Lavender's Simsala Grimm AUs

Whew, I've making pages like crazy recently, haven't I?

Like Fauna Force, I feel like I have some explaining to do.

## What Exactly is Going On Here, Anyway?

So, I don't know if *everyone*knows about this, but I've made a writing thread dedicated to a Simsala Grimm AU that was in my brain for a while now. Some of the OCs are recent inventions of mine, but others I've had a basic idea of them for over a few months and maybe more than that.

Anyway, while I'm still planning on working on that one, I've also decided to revive some of my oldest Simsala Grimm AUs(yes, I've made more than one), as well as add on a couple more on there. And man, do the older ones need a fresh new coat of paint.

So, all of these AUs are about two OCs of mine taking the place of the two main characters from canon. The two OCs who do vary from AU to AU, and they're always in pairs. How much the AU diverges from canon will depend on my mood, and the OCs' backstories will also verge into headcanon territory I have for the canon series because they never give the two main characters any sort of backstory.

I'll update whenever I want to, and there might be a large crossover event with canon, too. Don't count on it, though.

Anyway, each AU has their own title and pair of main characters:

**AU #1:Books and Tigers and Bears, Oh My! - Atsushi and Preston**

**AU #2:Of Mice and Otters - Amorette and River**

**AU #3:The Fox and Wolf Pup of Simsala - Lyle and Rafael**

**AU #4:The Chameleon and The Poodle - Clara and Petunia**

Edit:After making a couple of new characters, I've decided to make a new AU starring them:

**AU #5:Clashing Together - Benjamin and Cleer**

## Books and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

### The Swineherd

Preston loved coming to life.

He loved feeling the warm tingle that was all over his body when he did, and he loved gaining consciousness of where he was all over again. He loved moving, he loved laughing, he even loved breathing. He loved being alive in general, really.

Today was no different in that regard.

After coming to life through the flying book's magic, Preston laughed heartily and stretched, seeing his small, burnt orange tiger companion bow to the book respectfully.

Atsushi.

Out of all the friends Preston had made over the past two years, Atsushi was the closest to him. He also was a constant in Preston's life, which, considering that people usually came and went, was actually quite wonderful.

"Ready for an adventure?" The book asked, stopping Preston from waving hello to Atsushi.

Preston nodded eagerly, as did Atsushi. Preston loved to go on adventures, and he knew that despite his friend's calm demeanor, Atsushi loved to go on them as much as he did.

After the book flew close to the shelf Preston and Atsushi were on, Preston and Atsushi climbed aboard, with the two being on opposite sides of it. The book then flew out the window and towards the stars, with everyone eager to get to Simsala, the land where fairytales really lived.

~

The palace that the book flew to had the color scheme of red and green, with the doors being brown. While impressive to some extent, it was clear that it had also seen better days.

Some of the tiles were chipped, and a bit of the paint was falling off. Many of the windows were cracked or had noticeable holes in them, and some vines were growing up the walls. Overall, it looked like it was in much need of repair, and some freshening up as well.

Out of the two animals, Atsushi seemed to be the only one who noticed this, and was thinking about the condition of the palace while Preston tried to predict what they would be doing for this adventure.

"Maybe we'll get to visit another enchanted castle and help a prince break free from his curse by letting him fall in love with another!" Preston said excitedly. "Or maybe we'll find ourselves eating another witch's house that's made out of candy! Mmm, candy..."

Atsushi rolled his eyes but smiled nonetheless. Leave it to Preston to want food at any time of the day.

The book was now in the backyard of the palace, where a young man who looked like a prince and the owner of said palace was overlooking the careful placing of a nightingale in a golden cage. The book seemed to be flying towards the fountain in the center of the backyard in particular.

Suddenly, the book basically bucked Atsushi and Preston off of it, leaving the two to fly off of the book while making sounds of surprise as the book flew away into the sky.

Preston and Atsushi fell into the fountain headfirst with a loud *Splash!*, and thankfully, they got their heads out of the water shortly afterwards and sat up, Preston's vest and shoulder bag and Atsushi's karate outfit and red belt already drenched from the water.

Atsushi spat out the water that was in his mouth. He wasn't very amused at the book leaving them in situations like this, but was used to it by now. Besides, complaining wouldn't solve anything.

He frowned as he looked down at his karate outfit and belt. He didn't mind getting wet, but he didn't want to wear wet clothes throughout the rest of the adventure. What if he got sick?

"Don't worry, Atsushi!" Preston said, smiling and trying to cheer his friend up. "I'm sure we'll find some new clothes to wear soon!"

"How do you know that?" Atsushi asked, raising an eyebrow.

Preston was about to answer when he and Atsushi saw the prince coming over to the fountain, with the fretting gardener close behind.

"What's this, then?" The prince asked when he got to the fountain, one of his eyebrows raised.

"Your highness, please, don't get close to them!" The gardener said, already in a panic. "Those two could be dangerous wild animals, for all we know! They could hurt you!"

"They don't seem like dangerous wild animals," The prince mused, looking over Atsushi and Preston and noticing that they were wearing clothes and hadn't attacked him yet.

"They're a *bear* and a *tiger*, your highness!" The gardener exclaimed, his face paling at this point. "Everyone knows that bears and tigers are dangerous! I know that you can't afford a hunter or mercenary to take care of them, but at least get away from them before they hurt you!"

