginia landed in Armoroad to gather explorers, so she and her best friend Lestari decided to board the cityship and head to Lemuria together. Nowadays, Mia is a kind, cheerful young woman who cares greatly for her comrades but hates traitors with a passion and kills monsters in the labyrinth mercilessly. However, outside of battle, she is a mentally balanced young woman who enjoys studying astronomy, drawing, and knitting. She is attentive and gentle, though her guildmates can sense that there is something dormant lurking within her soul… Lestari always sits down and talks with her about how her mind is doing, because Mia had told Lestari her story early on in their friendship, and Lestari doesn’t want her to snap again.

Liam Fraser (リアム・フレーザ) [Age: 24] [Medic default #3] [Medic/Farmer] (staves) A doctor from the Highlands. He was born as the son of a farmer in a different clan than he grew up in, but after his father died, his mother moved back to her parent’s farm and retook her maiden name while having Liam keep his father’s name. From a young age, his sharp intellect caught the eye of the clan’s chief, who took Liam under his wing. Liam also became the best friend and “spirit brother” of the chief’s son, Brennan, who was renowned with a spear. The two always got into antics together, but they were beloved by everyone in their clan. When Liam came of age, the chief helped him get into a university in the Southlands and paid for him to attend university and medical school, something that would have been out of reach to Liam’s peasant family. So, because of this, Liam considers himself indebted to his “second father” of sorts. Though Liam didn’t come back home for several years, he kept in touch with everyone through letters, especially Brennan. Eventually, Liam graduated from medical school and began working at a hospital near his university. It wasn’t long after he took his new job that Brennan wrote to him and told him that he was headed to Maginia. Liam knew that he had to follow his boneheaded friend so that he didn’t get himself killed, and worked out a deal with the hospital that he could come back onto his job if/when he returned from Maginia with Brennan. Liam isn’t nearly as mischievous as he was in his childhood. He is cheerful and outgoing, of course, but he’s also levelheaded and mature. He often serves as the voice of reason to Brennan’s hotheaded antics and prankster personality, thought occasionally Brennan can convince the Medic to join him in some shenanigans. Liam always strives to become a better doctor, and when he isn’t in the labyrinth, he often goes to the main hospital in Maginia to volunteer his time in helping injured explorers. However, at the same time, Liam’s compassion can get him into trouble… Brennan is often the one to get him out of sticky situations, and he’s the only one that can convince Liam that sometimes, someone’s just a lost cause. And Brennan is also the only one who can keep Liam from overworking himself.

Brennan MacGregor (ブレンアン・マクゴレーガ) [Age: 25] [Highlander #1 customized to have reddish-orange hair] [Highlander/Shogun] (spears) Brennan grew up in one of the many clans that populates the Highlands. He was the son of his clan’s chief and was trained in the way of the Highlander’s spear. He proved a natural at it and rapidly improved over the years. Brennan’s father took a farmer’s son under his wing from a young age, and Brennan quickly took a shine to the boy, who was about his age. He would quickly become a sort of “spirit brothers” with Liam, and the two were practically inseperable, constantly getting up to playful antics, despite their polar opposite interests- Brennan was focused on becoming a great warrior and the next leader of his clan, while Liam was very studious and wanted to become a doctor. When Liam grew up and left to attend a university in the Southlands, Brennan was positively inconsolable even though he knew it was inevitable. He threw himself even further into his training, so that he could protect his people- or so he said, but it was really to keep himself from falling into despair and so that he could protect Liam when the aspiring medical professional returned home. Although he courted several women during this time, Brennan was never satisfied with his relationships with any of them and always broke them off fairly early on. Though his father did want him to get married at some point and sire an heir, he realized fairly quickly what the issue was and didn’t prod Brennan to find a good woman. Eventually, the news that Maginia was accepting and gathering explorers to find Lemuria’s treasures reached even the Highlands, and Brennan knew that he wanted to head there to hone his skills. He asked his father for permission to depart to Maginia, and his father accepted. Brennan wrote a letter to Liam explaining the situation, and began heading south to where Maginia was set to land and accept explorers from the region. Liam wrote back that he wanted to meet up with Brennan when the warrior reached his town, and together, the two headed to the capital of the Southlands to board the cityship. Brennan is hotheaded and passionate, forward in both his words and his actions. For him, honor and justice are everything and he’s more than willing to give up his life to help others and bring about justice. However, he’s not gullible- in fact quite the opposite. He’s far too hardheaded for his own good and sometimes does the opposite of what someone says just to spite them. Liam often has to serve as the voice of reason to him, but sometimes Brennan convinces him to get involved in his wild goose chases or his shenanigans as well. With his mischievous personality, roguish smile, and rugged good looks, men and women alike find Brennan dashing and handsome, but he’s pretty much oblivious to anyone’s praise or affections other than Liam’s. He’s pretty weak to Liam and the Medic saying something as simple as “Good job,” is enough to simultaneously make Brennan weak at the knees and inflate his ego beyond reason.

