Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

olly olly oxen free (bury my heart apart from me)

.

You've lost your Name and outlived your fate. But with this stone heart of yours, you'll follow your commander anywhere he'll lead. 

Even if, curiously, that now leads you both to playing classmates with mortal schoolchildren. Well. At least it's not another couple decades playing house with unschooled children of varying mortality. Though you like to think that your Diasomnia wards turned out alright, for being raised by a couple of relics.

"Caretaker! Lilia-sama requests your presence!"

.

.

Preface:

Disclaimer for all that follows: this was majority written between January 2022-2023. Thus this is before JP even had book 6 or book 7. It is very, very outdated in canon-compliance for worldbuilding and for characterization as a result. 

Feel free to consider this an alternate universe where the TWST fae are really way more inhuman in existence, psychology, society… and Lilia is basically a different person in the war era sorry!! 

Hopefully it’s still an enjoyable read that way!

.

.

Outline/Notes:

Concept: Fae soldier OC (“Thorne”) under lilia’s previous command who follows him to NRC out of loyalty, ultra serious no sense of humor but ultimately kind (and unintentionally silly inside) type… but playing with what cultural norms are different from fae and humans, etc. Gets along better with mer than with beastmen. Silver and Sebek respect/get along with them, seeing as superior and also as sort of ?? Lilia’s friend ?? OC does not consider themselves friends / equals, but humors that Lilia seems to insist they are (since they’ve both outlived their military ranking relationship). Lilia also seems to be randomly sad at them sometimes? Which they’re confused about even after centuries. Queerplatonic tags but no romantic relationships tag. 

Story Notes:

• war, peace, conflict, purpose— how to live with yourself and what you have or haven’t done, remembering even when everyone else forgets, retribution and atonement
• lilia: "aren't you glad we're living in an era of peace now / the wars are over?" yes. yes you are

The story always changes. The story never changes. 

Your story is not about you. Your story is only about you.

• something abt the patchwork of fae history, unraveling past, present, and future. history’s repercussions, twisted wonderland’s ‘wrong history’ and magic/fae interference. 
• ppl have lost sight. thinking difference is fae and human. it's really inorganic and organic

Worldbuilding Notes:

• you are always inhuman/fae? vs a lost human converted over time. vs originally a fae construct who gained sentience? → stone fae largely seen as mass-produced ‘foot soldiers’ for wargames or else otherwise tools 
• “fae were kingmakers, peacebreakers, dreamwakers and lifetakers. an untrustworthy lot, for all that they couldn't lie”
• portals in woods: tree knots, stone circles, branches curved too perfectly over a still stream.
• fae feasting culture, dangerous festivities, masquerades where you can leave with a new Name and face than you entered (or you can never leave if you’re really unlucky)
• briar valley: one castle is up on the hill. one castle (or the same castle??) is under the hill, directly underneath, flipped upside down--everything is
• still very fond of this idea
• "if you're ever lost, you should turn your  jacket inside out to avoid being pixie-led (led astray by the fair folk)."
• reference to christmas town and halloween town; jack skellington as an old fae 
• wrote this april 2022 lol
• fae fashion: shimmers of soft color are brushed over their cheek, like the imaginings of butterfly scales scaled up in the most fantastically aesthetic way possible
• fae fashion:  earcuffs specifically thought to be popularized more so than any other culture largely due to 1. human tribute, humans being fascinated w the distinctive pointed ears of fae as a surefire way to tell them apart sometimes when otherwise very unsure and fearful/admiring of fae beauty and wanting to express that 2. not having particularly sensitive need for having unrestrained ears like beastmen or mer
• malleus being referred to as prince of the fae; and his grandmother, the queen; but correction/awareness that that’s only true for the valley of thorns; she does a pretty good job of ruling over the factions within the valley, but there are certainly pockets of different face abroad who resent being lumped in / considered under her rule, and while she has so far let that go, there's always been a certain tension with those native and outsiders; the new dominant tension, perhaps, after the war switched ‘humans vs inhumans’ into second priority.
• fae fundamentally need imagination / belief to exist. they r not very good at generating it themselves
• magic used as an extension/consequence of interacting w the world, rather than as tool/weapon. you are the tool. you are the weapon.
• briar valley sense of superiority to outer fae (expressed by biased narrator sebek, though non-fae silver does not disagree)
• the thorn fairy warring with a neighboring enclave (“court”) of fairies, with human proxies (a wargame taken both seriously and not) —> blessing humans as minions/pawns
• wherever you are, fae prey on humans. or better to be said, at the root of every predator is a need for the prey to exist to sustain them
• the beauty and the beast riff on household fae (cursed humans).
• inspiration: a grave being swallowed by a tree over a long period of time
• fairy gala translator bells
• fae oc: rosebun hair fae ; “8 wings, and none of them worth a huff of pixie dust”
• fae oc: really long and thin elfin ears pinched out like antenna / butterfly wing drops
• fae fashion: “Oh, butterfly sleeves are out of season now! Everyone’s gone over the moon for moth cinches now, or even an old-fashioned dove wing!”
• a Lot of fae fashion/design inspo pics still saved in my planning notes

Relationship Notes:

• lilia’s journey to find humanity and you finding it with him
• he’s soft for you with just a little bit of hinted at guilt
• castle stone + thorns wall + shield themes. short curly hair. dislikes frogs; claims ‘they never have anything pleasant to say.’ (reference to original sleeping beauty tales, it’s a frog who tells the king and queen they’re going to have a child.) 
• mentor/role model relationship to sebek but thinks he needs to slow down sometimes or get along better with silver (oblivious to hypocrisy when telling to lilia). casually mentions disturbing past experiences with hazing / fae trickery jealousy as normal things to expect and tolerate/defend against. 
• used to be a bit wary of silver’s unattached existence so close to the royal line, but always tolerated for lilia’s sake and has since fully accepted silver as another tie to honor. 
• actually helped lilia and malleus raise silver; not any better at understanding humans but better at estimating and understanding limits and being careful with power. doesn’t have any problems with sebek’s parents because sees father as being attached to mother and thus both existing as valley of thorns subjects. admires the devotion
• refuses to spar in public; finds it mildly ((embarrassing)) unnecessary to give away a tactical advantage; though lilia complimenting is of course always worth it. sebek also dislikes being watched/evaluated by teachers
• you’re never surprised by lilia’s appearances, somehow (silver & sebek very impressed); OR you’re surprised but never seem to react and only lilia can tell? or takes it as a challenge to make you react?
• lilia and you both wishing on the planets aligning —> the stars straight line every couple centuries
• i don’t remember if i wrote this because of book 6 or not

• ppl tend to assume you and sebek are related, which you find rather rude. when asked if you are, you express that fae genealogy is rather complicated, and can be summed up as… define related. “are the stone and the sky so parted?”
• lilia commenting that leona’s situation was a ‘wartime king with no war’. would be great commander in strife and very strong defensive and attack power 
• comparing leona ‘the war prince born out of a war’ to malleus who is similar. a peace prince who cannot know the value of reprieve from something he’s never experienced? something abt being so young for his subjects but so old for his surroundings, never fitting in?

• the metaphor of lilia not liking to look for things once they go missing — something abt death and loss and time and memory
• lilia prefers cloudy days
• lilia’s ruminations on the lion king of the savannah; being a visiting dignitary to other lands and observing the great 7
• this is before book 7 revealed his travels were to save malleus

• lilia since entering school has told Thorne they should maybe need more independence from him and insists they keep a certain distance, which they comply with only muted dismay. avoiding face to face… but maybe gave a way for written communication? gently persuading them to not write like status reports and more so go about their day. can’t get over how short and inexplicable mortal lives and motivations seem. 
• spinning wheel; dreams/sleep motif (for previous incarnation/existence?) 
• lilia born at ‘the beginning’. chooses beginning of calendar therefore
• lilia still likes traveling alone, but you bring his missing items for him. growing berries for his eyes?
• lilia likes surprises, sweets, messing around, new experiences, games, music/singing; cooking is probably still bad, but you taste the intentions and not the taste anyway, so you enjoy it. lilia going thru hair dye eras (og black)
• possible downsides: sloppy, careless (too strong), tactless (due to position of age/power), unreliable sense of time, a provoked maliciousness

sebek is more your soft spot and silver more lilia’s. you know sebek respects lilia more, but you’re fine with that because you do too. 

for all that silver would seemingly need more support as a human in the valley, he’s lilia’s adopted son— he has a place and a backing and knows it. sebek has lilia’s backing as a student too, but he’s not his heir. (not that silver is either; lilia doesn't intend on promising false things, and an heirship implied some expectations of stepping down, and you knew as well as him as yours was a duty that lasted past the grave.) or adopted son. so just… feels more out of place. 

for all his forthright brashness and undoubtable courage, something had always struck you abt sebek being… a more sensitive soul. resilient sure, but that meant he recovered quickly, not that he didn’t hurt. 

half fae and half human… perhaps you could empathize with him more so than silver, too, abt the feeling of not belonging just a half step out of formation, almost invisibly so except it disrupts the entire rhythm of things, and yet seemingly belonging so much you have no reason to complain or seek help because you aren’t troubled and you cannot be troubled — because to need help seems a weakness, and weakness seems unforgivable in a land that values strength and unspoken rules and behind their tricksy spoken words. 

so sebek in a way is yours, and silver is lilia’s, and all of you malleus’, and that's how it should be.

• does not speculate on sebek’s home life, as you are unqualified to speak of that sort of family and home of blood rather than choice, but offers to have sebek stay in nearby clearing to train and for you to watch him when otherwise he’d be training alone long after lessons
• silver needs more sleep as a human, and you all indulge him this, though it frustrates sebek to be seeing only the same results when he feels to work harder— but not seeing that silver also works all the harder to catch up, and has to simply cram all that brilliance into a more intense, shorter lifespan. really, how they egg each other on so… 
• mentor figure tag
• “stoneheart” “dear one”; lilia preferred not to use your Name; lilia the only one left alive who knew your Name, except maybe the queen, but she had never taken much interest in you and you knew almost nothing of her (lilia deliberately keeping separate; queen often teasing lilia abt his affections on his soldier)
• diasomnia use titles like caretaker, captain, mentor, watcher, scout
• implied you traded away or somehow lost/sacrificed your original Name and your heart to stay or be reborn by lilia’s side?? 
• you only know you lost the right to your Name, and while you had a name of convenience, it was never one that fit. (slowly realizing, growing into it actually >> becoming the new person, in full flesh. lilia loves you still, as you are immensely loveable to him in every Name/form) 
• pulled into lilia’s pace of being ‘scary henchmen’ to lilia’s halloween disguises
• its always… fun. no, more so… you always feel included, with lilia.
• making that into a training thing / haunted forest experience for silver & sebek

You asked him, once, if he had made you. (Spotting a trend? With a mind like yours, you didn’t really need to ask anything more than once. Which was good, because the ones around you who you could ask typically didn’t like answering more than once.) 

He had said no. That he could not have ever made someone like you. 

Fae could not lie, but somehow, it felt like one.

• you would stay at nrc as long as malleus would— no, as long as lilia would, really. not sure what connections/pull they have over crowley to get such special admittance statuses, as you are clearly not student age nor in need of instruction (and often don't attend classes that don't interest you), but lilia says something mysterious about the queen being familiar with crowley; would be rather amusing talk in court for him to turn down such a small favor from her request, considering how he got his start, though he supposed this was crowley’s own court, in a way… the queen was pleased to hear about him, anyway 
• this is before book 7 reveal about lilia’s admittance letter

• when questioned why the queen had given grandchild over to lilia, lilia says the obvious is about trust and security. but then thoughtfully, quietly adds, maybe it’s a little about fear, too. You wouldn't think it of a fae, but they can feel such mortal things, too. the fae are long lived and mighty,,, but that only makes true youth and control all the more breakable. when you love someone deeply… sometimes you don't want to take risks about ruining them with it. 

.

.

Story Snippets:

Sometimes, you like to look back on how you got here.

It's been long enough that all the thorny complications of whatever memory of feeling you might have had have rotted gently away. It leaves you free to feel— simply, if somewhat vaguely, now without the condensed solidity of a direction to stab in. You can just miss things now, without guilt. Without regret. Just the sense of an absence, and how it would be preferable to have it filled.

.

Your first thought is heavy.

It’s not about heaviness, necessarily. More so the shape of it, in its wordless outline of emotion seeking to encapsulate your present experience… carries a weight as yet inconceivable to you. 

Your existence is crafted in mourning for something your unbirth was not equipped to process, and you will not gain the complexity necessary to understand even that for much longer. That — the complexity, and maybe just a little of a hint for a nudge at the understanding — comes from weathering that arduous ordeal of ‘living’ in this strange, foreign world to you. That — the weathering, and all implied — comes from the path you find in your second thought to be what your unbirth was equipped to process. 

Your second thought is to protect. 

(Your third is of a bloody gaze softened to embers, for you.)

.

You think he must not be a very good commander, if he feels this sadness for each soldier, until you realize you never see him look at anyone else that way.

.

True fae are manifested from magic, with purpose instinctively engraved in mind and spirit and soul, made whole. Everything else is… eh, optional. Well, negotiable. Magic loves a good pattern, but it despises being trapped, and expectation is easily stifling once it spawns entitlement. 

Alien as fae morality has been accused of being before, it’s really not too difficult to wrap your  head around once you approach it like that— like origin, like creation. Fae like their rules, and they like their games that are all about getting around those rules, and they can be as benevolent or as cruel as it pleases them, in their own mercurial fashion… but it’s not about justice, nor common sense, nor ever as straightforward as you’d like. Unless what you’d like just so happens to please them. 

There are other ways to spawn new fae. There are more ways than one to kill one, after all, and that had been… a problem, in the earliest of age-old memory, before they had figured out new ways to compensate the scale. 

Some ways are Ways. Some ways just are. Some ways are more stable than others. Some more powerful, some more accessible. Some more known.

You are just one of some that end up more than simply a sum of its parts. You are not sure which one and which some, and sometimes you feel more parts than sum, but you think it probably doesn’t matter. 

Whether you were harnessed from ritual or made from wish or turned from a life left behind, you are who you are now. 

You are told, quite early on, it doesn’t matter. You are told, quite early on, you are what you are now. 

(But you also think, and by now you have thought what you think naively to be many thoughts indeed, that most fae do not need to wrap their head around what comes most naturally to them. 

And while you are still naive enough to not think further on this, you have experienced enough to know to think all this… quietly.) 

.

The thing about fae and children is that… there are and there aren’t. You’re born to protect. You are not, to all expectations, involved in the areas concerning the former. You are a soldier. 

There is, everyone sings, a war. 

.

Loyalty was built into the bones of others. Yours has grown on you. Like ivy through stone. 

It occurs to you distantly, once, what generally happened when you ripped ivy away from its growth.

But why wonder about impossibilities.

.

Training seems like liminal spacetime.

(lilia favor? notice? plant seeds of reference for refusing to spar in public vs being weak to lilia compliments)

.

Time blurs. 

Fades, drifts, mists in and out of focus. 

You're fighting. 

It's a battle, it's an ambush, it's a duel, it's a skirmish, it's nothing at all. It's everything. 

You wake up fighting and you don't sleep, but you stand guard sometimes, in rare moments of something quieter and heavier hanging in the air, and watch the dark night as your  army sleeps behind you. 

You don't have luxury of wondering without conclusion, but if you're always prepared, nonetheless, for when what watches you right back will make its move. 

It never does. 

You keep fighting. 

You keep guarding. 

You keep, presumably, protecting. 

You're good at all of those things, or at least not bad enough to have been stopped. There's something like gratitude about it, though you can't say who from or where to. Just that it is. Just as you are. 

You know you were created for conflict, and for a long time that never was at all, you knew that you were going to be unmade by it. Things like you live or die by ‘relevance’, after all. The naming of your purpose, the paving of your  destiny. The shape of your soul, some say. 

Then the fighting stops. 

.

(Before that, there is a battle. There was always another battle, and can you be faulted, therefore, for thinking there would always be another battle? 

This battle seems like any other. It’s not something you take especial note of in the moment— only when looking back. 

(flashback to their last battle together. though they did not know it was their last battle together at the time, of course. 

lilia, blood drenched, but pearly white teeth and rosebud painted lips immaculate, pursed in an uncharacteristically drawn flat line, gazing out distantly at the aftermath of the carnage. not the usual bared bright glee bloodlust or battle temper. 

and just answering when they asked what was wrong… 

he was tired.

i’m tired vs aren’t you tired vs aren't you bored… bored vs tired. 

you interpret as tired but wonder later if it might have just been boredom or vice versa?

“Ah,” the captain says, staring up at the cloudless skies. The waterfolk have stopped their stormbrewing for the night, a rare respite, or perhaps they, too, could sense a waning disinterest in warmongering. “…I want a garden.”

His voice is peculiarly flat, though not soft. A voice like his, made for commanding legions and crying out victory, is not meant to be soft. 

It is also not supposed to be weary, like this. Like time could leave a trace on even a spirit like his.

You’re used to him saying things like this, now. It’s been increasing, lately. 

You’re even used to understanding he would genuinely invite your input— would keep talking until you talked back. 

“You would train those thorns to defend a castle well,” you agree, thinking of the only garden you know. 

He laughs, though it’s more of a sigh. He’s been doing that more, lately. “No, no, not like that. The Queen would mock me endlessly if I took up her hobby, anyway. A garden like one of those human ones, I mean— with a fence that will not defend anything, and flowers just to eat. And to look pretty, I believe.”

You’re listening intently. 

“…Can you imagine it?” he says to the air in front of him. 

At his side, you think of it. 

“…We would destroy all the flowers,” you conclude. It’s a very simple conclusion, knowing what you both are. 

You do not understand the look he’s giving you now, brighter than the stars above. 

“—That’s acceptable. As long as— we enjoy ourselves. We can always grow new ones,” the captain says, inexplicably cheered, and begins saying many other things about human gardens that you are fairly sure by now are not correct.

You just keep listening. His voice is more pleasing like this, rambling on idle japery. 

.

The war of wars ends, and is torn from the song of history, too abrupt to be neat, but too completely for it to heal anything but cleanly. The fae can and must find something else now to occupy their immortal minds and idle hearts, yours included. 

You do not feel included. You feel rather left bereft, actually. You expect to be left behind. A relic. It sounds peaceful, even, maybe. Nonexistence. Some part of you aches to return to that bliss. 

Then a legend more familiar to you than your own heart and yet stranger to you than your own mind holds out a hand. To you. 

Asks you to, if you so please, entrust your life a little longer to his command, if you are so determined to throw it away, regardless. 

You don't know if that's a kindness or a cruelty he's offering. There may as well be no distinction for a true-bleeding dreamer like him. 

You know you're going to take it, though. There was never another choice. 

A good soldier follows their captain.

.

For the first time you can remember, you retreat. For the first time you can remember, you go to a home. 

The Valley of Thorns, long may its fae-queen rule, closes ranks around its own.

And peace buys you a breath, before Lilia brings back a babe.

.

The ivy has crept in, been beaten back with a mutual mercilessness, and re-invaded thrice over between your entry to this cottage and the babe’s. 

You still didn’t sleep. And between Lilia and you, the weather around was only ever what you wanted it to be. 

But you had crossed the threshold and made this dwelling your own. 

By the time it occurred to you that you could entirely subsist off sun, dew, and the magic that the valley breathed in, you were already too entrenched to move without reason. Anchored to the status quo, as always. 

The move had just been in one of those rare in-between moments when you were pushed around by a new possibility — most often, it seems, proposed by the whirlwind that was your  captain. 

Peace being as new to you as having a roof and four walls was, it hadn’t occurred to you to question whether one naturally precipitated the other. 

And it had made Lilia… curious, to leave the battlefield. To leave the castle. 

Lilia was not someone oft unhappy or easily bored. But towards the end of that yawning stretch of bloodied time, he had begun to regard battle with a certain routine, and you knew — from hearing him complain — that it grated on him. 

He was not, nor had anyone ever accused him of being — though that didn’t stop him from sighing with woeful persecution in recounting, sometimes — a creature of predictability. 

To satisfy that curiosity of Lilia, you would tend a hundred forest clearings with roofs like these. 

Fortunate, he only required this one to suit his fancy when it caught it, and you were content to watch it and the hearthfire and the ivy creeping up the garden wall on the occasions he left for greener fields and greedier gossips, which was, to be accurate, most of the time. 

This never bothered you. You had never expected to bind Lilia to you, nor him you, though you wouldn’t particularly mind if this was the place you would be bound to.

.

Yes. You had a garden now. The medicinal herbs were Lilia’s — for all that he drank red, his thumbs seemed disinclined to turn out anything but green. Nothing living was quite yours yet, except weeds. 

You were steadfast, however, that some fortune would finally yield by the fourth turn of the ivy’s labor. You planted the traditional mushrooms, of course, and the rapunzel. Roses were beyond you yet, and enough grew wild in the valley that you didn’t lack for thorns. 

The ivy was neither of yours, but you’d somewhat laid claim to its dishonorable death, at least.

Under the moonlight, knees grassy from investigating dandelions on thin ice with the border patrol, you raise your head to see Lilia off into the woods and back again, like clockwork in a particularly haunted cuckoo clock that no treasure hunter would keep but every would covet. 

He is hard at work and harder, as ever, at mischief. You are hard at work and harder, as ever, at diligence. 

