Oof its been a while since I wrote anything related to d3rlord or sfawtde uhh I hope I havent chased anyone away because I haven't wrote him but I had this in my drafts since forever and I wanted to get it done, I dont ever disclose how derek looks in my fanfics (because I know everyone has their own interpretations) but for this one I just wanted wax poetic about my Derek design and how pretty he is, this is the version I am writing about in this fic, anyways I hope you enjoy, I loved writing about my sassy bird knight again hehe
(@sleepys-hoard and @coffyblak this is for you guys! my other derek hutchins fans and beloved mutuals <3)
“What are you doing here?”
You hear Derek’s voice calling out to you as you approach his chamber. He was sitting by his desk, cleaning his weapons not in his armor for once, when he saw you, his royal highness, out of bed when he thought you were asleep, ascending downstairs with a candlestick in hand.
“You were supposed to go to sleep ages ago.”
“Well, I wanted to visit you.”
You say, plainly, and he sighs, clearly baffled. You knew more than anyone the consequences of breaking the rules of the castle yet broke them nonetheless. You were always the rebellious type anyway. It was clear to see just in the way you were choosing to love him instead of the many heirs you were expected to love.
“And why now of all times?”
He questions, raising an eyebrow. He comes off as irritated by your presence, and yet he stands up from his desk anyway to face you as you set the candlestick down on a nearby shelf.
The heels of his riding boots clicked against the stone floor before coming face to face with you. And you’re enchanted by how he looks without his armor. He didn’t have the traditional muscularity of a typical soldier, if anything he was more on the lean and skinny side, but what he lacked in physical strength he made up for in agility and speed, the ability to kill his enemies before they even had the chance to react.
His hair was a light blonde that fell to his shoulders in messy waves. It reminded you of golden sunrays, and contrasted the dark brown of his skin, the skin that was also littered with scars that you suspected was from battles long past. His eyes were a warm brown that turned a faint gold when the light hit them just right. Such as right now, when half of his sharp face was illuminated from the light of the candle.
You could see his signature gold and red armor hung up on a nearby armor stand behind him, instead traded for a silk white blouse and black pants for casual wear, as well as the aforementioned riding boots that accentuated his already tall height.
He was without a doubt, beautiful. Ethereal. He would’ve been mistaken for a prince or an aristocrat if not for one very peculiar thing. You eye the black feathers where human ears would be, creating slight patterns underneath his eyes.
His…”bird-ness” (At least that’s how you described it anyways).
In place of hands, he had claws like that of a raven. You hold his palm on your own and trace your thumb over it with awe.
“Your claws are magnificent…”
“These are weapons used to rip the flesh of zombies, dear. I once had to eat them because I was stuck in a cave with no food.”
The truth was that Derek was actually a harpy, or a half bird hybrid, and he often hid his features to pass off as a human to avoid getting hunted. You heard stories about them, yet you never expect to have one right beside you, masquerading as your knight no less.
“The other guards would not take kindly to finding you like this. And I would have neither sword nor armor to protect you.”
You wonder if he was fussing over you or himself at that. He said it as if he was trying to chastise you, but you know it’s meant for himself more than anything else.
“I swear the entire castle is asleep Derek. I came for the perfect time just so that I could see you.”
He barks a laugh.
“You would do all that, just for a humble knight like myself? You’re truly unpredictable, you know that right?” And you don’t know if he said it out of bemusement or endearment. (Perhaps, it was both.)
You let go of his hand as he turns back to the wall, to a cabinet filled with miscellaneous objects that he was in the middle of organizing, while you find yourself sitting on his bed as you follow his gaze.
“I..want to know more about you Derek. Not as my guard or as the man behind the armor, but just you. What your life is beyond just being my knight…”
He turns around at that, one eyebrow raised as if studying you. Even without the feathers, he really did remind you of a bird, staring down and observing its prey. You wonder if he's held that gaze toward the many opponents that have crossed his path. With or without the helmet, he’s always been so unreadable when it came to his expressions.
“You as… a person, Derek.”
You finish. They say the eyes are the window to the soul, and Derek’s gaze could tell an entire life worth of them just from the way he was looking into yours.
Derek, as much as does not like to show it, is rather moved by your words. It’s rare someone seeked him out, not as a soldier fighting for something he didn’t care about, but as a person. Someone worth getting to know and become close with. It’s something that he’s not used to and he’s not sure what to do about it at first. At the very least, he hopes that you can’t hear the sound of his heartbeat gradually picking up speed in the quiet of his bedchamber.
