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the-star-knight · 2 years

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The Star Knight

Summary: Post Series AU with my OCs.

Star is has found herself entangled with the magic of the legendary Sundrop and Moonstone through her own magical relic, the Star gem, a stone giving her a sword and armor, sworn to protect the Kingdom of Corona. However, just because they’re gone doesn’t mean that her job is done. Meeting along new characters and rencountering old ones, Star, Varian, and Jake, searched for answers and find themselves digging a hole a bit too far where they might just not get out of.

Chapter 6 - The Play

Chapter Summary: Star, Varian, and Jake set off to go to the Goodwill Festival. As per Jake's request, they go to a play that isn't as accurate as what's it actually based on. Rumored now that Varian and Star are a couple, and they have to endure the festival until two siblings cross paths with them again.

Word Count: 5,668

Author’s Note: This chapter is a love letter to ATLA's Ember Island Players. Hope you guys didn't wait too long for this!

◀︎ ︎︎︎Previous Chapter || Next Chapter ▶︎

Star tried to keep her footing but Stella wasn’t going any easier on her.

One clash after another, she kept on defending. Star looked around for anything that would give them an edge. They were in the near-empty void, it was starry skies as far as the eye could see, with only pillars appearing every couple of feet—

The pillars!

Once she saw the opportunity come, she ran toward the pillar. Stella followed her and swung at her. Star quickly moved and Stella’s sword hit the pillar, which surprised her. Star didn’t waste a second and knocked her sword right out of her hands.

“Ha! Yes!” Star said gleefully as she pointed her sword at Stella, who was still processing what just happened.

“Good job,” Stella said with a smile. “But…”

Oh-uh. Star didn’t like the sound of that.

Stella widened her hand in the direction of where her sword lay on the ground. The sword vanished with a flash from the ground and reappeared in her hand. Star caught her smirking before she struck and knocked her sword from her hands.

Star plummeted to the ground and lay there in defeat. She was too exhausted to get up.

Alas, another victory for her ghost mentor.

Stella looked down at her. “Don’t worry, you almost had it, Star.”

Star simply responded with a thumbs up while she was still breathing heavily,

“By the way, shouldn’t you and your partner have somewhere to be?”

“Partner?” Star raised an eyebrow. “Oh! Varian!”

Continue reading on AO3 or continue under the cut ⬇︎

Star almost forgot that they arrived here via hot air balloon…and that they had to return to Corona in it…ugh.

“Yeah,” Star finally caught her breath. “We better get going. Thanks, Stella!”

Star waved at her and ran through the corridor. It was a lot less scary than it was when they first arrived here. It was still dark but at least Star knew there weren’t any more huge statues trying to kill them.

Varian was sitting in the tomb room reading a large book: Demanitus’ journal.

Varian noticed Star’s presence and looked up from his book. “Oh, hey! Looks like you’re all done. Wow, time sure went by fast. I would've joined you but the lighting in that room is pretty awful. I wouldn’t be able to read a word of Demanitus's work.”

“Yeah, but we gotta go now. We promised Jake that we would meet him at the Goodwill Day Play.”

“Well, well, look at you. Remembering that we have to meet up with Jake, And here I thought you didn’t like him.”

Star tried not to look embarrassed. “Well, he’s not that bad. He’s kinda cool. And we did promise him.”

Varian continued to tease her with a look. Gosh, she hated that look. It always made her feel flustered.

“I kinda missed this…” Star said softly, without knowing it.

Varian blinked. “What?” Star didn’t realize that he heard. “Oh, uh…” she scratched her head and sighed. “You being a little sassy. I thought I wouldn't miss you being that sassy…”

Oh, she felt her embarrassment rising. He probably thought she was being silly.

To her surprise, Varian said, “Well, if that’s what you want, it’s what you’ll receive.”

Varian cleared his throat. His expression changed to something Star has been quite familiar with. "Well, Star, looks like you got your butt kicked again by a ghost."

Yup, this is exactly what Star was familiar with. She changed her expression too.

"Well, at least I didn't let a journal with invaluable knowledge get stolen by a bunch of monkeys!" Star responded.

"Yeah, well—wait. What?"

Stat pointed behind Varian.

Varian turned around and saw a bunch of monkeys turning the pages of the journal curiously.

"No! Give it back!" Varian ran after the monkeys that scattered back into the trees.

Star giggled a little and ran after the monkeys as well.

"Hey, give me that! It contains invaluable information that you can't even fathom!" Varian scorned the monkeys as if they understood English.

