Nerdy McNerdface
Hmph
Well hello dear reader! It has been a looong while since I sat down and did some writing, but ironically, I got a sudden spark while on holiday! I ended up writing a small late-night One-Shot for a game which holds an important place in my heart, The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel. It was late at night, and so I just kind of ended up writing a little ramble-esque piece for my favourite character, Jusis. I also added a little bit of heartwarming at the end as I can never resist when it comes to two characters who are really strong friends, but it wouldn’t make the fic qualify to be in the shipping section so it’s here. I hope you enjoy!
Warning: this One-Shot contains major spoilers for the first two Trails of Cold Steel games, which are certainly best experienced blind. I’d also firmly put the rating at PG lowest, and PG-13 to be safe, as I do reference trauma in there. With all that stuff out of the way, onto the One-Shot!
Evening in Bareahard
The stars look beautiful tonight.
The thought crossed his mind as he sat by the restaurant table, a rather pretty piece of work that sat on a terrace by the main road. Dusk had long since come and gone, but the streets still lit up with couples on moonlit strolls, men just a little tipsy returning from the bar singing out of tune, tourists making their way to the train station after a long day of sightseeing, and countless other people doing who-knows-what. The City of Bareahard was a noble’s city, yes, but as the evening seeped in over time, the people showed how in their heart, they were just like any other common citizen.
He knew this very well of course, with a heritage that danced the line between the two classes, but watching the typically stoic and stressed citizens let all their muscles loose and relax in the evening always made him smile. As the current Duke of the whole Kreuzen Province, he’d had many days like that himself, always rushing off to business meetings and writing paperwork, so there was something oddly heartwarming about just observing the city breathe a sigh of relief.
He looked back up at the blissfully clear sky, and closed his eyes as he let the cold December air stab and bite at his cheeks. He remembered the last time the air was this cold, what had happened on that fateful New Year’s Eve. The memory still haunted him, and sometimes he’d wake up during the night in a cold sweat from nightmares... but he still knew just how important that day had been for him, for everyone, for the whole of Erebonia and beyond. Even if he occasionally grabbed the hilt of his sword in a sudden rush of panic, waiting for the hellspawn of Gehenna to reveal itself, he understood that he took on his traumas for the sake of keeping these evenings safe, for keeping these moments of calm and fun and pure, unlimited joy safe.
He also worried about his older half-brother Rufus. Of course, he was almost certainly handling whatever he was doing fine, what with his court fencing skills and everything, but with the knowledge of just who he works for and the kind of missions he goes on, not to mention the fact that he barely even visited nowadays, a nagging feeling kept on building up in the back of his mind... at least he had Millium with him, if that was any form of comfort...
As he opened his eyes again, he let out a deep breath and saw it form vapour in the air. The vapour almost seemed to hold his worries and carry them away, as he found his chest felt much lighter, and his head clear up just a little. It was no curative for how overcrowded his mind had felt recently, but it certainly helped him to loosen up. He really did need to get a massage soon, or all the bunched up muscles in his shoulders could do something to his fighting ability.
At that moment, he remembered the drink he’d ordered, a mint and fennel herbal tea, and noticed that it had nearly gone cold. He downed the rest of it, and laughed at himself for just how unprofessional he could be, before finding his way back indoors to bay the bill.
Leaving the restaurant, he joined the now waning crowd of people letting their tired legs take them home. He saw faces, old and new, giving smiles to the ones he was closer to, letting the night air wash around him. He didn’t stick around as he wasn’t a particularly sociable person, but he did value just how kind the people he protected were to him. There were the snobs of course, who would look down on his dual heritage and sneer at how he became Duke simply because his brother took up an important position elsewhere, but he knew just how little weight their words held, and paid them no mind unless they had a valid criticism to say.
As he let the night consume him, he couldn’t help but smile one more time. His life wasn’t perfect, but he felt like he was getting by, and that was what mattered.
———————————
A girl who looked to be fourteen with short, sky blue hair wandered the back alleys, wary to not draw much attention to herself. She wasn’t that good at forcing people’s eyes away from her, and she wasn’t so sure on social etiquette herself, but she had started learning a year and a half ago after she enrolled at Thors Military Academy for a third of that, so she felt like she was just starting to grasp the idea of an “undercover mission”.
