Posting for the 'OCtober' challenge is of course going to go well into November XD
But the next prompt was 'favorite oc couple' which is again impossible to choose so I did a few pieces for it! First is Juno and Rae, one of the oldest pairings I have with @theriversarebroken . These two are just... so solid, unerringly loyal to each other, the kind of people that would find each other in any lifetime.
Also this piece is like, a snapshot taken seconds before Juno wiggles out because she can't sit still that long 😂
Fifth square for @badthingshappenbingo! Bringing back Juno for another piece.
This piece features Juno Edwards, a character from my original story The Covenant that Fell.
Juno considers herself to be an iron fortress. Her emotions are kept in check and very rarely does she let those emotions be seen. But when Juno sees a defeat, loses an entire town, she struggles to hold the iron gates shut.
Rae belong to @snakesonawave
Juno had seen it, even from this far. She’d seen the decimation of an entire town as Revenant rolled over it like a black sea. She’d seen their approach and, for some reason, she believed she’d be able to get there on horseback first. She thought she’d be faster and somehow stop a horde of monsters from slaughtering innocents all on her own. She thought.
She was still far enough away that she could see the entire town, the roads connecting to it, and a lake a few miles from it when the Revenant swept through. She apologetically pulled hard on the reigns and skidded to a halt. She climbed off her horse, her eyes focused on the destruction the entire time. Even from this hill, from this far, she could hear the cries and screams. She could hear the clanging of metal and the breaking of wood. She heard it all and the echoes circled around her head like snakes. With each loop it tightened, until it was all she could hear.
She’d felt the tears on her cheeks before she even knew they’d fallen. She fell to her knees before she’d felt her knees shake. The only time she pulled her eyes from the town, now aflame, was to bury them into her palms.
~
Juno had made it back to the Homestead, but she didn’t let anyone know. She needed… a moment. A moment just to herself and herself alone. She found that was done best at the tavern, where she could be surrounded by people yet left completely alone. She didn’t go to taverns, she didn’t drink, she didn’t do… this. But today she would. Today she felt like she needed to. And she knew no one would come looking for her here.
When she found an empty spot at the bar, she took a seat and glanced around her. Not too many people looked the way she expected patrons in a bar to look. They seemed… just as down as she was. Perhaps it was due to it being an hour past noon and not the late hours Rei normally went to taverns. Without worry of judgement or being recognized, she ordered a drink, and chugged it down, despite the shaking of her hands.
Her eyes watered from the burning in her throat. Or maybe her eyes watered because of the things she’d seen today. She didn’t know. She didn’t really know if she cared at this point.
Ignoring the look on the bartender’s face, she ordered another and wiped the tears away. She downed that, too. And another. And another. She drank until her head could no longer hear the cries of that village, until it was a dull roar in the back of her skull.
But that wasn’t enough. She could still smell the smoke and feel the throbbing pain in her chest, so she continued to drink. She drank until there were no smells and no feeling. She drank until every inch of her body was numb and the pain was now replaced with laughter. She entered into a heavily drunken conversation with the individual next to her. The two of them mumbled and ended in laughter when they realized it was completely incoherent.
She didn’t know how long she was in the bar, but she didn’t think the drinks would’ve stopped coming.
When her hands reached for another and ultimately spilled it, the bartender’s hand caught her own. Juno struggled to make eye contact with them, but understood what the look meant. Juno uttered a drunken apology and pulled her hand away.
“You need rest, my lady.” the bartender frowned.
“Yeah…” Juno mumbled and gave a half smile. At least she was kind. She thought of saying more, but the words were not coherent enough to say aloud. When she left the tavern and was greeted with the utter darkness of the night, she felt the wave of emotions return. The sounds circled around her head, the pain struck her chest and made her breathless, and tears began to fall.
This darkness, this empty and vast darkness, gave her too much space to think. She needed to be back inside, in her room and have a drink in her hand. It would help, just as it did before. Though it felt like the night was reaching out to her, like it was asking for her to enter and find herself lost come morning, she made the trek back to the main house.
It should’ve been easy, she knew the paths well enough, but with each step the screams of sheer terror grew ever louder. The fright she knew those villagers felt plagued her mind, and chilled her to the bone. She found her arms wrapping around herself and stumbling over simple grass and stone pathways. If her drunkenness didn’t obscure her vision already, than it was the constant tears in her eyes.
Eventually she focused her sight on the glow of the main house. Torches were lit, as they were every night in front of every house, to make it easier for everyone to find their way home. She stopped in front of the house, breathless, and shaking, and near deaf from the constant rush of sound. She was sure she looked like a mess, snot nosed and sobbing, but she made her way inside anyways. She was hoping no one was awake, so that she could take what supplies she needed and have no questions asked.
