Treasure Hunt

Aster vividly nodded to the other boy, he understood the need to be quick about this mission and he didn’t want to get the other intro troubles, after all, it wasn’t everyday he had the chance to play around with someone his age too. He usually worked with people way older than him and playing was totally out of the question back at the Faculty, it was a chance he wouldn’t let pass him!

Lifting his little fists in the air, he grinned at Richard, a proud expression on his face. “Sir, yes sir! I am ready when you are. Just show me the way!” The word treasure always made him pumped up for anything.

Admittedly Richard didn’t know what had brought his playmate to the castle; if anything he was surprised to find that he wasn’t stiff or formal like most kids his age were. He had been so relieved, and while Richard had been a bit hesitant at first, the other seemed honest and trustworthy and soon they were talking about all sorts of ‘grand adventures’. 

“All right,” Richard nodded once, a playful seriousness falling over his face. He glanced around the corner, carefully hidden by one of the many statues that lined the hall. “The coast is clear, lets go. Remember, we can’t let them see us!”

            what it seems like little whines escape from his mouth as his brain fights                to dignify it with a response. richa was not being fair. emil is preeeetty                certain that he eats those vegetables only because he likes it. he could                not imagine why else can he tolerate that… thing on his tongue.                 ❝nnn…nu. richa shh!❞                 he tugs onto the shirt more, trying to halt him from hypnotising him into                 eating those gross food. instead, he drags him out of the room, wobbling                 on his feet towards the garden whereby they can play instead.

Richard could help but giggle even if he was trying not to laugh. It still took some getting used to, after all Emil didn’t look that much younger than he did, but since he’d lost all his memories, he needed the attention that a two or three year old might. Unfortunately it seemed that few were willing devote to him that time save the the now older prince. 

“Alright, lets go play for a bit,” he conceded, following along the familiar path to the garden. In the time since he’d arrived Richard was slowly learning Emil’s non verbal cues and could often guess what he might be after where others could not discern his gestures. “But afterwards you have to eat a proper supper.”

Transparent Cheria! Feel free to use.

          ❝eeeeh…❞              clearly he does not agree with the concept of eating ‘healthy food’.              whenever he hears that particular word, a plate of vegetables, fruits              and many other bland nourishment will be placed under his nose.              often he attempts to circumvent eating those by piling them on              richard’s plate while he isn’t perceptive ( but it never worked ! )               the child makes a face and curls his tiny fists into the hem of the              prince’s shirt.              ❝eeeew.❞

“Don’t be like that, not all healthy food is bad. The cooks work really hard to make the food tasty so it’s important not to be rude and to eat it even if it isn’t your favourite.” Despite his love of natto Richard was open to trying most anything, making an exception only when he was suspicious that food not the only thing on the plate. He was slowly growing used to the peculiar tastes that accompanied poisons.

“Besides, if you don’t eat lots of different food, you’ll never grow big and strong. You don’t want to stay short forever, do you?”

            his scrunched up face betrays all sign to not heed the prince’s words.               he believes himself to be durable, formidable to be taken down by a                mere indulgent in cookies. so, he whines.                 ❝richaaaaaa.❞ 

“You can whine all you’d like but I’m not helping you get any, you had too many earlier,” Richard insisted. Somewhere along the way he had taken up the responsibility of caring for the younger without even realizing it. 

“If you eat nothing but cookies you won’t grow up big or strong.” Emil was a bit old for that particular tactic, but given his mental state it seemed appropriate to the older prince. “You have to eat healthy things too!” 

Nato was healthy, right?

           ❝…oops.❞           the bump on his head says it all. during his quest in obtaining the delicious             chocolate chip cookie, he misses his footing and was hurled to the floor.

Richard let out a sigh, knowing the answer before he asked.

“It’s not ‘oops’. You can’t have any more until after you’ve eaten your supper, you know that,” the older scolded gently. “You’ll give yourself a stomach ache if you eat too many.” 

            ❝riii-chaaaa.❞

“You don’t look very good. What happened? You didn’t get into the cookies again did you?” 

the-king-of-the-wind

       ❝young master, your father wishes you to meet your new sibling                                                                           his name is emil.❞            the young noble, seeming no more than ten, is glancing around his            surroundings with wide-eyed wonder. his feet are wobbly, having             only some time to learn how to walk after it was realized that his            memory loss stretches beyond flashbacks. his escorts were all            murdered by assassins and his identity was only confirmed through            photographs and noble parents too desperate to harvest the profits            off selling their child.              ❝his carriage was under attacked and he lost his memory as a result.❞

Richard had been told, of course, of the boy that was being brought into their family. He didn’t understand why no matter how many times they explained it. It was a superficial reason, one that didn’t make sense and thus probably wasn’t the truth. Why was this boy really here?  Was he supposed to be Richard’s replacement? Had his father finally given up on him completely so he went looking for another prince? 

