"What happened to your other ring, Clem?" asks Lucia.
"My ring?"
"Yeah, I could have sworn—" Felix could pratically see the gears in his little sister's head turning. Oh dear. "—wait, did Felix do something?"
Yep, time to intervene. Taking the empty space on the sofa between his wife and his younger sister, he flashed what he hoped was a disarming smile toward the latter. "Lucia, I'm insulted that you'd think I'm up to no good."
"Well…" Lucia's head tilted as she studied them. "You two are up to something. I just know it."
`
"We are?" asks Clemensia, the picture perfect image of innocence.
Playing along, he added, "I haven't the faintest clue what you think we're up to." His arm came up around her shoulder, causing Clemensia to lean into his hold.
`
"Well, for starters, what's with the ring?" demands Lucia, eyes narrowed.
Feigning surprise, he glanced at his hand than back up his sister. "Oh this? I just wanted to get some practice wearing a ring before the big day."
"Practice?"
From beside him, Clemensia covered her mouth with her hand, trying and failing to suppress a giggle.
Dearest, you're going to give us away with your laughter!
`
Meanwhile his sister looked unconvinced. "That's not what I'm talking about, Felix, and you know it. I'm talking about Clem's ring."
"What about it?"
"Why isn't she wearing her engagement ring?"
Well, there went dancing around the question. But Felix couldn't admit the truth either — that he'd gone ahead and married Clemensia two nights ago down at the courthouse instead of waiting till next month. Panem knows the earful he'd get from his sister and the rest of his family. "Because…" Think, Felix, think!
"Because?" presses Lucia.
"Because I thought to myself, that as nice as the original engagement ring was, it was a shame for my beautiful fiancée to have to worry whether it'd clash with her outfits."
`
Clemensia pressed a kiss to his cheek, trying to hide her laughter. Just this morning, when he'd presented her with a new ring to celebrate their marriage, she pointed out that people would ask why she wasn't wearing her engagement ring anymore.
Emboldened by the kiss, he decided to commit to the bit. "It'd be downright cruel to cause such distress to her. Thus, I thought to myself that I should resolve this problem by getting her an additional engagement ring."
"It was a very thoughtful gift," agrees Clemensia solemnly, having gotten her laughter under control, although the mirth in her eyes was evident to him. "Thank you, sweetheart."
"Anything for you, myn lykyng."
Note: myn lykyng is said to be a medieval endearment. One proposed translation was 'the one I delight in, the one who gives me pleasure'. Feels like a term that a bookworm like Felix might discover and use~
~~~~
as a 'yes' (#25)
ft. Hector & Cleopatra
Giddiness didn't begin to describe what Cleopatra felt after they'd signed their names on the certificate. No longer was Hector just her beloved, but now he was also her husband. Her husband!
The euphoria of it didn't fade in the morning when she got to wake up next to him. Nor in any of the following days during their honeymoon in Four.
`
"Cleo? Are you ready to head out?"
"Yes." She picked up the dangling pearl earrings — a wedding gift from her parents — putting them on before rising from the vanity chair and turning to face him. "What do you think?"
Slackjawed, Hector stared at her.
"Is it a good choice?"
Instead of answering, he crossed the room in a few strides to be by her side. "I think I'm the luckiest man alive," he whispers finally, a hand coming to cradle her cheek as if it were the most precious thing in Panem.
Were it another, she might have a quip ready, but when Hector looked at her with those eyes — so full of love —Cleopatra had to remind herself how to breathe.
He leaned in.
Meeting him halfway, she snaked her arms around his neck, holding him close. Privately, Cleopatra swore that once she returned from her honeymoon, she would send her sister-in-law a very generous gift in exchange for helping her pick out this dress.
`
"Do you think we can postpone our dinner reservations?" he asks when they part for air.
Her arms were already pulling him close once more as she pressed her lips to his. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.
I feel like whenever I write ravincote, someone dies. Maybe I should change things up. This time...what if neither of them die?
