#oc: roland

[reanimatedmagpie]

dead rat doll thing :)

[sleepyfan-blog]

Talking to Older Brothers

This is the next part in Cedric’s adventures in the Astartes Husbandry AU, and specifically the Introducing New Primaris Black Templars arc. For other adventures click here and here. First. Previous. Next.  Thank you very much to @kit-williams for allowing me to borrow her ocs Roland and Arnault and @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for allowing me to borrow her OC Ramiel

Tagged:  @egrets-not-regrets @kit-williams @bleedingichorhearts @i-am-a-dragon34

Warnings: mentions of petras, death threats, if there is anything else I need to tag, please tell me!

Summary: After leaving the base, Cedric goes to talk to Roland, then later Arnault.

Cedric only enters the bakery once he’s certain that he isn’t being followed. There is, as he’s expected, a long line of eager mortals inspecting the delicious foods for sale. He deliberately takes in a deep breath through his nose, the mouth-wateringly delicious scents of the lovingly hand-crafted pastries and other baked goods a welcome distraction from the ugly feelings still eating away at his hearts like the most wicked of poisons. He lets out the breath he’d taken slowly, through his mouth, before inhaling through his nose again.

He does this several times, eyes closed as he lets the chatter of mortals wash over him. He’s not listening to any one conversation in particular, but allowing the sounds to help ground him. Cedric opens his eyes as he hears the careful, distinctive footsteps of Roland walking up to him. He’s not surprised that the mortal shop-helper already went off to go get Roland, as he is an Astartes, though a familiar face in this particular bakery. 

“Are you here for baked goods, Cedric? Or have you come to talk to me about something?” Roland asks, looking him over carefully, a considering frown on his face.

“... I need to speak with you, privately. But I did bring money to buy some of the delicious bread.” Cedric answered earnestly. Pallas and Olivar were healed to the point where they were being slowly introduced to baseline foods. There were few things better than the baked goods made by Roland’s Bonded in Cedric’s opinion, and he hoped to get them both a treat…

If he survives the punishment for attacking Chief Apothecary Melinth, he hopes to give them the bread himself. Otherwise, he’s sure that Ramiel will share the bread with them for him. Cedric’s superiors in the base have been distressingly lenient with him so far, but he’s quite certain that has come to an end. But that was a problem for Later Cedric to deal with. 

“Follow me, then, to the back. Do you mind helping me knead the dough? I had to run an errand this morning and we are a bit behind on some of the larger orders that came in while I was away.” Roland asked, gesturing for Cedric to follow him into the back of the bakery. 

“I’d be happy to help.” Cedric answered earnestly. He smiles cheerfully as he sees you working diligently on some kind of fruit filling for the carefully arranged trays of tart-shells, waiting to be filled and finished cooking. “Hallo!” He calls out to you.

“Good afternoon, Cedric. It’s good to see you again. You’ve been pretty busy these past couple of months. New apothecary training?” You ask, giving him a small smile.

Cedric stills for a moment, face solemn “I wish it were something like that. I do apologize for being so absent recently. Things have been… Tumultuous, as of late. It’s what I wanted to talk to Roland about… Arnault as well, though I plan on talking to him later today.”  He goes over to the sink, washing his hand properly before heading over to the kneading table, grabbing one of the balls of dough and starting to work it in his hands. 

Roland washes his hands as well, and joins him in kneading the bread. He asks “What has been going on up at the base?”

Cedric focused on the way the bread dough felt in his hands as he pushed, pulled and folded it for a couple of seconds before answering, making sure not to put too much strength into manipulating the dough, or else it would tear. The repetitive motions and the care with which he needed to manipulate the bread, while also using some of his strength to get the dough to cooperate properly helped him stay calm as he explained, briefly glancing at you before switching over to Gothic “Over the past couple of months, there have been four new arrivals from M42. All four of them have been Primaris Black Templars. All of them badly injured. Two of them died, despite every effort to get them to a point of stability.” 

Cedric felt the bread tear in his hands and his eyes stung. The young apothecary huffed in frustration, shaking his head as he kneaded the dough back together, suppressing a growl of frustration, willing himself to find the calm that he’d very nearly achieved. 

“It’s unusual for an Astartes to die on Terra.” Roland remarked, also in Gothic, so as to not worry you. “Do you know what they plan on doing with the bodies?”

Cedric scowled “It does not matter what they want to do with the bodies up at the base - and I know what the chief apothecary wants to do with them. But since they are Black Templars and I am the highest ranking Apothecary of their chapter that any of them can get ahold of, I get to decide what happens to them. The organs that were salvageable have already been taken-” Damn it, he tore the bread dough again. A frustrated grunt leaves him as he mashes the torn pieces of dough back together, scowling fiercely “-and I intend on having Malachai and Lestras cremated. I will be speaking with local mortals who have facilities to properly burn their bodies, and intend on having their remains burned by the end of the week. Ramiel is getting the necessary supplies for the Rites of Remembrance, and I do have a holy place in mind for the Rites to be performed.”

Cedric put down the thoroughly kneaded dough ball into a loaf-pan, so that it could prove again and then be cooked. He reached for a second dough ball, his hands squeezing into the soft, giving substance. 

