#crownea

[dudewheresmytea]

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18525475

Title: Secret Blossoms

Fandom: FFXV

Rating: Explicit

Pairings: Crowe/Aranea

Warnings: None

Summary: Crowe can only meet her lover briefly when the sun rises and sets. For Crowe Week 2019, Day 1. Prompts: Late nights/Early mornings, Orange.

@crowedeservesbetter

[bladesandstars]

Fanfic - FFXV Fantasy AU

Chapter 4 of Circulation is live! I’ve been bad about updating here, but it’s a vamp/fae/werewolf/all kinds of fantastical creatures AU and I’m having a lot of fun with it!  T rated so far, Gladnoct and Promnyx have shown up, and Crownea and Fleurentia may sneak in at some point too.  Here’s a short preview:

Prompto surveyed Nyx with a practiced eye and brushed back dark strands of hair, eliciting an annoyed hiss that Prompto waved away with a gentle smile. Fingertips passed, soft, across the shaved side of Nyx’s scalp, but avoided the long red marks there.

“What did you tangle with this time, babe?” Immediately on his arrival home, Prompto had sat Nyx into one of their kitchen chairs to inventory the damage and how severe it was, with his usual mother-hen attitude. Supplies sat ready on the counter, and Prompto’s studied gaze and steady hand belied the fact that he’d woken out of a dead sleep when Nyx got home, despite his attempts to be quiet coming in. Nyx had just given him a look that asked if Prompto had put a ward on the door to wake him when Nyx arrived, and he’d answered with a sideways slice of a smile that said “maybe.” Nyx looked fondly at the spikes of pale blond hair standing up in a maelstrom all over his head; they’d done this middle-of-the-night routine many times before.

Nyx was dressed  in a soft gray regulation t-shirt, his stiff leather jacket folded neatly over another one of the kitchen chairs. He was only a little indignant, and mostly grateful for the company. Still keyed up from the events of the night, he clearly found the gentle touch and crinkled, freckled cheeks that greeted him to be more than welcome, as obedient as he’d been the moment he stepped across the threshhold.

“Group of ghouls, they—ow! they were harassing this old witch and I just—”

“Had to get involved, right?” Prompto couldn’t help grinning a little bit proudly as he dabbed antiseptic onto the scratches. They weren’t deep, and wouldn’t require anything more than basic first aid. He knew his boyfriend could take care of himself, but it still worried him when Nyx patrolled alone. He understood it though. Especially on full moon nights. Didn’t want to get the rest of the Glaive involved, and the fewer people who knew about Nyx’s little affliction, the better.

"Always such a hero." Prompto gave Nyx another soft smile and pressed a kiss to his temple before turning around to wash his hands again and get more supplies. "Was that all? You're—and I mean this in the best way, you know—filthy."

Check it out on AO3! Thanks as always for reading.

[kindly-creatot]

how about for a prompt, crownea, with #42, "his ego is so big..." maybe with crowe and aranea bonding over judging some men having a pissing contest over who's stronger, then aranea steps in, deadlifts either one of the guys or crowe, and singlehandedly wins the argument.

omg, i love aracrowe. need more of it. c: 

so here we go with some kinda cute kinda funny shit. thanks for the prompt @makkthree

“His ego is so big; I can almost see it growing,” the comment comes from Aranea’s right, the other woman is sitting on the bench next to her. She’s got dark hair in a messy bun, chin in the palm of her hand as she leans forward on her knees. Aranea feels her heart stop when the other woman smiles at her. “Boys are so ridiculous, huh?”

“Yeah, they’re insufferable,” Aranea agrees without stuttering because she was Aranea Highwind and Aranea Highwind did not stutter her words in the vicinity of really cute girls. Her heart on the other hand, was a lot like a jackrabbit. The woman smiles at Aranea and giggles just lightly enough that Aranea can hear.

“They’re trying to figure out who’s stronger,” a roll of her eyes. “Men only think with their dicks it seems. Pissing contests like these get so tiring when you listen to it all the time.”

“Oh, are they friends of yours?” Aranea glances through her hair and watches the woman sigh with a wry smile.

“Sadly… I’m Crowe, by the way.” She sticks a hand out to shake and Aranea suddenly is aware of how sweaty her palms are. She shakes Crowe’s hand anyways.

“Aranea,” short and sweet, to the point. No stuttering, thank the Astrals. “Hey, you wanna-”

“Crowe! Seriously, you need to judge who’s stronger!” one of the men interrupt Aranea and Crowe sends a glare to the man. “Stop flirting and help us out.”

“Nyx, oh my astrals, you don’t need me to judge between you and Gladio… Just deadlift something…” Crowe pinches the bridge of her nose and Aranea can feel a scoff/laugh working its way through her. “Sorry about him.”