District born Clemmie and Mentor Felix?
oooh okay! i'm going to bounce off your district born clemmie au and say that she and reaper are the d11 tributes-
i. d11 alliance
so felix is clemmie's mentor! not sure who reaper's mentor would be in this scenario, but it shouldn't make much of a difference since reaper likely wouldn't be super inclined to connect with them anyway. reaper is somewhat warming up to felix after felix starts bringing along enough food for the both of them (after he realized that clemmie was going to share with reaper no matter what he told her, so he might as well just bring more so that clemmie gets a full share).
reaper is probably initially put off that clemmie is being so friendly towards felix at the start, and warns her to be careful with him, but charm is her forte so she's able to handle herself. i feel like felix would fall first- he'd make some excuses like "clemensia isn't like the other tributes, she's actually civilized" and if he foolishly voices that sentiment aloud, clemmie would likely set him straight (in very careful words that wouldn't be outright hostile, but make it clear that she Very Much disagrees that she's some 'exception' and doesn't appreciate him dehumanizing others for her sake)
clemmie would likely fall later. she might get to the point of considering him a friend, enough to turn to look for him and see if he's alive when the bombs come down on the arena, but at the end of the day, the hunger games are still going on, and she resigns herself to knowing that whatever that might have been- if they could have been friends or more in another life- it would not be in this one.
except. except, she's made a good enough impression during the interviews to get sponsors. maybe not as many as lucy gray or coral, but more than enough. she might have convinced reaper to partake in interviews with his mentor, if only for her sake since they are in an alliance. and they survive past the snakes. teslee has killed mizzen, treech killed teslee, lucy gray has pulled of her snake gambit on treech, except treech manages to kill her in turn before he succumbs to the poison. and then there were two.
clemensia and reaper might not be inclined to kill each other, but food won't last forever, and only one of them is leaving the arena. it's a dilemma they decide to leave for the next day. only one can survive, but they don't need to make that decision immediately. until they realize reaper has rabies. he's dying a slow death, and now it's a matter of how he's going to die. are they waiting it out? maybe clemmie offers a mercy kill. or maybe reaper asks.
in any case, clemmie comes out of the arena as the victor of the 10th hunger games, and she is much less enthused about it than felix is when he meets her before she boards the train back to d11. technically, he's not supposed to be there at all, but he's a ravinstill, and he has PrivilegesTM. how much their relationship progresses would likely depend on if felix uses his nepotism to follow clemmie back to d11 or if he uses it to bring her back to the capitol.
ii. hector haunts the narrative
as an alternative scenario to how clemmie wins the games- maybe hector and max had been friends for a while when hector had moved to the capitol as a child (with max pining, as he always does), but had moved back to the districts when he was starting a family. hector dies his early death, to a disease that he was trying to treat in the community he lived in, and maximinius doesn't learn that until later, upon which he is extremely upset, doubly so when he learns that he can't have hector's body moved to the capitol for a "proper" funeral (max does not think highly of the funeral rites in d11).
endymion grows up in d11, and later, so does clemmie. she gets reaped alongside reaper, and max is sort of freaking out now. first, because gaul thought it would be amusing to assign felix to d11, then because the girl that was reaped as a dovecote. max suspects that gaul might have had her reaped on purpose. whether it was rigged or simply bad luck, he is never able to get a straight answer out of gaul. it does put a strain on their relationship though, which makes gaul miffed. (#when your codependent toxic bestie doesn't understand your sense of humor and also child murder games are involved)
felix and clemmie's dynamic is similar to scenario i, except that max is much more invested in what is happening. when he sees his great-nephew crushing on hector's granddaughter and he basically goes "well, fuck". max doesn't want hector's granddaughter to die in the hunger games that he's spent the past decade trying to delude himself into believing hector would have seen reason about (he knows deep down that hector would have loathed the entire idea of them), and he doesn't want felix to face the loss that he had to, falling for a charming dovecote and losing them. especially since, if clemensia died here, it would technically be max's fault, no matter which tribute felled her.
clemmie wins the games, but it wasn't luck or fate or any alliance that she had made, it's max rigging the games. unlike scenario i, i think clemmie might be pressed to stay in the capitol rather than being sent home- both because felix wants to stay with her, but mostly because of the presidential pressure. max has a misguided sense of "doing right by hector" by keeping clemensia in the capitol to "make up for lost time" and acclimate her to the "right" way of living. (if hector was still alive, max would be getting decked.)
dovecote may not be a prominent capitol name, but there's quite a few of the old guard that remember a dovecote, and it isn't hard for max to spin a story- backed by his position as president- that oh, clemensia is a poor, lost, should-have-been-capitol girl that was mistakenly left to the districts. clemmie is Not Happy about this story, and i imagine she butts heads with felix quite a bit in getting him to understand why she's upset about it.
felix goes through quite a bit of character development in trying to reconcile clemensia and being raised in the districts, learning to understand that she's not "civilized" because her grandfather lived in the capitol for a stretch of time, it's because the people in the districts are exactly that: people. once that point of understanding is reached, it's easier for them to fall into a friendship (and later, romance. but first- clemmie has plans for change.)
