#how would damen react? ;)

[ninicaise]

i don't know if it's some sort of spiteful instinct within me that i developed against fanon but the idea of damen straight out calling laurent an idiot is hilarious. to me

#just the image #of mastermind architect intj laurent of vere #being looked in the eye by the king of what vere considers a barbarian country #and being told he's being dumb. #like i just wonder sometimes. how the hell laurent would react to that #and then i remember This Happens Continously in canon #and every time laurent's reaction is basically damn. youre right. i AM being dumb #with the barely contained rage #it's that aux te. yknow? if it works it works mentality #anyway. very funny very underused element in their dynamic big fan of the whole thing #captive prince #damen x laurent

[altruistic-meme]

me: *existing*

my brain: hey heres another fic idea!!! and another!!!! oh wouldn't it be so cool if you wrote this??? wouldn't you LOVE to plan this fic out??? you should definitely plan this one, i promise you don't even have to write it ;) [<- is lying, knows that i'll want to write it even more if i plan it]

#and naturally bc i reread capri and have been reading capri fics that all the ideas im having are capri ideas #apparently my brain has decided there are not nearly enough canon divergent capri fics too bc thats all its throwing at me #mostly marlas-centered which makes sense since that's like #the most common point to diverge from canon in this fandom #though it did also provide me with 2 divergences at the start of the first book #anyway i don't need it to be providing me with ANY NEW IDEAS #we have GOT fics to write!!! we have WIPS!!!!! they need our ATTENTION FOR FUCKS SAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!! #but no #no #instead i get 'what if it was theomedes and kastor who died at marlas instead of aleron and auguste?' #a king for a king and a brother for a brother #how would damen react? ;) #an end to the fighting for sure bc if he dies now then akielos will certainly fall #but akielos would also definitely NOT be getting delfeur in this #since they'd be the 'losing' side #and also 'what if damen got amnesia due to the head trauma on the ship to arles?' #'what if damen didn't remember who he was??? what if he had the vague knowledge of his culture and his life but not that he was a prince??' #i should. put my laptop up and try and sleep. #shh ac

[0-0malik]

I was so hyped by this fanfic to draw about Laurent courting Damen but didn't want to assume what would happen between them. That's why I focused on how would Auguste, who probably has abandonment issues, react to it.

I probably won't post the following pages since I'm lazy :P hope you enjoy tho.

Pages 2 3

#fanart #digital art #fan comic #capri fanart #captive prince #auguste of vere #laurent of vere

[thickenmyblood]

THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HARD WOKR YOUVE BEEN POURING INTO THE FINAL CHAPTER!!!! I HAVE A BURNING QUESTION THATS BEEn on my mind. I so love the parallels that you drew in between the blondes that damen was seeing and Laurent. Or maybe damen just couldn’t help but compare everyone to Laurent. But I can’t help but wonder how would Laurent have reacted if damen started seeing a guy that was like a sunshine golden retriever boyfriend. Someone that Laurent would see as completely antithetical to himself, unburdened by trauma, and not “unloveable” like he was.

HELLO

damn dude what a good question. honestly, it makes me wish I had written that lol. i think if damen started dating a bubbly, nice, cute blond guy laurent would go absolutely feral. I'm talking about insane here. medicated to the brim. next level Crazy (TM).

it'd be worse if damen was (or at least acted) semi-serious about the whole thing? if they did couple things together or made serious plans for the future . . . if ancel met the guy or saw them together and then came back to laurent with the gossip that damen is in love and happy . . . if he somehow got nicaise to like him (impossible but let's pretend) . . .

laurent would destroy that man. he'd straight up stalk him on social media 24/7 and try to find the equivalent of a 2011 tweet that could get him canceled. and then he'd see damen with the guy and pretend he can't remember his name lmaoooo

#hiuh #this is basically that taylor swift song #“UR NEW GIRL IS MY CLONEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” #jealous laurent slaps tho #i love this #ALSO U FUCKING BITCHES IM EDITING OKAY JESUS FUCKING CHRIST IT'S SO LONG I THINK ITLL HAVE TO BE SPLIT INTO TWO PARTS AND #ure damn right im postin both this weekend #im fucking DONE #THIS IS THE END!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[lulumibear]

The reviews on Goodreads about Capri baffle me it’s almost like we didn’t read the same books.

People are just tossing big words and adding the « it’s not sexy » like yeah no shit that’s the point of the story. The whole universe is built on fucked up ideologies that existed (maybe not exactly that way ;it was worst irl) but existed in the respective timelines Vere and Akielon were inspired of and the books are not romanticizing any of it but showing how damaging and wrong slavery, rape, pedophilia, vengeance, greed ect ect are and showing how two people raised in those ideologies managed to not only accept a different culture but accept the flaws of their own and are willing to change it and better their societies.

And for the folks out there that are mad about (spoiler alert) the way Laurent treated Damen I wonder how y’all would react if the person who took away the only family you had and was the catalyst of everything that went wrong in your life was in front of you in chains. The books didn’t romanticized that either btw, Laurent knew who Damen was and hated his guts and that blinded him. This was highlighted when Damen told him that if he was anyone else Laurent would have freed him; this alone speaks volumes about where Laurent stands. And for Damen he didn’t fall in love with Laurent after being flogged but after a long journey of discovering who Laurent is really and both of them taking the time to heal the wounds the war left.

