9. Pirate AU: Who is the pirate? Who is the member of the royal family who did not sign up for this?
Jade is the pirate who kicks ass and Veronica is the royal who never signed up for being on Jade’s ship but y’know anything to get away from her home and be free, but a damn ship?
thanks, ned, it spawned a whole au. *add THAT to the fucking pile*
for those who did not see elsewhere: basically Dundrasil falls as normal but instead of Irwin gettin stabbed and baby el ending up in Chalky’s care, Irwin gets got by monsters and mordegon gets the kid. Long story short the rest of the party ends up working in Heliodor to find the next Luminary while El is a fucking feral child. (Or: dqxi but Ashur Shardsoflight.)
Jade opens the door to the twins’ study to find a complete mess. Quite frankly, it looks as though a tornado blew through, scattered papers all over the floor and a mess of wakerobin scraps settled around Veronica’s feet. Goddess, how long has she been at this?
“I know I’m onto something,” Veronica mumbles, staring at the pages in front of her, barely even blinking from the looks of it. Jade takes a tentative step closer, gently laying a hand on her shoulder as she jolts from the contact. “Wh—oh, it’s you.”
Jade examines the papers Veronica had been poring over, each marked with names and dates that get progressively harder to read. “Darling, how long have you been at this?”
Veronica doesn’t really respond to that line of questioning. “Look.” She gestures at the pages in front of her. “Every single time a Luminary dies, another one is born only a few years later, cycle goes on, blah blah blah. But!” She jabs a page decorated with question marks. “There hasn’t been one born since Dundrasil fell.” She grabs Jade by the shoulders. “Do you know what this means, Princess?!”
Well, it certainly means she needs sleep, if she’s man-handling her boss (well, one of her bosses, anyway) like this. Not that Jade particularly minds it, but Veronica would never think of laying a hand on her if she were thinking straight. A shame, really.
“It means,” Veronica continues, the spitting image of confidence as she cuts off Jade before she can get in a word edgewise, “that your brother is alive. Somewhere.”
That is…certainly a surprise, to say the least, and a relief, to be sure. “We can talk about it more tomorrow,” she tells her, prying Veronica’s hands from the pages and pulling her out of her chair. “You need to rest. How long have you been up working on this?”
“Don’t need sleep,” Veronica protests half-heartedly, clearly said more for show than as an actual argument (she has a reputation to uphold, after all) but still avoiding the question as she lets Jade drag her back to her room. She flops onto her bed with no additional complaint, but as Jade reopens the door to leave her, she can hear Veronica pry herself back up to get back to work.
“No.” Jade nudges her back down. “You can’t keep overworking yourself, rest. Do I have to stay here to make sure you won’t get up again?”
“’M fine with that.” Veronica rolls onto her side, facing the wall. “…You don’t have to stay up, either. You can sleep here, too.”
Jade wants to press her on that, but she’s out like a light, and once she eases herself onto the bed it doesn’t take long for her to fall asleep, too.
And when they finally wake in the morning and find that Jade may have somehow wrapped her arms around Veronica in her sleep, Veronica doesn’t even bother with the done with this front.
THANKS FOR ACCIDENTALLY SOLVING THE JADEINARY AU SHIP CRISIS, NED. Beeeeeeg act 2 spoilies, which is to say this is NOT SAFE FOR STAR. Does this take place in the middle of that Serena one I did? Yeah.
Veronica isn’t in their room. Which, perhaps, isn’t entirely unusual, given her insistence on keeping watch when they’re on the road, but all the same...they’re not on the road, they’re in Arboria, and considering her sister’s funeral was but a few hours before, Jade can’t help but fear the worst.
Though, considering Veronica’s hairbrush is also missing...well, it’s best to search anyway.
So she ventures into the too-dark too-wet Arborian plaza, searching for any sign of Veronica, muddling through the endless whispers from too many still-awake townsfolk. But the town itself shows no sign of her companion, which means that either she’s left town or perhaps...Jade chooses to venture into the grove, back towards where they found Serena.
And, sure enough, Veronica is there, one hand clutching the flute Benedictus had given her before Yggdrasil’s fall and the other wrapped around the missing hairbrush. “You didn’t need to follow me,” she mumbles, carrying her usual snark but with no real bite behind it. It almost sounds empty, which Jade can’t say she doesn’t understand.
Jade’s all too familiar with loss, even if some of the people she lost did, somehow, find their way back to her.