clemmie is hardly idle during her time in the capitol, but all her plans to make things better for the community she was raised in (especially since her parents are still in d11) are taking quite a bit of time. felix goes from an ally to a partner in clemmie's view, and she grows to love him in a felix-fell-first-she-fell-harder kind of way. clemmie wants a happy ending, and felix is more than willing to leverage all the influence he has to make sure they both do.
iii. mentor androcles
okay, this one is pretty far fetched compared to the other two, but the thought popped into my head while typing the the other options out so i figured i'd just add it to this post- androcles as clemmie's mentor and felix as reaper's mentor.
androcles takes a shine to clemensia almost immediately. he's not too keen on her chances of physically fighting in the games, but clemmie knows the importance of making a good impression and androcles is inclined to help by making visits and bringing food at least. reaper thinks androcles has weird vibes, but androcles hasn't done anything like bringing hearts so him being offput by clemmie's mentor is more of a gut feeling.
reaper isn't too keen on felix either, and felix is having a much tougher time connecting to reaper than androcles is having getting along with clemmie. felix and clemmie probably exchange a few words, just because she and reaper are likely sticking together, and in leiu of reaper ignoring felix, clemmie figures she might as well try to get something out of him. these mentors are their only connection to getting supplies, and even if she is very aware of the reality of dying in the arena, she doesn't want to starve in the days leading up to it.
after several more interactions, felix is torn between considering reaper a 'good tribute' and bemoaning that reaper doesn't want to work with him- why can't reaper be as personable and charming as clemensia? there's more than a little jealousy towards androcles bc felix has quickly grown fond of her. que dilemma over wanting reaper to win vs wanting clemmie to survive & coming to the slow realization that the games come down to reaper and clemensia, those two are not going to kill each other.
i don't remember where i was going with this except for androcles getting pushed into his serial killer arc early - clemmie ends up winning the games by one of the ways above, and felix is thrilled. clemmie is less thrilled, but felix is stubborn and probably tries following her back to d11. which probably also gives maximinius a heart attack and a half bc his great-nephew heading off to the same district that hector died in.
androcles is miffed because that's his tribute, what the heck felix. clemmie is So Done because the hunger games were an awful experience and she did not expect survival to come along with two out-of-touch capitol boys chasing after her. (...now that i think about it, this scenario would probably end with felix and/or clemmie dead at the end of it. oops.)
Irrational or not, Felix couldn't believe that he's been ignored in favour of a piano of all things. A piano! Oh, why had he thought it was a good idea to show Clemensia the instrument?
Probably because you wanted to impress her with the heirloom, his mind unhelpfully supplied. The piano had been in his family for decades, supposedly a replica of a centuries old instrument that once stood in a museum. And save Uncle who used to play piano, nobody else in his family did these days.
Perhaps he should commission a replica of the piano at his flat, but he wasn't sure that would take the attention from the piano to him instead. For as talented of a pianist his beloved was, he wished to have her attention.
`
You can't just wait around for love — a quote from some long dead author that he couldn't recall at the moment. The who wasn't important, but Felix had made up his mind to take matters into his own hands as he got up from the nearby loveseat he'd been sulking lounging on, heading towards the piano bench. "Myn lykyng." His back was to the keyboard as he took a seat on the bench beside her.
Her hands paused from their playing as her head turned his way, enough so he could swoop in to kiss her. Her surprise quickly fading as she tugged him closer.
`
"Hello to you too," Clemensia says with a grin when he'd pulled away. "Is that how we're greeting each other now?"
"If you'd like." He had no protests if she wanted to.
~~~~
ft. Maximinius & Hector
(Note: Hector refers to Maximinius as Magnus.)
~
Was it truly jealousy? Hector would like to argue no. Especially if one saw the situation he had to deal with. One would have thought Gloriam Snow would have gotten the hint by now; alas, it seemed that her adoration for his boyfriend remained strong as ever. Even when there was no signs of reciprocation.
There comes a point when one is justifiably irate from watching someone practically climb one's boyfriend.
And for Hector, he decided he'd seen enough.
`
"Magnus?" Were it another day, he might have snickered at the sight of his boyfriend's visible relief at seeing him. Well, visible to him at least. Gloriam seemed oblivious to his discomfort.
"Hector."
