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#fjord I think would be able to compartmentalize a little better until he can process it just bc he was never like. attached to molly in
wizardnuke · 2 years
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it's just. how do you be normal after All That happens to you. how can you handle being around someone who looks exactly like and sometimes kinda acts like your dead friend who is also someone who looks exactly like and sometimes kinda acts like one of the most terrifying people you ever met. also your friend died for you and you killed that other guy. how. jester lavorre what is your post canon mental state I need to know how you're doing
#this goes for all of them but jester specifically I think was hit VERY hard and she also spent a hellish amount of time with lucien#paying very close attention to him to prove her theory that molly was influencing him#she was so close to molly and close to lucien in another way and just. like. what happens when you start seeing echoes of the wrong guy in#this new guy. how do you handle that. it's not kingsleys fault!! the thing is she would want to be friends with him too!! but oh my god#she would try to do that right off the bat literally less than two weeks after dealing with lucien's everything shes hanging around this#guy who looks exactly like and sometimes acts like him?? like. babe??#yasha would also have difficulties but in a different way. she doesn't fucking care about lucien she just sees molly and. this isn't molly#this isn't molly this is someone else who is entirely deserving of the freedom to be someone else and sometimes molly is so visibly in him#but the difference is yasha sticks with beau while jester and fjord go off with king#fjord I think would be able to compartmentalize a little better until he can process it just bc he was never like. attached to molly in#the same way jester bleeding heart lavorre was and because like. yeah I'm sure he saw molly in lucien but lucien was never anything but an#enemy to him so yeah he sees molly and lucien both echoing thru king but king is his own dude and. I think just. fjord is just more likely#to leave a room if he's in distress than jester is jdjfkfngn. he can say hey king you're great but I need a sec. jester would hate to make#king feel like he ever upset her even tho it literally isn't his fault and he knows it but also he would still feel a little bad and she#can't do that to him so it's a mess. beau and caleb both arent around him a lot for a while and are probably careful when they are around#him until they're sure they're not going to panic. I think caddy would like to not be afraid of him but like. lucien was fucking scary#essek too but I think like. caddy could at times just fully vibe even with lucien around. sometimes he just. vibed with lucien#essek only interacted with him during that awful final stretch that was just. racing against him and fighting him and like. that time in#aeor/cognouza was the weirdest thing any of them ever went thru but at least they all went thru some weird shit before that? essek did Not.#his life was nobility and comfort and treason and regret and friendship and cold and then the absolute worst week of his entire life#so I think he would visibly startle at kingsley the first dozen times they meet afterwards just like. bc that's that fuckig lucien guy
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mnemememory · 5 years
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The Life and Times of the Creature Known as Frumpkin, Cat
Frumpkin-the-cat likes sleeping in the sun. The crew of The Ball Eater live in fear. 
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PART 6: FJORD
Relaxing is hard work.
No one has come anywhere close to Frumpkin’s chosen sunbaking spot in a good three hours, which is just how he likes it. This is partially because he had strategically chosen somewhere on deck with the express purpose of having minimal contact with the crew, and partially because they were all terrified he was going to bite them again. Frumpkin regards the people swarming around his ship with thinly veiled thread; If you interrupt my nap, he thinks, Caleb-warm-master is going to pop me out for the things I’m going to do to you.
The message comes across. The crew stays out of Frumpkin’s way.
Frumpkin has had many opportunities to take in the atmosphere of the sea. Caleb-warm-master most definitely prefers the stillness of the land to the rolling motion of the waves, but Frumpkin doesn’t have any real preference. So long as there isn’t a storm, so long as Frumpkin doesn’t have to get his fur wet, he is quite content to laze around on deck and practice breathing.
He is getting better at it – mimicry. The first few years had been a real test of trial and error – over There, air had been an optional (if somewhat convenient) extra; Here, it is a necessity. There are so many parts to a physical body that require conscious thought. Frumpkin has become an expert of compartmentalization, but it’s a process. One that requires long periods of stillness in the sun. And naps. A lot of naps.
Someone settles down next to him.
Frumpkin opens up one eye to regard the interloper, cracking open his jaw and showing off his teeth in a kind of warning. Come any closer, and I’ll bite.
“Good afternoon, Frumpkin.”
Frumpkin settles back a little. It is just Fjord-drowned-thing; nothing to worry about. At least, Frumpkin thinks that there is nothing to worry about. Caleb-warm-master has never really had to dictate how Frumpkin is supposed to feel about his chosen companions (otherwise, Frumpkin thinks, he and Nott-sharp-teeth would have a much more amicable relationship), but he’s been awful chatty on the subject of Fjord-drowned-thing these past few weeks.
