the stars

Robin - Cambion - 29 - Neptune's Fleet

[incubusnero]

Nero looked down at the crimson hand imprinted on Robin's chest and firstly, he had to look away briefly, lest he think something unchaste. Secondly, he knew it was important, and maybe thirdly, he didn't doubt that Robin was someone with a real purpose in this world. "Well if it makes you feel any better, you're already my hero." Tipping his head down to rest his forehead to the pirate's and offers a silent plea to Cupid of all people. Please don't let anything happen to this one. "I've been thinking that you're a lot more human than demon, you know." It's quiet, the fingers of his right hand tracing the outline of the brand on Robin's chest. A risky move, but his admiration for Robin outweighed any of that and the doomed weepy voice at the back of his head told him he didn't deserve him. "Figured that's something you think about, thought I'd weigh in."

[robinxofxstars]

"That's fucking corny," Robin couldn't help but laugh, despite the earnest thought behind Nero's voice. He knew it was sincere from the incubus, he knew that they were far along enough in this relationship to whisper such things to each other, but it still made him worry. He was only as good as his demonic side let him be. "I shouldn't be anyone's hero, babe. I really shouldn't."

He looks down at the hand on his chest, of Nero's admission thinking that there was more humanity ingrained in Robin than he let on. Perhaps that were true, but also – it was a thought escaped him often. "Why do you think that? We're both – well, something that makes it all a little easier is...we share that."

[hiddenvaldis]

“Who knows, maybe you got a lucky break or something,” she shrugs. The likelihood of just anyone knowing what the fuck was going on were low, but never zero. And in cases like this, it was better to ask than to not. “Well, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right? If whatever this shit is ends up threatening Caribella, I am sure we captains could reach an agreement.”

Or they can kill whoever doesn’t and absorb their armada, that works too.

[robinxofxstars]

"You'd think..." Robin wasn't so sure, not when there were all these captains that would more likely want to be the leader of all the armadas – nothing would get done if they all split the leadership. "Something tells me that you'd rather stab yourself in the neck than listen to Elokian give you orders." Elo was the most experienced, the one who'd been around the longest, but making friends wasn't his strong suit.

[vuldak-juneau]

who: @robinxofxstars where: Caribella when: I'll let you decide if it's during current plot drop or before since Caribella is tied up in there notes: this might be the worst starter I've ever written but it's started. It will get better :' )

Making friends with Robin seemed as likely as it was unlikely. They were similar–both thieves, both having possessed darkness within their blood–and they were dissimilar–a pirate and a thieves’ guild member, a born cambion and a born-then-dead-then-born-as-a-demon-and-killed-again-but-mircaulously-alive-again-vuldak. What a pair they made. But Juneau had passed time with far worse company. 

The least Juneau hoped for was that Robin was doing better now than he had been at Lupercalia. She remembered the drunken stupor she had found him in and the ways he talked circles about some heartbreak or another that was immediately apparent despite his best intentions. Much had happened since that night in Haven during which she doubled down on holding Robin to his promise of some sort of little adventure. Good things, bad things, positively dreadful things! At least now it felt safer for Juneau to venture to an island without fear of burning to a crisp if the boat sunk. Still, she preferred it didn’t–she’d had quite enough of sinking ships in the past few months. 

“How far away is Caribella again?” she questioned Robin, squinting into the sunlight on the horizon. She had never been there before, and all she had to guide them once they got there was a questionable map she’d traded another member of the thieves guild for. They insisted it was a genuine artifact, but it felt like a wild goose chase to her. She hoped Robin wouldn’t be angry if it ultimately amounted to documenting a trail to nowhere and nothing, Luckily, Robin was quite familiar with the island.

[robinxofxstars]

Robin leaned against the side of the ship, though he made sure Juneau stayed a decent amount away. He knew what water would do to those like her and Nero, and the rest of the world was no more privy to it. Still, the ship was his to run at the moment, Elokian off on the mainland, and he only smiled at his friend, "Not too far. We get past the wards soon, to keep all those who think they can stop us out." He could see the shoreline approaching, but he wasn't sure if this was the big adventure Juneau was going to be hoping for.

