joalacandra

[joalacandra]

So, this started as mental image that I wanted to share with a buddy (@doktorblitz), to help them feel better after a long day at work. Well, it worked better than I expected. They suggested I share it here for the benefit of others. So, here’s some Ambessa / Miguel comfort, enjoy y’all :).

Ambessa stretched herself as far as her limbs could go, toes pointed into tips, arms reaching out as if to grab something, back arched as well. She then curled herself into a ball, not quite into a tight fetal position, just a casual, relaxed state. The “Chosen of the Wolf” could be quite the large feline at times…

She had been sleeping up until that point, only awaking to readjust her body more comfortably. The light, breezy fabric of the sheets had a pleasant cooling effect against her sultry skin. The subtle scent of fresh linen tickled her sense of smell. Even the rustling sound of the bedding being shuffled gave her mild tingles. As she drifted between consciousness and dream, it occurred to her that… it had been a while since she felt so… nice. So… relaxed; so happy.

As a ruthless Noxian warlord and head of House Medarda, when Ambessa wasn’t actively fighting in battle, she was always plotting, always calculating, always weighing every possible scenario as to stay one step ahead of everyone else. It was rare for her to drop her defences and allow herself to just… live the moment.

She was about to drift back to sleep when something draped itself over her stomach. She immediately snapped awake and snatched it. Feeling it up and down, she quickly determined it was an arm; a rather long and slender arm. Half her mind went ahead trying to guess who the arm belong to, the other half was still filling in the gaps in information, as her nimble fingers felt around it. She had gone up the arm as far as she could go without turning around to see (and wake) the bedmate; only one thing left to do.

But as soon as she clasped the mystery man’s hand…

“Azizi ?!”

Only one person she knew had such a large, wide and somewhat stubby-fingered hand, her beloved husband. But he was gone. If that was the case, then who…?

Still clasping the hand, Ambessa twisted around to find out for sure, once and for all who she was dealing with.

“Good morning, Mistress.”

Ah. The brothel-worker. Miguel.

“Did you sleep well?”

She actually did. In fact, now that she thought about it, she had had the best sleep in a long time. But some disappointment or grief must have been visible on her face, because the lad, while sporting a dreamy smile, also seemed a bit worried.

“… I have.” she finally answered, after tucking away Azizi’s memory in the depths of her heart. She then ran her digits over his hand, in a gesture that was meant to be comforting not just for him, but for her. Silence began to settle.

“Would you like anything at all?” he asked, while already getting up. “Another shoulder rub, perhaps?”

“No, nothing of the sort. What I would like is… I’d like to hold you.” she finally answered decisively.

Still clutching his hand, she twisted herself towards him. Then, when they were both ready, he melted into her arms and chest. He hadn’t meant to, but a sigh of satisfaction (that Ambessa heard) escaped his lips. He was out like a light in no time at all.

As for Ambessa, as soon as they were both settled and a comfortable silence surrounded them, she started running her fingers round and round his hand, up and down his forearm. Eventually, even she drifted off to sleep, but not before clutching one of his hands to her chest. She was Ambessa Medarda, Chosen of the Wolf, unwavering leader and warrior; but that didn’t mean she was above receiving comfort from another person…

[joalacandra]

Ambessa/Howl shape shifter idea

So this is just a very minor mental image that came to me, no full AU for it, just wanted smt fluffy.

Now, we know Ambessa is canon Bi so since y'all girlies have the afab reader market covered, I don't think anyone will fault me for wanting more Miguel/Howl as well, right?

Basically the conceit is that he, for whatever reason, is a shape shifter and his animal form is a literal kitty cat. Whether that is in an old timey witches familiar kinda AU or a modern urban fantasy AU really isn't too important. Point is Bessa now practically owns him, and he makes a very cute cat.

He works for her as part errand boy part lover part spy and whatever else she needs. His animal form is an Abyssinian(look em up they're adorable), and quite the little scamp at that. It's rather surprising tho how different cat Miguel is to human Miguel. As a cat he's more mischievous and touchy feely, and as a human he's discrete, calculated, charming.

Now to the point of this whole thing, imagine Ambessa doing paperwork or some kinda prep for a meeting or whatever, and cat Miguel wants a little attention, wants some luvs. Basically he ends up being a shoulder cat half the time, and purring away contently.