Still. Today is good. The sea is calm, the sun is high and shining, and Fjord-drowned-thing is good at scratching behind Frumpkin’s ears just the way he likes it. Frumpkin isn’t going to complain until Caleb-warm-master gives him a reason to.
“You’ve certainly got the crew in a right tizzy,” Fjord-drowned-thing says. His voice is low and gentle, drawing out the words in a way that Frumpkin finds soothing. There are many things about Fjord-drowned-thing that Frumpkin finds soothing.
If they hadn’t disrupted my nap time, Frumpkin thinks. I wouldn’t have had to attack them. He is a cat. He doesn’t know what the crew had been expecting, really, when they had tried to move him. They had actually attempted to pick him up, the nerve. Frumpkin hopes those claw marks scar.
…he doesn’t really hope those claw marks scar. Caleb-warm-master would be very disappointed in him if that happened. Nott-sharp-teeth would be amused, though. Does that balance it out? No, probably not. Caleb-warm-master has the final say on all things violence-related when it comes to Frumpkin.
Maybe biting down on that last man’s knuckles had been going too far. Just a little.
Frumpkin stares up at Fjord-drowned-thing, who is just sitting there, not moving. The light sea breeze brushes over his green skin and blows hair off his slightly sunburned cheeks. They are all a little darker, though Caleb-warm-master has more in resemblance to a boiled crab than, say, Beau. Frumpkin has watched Jester-blue-healer giggle to herself as she heals his patchwork of red skin every evening, running her fingers along his cheeks and across his wrists.
Stop going outside, she says, every time. You’re just making things worse.
I am not used to this amount of sunlight, Caleb-warm-master admits in a low voice. It is…unsettling.
Frumpkin can’t imagine not being able to go out into the sun. For most of his existence, Frumpkin hadn’t known the quiet pleasure of sitting still and soaking in the warmth of the sky. That Caleb-warm-master is unable to do so without spellcraft aid is…unsettling. Just a little. Frumpkin makes sure to sleep on Caleb-warm-master’s face a little more than usual after that realization, just to make sure he isn’t cold. Caleb-warm-master hadn’t appreciated the gesture as much as Frumpkin thought he should.
Fjord-drowned-thing drags his fingers lightly along Frumpkin’s spine, and Frumpkin lets out a rumbling purr. Yes…yes, a little lower…just there, green one…
Frumpkin wriggles his haunches and pulls in his shoulders. This is a good feeling. Frumpkin wouldn’t trade experiences like this for the world.
(He would trade them for Caleb-warm-master, though. If Caleb-warm-master wanted to stay inside and never see the sun again, Frumpkin would follow without a moment’s hesitation).
“I’ve missed this,” Fjord-drowned-thing says. It isn’t clear who he is talking to, if anyone, but Frumpkin perks his ears up in any case. “The feel of the sea beneath my feet. I’d forgotten just how much I loved sailing until now.”
Keep scratching, Frumpkin thinks. He resettles himself against the rough wood of the deck, tail flicking back and worth. Fjord-drowned-thing lets out a soft huff of laughter.
“There’s nothing quite like it,” he says. His eyes are distant, old and other in a way that Frumpkin is intimately familiar with. “What I wouldn’t give…”
Frumpkin glances over at him. Fjord-drowned-thing has trailed off and is staring out at the blurred horizon. The sun is inching further away from Frumpkin’s back and towards the sea, resting at the bottom of the sky like a golden egg. Fjord-drowned-thing looks quietly, thoroughly entrapped by the glitter on the waves.
“It’s so easy to forget things out here,” Fjord-drowned-thing says. “The ocean is so big.”
Frumpkin hits him with his tail. Don’t forget about my scratches, he thinks. I’m right here. No need to be rude.
Fjord-drowned-thing laughs, and the spell – if that’s what it was – is broken. He reaches out to stroke a firm hand down Frumpkin, from his ears to the tip of his tail.
“I’d better go make sure Cad is going okay for dinner,” he says. He tickles Frumpkin’s ribs, but not in a mean way. His hands are gentle. “Are you going to be okay up here, all alone?”
Frumpkin gives him a disdainful look. Cats are very good at disdainful looks. Obviously. That’s what I wanted, before I was so rudely interrupted.
Frumpkin has the feeling that Fjord-drowned-thing isn’t being intimidated. Probably because Frumpkin is lying.
“I’ll go make sure that Caleb gets something to eat,” Fjord-drowned-thing says. “So you can just stay here and relax for a little while longer.”
Frumpkin gives a soft sigh and settles himself back down, skin sinking heavily over his bones. Remember to breathe, he thinks to himself. The sun is cracking open on the waves, spilling out red-and-pink-and-silver into the sky. Frumpkin watches with half-eyes and feels a deep purr well inside his chest.
Maybe just a little more, he thinks, and goes back to sleep.
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