From Silk to Steel: For the Queens of Cardverse

Good evening, dear readers! 

What I have here is a playlist for the four leading ladies of the Royal Flush. I've been working on this for the whole afternoon and evening, holy cow. Below the cut are the tracklist graphic, lyrics and lyric guide so that you may glimpse into the characterization of these four ladies. 

Some lines contain spoilers, but I won't say which ones. ;) I'll be posting a download link when I can!

Feigning Weakness

Cold was abundant during the latter seasons of the year, with snow raining down on her and covering the woman in a light layer of white snow. The female glanced ahead of her, the flowers of the fuchsia trees wiggling amongst the leaves and branches, soon flying free. A single blossom landed at her feet and the woman picked it up, running her fingers over the smooth, seemingly ivory yet soft petals which shone light silver under the sunlight. Snow and petals mixed together, creating a savory, fragrant and lively smell that filled her with the strange sensation of serenity.

Serenity, she thought, that she hadn’t felt in the longest time.

Serenity that was mind-numbing and emotion-locking.

The sweetest serenity that could leave her knocked silly –

And Eri Puellaesi’s emerald eyes widened with realization, dropping the flower and crushing it under her heel. Immediately did the scenery around her shift, spiraling back into where she truly was. The damned forest was the opposite of the euphoric-induced hallucination the dogseong sigmul nearly trapped her in, and she swore quietly upon realizing what she was doing there.

She had walked out of the facilities, shortly saying that she needed to collect supplies from the forest. Briefly, Eri remembered Andi warning her about the sigmul, but she brushed off her comrade’s warnings and insisted that she would be alright before running out, sword in its place and the long, fluttery dark green robe flying past her.

“This was clearly the wrong day to go out into the forest,” she muttered, drawing her sword and scanning the area for any sign of threat. None greeted her and she cast a wry look towards the seemingly menacing trees, which contained yet-to-bloom sigmul. Another sugary whiff caught her attention and she grimaced, stumbling back and backing away from the trees.

“The sigmul are always dangerous,” Jessica instructed. “They’re poisonous and toxic, and have sent people nuts. You’d be stupid if you actually wandered into a plantation of them.”

At that, Cissa rolled her eyes. “Then how about you tell us what they look like, what smell they emit, the symptoms if you’re under their spell and what to do if ever that happens?” Jessica was about to throw a scathing remark, but Collette spoke immediately to prevent a storm from happening.

“I think the last one is obvious. Run like hell.”

Laughter ensured from all of them, breaking the tension.

“Collette’s right. Almost. Dogseong sigmul are usually fuchsia-colored, but they can range from light lavender to a soft pink. But their most prominent feature is the smell. At first sniff, you’d think you smelled the sweetest sweets there was. Sort of like liquid bubble gum.” Alpha grimaced. “But the smell is hallucination and hysteria-inducing. That’s why people have been reported to be going mad lately.”

“What about the feelings? Like, how do you feel if you smell it?”

“Well, Arturia, I’ve heard that it makes the victim awfully loopy. It’s like a sneak attack. It makes you feel all nice and comfortable, but then it starts numbing you from the head down until you can’t actually move and just fall. When you fall, you stay there, numb until you die, are saved because of your luck, or are eaten.”

“Let’s hope luck’s on our side, then.”

“Wrong.” They all looked at Amaya, who was shaking her head with a slight look of disbelief. “Be on your damn guard. That’s why you all have weapon containers.” Eri glanced shortly at the sword container by her hips, “To kill any. Single. Threat. You all understand that?”

Somber nods came from the other ladies in the room.

“Neugdae,” she muttered, hearing the growling howl from far, far away. White fur and menacing teeth. “They usually aren’t agitated unless someone agitates them-”

Sentence stopping, she ran up north.

She had memorized the path by heart, listening to the sound of the growls and the roars that grew louder and louder as she neared. The woman hid behind a tree and whistled a tune, waiting for whoever was there to whistle it back.

