#him and kalina. we are being blessed

[itsgonnagetinspiringsoon]

glad to see my favourite freaky little guy is back

[kalina-moonbride]

Mundane Tasks

Context: A non-canonical side jaunt, somewhere mid Endwalker--later than level 84, before the level 88 quest "Hither and Yarns". Spoilers: Patch 2.5 and level 84 main scenario quests. Warnings: Some crude sexual language. Challenge: @ffxivpolyamoryweek! Details here.

White sand got into everything. Showed up everywhere. Came from everything. It came in on people's shoes, sure, but also anywhere the Loporrits had cut, sanded, caulked, or otherwise fabricated building material rather than simply wishing it into being with creation magicks, it drifted around as sawdust. The accommodations for the people of Etheirys, then, remodeled in great haste without any time to fuss about cleanup, were positively caked in it. It reminded Kalina of the Copied Factory, which in turn made her shudder.

The Loporrits had revised the Ancient-sized bedrooms down to something more like lodging at the Carline Canopy or the Forgotten Knight, or perhaps even a Scholasticate dormitory cell: right over the line from “cozy” into “cramped”.

It was certainly too small for three people.

A magicked broom swept white sand into piles near the open door. Kalina then attempted, by way of practice on her mediocre conjury, to use Aero to blow these piles out into a greater accumulation in the corridor outside. She'd made some progress, but all else equal, letting the broom handle the whole operation would have done a better job. On the bed, its clothes clean and free from moon-flour, G'raha and Y'shtola sat taking a break. Or rather, G'raha sat, his back to the wall and legs half folded; Y'shtola lay down, with her head on his thigh. Raha idly pet her shoulder.

“There's something I've been wondering about, Kalina,” said G'raha.

His voice was as calm and even as ever, but Moonbride shot him a look of faint suspicion. “Oh?”

“Is it awkward at all, being here on the moon, with the name you've chosen?”

“Tread lightly, Raha,” said Y'shtola with a smirk. “You may convince her to change it. Again.”

Kalina's Aero dispersed in a whoosh, blowing white sand in all directions, most of them still within the room. The broom began correcting the failure, uncomplaining. She groaned. “I chose it because of the night sky! For the Night's Blessed and the Warrior of Darkness and all! I didn't know we'd be going to the moon, or thinking about living there.”

Despite her words of caution, Y'shtola couldn't resist joining in. “Does the moon know and condone that her Bride has taken other lovers?”

“I'm not fucking the moon!”

“That part's not a problem, I'm sure,” said G'raha lazily. “You're not fucking me, either, and yet all is well.”

Kalina sank down onto a neo-Amaurotine chair still smudged with white dirt. She sat backward on it, resting her chin on its head, pouting with eyes closed. “Maybe I will change it…”

Y'shtola hopped down from the bed and crossed the brief space to her side. She lay a hand on top of the Warrior of Light's head, and caressed down to cup her cheek. “We tease out of love, Kalina ser Moonbride. By any name you choose, you remain ours.”

“Well said.” A guilty look settled onto G'raha's face. “It's unkind of us to make fun of the name of a friend who's passed, besides.”

“Ah, that is fair.” Y'shtola withdrew her hand from Kalina to form a fist and bow her head, sending her thoughts heavensward. “Moenbryda Wilfsunnwyn, I beg your forgiveness. As all faults dissolve in the sunless sea, may my error trouble you not.”

Kalina regarded the two of them with skepticism. “It's not her name exactly. I did go by 'Moenbryda' for a while, like Y'shtola was 'Master Matoya'. But when we returned from the First, I went with something that sounds alike, yet more my own.”

Y'shtola and G'raha stared at her for a silent moment. Then looked at one another. At last Y'shtola turned to her with an expression of perfect gentleness, holding back laughter. “Kalina, my love. In the Roegadyn tongue, 'Moenbryda' means 'Moon's Bride.'”

“What?!” She reflexively tried to sit upright, but with the way her weight had shifted in her awkward configuration to the chair, her chin immediately came back down onto the chair back. “Ow!”

“I'd thought it was intentional.” Y'shtola shook her head. “I should have asked.”

G'raha descended from the bed. “Let's go for a stroll, shall we? Get some air, let the broom do its work, come to terms with personal revelations.” He led the way with Y'shtola, giving Kalina a moment.

“I will have to change it again,” she said mournfully, to the broom.

[xmoriartea]

Time for a Barovian Ball!

art by sacrednanners @ TH

So to celebrate Burgomaster Ismark and the continued triumph of the Four Heroes of Vallaki, Lord Vasili von Holtz was throwing a ball! And as the tax collector of Lord Strahd - none of us fucking trusted him. Sure, we got all dressed up and ready for the black carriages that came to collect us and dozens of other citizens of Vallaki but we were ready to B R A W L and S T E A L—

And then... the Brides arrived.

DM @the-kiburi​ introduced these four fucking beautiful vampires entering the ball on behalf of Ravenloft and I became weak. And so did my very bi very poly death priestess who was in the process of denying she might have a feeling for Mina. So even while we were still planning to possibly do some crimes here... certain plans, like detecting OTHER undead, went... out the window. Because I saw 4 very lovely undead and decided I was going to get any information out of them I could. 

Sure other possibly relevant characters were being introduced from around Barovia 

BUT I WAS FOCUSED

So the party kind of broke up in various ways for the evening. I had strongly set my eyes on the Brides, Tanner was focused on trying to find the thing we came to steal, 

Arabelle was having her first ever date with +1 Rowan (look her lifes been shit, we wanted her to have a good night if she could), and Mina was torn between stress drinking and keeping an eye on everyone else

(I repeat: God bless Faraga aka old lady 2)

But as the night progressed, things really went downhill for me as a person who cares only a normal amount about 4 npc vampires

So while Tanner was figuring out about the small town artificer feud and started chatting up the councilwoman granddaughter of old lady 1 (and somehow inviting her into his fucking heist attempt??), I brought the ball aspect of the evening into play by approaching the little beskulled golden nightmare that is Volenta Popofsky

And this soon became a multi-night event...

We made some great jokes

and some fucking horrendous ones 

but I rescued the most emo of vampire poets from an old woman trying to seduce him and my night got infinitely better.

Meanwhile, Tanner and Councilwoman Kalina were casually sneaking their way through von Holtz’s estate looking for somewhere a rich fuck would likely be keeping a dragon skull... and things took a turn.

(Did I forget to mention he made TWO deals in the Amber Temple? Whoopsie)

Is it really D&D if you haven’t casually done mental war crimes to your DM?

But Tanner managed to gEt RiD oF the guard and lead Kalina into a weird little magic hallway and no way anything bad happens there. Which means it’s a great time to flash back to Alkali and her vampire hunting seduction

The whiplash between the two scenes was insane. When Alkali wasn’t wining and dining she was wining with Mina and talking about their Arabelle having a good night and it was a good time. Neither of them had any idea Tanner was doing goddamn crimes. So a good time.

Alkali was on constant look out for Strahd still because, you know, Ireena was here. And apparently having a great time dancing with von Holtz while her brother danced with my 4th and final target

But we couldn’t do this all in 2 nights of gameplay and the turns kept coming

Because hear me out. The Brides were the first vampires we met outside of Strahd who were not... monsters. They were monstrous, yes, but they were people. Charming, pleasant, a little bit too in love with a toxic husband, people. And if Alkali could be a homewrecker and get them to leave the toxic husband to create a better life for themselves without him and with her — that seems like a good idea, yeah?

Food for thought at least.

Tanner and Kalina got out of the weird nightmare puzzle room after locating the skull (but unable to get it cause its HUGE) and stealing a book from the library there. He was able to rejoin Alkali and Mina in their wine corner and a realization was had:

So off to find Arabelle we went.

Unfortunately, while Alkali and Mina were having that panic again. Tanner went off to go talk with edgelord von Holtz... and just... asked... for... the skull... To which von Holtz had had a counter offer:

Tanner said no. Because if he didn’t. Alkali would be gutting some people. Though he made a wonderful point that did mostly soothe the angry fish

And I presented my own counter offer to von Holtz by offering up my unique services as a death keeper

No luck, but other successes were soon had

Anastrasya was delightful and a little be vicious in a fun way and I’m here for it and ignore the fact I couldn’t properly count to four - it was late I swear

And then some cleaning up was done when Tanner realized we were spending the night here

He sent it to our merfolk prince friend Merrick and surely no way that goes weird, right?

But as everyone was settling in for the night...

then they both stood there like “......... good talk love you bye” but that’s familial love bby and Alkali will love and support Arabelle regardless and also promise to snuff out a fire genasi if he did anything that upset her. Love.

L o v e... ?

See. Alkali has been carrying this compass on her from one of her ship wrecks for ages. She got it off the first sailor she saw drown. Oddly... he was a sea elf. But he was on an Istishian ship, one that had stolen from Umberlee. And he drowned. And while a little bit wine drunk and a little bit sad... Mina told Alkali that the only reason she’d went on the mission for her temple to steal back the stolen relic.. was because her long lost brother had last been seen on that ship. Mina Lumenvroth... 

Alkali’s compass has the initials M. L. on it ... is this a guilt she feels perhaps?

But as far as spending the night went, it could of been worse.

Von Holtz wanted to chat with us come morning so all four of us + Rowan assembled in a side room off the main hall to meet with him and he, very obviously, doubled down on trying to convince Arabelle AND Rowan to spend time at the manor with him as collateral for lending us the skull.

We said no, again.

And then we REALLY said no when Alkali caught him in the act of charming Rowan and Arabelle to try and side with him. Arabelle managed to shake it off. Alkali charmed Rowan herself to break von Holtz’s charm - and then charmed von Holtz, threatening him against doing so again. It didn’t take, but he seemed greatly entertained by the attempt and allowed them to leave as the roads had been cleared.

