Crash Landing // Lennox

[Queen Stella Beck]

••• If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late •••
••• Could you say goodbye to yesterday? •••
••• Bowerstone Castle Throne Room, mid-day•••

Drumming her fingers against the arm of the throne, Stella fought back a yawn, biting the inside of her cheek hard to keep herself awake. The weekend was long gone and the queen found herself wishing that the week could go by faster and end already, just so she could have a break from all these tiresome complaints. The cases that she was asked to rule upon had become a little bit more interesting since Stella had replaced Hobson with Anthea, but even then it was all so dull! Request to build this here, permission to do that there, blahblahblah. She knew she had to do this part of her job to ensure that anarchy didn't break out in the kingdom with everyone doing only what they wanted, but it was so dull! With every passing day she was more and more sorely tempted to put Mary on the throne and disappear somewhere far away like Driftwood for a week, preferably with Ben by her side. She knew she wasn't supposed to do such things, but Mary apparently had royal blood in her, and frankly no one could tell Stella otherwise if she did decide to do it; she was the queen and her word was final.

Chin resting against her palm, the queen bit the inside of her cheek again to stop herself from yawning again. She averted her gaze down to the carpet, where Digger and his adopted fox cub lay asleep, curled into a ball. A hint of a smile curled up the corners of Stella's mouth as she thought back to a week earlier when Digger had brought the almost-dead kit to Stella. The canine had been missing for a week, and though she had asked the Royal Guard to track him down, no one could find him. Mid-week during court, there was a commotion outside of the throne room, and even through the thick oak doors Stella could hear whining and barking. The guards had obviously relented because next second the doors opened and right down the aisle came Digger, his coat dirty and manky. Trotting right up the stairs to her throne, he got up on his hind legs and very carefully placed the limp furry something he'd been carrying in his mouth right onto Stella's lap. That furry something had turned out to be a fox kit, almost close to death. She'd instantly cancelled court for the rest of the week and had spent the next three days feeding and looking after the baby fox to ensure he didn't die. With some food and attention, he'd quickly recovered and Digger decided to take the role of mother on himself after which Stella named him Basil, after a series of books her mother had read to her when she was a child about a fox called Basil and his adventures around Albion.

Rousing herself from her thoughts, she realized that the whole room was staring at her in anticipation, clearly waiting for a ruling. Clearing her throat, Stella gave a sideways glance to Anthea who gave an imperceptible nod in the direction of the person that in her opinion she was supposed to side with. Jasper had been the one to help her with her rulings, but since Stella had appointed a new royal aide, he'd been only too happy to give up that role. Stella didn't mind; it saved her from lectures about how she was supposed to be taking her duties more seriously. Giving the vaguest ruling that she could without making it seem like she hadn't listened to a single word, Stella stood up, stepping over Digger and Basil who were still snoozing peacefully. "And that concludes this morning's proceedings. We shall break for a two-hour lunch before the afternoon's proceedings begin," she announced, biting back a smile as the hordes of villagers began to retreat back into the sunshine.

The moment the throne room was empty of everyone but her, the female gave an almighty groan, making her collie look up and look at her for a long moment. Running a hand through her hair, she turned to Anthea. "Please make sure no one comes in here. Short of a national emergency, I do not wish to see anyone right now. Taking a deep breath as Anthea uttered a quiet "as you wish, Your Highness," she shot her a grateful smile before sinking down onto the throne, watching the woman's retreating figure. A yip made her look down and she smiled as the fox cub trotted over and nudged her with his nose. Smiling, she picked him up and cradled him, petting his soft furry head. "And this is why you never want to be a royal, Basil. You get lumped with all the boring jobs and none of the fun ones. I'd much rather be out there exploring Albion like you and Digger usually do."

lyrics • If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback
notes • thought i could shorten it. turns out i thought wrong xD
outfit • Mandatory Queen Outfit but without the gloves
credit • Calypso

[Lennox Avalon]

It had gotten around the time at which Lennox would say his life was boring. Of course the changes after Seneca's disappearance had been interesting at first. His ex-classmate hadn't been a friend truthfully, but his boss with the fanciful beard was a man that Lennox had respected. Choices he would make differently, sure, but to wish execution upon him? The thirty-four year old technician wouldn't go that far. He gained no benefit from Crane's supposed death, or the promotion of a very crazy Plutarch. Anyone who volunteered as Head Gamemaker was crazy in Lenn's mind. They might as well have volunteered for the Games themselves to follow after Seneca's supposed mistake. They'd have a better chance at surviving that. It was the greatest reason that Avalon was very pleased with his job. The technicians were important despite the sheer number of them, but without suffering the consequences of being in the public view or answering to the President themselves. Someone else took the fall and Lennox got to play with the technology and make himself a profit. What better could he ask for?