“Is this holy place off-base?” Roland asked perceptively as he set the dough ball he’d been working on in its own tin and grabbed another.

“Ja. There is a beautiful baseline church nearby, with stained-glass windows and a bell that rings beautifully when it is rung. One of the Sisters who tends to the spiritual needs of the mortals is bonded to an Astartes.” Cedric explained. He hesitated for a moment, knowing that he should be fully truthful about this particular Cousin, to avoid any potential… Problems “A pre-heresy Word Bearer Chaplain by the name of Lykus. We’ve spoken a couple of times.”

“And here I thought you tried to avoid every chaplain who wasn’t Ramiel for mysterious reasons.” Roland murmured, a teasing smile on his face “I have seen him around, occasionally. He seems a decent sort, and from well before the Fall of his legion.”

“Ramiel and I plan on holding the Rites of Remembrance in that church as soon as he has everything he needs. The two other Primaris Black Templars would be attending as well, though they’ll need assistance to get to the church, as their wounds are extensive and some of them limit their mobility. I was… We were wondering if you wished to attend.” Cedric explained, this new ball of dough tearing in his hands as he asked. The young apothecary wordlessly grumbles in frustration, rolling the two halves back together between his hands before going back to kneading the dough. He can’t quite look at Roland as he waits for the other’s answer.

“I would be honored to attend the Rites of Remembrance, and to meet the newly arrived Brothers as well.” Roland murmured, his voice warm.

Cedric risked peeking over at Roland. Stilling for a moment as he saw the gentle smile on the older Templar’s face. He swallowed hard, grateful beyond words for his response. “I… Thank you. If… If you wished for your bonded to attend, should she wish to, she would be… She would be welcome.”

Roland’s eyes softened a little and he set down the dough ball he’d been kneading, turning to fully face Cedric. He reached out slowly and pulled Cedric in close, hugging him tightly. “I would be honored to attend, and if you would be more comfortable with this event being Astartes only mein bakerin would understand.”

Some of the poisonous wrath in his hearts faded, as his older Brother hugged him. Cedric was careful to put down the dough in his hands so he didn’t accidentally mash it into Roland’s back as he hugged the other back. If he hid his face in the other’s shoulder for a moment or two as even more tears fell from his treacherous eyes…

Well, Roland was kind enough not to mention it, only hugging him tighter still. “Losing brothers is never easy, and grieving for them isn’t a sin, nor is it a sign of weakness.”

“... There is much to do, before I can grieve them. But I will, once they are resting, and my injured Brothers are healed.” Cedric answered quietly, slowly letting go of Roland and turning back to the ask of kneading dough. 

“... Grief does not wait patiently for one to have the time for it.” Roland warned Cedric “If you try to ignore your grief, it will try und consume you from the inside out. Terra is… Terra is a safer place to process these kinds of emotions, difficult though it is.”

“I will keep that in mind, Bruder Roland.” Cedric half-grumbled, though he did accept the older Templar’s word of warning for what it was. “... I need to tell Arnault of the upcoming Rites of Remembrance as well. I sought you out first as the bakery is closer to the base.”

Roland hummed in acknowledgement before asking “Is there anything else that you want to tell me?”

Cedric hesitated for a moment before shaking his head “Not right now, but thank you for listening.” He slowly let go of one of his older brother and started kneading a dough ball, letting out his frustrations on the soon-to-be loaves of bread.

Roland watched him for a long moment before returning to kneading as well “Alright. But if there is something that weighs on your hearts, or you are struggling with something ,you know you can always come to me, and I will help as best as I can.”

Cedric nodded, shifting a little from foot to foot “I will keep that in mind. Thank you, Roland.”

“All is well.” The older Templar responded with a small smile.

Cedric kneaded bread until he felt somewhere close to calm, before washing his hands and saying goodbye to both Roland and his bonded. He was fairly sure that Arnault and his bonded were at home, at this time of day, and planned on stopping by, to see if they’d talk. 

~

The young apothecary made his way over to where Arnault and Angela lived, pausing for a moment when his astartes-sized phone began ringing in his pocket. He paused, stepping to one side of the sidewalk so as to not block foot traffic before pulling the device out of his pocket. The name and number identified the caller as Captain Ash’val.

Cedric silently weighed the pros and cons of answering this phone call as it continued to ring in his hands. On one hand, this could be important, he might being recalled to base because a medical emergency was either happening or inbound and they needed all hands on deck. One of his injured brothers could be reacting poorly to being tended to by firstborn Apothecaries, or had taken a turn for the worse. On the other hand he had snapped at the other in anger, and he had a physical altercation with the chief apothecary of the base… The consequences of that, he knew he was going to be facing shortly after returning to said base. 

Cedric continued to stare at the phone in his hand, paralyzed by indecision. Should he put the phone back into his pocket, pretend that it was on silent, or that he just hadn’t heard it, distracted by the sights and sounds of Gannet Point? Should he face whatever trial this was sure to be now? What should he d-

“Cedric?” Miss Angela called out from behind him, causing the young Black Templar to startle and fumble with his phone. Despite his best efforts, it fell to the ground with a deafening and decidedly bad sounding smack as it  landed screen-first onto the edge of the sidewalk near the road. 

