I need to talk more about kitties and frogs. Why not do both?
In the depths in Anura, there exists a small merchant shop run by a single women, a cat. Forneus did plenty of repair jobs for the old faith so she was safe from their reach and even got funding from them to continue her shop.
Forneus was dealing with a upset Gusion, complaining about her running out of Silk that was on sale.
“I’m sorry sweetheart, but you just missed the last batch of Silk I had! But if you come by tomorrow, I’ll have more for ya!”
“Hark, thou deceitful knave! It wouldst appear thy coffers lack sufficient silk to satisfy thy patrons. Fie, a most lamentable display of service, indeed…”
Forneus was just a sweet old lady, just trying to make a quick buck to get by and avoid the old faith completely, but she did enjoy the disciples come around shopping every now and again.
“Hmph! I shall grace thee with my presence on the morrow. Shouldst thou yet lack the silken cloth, know that thou shalt forfeit a most generous patron. A good day to thee, madam.”
Gusion walked away from the shop, dissatisfied with not getting what he wanted, like most anchordeepians. Once he left, Forneus’s smile faded away and was replaced with a scornful expression.
“Heh, “grace me with your presence.” Yeah fuck you too buddy.”
Forneus stretched a bit and began to close down shop, as it was getting late and most of her customers were sleeping in at the moment. Once shop was broken down, she changed into more comfortable clothes and washed her clothes.
Like many Anurians, her muscles showed that she worked hard to keep her shop intact, but it didn’t seem like she was dumber than bricks like the other. She had a good assortment of books that helped her keep her mind occupied with something once work was done…because she had other worse methods to keep herself happy.
Forneus was a raging alcoholic, due to the death of her last wife. She loved her like she was a sister, and she went and died for the old faith on deployment…it destroyed poor forneus, and she went to drinking bottles of wine until she was blackout drunk to deal with the pain.
Tonight was no different, as she remembered her again…poor Betsy…wanted to prove herself to Forneus and was slaughtered in Silk Cradle. Tears fell down her face as she tried so hard to forget about it…but nobody could ignore death.
In the corner of her eyes, she saw her wine closet she had her oldest son, Baal, keep locked for her. She was two months sober so she couldn’t break through to her addiction…but the pain of remembering her dismembered wife was beginning to become too much.
“Gotta take my mind off things…but the hell am I supposed to do…? I can’t keep drinking around the kids. I’m not gonna end up abusing them when I’m drunk.”
She closed the book and did a multitude of different activities. She tried to exercise, didn’t work. She tried to get some sleep, also didn’t work. She tried to watch the stars in the night sky and once again, it failed to bring her peace.
Her leg wouldn’t stop bouncing, her speech continued to be slurred and sluggish and it felt like she was about to vomit. She couldn’t take anymore and unlocked her wine closet, chugging down an entire bottle of red wine…then another…then another…and then another.
Her sons woke up to hear their mother crying at seemingly nothing and the clanking of other bottles. They walked out of their rooms to find Forneus on the floor, looking at a photo of Betsy and could barely stand.
“Ma? A-Are you ok?” Aym says, trying to lift her onto the couch and clean her face of the drool seeping out of her mouth.
“Oh gods mother…we talked about your drinking, it will eventually kill you!” Baal says, cleaning up the empty bottles and once again locking the wine closet.
Forneus simply let out incomprehensible grumbles for a few moments before finally speaking out to her kids.
“I-I’m sorry…you shouldn’t-you shouldn’t…you shouldn’t have to see me like this…I…I miss her. I miss her so much…I miss her voice…her smile…I miss when she told me everything would be alright…but now it’s just…nothing.”
Forneus barfed into a bucket next to her, and laid down on the couch. She thought that this would make her night better but…it just made it worse. Her kids were scared, her stomach was on fire, and her wife was still far away from her. If there was any god that had any sense of mercy…they’d take her kids to a better mother than her…and put her out of her misery.
She eventually passed out and Aym and Baal brought her to her bedroom, cleaned off the vomit from her mouth and wished her a good night. Tomorrow was another day…another day of nothing but grief and sadness.
The next day, Forneus was lifting crates of supplies and merchandise to her shop that had finally arrived. Thank the gods that Shamura found her useful, because she didn’t want to know what she would do with her or her kids if she wasn’t…but she heard something. Loud footsteps, like those of a behemoth.
Maybe it was Zephar? No her footsteps were in no way this loud. She set the stuff down and waited by her shop, holding her mace that she used for self defense. Whatever this was would have to get through her before she even touched her kids…
After a moment or two of the loud walking, Heket could be seen approaching the shop! What was she doing there, did she do something wrong? Did Gusion hate her business so much that he called his god?! Forneus dropped the mace and immediately went to her act, smile and kept hair. Just keep calm..
“Well aren’t you a sight for sore eyes! I never expected you to be here my lord!” Forneus said, wiping the sweat off her brow. She was deathly nervous, but she tried hard to not show it.