When none came, she was both irritated and lit with worry. Drawing her sword from its sheath, Eri counted to three silently and then charged at the animal, appearing like a blur. She hacked its neck and landed neatly on the ground, holding her sword and hearing the beast collapse from behind her. Crimson blood trickled around and it got on her boots, but Eri didn’t notice, instead looking at the person who was in front of her.

A brilliant scarlet. She rushed to him and looked for any sign of wounds, but realized that the immense red was because of his hair rather than anything else. “Are you alright?” she asked sharply, prying his hands off his ears and finding a crumpled sigmul. “Are you stupid? Do you know what these things can do to you?” she demanded next, ripping the flower off his hand and crushing it under her heel, burying it into the soil and staining the crushed petals red. “The sigmul and neudgae work together – the sigmul drugs you and the neugdae, seeing a new victim, eat whoever it is.”

And then, he looked up.

“I’m afraid the sigmul have much worse effects on me than before.”

* * * * *

The first thing she felt was an obscure familiarity. Which was ridiculous, because she had just met him on that day. So why, she wondered, am I bringing him back to my own home?

“What were you doing out in the forest?”

“Gathering supplies.”

She rolled her eyes, yet he didn’t notice. “Why didn’t you know about the sigmul?”

The man let off a small chuckle, cringing slightly at the pain in his ankle. “I thought they only bloomed in the spring and fall seasons. That’s when people usually cower and run away.”

“They bloom in every season. The strongest in winter.” An empty silence greeted them.

“I must have mistaken it for another flower, then,” she heard him muttering. Eri couldn’t help the small smile that reached her lips and opened the door, leading him inside and closing it after. She slid off the robe and hung it by the hook, revealing her to be in a black, knee-length dress.

“Eri Puellaesi, by the way. I thought saviors should introduce themselves to the saved.”

The man, who was now sitting on the wooden chair, looked at her and flashed a smile.

“Mathias Gletscher. The situation has turned, Eri. I’m going to be explaining some things to you this time.”

And the smile fell from her lips upon her lips once she realized he was completely, irrevocably different.

He had discarded his own silver robe and instead of a traditional men’s attire, was wearing a glowing black-and-blue suit that went from his neck down to his feet, possibly.

* * * * *

She understood clearly now.

There had been recent talk about extraterrestrial planets and such, but this was much, much different. Eri poured steaming tea into his own cup, Mathias taking a sip much after.

“I feigned weakness back in the forest just to catch your attention. I didn’t expect the neugdae to appear, though. I didn’t do anything.”

“They have an amazing sense of smell and can detect humans,” she suddenly stopped. Was this man even human at all?

He looked the part, she had to admit.

“So you’re immune to the sigmul?” her tone was slightly accusatory. He merely shrugged his shoulders, glancing out the window and catching sight of the falling snow.

“Unfortunately, it seems that you have things worth hallucinating over.”

“Well, I apologize if I’m losing those closest to me,” she retorted sourly.

At that, he could only smile.

“I lost a lover. But I’m not hallucinating.”

Dogseong Sigmul: Toxic Flora
Neugdae: Wolf

A Woman of His Court

"This is a battle I face for myself.

A battle I fight for him.

From silk, he has fashioned me into steel.

From soft, I am now toughened.

A woman of his Court."

Silent Night -- OC/Doctor Who Crossover

November 1, 1997.

Sirens of police cars and the noise emitting from red fire trucks scared her. A small girl on the corner of a street was sitting down on a bench, wrapped in a blanket and a physician monitoring her. Meters away from them, a burning house slowly started to die down. The flames went out little by little, the firemen putting it out as quickly as possible. One of them took a glance at the girl and sighed, going back to his business. The blonde felt a pierce of pity for her – five years old, and she had just lost a large fragment of her childhood in a single night.

“Oi, Anderson. Who’s gonna watch over the kid?” he asked. Anderson, a stout five-foot, eight-inch man shrugged his shoulders and merely continued putting out the fire. “I heard the police talkin’. She seems to have no relatives or something.”

