very important question for all the vanserra brothers, including the dead ones: ass or titties?
oh ho ho
eris – ass man ass man ass man. said it b4 i'll say it again—eris enjoys anal with females because it is inherently uncomfortable and exclusively pleasurable for him which makes him horny bc it shows their willingness to endure discomfort to please him. notably though if a female is willing to do that, he's willing to play a little dirty dj to make her feel good during. and if you were wondering . yes beron feels the same way. yes this is directly informed by beron
emile – also an ass man! also informed by beron! but he does not care at all to ease the discomfort when he indulges in anal sex. relishes in it guiltlessly in fact. somehow both thinks favorably upon a female who endures it from him and less of her at the same time. look how eager she is to please me but also females are beneath me
carmine – this one was confounding as all get out. i like . honestly don't think he cares very much either way? he cares that a female makes him feel wanted->seen->an approximation of loved. as long as she doesn't have any visible unsightliness he's down, and even then ... i mean this is Thee brother who'd absolutely fuck a human or a lesser fae no hesitation just for the adoration they'd look at him with ykwim. maybe maybe maybe i'll loosely say tit man just cuz i think we could get to a mommy kink with him
silas – just got the most divine strike from god that he's a tit man. yeah he'll linger on cleavage. even get a little bit distractable if it's a non-political situation. they're the first thing he goes for on a female. notably he of all the brothers is the one to have this preference be a make or break deal for him. if she ain't got yitties he ain't sprung. all the other brothers it's just like casual preference
marius – for purely horny threesome reasons i'm making marius an ass man pre-silas' death—but because silas likes a gal w tiddies so much, marius keeps an eye out for them foremost. silas goes straight for the tiddies while marius is palming her ass and grabbing her thighs and then kneeling to tongue between them while silas uhhhhhhh cancel twit
ronan – ass man specifically because he's looking for the development and definition of the glute and hamstring muscles and if it's there he's going boioioioioing ! baby want a muscle mommy so bad but autumn fae aesthetic standards keep him from achieving his dream :(
lucien – (starts visibly sweating) goddd i wish i knew lucien better. i'm going to say he's a thigh/ass man? he appreciates tiddies but they're just kind of a nice bonus nd he can work with anything. lucien knowers please do not stone me
Among the Vanserras who feels like laughing the most and who the least? Who always holds their laugh back and who literally can't?
i think ronan laughs pretty openly and has like a really rich, genuine, infectious laugh. trading stories around a fire type laugh. folks always chuckle or smile along despite themselves. carmine laughs freely too but it’s warmer and more inviting and a little sensuous. folks lean in when they hear it just to be closer to it. a sound like fingers grazing the thigh. in writing marius post-silas, i’ve found he tends to laugh at really inopportune times over fucked up things he thinks. the type to suddenly chuckle to himself in the middle of someone saying something not even slightly funny. bless him my little cocoa puff
silas tended to be pretty stoic, except when he was around marius. that was when he could be seen laughing and joking, but otherwise he would just kind of offer the sort of tight-lipped smile at humor that made the person making the joke feel infantile. emile’s just too paranoid that people are laughing at him to find the humor in anything and indulge in it lmfaooo—he’ll laugh at someone though, just like his daddy would
I have a question: as soon as Eris becomes High Lord, Amalia will go straight to Helion, and we know she doesn't have a good relationship with her children, except for lucien. If her children move on without her in their current lives, especially if they marry and have children, and she never meets her grandchildren or becomes close to them, what would she think? Seeing her children being "happy" and "normal" from a distance, and her never being able to be a part of it.
oh this is such a lovely thought-invoking question. let me map post-eris ascension out a little … i think amalia probably waits on helion to seek her out because—if after all this time he does not want her, if after all this time his affections have waned, if after all this time he has found another, for she has of course heard of his dalliances, if after all this time he turns her away, then what does that leave her? but of course it doesn’t take very long for him to seek her out. probably at eris’s ceremony. which is time enough for eris to spin it as a calculated move on both of their parts. to make him a shrewd heir to the throne rather than an abandoned son; to make her into a wily and cunning politician to have leveraged herself as lady of another court so readily, that way the betrayed hearts of the people won’t bring any lords to prompt eris to seek vengeance against her and helion.
