#nuru looks up at the night sky and says out loud i hope all my beautiful girlfriends are sleeping well and she means the stars

[squelchbug]

nuru is transfemme & a lesbian & most importantly she is a loser and her cringefail personality has captivated me

[justaghostingon]

Stars Falling From the Sky Don’t Care Where They Land

Meeting Donella was not nearly as terrifying for Nuru as it was for Varian or Yong. Sure, she was a formidable enemy and alchemist, and an opponent she wouldn’t want anywhere near her kingdom. But she just seemed a bit...over the top. She understood why it rattled Varian. His mother’s ex-partner who was probably responsible for her death, here now to steal his last memory of her. She could even understand why it rattled Yong, as this person had been pursuing them for longer than Nuru had been in the group.

But from Nuru’s perspective, it looked like meeting the big bad in those ridiculous Flynn Rider books she’d never admit she’d read. Far too contrived to feel real or scary. Even her threats felt like a script. “Mark my words, I will get the totems and access to the library if its the last thing I do!” 

Who says that? This woman was clearly taking her whole, ‘villain’ thing far to literally. She was even wearing spikes for crying out loud! This woman needed a dose of reality. She turned to Hugo, the only other slightly sensible one here, for backup to take down this clown, and stopped.

 Hugo’s fists were clenched at his side, whole body trembling. His eyes were wide and blank, and the look in his eyes was one that made Nuru’s heart drop to her stomach. She knew that look. 

It was the same look her people had when the astroids fell from the skies every year. A strange mix of terror and resignation, directed at something they knew would decimate them, and there was nothing they could do to stop it. Sometimes they wouldn’t run, just stand and wait for the asteroid to fall, unable to see a point in resisting. 

Nuru had never seen it directed at a person before. 

“Time to run!” Varian cried as Yong released a giant firecracker directly at Donella. He didn’t stop as he reached out to grab Hugo by his collar, dragging him forward along with him. Nuru ran behind, and noted that even as he was dragged away, Hugo’s eyes never left Donella.

They didn’t stop until they were outside, the building crumbling into rubble behind them. “Everyone alright?” Varian panted, hands on his knees.

“Ha!” Yong jumped up, soot stain on his cheeks, and broke into a wide smile. “That’ll show her!”

Hugo said nothing as tried to rub nonexistent dirt off his glasses with clumsy fingers. He looked shaken, like he had been pulled from an astroid’s path. But not grateful. No. They never looked grateful.

“Why did you save me princess?” A memory tickles the back of her mind. “I’ve lost everything. You should have let me die with the rest.”

She looked back at the entrance where they had last seen Donella. She still didn’t seem terrifying, not to Nuru. Instead the memory of Donella’s smirk brought a sudden, swooping anger to her chest. But then again, Nuru had never been afraid of the astroids, to the great confusion of her mother. She simply saw them as a problem, something that needed to be stopped. She straightened her shoulders and turned to meet Varian’s eyes. “That woman? She needs to go down.”

“Here here!” Yong crowed. Varian laughed in agreement. 

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Hugo flinch.

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Nuru’s eyes snapped open, the dark of her tent was accented by the slight filtering of the moonlight sneaking through the cracks. Was it her turn to take watch already? And why hadn’t Varian woken her up? 

She opened the tent flap, intent on glancing up at the stars to see what the time was. Instead her eyes landed on Hugo, sitting shoulders slumped in front of the dying fire. But that didn’t make sense. Hugo has volunteered to take first watch, and a glance at the stars told her it was well past when Varian should have replaced him. 

She crept forward, intent on telling him off and sending him to bed, but the look on his face stopped her in her tracks. He was pale, trembling hands folded together and pressed to his mouth. His eyes were rimmed with red. Had be been crying?

He probably wouldn’t want her to see. He was so prideful, but... “The first night after is always the hardest,” her mother’s voice whispered in her ear. “It’s when they need their Princess most of all.”

She drew a deep breath and walked forward, plopping herself down beside him. He started, and turned away from her to wipe his eyes discreetly. She pretended not to notice. 

“Lovely night isn’t it?” She said, and then kicked herself for starting with such a cliche line.

Hugo nodded. “Clear. Pretty rare for this kingdom.”

