#muse: d.orothea

[serandipity]

11 - Felix and Dorothea || soul mate prompts || @agloryofuniicorns ||the one where soulmates share extreme physical sensation — if one gets hurt, the other gets hurt, and etc.

Opera's often spoke of the idea of a soul mate and how powerful that bond truly was. There were tales of men and women dying just a day after their fated one had passed, as if the pain of death was too great to bare. and perhaps it was true. Perhaps the magic that bound two souls together and interwove their pain and pleasure was far more tangible than anyone realized.

Or at least more than Dorothea had realized. Truthfully, she never thought she had a soulmate. She thought that there was some part of her that had been intrisincally broken somewhere and she just was doomed to flit from relationship to relationship, hoping and praying someone would love her for her and not what her voice offered.

That journey looked to be at an end though. She could feel the cool rain on her cheeks as Felix was frantically running her back from the front lines, bridal style. She'd never seen him look so... panicked? Maybe she should have been more worried then. Felix never panicked, but her body hurts so much it feels cold.

She had taken a rather nasty spell to her abdomen. She could taste and feel the metallic taste of blood, but it also equally wasn't registering. Felix also looked incredibly, pale like he was in a severe pain as well.

And for some reason she thought of that old legend again.

'The other half of your soul will feel your pain as if it was their own because you had once been one.'

Ah, it wouldn't be so bad. Maybe. For him to be her other half.

"F...elix..." Her voice sounded rasp.

He winced slightly as if her words personally pained him.

"Don't talk, idiot."

[serandipity]

@incubabe asked for a starter from Dorothea!

She hadn't expected to find any survivors in the carnage that this village had been left in thanks to demonic beasts, but there were a sparing few, and Dorothea believed that one life would be worth saving, even if she was injured or killed in the process. The demonic beast reared up with a roar, and Dorothea countered with a fire ball, leaving the beasts defenses broken and the creature stunned for the moment.

"Are you alright?! You need to get out of here. It's dangerous!"

[serandipity]

Dorothea Arnault has appeared! What to do? Play dead Hold hands Do "it" Marry

"Choose wisely. I'm only this magnanimous some of the time."

[serandipity]

my muse singing to your muse. [Dorothea @ felix]

Small Acts of Intimacy Prompts

She stared at him dumbfounded. Felix had seemed so utterly disinterested in her until quite recently and to Dorothea it felt like there was some sort of magic switch that had been flipped. He was always unsociable and abrasive, that hadn't changed, but he seemed to be taking... more care in his words as of late. At least around her.

Where once he would have completely blown her off and huffed off in anger like a puffed-up cat, he only slightly bristled if she asked him to join her for tea. It was strange, and she had noticed it was only something done for her. If any other noble lady came up to him to ask similarly, he reacted almost vitriolically.

Now as they were sitting in... not tense, but rather awkward silence he made a sheepish observation, "I heard you can sing."

She was dumbfounded. Awe-struck. Had he never pieced together this entire time that she was a star in the most prestigious acting troupe in the entirety of the Empire if not all of Fodlan? Or had he just chosen to ignore it? If he had been ignoring it, that was surprisingly tactful for the largely unsociable Felix.

"You... You're serious sight now?" Dorothea couldn't help but let the dumbstruck statement fall out of her. She wasn't trying to be rude, and she knew she had been the moment Felix seemingly bristled up like a flustered and upset cat.

"How can I not be serious? Did it not sound like a serious question?" He snapped back, and Dorothea just.... stared. Dorothea thought she was coming to understand Felix a bit more. He was all bark and only some bite. He would bristle up in an effort to protect himself from looking stupid or foolish or weak.

And that gave a lot of context to some of their previous arguments and how he always seemed so frustrated when talking to her. He was bad with words and Dorothea had made a living twisting and manipulating peoples words. They were opposite of each other in that way.

"I was the star in the Mittlefrank Opera. It's how I got the scholarship to attend Garreg Mach. I don't sing much anymore, why?" Dorothea asked twirling a loch of brown hair around her fingers.

"I was just... er... Nevermind." She could see a small blush beginning to show on his cheeks. Oh he was really embarassed, wasn't he? He was rather adorable when flustered.

Hm...

"I suppose I could sing for a friend. If asked. Do you have any specifics you would like to hear?" Dorothea quickly chimed in before he had a chance to get shy and walk away.

"Er.. um..."

He had probably never been to the opera. That was fine. She nods and begins and leans back and with a clear of the throat begins to sing the first song that pops into her head-- a love song, a sad one, where a woman is singing about the loss of her lover to war.