She carefully walked into the kitchen and searched for what she needed. Just a bottle of liquor, that was all. When she found it, someone else found her. She nearly leapt out of her skin. At least everything else grew silent when they spoke.
“Juno?” it was Lavinia, she knew her voice well enough. “Goddess, Juno.” she approached, though stopped when her friend wouldn’t turn around. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you. Rae went out searching when you didn’t return this afternoon.” Lavinia shifted her weight, uneasy with how her good friend was acting.
“Sorry…” Juno slurred, sucking in a deep breath. “I-I had-- I didn’t keep time.” she kept her head ducked low and only turned to half face Lavinia. “I um…”
“Juno…” Lavinia already knew. If she couldn’t hear it in Juno’s voice, she could smell it on her. “Do you want to--”
“Please… don’t.” Juno clenched her hands into fists and felt new tears begin to fall. “I can’t…” she sniffled and grabbed the bottle of liquor. Lavinia said nothing as Juno walked past her. She only caught her when she stumbled.
“Let me help you to your room.” she kept her arm around Juno, silencing any potential protests before they happened. Lavinia took Juno upstairs, took her to her room, and opened the door for her. “What happened, Juno?” when Lavinia finally saw Juno’s expression, broken beyond anything she’d seen, she didn’t need any answers. The only one she got was a shut door.
Juno was alone once more, this time without strangers surrounding her. She was truly and completely alone now. When the door shut, she put the bottle to her mouth. She was already numb enough to deal with the burn. After a few long gulps, Juno felt at peace again. The world fell silent.
Eventually she found a chair and sat in it. She stared at the lit fireplace for sometime until she felt the tears poke at her eyes once again. Though she quickly tried to wipe the tears away, more replaced what she tried to rid.
Her eyes were pressed into the palms of her hands for the second time that day. Images of the town laid behind her eyelids and it only made her cry harder. It felt as if her soul was being pushed from her body and it left her gasping. She rocked back and forth, praying, practically begging, to whatever Goddesses could hear her that they would somehow save that town, or allow her to go back on her choices. She prayed for this weight to grow lighter.
Hands were placed on Juno’s shoulders and she was given a hard shake. It was enough to pull her from her waking nightmare. She sat up and found herself looking into concerned orange eyes. Those eyes searched hers as she pulled in heavy breaths.
“Rae?” Juno simply stared and said nothing more. She tried to hold a stoic expression for as long as she could, but it fell the moment Rae’s hands cupped her cheeks. She felt it crack and ultimately shatter, replaced with one of sorrow. She leaned her head against Rae’s chest and was wrapped up in her arms. She sobbed, loudly and uncontrollably, into Rae’s clothing while the woman shushed her.
Rae ran her fingers through her hair and kissed the top of her head, and tried anything she could to calm the storm Juno was sailing in. Juno was always emotional, that was given, but she always had a handle on them.
She slid off the chair and onto the floor, Rae going with to make sure she didn’t land hard. She continued to hold her until Juno calmed some and then she cupped her cheeks once more. She pulled her head from her chest and looked in her eyes.
“Juno…” she wiped away her tears and removed hair from her face. “What happened? Wh-where did you go? I looked for you for… for hours, I thought you were… I heard…” Rae was going to mention the village, that she thought Juno had made it there and gotten injured, or worse, but stopped when she saw the tears begin anew.
“I failed.” Juno whispered. “I failed the people of Bredon, with my talks and…” her voice cracked. “And they died. They died because I took too long.”
“Juno, no.” Rae stroked her cheek, unsure of what to say other than, “It’s not your fault. You have to see that. The Revenant came early, they attacked early. No one could’ve--.”
“They would have been able to evacuate if…” Juno felt the hole in her chest begin to grow again. “I failed and they died.” she began to cry again. “And I couldn’t face you, or Lavinia, or anyone.” she began to sob hard. Her entire body shook. She clung to Rae as if she were her only anchor to this world. “Because I had to talk…” her entire body shuddered as she began to sink lower. “Because I had to discuss the best way to help people.”
“That’s not your fault.”
“There shouldn’t have been a discussion. I should’ve--”
“Juno, listen.” Rae held her shoulders tightly, her tone firm. “We received the news too late. Bredon was… it’s fate was sealed before you even saddled your horse. And… if it wasn’t and you’d gotten there, you might have been killed, too.”
“I should not be more important than the lives of civilians.”