It works out. You share the dawns, when he’s there. 

When the berries are ripe, you pass them between each other, trading between hands for breaking and mouths for devouring, with a lightness lingering on skin stayed simply for feeling the sunlight warm. 

.

At some point, the queen had stopped considering human children to snatch and had, apparently, tried her hand at creating her own. The babe was heavy with her majesty’s magic. 

You looked at each other, he excited, you blank because the other option was very much unexcited. 

Apparently, Lilia at least remembered seeing human childraising a couple of time before, but the last he’d visited the mortals’ world was before the queen had banned faerie blessings upon favored children (to prevent the temptation of laying claim). 

How hard could it be? 

.

Very hard.

(the well and the frogs who never have anything nice to say)

.

[retcon once we found out it was grandmother and not mother who ruled kingdom: succeed well enough apparently on this mission; some time later, lilia appears again with a dragon egg calls it queen’s grandson and when you question it he merrily winks about the miracle of life]

.

Unfortunately… [?]

It’s difficult to say who is more disappointed. 

Lilia, who thought of it; you, who believed in it; or the babe, who observed all of it and now regards you both with a gaze that promises to remember this when it’s all grown up and no longer endangered by being a child.

Or, of course, the foundling, who promptly begins screaming again. An effective communication tactic, at least, if not a very nuanced one. 

[this was written before understanding the malleus and silver respective timelines] 

.

When the last leaves fall and the hoarfrost crawls, the snow queen comes to call…

Seasons in the Valley of Thorns are, more or less, up to the queen’s will. Her sway over her domain, reflected in every natural breath and beat of it, waxed and waned with her give to its magic. 

It was a symbiosis, when it wasn’t a danger of assimilation. 

Thankfully, the queen’s trajectory as of late seems to have embraced a step back in ruling so intimately, in favor of a deeper dive into ruling of a different intimacy. The mundane realities, by comparison. Human immigration and integration was the hot topic at court, for as little you knew of such courtly matters. 

(looking pensive by window considering some change in mood)

.

flower meanings of garden? staring blankly when questioned.  

“Perhaps they each have a meaning decided by others. I don’t quite care to learn more. They already have a meaning to me. Something I’ve cared for has grown to care for me back. That’s all I need to know.”

.

[oh boy this is snippet from way earlier idea that got folded into this: of a once-human lilia fic exploring origin of ‘vampire’ fae. not even a soldier relationship here:

as futile of a statement did it seem, playing bodyguard for the blood ancestor himself. 

lilia vanrouge… he claimed it was his first and only true Name, though he certainly wasn’t one to shy away from adopting others to fit with personas through time. 

the last of his kind, and dubiously the first and only, as well. 

when you asked him about it, he implied so anyway, with a cheeky grin that flashed such innocuously deadly pearly fangs. 

his high amusement did not seem to fade— you asking questions often seemed to evoke that of him, even if his flights of fancy only sometimes translated into reasonably understandable answers. 

when you asked about his confidence there would never be any more of his kind after him… there was absolutely no reason for you to suspect he meant to say something else to you, at first, before proclaiming with his usual comfortable crypticness, “I am my own maker.” 

there was absolutely no reason for you to feel— like that’s wrong. 

lilia was a good enough liar in the way only fae could be, and you a poor enough believer, for you to never suspect anything he means to hide, anyway. 

implication he knew you before? were you involved in creation?]

.

This is a ghost story, and you are haunting it. This is a love story, and there is love. 

This is a fairy tale. Because some lives demand to be told. 

.

There’s a joke among older fairies that goes something like this: Yes, yes, the Eternal War that never happened, we’ve all seen it. 

See, it’s a joke, because it’s true, and also not very funny at all, but tradition to say now and pretend to laugh at. (It’s one of the most relatable examples of fae humor copying humans.)

.

They flutter about like vicious little hummingbirds, supping on the coy blooms of secrets, unable to stop lest their thirst be the worst of them. Brightly bejeweled with nothing of value. 

.

Fresh baked hazelnut biscuits with sweet cream, brewed honey and fullbodied milk, sipped out of cupped acorn caps and lips dabbed daintily with sugared flower petals. Salads of lovely wild greens, peppered with gleaming slices of brightly colored fruits, at least half of them poisonous to humans. 

.

Rising with the dawn, you wet your lips and sip on dew from the morning glories. Lilia is not and will never be an early bird, but you’re enough of one for you both. Truly amusing are the moments when you pass each other coming to and leaving from your respite areas, one bright-eyed and the other yawning with the faintest droop to the hair curls: these are the little breaths of a private routine you guard most preciously to your chest. 

.

Oh, it’s a wicked sort of practice, to be capturing the light from the stars and simmer strange things by the full moon in fall, but one can’t argue with the results. 

.

Lay your weapons down for me, it says, and trust my heart will follow.

.

There is a long, significant pause, as they look steadily at you and you look back, dizzy still, faintly lost but mostly just desperate for distraction. “…Yes,” they soothe, something distant in their tone. “Of course. As long as you keep no secrets from me, neither shall I.” And from then on, they had an odd habit of turning up to proffer such tidbits to you, always watching your eyes quite closely. 

.

He is, of course, good enough to erase his presence entirely, even from your honed vigilance. You’re not quite sure what it means, lately, that you’ve been feeling his gaze on you more and more.

.

.

More on Fae Worldbuilding/Background and Malleus: 

credit to allgoodsaiyansdeservetails for a delightful conversation on ddb vs bdb (their amazing ‘at the bottom of the deep blue sea’ fic and in general their twst worldbuilding universe) fae compare and contrast that encouraged me to write a lot of these ideas down! even though i’m now excising a lot of this from ‘ddb’ canon due to canon divergence rip. 

on fae, generally:

fae are numerous and most have more fun vibing (and violencing) together than apart. they like to be witnessed and adored and hated! what’s the point of being really very clever w rules if nobody knows how clever you have been or what the rules are? 

there’s different hierarchical ‘tiers/levels’ of fae (which are inextricably tied to magic power and status, etc.). and also different origins, which does not always correlate with a level. 

you can change your level, not your origin. 

different levels example would be the fire fae in the school vs lilia or malleus; sometimes different layperson terminology is used to roughly refer to each level as its own thing (like fairies vs high fairy vs fae vs spirits etc.), but there’s not a great way to study or definitively define that. 

different origins example would be ones that come from nature (living) like forests, vs ones that come from nature (elemental) like weather, vs ones that come from nature (concepts) like dragon (!!) vs ones that come from nature (other fae) or etc. 

on fae sociology:

there are roughly two divisions of fae to non-fae: ‘wild fae’ living outside the valley and ‘(valley) fae’ which is the assumed diplomatic body talked abt, since wild fae often only seem interested in negotiating locally, and are less interested in stable organization too.

to fae, that line between valley and wild is still drawn as a matter of commitment and loyalties, but there are many, many more divisions, which constantly shift and sometimes contradict depending on how you look at it (if they contradict, you clearly aren’t looking right).

on fae history and diplomacy:

malleus’ grandma, the last fae queen (a level), is still very much alive and ruling, albeit much much mellowed and mostly entertained nowadays by court. pretty much retired and ready to fade into nature (fae version of ‘death’), except she’s still governing because she’d be too bored w/o it + malleus isn’t ready to assume rule yet. 

she’s never staged a world war; but the fairy wars (continuous but smaller-scale efforts that often broke apart and reformed whimsically, at some point against everyone, just not at the same time, but also between themselves, sometimes at the same time) went on for a long, long time before, until war stopped being a game, time stopped being so mutable (interesting outside developments in world actually sticking around), and some important figures started taking either death more seriously or just more interesting alternatives. 

it's been relative peacetime for a couple millennia now, excluding individuals’ or smaller rings’ activities here and there; there are not any complete written records existing of the fairy wars. (understandable; not even the fae rly remember a complete record, partly out of disinterest and partly bc of the sheer amount of spatiotemporal fuckery going on w fairy spaces.) 

but people still remember not to trust the fae, and how to generally treat with them. 

on malleus and his role in fae society and the world:

malleus’ princely duties would be learning more about other species and the modern world to figure out how to manage the wild vs valley fae divide, integrate fae more generally into the future of the world since as a species and culture they’ve stayed pretty stagnant and apart (though individuals are exceptions etc.), figure out how his entire governance style is gonna be if he wants to be different from his grandma (since that historical governance power is about the same), give his grandma peace/pride, etc. 

malleus’ terrifying magical aura but its kinda just some unspecified combo of fae bullshit, his bullshit magical talent/strength/capacity, and his specific role/origin. i think he's put in the effort before to try and hide aura before to fix his isolation but his perception of his self and relation to the world and others is fundamentally so different that its not very effective when he hides it. 

(alternatively, makes it even more offputting because you can’t sense he's there but you cannot miss that impending doom of him being there .) 

so he's also somewhat given up on seriously pursuing that for now, because he is at least aware his own personality is still a barrier even beyond the aura— but he's not very good at putting in the effort to try and change that either. 

(canon malleus impression has really given me the sense of someone who isn’t that actively trying to change to meet his problems?? at least until attaching to yuu.)

• i wrote this way before his dorm ssr card story came out lol, but that’s a good example of what i mean; i think fanon tends to cast him as this lonely misunderstood skrunkly, which is entirely fair, but i think people tend to miss that canonically he is responsible for a lot of those misunderstandings.

so, 1. there’s this pressure from existing too close, 2. fae shapeshifting is sort of like quantum states with one being consciously observed by preference rather than any distortion, and 3. fae bullshit. although 3(b?)., other fae don't really feel uncanny around him, they just feel his power as being above them, and those fae who haven't already sworn any oaths to briar valley don't really feel any inherent respect because of that power (and some within the valley may not either but still afford him respect because of his position/relation to queen).

on fae shapeshifting: 

quantum state shapeshifting sounds more complicated and fancy than it actually is, maybe; its just that fae can inhabit multiple forms, at once, sort of, contained within but also sideways to the world, and you just usually can only observe one form at time, since the act of being observed sort of confines them to whichever form they want to be perceived in at the moment. existence is weird! truth is weirder!!

on fae existence: 

there’s a difficult-to-define but distinct difference between ‘being unlimited by worldly wants’ and ‘my being is worldly wants (cannot depart from that) (hence limited by that very connection?)’. ‘everything i do is acceptable to world consciousness because i am part of world consciousness so if i did something then it’s already something wanted to be done by world consciousnes.’

on fae and humanity:

fae as being so fundamentally connected and yet disconnected / reflected ’differently’ from humanity and that including their spectrum of emotions. fear and love and self-preservation and sacrifice and just, conflicting truths are so deeply at the core of humanity. 

relevant themes for fae in connection to humanity are: attachments/bonds being two-way weaknesses but also strengths. transformative property of simply experiencing the world and others through yourself. growth in a way you didn’t necessarily think you could grow, and not necessarily in a way you wanted to grow. 

on intense emotions and fae maturity/development:

terror for fae is something you learn through life experience. just like you need to learn enough about death or life to fear either being given or taken away. because of their existence cycles, most fae start out as very much blank slates with little more than instinct to embrace/perpetuate their origin/concept/role — a very simple truth and understanding of it. 

they have all the intelligence but none of the wisdom and only sometimes the context of true adult maturity. 

fae grunt soldiers got it particularly hard (or, depending on who you ask, easy) during the faerie wars; they were ‘recycled’ all too easily and willingly without ever knowing otherwise. there is no primal fear, and that’s so deeply alienating to non-fae who interact with them, perhaps.

dread is for creatures who live in the future; fae need to learn to live in anything other than the present. 

now this learning is quite easy up to a certain point, and that point is reaching self actualization and actually striving to figure out how to be a person for themself, once you’ve reached the basic level of wanting to be one and realizing you aren't, really. 

so very young fae are very impressionable and learn very fast, young-ish fae know what fear is but don’t understand why they’d ever want to feel it (but find it an interesting reaction to provoke and learn abt from others), older fae realize they can feel fear or maybe have felt it all along and been unable to recognize it, and ancient fae feel very close to how humans do (albeit still in a uniquely fae way) but are also strong enough to not usually have any cause to feel it.

so ‘terror’ as a momentary impulsive/instinctive thing would probably crop up most around younger to more mature fae. 

ignorance is bliss for the immature. 

anger probably comes before fear in most fae’s development, but not always.

love, or some sense of security/attachment, is, i think, always necessary to develop first, so fear has something to compare to. they're not fighting for their lives until they value their lives specifically enough, until then they are fighting to win and because it’s not instinct to lose. 

but if they return to nature / die that’s just, well, natural. 

• note that ‘return to nature’ was coined before we got ‘return to the stars’ in book 7 lol, happy coincidence to align

valley of thorns royalty probably have that terror aura or something similar to their presence, but it’s just impressive to neutrals and almost a comfort to allies and, of course, intimidating to enemies. but nobody really wants to make enemies with the draconias. 

they just try to make themselves not the grandma's business and not in the grandson's way, probably.

.

.

Afternote:

If I was to rewrite this with all the book 7 lore and context we now know, the themes would partly stay the same, but all the worldbuilding would be definitely different in mood and intention. 

We can still explore power and status differences, and fae society worldbuilding, and thinking your life’s value is only worth how well you fulfill an intended purpose, but… well, canon!Lilia would be a much ‘closer’ and relatable figure to Thorne in the formative war era, and several of their themes and arcs would kind of overlap. 

Canon!Lilia overcoming societal prejudices about his low-born origins, young adult age, tensions with the council/governing bodies, intensely devoted relationship with Malleanor and Raverne, sacrificial love and incurable magic sickness— that’s all certainly quite different from this now very very ooc olly!Captain. 

I don’t even want to call him olly!Lilia haha, olly!Captain is so different in his ancient fae whimsical mood and the idea of this very inhumanly moral’d commander who knows his position and existence are inherently valued by their society and the world more than any of his soldiers, yet he doesn’t treat them as disposable even though that’s what everyone including them would say they are… 

And his journey of going from a good leader by fae standards to becoming a good leader by mortal ones (and thus a deeply strange but still reluctantly respected one by fae) out of his own change of heart from senseless war’s consequences that don’t touch him but ruin so many others he’s learned to care about. 

And the growth of this conscience that’s alien to most of his kind… and the themes of how to really live life in a present and fulfilling way with finding your  own purpose and happiness, when too many immortals fall into a trap of never-changing stagnation…

Anyway, I’m still rather fond of this concept of olly!Captain, but let’s just call him an OC at this point, even though before book 7 I thought it possible enough as any other for an explanation to how an honored old fae war general becomes such a parental yet youthful figure lol.

To get back to the point, I think I could still write this story with Thorne being a stone fae soldier under Lilia’s command, but at this point almost every word of that relationship’s implications have changed. 

• Stone fae would be different now that we understand what the Valley of Thorns’ culture and people are like (at least in wartime). 
• Soldiering would be different now that we understand what the war against the Kingdom of Swords looked like (with humans being able to hurt and kill and pressure fae like, well, humans). 
• Lilia is obviously different. 
• And so will his command now, even putting him aside, because of those political doubts and undermining and this double-edged honor of being in that upstart’s guard.

But the main point of this afternote is: it’s very important to me that you know that in the hypothetical canon-compliant rewrite of olly olly oxen free, Thorne parallels Lilia’s love for Malleanor and Raverne, so their relationship, however it ends up, is haunted by two extra shared ghosts. <3 

.

.

Chapter Text

RAON-verse

.

part 1:

a rose by any other name

horror-comfort oneshot. riddle pov of mother being replaced by transmigrator a few days after the tart incident. 

Summary:

You’re a little bit sure you’re a bad child. Good children don’t break the rules and make their mother leave. 

Nobody ever told you what bad children do when there’s no rules, though. 

(There’s a monster with sad eyes looking out of your mother’s face, and you don’t understand.)

.

.

Story Notes:

• initial guilt/fear/not understanding, thinks own disobedience seriously hurt or drove away mother and this is all your fault. 
• but New Mother is weirdly permissive but means well…. but you still miss your mother who did want best for you… feelings too complicated for child to parse. 
• a series of strange behaviors from New Mother, as explained by your authoritative observation on Mothers. 
• conflicts, mutual distress, understands eventually that New Mother is… your mother still, if you want that. you’re in this together. she— they, promise to try to do better together with you.

.

.

Story Snippets:

Mother comes home early from work, one day. 

This is off schedule. 

But it’s the day after… you disobeyed. So maybe she just doesn’t trust you anymore to watch yourself and came to check on you, which you understand. Even if it hurts. 

Actually, you understand it more, because it hurts.

.

It’s strange how she stands on the doorstep for so long, though. 

Hand not even on the doorknob. 

Face… is turned away from the newly added security camera, so you can’t see it from here, tip-toes inside the frost-glass door. 

But her hair is oddly… 

(Your brain rebels against calling anything of your mother a ‘mess’.) 

.

She’s crumpled on the floor back against the slammed door, shaking. 

This is almost worse than seeing her cry. You have never seen her in pain not inflicted by you being a disappointment or your father being a bigger one.

.

Mothers never lie. They only tell you truths, because you are a good child who only tells truths too. If it doesn’t make sense, you just don’t understand, yet. 

.

She’s staring out the window, lost in thought in a way that you’ve never seen her be. 

“…The stars are very bright,” she says, when you ask. 

You look outside. The stars look the same as usual. 

You must still not understand enough. 

But she doesn’t explain, this time— so she must not think it’s important for you to know, or she must not think you capable of learning. 

You’re suddenly— hurt. 

You think this is important, and you can’t explain why, but you’d explain if she’d let you that you can learn, you will, you want to. She’s so— smooth, calm, unangry, when you learn. 

You almost miss her usual taking of the opportunity to part lecture and part quiz you on the exact chemical makeup of what you’re seeing and the life cycle of a star. 

.

(New Mother has a headache sorting through correspondence at the desk; Riddle peering through door, their eyes meet, he’s alarmed and freezes but she just smiles which is worse. Asks him if he needs something. He shakes his head. She falters briefly but goes back to sorting.)

.

(NM having to remember to keep responsible schedule and nutrition when being a terrible cook → thankfully there’s an abundance of rather bland tasting recipes and a stringent schedule to follow. 

She burns some food, mood dissonance at mealtime with her sheepish and you staring at her, strange.

Your mother has never shown you failure as simple as this.)

.

You find her looking herself up on her computer.

.

(NM being surprised by mundane magical things.)

.

(NM concerned over not knowing what Reina disappeared for that daily hour for— and Riddle not knowing either. 

Left as a mystery, unexplained— symbolic of all else left unexplained about her disappearance and NM’s appearance, about strange grief for what can’t be known and will never be known of this person.)

.

(Obvious — to Riddle — conclusion that his mother was replaced, possessed, otherwise bodysnatched. Fed by past tales Che’nya’s told him and Trey about such things, including fae changelings — can mothers still be changelings??

Maybe a side-adventure interlude where Riddle bravely breaks rules again and sneaks out to find Che’nya to confirm suspicions (and Trey for the voice of reason/logic). They’re both very concerned after hearing his description of what’s been going on but… seem to trade strange silent looks when Riddle emphasizes the urgency of getting back his mother!)

.

(Oblivious NM does not know for a while that their ruse is totally seen through. 

Riddle psychological horror about what is this alien-monster-thief’s intentions but… 

It doesn’t seem to be good at any evil things? (Still burns the food a bit, sometimes. Way too relaxed on forgetting rules, and never gives any discipline!)

Seems more afraid of Riddle, actually. 

Confidence slowly bolstered, eventually confronts.

Confrontation devolves emotionally/messily, NM makes fatal mistake of accusing Your Mother of being a bad mother.)

.

“I want Mother,” you say, quiet and as polite as you can be while holding back tears. How much you want this, you have never known, until you don’t have it.

“I’m sorry,” that face says, quieter but not politer. There’s too much awful feeling bleeding in every word to be polite. It’s not polite to let everyone know what you feel, like that. 

“I’m sorry, sorry, I—” 

You cover your ears and screw close your eyes to this utterly useless monster who can’t be scary or grant your wishes and you want to scream like that will bring back your mother who would be so angry at your ridiculous noise but she would be here and you’d know the rules again and you say, “Go away, go away, go away—!” 

When your wet cheeks have dried enough you open your eyes again, you’re disappointed to see they’re still there. But not surprised. 

Because of course they can’t grant this wish either. 

.

(NM asking Riddle what he wants, and he tremulously asks for a strawberry tart. Holds his hand delicately, like a treasure in a different way than before, and promises they can go visit a bakery today.)

.

(NM apologizing to Clovers and bowing deeply, explaining amnesia cover. Asking for explanation, guilt, forgiveness— largely offscreen reconciliation arc through Riddle’s POV. Asks for their children to have playdates again.

Buys Riddle a strawberry tart they share that day at home.)

.

(NM asking Riddle if he wants to see his father more or stay with his father, and Riddle panicking because he doesn’t have anything against his father like his mother did but… that person is basically a picture and an annual holiday letter to him. Doesn’t know, not familiar. 

This is known, familiar. This — NM gradually included — is home.

Don’t make him leave, please. Don’t not want him anymore.)

.

(Riddle doesn’t have any casual clothes, even as a kid. Only smart casual. Feels most safe/comfortable with fully buttoned shirt and tie etc.; usually, picks outfit from pre-approved selections by mother. 

NM is understandably baffled about this. Tries to encourage more self-expression, expand wardrobe choices.)

