Astarion is not having a good time. His insides feel rather shredded, he’s completely parched, and rather feels like he’s about to fly to pieces the next time one of the idiots in the room with him breathes too loudly. Which is every breath they take.
“Oh, of course I don’t mind,” he simpers (on purpose) instead of tearing out the wizard’s throat.
The wizard, oblivious to any and all social cues, simply nods, so human and relieved and looking at the bed as if one of the gods dropped it into the mortal plane solely for his benefit.
“Let no one ever impugn your sense of generosity within my earshot, Astarion,” the man says.
The Blade spreads his bedroll out on the ground against the far wall. On top of the lovely carpet Astarion was giving very serious consideration into swiping (it suits Eleanor’s complexion) (and the Blade’s, but he’s not Eleanor). Apparently he’s given up any claim to a bed. Something about youthful vim and vigor, and the wizard’s decaying, elderly spine.
At least said wizard had the decency to ask.
But then said wizard sets down his pack—which rattles and clangs ominously—and peers down at the rumpled sheets. Winces a bit. “I do rather wish this inn had better amenities. A few fresh linens would be appreciated.”
Ah. That.
The room, and the bed in particular, still smell of him and his dar—Eleanor. His friend. His first friend. Who came on those sheets not even a day ago before choking herself on Astarion’s cock. As friends do.
“Well, I’m sure they haven’t the resources or the manpower. Still, it’s nothing a little manipulation of the Weave can’t take care of,” the wizard says as his magic flares in a burst of purple.
The sheets remain crumpled, and Astarion can still see the indentation where his friend rested her head on the pillow. But her scent vanishes. Utterly and completely. Her things and her body heat and the soft sound of her breathing all gone, and now the room smells only vaguely of tea and…licorice? The wizard’s magic.
Something in him tries to scratch its way out.
“On second thought,” Astarion says. “I believe I spotted a fine Berduskan Dark down in the cellars. Excuse me.”
The inn below is quiet. The mutt and Eleanor’s beastie sleep in the sick ward with the druid. The harpers are either abed or on patrol or having fun in a darkened archway. The tieflings…he doesn’t care.
He walks toes-first, testing his weight on the floorboards to make sure nothing creaks and alerts everyone. Habit, mostly, but it does allow him to pause beside the other door not taken up by idiots, vagabonds, and busybodies.
He’s tempted to seat himself here. This room is also hushed. But he can pick out pulses. If he waits long enough, those soft, familiar snores will start, and for some godsforsaken reason, that settles some of the broken shards churning about inside him.
He has little notice—a pad of a footfall, the barest tap of a hand on the knob. He jerks back as the door opens to reveal their horrid little cleric.
His mouth takes over. “Ah, I wasn’t sure anyone was up and about. I was on my way to ransack whatever was left of a wine cellar this hovel had to offer. If you were interested?”
The cleric just looks at him. It’s endearing when Eleanor does it—the sheer amount of disapproval she can shove into a single eyebrow is something of a feat. Or she’s planning something deliciously awful, which is a treat in and of itself. In the cleric, it only raises his hackles.
“Yes, I’m sure you were,” the woman says. And looks behind him to the stairs he had to pass to get to this door.
How strange his usually silver tongue feels in his mouth, now heavy and clumsy. Stranding him, a boy caught halfway out of the window of a patriar’s son.
“She’s fine,” the cleric says, though he didn’t ask and why shouldn’t she be? “Or she will be. She’s worried for you, though I cannot fathom why.”
The back of his neck prickles. “That’s because our dearest leader has a more refined sense of taste—”
“Don’t,” the cleric says. Glances back into the room—he can’t see past her, can’t check to see if Eleanor at least claimed the bed among this group, damn her—and softly closes the door behind her.
The polished wood of the banister presses into Astarion’s lower back. If he wanted to, he could flip himself over it and land perfectly on his feet on the ground floor. But, like a fool, he stands there, even as it becomes an ache from the pressure of his leaning back.
“I found her the morning after your failed tryst, you know,” the awful woman says. “You didn’t see her then. You’ve no idea the damage you can cause. If you think to toy with her—”
“I’m not—” he starts. The denial is right there. He told Eleanor. Against his better judgment, against all the experience and blood and pain and terror, he told her. And nearly lost her. Saved by her own benevolence, saved as her friend. His first ever friend.
Astarion is so very, very aware of the damage he causes. He witnesses it almost every night. So much it blends together into a sea of horror he’s forced to swim through. Bold stares and tired sadness, shy glances and cruel sneers. All of them, every one, ending dragged away to be drained dry.
He’s never even asked about the bodies. The sheer mountain of them. That must be why that bastard keeps human staff.
But this cleric, this Sharran half-elf, she’s not Eleanor. He owes her nothing. She's lucky his friend likes her. Lucky she’s useful and not usually this infuriating to be around.
“I’m not entertaining this conversation,” he says, straightening and pushing away from the banister. To her credit, she doesn’t give an inch. He folds into his most sarcastic bow. “Have a pleasant evening, darling.”
He turns his back to her. Deliberately. Taunting her, challenging her, anticipating a strike or a simple grab, and he’ll spin and sink in his fangs and bleed her.
“Astarion,” she says instead.
He takes two more steps before he deigns to pause. Just to show her that he’s allowing this. And then glances back.
The cleric looks uncommonly…soft. How disgusting.
“Just be careful,” she says. Her lips part, but the next words pause. Then, “With the both of you.”
That strike lands. Buries deep and cuts through something important. Astarion manages not to flinch, and covers it with a sneer. “I can’t tell which is more off putting: the delusional fanatic, or whatever you think this is.”
She just watches him a moment, before flipping him off. Turns and slips back into the room and leaves him metaphorically bleeding all over the stairs.
To the hells with her. The next time some villain takes a shot at her back, he’s going to let them fire. Let her deal with an arrow through the lung.
Though she said Eleanor was all right. He was, perhaps, a touch. Er. Worried.
Well, why shouldn’t he be? They’re friends now. It’s only natural for him to be concerned, surely.