“Oh, no. It’s-” Aranea can feel a blush on her ears as she looks at the embarrassed look on Crowe’s pretty features. It’s really adorable.

“Crrroooooowwwwweee.” Aranea looks over to the men, both of them acting like children as they stand by the free weights. “Whoever is stronger will take you to dinner..?” Nyx is baiting her now and Aranea gets an idea. She stands, walks over to the men and looks at the weights.

“How much are you going to?” they look at her with surprise and Aranea crosses her arms with an unimpressed look on her face. “The weight. How much are you lifting?”

“Oh, we were gonna keep adding until one of us couldn’t lift…” The other male speaks and scoffs lightly. “We deadlift about 500lbs.”

“Easy,” Aranea smirks at them as they look at each other for a moment. “Rack em up, boys.”

“Wait, you… you’re going to try and lift that?” Nyx looks a bit shocked and Aranea scoffs.

“No trying needed,” Aranea pulls her hair back into a messy ponytail and stretches her shoulders a bit. “Come on, boys. Rack em up.”

“Yeah, okay. I’d like to see this.” Gladio laughs and sets the weights as Crowe walks up to them. She looks slightly worried and Aranea just gives her a smile.

“So if I lift this, I get to take her to dinner, right?” Aranea looks Crowe in the eyes as she says this, watching the reaction.

“You know what, yeah. You lift this and you can have her,” Nyx laughs, not cruel but he definitely doesn’t think that Aranea can lift this.

“Nyx! I am not something you can just give away,” Crowe protests with a blush on her pretty cheeks and arms crossed over her chest. She does peek at Aranea though and smiles.

“I hope you like home cooked food,” Aranea jokes when the weights are set. Bending and grabbing onto the bar, Aranea looks straight into Nyx’s eyes as she lifts the weights. Standing with a smirk and then pulling them above her head before dropping the bar back down.

“Wh- holy-” Nyx is stuttering and Gladio just has his jaw open. Aranea pats Gladio’s cheek with a laugh.

“You’re gonna catch flies like that,” Crowe is laughing at the boys as Aranea walks up to her. “Pick you up at 7?”

“Y-yeah. Oh my astrals. You are amazing, Ara,” Crowe grabs Aranea’s hands in hers and squeezes. Aranea is pretty sure her hands are still sweaty and clammy and her heart is going to beat through her ribcage but oh, what a way to go.

“Alright, 7pm.” Aranea feels like she has to drag herself away from Crowe, she did have errands to run before trying to kick Prompto out of their apartment. “Hope you like pasta,” she takes a moment to whisper this in Crowe’s ear as she passes by. Glances at the woman before sneaking a quick kiss to Crowe’s blushing cheek. “See you later.”

“Ye-yeah, okay. Later,” Crowe is blushing and smiling and Aranea has to walk away to preserve her dignity before she lets herself grin wide.

Thank the astrals for fragile male egos.

[aliatori]

A and Z, haha. 😘

WELL. That’s it, everyone can go home now, we’ll be here the rest of the night.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.

I’m going to make a list, but I’m SURE you’ll notice a theme.

Gladnyx - the latest obsession. seriously these two are so good together I can’t even handle it. Possible longfic incoming.

Gladignoct - the OTHER latest obsession a.k.a. Royal OT3. The way that Ignis, Noctis, and Gladio interact in a poly context from Brotherhood onward fascinates me.

Ignyx - an old flame that’s being rekindled thanks to people like you, @xylianna, @daddyolusamicitia, @notthelasttime, @unsteadygenius and others!!

Gladnoct - sign me up for this mentor/mentee, charge who is also my liege, size kink and brattiness and snark dynamic 20 times out of ten.

Cordio - I played myself by writing a fic about these two because help, it’s like Gladnoct dynamic in reverse.

Crownea - another one I can place squarely at your feet, my wonderful and talented friend

Crowluna - BOTH OF THESE WOMEN DESERVED BETTER AND BLESS FANDOM FOR GIVING IT TO US.

Gladluna - I’ve been flirting with this idea for months and when I have a little breathing room, there’s at least one full length, questionably canon compliant fic coming

Gladlunoct - King, Queen and Shield, a.k.a. Regal OT3, a.k.a. Luna is absolutely in charge in this ship and you would be a fool to think otherwise

Ignoct - this is a ship that took me a long time to come around on, but in certain circumstances and particularly in AUs, I’m down

And of course, Gladnis is always there in the background, begging me to put them in yet another new AU.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

My nice, positive message: I love the FFXV fandom SO much. Literally I have met so many amazing, kind, talented, wonderful people that I don’t know what to do with myself.

My thirsty, on brand, NSFW message: Someone gave me a Gladnyx prompt/scenario today that I can’t stop thinking about. It involves Gladio doing an amazingly long keg stand, Nyx being very impressed, and showing his appreciation with some clothed frotting in a secluded, cramped space. Stay tuned, I think!