The barrier had shimmered, it had done something, and he wondered if she felt the same thing he had. The red hand on his chest, something visibly beneath the see through linen he wore, "Hopefully this map of yours is actually somewhat accurate. I'll be able to help, but if they fucked you over, then we'll have to find them and just...kill them."

[incubusnero]

Nero chuckled softly, not missing the way the light catches the shine on Robin's eyes. Something in his cold, dead heart aches at the idea that for all of his traveling, the sea was a secondary home to the island. Caribella was supposed to be safe and yet the rumbling below proved otherwise. Arms wrapping around the cambion's middle, he presses a kiss to his forehead, trying to think of anything to say that would ease him. "You know I'll do whatever I can to keep you safe. Even if that means sailing all over Taravell." But where would they go? And then it occurred to him. "We can stay and fight." Nero says softly into the cambion's curls. Caribella was supposed to be safe for Robin, it was his home, he didn't want to see anything tarnish that. "Haven has stayed and fought time and time again and won, maybe it's our turn."

[robinxofxstars]

Robin didn't want anyone to fight for him. To die for him. To do anything remotely akin to dangerous in support of him and this cause that he'd decided to finally to commit to. The hand on his chest, some unfamiliar pull – yet at the same time, it felt right. He didn't understand it all, or what it meant, but he wasn't going to ignore it. Couldn't.

He looked down at his shirt, tugging some of the laces on the linen to show part of the red hand – "I think I have to answer whatever call this is. Or I'll end up with...nothing and no answers."

[scornfulcalypso]

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY LOLO @robinxofxstars

i love you so much. you are a delight. you are a sinnamon roll and i love all of your twinks that you bring in. you're such a phenomenal writer and world builder, you know how to have a good laugh but i love your spicy side too, i'd be in your hype squad and batting for your team any day. thank you for sticking with us throughout changing timezones and for being my pal for all these years.

[hiddenvaldis]

who? @robinxofxstars where? A random shop in Caribella

“There is something in the water,” she comments, siding next to Robin and examining the merchandise with narrowed eyes. Something has misaligned in Caribella, but for the life of her she can’t figure out what exactly. It’s annoying to return to her one true refuge and find it in a disbalance. Almost as if everything had shifted an inch or two to the right, towards the edge of the precipice. It doesn’t feel dire, not just yet, but it is abnormal, even within the oddities inherently found in the island. “Something no Armada put there. Have you heard anything from the druids?”

[robinxofxstars]

"Yeah, from the druids I have in my pockets? They told me all about the Kraken beneath the waves." Robin wiggled his fingers, clearing joking as he leaned back into his seat. "I have not a fucking clue. All I know, is the Armadas don't even get along. How are we supposed to survive this kind of shit?"

[incubusnero]

Nero wants to rise to his feet and close the short gap between them to take Robin's face in his hands at the sight of the smile. There's nothing to smile about at the moment, not really, but he knows why it's there, it's the same reason his own lips quirk at the corners. But he stays seated, his lips pursed as he mulls over what he'd been told in the last couple of days. "We all knew something would eventually happen in Eterna." The threat had been hanging around either side of them for months, he knew eventually he'd have to pack up and leave home for his own safety, he just hadn't thought it'd be so soon. "My question is what's happening here the Blight or something else and then I guess we figure what we consider the lesser of two evils." That does get him up on his feet, his fingers carding through messy curls the moment his chest bumps to Robin's toned physique. "Please tell me you didn't get the whole 'can't swim' thing. Because I'd much rather tell you that I'm willing to sail to the ends of the Earth with you if it means you could save me from drowning."

