#they’ve screwed daemon over in a lot of ways

[bohemian-nights]

Even in the book it’s clear that the relationship between Rhaenyra and Daemon isn’t healthy (in fact you can make the argument that no romantic relationship depicted in any of George R.R. Martin’s work is completely healthy) and isn’t something anyone should strive for.

So when I first watched the show and saw the romantic twist they put on Rhaenyra and Daemon I was confused (as someone who read the book first HOTD is to me what the Percy Jackson movies are to that fandom, enjoyable but differing vastly from the source material) and not going to lie intrigued.

But then as the episodes went on I developed a very big love-hate relationship with Daemon. Episodes 6-7 pissed me off 🫠 Hooking up with anyone at the funeral of your wife isn’t cool (also Harwin who was Rhaenyra’s lover for ten years who she had three children with just died) I mean I get that everyone grieves in different ways but the fact that he slept with Rhaenyra especially when I know how he treated Laena (and his daughters to some extent) 🥴🙄

I would also like to say that I don’t play around with domestic violence (fictional and in the real world) so Daemon choking Rhaenyra really turned me off his character. It also felt like another moment in HOTD to showcase brutal violence against women.

There are a handful of potentially healthy romantic relationships(Rhaena and Garmund might have actually had a happy marriage), but yeah if someone is using Dumbnyra as an example of one 🫠

To me, the show never framed their relationship in a romantic context. I mean Rhaenyra is underage when we first meet her, she looks super young next to her overly grown uncle, and the necklace he gives her could constitute as grooming.

I think people got confused with the “switch up” because they are the only ���shippable couple”(I say this term loosely because shippable to this fandom equals too white people who breathe near each other hence why we have the clusterf*ck that is lucemond) on the show so far. If the red flags didn’t ring for people in episode one they should’ve rung by episode four when he abandoned her in the brothel. People seemed to ignore this because she’s 18, but abandoning someone in a dangerous place they aren’t familiar with no matter their age is really scary

This is going to be a very controversial take(I’m not a person who gets off on seeing domestic violence), but it seems like the choking scene was necessary since people thought Dumbnyra was supposed to be a romantic couple 🤷🏽‍♀️

Daemon from day one was a crazy a**hole who hardly cared about anyone. He does have redeeming qualities in the book(notably how is with Laena and Nettles, which they better not screw over because Ryan Condal himself has said the man is a gray character and she’s his only light now), but so far they’ve cut those parts out and turned him into a man obsessed with his brother.

Rhaenyra, as are all the other women in his life, is a causality of his obsession. People wanted her to be his exception, but she was never framed in that way. In fact, she’s one of his first “victims.”

Daemon has not changed fundamentally since episode one. So it makes sense why he’d violently snap at her too. Out of all the violent scenes directed at women in the past season, the choking scene makes the most sense to me.

Like I said above, I hope we do see him change(and yes I’ll be biased and say I want him to change for Nettles like he did in the books) because he is supposed to be a morally gray character, but Rhaenyra is not part of the lighter side of him.

[echoes-of-the-clockwork]

Book One: Gold (Prompto x Reader) Chapter XXIX

After leaving the room and making their way back toward the central area of this level of Zegnautus Keep, a strange sound could be heard. Ignis stopped the group when he recognized the sound. Looking in Noctis' general direction, he asked, "Noct, do you hear that?"

The raven-haired boy glanced at his advisor in bewilderment. "Hear what?"

"I've heard this sound before—on the train, just before your weapons failed you. It's nearby, and it may hold the key to restoring your power."

As the four of them make their way across the catwalk leading to the central area of this level of Zegnautus Keep, the strategist stopped them again. "It's here."

Noctis stops at the large closed metal doors in the center of the enormous room. "This thing?" He places his hand against the doors and tries to open them. When they don't budge, he huffed out a groan. "Door's locked."

"It's coming from within. Is there no way through?"

Prompto swallowed hard before speaking up when he saw a familiar control panel by the door. "There's a way." The others look at him as he hesitantly steps up to the door's scanner and raises the back of his right wrist to it. He pulls the gemstone bracelet down a little ways so the scanner could read the barcode on his wrist. Successfully scanning it, the doors slide open. Prompto resumes speaking, staring off into the room, unable to make eye contact with the others. "So, MTs... They've got those codeprints...just like I do."

Noctis wasn't fazed at the new discovery. "Do they? Never looked."

"Yeah... So, as it turns out...I'm one of them. Not exactly something I could tell people growing up in Lucis. (Y/n) was the only one who knew the truth. At the time, she didn't tell me and I don't blame her. She had her own secret to hide, too." Tears stung his eyes and threatened to fall, but he refused to let a single one slide down his cheeks. "Still... You guys and (Y/n) are like...the only friends I've ever known. I just hope that things can stay the way they were."

"Whatever. Who cares where you were born?" Noctis remarked.

"I don't see you turning against us. Not now, or ever," Ignis added.

Prompto was able to lift his head and look at his companions. "Thanks, guys. Still...I can't change where I came from. What I am."

"Since when does where you come from matter to you? You never once treated me as a prince," the raven-haired boy stated. He then playfully punches Prompto's shoulder.

"He's got you there," Gladio said.

"Never so much as a "Highness"," the tactician added.

"And by the sounds of it, (Y/n) doesn't care either," Noctis spoke up again. "We're done here. C'mon, crown citizen."

Gladio steps over to Ignis to help guide him into the room. The shield gives Prompto's shoulder a friendly smack as they walk past. "You're one of us, right?"

Ignis stops and turns back towards the marksman, looking over his shoulder. "Unless you'd rather not be."

Prompto smiles with a nod. He glanced down at the gemstone bracelet, a single tear of joy slipping from his eye. "You were right, (Y/n)..." He covered it with his hand. Following his friends into the room, his heart was somewhat at ease.

Inside the room, they find the emperor's abandoned clothing laying upon the throne with no sign of the man. What was also located in the room was a large bank of computers, which are the cause of Noctis' lost powers. Without hesitating, the raven-haired boy rams his father's sword through the machines.

Prompto looked around in puzzlement. "So...did it work?"

"With the device down and out, Noct's power should be up and running," Ignis stated.

"Go on, try it," Gladio said, meeting the prince's gaze.

"All right. Moment of truth." Noctis holds out his hand and conjures a sword, resulting in Prompto to clap in celebration.

The shield smirked. "We're back, baby."

"Let's roll. We've still got to find (Y/n) and the Crystal."

Leaving the emperor's throne room, the boys were attacked by the gargantua daemon that caused trouble for Noctis earlier. The large daemon wasn't alone as more of its fellow daemons began manifesting. "Not you again," Noctis groaned.

"New friend?" Prompto questioned teasingly, summoning his pistol.

"You really need to pick 'em better," Gladio commented with a faint chuckle, readying his greatsword. Even Ignis summoned his daggers.

Leaping into the fray, the group took out the weaker daemons before targeting the gargantua. Before any of them could attack, the large daemon was set ablaze by bright flames. They stared at the burning adversary as it stumbled backwards, swinging its body around in an attempt to extinguish the flames. The sound of a blade slashing at its metallic skin caught their attention.

The gargantua daemon collapses to the floor, dead. Its body slowly dissipated into nothingness, revealing the person who slew it. "You guys were difficult to find," (Y/n) sighed, lowering the Creator's Blade. She combed a few (h/c) strands out of her face.

Gladio was the first to speak up. "We could say the same thing, short stuff. You and blondie had us worried."

"Are you well?" Ignis asked.

"I'm exhausted," she confessed. "But overall, I'm fine."

Noctis noticed the dried blood on her skin and clothes. "What happened to you?"

"A lot I'd rather not share at the moment." Her eyes drifted over to Prompto when realizing he hadn't said a word yet. "The only time I've seen you this quiet was when I surprised you for your birthday five years ago."

At her words, Prompto snapped. He ran over to her and hugged her tightly. It was a brief hug, but a sweet one. He pulled away, examining her arms and legs. "Y-You're not hurt?"

"There are some perks of being possessed by a god," she snickered. "One of them involves healing. I do need a break, though. Still a little weak from blood loss."

"Didn't we pass a dormitory somewhere?" Noctis asked his friends.

"Indeed, we did," Ignis replied. "We should gather our bearings and recuperate for a short while."

"Then to the dormitory we go."

The group left the large central chamber and walked through the hallways of Zegnautus Keep until arriving at their destination. Once inside the dorm, (Y/n) sat down on one of the beds with a huff. Prompto sat next to her while Noctis sat down on the bed across the way. Gladio stood beside the bed the couple was on while Ignis occupied a chair sat between the two beds.

(Y/n) crosses her legs, clasping her hands together in her lap. "It seems Prompto told you the truth."

"How'd you figure that out?" Noctis inquired.

"You were able to enter the emperor's throne room," she replied. "Does this mean...?"

Prompto places his hands over her clasped ones. "Everything's okay, (Y/n). You were right. The guys don't care."

"Then I guess it's my turn."

"You hiding something too, short stuff?" Gladio asked.

"Yeah." She turned her head and brushed aside her (h/c) locks once Prompto released her hands. She tugged down the collar of her outfit to reveal her own barcode. "My true master was Verstael Besithia. I'm an imitation created by his own hands after he killed his guardian after learning she was going to betray him."

"Hey, we welcome anyone who's willing to betray the empire," Noctis said. "Besides, you kicked plenty of imperial ass with us. I doubt you wanna go back."

"Hell no," she spat. "Even if I really wanted to, the only one that somewhat cared for me is dead. Hated him to the core."

"I still don't completely understand how you're still here. We killed the chief and by guardian law, you should be dead." That was when Prompto realized how his words sounded and quickly tried to recover. "I-It's not that I'm sad you're not gone! No way would I think that! I just wanna understand what happened."

"I'm a copy, not the real (Y/n). Verstael may have believed he brought her back from the dead, but in reality, he didn't. A clone is a clone, not the original. When I was created, I wasn't bound to a soul. That would explain why I'm still here."

Prompto glanced down at his bracelet. "But the gemstone..."

"Is artificial," she stated. "It's another device Verstael needed in order for his experiment to be deemed a success. Let's just say the man was thorough when it came to his experiments. He was quite meticulous with even the smallest details."

"I think I understand." Prompto flopped down on the mattress. "But there's another thing I don't understand."

(Y/n) cocked a brow. "And what's that?"

"How did someone like him make you?"

She blinked owlishly. "I...wasn't expecting that."

Noctis and Gladio smirked. Ignis tried to hide his own grin by lowering his head slightly. The shield crossed his arms with a guffaw. "Damn, string bean. You'd normally be embarrassed, but you're pretty level-headed for something like that to come out of your mouth."

Prompto shot back up into a sitting position. "Hey, I'm only speaking the truth! I met the guy and he had more than a few screws loose."

"He wasn't always like that, Prom," she said.

"But still..."

(Y/n) clapped her hands together. "Okay, I think that's enough for a while. Let's get some rest."

"Yeah, you're right," the marksman sighed. He then encased the girl in his arms, earning a gasp of shock from her as he laid down on the bed. "Hope you guys don't mind, but (Y/n) and I are gonna share a bed."

"What a gentleman," Gladio chuckled. "Just try to keep it in your pants, loverboy."

Prompto groaned, burying his face in the guardian's (h/c) hair at his comment. He held her closer when hearing her giggle. He moved one of his hands to her tresses and combed his fingers through them. He continued his ministrations until the sound of soft snoring came from her. Feeling her breathing had gone deep and slow, he knew she was asleep. He himself couldn't fall asleep, but he was happy she could after all she's been through in the past three days.

A few minutes ticked by when Prompto saw Noctis sit up on the opposite bed. He watched his best friend closely as he made his way over to him and (Y/n). The sharpshooter carefully unwound his arms from around the girl and sat up.

"Hey, I'm...sorry," Noctis muttered.

"For what?" Prompto questioned.

"For falling right into his trap...and for hurting you and (Y/n) like that."

The marksman takes up a wry tone. "I know, right? How could you possibly do such a horrible thing to us—after everything we've been through?!" His tone then returns to normal. "Nah, it's okay. I know (Y/n) would forgive you, too. You're not the only one who fell for it."

"Once this is all over, I say we break down the borders—come together as one nation," Noctis said, crossing his arms and trying to act nonchalant. "I mean, what does it matter where you're from anyway?"

Prompto climbs off the bed, stands, and turns to look at his best friend. "Y'know, I never thought I'd say this, but you sounded like a real king for a second."

The raven-haired boy was surprised by the comment and watched a grin make its way onto the blonde's face. "Better late than never. I'm gonna make this world a better place." He glances down at the sleeping girl for a second before looking back up at Prompto. "You two with me?"

"What kinda question is that?" Both boys looked down when hearing (Y/n)'s voice. They saw her eyes were open and she was watching them. "Of course we are."

Prompto smiled, nodding in agreement. "Uh-huh. Ever at your side."

"Now you two be quiet," mumbled the guardian, closing her eyes. "I'm tired..."

Noctis smiled. "Yeah, sorry 'bout that, (Y/n)."

She reached out and grabbed Prompto's wrist, tugging on it gently. "You coming back to bed or not?"

The marksman smiled in delight before rejoining her in the small bed. Within minutes, they were both asleep.

<—————————————<<<<<

After a couple of hours, everyone was well-rested and ready to go. They left the dormitory and continued their search for the Crystal. They continued wandering the various corridors and rooms of Zegnautus Keep, using the elevators to reach different levels.

It was two hours into their search the group was attacked by a creature known as the foras daemon. It stretched its elongated limbs, eyes focused on Noctis. What caught the group by surprise was hearing the creature could speak. It immediately attacked, focusing its full attention on the prince.

Fighting against the foras daemon, they were able to stand their ground and kill it within minutes. After listening to the daemon's last words before it vanished, Ignis tossed around a couple of potions for Prompto and Noctis. Both boys had been injured by the creature, but the curatives mended their wounds within seconds.

Eventually, they arrived in a large hangar-like room. As they made their way through, Gladio said, "One helluva hangar."

"Look at all this space," Prompto gasped in awe at the size of the hangar.

"So, the central elevator's through here," Noctis commented.

"And out of the loading bay," the shield added.

It wasn't long before the large doors at the other end of the hangar begin opening. From the loudspeaker, they heard Ardyn's voice. "Your Majesty, your precious Crystal awaits you. To liven things up I thought I'd take you on a stroll down memory lane. Of course, memories decay with time."

From the now open doors, Ravus' body enters the hangar. Unlike the last time they saw him, his body was now grotesque and daemonic, transformed into a monster. "Kill me... End it..." He begged, his voice slightly warped.

Gladio glared at the approaching figure. "Is that Ravus?"

"Or what's left of him..." Prompto murmured.