Thanks for giving me an ask that let me ramble forever, Hope.

(Fandom asks here)

[xylianna]

Xy Fri: Drabble Round-Up

I finally finished the last prompt - I’m blown away by your kindness in sending me so many wonderful ideas and generally making my weekend so much brighter.  <3   My writing program tells me the combined total is 9,997 words which proves again I am bad at short drabbles.  Adding in the chapters I wrote for Awakenings and Dragonscourge and I think I did a good job at smashing keyboard this weekend.

To make it easy to find them all, here’s a listing of all 18 prompts I filled and 1 head canon request, sorted by fandoms:

FFXV

Promptis fluff (SFW)

Gladnis making porn (NSFW)

Gladnis orgasm control (NSFW)

Gladnyx bondage (NSFW)

Lunyx body worship (NSFW)

Gladnyx knife play (NSFW)

Gladnoct breath play (NSFW)

Head canon: chocobros in their 50′s (SFW)

Gladnis exhibitionsm (NSFW)

Gladnis bondage (NSFW)

Promnyx with crossdressing Prom (NSFW-ish)

Gladnis spanking (NSFW)

Promnis aftercare (NSFW)

Crownea spanking (NSFW)

Gladnis getting caught (NSFW)

FFVI

Edgar and Sabin: bonds of brotherhood (SFW)

Edgar x  Setzer clothing fetish (NSFW)

Stardew Valley

Angie’s brunch (SFW)

Kushiel’s Legacy

Mavros Shahrizai visits Orchis House (NSFW-ish)

[acemisanthropist]

Crownea Tungsten Carbide Lord of the Rings Style Gold plated "The One" Ring Anniversary Band for Men ❤ liked on Polyvore

[jazzraft]

23 for Aranea + Crowe

I need so much more of the XV girls in my life like goddamnit Square Enix! Enjoy, and thank you for the prompt~

“So much for not getting involved,” Crowe muttered, beforeconjuring up a spell and hurtling it through the trees.

Highwind heard the crackling flames a second before they were uponher, mounting her lance and leaping clear, up into the safety of the branchesabove. Crowe hurried to Nyx, sliding through the dirt to check him for anymortal injuries. Her concern was quickly assuaged.

“I had that,” he groaned,rolling onto his side, wet leaves and soil plastered to his back.

“Oh yeah, really had that one in the bag,” she scoffed, looking upinto the trees where Aranea had fled from stepping all over Nyx. “Fall back,secure the package, I’ll take care of this.”

“Good luck,” he grunted, giving her a weak thumbs up.

Nyx had been trying to cage this cat for months, dozens of failedenvoys and ambushed patrols resulting in him battered and bruised in theinfirmary and Crowe shaking her head in exasperation every time he woke upvowing that “next time, for sure” he’d get her. One day, it wasn’t going to beinnocuous bruises that he came back with if he kept this up. So, as Crowe gotto her feet and swept the canopy of leaves above for a sign of her, the glaiveresolved to take up the mantle herself. He’d never forgive her for it if shesucceeded, but if it ended up saving his life, he could fuck right off.

Crowe spotted her retreating, high in the ancient limbs above, asharp shadow in the overcast gloom. Crowe bolted after her, following the trailfrom the ground below, keeping one eye on her path and the other on the trees.She didn’t know much about Aranea Highwind, just that she had the whole glaivepissing themselves like babies and Nyx on a borderline suicidal life mission totake her down. If she was strong enough to rattle her friend – who was smarterthan she’d ever let him know to his face – then Crowe knew that caution wouldbe her best friend in this… should she ever catch up to the woman.

She was fast, leaping sure-footed from bough to branch aseffortlessly as if it were even ground. Crowe had to warp a few times just tostay underneath her. Eventually, Aranea ran out of trees, descending into acleared space at the edge of the woods like an avenging angel, smote down fromthe very heavens.

Crowe pumped her legs faster and drew fire to her fingertips. Shecast the spell at Aranea while her back was turned. The mercenary snapped herlance up and climbed it just enough to avoid getting burnt and for the fire tosail past her. When she landed back on the ground, Crowe hurtled into her andthey both went rolling down the steep incline that dropped off from the forest.

It was a long, hard fall, Crowe bouncing over the grass and tryingto curl her limbs as close to herself as she could to avoid breaking them. The worldwas a spinning mess of sky then ground then sky again, a hectic tangle of blackarmor, loud cursing, and lots of bruises. When Crowe finally landed on flatground, it was with a low hiss of breath she’d barely managed to hold ontoduring her descent. It felt like a bucket of rocks had just been pelted at her.