And for a brief moment she could have sworn that Felix looked enraptured with her.

[serandipity]

Dorothea would have never thought she would have gone to bathing in fountains to being loveling dubbed the 'Flower of Enbarr'. It was bitter sweet in a way. The same nobles who spat on her and called her trash were all vying for her attention and showering her with praise. She knew how to play nice, but she could not say it didn't leave a horribly bitter taste in the back of her mouth.

Another night; another show. And with it came the flowers and sweets and demands for dinner and private time. All the offers she tactfully declined. She knew what it mean. There was always the push to get monetary sponsors for extra favors. Dorothea had managed to skirt by on sheer talent without needing to resort to such things. Yet.

Her body bristled as she thought yet another strange man was coming to solicit her for a private night out, but instead it was another young girl, she couldn't have been any older than her, and she was equally as beautiful. The sight had her visibly relaxing.

"I appreciate the compliment. Although, I think I owe more to the story of the opera itself rather than my own voice," She smiled tactfully trying to downplay her talent as she'd been taught to do.

People tended to get nasty when she wasn't humble, so it was almost instinctive at this point.

"The opera company as well as myself are always glad that the shows can inspire such emotion in people."

It was genuinely the only time Dorothea thought the noble class could feel any emotion for the lower class.

@serandipity liked x for a starter

Tonight was one of her more refined nights, thank the Gods. While Celaena Sardothien had never been opposed to getting her hands dirty (or blood on her blades), she would always prefer a night spent at the opera over stalking and hunting down her latest assignment.

Technically, that was still what she was doing — it was the reason she found herself in Enbarr in the first place. It was a fortunate turn of events that her target was a patron of the Mittelfrank Opera Company and regularly in attendance, which had allowed the assassin to attend not one but two shows since she’d arrived in Enbarr. After all, how else was she to learn the habits of her new target and how to next dispose of them?

Being able to indulge in the shows put on by the opera company was just an added perk of this particular assignment. Arobynn likely knew how much she would bask in this opportunity, but she was Adarlan’s Assassin — the best of the best. Had she not earned this slice of luxury?

The night of the first show, there had been a clear star that awed all in attendance. Everyone in the crowd was captivated and swooning at the voice of the lovely auburn brown haired female: Dorothea Arnault, Celaena had later learned. Dorothea was a pretty thing — young too. If Celaena had to guess, she’d wager that the Mystical Songstress was close in age to her.

Fortunately for the opera star, she was not Celaena’s prized target. And fortunately for Celaena, the songstress would serve as the perfect alibi to get close to her quarry without anyone batting an eye. After all, what was suspicious about a young and equally as lovely sixteen-year-old with long golden hair, turquoise eyes, and a lean frame singing her praises to a star she ‘idolized’? Celaena looked like a young aristocrat that belonged in the social scene of the well-to-do; no one would ever suspect that she was the youngest and best assassin of a faraway kingdom on another continent.

“Dorothea! Dorothea Arnault!” Celaena raised a hand in an attempt to snag the singer's attention and offered her most radiant smile when she noticed the performer exiting from the theater. “Riveting performance tonight!” she praised, though her compliment was genuine — the woman had a lovely voice that rivaled most of the more experienced woman that had joined her on stage tonight. “That final piece? I don’t think there was a dry eye in the theater by the time you finished!”

[serandipity]

”Oh, Dorothea. I have heard your voice is beautiful - may I hear it?” Sothis inquired as she looked at the brunette.

"...I suppose that rumor does get around, doesn't it? It's inevitable given my previous position, I guess. Truthfully, I don't know if it's beautiful enough to warrant the attention of the Goddess herself, though."

[serandipity]

She wanted to strangle this man. He was acting like his guts hadn't almost spilled onto the ground! Irritating! Brash! Fool-hardy! Stupid! Idiotic!

And she didn't want to admit how warm his arms felt around her! He had no right to see her tears or hear her wails least of all over him! Gently, he chided her that they should move and she is in agreement and with an indignant sniffle she finally pulls herself away from Felix and forced herself to stand.

It didn't matter if her surroundings were absolutely spinning from such prolonged use of high level magic to put his intestines back into his stomach.

"There's a small cave nearby, I can put up a ward and we can get our bearings there while we wait for the rain to stop," She said grateful that the rain hid the tear streaks on her face. Dorothea was so torn between being angry and glad and upset. She just wanted to get outy of rain and maybe eat something and sleep for a week!

Of course he could have died. They were in the middle of a war. Everyone around them could die. It was just the reality of their life that they all had to accept and learn to live with.

