#Aaric and Sunny

[callsign-rogueone]

a fair trade

aaric graycastle / cam tauri x reader (sunny!!!!) words: 1.2k 🏷: progressing through the beginning of IF! this one has a lot of transitions and jumps between scenes, which is my least favorite thing ever, and a major reason why it took so long, but I wanted to show these two interacting every day and slowly becoming friends, so here ya go! the next chapter will be so much better and much longer, I promise 🥺

It’s incredibly strange to be standing in this corner of the gym again, in the same spot where Nadine had died, and Violet nearly had too, avenging her. You’d never seen that much blood before in your life – but now it’s gone without a trace. Had someone knelt there last night and scrubbed it away, or had it been erased with magic? Which option is worse? 

Aaric appears at your side, speaking softly so as not to startle you. “You’re fast, and you’re smart, but at some point you’re going to have to throw some punches,” he prods. 

That’s fair. You’re the only one of the group who hadn’t made any offensive moves in your assessment match, and the last to find a partner to fight with today. 

“Yeah,” you say after a moment. “I’ve been dreading that part, honestly.”

“Let’s see what you’ve got. Just a basic stance, first.”

You nod, settling into a position that looks something like what you’d seen Imogen do earlier — she’s probably a good bet to copy.

He shakes his head. “Your feet need to be farther apart. And if you tuck your thumb in like that, you’re going to break it. Here.”

He steps forward and adjusts your fist — not missing your inhale of discomfort as his thumb presses against the swollen joint of your ring finger. He pulls back immediately, offering an apology and adjusting the technique. “Sorry. You should be fine to just keep it loose like that, as long as you adjust the impact point — what part of your fist is going to hit your target."

Another nod.

"If you just do... this," he explains, carefully reaching out to rotate your wrist to the side, careful not to put any pressure on the bandage there, "then you can make an impact with your pointer and middle finger. It won't be as effective, but it'll work until your hand heals."

Realistically, it won't — it hasn't shown much improvement since March, and the burn doesn’t help things either — but he doesn't need to know that.

"Don't worry about it too much," he offers, sensing your apprehension. "You’ve got more strength in your legs, anyway.” 

———

Being assigned breakfast duty means fewer hours of sleep, but you’re used to being up this early, anyway – you’d be going to bed at this hour, if you’d stayed in Calldyr City, just dragging yourself into the bathing chambers to hose off the sticky feeling of the ale you’d been serving, and the unwanted attention you’d been paid.

Someone is waiting for you outside the girls’ dorms; Aaric. He looks a little shy, shifting his weight awkwardly as he speaks – at a whisper, considerate of those who have been afforded the precious extra time to rest. “I saw you got breakfast duty, too, so…”

You give him a warm smile. “Glad to have a familiar face around. Do you have any idea where we’re going?”

It’s evident that he hadn’t thought this part through. “No, actually. But it can’t be far from the mess hall, right?”

You just hum in reply, nodding down the hallway. “Good place to start.”

He’s right – there’s a little door you hadn’t noticed by the serving line, propped open for you. You can already smell the bread baking, hear the pleasant bustle of a fully staffed kitchen. Not too different from home.

....

You turn to grab another potato, your eyes catching on the one Aaric is holding -- it's mangled, cut in odd places, yet somehow still holding onto half of its skin despite him having hacked at it for a good two minutes.

So there is one thing Aaric Graycastle doesn't excel at, after all -- one thing you could help him with. But you’ve never been the type to offer unsolicited advice.

Aaric is nice, though, and he’d given you so much advice on fighting, so he probably won’t be offended if you return the favor. It's a fair trade, or close to it. Still, you choose your words carefully. “Have you ever peeled a potato before?”

“Once,” he answers, a slight blush on his cheeks. 

You cross over to his side of the table, grabbing one yourself along with a short knife. “You’re digging in too hard, and taking the meat along with it. You need to hold it more flat, and scrape, to take off just the skin. Like that,” you say with a smile, finishing yours and adding it to the bowl.

“How are you so good at this?”

“Years of practice,” you answer. “My best friend is — was —  a kitchen maid. I used to sneak downstairs to help her sometimes.”

“For once you’re done with those,” the cook announces, dropping a crate onto the end of the table with a thud. “Cored and quartered.”

“Whoa.”

“That is a lot of strawberries,” he agrees.

“It must have cost a fortune.”

His head tilts. There had always been strawberries, and a variety of other fruit laid out for every breakfast, more than they’d ever eat, but he’d never considered the cost, or what became of the leftovers. 

Thankfully you continue the conversation for him, a fondness in your eyes. “We bought a whole pound of them for my birthday once. We were going to try to make them last, but they were gone by dinnertime.”

He just offers you a smile and a soft laugh, returning his attention to the vegetables.

———

“I am a god among men,” Ridoc announces, grinning from ear to ear from where he kneels over Sawyer, the executive officer pinned underneath him in what looks like a very uncomfortable position.

“Yeah, and I’m the next queen of Navarre,” you quip over your shoulder. “Saying it doesn’t make it true.”

Aaric’s heart nearly stops. He can’t help but imagine you dressed in the fine silks of the royal court, bejeweled and shining, crowned in gold, seated beside him and Halden at his father’s dinner table — a beautiful but miserable existence.

This is better. This feels right, seeing you in the sleek black of the rider’s quadrant instead of yards of stiff brocade, being able to hear you laugh and joke like this rather than sitting quietly for the rest of your days like an ornamental vase.

Your boot connecting with his stomach and his back hitting the floor snap him out of his daydream, and knock the breath from his lungs.

Your eyes widen as you realize what you’ve done. “I’m so sorry. Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” he wheezes, cheeks reddening as he takes your outstretched hands and lets you haul him to his feet — it takes a considerable amount of strength. “That was good.”

You can’t help but smile a little about your small victory, the only time you’ve bested anyone in combat, though you know he was definitely going easy on you. “Maybe one of these days, I’ll really win,” you laugh. 

