#shh this draft was made in like 2020 I don’t want to talk about it…

[honeybunted]

More pride flag edits! I might have posted some of these before, I haven’t gotten around to sorting them properly yet, as there are ~300 to go through and put in folders and such. Feel free to use these for whatever!

[autumnslance]

Rose House Edit for the WIP files please!

WIP Ask Game:  Post the names of files in your WIP folder, regardless of how  non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title  that most intrigues them and then post a little snippet of it or tell  them something about it! and then tag as many people as you like.  

I’ve maybe realized a chunk of my in progress fics involve people getting it on that I just don’t finish/post for various reasons...A lot of my “Naughty” file fics are really meant more for me to figure out character dynamics, I think

This version is called “Edit” because it’s a draft I mucked with in ProWritingAid for grammar and redundancies way later than I meant to on Monday during maintenance after having @dragons-bones look at the base file. I keep feeling like this fic is “missing” something, but that may be a feature not a bug. Or it needs some pieces for setup and follow up, not to stand alone.

Because “Rose House” is the night in the Sea of Cloud, after Emmanellain’s little misadventure with the Vanu when Bismark’s existence was revealed early in Heavensward. It’s the night Aeryn Regrets because she gave in to emotional turmoil and physical reaction--and then never actually talked to Haurchefant to follow up on how she really felt, or how to otherwise deal with things like adults and then...yeah. Yeah.

Technically it DOES have followup, in “Ache” from the 2020 FFXIV Write, which is Aeryn’s PoV in the immediate aftermath where she realizes she screwed up and this was a Mistake (and also the more recent “Girl Talk” where she tells Lyse what happened). “Rose House” itself, however, is Haurchefant’s PoV of the actual event. If I were going to write this with setup and follow through, it’d be a bit more building up their relationship in Dragonhead and early Ishgard, and then Aeryn avoiding Haurchefant and deflecting Ysayle and Estinien’s teasing/queries (Alphinaud takes a bit to catch on, bless him), and then the fallout of the Vault and how she deals with the Fortemps family afterwards.

But for now, I wrote this to determine how and why things went between them, and while I have a vague idea of the rest, it was deciding “yes this happened” that also determined some things about how her relationship with Thancred ended up working out, and how that was different.

Excerpt under the cut:

---

She seemed so small, but he knew her to be stronger than anyone else in the realm. He could feel it in the steadiness of her heartbeat, the warmth of her form—and the tension in her muscles. He shifted behind her and began rubbing and massaging, trying to work some of that tension from her. She made a tired little grunt.

“You mustn’t strain yourself so,” he said in a low voice. This was a repeated conversation; her next words did not surprise him.

“If I don’t, someone else would have to. They may not be able to bear it. I can.”

“Not forever,” he countered. “Not alone.”

She turned to look at him, grey eyes dark. “There is no one else.” There was pain there, and guilt, and he knew she was thinking of the missing Scions again.

“There’s me.” Feeling bold, Haurchefant brushed his lips over her cheek and left a soft kiss on the corner of her mouth. “I shall always be at your side.”

“No, you won’t,” Aeryn replied. “Not so long as Ishgard needs you, and my journeys take me elsewhere.”

The words stabbed his heart, but he could not deny the truth to them. He was sworn to his nation, his house, his god. He had duties, responsibilities.

And yet.

If she asked—if she invited him beyond Coerthas’ borders, to stand at her side through whatever adventures and dangers she faced—

Aeryn turned abruptly, interrupting his thoughts with another kiss of her own—this one full on his mouth, taking him by surprise. He held her close, melting into her embrace, enjoying this sudden expression of affection. She let out a small noise in response to his hands running along her sides to her hips and he shivered to hear it, his grip tightening further. She pressed even closer, and he was aware suddenly that she was in his lap, legs straddling his thighs, and by the Fury, there was no hiding what that was doing to him.

He pulled away from the kiss, clearing his throat. “While I am...more than happy to see such passion from you, my dear, it does put thoughts in my mind.”

“That’s the idea,” she replied, resting her head on his shoulder, lips brushing his neck.

Haurchefant stilled and took a measured breath. He had to tread carefully here, lest he fall through the snow into a hidden ravine. “And if we were to, perhaps, give action to those ideas…?”

Aeryn was quiet for nearly a minute. “Please,” she finally replied.

Gods, he wanted to throw her down that instant. Instead, he kept his stillness, his measured breath. A knight was always in control. “Why?”

She lifted her head and looked at him, perplexed.

“Why now?” He continued, brushing a strand of dark hair from her face. “Believe me, I am more than willing—as you might be able to tell—but...you have always set such boundaries before.”

Aeryn leaned into his touch. “After everything,” she closed her eyes, and he wondered what—or who—she was thinking of. She opened them, and they were as dark as a cloudy night over Dragonhead. “I do not want to have an opportunity and miss it for my own fears. I will have to confront that primal someday, and the bards will make its terrors sound epic. But tonight, I want...simple, safe. You...make me feel safe.”

He drew her closer and kissed her gently as another surge of warmth rushed from his heart. “Very well, my dear. Your wish is my most fervent desire, of course. And should you find it too much, and need to stop—say so, and I shall do naught more than hold you close, or return to mine own chamber, should you command.”

“Haurchefant?”

“Yes?”

“Shh.”