“Eh, don’t worry about me being here miss, I’m just bored. Leshy’s pissing around in Darkwood, Kall and Nari are fighting again and Mura’s never really free. Decided that I might just chat with you instead.”
Heket took a seat next to the shop and laid back. She wanted to speak…with her? What did she have that would entice the goddess of famine? It was best to just entertain her for a while until she decides to leave.
“Um…I can’t say that I would be much entertainment, but I know a good joke or two if you want to hear it!” Forneus says, giving a slight giggle, surprisingly hiding the fear in her voice.
“Nah, no jokes. Just answer me something…do you ever feel lonely living out here with your two kids?”
This question made Forneus shake a little bit. Betsy was infecting her mind again…and Heket took notice immediately.
“Heh, I’ll take that as a yes. I know that mournful look…Kall looks at people like that for a while until he learned how to make his spouses immortal. Not sure who died but…I’m sorry for your loss.”
“…Her name was Betsy. She went to war for you and I honestly didn’t expect her to come back…but it hurt the same when the massager told me what happened to her.”
The tears once again poured down Forneus’s face, as Heket scooted over to Forneus. She knew Betsy, she was a witty charismatic kid who died fighting to protect someone, who was just a scamp. She too wouldn’t forget her…but she had something of hers that belonged elsewhere.
“I know it’s not gonna fix anything…but I have this.”
She dropped a skull necklace on Forneus’s lap. It was Betsy’s…but it looked like it was broken in half. She did her best to fix it but the broken scar would never come off.
“It looks like shit I know…but hey, scars to an anurian just show that we work hard right? But you probably don’t have any…sorry.”
Forneus looks over at Heket and then the necklace…at least she had this to remember her by. But why…why did Heket give her this? She was just a lonely merchant that fixed up buildings for the old faith from time to time. To them, she was just a servant…
“…Why? Why did you give me this, I’m just-“
“Don’t say you’re nothing Forneus. I care about everyone in this domain, and if Betsy was here, she’d love to know that I got this back for ya. I know how it feels to have to raise kids by yourself, well my Ma did it, but it feels the same. It’s a struggle…but seeing how you’re still here makes me think that you’re the best mother for them.”
Heket gave Forneus a small pat on the head and stood up. This was the most happy she felt after Betsy died and it was from her god…she couldn’t let go of this. It felt like Betsy was still here with her, even if it wasn’t her.
“W-Wait! Can you…Can you stay a little longer?” Forneus called out to Heket, who almost left the area.
The giant frog turned around and looked at Forneus for a few minutes before finally speaking.
“…Sure. Why the hell not?”
The two of them talked for hours. Those hours turned to days, then weeks, then months and then years. The two of them got closer together, with Heket gaining a friend and Forneus finally began to heal from her trauma.
Her alcoholic tendencies were slowly fading away, as if she had ever thought about drinking herself into unconsciousness, she would just go to the temple of Famine and had conversations with Heket until she fell asleep inside the temple.
Those two slept together more times than they could count or remember, and began wanting each other’s attention more and more. It was like they were addicted to seeing each other, but at least this one would not kill her in the future due to liver failure.
6 years later, Forneus sat down at a gravestone behind her house…it was Betsy’s. She dropped off some fresh flowers for the old ones she had left a month ago. There was a time when she couldn’t even look at this grave without crying for hours but now…she was happy.
She didn’t know what happened to people when they died but maybe she was watching that she found love again…maybe she was happy that she wasn’t broken anymore.
“Maybe one day, you two can meet…but that sounds impossible. Goodbye Betsy…I hope we can meet again someday.”
I have a lot of Jalala and Rinor doodles laying around that I haven’t posted so have some Jalala and Rinor being cute and stuff (and some bonus Forneus and Heket)
I love the pilgrim ladies so much they’re so amazing fr fr
Good Evening My Children. My name is Cookie ( @sp00kyc00kie ) and I will be your Shepard for this blog.
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Here is my Lambsona, Zero. To learn more about her see below or look for the tag #Zero to Hero AU . To see her fanart use #c00kie fanart !
Have a blessed day~
Praise be the lamb, all hail the goat!
Name: Zero Lambert
Gender/Age: She/Her 23
Fun Facts:
• As the lamb herds started to thin Zero desperately made a deal with the four gods. She would be their servant in exchange for her life.
• The gods used her for their amusement (hence the crown taking a jester like appearance later on). They were entertained by her cries and sorrow.
• She has a very low pain tolerance and is quite the softie. She develops bonds easily (hence her alliance with Narinder)
• The star was carved into her forehead as a sort of branding mark by the Bishops. She has a small pet rabbit (named Angel) that she keeps in secret.
• Eventually the four gods betrayed their word and killed her too, once she had become the last lamb. When The One Who Waits offered the perfect revenge, Zero reluctantly agreed, mostly so she could keep her new life.
• Her story is that of facing your fear instead of running from it. That and everything is not in black and white. That there are things that are both good and bad.