“I.. Uhm. Hello miss Angela!” Cedric managed out, attempting to smile down at the meek baseline human before he quickly knelt and scooped up his now broken phone. Dorn damn it all, today was not at all going the way he’d hoped it would. “I was hoping to speak to you and Arnault, if you are not busy…”

Some of the tension that Miss Angela had been keeping in her shoulders relaxed a little and she responded with “Of course I’d be happy to talk to you. Arnault as well. He got a call from Captain Ash’val not too long ago, actually. He said that something happened at the base and you stormed off, and that no one’s been able to get into contact with you for several hours, since. Arnault, love, Cedric’s over here!” That last sentence she half-shouted.

Arnault materialized out of nowhere, clearly having somehow acquired a teleportation array and the ability to use it effectively. “There you are! Come, we will talk in our home. I’ve heard what Ash’val and Melinth said what happened. I want to hear your side of it. Where have you been?”

Cedric fidgeted feeling guilty for worrying the older Black Templar “I left the base and knew I was being followed, so I shook off the person tailing me and went to the bakery that Roland and his bonded run together and talked to Roland for a while while kneading bread, to help calm down. It… it worked more or less.”

Arnault heaved a sigh at that, shaking his head a little “I am glad that you decided to find a safe way to vent your fury though why did you feel the need to shake off whoever was trying to catch u to you from the base?”

“Because I knew whoever was following me wasn’t one of my fellow Primaris Brothers and I… Don’t know how well I would have reacted to interacting with a fairborn marine who wasn’t a Black Templar in the fury I was in.”

Arnault hummed, nodding a little in understanding “Ja, I get that.”

“The door’s open, love! Once you two are ready to come inside.” Angela called out from the front door of her home before entering.

“Inside, now.” Arnault ordered Cedric, pointing at the door, a stern expression on his face.

“Yes sir.” Cedric responded, obediently doing as he was told as the older Black Templar followed closely behind him.

~

“Do either of you want something to drink?” Angela asked from the kitchen as Cedric and Arnault entered the cozy home. 

“Uhm… Some tea would be nice, if you don’t mind, Miss Angela.” Cedric answered after Arnault stared at him silently for several seconds.

“I’ll have a cup of tea as well, mein Engel.” Arnault called out with a small smile on his face. It faded and he addressed Cedric tersely “You, sit. Couch.”

Cedric barely managed to suppress the instinctual flinch the flat tones and sharp orders from an older brother instinctually provoked. “Yes sir.” he carefully took off his shoes first, putting them in the shoe bin before heading to the aforementioned couch, sitting on the edge of it, anxious. He couldn’t even look at Arnault at all, much less in the eye as he waited for the other to do or say something.

A short but very audible sigh left Arnault as the Emperor’s Champion made his way over to where Cedric was sitting, joining him on the couch. “What I was told by Chief Apothecary Melinth was that he asked you about irregularities that he found in the geneseeds implanted in Malachai and Lestras. In the ensuing argument, you escalated things violently before storming out of the base. Care to explain what happened?”

“Did… Did Apothecary Melinth say why I became violent?” Cedric asked, doing his best to keep his temper in check. Apparently the bread kneading hadn’t been as effective as he’d hoped it would be, as the fury was once more surging to the surface. 

“He did not deign to go into specifics, and I was more focused on finding you before you picked a fight with some renegades or chaos bastards, or were found by them and they needled you into causing a much messier problem. What happened?” Arnault asked. He sounded… Worried? And non-judgmental.

Cedric risked looking directly at Arnault, trying to gauge the other’s emotional state. He looked mildly worried, but otherwise calm.  “He accused me of lying about my origins, and the origins of the other Primaris Marines. That instead of being created by the Mechanicum, we are a group of Bile’s abominations in the shape of Space Marines, meant to infiltrate loyal chapters and weaken them from within.”

“He what?” Arnault growled, a thunderous frown appearing on his face. 

Before the older Templar could say anything else, Angela walked into the living room, carrying three mugs of tea and a couple of plates of fruit and crackers. “Here you go, love, Cedric. I also grabbed a little snack, in case either of you were hungry. Do you want me to stay for this conversation? Or is this something private between brothers?” 

Cedric looked over at Arnault, unsure what the other’s decision about that was going to be. Much of this conversation probably wouldn’t make sense to her, even if they did speak in one of the local languages that she did know, rather than in rapid-fire Gothic. 

Arnault sighed “This conversation is going to be one that won’t make much sense to those who are not Astartes, mein Engel, and there are some things that have been verboten to explain, even to our bonded. I adore having you near me whenever possible, but this is an astartes-only conversation.  I hope you understand.”

“I don’t understand the subject matter, but I will let you talk to your younger brother privately. I’ll be in my sewing room, if you need or want my help or presence.” Angela murmured, a small smile on her face as she walked over and gave Arnault a kiss on the lips before walking off.