The monkey with the journal climbed up a tree and rested on a branch. Varian hesitated in front of the tree for a moment then he proceeded to climb up the tree, or at least he tried to. Star watched as she managed to climb up. Star, on the other hand, wasn’t sure if she was even going to try and possibly embarrassed herself. Instead, she decided to just observe. Who knows, maybe the monkey would lose grip on the book and accidentally drop it to the ground, then Star would be there to grab it.

Varian was on the branch where the monkey thief had his book. Varian held his dear life to the branch. “Okay, monkey. Can I have my book back?”

The monkey seemed to shake its head and jumped off to another branch. The movement from the monkey jumping off made the branches around shake aggressively. Varian held tighter to the branch. “Woah! Okay, okay! Not good at listening to instruction, I see.” Varian looked around frantically and saw that the shaking caused a banana to fall on the branch next to him. Star could see his face change. Stat knew that face meant he had conjured an idea.

He grabbed the banana and yelled at the monkey with the book. “Hey! If you want, we can negotiate!” Varian waved the banana in the air.

The monkey looked intrigued by his offer and approached closer with the book.

“That’s right. little monkey…bring it to papa,” he said.

The monkey reached for the banana but Varian pulled the banana away from the monkey's grasp. “Uh, uh, uh,” Varian shook his head. “First, the book.”

The monkey looked hesitant, looking at the book and then looking at the banana. The monkey sighed and handed the book.

Varian lit up, his plan worked. He gave the monkey the banana. “Ha! A pleasure doing business with—Woah!”

Before Varian could finish his sentence the monkey hopped on Varian and jumped off Varian’s back to another branch causing Varian to lose his grip on the branch and fall off it.

“Varian!” Star yelled.

Instinctively, Star summoned her light shield to break his fall. A light screen appeared under Varian. Varian fell onto it with a big thud.

"Ow," Varian's face was squished on the shield's hard surface. He sat up. "Where’s the book?" He looked over and sighed in relief to find it next to him. He grabbed it and held it close to his chest. "Okay, I think we can go now." He put the book in his backpack.

Star nodded.

“Oh, great you’re here!” Jake waved at them from some seats with the same great big smile he always had. "The play is gonna start in a few."

The play took place in the town square which is a better place than last year's event where it took place in the castle courtyard, which could only hold a limited number of people.

Star looked around at the purple and gold decorations that were hanging all over the kingdom. Flags hung from every window with the official Corona seal of the sun embroidered in golden threads. People carried small flags. Others had the seal painted right on their faces.

It was a lot more packed than last year's Goodwill Festival. It made sense since there weren't any immediate threats to the safety of Corona this year.

"I got some front-row tickets!" Jake said excitedly.

"Tickets?" Stat blinked. "The plays are free."

"I meant that I came real early and saved us some good seats." He seemed proud of himself.

“Uh, thanks, but you didn’t have to do that,” Star said, “it would’ve been just fine if we sat further back.”

Jake shook his head. “No, I insist! I even got popcorn!” He pulled out a bag of popcorn then he patted the spots next to him, gesturing for them to sit down.

“So what’s the play they’re putting on this time about?” Varian asked. Ruddiger crawled down from his shoulder and curled up on his lap.

“Oh, what a cute raccoon!” Jake’s eyes lit up. “Uh, I think the play is called Cassandra’s Revenge. ”

“What?” Star and Varian looked at each other. It can’t be their Cassandra, right?

Jake pulled out a brochure and read it. “Looks like someone called Feldspar wrote it. Hey, isn’t that the shoemaker guy?”

“Yeah, he was the only one that wrote the screenplay for the play last year.” Star thought he quit, it looks like he’s giving screenplay writing another shot.

“Oh, it’s about to start!” Jake giggled excitedly. Everyone around them took their seats and the place soon fell to silence.

The curtains opened up and a bunch of people were already on stage. Looks like it takes place in the castle's throne room. Star's attention was caught by two actors that looked like Eugene and Rapunzel. The actress playing Rapunzel wore a long blonde wig. She seemed to be hot in it since Star could see she was sweating—or maybe it was because she was nervous. The actor playing Eugene looked like him. He had the same brown hair and eyes.

“Happy Birthday, Eugene!” actress Rapunzel said gleefully. “Today is your twenty-sixth birthday!”

“No, no, no, you must be mistaken. I’m turning twenty-five, not twenty-six.” Actor Eugene has a higher register than actual Eugene had.

Star remembered what happened. Eugene began to be more concerned with getting older.

“Well, are you going to blow out the candles?”

Actor Eugene was prepared to blow out the candles until the figure appeared on the right side of the stage.