.

(“Teatime clock” worldbuilding for Kingdom/Queendom of Roses. An analog clock where the only ‘face’ showing is cup of tea for 3 in the afternoon, time for afternoon tea. 

Inspired by a picture of a Japanese novelty ‘shortcake clock’ where a slice of cake was the only ‘face’ showing for 3 in the afternoon, time for snack time.

Incorporate British tea traditions into cultural worldbuilding…)

.

(Canonically: Riddle in private school, no grade skipping.

No TV at home. Forbidden from playing games.

Monthly appointments for haircutting in middle school, very routine.)

.

.

Notes on Your Mother (Reina Rosehearts):

She has tense relations with her maternal family; projecting her issues onto Riddle, believes she is correct and proving her love with ‘necessary strictness’. Was heavily impacted by being raised herself to impossibly exacting standards and being her parents’ eternal disappointment (compared to obviously favored sibling? or some other reasons? generational trauma and/or cycles of abuse). 

Got doctor’s license at age 25, one year after earliest possible.

Determined to keep Riddle an only child and make him Perfect so he can never be criticized or a disappointment or a failure. On very cold/bad terms with ex-husband (who disagreed with her excessively controlling parenting philosophy and with planning Riddle’s future as a prodigy mage since conception; a whole dramatic backstory to how/why they even got together long enough to have a child not out of wedlock). 

However, wrote expressly in will to give Riddle legal emancipation with full trust fund access if above age 16, but otherwise to put Riddle with him if she ever died before age 16, and with her estranged sibling if he dies too, and in short never allowing maternal grandparents to take him.

part 2:

sweet rose sweet rose, how do you grow

slice of life drabble collection. oc-insert!mrs. rosehearts pov of what comes after.

Summary:

The person formerly not known as Reina Rosehearts would like to ask: how does one unfuck up years of parenting when you’ve never wanted a kid, but now you have the best one who deserves the world? 

—Also, why are so many suspiciously attractive parents starting to show up in your life??

You quit Reina’s high stress job to take on the equally high stress job of being an isekai’d mom, not to star in some visual novel dating sim!! 

.

.

note: the big mood shift between parts 1 and 2 bothered me even in planning and i had thought that if i ever published this, i would maybe do away with this part altogether and just focus on the oneshot horror-with-happy-ending of part 1 that interested me more. but also this part 2 concept was too funny to entirely put down. 

• goes by “Raye”, cuts hair short/layers from Reina’s tight bun— silhouette of hair looks more like a ‘blooming’ rose 
• any pronouns, gender ???, fine with being called mother or parent (or father, but nobody’s actually tried that yet) 
• very visual novel dating sim level of contrived situations 

arc 1: the new-in-town arc

• moves to clock town with riddle for fresh start and to downsize from estate now that is going to newly floundering stay-at-home single parent determined to do their best 
• deuce’s mom is next door neighbor! she strikes up conversation, and they bond over being single parents in the neighborhood.
• raye looks up to her as a great parenting authority since kid deuce is so sunny and confident and energetic and kid riddle is… not. desperately wants to know how to Do Right by Riddle 
• dylla is flattered (and actually insecure herself of her parenting, but is bolstered by raye’s earnest admiration) and sort of takes raye under wing as the newcomer to the locale and to— well, parenting, given raye’s upfront if awkward explanation of their ‘amnesia’. 
• starts off as a sort of confident-cool-but-secretly-shy-uncertain senpai and openly-obliviously-sincerely-fanning kouhai dynamic.
• develops along the way into a way more equal relationship/friendship of two adults who feel out of depth in their daily lives but understanding that pretty much everyone… still feels that way, and it’s totally fine and normal to feel like you’re in your twenties-thirties (and etc.) and not have things figured out, adulthood is just ongoing imposter syndrome that you have to defeat every day with the power of having people and passions you love and care about in your life. 
• raye is financially way better off than dylla who works full-time, dylla has good parental and social relationships that she knows she can rely on if she really needs— both have their different strengths and weaknesses, but don’t begrudge or envy each other. 
• raye offers to watch the kids and have deuce over for playdates/babysitting, which helps give dylla another option rather than her asking same rotation of neighbors to watch deuce, or else let deuce play outside for a long time, or else let him become latchkey kid. buys ‘extra’ fancy groceries and cajoles dylla into cooking lessons or meal prep together (with truthful excuse of wanting adult company to talk to) and having combined household dinners or sending dylla home with the extra. 
• dylla helps raye with a lot of social and cultural daily living integration, with her casually understanding/un-judging sort of brash encouragement. raye really really likes dylla 
• kid drama meanwhile: 
• deuce blurts out that riddle is like a princess (nervous about how to play with this pretty doll-like neighbor who speaks so strange and is so hard to read, wants to look at him a lot but doesn’t know how to talk to this kid that feels like he can’t even touch, whereas deuce is used to being roughhousing brat). 
• and riddle takes this as an insult of being prissy and useless (feeling really out of depth/comfort zone with the move and raye’s new push for him to develop normal social circle and go to public school etc., hates feeling like he doesn’t know something and he’s learning he doesn’t know a lot that previously didn’t bother him). 
• of course, after several misunderstandings and conflicts, they eventually become friends too. 
• although not physically present, the clover parents are narratively very much so! 
• fond flashbacks of the pre-move ‘background arc’: raye set about trying to gather info on reina’s life and also settle preexisting affairs or make amends, just generally doing their best ‘amnesiac villainness protagonist reform’ arc. 
• the clovers were initially fearful/suspicious of ‘reina’s’ really bizarre change of heart, but then warmed to and forgave/agreed to start over with raye after their sincere apologies and how obvious it was that this ‘amnesiac’ raye was trying their best to not fuck up more and eager to listen and learn anything helpful to riddle. 
• they explained a lot of useful context and helped raye bring riddle’s friends together again for him. the rosehearts became very regular customers at the bakery and at each others’ houses! 
• they were very supportive of raye’s discomfort with staying in the old rosehearts estate that was haunted by ‘someone else’s’ life, and moving out of town to— well, a close enough town. they correspond very frequently and mail care packages to each other— raye considers them their only friends before dylla, awkward as their beginning was. 

later arcs:

• the traveling arc: 
  • the rosehearts go out on a foreign vacation for family bonding and meet some strange and interesting new friends! → leech parents, ashengrotto mother, vil’s dad

• the summer vacation arc:
  • the rosehearts host riddle’s hometown friends trey and chen’ya for a few weeks in summer to see clock town! the spades next door of course join the fun. 
  • afterwards, the kids have gotten along enough that rosehearts are emboldened to invite the spades with them for a return trip to see the hometown and reunite with the clovers! 
  • side/background arc?? → delinquent reform
    • deuce is on his delinquent arc and riddle is Not Having That. somehow this ends up with either riddle psychologically crushing and dragging deuce back onto the side of Not Disappointing Their Mothers, or with riddle being encouraged by raye’s unknowing teachings into magically beating everyone up to physically drag deuce back, etc. 
    • unintentionally there develops a rumored reputation of there being a ‘secret boss’, The Red Tyrant, who even Cauldron Spade answers to—!! 
    • inspired by the ‘White T Poison’ misunderstanding in mob psycho 10)

• the career arc: 
  • with riddle really blossoming into his own, raye’s feeling ready to start a career again and stop being a stay-at-home parent! even though they have enough savings and investments to frugally live a few more years, they’re thinking ahead to expenses for arcane academy!! 
  • trying to figure out what they have the skills and qualifications for, though, leads to them to some strange application adventures. → vil’s dad, shroud parents, zigvolt parents

• the summer vacation arc part 2: electric boogaloo
• the rosehearts go to visit with some friendly long-time pen pals for a bit of totally straightforward and harmless summer fun! → ashengrotto mother, leech parents, zigvolt parents
• the pre-nrc arc / the nrc PTA arc → ??? 

Chapter Text

happily ever after, as retold by hibari

KHR! x TWST

a series about The Hibari Kyouya reborn as The Rook Hunt’s delightfully vicious first-year cousin

Disclaimer note:

This was basically all written Jan-July 2022, before we got first-year Rook and Vil lore. I’m pleasantly surprised how much I think my characterizations still hold up. But overall, would definitely caution that I only edited for readability basically, so I’m not standing by my writing here 100%. 

Alternate titles:

• how to live in a fairy tale society, as explained by hibari
• the animal kingdom as explained by hibari
• national geographic as narrated by hibari

Series summary:

“Float like a hurricane, sting like a bitch,” - alternate universe Sun Tzu, probably, regarding an alternate universe ancestral Hibari. Yup, it’s a series about Hibari doing Hibari things after being mysteriously isekai’d into pre-canon Twisted Wonderland. 

Main drabble collection story summary:  

Wherein Leona isn’t the only one who can call people herbivores, Rook is utterly delighted to be welcoming his cousin Lark to a NRC that has never known such an impossible existence, and Riddle has tyrannical competition for both the spirit of the disciplinary committee and, perhaps more importantly, the love of the dorm hedgehogs.

Tags: Hibari Logic, Hibari Does What He Wants

Story Notes:

• Hibari Kyouya = Lark Strike. 
  • Almost went with Skylar Stryker for rhyme scheme that sounded vaguely fairy tale-like, and obvious skylark reference for Hibari, but went with Lark to be a more cutting single syllable and sound like it fits better as a Rook Hunt relative. And I can’t really imagine Hibari as a Skylar ever, sorry
• Born to non-magical couple who are very accepting (and not really normal about intensity, as Hunt relatives) and just think Hibari Things are just Normal Magic Kid Things
  • Constantly Magically Active and Magically Abnormal?? No no no— Lark said it’s fine, so it’s fine. (^v^)b 
  • Positively neglectful and unreasonably supportive are the best parents for Lark to embrace a relationship with.
• 169 cm; 5’5.5”; 8 cm shorter than Rook; 3-4 cm shorter than Ace and Deuce.
• His top 3 ambitions for a strong fight at NRC are: 1. Malleus, 2. Lilia, 3. Crowley, 4. Leona. Unfortunately he is forever foiled by The Comedy Plot denying him interactions for 1-3; and for 4., Leona half-considers giving up leadership to just avoid the troublesome fuss of this stalker but like. Eh. Easier still to just keep avoiding or else setting up distractions. Can out-manipulate Lark as long as he’s not really locked-in on just fighting Leona. 
  • Sebek loathes him for his audacity !!!! Lark loathes Sebek for his volume so it’s fine. (Sebek grit-teeth admitting on his honor that he thinks Lark is strong because he always beats his ass but denying very loudly that he could ever respect him even so because that strength is OVERRULED by his UTTER DISRESPECT TO THE— Lark beats his ass again for volume.)
  • Lark’s favorite second-year is Silver because he treats him solely as a ‘small animal attractor’. Naps with Silver and the birds and squirrels etc. Silver is unaware of this for a long time because Lark coincidentally comes after he’s asleep and leaves before he’s awake. 
  • Favorite third-year is Rook.
  • Favorite first-year… Deuce is unsubtly devastated it’s not him. But also acknowledges he cannot beat Grim’s fluffiness. But if Grim was out of the running, surely he’s the favorite (underling)—!!
  • (No, second-favorite is Jack. Lone wolf recognizes lone wolf. Also fluffy.)
• On a mission to pet everyone’s ears. Not really interested in fish (acknowledges them all as outside hierarchy) but interested in fighting them in water. He and Floyd fight… so much… so much fun… 
• UM: ??? “Roll the Hedgehog” 
  • He’s just like that. i.e. Cloud Flames.
  • Maybe the real name is “Soul Propagation” (A Drifting Cloud’s Tyranny).
    • “” for spoken name and () for the Japanese written name.
  • When asked to record a name, however, and then when told that they aren’t asking and he has to give them some name for legal documentation, he just named it “Roll” after his fond former Box Weapon. And then begrudgingly added “the Hedgehog” after they insisted no one-word UMs were possible/allowed.
  • Thankfully it’s not obvious ‘Roll’ is a name and not just a verb, or else the registration office would likely have had to proceed with further mutual torment of insisting on an actual plausible name.
• TWST magic is powered in large part by imagination and will— making Lark, who operates off of illogical self-belief and unbelievable self-confidence, incredibly strong.
  • “The likes of you cannot possibly kill me… or something like that. Haha, oh, he has such a great sense of humor!” - Rook, quoted as the resident Lark translator, probably.
  • Even without the translator people do manage to figure out what Lark means or wants, though— it’s not hard because he’s either quite straightforward, or you’re going to get a physical demonstration. And usually what he means or wants is for you to stop crowding, so… 
• Likes flying and fighting in midair but doesn’t like ‘crowding’ or rules of magift game; is desperately recruited for his prodigious skills but then whoever recruits him has the headache of wrangling him into following the game rules…
• Wages war with Riddle over hoarding the hedgehogs and flamingos. 
  • The relationship arc: makes him worse, i.e. actually inspires Riddle to loosen up a bit… … … through embracing the catharsis of incredible violence as self-expression as well.
  • Lark smashing through the respawning hedge maze like it’s an ordinary Tuesday, because it is. 
  • At some point the rose bushes just stop respawning and tacitly let him through and that’s the point at which Riddle has to give a motivational pep talk / threat talk to arguably sapient enchanted plantlife. While Lark looks at him like he’s lost his mind, as if Lark didn’t lose that mind first—
  • Just realized you can plop Lark into any FloRid situation and he’s DTF (down to fight) either, both, anytime. 
• Is sorted (initially) into either Ignihyde or Heartslabyul.
• Ongoing plot point / comedic gag is his starter dorm’s students conspiring to try and transfer him out (especially to often absent leaders’ dorms) and other dorms working to to keep him in his current one. 
  • Heartslabyul!Hibari: rumors of the roses being painted red with the blood of his enemies, someone scoffing “how obviously fake!! that would harm the roses—“

Series AU stories:

• Oneshot where younger, 100% more feral Hibari transmigrates into Riddle instead. Mrs. Rosehearts just… can’t.
• AU where the Strikes move to Riddle’s hometown instead of Clock Town and Mrs. Rosehearts’ screening for suitable playmates accidentally passes the seemingly very well-hinged Lark. And then Riddle POV on how Lark’s unhingedness unfurls itself (and changes Riddle’s life for the better, unintentionally). 
• Crossover with IYKverse (‘if you knew what the bluebirds sing at you’ story, not yet posted in this collection):
• the hierarchy of bird in the kingdom of man: a theological witness
• A more serious au of Lark dealing with discrimination as an avian/bird-type beastfolk and specifically as a hollow-boned skylark. 
• Short comedic au of Hibari being a hedgehog beastfolk and other beastfolk being frustrated about him wanting to pet them (incredibly socially rude and/or asserting dominance) when he’s got his own ears to pet—!!

.

.

Story Snippets:

Chapter 1: a new year

Swathes of dark-cloaked students swanned around the stately mirror chamber, gold embroidery glinting and low murmurs arising. In the wings of an area at least 2 standard deviations above the average beauty concentration in the chamber — thanks to the blessedly regal presence of Vil Schoenheit, he of a thousand crowns and a minimum 8 million admirers — stood someone watching with a more hawk-like cast to the eyes under hood.  

Any other day, Rook would have delighted in observing the crowds for all the intricate social dynamics and amusing teenage rituals that naturally occurred in a population like Night Raven. 

But this year was different, and he was scanning the subtle shifts and sways of the incoming first years’ nerves for a specific reason, one that was not yielding to the search easily. 

Well, of course it wouldn’t be as easy or expected as that. That would be no fun. 

A faint smile, irresistible, tugged at his lips as he concluded his scan, sure in not having missed anyone in the room. His gaze slide sideways to the entrance instead, which was currently conspicuously lacking its feathery dramatic silhouette since as of about three minutes ago, although he’d wager a day’s dorm chores that less than a handful of people had actually noticed at the time. 

Crowley was a clever sort of prey— he grandstanded, but was intriguingly the stealthiest staff member to be, when he wanted. 

By the ripples spreading out from the dorm heads’ holding court, however, his absence was about to be a lot more noticed.

.

.

(Note that Trey received a text on phone and glances at Riddle before quietly stowing it away. He’s choosing not to tell Riddle right now because it would only ruin his mood for the ceremony, but he was just notified of someone (Kyoya) breaking into the Heartslabyul dorm to steal a hedgehog.)

.

.

(Vil asks Rook what he’s looking so excited for… more so than usual. Rook exclaims effusively and explains he’s looking for a familiar face, it’s been a while. 

Which was true; since the Strikes had moved to the Rose Kingdom, in-person visits were once or twice a year at most for winter or summer holidays. The Sunset Savannah had the most wonderful scenery, such that nature photographers could hardly resist, and as diplomats, access to portal items and international crossing permissions were a bit easier. 

Lark really wasn’t the type to keep well in touch over text/mail, either… or at all. But the family groupchat had been well supplied with anecdotes and pictures of him anyway— as had Rook and all his siblings. It was a form of love.

Vil wonders if he’s hoping his little cousin will get into Pomefiore. Rook absently thinks Vil must be trying to distract himself from something if he’s continuing this sort of frivolous talk he doesn’t usually take interest in… or perhaps he was really interested in the beauty potential of Rook’s relative, which was a bit flattering in a way. 

Vil thought him reliable enough and certainly devoted as an aide, on most occasions, which was a privilege far above his opinion of most others, but still, to think this of a relative…! That was value of either his eye or his aesthetic, wasn’t it? A breath of poisonless half-praise from the scathing tongue that never passed up a chance to cut down his ‘terrible taste’ and ‘worse sense of humor’ and ‘truly abominable nosiness’? 

Ah, but— 

“Non,” Rook smiles ruefully, “I quite doubt that’s where the arrow of his destiny flies.” 

Vil arches a perfectly plucked brow, but his gaze is drawn to the entering flock of incoming freshmen, headed by their capricious headmaster.

Mirror selection ensues with no head in sight of Lark…)

.

.

(Enma Yuuken fake-out, comes in looking bemused, but it’s Kyoya-Lark following with Grim snug in his arms. 

Rook is amused/delighted because it seems that Lark has found new toys. 

A moving lump of something in a robe’s pocket…? A scrap of pink fabric poking out… 

Grim is looking fairly alarmed but still wrestles for bravado and tries to flare up in chaotic demand, but Lark merely looks at him unimpressed and shakes him a little with a cloud of hazy purple — incantation-less UM!?? Azul mutters something in interest/greed, and Rook takes note. 

Rook noting that a certain first-year Heartslabyulwas looking rather stimulated by Lark’s presence and fluttering around him when he rejoins crowd. (Deuce opens his mouth to shout BOSS!!! by instinct, Lark looks at him, Deuce bites his lip in his haste to shut it by even fiercer instinct, Lark blinks slowly in acknowledgement/approval(!?!?) and Deuce is basically overjoyed.) 

Much to a redhead’s disgust. (Ace and his dislike for hierarchy, thinks Deuce is some dumbass simp now and thinks Lark doesn’t look like much— but then Lark looks at him and Ace immediately revises his opinion due to his instinct for not seeking trouble he can’t get out of. Maybe he should figure out what this guy’s deal is first.))

.

.

(Rook’s thoughts on how this was proof towards Lark being a terrible Pomefiore candidate, especially under Vil’s reign.) 

Lark had beauty in spades (like the spades used to dig graves), and Rook especially never lost delight in the magnitude of ways that showed, but while his cousin’s pursuit of self-improvement could be said to be within the beautiful queen’s spirit of such, he could hardly care to spare an effort towards his own image, really. 

Or rather he had a bottom line for his image that could outstubborn the sun dying — like his haircut that has never been allowed to change since he was old enough to declare what he wanted it to be — and that was that.

Beyond the highly specific degree of diligence he took in his presentation, that was otherwise all natural gift — the looks, the dignity, the fearsome carriage of a true predator! And especially in battle, he’d throw it all away for a victory — no, a total conquest, utter domination. 

(Pomefiore had no end of strength, as a build into beauty, but most obviously, Lark simply could not take orders.) 

Rook admired that to no end, but perhaps he was an outlier in his pursuit of beauty, and just a bit biased besides towards a close cousin; he was sure, nonetheless, that such irreverence and arrogance would spark no end of friction with Vil, who had already been narrowing his eyes in anticipatory thought earlier at training the newest crop of fumbling apple seeds into graceful orchard befitting backdrop of his station. 

Or, as he’d say, growing these fresh potatoes into something barely acceptable for dining. 

Rook found a certain appreciation in him for the charms of an ingenue’s naivete, of course, but there was little that could beat watching Vil’s cold, stoic beauty move itself to perform passionate, regal magnificent efforts at work. 

The grand theatre of one’s school life of youthful ideals, and the untouchable queen, holding court with a single imperious look at center stage…!

Ah, he sighs happily, just envisioning the days ahead! What an honor, as vice dorm head, to be observing and supporting such brilliant efforts! 

He barely notes Vil’s gaze, slanted askance at him before glancing away dismissively again, used to his emotional theatrics. Well worth his own efforts expended to reach such a position… 

Not that he thought of the years prior as such, oh non non! Different prey and a different sort of hunt than usual, handling his contenders and striving for the favor of an epitome, but still, such marvelous action… 

.

.

(After Lark is sorted into Heartslabyul, what is very clearly a Heartslabyul hedgehog pokes its head out of his pocket, and Riddle stiffens with a shocked inhale and slowly begins turning red…! 

