#nine in dq 11 au

[catmintarts]

Eleven cutting Nine’s hair c: @cresentcube’s AU is living rent free in my brain rn if you are curious here is the post that inspired this drawing (x) I wonder if nine would end up messing with everyone’s hair eventually

#Jest starting act 3 and I have such mixed feelings!!! ;A; #I want to draw more tho #This game has me in my emotions #my art #nine in dq 11 au #dq9 #dq11 #dqxi #dqxi luminary #dqix

[cresentcube]

Howdy there! I'm a bit late to the party, by like, a few years by my estimate, but I'm absolutely in love with your Nine in DQ11 AU. I had a similar thought because DQ9 was the one other DQ game I've played. But yeah, I've been tearing through your AU, feeling a little betrayed that I'm just finding this now T_T. I'm not sure if you're still taking questions for this AU, but there's one thing I'm wondering that I'm pretty sure I haven't seen yet. Apologies if you've already answered this. What are Nine's general vibes with Serena, Erik, and Jade. Like what's their relationships and interactions like?

HELLO WELCOME!! YOU'RE NOT LATE THE TRAIN IS STILL RUNNING

I still have this AU in my heart, yes! I'm so glad you loved it!!!

It's an AU I always hold dear in the corner of my heart and if anyone leaves a like on my post I immidiately just leap up in joy. Just haven't been posting since life was really busy but it's still one of my favorite pastimes to just think about it for a while. Your ask filled me with pure joy! if you have any more questions or ideas or just random thoughts about the au, anything, just dump it on the ask and I'll be there with you in an instant. Feel absolutely free to barge in, I love getting asks. Thank you again.

Now, to your question!

Serena: They've got a lot of things in common: mainly, that they're the team gluttons. If left unsupervised they will drift to a bakery unprotected and return after spending half the team's budget. They're also both absentminded as all hell, so you can constantly see Veronica chiding the two of them at the same time- Nine and Serena side by side, slightly looking like soaking wet puppies. Like partner in crimes- but the crimes are just things like disappearing into the crowd and being lost, only to be found hours later, sharing a pastry, blissfully unaware how much the other party members were frantically looking for them in concern.

They're very good friends! She's the one who Nine makes the most casual conversation to, due to them having a lot of common interests- Nine's affinity to healing magic brings them together to discuss healing magic theory together, too. Nine enjoys braiding her hair if there's nothing to be done! Serena very, very much enjoys listening to his nighttime stories of stars and constellations.

Erik: If you leave them together, their bickering will NOT end. It's a constant stream of roasts and roasting back. Despite all this, it's all in good fun- in truth, Nine is very, very fond of Erik. Ever since Erik helped El bust out of the dungeons, Nine is always very thankful to him. He's also... aggressively protective of Erik, but does not seem to realize the fact himself. Their usual conversation is on the bickering side, but they're all good-natured and both know it. ("Nine, you know your plans make no sense." "Sure, mister 'I jumped off a cliff and would have died immediately if not for El's miracle powers', tell me your wisdom, then!')

Since Nine usually has his head above in his clouds- El's a bit too used to Nine's casual chaos- it's usually up to Erik to try and "save him from himself". "Nine, stop trying to eat that loaf whole. We have a bread knife. We're not savages." "Nine, for the love of- how did you burn the cooking pot down?? It's made of copper!!" Erik is also fond of Nine, but in the way of "Good God. My partner's brother needs a leash(affectionate)" kind of way.

In return, Nine cares a lot about Erik's wellbeing: he constantly asks Erik whether he ate anything, quietly mends his clothes, forcefully sits him down to check for his wounds and tends to them personally. As I mentioned, Nine almost gets aggressively protective of Erik from time to time- Erik notices this but does not mention it.

Jade: Jade views El as a brother: and the fact that Nine had dedicated his (jade's percieved sense of) entire life to keeping Eleven safe has won her respect. She doubts his motive at first, because she instantly recongized he was a man that was hiding a bit too much inside his seams- but the fact that Nine gets hurled off a cliff just to give them a time frame to escape erased her doubts right away. She does have her own blazing questions about Nine's true identity, but she decides to keep silent in the behalf of the respect she holds against him.

