Ronan

RONAN is an 322 year old HETEROSEXUAL, MALE, HE/HIM, here in Firebrand City. People say they look a lot like NICHOLAS HOULT. They are SMART but can be COWARDLY. They are a (LIGHT) FAE SUPERIOR in Firebrand and work as a HIVE ARCHITECT. 

Calliope was practically hyperventilating against him, trembling in his arms as he held her, letting her cry. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware that this was the first time she’d really, truly cried in months. Maybe even since coming here. She hadn’t even been allowed time to mourn before she was thrown into this new life. Mourn her home, mourn their old lives…mourn Calluna. The entire hive had lost so much. They’d lost their queen…but she’d lost her mom and it was someone she’d never get back again. The grief of it all was so overwhelming it was threatening to swallow her whole. 

It just made her hold onto him tighter.

She didn’t know how much time passed before Ronan was pulling away, just enough to face her and she sniffled as he wiped at her face, shaking her head. “A..And yet so many are miserable here. I did that..” it practically came out like a whimper, making her look down, away from his gaze. “I-I..I’ve been trying so hard and it..it doesn’t seem like it’s enough.” Learning technology, embracing modernity, creating liaisons with other species, constantly trying to better their territory here, make it more like the forest they all knew and missed… Every waking second she had was spent on trying to better the lives of her people whilst simultaneously trying to fill in her mother’s shoes. “I just…I..–I just want to stop feeling like I’m failing..”

*

Ronan continued to hold her, wanting her to be able to get it all out. As much as it hurt seeing her so sad, sometimes people just needed a long cry and he would hold her for as long as she needed. He was always there for her and would always be there for her. 

“You are not failing.” Ronan immediately stopped Callie from going down that mental path. She was not failing them and as much as they weren’t used to any of this, they would adjust. They were a hardy species that had survived thus far even with the entire world seemingly against them. He poked her nose, “Come on, Cantaloupe, you know that your mother would hate seeing you like this. I bet she would be so proud of all you’ve accomplished. I know I am.”

The man gave a slow sigh but followed by a laugh “Perhaps so” He agreed, only then giving a hum at his question “A good question, it’s a little bit of both. Most of us have an idea of what we want to become, but it will also be things that happen in their lives that make us pick what we settle on-” He stammered as he tried to find the right words. Afterall, his fixation on the snow had allowed him to pick his own forms. “It’s a strange balance, almost like how a dragon will pick it’s human form, or maybe even how a gorgon picks their snakes? Though with the gorgons I’m not actually sure”

*

“Fascinating... If I could be any animal, I would probably like to be an eagle or something. I don’t think I could ever give up flying.” His eyes immediately went to the sky, wondering what life would have been like if he couldn’t soar through them. It sounded awfully inconvenient. “I would hate to be a gorgon. One mind is annoying enough without a couple dozen snakes in your head. Imagine the anxiety.” He didn’t know if each had their own mind but it was still funny to think about. 

Once she’d started crying, Calliope felt like she couldn’t stop- the floodgates opening as she curled in on herself on the ground. Her body was shaking from how sobs wracked through her, her head throbbing painfully as weeks and weeks of pent up emotions finally came out. She felt like a failure. Like everything she was doing was wrong and…her being queen was a mistake. They clearly didn’t belong here, so many were unhappy… and it was her fault. Her mother would probably be ashamed of the state of her hive if she’d seen it now.

She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her face hidden into her hands as she cried, so lost in it all that she hadn’t sensed anyone else nearby until suddenly there was a presence next to her, an arm going around her shoulders. Callie jumped at first, thinking maybe it was Torryn or one of her other guards coming to find her, telling her it was time to go back to work. But instead when she realized just who it was she only cried harder, knowing Ronan was someone it was safe to break down around. 

“I’m sorry…” she sobbed, turning more towards him and wrapping her arm around him, clinging to him. “I-I shouldn’t be queen…I can’t…I can’t do this..”