After a brief pause (that honestly had you questioning whether or not you said something wrong) he sat next to you on the bed, holding his claw like hands out, his talons, out for you to trace your fingers over them (He doesn’t say it but he secretly likes the feeling of your hands touching his feathers.) He flexes them open and closed as he thinks on what to say.
“On top of using these to rip apart zombies, I also once used these to behead a pillager…”
You beam at that. You were always so curious about the various escapades he’s been on, all the lands and creatures he’s seen prior to being your royal guard. Perhaps if you weren’t stuck in this castle all day, you would’ve been able to see them too.
“Oh, will you please tell me?”
A ghost of a smile tugs at his lips (That’s a rare sight.) as he recalls the story.
“There was a village who was getting raided by Pillagers from an outpost nearby. They paid me asking if I could deal with them, so I went in there and slaughtered every single one.”
He pauses to look at you, seeing you look up at him as if he hung the stars. With such marvel and wonder. And for what? A story about how he raised hell on a Pillager outpost one time? For him, it was just a normal Tuesday.
“I gave the lead Pillager’s head to the villagers as a gift, and they planted it on a stake.”
He finishes. He absentmindedly raises his claws to the light of the lanterns above them, closes and opens the claws as if he was brandishing a dagger. With how sharp they were, they might as well be.
“How come you don’t use them in battle?”
“It’s considered…undignified. I would much rather prefer using my weapons, but I’m not above using them if absolutely necessary.”
The thought of Derek, calm, collected Derek, one who never dropped his weapons even in battle for the sake of his armor, dropping all of that and going absolutely bloodthirsty..It seemed rather thrilling. The claws were dangerous. And yet he made the conscious effort to be as gentle as possible, for he would never even dream of hurting you, and likewise, you trusted him that he wouldn’t. The claws that had the blood of many on his hands were now used to hold and love you.
“How do you admire me when I have so much blood on these hands?..” He asks.
“And yet aren’t you holding me so gently with them right now?” You reply.
“I know you would never hurt me.”
“….And I would never dream of such a thing. I would never let anyone else hurt you either.”
“Can you…fly? I heard that all Harpies have wings-“
He stiffens at that, and you're immediately filled with regret for asking that question, for you wondered if you encroached on a sensitive topic for him.
“Did I…say something wrong?
“No, you didn’t.” Derek replies, shaking his head with a gentle smile, yet there's a bit of sadness behind his eyes as he continues. “It’s just a…sensitive topic for me. And I normally don’t like showing it to people, but for you, I could make an exception.”
You scooted backwards on the bed to give him some space as he closed his eyes, clasping his hands in some kind of praying position as he whispered something in a language you could not make out. Some kind of ancient harpy language, you suppose.
A sound as if a cloak was unfurled and…there it was.
A large, magnificent black wing jutted out from his back, nearly big enough to reach the ceiling, the black feathers glossy and gleaming in the candlelight. On his lower back was a long tail feather that trailed behind him as it laid limp on the mattress. He looked over his shoulder as he flexed his wing open and closed like an extra limb.
“Derek, your…”
You trail off as you find yourself at a loss for words, never having seen such a beautiful sight. You reach out, almost as if wanting to run your hands over them. However, it’s then that you notice something.
He has a wing. Not wings, a wing. Not a pair of them like you would normally expect.
“Where’s your other wing Derek? I thpught you would have a pair of them-“
“I…lost the other a long time ago.”
Your face falls in pity. This must’ve been why this was such a sensitive situation for him earlier.
“Oh…I’m sorry about that.”
“You don’t have to be. I told you you were the exception. You are the only person I would ever risk sharing this to.”
He takes a breath.
“Some rogue assassins burnt my entire village to the ground, and I was the only survivor. They nearly incapacitated me and tore off my wing so I couldn’t escape, but I barely managed to escape with my life. I can still fly, just not as much as I used to. And for only a brief period of time."
“Oh…I’m so sorry…” You sympathize as he continues.
“It was a miracle I managed to survive then. And I realized that I had to hide my identity as a harpy if I needed to survive.”
That must’ve been why he became a warrior. You thought. He hid his identity as a harpy to avoid getting hunted, and built his name out of nothing, out of being a mercenary, just to make a living for himself and survive. Your heart aches for him. You never had to struggle with anything in your life the way he did.
“I’m sorry that happened to you.”
He shakes his head. “It’s fine. I’ve learned more than anyone that you have to make sacrifices like that in order to survive.”
Sacrifices, such as protecting you. He thinks, but he doesn’t say it out loud as he straightens his posture. He closes his eyes, and his wing and tail suddenly disappear, as if they were never there at all. You feel as if you could see him make his wings disappear and reappear about a thousand times and never get tired of it, never stop being marveled at the sight.
