#mel/gyendal

[iztopher]

i talk fairly often abt how much i love stella and galahad's friendship but i talk less about how fucking fascinating and interesting i find digging into stella and te'ijal's dynamic. none of my fics really focusing on their dynamic have managed to see the light of day (stella kills gyendal AU i will get to you one day) but there is so much potential there

[rhendarzon]

Fave Protag was already done on the Discord server and Mel and Rhen tied xD

So it's time for... WORST ANTAGONIST OF THE SERIES! Who do you think was the worst? In terms of motive, character, moments that made you go... wtf-seriously?is-that-why-you're-being-evil?

[satohqbanana]

Here's what I interpret as The Canon, with a focus on AV3 ships:

Mel and Edward meet, actually fall for each other. Edward does not know how to actually woo her besides flowers. Everything is happening too fast with Edward and his parents; he and Mel are not really mentally prepared to commit 100% in the near future. (Also, Stella and Edward meet; Stella develops a crush but isn't as forward with it, as she'd like to explore more about herself, her identity, and her relationships with other people.)

Edward and Mel are forced to marry. Lydia, very aware that Mel would be queen and do something about her, stops being their ally (she does not want to be a slave to the vampirekind but also she does not want to bow down to a rat as queen) and goes on with her schemes. Edward is forced to marry Lydia. Mel is wronged by Lydia in so many levels that she eventually runs to Eldrion to get away from it all (and also find the titular lost orb). Thanks to Lydia, Edward feels like he has to make up for everything that has occurred, and he is upset that Mel would rather run away than confront what occurred - more like because it's a mirror of his situation and less because he cares about her.

Mel of course meets Spook and falls for his charms, because he kinda does get her humor and POV in a way; Edward feels disturbed seeing her add another wild card to their growing pile of problems. Mel and Edward then both realize during the journey that they probably don't really "belong together"; they agree to end things properly. Doesn't mean that Edward will trust Spook though.

Spook does his grand reveal as Gyendal; Mel who has been tricked so many times over is just so done and is ready to take out her frustrations on him, which activates her powers. (The shock of having powers overpowers her disappointment from getting tricked again, and still not recovered from the shock, she just mindlessly agrees to Edward's plans of sending her to the Arishta Isles.)

After regaining her senses, Mel tricks Edward and escapes from him to hide in Harakauna under Yvette's protection, but her powers expose her anyway. Mel and Edward go to Shadwood but things are absurdly awkward between them; Edward isn't as ready to confront her or her destiny after what has occurred to them, so he dismisses her when she reveals to him that she is being called to her destiny.

Desperate for someone on her side, Mel eventually gets tricked (again.), ends up in Underfall, and becomes evil from having been tricked and abandoned so many times before. Meanwhile, Stella who also has been wronged once more by Gyendal is determined to stop him and his schemes once and for all, so she enlists Edward's help.

(Wait. How did she know Edward was in Shadwood? And how did she know she was in the Eastern Isle when she was kidnapped? Did Gyendal not know Stella would find help if he let her go now? Does he not feel vengeful towards the insect that has foiled his plans? I think it'd be better if we explored Gyendal and Stella's relationship, but unfortunately the overall lore does not allow much for that.)

Stella acts cute next to Edward to ease their nerves. He doesn't 100% appreciate the cuteness (cue the eyerolls), but he appreciates that Stella tries. They form some kind of relationship over time and he develops feelings for her, but they're mostly overshadowed by the demands of their quest.

They go on to save Mel; Edward's parents demand he marries (quick sidenote: I HC that he was told by his parents to not have girlfriends growing up, but now that he's grown suddenly they're pressuring him to find a wife and he is 100% not prepared to do that). Edward very awkwardly skirts around the issue with Stella, before awkwardly offering her marriage. They marry.

Then, Mel goes back to Arishta Isles to continue her training because she does not want to accidentally use her magic for evil again. She meets Lars VIII and thinks he's too dumb to trick her in any way, so she agrees to marry him.

The end.

[aveyondwinterexchange]

No Capes!

Well if you are expecting a dark fic or anything related, I’m afraid you have come to the wrong place. What do you want from me? I’m a fruit. 

But if you have come for fluff and humor, I believe this little story will suffice.

For Queen-of-ice101, who probably didn’t think I would actually write this but clearly she should not have underestimated me because here we are. I regret nothing.

________________________

Actually they had been getting along fine for weeks before that. According to all credible sources this was due to the agreement they had established between them. (Some less credible sources, i.e. Yemite, babbled about it having something to do with neutrality and the position of the stars, et cetera, et cetera, blah blah blah, Mel fell asleep at this point and was late to breakfast as usual even though she was the only one eating.) 

