#when you consider she never really gets together with aeran

[thevikingwoman]

one more for @wayfarer-week, this time for prompt 6: flirt

Fandom: Wayfarer IF | Words: 669 | Read on Ao3

Illia Strand x Aeran Kellis (pre-relationship) | after Karth, pre game rating: T. Flirting, bad habits, hoping for the best

Flirt

“So, you’re new here?”

The voice is melodic and Illia turns towards the man next to her, even if she almost laughs at their obvious conversation starter. She’s done worse herself, and she does look like – is a mercenary, and doesn’t look like a local in any way.

“I’m just passing through.” She looks the man up and down, lifting an eyebrow at his shimmering silver wings and teal crest sparkling on his forehead like little raindrops. Altogether it’s quite stunning. “And you? You don’t look like you’re from around here either.”

He laughs, and his laugh is lovely too.

“I’ve settled here some years ago. It’s a nice place here and there’s enough to do for me.” He takes a drink from his glass. “Name’s Elen.”

“Nice to meet you Elen. I’m Illia. What do you do here?”

“I make and repair instruments, there’s enough musicians here. Requires a deft hand, you know.”  

He winks and heat rises in Illia’s cheeks. It’s an easy enough thing to fall into, grinning and running and hand through her hair, flexing her arm. Once they seek her out, she found that most people like the tattoo, and she’s happy to oblige, even if she hasn’t done this lately. She looks at Elen’s hands, but her gaze is drawn to his wings. He notices, and they shiver and fan out a little.

“You look like you’ve traveled far, Illia, I don’t doubt you’ve met an Aeda before,” he goes on, “but if you’re curious perhaps you’d like to touch them?”

Her throat is suddenly dry, and she drinks again before she answers. She knows what next and it always matters, whether it’s one way or the other.

“You might prefer me not to,” she says, “I’m a magianis.”

That’s all she wants to say for now, though part of her bristles against it. Wayfarer, Wayfarer, but it’s better to leave it be. She should stop and leave regardless, but she waits instead.

Elen startles slightly, and looks her up and down, taking in her sword and armor and dusty travel clothes.

“I see. I’ve heard that is quite an experience, Illia,” he draws and leans closer. “Maybe we can find out in private?”

She can work with that, and perhaps pretend that this time the morning after will be different. He’s pretty enough that she might not care what happens, how much she’ll hate that he’ll be gone before she wakes.

“Illia, there you are!” a voice calls across the inn.

Aeran.

She turns to him and smiles automatically as he makes his way towards her. She remembers why she’s not doing this anymore.

“I have to go, Elen. It was nice meeting you – perhaps some other time.”

Elen reaches for her, and he doesn’t startle all – perhaps he’s more well-traveled than she expected.

“Are you alright,” he says in a low voice.

“He’s my friend, it’s fine. I hope you have a great evening.”

He sighs a little and leans away from her.

“You too, Illia. Safe travels.”

She gets up and meets Aeran, leaving Elen at the bar.

“What was that about, Lia?”

“Nothing. Just a guy.”

She shakes her head. She’s stopped doing this, after she met with Aeran on that fateful afternoon in Karth. She’s no need for the empty feeling when someone eventually shies away, once they’ve had their curiosity sated. She’s spent too much time hoping some quick romp will fill the emptiness inside.

“I’ve inquired about the giant rats,” Aeran says. “Apparently, they spit fire. He’s offering 25 crowns to get rid of them.”

“So, we’re doing it?”

Aeran grins, and nods.

She wants to reach for him, and she knows he won’t shy away. He’s right there, like a bit of sunshine in her life; some days, he’s the only happy thing in her life. A familiar comfort, tugging at her heart. She isn’t sure if he feels the same, but they’re here together and right now she doesn’t need anything or anyone else.