“That’s a load of bull,” the brunette replied with a roll of his eyes. “She’s gotta have grandparents or aunts or uncles who could take the girl in. Stop your worrying and put out the damn house first.”

“Right, right, yeah,” he answered quickly, diverting his attention back to the house and focusing on the part of flame that burned on in the upper east. Away, the girl watched them, her eyes cold and empty, feeling nothing but numbness. The female physician sighed and sat next to her, gently turning her head so that the girl wouldn’t look at the disaster.

“Don’t look at it anymore, love,” she whispered. The girl shrugged, and Dr. Marissa Anthony felt her own heart break. She wasn’t crying, wasn’t screaming, wasn’t doing anything except for look on like a witness. Although the police had told her she was uncontrollable, she couldn’t blame her. The kid was a kid, for God’s sake, and had just lost her home and her parents.

“I just want mutti,” the girl mumbled. Again came the crushing feeling. Suddenly, the blonde-haired doctor didn’t quite know how to react. “And vatti. And my piano.”

“You play…?” the child shook her head.

“Nein. But mutti said she would teach me when I turned…” the girl’s face scrunched up in thought, “…ten.” She held her two hands in front of her, staring blankly at them with all her fingers facing her. “Eins, zwei, drei…”

German.

The doctor shifted uncomfortably and looked up, spotting a raven-haired woman, way younger than her looking at her with a sense of authority.

“Agent Meyer,” the woman explained. “Wilson needs you over at the ambulance.” Marissa nodded and immediately stood up, smoothing the front of her shirt. “I’ll watch over the poor darling. The man needs help with the…” her green eyes swept away uncomfortably, “…the bodies.”

“I understand, thank you.” She stumbled away from them, feeling all anxiety slowly wash away. Being alone with a tormented little girl wasn’t her best interest at the moment.

As the blonde ran to the ambulance, Meyer sat down next to the small girl, who was still staring at her hands. She saw the child’s dirty white nightie and cringed just a little bit, feeling remorse and the insatiable desire to cradle the small child in her arms.

“Sieben, acht, neun…”

It was like she struggled with remembering the last number.

Meyer smiled slightly to herself.

“Zehn, kind.”

Bright green eyes looked up at her.

“Ja – zehn! Do you speak German?” the girl asked excitedly, so earnestly that it made Meyer want to crumble and cry because sooner or later, the child would realize the horrid truth. But she forced herself to smile, to nod as if everything was alright.

“Yes, I do. Who taught you German?”

“My mutti,” the girl proclaimed proudly, shaking the blanket off herself. A tangled mess of black hair greeted Meyer, and she felt the urge to take the comb out of her pocket and just fix the girl’s hair. “She taught me. She will teach me more.”

“Of course she will.”

Bright eyes met tired ones.

“You look…” she struggled for a word, “tired. Yes. You look tired."

Meyer chuckled and cleared her throat, shaking all emotion away. “I am. But never mind me. Are you waiting for someone?”

“The doctor-lady.” She yawned, blinking. “And my parents. I think they are in the white van.”

She was so right, but in a completely different manner.

Meyer felt her own throat closing up and cleared again, faking that she had the cough. “I…you will. Um. I think the doctor is coming back,” she managed, and stood up, Marissa running back and taking her place. “I’m leaving, now. It was nice to meet you,” she told the girl, and ran off. Marissa watched her with a frown, tapping her chin as the small girl poked her side and nestled into her lap.

“Odd girl,” she muttered, and her eyes softened upon feeling the child in her lap.

Away from them and the scene and the people, Meyer wiped her eyes and stepped into the police box. A man was waiting patiently for her, his hands on the control deck.

“No physical contact?”

“None.” She sighed and peeked outside, cringing once again and turning back to the other person, closing the door. “She was so innocent...”

“Oi, you. Come here.” And she did, the man holding her gently in his arms. “You did marvelously. I would have done the same,” he offered, and she smiled amidst tears. “Someday, that little girl is going to grow up and realize who that kindhearted person was. And she’ll pay her back.”

