Some work I forgot to post- the Anemoian ceremonial armor. While it does not see much practical use anymore, this set and a few like it once belonged to Sera Aeraki. She was the first ruler of Anemoi when it was still called Enkavaima. Here, Ilonia Lutalo-Cane dons it. Its worn durring court by the head-knight posted beside the Crowns. On the waist sits the oldest flag of Anemoi, before the current emblem of the golden wing/ wheat stalk. It has many dragons and pop-flower imagry on the armor
here's 9 lines of my latest thing that i haven't finished
“My Crown…” she started. Ilonia tended to use this more formal language whens she was being delicate with him,
“Seriously, if you could tell anyone, you can tell me what's on your mind. what is going on with you?...”
Chien reached his free hand up to rest on his mouth, bringing a leg up to prop his arm on his knee as he let out a long sigh,
“I’m proposing to Lady Sinclaire at the end of next week.”
Ilonia perked up at that, a big grin coming over her face. She reached out and took Chien by the shoulder,
“That's wonderful! Do you have plans?”
“Of sorts.”
“Why are you so… off… about it then?”
“Ilonia…” he started, giving her a squinted pitiful look,“You know my record with women. Poor dear Faye and how Jovi refused to trust and love me despite swearing my loyalty to her alone...”
“Sure, I know your record,” Ilonia got up back to her feet, pulling Chiens arms with her. She tugged and he groaned about it but ultimately relented and got to his feet.
“If you include your weird relationship with Niomi, it's crap.”
“Well aren't you helpful…” Chien grumbled.
im tagging @thefabulp and north tagged everyone else I already usually tag 0_0
happy storyteller saturday! what's one thing your character NEEDS to hear right now?
HAPPY STS! This one was from last week-!
Azaiah needs to hear that he wasn't a monster in his younger years, he was trying his best, it just wasn't a situation he could win in. He needs to be told he is loved
Ilonia needs to be told to slow down! She'll survive if she takes time for herself and heal.
Chien needs to be told that he deserves to be a kid. He deserves to have responsibility shouldered to someone else for a while. Its okay to live and act like a teen and he doesn't need to be ashamed when he reacts like one.
Cassius needs to hear that there's other options. He could've been happy with someone other then Fluvius jr
Mavros needs to hear TAKE RESPONSIBILITY, YOU DUMB FUCK. Take charge, grow up, and stop being a puppet.
Amara needs to hear that shes not broken. She needs to know that her aromantism isn't something wrong or a result of previous relationships
I have a handful of neurodivergent characters, including but not limited to Mavros, Iasis, Ilonia, and Elise. Those four are on the top of my mind though when I think of people who regularly stim.
Crown Mavros Aeraki is very AuDHD. He uses a lot of tactile stims like running his finger tips through his hair, over his clothes, picking and biting his clothes, etc. (He has a lot of sensitivity with his clothes, and wears only specific fabrics and styles. If he feels a hem he'll explode in 1000 pieces.)
He scratches himself a lot, bites his fist, he likes to blink hard, kick back at his throne, and hes huge on physical touch. Often sits on his own legs and holds his arms close to his body.
Like me, he when hes alone he does some arm things like arm curling.
When he was a kid, he'd t-rex arm all the time but his father would get after him for it so he moved to slightly more subtle things.
Iasis Aeraki, im not completely sure but hes probably autistic. He masks a lot, and has since he was small due to his parents insistence on him being the perfect eldest child; so a lot of his stimming is stuff that would be unnoticeable unless you spent a lot of time around him. Muscle clenching, picking, using his electrokinesis to run static down his arms, and undoing and redoing his hair over and over. When he was younger, he was prone to pulling his hair and scratching.
He uses his mandolin a lot to get some of that energy out in a way he doesn't feel shameful about. He is also a performer, and uses dance and sword fighting practice often in the same way, but in his old age hes slowed down.
Ilonia-dy Lutalo has ADHD and has been (kind of) diagnosed in canon. They dont really have a name for it, but Jeremias attempts to help her with low doses of amphetamines. She has always been extremely high energy and under-stimulated.
Shes was in junior guard (essentially scouts but make it medieval guard related) since she was quite young, and ended up getting a lot of that energy out in the form of exercise and rough play with her peers. She use to stim more often, usually through biting, jumping, and rocking on her heels but after her father died and things got bad, she got prone to holding back that nervous energy until she blew up.
As an adult, she stims mainly through more subtle ways when shes not jogging or training. Foot tapping and pacing are big for her.
Elise Lutalo had a traumatic brain injury as an infant, and has had sensorimotor and sensory processing disruption since then. She rocks a lot, clenches up, stomps, covers her ears and when she was a kid she'd do a lot of biting, t-rex arming and flapping. As she grew up, she migrated more into using more flicks and stretches and messing with her cane when she uses it on her bad days.
She will also often bring her hair down to braid, and unbraid much like Iasis does.
I didn't finish anything this week, but I did get two WIPs half way through.
