These are the usual protagonists. Though for this, the only important ones are Matthew and Aezera. This isn't necessarily a continuation of the worst end for Matthew as the boys are still alive and the DL is dead. It's more like an alternate ending where either due to Aezera's hypnosis, Matthew's madness or both, Matthew managed to take the throne. Instead of killing his brothers, he simply banished them. So... yeah, they don't really like him anymore.
The change in this case is that I wanted to explore putting Matthew's other option in Mika's role. Yall remember Marigold?
Mari is a half dragon-half succubus that managed to land herself as a Matthew lover.
Okay so what happened in this world? Well, going through the usual events of the Talia/Marigold timeline, Talia meets the boys, falls in love with either James or Damien, gets dragged to the demon world a year earlier than expected and it ends with her and Matthew being violently shoved down into a cavern. Marigold finds them both, Talia dead and Matthew barely holding onto life.
One thing led to another and Marigold managed to bring them both back, Talia now as a demon.
But, what if, instead of Matthew convincing Marigold to go back to the human world with him, the events of the King Ending happened?
With the Demon Lord dead and the other brothers gone, Matthew takes control of the largest kingdom in the Abyssal Plains. Word of that wouldn't get back to Marigold for months. She had gone back home to continue her pottery work. She would only know who the new Eastern King is when he shows up on her doorstep, not to kidnap her (he's not that insane yet) but rather to talk to her.
He spends a few days catching up and bonding with her. She's just as lovely as he remembered, and he's just as fun as she remembered, if not a little more... manic?
Finally, at the end of his stay, he asked her to come back with him. At first, she refused. He was sweet, she wouldn't mind spending more time with him but she didn't want to be involved with all the politics of the harem. He reassured that there would be no politics. There was no harem—not even a queen— to fight with. He wanted no one else. And, if she wished, she wouldn't be a concubine or queen. Rather, she could be a part of the decor department as a ceramicist. She would just be a worker.
She thought on it. Did she really want to be involved with the royal family? And more importantly, did she really have a choice? Matthew insisted that she did but wasn't sure. Tentatively, she looked at her nomadic style and lack of really anyone who would notice or care if she vanished and, she agreed. He couldn't be happier.
And sure, he promised to make her into a worker... but he never said anything about curbing his favoritism. Most quickly figured out that this supposed new girl was a lover of his, much to her annoyance.
I saw at least one other person agree with this so I have to talk about it: Noelle has (aesthetic) similarities to Saint Lucia (or Saint Lucy). Long story short: Lucia is a Nordic tradition where on the 13th December, close to the winter solstice and originally celebrated during it, people dress as Lucia and her followers and walk from household to household in the early morning to bring light and choir song and various baked goods to the inhabitants. Lucia also reminds the household that Christmas is getting closer (imagine me winking at you). The real saint Lucy is from Italy, but although most Lucia songs mention god etc the Nordics are pretty secular and I think most people think of the tradition people dressing up as Lucia rather than the actual historical figure if she's mentioned. Here, she is traditionally depicted as a young, blonde long-haired woman clad in a plain white dress and wearing a crown of candles on her head and is of course also strongly associated with winter and snow and singing. To me there is something otherworldly and angelic about her, she isn't supposed to really smile or seem unsure or do anything but stand in front of her followers with her head held high and sing or recite poetry... You see the similarities, right?
Nowadays it is getting more acceptable to the general public that she has a different hair color or that her hair is short or that she's played by someone who isn't a woman (or, like, white). Anyway, do I think this was intentional on Toby's part? That it means something? Absolutely not, but it's fun to think about it nonetheless
Sometimes when Goemon gets extremely stressed out (Or the crescent moon is out but it's uncommon for him to change due to the crescent moon) he might begin to change but not fully. You could see that his eyes are golden and slightly bloodshot and he now has small but noticeable eye bags. His hair gets wild and unkept as he has more body hair, especially on his hands and feet. He doesn’t talk when he’s like this instead, he growls, snarls and howls, a word or two might come out but usually he only makes feral wolf sounds.
You might have to keep an eye on him. If you don’t… he may attempt to escape into the woods. But other than that, he’s docile, I’d say he’s Feral but tamed.
Hi everyone have a half transformed Werewolf!Goemon :]
