#textcap

Strawberry Ripple cookie (later known as Hound Knight cookie) and Salted Butter cookie are two characters from the paladin academy who realised being a paladin was not for them, but in two very very different ways

Salted Butter (any prns) is an emotionally volatile perfectionist who only wants to be the best, and gain other people's approval in order to feel valued - even if that means dragging competition down around them

Strawberry Ripple (they/he) is comparatively stone-faced but equally perfectionist. They are much more anxious about expressing themselves, more wanting to do whatever they can to avoid 'not being good enough', whatever that means to them (which changes over their story)

Unable to connect with their peers in any meaningful way, these two met each other in the Paladin Academy of the Creme Republic and fell near-immediately into a rivalry as they tried to claw their way to the top. Throughout their time there they slowly grew closer, realising they've never found someone they can understand as much as the other.

A toxic dynamic that keeps them on their toes is what helps them survive the academy's cutthroat training (headcanon lol), but as their priorities slowly change over the course of the story, an argument that takes place during odyssey chapter 3 causes Salted Butter to mysteriously vanish, and Strawberry Ripple to fall into a deep depression as they begin to question everything they have built up to until now

He nonetheless graduates, honoured as one of the paladins that fought during the war and yet feeling like a husk of who they once were. Burnout destroys their mental health as they're scorned by their upper city family and instead find community amongst the lower city residents, just trying to make it day to day

Learning to heal takes time, but they eventually do, with the help of new friends and a reignited passion for helping others; something they thought they'd lost during the paladin academy

He now spends his time reborn as Hound Knight cookie, a mercenary and hero amongst the lower city residents, who gained their title from their fondness for cake hounds that led them to also start a cake hound rescue centre on the side :33

They wonder if Salted Butter ever will return one day. They're not sure what they'd do if she does. This doesn't stop them from losing sleep over her every single night, wondering what went wrong, and what would happen if she was still here, now

He's completely unaware that every night, Salted Butter too loses sleep, thinking of him and what would have happened if they'd stayed. For now they spend their days quietly wondering if they'll ever find the approval for existing that they wish for, as they take their place amongst the pews of the St. Pastry Order church and begin their prayers with the rest of the congregation

-----

...for those interested ive been fiddling around with fic writing as well, exploring their dynamic during their days in the paladin academy. it's awesome i can't wait to make them get worse

https://archiveofourown.org/works/66382456/chapters/171181723

they like. have a happy ending. but that includes other characters and a Lot of time and i have college work i should rly be working on before hte deadline in ummm 3 hours LOL