#Rogal being a good uncle

[staticymaticyyourlifeisatravesty]

The Carved Skull (Part 1)

(In which Lilith adjusts to the Imperium and Rogal Dorn finds out his niece shares a hobby with him)

Tags: Bone carving, mentions of an Astartes getting maimed, brief mention of death, and explorations of Baal culture

Folk: @sirpuddingcup @jaghatai-khock

(Note: Kakek is Indonesian for Grandfather)

It had been a year since Lilith arrived on Terra and she still didn’t really like the Adeptus Astartes. They smelled wrong. Chemicals, drugs, and a certain unnatural scent that she had yet to become used to. She didn’t understand how her father seemed to accept them so quickly and she had no regrets about scratching the face of one of Horus’ Luna Wolves. She didn’t really know what his name was, something like Ulysses or something of the sort; she hadn’t really paid attention. What was nice was that they’d stopped trying to get so close to her. She greatly preferred that, though Sanguinius had been trying to get her to play with some neophytes. She wasn’t entirely sure of them, for she was used to having to be careful due to her claws and teeth.

One wrong move and she could kill someone, even if it’s by accident. She was uncertain. However, she’d quickly grown close to Malcador, a man she had come to see the same way as the elders of the Blood. Mentor and Grandfather both, with Malcador seeming to like it when she called him Kakek, a baalite word often used for Grandfathers, though Lilith had never had one to give the name to for her mother’s father had long since passed. 

Certainly she had the Emperor as a grandfather, but she was forced to call him that in Gothic, never in her native tongue and besides he was nothing close to being that in her eyes. Not after her mother’s death. Thus she often said it very impersonally compared to Malcador. Which was what had led to her carving a skull with intricate designs, designs that came quickly to her. After all, she’d had many lessons over the years on how to carve bones, it was just something the Blood did. Lilith didn’t understand why the Imperium had such plain bones. It was tasteless, for those were the bones of something living once; they deserved to be adorned unless of course they’d done some terrible crime. Then they got no markings at all.

Perhaps that’s why so many bones were unadorned…? But no that couldn’t be right because Kakek had said that the Servos Skulls were an honourable thing. It didn’t make a lick of sense to her, but not much really did about this place. So she just busied herself about making Malcador a Servo skull that was properly honoured. Maybe she’ll be done by time this is over and she’ll be able to give it to him when the next time comes for when he teaches her Gothic. She liked her little lessons with him, even if she didn’t always understand the words he spoke, though she caught on quickly. She was told it was because she was the daughter of a primarch that she learned things so quickly. Kakek said that he’d explain what a primarch was when she was older. She decided to hold him to it.

In the meantime, she would carve. She carved alone for a while, before she heard heavy footsteps and the strong scent of oil, metal and cured furs signaled the approach of Rogal Dorn, her Uncle. Lilith was not exactly sure what to think of her father’s brothers; they were strange and she stiffened as Dorn approached her. He made a small rumbling noise in his throat, an indication of wanting to see what she was doing. It was easier after all, until she fully learned Gothic, most of her uncles communicated to her in this way. She understood well enough, and showed him the skull she was carving to which Dorn’s eyes widened and a warm smile appeared on his normally quite unsmiling face. 

The Skull was handed back to her, and he left, only to momentarily return with his own carving tools and sat across from her to carve as well. She looked on curiously, and watched as he carved what looked like a ram..? She thinks that’s what they’re called, she’s not entirely certain. It’s different from her swirling patterns and little runes, though she noticed the additions of circles and some lines here and there. It was fascinating and she relaxed slightly, allowing her wings to fluff as she returned to her own carving. 