"Dammit..." Noctis cursed, summoning his sword.

"The least we can do is put him out of his misery," (Y/n) said.

Before they could even attack Ravus, the horrifying creature known as the devourer crawled into the hangar.

"Shit, that thing's here too?" The prince hissed.

"What is it doing?" The girl grumbled, watching the horrifying creature as it stalked towards the high commander instead of them. What happened next mortified the group.

The devourer grabbed Ravus, tossing him into the mouth of the middle head. Its skeletal jaw bit down into his body, causing him to holler out in pain. Black blood shot from his body as the creature continued to chew on him. The gruesome sight was revolting and forced the others to look away. As they did, Ardyn's voice rang out from the loudspeakers again. "Oh, my. It seems Callyx has yet to feed his pet. Now it seeks to ward off its hunger. Do be careful for it's quite a gruesome way to go."

Once the devourer finished consuming Ravus, each of its mouths opened and roared. Gladio scowled at the creature. "A sorry end for the high commander—for anyone. He was a man with hopes and dreams."

Prompto covered his mouth after finally being able to look back at the monstrosity. "It's horrible."

Suddenly, the devourer hauled its body in their direction. The group readied their weapons and were  prepared to attack as the large creature made its way towards them.

Raising her hand, (Y/n) conjured multiple fireballs. They loomed in the air around her until they shot forward with a single swipe of her hand. Each one slammed into the creature's body and forced it back a few feet. Noctis performed a warp-strike against one of the three heads, dealing a little damage. Prompto kept his distance and fired his pistol while Ignis carefully debated on what he should do. Gladio followed Noctis into battle, swinging his greatsword at one of its arms.

The devourer lashed out. Its tentacles stretched outward and tried to grab one of them. It managed to grab Noctis when he performed another warp-strike. Prompto shouted the boy's name and quickly fired at the tendril restraining him. He was able to free Noctis, who warped to safety before crashing against the floor.

Ignis ignited his daggers, tossing a single one towards the monster. The sharp tip embedded itself into the black sack, the flames igniting it. The devourer screeched out and reared up on its two hind legs before flopping down on the floor. Its tentacles laid limp.

Noctis, Gladio, and (Y/n) ran towards the downed monster and struck it over and over again to deal some heavy damage. They were able to deplete some of its health, but it was still strong and quickly recovered. Back on its feet, it crawled its way over to Ignis. The tactician could sense its approach and kept his distance. Noctis and Prompto kept the tentacles from grabbing the bespectacled man as he swiped his daggers at the creature.

Suddenly, their battle was interrupted when more daemons began pouring into the hangar. Gladio glared at the approaching horde. "Look alive—company!"

Their hands were already full with the devourer and couldn't possibly stand against all the daemons. The group tried to fight the devourer and horde of daemons, but it was proven to be tough. When they thought they'd made a small dent in the enemies' number, more took their place.

"We're getting nowhere!" The shield bellowed, dodging one of the devourer's attacks.

Prompto shot a daemon out of midair. "And they just keep coming!"

"Noct, you must go alone," Ignis said.

The prince froze. "What?"

"If you can obtain the Crystal's power, we may yet turn the tide. Elsewise, we are all likely to perish here."

Gladio gripped his greatsword tighter. "Iggy's right. It's our only chance."

"But what about you?" Noctis asked, blocking a single daemon's attack.

"We'll manage somehow! Just get moving!" Prompto shouted.

Ardyn broadcasts his voice to the raven-haired boy. "You could still get to the Crystal...if you went on your own. Your friends will have to stay behind."

"Noctis!" (Y/n) shouted as she formed a wall of fire around her and the others to protect them for a short while. The prince looked towards her, which she then continued. "How about some divine intervention?"

He smiled faintly. "Go for it, (Y/n)." Then, Noctis took off in the direction of the central elevator.

She smiled back before jamming the sword into the floor and summoning Brahma. A radiant cosmic glyph appeared beneath her and was soon engulfed by a column of light. At her call, the god of creation used her body and manifested in the middle of the daemon horde. He tore the roof off the hangar and fought against the enemies.

Prompto, Ignis, and Gladio focus their attacks on the weaker daemons while Brahma fought against the devourer. Unlike in Altissia, the Astral was able to focus his entire attention on the artificial daemon. He trusted the others to deal with the lesser enemies and focused all his strength on the creature. Using his cosmic powers, he was able to fell the devourer. Its shrieks of death echoed throughout the hangar as its body toppled over, gradually vanishing into thin air.

Turning his gaze to the remaining daemons, Brahma released a powerful cosmic wave that killed them all. The three boys were taken aback at the powerful magic and had to brace themselves. When they looked around, no daemons remained. Looking towards the god, they saw he was gazing at the darkened sky.

When Brahma turned his gaze down and focused his attention on Prompto, he slowly kneeled and spoke to him.

Bonded by heart, thy vessel must be protected until the True King returns unto this star.

Prompto's eyes widen when he could hear the god's voice. "Wh-What...?"

Brahma places his large hand over his chest, removing the guardian from his body. He lowered his hand and held her out to the boy.

A slumber shall befall my vessel. Only you are able to safeguard her until the time of her awakening arrives.

Prompto pulled (Y/n)'s unconscious form out of the god's hand and held her close. "Wait, I don't—" Looking back up, he saw the Astral was gone. His eyes scanned the hangar until his gaze fell back onto the girl in his arms. "(Y/n)?" He tried shaking her awake, but it was useless.

Hearing Gladio shouting his name and telling him to hurry, Prompto hoisted the girl up into his arms before following his friends to the central elevator. His body was on autopilot while his mind kept repeating Brahma's words. He was trying to figure out what the god meant.

Stepping off the lift, the trio made their way to where the Crystal was located inside Zegnautus Keep. When they arrived, they couldn't find Noctis anywhere. However, they did see Ardyn standing in front of the Crystal. The chancellor turns to them then gestures nonchalantly at the Crystal before beginning to walk away. Gladio swings his greatsword through Ardyn's head, releasing a puff of dark smoke from where the blade strikes.

Ardyn falls back a little, but maintains his balance and holds onto his hat to keep it from falling off his head. He then continues walking away. Prompto was the next to try and attack the man. He kneels down, releasing (Y/n) and letting her body lean against his in order to summon his pistol. He shoots Ardyn in the back before he can take more than a couple of steps, releasing another puff of dark smoke and hurling his body onto the floor.

The chancellor's hat rolls away and lays still for several seconds before his hand suddenly reaches down to collect it and place it back on his head. Once more unharmed, Ardyn is again standing. The twisted man smiles at Ignis, revealing corrupted daemonic features as he does so, but they go unnoticed by the advisor due to his blindness. Ardyn walks away, leaving the group behind to mourn the loss of their King.

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[gauntsghostsfieldguide]

His Last Command- Part 10

@the-fluffy-underbelly

EIGHTEEN

Mkoll is fucking awesome, he really is.

Maggs is great, too. His interaction with Hwlan does a lot to endear him.

“Rawne, I’m fit to choke you with your own genitals.” Jesus, man. What a threat.

““Screw Belladon,” Rawne told him. “This is a family thing.”” That’s Rawne, all over. He cares about a very small amount of people.

“Rawne had never been a particularly honourable man, but now his soul was cold and hollow, utterly devoid of honour or courage. Fighting had simply become a mechanical absolute; it no longer had degrees. Rawne either fought or did not fight, killed or did not kill. Combat’s purpose had been reduced to a point where it was simply a way to ensure he was still alive when everything around him was dead. He had no use for caution, no use for fear.” :( Poor Rawne, all hollowed out.

“Daemons. Daemons. Not Ghosts at all. Not even human.” That’s how Meryn sees Rawne and Feygor. He’s not the best person to make comparisons, but it does go to show that they’ve been changed hugely by the whole experience on Gereon.

I do like Larkin and Banda’s friendship. They aren’t hugely close, but they do respect each other.

“The hot-shot round smacked into the pressurised tanks and ignited them. A torrential rain of liquid fire fell across the basin and brought it up in searing flames.” Larkin and Brostin’s “airburst special” is really cool. One of the few good things from the time on Gereon.

NINETEEN

The shit is hitting the fan now.

I love it every time Rawne and Gaunt call each other “Eli” and “Bram”.

“Then he wondered if anyone in high command or the senior staff had considered just how literally nocturnal the stalkers were.” Probably not. They’re not thinking things through very well. They’re assuming a lot.

[moonraccoon-exe]

*whispers* blind!Iggy and one-handed Ravus without prostetic doing daily routine and helping each other

Aaaaaah,anon, you have to know that when I received this I absolutely freaked out and Iliterally said aloud “DUDE, YES”, because hnfgndgf, it’s a wonderful scenario! 

It speaks alot of being domestic! A domestic life for Fleurentia. That’s so soft and peaceful.The two of them are very tragic characters, so to give them a domestic andtranquil life is one of my greatest weaknesses. It lets them be happy and calmfor once, and it feels soft, as if they don’t have to worry about the worldanymore. 

And thisscenario is awesome on its own because while it keeps the domestic and peacefulair, it still remains tragic, as both have already gone through part of theirtragedies; Ravus losing his arm, and Iggy losing his sight. 

Let’s seewhat I can do with this. I don’t have much experience with handicapped people,so I’m not sure I can come up with many scenarios, but here I go. 

I tried towrite a “let’s explain how this is a chill universe”, but nah man, let’s skipexplanations and just keep it there: it’s a chill universe where they had nomore duties or prophecies to follow, even though they (whether you want it dueto the canon story or for alternative universe reasons) lost the arm and sightrespectively.

Ravus andIggy have managed to get a house of their own.

It’s not anapartment, because they both really adore their personal space, and becausethey found that easier than living in a building shared with more people, beingtwo handicapped, and not that they can’t adapt or can’t find it easy, but ifthey could afford for the decent house where they get more comfort plus moreprivacy plus an easier lifestyle as handicapped, then why not?

Ignisdoesn’t have much time since his injury (a year, more or less), so he’s not theDaredevil we know he becomes at age 32. He still struggles for the simpletasks. On his own, that is.

Ravus isguiding him into his new lifestyle as best as he can.

Ravus alsois not used to not having two arms; after they found a way to remove the armwith no risks (the arm is what contained the Magitek that, when removed, wouldturn him into daemon), he too is struggling to adapt.

Ignis wasused to analyze every detail of every situation; now he can’t. Ravus was usedto have full control over everything; now, in a way, he can’t. So the two tryto complement each other as best as possible.

Let’sfollow them in a normal and wonderfully domestic day, shall we?

Why are youspying these men that’s a crime

Goodmorning, you wonderful men!

Youwouldn’t believe how oddly comfortable it is for Ravus to sleep now, actually?No left arm lets him sleep on his left side without getting his arm numb, orhaving his partner use it as a pillow until it turns to torture. Ravus now isable to lie on his left side and hug Iggy no troubles.

Unless he’ssleeping on the right side; it’s usually Iggy spooning him, then.

There’smany other ways as they sleep, that doesn’t matter, I just like thinking aboutit.

Iggy sleepson the left side of the bed; that way, Ravus has it easier to reach for thingson the right bedside table, and Ignis reaches for things on the left.

The lamp ison the right bedside; the clock, opposite to what we would think, is on theleft.

Ignis nowrelies heavily on listening; finding a clock and shutting the alarm off is notroubles.

Ravus isthe only who needs light in the early morning or night, so that’s where thelamp is.

Ignis is incharge of removing the bedsheets and throwing them onto the mattress; Ravus isin charge of accommodating them so they’re correctly placed.

Ravus isgetting better at doing it himself, but Ignis helps him unbutton his pajamashirts.

Ignis isgetting better at it, but Ravus is still there to help him with taking themorning shower; the floor gets slippery, so there’s the risk Ignis may fall.While he learns to do it himself, Ravus is there to make sure he doesn’t falland to hand him the things he needs.

So they shower together.

They have aspecific place for things so Ignis knows where they are and doesn’t have toblindly look for them; a place for his shampoo, one of the soap, which isusually in a shelf that has it for sure it won’t fall down (unless heaccidentally drops it), and another place for the sponge.

While hegets used, Ravus helps him tell him where the things are or, if he’s too lost,will guide him to reach them; Ravus also tells him when it’s enough shampoo, orwhen the sponge needs more soap. He’ll help clean Iggy in spots that keepshampoo or soap that he can’t see are still there.

It has goodsides; Ignis helps him clean his right arm mostly, sometimes his right side ingeneral. He’s also in charge of massaging Ravus’ head at times to spread andget rid of the shampoo; Ravus can do that on his own, but it’s helpful andcomfy and very nice, so he never complains.

They putthe towels in a hook right at a side of the tub/shower; that way any of themcan reach for them.

They have acurtain rather than a glass door, just in case there’s any little slip there’sless risk of breaking something or to get injured.

Ravus isfirst to exit, usually with a hand to the wall (now that he’s beginning to getused, remember), so to be extra sure he won’t fall; once outside, he helps Iggyout so he won’t slip.

Just likethe hair thing, Ravus can dry himself on his own, but Ignis sometimes helpsbecause it’s more comfy.

Ravus helpshim to get dry.

Now let’ssee these boys get dressed (no cameras, please)

Youwouldn’t believe it’s much easier to have both hands to put briefs and pantson, but it is.

Usually,Ravus makes sure which is the front, and Ignis helps him pull the underwear up.Ravus later adjusts it as he pleases, but Ignis is who puts it in its place.

Ravus helpsmake sure which is the front of Ignis’ underwear, but that’s it; the man willput them on himself.

Ignis willhelp pull Ravus’ pants up as well and button them, like his own (and like theunderwear, Ravus just makes sure they’re not inside-out and that the front isfacing the front).

Ravus hassome struggles choosing what to wear mostly, if buttons or non-buttoned pieces;on a side, many buttons is struggles, but not impossible, and put-on clothingis a bit messier. He still sticks to mostly buttoned stuff, though.

Ignis willhelp tie the loose sleeve; Ravus verbally guides him into the knot, unlessIgnis is struggling too much, then Ravus will get his hand close to guideIgnis’ into where to go so he can make a knot. They don’t stay tied after thefirst knot; they wash and iron clothing, so yep.

I mean, itcould stay tied while in the washer machine, but they prefer to untie it so itgets properly cleaned.

Ravus helpsmostly to check that Ignis’ top clothing is not inside-out and facingcorrectly; he also helps tell Ignis if he’s buttoning the wrong button in thewrong hole.

Ravus alsoadjusts Ignis’ collars (if the shirt has one), and if Ignis needs or wants it,Ravus will help him make sure that when Ignis tucks the bottom into his pantshe doesn’t miss a part by accident.

If any ofthem need, for whatever reason, to wear a tie…ohboy.