He sounds considerably less winded as he speaks again. “We’ll get you there.”

You blink at the words he chose – not you’ll get there, but we. He’s invested in your success. That’s the squad mentality, you suppose. It’s odd, but not unpleasant. 

———

“I didn’t even know I had muscles in some of these places,” you groan, folding your arms on the table and resting your head on them. 

Visia pats your shoulder gently. “That’s good – it means they’re growing.”

Your response is muffled, but universally understood by the rest of the group, who are all similarly exhausted after a full week of Rhiannon’s extra training sessions. 

All except Aaric. “Eat,” he encourages. “It’ll help.”

[callsign-rogueone]

mentally sunny and I are being traumatized in the isles, physically I left her two weeks into iron flame 😭

I have no outline tho, just vibes

[hattrick336]

Wild Onyx Storm Theory

SPOILERS BELOW THIS POINT

Okay so, I have been seeing two major theories re. Lynx and him being a shadow wielder. While I do love the idea that he is actually a mimic and his signet just copied Xaden's cause he was using it at the time, I will admit to leaning more towards the idea that Lynx IS the new shadow wielder because Xaden is going to get a new signet once he is cured.

And I have a pretty solid guess of what it could be:

Heliomancy or Sunlight manipulation.

Here me out:

Xaden's eyes- His eyes are very well noted to be onyx, but we do have those iconic golden flecks, like sunlight peeking through the dark. They turn amber after he becomes venin, but it still works as it could be reflective of a setting sun.

Xaden's character shift- Signets are noted to be based on need/personality. When he first bonded Sygael, Xaden was guarded and mistrustful (rightly so). He needed to keep his secrets and know who to trust. But that has changed because of Violet. By falling for Violet, Xaden has learned to be more open, at least with her. He has also learned to trust others as he trusts Violet's friends (a big example is Ridoc in OS when he agreed to his terms to keep his venin secret; Xaden back in FW would have a million arguments against that ultimatum). Even if it is just with her, Xaden has learned to open himself up, to be vulnerable, to rely on more than just a select few. Ergo, his new signet would need to reflect that change. It would also still fit the more deadly aspects of him since the Sun can LITERALLY burn everything to a crisp and we have seen Xaden go scorched earth for Violet before (rescuing her from Basgiath in IF being a big example).

Xaden's emotional freeze/self worth issues- OS established that Xaden feels his emotions icing over, using a lot of freezing and cold wording to describe him in those moments of apathy. Unconsciously, Xaden would likely not want to feel that way ever again, resulting in a sun signet since, you know, warmth. In a similar vein, Xaden has felt throughout OS that he is now tainted/too dark to be with Violet. Imagine the emotional beat that would happen if Xaden developed a signet that was pure light? Devastating but so healing.

Match Violet's/Six most powerful- We obviously know Xaden, no matter what, will be counted as one of the big six that OS mentioned. We have Violet, Lynx, and Garrick as shoo-ins with Bodhi and Aaric as potential candidates as well. Having a sun-based signet would let Xaden fit into that easily as A. it would be another offensive signet versus the three more defense-based ones and B. fit as it would be a spectrum with Lynx being absolute darkness and Violet being a bridge. It would also let Xaden and Violet still be mirrors/compliments like he is as a shadow wielder since it would be a stormy/sunny day reflection and allow both to draw from the sky over the Earth.

Irony- Sygael's name means "shadow" so it'd be a nice bit of irony that Xaden's new signet is the antithesis of that.

I know this is probably very out there, but I just thought this was a fun theory and gives me some hope for our boy.

What are your thoughts?

[callsign-rogueone]

unrelated but I was listening to juno (sabrina carpenter) and it got me thinking: which of the gfverse couples are the most kinky in bed? if any? that's all, I hope you're doing well! love your writing, btw!

top three:

it is my firm belief that sawyer and peach are absolute freaks. they’re going at it morning noon and night when they’re at riorson house. sawyer is in charge. he’s a rider and she isn’t, so he definitely has the upper hand strength wise, and she loves it. add in the fact that he’s an executive officer and looks so good in his uniform… it stays on quite often. their dynamic will change a little after his injury, which causes some physical limitations, and with him living in the infirmary for a month, they can’t really do anything. but once he can make it up stairs to her room, all bets are off. and even if she’s on top, he’s still in control. (actively working on this, hehe)

lieutenant colonel brennan sorrengail fucks. duchess is never ever left unsatisfied. he’s also in charge 95% of the time. he just has that stern, commanding but loving energy, that makes you want to be a good girl for him. but it’s also quite fun to rile him up and tease him, and then see him snap. he’s a brat tamer through and through. he’ll spank or edge you until you finally cry and apologize, tell him that you won’t do it again. but be careful what you wish for — if you beg him to let you cum, you’ll be cumming four times that night, until you’re an absolute mess and can’t take it anymore. he’ll take such good care of you after, though <3

dain and love are also at it like rabbits (how’s that gonna go for them, lmao). it’s a constant tug of war with who’s in control, and her signet often comes into play. it’s just so easy to tie him up with little ropes of air, or slightly reduce the amount of oxygen he’s getting, making him dizzy… admittedly, it took a while for dain to be comfortable with not being in control, because of the traditional view that the man is in charge etc etc, and also to build the trust necessary to be okay with stuff like being tied up. but now he’ll do anything for you, as long as you call him a good boy while he does it. he needs that validation and praise like air. also, king of body worship. let him help you undress and kiss every inch of your skin, give you a massage, and then make you cum on his tongue.

honorable mentions:

garrick and angel. similar to sawyer and peach, gare is in charge, and much stronger. he’s able to put her in any position he wants, and manhandle her a bit, which she loves. and the size difference goes crazy. he’s a literal giant, and it’s so hot to see him towering over you while you’re on your knees, or above you, taking up your whole vision. again, it’s all built on the deep trust between them, that he won’t truly hurt her, that she’ll tell him if he does, and that she has the ability to stop him at any time with a word or a gesture. which is the bare minimum of a healthy d/s relationship!