Lestari Wijaya (レスタリ・ヴィジャヤ) [Age: 20] [War Magus default #2 customized to have darker skin, hair, and eyes] [War Magus/Harbinger] (swords) Mia’s best friend from the academy. Though many of their friends wanted to explore the Yggdrasil trees of Armoroad or Etria, these two looked at far-off places together. They had been considering heading out to High Lagaard, and perhaps stopping at the main branch of the Midgard Library while they were in the area, until the cityship of Maginia landed in Armoroad, gathering explorers to find the lost treasures of Lemuria. The two jumped at the opportunity to see a new place and boarded the cityship without a second thought. And now, they’ve joined Liam and Brennan’s guild. Lestari had ended up at the academy because she had fled her home, a small, isolated island in the middle of the vast ocean, where boats came by once a month at best. Her abusive parents had tried to force Lestari to hone her innate magical abilities to poison her younger sister to garner the sympathy of others. Lestari refused, and her parents beat her viciously as a result and proceeded to poison the younger sister themselves. No matter who she told the truth to, no one believed Lestari and believed that she was simply jealous of the attention that her sister was getting. Realizing that nobody was going to help her sister, and seeing that her sister was permanently incapacitated from the torture that their parents had put her through and her quality of life was rapidly declining, Lestari mercy killed her sister the day that a ship came to the island and boarded the ship as a stowaway with the help of one of the sailors. The sailor helped her get to Armoroad, where she could hide seamlessly in the teeming crowds of immigrants, and when she told him about her powers of War Lore, he told her about the Midgard Library’s magical academy centered in the bustling trade city. Lestari came to the academy’s doorstep with nothing to her name, and they took her in as a ward of the library after she told them her story. To this day, Lestari is grateful to the sailor that saved her life and wants to thank him in person someday, no matter how much of a pipe dream that is. Lestari is quiet and reserved, and holds most people at arm’s length. However, she had originally become close to Mia because the mage reminded her so much of her younger sister in personality. Though she’s only two years older than Mia, she is fiercely protective of her and always dotes on her- perhaps as a way to make up for not protecting her sister when she needed her, but also because she genuinely cares about Mia. Though she is always a shoulder for Mia to lean on, she still feels uncomfortable about opening up herself and doesn’t want to burden Mia. However, Mia has seen firsthand the effects that burying your feelings can have on a person and she always pushes Lestari to be open with her about her emotions. The most obvious sign that something is bothering Lestari is that she retreats to her room and throws herself into her War Lore practice.

