#cassius corvus

[lunamaraproject]

LUNAMARA: Fragments [5]

💥

If Felix closes his eyes, he can pretend that the distant rumble is merely thunder. That the pattering against the canvas of the tent is just the rain. That the cries of shock and pain are…

Well, his imagination isn’t all that good.

“Why is it that I’m always the one who has to patch you up?” Cas grumbles, Felix’s wrist held delicately in his hands as they glow with magic. The wound isn’t that deep honestly, but you’d think he was about to lose the hand if Cas wasn’t there to heal him.

“You say that like you’d let anyone else do it,” Felix teases, and receives a sharp look for his attempt to lighten the mood.

“It wouldn’t make us very good morale boosters if they saw us getting blown to pieces,” he snaps, before turning his attention back to the gash. Felix’s own crystal has hardened around the wound itself, leaving a large chunk missing, a ravine between his palm and his forearm. Actually, with the right angle, it is possible that someone could chip a little further in, and then he really would lose his hand. The pain is dull, and it tingles as Cas uses his own magic to fill in the gap, glimmering midnight obsidian against garishly bright fire-opal.

Temporary measures secured, Cas closes a gold cuff around Felix’s wrist and sits back to inspect his work. Like this, you can’t even see the injury.

“It’s only a chip,” Felix utters softly. “And we’re more than just morale boosters.”

Cas huffs an unamused snort out of his nose as he stands up, moving back over to the medical supply kit. “I’m not a military grade healer and you’re not a military grade anything, so tell me what exactly we’re here for, Fel.”

“Hey, I resent that! I’ve been really useful!” Felix frowns.

He doesn’t even get a reply to that one, as Cas pulls his armour back on, marking him as a medic. Felix worries about him when he’s walking around with a great big target on his back. The enemy has shown they’re not averse to shooting non-combatants. For all that Cas frets about Felix’s safety, he’s the one who is most at risk here. There’s only 15 years between them, but that’s enough for Cas to assume that Felix doesn’t know how to take care of himself, or what their real purpose is here.

And it’s not for morale. The soldiers that see him and Cas rarely ever smile.

Anger is a great motivator. Poor wretched orphans, we - your starfolk brethren - will avenge your losses for you.

Like Felix even asked.

Another great rumble of not-distant-enough thunder, another chunk of a beautiful world rendered into ash and dirt to rain down on the surface again, wrenching trees from the soil, lakes from their beds, and people from their lives. Felix would rather not have any of it associated with his name, nor with Cas’.

But the Queen said they had to, and what authority have either of them got to say no?

🌗

More from LUNAMARA:

Fragments [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]<-- More every Thursday!

Comic [Prologue]

Art by Luka (http://nousanti.tumblr.com/) Story by Pidge (http://pidgestories.tumblr.com/)

[lunamaraproject]

LUNAMARA: Fragments [6]

🦢

Felix is sure he once heard a philosopher say that only two things were certain: death and taxes. Having been embroiled in the political sphere quite against his will for the past 140 years of his life, he can say with certainty that not only is that true, but that people will occupy 90% of their time arguing about one or both topics when presented with the option to do so.

He doesn’t, technically, have to be here. He’s a mid-level bureaucrat at best, these days, and he worked hard to make himself less significant in the public eye, so he’s not obligated to turn up to public senate meetings. But Cas asked him, and Elsie– well, she didn’t ask, she’s too proud for that, but she also didn’t forbid him to come, which for a girl just a couple of decades past a century, means she desperately wants his company.  

Cas plays his role as a guard very well. He looks imposing and cold in his gleaming armor, standing at attention with his spear in hand next to Elsie’s seat at the head of the long wooden table. His gaze is hard and constantly moving, sweeping over the irritated expressions of the senators in front of him. Behind them and further back, a much less organised gaggle of common people, those who are interested enough to take time out of their day to watch old fogies argue with a girl young enough to be their granddaughter.

The room is packed. He’s not sure what that says about their society, or whether the situation has simply gotten to a point where nobody can afford to be “disinterested in politics”.

“My Lady,” says a senator through his teeth, as Elsie inclines her head in his direction. “If the Queen’s government doesn’t disclose to its people the full details of the incident, I fail to see how we can maintain mutual trust!”

“You are expected to trust your Queen by her nature of being Queen, Senator Aurelius,” Elsennae replies. “And all the relevant details have already been disclosed to your office, and to the public.”

“And yet none of it pertains to exactly how long we have left running on our current power!” he snaps back, raising his voice and drawing a few shouts of agreement from the crowd. “The people need to know exactly how much is needed to keep their homes aloft. How else are we to live our lives?!”

Another senator slams her hand onto the table. “How long do we have until another cleaving event like this!?” 

“If we don’t know, how are we going to evacuate people from the area in time?!”

“How long before Lunamara itself drops out of the sky!” 

Elsennae raises her hands to calm her people, though it takes a few seconds before they quiet down. Felix feels his skin crawl with an unpleasant feeling. For some reason, it reminds him of the whistling of a mortar shell through the air.  