bodhi and darling are also a coin flip to see who is going to be in charge. but often times neither of them is, and they’re just each focusing on the other and pleasing them. once darling gets her wingleader title… that definitely made a few appearances in their bed. he’s also a body worshipper. he just wants to make you feel good.

soft and gentle, and/or need more time to build trust and confidence before they do anything else:

this would be a great opportunity for me to tell you about my plans for liam and spark… apart from the one dragon-induced fuck fest (courtesy of tuile), they’re soft and sweet. they both already have enough pain in their lives, and feel the need to cherish every moment that they can touch. even on that day of him helping her out with her need, he still goes slowly and takes excellent care of her, because he hasn’t told her yet, but he’s deeply in love with her, and because he’s just the sweetest.

in time, ridoc and sweetheart will get up to some kinky shit. she reads, after all. she’s just inexperienced (also actively working on writing their first time!) and needs to be fully comfortable with the vanilla stuff first. once that trust is built, and she’s less anxious, they’ll have some fun, including his ice.

aaric and sunny probably won’t be doing anything for a while, both because demi/ace!aaric is everything to me, and because of sunny’s past issues. once they finally do, it’ll be soft and loving, and he’ll let her be in complete control / on top, so as not to trigger her or make her feel pressured to do anything she doesn’t want to do.

[callsign-rogueone]

Aaric and Sunny 💛

Aaric’s squadmate sunny (cadet Bell) is a bit of a mystery. the daughter of a laundress, who grew up on the wrong side of Calldyr city, Sunny’s life has never been easy. this has led her to appreciate things which others often take for granted, and find joy even in the gloominess of Basgiath, earning her the bright nickname. however, her life experiences have also left her with wounds both physical and emotional, making her skittish and wary of others, especially men. her motivation to become a dragon rider is unclear, especially considering that she hasn’t thrown a punch in her life, but what she lacks in physicality she makes up for with her bright personality, creative approaches to problems and determination to succeed.

⚠️: while it will not be shown explicitly, Sunny’s past includes sexual assault and physical abuse. chapters discussing these events in detail will have warnings at the top, but there will be small references to these things throughout her whole story that may still be triggering to some readers. as a survivor myself, I completely understand if you want to skip some chapters or not read her story at all. I am always here to talk in dms, and I can also provide spoilers to help you gauge if a chapter will be too distressing to read. ❤️‍🩹

iron flame:

conscription day

assessments

a fair trade

songbird

sunshine

presentation

a thief and a prince

let me down slowly

wait for your love

she who walks between worlds

onyx storm

lost in translation

the only option

[callsign-rogueone]

“I know you can do it yourself, but I want to do it for you” my thoughts exactly !!!!

using this as an excuse to drop an aaric and sunny peekie 👀

brennan, aaric, and liam all give the vibes of being attracted to people who are ferociously independent but slowly convince them to let them do things. like, their love language is acts of service, and they offer to do something as simple as brushing your hair (will expand upon later). they reach out for your brush, and you pin them with a look that says, “what the hell are you doing?”

They ask, “can i brush your hair?” and you’re just staring at them with a raised eyebrow because…Why would they want to do that? So you ask why, a bit uncertain, a bit suspicious. “I can do it myself.” They just meet your eyes and smile. “I know you can do it yourself, but I want to do it for you.” And you’re just sitting there for a few seconds (will this damage your pride?) before you sigh and reluctantly tell them they can, and they’re so giddy that you can’t help but smile. precious boys.

[callsign-rogueone]

assessments

Aaric Graycastle x reader part two of Aaric and Sunny's story words: 1.7k 🏷: set during Iron Flame but no real spoilers. canon-typical sparring. very vague mentions of injury (a bruise and a bandage.) more of Sunny's backstory perhaps.. I promise these titles will start getting more creative after this. this one's technically a double meaning -- assessment day for Emeterrio's class, and our bbs slowly starting to figure each other out.

You consider yourself excellent at reading people, a skill you’d honed in your years of working in a tavern in Calldyr city. It made long shifts more bearable, and earned you better tips — you knew exactly how to talk to each kind of person who walked in, what to do and say to make them like you, to think you were just like them.

All you need to do is look at someone for a minute, watch them and listen to them speak, and you can gather everything you need to know about them -- where they’re from, and what their deal is.

It didn’t take long for you to figure out your entire squad.

Rhiannon, the squad leader, is the responsible, motherly one, but she’s still fierce, and has something to prove. She wants your squad to be the best it can be, and has her sights set on being a wingleader next year. 

Ridoc is the class clown who is almost never serious, but cares for his friends deeply and won’t hesitate to fight for them. He’s smarter than he lets on, and a good fighter, even though he’s smaller than some of the other guys — which isn’t saying much, because they’re all giant — but maybe you could learn a thing or two from watching him.

Sawyer, Rhiannon’s second in command and Ridoc’s best friend, who balances him out with logic and restraint, but is definitely still frequently dragged into his shenanigans — though he takes his role seriously, feeling the need to prove himself to the world.

Violet, the daughter of two generals, who was expected to follow in their footsteps despite her medical condition, incredibly smart and observant, and not to be underestimated despite her small stature. 

Sloane, who was forced to be here because of the Treaty of Aretia, as her parents were accused of treason, holds a grudge against Violet for her unclear role in the death of her brother, but seems to respect Imogen enough not to kill the girl.

Imogen, the unaffected cool-girl, was also forced to be here, but she seems to have taken it in stride. She’s clearly not afraid of anything — not to stand out, with her pastel pink hair, nor to provoke anyone, being a skilled fighter both with words and hand-to-hand.

Nadine fits into a similar category with her dark purple hair and her unrestrained laughter. She seems less serious than the others, not at all worried, but it remains unclear if that’s because she’s overconfident or underestimating the challenges that second year will bring her.