This “agreement” consisted of Gyendal promising not to call Mel by any disgusting diminutives, like “lamb” or… just lamb, really. (At least he never called her “succulent chopstick.” That would be… ew.) And Mel had agreed, with great reluctance, to refrain from bringing up all the times she had bested him in battle, or the fact that the world had yet to be plunged into eternal darkness, or that those contemptible orbs were destroyed, and—

Well, the point is her portion of the agreement was of a significantly greater length than was his. And Mel was of the highly controversial opinion that this was so not fair.

And that is why one particular day, after what seemed an eternity of what Te'ijal described as wedded bliss and Galahad most eloquently called “heck,” Mel finally took the opportunity to do what she had wanted to do from the moment the agreement had been established. It happened while she and Gyendal were coming back from a long day of Aislday shopping— which had been Te'ijal’s idea, and Mel suspected originally it was Galahad’s idea but the vampire paladin would never admit it— but anyway she and Gyendal were coming back from it, and Gyendal was walking in front of her down the hall, and his red, red cloak was billowing out behind him dramatically. And intimidatingly. Maybe even a little alluringly. Alluring, that is, in a way that made Mel walk a little faster and lift her booted foot a bit higher off the floor than she might have otherwise.

She couldn’t stop herself, the idea was too enticing to abandon. She caught up to the billowing scarlet cloth, finally, and she lifted her foot and stepped— on— his— cape!

“Argh!” Gyendal yelled, his arms flailing out to prevent his inevitable fall—

Actually apparently his fall was evitable because, it didn’t happen.

“Lam— Mel!” he protested, whirling to face her. “What do you think you are doing?”

Mel refrained from cackling— she’d picked up the habit from the witches who traveled through Ghed'ahre selling curses. Yemite loved curses, Mel liked Yemite well enough she supposed, stuff happened. But anyway, Mel did not cackle at this time.

“I’m just walking!” she said innocently, widening her eyes at him.

Gyendal shot a glare at her, but then turned around and continued down the hall.

He was letting it go! Ha! And Professor Gray thought she couldn’t lie!

Mel smirked to herself, and then—

And then.

She did it again.

Or she tried to, but suddenly the red, red cloak was swished away and instead she was staring up into red, red eyes that were a tad bit too murderous for her to really feel very comfortable.

“Mel,” he said, very slowly and distinctly and as though what he actually meant was I will kill you and not regret it remotely. He leaned towards her until she could feel his breath on her face, and he hissed, “Stop. Stepping. On. My. Cape.”

If she shook it certainly wasn’t out of fear. It was just that his breath was cold. Also, he pronounced his p’s with a careful pop and it was… funny.

“You know,” she began with great indifference, popping her hip like he popped his p’s and pretending to examine her nails, “you could easily solve this problem by not wearing a cape.”

She pointedly emphasized the p, and looked up to meet his red hot gaze with cool defiance.

He glared back.

She blinked and went back to her nails.

“Honestly, it’s ridiculous,” she informed him. She didn’t have to look to know his scowl was deepening and his eyes were sharpening to two red points like the ends of twin poisoned daggers. “It drags on the floor everywhere you go.” She pretended not to notice his building rage. “It has to be inconvenient. I bet it gets in the way of every simple thing you try to do.”

“It’s an intimidation strategy!” he protested, waving his arms angrily. “It heightens the drama!”

“In fact,” she continued as if she hadn’t heard him, “I bet if you didn’t insist on always wearing such a pompous piece of cloth, you wouldn’t have lost all those battles so miserably.”

She had said it. Her end of the agreement was broken. Galahad would be ashamed. So would Stella, and Edward, and Ulf and so many others. But Te'ijal would laugh, and Mel would laugh with her. And Gyendal…

Gyendal.

Could vampires self-combust? He looked like he was strongly considering doing so, regardless. He had his arms folded across his chest, his hands clenched into fists so tight she could see his lifeless veins sticking out from parchment-white skin.

“Just think of it,” she said, now smirking at him. “All your grand plans of eternal night and world domination thwarted by your poor fashion choices.”

Surely that was the proverbial last straw. He would begin raging any moment now. If she was lucky he would kick that stupid vase she had been trying to get rid of for months, and then she could be free of the vase and that cursed agreement.

But… he wasn’t kicking that vase. He wasn’t raging at her. He wasn’t even glaring anymore, he was smiling. Actually smiling! Why was he smiling at her?! Great, she had broken her husband–

“I suppose that is an interesting point,” he hissed softly. And then, a mere breath later, “Lamb.”

“Gyendal!” she squawked, feeling herself flush a bright angry shade of pink. “You promised!”

