AHA YOU DID PUT THE ASK GAME BACK UP
I humbly request something with Saville and Galen because my beloveds 🤲
I DID and took so long to respond to this lol. But! Since you didn't specify an AU I decided to explore a concept I came up with in the shower the other day: Valiant Cinderella au (featuring Ever After vibes, The Flight Of Swan characters, and one subtle reference to my liveblog)
I’d only taken my eyes off of Will for a second. We were in the market— he and I and Corbin, my stepbrother who hadn’t been convinced to hate me, despite my stepmother’s best efforts.
Will was family too, after a fashion. I’d found him, just a street urchin fighting dogs for food, and brought him home under the guise of a servant. Really, I’d just wanted to keep him safe, even if I couldn’t protect myself.
He was a hard worker, but too eager to rush ahead. I’d only looked away to barter for bread for a minute— one minute! And then I heard his voice shouting my name, and turned to see soldiers dragging him away.
King Eldin was supposedly a weak king, weaker than his hard-headed brother had been. He wasn’t a bad man— but he was easily manipulated, a fact that had been taken advantage of by Lord Leymonn, one of the top advisors in the castle. And Lord Leymonn had little tolerance for the parentless urchins wandering the streets. Which Will wasn’t— but clearly the soldiers didn’t know that.
Dropping my basket, I bolted towards the soldiers, ignoring Corbin shouting for me to be careful. I couldn’t let them take Will. I couldn’t.
The soldiers were shoving him into a cart as I approached, heart pounding with terror. I hated being scared, and that fueled me enough to shout, “Stop! What are you doing?”
The two soldiers paused, one still keeping a firm grasp on Will’s arm as the two of them looked at me. The older of the two, brown eyed with a beard, lifted an eyebrow at me. “Arresting this thief.”
“He is not a thief,” I protested, glaring at them. “Do you arrest all children you see because you suspect they may be thieves? He’s a servant in my stepmother’s household. Let him go.”
“Lord Leymonn has ordered that street urchins—”
“Hang your Lord Leymonn,” I spat out, and was surprised to see a look of amusement cross the older man’s face. The younger looked affronted, and was opening his mouth to respond when a third voice cut through our conversation.
“Orion, Hayden, what’s going on here?”
I turned, ready to fight— and the words shriveled up in my mouth.
Fine Coat. Sky above, it was Fine Coat— the noble who I’d met six months earlier on the road to Reggen, traveling back home with my father. Before he’d remarried a witch woman and then fallen ill, leaving me in her hands.
He wouldn’t remember me. He couldn’t. No matter how much I may have annoyed him at the time.
“Lord Verras,” the younger man said, straightening a little. “We’re arresting this street urchin. Lord Leymonn’s orders— we’re to keep the streets as free of thieves as possible, sir.”
“He’s not a thief,” I broke in, my fear for Will overwhelming my fear that Fine Coat would know who I was. “He’s a servant in my stepmother’s household, and he wouldn’t steal anything.”
“He’s a street rat,” the younger guard said.
“He’s a child,” I snapped, glaring at him. “Or is that an instant sign of guilt in the eyes of your precious Lord Leymonn?”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Lord Verras and the older man exchange a look that I couldn’t read. Hardening my heart against fear, I turned towards him. “He’s just a child. He hasn’t done anything, you can’t arrest him. Or have the nobles already forgotten what justice is?”
The younger guard gaped at me, as shocked by my audacity as my pounding heart was. Lord Verras regarded me, with eyes that almost seemed to look through me. I held myself straight, refusing to look away. I wouldn’t back down.
“You have such a low opinion of our royalty?” His voice was calm, curious.
“I have a low opinion of anyone who would lock up a child,” I told him, and he nodded.
“Fair enough. Release the boy.”
“But Lord Leymonn will—”
“I will deal with Leymonn,” Lord Verras said, and I didn’t miss the look the two guards exchanged. The older one nodded to his companion, who let go of Will’s arm.
He scrambled free, tumbling into my arms, and I pulled him close, trying to hide my trembling. “Thank you,” I told Lord Verras.
“You were right,” he said simply. “If the boy hasn’t done anything wrong, he deserves to go free.” He paused, frowning a little. “It’s rare to see someone around these days who’s so willing to speak up against one of the king’s advisors. Particularly among the nobility.”