…. and then there’s Aaric. You find yourself watching him for confirmation of what you’re supposed to be doing, but also out of sheer curiosity, because you just can’t figure him out. He doesn’t fit in any box you’d sorted the others into. He’s quiet, but not because he’s shy like Sawyer. Serious, but not the rigid soldier that Dain is. There’s just something about him that you just can’t put a name to, some quality you can’t quite describe.

He doesn’t look tired at breakfast, so he’d probably heeded the wingleader’s advice to sleep early — and he must not have stayed awake all night worrying about being killed.

You’d tossed and turned, but you’d been comforted by the theoretical safety of your top bunk, a good five feet above anyone, in a corner where you can see the whole room, and your two knives — one under your pillow, one clutched in your hand like a child would a stuffed animal. 

You wear one on each hip now, tucked into the belt loops of your pants. You should really get one of those leather rigs that the second-years have to hold them in a better position. They look much more secure, and more comfortable. Maybe you can invest your last bit of coin in a card game and make enough to buy one in town. Or maybe they’re issued to everyone later in the year — most of the older cadets have something similar.

You’d been one of the first ones awake, re-wrapping your bandage and changing clothes quietly, brushing your teeth before everyone else woke up and wanted to use the bathroom.

You learn these things quickly when you live with half a dozen other girls. 

Sloane had been slower to get ready, but you’d waited for her, lingering by your bunk and giving her a nervous half-smile — silently asking if she wanted to walk together. She’d agreed, falling into step beside you out to the morning formation.

It’s easy to spot where you’re supposed to be — look for the pink, purple, and silver heads. 

Imogen looks relieved to see Sloane in one piece — then she turns to you, looking unamused. “What are you so happy about?” she asks, raising a dark eyebrow. 

You know they won’t really understand, but you tell them anyway. “I woke up this morning in a bed of my own, looking at a roof over my head, with clothes on my back that I didn’t have to steal.”

Both of them soften, realizing just how differently you’d grown up. Their childhoods and teenage years may not have been the happiest, but they were safe, and didn’t have to worry about where their next meal would come from or where they’d sleep that night.

Aaric hadn’t realized that the service could be an escape for some people, rather than a death sentence or an act of patriotism or a moral obligation. Whatever you’d faced in the city had outweighed the possibility of dying in battle — despite being incredibly underprepared, you’re the one of the three of them that wants to be there the most. 

He has several questions, none of which he can ask without giving away his little ruse — and it’s been less than twenty-four hours since you’d all crossed the parapet. But still, he wonders about you. What’s your story? Where had you lived in Calldyr City? How many miles from the castle? Had your paths ever crossed? 

For a moment, anger roils through him. He’s aware of the disparities within his father’s kingdom, the way the other half — the other nine tenths, more like — lives, but to hear you speak of it so candidly… it’s clear you’ve never known anything other than struggling to make ends meet. 

Just another item on the laundry list of issues that your dear king is so content to ignore.

“I’m sorry,” he says finally, as if he is at fault for your situation, as if he had been the one to deal you those cards — but is he not implicated in your suffering? He’s certainly complicit, passive, letting it happen.

Not that his father would listen to him if he asked him to do anything about it.

You give him a reassuring smile — you know from experience that talking about your life tends to make people uncomfortable. “Don’t be. I feel richer than the king.”

That makes him feel worse, actually.

-----------------------------------------------------------

“Bell, and Hannigan,” the professor calls, already looking and sounding bored. If everyone in the quadrant has to do one this week, that must be at least two hundred. You wonder how many have already occurred, and how many more he has to go. 

And what are they going to do with this information? Rank you somehow, for sure. Maybe they’ll split you into groups based on skill level? No, they probably aren’t that nice. Everyone has made it sound like it’s kill-or-be-killed here, literally. They probably aren’t offering any remedial courses.

You recognize the other first-year girl. She was one of the few who were up and moving before the wake-up call.

You give a nervous smile as you step onto the mat. She doesn’t return it. Either she doesn’t remember you, or she doesn’t want to acknowledge that her bed is less than fifteen feet away from yours.

Maybe this place is just like Calldyr city. The school may as well be a city of its own, with its size and population, and the way nobody here seems to care about each other, or be friendly at all — friendliness and trust would get you robbed in the nicer parts of the city, or maybe even killed in the “bad parts”, but you’d survived there your whole life.

You’ll have to do the cold-and-distant thing, you suppose. It would be nice to have friends, a group of people you can trust like Violet does, but you’ve done everything for yourself for years. You can keep doing that.

She isn’t too much bigger than you, but she looks like she knows what she’s doing, and that she’s confident she’ll win. She should be — you haven’t had anyone to practice with, lest it give away your plans. All you know is what you’ve seen from watching the drunks in the slums swing at each other, and they’re not very good examples. 

She lunges quickly, but you slip aside with ease. 

You duck a would-be punch to the jaw, attempting to kick her legs out from underneath her, but her boots are planted to the floor — it only irritates her and probably bruises her left shin.

No time to feel bad about it; she’s pushing forward again. She’s determined, you’ll give her that. 

It becomes clear that your duck-and-dodge strategy is effective in keeping yourself unscathed, but it won’t win you this fight.

You attempt a punch like hers, unsuccessfully; she catches your wrist and uses it to leverage you to the floor, where she presses you into the mat, wrenching one arm behind your back and using her weight to keep you down. You struggle for a moment before realizing she has you pinned too well. “I yield.”

“Hannigan wins,” Emeterrio announces monotonously, writing it down.

She lets go, but doesn’t offer you an apology nor help you up. Cold and distant it is, then — with everybody but your squad, who are supposedly not allowed to hurt you.

You’re three steps away from falling back into your place beside Sloane when you hear a crack and a scream.

Then all hell breaks loose in your corner of the gym.

[callsign-rogueone]

Things the girlfriends took with them to Basgiath, besides the essentials / standard stuff:

cleaning out my phone notes and found this, decided to share!

