#oc: ben plover

[egrets-not-regrets]

Museum

Warsmith Eciton Formicas takes the time to visit his bonded human, an educator who works at the local museum’s natural history exhibit. He’s not the only one at the museum that day and gets to meet his bonded’s favorite teacher.

Author’s Note: Another meetcute. 🥰 I can’t have Mara meeting Eciton in Of Fin and Feathers AU and not have them meet in Space Marine Husbandry Sentience AU. Takes place after Ben reunites with Amelia.

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog , @bispecsual , @c-u-c-koo-4-40k , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog , @i-am-a-dragon34 , @felinisnoctis

Eciton stands at the back, watching the young man talking about biodiversity of the forest undergrowth in front of a rapt audience. His lips curl into a small smile as the children excitedly wave their hands to be picked to handle the large millipede the young man held. He was glad to have scheduled some time off to visit his bonded at the museum amd watch him work. It’s not often enough that he’s able to do such a thing nor be able to keep a close eye on his human. Luckily he’s able to assign some of the Astartes at his base to keep his bonded safe in his stead.

The presentation soon finished and the audience dispersed to wander among the rest of the exhibits. Eciton walks over to where his bonded human was packing up the animals and displays he had. He gently takes the small ant farm and wolf spider display then puts them on the cart.

His human grins and thanks him.

“Was that the presentation you had been working on the past few weeks, Daniel?” The warsmith asks.

“Yes. How was it?” Daniel replies as he continues to pack up.

Eciton hums with approval, “Rather engaging, though I thought you would put some more focus on the ants.”

“You like ants, I get it.” the young man laughs, “I have to be fair about giving all creatures equal amount of time in my presentation, you know.”

Setting on the last display, Daniel is about to push his cart back in the lab behind him when he spots someone familiar. He happily waves them over, “Ms. Plover! Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Mara had watched Daniel’s presentation, impressed by his performance and growth over the years. She lags behind, reading the displays as Amelia and Ben, along with their space marines, go to check out the rest of the exhibit. Suddenly, Daniel’s familiar voice calls out to her.

“Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Daniel had been one of the students she taught many years ago when she had been teaching full-time. Mara is surprised that he still recognized her. Her eyes crinkle as she walks towards the educator and greets him with a warm hug and a smile.

“Your presentation was very well done!

Eciton watches as Daniel rushes over to an older woman to enthusiastically greet her with a hug. Daniel leads her over to where he was standing and introduces them.

“This is Ms. Plover, my favourite teacher! She’s the one who inspired me to continue insect keeping and research, and become the educator I am today.” Gesturing to the bonded space marine, Daniel continues proudly, “This is Eciton Formicas, my bonded space marine! He’s the warsmith at Steelix Fortress Base.”

Eciton straightens his posture and gives her a nod. She looks and smells familiar. He quickly realizes that she was related to Alcyon’s and Malaran’s humans, who were involved in the incident with that Black Templar. Internally, he debates if he should mention that or not to her.

“Don’t let your other teachers hear that.” Mara joked before smiling warmly and holding out a hand to the warsmith, making sure to address him by his proper title, “Nice to meet you Warsmith Formicas. You can call me ‘Mara’ instead, Ms. Plover is far too formal and I’ve retired from teaching.”

Eciton’s hand engulfs hers as he gently shakes her hand, “My pleasure. It is good to meet someone who’s inspired my bonded so deeply.”

Daniel grins, “You’re the only one who let me keep bugs in the classroom. Even after the whole ‘mantid babies’ incident.”

Mara chuckled, remembering the time when baby mantises hatched from the egg case that Daniel brought in. They were still finding tiny mantises a month later in the classroom. “I don't think we’ve ever found them all.”

“Good! I’ve left my legacy in that school.” Daniel thumps his chest proudly to Eciton’s amusement. He looks at the cart and excuses himself, “I need to put these guys back in the lab, I’ll be right back out soon. You guys have a good chat!”

With that, he wheels the cart away and disappears into the lab.

An awkward silence hung between the pair for a short moment until Mara spoke up again,“Thank you for letting my daughter keep Ben. I’m sure that incident caused you no shortage of headaches. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Eciton blinks, not expecting Mara to say such a thing. He quickly collects himself, “It’s fine. That issue has been resolved and it is only a matter to settle in the human legal system now between your daughter and her in-laws.”

“Regardless, thank you.” She replies, grateful to have her family reunited.

The Iron Warrior could feel heat at edge of his ears and he nods slightly, “You’re welcome.”

Mara smiles a little then asks, “How long have you been bonded with Daniel? I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a space marine when I was teaching him at Gannet Point. Knowing Daniel when he’s excited, he definitely would be announcing that to the world.”

Eciton chuckled, “I met him while he was here in Steelix River several years ago. Sometimes that boy needs to learn timing and volume, but it suits him well for the work he does here.”

“Grandma’s looking like she’s having a nice chat with that space marine guy.” Ben points out. Amelia had thought her mother had lagged behind for a susiciously long time when they decide to turn back to search for her.

“Your mother is chatting up the Warsmith.” Alcyon murmured incredulously, one arm wrapped around Amelia’s shoulder.

Mara is indeed talking to Warsmith Formicas who is soon joined by the presenter, one of her former students. Amelia lets out a quiet exasperated laugh and leans affectionately into Alcyon’s side, feeling him tighten his hold, “Of course she is. My mom has a talent for holding a conversation with nearly anyone. It probably helps that the warsmith’s bonded is my mom’s former student.” She knew that her mom isn’t bonded to an Astartes, but the way the warsmith stands protectively by the educator, it is obvious that the educator is his bonded human.

Mara nearly forgets the time while she was chatting until Ben wraps his arms around her and she sees Orca close behind.

“Grandma! We’ve found you!”

Mara chuckles and hugs him back, “Hello Ben, Orca. This is Daniel, one of my students and this is Warsmith Formicas. Be polite.”

Ben looks up and greets them both, “Hi Daniel. Hi Warsmith Formicas.”

“Grandma?” Daniel asks, “Did you get married?”

“No,” Mara explains, “I adopted my niece as my own and her son, Ben, is my grandson.”

Eciton looked down at the scrappy young boy who was the cause of all this drama; who, against all odds, managed to escape a Black Templar and reunite with his mother, with the help of his bonded chaos marine and one of his men. Ben stared back evenly, not cowed by the warsmith’s presence. Eciton can see the family resemblance.

“Formicas.” Malaran says as he holds onto Ben again, his red eyes daring the warsmith to make a comment about his charge. Daniel shifts uncomfortably.

“Where’s your mom and Alcyon?” Mara asks Ben, cutting through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

“They’re coming.” The boy replies.

They look over to see Alcyon and Amelia making their way towards them. The chaos Iron Warrior nods at them, “Warsmith.”

Amelia greets them, smiling, “Warsmith Formicas, Daniel.” She addresses the educator, “That was a wonderful presentation.”

“Yeah!” Ben pipes up, “That was so cool! I really liked when you talked about the fishing spider.”

Daniel’s grin is large and bright when he replies, “I’m glad you guys like it! Unfortunately time’s a bit tight, but next time when you come by again, send me an email and i can set you up with a behind the scenes tour of the lab.” Giving Ben his business card.

Ben cheers, “That is awesome! Thanks!”

The educator laughs, “You’re welcome!”

Eciton and Daniel look on as the family wave their goodbyes and disappears to look at the other exhibits in the museum.

“Cute kid. That’s the one who made the shouty guys shoutier?” Daniel asks.

Eciton snorts at Daniel’s description of the Black Templars, “Yes.”

“I like him, he seems bright and scrappy.”

“The boy and his Astartes are trouble.” the Warsmith grumbles.

“They can’t be all that bad. You seemed to have a nice chat with Ms. Plover. She makes some really good pastries too.” Daniel adds.

“She was a good conversationalist.” Eciton grudgingly admits that much, then smirks at his bonded, “She also shared some of your hijinks of when you were in her class. Bringing in a container full of cockroaches without secure containment? Really, Daniel?”

The young man groans, “I was a kid. Secure containment wasn’t exactly my priority at the time.”

[egrets-not-regrets]

Very much the energy in Ben and Malaran’s story. Lol.

Ben: *exists*

Malaran, Alcyon, Erriox, Lenora: Our kid now.

My husband’s job primarily employs adult men but there is one (1) teenage girl and my husband said originally he worried she might be a bit of an outcast but instead every man on the crew was like “huh guess I am a dad/older brother now.”

[rjalker]

The NEW Daemon Book of Daemons list, created 11/25/17. Has yet to be updated.

Under a cut because it. is. LONG. And it hasn’t even been updated yet....

Definitely....definitely use CTRL+F if you’re looking for someone specific.

Once I get back from work and have more time, I’ll finish adding in the fandoms.