Jade sits down next to her, and whether Veronica consciously leans her head on Jade’s shoulder or not is known only to the stars, now. She grumbles on, “They’ve always had ridiculous expectations. Not just on Serena, either. I remember them getting on my case for not figuring out healing...” She sighs. “Well, that was before they remembered Erdwin could heal himself...”
“It’s almost as though they wanted you both to be Serenica,” Jade muses, before her train of thought collides to a halt. Oh, goddess above, that’s exactly what they want, isn’t it? And with everyone telling her how she hadn’t fit the image of Erdwin, either...
“Got it in one,” Veronica replies, and this time Jade can clearly hear the bite in her voice. “Everyone thinks, oh, you’re both going to be just like Serenica, and the Luminary will be just like Erdwin, oh, you’re going to be squabbling over him in no time!” She mock-retches, scrunching up her face in a way that probably shouldn’t look as cute as Jade finds it. “No mind to what we think, no, not a single care!”
Jade idly toys with one of Veronica’s braids, murmuring, “But neither of you are Serenica. And I’m not Erdwin. Those who came before us don’t define us.” All too suddenly, she seems to realize what she’s doing. “I...I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me—”
Veronica doesn’t move her head from Jade’s shoulder, giving Jade a peculiar look. “No, that’s...actually…” She presses the hairbrush into Jade’s free hand. “This is going to sound batshit ridiculous, but can you brush my hair out of these braids? I mean, if everyone here is going to thank their lucky stars that I’m still here, I may as well remind them of my own loss, right?”
Jade nods, untwisting the hair ties holding Veronica’s braids in place and combing them gently with her fingers before running the brush through them. She spares a look at Veronica’s face; she looks mostly at peace, for once in all the time Jade has known her; if it hadn’t been for the tears, it would almost look as though she was asleep. She keeps murmuring even with her eyes closed, and Jade briefly hears “I always thought that if it came down to it, I’d be the one lost to Yggdrasil…” Jade’s heart breaks even more than it already has today.
She doesn’t quite want to disturb Veronica, but it’s late enough already, and surely they’ll have to set out tomorrow morning in search of...whatever their next step may be. “All finished,” she whispers, and while she certainly expects Veronica to shift her weight off of Jade’s shoulder (as much as Jade may miss it), she does not expect her to kiss her.
Veronica draws back, suddenly uncharacteristically shy. “And after all that talk of us not being our predecessors…I suppose I’m exactly what they wanted after all—”
Jade tips Veronica’s chin back up, looking straight into her eyes. “Well, did you kiss me because I was Erdwin, so many lives ago?”
Veronica doesn’t hesitate. “Goddess no, ugh. It’s...well, it’s because you’re you.”
“Well, then,” Jade begins, scooping Veronica up into a bridal carry (as Veronica shakes her fist in mock frustration; it’s certainly not real, because Jade can see her blushing) to spare her the effort of walking, “I don’t think you have to worry about that, then.”
who’s the cuddler: Depends on the night, but usually Jade
who makes the bed: again, Jade.
who wakes up first: Usually Jade, on account of having to wake up early for adventuring and Royal Shit for far longer
who has the weird taste in music: VERONICA
who is more protective: A little of both? Jade doesn’t want a repeat of the Tree Thing and Veronica is always fiercely protective of those she cares about.
who sings in the shower: Veronica, though you’re better off not admitting that
who cries during movies: See above
who spends the most shopping: Jade has more to spend, so her.
who kisses more roughly: Veronica. Just, Veronica.
who is more dominate: *jade voice* I spend so much time bossing the knights around already...
who burns the dinner: V E R O N I C A
who picks the restraunt to eat: Veronica again
who forgets dates: Jade is TREMENDOUSLY busy, you can’t blame here
who has to remind the other to take their meds/pump/clean their medical equiptment: Theyre both, not the best,
who has to remind the other to go to bed: Usually Veronica; that said, if Ronnie is particularly focused on some sort of research, Jade will have to drag her to bed
who makes breakfast in bed: Veronica. Jade needs a break from time to time.
who will eat food no matter if it is under/over cooked: you think Jade could afford to be picky on the road?
who is more likely to get lost: Oh, Veronica, one hundred percent
my raiting for the ship 1-10: 8/10 but obvi only in adult size
Bodyguard AU: Who is the bodyguard? Who are they protecting? Which one is secretly pining for the other?
I feel like the easy answer is “bodyguard veronica uses magic to keep shitheads away from her charge” but hear me out: (in)famous sage Veronica and her buff girl bodyguard
They’re both pining; Veronica is a sucker for a girl who can kick her ass and Jade, getting a rare look at how Veronica is underneath the snark, finds herself a little bit in love