It's a relationship of solemn respect, at first, Jade respecting Nine as a protector and Nine viewing Jade as a lineage of royalty and treating her as such.... but it slowly melted into something much more friendlier over the time.

Jade does not speak of it, of course, but by the time act 1 is coming to a close she already came to a point where she considers him as her second younger brother. She (half jokingly) tries to appoint Nine to come be her royal knight beside Hendrik after she is crowned queen- Nine politely refuses.

(Nine still holds a bit of regret in the fact that he could not help any of the tragedies made in the day she lost the grip of the basket.)

Another tidbit is that albeit not daily like Hendrik and Nine, they spar quite regularly. Hendrick and Nine's sparring usually follows the same routine: Hendrik, with his physical wall of defence and his slow but devastating blows, tries to brute force his way through Nine's shield spells. Nine, with his floating movements, utilize his dexterity and small form to dodge his attacks and tries to find an opening. It's a calm conversation, almost, and since they both know each other's limit, they usuallt let go of their weapons when either of them looks drained and end the sparring in a peaceful handshake.

Jade and Nine's battle, however- not so much. Jade's blows are quick, very quick, and absolutely merciless. Since Nine's go-to battle strategy is to glance off attacks by dodging, parrying, and putting up shielding spells, this means Nine have to dodge a LOT. When they spar, it's a constant flurry of movement, sounds of split-second parrying, and the dust sifting around them as Jade metaphorically chases Nine around to land a strike: it's chaos. The only thing one would be able to make out of this mess is an occasional, frantic chant of SKARA! as the gold tint of Nine's shield spell surrounds himself, only to be deftly broken by Jade's roundhouse kick. Jade does not have mercy. To her it's either a win or a loss: Either Nine puts up a shield a second late and gets flung across the field like a rag doll by a kick, or Jade loses her balance for a split second after Nine's parry and gets a sword hilt smashed against her stomach.

Nine very much enjoys sparring against her! Erik is very concerned for his sanity.

That's what I can think of of the moment. I'll add more when I have more ideas, and if you want more details feel free to ask!!

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest ix #dragon quest xi #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11 #ask in the box

[catmintarts]

Really loving your nine in dq 11 au @cresentcube I drew a quick nine, i might draw some more later but felt like putting this up now :)

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest 9 #dq9 #dragon quest ix #dqix

[cresentcube]

And guess who it is, it's general Corvus himself.

(Commisioned a dear friend for this one :3)

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest ix #dragon quest xi #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11 #yes this is mordegoned nine. unhinged child

[cresentcube]

thoughts on luminerik? Nine's thoughts as well? 👉👈

I adore them!!!!!!!!! They're my favorite pairing in the game!!!! I just can't get enough of a relationship that call each other partners and have their back whenever!! I almost cried when Erik supported you in act 2!!! They're soulmates!!!!!

And Nine? Nine's been on it ever since he saw Erik jumping off a actual damned cliff with El in tow. He's like. The bigggest shipper out there, probably. The guy just saw too many tragedies (Corvus. Coffinwell.) borne out of love and is absolutely adamant in making Eleven happy. Nine's just here vibrating on the spot trying his best not to pry too much on his brother's life but he's this close from telling Eleven to make a move, by the almighty's name!!!

Nine also has a bet with Sylvando. The topic is 'which one will confess first?' and noone knows who betted on who.

#of course if any of yall ship something else I support ya #nine in dq 11 au #ask in the box #luminerik

[cresentcube]

Just a thought: Erinn and Nine has a similar dynamic as Gemma and Eleven. A best friend that one can always return to. A definition of home. A place where they can drag their battered body in to wrap themselves in the atmosphere.

Nine remembers Erinn's bright smile and warm hearted gossip. How he would open the door of the grand inn he had helped build brick by brick and Erinn would rush out to greet him with a wave. The food is on the house, the bed is warmed, and Erinn would pester him for new stories while theatrically holding his bread plate for ransom until Nine doubles over in laughter and tells her of the grand adventures he had. The cheer Erinn would give when Nine succeeds in alchemy with nothing but sheer luck. Of how she would never ask a question even when Nine stumbled in, caked in dry blood with eyes dead as stone, and by the time Nine dragged himself up to his reserved room there would be a warm bath and room serviced food and an ungodly amount of blankets on the bed. Of how Erinn pushed him to the stage after a drunken party in the pub and he had danced and sang to the beat with joyful abandon.

