#Thenamesh Maleficent AU

[softquietsteadylove]

Gil takes care of Thena very secretly while she still has her bullet wound. Thena learns that he is the strongest guard here and yet the most kindest and gentlest of them all. Plus she can’t resist touching his feathers 🤭

"Thena?"

"Up here!" she called back to him. She could hear him climbing from the branches holding her nest up to the canopy where she was sitting (hiding). "Careful."

Gilgamesh had such large and magnificent wings. She had cleared a path for herself, of course, but she hated the idea of him snagging any of his beautifully dark feathers on his way up.

"Hey," he huffed, finally emerging in the canopy with her. His wings rustled behind him as he settled himself on the same branch. "How did you get up here?"

She smiled. He had been very vigilant about her injury since she had disclosed it to him. He even snuck her extra food in hopes the protein would help her heal faster. "Carefully, rest assured. I've started coming up here to watch the sunrise. And it assures that Druig and Ikaris will leave me be and seek their own food."

Gil chuckled, "did you find food for them when they were fledglings?"

Thena rolled her eyes at it. "I do not know of yourself, but my brothers knew I was the best hunter of us, so they would half-attempt to fish until I assuredly brought back the best yield for us to share."

Gil rolled his eyes as well, although they did share in their laughter. "I guess that shouldn't surprise me."

"Even when Ikaris started hunting in earnest, he's too impatient to skim the water at a reasonable pace, so everything slips from his grasp," she shrugged, picking at a few berries she had in a leaf cup. "But he can crack open shellfish better than I, I must admit."

"You like shellfish?"

"Scallops and shrimp are sweeter than oysters and muscles," she commented freely, barely even noticing as Gil angled himself, running his hands over her wings. She shifted in her position, turning her back to him so he could examine her side.

"Has it opened back up again?" he asked seriously, examining her white dress for signs of blood.

"No, the healing springs are working," she answered honestly. She was still soaking her wound morning and night. "The skin is a little tender, but I do believe it had closed, at least."

"Hm," he grunted, moving on to straightening some of her feathers while he was examining her. "Still soak it for a little longer, though. Until it no longer hurts to poke."

Thena sighed. She poked it regularly to test if she was healed yet. "Indeed."

"Makkari is rushing home after last perimeter checks a lot," Gil commented lightly as he idly combed through her feathers with his fingers. "Are they official now?"

"I do believe I could say they are courting," Thena smiled to herself, watching sun stream through the gaps and crags in the top of the mothernest, and even through some of the crystalline ice structures up there. "I look forward to the day he brings her home to me."

It was quite serious to have one's mate introduced to the family formally. Thena and Makkari had spoken of course, could even be considered to be friends. But if Druig brought Makkari to her nest to meet her, that would be more like bringing Makkari to meet his mother.

"You think he will?" Gil asked, plucking out an errant feather.

"It will take time," she sighed, her wings fluttering faintly at the thought, just for Gil to move them more for his angle. "But I do hope so. I would welcome her to the family."

"You wouldn't feel like you have a," Gil paused, and she heard his clothes rustle as he fidgeted, "I dunno--empty nest, or something?"

Thena looked down at her berries, almost eaten completely. "Perhaps I will mourn the days when Druig was a sweet little hatchling, even when Ikaris was not so...Ikaris."

Gil snorted.

"But they are long grown, and I want for them to stretch their wings," she concluded. She moved her leaf cup, offering up her last windberry. "I brought them all the way here for it, all told."

"Thanks," Gil whispered (awfully close to her ear). He reached for the berry, his thumb brushing against hers as he fished it out.

"I have never seen them so much as show an interest in courting, or preening, or," she shrugged, flapping her wings faintly as she felt Gil pull away.

"Well, preening is pretty, y'know," Gil postulated as she turned around to face him again.

"Oh?" she grinned, automatically moving forward to return the favour of his preening of her wings. She nearly gasped as he allowed her to do the same, brandishing his shimmering black wings in all their glory. They made her want to bury her face in the valley between them.

"W-Well," Gil squirmed, and she could just imagine the sweet, somewhat shy expression on his face. "Preening is pretty, uh, personal."

Intimate might be another word for it. Certainly no acquaintances or even casual friends were going around picking at each other's feathers. It simply required a level of trust and understanding of a fae's most vulnerable feature.

Thena was not ignorant to that. She simply acted like she was.

She moved her fingers over Gil's feathers delicately. They were so stunning, each and every one of them. She nudged a few back into place, examining the most misplaced ones. He had navigated his way up here with care.

"Should I not be...?" she asked quietly, even pausing in her actions. She pursed her lips while he was turned away from her, "if you have a potential mate who is going to come and tear my nest apart, I-"

Gil snorted again. He half turned to peek at her around his wing, "please."

She only felt more dissatisfied with that answer. She plucked a downy feather straight out roughly. "I do not see what is humorous about the question."

"Well, guard life doesn't exactly let you go out and court," he shrugged, not seeming all that bothered by it. "I've been the captain of our patrol for a long time, Thena. I've never so much as been approached."

Thena tilted her head beside/behind him. Her hair swayed around her shoulders faintly and the shadows of her horn and a half were cast over Gil's shoulder. She couldn't imagine Gilgamesh not being a prime candidate for a mate for anyone viable.

"Why?"

She looked up and suddenly he had a completely clear view of her. His eyes were sharp and warm, brown like the undertones of his rich black feathers. Her stomach leapt. "Hm?"

"You worried I have someone I'm preening with in another nest?"

Thena felt herself flush, although she did her best to look annoyed with the question. He wasn't in a teasing mood often. "I wouldn't take you for that kind of fae, Gilgamesh."

He laughed fully, having had his fun. He turned again, crossing his arms around himself. His wings shook with his laughter as well. "Well, that's good. And listen, even if I had ever liked someone, I've never been able to approach anyone. I'm used to doing my own preening, really."

She could tell, by the general state of his back-most feathers. Clearly he took good care of them, but every fae had those spots they simply couldn't reach on their own. "Well, good you have me."

"Yeah, it is."

Thena lowered her hands from his wings. She had let herself enjoy their secrecy too much, perhaps. "You need not, of course. If you didn't wish it."

Gil, sensing that she had pulled away from him, turning back to her. He lifted his wings to they could sit close despite the appendages of theirs which naturally demanded distance. "Do you?--wish it?"

Thena sighed, looking at the wonderful border guard she had met a full turn around the sun past, now. She leaned forward carefully, giving him time to refuse if he wanted to. In which case she would take off and leave these seas, perhaps forever.

Gil leaned in as well, their lips meeting gently. It was not necessarily as intimate as preening - especially in secret - but a kiss was still a kiss. He raised his hand to her cheek, tilting her head to kiss her deeper.

Thena sighed, their fangs meeting somewhat as their mouths opened more. He tasted of the morning stew the guards ate before first takeoff. It mixed with the taste of her berries.

Gil pulled away, tucking her hair behind the point of her ear in the morning air currents.

Thena just stared at him, her breath coming in soft sighs. She had never thought of finding a mate for her own.

Gil looked up, seeing a few fae beginning to fly around the dome of the mothernest as a warmup. He sighed, "I have to go."

"Go," she sent him off with a smile, her whole body tingling with warmth. "You are needed."

Gilgamesh let his hand drift off her cheek and to her shoulder as he stood on the branch. He lifted his wings, shielding them from witnesses. "I'll come and check on you tonight."

"Very well," she smiled. She waited the entirety of the day for him to do so eagerly. Her heart sang for him. "I shall wait for you."

"Okay," he whispered, their hands leaving each other the most slowly. He slipped something into her hand, "see you later, then."

Thena waved as he took off, launching straight from the treetops into the air to join the day's first shift of patrol. She could hear his voice, already directing his team and guiding them with the largest and strongest wings of them all.

Her hand tightened around the feather of his he had left her. It was a step past preening, and she would have to make sure Ikaris and Druig didn't find it--this gesture of exclusivity between fae. It wasn't necessarily a courting trinket, bus she felt a certain lightheaded giddiness as she tucked it into the layers of her white dress, over her heart.

[softquietsteadylove]

Could you try and do one for the Maleficent AU where Maleficent herself shows up somehow. Maybe Gilgamesh is like hello there beautiful and Thena gets all jealous and protective and then they have a fluffy comfort at the end.

Stunning.