#wayfarer if #wayfarer #wayfarer fanfic #wayfarerweek #wayfarer week #ahh I wanted to show some of Illia's backgorund #she did flirt a lot #okay she mostly is just on the receiving end here #but consider I'm terrible at flirting and I did my best #this is sort of angsty #when you consider she never really gets together with aeran #thank you wayfarer week for a fun week! #I got to write about all three of my babies #illia strand #writing about illia #viking writes #published 6/2/2023

[small-as-a-mouse]

Party Fouls

This is a one shot set in the Universe of my story, Woodward! It takes place two years before the main story which you don’t have to read to understand this but I’d love if you did, it has very little to do with the main storyline, and there’s just a hint of g/t which I may expand on later which is why I’m posting it here.

Aeran (he/they) is an antimonarchist size shifting/shape shifting ex bard who loves bad decisions and Halys (he/him) is an extremely uppity prince.

(Content warning: abuse of alcohol*, using alcohol as a coping mechanism, flirting while intoxicated, fade to black implications, *fae get drunk on honey)

Aeran didn’t want to be here. He didn’t need to be here. He wasn’t here to play, none of his friends were here, and it wasn’t part of any contract he was entangled in. So... why was he here? Well, hopefully to forget that he was here in the first place.

Aeran liked to tell himself he didn’t drink often. He used to just avoid it when he could- honey could be good on the throat in small doses, but singing when your teeth were stuck together was as hard as it sounded, and his decision making skills had never been the best when he’d had more than a cup.

But sometimes he needed a break. Especially now that Steller could be left to his own devices, once every couple of months he could slink away to a revel and allow himself to go numb. Steller didn’t know- the poor kid would probably tear Aeran a new one if he knew the fae was purposefully getting drunk to quiet his mind. But what else would he be doing? Just waiting around for the world to pass by until he found a way out of court?

He huffed a laugh into his glass. Steller had told him that one time his dad had brought him to a music festival, and a drunk man had thrown up all over his dad’s shirt and they ended up going home early. Human alcohol didn’t work on him, but... he still desperately wanted to go to one of those. He wondered how simultaneously tame and exhilarating it would be.

“Shouldn’t you be singing?” A voice snapped him out of his reverie. He choked a bit when he looked up and realized who had interrupted his monthly mind-numbing. Prince Halys, professional princeling and certified downer, was standing in front of him in all his wintery glory. Dressed in his usual furs and finery, he looked regal enough, but he was missing his crown, which Aeran didn’t think he’d ever seen before. Halys was of a height with Aeran, but had a willowy frame that might have made him seem less threatening if you didn’t know who he was. Aeran knew Halys in the way everyone did, but he also knew him from when he was playing as the court musician. He knew Halys well enough to know that the prince was currently very out of his element.

And very, very, drunk.

“What do you mean, your highness?” Aeran asked nonchalantly, tacking on the honorific as to avoid any offense. He’d done this for years. He knew how to handle himself, even if he was starting to feel a little fuzzy, and the man he was honoring was quickly losing the blue pallor of his cheeks to a light purple blush.

“Well, you’re… you’re a bard. You sing, you play multiple instruments. That’s what you do. This is a party, don’t they want you to play for them?” Ah. Prince Halys, always so focused on the jobs people should be doing. He must not have heard.

“I’m sorry to disappoint, your highness, but I do not play in public anymore. I haven’t since I stopped playing at court. I am… taking a break.” The full truth was he only ever now played for Steller, and occasionally Prince Pieridae, but he didn’t think the flowers that grew around the spring prince were that good at listening, so he didn’t consider his audiences to be larger than two members.

“Really?” Halys replied, his nose wrinkling in distaste, “But you’re so good at it. Surely you would rather spend time improving your already abundant skills than letting them decay without use,” Aeran gave the prince a smile.

“Your highness, I didn’t know you felt that way,” Aeran watched with growing delight as the purple deepened on Halys’s skin, “about my music.” The prince huffed and crossed his arms, and Aeran’s eyes followed the nearly empty stein in his hand.

