me throughout the whole fic:
Never Loud, Never Quiet
Characters Featured: Victoria Shard || Heartslabyul AU! Noriko Dolion (@terrovaniadorm)
Others Featured: Riddle Rosehearts, Keres Perrault, Deuce Spade, Elara Cessair, Jade Leech, Malleus Draconia (mentioned)
Pairing: Victoria Shard x Noriko Dolion
Synopsis: In which Noriko genuinely can't stop talking about a certain fae from Pomefiore.
Warning(s): Spoilers(??) for a specific main story, subtle literally just one hints towards 「 Twisted Wonderland: Project AVA 」, Noriko is a simp, Victoria unintentionally enables their clownery, Elara, Malleus is his own warning /j /j
[ Apologies for any out of character moments ]
[ Reblogs > Likes ]
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“For seven's sake, Noriko, pay more attention to painting the roses, you're distracting your underclassmen…”
“Apologies, housewarden.”
Riddle sent Noriko a look of clear, potent, exasperation. Holding his scepter in his hands, he lightly tapped Noriko's back with its blunt end.
“I understand your admiration for Miss Shard, she is a well-accomplished diplomat,” Riddle sighed. “However-”
“Lady Victoria's actually much more than a well-accomplished diplomat, housewarden Rosehearts,” Noriko finished painting one rose and proceeded to paint the next. “In fact, she's an officially licensed knight. Did you know she was officially knighted by the Queen of the Queendom of Roses at just the age-”
“Silence,” Riddle ran a hand through his hair, making sure to be at a considerable distance from Noriko.
Keres had recently returned from running another errand from Crowley and happened to notice the fatigued expression on Riddle's face.
“Are you quite alright, housewarden?” They asked, slightly nervous yet nevertheless concerned. “You appear rather… Err…. Parched.”
Riddle exhaled, his head tilting up and breathing in the fresh air. It took about 5 minutes for him to get himself together before he could reply.
“I'm fine, Keres,” The look of exasperation on Riddle's face said otherwise.
Deuce laughed awkwardly, walking past Keres to head to tend to the hedgehog's outside of the rose maze.
“I'd suggest keeping a safe distance from a certain someone for a bit,” he mumbled to Keres offhandedly, nodding his head toward Noriko before walking off.
Upon noticing that Deuce was referring to Noriko, Keres sighed heavily.
“Suddenly everything makes sense…” They muttered. They ended up receiving another call from Crowley for another errand, and unfortunately, Keres had less time to judge Noriko than to do work Crowley didn't wanna do.
For whatever reason, Noriko had an almost disturbing attachment to Victoria Shard of Pomefiore, of all people.
The young man and Pomefiore's ‘almost housewarden’ got along incredibly well, seemingly attached to the hip. Noriko's loyalty to the woman was often considered worrying to their peers; yet they paid no mind to their opinions in regards to their loyalty.
Noriko climbed down the ladder after finishing their task of painting the roses and later received a text.
They furrowed their eyebrows. Elara…
Nuisance number 18: Come to Octavinelle, we gotta talk.
“Whatever could she want to talk about?” He huffed, putting his phone in his pocket. “It better be something noteworthy…”
༝ㅤ・ㅤ˚ㅤ。ㅤ.ㅤ⋆ㅤ꒷꒦꒷꒦ ✧̣̩⋆̩☽⋆゜【♛】
“You need to be sent to a mental institution.”
Noriko blinked. Of all things, Elara could say when they arrived at Octavinelle, that was how she greeted them.
They narrowed their eyes. “I don't quite follow,” Noriko folded their arms over their chest. “You said you wanted to talk about something, so talk.”
Offhandedly, they looked down at the ground, thinking of a certain someone. “... I have somewhere to be, later.”
Elara snorted. “Don't worry Nori-”
“Don't call me that.” Noriko shut her down in less than a millisecond.
Elara smirked, a hand on her hip. “Like I said, don't worry,” her other hand was waving around carelessly. “All I want is to discuss your little relationship with Little Miss Perfectionist.”
The blue-haired knight could recognize who that nickname was for in a heartbeat. “What about me and Lady Victoria?”
Elara's smirk widened. “Remember what I said about you needing to be sent to a mental institution? That's what I meant.”
