Roleplay Title: Hold my Flower Setting 08/03/1145 Character's involved Valentine Mancini
" Damn it, damn it, how could I have been so ignorant?" Valentine muttered darkly, biting down on his thumb in thought. Things at the office had been so busy lately that he hadn't noticed the date pass by until it was too late. His assistant had failed to remind him ((even though it was written down on the CALENDAR!)) and now he was left with two choices. The first was to own up and face his mistake head on like he normally would, and the second was to just ignore it and pretend that he didn't notice what day it was. But it wasn't in Valentine's nature to back down from something, which only left him with the first option.
He pulled out his desk drawer to remove the neatly wrapped box that had been inside and placed it on top of the desk. It sat there, mocking him, reminding him of his foolishness even more that he wanted to put it back in the drawer and walk away from it all. But he wasn't going to do that. He didn't go through the trouble of spending his money and wasting his time wrapping the damn thing just to let it gather dust in his desk.
But before he could do anything, there was a knock on his door and Kyron's head popped in to ask him a question. Ah, perfect, now or never. Valentine finalized and waved him in, completely ignoring the question, " Come in, I was about to call for you." He waited for Kyron to enter the room before wordlessly sliding the box towards his Protector. After a beat of silence, Valentine explained, " It came to my attention that Kyrie's birthday has passed. I would appreciate it if you would pass that on to her along with my...apologies for the belated gift." He murmured, looking away from Kyron to hide his discomfort. He wasn't used to apologizing for his actions, or for anything at all really, but just imagining Kyrie's hurt face when she had realized that he had forgot her birthday would haunt him for the rest of the month if he didn't right his wrong.
" Take the rest of the day off, spend it with your daughter. You're dismissed," Valentine said, straightening up to arrange the papers on his desk. He said his goodbyes to Kyron as he walked out the door and after he heard the door shut, he relaxed back into his chair and let out a sigh of relief. He could rest easy now that he knew Kyrie wasn't going to be disappointed with him and he could get back to doing his paperwork. Absentmindedly, he turned to tell Kyron to get him a hot cup of tea until he realized he was the only one in the office and rolled his eyes. " I guess I'll get it myself then," He snidely remarked to himself and got up from his chair to head to the tea pot. But he couldn't keep the smile off of his face when the thought about Kyrie opening her gift to find the present that he had spent two paychecks on. Afterall, he had to spend his money on something, or rather someone, right?
Roleplay Title: Not This Again Setting: Sometime after the start of school in the parallel world, but before Ethan and Rodrigo have enrolled. Characters Involved: Angelic Zolnerowich Azure "Seiryuu" Drake
“Aha! There he is!”she exclaimed excitedly, spotting Seiryuu walking in the hallway.
When she caught up to him, Angelic tapped him on the shoulder. The blond turned his head to his side and locked eyes with her, and Angelic saw a spark of curiosity expressed in them. He stopped walking and brought his hands to his headphones, removing them from his ears. “Hello, Angelic.” he greeted her politely, speaking over the music Angelic could hear still playing through his headphones. “Did you need something?”
Angelic smiled and nodded her head. “Yep! I need to ask you something. It’s too crowded here though.” She replied, and then glanced to the students walking around them. The hallway was packed with students heading towards the cafeteria and Angelic could barely hear herself over all of the different conversations. “Can we step outside for a bit?”
Seiryuu shrugged and pressed pause on his music, following Angelic to a more secluded place. The blond had no idea what she wanted to ask him, and she wasn’t a stalker like a certain somebody, so a date couldn’t possibly be what she wanted, right? But then, why would she want to be alone with him if she was not asking him for a date?! Valor certainly would have asked him out if they were alone. Panic flooded through him and he became so distracted that he accidently bumped into her. “O-oh, sorry.” he mumbled, backing away embarrassed.
The young girl just laughed sweetly. “No problem. Anyways, I wanted to ask…are you free this Saturday at 3?”
Seiryuu didn’t answer right away, wondering if he should be truthful. He was free, he would be done with his idol practice by then, so he would not have anything planned. It was harder to lie to her than to Valor because Angelic wasn’t an insane stalker. But maybe a date wouldn’t be so bad? I haven’t gone on one in awhile… he thought. “I’m not busy. Why?” he finally answered, and the pink haired girl smiled.
“That’s great! Listen, I was wondering…will you switch practice times with sis★tar this Saturday?”
Seiryuu felt dumbfounded. “Oh…yeah, I guess.” He replied, pretending to look unbothered, and Angelic gave him a thankful smile.
“Thanks! You see, daddy called me this morning and said I have a doctor’s appointment at three on Saturday, the same time as my practice!” Seiryuu could hear the enthusiasm in her voice and smiled.
“Hm...You’re very dedicated to your group.” he remarked, and he couldn’t tell if the pink on her cheeks was because of make-up or not. “To be honest, I would have just skipped out on practice.” He admitted. He did enjoy being an idol with his friends, he really did, but Seiryuu just found practice so boring. “You know, I’m a bit embarrassed admitting this, but I thought you were going to ask me on a date.” he said with a playful laugh, and he saw Angelic immediately start giggling.
“Wow! ‘Are you free this Saturday at three’, that did sound like I was asking you out didn’t it?! Sorry about that! But if you do wanna go on a date, I would be happy to-“ BAM! Seiryuu blinked and the next thing he knew, a random basketball had hit Angelic in the face. Confused, he turned to see who could have thrown the basketball but didn’t see anybody. He looked back at Angelic and saw her disoriented and reaching out for the glasses that had fallen onto the ground.
“Are…are you ok? What in the world was that basketball just now?” he spoke with a frown, placing his hand on her cheek. “Wow, you already have a bruise on your cheek. Come on, I’ll walk you to the nurse.” Seiryuu wrapped his arm around her shoulder protectively, cautiously looking from side to side for any more incoming basketballs, escorting her to the nurse’s office without any idea about a certain blond watching them from the shadows.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: some day in 1145, before start of rp Characters Involved: Tytos Nahkti Bellona Valentia Black
He had loved her for over one hundred years.
He remembered their first meeting. He watched the little blond girl, looking so out of place in her pretty little dress, standing underneath Suneria’s relentless heat to the people of the east. He saw her studying the rocks, her eyes narrowed as she tried to figure out some sort of question, and he approached her out of curiosity.
“Why ya looking at that rock?” were the first words he ever spoke to her, and he remembered the way she was startled at his question, as if she had not noticed his presence beforehand.
“Because it’s pretty.” Were the first words she ever spoke to him and Tytos perfectly recalled feeling puzzled. It was an ordinary rock. Brown in color and not even a spectacular shade or shape. He had looked at her dumbly but she gave him a patient smile.
“I read about rocks like these in mommy’s library. They are rare too!” she had begun to explain, and Tytos noticed that she looked so proud at the mention of the library, as if the thought of books made her the happiest girl in all of Wiz. “They look like nothing special, but…” he remembered her pausing, bending down to grab the rock that had her so entranced before. She pulled out a wand, and Tytos remembered looking at her in awe, for he had been too poor to obtain his own wand and resigned himself to never seeing one up close. “Inside, they’re really beautiful!” and her wand lit up like a sparkler, and her magic cut the rock in half, revealing a shining, blue gem. The girl had grinned and offered him one half of the rock.
“My name is Valentia Mancini. We should be friends!” she said with excitement and Tytos had given her a small smile, shyly accepting her token of friendship, and the look of happiness she expressed that day was still as vivid as yesterday’s memory.
“Names’ Tytos Nahki. Yeah, friends sounds cool. Nice to meet ya, Valentia.”
That meeting changed his life. It was the start of a love that burned, shining brightly and eternally like Zoroastar, and always present no matter where he went. But love takes many forms, and soon his love for his Valentia felt like he was drowning in an ocean of passion that he had no hope of escaping from. He had fallen in love with her, his best friend, but Tytos had known back then that love like his could never be enough for a Mancini. The fact that her father was exactly like him, a poor boy from the village who met the kind Mancini girl by chance, who ended up marrying his love, had given Tytos some small hope but he had always convinced himself that he was not as lucky as him.
He no longer ran “what if” scenarios through his mind, but to his embarrassment, when he was younger all Tytos did was fantasize over what could have been and what will never be. He stayed behind while she returned to the city, but she loved him too, in her own way. She would not lose her best friend because of an ocean separating them and Tytos had always looked forward to her letters, and then eventually, her phone calls. She paid for his visits, and allowed him to be there for her throughout their lives.
He remembered the blush on her cheeks and the joy in her eyes as she recounted a story of her meeting the prince. He remembered his heart breaking and shouting for joy at the same time when she enthusiastically showed him an engagement ring. He remembered feeling genuinely happy at her wedding, when she changed her name and became queen, a title and life he felt she deserved. He remembered holding her, trying to comfort her after the funerals of her mother and father. He remembered keeping her company in the library, watching her read book after book. He remembered accompanying her to the Elegant Pathway, and smiling at the crystal road, thinking it was a perfect gift for her. He remembered her trying to set up dates for him with women, and misunderstanding his lack of interest, then sending men after him instead. He remembered her throwing a birthday cake at his face, and then laughing at him for the next hour. He remembered her despair over her eldest boy being sent to live away and him trying to soothe her worries. He remembered her tears over discovering an affair her husband had with another girl and hugging her until she stopped crying. He remembered hearing news of her baby’s death and moving across the world in order to help her. He remembered her wishing him good luck when he was assigned his first job as a protector. He remembered talking to her late at night whenever she felt lonely, keeping her company when the king was away for business. He remembered when he finally understood why his heart no longer ached when he saw her with her lover. He remembered their shared birthday parties long ago, back when she was still Valentia and they were silly little kids playing outside underneath the bright, bright sun...
He remembered…
Breaking out of his trip down memory lane, Tytos glanced down at the object in his hand that had triggered his memories. It was one half of a brown, ordinary looking rock on the outside with a beautiful blue crystal in the inner shell. He smiled. He did not need a ring to show his vow of eternal love; and on her wedding day he had stood beside her, even if it was on the opposite side of what he wished for in his youth, proudly standing in as her wizard of honor. There is more than one type of love, Tytos eventually realized, and he didn’t need to kiss her in order love her. He loved his best friend.
Elsewhere, the queen glanced down at the object in her hand and Bellona smiled fondly. It was one half of a brown, ordinary looking rock on the outside with a beautiful blue crystal in the inner shell. Her best friend was someone she could not imagine her life without. His happiness was her happiness. After all these years, he was still staying by her side and supporting her like a true friend. He was the only one she trusted enough not to need a loyalty potion. She loved her best friend.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: 70 years ago | 18/4/1075 Characters Involved: Valiant Mancini (aged 49) Pemperknackle Abernathy (aged 59)
" I don't know if I can do this." Valiant said softly as he tentatively looked himself over in the full length mirror in front of him. Despite all the fancy clothes that Pemperknackle had helped him pick out, he still felt that he had no confidence and that he would surely be rejected.
" Don't be ridiculous!!" His friend laughed, tightening the tie around his neck, " She's totally in to you. You shouldn't give up so easily!"
"A-Are you sure?" Valiant perked up like an excited puppy. Maybe she had said something to Pem about him?! Maybe there was some actual hope! " How do you know?"
" Beeeeeecauseeeee," Pem said matter-o-factly, finishing up the tie and then clapping him on his shoulder, " If she wasn't into you, she would have let that behemoth of a brother heal you instead!"
After hearing that, all of Valiant's excitement deflated and his shoulders shagged. It wasn't exactly the kind of reassurance that he wanted....but maybe there was some truth in Pem's words? He thought back to a couple of weeks ago when he was taken to the Solae potion shop. His right eye had been gorged out by a hostile vampire whose intent was to harm the King, but despite his best attempts, Belzeneff had gotten hurt. During the commotion Belzeneff had tripped over himself and received a small cut on his ankle. Because of this, the Royal Healer refused to treat Valiant until the King was completely healed. Enraged, Pemperknackle had taken him to the town's potion shop that was said to be ran by a family of Healers. They had met the daughter Dionysus on multiple occasions in the past whenever they got hurt, but it had never been something to this extent.
It took some time, and alot of work, but she eventually stopped the bleeding and Valiant from dying, but his eye had been irredeemable and Valiant had to face the fact that he would never use his right eye ever again. He was distributed a ghastly looking eyepatch and a shiny new discharge form as a thanks from the King. It was true that Belzeneff had promised to have another job lined up for him once he fully recovered, but without his Protector title, what more could Valiant do with his life? Being a Protector like his ancestor Valhalla was all that he had want to be, all that he had trained for, and once he became one he had thought, 'This is it, this is what I will be doing for the rest of my life. I'm set.' But fate was cruel and only allowed Valiant to live out his dreams for a short 22 years before viciously stripping him of it. But...he couldn't say that it had all been for nothing. On top of saving Belzenff's life, Valiant had fallen in love.
There had always been a lingering attraction to Dionysus Solae, the young Healer, but Valiant never acted on those feelings. Being in a relationship while being a Royal Protector was hard to maintain. The only reason it had lasted so long with Jenessa was because she was in the same line of business and they saw each other everyday, but even that relationship eventually disintegrated in a matter of years. Valiant had been more than happy to live out the rest of his life without a family if it meant protecting Belzeneff, but that was before he met Dionysus.
Even through the searing pain of his lost eye, Valiant was memorized by Dionysus' beauty. The entire time she was healing his eye, he couldn't stop himself from looking at her in all her elegance. Even with his blood on her hands she managed to retain all her beauty and by the time his wound was closed, he had fallen completely for her.
But after living a life of being beautiful, without any imperfections or setbacks at all, the sudden loss of his eye had taken a giant chunk out of his ego. How could anyone find him beautiful, or even desirable, now that he had a massive hole where his eye once was? Any confidence that Valiant once had in his appearance had all disappeared and he began to accept that he would die alone. But like a true friend, Pemperknackle wasn't going to let Valiant beat himself down for the rest of his days, so after a month of allowing him to grieve, Pemperknackle bought him some fancy dress clothes, flowers and handed him a reservation ticket for the fanciest restaurant in town.
" C'mon Pem..." Valiant said, coming back to the conversation from his thoughts, " that doesn't mean anything...She was probably just being nice. There's no way she would never go out with me..."
Pemperknackle could not believe that his once so egotistical friend had been reduced to this emotional mess, but he did his best to stick with him and do everything he could to return Valiant back to normal. But enough was enough and Pemperknackle was done with playing the good guy. He firmly grabbed Valiant's shoulders and turned him so that they were facing face-to-face, giving him the best stern glare he could muster into Valiant's remaining eye, " Listen to me Valiant. I am sick and tired of you feeling sorry for yourself! You lost your eye, not your life. So stop acting like it!" He shook his friend's shoulders roughly, " Dionysus isn't as stuck up as you! She doesn't care about what you look like, or that you're missing your eye or any of that. It's what's inside that counts! I don't know what kind of bullshit relationship you had with Jenessa, but Dionysus is really good for you man, like really good. I know that the two of you can be happy together, you just have to take a chance!"
Stunned into silence, Valiant could only nod weakly. He had never thought that his personality could count more than his looks, but if Pem said that it would..." You're right." He said eventually, causing Pemperknackle to release his shoulders. " If I don't try then I'll never know, right?" It was like Pemperknackle had breathed new life into him and Valiant straightened his posture, giving him one last look in the mirror before turning to grab his coat. " I'll be back later, I'll tell you how it goes!!" He said excitedly as he closed the door after Pemperkanckle waved him goodbye. Now left by himself, Pemperknackle finally breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see that the life had returned in Valiant's eye. And who knows, maybe he as right and the two would be blissfully happy with one another for the rest of their days.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: 30/10/1129 Characters Involved: Valyn Mancini
Valor's death brought her to the brink of despair.
She denied the news when she first heard, shouting "No! You're lying! My baby is brave and strong, he can't be dead!" but Valor never came home, and all she was brought was a bloody sword. She wanted nothing to do with a sword that failed to protect her Valor and never looked at it, leaving Valiant to deal with the worthless scrap metal. She didn't want a sword, she wanted Valor! Her baby boy. And after being forced to face reality, when it clicked that he really would never return, she lashed out with anger towards the easiest person to blame: Stannis. He was the one who recruited Valor and it was his fault he was dead; she had yelled those words to him over and over again, and she hated the knight, and it has been years since she has even looked the Grand Cross in the eyes. She began praying to Oz in church, and while the priest had been of some help, a kind young man with soothing words as pure as his white hair, he reminded her too much of Valor. Both her and Valiant mourned; they were both devastated, but they still had other children to take care of, especially with her darling Valerio being only seven years old, so she forced herself to leave her bed in the mornings.There was a holo feeling inside her chest and no matter how much love filled inside it, the feeling never left, and to this day she still feels remnants of the emptiness.
The healing process had been slow, but for Valyn it truly began when she was given a surprise blessing from Oz. "Valiant, I'm pregnant." she had told her husband and while unexpected, for they had not planned on having anymore children after Valerio, Valyn felt excited. She missed having a baby, and while he - she was not going to kid herself and actually expect another daughter - would never be a replacement for Valor, her new son was the reprieve from the despair she had felt for so long.
She redecorated the old nursery, painting the walls with fluffy looking clouds and a smiling sun that magically transitioned to a beautiful night sky with shining stars and moons whenever the sun set outside. She bought new toys and located old toys, surrounding the room with anything her baby could want in the future. Vallix, who wanted to open up his own fashion store, had made and given her cute babyclothes that she placed in the dresser that had been used by her previous children. Devoting time to her new baby was fun, and she felt happy, and Valyn already loved him.
And after several long months, and a few tiring hours in labor, Valiant gently handed her the newest Mancini. Valyn smiled and cradled the newborn in her arms, and her bright blue eyes stared at her baby with as much joy and love as she felt first holding Valentine all those years ago. She gave him a sweet kiss on the forehead. “Happy birthday, Valcyon,” she greeted quietly, as to not wake the sleeping baby, “Mama loves you. Always and always.”
Roleplay Title: Vampire Mafia Setting: Jecht and Trixxtal's House Characters Involved: Jecht Rutella
The microwave was broken.
Thanks to Trixxtal’s uselessness at technology, the $400 microwave Jecht imported from the United States was now sitting in the trash. Jecht still had no idea what actually happened, but earlier this week he had woken up to the smell of smoke and the frantic cries of Trixxtal. When he arrived in the kitchen to figure out what the fuck was happening, half of it was on fire, and Trixxtal was trying his best to put out the flames. The fiasco ended with them having a kitchen that was half burnt from fire and half soaked from water.
Now here he was, days later, sitting at his kitchen table alone staring at an uncooked bag of popcorn like a popcornless loser. He had no idea how to make the delicious snack without the aid of the microwave. Jecht did not really understand the mechanics behind the device; he just knew that people put food in the door and after punching in the time, the food came out hot and cooked. Maybe he needed heat?
At the thought of heat, Jecht smiled as a flash of inspiration hit him. He still had his enchanted earring that he obtained in his youth from some weird village of gold. Since he couldn’t understand a word of what the natives had been saying he just ignored everyone and went to steal their stuff. But after they emerged from the tomb people started cheering, bowing down to them, and practically threw the rest of their treasures at him and Trixxtal. His most important treasure had been the earring he took from the tomb. With it, he could command lightning, and lightning was exactly what Jecht needed right now.
He rose from his chair and left the kitchen, quietly entering his bedroom so he would not awaken the sleeping Trixxtal. He rummaged through his drawer and grabbed a jewelry box that contained the earring he had been looking for. Placing it on his ear like old times, Jecht smiled as he returned to the kitchen.
“Alright, time to make some popcorn!” his enthusiasm at an all time high, lightning sparked around his palm and he tossed a bolt of lightning at the popcorn bag.
…
…
…
“That was a bad idea.” he murmured, throwing the flaming bag of popcorn into the sink, the kitchen filling with steam as the running water washed away the flames. Jecht’s idea had worked too well. Some of the popcorn had fallen out of the bag before he threw it into the sink and they were as black as charcoal. He bent down to grab one of the pieces. “Less heat then?” he asked himself, examining the scorched popcorn. His lightning had badly burnt it, so obviously heating it up worked; he just needed something less intense. He smirked at that thought and felt smug that he was so “powerful” with his almighty lightning; the popcorn had stood no chance against his attack.
