#i guess it goes in that tag ... its not romantic thou ...

[fatescaprice]

hihi!! could I req some platonic aventurine hcs with a teen!reader?

platonic aventurine and teen!reader

content warnings: none

note: aa my first request !! this was v fun to write so thank you for sending it in, anon! also thank u to the aventurine liker friends i bothered abt this . ive never written him before . u know who u are (i also know What u are /lh)

i think i turned it more familial than i was planning but i still hope you enjoy ^_^

Regardless of how you met — whether you’re biological siblings or coworkers or more akin to a stray he picked up on his travels — it’s not much of a surprise to his subordinates to know that AVENTURINE plays favourites when it comes to you. He’s come to see you like family, after all, though whether that’s more of a blessing or a curse is up for debate on your part.

He definitely seems like the type to spoil you. You want to catch a game in Taikiyan? No worries. Want to try some authentic Xianzhou street food? Easy-peasy. He’ll call you a brat, a handful, but every time he’s already brought out his credit card before the word has even fully left his mouth.

The rather… demanding nature of Aventurine’s job often calls him away on business trips, and even if you can come along he tends to snag a little trinket for you as a souvenir, or lets you pick out one for yourself. Either way, when he’s not around, he has one of his grunts look after you — he calls it chaperoning, but the way he ruffles your hair makes it feel more like it’s supposed to be babysitting. Sure, sure, he knows you can take care of yourself, he’ll say, but think of it like deposit insurance. Same difference!

He just loooves teasing you. With the way his silver-tongued, corporate lingo comes out almost as second nature to him, if he happens to throw in a snide little insult or two it’s usually hard to tell until after he’s already said it, and he’s long since shifted his attention to something else, all while wearing the smuggest, most infuriating smile.

He claims this is a privilege for him and him alone, though. The annoyed look on your face is only funny when he causes it, he claims — so just let your dependable elder brother take care of any nuisances, okay?

[coeurvrai]

So I read through the last few posts in my tag in preparation and I think I’m more or less up to speed? I mean, about the events of the last couple of chapters, I mean. The jury’s still out on whether or not I’ll remember pieces of worldbuilding and/or characterisation. If I don’t, please remind me!

We start off with a Serefin chapter, and thank fuck for small mercies. There’s also a typical quote from the Book of Saints at the start of the chapter as well.

Svoyatova Małgorzata Dana: A Tranavian who fled her family of heretics for a life in a monastery in Tobalsk. Her courage, and death at the hands of her brother, canonized her as a saint.

I still don’t understand why the excerpts in Serefin’s chapters are so pro-Kalyazin. Like, theoretically, the fact that we have Nadya and Serefin’s POVs are supposed to show two sides of the war and therefore provide balance, so we can understand and/or sympathise with either side.

But there’s such a Kalyazin-centric push with the excerpts that all of them are to do with Kalyazin and how great their saints are and shit, like where’s the worldbuilding for Tranavia? It’s like we’re never ever supposed to see things from Tranavia’s side for a second, even though hypothetically we should. That’s one of the points in providing multiple perspectives.

But I digress.

The chapter opens with Serefin being hit by his father. This is a new thing for Serefin - he’s never physically hurt him before, and so he’s reminded of his own mortality.

“I ask for so little, Serefin, so little,” Izak said. “A modicum of respect for the traditions of your country. It’s so little.”

That wasn’t what this was about, but Serefin would play along if it kept them both from addressing the true issue. “I’ve expressed how I feel about these traditions. At this point in time, they’re needless. We’re at war, Father.”

Need I remind you that you didn’t track down the cleric that is such a threat that she could turn the tide of war and defeat your country, even though you could’ve and should’ve done it.

Serefin gets hit again, goading him into hurting him more. We’re greeted with ED’s signature nondescript descriptions, because what are rooms and spaces?

Politics. The fallout would mean Serefin’s execution. His coup had to be more delicate.

“The answer has always been here.” But the answer to what? Why this war was still raging? Why his father, who vehemently denied the existence of gods, wished to become one? Though easily answered with his father’s ego, that wasn’t the reason. Serefin never denied the existence of the Kalyazi gods, he had just never seen their purpose.

He wondered if his father had already started the process. The way his crown was slightly askew and his hands shook were significant indicators where his father was concerned. But it was when his sleeve fell back and Serefin glimpsed dozens of fresh cuts scattered across his father’s forearm that he knew. His stomach soured, finally having confirmation that this was all truly happening.

I’m again reminded of why I like Serefin so much.

What’s going on from his POV is far more interesting than the shit happening in Nadya’s. Even if it’s not really good and pretty goddamn predictable, I’m still somewhat engaged. Honestly, if he wasn’t here to break up Nadya’s chapters, reading this book would be a hell of a lot worse.

Even if “he had just never seen their purpose” reminds me of that one quote by Alys van Eck in Crooked Kingdom.

At least his disdain and his abhorrence is more consistent than any of Nadya’s characterisation, except for her wanting to make out with Malachiasz. Serefin does not want to die and does not approve of his father’s plans to attain godhood through his death because it goes against the very identity of their nation and who they are supposed to be. 

Serefin brings up Nadya-as-Józefina’s explanation that she had been attacked in Tranavia on her way to the capital and his father confirms that there are indeed Kalyazi troops inside of the country.

“It’s almost as if they know something we do not,” his father continued. “Like they’re preparing for something … extensive.” Abruptly his father smiled and fear clawed its way down Serefin’s spine. “They won’t survive whatever it is they’re planning, of course. Tranavia is about to show them the true meaning of power.”

“Are we?” Serefin asked, voice strained. His mind spun. If the Kalyazi were preparing an attack on the border, Tranavia might not be able to properly defend it. What did Kalyazin know that Serefin did not?

That the cleric that you were supposed to track down and capture is in the heart of the country? Also, when is the last time that Nadya has even thought let alone worried about Anna? It’s a pretty oblique reference to Anna but it’s also the only reference to Anna we’ve gotten since they’ve come to the palace.

His father warns him to stay away from Pelageya and Serefin’s like “how about I don’t, tho?” like the little shit he is, and that’s the end of that.

In the hall outside his father’s chambers, he pressed himself against the wall, his hands shaking. Kacper approached, putting a steadying hand on his shoulder. Serefin gravitated toward Kacper. He had to move fast. If Kalyazin was making preparations—and his father was planning to annihilate the Kalyazi forces with the power of a god—Serefin was out of time.

Serefin has a lot of flaws but at least he doesn’t have a holier-than-thou attitude. He wants to stop his father and the only real way to do that is to kill him before he gets killed, and he also wants to stop the war because otherwise his country gets conquered by Kalyazin and he just can’t allow that. There isn’t this over-arching propaganda-esque slant of “oh the Kalyazin are monsters, heretics, whatever for believing in gods” and shit, like it is for Nadya. It’s refreshing.

Kacper tries to comfort Serefin and reassures him that they’ll get through this. 

I’m going to briefly address this again. You could technically read this scene as potential romantic/shipping material but it’s not explicitly written as such, and that’s my problem with ED that I keep coming back to because it’s so personal to me as a queer person.

No one besides Ostyia is explicitly queer. Yet ED keeps claiming that the other characters are - in her mind, the only one who’s not is like Kostya - but she hasn’t written it that way at all in this book so far. And it’s so fucking frustrating.

They were walking back to Serefin’s chambers when a tremendous crash resounded through the hallway coming from the direction of the library.

“Well that doesn’t sound good,” Kacper muttered as Serefin took off down the hall.

You’ll never guess who is in the library.