“Let’s just hope the little girl doesn’t cause a paradox,” Meyer muttered. The man laughed and spun her around, wanting to lighten up the mood a little bit more.

“Pray tell, why ‘Meyer’ as a codename?”

“My complete name is Arianne Heather Meyer Maxwell,” the woman explained, spinning and then coming to a stop. “Meyer was my mother’s surname before she married my father. I figured it was the safest choice, if I chose ‘Maxwell’ it would be too obvious or coincidental.”

“Yes, I suppose so.” The man glanced at the control pad and pressed a button, and Arianne Maxwell could hear the sounds of the TARDIS running. “Ms. Maxwell, you are an exceptional young lady.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” She finally gave him a smile of her own. “I hope she grows up to be just as exceptional as I am.”

“Of course she is!” he insisted, and took her hands. “My dear, that little girl is you, after all. Shall we dance to Mozart?”

“Can you even dance to his music?”

“If one can dance to mainstream pop songs, then Mozart wouldn’t hurt.”

“Point taken.”

And they danced in the middle of the universe, she feeling a little bit lighter as the TARDIS spun away into the fabric of the universe and back into their own. Back in the chilly night, a younger Arianne Maxwell rubbed her eyes and felt a chain around her neck, a gold heart glittering in the dark night.

She scrambled for it and opened it, a simple picture inside.

As the older danced away in the stream of time and space, her own golden heart shone in the illumination of the stars that burned in the sky. 

Mulligrubs

“This is the third time you’ve left by yourself.”

“You count?” she answered dully, not sparing a glance as she quickly walked past the buildings and gardens, making her way up the ramp. Mathias smiled slightly and walked beside her, her folder and books in his arm as they walked to her destination. “I didn’t want to go with the others for some reason. It’s just like before – I need to think,” she admitted, looking at him this time. “I left Beatrice a message, though. In her Bible. I just hope she read it, she might’ve not noticed the blue post-it.”

“It was sticking out, Arzen,” he replied. He shifted her belongings and frowned just a bit, “Sharmaine wasn’t with you?”

“She was. During lunch.”

At that, he fell silent, mouth forming into a silent ‘o’. Of course. He had seen through the window.

“Are you okay now?”

A shrug came. “I’m better. She helped get it off my shoulders.” And finally, she laughed. “God. It’s the second time I’ve broken down to her. She must think I’m some kind of…unstable person. I am, though.” Arzen shifted the bag straps that lay on her shoulders, sighing. “It sucks a lot to have another freaking problem on my shoulders. I’ve got acads, I’ve got club duties, and I want to get into the Oxford Experience…” she trailed off. He just listened.

“Sign up for it, then.”

“What, and have the Bic incident last year occur again?” she retorted with a hint of bitterness. He blinked, “I suddenly don’t want to. What good would it do, anyway, if I got in? I’d miss half of the first quarter, and it could screw up my chances for college.”

The ginger gave her a look, but she kept the stony look on her face.

“You heard what Vida said, though. She could have gotten in.”

“But Vida could be smart for all I know – so is Klaudia, and that’s how she got the scholarship,” Arzen mumbled. “Forget it. I’m not going to sign up for it anymore…Cheyenne could be the one who could go for this batch. Besides, the club will need their EIC to watch them,” she tried, but he could see the disappointed look on her face. “Look. I want to sign up, I really do. But with what’s going on, I don’t think I’ll have a chance.”

“Is it because of...?”

He didn’t finish the question, but she kept her eyes on the pavement in front of her.

“Part of it, but not the main reason. Let’s just keep moving.”

* * * * *

“You took a bit longer yesterday.” He told her as she unlocked the door to the house, the door swinging open and both of them stepping in. “I was just watching-” Arzen rolled her eyes, yet smiled “-and you were…you looked upset.” At first, he thought she wouldn’t answer. He watched as she closed the door and put her things on the chair by the counter, and after a minute, he got an answer.