It was bigstruggles at first, but they’ve been learning and getting better at it.

Ravus triedon his own, but the struggle was stupid, so Ignis offered help.

Now, Ravusputs the tie in place, and Ignis ties it under Ravus’ guide and instructions.

Ignis tyinga tie is very slow and careful. Ravus doesn’t blame him. He doesn’t even mind.He even finds it moving.

Ravus makessure the socks match and Ignis puts them on. Ravus can put his own himself, butsometimes Ignis helps just for comfort, Ravus just adjusts them.

Ravus makessure Ignis puts on the right shoe on the right foot and such; Ignis ties bothhis and Ravus’ footwear if they need to be tied.

Ravus helpsIgnis comb his hair, but Ignis’ hands play a big role there, too.

Ignis likesbrushing Ravus’ hair, another thing that Ravus could make on his own but ismore comfy if Iggy does it.

It’s notdaily, of course, but Ravus is in charge of helping Ignis to shave.

Ravus,lacking a hand, also struggles with that, so rather than shaving Ignis, heguides Ignis into re-learn to do it; Ravus still forever guides him to makesure he doesn’t miss a spot and that stuff.

When theygrow older, Ignis even learns to shave Ravus.

Please,Ignis, he desperately needs to stay shaved.

Breakfast!Or any eating time.

Ravus isguiding Ignis into cooking.

If cuttinga vegetable or something, Ignis will hold an edge with a hand and the knifewith the other; Ravus, using his only arm/hand, will use it on top of Ignis’right one to guide it into decent slices, and so that he doesn’t cut himself.

That’spossibly their most usual treat; Ravus using his hand to guide Ignis’ intodoing the cooking right and not harm himself in the process at the same time.

Ignisserves the coffee and other liquids; Ravus tells him when to stop so the cupwon’t flood.

If the foodis something that needs to be cut (like meat), Ignis will cut the pieces for Ravus’dish. Like always,under Ravus’ verbal and sometimes physical guide.

You know what’s manageable but can betroubles? Jars and containers with screw lids. For Ravus, of course. Ignis isusually opening them.

Ignis is incharge of washing the dishes; Ravus is in charge of putting them in the dryingracks, and hand any that’s still dirty back. He’s also in charge of handingIggy some dishes if he misses them (it’s usually utensils).

Remember thatteeth care is important, people.

Ignis iswho puts the toothpaste on their brushes; Ravus verbally guides him.

Chores.

Ravus canand will clean windows.

Ignis is incharge of sweeping; Ravus guides him so he doesn’t miss a spot or hitsanything, and so he doesn’t misstep somewhere.

Thoughthey’re learning to do it, they have someone that comes a day a week to helpthem iron things; Ravus can see, but it gets a bit messy with only one arm;Ignis can use both hands, but can’t see what and how he’s ironing. It’s a bitcomplicated.

But they dofold their clothes. Like usual, Ravus makes sure they’re not inside-out, andIgnis folds it under Ravus’ instructions (though both are learning and gettingbetter at doing it alone).

You knowwhat Ravus has found sort of therapeutic after such a tragedy of a life and theloss of an arm? The garden. There’s something soothing about taking care offlowers. In some way, after being abused for so many years, taking care of alittle creature that’s not a human or a dog that needs much attention and carehe doesn’t feel prepared for, flowers are pretty.

He’s beenlearning to do a few gardening things on his own, mostly because it’s calmingrather than necessary. But you know, his hand gets awfully dirtied when heworks in his flowers.

Have youever tried to wash a hand without the other? As in wash it thoroughly?

Ravus atfirst was pretty embarrassed, mostly because he couldn’t believe he couldn’t dosuch a simple task on his own, but Ignis, like always, is too understanding andloving and now Ravus doesn’t mind asking him for help to wash his hand.

Ignis helpsclean it, and Ravus tells him when it’s clean enough.

Ravus iswho writes the notes they need to take.

Ravus alsowrites the e-mails they need to write, but they mostly stay away of e-mailingand texting; using one hand is not impossible, but it makes the task superdifficult. So if they want to communicate, they’ll mostly phone whoever theyneed to phone.

Ravus makessure Ignis’ phone is updated and charged; as side note, it works through voicerecognition for Iggy.

Ravus hasno troubles handling the TV remote; he usually puts musical channels on, forIggy, or sometimes describes him what’s going on if it’s necessary, but theybarely ever watch TV. They prefer a miiiiiillion times to put music on or to bein the quiet. They love the quiet.

When theygo out by feet, Ignis will grab Ravus’ arm.

They triedto keep Iggy on Ravus’ left side, which is the most vulnerable one, so in a waythey have a hand on the right and one on the left to not be off guard and tonot have a blind side.

Oh. Uhm. Nopun intended up there…sorry.

Turns outthey couldn’t; the blind side stays a blind side very literally, and Ignis hadnothing to grab other than Ravus’ clothes or shoulder, and it wasn’t working.

Besides,these boys learned that they have no more reasons to keep the guard up; they’reliving a normal life, not war any longer, so there’s no need to have thatmentality of “how do we work best as a team in case someone tries to kill us.”

So theyswitched to the logical; Ignis grabbing Ravus’ arm.

Ignis isstill using the cane, normally.

Eventuallyand as years go, he’ll learn to walk more confidently without the cane and onlyRavus by his side.

He’s alsolearning to go with cane and without Ravus.

Ravusdrives.

Ignisverbally guided him about some questions he had about Lucian driving rules andsuch (slightly different than Tenebraean’s), but Ignis already knew how todrive; he made sure to re-learn in low-risk places with one arm only.

As you cantell, their car is automatic.

Some yearsinto it, sometimes Ignis helps with the gear shift, as he’s got it memorized.Of course, under Ravus’ instructions.

They dohave their stamp that signals the car carries with and/or is driven by someonedisabled, but Ravus barely uses it to park in the signaled spots; he finds nosense on parking there when “I lack an arm while someone out there may lack aleg; they should have priority over the spots that are closer to the entrance”,and Ignis is in favor because he doesn’t mind walking longer distances (because“he’ll never re-learn the world if he never lives it like usual”).

They do,however, sometimes use it, mostly when they feel they need to or for comfort.

I mean,they do have the rights to do that.

Groceryshopping.

Ravus is incharge of writing the lists of what they need, just like any other kind ofnotes, but both usually go together. Ignis keeps company and guides the cartunder Ravus’ indications, and constantly does the math or remembers things theydidn’t list, and Ravus grabs the stuff.

Igniscarries the most bags into the car; Ravus makes sure to accommodate them in the trunk.

I like tothink they have a cat.

Ravus makessure to tell Iggy where the kitty is, just in case Ignis was about to sit onher or something.

Ignis, relyingon touch and sounds, adores petting the kitty; like Ravus started his flowercare, Ignis’ ‘haven’ is the kitty. She feels nice under the touch, is superaffectionate, and purrs.

Why did Iinclude that? Because it’s fluffy and I love Fleurentia domestic fluff.

You knowwhat’s the prettiest “helping each other with routine” that’s actually not ‘helping’and it’s not routine but shut up this is my post and I want fluff?

Reading.

The easiestway for Ravus to read is usually if the book is on a table, and he can keep thebook open with his one hand, but sometimes it gets kind of uncomfortable. Sothere’s Ignis to help.

Ignis willhold the book and turn the pages, and Ravus will read.

This oftenhappens in a way so Ravus is sat, usually against the bed’s headboard or an armof the couch, and Ignis sat in his lap, with the silver haired looking fromeither above his head or shoulder, depending on how Ignis is resting againsthim.

Thing is,Ravus is reading aloud, of course.

Ignis hasswitched to audiobooks while he learns braille, but Ravus can see and willread, and that’s how Ignis helps him while getting to bond over something atthe same time.

You shouldsee the scene that it makes; Ravus sat against the headboard, legs to the sidesso Ignis can sit in his lap, his one arm around the Lucian’s torso, Ignis’ head against the Tenebraean’s tummy rather thanhis chest, holding the book slightly up for Ravus to read aloud, and the kittycurled on the other side of the bed.

Theirroutine to finish the day is basically the same than that of waking up, except onreverse.

Ignisunbuttoning, helping with pants, Ravus making sure things are not inside-outand such, etc.

Once intheir pajamas, they go to bed together, which doesn’t need more science thanpulling blankets down.

Ravus mayread a little more for himself sometimes, then turn the light off, and snugglenext to Ignis.

This hasnothing to do with “helping each other with what they can’t” but it’s routine:

Ravus, punctualand every day like a clock, always give Ignis a kiss in the space between hiseyebrows to wish him goodnight, caressing his hair with his one hand.

Ignis, onhis own ritual of response, always kisses one or two of his own fingertips, andtouches Ravus’ lips with it, staying there a few seconds as if to feel them andmemorize them by touch.

“Goodnight,Ignis.”

“Sleep tight,Ravus.”

And the catcurls up at their feet.

  And that’sa usual day in the life of the Scientia & Nox Fleuret house.

I hope youenjoyed!!

Thank you so much to whoever dropped this entry, in case you’re still around. I know I’ve taken months to answer, and I apologize. Still, thank you greatly for this; it was super enjoyable and heartwarming to write. ♡

Leave Coona tip, please? ( ˙꒳​˙ )

[bonca03]

@flynns-king-kong-dong I was your Tales Of secret Santa! Thank you so much for your patience, I meant to get this out sooner but I waited a little on the editing part of this >.< I decided to go with your Eizen/Velvet secret relationship prompt, I hope you enjoy!! If you have an AO3 account please let me know, I’ll be uploading this on there at some point so I’d love to gift it to you as well

@talessecretsanta  thanks for hosting this event, I really enjoyed it!

Title: The Way Things Are

Summary: Eizen and Velvet are acting different and it’s up to Laphicet to investigate. He doesn’t really know what to look for though and Magilou is hell-bent on explaining it to him in explicit detail.

Rating: T

Word Count: 5246

When Velvet and Eizen start spending more time with each other than with anyone else, no one thinks anything of it. After all, it’s only natural that the person leading their little revenge/save the world scheme and the person steering the literal ship have to communicate a lot; make a plan, figure out where to go, plot the course, all the little details that no one besides those two and the bundle of walking questions called Laphicet really care for.

The two just work so well together and it’s such a natural transition; overall, nothing really changes so no one pays it any mind. Except for Magilou of course, whose eyes sparkle with mischievousness whenever she notices how close they stand together.

“I’m telling you, something’s up with them!” she whines. Laphicet has watched her get shot down a total of four times so far but she is nothing if not determined.

“Velvet? Nah,” says Rokurou, shaking his head in disbelief. “She’s way too busy with the whole ‘killing the Shepherd’ thing to ever date.”

Magilou grins. “Who said anything about dating? It could just be a simple stress relief. Saving the world and murdering your family can be pretty taxing on a person.”

Rokurou’s eyes widen, although Laphicet has no idea why.

“No way, I know Eizen,” he says confidently. “He’d probably start ranting about, I don’t know, the history of hookups? Trust me, he’d bore Velvet to death and she’d eat him just to make it stop.”

“She’d eat him, alright, but in a different way than what you’re thinking…”

Before Rokurou has a chance to answer, the boy interrupts, “Velvet’s gonna eat Eizen?”

Rokurou and Magilou freeze, look each other in the eyes, and in perfect sync respectively answer:

“No!”

“Yup!”

The two then proceed to have a stare off of epic proportions.

Laphicet, used to Magilou’s antics at this point, pays her no mind. “Well, what are you guys talking about, then?” He tilts his head to the side.

“Uh…”

“Yes, what are you talking about?”

Had it not been for his years of training, Rokurou would have jumped out of his skin at Velvet’s hard tone. Magilou, however, is not quite as fortunate.

“N-n-nothing!” she yelps.

“Hm.” The younger woman seems to consider pressing the issue, but, in the end, deems the information she might get to not be worth the trouble of jumping through Magilou’s conversational hoops. “Anyway, we’ll be at Hellawes in half an hour, so make sure you’re ready.” And with that, she turns on her heel and rejoins Eizen at the helm.

Magilou whisper-shouts triumphantly as soon as Velvet is out of earshot. “Ha! You see! They’re at it again already!”

“At what?” asks Laphicet.

“Look at Velvet!” continues the witch as if she wasn’t interrupted. “She’s warning Eizen that we’re onto them as we speak!”

Velvet was indeed speaking to Eizen and looking down at them as she did so, clearly discussing what had just happened.

“C’mon, that could be anything,” Rokurou denies. “She’s probably just warning Eizen that you’re being even weirder than usual.”

“Trust me, I’m an excellent judge of these type of things.”

Laphicet, finally fed up with being ignored, stomps his foot and yells, “Will someone please tell me what is going on?”

Magilou heaves a mighty sigh before turning towards the younger boy. “Velvet,” she says slowly, “And Eizen…are in…a relationship!”

The blond malak tilts his head in confusion. “A relationship?”

“Yeah, you know like, sitting together under the stars or lighting a bunch of candles in the bedroom and–”

“Magilou, he is ten years old!” Rokurou screeches. Magilou is fondly reminded of a feral cat protecting her young what with the way he hisses and sputters. Laphicet just looks between the two, confusion swimming in his eyes.

Magilou nods. “Exactly! And what better time than now to teach him all about the birds and the bees?” she teases. “He’s going to find out eventually.”

“Absolutely not!” To emphasise his point, Rokurou takes a step closer to Laphicet, as if preparing to grab him and run at a moment’s notice.

“Rokurou, I already know what birds and bees are,” Laphicet chimes in.

“Yeah, Rokurou,” mocks the witch. “What harm could I really do?” She leans down to Laphicet’s level. “Listen carefully, kiddo, today is the day you become a man!”

Rokurou wastes no time and promptly claps his hands over Laphicet’s ears.

Magilou sighs in defeat. “Fine, fine, I’ll preserve the boy’s innocence…for now,”

Although hesitant, Rokurou does release Laphicet from his hold.

“What was that all about?” he asks, turning on Rokurou angrily.

“Well, I…er…”

Magilou giggles. “Never mind that, I have a special mission for you!”

Laphicet’s eyes narrow. “What kind of mission?”

“I’m glad you asked.” The witch spins around excitedly. “It’s a mission of the utmost secrecy,” she whispers, using her hand to shield her lips movement from Velvet’s and Eizen’s watchful gazes. “I need someone to keep a close eye on Velvet, and who better to do that and get information out of her than the one she trusts most?”

“You want me to spy on Velvet?” the malak’s tone is soft but undeniably disappointed.

“Spy is such a strong word.” She screws up her face in exaggerated distaste. “Think of it more as…research,”

“Research?” Rokurou deadpans.

“Yes.” She shoots the daemon a glare. “Don’t you want to know more about Velvet?”