Rook laughs. Never an ugly moment to be witnessed, with his adorable cousin around!)

.

.

(When asking about his orientation ceremony delays later, Lark matter-of-factly tells Rook that he could tell that the headmaster was very strong and told him to fight him but he refused. And then Lark names some other strong fight targets— making plainly clear his intention to take over either Heartslabyul or Savanaclaw as dorm head to satisfy his need to be the unrestrained authority of a territory that suits his tastes… 

Rook amusingly supports his ambitions and definitely plans to be there to observe such an exciting scene. Thinks Lark will be surprised by how strong NRC students really are— but not about to warn his cousin, there’s no need for it. It could only be a good surprise, to him.) 

.

.

(By virtue of being Vil Schoenheit. and when you were as beautiful as Vil, beauty was indeed a virtue. By that measure, there was, perhaps, nobody else as virtuous in Night Raven.)

.

.

Chapter 2: “a new chapter”

Hibari Kyouya was, fundamentally, a creature of habit. 

He disliked change. He disliked disorder. He disliked things being out of his control. He disliked a great many number of things, really – it would be much swifter a task to tally up all his likes, instead. 

For example, Namimori Middle School. Kyouya wasn’t a bad student academically, nor a particularly good one – merely disinterested on the best of days, but that was hardly enough to get one held back. 

One did not threaten an entire school board at 13 to allow exception for staying back another year to enforce discipline, unless you were truly committed to such a thing.

.

.

Kyouya considered himself having much mellowed out with the time of age. 

Waking up back to a squalling infant with all the emotional control of one had surely reverted all that progress.

That was what he’d say, anyway, if he was ever so inclined to share anything so meaningless to speak of.

.

.

(Timeskip growing up, this is the ‘life before NRC’ backstory chapter.)

.

.

(Hunt family eccentricities / freakiness, as per Halloween 2 canon stories— if you can take them as truth.

Rich family with shady government business ties, big family — Rook having 5 siblings — with energetic and very well-organized family reunions (what with their multiple international estates with teleporters) that involve big competitive ‘hunting’ games of various levels and natures. Children play hide-and-seek and tag and scavenger hunts, teens openly advance to paintball ‘assassin’ and such, adults go out on actual animal hunts, etc. 

Very loving, strange family. Putting aside what business the main Hunts are up to, the Strikes are a branch family who work in politics and diplomacy, with a passion for nature photography vacations/hobbies, and move around a lot as a result.

.

.

(Kyouya considers his new parents rather ‘wishy washy’, but acceptable enough to acknowledge as a son.

Kyouya growing up as the only mage kid in neighborhood for a while, and he even has very strong and early magic. (Which only goes to show that it took a few years for this body to accommodate his soul and be able to manifest Cloud Flames externally again, because he is not really bothered about subtlety otherwise.) 

He’s accused of bullying other kids with magic; he refutes point blank he wouldn’t put that much effort into it if he wanted to, doesn’t need magic at all.

There’s other abnormalities in childhood with his magic, like shattering weaker magestones by imbuing his magic — Cloud Flames or otherwise — into them. Like breaking rings with intensity of Flames. 

Thankfully the Strikes have money and don’t care about abnormalities. Well, they celebrate abnormalities as the beauty diversity of the natural world, etc. etc., so Lark passes a mostly satisfied, quite solitary, but animals-surrounded and beloved childhood.)

.

.

(Rook as a grudgingly acknowledged favorite cousin because he basically hunted Kyouya’s favor very intensely, considering it a challenge to break through his apparent indifference to everyone. The fun and responsibly-irresponsible cousin. 

Between his sparkle-eyed fervor for life and Kyouya’s resting unimpressed face, people would confuse them when younger as being the same age— or even, Kyouya being older. 

They’re in the same age group anyway to play the kid’s games at reunions together— and their hide-and-go-seek just turns into hunting each other for sport, although Rook’s more patient and targeting and Kyouya’s just ready to dominate in a brawl. (He never runs, after all.)

It was Rook’s observation keenness and accommodating indulgence that won Kyouya over. As well as him always being up to throw down and to tell him information he wants to know, exactly when he wants to know it and not before or after. 

They’re mutually unbothered/immune to each other’s naturally intense and off-putting vibes— and put together, they actually merge into like, warm and fluffy and peaceful vibes.) 

.

.

Lark Strike moves to Clock Town, midway into middle school. 

(New to town, meets delinquent!Deuce in late-night convenience store; Lark is shopping for black hair dye — he doesn’t like his natural blond, looks like Alaude — and Deuce is about to steal some bleach — to ironically turn his natural black into blond. 

Lark just assesses him automatically like he always does. Deuce is defensive/aggressive seeing this punk size him up with a ‘mean look’ — it’s Lark’s normal look — and says something swaggering and posturing, very typical delinquent. 

Lark bluntly asks what middle school he’s from, Deuce is briefly confused into answering honestly, and then snaps out of it and gets even more hostile, assuming now he’s a delinquent from some other school who recognized him — since normal students would be afraid of him, and he doesn’t recognize Lark from his gang. 

Lark meanwhile is tuning him out and seriously considers beating his ass right now — or, at least, in the parking lot outside, he has basic respect for the store owner’s property laws — and beginning his ‘disciplinary reform’ here. Clearly this town has an issue. 

Magnanimously, he refrains until his official takeover next week — i.e. when he joins his new school — and just walks away ignoring Deuce, who is annoyed/baffled but also calms if he’s not picking a fight now. 

Anyway, his roots really are growing out… gotta bleach…)

.

.

(The takeover is very anticlimactic because Lark just shows up on Monday morning as a transfer and by Tuesday morning has beaten up enough delinquents to forcibly take over as ‘boss’, in a very polished process continued from a past life. The arc is more for the comedic of adaptation afterwards.

Appoints himself head of a disciplinary committee that doesn’t exist— everyone else just thinks he’s got a really weird rebrand in mind for his gang?? 

This is for Lark’s own self-satisfaction anyway, he doesn’t really care what anyone else thinks. Proceeds to ‘reform’ the gang into his committee, facing no obstacles before his absolute power, much to Deuce’s initially shocked and soon starry-eyed wonder.

—Overall, Deuce looks up to Lark because he’s actually seeing him as the greatest thug/boss of all (positive)! 

(Lark seemingly denies their money shake-downs… but only because he wants to collect protection fees instead from more challenging troublemakers, and use the money to ‘enforce peace’ i.e. whatever Lark wants to do that day.) 

Lark says something about the strong protecting the weak… and the weak trusting the ones most capable of crushing them. (Maybe pauses to amend/admit some one-liner acknowledging Tsuna’s influence on his life philosophy.) 

Deuce is hesitant/conflicted behind eagerness because assumes delinquents = they actually do crush them, but Lark corrects that no, they just keep protecting, because the really strong don’t find it fun to crush the weak, only the strong who are not as strong as you. (And then demonstrates what he means. Violently, generously.)

Deuce’s good heart is heartened, his delinquent identity is determined, he sees the light, eyes shining, vowing further loyalty and admiration of such wisdom. 

…Somehow, Deuce’s sense of being a badass is being upturned??

Sprinkled in moments/interactions:

• Encounters Deuce shopping with mom, carrying her bags. Dylla mistakes Lark as a friend but correctly understands Lark as the reason that Deuce’s turned over a new leaf (and a new un-bleached head of hair) and started becoming more like his ‘obedient kid’ before. Enthuses that Deuce “talks about you all the time!” “Mommm, pleasestoptalking…!” 
• Dylla gets friendly and invites Lark over to hang out, much to Deuce’s mortification, stuck between his mom and his new cool idol-boss. Lark hums (coolly) and refuses but does not refuse Dylla’s follow up snacks or something. Dylla’s blissful misunderstanding(?) continues. 
• Lark raises some orphaned baby chicks idly— Deuce has guilt towards them, the egg story comes out, Lark just stares and— cracks a slight smile at his unbelievably stupidity. Does not correct him. (Deuce is hit by Boss Peaceful Smirk, it’s Super Effective!!!)
• Lark gets into magicycles / magiwheels, considers it a theoretical improvement over the non-magic motorcycle he’s already familiar with as Hibari— he just needs the money to get a jailbroken one so it doesn’t have the legal enchantments/monitoring for speed limits… 
• Him and Deuce bond a bit over this, or more like Deuce’s admiration goes up another tier after finding out they have the same interest/hobby, and Lark’s estimation of Deuce’s usefulness goes up after figuring out Deuce can be his chauffeur so he can ride and nap. 

Lark moves again after about a year, so they’re separated, but Lark mentions that he’s expecting NRC for arcane academy, and Deuce swears emotionally to prove himself worthy of following him there as his— (self-appointed right hand arm man… his silly little rabbit… not that he ever called him that)— uh, his lackey!! 

Lark: okay. Get better at the magiwheel. 

Deuce: yes boss!!! 

And they reunite at NRC~!) 

.

.

Chapter Text

a snake in hand

drabble story, roleswap heir!jamil and attendant!kalim

Summary:

The first time Kalim Viper sees him, straight-shouldered and carefully unsmiling, staring out of the portrait with solemn eyes, he thinks, —he’s so pretty I wonder how he looks like when he smiles being his friend will be so fun—

The first time Jamil al-Asim sees him, tripping over his own feet with a grin to outshine the sun, he thinks, What a little idiot.

(Neither opinion exactly changes over the years. But they grow into them, and each other, just fine.)

.

.

Kalim Viper

Kalim is always rather perceptive in canon, but obliviousness was ‘needed’ of him, so he adapted. Never exactly naive so much as wanting to believe in the best of people, and that’s still true here. 

He’s more proactive here by different requirements, and instead of ignoring a problem so whoever didn’t solve it isn’t punished, it’s his duty to solve it. Although he prefers avoidance and gentle methods when possible. 

Still kind and generous and someone who is good with putting people at ease. Still very matter of fact and accepting about what people want from him. Struggles with telling people no, with reasoning of if he can help then he should. Finds it easier when Jamil is around/relevant, because of course Jamil is the priority. 

A very patient, steady, cheerful person; immovable smile; steely kindness; truly good and incorruptible, does his best and is earnest. Not top tier all around attendant but is very comfortable to be around. 

Approached before to be recruited away to someone else’s service or else turned against Jamil by those who don't know/respect the Viper prestige and promise to al-Asim, but he plays dumb and/or sharply uncompromisingly cheerful, whichever works. 

Emotional counselings/advising often helps? People can sense even if they don't initially trust his genuine desire to know and help and support others. Well-loved by everyone who knows him, really.

Still a bit ditzy and careless, but somewhat ameliorated by training since young to be careful; finds it easier to remember things and be careful when framed as being considerate or of befriending/caring/making someone happy/safe. 

Still really strong magic power and not so much control, surprised parents who specialized more in control.

Milk snake comparison? Aposematic.

Kalim is all-around not up to the standard of Viper family but has talents worth making up for it; or at least, so Jamil grows to defend. Originally just let Kalim be because he didn’t want to deal with an attendant who would grow resentful, or one who could challenge him, and decides a predictable incompetency is better for now; but grew attached.

Kalim’s favorite food is still coconut juice, because he likes that it’s so useful and yummy so it's easy two-for-one to remember. Hobby is not partying, though talent is still identifying poisons. Hobby is having tea with people, perhaps?

Kalim is a genuinely average student. Kalim likes genuine recognition (who doesn't?) but doesnt care abt spotlight or winning as Jamil does. Loses to Jamil all the time in everything since young, somewhat satisfying initially but soon bores Jamil to win (even with opponent sincerely trying and then sincerely happy for his victory). Presents this opportunity for Jamil to take the teaching role which he seems to enjoy/is good at, and Kalim consciously manufactures opportunities for. 

Kalim still likes shaky earrings; Jamil notes this, and is pleased Kalim wears his gifted earrings.

.

.

Jamil al-Asim

Jamil is fond of / protective of Kalim, doesn’t exactly want to admit it to himself but maybe a bit possessive too. Justifies at first as not wanting others to look down on him, which is the implication of finding it okay to mess with his (things) people, but Kalim smiles and calls him kind and it flusters him + makes him think Kalim is a bit of an idiot. 

‘How is this a Viper & how has he survived in high society this long’ changes gradually into ‘I’m glad he’s an exception & I’m worried he can do better elsewhere and he wants that but I don't want him to leave’.  

Jamil excels but is somewhat lonely in heirship, loving yet keeping a guarded distance from even his family, keenly aware of the undercurrents of political machinations that keep him in heirship. Can’t bring himself to ignore his distrust and self-preservation that comes of protecting his heart, even with siblings for example who can always be used against him willingly or unwillingly. Deeply jaded by people wanting to use him, and by assassination / kidnapping attempts etc. 

Strange flicker of envy sometimes with Kalim being so close with his one sibling. It’s okay, Jamil has his spoiled-rotten pet parrot that ruthlessly insults people aloud for what Jamil has to keep in his head. <3

Excellent heir and politician/businessman and does enjoy being recognized for such, but it rings hollow / becomes expected after a while. 

Kalim doesn’t expect anything of him and it’s oddly freeing to just be Jamil. Also Kalim is easily impressed by little things, or so he thinks until Kalim firmly explains they aren’t little things just because Jamil has learned to not value them, he will just have to value them for him. Joy in the world, in the present and the everyday. 

Jamil enjoys giving Kalim gifts. Kalim likes nice things still, and can easily afford by himself, but doesn't really have status to wear as much as Jamil, but some rule-bending if it’s something Jamil bestowed is fine. If people gossip about Jamil’s favored attendant, that's fine too. 

Jamil considered at length beforehand that showing too much favor to Kalim might invite more trouble to him, but eventually decides (selfishly) the pros and cons of instead ignoring Kalim is worse (plus doesn't think Kalim could act along with it well — or maybe admits Kalim could, but can’t admit that he just doesn’t want Kalim to act like that with him). And knows that Kalim is loyal and doesn’t want to intentionally mislead him (in order to avoid Kalim’s acting along). 

Jamil needs to hide/disguise UM once manifested, because he would never be trusted in politics otherwise. Frustrated by not being able to proudly show his true UM. 

Thinks Kalim’s straightforward UM suits him (a little jealous), but is exasperated (jealousy resolved) by Kalim’s prompt offer to use his UM for Jamil whenever he wants, and also Kalim eagerly showing him rainbows made in a less powered version (having learned more restraint/testing). 

Jamil’s mother has wind manipulation similar to Kalim, also part of Jamil’s brief desire to have Kalim’s UM.

Jamil still mutters to himself in private; not ever in public, because keenly aware of being observed / high status. 

Kalim braids his hair! Jamil was considering before with experimenting with magic to braid it but then doesn’t want to give up Kalim touching his hair (though he internalizes it as a reward to make easily-satisfied Kalim happy) 

Jamil has only a mild normal distaste for bugs, because lacked the ‘bug in dates’ experience since all his food is picked over first carefully by servants. (Kalim has not inherited this distaste because he would, if getting a bug in his dates, just carefully let it free and then identify what it was out of idle curiosity, unfazed.) 

The poisoning:

pivotal trusting/change in relationship moment → Kalim in a coma after taste-testing poisoned curry. Argues with Kalim afterwards about hiring a separate taste tester to not risk him any more; Kalim for once is pointing out Jamil is acting irrationally, and that it doesn't make sense traditionally and for their situation to separate the tasks because a large point is that Kalim as a Viper is always there and always trusted, and on-duty Kalim is very adamant to fulfill family expectations. 

• Jamil takes up real interest in picking up cooking for himself afterwards, so Kalim is less at risk for taste testing; previously, had no reason/interest to learn, except for little critiquing here and there of Kalim’s clumsy but heartfelt taste of home-trained cooking.
• Took Kalim’s admiration and loyalty for granted/obligation before; after, more cognizant of this responsibility owed both ways. 
• Another startling/sobering incident in childhood is Jamil witnessing and internalizing the reality of Kalim being punished for something Jamil actually did, whether as voluntary scapegoat or as a ‘whipping boy’ kind of punishment. 

Jamil’s favorite food is still curry, though it's a bit complicated at first because he would get nervous about Kalim going through the poisoning again, but resolves over time as Kalim shows no hesitation in eating his and praises him. Least favorite is not dates, again because experiences are different.

For Night Raven College, Kalim still enters through deliberate Crowley intervention rather than mirror invitation, although this time it’s al-Asim reaching out to request this favor because a Viper must follow their al-Asim. He’s still invited to Royal Sword Academy originally, but never goes; they plan to go together to NRC at the beginning of the school year. 

Jamil feels briefly guilty about not feeling guilty, before justifying to himself as he’s keeping a better eye on Kalim anyway. Does tell Kalim he would argue it to let Kalim go to RSA alone if he’d like— but Kalim smiles at him and tells him sincerely it’s ok, he wants to be by Jamil’s side anyway. 

.

.

In a crossover to canon:

The Kalims swap into different universes, both are assured that it'll be ok because a Jamil is there. Initially waking up in each other’s bedroom (dorm head / vice dorm) and assuming it’s Jamil’s, then discovering room differences.

sih!J has longer hair and less muscle/calluses, more brightly dressed; sih!K has more muscle/calluses, more plainly dressed. 

The Kalims are having just a kind of strange but exciting day! —The Jamils are having one of the worst days of their lives (especially because each recognizes through discussion with the different Kalim how their counterpart is like and what their counterpart’s relationship with their Kalim is like, and sort of resents or else envies each other for different reasons). 

Chapter Text

olly olly oxen free (bury my heart apart from me)

.

Profile:

Name: [Lost]

Nicknames: “Thorne”, “Caretaker”

Age: Younger than Lilia, older than Malleus. 

Species: Stone fae.

Height: Way taller than Lilia, somewhat shorter than Sebek in first-year. 

Weight: Built very solid. Can be considered somewhat like animated stone. Magically reinforced to move smoothly and not collapse anything. 

Notes: 

• Motifs are grey/white stone blocks, pointy turrets, black thorns. 
• Moles are square.  
• Skin and body is magically like stone, origin may or may not be constructed. Doesn’t bleed— dusts, cracks, fragments. Doesn’t heal naturally and cannot regenerate with magic, but is very tough. Gradually ‘wears’ over time like aging. Can fill in cracks with plaster, glue, etc. to repair physically.
• Stone fae’s wings are too heavy to fly, so they’re either built without them or have them cracked off in creation. Unless you’re a really heavy-duty type, maybe.
• Eye 'ring' is spiky for thorns as well.

War Era:

.

.

NRC Era:

.

.

Alternate Colorway: Equally Light Hair 

.

.

Alternate Colorway: Human-like Skin Tone

Chapter Text

IYKverse

.

if you knew what the bluebirds sing at you

peacock!avian from the Land of Pyroxene, indentured idol contract, recurring actor co-worker to vil and neige

.

.

Preface:

This was written in the same early 2022 period as the previous chapters. I’d consider it pretty outdated now in the kind of story I’d want to tell or how I’d write it. At the time I’d just read a lot of BnHA / My Hero Academia fics with dark worldbuilding about awful double standards of Quirk discrimination for bird-like mutations, and this was far before we got the Sunset Savannah raincalling event on JP where we had our first canon bird beastfolk on screen, so birdfolk were free real estate. 

(Fun fact: this also pre-dates Book 5 release on JP, so we didn’t actually have Vil’s arc yet, or even Neige’s, well, person. I wrote down ‘Snow’ in here as a placeholder, or maybe as an OC…? In fleshing this out for publication I’m keeping ‘Snow’ in one place because I’m fond of the rhyme.) 

I wrote this with the assumption that bird beastfolk are not canon (yet), and therefore this was always intended to be an AU that’s sort of… a step to the left of canon. I increasingly lost interest in ever writing this kind of dystopia, but I can still appreciate the kind of story it may have been. Please consider this an explicitly dark!AU. 

.

.

Story Snippets:

To what species did the avians have the closest relations? The closest claim? 

The spirits of the restless departed, and those living psychopomps who walked so closely with them, with their connection to a certain undying flame? 

The fae, with their resonance to magic and their airborne wings? 

The beastfolk, with their human blend of fauna-gifted features? 

The mer, with their mirrored muddied relations to the fae and the beastfolk— either water fae who’ve lost their way beneath the waves, or beastfolk who’ve evolved too deeply with the sea deeps to ever resurface? 

Or, of course, the humans— who, plain as they seemed, nonetheless appeared to possess a particular and peculiar capability for coexistence unrivaled in the self-evident histories. Storytellers and stubborn survivors, proliferant and painfully mortal, the baseline and yet the conclusion returned to. 

You’re all humanoid, after all. 

.

.

In the old days — the written ages — they called them Hunts. 

Flushes, if you were a little more genteel about it, or simply the kind of ‘kind’ that couldn’t bear an ounce of self-reflection. 

It was a trophy sport, much as it was a matter of national security. But, of course, it is a modern era now. 

An era beyond the violence and otherhood and warlord struggles for power, of might makes right and that might must mean none other than magic.

An era beyond the witch burnings, the peasant revolutions, the ballads composed of battles and deathbeds in the same breath. 

Nobody talks, anymore, about the wings mounted up in dusty storage past their prestige— just as they don’t the polished horns or stuffed tails or plucked-out teeth or bottled lifedust, or the books bound in human skin calmly detailing spells and potions using up further precious mortal, reharvestable commodities. 