Katsuo Hamazaki (浜崎 勝雄//はまざき かつお) [Age: 35] [Ninja default #3] [Ninja/Nightseeker] (daggers) Katsuo grew up in a servant’s family, who served the daimyo of a small country in a far-off land. However, when the daimyo died and his son succeeded him, many of the former servants were purged who had been close to the former lord. Katsuo was on the cusp of adolescence at the time and so was expected to go out and find his own job, but also support his parents who had nowhere to turn. Thus, Katsuo took a job at the docks nearby. It was hard work, but it paid enough to keep him and his parents alive. ...Until it didn’t. Katsuo’s mother had always been frail and the conditions of their new home weren’t doing her any favors. She caught a mysterious respiratory illness and passed quickly. Katsuo’s father turned to alcohol to cope and started draining the little money that Katsuo was bringing home to fuel his habit. Katsuo soon realized that his father was a shell of his former self and that only one thing would snap him out of his drunken haze, so Katsuo joined a pirate crew and left his homeland. This pirate crew was a more prominent one and had many small southern islands paying them protection money, so they didn’t pillage cities as often, which Katsuo was grateful for. However, he still needed to train for when settlements got ruly or when a new city needed to be brought down a notch, so he began training on how to handle poisons. Combined with his skills as a shinobi that he had trained while in service to his lord, Katsuo quickly became known as the “Shadow of Death,” for when he stabbed his knife in your neck, you never had and would never know that he had been there. Soon, Katsuo was one of the most prominent fighters of the crew, always sent out in the first wave to bring a city to its knees, and was often sent to loot heavily protected vaults in target cities. One day, the crew went to get protection money from a small island that had maybe one tiny village on it. But, hey, money’s money, and any city that’s under your thumb won’t rat you out to the marines of Armoroad as pirates. While guarding the ship, a young girl came up to Katsuo and introduced herself as Lestari. She said that she needed to leave the island at all costs and would do anything to get out. She seemed genuinely desperate, and Katsuo didn’t want to see her get trafficked by his captain, so he quickly hid her in a small, hidden area of the ship and told her that he’d check on her seldomly and randomly and let her out at Armoroad, where the crew put on a facade of being a regular trade crew and the Armoroad Senate turned a blind eye to accusations that they were a pirate crew if only for their continued business. And when Lestari told Katsuo that she had magical abilities, Katsuo pointed her in the direction of an academy of magic within Armoroad where she could stay. For years after, that encounter stayed with Katsuo, haunting his dreams, gnawing at the back of his mind. What if his captain had seen her? What would he have done with her? She was a desperate girl- was this how all of the natives were that they extorted? What about those of the cities that they’d pillaged- how desperate were they? Years and years later, the crew landed in Armoroad as usual to restock and trade, and Katsuo made his escape. He fled the pirate crew and never looked back, blending seamlessly into the teeming crowds of immigrants. He took a job as a fisherman on the other end of the island, and forgot about his childhood as a shinobi in training and about his years spent as a pirate, settling into a peaceful if somewhat fragile lifestyle. Until Maginia landed in Armoroad. They were accepting explorers to find the hidden treasures of Lemuria. Strange shadows had been haunting Katsuo lately, out of the corner of his eye; the house creaked more at night, even when the wind was still. Surely it was just paranoia...but he could never be sure; he knew just what his former crew was capable of, and it was that time of year again… And he wanted to see if that girl was okay, if she had decided to board Lemuria herself. What was her name again...Leslie? Lestari. That was it. So Katsuo wrote an anonymous letter to the Senatus about a pirate crew that was potentially in the area, and how to overtake them should things get ugly, and then signed onto the Explorers’ Guild of Maginia. Katsuo is stoic and stern, but he isn’t cruel. Quite the opposite, actually- he’s surprisingly gentle with his words, even if he isn’t with the figure he cuts. He mostly just wants to live a peaceful life, fishing and reading, but he knows he can’t do that in Armoroad no matter how hard he may try, so why not see the world while he’s on the run? Though he isn’t the leader of the guild, he tries to be a leading figure- maybe paternal, maybe more like a brother-in-arms. And he chooses what few words he does say carefully; it often surprises people just how gentle his manner of speech is and how he knows just what to say in any given situation. One would expect such a rough-looking man to be much coarser. (And, for us, a former pirate at that!) However, he rarely speaks and has such an intimidating demeanor that most don’t ever find this out- Brennan had Katsuo join his guild for his powerful aura, but Liam was shaking in fright the entire time that Katsuo was filling out his application.

[i-dropped-the-chief]

Good Day

A little chapter posted on “It Was A Long Story” 

“So?” Varric quietly murmured to Hawke. They stood next to each other near the entrance of the Champion’s gardens, regarding the small figure quietly sitting on a bench and reading a book. She donned a large, floppy hat that shielded her from the heat of the Kirkwall sun, even though she never once burned. “What kind of day is she having?”