“Now, does that answer all of your questions?”
You nod. “Mhm. Thank you for..letting me spend time with you, Derek.”
As much as you want to keep spending time with him and ask him even more questions, you would get into trouble with your advisors if you stayed here any longer. And besides, he probably had his own work that he needed to get to.
“Stay safe out there, you know what would happen if they found out about you.”
He said as you headed back up the stairs. Even after everything he was still looking out for you. No matter how much he tried to put up that uncaring act. You turn back at him just as you reach the top of the stairs, and he gives you a rare, genuine smile.
“Day and night, it is my honor to protect you.”
You resist the urge to squeal internally as exit out of his chambers. He always had a way of saying the most heart-fluttering things in the most random moments, saying such words in the most nonchalant of ways that always left you in astonishment anytime he uttered them. You don’t notice the way he never left his eyes off of you until you were gone completely, and as hears the click of the door signalling your leave, a slight chuckle escapes him as he shakes his head.
“What an idiot.”
He muttered, yet he couldn’t resist the smile creeping up on his face as he did so.
~~~
The next morning, as Derek was just about ready to put his armor on for training for the day, he was greeted with a knock on the door to his chambers.
“Sir der Lord? Are you in there?”
The voice called, and he recognized it as the royal advisor.
As if this morning couldn’t get any more irritating…
He grumbled internally as he pulled himself to open the door for him. The tall man cleared his throat as he fixed his glasses in front of Derek.
“Is something the matter, sir?”
“It appears our royal highness was found wandering the castle after curfew, sir.”
He practically groans internally.
Didn't I tell them to be careful? He thinks to himself. Externally, he tried to keep his calm composure.
“And…what does that have to do with me?” He deflected, although to be fair, it had everything to do with him. (Hey, you were the one who seeked him out despite the consequences, not him!)
“It’s your duty to watch over our highness, der Lord. The child was out past their curfew and yet you chose not to report it to the council.”
“I was just resting in my chambers sir, if their highness was caught past their curfew, it must’ve been on the other side of this castle cause I have not heard anything."
The advisor only sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Clearly his attempts to act innocent was pissing him off, and it made Derek slightly amused. (Very amused actually. It serves him right for being such a pretentious prick, he thinks.)
“The king and queen are going to be very disappointed when I report this to them. Protecting thy highness under any cost is your duty, sir.”
Derek only gave an innocent shrug.
“I suppose that can’t be helped sir. Let it be known sir, I had nothing to do with their disappearance.”
He said deadpandedly. He quite enjoyed getting under the court's skin like this. If he was stuck getting bossed around by such annoying cohorts he might as well have fun with them.
The advisor, clearly having lost his patience for how nonchalant the knight was toward his own employers, turned his head and stormed off, only to stop in his tracks when Derek called out for them.
“Although sir, if I may give a word of advice..."
"Thy highness is more than capable of handling things on their own, for they are not just a mere child. Perhaps you could try putting a little more faith in them next time.”
u ever have on mutuals whos so deep in another fandom that u know absolutely zero about and they make posts that look like they speaking another language or some shit
i really appreciate the number of mutuals who are not in any of my fandoms sharing this post. its like a little hello nod as we pass each other in the hall
Thank you moot for reblogging my posts despite me switching from d3rlord to steven and you not knowing anything about pokemon,,,,i swear I had like a d3r x reader in my drafts for the longest ass time that im tyring to finish for you,,, Ilysm moot thanks
I SWEAR I DIDNT POST THIS BECAUSE OF TFC I just saw this from another person on my dash and it reminded me of you, I also dont know aything about Freak Circus or whatever but the characters are cool!! (As someone who likes whimsical circus stuff) like yesss go be with that freaky clown man!!
Oh and here are some previews of what i wrote that I liked so far, I had this in my drafts, lost interest in sfawtde as I got back into Pokemon, then found this again and Im trying to finish it as it was already like 70% done I SWEAR ill get it out soon (its based on my depiction of derek in particular)
u ever have on mutuals whos so deep in another fandom that u know absolutely zero about and they make posts that look like they speaking another language or some shit
i really appreciate the number of mutuals who are not in any of my fandoms sharing this post. its like a little hello nod as we pass each other in the hall
Thank you moot for reblogging my posts despite me switching from d3rlord to steven and you not knowing anything about pokemon,,,,i swear I had like a d3r x reader in my drafts for the longest ass time that im tyring to finish for you,,, Ilysm moot thanks
pygmalion x galatea au with steven where he finds you during one of his archeological digs as a statue of an ancient sootopolitan royal, whose life was tragically cut short due to an illness. He brings you into his lab, continuously staring at it every single day for hours on end. He says to himself that because he's just fascinated by the statues material and wants to study it, yet as time goes on, he realizes that he is falling in love with you, despite how propostorous it sounds for someone like him to fall in love with an inanimate object. his heart breaks more and more with each passing day that someone like you might never exist, that you will never be a real person, that your likeness has likely been dead for thousands of years. He silently wishes that he could find someone exactly like you in real life, though he knows that its foolish.