Felix had been forced to learn that decades ago. Glenn had died, and nothing had ever been the same for him after. Dimitri's sanity slippage had only made everything worse; it had just made it so clear to him that life was beyond ephemeral and there was no guarantee for tomorrow.

Perhaps this should have prompted him to be more open and honest with his feelings. Instead, he had all-but shut down, not feeling like there was any... safety in the idea of opening up to another person.

So having Dorothea hug him, squeezing him tight as she wailed and sobbed and yelled, he was just-- confused. A small part of him was even a little bit-- something close to upset, though that was likely just spurred on by the headache that was growing in his temples.

"Hey-- hey. It's okay. I'm fine, Thea-- come on. I'm fine." He continued to pat her back gently, forcing a smile as he did.

"-- If you want to keep yelling at me, we still should head somewhere else." They were still on the outskirts of a battlefield, which was both not safe and not private.

[serandipity]

He was awkwardly hugging her in a way that was so stereotypically Felix. He had almost had his intestines spill out onto the ground and he was acting like it was nothing. But more than that! She was certain it had been her stomach that had been ripped to shreds.

In that moment, she's just glad he's here-- that she's hear. A sob tumbled out of her as she held him close. He was always so bristly, but in that moment it didn't matter if he got up to his usual antics of acting like he didn't care and feigning anger to push her away.

Because he had almost died trying to save her.

Near death situations were part of the reality of war, and yet something in her was so viscerally gripped with a terror that he was going to die that she could not-- would not let him go.

"You could have died, idiot!" Dorothea blustered at. Despite that she does not release him from her vice grip, "You're not supposed to die! You're supposed to come home like you always do and call me an idiot for worrying so much! If you die... I'll... I'll kill you myself!!! Don't ask me how!! I just will!!"

Dorothea seemed to have a very clear idea of what had happened, but for Felix's part in everything he was beyond clueless. Something had happened, but he didn't have the energy to dwell on it. Right now he was just glad that she was okay - and, to a lesser degree, glad that she had been able to heal the gaping wound that had opened up on his stomach.

The sudden hug was painful, and Felix couldn't stop himself from letting out a small oof from the force of it. After a long moment he reached one hand up to awkwardly pat her on the back. "There, there." One, two, three gentle pats as he waited for her to release him from the tight near-suffocating hug.

"I'm okay, Thea. You're okay. What-- what's gotten into you?" Really, what? The two of them had been in near-death situations before. What was different about this one?

After the final pat he let out a sigh, letting his hand rest against her back. "... what am I going to do with you?"

[serandipity]

She was pumping in as much magic as she could muster into him. The wound felt like it was fighting her, but at the very least she managed to stitch him back together so that his guts weren't practically falling out of him. How had that happened? It was her that had sustained an injury when a mage had blown a whole through her abdomen with a Thoron spell.

Suddenly he is saying her name and reaching up to gently touch her cheek. She felt the smallest of pinprickle of tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She barely realizes the smattering of blood on her cheek-- her blood from just a moment before when he'd been carrying her.

Felix started trying to sit up, his brown knitted together in pain at the process and she practically flinches, fighting back the urge to tell him to lay back down.

"I'm... fine... I shouldn't be, but I am..." Dorothea said softly as she reached out to cup his cheeks. He still felt cold, as if narrowly missing deaths cold embrace, "You did say I would be fine, yes..." She said softly.

It was hard not to think about the moments before the wound had seemingly appeared on his stomach. The red thread, the promise that she would be okay-- it was like he had willingly taken his pain as her own.

Felix was the type to care about other people more than himself. He practically carried a death wish on his shoulders, but he wanted other people to live. A small sob felt out of her as she threw her arms around him, trying to keep that small sob from growing into hysterics.

She hugged him as tightly as she could while making sure the sudden additional pressure wasn't going to reopen the wound on his stomach.

"You.... you.... What am I going to do with you!!?"

He didn't want to think about what had just happened and didn't want to think about what it could mean --

So he didn't. Wouldn't.

Felix's legs had grown weak and he had collapsed, though he couldn't actually remember that happening. Someone he went from that to being here, lying on his back and staring up at Dorothea as she pressed her hands against his stomach. Why? Why did she look so worried?

Why was she covered in blood?

"Thea." He repeated her name before reaching up, hand touching her cheek. There was blood there too, though Felix was able to piece together that it had been on his fingers first before he touched her, not originally on her face.

"Why... I don't..." Felix squeezed his eyes shut hard before he started to sit up. There was a searing hot pain, but after a moment he was able to do so. Dwelling on whatever had just happened... something told he he didn't want to think about it. Not too hard.

