Would You Guys Like to See My Stories of Lyra (My Apprentice) Reworked? [Seeing Visual Artists Redo Their Old Works These Past Few Months Inspired This]
For years, Lyra’s known that she’s an Ace. Figuring out she’s Nonbinary, however, is a whole different journey.
The following text describes how she finds and figures out this part of herself with her LI.
[Timeline: Before the Red Plague and then the UPRIGHT ending].
Asra’s seen signs of it for as long as they’ve known Lyra. First were the repeated frustrations: of how the culture she came from would oppress people because of the parts they were born with; how she was seen less-than-capable beside her male peers . . .
Then, there were the longing gazes at the fashion sensibilities of the masc-presenting. Lyra would outright lament that while she was happy being a woman, the fact others less worthy of her time—in their opinion, of course [Lyra was too polite to say that]—would jam her in boxes without her input.
At the same time, Lyra had tried on very masculine-leaning outfits. A majority of them were James’s old shirts and trousers. While she desperately wanted to like them, Lyra would end up ripping those clothes off within seconds. Time to time, Asra would witness the poor girl clawing at her skin for hours after the fact.
During a quiet night, sitting on her window bench, Asra brought up that maybe, juuuuust maybe, she’s like them. When Lyra pressed for more context, they’d respond with “I’m not a boy. I’m me.”
They wouldn’t get to explore it further in that lifetime: within just a fortnight, Asra slammed the shop’s door behind themself, leaving Lyra to deal with the Red Plague.
*** [UPRIGHT ENDING] ***
It’s during their time in and around the Infinite Bazaar that Asra notices something familiar: the longing gazes, the critical stares of herself within mirrors—
“You’ve been pulling at your shirttails again.”
It’s an evening not too unlike the night of that long-ago conversation. The air is balmy, the breeze cool. The room they’re staying at has a small balcony. The two magicians sit with their backs against the walls bracketing the doorway, pensive.
“Have I?” Lyra looks down at her shirt. Upon seeing that she’s already plucked loose quite a few stitches, Lyra stuffs her hands into her pant pockets.
“Damn it . . .” she sighs.
“. . . Do you not like that style anymore?” Asra straightens up from their slouch. As they look on at her, Lyra chews on her lower lip.
“No . . .” Hugging her knees to her chest, Lyra rocks side to side. “I dunno why I’m like this lately . . .”
“It’s certainly bothering you.”
“No kidding,” Lyra replies, wry.
Asra shifts, moving to sit in front of their partner. They reach toward her, offering out their hands, palms up. Lyra reaches out in turn, wincing in apology for her clammy hands.
“Are you cold?”
“A lil-AH!” Lyra squeaks as Asra yanks her into their arms. She’s thrown into a fit of giggles as they kiss her forehead, cheeks, her knuckles—!”
“ASRAAAAAAAAAAA!” She jolts when her partner peppers her neck in kisses, exclaiming, “Th-that tic-Noooooooo!!!”
Asra relents. Nevertheless, the couple continue to laugh. They both have tears coming down their cheeks. Their individual sets of laughter float down, echoing through the empty street. A sourpuss down below hollers up at them to shut up, but neither pay the stranger too much mind.
After the pair pull themselves together, they snuggle closer to one another. Facing each other in the crescent’s moonlight, a set of dark, tawny eyes meet amethyst.
“Are you feeling better?” Asra inquires softly. They tuck errant strands of hair behind Lyra’s ear, earning a hum in response. When she nuzzles those very same fingers, Asra's heart pounds in their ribcage. Lyra can’t help but chuckle at this.
“Please don’t pass out on me.”
“I won’t,” Asra retorts. They gently sandwich his love’s face between their hands, delighting in how her cheeks feel in his palms. They’re soon unable to contain their laughter as Lyra purses her lips and makes glub glub glub sounds.
“You’d be a terrible fish,” they muse.
“No kidding—between us, you’re the one that can breathe underwater,” Lyra murmurs, her eyebrows pinching together. The bespectacled magician attempts to squint critically at them. Her smile, however, betrays her faux indignance.
Asra couldn’t help but to draw Lyra close again, nuzzling her nose to nose. In turn, Lyra angles her head just so, and kisses their lips.