Before rounding the next corner, she halted. The dark wasn’t revealing anything, but something didn’t feel right. Fortunately, she knew where her defence stood, hidden by means she barely even knew herself. She let her back rest against the wall, careful to not make much noise, and whispered to herself... or not.
“Ok Lammy, it’s just around here. On my word, we’ll take it together!”
From there, she leapt around the corner, where the culprit revealed itself - a blue slug-like creature with a greenish-yellow concentric pattern as its face. It reared up in front of her, with an unholy shriek which thankfully didn’t pierce the silence to the extent where those outside the alley could hear it.
The girl nodded. “Now, Lammy! Hammer mode!”
A pale white hammer of unfamiliar material suddenly appeared in her hands, and before the creature could comprehend what had just happened, the girl raised the hammer high above her head, before crushing it into a blue-green pulp.
The hammer disappeared from her hands again, and the girl sighed as she leaned against the same wall she had a moment ago. Her final target defeated, it was time to report in. She found her ARCUS device in a small bag she’d clipped onto her shirt, and on it she dialled the number of her fellow Ironblood. Careful to not let herself get too excited and allow her voice to raise, she waited for the other side to pick up.
“Millium reporting in here, Rufus! The final target’s gone down! I think this small monster breakout most likely started when a few escaped from the waterways. They shouldn’t bother the streets for a while unless someone is really stupid and teases them out with Septium!”
A male voice responded to her. “You did well, Millium. I’m sure Jusis will appreciate the extra hand, even if he didn’t know we were giving it. I haven’t been able to get a chance to properly meet up with him recently, but he seems so stressed... this was just a one-off, and we’re back to the typical scouting missions from here, so don’t get used to it.”
“Oh, I know! I’m just glad I could help.”
“You always are...” There was a hesitation at the end of his sentence. “If you do happen to encounter Jusis before you leave, could you tell him to not be so straight-backed all the time? He needs a break once in a while.”
Millium grinned. Jusis has always been that that, even when they had been studying together. “Of course, Rufus! Well, I’ll catch ya later!”
With a press of a button on her ARCUS and a swift movement, the device was off and back in her bag like nothing had ever happened. As Millium left the alleyway and found herself on Artisan’s Street, she looked up at the night sky with a faint smile on her face.
The stars look beautiful tonight.
Warning: this One-Shot contains major spoilers for the first two Trails of Cold Steel games, which are certainly best experienced blind. I’d also firmly put the rating at PG lowest, and PG-13 to be safe, as I do reference trauma in there. With all that stuff out of the way, onto the One-Shot!
Evening in Bareahard
The stars look beautiful tonight.
The thought crossed his mind as he sat by the restaurant table, a rather pretty piece of work that sat on a terrace by the main road. Dusk had long since come and gone, but the streets still lit up with couples on moonlit strolls, men just a little tipsy returning from the bar singing out of tune, tourists making their way to the train station after a long day of sightseeing, and countless other people doing who-knows-what. The City of Bareahard was a noble’s city, yes, but as the evening seeped in over time, the people showed how in their heart, they were just like any other common citizen.
He knew this very well of course, with a heritage that danced the line between the two classes, but watching the typically stoic and stressed citizens let all their muscles loose and relax in the evening always made him smile. As the current Duke of the whole Kreuzen Province, he’d had many days like that himself, always rushing off to business meetings and writing paperwork, so there was something oddly heartwarming about just observing the city breathe a sigh of relief.
He looked back up at the blissfully clear sky, and closed his eyes as he let the cold December air stab and bite at his cheeks. He remembered the last time the air was this cold, what had happened on that fateful New Year’s Eve. The memory still haunted him, and sometimes he’d wake up during the night in a cold sweat from nightmares... but he still knew just how important that day had been for him, for everyone, for the whole of Erebonia and beyond. Even if he occasionally grabbed the hilt of his sword in a sudden rush of panic, waiting for the hellspawn of Gehenna to reveal itself, he understood that he took on his traumas for the sake of keeping these evenings safe, for keeping these moments of calm and fun and pure, unlimited joy safe.