Alkali OF COURSE had to make one last goodbye to the brides and Anastrasya may have gotten a little bold, but Alkali was into it

Fun times, fun times. 

Tanner found out the book he stole was a tome that increases INT so the next days following the ball were... quiet? Tanner spent some absurd number of hours reading a book and Alkali scrounged up every bit of oil and incense she could to hallow the ground Ireena and Ismark were moving into in Vallaki. A totally normal thing to be doing and she absolutely flipped off the bats that flew overhead as she spent 24 hours straight ritually cleansing the property so Ireena could feel safe somewhere other than the church.

Strahd was not getting another bride.

And if she had her way would be getting divorced soon enough too.

[sevi007]

A hat makes (no) cowboy

So some of you might remember how a comment a la “Dante sure wanted to be a cowboy as a kid, look at his newest weapon” by myself turned into @rex101111 and me writin half a story about Dante, his hat, one god-awful cowboy accent and mostly Lady suffering from it. 

Well, that half-story is now a full story, and it took some... interesting turns ;)

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Rating: Teen and up Audiences / Gen

Summary: One hat, a joking comment and Dante being, well, Dante, that’s all it takes to turn one quiet afternoon at the Devil May Cry shop into a war. In the end, nobody can say they are really surprised by the situation itself... just by what they might discover because of it.

Read it on AO3

"GOTCHA!" 

With one final swing, Dante sent the last of the demons flying into a wall. Their forms quickly fell apart at the seams and turned to dust, leaving behind only the impression on the concrete. Dante reached out a hand, making a beckoning motion, before a red streak flew from the broken wall and into his palm with a quite buzz.

"That thing is pretty impressive." Lady commented dryly as she yanked her bayonet from a pron Frost, looking at Dante from the corner of her eye. "You know...for a hat."

Dante placed the hat on his head with a quick flick of his finger and a light smirk. "I like it! It's got a load of style to it."

Lady scoffed, "style wouldn't be the word I'd use but-"

"Yeah!" Nico interrupted suddenly, peaking her head out from a pile of grey, twitching limbs with a giddy smirk. "It kinda makes ya look like a cowboy!"

Dante freezes, and whips his head to face the direction of Nico's voice. "Really?"

"Yeah really! Straight out of an Eastwood film, dude!"

Dante blinked his eyes numbly for a few seconds, the idea slowly rolling around in his head, before his face lit up like a blinking land mine and a manic smirk dominated his features. "Well, ain't that a hoot n' a half..."

Lady groaned, already knowing what was to come. "Now look what you did!"

"Did what?"

"It seems that our work here is finished." Dante said of a sudden, his voice starting out normal before slowly shifting, inching towards what can only be called a drawl. "But, we can't rest our head yet, pardners. There are always more outlaws for us to corral before they get up to no good." 

Lady rubbed her temples and took in a very quick, sharp breath. "Okay, I can see where this is going." She claps twice in mock praise as a scowl grows on her face. "Hardy-har Dante, you got a hat and you're a cowboy good for you." She pointed behind her to the pile of dead demons. "Now let's pack up and get to the client so we get payed."

"Now hold on there Missy!" Dante pointed dramatically at her, the other hand placed on the top of his hat as if to hold in place against some nonexistent wind. "You wouldn't happen to be questioning my authority on this matter now?" He made a gun motion with his outstretched hand in mock threat that made Lady want to roll her eyes right out of her head. "Because if you are...there might be some consequences to it."

"Dante for the love of God you can't be serious-"

It was too late, Dante had fully committed to his newly adopted western inspired persona, fanning out the end of his coat in a manner meant to be impressive (which failed miserably) before once more pointing at her, this time with even more dramatic gravitas. "Them's fighting words! You leave me no choice pardner..." He lifts the brim of his hat with his second hand and grins with all of his teeth at her, “Pistols at noon! You and me cowpoke!”

 Lady stared at him without a word for a whole two minutes.

And then she shot him in the head. 

And then she walked over to him, where he was still grumbling about how much that stung, and yanked the damn hat off of his head and started stomping on it despite his protests.

She shot it a couple of times too for good measure.

Dante picked up the remains of his poor, abused, hat, cut down in the prime of its life, “Why?”

Lady stared him dead in the face, expression stone still, “I made a vow to destroy evil.” 

Silence.

“Also, you’re annoying enough without having an excuse to talk with that godawful western accent.”

He waited, (clearly not pouting, he was a grown man, he did not pout, thank you very much) until Lady seemed to be out of earshot, before he leaned over to Nico. The girl had witnessed the whole spectacle from where she had been digging through the rubble left by Lady’s latest hunt, looking for scraps of demons the older woman had torn apart with her attacks that she could use in her newest weapon creation.

Now the young woman was barely holding in the loud laughter threatening to spill, but managed an inquiring noise as she caught his gaze.

“Do you think you can fix this up?”

A smothered sound, a giggle, and then a cleared throat before she became stern again. “Count on me, cowboy!”

Dante’s grin went from ear to ear as he put on his best (worst) drawl. “Don’t know what I would do without ya, lassie!”

Nico snorted, a loud, delighted noise. “Oh my god, you’re worse than grandma told me.”

“That a good thing?”

“The best. Now give me that mistreated thingy, I’m gonna make it better than it ever was.”

“Off you go,” Dante paused, considered, “Make it more durable, perhaps?”

“Demon-durable or Lady-durable?”

“Both. Mostly the later.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lady had never felt such utter and complete betrayal in her entire life from another human being (except the obvious, of course) as she stared at the offending headwear, patched up and reinforced with carbon fiber of all things.

Dante sauntered over, thumbs in the waist of his pants and a tooth pick in his mouth - oh for the love of god were those spurs on his shoes - and grinned so smugly she was tempted to shoot him in the teeth on principal alone.

“Well howdy there pardner.” His grin grew when one of Lady’s eyes twitched. “Fancy seeing you around these parts.” He pointed up to his hat. “I see you eyeballin’ my hat, purdy ain’t it?”

“Dante for the love of God that’s a fucking trucker accent-”

“Now I know you must be hankerin’ to bust it up like before,” He continued, ignoring her, “but you should know-”

Lady whipped out one of her machine guns, and unloaded the entire magazine directly into that vile piece of leather and demonic metal.

Damn thing didn’t even flinch.

“-My associate here gave it an upgrade.” He pointed to Nico, who was standing by his side this whole time, nearly bent over in held back laughter.

“Bullet proof hat!” She exclaimed at Lady, eyes shining with excitement, “I love working with you guys I never would have thought of this one.”

“You,” Lady started, eyes digging through Nico as well as any bullet, “are a traitor to the whole of humanity.”

“Oh relax.” Nico waved her off with little care. “Just let the man have his dumb fun, besides I made this thing 100% Lady-proof, there ain’t a damn thing you can do to it to damage or destroy it.”

Lady raised an eyebrow, holstered her machine gun, and reached back to put a hand on Kalina Ann.

“…Except that maybe.”

Dante whipped his head to Nico, “You forgot about the damn rocket launcher!?”

“She has like twenty different guns!” Nico protested, panic seeping into her voice. “How do you expect me to keep track!?”

“Nico.” Lady intoned mildly, aiming the large barrel of her prized weapon directly at Dante’s face. “Take ten steps back.”

Nico took one look at the bazooka, than another look at Dante, switching between the two a few more times before turning on her heel and legging it.

“Later partner!”

“Lady was right! You ARE a traitor!”

A soft click of a trigger reached Dante’s sensitive ears.

“Oh dagnabbit.”

A massive explosion rocked the immediate area, sending plumes of smoke and fire into the air along with a few chunks of concrete, charred black from the blast.

Lady put Kalina Ann back on the strap on her back, crossed her arms, and nodded her head in satisfaction, “The evil is defeated.” She yelled into the smoke cloud where Dante was standing, probably grumbling about his lost hat. “Let that be a lesson to you! You should always know when to let a joke die.”

She turned away to get to the nearest bar in order to drink the memory of this nonsense out of her head as soon as possible…when she heard a few surprised peals of laughter.

“Well, waddya know!” Dante stepped out of the smoke cloud, outfit scorched and ruined, with more than a few wounds rapidly healing on his skin…

 And the hat in his hand, utterly unscathed.

 “She really did make it Lady-proof!" 

Lady’s eye twitched again as she gaped at the utter ridiculousness of what she was looking at, before she growled and walked away with an angry stomp.

“Aww, what’s the matter? Giving up?”

“I’m getting Trish!”

“Woah nelly….”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“… so I might have pissed her off a little bit with that and what do you reckon are the chances that she’s going to shoot me if the hat doesn’t get destroyed in that one?”

“Girl,” Trish offered, raising one hand to quell the flood of words that had tumbled out of Nico’s mouth in too little time and what seemed to be a single breath. “Lady might shoot a lot of things in a day, and shoot Dante a whole lot more on top of that, but she’s not going to shoot you. No matter what she said.”

Nico lifted an eyebrow at her, looking somewhere between insecure, relieved and amused at Trish’s nonchalance. “You, ah, sure? She seemed a bit in a bad mood right there….”

“Quite,” Trish’s smile widened as she took a sip of the wine Morrison had brought with him from a quick shopping trip. Her fine senses picked up the heady flavor (bless the man for knowing something about drinks) and the nearing sound of footsteps and arguing all in one second. “Now you might want to step back and enjoy the show.”

Nico’s eyes widened, a grin twitched around her lips, and she dived behind Trish and the desk just as the door to the shop basically flew open.

“TRISH!”

“Trish don’t let her destroy it again!”