Or another possible situation would be a meeting with a minor councilor or rich douche, and since Miguel comes from the Under city or poorer means, he has nothing but disdain for these guys. Maybe he ends up clawing the bottom of their pants/robes and his Mistress be like "oh cats are just mischievous like that, oops" while giving kitteh boi a smirk.

And of course if she has time for a cuddle but not any spicy stuff, odds are there is a kitty Howl purring on her chest while she reads and strokes his cinnamon colored fur.

I know, it's a bit out of left field, but I think it's kinda cute, and tbh the whole reason this came to me is how he was being with her in the scenes we saw. Y'all saw how he was leaning into her palm like a damn cat right?😆😺

[joalacandra]

I haven't though of that, but now that you pointed it out, it feels like one of those "how did I manage to miss that?!" situation. Yep, the two scenes are really telling and contrasting. I agree that the one between Flag and the princess was for mostly for comic relief and a little to progress the plot along. (also, "...good thing that's some solid wood (the door, not the flagpole lol)" can't deny, that got me laughing!) Ahem, in all seriousness, though, the Flag/Ilana scene is also helpful when it comes to interpreting the relationshiop between Victor and Bride. First scene is rushed and awkward because the two have just met, they don't know each other well (not to give out spoilers, but they don't know each other AT ALL!) and they aren't as comfortable as they wished they could be. Meanwhile, there's intimacy, mutual understanding and matched pacing between Bride and Victor, meaning they know each other well and it's not a casual fling at all.

That's some Sherlock Holmes level deduction here :D.

Just a Vic and Bride random thought

This is gonna be mostly me screaming into the void, so if you don't like the pairing kindly ignore the post, I'm not here for hate.

But I feel like Gunn really cooked on the two sex scenes in episode 2 in really different ways. Let me explain.

Obviously with Ilana and Flagg there's the element of urgency and rough and hard and now, and it is just a fling arguably, but it nails the new couple energy very well, she's (pretending to be) so bubbly and in love and such.

Obviously I will never not laugh at Phos covering for the man, and the implied lots of bruises the princess probably got from that door. Apparently she likes it a little rough, good thing that's some solid wood (the door, not the flagpole lol).

It's cheeky and comedic and played for laughs, quite fun.

And then there's the contrast.....I don't care how you feel about the implications with Vic and Bride, but Gunn cooked when it comes to giving us insight into the relationship.

There's the obvious mirroring body language, the leaning in, the fact they're so comfortable and open around eachother, and he's trying to make her smile and laugh, when he knows Eric is being an insistent douche and scaring her.

And then the sex scene itself is a masterclass in body language, which I never expected from the medium of animation.

There's the fact that they're clearly not doing this the 1st time, the familiarity in how they're moving, the synchronicity, it gives away that it's been going on a while. This is long term relationship levels of trust and familiarity with how your partner likes things.

And then there's the, pardon the pun, dead giveaway, or undead I suppose.

She reaches up to stroke his cheek, he leans down and kisses her pretty sweetly, and their fingers are entwined, on the other arm, all the while.

That's not fling or purely physical release body language, that's a full on emotional intimacy and vulnerability, they're being very long term relationship and fully emotionally invested by that point.

I find it interesting that Gunn doesn't give us an exact year/timeline of the flashbacks themselves, only a gap of aprox 21 years between the conversation with Eric where he threatens Victor, and then in the fishmarket when he's stalking Bride, with Vic already dead.

So sometime in those 20 years give or take, if she spent the 21st one running from Eric, they started and kept a pretty serious physical and emotional intimacy that compromised both of them kinda equally.

That lack of timeline makes me wonder about how long the relationship was going and how long he might've waited, or tried to keep her at arm's length, but in any case the body language part of that table scene is very well done. If nothing else, the writing and animation work was quite impressive to get the point across.

Right, hyperfixation rant over lol.

[joalacandra]

That's one way to interpret the show's take on these two characters. The scenes they share certainly supports this take. And it ain't even the worst head-cannon I've ever read, what with the wacky love triangle Bride, Victor and Eric are caught up in....