He sees Eleven returning home after countless battles, with Gemma greeting him with a wave and a smile: he sees how he pets Sandy with glee and let himself be led down the familiar streets of cobblestone. Sees him returning home, after all that he went through. Going back home.

And Nine would think that, while he holds utmost happiness in his heart-

Nine misses his friend.

Nine misses home.

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest ix #dragon quest xi #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11 #min rambles #i see gemma and Eleven as platonic. best friend goals tbh #Erinn to her employees: If you see a guy with the weirdest accent & doe eyes give him the reserved vip room. you'll know when you see him #Look. Erinn and Nine were best friends. i personally think her loss broke off a part of nine

[cresentcube]

Headcanon snippets, again:

Nine has the Weirdest accent. It definitely isn't cobblestone- if you had to place it somewhere it was probably vaugely describable as the middle class heliodorians but it really, really isn't. A terrible mish mash of words from every corner of the world dunked in the base soup of this weirdly polite, pleasant tone that absolutely noone can plave a finger on.

Erinn's death, while it was peaceful and of old age, broke Nine. He didn't and will never recover from it.

Nine's favorite pasttimes include either trying to perform self taught alchemy or reading books aloud. Either everyone gets to fall asleep under Nine's melodical reading voice or they get a herb explosion, nothing in between.

Nine can see tockles. The first time he saw one he picked them up in curiosity- the little guy stared at him for a second and called him "Oh, you're the hero! Hero of the starry skies!" and Nine almost hurled them on the floor in surprise. Nine made them promise that they won't call him that in front of Eleven. Ever. Nope.

#nine in dq 11 au

[cresentcube]

Do you think Nine ever gets really upset over Celestrian laws? Like to the point where ages upon ages later he will get somewhat irritated when Hendrik issues a command to a lower ranked soldier before remembering that that particular soldier is not magically beholden to fulfill that order?

Oh. He sure does. He does not like hard-wording his sentences for this exact reason, because he's a celestrian at heart: if he wants someone (let's say erik) to get a task done he would go "Erik, could you perhaps get me a loaf of bread on the way back? Of course, you don't have to if you don't want to! Thanks." His requests gets a bit long winded as a result, but he would never speak out a hard command unless he's fighting something.

And here's the thing: Since celestrian society was built on the fact that only superiors can command the lower ranked celestrians, it was natural that the only people who commanded Nine were higher in rank than him. This led to his annoying habit of his body responding quicker to the command before his brain catches up and goes "wait. I don't have to obey that." It got much better as he traveled and it doesn't bother him in life anymore, but the habit sometimes barges in.

Since he knows Rab is a (former, but still) king and Hendrik a commander, sometimes he gets unconsciously ticked off due to him alligning them with a 'high rank'. He would get slightly irritated when Hendrik barks orders at his soldiers, but he then remembers that the soldiers don't have to follow the regimen to the point of collapsing. Still, he constantly advises Hendrik to loosen on the soldiers. (A small fun fact: After everything ended, Nine spends a lot of his time in heliodor helping Hendrik train the soldiers and to help Jade on her new rule. She wanted to hire him as full time advisor, but Nine politely declined. Nine and Hendrik are very good friends, somehow.)

Due to Hendrik's military background and his status, he affects Nine the most: if Hendrick (during late act 3, when Nine got to see him as a friend) just bellowed "Nine, drop the weapon." Out of nowhere there would be about a two percent chance of Nine acting accordingly before his brain catches up to the fact that he's not obligated to obey. It's a nasty habit that Nine can't seem to break....

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest xi #dragon quest ix #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11 #min rambles #ask in the box

[cresentcube]

Dont know how much of a spoilery question this is but how do you think nine would react to the big decision in the tower in the beginning of arc three?

(Act 2 spoilers for DQ11)

Okay, so here's the thing.

In the au, I had two possible outcomes that I still haven't decided on- one route where everything goes the same as canon and Veronica dies, OR a one that Nine would sacrifice himself in Veronica's stead. He used last of his magic to forcefully blast her off the tree after they merged their magic to send everyone to safety, and she would be the last person you would find in the quest to rejoin the party. She's hurt and tattered, but alive, and vaugely recalls that she should have been dead.