“I will always want you near me, unless there is something dangerous going on. Then I will want you to be as safe as possible. Danke schon for understanding, liebling.” Arnault murmured, kissing her back, a loving and affectionate smile on his face. 

Angela nodded and left the room, with Arnault’s gaze lingering on her as she left. Once the sounds of her quiet footsteps could not longer be easily heard, the older Black Templar refocused on the conversation “Is that when you got violent? The presumption that he made that you und your Primaris Brothers were not who you said you were, but infiltrators and saboteurs?”

“No, though I will admit to yelling at him for how incorrect an assumption that was. I became physically violent after he repeatedly crowded into my physical space and attempted to grab me while I was trapped against one of the walls of his office.” Cedric paused for a moment, a slight shiver running down his back at the sheer panic and fury that had been running through him at the time. He continued to confess to Arnault “He tried to either grab or strike me and I responded by ducking his hands and kicking his bad knee out from under him. After that the physical fight continued until I could get to the door to his office and leave. I almost physically bumped into captain Ash’val as I fled the base… And I think I snapped at him, and my words to him were uncalled for and rude. After that I made sure to lose whoever was tracking me from the base and went to go speak to Roland… Though I didn’t tell him about the fight I got into.”

“What did you talk to Roland about?” Arnault prompted, his voice measured and calm.

“There have been four more Primaris who’ve arrived in the past couple of months, all of them fellow Black Templars… And all four of them were badly injured. Two of them are in the medical ward, recovering and going through physical therapy for some of their injuries. The other two…” His voice cracked and broke for a couple of moments. Cedric allowed himself a moment to get his words back before answering, voice quieter and shaking “The other two died. The last one we had a bit of forewarning about his condition and where he was going to appear, because of a vision Jophiel received. Despite all of Chief Apothecary Melinth’s skills, he was unable to save Malachai. Less than twenty-four hours later, both Malachai and Lestras were on surgical tables again, this time led by Melinth and six other high to mid ranking apothecaries of Loyalist, Renegade and Chaos leanings, to study the differences between Firstborn and Primaris Marines.”

Cedric paused for a moment “The newly dead brothers, in addition to the new living ones were what I spoke to Roland about. Along with the fact that Ramiel and I intend to have their Rites of Remembrance held soon, ideally by the end of the week. There is a church in town with beautiful stained-glass windows we intend on holding the Rites there. I have spoken to the Astartes who works there. He’s.” Cedric pauses for a moment, looking over at Arnault “A pre-heresy World Bearer Chaplain, with a bonded who is a Sister. Is… Is that going to be a problem?”

“... Do you know if he is corrupted at all?” Arnault asked, a small frown appearing on his face.

“I’ve talked to him a couple of times and he earnestly believes in the divinity of the god emperor. The fall of his legion distresses him greatly, from what little he’s spoken to me about it.” Cedric reported earnestly. “He shows no signs of corruption, to my knowledge.” Cedric also dutifully informs Arnault the name of the church and it’s address, in case the other wants to look at the church and speak to the chaplain himself first. “Oh! One last thing, if you wish and if she wishes, you may bring your bonded to the Rites of Remembrance.”

“You mentioned that all four of these new Bruders were found injured - Ramiel was also badly injured, upon being found here on Holy Terra as well. Do you know how they got those injuries?” Arnault asked, leaning a little towards Cedric as he asked, a very focused look on his face.

Cedric stilled. How much of the truth should he tell in this moment, without asking his brothers first? And he only had suspicions about who inflicted the wounds on Malachai and Lestras, as he hadn’t been able to ask them before they died. But Pallius and Olivar had both confirmed that they’d been badly beaten by Petras in M42 before awakening in M3 on Holy Terra. “As far as I know, they were injured in M42 and were brought by whatever force is behind this to holy Terra, in this time.”

“That doesn’t answer my question, Cedric. Do you know how they got so badly injured?” Arnault reiterated, his eyes narrowing a little as he spoke.

“I can’t say for sure how Malachai and Lestras ended up with injuries that they had.” though he had his suspicions, especially with Malachai’s injuries. They were, unfortunately, very familiar to Cedric. “But I do know that they’d gotten those injuries during the course of their service to the god emperor.” 

Arnault’s eyes narrowed a little further “Cedric… Ash’val showed me pictures of some of the wounds that were inflicted on your brothers - including Ramiel. I know what it looks like when someone has been attacked by Lightning Claws. All of them were attacked by an Astartes. None of them had defensive wounds, which means they did not fight back and you knew where all their injuries were, including internal ones.”

Fuck! What should he do? Cedric… Cedric did trust Arnault, he really did. But this wasn’t just his decision to make… Though, technically as the only Black Templar Apothecary tending to the injured Black Templars in the base it kind of was, in a legal sense. “... They were punished. The sins they allegedly committed vary by Brother, but the one that had them ultimately killed was one that they could not change, nor help.”

“Explain. Now.” Arnault ordered, his face a twisted into a thunderous scowl.