She paused for only a moment to catch her breath and evaluate thestate of her body. Nothing broken. Good. She felt her head for any bumps orblood. Couldn’t find any. Gods willing, there was nothing that she couldn’tfeel for herself inside of it. Through the disorientation, she heard Araneagrowling and cursing off to the side like a wounded animal. Crowe dragged herselfto her hands and knees, gritting her teeth and searching for her.

The woman was hastily trying to get to her feet, but kept fallingback down, unable to support her left leg beneath her. Less lucky in the brokenbone department. Perhaps not as honorable of a victory as Nyx might have triedto get, but it was good enough for Crowe. Aranea glared across at her, the bothof them struggling to get to their feet, and that’s when Crowe saw it. Thelance. Out of Aranea’s hands, an even distance between them. Aranea’s glarenarrowed, seeing the intention in Crowe’s eyes and not hesitating to scrambleforward to try and reach it before she did.

With a broken leg, Crowe was finally faster than her though. Sheswiped up the lance and hurried to her feet, wielding Aranea’s own weapon againsther. The mercenary roared in frustration, clamoring to her feet, favoring herright leg.

“Cheater,” she hissed.

“Takes one to know one.”

Aranea laughed, short and harsh. “Oh, I like you.”

“That’ll change real quickly,” Crowe warned, pointing the tip ofthe lance at her.

Aranea smiled, hands flexing in and out of fists at her side,glancing between her lance and the woman wielding it. “You’re a lot clevererthan your handsome friend back there.”

“Tell me something I don’t know, otherwise flattery’s not gonna getyou anywhere.”

Aranea chuckled, something oddly genuine about it. Crowe thrust thelance at her, aiming to intimidate instead of amuse. Aranea flinched back, butCrowe didn’t think it was because she was afraid. If anything, it looked likeshe was mocking her.

“Keep shovin’ that thing in my face all you want, honey. The lanceisn’t the weapon.”

All of a sudden, her hands were wrapped around the shaft of thespear, pulling herself along its side and up to Crowe, her good leg sweepingunder her feet and sending her tumbling to the ground. Crowe swore and tried toget back to her feet as fast as she could, but Aranea stamped a foot next toher head and leaned over her, supporting herself on her lance.

“Don’t touch my things,” she warned, petulantly.

“Back atcha.”

Aranea tilted her head to the side, considering. “Alright,” shesaid, slowly. “I’ll give tall, dark, and charmless a break if you volunteer totap in.”

“Is that even a challenge? Deal.”

Aranea smirked, the banners of her armor blowing in the airshipexhaust as one crept over the treeline overhead. “Took ‘em long enough,” Araneamumbled, pulling herself to her feet, swearing under her breath as her legscreamed with pain. “I’m gonna make you pay for this, you know.”

“Good luck trying,” Crowe bit back, crawling back onto her feet,keen to not let her get away.

Aranea pushed the blunt end of her spear into her chest, casually pinningher back to the ground with a disgruntled, “Oof!”

“See you at the next one then,” Aranea promised, waving down theairship and grappling onto her lance to make the jump, dreading what that wasgoing to do to her leg. “Give Undercut my regards.”

She pushed off of the ground, cursed loudly, and vanished into thebowels of the crimson airship overhead. Crowe laid back on the grass andwatched it go, dreading what that meant for the rest of her party back in thewoods. Even if they’d lost the package – again – this time, Crowe thought shecould chalk this up to a victory. She’d accomplished the unthinkable, afterall. She’d, quite literally, broken Aranea Highwind.

[lysaa-alyssa]

i'm out of aracrowe art ideas

[dudewheresmytea]

Crownea for the XV @ffxvrarepairs zine

[bladesandstars]

FFXV Fanfic: Circulation - Chapter 2

It’s October! I felt inspired to write a follow-up to this prompt fill, so I hope you’ll enjoy some more bad-at-being-vampires Aranea and Ravus, and long-suffering witch librarians Crowe and Ignis! Rating:  T Pairings: Aracrowe, Fleurentia

Ignis set down the stack of books and sat across the table from the man. He was struck by his height - even sitting down, he was tall, and Ignis did not consider himself short.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe I caught your name.” This close, Ignis could tell - the sheen to his hair, the inhuman grace of his movements.

“Ravus Nox Fleuret.” The musical tones of his voice would have confirmed it, if Ignis had still had any doubts. Ravus smiled faintly and offered his good hand to Ignis to shake without rising from his chair.

“Ignis Scientia. Pleased.”  Ravus’ hand was - surprisingly warm. That certainly wasn’t normal, and Ignis’ eyes flicked toward their joined fingers briefly. He found himself standing slightly to slide around the table. Ignis opened one of the books Ravus had requested and pointed to some of the more useful passages.

Ignis looked at the vampire - at Ravus - again, and noticed the breadth of his chest, the distinctive hues of his eyes. He felt his head spin for a brief moment and blinked. The corners of his mouth quirked in realization.

