#pauleena

[jadeyarts]

aleena is the best take on sonics bio mom and paulie is the best take on sonics bio dad and i think that the idea of a noble hooking up with a humble pilot is narratively cool so aleena/paulie fans rise up

[dandydawdles]

As If the Stars

An Arcane Inspired Fic (Viktor/OC)

Cleo has become used to her pitches for development projects for the Undercity being rejected by the Architecture firm that she works for, but her passion for improving the lives of the less fortunate never dampens. However, when the ever famous Hextech inventors show up at her door one day, bringing with them a blast from her past, she realizes this may be the opportunity she needs to help change the world for the better…

Content Warning: Mild language

Previous Chapter

Chapter Three: The New Invention

“No offense, Viktor, but I really don’t want to think about metallurgy any more than I already have to, today…” Cleo mumbles, interrupting the ramblings of the boy across from her. The boy looks up from his notes to see her turned sideways in her seat with one knee up, resting her notebook on top of it. The position she always sat in while drawing. He frowns. “Is something bothering you?” “What makes you say that?” The girl mumbles, and Viktor rolls his eyes, quickly leaning across the table and snatching her notebook away. “Hey!” “You’ve been unusually quiet. Normally you’re the one rambling, but this past week I’ve been finding myself trying to bounce ideas off of you while you only ‘hmm’ and nod in response,” He raises a brow as he thumbs through some doodles of Hiemerdinger, along with sketches of strange buildings, seemingly made out of materials he had never seen before.

“And you were in the lecture hall earlier than usual before class - another thing that’s very out-of-character for you - speaking to Hiemerdinger. That tells me that something might have happened that you’re avoiding telling me about…” She snatches the book back from him, brows furrowed, but no actual anger radiated from behind the facial expression. “Was that what buildings in Shurima looked like?” He asks, looking at her with soft, amber eyes. She sighs, folding the notebook shut. “Ionia. They’re Ionian structures.” Viktor’s eyes widened. “Ionia! Is that one of the places you travelled, that’s amazing?! I can only imagi-“ “I’m from Ionia…” Viktor’s jaw dropped.

“I thought you were from Shurima,” He questioned, eyes filled with wonder. “No, I said I moved here from Shurima. I only lived there for a few years, and a lot of other places before that, but Ionia is where I was born.” “I can’t believe I didn’t know that,” He says, more to himself than to Cleo, before another thought enters his mind. “I… I guess you moved because of the war…” He averts his gaze as he speaks, a sudden sadness filling his chest on behalf of his friend. “Partially, I suppose…” She trails off, and Viktor retrains his gaze on her face. He watches as she stares at her hands, biting her lips, chocolate eyes glazing over with some unreadable expression. She looks him in the eyes. “Can… Can I tell you something?”

••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••

Cleo sighs, setting down her pen, eyes sore and dizzy with visions of numbers, but her paperwork for the week was done, and she could resume her model of the entresol level’s main square. She groaned, rubbing her eyes, headache threatening to rear its ugly head again. ‘Perhaps a lunchroom visit is in order,’ she thinks, eyeing her empty coffee cup, when a knock interrupts her train of thought. “Come i—” She doesn’t even finish as the door is already mid swing, a tall person stepping through the door, two coffee mugs balanced in their left hand, and they pulls the door shut behind them.

“Pauleena, today was your day off—” “I came to bring you a treat to help with the supreme hangover you probably have after last night. Although you’re the one who owes me after the… Development…” They smile smugly as they set one of the cups on the desk. “Hey, I practically handed you that win… But I’ll treat you to dinner after I get off, if that’s what you’re hoping to hear,” Cleo shoots them a thankful look, reaching for the cup, but Pauleena holds it down. “I want seafood-” “-Done-” “And-” They pulled the cup away a tiny bit more, and Cleo frowns, looking at them expectantly. “I wanna know what the hell the inventor of Hextech was doing in your office this morning! And please, tell me you didn’t look this rough when he showed up.” Cleo rolled her eyes, coffee cup finally freed from her friend’s hand.