The stove still worked, so Jecht decided to try his luck with that. After he messed with the strange dial with the lines and numbers that would heat up the stove, he grabbed a frying pan. Tearing up a new bag of popcorn, he dumped the kernels into the pan and set the kitchenware on top of the heated stove. He stared at the unchanged popcorn kernels for almost a minute, frowning with impatience as nothing happened. “Well, that didn’t work-“, he stopped midsentence in complete astonishment at the sound of a loud POP. There it was! An honest to god piece of popcorn. He had done it! Grinning at his accomplishment with pride, Jecht felt ecstatic. “I can’t believe this work- Ow!", he was interrupted once again, this time by a popcorn shooting straight into his eyes. “What the fuck!”
Popcorn was shooting out of the pan, fast and unpredictable, and Jecht suddenly realized why popcorn was popped inside a bag. As the popcorn started flying everywhere, Jecht ran out of the kitchen to dodge them. The popping noises continued and Jecht knew that the only way he could enjoy the popcorn now was if he picked up the pieces off the floor, counter, and wherever else the popcorn may have landed.
Once he heard no more pops, Jecht sighed and walked back into the kitchen with sagged shoulders, feeling utterly defeated. He grabbed a broom and started to clean up the mess, each sweep a reminder of the fact that he was still a popcornless loser.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: 10/04/1145 Characters Involved: The royal family
How could the mighty Oz have allowed this to happen?! He should have sent some sort of prophecy so that they could have avoided this disaster. At the very least, a warning! A warning that they were given assigned seats and that he would be forced to sit next to his irritating little brother, Bellarino. The idiot who created the seating chart had condemned them all to hearing Bellarino and Belvedere’s endless complaints and whining over not being able to sit beside each other. Even worse was that his precious brother Belisario, the sibling Bellerophon absolutely wished to protect from the stupid twins, got the misfortune of sitting next Belvedere. The final nail in the coffin was that Belial and Belshazzar were forced next to each other, adding even more chaos and complications to the mess they were all in. He also felt bad for little Bellakane, who looked liked she was about to cry. Belmarie and Arius also must have been blessed by Oz, because the two of them looked perfectly content with their seats, and Arius was sitting quietly listening to their sister talk about how much she was looking forward to this party. The truly lucky ones though were Belladon and Belladonna. Belladonna got the fortune with sitting beside their beloved mother while Belladon received the honor of sitting next to their father.
“This is so stupid!!! Why do I have to sit next to these idiots?!”
“We’re royalty, screw this seating chart, we can do whatever we want.”
“Yes please, somebody switch with me!”
“I…I am sorry! If I was more worthy…you would not feel offended to sit by me…”
“I want to sit next to mother, not this nonsensical fool.”
“Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high, take a look, it’s in a book, a reading rainbow.”
“This is pointless.”
"What? You all should be excited for a party!"
“All of you shut up! Don’t you dare ruin mother’s birthday!”
Bellerophon grimaced.
“I’m going to execute the fool who came up with this seating chart.” he hissed to himself as his siblings continued making a scene. He hoped that they quieted down before their parents arrived but at this rate, Bellerophon did not think that would happen any time soon. Just the thought of his father being disappointed in them, well mostly him, for ruining mother’s birthday made him want to join Marigold in eternal slumber.
Some butlers entered the room and provided them with appetizers, explaining that their parents would be arriving a few minutes late so they could start eating appetizers now if they wished.
“Ugh, do we have to eat this garbage?! Mother must have picked out this stupid food.” Bellarino complained as he examined a few of the dishes that had been served to them. Bellerophon tried to ignore him and placed random food on his plate, but Bellarino was like a buzzing little fly next to his ear that would not stop making irritating noise. His bad mood growing worse by the second, Bellerophon looked around the table hoping to find something to make this experience more bearable and the blond got an idea at the sight of meat on his plate.
“Bellarino, be quiet and eat your meal.” He said coldly to the young prince, stabbing his fork into the meat sitting on his plate. “It is a lovely meal, after all. I was unaware that rabbit meat was this delicious.” Bellerophon said, before eating the piece of meat.
“How dare you!” naturally, Bellarino became enraged at the mention of eating bunnies and shouted at Bellerophon, “You take that back! This is not rabbit meat!”
“This rabbit tastes so good, try it, little brother.” he taunted, offering the fork to Bellarino but the younger prince just whacked it out of his hand. Bellerophon just laughed at him and grabbed a spare fork on the table, retrieving the random meat once again. “Don’t be like that, Bellarino, try it! I fed you and Belvedere sometimes when you two were still bratty little babies, not that you’re that much different from a bratty baby now, but you loved it when I did this.” He smirked, shoving the fork into Bellarino’s mouth and laughing as he immediately spit it out. “You used to do that too!” Bellerophon kept laughing, causing Bellerino to blush with embarrassment and he looked around for anything to get revenge with. His eyes widened at the sight of a bowl of marinara sauce and breadsticks and he smiled wickedly. “Hey! Hey Belvedere, come here!” he called out, and his twin was incredibly eager to return from his side, definitely preferring to be away from their disgusting half-brother.
Bellerophon narrowed his eyes as Bellarino and Belvedere began their obvious planning. He had a feeling this would not end well and he was absolutely correct.
Ten minutes later, the king and queen made their way towards the dining room together. She could hear muffled shouting from behind the doors but Bellona made no mention of it, instead giving her full attention to Belzeneff before they opened the doors. Bellona could tell her husband was not too thrilled to have to do this, but the fact that he was willing to show up anyways made her love him even more. She gave him a light kiss on the cheek and looked at him lovingly.
“Oh, I’m so excited. Thank you for arranging this for me, Belzeneff! It’s been so long since we have all been together like a family…I know you don’t like this kind of thing, but I appreciate you doing this for me.” she thanked as the door was open and he escorted her into the room, but both of them paused midstep at the sight.
Miraculously, all her children actually showed up, but it was apparently too much to ask for them to act civil. Already she could see appetizers fallen on the floor and flying through the air. Most of the children were out of their seats and a few chairs were knocked down. Bellakane was crying because Bellarino apparently poured marinara sauce into her hair while Belvedere had stole her breadsticks. Belladon was out of his seat and yelling at the twins and attempting to fix his little sister’s hair. Belladonna was just ignoring them all with a scowl on her face, looking like she was ready to leave at the first chance. Bellerophon looked like he was trying to shield Belisario from Belvedere and Bellarino throwing silverware at him, which was causing more of a mess because he had apparently got fed up and began throwing food back at them. Belmarie was cheering on the food fight, excitedly, while Arius sat quietly but he stared right at her once she walked into the room and gave her his usual disturbing smile. Belial was off in his own world like always but something he had said had made Belshazzar angry because he was shouting at his little brother and looked like he wanted to stab him with a fork. But Belial was just ignoring him and Bellona knew Belshazzar well enough that he hated that.
Bellona frowned at her children. All she wanted was a nice family dinner with all of them for her birthday but here they were, shouting at each other and throwing food at one another. This fighting was completely ridiculous and she felt resolved to stop this chaos. This was her birthday and nothing was going to ruin her special day for her, nothing!
“Belzeneff dear, hold my earrings.” She calmly said and removed them from her ears, they were the only jewelry she had on at the moment and were gifts from Belzeneff, “I need to discipline our children.”
“I got your earrings, baby, kick their asses!” The king just laughed and took his wife’s earrings, watching with glee as she stormed over to their children with a fiery look in her eyes.
Outside the dining room a guard who had been standing next to the closed doors the entire time, felt fear for his life as he heard the queen’s rage. Her shouting had effectively silenced all of the other yelling he had heard from the princes earlier. He was curious as to what happened and, gathering his leftover courage, opened the door slightly in order to peak in on what was now happening inside. To his bewilderment, the mess was gone and the royal family was waiting quietly at the table waiting for dinner to be served. He had no idea what the queen had done, but she was obviously a miracle worker!
Back in their private dining room, Bellona smiled as she went to take a seat next to Belzeneff, who handed her back her earrings. “Thank you, dear.” She took a breath and glanced at the children, who were all sitting in odd places at their round table.To Belzeneff’s right was Belladon and neither looked too happy about it. Belladonna was sitting next to her and while Bellona did not mind being beside her daughter, the look on her face told Bellona that Belladonna obviously did not share those feelings. Even more strange was that Bellarino and Belvedere weren’t sitting next to each other. In fact, they were next to the ones they fought with most: Bellarino next to Bellerophon and Bellakane; Belvedere next to Belisario. For some reason, Belshazzar and Belial were also sitting next to each other even though they could barely stand in the same room together. The only normalcy in the room was Belmarie sitting next to Arius, but her step-son was sitting directly across from Bellona, still creepily staring.
“Why are you all seated like this?” she asked confused, looking at Bellakane for an answer, since she was one of the few without the silencing spell activated on her.
“Oh um…we have assigned seating, mother.” she answered quietly, embarrassed about being singled out. Bellona raised her brow and looked to her husband questioningly. The annoyed look on his face told her that he definitely did not have anything to do with the seating fiasco. “I'm going to lift my spells from you all and you all will behave properly, understand? And your father and I had nothing to do with the arranged seating. You all can sit in any chair you like. This is a private family dinner, not a formal event.” she told them, and of course the moment she waved her wand to lift her magic spell, the room instantly became louder.
“What?!” the children all shouted, before scrambling all over the place trying to sit in new seats.
Bellona sighed but let out a small chuckle as they started arguing over who got to sit where, and looked towards Belzeneff. "Well, this birthday dinner is already so different from what I expected, but I'm still happy. Thank you for this. I love you." she smiled as she placed her hand in his, genuinely joyful over any amount of time she got to spend with her family. She glanced back towards the children, who were finally seated, but she could still hear some fights and teasing among their chattering. Even when the main course was served she had to interfere a few times to prevent a food fight from occurring and Bellona was forced to whip out her wand to keep some of them in line, especially the younger ones. Despite this, Bellona was glad that they were all here for her, even if a few of them probably had to be dragged to the dinner kicking and screaming in protest. She cherished moments when they could all be together like this. When the cake was brought onto the table, the lights turned off with only candles on the cake illuminating the room. As her family sang to her Bellona smiled at the thought of this moment being the first time all dinner that they were doing something together. Well mostly together, as the ones truly participating in the song were barely in sync with one another, the quieter ones mumbling through the song or only pretending they were singing, and Belial singing a completely different song altogether.
"I love you all." she whispered happily, blowing out the birthday candles.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: ??/??/1144 Characters Involved: Belmarie Black, Valhero Mancini, Arius Mastema
Belmarie was in the arms of a wizard who asked her to dance. Being a princess, wizards often gave her attention, but this man was by far the most handsome she had met tonight. He spoke so nicely to her and Belmarie couldn’t help but blush at all the compliments he gave her. Many wizards that tried to befriend or date her had caused Belmarie trouble in the past because they were just trying to use her status as princess to their advantage, but this man was different, she was sure of it!
Meanwhile, Valhero messed with his phone out of boredom, leaning against a pillar at the edge of the dance floor. “I hope something interesting happens…” he yawned, before putting his phone back in his pocket. He was only here because Belmarie insisted he accompany her to the party, but now he was left alone because she had been asked to dance. “I could be training instead of this.” He complained to nobody, glancing over to the dance floor. But as if Oz answered his prayers for the party to become more amusing, he saw Belmarie’s half brother Arius approach Belmarie and her date, sparking the Mancini’s interest.
Arius calmly gripped the man’s hands and gently moved it off Belmarie’s shoulder and onto his own. “Excuse me? What do you think you are doing, interrupting us?” the man, now irritated, glared at Arius but when he tried to move away, he didn’t have enough strength to overpower Arius’ grip. “Brother?” Belmarie asked confused, and Belmarie’s dance partner stiffened at the realization that he had just yelled at a prince. But Arius spoke nothing and just smirked; grabbing the man’s other hand off of Belmarie’s waist. The prince slipped his fingers into the man’s and spun him around. Now facing him, Arius pulled the man closer, so close that their chests were now touching, and ignored the wizard’s questioning gaze. Belmarie watched as Arius initiated a dance with her date and before she knew it, the pair was getting farther from her.
“Arius, what are you doing?!” she exclaimed, but her brother stayed silent, and danced away with her partner. They disappeared into the crowd and the princess just gaped, confused about what just happened. Belmarie only snapped out of it by Valhero walking up to her, who apparently saw the whole thing.
“I c-can’t believe your brother stole your date…pffft ahahah!” laughed Valhero, clutching his sides and Belmarie glared at her cousin.
“It’s not funny, Valhero!” she spluttered, her face red out of embarrassment that her best friend was laughing at her dilemma. She couldn’t believe that Arius just swooped in and took her dance partner away from her without a word, in front of all these people! Now Valhero could barely keep his composure because he thought the entire situation was hilarious. “Yes it is! Oh Oz, always invite your brother Arius to these events Belmarie.”
“Ugh, you boys are all idiots!” she growled, grabbing Valhero’s arm and leading them off of the dance floor.
They stayed to the side, away from the dancers and gossipers. Belmarie ranted for an entire fifteen minutes straight about how unfair this all was, especially whenever she accidently spotted Arius dancing with her date, while Valhero’s punishment for laughing was to listen to the whole thing. He felt it was still worth it, though. “How could he ditch me for my brother, I mean, I’m so beautiful! Right, Valhero? Tell me I’m pretty!”
“Yeah, you’re pretty…pretty lame for losing him to Arius!” he teased, causing Belmarie to punch him in the shoulder.
“You are impossible! You’re my best friend, so you’re supposed to take my side. Ugh, I’m getting a drink.”
As soon as Belmarie stormed off, Valhero suddenly felt a chill go down his spine. He jumped when he felt a hand grab his shoulder, and he spun around to find himself face to face with Arius’ red eyes. “Oh…it’s just you, “he sighed with relief, “Thank you for making tonight so much more interesting. Where did that man go?”
“It was no trouble.” He reassured Valhero calmly, ignoring Valhero’s question, “I could hardly allow that man to dance with my little sister, especially since he is closer to my age than hers.”
Valhero twisted his face in disgust, feeling glad that he had a wizard in his life who understood that big brothers needed to protect their little sisters from gross predators. “Was he really? Wow, it’s a good thing you showed up then. Also…you can let go of my shoulder now.” He informed awkwardly, but Arius made no movement and just stared at Valhero quietly, smiling. Valhero knew that Arius always acted like this but it never changed how uncomfortable he felt. He stared back in resignation, knowing that Arius would probably never change, so the two of them were just standing together in silence. Thankfully, the silence was broken by the princess.
“Brooother, how could you?!” Belmarie whined as she returned to them, a drink of punch in her hand, pouting as she took Arius’ hand and lifted it off Valhero’s shoulder, getting in between them. “Why did you do that, what if he doesn’t speak to me anymore? I didn’t even get to kiss him!” she pouted right in his face, but Arius looked unfazed by his sister’s complaints.
“Oh, that is unfortunate. He’s a nice kisser.” He spoke unconcerned, and while Belmarie was busy being flustered over his statement, Arius grabbed the drink out of her hand and drank it as if it was his own. “Thank you for the drink, Belmarie, I felt quite thirsty after all of those heated moments with your date.”
“ARIUS!” she yelled, her face even redder than before. But her brother just smiled and handed the empty glass to Valhero before turning around, walking away back into the crowd of guests without a word.
Roleplay Title: AU Setting: Pokemon AU Characters Involved: Trixxtal
Trixxtal
23 years old
Trixxtal is a native of the Kalos region and grew up in Cyllage City. Living next to the ocean made him appreciate the water, and when it came time for him to become a pokemon trainer, he decided to stick soley to the water type. At the age of 13 he traveled to the Unova region to receive Oshawott as his starter, and from there, he began his journey. He soon began collecting other pokemon, aswell as gym badges. But after some time, Trixxtal realized that becoming a pokemon master just wasn't for him, and stopped competing in competitive gym battles. Instead he returned to Cyllage City when he was 19 and got a job in the cafe. He remained there for some time, happily serving his customers tea everyday, and occasionally showing off his pokemon, until he moved to Lumiose City when he was 21. There he got a job as PR Video fantasist and helped many trainers create their videos, but was fired for continuing to mess up.
After that, he was disheartened and planned to return to Cyllage to help his father in the bike shop. But on his way to Route 5, he happened upon someone struggling in the water right before Magenta Plaza. There was no one else around and before he could think to call for help, he was already diving into the water. With the help of Mon Grand, Trixxtal managed to get the poor stranger out of the water and back onto dry land. He found out that the man's name was Jecht and that he was new to Lumiose. He hadn't been looking where he was going and accidentally tripped into the water, which was dangerous considering he didn't know how to swim. Trixxtal then offered him a pair of dry clothes from his backpack, aswell as a cup of coffee from the cafe around the corner.
After getting to know Jecht better, he discovered his ambition to be a pokemon master and decided to travel with him.
Roleplay Title: n/a Setting: Pokemon au Characters Involved: Jecht Rutella
Jecht Rutella
22 years old
Jecht is a trainer from Johto who ventured to the Kalos region in order to learn more about mega evolution and challenge the Kalos league. His goal is to become a Pokemon master and he wants to perfect mega evolution in order to reach that ambition. He is a relatively new trainer and only started seriously training a few months ago. Instead of challenging gyms, in his youth he mostly roamed around regions searching for rare items, passionately looking for new treasures to add to his collection. His only companion was Cece, his houndoom, who protected him against wild pokemon and sniffed out objects for Jecht. It wasn’t until he obtained a peculiar stone that later became his Mega Necklace that he gained a real interest in pokemon training. After learning that Cece could potentially mega evolve if they had a strong bond and if he found a houndoomite, Jecht started training him more and discovered a true passion for battling.
Jecht was content to simply battle solely with his trusted Cece, but during his search for a houndoomite he ended up finding other mega stones along the way. Recently, he decided to catch and train pokemon who could potentially mega evolve, so that Cece could have more trusted partners and friends to rely on in battle. He has only gotten a magikarp and swablu who are not as ready for battle, so he still relies on houndoom to bring him victory. Jecht earned three gym badges from Cyllage, Shalour, and Courmaline city before he ended up in Lumiose city, which he finally decided to visit after learning about their Stone Emporium. But as he was exploring, he pitifully became completely lost in the city. Jecht even ended up tripping into some water and nearly drowned until a kind soul rescued him. He eagerly befriended his savior, Trixxtal, and felt thrilled when he decided to travel with him.
POKÉMON Cece lv. 36 ♂ Jecht obtained Cece as a gift from his parents. As a child, Jecht was terribly afraid of ghost and psychic type pokemon so his family thought having a dark type around to protect him would help him get over his fear. Being Jecht’s first pokemon, they have the strongest bond out of the pokemon in his team and Cece is who Jecht relies on most. Cece is Jecht’s strongest pokemon and capable of mega evolution.
Flying Death lv. 18 ♀ Noticing some brat kids bullying the poor thing, Jecht intervened to help her. Apparently they were tricked by a salesman into buying a SUPER POWERFUL POKÉMON and felt incredibly disappointed at the discovery they purchased a magikarp. Jecht, disgusted with their behavior, bought the magikarp off them. Since he was fully aware of the potential she had, and the magikarp was determined to prove she could be strong, Jecht decided to train her. In order to give her confidence, Jecht decided to give her a name that would make her feel powerful, and started calling her Flying Death.
Dave lv. 28 ♂ The most recent addition to Jecht’s team and the first pokemon he managed to catch on his own. Embarrassingly, Jecht broke most of his pokeballs trying to throw them at the non resisting swablu and the only reason he caught him was because he let himself be caught. Dave has an extreme attachment to Jecht and normally refuses to get into the pokeball, so he is constantly perched on his head like a hat and rarely leaves Jecht’s side.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: Year 1138 Characters Involved: Valdeimos Mancini, Valencino Mancini
It was time for his lunch break and what should have been a relaxing hour immediately went downhill ten minutes in. The bell chimed as a familiar blond walked through the door. “Valdeimos!” he heard a happy cry and Valdeimos cringed. He set down his food on the table and turned to the restaurant’s entrance. There stood the most recent annoyance in his life, his normally reserved brother Valencino. Valdeimos saw the poorly veiled excitement in his eyes that he had become accustomed to seeing over the past few months.