A woman, which kind of resembled Cassandra, surprisingly but not quite as tall, wearing an all-black suit with a blue pattern that swirled around her body. Since Star was up close she could see that the blue was sewn onto the black suit. The actress wore a blue wig and held a sword that resembled much like Cassandra’s sword made of black rocks, but instead painted with a shimmery night sky dark blue paint.

Star was surprised with how much effort they put to have the actors actually resemble the people they were playing.

Everyone gasped.

“Guess, I wasn’t invited,” Actress Cassandra said with the same cheekiness Cassandra did.

As Actress Cassandra walked across the stage dragging her sword prop on the ground, Star noticed a girl with the same purple guard outfit she was currently wearing. Star hoped that it wasn’t who she was. The actress was pretty short. Her hair was short, chin-length, and straight. No unkempt strands or curled-up flyaways as she has. She had bright blue eyes, though. She probably would have felt jealous. This actress looked way better than her but it wasn’t accurate.

Star could feel Jake leaning over to her. “Hey, is that supposed to be you?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Star whispered back. She couldn’t imagine who else this girl could be.

“Either hand over the scroll or Corona becomes,” Actress Cassandra paused and laid her plate of cake on the ground and stepped on it, “well, you know. It’s your choice.” With that, she left the stage.

The scene changes to Rapunzel's bedroom.

“I can’t give her the Demanitus scroll!” Actress Rapunzel paced back and forth.

“What if she leaves us alone?” Actor Lance suggested.

“That’s the problem. I don’t have it.”

“If you don’t have it then who does?” Actor Eugene asked.

The scene changed again but this time it was a familiar underground sanction.

A boy with the messiest hair Star had ever seen, was facing away from the audience. He was also tall and lanky, vastly different from the Varian they knew. The actor was looking intensely at a board filled with complex formulas and symbols scrawled on it.

“I think I almost got it, Ruddiger!” His voice was extremely nasally. The actor turned around to reveal a sock puppet in his hand. It had a striped tail and black buttons for eyes sewn on. His messy hair was almost completely covered by the goggles he was wearing.

The audience laughed.

"Hey, I don't sound like that!" Varian's voice cracked.

"Sure you don't…" Star smirked.

"Varian!" Actress Rapunzel and her friends ran up to him. "Do you have the Demanitus scroll?"

"Yeah, it's right here, why?"

"Oh, thank goodness Cassandra doesn’t know he has it," Actor Lance said in relief.

"Who doesn’t know he has it?" A familiar voice said.

"And I spoke too soon."

They knew it was Cassandra.

Actress Rapunzel stepped up and said, "We won't hand you the scroll!"

"Oh, I wasn't asking."

Wow, this actress nailed Cassandra, Star thought.

They began to start fighting, but they found creative ways since the actress didn’t really have magic blonde hair. They used a long cloth that was the same color as the wig and it was tossed around. The Demanitus device was made out of cardboard and slowly started to crumble.

Actress Rapunzel saw that her friends were going to be crushed and she threw the cloth onto the Demanitus device prop and tugged, leaving Actor Varian exposed.

Actor Varian did exactly what the real Varian did. He spilled some liquid that was in a beaker onto the wall where the translations were written.

“Ha! Now the only possible way to translate what the scroll says is for you to have this ,” Actor Varian pointed to his head, “brain.”

Actor Varian immediately regretted it, “I shouldn't have said that.”

“Guess I have to take it then,” Actress Cassandra gave a sly look.

Star was surprised at how extremely accurate this was. Did Rapunzel tell Feldspar about this? Who was Feldspar’s insider?

“Oh no, they’re gone,” Actress Rapunzel got up after the Demanitus device collapsed and the dust cleared. "We gotta find them." Everyone ran off stage.

Then, the curtains were closed.

Intermission has begun.

Star got up from her seat and stretched. “The play is surprisingly accurate so far. Well, as far as the events taking place.”

“Yeah,” Jaked looked down at his now empty bag of popcorn.

“Did you eat all the popcorn? I didn’t even eat one!” Star protested.

“Oh, sorry, yeah, this was supposed to be for all of us. I’ll go get another one.” Jake got up and walked to get more popcorn.

Star sat next to Varian and asked him about his thoughts on the play so far.

“Uh, so far it’s great. I think it’s a big step up from Feldspar’s play from last year. Although, Ruddiger wasn’t a fan of the sock puppet.” Varian giggled as he looked down at the resting raccoon on his lap.

“I agree with Ruddiger. The character portrayals aren’t one hundred percent accurate.”

