hi, I’m dreye and I decided to open the commission slots for a first time in years!
as some of you know I work as a car detailer. my job is seasonal and during winter we have very few cars to work on. I love my job, but I have bills to pay. very serious bills (I hate being adult)!
contact me freely here on tumblr or on telegram (dreye47ye), if you are interested in getting an art commission from me 🛎️
Prince Lancelot and Advisor Alonso discuss the imminent war
Drawing by @dzala-va , writing by me @ace-race-ace
More details under writing
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Prince Lancelot scrapes up the last bites of food onto his fork. The freshly baked bread, wild berries picked from the fields, and the wonderful golden honey harvested from the hives this morning all paired beautifully in his belly. Only the eggs were a bit too salty for his liking - he’ll mention it to the cook. He delicately lifts the monogrammed napkin to his mouth, wiping off any remaining crumbs as he looks out the bay window at the lush green gardens. The birds chatter lightly as a cool breeze disturbs the trees, slowly swaying them back and forth.
His peace is shattered by the door wrenching open behind him. Heavy metallic footfalls cause the prince’s gaze to whip around to the intruder.
“Fernando? Back so soon? I thought you said it would take a few more days.”
Advisor Alonso slides off his helmet, the wings glinting in the light from the window. The older man’s expression is sunken, as he grits his teeth and scrunches his nose.
“Lance, we have to talk.”
Lance tilts his head in confusion, reading a slight uneasiness on the older man’s face—an expression he’d rarely seen before. Lance sits up straighter as his level of concern rises
“What is going on?”
Advisor Alonso thumps his helmet on the table with a heavy thud. The silver cutlery jumps and clatters on the floor.
“War is brewing in the south” he spits out.
The prince’s eyes widen at his words. He drops his napkin and quickly stands up from his chair. This was not the news he hoped for when Fernando left the castle a few days ago. Far from it.
“Let us go to the map chamber to discuss this further.”
They leave the room and pass through the blooming flower banks to reach the other tower. Yet Lance cannot bring himself to appreciate the beautiful display. He opens the oak door, Fernando following closely behind. The walls of the chamber are covered in shelves pilled high with scrolls in various stages of aging, surrounding a grand table in the center. The map of the continent lay flat on its surface with its edges curling up. Advisor Alonso takes a seat there, resting his chin on his crossed hands while the prince paces around behind him.
“Fernando. What happened?”
“Nothing yet” he sighs “but I went to the coast and received some concerning intel.”
A few small complaints were made about the port structures on the east coast of the island. This should have been a standard check-in to ensure the workers hired by the king were working on fixing them. But obviously, something had come up. Something big enough to garner the Advisor to cut his trip short.
“I was working on the accounts for the project when I was approached by Hawkmaster Drugovich” he starts calmly.
“I thought we sent him far enough he wouldn’t annoy us anymore” Lance rolls his eyes.
“Yes, yes… Well, he’s been stationed in Ferrari for a while and he came to me with shocking news” he pauses “King Schumacher is missing.”
Lance frowns at him. In the years King Schumacher has reigned over Ferrari, many attempts against him were organized but never successful. The kingdom of Ferrari is heavily reliant on its sovereign – without him, the nation would struggle to hold itself together.
“Since when do you believe anything Drugovich says? You always say you don’t believe anything without proof” Lance crosses his arms.
Advisor Fernando thins his lips as he pulls out a letter from his cuirass, handing it to the prince. He opens the envelope, pulling out the pages stamped with the Aston Martin seal.
“As unreliable as that damn scout is, it seems the whispers hold truth. Hawkins and her apprentice Hausmann reported similar concerns”
Lance skims the words from Lady Hawkins, detailing how unorganized and skittish the Ferarri court has been for the past few months. The king’s public appearances were far and few. It's now been two months he hasn’t been seen at all. Another concerning section details the young prince Mick Schumacher being sent away to an unknown location and hasn’t returned since.
“All of this happening so soon after the Mercedes royal challenge…It cannot be coincidence” Fernando grumbles.
Lance and Fernando attended the royal challenge a few months back. What should have been a standard repetition of King Hamilton making a show of defeating his opponent, turned into quite the opposite. Instead of facing off against Lord Bottas, Lord Russell came to challenge. Still, everyone expected the younger man to yield to his king, but after a hard battle, King Hamilton found himself on his knees. Lord Russell thus became King Russell of Mercedes. The young monarch isn’t like his predecessor – he craves conflict. But could he be capable of orchestrating such an affair? Would he really risk a war with Ferrari?