Valencino walked over to his table and Valdeimos kept a strained smile on his face. He had no doubt that his brother would give another endless spiel over the peasant girl he started to date months ago. It was always “I bumped into Miss Morgana again today, I had a pleasant conversation with her!” or “Miss Morgana looks more radiant with every meeting!” or “I just thought of an excellent place to show her, Valdeimos, do women enjoy going on dates to places like this?”. He refused to drop his compassionate persona but Valdeimos did his best to say subtle insults about her when he saw openings. He wanted to dissuade Valencino from his frequent visits because all he did for an entire hour was talk to him about her. To his dismay, no manipulations he tried succeeded in stopping him. Valencino either took his hurtful words as sarcasm or a joke.
“Hello, Valencino, it is nice see you.” He greeted in a polite tone, as his brother invited himself to sit in the chair across from him. “Are you here to talk about your girlfriend again? Do try to remember to breathe this time. You speak on and on about her without rest, it’s a wonder you don’t pass out from lack of air. Mother would be furious if she found out you wasted your breath on some commoner.” Then Valdeimos gave a fake laugh, “Kidding. You’ve described Miss Morgana to me so often that, even though I have yet to meet her, I can tell she is a wonderful person.” He lied as he took a sip of his water.
Valencino just smirked at him amused. “Well, then I am sure you will feel delighted by my news. I plan on proposing to her!” he announced, and Valdeimos got caught so off guard that he spit out the water he had been drinking in shock. Valencino grinned as he dodged the liquid with a shield spell, his experience as a protector aiding him in staying dry.
“Alright there, brother?” asked Valencino who tried his best not to laugh at his brother’s loss of composure, but Valdeimos did not care. Memories long forgotten had returned to him. An image of a dark haired girl flashed into his mind and he immediately felt a surge of bitterness in his heart.
“Oh…yes. I was just surprised. You have only known her for a short time, after all, and marriage is a big step. Are you sure even love her?” he asked with genuine concern for his brother. He immediately wished he could take back his question when he saw how offended Valencino looked. “Of course I love her!" his brother answered immediately, with slight anger, ready to defend his love for Morgana. Valdeimos knew from experience that if he did not pacify him, Valencino's talks about Morgana could continue for hours. “How could I not? I know you have never dated any one, so you don’t understand my feelings for her! I know she is from the lower class, but love should not discriminate and I don’t care about that. She is kind, beautiful, and-”
Valdeimos ignored the tirade. He had heard most of Valencino’s descriptions of his “beloved” girlfriend during previous visits. Instead he became lost to his own thoughts. Was Valencino in a right state of mind? Even with hearing endless speeches on how much he adored Morgana, Valdeimos did not understand. Why would his brother allow himself to even think about marrying a girl who was not a noble? The dark haired girl from his past came to the forefront of his mind once again, ready to haunt him. “Love should not discriminate” struck a chord with him and Valdeimos felt the bitterness in his heart return. Valencino was mistaken in his assumption that Valdeimos did not understand him. In fact, he knew for sure that he understood more than any of their siblings would.
“Enough! Okay, you love her. I’m happy for you,” he replied halfheartedly, not that Valencino noticed. Unless the dislike for her was blatant, like their parent’s opinions, it was like Valencino was oblivious to the idea that someone would not approve of the relationship. “How are you going to propose then?” he asked with some hesitance, expecting another long winded speech and a grand idea to woo the peasant girl.
To his surprise, Valencino seemed nervous and rubbed the back of his head with a sheepish grin. “Ah, I have no idea. I need advice, to be honest.” He admitted, a tad bashful.
Valdeimos frowned and looked at him with disbelief. “Moron, I’m not even married. Why not ask someone who went through this, like father or Valora?” he asked, feeling out of his element. Valdeimos felt bewildered over getting asked for love advice. His only relationship ended in disaster.
“Well, father and mother hate Morgana. And ask Valora, are you kidding?” he scoffed, “She proposed to Valentiano with a necklace made of claws from a bear she fought or something! And can you imagine asking advice from any of our brothers? You’re the only one I can depend on when it comes to her.”
Valdeimos conceded to his point. It was absurd and the biggest plot twist of his life, but he could see the wisdom in asking him for romantic advice out of all of their siblings. The only thing he could see Valentine married to was his job. Valroya would rather die than commit to marriage and asking Valtreks or Valhallen would go nowhere. Valencino most likely thought the rest of their brothers were too young to get any helpful advice from. Valdeimos at least cared enough to try to listen to Valencino and never once complained over his spontaneous visits to his work. Oh, if only Valencino knew the truth and how unsuited Valdeimos was for this. “I’m the worst person to ask romantic advice from.” He replied, serious in his tone.
Valencino sighed and looked dejected, but still hopeful at him. “You must have some idea though, right? Don’t a lot of people propose during dinner here, since this is such a high class restaurant? I know I need a ring but I just want to have the most perfect, romantic proposal for her! My beloved Morgana deserves nothing but the best.”
Valdeimos frowned. This conversation was bringing out his forgotten, painful memories. Every time his brother spoke about Morgana, Valdeimos could not help but think of the dark haired girl he tried to forget. Raava Rixore: the woman he fell in love with despite his better judgment. His pride and shame drove him to keep her a secret from everybody. Unlike Valencino, he could never bring himself to propose to her because she was low born and he knew his family would have disliked her just like how they currently dislike Morgana. The thought that his little brother disregarded Morgana’s social status and loved her so openly made him feel jealous. If he had let go of his pride maybe Valdeimos could have been in his place. The spiteful part of him wanted his brother to fail in his proposal; but, Valdeimos would never wish anything bad on his beloved family. So, he ignored his bitter feelings and let himself think of Raava for the first time in a decade. He thought of her smile, the feelings he had for her, the things she adored…what would she have wanted from him? How would he have asked her to marry him? What would have made her say yes? It brought him great despair to think about what could have been, but for his dear little brother, Valdeimos would try to think of a suggestion for him.
“What about…roses?” he finally suggested, thinking of the past. Raava’s favorite flowers had been roses. One day Valdeimos had managed to get a bouquet of roses grown in the royal garden from his cousin Bellerophon. Her happy expression when he showed her the roses had been the first time Valdeimos considered serious commitment to her. But thoughts of marriage terrified him and he immediately discarded any thoughts of it. If he had proposed to her, Valdeimos liked to think he would have given her a ring tied to a rose. It was a nice fantasy. “Most people like receiving flowers.” He explained, feeling the regret over remembering Raava. “And it worked for Bellerophon, too.”
He felt nothing over the fate of his cousin’s tragic love. But he saw Valencino wince at the thought of the prince’s comatose fiancée so neither made any more comment about him. “That is true.” Valencino agreed, and a thin smile formed on his lips. “I can present her with some flowers when I pick her up for our date, and…”
As Valencino began to think of scenarios Valdeimos let his thoughts roam once again. While he did care for his brother and mostly wanted him to succeed in his pursuit, it still was super annoying spending his breaks listening to him talk about Morgana. He glanced at the clock. He still had thirty minutes left to go and sighed. Valdeimos took a bite out of his lunch as he listened to Valencino speak, letting his brother distract him from thoughts of Raava.
Roleplay title: Hold My Flower Setting: September 1989; USA, Earth Characters Involved: Mephia Zevi, Thomas Roosevelt, Mephis/Anthony Roosevelt/Rodrigo Armando
“Look at the new outfit we bought him! Anthony is such a cute baby, right?”
Mephia stared blankly at the infant held in front of him. Thomas gave him an expectant smile and waited for a response. Silence passed between them, except for the baby making gurgling noises. Said baby wore a striped white and blue hat that covered his tiny head, with a clashing red and orange striped onesie that said the phrase ‘baby boy’ in the center. His socks were green with neon pink stars. Mephia rolled his eyes. “This outfit was the urgent thing you had to tell me about?” he drawled, uninterested in baby clothes.
“Yes dad, you never visit, you’ll miss out on seeing him grow up! You lost that chance with me, but I don’t want that to happen with Anthony. I know you love the little guy.” Thomas reasoned with a cheery grin, causing Mephia to frown. He vaguely remembered his parents happily fussing over every little thing Mephisto did as a baby and they often felt upset at Mephia for having zero interest in his younger brother. But since he did actually care about his grandson, did that mean he had to act like that too? Mephia sighed. It sounded so pointless to give so much attention to a child, but if his parents and now Thomas did it, then maybe Mephia should try to emulate that behavior. At the very least, he could prevent the boy from growing up into a weakling that he felt sure Thomas would raise him into.
“I suppose I could start spending more time with the child.” He replied in a bored tone and took another glimpse at Anthony. His son dressed him in a lame outfit that definitely did not warrant a visit to his house. “But if you are going to use new clothes as an excuse to invade my home, make sure he is dressed in something less horrible.”
Thomas sputtered and looked confused. The younger man examined his baby with a frown. “What? This outfit is not lame, I picked it out myself!” he defended, and the corner of Mephia’s lips twitched slightly. Mephia had seen decades of changing fashion trends ever since he arrived on earth and by far the 80s were the worst. Most people looked like thrown up rainbows in baggy clothes, with Thomas sadly being one of those people. His son was nearly his mirror image and every time he saw him it was like Mephia was looking at a weak version of himself who enjoyed wearing neon colored windbreakers and headbands. He almost regretted not raising the boy himself; maybe if he had, Thomas would be wearing all black like him instead of the multicolored monstrosities.
“Ah, now I know what went wrong. Do not worry I will fix him. Give him here.” Mephia practically ordered Thomas and snatched the baby into his arms. The infant happily cooed and tried to reach out for Mephia’s hair. Ignoring how his dark locks were pulled by a surprisingly strong grip, he cradled Anthony in his arms and looked at his son. “Go away somewhere for a while.”
Thomas gave him a fake pout, secretly glad that his indifferent father was actually volunteering to spend time with Anthony. Being relieved of his son also meant he suddenly had free time and Thomas was definitely going to take the opportunity. “Fine, I’ll come pick him up in a few hours.” He informed, trusting his father to keep the baby safe. “You can call me if you need help.”
Mephia scoffed. As if he would need help to deal with a child, especially his own grandson! Thomas laughed casually and turned to leave, Mephia never spotting the smug smile on his son's face at the fact that he now had a free babysitter for Anthony. I can't believe that my plan worked! thought Thomas, looking forward to a relaxing evening without a crying infant, changing diapers, and getting spit up on.
One hour later, Mephia glared at the other customers in the store, who were glaring at him because he did nothing to stop the baby in his arms from crying. Anthony’s crying had caused the other babies in the vicinity to start bawling their eyes out. He personally did not care, screams and tears never caused a reaction from him before and Mephia was not about to start now. “What are you looking at?” he scowled at a mother giving him an irritated expression while she tried to soothe a toddler in a stroller. Ignoring the rest of the stupid humans, Mephia glanced back down at Anthony who had now stopped crying. Instead the infant was giggling. Apparently, his angry face made him laugh. He allowed himself a small smile towards Anthony before turning his face neutral and glancing back to the racks of clothes.
At first Mephia only planned to purchase a new set of clothes for Anthony since he, an old wizard from another planet, apparently had more fashion sense than two young humans born on earth. But after seeing advertisements of babies looking "stylish", Mephia felt jealous and annoyed. Why did babies in ugly outfits get recognized as the most attractive when his grandson was one hundred times greater than them? He would look the best even if he wore a potato sack! Not wanting his grandson to look inferior to a stupid human infant, he resolved to buy him the greatest outfit in the store and prove that his precious grandchild was earth's most attractive baby. But, there was one problem Mephia ran into. Everything looked either plain, neon colored, or had ridiculous patterns. The shirts with phrases like “world’s most handsome baby” or “future heartbreaker” were the worst in his opinion. Mephia wondered if this was the reason Thomas had been forced to buy the ridiculous outfit poor Anthony currently wore. The only clothing he found acceptable was a black shirt that said “I have the coolest grandpa” and only because it was one hundred percent true. Oh, if only he knew the spells to manipulate clothing, he would have used his magic in a heartbeat.
It was when he found costumes on early sale for Halloween that Mephia found something to his liking. It was a costume of a fearsome beast, an extinct creature of earth called a dinosaur, and he was looking at a costume of a dark green colored T-Rex with large black eyes. The small description claimed the T-Rex was the king of dinosaurs! Mephia approved of dressing up his grandson as an ancient, powerful king.
"Look, child, do you like this costume?" he cooed, showing the T-rex to the baby. Anthony smiled and gave him a quick "ya!" before reaching out for the costume. Mephia allowed this and smiled approvingly. He was beginning to understand, just a little, why parents loved spending time with their children. "You do like it. Hmm...Why don't I buy you some new toys, too?" he decided as soon as he saw how overjoyed the baby looked examining the T-rex, probably thinking it was a toy.
It was practically foreign to him, the happiness he felt when he interacted with his grandson, but Mephia welcomed it.
Roleplay Title: Will This Ever Become Canon? Roleplay Origin: Vampire Mafia Setting: Sometime in the future?? Possibly? Characters Involved: Valente Mancini Ampellio
When Valente joined Protettore's little gang he was promised safety from the demons and wizards hunting him. A place where he could rest his head and feel safe, and in return, he just had to continuously move the fortress and aid in whatever situations the vampires got themselves into that they couldn't fix by themselves. It had been a match made in the heavens honestly. Valente got his safety without isolating himself and Tori got magical assistance. Really, a win-win.
But Valente should have known better than to think that this could last forever. Sure enough, just as he was getting comfortable in his new living arrangements, things had to get all messed up again. Demons were on his trail and now knew that he was hiding in the Giordano fortress. Luckily there was a grace period, as the demons who found him were unsure if they should start a war with the vampires hiding him and had to return to Hell to seek permission. But apparently getting Valente's head on a silver plate was more important to them than worrying about an all out war between the wizards AND Protettore's vampires and the demons showed up the next day, ready to fight. Valente had thought about going, about leaving in the dead of night and letting Protettore handle whatever befell the castle. But he couldn't do that. Protettore had housed him, taken care of him, and he generally cared about him, no matter how much he denied it when asked. Valente had already ditched out on one of his families, he didn't want to add a second to that list.
But the demons were closing in on the fortress and Valente knew that they would stop at nothing to get Valente in their possession. They'd kill and damage everything they could until their mission was complete. Even thinking about the Boss getting hurt, or Vencentio, or one of his kids, or Marcy made Valente want to throw up. Yeah they were vampires, but these were demons. Valente knew first had at what they could do, and for once, he wasn't entirely confident that Protettore would manage to get out of it alive.
So he decided to go into hiding again. Not hopping to another world or time period like he had before reaching Protettore's fortress. No. He needed a better hiding place, one that only he could get to. But unlike this house arrest option with Protettore, this option was more secluded, more lonely. He would be completely safe from any danger, but also completely alone. But he had to do it if he wanted Protettore, no, his new family to live.
Minutes before the demons began their advance, he began setting up a spell for a dimension jump. But instead of choosing another world as his destination, it was a pocket of time. Pocket dimensions existed for the mere purpose of stopping time. Once in a pocket dimension it was impossible for someone to enter it uninvited and it was the ultimate impenetrable defense. The only problem was that there would be nothing to do. It was just a pocket of time, a dark lonely section inbetween the timeline that had nothing, held nothing. It was far from Valente's preferred vacation spots, but it would have to do for the time being.
But before he could start on the exit spell, the assigned designation for anyone leaving the pocket dimension, the door burst open and Valente panicked. Thinking that it was already the demons there for his blood, Valente completed the dimension spell and a sudden gust of wind erupted out of the entrance to the new dimension. Without warning the wind reversed and Valente and whoever else was standing nearby were sucked into the new dimension.
When Valente came to, it was dark all around him, but oddly enough, he could still see perfectly. Well, he would be able to, if there was anything to see. The pocket dimension had to material objects in it and was only a stretch in time. It was black and endless and colder than he thought it would be. But it was safe. And for now, it would be his new home.
" Well, better get used to this...." Valente muttered to himself dejectedly, hoping that Protettore and the others were alright. He had left in such a hurry that he wasn't able to say goodbye to anyone, much less explain where he was going. But he was hopeful that when the demons saw that he was no longer there, they would drop the fight. " Just me, myself and I."
" Oh, if only."
Startled, Valente whipped around to where he heard to voice, thinking that it was a demon who had followed him into the dimension. But to his utter dismay it wasn't a demon at all. It was something much worse. Valente probably would have preferred the demon in all honestly.
" Ta-da" Ampellio said flatly, doing the most unenthusiastic jazz hand motion Valente had ever seen in his life.
He was dumbfounded. Of all the people to be stuck in a dimension with, it would be the one person that scared him the most. " But- But- Why are you here?!"
" Hmm, why indeed." Ampellio answered thoughtfully, observing his surroundings. " Imagine my surprise when I went into your room to help you escape, only to find you opening a tear to a new dimension! Though I suppose with your track record this shouldn't have come as a surprise." He added offhandedly, but it stabbed Valente right through the heart.
" H-Hey! I was just thinking about everyone else okay! All the demons want is me right? So when they raid the castle as see that I'm not there, they'll just go back to Hell or whatever, right?
" And if they blame Protettore for holding and aiding an inter-dimentional fugitive? He and the entire fortress could be classified as traitors to the Inter Species Alliance and have the coven exterminated. Ever think of that?"
" Oh shit..." Valente breathed, thinking it over.
A moment of silence passed until Ampellio stood up, or at least Valente thought he did, it's hard to tell when everything is black and you have no idea if you're standing or sitting or even upside down, and clicked his tongue. " Oh well. Nothing we can do about it now. Let's just hope for the best." After taking another short look around and finding nothing, Ampellio brought his attention back to Valente. " How long were you planning to stay here? Long enough for the demons to leave? Enough to Protettore to lick his wounds before you show your face again? Do these dimensions even have a concept of time?"
" Just long enough for everything to die down!" Valente answered quickly, " I was planning to go back, promise! Even if it would just to check up on everyone and get my things! I wouldn't just leave..."
" Hmmm," Was Ampellio's only reply and then he rolled his shoulders and sat back down, getting comfortable. " Five hours. That's how long I'm going to give you. Then we go back."
Until now Valente had no reason to remember what he had been doing before the jump, but now that he thought back to it, his blood ran cold. He hadn't set an exit destination. There was no exit. There was no escape. He was stuck here with the scariest creature Valente had ever had the misfortune of meeting and it looked like they would be there forever.
" Ahaha, well, you see...."
" Marvelous Valente, truly marvelous. You have really outdone yourself this time." Ampellio sighed angrily, covering his eyes with his hand.
" Ahhh! I know. I know okay! I really fucked up this time! But it's your fault too!" At this point Valente had no idea what he was saying. Under normal circumstances he wouldn't utter a word if Ampellio had kicked his favorite dog or spat in his face. But the poor wizard was scared and trapped here with a bloodthirsty vampire and if he was going to die then he'd die speaking his mind. " You surprised me and made me close the gate early before I could finish the exit because I thought you were a demon and that you'd try to take me back to Hell an-"
" Enough Valente," Ampellio cut off, waving his hand in the air to silence him. His demeanor wasn't angry, more tired than anything and it showed in his voice." I don't want to hear your excuses. But of course, it's always someone else's fault. Heavens forbid I entered your room to help you and instead got stuck here with you. You have more magical power than any wizard I have seen for years, yet you continuously find ways to make a joke out of it."
" I knowwwwwwwww!" Valente cried, sinking to the floor, no longer caring if Ampellio got angry and killed him or not, " We're gonna be stuck here forever!! Just me and a blood-thirsty vampire!! Momma this isn't how I wanted to die!!"
" Well not forever." Ampellio added calmly, expressionlessly looking down at Valente's crying form. " Just until another wizard comes to make an opening on the other side. As long as their exit links up to our dimension we should be fine."
This got Valente off of the floor in a shot, his eyes wet and wild, " Yeah! Wouldn't that be nice! But the whole point of me living with you guys was so that no one knew where I was! I haven't seen another wizard in years! No one knows where I am, especially now, so it's uselessssss!" He dramatically fell to the floor once again, any and all life sucked out of him.
" Calm down Valente. I am the only one here and you're embarrassing me." He chided as he would a child and sat down coolly. " I am not completely useless here. I will find a way out."
Yeah, Valente thought, wishful thinking.
" You're not going to drink my blood right?" Valente wondered, rubbing his neck, " I mean Boss said that cuz 'm a wizard my blood tastes different. Like, super gross to your taste buds."
" Oh? Did he say that?" Ampellio smirked and it sent a chill down Valente's spine, " It's completely possible Valente. I don't mind different flavors at times." His smile extended to show the glint of his fang.
" AhhH!" Valente squealed, " B-But I heard from some of the guys that you're different from the other vampires. A pureblood, like the Boss right? You don't need blood THAT often, right?" He asked anxiously.