“Well, yes-”

“And aren’t you curious about what she and Eizen are doing?”

“But what are they doing? I don’t understand what you’re talking about!”

Magilou shouts, “Exactly! That’s what you’re gonna find out.”

In the end, Laphicet is all but forced to concede. He protests for all his worth, but Magilou is relentless and, with her threat against Rokurou to give him The Talk (whatever that means), even he had caved and begged him to agree.

So now he’s a spy. Perhaps not the best spy, but a spy nonetheless.

As soon as they dock at Hellawes, Laphicet gives Rokurou a determined nod and then scampers down to join Velvet.

Velvet who is already accompanied Eizen.

From further up the dock, he sees Magilou smirk at him

If he’s being honest, he really has no idea what to look for. Magilou said that they were in a relationship but based on his knowledge and what Magilou has told him, that could mean many different things.

But with the way the witch spoke earlier, Laphicet has no doubt that she hadn’t meant friendship. Which is…odd, to be frank. They clearly get along well, perhaps even better than they do with anyone else, so if they aren’t friends, then what are they?

Despite his reluctance to spy on his friends, however, Laphicet finds himself strangely immersed in his task. He feels a little guilty about it, but, overall, the thirst for answers is stronger. Mostly, he just wants to be able to sleep soundly tonight without weird Magilou-inspired-ideas floating around in his brain; speaking from personal experience, that never ends well.

He stays close to his target as they set off through the town. Velvet is preoccupied and so the young malak opts to simply observe rather than straight out ask her about it. Maybe he will later, but for now, he can learn a lot about the relationship just by watching. Human actions can be quite telling when they think no one is paying much attention and apparently this rule applies to daemon lords and earth malaks as well.

With Magilou, Rokurou, and Eleanor in the lead, Velvet and Eizen seem to relax slightly. Laphicet trails behind them but with how…distracted they are, he doubts that they’ll notice; he’s so short they probably think he’s up with the others.

Perhaps distracted is the wrong word, though; immersed would fit better. It’s like the world has melted around them and it’s just the two of them. They’re walking so close that their shoulders brush constantly and their eyes are either locked to each other or briefly to the ground. Laphicet can’t see either of their faces except for the sides when they look at the other. The expressions he catches are soft and unguarded. It is so different than how they usually look.

Actually, he’s only ever seen Velvet look this…soft (for lack of a better word) when they had first visited Aball and Melchoir had deceived them into thinking the village had survived. During that time Velvet had been so happy and carefree; seeing her look at Eizen reminds him of that.

His musings are short lived, however, as Eleanor calls out to him, “Laphicet, what are you doing back there?”

Laphicet jumps. In front of him, he sees Velvet and Eizen do the same. He runs to catch up with Eleanor and as he passes by he notices Eizen eying him suspiciously.

“Hi, Eleanor,” he greets, falling into step beside the ex-praetor.

“Why were you walking alone? Is everything alright?”

Laphicet nods. “I’m alright.” He pauses for a moment and then asks, “Do Velvet and Eizen seem to be acting strange to you?”

“Hmm…” She glances back at the two, who have since separated slightly. They speak in hushed tones as they had earlier on the ship. “Well, they’ve certainly been more private than usual. I mean, they’re both very private people, but now they’re being private…together?” she says thoughtfully. Her eyes widen suddenly. “Do you know something? Are they keeping secrets from us? Is something wrong?”

The young malak waves his hands in front of him as if trying to physically dispel Eleanor’s worry. “I think everything’s fine. Magilou just said that they’re in a relationship so…well, do you think they are?”

Eleanor looks up at the sky in consideration. “They could be,” she finally says.

“But they could not be?”

“Yeah, it could go either way with them,” she glances back at them again. “But I don’t think I’ve ever seen either of them like this. You’ve known them longer so you might know better but I think this is different.”

Laphicet screws up his face in thought. “What does it mean? If two people are in a relationship how is it different from what the rest of us have?”

The exorcist’s face flushes. “W-well, people in a relationship tend to be more…physical with each other, like holding hands or kissing,”

“Do they always do that? I haven’t seen them hold hands or anything,”

Eleanor nods. “Most of the time they do, but really it just depends on who is in the relationship,”

“Oh. Is that the only difference?”

“Hmm, people who are in relationships usually want to spend the rest of their lives together,” she adds, smiling softly at the thought.

The malak’s eyes widen. “Does that mean Eizen and Velvet don’t want to spend time with us?”

“No, no, no.” She shakes her head, “It’s more like…umm…” Eleanor glances at him nervously, “Like…what Artorius and Celica had!”

Laphicet tilts his head curiously.

“When Innominat showed us scenes from Velvet’s past, we saw Artorius and Celica fall in love,” she explains. “They both obviously cared about Velvet and her brother but they were each other’s most important person. Artorius cared about her so much that when she died during the Opening, he changed completely,”

He nods. “I see,”

“Does it bug you to think of Velvet in that kind of relationship?”

The malak adopts a thoughtful expression before his face breaks out into a sunny smile. “No, if Velvet ever has a relationship like that I just want the person to make her happy,”

Eleanor returns his smile but before she can reply, Laphicet is pounced on by one-hundred-and-some-pounds of overly eager witch.

“Mayday! Mayday! Why did you abandon your post? We’ll all be killed because of you!”

Laphicet yelps in pain. “Magilou, get off!” He shoves at her with no success. She clings to and hangs off of him like a jacket thrown on a very tiny coat rack; unfortunately for him, Magilou weighs a fair bit more than a coat.

“Leave him alone.” Rokurou calmly picks up the woman and pulls her off.

“Thanks,” Laphicet sighs in relief.

Meanwhile, Magilou has spent her few seconds suspended in the air screeching. “Put me down, you heathen! You two are compromising this entire operation!”

From his position, Laphicet can practically see the alarm bells going off in Eleanor’s head.

“What operation?” she asks suspiciously.

The blonde haired woman seems to notice the change as well and goes from a flailing ball of indignation to frantically trying to repair the damage in the blink of an eye. “Did I say operation?  I meant nation; these two troublemakers are destroying the hard work of our saviour Shepherd Artorius and ruining this great nation! Shame on both of you!”

“Magilou,” explains Rokurou as he throws her over his shoulder, “has this crazy conspiracy that Eizen and Velvet are dating so she sent Laphicet to spy on them,”

“Oh, so that’s why you were asking about it.” Eleanor smiles at the malak before rounding on Magilou. Rokurou has continued walking so Eleanor lags behind a bit so she can be face-to-face with the witch. “You can’t make Laphicet do your bidding,” she scolds.

Magilou huffs and rests her head on her hand which she has propped on the daemon’s back. “I didn’t make him do anything! Rokurou’s the one who pressured the kid.”

“I was blackmailed!”

A fight instantly breaks out and rather than try to pry information out of them, Eleanor looks to Laphicet in hopes of an explanation.

“Magilou wanted to give me The Talk,” he repeats dutifully. “I don’t understand what’s so bad about birds and bees, though.”

Eleanor’s face goes shock white to tomato red in a matter of seconds. “Magilou!”

The blonde scoffs. “You two are such prudes. I bet Laphicet would appreciate my teaching.”

“Don’t you dare.” The ex-praetor’s eyes narrow.

Magilou smirks. “When two people love each other very much-“

Laphicet—fortunately or unfortunately, he’s not quite sure—doesn’t get to hear the rest of the explanation due to Eleanor grabbing him by the face and pulling him bodily into her chest to shield him from the words being spoken. On top of that, Rokurou begins jumping up and down as if to shake the evil right out of his captive, Magilou squawks in distress.

Although Laphicet can’t see much of the scene himself, he imagines they look quite silly to Velvet and Eizen walking a few metres behind them.

The boy tries to stifle his giggles but despite Eleanor physically smothering, him he can’t restrain himself. At first, they come in small bursts like the beginning of a firework show. The first few were small and unimpressive but quickly built in intensity until they burst from his throat loudly and in quick succession.

Everyone freezes.

“What’s so funny?” Eleanor asks, pulling back.

“Us,” he manages through his giggles.”We must look ridiculous!”

Rokurou is the first to give in, laughing heartily along with Laphicet’s small chuckles. From there, it’s a chain reaction that Magilou and Eleanor are quick to join in on.

More laughter soon joins in. “You four do look ridiculous,” says Velvet fondly.

Laphicet jumps.

“Mind explaining what’s going on here?” Eizen asks.

Laphicet jumps again. He’s not sure why he’s so surprised, given that he’s been watching Velvet and Eizen together all day, but, for some reason, he hadn’t expected the older malak to appear behind him.

The blond isn’t the only one caught by surprise; around him, everyone else is shifting around guiltily at being caught.

Except for Magilou of course. She quickly gets over her shock and pushes herself up from Rokurou’s shoulder. “These two won’t let me give the kid important worldly knowledge!”

Eleanor huffs in frustration. “She wants to give Laphicet The Talk!”

The small malak sighs as chaos erupts around him for the third time today. Eizen surprisingly sides with Magilou while Velvet takes a firm stance against them. Silently, Laphicet wonders if taking different sides is a usual thing for couples or if this means they’re actually not together or if he’s just officially spent too much time with Magilou today and is reading too far into it. It’s probably the latter in all honesty.

“He’s too young,” Velvet waves her hand dismissively.

“He’s ten,” Eizen argues. “And he’s going to be around for a long time. Isn’t it better for him to hear this from us rather than overhearing it from an unsuspecting human he passes by?”

“Okay, but it’s not like he needs to learn about it today!”

“Why not today, Rokurou?” Magilou asks smugly. “What difference does it make if he finds out a week or a year from now?”

Eleanor shakes her head. “Laphicet only regained his free will this year! There is no way you can justify scarring him when he’s still so new to the world!”

Laphicet gives up on trying to follow the argument and finds a nice rock to sit on, away from the arguing.

Everyone involved is surprisingly passionate about their opinions and the argument lasts long into the night. Magilou had once told him that the classic cats or dogs argument divided nations, but his friends had barely responded to that, whereas now they are throwing everything they have into it. Honestly, Laphicet is surprised that it hasn’t become a full-blown fist fight.

They do wind down, although, as far as he can tell, a consensus has yet to be reached. However, by the time they do, it’s late and everyone is tired. What should have been quick trip through the Faldies Ruins quickly turns into an overnight sleepover (which it technically would have been anyway; they had just expected to be past the front entrance at this point).

Eleanor, Magilou, and Laphicet are tasked with clearing away stones and laying out the animal skins while Rokurou starts on the fire. Velvet and Eizen leave to scout the perimeter together, which Laphicet finds rather odd, considering they would usually separate to cover more ground.

“Go after them,” Magilou whispers conspiratory. “Complete your mission, Soldier.”

The malak nods and rushes after them. Behind him, he can hear Magilou yelling about something, likely to distract the others from his disappearance.

Normally, when someone left to check the perimeter it was a fifteen minutes process. Normally, they didn’t go far out of sight. Normally, they didn’t leave together.

Eizen and Velvet are not being normal tonight.

Laphicet heads farther and farther into the ruins but he can’t seem to find them. They are well outside the unspoken boundaries and while he can take care of himself, he also knows that it’s dangerous to be without backup. The Abbey has proven itself time and time again to be underhanded and well prepared. Those two combined with heading off on his own would only lead to trouble.

The malak is about to turn back to see if perhaps he missed them when he hears a noise. Rhythmic thumping is emanating from farther into the ruins. Laphicet glances back towards the camp before turning and heading towards the noise. He decides that since it’s not too much farther in and he has no way of knowing if there’s actually any danger or not, it would be better to do reconnaissance first and then determine if it was a threat and how to deal with it.

Nodding determinedly to himself, he sets off towards the noise.

His footsteps echo lightly as he walks through the hallways. Normally, he would be concerned about the noise alerting whatever it is making it but as he gets closer, the sounds get louder. Loud enough to cover his footsteps, anyway. On top of that, he no longer hears just the thumping now. The closer he gets, the more clearly he can make out the sound of voices.

Eizen’s voice specifically. From where Laphicet is, the older malak’s voice sounds strained and is punctuated by grunts of pain.

Eyes widening, Laphicet races through the ruins as fast as his legs can carry him, the slap of his feet on stone surely alerting every malak and daemon in the vicinity.

He gets closer to the source still and he can make out more now. Velvet is with him—he can hear her moaning too!—and while the thumping is definitely the sound of a body hitting stone, the distinct clash of Velvet’s blade is absent. Laphicet worries that she has been too injured to move and Eizen is trying to fight something off to protect her. He hopes that isn’t the case, but he’s been around the Reaper long enough to expect this sort of thing.

He skids around the corner, paper in his hands and a battle cry on his lip when he sees…Well, he’s not really sure what he sees honestly.

The daemon and malak appear uninjured but that is all his brain can make sense of. Other than that, all he knows is that they are on the ground, Velvet is on top of Eizen, and his…oh.

Laphicet vaguely remembers seeing depictions of something similar in a biology book he read from the library while he was still under the Abbey’s control. The chapter was on reproduction but he hadn’t been able to make much sense of it at the time and he has never considered applying that knowledge to more humanoid species.

Now, though, seeing Velvet moving up and down on Eizen’s…

Laphicet’s face goes scarlet.

“Ph-Phi?” calls Velvet in shock.

He turns tail and runs. It’s not until he’s made it all the way back to the camp that he realizes a high pitched whine has been bubbling from his throat the entire time.

“What’s wrong, Laphicet?” Eleanor moves towards him, concern evident on her face.

The boy just stares in shock. He’s not ready to face this yet; he needs time to process and make sense of and get over what he saw.

Magilou pushes past Eleanor excitedly. “What’s you see? What’d you see?”

He shakes his head. He really doesn’t want to talk about this.

The witch gasps and leans in closer to carefully take in his expression. “I was right!” She jumps up and down excitedly, circling Rokurou as she does so and waving her arms around in a strange dance while chanting variations of, “I told you so!”

“Told me what?”

“Eizen and Velvet are gettin’ it on!”

Rokurou and Eleanor look at Laphicet in horror.

“No…”

“Oh my goodness!”

They are upon the blond in an instant; questions and sentiments of distress pouring out of their mouths one after another.

Laphicet, on his part, can only stare blankly. He can’t process anything.

Anything except the rapid sounds of footsteps behind him and Velvet’s voice.

In his time knowing Rokurou, the small malak has seen his eye turn red once when he was in the heat of battle. Once when he was in his element as a war daemon. Once when he was intent on killing his adversary.

And now again as he turns on Velvet and Eizen.

“Laphicet walked in on you having sex?” he booms.

The daemon and malak stop dead in their tracks. For once, neither of them seems to be able to play it off. Velvet’s face is a similar shade to her top and while Eizen isn’t outright blushing, his eyes are closed and he looks off to the side.