Abel Giddeon–Sonraim–Nycitcebus Kayan (Kayan Loris) [Hannibal] Aberforth Dumbledor—Gleda–Capra Hircus (British Alpine Goat) [HP] Abigail Hobbs—Senteron–Mico Chrysoleuca (White and Gold Marmoset)[Hanni] Adam Baylin—Queniv—Lemur Catta (Ring-tailed Lemur) [Kyle XY] Adele, the Reporter—Koran–Ara Macao (Scarlet Macaw) [His Dark Materials] Aegis Perry—Serith–Canis Familiaris (Dalmation) [OC, BSG] Aeryn Sun—Corun–Spizaetus Ornatus (CV: Black and grey) [Farscape] Agdar of Arendelle–Rhysan–Upapa Epops (Hoopoe) [Frozen] Alan ???–Sertellina–??? [???] Alana Bloom—Chayvetz–Heliconius Sapho (Sapho Longwing) [Hannibal] Alana Kalmor—Keyvn–Alienus Wraii (Wray’s Deer)* [OC, Stargate ?] Albus Dumbledor—Delphine–Phoenix Ignis (Fire Phoenix)* [Harry Potter] Alestair Moody—Fraisha–Phacochoerus Merlinuscinerus (Tebo)* [Harry Potter] Alexander Hale—Haersan–Gorilla Beringei (Eastern Gorilla) [OC, BSG] Algar Shaw—Rinvik–Bombycilla Cedorum (Cedar Waxwing) (CV: Silver)[oc..?] Alice Cullen–Syzun–Colinus Virginianus (Northern Bobwhite) [Twilight] Alice—Keircha–Nisaetus Nanus (Wallace’s Hawk Eagle) [Resident Evil] Alrik Johansen—Furoyce–Meposittacus Undulatus (Budgerier) [Frozen] Amanda Bloom—Arros—Canis Familiaris (Samoyed) [Kyle XY] Amanda Gareth—Abner–Cinnyricinclus Leucogaster (Violet-backed Starling) [The Hunger Games] Amelia Pond—Verin—Zenaida Macroura (Mourning Dove) [Doctor Who] Amy Jacobs–Diantha–Puma Concolor (Mountain Lion) [The X-Files] Anastasia Dualla—Zinulfri–Eulemur Flavifrons (Blue-eyed Black Lemur) [BSG] Anastasia Nikolaevna–Corinth–Lepus Americanus (Snowshoe Hare) [Anastasia] Andal Shakespeare–Daryn–Microcebus Murinus (Grey Mouse Lemur) [Stardust] Andrea Palmer—Calor–Carduelis Pinus (Pine Siskin) Andy Jensen—Keon—Ursus Maritimus (Polar Bear) Angela Weber–Luke–Hylomantis Lemur (Lemur Leaf Frog) Anna ???–Karaven–Pluvialis Dominica (American Golden Plover) Anna Wu–Izanul–Iguana Iguana (Green Iguana) Anna of Arendelle—Kai–Lepus Timidus (Mountain Hare) Annabeth Chase—Taris–Felis Cattus (Aegean) Annie Sawyer–Senni–Phalacrocorax Auritus (Double-crested Cormorant) Anthea–Unnamed–Chamaeleo Calyptratus (Veiled Chameleon) Anya Jenkins—Andulan–Syvilagus Aquaticus (Swamp Rabbit) Anya–Roral–Lepus Americanus (Snowshoe Hare) Aqua–Tidan–Canis Aurora (Suicune)* Ariane Setter—Lochir–Barrus Pintiki (Elephant Mouse)* Artemis—Eros–Saimiri Sciureus (Spider Monkey) (Head!Six) Arthur Pendragon—Arsetis–Ursus Middendorfi (Kodiak Bear) Arthur Weasely—Toril–Raphus Cucullatus (Dodo)* Arthur–Taidin–Dolichotis Patagonum (Patagonium Mara) Arty The-Art-Dealer–Crysalzi–Felis Cattus (Nebelung) Ash Ketchum—Tiarmin—Ignismus Turbineoto (Pikachu) Asriel—Stelmaria–Uncia Uncia (Snow Leopard) Asuna (ALO)–Kozo–Buteo Jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk) Asuna (SAO)–Kozo–Soloccubuit Draconis (Orange Drake)* Audrey Parker—Delusheran–Polyhonus Savigny (Manuel’s Skipper) Audrey Ramirez—Inxie—Myotis Myotis (Greater Mouse-eared Bat) Augustus Shale—Keris–Phacochoerus Africanus (Warthog) Aurora—K'danin–Mydaus Marchei (Palawan Stink Badger) Baelfire—Haydn–Puma Yagouaroundi (Jaguarundi) Baro Blackwater—Vertessa–Caracal Caracal (Caracal) Bedelia du Mauer—Kerif—Aegolius Harisii (Buff-fronted Owl) Bella Swan–Charon–Arctictis Binturong (Binturong) Belle—Garo–Canis Familiaris (Australian Shepherd) (CV: Red merle) Ben Parker—Zitheya—Dipodomys Agilis (Agile Kangaroo Rat) Ben Stark—Claren–Didelphis Virginiana (Opossum) Beth LeBeau–Sanam–Corvus Corax (Common Raven) Beverly Katz—Kareij–Andorhynchus Hyacinthus (Hyacinth Macaw) Bill Burke–Kala–Phalaropus Lobatus (Red-Necked Phalarope) Bill Weasley—Icris– Panthera Leo (Lion) Bill Williams—Hibraxis–Canis Familiaris (English Coonhound) Billy Black–Azam–Picoides Pubescens (Downy Woodpecker) Billy Keikeya—Iristheo–Ailuroara Araurana (Parrot Cat) (PV: Pygmy) Blaine The-Rudo-Zombie-Creep–Agnigail–Heterodon Platirhinos (Hog-nosed Snake) Bobby Singer—Laris–Sciurus Carolinensis (Grey Squirrel) Bradley—Sethora–Hymenopus Coronatus (Flower Mantis) Bran Snowstep—Syo—Tyto Multipunctata (Lesser Sooty Owl) Brenda –Shaiyan–Eopsaltria Australis (Eastern Yellow Robin) Brian Zeller—Katila—Propithecus Tatteralli (Golden-crowned Sifaka) Brock—Geora–Felis Delicata (Delcatty)* Bruce Banner—Anaephis—Arctictis Binturong (Binturong) Bryce Larkin—Naemai–Oncychoprion Fuscatus (Sooty Tern) Buffy Summers—Hawnu—Panthera Senegalensis (West African Lion) Cady Heron—Adnag–Pterocles Lichtensteinii (Lichtenstein’s Sandgrous) Calvin Coolidge—Kevbe–Turdus Migratorius (Robin) Camille Wray—Oronil–Piranga Olivacea (Scarlet Tanager) Caprica—Ikua–Saimiri Sciureus (Squirrel Monkey) Carlisle Cullen–Vexun–Anhinga Anhinga (Anhinga) [wow] Carly-Anne Shay—Arison–Sigmodon Leucotis (White-Eared Cotton Rat) Carol Bloom—Vannol—Garrulus Glandarius (Eurasian Jay) Carolanne Madris—Charobol–Sericulus Chrysocephalus (Regal Bowerbird) Carson Beckett—Nemain–Oreortyx Pictus (Mountain Quail) Casimir Ravenwood—Daramiel—Fratercula Arctica (Arctic Puffin) Cassie–Alexander–Bombus Griseocollis (Brown-belted Bumblebee) Cavil—Skarenia–Didelphis Virginiana (Opossum) Charlie Swan–Kara–Geococcyx Californianus (Greater Roadrunner) Charlie Tanner—Zoey—Poecile Gambeli (Mountain Chickadee) Charlie Weasley—Aerissa–Draconem Codylus (Sungazer Girdle-tailed Dragon)* Chiana—Kadis–Mycophellia Arcturus (Golden Rynant) Chiyoh–Angina–Panthera Leo (African Lion) Chloe Armstrong—Keradem–Acanthisitta Chloris (Rifleman Bird) Cho Chang—Apophos–Cygnus Columbianus (Tundra Swan) Christine Everheart—Seirtan–Opheodrys Aestivus (Rough Green Snake) Chuck Bartowski—Irijaya–Petaurus Breviceps (Sugar Glider) Ciel Phantomhive—Karonel–Canis Familiaris (English Bulldog) Cinderella—Asher–Pica Nuttalli (Yellow-billed Magpie) Claire Novak–Sanan–Mustela Sibirica (Siberian Weasel) Clarice Willow—Zoretha—Cathartes Melambrotus (Greater Yellow-headed Vulture) Claudette Pelage–Vairgon–Sciurus Vulgaris (Red Squirrel) Claudiaboleyn—Arevaine–Gulo Gulo (Wolverine) Cleo Sertori–Kelmal–Bubo Virginianus (Great Horned Owl) Clive Babaneux–Diana–Rattus Norvegicus (Brown Rat) Clyde Langer—Alorama–Cyanocitta Cristata (Bluejay) Codi Chase-Jackson–Nenaim–Cynocephalus Volans (Philippine Flying Lemur) Connie Sky—Quoresh—Equus Keratus (Unicorn)* Cordelia Chase—Branshen–Felis Chaus (Jungle Cat) Crystal Caultrider—Jekora–Equus Caballus (Shetlaland Pony) Curt Connors—Loraika–Cryptoblepharus Egeriae (Blue-tailed Skink) (PV: Large) Curt Vaughan—Kralis–Otocyon Megalotis (Bat-eared Fox) Cyrus Xander��Cadence–Harpia Harpyja (Harpy Eagle) D'Anna—Celleron–Tyrannus Tyrannus (Eastern Kingbird) Dale Volkner—Eve—Tachyglossus Aculeatus (Short-beaked Echidna) Dana Polk—Thertin–Hemiprocne Mystacea (Mustached Treeswift) Dana Scully–Gidd’el–Prionodon Linsang (Linsang) Daniel ???–Sikan–Genetta Abyssinica (Abyssinian Genet) Daniel Fenton—Jaritho—Leiolepis Ngovantrii (-=-) Daniel Graystone—Pahaliah–Felis Margarita (Sand Cat) Daniel Jackson—Kharet–Canis Lupus/Canis Latrans (Coywolf) (Stargate on the Edge) Daniel Jackson—Seteraen–Vulpes Zerda (Fennec Fox) Daniel Osbourne—Traianel–Mustela Furo (Ferret) Daniel Shaw—Lepha're—Nycitcebus Bengalensis (Bengal Slow Loris) Daniel—Kara–Corvus Brachyrhynchos (American Crow) Daphne Blake–Helahn–Felis Cattus (TabShort-haired by) Darrius Gareth—Berai—Nycitcebus Coucang (Slow Loris) David Nolan—Nyoa–Ursus Maritimus (Polar Bear) David Telford—Trariel–Canis Familiaris (Dogo Argentino) Dawn Summers—Harwen—Propothecus Coquereli (Coqurel’s Sifaka Lemur) Dean Winchester—Danali—Canis Arctos (Arctic Wolf) Dean—Dyssebeia–Didelphis Virginiana (Opossum) Declan MacDonough—Kara—Passer Pyrrohonotos (Sind Sparrow) Deichman—Echo—Mephitis Macroura (Hooded Skunk) Derrial Book—Peytrathia–Potos Flavus (Kinkajau) Devin Woodcomb—Cardea–Falco Peregrinus (Peregrine Falcon) Diane Beckman—Layan–Sphex Pensylvanicus (Black Wasp) Dolores Umbridge II—Kragis–Rattus Niobe (Moss-forest Rat) Dolores Umbridge—Quaezel–Pantherophis Guttatus (Corn Snake) (CV: Lavender) Donald Sutcliffe–Quaedra–Pelecanus Thagus (Peruvian Pelecan) Donna Noble—Khalia–Lynx Lynx (Siberian Lynx) Donnie Millson–Kidan–Canis Familiaris (Saluki) Doralee–Sherrin–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Samoyed) Doral—Vitavia–Canis Familiaris (Australian Sheppherd) Doug Caltrider—Meyvris–Macaca Fascicularis (Crab-eating Macaque) Dr. Pedanski– –Canis Lupus Familiaris (Pharaoh Hound) Draco Malfoy–Zenderen–Bungarus Caeruleus (Common Krait) Draco Malfoy—Zanderen–Diadophis Regalis (Ringneck Snake) (HPMOR) Draco Malfoy—Zenderen–Bubo Bubo (Eurasian Eagle Owl) Drake Parker—Saravel–Lampropeltis Getula (Eastern Kingsnake) Dreilide Thrace—Vortisera–Psitacus Eritacus (African Grey Parrot) Duane Barry–Calotrix–Styloctenium Mindorensis (Mindoro Stripe-faced Fruit Bat) Dudley Dursley—Saravia–Patagioenas Leucocephala (White-crowned Pigeon) Echo—Nara—Ailurus Fulgens (Red Panda) Ed ???–Kora–Canis Latrans (Coyote) Edward Masen–Tarovi–Micrathene Whitneyi (Elf Owl) Edwin Morgan—Shervin–Phoneutria Nigriventer (Brazilian Wandering Spider) (Torchwood) Effie Trinket—Katira–cheilimenes Lunata (Ladybug) (CV: Gold) (Homogeneous) Eira—Kashik–Lepidodactylus Lugubris (Mourning Gecko) Eldon Stammets—Sharven–Caracara Cheriway (Northern Crested Caracara) Eli Wallace—Tiamat—Phodopus Sungorus (Djungarian Hampster) Elizabeth Mulder–Chozen–Urocyon Cinereoargenteus (Grey Fox) Elizabeth Swan–Noctis–Ninox Connivens (Barking Owl) Elizabeth Weir—Vitalinus–Athene Noctua (Little Owl) (CV: Red) Elize Nichols—Keylis–Mico Humeralifera (Santarem Marmoset) Ellen Harvelle—Edgar–Canis Familiaris (Beagle) Ellen Tigh—Sediel–Canis Familiaris (Bull Terrier) Ellie Bartowski—Cyorin–Somateria Mollissima (Common Eider) Ellie –Barunas–Urocissa Erythrorhyncha (Red-billed Blue Magpie) Elra Farren–Absolus—Spizaetus Ornatus (Ornate Hawk-Eagle) Elsa of Arendelle—Adalof–Tigris Altaica (Siberian Tiger) (CV: White) Embry Call–Golura–Peromyscus Truei (Pinyon Mouse) Emily Young–Cassren–Corvus Kubaryi (Mariana Crow) Emma Gilbert–Vitan–Martes Pennanti (Fisher Cat) Emma Swan—Kaman–Leopardus Geoffroyi (Geoffrey’s cat) Emmet McCarty–Urazen–Quiscalus Quisculla (Common Grackle) Emmett ???–Chena–Atelez Fusciceps (Black-Headed Spider Monkey) Emperor—Daemon–Grus Japonensis (Red-crowned Crane) Eragon Bromsson—Kirteyla–Buteo Lineatus (Red-shouldered Hawk) Eraqus–Stella–Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf) Eric Yorkie–Agara–Myotis Lucifugus (Little Brown Bat) Erica Jones–Vianae–Pholcus Phalangioides (Cellar Spider) Erik Redwood—Korek–Castor Canadensis (North American Beaver) Esme Evenson–Arjan–Ara Macao (Scarlet Macaw) Esmerelda–Djali–Capra Hircus (Alpine Goat) Eugene Thompson—Suderra–Spethos Venaticus (Bush Dog) Evan Lorne—Kerohtzlz–Phalcoboenus Carunculatus (Carunculated Caracara) Evan Moore–Shinon–Petaurus Breviceps (Sugar Glider) Everett Young—Cheyven–Canis Familiaris (Pitbull Terrier) Faith Caltrider—Xinphtanx–Unsettled Faith Lehane—Koschei–Naja Naja (Indian Cobra) (CV: Albino) Farder Coram—Sophonax–Felis Cattus (Physical and color variant large red cat) Felix ???????–Kalrinth–Canis Lupus Irremotus (Northern Rocky Mountains Wolf) Felix Gaeta—Huratha–Mus Musculus (House Mouse) (Cv: White) Finnin Daniels—Aremora–Felis Cattus (Cream Tabby) Fox Mulder–Marluscha–Callithrix Geoffroyi (White-headed Marmoset) Francine Briggs–Fanfir–Felis Grampia (Scottish Wildcat) Francis Dolarhyde–Agni–Dolichotus Patagonum (PatagonianMara) Francis, Old Master of Jordan—Zohariel–Natrix Natrix (Grass Snake) Franklin Hart–Lentia–Picoides Pubescens (Downy Woodpecker) [interesting…] Franklyn Froideveaux–Karan–Felis Cattus (Himalayan Cat) Fred Jones–Rani–Neovision Vision (American Mink) Fred Weasley—Auja–Dendrocitta Formosae (Grey Treepie) Frederick Chilton—Kosaio–Galeopterus Variegatus (Sunda Flying Lemur) Fredward Benson—Varinia–Cricetomys Bambianus (Gambian Pouched Rat) Furlow–Sova–Saimiri Sexcruor (Six-legged Squirrel Monkey) Gadreel–Meraeis–Sturnus Vulgaris (Starling) Gaetan Moliére—Dark–Canis Familiaris (Schipperke) Gaius Baltar—Castellaria—Gulo Gulo (Wolverine) Gaius of Camelot—Cinthereldra–Otocolobus Manul (Pallas’ Cat) Gale Hawthorne—Amireth–Haliastur Indus (Brahminy Kite) Galen—Shizan–Canis Familiaris (Pitbull) Galina “Red” Reznikov–Visata–Prionailurus Bengalensis (Leopard Cat) Garret Hobbs—Izora–Lanius Cabanisi (Long-tailed Fiscal) George Anders—Xiltera–Cerdocyon Thous (Crab-eating Fox) George Hammond—Aedelfrid–Sigmodon Ochrognathus (Yellow-nosed Cotton Rat) George Mendez–Caitan–Larus Canus (Common Gull) George Sands–Lola–? George Weasley—Xico–Dendrocitta Leucogastra (White-bellied Treepie) Georgia Madchen–Alaia–Felis Cattus (Long-haired Tabby) Geppetto—Veraenissa–Tanagera Seldeon (Green-headed Tanager) Geraint—A'eron–Fringilla Montifringilla (Brambling) Gerda of Arendelle–Abrain–Otocolobus Manul (Pallas Cat) Gina Inviere—Cherish–Saimiri Sciureus (Squirrel Monkey) Ginevra Weasley—Jequoa–Equus Caballus (Andalusian Horse) (CV: Light bay) Gita Chandra—Conraim–Manis Culionensis (Phillipine Pangolin) Granny—Ruffin—Canis Familiaris (Russo-European Laika) Gratuity Tucci–Keah–Tragopan Satyra (Satyr Tragopan) Gregory Lestrade—Wilrama—Ursus Arctos (Brown Bear) Gregory Lestrade—Zarania–Falco Macropus (Peregrine Falcon Sub.S) (The Republic of Heaven) Greg—Sorcha–Corvus Caurinus (Northwestern Crow) Grover Underwood—Teydris–Melanerpes Rubricapilus (Red-capped Woodpecker) [Daemon variant] Guy Matthews—Kraelara–Falco Rusticolus (Gyrfalcon) Gwen Cooper—Zapani–Icterus Auratus (Orange Oriole) Gwen Stacy—Sandalphon—Gampsonyx Swainsonii (Pearl Kite) Gwen of Camelot—Adinet–Mustela Nigripes (Black-footed Ferret) Hamish Holmes—Tazani—Hydrictis Maculicollis (Spotted-necked Otter) Hamish of Camelot—Caralan–Canis Familiaris (Greyhound) Hannah ???–Atlas–Aquila Chrysaetos (Golden Eagle) Hannibal Lecter—Stergata–Pyrroglaux Podarginus (Palau Owl) Hans Hubermann—Chofera–Gallus Sonneratii (Grey Junglefowl) Hans of the Southern Isles—Gerda–Actias Luna (Luna Moth) Haresh Chandra—Sitaven–Canis Lepturus (Dhole) Harriet Watson—Yeirna–Agelaioides Badius (Baywing) Harrolir—Ktorid–Praelcara Vestibulum [Daemon variant] Harry ???–Codena–??? Harry James Potter Evans Verres—Inara–Homo Sapiens (Human) (HPMOR) Harry Osborn—Seronna—Strix Nebulosa (Great Grey Owl) Harry Potter—Inara–Felis Cattus/Prionailurus Bengalensis (Bengal Cat) Hector Zeroni–Chain–Civettictis Civetta (African Civet) Helena Bariss—Orosan–Storeria Occipitomaculata (Redbelly Snake) Helena Cain—Aleceronin–Herpestes Ichneumon (Egyptian Mongoose) Helga Sinclair—Amata–Leptailurus Serval (Serval) Henry Mills—Khuera–Crocua Crocuta (Spotted Hyena) Hermann Gottlieb—Mariona–Chordeiles Rupestris (Sand-coloured Nightjar) Hermione Granger—Apralen–Lontra Canadensis (North American River Otter) Hermione Granger—Apralen–Not Settled (Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality) Hillary—Kaizu—Papilo Glaucus (Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly) Ho Yinsen—Ebiki–Upupa Ceylonensis (Hoopoe) Hoban Washburne—Sherem–Canis Familiaris (Yellow spiky-furred mutt) Holden McCrea—Nessura–Lophostrix Cristata (Crested Owl) Howard Stark—Chantho–Panthera Leo (Lion) Hua Mulan—Khan–Equus Ferus (Przewalski’s Horse) Ianto Jones—Marineph–Thamnophis Sirtalis (Red-spotted Garter Snake) Idun of Arendelle–Ausran–Unica Uncia (Snow Leopard) Ignatus, Old Master of Jordan—Musca–Brachyteles Hypoxanthus (Northern Muriqui) Inara Serra—Deytovem–Varecia Variegata (Black and White Ruffed Lemur) Iorek Byrnison—Unnamed—Caelo Ferrum [Daemon variant] Iraia Chase-Jackson–Aegis–Dasypus Novemcinctus (Nine-Banded Armadillo) Irene Adler–Kaidan–Papilio Glaucus (Tiger Swallowtail Butterfly) Jack Crawford—Bersheyna–Canis Familiaris (Bloodhound) Jack Fenton—Shira–Pyrrhocorax Pyrrhocorax (Red-billed Chough) Jack Harkness—Kylenjo–Peromyscus Polionotus (Oldfield Mouse) Jack O'neill—Teramil–Canis Familiaris (German Sheppherd) Jack Sparrow–Sireeeda–Micrathene Whitneyi (Elf Owl) Jackie The-Rich-Zombie-Lady–Keyja–Nisaetus Cirrhatus (Changeable Hawk-eagle) Jackie Tyler—Zahloh–Trichosurus Vulpecula (Common Bushtail Possum) Jacob Avirda—Herkero–Homopholis Mulleri (Muller’s Velvet Gecko) Jacob Black–Manon–Crotophaga Ani (Smooth-Billed Ani) Jacob—Siervatem–Mustela Furo (Ferret) Jake ???–Leyator–??? Jake Sully—Feyo–Geranoaetus Melanoleucus (Black-chested Buzzard-eagle) Jake Sully—Feyo–Scorpiobattus Volansii (Stingbat) Jake Sully—Hufwetxep—Draconem Volansii (Ikran) Jake Sully—Toruk—Leonopteryx Rex (Toruk) Jake Talley—Bavelai–Panthera Onca (Jaguar) Jake–Funera–Poecile Rufescens (Chestnut-backed Chickadee) James Barnes—Shavee–Puma Concolor (Cougar) James Moriarty–?–Phoneutia ? (Brazilian Wandering Spider)(The Republic of Heaven) James Moriarty–Kemaioz–Podoces Hendersoni (Henderson’s Ground Jay) James Moriarty—Merida—Lophorina Superba (Superb Bird of Paradise) (Homogenous) James Potter—Oromwi–Muntiacus Mintjak (Muntjac) James The-Guy-Who-Hires-Assassins–Vorda–Oreotragus Oreotragus (Klipspringer) James—Lorose–Ursus Arctos (Brown Bear) Jane Porter—Ukoran–Aratinga Solstitialis (Sun Conure) Janet Fraiser—Cerbis–Garrulus Glandarius (Eurasian Jay) Janice –Kritol–Felis Cattus (House Cat) Jared Cameron–Layren–Ahaetulla Nasuta (Green Vine Snake) Jasmine Fenton—Syntaru–Panurus Biarmicus (Bearded Reedling) Jason Everdeen—Cheranu–Canis Rufous (Red Wolf) Jasper Whitlock–Temma–Romalea Guttata (Eastern Lubber Grasshopper) Javier Abano(?)–Rosetta–Galago Senegalensis (Senegal Bushbaby) Jayne Cobb—Dagny–Canis Familiaris (Irish Wolfhound) Jeanne Poisson—Bellopho–Pernis Aviprus (European Honey Buzzard) Jebediah Farnsworth—Cassaria–Canis Mesomelas (Black-backed Jackal) Jennifer Keller—Arelane–Tamias Striatus (Chipmunk) Jesse Aarons Jr.–Vodalaine–Phaethon Aethereus (Red-Billed Tropicbird) Jessica Moore—Kihram–Falco Rufigularis (Bat Falcon) Jessica Stanley–Rocha–Falco Sparverius (American Kestrel) Jessi—Nara—Ailurus Fulgens (Red Panda) Jim Hawkins—Phaeda–Zenaida Macroura (Mourning Dove) Jiminy Cricket—Fenwyn–Buteo Regalis (Ferruginous Hawk) (CV: Light morph) Jimmy Price–Meriana–Ramphastos Tucanus (Red-billed Toucan) Jimmy The-Sketch-Artist-Guy–Hala–Erinaecus Europaeus (European Hedghog) Jo Harvelle—Tidas–Aphelocoma Californica (Western Scrub Jay) Jody Mills—Mehrbrell–Pteropus Alecto (Black Flying-fox) Joe Caputo–Vina–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Cocker Spaniel) John Bennet–Lucina–Canis Lupus Familiaris (West Highland White Terrier) John Casey—Le'kayor–Canis Familiaris (Irish Wolfhound) John Crichton—Braigha–Viverra Tangalunga (Malayan Civet) John Kalmor—Laviya–Pardolotus Punctatus (Spotted Pardolate) John Mitchell–Sefrani–Leopardus Colocolo (Colocolo) John Sheppard—Sahiba—Acinonyn Jubatus (Cheetah) John Smith–Ezianor–Buteo Platypterus (Broad-winged Hawk) (CV: Light Morph) John Watson–Shora–Canis Familiaris (American Staffordshire Terrier) John Watson—Amarisa–Canis Lupus/Canis Familiaris (Wolfdog)(CV: Black) (The Republic of Heaven) John Watson—Kaichara—Aquila Chrysaetos (Golden Eagle) John Winchester—Beryl–Haliaeetus Leucocephallus (Bald Eagle) Joseph Adama—Themis—Thylacinus Cynocephalus (Thylacine) Josh ???–Kaia–Oryctolagus Cuniculus (European Rabbit) Josh Nichols—Akani–Chinchilla Lanigera (Long-tailed Chinchilla) Josh Trager—Taerin—Aegolius Acadicus (Nothern Saw-whet Owl) Joshua Sweet—Archisha–Lepus Californicus (Black-tailed Jackrabbit) Joyce Summers—Raikara–Sitta Formosa (Beautiful Nuthatch) Judy Bernly–Kela–Mustela Furo (Ferret) Judy Burke–Junorth–Aeronautes Saxatilis (White-Throated Swift) Jules Louden—Jorseph–Pardofelis Temminckii (Asian Golden Cat) Juta Kaimanen—Kais–Turdus Migratorius (Robin) Ka D'argo—Okiju–Somniumcustos Leo (Aura Lion)* Kai of Arendelle–Neyim–Alle Alle (Little Auk) Kairi–Jaimin–Ictinia Plumbea (Plumbeous Kite) Kairi—Jaimin–Inanis Saltator (Dancer) Kara Thrace—Altair—Passer Domesticus (House Sparrow) Karina–Vensten–Nisaetus Nipalensis (Mountain Hawk-Eagle) Karl Agathon—Hathor—Gryph Chrysoaglo (Golden Eagle Griffon) Kashekim Nedakh—Chyova–Trichosurus Vulpecula (Bushtail Possum) (CV: Lantean) Kathrn Nolan—Pahvin–Canis Familiaris (English Springer Spaniel) Kathryn Barlow– –Cracticus Hypoleuca (Tasmanian Magpie) Katie Woten—Kora–Surnia Ulula (Hawk-Owl) Katniss Everdeen—Sereven—Grus Antigone (Saurus Crane) (CV: Red wing-backs) Kaylee Fry—Sizaanam–Varecia Rubra (Red Ruffed Lemur) Kendra Shaw—Paridoga–Petroica Goodenovii (Red-capped Robin) Kendra—Rolarshina–Lycaon Pictus (African Wild Dog) (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) Kevin Tran—Elria–Uroplatus Phantasticus (Satanic Leaf-tailed Gecko) Kevin Tran—Ishca—Rhacodactylus Ciliatus (Crested Gecko) Kidagakash Nedakh—Veritam–Gryph Albamare (Sea Griffon) (CV: Lantean) Killian Jones—Keyoana–Laticauda Columbrina (Banded Sea Krait) Kingsley Shacklebolt—Tighea–Lynx Pardinus (Iberian Lynx) Kirigaya Kazuto–Erezel–Gampsonyx Swainsonii (Pearl Kite) Kirigaya Suguha—Sidru–Badumna Insignis (Black House Spider) Kirito (ALO)–Gamasi–Canis Latrans (Coyote) (CV: Black/Grey) Kirito (SAO)–Gamasi–Oculis Fulgeat (Gleam Eyes)* Kristoff Trollson—Sven–Rangifer Tarandus (Reindeer) (Homogeneous) Kyle Trager—Kara—Hyperolius Kivuensis (Lake Kivu Reed Frog) Lacy Rand—Keon–Ursus Maritimus (Polar Bear) Lara Abott—Stertera—Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf) (CV: Sandy cream) Lara—Fronemai—Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf) (CV: White) Laura Roslin—Castor—Galidia Elegans (Ring-tailed Mongoose) Leafa (ALO)–Kaitan–Albiverde Aquilam (Sylph Eagle)* Leah Clearwater–Marak–Stercorarius Longicaudus (Long-Tailed Jaeger) Lee Caultrider—Seraith–Ursus Arctos (Brown Bear) Lee Scorsby—Hester–Lepus Arcticus (Arctic Hare) Leland Adama—Atia—Panthera Leo (African Lion) Leoben—Pantera–Pandion Haliaetus (Osprey) Leslie Burke–Sinza–Mellivora Capensis (Honey Badger) Lewis McCartney–Saighan–Enulius Sclateri (Sock-Headed Snake) Lewis–Vora–Asio Otus (Long-Eared Owl) Liam (Angel)—Herrin–Leopardus Wiedii (Margay) Lilo Pelekai—Keanu–Lasiurus Cinereus (Hoary Bat) Lily Baker—Bellerophon–Felis Cattus (Main Coon Calico) (Supernatural) Lily Evans—Sykoran–Axis Axis (Chital) Lisa Park—Rognar–Bassiscus Astutus (Ring-tailed Cat) Lisesl Meminger—Faerlil–Martes Melampus (Japanese Marten) Lola Abano–Senvan–(Something…green? Possibly a lizard) Lori Trager—Jaynin—Carlito Syrichta (Philippine Tarsier) Louanne Katraine—Hekora–Passer Maobiticus (Dead Sea Sparrow) Lucius Malfoy—Charisaien–Pavo Cristatus (Indian Peafowl) Lucy Householder–Dianne–Caracal Caracal (Caracal) Lucy Jaggat–Likka–Pseudechis Porphyriacus (Red-bellied Black Snake) Luke Smith—Nalani–Trogopterus Xanithipes (Complex-toothed Flying Squirrel) Luke Verres—Uruxa–Tigris Altaica (Siberian Tiger) Luke—Zarial–Canis Lupus (Grey Wolf) Luna Lovegood—Thayratch–Lepus Microtis (African Hare) Lyle Rourke—Bayrosh—Panthera Corbetti (Indochinese Tiger) Lyra Belacqua—Pantalaimon–Martes Martes (Pine Marten) Maddie ???–Kota–Chondestes Grammacus (Lark Sparrow) Maddie Fenton—Jeirlaimatan–Ptilopsis Granti (Southern White-faced Owl) Maison Torta—Whinteru–Francolinus Francolinus (Black Francolin) Major Lilywhite–Kaega–Monodelphis Domestica ( Grey Short-tailed Opossum) Mako Mori—Satoka–Cordylus Niger (Black Girdled Lizard) Malcom Reynolds—Heyvin–Buteo Jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk) Marcon—Pratan–Pandion Haliaetus (Osprey) Marco–Ankain–Canis Lupus Familiaris ( Marcus Farren—Ceto–Hydrochoerus Hydrochaeris (Capybara) Marcy The-Friendly-Rival–Lunga–Canis Arctos (Arctic Wolf) Margaret Edmonson—Charis–Taxidea Taxus (American Badger) Margaret Foster–Cenid–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Beagle) Margaret Scully–Sheidan–Titanacris Albipes (Grasshopper) Margaret “Peggy” Carter–Clamonth–Haliaeetus Vocifer (African Fish Eagle) Margot Verger—Quaezet–Asio Flammeus (Short-eared Owl) Maria Hill–Alexander–Aquila Clanga (Greater Spotted Eagle) Maria Jackson—Tridelis–Ochotona Dauurica (Daurian Pica) Maria Kunigunde—Thalos–Bubo Scandiacus (Snowy Owl) Marta Shaw—Koris–Sturnus Vulgaris (Starling) Martha Ceris—Cerkeris–Pardocinereus Sexcruris (Llodrin Panther) Martha Hudson—Kai–Sciurus Vulgaris (Red Squirrel) (The Republic of Heaven) Martha Hudson—Meraghen–Callosciurus Prevostii (Prevost’ Squirrel) Martha Jones—Anphor—Luscinia Megarhynchus (Common Nightingale) Martha Shay—Aberathan–Polyhonus Savigny (Manuel’s Skipper) Martha—Cheyna–Corvus Corax (Common Raven) Martouf–Talaina–Lycaeon Pictus (African Wild Dog) Marty Mikalski—Sonoroc–Dendrocitta Vagabunda) (Rufous Treepie) Marvin Webster–Korra–Myrmecia Gulosa (Red Bull Ant) Mary Cambell—Torven–Thalassarche Impavida (Campbell’s Albatross) Mary Cooper—Hylobates Lar (Lar  Gibbon) Mary Malone—Ophiran–Pyrrohocorax Graculus (Mountain Chough) Mary Morstan–Zahaita–Malurus alboscapulatus (White-shouldered Fairywren) Mary Morstan—Kashta—Nycitcebus Coucang (Slow Loris) Mary-Anne Silven–Kourain–Gallus Domesticus (Ayam Cemani) Matthew Scott—Cinder–Canis Familiaris (Doberman) May Bell –Korveth–Sciurus Niger (Fox Squirrel) May Parker—Zifron–Turdus Boulboul (Grey-winged Blackbird) Meg Masters—Frehlen—Xenicus Gilviventris (New Zealand Rockwren) Megan Parker—Anthem–Unsettled Melody Hale—Haramel–Sarcophilus Harrisii (Tasmanian Devil) Melony Puckett—Spero–Not Settled Merida Ravenwood—Duroa–Pseudoscops Clamator (Striped Owl) Merin Hudson–Tomrys–Felis Cattus (Egyptian Mau) (CV: Silver) Merlin of Ealdor—Caelia–Tyto Alba (Barn Owl) Michel Verres—Salendora–Strix Aluco (Tawny Owl)(Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality) Mickey Smith—Jaya–Canis Familiaris (Canaan) Mike Newton–Wendy–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Basenji) Milo Thatch–Isano–Neotamias Ochrogenys (Yellow-cheeked Chipmunk) Minverva McGonagall—Aren–Felis Cattus (Tabby) Miriam Lass—Karchesh–Felis Margarita (Sand Cat) Missouri Mosely—Xorses–Procyon Lotor (Racoon) Missy Hart–Shodao–Paguma Larvata (Masked Palm Civet) Misty—Kennin–Ignemcanem Catella (Growlithe)* Molly Hooper—Janus—Macaca Mulatta (Rhesus Monkey) Molly Hooper—Tobithias–Calopteryx Aequabilis (Jewelwing Damselfly) Molly Prewett—Traynil–Arenaria Interpres (Ruddy Turnstone) Morgan Grimes—Janos–Callithrix Jacchus (Common Marmoset) (Homogeneous) Morgana Pendragon—Theren–Spilogale Gracilis (Spotted Skunk) Mycroft Holmes—Geniv–Columba Livia (Rock Pigeon) Mycroft Holmes—Guinevere—Myrmecobius Fasciatus (Numbat) Mycroft Holmes—Tehayla–Corvus Corax (Common Raven) (The Republic of Heaven) Nakoma—Irin–Halcyon Albiventris (Brown-hooded Kingfisher) Narcissa Black—Abraixen–Mustela Erminea (Stoat) Natasha Romanoff—Emaol–Mustela Leucocephala (Malayan Weasel) Natasha Tolinev—Sairlin—Pyrrohocorax Graculus (Alpine Chough) Ned Rhyerson–Triloa–Daubentonia Madagascariensis (Aye Aye) Neville Longbottom—Varaniel–Martes Flavigula (Yellow-throated Marten) Newton Geiszler—Kara–Microcebus Ravelobensis (Golden-brown Mouse Lemur) Neytiri—Seze–Draconem Volansii (Ikran) Nicholas Rush—Nike—Mustela Kathiah (Yellow-bellied Weasel) Nick Heldschiff—Serling–Leopardus Wiedii (Margay) Nicole Trager—Nyas—Iguana Iguana (Green Iguana) Nina–Trey–Felis Cattus (House cat) Norville Rogers AKA Shaggy–Marsota–Luciola Cruciata (Lightning Bug) Nymphadora Tons—Chaneira–Unsettled (Metamorphmagus) Obediah Stane—Elizabeth–Canis Familiaris (Thai Bangkaew) Oberon (ALO)–Soto–Phoenix Solaurum (Sun Phoenix)* Olaf the Snowman—Nrordri–Praeclara Vestibulum [Daemon variant] Olivia Moore–Vivian–Arctonyx Collaris (Hog Badger) (Homogenus) Oswin Oswald—Kerales–Canis Latrans (Coyote) Owen Flyn–Fairmin–Euoticus Elegantulus (Southern Needle-Clawed Bushbaby) Owen Harper—Coramin–Felis Cattus (Turkish Angora) (CV: White/Heterochromia) Page Eight: Page Eighteen: Page Eleven: Page Fifteen: Page Five: Page Four: Page Fourteen: Page Nine: Page Ninteen: Page Seven: Page Seventeen: Page Six: Page Sixteen: Page Ten: Page Thirteen: Page Thirty-One: Page Thirty: Page Three: Page Twelve: Page Twenty-Eight: Page Twenty-Nine: Page Twenty-One: Page Twenty-Seven: Page Twenty-Six: Page Twenty-Two: Page Twenty-four: Page Twenty-three: Page Twenty: Page Two: Paine–Flurry–Syrmaticus Reevesii (Reeve’s Pheasant) Pane Mellark—Alebera–Bonasa Umbellus (Ruffed Grouse) Paul Lahote–Everecia–Canis Lupus Familiaris (American Staffordshire Terrier) Paulla Schaffer–Kido–Felis Nigripes (Black-footed Cat) Peeta Mellark—Marcuriona–Circopithecus Roloway (Roloway Monkey) Peg ???–Branan–Felis Cattus (House Cat) Percy Weasley—Kaytren– Perseus Jackson—Vyri–Ornithorhynchus Anatinus (Platypus) Pete Shanahan—Kaylen–Canis Familiaris (Finland Lapphund) (CV: Wolf Sable) Pete Tyler—Alecri–Sitta Pusilla (Brown-headed Nutchatch) Peter Bernadone—Syledria–Rattus Norgevicus (Brown Rat) Peter Pan—Shara—(Unsettled) Peter Parker—Brighera–Melogale Everetti (Bornean Ferret-badger) Peter Pettigrew—Tavalah–Lagopus Lagopus (Willow Grouse)(Homogeneous) Petunia Evans—Fenril—Falco Femoralis (Aplomado Falcon) Peyton  Charles–Codin–Sagittarius Serpentarius (Secretary Bird) Phil Dwyer–Sentera–Milvus Milvus (Red Kite) Philip Anderson—Ciprata—Calocitta Colliei (Steller’s Jay) Philip Anderson—Izeah–Canis Familiaris (Beagle) (The Republic of Heaven) Philip Coulson—Sata–Felis Cattus (Maine Coon) (CV: Black) Philomon—Bedraya–Vermivora Chrysoptera (Golden-winged Warbler) Phylis Crawford—Kaeis–Passer Domesticus (House Sparrow) Pilot—Lidaia—Octoalae Caeruleus (Blue-Jewel Hawkmoth) Pinocchio—Arun–Nesolagus Netscheri (Sumatran Striped Rabbit) Piper Chapman–Korona–Falco Rufigularis (Bat Falcon) [CV: Golden] Plutus Thrace—Pharos–Buteo Lagopus (Rough-legged Hawk) Pocahontas–Talaiken–Buteo Platypterus (Broad-winged Hawk) (CV: Dark Morph) Poussey Washington–Kidash–Gulo Gulo (Wolverine) Preston Whitmore–Kizit–Strigocuscus Celebensis (Dwarf Coscus) Primrose Everdeen—Amaranthus–Leptailurus Serval (Serval) Quill Ateara–Tyren–Aechmophorus Clarkii (Clark’s Grebe) Rachel–Tinyel–Sphenomorphus Indicus (Indian Forest Skink) Raleigh Becket—Noma–Tyto Novaeholladiae (Australian Masked Owl) Rani Chandra—Kerachen–Cardinalis Cardinalis (Cardinal) Ravi Chakrabarti–Jina–Leptailurus Serval (Serval) Recon (ALO)–Laitan–Caelo Serpentis (Gliding Snake)* Regina Mills—Corrin–Corvus Brachyrhynchos (American Crow) Remus Lupin—Serthith–Canis Familiaris (Utonogan) Renee Dwyer–Izan–Xema Sabini (Sabine’s Gull) Rhiannon Jones—Lezaoa–Ailurus Fulgens (CV: Melanistic) Rhys Williams—Pangora–Neofelis Nebulosa (Clouded Leopard) Richard Brook—Periphona—Hylocichla Mustelina (Wood Thrush) Richard Woolsey—Berin–Canis Familiaris (Yorkie) Rikki Chadwick–Korvad–Buteo Jamaicensis (Red-Tailed Hawk) Rikku–Ghiki–Sapajus Flavius (Blond Capuchin) Riku–Jaessa–Corperierat Draconemduocrura (Wyvern  Heartless) Riku–Jaessa–Trachypithecus Cristata (Silvery Lutung) Rinaldo Pazzi–Vita–Vireo Bellii (Bell’s Vireo) River Tam—Matarvi–Nesolagus Netscheri (Sumatran Striped Rabbit) Rodney Mckay—Alerenim–Lycalopex Griseus (South American Grey Fox) Roger Parslow—Salcilia—Not Settled Roggir Thrace—Lotra–Hydrictis Maculicollis (Spotted-necked Otter) Romo Lampkin—Catheldra–Stixcattus Cinereus (Grey Catowl)* Ronald Greer—Aravis–Canis Lupus (Grey wolf) (CV: Black) Ronald Weasley—Temoraila–Canis Familiaris (Smooth Fox Terrier) Ronald Weasley—Temoraila–Canis Merlinus (Crup) (Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality) Ronon Dex—Ytaxa–Draconem Vespertilio (Dragonbat)* Rory Williams—Bronwyn–Cygnus Olor (Mute Swan) Rosa Hubermann—Mizanu–Rattus Rattus (Black Rat) Rosalie Hale–Vitravan–Felis Cattus (House Cat) Rose Tyler—Valdr—Pica Pica (European Magpie) Roz Keith–Uvronan–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Greyhound) Ruby–Mawen–Pseudoscops Clamator (Striped Owl) Ruby—Tailen–Elanoides Forficatus (Swallow-tailed Kite) Rudy Steiner—Lohkora–Not Settled Rumplestiltskin—Mifion–Tremarctos Ornatus (Spectacled Bear) Rushor Thrace—Kycaela–Bubo Bubo (Eurasian Eagle Owl) Ruta Skadi—Sergi–Luscinia Svecica (Bluethroat) Ryan ???–Azran–??? Rye Mellark—Mighan–Eudypula Albosignata (White-flippered Penguin) Sally Donovan—Fyeril–Coracias Garrulus (Eurasian Roller) Sally Donovan—Matriel–Felis Silvestris (Wildcat) (The Republic of Heaven) Sally Jackson–Chennoh–Paracanthurus Hepatus (Blue Surgeonfish) Sally-Anne Perks–Keir–Apodemus Agrarius (Striped Field Mouse) Sam Healy–Vitoriga–Columbia Livia (Rock Dove) Sam Manson—Braelash–Dasyprocta Aguti (Red-rumped Agouti) Sam Puckett—Ferus—Canis Signatus (Iberian Wolf) Sam Uley–Shoran–Asio Otus (Long-Eared Owl) Sam Winchester—Kaime—Vulpes Vulpes (Red Fox) (CV: Black) Sam Zironi– –Pentalagus Furnessi (Amami Rabbit) Samantha Carter—Acaicius—Nasua Narica (White-nosed Coati) Samatha Sharp—Baritan–Lithobates Pipiens (Northern Leopard Frog) Samuel Adama—Eris–Circus Cyaneus (Northern Harrier) Samuel Anders—Kayuna—Panthera Onca (Jaguar) (CV: Black) Samuel Lloyd—Khunico–Vulpes Lagopus (Arctic Fox) (Sarah Jane Adventures) Sarah Jane Smith—Brahalin–Buteogallus Anthracinus (Black Hawk) Sarah Reed—Saeilar–Iguana Deicatissima (Lesser Antillean Iguana) Sarah Tennant—Aedin–Felis Cattus (Black and White American Shorthair) Sarah Walker—G'yaril–Troglodytes Aedon (House Wren) Sasha—Jaterez–Passer Moabiticus (Dead Sea Sparrow) Satera Wallaca—Tzurda–Apodemus Agrarius (Striped Field Mouse) Saul Tigh—Kanami–Urocyon Cinereoargenteus (Grey fox) Seamus Finnigan—Ketaya–Vulpes Velox (Swif Fox) Sebastian Michaelis—Aletha–Felis Cattus (Manx) [Daemon variant] Sebastian Moran—Kalo–Panthera Sondaica (Javan Tiger)* Semyon Borisovitch—Fizumel–Corvus Caurinus (Carrion Crow) Seraline Blackwater—Baruna–Hemaris Thysbe (Hummingbird Clearwing) Serkerin—Hfoldir–Praeclara Vestibulum [Daemon variant] Seth Clearwater–Nrorven–Hirundapus Caudacutus (White-Throated Needletail) Severus Snape—Cyraniel–Coccyzus Vieilloti (Puerto Rican Lizard Cuckoo) Shang Li—Eddara–Panthera Amoyensis (South Chinese Tiger) Sharon Agathon—Dagnam–Civettictis Civetta (African Civet) Sharon Pond—Talmath–Bubo Scandiacus (Snowy Owl) Sha’re of Abydos–Netaiya–Buteo Rufofuscus (Jackal Buzzard) Sher ???i–Atae–Chamaeleo Chamaeleon (Common Chameleon) Sherlock Holmes—Raniel–Mustela Putorius (Polecat) (CV: White) (Homogeneous) (The Republic of Heaven) Sherlock Holmes—Sophrania—Uncia Uncia (Snow Leopard) Sherlock Holmes—Sorkin–Corvus Corax (Common Raven) Sherlock Holmes—Zerkera–Pseudocroeobotra Wahlbergi (Spiny Flower Mantis) Sherman Cottle—Ka'aliel–Corvus Albicollis (White-necked Raven) Sidney Glass—Akiu–Circaetus Cinereus (Brown Snake-eagle) Simon Tam—Estelle–Crotalus Adamanteus (Eastern Diamondback) Simon, Old Master of Jordan—Cerebaton–Basiliscus Vittatus (Brown Basilisk) Simon—Karin–Nephurus Asper (Rough Knob-tailed Gecko) Sir Elyan of Camelot—Akiran–Odocoileus Sitkensis (Sitka Deer) Sir Gawain of Camelot—Cheranoh–Buteo Jamaicensis (Red-tailed Hawk) Sir Lancelot of Camelot—Karamiah–Canis Familiaris (Dutch Sheppherd) (CV: Black) Sir Leon of Camelot—Kisirin–Canis Familiaris (English Coonhound) Sir Percival of Camelot—Madgradeel–Falco Richardsoni (Prarie Merlin) Sirius Black—Amedra–Canis Familiaris (German Sheppherd) (CV: Black) Sloan Bree–Corvin–Cracticus Terraereginae (Queen’s Land Magpie) Snow White—Kaeron–Mustela Erminea (Stoat) Socrata Farren—Kormoran—Terathopius Ecaudatus (Bateleur Eagle) Soo Lin Yao—Choren–Prionodon Pardicolor (Spotted Linsang) Sophia Burset–Hierocles–Tamias Speciosus (Lodgepole Chipmunk) Sophie Verres—Tyracius—Canis Familiaris (Samoyed Dog) Sora–Yddgadeel–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Border Collie) Sora—Yddgadeel–Somniumcustos Capra (Yoggy Ram) Spencer Shay—Clarimantha–Atelerix Albiventris (Four-toed Hedgehog) Stacker Pentecost–Korish–Bassiscus Astutus (Ring-tailed Cat) Stanley Yelnats–Jada–Gyps Fulvus (Griffon Vulture) Steve Rogers—Zoraitha–Felis Cattus (Calico) Steven Trager—Kairina—Allenopithecus Nigroviridis (Allen’s Swamp Monkey) Steven Upshaw—Sarithan–Atelerix Albiventris (Four-toed Hedgehog) Sue-Shaun—Krynen–Corvis Monedula (Western Jackdaw) (Battlestar Galactica) Sugou Nobuyuki—Charit–Batrachostomus Moniliger (Sri Lanka Frogmouth) Suzanne Warren–Chelan–Cordulia Aenea (Downy Emerald Dragonfly) Suzie Costello—Kavarin–Lanius Nubicus (Masked Shrike) Sybill Trelawney—Brizo–Daubentonia Madagascariensis (Aye-aye) Syliva Noble—Thaddis–Tamiasciurus Hudsonicus (American Red Squirrel) Tabitha Pond—Sarjaren–Buphagus Africanus (Oxpecker) Tamara Adams—Balius–Dasyurus Maculatus (Tiger Quoll) Tamara Johansen—Drocheran–Pardolatus Striatus (Striated Pardolate) Tamara—Taddin–Coatl Lentiferus (Vine Coatl) Tara Maclay—Thestor—Vulpes Vulpes (Red Fox) Tarzan—Terk–Gorilla Gaueri (Eastern Lowland Gorilla) Tasha Jefferson–Leonara–Icterus Galbula (Baltimore Oreole) Tatiana Khorza/Corza–Soncha–Melanerpes Erythrocephalus (Red-headed Woodpecker) Teal'c—Keceron–Polemaetus Bellicasus (Martial Eagle) Ted Franklin–Hedwig–Oryctolagus Cuniculus (Tan-Pattern Rabbit) Terin Anders—Rosetaris–Turdus Migratorius (Robin) Terra–Korovas–Aquila Clanga (Greater Spotted Eagle) Tess ???–Abranas–Buteo Swainsoni (Swainson’s Hawk) Teyla Emmagan—Mraycluz–Lepusperegrinus Caelointuor (Athosian Hare)* The Doctor—The Arichamord—Internal The Master—Alduin–Draconem Volansii (Ikran) The Metacrisis Doctor—The Arichamord—Gampsonyx Swainsonii (Pearl Kite) Thomas Foss—Agea—Canis Familiaris (Weimaraner) Thomas Sully—Xura—Aethomys Chrysophilus (Red Rock Rat) Thomas—Kotan–Aquila Clanga (Greater Spotted Eagle) Tiana—Kaeshif–Mimus Parvulus (Galapagos Mockingbird) Titania (ALO)–Kaialania–Pavo Cristatus (Indian Peafowl) Tito The-Guy-In-The-Cerulean-Shirt–Kalari–Atelocynus Microtis (Short-eared Dog) Tobias–Venitas–Lemniscomys Barbarus (Barbary Striped Mouse) Toby–Keyris–Psammodromus Microdactylus (Green Psammodromus) Tom Marvolo-Riddle—Zetraia–Panthera Merlinii (Nundu) (PV: Leopard-sized)* Tommy Brockless—Arebaim–Canis Familiaris (Border Collie) (Torchwood) Tom–Vensana–Leopardus Wiedii (Margay) Tony Costa—Aphor–Acipiter Cooperii (Cooper’s Hawk) Tony Makarios—Ratter–Not Settled Tony Stark—Saria–Falco Peregrinus (Peregine Falcon) Toshiko Sato—Cherubah–Crotaphytus Reticulatus (Reticulated Collard Lizard) Tricia Miller–Matoriel–Passerculus Sandwichensis (Savannah Sparrow) Tristan Thorne—Seraia—Muscardinus Avellanarius Tucker Foley—Cherkish–Carlito Syrichta (Tarsier) Una Stormhold—Kerta–Calocitta Formosa (White-throated Magpie Jay) Uther Pendragon—Arethousa—Strix Nebulosa (Great Grey Owl) Velma Dinkley–Renya–Canis Lupus Familiaris ? Ventus–Jihan–Aegolius Funereus ( Vernon Dursley—Lolita–Atelopus Zeteki (Panamanian Golden Frog) Vincenzo Santorini–Vega–Polistes Dominula (Paper Wasp) Violet Middleton—Feynan–Rattus Norvegicus (Brown Rat) (CV: Mottled brown and white) Violet Newstead–Ahliann–Pheucticus Ludovicianus (Rose-Breasted Grosbeak) Virginia Potts—Chaiten–Turdus Migratorius (Robin) Vivi–Scera–Lynx Rufus (Lynx) Walter Harriman–Sinatra–Larus Atricilla (Laughing Gull) Walter Nichols—Kadiza–Varecia Variegata (Black and White Ruffled Lemur) Wendy Darling—Kadavas—Hypercompe Scribonia (Giant Leopard Moth) Wes Weston—Maris–Sciurus Vulgaris (Red Squirrel) Wesley Wyndam-Pryce—Perrenlial–Strix Seloputo (Spotted Wood Owl) Wilfred Mott—Itzumel–Pheucticus Ludovicianus (Rose-breasted Grosbeak) Wilhelmina Packard—Beshai–Rhinella Abei (-=-) Will Graham—Kali–Panthera Pardus (Leopard) Will Parry—Kirjava–Felis Cattus (Black Domestc Cat) William Adama—Aurelia–Not Settled William Adama—Galeria—Sterna Paradisaea (Arctic Tern) William Pratt (Spike)–Thalia–Mimizuku Gurneyi (Giant Scops Owl) William Turner II–Bana–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Welsh Terrier) Willow Mellark—Kydomis–Phascolarctos Cinereus (Koala Bear) Willow Rosenburg—Allanore—Corvus Corax (Common Raven) Winifred Burkle—Getariv–Hapalemur Aureus (Golden Bamboo Lemur) Winifred Lounds—Kvoris—Ochotona Princeps (American Pica) (CV: Red) Wren Anders—Roparaden–Megascops Asio (Eastern Screech Owl) Xander Harris—Zirena—Hyaena Hyaena (Striped Hyena) Xehanort–Andonara–Attono Equus (Ixion) Yancy Becket–Senna–Tyto Glaucops (Ashy-faced Owl) Yeshua of Bethlaham–Tijaya–Addax Nasomaculata (Addax) Yuki Asuna–Kozo–Falco Peregrinus (Peregrine Falcon) Yuna–Korogo–Cuon Alpinus (Dhole) Yvainne—Ameradin–Stella Lucem (Starlight) Zackary Heldschiff—Nemaia–Cyrtonyx Montezumae (Montezuma Quail) Zak Adama—Zarefain–Martes Martes (Pine Marten) Zane Bennett–Zharania–Canis Lupus Familiaris (Pomeranian) Zoe Allenye—Trazivan–Felis Sylvestris (Wildcat) Zoe Graystone—Yuatai—Saggitarius Serpentariys (Secretary Bird) Zotoh Zhaan—Jael–Lucem Pulverem (Jewel Dust Crown)*