She was elder than Thena, not that one could tell a fae's age based upon appearance. But something about her...she was a faerie of old magic. Black horns coiled from her head, her wings were black in some light and brown in some. They were huge, long and silken, practically dragging on the ground behind her.

Her lips were red like a fresh pomegranate.

"Thank you for escorting me, captain," she thanked in a silken voice. She smiled, the colour of her lips making it clear when they tugged upward gently.

Gilgamesh blushed.

Thena pursed her lips to herself, observing from a respectful distance.

The fae was from the Moors, word had it. She belonged to another mothernest entirely, one more inland and to the north. She had a great control of magic that most fae didn't even possess anymore, much less know or teach. But her relationship with the humans was good, and thus she was acting as an ambassador of sorts.

"I will bring word back to the queen and to my own flock. I'm sure the mothernest will welcome any of yours who would like to see our ways."

"I'm sure some of us will take you up on your offer."

Thena tilted her head, trying to get a look at Gil's face as he said it, but his back was facing her. She didn't like how eager he sounded.

"You have done good work to associate with the humans here, it is admirable," she congratulated him, her eyes still catlike and intimidating.

A bird - a crow, or perhaps a raven - cawed on the head of her staff.

Thena tried to at least get a good look at the fae's familiar, but its head tilted too often.

"It hasn't been easy at all turns," Gil admitted freely. "But I think we're making real strides. Some of us here have good history with humans, so we're trying more, I guess."

Thena smiled; he was mentioning her, in not so many words.

"I value a fae who can see past a human's nature," the woman said with a hint of a laugh in her voice. "I have a...complicated history with them, myself."

Gil laughed. "I gotta admit, I wasn't all that fond of 'em. But I guess they're growing on me."

Thanks to her, Thena mused as she waited and waited and Gilgamesh to conclude his conversation. He usually wasn't one for idle chatter with his charges.

"They have 'grown on me' as well."

The fae had an interesting speech pattern, like she wasn't used to conversing with her own--or conversing in general, perhaps.

"You are welcome in the Moors as well, of course."

Thena's wings bristled, her feathers raising in their follicles. Just what kind of invitation was that? An invitation to the mothernest was one thing, but was this fae proposing Gilgamesh come and take a tour of her home?!

The bird cawed again (definitely a raven).

The woman's hand stroked its feathered head, and Thena saw that she even had long claws on the end of graceful fingers. Perhaps it was a trait of northern forest fae. They had trees to scale to make their nests.

Thena pursed her lips, raising her wings into proper posture as she decided that she had waited enough. "Excuse my intrusion."

"Thena?" Gil said aloud, surprised by her interruption.

"Of course," the female observed her with those same predatory eyes.

Thena did her best to keep her wings still behind her as she stopped behind Gil's shoulder. "I was rather fond of the humans who inhabited the Isles a number of decades ago. I understand you have a good rapport with the human kingdom close to your mothernest in the north."

She tilted her head, her bird mirroring the action. "Indeed, the queen of the coastal kingdom and I are quite close."

She said it like there was more to it than that. Thena tilted her head in return, "Gilgamesh does well with the humans. They're fond of him."

She smiled, "I'm sure they are."

Thena's feathers raised again, although she did her best not to seem too ruffled by the technically innocuous statement.

"Thena's the one who's built the best relationship with them," Gil shifted, even putting his hand on her shoulder. "It's thanks to her that we've made any progress."

Thena tried to look at Gil in thanks for his praise, but she had far too much trouble taking her eyes off the woman facing them. She seemed amused; was what Gil said humorous?

"Thank you for your hospitality," she smiled at Gilgamesh again. Then, she turned to Thena, "I hope we will cross paths again. You should meet the humans of Ulstead."

Thena nodded, not entirely sure what to make of the exchange.

"Until then," she nodded, her ruby lips upturning again. Her wings outstretched, and her familiar took to the sky ahead of her, "guard, Thena."

Thena and Gil nodded to the woman as she launched herself into the sky. Her wings were truly strong, letting her climb at an incredible rate. Beautiful too.

"She was nice."

Thena glanced over at him, with his hands on his hips and a dumb grin on his face. She sighed, letting her fangs breathe.

"I figured you'd like her."

Well, since he seemed to like her so much. "Hm."

"You should see the Moors, I bet you'd like them, based on how she described them."

"Would I?" Thena asked him, irked that he was suggesting so openly that she go visit this...stranger. "She told you about them at length, did she?"

"Well sure, she asked about the mothernest here, what the forests are like," he shrugged as they started walking back in the direction of the cliffs. "The Moors sound interesting--magical, she said."

"Did she?"

That came out a little too sharp. Thena felt it as soon as it was off her tongue, and obviously Gilgamesh received its sharpness. She avoided his eyes as he looked at her. "You okay?"

"Of course," she muttered down at the sandals on her feet. "I'm glad you enjoyed your time with her."

That came out even sharper, somehow. Gil tilted his head but Thena even moved somewhat away from him as they walked.

"Hey," he said more gently, pulling her back by the hand, "wait, just look at me."

She didn't want to. She felt flustered by how strongly she had reacted to a strange fae smiling at him. Well, it wasn't just that, it was how he had smiled at her, too. Thena squirmed (as did her wings).

"Thena," he prompted, "did she...bother you?"

She frowned, feeling heat creep up her neck. "You seemed rather impressed with her."

Gil stepped closer to her, his smile turning more gentle. This was more like the Gilgamesh she knew and...knew. "She was nice. She knows a lot about humans. And she's flying back to be with her family."

Thena peeked at him.

"I told her all about you," he said with a grin. "Told her about how you came up from the southern Isles and I've been enchanted by you ever since."

She rolled her eyes. He would not charm him way out of trouble this time.

He leaned closer, though, moving his hands to her cheeks to make her meet his eyes. "Don't believe me?"

Thena's eyes fluttered, his breath hitting her cheeks. "You seemed rather enchanted by her, as well."

He chuckled before leaning in, touching their lips together gently. "Did I?"

He damn well did. Thena kissed him again, rising up on her toes.

"How could I be?" he smiled, moving his lips to her cheek as he slid his hand up her back and between her wings. "When I've already found the most beautiful fae in all the realms."

Thena inhaled as her nose hit the robes over his chest. He smelled of sea air and of pine forests. She nuzzled into him, although she felt something in the folds of his tunic.

He had her feather slipped into his robes, over his heart.

"Am I forgiven?" he asked as she wrapped her arms around him as well. He massaged between her wings with one hand and held her waist with the other. Their heads hovered close, their horns even knocked together slightly in their proximity.

"Just," she offered minimally. She still wasn't happy with how taken he seemed with the beautiful fae, no matter how little she blamed him for it.

"What if we stop by the human farms on our way home, ask for some apples?" he suggested as he grasped her hand in his.

"Hm," Thena sighed, parting with him somewhat reluctantly. Her wings fluffed behind her. "I suppose that would be agreeable."

He could clearly tell her ire wasn't nearly what she made it seem to be. But he played along, bowing to her as he would when they had first met and were coming to know one another.

"Will you carry them home for me?" she asked needlessly. Of course he would, but she was savouring the idea of a feeling like a fae with a perspective mate wrapped around her finger.

"Anything for you," Gilgamesh promised her, bending his head to kiss her shoulder as she passed him to take off first.

[softquietsteadylove]

More from the Maleficent one please?

Druig stretched out his wings to cushion his landing. It was familiar, landing among the crags of a cliff side lush with vegetation. He had gotten quite used to the treetop nests woven from branches and leaves.

Thena's nest had been picked out painstakingly. She chose a spot high up, fairly away from most other fae. The quartz in the rock face had ripples that would let an acceptable amount of light into the chamber, while also not requiring her to hide away from the sun. She had already begun the task of arranging glowing moss and flowers along the walls.

Druig set down the fruit he had went out to fetch specifically for his sister. He had been feeling negligent, as of late, spending all his time with Makkari, the mate of his dreams. Thena liked Makkari, of course, and they spent time together around the group fires and all. But he felt he was missing something.

Thena was smiling all the time, her wings were fluttering constantly, like a fledgling eager to take off with every breeze. He had even caught her humming to herself as she collected berries the other day.

"Here," he murmured, tossing a mango gently in her direction. She caught it, but she was preoccupied with her task of arranging some white moon lilies along her walls. He cleared his throat before taking a bite for himself, "looks good in 'ere."

Finally Thena turned around, also admiring her hard work to make the cliffside inlet a home. It was looking like a real nest of an Isle fae. "I believe so."