In a flurry of motions and colors, Lady, fuming and flushed, burst into the room, Dante hot on her heels – the latter’s clothes smoking and torn, together with the last hints of paling scars telling stories about the explosion he had taken point-blank.

And there, on top of his head, Trish spotted the offending hat that had apparently started a little war between friends.

Not what she would have gone for when it came to fashion, she noted, but looking far too innocently for it to be the source of all this.

Then again, she knew her friends well enough that that was an actual possibility.

With a blink, she observed with some amusement that the two fractions hadn’t even waited until they had her attention until they started squabbling.

“… and no offence, if this hat doesn’t go immediately, I swear I will find the nearest Hellgate and throw this idiot in there myself…”

“Now you’re really hurting my feelings here, Lady!”

“Your feelings? You’re hurting my everything with this, from my sensibilities to my ears up to my brain cells, every time you open your mouth ever since you put that thing on!”

“It’s hilarious, you just don’t understand good humor.”

“You wouldn’t even know good humor if it bit you in the…”

“Children,” Trish drawled, interrupting them even though this was getting really fun right there. She could hear Nico’s choked off laughter behind her, but didn’t turn to look at it. “What did we say about dragging me into your arguments?”

There was a beat of silence, before Lady pointed at the cowboy hat. “Destroy it please.”

“Hey!” Dante protested, putting one hand protectively over the beloved accessory.

“Destroy it now. Banish the evil.”

“You destroying my dreams is evil!”

“Which dreams, being an annoying ass?!”

“Being a cowboy- every man’s dream!”

“Ha fucking ha, don’t make me laugh-“

There was affection bubbling up in Trish, alongside the amusement. If the two of them hadn’t been so wrapped up in their argument – Lady had taken to poking Dante’s chest with every word while Dante downright pouted down at her, no matter how he would protest the mere idea – they would have caught her smiling at them with the softest smile she was capable off, utterly open and true.

Sibling squabbles, someone had told her once, while observing a scene very much like this. She couldn’t remember who had told her that piece of wisdom, but she couldn’t help but agree with it –

She had never had any home or family to begin with, had been created instead of born, used instead of raised, but she couldn’t help but associate moments like this with right, warm, home.

Family.

 (How utterly, terribly, wonderfully ironic, she thought, a sadistic part of her wishing that whatever left of Mundus would turn over in his non-existent grave at the notion of it, how wonderful and miraculous that she would come to love a group of demonhunters, enemies, so fiercely and utterly as if they were the same flesh and blood as her, even more so.)

 She had missed this while Dante was gone, she had. But as delighting as this was… 

“Nico,” she called, her voice sadly interrupting the argument, leading to two pairs of eyes focusing on her in surprise.

“Uh, yeah?” The human girl popped up behind the desk where she had been hiding, face flushed from suppressed laughter, and waved awkwardly in Lady’s direction. Lady glowered at her, but did not draw any guns, so Nico seemed to loosen up a bit.

“You said you improved the hat. Did you also make it withstand higher level of voltage?”

Lady’s mouth dropped open, and a cheeky, absolutely silly grin spread on Dante’s face.

Nico hesitated, her eyes going wide. “Actually, I did! Thought the baby could use some protection against those electric demons, the, uh, Blitz? So, yeah, I… oh.”

“Ha,” Dante said, slowly, standing a little straighter.

Lady’s glower got even more murderous. “Don’t tell me…”

“I did say I would make it demon proof!” Obviously deciding that it wasn’t save out there any longer and more explosions were a real possibility, Nico dived behind the desk again.

“Ha!” Dante said, again, louder and happier than before. Lady’s sour expression could have curdled milk, at this point.

“There you have it,” Trish spread her hands as if in surrender, wine glass dancing daintily on her fingertips. “It’s basically me-proof.”

“Do not,” Lady spoke slowly, darkly, rounding on her now instead of the young engineer, “dare to tell me to my face that you are not much, much stronger than a simple Blitz demon. Heck, you probably wouldn’t even need electricity to get rid of it!”

“But that certain spark is what I’m known for,” Trish reminded with only slight amusement in her voice, winking at the other woman. “Where would we be if I distanced myself from that?”

“Howdy, mah dear, she so one upped you on this one,” Dante’s voice held no little respect, and he was cheeky enough to tip his (awful, terrible, war-inducing) hat at the blonde to show it.

The motion drew Lady’s gaze to the offending thing, and after glowering at it for a heartbeat (her look promising a painful death like no hat had ever seen before) she snatched it off Dante’s silvery hair and turned on her heels, storming to the door again.

“Lady - wait where are you going?”

“To destroy the evil in this world! NERO! KID GET YOUR ASS HERE AND MAKE YOURSELF USEFUL!”

“You’re pulling the kid into this?! Now you’re just going too far…!”

 And gone they were, much like they had appeared, a storm passing through too fast to comprehend it.

 “Well,” Nico said after a moment, glancing over the top of the desk carefully. “That was… something.”

“It’s not over yet, if you want to watch the rest,” taking a sip of her wine, Trish counted in her head how long it would take for Lady to find Nero hidden behind something to engineer and improve again, plus the time they needed to explain the situation to him, plus the time to get him to even listen to their “bullshit” – well, in any case, enough time to finish her drink and wait for Morrison to fill him in. “If you hurry, you might catch the boy rolling his eyes at them and wishing he never met them.”

Nico laughed, not even questioning if that was true – they both knew – and scrambled to get out of her hiding spot. “I need to see that. You coming?”

“Right behind you, in a second.” 

Nico grinned, saluted, and bounced after the (still clearly audible) bickering duo.

Upbeat, lively, and knowing when to be crazy, Trish noted with some pride, a good, good addition to what she considered “her group”, that girl – just like the young demon and his woman had been. 

The backdoor clicked quietly, too quietly for a human to catch it, but Trish smiled over her shoulder at Morrison. “You almost missed the best part of today.”

Morrison sighed fondly, clapping off his clothes even though he know he wouldn’t get out the offending bite of cigar smoke from his quick smoking break, not with her inhuman senses, at least. “Now, what did the kid do this time?”

“Thinks he makes a good cowboy, annoying Lady… you know, almost the usual.”

“A cowboy?” Morrison’s grey eyebrow rose up high. “Of all the things that he ever came up with… you know what, that might come close to being the craziest thing of all.”

Trish’s laughter run out, startlingly loud now that their crazy friends had left them in silence. “Oh, you know, he got the looks down and everything. Despite being blown up already.”

“I shouldn’t even be surprised.”

“No, you shouldn’t. Join me for the next part?” She shot him a smile that would have made men and women alike swoon, but with Morrison, it only got an amused huff out of him as he offered her his arm like the gentleman he was. She took it while raising gracefully, interlinking their arms with an ease that spoke of practice.

“I’m going to regret this, and somebody is going to get hurt for real over nothing,” he prophesized, aiming for gloom but unable to hold back his smile.

“Now,” Trish patted his arm with no little amusement as she led him after their very own circus. “It actually might go well.”

“When does it ever with them?”

“Hmhm, good point.”

“At least we might get a laugh out of it.”

“That’s the spirit.”

 (Oh, how utterly, terribly, wonderfully crazy her family was)

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ D ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Nero had long since come to the perfectly reasonable conclusion that the crew of Devil May Cry were completely out of their minds.

From Dante’s constant disregard of his safety, Lady’s overly sensitive trigger finger (which was especially dangerous when she brought out the damn canon strapped to her back), and Trish…well, being Trish, there was no shortage of reasons to think the gang were long overdue for a few appointments with a shrink.

This…was something else though. He stared down at the hat in his hands. A hat that was given-alright less given and more slammed into his hand with little warning  while he was working, by an especially angry looking Lady.

It seemed…well, it was a cowboy hat, with a long brim that curved upwards near the end, a leather band surrounding the center along with a few red gemstones that glowed with demonic power.

So, not the strangest thing Nero had ever held in his hand, but the way Lady was glaring down at it you’d think it was the spawn of the deepest pit of hell.

“…hello-?”

“Destroy it.”

“Huh?”

Just then Dante burst into the workshop (scattering the tools Nero had spent an entire hour cleaning up goddamnit old man!) with a look of unrestrained panic, “Kid! Don’t let her lies drag you to cruelty!”

“…what.”

“Quiet Dante!” Lady whirled on the older half demon, jabbing a finger in his chest, “This has gone on long enough!” She pointed at the hat still sitting serenely in Nero’s metal hand, “This thing has got to go!”

….were they seriously having an argument over a damn hat.

“Just because you can’t appreciate the style-”

“I saw cockroaches with more style than that tourist trap reject!”

This is why his work was interrupted so rudely? He was being subjected to all this drama because of a damn hat?

“You kidding!? That’s rich coming from a chick who rode a motorcycle in a tartan skirt and thigh high boots!”

“That thing is bad enough sitting on a coat hanger! But you put it on and, impossible as it may sound, you turn into an even bigger pain in the ass!”

“GUYS!” Nero yelled out, rubbing his temple with his free hand to try and stop the headache that rose into his head, “Are you serious?” He waved the hat around in exasperation, “What’s all this for?”

The two looked at each other for a moment, Lady with an impatient scowl and Dante with a challenging raise of an eyebrow, before turning to the younger man and absolutely unloading on him with silly complaint after ridiculous justification.

By the time they were done Nero was ready to grab the heavy piece of weaponry he was working on and using it to get them to calm the hell down but tried to control himself.

“Okay…” He said, through his teeth, hand still rubbing his forehead, “So, let me get this straight, Dante got a cowboy hat and got it into his head he has to use a really lame accent with it-”

“I think you mean authentic accent-”

“-Lady shot it to hell so Dante somehow convinced Nico to patch it up and make it stronger-”

“-a traitor, a traitor and a fool-”

“-making it strong enough to withstand bullets and a blast from a freaking rocket launcher-”

“-that there spooked me right good it did let me tell ya-”

“You’re not even wearing the damn thing what is wrong with you-!?”