Duchess: a notebook with all of her dragon research, and lots of hair things, including the clips with runes on them and extra bands to tie it up. one necklace, and a bit of makeup.

Angel: wanted to bring a plant but realized that would be very impractical in the dorms. (Sweets promised to water them for her while she was away). brought a book about plants instead, and her rune necklace.

Peach: her loyal stuffed bunny and some things for her nails, pressed flowers from the trees in her family’s orchards.

Spark: a bow and arrows that she strapped across her back on the parapet and used to help her balance, a wood carving from Liam and one of his sweaters.

Love: a pair of heels, makeup, a stuffed bear. Brennan made her repack her bag, but she snuck most of the stuff back into it anyway.

Darling: her marriage papers (so that she and Bodhi couldn’t be separated after graduation), a sewing kit, and a bit of makeup.

Sweetheart: her favorite book that she’s read half a dozen times by now but still isn’t tired of, a set of drawing pencils and a small sketchbook.

Sunny: her mother’s necklace, as a keepsake but also to pawn it if she truly needed to. a torn up bedsheet to use as bandages.

[callsign-rogueone]

fell down a rabbit hole of wedding content on Instagram and now I’m thinking about the girlfriends getting married and who’s walking them down the aisle.

duchess: her dad. this was also the first time they’d seen each other in nearly a year, as she was in hiding in aretia / supposed to be dead. that made things that much more emotional <3

angel: I want to say xaden, though he’s also supposed to be up there as the best man. oh well. he can walk her down and then go to garrick’s side. I also see her having a teeny wedding party. Xaden is the one groomsman, and sweets is the only bridesmaid.

darling: xaden again. he’s technically her only older male relative, anyway. (and yes, bodhi and darling are getting a real wedding at some point! once all that venin and wyvern stuff is handled.) or possibly her younger brother, though he really just exists for sake of her character development lol

love: I know xaden is her older brother, but I think she has a deeper connection with brennan, as they’re both tacticians and nerds. and brennan is also her daughter’s godfather and an important person for dain (he absolutely idolized brennan growing up, and you cannot convince me otherwise.)

sweetheart: garrick. there is simply no other option. similarly to angel, I also see her having a small wedding party. peach is absolutely one of her bridesmaids, and angel the maid of honor.

peach: her dad, the only other dad who is still with us lol. gonna be honest though, this is the first time I’ve thought about him and what he’s like. either way, sawyer 1000% has his approval, and has had it for a full decade — their parents are the original sawyerpeach shippers.

sunny: no one. both because it’s kinda like the dad “transferring ownership” to the husband and that’s definitely not her vibe, but also because there just isn’t anyone who she’d want to do it. she likes the rest of our boys fine, but she doesn’t have a deep relationship with any of them. and this is just the first of the many, many disruptions to tradition / expectations that she and aaric will make. well. I suppose him marrying a commoner who was previously someone else’s property was the first one, if you want to be technical.

[callsign-rogueone]

conscription day - a.g.

Aaric Graycastle x reader words: 1.2k 🏷: at incredibly long last, here begins the story of Aaric and Sunny! no pronouns used in this chapter but future ones will use she/her. very minimal Iron Flame spoilers. their story will follow the whole book so more major stuff in future chapters. in this one: canon-typical peril, dragon fire, implied death of unnamed characters. proofread, but with a migraine. five points of extra credit if you can identify another girlfriend or two in here 👀

Crossing the parapet was easy enough, and that should be the hardest part of your day today, yet you still can’t kick the nervous feeling in your chest, even after you have both boots on solid ground and your name has been recorded as having made it across, after you've been organized into a squad...

It persists through the handful of boring patriotic speeches about the commitment you’ve made to your country, which go in one ear and out the other. You know why you’re here. You don’t need to be given any other reasons.

You look over at the boy next to you. He doesn’t look scared of anything; not the quartet of dragons perched on the stone wall fifty yards away, nor the rest of the cadets around him who are all armed to the teeth, but he’s not loud and proud about it like some of the other cadets you’d heard talking on the Parapet. He’s keeping quiet, and watching. 

It’s almost like he doesn’t want anyone to see him, trying to blend into the crowd as an average guy so as to not make any enemies or expose any weakness he might have — but he certainly doesn’t look like he has any weaknesses, tall and strong and well trained, wearing his weapons like he knows how to use them, silently watching the rest of the crowd in the courtyard.

Maybe you’re a little bit alike in that regard; not in your level of preparation — you’re definitely the least-armed person in the squad, and likely in the entire quadrant, with one knife at each hip and absolutely nothing else, as that was all you’d been able to afford before you left for Basgiath — but in the way you present yourselves to the rest of the world, focusing on figuring everyone else out and keeping quiet, not sharing much.

Your nerves are finally starting to settle. The four dragons continue to eye you, some scarier than others; a battle-hardened red, a bored green and an equally disinterested brown that actually yawns -- and looks to be missing a few teeth when it does, and a mean-looking blue at the end of the row. Just missing black and orange.

As if the thought had manifested into reality, a massive, one-eyed orange dragon swoops down to perch on the wall too, stone crumbling under its feet. The other dragons clearly weren’t expecting this — the red bares his teeth at the intruder, the others backing up to give him a healthy amount of space.

One of the wingleaders, the only girl of the four, shouts something you can’t distinguish, and then there’s a chorus of screams as the orange unhinges its massive jaw, spewing red flame upon the formation.

A girl across the courtyard springs into action, leaping in front of her wing with her palms outstretched, making some kind of invisible shield over herself and the group of students behind her that deflects the fire. Clearly there isn’t anyone in your area that has this ability — everyone hits the ground, or yanks each other aside and prays they’ll be far enough away to avoid being burnt.

The boy you’d been watching locks eyes with you, and then you’re on the ground underneath him in a matter of seconds, wrapped up in each other; chest to chest, his hands braced against the gravel on either side of your head, one leg between yours, your faces less than three inches apart.

