Aeacus, Bardic Arbiter

If I was harmless and small, and easy to hold, you would love me. If I was a worm you could put me in the soft earth and I would be helpless in your care. Of course you could love me, but could you love me if I stung you, bit you, pulled against you, hid and didn't understand you but wasn't harmless or helpless at all?

We build wildlife preserves. Often explicitly for the protection of animals and ecosystems that can and have killed humans.

Whenever a whale gets stranded on a beach, CROWDS show up ad risk getting bludgeoned to death trying to get it back into the water.

Every Zoo has a reptile house full of venomous snakes and a team of humans dedicated to giving them the best quality of life possible.

There are volunteer beekeepers who will travel for miles and miles and hours and hours to relocate an entire hive.

There are people who rehabilitate dangerous dogs and horses

There are people who restore structurally unsound houses

There are people who study the way that fire burns so it can rejoin the ecosystem and not be smothered on sight.

Every day, millions of people get up and devote themselves to things that can and will kill them by their nature. Things they can't touch or show kindness to. Things they can't go near. Things that are wholly incapable of loving them back.

And they do it because they love them.

Everything dangerous, everything poisonous, everything 'useless'- absolutely everything has someone, often many thousands of people, who loves them exactly as they are, without expectation that their affection will be returned.

During a recent televised debate, Rep. Jasmine Crockett took Mike Huckabee down over his interpretation of Christian morality.

Jasmine Crockett:

“Governor Huckabee, what does Jesus say in Matthew 25 about how we’ll be judged?”

Mike Huckabee:

He hesitated, mumbling something about sheep and goats.

Crockett: “That’s right. The final judgment. Would you like me to quote it?”

Before Huckabee could respond, she read directly from her phone:

“I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.

I was a stranger and you welcomed me.

I was sick and you looked after me.

I was in prison and you came to visit me.”

Crockett continued:

“Jesus doesn’t mention abortion.

He doesn’t mention same-sex marriage.

He doesn’t bring up tax rates or culture war issues.

The only criteria Jesus gives for heaven or hell are how we treat the poor, the sick, the immigrant, the prisoner.”

She looked Huckabee in the eye:

“So, Governor, if you oppose every single one of those policies, what does that say about your understanding of Christian morality?”

Huckabee tried to respond, but Crockett pressed on:

Matthew 19:21 – “Sell all your possessions and give to the poor.”

Luke 4:18 – “Proclaim good news to the poor, freedom for the prisoners.”

Matthew 8 – Jesus heals a man with leprosy, touching someone society called unclean.

“You say I’m not a real Christian because I support feeding programs for kids, universal health care, and immigration reform. But Jesus said those are the exact things that determine salvation.”

Then came the knockout:

“Jesus never said, ‘I was a wealthy corporation and you gave me tax breaks.’

He never said, ‘I was a gun manufacturer and you protected my profits.’

He never said, ‘I was a pharmaceutical company and you let me charge whatever I wanted.’”

Crockett concluded: “Your version of faith asks whether someone deserves help before offering it. But Jesus never said, ‘I was hungry and you checked if I had a job first.’”

She quoted Isaiah 58, Proverbs 31, and Micah 6:8, then addressed Huckabee’s final attempt to challenge her.

Huckabee: “But you still support abortion and same-sex marriage. You’re picking and choosing.”

Crockett: “The word abortion appears zero times in the Bible. Same-sex marriage, also zero. But caring for the poor? Dozens of times. Welcoming immigrants? Direct commands. Healing the sick? Over and over again. So if someone’s cherry-picking, Governor, it isn’t me.”

- - ✰ ✰ ✰ - -

You didn’t know that’s what he was at the time, but in retrospect, you suppose it should’ve been obvious.

Today, a special tournament organized to replace your (recently retired) personal knight is being held. Despite being an adult, your family still insists you need a glorified babysitter.

He sticks out like a sore thumb amongst the other knights in attendance- both by at least a full head’s height, and the stark lack of coat of arms displayed on his blackened armor. The fact that he hasn’t removed his helmet once during the event only adds to his mysterious presence.

Rather than the typical method of entry, he was invited to the melee for winning an open challenge-at-arms the previous day- a tradition your family continues to observe, since it seems to appease the common folk. 

“I heard that he fell three men with one swing yesterday.” You say, interest piqued. You would’ve liked to attend that event rather than the dull, almost ceremonial jousting matches you watched yesterday.

Your father hums in acknowledgement, but offers no other opinion.

“Martial prowess isn’t the only quality that a good knight must possess, dear.” Your mother attempts to smother your passion. “There’s other things to consider in a retainer; courtesy, noble manners, good breeding… And oh look, Ser Dubois is riding in-”

You’ve already tuned out her lecture as you usually do, utterly enamored with the newcomer.

The melee starts- and it doesn’t take long to see a lead forming.

It’s an absolute bloodbath.

Well- not literally- since the weapons are purposefully blunted. The idea is to recruit some of the runner-ups into your family’s lower guard ranks, after all, so any permanent damage would be detrimental to that goal.

But watching this new fighter is a spectacle all the same. He is a twister of metallic carnage.

Watching combat usually gets your blood pumping, though the typical faire at these events is far too mild for your liking, all pomp and posturing. But he has a raw, visceral power to his blows. For once, you are at the edge of your seat.

Man after man crumples to a heap of armor at his feet. After the initial onslaught dies off, he doggedly hunts down all the stragglers, one by one.

Finally, it’s just him and one other. The other man left standing- as luck would have it- is your parents’ favorite to win.

The noble is frozen in place as the hulking figure approaches, zweihander raised. If it wasn’t for the volume of the crowd of spectators, you could probably hear the metal of his poleyns knocking together.

You’ve certainly never seen a competitor forfeit by vaulting over the wooden fence into the crowd before. 

You can’t help but let out an unbecoming guffaw at the sight: the knight in flashy, gaudy colors fleeing with tail between his legs, and the knight in black simply lowering his sword and looking around in bewilderment.

“Second sons,” Your mother seethes through the erupting boom of cheers and jeers below you, pulling out her hand fan to cool her frustration. “I’ll have to have a word with his mother-”

Your father clears his throat loudly, and your mother’s words drop off abruptly, the fan falling out of her hand. You glance back down to see the source of their sudden surprise.

The knight has pulled his horned helmet off, revealing moss green skin and two ivory tusks protruding under his imperial-styled moustache.

Rating: Explicit

Archive Warnings: Rape/Non-ConGraphic Depictions Of Violence

Categories: F/MM/M

Fandom: Original Work

Relationships: Original Female Character(s)/Original Male Character(s), Original Male Character/Original Male Character

Characters: Original Female Character(s), Original Male Character(s), Original Trans Character(s)

Viktor: What's that?

Jayce: Remorse code.