“And Trish, for some reason, doesn’t think she can destroy it either.” Nero finished, his eye twitching with ever interruption from the other two, looking at the hat that started all this with disdain and general annoyance, “And now you want me to destroy this ugly thing, right?”

“It ain’t ugly-”

“Yes it is! C’mon Nero you gotta be on my side on this one!” She pointed at Dante, “Doesn’t this guy annoy us enough without this extra ammo!?”

 “Don’t appeal to his emotions!” Dante made a motion towards Nero with a hand, “The kid’s smart, I’m sure he can see proper solution to all this,” He sent a charming smile to Nero, complete with gleaming teeth (all it accomplished was make Nero’s headache worse), “Right kid? What do you think about all this?”

Nero looked at Dante, gleaming smile still stretching his face, and then at Lady, her face sending off an endless amount of threats of horrible and slow death (both towards the demon hunter and his hat), and sighed.

 “I think that the both of you are crazy and that this is, bar none, the most idiotic situation I have ever found myself in.”

 Behind the door, Morrison, Trish and Nico had to try their hardest not to burst out laughing.

“…is everything okay in there?” 

The trio near the door looked behind them to see Kyrie, dressed comfortably and carrying a few bags of groceries in her hands, and a rather worried expression on her face.

“Let me get those for you.” Morrison offered quickly, stepping up to her to take the heavy overfilled bags out of her hands and onto a nearby table, when he turned back and saw her still a bit anxious and looking at the workshop door. “Oh that? Don’t worry little lady, just another silly little argument between Dante and our resident Gunslinger.”

Kyrie sighed and put a hand to her cheek, “Oh, what did he do this time?”

Morrison tried not to grin at the sound of exasperated affection in her voice, it still surprised him how such a seemingly delicate looking girl got so used to the madness of the half devil so easily

(Though he supposed she had practice with that boyfriend of hers.)

“Nothing too drastic, Dante just got a new hat.” 

The sound of crashing metal and gunfire, followed by loud yelling and cursing, erupted from behind the doors, Nico flinching back a couple steps away while Trish just shook her head with a chuckle.  

Kyrie blinked twice at the door, then looked back at Morrison. “A hat is causing that?”

The old man laughed. “Well, the hat and Dante having a little too much fun with it, Lady in particular seems to disapprove.”

“I WILL DESTROY THAT LOATHSOME PIECE OF LEATHER IF IT’S THE LAST THING I DO!”

“OVER MY DEAD BODY!”

“THAT CAN BE ARRANGED!”

A few explosions rocked the building, followed by the unmistakable sounds of Dante whooping and hollering as he dodged gunfire from an increasingly angry Lady.

“…I’ve guessed…” She looked over at Trish, who was still sitting near the door with a sly grin and enjoying the fireworks. “You’re not going to stop them?”

“Better to let them get it out of their system.” Trish waved off her concern easily. “As soon as Dante gets bored of this joke he’ll drop the damn hat and we can all move on.”

Nico side-eyed the door as more noise filtered through the wood. “Assuming there’s anything left by the time they’re done.”

Kyrie narrowed her eyes at the door…before she recognized it as the door to Nero’s workshop.

 “Guys come on I just finished cleaning up! Would you two relax!?”

 Kyrie’s heels made a very distinct sound on the wooden floor as she stepped her way to the door and grabbed the handle to open it.

Trish grabbed her wrist gently to stop her. “Hold on now,” She said calmly, “no need for you to get in the middle of this, they’ll burn themselves out soon enou-”

Kyrie looked Trish dead in the eye, raised a single eyebrow, and waited.

Trish blinked in surprise before letting go of Kyrie and putting her hands up in mock surrender. “Alright then, go save your boyfriend.”

Kyrie nodded and opened the door, stepping briskly passed the threshold.

 (She didn’t catch Nico whispering, “I keep forgetting how scary she can be.” as she walked away. She didn’t catch Morrison chuckling or Trish shrugging either.)

 The first thing she saw as she walked in was the burning wreckage of the motorcycle Nero had been tinkering with for the past six weeks embedded in a nearby wall. The second thing she saw was her boyfriend grabbing Lady from behind to hold her back from trying to wring Dante’s neck, who was standing a few feet away and sticking his tongue out at the raging hunter.

“White haired pain in the neck!”

“Why don’t you admit you’re just jealous of my fashion sense?”

“Why don’t you shut it before she shoots you with the rocket launcher again!?"

She cupped her hands over her mouth and took a deep breath. “HEY!”

The trio froze in place and whipped their heads to look at her, expressions suddenly sheepish.

“I heard there was an argument about a hat?”

Dante blinked, before a mad grin bloomed on his features, “Indeed there is.”

Nero’s eyes bugged out and he glared at Dante, still holding Lady back. “Oh no don’t you drag here into this nonsense!”

“She is the perfect person to settle this once and for all!” Dante shot back, walking calmly towards Kyrie, who was crossing her arms and looking a little tired already. “She’s a neutral party, plus the only person here with a sense of style.”

Kyrie shook her head, though a little smile was pulling at the sides of her mouth, since the whole incident at Fortuna, the veteran devil hunter had never ceased to surprise her with his antics, but this was on another level all together.

“Well howdy there little lady.”

A groan of supreme displeasure rose from Lady, “oh God it just keeps getting worse.”

“Me and my companion over yonder are havin’ a dispute over fashion and style.” He continued, his drawl ever present and even posing like a cowboy, one hand on the brim of his hat and the other on his hip. “I think this here hat makes me look mighty stylin’, while Lady over there-”

“Thinks that hat and the accent you put on with it is a raging garbage fire.”

“-Well yeah, and we’ve been tryin’ to settle this for a while now, and all our other friends are refusing to comment.”

“They like watching us squabble you mean.”

“Well yeah obviously.” Dante said easily, losing the accent for a moment, “I know that, why do think they’ve been outside that door listening in on us this whole time?”

The sounds of people scrambling came from behind said door, along with a muffled curse.

 “Assholes!”

“Like you wouldn’t do the same.” Dante laughed, before turning back to Kyrie, who has been holding back her own laughter, and turning the drawl back on, “So, I reckon that you, being the most honest and straightforward of our bunch, you’d be able to settle this once and for all.”

“Dante…” Lady started again, this time sounding more than a little tired, “please don’t drag her into this, this is just a stupid joke-”

“Look,” Dante intoned diplomatically, “if Kyrie says something she means it. If she says the hat doesn’t suit me, I drop it and the accent, fair?”

Lady grumbled for a moment before throwing her hands up in surrender, “Fine, so long as this idiocy stops already.” She then looked down at Nero, who was still holding her back by the waist, “…and kid?”

“Yeah?”

“If you don’t want to see how bulletproof you are compared to Dante, you will put me down.”

He quickly put her on her feet and took a good 5 five steps back with his hands up.

“So, in your honest opinion Kyrie, how do I look?”

Kyrie looked at Dante, very closely, taking in his smug grin, confident posture, and the laughter in his eyes as he tried to hold back from showing how much he was enjoying himself in this farce.

She peered behind him to look at Nero a bit helplessly, and he could only offer a shrug in reply as he mouthed a ‘sorry’. She looked back at Dante with a curious expression, at a loss.

Suddenly his expression softened, “you don’t have to get involved if you don’t want to.” He grinned easily and took a step back, “no pressure, it’s just a little joke.”

Kyrie caught something as he stepped back, a look in his eye that she recognized.

“Dante…why do you want to be a cowboy anyway?”

Dante looked incredulous for a moment, before scoffing. “Oh come on, I can’t be the only one who wanted to be a cowboy when they were a kid.”

Lady raised an eyebrow at him, “Seriously Dante?”

 “Yeah seriously,” Dante said with a laugh tinged with nostalgia, “when I was a kid I used to watch all these movies about desperadoes riding into the sunset, firing six shooters, and leaning on bar stools, looking cool without even trying.” He laughed again, “hell, especially Clint Eastwood, I must have watched The Good The Bad and The Ugly like a dozen times with my-”

He stopped dead, voice catching in his throat as something dark passed in his eyes. Lady and Nero gaped at him, Lady in particular looking at a loss for words as what he didn’t say started to sink in.

Kyrie felt something clench in her chest, but said nothing, waiting for him to continue.

Instead he sighed and took the hat off with a dismissive chuckle, “nah, nevermind, like I said.” He put the hat on Kyrie’s head, “just a dumb joke that I took a bit too far.”

“Dante…”

“Could you put that in the weapon storage?” Dante called out easily as he stepped away from her, “if I need it I’ll know where to find it.” He looked at the mess he and Lady made of the workshop and sucked in a breath through his teeth, “yikes, we really did a number on this place huh?” He looked at Nero with a small grin, “sorry ‘bout that kid.”

Nero shook his head and scowled lightly, “if you’re so sorry you can help clean up.” He pointed at Lady, “and you too!”

“Gotcha.”

Kyrie felt her heart sink at the look of Dante, grinning and joking but in a subdued way, like he was hiding something. 

She knew what he was hiding of course, they all knew, but discussing such things in Devil May Cry simply Did Not Happen. If she left it be he would back to his old self in a few days and never bring it up again, never put the hat on again either, no matter how happy it made him.

She grabbed the hat off her head and started stepping towards him with purpose, tugging on his coat so he would look at her. 

Before he could even ask her what she wanted, she put the hat back on his head.

“Huh?”

“I think this makes you look very handsome, Dante.”

She smiled warmly at him as he blinked down in surprise, reaching a hand up to rub the brim of the hat, “R-really?”

She nodded easily, smile still lighting up her features.