*

It positively broke Ronan’s heart to see Callie like this and he would have done anything to make her pain go away, but for all his smarts and abilities, this was completely out of his control. No matter whether Callie wanted it or not, she was their Queen and there was no way of changing that. It was endlessly frustrating that this was one problem he couldn’t solve. He hadn’t done so in their hundreds of years of friendship and he would never.

When Callie clung to him, he wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tightly, letting her know that he would always be here for her. “You can. You have.” He pulled away slightly so that he could wipe away a few of her tears. He wanted her to look at him, to listen. “Callie, you’ve gotten this hive through the worst event that has happened in centuries.” 

He waited for her breathing to calm down to explain. “Our forest burned down, our home. No Queen has ever had to deal with having to rebuild our entire lives,” he reminded her. This was completely unprecedented for all of them and Callie was doing the best that she could. “You’re the one holding us together. You’re leading us at our worst and at our most desperate. No one should have to take that responsibility but you did.” It wasn’t a simple task and he didn’t understand how Callie couldn’t see it. Her mother may have made ruling seem effortless but ruling was effortless when one’s people had been at peace and happy for centuries. 

“I almost have to hand it to the original vampires who managed to convince humans they turned into bats. That’s definitely a lie and a half” He hummed, pushing his hands into his hoodie, giving a small thoughtful expression. “You know I’d love to ask them, I have one familiar friend who turns into a black cat and she has no balance or poise….It’s very disconcerting and probably offensive to actual felines when you think about it.” He mused, his feline form wasn’t one he could access all too easily- but who was always there when the time called for it. 

“See? You guys are to blame,” he joked when Leo mentioned a black cat friend. “But maybe the witches are because it wasn’t the familiars that people were scared of and wanted to burn at the stake.” This was why his kind stayed away from humans. They were so quick to resort to violence that it wasn’t even worth the effort to befriend them. “How do your transformations work anyway? Do you guys get to choose or is it some psychological manifestation of your personality or whatever.”

Callie let out a soft little sigh and knocked her shoulder against his, “You know what I mean…” she replied even as she smiled. “And for the record I could order you to do something for me, and then you would have to.” She teased, her smile growing before she playfully rolled her eyes at him. “Yes sir.”

She tried her best to focus too, but it was…a lot. Words she’d never used, things she’d never seen. Technology was so fascinating to her, but even after nearly six months of living in Firebrand, she was still having some trouble gripping it all. But still, she tried, glueing things together and trying not to mess things up since he’d clearly been working hard on this. “I’m going to say it again…you’re pretty amazing, teaching yourself all this. I can barely get a grasp on the idea of phone calls and texting..but you’ve taken it all in stride. It’s admirable.” Part of her wondered if she should have been more knowledgable by now in all this, and maybe she’d been slacking. “Clearly I need to learn faster.”

*

Ronan raised his brow, unconvinced by Calliope’s words. They sounded way too formal and like something a Queen would say to her advisor. It was what they were but Callie didn’t have to compliment him--she knew that. He had enough confidence for the both of them and it was even worse that she backed up a compliment to him with a little insult to herself. “You are busy, Cantaloupe. You have to run an entire hive and participate in the politics of a giant city. Your job is much harder than mine.” Computers and technology were straightforward. They didn’t lie, they didn’t have feelings, it was just reading books and constant trial and error.

“Now stop inflating my ego and get back to work!” he teased, playfully poking her cheek. They continued working and was almost able to complete the computer when someone came knocking at Ronan’s door. He didn’t look back and told the person to come in, immediately regretting it when he realized they were there for Callie and that she needed to attend a meeting. “You guys can’t let her have a day, can you?” 

“Gotta say its probably wise you did not, given that a tree at that height would without a doubt attract a lot of human attention.” Vai pointed out. The fae might have hidden well from people for a good while, but she knew they had also struggled to stay entirely off the humans radar. She was sure that if they did chose to make a tree of that magnitude though, it would be both grand and beautiful. “I mean if you ever do want to try that, I could carry and fly it over the mountains, it would be a piece of cake.” she shrugged a bit though also couldn’t help find it curious how such a scenario would play out. His question made her grin. “Not an entire one. But I’ve enlarged caves with my fire and claws to fit me. My mom taught me when I was fairly young.” She explained. 