Druig kept his eyes on her as she took a delicate bite of the mango's ripe red skin. He still couldn't place what seemed different about her, but he was determined to uncover it. "So, how'd you find this spot?"

Thena sat herself on the edge of her bed--her nest within her nest. It was a plush pile of mosses and leaves, enough to soften around her body and keep her from the stone floor of the place. She had even fashioned a pillow out of several bromilliads. "I had help."

That was all his sister had to say on the matter, but Druig knew more than she thought he did. As if he would miss the border patrol fae who had been lingering around her since they arrived. He had been a guide and a guardian for them, sure. But Druig could see more.

He could see the way Thena smiled around him, or how he fed her fruits while the rest of the flock was partaking in roast fish and molluscs. He could see them flying off at dawn, wings pitch white and pitch black respectively.

It didn't surprise him that the fae named Gilgamesh had helped her find the perfect spot. He was a strong flyer, with long wings, probably used the updrafts from the springs below to scour the whole cliff for the perfect spot.

"Hm?" Thena looked at him, prompting him to speak his mind. The two of them didn't always need the exchange of words, but she was asking him specifically.

Druig slurped at the pit of his mango loudly. Thena glared at him and he threw his head back in a laugh. "So, where is he, 'en?"

She tilted her head.

Druig raised his eyebrows, "your prospective mate?"

Thena thought herself so hard to read, and maybe to a stranger that was true. But Druig could see clear through his sister. He saw the twitch of her eyes and the angle of her head and the way her wings rustled behind her. "I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"Sure y'do," he murmured, finishing off his mango pit and tossing it down in a pile of leaves he would take with him. "He seems nice enough. Friendly guy, good flyer, I'm sure he'd fight for ye if he had to-"

"Druig, no one is fighting anyone," she said with such a tone it hissed from between her fangs. "I have no such...prospects."

Druig looked up at the ceiling of the cavernous nest. It was spacious--loverboy had found her a really good spot. He looked at the veins running through the white quarts, at the flowers Thena had hung and at the wisteria hanging over her nest like snowfall. "Gilgamesh."

All he had to do was utter his name and Thena's shoulders raised, her wings trembling on her back. She set aside the remaining half of her mango to glare at him.

But he was no longer a fledgling testing out his boundaries. She couldn't scare him out of this one (even with that tone). "Feels as if I never see you two apart, nowadays."

"I'm sure you're mistaken about that."

Druig grinned, though. He kind of liked rising to his sister's challenge. He liked riling Ikaris too, but with him it devolved so quickly. Thena was more of a match of wits. "So I don't see you sittin' 'round the gathering fire, just waitin' for him?"

Thena didn't even rise to that bait. Not enough.

"I don't," Druig shrugged, adjusting his own pitch black wings on his back, smaller and lighter than hers, "see you two whispering all the time?"

She rolled her eyes. He was getting to her.

Druig raised a brow; this, he genuinely wanted to know about. "I didn't see him with his arm 'round your back one night after you went down to the springs?"

Thena's back straightened.

"T," Druig made a solemn plea. He didn't like having to talk about this kind of thing. Thena was his sister, as well as the only mother he had any memory of. "You can handle yourself, I know. But...if this seagull is takin' liberties-"

"Druig," she cut him off again, with an even more firm tone than before. She was as good as screaming at him, as far as he was concerned. "Enough."

That was still enough to make him feel like his horns were coiling even tighter against the sides of his head.

"Gilgamesh is not guilty of anything untoward," she stood from her bed to chastise him properly. "And even asking if he has proves that you do not know him."

Druig avoided looking directly in her eyes. They were still wing and wing for who was taller than whom, but he deliberately drew up his posture and made his shoulders wider than hers. "Then maybe I should get to know him."

It was a reasonable argument, but Thena wavered. She kept her expression the same, but something about it made her falter. "No."

"Why not?" he prodded. If some strong arm fae was gonna try his hand at courting his sister he had a right to know! Ikaris would feel the same, but when he pieced together the puzzle was up to the spirits and the skies themselves.

"Drop it," she growled at him, returning to her decorating to busy her hands.

Druig leaned to look past her, tilting his head. "Oi."

She ignored him.

"Oi," he repeated more firmly, walking closer to her bed. She turned, splaying out her wing to keep him away. He pointed from a distance, "wassat?"

She raised her brow at his lack of diction, but she did look behind her at what had drawn his attention. Her shoulders flinched and when she turned back, her expression was completely unreadable. "What."

"That," he repeated, but she raised her wings to block even his pointing finger. He huffed, "come on."

"There is nothing to see," she repeated, but the fact that she maintained her posture of using her wings to shield his view was damming.

"T."

"If there were something there, it would be none of your concern."

Druig's eyebrows raised so high he felt his hair rustle against his horns. His sister was well and truly ruffled over whatever this was. He pulled his wings back.

"Don't you dare," she glowered.

He let loose one strong wing beat. It displaced most of the newer and less secured fixtures of the nest. He would grovel for forgiveness and help put them all back later. But his eyes caught the sight of a pitch black - actually, there was a warm brown undertone to it - feather catching the air just for a second.

Thena snatched it close to her chest and pointed, "out!"

Druig was stunned. He'd had an inkling of what was happening between his sister and the guardian fae. Maybe he could have imagined they were courting in secret, had exchanged a trinket or two. But...but a feather?!

"Out!" Thena repeated, clutching the feather against her heart and urging him out of her nest as if they were still budding fae learning to control themselves.

"No way," Druig shook his head. He would cower in fear of his terrifying sister later. He stepped closer. "His feather is in your nest?"

Thena attempted not to dignify his question with a response, but he was horrified to see colour rise in her ghostly pale cheeks.

It was particularly condemning evidence. It was where she was to lay her head! This was beyond sneaking a kiss or a hand or even light preening.

Druig felt his blood run cold, "has he declared himself?"

He wasn't an old fae of old tradition, but he had some decency. And to his further horror, Thena's shoulders curled somewhat inward, "it's not-"

"I'll kill 'im," Druig snarled, turning and nearly able to take off until he felt his sister's hand bunch up the back of his tunic. "Oi!"

"Druig," Thena pleaded more quietly. That was also as good as screaming at him. She pulled him back into the nest, still holding the feather. "Neither of us has...nothing has happened."

He didn't want to think about what 'nothing' could mean. But he stared at his sister, unusually sheepish as her wings unfurled slightly. "This isn't just some matter of you two tradin' a li'l lip, T. You have his feather in your bleedin' nest and where's he?--has he got your feather on 'im?!"

She looked away, and Druig felt that same feeling bubble up in his throat. He had no business concerning himself with his sister's mating desires. She was her own fae. But the thought of some stud flying around knowing he had an open invitation to his sister's nest and couldn't even pay the same courtesy of displaying that he was unavailable-

"Druig," Thena repeated, pulling him from his thoughts. She smiled, patting his shoulder, and then roughly plucking out a downy feather, "stop."

He sighed. She would just pull out more if he didn't. He relaxed his wings on his back and lowered his shoulders. "When did this happen, eh?"

Thena looked away again, cradling that feather so bloody lovingly. "I couldn't say when exactly. Perhaps we simply...found our way to understanding one another."

That felt so much worse to hear. It sounded like a lame 'magic makes eggs and that's how baby fae are made' explanation. Druig gritted his teeth and scratched the hair between his horns in the back. "Are you, y'know...?"

Thena looked at him blankly. Bloody woman! Druig looked away from the woman who raised him, warmth rising throughout his face. "If he's ever hurt you-"

"Nothing of the sort."

At least he didn't have to bash his head through the wall of her nest just yet. Druig rubbed his hand over his face with a sigh. "Does Ikaris know?"

"Do you think he does?"

Right, a foolhardy question. Ikaris wouldn't know until the day Thena landed with Gilgamesh in front of them, hand in hand, actively preening his wings.

Druig tilted his head again. He could ask questions until he was blue in the face, but Thena wouldn't give up any truly personal details. And he didn't truly want to know them. "Are you happy?"

She smiled at him, like she did when he was a hatchling first learning to ride air currents, or climb in height without them. She nodded.

"Right, good 'nough," he muttered, saying all he desired on the matter. He was quite ready to dispose of their snacks and take his leave. He turned back to her, pointing again. "But I mean it, if he ever-"

"Hey Thena, I-oh!"

