What would the RO's reaction be to the PB saying they can hold the entire world in their palm, then grab RO's face with their hands, maybe give a peck on the lips and then say they are their entire world?
Short answers below cut in prose (Adelais, Eleanor, Marcus) I'm playing fast and loose with the different Pactbinders here - they're all over the place in terms of personality stats...
I'm assuming this is pretty well progressed into the relationship and with a more expressive A, to avoid a repeat of the Adelais: Girl Has Boundaries saga from previous scenarios...
I might do the others at some point, or try to do a prose snippet for them for something else - Finlay and Layla deserve it too - but inspiration wasn't hitting me for them today.
Adelais rests cold hands upon your own, and gently pries loose your fingers with surprising ease. Her head sways back before your kiss can connect, her hair a forming a silver-white veil that shrouds her doll-like features. "You," she says, musical voice wry, "are insufferable."
"I'm well aware." You reply, not at all surprised by the white-haired girl's reaction. "I go to such great efforts, after all; were you to suffer me, I'd scarcely know to do with myself."
"Is that so?" Adelais tilts her head, then faster than you can react, presses cool lips upon your brow, her hands pressing against your temples for just a heartbeat's span of time. It's far from a warm day, but her touch still feels like balm to you. She's back in her seat before you can return the favour. "Binary planets." She murmurs.
"Come again?"
"Two planets - two worlds - caught in one another's orbits. Two worlds, caught in four palms. That is the implication, yes? I suppose that I can see the appeal."
"Well, yes. Lovely stuff. If you'd actually let me return the favour. Right now, it feels a tad as though one planet's orbit is a little more oppressive than the other's."
The white-haired girl suddenly looks very innocent indeed. "Return the favour? But where would the fun be in that?"
Eleanor is a blushing mess before you've even managed to land the kiss. "Don't!" She stammers out desperately, knowing what you're going to say before you do. "It's so embarrassing!"
"You're my entire world, Eleanor." You say, ruthlessly indefatigable.
She groans and covers her face in her hands. "There's such a big world." She can't help but point out. "There's family, there's friends, there's - well, there's everything. I can't be everything."
Your smile flickers for a moment - thankfully, she's still not looking. She doesn't know how little you have. How much less you'd have if they knew what you were, or your Patron's favour left you.
"You are." You say gruffly, tone harsher than you'd intended, and fall silent, looking down. A moment later, small hands cup your cheeks, and Eleanor kisses you.
"Well." She murmurs quietly a moment later, a little breathlessly. "We'll have to change that, then. There's so much more that you don't know. But - just for now - we can be the world. Just for now."
Marcus laughs, though he returns your kiss enthusiastically enough. "Don't be a sap." He chastises you playfully. "Weren't you yelling something about becoming Prime Minister yesterday? Sounds to me like your world is a tiny bit more than just Marcus Elmgrove, charlatan that you are."
"I've never had my honour so impugned upon." You protest hotly. "The two things are connected; when I rule England, the country shall be renamed Marcusland soon enough, and then you really shall be the world, you see. It will be excellent; I expect you to be devastatingly embarrassed, just so you're aware."
"I think that you dramatically overestimate the powers of the Prime Minister." Marcus notes dryly. "So I feel safe - confident - in admitting that I probably would be horrifically embarrassed. Enough to consider fleeing to the continent, I suspect."
"Oh, that wouldn't do." You reply, pressing your lips upon the tall man's brow again. Enjoying the slight shiver precipitated by your touch. "That wouldn't do at all. I suppose that I'd just not be able to stop at conquering England then, would I?"
"Terrifying." Marcus says with a laugh.
You just smile, and kiss him again.
I would do anything for Marcus, i need him in unholy ways.
Honestly flirting with him in the game is fun and i like banter, especially the scene where you go with him to his bedroom. I wish i could time travel to when this is finished so i get all the glorious bits with Marcus.
Thank you! I'm really glad you like Marcus, he's a character I'm really fond of! I used to find him oddly hard to write, but he's becoming more and more natural to me with time.
Looking forward to testing myself with some more romantic content soon, too.
marcus?? hello??????? he’d drop a kiss on us (w swearing but still) if we took a hit for him?? and this is only ch 2-3 marcus,, is he threatening marriage (aka until death do us part so don’t die or so help me god) if it happens mid-game /j 😭
Haha, yep - if Marcus' background was a bit different and he wasn't hesitant about potentially messing up the collegemate dynamic so soon, he'd have asked the Pactbinder out straight after the dance in C2 if they'd flirted with him previously and they then danced together.
So in this hypothetical where the PB straight up took a hit for him after, presumably, those things had happened - that's all the impetus he'd really need to assume this could be serious and go for a kiss...
Eleanor sniped me on my first run through but I think long term I’m gonna go for Marcus at least for this Pactbinder
I really like the contrast between him coming across as broody and standoffish but actually being pretty emotionally open when it comes down to it, vs my Pactbinder who presents as super friendly and open and confident but is actually, well, (gestures)
Thanks very much for this ask! Sharing it as I think you have a pretty good read on Marcus; of course he has his secrets, as with everyone, but I think people will probably have noticed that he wears his heart on his sleeve a lot of the time when it comes to his feelings.
One of the things I really enjoy with the core cast is the way they all have the potential to parallel against different Pactbinders in different ways, and this is a great example of that.
Is it just me or does Finlay really pay attention to the pactbinder? Granted mine ended up dancing with him as that somehow was the highest stat out of all the others. Like he notices us flinch when murder gets thrown around and just generally seems to keep tabs on us?
Good spot. I would say that different characters are pretty observant when it comes to different things (e.g. I think Marcus is very sharp at picking up on social cues when he hasn't gotten himself riled up), but Finlay is one of the most observant for sure.
You mentioned that Layla and Marcus are real go-getters pre-dating and have no time for shennanigans, and I think it would be really fun to romance either of them with the type of MC who is having an ongoing breakdown about “okay but is it really ethical to date someone if im lying to them about my entire identity????” and ends up giving off mad mixed signals and really dragging things out in the process, LOL. Maybe that would put them both off, though!
It sounds like an extremely interesting dilemma to grapple with, doesn't it?
Some of the ROs are more passive or aloof, which puts more onus on the Pactbinder to consciously make the call that they're OK with pursuing them (however they might be justifying that to themselves...) but you're very right to point out that Layla or Marcus being more proactive in their approaches might put the Pactbinder in an awkward situation...!
they were already my faves but extremely funny to me that layla and marcus keep getting paired up in scenario asks. the direct action brothers
I was just thinking that, hahaha.
The funniest part is that I feel they'd be quite different to each other whilst in a relationship; Layla is super active, blunt and to the point, whilst Marcus is really quite conscientious in a brooding sort of way, but a lot of scenario asks are pre relationship and one thing these two nerds defo have in common is that they have zero time for all the pre-dating dancing around.
Slow burn? Yearning? Never heard of them, your Honour.