*

“Fascinating...” Ronan had rarely interacted with dragons since they were as recluse as his own kind, but they always fascinated him. They simply existed with no duties to carry out but their own survival. It seemed nice and stress free as long as they successfully avoided humans. Fae were a community and literally couldn’t survive without one but dragons could probably go for hundreds of years and not interact with their own. “What else did your mother teach you when you were young? My mother is a teacher at my hive so she taught me plenty of things but she was teaching a handful of other sprites at the exact same time so it was hardly special.”

Gabriel moved instinctively, although he felt slightly irritated at the way the man had phrased it. A ‘please’ wouldn’t have hurt. He was going to keep moving, not wanting to bother this person who was clearly already annoyed with him, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard the man speak again. He wasn’t sure whether it was directed at him, but he answered nonetheless. “I suppose so, yes.” He looked over at the skyscraper. “Although I can’t recall ever seeing a building made out of wood that tall. What has you wondering?”

*

“I was thinking about the potential something like that would have in my forest but it doesn’t exactly belong in a forest, not looking like that.” He would have an utter riot on his hands if he ever built a building of concrete in his hive. Being able to build such a large structure out of a tree would be a marvel, however, and that was way more acceptable to his people. “It probably won’t happen any time soon but I like to plan for the future.”

“It changes what we stood for. Guardians of the forest, at one with nature, at peace.” Liath sighed, shaking her head. She figured this was likely a battle between the youth and elders. She only furrowed her eyebrows not wanting to argue to, they were never meant to argue. Liath simply felt frustrated like a caged tiger. “It’s more that I know I’m more relaxed than someone like her, it was simply an err on the side of caution with your opinion with some of us, that’s all-” she decided to pause instead of going further into what had been affecting her sister, simply as she had no idea if Ronan would tell Callie. “Not intentionally, she wouldn’t. It’s just this whole change, this city eats at a soul-” she stammered. “Sorry” she murmured, looking away and clearing her throat. She didn’t want to drag Ronan through her fears, she simply had to repress her emotions like her sister had advised. She couldn’t expect him to understand, he was likely looking at his grief differently. She felt it was all she’d ever be able to do. She needed her own spot to hide in and cry, God knew others had one. “Oh, there’s something about working in a club and seeing people who can’t handle their alcohol that makes you a whole lot less curious about festivities.” She hummed. “There’s a cautious curiousity that falls on me, I can admit to that. Cautious because of what happened the last time, but curious for what’s on offer” She added, sure she’d thought about it but the last event she’d attended there’d been a murder- so she wasn’t exactly raring to go. But Liath was at least hopeful she could distract herself to a degree, with alcohol at least.

Originally posted by thesoapmademedoit1

“Our forest is gone, Liath. We can’t change that. But our new home here is at least reminiscent of it? Look around, are we not surrounded by nature?” They’d made sure the trees were high enough to block out any sights of the cityscape after all. “I understand missing what we had.. But being in a new place shouldn’t change who we are. We’re more than our surroundings. Whether you’re in Auburn, or standing in an intersection, you’re still a warrior are you not? And you’re also far too stubborn to let anyone or anything change you. Especially this city.” Ronan gave her a small smirk as he said it, knowing she and her sister were two of the most strong-willed Faes in their hive. “Why don’t you leave that job then? I can’t imagine a nightclub highlights the best of people in this city. And as for caution....that’s how plenty of us are handling this. But why not try cautious optimism? Afraid you might find yourself having been wrong and this city isn’t as horrible as you think?” he was still smiling slightly as he said it, his comment teasing more than anything.

Lex wrinkled their nose, and narrowed their eyes a bit. “Well, shit,” they muttered to themselves. They shot a glance towards some of the eyes looking at them, before shuffling him forward. “Of course, I’d run into someone who could get us both killed,” they muttered a little to themselves, and under their breath. “What are you doing in this neck of the woods, anyways?” they hissed at him.

