Sybella Iosis

// Independent portrayal of the Hollow Knight in which they're mainly Root-aligned.

Heavily canon-divergent to enable them to be as close to a regular character as possible, but core story is still the same.

❀ Alternate-friendly and multiverse encouraged
❀ Open to all genres
❀ #HKRP / #MVRP

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sleeveless shirt and a pair of shorts, she certainly did not look like any kind of nobility that she'd met, certainly not around these parts.

"What is it?" she asked, not unkindly, but with that same air of someone that expected a prompt answer.

It has been a while since someone addressed her in that manner that was not Knox. Still, she turned with her once-usual air of regality; back straight, perfect poise, chin slightly lifted and her orange eyes gazing down toward Keeana, until she realizes that is who uttered the title. With a

It happened to me. It cannot be undone. I must keep on living.

lives in a single fell swoop... it felt like she was addressing him, and herself.

"We could not have predicted the dragon. I was too busy thinking the rot of the city would have consumed us from within to think that such a creature would come, virtually out of nowhere, and lay such carnage down."

Sybella reached up and put her hand on his shoulder.

"You are not at fault for not being prepared for a gigantic, horrible beast. You could not have prepared for that."

And yet, from his words, she heard herself reflected. The guilt as the Empress and watching that nightmare destroy their entire

happened. Cults, violence, magic. It threatened to make her head spin.

"What nonsense is this?" She glared up at him, even with him kneeling before her. "Weak and frail? Compared to what?"

The former Empress couldn't keep the slight shrill tone from her voice. This day had dragged on and her lack of sleep from the night prior had already run her ragged, then all this

she couldn't quite grab his hand as easily, and gently tugged on it.

"Ser Knox," she used her best Empress voice, "May that I wake you from your stupor? I have some choice words for thy ears only."

Bell followed him, the exhaustion from the start of their long day tugging at her eyes once more. He'd seen her this morning in an ink-stained shift, and it was only at his begging that she'd ventured out at all. Neither of them had expected all this.

She reached out and grabbed his cloak, since

Orange eyes flicked from Aro and Kee to Knox, and she trailed after her bodyguard, recognizing one of his moments for what it was. As much as either may try to pretend otherwise, they were both trauma-ridden from seeing their kingdom burnt to ash, and sometimes, it manifested in strange ways.

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"𝘐 𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴."
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enjoy the thought of me wandering around alone in the dark."

An excellent question, and one that gave her pause. What exactly was Knox to her? A bodyguard? General? Friend? Something of all three?

"He's my protector," she decided, thinking about him while she made sure the new shoes fit properly. "He's stubborn and noble and, you are correct—he would not

She kept her thoughts to herself, though her gaze kept flitting to their two prisoners. What was their endgoal? And if this was all they could muster in such a short amount of time, what nasty surprises lay in waiting for them further down the line?

Her orange eyes cast back toward the structure they'd just left, thinking along the same lines Kee was. Were they leaving danger, or just marching straight into a trap?

Knox seemed to be of the same thought, and she overheard his whisper to Kee while they walked along to the market district.

Sybella noted the red of Kee's cheeks, and tucked that away in her mind. Now was not the time to think on that, and she hurried to keep up with the strides of the tall Knight, and her equally tall bodyguard. Once again, it struck her that, aside from Kee, everyone around her towered over her.

"I am tired of these cheap shoes breaking..."

A mistake I may have made was assuming the average intelligence of the commoners in my kingdom was higher than it really was.

|| are you sure

long time to be away from home. Do you miss it?"

"No," she put the rest of her slice into her mouth and considered the taste while she thought about what he'd told her of his hunts.

"Do you have any fur left to trade?" she asked, thinking of buying it from him. Perhaps they'd find a use for it. Months at a time though?

"Months at a time is a

Bella took an apple slice and studied it curiously before she took a dainty little bite.

"Most curious flavor... and how have your hunts gone?" She glanced over at him and held the apple between her index and middle finger. "What is this fruit called?"

runner, and sought to venture out for a time. Then I stumbled onto your camp here." Raising a hand and gesturing around the rather impressive camp, compared to some she'd seen lately.

"Call me Bella." Sybella was still getting used to using the shortened name, and found her gaze drifting to the ground before her while she spoke.

"I'm a runner. I run forth to carry letters between people in the city, and I found myself with a reprieve from my usual work as they train another