Or if they do, it’s a cautionary tale of folly and of mistakes and of a brighter, calmer, more connected future than ever. 

It’s true, in a way. The Nests and the Debuts and the Contracts of today… the industrial entertainment complex… 

Never has your pain been more transparent, planned, or cleanly packaged up for commercialization. 

You are the best of the best in being nothing but a pretty face, so chin up and smile at the camera, heartless heartbreaker. That’s your gratitude for being alive and so, so loved. 

You have no choice, but to be loved. 

.

.

Where the therianthropes excelled at the physical, avians excelled in the metaphysical. 

It was nothing magical, precisely, though a general sense for such things did seem to come hand in hand with the general, variable danger sense of your average avian. One’s specific strengths varied by one’s presentation, much the same as any mer. 

The hollow bones and weak hearts, the inexplicable awareness of threats, the affinity for the air, even if one might never reach true independent flight— those were a given. 

But the ravens with their destinies, the magpies with their treasures, the canaries with their songs and the hawks with their ambushes, and so on… Those were passive instincts cranked up to a defining gift that defied reason. Insofar as much as any other species had its gifts defying reason in this wonderland, perhaps. 

As for peacocks — for they did, inevitably, all present as peacocks, just as they all started off as peahens — they have a very simple talent. Easily scorned, laughed at, belittled as not much better than without. 

When you were young, you longed for something more. 

But when you grew older, you realized that you’ve never been better suited for any era yet.

Beauty is power. And you will always be beautiful. 

.

.

(Avians haven’t had a ruling country in far too long to remember. There’s just too few of them left to really form one, either. 

Historical discrimination of avians as eternal foreigners, not belonging even if they’ve been there for generations. Disrupted cultures, or always been rejected by their culture? Popular trafficking target for their plumage and talents and relatively weak self-defense— mages are rare, magical knacks are, on average, rarest in avians. 

Avian ancestors survived by pledging allegiances to powers who could protect you and your bloodline, and often you were best utilized as flight-capable un-mage-protectable spies or supernaturally-gifted consultants. 

Survivorship bias of success cases popularized the idea of avian kingmakers who shadow-ruled as political advisors, though the truth was never as powerful or glamorous or common.)

.

.

(There’s a firebird/phoenix in every generation— this one’s already been identified since birth and raised as a ward of their birthplace’s ruling family as a political PR move. Supposed to symbolize all avians but everyone is actually very jaded/disconnected about this puppet, spare some pity for them if you have the pity to spare.)

.

.

(And so it became tradition, it became law. An avian was a treasure of every country, and a citizen of none. Protected by all who dared not offer them a home to roost. 

Symbols of fortune, naturally, could become symbols of calamity in any casting.)

.

.

(MC deemed needing protection, separated from or never knew parents? Assigned to foster family or to special facility— choosing low-visibility or high-visibility future, trade-offs of self-protection? 

Runs away at some point, and/or is taken and escapes— makes it to Epel’s isolated village and is treated kindly? Bond over weak bodies.)

.

.

Ah, the mercy of strangers. 

“I trust you,” you lie and look them right in the eyes with your smallest, most trembly smile. 

If you wake up sold to the highest bidder, you’re going to make sure to take whatever you can out of their conscience first, and hope it never scars over.

.

.

(Very unreasonable idol contract signed between a rock and a hard place— strange certainty to career trajectory. Still thinks it’s possible to ‘win’ the game of success, buy yourself out, leverage your image etc. 

Ambitiously searching for opportunities to break into being child actor? Ends up helping/shadowing movie sets a lot? Either does get roles or is denied, but either way after early teenage idol debut is immediately cleared/pushed into actor gigs— never mattered if you have talent or skill or interest in the actual craft, you’d be popular enough to be retained on your pretty face ‘vase’. 

But, at least in the beginning, you’re genuinely dedicated and achieve your desired breakout success— with your name directly tied to a trio of rising stars, Vil and Neige and you.) 

.

.

So you’re bitter. So you’re unkind. So you want to tear open a new wound whenever you scent just a whiff of blood, so you want to crush baby chicks before they get used to any pecking order, sososo— 

So what?

They’ll still just eat. You. Up.

You will never not have an audience for your peace or your pain. 

.

.

Story Outline:

Either a no-overblots timeline set a year after canon — i.e., Vil and Rook are 4th years, Neige 3rd year — or it’s a post-graduation timeline (with or without overblots) such that our main 4 are all between 18-22. Never decided if MC is Neige’s age or Vil’s age. 

Story timeline would firmly start with present day MC having just signed onto a big film project with Vil and Neige— it’s a dismally ruinous reunion. 

The project is big and special because it’s the first movie Vil and Neige are working on since their school hiatuses and it’s the much-anticipated ‘reunion’ of you three (the teenage dream team) on a collaboration. Previous formula has always sold well with you three in your marketable roles for the audience to project onto. 

Always a bit of a feeling that’s more or less blatant that your popularity plays supporting role or even hinges on your perceived public ‘chemistry’/relationships with the other two. Parasitic— that’s how you feel. 

Conflicts and drama play out with the reader being brought along through different POVs which slowly explain, through flashbacks and implications, the complicated history between them three. Maybe a plotline about being pressured (by your shitty management specifically) into playing up shipbaiting or love triangle stuff for marketing? 

You’re apathetic but your company has ways to control you. And, with enough motivation, you have a certain charm and moreso have your claws in deep enough with your longtime……… colleagues, to be persuasive in worse ideas. 

You think Neige pities you or, worse, thinks you’re genuinely good friends. And you think Vil despises you but can’t argue with the reality of the benefits that you offer— you and Vil together outshine Neige, after all, at least in the PR buzz, and you’re capable of being both an endless torment when you don’t get what you want and very obediently agreeable when you do. 

You may or may not be right about these impressions.

Rook is Vil’s strangely close friend who visits set sometimes and seems to already know Neige and of you (MC). You are reluctantly intrigued by this new element breaking up familiar dynamics, including refreshing your understanding of Vil.

(Because, well, you never thought he would have true friends, much less ones who he’d bring to work. That seems like Neige’s thing, little mister Popular. You and Vil are in the cold mean rude bitches club. 

Well, seems like you two still are, you’re just now alone in the friendless freak one.)

Relationships shift, realizations evolve, and reality escalates almost faster than rumors with typical showbiz drama plots like variety shows, fan meets, stalkers, exposes, call-outs, collabs, ongoing awful management decisions and contract obligations, past work commemorations of beloved classics emblematic of a time you hate revisiting, the emptiness of a career in which everything about you is for consumption and privacy is only for selling exceptions, pretending like you’re qualified to be a role model, etc.

.

.

Additional Story Notes:

MC observation on Rook:

It wasn’t that you were silly enough to hold a grudge or be so easily spooked by anyone with a name alluding to some sort of hunter, but rather that this specific one, nevermind him being only barely your age at best, made you want to freeze or frenzy every time those repulsively knowing eyes landed on you. 

It was a static shock on your nape and an itch at your scalp, and a crawling sensation under your skin, flushed with blood ready to pump into flight, of being all too thoroughly seen by this terribly earnest, entirely sweet, unavoidably off-putting fan of yours. 

You had the sense he saw past the glimmer and the glamor and into some ugly, cruel, selfish truth of you… and liked it anyway. Wanted it all the more. 

You didn’t like anyone knowing you nearly as well as you knew yourself, at least in strong part because what you knew of yourself was hardly good or endearing or useful. You didn’t like yourself, having known you enough to get sick of you. 

This ironically named human seemed to be in blushingly good health.

And that knowing wasn’t even smug, or condescending, or something flaunted for show, all things you knew quite well and could handle far better than… this. This subtly soft-spoken yet effusively direct admiration, sidestepping all your secret thoughts and vicious desires to simply say, and yet in doing so only revealing the depth of observation required to do so. You hated it, and him, and nothing more than how much you knew he knew you knew it every time he saw your smile, what it was baring. 

.

.

Vil’s observation on MC:

It’s a disappointment, how the child he met back then on some film set had devolved into… this. 

You never read for the same roles, not exactly, and as you’d grown older together the auditions sent to you became more and more… set. 

It was a lovely marketable familiar triangle, the three of you: him the villain, Snow the hero, and you… the love interest to be fought over. 

Familiarity breeds contempt. 

Where did that child go? The one with the brightly burning eyes, that snappy tongue that pestered for respect, that argued you’re competition, dubbed you worthy rivals, and in the next breath insisted he tell you all the personal stories of his time away from the studio.

That ambition’s evaporated. There’s something soft and rotted left. 

Do you even remember what you said, what you made him promise? You don’t seem to pay mind to much, nowadays. 

When the camera’s off, you can’t even be bothered to look at him, half the time, even if you’re sneering some half-hearted barb that he can’t be bothered to react to if you can’t be bothered to craft it. 

Somehow, a habit of hurt has encircled you. 

.

You are a living reminder to him of what he never wants to be like. 

A walking body, waiting to die. 

.

You were a thoroughly hollow sort of flame. 

You wanted recognition without attention, luxury without belongings, loyalty without trust, connection without confiding, success without advancing. 

Fame wasn’t a goal for you, it was a byproduct, and nobody who really knew you would mistake your true aspirations for any sort of artistic expression. 

No, it was simply… spite. Petty, with claws dug into old wounds you hadn’t let scar over, for fear you’d simply stop feeling the bleed altogether. An enthrallingly convincing act of chasing a freedom you didn’t really seem to believe in. 

Maybe it was that, really — the seeming lack of anybody who really knew you, who could see how much you were a creature of small comforts and smaller heart, in the end, just someone who hated change for all you raged for the right to have it — that had you so desperately chasing the peak, to climb to the top just for that brief moment of immortalization against the sky as you leapt off it. 

Maybe you thought you’d fly. Maybe you didn’t care if you didn’t, anymore. 

And yet you burned on, nonetheless, far too brightly and fiercely for anyone to think you didn’t have something to prove, at the end of this, and something hungry and aching to consume all that stood before you to fuel that relentless campaign to nowhere. 

Even your destruction would be… impossible to look away from. 

He doesn’t understand it, sometimes. Is he the only one who sees this you? The raw mess under the plastic packaging, the heart that’s still beating desperately for wrapped ears that won’t hear? 

“Why do you keep doing this…” Vil mutters, bitten-out disdain under his breath, stepping over broken glass and trash on the soullessly patterned hotel carpet. 

…And why do I keep— 

“Go away,” your voice grinds out from a throat that evidently disagrees with the concept of speech, at present. “Who the fuck— let you in—” 

Ruthlessly, the light clicks on, and you immediately fall silent, half-broken feathers rustling painfully to shield your eyes. 

“Next time you lie to me,” Vil promises, crisp and clean and a thousand other things you aren’t and have no wish to be, “I’ll make you regret it.” 

Silence.

Then you laugh, and he feels his lip curl into a thin smile at the sound. 

.

.

Afternote / The Story Vision:

It would have been a very showbiz drama longfic that emphatically sets up the MC as a deeply flawed and even unlikable protagonist at the beginning, but perhaps an increasingly sympathetic one, who struggles and fails and gives up and finds they can’t give up and continues and struggles and grows and gets set back and then gets worse and then gets… better. And consciously works towards getting better each day. 

Weaves in a lot of social media interludes and press coverage bits— half the story is about differences between perception and reality. 

MC starts off a foil to Vil by being ‘effortlessly beautiful’ yet not appreciating, working, or even desiring this beauty (or anything), and frustrating Vil initially with an incomprehension as to why MC won’t even try to improve themself— not just in skin-deep appeal, but in any of their many personality flaws and generally two-faced, deeply pessimistic outlook on life. And MC just sees Vil as another uncaring voice piece for the systems of power keeping them trapped and hopeless in feeling agency over their own body or identity or life. 

The story would definitely involve several relationships of varying toxicity or wrong time/place match-ups between MC x Vil, MC x Rook, MC x Neige. Endgame, if any, would be hinting at MC x Vil (or else a MC x Vil x Rook throuple). But the romances would really be serving the emotional growth journeys. 

By the end of the story, their intertwining character arcs see Vil understanding the barriers and obstacles in MC’s way which are intentionally invisible or easy to ignore if you aren’t affected by them, growing to empathize with MC. And MC’s grown to understand and connect and open up to genuinely positive force of Vil in their life, allowing Vil to even get closer enough to empathize, and… being genuinely inspired and comforted by this life philosophy of self-improvement that’s ultimately about valuing and loving your self. But of course Vil has his own issues with that— many of which MC shares on even the celebrity experience level, and can fully deeply understand. 

Anyway, I think they’d make each other worse at times, but in the end could come out stronger for it and make each other better. Or not. But I like writing hopeful endings and arcs. 

Topics/themes that would have been touched on to some degree: human/sex trafficking, the idol industrial complex, exploitative contracts, underage celebrity sexualization/objectification, lookism, parasocial relationships, dehumanization and fetishization, systems of inequality and discrimination, group bullying/hazing, learned helplessness, performative gratitude for being allowed to exist, politicized bodies, complicity in trade-offs of coping with abuse, coping with trauma, nonlinear healing, finding a path to wanting to live for yourself, how to interact with self-improvement when it all feels pointless, managing self-destructive behaviors, etc. 

Chapter Text

sun spots

series: oc!insert transmigrated into kamil at childhood, during jamil's poisoning

.

part 1: 

all that glitters 

drabble story companion to ‘rain, rain, go away’. jamil pov.

Summary:

It’s pretty hard to resent a force of nature. It doesn’t know you exist. It wouldn’t matter if it did. It doesn’t need you, and it certainly wouldn’t rely on you. A star, standing in the shadow of a sun, can’t hope to outshine its destiny. 

Jamil perseveres. 

(or: an outsider!pov on an oc-insert; a jamil pov on a much different kalim; and observations on happiness, worthiness, and when burning bright becomes burning out) 

.

.

Ch1 Snippet:

When Jamil wakes up properly, weak and hazy but finally recovered from the tainted curry, he’s at first resigned, with a tang of bitterness, to find nobody waiting for him. (—he had promised to wait for him. A foolish sentiment, of course, why keep a promise to a servant—)

Then he finds out what everyone is very much preoccupied with: the far less certain recovery of another boy from mysterious fever. Bedside concerns are chilled with talk of what will happen to the line of succession without the al-Asim heir… 

…and then he wakes up, too. 

Kalim is different, after. 

.

.

part 2:

rain, rain, go away

drabble story companion to ‘all that glitters’. oc-insert!kalim pov. 

Summary:

You wake to white, and gold, and the smell of something heavy but herbal in the softly fanned breeze. For a brief moment, death is peaceful. 

Then the murmurs spike to alarm. 

.

.

Story Notes (for both parts):

• Before transmigration, oc-insert was also firstborn of a wealthy family, but was terminally ill and sickly since birth. lived in hospitals, basically. 
• Pretty typical semi-tragic poor little rich kid story: family felt guilt and could never burden them with any responsibilities or expectations— since nobody expected them to actually live to accomplish anything. 
• Unlimited access to whatever entertainment or education they asked for, pretty much— except things like unsupervised connection to outside world for fear of emotional harm reflecting in worsened condition, etc., etc. 
• Child genius who never got to realize any potential or really live life. Very attached to previous life’s emotional support companion pets; less so to family, who they’re grateful to but could not connect with without increasing the family’s eventual heartbreak. 
• Very quiet and is high-int low-wis build, although this is naivety out of lack of experience. Literally died probably as tween? just reaching teens? 
• Died thinking desperately of wanting another chance.
• After transmigration, is guilty for the original Kalim who they fear they killed unintentionally with their occupancy— but selfishly euphoric of this healthy and hale body and this life of deep connection to family (for better or worse, but even the worse is still kind of a gift to them). 
• Vows to take very good care of Kalim’s — their’s, now — life and connections. Has original Kalim’s memories.
• Is someone who can’t be satisfied/happy with feeling unearned; self pressures to be better and bigger and brighter and worthy of everything received just by birth. 
• Child genius, now flourishing.
• Is perceived as arrogant by others; greedy or dangerously ambitious; undisputed top student and clever/mature beyond years, but… even with theoretical sympathy abound, has short-sighted/unaware empathy for others and consideration of relationship consequences sometimes. Very much optimizing business problems with ‘innocent cruelty’.
• Never feels it’s enough.
• Going through a gauntlet of magical assessments and soul evaluations: cleared to be the same, but this doesn’t make oc!Kalim any more satisfied, only more guilty/indebted.
• The al-Asim’s parents’ lack of expectations: fond and indulgent and caring, but distant and doesn't spend a lot of time with. They are entirely happy with the new changes, once assured to be benign and useful. The other competing wives, less so, but they gradually adapt other strategies to leverage this new Kalim who’s been so ‘enlightened’ after a near-death experience.
• People gossiping about how he changed.
• The main inspiration for this story: how does the Jamil and Kalim dynamic change when Jamil can no longer feel justified in resentment of being plainly better than Kalim in many areas, yet being forced to suppress himself and pretend otherwise? Instead, Kalim is genuinely outperforming Jamil— and does not emotionally entangle Jamil with needing or relying on him, and well-meaningly wants to cut him free at every turn. 
• Jamil can unleash his best, because he won’t outshine Kalim— but at the same time, he can never outshine Kalim. And even doing his best just gets twisted into a credit to Kalim, for having such an amazing attendant that befits Kalim’s even more amazing status. 
• Yet even a genius Kalim can’t (yet) deny the tradition of linking Viper and al-Asim— so if Jamil is truly untied, then it would be eager Najma (who adores sweet, shining Kalim).
• Jamil has many complicated feelings about being out of a role at this point in his young life after just having the very formative poisoning incident, plus just ‘trading in’ his beloved little sister into a role he resents (although he’s increasingly uncertain of that feeling). 

• Jamil developing an inferiority complex because oc!Kalim, meaning well, tries to never rely on Jamil, and unintentionally downplays everything Jamil does or outdoes or seems to prefer doing it themself for self-sufficiency (really they want to spare Jamil of it). 
• Jamil feels unneeded, and resentful of how others perceive / pressure him as a nonvital attendant, simultaneously wanting that independence as canon (plus feels can step out of Kalim’s shadow) but also wanting Kalim to need him and be a little dependent on him for once and to finally beat Kalim openly, genuinely, equal recognition. 
• One-sided rivalry instead of hatred? Jamil never needs to hold back but still can’t beat Kalim, and doesn't feel truly acknowledged by Kalim.
• Kalim looking sad at random things, previously favorites. Jamil reading too much into the coconut juice being abandoned.
• Jamil feeling out how to behave with this new Kalim; missing/grieving someone who’s plainly still here, just different. Or maybe just wondering about the old one sometimes. Was the fever another internal scheming familial conspiracy, that just turned out to ‘profit’ as everyone seems to think? Does nobody — except, it seems, the new Kalim — truly mourn the previous Kalim?
• Jamil’s occasional jealousy softening over time to sympathy. Kalim still can’t really trust family around even if he’s attached to and loves them— Kalim increasingly collecting pets/animals.
• Kalim looking terribly sad at Jamil and explaining he can't confide in him because he’s a child. Jamil points out no more so than you are. And Kalim looks sadder. That seems to be the frustrating trend.
• People pressuring Jamil to make this Kalim happy but he doesn’t know how either; Kalim even picks up on Jamil’s frustrations or maybe just guesses at adult pressures and makes an effort to express happiness more for Jamil’s sake, which doesn't feel better.
• oc!Kalim starting a private garden hobby? Considered raising fish in a pond but seemed wasteful… reminiscing about seeing hospital fish, about fish always being considered safe to keep in room, while some more energetic/tactile pets were sometimes kept away ‘for your own safety’ in more fragile health periods.

• UM: instead of Oasis Maker its Oasis Faker. 
  • Instead of real effect, it’s sensory-comfort illusions. So it’s ‘real relief’, but not real water or any other physical effect. 
  • ‘Drinking’ it — i.e., willingly accepting it — is like drinking the most perfect pain reliever and energy stimulant. Dangerous to rely on, because it pushes you to your limits without realizing. Can not fix a drought but can keep you calm and content until you die. 
  • (Can theoretically force it onto you, too— ‘drowning’ you, just like Oasis Maker could theoretically do so. But wouldn’t do that.)

Chapter Text

keep you in my pocket (watch me run down this chain)

the white rabbit oc & riddle fic. explores mage supremacy and anti-mage prejudice, classism, entitlement, the rose kingdom nobility and social structures, the immigrant and minority experience. parent-child parallels, frustrations. coming of age.

₍ᐢ. .ᐢ₎

Concept: You are a non-mage childhood friend(?) of Riddle’s.

As the tutor’s child, and a quiet, clever, obedient child, you were considered an acceptable study companion and playmate for him— as one firmly under his mother’s control, by extension of your mother’s employment contract. A lower-class immigrant, this is the best future she can provide for you— and you must live up to her hopes and dreams and sacrifices. 

White rabbits are considered lucky in the Queendom of Roses, and you benefit from that PR somewhat as a white rabbit beastfolk. But sometimes, you wish a bit of that luck would rub off on you, instead of just the ones around you. 

You and Riddle become unique emotional venting and affirmation outlets for each other— you each have your own parental tensions, as well as an outsider-yet-insider’s view into the other’s family relationships/history. Simultaneously relieving and understanding, yet sometimes it cuts all the deeper to know even this ‘best friend’ is decided for you and even they have their own opinions that clash with your own in regards to how you live your life. 