there’s never any hope for her and emile, and she knows it. he is her biggest disappointment, biggest failure. he immediately ingratiates himself with the beron loyalists and begins an intense downward spiral; he died without his father’s acceptance, the one thing he wanted above all, and so he mythologizes beron—is the most potent threat to all of his family. emile, by necessity, has to die soon after beron dies. she and carmine have a cordial but distant relationship, the way you might have with a friend you once loved dearly but fell out with and things can now never be the same but neither of you can address the rift because that would be to acknowledge a problem at all. she would favor marius most of all the non-lucien sons she has left, if only because his grief is the most potent and least generally violent—but he makes it very clear that he would kill lucien in less than a heartbeat and she can’t countenance that. he’s also most loyal to eris, if only because of complacency, which strains them further. so left to her after emile dies are eris, carmine and kirsi, and marius and adonia.
i think carmine and kirsi would probably bring her the biggest sense of indignation; they have three children together and carmine, despite still being charming and silver-tongued, is unlike amalia has ever known him to be now that he’s married to kirsi. proof to her of how different her sons could have been if they ever even just got free of beron, which means proof to her of how she failed her sons in letting beron sire them at all. kirsi is very hypervigilant of her kids and doesn’t let any vanserra close knowing How They Are, so i could see a lot of strain between kirsi and amalia at social gatherings, especially because kirsi doesn’t have time for autumn pleasantries and that would offend amalia. they are kin of my kin; i have a right to know them, amalia might say if sufficiently offended. you know not even your own kin; you may claim no right to mine, kirsi might say back. and carmine who has never (and will never) acknowledge that his deep-rooted sense of unlovability comes from his mother feels a keen satisfaction at hearing kirsi do so, which strains everything even more.
i’d say marius and adonia are most gracious with her in the aftermath, once adonia heals enough from losing her mate to regain her sense of self and her sense of propriety. but i think amalia disdains adonia for all she sees of herself in adonia—adonia who was in love with a male who was not her husband yet stayed with her husband until his end at the expense of herself and those around her, then immediately found solace in the arms of her love once her husband died. the parallels are Very Much There. so if adonia eventually gives birth to any of marius’ children, i think amalia might try to overstep with them. maybe try to make amends for her own failings as a mother by criticizing adonia. gently, of course. they are both autumn ladies. but marius wouldn’t stand for it, not after so long of adonia doubting herself with emile. he’s a bit more of his old self now, which is to say he takes on the silas role in his relationship with adonia—happy to be bark and bite on both of their behalves because she is him as he is her. this fills in the loss of a mating bond well for adonia; she basks in it.
and of course uhhhh things with eris and amalia are uhhhh. well. irreparably damaged just like i like em<3 so i guess allat to say—amalia Does Not Take Any Of This Well. it’s just like. such invariable, glaring proof of her failings as a mother, but she also can’t really ever accept her role in how her sons and their females behave because the weight of it would crush her. she really blames beron for all of it to protect herself from the truth of her being just as detrimental to their lives, just like eris does :•) so i think she probably just gets really resentful, probably unfairly more so of kirsi and adonia for Encouraging Their Behavior. even more avoidant of her sons, to the point helion (who feels immense guilt about all of this i think & probably a fair share of cognitive dissonance, once he sees the vanserra boys as not just like evil beron clones but real people who have been impacted by analia) has to encourage her to make time for them.