“I told you earlier that the Primaris rollout nearly broke the Chapter. Part of the reason why is because some Black Templars were killing Primaris Marines. A percentage of these murdered Primaris marines were the chosen apprentices of other Firstborn Marines who did not take kindly to their proteges being murdered. It was very nearly a full-on civil war within the chapter, and it…” Cedric swallowed hard, unable to look at Arnault directly as he continued to explain. He had a desire to curl up into as small of a ball as his large frame would allow, but managed to  It only stopped after the High Marshal gathered the full fleet together for a meeting and informed everyone that we Primaris marines were here to stay, and that we were not heretical abominations. If anyone wished to disagree with that, they could fight him for leadership over the chapter. None of his challengers survived the ritual duels, including the marine who was responsible for the deaths of all five of my fellow Primaris Black Templars.”

“Are any of the Black Templars who killed younger brothers currently here on Ancient Terra?” Arnault asked, his voice hard and growly. 

Fuck!

“We… We don’t know for certain.” Cedric answered truthfully… Sort of. Petras was on Holy Terra, but none of them had managed to work up the courage to confront the Chaplain directly, to find out when exactly the chaplain was from. Petras was well over four hundred years old, when he had been felled by High Marshal Helbreicht after all, and had spent well over two hundred years as an honorable and well-regarded chaplain of the Black Templars. 

“Explain to me, what you mean by that. In detail, Cedric.” Arnault growled, still scowling at Cedric.

The younger Black Templar tried very hard not to start obviously panicking. Cedric wasn’t sure how to explain in a way that wouldn’t potentially cause Arnault to fly into a rage. “I… Uhm.. Ah…” He grabbed the cool mug of tea that had been created for him and took a sip from it very slowly, trying desperately to figure out how to word things. Before he could come up with something to tell Roland, there was a strong knock on the door. “You should probably answer the door, Brother Roland.” Cedric timidly suggested, hiding behind the mug of tea as best as he could manage. 

Arnault grumbled under his breath as he stomped over to the front door. “Ja, what do you -oh Hello Roland. Bitte, come in. Cedric and I are having a chat, and you are welcome to join.”

“Danke, I’d be happy to chat with my bruders. Hallo Cedric!” Roland calls out, sounding relatively cheerful.

Oh no. Cedric is starting to feel a little cornered. He surreptitiously pulls out his phone - the screen is indeed shattered, but it does light up when he presses the correct button and checks his text messages. He’s got several missed phone calls from Captain Ash’val. The two of them are walking back to the living room he’s sitting in. Come on, escape from this conversation! His phone began ringing, it was Ramiel. God emperor bless you!i “Hey Rami, what’s going on?”

“Mattias is being brought to the clinic for treatment by his warband. He’s been  badly beaten and half-stripped out of his armor. He’s alive for now, but he’s in bad shape. I really think that it would help if you were at there to help him stay calm while he gets patched up.” Ramiel informed him, voice low and worried.

“Fuck! But he-he was fine when he arrived on Ancient Terra a couple of months ago. He-he didn’t somehow go back to M42 and come back again, did he?” Cedric asked, alarm shooting through him as he got up to his feet. “He was… He was brought to Holy Terra before he… Before he was…”

“I know that he was uninjured when he first came to Ancient Terra. According to the Crusade leader, they were meeting with a different crusade, this one lead by a chaplain captain. The chaplain wanted to talk to him privately. After their conversation he left with his crusade and Mattias didn’t. It took them an hour to find him, and he’s badly hurt.”

“That bastard’s doing it again. Fuck!” Cedric swore “I’ll be at the clinic as soon as I can. Stay safe, and be smart Rami.”

“You too, Cedric!’ Ramiel answered before ending the call. 

Unfortunately for Cedric, before he could try and leave Arnault’s house, he had to get through both Arnault and Roland, who were staring at him with intensity. 

“Hey, so I need to go. I hate to cut this conversation short, but -” Cedric started.

“We overheard your little talk with Ramiel. You will explain to us right now who this bastard harming Primaris Marines is. We have been patient, waiting for you to talk to us. We aren’t waiting anymore.” Arnault growled, lunging forward and grabbing Cedric by the back of the neck.

“Roland… Help!” Cedric called out plaintively, trying to wiggle his way to freedom.

“Nein, you will answer our questions. Who is causing this harm? Now is not to be silent, like mortal martyrs. Let us help you.” Roland answered, staring at Cedric impassively.

“I don’t know for certain which chaplain it was!” Cedric protested, wriggling more, trying to escape.

“You have your suspicions. Talk, little brother. Now!” Arnault half-snarled at him.

“Chaplain Mephisteil Petras! He was the one who killed at least a dozen primaris marines, including his own Apprentice, Ramiel! He’s here on Holy Terra. We don’t know for sure if he’s from the time he was running around beating Primaris Marines to death, but he’s beaten firstborn Marines to the point that their crusade leaders have sent them to the clinic for treatment twice to my knowledge.” Cedric blurted out, a scowl on his face “Will you let me go now? I need to help keep another brother from dying to firstborn machinations and tempers.”

"I am going to kill him." Arnault responded. His voice was steady and calm, but there was a dangerous glint in his eyes.

"We. We are going to kill him." Roland corrected Arnault, shaking his head a little.