“Yeah. And my hair is not that messy.”

“Yeah. it’s messier. ” Star started to run her hands through his hair.

“Hey, that's not true, but if you keep doing that it will.”

“I’m back!” Jake sang.

Star quickly drew her hand back and went back to her original spot. She hoped he didn’t see that.

Jake sat back in his seat with an even bigger container of popcorn than he previously had.

“I know what happens next since you told me already, but I’m still excited to see what happens next.” Jake’s knees were giddy with excitement.

The curtain rose and on the stage were Actor Varian and Actress Cassandra in front of a pile of rubble.

Actor Varian woke up and frantically looked around. “W-where are we?”

“That’s not important. What I need to know is what was written on the scroll. I know there’s an incantation for me there.” Actress Cassandra said as she squatted down to meet him eye to eye.

“I’ll never tell you,” he said vehemently.

“Are you sure about that? I found something in your bag you recognize.” Actress Cassandra pulled out an empty vile from his bag and waved it in front of him.

Actor Varian’s eyes said everything. He knew exactly what it was. “M-my truth serum…” he said warily.

“You can’t fight it, so might as well stop wasting time and spit it out.”

He gave in and gave her the incantation.

Actress Cassandra stepped in front of the rubble. Facing away from the audience, she began to cite the incantation.

The production got creative and had a cardboard cutout of the tower slowly rising behind the rubble.

The audience was in awe as it rose higher and higher. It reached above the stage set.

The scene changed to the royal stables. Actress Star—er, wow, it was really hard for Star to grasp that someone else is playing them, but Actress Star was petting a fake horse head made out of stuffing and fabric that was sticking out from the cardboard stable.

Neighs came from offstage.

“Woah, you felt that too?” Actress Star asked the inanimate horse head. Star looked away. She was mortified. Star knew it wasn’t her, but it felt embarrassing for others to think that she talks to lifeless horse heads too.

She stepped out of the stables and saw the tower that was drawn on the set stage.

“I think we should check it out.” Then the actress came out with a stick attached on top with the same stuffed horse head she was talking to. It was a toy she was very familiar with when she was younger and had fond memories of, but she’s outgrown it. This only made her even more flustered. She covered her face with her hand to ensure that no one saw her burning face.

Also, was it not enough for them to embarrass her but also, her best and most loyal friend?

The scene then changed once more to Rapunzel's room where the gang was lost on what their next move was going to be.

“Where can we even begin to find them?” Rapunzel asked as he paced back and forth.

“Uh, I might know where we can start,” Actor Lance pointed to the window. The window had a painting of the tower high in the sky,

“Guess that’s we’re going,” Rapunzel stared out the window.

The next time the set changed, it was a dark, cold room. The set background was painted in a rich deep dark blue color that was almost black. In the center of the stage was a throne prop made with jagged black rocks. Scattered around were cardboard props of the black rocks.

Murmuring came from off-stage.

Actor Varian and Actress Cassandra walked on stage. Actor Varian had his hands tied as he walked behind Actress Cassandra.

Actress Cassandra stopped and untied him. “Don’t do anything stupid,” she warned.

With a snap of her fingers, a cage was dropped on him.

Taking a closer look, Star saw there was a target drawn on the stage floor right where he was standing.

“Hold it right there!” a voice boomed in.

Actress Star burst onto the stage. “Let him go!” she commanded. She wore a costume of her armor. It was clearly made out of cardboard, but it was surprisingly well-made. It was painted with silver paint. The white cloth had glitter to make it shine. Starlight was painted but it twinkled in the noon sunshine. Her headband probably had a fake rhinestone to mimic her star gem.

The actress twinkled in her costume. Did she look that cool in her armor all this time?

“You?!” Actress Cassandra took a step back. “Where’s Rapunzel?”

“I came here alone,” Actress Star said. “Let him go. I won’t ask again.”

“No.” Actress Cassandra pulled her sword out.

Actress Star did the same.

Actress Cassandra struck first. They engaged in battle, clashing cardboard swords. It wasn’t the worst thing Star saw, given how she started with sword fighting, but it wasn’t that good either. It was passable.

Star watched as Actress Cassandra got behind Actress Star and knocked her out from behind. Actress Star fell to the ground.

The audience gasped.

The scene changed to Rapunzel and the gang trying to reach the top of the tower. A comedic montage’s worth later, Cassandra let them in.

The scene changed to Star and Varian being trapped in a cage together. The cage was on a platform about a foot above the stage floor. There was a wooden beam painted that extended to the cage in blue to match the black rocks.