Glamour. Of course. He’d been dazzled by it, and could still feel the thump of his heartbeat. A reasonable and predictable side effect. Completely unsurprising.

Read the rest on AO3!

[bladesandstars]

Aracrowe for the ship thing ❤️

Thank you so much for asking, butterfly!

(I also did Ignyx, Gladnis, and Highspecs earlier - thank you all for indulging me and letting me blab about all my favorite ships!)

who hogs the duvet

Crowe, because she tends toward cold more than Aranea.

who texts/rings to check how their day is going

Aranea, though they frequently end up text chatting back and forth.

who’s the most creative when it comes to gifts

Crowe is great at finding fun things to do together as gifts.

who gets up first in the morning

Aranea. Crowe loves to sleep in, and many mornings find Aranea reading or watching TV with a sleeping girlfriend curled around her.

who suggests new things in bed

Tied. Pun intended. They’re both very adventurous.

who cries at movies

Neither. Neither one is a big crier overall tbh.

who gives unprompted massages

Crowe has very talented fingers (shhh, she’s a mage that’s all I meant) and her talent for finding and releasing shoulder knots is nothing short of magic.

who fusses over the other when they’re sick

Aranea gets Stereotypically Man Sick - she is very very bad about this, and the slightest cold will have her hacking pathetically and flopping dramatically on the couch. Crowe doesn’t so much “fuss” over her as she kicks her into gear (even if it’s the absolute lowest gear until she’s over it)

who gets jealous easiest

As I’ve written them? Aranea, I think. Especially during their college years.

who has the most embarrassing taste in music

Crowe has a strong love for bubblegum pop, and it absolutely doesn’t go with her persona and Aranea absolutely loves it.

who collects something unusual

They both love beer and have a commingled collection of bottle caps from things they’ve tried.

who takes the longest to get ready

Crowe. Aranea’s pretty efficient, and that pretty wavy hairstyle takes a few.

who is the most tidy and organised

Crowe. Aranea’s not QUITE a slob, but only because she’s been in the military.

who gets most excited about the holidays

Both of them are kind of “fuck the holidays let’s go to the beach.” (I will probably actually write this)

who is the big spoon/little spoon

Aranea is the big spoon and Crowe is the little spoon usually.

who gets most competitive when playing games and/or sports

Crowe, she’s determined AF.

who starts the most arguments

Aranea is a hothead but CROWE IS NOT FAR BEHIND.

who suggests that they buy a pet

Crowe. She’s soft for dogs. Aranea pretends to be indifferent to animals, but the floof (and how cute Crowe is with him) steals her heart pretty quickly.

what couple traditions they have

Nobody goes to bed mad.

what tv shows they watch together

The Dragon Prince. IDK, it just struck me as something they would like. Also like the absolute rudest most horrifying comedy.

what other couple they hang out with

I very much want them hanging out and throwing darts with Iggy and Nyx. I did not know how much I wanted this. (also adds to wip list)

how they spend time together as a couple

Playing video games, pickup sports. They like to take walks together.

who made the first move

Aranea.

who brings flowers home

Aranea, usually as an apology of some kind.

who is the best cook

Gods they both suck. Aranea can make one thing well, so I guess she wins here.

[bladesandstars]

Aracrowe + magnificient please and thank you

Works in Progress (Aracrowe, 1500 words, SFW)

Aranea walked briskly from the bus stop to the shared studio space. It was just a few blocks from the river, and as the moist air touched her face, she could feel herself begin to relax already. It was different here, right down to the smell of it, and she looked forward to shedding the city and the job she did to pay the bills. She hated it, mostly because it required being nice to people all day. She stretched, and nodded at a woman coming out the front entrance of the old converted factory where Aranea’s studio was.

She felt her false smile and tense shoulders fall away as she entered the building. A series of small spaces wrapped around three floors with a large, glass-sided staircase winding up the middle in a squared-off coil. She waved at Wedge closing up the gift shop and skipped up the stairs, the ten-hour shift on her feet all but forgotten.

The smells of paint and clay mingled, welcoming her into the small room - previously white-walled and plain, but now adorned with paintings, all in the same style. They reflected movement and passion, both in the brush strokes and the colors. Most depicted people, but some were of scenes, haunting and angry and poignant and peaceful in turn. Aranea rolled her sleeves up as she rounded the partial wall that separated the shared space, and opened the small refrigerator on her side. She eased out the tray with her current project on it, set it down, and flexed her fingers before reaching for her bucket of clay. The high ceiling allowed the last of the sun’s rays to stream in, and Aranea pushed her hands into the clay, smoothing and shaping with practiced ease.