⁂ ⁂ ⁂
“She snores like you.”
With their heads close to each other, Lyra and Asra lie parallel to Faust. The little morph is happily settled on the cushiest pillow, slotted carefully on the upper right corner of the bed. She is, indeed, quietly snoring.
“I don’t snore,” Asra chuckles, jostling their prone partner. “You on the other hand—”
“I’m not that bad!” Lyra snorts, shaking her head. “I don’t wake you up with my snoring . . . do I?” The very thought seems to mortify her.
“No, you don’t,” Asra reassures, smile small and fond. With one arm, Asra situates a pillow under their cloud-haired head.
Before long, Asra reaches out toward Lyra. They open up their arms, making grabby motions for their partner to come closer. Giggling, Lyra slots herself into the space they’ve provided. With a contented sigh, she tucks her head closer to them.
“Do you want to go to the fabrics district again?” Asra’s lips just press into Lyra’s forehead. Though muffled, she understood her fellow magician.
“Hm? What for?”
“Well, while we’re both relatively the same size,” Asra playfully pokes Lyra’s sides, making her giggle, “my tastes are a bit different than yours.”
“We’ve barely scratched the surface of the Infinite Bazaar!”
“I will take you to the papercrafts people afterward~”
“. . .you drive a hard bargain, my love,” Lyra exhales, chuckling. “I’m not sure where to start, though . . .”
Asra’s gaze shifts over to the nightstand. Sitting prettily side by side are their hat, and Lyra’s.
“Perhaps something androgynous to match with that, mmm?”
Lyra’s gaze follows where Asra’s ended up. Seeing what they meant brings a delighted smile to her face.
The love of her life is soon blessed with a smattering of kisses. The pair lose track of time, content to receive and reciprocate every nuzzle, kiss, and gentle touch their partner provided.
A/N: This took so much longer than expected, but the end result was WORTH IT!!! :D
Thank you so much if you’ve read this far; I appreciate every moment.
Send me a 🧩 and an OC and I’ll tell you about a piece of me (looks, personality, Trauma, etc.) that I gave that OC.
Or, if they’re completely opposite, I’ll tell you about a piece of me that directly contrasts them.
Mun: Aww, thank you, friend!
Hmm. I'm gonna go away from the prompt and say this: the journey with Bảo's character development has been a fun one.
When I first conceptualized The Magic Aunt, for some reason this is what ventured toward my initial vision:
[Visual made by a now defunct dollmaker by RinmaruGames]
At the time I was desperate for positive male figures in my life. This transferred to Lyra in the form of Bảo.
A quick rundown of this man:
By Start of Game, Bảo’s in his early to mid 40s
Walterine by contrast is in her late 30s, and James is early to mid 30s
Favorite Food: Fishcake (Chả cá)
Favorite Drink: Iced coffee (Cà phê đá)
Favorite Flower: Bamboo blossom
[More under the cut!]
When I first conceptualized him, he started off as an aromantic bisexual. Bảo even dies in the first iteration of Lyra’s LI Librarian Route. This was due to the lingering effects of the ash from the Lazaret’s chimneys blowing over Vesuvia, and Lyra had made her own deals with Devil in order to keep him alive . . . at the expense of her own life/energy.
I can expand in another post about that if there is enough interest/my plot bunnies bug me about it. Whichever comes first.
Then, there was the briefest stint of him having an abusive partner for a short while, but I eventually scrapped that altogether (though in some old old RPs I had with friends there’s still mention of her here and there . . .).
Eventually, well, you yourself @vesuvianoak reminded me of two OCs we’ve tossed back and forth to each other for a while! Walt and James!
With them brought to the forefront of my memory, Bảo soon had two partners he love and they in turn love him!!! With the trio established, Neha was added to the mix, and boom! The Aster-Nguyen family was complete!
Thanks for the ask—it’s fun going down memory lane!
Pinknic Aesthetic/Mood Board, inspired from @bastart13′s designs of the Main 6/their characters.
Mun: I can’t for the life of me draw, but I know what kind of clothes my Lyra would wear to the Pinknic! This was fun to do right after class—I hope you guys like it! (^w^)
P.S. She’d be writing in a little journal I’d imagine, gushing over everyone’s outfits.