The first one is part of Ilonia's Pinnae Dragon Fight and the second is Chien's Perpetual Trouble With Women
Under the cut
----
Lightning parted the sky, cutting it in two. Super heated air cracked past pine trees and farm fields.
The light flashed over Ilonias eyes, lighting her father's blue eyes up into pale tones for a fraction of a moment.
Brave Lutalo - Merciless Derre.
The echo of thunder rumbled through the mountains.
Wing beats and claws scraping stone caused her heart to drop into her stomach. Her guts twisted, and she hesitated to turn and raised her lantern.
She brought it up, and the fire lit thin reflective stripes and the insides of membranous wings. Pale eyes looked back into hers and the inhuman ones contracted to pin points.
Here she was… following in Mirkas footsteps.
But, she was alone. The only company she had was her Pero and it wasn't much for conversation past a miserable warble when she gave it a scolding for chewing at the masonry.
There was nobody but herself to save her from this beastly winged thing. This thing… fuck. At this moment, she wouldn't actually mind if Alfonze of all people were here. He could pry it's fangs from her flesh, even if it were for his own selfish gains.
Spit pooled in its mouth
A dizzying nausea built drool under her own tongue.
Why couldn't she just be satisfied… If she just- if she didn't complain. If she didn't beg Chien to get Maxwell to relent into granting her knighthood.
If she just let him do as he pleased her… she wouldn't be here.
Maxwell wouldn't have sent her on this death march alone. She’d have backup
She was her father's girl, though.
Apprentice of Crown Mirka.
Their little fighter. She had fucking pride. She deserved her title. She deserved the fucking world, paid by her own blood, sweat and tears.
She brought her hand up in a swinging arc, and in an instant there was a moment of sunrise that lit the top of the wall.
Bright, dazzling fire.
Flames from her fingertips engulfed air, breathing in a gasp as it first touched the wind. A louder woosh, then the thick fluid that burst from the Pinnae dragon's mouth was eaten by her fire.
If Alfonze could fight a Dragon… If Mirka could beat Alfonze…
If Ilonia could beat this Dragon, she was better than them all. She would be a Dragon Slayer. An honorary Riderband.
If she came out of this alive, surely, she would be recognized. She would be the knight that proved herself despite it all.
The secondhand twitched on Ilonias watch. White-hot, searing pain ripped through her muscles.
Her own fire burnt away most of the assault, but spittles of fire-breath splattered through. A drip on her face, several more hitting her jaw and neck, and dripping under the collar of her shirt. On-fire, viscous liquid poured down her armor, slipping through seams and heating up metal.
Everything smelled like cooked flesh and alcohol based cleaner.
Ilonias hands found their way to her bow rested against the wall as her arcing motion came to its finale.
Light from her pyrokinesis was fading.
She gripped it and in her other hand she pulled an arrow by its fletching from her quiver
She placed it in its rest, pulled the cord with great effort, and released it into the animal's head.
Her Pero ran past Ilonia, quills going wild as it leaped and sunk its fangs into the Pinnaes arm as the arrow met it's mark.
It raised the arm and screeched, kicking all four walking limbs out as it leaped up. This dislodged the Pero and kicked it to the ground.
Ilonias Pero scrambled and turned tail. It ran towards the towers, yelping and making a ruckus. This was what a Pero was trained to do.
Its bites were annoying to Pinnae but its real advantage over them was their incessant need to alert others to its master's quarrel.
Its wings blocked out the sky, blinding Ilonia into a squint as it caught light in its wings. Through that long, adrenaline filled second. She could feel her heartbeat in her skull.
She dropped out of the way of its spread back talons, belly to the stone. The coldness of the bricks did not help to alleviate the fire on her. Slapping at the spit did little more than to spread it. It would either eat through her or use up its self-igniting fuel first. Pinnae fire was notoriously difficult to put out without water, as the fuel itself just lit back up when exposed to oxygen again.
It ate through the spittle quickly though, and Ilonia could groan out a sound of relief past the searing, lingering pain.
She crawled onto her hand and knees, looking up into the Pinnaes eye when it turned slowly. Its lips were pulled back to show off its horrible teeth. She held her bow in her hand not supporting her weight.
The Pinnaes body could only barely be seen without the reflective stripes on its body giving it away in the lantern light.
With a squint, she could see Its fur was patchy around its mouth and its lips were pale with burns from its fire-spit being flared back at it.
One eye had been severely damage by ilonias arrow. It had found its way through its cheek and into the eye socket.
A stream of blood dribbled down the feathers on the arrow and through its fur. It found itself pooled on the ground.
----
“Lord Chien,” a prospect chimed, fingers brushing his arm.
“My Crown,” another cooed as she batted her eyelids.
Wives from all over shot the young king smiles and touched his hands.
They all kneeled and bowed and curtsied.
Chien would never say weren't all very beautiful. They all had promise as good wives who offered dowry and deals.
He had been offered queens since before he was even crowned. Of course, they never expected him to truly get married so early, but marriage was a tool of politics.
He was offered more often after the title was given to him by his God.