Aranea was lost in her work, using the side of her hand to shape a delicate slope, when she heard the door open. She smiled, but didn’t break her focus on her sculpting, concentrating.

“Hey Crowe.”

“Hi Aranea.” She heard the smile in the other woman’s voice and it was enough to make her look up in the hope of catching it. She was rewarded, glancing at the curve of the smile and the swell of Crowe’s lower lip, envisioning just the right pressure and movement to duplicate it in her clay. She cleared her throat and wiped her hands. This was a business arrangement - there was no way she would have been able to afford this studio space alone, and it was nice to have company. That’s all this is, she told herself sternly. No need to make things weird.

Crowe let out a tired puff of air and leaned more than sat on a stool. “How was your day?”

Aranea thought back to the hours at work and shrugged. “Fine. Annoying. Looks like you had a heck of a day.”

Crowe rolled her eyes and swiped her arm across her forehead. “People are awful. You’d think they’d be happy to be out for a nice meal, but it’s shocking how many of them seem to make it their goal to make me miserable.” She stood up and started pulling out paints and brushes methodically. She always did this in the same order, every time, and by the time she had everything out, she had calmed. Aranea watched her in quiet admiration, trying not to stare too long.

Aranea thought for a moment. “I know what this calls for.”

“Pizza?”

“No.  I mean sure, but that’s not what I was thinking.” Aranea moved to the center of the room where the small speaker they shared was perched, and pushed the button to connect it to her phone. She tapped on her screen for a moment, then looked up with a smirk.

Their eyes met as guitars crunched and voices growled from the speaker, and they grinned at each other. Odd hours and a willingness to share had brought them together, but their shared taste in death metal had kept them happily sharing this studio space for the past year. Fortunately, the late evening hour tonight made it unlikely that any of the other artists would complain.

And Crowe was easy on the eyes; Aranea couldn’t deny that. Aranea had been on the verge of saying something to move their relationship beyond just friendly more than once, but had backed down every time out of a healthy mix of cowardice and a desire to avoid upsetting the status quo if things went wrong. She watched Crowe watch her canvas for a moment, admiring the striking tones of bright red she could see, accented by a stroke or two of deep blue. Most of the painting was blocked by Crowe’s body, which relaxed visibly as the music rolled over them and she lost herself in thought.

Aranea turned back to her own project and fitted her thumb back into the groove she was shaping, her eyes occasionally darting over to the other side of the room.

A couple of weeks later, and Aranea could plainly see what was influencing this project. It was embarrassing, and juvenile.

And almost finished.

She dreaded finishing it, even though the two of them usually enjoyed sharing completed work with each other, both observing the unspoken rule not to peek at works in progress. Crowe hadn’t mentioned much about her current painting, but she’d seemed happier than usual working on it, so that had to be a good sign.

It was a rainy, early Sunday morning, and Aranea was alone in the studio. She pulled the tray out of the fridge again and sighed. The bust was just shoulders and neck and the back of a head, with a mass of hair partially pinned up and partially falling down in wisps. From the curve of the neck to the shape of the ear, it was glaringly obvious what Aranea’s hands had been busy smoothing and shaping these past few weeks. They were the same graceful lines she furtively peeked at every time Crowe came into this room. She sighed. Way to ruin a good thing, subconscious. As it turns out, it was probably best she’d decided not to sculpt a face.

Aranea braced herself to just get it out and get it over with. She just hoped they could keep things normal afterward.

The soft click of the door pulled Aranea from her thoughts. Crowe stepped into the room and set down the paper bag she’d been carrying, which Aranea eagerly noticed smelled of donuts and coffee. Instead of starting her usual routine, though, Crowe walked over to Aranea and took her by the wrist, leading her over to Crowe’s side of the studio.

She didn’t know why Crowe was so purposeful, and Aranea was excited and terrified at the same time. Her pulse thudded, and she was grateful for the clay on her hands - otherwise there was no question her sweating palms would have given her away.

Crowe pulled Aranea in front of her latest canvas. “This one’s finally done, and I wanted you to see it.” Her voice was soft.

It was a pair of hands - that was it, but they took up nearly the entire canvas. They were strong, and active - muscle and sinew stood out, and their black and white tones contrasted with the bright red background Aranea had spotted earlier. The way Crowe had captured movement and power was beautiful, and the care and detail on each fingernail and knuckle was stunning. The hands appeared to be reaching out for something, and Aranea opened her mouth to ask about it, when Crowe took her hand instead of her wrist, heedless of the squish of the clay.

“It’s magnificent.”

You’re magnificent, Aranea wanted to say, but didn’t.

“Aranea, look.” Crowe looked down at the hand grasped in hers and looked back at the canvas, and Aranea’s gaze followed.