Dante blinked a few more times before his usual grin lit up, “Well I’ll be darned-”

“Although,” Kyrie said again, grabbing the hat off his head before he could react and put it back on her head, “the accent is a bit much.”

Dante blinked again at her, before he bent over in laughter and looked at Lady, “See? At least someone has some fashion sense around here.”

Lady rolled her eyes and shook her head, “yeah, but she also has some common sense.”

Dante laughed again and shook his head, grinning at her, “Sorry about busting your chops all day, couldn’t help myself.”

Lady punched him on the shoulder, “yeah yeah, and I’m sorry for shooting you with a rocket.”

“Twice.”

“Alright twice ya big baby.”

 Nero walked over to Kyrie and hugged her while the other two bickered lightly as they cleaned up, kissing her softly, “You are a blessing, you know that right?”

Kyrie laughed as she blushed from her boyfriend’s attention, “Just keeping the peace.”

—-

Kyrie walked into the weapon storage with the hat in hand (she was still having trouble wrapping her head around the idea that a hat could be a weapon), and closed the door behind her, looking for a place to put it where it wouldn’t be too out of the way to be hidden.

 She walked a few steps in, admiring a few of the pieces already on shelves and hanging off hooks on the walls, eventually finding a free space on a shelf where she could put the hat.

Along with a mirror. 

 Kyrie looked at it for a moment, seeing it was just an ordinary mirror (Dante probably kept it in there to check out his looks), and looked at the hat in her hands.

She looked left.

Right.

Back at the hat.

Slowly, she faced the mirror, and put the hat on, admiring the visage in her reflection.

 Making a finger gun gesture, she pointed at the glass with a self indulgent grin. “Bang.” After a moment, she used both hands and affected a slight southern drawl, “Reach for the sky.”

With a giggle she took the hat off and put it on the shelf and made for the exit with a happy spring in her step. 

As soon as she closed the door behind her, she noticed the whole of Devil May Cry looking at her with very amused smiles.

Kyrie blushed and chuckled nervously.

“Oh sure,” Dante grumbled from somewhere in the back, “it’s cute when she does it.”

“Of course it’s cute when she does it,” Lady shot back, rolling her eyes to the heavens. “She’s not doing it purposely to annoy people, if you catch my drift.”

Dante tipped his head at her, smirk curling his lips. “Already apologized, your honor.”

An amused snort followed. “Doesn’t mean I can’t needle you about it.”

Pocketing her phone – making sure she had the video of Kyrie with the hat saved – Nico chanced a glance in Lady’s direction. “Sooo, that mean you’re not going to blow up, say, an engineer who helped him being annoying?”

Lady shot her an incredulous look before laughing, “Alright, to make this clear: I’m not blowing up innocent people who can’t immediately regenerate from it. With a rocket launcher! Honestly, do you think I’m some kind of madwoman?! No, you don’t answer that,” she added to Dante, narrowing her eyes as she noticed that he had already opened his mouth to do just that.

He clamped it shut obediently, raising his hands in silent surrender while trying to look inncent and surprised. It didn’t work very well.

“See, Nico” Trish’s melodic voice dissipated the momentary tension again, “I told you she wouldn’t do it.”

“Well, I just think you can’t be too careful about that!” Nico defended herself, grinning embarrassedly.

“Nah, you’re safe,” Lady assured her, before holding up one finger. “That is…”

Nico froze in the middle of moving to take a seat, eyes wide in surprise and just the tiniest bit of worry. “Uh, yes?”

“… if you tell me how the heck you managed to make that damn hat so unbreakable.”

Kyrie had to hold back fond laughter as she watched Nico blink, gape, and then starting to beam, the engineer looking as if her birthday and a holiday had just fallen on the same day. “Really? You want to hear me talk about my work?!”

“Uh-oh,” Nero mumbled, flashing Kyrie a quick smile from across the room, only strengthening her urge to laugh. They both knew how excited Nico could get when someone showed interest in her ideas and working processes.

If Lady had any worries about what monster she had just unleashed, she didn’t show it, waving Nico closer with a chuckle. “Hear about it? I want to know all about it. If you can do that with a hat, I want to know if you can do that with some of my clothes – would be great if they were a bit more resistant and I didn’t need to buy new clothes after a single job.”

Nico’s grin widened to a worrisome degree as she dove for her notebooks and then hurried over to the older woman, plopping down next to her.

“If that’s the case,” Trish stretched on her spot on the couch before getting up in one fluid movement, “I would be quite interested in that, too.”

Morrison chuckled, shaking his head. “I’ve never seen you get a single hole in your clothes, Trish.”

She shot him a wink over her shoulder, smirking. “Perhaps you’re too gentlemanly to look too closely.”

“That must be it, sure.”

The excitement of the day – and any talk about cowboys or talking like cowboys – seemed to be forgotten for the moment as they went on with their day, a sort of peace coming over them.

And yet, as she stood and watched her friends go on about their day, when she had should have just joined them… Kyrie couldn’t shake off the thought that there was something still left unattended, unsaid.

The oh-so recent memory back from Nero’s workshop came clawing back up her chest, making it ache and burn – the way Dante’s eyes had gleamed with almost childish excitement as he told them about his love for cowboys, before the shadows had snuffed out that light.

It wasn’t the first time she had witnessed it, and she had been part of this group for much less time than some of the others. But it was there, if you knew where to look for, if you listened close enough: Those moments when Dante’s whole persona just seemed to crack, seams loosening and falling apart, and laughter and booming voice made way for silence and something glaringly deep and dark, swallowing him up whole.

It made Kyrie want to cry for him, for what had been lost. Manchild, they might call Dante sometimes, in annoyance, in tease, in warm laughter – but sometimes, perhaps, all of them, even herself, forgot that said child had been forced to grow into a man much too quickly, and in horror whose lasting damage they could only fathom.

The thought alone made her feel sick. She wanted to hug him, to tell him it was all going to be okay. But again… in Devil May Cry, things weren’t discussed. They were ignored, swept under the carpet, downplayed with noise and jokes and explosions until they could no longer be heard. It was Rule Number One. Everybody knew it. Etched into stone it had been, even long before she had come along.

By now, Kyrie was gnawing at her bottom lip in thought, wringing her hands. An idea was starting to form, and perhaps it might even be a good idea, but she wasn’t sure if it was her place to orchestrate something like this. Too personal. She was still mostly a stranger. Her idea could be appreciated, yes, but it could also very much backfire and do more bad than good…

“Hey,”

Warm hands reached for her, the metal one wrapping gently around her fingers to stop the fiddling, the human one carefully stroking its thump over her bottom lip so she had to stop biting it.

As Kyrie looked up, Nero smiled down at her, eyes soft even though there was gentle tease in his smirk. “You’re going to hurt yourself if you keep doing that.”

That got a laugh out of her. His smirk widened into a smile, as if the sound had just brightened his entire day. “My hero, saving me again.”

“Always. But seriously,” a quick peck was pressed to the tip of her nose, making her giggle again because it tickled, before he became more serious. Hand coming to cup her cheek, he directed her to look at him. “What got you all frowning?”

Kyrie hummed, lost in thought while she straightened his collar and smoothed non-existent wrinkles out, all the while wondering how she should start this, if she should ask for help or not. Nero’s fingers moved, playing with her hair like he so often did, the touch familiar and grounding and calming all in once.

You’re not alone. I’m right here.

It was this silent reassurance that made her wish she could give others – could give Dante the same, even if it was just a tiny bit.

“Did you ever see something,” she began, looking up to meet Nero’s soft, inquiring gaze, “something that just didn’t seem right, and you felt like you wanted to…help fix it? Even if it’s perhaps none of your business?”

He raised one eyebrow at her, lips quirking up. “You do realize who you’re talking to, right?”

“Quite,” she assured, answering laughter rising in her. “But I mean…even if you would kind of break an unspoken rule with it?”

The second eyebrow joined the first, mirth gleaming in his eyes. “Again, you do realize who you’re….?”

“Oh, okay, okay, shush,” she had to laugh, honest and loud, but she still managed to aim a playful smack at his shoulder throughout it, just for railing her up. It was not like he would even feel it.

Nero’s glee only seemed to increase, as if she had done something particularly endearing. Still, he caught her raised hand in his, pressing a quick kiss to the palm to sooth whatever sting there was, before drawing her back into an embrace. “Alright, but seriously, if I were in your stead, I would probably just go through with it, whatever it is.”

“Don’t I know it, you would jump right in,” Kyrie mumbled into his chest, smiling when he chuckled without an ounce of shame. “I might have to take a page from your book then, this time.”

“What an honor,” she could hear the tease in his voice, but the kiss he dropped to the top of her head was full of honest reassurance. “You’re gonna do great.”

“You don’t even know what I‘m going to do.”

“No clue. But I just saw you manage both Dante and Lady at the same time. I doubt there’s anything that can stop you after that.”

Again, laughter burst out of her, and she stood to her tiptoes as he released her and stepped back, rocking forward to press a kiss to his cheek. “Thank you.”

“Anytime,” his grin was wide and boyish, so different from his usual smirk and just for her, it made another surge of affection go through her.

Kyrie was just about to add another kiss to the first, when they got joined by a third party.

“I really hate to interrupt you two lovebirds,” Nico peeked over Nero’s shoulder, flush high in her cheeks from excitement. “But Kyrie, can I kidnap your boyfriend for a sec? I want to show off the Devil Breaker to the interested ladies over there.”

“Go ahead,” Kyrie agreed, waving them off.

Nero’s eyebrows rose yet again. “I don’t even get asked?”

“You don’t get asked,” Nico confirmed, already attempting to drag him off. “Move it, lover boy.”