Emil. Richard hadn’t been told his name until now. He didn’t know what to make of him, staring blankly around, but he had been taught above all else, no matter his thoughts he needed to act like a prince. He needed to mind his manners. Maybe now more than ever. 

“Hello Emil,” Richard spoke, trying his best to force what he thought to be a polite smile. “My name is Richard. Welcome to Barona.” 

“Attacked?” A flicker of true emotion passed across his face, of horror imagining what that must have been like, his mismatched gaze passing from the staff member back to the boy. “Amnesia?” Like Sophie? The name briefly made him seize but he shook it off, not daring to let his thoughts venture down that dark avenue. “Do you really not remember anything?” 

I hope you don’t mind that I drew kid!Richard, Kat! And thanks for sending me an ask for the meme!

Transparent Richard! Feel free to use.

Lost on the Waves | Open Starter

He watched as the blond’s demeanor changed, quickly becoming forlorn. But just as quickly, he perked up, eyes drawn to Repede. "Repede’s my partner. Don’t worry, he won’t bite." The words were said with no small amount of amusement. Repede tended to attract attention from people who weren’t all that familiar with the imperial knights. Even then, Yuri frequently got questions about how he’d managed to steal one of their dogs.

The vigilante raised an eyebrow as the kid clammed up again. A shadow fell across his face once more, and Yuri began to wonder what it was that he was holding in. "I don’t bite either," he joked.

"Lead away," Yuri responded to the offer with a grin. That, it seemed, had made the kid happier than anything else had thus far.

He gave the harbor another cursory glance, but still didn’t see the captain or any other familiar faces. Well, whatever, he thought to himself.

Still, he was amazed by how well-kept the area was. Everything seemed orderly and clean; a far cry from most ports he’d been to. He wondered if they’d have anything good here to take back to the others—Estelle would be thrilled to hear about his travels to a different land, and he knew she’d appreciate anything he managed to bring back.

"Mind telling me a bit about this place?"

Richard was glad that the stranger didn’t seem bothered that he had been staring at his… well his partner as he had put it. The prince still found himself wondering if it was some kind of dog… it looked more like the wolf monsters that the knights had to chase away from the highroads. But he was so well behanved that Richard didn’t think it would be a problem to have him in the city. If this ‘Repede’ could stay calm in a busy port, then he would behave in the city streets, right?

“Okay,” Richard nodded, but even though he was assured that Repede wouldn’t bite him, he still kept a bit of distance between them. For some reason, lately most of the dogs he crossed didn’t seem to like him very much, and if he ever tried to get close to them they’d growl and snarl. He didn’t want to take his chances with one this big. 

“Huh?” a confused blink and a tilted head rose back to the taller man. Then in spite of himself Richard laughed, a stifled sound that he tried to cover with his hand but that escaped anyway. 

“That’s good,” he finally answered, the laughter still echoing in his tone, the shadows of his thoughts falling away and for a moment he looked no more than a twelve year old boy, eyes unburdened by the invisible weight of his crown. “I don’t either! Follow me, I’ll show you where one of my favourite places to eat is,” he offered with a bright smile. “They make the best sandwiches and pastries. They even have nato!”

Just talking about it was making the young prince hungry. He hadn’t eaten breakfast at all and it had to be after lunch by now. He really really hoped that they would make him some nato on toast! It wasn’t something that they normally served, but the nice old man who ran it always made it special just for him if he would ask. It was his favourite! 

It seemed a bit curious to him that this person didn’t know much about the city. Didn’t everyone know about Barona? But if he was a beast tamer then maybe he was from Strahta. He looked like he could be dressed from there; Richard didn’t really know. Either way the man was really nice, and maybe more than that, was a welcome distraction from life at the castle. 

“This is Barona, the capital of Windor,” Richard explained as they walked, his tone bright and perhaps a bit proud. “The port is on the lowest level of the city. It stretches all the way up along the cliffs and around Gloandi,” he explained pointing to the giant glowing Valkines. “Gloandi, means ‘The Green Mother’. It’s our kingdom’s greatest treasure!” 

“What’s it like where you’re from?” the young prince asked. “I’ve never been anywhere outside of Windor before.” 