“Oh.” Oh. Those were - her hands? Aranea’s mouth stayed open, and her eyes went wide. Crowe had been watching her just as closely, it seemed. Terror eased its way out of her chest, to be replaced with a flutter of excitement and a rush of elation. She pulled Crowe’s arm now, hustling over to her own side of the studio to wordlessly gesture at her work. A quiet laugh burst from Crowe’s chest, and long, dark eyelashes brushed down to highlight the pale pink flush at the tops of her cheeks. A heartbeat passed, then another.

“So, what are you doing later?” Crowe’s tone was lightly teasing.

Aranea regained enough footing to tease in return.  “I don’t know - probably working on some stuff, listening to some metal. Maybe going on a date?”  She squeezed Crowe’s hand and laughed as the clay squelched. She continued to smile as she stepped forward half a step to brush her lips gently against Crowe’s - lightly, tentatively.

“Yeah, I think that would be nice.” Rain danced softly against the skylight, and Crowe reached up to kiss Aranea more fully, without letting go of her hand.

[bladesandstars]

Hello, Hope! Okay! For the prompt thing I'll choose .. hmm.. this is hard.. lessee... how abooout Crownea and the word is 'secret'. Thanks! 😘😘

Circulation

Ravus peered at the sign over the door where ornately flourished lettering announced “Athenaeum Arcana,” and narrowed his eyes at Aranea dubiously. The faint blue light emitting from the columns flanking the door highlighted the difference between his eyes. The violet one was still somewhat red-rimmed and bloodshot, contrasting with the clear transparency of the blue. He looked at the sparkling letters, then back at Aranea again. “This is a library.”

“Powers of observation intact, I see. Well done.” Aranea didn’t look up at Ravus. She was busy digging through her bag for the notebook and pen she’d brought. She pulled out a variety of items, holding a glove in her teeth, before realizing she’d stuck the pen through her silver ponytail. She pulled it out and stuffed the glove back in the bag, then shouldered it again. She tapped the pen against the notebook, studying the sign next to the door and nodding with satisfaction.

“Seriously? We’re - this - and you want to do research?” He motioned back and forth between, the two of them with exasperation, and he swiped long, snowy strands out of his face. He was an impressive presence in both height and breadth, but she didn’t seem to notice that he towered over her as she scowled up at him.

“Well, we don’t have a lot of great fucking options right now, do we? Trial and error’s sure not working.” She shot a guilty glance toward at the sling that cradled his arm. “We’re just lucky they have evening hours here.”

“Yes, this whole experience has been nothing but luck.” Ravus pulled his lips back from his teeth just enough to flash them at Aranea.

The look she shot him this time was a clear warning. “I swear, you’re worse at this than you were at being human. And that’s saying a lot.” Aranea squared her shoulders and yanked open one thick door, striding through without holding it for him. Ravus angled his body at the last moment to avoid being squashed.

Aranea was impressed by the rich wood structure within. Tall windows lined the walls, revealing the midnight blue of the twilight sky outside. Each window was separated by a column, which upon closer examination was a massive shelf holding rows of books on each side, with the obligatory quaint little ladder for reaching higher shelves. A carved railing surrounded a shorter second level, otherwise open to the room below. Smaller half-moon windows capped the rectangular panes below in a pleasing pattern, and the stacks, though shorter, were in the same places on the second level as on the first. Aranea looked, expecting to squint, but saw every detail of the old-looking scrolls on the second floor. She shook her head. This was still really weird sometimes, to say the least.

In the rear left corner sat a small, nondescript rectangular wooden counter marked “Reference Desk.”  A small, alert, dark-haired woman sat, checking items off a list with a long, feathery pen. Behind her, a man with glasses pushed a metal cart filled with leather-bound books and more of those time-worn scrolls. He was meticulously reorganizing, moving all the scrolls to a second, empty cart beside him. Aranea blinked twice when it looked like a scroll had left his grasp and simply sailed into place on top of the cart. She was tired, and it had been a long week, and she was seeing things. That was more probable than a witch in the employ of the Lucian government, Aranea thought. She took a deep breath, and walked forward.

Crowe watched the two of them come in out of the corner of her eye, grinning as the tall man barely cleared the door.  She waited for them to approach before looking up, and gave the woman a friendly smile when she walked up alone. “Welcome, I’m Crowe. Can I help you?”

“I’m - Aranea. I guess I need an account? Or something?  I need to do research. It’s for … school. I’m a student,” the silver-haired woman said. She adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

The awkward and obvious lie made Crowe glance at Aranea quizzically, but she just shrugged and said, “You can look at whatever you’d like here, without registering for a card. Most of what we have can’t be checked out anyway.” Any true student would have known that, but as Aranea drew closer, Crowe noticed the telltale transparent sheen of her fingernails and the shifting color of her eyes, from grey to green and back again, too quickly. The glow of the lamps caught on her porcelain skin and enhanced its preternatural luminescence, and Crowe caught herself staring. She cleared her throat.