Nero rolled his eyes at the attempt, not even giving an inch, before he bent down and pressed one last parting kiss to Kyrie’s forehead. “You go rock whatever it is.”

“Will do.”

“What, what is she gonna do?”

“None of your business, Nico.”

“Aww, you guys never let me join the fun.”

“Really? You complain while dragging me around like a puppet?”

“Excuse me, at least twenty percent of you is made by me, I can drag all I want, honey.”

Kyrie smiled after the two of them as they went, bickering all the way. Really now…

Taking one deep breath, stealing herself for whatever outcome this was going to achieve, she turned, located whom she needed, and purposefully strode over.

Morrison seemed surprised when he looked up and saw her standing next to him, but it quickly made way for a welcoming smile as he made a gesture towards the empty space on the couch next to him. “Yes, Kyrie? What is it?”

She huffed out a chuckle at that, gratefully taking a seat. “I didn’t say anything and you already know I need something?”

“Easy to see, with that determined gleam in your eyes,” he observed, reaching for his jacket before stopping, shaking his head at his own habit before looking up again. “So, how may I help?”

His smile was friendly still, and no accusations in his words, so Kyrie relaxed instantly. Clearly, her feeling that he would be the right person to ask had been right. “You see, I wondered if there’s a place where I could buy old movies. As in, old western movies?”

Morrison’s expression faltered for half a second, eyebrows shooting up, and he only just so seemed to stop himself from gaping at her. “You…”

His reaction had been much stronger than Kyrie had anticipated, and once again she wondered – worried – if she was overstepping her boundaries here. In an attempt to explain, she added, “It’s just that we don’t have any shops in Fortuna that sell older things like that, or movies in general, and I don’t know a lot of places here in…”

“They wouldn’t be for you, I take it?”

She interrupted herself, blushing ever so slightly. Was she so easy to read?

Then she remembered how Morrison had put emphasis on just how long he had known Dante, and she thought that, perhaps, if anyone knew best what went on in the demon hunter’s head…if anyone understood, it would probably be…

Morrison hadn’t reacted badly to it, not really. Simply surprised.

Kyrie raised her chin, mind made up. She was sure this was the right thing to do, now. “No, they would be a present.”

That seemed to be the right thing to say. The inquiring look melted from Morrison’s face, replaced by the most brilliant smile she had ever seen from him. “I actually might know where to get you that present.”

It took her a second, but then Kyrie understood, and she beamed. “Really? Where?”

She had half a mind to go there immediately, on the height of her enthusiasm, and gather up every last Wild Western movie she could get a hand on.

It must have shown, because the man chuckled, resting a hand on her wrist to get her to stay seated. “Slow down, now. I’m going to head over there, see what I can scrounge up for you.”

“Oh, but you don’t have to-…“

“Kyrie,” his voice was kind, but firm. “It’s a great idea you had there, and I would be happy to offer some help.”

She relaxed, releasing a relieved breath. “You think it will be…well received, then.”

“More than you probably can imagine right now. But you might find out for yourself.”

Before she could wonder what that meant, much less ask, a hand landed on her shoulder, warm and gentle.

“As if someone doesn’t like presents,” Dante rumbled, arm coming to rest around Kyrie’s shoulder as he leaned over the back of the couch to steal Morrison’s beer bottle from next to him. The older man let him, smile curling around his lips even as he muttered a half-hearted protest over it.

Kyrie had jumped at the first touch, sudden as it was, but relaxed now. She had become quite used to the ease with which Dante approached her, even when she had been perplexed by it at first. She peered up at the older half-demon, catching his gaze which was… far too amused, for the situation, she noted. Far too fond and directed at her and…

Oh.

Oh right, she thought with a rush of embarrassment and amusement at the same time, heightened senses, and better hearing.

Sometimes she forgot just who she was dealing with.

Huffing, hoping that she didn’t blush too badly at her own oversight and being caught, Kyrie smiled up at Dante, pointing an accusing finger at him. “Is it still a present if you’re not even going to be surprised by it?”

The smirk on Dante’s face widened into a grin and he shrugged one shoulder. “I like presents. Never said a thing about surprises.”

The hand still wrapped around her shoulder squeezed, gently, taking the blow out of his teasing, and she smiled widely at it.

“I can pretend to be surprised by it, if you like,” he offered still, raising an inquiring eyebrow at her.

She sighed fondly, shaking her head. “Please, no. After that cowboy show all day? I don’t want to think how far you would go to pretend to be surprised.”

“Well said,” Morrison laughed out loud at that, throwing his head back, and the grin on Dante’s face couldn’t be any bigger.

“What are you guys getting up to over here?” Nero sidled over to them, obviously having been released from his duty to show off. He pushed, none too roughly, past Dante, who easily gave up his spot at Kyrie’s side to let Nero take over.

“Failing to surprise Dante,” Kyrie explained, chuckling as she saw confusion flash over her boyfriend’s face at that before it settled again.

“Still ready to pretend,” Dante disagreed, waggling his eyebrows at her before he took a swig of his drink. “But, to answer your question kid – Kyrie here did surprise us all with planning a movie night.”

“I-.. what?”

That, she hadn’t anticipated. Hadn’t even thought of.

But clearly, Dante had. He twirled the bottle in his fingers, humming, not really meeting their perplexed gazes. “Sure. Movies are there to be watched, aren’t they? And I was thinking pizza. Movies with pizza, and you guys can stay if you like, since it was your idea in the first place.”

It sounded casual enough, the way he said it. It didn’t seem casual at all, the way melancholy was etched into his lopsided smile, and he was still not looking over to gauge their reactions.

Kyrie’s mind was made up immediately, and she reached for Nero’s hand on her shoulder even as she searched for his gaze.

He was already looking back, tipping his head at her in a short, almost invisible nod that made her heart swell with love once again.

(He could pretend not to care all he wanted, she knew better. They knew better.)

“If you talk with that shitty accent throughout the whole movie,” Nero warned, no real threat in his voice. “I will join Lady in shooting you.”

Dante’s smile sharpened into a smirk and he rolled his eyes. “Kid, that threat stopped working after you greeted me with bullets the first time around.”

“That just means he saw right through you,” Lady called from the other side of the room. Kyrie looked over just in time to see Trish hide a smile behind her hand and Nico snort, Lady lounging in her chair with mirth in her eyes that belied her harsh words. “Noticed right away that it’s the best way to go when it comes to you.”

“Cheers, I'll drink to that!” Dante threw back, raising his empty bottle at her even as she made a crude gesture in his direction.

“Prick.”

“Mh-hm,” the half-demon seemed more amused than faced by it. “Will the ladies be joining movie night?”

“Sure, why not,” Trish answered easily. “Could be fun.”

“Movies and pizza?” Nico brightened up, grinning. “Count me in.”

“Wait, wait,” Lady straightened up again, throwing her hands up in a Stop gesture. “Wild Western movies with Dante? After this day? You’re just going to use that to torment us with that terrifying, horrible accent again.”

“I already apologized…”

“Aha, I don’t hear you saying No to that statement.”

There was a beat of apprehensive silence as the duo looked at each other, everyone else in the room shifting more or less uneasily at the sudden tension.

Then, Dante smiled, slowly and bright, and Lady let out the deepest sigh in the history of humanity.

“Once,” she said in the tone of someone who just had to make a great sacrifice. “You can use it once.”

“I can live with that.”

“I’m going to regret this,” Lady mumbled, scrunching her nose while Trish next to her chuckled. “I see it coming already.”

“Well,” Morrison declared, pushing himself to his feet. “Sounds like my cue to go get those movies.”

“Get the good ones.” Dante called advice after him. “The real good ones.”

“Dante, I have no idea what you consider good ones, you get your ass in the car and accompany me if you want to have a say in this.”

“Sheesh, you all have no idea about good movies…”

“Well,” Nero mumbled into Kyrie’s ear, aiming to be heard as everyone around them started talking at the same time, arguing over movies to watch and what pizza to order. “Whatever you did, it worked pretty well it seems.”

“Don’t you say I told you so, now,” Kyrie warned, laughing even as she felt him grin against her temple.

“Don’t even have to,” he basically sing-songed. Then pressed a quick kiss to her temple, humming. “You are a blessing, Kyrie. Really.”

Behind them, Dante and Morrison laughed over something as the older man chucked a coat at the half-demon, making him splutter. Lady tried to pout around her smile and failed miserably, grin taking over her features as she rolled her eyes. Nico pulled out the well-used flyer from the nearest pizza parlor from a drawer. Trish threw her head back in laughter, baring the length of her throat, as she watched the engineer notice that the only phone in the shop had been unplugged once again.

It was messy, and loud, and far from perfect.

It was their perfect, Kyrie thought, affection rose in her throat, slow and bright and warm. And if she could do anything, something, however little, to preserve it, she would do it.

“This,” she said, clearing her throat against the sudden feelings, trying again. “This is a blessing.”

 And if the way Nero smiled at her then was any indication, she thought, he just might think so, too.

[gilbertish]

December, 26th | 2018

Miguel

Miguel was ready to let the drugs take his body. As much as he hated his cousin for daring to love his Kalina, he felt guilty for drawing his family blood, guilty that maybe his cousin was dead because of him. His mother’s voice soothed him, until he heard the poison dropping from her words. Her confession, the knowledge of her crimes, it made Miguel fight for his life... He had a new purpose now, to avenge his father’s death.... The drugs were powerful, and almost beated him.

There was no bright light, no tunnel. When he opened his grey eyes he was back at the palace under his and Lari’s favorite tree, when they used to play when they were once kids. He touched his chest, his breath normal again. He wasn’t sweating, or feeling any of the overdose effects. He was at peace. Sitting down, he watched the garden around him, the warm sun upon his skin, and it seemed like he was glowing under the sun light. 

