this would be a big change but i do like the idea of wuvvy and hob going way back. sure wuvvy used to be a champion for the court of hoof and claw, but was she only competing in races and games and high-stakes hunts against her own kindred? when the goblins would eat up that sort of thing?
i need an au where wuvvy and hob were competitors, going neck-and-neck in defense of the honor and name of a court neither of them fits in particularly. sparring and matching each other and talking, as honestly as any of them could ever afford to be, in the moments in between. different cultures and constraints and expectation, but still, they are both similar violent instruments for the sake of their superior's glory, and knowing it. bare fangs open in smiles while they fight. not friends and not allies or companions, because they cannot afford to be. but something. bantering and enjoying some true competition, knowing they understand each other very clearly and not knowing what to do with that except share a cup of mead in a dark corner, sometimes, while their fellows rumpus and frolic in the moonlight.
and then wuvvy gets out. she gets out of the court that is stifling her. wuvvy, out of the two of them, was the one who dared to want more, and want out, and manage it. the mistrex of ceremonies came to her court, and wuvvy found such joy and purpose in aiding them that she forswore everything else to be their assistant. set aside her halberd and mail, and devoted herself to arranging flowers and seats and the delicate machinery of influence that makes the magic of the bloom come to life.
a noble calling. an honorable one, too, in its way. truly honorable, in the truest sense of the world. she is, hob know, the truly brave one between them, and he will eat or maim or politely put down anyone who calls her a deserter in his sight. but in general, he prefers not to think of her. it is of no use to feel conflicted, or jealous; it does not serve his tasks, and only distracts him.
if he does allow himself to think of her, over the centuries that pass, it is only to hope that her service with the mistrex of ceremonies is everything she needed it to be. and then he meets rue, and, among everything else, there is a small, ugly part of him that finally allows itself to be terribly jealous of wuvvy the champion.
