the amount of information I’ve received this month about a single scene of a tv show could kill a victorian child

Le Mot Clé

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3isJsNv

by stillwaterseas (phoenixflight)

Damen asks for something new in bed. Laurent is overconfident in his translation.

Words: 1847, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/3isJsNv

Thanks to @niniblack for the beta, and to her and @josselinkohl for helping to inspire this fic.

Consent (ask for what you want)

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2EiX8Mp

by Josselin

Laurent looked over at Damen, acknowledging Damen’s presence, and said, “What makes for a satisfying sexual encounter, for you?“

Words: 1453, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2EiX8Mp

I wrote a thing.

One of the most interesting textual inconsistencies in Captive Prince is who died first–Aleron or Auguste. In book 1, when Damen is reflecting on Marlas he recalls how Auguste was able to hold the army together after his father’s death. In book three, though, Paschal suggests that Aleron’s death was caused, in part, by carelessness in the wake of Auguste’s death.

And this is interesting because each scenario has cool implications, and I kind of like it both ways. On the one hand, the idea of Auguste, king-for-an-afternoon, putting aside his grief to defend his country is really poignant. The fact that the army had such utter confidence in the crown prince that Aleron’s death didn’t break them speaks to just how strong a leader Auguste was. And if Aleron died first, surely Damen knew that the king of Vere was dead when he went to the front lines to challenge Auguste. He would have known that killing Auguste would not only break the Veretian lines but also win the battle, win the war, leave Vere kingless. It’s not just a military move, it’s a political one.

On the other hand, the idea of Auguste dying first and Aleron basically ignoring Laurent and taking stupid risks adds an interesting perspective on all three characters and on Laurent’s childhood. I mean, it’s heartbreaking, and while we already know that Aleron and Laurent were never close, this suggests an even more distant relationship than I would have assumed. (My personal take is that Laurent wasn’t surprised, at his trial, by the idea that his father thought he had nothing to live for after Auguste died, but he is surprised that it was obvious to a comparative outsider like Paschal.) But to discuss this more charitably, it’s hard to act rationally in the immediate wake of losing a loved one, and it seems like Aleron reacts to pain by pushing people away and making ill-thought-out choices–which is, of course, what Laurent does as well.

Finally, either scenario makes me wonder about the regent’s plans. Had he been planning to kill both Aleron and Auguste in one battle? Was there another archer waiting to kill Auguste and make it look like an accident? My sense is no, that both king and crown prince being killed by stray arrows would have looked too suspicious. So if Aleron died first, had the regent resigned himself to a power struggle with Auguste until he’s able to kill him later? On the other hand, if Auguste dies first–well, he was probably closer to the front lines than Aleron and more likely to be killed in battle. Did the regent’s assassin have orders to only shoot the king if Auguste had already been killed in the fighting? 

slut!damen crack ficlet

“Nervous?” Laurent asked as they turned the corner onto the street he grew up on.

“Not really,” Damen said. “Your parents sound great. And they raised you.” He smiled at Laurent. “There can’t be anything that wrong with them.”

They pulled up in front of a tidy, suburban house and Laurent turned off the engine. Damen frowned at the neat garden, the blue painted trim and matching curtains in the windows. “What’s wrong?” Laurent asked.

Damen shook his head. The house felt familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on why. He and Laurent had both grown up in Melbourne but it was a huge city, and Damen didn’t think he had ever been in the neighborhood before. “Nothing. Deja vu I guess.”

Laurent reached across and squeezed his hand. Damen could tell Laurent didn’t really believe him about not being nervous, but Damen wasn’t. He was good at meet-the-parents.

Laurent had a key, so he let them both in. “It’s me,” he called. The front hall increased the sense of familiarity, and Damen shook his head in confusion. There were flowers on the end table, and pictures on the wall. 

“Laurent!” It was a woman’s voice, and there were footsteps on the stairs. Damen looked up at a blonde woman in a sundress. He was sure he had seen her before.

“This must be Damen,” she said, coming forward to shake his hand. She was even shorter than Laurent, and there were freckles on her bare shoulders. A slight frown furrowed her brow. “Have we met?”

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i want to write but i forgot where good ideas come from RIP

@two-of-swords-621 tagged me into this game and I’m very ❤ ❤ ❤ about it!

“Post the first line of your last 10 published fics, then tag 10 people.”

In reverse order from most recent to older, I took some liberty with the quoting:

1. Beyond the Edge of Our Hope (TRC, Pacific Rim AU, E-rated) “Dawn had yet to break but the sky was starting to tinge a lighter shade of blue. All around, water and air merged, crystal clear, on the endless horizon provided by the ocean.”

2. Like a Lung (TRC, CDTH missing scene, E-rated) “(Taking away the canon lines) It had to. There was no way Ronan would let it not, not if at stake there was Adam who made several different brands of impossible work, right before Ronan’s eyes, only to yearn for Ronan’s presence.”

3. Homeward Bound (Captive Prince, post-canon wedding anniversary, E-rated) “Midsummer had passed by more than two months ago, but heat clung to the air. Not even the excellent position of Marlas — so close to the sea to the west, nearing the uplands on the east — seemed to beckon the strong winds Laurent had hoped to find.”

4. Red Thread (TRC, smut collection update, E-rated) “It is a clear spring night, late enough that the moon has set already. Deep in the twisty off-road tracks in the Virginian fields, the silence has an organic quality, made of the low hoots of owls and the whistling of wind through trees and crops alike.”

5. Tired (TRC, pre-canon Roah missing scene, T-rated) “The painkillers had worn off. The harsh reality of the fact lingered in the mess of Ronan’s room in Monmouth Manufacturing, unevenly lit with four different lamps even in the middle of the night.”

6. Leading Hand (Captive Prince, pre-canon Nikandros/Makedon, E-rated) “At midday on the last day of summer the Hall of the Hearings of the Royal Palace of Ios was pooled in light, reflecting impossibly white against the polished marble.”

7. Grandiloquent (TRC, prompt collection, various ratings) “Gansey climbed up the dock, leaving the boats of the rowing team to regroup after open-river practice. The sun was shining bright on the Aglionby sport fields, an early autumn that still clung like late summer to the Virginia air.”

8. Echo chamber (Captive Prince, post-canon “good sex still triggered”, E-rated) “The hardwood door of the royal chambers closed behind Damen’s back with subdued heaviness. The wood on the inside was as full of carvings and gold lining as the outside had been, but still managed to pale in opulence against the frescos on the ceiling of the quarters.”

9. The Grip of It (TRC, post-canon pre-epilogue magic intimacy madness, M-rated) “(Ch.5 start) Darkness waited patiently for Ronan to open his eyes.He could not remember going to sleep, but he must have had at some point to find himself here — floating, or lying prone; staring upwards, or looking down.”

10. You would even say it glows (TRC, Christmas shenanigans, T-rated) “Adam first jostled awake in total darkness, which given the early winter days could mean anything from three in the afternoon to seven o'clock in the morning. “

And this proves to us all that I need to write more evidently (but in my defence the Pacific Rim AU is a monster).

Tagging some assorted lovely people from multiple fandom madness!

@gerec @liesmyth @josselinkohl (only ONE girl!Laurent Joss!) @akumastrife @augustales @stillwaterseas @turtletotem @exyking @niniblack @vaultedthewall