He lingers a moment more. Listens to the creaking as the Sharran settles on the floor (they must have given his friend the bed; that means he doesn’t have to trip someone into a spike pit, how nice). Lingers long enough her breathing turns deep as she slips into mortal sleep.
Lingers until…there. The first whisper of a different snore. And some of his jagged edges settle.
***
The shout nearly sends him sprawling over his own backside. He’s in a chair, balanced on the two back legs with a regrettable bottle of Esmeltar Red. His arms shoot out, sloshing some of the swill onto the floor (nothing of value lost there). But he manages to thud down on all four chair legs rather than spill himself. Leaps up and kicks the chair in one, fluid motion just as the first doors open.
No one will know he was seated with a perfect view up to a certain door above.
That door opens next, and the gith all but leaps out, sword actually drawn.
“By all the hells,” he mutters. They need rest, damnit, not whatever nonsense is going on outside. They ought to be letting the harpers do their damned jobs, but here comes the entire band of idiots tromping down to the ground level, throwing on robes and trousers and boots.
Footsteps pound outside. Shouted commands—he thinks it’s that old druid woman calling forth those nasty vines of hers.
More travelers, probably. Some meager group barely escaping the shadow curse. Hopefully not any other infected with illithid parasites to give their game away.
Then Eleanor emerges from the crowd, holding the spear the gith gave her because she’s sensible. She searches him out, as she always does, every morning. Then she finds him. And unlike every morning, there’s a pause.
His dead heart twinges. Her eyes always light up when she finds him. He’s not even sure she’s aware of it, but he grew rather accustomed. What she gives him now, after an awkward moment, is a tiny, bland smile.
He hurt her. For at least the second time, according to the cleric.
No, he can’t blame her for her wariness. He’s lucky enough she still looks for him. Luckier still when she jerks her head towards the door, all but inviting him with them all (oh, now there’s shouting, so perhaps it is something serious).
He falls in, catches the Blade giving him a speculative glance. The man is supposed to be a noble-born fool. He has no business looking at anyone like that, as if he can unravel what’s happened without being told. And Astarion has no intention of telling anyone the grim details.
Outside, the harpers have clustered around the bridge leading to the cursed landscape. Astarion spots the anomaly immediately, of course. But not just by sight.
Blood. A lot of it, though it’s old. Stale and thick and near solid, something to be chewed, rather than savored. Nothing at all like the hot luxury gliding down his throat when his friend lets him drink.
Oh shit, will she let him continue that? Why can he never plan these things. (Because he’s stupid; that lesson has been burned and beaten and carved into him too many times for him to ever truly forget.)
As he gets closer, another thing gives him pause.
It appears to be a tiefling. A young man, handsome in a vague way with what should be dusky, red skin, now mottled in bruising, and odd, gray patches. Black horns and brown hair and…Astarion has seen that face before. Recently. It was the druid hovel, watching those glowing yellow eyes as they tracked fireworks into the air. The man clapped and laughed and swatted the shoulder of an insufferable apprentice wizard. His brother?
“Cal!”
Ah. Their resident drunk has roused himself.
Ah. That is his brother.
Shit.
He’s a fledgling wizard, Astarion thinks—the name’s escaped him, as he stopped bothering to remember names very early on. But the drunkard runs for the bridge in the ongoing stumble that drunks possess. But he doesn’t have that moon maiden’s blessing, and those shadows will eat him alive. Someone should perhaps—
“No! Let go! Let go!”
Their bear of a druid strikes like a very large, very wide serpent—shockingly fast for someone that big. He scoops the drunkard up from behind, pinning his arms in such a way he shouldn’t be able to make his wizard hand signals.
At some point, Astarion sidled up right next to Eleanor, who does not know about wizard hand signals and the inherent danger of a fledgling magic user drunk on booze and despair.
“Who are you?” the old druid—Jaheira; their hellfire tiefling wouldn’t stop gushing about the woman—says to the strange tiefling outside. “What is your purpose here?”
The handsome tiefling only stands there, eyes dull, face slack. He’s not…alive. Not really, though a weak pulse threads lightly through his veins. But something in Astarion knows, the part of his mind that necromancy book touches every time he opens it.
“I don’t think—” he starts to say.
The living dead man moves. Lifts himself upright. Points straight at them with a clawed finger.
“Praise the Absolute,” he says in a musical voice better suited to laughing at fireworks.
He lifts a hand to his neck. His claws are sharp.
Astarion grabs Eleanor and spins her around, dragging her close so she can’t turn back.
“The fuck!” she says.
The tiefling’s claws pierce the flesh of his own neck. Wriggle deep as old blood—muddy brown—spurts weakly around his fingers. He—it; Astarion suspects whatever that body is now, the man is long gone—rips at itself. Grins the entire while. Pulls and pulls and opens its own neck like a second mouth.
The drunkard is screaming. Thrashing and kicking, and the big druid holds him tight, head ducked low, lips moving fast as he murmurs something.
In Astarion’s arms, Eleanor has stopped pushing away. She stands rigid, her breathing sharp and fast as the crowd shouts and curses. As one dwarf turns and sprints for a crate before vomiting up her supper.
The dead tiefling keeps going. The spurt nothing more than a dribble coating the front of its neck, staining the clothes down the chest, slicking the hands all the way down to the barbed elbows. Long past when a living thing would be forced to stop, long past when any living thing should be able to stand.
“Astarion?” Eleanor says.
She wants to know what’s happening. Will probably take this entire debacle and braid it into a fine noose to hang around her own neck.
He draws her close. One hand on the back of her head to ensure she doesn’t turn. Doesn’t see.
“He’s dead,” Astarion says. “I think he was dead before he arrived.”
The head finally flops down in a grotesque display. Astarion’s ears pop and something departs the walking corpse. Flies off into the darkness, leaving the body to crumple to the ground, just as the drunkard tiefling crumples into the druid’s arms.
title: this vision of my spirit™
chapters: 5/8
rating: T
category: gen
relationships: cardinal copia & papa emeritus iii
characters: cardinal copia, papa emeritus iii, era iv ghouls, sister imperator
additional tags: AU - Halloween Warehouse, Cardinal Copia Is Not Papa Nihil’s Son
“Ah, good,” Secondo says instead of hello, or how do you do, or sorry I scared the piss out of you, can I refresh your coffee? “Someone’s here. Terzo’s not usually in until noon.”