[robinxofxstars]

Robin leaned into the touch, searching Nero's gaze. He leaned forward, pressing a kiss against the incubus' mouth. He pulled away after a moment, turning towards the small window in the cabin of the ship. "I'm not really...the best for this." He admitted, though if anyone would understand him, it'd be the demon. "I feel...the Blight. Like I'm...supposed to be doing something else. Not fighting it. But just...being there." The ship itself was warded against his presence, it was just one of those things Elokian ensured to hide him. "I make people ill wherever I go, Nero." He is back at Nero's side, feeling the other's hand in his curls, "Fuck off. You can't even go into water," he breathed with a small smile, the wet shine of his eyes easy enough to push back. "I just don't know what to do. Caribella is my home."

[incubusnero]

Person: @robinxofxstars Location: Caribella The thing about Caribella was that Nero had thought it was relatively safe, especially while he was amongst pirates. And yet the noise was more rancorous than usual, the shanties taking on something else. It sounded like mourning and Nero sat there on the edge of Robin's bed within his quarters on the docked ship with a knee drawn up to his chest. And he just listened, actually soothed by the sounds of the water despite it's rumbling. When Robin's steps cross the threshold into the room, he doesn't move, just looks to his partner with his lips drawn into a thin line. "What do you think is safer at the moment, land or sea? Because I'm having doubts." Which was his way of saying 'save me, beautiful pirate'.

[robinxofxstars]

He was feeling...conflicted. The red hand on his chest hadn't reared up in a while, slightly dormant from his dream that he'd been pulled into all those months ago to fight a creature that he'd never seen before. Elokian had told him something about his legacy, but there was more to it all. He couldn't ignore it. Wouldn't. His normal easy going nature was muted as he walked onto the ship. The crew stopped to greet him, but the cambion was feeling his darker thoughts consume him for longer and longer. The earthquake on Caribella was probably just the beginning, and now Nero was here. He could only do so much to protect them. "I'm not sure about either," he admitted finally, pushing a smile onto his face for the other. "Have you heard anything? Gossip about anyone? Anywhere?"

[ryujinseaborn]

"My father was well respected in Caribella, that was enough for him," he knew Robin hadn't meant the implication of being unknown as a dig, but of course Ryu was prideful enough to garner some offense. "Elvhen drama isn't much of your business, but it's as fucked up there as Caribella can be on a rowdy Saturday night," he snickered at his own comment, but the favor had not been done out of the kindness of his own heart, Ryu had dirt on Kesor though it was stuff he couldn't wholly prove as of yet. "Well, they owe me for it all, so if there's something special you can think of I'll be sure to ask for it," a teasing offer.

[robinxofxstars]

He grinned a bit more as Ryujin defended himself. Of course Robin knew that hadn't been the case, but the faiman rose easily to the jab, and the cambion loved to poke and prod his friend. "Well respected? Isn't it more fun to be disrespected?" He laughed, picking up his drink and finishing it off before starting on another, "Okay, so they owe you. You finished the job. What was your reward? A favor?"

[hiddenvaldis]

who? @robinxofxstars where? The Hanged Man, Caribella

“So, how is old Elokian doing?” She asks with no prompting as she sits next to Robin, sliding a glass of ale towards him as she settles comfortably on the wooden chair. Taking a sip from her drink, she considers the man before her for a moment. Valdís likes him a great deal more than his captain, so she sighs and waves her hand. “Nevermind, don’t answer that. How are you doing? Shit has been happening one after the other lately, and with the teleporter now in service the atmosphere over here is tense.”

[robinxofxstars]

"You actually worried about him or are you just...curious to see how your ship fared in your absence?" Robin gave a wry smile, tilting his head now as he looked at Valdis. He picked up his own drink, though she changed the subject once again, and he went with the flow. "I'm fine. I'm always fine, y'know?" Despite the handprint on his chest and the fact that he knew so little about it. "You went to the tower. Are you one of them now?"

[incubusnero]

"She waits." Just as he waited at port's for Robin to return, the relation isn't lost on him. Tilting his head, he presses a kiss atop Robin's curls and tries not to get too lost in the symbolism of it all. "But they always come back to each other and all things considered, I think their relationship is pretty solid, as tumultuous as it can be." Nero was on a boat, he was on a boat for more than a day or two's worth of travel. That was progress, and there were moments where he actually thought he sort of understood it all, being out at sea. Shifting his weight so the two of them are leaning against one another a bit, his eyes left the cambion to glance to the sea, he takes in the waves and his hand finds Robin's at the railing only to cover it with his own. "It's always been here for you, hasn't it? The sea."