“A better one,” Hawke quietly answered. “She ate today and wasn’t sick. Cracked a few jokes. Only had one coughing fit, and even that was short.”

Varric smiled, but it was more bittersweet than happy. “That’s good.” A heavy pause. “What was Blondie’s verdict?” It was a struggle to make sure his voice didn’t crack.

Hawke’s voice didn’t crack, either, but it got a few octaves lower to hide the pain. “Between the seizures and the breathing fits…Varric, she’s not going to be here much longer.”

The statement merely vocalized what they had all known for some time. It didn’t make Varric feel any better. But he put on a brave face and walked forward, up to Alaran. She turned her head to him when he put his hand on her bony, narrow shoulder and smiled.

“Hey, Al,” Varric easily greeted. “How’s it going?”

She set her sketchpad and charcoal aside and smirked. Al’s face alone gave away her visible illness. Her cheekbones were sallow and dark circles rimmed her violet eyes. “It’s going well, Varric. And you?”

Varric took a seat beside her, ignoring how frail she was compared to him. “Not bad. I had a good breakfast, listened to Aveline and Anders bicker for a while, got some work done for the Merchant’s Guild.”

Alaran softly snorted. “That sounds pretty boring, if you ask me.”

“The good days usually are the boring ones, Al.”

She gently laid her hand over his and gave it a light squeeze. Varric’s throat started to burn for some odd reason. “You look sad, today,” Alaran noted. Violet eyes searched his face in worry. Worry. Maker, how could she worry about him when she was the one dy—

Varric had to look away. Shame was sharp in his chest. “Oh, Varric.” Alaran took off her hat so she could rest her weary head on his shoulders. He moved his arm so he could draw her close to him while he held back unwanted tears. Shit. Shit. Since when did Varric care so much about her?

Since when had he grown to love her like his own?

“Look,” Alaran said, drawing his attention to her sketchpad. “What do you think of it?”

His chuckle scraped against a raw throat. “I think it’s one of the best drawings I’ve ever seen.”

“Liar,” Al smirked. “Though, I do have to admit I’m pretty funny. Fenris would make a very good lantern in the dark, if need be. You know, because of his tattoos?” She flipped a page and Varric laughed at its contents again. “And here’s what Hawke would look like if he was a Mabari. I think I got the proportions accurate.”

“Yeah, his legs would be stumpy.”

Al continued to show Varric sketches she had done, both funny and beautiful. How was it possible for someone to have such talent?

He read to her when she started feeling tired. They sat together under a warm spring day, enjoying the sunlight and the smell of fresh grass in the garden. Isabela and Merrill came to visit later on, followed by Fenris, Aveline and Donnic. Al sat there listening to them talk. She liked doing that; a small smile flickered on her face as their inane and pointless conversations filled the air.

Choir Boy came with a bouquet of flowers for her in the evening. He liked Al, in the beginning, always blushing and stammering whenever she spoke to him. Now he treated her like an old friend, hiding the sadness behind blue eyes.

Al could still see their pain. She was too smart not to. But she hardly said anything about it. Al had accepted her situation, and only hoped that they would too after she passed.

Hawke came with Anders when the light started to dwindle. Blondie checked her breathing, checked her eyes, checked everything. It wasn’t to see if there had been any improvement; it was just the routine. Al let him do his work with ease, used to the poking and prodding more than she should have been.

Isabela braided Al’s hair and Merrill placed flowers in between white strands. Hawke dramatically reenacted a fight scene with an equally undramatic Fenris, and Alaran clapped at the end of it. When dinner was brought out, she picked at the food on her plate while everyone pretended not to notice.

Aveline eventually rounded everyone up and chased them out of the estate. Al got a kiss on her bony cheek by each of them before they left. The stars were out, by then, faint and distant compared to the full moon shining down on the gardens.

Shining down on Al. And for a moment, with her hair glowing with moonlight and stars captured in violet eyes, Varric swore she transcended mortality.