I almost snorted. “I’m no noble.”
He didn’t seem surprised, just curious. “Really? You mentioned your stepmother’s household.”
Internally, I cursed. I was supposed to be a nameless servant, not the daughter that witch didn’t want. If I let anything slip about her, or her plan, Will and I were done for, to say nothing of my father. And despite our differences, it was my responsibility to protect him.
Though if it came down between him and Will, I’d hand him over in a heartbeat.
Lord Verras was still watching me with those keen eyes, waiting for an answer I didn’t know how to give. “Um. I—”
“Saville!”
Corbin was heading my way, holding the basket I’d dropped, his frown deep. For a brother who wasn’t blood, he was plenty protective, and his scowl deepened at the sight of Lord Verras. Glancing between me, him, the guards, and Will, he seemed to put together the pieces. “We should get home,” he told me. “Mother won’t be pleased if we’re out too late.”
“Saville?” Lord Verras’s voice was quizzical, and I saw a furrow appear between his brows. He’d realized something was off, or familiar, and my heart lurched.
Time to go.
Grabbing Will’s arm, I said, “Thank you for your help,” and forced myself to walk away, not run. Despite the urge to do so, twisting in my chest. It was time to get away from this nobleman and his eyes that saw far too much.
I didn’t breathe easy until there were several yards and a few turned corners between me and him, and Corbin gave me a confused look. “Who was that?”
“Someone who met me on the way here,” I told him. “Someone who could find out who I am, and destroy your mother’s plan.”
Scowling, Corbin muttered, “If only he would.” A heartbeat later, remorse smoothed away the scowl, and he shot me an apologetic look. “Sorry. I know you’re as stuck as I am.”
“At least I don’t have to marry any princess.” Breathing deeply, I glanced at Will. “Are you alright?”
Nodding, Will said, “Are we in trouble, Sir?”
Shaking my head, I said, “I don’t think so.” As long as we don’t bump into Lord Verras again. With any luck, that would be the last I saw of him.
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It's kinda funny because w/ my Zeus kid OC (who I've been thinking about renaming as Araceli, 'cause it means altar of the sky, apparently, which I like 'cause sky-themed-ish but also like. A little bit I wanted something that meant cloud the way Coral's name means... Coral) the implication is that she takes after her father to an almost mirroring degree because I developed her and my other PJO OCs (who also all got retconned into an OG work) at the same time I was playing around with my ideas on the Big Six, and the gist at the time was supposed to show how the Big Six could've turned out if they weren't so weird.
So the dynamics of the friendship was supposed to be very similar to the dynamics of Big Six's relationship to each other (e.g. Mary having a major crush on Hera's "representative" but also being attracted to literally every other person that walked by, Nico being the soberminded big brother figure, etc). It's also one of the reasons Mary would get angry whenever someone would compare to her dad, because similarly I think Zeus would get angry if someone compared him to his dad.
And then eventually as I got older and the daydream moved around with whatever obsession I had at the time, the characters and general storyline began to change away from that in some ways but core features sort of stayed and so I ended up with a version of Zeus that ignores his daughter's pleas for help because he loves her but her pain hurts him because he can't do anything about it and it's his fault she's suffering.
She got this intensity from him, it's ingrained into the way it's ingrained in him. But he was able to rebuild the world according to his own needs and wants and beliefs. And she can't really do that. So he doesn't have any advice he can give her when she's on her knees begging for help with all the noise and pain in her head. He doesn't know what to do! It's like he can just go and rip it out of her.
But she's suffering because she's different and she's weird and she knows it and she knows it's his fault which is why she's asking but he just doesn't know and he can't handle watching her suffering and listening to her cry when there is no helpful answer to give her because "I don't know" isn't going to fix it.
He's supposed to fix things, he's supposed to have the answers. He's king of the world, by damn! He's a problem solver. He supposed to have a solution, and a million backup solutions. But he doesn't! There's nothing he can do to make the noise stop because truth be told, the noise never really stopped for him! It just got easier and quieter. So he turns away from her because he loves her and he's failing her and he can't handle that.
But also in the same breath, I think he recognizes similar aspects of himself in Jason, who isn't even asking for help, and fucking despises him for it, lol.
✨ Girl Dad ✨
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