Dorn for his part enjoys that he’s found that his niece likes to carve bone, and catches the sigh of a smile that shows off her fangs. So that was what Sanguinius meant when he’d said that she’d been smiling smaller than usual. He hopes she grows more comfortable and smiles more naturally, for he thinks he’s going to come to rather like his little niece with her bone carving far beyond that of which Dorn expected of someone her age. Besides it was nice to simply carve in silence, and look up to see her carving runes that he supposed must mean something in her culture. After all, she and Sanguinius had come wearing light yet elaborate clothing that had generally covered their faces and heads. Dorn had been rather taken aback by it, with Sanguinius’ amber almost golden eyes that were remarkably like the Emperor’s yet somehow nothing like them, and Lilith’s rather vivid reds like that of freshly spilled blood. Still, his brother had quickly adapted, having been taken beneath Horus’ wing, and Lilith… Dorn wasn’t sure about Lilith. He’d seen her around Malcador, and had even heard her calling him something in her native tongue, but she rarely spoke. Not to mention the whole thing with the poor Luna wolf who’d had to have his face surgically put back on. Nerves he thought. She seemed not to like them, and from what Dorn had seen, was quite aggressive. 

Still she was much calmer now, and Sanguinius expressed hope that she’d bond well with her new brothers. Personally Dorn thought the sooner she did the happier she’d be, because she was still just a child, and one that seemed to enjoy playfully pouncing on people if the times Sanguinius had been playfully lept on was any indication. It reminded him much how a young cat or wolf would play, with how she pounced on her father. She could use some proper playmates. Baselines probably wouldn’t be all that safe considering what she can do to an astartes, but he figured she deserved a little bit of fun, even if soon she would likely be trained as a warrior. At least he assumed she would be, considering her impressive height even at this young age. Dorn strongly suspected she was like her father and himself, however the hell that worked and thus he thought it rather redundant if Lilith wasn’t to be a warrior to fight in the crusade. Maybe he’ll see if she’d be interested in learning how to clean a bolter later. That sounds like a good idea. 

[relax-and-read-on]

One cute fact about each primarch

Ohhhh freestyle??? Freestyle!!!

Primarch, but we are going cute <3

Lion: He has some slight problem with the concept of names. As such, every horse he ever had was named "horse", and all dogs are named "dog".

Magnus: Took the time to learn every first languages of his siblings, just so that he could learn to communicate with them in comfort.

Perturabo: love birds. It's a secret pastime of his. He can recognise most species in the galaxy, and may have written incredible field identification guide.

Fulgrim: He actually try to keep up on all of his kids artistic endeavors. I think it's important to praise them for their special interest and their wonderful talents.

Ferrus: slowly start making his personal space more of a shared space for himself and Fulgrim. Add things like mugs for him. His favorite brand of tea. Extra pillow. Just small things to make his lover feel more at home.

Horus: he actually try to spend one on one time with each of his siblings on a regular basis. He does love them all. All of them. And he make efforts to be with them.

Sanguinius: he made lil painted portrait of every single one of his siblings being happy. Just precious little moment. He keep those to himself.

Vulkan: He really, really loved his adopted fam on Nocturn. He still go visit their descend as much as he can. They love him very much, and do actually consider him as "great great great uncle Vulkan!"

Konrad: he really like sweets. He is a lot more calm and willing to listen to people if he can munch on tasty things.

Corvus: like to leave lil gifts to her family. Trinkets, candy, lil souvenirs... Everyone has at least a few. She drop them in corners, like a secretive santa.

Jaghatai: does like to cook, especially for his siblings. It's a huge mark of respect to him. He's also having fun learning what their favorite, culture specific foods are.

Alpharius Omegon: They only sleep truly well if they can do it at the same time, while sharing a bed. It does not happen often, sadly. Veey cuddly with one another.

Leman: His wolf-brothers back home have a pretty human intelligence. As such, he try to talk to every dog/wolf/fox in the galaxy to see if they also are People. It hasn't worked yet, but he has high hope to find more sentient doggy friends :D

Roboute: he love farms. On any new planets he go, he always make sure that the farms are efficient, clean, productive and happy place. Very big on animals welfare too.

Rogal: he actually really like normal humans. He's a lot more affectionate with them than you would expect, and gets incredibly upset when they inevitably die.

Mortarion: Raise orchids to put in his bioactive vivariums for his pet bugs. Very good at it, and sometime ends up with too many, wich he gifts away to his family member.

Angron: he's actually??? A very damn good medic???? He know all kind of home remedies that do work, a ton of emergency procedure, how to deliver babies... He's very happy when he gets to apply this knowledge.

Lorgar: His private rooms are always opens. If one of his sons or serf has worries, they can always come in, at any time, and he will take the time to listen to them.