Thena beamed at the arrival of the man of the hour. Druig stepped aside, completely devoid of the desire to get in between the lovebirds. He watched her nearly lean in to embrace him but stop herself. Likewise, he could see Gilgamesh's hand float upwards but avoid settling on her back between her wings. At least they had some decency.

"Sorry to interrupt," Gilgamesh said gently. He had a soft voice, for such an intimidating fighter. "I just got back--Makkari's looking for you, actually."

Druig resisted the urge to fly off right that very second. He eyed Gilgamesh cautiously, "s'all right, I was just, uh, givin' T a hand."

Gilgamesh looked around the nest, openly admiring the progress made. "It looks beautiful in here!"

Thena looked so delighted that Druig wished he could fake throwing up (not that she wouldn't throw him from the cliff for it).

"Did you eat?" Druig heard her ask him quietly.

He shook his head.

She nodded, her wings subconsciously rising on her back. Druig could remember a time when she dreaded meal gatherings because of how bitter the fish were here. She looked at him, "after you."

He huffed. She was making sure he didn't have time to linger behind her and give Gilgamesh a piece of his mind. "Aye."

Druig walked past them both, ready to fly ahead of both of them. But the evening sun hit the rock face just so, and he got a glimpse of something sparkling.

Delicate and stark white, folded between the layers of his robes, sat a pristine white feather. Gilgamesh caught him looking and tugged at the top layer of his tunic, concealing the feather once again. He looked nervous.

They both knew Druig had seen, there was no concealing that. But Druig just nodded to him before dropping off the cliff and opening his wings. He would ask him about it later. Or he would ask Thena about it when she was in more of a sharing mood. Or he would tell Ikaris and their middle brother would do all the work of threatening to drown Gilgamesh for meddling in their sister's life.

Or...he could keep it to himself. He drifted quietly, glancing up as two much larger winged flyers passed above him. Gilgamesh flew at Thena's pace, the two of them bending and swerving around one another's air currents, as if dancing. Druig faked gagging on something at the sweetness of it.

[softquietsteadylove]

I’m sure that Thena loves Gil’s feathers in the Maleficent AU. Maybe you can do soft moments where Thena observes his feathers and wings without Gil’s knowledge? <3

"Thena!"

"Hm?" she blinked, looking over at Ikaris who huffed through his teeth in annoyance. "What were you saying?"

"I was asking if you are sure about this," Ikaris nodded his head at their younger brother, very visibly, very publically, offering Makkari a little trinket upon her return to the nest.

"Sure about what?" Thena mumbled, her eyes on the head of the guard, walking further into the nest from the stormy weather outside and flapping his sodden wings with displeasure. "We have known from the beginning that Druig was taken with that sentry. I think they make a very sweet pair."

"We do not live here, Thena."

"Don't we?" she countered, finally giving her brother the benefit of seeing how serious her expression was. "We have already extended our stay, brother. Druig is very happy with Makkari, and I believe you too have found companionship in Ajak's ambassador."

Ikaris flushed, whether by guilt or anger at her needling him. Or perhaps it was a truly emotional response to the bringing up of Sersi. "She is...pleasant. But I never would have expected to ground you and Druig here because of it."

"Do you think he does?" Thena argued again, gesturing to how Druig, thorny and disagreeable in nature, offered sweet and gentle smiles to the quick winged flyer. Her scarlet red feathers complimented Druig's pitch black ones.

They were different from Gilgamesh's, whose feathers were iridescent and dark, with earthy brown undertones.

Ikaris looked at her, "you want to stay."

"I wish for Druig to be happy." It was far easier to say that than thinking about any particular reasons she had for delaying their departure again and again and again.

Gilgamesh flapped his wings a little before walking further into the nest.

"And I do wish the same for you," Thena gave Ikaris a look that made him roll his eyes. She flicked his wing, "against my better judgement."

With that, she took off, letting her wings guide her gently down from the loft of her observations to the floor of one of the many entrances. She walked quietly, keeping her feathers from dragging behind her as she followed the captain of the guard into the mothernest's twisting tunnels.

"Gil?"

He turned, surprised at first but then offering her one of his very warm smiles he had.

"How was your flight?" she asked, regarding his still dripping and somewhat bedraggled wings. "Is the storm coming in fast?"

He nodded with a sigh, his wings sitting heavy behind him. "I think so. It'll be on us by tonight, from what Kingo spotted."

"Let me see."

Gil blinked, not catching on at first that she meant his wings, and their current condition. He fussed, "n-no, it's okay, really, I'm just-"

"Gilgamesh," Thena pursed her lips at him. Was he really embarrassed of his ruffled wings, like a young fledgeling. "I'm sure you need help at least with your pinfeathers. Allow me."

Gil simply went quiet as she took the liberty of turning him by the shoulders and examining his wings. He cleared his throat, "I, uh, guess you saw Druig and Kari."

Thena smiled as she brushed some of the beading dew off his shimmering feathers. "Indeed I did. I was the one who advised him on presenting her with something upon her return."

"Oh really?" Gil moved his wing to try and peek at her over his shoulder.

She moved it back in place to continue her work. "I want Druig to be happy. And it seems my fledgeling brother has finally chosen a mate."

"You think it's that serious?"

She smiled at the centre of Gil's back as she plucked an errant feather barely clinging on. "I think he asked me if he should serenade her."

"Ah." Gil's shoulders moved as she continued to preen him. It was a very intimate activity by sheer merit of how sensitive one's wings were, and how vulnerable any fae's back was. "You're right, the gift is way better."

They both laughed, the gentle sound of it echoing down the corridor one way and then out the other. Thena cleared her throat, "so, if you have any advice on courting rituals here, then I'm sure I would like to know for Druig's sake."

Gilgamesh moved his wing to look at her again, "hm, nothing fancy I guess. We don't have a lot of ritual to it--you wanna court?--court. If no one objects, then fine."

How easy it sounded. Thena moved his wing between them again. "I suppose it is becoming less common to have such archaic tradition. In the Isles, the trinkets and serenading are rather standard practices of courting. Many have mellifluous voices for song."

"Do you?"

She laughed again and pulled a feather more harshly, "certainly not."

Gil's shoulders rolled again, although his wings certainly seemed relaxed with her work on them. He sighed, "me neither."

Thena raised an eyebrow, not that he could see her, "I suspect that is not true."

He looked over, now lifting up his entire wing over her head, "I guess I could serenade you to test it."

Thena blushed faintly, his feathers still in her hands. "I wasn't done!"

"Sorry, sorry," he acquiesced, turning and offering his wing to her again. "I guess I've never really tested it out."

Thena pursed her lips. "Ikaris and Druig have no voice for song either. Trinkets are a much better language for them."

"And you?"

Thena blinked, wondering if she had heard him right. It seemed impossible, given their hearing ability and the general quiet of the caverns. But even a whisper could travel through the corridors, and Gil had such a nice, gentle voice.

It was most definitely suited for song.

"Hm?" she asked in not so many words, trying to focus on plucking any loose downy feathers.

"Almost done?" he asked more firmly, his wing still between them.

"Almost," she muttered, running her fingers over the smoothed out feathers only as far as she dared. He seemed much more preened and presentable, at least. She snapped her hands away, his feather pressed between her palms. "There."

Gilgamesh turned, lifting his wing up and over her again in their tight proximity. They settled at his back, sitting higher after a nice refresher. He smiled, "thanks."

Thena looked down at the sandals on her feet. The straps were wearing from age. "Any time."

"I, uh," Gil nodded his head behind him, "should get outta these wet robes."

Thena nodded. Indeed he should. "I'll make sure there's a plate for you by the fire."

"Thanks," he repeated, with a slight change to his tone. He tilted his head at her, "I'll see you out there, I guess."

"Right," she smiled, taking a half a step back from him. Her wings trembled nervously behind her.

"See you soon, I guess," he said finally, turning and continuing down the tunnel with his drier, lighter wings.

Thena looked down at her hands and sputtered. She still had his feather in her hands. "Gil!"

"Keep it!" he shouted back to her before dropping down into the lower tunnels, "a trinket!"

[softquietsteadylove]

For the Maleficent AU: Thena snuck away on her own to a village to watch the humans. Days after Gil noticed that her behavior is odd so he investigates and then Thena admits that she snuck away and got shot and that the iron bullet is still sticking in her body.

"Dammit!"

Gil frowned as he landed at the lower level of the mothernest interior. When he was checking that everything was okay, he didn't expect to see a figure huddled around the healing pools. It was far later in the day than anyone would usually be here. "Hello?"