“In the interest,” Elsennae says loudly and clearly. “Of the people of Lunamara not living their lives in anxiety and fear, we have chosen not to openly disclose the numerical values of the power needed to maintain current altitude. Regardless we ask for people to continue operating on minimum power at all times, and encourage those who feel ready to enter the Dream–”

Felix moves, but Cas moves faster, smacking the bolt of magic out of the air with his spear, and sending it careening into the nearby wall, where it explodes with enough force to knock multiple senators from their chairs. The crowd panics, as do the politicians, but Felix scrambles to Elsie’s side. 

“Felix!” Cas barks, standing between the princess and the crowd. He’s looking for the offender, but in the chaos, it’s unlikely he’ll find them. If he does, Felix doesn’t envy them. “Get her out of here!”

He doesn’t need to be told twice. Elsie’s still small enough to be picked up, which he does, sweeping her into his arms and escaping out of the side door. The palace is a maze, but he’s as familiar with it as he is with his own face, so he takes a winding route that would lose any pursuers that could somehow get past Cas. Again, unlikely, but he’s not made it this far without being careful.

Finally, he stops in a small side room. Closing the door, he seals the edge of it with crystal. Hardly the strongest, but better than nothing. Then he leans against it, sliding down until both he and Elsie are sat on the floor. 

This room used to be for servants, he’s fairly sure. It hasn’t seen use in a century, and the dust is prevalent. Elsie would probably use that as an excuse later, for why her eyes are bloodshot and her throat sore. A princess ruling in the place of her sleeping mother can’t afford to look weak.

For now, here with him, she’s just a little girl crying in his arms, shoulders shaking with the weight of an entire crumbling city upon them.

If Felix can bear at least some of the weight for her, he’ll attend every farcical meeting until the end of time.

🌗

More from LUNAMARA:

Fragments: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Comics: [Good Night] [Good Morning]

Art by Luka (http://nousanti.tumblr.com/) Story by Pidge (http://pidgestories.tumblr.com)

[lunamaraproject]

LUNAMARA: Fragments [2]

🦢

Felix makes sure to stop at the Overlook, as ever. No need to rush through the palace halls to her highness’s side with more portents of their once glorious city’s decline. Instead, he takes a moment to enjoy the view of what else they lost, in the century before. For a short while, he can forget even the weight of the report he carries in his arms.

The Surface is beautiful, even now. 

“Felix!”

He turns his head to look, though he needn’t do so. He knows he will find Cassius Corvus there, and a smile comes easier when he is proven right. It’s returned, though neither of them hide their tiredness from each other. It would be silly to do so, when they know each other’s tells so well. 

“You have manna dust in your hair, Cas,” Felix says, but only after he’s started sweeping his fingers through said dark locks. “You’re meant to eat it, not wear it.”

“I thought you might appreciate the fashion statement,” Cassius bats his hand away, though not hard. “You’re so predictable. Aren’t you bored of looking at it by now?”

“Why would I get bored of it when it’s always changing?” Felix turns his gaze back out to the world below. The glow of their great city used to illuminate all of its trees and mountains as it passed overhead, glimmering off of lakes and rivers and oceans, even highlighting the movements of the many myriad organic animals. 

And the little human towns too, though those are long gone from the Surface now. The scars carved into the earth are all so overgrown one could mistake them for cliffsides and ravines, if it weren’t for how eerily, unnaturally straight they are. 

Cas peers down. “Looks the same to me, Fi.”

“That’s because you have no eye for beauty.”

“I have an eye for you.”

“Oh stop,” Felix laughs, hip-checking him with a grin. “Aren’t you meant to be with little Elsie?”

Cas’ smile falters a little. His gaze moves away. “I’m giving her some space. She tried to commune with Her Majesty again.”

Felix’s own cheer cannot sustain itself. “Still no luck, then.”

A shake of the head.

“I guess this would be a bad time to deliver this report then?”

“Mmn.”

Silence falls between them, punctuated only by the sound of distant, crumbling rock. Something large has collapsed, but the echoes indicate it’s quite far. Hopefully no district that still has anyone awake in it. 

“You know this isn’t sustainable, right?” Cas says lowly, voicing what they shouldn’t voice. It’s not that anyone would berate him for saying it, but still.

“It’s what the Queen decreed before she lead the charge into the Dream,” Felix shrugs a shoulder. “Who are we to deny orders?”

Cas’ jaw clenches. “She’s not going to wake up, Felix.”

“I’ve been accused already of treason today, you know.”

“Be realistic! It’s been 120 years of decline now, as of yesterday!” Cas raises his voice, gesturing around him at the once glorious spires and pillars and waves of carved stone that established Lunamara as the most beautiful city in the sky, the jewel of a golden crown. Now it is the only city in the sky. “Things are not getting better, are not going to get better, if we all just try to sleep through it! We’ll end up lifeless rocks!”

“I, personally, wasn’t ever intending to do any such thing.”

“Then you’ll be left here alone in an empty city!”

“No I won’t,” Felix says, looking right at Cas. “You’ll be here.”

It’s clear that Cas has a lot to say about that, but can’t seem to pick one to start with, and so like too many people trying to cram through a door at once, nothing comes out at all. He stands there, fists clenched and shaking a little like he used to when they were children, and would bicker and argue about meaningless things like archery games and who sat in the front of the skysail. No matter how old they get, however many centuries pass, some things never change. 