(little does he know, said wish was heard by a certain star shaped Pokemon passing the night sky..)
hc that steven's favorite thing to do when he was a kid was to play in the sandpits in playgrounds and pretend he was digging for fossils with the giant shovels
steven showing joseph the pretend fossils he found and him playing along with it while also nagging him about getting sand over his clothes
LMAOOOOOO dw moot uhhh it was just me brainrotting over my husband steven stone from hit video game franchise pokemon again for the hundredth time ehehehehe,,,,
(God I love this fuckass picture of him)
basically his whole thing is that despite him being the son of a billionare company and dressing really nice he's also super obsessed (autistic) over rocks and geology and such so thats how i came up with the hc hes a little weird but yknow I love him and his loser energy thank you okay bye
Ao3 version that lets you open the 'director's cut' where I, the author, explain every detail in excruciating detail to you and what it is in reference to.
hc that steven's favorite thing to do when he was a kid was to play in the sandpits in playgrounds and pretend he was digging for fossils with the giant shovels
steven showing joseph the pretend fossils he found and him playing along with it while also nagging him about getting sand over his clothes
okay there are the theories of hummer being the leviathan (which I do heavily believe in) but I also propose that we think of them as seperate beings and that hummer dying and that him dying meant that can be finally be with his lovecraftian sea creature that he was obsessed in love with the whole time. call it LeviaScreen
WIFIES WHEN I FUCKING CATCH YOU (this is in relation to the new wifies arg guys)
some thoughts I had below cut (With spoilers! if you havent watch tsftl yet dont click under cut! go watch it for yourself)
First are the thoughts I had while watching it for the first time
-So I think it was fairly obvious that whatever wifies next thing/arg is supposed to be it was related to the leviathan/ocean in some way, there was a streamer award he won where the items in his hotbar spelled out "LEVI" which obviously meant leviathan, and he said smth about wanting to include cthullu in dawtde but couldnt, so its nice that we got that prediction out the way (granted it was obvious)
-Him being the protgaonist of the arg this time and not having him be the one to document another character for once was very interesting
-i think I (and many others) likely watched this with the trauma from dawtde, every time they said a sentence ended in “-that does not exist” I like held my breath in a bit wifies why would you do this
-also “the biggest minecraft hardcore server but long story im banned from that one” wifies why the fuck would you say that so casually
-I wasnt entirely invested (i like skimmed a bit and skipped forward) until the end where I was actively speechless, and wifies fainting in front of the monitor gave me derek ptsd thank god he lived this time but again the dawtde trauma
Okay those were my inital thoughts watching it for the first time but now are the thoughts that I had after/reading what other people had to say
-I genuinely thought all the leviathan posts were real so I went on the mc subreddit to check but then I found out they were made by wifies discord server lmao that made me feel stupid
-One of my friends said the Leviathan is "incomprehensibly large" and that "there’s theories that Satan appeared as Leviathan in the Garden Of Eden" and I definitely think thats what the map at the end was meant to be
-the most common/prevalent theory is that hummer isnt a real person and is only part of wifies imagination or a hallucination. everytime wifies opened the players online menu on whatever server he was in, hummer was not on it and there were never a message saying he logged on, and he also didnt have a death message.
-The other common thing i've seen people say is that hummer died because he grabbed the water potion that wifies threw before he blew up the submarine, some ppl saying he IS the leviathan? or that hes seen the leviathan before and thats why he wants wifies to see it as well, and Im willing to bet on the former, some mix of he's a hallucination/he is the leviathan/connected to it in some way
-also someone said this could have a religious connotation? or be a metaphor to forced religion because hummer kept convincing wifies to believe and do dangerous things for the sake of the leviathan (a god), hummer was obsessed with the leviathan and thats what led to his death
-I found this on twt but Aronnax's name comes from a character from 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea by Jules Verne, named Professor Pierre Aronnax, and guess how many blocks out is the Leviathan set to spawn? 20,000 blocks away (WIFIES YOUR MIND)
-Between this and changing my blog to a mermaidcore aesthetic and me writing a oc x canon fic with a lot of ocean/siren/mermaid imagery it seems as if Im going to have a mermaidcore summer so thanks