“Goodnight, Varric,” Al whispered as she hugged him. Her words were lucid, were her.

“Night, kiddo,” he said back. Al left him, supported by Garrett for the initial walk across the parlor floor before being picked up by him when they reached the staircase. He carried her with gentleness, with love. Those shoulders weren’t usually that upright, but when they held Alaran they were.

Varric left the estate, scents of lavender hanging on his shoulders.

-

Alaran was found in the garden the next day, as still as the gray morning light. She had put her floppy hat on and rested at the bench. An unopened sketchbook sat at her side, and charcoal dropped at her feet clad in too-big socks.

When Varric was awoken by a knock on his door, he knew Al had left them.

They buried her on the Wounded Coast. There was a hillside Al loved that was thoroughly picked clean of elfroot, no thanks to her. It had soil instead of sand, so she could be laid to rest without disturbance.

Merrill crowned her with lavender. Isabela dressed her in white. Aveline lined the casket with dark blue linen. Anders constructed a small stack of stones to mark her grave. Fenris placed a pouch of dried apples in her hand and Sebastian conducted the service.

There were more people that came, too. Bodahn and his boy rightfully attended, as did Gamlen. Carver’s eyes were red-rimmed the whole time, and Cullen Rutherford couldn’t stop his throat from bobbing up and down. Lirene the Fereldan shop owner handed out handkerchiefs, and even a couple of workers from the Blooming Rose were there, clinging to each other while they softly sobbed. Members from the Carta risked being around Aveline and Donnic to pay their respects. Dockworkers, elves, Tal-Vashoth—people from all walks of life had come to see Alaran one last time.

The sun was bright and gulls cried over ocean waves as dirt covered a casket that would never be opened again.

Hawke left his socks on her feet.

Varric kept the sketchbook. He figured Al wouldn’t mind if he held onto it. And with the next few weeks—the next few years—Varric knew he’d need something to give him a good laugh.

-

“This Birdie,” Solas said as they walked through the Hinterlands, “who was she?”

“Elusive,” Cassandra called a bit sourly from ahead. “Some wonder if she was real at all.”

“Oh, she was real, Seeker,” Varric chuckled. After all this time, the thought of that white-haired elf still tugged at his heart. “Real, and amazing.”

“The book stopped mentioning her,” Solas continued. “I was just wondering what happened. And I can’t believe I’m the only one.”

Varric sighed. “She died, Chuckles. Got real sick one day and didn’t get better. Nothing could be done.”

Cassandra glanced over her shoulder, eyes sharp with curiosity. “What was her name, if I may ask?” Solas inquired.

“Al,” Varric replied. The nickname felt heavy on his tongue. “Alaran, I mean. Her name was Alaran.”

Solas slowed to a stop. When Varric looked back to the apostate, he was surprised to see a look of utter sadness. He gripped his staff for support as too-old eyes gazed upon something Varric couldn’t see.

“You knew her, Chuckles?” Varric asked, unsure if he wanted to hear an answer.

After a moment, Solas straightened and began walking again. “Once,” he replied. “A long time ago.”

[boarchasers]

One For Another

((This needs the Read More, so I guess we’ll just have to deal with tumblr’s broken formatting.))

lycannalla:

Character Exploration Challenge I

Think back to a pivotal point in your character’s story. It may be them deciding to leave home, or deciding to join a guild. Maybe it’s a tragedy that put them on the path they’re on now. Whatever it is, consider what would happen if they didn’t make that choice or the opposite happened. Where would they be now? How would they be different? What would be the same? 

It wasn't hard to find the tent. The Nord inside might have been a hunter, but when it came to his camp, stealth was out of the question. A wolfhound was stretched out beside the fire, snuffling occasionally, and the sound of metal scraping on wood, accompanied occasionally by cursing, came from under the canvas.

Canvas was something of a misnomer, too. This was not, as tents went, a luxury example. It was barely a tent at all. A deep red cloak was held up by a pair of sticks and tied to a convenient pine tree and that, essentially, was that. Apart from some furs to sleep on, the only covering for the ground underneath was a thick mat of pine needles. They deadened the footsteps of anybody approaching. In theory. Frithjofr couldn't sneak through an empty, unlit cave in the middle of the night. He got as far as the fireplace before the dog jumped up and the scraping noise stopped.