" You're right, I don't. But I still need blood to survive Valente. No matter how different it is."
" NoooOOOOOOOO!!!"
" Vampires live forever right? Like apart from murder and stuff, you guys can just keep on going until the world blows up?"
" Yes Valente, some of us can." Ampellio sighed, observing his nails. "Which makes this even more of an undesirable situation for me. You are, let's see, thirty-five? Thirty-six? You have another one hundred and thirty five years left, at best."
" How did yo-"
Ampellio steamrolled on, " Say a hundred and forty years pass, what am I to do then? Starve? Unfortunately someone like me cannot die from starvation, but my body will become incredibly weak and I will shrivel up. Do you want me to remain in this void as a shriveled old prune, with no choice but stare endlessly at your own deceased shriveled prune body for the rest of eternity? Because that certainly does not sound appealing to me, no matter how pretty you are."
Valente was speechless, still caught up on the idea of spending the next one hundred and thirty years with this monster.
" We need to find a way out!!!"
" Perhaps I should tell you a story to pass the time?"
" Eh?" Valente turned around on his back to blink up at the vampire. How much time had passed? An hour? A day? A week? Years? Valente didn't want to think about it. Instead he focused on Ampellio's words, " A story? Like, a fairy tail? Don't you think I'm a bit too old for story time?"
" Do you have another suggestion to pass the time? It is all fine and dandy for you to sleep, but for someone like me who does not require rest it is very rude." Ampellio frowned and Valente rolled his eyes.
" Okay! Okay! Whatever, let's hear your story! Not like there is anything else to do." He grumbled as he turned around so his back was facing Ampellio once again.
" Perfect." Ampellio tone seemed to lighten and Valente heard him shift behind him. " First, let me start with a question." A pause. Then, " What do you suppose I was before I became a vampire?"
Thrown off, Valente quickly rolled to face Ampellio with a questioning look on his face. " What are you talking about??"
" Just answer the question," He replied easily.
Valente gave it some thought, " Guess I never really questioned it. I just assumed you crawled out of the ocean at some point, or you were a human who left his plastic teeth in for too long." He snickered behind his hand. Ampellio didn't seem impressed.
" Very amusing." He complimented blandly, " But have you ever questioned where vampires come from? Or wizards for that matter? Where anything came from?"
Valente never expected to be talking about religion when it was clear that he was stuck here with Ampellio, but here they were, trapped in the void discussing creation theories. " Uh....well...where I'm from we believe our God gave us power." He was still skeptical about giving away details about Wiz, but by now he was sure that Ampellio already knew it all, just like he seemed to know about everything else. " I guess he was the one who created us." He shrugged halfheartedly.
" I see. Well you aren't completely wrong."
" Huh?" Valente should really stop being so surprised at this point, but this was the most he had ever talked to Ampellio in one sitting and everything he was saying seemed to surprise him. " What do you know about our religion?!"
" First off, everything you and your people know is a lie. I am honestly surprised no one has corrected you before. But I suppose that was just the type of person he was." Ampellio grimaced and looked to be having a conversation to only himself until he turned his attention back to the blonde. " Secondly, Oz isn't a God."
" How do you know his name?!" Honestly, he should have seen this coming.
" I know his name because I knew him before he was "your God". I knew him from a time when he was just a scrawny kid trying to prove himself to a world full of stronger people." Ampellio said bluntly, but Valente noticed a different look in his eye, as if he was reliving another time; his past.
" But everyone says that he's the one who gave us our power! He decides anything and everything. He guided Fai into battle and won the war! There's churches built of him everywhere on Wiz!"
" Ugh, don't remind me. Pigheaded man." Ampellio said under his breath. " Oz isn't your God. He isn't a God at all. Not any more then I am." The look on Valente's face must have been terrible because Ampellio's expression softened and he cleared his throat. " Let me start back to the beginning. You're aware of the human's belief of Adam and Eve, correct?"
Valente nodded numbly.
" Our story isn't much different from theirs. They were the first humans, and Oz was the first wizard. I was the first vampire, and there are others like us. Mothers and Fathers of a species, I suppose you can say. Personally I like the term Alpha, though that is more of Lyca's thing..." Again he was muttering to himself now and Valente had to cough to bring his attention back. " Oh yes, right. As I was saying, we were just ordinary mortals on our own home planet. We weren't quite like humans, more advanced, far stronger, but no where near the power we have now." His tone was wistful as he recalled his past.
" Jubilea was dying. Everyone knew it. There was no hope for us and our species was doomed. But the elders in our world did not give up hope and prayed to our God for help. Unlike your God," He smirked, " Ours showed up. His name was Jubileus and he had such great power. Even now, with everything and everyone I have seen, I have never seen powers like his. He was a true God in every sense of the word, but he no longer saw our species as worthy. He chose only those who were the strongest to continue on, but as a completely different species."
" Bruuuutal." Valente whistled, sobering up from his initial shock of being told that everything he knew was a lie.
" It seemed so at the the time, but I can see the logic in it now. Our species relied on power and would inevitably kill themselves again if given a second chance on another planet. Since our society praised the strong, it was only natural that Jubileus chose the strongest out of the population. Oz and I, as well as the other alphas were the strongest ones of our kind and were each given a gift. Oz was granted magic, I was granted superior reflexes, intelligence, and so on. Others were granted their own powers and we each became the first member of our species."
" Dangggg," Valente supplied, leaning back on his elbows. " It's crazy to think that if there had been someone stronger than Oz we wouldn't have even known he existed!"
" Please allow make it to make it even more 'crazy' for you." Ampellio smiled. Valente suddenly got a bad feeling about where this was headed, but the vampire continued, " Our powers were not for us to hold alone. They were meant to be spread. We each had to change others in order to have a sustaining race. Jubileus told us to wait until we arrived to Earth so we could change the humans, but one of us didn't listen. Any guess as to who that was?"
" Uh....you....?" Valente guessed, not really sure as to where this was going.
" Nice try. But no. Not that I wouldn't have, if given the chance. Only someone beat me to her."
" Oh my Oz," Valente gasped, " This is over a girl! You wanted to tell me this story not because you wanted to "reveal your big secret" but to complain about your love life!? Wait until Marcy hears this ahahaha." Whether it was the situation they were in or the sense of dread of it all that was making Valente like this, but he was braver than ever talking to Ampellio like this. Luckily Ampellio hadn't knocked his head off yet or attempted to kill him, so it was clear that it really didn't bother him that much.
" You could say that. But she wasn't just any girl, Valente. We were going to be married. She was my wife in every way but the name. She was strong in her own right, but not on the level of the rest of the alphas, so she was going to be left behind. I wanted to change her to keep her with me, but Oz got to her first and she became a wizard." Valente noticed his expression change just slightly, and for the first time he thought Ampellio was actually going to cry. Or shout. One of the two. But he reeled in the emotions quickly and his expression was replaced with his normal calm mask.
" Uh, so what happened? Did you guys divorce or what? Is that why you're so mean to me sometimes?" He frowned. It would make sense. Ampellio enjoyed teasing him more than others. Then again, the Boss always said he had a face that was easy to tease.
" If I was more petty that would be the reason, but no. I just enjoy teasing you." Ampellio confessed. Valente sighed in relief, only to choke on the very same air when Ampellio said, " Plus, you could have been my direct descendant if things went how I wanted them to go."
" Wh-what do you mean by that?!" Instantly Valente regretted asking. He didn't want to know the answer.
" Oh? Didn't I mention her name? It was Valeria...."
" No, no, no, no, no, nO!" Valente chanted over and over, grabbing his golden locks and shaking his head back anf forth.
"....Mancini." Ampellio finished, and that was the last nail in Valente's coffin. He went completely lifeless, as limp as a rag doll and stared into the endless void. Somehow he felt like it was staring back.
" She was so beautiful. Her long flowing golden hair was a very hot topic in those days. It would take five whole hours just to brush through it all. It really was something." His voice was feathery light and dreamy as he recalled his past love, but all Valente wanted to do was throw up. Again.
" You were....in love...with my super great grandma?" he asked tearfully, hating everything about this conversation.
" And she was in love with me." Ampellio said seriously, nodding his head. " Honestly Valente, if I had changed her first, you and all of your family would be vampires like me. You could have been my super great grandson." Everything about his expression screamed amusement and Valente narrowed his eyes in spite.
" Yeah, thank OZ that he got there first then!" Then it dawned on him. " Wait! Oz knew my super great grandma too?"
" They grew up together. Neighbors I think. The first time I met Valeria was when I went to fight Oz and she was there."
" You wanted to fight Oz?" This was all too much. First Oz wasn't God, his great great great great great great greaaaaaaaaat grandpa could have been Ampellio and now someone who he thought was the God of his race participated in back street ally fights???
" Well yes, he was the strongest person on our planet. Of course I wanted to fight him." Ampellio answered. " I was a very different man then Valente. I was more angry and thirsty for blood, no pun intended. I wanted to be number one so I challenged him to a fight."
"...Did you win?" he asked reluctantly, only because his curiosity was eating away at him.
" It was a tie. We both had to stop before we killed ourselves...or others. That's when Valeria helped me regain my strength, and I fell in love with her."
" Wait," Valente held his hand up, his tears completely gone, " If you were so in love with her and vise versa, why did she become a wizard?" NOT that he wanted to be a vampire or anything, it was just his curiosity again.
" Good question, Valente, for once. I couldn't understand it at the time and I thought she betrayed me and chose Oz instead, but really it was because she didn't want to become a vampire. She didn't want to kill others in order to live, which is why she asked Oz to change her. That way she could still be immortal with me and have a clean conscious. Unfortunately I didn't figure any of this out until it was too late and she was gone."
" So super great grandma left you to live with Oz?"
" Yes. She created a new life for herself in Atlantis while I remained on Earth."
" Atlantis??" The name sounded oddly familiar, but Valente couldn't figure out from where. " What the hell is that?"
" It is the world Oz was given to live in, along with his wizards. It wasn't until it fell and the wizards moved to a new planet does your official history records start. With Fai the Conquered, who comes from Oz's direct bloodline."
" That's right!" Valente perked up, snapping his fingers. " That's what I was going to ask you! I thought it was during the great demon war that all the great families came together for the first time? But the Black and my family went back super far?"
" Valeria wasn't the only person Oz changed. He completely disregarded what Jubileus told us and turned his lover Faizera, into a wizard. Valeria followed afterwards and Pemdas and Anghelios were next. Those four families are more powerful than regular wizards because not only did they receive Oz's direct magic, but they started off as Jubileans rather than humans like the rest."
" WAIT! So you're saying that I'm a jellybean too?!" Valente exclaimed.
" Jubilean....And yes, technically. Though a lot of time has passed since then Valente. The amount of Jubilean blood still flowing through you is very small. Undetectable, probably."
" Woah, this is getting too heavy for me," Valente sighed, massaging his forehead " You killed my religion, showed me the true light, and then revealed that I'm not what I thought I was? Wayyyyy too heavy."
" Valente please calm down. You are the same as you have always been. I was just explaining to you your true origins. After the fall of Atlantis the wizards kept terrible records of Oz and his followers. It is no wonder they painted him into a God rather than a person of origin."
" But wait! If you're still here, and you're the vampire alpha or whatever, where is Oz?"
" Now you're really asking the right questions. All of the Alphas received a special power, except for one. He remained a Jubilean, and had his powers only slightly increased. Jubileans are strong compared to humans and to them he might have seemed like a superhero of some sort. But when placed beside us, it was clear that he was the weakest. Soon his envy and jealousy became too much and he declared revenge. His first target was Oz and he attacked him by capturing his friends. I was too late to save Valeria and the rest, but with the help of the remaining Alphas, we stopped him."
" Oz and his friends were sealed away in pocket dimensions exactly like this one, but without the possibility of leaving. It is sealed from the outside in and we have tried every spell we know to try to release them, but nothing has worked. Oz is still able to connect to your species, but they are in visions and prophecies only. Hence the God-like feel. But I assure you, Oz is as I am right now, and is no God."
" So that's it? You just wanted to shit on everything I knew and then roundhouse kick me with some more ground-shattering knowledge?"
Ampellio shrugged, " It passed the time, did it not? What else was there to do?"
" I don't know man, but not that!" Valente felt drained, physically and emotionally. He didn't even know where to begin to think and he was still trying to comprehend that Oz was a being like Ampellio and not some magical entity in the sky.
Glancing at his watch, Ampellio stood up and dusted off his pants, though there was no dirt or dust in this dimension. " It seems it killed enough time for us to leave."
" What are you talking about?" Valente raised his head just in time to see a crack open from within the void and a bright light seeped through. Immediately he jumped to his feet and ran towards the light, ready to leave this hellhole. " How did you do it? Don't tell me you have magic too?!" he asked, turning to Ampellio who only smiled and shook his head.
" Being the Alpha gives me special powers. I can speak with any vampire that has my blood, which is all of them, and I had some favors to call in. Step through the portal before the gate closes Valente."
Not needing to be told twice, Valente eagerly went through only to stop dead on the other side. The office was tidier than he last remembered it, but who knows how many years had passed since then. The minimalistic theme was no different, however, and Valente didn't even need to see the angry blonde leaning against his desk to know whose office this was. He was ready to retreat back into the tear, anything to escape, but was met with Ampellio's strong hands pushing him forward and out of the way so that he could step through. As soon as he did the portal closed and all three were left in silence in the office, daring each other to be the one to speak first. Naturally it was Ampellio.
" Well, thanks for that Valentine. I couldn't have made it out there without you." The red headed vampire smiled brightly. His personality had done such a 180 that Valente would have been surprised had it not been for the fact that they were standing in his brother's office. On Wiz. The one place he swore never to return to. Did Ampellio sell him out? Was Valentine here to turn him in? Had that entire conversation been a lie, just to get Valente to trust him?!
Valente was so shocked he couldn't move, couldn't talk, so Valentine was the first of the brothers to do so. He looked up from staring at the floor to glare at Valente and oh did Valente remember that look well. Like whenever he was too loud at one of Valentine's company parties, or when he ate all the cookies at a family reunion, or when Valente had broken a very expensive vase in this very office. Usually it would have made his cower in fear, but all Valente could feel was complete and utter happiness. For him, it had been years, decades, since he had seen one of his family members. Valerio didn't count because he was out to catch him, and to be fair Valentine could have the same intentions, but for now Valente was happy. It was impossible to read Valentine's expression , as always, but Valente could swear that he looked less angry then he remembered.
" Can you tell me, David, just why are you with my outlawed little brother in a pocket dimension in the middle of time and space?" Valentine's teeth were clenched tight as he spoke, his eyes never leaving Valente's face, despite directing his question towards, wait. David?
Valente turned to Ampellio and looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to answer. Ampellio, or David, or whatever the hell his name was only smiled and rubbed the back of his neck. " Aha, kinda a long story there Val, we don't really have the time to explain it y'know. The Council can get here any minute."
Valente made a mental note to ask Ampellio about 'what the hell is that personality about' later, as he was more focused on his eldest brother right now. Valentine clicked his tongue in disappointment but uncrossed his arms, albeit stiffly. " Fine, whatever. I'll get the spell ready. They can detect Valente's magic miles away, so don't do anything." He warned.
" Wait! So you're not here to turn me in?!" He asked desperately.
Valentine clicked his tongue again and turned away, reaching into his drawer. Valente stiffened, half expecting it to be his cell phone to call the Council about his whereabouts, but relaxed when it was just a book. Flipping to a certain page, Valentine began to recite the spell and another portal began to open in the middle of the office.
As he was doing that, Ampellio stepped closer to him to talk under his breath " Spells like these only last a few minutes, I'll go through first so you can talk with your brother. But if he tries to stop you from going through after I'm gone, you'll be stuck here. Do you still want me to go?"
Valente was already nodding his head before he even finished the question and Ampellio approached the tear, " Thanks for all your help Val. Remember," He placed a finger on his lips, signaling to keep quiet. Valentine's usual frown deepened and he said nothing as Ampellio passed though the tear. With that out of the way, he returned his gaze to Valente.
" Soooooooo, this is pretty awkward, huh? Let me tell you, I did not see ANY of this happening when I woke up this morning, ahahahaa.." The laughter died out when Valentine remained silent and motionless with only his hawk like gazed fixed on him.
Another moment of silenced passed and Valente thought about just going through the portal without saying anything until Valentine suddenly spoke up. " Are you okay?"
The question was so out of character that it threw Valente for a loop, and not for the first time that day either. " What?"
" I asked if you were okay. Where you're living now. This...E-Ta-Lee place. Is it safe? Are you safe?" His face was as emotionless as ever but his voice sounded so concerned Valente wasn't even sure if this was the right Valentine he was talking to.
" Er, yeah, it's okay. It's not bad...." He nervously rubbed his neck, " Have you always known where I was or...?"
" No. I didn't. Not until a few minutes ago when some random vampire called me up telling me that you and the Vampire Ambassador were stick in a pocket dimension together and couldn't escape. It was a miracle I managed to find you at all actually. Opening a portal to E-Ta-Lee was much easier, as Earth is much closer after all."
" Aha, are....are you going to turn me in...now that you know where I am?" He asked uncertainly.
There was a long paused and Valentine crossed his arms across his chest again, hugging himself, " If I was going to turn you in wouldn't you think there would PeaceKeepers here already?"
" Ohhhh..." Valente said looking around the office. Sure enough, no PeaceKeepers any where in sight. Just him and the brother who always seemed to hate his guts. " Guess you're right."
The portal made a weird sound and they both knew that it was ready to close. Getting another portal to go to the exact place and time as the previous one before it was difficult and time consuming, so it would be best if Valente went through now. But even so, there was a part of him that wanted to stay, to see his parents, and all his siblings and friends again. Even Valenna and little Valalee, as they had both been his favorite neices. But it was impossible. Seeing Valentine was enough of a blessing as it was.
" Guess I'll get going." He said awkwardly, moving towards the portal. He had to pass by Valentine to reach the portal and as he walked by he felt a hand on his shoulder. Instantly he stopped and looked up to see Valentine's face. It was anything but the calm and collected expression he was so accustomed to. Instead his face was red and twitching, as if he was holding himself back from crying. His eyes were red and Valente could see his lip tremble slightly.
" Stay...stay safe Valente." He said, his voice shaking. It was so out of character that Valente was dumbstruck and couldn't move, but Valentine nudged him towards the portal when it made a funny sound again. " Go, it's going to close soon."
Nodding, Valente stepped towards the portal, stopped, and suddenly turned around, engulfing Valentine in a hug. It was short and quick and not at all how he wanted to convey his feelings of sorrow, remorse and regret, but it would have to do for now. There was too much to talk about, to apologize for that there was just no time for it, so a hug would have to do. Valente squeezed as tightly as he could and Valentine reacted with enough time to wrap his arms around Valente too. The portal was visibly closing now, but neither brother wanted to let go. But ever the responsible one, Valentine let go first and this time, physically pushed Valente to the the opening. " Don't let me see you again." Which for him, meant I love you.
Valente smiled brightly and replied " See ya around," before heading into the portal. The tear closed shortly afterwards and not seconds later the door opened and Kyron came in, balancing Valentine's favorite tea set, filled with his favorite tea on a tray. " Here's the tea yo....what's wrong?" He asked, concerned upon noticing the wet streaks running down the blonde's cheeks from the tears.
" It's nothing." Valentine replied, a little too quickly and coldly, but Kyron was used to that by now. Turning away from where the portal once stood, Valente went over to the small tea table he had in the corner of his office and sat down while Kyron placed the tray on the table. " It's always hard to say goodbye to loved ones." He breathed and picked up the cup with a shaky hand. It was too dangerous for him to drink like this, the scolding hot tea could tip over and land on his lap, or worse, the carpet, so he just held it in his hand, inhaling the smell. " This was mother's favorite."
Kyron made a sound of acknowledgement and waited nearby in case Valentine spilt the tea so he could wipe it up quickly, but the only drops that hit the carpet were Valentine's own tears. He managed to put the cup down on the table safely before placing his hands over his face and inhaled deeply. Kyron's comforting hand on his back was expected, but Valentine knew he was misunderstanding the situation. To Kyron, this was just Valentine grieving over his recently deceased mother, but in reality, this was Valentine grieving over the fact that his mother was gone and he never had the chance to tell her that Valente was alive and well, perhaps better off than any of them. Maybe hearing the news that one more of her sons was alive could have been enough to save her from her own personal darkness, but with her gone, he would never know.
