#support: julius

[ignifilis]

Blood is Thicker than Water

continued from here

Voices overlap, questions warring against one another. Azelle shuts his mouth too late and his body tenses in anticipation of a physical reprimand for forgetting his place. 

Nothing comes beyond the imposing aura radiating from the other man. There is nothing to fear at this Academy, Azelle reminds himself, though the platitude does little to bolster his confidence. He clears his throat again, focusing his attention on the brand instead of those disarmingly familiar crimson eyes. 

“I don’t believe we’ve met,” he replies, voice far too soft. “My name is Azelle.” His name might be completely meaningless; it wouldn’t surprise him to know he’d been erased from the family’s history. Or he’d turned into their dark secret, relegated to only being remembered in hushed whispers and meaningful glances. 

The phrase I’m Arvis’ half-brother rises unbidden up his throat, as if it would somehow justify his appearance in this sunny courtyard. Azelle bites back the words, determined to hold his head high under this scrutiny. Bloodlines don’t hold near as much power over his life like they once did. He deserves to be here as much as anyone else, and he refuses to be judged for circumstances wildly out of his control any longer. 

@disgracedvessel

[theindigoflirt]

The Ol’ Razzle Dazzle

starter for > @disgracedvessel

     Confidence takes the work of a lifetime. It’s a sobering lesson to learn, but at least Inigo can stop beating himself up for not just waking up one morning with his anxiety magically gone.

     How strange, that the only time he feels utterly confident is when he’s practicing the one activity that makes his anxiety spike. The halls of Garreg Mach have come alive with talk about the dance contest at the ball. Naturally, he’s compelled to practice—he’s still deciding on if he’ll put that practice to good use onstage. On the off chance he does end up competing, he’d rather not let weeks of practice time slip through his fingers.

     New routines always consume the bulk of his attention as he perfects them. This one is entirely choreography of his own creation. Elements pulled from various dances finally came together for his first truly original piece. Inigo can’t wait to show mother, one day.

     Not until he’s satisfied there are no more improvements to be made.

     So off he goes, sneaking out of his dorm without a care in the world. He even found the perfect place to practice, right here at the monastery! No more traipsing through the forest in the dead of night to his little clearing. (Though, on some nights, when the sky is a cloudless navy, he’ll make the trip.)

     Tonight, he jogs up the steps leading to the cathedral. There’s a blindspot on the right hand side, near the balcony overlooking the valley below. The evening patrol never walks by and there’s plenty of space for him to dance. Inigo takes full advantage of his recent discovery. This new dance incorporates quite a few flips and leaps; the extra space is a blessing from Naga herself.

     The tip of his dancer’s rings flash as he executes the last backflip of the dance, landing to immediately lower his left knee to the ground, right leg extended straight before him, rings held high. Panting, he straightens up, bowing to an imaginary audience-

     A pebble skitters behind him. Senses on high alert, Inigo immediately points his rings toward the source of the sound. All trace of joy as drained from his features. “Show yourself!”

[anankelotus]

"There you are." It doesn't take long for Julius to find Anankos. He acts more like an outsider than anyone else in Abyss and lingers far away from where most residents of the underground city gather to pass the time. Julius leans forward, crimson hair cascading over his shoulder, to glimpse up into the shadow of his hood and confirm that this is indeed the man he's looking for. It's still unsettling, seeing so many eyes on one face, but he supposes that he's seen more hideous sights in the sagging folds of skin and dark magic rot that scarred the faces of the Faithful back at home. Still, there has to be a story to it. Was he a monster among humans, unable to fit in with either? The poor thing.

Julius straightens up and folds his arms. "Anankos, was it? You likely already know who I am - Julius, Prince of Grannvale." Self-satisfied smirk says that he's kind of a big deal, and he waits a beat as if expecting Anankos to bow or swoon, but by now the act is just that. He moves on from it swiftly.

"I'm curious about you, Anankos. You've caught my eye, and not many things do," he says. "You're clearly hesitant to fight, and you hide down here all day, unwilling to even mingle with fellow outcasts." He hums, eyes narrowing. "What happened to you, I wonder?"

Anankos startles slightly as Julius approaches him. He had known the boy was a fellow resident of Abyss, but had certainly not expected his presence outside of the times that they had met within battle. Anankos was an outsider among outsiders, keeping himself to the outer rings of society even down in Abyss, where there was no one likely to judge him for his misdeeds and wrongdoings, because it was just as likely that they were hiding from their own past as well.

"Ah...! Oh, hello young Julius..." So the boy was simply curious... but curiosity was something that scared Anankos deeply, especially when it was directed towards him. He had always been a mystery, even to himself. Where had he come from, to start? One day he had just... existed, when before he hadn't. He had been revered as a god, a person whose word was to always be trusted, and he had been called things like the 'Dragon of Wisdom'. But he wasn't all that, he never had been. He was just... just Anankos.

"I... I don't like to fight, I don't like to be seen... it's easier to hide, then I don't have to hurt anyone else... and I don't have to be a burden by making others feel uncomfortable with my very presence..." His voice is weak, trembling as the young man before him seems to stare into his very soul

"I... I am broken... a piece of my very soul was shattered a long time ago... I waver on the line between dragon and human, and I feel as though that's what cost me everything... I'm sorry, I never what anyone expects when they think of a dragon who was once reverred as a god... I'm so sorry..."

[bloomsbelow]

one girl’s trash is another man’s treasure

Hope you’ve been brushing up on your cartography skills: it’s time to grab your mapping supplies and set out. This is new territory to everyone, so travel with care and hang tight to your map- oh. There it goes, perhaps lost forever… wait! There it is! Oh. Huh. This isn’t your map… but it is a map, albeit a crude one. The most important thing of note on it, aside from the fact it seems to loosely detail your surroundings, is that nice big red X in the corner.

There were plenty of people in Sakura’s life who had excellent navigational skills. She could think of many off the top of her head; Takumi, Hinoka, Hana… the list could go on. She didn’t know how well they could read maps, but they were all able to traverse the land – or sky – without issue. It was something she admired about them greatly, a skill that she wished to develop, and thus she was grateful when one of her assignments included a map that she needed to follow and fill out parts of. It was difficult work, and her head was swimming enough to require a break, but she loved the feeling of progress and improvement as she worked through it. Which was why, as her break ended and she reached for her map once more, she was so completely devastated to find it missing.

“O-Oh no… oh no!” She scrambled to her feet and looked around, desperately wishing that it would appear. Had it blown away, or been picked up by a passerby? No, it wasn’t likely, so it had to be around here somewhere. She just misplaced it, which meant that she could find it easily, right? Right.

She nearly wept in relief when her eyes caught on a piece of parchment just a few feet away from where she’d been resting, caught in part of a bush. Perhaps it had blown away, after all. Except, when she wrestled the map out of the branches and opened it back up, it… it wasn’t her map. Her nose scrunched up in annoyance as she glared down at it. Where had this even come from?! She supposed she’d have to ask her professor for another copy of the assignment and start all over… all because she’d been thoughtless for a few minutes! 

She was so caught up in the tangle of frustration and bitter, bitter annoyance that she hadn’t realized someone was walking up behind her.

@disgracedvessel