[egrets-not-regrets]

Not For Hunting

Alcyon and Amelia visit Erriox’s home nest to look through his collection of metals and stones for metal and jewelry crafting. Bringing along Ben and Malaran. Sometimes Malaran needs to not be nosy for his own good.

Author’s Note: Not smut, just suggestive and funny. I saw this post about the relationship between steppes centaurs and mountain harpies and thought it was amazing and very funny. And I can’t help myself to write something for MerErriox and HarpyLenora.

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior), Lenora, Alcyon (Chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia, Malaran Blackspike (Black Legion), Ben

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

“Aunt Lenora!”

Lenora braces for impact from an enthusiastic Ben dive bombing at her from above. She laughs and catches him in her wings and swings the young plover in a circle with the momentum, hugging him tightly and nuzzling his face, “Hello Ben! You have grown so much since I last saw you!”

Ben was Amelia’s son, both of whom were the healer harpies among the captives that were rescued in the mission that Erriox and Lenora allied in. After the rescue, Amelia became fast friends with the osprey harpy and often traded goods and stories with each other, with Ben unofficially adopting Lenora as his aunt.

Erriox swims over and gives Ben an affectionate scratch on his head, “Is Alcyon and Malaran with you two?” He asks, spotting Amelia at the cave entrance.

The plover fledgling churrs happily, “Yeah! Mom’s waiting for them.”

“Lenora!” Amelia’s voice calls out as she walks in, followed by two large fierce-looking chaos mers. The plover harpy hugged Lenora, the both of them nuzzling each other in greeting, “I hope Ben didn’t hurt you by accident, he’s been practising his dive bombing with Malaran and Alcyon. He can get a little over enthusiastic.” She said, concerned.

“Mooom…” Ben whined, feeling outed unfairly. He then turned to the osprey harpy, “Aunt Lenora, you’re not hurt, right?

Lenora laughed, “I’m fine. Though that was a good whomp you gave me. Any stronger, I might get bowled over!”

“I will aim for that!”

“I’ll train you to knock Erriox over!” Malaran snickered, his scarred orca tail wagging up and down as he swam over to them.

Amelia gasped in dismay, “Ben! Malaran!”

“It’s alright, Amelia. I’d like to see them try.” Erriox reassured her with a wry grin.

The other large venomfin swam up to them, greeting his legion brother and his mate, his tail loosely curled around Amelia as he settled next to her, “Thanks for letting us go through you collection, Erriox.” He said.

“We needed to replenish our supply of healing potions anyway. It’s a fair trade. “ Erriox replied. The Iron Warrior mer collected pieces of metal, mostly picking up old ceramite armor pieces as they would come in handy for armor repairs, and other metal pieces that he found interesting or potentially useful. He also amassed a collection of shinies: stones, pearls, gems, etc… that he either used for crafting or to trade with.

Alcyon and Amelia had been looking for some stones and metal for metal and jewellery crafting and some ingredients for potion making. So it made sense to trade supply acquisition services and access to his metal and shinies collection in return for several vials of mid to high grade healing potions.

“Will I get to meet cousin Jophiel and his brothers one day?” Ben asked.

Lenora chuckled, “You will. They’re off on their own missions and work so they aren’t around very often. They’re curious about meeting you too.” Her Primaris boys were curious about Ben and Amelia. Jophiel was rather enthused about the young plover. However, they all were still uneasy with the thought of them being bonded to chaos mer-Astartes.

She led Ben to the bags of precious stones, sea glass, and pearls sitting in a pile by Jophiel’s nest, “Speaking of which, the boys have a bunch of stones and pearls that you can go through and take some that you’d like. And if you don’t mind, could you organize them by type and for the sea glass and pearls, by colour? There’s a box over there with compartments that you can separate them into.”

“I can do that.” The plover fledgling chirped.

Lenora patted his head, “Thanks!”

Ben nodded and started on his task.

Alcyon, Amelia, and Malaran had started looking through Erriox’s collection of things, examining certain pieces more closely than others and selecting the few they wanted or needed. Amelia turned to Lenora when she noticed the harpy’s return, “we put the box of potions by where you normally store them.

“Thank you! I also have the ingredients you requested.” Lenora replied as she went off to reorganize the potions storage and search for the ingredients she collected for Amelia.

Malaran spotted two other chest boxes sitting slightly off to the side from the collection of metal. Curious, he opened the first one and found a bunch of leather and furs. After checking out the contents of the chest, he pulled out what looked like two wide leather anklets. Each has a belt-like fastener to secure them onto a leg and a very long strap of leather attached to the belt. They were well-crafted with a simple but intricate design stamped onto the leather and shiny scales embedded throughout the pattern.

Working through the logic of the pieces, Malaran assembles the leather anklets. The Black Legion mer admired the craftsmanship on the anklets a bit before wiggling them at Amelia.

“These would look pretty on you.” He trilled, “What are they?”

Alcyon paused his search and looked at the anklets dangling from Malaran’s hand and then eyed his mate. Those would look rather good on her with some more colour, he thought to himself.

Amelia looked at them, tilting her head inquisitively, “They look like jesses…”

Lenora returned carrying Amelia’s storage box and spotted the anklets the Black Legion mer was holding, “Oh! You found the jesses! They’re in there to be repaired.”

“Malaran, why are you looking through those boxes? Those are not part of the trade.” Erriox asked, his voice flat and unamused.

The Black Legion mer huffed and was about to return the jesses to the box when Lenora took them from him and gave them to Amelia to examine.

Amelia looked at the jesses closely, admiring the pattern on them before passing them to Alcyon who she knew would be interested in the craftsmanship, “These are beautifully made.”

The osprey harpy smiled and said with pride, “They really are. Erriox made them for me.” The Iron Warrior mer’s mouth quirked a smile at the praise.

“It’s a simple design, but well made.” Alcyon agreed. The chaos Iron Warrior mer assessed the jesses closely, trying to figure out how they were put together.

Amelia piped up, “Those are hunting jesses, are they not? I’ve only heard of the mountain raptor harpies using them or as fashion statements for others.” After a bit of thought, “and you don’t seem the type to wear them as a fashion statement either.”

Malaran cocked his head, “What’s the point of the extra long straps then, that would only increase your aerodynamic resistance.”

“They’re not for hunting.” Erriox cut in, having had enough of their guessing.

“They’re not for hunting. Or for fashion.” Lenora added with a wink to the plover harpy, her lips curving into an wicked half-grin as she let the implications set in.

Amelia’s feathers ruffled slightly when she realized what Lenora meant, heat rising to her cheeks. Malaran scoffed and shook his head, muttering about Alcyon wearing out Amelia again before turning around to go join Ben instead. Alcyon noticed the stitching of the belt attachment on the jesses had come undone. He side-eyed his loyalist brother.

“I see they’ve gone through some use.” He commented, his brow raised.

Erriox smirked, “What? Giving you ideas?”

Alcyon looked at his blushing Amelia, meeting her glance, then back at the jesses in his hand, his scarred tail idly moving back and forth in thought. He tossed them back to his legion brother, matching his smirk, “Maybe.”

[egrets-not-regrets]

Guesthouse of the (Lost) Astartes: To Render Aid (4)

Erriox and Lenora provide aid to a lost chaos space marine and his young bonded human.

Dialogue spoken in Gothic are bolded and italicized.

Author’s Note: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

I am finally done! That was such a ride. This last chapter is a big one with a word count of almost 4900. A few comments on this chapter: Big bad scary chaos space marine is soft for his (mate, wife) bonded human. Malaran is Ben's ride or die buddy, and also has very little filter. Apparently, being an aunt by space marine is a thing now. I have a bunch more of silly comments in my head for this chapter. Let me know if you guy want to see these comments.

Thank you @squishyowl for making the fic dividers!

Enjoy!

Tagged:

@kit-williams, @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat,

@gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual

“Ben?” Both Lenora and Ben turned to the sound of the voice. 

“Mom!” Ben cried, running towards her, “Mom!”

Amelia braced herself against the impact, laughing tearfully as her son ran into her arms. She hugged him tightly, “Ben! Oh Ben! I missed you so much!”

She had absolutely zero clue on how her son even managed to find his way here, let alone escaping out from under her ex and his family’s noses. But she didn’t care. He’s here, her boy is here! 

Ben buried his face in her shirt, wetting it with his tears, “Mom! I missed you! I missed you so much!” 

“I looked for you for so long!” He wailed. 

Amelia’s heart shattered at her child’s cries. She tightened her grasp, apologizing over and over in weepy whispers, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, Ben! I tried! I tried to…Oh! I’m so sorry!” Hugging him tightly like it was her last day on earth. 

Amelia desperately wanted to tell Ben how she tried again and again to visit and see him, each time only to end up blocked by her ex-husband’s family or his Black Templar Astartes. The gifts and letters she tried to pass onto him. How Alcyon managed to catch her ex unguarded and intimidated him enough to let her visit once more outside their home and give one last gift to him. How the Black Templar soon patrolled the school as well after that. She wanted to say how the judge ruled custody in her ex’s favour after Alcyon’s fight with the templar at Ben’s school. How they were then ordered by the Warsmith and the local Chapter Master not to contact him again, her own son, for the sake of keeping peace. She wanted to tell Ben so many things so badly, so he could understand that she had tried so hard and had never ever stopped loving her baby. 

“I love you so so much, Ben.” Amelia mumbled into his hair.

What did it matter? She had still suddenly disappeared from Ben’s life without a word. God only knows what her ex’s family told him, given how much they disliked her. Her heart bled with regret. She could never apologize enough for not being able to fight harder for him. But now that Ben is here, she could make up for the lost time as much as possible. 

“I love you, Mom.” Amelia laughed, full of joyful tears, when Ben gave her an extra squeeze. 

But HOW did he get here? She wondered. 

Eric’s voice drew her out of her thoughts, “Hey Amelia.” Passing her and Ben a box of tissue, which both gratefully accepted. 

Amelia blew her nose and wiped her tears, noticing the other woman standing there with them. She smiled kindly at her, then gestured to Ben and Eric, “Let’s clean up a bit first before we continue. Eric, mind showing Ben to the bathroom?”