“Everyone feels that way about your music!” He said loudly, not quite shouting, and a few nymphs who had gotten close to them jumped and moved away. Aeran glanced down, already expecting the shards of ice that had appeared around the Prince’s feet. Seemed Halys wasn’t as in control as he typically appeared to be. Aeran looked around.

“Your highness, perhaps we should move away from this area, you can continue telling me about what a mistake I’m making in wasting my talents in a less crowded space,” Something flickered in Halys’s eyes at Aeran’s suggestion, but Aeran chalked it up to the mead.

Halys nodded. “... perhaps.”

The prince was surprisingly easy to lead into the quiet hall. Aeran didn’t have a lot of magic, especially now without any of his instruments, so he couldn’t do much to help either of them sober up, but the blush had started to fade from the prince’s face, so perhaps he had a higher tolerance than he let on. Besides, a part of him desperately wanted to see more of the Queen’s perfect child be not so perfect. Luckily, Halys didn’t need any prompting.

“Everyone feels that way about your music. Mother wouldn’t pick just anyone to play for us,” Halys obviously thought this was a compliment, but Aeran scowled in response, and the winter prince looked at him strangely, questioning.

“I honor the Queen, but I care little for her taste in music.” He said sharply. He prayed that he hadn’t overstepped and that the prince wouldn’t run back to his mother to inform her of how rude her former bard had been. Halys didn’t even blink.

“But you’re so good at it,” Halys repeated, softer this time, and Aeran had to stop himself from physically reacting to the shift in tone. “And,” He stepped closer, “You always looked… so pretty…”

The prince was definitely well within arms reach at this point and was staring intently at Aeran’s face. Aeran felt his smile widen despite himself, but he had a large enough sliver of self restraint to hold up his arm.

“You’re drunk, Halys,” he said firmly, dropping the formalities. If the prince wanted him in the way it was starting to seem then he didn’t expect it to matter, “You are not thinking clearly,” the prince didn’t falter at Aeran’s lack of propriety, only shook his head.

“I am more clear headed than you think,” he frowned, “I didn’t think this would be so hard,”

“What would be so hard?” Aeran asked.

“Talking to you… flirting.” He said the last word quietly, but Aeran’s brain had already stuttered to a halt. He remembered being younger, with pitch black eyes watching him from behind a terrifying throne. He wondered at what point this idea had gotten into the prince’s head.

“I don’t know,” Aeran said softly. “I think you’re doing a fairly decent job so far.”

For the first time that night, and possibly ever, a smile appeared on the prince of winter’s face, and the last of Aeran’s good judgement stepped back.

“You were always so pretty when you sang,” Halys murmured, stepping closer once more and pushing against the hand that Aeran hadn’t realized he was still holding up. “I miss you when the court grows tiresome.”

Aeran felt more than he saw Halys’s arms wrap around his neck, as if the prince were pulling himself up, even if Halys wasn’t much shorter. Aeran considered transforming, shrinking and fluttering away. Shrinking and clinging to the prince’s furs, maybe, not letting go. He considered being frozen into an ice statue. He considered being watched by sad, cold eyes, as he ran from this.

He considered what a good distraction this would be compared to honey-wine.

‘This a is bad idea. The Queen would kill me if she knew. My head gone from my shoulders. Wings torn from my back.’ Halys lips pressed against his own, his arms wrapped securely around the back of his neck like his scarf. Comforting. Trapping.

‘Such a bad idea,’ He thought, pressing back.

#my ocs #hey Sam why are you posting so much about your ocs tonight I don’t know I want people to look at them #faeries #my writing #I actually wrote this like three months ago and just needed to post it somewhere

[resettiing]

hmmm... Au where Mina is related to one of the members of the RFA? owo Would anything change?