[robinxofxstars]

"Sounds lonely," Robin admitted after a moment, like Nero might rethink the idea if it meant that the cambion was always out and away at sea, unable to return. Even so, water was dangerous for Nero – confined to bathhouses and other things, he'd never be able to enjoy the ocean like Robin did. "It and Elokian are all I have. Or – used to be all I had. There are others, now. More that have joined us. And I have you."

[incubusnero]

"Well, she's independent, she can't be controlled." He tips his head back into the touch, not just Robin's hand in hair but to the breeze as well. It's not so bad, being at sea, not like this. He's still convinced he's going to wind up somehow irrationally sinking to the bottom of the ocean and that there's actually some kind of entryway to the abyss in its depths, but still. "I always thought," Arms crossed over his chest and hip cocked against the railing, Nero's eyes leave Robin's form to look to the water lapping gently at the edges of the ship. "There had to be something between the sea and the moon. That maybe the moon called to her. Quite a bit of push and pull between the two." And yet they'd fallen into some kind of rhythm, they had to. His hand on the railing found Robin's, fingertips brushing the pirate's knuckles.

[robinxofxstars]

"We have that in common," Robin's grin was wry, something about his past that sang with the tune of the ocean. While he had hellfire in his veins, while he was prone to the dark, the ship itself had to be somewhat warded against his Blighted presence, he didn't think twice about it. Elokian had never made him think twice about it. Still, his parentage remained not exactly a mystery, but lacking enough details that Robin felt like he'd never really explained why he felt like he was chained to this ship as much as he felt like he owned it. Nero was terribly romantic, and Robin leaned his cheek against the other's shoulder as he listened, "What happens when the moon has to go?"

[ryujinseaborn]

Avalon was this false hope, a construction of some flimsy barrier to separate himself from his fate. Salvation, however, would not come for someone like him; even if he deserved the position from birth right alone or from his own talent; his wish had pushed the score and none could ever know the truth. The devil who granted this, however, was keen to flip the entire table; volatile and demanding, equipped with threats. Ryu had tried to separate himself from the Leviathan, the crew; but it was in his blood, and he could not simply abandon Caribella, no matter how true such threats became. "I did actually," Ryu grinned in an almost conspiratorial manner, "That infamous gladiator," did he really have to mention them by name for Robin to know? "-His sister all but demanded it and I don't really mind having a noble family in my debt."

[robinxofxstars]

"Look at you. Becoming famous by association. No one really knew the captain of the Leviathan anyway. Not until you pulled the infamous gladiator out. Let me guess – Dior?" Robin knew his name. Who didn't? He always went to Eterna, often enough to get banged beneath the stands of the gladiator stadium, "Oh. So you were hired for a rescue mission? You went to Avalon and got yourself a job? I'm never, ever, letting you forget this."

[incubusnero]

"That's beautiful, actually." He doesn't even have a snappy retort to it and he has to stop himself from leaning against the railing and swooning. He does turn though to be able to see Robin better though and it's not the first time he'd seen him on a ship, but it's different this time. It's not as he rolled in on Neptune's Fleet to the docks of Eterna and in the moment, Nero thinks he understands just a bit more. He's always gorgeous, but there's something about the smell of sea salt in the air and seeing the wind blow through those curls as the sounds of the waves provide a constant soundtrack. It's something out of a romance novel, the way the fabric of the cambion's shirt ripples in the breeze. "Magic is unpredictable, the sea's got her own rules, I suppose." Rather simple ones now that he thinks about it. Leaning his elbows back on the railing, he looks sideways to Robin and allows himself a wistful sigh. "Do you think the sea and the moon are in love? Or is it in love with all of the pirates that have it's heart?"