'Who's there?'

The hem of the cloak was pushed back and a sullen, suspicious face, covered in a thin beard, looked out. When it saw the dog bouncing around Frithjofr's heels, it broke into a smile.

'Uncle Frith!'

''Lo. Minnel sent me up to look for you. Everything all right?'

'Just practising my carving. I'm not as good as Hjolrin.' Haaki held up the lump of wood he was working on in rough, hardened fingers, complete with a fresh scar across the knuckle. 'Um, it's supposed to be a fox.'

'Better'n anything I could do.'

'Sit down. I've got some potatoes I can cook.'

Giving Dog one last scratch behind the ears, Frithjofr settled himself on his knees beside the fire, scuffing up his leggins with soot. Haaki scraped some of the embers from the fire with his boot and dropped a couple of potatoes on them before sitting down himself. As soon as he was down Dog trotted over and rested his head in his master's lap. Haaki fondled his ears idly and asked,

'Why did Minnel send you? I'm fine. I'm not a kid any more.'

'You'll always be a kid to her.'

'Nobody ever goes looking for Hjoll, and she and Brandy're older than him, too. It's not fair.'

Haaki prodded the potatoes with a stick, and jabbed at one so hard that the skin burst. He swore under his breath, glanced guiltily around, and when Frithjofr didn't comment, did his best to poke the inside of the potato back inside. There was clearly something else on Frithjofr's mind. After picking up a stick of his own and twirling it between his fingers a few times, he said,

'Uh, 's not just about checking up on you.'

Haaki's hand stopped stroking Dog's head.

'It's about the Legion. Isn't it?'

'Uh. Aye. She wanted me to try 'n talk to you--'

'I know she did. You won’t change my mind.'

Unbidden, both of their heads turned, just for a second, to look at the cloak tent. There was an old, faded stain at one end, over where the chest would be if someone was wearing it. Haaki looked back to the fire first.

'She's worried,' said Frithjofr. Haaki concentrated all of his attention on the disembowelled potato.

'It wouldn't happen to me.'

'Could happen to anyone.'

'The war's practically over now.'

'It was practically over when--'

'You're not going to stop me. Minnel's tried and Brandy's tried and Hjolrin's tried and now you've tried, but I'm going to go anyway. It's... it's a point of honour, isn't it? You said you wanted to be in the Legion once.'

'Nah, said I respected the Legion. 'S different. I can't tell the pointy end of a sword from the other one. What good'd I be?'

'I'm trained. I'm good with a bow and better with a crossbow.'

There was a long silence, filled with Dog's sniffing and a log shifting in the fire. It wasn't until Haaki removed the potatoes and handed over the one still intact that Frithjofr said,

''M not gonna stop you. I just want to know you know what you're leaving behind. Somebody'll have to look after Dog--'

'Hjolrin will.'

'--and Finnr'll miss you. So will everyone. They've already lost one brother, one uncle. I mean, 'm not a Boar-Chaser, not properly, but I know how important you are to each other. That's obvious even to me. Minnel still keeps his shield on the wall. Hjolrin never talks to anyone since... y'know. And Brandy's always telling me he's going to sell his books, but he never does, and y'know why? Because you hold onto each other. They don't want to lose him for good and they don't want to lose you.' Frithjofr bit into the potato and mumbled around it, 'That's all I got to say.'

---------------------------------------------------

Frithjofr and Minnel deciding to leave for Cyrodiil is a pivotal point for every Boar-Chaser, so it seemed appropriate (and efficient) to use it for this prompt.

The first and most obvious result is that neither Minnel nor Finnr are killed by legionnaires, and Frithjofr doesn’t get into his various troubles. Instead he continues to help out on the Boar-Chaser farm, eventually moving into a small house of their own a little further west on the Whiterun Plains. There’s no Burd, and no nirngoats; they live a fairly humdrum and unremarkable life, raising Finnr amongst his family.