“It was just my irritating, ever-changing moods, Mathias.” She looked at him and smiled slightly, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Don’t worry about me.”

The last thing I want to be is a burden.

“You will tell me, though.”

“Tell you what?”

This time, he was the one who smiled and walked to her, ruffling her hair playfully.

“If you have any kind of problem, Arzen. It’s why I’m here. Part of the job description.”

“Don’t say that.”

A confused look reached the man’s face. “What?”

“Don’t say that, please.”

She turned around and walked straight for the bathroom, and he could only hang back.

* * * * *

A blonde woman with her hair down angrily punched at a training dummy, bullets flying out and knocking the dummy down. She aimed a kick at the chest and her heel into it, pausing for breath and hearing someone from behind applauding her tricks.

“That’s some great action, Gio.” She turned to him and gave a confident, slightly flirty smile, “Do tell me how you are.”

Eri Giovane snorted.

“You’re wondering how I am?” she asked him, raising a blonde brow. “I’m flattered, sweetie. But look at me.” She told him. Easily. With a smile on her face and golden gauntlets on her hands, he thought she looked beautifully terrifying. “Does it look like I’m wanting to self-destruct and turn into a living, breathing bomb?”

He had to admit, she was a perfect actress. The woman’s long, slightly wavy blonde hair and forest-green eyes portrayed her as the image of sweetness.

“No, you look fairly normal. Just put the hands down.” And she laughed warmly, all trace of bleakness and cold melting away from the surrounding atmosphere.

“I commend your honesty, Mathias.” She punched a nearby target, he watching as it burst into green flame. “Now, why are you here?”

“I want to know how you’re doing, Gio.” His eyes lingered on the burning dummy. “Aside from the obvious, that is.”

 “Aww, I’m touched.” She smiled and deactivated her gauntlets, they shifting back into the simple bracelet form. “I’m not doing too great, sadly. Frustration and fatigue’s taking over. If you want it in a simple sentence: I feel like shit.” She sat on a steel bench and patted the spot next to her, Mathias obediently sitting next to her. “I was able to talk to Andi today. Thankfully, she was able to help. Even just for a bit.”

“So Lisa isn’t-”

Eri shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m hoping tomorrow will be kinder.” 

Paracosm

The small girl played alone in the garden, dolls around her and a red blanket under her. Her parents silently observed her from inside the house, the man muttering softly to the woman right next to him, who shook her head and countered what he had said. “She’s alright out there. She has her toys.”

“She needs to meet other people. This is why I didn’t approve of the house being built here in the first place.”

“Come on, you need to relax. She’s alright – we’ll just join her later.”

The girl didn’t hear her parents’ conversation and merely smiled, dressing her dolls in dresses and mismatched heels, retying their hair into ponytails and pigtails and braids. Different dolls of different skin color and hairstyles surrounded her and the girl picked another one up, studying it critically with a queer look in her eyes and then turned to the small and organized container, where clothes, shoes and accessories lay.

She wrinkled her nose and picked up two dresses – one a soft butter, and the other a deep green. She stared at the blonde doll in front of her, and then the dresses, trying to comprehend and pick which one suited the slim figure and bright eyes of the manufactured toy even more.

“The green dress goes with her blonde hair.”

A seven-year-old Monika Arzen dropped her doll in surprise and turned to where the voice came from, seeing a young man sitting on a chair that was a few feet away from where she was seated. He merely smiled, waving to her good-naturedly. The girl narrowed her eyes.

“You’re a stranger,” she said in an almost accusatory voice.

The blue eyes seemed to give off a mischievous gleam and he rose from the chair, walking to her. Arzen stared defiantly and brought her dolls closer, her young mind thinking that he was there to steal her dolls and throw them away. “Mommy told me to never talk to strangers. So go away.”

The man blinked, suddenly struck by her negative response.

“Come on - I’m a friend.”

And again, her narrowed gaze came back.

“You’re lying.”