(HOLY FUCK I DID THIS ALL IN 7 HOURS HOLY SHIT THE ENDING WAS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE THAT)
Roleplay Origin: Fire Emblem AU Setting: Ylisse Characters: Kieran Venric (class: Lord) Mizuki Sato (class: Tactician) Flarence Suga (class: Great Knight)
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Kieran frowned as Flarence wrapped a cloth around his neck. "Flarence, must you try to do this every morning?" he asked, irritated as he sat in his chair trying to ignore the amused faces of his fellow soldiers. He could see from the corner of his eyes that most of them were trying to hold back laughter. This was humiliating.
"Milord, you cannot risk dirtying your clothes! As royalty, you must present yourself in an appropriate manner." answered the red haired man with exasperation, as if he got asked a foolish question. Kieran's eye twitched slightly.
"I am a soldier. I cannot help if my clothes get dirty in battle, Flarence." he tried to explain slowly, but Flarence just scoffed.
"But that is battle, sire. Outside of the battlefield, you must not present yourself as a low born peasant! What would the people think if their prince looked like a slob?" countered the man, who had finished the makeshift bib around Kieran's neck, and had moved to grab a cloth to set onto his lap.
"Flarence, do you think I care about that?" he asked, frustrated, but like always Flarence just dismissed his anger.
"Exactly my point, I know you do not care! That is why I must do this for you and ensure that you are taken care of." he answered with pride. He kept his gaze on Kieran to ensure the cloth shielded him from any crumbs and liquids that could fall from his breakfast plate. The prince sulked, but grabbed his food with dejected obedience and ate without taking off the cloths. Flarence beamed. This morning set a new record. Kieran only argued with him for ten minutes this time and only threw away the cloths about five times before giving up.
"I still don't know why I need a bib, like a baby, I am a grown man....", grumbled Kieran. As if fate decided to conspire against him, some of his porridge slipped from his spoon and landed onto the fabric fastened around his neck. He sighed as Flarence looked at him smug. "That doesn't count!" Kieran exclaimed, his face red from embarrassment, but Flarence just chuckled and sat beside him eating his own meal. Kieran scowled. "Fine, wearing this thing is easier than having you fuss over a stained shirt, I guess." he acquiesced, before finishing his food, feeling annoyed the entire time. A few minutes of silence passed between them before he spoke again.
"Flarence, can you do me a favor? I'm planning on training, but I left one of my swords in my tent. Fetch it for me, please?" he asked once he noticed Flarence finished his meal, and joy lit up in the man's eyes at Kieran's words. With a loyal "of course, milord!" Kieran watched Flarence hurry out of the tent, and after a few seconds passed, the prince smirked. "I still can't believe that works every time. Anyways, I'm out of here! I’ll meet back with you all in a few hours." he declared as he ripped the bibs off him, feeling victorious and not in the least bit guilty over manipulating his dutiful retainer again.
Making his escape he glared at the few Shepherds around to keep their mouth shut to Flarence, before running off from the camp.
The road to town would have him discovered by his men with ease. So, a careful trip through the forest was Kieran’s highest chance of success at evading them. He strayed from the dirt path and entered through the trees, using the trunks as a cover. Sunlight filtered through the tree leaves. Birds chirped their morning songs and small animals scurried around collecting food. Kieran felt himself relax at the peaceful atmosphere. His mornings tended to consist of either nagging or exhaustion, so to walk alone in near silence felt like Naga blessed him. To worry about responsibility was the last thing Kieran wanted when he began his day. His spontaneous walk was a great idea.
A few minutes into his entry in the forest, Kieran found himself staring at a large field. The sudden change in scenery confused him. He stayed in his spot hidden amongst the tress and gazed at his surroundings as he placed his hand over the hilt of his sword. No obvious enemies in sight. In fact, not too far from the bright green grass was the dirt road he avoided earlier. Kieran wondered if he found a shortcut to town by chance. Before he stepped out, he glanced around the field once again to make sure he could not fall victim to an ambush. It was then he noticed something peculiar.
Almost unnoticeable due to the tall grass, he could make out a figure in the distance. Dark purple and light pink were the colors that stood out to his eyes the most. But, Kieran could not name anything that size with those colors off the top of his head. He saw no movement. His instincts sensed no danger and his curiosity burned. Kieran stepped away from the safety of his hidden spot and approached the item, his hand never leaving his weapon. A part of him felt excited and his heart slammed against his chest in frantic rhythm. The thrill of exposing himself to possible danger felt tantalizing. An end to his boredom! A way to have actual control of his actions for once! If Flarence accompanied him then Kieran would not be allowed to investigate on his own. It was a stupid desire, to look for danger, but Kieran could not help but crave an end to feeling smothered.
As he inched closer, Kieran squint his eyes as sunlight caused something to reflect and shine right into his vision. He pursued his lips in annoyance. What could be laying there to cause that? He received his answer when he finally reached the mysterious item. Only, it was not an item.
It was a person.
Stunned, Kieran just stared. In front of him laid an unconscious young woman with light pink hair with a pale, almost sick complexion. The object that hurt his eyes turned out to be a bronze sword attached to her side. It was not the only weapon the woman had. Kieran noticed a bright yellow thunder tome in the dirt a foot away from her. That made him suspect that she did not fall asleep here on purpose since tomes required proper treatment to ensure they did not break early.
The cloak she wore is why Kieran did not rush to her aid. Stitched onto the dark purple cloak were golden symbols, along with eyelike patterns he recognized.
His father, the previous exalt who waged a terrible war against Plegia, bothered to teach him only a few lessons. One of them was about the cult of Grimleal; the sworn enemy of Naga’s worshipers. His father showed him the blasphemous symbols of Grima and ordered him to cut off the head of any person who wore them. And the mysterious girl was covered in those symbols.
For a brief moment, his traitorous mind entertained the idea to obey his dead father’s will by ending the girl’s life while she slept. To kill first and remove a potential threat to Ylisse. Horrified at himself, he banished the horrible thought away. Grimleal or not she was innocent until proven otherwise.
But he still did not know what he should do now. She did not seem to have external injuries and there was no sight of blood; she looked like a normal person would while they slept. Unfortunately leaving her and forgetting she existed was not an option; it was dangerous to leave an armed Plegian Grimleal alone in a field. Even if she meant no harm, a Ylissean who recognized her cloak could potentially become hostile towards her, despite how unlikely that was. Ylisseans wanted nothing to do with Grimleal and not taught in depth about the cult like he was so most would, at worst, probably think she was a regular dark mage.
When he heard her sudden pain filled groan, Kieran’s cautious thoughts abandoned him. Panic filled him instead. Was she waking up? But he had not decided what to do with her yet! He was accustomed to Flarence solving his problems for him. He was not ready for this. His father would have definitely killed her. But everyone, him included, hated his father so maybe he should do the opposite of what he would have done and help her?
"What should I do...?" he asked out loud, feeling anxious. He looked at the woman again and to his relief, she did not wake up yet. She began to stir and whimpered as if a nightmare plagued her. Kieran disregarded his suspicions the moment he realized she was in pain. He kneeled down and, with a tad of awkwardness, gave her a few light shoves. “H-hey…wake up!” he called out. When she showed no signs of awakening, Kieran hoped she did not have an injury to the head or was dealt a curse that kept her asleep. He should have thought more about why she was laying there in the first place instead of agonizing over whether to wake her up or not!
"What should I do...?" he asked out loud again, concerned and stood back up. Medicine and Kieran were an absolute disaster. He just slashed and cut through things with his sword, not heal people! "I have to do something..."he murmured, and widened his eyes when she saw her finally begin to wake up.
“Hey there!” He blurted out without thought. To avoid his awkward feelings, he extended his right hand to help her stand. Unfortunately, with every word that flowed from his mouth, Kieran just made everything more awkward. "There are better places to take a nap than on the ground, you know!" He joked and forced himself not to cringe at how uncool he sounded just now. But to his relief, the dazed woman did not hesitate to accept his help and reached for his hand. His eyes landed on a peculiar tattoo on the back of her right hand. The design resembled the symbol of the Grimleal but it was a mark he did specifically not recognize. It also looked branded on her skin, like the mark of Naga branded onto his left hand. It interested him, but her voice redirected his attention on her and he dropped the hand.
"What a lame joke, but thanks, Kieran." she greeted, the sentence rolling off her tongue automatically. Her face scrunched in confusion as if wondering why she just said that.
Kieran felt confused over being addressed with familiarity by her, but smiled at her. It was always refreshing to speak with a person who did not bother with unnecessary formalities. "O-Oh...You know me?" he asked with a touch of curiosity in his tone. It wasn't too odd to know his name, considering he was a prince-
"No...the name just came to me." she confessed and both shared bewildered looks with each other. "Where in the world am I anyways...? I...I can't remember...? I don’t remember anything!"
Immediately, he felt both concerned and suspicious. But he cast away his paranoid thoughts and watched as she looked around the field with an anxious expression. He had to help her, he reminded himself.
"You’re in the country of Ylisse. You…don’t remember?" he commented, but she just rolled his eyes at him like he was an idiot.
“That’s what I just said, Kieran!” she snapped at him. She proceeded to ignore him and mumble to herself over her worry about her memory loss. Kieran just stared at her with a stunned expression, still caught off guard by her attitude. But he supposed anybody in her situation would feel disoriented and act this way.
"Hey, it will be alright, try to calm down...Is there anything you remember at all, besides my name?" he asked, not wanting to feel useless.
“You’re telling me to calm down? My memory is gone and I wake up in a strange field knowing only the name of the stranger who found me, how am I supposed to remain calm?! I know your name, that means I know you. Maybe you’re the person who did this to me…!” she almost shrieked at him. Kieran jerked back, not even considering he could be a suspect.
“What?! Oh Naga help me. You're crazy, I just found you sleeping here in the field!” he retorted back, realizing for the first time how this bizarre situation must seem to her. Kieran wondered if these ridiculous accusations were karma for his own suspicions of her earlier. “Look, I did nothing to your memory. I’ll even promise to help you get them back to prove it!” he promised at the sight of her intimidating glare. A split second later he wondered if he would later regret this lapse in judgment to make such a promise without thought. Who knew how long or how much work it would take to remedy her amnesia? He was such an idiot! Well, he could not take it back now. He smiled nervously and placed both his hands on her shoulders. “Just, just take a few deep breaths alright? Maybe something will come back to you if you have a clear head.”
To his surprise, she did not push him away or slap his hands off of her. Instead she took his advice and took a few deep breaths. Kieran felt her shoulders lessen their tension. He dropped his hands back to his sides, an expectant look on his face as she looked deep in thought.
"Mizuki..? I think my name is Mizuki." She finally answered, and Kieran smiled again except this time with joy instead of nervousness.
"Mizuki." the name rolled off his tongue with ease, "It’s a nice name, I’m glad you remembered it. Well, my name is Kieran, like you mentioned earlier. Anything else come back?”
Mizuki looked frustrated. “No, just my name. I don’t know why I know yours, either. Do you know?” she asked, and her frown deepened when Kieran shook his head negative.
“No, I don’t remember meeting you either…” he trailed off. But Kieran met so many people as both a prince and soldier that it would be no surprise if he just forgot about her. “Maybe somebody in town will know you. I promised to help you out, so I can escort you there if you wish.”
Mizuki looked thoughtful for a moment before nodding. “Alright, but I’m still suspicious of you. You better keep your promise, Kieran.” She answered, and Kieran shrugged. He was still suspicious of her too. Perhaps keeping an eye on her for now was for the best, anyways.
“I always keep my promises, don’t worry Mizuki.” he spoke, not seeing her small smile as he bent down and reached the thunder tome on the ground. “I think this tome is yours. It was on the ground next to you. You have a sword too, so you might have some combat experience.” He explained as he handed her the book. She seemed pensive, wondering if she knew how to use magic or could fight like he suggested.
“Hm…” she hummed, opening the tome and reading through a few pages, “It does feel familiar. Like I already know how to do this…”
Kieran grinned and felt glad that he was correct. “That’s great! Another thing you know about yourself. We can head to town now and it’s not far from here. The road is just over there and…” his words died on his lips as he glanced in the direction of the village. Smoke rose into the sky and Kieran could see flames even from this distance. “Oh no…a fire? Maybe it was set by bandits? I have to help! Stay here, Mizuki.” he sounded worried, but he was full of resolve to help his people. Without a glance at Mizuki, Kieran ran off in the direction of the burning town.
Mizuki looked confused at his abrupt pause but when she saw the horror on his face, she turned around and saw what had terrified him. The village was on fire and he suspected bandits were also making trouble. She scowled when Kieran started to leave on his own. “Don’t just leave me and rush into danger, idiot, do you even have a plan?!” she shouted, running after him. He would need back up if bandits appeared and she was not letting him die until she got her memories back!
Kieran reached the town and the sight of barbarian bandits attacking innocent villagers made him see red. His body shook with rage and he reached for his sword, about to charge into a fight, when he felt someone press down on his hand to stop him. “Moron, you’ll get yourself killed.” Huffed Mizuki, and Kieran startled at her presence. She must have followed him.
“But I have to help!” he hissed, but all that did was earn him a smack on the head.
“You won’t be helping if you charge in without a thought.” She rolled her eyes at him before scanning the battlefield from the hidden location. “Let me come up with the plan. Somehow tactics…seems familiar. I may not remember my past, but I know I can do it.”
Kieran raised his brows but nodded. “Alright…” he agreed hesitantly. Whatever plan she came up with would most likely be more efficient than his 'stab every enemy he sees' approach.
Thirty minutes later, Kieran looked at Mizuki like she was the most amazing woman in the world. Her abilities as a tactician were incredible. Even with her amnesia, she managed to defeat the bandits who terrorized the village. She concocted the plan on the spot and worked with only had two fighters with abilities she did not know the effectiveness of. Even though the barbarians outnumbered them, they did not stand a chance against the pair. Kieran and Mizuki fought alongside each other like war veterans who spent years in combat together.
“You’re incredible, Mizuki! You should become a tactician! The Shepherds would be thrilled to recruit you.” he complimented, still staring at her with awe. She had potential to become a tactician for his Shepherds and her addition to the ranks would be a great asset. He didn't even care about her being Plegian or Grimleal anymore.
Mizuki accepted the compliment and grinned. “I know. My plan was perfection.” She said with pride, enjoying the praise. At first she felt nervous, but as the battle raged on her confidence grew and Kieran’s fighting prowess surprised her. “And what does a tactician have to do with a shepherd? Find the perfect strategy to herd sheep?”
Kieran let out a light hearted laugh. “Oh no. We’re a volunteer force dedicated to protecting Ylisse from bandits. And we defend villages around the halidom’s borders from hostiles.”
“What? Why is it named Shepherds though? That name makes no sense.” asked Mizuki, confused.
“Well, I thought it was a great name when I came up with it! You know, the citizens are sheep we protect.” He answered defensively, blushing from embarrassment over her remarks.
“YOU named the group? And they agreed to such a lame name with a lame reason?” she asked in disbelief, bewildered about why they would let Kieran choose the name. Did he win a bet or something?
“Well I am the leader…” he mumbled, slightly offended. He was proud of his Shepherds and sensitive when people disliked anything about them.
“You, mister charge in with no plan, are the leader? No wonder you want me to join, you need all the help you can get.” She laughed goodheartedly.
Kieran pouted childishly. “Oh come on, I'm not that bad! Besides, I fight different when I have my comrades with me...they help me think clearer. But my offer is serious and I would like you to join…Mizuki, you truly impressed me today. And we fought together so well, too.”
Here Kieran paused and thought for a moment. He spoke before Mizuki could interrupt his chain of thought. “The villagers already came out to greet and thank us for our help in defeating the bandits. Nobody here recognized you…so I don’t think you live here.” He concluded, spotting Mizuki frown at his words. “You can come with me to Ylisstol, even if you don’t want to become the Shepherd’s tactician. They have some of the best healers living in the capital. Plus I can help you find a place to live while you try to recover your memories. Working as our tactician would be a great paying job, though…” he explained, though he refused to give up on recruiting her.
Mizuki looked pensive, but his words did bring up some valid points and he seemed sincere in his offer.“That’s… pretty nice of you, even though I know you just want me to work for you. Or you’re just a moron.” She began to say, “But since I don’t have a home here, staying with you for now is my best option. If those healers can’t help me then I’ll think about joining your little club.”
Kieran grinned. "Well, the job offer still stands even if you get healed, you know? Anyways, lets go meet up with the Shepherds!" he suggested cheerfully, but then he grimaced as he remembered exactly what he had done this morning. "Although...Flarence will probably be furious at me for sneaking off...actually let's stay in town a little longer."
"Who?" she asked, but Kieran did not get the chance to answer.
"Mi'lord!" suddenly cried out the familiar voice of Flarence and Kieran sighed in defeat. He was going to have a lot of explaining to do to the over protective knight and was not looking forward to that at all. But he didn't regret today.
After all, he met Mizuki and Kieran could tell that with her around his life would be a lot more interesting.
Kieran: Likes to fight and enjoys the powerful rush of control he feels when he emerges victorious in battle. Is reliant on both Flarence and Marc for guidance so he is indecisive when forced to make choices. Claims his intuition and instinct never fails him. Tries to act like a proper prince but either becomes too flustered or too impatient to remember etiquette. Prefers casual conversation without titles and social status influencing it. Not too fond of overbearing people and uses every ounce of cunning he possesses to try and ditch his numerous bodyguards. Trusts in his brother completely. Prince of Ylisse and Leader of The Shepherds. Older brother to Exalt Marc. Wields Falchion. Mark of Naga on back of left hand. Class: Lord Alternate Base Classes: Cavalier, Dread Fighter Class Promotions: Great Lord, Paladin, Great Knight Skills: Outdoor Fighter, Resistance +10, Aggressor, Dual Strike+, Charm Endgame: Great Lord; Aggressor, Aegis, Dual Guard+, Aether, Rightful King
Marc: A pacifist and believes strongly in promoting peace. Good at adapting to any situation and remains calm in the face of adversity. Has an independent streak and often disregards the words of his advisers, but will pretend to take their ideas into consideration. Is more mature and patient than Kieran and often has to deal with the consequences of his brother's recklessness. Trusts his brother more than anyone. Chosen to replace his tyrant father following his death, despite his age and being second in line for the throne. Exalt of Ylisse. Younger brother of Kieran. Mark of Naga on his chest, over the heart. Class: Sage Base Classes: Mage, Lord, Dread Fighter Alternate Class Promotions: Dark Knight, Great Lord Skills: Aether, Lifetaker, Resistance +10, Rally Magic, Tomefaire
Arik: Future son of Kieran and Mizuki. Forced to lead Ylisse after Kieran's death and Mizuki's disappearance when he was 10, alongside advisers until they too died. Years later, with only his generation of Shepherds remaining and Risen terrorizing the land, uses Naga's blessing to send him and his companions back in time. Goes by the alias Marth until his identity is revealed. Remembers his parents acting cooler in the future and can barely believe how idiotic their present selves can be. Prince of Ylisse. Taught magic and tactics by Mizuki and swordsmanship by Kieran. Wields Falchion. Mark of Naga on right shoulder. Class: Dread Fighter Alternate Base Classes: All classes excluding female classes, villager, manakete, and taguel Class Promotions: All class promotions excluding female classes Skills: Lethality, Resistance +10, Aggressor, Ignis, Rightful King
Roleplay Title: The Breadsticks AU Nobody Wanted Roleplay Origin: Breadsticks AU Setting: Restaurant AU Earth Characters: Adrien Szetella Bellakane Black Jecht Rutella Iris Sohma Lucifel Hyperion Bellerophon Black Valdeimos Mancini Valente Mancini Marcellina Machiavelli
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Adrien chomped on another breadstick.
He had a feeling he had been stood up for his date.
When the waitress returned to the table with yet another refilled basket of breadsticks, he felt too embarrassed to look her in the eyes. He probably looked pitiful, sitting alone while eating away breadstick after breadstick.
"A-are you ready to order now, sir?" she asked shyly, probably mortified to ask him after he had been so obviously stood up for a date. Adrien felt awkward as he nodded. He should probably give up on waiting.
"Yeah...yeah I'll order now. Uh, sorry. For taking so long, I mean." he apologized, opening the menu and going straight for the desserts.