Nuru snorted. “It explains a lot about you.” Hugo tensed, a bit of fear returning to his gaze. Oh no. Nuru continued hastily. “Like how bad you are at astronomy.”

Hugo’s shoulders relaxed marginally. He lifted an eyebrow, a trace of the old Hugo’s snark returning. “Now, now. Its a sacrifice we make for progress. Our skies may not be clear, but at least we’ve got running water.”

“So does Corona,” Nuru said with a roll of her eyes. “But they haven’t banned color from their clothes.”

Hugo drew back in mock outrage, one hand on his chest. “Excuse you! It’s called fashion!”

“Oh?” Nuru grinned, “And I suppose the spikes that look like they came out of a dime novel are another part of that fashion?”

Hugo’s hand moved to his wrist. “These are entirely practical,” he sniffed. “Threatening accessories ensure less people try to mess with you.”

“Seems kinda sad,” Nuru frowned.

“Yes, well,” Hugo looked away, “that’s just how it is.”

“That’s just how it is Princess,” a farmer shrugged. Spring is for planting, Autumn is for Harvest, and in Winter the sky falls. No point in hoping for anything different.” 

Nuru pulled her knees up to her chest as she stared at the red of the embers. “You know...” she started, then stopped, unsure how to continue.

“Know what?” Hugo prompted.

“If you ever get tired of working in a place without stars,-” Nuru bit her lip, “-you could always come and work in my kingdom. We’re always looking for new alchemists.”

Hugo gave a slight chuckle, “Oh come on princess, you can’t stand me. I’m sure you don’t want me in your kingdom.”

“It’s not like that!” Nuru turned to face him, eyes wide. Hugo stopped laughing. “Whether I like you as a person has nothing to do with whether we’d hire you or not. You’re good at alchemy, and if this trip has proven anything, you take your work seriously, even if you don’t do the same for anything else.”

“We could really use someone like you,” she added, voice lower. Hugo stared at her, shoulders loose and jaw slacked. Nuru had never seen him look so surprised. For one second, something akin to hope began to flicker in his eyes. His lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but no words came out. 

Then the old familiar terror crept into the corners of his eyes, snuffing the hope like a flame. A shutter fell over Hugo’s expression and he looked away. “I don’t think a kingdom which faces astroids every year would be an improvement princess,” he said. His voice was light, but there was a sharp barb underneath.

Nuru grit her teeth, but did not rise to the obvious bait. “Just think about it,” she replied. 

“Right,” Hugo shrugged, still not looking at her. He gave a large yawn, stretching his arms above his head theatrically. “Well this has been fun, but I think I should go back to bed.” He got up and started to walk back to his tent.

Nuru scowled at his retreating back. Why did she even bother? This was Hugo, who took pleasure in driving everyone up the wall. She’d probably dodged a bullet anyways.

Hugo stopped before he reached the tent, shadows playing across his back as he stood on the edge of the dim light. “Nuru?”

She startled, unused to hearing him say her name and not her title. If Varian and Yong didn’t use it frequently, she’d have sworn Hugo didn’t know what it was. “Yes?” she asked.

“Thank you,” Hugo turned back, a faint smile on his lips. And oh no. Her heart clenched. She knew that smile. A lot of people gave her that smile at home. Especially those older than her. The grandma who she tucked a blanket around in the refugee camp. The farmer whose lands were destroyed by the astroids. Her mother.

It’s the smile that says, “I know there isn’t a way out of this nightmare, but I don’t want you to realize that.”

She’d always had to prove herself against that smile, to prove her alchemy could make a difference, could save them. No matter what she did, it never seemed to go away. Even when she’d taken this quest, that smile had still been on her mother’s lips.

She thinks she hates that look even more than the other one.

“Of course,” she tells Hugo, because she doesn’t know what else to say. She’d never been able to get rid of that smile. Never gotten anyone to trust her enough. But maybe, she thought as she watched Hugo climb into his tent, maybe when they found the library...If she could find a way to save her kingdom inside its halls, maybe then she could try once more. 

And if she could free her kingdom, she thought as she turned back to the dull red glow of the fire, maybe Hugo would realize he could get a way from the woman he was so afraid of.