#darthfluff

Maybe it would have been better to drown with that sinking ship. Maybe it would have been better not to make a deal with that hag.

Oh well, nothing to be done about that now, eh Lizzy?

Happy @dishonoredgiftexchange!!!

[Thank you for the good wishes and the wonderful prompt! It's just this week, then the worst part of the work thing will be over. But here are some knifecrow pirates!]

Set in the world of this pirate!AU I posted on AO3

Captured

"Got you, mercenary."

The pirate's breath is warm against Corvo's neck, a sharp contrast to the cold edge of the blade he presses against his throat.

"Drop your weapon."

Corvo swallows, hesitating only a few moments before the folding blade clatters to the ground. A booted foot kicks the sword across the deck, out of his reach.

The hunt had to end one day - but Corvo had always expected it to be the other way around. Him, finally able to take his revenge. Not like this, with his men bound and tied aboard the "Cachalot", at the mercy of Captain Daud's Whalers.

It was Martin, of course, treacherous bastard, who ratted them out.

Never trust an Irishman…

Corvo clenches his fist, the fresh lines of the tattoo on his left hand itching from the sudden movement. What good are his new powers doing him now? It's him against an entire crew of pirates all of them far more versed in the strange voodoo of the Black Mark than he is.

Besides, magic is no match for the cruel reality of a blade at his throat.

"Easy," Daud rasps from behind. "No sudden movements."

Corvo can't see him, but he can feel him: one gloved hand holding the knife to his throat, the other one on his shoulder, fingers digging hard into the soft spot above his collarbone. He smells of tobacco, sweat, sea salt and fresh blood.

"If you're going to kill me, at least do me the favor and make it quick!"

No reply, just a small "hm" against Corvo's shoulder.

He can't tell how long they remain like this – trapped in a standoff under the blazing sun. With Daud's blade at his throat, Corvo has no chance to escape. He has to wait for a moment of inattention, then he'll Blink away, even if it means jumping into the sea and swimming half a mile through shark-invested water until he reaches the shore.

Around them, the Whalers are setting sail. If he wants to escape, he must act quickly - once the "Cachalot" is out in the open ocean, he can forget about swimming.

Daud moves, shifting his weight from one foot to the other, still pressed tightly against Corvo's back. Corvo is all too aware of his body against him - the muscles of Daud's broad chest, his skin radiating heat through the thin fabric of his shirt.

The uncomfortable closeness reminds him of the moment after their duel on the rooftops of Port Royal - the look Daud gave him when Corvo had the tip of his blade at his throat. Back then, he had truly believed he had defeated him - only to stand stunned, his blade stabbing into nothing, as Daud used his Black Mark to vanish into thin air.

But that one look. The pale gray of Daud's good eye against tanned skin, the way the scar pulled at the corner of his mouth when he grinned.

Not a good idea to follow this train of thought now. Not a good idea at all.

Corvo inhales slowly, trying to calm his racing pulse.

He has to stay calm and focused. He needs to get out of here.

He shifts, pressing closer to Daud until there's not a hair's breadth of space between their bodies.

Is he imagining the short intake of breath? A slight trembling of the blade against his neck?

"I said no games, Attano!"

Corvo grins.

@darthfluff // the biggest, warmest hugs (this also kinda turned to angst, but I didn’t think you’d mind ;))

cw for suicide mention (below the cut)

Second chances made fools of people. And Corvo was, inevitably, a fool. Had been all his life. From deciding to enter the Blade Verbena at sixteen, to spending his last night in Karnaca with his squadmates, three sheets to the wind, instead of realising that he would never see his mother again. From letting his sister run off to the docks when he was a boy, to never stopping to look for her when he was a man. And then, believing his secondment to Dunwall to be the chance he’d been looking for, only to fall in love. And then, to lose her.

He’d been a fool to think it could have ended any other way than tragedy.

He woke at night, breathing harshly, and stared at the ceiling, all the while trying to calm his racing heart.

Corvo was not alone. Emily was in her room upstairs, safe and guarded by men and women he trusted. And down the hall, there was… their master.

He had come to warn them, but too late: the machine had been unstoppable by then. Corruption, greed, and violence, all tangled up like… what did he like to say? Tangled up like a bag of snakes. There’d been far too many snakes hiding in the weeds that day, and the months after.

And now, Daud lived with them, almost, and some days Corvo wondered whether he’d appointed himself the Royal Protector’s bodyguard. Corvo should like to see him appointed Spymaster, instead, and so would Emily, but as yet Daud still steadfastly refused. Yes… the Knife of Dunwall was nothing if not steadfast.

What even he couldn’t seem to deny Corvo, however, was comfort.

Yeah! I’ve been keeping up with Mando ever since it came out last year but season 2 really convinced me to start watching TCW and now here we are, I crammed 12 years worth of content in 2 weeks lol

Omg I love her?? I love that she found a normal explanation for an incident the Abbey condemned as witchcraft, that's so badass, but yeah I don't imagine they were very happy about that lol. Does she work at Addermire, or does she have her own practice in Karnaca?

I bet Lavinia would get along with my scientist OC Jonathan Faulkesbury. He's half-Tyvian, half-Dunwall nobility and similarly abandoned his place in the aristocracy to pursue medicine. He studied at the Academy of Natural Philosophy and became a vivisectionist. His main interest is in the study of death and what causes it. I'm sure he'd love to chat with Lavinia about the witchcraft incident she disproved, hahah.

Last of the crew unless Jay shows up, let’s do this!

31. They’re given a blank piece of paper - what do they do with it?

A loose piece of paper? Used to catches small pieces of a project that he cannot loose bits of. Maybe used to scribble on. Nothing planned and completely absent mindedly scribblings. You know probably something that would make a therapist go “oof.”

34. What party member would they go to in a crisis? 

Anna. No questions asked. She doesn’t, or hasn’t asked too many questions when he has gone to her before. And a Hall crisis 9/10 times is about murder so...

35. Which party member do they worry for? 

Nika. She is broken and busted. Sure she was alone for so long, but look where that got her. He has seen what affects her. And to him. That is all that the world is made up of. He does not know how she survives in this world.

45. How do they hug?

who would they save? who would they be saved by?

anna would take a bullet for anyone in the party, including hypatia and bolt. she wouldn’t even hesitate. i think they’d try and save her from that, though, and THAT she’d be surprised by. she has a few issues viewing herself as, like, worth something outside what she can give to people.

which party member do they go to in a crisis?

oh, hall. 100%. anna trusts and is into wren, and anna cares about nika, but hall is her best friend and someone she knows would help her get away with murder or anything else. that being said wren IS moving up in this for her.

which party member do they worry for?

currently? nika. in general? all of them. anna’s a ball of anxiety and fully believes that if she slips up everyone can and will get hurt, and so she’s pretty constantly thinking about her actions and what mistakes she can make (or, ideally, avoid). because of that she doesn’t think about her WORDS, though, hence her saying shitty, hurtful things with stunning regularity.

how do they hug people?