+Those two are actually one of the rare well written enemies to lovers ships.

#captive prince #laurent of vere #damen of akielos #damen x laurent #capri #A rambling post because the slender those books get is unfair

[wavelengthdream]

No Lightbulb Moment™

It seems to be a popular belief that Damen is unaware of Laurent’s abuse at the hands of the Regent and readers spend a majority of the series waiting for Damen to have a lightbulb moment where he realizes the truth. But because this lightbulb moment never happens, it’s assumed that Damen only learns of the abuse at Kingsmeet and the Regent’s sudden confession is why he attacks the Regent. 

However, I don’t believe that’s true. As other posts have pointed out, Damen must know that some sort of abuse happened to Laurent at the hands of the Regent. Damen isn’t an idiot. We see how observant he is time and time again. Damen is given all the clues that point to the Regent’s pedophilic abuse of Laurent. He’s told/observed that:

-Nicaise is the Regent’s pet and Ancel is too old for the Regent

-Americ was raped by the Regent as a youngling

-Auguste’s death left Laurent all alone at 13 years old

-Laurent hates being touched

-Laurent is tense the entire time they have sex

Therefore, I think his explosion at the Regent is because he believes that Laurent’s privacy regarding his abuse has been compromised. Because Damen doesn’t react to the Regent’s statement, “He has knelt for me.” He attacks when he sees Laurent’s reaction. “The crimson on Laurent’s cheeks like a stain,” and “Laurent’s awful expression,” is what spurs Damen to attack.

Damen understands all too well that Laurent plays his cards close to his chest. In the books, both Damen and the reader learn of Laurent’s plans literally as they’re happening. And symbolically, Laurent spends most of their relationship fully covered up in restrictive Veretian clothing. Laurent treasures his privacy.

The Regent exposing Laurent in front of an audience is what enrages Damen.

Why doesn’t Damen ever talk about Laurent’s abuse with him? As many posts have mentioned before, Damen is likely content to give Laurent his privacy regarding the matter. If Laurent decided to open up and tell him, Damen would listen without it affecting his perception of Laurent. And if Laurent decided to never reveal that secret, then Damen would be fine with that. But with him, it would always be Laurent’s choice whether or not to tell him. And the Regent took that away from Laurent. 

Okay, so why no lightbulb moment if Damen knows? Because Damen kept his own speculations/realizations from the reader. Damen protects Laurent’s secrets from us. Damen gives the reader all the clues that allowed him to form his own conclusions, and obviously we’re able to do the same. But Damen understands that this is Laurent’s secret and he’s willing to protect his privacy until the very end- even from us. 

#captive prince #capri #laurent of vere #laurent #damen of akielos #damianos of akielos #damen x laurent #lamen #cs pacat #it's just a theory #a book theory

[merrivia]

A little while ago, I posted a question about puzzling lines in Captive Prince here.

Specifically this line where Nicaise reacts in horror to the idea that Laurent might tell the Regent that he wants him:

This has clearly been humming away in my subconscious for a while as I woke up this morning with a feeling of clarity.

Pacat nearly always layers her meanings and purposes, especially when it comes to Laurent. There’s always more than one thing going on.

Laurent knew that what would wreck Nicaise is: 1) that if the Regent knew Laurent wanted Nicaise, he would never let him go or allow Laurent to have him. He’d keep him as a pet in name only, out of spite, and have no interest in him, leaving Nicaise abandoned and hurt and alone, but trapped with no escape, no alternative path where he could heal and grow. And 2) it would wreck Nicaise to have to actually choose between the Regent and Laurent...

My take on it is: Laurent likes Nicaise. He’s probably watched him grow over the last three years and seen him go from young and innocent, to being fundamentally changed by abuse. Not irrevocably at this point though. Laurent gives Nicaise hope that there is a life for him after the Regent abandons him, and underneath that poor, bitchy, twisted, manipulative surface, Nicaise actually likes Laurent, maybe even loves him. Enough to be startled and put out by Damen having seen Laurent naked (not because I think he is jealous or finds Laurent attractive in that sense but because he secretly wants a closeness and intimacy with Laurent and doesn’t really know how that works with older males unless it’s sexual). Enough to steal the letter, and to risk his life defending Laurent.

Laurent has an unsettling ability to penetrate most people’s psychology; when he says he left it “half-done” with Nicaise, he knows he was halfway there to winning Nicaise completely to his side, while the other half still clung desperately to the Regent. Nicaise is no foolish Aimeric, trauma leading to him holding on to the delusion of love, but he is young and frightened and unsure of what the future will hold for him. Laurent offered hope, and understanding. The two had so many similarities in how they learned to cope with abuse of this kind. I think, especially through Laurent making it clear that he wouldn’t want him in his bed, Nicaise was slowly but surely beginning to see Laurent as an older brother figure, someone who cared for him and saw him as more that just his pretty face.