“So, King Schumacher is gone, King Hamilton is gone, why does it matter to us? Business as usual. We sell them the weapons, the armor, and the horses, they hash it out on the continent, and then things level out” Lance speaks plainly.
Aston Martin’s main business venture is trade and conflict. The island’s positioning between the two continents helped monopolize the trade routes between nations. This means when conflicts break out, they end up supplying and selling to both sides. In the end, no matter the outcome, they get a return on their investments. While war is never something to rejoice over, it usually just means a bit more paperwork and organization on their part.
“This time is different. The Red Bulls might be implicated” Advisor Alonso points to the west continent on the map.
“The Red Bulls? Why in the world would they be dragged into this?” Lance leans over Fernando’s shoulder frowning.
Having an entire continent to themselves, the Red Bulls rarely involved themselves in the conflict of the other nations. They already had enough to deal with on their side, constantly breaking up various small rebellions.
“Without a king, Ferrari is significantly weakened - there is no doubt they will go looking for allies. Stronger than Haas and Sauber.”
“But what does Red Bull get from an alliance? They have no threats since Renault was eradicated.”
A small flash of grief passes over Advisor Alonso’s face. Lance knew this wasn’t a subject to push on but he only brings it up now for some explanation.
“Their people are dying. More revolts are starting. After the harsh winter, their resources were heavily depleted. Allying with Ferrari would give them access to imports” Fernando traces his finger towards the south “They could undercut our trade routes. Halving our profits if they agreed on the exchanges”.
While Aston Martin laid claim to most of the archipelago in the sea between the two continents, there were still gaps in their control. These usually didn’t matter as the other nations could never agree on a standardized rule for trade and passage, relying instead on their relationship with Aston Martin to facilitate movement. But if the Red Bulls and Ferrari built up closer relations, it wouldn’t take much to completely cut out Aston Martin as the middleman.
“Our trade monopoly would be ruined. If Ferrari could trade across the sea with Red Bull, the land trade between Mercedes and Ferarri would connect the three kingdoms.”
“You are starting to see…” Fernando nods at his observations “This is why this war cannot happen. We need to start discussing how to prevent it. We must find out what happened to the Schumachers, and ensure Lord Hamilton regains his throne.”
Lance huffs a laugh. Advisor Alonso raises his brow at his reaction.
“It’s probably the first time in Aston Martin’s history that we are trying to stop a war…” He sights lifting off from the table “I’ll get things going. We’ll have to convince my father of all this.”
Lawrence Stroll is famously mistrustful, and it only worsens with age. Convincing him to use the needed funds for their missions wasn’t going to be easy.
“Actually, about that…” Fernando gets up to stand at the prince’s side, squeezing the juncture between his neck and shoulder “What do you think about a coronation? Specifically, your coronation?”
Lance whips his head to gape at him…
[to be expanded upon]
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I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE!!
This wonderful piece was commissioned to @dzala-va a few months back because I was simply obsessed with their F1 Medieval AU. As a writer, it’s been so fun to expand and explore the lore behind their work! I’m so thankful for our DM exchanges where we’ve been bouncing off ideas - it’s just so fun
For this commission I specifically wanted the Aston Martin boys so I could write a lil something about their part in the lore :) part of which is included in the post above…it’s only the smallest slice of a much larger overarching story, which the OG creator will hopefully continue to share with everyone
I will probably make another post specifically about the drawing, showing off all the details bc I love em so much…
Anyways, what a perfect time to get this back in time for the Lance Love Fest. Thanks again to @no00000000 for setting it up!!
hi, I’m dreye and I decided to open the commission slots for a first time in years!
as some of you know I work as a car detailer. my job is seasonal and during winter we have very few cars to work on. I love my job, but I have bills to pay. very serious bills (I hate being adult)!
contact me freely here on tumblr or on telegram (dreye47ye), if you are interested in getting an art commission from me 🛎️
I’ve read all the inheritance cycle books, which I dropped back when I was a teen. and I have to say that now, being adult, I fell in love with the books so deeply it became my hyperfixation now
so, yeah, here I tried to express what I imagine the characters like! Eragon with Saphira and Murtagh with Thorn 💙❤️