Eris can cover up Maronia so easily because he was already preparing for a time when Carmine would start sleeping with everyone's wives.
i’m absolutely geekin over this lmfaooo unironically that is one of carmine’s favorite pastimes. mr. unloved experiences immense gratification from making females fuck around on their males for him, especially if they’ve never strayed before and genuinely love the person they’re with. it’s like a drug to him. he’s done that since he was pretty young. issue is that what Really get him off is making mated females stray. that’s like probably 95% of what eris has to clean up after carmine for. so needless to say—eris has a lot of experience covering trails and incentivizing people to say the right thing, or else not be able to say anything at all :•)
hallooo it is me your stalker once again •᎑• im actually,,, too shy to post the fic.... but basically,, its post acosf — and the courts have to rally? unite? to deal with koschei since he is lwk a problem now, but theyre not the only ones affected, the human lands are too (which is where the human princess comes in) and it actually started out as prythian politics idk how it branched into tormenting eris by giving him a human mate
additional detail i forg to mention on my prev ask: u mentioned that kirsi and carmine end up having 3 kids ! does carmine have a little bit of a mental crisis upon having children since his father was Such A Good Dad
no i love that genuinely so much + like there’s so much opportunity to force eris into A Situation with her. none of the other courts will ally with him because they don’t trust him but this human princess is desperate and has something he needs and they just HAVE to work together and isn’t it so WEIRD that eris is fixated on a lowly little human ??? ok let me stop before i overstep with your oc lmaooo
oh man yeah carmine uhhh he does not handle it very well. he’s just kind of like🧍🏻♂️about it. two of the primary things i kept from carmine's original conception are that he’s a jezebel harlot wHore and he arranged for any accidental pregnancies to Go Away. (eris had to do this for him when he was young and eris giving him A Talking To about not siring a bastard was what finally got him to handle these instances himself—because carmine lives to please and is desperate for affection and approval even from the brothers he’s distanced himself emotionally from.) which means actually having kids is like ? to him. less any cognitive mental panic of being like beron, which eris has in spades, and more like. his parents just neglected him so heavily. if he tries, if he thinks, i need to do something different for my kids, then he has to confront that something was wrong with how he was raised. he just doesn’t have that in him ultimately. so he’s pretty distant, pretty hands-off. obviously the wet nurse can handle that. obviously the governess can handle that. why is kirsi doting on them so much? why is kirsi caring for them so long into their childhood? why couldn’t my mother care for me like that? cue him getting resentful and bitter and not knowing why and having truly no avenue to ease it bc kirsi won’t make time for him and he can’t risk losing her by cheating. carmine has a real bad sopping wet time of it
Talk to me about the Lucien and Carmine reunion tour where they drink and fuck their way across Prythian
carmine who serves as the emissary between autumn and winter; lucien who serves as the emissary of spring; and the high lord of winter at the time who Hates beron and invites them both to a banquet without telling the other they'll be in attendance. carmine who doesn't quite harbor any remorse for what happened to jesminda—what did lucien expect to happen? he knows their father as any of them do. a foolish mistake, a careless mistake, and the known consequences—and has always been the most distant brother but who can't stand the thought of a family member outright hating him; lucien who will never forgive any of his brothers for their roles in jesminda's death but who is so, so desperate not to feel anything anymore.
they see each other at the banquet, and lucien draws a dagger, which is what the high lord of winter wants: a public vanserra embarrassment to spread far and mock beron with. but court games are carmine's domain! lucien's, too, were he not so activated by this, the first glimpse of his family he's had since he lost his love. since he was the reason he lost his love. these thoughts drown him, and carmine takes that opportunity to sweep forth and greet little lucien with a thinly veiled but sweetly weaponized stop being a fucking idiot, surely you're aware you're doing exactly what is expected of us. lucien, indeed aware of the optics and eager to do well for tamlin as emissary so that tamlin will not forsake him, sheaths his dagger (but is not so foolish as to not expect to use it again tonight) and lets himself be sat down by carmine. right beside carmine. who at once begins to ply him with drink until he can playact better. cue the mistrusting glare from lucien, the sharp smile from carmine, who sips of the wine before pressing it back into the palm of his little brother—who is at least not so lost in himself as to be stupid. after a time, carmine—not remorseful! not guilty! but feeling some queer discomfort in his chest when he looks too long at lucien—sets a female in his lap, then a second at his side, as an attendant might feed their lord grapes.
here, a peace offering. eat of them and tell me you don't feel better during.
