#obsiddias

Xantheus: I trust him like you trust me. You could have modified my memory and threw me to the duke, but you didn’t. There’s a reason for that. I trust Matteo. You see a crack in this armour, this shell of this dragon who is so paranoid and so self-preserving. But clearly whatever you just said about trust and how he could have done this to you, why didn’t he?

Sooooo that convo was tense, huh?

All those feels had to go somewhere, so—my first High Rollers fic.

It’s the sound of his name that stops him, his hand a hair’s breadth from Xantheus’ chest.

Obsiddias doesn’t remember kneeling down and reaching out.

Something close to shame intermingled with fury rushes through him. He is his own master, has always been. Why would he, who knows more about the dangers of crownsteel than many, fall victim to it?

Then he sees that Xantheus’ eyes are closed. For a moment, the world seems to shift around him when Obsiddias realizes that Xantheus hasn’t called out to stop him.

Xantheus is still asleep. He has no idea that Obsiddias is here, watching him.

“Obsiddias,” Xantheus sighs again—because that is what that sound is. A breathless, choked whisper, almost a moan.

As Xantheus shifts, the blanket that covers him slips down. Obsiddias’ breath catches in his throat.

!!!

I am so glad I remembered the Patreon sends out a link to the private YT so I could watch it earlier today on video because damn. That caused real nerves when I was watching it. (Until things resolved anyway and then they went on a dragon beach visit).

I need to rewatch the intro scene! Baby Obsiddias!! and I wondered what the deal was with his mother when clearly him and Emberissa have different mothers and welp that does explain his whole CrownSteel policy god yeah. He clearly looked up to her, baby nerd wyrmling.

I still have Timeline Questions but I was so glad to get a little glimpse of some backstory.

As for the confrontation. I figured their best play was to talk him down and honestly they did great - by getting Tom to shut up 😂 Kim was so good! Her speeches were lovely and effective. And everyone played things so true to their characters.

Mark’s TELL ME!! And when he finally lost it about his mother. So good. No wonder he had a patience meter they had to not test. And the fact he was cast out by his father and had to reconcile. There always had been some tension there. 🤔

Anyway ship thoughts! It’s alive! Much more alive that I expected it to be tbh! 😂 That comment about how they’re alike and “I couldn’t get my revenge but maybe I can help you get yours.” 🔥 yessss I love it.

I also enjoyed Obsiddias’ moments with especially Gruff and Daisy. Gruff calling a dragon hundreds of years older than him “son” because he saw he was a kid hurting. Gruffff.

And oh Daisy and the fire 😔

God Tom’s chaotic impulses really were kept a little in check with Quill - you saw the edges but Xantheus has really brought them out 😂

Scaratalos was very cool and so excited to talk to the weird exciting people Obsiddias has brought him to converse with! They all have such protagonist energy!