“Phi, can we talk to you?” Velvet asks. She’s trying her best to act as she normally does but it’s clear that she’s out of her element.

Laphicet looks at them hesitantly, turns his gaze back to the shocked faces of the rest of the group, and then nods. He takes a step towards them as Rokurou yells “You perverts are not giving him The Talk! He’s seen enough!”

Eleanor puts her hand on the daemon’s shoulder and nods at Laphicet reassuringly before turning to comfort her friend.

Anticipation twists in Laphicet’s stomach. On the one hand, the absolute last thing he wants to talk to his friends about is their reproductive tendencies but on the other hand, he is finally going to learn what the dreaded Talk is…

Well, his curiosity has always gotten the better of him and it’s probably better to get this conversation out of the way sooner rather than later…

He follows them.

They head through the doors into the ruins. Thankfully they don’t go towards where he saw…what he saw; instead they turn left where a small and near empty room waits.

“So…” Eizen is looking everywhere but Laphicet. “I–er…Well, you probably have a lot of questions…”

Laphicet mimics Eizen by staring a hole into the floor.

“What you saw was…its–uh…adults sometimes…” The malak looks at Laphicet guiltily. “Wh-when people care about each other very much–” Eizen turns his gaze to Velvet pleadingly.

“No,” she says, seeing what can only Eizen’s version of puppy eyes. “No, no, no. You’re the one that wanted to give him The Talk in the first place!”

“I didn’t want to give him The Talk! I just think he needs to hear it!”

“Oh, so you wanted me to do all the work? Typical.”

Laphicet decides to interject before things get out of hand. “Are you guys trying to tell me what reproduction is?”

Velvet blinks dumbly at him. “You…already know about sex?”

“If sex is another term for when animals procreate, then yes; I read a book on it when I used to sneak off to the library. It just…never really made sense until now.”

“Oh,” the Lord of Calamity looks both relieved and nervous.

“Yes, well, Velvet and I are not trying to have a kid. I don’t even know if malaks and daemons can reproduce…”

Laphicet tilts his head. “Then why were you doing it?”

The adults look at each other.

“It’s just something couples do,” Velvet dismisses.

“So you are in a relationship then?”

They both nod. “We were going to tell you, but with everything going on…”

“We decided to keep quiet until after we freed the Elemental Empyreans,” Eizen says.

“I see,”

Silence.

“So…do you have any questions?” the Reaper asks hesitantly.

In all honesty, there are quite a few things Laphicet has questions about regarding the act. Physically, he can’t wrap his mind around how Eizen’s…how Velvet’s…he just can’t figure out how they fit together. Besides physically, however, he’s also confused about why couples do it in the first place. What purpose does it serve? If it’s so normal then why hasn’t he heard about it before—why the secretiveness?

But honestly, Laphicet has had his head filled with strange enough information. He doesn’t know how much more he can stand and instead opts for shaking his head. He can look it up in a book later or, worst case scenario, ask someone to explain it to him.

“Okay then, if you ever want to know anything…”

The small malak nods to the older one and together they turn to walk back to the others.

The walk back is silent and more awkward than before but, simultaneously, he feels more at ease. He won’t have to question or speculate about what Eizen and Velvet are doing (in fact, he knows more than he ever wanted to); Magilou can’t very well send him on spying missions if there are no secret relationships for him to spy on.

No, despite the cumulative embarrassment they feel, the blond boy is more at ease than he has been all day. Just as they are about to walk back through the entrance and back to the camp, Velvet grabs Laphicet’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry about earlier,” she says. “You shouldn’t have had to see that,”

He reaches forward and gives Velvet a hug, smiling against her as he does.

“I forgive you,” Laphicet says softly.

He grabs her hand and reaches for Eizen’s to do the same. Together, they walk through the doors.

The others have relaxed since he was here. Eleanor is reading a book by the fire and, nearby, Rokurou prods at the logs. Even Magilou is subdued; she lies sprawled on the ground, her head on Eleanor’s lap as the ex-praetor idly plays with her hair while her feet rest on Rokurou.

The entire scene is oddly domestic. For moment, Laphicet just takes it all in and remembers how lucky he is.

And then the witch spots him, and chaos erupts.

To be fair, for once Magilou isn’t causing the chaos. She simply spots them, nudges Rokurou with her foot, and it’s all downhill from there.

The daemon is upon him in an instant; one-second Laphicet is standing contently with Velvet and Eizen and then suddenly he’s across the room with his face buried in Rokurou’s chest as he is given the most lung-damaging hug of his life.

“Air!” he gasps, pushing on the man’s shoulder desperately.

Rokurou pulls back. “Sorry,” he says sheepishly.

Laphicet takes a gasping breath.

“So, did you three work everything out?” Eleanor tugs on her sleeves in embarrassment despite her best efforts to remain stoic.

“We’re good,” Laphicet reassures.

“Not quite.” Magilou saunters over to them. “You two”—she points an accusing finger—“have something to tell us, isn’t that right?”

Eizen and Velvet look at each other in confusion.

“What?” the daemon asks.

“Oh, so you’ll give the details to a ten-year-old in all their twisted glory but you won’t even tell us that you’re fucking?” Rokurou glares.

“Look.” Velvet  seems to be fed up with the entire thing. “What Eizen and I do is our own business and while Laphicet shouldn’t have had to see that, we don’t owe any of you an explanation,” she says heatedly.

“That being said,” adds Eizen, “yes, we’re fucking. And before you ask, yes, we’re also dating.” His gaze turns hard and challenging, “Does anyone have a problem with that?”

“No one has a problem with it, we just thought you’d tell us, y’know, before the kid had to sacrifice his innocence for answers.” Rokurou crosses his arms.

“It’s okay, Rokurou,”

The war daemon startles slightly. Despite the fact that he’s been talking about Laphicet and has been concerned for his sake, he seems to have completely forgotten about the boy in his hold up until this moment.

“What?”

Laphicet smiles. “They had their reasons. I understand why they kept quiet.”

“But you walked in on them having sex!”

“But that wasn’t the intention,” he explains. “And now that we know, there aren’t any secrets between us.”

Silence.

“Have I ever mentioned how lucky we are to have you, Phi?” Velvet giggles.

The others soon join in, happily laughing away the awkwardness of the day.

And once again, everything is the same. Despite the massive revaluation that two of his closest friends are now more than friends, Laphicet sees very little change within the actual group. The incident is all but forgotten, and Eizen and Velvet aren’t being secretive anymore, although they don’t act any differently. They’re still just as hard on each other and they’re both still blunt and steadfast in their beliefs. They share soft looks or spend evenings alone on occasion, but, considering how Magilou made such a big deal of it in the beginning, nothing has really changed.

Laphicet finds himself selfishly wishing that nothing ever does.

[asidian]

"I don't need to be able to stand. I just need to be able to shoot."

Author’s Note: This was going to have one more scene, but I just couldn’t make it go. Sorry - I hope it works as-is. :)

===

Action Movie Heroes

===

"You're out of your godsdamned mind," says Gladio, and shoves Prompto back down on the narrow camper bed.

Ignis' hand presses to his forehead, cool and firm, businesslike. "He may well be. The fever's up again, I'm afraid."

"I'm fine," says Prompto. 

And he is fine. He's even mostly in one piece, which is more than a lot of other people can say, these days. 

The sun's been gone for eleven months now, and there's not a whole lot left to take its place. There's perpetual dark, and thousands and thousands of dead. There's crops that won't grow, and animals that are gonna kick it in the next few months because there's just no grass to eat, and a canned food supply that's going to give out before they can figure out how the hell to feed themselves, if they don't stay on top of it.

They've been planning this run down to Galdin Quay for two weeks now. They've been planning to pay a visit to Coctura's pantry, whatever's left of it.

So of course Prompto had to go and get his leg smashed by an iron giant outside Longwythe. Of course it had to be bad enough that a potion didn't heal it up all the way. And on top of that – of course – now the damn thing's infected.

That's just the way Prompto's life goes, these days.

"I'm fine," he says again, like he's trying to prove it to himself.

Ignis gives a small huff of disbelief, and Gladio says, "You can't even stand."

"I don't need to be able to stand," Prompto tells him. "I just need to be able to shoot."

Gladio folds his massive arms across his chest and stares down at Prompto like a disappointed parent. "It was a stupid idea when you were up and moving. Now it's damn near suicidal."

Prompto rolls his eyes and pushes himself up to sitting. His leg screams in protest, but he ignores it – levers himself up off the edge of the camper bed. 

He kind of wishes they could spare an elixir, but there's not that many left. The new rule is that the big curatives go to life-threatening injuries only, and this one doesn’t quite meet the grade. It just hurts like hell.

"It's the same," says Prompto. "I was gonna be screwed if anything caught us, anyway. Just drive fast."

Gladio snorts. "Iggy, back me up here."

Ignis says, "The pair of you vetoed anything resembling common sense a long time ago."

"There," says Prompto. "See? Who needs common sense, anyway?"

And he holds out his arms, and he smiles his best, charming grin, and he says, "Now, you guys gonna help me to the truck, or what?"

===

With perfect 20/20 hindsight, Prompto thinks that they really ought to listen to Ignis more.

And that maybe common sense would be worth keeping around. Not, like, a ton of it. Just a little bit. Just enough to whisper to his mind that hey, maybe that terrible plan is going to actually get you killed this time.

Prompto has this thought when the red giant looms over the bed of the pickup truck, close enough for him to feel the heat baking off its sword. He has it again when a hobgoblin jumps up into the truck with him, its tiny clawed feet sounding like a tap-dance on the metal. He has it again when his bullets scream through the night, clearing the daemons from the roadside so that Gladio can drive through the twisting canyon like a frenzied behemoth.

This would've made one hell of a shooting game. If it was in the arcade he and Noct used to hit after class got out in high school, he'd have been all over it.

Would've been a pretty badass action movie, too, come to think of it. It's got all the parts: a car chase, and cool weaponry, and so many daemons the SFX budget would've been through the roof.

But here and now, living it, it's not nearly so cool. Here and now, Prompto's leg hurts so much he wants to puke, and the endless black of the sky's pressing down on him, and for every daemon he shoots down, two more seem to pop up to take its place.

He's never been happier than when the truck squeals into the parking lot at Galdin Quay. 

He hears the doors open – both of them – and Gladio yells, "I'll be less than five minutes."

Then he's gone, and Ignis is pulling himself up into the truck bed beside Prompto. "How is it?" he asks, and Prompto levers himself up so that he can stare out into the perpetual night. 

Daemons are showing up already – drawn by the motion, and their voices. He thinks at first that there's only a half-dozen or so, but then more bubble up out of the ground.

And more. And more. 

"Uh," says Prompto. "We better get busy."

Then he trains his sights on the dark shapes moving in the darkness, and he opens fire.

[xenosgirlvents]

Codex Craftworlds 8th Edition

The Codex has come, lets take a look at it and see what GW has done with the first Xenos Codex of 8th Edition;

I like that the intro bit is written to be just a positive look at the Aeldari/Asuryani, I never enjoyed that both Chaos Codices have their intros written from the perspective of an Imperium faction with; ‘lo! Turn back! Tis foul losers in here!‘ and such as it feeds into the meta-narrative that even players of other factions should always be most concerned with the Imperium instead of their own.

The opening Key Art is well drawn, sure, but dumb as it depicts something that’s never happened with two important characters (Magnus and Eldrad) and since its obvious the Asuryani are going to lose its baffling to put it as the first major artwork in their own Codex.

We then again get lengthy bits on the the Asuryani’s past, basically nothing new worth mentioning, though once again we get this ‘none could challenge them’ fallacy considering we know DAoT humans were just more widespread, powerful and advanced, so GW really just needs to sort their timeline out and get some consistency for a change.

We get info on the Path, little on civilian culture sadly, then we do come to one new piece which is the, apparently mandatory now, ‘how your army is setup’ bit which is fine and introduces some markings and ranking systems and is perfectly adequate.

We then get to a lengthy section per each Major Craftworld; Biel-Tan, Ulthwe, Iyanden, Saim-Hann and Alaitoc. I’m really disappointed with the lack of actual fluff here, its mostly just flavour text again telling us ‘They are X they do Y’ with almost no feats listed at all. Sigh. Sadly, yeah, we again see that if you compare it to, say, the list of feats the individual Chapters got in Codex Space Marines, the Major Craftworlds are renowed really for only 1 thing; getting invaded and losing a lot.

Anyway, each one in detail; Biel-Tan’s gives us a little bit of post-GS Fluff. I’m very happy to see we get confirmation on its fate, its is still intact, but damaged, and is still inhabited, they did not abandon it en masse. Yay! Less happy to see that it’s lost Half its entire population, so now 3/5 of the Major Craftworlds are ‘Shadows of their former selves’ whilst Chapters like Scythes of the Emperor, Crimson Fists and Blood Angels all recover to full strength in hand waves. Sigh. The female Autarch looks nice though.

Ulthwe; they are now the only Major Craftworld specified as being ‘populous’ which is at odds with their former characterization. Then again I guess when already 3/5 are explicitly wrecked they need to make a new one the ‘big one’ to explain why we should even care about this useless faction. Anyway they’ve splintered into three groups; the biggest are just still Ulthwe citizens, a second group’s gone nomadic following exiled Eldrad and the third are just the people following the Ynnari.

Iyanden; they are apparently very united in supporting the Ynnari...which clashes with what was said in Ghost Warrior and makes me wonder why they aren’t Ynnari then. I think I like the art of the Spiritseer and Wraithguard a lot though, its cool.

Saim-Hann’s section is best, gives more insight to them, fleshes them out in a general sense, the Wild Rider Clans, their customs, how they interact with others, relationships with Orks/Necron/Harlequins/Imperium and so on, so very good world building. No events, activities or feats really listed, but still good and, I feel, the best of these exposes.

Alaitoc is mostly nothing new, although we get random info on the Ynnari (this is still the Asuryani Codex isn’t it?), we also learn that most of the Imperium’s knowledge of the Asuryani is because Alaitoc sucks so much that the Inquisition keeps managing to capture their agents and torture them. Go Alaitoc? Not really sure how being told your faction just sucks is great, since we’re given no reciprocal feats of Alaitoc’s to counter it. Ugh. At least Eldorath is not mentioned once.

Then we get mini-pieces on Altansar, Ill-Kaithe, Lugganath, Iybraesil, Yme-Loc (how are you handling being bitch-slapped by the Ad-Mech oh ‘greatest of Vaul’s Smiths’?) and Mymeara in which we are told pretty much nothing worth mentioning which hasn’t been said before.

Now we get to the ‘timeline’ section and I’ll keep track of battles won/lost as well as new fluff.