You observe Riddle’s growing mage superiority attitude fostered by the environment he’s in. You end on bad terms when he’s about to go off to NRC— increased pressure by his mother to be perfect in NRC + wrong time, wrong place = Riddle lashing out at you about how you can never understand what he’s really going through, the expectations, the rules, the importance of his behavior. Because you aren’t a mage, and you’re a loosely disciplined child because your mother doesn’t care. 

He doesn’t really mean it — he envies you, you’ve long envied each other and never said it, never had the bravery or the freedom to — but it burns the tightrope bridge that you’ve both been walking for so many years of this habitual, familiar, civil fondness. 

Neither of you tell your parents about this hole in your friendship. 

You lie to your mother and you don’t see him off to the carriages. He lies to his mother and says you already privately shared your well wishes. 

For all of Riddle’s first year, you have a strained cold war, interrupted by periodic, stilted letters that you write each other, presumably because of your parents’ expectations, but really because you… both don’t want to end like this. But he won’t apologize and you refuse to forgive him until he does. It’s a year of many firsts for the both of you. 

Little care packages mailed, the familiarity of you both bleeds into every word you exchange, and so does the freezing absence of you never addressing the pre-NRC outburst. 

You don’t go to an arcane academy— you apprentice to a respected artisan, a lineage of watchmakers, and are preparing to start your own business after you graduate to becoming a qualified tradesperson. Planting your own roots in the Rose Kingdom. 

Never as a respectable as a doctor, never as powerful as a mage, but… you bloom in your own, beautiful, self-fulfilling way. 

Over the summer between first and second year, you continue this stilted way of getting along with in-person visits to the Rosehearts estate. Sneaking him sweets, him procuring specialty books you can’t afford that are to your interests— both of you stubborn but lonely and missing each other but disappointed in each other not understanding.

You hold him silently, afterwards, when his mother is being especially awful— she doesn’t consider you an outsider, and doesn’t hold back her lectures or scoldings or speeches of heavy expectations when you’re in the room, ears and eyes down, pretending to read the same page over and over again, tea going cold for how long he nods and agrees in almost-whisper. He lets you hold him— no, he leans into you first, and of course you won’t close your arms then. 

At first second year seems like it’ll be another long slog of the same awkwardness.

Riddle apologizes after his overblot, broken down into a change of heart from his regrets with this relationship compounding with the lessons learned about the same superiority he’s shown against Yuu’s non-mage status and parents. Admits his mother’s attitude is wrong— and he doesn’t want to keep blindly following her into beliefs that are wrong. 

Hopeful ending: you show up to greet him when he gets off the last leg of the journey from NRC to his hometown, and his tensely unhappy face (unhappy to you who can read him; severely unimpressed to anyone else) relaxes at seeing you there, not his mother who’s busy and been convinced by you that you are responsible enough to pick him up. 

Nothing’s totally fixed or perfect. His mother has been saying for a few years now that he will outgrow your companionship soon, even if she can be convinced to soon forget this in cycles, and you will need to find new ways to meet and/or for him to stand up to her to assert his right to make friends as he wants. You still need to take him home to her. Your mother will not protect him or defend you against Mrs. Rosehearts either if you were to try and shield him at your home or sneak him out and be found out against her wishes. Etc., etc. 

But you have the time between, and more moments of happiness to be shared and kept tucked away, to be brought out once it’s safe. 

Open/happy ending. You’ve mended the relationship, you’ll stay close, it’s pre-ship but it can easily be imagined as a dating future and/or as a stays best friends future. Maybe you get an apartment together when Riddle goes to university and you start your own business and you have your independent yet willingly intertwined domestic fondness that keeps growing from there, etc. 

.

.

Chapter Text

food wars in entirely the wrong genre

.

Series Summary: 

A mostly lighthearted, silly romp through Twisted Wonderland, which diverges from canon significantly when an oc-insert!Azul, plucked up from another world and another antagonist plotline by a certain meddling System to fill a soul vacancy, takes a very different approach to achieving their ‘destiny’ of grand villainy: through the kitchen!! 

Azul "Az" Ashengrotto is here to conquer all magic cuisines and establish cooking competition world domination! 

Very much Crack Taken Seriously, and a bit of an affectionate parody tribute to transmigration/rebirth system tropes. Intense shounen rival energy ahead, fit for a hot-blooded cold-hearted knife-tongued shounen to serve up a helping of delicious defeat! 

(The oc-insert is heavily implied to be, in fact, simply an AU version of Azul, as is another trope. This is never elaborated on, accordingly.)

Disclaimer:

Written largely Dec 2021 to May 2022.

.

.

Main Story Title: 

hell’s kitchen if gordon ramsay taught a masterclass in disney villainy

Story Snippets 

Chapter 1: in which the 5 stages of grief start and end at anger

Waking up to an unfamiliar ceiling wasn't an entirely unfamiliar experience.  He'd fallen asleep studying in other rooms before— usually a kitchen or storage room of some sort, but living rooms and libraries happened, too. However, he couldn't speak to the same familiarity with breathing in a lungful of not-air, so oddly liquid yet tasting of none other it could be than water. Which it was. 

Well, he'd breathed in water, before — schoolboy pranks, you know how it is — but it'd never gone down this easily. And the ceiling had never featured this many... colorful bubbles, or glowing pearls, or clam-shelled tiles carved with swimming fish and swaying seaweed... 

He took another breath. Hm. Salt, but even that tasted... different. Not quite sea salt flakes, but closer to that than any type of rock salt, or god forbid, table salt.  

Nodding faintly with satisfaction, he blinked, told the ceiling, "No," in the very precise and quite firm tone of one who has utterly made up their mind, and turned over to blissfully regain unconsciousness with closed eyes. 

Clearly he wasn't getting enough REM sleep if, instead of his usual perfectly lucid dreams of dominating the Young Chefs' M*chelin World Competition, he was dreaming up such ridiculously impossible things such as: being stolen out of his dorm bed in some elaborate scheme to make him think he was waking up in someone's room under the sea.  

—morning shift at 5, potato delivery rescheduled, soaking the grains with the new 1/16 recipe, roll call and class at…  

His meditative recounting of the day ahead was rudely interrupted by the sound of— a digital cooking timer’s beep, but in his mind? 

It was a bizarre experience, to so distinctly just know it was only in his head, without quite telling how he could know that. 

It made what followed just a little easier to swallow, if only by the difference of a sprinkle of salt in the wound, compared to none. 

(This was clearly only easier for him to swallow... as it meant a greater grudge to nurse happily and with great anticipation of the repayment.) 

【 ! ! ! System says: Host ! Please do not go back to sleep ! This System went to such lengths to carefully unpackage your consciousness, won’t you take pity on me … [sob] [sob] [sob] 】

Hearing Go*gle Translate’s less-appealing cousin voice robotic, audibly stated ‘sobs’ in repetition did not, exactly, perform such a miracle that could be called an ‘improvement’ to his sense of pity, no. 

If anything, it somehow burrowed past rock-bottom to the sediment underneath. Wasn’t there magma under the mantle? Good. He hoped it burned to an inedible crisp down there. 

.

He hadn't liked D*sney's 'The Little Mermaid', the one time in his childhood his father had attempted to watch something with him more befitting his age than competitions, game shows, and documentaries. He had not been amused at the dumb mermaid winning her happily ever after, nor the rather unfair lack of exposition into the witch's point of view. 

Though, admittedly, the movie had given him enough new ideas for themed cutesy snacks to sell at primary for a quick buck, and of course, his father had only been trying to keep his best interests in mind, so it had begrudgingly ended up in his book as a net neutral. (Others' had minds like steel traps. He preferred a mind like a meticulously kept ledger of debts.)

.

.

Story Notes

• 【, 】= system speech
• 〖, and 〗= system alerts
• Az stays chubby 
• Restaurateur interest
• Picked by The System as a “natural born villain w/ a high synchronicity soul value” ……… “rushing to fill deadlines and snatched you up” 
• “Well, usually the protocol is a peerless ruthless and traumatically betrayed doctor-assassin, or an overlooked prodigy in life and in suffering, or a perfectly average across the board relatable romantic, or even an amusingly genre-savvy and yet self-oblivious stan-type… But all those worlds had been queued up for months and my final exam was coming up and an up-and-coming cooking academy dark horse seemed like it could get points for creativity?”
• “We-ell, you haven't left the school in 20 days, and we were considering having Truck-kun drive through a wall to get to you, but that was against the paid actors’ union contract, so we just, haha, nabbed you in your sleep!”
• Az thinks very seriously about how to cook data into a dish to spook the System
• Cold, aloof, eye-roll-energy, spiteful and petty but also ‘oblivious’ (in that doesn’t care to notice you) and prefers to forget people who annoy them, except later he figures out he needs to keep better accounting of grudges, even if he really would prefer for people to just accept their irrelevance in his priorities
• Good at planning and repressing
• Blunt and surprisingly honest with people; doesn’t usually see need to lie (or for polite courtesies, unless you can really benefit him) 
• No regrets kind of life, since already regretted one life
• Decisive™
• Az: “What kind of a name is blue grey grotto??”
• System: “…Wasn’t your name just Azure Silvercastle??”
• Az, sincerely: “That’s different.” 
• (Later, upon meeting Silver in NRC, Az approves wholeheartedly of this name scheme even though everyone who knows him would expect that he calls it lazy to be color-picked.)
• A complicated relationship with the System, wherein absolutely doesn't trust but also will collaborate and not actively seek to rid of. Can tolerate for sake of benefits, and can ignore threats for sake of holding own life hostage.
• Childhood in Coral Sea, Az starting a lunch/snack selling/advertising racket at school that begins from flipping the script on bullies trying to extort him. Really bad acting at being extorted because doesn’t care to try— the System is in despair for him reasonably changing Azul’s image instead of just making everyone question if he had a nervous breakdown instead
• Calmly absurdly asks Idia if he can tell if Az is possessed; occasionally interested in seeing how magic interacts with the System and if it can get rid of it, but honestly not invested in getting rid of this familiar pest
• Knows He’s Better than You kind of attitude 
• Not very good with money but knows it's necessary for success; prefers to delegate to roles like manager, etc; just wants to focus on being a chef!!
• Wakes up absurdly early
• Has an unreasonable, absurd, demanding personality = totally suited for NCR!
  • Not entitled, just supremely confident that he can and will live up to expectations, and prefers to make expectations clear beforehand
  • Mutual using for benefits
  • Reasoning that if he has to lose points for ‘unvillainous’ arbitrary actions then he just has to grind up enough bonus ‘villainy’ points it doesn't matter!
  • Hunts down good chefs from other dorms/cultures to challenge them for expanding experience
  • “Master Chef isn’t an elimination elective—” “It is now.”
  • Magicooking competition invention (special poison challenge category to be judged by species immune to poisons for taste and nutritional value; some poisons in small doses are beneficial after all!)
• Listens to feedback even if doesn’t listen to restraint
• Surprisingly thoughtful diligent person!
• Thinks declaring you will use someone’s body well in cooking is a compliment / expression of affection due to only half paying attention to assimilating into a new culture. Does not pay enough attention to people to ever realize his mistake, or care if he does
• System is an eldritch villainy fanboy when not concerned about plot progression, likes interesting deviations too. Threatens Az with his own death often, sometimes jovially, sometimes pleadingly 
  • “—you say that, but aren’t you the most villainous of all!?!?”
  • Mentions death flags and checkpoints
  • No System store; lampshades this trope
  • Mission points (MP) and VV (villain value), claims it’s about nurturing the soul binding of this world
  • Admin lockout and punishment protocol; struggles to come up with effective punishment for Az who’s a cooking freak 
  • Threatens to unlock heart events and take more plot exposition away from cooking
• System describes protags as being “the individuals beloved by the world consciousness~!” and Az stares into the distance, flat-eyed, thinking, “how disgusting…” and the System calls him out for him thinking that about it’s tone
• Same UM, but uses UM to steal ‘advantages’ and accord what he deems a fair wager/competition, with defeat = return of the advantages, otherwise he keeps them (though he doesn’t really tend to use or even take much notice of them, so he’s become an accidental hoarder and an indifferently generous sharer to those he deems worthy of managing it for him)
• Example of an Az villain monologue: 
  • “Just because it’s not yours doesn’t mean I want something uselessly cheap like that to be mine. I don’t want any doubt that it's my pure skill and supreme efforts crushing your spirit, alright? ‘Unfair?’ ‘Unreasonable?’ …Hey. To me, this is clearly my most reasonable offer of a fair fight. It’s not my problem if you’re incapable of comprehending even that.”
• Az does not ever acknowledge his propensity for culinary puns, especially when fired up in the midst of a cook-off
  • “I’ll make mincemeat of you!” 
  • “I’ll slow cook your bones to a stew!”
  • “You’ll do for roux (rue)!” 
  • “What subpar marrow, but I’ll crack ‘em open anyway…” 
  • “Get a taste of this.” 
  • “Bland, boring, underbaked… tsk! Serve me some spice on the side, at least!”
  • “Batter’s up!” 
  • “Fillet this!” 
  • “Knife work!”
• Az does extremely concerning things without self-regard or care for how he’s perceived in self-recklessness. Has the mental assurance of the System’s ‘plot’ to still happen
• Outsider POV:
  Azul, of course, just looked at him with a long-suffering patience like he was somehow the one being unreasonable here. He instantly felt offended.
  “Of course self-care is important. You can’t crush your opposition at your best if you aren’t alive and at your best. Well, maybe psychologically you still could…” he trails off to mumble with a disconcertingly thoughtful look on his face, before shaking his head, tilting his glasses up and nodding like he was making some perfectly logical concluding point.
  “But I’m not going to die until I’ve fulfilled my destiny or reached a pivotal climactic point where it’ll serve some probably shoehorned moral or character development point, so it’s fine to exploit my body as just another tool in my knife block. Waste not, want not.”
  He gaped at him in disbelief. “So… what, are you saying you’re just too— too important to die!?”
  Azul curled his lips slightly upwards in what he unfortunately understood to be a genuine smile, but which only came off as incredibly condescending.
  Well, it was Azul, to be fair— there was the very real potential for it to be both intentionally.
  “Woow—” Azul dragged on, incredibly unnecessarily, “you got it! Really, __, you know that as a side-character, you should be much more worried about being killed off early for dramatic effect, right?”
  [--> seemingly entirely genuinely expressed concern/scolding/condescension to __ for getting into situations that are only consequences of Azul’s own reckless machinations]
• Grip strength very strong, has naturally strangling instinct, but chef’s hands are so important (most important tongue, second most important nose or eyes) so he doesn't usually want to risk fighting with them (and is deeply pissed off if he has to) 
• Does not like fighting with knives either until gets non-kitchen knives high enough for his standards. His standards also exclude using kitchen knives on anyone, because that's Not What They’re Meant For. 
• Spits a line about, “these knives are meant for flesh far more valuable than yours,” and gets Villainy Value reward
• What Az hates most isn’t weaklings, but people who don't try to be better. A lot of stupidity can be relatively forgiving as long as the capacity and willingness for improvement is there.
• • Very high standards for who’s good enough to be his “rival”!
  • Couldn't imagine loving someone without competitiveness involved
  • Deeply troubled occasionally by self-inflicted challenges like the perfect villainous catchphrase
• Childhood Coral Sea: Leech twins take notice of him after his dramatic personality shift results in him doing a lot more interesting things way earlier. Likes to get Az into trouble knowing he’s too apathetic to prevent it, and watch him scrabble his way out knowing he’s too stubborn and determined to stay distracted or ask for help. Jade more so guilty of meddling to inflict The Challenges, while Floyd likes directly egging on or ‘helping’
• Az: “Look. Sometimes I just say things that sound cool, and appropriately dramatic for my scene, and everybody else just has to deal with the fallout because I may or may not bother justifying it.” 
  • Someone else: “What scene??” 
  • Az, seriously: “Every moment with me is my scene.” 
• System parodying a solemn twist reveal, oh this is a fake world simulation all along and you’re going to be waking up soon now that you've collected enough points~! 
  • Cheerfully says it’s a joke after successfully multiplying Az’s unofficial ‘Pissed Off Meter’ to ‘help’ him unlock new rage-strength 
    • (Sparked by how Az wasn’t able to get as angry as he wanted when choking out this person who crossed him)
• Az has bad temper but doesn’t really keep grudges (forgets after retribution)
  • So straightforward yet nonsensically logical that it’s painful, but has surprisingly canny thought processes
  • Can be subtle but finds it dull
  • Understands Floyd a bit better than Jade; also strives for luck and chance as simply more tests of sheer skill to be crushed
• Contemplates sometimes if the System is lying to him about amnesia and about his entire existence, but is too impatient for lingering on it, because what’s done is done and can’t fight that or even have the reason to fight, since what's in front of him is more important right now. Not a victory if he’s not even playing
• System explains he has to start from this early on because in other universes Azul’s soul is already too well-established for the inter-universal ethics committee to sign off on replacing
  • Az: “There’s an ethics committee that still signed off on this??”
• System censors any profanity both ways. Azul can say anything he wants, but nobody else can hear/understand/recognize what he says as swears. And he can’t learn new mer or other language curses because he also can’t hear/lip-read/understand them. Which is deeply annoying, but also means he just stares blankly when cursed at because he is just so deeply unimpressed and disappointed. 
  • (Would have been unimpressed either way, but people mistakenly get the impression that he’s a prude about swearing.)
• Fond of efficient naps to replace sleep, still calls it ‘beauty sleep’, “containing my beauty from the world so it can breathe a respite from stunning superiority, obviously.” 
  • Truly does enjoy sleep but in self-discipline doesn't usually allow himself to indulge. Too much to do in a day!
• Sarcastic but somewhat sincere self-esteem, because long ago decided couldn't get anywhere if it’s his self-perception holding himself back. To be the best, one must believe they’re the best. Truly does enjoy sleep but in self-discipline doesn't usually allow himself to indulge. 
• Family background in original world mirrors somewhat, but is twisted to suit a classic rival antagonist background: orphan with adopted dad/stepfather lawyer foodie who he’s close to and bonded over food, but who is in poor health. Has a distant world-class celebrity-chef and restaurateur mother unaware of his existence who will later discover him from some prodigy young chef news story and scholarship/sponsor him out of his academy arc. 

Other parts in series: ‘kitchen scraps’, collection of scrapped excerpts and AU’s

• Spinoff where Az actually goes through stages of Disney Princess qualification (i.e., animals love him → he subverts them into being an organic and rare ingredients supply network)
• Spinoff where Az continues on in his original world/plotline but it gets turned into Modern AU TWST crossover where all the TWST characters are romance cliches/tropes and it’s a comedic genre clash
• Super popular gamer/streamer + #1 PvP God Idol that he’s uninterested in
• Subverted twist of the rich parents and doting older brother finding lost at birth child… is his neighbor next door 
• The mysterious criminal found deeply injured in the side alley with amnesia and picked up who imprints on him 
• The cold ceo who crosses paths at a coffee shop and invests in shows
• The cafe owner who flirts with cute latte messages → Az criticizes the coffee but admits the pastries are good 
• The rival chef of course
• The famous actor in disguise who gets mistaken as a flower shop worker + hires private chef
• The childhood friend you learned cooking with together, then got separated and grew up estranged, but he mysteriously returns and is subtly possessive
• The fake dating a stranger because they're trying to get out of an arranged marriage (+ Az ends up only agreeing because they want to drag them to a couples-only night of a rival to insult their food)
• The bodyguard after you’re targeted by a criminal syndicate (for exposing their food industry fake suppliers??) 
• The transmigrator fan who wants to avert his sad fate but gets roped into Learning Basic Kitchen Skills To Survive clinging to his thigh 
• The time traveler from an apocalypse where people get powers
• Hidden ancient creature just woke up from long nap/sealing and confused about modern world, getting an oblivious guide
• Secret royalty diplomat + new neighbor 

Chapter Text

mirror may i

if you’re familiar with ‘swap’ or ‘opposite’ au premises, this is a semi-subverted version of those. the characters retain some key traits despite the different expression of some ‘characteristic’ traits— possibly explained as the result of different life events, possibly just Like That. this allows them to act as their own canon foils. 

this was originally going to be a series with two parts: 

1. mirror, mirror = a nonlinear drabble collection of snapshots into the mirrorverse, and mirror!nrc’s different dynamics and vignettes. 
2. reflect, refract = a nonlinear drabble collection of snapshots into different timelines where mirror!nrc crosses over into canon!nrc or vice versa. 

.

.

Setting Notes: 

The School: 

Nox Raptor Consortium is an arcane academy for heroes, just as Regalia Steel Arcanum is an arcane academy for villains. On Sage’s Isle, where else? 

If NRC happens to have quite… selfish and cynical students who have to be rigorously pressured into calculating cost-benefits of the greater good as a collaborative exercise, and RSA happens to have quite… generous and trusting students who have to be patiently coaxed into inflating egos and sabotaging communication and unapologetic demands… then, well, that’s what schooling’s for! 

Somehow it’s all the more infuriating when the naturally cooperative but otherwise bumbling fools at RSA keep winning over the meticulously righteous efforts of NRC…! 

(It’s like Loveable Sunday Cartoon Villain vibes versus Deconstructed Seinen Humanized Hero vibes.) 

The Characters:

.