*

“I was exploring and lost my way,” Ronan confessed. He hadn’t fully explored the city yet, often too busy in his own neck of the woods, but decided to spend a few hours mindlessly walking around to see if there was anything interesting. He was beginning to regret it. “So I take it you worked at that place. What do you do there?”

Callie didn’t mean to get so serious, but shouldn’t help it- not really. Not when she always tended to be so honest when it came to him. (Or, well, almost always honest). “Sorry…” she murmured, only last seconds before she was huffing out a little laugh as he forced her mouth up into a smile. A smile that stayed on her face as he pulled her over to another thing he was working on. “Wait…what?” Her smile dimmed a little- bit only so it could be replaced by a look of awe. “You….you’re making me one?”

It was a good thing she already had a surprised look on her face because a moment later Ronan was pulling her onto his lap and she sucked in a breath, her eyes widening ever so slightly as a flush deeply colored her face. At least her hair was down so she could hide behind the curtain of it. Calliope swallowed, trying to calm the sudden racing of her heart, hardly hearing the words the other fae was saying as he wrapped something around her wrist and started inundating her with computer lingo. “S-Sensitive…got it.” she agreed softly, giving a nod and glancing over her shoulder at him, giving him a little smile. “You..didn’t have to do all this, Ro. Not just for me.”

*

“I never have to do anything for you,” Ronan agreed, smiling right back at her. “Doesn’t mean I don’t want to.” As far Ronan was concerned, that was the end of that conversation. Callie knew that he would do anything for her and they didn’t need to argue that fact. It went beyond her just being his Queen--she was also his best friend. “Now focus, I’m teaching,” he jokingly demanded.

He could tell that she missed a lot of what he said so he started the process instead. He grabbed the CPU and then passed her a small tube of thermal paste. “Squeeze a bit of that onto this.” He waited for her to follow his instructions before continuing. Every step of the way, he would explain what was happening and offer her the opportunity to follow through with what he explained. If she seemed hesitant, he would take over while giving her a chance to do the easier parts. 

The older fae shook her head at his words “It’s not her decision I am against, I am against the changing of what we are at the core. Callie-….The queen did what she had to” she said simply “What would you suggest then? Fake smiles, more fakery on top of an already fake setting? This city is nothing but fake no matter how it’s dressed up. Oh yes, Ronan…Lie to the queen, give her blinders and make her pretend that everything is just fine. We accept it by staying, it doesn’t mean we have to like it. We stay for honor and for family, just as the dark fae always have. I would advise you not to give that speech to Torryn” she said lowly, knowing that a fae like Torryn wouldn’t at all accept it. Torryn had changed and Liath missed her sister, a huge chunk of her was missing. “Mourning yes. Still, it doesn’t mean our home in this Hellhole needs uprooting and our ways forgotten, that is my main worry with this whole mess.” she said simply, her tone blunt and rough- but she was at least honest with her own kind.

*

“Changing where we live and the assimilations we’ve had to take doesn’t change who we are as a people, Liath. Nothing could ever change that..” He started a bit quieter, not wanting to start any sort of argument with one of his own. “And I’m not saying that either. What I am saying is that she knows everyone is struggling here. And she’s trying to make the best of it. For all of us. None of us wanted to leave our forest...” the very idea was absurd. “I’m not quite sure was Torryn has to do with any of this either. But either way, all I’m trying to get at is that whether we like it or not..this was our Queen’s decision. I don’t believe she would let us forget who we are...do you?” Ronan asked, tilting his head a bit as he kept his eyes on the other. “I don’t want us to lie to her...but would keeping an open mind and possibly giving this place a chance be so bad? Like even with these festivities coming up, you can’t tell me you’re not even a little curious? And maybe want to give it, and this city, a chance?”

“It’s obscene” the Fae in return corrected lowly, her eyes narrowing at his disregard for her feelings almost. She’d never known another to be so tactless when speaking of Auburn and it made the feathers of her wings bristle. The subject of home hurt too much and Firebrand would never be home. But then again, Liath had always been a hot head. Yet she ground her teeth on the possible worry that Ronan wasn’t bothered. “I don’t wish to imagine it, Ronan. None of us are ever going to want one of those eyesores and the day we do is the day we lose who we are. We were meant for trees and nature. Not this. Never this. This city will do nothing but rot us from within.”