Actress Star was holding her legs close to her chest. Actor Varian looked concerned and finally broke the silence. “Um, are you okay?”

No response.

“Um, thanks for trying to save me.”

Again no response.

Star sighed, This was painfully accurate to what happened. Stars' gut dropped. She felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for treating Varian like that.

The actress finally sighed and said, “I-I’m sorry.”

Actor Varian’s head turned to her. “It’s okay. I know you’re not a talkative person."

The actress shook her head. "No, that's not what I meant. I mean I'm sorry for not believing that you've changed. I-I just…” she let out an exasperated sigh.

“Does this mean we can be friends again?” he asked.

Actress Star’s expression changed to a soft smile.

“Yeah…” she said shyly.

Star thought she might’ve seen her even blushing.

They looked softly at each other. With such tenderness that Star might’ve thought…

"What the—" Star muttered under her breath. She shifted in her seat. Star did not like where this was going.

"Maybe we can be more than friends?" the actress finally said.

Star could not believe what her ears just heard.

"Yeah, I'd like that…" the actor said.

"Oh wow, I didn't know you two were a thing. " Jake ate another handful of popcorn.

Star wasn’t sure if that was a joke, but either way, it wasn't true.

The actors got closer together.

Oh no, they're gonna kiss. Star couldn’t bear to watch. She covered her eyes.

"Woah! There it is!" Star heard Jake say.

Star knew that she would hate herself for doing this but she moved her fingers and peeked through the small window her fingers made. Just as she expected, they were kissing.

Star felt the rising embarrassment in her. She felt her cheeks burning bright red.

“Oh, the shame!” Varian covered his face.

Her stomach turned into a knot. She couldn’t move, she was frozen. She wanted to get up and leave to no longer endure this, but she just couldn't. Star simply sat there in just pure dread of what utter false nonsense was going to happen in the play next.

She didn’t pay attention to the play anymore. She just saw everything else happening in a haze. Staring into space, as she looped that stage kiss in her head.

Thoughts came to her about what other people might’ve thought about it. I mean, what is the audience going to think? People know this is fake, right? Yeah, so I have nothing to worry about —

“Star?” a voice interrupted her thought (thank goodness).

“Huh?” Star grounded herself.

“The play is over,” Jake was standing in front of her.

Star looked around her. The curtain was closed. The place was nearly empty. Many of the seats were empty. Some people were lounging behind to discuss the play.

Star felt a tug on her uniform. She turned around to find a little girl about seven or so. “Hey, you were the one in the play fighting Cassandra right?”

“Uh, yeah?” Star felt uneasy about where this was going.

“That’s so cool! When I get older I want to be like you.”

“Oh. thanks—”

“And have a boyfriend I get to save too!”

“He is NOT my boyfriend!” Star snapped.

“Oh, jeez….” the girl began to slowly back away from her.

“Okay,” Jake intercepted. “Sorry about my friend. She can be really…um…you know what? You can go off now and play some games.”

The girl, more confused, walked back to her mother.

“Well, we won’t let that ruin our day at the festival, right gang?” Jake beamed.

“Well, guess not,” Star shrugged. He was right. She wasn’t going to let that one silly interaction ruin her day. There were plenty of things to do.

“Right, now off to the games!” Jake led that way. Varian and Star shortly followed.

At first, everything seemed to be fine. Star participated in some games and was so focused on winning that the interaction with the girl was a distant memory. With her competitive stubbornness, she repeatedly tried to win every game. Then, came more odd and annoying comments.

It was Varian’s turn to knock the moving ducks.

He knocked one over. “Yeah!” he cheered. “And that’s how you do it with the power of science!”

Star rolled her and smiled. Glad he was able to make it, but he wasn’t going to let him win.

“Okay, which prize would you like?” the lady behind the counter asked Varian.

“Oh! I’ll take the stuffed raccoon!” Varian pointed to the small plushie of a raccoon sitting on the shelf. “For very obvious reasons, if I may add,” he whispered to his friends.

“Aww, sweet of you to get that for your girlfriend.” the lady said.

His what?

“Oh, no. no. You must be mistaken, she’s not my girlfriend.”

“She isn’t? Oh, I am so sorry!” she pleaded. “I-I just thought that the play—and, um…it was a mistake. I didn’t mean to offend anybody.”

“Pfft, don’t worry. We’re not mad. Right, Star?”

“No…” she felt like she was lying. She wasn’t pleased but she also knew it was a mistake.

“I’m sorry. Here.” The lady gave Varian his prize.

“Thanks.”