“I’ve—I’ve noticed,” Copia says, in the absence of any other response. Then, gritting his teeth and letting his body give into its well-honed customer service impulse: “Sorry, can I help you?”
“Well, it’s the first of the month,” Secondo says quite reasonably, like that explains it. “I’m here for my paycheck.”
“I’ve done everything you said.” He pulls away from her a little, but bound as they are the movement tugs her closer. He tries to use his spare hand to untie the ribbon but the shackles make that impossible.
A long-time lurker of @suzie-guru, I’m tossing this Strange Magic story idea under the cut. I blame (and thank) Suzie because I might not have found the fandom through her stories, but they are what kept me in the fandom (and inspired me to get the DVD as well as get ideas of my own).
Please find below 10 pages of notes for an idea I’m just calling the Accidental-Marriage-and-Pining AU. If someone decides they want to take it over, just give me a heads up. Otherwise, in my (non-existent) spare time I might take a swing at writing it myself.
· Instead of kidnapping Dawn when the love potion gets stolen, Bog King declares war. Still crashes the elf party, but only to yell at people and tell the king that hey, war.
· Roland is defeated & injured early on (shiny armour! No use! He looks very good in a parade but has never actually, y'know, fought before.) Not even by Bog, just some foot soldier goblin. Maybe Brutus with a backhand.
· Dawn's still hit with a love potion BTW, and falls for a married elf who is devoted to his life-partner and, uh, it's flattering but he likes... guys. (Dawn literally cannot understand the idea right now, when normally she's as passionate about people being able to marry the ones they love as Marianne is passionate for denouncing love, period.) Dawn is kept in her room.
· Sunny gets hold of the love potion and hands it over, along with his guilt - he is able to say it's Roland's idea, since Roland went from "respected" to "ridiculed". The triplets come forward and admit that they may have suggested Roland use a love potion on Marianne (who is very scary and they're very sorry). People remember that Roland's been talking off and on about war with the Dark Forest for a long time.
· Bog is not about to stop the war now, even with the Fairies offering the potion back and they're really sorry - the Elders of the Forest would overthrow him in a heartbeat if he did.
· Sunny is punished, but not as harshly as if he were the sole cause of the war. Basically confined to his rooms helping with the routine paperwork everyone else is too busy with the war to deal with. He might have nightmares about being unable to tell Requisition Form A-7 from Requisition Form A-8.
· The Imp steals the love potion. It was well guarded but not well enough. Marianne hunts the Imp down (while everyone else is on the battlefield - her dad thought it'd be great for keeping her away from the fighting) but not before several fairies, elves, and a sparrow are dusted. Lizard/Lizzy still fixates on Sunny because he got dragged along with. (Everyone knows Marianne asking him what the hell he was thinking about a love potion and her little sister is more punishment than requisition forms.)
· (Sunny is really, really sorry. But at least the lizard fixated on him. Guy who had a sparrow fall in love with him got carried off. No one knows where he is. Everyone is varying degrees of worried)
· (He's okay and shows up later after escaping when the love potion wore off. Maybe, haven't decided yet.)
· The war, meanwhile, has lasted a month so far. The final battle happens.
· Bog goes after Dagda, has to fight his way through the battlefield.
· Marianne, who is not supposed to be there, gets between Bog and Dagda. She is a fresh fighter, compared to Bog who just spent a couple hours beating his way through elves and fairies and Dagda's guards. Also, Marianne is angry someone's threatening her dad. Also-also, there might be some high-pitched and painful-to-goblins screaming going on.
· Marianne wins. Bog's hurt, very badly. (I'm sorry boo!) He's mistaken for dead for a little bit, actually.
· Dagda, trying to signal to the goblins that their king is dead, please stop fighting and go have a civil war on your own side of the border, tries to pick up the Bog King's staff of office. He gets burned. It's wood (or... something?) but it just heated up like a sword fresh from the forge and not yet quenched. Marianne takes the staff, mostly because Dagda drops it, and is perfectly fine.
· Battlefield turns into a different sort of chaos, of course. It's sorted out that Marianne is now Queen of the Dark Forest by right of personal combat with the Bog King - who, it turns out, is still alive. Marianne orders he be taken care of immediately (Maybe she can give this stupid staff thing back? Seriously, it's twice her height or something and really heavy and also she doesn't want to rule the Dark Forest! Heal up so she can give it back, now!)
· Marianne, however, isn't going to be a bad ruler. She's got a bunch of terrified Goblins watching her and a bunch of scheming fairies too. She tells her dad to hand Roland over, since he was the real source of the conflict, but she'll be nice and accept him going to the Stone Reach * for investigation and trial.
· *I envision the Stone Reach to be this rocky outcrop on the south border between the fields and the forest and, possibly a swamp or something. Not associated with anyone, considered perfectly neutral and called on in cases where the royals might have a conflict in sentencing, ect. Since three generations back they've also dealt with passing messages across the field/forest border, because Bog's grandfather refused to talk to Marianne's great-grandfather, and no one's changed the status-quo since. They do other things too for both sides, but the main one is being neutral.
· They also run around fully cloaked, so no one can tell what species/race they are. Other than weird. The head of the group, AKA main investigator, I envision as something like Sam Vimes from Discworld, except covered head to toe so no one can actually see him. The right personality, though.
· Back to the story though - the goblins had expected Marianne to just kill Bog on the battlefield, but weren't complaining when she wanted him healed instead. He's moved to the castle, sort of a prisoner and sort of "the prison cell is the only other place in the castle with beds long enough for this guy, and the Queen's taken over the Royal bedroom, and someone this injured cannot sleep on the floor."
· Marianne also moves to the Dark Forest castle, immediately after telling the fairy council where they can stick their plans for the Dark Forest. (She's going to be a good queen and also hand this nonsense back to the Bog King once he's conscious. She can't hand the place back if the council gets their way.) The goblins are obedient, but not helpful. Griselda spends her entire time watching over Bog in the prison/sick room.
