bonus snippet

[dragonlady7]

morvran voorhis

via https://ift.tt/3mu9OTU

Because I love y’all here is a snippet from the thing I was mentally scripting out the entire drive home. This is wildly out of context but it’s from sometime in a sequel to Fit For Pearls.

“Can you check the buckles at the backs of my knees,” Morvran said to Luliana, who was hovering a bit nervously. “The kids were messing with them and I can’t reach with the chestplate on.” He always had to put the armor on from extremities inward, that was how it worked. He shouldn’t have let the children play with his legs so much but they’d had to stand there the whole time while [plot happened].

Privately, Morvran [was worried about plot things]. They were not going to get out of this without spilling blood, whatever Ciri hoped for.

But it was settled, and they were going to depart in a moment for whatever this place was, and he was working very hard not to be nervous. He’d seen Ciri fight, and she’d seen him fight– well, she hadn’t seen the fight, was the thing, and she’d only seen that he’d fucked up enough to be badly injured by it, and somehow this had failed to make her think he wasn’t capable. He’d have to accept her trust in him on faith.

Luliana tugged at the straps, quite hard, making sure everything was well-seated. She had a reassuring familiarity with the whole thing, which did a little bit to allay Morvran’s nervousness. In a moment she tugged at the tassets, then stood, patting him on the waist. “Looks right to me,” she said. He nodded. She gazed into his face, probably seeing too much, and then said, “Kiss for luck?”

He laughed, surprised, and bent a little. She put her hand on his jaw and kissed him on the mouth, which he hadn’t expected. He blinked his eyes open and she smiled fondly at him, and patted his face. “Thank you,” he said, knowing he was blushing.

“I’m sure you’ll do well,” she said. “Ciri wouldn’t have brought you if you couldn’t do it.”

He nodded. “I just have to trust she knows what’s going on,” he said, and took a deep breath, nodding again, more to himself. “Which I do.”

“You’re such a good person,” Luliana said, in what sounded like genuine admiration. He blinked at her. “I wish I knew how to be so brave.”

“It’s years of conditioning,” he told her, a little blankly. “We teach our male children they’re worthless if they can’t follow orders to their deaths. If there’s one thing I can do, it’s what I’m told. Have no fear of that.”

“I don’t think people are usually that clear-eyed about it,” Luliana said doubtfully.

Morvran shrugged one shoulder. “That’s my personal curse,” he said. “Don’t worry, I don’t usually let it get in my way.” He pulled his helmet from its spot under his elbow, and put it onto his head, wriggling it into position, and fastening the strap that held it securely. (Your picture was not posted)