Author's note: More of Veyl of the Shattered Coil in Husbandry AU! Thanks to @sleepyfan-blog for letting me borrow Cedric!
Summary: A wary but increasingly intrigued Arkos Veyl barters future knowledge with the unsettlingly genial Plague Marine Apothecary Hura, learning more about the volatile young Black Templar Cedric and the strange dynamics of Stone Flame base.
Warning: Body horror, disease imagery, corruption/Chaos themes, manipulation, discussion of psychological repression, militarism, implied violence, Warhammer 40k grimdark themes. LMK if I need to add anything else.
"Thank you for your help." Veyl says with a nod of gratitude towards the rather cranky young Apothecary.
Cedric harrumphed in response.
Veyl gives him a small smile- amused - and concerned with just how grumpy Cedric is. True- Black Templars are temperamental but there seems like there might be... more to it? His intuition is... tingling.
Cedric heads off, still grumbling about condescending old men.
He's rather amused, grumbly Scout- that one.
Hura makes his way over to where Cedric is. He has noticed that Cedric seems extra crotchety, "What's going on? Difficult patients can be offloaded onto older Apothecaries for a little bit for an attitude adjustment."
"There is an injured Chaosy Hydra who is being rude and smug at me." Cedric explains a scowl on his face.
"How annoying, do you want me to take a shift or to see if I can help get him an attitude adjustment?" Hura asks lightly- his mind spinning with ideas.
"Yes please. He's been Insufferably Smug and Hydra to me." Cedric responds with his expression even more annoyed.
"Oh dear," Hura says, gently patting Cedric's shoulder, "I'll see what I can do about that- you should grab a snack and take a break."
“Thank you very much,” Cedric says, smiling a little at that, nodding towards Hura as he heads off to the break room to de-stress.
Hura smiles fondly at Cedric as he heads to Veyl’s room- he had heard of the new inhabitant of one of the secure rooms. He had wondered just what was going on- now he’ll get some answers. Alpha legionaries- while tricky are still… mortal. He is a patient old man.
Veyl had been very amused by how cantankerous the younger marine was- the size of Cedric- the latter is a Primaris Marine. From what his sources told him- what footage he’d seen… He understands some of the hostile, surly grumbles from the Son of Dorn.
Veyl smells what approaches- before it- someone- some thing. Arrives- even with the strong sanitization and ventilation- his eyes water a little bit as the corrupted, vile form of a Nurgle aligned Plague Marine - a Death Guard at that in- a mockery of an Apothecary uniform shows up.
“Hallo!” Hura croons with a lightly malevolent cheer as he looks over Veyl and reads his chart quickly.
“Hey- are you allowed in the medical ward?” Veyl asks as he winkles his nose and eyes Hura like he’s a walking biohazard. “You smell like you’d make things… worse.”
He leans back a little - he had heard the others speak of Hura- and Death Guard and Plague marine in the same sentence- but he hadn’t actually believed that they let him into a supposedly loyalist base to practice medicine.
“Why did Cedric sic you on me?” Veyl asks a touch indignantly, “I haven’t done anything.”
“Yet,” Hura retorts with a smirk, before growing more serious, “I can keep my Blessings to myself, and Cedric sends his regards. You ought to be more polite to your primary Apothecary.”
“I was being polite to the lad!” Veyl protests his innocence- a tad indignant as he hasn’t even done anything. “I never called him cute or adorable to his face- or within his hearing. I figured he would pout at me and sulk over the ‘insult’.”
“Ah…. Cedric is… in denial about certain… gifts. He has. Empathy- to know how others feel about him, among other things.” Hura says.
“Ah! That is what I sensed then- a budding young Psyker.” Veyl brightens before snickering a little and sighing, growing serious- it is dangerous to repress one’s power, it is dangerous to be untrained. “Let me guess- the training for that is going slowly and in a round about fashion?”
“Yes- we are being … not so direct in training him- it’s working so far.” Hura says, “but eventually he- and we will need to confront him on his psyker abilities for him to fully control them.”
“Let me guess- he’s a Black Templar? Especially because of how growly he is.” Veyl adds, astute.
“Yes- Cedric is a Black Templar,” Hura affirms.
“Ah how fun,” Veyl says, “He’s a rather large handful I assume.”
“Oh perhaps- but he’s worth the effort,” Hura says, one of his hands tilting sideways twice, “it’s a delicate work in progress.”
“I bet- he’s a hostile young man.” Veyl adds.
“Oh- this is better, actually,” Hura says with a chuckle - memories of when Cedric first arrived and how much more reactive and aggressive the younger marine had been.
“Oh?” Veyl asks, his eyes glimmering- the hunger for information has him lean forwards a little. “Please, do tell your tales of him?”
Hura smiles at the expression hidden by his helmet- he’s caught the Hydra by his curiosity- excellent. “I don’t give information like that away for free.”
‘Damn,’ Veyl mentally cursed- he had been hoping that Hura would be in the mood to chat stories without prices being involved. “What may you be interested in for bartering?”
He doesn’t have much- besides himself, information of the future as he knows it- and his skills. Veyl is curious to know what Hura wants- and what kind of costs the other will ask of him.
“What do you have to offer?” Hura asks- curious to see what the Hydra will come up with- as his mind spins to what he’d think is a fair price.
“Information,” Veyl says after a few moments of silence, “I am from M42- after the Primaris Rollout. I recognize an oversized Scout when I see one.”
“Oh? How … curious,” Hura is pleased with the offer and nods a little bit at that, “do continue.”
“What would you like to know?” Veyl asks as he keeps his smirk internal ‘got him.’
“As much as you know,” Hura says.
“I feel like that’s an unequal exchange,” Veyl keeps himself from snorting or shaking his head at that- of course- he wants the whole lot for relatively little- but Veyl’s no newbie. He’s not that desperate either, “I will give you one piece of information in exchange for the piece of information that I want.”
Hura shifts a little as he allows, “fair enough I suppose- one story, for a whole truth.”
Veyl nods in agreement as he asks, “What do you mean by the angry grumbling being better?”
Hura lets out a fond chuckle as he tells the tale of how- during the first week of him being in Stone Flame base he had tackled a Slaaneshi marine who’d been dripping poison uncontrollably and had strapped jars to Zaarius’s claws with orders for a heavy flamer to purge the chaos filth before it could corrupt and currode. How he’d occasionally almost press his nose to the windows and growl for hours as Chaos marines simply walked about- going about their business not trying to hassle or make Cedric Irate.
“... Ah- your domestication efforts have gone well then,” Veyl says nodding towards Hura - he’s impressed, “that does sound about right for a Baby black Templar.”
“Oh yes- he’s come along quite well.” Hura says- an almost paternalistic pride coating his voice.
“Ah- a good number of the Primaris Marines were not… well received as reinforcements,” Veyl starts- noticing the way Hura stills and watches him- predatory intent starting to leak from his form. “ And a good… number of them were … Well- it looked to me like they were hunted for sport, by some of the most jealous of the First Born Loyalists.”
“Ah- how utterly foolish, stupid, and tragic,” Hura says shaking his head- as Veyl heard a sneer in his voice, “It - seems like an encapsulation of the Imperium of Man in that whole Era.”
“The decaying corpse of the Imperium is bringing so many down in its long, slow death throws.” Veyl says with agreement, eyes dark for a moment. He watches Hura for a moment- Hura seems an… odd one.
“This was such a pleasant chat, keep your emotions behind a barrier- and Cedric should be less grumbly,” Hura advises as he heads off.