after all, who better to know how to fill the gaping hole where love ought to be with bodily pleasure and indulgence than carmine? and he's right! lucien doesn't feel much of anything but good with this much alcohol in his system, with his mouth and his hands so occupied, with his eyes closed and all thought restricted to how he is being touched. then, as always, the morning comes, and the reality of his grief and his guilt and his loneliness sets in. carmine knows that, too, in a way—how insubstantial a feast of the body can truly be and how it can pain the stomach to be so hollow so quickly. (he'll never be able to call a spade a spade the way lucien can.) where has your lord bid you next? he asks his brother, whose eyes have become nothing but haunt. lucien begrudges telling him, but he does, eventually. carmine has always had such a way with getting what he wants of people. i'll accompany you, carmine says. it will look good for us to be seen together—for the other courts to know there is not such hostility between us as to be exploited. it isn't an apology. it isn't anything, really.
but lucien doesn't care once there's alcohol in his system and a fae in his bed—and that is enough for him to abide carmine's presence across the courts. he thought he was well-cultured, but this older brother of his knows places, knows people, knows things that he never cared to share with lucien before. an escape and, terribly, an opportunity to get to know this brother anew. it isn't an apology. it's hardly anything. but sometimes it feels like something. and sometimes carmine feels that way, too.
whenever you have time could you please drop a little snippet of the scene where kirsi accidentally gives off that she gets off to carmine and is very attracted to him? if not it's fully okay just anything you can say about it is food for my brain and soul and pus- (I get shot with ash arrows)
need you to know that i did Not have time to write this today but i couldn't think of anything else after this ask came in so now i have ~1400 words of kirmine on my hands and love in my heart also you literally made me laugh out loud i adore u
Muscles loose and limber, Carmine extricates himself from the down mattress and its overwhelming pile of furs. The perpetual chill of these lands threatens to seep in the moment his feet meet the icebound stone, to unwrite the fire from his body as though its mere existence is an offense. He casts a blister of heat about him to stave it off, pulling on first his trousers, then his silken tunic, both without wrinkle despite how long they have lain on the floor.
"Must you go?" a voice asks as he toes into his boots, high and tuneless and wrong to the ear. He knows from the rustling of fabric at his back that the female in the bed has pushed herself up on an elbow to watch him. "I could arrange for a thrall to bring us our repast. We could make an eve of it."
Carmine turns to her. Indeed, she is propped up amongst the pelts, fair as ivory, except where he marked her pleasure in pinks and reds along the expanse of her breasts. Though she arches her back to entice him with their surfeit, he feels unfulfilled to see them, just as he felt to lay with her at all.
It had not always been so.
Not so long ago, he could have lost himself between her thighs and come up feeling as satiated as if he had eaten a meal course to course. He would have partaken in this offered confection, then stayed for a spot of wine, then to break his fast come the morning, if he felt so inclined. He would have been well-pleased by his efforts and glutted on her adulations of them.
But there is a hollowness to them now.
Leaning forth to take her hand, Carmine presses his lips to the back of her knuckles. "Next time."
She pushes up further as he straightens to his full height, chasing after the lick of his flame. "Then there is to be one?"
"Surely," Carmine lies, smiling back at her in his egress. "Is there a male who could know you the once without wishing to know you all of his days?"
His footsteps echo crisply in the cavernous corridors of this wintry keep, as unlike the Forest House as two places can be: stolid where his home woos, unyielding where his home bends, glacial where his home smolders. If only he could melt this place through until it was malleable to his touch, until it came away wet and dripping on his fingers, until it sighed his name on the wind. Then, perhaps, he might feel full again.
"Lord Carmine," he hears from ahead.
This voice—velvety and smooth, like the slow draw of a bow along string—echoes out richly from its source, reverberating back to him from the small alcoves carved along his chosen path so that, for a moment, it seems she is all around him.
"Lady Kirsi," he greets, inclining his head.