"Uhm... We don't know for certain that it was Petras who beat up Mattias..." Cedric pointed out, anxiously.

"True, but this sort of behavior is not something that just goes away." Arnault rumbled "And he was the one who organized the exile of myself and Roland because of our bonds." And because of his writing sins, but Arnault wasn't going to go into that.

“Danke, for finally telling us, Cedric. We will accompany you to the clinic.” Roland murmured as Arnault set him down on his feet. 

“Ja. Let’s go.” The Emperor’s Champion rumbled, a deep-set scowl on his face as the three of them sprinted out of the cozy home and off to the Astartes-run clinic.

[webcomic-evil]

;3

: |

[kit-williams]

Weight of the Worlds

Thank you for @sleepyfan-blog for letting me use Cedric and @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for letting me use Ramiel; Roland, Arnault, and Angela are my own ocs;

Husbandry Tag list:

@egrets-not-regrets @liar-anubiass-blog @barn-anon @bleedingichorhearts

@ms--lobotomy @nekotaetae

Summary: Cedric and Ramiel meet Angela (Quilterin) and Backerin

Cedric was bouncing slightly as Arnault and Roland had told him that they were going to meet. Ramiel sighed just looking at his fellow Primaris. "It's nothing to be anxious about."

"I'm not anxious I'm excited! I mean getting time to spend with a future Emperor's Champion and Brother Roland always makes me excited." Cedric says as since meeting the pair he's come out of his shell a bit more.

"Careful to not gloat too much about Arnault's achievements." Ramiel had gotten the distinctive feeling the Arnault does not know his eventual fate.

"Oh there you are." A woman's voice chimes in as they turn to look down at the human female just grinning up at them. "Roland was right you boys are sure big." The woman smelt like bread... she smelt like warmth... she smelt like what Roland kept describing. "I would have brought more bread." She looks up at Ramiel, "But I was told that we'd only be meeting one of you today."

Ramiel felt the heat go to his ears, "I see then I'll excuse-"

"Too late!" She declared grinning up at him as she passes him some bread. "Anyway Cedric I brought some more breads to try with some jams and some other things... if Roland isn't eating most of it... ROLAND!" She barks seeing the older Black Templar with some bread sticking out of his mouth. The Primaris marines were surprised at how sheepish he looked. "Bread Addict!" She said exasperated.

Roland walked over holding a large, now opened, container of treats from her shop, "Hallo Ramiel! I thought you were busy today?" Roland says trying to remember the younger Primaris' schedule.

"That was earlier in the day."

"Ah es tut mir leid then we were going to introduce you to our bonded another day but I suppose it can't be helped."

"Arnault I can carry it." A soft voice says.

"Nein." The distinct voice of Arnault says in a tone much softer than Cedric or Ramiel has heard.

"Why not?"

"Because it is too heavy for you."

"Arnault... you're too heavy for me."

Arnault's chuckle reaches the three causing Roland to roll his eyes as the innuendo is lost upon the younger two marines.

They finally see Arnault's bonded carrying a heavy bag. She had downturned eyes giving her a look that she was tired or perhaps docile and meek would be better descriptions. Her blonde hair was in half curls down to her shoulders as she came up to the middle of Arnault's stomach. Her brown eyes looked at Ramiel with surprise as she looks up at Arnault before he takes the bag and the two finally approach.

"This one is Cedric and this one is Ramiel." Arnault points to each marine.

"Hello." She says softly before pushing the bag Arnault is holding to Cedric. She turns to Ramiel, "I'll get started on yours right away then."

"On what?" Ramiel says while Arnault gets Cedric to open up his gift.

Her gaze turns away from him to Cedric as he looks at the quilted blanket. A large black cross in the center of the off white, patterned, background. "It's weighted. First time doing a weighted quilt but... I think I did a good job." She says smiling at Cedric's owlish look. She looks up at Arnault as he leans over as she whispers something to him.

Roland elbows Cedric, "You going to say something?"

Cedric's ears are red as he realized he was lost in looking it over, "Oh thank you! I'll use it tonight!"

Angela smiles at Cedric before Roland chimes in, "You go put your new blanket in your room and we'll get the food set up for you to try. Ramiel you're free to stay."

"And once meine engel has finished your quilt we will have another day like this for you." Arnault says.

"I look forward to it." Ramiel says with a soft smile.

[vicciouxs]

the first heartbreak.

previous 🌇 next

[bigtimefreq]

doctors cannot figure out what is wrong with me

[bakartridge]

Worst Mistake

Believe it's real I'm not alone, I'm not alone Better be careful, it might come true Your worst nightmare in front of you Better be cautious; don't be fake That's the worst mistake you could make                                            

[colloidalamber]

Fantasy adventure group #2 the Veterans

[garciells]

Wlw Mlm Solidary

[reanimatedmagpie]

Right, because Roland is here too, funny dead rat time

[sleepyfan-blog]

Compiling Information

Author’s Note: This is the next part of Cedric's adventures in the Husbandry AU! For other adventures click here and here. First. Previous. Next. Thank you to @kit-williams for allowing me to borrow Roland and Arnault - as well as some of their dialogue and @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan for allowing me to borrow Zariel!

