#theresia became champion!

[blobbei-art]

Ghost type trainer Kasifer!

He was a gym leader on his way to become champion but got a lot of media coverage and spontaneously retired because of it. Now he's happy tending to a Pokemon graveyard!

#oc #kasifer #my art #art #pokemon #chandelure #litwick #pokemon au #he was based on a chandelure originally so obviously thats his ace/signature pokemon #he doesnt do fights as much anymore but hes still not rusty and since hes also kinda known in his region #the vibe is walking in on cynthia in that resort in black/white #theresia became champion! #ocs

[paintsflowers]

the only word that could describe the look on his siblings' face was  devastated.  claude had been outside when the messenger and come and while he had hurried to the main hall, he had come too late to hear the news --- though one glance at the familiar faces of the others told him that whatever news the man had brought, it had not been something anyone had wanted to hear.

déodat was quiet and motionless, something that looked strange and wrong on him, but he slowly turned his head to face claude, despite his attention never leaving his twin. “ it's johannes, ” he said.  prince  johannes, he meant, but this went without saying; king johannes was awaiting his burial in the capital. “ he ... has died. ”

slowly, the weight of déodat's words reached claude. their prince, their friend was no more. and as everyone around him was not just sad but also consumed by underlying fury, it was not hard to guess that johannes had not died in an accident. the risk of assassination was, of course, a constant hazard for any member of the royal family, but --- this felt particularly wrong. johannes was ---  had been  a good man. honourable, diligent. the kind of man that had made freya worry that perhaps, he would break under the responsibilities of a king. anyone knew that to be a good king, one sometimes had to do the bad thing for the right reason.

“ murdered. ” claude could barely speak, managed to merely say one word before he collapsed onto the nearest chair. it was --- it was impossible to comprehend, just now. impossible to think that a man he had seen alive, mere days earlier, was gone now. still, despite his own pain, he thought of the princesses and the princes, of the queen who had just lost her husband, of princess gabrielle who would have to bury her twin, only a decade after she had buried her parents. the royal family was no stranger to loss, but this loss felt particularly cruel.

the sound that left asce's throat was barely human and this made sense because no one among them, not even freya, had loved johannes as much as asce had. in the name of everything that was holy --- asce had wanted to accompany the crown prince into the feuding south the way he usually would follow johannes anywhere dangerous and he had been so frustrated when his duties had kept him in bellrose. and the heir was a knight; the thought that harm had befallen his liege while he had been away had to be more painful than words could ever express.

by the window, basil turned around to look at the others --- and claude nearly flinched back; it had been many years since basil had looked like this, aflame with fury and grief alike. freya was next to him, two pale hands clinging to his upper arm, two blue eyes filled with nameless sadness. and while this picture would look wrong to an outsider, it did not feel wrong to claude. for all their fights and disagreements, for all their conflicting ideas --- when despair came, basil and freya would always present a united front. no one in the entire family was was alike as they were; thus, no one could ever hope to understand the bond that tied them to their fate.

“ murdered, ” éloi confirmed quietly, his eyes downcast and his fists clenched at his sides.

all of them loved the royal family fiercely  ( and probably more than their own lives ),  all of them wanted to see them happy and alive. this was why déodat had fought the last three royal tournaments as princess karla's champion --- because she trusted him and because he would never assume that it meant anything. this was why éloi had travelled with princess anna when she had gotten married, why he had stayed at a foreign court for two months before coming home. this was why freya had agreed to go to the capital and  fight  other noblewomen for the honour of becoming the crown prince's wife --- not because she had wanted the crown but because she had wanted to make sure that whoever would be the lucky one was someone the kingdom could rely on.

for them, ianthe would always come first. whether they could admit it or not, they were all used to putting country and crown first. even if it cost them relationships, even if it meant dealing with the resentment and the envy of other nobles. ianthe was their priority. they all would put the royal family first, before their own ambitions, before their own happiness, but freya and basil nearly matched their father in their dedication, a dedication that bordered to devotion. asce, too, though he had only ever been fully dedicated to johannes  ( and maybe princess eleanor )  as they had been friends from birth almost, having sworn oath upon oath, always vowing that he would protect them and their interests. the rumours that asce would cast away his title to join the kingsguard as soon as johannes became king had been a rumour the family had never commented on, but claude had always thought that it would not surprise him if it came to this. 

( especially considering that for most his life, people had told asce that basil would be better suited to the responsibilities of their father's title. )

by the window, there was movement as basil steered their sister to the nearest bench, gently pushing her to sit down, to rest. “ my heart breaks for the queen, ” freya said softly. from anyone else, it would have been a meaningless phrase. from freya, someone who hated their mother just as much as they all did, it was genuine sympathy --- and her best attempt at empathy in many weeks. the queen was a woman freya did not respect for her title, she was someone the youngest rosen respected because there was more strength hidden beneath all the silk than most expected. “ this has to be killing her. ”

silently, claude agreed. the idea of a loving mother who respected her children's choices was something he and his siblings were only familiar with because they had observed the way other mothers treated their children. their own mother was widely incapable of genuine affection, after all, and if she tried, she only made everyone very nervous. but queen cordelia? nothing about the way she had cautioned her children when she had been worried for them had ever felt like an act. 

within his family, queen cordelia was a beloved figure because she had been the one who had saved ianthe from the ugly reality that would have come to fruition had an all-too-ambitious noblewoman by the name of audierna vos won the late king's heart and out of all the people who lived in the country, claude and his siblings knew best how bad such a reality would have been for the country and its people. king johannes had not needed a queen who knew how to play the game of high politics, he had not needed someone who blindly supported him. he had needed an equal. in cordelia doren, he had found the companion he had needed.

freya had not cried, not yet, but claude knew his sister far too well; she would cry at night when the wind would drown out the sound of her sobs. he knew because with one look, he could tell that this night, all of them would weep for the friend, for the prince they had lost. and in the morning, they would rise and wash off their faces before putting on their masks, reminding themselves to show strength, to  be  strong for those who would had been hit even harder by this vile, vile murder.

“ this means, ” basil said as he looked away from their sister, a grim expression falling over his face, “ that tess---  theresia  will be queen, no? ”

asce nodded slowly, his own expression mirroring basil's, but it was freya who spoke, her voice bordering to hysterical which was all wrong because freya was usually calm in the face of tragedy. “ i'll tell mother one thing, ” she said, her voice sharper than knives and utterly venomous, “ that i will not marry theresia. ”

no one would expect her to, but her words reminded claude of something and, judging from their sudden flinches, his brothers had realised the same thing: freya would no longer be pressured to marry into the royal family by their mother as johannes was dead and peter was too young, but now,  they  would be expected to woo theresia.

#rosen family vc: in this house‚ we love johannes severin ii #narration tag #death tw #* i . ≺ narration ≻ #* ii . there are many names in history but never mine‚ oh‚ never mine. ≺ royal ≻