· Griselda and Marianne encounter each other whenever Marianne's down there interrogating Sugarplum about the love potion. Dawn's still dusted after all, never mind everyone else. (Griselda: not impressed with this fairy who nearly killed her baby boy.)
· Some of the goblins start actively plotting against Marianne. They're kinda bad at it because goblins go for "in your face" things like actual challenges, instead of backstabbing and what have you. Most of the plotting, therefore, is "who can we all agree to back and who has a chance of defeating our new Queen - shh she's coming" and not "let's poison her drink."
· Seriously, goblins have standards for overthrowing their monarchs and solving political problems. Who'd be low enough to resort to poison or stabbing someone in the back when these sorts of things are important and should be seen by everyone! (Fairies. Fairies are low enough. Marianne is aware of the plotting but is expecting them to rebel the way fairies would - AKA knives in the dark or poison in the food. The lack of action in that direction is confusing her.)
· The plotting goblins loosely fall into the following categories - those who want to back Bog in taking the throne back, those who want "new blood" on the throne (and if that blood happens to be related to them, so what?) and then there's a very small group of goblins who think Marianne's not the worst thing in the world, but only if she marries a goblin and has goblin babies.
· Around this point (approx 1 month after Marianne takes over) Bog wakes up. It takes him a little while, but he regains his health pretty quickly once he's conscious and isn't being force-fed (or unconscious-fed) broth. He sees Marianne when she visits Sugarplum and gets full reports of everything going on thanks to Griselda, Stuff, and Thang (as the ones most able to visit him without being noticed and what have you). He's annoyed at the plotters manoeuvring and spends his time thinking of how he can possibly get his throne back without relying on those plotters who back him.
· Seriously if he accepts help from any of the plotters he can say hello to a new life as a political puppet. As for anyone else ruling his forest, hah! He dealt with that fly-shit as a kid when someone stole his father's throne (from Griselda, Bog's regent, since Bog's dad kind of died when Bog was a newborn) and then Bog had to kick the imposter off the throne - and not doing that again, thanks.
· Between his informants and reports about captured goblin soldiers, Bog figures out that any rebellion will likely be met with fairy soldiers setting the forest on fire. It's the main stumbling block to his plan of "kill or kick the fairy out and take the throne back" and he and Griselda spend a long time trying to figure out how to prevent the fire happening. At the very least they're expecting Marianne to turn the Forest into a servant-state of the Fields.
· (The fairy council, despite her telling them what to do with their plans, expect the same. And are very annoyed that it hasn't happened yet. It's a temper tantrum, that's what it is. Sure.)
· (There's tension between Marianne and Dagda for this reason, among others, especially since Dagda only "let" Marianne go to the forest to try and get a cure for the love potion.)
· (Marianne is super unhappy at being in the forest, but as long as she doesn't go outside or look out a window she doesn't panic or anything, which is one way to avoid talking face-to-face with her dad.)
· After a while (couple weeks) Bog's judged as healed as he can get just lying around and to start getting up and moving to build his strength back. He and Griselda have no answer to the probable "fairies with fire" thing, so Griselda instead begs Bog to capitulate to Marianne, swear allegiance so she doesn't kill him to strengthen her rule. (They've figured that's why she's having him healed up, so she can execute him in front of the Elders and properly strengthen her claim.) Griselda: "I've buried my husband. Please don't make me bury my son."
· She doesn't fight fair. Bog, meanwhile, might not be king any more but the oaths he swore when taking the throne still count, okay. He still has a responsibility to protect and serve the goblins, and obviously a rebellion isn't the way to go (fairies with fire). If dying keeps them safe (or safer, anyways) he'll do it. He'd rather not, but he will.
· Marianne finally gets the story of Bog using the love potion, and what the antidote actually is, from Sugarplum. Bog is unaware of this, by the way. He is aware that Marianne's yelling at Sugarplum ("What, real love is the only cure? Are people aware that you're peddling something fake? Seriously, all you're doing is making longer-lasting BEER GOGGLES you fraud!") but can't make out the words. Probably for the best.
· Marianne contacts Dagda (those weekly messengers are finally good for something) with the cure - true love - and tells him Sunny can cure Dawn, now stop sending me constant messages telling me to come home, I'm BUSY ruling my new COUNTRY. Dagda obviously does what he's told re: Dawn and Sunny, and keeps sending Marianne messages asking her to come home, the forest is no place for a fairy, ect, ect. They'll set up a subsidiary of the council to take care of the day-to-day humdrum of ruling the forest. (HAH! No.)
· Sugarplum is shipped off to Stone Reach. Her actions are going to be evaluated for treason. No, Marianne's not being petty and it's not revenge for the whole "Dawn got love potioned and Roland was going to use the potion on Marianne" thing. And absolutely nothing about feeling sympathy for a young, love-lorn Bog King who then got his heart broken because Sugarplum was selling lies. No sympathy for the stick-insect-man at all.
· Bog requests an audience with Marianne during her next open court. Either his (horrible) plan will work, or it won't and he'll die. Either way, it'll be over with quick. And he's figuring on the "I'm going to die" side of things, because it's a terrible idea but no one can come up with anything better, and it will hopefully keep the plotting idiots from doing something to bring fire-and-fairies to the forest.
· Oh yeah, little tidbit that this story relies on - there's a second, smaller throne beside Marianne's. The goblins brought it in. When Marianne asked why it hadn't been there to start, they explain that Bog had it taken away, but she hasn't told them the policy about the second throne yet, ect. They do not explain who the second throne is for, figuring it's obvious. It is not. Marianne figures it's for - like in the fairy kingdom - the chief advisor/heir, depending on whether there's an heir or not. The goblins, meanwhile, know it's for the ruler's partner. Both sides think the other side "knows" what the second throne is for.
· Bog shows up in court looking like he's just barely mobile, because he is. He's got some fresh new scars showing. First time for the majority of the goblins to see his wounds. People are either impressed he survived or disappointed he survived. First time Marianne really sees his wounds - or him - as well.
· (This is a slow burn, people. They've finally met properly. That's not the end of it yet though.)