This leads to Frithjofr becoming a much calmer man. He has better control over his thoughts, and is less prone to amble into danger, but he’s also less sympathetic to people in difficult situations. His morals haven’t been challenged in the way they were during his Cyrodiil adventures. He continues to believe that Stealing Is Always Bad, never having experienced the desperation some people are forced to and with the constant presence of Trond (initially - we’ll get to that). Generally speaking, he’s not quite as sympathetic to people on the fringes of society, be they common thieves or followers of Sheogorath. He never meets a considerably number of his current friends, and if he does, the consequences may be quite, quite different - Tortulja and Luth, for example, wouldn’t find him so sympathetic, nor as endearingly stupid, and his close friendships with them would never have the chance to grow.

His cowardice is less likely to change, although the Boar-Chasers are quite insistent about what it means to be a Real Nord. Most of the time, if they will allow it, Frithjofr remains content to stay at home with Finnr while Minnel takes care of anything remotely courageous.

Having someone like Frithjofr around to compare himself to boosts Trond’s confidence further (as if it needs it). Knowing that his sister will still be around to help the family, and without the resentment the circumstances of her death fostered, Trond tries for the Legion again and this time, with the Civil War creating a constant demand for new troops, gets accepted. Unfortunately, unlike guard work, there’s no option of ducking into the nearest alley away from danger when things get rough. He’s struck down by a Stormcloak shortly after joining. His personal effects are sent home and divided among the remaining Boar-Chasers -- his shield goes to Minnel, his books go to Brandrel, his sword goes to Hjolrin and his cloak goes to Haaki.

With Minnel’s help, Brandrel survives his fight against the bear. The Boar-Chaser farm becomes his responsibility when Minnel moves out with Frithjofr, and he does a much better job at caring for it than Hjolrin, Trond and Haaki do in the real timeline. As much as Trond’s death upsets him, he tries to channel all of that emotion into his work, leaving no time to pursue his amorous interests in Rodda Cold-Tree (or anyone else, for that matter) but creating a thriving farmstead.

On the more definitively negative side, Hjolrin retreats into himself, as he does in the real timeline, but even more severely. Neither Minnel nor Brandrel are as skilled at bringing him out of himself as Trond was. Without Trond there running his mouth to fill any awkward silences, Hjolrin is even less likely to attend any social events, and he’s rarely obliged to since Minnel is still the official head of the clan. He’s never introduced to Arlain, and spends the majority of his time alone in his camp, isolating himself even from his family. Haaki is the only person who ever really talks to him, and in this world Haaki is usually busy pursuing his own independent hunting work.

Because without the same purpose Minnel’s death gave him, and not having been as close to Trond, it takes a while for Haaki’s innate passion for Vengeance!™ to manifest itself. He evidently maintains his stubbornness (and his personal belief that the world is unfairly biased against him), and his dedication to his family is just as strong, too; the difference is that this time he has more support, and from his favourite people, in dealing with the loss. He completes his apprenticeship with Hjolrin and, at his brother’s insistence on being left alone, sets up his own camp in the woods. He can be hostile to unexpected guests in case they turn out to be part of a Stormcloak scouting party, who will not find any sympathy from him.

Eventually, however, his nature gets the better of him, and his anger over losing a brother festers. This time, rather than run off to the Stormcloaks, he aims for the Legion, instead. He proves luckier than Trond. His ultimate fate would depend on the canonised outcome of the Civil War, but he is moved from infantry to archery, where he serves with honour until the war’s conclusion - not having the ulterior motive of hunting down Frithjofr means he never has any reason to desert. The psychological scars warfare leaves on him are nothing compared to his current path - in the end, it makes him a more disciplined, reasonable person, who better understands the fortunes of war and why Trond was taken from him.

He never spends time in Windhelm. Happily for him, this means he never runs into Hlenil. Unhappily, he never meets Sibby, either - and without his rebellious, adventurous side, it’s questionable whether she would show the same interest in him even if they did meet. Much like Frithjofr, Haaki doesn’t develop a lot of his closest friendships, either, and never adopts Splendid (the dog or the religious zeal).