He didn't bother greeting Gloriam, ignoring the huff from the blonde as he approached them. "I've been looking all over for you."
"Oh. What for? Is everything alright?" It was clear Maximinius was looking for any opportunity to go far, far away from the blonde. "Shall we speak in private?"
"No, that's alright." The pained look sent his way told Hector that he saw it as a betrayal.
Magnus was so dramatic sometimes.
`
Two steps was all it took to end up in front of his boyfriend. Leaning in, Hector had to nearly go on his tiptoes so that he could wrap his arms around his ludicrously tall boyfriend's neck to draw him closer. "I just wanted to wish you good luck with the piano recital," he murmured beside his ear.
When Maximinius' head turned to face him, as if in disbelief that he'd done all that just to wish him good luck, Hector kissed him deeply, uncaring of an audience. Although surprised, Maximinius was quick to reciprocate.
"Good luck," he repeated when they eventually parted. Turning, he'd made it halfway across the room when he looked back — more so on a whim than anything — just to see Maximinius still standing there. He waved.
A second or two passed before Maximinius waved back and turned to head in the other direction, narrowly walking into a pillar.
"Don't tell me you agree with them." Pausing, she crossed her arms and sent her best friend a look.
Following her, Felix stopped in his tracks, turning to face her while raising his hands playfully in surrender. "Perish the thought, dearest Clemmie."
"Hmm. Oh, I don't know."
"Please?" When she didn't immediately respond, he woefully added, "How many lemon tart slices will it take to smooth things over? One? Two?"
She kept a blank expression, trying not to laugh at his dramatics.
"Seven? Ten?"
It was getting harder not to laugh.
"Must I buy out the entire store for you? Because I will if that's what it takes." He acted as if she demanded for the impossible, which she wasn't, but it was fun to watch him sweat for it.
I realize with a lot of my time-travelling Clemmie ideas/fics - she never gets her love-interest in her first timeline due to too many things changing in her current timeline. Maybe I should change that.
Current thought: she's in her 30s when she dies, and travels back to her 8 year old self.
And the travelling is ABRUPT - Clemensia goes from begging him to spare her husband's life, only to watch her husband die and for her heart to give out at that moment, to being 8 years old and at a fancy event hosted at the Presidential estate.
She's reeling from it all, hasn't clicked that she's 8 yet. Maybe run off to see herself as 8 in the reflection of a pond, when she's interrupted. Surprise! It's Coryo checking in on his friend. Clemmie bursts into tears at the sight - she did just come from a timeline where he had her husband killed on trumped up charges after all.
Clemmie is near inconsolable, probably having a panic attack if she hasn't already. One thing leads to another, and the adults are involved. This is where it goes off the rails (for Coriolanus)
Most people are under the impression that he did something to get her to cry like the world's ending. Felix is very adamant on this despite being late to all this.
Clemmie does try to say "It's not his fault." At least not 8 year old Coryo's fault. But given her teary state, it looks more like she's only saying this because she's trying to be nice.
Max plays favourites. He has a low opinion of Coriolanus' grandmother and is just looking for an excuse to have all the Snows off his estate.
Other Hijinks in this AU
By the end of that earlier scene, Felix and Clemmie know that they've both time travelled.
Definitely trying to prevent Snow from reaching the same amount of power. But they're like 8. The war has just ended.
The games are on that list of things to end, because Snow had way too much influence amassed from there.
I think they both try to be spend more time with those they've lost/outlived, and with one another.
As a 'kid', Felix has at one point declared that he WILL marry Clemensia once they're old enough. He's actively trying to win over his (future) in-laws. Their parents are very amused. Max is losing his mind in the background, but 100% supportive of Felix's goal.
On Felix's end, while attempting to reason the games should end to Max, it translated to Max thinking he could be a decent politician. But yay, more bonding time, I guess??
💧Share something romantic/hot from your WIP, or just something sweet if it's gen
Oh, he was impossible. “You foolish man, I’m trying to say that I like you!” Of all the ones to entrust her heart to, of course, it had to be him.
“You do?” His eyes widened, taking in the information as if he’d never considered it possible. “Me?”
“Yes!”
“You like me.” At her nod, he repeated the phrase once more, this time, a wide grin appearing on his face. After leaning in to steal a kiss, he turned to face the balcony, shouting gleefully into the empty clearing. “She likes me back!”
☔Is there a fic concept you have that you'd like to just explain and share because you're not sure you'll ever write it? If so, what is it?