Of course after some months and the new boss had settled in, even the excitement of the Quarter Quell had died down to just plain stress. And not the positive motivating kind of stress. Rather just miserable feeling and wishing for a normal year again. Or at least something different and unexpected to happen. It didn't feel like anything was going to happen today. The man got ready for work in the quite boring white uniform that was required, and headed from his home with nothing unusual happening. Nothing to be noticed anyways. Except he never really made it to work, his curiosity getting to him as he saw some odd lighting off his normal path to work. Lennox wasn't able to ignore some odd light anomalies in the real world. He had an active imagination, and maybe a bit of a buzz from some morning drinking to make his day more interesting. Wandering into the light may not have been his best idea, but Lennox did it anyways.

As it turned out, the light was much more violent than he could have expected. He'd expected something odd, but not to be violently pulled in when he got close. The blonde man's landing in the large room was hardly graceful. He stumbled in, and then on the other side he found himself thrown onto the ground painfully. It wasn't a light push either, he fell to the ground with a loud thud and a gasping curse. He couldn't even see where he was landing right off, stumbling backwards, particularly with his back to the one other human in the room. Grey colored eyes closed tightly as he hit the floor. "Fuuuuh- What the...?" He couldn't manage a full sentence as he sat up, rubbing his head from hitting the floor and hardly realizing he had landed right at the queen of this world's feet. How was he to know, he'd just fallen though something he didn't even understand. The young Games Tech was smart but this was beyond the technology of his understanding. If it even was technology. And anything other than technology was the last on his mind. Lennox say still for a moment longer, rubbing his hand through his messy hair and trying to figure out what had just thrown him. Where he'd been thrown too... because when he opened his eyes again this was definitely not Panem. He didn't know what it was, but it wasn't home.

His gaze searched the room for something he recognized but it didn't seem to show. The man looked up toward the ceiling before he ventured a glance behind him. Turning his head back and up he finally saw the female in the room. Wide eyed and mouth hanging open he hardly looked intelligent but he couldn't help it. He'd landed at the feet of an unfamiliar woman in an unfamiliar room. He sat very still, his hand still on the back of his head where he'd hit it. "Uhh... Hello. Is this your room? I think I- I think I fell into it by accident." He spoke after a few seconds of silent gaping at her. Lennox gave a nervous and hopefully charming smile even though it was likely pointless.

word count// 724
tags// Queen Stella Beck
notes// No fancy template for this guy, yet, but maybe eventually. It's a bad post but I feel I'm bad at entrance posts anyways.

[Queen Stella Beck]

••• If today was your last day and tomorrow was too late •••
••• Could you say goodbye to yesterday? •••

Basil nuzzled against her hand, causing Stella's smile to grow. As if feeling left out, Digger came over and placed his head on her lap, giving a slight whine for attention. Rolling her eyes affectionately, Stella patted his head until his tongue dropped out of his mouth and he gazed at her happily. She laughed, shaking her head at his antics as she scratched behind his ears. Basil wriggled away from her and padding across her lap, playfully batted Digger on the head. Giving a playful growl, Digger picked up the fox by the scruff of his neck and plonked him down on the floor, putting his muzzle over Basil's back to pin him to the floor. She laughed again, leaning back in her throne and closing her eyes.  

For a long minute the trio sat in blissful silence that was only punctuated by Basil's squeaks and struggles as he tried to escape from under Digger, when suddenly the dog's ears perked up and he began to growl, turning his head sharply to gaze at something invisible behind him. Stella's calming words to him fell upon deaf ears as he turned around, barking at things unseen. A bright light suddenly ripped through the room and Stella brought her hands to her eyes to shield them. If this was Theresa, coming to warn her of yet another danger, she really should have picked a better time. Stella really wasn't in the mood to deal with the blind Seeress who only seemed to show up when there was trouble brewing. And can she not warn me of these visits beforehand?! She hated when people showed up unannounced, especially if they were important people.

But her fears were unfounded as instead of the Seeress in her robes of rich magenta, a spikey-haired male fell out of the portal, cursing and stumbling around the room until finally he landing at her feet. For a long moment Stella sat there and blinked at him, her mouth dropping open into a perfect o. Hardly the look of a queen, but up until now, Stella hadn't actually seen the portals opening and dumping someone into her kingdom and it was definitely not what she had expected. "Not again," she murmured, the softest of sighs leaving her lips, but the annoyance was gone within seconds, only to be replaced by an easy smile. She couldn't help who came into Albion, and there was no point in taking out any annoyance she might have with the weird portals out on the newcomer. Just like with all her other displaced friends, she doubted that he'd even wanted to end up here, so the least she could do was be welcoming. "Seems a lot of people are falling in here by accident lately," she commented reaching her hand out to him in case he wanted a hand up. "And they all have a soft spot for my throne room," she added with a chuckle. She watched as Digger picked up Basil again and sat away from the stranger, eyeing the stranger warily, parenthood clearly having made him more protective than usual. "I'm Stella. And who might you be?"

lyrics • If Today Was Your Last Day by Nickelback
notes • the animals will warm up to Len eventually x3 also, in stella's defense cos reaver made her self-conscious about her naming her dog, he used to dig a lot when she was younger and she wasn't a very creative namer actually i named him that because in the game every twenty steps he'd find something new to dig up and so the name stuck
outfit • Mandatory Queen Outfit but without the gloves
credit • Calypso

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