Creature commandos head canons

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I kinda like the chemistry between Victor and Bride and wanted to explore head canons of those two, mostly fluffy touchy feely SFW stuff (much as fucking Frankenstein can be sfw). And since apparently ain't no one touching this one with a 10 foot pole, I may as well be first.

Pre-emptive don't @me, let me address the obvious. This is a fictional story and I'm not saying there's isn't some messed up aspects, but we all have problematic faves, so before ya come at me, don't, I will block you.

Firstly, I'll also address certain aspects. It's not necrophilia because he wasn't into her because she's a dead girl, she happens to be a dead girl by circumstance. It's not grooming if 1) he didn't even intend to catch feeling and 2) he waited several years potentially making her a teenager if you wanna count by reanimation time. And considering Eric literally sees her as an object and doesn't understand NO, Victor is the milder of the two evils, regardless if he (Eric) is "mentally damaged" as Gunn pointed out. Hell Vic actually lets her develop her own personhood and ideas, arguably gives her more room to grow instead of projecting what he wants her to be (you want your bride to be able to speak don't you? Implied speak for herself).

I'll also say, if it sounds defensive that's because I've seen entire reddit accounts get their karma nuked into the ocean for discussing Victor's motives, not even necessarily defending him. And if it sounds rushed that's because I wrote this at 2 am instead of sleeping in a creative delirium, lol.

With that out of the way, and I have a feeling I'll get dog piled anyway, I have some ideas.

when he's testing her to see what she's capable of, strength, endurance, physical evaluation and such, Vic might not be expecting her to be strong like Eric.

maybe he discovers this when he has her try to lift something or other and she barely strains when a large human man would struggle with it.

the good doc would probably be amazed and a little bit charmed, given how in canon that didn't stop him from getting intimate.

she gets quite protective of him just as he was of her(he defended her in the flashbacks explicitly risking his own neck for her, pun intended).

what if after said canon attempt to throttle him by Eric, once she came out of shock she picked him up bridal style and helped him to the bed after he got the air knocked out of him.

she happens to find him more than a little charming and he's shared some rather questionable opinions with her, for the time anyway, i.e. questioning God, choosing things outside the norm, etc.

this is more of a implied background detail potentially but I'd guess he had to run to pokolistan to escape the various countries that wanted him dead for Eric in the first place, so he got asylum from the pokolistan royal family for a price.

part of that price was keeping his cadaver searching on the down low, another was entertaining the royal family occasionally, and the more unfortunate was the 3rd, taking a wife from the locals to keep good relations, albeit probably a slightly smarter more capable woman than the average house maid.

this could even tie into the joke bride makes about the royal bloodline, maybe Vic had made a similar joke to her almost 200 years ago while talking about the royals being inbred.

my guess is he would've waited a period and maybe even tried to hold her at arm's length until finally he couldn't anymore, or another good explanation/theory I heard and kinda agree, he wanted to show her the better parts of being human. That includes relationships and sex, eventually, and I could see bride being the one to initiate.

in that vein I could see her making the 1st move and him going all professor explaining the risks and possible outcomes before he agrees to anything.

similarly I have a thought that he may have used the "tell me what you want" method, ala "use your words", explicitly asking for what she wants, as some form of consent, in so much as can be given in that context.

another head canon I have about the unnamed wife is that there was no love lost there, she was an obligation, and that's also why he agrees to give her kids, 2 daughters seem to be implied. It was just the thing to do at the time after all.

in that case the infidelity holds true only for the formal marriage not any feelings towards the wife, given he ended up sleeping with the bride.

Lastly as someone has also said in a couple posts, Eric could've taken a page out of Victor's book and been gentle and patient etc, instead he went and killed Vic and made him a saint in her memory. And he is not teachable, all the while Victor had tried to teach him to be patient and give her time to fall for him.

That's the sfw and canon ish ones I can think of, but I have a whole ass two AU ideas with head canons I could explore if anyone is curious. Hint, one of them involves rocker bride playing guitar. And yes in both I'm still keeping the canon ship of Vic/Bride.

Any takers/curious folk who wanna discuss that kinda thing, I'm here. Anyone wanting to insult me and pile on me, don't, I'm not here to have my mind changed anymore then you are, so calm your ta-tas and just block/avoid the tag.