Star hoped that would be the last of it but she was wrong. Oh, so wrong.

Throughout the day, Star caught whispers of them from people.

"Can't believe the Star Knight settled with the person that tried to kill her. Couldn't be me."

"I think they make a cute couple. Short gang."

"I think it’s sweet to save the person you love.”

Star could tell that Jake and Varian were hearing it too, but they tried not to show it for her sake. Star decided that she would do the same,

Star and Varian were debating what they should do next.

“I think we should go to the Gopher Chase. It's an annual tradition, by the way.” Star stated.

“Exactly! It happens every year so we can skip it this year and do something else,” Varian argued.

Interrupting their conversation, a woman came up to them. She was well dressed, but not well mannered when she said, “I think you should do what your girlfriend wants. It’s not fun to watch young lovebirds bickering.”

Varian was dumbfounded.

“I-I…wha…?” Star was taken aback by this woman’s audacity.

“When you’re older you’ll understand relationships better my dear.” Then the woman walked away.

She went through a rollercoaster of emotions. First, the purest and deepest form of degradation. Now she felt angry. Pure rage. Why would someone write this?? Why?

“Jake, can I see that brochure again?” Star asked.

“Sure,” he handed over the brochure.

She scanned over the brochure and printed on it:

Screenplay by

Feldspar

“Feldspar…” she hissed.

“Let’s go,” Star sounded irritated as she grabbed Jake’s and Varian’s hands.

“Uh, where are we going?”

“The Snuggling Duckling.”

"Who is responsible for this?!" Star burst through the door.

Star looked around the room and everyone froze and pointed to Feldspar, who was enjoying a well-deserved meal (or so he thought).

She stomped towards the corner he sat at.

Everyone in the room sensed that Star was not to be messed with.

When Feldspar caught a glance at Star, he immediately started to fumble to get away from her. “Um, um, check please!” he stuttered out.

She held up the poster in his face.

“Why. Would. You. Make. This?!” Star felt she was about to combust.

“Well…uh, it wasn’t my idea,” Feldspar stuttered. He gulped and pointed to Lance. “He came up with the idea. He said it would grab more p-p-people’s attention. A-and given how the p-play went last year, I thought it would help the play that I envisioned.”

Everything made sense. Lance was Feldspar’s insider. That's why everything was strangely accurate. Minus the whole Varian-and-Star-being-a-couple thing.

Star rolled up the poster and stomped over to where Lance was sitting.

He seemed relaxed, leaning back slightly in his chair. “Hey, Star, Varian, and…er, friend.”

“Jake,” he quickly introduced himself but Star stopped him from saying any further.

“Why would you suggest…” Star didn’t want to repeat it, “...that?”

“That…?”

Star sighed. “The idea that Varian and I are in love…” Star fought through herself into forcing her to say that. It was simply too embarrassing. Star looked at Varian and he wasn’t even looking in their direction. He turned around and was staring at the wall.

“You know it’s not true,” Star said.

“Yeah, but Feldspar wanted to reel in more people in this play. So I thought, what better way to reel in more people with a sprinkle of young teenage romance?”

“Well, yeah, I understand that, but it is not true! And people have been bothering us all day about being ‘love birds’ and stuff. I just want it to stop!” Star made sure her pleas were being conveyed through her words. She was desperate for this to end.

"Oh," Lance seemed to finally grasp how desperate she was. "I didn't know it was going to end up like this…How are we going to fix it? The play is done.”

Star knew he was right. The play is done. What were they going to do? Go up to every person that watched the play and tell them, oh hey, you know that play you just watch? Well, the whole Star-and-Varian-being-a-couple thing was utterly false. Have a nice day!

“Yeah,” she mumbled in defeat. “Come on, guys. We’re done here.”

“I’m sorry!” Star heard Lance yell as she left the Snuggling Duckling.

“Guess we have to wait it out then,” Varian suggested.

Star is about to respond when BAM!

Star looked over her shoulder. The door was completely toasted. There was a huge black spot on the door that emitted smoke.

“Woah! What was that?” Jake was stunned, he moved his head right in the nick of time.

“ Starlight! ” Star immediately summoned her sword and armor.

“Cool armor,” a familiar voice cut through the smoke.

“Too bad we don’t need you,” Zoe walked through the smoke and alongside her, her brother. “We need him .” She pointed to Varian.

“Oh, great, not this again,” Varian recalled the time Cassandra took him.

“They’re not being serious.” Jake stepped in. “You guys are joking, right guys?”

He looked at the Malchances.

They didn't respond.

“Hehehe, right?” Jake croaked.