“You aren’t. But you are still important. You are helping the helpless, even if that… fails sometimes. And it does. As a soldier I know....” Her hands moved to Juno’s own. She absentmindedly stroked them for a moment, as if remembering those times, before speaking again. “Those people you helped had something most haven’t had in a long time because of the Queen. They had hope, they knew who to contact for help. There are countless towns unlike Bredon, who have no idea we exist, or where to go for protection. We need to help them, to prevent massacres like this one.” Rae watched Juno’s expression slowly come to terms with what was being said. Broken, but slowly being pieced back together.
She wasn’t used to work like this. When she was the Queen’s spymaster, it was one person she was worried about and that one person knew the risks of their job. It wasn’t hundreds of soldiers or hundreds of civilians. This… sacrifice was hard for her. It struck her hard and it held her low.
She didn’t speak for the rest of the night. Her mind was plagued with the mountains that were before her, this one she could barely conquer. She wasn’t sure she wanted what else awaited her.
Doing an October challenge casually this year! First prompt was favorite OC which is basically impossible lol, but I did Jo and Rae because they're my main ocs. So it still counts I say!
Trying out fanbruary again this year! First up is for my GF @theriversarebroken ‘s original fantasy, The Covenant That Fell. For more about the story you can visit here- @thecovenantthatfell
My sister and I are left alone in the throne room, only the marble pillars and lavish decorations to keep us company. As it did when I was in the Queen’s guard, the display of wealth makes me uncomfortable, makes me think of every dirty slum outside of these walls, makes me think of people living in squalor, fighting in muddy pits, begging for food. People the Queen is supposedly responsible for.
“I worked with her for six years, was the captain of her guard for one, and she looks at me like I’m a piece of trash Juno wiped off of her shoe.” I shake my head, still looking toward the throne. I can’t exactly look at Rae yet. “She told me once that I was the only werewolf she knew wasn’t a liar.”
“Racist.” Rae says, shortly. “She does that to me too. She knows we’re not werewolves.”
“Control: A small but important distinction between Lycans and Werewolves.” I quote from an old book, made for humans on cultural sensitivity. Rae laughs humorlessly. I finally turn to look at her properly- it’s been a few years but I can still see the threat of tears, carefully controlled behind a furrowed brow.
“Rae, I-”
“Don’t.” She looks at me, a mix of fury and fear behind her eyes. “I knew something was wrong when she came back from helping you, but I didn’t want to pry. I would have if…” She scuffs her foot on the floor.
“It’s not your fault, Rae. Juno just-”
“I know it’s not my fault!” She interrupts again with a snarl, “it’s yours.”
The air stills between us. A fleeting look of regret crosses Rae’s face, but she’s too angry to stop.
“It’s always you, Jo. You left me here to fight for that asshole and went off to die like a goddamn dog.” She steps closer to me, brandishing a finger that she plants into my chest, right on the scar she knows is there. “I fucking mourned you. I mourned you, for six months! And then you have the gall to come back and act like it wasn’t a big deal? Like it was some kind of joke?”
“Rae…”
“No! And then you fuck off again to gods-know where and I don’t hear from you for a whole fucking year. A year, Jo! Only to see you dragged in, half-dead again, with your stupid Orc girlfriend!”
I grab her shoulders. “ENOUGH!”
She quiets, the anger draining away, the tears she was holding back making fresh tracks down her cheeks. “Juno saved your life at the cost of her own, Jo,” she whispers, “what am I supposed to feel? Who am I supposed to choose? My sister or my soulmate?”
She leans closer, planting her forehead on my shoulder and balling her fists in my shirt. Takes a breath. “I can’t just watch her die. Jo, I won’t.”
I wrap my arms around her and let her cry, resting my chin on her head. Had I had the choice, I would have died a thousand times over to keep Juno safe. Rae knows this, and she probably resents me for it, at least a little.
But I wasn’t given that choice. I have been given the opportunity to do right by them now. “Rae, the Queen may not believe us but we all know she’s an idiot. Rei and I will find a way to fix this, I promise.”
She sniffs. “Great, leave my girlfriend’s life in the hands of that shitty mercenary.”
“She’s not shitty,” I chuckle, “she just takes some getting used to.” I pull back and hold Rae by the shoulders again. She searches my face, looking for hope. “We’re going to the Veyl, recruit some magicians, get some answers. Juno will be fixed before you know it, then we can all focus on this demon business, alright?”
“Alright.” She rubs her eyes and lets out a slow breath, steadying herself. “Please, for the love of the kingdom, please come back here on your feet.” She gives me a hard stare, taking my hand. “I seriously can’t handle my sister dying a third time. And mom will raise you from the dead to kill you again.”
I snort, “gods, yes, I promise.” Rae just shakes her head, squeezing my hand.
