#stalliold

It’s things like that that make me doubt the veracity of our relationship, though if it is a pretence it’s long lived enough to experience diminishing returns. It’s a horrible thing to think of a partner, though it crosses my mind every time I wake up to an empty bed and bright blue light spilling under the door. Which happens an awful lot more than I’d prefer, and he knows that.

They first met in old Marleybone, back when it was part of greater Avalon and hadn't split off into its own world (personal headcanon. Long story short, worlds suffer continental drift). Time-wise, this was pre-Schism

The Old One was more reserved in whatever relationship they had. He knew he couldn't reveal all the layers of truth to Stallion, a nonmagical man. All the worries of the end-times, how he (a single man) wanted to play god to save his favored parts of the Spiral

Stallion was more open from the get-go. He was a man of discovery, of finding secrets and the truth! Having his own secrets seemed hypocritical to him. He wanted to know everything about the Old One as much as he wants to one-day explore the vast universe that SURELY existed outside of Avalon.

Stallion Quartermane is one of the only people the Old One trusts enough to give his True Name to. You know, the Name that lets wizards summon the beasts and beings in their spells? Speaks volumes abt how I interpret Stalliold tbh. Not enough trust to share a name that Stallion can speak and put within his journal, but enough trust to share a name that would summon him at will. (yes I know Stallion Quartermane as a boss cannot cast Old One's Endgame but canon can be stretched and ignored for the sake of absolute disaster gays)

Stallion gave his True Name to the Old One as well. It's only right to reciprocate such an act of trust.

That necklace Stallion wears? A gift from the Old One. Stallion cherished it because while (at some point deep in their relationship) Stallion knew that the Old One loved and cherished him, he hardly ever showed it beyond flowery words, funding his expeditions, and sharing his True Name. The giving of the necklace was an action, in Stallion's eyes. A true symbol of "I love you, and you alone. I got this for you, and you alone."

By the time the betrayal in Madness Mountain occurs, Stallion had been wearing the necklace for so long that he doesn't even THINK to take it off. Though the meaning is broken, the literal weight of the necklace has become so natural to him that taking it off feels physically wrong.

Also, @wizzycore had a LOT of thoughts about Stalliold in the discord server that I think you might enjoy (don't worry, im sharing these with their permission):

A collection of diary entries and audio logs taken from Stallion Quartermane's journal and various outposts of the Old One, estimating approximately to Stallion Quartermane's initial disappearance, and synchronised to when they were assumed to have been made based on timestamps, dates, and accounts of the same events. ~ "I accompanied my exploration partner to some far-flung rock on my skyship during my trip, and - and, if you could believe - we thought that it could truly be a fragment of the 'heart world' something only theorised previously. It was one of those things that held gravitas beyond that which could simply be told or writ, and even being able to feel that solid ground from an ancient era under our boots stirred emotions that couldn't quite be pinned down as one, or other."

A StalliOld fic I started working on months ago and have really had the brainworms about from both parties' perspectives under the guise of it being private, so we can really look at their innermost thoughts. I just wanted to write their relaitonship falling apart, but it won't surprise me if they never get that official 'divorce' moment before Stallion gets put on ice.