· (Bog's worst wound is, I'm envisioning, a cut high up on the inside of his thigh, in the small area between hip and leg not covered by chitin. Yes, there. A few others include healed cuts on his face and hands, and a crack on his chest, which has healed but won't go away until the next shed or two.)
· Bog explains to Marianne that the goblins don't want to accept her as Queen, that she will face challenges to her rule as long as he lives, even if he is not the one challenging her. (Simplification of all the nonsense the plotters are coming up with, of course.)
· Marianne challenges Bog that he wouldn't be saying that if there wasn't another way, unless he wanted a public execution. (Outwardly calm, inwardly panicked. She hasn't killed anyone yet, not even on the battlefield. She really doesn't want to start by chopping someone's head off.)
· Bog kneels and says he will swear to accept her as the rightful ruler and abide by her rules. He'll even live in the fields if she wants him out of the forest, ect. (Inwardly going "Oh hell no I do not want to live in that horrible place - but I will if I have to and that might help protect my people too, yes self you just volunteered to be a hostage but whatever.)
· After some back and forth, Marianne accepts Bog's oath. The goblin Elders are annoyed because they didn't factor this possibility into their plans at all. Griselda is resigned but relieved that Marianne's not going to kill Bog. The common goblins are confused, but relieved, ect.
· Marianne then announces she has made a decision about Bog. Bog is there expecting to be sent to the fields in exile, maybe with a few goblins. Instead, Marianne tells him to take the lesser throne. (The spouse seat. The Elders are freaking out. They REALLY weren't expecting THIS.)
· Goblins, shocked. Bog, shocked. Marianne, confused and hiding it. She just wants to keep the former ruler as her chief advisor. (Why didn't she just take the chance and shove the throne back at him and flee as fast as she could?! She could've done it but nooooooo...)
· The slow burn BEGINS, MWUAHAHAHAHAHAHA
· Bog is moved into the previously closed spouse-bedroom attached to the royal chambers through the washroom. He's constantly sitting to Marianne's right during dinners and things. He is very confused and bemused and worried, because now he's Marianne's husband? That's literally all it takes for the ruler to decide yup, this is my life-partner, just an announcement and the life-partner sitting in the lesser throne. (Most do throw parties of some sort or other, but that's not required.)
· Marianne does not help by having a discussion with Bog, immediatley after court, about what his duties will be, once he's healed. Advising her about goblin law and customs, primarily. Nothing "active" until he has a clean bill of health. (She's thinking sparring, maybe, or sending Bog out to be the royal face so she doesn't have to fly through the forest - no she's not getting better on her own. Bog's brain maybe shuts down a little, though, because married + active = error does not compute.)
· They set up a routine: breakfast together, usually with a group, very informal. Mornings are spent separate, Bog going to the healer, his mother, dealing with the guards and messengers, ect. Marianne reviews proposed laws/drafting proposals herself, dealing with household complaints, ect. (Marianne asks Bog why the hell he let things get so bad the linens were taken by field mice. Bog is confused they ever HAD linens. There's a reason why Marianne's the one in charge of the household. Mostly because Bog's pants at it.)
· They eat lunch together, then court if it's a court day. Or the library the rest of the time, for Marianne's "how to rule the Dark Forest" lessons. History, politics, who wants to kill who, how property rights are handled, inheritance law, ect.
· Dinner together, and then Bog gives lessons in staff fighting. At the start he gets to sit down and correct Marianne's stances, then as he gets better he starts moving around and eventually they begin, very carefully, sparring.
· Bog, during this part, transitions from hating Marianne with a passion (she beat him and stole his throne!) to respecting-but-disliking her (okay, she stole his throne, but she's not horrible, for a fairy) to respecting and liking her. It helps that she admits she didn't actually want to take his throne, he was going for her dad and she just reacted, and she's really sorry but she's determined to do a good job of it. (She may or may not have started to offer to give the throne back, but it won't work that way, because Bog lost and would need to win a serious fight to get it back. No-go right now, and depending on how that leg heals, maybe never.)
· Marianne, meanwhile, is also transitioning during this part, from distrusting everything and everyone (she's a fairy and fairies are good with backstabbing) to trusting that she's accepted, for now, as the ruler. The plotters have stopped their plotting until they figure out how to handle everything that's happened. She relaxes, trusts Bog but is feeling guilty over stealing his throne, even though she didn't mean to. She also finds herself, by the time they're sparring, admiring Bog's fighting ability (and absolutely not his body. Just the fighting ability. Juuuuuust the fighting ability. Not his hands, or the way he can twirl a staff with just his fingers, or the way his shoulders flex, or that smirk or - just the fighting abilities. Yup. That's her story and she's sticking to it.)
· By this point it's autumn and the harvest starts, so it's all hands on deck. Bog's delegated to the kitchen, because he can be trusted not to chop his own fingers off and he's still only allowed to be only so active. Marianne assists with winterizing the castle and the hidden outbuildings (archives, ect) because she might not know how to hunt and she can't tell the difference between a poisonous berry and a safe one, but by golly she can slap mud and moss over a crack in the wall like a champion.
· Word from the Stone Reach arrives. After the (date to be determined - probably hunter's moon, or maybe harvest moon, before the first frost but only just), Roland and Sugarplum's trials will be held. Marianne can't avoid it, Bog has to go too, ect.
· Marianne and Bog have had multiple personal conversations by this point, everything from brief, "this reminds me of" and in-depth, hours-long conversations. However Marianne stops sharing her personal history/views/values/experiences. They had stopped sparring because Super Busy for harvest, but they take it back up again. They still discuss laws and culture, but not as much. They're also still busy doing what they're allowed to do for harvest. (Marianne is too busy to get freaked out bringing stuff to people outside, and anyways everything's changing colours and she's not reminded of things that happened, so it's okay.)
· Harvest festival with the goblins - Dawn and Sunny visit. Most goblins are unaware Sunny was the elf that stole the love potion, so they treat him decently, and Dawn's okay because she's their Queen's sister. Dawn asks Marianne to come back for the fairy's harvest festival. Marianne tries to get out of it (she really doesn't want to talk to Dagda in person by now, she's been avoiding him for most of the year now - Primroses stop blooming around May) by telling Bog if she goes, he goes. By the end of the night Marianne and a small group of goblins, including Bog, have been selected. She's not sure how that happened.