Heartslabyul 

This dorm is generally known as the rule-makers who don’t even follow them. Loves enforcing their expectations onto others, yet are the first to turn around to cite exceptions— although, everyone seems to have their own judgment of acceptable personal hypocrisy. Generally a bunch of pragmatists who believe in the ends justifying the means… although they hate anyone pointing out that their pecking order is just lip service, no loyalty. 

• Riddle is a demon doctor instead of a teacup tyrant. 

He is the epitome of patience, the model of restraint, the textbook example of cool-headed insincerity. Strongly upholds life plan to become a doctor like his parents— especially his father who raised him. While evidently caring about ‘behaving like a gentleman’… that gets thrown out the window when it comes to ‘treating unruly patients’, and (un)fortunately, he can diagnose anyone with a necessary dose of reality if they’re behaving outrageously (to his still righteously biased standards). Doesn’t ever show a temper, swallows down initial unpleasant emotions behind an indifferent facade and hilariously foul mouth, but is a really truly legendary grudge holder with a petty, nasty temper he denies. (Just as he denies having a sweet tooth despite openly eating so much sugar, justifying it as self-medicating mood.) 

Riddle will dole out punishment and heal you up after, making sure people are grateful to know their place. Enforces the rules because does not expect rules to be inherently obeyed without an enforcer, and does not inherently believe in the value of rules except for what effect they achieve. The desired effect here being maintaining an orderly and efficient environment to work in, that’s all. Only values logical rules and will bend rules if he thinks there’s due cause (i.e., only for a patient’s well-being). Still holds high opinion of self-judgment and resists being refuted as wrong. 

• Trey is an intimidating, cold-eyed, ‘big brother’ in the gangster sense who takes no bullshit.

He immediately stands out in any scene, never one to blend into the background. Wears contacts, not glasses. Often frowning. Still a good liar and still concerned about both Riddle as a person and Riddle as a troublesome variable to manage, but his ‘protective style’ is to draw attention to himself rather than to nudge things in the background. Exercises an undeniable authority. Typically not subtle, but can be so on rare exceptions. Still resents responsibilities to a certain degree, but he does volunteer for it, so it’s because he wants people to take care of themselves without needing him.

Still bakes and has pretty much the same hobbies (dental hygiene included), but treats them as rewards to share instead of normalizing them. Is quick to establish boundaries upfront as well as enforcing them— is actually better at enforcing boundaries with people he cares about as opposed to strangers he doesn’t care enough to be strict with. Surprises everyone how patient he is with offering Cater a listening ear (and gruffly exasperated advice that will never be taken) every time he’s on the break up of a cycle… even though he flatly refuses Cater’s joke of a comfort treat, saying he won’t reward bad habits.

• Cater is an emotional mess who leans into being authentically vulnerable, to others’ discomfort.

He never holds himself back from feeling too much, always chasing belonging and connections no matter how transient. Better to have loved and lost than never at all! Accepts he will always get hurt if he’s the one who shows he cares more, but is always willing to keep trying and to enjoy the intensity of his care. Really does feel sincerely and is quick to attach but finds it difficult to stay attached after a certain period of time, though— for whatever reasons. He tends to go through cyclical routines of meeting new ‘besties’ or even romantic flings, and then either getting broken up with or else breaking up with them. Ruthless in his sincerity, doesn’t crave general approval/acceptance, is always chasing ‘true understanding’ and is self-confident that those who really want him, will find him. 

Everyone knows about his drama. Both because he posts about it on his still prolific and popular social media — where he’s still often keeping in great touch with previous relationships that ended amiably, like from moving around — and because he dramatically overshares to make conversation, treating his own life as somewhat like content to invite commentary on. Sometimes it feels like, no matter how genuinely he tries to live, he’s subconsciously just performing a different character still… but at least he has one he’s mostly happy with, really!

• Ace is the cute and obedient teacher’s pet… right? 

Subdued and tactful and ‘timid’, he’s so unassumingly straight-laced and seemingly innocently caring that people tend to trust him with too much. Maybe it’s still a bit of a little brother instinct, but nobody who really has a sibling should trust his facade. He’s often the one stirring up trouble ‘accidentally’, inciting plots, and playing with manipulations. (He and Epel recognize each other as similar but different acts— and generally dislike but will use each other as set dressing.)

Still has his social perceptiveness and brat energy, still picks up things quick and is basically allergic to emotional commitment, still wants shortcuts in life to get what he wants, which are pretty normal wants for the most part. But it’s all leveraged deliberately to further his mischief instincts in messing with people while maintaining a two-faced mask. (Deuce is his favorite ‘prop’ to conceal himself with— no matter how many times he’s played, the fool still believes Ace believes in his bad boy act, just because Ace pretends to be goody-two-shoes scared!) Has a very clear vision of his future ambitions, and dated his middle-school sweetheart for a long time before an amiable breakup— all as part of the act, of course.

• Deuce is a former prodigy who’s burned out into delinquency. 

He’s skipped his entire childhood making his mother and all the adults around him proud, it feels like. Oh, not in academics— he’s still no good in the textbook learning. But he has a gift for martial arts that was nurtured through special talents scholarship programs, and he’s won a few junior tournaments here and there, bringing back trophies for the schools and prize money for home. Of course, his mother only wants him to be happy— but he’s grown increasingly distanced from his peers and disillusioned with measuring said happiness by what he’s just good at, and also feels deeply that this can’t really last into a sustainable career. It’s like how kids get stressed and falter in performance if you start giving them gold star stickers for what they’re naturally good at. His one-track passion has burned out, he threw his last tournament where everyone thought he was the shoe-in win, he needs a change, a reinvention. Discovering belated— or exactly on time?— teenage rebellion. 

Although is it really rebellion if your mom went with you to TWST Hot Topic to help you pick out your new look and self-image?? Still a gullible puppy who’ll bite, still easily flustered when his projected self-image is doubted— but he’s sensitive to being seen as a poser now. Puts on a cold and intimidating act to hide his own insecurities, but is still easily read-through or provoked into showing his role model origins.

.

Savanaclaw

This dorm is generally known as a bunch of loners who only respect non-physical strengths. They’re quick to calculate where you fall on any number of flexible, maybe-too-specific ranks and see you as opportunities to learn from (or to defeat to prove themselves). A bunch of quirky individualists who know too much about you. They tend to have clashing philosophies, which are resolved in-dorm through debate or skillful competitions — but are always looking for outsiders to settle their disagreements. It’s typically expected that Savanaclaw students get along best with Pomefiore students, who also espouse individual-specific self-improvement. 

• Leona is long-since graduated but has recently returned as an adjunct professor for ancient magics, while he’s working closely with Trein on his PhD research. 

The prodigy who entered a year late but still skipped a grade, and it’s a really rare NRC exception to allow skipping. But he was in an extremely motivated rush, moving forwards towards his self-controlled future. Just missed Malleus’ entry into NRC; Savanaclaw lamented how badly they were crushed without their shooting star captain Leona, but Leona privately thinks he would not have changed things, and that he’s a little glad his legacy is short but shining. But in general, doesn’t think about his NRC days much— graduated right into pursuing apprenticeships and research with world-famous academics, doing university courses remotely while he’s also roaming the world for his work.

Has cut off ties completely with royal family, technically last name is now different. Gave up on that choking what-if of responsibility to his homeland— and has his own bitter regrets and mixed feelings about it still, but it’s been long enough that he’s satisfied with where he is now, and forging his own path. Giving up on all responsibilities to other people — at least, that’s what it felt like at the time — kind of sent him into a severe mental spiral but he still came out the other side with the fierce determination to do something for himself, then, and go from there. Sometimes feels adrift without people to care for… but reminds himself he gets academic fan letters, and his advancements will benefit people generally, especially if he invests wisely with his patents. Still wants to breakthrough into industry, but it's on his hopeful long-term 10-year-plan. May eventually teach students too. Keeping away from politics like a sore wound, but also needs to know about it to seize research funding and application… eh, it's worth the effort to deal with it, because something will come of it.

Is all the happier for framing it as committing to his own self-satisfaction and selfishness— still has that strong sense of, hmm, duty to achieve something good, but he’s subverted it into individual achievements to provide tools for others to change the world, rather than the burden of leadership against skewed systems. Still fond of naps, and is considered the sort of ‘supreme upperclassman’ of Savanaclaw since he has a standing invite as an alumni to visit; he rarely does, that’s embarrassing, but for some reason these kids tends to seek him out on school grounds like he’s a counselor and not a teacher, ugh… 

• Ruggie is the dorm head who cares for everyone’s benefit, and steadfastly teaches that you’re only as strong as your weakest link.

People are often surprised by how this low-class hyena from the slums made it a position of authority shared by literal fae princes and otherwise a bunch of poncy spoiled rich kids… er, not that he’d ever word it like that, of course! He tries to always speak all genteel and persuasive with motivational speaker buzzwords— consciously acting like he obviously fits in with this leadership! But he shares the surprise, truly— all he did was carry forward his willfully optimistic ethos that nobody gets left behind, and that change follows change. Used his skillful silvertongue and a steel backbone to unify his dormmates under a shared sense of pride and identity. Didn’t intentionally put himself as leader but was just the one who saw things needed to get done and was the one willing to start the efforts— naturally became first-year vice head, and then was recognized as successor with the previous dorm head graduating. 

Still only cares about ‘his people’, but trusts that his people will care for him too, and repay his loyalty and efforts to build a community. Instead of thinking, ‘not my problem’, always thinks, ‘that’s our problem’. Still socially perceptive with a keen eye for people’s weaknesses and desires, but actively keeps order by cutting off problems before they cost him, because the big picture benefit is to appear as a good leader. Plans to leverage current connections into post-grad networking and a good career… and return to childhood neighborhoods for uplift investments. Still has a lot of internalized inferiority to work through, and probably a lot of rage and resentment for the broken and oppressive systems that he and so many others went through… but he keeps it tightly bottled up before fellow students. Maybe talks a bit about it with his grandmother or even with the surprisingly good listener of Leona, who he originally went to ask leadership advice from as a half-joke (and half-curious about the rave reviews from classmates about his wisdom).

It’s a lot of pressure, how many people look up to him, when he feels like he’s still making this all up as he goes… but luckily, he still works best under stress (or so he thinks, because he really just doesn’t know what to do with himself when he’s not stressed, he’s never lived without it). 

• Jack is the epitome of a team player who actually cares for results over process.

People are often surprised by how coldly calculating he naturally is, under his warm smiles and approachable attitude. Perhaps a giveaway to those familiar with beastfolk should be how tightly controlled his body language is; his ears and tails move in deliberate impression, as he’s always thinking about what others should be thinking about him. Often he has thoughts of shedding weakness to improve the team — but he respects Ruggie’s 'soft heart' (and craves his dignified approval) enough to never voice this. Didn’t come in expecting much of his upperclassmen, so was pleasantly surprised how he increasingly believes in and looks up to them.

Although he’s still a hard worker, diligent, strong and sharp and dedicated… he is not very self-motivated and looks to society/in-group to conform for success. Maybe if he ever really let go of his exhausting act, he’d feel more genuine fulfillment and happiness… but that’s so risky, so it’s better to keep following the pack and working for others’ affirmation. 

(Even if it’s increasingly baffling how they’re insisting he figure out his own pace and interests… But hey, maybe Leona, the Magift star player he idolizes and who’s now teaching an upperclassmen elective he’s sadly not eligible for, could give some good advice? He seems to have it all figured out…) 

.

.

Chapter Text

mirror may i

.

Octavinelle

The dorm is generally known as the least approachable due to their typically stoic or scowling countenances, as well as their disinterest in dealing with others. However, they’re simultaneously known as the most genuinely helpful and fair— not because they care about you necessarily, but because they have their own strange principles. Although they practice a certain belief in non-intervention — or, at least, minding their own business — such that you must actively seek them out and prove yourself worthy of help. Which can mean anything from an effectively emotional appeal or going through whatever tests of character they want you to, first. But if you manage to beat their games, there's no one better for give you the tools to help yourself.

• Azul is the undisputed if somewhat bizarrely reluctant leader.

How such a hesitant and risk-averse person got to that position seems baffling to most, especially when he openly seeks validation/affirmation for his leadership often, and, in general, seems to wear his heart on his frowning sleeves. Don't think he's actually a sucker for a sob story, though, even though he seems to think so, with how much he likes cathartically crying. It all makes sense how respectful his dorm is to him out of pure admiration, when you watch him actually problem solve: however messily sympathetic he seems on the surface, is exceeded by how coldly logical and rational he is underneath, with an instinctively bulletproof heart. Although, he seems himself unaware of this contradiction at times?? 

Absolutely self-confident in his own abilities, disdains picking up others’, but is quite easily persuaded by either soft touch or force to help others. (Not because he’s actually scared or helpless, although he likes pretending to be, to downplay his reputation, which he doesn't really care for— but because he figures they’re expressing a need for his unique help, and he still likes being relied on.) 

• Floyd is inexpressive, very hard to read, seemingly very stable and predictable. 

Does not get excited about strong challenges or about comparing himself. Peacefully/stubbornly in his own world, talkative only about what interests him, which is usually only his own everchanging gauntlet of hobbies/interests that range from deeply bland and/or conventionally boring to absolutely off-the-wall unexpected and/or life-changing for better or worse. Only gives sincere compliments. Often denies Azul affirmation but still often obeys him and is the first to believe in his ability and judgment— these three just like playing at being a disunited front.

• Jade is very expressive, easy to read, seemingly quite quick to change his opinions or mood. 

Does not get excited about the unexpected because actively avoids trying to predict or manipulate things— so, things are never boring, because he is literally not keeping track of what’s going on. Tries to live very much in the present of each moment and to connect with others to understand their point of view. Only gives sincere compliments. Often denies Azul affirmation but still often obeys him and is the first to believe in his ability and judgment— these three just like playing at being a disunited front.

.

Scarabia

This dorm is generally known as the killjoys who are straightforward in their intentions to get something from you … but it’s the wackiness in implementation that always surprises people. Seemingly serious but actually harmlessly(?) strange is the impression.

• Kalim’s hypnotized personality is actually his true/typical face here: stern, humorless, authoritative, harshly judgmental. 

He is extremely fair with a vengeance— distrusts owing debts and hates being used, will make you pay for crossing him or profiting from him without his permission. His canon personality is the hypnotized one, coming about from Jamil well-meaningly trying to get him to lighten up out of concern for his stress/unhappiness… Why he doesn’t immediately revert it, is a different story. Consciously does not believe in people— but still, sometimes, shows a certain subconscious desire to give the benefit of the doubt. 

Kalim is still quite perceptive and good with people, still not the best mind for study (he pushes himself extra hard to make up for it), and still deeply trusts Jamil even though he has his own suspicions of his best advisor’s personal agenda. Has quietly accepted this is the one relationship he’ll wholeheartedly accept a mutual using of each other— still wants, maybe needs Jamil to stay. Is still lonelier than he admits, and secretly wants to connect with classmates and enjoy this schooltime life, but has trapped himself in his own role/self-made image and is too proud to change his mind on the usefulness of like-minded companions. 

• Jamil is sunny, enthusiastic, and seemingly carelessly carefree. 

Leans on his relationship to Kalim to be deliberately infuriating but untouchable under the protection of the al-Asim heir, likes to flaunt such privileges by meddling with others’ lives. Has no inferiority complex, has not really needed to hide himself to please Kalim. Openly peacocks— shows off his still brilliant capability and still strong desire for control, which Kalim indulges and others are often annoyed with. Is the type to say ‘the compliments are getting you somewhere, keep going’— pleased with praise regardless of sincerity, and is amused by suck-ups. 

Jamil still sometimes deliberately downplays himself to be underestimated, as a bit in some self-directed drama. This is different from how he always behaves quite differently in front of his parents or Kalim’s— sober and quiet and a wallflower. What he keeps in his heart is that he still resents the al-Asim control and the Viper servitude, but he does not (consciously) blame Kalim. Resigned to his fate and copes by believing in Kalim as a source of freedom and secondhand power to blatantly benefit from. Has more complicated feelings about his one-sidedly claimed ‘best friend’ than he himself admits. Wants meal ticket Kalim to thrive and maybe, just maybe, has his own secret plans to play shadow ruler down the line. 

.

Pomefiore

This dorm is generally known as the most relaxed and self-driven environment. Vargas is the teacher most associated with them— what, Crewel? Ehhh, maybe he’s an alum, but he’s not the epitome, you know? They still focus on holistic self-improvement, but believe that you know what’s best for you and that before you work on the physical, you need to work on your mental and emotional self-actualization. (There tends to be a lot of outwardly confident but internally uncertain types here…) Doesn’t believe in interfering with others’ individual journeys, but loves cheering others on and will offer advice and help if requested. Their dorm tends to be the most, er, disorganized, but it’s a collaborative kind of chaos that leads to everyone knowing more or less where things are! Outsiders aren’t so lucky, even if they are frequently invited in to attend some inspirational or practical student-led workshop. 

• Vil is still a famous child actor… but he’s intending to retire after having achieved his modest ambitions, and schooling was sort of him soft-launching this. 

He is sensitive to how this will disappoint his loving fans… but he’s uninterested in fame and only stressed out by popularity, has said before that he dislikes when people claim to admire or love him — because those people don’t know him or what his efforts were to create this art, they only know the art by his intention. Very secure and self-confident, knows he’s the best version of himself and never bothers to compare with others (except to learn from their craft), but is just inherently a deeply private person who doesn’t interview well, doesn’t enjoy marketing, doesn’t like the industry’s complicated practices. For people who don’t know him, they wouldn’t guess (other than his striking face) that he’s a famous actor at all— he’s reserved with strangers and does not exercise much authority. 

Vil still has a lot of patience with people who want to improve themselves. Maybe, after retiring from acting, if he doesn’t go into costume/set design or physical training, he’d go into counseling or therapy? Probably could be a lifestyle coach or influencer easily, but dislikes public speaking. Always thinking about what the concept of beauty really is, as an artist— his mind keeps changing. Believes in self-validation over external validation, not changing for the mainstream. A very soft and approachable and inviting beauty— not intimidating at all. Still very skilled, disciplined, well-rounded in strengths, and pursues his passions while minding others’ potential and valuing hard work— however is, to a certain degree, indecisive and aimless. He doesn’t know what he really wants to do, except not continue as he was before.

• Rook is… who? 

Oh, right, that guy! Ah, he’s just so forgettable, with his similar lack of any intimidating presence. Although… instead of having an intensity that gets less unnerving with familiarity, Rook has a certain normalness that gets more unnerving with familiarity. He has a classic, self-explanatory artist’s temperament: outwardly quiet and reserved, internally emotional and fervent. If you do know Rook, it’s probably by name for his his award-winning photos— actually, it’s pretty common for people to recognize his famous family name through global publications. Also a deft hand at collages, which you may see works in progress around the Pomefiore shared use studios. Favors abstraction, not realism— and to a certain degree, favors natural occurrences over deliberate intervention.

Still patient, strong, self-confident, abnormally skilled and stealthy, with an utter devotion to beauty without being blind to a subject’s faults… but considers himself an observer, not a hunter. Avoids getting involved at all costs, to capture the natural behaviors and consequences in one’s most comfortable habitat! Still knows way too much about every student and has stalked people to study them before— but doesn’t speak about it and actively conceals himself, so most don’t know. Often mistaken as “shy” when he just doesn’t want to interfere with watching things play out. Still socially perceptive, but only uses this to mark for himself interesting subjects (not targets) to follow up on later.

• Epel is the cutest frilliest silliest apple of every Pomefiore student’s eye~! 

Going from being the most doted-upon in his village and the most-confessed-to school beauty of his middle school, Epel’s accustomed to making himself endearing and beloved— a natural scammer, used to people being quick to give him not only gifts but also the benefit of the doubt. Surely he only uses this power for good, tee-hee~. 

Although sometimes it feels a bit forced, like, maybe he’s putting on an act he doesn’t 100% believe in or enjoy? But why would he continue to do so, in such a welcoming environment? Maybe he doesn’t know who he is without it, or maybe he enjoys some aspects but doesn’t know how to separate what he doesn’t, or maybe… well, maybe he has some other internalized issues to work through. Objectively, he’s the only one holding himself to this fakeness that he’s so good at making seem real. 

.

.

Chapter Text

mirror may i

.

Ignihyde

This dorm is generally known as the most friendly and open environment, second only to Diasomnia in its welcoming nature. The difference is most distinct in that Ignihyde still makes you come to them, but once you do, their lair— ahem, uh, expo center is eager to bring in and educate guests! The latest in cutting-edge technologies and innovation is on display, with public-facing walk-in collaborative labs and other such shared workspaces common. Students like to work together— although their individual egos often spark tensions, such energy is great for further invention! The place has such great vibes, even non-Ignihyde students will come here to hang out and study, no invite needed!

• Idia is still a deeply passionate fan of pretty much the exact same things, but he’s now enthusiastic and non-discriminant about introducing others into his interests.

No more gatekeeping, only recruiting! Keeps the superiority complex but lacks the inferiority complex— an alarmingly sparkly enthusiast whose sincere charisma and pure words (copied sometimes directly from his fave characters’ speeches, but shhh) easily sway and inspire others into following his still stubborn self-confident beliefs. Obviously he still has the most correct opinions ever— you see, you agree, don’t you!? . ݁₊ ⊹ . ݁˖

Is still an introvert, actually, so he still tires quickly of being outgoing, but he genuinely likes speaking with people— that is, people who are his adoring fans and admirers, which are most people he talks to (whether they think so or not, he knows so!). (Does actually, really, truly have a fanclub for how beautiful his face is and how passionately he conducts himself and of course, his still-true genius— a fanclub other than the Board Games Club and all of Ignihyde, anyway.) 

