FFXII Fic: Judge Magister Drace's Last Repose, Chapter 1 (Drace, Archadian Cast)
Obviously, the smart thing to do when you’re deadly frustrated with one series is to immediately start another. ;)
In any case this follows But That Was In Another Country and then diverges into the land of extreme AUs. Because we’ve had enough Vossler-Lives stories to make room for one of Drace (more or less…) surviving. And comments and criticisms are much appreciated, especially since I’m still not sure whether or not to continue with this strange little beginning. Am I going completely bonkers by trying to stage a black comedy in Archades…?
Also, this is for logistika_nyx. Because she encouraged me in this mad enterprise and is generally full of win and amazing. Think of this as a Valentine's Day present to her and all my f-list, really! ♥
Title: Judge Magister Drace's Last Repose, Chapter 1
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Series: Another Country
Characters/Pairings: Drace, Eventually More of the Archadian Cast
Rating: R
Summary: Dragging a dead woman back to the land of the living always has its consequences.
Note: Extremely strange Drace-Lives (…mostly…) AU in progress here.
*
When she still been certifiably among the alive and animated, Judge Magister Drace hadn’t spent much of her time thinking of what it would be like to cease living.
Part of it was due to the sheer time constraints imposed due to her duties towards an empire that fate, family and the haphazard genetic acquisition of female characteristic had led her to serve practically from her crib. As one of the preeminent judges of the greatest empire in Ivalice, there had been precious little time to waste on philosophical fripperies when there were future judges to train, foreign diplomats to entertain and feckless criminals to (mostly) reign in. And as the primary mentor to the most devious child to have been foisted on Ivalice since… well, to be frank, since his elder brother, Drace was all too keenly aware that more time had to be spent reigning her charge from unwittingly conquering half the known world than pondering the mysteries of death.
But an even larger part was surely be due to the fact that Drace had spent much of her life as a soldier and had long since internalized certain rules, marched to the beat of a martial band and learned to live by those certain strains of masochistic camaraderie that heralded Archadian society on all levels.
Doom before dishonor. Cremation before complacency. She had been made to recite those mottos as she had been ordained into her ranks but-- perhaps more than any other save Zargabaath-- she had thought that living and dying by those ideas would come by reasonably easily.
She had never wondered, though, of what would happen if she had tried to die and woke up having not successfully shuffled off the mortal coil after all.
She couldn’t open either of her eyes. She couldn’t part her teeth from her lips. She couldn’t even sense anything in the span of skin stretching from her waist down to her feet.
And even before she had quite reached conscious thought, Drace thought she knew who to blame for all of the following.
“Whore-son of a bitch,” she softly hissed, and dragged herself back to consciousness cursing.
*
Author’s Note: I probably ought to warn whatever poor souls that started reading this that this series-- if it continues-- is probably going to be a rather strange creature. It shall have many Drace monologues. It shall have many people stopping by into her room to watch her either live or die. It shall gratuitously torture Larsa, Gabranth, Zargabaath, and whatever other helpless Archadian characters I can possibly get my hands on. And it shall feature Vayne Solidor tip-toe-ing the subtle line that separates the spurned lover from the kind of lunatic that believes that dragging his younger brother off to see the death of six of said brother’s friends and allies would make a fine moral lesson for the lad.
In other words, it’s meant to be a rollicking black comedy. And I have no idea if I can pull it off or even it can even be done plausibly-- let’s wait and see.
In any case, there might be a new installment ahead in-- hmmm-- maybe two weeks? Do let me know what you think. I’ve got a definite beginning (see above) and ending for this series but I’m not quite sure what will come in between…
In any case this follows But That Was In Another Country and then diverges into the land of extreme AUs. Because we’ve had enough Vossler-Lives stories to make room for one of Drace (more or less…) surviving. And comments and criticisms are much appreciated, especially since I’m still not sure whether or not to continue with this strange little beginning. Am I going completely bonkers by trying to stage a black comedy in Archades…?
Also, this is for logistika_nyx. Because she encouraged me in this mad enterprise and is generally full of win and amazing. Think of this as a Valentine's Day present to her and all my f-list, really! ♥
Title: Judge Magister Drace's Last Repose, Chapter 1
Fandom: Final Fantasy XII
Series: Another Country
Characters/Pairings: Drace, Eventually More of the Archadian Cast
Rating: R
Summary: Dragging a dead woman back to the land of the living always has its consequences.
Note: Extremely strange Drace-Lives (…mostly…) AU in progress here.
*
When she still been certifiably among the alive and animated, Judge Magister Drace hadn’t spent much of her time thinking of what it would be like to cease living.
Part of it was due to the sheer time constraints imposed due to her duties towards an empire that fate, family and the haphazard genetic acquisition of female characteristic had led her to serve practically from her crib. As one of the preeminent judges of the greatest empire in Ivalice, there had been precious little time to waste on philosophical fripperies when there were future judges to train, foreign diplomats to entertain and feckless criminals to (mostly) reign in. And as the primary mentor to the most devious child to have been foisted on Ivalice since… well, to be frank, since his elder brother, Drace was all too keenly aware that more time had to be spent reigning her charge from unwittingly conquering half the known world than pondering the mysteries of death.
But an even larger part was surely be due to the fact that Drace had spent much of her life as a soldier and had long since internalized certain rules, marched to the beat of a martial band and learned to live by those certain strains of masochistic camaraderie that heralded Archadian society on all levels.
Doom before dishonor. Cremation before complacency. She had been made to recite those mottos as she had been ordained into her ranks but-- perhaps more than any other save Zargabaath-- she had thought that living and dying by those ideas would come by reasonably easily.
She had never wondered, though, of what would happen if she had tried to die and woke up having not successfully shuffled off the mortal coil after all.
She couldn’t open either of her eyes. She couldn’t part her teeth from her lips. She couldn’t even sense anything in the span of skin stretching from her waist down to her feet.
And even before she had quite reached conscious thought, Drace thought she knew who to blame for all of the following.
“Whore-son of a bitch,” she softly hissed, and dragged herself back to consciousness cursing.
*
Author’s Note: I probably ought to warn whatever poor souls that started reading this that this series-- if it continues-- is probably going to be a rather strange creature. It shall have many Drace monologues. It shall have many people stopping by into her room to watch her either live or die. It shall gratuitously torture Larsa, Gabranth, Zargabaath, and whatever other helpless Archadian characters I can possibly get my hands on. And it shall feature Vayne Solidor tip-toe-ing the subtle line that separates the spurned lover from the kind of lunatic that believes that dragging his younger brother off to see the death of six of said brother’s friends and allies would make a fine moral lesson for the lad.
In other words, it’s meant to be a rollicking black comedy. And I have no idea if I can pull it off or even it can even be done plausibly-- let’s wait and see.
In any case, there might be a new installment ahead in-- hmmm-- maybe two weeks? Do let me know what you think. I’ve got a definite beginning (see above) and ending for this series but I’m not quite sure what will come in between…