#kendrick march

[belethlegwen]

Hi there! Question about the Stranding: Because Lionus said a similar thing in chapter… 32? 31? (Sorry for not having the specific number) In a scene where he was talking with the Commander about Henry’s luck in having Melanie to rescue him - how would the medic crew have handled dealing with a patient on the “t” side rather than on the “G” side? I’m so curious! <3

A fantastic question, thank you so much for sending it my way!

So there are two sides of the answer: How would a general medic crew respond, and how would our beautiful boys at the Watch respond?

Meet me below the cut.

So, for our medic boys in the Watch, if they had found someone that had been at Henry's scale in The Rescue (~7 inches tall) that wasn't from here, it would be a matter of getting them back to health and finding out all they could about how this person got there, and all things surrounding them.

Lionus, in particular, would want to be as helpful as possible.

This would, unfortunately, mean that he is keeping them a secret from the brass.

Lionus understands that any curiosity, regardless of personhood, would have to be reported to the scholars. The fact that it was a person (or at least, person-adjacent in most people's perspectives) and a foreigner, would compound on that. The person would have to be surrendered to the Crown in some form or another. Kendrick would be easy-enough to have follow along with the priorities of keeping this person safe and helping them in some way. Devon... Devon would have a lot of trouble with it.

At the end of the day, Devon follows the rules. He has a lot of faith in the systems he's a part of, and a deep love and respect for his country and his King. He knows that the protocol for a new animal or something that has surfaced on the shores is to report it. He knows that foreigners have to be taken in for interrogation. This isn't to say he wouldn't feel conflicted about it, especially if Lionus and Kendrick were both making their arguments for keeping this person out of the hands of the scholars and the capital in general, but it would be a very hard road to convince him not to follow that protocol.

Devon being extremely uncomfortable with the idea of a small person being handled would also contribute to a desire to make them... someone else's problem. Even he could recognize that that's more to do with his personal hangups than anything else, though.

I imagine in this situation, with the conflict and strain it would be putting on two of the top medics in the Watch, someone would have to bring it to the Commander. The decision from there would be his, and it could be a pretty tough sell for him not to follow protocol and at least alert the more proper authorities of what's been going on. If it were a more Watch-wide issue? Like with our boys from the Idiot Brigade? There would genuinely be a higher chance that the person would be kind of folded into the Watch as a whole while they tried to help them out. Miller and the lads especially would be reluctant to let the person go anywhere outside of the branch.

If the person had wound up being reported to the authorities? Well... the scholars would have put them through an embarrassing amount (and variety) of tests. Anything that came with them would've been studied at length, and there would be a chance that most of it would have wound up confiscated or possibly destroyed unless there was a strong advocate for why not to. Being smaller, it would be the opinion of the Erudites that there was nothing that the person/creature could "need" that they would not be able to provide better and in more abundance, with ease. The erudites can shove it.

After that, what happened to the small person would likely be similar to Gulliver's adventures in Brobdingnag (original work). Would likely become a curiosity for the highest ranked/titled person who showed interest and would be shown around as a pet/conversation piece. Something that would make Lionus' blood boil and his stomach churn.

Thank you again so much for the ask!

[belethlegwen]

WAIT but what about my absolute darlings Kendrick and Lionus in a Rescue situation. Separate or together (have you ever thought about pairs or groups in a Rescue situation? I think Melanie would be a good hostess 💜 maybe Daniel could be better behaved w his emotional support Peter. Like dogs you need to kennel together)

Anyways I hope Kendrick would have a wonderful time because he seems like a little thrill seeker after it all. I hope he would not get motion sickness in cars so he could enjoy going fast and off-roading 🫶 Would Lionus enjoy not having to be a part of the military culture anymore? I am sooo fascinated by what his deal is, that he’s so kind, that he doesn’t care for the high hats, that for all he understands everyone else nobody around him seems to really get him. LIONUS MY BELOVED. Somebody should take care of HIM for once !!!

I’m lovinggg your asks btw even if you don’t answer I hope this repays a bit of the joy you’re putting out in the world <3

Aaaaaaa ;-; I'm so glad you love Lionus!! He's a very sweet man and YES! He deserves to be taken care of for a change!!

Kendrick alone would be completely terrified, just at a total loss of what to do in any kind of Rescue situation. Should he run? Hide? Should he listen to the person who saved him, and just accept the help he's being given, or should he be suspicious and cautious and trying to get back home by any means necessary? He's young and inexperienced, and hadn't even really found a strong sense of himself just yet. This would shake everything the man knew about himself, his world... all of it. I don't know if he would desperately try to cling to a vision of who he thought he would be and the life he was hopefully going to have back home, or if he would adapt to the new situation and just... roll with it from there.

Lionus, alone or with Kendrick, would be extremely cautious in a Rescue situation. I would say almost to the point of being suspicious of everything, at least for a while. On his own, he'd play it as safely as possible to make sure he wasn't getting on anyone's bad side, but I think after it was established that nothing terrible was going to happen to him-- that he wasn't going to be forced to change or behave in certain ways, be forced through any kind of terrible living conditions or the like-- he would eventually come to a moment of release. A lot of reflection, a lot of personal change in who he was and the role he had so fiercely fought to have and maintain through his years in the service. He'd finally start to process a lot of what had happened to and around him.

With Kendrick with him, he would be wildly protective of Kendrick. Kendrick would come first in basically every way, and he'd make it a point to advocate for the boy whenever and however necessary. Kendrick, being with Lionus, would defer to him and just remain in his private-role of sorts for a much longer time. He'd take Lionus' lead, listen to Lionus' direction, and it would take a hot while for the boy to really make any kinds of decisions for himself if Lionus was willing to step into that Leadership role in this new place.

Which is one of the reasons I have a hard time thinking of a Rescue situation with a group/pairs mindset, without making it a whole thing of having the pairs/groups be wildly changed up to really shake up dynamics anyway. For example, with Peter and Daniel together in the Rescue situation, I worry Daniel wouldn't just... avoid really learning anything or changing as much as possible, but that he'd kind of strangle any change or growth that Peter would experience in that situation unless there were major, dramatic tension that came up between them as a result/throughout the events of whatever that story would be.

Daniel and Lionus together? Holy shit. What a dynamic and situation. The two of them were barely tolerant of each other and essentially stayed out of each other's way as much as possible before the events of the Stranding. To wind up in a Rescue situation together would lay a lot of themselves bare to each other in a way they likely hadn't been with anyone else before in their lives.

Peter and Devon? That could be interesting as well, but isn't the same powder keg as Daniel and Lionus would be. I would honestly say Peter and Henry would be a wild dynamic to have in the Rescue together, at least in terms of Henry at the start of The Rescue and Peter at the start of The Stranding, because they were both used to being leaders and Captains/Commanders, and they both had/have wildly different ways of solving problems and adapting to situations.

Thank you so so SO much for the ask, and for caring about Lionus ;-; that touches my heart so much!