Profile
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Who was I, before?
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He’s young. By mortal standards he’s a boy on the cusp of young adulthood and to the Fae, who live for hundreds of years and whose royals may live for thousands, he is a child. The palace walls stretch on into infinity, each door a room he won’t feel safe in. Therien knows because he’s tried all of them, each room just as stifling as the last. Gilded leaves and marble archways a constant reminder of who he is and what's expected of him. His mother calls these episodes panic attacks. His father calls them unacceptable.
The wings on his head cup the sides of his face and cross overtop his eyes, cradling him in a sort of hug that feels more constraint than comfort. The dark feathers blot out the searing light, at the very least. The etiquette teachers tell him it doesn’t look regal, that the placement of his wings are perfect to rest atop his brow like a laurel. That even his identity as a fae could be used to make him appear suited to rule. To do otherwise would be a waste.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
“Ren, breath.” The voice in front of him coos, the normally rough tenor of his closest friend so soft and careful that he almost panics more. He hadn’t realized the boy had even found him until calloused hands reach up to part his wings. Panicking blue meets the calm, mismatched gaze of Viezynine. If he weren't so busy crying right now, he might laugh. Gentle doesn't suit him.
“I’m-,” the princeling chokes on a sob. His breath is coming out heavy and fast and irregular, rendering his words hard to decipher. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please don’t tell the king.”. Like it’s the most natural thing to be more worried about what his father would think than to be concerned for himself. It does feel more important - he doesn’t understand the reason Viezynine’s brow furrows or the way the hands on his face tense for a moment.
“I won’t.” Viezynine responds with conviction. His friend is desperate to help calm him but the waves of unease make it hard to focus.
“Please. Please don’t tell him. Please don’t.” He chants like a prayer.
“Ren, I won’t.”
“Please don’t.”
Large hands tug his face up gently, forcing him to gaze directly at Viezynine’s face. He doesn’t understand why his friend looks so hesitant until the words are out in the open, settling over the two heavy and important.
“I promise I won’t.”
Wide, teary eyes stare in disbelief, letting the gravity of the words settle on his shoulders. Fae do not make promises lightly. Some spend their whole life without uttering a single one. He sniffles, a blur as he launches himself forward, arms around Viezynine’s neck and head buried in his shoulder.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
He feels.. a little bit better.
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We got here, somehow. Remind me.
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Therien was crowned on the dawn of his fifteenth birthday, utilizing his yearly visitation with the occupying queen to beg for the crown back from her occupying forces. The price was steep; she demanded he cut off his wings.
Now, his wings are a part of his crown, which contains most of and boosts his power. They still move, tethered to his emotions, but they are no longer truly his. Like living with a ghost, they're an echo of what he used to be. Sewn into the symbol of royalty.
A reminder to himself and to every citizen in the kingdom of what he is willing to do for his people.
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Who am I? Your Monarch, of course. Strange question.
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₍ ALERT ₎
The king suffers from anxiety disorder that his father never bothered to find him help for. Being surprised or snuck up on tend to set off attacks and becoming overstimulated is a rather common occurrence.
When he is overwhelmed or embarrassed his wings instinctually move to cover his eyes to block visual stimuli - a reaction he has had to re-learn to fight now that he is not entirely in control of them.
These parts of himself are carefully and thoroughly hidden.
₍ REGAL ₎
When around those he is not comfortable with his words are practiced and his every movement is calculated. His games are more subtle around those with power, pushing and pushing until he gets what he want. He is excellent in word play, knows how to avoid the truth without lying and has gotten names and promises alike with skilled enough pressure.
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₍ CURIOUS ₎
His childlike curiosity never truly died; he is easily enthralled by new experiences or information and his library is expansive. He has been known to find those of other realms lost in Fae and offer them a single chance to supply him with something he does not know in exchange for leading them back home. As a man that appreciates wit, those who have answered with facts about themselves to get off on technicality have received amicable treatment.
₍ SPITEFUL ₎
He is first and foremost a Fae and he surely acts like it. Small slights are responded to with hexes and typical Fae pranks, though usually he is too busy to do them personally. Therien will send one of his Hounds to carry them out for him, and payback is dealt with a sense of mischief than actual malice.
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Who do I know?
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MOTHER 。Alemine ៸៸ Missing
Higher ៸៸ Female ៸៸ Seelie
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His mother, Alemine, was the only of his fathers consorts that managed to birth a child and the only of them of which he can recall the face of. She hailed from the Seelie courts, coming to the Unseelie when she fled from the queen's wrath.
She would regale her child with tales of the other world and of the other courts, the only true parental figure he ever had. Alemine was driven out of his kingdom when he was twelve, set up by a rival concubine. The rival had been trying to achieve childbirth of her own and hoped that with his mother out of favor any child she produced would be named the monarch over him. When caught, she too was exiled into the forest. Neither concubine was ever seen again.
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FATHER 。King Zierrahmel ៸៸ Deceased
Higher ៸៸ Male ៸៸ Unseelie
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Ren’s father was a cold man that ruled with an iron fist with no room for love. He believed to cry was to be without worth and to show weakness was a mark of uselessness. Growing up the princeling idolized his father and constantly berated himself for not living up to the horrible, impossible standards. Even with him gone, Ren still tries to live up to them.
Zierrahmel’s downfall was challenging Queen Mierana to a game. The winner of their bet was to inherit the losers kingdom, the loser was to die by their hand.
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HOUND 。Viezynine ៸៸ Alive
Wild ៸៸ Male ៸៸ Unseelie
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Viezynine was Ren’s closest friend when they were growing up. His first love too, though he never realized it for himself. When Ren was 14 Viezynine was tricked into performing the oath of fealty by him under his King‘s prodding, bound and forced into servitude. Neither of them knew it was happening until it was already completed and though Viezynine must remain beside him by promise, their relationship never recovered.
Eventually Ren stopped trying to make ammends, putting up a wall and treating the man who used to be the closest to him like the rest of his hounds- tools meant to service the king.
HOUND 。Searil ៸៸ Alive
Wild ៸៸ Non-binary ៸៸ Seelie
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Searil took the oath of Fealty willingly to avoid the death sentence for stealing from a human who had formed a pact with one of the old King’s concubines. The man is extremely friendly and notoriously flirtatious, though the two never grew closer than required by the promise.
HOUND。Vermont ៸៸ Alive
Wild ៸៸ Male ៸៸ Unseelie
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Vermont was his father’s Hound, passing between Monarchs as each met their end.They hold little interest in one another and only ever interact when Ren has something he needs Vermont, who is a skilled spy and information gatherer, to find.
QUEEN。Mierana ៸៸ Alive
Higher ៸៸ Female ៸៸ Seelie
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Ren has only met the terrifying woman twice in his life. Once, when she first overtook the court and twice on his fifteenth birthday when he mutilated himself to earn the throne back. She holds a sort of morbid fondness for him, amused by him like a child is endeared by the struggle of a mouse they have caught in a rat trap. The affection is obviously one sided; though she has gifted him his kingdom back he rather loathes her. In respect for what has happened between them he keeps his hostility to himself.