“I’m not,” he told her easily. With a smile. “You’ll know me soon enough.”

“But you’re a stranger-”

“Strangers are people you don’t know.”

She stared.

“I don’t know you.”

“Well then.” He looked at her. “My name is...Nikolai. So I’m not a stranger anymore.”

She struggled with the sudden change in events, biting her lip and thinking hard. He guessed that she was trying to find a loophole to this, and his smile turned into a grin when her cautious gaze went away and a shy smile replaced the unusually stern look on her young face.

“Okay. You’re not a stranger.” She looked around her and picked up a brunette doll wearing a dark green dress, handing it over to him. “You can change her clothes if you want to.”

The man with ocean eyes gazed down at the doll and the grin went away.

She noticed.

“Do you want another doll?”

“Hm? …no, no. This is fine.”

“Are you alright, Mister?”

He looked back at her, seeing her big brown eyes starting to light up with worry. The blonde doll lay limply in her lap and she just stared at him, trying to figure out what was wrong.

A laugh was forced and he shook his head, messing up her hair.

“It’s nothing.”

Later in the afternoon, Arzen’s parents came out and called for her. Normally, she would walk back in without any protest, but this time, she hung around the garden even longer, staring into the distance.

“Come back tomorrow, Mister! We can have tea and cookies with Scooby and Elmo.” She was waving to an imaginary figure with a large smile on her face, dolls in her arms and items packed neatly in the small container. Her mother came out of the house with a frown and approached her, gently prying the toys out of her grip and putting them into the small bag where she usually kept them.

“Arzen, come in. It’s dark.”

“Wait, mommy. I have to say goodbye to my friend-” she broke off and stopped, staring with her eyes wide and looking at the darkening orange sky. “Oh. Never mind. He’s not here anymore.”

The older woman blinked. “Your friend?”

Arzen nodded eagerly and rubbed her hands on her skirt, getting traces of dirt on the blue cloth. “Yeah! I met a guy named Nikolai and he was really nice. We played with my dolls and he promised he’d come back tomorrow so we could have tea out here and eat oreos,” she chattered excitedly, a bounce in her step as she skipped back inside. Her mother could only stare and closed the door, her daughter running into her room and the sound of a chair being moved was heard.

Her father glanced up from the newspaper and steaming cup of coffee, looking at his wife who looked worriedly in the direction of her daughter’s room.

“What is it now?”

“Arzen said she met someone.”

“That’s ridiculous.” He shook his head and turned the page, “she’s young. Her mind’s making up imaginary friends for her to cope. It’s normal.”

“Imaginary friends?”

“Sure, why not? She doesn’t have that many associates or people she knows. Just so she can avoid being lonely, her mind makes up different characters and personas that she believes it’s alive. It’s a normal, healthy thing for kids nowadays.”

“If you say so…”

In her room, Arzen beamed and colored in the man’s hair a vivid scarlet, then made his eyes an ocean blue. The bond paper contained a large drawing of the man she had met, with a brunette doll in his hands and other small pieces in the background. The young girl scrambled away for scotch tape and soon enough, the drawing was on the wall, by her bed.

After watching the girl from her room, Mathias Gletscher smiled.

Quick feet stepped into the small pond away from her room, and he disappeared. 

Graphic Challenge: Three Ships

Good almost-morning, dear readers! Here's a small challenge that Alpha!Elaine had given me - to make four graphics of four ships that would be featured in an upcoming writing of mine.

I was only able to complete three because I wasn't able to find any nice quality pictures of the girl in the fourth ship. So, I only posted three tonight. Who knows - I might post the fourth graphic when I can~

"We're comrades. Not partners."
"Comrades are the same thing as partners."
"Partner, Pandora. Romantic partners."

"I thought you'd never wake up."
"...I'm awake now, aren't I?"

"I understand that you were being noble."
"I had to help them out."
"I understand that. But you didn't have to be reckless."
"These were lives at stake, Sirius-"
"Shut up. You don't worry people who love you."
"...you love me?"