The intimacy, the implications of this position you’re in with a total stranger, a man you’ve never met, and an armed one, at that, should make your skin crawl, should make you want to kick and scratch to get him off of you, but you stay in place, under the safety of his armored shoulders, because it’s clear that he doesn’t want to hurt you, or to assert his power over you — but to protect you.

You have a deep-down feeling that you can trust him, despite not knowing anything about him. He doesn’t know anything about you, either. You don’t think he even knows your name — you’re certainly too shaken to remember his, if you’d heard it -- but he hadn’t hesitated to put himself between you and danger, turned his back on a fire-breathing dragon to make sure you were safe.

You’re still transfixed by the color of his eyes, a gorgeous jade green with a ring of gold around his pupils, which are dilated with the same mix of shock and fear that yours must be -- maybe he’s not as fearless as you thought. No, brave is a better descriptor. Isn’t that what bravery is, being scared but doing it anyway? 

If every day at this school is like this, you could certainly learn a thing or two from him.

The screaming stops and the heat lessens, replaced with the sound of an earth-shaking roar and the smell of smoke and charred leather.

“Are you okay?” he asks, the first time you’ve heard him speak. His voice is soft and cool, soothing.

“Yeah,” you manage, blinking up at him. “I’m okay.”

He rises to his knees, then his feet, extending a hand to help you up. You take it appreciatively, regaining your footing, surprised by the steadiness of your steps.

He reaches forward to brush the dirt from your hair, tucking a loosened strand behind your ear.

Your heart has never beat this fast in your life. You’ve never been touched this gently, never seen such a deep look of concern in a man’s eyes, that gorgeous shade of green looking down at you…  You realize that he’s still holding your hand -- rather, you’re still holding his. You let go quickly, your cheeks warming with embarrassment. 

“I’m okay,” you repeat, as much of a reassurance for yourself as it is for him. “Thank you,” you add after a second, still a little stunned by the events of the last two minutes — especially by the way he’d acted, to come to your rescue without hesitation.

He would smile at you if he hadn’t just watched a dozen people be incinerated. “We’re supposed to look out for each other, aren’t we?”

You manage a nod, your eyes finally moving from his to assess the damage and regretting it immediately. All of Second Wing seems intact, having been protected by the girl who had put up the air shield. She looks a little unsteady on her feet, but otherwise unharmed — it must have taken a lot of energy to do something like that. First Wing was far enough away to be unscathed, but Third Wing, and the squad beside yours… if you had been placed anywhere else, there would have been a reasonable chance that you’d have been burnt alive.

You don’t have much time to dwell on it as the girl you remember to be the squad leader, Rhiannon, barks out an order to fall back into formation. 

You step back into place at the back of the block, between your hero and a blonde girl who looks like she regrets eating breakfast this morning. “Deep breaths,” you whisper to her. “In through your nose, out through your mouth, like you’re blowing bubbles.”

She blinks at you, but tries it anyway, and it seems to work, her posture loosening slowly. “Thanks,” she replies quietly, keeping her eyes forward. 

The boy is right — the three of you should look out for each other, if you want to make it out of here alive.

[callsign-rogueone]

the girlfriend gang at Disneyland

just got back from my trip and it was very nice but also completely draining. have some ideas I came up with in the car / while waiting in lines!

xaden and aaric are paying for everything, of course — mostly aaric.

in the morning:

they’re getting up early for sure, because dain and brennan have a schedule that they’ve been curating for a month now.

duchess goes on an early starbucks run to make everyone less grumpy and more awake. angel goes with her to help carry all the drinks.

darling insists that everyone wear sunscreen, and she brings all the snacks because she’s the mom friend through and through.

everyone’s ready at 8:00 sharp. love has saoirse in a stroller, and peach is pushing sawyer in his wheelchair.

during the day:

duchess tries to steer brennan away from xaden and violet, to let them have some time to themselves, but he still keeps an eye on them from a distance, and pretends to gag when they reappear in matching shirts (vi suggested this as a joke, but xaden can’t ever say no to her, so he agreed.)

angel and sweets volunteer to hold everyone’s bags (and the baby) while they do roller coasters / scary stuff / anything that would be painful for angel. spark stays behind for any water rides, since she hates getting wet unnecessarily, and duchess also hangs back from the rollercoasters and drop rides, but that’s for another reason that only brennan knows about at this point… 👀

dain and love take saoirse to meet the fairies / princesses. bodhi tags along “to be an extra pair of hands / to help them out with her” but he really wants to meet cinderella too.

on the teacups: sweets, spark, and peach are spinning calmly, just talking — and ridoc, liam, and sawyer are going as fast as physically possible, screaming.

nobody warned ridoc about the snakes on big thunder mountain, or in indiana jones. poor boy. sweets comforts him afterward, though — she lets him be clingy and pouty for a while until he forgets about it completely.

all (or most) of the boys wear minnie ears because they’re secure in their masculinity and it’s fun. bodhi starts the trend, and the rest follow suit.

sunny is a bit overwhelmed with it all, since she’s never been before, but she has aaric beside her the whole time — until the other girls sense that she needs a break and drag her away for a while.

liam convinces some of the gang to go out and row canoes to the island with him. they strategically place him in the front seat so he can’t see that nobody is having as much fun as he is. (bodhi makes sure that nobody tells him and pops that bubble.)

after dark:

some of the boys, who shall not be named for their own reputation, shed a few tears during the fireworks / projections.

team “we’re not leaving until midnight”:

ridoc and sunny (wild child’s)

garrick (incapable of being tired)

duchess (wisely rested mid-day and is now rejuvenated)

bodhi (is going to regret this decision tomorrow and be yawning all morning)

team “going back to the hotel to get some damn sleep”:

violet, angel, sweets (they’ve overdone it physically and/or emotionally)

brennan, liam, and dain (gotta be up at 6am tomorrow, despite it being a vacation)

love (it’s way past baby’s bed time. darling comes with her as well.)

aaric, spark, and xaden (had too much fun for one day, need to go be broody)

that’s all I’ve got for now. byeeee!