We start off with a ton of the old normal about the fall of the Empire, little to nothing worth saying about it. We then get the old sections on GC-era Asuryani too.

Our first two battles are Eldrad getting curb-stomped by Fulgrim and Lugganath’s near-death in he Shattering. (1 loss/1 win).

We then get Rasilena mentiond vaguely, but apparently going into detail about the only major Asuryani victory, and their most badass moment ever, over Space Marines would look bad in their own Codex, so it is skipped over. (1 win).

We get more old Fluff in the Ghost Harvest and stuff ripped out of the Iyanden Supplement. (2 wins).

We get the horrible War in the Webway, old as before.

We get one nice expanded bit on when Saim-Hann beat rando Slaanesh Daemon of the week. (1 win).

We get the victory over some Titans again. (1 win). 

We get new Fluff...in which we find the Craftworlds once gathered for a meeting and then started killing each other. G-great. 

We get Eldrad’s big failure on Maedrax again (1 loss).

We get the Death of Gnosis Prime again (1 win/1 loss).

Doom of Malan’tai (1 loss). Is there this much recycled Fluff in the other Codices? I should check sometime, feels like basically nothing new was added.

Perfect War, Iyaden, same old. (1 win).

Clash of Scorpions gets added that after it the Craftworlds purged the followers of Arha.

What is hilarious here is we learn Eldrad made Armageddon 2 happen to save Idharae, and then they just died anyway cause a couple of Space Marines attacked them. Will the inability of Eldrad to achieve anything ever end? Probably not.

In probably the biggest piece of positive Fluff we find out Yriel is insanely successful as a Corsair, though once again GW is okay with it being mentioned that he has stolen ships from pretty much everyone but Space Marines, because I am fast becoming convinced GW literally worships them and would consider it heresy to say poor of them in another faction’s Codex.

Kyaduras makes his ‘we’re screwed’ prophecy and Doom of Iyanden happens. (1 win).

Ulthwe helps drive away Ahriman, old Fluff again. (1 win).

Bio-purge, old. (1 win).

Necron Rising, old, but Alaitoc wins its only battle against Necron ever so good for them. (1 win).

Then we get Altansar back, Cadia Falls, Biel-Tan goes cccracky, Yvraine’s up and Ynnari are here fighting at Iyanden. 

Now we are Post-GS so new Fluff developments. Biggest one; All Craftworlds have been discovered, boarded, and attacked by Daemons. At least Two Craftworlds are probably dead (there must be like 10 Craftworlds in total left by now, with 70% them at least half-dead). (2 losses. 1 win.)

We get told about the Iyanden bout from the Rulebook, nothing new, how does Iyanden even exist anymore? (1 win).

Biel-Tan kills Daemons, I’m beginning to feel that when writing this Codex the authors were like; ‘superiors, we wish to give the faction battles to win against foes!’ and then the heads went; ‘Okay...but only Daemons, no-one else’. (1 win).

We find out the 2nd time the Blood Crusade was fought to a stand still was by five Clans from Saim-Hann...but the other time it took Ghazghkull and the Swarmlord together...and two Vectorums of the Death Guard (not even 1000 men) were able to board and destory part of Saim-Hann while battling their whole fleet...I...do not understand...head hurts...logistics. Anyway more Daemon dead. (1 win).

We get our only example of Asuryani actually manipulating when they release Necron to kill Nurgle Daemons.

We get told a bit about Ulthwe being dumb, then Kairos invades it and Eldrad saves it. (1 win AND a win against a named character...a Daemon...wow this Codex literally only lets Daemons lose).

Then Yvraine has a meeting.

Overall feeling: Could the Asuryani beat someone other than Daemons for a change? If you just make Daemons lose always its just as bad as the Avatar of Khaine, it stops meaning anything if anyone beats them, at this point a kid with a stick could beat an army of Daemons.

Overall tally: 17 wins too 6 losses. Comes out to about 73% which isn’t bad at all. It isn’t Loyalist Space Marine level at all, but its above Chaos/Guard level so honestly I won’t complain about the ratio actually. What I will complain about is the lack of diversity, since its padded out heavily with a ton of wins against Daemons and almost no-one else. In particular not a single victory against Space Marines is mentioned at all.

Named Character wise they beat Kairos and that’s it. Sadly this means nothing as Greater Daemon Characters are almost as weak as the Avatar of Khaine.

Anyway more art then some info on individual units. This section is largely not needing commentary, very little new is told. There is a startling lack of little in-text stories about victories the units achieved, about two in total I think, which is odd. Other than that just lots of lies; Howling Banshees do not stand a chance against dedicated Marine CQC Units, do not believe this Codex, and Eldar Farseers are not great Seers how dare you lie to me like this. Avatar of Khaine just gets generic drivel not mentioning its greatest power; to lose against anything and we get 0 on the Phoenix Lords except now they are apparently so stupid that they once fought each other and Fuegan (characterised as furious, belicose and with an uncontrolled temper) was described as the calm and level-headed one trying to hold everyone back. I don’t even get it anymore ;_;.

Illic is still a nothingburger who’s greatest accomplishment in Fluff is when he failed to do anything and was caught by the Nemesor and saved like a Damsel in Distress by Ko’sarro, way to give Asuryani agency Codex. 

Yriel’s Spear/Cronesword is again killing him and he is still Cursed cause...you expected positive change? What did you think you were reading? A Space Marine Codex? Shame on you.

We’re also again told that nothing in the Webway is as dangerous as the Black Library’s Guardians which is just hilarious since Magnus has been in the Webway and Aeldari never stand a chance against anything Space Marine-related at all. I do wish the Codex wouldn’t lie so much.

We then get a showcase of Miniatures.

Next we’re on to the rules for the Army has a whole and only one thing to note; apparently spending thousands of years mastering and perfecting the art of command and dedicating centuries to the exploration of its every facet in a religious way makes one...just a worse version of what every Ultramarine Chaplain and Librarian is. Great!

For some reason, again, Eldrad is simply not able to Deny as many Psychic Powers as Voldus. I really don’t even know why GW pretends Aeldari are the best Psykers anymore.

I like Warlocks, don’t know why, but they’ve always been so cool to me. They look awesome to me in Art and I wish, considering they are still trapped on the Path of Khaine, they were better individual fighters, as I’d love to actually use them for some cool fighting more often, cause I dig their appearance and lore.

Don’t quite see why Phoenix Lords and the Avatar of Khaine don’t get LD10.

Also weird that Phoenix Lords don’t get a generic Inv Save seeing as GW hands out Inv Saves to HQ’s so much now.

Still dig the Phoenix Lords though, super-cool, but I again must point to this as evidence to those people I meet who insist ‘Phoenix Lords=Primarchs’ because they do not. It is sad, I wish they did, but they just don’t. At best their Chapter Masters and even that’s iffy since most named Chapter Masters could probably easily defeat the Phoenix Lords. Its sad considering each Phoenix Lord has more experience than any Primarch even, but apparently Aeldari just suck that much compared to humans.

Apparently Spiritseers aren’t even as powerful Psykers as Librarians, they are just as good as normal human Psykers. Yeah not realling seeing this ‘we are the best Psykers’ everyone keeps saying.

Banshees are cool, I dig the Exarch’s ability. I also think Iyanden Wraithlords might be pretty cool. 

Then we get Warlord Traits, Craftworld Attributes, Stratagems and a whole bunch of technical stuff which I don’t feel qualified to comment on so I’ll stop here. 

So yeah that’s the Codex in a nutshell. Not sure how I feel right now, certainly I’ll admit I actually expected more, but not sure of my overall feelings. I’ll digest it a bit and compare it to the list I made before to see where I stand and make a decision on whether bothering to continue later. 

One thing that is just a fact, and does honestly disappoint me, is it is becoming clear that GW simply isn’t very willing to let any major Space Marine force ever be defeated in another faction’s codex, but are willing to let Space Marines beat other major factions (just discussing Asuryani alone in the 8th Edition Codices; Alaitoc (twice), Ulthwe and Iyanden have all already been beaten in the Fluff). 

[shioritsumi]

I made Beacon of Light versions of @darqx‘s Battle Priest characters. (BP being her story, BOL being mine.) I’ll give a very brief overview (or as brief as I can make it given how detailed it is) of BOL before I move on to actually describing the characters in this new universe. Be warned, this is a long one. 

BOL: There exist in this universe, three worlds, three planes. Angelus, the celestial plane of eternal light; Grimasce, the infernal plane of neverending darkness; and Luminaria, the world held in balance between light and darkness. Angeleus is home to the Angeleans, beings gifted with an eternal light, and the natural ability to use this light to summon incredible holy magic. The highest magics exist here.

Grimasce is home to the Grimascians, shadowy beings with nearly unparalleled physical skills, and a neverending dark flame that will corrupt those around it. 

Luminaria, however, is home to a wide variety of creatures and peoples capable of adapting to both light and darkness. Once thought of as a paradise where the races may exist in harmony, and the battlefield for the Twilight War when all three worlds came to clash over the possession of this world. 

From this war came six heroes. The Six Heroes of the Twilight War were: -Meroux the Shadow Dragon of Grimasce -Alubella the Witch of Grimasc -Dusk the Trinket of Angeleus -Nuora the Inventor of Angeleus -Arthur Rincinder the Human of Luminaria -Selene the Harpy of Luminaria

These six won the war for Angeleus and Luminaria, fighting off the self-proclaimed Shadow Emperor of Grimasce (He was actually more of a general that went mad with power and had a huge following. The actual King of Grimasce both supported him and hated him. It’s something to cover some other time. Politics.) The victory cost many lives, but brought many new developments to all the worlds. The founding of the Capitol Knights, an elite force of holy knights, the discovery of electricity, new jobs, new approaches to the interactions between the races, and many other things I don’t have time to explain right now.

Because I want to jump into the characters, already. I’ve given you some very brief history of the world. Further descriptions will accompany the characters so I can explain their roles. 

A.E.D. - Human Capitol Knight Like a majority of Capitol Knights, D. did not actually grow up in the poorly named luxury capitol city of Capitol, and entered the Knight’s Academy partially because it was free and allowed him to more easily protect others from potential Grimascian attack. Among the top ranked Capitol Knights, he doesn’t talk much about his own personal life, although the others correctly assume he’s likely an orphan from some village. They’re honestly not surprised, he’s not the only orphan who lost his parents due to some Grimascian attack in the Capitol Knights. He just happens to be the only one of considerable rank. 

Fun fact: Capitol Knights wield luumia swords, made of a special metal from Angeleus that allows a torch (term used by Grimasce and Angeleus for Luminarians) to easily draw on their own light and use holy magic. It is, of course, not recommended for a torch to use too much holy magic as it may damage their light (light being kind of like a combination of the soul and the power source behind the soul) and corrupt them. Capitol Knights are specially trained in Academy in the use of luumia swords, however, so they’d have to be pretty dumb to let that happen. 

Izm - Smote A Smote is a unique race of Grimascian that is known to have endured more than one go around the circle of life, and as such maintains a spark of Light that allows them to shapeshift and blend in with Torches. This made them for ideal spies and scouts during the Twilight War, but when the war ended and the Grimascians were supposed to all retreat, they found they had somehow lost quite a number of Smotes. Turns out, a lot of them didn’t want to go back to being used as pets and spies by their oppressive homeland and would prefer to remain in hiding in Luminaria. Izm is one such smote. They’re capable of passing for human with some slight vitiligo, or even minor Light corruption on off-days, but otherwise may be free to do as they please. And boy ever does Izm do as he pleases. He runs afoul of a certain Capitol Knight rather often, and his identity is either already out to D., or the Knight simply doesn’t care. 

Fun fact: Smotes cannot hide their Dark Flame from Angeleans, OR Capitol Knights, as the Knights are trained to detect Dark Flame, and Angeleans can automatically sense the void of Light from all Grimascians. 

Fun fact 2: Angeleus and Grimasce share a sort of ‘Circle of Life’ that neither of them like. When an Angelean dies, their Eternal Light is extinguished, and it becomes a void of light, which becomes a Dark Flame. Thus turning them into a Grimascian. When a Grimascian dies, their Dark Flame is reignited, turning them into an Angelean. Luminarians have a completely different life cycle and the idea of reincarnation in this way is foreign to them. Memories of previous lives are not kept, except in extreme cases, or Smotes. Smotes are unique in this way and allows them to build up their skills. 

Marcus - Air Cherub Cherubs are a small race of Angeleans, one of the only ones to be genuinely gifted with wings. They are also gifted with support magics, but tend to learn their magics slower than other varieties and be more fragile than others, as well. Marcus has heard it all as both a student as a cherub-he’s cute, he’s small, he’s ‘slow’ (by multiple definitions), but you better believe this cherub can pack a punch with the air spells he’s got. Gust may not be a spell to injure you severely, but it’s going to knock the wind out of you something fierce. (It’s a suckerpunch spell, primarily, one that ALWAYS hits the solar plexus and never misses. Damage, so-so, and it can’t kill, but god it hurts.) 

Fun fact: Angeleans like to pride themselves on having superior education that trains their children in everything they’ll need to know and to prepare them for a life on the outside. The result is Angeleans don’t really leave Nephilime Academy until they’re well into adulthood, and some Angeleans still aren’t sure that’s enough preparation. Older Angeleans often drop out of school because they’re so tired of prep work.

Wei Ren - Wizard Technician Witches are a female-only Grimascian race gifted with mastery over shadow magic and shapeshifting. When they saw this, Angeleans decided they could do that, too...but with light magic. They ended up creating the Wizard race, a male-only Luminarian race gifted with mastery over shadow magic but with limited shapeshifting. (Primarily bc they were created on Luminaria and not the boundless shadowy plane of Grimasce.) Wizards are almost indistinguishable from human torches, save for their natural affinity with magic and sensitivity to light. Technicians arose as a career following the war, when Angelean scientist brought electricity to the forefront as a practical thing. Although much of Luminaria still doesn’t have access to it in their homes, the role of the Technicians is to help spread the field of technology and convince people it’s a good idea. Welcome to fantasy world IT/electronic salesman pitching.

Fun fact: Capitol and some of the lands to the east are the only areas that currently have fully adapted to the newly acquired technology and include electricity, radio, cellular communications, computers, and electric lights everywhere. In most other places, presence of electricity is spotty. 

Zeke -Human Hunter Look, not everyone in the world has magic or special light or dark-detecting powers. Some people are just people who pick up a spear or bow and go out and bring food back at the end of the day. They may not all be good at it, but the common man does still exist. Zeke is that common man. Why are all these people in his village, the most boring village ever? It used to be a refugee village, but that was forever ago. The only special thing he can think about it might be that D. came from the next village over, before he left to attend Academy in Capitol. Why’s the plot HERE? No, really, he’s got some really impressive people in the village square and he doesn’t know WHY. 