What happened in the meantime was that Mordegon picked up his half-dead body and shoves a blue orb in him, effectively morphing his urge to protect into a slightly twisted one. I think I have a scattered post about it here and there but I don't remember which one was it- in short, he turns into something corvus-like. You remember how Mia in act 2 got all.... you know? Yeah, that.

Long story short, they fight him in a caged city that he (ironically) was keeping the mortals safe in. They retrieve the blue orb, nine goes back to his previous state, and gets something akin to Jade's re-vamp that makes him slightly corvus-like (at this point he cannot cast any magic). At this point he's a barely walking corpse that is holding on with sheer will, however, so after restoring the world tree Nine sends everyone away and peacefully falls asleep under the world tree. He never wakes up.So in this branch, the act 3 casualty would be Nine instead of Veronica. I like this version a bit better, but still haven't decided yet. Whoops.

Anyways, in the version where everything is the same as the game, I think.... I think Nine would have understood. Be glad for it, even.I think as a protector of humanity, the guilt of not being able to protect Veronica would have eaten him from the inside. As a brother, Nine's only wish is for El to be truely happy- what would he be to deny him of the chance? I think he wouldn't have protested- he would have simply looked up to meet Eleven's gaze and tell him "You deserve all the happiness in the world. Now go protect it." He takes a step back and doesn't say a word more, only giving him a soft, melancholy smile.

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest ix #dragon quest xi #dragon quest 9 #ask in the box #dragon quest 11

[cresentcube]

I'm loving your AU so much! DQIX was my first DQ and I played it when I was a kid and I'm playing DQXI now and I'm finishing it for the first time. I was drawing and having thoughts about nine , have you heard the song "A Lot's Gonna Change" by Weyes Blood The lyrics are very good for thinking about nine just being the last one and them living out their centuries.

My music taste is exclusively two genres: Kamen rider themes and random ass game ost (currently blasting the entire ultrakill playlist) so I haven't, sorry. But thank you for the recommendation!! I'll definately give it a listen.

Also THANK YOU SO MUCH for liking my au- it's my constant brainrot and it gives me endorphins when I think about it :D If you have any questions or ideas just throw me an ask whenever!!! Thank you again, you made my day.

#ask in the box #dragon quest xi #nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest ix

[cresentcube]

Headcanons for the AU, again:

Nine visited Zwarrdrust quite often during his travels. City of flowers, filled with warriors and happy people. He had a favorite bar there: during one of his visits, he met a young boy with purple hair trying to reach for a ball stuck in a tree. He jumped up and got it down, got a round of applause from the children playing ball, and promptly joined the team for some hours before leaving with a wave and a promise to come back for another round some time later.

Zwarrdrust fell. He never had the chance to see the boy and his friends ever again.

Nine is almost immune to curses, but he's vulnerable to the enemies that force you to dance.

Unknown to literally both to Rab and Nine, Nine was actually slightly friends with Rab's wife! She was a bookstore clerk, and Nine with his love of knowledge had brought him frequently to her store. Nine used to sell books he found on his travel in her shop and go downstreet with that money to get a hearty meal at the pub. Nine would tell her stories about the outside world and she would listen.

The last time he went to the bookstore he found her gone from the store, so he just thought she quit and didn't think much of it.

Hendrick actually once tried offering him a position of a high ranking general in Heliodor when everything ended. Jade was there immidiately wheezing in the thought that Nine would be walking around in clunking heliodor emblazoned armour if he accepted.

Stella used to cut Nine's hair. With her absence, he ended up having to do it himself: but due to the lack of practice he ends up having a bit longer and a shaggy style than he used to have. Eleven took up the mantle of hairdresser once, and he was surprisingly good at it that Nine lets him do it from them on.

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest xi #dragon quest ix #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11

[cresentcube]

Can you think of any more alchemy shenanigans that happen when the crew is camping? What would happen if Nine tried to use the forge and El tried the alchemy pot?