But he just grinned wickedly and winked, he actually winked. That was it. He was broken. She had broken him. She had only meant to irritate him, not drive him out of his mind! There was only one thing to do.

She must irritate him further.

With one quick movement, she grabbed the ends of his cape and wrapped them tightly around him— she had always been rather good with knots— and she pushed him against the wall and pulled his head down so she could glare into his eyes and be sure he understood the full magnitude of her undiminishable rage. And as much as she was concerned for him, she was full of rage; after all, he hadcalled her lamb.

“Why don’t you say that to my face?!” she shouted to his face.

“I did say it to your face! Lamb!”

Again! She had asked for one thing, that was all. She opened her mouth to retaliate. “I am not a baby sheep— mmph!”

His cold disgusting lips were moving over hers and this was greatly injust and also greatly concerning—

“Mel,” he breathed against her mouth, and never mind about the other thing, here was the least fair and most unsettling thing that had happened that evening and even that month—

“Let’s not fight,” he continued in the same low voice. “We must set a good example for my sister and her snack.”

Mel meant to roar and seethe, until Gyendal was also roaring and seething and everything was returned to its natural state. But instead she snorted, and the worst thing she could think to say was, “Her husband, you mean?”

“Whatever she’s calling him these days,” he said with a wry smile. Then he frowned (and she quickly decided she would tease him relentlessly about his pouting later, when she felt like teasing again). “I prefer to call you Lamb.”

“Well, I prefer to— to—”

They say showing is better than telling, so she showed him very decidedly what she preferred, which was—

Well, I am quite embarrassed to tell you, and I suspect Mel will repay me rather unpleasantly for my divulgence, but if you must know, and if you promise to exchange all the fluff for this invaluable information, I am willing to risk it.

You see, what the former Miss Mel Darkthrop preferred, was to be called Mel Ravenfoot, and to press her lips soundly against those of Mister Ravenfoot (who preferred to be called Lord Ravenfoot, thank you very much, you miserable mortal), and to live in perfectly happy wedded heck for the rest of her absurdly unfair life.

Thank you very much, the end.

@mu11berry‘s gift for @queen-of-ice101

[daeva-agas]

Some old art from 2011

If you zoom in to that first panel you can see the lines are all wobbly because I free-handed that. No rulers. Even today I’m still terrified of using ruler when working with wet ink and manga pens fff. How do pros manage it?

[queenrhenpendragon]

I made a liptstick kiss series cuz I WANTED TO!! It’s called Maybe it’s Mabel (you know, the uppity vampire with the house on the hill. She owns a lipstick brand now). There are stories in the works to go with each that I’ll put links to in reblogs:)

[snowsheba]

finished aveyond 3-3. i am emotional. thoughts under cut

characters

mel it is astonishing to me how consistent she is throughout these games. she's not written particularly well in the first place, so the fact that it neither improves nor gets worse is really impressive!

i thought it was very funny how quickly she and edward fell back into sniping at each other. i can't even conceive of them as friends because mel is such an asshole. if anything the only reason they get along is because they've kept each other alive during their adventures, which is a bond that only breaks when there's no more fighting to be had.

lydia her in-game motivations make absolutely no sense. i really liked her in 3-2, but in 3-3 she's a caricature of herself. disappointing to be sure!! like if in 3-2 they had had her talk about how she wants to rule i'd get it, but in 3-2 she was mostly concerned about edward dying out there. and yes you can twist that into some convoluted "it's foreshadowing!" section but come on. really guys. really.

stella stella come back i miss youuuuuuuuu

i wish she had more screentime here. i think it's pretty telling that one of the only poc characters we play (at least visibly poc) is shunted off to the side. (not to mention how they lighten her skin in her dialogue avatar. sigh.)

edward he's the king and he fucked off and let lydia do her thing. we love a colossally stupid man who does no research into how to annul a marriage. LITERALLY the stupidest prince/king alive.

i like at the end he finally decides to get going and do his job but like sir. you ran off during your coronation to help your friend? what about your WIFE. (because i had him marry stella.)

ulf he deserves a peaceful apprenticeship in animal town. you go, ulf. you had more lines in 3-3 than you did in 3-2, and you were with the party for a section that lasted less than 20 minutes. then he came back for another 10 minutes, but hey, it's something! i actually fought with him for a bit!

te'ijal (and galahad) i did not read as many letters as i should have, but every single one broke my heart into a million tiny pieces. i'm so SAD for you, te'ijal! by far her letters were the best written thing in the game because of how heart-wrenching they were in their simplicity. ARGH

june i went from 0 to 100 with june between starting and finishing this game. i think the fact she's 14 years old is WILD to me. what the fuck! get this girl into school! she literally DIED on this quest because sometimes i fucked up the fights and she's FOURTEEN!