“I guess it would have caused quite the stir behind the front desk,” the city planner chuckled, and her secretary sat. “I told you you’d regret getting me this job. Now I get to know all your secrets,” Pauleena smirks, and Cleo laughs. “But seriously, Cleo, what the hell?” “They just… Needed to borrow some resources,” Cleo shrugs, and Pauleena’s gaze grows more insistent. “A few maps, and such. Something they’re planning to introduce to the Undercity. Actually, I’m going to have to go to the Sumps a bit earlier than expected, they need the most recent data possible, so I’m going to have to get you to check the schedules for me tomorrow, if you don’t mind—“ “You’re partnering with Hextech for a project!? No fucking way…” The secretary’s jaw drops, and Cleo shakes her head.

“There isn’t anything about a partnership, Polly, I’m just doing them a favour. I don’t expect any credit,” Cleo shrugs, and her friend frowns. “Besides, I’d have to get it approved ahead of time for a full partnership, but I’m authorized to loan resources as I see fit.” Cleo chugs a few sips of coffee down as Pauleena shouts. “You’re doing work for Jayce Talis, Cleo, you need to get your name on that shit, or so help me—” “Pauleena it’s fine. And you know there’s more than one inventor behind Hextech, right?”

Polly rolls their eyes. “Whatever, you’re still doing work for them. Take advantage of it! Get some recognition on your name—” “It’s not work, it’s a favour for an old friend, I went to school with Viktor—” “JAYCE’S PARTNER?!” Polly yells and Cleo shushes them, both parties rolling their eyes at the other, before Cleo begins speaking again. “Yes, Jayce’s partner. I don’t care about getting recognition, I care about helping him out,” she sighs, telling herself that yes the first half of that sentence was true. Polly sits back, lightly biting the rim of their coffee cup in disbelief. “You’re getting them new information, right? Can I be in here when they get it?” Cleo shoots them a sassy look. “Actually, I’ve been invited to drop it off at the lab—“ “Can I come!?” “Polly!” “What?”

••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• ••• •••

Nearly a week later, Cleo is shuffling down hallways and smiling at the nostalgic effects that the halls of the Academy had on her. Her paint splattered shoes clacked against the ground in a soft rhythm as she turned down another hall, reminiscing the few times she had come to the department to meet Viktor before lunch those years ago… She shifts the tube under her arm, nervous butterflies churning her stomach. The Sump had not gone through many changes between visits, as was expected, but she had made sure to note exactly where spills were common. She finds her way over to the correct door, stopping just outside, heart racing. “You can do this…” She sighs under her breath, shaking her hand nervously before straightening out her knee-length skirt. Then, she knocked.

It was Jayce who answered the door, a charming smile plastering on his face. “Hey, Miss Cleo, I’m glad you could make it so soon,” He extends a hand, which she brings hers to meet in a handshake. “It’s a pleasure to be here, just Jayce.” He stares at her for a moment, confused, then the memory clicks, and he lets out a laugh. “I think I just figured out why Viktor has such a sharp wit. He must’ve had a lot of practice against you,” He opens the door wider, allowing Cleo to step into the room. “Are you suggesting I have the wit of a whetstone,” She jests as she passes the threshold, eyes lighting up as she takes in the view of the lab. Jayce laughs again, closing the door, when another voice calls from inside the lab.

“A wit-stone, if you will!” Cleo’s eyes find Viktor sitting on a stool by a chalkboard, and beaming at him, and he smiles back. “Welcome to the Hex-lab, Cleo.”

[ibutenko]

Вторая часть дня: выходим из пещеры Lava River Cave, немного видов с Pauleena Peak, дальше - Woodsman Country Lodge.