“Just give him to us,” Zoe ordered. She was clearly perturbed. “You don’t want to become toast, do you?” Zoe held up two fingers. Sparks began to fly from her fingertips.

“And you don’t want to be sliced, do you?” Star drew her sword.

Zoe laughed. "Only if you touch us."

Zoe launched her first attack and pointed her fingers in their direction. The lightning began to flicker brighter and brighter til she strikes them.

Star instinctively threw up her shield.

The bright blue magic lighting collided with her shield, dispersing outward and creating a gust of wind that blew harshly.

"Come on guys! We can talk this out!" Jake yelled. "We're friends!"

"Sorry, Goldfield, but we were never friends," Zoe said coldly.

Star saw the heartbroken face Jake made when she said that. He actually believed they were his friends.

That made Star angry. Jake was a great friend. He didn't deserve to be treated like this.

Star dropped her shield and gripped the hilt of Starlight tightly. She ran up to the siblings and attacked Zoe.

Zoe, of course, dodged her attack. Star saw Nate try to grab her.

“Hey, there,” Nate smiled.

Star was confused. It looked like he was trying to start a conversation. She shook it off and tried to attack him again. Just missed him by a hair.

“Woah, careful! Almost got me there,” he said. “Zo, ain’t gonna be happy if we don’t get what we want.”

“I am...not letting…you…take…Varian,” Star managed to say between attacks.

“We just want to borrow him,” Nate said nonchalantly while dodging every attack Star threw at him.

“Ugh,” Star grunted, frustrated. “Why can’t you stay still?”

“Since I can’t really use my magic, I became a total expert on dodging attacks.” “Come on, now I’m tired of you playing the hero, Star,” Zoe said.

“Same, here, I don’t want to fight you,” Nate agreed.

“Well, you’re going to have to!” Star ran up to the siblings but Nate seemed to be caught off guard that his hands were sparking with magic. He raised his arms in a defensive position and right when Star was going to attack him, a bright flash went KABOOM!

A massive gust of wind blew Star off her feet.

Star heard a winding in her ears. She couldn’t find the siblings. Once again, they vanished.

When everything was settled, Star ran back to her friends.

“Varian, are you okay?” Star asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine—wait, hold on a minute,” Varian paused and opened his backpack, and rummaged through his things.

“Oh, no, no, no, no!” he panicked. “No! Where is it?!”

“Where is what?” Jake asked.

“The book! Demanitus’ book! It-it was in my bag and now it’s gone!” Varian covered his face with his hands. “They took the book!”

“They weren’t after you, they were after the book,” Star said. “What could they want with the book?”

Varian began to breathe heavily. “That book had notes of his past experiments and observations of magical artifacts. I was only halfway through reading it. Who knows what they can do with the book in their hands!” Varian began to scramble his hair in frustration. “AGH!”

“Varian, we’re going to go get it back so don’t sweat it.” Jake put his hand on Varian’s shoulder. “I know where to find them.”

#tangled the series #tangled the series fanfiction #fanfic #My writing #the star knight #tangled the series au #Jake #star #varian #tts #RTA #rapunzels tangled adventure #rapunzel's tangled adventure #varian tangled #tangled fanfiction

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emmafrostyyy · 6 months

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y'all sleeping on Astarion/Lae'zel bc this moment is so...the way the flippant demeanor drops and he doesn't hesitate to call her out for sticking with her version of Cazador like their relationship is so underrated fr...

sitting down writing this bullshit like let me peel it like an onion a bit and elaborate why this pairing is fascinating to me

It's really interesting how during the most cathartic, life-altering moment in Astarion's questline, the reactions of the other companions are more about the moral wrongness/guilt of sacrificing innocent lives. Lae'zel doesn't do that and instead relates to his hurt.

She knows what's he's feeling, the lack of control, the unfairness of being powerless for too long. This is a woman who just found out her entire life purpose was built on lies, discarded and hunted by her own people after outliving her usefulness, and groomed to basically die for an insane power-hungry lich queen. She knows all too well that power isn't always real freedom. Her first instinct is to empathize with Astarion to steer him away from his hate and resentment.

Astarion/Lae'zel is so interesting to me because they're such a classic "can we make each other worse or make a better person out of the other?".

They both have genuine appreciation for violence and respect each other's ruthlessness. Astarion was used as a weapon of seduction while Lae'zel was of warfare. Sex with people is meaningless and not real intimacy for them, and while both have little understanding/experience of interpersonal relationships beyond the physical, they still feel and love very deeply. They have no frame of reference for things like friendship and warmth, but they badly want all of that and more, even if they don't know it yet.