Once refreshed, Amelia asked her, unsure of who she was and what relation she had with her son, “You’re…” 

“I’m Lenora.” She shook Amelia’s hand. 

“Amelia.” She replied, “How did you meet my son? You brought him here, right?”

Lenora nodded, “Yes, well… Erriox, my Astartes, brought Ben and his Astartes to my home.”

Amelia encouraged her to continue as they sat together in the waiting hall, Ben curled up against her, “They were caught in a snowstorm when Erriox found them and led them to our house.” Lenora decided to skip the part where Ben caught hypothermia and needed first aid for now. Amelia already felt guilty enough, no need for her to add more worries to her plate. 

“We found out that Ben was looking for you, but he and Orca were being hunted down by the Black Templar. It was only a matter of time before he would come knocking at our door as well.”

“Orca is…”

“Orca is Ben’s bonded Astartes.” Lenora confirmed. Amelia laughed quietly. Of course Ben would name his Astartes after some sea creature. 

Lenora sighed, watching the boy start to nod off, “Ben told us that you were bonded to a chaos space marine. And luckily, between Orca and Erriox, they were able to figure out that it was brother Alcyon. So we made our way here to Steelix Fortress.”

Ben piped up, “We were chased by that asshole!”

“That asshole?” Amelia wondered, “You mean…”

“The Black Templar.” Lenora clarified. 

“He was so close to catching us, but Ms. Lenora did this really cool Fast and Furious thing to avoid him! And Orca and Erriox jumped him and they started fighting!”

Lenora internally cringed at that, Ben’s mom really did not need to know how they drifted a truck and nearly careened off the road. So much for that.

“Erriox and Mal…Orca, they’re still out there fighting…” An uncomfortable anxiousness crept into her veins. So much so that she almost forgot to use Ben’s given name for the Black Legionnaire. 

“Fighting the Black Templar, huh?” Amelia sullenly added. 

“Yes.”

Amelia laughed with bitter admiration, “That Astartes is nothing if not doggedly dedicated to his cause with a one-track mind to succeed in his mission.”

“I’m sorry. That probably doesn’t relieve your fears.“ she added remorsefully. 

Lenora stared at the distant entryway of the medical wing, mumbling, “I hope they’ll be okay.”

Ben piped up, “They can take him. Orca can take him.” He said with the utmost faith. Lenora wished she could believe the same. It’s been a long time since they had parted and yet Erriox and Malaran weren’t here yet. Two arms wrapped around her neck as Ben hugged her, “They’ll beat him. I know they will!” 

She smiled sadly as she hugged him back, “Thanks Ben. I really needed that.” Just have to hang onto that spark of faith and trust that Ben’s intuition is correct. Right?

The boy then went back to his mother’s side, asking her, “Mom, is Brother Alcyon who you live with? Was that what you meant by the kingfisher?”

Amelia blinked, surprised at her son managing to find out where, rather who, she meant, “Yes, Kingfisher is Alcyon. How did you figure it out?”

“Ms. Lenora told me.” Amelia chuckled at Ben’s answer, “she’s a wildlife biologist who works with birds!” he answered proudly. 

Lenora laughed, appreciating Amelia’s play on her Astartes’ name, “It made sense once Osteron told me who you were bonded to. For a little while, I was worried that we would have to check every area where kingfishers were known to be nesting outside the fortress.”

“You’ve seen actual kingfishers?” Amelia asked. 

“Yes! There are at least one or two pairs that nest along the river just outside of the base. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to take you to see them at some point.”

Ben begged, “Please, mom?”

Amelia smiling, agreed, and traded contact information with the other woman.

**************

By the time Alcyon arrived, the two Astartes warriors were trudging on the road towards the fortress. The disgruntled Black Legionary dragging his feet, looking off-balanced, and his sullen loyalist battle-brother carrying the comatose body of the Black Templar over his shoulder. All of them looked like something a wayward Heldrake dragged in. 

“Khornate idiot!” He heard his battle-brother hiss at the Black Legionnaire. 

“Trench Skaven!” The chaos Astartes hissed back, spitting a clod of blood onto the snow, “If your warsmith wasn’t so soft, we would have killed him and be done with it!”

“Orders are orders! The warsmith needed him alive to find a way out of this mess! If you hadn’t so carelessly engaged the templar earlier, you wouldn’t be in this state!” Erriox argued. 

“Enough.” Alcyon commanded, “Brother Erriox, pick up the pace.” He went to support the wounded chaos marine, “We will follow.”

They soon made their way to the fortress. Luckily, Malaran’s injuries eventually healed enough that he could jog unassisted. The group went straight to the medical bay, dropping off the Black Templar with the order of binding and securing the unconscious Astartes as soon as possible, then quickly left to seek out their bonded humans. 

Malaran, now that the haze of bloodthirst and battle faded away, was suddenly reminded of Ben’s mission. He asked his fellow chaos Astartes, “You are bonded to Ben’s mother, are you not?” 

Alcyon confirmed his identity. 

Malaran rounded on the chaos Iron Warrior, voicing his displeasure, “Tell me, why did she not return to see her son at school? Did she know how much distress she caused him?” 

Alcyon straightened to his full height and snarled at the still-injured Black Legionnaire, his red lenses flared with annoyance, “It was the corpse-damned Black Templar! In the last several months, he patrolled the area around the house, cutting us off from seeing the child there. Then he started doing the same at the school. My human begged him and that blasted family. Begged. Him. To see her son, to pass on whatever gifts and letters she had for him. Whatever they did with those gifts and letters, we never knew, but it was clear the child never received them.” 

His voice lowered in volume, remembering that they were in the medical wing of the base, “I could not stand for such insult. That was her son, not that damned son of Dorn’s! We fought, which had us banned from the school grounds. Of course, humans do not look upon chaos warriors favourably.” Alcyon scowled, his one good eye glared at the floor in front of them as he remembered the utter heartbreak in Amelia’s eyes when she found out what happened. She couldn’t bear to look at him, let alone be around him, for days after that incident. It hurt. More than a chainsword carving through his chest. 

He growled, his anger flaring, “We were then ordered not to contact the child anymore lest the Black Templars decide to start a crusade against us. So do not even DARE accuse my bonded of not trying find a way to see him!” 

“But since you have bonded to her son and brought him back, I will forgive your insult this once, but if your actions so much as put her and her son in jeopardy, or tarnish her name,… I will put you down myself.” Alcyon threatened. Erriox was surprised at how fiercely protective his battle-brother was of his bonded human over such a short period of time. To be fair, he would have perhaps done the same in his situation. His brother’s record of events did answer his question with regards to the templar’s accusation though. 

Malaran scoffed, “I am the last person you need to say that to. You take me for a fo—?” His rant was cut short by Erriox knocking his chestplate. 

“Shut it. They’re here.” The Iron Warrior scolded him as they caught sight of the two chatting women and the child with them. 

“Orca!” Ben called out, running up to meet him. Alcyon snorted at the name. Malaran ignored him, wincing as his gut wound complained when he knelt down to receive his human’s embrace. Ben threw his arms around him and buried his face in Malaran’s neck. He looked at his injuries and the cracked armour, upset at his current state, “You’re hurt!”

“I am fine.” He crooned, nuzzling to soothe his young charge. He purred, rumbling deeply, happy to see his youngling safe and sound. 

“Mom! This is Orca! He’s my space marine! He’s the one who helped me!” Ben said proudly. Malaran couldn’t help but preen at the tone of pride in his youngling’s voice. Amelia walked over to the pair, standing in front of the kneeling chaos marine. To his surprise, she hugged him, her voice tearful but happy, “Thank you, Orca. Thank you for caring for Ben and bringing him back to me.”

She was Ben’s mother. He recognized her mild floral scent from the momento Ben carried. Malaran didn’t understand all of what she said, but he understood that she was grateful to be reunited with her son. But why was she crying? Did he do something wrong?

Confused, Malaran leaned his head against hers and purred, going by instinct as that was what usually helped quell Ben’s tears when he cried. Amelia gave a small laugh before releasing him, “I’m okay, but thank you again for sticking by him.”

“She’s alright. She said she is grateful to you for staying with her son.” Alcyon translated, his gaze noticeably softened as his mechanical claw tenderly touched Amelia’s cheek, catching the tear threatening to run down. She patted the claw in thanks and gave him a watery smile. The chaos Iron Warrior recognized the boy from the many times he watched his bonded meet with him at the school. He mostly stayed out of sight during those times for Amelia’s sake, but close enough that he could easily protect her should she run into trouble. His bonded placed her hands on her son’s shoulders to turn and face him. She smiled warmly at Ben and then at him, “This is Alcyon. He is my bonded Astartes.”

Ben looked up at him. Alcyon was a tall Iron Warrior, reminding him of the kind apothecary he just met, Osteo-something. But much more fearsome. His scowling face was heavily scarred, his right eye was replaced by a collection of red lenses, a deep cut ran down the left side, splitting open his top lip, exposing a glint of sharp teeth underneath. There was a shallow nub on the left side of his forehead where it seemed there was once a horn that was cut off. 

His modified armour and his mechanical limbs only added to his frightening appearance. His left arm was replaced by a large claw and a large mechanized limb replaced his right leg just above the knee. Ben couldn’t believe that he was related to Erriox or the apothecary. Whereas Erriox looked stern and strict, and the apothecary looked kind; Alcyon looked scary, even scarier than Orca when he’s angry. 

Swallowing his fear, Ben asked the hulking chaos marine, “Are you Kingfisher?”

Alcyon knelt, getting a good look at Ben, though still towering over the boy, “Yes, Kingfisher is the name your mother gave me.”

“Thank you. For keeping my mom safe.” Ben said, meeting his gaze bravely. 

Satisfied, Alcyon huffed and stood up once more, gently ruffling Ben’s hair with his gauntlet-covered hand. 

“Your mother is my bond-mate. Protecting her is my duty.” Came his stalwart answer. 

Erriox quietly went over to Lenora where she was watching the reunited family. He pulled her against his armour in a close embrace. She hugged him, giving him a tired smile, glad that he was finally there. He was here, safe and sound, in one piece, with her. 

Her hand caressed the remnants of the recent battle on his chest armour, “I was so worried...” Her voice dropped to a murmur, her voice tight with emotion, “The last I saw you were fighting… and then we waited for such a long time… I was scared that you wouldn’t… I thought…” 

Erriox quickly shut her up with a kiss, a brow twitching in annoyance when he heard Eric’s whispered cheer. He quickly turned, using his body to shield Lenora from everyone’s view. His gauntleted hand gently brushed away her tears as she leaned into his touch. 

Clutching her tightly in his arms, he kissed her again, this time deeply and all-consuming, “Have faith in me, Lenora. I will come home to you.” Erriox vowed into her lips. It would take more than just a Black Templar to stop him. 

“You better.” She kissed him back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him ever  closer for as much as his armour allowed. Desperately clinging to her Iron Warrior as if whatever entity that sent him to her will take him away if she didn’t. He only held her tighter and pushed his kiss deeper.

“Ms. Lenora!” 

They broke off from each other at the sound of her name. Erriox quickly set her down and Lenora wiped her mouth before meeting the rest of the group, trying to ignore the swelling of her lips. 

Ben rushed forward and hugged her tightly, almost knocking her off-balance had not Erriox braced her from behind.

“Thank you! You and Erriox! Thank you for helping me find my mom.” He mumbled into her chest. Lenora’s heart melted. She hugged him back, giving the boy a good squeeze, “You’re very welcome, Ben. Be good and take care of yourself, hm?” She mumbled into his hair. 

Erriox reached over and patted the boy affectionately on the head, “You are welcome.”

“You might as well fuck her while you were at it.” Malaran snickered. Lenora's ears burned with that remark. Amelia blushed. 

Erriox glared at him and growled threateningly, “Keep your comments to yourself, cousin. Don’t make me regret helping you.” Protectively looming over his human. 

Alcyon elbowed the Black Legionary harshly, “Don't be so vulgar in front of my mate.”

“Your what?” Malaran’s mind came to a screeching halt. 

“My. Mate. Did the templar hit you so hard that you have gone deaf?” Alcyon icily responded, resting his right hand against the base of Amelia’s back. 

That was unexpected. The Iron Warrior certainly usurped the former husband’s position quickly, Malaran thought. The Black Legionnaire doubted that Ben would have known about this. He was about to ask, but thought better of it; this farce has gone on long enough for one day and he would like to spend time with his youngling now that this debacle was over. A moment of uncertainty ran through him, would this mean his position of Ben’s bonded was in danger too? His hands itched to bring Ben back to his side. He hissed lowly at the chaos Iron Warrior, reminding him, “Do not dare steal my youngling away from me.”

Alcyon glanced at Malaran, offended at his presumption, “You have nothing to worry about unless you foolishly put them in danger.”

Lenora shook her head, looking away from the two chaos space marines, “I think these boys are ready to head home and be done with it.” She chuckled to Amelia, then ruffling Ben’s hair goodnaturedly, the boy yawning mid-giggle, “This one too.”

She turned to Erriox, “Let’s go home?” 

He was about to agree when Osteron walked up to the group, a warm smile on the apothecary’s face, “Hello Amelia, I’m glad you have your boy back.”

Amelia smiled at him, “Hello Osteron. Yes, I’m very thankful.”

He addressed the group, “It is rather late, so it is best to stay at the base and leave the next morning. You ladies and Ben here could stay in Brother Erriox’s and Brother Alcyon’s rooms. Brother Malaran, we will make arrangements for you to stay as well.” 

He then addressed the three Astartes, irritation evident in his voice, “You three, tracking dirt and blood all over my clean medbay,…” Even Alcyon stiffened slightly at the change of tone, “Report to the Warsmith on today’s events then report back to me. You will spend your time cleaning up every speck of debris and stain in my medbay to my standard before you leave.”

“Yes sir.”

Malaran groaned and was about to argue, but Alcyon told him to shut up, “Don’t. It will only make it worse.” He said. 

“Are you in trouble?” Ben asked worriedly. 

Osteron chuckled, “It is nothing terrible. These boys made a big mess in the medical bay and now are going to clean it up. They will be back with you after they are finished.”

Malaran huffed and patted Ben’s head, purring and promising in Gothic to return to him as soon as he was done. 

Lenora giggled at Malaran’s grumbling before turning to Erriox, “Don’t get into more trouble now.” She joked.

Her Iron Warrior huffed, side-eyeing the Black Legionary, “I can’t promise you that.” 

Erriox kissed her brow and then her lips, “I will return.” He promised.

Lenora kissed him back, “One more for good luck.” She smiled. He smirked. 

“We’ll see you later then?” Amelia asked Alcyon quietly. 

“Yes, I will be with you soon.” Alcyon, almost bent double, pressed his forehead to hers. Amelia smiled and quickly touched her nose against his, “See you then.”

“Rest well.” With one last caress, the chaos Iron Warrior turned to follow his battle-brothers. 

****************

Lenora walked Amelia and Ben to Alcyon’s suite.

“So… like… Is Alcyon going to be my new dad?” Ben asked, breaking the comfortable silence. 

“You want him to be?” Amelia answered. 

Ben shrugged, “Don’t you like each other though?” Recalling how Alcyon acted towards his mom. 

Amelia paused, confused and slightly concerned, “Yes, but that doesn’t make him your dad. What if your teacher and I like each other, would you start calling him dad?”

“No, but he’s probably better than my actual dad though.” Ben replied, making a face, he couldn’t picture his teacher and his mom together. He understood her point though. 

“Alcyon is a space marine. He’s our protector, but I’m not sure he’s um… ready for you to be calling him ‘dad’.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about Alcyon in all this, to be honest. He was intimidating, at some points can be very frightening, and was weird about certain things, being unaccustomed to what humans here take for granted. But on the other hand, Alcyon was incredibly devoted to her, fiercely so. He was so different, and was so much more than everything she found lacking in her previous relationship. Amelia had to admit that she did love him in the short time they were together and that their relationship was intensely… romantic? But the fact remains that the emotional wounds left by her ex were too raw, too recent. She didn’t want to use Alcyon and to think of him as simply a rebound or a temporary band aid solution to that emotional trauma. The topic of fatherhood? Yeah, she’s definitely not ready to touch that conversation at all. 

Lenora stepped in, “Ben, maybe hold off on calling anyone your dad. Orca might feel real weird about that.” She figured that would likely cause conflict between the two chaos space marines, considering how overprotective and clingy Malaran was of Ben. Chances are, Malaran would be upset and jealous of Ben’s relationship with the chaos Iron Warrior if that’s the case. The thought of Malaran begrudgingly calling Alcyon “dad” was very funny though. 

The boy agreed and decided to drop the topic. He hadn’t even considered how Orca would feel. Another question nagged his mind, “Ms. Lenora, since Erriox is Alcyon’s brother and Orca’s cousin, can I call you ‘Aunt Lenora’?”

Lenora stared, trying to find the correct words to say. She looked helplessly at Ben’s mother who only giggled at them. She tried to explain, “Erriox is not actually related to them, you know? Kind of like in certain cultures where I would call another woman, like your mum, “sister”; but she’s not actually related to me.”

“But that means I can still call you Aunt Lenora even though you’re not really related to me if Erriox calls Orca, his cousin. You’re much better than my actual aunts.” Ben countered. 

Lenora laughed, she couldn’t fault his logic and she couldn’t say no to the little bit of flattery at the end. An aunt by space marine, she is then.  

“I suppose.” She said exasperatedly and fondly, “You can call me Aunt Lenora.”

Ben cheered. By that time they had arrived at Alcyon’s room. Amelia turned and hugged Lenora tightly, “Thank you so much, Lenora. Thank you for bringing Ben back to me. I thought I lost him for good. I owe you so much for this.” She said, heart full and feeling eternally grateful to the other woman. 

Lenora hugged her tightly back, giving Amelia a comforting squeeze, “It’s all good, don’t you worry about owing anything silly like that. Just take care of yourselves. I’ll probably see you around the base sometime.”

She pulled away a little, suddenly remembering something, “I put some extra toiletries in Ben’s backpack. So if he’s looking for a toothbrush or something, it should be in there.”

Amelia hugged Lenora again, she couldn’t be ever more grateful to her, “Thank you so much.You really didn’t have to.”

“It’s fine. I have extras anyway.” 

“You’re the best, Aunt Lenora.” Ben said, his voice muffled as he burrowed in to join in on the hug. Lenora just laughed, her tiredness briefly forgotten with the boy’s enthusiasm. She clutched them both tightly once more before taking her leave. 

“I’ll see you guys around.”

Mother and son watched Lenora leave before entering Alcyon’s room. His room was relatively spartan. The only evidence that he was bonded to a human was the soft dark green fleece blanket on his bed and a few stems of dried Achillea millefolium flowers and dandelions tied together in a small bouquet on his desk. 

Once inside, Ben dug through his backpack, pulling out spare clothes, more snacks and sandwiches, a large bottle of water, a bag of toiletries, a ziploc bag with some first aid items, among other things. Ben gasped when he pulled out a copied set of Blue Planet DVDs and a letter folded inside one of the DVD cases.

“In case you end up somewhere safe and able to find a DVD player. Enjoy the Blue Planet series! They are very good and I think you’ll like them. I don’t know where you and Orca plan to go after this, but I hope this pack will be enough supplies for a little while. At least until you get to another safe place. Good luck! I hope you find your mom. - Lenora”

That woman gave her son so much. Amelia didn’t think the kindness of strangers would stretch this far as she had already done so much for them. Amelia decided then that she would at least treat Lenora to dinner next time she sees her. 

****************

Mother and son were sleeping peacefully by the time the two chaos marines returned to Alcyon’s room. Malaran’s first instinct was to gather the boy and bring him with him to his room, but thought better of it. 

“Let them sleep. I will be with them. Come join us again in seven hours.” Alcyon told him. The Black Legionnaire nodded as he retired to his own room for the night. 

Alcyon stripped down to his body suit. Sitting at his desk, he switched out his heavy leg prosthetic for a lighter one and then took off his metal claw. It was only when he lived with Amelia that he started doing this, not wanting to accidently nick her again during their sleep. Human skin and flesh tears so easily. After the first couple of scars he made, Alcyon became much more careful using his claw around her, something he would never have considered for anyone, let alone a baseline human. 

He slipped into the bed behind Amelia, his tall bulk protectively blocking them both should a threat enter from the doorway. He watched his human’s son sleeping deeply, nestled into the curve of her body. Reporting to the Warsmith had been interesting, piecing together the events between him, Malaran and Erriox. The Warsmith was deeply unimpressed and grumbled about a can of worms under his breath. In the end, Amelia was able to reunite with her son, which was all that mattered to him. This time, he will make sure to keep his this little family together, to make up for his past mistake to his dear mate. He will destroy anything and anyone who dares threaten his peace.

“Kingfisher?” came Amelia’s whisper. It was a strange name, but he didn’t mind it, though only she was allowed to call him that. 

The chaos Iron Warrior rumbled a low affirmative, feeling her body sag in relief against him. He brushed her hair back delicately, pressing a kiss to the shell of her exposed ear, drawing out a blissful sigh. Her head tilted to reverently place a kiss to the skin of his arm stump where it met the metal attachment point for his claw. Alcyon hummed with quiet satisfaction, not daring to purr, lest he wakes up the boy. He wrapped his arm around Amelia, listening to their steady heartbeats as he closed his eye. 

*****************

The mattress dipped with his weight as Erriox joined her. Lenora hummed in comfort as she felt his warm body curl around her and his rumbling purr vibrate down her back, relaxing as the exhaustion of the day’s events caught up to her. Erriox kissed the nape of her neck and nuzzled into her hair, inhaling her scent. She drowsily looked up at him, exhaling a sigh of contentment, “You’re back. It’s good to see you.”

“I’ve returned.” Erriox replied, his voice soft as his hand drifted along her exposed throat; memorizing the feel of her pulse and the warmth of her skin. He tilted her head back, kissing her languidly before pulling her closer to himself. “Don’t ever drive like that again.” He grumbled, closing his eyes and draping his arm over her. Lenora laughed in acknowledgment and intertwined her fingers with his, bringing his hand up to her chest as she drifted off to sleep.

[keep-this-all-in-mind]

i have a lot of original worldbuilding based around dragons and things-that-are-very-closely-related-to-dragons-but-aren't, but i haven't had a Dragon Based Project in ages so the second i started seriously contemplating this au i was probably done for lmao.

SO. Dragons, going oldest to youngest:

Blue dragon with the lighter neck and chin patch is Kosmir. She's an OC of mine that I've been intending to use for original projects but don't usually have space for, but she DOES have ONE thing going for her: she's (REDACTED FOR FIC SPOILERS I CANT BELIEVE I FORGOT TO REDACT THE FIC SPOILERS)

Kosmir is the genetic donor (sole donor, it's A Thing, i'll explain when I get to it in the fic proper) for Hellmouth (formerly Hellfang), the blue dragon in the bottom left corner- the dragon Ben is able to turn into with the omnitrix.

Now, you may ask, if Hellmouth is the dragon Ben turns into with the Omnitrix, who the hell is the green dragon?

That would also be Ben. Long story short? My-worldbuilding dragons (the ones used in this au) can shapeshift into smaller forms naturally, but the way in which they do so messed with the Omnitrix during Ben's first transformation into Hellfang, and things got... sticky. Could the gene repair theoretically fix it? Yes. Does anybody actually want to?

Lastly, the plover-looking fluffy kiddo in the middle-right is Kitty, another usually-for-original-projects-only-but-i-couldn't-help-myself OC of mine who will most likely be showing up in the fic as her and her brother Alex (The Thing That Is Too Large To Be A Regular Wolf, pictured in Shenanigans at the top of the page and next to a T-posing Gwen in anodite form for scale) are pretty solid Helping Plot Along assistants and they're also very great for Cultural Context Reasons (plus. they are. So Squishy.)

ok so uhhhh Mechanism Au... it may be Occurring.

Sketch page (probably the final one for a while- now that i have sketches for most of the primary Critter Skins in this au i'm not likely to do generalized sketchpages again) for Mechanism!

[egrets-not-regrets]

Dandelions and Yarrow (3)

Their deep root systems that allows them to withstand drought and poor soil conditions.

Amelia is finally home and gets to meet the newest space marine to settle in Gannet Point. Hurricane Alcyon storms the medical wing of the base. Erriox only wants to go home to his bonded.

**Dialogue in Gothic language is bolded and italicized. **

Author’s Notes:

TW angst

Thanks @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for letting me use Jophiel! Poor Erriox deciding to go through the medical wing on his way out was a poor decision.

Just a few points:

This takes place before Ben/Malaran “Orca” Blackspike storyline.

Amelia is bonded to Alcyon, a chaos Iron Warrior. These two share an intense bond that teeters on the point of becoming a mate bond.

Alcyon has a pretty good grasp of the english language. He usually communicates with Amelia in english and other Astartes in Gothic.

Thanks to @squishyowl for the divider image!

OCs: Alcyon (chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia Plover

“Mom!” Amelia walks swiftly towards the older woman waiting in the airport and pulls her into a tight hug, “I missed you so much.”

Mara chuckled, hugging her daughter back lovingly, “I missed you too, fledgling. It wouldn’t have killed you to call a little more often, though.”