A crystalline beauty, Kirsi holds herself tall and regal in her approach, her skirts tinkling along the floor, her hands tucked away in an ermine muff. She looks him over placidly: the untucked hem of his shirt, the undone ties at his wrists, the unkempt tousle of his hair. Then she glances down the corridor beyond him.
Her affect is that of still waters, of a lake surface frozen over. If anything has stirred in her at the sight of him, he cannot peer deep enough to tell, though he knows there is a current flowing in her—has glimpsed it before, in moments of quiet discussion, in knowing glances and subtle quirks of her lips.
"An afternoon well-spent?" she queries.
A shrug, lopsided and noncommittal. "It left something to be desired."
Kirsi hums out her response.
"I had hoped to spend it with you," Carmine adds, "but your ladies informed me that you had matters to attend."
At this, Kirsi laughs. "Yes," she says, slipping into the alcove beside them and lowering her voice, "and then you saw fit to take one to bed. Elena? Or—no, that was the last. Lumi, then, or perhaps Minja." Her gelid gaze tracks him as he follows after. "If you keep this up, there will be no ladies left to my employ."
Had he not suffered weeks and months of her disinterest, he might think her words born of envy. Certainly he has heard similar sentiments from other mouths, their eyes narrowed, their words sharp and their chests heaving with indignation. Yet here Kirsi stands before him as though they talk of nothing more pressing than the menu for the night.
Carmine closes the scant distance between them, enough that she must lift her eyes to hold to his. "You have never before concerned yourself with how I spend my time, lady. Nor with whom."
"You make me look the fool," Kirsi replies, quiet but no less certain for it. "I think it the very least you could do to keep your cock tucked away."
Hearing such words from her tongue, that cavern in him feels less a lack and more a hunger. "You must know that I would," he says, voice pitched low, "if only you would give me leave."
Kirsi looks aside, out into the corridor and away from him. Even so, the shifting of her hands in the trappings of her furs is the only true sign of her discontent. Were it not for this, it might seem only that she heard a noise and sought its source, or else wished to offer him better sight of the angles to her profile.
She says, "You say such things to me as though you do not carry the stench of another female on your skin."
Carmine places his hand over her fur muff, stilling the fingers wringing within. When she looks back to him, he murmurs, "It was you who I pictured. Your lips on mine. Your hands on my body. Your thighs around my head." He watches her pulse jump at her throat, and he knows with terrible certainty the only thing that will sate him now. "It is you who I wish to please."
Pale and lovely, her lashes flutter. Then, just as quickly, her expression steals over. "Yet you bedded her," she replies, shifting her arms that his hand must fall away. "Is it a matter of fickle desire, do you suppose? Or merely an insufficient hand?"
Head atilt, gaze dropping to the hands she has hidden away, Carmine says, "Ah—I hadn't realized I was contending with one so nonpareil."
Like a lone bloom amongst a field of frost, a blush rises to the high of Kirsi's cheeks.
Carmine feels the heat of it throughout the whole of his body. His need of her is made ravenous with so simple a sight, to know that she pleasures herself in the dark of the night—to see in this betrayal of her coloring that his sentiments are returned.
"What is it you think to when you let that hand drift low, Lady Kirsi?" he asks, noting the quick flicker of her eyes to his mouth. He leans in closer, close enough to hear the beat of her heart, fast and telling. "Is it the same as I? My head between your legs, my tongue in your—"
Kirsi makes a noise like a startled bird and clamps her bared hands over his mouth, her fur muff falling to the floor with a dull thump.
Carmine looks down to her long, slender fingers, and he wonders, if he breathed in deeply enough, if he flicked out his tongue now, whether he might find out what she tastes like in truth.
"Enough," she hisses, snatching her hands away as though she can read his thoughts off of his expression. "So I have thought of you. Your mockery is u—"
"I do not mock you, Kirsi," Carmine rasps.
She falls silent, then looks down to the proof of his gnawing hunger swelled against his trousers. Her eyes flare, and it is no longer another female's arousal which blossoms on the air.
"When I pleasure myself tonight, know that it is you—not my insufficient hand—that I will be picturing around me."
