#cryptiiv

Dessert meme || Accepting!

My headcanon for Viren was always that he grew up a houseboy to a royal-adjacent noble house and was made a lord by Harrow’s dad. The older staff of the household made sure he didn’t go hungry, but he’d be eating what they were eating, so it’d probably have been a lot of vegetables and grains. Sweets would’ve been a luxury he definitely didn’t get to enjoy that often, though I’m imagining one of the cooks in the kitchen sneaking this scruffy, grumpy, overly serious little 11-year-old a cookie or something and it’s giving me emotions. 

That said though. 

Listen.

Harrow and Viren probably pulled off some next-level jelly tart heists in their childhood. Once Viren actually starts learning magic there’s like, illusion spells in play, telekinetically jostling pans or knocking over a pot to distract the baker, there’s a map with escape routes that Viren drew by hand... it’s a whole big production. Then they’d always hide out on one of the castle roofs and just gorge on jelly tarts to celebrate their victory. 

They got caught once by one of Harrow’s tutors, sneaking back into the castle with a sack full of pastry. At first Viren was the only one getting berated over it, with the tutor assuming that he’d goaded the prince into going along with the whole scheme. Then Harrow grabbed Viren’s hand and loudly insisted that they stole the tarts together, that Viren was his friend, and that he’d accept punishment for the both of them. It didn’t--really work out that way, but Viren remembers that moment more vividly than the crownguard latrines he was made to spend the weekend scrubbing down.

As an adult, Viren doesn’t really eat that many sweets, but he doesn’t--really eat as much as he should in general. He skips out on mealtimes a lot, and Harrow or Claudia tend to bring him food. But he’s lucky enough to have a daughter that’s a fantastic baker, and he’ll never turn down one of her dark magic creme brulee. His tastes have shifted over time towards smaller, more elegant desserts. The kind of stuff that the family he’d served as a child would have enjoyed after their meals. 

There is something a little nostalgic about jelly tarts though, he’ll admit. 

Hiro vc: I’ll say it to your face.

@cryptiiv || mothers are lovely creatures.

KEIKO. 圭

Nakamura Akio was a man Keiko found difficult to read. Sojiro hardly trusted someone, but according to her husband, Akio had proved his loyalty to the Shimada, and if there was something Keiko trusted blindly it was her husband’s judgement. Sojiro was too far-seeing a man to be decoyed.

So, little by little, she had come – if not to trust Akiro – at least to respect him. Such a gesture from his side was… flattering. Endearing. Her favourite flowers and her favourite color… ah, Genji sure had meddled with that, had he not? She doubted even anata could remember such a detail. Keiko loved that gift. And her smile proved her feelings against every different opinion.

Send “´͈ ᵕ `͈” to hold Xion’s hands!! || accepting; always do this please omg { @cryptiiv }

They remain quiet the entire time Adrienne tells tales about her Homeworld, listening intently and making genuine expressions of varying emotions whenever a new or foreign tidbit of information is shared. There are far too many terms spewed out that the little replica isn’t familiar with or does not understand at all-- Scourge, crownsguard, sibling, Lucian, Niff, daemons-- but nonetheless each word continues to spark the child’s curiosity, and leaves them wanting to hear more about the world.

“What does that mean?” Xion politely interjects for the first time, raising a hand and offering an apologetic look, too, because it’s so rude to just stop someone in the middle of their story. But it felt necessary to them this time because there are some particular terms unknown to them that Adrienne mentions constantly enough, and at this point it bothers Xion for they seem so important. “’Family’?”

They wonder why the woman is so taken aback by the question that it takes her a full minute of silence to come up with a response-- only a somber look consisting of furrowed brows and down-turned lips, followed by a hand reaching out to Xion’s own. 

And while the soft touch is surprisingly accepted (for them to let someone they’ve only met to touch them like this is not something the replica normally allows, yet there’s just something about this Outsider which tells Xion that it’s okay, she can be trusted) even returned by Xion placing their free hand atop Adrienne’s, they worry that something is wrong. What are they missing out on? 

you come in to MY house–   ➥  @cryptiiv  /  wraith.

     “ wow. WOW. i know you’re jealous, but attacking a man with name-based puns is just uncalled for. ”

ஃ  ➡ @cryptiiv // @neuroaltered

Send me “Dear ____” and Viren will write a letter to that person || Accepting!

To His Majesty King Harr

[this is as far as the letter gets before Viren tears it up, tossing it in the bin.]

Harrow,

I will be leaving for your quarters upon completing this letter. I have no way of knowing how tonight will end, but if you are reading this, it means both that you have accepted my proposal, and that the assassins coming for you tonight have, to the best of their understanding, succeeded in their mission. In that instance, there are personal matters that I have little choice now but to entrust to you.

Though I believe this should fall naturally in accordance with the law, I name through this writing my son Soren as head of my estate, with stewardship over the land I was granted by your father upon my designation as a Lord of Katolis. It is regrettable that I’ve not more to offer him than a summer home in the north we seldom used, but I am certain he will make use of it, perhaps when he has children of his own. 

Additionally, I name my daughter Claudia to be successor to the title of High Mage, effective upon the moment of my death. Though she has not yet come of age, she will serve you and our country well in that regard, perhaps someday better than I ever could. While I regret that there was not more time to train her properly for the position, I am confident–always–in her innate talent and potential. Please tell her that I would not name her in this capacity if I did not think her worthy of the title. Please tell both of my children that I am sorry.   

More importantly, please watch over both of them as they proceed onward into adulthood without me. My position on the Council was never secure, and always fraught with mistrust. Soren and Claudia have grown up largely unaware of that fact, but they will not remain so for long. I can do little more now than entrust their future to you.  

I am not blind to your resentment, Harrow. I have been ever conscious of it since the day Her Majesty fell, and I was the one to return in her stead. I know you see Dark Magic as the curse that stole her from you, and I, by extension, as the reminder of what you’ve lost. Know that if it had ever been possible, if my powers would have allowed it, she would have been by your side all this time, and you would have never needed to mourn her absence. But I am here. Alive, perhaps, for this reason. And if you are reading this, it is because I have given back the life that your wife died to protect. I don’t presume to believe that you consider this a debt repaid, but I hope, in the end, it is enough.

Please ensure that my children know that I gave all I had in the service of King and Country. 

Please ensure that, if nothing else, you know that as well.