Fun fact: No, really, there’s nothing special about Hunters. They’re the food gatherers for villages and smaller towns. They’re like neighborhood watch plus cops plus....hunters. They can be any race, any gender, any origin, all they have to do is bring back food for the town/village at the end of the day so everyone can eat. 

Rire - Vampire Logos Vampires are generally humans whose light has been irreversibly corrupted, either by exposure to extreme darkness, or through Daemonic possession. Once they’ve gone past the point of no return, a Vampire feeds off the leeched Light of those around them, sometimes even seeking out victims to extinguish the Light of entirely to feed their own damaged Light/soul. Some people have sympathy for Imps, newly turned Vampires. Logos? Nah, screw them, they’ve not only been Vampires a while, they enjoy it and pursue their victims deliberately and have pulled themselves together a small following. Rire has avoided being handled by groups such as the Capitol Knights by being very careful with his hunts, possibly making him much more dangerous than you might want to give him credit for.

Fun fact: Daemons are bodiless Grimascians that can overshadow a Torch’s Light and possess their body. They were used as effective spies during the Twilight War, and the resulting vampires used as a sort of sabotage to follow-up any failed spy attempts. Vampirism results from the corruption left behind by the Daemon after they leave the human’s body. With work and dedication, the corruption can be reversed and even cured. 

But let’s be honest, it can’t make you a good person if you weren’t before. 

PHEW! I think I missed a few characters, but these are the main characters, so I’m gonna stick with that. TA DAH!!!

[iamthechocobabe]

May I requests some cute Cor fluff? 💜😎

*Deep deep breath* Okay, I’m trying not to panic. I hope you enjoy this. I honestly feel like it could be better-I had this idea when writing Cor fluff and I was like ‘what’s fluffier? Wedding day or first date?’ I went with first date, but now I’m kinda wishing I went with wedding day. Oh, well, story for another day I suppose. Hope it’s fluffy enough, it kinda got angsty towards the end. Sorry. (｡���́︿•̀｡) Also, I went more tame and didn’t go with NSFW (only slightly) I hope that was okay. 

Tagging the senpais: @themissimmortal @roses-and-oceans @bespectacled-girl  @gladiolus-mamacitia tagging’s being a bitch for me right now so i’ll come back and tag others later. 

Anywhere at AnytimeCorXReaderSFW (with a teaspoon of NSFW in the mix) Word Count: 2,473

When you walked in Cor’s apartment, you knew it was going to be a good night. Not only was the place practically spotless unlike the last time you’d been there (which wasn’t horrifically dirty, but your main concern was the month old Kenny Crow food in the fridge) but there was also a pleasant aroma, your favorite fragrance that you had in your own apartment. Soft and romantic pop music played from a stereo on the counter and the only lighting in the entire apartment were lamps and a few candles on the dining room table. Clearly, your boyfriend had done his research and you couldn’t help but smirk at the adorable lengths he was going for your first official ‘date’. 

But strangely…it just felt off for some reason. You weren’t sure why. 

Well, then the smell from the kitchen hit you and you were instantly distracted. Ignis had clearly given the man some pointers. 

Cor apparently didn’t hear you come in, as he was facing the stove with his back to you, his concentration very clear judging by his stance and occasionally glancing at the open cook book with highlighted tidbits from Ignis in the book. You had seen Cor cook before and he certainly wasn’t the worst cook ever, but he was no Ignis; it melted your heart to see Cor trying so hard to make dinner for you that night. Taking off your jacket to reveal your tight form fitting red cocktail dress, you observed quietly as he kept sighing exasperatedly and muttering to himself on how pink the meat was supposed to be before he took it off the stove and placed it into the oven. 

The marshal, no doubt one of the strongest men in Insomnia-in all of Eos, probably-was worrying if olive oil was supposed to be that color. It was actually pretty adorable. 

But that still didn’t stop you from sneaking up behind the man and yelling 'BOO!’ in his left ear. 

“GAH” One of the many things you adored about Cor was the cute little noises he would make whenever you scared him-the fearless and amazingly strong marshal, who would face daemon’s and all sorts of deadly threats to the Crown City on a regular basis, would sound like a wounded puppy whenever you poked him in the sides, whenever you cried out as you jumped in front of him from behind a corner-your favorite was when you tossed an orange wash rag over the shower curtain and yelled 'FIRE!!' 

Him going into warrior mode and almost body slamming you into the tub wasn’t much of a side effect. You had no regrets. 

Cor immediately tensed and prepared himself for a fight, but when he saw it was you, he began to relax. “I really wish you wouldn’t do that," 

Pouting slightly, you lean against the counter next to the stove and observe the fancy-ish looking meal cooking in separate skillets and one about to go into the oven. "Smells good," 

"Hopefully, it’ll taste just as good,” Cor mumbled in concentration, but the lines in his face were filled with…worry? Cor wasn’t self-conscious, but he wasn’t cocky either-he knew he was strong and he also knew he was capable of many things, but you had never seen him this anxious before. And while it was adorable to see him this worried about doing something sweet for you, it was still just…off. Like something wasn’t right. 

Figuring you were just nervous, you poked Cor in the sides gently to get his attention. “Um, ahem?” you tilt your face over just slightly to show your cheek and neck, an old fashioned trick you had learned in the movies. 

The sigh that came from Cor was deep and sounded mentally exhausting, but he still found the energy to lean over and place a gentle kiss on your cheek. “Sorry, it’s just…this was a lot harder than I thought it would be," 

"Do you want some help?" 

"No, I think I can manage,” Cor’s deep blue eyes were squinted in concentration at the sizzling meat before he moved it over to the small oven dish that contained potatoes, carrots and onions and placed the lid on the dish. 

“Crown City Roast?” You clarified as he moved the dish into the oven. 

“Yeah, I figured-wait,” Cor’s movements froze before he closed the oven and you noticed the worry lines in his face getting deeper and deeper. “Is that okay? Maybe I should have-" 

"Cor,” you interrupted Cor’s anxious rambling by placing your hand gently on his arm and giving him a reassuring smile. “Relax-it’s going to be delicious," 

"I hope so,” The same sigh from before came, but you could see Cor starting to relax a bit and it prompted you to grab the wine bottle on the counter, holding it up with a quirky smile. 

“Would the marshal be requiring a drink?” Faking a posh accent was your way of trying to lighten the tense atmosphere as you began to try and uncork the wine bottle, though unsuccessful as you couldn’t get the screw into the cork. 

“Let me,” Cor tried to reach for the wine bottle and corkscrew in your hands, but you back away against the kitchen island and held up both items tauntingly in front of him.

“Come get 'em,” You teased in a graceful voice, singing the words as you perched yourself against the counter. 

Cor’s chuckling was always sexy, and you felt tingles when he approached you with a particular look in his eyes and grabbed the items from your hands; rather than open the wine bottle, he placed both items on the counter behind you, trapping you in his arms while doing so. 

“Well, aren’t you the little temptress,” Snaking forward, Cor trapped your mouth beneath his and hummed as he tasted the slight fruity taste of the gummy worms you had been snacking on while waiting in traffic. When you felt Cor’s tongue on your bottom lip, you were more than eager to let Cor probe your mouth open with his tongue and you knew when you felt him riding the skirt of your dress up that pretty soon you would be lifted onto the counter-

BZZZZZZZT. A loud buzzing sound made you jump and break away, breathing harshly as Cor cursed softly and turned the buzzing egg timer next to the stove off before moving a skillet off of a lit stove top. 

“Maybe it’s for the best,” You muse as you successfully manage the corkscrew into the wine cork and pull it up. “Wouldn’t want the night to be over too soon, am I right?” You hand Cor his wine glass and wiggle your eyebrows and Cor chuckles once again. 

“Hey,” You lift your hand to Cor’s cheek, below his eyes after you noticed the smile he was giving wasn’t reaching them. “Everything okay?" 

"Rough day,” he mumbled, taking a sip before leading you into the dining room. 

“'Bad Monday’ rough, or 'we should do this some other time’ rough?" 

Cor didn’t answer as he practically collapsed in his chair, set aside his wine glass and pulled you into his lap to trap your in his strong grip. You let it happen, resting your head against his shoulder and breathe in his musty cologne as the smell of dinner wafted into the rest of the apartment. 

"If it was that bad, you could have called and asked to do it another time,” Your suggestion made Cor’s shoulders tense and you put your hands on his shoulders to try and get him to relax. “Cor, I’m serious-I would have understood," 

"I know, I just…I knew how much this means to you and-" 

"Cor, when I said I wanted an official 'date’, I meant anytime would have been fine. It doesn’t have to have a strict schedule," 

"I know, I know…” Cor sighed deeply once again and it probed you to sit up and smooth out his frowning eyebrows. “I think today just threw everyone for a loop," 

"Do you want to talk about it?" 

"I guess…though, this has to stay between us,” When you nodded, Cor bit his lip slightly before starting. “Ardyn Izunia approached the royal court today," 

Your eyebrows dipped downward in confusion of the mention of the name-it sounded familiar, but you couldn’t seem to place it. "Ardyn Izu-” You stop when the memory of who the name belonged to popped into your brain and you look at Cor in shock. “Chancellor of Nifleheim? That Ardyn Izunia??? What did he want?" 

"A peace treaty, apparently,” Cor shifts, giving off an unspoken suggestion that he needed some space to talk and you reach over to grab the other chair, pull it forward and move into it. “Under the condition that Lady Lunafreya and the Prince are wed," 

Your nose is wrinkling, though you’re too busy focused on the information to care. "Uh, all these years and they suddenly want a peace treaty? After they’ve conquered over most of Eos? No offense, but that sounds…sketchy," 

"You’re not the only one who thinks so,” Leaning forward, Cor ran his hand through his hair before taking another sip of wine (well, it was more of a gulp). “Regis and I both think it’s wise to evacuate the city when the peace treaty is signed, but the other council members think it’s unnecessary, as if a betrayal could never possibly happen," 

"Gods,” You whisper softly. “So, what’s going to happen?" 

"The peace treaty is going forth as planned, but Regis and I and a few members of the Kingsglaive are going to approach the council and officially request an emergency evacuation process be put into motion-who knows whether or not that’ll actually fall through, though," 

"Okay, I think I understand why you’re stressed. You sure you don’t want me to come back another time?" 

"I’m sure…we’ve been planning this night for weeks, and not even the Imperial Army could stop this night from happening,” Cor backtracks when you quirk an eyebrow. “Okay, bad analogy," 

You open your mouth to question this when a slight bitter smell reaches your nostrils-sniffing a few times, you bite your lip and feel your stomach drop when you realize what had happened as you gaze at the oven that now protruded thin plumes of smoke. 

"Um, Cor? Not to damper the evening, but…" 

Cor notices your gaze, sniffs a few times, then his eyes go wide as saucers when he realizes what had happened. ”Shit!“ 

The wine glass on the table was knocked over in the process as he raced over to the oven and yanked the roast out with a towel and placed it on the stove top. Using the towel to waft the smoke away, Cor groans when he sees the now burnt roast and you approach him to give emotional support. 

"I put the oven on too high…” Cor mumbled miserably as you reached over to the stove top where the risotto he had been making was cooking. 

“Well, we at least have-” You stop when you noticed the risotto was completely soupy and bubbling-he had put too much water in with the rice. “Oh…that’s unfortunate," 

"Fucking, inconsistent fuck-” Cor slammed the towel into the sink and hissed every curse word he could think of under his breath and damned every God in Eos as you shrugged casually. 

“Never a bad night for pizza?” You suggested, but withered under Cor’s intense gaze. “Bad time?" 

"I just wanted-fuck, the one night we have and now-" 

"Cor, it’s not a big deal-" 

Cor reached under a cabinet for some air freshener before kicking the cabinet door shut and you winced when you heard the wood splintering. "It is a big deal, alright? It’s just…Gods, this is ridiculous. How long have we been dating?" 

"Six months,” You mention immediately, though blush a little when Cor quirks an eyebrow at you. “…give or take," 

"That’s a long time to go without an official 'date’," 

"It actually isn’t that big of a deal, Cor,” You approach Cor, smoothing the worry lines out of his face. “I know I’m the one who insisted we have a date, but I really don’t care where we go or what we do or when it happens. We knew our schedules would be hectic and wouldn’t have that much time for each other when we started dating-and if you ask me, when we are able to make time, it’s pretty damn good," 

Cor swats your hands away, grunting his frustration out through his nose-it was an odd sound. "I don’t want to just see you to occasionally have sex-I want to be able to spend time with you, alright? I want to see you, talk to you, compare stupid shit we did when we were younger, and now-" 

"Cor,” The flat palms of your hands are now on both of Cor’s cheeks as you made him make eye contact with you. “What makes you think having a fancy dinner over candlelight is essential for a good time for me? What makes you think just chowing down on pizza and watching a movie afterwards isn’t a good date? I’ll take what I can get, Cor, because guess what? As long as I’m with you, our date could be in one of the Royal tombs and I’d still be a happy camper…" 

When Cor gives you an odd look, you wince once again. "Please don’t make a trip to the tombs a date though, please?" 

Laughter ripples through Cor as he tugs you closer, squeezing you for a tight bear hug and you almost don’t notice the tears now on your scalp. "I’m so…the Empire’s going to betray us. Everyone seems to know this, yet no precautionary measures are being taken. What am I going to do if I can’t be there to protect you that day? I-" 

"Cor,” You interrupt once again and kiss his cheek. “You’re thinking too hard about this-we don’t know for sure if the Empire’s going to attack or not. For now, we’ll take this just one day at a time, okay? So, let’s just enjoy what time we do have together and order some fucking pizza. I’m hungry," 

Chuckling and finally releasing the tense atmosphere around him, Cor reached for his cellphone and made the order while you helped clean up the ruined dinner. 

The rest of the night was spent washing dishes while waiting for the pizza and then playing cards on the couch with wine while casually talking about the most random things, Cor’s work, your childhood, etc. Out of all of the first dates you’ve had in your life, this was by far the best out of all of them. 

Because Cor was there-and as long as he was there, it was going to be a good time. 

[pyrocicle]

Muse Interview

Answering for four verses; Red’s, Daemon’s, trioverse, and chessverse.

Tagged by: @abrokenheartdisease​

Tagging: steal it fam

1. WHAT IS YOUR NAME?

“Dove.”

2. WHAT IS YOUR REAL NAME?

"Devroye.”

“Dove.”

“Dove Jenni Dreemurr.”

“Dove Dreemurr.”

[They all started out as Jenni Lee Michaels, but circumstances caused their names to change--]

3. DO YOU KNOW WHY YOU WERE CALLED THAT?

"yep! Red and Boss ended up naming me while we were figuring out Puppy - Theano’s - name.”