The figure startled, and he could recognise those sparkling white wings anywhere. "G-Gil?"

"Thena," he frowned, stepping a little closer on the mossy ground around the pools. He was careful, but he could see the skirt of her dress pooled around her bent legs on the ground, even though she was holding her wings around herself protectively. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, I-I'm fine," she smiled, although she was still letting her wings somewhat hide herself from him. "I just...got something on my dress. I thought I would try to use the cold salt water to remove it."

"Right," he murmured, trying to apprise himself of the situation. "The healing pools might not be as good as the shore waters for that."

"Right."

Gil stood a respectful distance away, crossing his arms as Thena made no move to leave the warm salt springs around them either. He sighed, settling his wings comfortably. "What happened, Thena?"

"Nothing," she tried to deny, but her breath was short and choppy, and those long, lithe shoulders of hers weren't moving right.

"Show me," he urged, stepping closer. She remained huddled over herself. "Let me help."

She stayed still for a little longer, her wings rustling against the mossy ground at their feet. "You can't tell anyone."

Gilgamesh wasn't sure how he felt about potentially keeping something that could very mean her being injured to himself, but he agreed. He moved closer, crouching down behind her, with her wings between them. "Please, Thena?"

She sighed, and slowly her shimmering feathers drew away from his view, revealing a splotch of red in the side of her white dress too large to ignore. She really had been trying to clean it.

"When did this happen?" Gil asked immediately, moving closer, ducking his head under her wing as he tried to see if it was still actively bleeding.

"I-" she began and hesitated for another second. "I was flying to the farms."

The farms were quite far inland, and they never went unless it was on a peace convoy with a full guard and protection detail.

"Someone must have seen me, and..." she trailed off, letting him move her hair over her shoulder. She winced as he moved her arm. "They didn't shoot me down but it-it just won't heal."

"Thena," Gil gulped, his hands on her delicate shoulders. Her skin was so soft, and so pale, like her feathers. "Can I, uh--just enough for me to see, okay?"

She had already accepted her defeat, it seemed. She nodded, letting him un-knot the strap of her dress at her shoulder and let the back of it come down around her side. Even her ribs were perfectly sculpted.

Gil frowned, too preoccupied with the iron burn along her side to worry about her state of undress. "Thena, it's still in you?"

"I-" she winced again as she attempted to turn and look at him. "I can't get it out."

"Okay, hey, it's all right," he shushed her, trying to get her breathing even again. He rushed to tie her dress properly again. Even the sight of her back half bare was too much for him. "Here."

Thena nearly whimpered as he helped her onto her feet and towards the caves. "I've been managing it thus far."

"I don't know how," he muttered, not at all pleased by the thought of her walking around with an injury to this degree. He let her lean on him as he walked her away from any prying eyes. "How have your brothers not found out?"

"Druig is with Makkari day and night, it seems," she sighed as the scent of the healing pools' deeper well reached her nose. "Ikaris, all I have to do is stand to his left."

Gil rolled his eyes. Druig was fine, but that other brother of hers...

"Gil," Thena attempted to plead with him, seeing what his intention was. "I don't think-"

"Thena," he frowned, steps away from lowering her into the healing spring himself. "You need to submerge it, and for more than a few minutes."

"I only came because Ikaris is hunting with Kingo," she argued with him, the warmth of the saltwater practically glowing at her from the ground. "I have to get back."

"You need to not walk around with an iron bullet in your ribcage!"

Thena blinked, completely surprised by the even marginal rise in his voice's volume. Her wings trembled on her back faintly, but she didn't wrench herself away from him. She tilted her head, "is that an order?"

He sighed; if she were part of his perimeter detail or guard team, then maybe. But he softened, running his hand down her arm until he could take her hand in his. "No, it's not. It's just something you can do to put my heart at ease."

Thena looked terribly torn. She had her own reasons for trying to keep this injury of hers contained. It was bad for the delegation, it was bad for human-fae relations, and it was bad for their reputation if people thought they could get shot out of the sky while flying.

It was bad if her brothers thought their only family in the world was hurt.

"Do you intend to undress me yourself?"

Gil huffed, turning around as his face became unbearably hot. He even spread his wings out, "very funny."

Thena's laughter was softer, but it echoed around the cave interior. "I am ruffling your feathers, Gil, nothing more. I know you would never."

He blocked out the sound of her light and breezy dress slipping off her body and onto the cave floor. He cleared his throat, "okay, okay, just get in the healing bath."

Thena hissed and then whimpered as she submerged herself properly, something she had probably avoided since she was first injured.

"You okay?" he asked, instinctively wanting to check on her but forbidding himself from even moving his head remotely in her direction.

"I'm fine," she uttered, but it did sound less strained than when she was huddled around the healing pools outside and trying to both bathe her wound and clean her dress at the same time.

"I wouldn't say you're fine," he growled, but tried not to start raging about how serious her injury really was, despite the way she was acting.

"Gil," she chided him before he had even said anything, "they were trying to protect themselves."

He snorted at her defense of the humans. "They can protect themselves with regular arrows. They don't need iron bullets the size of a walnut."

"What's done is done," she concluded, and he could hear the sound of her cupping her hands and letting the water run over herself. "There's no use imagining what could have happened differently."

Gil stayed quiet. He wouldn't win an argument with her about the humans. For how unsocial she was, she really was protective of those stupid walking fleshbags. "How did you fly home?"

"Slowly."

That made him even angrier--the thought of Thena hauling herself home, desperately using the air currents and the size of her wings to bring her injured body back to the nest. How had no one else noticed?!

"No one knows, Gil," she said quietly, going still in the water. "I wasn't intending on telling anyone."

He frowned to himself, letting himself turn his head faintly just to catch the sheer black of his wings in his periphery. He rustled them gently, "That's what bothers me the most."

Thena was quiet again, and he supposed he wouldn't expect her to have an answer to that. He continued to stand guard, although no one used the healing pools when it was late (they were too cold, then). But he was hardly going to let someone stumble upon something they shouldn't.

"I would have told you."

She sounded like a young faerie admitting to something only after the fact. Her contrition made her voice heavy. "I wanted to heal up just a little before I told you--so I could prove it wasn't dire and that there would be no need for action."

Gil made a face just for himself, "you mean so I wouldn't freak out and go track down the human that shot you?"

"You don't know it was a human."

"I don't know any other species that uses stuff like that."

Thena laughed, although it was still a little hollow and breathless. "I suppose you're right. But perhaps if we were as helpless as they are, we would be just as afraid."

Gil was not afraid of any human. Even if he had to take one of those iron monstrosities on for himself. He would face one down happily to look into the eye of the human that had done this to (his) Thena.

"Ah!"

Gil nearly leapt and flapped his wings in reaction to the noise. He still didn't want to look at her in any state of undress, but he stared hard into the opaque wall of his black feathers. "What happened!?"

"It's okay, it's okay," she panted faintly, but her voice was indeed stronger, "it's out. The saltspring is working."

Well, that was a relief. One of the best assets of this particular mothernest - home to so many biomes and nests within it - was its proximity to the healing springs. Ajak valued their medicinal properties greatly, after all.

"You were right," Thena conceded, which he got the feeling didn't happen often. "I should have just come here sooner, saved myself the trouble of secrecy."

"Well, yeah, I was right." She huffed, just loud enough for him to hear. He chuckled, "but I know you didn't want your brothers to freak out. Hard to slip away for too long with both of them around, right?"

"Dreadfully," she sighed much easier this time.

"Tell you what," Gil smiled, maybe a little too relieved now that Thena was actually on her way to better health. "I'll show up at your nest every morning this week to ask you to join me on 'convoys' inland. But you've gotta come down here and soak that wound of yours."

"Gil-"

"It's iron, Thena," he scowled straight ahead at the opening of the cave, "it's not going to be completely healed overnight. And you don't want them to know, so it's this or I bring you the spring water and tell them about it myself."

"Fine."

[softquietsteadylove]

For the Maleficent AU:

Gil sneaks away to learn more about the humans who harmed Thena! And after he learns what happened and what kind of tradition is going on he decides to teach them a lesson 👀

"Why, thank you, dearie," the older woman smiled as Thena drifted down from the apple tree with a full bucket. The shorter, grey haired woman patted Thena's arm as she accepted the bounty picked for her. "So helpful."

Thena smiled at the woman as well, walking to her now-filled produce cart with her. "I am happy to lend my service."