[robinxofxstars]

Robin gave Nero a small smile paired with a roll of his eyes. The incubus was a terrible romantic despite their situation, and the cambion loved to over indulge in it. He put his hand on Nero's head, running his fingers through the other's hair. It was tussled by the sea, not entirely put together. Robin always had that look, and it was nice to see Nero the same. "Well, I guess you can somewhat predict the sea. But I've found the more people try to do that, the more it fights back." He let go of his hold on Nero's hair, sliding down from the railing that he'd been sitting on. "Are they in love? Maybe. Is that what you'd like to think?"

[ryujinseaborn]

starter for @robinxofxstars.

where: why its caribella of course

when: current timeline

note: checkin in on my good pal

"Good, you're alive," Ryu's presence had indeed been sparse around Caribella lately and he'd not seen Robin since Progress Day had come to a tumultuous end; there was clear relief that the other looked to be well, and thus not one who was recovered from the Kossith dreadnought. "Though," his head cocked to the side, before peering up at Elokian's ship which was docked at the Caribellan port, "-Can we say the same of your Captain? If he's never to return, they really won't allow Calypso to man the position right?" Nothing against the Scorned elvhen but Ryu always rooted for an underdog and in more ways than one Neptune's Fleet belonged partially to Robin.

[robinxofxstars]

"I haven't met many things that could kill me just yet, you know. Maybe it's a bit rougher out there for the half elvhen." Robin gave a small smile, though he was glad to see that the captain was safe, and finally back in Caribella where the Raiders belonged. He glanced back over his shoulder, not one to comment on Elokian's whereabouts and the demon he was finally getting unburdened with. Elo had told him that the ship was Robin's legacy, but the cambion felt like the past would never truly go away that easily. "Ah, no. It's definitely me. I'm the spoiled brat that was raised on the ship, so I get dibs. So where have you been? Pull anyone from the wreck?"

[incubusnero]

Person: @robinxofxstars Location: Neptune's Fleet He doesn't mind sailing. That's what he keeps telling himself. But the bells and whistles and being with the crew is different than hanging around below deck to get from point a to point b. He stands at the railing of the deck and tries not to look directly along the line of the ship to the water. Looking out is better though, the sky, the horizon, the way the waves seemed to lap up at it. And then the crew is just....Unbothered, moving around like they aren't on some big wooden contraption being moved by the sea. "Is it always like this?" Elbows leant on the railing, he looks sideways at Robin.

[robinxofxstars]

Robin sat on the edge of the railing, looking over his shoulder and down at Nero. The wind continued to whirl around them, relentless, just like the ocean. They were already nearing Caribella, the island not far off in the distance. "Sometimes we're in a rush, and Elokian uses his magic to get us going but...it's nice. Lysara and everything is...it's all magic, all the time. This is natural. Normal. It's why the sea is so calming."

[incubusnero]

"I think that regardless of what happens in the North, that you and I are in a world of trouble if the Kossith find us." Robin was right, there was no hiding out on some beach, as much as Nero would like to. Dire circumstances and doom and gloom aside, there's something that's actually rather nice about all of this. He doesn't have a damn clue if he's going to starve via the whole 'not having a grip on sucking the souls out of people' before the Kossith are at Eterna's door, but they're together. They're together and the water is warm and his fingers are carding through curls as he tries to think of some sort of answer. "Haven's moving East, through the grapevine I've heard that the queen wants to find those who were taken. I imagine she's going to need a ship to do that." And he happened to be holding a pirate in his arms, the sea, a ship, it was home to him. Reaching with his left hand to cup the side of Robin's face, thumb sliding along his cheekbone, he offers a soft chuckle that holds little humor. "Could be an awfully big adventure."

[robinxofxstars]

Robin was listening to Nero, but the words weren't entirely registering. Part of him wanted to stand and fight – that there had to be people on those ships, in the reclaimed Aventia, that he knew. People who had been taken and collared. It was that thought in his mind as Nero spoke again, something about finding them – and that's when the cambion finally got with the program. "Elokian would do it. If I asked, he would. We should help find them, Nero. And die trying to fight back if they even think about taking us."