In Her Shadow IF

The ROs would be protective in their own way.

• I’ll-fight-these-fools kind of protective mixed with waiting on MC hand and foot to comfort them: Arthur, Lancelot
• Death glare to Guin / Bran while plotting revenge: Merlin, Kay
• Resisting the urge to set Bran on fire mixed with comforting MC and taking them away: Morgana

Reactions (warning: some assume touch is okay, reaction would vary for MC otherwise, also: fire):

Arthur - He notices the exhaustion in your eyes after Guinevere left “MC? Are you unwell?” A soft hum from your lips tells him yes. His own body was heating up from annoyance at your sister. But he didn’t notice as he gently scoops you up and into his arms. “Let’s get you to the bed, love. And then I’ll grab you favorite pillows and a glass of water.” Arthur glanced down at you. “And that book you love - I’ll read it until you fall asleep.”

And then I’ll find Guinevere and give her a taste of her own medicine, he thought.

Lancelot - “Hey! Time for you to leave,” Lance growls as he steps in to shield you from your father. Bran glares at the Knight. “How dare you talk to a King like that!” Lancelot chuckles and takes step forward, his chest touching Bran’s. “I dare much more than talking, Your Majesty. I suggest you leave before I do something you regret” he responds. The King sputters, unable to respond before giving you an annoyed look over Lancelot’s shoulder and turning to leave. Lance turn to look at you. His face softens. “Want some fresh air in the garden?” You nod and he wraps a gentle arm around you shoulder, pulling you close so you can rest your weight on him. Fuck, I hate that guy, Lance thinks.

Morgana - You sigh at the feelings coming over you while your father talks. All things you’ve heard so often. You wish he’d leave Camelot so you could be in peace. Well, partial peace considering Guin’s presence. “Dammit, are you listening to me, MC?” You meet your father’s eyes but before you can respond he lets out a yelp and starts jumping around. Your eyes widen and you stumble back, bumping into something soft.

“Help! I’m on fire!” Bran swats his arm sleeve as he struggles to get his robe off.

You hear a soft giggle and look to your side. “How peculiar!” Morgana says. “You don’t see that everyday, do you?” She winks at you before turning back to watching the flailing Bran.

Kay - Your eyes search for a way out. You’re trapped with Guinevere and its already brining on a headache from her entitled demands. Guinevere grabs your sleeve, drawing your attention. “Listen when I talk to you,” she says, annoyance flashing in her eyes.

Her grip is broken by a lady Knight in shining armor. Kay glares at Guinevere, a look so severe that you shiver. “MC is needed elsewhere. I’ve come to retrieve them.”

Your sister rolls her eyes. “Whatever,” she says before turning away.

Kay turns to you with a bright smile. “Shall we?” You follow her out of the room, noticing how she glances at Guin on the way out with a balled up fist. The day will come.., Kay thinks to herself.

Merlin - Guinevere opens her mouth to continue but both of you turn to look as a portal opens and Merlin steps out, tossing an aggravated look at her. Xe stops in front of her and huffs. “Your grating voice carries to the tower. Don’t look so surprised, I told you this the first day you arrived in Camelot. How can I get work down with you in the same building?” Guinevere lets out a small shriek. “You can’t talk to me like that! I’m the QUEEN.”

Merlin rolls xir eyes and turns to you, a small smile tugging at xir lips. “See what I have to put up with it? It’s insufferable.” Xe turns back to Guin. “And I won’t tolerate it. Sleep with an eye open.” With that, Merlin guides you out of the room with a barely contained smile and sparkling eyes.

aw, if one of us ever gets magical powers, let’s switch heights!!

but can the MC be trans?

Yes! The player can choose to play as cis or trans woman or man, or as non-binary. There will be some options for top surgery, and most likely hormones as well.

Especially if the MC being trans could be one of the reasons they were disowned, because that could potentially just lead to all kinds of angsty doubts that the RO’s would have to sooth away.

This is interesting and I hadn’t thought about this. I don’t know if I would be confident in my abilities to portray this well. I say this as a cis woman who does her best to educate herself and research but is also a fuck up…I would definitely need to make sure to have some trans people to bounce things off of to ensure I was going about it in the right way. Although, my goal anyway is to have beta testers that are cis, trans, aro, ace, poly, etc because I think it’s important to hear from different perspectives so my game can be comfortable for a lot of people.

I will add this to my list of “things to consider” and come back to it. Because, I do think that could be very, as you say, wholesome to include but I want to be sure I do it the right way.

Once I’m finished with chapter 2 of NIL, I have a long list of things I need to consider for IHS so I need to finish plotting things and deciding what’s feasible for me to do alone and what’s not.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts and perspective - I appreciate it a lot! I’m definitely open to suggestions from everyone and will consider them all and decide what I can manage when the time comes.

Morgana is happy with Guin - for the most part. Every relationship has ups and downs. Morgana doesn’t feel as if Guin has enough time for her and she also hates having to date in secret. But, when she is with Guin, she isn’t worried about those things and she feels cared for.

Morgana is one of the few people Guin genuinely treats well and cares for.

Okay, so, first thing, in my game, Morgana doesn’t want the throne and her claim is no where as strong as Arthur. She wants to help the people of Camelot but she does not want to rule. And you’re right, Guin is the Queen Consort but she is from another kingdom, she has no claim to the throne on her own and couldn’t replace Arthur, even if she wanted to.

but if we date him are we really guaranteed to take Guin’s place?

By take her place, I assume you mean marry Arthur and become consort. The answer to that is, no there is no guarantee because it will depend on what the player decides later in the game. But, if Arthur falls for MC, he will want to end the marriage with Guin because he doesn’t want to have to love someone forever in the shadows. He wants to show off the person he loves. So, Guin would no longer be Queen in that instance.

Hope that provides some clarity. This game is obviously still in early development so things may change but this is where I see this as standing at this time.

oh dang that’s deep, anon. I can definitely see Guin pulling out that card if MC ends up with Morgana. “You took mother. You took Morgana. What will you take from me next?”

ouchie this one sounds painful, anon. therefore, I must make it a possibility….

YO WHAT THE HECK

wow but I definitely admit I knew way too much about that kind of stuff when I was younger. With the Internet and such nowadays… ☹️

but also GUIN? *internal and external horror*

lmao i mean, that’s going to cause a bit of an issue at the time but it could be repaired depending on the choices made.

Especially if you already have been building a positive relationship with her. It would be more difficult if the relationship is bad and after getting with Morgana the MC is like “oh hey, I wanna be on good terms with my sis now.”

Okay, so, I know you submitted this a while ago! I’ve been trying to think hard and I haven’t decided on all of them yet, so I’m going to post what I do have, which is Morgana and I’ll reblog when I add more! Sorry, I’m just still debating for the others lol

Morgana - Adelaide Kane

Originally posted by awkward-sultana

😂 Guin is probably petty enough to ignore whatever advice MC would share. She doesn’t think she needs anyone’s help lol