“What does that have to do with my relationship with Lady Victoria?”
“Everything.”
“Pardon?”
Elara hummed. “What I mean is that you, Mr. Loyalty Incarnate, are obsessed.”
“I'm not,” Noriko frowned. “I am merely loyal to the woman I-”
“Love?” She cut him off, chuckling shortly after. “Don't try to excuse it as some sense of duty, Noriko. You have no obligation to serve her in the way you do.”
“We owe her,” they insisted. “After what she's done for us, for all of us, how could we not?”
“.... Fair,” but Elara shrugged. “but you can't deny that she means more to you than just someone you've sworn to protect.”
“You’re so willing to throw all of your morals for a woman who saved you? You're not devoted, you're beyond obsession.”
Noriko didn't have anything to say to that, almost as if confirming to Elara just how much they value Victoria's word over all else.
Instead of standing around to listen to Elara talking down on them, Noriko turned the other way and walked out of Octavinelle.
Elara's manner turned neutral. “That guy's just hopeless…” she scoffed.
“Elara,” Jade called out from behind her, holding a stack of paperwork that Azul presumably needed to sign. “What are you doing?”
She stared at Jade for a good minute, then let out a breath, resuming her work at the Monstro Lounge.
“Nothing.”
༝ㅤ・ㅤ˚ㅤ。ㅤ.ㅤ⋆ㅤ꒷꒦꒷꒦ ✧̣̩⋆̩☽⋆゜【♛】
“There you are.”
Victoria's smile almost undid Noriko as they walked toward where she sat in the forests of Pomefiore.
They smiled back at her. “It took me quite a while to find you…” Noriko sat on the grass beside her. “Pomefiore's forests aren't exactly easy to navigate.”
Victoria chuckled. “Apologies,” she set her book down on her lap. “I take it that it took a while to navigate your way to me?”
“You could say that.”
“Well, I suppose I must apologize for that, as well.”
“Don't be,” he chuckled slightly. “I'll always find my way to you, My Lady.”
Victoria's smile transitioned into a teasing smirk. “Oh?” She inched her face closer to his. “Is that so, Noriko Dolion?”
“Ah-” Noriko's face flushed very easily, especially around her. “My Lady… Your face is…”
Victoria giggled, pressing a kiss to the tip of their nose. “I merely jest, Nori.”
Noriko's face remained somewhat flushed, however, they leaned against the tree behind them. “R-Right…”
She leaned against their shoulder, and they let her. For her, Noriko would let her do whatever she wanted around him. It didn't matter what it was.
It never mattered what her intentions were.
“Did you have a long day?” Victoria started with simple questions. As much as she enjoyed a comforting silence, she enjoyed idle conversation just as much.
And Noriko obliged in her want for that. “You could say that,” their head rested over hers. “Thankfully, I never once ran into Diasomnia’s Housewarden on the way here.”
Noriko made sure to be careful in choosing his words when it came to mentioning Malleus; Victoria's soured bearing said as much.
“Good for you,” she let out a heavy breath. “Unfortunately, I had the displeasure of encountering him during class. We share the same classes, after all.”
“And I can't help but envy that prince for that,” Noriko grumbled. “He doesn't deserve to see your face as often as he does, My Lady…”
Victoria snorted. “You think so, Nori?”
“I know so,” Noriko replied quickly. “Malleus Draconia causes nothing but trouble for you. I want nothing to do with that man if it meant you'd be in a notably less amicable mood.”
She could only hum in response to that, feeling all the more endeared the longer her conversation with Nori lasted.
Slowly, painstakingly slowly, her hand went over theirs — lightly tracing her thumb over the back of it.
“.... Thank you, Nori,” she uttered. “For… For staying.”
Silence was — and perhaps always will be — a long-time companion for Victoria Shard. And it didn't try and leave, even during moments like this.
Her words: They sounded random. Unexpected, yet said with good intent.
Noriko knew why she'd breathed it out so suddenly. Why she'd thank him for something as little as staying with her.
But to them — to both of them — there was nothing ‘little’ about Noriko Dolion staying with her for as long as they have.
They both said nothing of it.
Noriko's hand eventually intertwined its fingers with hers, and there was the barest hint of a smile on them. On both of them.
“The honor is mine.”
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