“Filho”

Miguel looked back, heart racing as he heard the voice he thought he’d never hear again.

“Pai”, he almost cried, jumping on his feet and running into his father’s open arms. “I’m so sorry”, he breathed, holding the man he loved the most tightly around his arms.

“You’re forgiven my son. It wasn’t your fault”, his father soothed him, and pulled away. 

“I should have known, she lied to us through most of our lives. She murdered you, she tried to murder me, she played us...”, he looked down, ashamed of himself. “Son, I didn’t see her coming either, no one would have. So don’t beat yourself up”

“I’m going to kill her”, Miguel said, anger boiling in his, his bad side showing up. “No”, Pedro said sternly, and Miguel looked into his father’s eyes. “Your mother and I didn’t have the perfect wedding. It was a contract, like yours. There was respect from my side, and caring. And that’s what I want from you. Don’t take vengeance. Be a tool for justice. How you handle this trial will set your legacy as my successor, and the future of our nation. Ask yourself, how you want your people to remind you. As a fair and strong leader, or someone volatile, guided solely by your emotions?”, he asked, making Miguel think about it.

“I miss you, father”, he said quietly, with a small smile. 

“I’ve always watched over you, I was always there son. Always”, he hugged Miguel, “It’s not your time yet, son. Sit down with me, and tell me about your life for the rest of the little time we have left...”

Miguel smiled and nodded, doing as he was told until he felt a force pulling him back.

Larissa was the first person he saw when he woke up. He asked about Tyrso, and once he learned his cousin survived, he told her the truth behind their father’s death. He felt like there was no time to waste, he knew what he had to do. 

A few hours later, he secured his wife and child’s safety, and ordered his mother, his father’s murdered to be locked inside her rooms, without any access to all known secret passages. At the hospital, he ordered a press conference to be arranged. 

He was standing, looking as good as someone who almost died could in the hospital chapel. He looked at the speech he had written, he heard the reporters’ chat dying at the moment he walked in and took his place, right in front of them. Lucas gave him a small nod, and the cameras went on as the only voice heard in the room was of their Emperor.

“Good morning,

Couple of years ago, not only this nation, but the whole world were threatened by the invisible presence of a deadly virus, capable os destroying everything it could touch. Throughout those dark years, we stood strong as nation, and I’ll never be tired of praising our scientists and their contribuition on finding the cure. Surprisingly, during those dark years, I got to meet the light in my life. Your beloved Empress, Kalina.

We shared our wedding day with you, uniting not only two persons, but also two nations. There were months of bliss after it, until our family were affected with another tragedy, very personal to myself. I almost died in a plane crash, like our beloved Emperor Pedro, my father. If wasn’t for the care of a strong family in the country, I would have no chance of survival. Their attention, patience and kindness to a complete stranger only proved of what I already knew of my people. Your prayers, your faith, I could feel it... and like a phoenix born from the ashes, I came back to you.

Unfortunately, last night, my life was threatened again. But your Emperor is strong... Maybe too stubborn to let your down, and here I am now, almost fully recovered, and eager to be your Emperor at last. I’m standing here to assure you again of the bright future of our nation. Of the bright future of my family, and my beloved daughter, your princess Gabriela. I’m standing here to let you know this... The responsible for not only those threatens against my life, but also the murdered of yoru beloved Emperor Pedro was caught. From this Christmas on, I’ll fight with all my being for years of prosperity and peace. 

Let those dark days behind us. Your prayers were listening, our nation can now rise and be sure that this prince who speaks to you is ready, and he can’t wait to become your next Emperor.

God bless us all”

And with that, Miguel nodded, and left the place, taking no time to answer all the questions that erupted after his speech. They would talk to them in another time. He had a more important meeting with the future Empress, and his little princess.

[ambition-of-a-vixen]

Minha Estrelinha :| Self Para

Two Days Before Ivana’s arrival

Kalina sat back adoring the sense of loyalty that her ladies displayed to her. She began counting forward trying to guess when she would have the baby. She wanted to cry realizing how close to Miguel’s birthday. He was July and she assumed to expect in June. She swallowed hard, thinking about the missed moments she could have had with Miguel. She thought of all the gifts he would give her, all the affection he sought to give her that she pushed away, what she would’ve done to go back and soak it all in knowing what she knows now. Knowing what she knows now, she would have never taking Thy to her bed, she would have found Miguel the day she landed and slapped him for hurting her so bad, slapped him again for cheating and another time for thinking that excuse could ever replace her, then would’ve made love to him till he could no longer stay awake. They would have been married sooner, he would’ve taken her to see his country and they would see how in love they were. “Your Highness, the room is now ready for you.” The gynecologist announced, stepping to the side, creating room for her to walk in. Kalina entered nervously. The gynecologist smiled a woeful smile. “So…you’ve been blessed after a loss. I don’t know whether to give you my regrets or say congratulations…” She said awkwardly. Kali looked up trying to not display the anger she was feeling. She placed her hand on her womb, trying to use her child to calm her. “I don’t want to acknowledge that my husband’s plane crash when I’m in here. In here we will pretend he is still out abroad doing work. I don’t want the negativity in here when I’m looking at care for my little one.” Kali said trying to collect herself. The doctor nodded, regretting her words. “Well how about we get started on the testing shall we? Let’s see the prince’s healthy heir.” The doctor smiled. Kali stuck her hand up. “I can expect that you will provide doctor patient confidentiality for my child and I as you would anyone else. I need to know my child is good and we are healthy before I announce this to all of Brazil and the world.” She said knowing if the doctor didn’t preform that then she would most certainly harm her. “Of course your royal highness.”

Kalina sat there going through a number of test, requesting they look at the baby last and figure out when she should expect the baby. She felt like she was a sad animal being poked and prodded at, she swallowed her pride not to complain, taking it, needing to for the sake of her child. “My ladies keep track of everything that occurs to me and my body. They don’t have anything for the two weeks after my wedding because my husband insist on being completely alone. It’s something you non royals have a luxury of having. But according to my ladies, the last day of my ovulation was my wedding day. Miguel and I werent having sex before the wedding day. So the date of conception was September 23.” Kalina said, imagining it was from the first time they had sex that night. That moment felt life changing. The doctor input it into the file, checking to see if the file was encrypted again, knowing the princess history of violence. She looked at the time frame, feeling woeful. “Well, my lady, I can say you can expect for at least June 16. We will talk more about dates as your fetus grows more.” She smiled to the princess. Kali nodded, having a date in mind made everything feel more surreal. The doctor watched her princess face change as she was all in her mind. “Are you ready to get a look at your fetus?”She asked sure this would make her more comfortable. Kalina looked up, shaking her head then nodding. She laughed softly. “I am still getting use to nodding meaning yes. Yes I would love to see my little one.” She said adjusting herself so she could pull her blouse up for the doctor. The doctor saw the princess as endearing. “It’s going to be cold, Princess Kalina.” She announced, prepping her prince’s wife. Kali shivered feeling the gel. Nervousness set in as she was about to see her little angel. The doctor watched Kalina’s face as she turned on the screen. She could see the hope filling her prince’s love’s eyes. She watched as she searched for the child, wanting to see the moment that Kali first saw her child. “There is your fetus.” She announced, Kali gasped seeing her baby. “Ganya…” she breathed. The doctor looked to the princess confused. Kali pointed to the screen. “I need three pictures. One for me, one for my family and one for Miguel’s. My Ganya.” She said, her eyes watering up. The doctor felt pity for the patient. “Princess Kalina, do you mind if I ask what does Ganya mean?” The doctor asked softly. She looked to the doctor smiling. “Ganya is my little one’s nickname till we learn the gender. Ganya because my husband is Miguel in his tongue and Mikhail in mine. Angel Mikhail. I lost my angel, and was given another. Gavrail or Gabriela. That’s what the next Brazilian royalty will be named.” She announced, looking to the screen. She was two months pregnant missing her husband and her sister was on her way. The doctor sighed, reaching out to the princess. Kalina typically hated when people randomly touched her but in this moment it was touching. “Princess Kalina I am so sorry for your loss, I pray things all go well for you and your Ganya. The prince was fortunate to found a woman who loves him as much as you do.” She said trying not to cry. Kalina swallowed hard. “I need you pull yourself together, I refuse to cry right now because, or I will be that terrible princess Miguel didn’t want to come here. You get to cry when you are alone like I will. Please.” Kali said trying to stay strong. The doctor nodded. She rubbed the princess’ hand. The doctor continued to work in silence, knowing if she spoke she would cry.

“My lady, in two weeks, when you reach 3 months, I need you to return alright. Start back doing yoga but more zen and less focus on flexibility. Eat healthy and avoid the caffeine and alcohol. You are starting to glow.” The doctor said handing Kali the pictures. She looked at the baby again, excited to see her child growing.

[kalina-moonbride]

First Time Sleeping Together

Context: Level 84 quest “Returning Home”. Spoilers: References to character beats from Shadowbringers. Warnings: Sexual interactions and innuendo, non-explicit. Challenge: @ffxivpolyamoryweek! Details here.

Kalina Moonbride and Y'shtola Rhul stood outside the andron, their conversation drawing to a close with Y'shtola satisfied in the Warrior of Light's well-being. “I suspect it will grow colder as the night wears on,” said the sorceress, “so do be sure to stay warm. Sleep well, and may the shadows keep you.” She bowed, with arms folded and held forward: the little parting benediction of the Night's Blessed.

Cold or not, Kalina's heart melted in that moment. She and Y'shtola were the only ones in the whole of the Source for whom that gesture held special meaning. Thancred and Urianger were familiar, sure, but they didn't believe, they hadn't practiced it. Being of the Night's Blessed was a small, strange, secret bond between these two women alone in all the world.