[jadeyarts]

summary of what i’ve been doing with these guys (details subject to change)

SO BASICALLY: in the first episode of sonic underground you can see a statue of king acorn before it is demolished by robotnik’s rule, which means that king acorn still exists in sonic underground at least until somewhat recently, and would have been a major ruling force in mobotropolis prior to robotnik’s takeover. now, since aleena isn’t even originally from mobotropolis that means her ruling power would have been through king acorn in some fashion. either she overthrew him, or she married into his kingdom.

since aleena would still be of noble blood separate from any connection to king acorn as we know she is a descendant of a pharaoh, we can assume that the two having an arranged marriage is entirely plausible given how monarchies operated to secure alliances and keep bloodlines noble. now of course there’s TWO king acorns: max, pre-sgw, and nigel, post-sgw. and both of them have wives - mothers to sally acorn - that are seen, and do not resemble aleena at all. so safe to say that if one actually explored aleena co-existing with the acorns, she probably didn’t actually marry either of them.

how or why she would overthrow him without immediately reforming the entire system given what we know of her origins and her values don’t really make sense imho so i’ll just say that in the context of underground canon, i do think she did probably marry king acorn and gained rule through the relationship. i don’t think he’s the father of her children, but uh... i’m not going to get into that right now. anyways, in the context of a more satam or archie based setting... well, the clear answer is that she may have been engaged to him, but she’s not married to him, so clearly things fell through.

as a noble it would be considered her duty to go through with the marriage - but as sonic’s mother, i strongly feel that just like her son, she would strongly believe in freedom and making your own choices - and she doesn’t love max. so instead she runs off with someone she does love, a commoner - so my aleena isn’t actually a queen, though still of a noble bloodline - mostly because while i think aleena having a royal background and being sonic’s mother is cool, i don’t care much for sonic himself as a royal? so she gives up her noble title, has the triplets, becomes a freedom fighter, ect.

now, what a lady in waiting is actually depends on the specific kingdom and its system - they can be a personal assistant, OR a monarchy-assigned best friend to a noblewoman who is also noble, and depending on the specific kingdom’s system, a monarch who is married to a noblewoman may be entitled to marry her lady in waiting as well. since the acorns rule over a fantastical fictional kingdom that is AT BEST taking place on a post-apocalyptic earth i figure the functions of a fictional lady in waiting doesn’t need to be exactly accurate to a specific real life kingdom - SO! with aleena and max engaged but aleena bouncing to hook up with a commoner, and alicia being max’s canon wife, i’m going to go ahead and say that in these circumstances it would make sense for alicia to be aleena’s lady in waiting who took over her duty to marry the monarch she was engaged to as she was also a noblewoman.

but because of aleena and max’s former engagement, she managed to have a weird and complicated friendship with max and locke.

anyways, i actually like both king max and king nigel, albeit in two very different ways. max is... complicated, controversial, and sometimes not great - but i find that his flaws make him a fascinating character, and i like to watch him struggle making the right choices as a parent and as a leader because of the circumstances he was born into and dealt with! and nigel is a genuinely loving and positive influence in sally’s life that i feel she deserves, elias could benefit from as well, and contrasts well with max’s everything. so i kind of want them both to exist. so my solution is to make them brothers - max was the ruling monarch until, you know. nigel is his younger brother, who eventually takes over the kingdom. which means elias gets to stay in the woods with meg and alexis, lol. 

also nigel’s dead wife doesnt have a name which is sucks but i havent come up with my own for her yet >:( anyways since i’m making max fully a chipmunk and alicia a hamster (instead of both being chipmunk/squirrel hybrids) then nigel and his unnamed wife are swapping species - nigel now a chipmunk to match max, his unnamed wife now a squirrel.

meanwhile locke and max’s affair need no real explanation. i think they were fucking around on that island even if sally and knuckles didn’t know it, argue with the wall.

[ibutenko]

Pauleena Peak - одно из самых красивых мест, куда мы забирались, и одно из самых "высокогорных" - почти два с половиной километра. От сочетания температуры и дороги, закипел радиатор, поэтому я там открыл капот и просто любовался окрестностями, пока он остывал. На фотографиях этого нет. Наташа с детьми ходила по горам, несколько её фотографий есть. Дальше мы спустились вниз, и там фотографии отеля и соседнего с ним ресторана с каким-то невероятным количеством чучел самых разных животных.