@personifiedchaosx / send me an au and i’ll give u five (5) headcanons / accepting !!

general.

this is assuming she’s related to them by being a cousin of some kind. maybe close, maybe not-too-distant, but her parents taught her to love her family so she’ll treat them like siblings.

begs her family member not to tell anyone who she is or what she’s done in the past if they know.

is way more protective of them than the romantic routes. she takes family very seriously.

definitely wants to hide who she is ( this would lead to a bad end fyi ) but comes to realise it’s not good for anyone if she does that. 

much less likely to get a bad end since she’s too excited at the thought of having some family to even think about hurting them. even though she preaches family is who you choose, she lost her whole family when her parents died, so this is pretty big for her.

specific headcanons under the cut. spoilers for each route, including v and ray!

j aehee.

jae probably knows all about mina’s past, and because of this mina’s hesitant to talk to her at first since she’s not ready to confront it. but, they’re both isolated from the family, so mina warms up to her quickly when she realises jae either pretends not to know or actually doesn’t know.

she never realised what happened with jae’s aunt and she’s furious when she learns, but there’s nothing she can do about it. all she can do is offer eternal support and take care of her.

and boy, does she take care of her. she’s fiercely protective of her only surviving blood relative, and she actively argues with j umin whenever she notices jae’s stress levels rising.

she gets along really well with z en. she’s good at balancing teasing him and sweet-talking him, and she makes sure to get reserved tickets to his shows for special occasions, because she knows jae will love it.

jae route exclusive - they still open the café together, and it’s only then she reveals to jae who she is. she’s scared as heck to do it, but she trusts jae to be understanding. mina doesn’t hesitate to do it, and it becomes famously known as being run by ‘ two sisters ’ which they laugh about all the time.

z en.

she’s so shocked to see his real name in the chat when it pops up. so that’s where he’s been!  and she immediately looks up his acting history, pondering whether or not she’ll tell him who she is because she knows he ran away from their family.

the first phone call is awkward because she can’t hide what she knows. it comes out gently, and eases him into the revelation of their relation. finally, she gives him the name cheonmi and that’s when it clicks. she makes him swear not to tell anyone, but it’s clear something’s passed between them.

they’re already so close just by revealing who they are to each other. mina’s hesitant to call him out on his narcissism because she knows what he went through with his family, but when she tells him to dial it down, it’s when he’s at his most extreme.

she loves seeing his photos, whether he’s posing or it’s a slice-of-life picture. it reminds her she’s still got someone left and she once even teared up at seeing him so happy and carefree. that never happened again - she sees way too many pictures to get emotional about it.

z en route exclusive - when she stays at his, they spend their time catching up and exchanging stories. she insists on riding his motorbike ( just a lap around this part of town, i swear i’ll take good care ) and she goes through with him what he’s going to say at the party. it’s then she realises she’s good at regulating and organising him, and she offers to become his manager immediately after his speech. why? because she still has faith in her cousin.

y oosung / r ika.

she doesn’t recognise y oosung at first. the dyed hair thing plus addiction to games really turned her around, until he mentioned r ika. then it was a case of wait, i have cousins with the same names and click, she’s caught on.

she fell out of contact with the family before r ika died, so she didn’t even know any of this had happened. it’s a huge shock to her and, like with her parents’ deaths, she refuses to talk in depth about her.

she almost meets up with y oosung accidentally, since she works at his university coffee shop. on seeing him, she panics that he’ll recognise her and considers hiding, until she realises he’s not even looking in her direction. and that’s when she realises she has to get a grip. the next time she sees him, she waves him over and explains who she is. they get talking, and they’ve swapped gaming usernames by the time they part. she’s glowing, feeling so happy to meet up with him again.

in some routes, mina figures out r ika isn’t dead by piecing together bits of what v says ( this is more for another story tbh ) and dwelling on her own experiences.

y oosung route exclusive - she can’t look at his face while he has his eyepatch on. it’s a constant reminder of what she caused ( yes, she blames herself for it ) and it’s impossible to forget. but when she hears he’s going to become a vet? she’s inspired to go to uni as well.

s even / s aeran.

so yeah, twist for this one - she’s actually a relation of the prime minister. s even finds out fairly quickly about this, but mina’s in the dark about who he is unless he decides to tell her.