“What are you looking to research? I can help you with the terminal since it’s your first time,” Crowe offered, leading Aranea over to the search station.

Aranea followed, but shifted from foot to foot and looked back toward the door. “That’s uh - private. I mean, classified. I mean, the research I’m doing at the uh, the university isn’t final so I have to keep it … quiet? But thank you.” She swiped a long lock of shimmering hair behind her shoulder and looked at Crowe with real gratitude.

Crowe nodded and typed with practiced ease on the keyboard in front of the terminal. “Well, let’s just use some sample terms then. Here, look at this search.” The categories at the top of the screen read: Non-Human Creatures> Supernatural> Humanoid. “So, this will take you to Fae, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, and you can see the rest. Just click back if you want to go up a category.” Crowe gave Aranea a tentative smile.

Aranea shot Crowe an embarrassed, slightly angry look in return. “Okay, just tell me you figured it out. Don’t be cute,” she hissed. Her eyes flicked toward the door again, almost imperceptibly.

“Don’t worry, I can keep a secret.” Crowe made her voice as soft and soothing as possible. “I might even have some secrets of my own.” She reached up to hit the print button on the screen and deliberately let her sleeve fall away from her forearm, revealing the intricate marks on her skin. She even allowed them to glow faintly, gaining her a disapproving bespectacled glance from behind the reference desk.

Aranea met her gaze with the barest flicker of trust, eyes swirling again to a green that was nearly olive. She grabbed the printout and hustled away to grab the appropriate books off the shelf. Crowe strode noiselessly back across the room and returned to her perch on the stool behind the reference desk, pulling her quill from her mass of pinned-up brown hair and putting on a pair of reading glasses.

“Newly turned, I take it?” Ignis mused without looking up from the cart he was rearranging. He was quiet, but they both knew they could be overheard if the other two chose to focus on them.

“Yep, seems like it.” Crowe leaned back and studied Aranea as she flipped open the first book and scanned it  fast - too fast, Crowe frowned. She’d have to learn to disguise that, or get discovered pretty quickly.

“And that one lounging in the corner as well, I believe.” Crowe’s eyes followed Ignis’ nod toward the doorway, where a tall, sullen man, with a disheveled mass of even paler hair than Aranea’s and one arm in a sling, leaned gracefully but nervously.

“Oh, yeah, I forgot about him.” Crowe blushed slightly.

“I’m not surprised.” Ignis sailed past her with an armload of reshelving materials, one eyebrow raised.

“Shut up, Scientia.” Crowe rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to punch him on the arm, more for the sake of the delicate Ancient Lucian scrolls than anything else.

[bladesandstars]

You know you're a complete sap for a pairing when....

the musical algorithm suggests that you might like some Bieber on that playlist.

[bladesandstars]

A and O for fandom asks, please!

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?Rewind by Stereophonics came up, and that is actually on a playlist for something I’m working on right now - I’ll keep it a little vague and just say Ignis. ;)

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, threesomes, etc. are allowed.I took these two out of order because this is going to be a long answer probably. *deep breath* Ignyx, Crownea, Gladnis, Promnis, Highspecs, Fleurentia, Gladnis, Promnea, Ravnea, Gladnyx, Aranyx, whatever Ignis/Prompto/Gladio is called, Aracrowenyx, Ravignea, OMG someone stop me and send help.Thank you so much for asking!

[bladesandstars]

Based on AO3, it seems like you're fond of HighSpecs, CrowNea (AraCrowe?), and IgNyx. What's a word (or maybe two?) that you would use to describe each pair? :)

Okay this was a SUPER FUN ASK to think about.  Thank you! I cheated, because I gave you a word or two for each but then explained copiously.  :)

IgNyx: Disarmed.  This applies to both of them. Ignis gets to set aside his starched Citadel persona and be someone else for a while, and he really appreciates that Nyx can see other sides of him. I’m currently writing/imagining them with the full age gap, which is significant at ten years. Nyx, while much older and more experienced, is a bit disarmed as well - Ignis manages to get beyond the funloving good time guy and touch a few real emotions, and that surprises Nyx, I think. Aracrowe: First Love. Once I figured out that Crowe and Aranea were just a few years apart in age, I went with a military school backstory fill/AU and they have become my sweet, fluffy, often bumbling young college couple. They are alike enough that I really enjoy drawing out their differences, if that makes sense. Highspecs: Deep. There’s a lot that goes unsaid with these two, and a strong current of mutual respect and fascination. They’re both smart and competent and often dismissive of those around them, so there’s an air of competition too. At least in the vaguely canon-consistent land, they connect at a time and in circumstances where they are both focused on other things, so their shared independence is important as well.

Again, thank you so much for this fun ask.