#haaaaa

SILAS CHIQUITO ❤️

I mean— he's the son of James Potter— the same man who loved mischief with a burning passion, was always thinking up schemes to wreck more havoc and was so obsessed with quidditch it quite literally became his life.

Hell, he's the son of Lily Evans, the same woman who would show sass to a random stranger without thinking twice, always stood up against all political wrongs no matter what creature was being considered and could make fully grown men squirm with a singular glare.

But Harry had both of his parents killed off when he wasn't even one, then proceeded to be raised in an abusive household till he was eleven and after that too busy fighting for his life to be able to let himself bloom fully.

I like that the option that lets you choose for a Rook who never experienced a romantic first kiss is asserted by their view on what a first kiss should be like. When it's right. Leaning to a Rook who might be more in the demiromantic type who's never fallen in love with anyone outside of maybe shallow bantering or the casual hook-up. And Lucanis asserts this view by assuring one must be true to their heart and what it actually wants, even if he never had that much liberty to decide for himself, as it'd been Caterina who'd done most of the deciding work for him.

Up until this point.

A contrasting difference between both Rook and Lucanis's characters is that one will choose pragmatism over idealism, while the other relies completely on the latter. A husk of prime Lucanis is still present post ossuary rescue, but trauma and stress mended with fighting off vulnerability to prevent a spiteful spirit from taking over on top of everything else, plus the unsolicited family drama, leaves the guy struggling to cling on to the only thing he's ever known.

But this time, in the secluded candle-lit pantry, Rook is showing interest. Romantic interest. And Lucanis acts on it. Like Illario would have done, perhaps. Illario was always good at weaponizing his charm to get close to his targets. Lucanis was more the let the knives do the talking type, so it doesn't come off as a shocking surprise to him that Rook could be trying to get something out of him by using affection as a convincing weapon. After all they are a mage too. Shouldn't it be obvious of someone with a unique understanding of magic to know how to get close (and manipulate) a dangerous demon-possessed rogue?

"When it's right, you know."

And Lucanis just pulls away because everything else crumbles under the weight of one single sentence.

He tends to underestimate people. He had underestimated Illario's heart as much as he'd underestimated Rook's. He'd been projecting his deeply buried borrowed grief from the future regarding his cousin's ill intentions onto Rook. If Lucanis can't discern his own heart, is he really one to blame for failing miserably at misjudging others?