she usually finds out in s even or s aeran’s route, either when s even decides to find s aeran or she works it out towards the end of her stay in the m int e ye. she’s kind of?? highkey shocked, needs to sit down for six years kind of thing.

she wants to call her uncle and scream in his face. so badly. five years ago, she would have, but she knows she can’t. they’ve got to be smart about this, and she’s good at appearing to keep a cool head. but she makes sure whichever twin she’s with knows how pissed she is.

honestly this is like losing her parents all over again. she chose to isolate herself from his family, but knowing he treated his own children like this? if she hadn’t cut herself off him from before, she would have now.

s aeran route exclusive - she invites more people to watch z en’s announcement. she emails old friends, colleagues, neighbours, with only the caption this is about my uncle, which really gets some attention. more people tune in for the original broadcast and the good end is easier to achieve.

j umin.

filthy rich, born with a silver spoon in her mouth - but same story. parents died, cut herself off from the rest of her family, hiding in seoul. makes it a bit more surprising when she comes from a rich background.

so ofc she knows who jumin is the instant she sees his name on the chat and honestly almost turns it off there and then. why did she stay? maybe he could get her out of this mess.

she tells him everything on day 3. privately, of course, to avoid seeming like she’s after attention. but, when her name and her story checks out, she’s eager to meet him again and asks to meet. j aehee arranges it, so mina lets her in on the secret. it’s not fair for j aehee to not know.

it’s very awkward. they don’t have a lot in common since mina renounced her old life, so there’s not a lot for them to talk about, but it’s a start. mina expresses her desire to reconnect with their family, but makes it clear she wants it to go slowly. he seems to understand, and things warm up in due time. she also carries on with the encouragement and trying to help him understand herself, but of course it’s all platonic in this.

j umin route exclusive - she’s constantly encouraging him to deny the engagement to sarah. she becomes defensive about this topic very quickly, believing even j umin should have a choice in who he marries. at his announcement at the party, she’s content to let him reveal who she is as well, since it shows two cousins coming together to fight the wrong in their family. she’s really proud of her cat-obsessed cousin, 

v. 

okay so she’s scared shitless being in the m int e ye, so when she first meets v via the messenger, she thinks she’s just reaching. i mean, he couldn’t possibly be her cousin! though v is clearly a pseudonym, and yeah, he sort of looks like him too, she’s certain it’s her mind playing tricks on her. boy.

her parents used to take care of v’s mother after she lost her hearing. i mean, it’s what siblings do for each other, right? so mina probably met v a few times as a kid, but he was more into business than art so it’s easy to see why she didn’t recognise him.

even not in the m int e ye, she’s kind of very suspicious about this guy, just because she’s got more time to wonder if it really is her cousin. she tries to ask about it indirectly ( because she’s pretty sure if it is him, he hasn’t recognised her yet ) but she’s just left with answers that don’t fit her perception of j ihyun.

either way, it brings up a lot of memories about her aunt and parents, ones that she could deal with being buried forever. so, on this route she displays more symptoms of depression than any other, because she was closer to his family than to any other.

v route exclusive - on day 4, when the routes diverge, the only reason she goes with v is because she knows him. it’s kind of a ‘ stop —- holy shit, you! ’ moment which they don’t exactly get to deal with for a few days. because, you know. v got shot. but when he feels better, they talk some things out. mina tells him about her previous life, and how she wishes she could have contacted him when her parents died. he’s surprisingly easy to talk to.

#personifiedchaosx #ray's route spoilers / #depression mention / #death mention / #{i went so so so so so so overboard with this} #{but like..........general rule of thumb : mina's way more protective of her family but still just as secretive} #{though in the routes where her relation knows her backstory helps her so much?? like she's been carrying that pain for so long} #{and it's really good for her to let it out} #✆ ⋄ ◦ ⤷ ( headcanon. ) #✆ ⋄ ◦ ⤷ ( answered. ) #✆ ⋄ ◦ ⤷ ( ooc. )