#nihtwulf

i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: he’s on a sliding x/y feral/slutty scale and it’s just Too Powerful for the rest of us mortals to handle

@nihtwulf. | send me 👥 and i will talk about my muse’s family. | always accepting.

The eldest child of Alan and Eleanor Verris, Bastien inherited his mother’s guns when she died while he was still in the barracks. This only strengthened his resolve, and he earned the Verriss guns at age nineteen, besting Cort and earning his position as overseer of the Arten outpost. With his proving passed, and the Verris guns safely in his hands, Gabrielle Verris, his younger sister, was allowed to properly join first Arten high society and, later on, Gilead court. 

At her first Sowing Night Cotillion in the capital, Gabrielle Verris caught the eye of none other than Steven Deschain, the dinh-tete. Bastien, who knew Steven from their shared time in the barracks, was more than happy to encourage their courting. He was rewarded with the birth of his nephew, Roland, whom he loved deeply -- after all, he was his little sister’s son.

Following Gabrielle’s death, Bastien and Alan were amongst the very few who knew the truth of it, unlike the general populace. Because of this, his relationship with Steven soured. While never antagonistic, contact between him and his sister’s husband considerably lessened.

However, his relationship with Roland remained strong, despite Roland initially fearing Bastien would despise him for having killed his sister. While difficult, at first, Bastien also understood that the boy had only been a pawn in a much more sinister game.

how is cap’s face not plastered all over Brooklyn at the least???

So he thought as he and his retinue stood and watched the bustle of Soldiers and serfs alike. Maedhros, as always, was unreadable. His expression stern, melancholic and calculating as he took in all there was to see. But lo, there were still secrets to find as his gaze met two wide eyes peering out from the shadows of the trees. A spy perhaps? No. The Prince recognised them as no foe’s gaze. 

The girl had grown quickly, as was the wont of the secondborn. What name had Caranthir gifted her? Maedhros remembers only seeing her once before, a tiny child, barely even toddling, but of course strong enough to hold tender Moryo’s heart. He had bared such a gentle expression. The memory might have made Maedhros smile if such expressions came so easily. Still, he dipped his head to her in recognition. Arya, that had been it. 

“You have grown, little one. Come closer to the fire, are you not cold?” His voice is low and rougher than his youth, but still holding kindness. Alike to the chuff of a tiger.

sure, and his name is still elias ryker, or micky fucking serendipity.

‘ yeah, you gave me a name. ’

if there’s the slightest hint of placed emphasis, a name, not your name, he lets it hang between them, and then moves on. ( the trouble, flicking his gaze over her face, is that he could be looking at himself -- younger, scrappier, but still too old around the eyes. the kind of kid that leaps from being a kid to being an adult and gets left holding all the shrapnel and wreckage of having missed out on the middle. )

but that’s all just noise, under the smoothing, pressing weight of envoy persuasion, the steadiness in the gaze that turns onto her. he doesn’t quite know, yet, where she’s come from, but that feeling, that he’s looking at himself, speaks volumes. people don’t lie, perform, like that without being taught -- conditioned -- to, and she’s no envoy, but it’s something close.

the trouble for her is that he’s older, has been in this game longer and deeper, and whatever conditioning she has, it doesn’t run so bone-deep as his ( not so integral that it all but taught her how to think, how to eat, how to breathe ), and it won’t be up to snuff, not to withstand for too long the heavy, taming waves of we’re all friends here, i’m not going to hurt you that the envoy persuasion gives off. ( it helps that he means it, this time, though, admittedly. he’ll grant her that much leeway. -- but, well. two birds, one stone. she’s resourceful. he doesn’t quite know what for, yet, but the corps intuition’s saved his hide over half a hundred times. makes it worth heeding. not a bad contact to have, for however long he’s staying here. )