In-game they can sleep with each other, which is basically the foundation of the normal Tav/Astarion romance. Lae'zel saw him during combat and got horny, who knows. Astarion who's used to luring people with his charms, takes up Lae'zel's blunt offer because she's a strong hardened warrior that can provide protection and be a worthy ally, and he doesn't know how to say no. Navigating the complications between one who wants to be seen beyond as a sex object, and one who comes from a totally alien culture with no concept of love/family/connections and only sex is honestly really compelling to me. It's a transactional, mutually beneficial thing with no emotional expectations. Once you get past the skeevy rockiness of their early relationship, I really like the idea of them slowly seeing something past the exterior and realizing they may have harshly misjudged the other, an unspoken friendship blooms, and in comes the realization that they are essentially loners longing for kindness and a comforting touch in the most desperate of situations.

Lae'zel is prideful, direct, has no sense of courtship talk, and doesn't hold back her thoughts the slightest--she's not sweet/agreeable and what you see is really what you get, which I imagine would be disarming for Astarion who's used to vacuous flattery and has difficulty trusting others. But she's also insanely protective, passionate, loyal, and an initiator-- every romance scene is triggered by her first and she's always showing effort towards her relationships, which would mesh well with Astarion who does need someone to nudge him.

She doesn't purposely suppress her feelings, she's just simply at loss at how to express them sometimes due to her wildly different upbringing. She stops the sparring match you agree to and an easy vulnerability slips instantly out of her: "I don't want to hurt you. I want to protect you, and for you to protect me." and "Thus far I've taunted you, devoured you, battled you. Now I want more than anything to soothe you." are romantic as fuck and Astarion of all people really needs to hear that tbh.

Astarion is also someone who struggles with reinforcing his boundaries, and a key theme in Lae'zel's romance is that she encourages and wants you to challenge her and learn to stand your ground. It's not gentlest method, but hey, relationships are about having to make an effort to learn each other's language.

I think he also would take pleasure "educating her on the matters of Fay-run" (I believe there's a whole banter with him teasing her and teaching her pet names) and would get a kick out of coaxing Lae'zel out of her shell with her shyness at showing public affection, and making her blush. Also it simply would be fucking funny to see Astarion who's used to easy seduction, trying to pass a persuasion check just to get a smooch and generally having to work to earn regular kisses from Lae'zel lmfaooo

Lae'zel also initially struggles to see her chains as chains. When she learns about Vlaakith's betrayal, she copes instantly through denial and shuts it down. Astarion is NOT having it and calls her out, he knows her well enough to recognize that she would value blunt honesty above all.

I imagine he also despises her lack of self-preservation, the way her entire identity is tied to duty and being in service of others, and doesn't understand her desire to still help/liberate the people that want her dead and are hunting her down. He wants to make this duty-bound soldier realize that looking out for herself, and putting herself first may not be the worst thing in the world.

They're so similar to each other but are also polar opposites in some ways that make a more equal, balanced romance I think. It's not a simple, one-sided, feel-good "she/he can fix her/him" fantasy because both of them have to earn each other's love, actually cut through the other's flaws, and actively motivate each other to be better versions of themselves.

They're not at all the other's ideal guiding hand. It's rough, jagged, and imperfect, but that's how healing goes. It's so far from being the healthiest relationship -- but even if their belief systems differ, their moral compass does often align. I imagine it's a slight relief for them to have a partner where there would be less shame and judgment when they expectedly, occasionally slip up and fall into their bad habits.

Also, man, the "You showed me the betweens and beyonds. Beyond war and peace, beyond passion and obsession, most importantly, you showed me freedom.", "First you were my wound, now you were my cure.", "But you saw something else in me - someone else I could be. Someone who could break the cycle of power and terror that started centuries ago.." lines really hit hard when applied to them.

Of course, they can also make each other worse, feed into the other's negative traits that will bring out the worst part of themselves. It's this duality of their pairing that is very interesting to explore, the way it can steer in either direction because it's an intense, fraught relationship at its core.

#when he gets called by omeluum “child of the dark” and her “child of the stars” like yeah..the squid man is being literal but he Gets It fr.#lae'zel #astarion #bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #bg3 meta #astarion ancunin #astarion x lae'zel #lae'zel x astarion #the rarest of rarepairs they dont even got a ship name...this is so tragique we need to discuss the pathos and potential of this pairing #bg3 lae'zel #bg3 astarion #also im a sucker for stoic knight/court darling trope and whatever variations of it yeah #bloodbruise

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