Lynesse’s premise is very simple: smooch Emmrich. She is a Shadow Dragon, a freedom fighter, a trained bard, anything that appealed to me as I raced along. A former sex worker and a person used to disappearing. She is what she has to be.
I feature Manfred halfway frequently in her stories because I think he’s one of the best things about Emmrich.
As for how she is presented, she’s got a series of one-shots on AO3. I’ll crosspost one below:
“Yes, Taash, we’ll do a thorough debrief. I think Emmrich is busy in the lab, I can fill him in later.” Lynesse felt a little proprietary glow at that, even though she had no right to feel proprietary yet. It was just that he was special, so things about him were special. “Just a moment. Manfred? Manfred!”
The skeleton stopped in the entryway to the common room and hissed inquisitively.
Lynesse pulled out the rose she had plucked in the wild. Shielding it from the crowd, she said quietly, “Would you give this to Emmrich? He’ll know what to do with it.” Then, keeping a straight face, she turned to Taash and the others. “All right. So here’s what I found in the lair while you kept the dragon busy…”
After a thorough discussion, Lynesse excused herself and walked to the lab. Emmrich was there, deep in some reading.
“Professor?” she said.
He looked up and smiled so brightly, so naturally, she felt stunned. “Rook. How was your dragon hunt?”
“Deliriously profitable.” He kept smiling. He didn’t mind her being here. Had he already gotten…? “Has Manfred been here?”
“Not in some time. Did you need something?”
“I gave him something for you. It’s not important.”
Emmrich turned away from his book. “He might have gotten stuck somewhere. The Lighthouse is very good at forming places that won’t confuse or trap him, but glitches will happen.” He set his pen down. “Where did you last see him?”
They passed by the smaller library and spotted Manfred. He was wedged between two bookshelves, hunched almost double.
“Manfred?” said Emmrich.
Manfred’s nearly-concealed skull turned rapidly side to side.
“Manfred, come here at once.”
Slowly, Manfred rotated.
Crimson rose petals were stuck all through his teeth and jaw, and fluttered as he turned down to his sternum and feet. He was holding a bare rose stem in one hand.
“You…ate my rose?” Lynesse said.
“You gave me a rose?” Emmrich said.
“Why would you eat a rose?”
Emmrich snapped into teaching mode. “It’s a natural curiosity. He’s seen us eating apples and strawberries. What you handed him was similar but different. Obviously it wasn’t what he expected, but isn’t that the whole point of exploration?”
“He ate my gift to you.”
“He investigated something new you gave him. I suspect he’s grateful.”
Manfred finally saw fit to interject with an energetic and possibly sincere hiss.
Emmrich nodded judiciously. “It’s quite all right, Manfred. But you should directly give me anything Rook entrusts to you for delivery. This is just like the alchemy bench.”
Manfred recoiled and hissed.
“Exactly. Rook, I’m sorry about the surprise development.”
She looked at Manfred. Manfred hunched.
“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s okay, Manfred. No harm done. Shake on it?” She stuck out her hand.
Manfred took hold of it and lifted and twisted it, eyelessly eyeing multiple angles. He hissed inquisitively.
She squeezed and released. “Close enough. I should let both of you go, work’s not over yet.” And the rose issue was a lost cause.
“Please clean this up, Manfred. Don’t miss any that may have fallen into your thoracic cavity.” Emmrich cast a glance at Lynesse, then surveyed the trail of floral destruction on the floor. “You gave me a rose,” he mused, “or tried,” and he walked off, looking more cheerful than before.
The next morning Lynesse stopped herself outside her room before she could trip over a small mother-of-pearl vase with a pure white water lily in it. No bite marks in sight.
And that’s my Lynesse. https://archiveofourown.org/works/62227594
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