He inwardly cursed Marcellina and Valente for insisting he go on the blind date they set up for him. Thanks to those blond demons, he was stuck in such an awkward situation. He wanted to go home but he did not want to just leave without ordering anything after sitting there for an hour, making the poor girl waste her time giving him breadsticks over and over again.
“Um…” his eyes darted over the menu, “Bread…Fruit Pudding. Please.”
Adrien would never admit he had been about to say breadsticks and corrected his embarrassing slip up by naming the first thing he saw starting with bread in its name.
He quickly ate his bread fruit pudding, paid for his order, and made sure to leave a big tip before he fled the restaurant. -x-x-x-x-
Apparently his best friends decided to make it up to him by setting him up with yet again another blind date. Adrien didn’t even want to go on the first one! Sadly, despite his protests the next night Adrien found himself back at the same restaurant. He even had the same waitress for his table. The embarrassment from the night before returned.
“Um, reservations made by Valente Mancini…” he mumbled, repeating the same words as yesterday, and followed the girl to his table. His date actually arrived earlier than him, to his surprise, and was already waiting.
"Uh, hey. I'm Adrien." He gave him a shy smile.
"Hello. Jecht Rutella, a pleasure to meet you." he greeted politely, which eased Adrien's nerves. He seemed nice, at least.
Unfortunately Jecht's polite and mannerly persona all but disappeared after Adrien made the mistake of asking the wrong question.
The conversation had been going normally enough, at first. "Yeah, Valente and I are roommates with our friend Marcellina. How do you know him?" Adrien had asked, not knowing it was the beginning of the end.
"Oh, we are coworkers. Miss Machiavelli works with us as well." Jecht admitted and Adrien leaned forward, immediately interested. Valente never mentioned what his job was and always spoke about work as vague as possible. Adrien sometimes wondered if his mysterious job was something ludicrous and joked about Valente being a member of the mafia or a secret government spy. Valente had gone pale at the joke and vehemently denied working for the mafia, much to Adrien's amusement, but decided not to bring it up again because Valente looked so anxious. He could only hope Jecht would tell him more about it so his curiosity would be soothed. Adrien didn't even know Marcellina worked in the same place as Valente! He listened eagerly to Jecht's words. "But I rarely see Marcellina or Valente. I mostly work with...Trixxtal." he spat out the name with venom, and Adrien could only stare at him in shock at his abrupt anger. Subconsciously, Adrien scooted his seat back and cradled the basket of breadsticks closer to him. "Just today, the Boss assigned us a job and in the middle of the job he brings up an argument we had earlier..."
Nibbling on a breadstick, he listened to Jecht's sudden rant. He also wondered who the hell Trixxtal was.
"...And then, he dared to threaten my poodle! It's not my darling Cece's fault if she wanted to chew on his favorite shoes, Trixxtal should have put them away instead of leaving them on the floor! He always makes such a mess and it drives me crazy when he moves around my stuff. Ugh, one time he tried to replace one of my paintings on the wall with this low quality trash he found in some plebeian store..."
"U-um...excuse me...my name is Bellakane and I-I'll be your server today, are you ready to order?" the timid waitress, bless her heart, tried her best to end Jecht's tirade. Jecht apparently did not hear her and continued talking about how angry he was at this Trixxtal person. Adrien locked eyes with her. For a moment, Adrien felt a connection with her, bonding over their awkward position of dealing with Jecht.
Adrien froze when a sudden thought struck him. If Bellakane took his order, he would have to wait for his food to be cooked and brought to him. He would have to eat his food. He would have to wait for the bill. This translated to him listening to Jecht the entire time, something Adrien was unsure he wanted to continue to do.
"I-I just got an urgent text!" he blurted out, standing in his chair abruptly. "Sorry but I have to go home, right now, immediately!"
Before Jecht could say anything, Adrien fled the restaurant once again. It was only when he got back to his car that he realized he had still been carrying the basket of breadsticks. His cheeks flushed red from embarrassment; he could not believe he accidently stole their breadsticks. Even though they were free, Adrien felt guilty, so he resolved himself to return the basket later once he knew Jecht was long gone. After he finished the breadsticks, of course.
-x-x-x-x-
To his despair, Valente and Marcellina set him up on another blind date to try to redeem themselves for the fiasco with Jecht. Adrien, unable to bring himself to stand up to his friend's whims, found himself seated at the restaurant once again. Once he asked the waitress, who was Bellakane again, for time to look at the menu Adrien looked at the woman who arrived earlier.
His date sat across from him and while she seemed completely normal, after yesterday's disastrous date Adrien knew better now than to judge by the first impression. "Nice to meet you, I'm Adrien." he tried to smile politely. The woman gave him a bright, cheerful smile that filled him with hope that she was nothing like Jecht.
"I'm Iris! I'm happy to be here." she chimed, her eyes lit up with excitement. "When Marcellina asked me if I wanted to go on a blind date, I never thought she would set me up with a pretty guy like you!"
Adrien blushed, flustered by her forwardness at calling him 'pretty'. He was unused to compliments because it was Valente who usually got deemed 'beautiful', so he got most of the attention whenever they hung out. "O-Oh? Uh, thanks - "
"I love beautiful men, you know, that's how I met Valente!"she interrupted, and Adrien was only a little surprised that she had met Valente too. That immediately set off warning bells in his head; anybody who knew Valente was strange in some way and his blond friend always called Adrien 'his only normal friend'. "I should have known you would be beautiful too, since you're friends with Marcellina and Valente! I'm actually searching for a beautiful man in my memories, so when I saw Valente's beautiful face I thought it could be him, but he wasn't." she said with a pout.
Adrien was at a loss. What in the world was she talking about?! How did the conversation turn this way? With resignation, he asked, "And...why are you looking for a beautiful man?"
She immediately piped up, apparently happy to talk about herself. "I have amnesia." she admitted unexpectedly, "My only memory of the past is a beautiful man, smiling at me and saying 'I love you, Iris'...How can I not want to search for him? I don't even care about my missing memories...I want to find that man! "
Adrien was surprised at her answer, but he smiled softly. "That's...pretty touching. You're searching for the man who loves you."
Iris grinned. "Yup! His face is blurry so I'm trying to meet as many people as possible since I don't know his face clearly. I might meet someone who knows him!" she explained, before suddenly reaching into her large purse and taking out...a basketball? "And this will help me!" she revealed, showing the basketball proudly to him.
"Huh, a basketball? Did he play the sport or something?" he asked bewildered, wondering why she was showing it to him all of a sudden. Adrien did not even want to understand how it fit into her purse. Adrien watched as she shook her head.
"Nope, this basketball has a spirit named Ju-On attached to it." she said with a straight face. Adrien stared at her as she spun a wild tale of her first meeting with Valente. Marcellina met her on a trip to the mall and the two hit it off, becoming fast friends and Marcellina became determined to help Iris on her quest for love. Since Valente had connections with powerful people he was asked to help find the missing man, but when they came face to face Iris immediately thought he was the most beautiful human being on the planet. Perfection like him just HAD to be the sweet man from her memories! Iris proudly described her efforts in stalking Valente, seeing absolutely nothing wrong with 'wanting to be by her beloved's side forever', and Adrien vaguely remembered his friend complaining about a crazy stalker about a month ago. Adrien never saw her because Valente wanted nothing to do with her, but if Iris was the same girl...why the hell was he on a date with her, then?!
"But one day Valente tearfully admitted that there was a man more beautiful than him, he saw him long ago and had only just remembered," she continued, completely serious about what she was saying, and Adrien was still in disbelief that this story was real. "He told me that man must have been the one I had been searching for, and he was so sorry for wasting my time on him when my real love was still out there somewhere. Valente gave me this basketball as an apology, and now I carry it everywhere because he said it was special."
"Valente told you that basketball is...special?" he asked, wondering if this girl was just playing a joke on him. Sadly, Adrien could absolutely see his friend pulling a stunt like this to get rid of a creepy girl. In fact, now that Adrien thought about it, that basketball was probably his! Valente went through his things one day and, out of the blue, asked for one of his old basketballs. Adrien had never gotten it back.
At that moment, Bellakane returned to the table to take their order, but Iris did not notice her and continued her story. "Yes! Valente said this basketball contains Ju-On inside." she said happily, reminding Adrien of her words earlier, "Ju-On loves beautiful men, so as long as I carry the basketball with me, I will be guided to them. Eventually, I'll find my love, Ju-On will lead me to him!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Adrien saw Bellakane looking confused and eyeing the dirty basketball that Iris set on top of the table. He said nothing to either of them and was pretty much acting on autopilot now; the ridiculousness of the situation had drained him of his energy. "I helped Valente seal Ju-On into that basketball, so you will definintely find him one day." he said with a straight face, reaching for his phone. He stuffed it into his messenger bag, and without thinking, shoved a breadstick into his bag. "I'm not him, and I don't want to keep you from your search, so..." he shoved another breadstick inside, "Sorry but I have to go home, right now, immediately."
He practically flew from his chair.
As he left, he had the feeling Bellakane was trying to keep herself from laughing at him.
When he opened his bag at home, he was mortified and embarrassed to find a couple of breadsticks inside.
-x-x-x-x-
Marcellina vehemently apologized for her mistake in choosing the previous nights date. Adrien forgave her for not realizing Iris was actually a madwoman on a manhunt, but he was unsure if he wanted to forgive her for setting him up on another date as an 'apology'.
At least he had the breadsticks to look forward too.
And Bellakane apparently knew this, because not even five seconds at his table and she already had a basket of breadsticks waiting for him.
"S-so Valente set you up on another blind date?" she asked, but suddenly began to blush and she began apologizing profusely. "I'm sorry I shouldn't have asked, that's none of my business!"
Adrien just chucked, his embarrassment could not possible rise any higher could it? "Ah, haha, yeah...unfortunately...You don't have to apologize though. If anything, should apologize for taking so many breadsticks...I lost the basket from the first night too." he grimaced, his face turning red as she suddenly giggled at him.
"It's okay...Valente returned it for you, don't worry. Um...I'm Bellakane, by the way." she introduced herself, and Adrien smiled in relief that he was not in trouble.
"Oh, that's suspiciously responsible of him then...And nice to meet you properly, Bellakane. I'm Adrien." he greeted, and felt oddly comfortable speaking to her. He had a feeling it was because she had already seen him look pitiful on his blind dates. "I'm sorry for wasting your time with my uh...dates."
"Ah, I think Valdeimos doesn't mind...he's the owner of the restaurant. Valente is his little brother, so he's used to trouble and strange situations caused by him." she explained, and suddenly Adrien finally understood why he kept getting sent to this restaurant and why he had not been banned from the building. He couldn't help but laugh.
"Finally, things are making a lot more sense! I don't know much about Valente's family, so I had no idea his brother owned this place..."
The friendly chatter with Bellakane continued and she spent her short break talking with him. Her shyness slowly disappeared the more their conversation and it was pleasant speaking with her. Unfortunately, the pleasant atmosphere disappeared once Adrien suddenly felt a sense of foreboding when an obnoxious voice carried throughout the room.
"AHAHA IT IS I, THE DEMON LORD LUCIFEL WITH MY FAMILIAR TAPIOCO, HERE AT THE REQUEST OF WIZARD VALENTE, TO GIVE THE HONOR OF BASKING IN MY PRESENCE, TO ALL THOSE IN THE ROOM..."
Adrien slowly turned around, and his face grew pale at the man speaking near the entrance. He wore a golden crown on his head, alongside a pair of obviously plastic devil horns. While the dress shirt he wore actually looked nice, and surprisingly normal, on top of his shoulders rested a long flowing cape. The shoulder pads were large and shaped as skulls. In his hands, was a white duck. At first he thought it was a realistic plushie but he saw it move and that was the last straw.
"Oh hell no, I'm going to kill Valente...!" he hissed, and Adrien turned to Bellakane with pleading eyes. "Get me out of here without getting seen, please, Bellakane."
Bellakane was stifling her laughter and nodded, pointing at the kitchen and motioning for him to follow. Adrien quickly replied and followed her, but as soon as they stepped through the doors, the waitress burst out laughing.
"I'm so so so sorry for laughing...but...I cannot believe....! Lucifel, of all people...Pft..." the girl drew looks from the rest of the staff, but only one man approached them.
"Bellakane...what are you doing? And why have you brought this customer into the kitchen?" he asked, frowning at the two of them, but there was no anger in his eyes. Bellakane took a moment to compose herself.
"Valdeimos, he needs to sneak out the back door. He's Valente's friend and got set up on a blind date with Lucifel..." she began to explain, thought she was cut off when the owner of the restaurant spoke.
"I understand. Show him the exit, Bellakane, I'll get rid of the idiot. He probably brought that duck with him too..." Valdeimos sighed tiredly, but with undersanding in his eyes, and Adrien had a feeling there was a story here he was missing.
"Thank you." Adrien said earnestly to Bellakane once they reached the back door. "Really, thank you. I don't know who that weirdo is, but I'm so glad I don't have to find out. And I don't even want to know why he carried around that duck. It's probably a story just as weird as that basketball one."
Bellakane giggled again. "Lucifel is Valente's childhood...friend? Both of their dads work for my dad, so we all grew up knowing each other and Lucifel has always been weird. He calls himself the demon lord and Valente a wizard for some reason. Valente and Valdeimos are actually my cousins, so he calls us wizards too."
Adrien blinked, surprised that his new friend was related to Valente. No wonder she found the situation amusing. "Oh wow. That's pretty interesting...Haha, well I don't want to keep anymore of your time so I'll go now. At least I didn't accidently steal any more breadsticks this time!" he laughed, ready to leave, but was stopped when Bellakane whipped out a to-go box.
"I figured you would leave without your date...so...I made this for you...Um, bye Adrien!" she blushed as she handed him the box and ran away before Adrien could say anything.
"Huh?" he muttered, opening the box to inspect what was inside.
He laughed hard when he saw breadsticks inside.
-x-x-x-x-
After chewing out his friends for setting him up with crazy people, Marcellina and Valente apparently took his words as a challenge to find him a better date. Adrien was once again at the restaurant on a blind date, but at least time, he had been assured by Marcellina that this person would be a normal person. He didn't believe her at all.
The fist sign that the night would not go well was Bellakane's gaze of pity when he stepped through the doors. "Welcome, Adrien. Your date is already here. I'm so sorry." she informed, but she looked tired, the same expression Valdeimos had the night before when he found out he had to deal with his brother's messes.
"Do you...know him?" he asked hesitantly, already feeling dread settle in his body the closer his steps brought him to his table.
"My big brother, Bellerophon." she admitted and sent Adrien another mournful look. "I'll get your box of breadsticks ready, Adrien."
Adrien choked back a laugh. "He's that bad or what?" he asked, but didn't get an answer because they had arrived. The man waiting at the table was unexpected. Dressed in a white suit, a golden rose tucked into his pocket, golden hair as pretty as Valente's, and a pleasant smile...Adrien got the impression he was looking at an angel. While he did not trust any person chosen by Marcellina or Valente, Adrien definitely preferred Bellakane's angelic brother to that demon wannabe from last night.
"Hello, you must be Adrien. I'm Bellerophon." greeted his date, who extended his hand and offered him a single yellow rose.
"O-oh, thank you." he took the rose with a blush, surprised he had received a gift at all. None of the others had gifts for him, and Adrien's expectations of the date were too low for him to bother bringing anything either. He took a seat and Bellakane suspiciously had left, and Adrien wondered if she was taking her sweet time so Adrien would have enough time to flee before ordering. Adrien twirled the rose in his hands and smiled. Even if this date ended in disaster, he would appreciate the flower, he hardly ever received gifts from anyone.
"I really like roses." Bellerophon began suddenly, causing Adrien to look up, "I have a garden back home and grow them all myself as a hobby. I hope my servants can tended to them properly." he said with a sigh, before smiling at Adrien again. "Do you have any hobbies, Adrien? Valente, when he asked me to meet you here, said you have an interest in television dramas. I mostly watch online, to keep up with shows I watched in my home country, so I have not seen any of this countries' television yet."
Adrien's face brightened, thankful that Bellerophon had not unleashed a weird life story on him like Jecht or Iris for their first conversation. "Yes, I love TV dramas! I spend a lot of my free time watching them, actually, it's probably embarrassing how obsessed I can become over some of my shows. So you like shows from other countries? Are you new to this country, then?" he asked, happy to talk about the topic.
"Yes, both my sister Bellakane and I are just visiting here while our parents deal with some issues back home. We're staying with our cousin, Valdeimos, for now. He owns this restaurant and Bellakane wanted to help out to show her gratitude. I admit I've acted a bit...lazier." he confessed with a light chuckle. "I spend all my time on the computer, watching my shows. I get obsessed too. I spend all of my extra money collecting items from my favorite shows. Especially anime, I love that the most! My room back home is filled with figures and posters of my favorite characters."
"Finally, somebody who understands! I'm the same way...I keep buying every merchandise I find. One time, there was a rare poster being given out so..."
Their conversation continued, and Bellakane was surprised when she arrived and Adrien had not run off yet. He actually got to order food and ordered spaghetti, just because he knew they would go well with breadsticks. It was easy speaking to Bellerophon because they had common interests and Bellerophon was (so far) sane compared to the previous dates.
When the conversation turned onto a strange topic and Bellerophon started to say weird things, by this point Adrien just rolled with it, nodding his head as he listened and ate his spaghetti. Even when he said things like:
"My father is the ruler of my country, and as the king he makes many enemies. This is why I support the death penalty. Murderers who try to harm my family and the citizens are the worst of humanity. Annoying people like them should just be executed." and "I technically have a fiancee, but she has been comatose the past few years and I just can't bring myself to abandon her despite the low chance of her waking up. I feel guilty for her condition. I'm a prince so she was targeted by assassins and she got hurt during the attack. She survived, but never woke up, and I actually carry this golden rose to remember her." and "Alright, so I had a crush on my best friend, right? But it turned out he had only befriended me because his family was trying to overthrow the government in a coup de'tat. It broke my heart when he betrayed me, but I still convinced my father not to execute him because I can't help but continue to care about him. I'm such a hypocrite, haha, just earlier I was supporting the death penalty! Anyways, that's why Bellakane and I are in this country. We're staying with our cousin until my mother feels it safe at home for my family."
Adrien listened with rapt attention, chewing on his breadsticks. "Uh, wow. My life is nothing like that. I'm an orphan and never really had family or anyone at all, really, until I met Valente and Marcellina." he commented, refraining from mentioning to Bellerophon how his life sounded like a ridiculous soap opera. In fact, it sounded like the plot of a television drama he would want to watch. Bellerophon was even a prince; Adrien never imagined ever meeting real royalty and apparently he had met two of them! He felt guilty, though, thinking of Bellerophon's life like that. He described real events that happened to him, not episodes in a show. "But I think - "
However, he was interrupted, when Bellerophon got a glimpse at his phone. The prince's face was pale and he looked extremely worried. "Oh no! It's already this late?! The new episode of Magical Girls Love!Live! Rangers is going to be released in twenty minutes. I've been waiting all week for it..." Bellerophon trailed off, and took out his wallet, setting more hundred dollar bills than he actually needed onto the table.
In the biggest plot twist of Adrien's life, it was Bellerophon who stood up and exclaimed, "Sorry but I have to go home, right now, immediately." in his extreme passion over his anime. Adrien just stared as he watched Bellerophon shove breadsticks into his backpack (it was cute, Adrien thought, with its anime characters) and watched the elegantly dressed man in a suit, wearing an anime backpack, rush out of the restaurant worrying over missing out on the new episode of his show.
Adrien stayed silent for a moment, looking at the empty breadstick basket in sorrow, before exclaiming:
"Normal, my ass. There was nothing normal about him at all!"
He felt better though, when an amused Bellakane handed him more breadsticks.
-x-x-x-x-
Adrien was in hell, obviously. Why else would he be on another blind date?!
"I'll definitely get back at Valente and Marcellina for this...!" he mumbled, biting into a breadstick.
Roleplay Title: Dumbest au AKA the superhero with a supervillain best friend au Roleplay Origin: Superhero/Supervillain AU Setting: AU earth Characters Involved: Cepheus Ross - superhero Cepheroth Julian Ring - supervillain Jecht Nicolas Marquis - police officer Trixxtal
In a world with superheroes and supervillains, there lived two boys who became childhood friends. As teenagers, both boys developed superpowers. While one set of parents felt delighted for their son, the other pair feared the power their child wielded would lead him to ruin. The boy with the frightened parents was sent far away to live with relatives, but before the boys were forced to say their goodbyes, they promised to "always be friends no matter what". However once they hit adulthood the boys, now young men, would reunite only to discover they had taken separate paths in life.