He also worried about his older half-brother Rufus. Of course, he was almost certainly handling whatever he was doing fine, what with his court fencing skills and everything, but with the knowledge of just who he works for and the kind of missions he goes on, not to mention the fact that he barely even visited nowadays, a nagging feeling kept on building up in the back of his mind... at least he had Millium with him, if that was any form of comfort...
As he opened his eyes again, he let out a deep breath and saw it form vapour in the air. The vapour almost seemed to hold his worries and carry them away, as he found his chest felt much lighter, and his head clear up just a little. It was no curative for how overcrowded his mind had felt recently, but it certainly helped him to loosen up. He really did need to get a massage soon, or all the bunched up muscles in his shoulders could do something to his fighting ability.
At that moment, he remembered the drink he’d ordered, a mint and fennel herbal tea, and noticed that it had nearly gone cold. He downed the rest of it, and laughed at himself for just how unprofessional he could be, before finding his way back indoors to bay the bill.
Leaving the restaurant, he joined the now waning crowd of people letting their tired legs take them home. He saw faces, old and new, giving smiles to the ones he was closer to, letting the night air wash around him. He didn’t stick around as he wasn’t a particularly sociable person, but he did value just how kind the people he protected were to him. There were the snobs of course, who would look down on his dual heritage and sneer at how he became Duke simply because his brother took up an important position elsewhere, but he knew just how little weight their words held, and paid them no mind unless they had a valid criticism to say.
As he let the night consume him, he couldn’t help but smile one more time. His life wasn’t perfect, but he felt like he was getting by, and that was what mattered.
———————————
A girl who looked to be fourteen with short, sky blue hair wandered the back alleys, wary to not draw much attention to herself. She wasn’t that good at forcing people’s eyes away from her, and she wasn’t so sure on social etiquette herself, but she had started learning a year and a half ago after she enrolled at Thors Military Academy for a third of that, so she felt like she was just starting to grasp the idea of an “undercover mission”.
Before rounding the next corner, she halted. The dark wasn’t revealing anything, but something didn’t feel right. Fortunately, she knew where her defence stood, hidden by means she barely even knew herself. She let her back rest against the wall, careful to not make much noise, and whispered to herself... or not.
“Ok Lammy, it’s just around here. On my word, we’ll take it together!”
From there, she leapt around the corner, where the culprit revealed itself - a blue slug-like creature with a greenish-yellow concentric pattern as its face. It reared up in front of her, with an unholy shriek which thankfully didn’t pierce the silence to the extent where those outside the alley could hear it.
The girl nodded. “Now, Lammy! Hammer mode!”
A pale white hammer of unfamiliar material suddenly appeared in her hands, and before the creature could comprehend what had just happened, the girl raised the hammer high above her head, before crushing it into a blue-green pulp.
The hammer disappeared from her hands again, and the girl sighed as she leaned against the same wall she had a moment ago. Her final target defeated, it was time to report in. She found her ARCUS device in a small bag she’d clipped onto her shirt, and on it she dialled the number of her fellow Ironblood. Careful to not let herself get too excited and allow her voice to raise, she waited for the other side to pick up.
“Millium reporting in here, Rufus! The final target’s gone down! I think this small monster breakout most likely started when a few escaped from the waterways. They shouldn’t bother the streets for a while unless someone is really stupid and teases them out with Septium!”
A male voice responded to her. “You did well, Millium. I’m sure Jusis will appreciate the extra hand, even if he didn’t know we were giving it. I haven’t been able to get a chance to properly meet up with him recently, but he seems so stressed... this was just a one-off, and we’re back to the typical scouting missions from here, so don’t get used to it.”
“Oh, I know! I’m just glad I could help.”
“You always are...” There was a hesitation at the end of his sentence. “If you do happen to encounter Jusis before you leave, could you tell him to not be so straight-backed all the time? He needs a break once in a while.”
Millium grinned. Jusis has always been that that, even when they had been studying together. “Of course, Rufus! Well, I’ll catch ya later!”
With a press of a button on her ARCUS and a swift movement, the device was off and back in her bag like nothing had ever happened. As Millium left the alleyway and found herself on Artisan’s Street, she looked up at the night sky with a faint smile on her face.
The stars look beautiful tonight.