Atsushi got up and bowed respectfully towards the prince.

"Greetings," He said calmly. "I am Atsushi, and my friend over there is Preston. I assure you, we mean no harm. We just came here to visit."

"HELLO, HUMAN!!" Preston bellowed, waving towards the prince and being overexcited. "I LIKE YOUR TAILCOAT! IT'S MY FAVORITE COLOR, GREEN!"

There was a pause, and then the prince started laughing.

"My, aren't you a excitable one," He said, referring to Preston. "Thank you for the compliment, though. I also like green."

"They can talk!?" The gardener said in the background, not knowing whether to be utterly confused or terrified at this revelation.

"As for you, Atsushi, I am honored to have you and my friend in my kingdom," The prince said, turning to Atsushi and bowing. "I don't know why you would want to visit here over the other, more wealthy kingdoms, but I'm glad to have you here anyway. Any request you have, I will willingly help you with it as much as I can."

Atsushi looked down at his wet clothes again. It sure would be nice if his and Preston's clothes were taken care of and they had something to wear in the meantime.

"Well, if it's not too much trouble, could you perhaps help us dry our clothes and give us something dry to wear in the meantime?" He asked.

"Certainly!" The prince exclaimed. "I'll get started on that immediately!"

Atsushi and Preston looked at each other, confused that he hadn't mentioned that he would give the work to his servants in that sentence.

Anyway, the prince picked the animals up and was ready to head inside when he remembered something.

"Mr. Fern, can you continue to take care of the nightingale for me?" He asked the gardener. "I still want to deliver it to my one true love."

Mr. Fern nodded, overwhelmed and not knowing what to say, but when the prince, Atsushi, and Preston had all gone inside, he fainted.

~

While the three were waiting for Atsushi's and Preston's clothes to dry, the prince answered any questions that Preston and Atsushi had for him.

The prince's name was Prince Quinton, and his kingdom was one of the poorest in Simsala. He only had five servants, including Mr. Fern, and he had learned from an early age to take care of himself. In fact, he was so used to this that it was the reason why he decided to help the two animals by himself, though he had decided to let some of his servants help him halfway through it.

Prince Quinton didn't have any money for an army, and barely enough to support his people. His kingdom's population was way smaller than the other kingdoms, but the neighboring kingdoms haven't gone to war in years, and Prince Quinton's kingdom was peaceful overall.

The three of them were in Prince Quinton's room when he explained all of this, with Preston and Atsushi wearing small "towels"(really rags, but they were used like towels) around their bodies because Prince Quinton couldn't find any clothes that would fit them. Preston's and Atsushi's clothes would take a while to dry, so Prince Quinton had offered for them to stay in his room for the time being, and the two animals had accepted that offer.

Right now, Preston was exploring the room, and had just noticed that there were a lot of trinkets all around it.

"Ooh, what's this, Quinton?" He asked Prince Quinton, tossing one of the trinkets between his two paws.

"That is one of my soon to be newest inventions," Prince Quinton said, getting off his bed and gingerly taking the trinket away from Preston, then setting it down on his desk that was nearby. "I would really appreciate it if you would be careful with it, since it's not finished yet and could easily break."

"Oh," Preston said, rubbing the back of his head with a guilty expression on his face. "Sorry about that! I didn't know!"

"It's alright," Prince Quinton said, smiling. "You didn't do anything wrong. You were just curious, that's all."

Atsushi, who was reading a book that he'd put on and opened on Prince Quinton's bed, looked at all of the trinkets curiously.

"If you don't mind me asking, Quinton, are you going to sell any of your inventions for money once you've finished them?" He asked.

Prince Quinton raised an eyebrow at Atsushi.

"Why would I?" He asked, curious. "Helping my subjects is much more important than making money. Besides, what would I use the money *for,* anyway?"

Atsushi looked around the room, noting that the walls had a few cracks and holes in them and the floor had a few planks missing. Then there were the facts that Prince Quinton didn't have any money to hire an army and barely enough for his people to consider.

Atsushi was thinking about how to bring this up to Prince Quinton in a polite way when Mr. Fern opened up the bedroom door with one hand, holding a cage with a nightingale inside it with the other. The door made a loud creaking noise, which Atsushi noted was just another reason for Prince Quinton to sell at least one of his inventions for more money.

"I have taken care of the nightingale, your highness," Mr. Fern said.

"Excellent," Prince Quinton said, smiling broadly. "Tell the coachman to get ready to go to the Imperial Family's palace in a few minutes."

"Right," Mr. Fern said, his smile fading. "Your highness, are you really sure about this? The Imperial Princess already has a lot of suitors competing for her attention and she probably has a lot of birds like this one. Why would she pay attention to this one?"

*"Imperial Princess?"* Preston thought. *"Suitors? Well, isn't that wonderful? Prince Quinton is in love with another!"*

Meanwhile, Atsushi had reached the same conclusion, but was also kind of concerned for Prince Quinton's chances.

"You may have a point there," Prince Quinton said, thinking. "...Very well then. I'll see to it that the rose tree that grows over my father's grave is also given to the Imperial Princess."

"But, the rose on that rose tree only blooms for once every five years," Mr. Fern protested.

"So?" Prince Quinton said. "What better gift to give the Imperial Princess, with my love for her also being rare?"

Mr. Fern sighed but still went off to uproot the rose tree, muttering something under his breath as he did.

~