#(they talk bc Luca took up an extremely shit military posting Marc used to have right after the near-treason trial of uh u know 115 AD

[astronicht]

read all of quiet in rome yesterday and it had me clapping and cheering to an audience of myself alone in my room. extremely good. loved all the clothing details. especially loved the ending, with marc hiding in vale's bed, dangerous but protected. and ESPECIALLY loved how you wrote vale, thinking about "the boy" as almost a different being who "forces" him to act in certain ways, his paranoia for himself but also for marc. and the small detail that made me giggle was marc in his pov talking about "meeting pecco" as if they bumped into each other and had a nice chat, and then finding out from vale's pov in the next chapter that marc apparently got pecco drunk. i'm sure the truth is somewhere in the middle but it was delightful. poor little pecco, caught in the middle of their games

THANK U THANK U SOOO MUCH I get so happy when I hear stuff like this 🥲 I did feel like writing that fic was a learning experience, bc my style changed under me a little this year, and a few things are awkward or overwritten as a result. So I’m extra happy that ppl are picking up on/enjoying stuff I was trying to do!! ie Vale basically putting blame on his (necessarily) violent younger self to avoid his guilt for what he has done and what he worries he might do to Marc! And also feeling like he failed that younger self in a few ways!

I think about this in a less dramatic and literal way with Vale and his relationship to his own youth and his own iconography in canon (funny word in rpf always). I think he was better at cutting people out and cutting ppl down as a kid than he is now. Like 21yo Vale would Not be fighting a proxy war via the medium of SPORTS PODCAST. And it’s a big part of aging as a vicious (necessarily!) and ruthless creature that you wrangle with some of this.

AND you caught the little joke with Pecco (a few other ppl have mentioned this, ty all). Which I now get to explain which is sloppy of me as a writer, whatever it is rpf fanfiction. Marc mentions getting his “people” in Rome to confirm something about Vale earlier on, and ok fine he did get Pecco drunk over the winter, but Vale also got a lot of info about Marc’s recent injuries out of that exact same convo with Pecco (he mentions this in the middle of “greet me correctly”) and proceeds to get Marc’s inexperienced cavalrymen drunk (they WILL accidentally talk but they don’t know anything about anything, as Marc was well aware when he chose them). They are both spying on each other lmao, roughly equally! Marc might have it easier (it’s not like Vale can get a spy in Marc’s household), tho Vale is more determined and willing to be privately undignified about it. Poor tired Pecco is being used by both of them as an informant. In other news, happy 2025 Ducati Garage Season to all who celebrate 🎊

Ok I’m done thank you for liking the fic!! Thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about it!!