She helped the woman push forward what was already in it, baskets of oranges and pears and grapes already picked. "You lot have all been very kind since you started showing up here."

Thena would be lying to say she wasn't relieved that the presence of fae like herself had been declared positive for the humans in the area. "I hope you'll let me continue to come and help."

"Oh, I'm sure we'll be counting on it," the old woman laughed and batted at Thena's wings the way she might slap someone's arm. "You and that strong fella you bring with you are most welcome!"

Thena clasped her hands together, smiling at the ground. Gil had obliged her at every turn in her desire to spend more time with humans, often 'escorting' her further and further inland to do it.

"Where is that handsome specimen of yours?"

Thena frowned, looking around the field. A few other fae and humans were mulling about, but she was right; Gil was nowhere to be found. Thena adjusted her wings on her back, "hm."

"Oh, I'm sure it's fine, dearie," she offered as she moved towards the front of the cart. "My husband wanders off all the time, but he always finds his way home to me."

Thena smiled, helping the delicate woman ascend to the cart's front seat. "Thank you; I shall see you on our next flight from the nest."

"You fly safe, now!"

Thena laughed faintly, waving at the woman until she was turned around and guiding the horses pulling her into the city paths leading to the market. Once she was turned, Thena stretched her wings out.

It wasn't like Gilgamesh to drift away from his flock, even under the most peaceful of circumstances. In all the times they had flown to the mainland, he rarely strayed from her side at all.

She kept her eyes on the ground as she flew in wide circles, trying to survey the area through the treetops of the forest. It wasn't nearly as thick as the mystical Moors with their thorn walls, but it still wasn't easy to navigate.

She swerved towards a fairly solitary little house on the outskirts of the village nearest the city walls. She listened past the sound of the wind bending around her, her feathers rustling and the woods below.

The house was clattering from within.

She startled as two humans tumbled out of it, the door coming clean off as someone inside kicked it down. They scrambled in the dirt to escape but two massive wings with black feathers walked out behind them.

Thena dove.

"Please!" the older human - barely a man of twenty, by the looks of it - held out his hand. "Please, I'm sorry!" We didn't-"

Thena skidded in the dirt to land between the pathetic little humans and their predator. "Gilgamesh!"

"Thena," he frowned, not looking all that surprised to have been caught terrorising a couple measly mortals. "What are you doing here?"

"The farmers noticed you had slipped off," she clarified, still standing in front of the humans on the ground. She looked over her shoulder, "what in all spirits' name are you-"

The older one had a length of cord around his neck, holding a pendant of sorts. It was paler than ivory and larger than the fang of any beast. It was curved and pointed, although clearly aged.

Thena blinked, "is that-?"

Gil nodded, walking past her and leaning down to the snivelling boys. He pulled the cord right off the older one, "I asked around. A few pixies told me that they knew of some humans who told stories of their grandfather fighting in a great war in the Southern Isles."

Thena accepted the tip of her horn from him, shaved down and bound in the leather cord to be worn like a good luck charm.

Gil glared down at them, "maybe I should fashion something similar out of your teeth--see how you like it."

"Gil, stop it."

All three of them looked at her as she rolled her eyes as if they were young boys tousling for fun. Gilgamesh balked at her, "they were wearing your horn as a trinket, Thena."

"After their grandfather broke it," Thena finished, no latent trauma surrounding such an old injury. She met Gilgamesh's eyes, "more than a century ago."

"Y-Yes!--yes, exactly!" the younger one attempted to speak now that his brother's words had left him. "I-It was passed down to us, but we didn't-"

"I was told you parade it around proudly," Gil leaned down to glare at the younger boy in all his intimidating might. His wings bristled, "you stand in the town square and regale the people about how your grandfather felled a faerie and made off with this as his prize."

Thena sighed, pulling the boy back and away from Gil's snarling. She picked him up by the back of his tunic, although he wasn't entirely ready to stand on his own legs again. "Boys are showoffs when they're young. Ikaris used to ask people to dare him to see how far down he could swim before his wings became too heavy to resurface."

"Thena," Gilgamesh crossed his - massive - arms at her.

"Gilgamesh," she said much more gently, nudging the older one behind her as well. She tipped her chin up faintly, "I know they're wrong for it. I'm not saying I'm happy to know what they've done. But the crime isn't theirs."

Gil eyed the piece of horn in her hand. He shuddered, "it's detestable."

"That, it is," she sighed, looking down at it as if it were just some trinket and hadn't once been a part of her. "But it won't do anyone any good if you hold them responsible for the crimes of someone else's past."

Gilgamesh wilted, and she smiled at the resurfacing of that gentle heart he had. He was a strict guard and a valiant fighter, but she had come to learn that he was very sweet in nature. He stepped closer to her, "are you sure about this?"

"Quite," she promised, not moving in the slightest as he bent his face close to hers. Her eyes flicked up to his to prove her resolve. He had nice eyes.

Gil just barely moved his eyes from hers to the humans behind her, huddled down behind the protective veil of her wings. Gil took the liberty of moving them so he could glare at the boys unobstructed. "You're lucky. If she weren't here I'd be flying you out over the cliffs and dropping you in the sea."

The humans didn't need any more reason to turn and flee, their family heirloom all but forgotten.

Thena resettled her wings, giving him a reproachful smile, "you'll undo all of our hard work to improve our reputation in the area."

Gil sniffed, still watching the human boys run for their lives. He rolled his shoulders and his wings before chuckling, "that's not true. The humans here love you. If they need to think me a beast, then let them."

Thena shook her head with a smile. She moved behind him, finding his wings ruffled from the tussle of earlier. Her hands moved delicately, righting his feathers for him. "You are not a beast."

"No?" he asked over his shoulder as he let her preen his wings for him. He sounded humoured. "You don't find me scary?--even a little?"

"Please," she let out a tiny laugh as she moved her fingers over his shimmering black feathers with their earthy undertones. They were beautiful. "You are no more frightening than Druig thinks he is."

He hissed as if she had struck him, and her hands flinched back for a second, worried she had plucked something the wrong way. He laughed again, though, "comparing me to your brother? And the younger one, at that?"

Her laughter joined his, "only in that you might think yourself frightening, but I know for a fact that your heart is quite magnanimous."

With her hands done their work on his wings, he turned to face her again. His wings flexed behind him, refreshed. They really were beautiful; Thena clasped her hands behind her. He grinned at her, "know my heart well, do you?"

Thena gulped as he stepped closer. Her wings reflexively twitched, but she had them pinned against her back for exactly this reason. Their eyes danced around each other's faces. "I think I know it better than most."

It seemed her answer had succeeded in charming him--humouring him, at the very least. He reached out, and for a moment she thought he was going to touch her cheek. But his hand continued to the bone of her wing, smoothing out some of the small, downy feathers he had touched when he moved her wing before.

She shivered; no one had ever touched her wings like this before. Was this what it felt like when she had preened him?

He pulled his hand back and looked as if nothing had happened at all, "ready?"

"Hm?" she blinked, having lost all previous trains of thought.

"Ready to head back?" he asked with a nod of his head, and another smirk threatening to spread over his face.

Thena just nodded, offering a smile she hoped didn't look ruffled. He took off first, his wings spreading and lifting him into the air in one strong motion. They were really were beautiful wings.

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello beautiful! Can you continue the Maleficent AU? I'd like to see Fae Gilgamesh and Thena fall in love. I absolutely adore this AU! And i have a weakness for the famous first kiss :)

"For you."

Thena's face brightened with delight as a handful of grapes appeared in her view. Her wings fluttered as Gil handed over the bowl of them before standing next to her. Her wings made room for his, stark white feathers brushing against his pitch black ones.

"You're up early," Gil said gently, turning to look at the sun on the water with her. "How does it compare with the sunrise in the isles?"

"The sea here is more blue," Thena tilted her head, popping another grape in her mouth as the sky rapidly changed colour with the sun's ascendance. "In the isles it's quite a green colour."

"Like your eyes?" Gil asked before he could realise just how embarrassing it was to ask something like that.

"Mine?" Thena voiced, as if there were any other fae present (or with eyes more beautiful than all the oceans combined). "I suppose I never compared."

Gil just nodded, keeping to himself that he was sure Thena's eyes were prettier anyway. He cleared his throat, his wings fidgeting slightly on his back. "We're going to be going to the mainland to do some harvesting of mountain fruits. I assumed you'd want to come."