i think there's something very cute about how she likes to keep track of how much of something you've done. she will count everything. shields. pixies. whatever. she'll count it for you. good for you, june.

yvette she is myst lite. i can see how they took yvette's base and made myst. i desperately wish yvette was more unhinged than she already was.

i do think her way of speaking, as well as the fact she often was giving explanations, was a nice touch. she's a local and she knows the area(s) better than anyone!

spook i'll admit the game got me with this one LOL. the writing in general is Not Great so i was like "oh a character without a real reason or motivation who wants to get it on with mel? sure. seems reasonable" and just rolled with it.

the primary issue was that since i had edward marry stella, edward being jealous was really fucking weird, so i didn't even think twice about it. shows what i know! they really hit it hard at the end. although why would gyendal say he's done the whole route dozens of times if he hadn't been able to get into the cave before?? that part didn't make sense to me i mean, seriously.

can we also take a moment and think about how gyendal's plan to get mel to do stuff is to... join her party and try to get it on with her? like. that is his first plan. he could've just sat and waited. like. he COULD have just not done anything. i think about this very often.

story

sincerely i don't see the point of saving your game in 3-2 if the only thing that's kept the same is whoever edward proposed to. it doesn't even really matter: the game is slanted to having mel being the scorned wife even if she wasn't the one who was supposed to get married, and it makes everything really stiff and awkward.

THAT SAID. i am grateful there were less characters for me to focus on - that made a much more compelling narrative. the side quests felt much more fleshed out in this chapter than the other two so far, and i feel like i actually remembered things about each town and its locals. it Felt Right. it Felt Good. the vibes were exquisite for each place and you could tell the effort they'd put in to give each area a personality. i genuinely love that very much.

i do think the big twist at the end is kind of lame, but like, they DID get me with it, so that's on me.

gameplay

oh my god they finally made the quests clearer and with more instructions. i screamed when i saw they put the location of the quest in parentheses next to each name or whatever. thank GOD. it made the game SO much easier to manage (and more efficient in terms of completing several quests at once).

i never was a huge fan of the aveyond 4 battle format (kind of hard to see each icon) so i'm not thrilled to see it here, but it's also really fun to see how each game slowly builds on itself to create the next.

also i didn't know this until i looked up a walkthrough, but i skipped an apparently pretty big quest in peliad where you set leopold up. i was wondering why the fuck i learned trapping the whole time i played, so i looked it up and it turns out... you set leopold up. which i never did. and yet when stormbend's tavern keeper was like "i wanna retire!" leopold was already out of business. SUPER weird. i'll try to replicate it on my next playthrough, i think.

conclusion

literally was like "meh" at the start and then INTENSELY invested by the end. this is probably my favorite chapter so far. like the other two i was like "these are good" but i finished this one and was like. man. i really feel connected and at home with this one.

i'm immediately jumping to 3-4. HOW DOES IT END!!!

[aveyond-references]

Interview with Edward Pendragon (The Lost Orb)

TLDR: In the interest of preserving and sharing a fun bit of fandom history, I’m reuploading the pre-Aveyond 3 release interviews originally posted on the Amaranthia Forums. Shoutout to Specter for being the one to save them from the deleted Amaranth blog.

Here’s the pre-The Lost Orb Interview with Edward.

Originally posted by shaz on December 26, 2009 as “Interview with Edward Pendragon."

Prince Edward was kind enough to spend some time with me today, to discuss events that have occurred since Gyendal was defeated.

Prince Edward, it's nice to see you again. Thank you for your time today. That's okay. But you probably shouldn't call me Prince now.

No, of course not. A great deal has happened since you returned from Ghed'ahre. Yes. The wedding, the coronation, my parents retiring.

Gyendal? Yes, Gyendal escaped. We don't know how, but we know he's after Mel. Thankfully, Ulf and I found her first.

What does your wife think of you leaving your responsibilities in Thais and going on this quest? Lydia?!

A sound comes from Edward's throat. It could be a growl ... or a sob.

Things are ... complicated ... with Lydia. And Mel. As soon as Gyendal is behind bars again, we'll go back to Thais and sort everything out.

I see you have several new companions. I wanted to ask you about Spook. Edward frowns.

Did I say something wrong? Spook is a thief. I don't know what his intentions are, but I don't trust him.

He seems ... interested ... in Mel. Do you think you might just be a little jealous? Jealous? Maybe. This is not a good time for anyone to be seeking Mel's attention. She has enough to cope with already, with Gyendal and this missing orb.