“Oh! I’m sorry how rude of me,” Richard stopped offering a small hand. “My name is Richard. What’s yours?”

Richard kid shirt

Figured I would go ahead and post the last of the Tales of Graces Qr codes that I have saved up. I have been making QR codes like mad for the last few days ^_^; i have a serious problem. Anyway, this one is Richard’s kid shirt when he meets Asbel and the gang. This one was fun to do and even looks snazzy when paired with the cavalier hat :D 

I do not own Tales of Graces I just made this for ACNL

Spent over an hour scanning and editing the fold crease and dust out of this, but it was worth it. I think everyone could use some cute bitty friendship today! Don’t you just want to pinch their cheeks?

This is the back of the poster in the February 2015 issue of Viva! Tales of Magazine featuring Asbel Lhant, Prince Richard and Sophie from Tales of Graces f. You can still order it from CD Japan!

Open Starter | "Summer Vacation"

The tone of this boy’s voice struck him as uncomfortable. Granted, he should expect someone who had gotten lost to be a bit fearful of being in a unfamiliar place without anything they recognize but something in his gut suggested that it was more than just that, even though he could not pinpoint just what that was.

Hubert tried softening his face so he would appear less intimidating to the child. He imagined his default stern expression certainly didn’t help him feel at ease.

"Are you sure? I would hate to leave you be and they are unable to reunite with you. Could you perhaps give me their names so I can assist in locating them for you?" An adult we would be more confident in letting them be on their own if they decided to not want any assistance but a minor was a completely different matter in that of itself.

"I know all too well what it is like to be so young and in a place that is so strange. I’m not native to the Strahta area but I was originally from the town of Lhant and when I originally moved here I was very scared and uncomfortable at first." he offered in attempt to comfort. Granted, their situations were different but certainly he could relate to the feeling.

When he was separated from his family and adopted by the Oswells, he knew absolutely nothing about his adoptive father nor anything about his new home, which made him extremely nervous. He barely spoke at first, except for when Mr. Oswell addressed him directly.

"You’re not a trouble at all, it is my duty as a solider to assist in any way I can to everyone. And no worries about that, I wasn’t in the middle of anything but trying to figure out where I should vacation to get away from all this heat, even if just for a little while." he shouldn’t dawdle away from his office for too long - this was only meant to be a short break to investigate possibilities for his trip - but in light of this, he thought that this was more pressing.

"I’m Hubert, by the way. Could I trouble you for your name?"

The young prince swallowed hard, caught in his own words. Names? No he couldn't give them, he didn't even know the names of the knights that were accompanying him. There were so many knights that worked for his father, and he didn't know any of these ones... it was what made him all the more nervous. There were some knights that he knew well, members of the royal guard that were assigned to him but none of them had come to Strahta for some reason. 

"I'm sure," he tried to assure the soldier. "If they're late I'll just go back to our room on my own." Yet there was a sinking feeling in his chest at that suggestion. What if... what if they had just left him here? Sailed off back to Barona and abandoned him here... no... he had to get back to Barona, he had to get back to his friends!

"Lhant?" the familiar name caught the prince's attention, wide eyes at the mention of the place that was so important to him. "You're from Lhant? My best friends are from Lhant... but I haven't seen them in awhile. But if you're from Lhant, why are you a soldier here?" 

It did make sense, when he thought about it. Even though the countries were at odds a lot, it wasn't as bad as the fights with Fendel... and even then people sometimes moved. But to be a soldier... didn't he realize that he might have to fight his old home? That was just too sad. He didn't want people to have to do that, he wanted a world where everyone could be friends!

"Hubert?" Richard tilted his head, staring almost intently at the other. How strange...  "That's the same name as one of my friends. Him and his big brother Asbel. Is it a popular name in Lhant? I'm not from there, so I wouldn't know. You actually look a lot alike, except he's only ten," the prince smiled slightly, a fondness at the thought of his friends. "Do you know him?" Perhaps they had family, an uncle or something here in Strahta. If that was the case... maybe this man really could help him. Maybe if he was Asbel's family then Richard could trust him... right?

"Oh, of course." The smile on his face vanished, hesitation overtaking his entire frame. His mind screamed at him to lie, to make up something, anything but he couldn't think that quickly. 

"It's um...." his voice hushed for the next word. "Richard." "But my friends call me Tiger Festival," he blurted quickly, hoping it was quick enough the other might miss it, or at the very least not think about it enough to recognize the name of Windor's prince. "So you can call me that if you'd like!"