Tagged: @egrets-not-regrets @kit-williams @bleedingichorhearts @i-am-a-dragon34

Warnings: none? Ask me if I missed something/it bothers you

Summary: Ash’val has a meeting with Roland and Arnault in regards to what’s been going on with the acquisition of badly injured Primaris Black Templars. 

“We are not ridiculous, venom-wielding Alpha Legionnaires. You better have good reason as to why you asked us to use stealth to meet you here, Captain.” Arnault rumbled, a small frown on his face as he crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at the Salamander.

“Ja, und the kliener bruders are all riled about something. Is this meeting related to that at all?” Roland added, scowling. 

“... It is, actually. In the past three months, we’ve had four more Primaris Black Templar marines arrive on Ancient Terra, near the base.” Ash’val started as he pulled out a plain manilla file that was Astartes sized and set it on the desk, pushing it over to the other side, for Arnault and Roland to look over as they saw fit. “This contains pictures of the injuries that they were found with. Two of them died within hours of arriving on Ancient Terra, which is why we have more documentation of their wounds. Do you have any idea how they might have gotten these wounds? Cedric showed no signs of surprise at their wounds.” 

Arnault grabbed the file folder and flicked it upon with a finger, the frown on his face darkening significantly as he looked through the gruesome pictures. Considering what young Cedric had told him, and the kinds of injuries these young Marines had suffered. He closed the folder and slid it over for Roland to look over, if he wanted to. He removed his glasses carefully and placed them in one of his chest pockets, allowing his edges to harden once again as he looked at the captain. He chose his words carefully, rolling one of his wrists as he resisted the temptation to grasp the hilt of his sword “Cedric has mentioned that the primaris rollout nearly broke the entire chapter of the Black Templars. I’m not sure why or how, as each Crusade operates independently of one another. Which means that each Crusade operates differently from one another.” He would not reveal chapter secrets to an Outsider, but he was trying to be open with the Salamander.

“Regardless, it seems that whoever is doing this is from before the High Marshal stepped in and made them part of the chapter.” Roland rumbles.

Ash’val could see the silent seething fury emanating from both Sons of Dorn. Which was surprising, given that their temper generally was quick to burn and generally very explosive in nature, rather than this slow, smoldering wrath that seemed to be laying in wait for something… or someone. He stayed quiet, hoping that the two would keep talking.

“I see two possibilities. Either these young Templars are being sent to Terra while this badly injured, which is deeply unfortunate. Or-” Arnault explained, the rage in his voice causing it to tremble, his hands clenching and his icy blue eyes practically glowing with fury “Someone is hurting them again. Hunting them down and tormenting them, to make them suffer. I am sure of this, as this last one was tortured to death. We all care for them, yes?” His tongue clicks against his teeth. This almost felt like a novel plot… What sort of twist might he put, were he writing this misery? As to who was behind the beatings and torture? Someone no one would initially suspect, due to their position and what their duties meant to entail.

Two positions came to mind; Apothecary and Chaplain. Arnault disregarded the idea that an apothecary was doing this, as they would arrange for the Battle Brothers they wanted to be killed to be culled for a medical reason that they could easily forge. Besides, some of the wounds would make retrieving useful organs nearly impossible, and no matter how deranged, no Apothecary he’d met would be so wasteful.

A chaplain on the other hand… They would have access to the weapons that had inflicted those sorts of wounds on these young Brothers. They would be able to isolate them, and were allowed to administer punishments - up to and including corporal punishments. But these were excessive and should have been stopped long before they got to this point. 

“I care for them very much. Has Cedric, or one of the others brought up to you anyone in particular whom they have a particular distaste or fear of?” Ash’val asks, a worried expression on his face.

“No… You seem to be deep in thought, Bruder. Care to share with the rest of us?” Roland asks, gently poking Arnault.

“Oh, I was trying to discern who might have caused these injuries. I have a couple of guesses as to their position within the Chapter. If this were one of my novels… A twist that I would add in is that the one harming and killing the young Brothers would be a Chaplain. To drive home that even the most righteous of us can fall.” Arnault explained. Also… Maybe a bit of petty vengeance because it had been the Chaplains who had come together and excommunicated him and Roland from the established Crusades for his novels, and the bond he could not break. 

Roland choked on air and spluttered “Ha… Hahahaha… Bruder, you are funny. That was a terrible joke!”

Captain Ash’val shifted a little, looking briefly away from the two Black Templars.

“What. What is it? Talk, Dragon!” Arnault hissed, half-lunging across the desk.

“Your guess may be closer to the truth. The Primaris Scouts are fearful of Chaplains who aren’t Ramiel. Especially the Black Templars.” Ash’val admitted “... You probably wouldn’t have seen their aversion, since you’re not in the base enough to see them when they have no choice but to interact with Firstborn Chaplains for one reason or another.”

“What?” Both Arnault and Roland growled at the same time, both standing up swiftly on their feet. 

Roland’s hand went to where he kept his bolter, and Arnault had a hand on the pommel of his sword. 