· (Goblins, for the most part, wear jewellery and not clothes. For the most part they're all wildly different in shape anyways, but what one of them can wear as a necklace another can wear as a bracelet, ect. Tasteful bling happens.)
· Bog warns Marianne that he only has his traditional outfit and there's no time to get anything made for his new status. She tells him to wear the traditional. (She's expecting, like, maybe a crown, maybe some armlets or something.)
· Bog's outfit is a royal great kilt. (I put the Scottish-accented Bog in a great kilt, I'm so proud of myself.) Where fairies use magic on flower petals and leaves, goblins have weaving - which takes so much longer, since they spin cattail fluff and thistle-down or tufts of fur into yarn, and then have to do the weaving. Marianne's given a wrap with the same pattern as Bog's kilt and they started making it the moment she was officially Queen - so about the time she sat down on the throne for the first time.
· (Telling Bog to wear the great kilt provided to the forest's king - not the prince, not the consort, but the full king - reinforces the "married" thing. She doesn't know that. Bog assumes he hasn't been asked to 'perform' his 'marital duties' because Marianne doesn't find him attractive, and he is totally 100% relieved about this and not even slightly regretful someone he considers a friend thinks he's too hideous to touch. Yup.)
· (Marianne, meanwhile, is all but punching herself in the face because she's started humming, goddamn it, whenever she and Bog are alone or plausibly alone. She totally has feelings she refuses to examine, mostly because Bog's kind of like her employee now and he probably still hates her for the whole 'stealing the throne' thing.)
· (Bog may or may not have the odd wish that Marianne would sing to him, because fairies sing to the people they lo - like. Right? Right. Yes. Friendship songs, toooootally friendship songs. They'd be nice.)
· Then the fairy harvest festival. Marianne sees Bog in a kilt and nearly walks into a wall, because - clothing. She's seen him naked, technically, but hooooooh boy now that he's wearing clothes, of a sort, all the can think is getting him out of them and there may or may not be some (a lot) of blushing and mental beating herself up going on. (Marianne has read romance novels, of the sort that go into details a young and impressionable and curious thirteen year old was curious about.) (Bog, in contrast, is quite innocent, poor guy. Doesn't know what's going to hit him...)
· The entire festival basically goes as follows: Fairies are polite but condescending to the goblins. Fairies are polite but condescending to Marianne. Goblins get annoyed at the fairies being rude to their Queen - the group was chosen by Bog half because they'd be useful in a fight, half because they happen to genuinely like Marianne by this point. Marianne doesn't notice the fairies being condescending to her but she does notice them being rude to her goblins. Most fairies end up acting like catty brats.
· At least one fairy accuses Marianne of having gone native to the forest. She does not deny it. At least one council member warns (threatens) her that her actions are risking her inheritance of the Fields. Bog overhears the threat, but not Marianne's response of "Dawn would be a good queen (and Sunny, you know, her elf fiancée? Would be king. Won't you enjoy that, you wrinkled old prune?)"
· The trial at Stone Reach is probably immediately after the party, so the goblins ride their dragonflies there and the fairies fly. Marianne spends the entire flight snubbing Dagda who probably spent the entire fairy party trying to ask her who she wants to take over the day-to-day ruling nonsense so she can come home, and also would she please reconsider any of these charming fairy bachelors (who were rude to her goblins so not just no, hell no.)
· (She might be a little a lot protective of the goblins, now. She really likes them and their way of life and sure it's different from what she's used to, but that's hardly a bad thing. Also, Bog. Who has nothing to do with her "hell no" about the fairy bachelors, of course.)
· The trial. Evidence is presented, including Roland cheating on Marianne and how often, her breaking up with him, all because it goes into his motivation for wanting a love potion. (Someone gets to observe if Roland had just kept it in his pants for one more day, he'd have been married and thus the next king... up until Marianne caught him cheating and killed him, anyways.)
· The Stone Reach provides it's judgement of Roland to be treason to the Fair Fields (knowingly and deliberately taking actions that led to the war) and conspiracy to act against the Dark Forest. Roland is sentenced to death.
· Plum is judged to not have committed treason by reason of mental instability. She is to stay at the reach until she is judged sane. Also she is to not make any more love potions, because the spell-masters at the Reach believe creating love potions did not help with the mental stability. (No, that's probably not an excuse to make her stop, they're from the Reach. They certainly wouldn't lie. Tell only part of the truth, sure, but out-and-out lie? Never.)
· Marianne does not stick around for Roland's execution, but instead leaves as soon as she can, taking the goblins with her. She remains distant to everyone - having her blindness to Roland's true character and the many times he cheated on her revealed to everyone hurt - but especially avoids Bog. She does her duties, but without her usual enthusiasm, and doesn't spar.
· Bog ends up confronting Marianne in her bedroom. They fight, both verbal and physical, though not much of the later. Marianne ends up threatening to send Bog to live in the fields if he can't keep his nose out of her business. He retreats after that.
· (I mentioned slow burn, right? Also, threat to the trust they've built up to this point, along with their friendship.)
· Bog goes around snarling at everyone, Marianne is upset with everyone, and it's just in time for the first snow to hit.
· Griselda tries to talk to Bog and gets nowhere, so she ends up confronting Marianne. "I'm a mother and you should fear love me" works where nothing else did, and Marianne ends up confessing about the fight and how bad she's felt since defeating Bog, and taking away his kingdom - and just everything, really. Up to and including how she has 'no right' to feel as she does for Bog, ect.
· Griselda does manage to direct Marianne to talk to Bog. Marianne does, and apologises for what she said, confirms that she'd never ask him to move to the fields, never mind order him there, and that she relies on him more than anyone, ect. Finishes by saying he's her best friend - and apart from Dawn, kind of her only one, really.
· This is the moment Bog falls head over heels out of friendship and into love. He's sunk.