Nine, resident alchemist, has a 10% chance of mangling whatever he tries to make in the krak pot- and a 20% chance of making something stunningly wonderful that veronica has to grab him by the shoulders, shake him, and tell him that he NEEDS to publish this alchemical theory or the world is going to miss out so much on information. Nine cannot, of course, because all his crafting mechanisms are done like his cooking- he has no idea and follows his guts. He also has a non zero chance of not paying attention to what he's throwing in and ending up with a alchemical concoction in his cookpot. Nine is banned from cooking.

(In his cooking adventures with hendrik, he had managed to somehow conjure up one incomplete dagger, a mangled vial, and a pristine coin. Hendrik just accepts it as normal, now.)

He did get comfortable with the motions of alchemy due to the accessibility of the Krak pot, so he is experienced enough to perform them on the fly- he's gotten so fast at it & since the Krak pot recipes are a bit weird so that to most people it looks like he's quite literally throwing random bullshit in. One time they needed to light a fire on a drenched log- before veronica can do anything, Nine casually shoved what looked like pocket sand in the pot, pulled out a fist-sized ore, which immidiately burst into flames as soon as Nine chucked it into the fireplace. Veronica still doesn't know the exact recipe behind that.

Oh, and Veronica can use the Krak pot! At least to some degree. But every time she uses it she gets into a long technical debate with Nine that stretches well into midnight, so Erik just banned her from using it when Nine is still awake.

Nine *can* use the forge, but his craftsmanship with a literal magical forge is slightly (very) wobbly with it so he more than ends up with a weird amalgamation of....things. Like a electric sword that zaps the user when you touch it. Or a dress that's missing a torso, somehow. A crystal ball that's cracked in the middle. Nine gave up on his fourth try.

El has absolutely no idea on how to use the Krak pot. He just stares at it for a second, throws some stuff in, but nothing happens. Nine peers in, tells El that he got it all wrong, and (to El and erik's eyes, at least) does the Exact Same Thing he did, with the same ingredients- and ends up with a decent new earring with ice resistance. Erik absolutely has No idea how.

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest ix #dragon quest xi #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11 #ask in the box

[cresentcube]

Stella deffo teaches Nine all the *bad words* at some point and everyone is confused whenever he tries to swear because it was a prank like. She probably told him calling someone ham on toast is the equivalent of calling someone a cunt

Jgsjsskkfk I LOVE THAT

Stella once learned that Nine does not have the concept of swear words in his vocabulary so she sat him down and decided to prank him by teaching all these absurd alternatives for a swear. Her goal was to see how long will it take until the realization set in.

The answer was never.

Nine, literal celestrian that probably never learned the concept of a swear in his life, takes it to heart. He thinks they're actual bad words so he almost never use them but whenever he gets really mad he blurts one out. Everyone around him including Amber and the cobblestone people thinks that he's just really good at censoring his own words for the sake of the kids but he. He really thinks they're bad words. With all his heart. He at this point of wandering around the world knows the existence of other actual swear words, of course, but he thinks that the ones stella taught him are like. Really bad ones.

One time in the journey Nine calls a guy "Rotten corn on a stick" with so much malice that it must've been a equivalent of "You absolute vile mother*ucker". Noone explains it to him that it isn't an actual curse word because again, they think it's him sensoring his words. It is not. Erik once repeated after him with half confusion going '...raw ham on toast?' and Nine immidiately looks at him at horror and tells him not to repeat it bc it's bad!!!

#nine in dq 11 au #dragon quest #dragon quest ix #dragon quest xi #dragon quest 9 #dragon quest 11 #ask in the box

[cresentcube]

I think Nine has the Weirdest accent anyone ever heard. It definitely isn't cobblestone- if you had to place it somewhere it was probably vaugely describable as the middle class heliodorians but it really, really isn't. It's more closer to a terrible mish mash of words from every corner of the world plus a handful of dead words that noone understands, dunked in the base soup of this weirdly polite, pleasant tone that absolutely noone can plave a finger on.

#nine in dq 11 au

[cresentcube]

Imagine being the child of the Luminary and learning that this weird young guy that visits every 6-12 months is actually your uncle

#nine in dq 11 au

[cresentcube]

The "Nine pulls out a sword from his palm" is brought to you by: this arcade game I found!

#dragon quest #dragon quest ix #dragon quest 9 #nine in dq 11 au #heheh