*

Ronan sighed, expecting the pushback from the elder fae. Change was difficult and she had been living in the same unchanging world for hundreds of years but the feelings of others wasn’t his concern. His only concern was the well-being of their hive and the happiness of their Queen. “The Queen made this decision for a reason and I wholly support her,” he replied. “So complaining about it doesn’t do anything but hurt her. She’s young but she’s not an idiot, Liath. She can see the clenched smiles and the looks of disgust.” He met the dark fae’s eyes, almost pleading. “Can’t you at least try to accept it for her sake? All this distain is just telling her she made the wrong decision and that’s the last thing she needs right now. We are all mourning but Callie lost more than any of us could even imagine and she still manages to put a smile on her face every day for our sake.”

When Ronan agreed to help her Calliope’s expression just brightened- a wide, happy grin spreading over her face. It dimmed a tiny bit though when he mentioned politics and her life now. It was so easy to forget she was the queen when she was with him. And now more than ever she craved that sense of normalcy. “I can make time. …Besides, technically here when it comes to the politics, I’m only second in command..” Even if everyone knew the Fae Council Leader really was just for show and Calliope was the one who made any final decisions for their people.

“I just…I want to do something that doesn’t revolve around me being the queen and being in charge. I want to learn something new because…because I want to, not because I have to.” everything right now in her life had such a sense of immediacy and urgency that most days she was overwhelmed and just trying not to outwardly show it. Even when she wasn’t working on the council, she was trying to learn everything about the modern world they were in to ease the minds of her people. Their comfort and protection was at the forefront–which oftentimes lead to Callie putting herself and her own wants and needs to the side. “And when I’m with you, I…I don’t feel like the queen. Or..or like I need to be on and in charge all the time. I’m just..Callie.”

*

Ronan did not like how his innocent question suddenly became something so sad. He didn’t want Callie frowning and thinking about all her duties. “None of that in here, lab rules,” he stated, poking at her frown and forcing it up. “Smiles only.” He pulled off his gloves and took her hand, pulling her over to another desk. “I was going to make you a computer so that you could add it to your office but since you’re here, why should I do all the hard work?” Ronan wasn’t very good at feelings but he was good at distracting Callie from them.

He sat down in front of the desk and pulled her onto his lap so that he could watch her from behind. He reached for anti-static bracelet and wrapped it around her wrist, clipping the other end to the desk. “Computer components are very sensitive to static so this makes sure that you don’t have any running through your body,” he explained. He gestured to the large board in front of her. “That is the motherboard. It is like the body. Everything connects to it and it links all the parts together.” He pointed at the tiny square component at the end of the desk. “That is the CPU. That’s like the brain of the computer that does all the thinking. Pick it up, but don’t touch the bottom and be very gentle. Like a brain, it’s super sensitive.” 

“Did someone get up on the wrong side of the bed today?” Vaimiss asked in return, though she stepped a little to the side, curiously looking in the direction of the male. She wondered what it was he was finding so interesting about the large building. Perhaps large buildings were very unusual where he was from and the sight in itself was positively overwhelming? “Not really. A mountain, sure, but not a tree. Have you seen a tree that high?” she asked with a soft smile. Just the thought of the mountains made her itching to go for a flight, though as she had only just arrived she had vowed not to go beyond the city borders for a few weeks at least. 

*

“No, I haven’t seen a tree that large before, but that’s because we never tried.” The fae had a mastery of environmental magic, after all. It couldn’t be that hard to gather a handful of them to spout a tree larger than a skyscraper. It had never been done but that was half of the fun: trying. “Besides, our forest isn’t near any mountains and spouting a tree seems like an easier task than carrying over a mountain and digging through it,” he mused. There was no way he would be able to get any of the fae to agree to that but it was amusing to imagine the argument. “Have you ever dug through a mountain?” he asked. What did dragons do for fun anyway?