Well, thanks for your time, Prince ... er ... Edward. Good luck on the rest of your quest. Thanks. I think we'll be needing a lot of that.

And so ends our interview with Edward Pendragon. I have requested interviews with June, Yvette and Spook, but as yet have not had responses from any of them. At least I know where to find Stella and Ulf, so we'll have another interview for you next week.

[mu11berry]

If Gyendal had cat ears and Mel was there to laugh. You're welcome

[zenqyuf]

playing aveyond the lost orb makes me think that gyendal might have a real crush on mel despite him revealing that it's a part of his evil plan.

[ghedahrianvampress]

So, this is a gift for @queen-of-ice101. I know she loves MelXGyendal, and she loves it when Mel calls Gyendal by the nickname ‘raven’, so I figured, why not have a raven perch on Gyendal’s head. I can imagine Mel is laughing her head off, or will be soon. 

[iztopher]

hey everyone! trying to decide if i'm going to join yuletide 2022 or not - wanted to pass it on in case anyone else wanted to join! if i do, it will of course, be via the aveyond fandom. people are submitting aveyond games separately (which worked out great last year) and nominations are closing soon, so here's whose been nominated already if you want to add to the list:

Ahriman's Prophecy: Talia Maurva, Devin Perry, Alicia Pendragon, Frederick

Aveyond 1: Rhen, Lars, Dameon, Elini, Pirate John, The Oracle, Militant Squirrels, Lionel

Aveyond 2: Ean's Quest: Ean Okho, Iya Tiki, Nicolas Pendragon, Ava One Eye

Aveyond 3: Orbs of Magic: Mel, Stella, Te'ijal, Galahad, Gyendal, Yemite, Uma, Nox

Aveyond 4: Boyle, Myst, Robin, Rowen

You don't have to join to nominate, but the more people who join, the more fun it will be! To find out more (trying to make sure this still shows up in the search so I'm not including it directly), look up "Yuletide 2022 Archive of Our Own"!

[satohqbanana]

Things that should be fics but somehow aren't:

The part where Mel points out that Edward's only real flaw as a person is that he lets Lydia walk all over him

The part where Mel looks at the stars and remembers that Edward once named one after somebody

The chance moment in which Mel decides not to buy a big mansion for her party because she'd rather invest the money elsewhere, so now her party is stuck trying to fit themselves in her very quaint apartment

The part where Stella realizes that though she has dear memories of her life as a Naylithian, none of the Naylithians know about her or even cared enough to look for her when she disappeared

The what-if wherein Ed decides to have Ulf study the human language and Ulf becomes a very useful diplomat between Thais and the Orc Kingdom

The what-if wherein Lydia actually develops her character and doesn't degrade back into her villainess ojou-sama self

The part where Gyendal as Spook still shows evidences of being a vampire, such as being very sensitive to light and getting shocked at having someone stare back at him in the mirror

Anything inspired by Ed and his other selves in the mirrors of lies

Anything that interprets Nox, Uma, and Mel as an actual real family who love each other so dearly they'd rewrite history for each other

Anything Gyendal/Stella

[aveyondrants]

Aveyond 3 Ending (spoilers)

I know this has been discussed over and over again (at least I think so) but wth?! In TLO you suddenly get the chance to have another pairing for Mel, and since Edward was the only option before, it’s really interesting to have Spook around! I didn’t really support it at first but even though I didn’t WHY THE THREW ALL THE ATTRACTIONS POINTS IN OUR FACES AND THEN– NO, NO, NO DEAR NO SPOOK/MEL PAIRING AND CERTAINLY NO GYENDAL/MEL PAIRING! And then Mel discovers magic and poof! The end!

(∩｀-´)⊃━━☆ﾟ.*

(it annoys me so much)

~Rodania, crazy lars fangirl

[daeva-agas]

I’m having major nostalgia moments...

These two idiots were the last ship I was seriously invested and participated in before I fell into the otome world, so they still had long-lasting effects in many of my newer stuff.

Gyendal looks prettier than I intended him to be here, pfft. I just wanted to make him look younger than I used to draw him since IIRC Te’ijal was like 31 when she turned, so I figured Gyendal is probably around the same age-ish and shouldn’t look TOO old. 

And Mel is just... Mel. Sometimes I wonder what’s with her ribbon, you know. Mel doesn’t seem to like to dress up, so wouldn’t it make more sense for her to have a plain headband or something? Maybe it’s a sentimental memento, or maybe like a badge of achievement (the first item she stole or something).

[queenrhenpendragon]

Had a lil gift exchange with some friends and made this for @queen-of-ice101 !