• Ortho is alive and at RSA! ^v^

Feel free to imagine yourself what he’d be like if he was still an artificial humanoid with a soul though! Maybe he’s Idia’s number 1 fan while also being his consistent patient source of humbling. The restraint talking him down rather than hyping him up. Someone needs to take care of Idia, who’s still prone to neglecting self-care when he gets into his head about the next big adventure for this protagonist… 

.

Diasomnia

This dorm is generally known as the most approachable yet most dangerous. Everyone feels so welcoming and happy to be speaking to you— especially, maybe, too happy to be bestowing you favors you never asked for, but now must repay. You don’t want to be ungrateful, do you? They’re still the strongest— and they love meddling and getting involved to let you know it.

• Malleus is the most popular student in all of NRC and gets invited to far too many things for his poor planner to keep up with!

His phones and technology still break too easily, but he manages with the help of a lot of conjured household spirits who help him keep track of things to always arrive on time.) Sometimes he has to even turn down invites or leave early out of social fatigue… An excitable and lively communicator who is easily understood for his true intentions. He’s always dreaming up new gifts to give at birthdays or other such celebrations… 

(Now, just don’t ask why he’s so popular and keenly invited. Maybe they still fear him. Maybe he’s made it known what will make him happy and why he should be kept happy. Maybe they owe too many debts…) Never lonely, and always interested in living in the present, fond of playing along with a human mentality even if it often seems he understands less of the genuine psychology/sociology than he pretends to. Is still very fond of Lilia and “Amber”, and is growing a recent interest in Sebek. And while his time is always precious and highly in demand… rumors say there’s a increased chance of a random Malleus encounter when looking for the new ancient runes professor. They like talking deep magicks or life philosophy on inevitable mortality or something— or, at least, Malleus likes poking at his full-life perspective, and Leona tolerates him as just another immature student.

• Sebek is barely aware of who Malleus is, and just… wants to be a normal bookworm?

He’s always felt closer to his human side, due to growing up basically a changeling— for various circumstances and reasons, was raised outside Valley of Thorns with his parents’ traveling clinic. Grandfather Baur is someone you get holiday letters, maybe annual visits with, and awkwardly fond phone calls with, you know? Not familiar with most fae practices despite mother being fond of sharing her culture and father eagerly embracing it too— a bit of a diaspora feeling where, upon entering NRC and especially Diasomnia where he’s exposed to more fae peers than ever before, he’s cautiously interested in learning more about heritage but is uncomfortable as claiming himself as fae-belonging. 

Still pretty loud and enthusiastic about his passions and straightforward and an earnest hard worker— but respects father’s work a lot more, and didn’t grow up with guard training or that kind of role. Kind of aimless, but still enjoys books— still connected with Baur through them, plus didn’t easily make friends due to constant traveling, so books were always a great way to explore culture and form connections to concepts, at least. Way more a nerd than jock. Looks up to "Amber" as a really... er, relatively 'normal' human upperclassmen in Diasomnia who feels more fae-connected than he is, please teach him the ropes!! Is extremely unfazed with Malleus, to the point it amuses Malleus how politely unimpressed he is (due to lack of context, usually). 

• Silver “Amber” is famous in his own right, and everyone knows he’s not Lilia’s adopted son…

…because he’s an official ward of the Valley of the Thorns, and Lilia’s the guardian and instructor responsible for this politically sensitive hostage-orphan from a long-gone past-enemy kingdom. 

When the child was discovered in the time-frozen castle, Lilia originally brought him to the present-day government of what was once the Kingdom of Swords, figuring he should be a legal citizen of their system and humans belong with humans— let the child become an ordinary passerby, nobody has to know his origins. But the Valley of Thorns council got word of it and demanded they keep and take in the Dawn Knight’s child as a trophy to raise into their own sword. Lilia didn’t agree with it, but after a lot of drama and intrigue happened that the present-day ‘Swords Kingdom’ failed to really acknowledge or take a stand in, Lilia decided “Amber” (named for his golden hair from a diurnal fae blessing) was better off under his watchful eye and grudging care. 

Honestly, “Amber” is pretty much the same personality as canon Silver, still sleepy and sweet and stoic and sincere and loves Lilia as a parent— it’s just that he knows Lilia is wayyy conflicted about acknowledging him as his beloved child in turn, so he has never voiced this is how he thinks of Lilia. Still grew up singled out in the Valley of Thorns, albeit facing way more mixed public reception and unwanted fame. Also knows he’s predestined to be in Malleus’ honor guard as a trophy gesture, and knows he’s without any other family really in the world… But yeah. Pretty chill and un-bothered about it; Lilia is way more concerned about his future, but “Amber” just wants to stay with his strange fae family. (And is baffled by but increasingly fond of Sebek’s admiration.)

• Lilia is not a student, and indeed doesn’t look like one…

…because he’s the visiting/guest professor for the political history elective! Somehow, this results in a lot of mandatory military reenactments…?? Makes up for Vargas and Trein’s laxness by being strict and a stickler, although he has his own set of strange, fae logic rules to obey. Typically quiet and intimidating… and is disappointed if you’re surprised by his habitual stealthy movements, since didn’t he train you better than that? He’s not even flying! Tsk, tsk… (Oddly, he almost never seems to use magic?) 

Still enjoys cute things, although not for himself; there’s rumors that he was very different in his youth, which he never comments on except to say it wasn’t that long ago… 

Keeps a very professional distance from Malleus and “Amber” in school, even if they head home together for the holidays, etc. But has recently decided to take the new half-fae first-year, Sebek, under his wing, to encourage his fae pride… to Sebek’s uncertain dismay…

.

.

Staff

Crowley is still the extremely sketchy and mysterious headmaster; however, he now typically appears very mature and calm and reliable, and is almost too eager to bear responsibility and get involved with student populace— since half the time, he’s still hapless at it. Luckily, it’s easy to evade him— he carefully sends forewarning whenever he’s going to arrive somewhere, and does not believe in surprise visits . Can almost always be found in his office doing paperwork or else inspecting the grounds according to his posted schedule. Needs to be forced into taking vacations.

Worriedly mutters often about how he is so terribly unkind to let others do something when he could be taking care of it—! (Everyone else, after carefully keeping him away from meddling in their business, is too tired to consider whether he’s doing it on purpose. Manipulative or just a weirdo? That’s always the question.) 

Calls Ambrose LXIII a fond colleague and claims that Regalia Steel Arcanum is of course their beloved sister school…! …He is (still?) an unconvincing liar, still absolutely hates them and sees them as rivals.

-

Sam is still the friendly and always-convenient shopkeep; however, he’s now very upfront about listing his sources or processes or methods, believing transparency sells and pursuing purpose over profits. Never has sales— gives you one price ever, to encourage thoughtful and intentional consumption. 

It’s a bit of a joke that the Mystery Shop sells everything except mystery— and it includes a trade-in thrift section run by student volunteers! Although he keeps a limited stock on hand, he’s always open to letting you place orders for fulfillment. 

-

Vargas is still the vain and high-self-esteem coach who values hard work… but no longer thinks brawn beats all else, or that bulk is always in, or that everyone should aspire to be like him. Tends to chase fads and is known for having very laid-back, freeform lessons where you can follow along with his latest fashionable physical training routine or else do whatever you want, he espouses that you know what’s best for you. 

Vargas Training Camp is a totally opt-in voluntary retreat where it’s basically an independent study hall, but you’re camping. Even allows glamping! 

-

Trein is still the old man cat lover except he’s also the relaxed and surprisingly cool and hip professor who’s very excited about new innovations and experimentation in his field… which is still history! (Very tuned into archaeology, archival finds, new evidence to be interpreted, history as a living story, etc.)

When you don’t meet his high standards, humorously roasts you in front of everyone to Lucius— it’s amusing when it doesn’t happen to you. 

-

Divus is still the young man dog lover except he’s also the eccentric chaotic mess who’s always dressed like he ran out the door and firmly believes if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. 

Doesn’t allow phones or laptops in class, also holds your handwriting to high standards, but is great conversationalist who knows quirky history behind every topic or tool in his field… which is still alchemy! (Big proponent of the beauty of traditions, wisdom of ancients, and convergent reinventions!)

.

Misc.

• Grim is the self-described sidekick or useless mascot to Yuu's hero.

Missing his bravado that usually covers his underlying loneliness and anxious attachment to Yuu, he's no longer a brash braggart who boasts of himself and his henchmen. Instead, he openly self-deprecates, yet this is just another way for him to still seek out validation and affirmation of being wanted. Self-doubting and a bit of a soggy scaredy-cat, even his ears seem to droop into fog rather than flames. Still deeply wants recognition for his worth and capability to be a great and admirable existence, but is so shy that he often self-sabotages. It takes a while of knowing him to even coax out his dream of being a great mage! Yuu often has to hype him up or assure him or otherwise actively contrive to pull the passive, homebody Grim into situations. 

-

• Yuu is the anti-hero who's not here to help you.

Still a magicless student from another world, stuck with the Light Mirror's mistake(?). But they're heavily opinionated, proactive, and tends to actively create conflict wherever they go. It speaks to their fighting and scheming ability that they actually manage to be generally well-respected in NRC. Would be facing allegations of stirring up drama and giving business to a therapist, rather than allegations of playing one. Lone wolf uninterested in solving anyone’s problems or hearing about anyone's feelings without incentive— and tends towards brutally efficient solutions when it comes to it. Also uninterested in going home… and is an insomniac. Everyone has to forcibly befriend them, if anything, but they can also be lured into seeking out opportunities to show off Grim. Honestly, their weak spot is still Grim, and everyone knows it, although their bias means they're quick to blame others for trouble (instead of themself, since Grim usually is innocent). 

.

.

Chapter Text

the tasting table

4 blurbs + 3 bites

.

carrion call 

transmigration into a yandere otome game, dark comedy. for extra trope points, make it a transmigration into a doomed villain character. reader-interactive? Will Points needed to avoid Bad Ends— but each vote option costs and replenishes different amounts of WP. once you’re out of WP, automatic Bad End.

Summary:

In which ‘Night with the Ravens’ is the hottest dating sim of the year… and since being trapped in its reality for at least a year’s worth of time loops, you haven’t seen a single good end. You don’t really care abt the romance at this point— you just want to survive to graduate! But you can’t seem to stop tripping over every death flag… even with unlimited chances for a do-over. 

Tag: Uncomfortable Implications of Easily Missed Item Flavor Text, Meta Horror, Body Horror, Fridge Horror, Loss of Agency, Psychological Conflict

Extended Summary:

To make things worse, as if your life needed that, you didn’t even get the benefit of having your infinite time loop hellscape in the reality of Normal Mode. 

Normal Mode, where the win condition was simply to successfully reach a good end with a character, any character, as the mirror-isekai’d magicless prefect. 

No. You just had to get stuck in Hard Mode, unlockable after successfully reaching each character’s Best End, where the premise was the beloved prefect had already returned home, leaving a trail of broken hearts in their wake… and you were now playing as the unfortunate sentient magical simulacrum of them, summoned up by the collective intense grief and twisted belief of a school of the most talented young minds in a world where magic was inherently tied to belief. 

The belief that: my story could not have ended like this. They could not have left me.  

Your win condition? Was there really one? If you survive long enough, your body breaks down.

Of course, you knew all of this not from actually playing. No, no, you knew this because you were exactly one of those freaks who just watches multi-hour Let’s Play Yuu-tube videos while focusing on something else entirely. 

.

.

instead of being hit by truck-kun, you’ve somehow been trampled by carriage-chan!?

transmigration into an otome game, no yandere(??). a lighter comedy about dodging main character tropes— are you as successful as you think you are? may involve earnest attempts to avert fate by helping play cupid for your classmates to pair them up with each other… your success may vary if you’re depending on vague knowledge of fanfic from another world to determine likely pairings…! 

may have mood whiplash partway through as the idyll is stripped back to reveal a meta horror narrative. or maybe not! 

Summary:

Really, what kind of universe is this where all the delinquents are also competing for good grades!?

Alas, that’s Light Haven Complex for you…!

Chapter 1 Snippets:

Yes! Not only have you faithfully stuck to your supporting character script, you’ve also scrupulously avoided any possible ‘traps’ of getting somehow conflated with the main character role (the typical dismal fate of the ordinary transmigration)! 

This includes steering clear of the stereotypical flashback scenes, guarding your ‘chance encounter’ virtue! 

No feeding or even stopping to pet stray cats and dogs! (Instead, you donate regularly to the local shelter and various rescues — especially ones with stray spay and neuter programs — and pamper your own thousand-dollar saltwater fish tank at home!) 

No lending your things to others when you notice them missing, especially not your cute pens or custom umbrellas or any color of hair accessory that could be possibly symbolically tied to you! (Instead, you persist in campaigning to your secretly corrupt student council friend that they should consider a communal lending center to foster community, improve PR, and in short benefit everyone!) 

And absolutely no forming predictable habits or becoming a regular at infamous school-age meetcute spots, like coffee stops, flower shops, and book stores! Whether that be as a customer or a worker! 

(You don’t even dare to loiter around rich restaurant bathrooms— what if some clumsy waiter in training bumps into you and spills something over your nice clothes and insists on making it up to you while tearfully explaining they can’t be complained about or else they’ll lose their job?? Or someone is crying awfully out of their depth in the stall and comes out of the door just as you’re washing your hands and you have to make awkward eye contact while they recognize you from— school, something, somehow, whatever!!) 

Story/Game Setting, Which May Or May Not Have Been Carried Over Into ‘Reality’: 

[Insert romance visual novel game setting and routes. Set at boarding school Night Raven College, in essentially a modern, magic-less AU, set in an ambiguous fantasy country— and the quiet town of Sageville, not an island. The Overblot characters are the romance routes; everyone else is friendable (or enemyable!).] 

HEARTS system / mechanic / UI  where they all start off ‘dream’ white, can ‘bleed’ red or ‘blot’ black: ‘bleeding hearts’ bump steadily like a heartbeat, ‘blotted hearts’ shiver erratically like a shaky gasp. 

The more bleeding hearts you have, the deeper the red gets (from pale pink to vibrant red) and the faster and louder the heartbeats. The more blotted hearts you have, the deeper the black gets (from pale gray to void black) and the faster and louder the heartbeats. 

In EASY MODE this is just a cute and quirky aesthetic. Maxing out either red or black is the challenge, and it’s considered easy to get different good endings, with only the bad endings being failed captures with too many white hearts left. 

In HARD MODE, the opposite happens; red and black become too easy to get, and the challenge is maintaining a high number of white ‘dream’ hearts, as you realize both red and black are both ‘nightmare’ hearts and cries for help, with obsession running both ways, and only white is stability. 

Also it’s implied that there’s a time loop going on and HARD MODE is when it’s self-aware, so your previous playthroughs will affect the likelihood of influencing heart development. 

‘Overbleed’ or ‘Overblot’ are both bad ends in hard mode; that is, reaching max red or black hearts will actually automatically and unstoppably see the color overflowing from the last heart and filling the screen until it transitions to an unskippable CG scene. 

.

.

eye of the beholder

future au. kalim never went to nrc au. yuu never appeared au. leona x kalim x jamil. moody, subtle sort of feeling— a young adult coming of age kind of story.

note: i drafted this in early 2022, was very vindicated and gladdened to see a burgeoning of leona x kalim fics since then that see the same vision.

Summary: 

23-year-old second prince Leona, chafing under the scrutiny of his own kingdom whose people would never accept his rule, finally leaps at the chance to get out from the stifling public’s gaze in the Shaftlands, and take up the invite to visit with one of his potential courting offers, a certain prominent heir to the al-Asim of the Scalding Sands. 20-year-old Kalim, back from his post-RSA graduation trip around the world, sunny and sweet with his infamous Oasis Maker unique magic, would make for a beloved royal consort back in the savannah that’s ever at risk of drought, and an ironic complement to his own worst traits. 

Leona doesn’t intend to actually develop any feelings for him, though, much less pick him off the list of arranged marriages— it was clearly just a political bid in the first place, and what could he ever see in such a firstborn golden boy who’s never suffered like him? Still, he’ll play nice with his host for what’s essentially a free vacation away from home, he supposed, in a land where letting loose with his own unique curse shouldn’t make much difference. 

As time goes on and the desert nights turn, though, something does seem to make a difference in him. And in Kalim, with that knowing laughter that seems to hide more beneath its upbeat surface, and his quiet attendant Jamil, who he distantly remembers from NRC dorm head days, ever a step behind with his cool, clear gaze that sees more than he suspects he wants to be seen. 

When Kalim tells him he personally put in the offer, upon hearing Jamil’s schoolday tales, Leona feels like this has changed into a story all off from where it should be, and yet, somehow, it’s approaching an ending he wouldn’t mind accepting, after all. 

.

.

vault of iron in a city of gold: 

canon-compliant. cater-centric. a look into the diamond family’s dynamics and the sisters too. land of pyroxene and global economies worldbuilding. class dynamics, social/family expectations, tensions of mage and non-mage interests. 

masks and truths and fantasies that last only a night. 

pre-canon into canon (social media fic interludes) into post-nrc? i would call this a cater & oc fic, even a cater/oc fic, but not exactly a romance. you nominally date for a long time, but it’s not for romantic attraction which may or may not exist in addition to the other issues keeping you together (and apart). 

Concept: You are a non-mage childhood friend(?) of Cater’s. 

You’re the only child of a banking exec— his father’s boss. Despite your mutual disinterest in forming a deeper connection, or chalk it up to mere exposure effect: either way, you grew up together in snapshots of flashy events where diamonds drip off wrists and all that glitters is not to be touched. 

(He’s about the only other kid your age with a mind of his own, even if he can’t often speak it. And keeping you pleased is higher priority than keeping his sisters. You assume each other’s company often to deflect others’ attention.) 

There’s an undeniable consistency, for better or worse, how you keep meeting despite always moving, the both of you unwilling reflections. 

Sometimes you each think you know the other more than they want to be known or you want to know. At first, this trips you both up.

Over time, you develop compromises to keep each other, even though neither can say — honestly — why you bother. 

You play the fool for each other like you can forget it. You use each others’ smiles like you can believe it. 

Who’s the princess, who’s the prince? Who’s the crystal shoe, who’s the one that slips it?

Who’s chasing who depends on where you are in this script that keeps flipping. But you’re always in it together. 

.

.

alice in wonderland is an isekai: a quarterly report 

transmigrated oc who just Absolutely Firmly Only Wants To Be A Normal Average Person Who Graduates Into Some Normal Average Office Worker Job (but is too competent to get away with being overlooked or allowed to slip into the background!!) (self-sabotaging with being unable to resist Solving Problems) 

in original world, was the Hypercompetent Secretary/Assistant trope to the CEO Male Lead, a side character stuck in a brainless romance drama who was offscreen overworked and died of stress without ever getting to retire to their dream beach house with hot eye candy sugar babies!!

alternatively, was the Big Bad Hero in a dramatic fantasy kill-or-be-killed world, defeated the Demon Lord, actually inherited the position by bloodright, reformed the Dark Lands into a self-governing democracy, also offscreen overworked and died of stress without ever getting to retire to their dream city apartment with hot eye candy sugar babies!!

their insistence on being a Normal Average Person is rather unconvincing— they would be bored to a second death without excitement, a bit of a ‘doth protest too much’ just-enjoys-complaining vibe. genuinely respects and enjoys serving a ‘good boss’. 

if this ever got fleshed out, would somehow involve azul trying to recruit them and them insisting they aren’t worth recruiting yet blatantly proving this false by how they manage to deal with the tweels. maybe originally sorted into heartslabyul? 

.

.

hothouse flower

a somehow delicate and very pretty, sheltered, naive oc— mood fake-out, story peels away to reveal ‘innocently’(?) sinister undertones and character. either from the oc’s character or from their origins/creation. oc is definitely a weirdo lost in their own world either way— but has some surprising side or background, for sure. 

inspired by how orchids, commonly seen as very difficult to maintain flowers, are often only seen as such because there’s a common misconception as to what they really need to thrive. surprising to many that in nature, they begin as parasites on fungi, and can choose to continue to be parasites at will. 

(but that’s another layer of arguable misconception— some say it’s mutualism, not parasitism. but in the end, both of those terms are human-created, human-assigned— the orchid and the fungi themselves don’t care to categorize it, it’s just how they exist.) 

lol maybe this would be a jade & oc (jade/oc?) fic. 

.

.

formaldehyde hunger

an oc that has to do with ignihyde, for sure. undead? scientist? alchemist? homunculus? artificial soul? —regardless, will definitely be exploring themes of taboo appetite, sacrifice and survivor’s guilt, to live is to consume, to be hungry is to be alive, we can never truly understand another person but we are deeply connected to people we’ll never know of. 

the blurred line between selfishness and selflessness, especially in saving yourself vs saving someone else vs saving someone else through yourself vs saving yourself through someone else. grief and love and the inevitable decay and flourish of something new.

hunger as a metaphor for desire, and food as a metaphor for love. the body is the monster, and of course, the monster is always man-made.

an idia & oc & ortho fic in every slice. (idia/oc?)

.

.