One walked the path of righteousness to become a superhero. The other walked down the road to a life as a criminal and became a supervillain. Their reunion was a tragic one, friends turned enemies, breaking their promise of eternal friendship.
...Or not.
I. A reunion Cepheus looked at the cackling supervillain in front of him with disbelief. The man laughed cruelly as he tossed aside a defeated hero like a broken toy into an already crumbled building, which had been in pristine condition this morning until the villain ruined it with his power over electricity. Cepheus should have moved to stop him, or at least attempt to aid his injured comrade...but he did nothing but stare intently at the supervillain.
He wore a top that reminded Cepheus of a star or even a spark of light; the color was a pure white with shades of dark blue zigzagged lines, resembling the electricity he wielded. And down the sides of his black pants it looked like lightning, the same color of his top half of the costume, struck. In the center of his white top an obnoxiously large J, encased around dark blue lightning, was branded and it was the same black color as the mask covering the villain's eyes.
This disguise did not fool Cepheus. It was blatantly obvious to him that the true identity of this supervillain who called himself Jecht was his best friend, Julian.
"Jul-...Jecht!" he called, his voice barely containing the excitement and showed no fear as the villain turned around to face him. There was no reason to be afraid of his closest friend, no matter how many years they had been apart. And by the smile on Jecht's face, Cepheus knew he recognized him too.
"Cece! It's been so long." he greeted cheerfully, as if he had not been wreaking havoc three seconds ago and casually slung his arm over Cepheus' shoulders to pull him into a friendly hug. With a wave of his hand, a large shield of electricity erected around both of them so Jecht could safely ignore any heroes or police officers wanting to subdue him. Chatting with his best friend was obviously more important. "I didn't know you became a hero."
"Yeah, my hero name is Cepheroth," he casually returned Jecht's smile, "And I didn't know you became a villain, either, Julian, or that you returned to the city. Either way...it really is good to see you again."
II. What do you want from McDonalds? "Man, Cece, I can't believe you kicked my ass that badly. You've gotten way stronger! You're the only hero who'll ever stand a chance against me. All of those other heroes aren't even worth my time, if you weren't there to arrest me, I would have totally won." Despite the fact that he was a prisoner in jail at the moment, the arrogance in Julian's tone came through the receiver and Cepheus felt a strange sense of deja vu.
"Jecht," he spoke, using Julian's villain name because the moron had decided to use his one call at the prison to make small talk with him, "Remember when we went against Skullkracken? You told me I was the only person who could ever win a fight against you, and that nobody in that gang was not worth your time. Then Fenrir kicked your ass. And don't even get me started on the Mancini brothers." he reminded with a hint of exasperation. "Try not to underestimate everybody all the time, alright?"
Jecht scowled at the memory of his youth; he was such an embarrassing idiot. "Back then neither of us had our powers yet! Those losses don't matter anymore, we were untrained kids anyways."he countered, seriously annoyed that he even remembered those damned Mancini kids again.
Cepheus let out a frustrated sigh at his friend's stubborness. "Just...try not to get hurt too badly whenever you do your dumb supervillain things alright? Anyway, I'll visit you later once I'm done cleaning up your mess."
"Wait! Wait! Wait! I called you for a reason, Cece, not just to talk about how you beat me up. Do you want anything from McDonalds?"
"What?" asked Cepheus, bewildered at the random change in subject, "Why?"
"Just humor me for once, please. If you were at McDonalds right now, what would you order?"
He could almost see the grin Jecht probably had over the line and Cepheus suddenly had a bad feeling. "I don't know. A burger and fries?"
"Alright! I'll drop the food off at your house!"
"What?! Jecht, what are you-"
Cepheus suddenly dropped the phone and clutched his ear, after he heard a lould BOOM from Jecht's end of the line. "Ugh, Julian what the hell?" he growled, and bent down to retrieve his cell phone. After that random explosion that he was one hundred percent certain was caused by Jecht, the phone line went dead. He immediately ditched the clean up crew to head home to confront Julian (and he better have picked up the burger and fries for him).
III. Obligatory villain backstory His parents, in an attempt to prevent him from turning into a supervillain, sent Julian to live with his aunt and uncle. They had many "good reasons" for this, they said, and thought living in the peaceful countryside would be a good influence on him.
Okay, so what if he was the leader of a gang, the infamous FlyingDeath? And that he clearly wanted to get revenge on that bastard Fenrir and the Skullkraken for trying to take his turf?! He had to take care of his friends and territory, obviously. (He totally would have gotten away with stealing all their stuff too, as a great bonus, if it wasn't for the dumb heroes who suddenly showed up.)
Alright, so what if he nearly beat to death the bullies who tormented his best friend, Cepheus?! Of course he would defend him. And he definitely did not care that his parents were upset that he took the time to track down every single one of them and have a "friendly chat" to dissuade any notion of going after Cepheus again. (He totally beat them up, it was so fun! Cepheus lectured him on controlling his anger, and trying to find another way to solve his problems, but he still smiled and gave Julian a high five for that sick move he did against the most annoying bully.)
And so what if he suddenly developed the power to command electricity?! Calling down lightning from the Heavens was awesome, never needing a charger for electronics ever again was awesome, and short circuiting the power of the store so he could steal shit without getting caught on camera was awesome! It's not like he ever used his power to hurt anyone. (He totally wanted to fry that annoying Val-whatever dude in his class, but Cepheus reigned in his temper and kept him from turning into a murderer over a silly thing. Julian did not agree that insulting his taste in music and clothes was a "silly thing" but Cepheus insisted and so he controlled himself.)
The actual final straw for them, however, had not even been the worst thing he had done in Julian's opinion. He just stole his mom's motorcycle...because he wanted to see a superhero vs supervillain fight up close...and when he found them Julian started to cheer on the villain...then he "accidentally" electrocuted the duo of heroes who had been fighting the villain. They were horrified that he supported a notorious criminal, and angry that Julian apparently gave away his phone number and convinced that villain to go on a date with him. (Honestly, with Elijah's pretty silver hair and beautiful blue eyes and the powerful strength he showed, fending off both Lovi Sky and Legacy on his own, how could Julian NOT be attracted to that man) Then he argued with his parents that it wasn't like this was the first time he had dated a supervillain, so it was no big deal! (In hindsight, it had been really dumb of him to mention Keziah and Vittoria) Finding out that this was the third supervillain he had a romantic interest in (he DEFINITELY realized by now that admitting all of those other unrequited crushes on all of those other villains would be a bad idea, and kept his mouth shut) made them panic, they were actually borderline hysteric. The only saving grace about this dumb situation was that his parents encouraged him to stay in contact with Cepheus, who according to them, befriending the kind and responsible boy was the only positive decision Julian had ever done.
So it was with a teary goodbye to his old gang, a cold farewell to his parents, and a heartfelt promise to Cepheus to "always be friends no matter what" that Julian arrived to some obviously boring hick town where Wolfram and Joyce Rutella lived. It only took an hour for him to change his opinion of his aunt and uncle.
Julian was laughing so hard while standing in the hidden lair in their basement, unable to stop because his parents had no idea!!! No idea that Wolfram and Joyce were high ranking members of the most notorious supervillain organization!!! No idea that they had sent him to live with a pair of secret supervillains because they were afraid he would grow up to become a supervillain!!!
He now found the situation hysterical, and the only downside to this now was that Cepheus was not here to experience this hilarious situation with him, and he was forbidden from saying anything about this to his best friend. Julian did not mind keeping this secret, too much. After all, even with Julian's shitty influence on him since childhood, it was obvious to him that Cepheus would eventually grow up to become a superhero.
IV. Thank you for throwing my ass in jail "Ugh, I can't believe you're throwing my ass in jail, Cece." complained Julian, whining as he watched the police car drive towards them. He looked at the flickering red and blue lights with dread as the vehicle parked. He felt tempted to immediately escape, but Cepheus was still hovering around him to prevent just that, so he could do nothing but stay put for now.
But then, the car doors opened. Julian stared at the man who emerged from the car and honestly wondered if he had just been blessed by a divine act of God.
His heart beat fast as he whispered to Cepheus, "Hey, hey! Cece look at him. Holy shit. That's the most beautiful man I've ever seen, forget what I said earlier, thank you for throwing my ass in jail." Julian silently praised himself for being patient for once. If he had run off like he wanted to, he would have never encountered the attractive police officer who was approaching the two of them.
The officer with the pretty blond hair and the gorgeous eyes wore a standard uniform, but then Julian noted the insignia enseamed into his shirt. This man was a member of the special forces, consisting solely of police officers wielding special powers like any hero or villain. Their job was to arrest the villains defeated by heroes and guard them in prison, which would be too potentially dangerous for a cop without a super power of their own. In a way, they were a subclass of heroes; they even possessed code names just like the heroes and villains. Knowing the attractive man in front of him was probably strong made Julian want him even more.
He heard the melodic voice of the officer as he spoke the Miranda rights and Julian could only sigh dreamily, no longer caring that he was being arrested as long as if it was done by this man. When the angelic voice finished speaking, Julian did not even hesitate to say, "Please, arrest me officer. I'll go with you without resistance. Although maybe you're the real criminal here, because you've stolen my heart."
Cepheus just looked at Julian in disbelief. There had been many "Cece, it's love at first sight, I think I've found the one!!!" in his life but never before had his friend shown interest in anyone who had not been a supervillain. The fact that he had fallen for a random police officer of all things honestly surprised him. The cop just looked bewildered as he moved to handcuff Julian, who looked absolutely thrilled to have the man so close to him. But then Julian opened his mouth once again, clearly not wanting to use his right to remain silent, and continued to flirt with the cop.
"So, Officer Gorgeous, are you single? Want to go on a date?" asked Julian, without a shred of shame. The police officer looked startled while Cepheus cringed and decided he wanted to curl up in an alleyway far away from the foreboding scene he predicted would happen soon.
"The only place I'm taking you is jail." the man finally responded, feeling a bit flustered by Julian but mostly annoyed and confused. He was used to supervillains hating him, or trying to hurt him and evade arrest.
"Alright, it's a date then, Officer Sexy." grinned Julian, it wouldn't be the first date he's spent in a jail anyways, he totally could make this work. "You can call me Jecht, Officer Handsome. By the way, Cepheroth over here terribly injured my leg. I'll need to hold onto you to make it to the car. Actually, maybe you can carry me, both my legs are definitely hurt really badly. That's why I'm not running away. Not that I'd want to run away from you. Or that I could, really. I would need a map anyways, because I'm utterly lost in your eyes, Officer Lovely."
Cepheus changed his mind, what he definitely wanted to do now was crawl into a ditch to die from the second hand embarrassment.
"This is not a date. And do not call me by those names.” the officer firmly stated with a frown, but glanced down at Jecht's legs. There was barely even a speck of dirt on them, let alone blood, so he ignored the earlier comments about injuries that were obviously exaggerated.
Undeterred, Julian's eyes flickered to the badge on the cop's chest. "Oh, then thank you for giving me permission to call you by your name, Officer...Trixxtal." he smirked, his gaze lingering on his chest for a few seconds longer before looking back to Trixxtal's perfect gaze. "Hey, Trixxtal, do you believe in love at first sight-"
Finally fed up with Julian's advances, the police officer suddenly blasted a small stream of water at his face to shut him up. The criminal looked taken aback for a mere moment, not expecting an attack at all, before smiling even brighter at Trixxtal. "Oh my, Trixxtal, already wanting to get me we-"
Trixxtal quickly shoved Julian into the police car and shut the door, not wanting to hear any more from that clearly delusional criminal. Cepheus wished he could burn his own ears off.
V. Movie Night After breaking out of jail on the day they reunited, Julian realized he had no place to stay so he ended up becoming Cepheus' roommate. Their arrangement worked because they kept their lives as Jecht and Cepheroth away from home. But after Jecht became smitten with Officer Trixxtal, resisting the urge to strangle him was difficult.
"What gift do you think Trixxtal would like?"asked Jecht, not even bothering to pretend he was watching the movie.
"A restraining order from you." Cepheus rubbed his temples. "You're acting like an annoying stalker, Julian. He definitely won't return your feelings if you're being creepy. Actually, he probably won't feel anything for you as long as you remain a supervillain."
Julian looked unconcerned. "I can probably change his mind about the supervillain thing." he said with a nonchalance that irritated Cepheus. "I don't know about the restraining order though...I wouldn't be able to see him. Maybe a pet instead? Like, an exotic one he can't buy anywhere. Do you think he would like a komodo dragon?"
"Why would he want one? Why would you think that's an appropriate gift for anyone?!"
"Well, I think a pet dragon would be sick."
"And illegal. Wait a minute...no absolutely not, I forbid you to smuggle a komodo dragon into my house."
"Aw, come on Cece, live a little."
"...You've already ordered it, haven't you?"
(Later that week, the news reported that the local zoo happily received a komodo dragon rescued by the hero Cepheroth.)
VI. Lunch with the devil "Hey Trixxtal, do you want some lunch?"
Nicolas stilled as he heard the voice of devil speak and forced himself to slowly turn around. The past month was hell, pure hell, and probably the most annoying assignment he ever had so far and the reason for it was right in front of him. The villain he arrested over and over again wore a police uniform and held a box of pizza in his hands. Nicolas wondered just who those clothes had been stolen from, whose money he stole to pay for the pizza (if he even bothered to pay in the first place, it was entirely possible the poor delivery person was threatened with the fear of god), and just what he had to do and who he had to knock unconscious in order to even reach his office without getting caught. He massaged his temples at the annoyance named Jecht.
"Shouldn't you be in your jail cell?" he asked weakly, wondering why he even bothered to ask by now.
Jecht thought his question amusing, judging by the smug grin on his face, and set the pizza down on his desk. "Those new upgrades to the lock were hardly a challenge for me to overcome," he bragged, as if Nicolas should be impressed at his skill.
"Ugh..." Nicolas groaned, frustrated. What a fucking creep. He had figured it out by now that Jecht only let himself be thrown in jail as an excuse to be around him, and once he went off duty, Jecht immediately escaped as if his prison sentence was optional. Nobody but himself and Cepheroth were capable of arresting Jecht, so Nicolas was stuck dealing with him. EVERY. TIME. "I'm escorting you back, criminal."
"You're so dedicated to your job..." Jecht complimented with a dreamy sigh, "To be willing to arrest me again, even on your lunch break."
Nicolas paused. He took in the aroma of the pizza Jecht brought. "You're right, screw this, I'll deal with you when I'm on duty."
Jecht grinned and took a seat across the desk, uninvited. "I'm so happy we're on this lunch date, Trixxtal."
"This is not a date." Nicolas said reflexively, since he said it nearly everyday, "I'm only letting you stay so I can arrest you in thirty minutes."
Jecht helped himself to some pizza; Nicolas left it untouched. "You're so sweet to make time for me, Trixxtal." he said, not at all phased by the denial.
Nicolas resisted the urge to drown him; submerging his office in water would cost too much out of his paycheck to repair the damages.
VII. A(n) (Un)Pleasant Vacation He was off duty. Nicolas did not have to deal with him right now. If he somehow evaded him in the lobby of this hotel, and made it to the double doors leading to the beach...he could have a nice relaxing time and forget he ever noticed the last person he wanted to see right now. But life hated him, because as he stared at Jecht from across hall, the man suddenly looked up and they locked eyes. He saw Jecht smile and immediately knew he could not avoid him now, so Nicolas braced himself for another cheesy pick up line.
"You know, Trixxtal...you're like a camera, just looking at you makes me smile. Of course, your own smile is more radiant than mine ever could be. Speaking of cameras, mind if I have a picture? I'd like to prove to my friends that angels exist." Jecht smoothly walked towards him, without a care in the world, and it almost felt surreal for Nicolas to see him in casual clothes instead of his stupid supervillain costume or wearing the prisoner garb.
"I never smile around you," Nicolas denied immediately, "And I'm on vacation, so there is no reason for you to hang around me or for me to be anywhere around you." As long as Jecht was doing nothing blatantly incriminating in front of him, then he never bothered to try arresting the man while off duty; it was largely pointless since Jecht escaped immediately after Nicolas exited the building. And Nicolas did not get paid enough to deal with something so troublesome. "Leave."
"Hm...but won't you feel better when I'm right next to you? You don't have to worry if I'm doing something nefarious in the next room. You could actually enjoy yourself." mused Jecht, and it infuriated Nicolas at how much his stalker seemed to actually understand his thought process. It creeped him out.
"Ugh, why don't you go hang out with Cepheroth? I thought you said he was your best friend, go bother him instead of me!" he snapped. Nicolas honestly did not understand how a superhero and a supervillain could be best friends. Jecht never seemed to care that Cepheroth defeated him or arrested him constantly...actually now that Nicolas thought about it, maybe Jecht liked that since he would get sent to his "beloved Officer Trixxtal".
Nicolas suddenly wished he could forget he ever imagined that; ignorance is bliss.
"Oh, Cece is angry at me right now. He sometimes gets like this after I pull a heist, so I'm avoiding him until he forgives me." Jecht admitted, pouting like a scolded child. Nicolas wondered if he imagined the flicker of fear in Jecht's eyes. Then he realized what the criminal had said.
"Heist?! What hei- actually NO. I do NOT want to hear about this; otherwise I'll feel obligated to do something about it. This is my vacation and I officially do not care what you've been up to or going to do for the rest of the week. And if you're going to follow me to the beach then you are going to sit QUIETLY in the sand, preferably to bury yourself in it and just don't emerge ever, so I can relax."
"Wow, you feel relaxed around me, Trixxtal? Well, then of course I'll join you. Go choose a spot for our date and I'll pick up some ice cream." Jecht easily twisted his words once again, and Nicolas didn't bother responding to him. He stormed towards the beach while Jecht made his way to hotel store and did not bother asking for a certain kind or flavor, because Jecht probably already knew what his favorite was.
(Nicolas did not dare think about Jecht most likely stealing them. This week was his week to NOT CARE.)
VIII. Latte "Cece! I got you this latte as an apology! I'm sorry you had to leave your concert early to come arrest me because I was robbing that bank..."Julian trailed off awkwardly, presenting Cepheus with a venti sized cup.
But Cepheus tentatively eyed the latte sitting in Julian's hands. He did not move from his seat on the sofa. "What is the name on that cup?" he asked briskly, and he saw Julian squirm as he covered the black scribbles with his hand. Julian opened his mouth and felt tempted to evade the question or lie, but Cepheus gave him an icy look, so he closed his mouth. There was an uncomfortable pause.
"...Ethan." he admitted with great hesitance, after enduring Cepheus' cold glare for a good solid minute. "Alright, I stole it, but he didn't show up after like five seconds so I didn't want it to go to waste!"
Cepheus stood up. He slowly walked towards Julian and calmly pried the stolen latte from his hands. He stared at the drink without saying a word and the awkward, discomforting silence from before returned with full force. Julian began to sweat as he watched Cepheus, who continued standing in front of him with a sinister calm aura.
Which was why Julian got caught completely off guard when he felt the cold drink suddenly dumped all over his head. "Ahhhh Cece what the hell?!" he cried, wiping his eyes, feeling them sting as the liquid got into his eyes. "No, my poor hair!"
He heard a snap and turned towards the sound, a sickening foreboding feeling in his gut about what just happened. And to his horror, like he suspected there was a phone in Cepheus' hand. His best friend had a smirk on his face, recognizable to him as the look from their childhood when Cepheus got revenge on him for whatever bullshit Julian dragged him into.
"I think I'll send this picture to your 'true love'." he taunted, immediately inciting panic in Julian.
"What?! But I look so gross! Trixxtal can't see me like this! CECE!" cried Julian, the thought of Trixxtal seeing him looking anything but cool horrified him.
But Cepheus just laughed evily, as if he was the one who was the supervillain in the room. "Its too late, I've already sent it. But don't worry, I forgive you now."
"CECE!!! Ugh...wait, why do you have Trixxtal's number?!"
IX. Phone Calls Cepheroth had formed an odd sort of camaraderie with Officer Trixxtal. They bonded over the fact that they were the only ones who could successfully deal with Jecht's bullshit.