“There’s more. Each time there is a Black Templar Chaplain from a warband visiting the base, or in the city, all of them scatter and hide. They’ve hidden with both of you and your bonded several times. Did they… Did they never tell you this?” Ash’val asked, genuinely survived by this.

“No. They haven’t.” Roland admitted, frowning.

“They are sure to tell us whenever a wandering Crusade is visiting. And when they’ve left the base and city.” Arnault added “I’d thought they’d done that in case we wanted to interact with other Black Templars. Not… As a warning… it would explain the way that they worded those messages. Throne damn it all, it’s so clear to me now. Roland… You and I need to push them for information about who is doing this to them. Two of them have died because of this, though that may be due to complications before they came here to Terra.”

“The only two healthy enough I feel that pushing them won’t badly hurt them are Ramiel and Cedric… And Ramiel is often with other chaplains in the base, training. That and Cedric is chattier, of the two of them.” Roland hummed, frowning a little. 

“... Alright. I asked you to come here discreetly, so we could share what information each of us had. I will speak with Ramiel’s mentors in the base, to see what they can do to encourage him to talk, while you to try and lean on Cedric? I had hoped they’d been more forthcoming with the two of you, since you’re part of the same chapter that they are.” Ash’val sighed “Despite that, you have given me some valuable information and insight. Do either of you have any more questions for me? I will answer what I can.”

Roland shook his head, mind churning. “Nein, but you have given me a great deal to think about.”

“Ja.” Arnault agreed “Und we have a baby brother to bully.” The first thing he was going to do was to find his lovely Engel and hug her for hours. This information was deeply distressing to hear, and if he tried to go after Cedric while this upset, he had a feeling it wouldn’t end well. 

Roland nodded, still frowning deeply. He sighed and rumbled “Hopefully Cedric or Ramiel will come to us, after this most recent loss… But I suspect we may have to push one or both of them to talk.” He was going to talk to his lovely bonded about this mess. Maybe she would have insights that he didn’t?

“Thank you for meeting with me, and sharing what you do know. If I learn anything more, I’ll be sure to pass it along.. And I hope that you would do the same?” Ash’val prompted.

“Yeah. I’ll keep you in the loop.” Roland agreed with a nod.

Arnault hummed for a moment before relenting “I will keep you informed as well.”

There was a rapid knock on the door and Zariel burst into Ash’val’s study. “We have a problem. You know the geneseed studies that Melinth and his team have been doing on the - Hello, you two. You need to know this too, though I wish we could explain why you two were here…Though you might escalate the situation. Anyways! We have! A problem! Melinth figured out what was strange about the Primaris geneseed that came from Malachai and Lestras. The geneseed is hybridized, deliberately so. They both had geneseed that was only sixty-five percent of the line of Dorn. The remaining thirty five percent is Word Bearer. He uhm. Accused Cedric of being one of Bile’s creations, along with Malachai and Lestras and Cedric. Uh. Did not take that well. Please help, they’re in the middle of a bare-knuckled brawl in the middle of the medical bay. I know that both of them listen to you, Micah.”

“Throne give me patience. I’m going to have to end this meeting now. If you have any more information you wish to share, please do so with Zariel. He’ll be sure to pass it along. Father give me the strength to deal with hard-headed sons of Dorn.” Ash’val grumbled, running out of his office.

Zariel turned, smiling pleasantly at the both of them “Is there anything about what you’ve learned about the Primaris Marines that you feel is important to share that you haven’t already?”

Arnault thought about it for a couple of moments before shaking his head “Nein. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to my bonded.”

“As do I. She’s been quite busy in the bakery recently, und needs all the help I can lend her.” Roland answered. He got up and left the office a couple of minutes after Arnault did.

[webcomic-evil]

the white guy is Doc, from the ep. 1: Stella was a diver(...). He doesn't have (or need) a proper name lol so just Doc. This isn't totally related to the main plot of "Evil", so it's up to interpretation :)

[kit-williams]

How would Roland react to his Bäckerin being pregnant with a girl?

Roland would just be so very happy to find out his darling was pregnant!

He wouldn't really care if it was a boy or girl because either way it would help the Black Templars either directly (with the boy becoming a space marine) or indirectly.

Just he would be happy with the fact that the two of them made something

[haxxydraws]

other assorted doodles

[bigtimefreq]

Object headcanon when there are two universes : human and object

The object world takes place in the far future

I also believe that there are human counterparts of objects in the human world(something like mlp equestria girls) for example , golf ball exists in her world, and there’s a human version of her in the human world

Only gb knows about humans because she did her research and she wants to be the first object to meet them

oooh i like this!!!

there are definitely objects out there who are interested in humans and their existence!!! i might make an oc based on this concept myself. i already do have one who’s pretty close to that

roland collects artifacts and antiques and is definitely very aware of the existence of humans. he finds them fascinating. most stuff object folk use in their everyday life are things that humans once used, but some of them are defunct since object folk have no use for them.

humans fascinate him and he considers himself a specialist as far as finding out the use of these things. i wonder if that would make him and golfball friends?

[pabs-art]

I’ve been reading some martial arts manuals, so I got in the mood to draw a lil fight sketch.