[callsign-rogueone]

maybe a weird question but how did you decide what type of gf each man “needs” or vice versa?

not weird at all! brace yourselves for an essay.

first, the ones that I didn’t think about too hard lol

starting with angel, who was the first gf to debut! this pair was really mostly wishful thinking / me just wanting a garrick in my life. but I started to really like the idea of big tough garrick with a soft, shy girlfriend. she’s someone he can be vulnerable with / who can take care of him a little bit.

and then duchess, for brennan: I felt like he’d like a partner who is as sharp as him, and also someone to tie him in to the revolution. reading about him at the viscount’s had me giggling and kicking my feet, so why not make his girl nobility too?

bodhi is another where I just made something up and rolled with it. the ogs know how that happened!! but for further development of darling, here were my thoughts;

he’s a perfect little angel, and is going to be obsessed with his partner (in the best way) so he needs a perfect sweetheart girl too + he’d be great for a shy girl because he’s a gentleman and wouldn’t be too forward or want to take things too quickly. (darling has since outgrown a lot of that shyness, but I digress.)

xaden’s family was rich and royal enough for arranged marriages, so why not bodhi too?

he also feels like he’d be great with kids / a family man, so I gave darling some much-younger siblings for them to play house with.

I just really wanted to have a black-cat-golden-retriever situation with liam and spark. plus they have a very short time together, so I went with someone who he already knows well as a good friend instead of him meeting someone at basgiath and trying to cram it all into one year.

now, the other half I did make intentional choices with and actually planned!!

sawyer, my sweet cheese…

our boy is a little insecure. and while I don’t want to say he “needs” to be the stronger, more traditionally masculine partner, I think getting to be someone’s hero would help build his confidence.

luceras (in my brain) is the fantasy equivalent of appalachia, so he gets a sweet country girl who can still also whoop ass when necessary (you’ll see.)

I also wanted him with a healer because of his injury (I read tower of dawn this summer and definitely got some inspiration there!)

I’m gonna try my best to not be salty about him and jesinia in onyx storm if that goes anywhere… because in my mind, him and peach are married with two daughters and a dog. she’s basgiath’s head healer and he runs the forge there.

moving on.

dain… oh, dain.

it’s very clear to me why him and violet didn’t work, so that was a starting point for love. I also wanted him to have a girl who could keep him in check a little bit.

she’s more willing to be doted on than violet is. she would one hundred percent have taken him up on his offer to go read in the library all day and not mess up her hair or have to do cardio before 9am.

I also see dain as more of a traditional guy, who would want a girly girl instead of someone like imogen or mira for example. so I made her quite feminine despite her still being a soldier.

she’s razor-sharp, which he seemed to like a lot about violet, but this often bites him in the ass — she’s very scrutinizing of his double standards and doesn’t hesitate to call him out on his bs, because fourth wing dain needed that. and what’s a rivals-to-lovers / supposed-to-be-enemies-but-became-lovers story without a little banter and arguing?

and also I wanted to heal his inner child a bit by making him a young dad. plus it’s a disruption to the very straight-laced, traditional mindset he probably had of being married first, and prioritizing his career… so that’s another opportunity for growth for him.

ridoc, my beloved

he’s more dimensional than he seems at first. he’s a joker, yes, but I think he’s also incredibly emotionally intelligent and caring. so he’d take good care of a fragile, anxious girl.

I thought a shy girl would also be cute for him — he’s the life of the party, but opposites attract. and he’d be determined to make her slowly open up to him (which you’ve already seen a lot of in their chapters so far!)

but I also see him liking a badass girl, and sweets is that when it comes to hand combat and her initial responses to his flirting. and her signet stuff, too. she’s really good at that.

aaric, our prince.

he has a better mindset than his dad/older brother but still needs a tiny bit of a reality check. enter sunny, stage left. her gratitude for literally everything and her newfound zest for life is gonna open his eyes to the way the other half lives.

I am also considering the possibility of ace or demi aaric (based on that one comment he made and literally nothing else) so a partner who has been used for her body in the past and is a bit traumatized by that / doesn’t want to do anything of that nature anytime soon would be a good fit for him too in that case. (spoiler, sorry!)

[also, re: the above -> all the girlfriends have pieces of myself in them and this is one I gave sunny, so this arc of her building self worth + trust with aaric (and our other fw boys) is important to me personally. there won’t be detailed descriptions of anything bad, just mentions of things she endured, but I’ll still tag those chapter(s) liberally + I completely understand if anyone wants to skip them!]

and while I’m giving stuff away, I’m also playing with the idea of the divine right of kings — that sunny was picked out by amari herself to be his queen. “luck”, fate, and the favor of the gods are really going to be strong themes in her story!!

[callsign-rogueone]

hi sweet girl. hope you’re doing well. was wondering what the gfs would be like as mothers?

hihi! I'm doing alright. just taking this weekend to be sick and sleepy. I wasn't gonna write bc no brain power but then I saw this ask and it felt manageable + we've talked about the boys as dads but the girls as moms is just <333

we have to start with love, for obvious reasons. she's the super fashionable young mom. saoirse is basically a carbon copy of love, and loves getting dressed up to match with her mama <3 dain looks the other way every time they come home with new clothes. and of course she's teaching her daughter tyrrish along with the common language. (and then later on dain is teaching her some of the other languages he knows, too.) because she has her daughter so early in her life, she's definitely going to struggle at first (especially given her other issues too) but after a while and some help from her village, she's taking it all in stride and just goes about life with a baby on her hip. soairse is coming with her everywhere, including strategy meetings for the assembly.