Amelia smiled sheepishly, “Yeah… sorry.”

Her adoptive mother patted her back before pulling away, smiling back at her, “I’m glad you’re here safe and sound. Ready to go?” She asked.

It was as if an invisible weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Amelia straightened as she walked alongside her mom to the car, “Let’s go home.”

They pulled up to Mara’s house where a very tall, rather handsome looking, armoured angel with large white wings waited at her aunt’s door. He looked at Amelia, then at Mara, and then at the luggage in the opened trunk, “I help.” He said, easily grabbing the luggage. Mara unlocked the door and the angel followed them inside the house, gently setting Amelia’s luggage down by the stairs.

Mara greeted him warmly, “Hello Jophi!”

“Thank you for your help.” Amelia said. She couldn’t help but smile. Recognizing that he was a space marine, she wondered if there were also other winged marines like him. He looked so young though, much much younger than Alcyon. Kind of adorable, really.

The winged Astartes smiled back, “You’re welcome.” He replied in stilted English. He then turned to her aunt, “Hello Auntie Mara! I am here for cookies?”

“Cookies? Ah… you mean these?” The older woman pointed at the cooled danishes and butterfly curls on the cookie racks. Jophiel nodded. Mira explained, “These are pastries. Cookies are the ones you ate in class.”

Amelia smiled, watching the space marine’s wings twitch and fluff excitedly, “Yes! I am here for the pastries.”

She helped her aunt pack a box full of the pastries then passed it to the marine.

“Your English is improving, Jophi!” Mara smiled, complimenting him. She then gasped, “I forgot introductions! Amelia, this is Jophiel, he’s been coming to my classes to learn english. He helps with heavy lifting around the house and baking sometimes. Jophi, this is Amelia, my niece and adopted daughter.”

“Daughter? Niece?… Cousin?” Jophiel asked.

Amelia laughed and said in Gothic, catching the winged marine in surprise, “You can call me “Cousin” if you wish. Did Mara adopt you too?”

“Yes.” He replied happily, switching to Gothic as well. Mara’s eyes crinkled with amusement and waved at the two, “You kids have a nice chat, I’ll be in the kitchen if you need me.” before leaving to package more pastry orders.

The two waved back before continuing their conversation. Jophiel gently touched her shoulder, pointing to the matching side on his neck, his voice serious, “You are hurt. An Iron traitor hurt you?”

She forgot how keen space marine senses were. Amelia wasn’t quite sure how to respond without the possibility of causing Jophiel to seek out Alcyon for revenge, “He is my bonded. We were rough with each other when we were mating.” She cringed inwardly at her own explanation, it’s like trying to explain sex to a younger sibling. A very big augmented younger sibling.

Thankfully, Jophiel wasn’t ignorant about what sex was nor did he ask for more details. He only looked rather confused and a little more than slightly concerned, “You wanted that?” He asked incredulously.

Amelia covered Alcyon’s bite mark hidden on her neck with her hand, ignoring the slight touch of pain from the tender spot, “Yes. I wanted it. Can we stop talking about this? This is embarrassing.” No, she didn’t want it, at least not at the time, but to preserve her own sanity, she was not about to have another Astartes thrown into protective overdrive on her ass about it.

Jophiel sighed, reluctantly dropping the subject. There wasn’t much he could do about his cousin being bonded to a chaos Astartes, especially when the chaos marine wasn’t present; it doesn’t mean he wouldn’t say nothing about it though. He thumped his chestplate and said, “If that chaos heretic hurts you and you need help, you let me know.”

While Jophiel’s attitude towards chaos space marines was very similar to her ex’s Black Templar, he was a lot more kind about it. Amelia smiled up at him, “I will. Thank you, Jophiel.”

“You are Mara’s daughter so therefore my cousin, it is only right that I protect you too.” He gently grasped her hand with his own.

She gave his fingers a reassuring squeeze, “Thank you.”

The angel-like marine poked his head into the kitchen to say goodbye to Mara before taking his leave. Then waved at her before leaving through the front door. She waved back, going to join her aunt.

“He’s a very sweet young man. A little skittish and shy, but a very nice boy.” Her aunt smiled warmly, “When he first arrived, people around thought he was actually an angel until Nemoth corrected them.” She chuckled.

“I can see that.” Amelia answered.

“Nemoth is still around?” She asked curiously.

Nemoth, or rather Nemoth Bassanar, was a Primaris space marine of the Dark Kraken chapter, who appeared, injured and confused, near Gannet Point many years ago. The townspeople at the time barely knew what a space marine was, but nevertheless took him in and healed his injuries. He then integrated himself with the village and soon became a beloved member of their little community.

Nemoth held a great love for natural history and wildlife, and was fascinated by the creatures that could be seen in and around Gannet Point. He could sometimes be seen assisting the fishermen and biologists or leading guided tours to see the seabird colonies and the northern gannet colonies from where the town got its namesake; if not teaching forging and metalwork at the local community centre. To say the least, Nemoth had been an integral part of almost all the children who grew up in Gannet Point in the last two decades or so.

“Yes! He’s running the decorative metalwork class at the community center around seven tonight. You should go join. I’m sure he won’t mind. He’d be happy to see you. And you might as well help me deliver that box of pastries over there to him as well.” Mara smiled.

Amelia hugged Mara warmly, relaxing as her mother hugged her back, “Thanks Mom, I’ll go do that.”

**************

Alcyon stormed into the medical ward heading straight towards Eric, a fellow medical technician who Amelia worked with.

“Where is she?! Where is Amelia!” He demanded, looming over the reception desk. Eric jumped back in shock.

“She’s on days off. She’s not here.” The tech replied, confused and frightened, quickly reaching for the panic button.

“Don’t think I don’t see what you’re doing!” Alcyon growled, grabbing Eric by his front lapel and roughly lifted him up to eye level, ignoring the panicked reactions of the human staff and patients, “Amelia tells you everything! Where did she say she was going?”

Eric wheezed, trying to grab onto the chaos marine’s gauntlet to relieve the tension of his clothes strangling him, “I don’t know. She never said anything about that!”

The chaos Iron Warrior shook the poor medical technician, “Then where would Amelia disappear to?!”

“Disappear? Amelia’s gone?” The young man looked concerned and perplexed. He clearly had no idea that Amelia had left.

“LET ERIC GO RIGHT NOW!” Osteron's voice boomed.

Alcyon snarled irritably, releasing Eric from his grasp. The medical aide fell to the floor, rubbing his throat.

The chaos Iron Warrior bared his teeth, closing his eye briefly to stay the pounding in his head and ignore the ache in his chest. He knew it was from that tattered bond of his. He needed to find Amelia; her presence could fix this, somehow, or at least soothe this pain, this constant aching.

Where was Amelia? Why did she leave? The thrumming of his frayed bond called out to him to find her. Find his bonded. Fix what was broken.

How dare she leave and not tell him where she went! Didn’t she know how this bond affected him? Did she want to kill him? Did their bond and everything they had meant nothing to her? Where did Amelia go?! He needed her. He needed her to stay with him, to mend this bond. He can’t let this break. He’ll have to go home and restart his search. Once he finds her, he will never let her out of his sight. Keep her under lock and key if he had to.

Osteron knew something was very wrong with the chaos Iron Warrior, “Brother Alcyon, stay where you are!” He barked at him.

Alcyon ignored him and turned his heel to leave the medical wing.

“You two! Help me restrain him!” Osteron ordered.

Kalium quickly passed his bonded youngling to one of the nurses before going to capture the wayward chaos marine. Seeing that he was the one of the two Astartes that the apothecary was referring to, Erriox sighed and went to aid his brothers, his hope of going home to Lenora early quickly dashed.

Recognizing Kalium as the one who he’s seen being friendly flirty with Amelia and lingered around her unnecessarily (in his opinion) when she worked, Alcyon roared, “You! You’re the one who tried to steal my MATE!” and launched himself at the offending battle-brother, knocking them both down.

The other Iron Warrior tried to roll him off to no avail, “Don’t blame me! You’re the one who hurt her! That’s why Amelia left and didn’t tell anyone where she went! Wasn’t it?!” Kalium accused the older chaos marine.

Alcyon saw red.

“Everyone! Get into a room!” Osteron ordered. Doctors, nurses, patients, and techs scrambled to move to safety as a brawl erupted in the medical wing.

The chaos marine kicked Erriox off before turning his full attention to trading punches with Kalium. Metal screeched as Alcyon’s claw grazed his helm. Kalium managing to dodge the blow in the bare milliseconds the chaos marine stabbed down towards his face. His eyes widened in alarm when Alcyon used his claw with more dexterity than he ever thought possible, deftly releasing his helm and flip it off his head, the helmet skidding down the hallway before coming to a stop. Erriox quickly took advantage of their position and pinned the chaos marine, grabbing his metal claw to keep his battle-brother from stabbing Kalium with it. Osteron pinned his legs.

Alcyon switched to punching Kalium in the face with his other fist instead. A sharp sensation made him hiss as Osteron plunged a needle deep into his neck, injecting a strong tranquilizer into his system. Despite that, he managed to free one of his legs and back-kicked hard against Osteron, sending the apothecary to his knees.

“Say her name again and I will rip your tongue from your mouth!” Alcyon raged as he struggled harder.

Kalium grappled Alcyon’s one arm and leg from underneath him, keeping his other elbow under his brother’s chin to prevent the chaos Iron Warrior from biting him, snarling back, “You don’t deserve to be Amelia’s bonded!”

Erriox was nearly bucked off the chaos marine at that statement.

“Damn it, Kalium! Stop egging him on! Calm down Alcyon!” Erriox yelled irritably from Alcyon’s other side, struggling to take off his prosthetic metal claw, “How long Osteron?!” He called out.

“Twenty seconds!”

Nowhere had there been someone calming down when being yelled at to calm down if his chaos battle brother, nearly throwing him off again, armour and all, was anything to go by. Erriox smacked Alcyon in the back of his head hard in retaliation though it seemed to do little to dissuade his struggling. Osteron scolded him, “Stop that! We don’t need to add a head injury on top of what is going on!”

His skull is hard enough to take it, Erriox thought crankily. Grumbling, the Iron Warrior threw away the metal claw he removed then forced all of his body weight on top of the thrashing chaos marine. It was so tempting to repeatedly punch him in the head to knock him out faster… but Osteron wouldn’t approve. Kalium, being very glad that he wore his armour today, finally managed to slip out from under Alcyon, and pin down his other side. Eventually the chaos marine struggled less and less until he went fully unconscious.

“Strap him into a bed and put him in Room Five. This tranquilizer only lasts thirty minutes at best.” Osteron urged as they hauled the unconscious Iron Warrior onto a bed and wheeled him into the room.

*************

Amelia took a deep breath as she opened the door to Nemoth’s classroom. The Dark Kraken dark eyes brightened as he welcomed her warmly, “Amelia! It has been a long time!”

“It’s good to see you again, Nemoth.” She smiled as she put down her mother’s box of pastries and hugged the Primaris marine.

He hugged her back, saying, “Welcome back.”

“Thanks. I brought the box of the pastries that you ordered.” Amelia gestured to the box on his desk.

“Yes, thank you. Your mother’s baked goods are delicious. Would you like to stay for this class? It’s decorative metalwork for beginners so I can’t see why you couldn’t join us.” The tall space marine asked her.

Amelia considered that for a moment and agreed, “I would like that.” She paused, “Would you be free to talk after class? I would like your advice on something.”

“Of course.”

That decision was well worth the experience. Amelia had taken a few metalwork classes from Nemoth when she was young, so his class was a wonderful refresher. After the class ended, the roomed cleaned up, and the students have left, Amelia stayed behind to chat with the Dark Kraken.

“Something troubling you?” Nemoth asked her. He could detect the scent of an Iron Traitor on Amelia and his sharp eyes could make out the dark bruising and light scarring on her neck that she hid under her makeup. The Dark Kraken frowned slightly, “Did a chaos Astartes hurt you?”

Her eyes widened and she stuttered in embarrassment, “Uh… no, not like that. My bonded is a chaos Iron Warrior and… we were rough with each other during sex.” She quickly ended, her face going red. It wasn’t the entire truth, but it wasn’t exactly a lie. And it was horribly embarrassing to explain it to the space marine who watched you grow up.

Like Jophiel, he asked with a worried expression, “And you are ok with this?”

“Yes. I agreed to it.” Amelia replied, blushing heavily, looking away from the space marine.

Nemoth sighed, his pale hand patted the seat beside him, “Sit beside me. I know it is not for me to judge what you do with your bonded Astartes, but I would caution to not let your Astartes be too rough, worse injuries can occur accidentally if he doesn’t mind his strength.”

“I will be careful.” Amelia said as she sat down in her seat.

“What do you want advice on?” The Primaris space marine asked, getting straight to the point.

Amelia told him the story about how her ex-husband’s Black Templar Astartes started to cut off access to her son once they had divorced, and how she had tried to remain in contact with her son, resulting in Alcyon’s eventual fight with the Black Templar which caused them to be banned from her son’s school, ending at the big argument that she had with her own Astartes.

The furrow in his brows deepened the longer he listened, “This is troublesome indeed.” Nemoth hummed, “I have two questions: One, did you contact your ex-husband to discuss this issue? It seems like the Iron Tr- Warrior acted on his own, so it is not entirely your fault. Two, your bonded Astartes, did he harm you too?”

“I’ve been in contact with him and while he understands my issue, he and his family still went ahead to file a restraining order against me. Safety reasons, they said.” Amelia spat bitterly. Her voice cracked, “They threatened to take Ben away! And that I’ll never see him again!” Tears ran down her cheeks as she started to bawl.

“I don’t know what to do! Where do I even start?”

A large warm hand rubbed circles on her back as she shuddered from the intensity of her crying, finally releasing so much stress and frustration held within her.

“It’s ok, let out your sorrows.” Nemoth said, handing Amelia a kleenex box, “It is a lot to keep inside. I gave your mother contacts for a few lawyers who specialize in Astartes and human law when she asked for help regarding your matter. Apologies, that is all I could do to help you.”

She wiped her face and smiled wanly at the Dark Kraken, “Thanks Nemoth. It’s somewhere I can start with. And to answer your second question, no, he did not.”

Nemoth raised a brow but did not push the issue, “If you ever feel that your Astartes is a danger to you. You can contact me. Alright?”

“I will. Thanks Nemoth.” Amelia affirmed.

He put his hand on her shoulder, worry seeping into his voice, “Be careful that you don’t fall into the same corruption that led your Astartes into chaos. The humans that have been corrupted in my time do not meet good endings. I don’t wish to see any of the children I’ve watched growing up become beyond saving.”

Amelia patted his hand, “I won’t, I promise.”

****************

Lenora quickly picked up her phone, hearing the familiar ringtone from her Astartes’ call, “Erriox?”

“Lenora. I will be staying at the base for several more days to keep watch over my battle brother.”

Her brows furrowed with concern, “Are you both alright?”

She heard a huff at the other end of the line, “I’m fine, my brother… is not well.”

“Alright, take care of yourselves. I love you.”

“Same to you.” Came Erriox’s warm reply, “I will come home as soon as this is over. See you then.”

[egrets-not-regrets]

Dandelions and Yarrow (1)

Dandelions and yarrow are both tough, hardy weeds that can grow under harsh conditions.

Alcyon (chaos Iron Warrior) makes the mistake of nearly breaking his bond with Amelia, his bonded human.

Author’s Note: TW: smut, noncon, dubcon, angst. This chapter is all hurt, no comfort. You are warned.

Just a few points:

This takes place before Ben/Malaran “Orca” Blackspike storyline.

Amelia is bonded to Alcyon, a chaos Iron Warrior. These two share an intense bond that teeters on the point of becoming a mate bond.

Alcyon has a pretty good grasp of the english language. He usually communicates with Amelia in english and other Astartes in Gothic.

Thanks to @squishyowl for the divider image!

OCs: Alcyon (chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia Plover

Tagged: @shadowfirecat, @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts, @barn-anon, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual, @ms--lobotomy

The meaning of 'heartbreak’ had been all but foreign to him before, but now he understood what it meant as soon as he saw the shattered look in Amelia’s eyes directed at him. Alcyon knew that she had received the news about being banned from her son’s school. 

“Alcyon! Why did you do it? Why did you have to fight him? I told you not to!” Amelia didn’t know where to even start with him on this anymore. The news broke her. Meeting Ben at his school before her ex came to pick him up was the only way she could see her son.    

Crossing his arms, the chaos Iron Warrior bristled and gave a disgruntled huff, “I could have killed the Black Templar. By right of challenge, I would have won your boy back for you had they not stopped me.”

“But they did stop you from killing him and now we both are banned from Ben’s school!” Amelia’s temper rose. 

“You shouldn’t have challenged him! I told you repeatedly to not do this and make the situation worse! It’s not that simple!” she added angrily. Amelia had never argued with Alcyon like this. She never wanted to argue with him like this, but she needed him to see, to understand how much his fight with the Black Templar cost her. 

“How is it not that simple? We could have simply taken your son at any point and you can have him back”

“Human laws don't make it simple!” Amelia nearly yelled at him out of frustration.

“I am bonded to you! In the eyes of human law, I am, to some degree, responsible for you too! What they see is MY chaos Astartes going out of control, starting a fight, and nearly killing a loyalist Astartes at my son’s school!” Her heart hurt, her head hurt, she didn’t want to continue. Why couldn’t her Astartes understand this? 

The chaos Iron Warrior replied, “You don’t control me.” 

“Of course I don’t, but that’s not how the human lawmakers see it.” Amelia breathed a vexed sigh trying to calm down. This argument was getting tiresome, she couldn’t remember the number of times they’ve talked about this. She knew her Astartes had done this on her behalf but she warned him time and time again not to, “I don’t even know why we’re still arguing about this. It’s too late for that now.” She grimaced. 

Amelia straightened out the order that she held crumpled in her fist, despairing as she read through the damning letter again. What was she to do now?

“We’ll have another chance to get your son back.”

His words locked around her chest tightly. She grit her teeth, trying hard not to cry from the whirlwind of emotions inside, “We won’t have another chance. Even if there was, you won’t be helping me.”

She could hear Alcyon’s quiet growl building, “What did you say?”

Amelia whirled on him, eyes blazing with fury and angry tears sliding unchecked down her face, “I said, ‘Even if I had another chance, I won’t be asking you for help!’”

The volume in her voice rose as she continued, “You lost my last chance to see Ben again, because you didn’t listen! How could I even trust you to not mess up next time?!” 

“Mess up?” Alcyon snapped at her, “Mess up?! I only took action because you kept crying about being stopped at every turn because of the laws and that damned family of his!”

“That’s exactly why we couldn’t meet them with violence! Because they are spiteful enough that they will throw the law at us and now they have the excuse of saying you are a danger to Ben due to your fight with his father’s Black Templar. Moreover, the law will always be biased against chaos Astartes and you are no exception! Why couldn’t you understand that?!”

Alcyon’s frustration grew the more Amelia said. It wasn’t his fault that the Black Templar and that family of hers kept her son away. He was the one who had supported her from the time she had accepted that he had bonded to her. And now she didn’t want his help because he made this one mistake? 

He sneered, “Don’t you dare blame me for that son of Dorn keeping your son away from you.”

“You are partially to blame! If you didn’t fight and nearly kill him, we wouldn’t be banned from the school! I wouldn't be in this mess!” she spat, too emotionally exhausted to keep her temper in check. 

“Then you shouldn’t have kept complaining about the inept human laws that you like to play with! At least I did something about it!” the Iron Warrior retorted.

Her anger boiled over, “I didn’t need you to do anything about it! I didn’t want you to do anything about it! Sometimes I wonder why I’m even bonded to you in the first place!” Amelia’s eyes widened and her expression turned pained, even she couldn’t believe the harsh words that came out of her mouth, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean…”

Ignoring her stuttered apology, Alcyon snarled back at her, “I didn’t ask to be bonded to you. If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be bound to a simpering weakling like you!”

He knew that his words hurt. Judging by the agonized expression she wore, his words stabbed in all the right places. She didn’t want his help? He’s the one who’s taken action to get her son back! He’s the one who gave her the chance to visit her son again! How dare she be so ungrateful! Alcyon angrily ignored the voice in the back of his mind screaming at him to stop, that they won’t be able to walk back their words after this. So occupied by his resentment and anger, he couldn’t feel their bond slowly come apart, thread snapping by fragile thread.

Amelia felt her heart crack and regrets started to bleed from it. 

“I never asked for you to be bonded to me either. You could’ve left me alone, you should’ve stayed away!” She wiped her eyes angrily, “None of this would’ve happened if you hadn’t shown up in my life!”

Another thread snapped. 

“You’re the one who accepted our bond! You wanted it! Had you not, you’d still be that lonely little human woman yearning for a big Astartes save her and warm her bed at night, because her own husband wouldn’t bother to fuck her!” Alcyon resentfully pointed out. 

Amelia glared at him, speechless with anger and mortification. 

“I heard what they said about you… the whore who prefers the company of chaos demons rather than her own family.” He sneered. 

“I do not…!” She spluttered in embarrassment, “I am not a whore!”

The Iron Warrior looked infuriatingly smug despite the hurt, “That’s not what you moaned when I fucked you.”

A few more threads loosened. 

Feeling humiliated beyond tears, Amelia growled low, “Get. Out.” 

“No. This place is mine as much as it is yours.” He replied stubbornly. 

“Fine. Then I’ll go! I can’t deal with you right now.” Amelia knew this was going nowhere and immediately yielded. She started walking away only to be roughly yanked back into place, plastered against the wall. Her arm, held tightly in his claw. Amelia froze, not daring to struggle lest the metal claw cut into her flesh. 

“I’m not done with you!” Alcyon growled. A dark desire in him wanted to see her fight back so he would have reason to scorch her in return. 

A number of threads singed and sizzled as it burnt away.

“What else do you want from me? To be thanked?” Amelia asked, indignation and hurt seeping into her voice. 

She snapped, “Well thank you for losing the last chance I have to see my son again!”

“Don’t take that tone with me!” He roared back.

Amelia screamed when Alcyon’s heavy metal claw slammed into the wall a few inches from her cheek. Sharp metal tips dug deep into the plaster; a stark frightening reminder of how dangerous Alcyon actually was. The red lenses on the chaos marine’s face glowed with a malignant energy as he loomed over her.  

“Good. You should remember to be afraid.” Alcyon leered at her, a sense of dark satisfaction washing over him as he watched terrified tears run down Amelia’s face. 

Another few threads broke. 

“You act as if this one mistake of mine is a world ending tragedy and wipes away everything else I had done for you!” He hissed disdainfully. 

Not even giving her a chance to reply, Alcyon continued, “Everything I had done up until now had always been for you! Always!” Spite and anger built in his chest, “And you dismiss me like some misbehaving pet?!”

“I never treated you like that! If you feel like I treat you like some pet, take off your collar then! Leave me! I can’t stop you!” She spat back, “I won’t stop you!”

She was right. He knew he could leave. He knew she couldn’t stop him. What could Amelia even do? She was such a weak creature. But something stopped him, did he actually want to leave? 

“We already said we don’t want to be bonded to each other. Then we don’t need to stay in whatever this.. this… whatever this is then!” Amelia angrily cried. 

To break this bond tethering him to Amelia’s existence seemed completely abhorrent to him. Even if he didn’t have a choice in who he was bonded to, the thought of her not wanting to stay by his side made Alcyon’s chest feel tight. 

“I can’t believe I loved you.” She said hoarsely, sorrow cracking through her voice, “I thought…”

Several more threads from the bond snapped.

His hearts shouldn’t have clenched like that when he heard her say it. The Iron Warrior dismissed the feeling with a scoff, “You’re delusional. There was never love. We are bonded. You are simply just mine.”

She glared at him through her tears, “We may be bonded, but I am not yours.”

That sentence echoed in his ear. 

More strands broke. 

“You don’t mean that.” Alcyon hissed through gritted teeth. The defiance in her words made something twist and shear inside. How dare she say that. She was his. She was his. Amelia was bonded to him and him only. She was his! That thought ran rampant in his mind.

“You don’t mean that.” The chaos marine suddenly pinned his human to the table, one hand trapping her wrists above her head, his teeth caressing her throat. Amelia cried out from the impact, her body spasmed in pain. 

“Tell me you don’t mean that.” He growled. Amelia idly wondered if Alcyon would tear her throat out if she told him otherwise. 

More threads strained and snapped. 

“Say it!” He snarled and bit down hard. 

Amelia mewled, her body instinctively reacting by arching into his. Instinctively wanting more. Her skin prickled at their heightened sensitivity. A weak moan escaped her as he sucked on the tender mark. 

“Tell me, Amelia. Tell me, you are mine. Your body certainly knows it.” She could feel him smirk against her flushed skin. She tried to bite back another whine at the heat and pressure of his body pressed flush to her own, her hips pushing back when he started rolling his hips against hers. It always started like this… she thought as her mind started to fog. 

Appalled at her own reaction, Amelia panicked. She twisted her hips away, bringing a knee up to push his body off her. Her arms strained to free themselves from the tight clasp of his hand.