· All the pining happens from this point on. Sparring resumes, the duo begin to notice (and admit) their physical attraction to each other, and their conversations become awkward (but so exhilarating). They have more personal conversations, including Marianne eventually discussing how she felt about Roland, how she felt about being cheated on, ect.
· (Marianne does say, in retrospect, she loved the idea of Roland more than the person, and her upset was as much for losing that 'idea' of him as being cheated on. Also, in hindsight, not that Marianne tells Bog this, but she didn't feel much for Roland, physically. He was too pretty to lust over, or something. She just figured she'd get the physical attraction once they were married.)
· (Of course, Marianne is comparing her memories of how she felt about Roland to how she feels about Bog now, and she is noticing Bog physically a whole lot. Primarily his eyes, hands, wings, that scar high up on his thigh, and how careful he is with his strength. She maybe wants to wreck his self control, which is not something good fairy girls are supposed to want.)
· (Bog, meanwhile, really wants to know what Marianne's hair feels like, and really likes her eyes, and her wings, and her neck keeps catching his attention, and she's so tiny but she's so strong and it's really impressive how she can just, like, go toe to toe with him and even overpower him at times. It gives him fluttery feelings inside.)
· With winter in place, Bog starts taking Marianne out on trips in the forest. Short trips because it's cold, but he gets the chance to show her places he feels are the most beautiful - things like waterfalls where the plants and rocks are coated in ice from the constant spray, or the glow cave, flying through the thorn bushes only this time it's daytime and they look like they're carved from crystal because there's just so much frost everywhere, ect.
· Mutual pining continues. The goblin midwinter ceremony happens - no set details right now, but probably something about staying up all night until dawn, dinner being 'starvation food' (like super-thin soups and salads made out of things you'd only eat if you had no other choice), putting all the fires out and lighting candles, then lighting the fires from the candles, ect. Marianne does the fairy tradition of giving gifts - those closest to her get personal gifts, everyone else gets generic gifts like sweats (or socks - goblins love the idea of socks). She ends up giving Bog a traditional engagement gift - possibly a wire and gemstone bracelet?
· During the first council meeting of the new year, the Elders of the Forest make preliminary noises about potential heirs and merging new Royal blood with the old. (They have finally decided how to handle Bog being married to Marianne.) Marianne finally discovers she and Bog are considered married. The goblins finally discover she had no freaking clue. The goblins are stunned. Bog's heartbroken, because of course there was no chance, Marianne's reaction just proves that out.
· (Bog assumed, his feelings for Marianne aside, she was just making the best of their marriage and doesn't feel anything more than friendship for him. He figures it's a one-sided situation again, only worse, because a) no way he'd ever consider using a love potion again and b) they're married.)
· (Marianne is heartbroken, as she figures this means Bog was just making the best of a bad situation and maybe they are friends, but how the hell can he love her? Not only did she steal his throne but she told him they were married the first day he was barely mobile... ect.)
· More pining! Not helped by the goblin Elders, who are pushing for a proper marriage that both sides know is a marriage.
· Griselda is just so done with everything, from the Elders to the mutually pining idiots giving each other sad, longing looks over the breakfast dishes (and not realizing the person they're sighing over is sighing over them right back. They're sitting right next to each other, how are they this dense?!) She sends messages to Dawn explaining EVERYTHING, especially about the mutually pining idiots. (Griselda may or may not have spent multiple hours with each idiot bemoaning their sad and sorry fate. At least Marianne's honest about wanting to shove Bog against a wall and oh yeah you're his mother, sorry...)
· Dawn sends a letter back saying she won't be much help until the snows help in spring, but be encouraging (and blunt) with the idiots.
· Griselda sets up the romantic dinner from the movie, only the song is "kiss the girl" from The Little Mermaid. The idiotic and pining duo get angry, tear up the decorations, and go off to spar (and pine.)
· After they spar, they go outside to stargaze a little. They grouse about the Elders and the romantic dinner (blaming the Elders, not Griselda). Someone slips - probably Bog - and probably along the lines of "after all, I know you wouldn't - well, I'm me (gestures at self) and you can do better."
· Whoever is self-deprecating is reassured and the initial confessions of feelings happens. They retreat to Marianne's private office to talk in the warm. Further confessions of feelings happens. Kissing happens. Someone (probably Bog) gets shoved against a wall and ravished. There is no complaining.
· Their relationship escalates quickly (probably same day, TBH) to sharing a bed, but no sex. They do end up with lots of heavy petting every night as they figure out what feels good, what doesn't, ect. Marianne discovers Bog's spine thing, Bog discovers Marianne's thing for necks (both hers and his - she's equally enthusiastic having her neck kissed (and nipped) as she is doing the kissing (and nipping) as well as Marianne's ear thing.
· They try to keep it secret from Griselda and the Elders. They are not subtle and they fool no one. The Elders, however, have to shut up about it because Marianne has a sword and tells them what she'll do with it if they don't move on to the next subject, NOW.
· Griselda sends Dawn an update with no reply, but isn't surprised.
· Marianne and Bog end up with smut. Bog is quite happy to be shoved around and Marianne is quite happy do shove him around. They take turns turning each other to mush. Marriage proposal once they're able to do words again afterwards.
· Close out with a wedding under the cut primroses, some combination of goblin and fairy traditions. (Okay, more fairy traditions than not, because fairies actually need a ceremony to be married and goblins don't, but details.)
When Gerard returns to his family’s beach house after fifteen years, he is only concerned about his reunion with his ex, Elody. He is not expecting to form a bond with a preteen who can’t stay out of the woods, and who may be more invested in his relationship than he is.
—
"Elody,” Gerard says, louder this time. “We need to go.”
She turns to look at him, and the shock on her face cuts worse than any fight that’s about to break out. “Gerard. We can’t leave my friends here.”
“That’s why they shouldn’t have come. This is no place for them. No place for us.”
There is one expression worse than shock. Elody’s face goes blank.
read on AO3
gerard/elody, gerard & ylfa, multichapter modern au. getting back together, accidental parental figure gerard, misunderstood rich kids & summer vibes
Quix wandered out of the valley, dripping with blood and drool, but he had not gone far before another shadow passed over him. As Quix looked up it circled down towards him and landed not ten feet away. It was a man, well, a chimera. He had huge, golden, eagle wings and a tail to match. His feet were not so much feet as talons. He strode boldly towards Quix, a long spear in one hand.