Cepheus covered for Julian often when they were children and he regretted his actions now that he looked back as an adult. Because of Cepheus, Julian hardly ever had to face punishment or consequences of his actions and his friend learned to do what he wanted. And now, Julian became the supervillain Jecht who thought prison was optional and did not feel much remorse for any of his crimes. But now it is because Cepheus is his friend that he continues to arrest Jecht as the superhero Cepheroth. They were not children any more, and adults had to face responsibility for their actions. Still...he was still rather lenient with his friend. His standard of good behavior was so low that Cepheus felt Julian committing minor crimes were "not that bad". He only stopped him when he did something ridiculous like destroying buildings, robbing places, or assassinating people he did not like. Most of the time now, Cepheus could successfully defeat him.
But there was one thing Cepheus was utterly failing at, and that was convincing Julian to leave Officer Trixxtal alone and to stop being a creep. And it was that guilt that drove Cepheus to be willing to listen to any rant the police officer had about Jecht.
"Your insane friend found my mother on Facebook and they're chatting each other up like old friends, sharing pasta recipes or something!" hissed Trixxtal, and Cepheus winced and slightly pulled his ear from the phone. The yells were badly hurting his ears. "My mother apparently thinks he is the greatest thing ever and told me she was disappointed that I won't accept that lunatic as my boyfriend. I told her that Jecht was a dangerous supervillain, you know what she told me? She said that I have a thing for bad boys anyways so she can't see why that's a reason to I dislike him, can you believe that?!"
"I'm so sorry Trixxtal, I've tried to stop him..." Cepheus apologized, but if he was heard then he was ignored, and the rant continued.
"Don't even get me started on my nephew! Tori likes him even more than my mother does, and told me to marry him already so that he could be related to a cool supervillain," he seethed, "He bragged about how Jecht came to his house to teach him and his friends how to fight properly. What the hell? When did Jecht become cozy with my family?! Wait, does this mean he's figured out my real name..." He sounded completely freaked out.
It was at that moment Julian strolled into the living room, also on the phone, "Madeline, the Coq Au Vin turned out great! It was even better than last week's crepes recipe. Thank you so much...maman?...are you sure? Ah, I'm so happy you practically think of me as family already, maman! So, the next one you want me to try is Chicken Fricassee?"
Cepheus stared as Julian walked past him, hearing him speak somewhat politely for the first time in his life. As Julian's voice trailed away Cepheus gathered the courage to ask Trixxtal, "Uh, is your mother's name Madeline? Because I think Jecht is on the phone with her right now, he just called her maman-"
"WHAT?!"
X. Grocery Shopping "Haha, hey there Cece!" grinned Julian, waving at Cepheus with one hand while his free arm pushed the shopping cart in front of him. Cepheus saw that the idiot was clad in his supervillain outfit, apparently not even bothering to change into civilian clothes before grocery shopping. Several other customers, easily recognizing Julian as the supervillain Jecht, fearfully rushed away from him and scattered into the many different aisles.
Cepheus took one look at his best friend and let out an exasperated sigh, then pinched the bridge of his nose. All he had wanted to do today was pick up some cheap food to eat before he went on patrol. "You broke out again?" he asked, frustrated but not in the least bit surprised to see Julian in front of him. Just last Friday he had thrown Jecht in jail and Cepheus miraculously enjoyed a relaxing weekend, having the house all to himself due to Officer Trixxtal having overtime at the prison, but it looked like his peace had ended. Clearly, this was yet another reason to hate Mondays.
"Yeah, I got bored." Julian replied nonchalantly, instantly falling into step beside Cepheus. "Trixxtal left our date early, so I didn't bother staying." A fond smile was on his lips.
Cepheus rolled his eyes as Julian gave his reasoning and chucked his shopping basket into his friends cart, since they lived together anyways. "Officer Trixxtal is the prison guard, idiot, he's not spending time near your cell because he likes you." he reminded, futilely, knowing Julian would continue to pursue the man. He had repeated this every day for the past few months.
Julian walked with him towards the register and casually pulled out a gun at the frightened cashier. "They are dates, Cece. I planned every single one of them and I give him gifts and everything!"
And just as casually as Julian was when the weapon was pulled, Cepheus calmly grabbed the gun from his hand and took it away from him. He stuffed it into the shopping cart, next to some of Jecht's groceries. "We already have two cartons of milk in the fridge, why are you picking up more?!" he complained, eyeing the milk as if it was a nuisance. "And I am one hundred percent sure Officer Trixxtal does not want any of that junk you stole." he retorted, then moved to snatch a random kitchen knife from Julian's hands. Careful not to accidentally cut himself, Cepheus chucked the knife next to the discarded gun.
Unconcerned by Cepheus' stops to his criminal activity, Julian reached out for his friend's pocket to obtain his wallet, but this time the hero made no movement to stop him. "Because Trixxtal loves milk! When I found him at the bar, he told me he needed some." Julian gave Cepheus a look, as if "Duh", he should have obviously known that. "And I'm pretty sure he liked that priceless pocket watch I gave him. It took a lot of effort to steal that from the museum and keep it hidden until I got to me and Trixxtal's cell, you know. You nearly confiscated it along with the other stuff you returned to the place." he said with pride, stepping behind the now abandoned register that the cashier had long fled from, and swiped Cepheus' credit card to pay for the groceries.
"Julian, he was only happy because now he could return it to the museum." he pointed out, but Julian paid no attention to him because as if Julian could sense his presence, through the doors emerged Officer Trixxtal. The man's guarded expression immediately shifted to annoyance and the tension in his shoulders seemed to leave him the moment he spotted Julian.
"Even for a regular crime, I run into you." the police officer grumbled, but Cepheus could hear him with his enhanced hearing. "Jecht, you're under arrest." He sounded resigned.
Unsurprisingly, Julian's face brightened at the words. "Trixxtal, I'm so happy to see you!" he greeted the unhappy cop, who dully recited the Miranda rights that Julian was listening to, he would always stop to listen to Trixxtal's wonderful voice. But instead of immediately running to flirt with the officer, both Cepheus and Trixxtal looked surprised to see Julian reach into the shopping cart and pull out a bouquet of roses. "These are for you! I even paid for them. A legal gift, just like you wanted."
The police officer hesitantly accepted the flowers, having enough experience by now that Jecht would only act more annoying and insistent if he did not take them. He could just throw them into he trash later anyways. "I didn't say I wanted anything from you." he retorted, placing the handcuffs on the thrilled villain.
Cepheus rolled his eyes at this stupid scene, because it was his money Julian used, and if he had not coincidentally ran into him then Julian would have totally stole them.
"See you later, Cece! Put away the groceries, will you? Thanks! I'll tell you how our date goes." happily exclaimed Julian, who was being escorted out of the store and back to jail by Trixxtal, who now just looked really tired.
Unnecessary Soulmate AU #2: Faint Scars Characters: Jecht Rutella Setting: Literally like a summary of canon Jecht's life, but if canon world had soulmates. Soulmates are a "perfect match", people whose personalities compliment each other and can naturally give their match what they need, whether that need is something to help them grow as a person or feel happy or something else, it all depends on their personality and desires. People tend to have more than one soulmate, with the most common being platonic relationships. The names are added on their body throughout their life, especially if a person goes through a life changing event or goes through a major personality change. Although supernatural creatures are not public knowledge, they exist and most immortals also have soulmates. Immortals go through many soulmates in their long lives, with names fading into a faint scar at the soulmate's death.
♥♥♥
Julian had been born without a soulmark, like most children. Infants did not have a sense of self, did not yet have a personality, so it made sense there would be no "perfect match" yet. During his human life he only ever received one mark: in the center of his neck was the name "Nicolas Marquis".
After he turned into a vampire, Nicolas still never faded away. Julian became Jecht and he gained a few more soulmates as time passed on, but most turned into faint scars in the end. Only Nicolas remained with him and Jecht felt the name was his one comforting constant in his neverending hell of a life. "No matter what happens, I am not alone. I still have at least one soulmate still out there." he chants to himself, desperately, on nights he feels like giving up.
Therefore, in 1644 a moment happened where he panicked after seeing Nicolas no longer written on his neck. The name he desperately clung to had changed into something different during his sleep. Jecht wondered what on earth happened to Nicolas for him to change his name to "Trixxtal", which was followed by a string of several other names. The sheer number of new names Nicolas gave himself was so long that it looped around his neck like an obnoxious collar. Jecht could only react with, "What the fuck kind of name is this?", as he stared bewildered at his reflection.
Upset that the pretty name Nicolas had been changed into whatever the trainwreck word necklace on his skin now was, Jecht decided Trixxtal was now his least favorite soulmate. But he had more important things to worry about, like taking care of Hope on his own now that Keziah had died. He didn't think about Trixxtal for a long time, especially after meeting Vittoria. Her name appeared on his body immediatley after they first met, something that had never happened to him before, and Jecht concerned himself with the soulmate right in front of him. He even got along with her husband Massimo - suprisingly another soulmate of his - and Jecht was happy having a friendship with him. He felt happy for a time, but it did not last. He gained a precious son but lost his daughter after she ran away from home. Jecht kept his romantic relationship with Vittoria from Massimo, pretending all he had with both of them was platonic, not wanting to risk upsetting him and being too selfish to admit his deception with Vittoria. Then Massimo killed Vittoria and Dante over being vampires, and Jecht killed him in retaliation. All at once he lost his child and two soulmates, one by his own hands, and he left the country in despair.
He vowed not to get involved with any more of his soulmates; he just seemed to bring disaster into their lives.
Five years later, he comes across a man who looks at him like a ghost. On the man's arm is a faded scar: Jules Leronada. But on his other arm, like a mirror, was the script "Jecht Rutella". Jecht gazes back into his haunted eyes, feeling just as apprehensive, and carefully asks, "Trixxtal?" It is not hard to narrow him down; Trixxtal's name is the only one Jecht had left.
Jecht ignores his vow and travels together with Trixxtal. Despite his childish declaration years ago, Trixxtal turns out to be his favorite soulmate. Never before had he felt so exhilarated; life as a pirate with his soulmate is the most fun he ever felt. It is only when he sees Trixxtal near death, when Jecht literally beheads the almost murderer in a blinding rage, that he reconsiders his feelings of their adventures. He fears his friend and soulmate getting into more danger.
"You're okay...You're okay, Trixxtal." he cries, curling his body against him in a desperate embrace. "I was afraid you would die." he bares his feelings out in the open, instead of bottling them inside like normal. Jecht actually cries for once. He squeezes Trixxtal's hand, afraid of letting him go.
As pirate captain, Jecht begins to plan more carefully after that battle. He trains the crew harder and more vigorously, determined not to lose anybody to an enemy. And he begins to wonder if his feelings for Trixxtal were changing from friendship to romantic. He does not confess anything like love just yet, but there are times he gets close. Jecht tells Trixxtal he is his heart, his reason for living. He cannot see himself ever being happy without him in his life.
Of course, the arrival of another soulmate complicated things. Cepheus and Trixxtal are soulmates, but for some reason Cepheus ends up befriending Jecht instead and Trixxtal becomes jealous and possessive of Jecht, blatantly disliking Cepheus over it. The situation makes Jecht remember that not all soulmates get along and that some end up disliking each other so much, the name disappears completely. It takes less than a month for Trixxtal's skin to be clear of Cepheus' name, although Cepheus' shoulder remains unchanged. Trixxtal hates it even more when, after Jecht acknowledges Cepheus as one of his best friends, their names appear on each other.
Drama on the pirate ship occurs. Tori is temporarily given refuge while they search for his parents, Jecht becomes injured by a wizard, Trixxtal is kidnapped, and the only thing that keeps Jecht sane is that Trixxtal's name has not faded. He still feels angry and drinks his problems away at a bar, but the drive to rescue Trixxtal motivates him to take action before the name fades away. In the end, Trixxtal is rescued. Some time after that, Tori's parents are rescued too. Jecht has even bonded with the child. It should have been a happy ending, but after everything several of his crew members have died. Cepheus has become another, barely visible scar on Jecht's skin.
Time passes and Jecht's relationship with Trixxtal is anything but harmonious. They are in love, have admitted their feelings for one another, but even being soulmates, each others "perfect match" does not mean it is a perfect match for a romance. In the best moments of their relationship, Trixxtal makes Jecht feel complete. He is happy, feels strong enough to take on any challenge, loves their talks and everything about Trixxtal. He wants to spend all of his time with him, give him all the gifts in the world, and show off his devotion and love. At their worst, Jecht feels like Trixxtal deserves someone better than him, he feels weak and cannot control his temper, little things Trixxtal does annoy him and he snaps at him. But despite their turmultous relationship, Jecht refuses to give up on their love, and stays by his side. Or at least, he tries.
Eventually their toxic relationship becomes too much, Jecht fears he won't survive anymore of the poison. The name wrapped around his neck, that he used to (and still does) cherish so lovingly, now feels like a shackle chaining him to Trixxtal. A noose, ready to choke him to death. He leaves. He cries in private, nearly turns back, his body shaking at the thought he might never see Trixxtal again. Jecht had gone through this many times and always went back to Trixxtal, but eventually there was a time when he did not. He stays away for years, and at some point gets a new soulmate for the first time since Cepheus.
He avoids Trixxtal and in 1860, meets his soulmate Elijah. He is a human with fragile health, the son of a halfblood vampire and human. Elijah has been slowly dying all his life, like he has all the weaknesses of a human and vampire with none of their strengths. He reminds Jecht of a flower. Beautiful and gentle, resilient but fragile. They cling to the sun for life; but ultimately they are mortal, eventually they wilt away. Just like Elijah.
"I am just one person who loves you, out of so many others. And many more in the future will love you too. My name..." Elijah places a comforting hand on Jecht's teary face, then his gaze lingers toward Trixxtal's name still wrapped around his neck, "And others' names, we are carved onto your skin. Even after we are physically gone, we will forever be with you. Proof you have been loved and will always be loved. Please, do not forget this."
Elijah leaves him forever, but Jecht does not forget. He feels more at peace with himself.
The years go by once again and Jecht reunites with Trixxtal. Jecht never stopped loving him so he returns to his soulmate's loving embrace. But Jecht has matured. He is just as harsh with words, but he feels less angry and controls his temper better. He listens instead of yells. The two of them get along easier and they fall back into that perfect, blissful relationship that sometimes appeared during the calm periods of their past time together. Jecht, however, is less willing to put up with any more manipulations. They argue, but ultimately settle into a healthier relationship.
It does not last. Jecht and Trixxtal break up again, once more not on speaking terms. Jecht handles this separation better but he still misses Trixxtal, misses being in a loving relationship, and starts to pursue other people. The void they temporarily fulfill does not completely leave him until Jecht comes across an abandoned human baby in a basket.
He names him Joel and adopts him as his son. Jecht reflects on his previous attempts at parenting and tries to learn from them. He raises Joel telling stories about how much he loved his soulmate, to the point where his son acknowledges Trixxtal as his other parent. Jecht does not know how to feel, did not even realize he spoke about Trixxtal so often. His son eventually becomes a vampire, then goes off to have his own adventures and Jecht is ready to finally have time to himself and relax.
He moves to a new city and tells only three people his location, so he is in disbelief when he opens the door and finds Trixxtal had been knocking. After a panicked "I need help with this baby!" from Trixxtal and Jecht scolding him on how he was incorrectly holding the girl, the two somehow end up living together and raise Charlotte. Jecht does not know why he agreed.
It is a lie to himself and Jecht knows exactly why; he still and always will love Trixxtal. This time, together they resolve to make their relationship work for good. They love each other and were worth any hardship the future may throw at them.
Jecht looks at their matching rings and feels certain that, even in a world without soulmates, he would have fallen in love with Trixxtal.
Roleplay Title: Hold My Flower Setting: Celebration on Wiz a few years before rp begins Characters Involved: Lucifel & Hades Hyperion
Disgusting. The decor of the wizard palace hurt his eyes with the emphasis on elegance and beauty. For wizards with the surname "Black", there was a near complete lack of the color in this castle. Lucifel did not even see a single skull lined against the wall nor any blood stains from slain enemies showcased on the flooring. And the atmosphere felt so...welcoming, it was ridiculous; a gathering such as this in Hell would have been made to have the guests feel intimidated by the royal family. Not whatever this friendly celebration the wizards had invited them to was.
Lucifel had been coping with the insufferable party by completely ignoring everything around him and standing against the wall away from everyone. Unfortunately, some fool chose to disturb his self imposed isolation, and Lucifel felt irritated once a voice broke through the noise to address him. "Brother, I brought you a plate of snacks."
Well if it wasn't the herald of annoyance himself: little Hades in the flesh, imposing his presence on Lucifel no doubt to nag. Hades casually strolled up to him and dared to press a filled dish into his hands; anybody else and Lucifel would have smacked them away. Instead, Lucifel took the plate without a word of thanks and stared at the foreign food Hades brought to him.
"Hmph, your soft heart shines through once again. What makes you think I would poison my stomach with these wizard morsels?" he scoffed, although there was not an ounce of surprise in Lucifel's tone. Dutiful little Hades had always paid attention to his older siblings and constantly did thoughtful things for them, much to the bafflement of Lucifel. Neither him or the twins had ever done anything to actually deserve such devotion.
"You haven't done anything this whole party, I thought you should at least eat something..." he sighed softly, accustomed to Lucifel's attitude. "Trust me, you'll like these. I didn't choose anything you hate."
Lucifel furrowed his brows and took another glance at the plate. If there was anything Lucifel enjoyed, it was freely given offerings and Hades had apparently hand picked the food for him. He supposed it would not hurt to taste a few snacks and appease his little brother. "...Do not look at me with that expression. I refuse to be coerced into participate in meaningless dances, but as I am the most superior of your elder siblings, I will grant you the favor of tasting these...whatever they are, that you have delivered." he dramatically declared as he reluctantly picked up a random snack; a tiny orange cracker. Under Hades' expectant stare, Lucifel plopped it into his mouth.
His eyes widened in wonder. "The taste of cheese? Wizards have cheese ?!" he questioned Hades, grabbing another handful of the crackers. "I had thought they only existed on earth, made from the milk gifted by cows to human farmers they have formed a contract with!"
Amazing! The wizards actually had a snack worthy of the demon prince. These miniature square shaped orange crackers pleased him greatly; if a being ever conducted a summoning ritual to pull Lucifel to their plane, these snacks would be an acceptable substitute for a blood sacrifice. He wanted more of these. "Get me more of the small squares that taste of cheese. I want all of them!"
Rather than feel annoyed by his demand like any other person Hades just looked relieved and gave Lucifel a bright, disgusting smile. "I knew you would like that one! Alright, when you finish your plate let me know and I'll bring more for you." he sounded satisfied at his awareness of Lucifel's impeccable taste, and sickenly happy at the idea of being useful to him.
Now, while Lucifel felt it was acceptable for Hades to fetch all of his food for him, having his little brother make noisy disruptions with "small talk" while he devoured his delicious snacks would just be an annoyance. Lucifel turned to where he sensed the demonic presence of Lucian and without needing to look for more than a moment, already knew his other brother would be the perfect distraction. Unsurprisingly Lucian's formal wear was unbuttoned and his chest was out on display for the entire room; in his arms was a wizard he swayed with on the dancefloor, who may or may not have been the one to have left intimate marks on Lucian's neck. "You waste your eyes on me and miss the discord stirred by our philandering brother. He looks ready to ditch this worthless celebration to create an illegitimate heir to the throne with some wizard woman."
"He's what?!"Hades exclaimed, looking scandalized as he turned to search for Lucian. "I-I told that idiot to behave...!" he sputtered once he spotted the prince dancing half naked on the ballroom floor. He hastily excused himself and retreated from Lucifel's side, hurrying to scold Lucian.
Lucifel laughed in cruel amusement as he watched his siblings bicker in front of the assembled wizards. He popped another cracker into his mouth and mindlessly went to reach for another, but he only grasped air. The demon prince frowned and set the plate down on the floor. The snacks were perhaps the one small joy he had tonight and Lucifel would have to risk the journey to the food table on his own if he planned on replenishing the plate. The last thing he wished to happen was to be forced into social interaction so perhaps Lucifel should just take the entire bowl with him to avoid needlessly returning over and over?
He dramatically turned towards the table, his cape flourishing behind him as he marched towards the snacks. Lucifel completely disregarded the line of people and barged in front of a blond man, uncaringly knocking him in the shoulder and causing the wizard to nearly drop his food.The demon prince briefly scanned the table and quickly snatched his prize: a bejewelled dish containing the snack who won his heart.
"Hahaha! The cheese crackers now belong to their rightful devourer." he spoke with triumph, cradling the bowl like a precious treasure as he walked away.