"You're... you're fine, right? I told you you would be."

[serandipity]

Everything happened in quick succession. First, Dorothea was casting out spells to try and get the beast to back off the next an equally large beast was slamming into the demonic creature full force. The other beast roared and hummed in a way Dorothea couldn't quite describe. However the other beast was large enough to have the demonic beast shoved back and crushed.

And a figure emerged from the beast. It was Dorothea's first instinct to tuck the villager behind her and ready herself into a combat stance.

"...Wh...what are you?" Dorothea barked out, "Some kind of summoner? That's unlike any mount I've ever seen." Dorothea muttered out cautiously. She would defend herself if needed, but until she could determine whether their savior was friend or foe she couldn't act carelessly.

Unfortunately, Ms. Riley Cross was not the individual being protected by the magician. She was in fact behind the wheel of an ugly gas guzzler, gritting her teeth and shoving one of her sneakers under the accelerator, on a collision course with the monstrosity. The smarter plan would've been to take her own car, two aisles down and seven across, and get out of this hellhole. But she'd seen the stalled mid-life-crisis-mobile, and that tiny part of her that wasn't devoted to self-preservation won out. "Three," she hissed out to the empty audience of the rattling Ford, tensing as the vehicle roared closer, "two..."

(Frankly, she didn't like to go past seventy on a highway -- or really, even be on a highway in the first place.) (Fuck.) "One." She tensed, twisted her gut, and without a sound the truck was without driver, Riley transported into cover behind a helpful shed. A shed, she learned abruptly, already used for that same purpose by a magician and her protectee. "Ah," she said. (Did many people know how to teleport? Could she pass it off as adrenaline?) Behind her, the monster roared, pushed back, but was crushed beneath five tons of metal.

"...'Lo."

[serandipity]

Her body was heavy and her vision was darkening. Was this how it ended? In unceremonious silence? She always believed that her death would have been bright and dazzling. One befitting an opera star.

But maybe this was it. She was just going to be an unnamed casualty on the battlefield. At least she wasn't going to die alone-- at least it had been Felix to find her so nothing weird would be done to her body.

Her eyes slip shut for a moment, and in the blackness she could swear she sees a flash of a red thread. Memories of the fights and feuds with Felix come racing in, all the little moments shared from the meals and the drunken trysts. He had been so shy the first time, so unsure of himself....

She had to furiously claim she remembered nothing, but she remembered all of it. And it hadn't been just one time. She was a fool. Maybe she should have tried a little harder to understand him, she...

Dorothea inhales deeply as her eyes shoot open. Felix had collapsed into the mud. The wound on her stomach was all but healed, but the familiar stench of iron had Dorothea sitting up frantically and turning.

Something strange had happened, and somehow Felix had seemingly taken the wound meant to kill her onto himself. She's not quite sure how this happened, but she has no time to think about it.

"It's alright. Sh. Shh. I got you, Felix." She said softly, propping his nearly lifeless body onto his lap, willing healing magic into her finger tips. Even magic would struggle to heal a wound this deep. A less experienced healer would have struggled.

She was no Flayn or Mercedes, but she could heal. She was one of the army's strongest mages

Magic poured through her fingertips and flesh began to knit itself shut-- a positive sign considering Felix's organs had been threatening to spill out of his abdomen before.

"It's alright. I'm here, Felix. I'm not going to let you die."

There was nothing that could ever convince him that soulmates existed. It was preposterous; stories that women told while gossiping with one another over tea or... some other inane scenario. It wasn't real.

But in the moment it didn't matter. In the moment he wasn't thinking about that.

Dorothea was dying in his arms. Even healing magic would struggle with the wound across her belly, and their nearest healer was currently bleeding out in his arms. If she couldn't focus to heal herself then they'd have to find someone else; Linhardt, maybe? That fucking useless idiot, always gone whenever he was needed the most-

A sharp pain ripped across his stomach, and he stumbled before catching himself. Dorothea spoke up, and he snapped at her without much thought - both because she did need to save her strength, and because that sudden twist of hot pain was not normal.

Felix kept trying to carry her, but the pain was growing as he found himself becoming weak. He stumbled, collapsing while just barely managing to keep from dropping her. She couldn't move. Her stomach. Her--

One hand was pressed against her abdomen. Felix knew she had been torn open and bloodied just moments before, and now there wasn't even any scar left behind. What? And why... did he feel so... faint...?

"Thea..." He glanced down at himself, at the growing crimson stain across his belly.