“I am Ethon of the Echidna Clan. Do you serve the leader of that human settlement there?” The chimera demanded, pointing in the direction of Kobble with his spear.
Yes.
“Then tell your leader that by refusing our ultimatum he has incurred the full wrath of the Echidna Clan. We can no longer ignore the atrocities committed against our clan and people. This most recent mistake is to be his last. We will lay siege to Kobble tomorrow at sunset.” And with that the chimera spread his powerful wings and leapt into the air.
Wait! I know Orthos of your clan. What mistake? Quix called after him but the chimera either did not hear him or did not care. Quix hurried on toward Kobble to deliver Ethon’s message.
As Quix approached the crossroads just outside the city he saw a group of soldiers guarding the route to the west road. Quix stopped to question them: what has happened here?
“Some chimeras attacked a caravan a few leagues down the road. All travelers are advised to take shelter in Kobble until we can be assured of your safety. I wouldn’t worry much though: we’ve caught the one who’s behind it.”
And who might that be?
“I donno what he calls himself. He belonged to some performers or something. Anyway, he’s safe in the jailhouse now.”
Quix knew the soldier must be talking about Orthos and that he could not have been the one responsible. He had no way of communicating with his fellows. His clan must have gotten wind of his location and tried to rescue him. Quix turned and bolted towards Kobble.
“Wait! Come back here, boy! What do you know about this?”
Quix burst into the throne room, causing the king to nearly fall off his throne in surprise.
“What is the meaning of barging in here at this hour!”
I slew the dragon, you highness, and—
“What?” the king thundered.
The dragon, the one that was causing the rockslides, your highness, I slew it.
“Those rockslides are caused by earthquakes, or nothing at all. What do you mean ‘dragon’?” the king spluttered.
At that moment Kate burst into the room, an iron poker at the ready. She lowered it when she saw Quix.
They were caused by a dragon, my lord, and I have slain it.
“That’s ridiculous! There was no dragon! There are no such things as dragons!” the king stormed his face reddening like a sunset. “STOP NARRATING! ...Oh gods, I’ll never be rid of this lunatic!” He collapsed back on the throne, his face in his hands. “It’s a bloody armchair!”
I slew it with this sword! Quix continued, drawing his blade. Father and daughter looked at him askance.
“He’s delusional. It was probably a dragonfly,” Kate murmured to her father.
A flying dragon, Quix corrected her, sheathing Fang once more.
“Nonsense!” The king roared. He was beside himself with rage. “Right you are! and I’ve had enough of you! I don’t have time to deal with this lunatic.”
“What’s that smell?” Kate interrupted
Sulfur, Quix answered politely.
“Of course.”
Quix kneeled down in front of her.
Kate, I must beg your forgiveness. My behavior towards you was inexcusable and cowardly. I am not worthy of your hand. I am sorry.
“Thank you,” she responded, her voice soft with surprise.
Quix rose, inexpressively relieved.
“Very good, now please just get out. This is my home,” said the king, regaining some measure of control. “It already feels like the town square with all the house-calls I have received today. I can’t take any more of this, not with the state and the slavers and everyone breathing down my neck about the whole chimera issue.”
Suddenly Quix remembered his mission and said: my Lord, Kate, I come bearing grave news.
“Out with it then!” the king huffed, his tone laden with resignation.
I was approached by a chimera as I returned and he—
“Didn’t eat you? That really is a terrible shame.”
“Father! Go on, Quix, what were you saying about the chimera?”
He said that the Echidna clan will attack at sunset tomorrow.
The king looked shocked and Kate looked confused.
“You mean chimeras are going to attack us? Why now? What’s going on?”
“Thank you, Quix. You may go.”
Please, your majesty, let me help. I’m friends with one of them. Let me persuade them to reconsider.
“Friends? That’s the most ridiculous thing you’ve said yet, and that’s something... Alright, go to them if you wish.” said the king waving him away.
“Wait! What’s happening?” Kate pleaded, but Quix left it to the king to explain.
Quix exited the castle and walked swiftly down the main street. Orthos was being kept in the jail, not the dungeon. He had to find it. As he strode over the cobbles, he realized what a huge mistake he had made. He should never have left Orthos behind. He had been so intent on his mission that he had missed what was obviously right. But he would set it right now. He would not let his friend stay locked up like some kind of criminal.
“Quix! Wait!”
Quix turned to see Kate running towards him. His heart skipped a beat.
“Do you really know one of them? Will they talk to you?” she queried urgently, before she even reached him.
Yes.
She took a moment to catch her breath. “But how will you even find them? No one knows where they live.”
I am friends with the one who is imprisoned here. He will help me.
“If you’re going to the jail, I’m coming with you.”
But—
“I know the guards. They’ll let me in. Besides, this is my home and I don’t want to see it destroyed. You may be crazy, but you’re probably the best chance we’ve got... Oh, gods, what am I saying!”
Quix grinned.
Kate sighed. “This is not gonna go well.”
Shepard had been on shift for a little while before 0900 rolled around and then she found herself gravitating towards the communications room. Everyone would be there. Everyone. She hadn't quite thought that through until now.
Liara, Tali, Garrus, Jack and Zaeed... all in the same room. Hopefully they'd all stay professional. Then again, this was Jack she was talking about. The same Jack that had taken it upon herself to start treating Shepard like some kind of leper since she came into Shepard's room and just... jumped her.
She sighed as she walked into the communications room. No one was there yet, so she walked around to the head of the table and perched on it as she mused what she was going to say.
Reaper Graveyard. Potential indoctrination. She felt like she couldn't tell any of them to come to the planet with her. It wasn't like risking their lives, it was more. Indoctrination. Then again, what idiot would volunteer to visit a Reaper graveyard? And she'd need at least some technological expertise... so Tali or Legion would have to go with her. Perhaps Legion would be a good idea - no mind to be indoctrinated - but she'd trust Tali's judgement more.
She sat on the table and waited, patiently, for her squad to arrive.