This one is set in a medieval fantasy sort of world with various mentors as nobles. And it follows Coriolanus (as a duke, perhaps? a king?) who is in 11 and stumbles upon a girl who looks too much like his late best friend. At first, he's convinced she might be a ghost come back to haunt him, then he realizes she never died. She's been in 11 this whole time, when everyone thought she was dead.
Only thing is that she has no memories of being Clemensia Dovecote. She insists that she isn't that girl. He must be mistaken. Coriolanus, on the other hand, believes otherwise. He'd recognize her anywhere.
You take your tea the same way as her. / Plenty of people take their tea the same way. That's not proof enough.
It's a mix of guilt and lingering fondness that has him insisting that she should return to the Capitol with him. And while he eventually wears her down to agree, her arrival to the Capitol leads to a whole bunch of hijinks, including someone's death.
(haha this is getting longer the more I type it out, might make a separate post later 😅)
🌪️Sum up a WIP with a few fic tropes/Ao3 tags
Androcles is a serial killer, past love, tragedy, minor romance, major character death, post canon
decided to write out that hector and max blurb since it's been in my head all day by this point
``
A peculiar conversation between two friends during their Academy days
ft. Max's pov and Hector's obliviousness
~~~~
"Would you marry me?"
Without lifting his eyes off the book in his hands, Hector refused.
In hindsight, perhaps the timing was not right. For there was little that could tear his dearest friend's attention from them when he was so deep in his novels. Nevertheless, this did not soften the ache in Maximinius' chest, not with the way Hector hadn't even taken a second to mull over his offer.
And the grand fool he was, his mouth opens to speak once more. "And why not?" It comes out almost whiny, like some petulant child denied a sweet, and Maximinius cursed himself for it.
`
A beat passed. Nothing.
Given how engrossed Hector was into his novel, Maximinus wondered what the odds were that Hector hadn't heard him.
Slim but not impossible.
`
And just as Maximinius wanted to slink out of the room, Hector looked up from his book. "Why not?" he echoed. "Magnus, we're 17."
"So?"
"We haven't even graduated." Did this mean he had a chance upon graduation? But before he could voice such a thought, Hector continued, "And isn't this kind of extreme?"
`
"Extreme?" he echoed. "How so?" What was so extreme about marrying the love of his life? If anything, shouldn't Hector, a Dovecote, be understanding of this, given his parents' marriage? But as quickly as that thought came, Maximinius pushed it away. For it was Hector, who was as oblivious as they came, if not worse.
`
The look Hector shot him with was one full of exasperation as he put the book down onto his lap. "How is marriage not an extreme decision to make in your grand quest to avoid Gloriam?"
Oh fates…
"I'm quite sure there are better ways to avoid her."
"You don't know that," he managed to croak out. Were he not the heir of House Ravinstill, Maximinius would have slammed his head against the nearest wall repeatedly. How had he fallen for such a silly fool? Damn Hector and his charm, and his stupidly bewitching eyes.
`
Hector rolled his eyes. "Yes, because marrying you would solve your problems with Gloriam."
It couldn't hurt to try. "What if she gets worse after graduation?" Some years ago, he'd caught sight of Gloriam doodling line after line in her notebook, 'Mrs. Gloriam Ravinstill'. A chill ran down his spine at the memory.
"You're delusional."
"And you're horrid. I thought we were friends."
"My friends actually call me Hector."
This time, Maximinius was the one to roll his eyes. Him and his horrible sense of humour. Hector was lucky he was so handsome.
`
"Besides, how much worse could she become?"
He shuddered at the thought, he didn't think his heart could take such suffering. "And if she does?" he demands. "You'd leave me to suffer this fate alone?"
"Fine." Hector threw up his hands in exasperation. "On the hypothetical off chance that she becomes worse after we graduate from the Academy, I guess I'd consider a proposal from you." Before Maximinius could inwardly rejoice, Hector pointed an accusatory finger in his direction, "This does not mean you can propose the day after our Academy graduation."
Damn. "Are you-"
"Setting a timeline? Yes." Although he opened his mouth to object to such restrictions, Hector ignored him. "You've got to wait a minimium of five years after our Academy graduation."
"Five?" How in Panem's name was he supposed to wait that long?
`
"I'll make it seven years if you think to complain."
His friend was a tyrant. But considering it was not an outright rejection, Maximinius decided not to push his luck any further. "Fine."
At that, Hector beamed as he picked the novel off his lap. "Great. Until then, no more talks of marriage. Now shush, I want to finish my book."