She had declined an invitation to enter the andron, when she arrived, but maybe… “Shtola… don't go yet, please.”

The Miqo'te's ears twitched at the affectionate omission of the tribe marker from her name. “I've said what I came to say. Is there aught else?”

Kalina looked down, willing herself past shyness. “You wouldn't have to … say … anything.” She reached out and put a hand under Y'shtola's, open, that she might freely withdraw if she wished. “Help me stay warm? Like you want me to?”

“Ah…” Her pale eyes filled with sadness, and she too couldn't look into the other's face. But she closed her hand over Kalina's.

“I know you miss Runar. Maybe not as much as he misses you, granted.” Kalina glanced up to see how that landed; Y'shtola smiled a little, wistful, not offended. “I don't want you to forget. But I could help fill the absence, if you'd have me.”

Shtola reached up with her free hand, touched Kalina's fur at the collarbone. Her fingers slid under the chain that connected the bodice of Kalina's Makai jacket to the choker around her neck, closed around it, a faint tug. “This is your desire? To be something more than friends and comrades?”

Ilms away from those fingertips, Kalina's heart raced. “Yes! It has been, for some time. I… guess I lacked the courage until tonight.”

Y'shtola let out a breath between her lips, not quite chuckling. “That you of anyone would speak of failed courage! But it is a dangerous thing, is it not.” She looked up, searching Kalina's face with those literally soul-piercing eyes. But whatever she found there seemed to settle her mind. “…Very well. Let us see what comes of it, together.”

Gods, she wanted to freeze this moment, keep that look on Shtola's face and those hands right where they were, but… the door. She tightened her grip on Y'shtola's hand, turned and pushed through into the andron.

“Oh?” Y'shtola hesitated, and let go of Kalina's hand, as the door shut behind them. There, curled up tight with a pillow and a blanket atop a little padded bench, lay G'raha Tia, sound asleep.

'Oh' indeed. Whoops. “Uh.” Kalina lowered her voice. “Right. Raha came knocking too, maybe a bell ago? For much the same reason as you did. Checking on me, like, to see if I was okay?” She made frantic, meaningless little gestures with her now-free hands. “And yes, I invited him in, too, just like you but… no, different! It's not, um, physical, with him?” She found it more and more difficult to keep her voice to a whisper. She fussed with her choker and its chain, beneath which her skin still felt hot. “I mean, even if it were, it'd be fine! It is fine! We can all be together, it's okay.” She met Y'shtola's eyes directly at last, her expression desperate and pleading. “If it's okay, I mean. With you?”

Y'shtola's body language went very tense and strange, as if she were caught between three different possible reactions at once. Was she about to turn back toward the door, or put her hands on her hips, or lean her head onto one palm? But finally her shoulders relaxed and her expression softened, and she let out a little huff of suppressed laughter. “You're sure he wouldn't object?”

“Yes!” She said it at full volume, and realizing as much, clapped a hand over her mouth. Thankfully, the man on the bench didn't stir. She lowered the hand along with her voice. “We've talked about it, even. What it'd be like, if some of us Scions were … closer. He'll be delighted, I promise.” A parade of thoughts came crashing to a halt in a disastrous pile-up. “But, um, it'd be kind of us to let him sleep. We shouldn't do anything… loud.”

Shtola giggled, the most girlish outburst Kalina had ever witnessed from the woman. Then she closed the distance between them with three long, slow, stealthy strides, and looked up at Kalina.

“I think we can manage.”

[ambition-of-a-vixen]

¿Para viver...sem o Sol?

Kalina pulled her clothes off piece by piece as she walked through her quarters, not the quarters her and her husband shared, she couldn’t bare to go in there, not if she was expected to leave their bed anytime soon. She slinked into her old bedroom, the room where she created her first child, with his cousin. She asked him to keep the room intact, even though she hadn’t been in there since Thyrso left for Norway. She was taken to Miguel’s room and hadn’t left. She stayed with him as she bared the pain of loosing her first child. She was reassured that the reason she lost her child was a combination of stress and chromosomal abnormalities, that given the two families, it was an one in a million incident that probably wouldn’t happen again. It was the only thing that saved her from having the doctor doing further extensive work that might have included them taking her eggs out and freezing them. She madge Miguel pray over her uterus finding that out once they got alone. She felt incomplete, the man who she laid with, the man who she would crawl beside, resting her face on his chest, hiding her face when she was sad was no longer there. Her bed was cold and she felt so lost. She placed her hands on her stomach. Baby Misha, what she began to loving refer to her child as was the one person who was keeping her from doing something irrational. She crawled into a ball, all empty of tears for the night. She began praying that her pregnancy would be a success. She needed that child, it was a testament to her love with him, his legacy, his heir. And unbeknownst to the queen and the princess, the true person next in line for the throne if things went the way she expected, which was Isabel using this to maintain her role as empress dowager, acting regent until Miguel was crowned Emperor. Kalina realized she hadn’t been named Princess Kalina here in Brazil, people called her Princess of Brazil, but her only stake was if Miguel was crowned Emperor. They would call her the dowager princess something that bothered her truly. She placed her hand on her stomach, her little child was pushed back in the line of succession, as Larissa was now to be empress. Her child was Larissa’s heir, even if Larissa didn’t know. Kalina didn’t know what she would do when her child was born. She needed her husband, he was her support and he was the good. She was petrified of the idea that she would corrupt her child. Kalina knew she could be a cruel person and she knew she could subconsciously do the things that her mother did to her. She was terrified, she wanted to do her child right. Kalina laid on her back, placing her hands on her stomach, taking a deep breath, feeling weak knowing that her husband wasn’t there with her. She needed him, she felt alone. Her support was gone. Her lover was gone. Her best friend was gone and she was alone in a country where she didn’t have people who would be completely loyal to her besides her maids, that wasn’t true power. She realized that she was too dependent on her husband. That she decided to let her power grow here versus seeking it out, she had expected to be with her husband for much longer, it killed her that she wasn’t. She watched her maids enter the room, cleaning up any mess she had maid, Iliana carrying tea with her, coming to her princess. It was Eva who was by her side first, with Soledad behind her, Xhana on the other side of the bed. Kalina sat up, wiping her face, the women looked to her lost as she felt. “Princess,” Iliana had began, passing her a cup of tea, Kali taking it, waving her hands to allow them to sit where they wished. “Princess, what have you thought to do?” Iliana brought Kalina back to the realization that she was in fact a foreigner in the land, without Miguel, all she had was what was his unless he wrote that it was to go to Larissa rather than his wife. “Some people who speculate that the affection you displayed with his royal highness was a farce and that maybe you had something to do with the what is being called now to attempted murder of Prince Miguel.” Iliana told her princess. Kalina swallowed hard trying to focus on the child growing in her. If they truly knew her, they would know she was an awful liar, thus she was upfront with things. “Blessed child, my temper check, my little star. I think...maybe I should announce that I am with child. People will be moved to be in my support. I must be prepared for if they try to oust me. I am not going to running back to Bulgaria when my husband had things he wanted done to improve Brazil. I must complete it, in his honor.” Kalina said placing her hands on her stomach, trying to stay calm. Kalina saw the way her ladies watched her, they were concerned, she noticed though in Iliana’s eyes there was calculations. “Princess, use the innocence of your child, that would be smart, but in the wake of the fact that your husband could be dead, and thus that is his only heir...that is that we know of and his only legitimate child, quite brilliant.” Iliana said, proving herself to Kalina yet again. Soledad and Xhana witness the dynamic of Kalina and Iliana yet again. It was Iliana who recognized the method to Kalina’s madness. Eva eyes went wide, “Princess, what if your little star has your way of thinking, a Machiavellian with your husband’s impulsive behavior?” She asked curious. Kali placed her hand on her womb, that would be something she would have to be able to watch for in her child. Unlike her parents, this was what seem like would be her only child, at least for now. “My child, they will have to deal with me seeking to place them on the right course for them to be brilliant, I will pray my child is not as bullheaded as their father.” She said, hoping that her child though had her husband’s heart, his capability to love and his creativity. She wanted her child to have her brilliance though. Kalina felt her head throb, her nausea was returning. “I need to lay down ladies. May Miguel be alive and return tomorrow, I need him to return. We have so much to do.” She said, watching Iliana get up. She laid down, watching Iliana go retrieve Kalina’s Chotki, leaving her to silently pray that the rumors were false and for husband to return to her. The joy that she would have if he was to come through the doors now. She would curse those who spoke of her husband as if he was dead, commanding him to take her to their bed. She would cover him in kisses and thank the holy trinity that he was returned to her. She would hold him, sharing the news of her womb. She watched the door, voicelessly praying that her husband would come through the door, tired from a long day, exhausted and pulling her into him. Or better yet, Iliana coming in, urging her to dress as her presence was needed in the throne room, there she would find her husband awaiting her, his mother and sister. She would surely step out of character, displaying great affection for her husband in public beyond holding his hand or embracing him, or chaste kiss. She would hold him at waist after he embraced his mother and sister. She would keep her face on his chest, her ear to his heart. Her husband would be in her arms, her whispering to him that she loves him in Bulgarian. She laid there, tears streaming down her eyes as she prayed, her heart wretched as she awaited for the news. Her bones, her soul, her heart told her that the father of her child was alive. She didn’t believe that he was actually dead, he couldn’t be. Sleep no longer could she evade, her eyes betrayed her as she passed out into a slumber. Her dreams filled with her heart desires. In her arms, held a child, being nursed at her breast, a soft smile on her face. Her hair was moved off of her shoulder, she looked up, seeing Miguel. He kissed her cheek then her neck. She heard in his sweet accent that he loves her. He made her joyous. It was her heaven, her dreams became her pleasantry. He was alive in her dreams, and there she wanted to be.