He accepted twice. Pretty girls who's deals piqued his interest…
Things always seemed to fall through… He’d meet these girls. Iasis would speak with them. Azaiah would speak with them. Then, marriage would come quickly.
Or course due to his age, he wasn't expected to consummate. This was simply a tool of politics.
The first wife he was married to at 13. Faye was the anxious type. Prone to bouts of panic and paranoia. She was a Midonian girl, and was the same age as him.
Chien never understood why this girl hated him so much, but she was convinced that she was to live a miserable life under the Crown. She resented her kin for selling her off to the Aeraki.
One night, while Chien slept soundly in his bed, he awoke to a sight too familiar to Aeraki men.
Someone trusted standing over their bed, dagger glinting in the moonlight pouring in from the window.
In that moment he was in the bodies of those before him.
Caius, Dikaiosyn. Skalono. His own father, Mavros presumably.
Why?... He had not touched a hair on this girl. He doted on her in innocent ways. He offered her a place beside him on his throne, not below him… he had no answers at that moment. There was nothing but a ‘why?’ in that lingering moment where he knew he wouldn't be able to move fast enough to stop her from sinking her dagger into his body.
Faye brought the blade down into his rib and he let loose a horrible flash of lightning an instant later.
It went through the metal and into the girl.
Flesh seared and the tips of her hair singed.
He screamed and sobbed as he held her twitching body in his arm, belting out for help. With his free hand he held the dagger and gasped out for air.
He was hauled to the infirmary, as was she.
Chien, in that familiar infirmary bed, with Kid as his witness, quietly vowed.
He would never brighten a room like that again. His powers would remain inside him so long as he could help it. He couldn't hurt someone like that again…
All while Kid changed out gauze and questioned the Crowns own sanity.
Chien, beside a wheelchair bound Faye, went to Father Braxton.
With his hand gripping his rib and a sorrowful look, the Crown requested annulment.
It was granted, given the circumstance of her actions and of the state of the girl.
Faye was sent back to Midonia with signed divorce papers and irreparable damage to her brain and body.
At 15, Chien was hopeful going into his second marriage.
Jovi was his 16 year old bride.
She was convinced of the sin of one's father, and the father's before.
Chiens continued loyalty meant nothing to Jovi when the proud tradition of the Aerakis unfaithfulness followed the family the way it did.
Chien could deal with the guards. He could deal with the servants.
He was pretty sure his creepy head knight had his gazes upon his young queen too.
He couldn’t deal with Fluvius Lutalo laughing at his misfortune. Teasing how he and his street boys spent the night with her, How she basically crawled into their laps… How Chien must be a bad lover.
Charge built, and Chien held his fists at his side. His knuckles went white, and his guts twisted. Sparks ran over his skin in a wash of numbness.
His smirk boiled the Crowns blood.
He stared him down… He could sanction his death. He could have him whipped. He could strip him of everything right down to his name and exile him to the land beyond the walls of Aeraki.
If he let his anger get the best of him, Chien could bring down great power upon the autocrat of the Grigora!
He could punish him for his hubris, but… wrath like that was not the actions of the kind of the king that Chien decided he should be.
He turned his back to the snickering.
It wasn’t really Fluvius’ fault after all… It was Jovi.
Happy Storyteller Saturday!!! Name a favourite character. Gun to your head. My finger is squeezing the trigger unless you name a favourite Ascendancy character now. teehee.
You're killing me here. KILLING ME, I SAY!
I have a ton of different favourites, all for different reasons.
My all time favourite isn't even my own. Its Xavier Cane, owned by @the-majestic-pterodactyl-senpai
His story is wild, and I love every aspect of him! Maybe Curt can reply to this with his story? :3
Out of my characters, I had a much harder time choosing. If I had to pick though I'd say maybe Chien?
TLDR of his story,
Chien Aeraki is the son of Crown Mavros and Mirka Aeraki. He is the sole heir to the Anemoian throne and rises to power at 12 and a half after his parents fake their death and escape to Ishida.
He is asthmatic and goes through a lot of health issues through his whole life.
In his childhood, he was subject to quite the horrors. He was hurt by the priest and was witness to great violence around the castle; including the whipping of his father by his uncle Xavier. He watched his father, the Crown, descend into severe depression.
He is terrified of becoming anything like his father or Xavier, and for that reason is a strict pacifist for quite some time.
He however, remains a Prideful Aeraki and Ruthless Cane. He eventually sees the need for a harder fist.
After his own headknight, Maxwell, attacks Chiens wife; Chien exiles him. He breaks a little, and begins executing and exiling whoever has committed atrocities and can be tried.
Even his own son, Kurtys Jr ends up in the gallows.
He gives one of his new head knights, Ilonia Lutalo, jurisdiction to even track down and arrest a magistrate that Chien had been trying to bring justice down upon in years.
Chiens story ends in a coup when hes 60. He is known by the end of his life as a fair Crown, but not one to be fucked around with anymore. He goes from a scared boy who ended up in power way too early, to a man considered worthy of his title.