She started screaming, “NO! Get off— mmngh!” He silenced her with a rough kiss, his tongue wrestling down her own. A frustrating rage in him grew at her defiance. She kept denying that she belonged to him. She was his as he was hers. They were bonded. He won’t allow her to deny the fact any longer. He’ll remind her who she is bonded to. 

“No.” The chaos marine sneered, his grip holding Amelia’s wrists together tightened, his claw grabbed her leg, easily moving it back to the side of his hips, forcing her to lay on her back facing him once more. She winced in discomfort. 

“Your words deny it, but your body and soul remembers. I will make you remember!” He angrily growled into her mouth, the vibration from it causing another unwanted arc of pleasure to course through her body. In one quick movement, Alcyon’s metal claw effortlessly shreds through her clothing. The torn clothes fell apart, leaving behind thin bleeding welts where his claw swiped against her bare torso. 

More threads were sliced from the bond. 

Amelia's eyes widened with fear as she started to struggle in earnest, “No! Alcyon! Let me g-!” His mouth was on hers again in an instant, cutting off her protests. She tried to turn her head away. He bit hard onto her bottom lip, warning her to be still. She whined in response before he promptly stole her breath again. 

“Stop, Alcyon! Please sto-!” Amelia begged as soon as their mouths parted. 

She could see every scar in detail around the lens implant as they stayed nose to nose, “Even if you deny it, you know that you’re mine.” Alcyon harshly whispered, “You will always be mine.”

He grabbed her hair and pulled her head to one side before biting down hard onto an old mark, drawing blood. Amelia keened wordlessly, tears leaking from her eyes as the pain added to the heated pleasure within her own traitorous body. She knew that this was a natural reaction, but she couldn’t help but wish that her body didn’t betray her like this. 

With a pleased growl, the chaos Iron Warrior licked the blood from the wound then kissed her. An unbidden moan left her throat as the bitter iron salt of her blood passed between their tongues. 

“Your body is more honest isn’t it?” Alcyon laughs sardonically against her lips. He could smell his human’s arousal right when he pinned her under him, the heady scent getting stronger as he continued to mark her. His teeth nipped and worried her sensitive skin down toward her breast, soaking in all her involuntary gasps and twitching muscles as he laid his claim onto her flesh. 

Amelia flushed with shame and regret. She wished she had never had slept with Alcyon, if only so that he would not know her body as well as he did. She regretted that she allowed her relationship with the Iron Warrior to become this intimate. She regretted that she had fallen in love with him. 

More threads dissolved. 

He bit down hard onto her breast, his sharp teeth sinking into the soft tissue. Amelia bit her lip to stop another whine from escaping, her hands stiffened into claws as Alcyon’s tongue licked up the blood that had beaded up from the wound.  

He gave the same treatment to her other breast, further sucking and teething her nipple into a hard peak. 

“No..! Alcy— ohhhn!” Her throat was tight as she let out a strangled moan, her pussy clenching around nothing. Amelia flattened her back against the table and tried to curl into herself, trying to shirk away from his touch. The chaos marine let out a feral, displeased growl. He grabbed her thighs and slotted her roughly against him, forcing her legs to spread wide to accommodate for the width of his muscled bulk. His metal claw dug into her back, the pain forcing Amelia to arch her spine, pushing more of her breast into his mouth; her breath shuddering and her hips thrusting involuntarily, rubbing her aching core against his pelvis as he sucked and nipped bruises onto her sensitive flesh. 

“No more… please Alcyon.” Amelia begged.  Shame filled her being as she could feel her cunt becoming slick with her juices. 

Alcyon ignored her pleas and groaned at the scent of her deepened arousal mixed with the iron in her blood, his own cock hardening within his pants from rutting against her hot wet core. He could feel the twitches of her muscles and hear her near silent moans and involuntary gasps as Amelia tried desperately to stop reacting to his touch. He will make her fall. He will make her remember. 

This time he will leave his marks so others could see who she belonged to. Alcyon bit her neck again, sinking his teeth just below her jawline. 

Her shame and regret flashed into anger. “Stop it!!!” She snarled, whipping up a freed hand to strike his face. 

Alcyon caught her hand and roughly forced it onto the table again, “Say it, Amelia. Say that you are mine.” He demanded, his eye darkened with feral lust and possessiveness heavy in his voice. 

She was beautiful, pinned helplessly below him, glaring at him with rage simmering under the surface. He could see Amelia’s heightened pulse flutter underneath her fragile skin. Bruises forming where he marked over and blood beading out from marks that broke skin. Her breasts heaved as she struggled to steady her breathing.

Amelia bared her teeth at him in anger and contempt, “Leave me alone! I can’t stand the sight of you! I hate you.”

He felt it then. It was as if someone reached into his chest and grabbed a bundle of threads that made up the core of his bond and brutally ripped them out. Sharp agonizing pain stabbed into his hearts as each thread snapped and broke, as if they were once attached to them. Alcyon stared at her, reeling from the sudden shock of pain. Amelia took the chance to slip out from under him and ran into the bedroom, locking the door behind her. 

The chaos warrior shook himself out of it, that shock of pain quickly settling to a dull ache as resentment soon took over. Alcyon turned to follow his human when the shine of the intricate metal fish on the table caught his attention. It was a gift he made for Amelia that she treasured. Eyeing the fish figurine with spiteful hostility, he crushed it in his hand and flung it against the wall, shattering it into pieces. 

Amelia’s sobs were quiet and muffled, but even they couldn’t escape from his keen hearing. Every cell in his body was compelling him to respond to his bonded human’s sorrowful cries; to comfort her, to apologize, to rebuild the threads of the bond that’s been broken. Alcyon ground his teeth hard, fighting against the compulsion. The Iron Warrior ignored it all and stormed out of their home, slamming the door so hard it nearly took the door off its hinges. 

Alcyon was long gone by the time Amelia crept out from the bedroom. Teary-eyed, but fully dressed again, Amelia cautiously made her way back to the living room, still wary that the chaos warrior was still lurking somewhere in their home. More and more cracks formed in her heart as she looked at the evidence of their fight: the gouge marks in the wall, the scratch marks, the torn strips of her clothes that laid on the table. She whimpered and hissed when her own body reminded her of Alcyon’s cuts and bite marks on her. But that hurt couldn’t compare to heart wrenching pain when she found the shattered remnants of her beloved fish figurine. 

Amelia remembered Alcyon had made it for her: a beautiful and surprisingly intricate piece of art that came from his rough and metal hands. She loved it so much. It reminded her of her son’s favourite creatures… and what she mistakenly thought was Alcyon’s love for her. Tears started to roll down her cheeks again as she painstakingly picked up the remains, piece by shattered piece.  

A particularly sharp fragment of the fish sliced into her finger, the sudden shock of pain causing her already shaky hand to drop the pieces she just collected. Sliding down the wall, her hand fisted around the pieces that didn’t fall, Amelia curled into herself in anguish. Letting out a grief-stricken wail, she wept bitterly. 

[egrets-not-regrets]

Dandelions and Yarrow (2)

Despite the arid conditions and the hardened ground, these plants are still able to survive.

Amelia calls her mom and decides to go home. Alcyon rages out on a mission then goes home, only to find a note and Amelia missing.

**Any dialogue in the Gothic language is bolded and italicized.**

Chapters: One, Two

Author’s Note:

Goodness, this chapter took a while to write, but finally it is done! There is more to come.

TW angst, threats, some lewdness (Slanneshi Blood Angel, what else can I say?)

Just a few points:

This takes place before Ben/Malaran “Orca” Blackspike storyline.

Amelia is bonded to Alcyon, a chaos Iron Warrior. These two share an intense bond that teeters on the point of becoming a mate bond.

Alcyon has a pretty good grasp of the english language. He usually communicates with Amelia in english and other Astartes in Gothic.

Thanks to @squishyowl for the divider image!

Song Inspiration: Take me back to Eden by Sleep Token

OCs: Alcyon (chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia Plover

Tagged: @shadowfirecat, @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts, @barn-anon, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual, @ms--lobotomy

Amelia dialled a number which she hadn’t dialled for a very long time, “Aunt Mara? Mom?”

“Amelia? Oh sweetie! I haven’t heard from you in so long! I missed you so much... Are you alright?” Mara stopped when she heard the hiccups in her adopted daughter’s voice, “What happened dear? It’s okay to tell me. I’m here for you.”

Amelia started sobbing, “Mom, I fucked up so badly!”

Mara cooed soothingly, “It’s okay. You can tell me what happened. We can figure it out together…”

She heard Amelia struggle to steady her breathing, blurting out words in between punctuating sobs, trying to tell her the events culminating into the massive fight she had with Alcyon short of their physical altercation.

Mara’s heart broke for her daughter. Niece, if being technical, since Mara had adopted Amelia after her sister’s and her brother-in-law’s death in that car accident so many years ago.

Mara knew Amelia didn’t have the easiest time in her marriage and she wasn’t too happy about her daughter being in such close proximity to her in-laws to be honest, snooty bunch ultra-religious coots they were. But it seemed that her son-in-law had broken out of the religion and they were happy enough, and happier still when Amelia gave birth to Ben.

Luckily, Mara was able to see Ben grow up for a while. Despite the distance, their little family had made a few yearly visits to Gannet Point, and she visited them whenever she was able. All that stopped about three years ago when her son-in-law bonded with a space marine. She had met him once. He was a Black Templar, big, quiet, polite enough, but wholly cold and intimidating, so very different from Nemoth Bassanar, the Dark Kraken space marine who had taken residence in her hometown. Mara wasn’t quite sure what to think about the templar, but she hoped that he was kind and a good addition to their little family.

Unfortunately, the appearance of the bonded Black Templar marine started what seemed to be a series of events that led to the divorce. The fact that the Black Templar had bonded with her son-in-law had only increased the in-laws' religious fervor, demanding that Ben be raised in the ultra-religious household. It was rather unfortunate that her son-in-law seemed to cow to his family’s demands and rarely stood up for Amelia. Mara completely disapproved of that attitude, but was helpless to do anything else.

Then things started going further downhill when a chaos Iron Warrior followed Amelia home one day. Which had Mara actually getting into a nasty argument with the in-laws on the cruel things she overheard them say about her daughter when she visited. Needless to say, she wasn’t allowed to visit any more. Amelia and her ex divorced eventually, perhaps all for the better, but it hadn’t been easy as the family was convinced that she was going to corrupt Ben because she bonded with a chaos Astartes. It didn’t make sense, there were plenty of people who had bonded with chaos space marines who had no issues whatsoever.

As for the chaos Iron Warrior her daughter bonded with, Alcyon; Mara hadn’t met him yet. The one time she visited Amelia after her divorce, he had been on a mission. She just hoped that he would treat her daughter well and be her protector.

This whole mess of events made just seemed to be the culmination of everything that happened within the last year. And it broke her heart knowing that this would mean that they may never see Ben again. Perhaps Nemoth may have some suggestions on how to deal with this issue or point them in the right direction? It also wouldn’t hurt for Amelia to be around some friendly familiar faces. She’s been trying to get Amelia to come home for a while now.

Mara gently suggested, once her daughter had finished her story, “ Why don’t you come home to Gannet Point and stay however long you need. You know home is always open for you.”

Amelia smiled, quickly using the tissue in her hand to blow her nose, “I… would like that.”

***************

This mission couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. Angry and frustrated at what just transpired between Amelia and him, and irritated by the aching of his torn bond; Alcyon was just set to explode. Destroying wreckage, training and sparring with his brothers let off only so much steam. Everyone around him noticed Alcyon’s volatile mood and the fact that he was spending most if not all his time on base, though no one was dumb enough to comment after one of his battle brothers joked about him being locked out of the house after a lover’s spat during sparring and was sent to the medical ward with a broken arm and a bad concussion posthaste.

They had been tasked with bringing down a blood den that some fallen Blood Angels had formed. A blood den in itself wouldn’t have been an issue. The fact that Blood Angels require drinking human blood was pretty much an open secret at this point, it wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret with how much baseline humans liked to talk about it, given how common it is to see bonded Blood Angels.

Most blood dens that were set up tend to have baseline humans and the occasional Astartes going there seeking pleasure and/or relief and in turn being drunk from; like a well-run pleasure business. Keep customers satisfied and they would return for more, which in turn kept the Blood Angels fed and sane.

With the odd feral (usually of fallen to chaos Blood Angels) blood den, there are usually a few missing people involved, sometimes those lucky enough to be let go reappeared in some random place: weak, dazed, and confused. But this particular den of fallen Blood Angels had started targeting bonded humans.

They were psykers, not powerful ones (luckily), as reports noted, and were under the influence of Slannesh. Indulging in lust and pain of killing a hapless victim wasn’t enough once they discovered the effect of killing a bonded human. To feel the psychic backlash that a broken bond causes to both bonded parties and to its breaker was an overload of pain and sensation. It was like an addictive drug to them.

With Steelix Fortress being the closest base to the den, Alcyon and his chaos-aligned battle brothers were sent to exterminate them as these Blood Angels were deemed too far gone to be worth keeping alive.

Of course why not use chaos to fight chaos? At least that’s what it felt like, when they were given that assignment.

His squad of chaos battle brothers largely stayed out of his way as they each were let loose with their own heretic Blood Angel to hunt. There were no human serfs or thralls as the IXth Legion would call them, luckily. Otherwise it would have been a much more messy affair.

Alcyon arrived at one of the Blood Angel’s lair. The first thing his sight honed in on was the woman the fallen Astartes was drinking from. Was she… She looked so similar to…

Amelia.

The broken bond pulsed, causing the muscles in his back to seize slightly. He let out a low growl, “Let her go.”

He stared intensely at the claw and bite marks all over the woman's body. No, those were not his marks. That was not Amelia.

The woman moaned weakly. Still alive.

His tormented mind heard Amelia’s voice.

“Let. Her. Go.” His growl grew louder, more threatening, his rage building.

A wide grin came over the Blood Angel when he looked at who the Iron Warrior was staring intently at. “Oh her? Is she yours? She’s beautiful by the way, and her blood is most appetising.”

The woman whined in pain when the Blood Angel sucked on the open wound in her shoulder. He chuckled, “Her despair was incredibly satisfying. That look of betrayal when she realized the friendly Blood Angel is nothing but a farce is such delicious inspiration. These baselines are so easy to fool.”

“And your bond…” he breathed deeply, “It tears in the most delightful way, the pain from it was so profoundly stimulating.” He groaned, palming his crotch.

Alcyon stood there, silent, letting the Blood Angel monologue on, but inside, he was seething with anger.

Annoyed at the lack of reaction, the Slanneshi Blood Angel’s face fell into a petulant pout. He carelessly dropped the woman to the side, who collapsed into a boneless heap, “You Iron Warriors, are all the same: dull, boring, with no sense of art or flare.”

He then stared straight at Alcyon and started laughing hysterically, “Oh… I see now… Your bond is torn! Just not with this woman!”

The Blood Angel got up from the couch and stalked towards him with a predatory grace, “What happened? Your woman not satisfying your needs? A lover’s spat?” He said, grinning, not missing the way Alcyon’s fist tightened around his chainsaw handle. “Perhaps you’re the one not satisfying your bonded’s needs… Maybe I can assist with that… surely she would delight in someone who can take her beyond the limits of their pleasure and pain.”

Alcyon grit his teeth hard, furious at the Blood Angel’s audacity. The ache from the bond pulsed in his chest. He just needed the bastard to come within his reach; fuck using the chainsaw. That would just be a waste.

The Slanneshi Angel licked his lips, his eyes lighting up in anticipatory pleasure, “To watch the two of you suffer, watching each other as you lay dying and while I get to ravage her. Feeling your bond break and taste your despair. Oh, your final pain would be glorious! I can already taste it!” He pounced.

Alcyon had been anticipating that from him. Twisting to one side, he dodged the corrupted Blood Angel, quickly sweeping his leg causing the Blood Angel to trip and fall. He brought his heavy mechanized leg down on to the fallen chaos marine, hearing a satisfying crack as Alcyon’s full armored weight came bearing down with full force onto the vulnerable hinge of the Angel’s leg, breaking the ends of the bones attached at the knee joint.

Already half drunk from feeling the backlash from nearly breaking his earlier victim’s bond apart, the Angel only moaned in pain and ecstasy, then laughed; an ugly noise, “Jealous? I can teach you how to better use that mouth of yours. I bet she makes the prettiest noises with my tongue in her cun— grkh!” The heavy impact from the Iron Warrior’s boot to his gut drove the breath from his lungs as he was rising up.

“Shut up.”

Alcyon gave him no quarter, pinning the Slanneshi marine by the head and back, and tore into him, his metal claw ripping off the ceramite armor pieces and stabbing into the vulnerable flesh of his shoulder below. Blood gushed as muscle and sinew tore apart, the Iron Warrior’s claw digging past the scapula and to grab the humerus where it connected to the shoulder girdle. With a great heave, he ripped the arm right off the Slanneshi Blood Angel.

The Blood Angel roared in pain and flailed as he attempted to escape, splattering blood in every direction. Alcyon kept his full weight on the squirming Blood Angel and smashed his head into the ground, snarling, “Did that wake you from your drunken stupor?”

The Slanneshi marine hissed and bared his fangs at the chaos Iron Warrior, “You forget honour…”

“What honour? You have long sullied that, indulging Slannesh’s embrace!” Alcyon sneered in disgust, smashing his head into the dirt again.

The Blood Angel spat out dirt and blood, in pain, but grinning madly, “Yet you’re the one who sullied your own bond. What did you do, Iron Warrior? Did you…” he was cut off before he went into more lurid detail

“Do not. Insult me. You overindulging. Drunken. Psyker. Piece. Of grox shit!” Alcyon roared out, pounding the Blood Angel’s face harder and harder into the ground with each emphasis, not stopping, his grip tight on his scalp, his sight zoned in on the battered face.

“Brother Alcyon. Brother Alcyon!”

“What!” He snarled at whoever was calling him off his prey. The sound of buzzing insects filled his ears. The Death Guard in his squad, Polistes, stood by his shoulder with the unconscious woman in his arms, staring at the twitching body under the Iron Warrior’s heels.

“Half his face is sufficiently cracked if you intend to make scrambled eggs from his brain.” came Polistes’ joking comment, “We’re done here. I have the injured woman; finish up and let’s leave this place.”

“Fucking Slanneshi Psykers!” Alcyon spat as his heavy boot came down on the dying marine’s skull, splattering brain matter all over the ground.

Where’s Amelia? Was she hurt? Was she safe? Amelia. Amelia. Amelia. Amelia. His mind chanted as they left the blood den.

She’s fine. Probably still angry. There is no need to call… She’s not fine. What if… she’s fine… I don’t know that… Amelia… Alcyon could feel his bond pulse, his anxiety need to confirm her safety winning out. He called Amelia over vox, their fight be damned.

“Alcyon? What do you want?” Her voice, sounding exhausted, came over the channel.

“Are you safe? Are you home?” He blurted out. Alcyon knew should’ve said something to apologize perhaps, but couldn’t. In hindsight, he probably should have.

“Safe? Yes?” She sounded so confused.

“Good.” The Iron Warrior ended the call, the aching from his bond slightly abated. He needed to go home as soon as this was over. He needed to see Amelia in person and make sure his bonded was safe. She better not have changed the locks to their home while he was away… What was he thinking? Alcyon grumbled, even if she did change the locks; he could easily break in the door. Must be this aching that’s distracting him.

****************

Amelia looked at her phone strangely after Alcyon curtly ended the call. What was going on? A small part of her was glad that he checked on her, but the aches and pains in her body reminded her still to be wary of him.

She had planned to go to Gannet Point for a week and a bit to visit her adoptive mother and see the rest of home. Amelia missed her family, much more so now. It would be nice to see friendly familiar faces again. She called the base, telling the head tech that she needed to take time off to recover from the aftermath of getting banned from Ben’s school and to figure out what to do next. Which they had graciously granted.

Not wanting to risk another confrontation with Alcyon finding out where she was going, lest he decides to trap her here given his mood; she called the airport to book her ticket for the next flight out to Gannet Point.

Amelia then turned her attention to the damage on the wall and table. Sighing at the gouges, she diligently repaired the wall and the table, filling in the holes with wall putty and wood filler. She robotically moved from task to task: cleaning her home, throwing away her torn clothes, using up whatever food was left in the fridge, and packing a small suitcase of clothes and supplies for her trip.

After all was said and done, Amelia took a quick shower and sat in front of her computer. She pulled out a piece of paper and started writing a letter to Alcyon. Outside of letting him know that she’ll be away for a week and a half, Amelia wasn’t sure what else to say.

She did not want to tell her bonded Astartes, if they were still that, where she was going. Her birth home was her safe haven that she kept near and dear to her heart. The last thing she wanted was for Alcyon to come charging in to take her away and get into a fight with Nemoth, the Dark Kraken space marine who practically watched her and other children grow up at Gannet Point. Amelia’s heart felt sore; she was so tired and confused. It felt right for her to just get away from it all; go somewhere safe to lick her wounds and recuperate, and figure out what to do next. Yet guilt tugged at her chest, as if telling her that she should stay and work it out with Alcyon. Tears started to drop on the letter she was writing.

The sun just broke over the horizon when Amelia prepared to leave for her flight. She looked forlornly at the small box containing the pieces of the broken fish figurine, and in a last minute decision, packed it into her suitcase. A ping sounded as a text on her phone notified her of her taxi’s arrival. Amelia placed her letter on the table and left, locking the door behind her.

****************

Alcyon sensed something was off when he arrived at his shared home with Amelia. Her presence was fainter than normal, as if she hadn’t been home for at least a day.

His nausea started to build as he checked every room of their empty home. Everything was neat and tidied. There was no signs of a struggle nor signs of anyone else that may have snuck in. Alcyon stared at his claw marks in the walls and table that were filled and sanded. Even the fish statuette that he broke was cleaned up and likely thrown away. It was only then he realized that Amelia had not changed the locks on him. It was of little consolation when she herself had disappeared.

Where was she? Where was his Amelia?

A letter on the table caught his eye. His world narrowed with each neatly written gothic word he read:

Alcyon, I will be leaving for ten days. Don’t worry. It is safe where I am going. I just (the ink blurred there. He could smell the remnants of her tears) need to be away, to think about what I need to do next. I promise I will return. I lov- (she had scribbled out the last sentence.)

Amelia.

His lungs froze as if he had been struck by a beam from a Helfrost pistol. She left. Amelia left him. A chaos of emotions whirled uncomfortably in his gut.

No. She promised she will return in ten days. He only needed to wait ten days… what if she didn’t want to return? Bile rose in his throat. The Iron Warrior doubled over, throwing up into the kitchen sink. His metal claw dug into the counter, supporting his shaking shoulders as he turned on the faucet to wash his vomit down the drain.

Suddenly feeling suffocated by his heavy armour, Alcyon quickly stripped out of it and made his way to Amelia’s room. He hacked into her computer, searching through her emails, online messages, search history; searching for anything that would give him a clue, something, anything that could indicate where his bonded may have gone.

There was nothing. The Iron Warrior wanted to punch the computer through the wall in frustration, but had enough sense not too. A strange wave of exhaustion washed over him, a feeling he had rarely felt unless he had not slept in weeks. He was sure he had slept recently.

Alcyon looked at Amelia’s bed, a place he had shared with her plenty of times. It looked comfortable. It smelled like her. He laid down on her bed, falling asleep while breathing in her scent.

[egrets-not-regrets]

Halcyon Nights, Halcyon Days

According to Greek Mythology, it is the fourteen-day period of calm around the winter solstice when storms do not occur. Just Alcyon and Amelia things, pre- and post-Ben/Malaran.

Dialogue spoken in Gothic are bolded and in italics.

Author's Note: I couldn't help myself to write more about Alcyon and Amelia. Their relationship is so compelling to me.

Thanks @squishyowl and @saradika-graphics for the fic dividers!

OCs: Alcyon (Chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia Plover

Tagged: @shadowfirecat, @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts,

@sleepyfan-blog, @barn-anon, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k

@gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @bispecsual

Absence

The nights when she’s alone are the worst. Those nights remind her of her failure as a mother, a wife, and a failure to protect her son. Alcyon knows Amelia cried herself to sleep those nights when he sees her the next day. He could still smell the remnants of her sorrow-laced tears. 

2. Presence

Alcyon’s presence gives her very mixed feelings. Sometimes she is angry at him, preferring that he would leave her, remembering it was his fight with the Black Templar that was the fatal mistake that caused her to lose the chance of ever seeing her son. Other times, she is appreciative that he’s still there with her so she doesn’t have to feel quite as alone. 

3. Together at Night

Alcyon prefers to go home to Amelia if he could help it. He does not like to leave his mate alone with her tears at night. Those nights together, Amelia falls asleep against him, listening to the steady beats of his two hearts. In the silence of the darkness, he vows to make up for his past mistake and to shore her defences against her sorrows. Those nights he is able to wipe away her tears when she cries. 

4. To Forget

Some nights Amelia wants to forget and be lost to the pleasures of the flesh. So Alcyon indulges her. Gives her the pleasure she seeks. She rides him, revelling in his presence and the distraction that he provides. It doesn’t take long before she gets ridden in turn, both drawing on each other’s pleasure and pain to completion so as to not think about their own mistakes. Sometimes it’s slow and romantic, other times it’s savage and painful. Those nights Amelia gains new scars from Alcyon’s metal claw if he holds her too tightly with it. She usually falls into a dreamless sleep after, if only out of exhaustion. 