Cas finally opens his mouth, but Felix doesn’t get to hear what he intended to say. There’s a crunch and a rumble, and Cas is suddenly much taller than him. Felix's stomach lurches, and he flails his arms helplessly. He’s falling–

And then Cas snatches him, right out of the air, yanking him close with a glow of magic and backing well away from the sudden chasm in the overlook. They cling to each other for a long, silent minute, almost straining to hear the sound of the broken chunk of Lunamara hit the ground. They don’t, of course. The surface is much too far away. Felix is supporting Cas as much as Cas is supporting Felix. Once the numbness of the near-fall passes, Felix immediately turns and starts moving them both over to a bench carved into the wall, sitting down with Cas leaning against his shoulder. “... you could have saved your magic and let me fall,” Felix says eventually.

Cas lifts his head and squints at him. “Why in Luna’s name would I do that?”

“Well,” Felix holds up his empty hands. “I dropped the folder. So it would have saved Rufus the trouble of throwing me off himself.” 

Considering this, Cassius pats Felix’s arm. “Let’s just… keep it between us.”

🌗

More from LUNAMARA:

Fragments [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]<-- More every Thursday!

Comic [Prologue]

Art by Luka (http://nousanti.tumblr.com/) Story by Pidge (http://pidgestories.tumblr.com/)

[lunamaraproject]

LUNAMARA: Fragments [4]

🐴

“Touch it.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You’re being a baby. Just touch it!”

“I’m going to lose my fingers! Its head is bigger than my whole arm!”

“It’s not going to want to eat you, it’s vegetarian! You heard the teacher!”

“I don’t know what that means, Cas!”

Before Cas can answer Felix, the creature next to him snorts another hot burst of air into his hair, ruffling it and startling a laugh out of him, and a shriek from Felix. Cas doesn’t see what the problem is. The teacher said that as long as you didn’t stand directly behind the creature and spook it, nothing bad would happen. 

“Humans ride on these things!” he reassures him. “Look, it’s friendly, you overgrown mote, it just breathed on you. Vegetarian means it only eats plants. You know what a plant is, don’t you?” 

The sour look that Felix gives him, half hidden behind a hay bale, could easily wither the oldest oak tree. “I’m not stupid Cas.”

“Coulda fooled me,” Cas teases, grinning as he watches the glow rise in Felix’s ears. 

“I’m going to bite you, if you keep talking like that,” Felix threatens, still very much glued to the hay and not threatening in the slightest, especially since Cas grew half a head taller than him 2 years ago. 

“You’ll chip your little soft teeth.”

“I’m not soft!!”

“Then come and touch the horse!”

Cas watches Felix fight an internal war with himself. Admit that he’s soft and would chip if a branch hit him, or pull himself together and come touch the earth creature. It’s not like Cas means to be mean - rather, he thinks Felix’s fear is based entirely on not trying, and Cas hates to roll over and give up on anything. Seeing other people do it, honestly, pisses him off. 

His mother would give him a glowing hide for swearing, even in his head. But she’s up on Lunamara, and he’s on the coolest field trip, and Felix is still acting like he’s 45 not 90, so he has other priorities.

Finally, movement. Felix edges out from behind the hay bale, practically hugging the side of it still, his pin-straight amber hair falling forward as he ducks his head. Cas has always swallowed his jealousy at how pretty it is, especially compared to his own, dark and fairly thin locks. Maybe the horse will think it’s like those karots it eats. That would definitely set back Felix’s progress, but also, it’d be really funny, and therefore worth every additional hour he’d have to spend hyping him up again. 

Once his friend is within range, Felix clings to Cas’ arm and stares up at the horse. The enormous creature stares back down its long snout, its dark eyes and long lashes blinking slowly at them both. There are no horses on Lunamara, of course. The air is thinner up there, and they wouldn’t survive - really, only certain kinds of birds can manage it, and not for long.

A shame. He’d have loved to prank Felix by putting one in his room. 

He almost misses the moment when it happens, but in a sudden burst of bravery, Felix holds out a shaking hand towards the horse’s long snout. After a beat of curiosity, the horse gently nudges into his fingers, making Felix jump and nearly stand on Cas’ toe. He lets him off for it, because this time, he’s won.

“See?” he says lowly. “And you didn’t lose any fingers.”

“Yet,” Felix mutters, but there’s a growing light in his eyes, a fascination forming with the softness of the creature’s skin, the place where hair transitions in, the restrained power in how it moves. “Cas.”

“Mmhmm?”

“Thanks,” and he’s smiling, that infuriating smile where Cas knows that later, he’ll look up every scrap of information about horses, declare them one of his new favourite things, and become absolutely insufferable about them for the following half a decade.

Still. Worth it.

“Any time, softie.”

“Hey!”

🌗

More from LUNAMARA:

Fragments [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6]<-- More every Thursday!

Comic [Prologue]

Art by Luka (http://nousanti.tumblr.com/) Story by Pidge (http://pidgestories.tumblr.com/)