“pretty sure it’s the hair.”

“I was originally named for my grandmother - my middle name now. after His Majesty learned Mema adopted me he sort of insisted on doing the same, officially, and felt it was appropriate to use my chosen name as my official name.”

“when Her Majesty an’ Papa adopted me, since I didn’t officially exist, we just went with the name I use the most instead of the old one.”

4. ARE YOU SINGLE OR TAKEN?

"eeeeehn... HEY RED, ARE WE DATING OR WHAT? ... a’ight, dating but probably open-ish, question hasn’t actually come up” @starsgivemehp​

“eheheh, I have my puppy, so...” @abrokenheartdisease​‘s Daemon

“I gots m’bois~” @direfrail​

“single.”

5. HAVE ANY ABILITIES OR POWERS?

"a few cheap tricks - I can create barriers, use some divination, and I’m a pyromancer”

“due to the familiar bond, I have access to watered-down versions of Daemon’s powers”

“yep! I make bombs. and also help out with researching ways to break the barrier”

“eeeeehn... a few. most of them aren’t particularly useful here”

6. STOP BEING A MARY SUE/GARY STU.

"bite me.”

“I’m gonna eatchu~”

“escuse?”

“so’s yer fave.”

7. WHAT’S YOUR EYE COLOR?

“pale blue, almost white”

8. HOW ABOUT YOUR HAIR COLOR?

"white”

9. HAVE YOU ANY FAMILY MEMBERS?

"an extensive family on the surface. the skellies an’ Mema down here”

“my puppy?”

“m’bois, Puppy, Sparrow (bravery kid), Nicola (monster kid), an’ Elba (Albinoy, li’l skele girl)! Mema and Father. an extensive family on the surface. ”

“the bros, Puppy, Papa and Mother.”

10. OH? WHAT ABOUT PETS?

"does Catpurnicus count?”

“... my puppy.”

Trying and failing to keep a straight face before doubling over and laughing, pointing at herself.

“... six cats.”

11. THAT’S COOL I GUESS, NOW TELL ME ABOUT SOMETHING YOU DON’T LIKE.

"Red judgin’ m’eatin’ habits”

“not always bein’ up to runnin’ Daemon”

“but I know exactly what it feels like to have a voice in the back of my mind--”

“... I miss my mom.”

12. DO YOU HAVE ANY HOBBIES/ACTIVITIES YOU LIKE DOING?

"singing, dancing, making explosives...”

13. EVER HURT ANYONE BEFORE?

"yep.”

14. EVER….KILLED ANYONE BEFORE?

"shockingly, no.”

15. WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL ARE YOU?

"dragon!”

“frumious bandersnatch”

“a li’l bird, apparently”

“dragon!”

16. NAME YOUR WORST HABITS.

“pyromania.”

[she’s also paranoid.]

17. DO YOU LOOK UP TO ANYONE AT ALL?

"... Red. Boss. they’ve got better morals than I do”

“not anymore”

“nnnnnhhhhhh...” wiggly hand. Kinda, not really.

“Mother. Papa. Prise and Legall.”

18. GAY, STRAIGHT, OR BISEXUAL?

"screw the gender binary in any and all forms, I’m fuckin’ pan.”

19. DO YOU GO TO SCHOOL?

"I did. had almost gotten my AA” - First three

“yeah, workin’ on my bachelor’s degree.”

20. DO YOU EVER WANT TO MARRY AND HAVE KIDS ONE DAY?

"NO.”

21. DO YOU HAVE ANY FANBOYS/FANGIRLS?

"nope.”

22. WHAT ARE YOU MOST AFRAID OF?

"... not seeing mom again”

“not being enough for Daemon”

“not being enough to save them”

“... I dunno”

23. WHAT DO YOU USUALLY WEAR?

"coat, sweater, pants, boots”

“coat, tank top, pants, boots”

"coat, sweater, pants, boots”

“tank top, shorts, boots or formalwear”

24. DO YOU LOVE SOMEONE?

"considerin’ we just made the whole datin’ thing official, I think it’s a li’l early to be throwin’ the L word around”

“yep~ my puppy is my precious starshine~”

“yes~! see every name on my family list, I ain’ repeatin’ that with qualifications.”

Irritated look and silence.

25. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WET YOURSELF?

"gross.”

26. WHAT CLASS ARE YOU? (HIGH CLASS, MIDDLE CLASS, LOW CLASS)

"ghhhh... I’m not worried about that right now?”

“we’re currently homeless worldhoppers, does this really need more of an answer??”

“I’m a working princess, take a fucking guess.”

27. HOW MANY FRIENDS DO YOU HAVE?

"... more than ya’d expect?”

“good question...?”

“a lot!! it’s exhausting sometimes.”

“a pretty decent amount. I don’t have a lot of time to spend with them, unfortunately, but I try”

28. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PIE?

"pieeeeee! second only to caaaake~”

29. FAVORITE DRINK?

"cherry juice-- STOP LAUGHING, I DIDN’T MEAN THAT.”

“pomegranate juice”

“strawberry soda”

“mint tea”

30. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE PLACE?

Shrug.

“the hidey-hole”

“Sidi’s lap. shut up.”

“my goddamn room, not that I’m ever THERE.”

31. ARE YOU INTERESTED IN SOMEONE~?

"Already with someone.” - first three

“...” nervous cough. “maaaybe.”

32. WHAT’S YOUR BRA CUP SIZE AND/OR HOW BIG IS YOUR WILLY?

"32 F”

33. WOULD YOU RATHER SWIM IN THE LAKE OR THE OCEAN?

"neither, rivers and streams for the win!”

34. WHAT’S YOUR TYPE?

"I don’t have a specific type because i have several types.”

35. ANY FETISHES?

"lots. I like rope and chastity and breathplay and--”

36. SEME OR UKE? TOP OR BOTTOM? DOMINANT OR SUBMISSIVE?

"switch.”

37. CAMPING OR INDOORS?

"INDOORS.”

38. ARE YOU WANTING THE QUIZ TO END?

“bast’s pinking tits, yes.”

[jamesmcphee30]

Penny Pinching With Open Source

You might have seen this Register article this week which summarized a Future:Net talk from Peyton Koran. In the article and the talk, Peyton talks about how the network vendor and reseller market has trapped organizations into a needless cycle of bad hardware and buggy software. He suggests that organizations should focus on their new “core competency” of software development and run whitebox or merchant hardware on top of open source networking stacks. He says that developers can use code that has a lot of community contributions and shares useful functionality. It’s a high and mighty goal. However, I think the open source part of the equation is going to cause some issues.

A Penny For Your Thoughts

The idea behind open source isn’t that hard to comprehend. Everything available to see and build. Anyone can contribute and give back to the project and make the world a better place. At least, that’s the theory. Reality is sometimes a bit different.

Many times, I’ve had off-the-record conversations with organizations that are consuming open source resources and projects as a starting point for building something that will end up containing many proprietary resources. When I ask them about contributing back to those projects or finding ways to advance things, the response are usually silence. Very rarely, I hear that the organization sees their proprietary developments as a “competitive advantage” that they are going to use to either beat a competitor or build a product that saves them a significant amount of money.

The analogy I like to use for open source is the “Take A Penny” dish that many businesses have next to their cash register. The idea is that people can contribute something small to help out others. If someone needs a penny or two to help make payment for a good or service, they can take one. If they have a few left over they can give back. It’s a way to give back a little now and then.

However, there are a couple of types of people that skew the trend for the penny dish. The first is the person that gives back much more than the norm. That person might put a quarter in the dish or put in four or five pennies at every dish they find. They contribute above the norm often and give a lot. The second type of person takes quite a few pennies from the dish and never gives back. They may see the dish as “free money” to be used to augment their own. They don’t care if all the pennies are gone when they finish just as long as they got what they needed out of it.

Extend this metaphor into the open source community. There are quite a few contributors that put in significant time and effort in their projects. They may have found a way to do it full time or may be paid by their company to participate in projects. These folks are dedicated to the cause.

On the other side of the metaphor are the people and organizations that take what they want from open source and never give back. They never contribute to the project, even if their enhancements are needed and welcome. They take a free or inexpensive starting point and use it to build a product that could be used internally to give the organization an advantage. The key here is that it’s something used internally. The GPL covers distribution of software that is based on GPL code, but it’s not really clear about what happens if that software is consumed internally. An enterprising developer may say to themselves, “As long as I don’t sell it, I don’t have to give my code back.”

Networking For Pocket Change

There are quite a few open source networking projects out there. Quagga, BiRD, and Open vSwitch are great examples of projects that have significant reach and are used by a lot of companies to build great products. However, imagine what would happen if no one gave back to these projects. Imagine what would happen if contributors decided to make their own BGP daemons or OVS-like program and use it without regard for helping others in the community.

Open source software needs developers willing to contribute back to the project. If networking is going to embrace open source projects as Peyton suggested in his talk, it’s going to take a lot more contribution than quiet consumption. Whether or not you agree with the premise that networking vendors are corrupt and evil you do have to concede that they’ve given us mostly stable protocols like BGP and OSPF. These same vendors have contributed ideas back to the standardization process to improve protocols like spanning tree and power over Ethernet. Their contributions helped shape what networking is today.

If the next generation of software based network developers wants to embrace and extend these contributions with open source, they’re going to need to be transparent and communicate with the project leads. They’re also going to need to push back when someone high up the food chain sees the development process as a way to gain an advantage and try and keep it all secretive. If developers aren’t going to give back to the community it negates the advantages of open source and instead takes us back to the days of networks being one-off creations that have no interoperability beyond a few protocols. Islands in a sea of home-grown lava.

Tom’s Take

As anyone that attended Future:Net within earshot of me can attest, I wasn’t overly thrilled with Peyton’s take on the future of networking. I have some deep seeded reservations about the “screw the vendors, build it all yourself” mentality that is pervading organizations today. Not everyone is a development shop. Law firms and schools don’t employ software engineers regularly. If you want to transform those types of users into open source adherents, you need to lead the pack by giving back and talking about what your doing with open source. If you’re not willing to lead the way, stop telling people to take the fork in the road.

from martinos https://networkingnerd.net/2017/09/15/penny-pinching-with-open-source/

[bohemian-nights]

"Such reasons are Ryan's self-insert, Aemond"

Where did this come from? Ryan mentioned Ramsay and the Mountain in the same sentence with Aemond and hinted that Aemond will reach their level in villainy lmao. Aemond is framed as a villain in most of his scenes as adult (at least in the scenes with the Strongs). Ryan talked about his love of Aegon 2 but I don't remember him saying that about Aemond. And he seems to really love Rhaenyra and Alicent, why do people act like Aemond is his fav because he is more complicated than he is in the book so far? He killed Luke accidentally, but the showrunners literally did a similar thing with Cole and Beesbury, and Alicent crowns Aegon by a misunderstanding. Most characters were whitewashed, not just Aemond, even Daemon was whitewashed and has been made much cooler cause he is not a pedo for starters, he is obsessed with his brother, not just power-hungry like in the book, and he is shown as the most badass character in many scenes, like at the Stepstones or in the scene with Vermithor that exists just because.

😬 Respectfully I’m going to have to disagree.

Ryan says a lot of stuff, but I tend to look at actions rather than words because words are ultimately meaningless(especially in regards to this show)

I like Aemond, but in book canon, he is quite something. I straight up dislike Rhaenyra and think that everything that happened to her in the end was deserved(I will be cheering Aegon on when does her in), but even I would will admit he’s misogynistic towards her(he's the one who should be calling her a whore and not Ser Vaemond).

He’s never bullied in the books for not having a dragon(adding that in the show feels like a justification for his behavior; the strong boys keep taunting him so of course he’s going to defend himself). Obese Gollum (aka book!Viserys) literally offered to take him to Dragonstone to find a dragon egg, but he didn’t feel a dragon egg was good enough when he could have Vhagar.

He’s arrogant as hell while in the show it seems like he was a bullied kid who was trying to stick it to his bullies.

The Cole and Beesbury(let’s be honest no one cares about him) thing isn’t really a good comparison.

Originally they were going to keep Luke’s death book canon but somewhere in production, it got changed to it being an accident on Aemond’s part. I suspect that the reason why this was is because Luke is Missy Anne’s beloved son.

Having Aemond kill him in cold blood(especially when Luke is so small in comparison) makes him look outright villainous rather than settling an old debt.

So taking all of that into account if Ryan was going to make him into a psychopath he’s already failed at that and I doubt Aemond will ever reach Ramsey and Mountain levels. (Nor should he because Aemond, even book Aemond who should be in therapy, isn’t an actual psychopath like the other two).

There are some key moments where they could’ve worked in Aemond being two seconds away from a genocidal manic, but all they’ve shown is a boy who loves his mama, a victim of ostracization, bullying, and parental neglect.

I really do get your point, because in a way everyone on this show has kinda been screwed over, including Aemond, but I think that with Aemond they tried to make him into someone you would root for despite his oopses.

All I will say about the Aegon situation is that you don’t make characters you love into outright rapists when you are trying to humanize them and make them likable. They could’ve taken out the rape bits and shown him as a man boy struggling to deal with parental neglect so he’s turned to alcohol to cope. It’s not perfect, but people can empathize with that. However him being a rapist is where most people will draw the line. Ryan may not have said he loved Aemond, but he did a lot more to mellow him out than he did for Aegon.

In regards to Daemon, he definitely has not been whitewashed. If anything he has been made worse. He’s still shown to be a pedo(creeping on Rhaenyra ashen she’s 15) getting with someone he considers a child(Laena cause she’s even younger than Miss Maegor). He killed his first wife in cold blood, neglected Laena(who was his most beloved wife in the book), and choked out Missy Anne.

Let’s not forget that Nettles, the person whom he loved without an ulterior motive, who shows he cares for more than just the throne and isn’t just a heartless Valyrian supremacist, is MIA.

He’s also the voice of reason on the Black council and isn’t just trying to rush into war, but that was axed in favor of Let’s attack the Greens because they killed my walking corpse of a big brother🤪

All the good parts of Daemon have been stripped away to make him into the big bad man(so far). I won’t disagree that Daemon has been shown as a badass in the show, but he’s a badass in the books as well(ex. Six men or Sixty; The Battle Above the Gods Eye; challenging Laena’s betrothed to a duel and winning her hand, etc).

That’s literally the only thing they haven’t taken away from him.

Being a badass is great and all, but that’s not a positive trait(How many villains can you name that are badass? Darth Vadar anyone? Scar, Thanos, The Joker), especially when you combine it with all the other stuff Daemon has done.

He’s not just supposed to be a badass brute. He has a personality. Ryan Condal is severely limiting him.