5. Pray

Amelia sometimes prays during the nights when Alcyon is out on a mission. She’s not so religious anymore, but she does pray to whoever is out there  for Alcyon’s safety. Those nights she forgets her anger towards him and only wishes for him to come home to her in one piece. 

6. To Be Held

Some nights  Amelia holds her Astartes instead of the other way around. After their bond nearly broke, Alcyon needed to confirm that she was still there. Still willing to stay. Still willing to allow him to make amends for his mistake. Amelia had given him so much grace, but at times he feared that she would disappear again. Those nights he would nestle against her chest, breathing in her mild floral scent, with his one arm wrapped around her tightly. She would stroke his head, running her hand through his tightly cropped grey hair.

7. Family

Alcyon watches over Amelia and Ben as they sleep, listening to their heartbeats slow down and even out. Ben unconsciously curls closer toward his mother. Amelia breathes a hummed sigh, wrapping an arm protectively around her son. What was hers, was his to protect as well, he decided. Alcyon realized then that this was his family now, not just hers. He won’t let anything separate them ever again.

 8. Looming

Alcyon has a tendency to loom over Amelia at home, especially in the kitchen. He’s not particularly adept in the culinary arts as some of his brothers, nor does he particularly care for the food humans eat that much as they don’t provide enough sustenance. However, it is not to say that he is not interested in the process, particularly when closely watching her work. Sometimes he helps Amelia by getting a bowl, pot, or a measuring cup that is out of her reach. He places those items up there himself so there was something he could do to be involved.

9. Attempted Purring

Amelia finds it cute and endearing when Alcyon tries to purr. That man can’t purr. When he does try, it sounds like a weird mix between a broken engine, a snarl, and the chuff and groan of a needy tiger. The first time he did it, Amelia got worried if he was snarling about something she did wrong, or there’s something wrong with his lungs and he needed to see the apothecary. Once he explained what he was trying to do, she couldn’t stop laughing about it. Alcyon tries for her though, if only to see her laugh.

10. Actual Purring

Amelia sometimes idly scratches his back while they stand in the kitchen together waiting for food to cook. One time, she ended up scratching an old scar near the middle of his back where he could not conveniently reach, a place where he usually just waits for the itch to pass. It was deeply satisfying and relaxing, so much so that he leaned back against her hand and a deep rumble started revving from his chest. Amelia smiles at him, “So that’s what I need to do to get you purring.”

11. Scary

There is no doubt that Alcyon is incredibly intimidating. He once scared children into crying when he went into the medical ward to pick up Amelia. She had to go out and reassure them that: Yes, that’s her Astartes; no, he isn’t the boogeyman, and no, he wasn’t going to eat them for dinner, despite what their parents tell them. He found it amusing and decided to do this a several more times before Osteron forces him to wait for Amelia outside the medical wing from there on out.

12. Uncertainty 

When Alcyon received the vox call from Sirass, he was somewhat reluctant to let Amelia know. What if it wasn’t Ben? Would he be setting her up for another heartbreak? He was not sure if his mind would survive their bond actually breaking this time. 

13. Troublemaker

Amelia usually calls Malaran, “Orca”, Ben’s given name, but Malaran knows that he’s in trouble and Alcyon will be involved if she starts calling him by his actual name.

14. Wife

“You’ve been calling me, “mate”, your mate, this entire time.” Amelia stated, once they entered into the privacy of his own room at the base. 

“Yes.” The midnight blue of his remaining eye stared back at her evenly. 

“So what does “my soul” mean?”

“My soul.” Alcyon answered, as he slowly closed the distance between them. Her heart beat faster at their proximity. 

“And “my wife”?” She asked as he pulled her close. 

“My wife.” He kissed her. 

[bleedingichorhearts]

Why is always the grandmas/mothers having the most embarrassing stories to tell?😭 Daniel is not going to be living it down.

Museum

Warsmith Eciton Formicas takes the time to visit his bonded human, an educator who works at the local museum’s natural history exhibit. He’s not the only one at the museum that day and gets to meet his bonded’s favorite teacher.

Author’s Note: Another meetcute. 🥰 I can’t have Mara meeting Eciton in Of Fin and Feathers AU and not have them meet in Space Marine Husbandry Sentience AU. Takes place after Ben reunites with Amelia.

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog , @bispecsual , @c-u-c-koo-4-40k , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog , @i-am-a-dragon34 , @felinisnoctis

Eciton stands at the back, watching the young man talking about biodiversity of the forest undergrowth in front of a rapt audience. His lips curl into a small smile as the children excitedly wave their hands to be picked to handle the large millipede the young man held. He was glad to have scheduled some time off to visit his bonded at the museum amd watch him work. It’s not often enough that he’s able to do such a thing nor be able to keep a close eye on his human. Luckily he’s able to assign some of the Astartes at his base to keep his bonded safe in his stead.

The presentation soon finished and the audience dispersed to wander among the rest of the exhibits. Eciton walks over to where his bonded human was packing up the animals and displays he had. He gently takes the small ant farm and wolf spider display then puts them on the cart.

His human grins and thanks him.

“Was that the presentation you had been working on the past few weeks, Daniel?” The warsmith asks.

“Yes. How was it?” Daniel replies as he continues to pack up.

Eciton hums with approval, “Rather engaging, though I thought you would put some more focus on the ants.”

“You like ants, I get it.” the young man laughs, “I have to be fair about giving all creatures equal amount of time in my presentation, you know.”

Setting on the last display, Daniel is about to push his cart back in the lab behind him when he spots someone familiar. He happily waves them over, “Ms. Plover! Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Mara had watched Daniel’s presentation, impressed by his performance and growth over the years. She lags behind, reading the displays as Amelia and Ben, along with their space marines, go to check out the rest of the exhibit. Suddenly, Daniel’s familiar voice calls out to her.

“Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Daniel had been one of the students she taught many years ago when she had been teaching full-time. Mara is surprised that he still recognized her. Her eyes crinkle as she walks towards the educator and greets him with a warm hug and a smile.

“Your presentation was very well done!

Eciton watches as Daniel rushes over to an older woman to enthusiastically greet her with a hug. Daniel leads her over to where he was standing and introduces them.

“This is Ms. Plover, my favourite teacher! She’s the one who inspired me to continue insect keeping and research, and become the educator I am today.” Gesturing to the bonded space marine, Daniel continues proudly, “This is Eciton Formicas, my bonded space marine! He’s the warsmith at Steelix Fortress Base.”

Eciton straightens his posture and gives her a nod. She looks and smells familiar. He quickly realizes that she was related to Alcyon’s and Malaran’s humans, who were involved in the incident with that Black Templar. Internally, he debates if he should mention that or not to her.

“Don’t let your other teachers hear that.” Mara joked before smiling warmly and holding out a hand to the warsmith, making sure to address him by his proper title, “Nice to meet you Warsmith Formicas. You can call me ‘Mara’ instead, Ms. Plover is far too formal and I’ve retired from teaching.”

Eciton’s hand engulfs hers as he gently shakes her hand, “My pleasure. It is good to meet someone who’s inspired my bonded so deeply.”

Daniel grins, “You’re the only one who let me keep bugs in the classroom. Even after the whole ‘mantid babies’ incident.”

Mara chuckled, remembering the time when baby mantises hatched from the egg case that Daniel brought in. They were still finding tiny mantises a month later in the classroom. “I don't think we’ve ever found them all.”

“Good! I’ve left my legacy in that school.” Daniel thumps his chest proudly to Eciton’s amusement. He looks at the cart and excuses himself, “I need to put these guys back in the lab, I’ll be right back out soon. You guys have a good chat!”

With that, he wheels the cart away and disappears into the lab.

An awkward silence hung between the pair for a short moment until Mara spoke up again,“Thank you for letting my daughter keep Ben. I’m sure that incident caused you no shortage of headaches. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Eciton blinks, not expecting Mara to say such a thing. He quickly collects himself, “It’s fine. That issue has been resolved and it is only a matter to settle in the human legal system now between your daughter and her in-laws.”

“Regardless, thank you.” She replies, grateful to have her family reunited.

The Iron Warrior could feel heat at edge of his ears and he nods slightly, “You’re welcome.”

Mara smiles a little then asks, “How long have you been bonded with Daniel? I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a space marine when I was teaching him at Gannet Point. Knowing Daniel when he’s excited, he definitely would be announcing that to the world.”

Eciton chuckled, “I met him while he was here in Steelix River several years ago. Sometimes that boy needs to learn timing and volume, but it suits him well for the work he does here.”

“Grandma’s looking like she’s having a nice chat with that space marine guy.” Ben points out. Amelia had thought her mother had lagged behind for a susiciously long time when they decide to turn back to search for her.

“Your mother is chatting up the Warsmith.” Alcyon murmured incredulously, one arm wrapped around Amelia’s shoulder.

Mara is indeed talking to Warsmith Formicas who is soon joined by the presenter, one of her former students. Amelia lets out a quiet exasperated laugh and leans affectionately into Alcyon’s side, feeling him tighten his hold, “Of course she is. My mom has a talent for holding a conversation with nearly anyone. It probably helps that the warsmith’s bonded is my mom’s former student.” She knew that her mom isn’t bonded to an Astartes, but the way the warsmith stands protectively by the educator, it is obvious that the educator is his bonded human.

Mara nearly forgets the time while she was chatting until Ben wraps his arms around her and she sees Orca close behind.

“Grandma! We’ve found you!”

Mara chuckles and hugs him back, “Hello Ben, Orca. This is Daniel, one of my students and this is Warsmith Formicas. Be polite.”

Ben looks up and greets them both, “Hi Daniel. Hi Warsmith Formicas.”

“Grandma?” Daniel asks, “Did you get married?”

“No,” Mara explains, “I adopted my niece as my own and her son, Ben, is my grandson.”

Eciton looked down at the scrappy young boy who was the cause of all this drama; who, against all odds, managed to escape a Black Templar and reunite with his mother, with the help of his bonded chaos marine and one of his men. Ben stared back evenly, not cowed by the warsmith’s presence. Eciton can see the family resemblance.

“Formicas.” Malaran says as he holds onto Ben again, his red eyes daring the warsmith to make a comment about his charge. Daniel shifts uncomfortably.

“Where’s your mom and Alcyon?” Mara asks Ben, cutting through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

“They’re coming.” The boy replies.

They look over to see Alcyon and Amelia making their way towards them. The chaos Iron Warrior nods at them, “Warsmith.”

Amelia greets them, smiling, “Warsmith Formicas, Daniel.” She addresses the educator, “That was a wonderful presentation.”

“Yeah!” Ben pipes up, “That was so cool! I really liked when you talked about the fishing spider.”

Daniel’s grin is large and bright when he replies, “I’m glad you guys like it! Unfortunately time’s a bit tight, but next time when you come by again, send me an email and i can set you up with a behind the scenes tour of the lab.” Giving Ben his business card.

Ben cheers, “That is awesome! Thanks!”

The educator laughs, “You’re welcome!”

Eciton and Daniel look on as the family wave their goodbyes and disappears to look at the other exhibits in the museum.

“Cute kid. That’s the one who made the shouty guys shoutier?” Daniel asks.

Eciton snorts at Daniel’s description of the Black Templars, “Yes.”

“I like him, he seems bright and scrappy.”

“The boy and his Astartes are trouble.” the Warsmith grumbles.

“They can’t be all that bad. You seemed to have a nice chat with Ms. Plover. She makes some really good pastries too.” Daniel adds.

“She was a good conversationalist.” Eciton grudgingly admits that much, then smirks at his bonded, “She also shared some of your hijinks of when you were in her class. Bringing in a container full of cockroaches without secure containment? Really, Daniel?”

The young man groans, “I was a kid. Secure containment wasn’t exactly my priority at the time.”

[kit-williams]

Ahh yes the Mara meetcute

So happy to read this as everyone was cute

And yes Astartes staring at each other as socializing

Museum

Warsmith Eciton Formicas takes the time to visit his bonded human, an educator who works at the local museum’s natural history exhibit. He’s not the only one at the museum that day and gets to meet his bonded’s favorite teacher.

Author’s Note: Another meetcute. 🥰 I can’t have Mara meeting Eciton in Of Fin and Feathers AU and not have them meet in Space Marine Husbandry Sentience AU. Takes place after Ben reunites with Amelia.

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog , @bispecsual , @c-u-c-koo-4-40k , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog , @i-am-a-dragon34 , @felinisnoctis

Eciton stands at the back, watching the young man talking about biodiversity of the forest undergrowth in front of a rapt audience. His lips curl into a small smile as the children excitedly wave their hands to be picked to handle the large millipede the young man held. He was glad to have scheduled some time off to visit his bonded at the museum amd watch him work. It’s not often enough that he’s able to do such a thing nor be able to keep a close eye on his human. Luckily he’s able to assign some of the Astartes at his base to keep his bonded safe in his stead.

The presentation soon finished and the audience dispersed to wander among the rest of the exhibits. Eciton walks over to where his bonded human was packing up the animals and displays he had. He gently takes the small ant farm and wolf spider display then puts them on the cart.

His human grins and thanks him.

“Was that the presentation you had been working on the past few weeks, Daniel?” The warsmith asks.

“Yes. How was it?” Daniel replies as he continues to pack up.

Eciton hums with approval, “Rather engaging, though I thought you would put some more focus on the ants.”

“You like ants, I get it.” the young man laughs, “I have to be fair about giving all creatures equal amount of time in my presentation, you know.”

Setting on the last display, Daniel is about to push his cart back in the lab behind him when he spots someone familiar. He happily waves them over, “Ms. Plover! Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Mara had watched Daniel’s presentation, impressed by his performance and growth over the years. She lags behind, reading the displays as Amelia and Ben, along with their space marines, go to check out the rest of the exhibit. Suddenly, Daniel’s familiar voice calls out to her.

“Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Daniel had been one of the students she taught many years ago when she had been teaching full-time. Mara is surprised that he still recognized her. Her eyes crinkle as she walks towards the educator and greets him with a warm hug and a smile.

“Your presentation was very well done!

Eciton watches as Daniel rushes over to an older woman to enthusiastically greet her with a hug. Daniel leads her over to where he was standing and introduces them.

“This is Ms. Plover, my favourite teacher! She’s the one who inspired me to continue insect keeping and research, and become the educator I am today.” Gesturing to the bonded space marine, Daniel continues proudly, “This is Eciton Formicas, my bonded space marine! He’s the warsmith at Steelix Fortress Base.”

Eciton straightens his posture and gives her a nod. She looks and smells familiar. He quickly realizes that she was related to Alcyon’s and Malaran’s humans, who were involved in the incident with that Black Templar. Internally, he debates if he should mention that or not to her.

“Don’t let your other teachers hear that.” Mara joked before smiling warmly and holding out a hand to the warsmith, making sure to address him by his proper title, “Nice to meet you Warsmith Formicas. You can call me ‘Mara’ instead, Ms. Plover is far too formal and I’ve retired from teaching.”

Eciton’s hand engulfs hers as he gently shakes her hand, “My pleasure. It is good to meet someone who’s inspired my bonded so deeply.”

Daniel grins, “You’re the only one who let me keep bugs in the classroom. Even after the whole ‘mantid babies’ incident.”

Mara chuckled, remembering the time when baby mantises hatched from the egg case that Daniel brought in. They were still finding tiny mantises a month later in the classroom. “I don't think we’ve ever found them all.”

“Good! I’ve left my legacy in that school.” Daniel thumps his chest proudly to Eciton’s amusement. He looks at the cart and excuses himself, “I need to put these guys back in the lab, I’ll be right back out soon. You guys have a good chat!”

With that, he wheels the cart away and disappears into the lab.

An awkward silence hung between the pair for a short moment until Mara spoke up again,“Thank you for letting my daughter keep Ben. I’m sure that incident caused you no shortage of headaches. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Eciton blinks, not expecting Mara to say such a thing. He quickly collects himself, “It’s fine. That issue has been resolved and it is only a matter to settle in the human legal system now between your daughter and her in-laws.”

“Regardless, thank you.” She replies, grateful to have her family reunited.

The Iron Warrior could feel heat at edge of his ears and he nods slightly, “You’re welcome.”

Mara smiles a little then asks, “How long have you been bonded with Daniel? I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a space marine when I was teaching him at Gannet Point. Knowing Daniel when he’s excited, he definitely would be announcing that to the world.”

Eciton chuckled, “I met him while he was here in Steelix River several years ago. Sometimes that boy needs to learn timing and volume, but it suits him well for the work he does here.”

“Grandma’s looking like she’s having a nice chat with that space marine guy.” Ben points out. Amelia had thought her mother had lagged behind for a susiciously long time when they decide to turn back to search for her.

“Your mother is chatting up the Warsmith.” Alcyon murmured incredulously, one arm wrapped around Amelia’s shoulder.

Mara is indeed talking to Warsmith Formicas who is soon joined by the presenter, one of her former students. Amelia lets out a quiet exasperated laugh and leans affectionately into Alcyon’s side, feeling him tighten his hold, “Of course she is. My mom has a talent for holding a conversation with nearly anyone. It probably helps that the warsmith’s bonded is my mom’s former student.” She knew that her mom isn’t bonded to an Astartes, but the way the warsmith stands protectively by the educator, it is obvious that the educator is his bonded human.

Mara nearly forgets the time while she was chatting until Ben wraps his arms around her and she sees Orca close behind.

“Grandma! We’ve found you!”

Mara chuckles and hugs him back, “Hello Ben, Orca. This is Daniel, one of my students and this is Warsmith Formicas. Be polite.”

Ben looks up and greets them both, “Hi Daniel. Hi Warsmith Formicas.”

“Grandma?” Daniel asks, “Did you get married?”

“No,” Mara explains, “I adopted my niece as my own and her son, Ben, is my grandson.”

Eciton looked down at the scrappy young boy who was the cause of all this drama; who, against all odds, managed to escape a Black Templar and reunite with his mother, with the help of his bonded chaos marine and one of his men. Ben stared back evenly, not cowed by the warsmith’s presence. Eciton can see the family resemblance.

“Formicas.” Malaran says as he holds onto Ben again, his red eyes daring the warsmith to make a comment about his charge. Daniel shifts uncomfortably.

“Where’s your mom and Alcyon?” Mara asks Ben, cutting through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

“They’re coming.” The boy replies.

They look over to see Alcyon and Amelia making their way towards them. The chaos Iron Warrior nods at them, “Warsmith.”

Amelia greets them, smiling, “Warsmith Formicas, Daniel.” She addresses the educator, “That was a wonderful presentation.”

“Yeah!” Ben pipes up, “That was so cool! I really liked when you talked about the fishing spider.”

Daniel’s grin is large and bright when he replies, “I’m glad you guys like it! Unfortunately time’s a bit tight, but next time when you come by again, send me an email and i can set you up with a behind the scenes tour of the lab.” Giving Ben his business card.

Ben cheers, “That is awesome! Thanks!”

The educator laughs, “You’re welcome!”

Eciton and Daniel look on as the family wave their goodbyes and disappears to look at the other exhibits in the museum.

“Cute kid. That’s the one who made the shouty guys shoutier?” Daniel asks.

Eciton snorts at Daniel’s description of the Black Templars, “Yes.”

“I like him, he seems bright and scrappy.”

“The boy and his Astartes are trouble.” the Warsmith grumbles.

“They can’t be all that bad. You seemed to have a nice chat with Ms. Plover. She makes some really good pastries too.” Daniel adds.

“She was a good conversationalist.” Eciton grudgingly admits that much, then smirks at his bonded, “She also shared some of your hijinks of when you were in her class. Bringing in a container full of cockroaches without secure containment? Really, Daniel?”

The young man groans, “I was a kid. Secure containment wasn’t exactly my priority at the time.”

[gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan]

This is so cute!

Museum

Warsmith Eciton Formicas takes the time to visit his bonded human, an educator who works at the local museum’s natural history exhibit. He’s not the only one at the museum that day and gets to meet his bonded’s favorite teacher.

Author’s Note: Another meetcute. 🥰 I can’t have Mara meeting Eciton in Of Fin and Feathers AU and not have them meet in Space Marine Husbandry Sentience AU. Takes place after Ben reunites with Amelia.

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog , @bispecsual , @c-u-c-koo-4-40k , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog , @i-am-a-dragon34 , @felinisnoctis

Eciton stands at the back, watching the young man talking about biodiversity of the forest undergrowth in front of a rapt audience. His lips curl into a small smile as the children excitedly wave their hands to be picked to handle the large millipede the young man held. He was glad to have scheduled some time off to visit his bonded at the museum amd watch him work. It’s not often enough that he’s able to do such a thing nor be able to keep a close eye on his human. Luckily he’s able to assign some of the Astartes at his base to keep his bonded safe in his stead.

The presentation soon finished and the audience dispersed to wander among the rest of the exhibits. Eciton walks over to where his bonded human was packing up the animals and displays he had. He gently takes the small ant farm and wolf spider display then puts them on the cart.

His human grins and thanks him.

“Was that the presentation you had been working on the past few weeks, Daniel?” The warsmith asks.

“Yes. How was it?” Daniel replies as he continues to pack up.

Eciton hums with approval, “Rather engaging, though I thought you would put some more focus on the ants.”

“You like ants, I get it.” the young man laughs, “I have to be fair about giving all creatures equal amount of time in my presentation, you know.”

Setting on the last display, Daniel is about to push his cart back in the lab behind him when he spots someone familiar. He happily waves them over, “Ms. Plover! Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Mara had watched Daniel’s presentation, impressed by his performance and growth over the years. She lags behind, reading the displays as Amelia and Ben, along with their space marines, go to check out the rest of the exhibit. Suddenly, Daniel’s familiar voice calls out to her.

“Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Daniel had been one of the students she taught many years ago when she had been teaching full-time. Mara is surprised that he still recognized her. Her eyes crinkle as she walks towards the educator and greets him with a warm hug and a smile.

“Your presentation was very well done!

Eciton watches as Daniel rushes over to an older woman to enthusiastically greet her with a hug. Daniel leads her over to where he was standing and introduces them.

“This is Ms. Plover, my favourite teacher! She’s the one who inspired me to continue insect keeping and research, and become the educator I am today.” Gesturing to the bonded space marine, Daniel continues proudly, “This is Eciton Formicas, my bonded space marine! He’s the warsmith at Steelix Fortress Base.”

Eciton straightens his posture and gives her a nod. She looks and smells familiar. He quickly realizes that she was related to Alcyon’s and Malaran’s humans, who were involved in the incident with that Black Templar. Internally, he debates if he should mention that or not to her.

“Don’t let your other teachers hear that.” Mara joked before smiling warmly and holding out a hand to the warsmith, making sure to address him by his proper title, “Nice to meet you Warsmith Formicas. You can call me ‘Mara’ instead, Ms. Plover is far too formal and I’ve retired from teaching.”

Eciton’s hand engulfs hers as he gently shakes her hand, “My pleasure. It is good to meet someone who’s inspired my bonded so deeply.”

Daniel grins, “You’re the only one who let me keep bugs in the classroom. Even after the whole ‘mantid babies’ incident.”

Mara chuckled, remembering the time when baby mantises hatched from the egg case that Daniel brought in. They were still finding tiny mantises a month later in the classroom. “I don't think we’ve ever found them all.”

“Good! I’ve left my legacy in that school.” Daniel thumps his chest proudly to Eciton’s amusement. He looks at the cart and excuses himself, “I need to put these guys back in the lab, I’ll be right back out soon. You guys have a good chat!”

With that, he wheels the cart away and disappears into the lab.

An awkward silence hung between the pair for a short moment until Mara spoke up again,“Thank you for letting my daughter keep Ben. I’m sure that incident caused you no shortage of headaches. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Eciton blinks, not expecting Mara to say such a thing. He quickly collects himself, “It’s fine. That issue has been resolved and it is only a matter to settle in the human legal system now between your daughter and her in-laws.”

“Regardless, thank you.” She replies, grateful to have her family reunited.

The Iron Warrior could feel heat at edge of his ears and he nods slightly, “You’re welcome.”

Mara smiles a little then asks, “How long have you been bonded with Daniel? I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a space marine when I was teaching him at Gannet Point. Knowing Daniel when he’s excited, he definitely would be announcing that to the world.”

Eciton chuckled, “I met him while he was here in Steelix River several years ago. Sometimes that boy needs to learn timing and volume, but it suits him well for the work he does here.”

“Grandma’s looking like she’s having a nice chat with that space marine guy.” Ben points out. Amelia had thought her mother had lagged behind for a susiciously long time when they decide to turn back to search for her.

“Your mother is chatting up the Warsmith.” Alcyon murmured incredulously, one arm wrapped around Amelia’s shoulder.

Mara is indeed talking to Warsmith Formicas who is soon joined by the presenter, one of her former students. Amelia lets out a quiet exasperated laugh and leans affectionately into Alcyon’s side, feeling him tighten his hold, “Of course she is. My mom has a talent for holding a conversation with nearly anyone. It probably helps that the warsmith’s bonded is my mom’s former student.” She knew that her mom isn’t bonded to an Astartes, but the way the warsmith stands protectively by the educator, it is obvious that the educator is his bonded human.