"Of course!" Thena smiled widely at him, showing off her pearly white fangs. "Druig will want to come too if Makkari is also on guard duty."

Gil laughed loudly, letting it echo out over the water below them. "She sure is! And she asked me over and over and over to ask you to ask him."

Thena also laughed, although it was significantly softer than his. But no less genuine. "She could ask him herself, I assure you. He's so taken with her I'm surprised he hasn't demanded we extend our stay indefinitely."

Gil blinked at the admission. He had always been keenly aware of the visiting status of Thena and her brothers. He knew that their initial invitation to stay for two months was approaching its duration, though. "He hasn't?"

Thena shook her head, smiling more softly and holding her hair back against a breeze. A few locks tangled around her broken horn end. "I know he wants to. I think he doesn't want to sway my decision."

Gil smiled, reaching over to flip around the errant length of blonde from around her horn. "He's a nice kid. He obviously cares deeply about how you feel about things."

Thena beamed with pride at the topic of her younger brother. "Druig is very sensitive to those around him. If he likes you - as uncommon as it may be - he'll be very protective of your feelings. He does a lot to keep me sane in contrast to Ikaris."

Certainly her other, older brother cared about her as well, but Gil had to admit that Ikaris was...less palatable than Druig. "He doesn't seem to be very fun."

"Ikaris' idea of fun is seeing if he can punch through a rock."

Gil let out another laugh from deep in his belly, his wings shaking with his shoulders. He laughed until he had to swipe tears from his eyes.

"I wish it were a joke," Thena lamented, although she was also laughing.

Gil blinked against the much brighter shine of the sun. He turned his gaze back to Thena, who was soaking up its warmth with her eyes closed. It gave him the chance to take in that exquisite beauty she possessed. It wasn't just the perfection of her face, or the shine of her hair or the glitter in her eyes. There was just something he adored about the woman next to him.

Thena opened her eyes, feeling something against her wings. She looked over at Gil, who was staring at her unabashedly. Her cheeks warmed and she realised as her wings fluffed that his had too.

Their wings were meshing together as if with minds of their own. Feathers pushed against feathers; they would need to preen them back into place before flying.

"S-Sorry," Gil murmured, pulling his wings back (but not stepping further away from her).

Thena just shook her head, clasping her hands behind her to forcefully pin her wings against her backside. Such rogue appendages, she cursed.

"Thena?"

Her eyes dashed to the inside of the nest; it was Druig looking for her. She offered Gil an apologetic shrug, "he'll keep calling until he finds me."

"Better go," Gil nodded, "before he wakes the whole mothernest."

Thena offered a tight smile, still hesitating as she gravitated towards the opening to their little private balcony of sorts. "See you soon?"

"I promise not to take off without you."

Gil blinked as Thena rushed back to his side, leaning forward and raising her wings as she did. They rose around them, shielding them from prying eyes as she brushed her lips against his. It happened so fast, he didn't even have time to react. His hands were only halfway up to her cheeks as she pulled away.

Thena pulled her wings back to her again, offering a coy little wave of her fingers as she dashed inside completely this time, her billowing white dress and sunshine hair dancing in the wind as she did.

Gil took in a deep breath. He wanted to scream out in joy over the ocean, but he had just brought up how waking everyone in the mothernest was not a good thing. He settled on leaning against the edge of the little overhang, grinning like an idiot as his wings stretched all the way out and flapped in delight.

[softquietsteadylove]

Soooooooooo I finally got to rewatch the Maleficent movies for the first time in about three years and my brain just… I don’t know, materialized and hatched the idea of a Thenamesh Maleficent AU

Could you maybe write it? Please?

The nest didn't get visitors often. It was built in the middle of the spiritforsaken ocean to prevent them, in fact. As were many mothernests designed to house multiple clans of fae. They needed the space to keep relations civil.

But with news of a whole nest migrating towards human lands in the north, more and more fae were travelling to form bonds with their own kind. And that included the fae from the southern isles who had flown in a mere two weeks ago.

They were the talk of the nest. Three visitors, mysterious and beautiful in their own ways. The biggest was named Ikaris, visibly a fighter, broad shouldered and with even broader wings, peppery like the streak in his hair. The dour one was named Druig, dressed in black from head to toe, including his dark hair, dark horns and pitch black wings with claws at their peaks.

The third was named Thena, with one of her horns snapped at the end. Some had taken to calling her the broken fae, or the ghost (loosely translated from an old fae word for 'one already dead'). She said nothing, spoke to no one but her brothers, and barely to them, at that.

But she was undeniably beautiful. It was easy to spot her wings, shimmering and sparkling white--more than moonlight on the ocean, more than fresh snow or the stars themselves. She wore white too, her dress and robes billowing around her equally pale skin. Even her hair was the colour of white sands, much like the beaches of the isles they had travelled from, he assumed.

Gilgamesh watched as she slipped away from the feast. For one so recognisable on sight, she was quite adept at disappearing when she wanted to.

"Go talk to her!" Kingo laughed as Gil startled at his sudden appearance. He lifted up his wings as he sat next to him, making sure his iridescent black-purple feathers were still pristine and untouched.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Old gods above, you're a terrible liar," Kingo shook his head at him, even stealing a chunk of fish off his plate for himself (the nerve). "Have you spoken a single word to her?"

Gil was a border guard for the nest, and he took that faith to heart. He was a fighter for their nest--a protector. And as such, his job was to make sure the visiting fae were safe, not being imposed upon by light chatter. "She doesn't talk. So I don't either."

"Well," Kingo lowered his boisterous tone, glancing to the overhang of the nest where the pale fae had disappeared. "Maybe she would talk if you gave her the chance."

Gil rolled his eyes but Kingo was already up, rejoining the festivities. He had already become friends with Ikaris. The visiting fighter wasn't as staunch and unbearable as he appeared at first glance, it seemed.

Even the frosty and distant Druig had taken a liking to Makkari, although that might have had more to do with the vivacious flyer than him.

Gilgamesh stood, brushing off his pants and tunic, trying to appear directionless as he drifted to the outskirts of the gathering. He dropped off his plate of the day's catch, exchanging it for a bowl of fruit saved for dessert.

"I am in no danger."

She had finely attuned senses, even for a fae. He often wondered if her feathers had more special qualities than being beautiful. "Have you eaten?"

"I did not think that was part of your job," she answered, although there was no real bite to it. She did turn to look at him, backlit by the moon and underscored by the crash of the ocean below.

Gilgamesh shrugged. He'd been trying to figure out the beautiful fae since she'd arrived and hadn't managed to yet. But what he did know, he knew good and well. He extended the bowl, "I don't think it would reflect well on me if you were to fall out of the sky from malnourishment."

Her eyes lit and sparkled at the sight of the fruits offered to her.

Gilgamesh chuckled, holding out the bowl as she wrestled with herself over it. "I brought them for you. You don't like fish, do you?"

She offered him one last - cautious - glance before taking the bowl into her own hands and popping a grape into her mouth. Her wings fluffed and fluttered unwittingly in her delight.

It was the cutest thing Gilgamesh had ever seen.

"It's not the fish," she admitted, maybe loosened up from the sweet morsels finally to her tastes. "Roasting them on a fire gives them a...bitter taste."

Gil nodded, taking a few steps closer to her--as much as he dared. But she had no protests, taking up a windberry next. Her wings outstretched in glee, and he tried to contain his smile. "How do you prepare them at home?"

The pale fae turned wistful, looking out over the sea that had brought her here less than a month ago. "I'm not sure I call it home. But the isles...we leave it raw."

"Raw?" Gil paled.

She laughed, and it was well worth the cost of imagining what kind of texture that would yield. "It gets soaked in the juices of citrus fruits. The acid cures the fish and yields it safe for consumption. It can be quite tasty, actually."

That did make some sense, and it would be full of bright, acidic, probably sweet flavours. Much like the fruits she clearly craved.

"What else do you miss?" he asked without really thinking about it.

She didn't seem to mind though. Her wings resettled themselves at her back, her hair blowing around her shoulders. "It has only ever been my brothers and I. I have no nest to mourn or friends for which I can long."

Gil's eyes only dashed upward for a second, but she caught it anyway. He really tried not to look at it; he was sure she was used to people staring, whether because of her beauty or her horn.

"It was humans."

Gil gulped, his own wings rustling on his back, the earthy black of them catching the moonlight.

"We have no malice for them on the isles," she sighed between grapes. "But they have no obligation to feel the same about us."