I see brennan and duchess as being the next ones to have kids after dain and love, because they're older and more settled down. she's gonna have two perfect little boys that look just like bren (any guesses on their names?) and maybe one more after that. she's also teaching them both languages, and really valuing academics / reading / etc. and of course they both love dragons, but when they get older, she and brennan are going to have a heartfelt convo with them about how they shouldn't feel pressured to become riders (because while I love to believe basgiath will be reformed by the end of this series, it's still going to be dangerous) and they will love their children no matter what they decide to do.

garrick and angel are gonna have a full house. at least three kids, probably four. (cue all the jokes about her being a life-bringer...) she's raising them to respect all living things and plants and animals, and to not be afraid of digging in the dirt. half her kids have her shy sweet personality and the other half take after garrick and his jokes. and of course she's the go-to for any scraped knees or all those other little childhood injuries that felt like the end of the world.

darling already knows what she's doing (mostly) since she's been the parentified eldest child to her brother and sister who are a lot younger than her. she's one of the people who helped love the most in the beginning, and love's gonna return the favor for her of course bc they're besties. I see her having 2-3 boys who are all sweet little mini-bodhi's. they're all raised to be gentlemanly and treat women right, because they have mister wife-guy himself, bodhi durran, as an example 24/7. darling is going places in her career, but she will always make time for her bbs.

peach is another that is on the up and up with her career as a healer, but her and sy are still making time for their kids. I see her and sy having two little girls who are just a little bit wild (they get this from peach. you'll see what I'm talking about in a few chapters). I don't know exactly which direction RY is gonna go with sawyer's injury, but it would be cute to see them kinda settled down with sawyer running the forge and her in the infirmary, and a few littles running around. they're definitely getting her mentality of "do no harm but take no shit" and like gare and angel's kids, being a mix of both parents, seeing the value of offense and defense (can you tell I'm writing this while watching a football game?)

sunny is probably gonna end up as the queen of navarre. however, comma, she's doing the work herself. she's not gonna be like those rich / royal parents who pass the kids off to a nanny all the time and only see them once a day. her and cam are spending as much time with them as they can, which is definitely helping heal his inner child from being the low-priority, third son who "wasn't important" since he wasn't the heir or the backup. and while they may be rich and royal from their dad's side, she came from nothing, and is going to talk about that with them openly and teach them to respect everyone despite their standing / not spoil them rotten either.

I don't see ridoc and sweets having kids for quite some time, or maybe not at all. they're fine being the fun aunt and uncle, especially to sawyer's kids. but if/when they do have kids... just think about rid calling a little daughter "snowflake"... it's that time of the month and I'm emotional okay

spark is also stuck in the fun aunt category unfortunately :( but I could definitely see her helping take care of sloane's kids if she has them. and she's the one all of the aforementioned kids are calling when something goes wrong and they need an adult that isn't their parents (especially when they're teenagers and are up to no good.)

[callsign-rogueone]

hi lovie :) great Dain and Love chapter. Would you please clarify who is in leadership and what their positions and wings/squads/sections are? I get a lil confused

of course! I have zero recollection of which canon characters are in exactly which section / squad, and I don't want to check the wikis because I'm not done with OS, so I'm just gonna tell you who they're with, for the most part:

Fourth Wing year:

Dain is Vi's squad leader like canon, but I'm replacing his executive officer with Love (Callwell).

Darling (Laurent) is either a squad leader or section executive in second wing, where she shall stay.

Spark (Richfield) is wherever Bodhi is.

Angel (Avan)... idk. let's put her in fourth wing so G & X can protect her. it would be awkward for Garrick to be her section leader, so she's in one of the two that isn't his. small potatoes.

Iron Flame year:

Angel is graduated / dead to the world.

Duchess is a Major and sits on the Aretian Assembly.

Darling is second wing's wingleader, and Love is one of her section leaders. I wonder whose decision it was to move her out of fourth wing and away from Dain...

Rhiannon is Vi's squad leader now like canon, and Sunny (Bell) gets put with them on conscription day. Sweetheart (Atken) transfers in after her RSC, so she won't be alone from now on. (everybody say thank you, Ridoc and Sawyer)

Spark is kinda a minor character at this point... she'll hang out with the gang but isn't part of Vi's squad or anything. she's wherever Liam was originally, because she got Xaden to pull the strings to make that happen before Liam got put on bodyguard duty.

It irks me so bad that we don't know healer ranks or organizations. But I'd say Peach is the equivalent of a section leader.

[callsign-rogueone]

have you talked about what all the girlfriends’ dragons names are and what they mean? i’m so curious

I have for some of them I think. but here’s them all in one spot:

some of these are Irish, some Welsh, some Scottish Gaelic. because sometimes the translation of the word I wanted just didn’t fit the vibes. I’ll use the excuse of there being different languages within the different dens. and if Google translate made any egregious errors… oops.

Duchess: banriondorcha, “ban”, dark queen, black

Angel: tabharthair, “tab”, giver, green

Spark: tuilefeargach, “tuile”, angry flood, blue

Love: cosantóir, “cosa”, protector, red

Daring: sìodauaine, “sìoda”, green silk, green

Sweetheart: rhith, illusion, green (full name undecided)

Sunny: amhránáthasach, “am”, joyful song, (color to be announced)

sorry peach. you’re not in this episode.

[callsign-rogueone]

when will we get more aaric and sunny?? I’m obsessed

I am literally the worst about setting specific dates and then not getting things done in time BUT, I want to say soon, like, by the end of the month!! hopefully much sooner than that.

I’m stuck on chapter three for them, and sloooowly getting unstuck. at some point I’m just gonna say screw it and post 🥲 and once I’m done with that, I have the next two ready to go!!

and I also have two onyx storm chapters nearly done for them. which are going to hurt so badly but also be so so good. cam pov, one bed trope, ****** getting punched in the teeth, “where is she”, cam and sunny building trust, and so much non-sexual intimacy…

trust that they are occupying prime space in my brain right now and I am chipping away at their story every day ❤️‍🩹