Mara nearly forgets the time while she was chatting until Ben wraps his arms around her and she sees Orca close behind.

“Grandma! We’ve found you!”

Mara chuckles and hugs him back, “Hello Ben, Orca. This is Daniel, one of my students and this is Warsmith Formicas. Be polite.”

Ben looks up and greets them both, “Hi Daniel. Hi Warsmith Formicas.”

“Grandma?” Daniel asks, “Did you get married?”

“No,” Mara explains, “I adopted my niece as my own and her son, Ben, is my grandson.”

Eciton looked down at the scrappy young boy who was the cause of all this drama; who, against all odds, managed to escape a Black Templar and reunite with his mother, with the help of his bonded chaos marine and one of his men. Ben stared back evenly, not cowed by the warsmith’s presence. Eciton can see the family resemblance.

“Formicas.” Malaran says as he holds onto Ben again, his red eyes daring the warsmith to make a comment about his charge. Daniel shifts uncomfortably.

“Where’s your mom and Alcyon?” Mara asks Ben, cutting through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

“They’re coming.” The boy replies.

They look over to see Alcyon and Amelia making their way towards them. The chaos Iron Warrior nods at them, “Warsmith.”

Amelia greets them, smiling, “Warsmith Formicas, Daniel.” She addresses the educator, “That was a wonderful presentation.”

“Yeah!” Ben pipes up, “That was so cool! I really liked when you talked about the fishing spider.”

Daniel’s grin is large and bright when he replies, “I’m glad you guys like it! Unfortunately time’s a bit tight, but next time when you come by again, send me an email and i can set you up with a behind the scenes tour of the lab.” Giving Ben his business card.

Ben cheers, “That is awesome! Thanks!”

The educator laughs, “You’re welcome!”

Eciton and Daniel look on as the family wave their goodbyes and disappears to look at the other exhibits in the museum.

“Cute kid. That’s the one who made the shouty guys shoutier?” Daniel asks.

Eciton snorts at Daniel’s description of the Black Templars, “Yes.”

“I like him, he seems bright and scrappy.”

“The boy and his Astartes are trouble.” the Warsmith grumbles.

“They can’t be all that bad. You seemed to have a nice chat with Ms. Plover. She makes some really good pastries too.” Daniel adds.

“She was a good conversationalist.” Eciton grudgingly admits that much, then smirks at his bonded, “She also shared some of your hijinks of when you were in her class. Bringing in a container full of cockroaches without secure containment? Really, Daniel?”

The young man groans, “I was a kid. Secure containment wasn’t exactly my priority at the time.”

[bleedingichorhearts]

I do suppose trading things do impose trading some… information and implications as well. Poor Malaran.😭

Mer-Astartes AU: Not For Hunting

Alcyon and Amelia visit Erriox’s home nest to look through his collection of metals and stones for metal and jewelry crafting. Bringing along Ben and Malaran. Sometimes Malaran needs to not be nosy for his own good.

Author’s Note: Not smut, just suggestive and funny. I saw this post about the relationship between steppes centaurs and mountain harpies and thought it was amazing and very funny. And I can’t help myself to write something for MerErriox and HarpyLenora.

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior), Lenora, Alcyon (Chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia, Malaran Blackspike (Black Legion), Ben

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

“Aunt Lenora!”

Lenora braces for impact from an enthusiastic Ben dive bombing at her from above. She laughs and catches him in her wings and swings the young plover in a circle with the momentum, hugging him tightly and nuzzling his face, “Hello Ben! You have grown so much since I last saw you!”

Ben was Amelia’s son, both of whom were the healer harpies among the captives that were rescued in the mission that Erriox and Lenora allied in. After the rescue, Amelia became fast friends with the osprey harpy and often traded goods and stories with each other, with Ben unofficially adopting Lenora as his aunt.

Erriox swims over and gives Ben an affectionate scratch on his head, “Is Alcyon and Malaran with you two?” He asks, spotting Amelia at the cave entrance.

The plover fledgling churrs happily, “Yeah! Mom’s waiting for them.”

“Lenora!” Amelia’s voice calls out as she walks in, followed by two large fierce-looking chaos mers. The plover harpy hugged Lenora, the both of them nuzzling each other in greeting, “I hope Ben didn’t hurt you by accident, he’s been practising his dive bombing with Malaran and Alcyon. He can get a little over enthusiastic.” She said, concerned.

“Mooom…” Ben whined, feeling outed unfairly. He then turned to the osprey harpy, “Aunt Lenora, you’re not hurt, right?

Lenora laughed, “I’m fine. Though that was a good whomp you gave me. Any stronger, I might get bowled over!”

“I will aim for that!”

“I’ll train you to knock Erriox over!” Malaran snickered, his scarred orca tail wagging up and down as he swam over to them.

Amelia gasped in dismay, “Ben! Malaran!”

“It’s alright, Amelia. I’d like to see them try.” Erriox reassured her with a wry grin.

The other large venomfin swam up to them, greeting his legion brother and his mate, his tail loosely curled around Amelia as he settled next to her, “Thanks for letting us go through you collection, Erriox.” He said.

“We needed to replenish our supply of healing potions anyway. It’s a fair trade. “ Erriox replied. The Iron Warrior mer collected pieces of metal, mostly picking up old ceramite armor pieces as they would come in handy for armor repairs, and other metal pieces that he found interesting or potentially useful. He also amassed a collection of shinies: stones, pearls, gems, etc… that he either used for crafting or to trade with.

Alcyon and Amelia had been looking for some stones and metal for metal and jewellery crafting and some ingredients for potion making. So it made sense to trade supply acquisition services and access to his metal and shinies collection in return for several vials of mid to high grade healing potions.

“Will I get to meet cousin Jophiel and his brothers one day?” Ben asked.

Lenora chuckled, “You will. They’re off on their own missions and work so they aren’t around very often. They’re curious about meeting you too.” Her Primaris boys were curious about Ben and Amelia. Jophiel was rather enthused about the young plover. However, they all were still uneasy with the thought of them being bonded to chaos mer-Astartes.

She led Ben to the bags of precious stones, sea glass, and pearls sitting in a pile by Jophiel’s nest, “Speaking of which, the boys have a bunch of stones and pearls that you can go through and take some that you’d like. And if you don’t mind, could you organize them by type and for the sea glass and pearls, by colour? There’s a box over there with compartments that you can separate them into.”

“I can do that.” The plover fledgling chirped.

Lenora patted his head, “Thanks!”

Ben nodded and started on his task.

Alcyon, Amelia, and Malaran had started looking through Erriox’s collection of things, examining certain pieces more closely than others and selecting the few they wanted or needed. Amelia turned to Lenora when she noticed the harpy’s return, “we put the box of potions by where you normally store them.

“Thank you! I also have the ingredients you requested.” Lenora replied as she went off to reorganize the potions storage and search for the ingredients she collected for Amelia.

Malaran spotted two other chest boxes sitting slightly off to the side from the collection of metal. Curious, he opened the first one and found a bunch of leather and furs. After checking out the contents of the chest, he pulled out what looked like two wide leather anklets. Each has a belt-like fastener to secure them onto a leg and a very long strap of leather attached to the belt. They were well-crafted with a simple but intricate design stamped onto the leather and shiny scales embedded throughout the pattern.

Working through the logic of the pieces, Malaran assembles the leather anklets. The Black Legion mer admired the craftsmanship on the anklets a bit before wiggling them at Amelia.

“These would look pretty on you.” He trilled, “What are they?”

Alcyon paused his search and looked at the anklets dangling from Malaran’s hand and then eyed his mate. Those would look rather good on her with some more colour, he thought to himself.

Amelia looked at them, tilting her head inquisitively, “They look like jesses…”

Lenora returned carrying Amelia’s storage box and spotted the anklets the Black Legion mer was holding, “Oh! You found the jesses! They’re in there to be repaired.”

“Malaran, why are you looking through those boxes? Those are not part of the trade.” Erriox asked, his voice flat and unamused.

The Black Legion mer huffed and was about to return the jesses to the box when Lenora took them from him and gave them to Amelia to examine.

Amelia looked at the jesses closely, admiring the pattern on them before passing them to Alcyon who she knew would be interested in the craftsmanship, “These are beautifully made.”

The osprey harpy smiled and said with pride, “They really are. Erriox made them for me.” The Iron Warrior mer’s mouth quirked a smile at the praise.

“It’s a simple design, but well made.” Alcyon agreed. The chaos Iron Warrior mer assessed the jesses closely, trying to figure out how they were put together.

Amelia piped up, “Those are hunting jesses, are they not? I’ve only heard of the mountain raptor harpies using them or as fashion statements for others.” After a bit of thought, “and you don’t seem the type to wear them as a fashion statement either.”

Malaran cocked his head, “What’s the point of the extra long straps then, that would only increase your aerodynamic resistance.”

“They’re not for hunting.” Erriox cut in, having had enough of their guessing.

“They’re not for hunting. Or for fashion.” Lenora added with a wink to the plover harpy, her lips curving into an wicked half-grin as she let the implications set in.

Amelia’s feathers ruffled slightly when she realized what Lenora meant, heat rising to her cheeks. Malaran scoffed and shook his head, muttering about Alcyon wearing out Amelia again before turning around to go join Ben instead. Alcyon noticed the stitching of the belt attachment on the jesses had come undone. He side-eyed his loyalist brother.

“I see they’ve gone through some use.” He commented, his brow raised.

Erriox smirked, “What? Giving you ideas?”

Alcyon looked at his blushing Amelia, meeting her glance, then back at the jesses in his hand, his scarred tail idly moving back and forth in thought. He tossed them back to his legion brother, matching his smirk, “Maybe.”

[c-u-c-koo-4-40k]

Daniel is a lad who likes bugs. I am also one who likes bugs. I think we'd get along well.

Also a bunch of Space Marines having had drama just Staring at eachother. Like having to make small talk at a work function after two people in said office had a colossal fight.

Museum

Warsmith Eciton Formicas takes the time to visit his bonded human, an educator who works at the local museum’s natural history exhibit. He’s not the only one at the museum that day and gets to meet his bonded’s favorite teacher.

Author’s Note: Another meetcute. 🥰 I can’t have Mara meeting Eciton in Of Fin and Feathers AU and not have them meet in Space Marine Husbandry Sentience AU. Takes place after Ben reunites with Amelia.

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog , @bispecsual , @c-u-c-koo-4-40k , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

@gra93fruit-blog , @i-am-a-dragon34 , @felinisnoctis

Eciton stands at the back, watching the young man talking about biodiversity of the forest undergrowth in front of a rapt audience. His lips curl into a small smile as the children excitedly wave their hands to be picked to handle the large millipede the young man held. He was glad to have scheduled some time off to visit his bonded at the museum amd watch him work. It’s not often enough that he’s able to do such a thing nor be able to keep a close eye on his human. Luckily he’s able to assign some of the Astartes at his base to keep his bonded safe in his stead.

The presentation soon finished and the audience dispersed to wander among the rest of the exhibits. Eciton walks over to where his bonded human was packing up the animals and displays he had. He gently takes the small ant farm and wolf spider display then puts them on the cart.

His human grins and thanks him.

“Was that the presentation you had been working on the past few weeks, Daniel?” The warsmith asks.

“Yes. How was it?” Daniel replies as he continues to pack up.

Eciton hums with approval, “Rather engaging, though I thought you would put some more focus on the ants.”

“You like ants, I get it.” the young man laughs, “I have to be fair about giving all creatures equal amount of time in my presentation, you know.”

Setting on the last display, Daniel is about to push his cart back in the lab behind him when he spots someone familiar. He happily waves them over, “Ms. Plover! Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Mara had watched Daniel’s presentation, impressed by his performance and growth over the years. She lags behind, reading the displays as Amelia and Ben, along with their space marines, go to check out the rest of the exhibit. Suddenly, Daniel’s familiar voice calls out to her.

“Ms. Plover! Hi!”

Daniel had been one of the students she taught many years ago when she had been teaching full-time. Mara is surprised that he still recognized her. Her eyes crinkle as she walks towards the educator and greets him with a warm hug and a smile.

“Your presentation was very well done!

Eciton watches as Daniel rushes over to an older woman to enthusiastically greet her with a hug. Daniel leads her over to where he was standing and introduces them.

“This is Ms. Plover, my favourite teacher! She’s the one who inspired me to continue insect keeping and research, and become the educator I am today.” Gesturing to the bonded space marine, Daniel continues proudly, “This is Eciton Formicas, my bonded space marine! He’s the warsmith at Steelix Fortress Base.”

Eciton straightens his posture and gives her a nod. She looks and smells familiar. He quickly realizes that she was related to Alcyon’s and Malaran’s humans, who were involved in the incident with that Black Templar. Internally, he debates if he should mention that or not to her.

“Don’t let your other teachers hear that.” Mara joked before smiling warmly and holding out a hand to the warsmith, making sure to address him by his proper title, “Nice to meet you Warsmith Formicas. You can call me ‘Mara’ instead, Ms. Plover is far too formal and I’ve retired from teaching.”

Eciton’s hand engulfs hers as he gently shakes her hand, “My pleasure. It is good to meet someone who’s inspired my bonded so deeply.”

Daniel grins, “You’re the only one who let me keep bugs in the classroom. Even after the whole ‘mantid babies’ incident.”

Mara chuckled, remembering the time when baby mantises hatched from the egg case that Daniel brought in. They were still finding tiny mantises a month later in the classroom. “I don't think we’ve ever found them all.”

“Good! I’ve left my legacy in that school.” Daniel thumps his chest proudly to Eciton’s amusement. He looks at the cart and excuses himself, “I need to put these guys back in the lab, I’ll be right back out soon. You guys have a good chat!”

With that, he wheels the cart away and disappears into the lab.

An awkward silence hung between the pair for a short moment until Mara spoke up again,“Thank you for letting my daughter keep Ben. I’m sure that incident caused you no shortage of headaches. I apologize for the inconvenience.”

Eciton blinks, not expecting Mara to say such a thing. He quickly collects himself, “It’s fine. That issue has been resolved and it is only a matter to settle in the human legal system now between your daughter and her in-laws.”

“Regardless, thank you.” She replies, grateful to have her family reunited.

The Iron Warrior could feel heat at edge of his ears and he nods slightly, “You’re welcome.”

Mara smiles a little then asks, “How long have you been bonded with Daniel? I don’t remember him mentioning anything about a space marine when I was teaching him at Gannet Point. Knowing Daniel when he’s excited, he definitely would be announcing that to the world.”

Eciton chuckled, “I met him while he was here in Steelix River several years ago. Sometimes that boy needs to learn timing and volume, but it suits him well for the work he does here.”

“Grandma’s looking like she’s having a nice chat with that space marine guy.” Ben points out. Amelia had thought her mother had lagged behind for a susiciously long time when they decide to turn back to search for her.

“Your mother is chatting up the Warsmith.” Alcyon murmured incredulously, one arm wrapped around Amelia’s shoulder.

Mara is indeed talking to Warsmith Formicas who is soon joined by the presenter, one of her former students. Amelia lets out a quiet exasperated laugh and leans affectionately into Alcyon’s side, feeling him tighten his hold, “Of course she is. My mom has a talent for holding a conversation with nearly anyone. It probably helps that the warsmith’s bonded is my mom’s former student.” She knew that her mom isn’t bonded to an Astartes, but the way the warsmith stands protectively by the educator, it is obvious that the educator is his bonded human.

Mara nearly forgets the time while she was chatting until Ben wraps his arms around her and she sees Orca close behind.

“Grandma! We’ve found you!”

Mara chuckles and hugs him back, “Hello Ben, Orca. This is Daniel, one of my students and this is Warsmith Formicas. Be polite.”

Ben looks up and greets them both, “Hi Daniel. Hi Warsmith Formicas.”

“Grandma?” Daniel asks, “Did you get married?”

“No,” Mara explains, “I adopted my niece as my own and her son, Ben, is my grandson.”

Eciton looked down at the scrappy young boy who was the cause of all this drama; who, against all odds, managed to escape a Black Templar and reunite with his mother, with the help of his bonded chaos marine and one of his men. Ben stared back evenly, not cowed by the warsmith’s presence. Eciton can see the family resemblance.

“Formicas.” Malaran says as he holds onto Ben again, his red eyes daring the warsmith to make a comment about his charge. Daniel shifts uncomfortably.

“Where’s your mom and Alcyon?” Mara asks Ben, cutting through the tension like a hot knife through butter.

“They’re coming.” The boy replies.

They look over to see Alcyon and Amelia making their way towards them. The chaos Iron Warrior nods at them, “Warsmith.”

Amelia greets them, smiling, “Warsmith Formicas, Daniel.” She addresses the educator, “That was a wonderful presentation.”

“Yeah!” Ben pipes up, “That was so cool! I really liked when you talked about the fishing spider.”

Daniel’s grin is large and bright when he replies, “I’m glad you guys like it! Unfortunately time’s a bit tight, but next time when you come by again, send me an email and i can set you up with a behind the scenes tour of the lab.” Giving Ben his business card.

Ben cheers, “That is awesome! Thanks!”

The educator laughs, “You’re welcome!”

Eciton and Daniel look on as the family wave their goodbyes and disappears to look at the other exhibits in the museum.

“Cute kid. That’s the one who made the shouty guys shoutier?” Daniel asks.

Eciton snorts at Daniel’s description of the Black Templars, “Yes.”

“I like him, he seems bright and scrappy.”

“The boy and his Astartes are trouble.” the Warsmith grumbles.

“They can’t be all that bad. You seemed to have a nice chat with Ms. Plover. She makes some really good pastries too.” Daniel adds.

“She was a good conversationalist.” Eciton grudgingly admits that much, then smirks at his bonded, “She also shared some of your hijinks of when you were in her class. Bringing in a container full of cockroaches without secure containment? Really, Daniel?”

The young man groans, “I was a kid. Secure containment wasn’t exactly my priority at the time.”

[kit-williams]

Oh god Alcyon getting ideas and then he went home and made a pair of his own I guarantee it

Malaran you little shit (affectionate)

I love how they are plovers

Mer-Astartes AU: Not For Hunting

Alcyon and Amelia visit Erriox’s home nest to look through his collection of metals and stones for metal and jewelry crafting. Bringing along Ben and Malaran. Sometimes Malaran needs to not be nosy for his own good.

Author’s Note: Not smut, just suggestive and funny. I saw this post about the relationship between steppes centaurs and mountain harpies and thought it was amazing and very funny. And I can’t help myself to write something for MerErriox and HarpyLenora.

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior), Lenora, Alcyon (Chaos Iron Warrior), Amelia, Malaran Blackspike (Black Legion), Ben

Tagged: @shadowfirecat , @kit-williams , @bleedingichorhearts , @barn-anon , @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual , @ms--lobotomy , @whorety-k

“Aunt Lenora!”

Lenora braces for impact from an enthusiastic Ben dive bombing at her from above. She laughs and catches him in her wings and swings the young plover in a circle with the momentum, hugging him tightly and nuzzling his face, “Hello Ben! You have grown so much since I last saw you!”

Ben was Amelia’s son, both of whom were the healer harpies among the captives that were rescued in the mission that Erriox and Lenora allied in. After the rescue, Amelia became fast friends with the osprey harpy and often traded goods and stories with each other, with Ben unofficially adopting Lenora as his aunt.

Erriox swims over and gives Ben an affectionate scratch on his head, “Is Alcyon and Malaran with you two?” He asks, spotting Amelia at the cave entrance.

The plover fledgling churrs happily, “Yeah! Mom’s waiting for them.”

“Lenora!” Amelia’s voice calls out as she walks in, followed by two large fierce-looking chaos mers. The plover harpy hugged Lenora, the both of them nuzzling each other in greeting, “I hope Ben didn’t hurt you by accident, he’s been practising his dive bombing with Malaran and Alcyon. He can get a little over enthusiastic.” She said, concerned.

“Mooom…” Ben whined, feeling outed unfairly. He then turned to the osprey harpy, “Aunt Lenora, you’re not hurt, right?

Lenora laughed, “I’m fine. Though that was a good whomp you gave me. Any stronger, I might get bowled over!”

“I will aim for that!”

“I’ll train you to knock Erriox over!” Malaran snickered, his scarred orca tail wagging up and down as he swam over to them.

Amelia gasped in dismay, “Ben! Malaran!”

“It’s alright, Amelia. I’d like to see them try.” Erriox reassured her with a wry grin.

The other large venomfin swam up to them, greeting his legion brother and his mate, his tail loosely curled around Amelia as he settled next to her, “Thanks for letting us go through you collection, Erriox.” He said.

“We needed to replenish our supply of healing potions anyway. It’s a fair trade. “ Erriox replied. The Iron Warrior mer collected pieces of metal, mostly picking up old ceramite armor pieces as they would come in handy for armor repairs, and other metal pieces that he found interesting or potentially useful. He also amassed a collection of shinies: stones, pearls, gems, etc… that he either used for crafting or to trade with.

Alcyon and Amelia had been looking for some stones and metal for metal and jewellery crafting and some ingredients for potion making. So it made sense to trade supply acquisition services and access to his metal and shinies collection in return for several vials of mid to high grade healing potions.

“Will I get to meet cousin Jophiel and his brothers one day?” Ben asked.

Lenora chuckled, “You will. They’re off on their own missions and work so they aren’t around very often. They’re curious about meeting you too.” Her Primaris boys were curious about Ben and Amelia. Jophiel was rather enthused about the young plover. However, they all were still uneasy with the thought of them being bonded to chaos mer-Astartes.

She led Ben to the bags of precious stones, sea glass, and pearls sitting in a pile by Jophiel’s nest, “Speaking of which, the boys have a bunch of stones and pearls that you can go through and take some that you’d like. And if you don’t mind, could you organize them by type and for the sea glass and pearls, by colour? There’s a box over there with compartments that you can separate them into.”

“I can do that.” The plover fledgling chirped.

Lenora patted his head, “Thanks!”

Ben nodded and started on his task.

Alcyon, Amelia, and Malaran had started looking through Erriox’s collection of things, examining certain pieces more closely than others and selecting the few they wanted or needed. Amelia turned to Lenora when she noticed the harpy’s return, “we put the box of potions by where you normally store them.

“Thank you! I also have the ingredients you requested.” Lenora replied as she went off to reorganize the potions storage and search for the ingredients she collected for Amelia.

Malaran spotted two other chest boxes sitting slightly off to the side from the collection of metal. Curious, he opened the first one and found a bunch of leather and furs. After checking out the contents of the chest, he pulled out what looked like two wide leather anklets. Each has a belt-like fastener to secure them onto a leg and a very long strap of leather attached to the belt. They were well-crafted with a simple but intricate design stamped onto the leather and shiny scales embedded throughout the pattern.

Working through the logic of the pieces, Malaran assembles the leather anklets. The Black Legion mer admired the craftsmanship on the anklets a bit before wiggling them at Amelia.

“These would look pretty on you.” He trilled, “What are they?”

Alcyon paused his search and looked at the anklets dangling from Malaran’s hand and then eyed his mate. Those would look rather good on her with some more colour, he thought to himself.

Amelia looked at them, tilting her head inquisitively, “They look like jesses…”

Lenora returned carrying Amelia’s storage box and spotted the anklets the Black Legion mer was holding, “Oh! You found the jesses! They’re in there to be repaired.”

“Malaran, why are you looking through those boxes? Those are not part of the trade.” Erriox asked, his voice flat and unamused.

The Black Legion mer huffed and was about to return the jesses to the box when Lenora took them from him and gave them to Amelia to examine.

Amelia looked at the jesses closely, admiring the pattern on them before passing them to Alcyon who she knew would be interested in the craftsmanship, “These are beautifully made.”

The osprey harpy smiled and said with pride, “They really are. Erriox made them for me.” The Iron Warrior mer’s mouth quirked a smile at the praise.

“It’s a simple design, but well made.” Alcyon agreed. The chaos Iron Warrior mer assessed the jesses closely, trying to figure out how they were put together.

Amelia piped up, “Those are hunting jesses, are they not? I’ve only heard of the mountain raptor harpies using them or as fashion statements for others.” After a bit of thought, “and you don’t seem the type to wear them as a fashion statement either.”

Malaran cocked his head, “What’s the point of the extra long straps then, that would only increase your aerodynamic resistance.”

“They’re not for hunting.” Erriox cut in, having had enough of their guessing.

“They’re not for hunting. Or for fashion.” Lenora added with a wink to the plover harpy, her lips curving into an wicked half-grin as she let the implications set in.

Amelia’s feathers ruffled slightly when she realized what Lenora meant, heat rising to her cheeks. Malaran scoffed and shook his head, muttering about Alcyon wearing out Amelia again before turning around to go join Ben instead. Alcyon noticed the stitching of the belt attachment on the jesses had come undone. He side-eyed his loyalist brother.

“I see they’ve gone through some use.” He commented, his brow raised.

Erriox smirked, “What? Giving you ideas?”

Alcyon looked at his blushing Amelia, meeting her glance, then back at the jesses in his hand, his scarred tail idly moving back and forth in thought. He tossed them back to his legion brother, matching his smirk, “Maybe.”