"Did one of them do that?" he asked in just a whisper, feeling himself incensed at the thought of such a pristine creature being so mistreated.

She was smiling, small and fragile as it was. "Yes, and also no."

"There was a human conflict, and we try not to get involved in them as a clan. But I was worried about one human in particular."

Gil's eyebrows rose but he kept quiet. It wasn't any of his business, and he'd heard the occasional myth about humans and fae falling in love. He didn't think they were real, of course.

"Karun, like a father to me, he was," she said softly, up to the moon. "I was trying to protect him when they threw an iron net over me. I managed to escape with my head, but they still got some of me to mount as a trophy."

Gil could kill them. And if the humans were still alive, he would.

"That was a hundred years ago, now."

Fine, he would find their descendants' homes and burn them.

"That's why we've travelled here," she concluded, looking at him again with a more serene smile. "The idea that a fae is working to cultivate relations between fae and humans...I suppose my hope was that it would be true. And that maybe I might get to experience knowing humans again, in some way."

Gil couldn't help but smile. She was much more soft hearted than she appeared at first glance, it would seem. "Did your brothers come with you for that reason?"

"No," she laughed, and tossed back a chunk of pineapple with much less grace and much more comfort. "They came with me because Druig is a worrywart, and Ikaris would fly into a thunderstorm if left unattended."

Gil let out a snort, and then a full bellied laugh. It seemed so unlike the refined and mysterious visitors. Yet, he could also picture what she was saying, now that she had said it.

Thena smiled, offering the bowl back to him, "please."

He obliged, taking up a grape for himself. He looked out at the water with her, although it was hard to keep his eyes on the horizon and not on the stunning beauty next to him. He cleared his throat. "If you'd like, I can accompany you to the mainland. They're not totally accustomed, but...some of the humans there like talking with fae."

Thena turned to him, eyes sparkling again. "Would you?"

"Why not?" he chuckled at her subdued enthusiasm. "We can go when the morning air currents hit, if you like."

Her wings started to outstretch at the notion, although she was quick to pull them in again. She gave him a sweet smile, "you have been most kind to me since arriving here, Gilgamesh."

He blushed. He didn't think she had so much as noticed him, let alone picked up on his attempts at kindness (like the fruit, and several other attempts to get a smile out of her). "You deserve the kindness, Thena."

Whatever he said must have been the most charming thing she'd ever heard, he guessed, judging by the look in her eyes. "What an interesting thought."

Gil shifted on his feet, stretching out his arms and his wings to try and dispel the anxious energy that was making his heart pound. "We should, uh, get some beauty sleep--if we're going to be up at first light. Not that you need--you're obviously-!"

A faint rustling again. Gil blinked as her wings fluttered, only for Thena to clasp her hands behind her back, conveniently pinning her wings down and keeping their errant rustling quiet. She spun around in a flash. "Goodnight to you, then."

Gil nodded as she released them, taking to the sky and flying up to the tip of the nest where she had her temporary nest hung. He wasn't sure if he had been imagining it - the faint pink colour in her pale cheeks - but he was certain he was as red as the cherries he was still holding onto for her.

[softquietsteadylove]

Hello there! Love the actor au very much! How about Gil is watching Thena while she is doing a scene? Pretty sure he is mesmerized by her look, her presence and acting skills too!

Gil was staring. Everyone was.

Thena was in the middle of a few glamour shots, meant just to capture her natural beauty in their current work. It was a fantasy thing--she was a beautiful creature of nature, with massive wings they would CGI onto her in post.

A flower crown sat on her perfect sunshine hair, there were a few real little bunnies hopping around. A few green blobs were also scattered around in order to animate them into more fantastical creatures. It was quite different from the roles he had done with her before.

He was playing a royal guard, in charge of protecting the queen, who would turn out to be evil by the end of it. He hadn't had many scenes with Thena yet, but even just being on the same set with her put him more at ease.

"Sometimes," Thena murmured in the scene to her little bunny friends, as well as the young actor playing the fish out of water who had stumbled into her little forest. "People want for things they know they can't have."

"But why, your majesty?" the kid asked in - to his ear - a pretty mediocre accent. They couldn't find an actual English accent?

Thena sighed, stroking one of the bunnies that seemed to have really taken a liking to her. Gil had to keep his laughter in; furry animals weren't really Thena's thing. She was staying in the scene really well, but he was certain they would have to get them all off her once they cut before she freaked out.

"We are not so different from humans," she murmured, extending her vowels in a received pronunciation that she had mastered early on in her career. "They are capable of insatiable greed. But do we not also want for things just out of reach?"

Gil sighed.

"But, your majesty," the kid scooched a little closer on the fake forest floor they had constructed. "You are the most powerful fae around."

The kid's tiny hand floated up, stroking what would be a shimmering white feathered wing in the final film. For now, it was just the empty air between them.

Gil smiled; Thena moved her shoulders faintly, as one would when a part of their body was adjusting itself. It would look great when the wings were 'on her'.

Thena pursed her lips (a personal habit that made its way into her characters every once in a while). "Power does not equal strength, and strength does not guarantee things going the way you might like. There are things I want that my power will never help me attain."

She looked off into the distance, longing written all over her face. Although her eyes landed on Gil, in the distance, behind the blinding lights on the scene. Her lips twitched into a smile. "The heart wants what it wants, child. It longs for things it once had, no matter how you tell it not to."

"And...cut!"

Thena smiled as the kid was pulled away for a mandatory union break. She remained sitting, still encircled by free roaming little bunnies.

Gil chuckled, walking right up to the soundstage and being careful of any wandering cotton balls. The wranglers were already rushing out to collect up the vulnerable little creatures. Gil knelt down beside her and reached out a hand, "your Majesty?"

"Very funny," Thena chided him lightly as she took his hand. "My legs are asleep after all those takes."

Gil waited in that position until all the rabbits were collected up and clear from danger. Once the wranglers were all clear he moved back to his feet, pulling Thena up with him. She laughed as he swung her around in his arms. "You got it?"

"Ah!" she bit her lip as she tried to firm up her knees, "pins and needles!"

"Okay," he laughed, as if he needed that excuse to sweep her up in his arms and walk off with her bridal style. "Let's go."

"Gil!" Thena laughed as he made his way down the stairs and towards their chairs. They initially weren't anywhere near each other, but they had both moved them together subtly over the course of several days.

"Well, we can't have the fae queen wobbling around like a fawn," he teased, and received a poke in the cheek for it. She could have smacked him on the arm but he was in his 'armour' for his scene.

"You are supposed to be allied to a different queen," Thena pointed out as he deposited her right into her chair, flowing white dress and all.

Gil sat himself next to her, as he always did. "Well, she does turn out to be plotting, like, magical mass murder by the end of this. So maybe I should reconsider some shit in my guard life."

Thena just shook her head at him, pushing back the mane of hair she had, and which was made even longer by the extensions they had woven into it. "I won't miss this, I can say that much."

Gil helped her sort the mass of hair out of her way as she picked up her script and her bottle of water. "What did make you take this?"

"Hm?"

"Well," he shrugged, the replica armour he was wearing clanking faintly against itself as he did. "It's not really your usual thing. Especially the benevolent fairy queen part."

Thena raised a brow at him with a smirk, "are you saying being the beautiful queen of the enchanted forest doesn't suit me?"

"Come on," he gave her a nudge. Their laughter died down and he lowered his voice, "really, though."

Thena tucked some of her hair, and what was attached to it, behind her ear. Her smile became bashful as she looked down at her open scrip on her lap. "Well...I wanted something in between action films. And...when you told me you were signed on-"

Gil's eyes lit up visibly.

"Stop it," she murmured, sticking her finger in between the plates of plastic armour on his shoulder just to give him a good poke. "Why did you take this, then?"

Gil shrugged. "I mean, my part is relatively small. I was told my shoot time would be half of what it usually is. And I get to be a literal knight in shining armour!"

"Well, you do come over to my side by the end of it," Thena murmured, flipping through her pages. It was only briefly mentioned, and it would be ultimately up to the director and how things looked onscreen the day of the shoot, but it was implied that the queen's guard would defect by the end of things.

"See?" Gil wiggled his pinkie at her. "You're still my queen at the end of the day."

"The poor, lonely fae queen will finally have a soul to match hers?" Thena rested her chin in her palm, batting her lashes at him.

"Well, I'm sure she'll be in need of some," Gil mirrored her playful body language, leaning forward until they could practically touch noses, "protection."