The Regent used Nicaise in a casual manner; as messenger and errand boy as well as pet, but we never see Nicaise deployed fully against Laurent by the Regent against his will. The trick with the slaves came from Nicaise and his need for oneupmanship with Laurent (as part of the games they played with one another which actually are also the way the two of them express intimacy), not wholly from the Regent per se.

If Nicaise truly had to choose the Regent over Laurent, that would be one thing that could wreck him. To choose between the only person who has shown him ‘love’ but ruined him vs the person he’s afraid to love but offers him hope. I think Laurent thinks Nicaise would turn away from him if so, and that would wreck the boy as he would be forced to burn to ashes the one relationship which gave him value outside of sex, irrevocably damaging him.

And as for what would happen if the Regent retained Nicaise as a pet but ignored him otherwise? This would also wreck him entirely, a) because he still thinks the Regent cares for him on some level and as Laurent well knows, abandonment by the Regent hurts, and he would have no chance to move on properly, stuck in a non-relationship with him (like...Laurent himsef) and b) his entire purpose and value being based around sexual worth as a pet, and then having that taken away. One of the worst, most horrifying things about Captive Prince for me, is how Audin is mistaken by Damen as a relative of Nicaise and then casually offers him up to Damen as a sexual reward. How many others do that? Pimp Nicaise out, even though he’s the Regent’s favoured pet? What would happen to him if he then fell from favour- how would he be used and abused? Especially as sharp-tongued bitchy Nicaise is protected by association, and that would go. What would happen to his psyche then? And layered on top of that is the fact that Laurent always hoped he could help Nicaise be better. After Nicaise’s death, this conversation between Laurent and Damen makes that clear:

Laurent wanted to help Nicaise to heal and to show him he has value outside of his looks. Laurent always had the memory of Auguste to help him and understood that having one person’s love (even after death), one figure like an older brother, can be enough to save you from becoming the worst person you’re capable of being. With Laurent’s influence gone from Nicaise’s life, trapped by the Regent’s side, I think he would have been wrecked and Laurent can see that clearly.

#captive prince #nicaise #laurent of vere #meta

[vulpeskei]

Ok but I cant imagine how badly it must have hurt Laurent to start falling for Damen.

TW: CSA mention

(All of this is just my personal interpretation of Laurent's behaviours throughout the trilogy. If anyone has a different one I'd love to hear it!)

---

Captive Prince

Before Laurent met Damen personally, the image that he had of him in his head was of a barbarian. The person who killed his brother. He probably even thought Damen was just as bad as his uncle or blamed Damen for indirectly causing the circumstances that led to his abuse. Could be a stretch, but this would probably explain why Laurent seemed confused that Damen wouldnt 'perform' with Nicaise in the ring.

---

Prince's Gambit

Then in the second book, Damen shatters this image again and again. He genuinely tries to help Laurent and ensure his survival, and even gets to know Laurent better than he'd like. Damen's changing thoughts about Laurent's behaviours are demonstrated thoroughly throughout the second book, even learning when Laurent is too overcome by emotion to think rationally and when he needs to be calmed down or simply left alone. This probably even leads to frustration because Damen isn't supposed to feel this safe to be around. He isn't /supposed/ to feel this comfortable around his brother's killer.

This frustration is most clearly pictured in these scenes:

Laurent's fluctuating opinion of Damen definitely caused a lot of inner conflict for him. He was angry and he wanted to be angry for his brother, but on the other hand his brother's murderer was probably the first person he genuinely trusted in a long time, and these feelings probably became more complicated when you take into account how Damen reminds him of Auguste. He tries to suppress any semblance of romantic/sexual feelings for Damen because having those emotions at all feels like a betrayal of the one other person he truly loved, but that of course doesn't go very well for him.

Eventually, his attraction to Damen gets too hard to ignore and maybe the reason why he rushes to express these emotions right before Damen is scheduled to leave the Veretian army is because he knows that the next time he faces Damen, if at all, will be as King: the person who killed his brother. It would be easier to get it out of the way and rationalise it while Damen is still a slave rather than grapple with it later. Maybe "Laurent, I am your slave" assured Laurent in it's own way, because as their affection for each other grew, that lie became a comfort for them both; they wouldn't have to face the truth until later.

---

King's Rising

When Damen's identity was revealed to the Veretians and they continued to fight together out of necessity, Laurent found himself with two different ideas of who Damianos is: the one who was loyal to him and the one who took everything he had.

Then they get close again and Damen stops finding comfort in the lie that they built for themselves because he can't anymore. Starts acknowledging his past and wanting for Laurent to take him as he is. And Laurent finally realises that one way or another he has to process the fact that these two Damens are the same people. He has to cope with the fact that he might be falling in love with one of the people who hurt him most.

This brings all of the conflicting emotions that he wanted to suppress back, which is why he reacted so badly when Damen tried to directly acknowledge what he'd done:

I hope you enjoy this post that is absolutely made by a person who likes these books in a normal way. I am so neurotypical about captive prince i like it a little bit

#captive prince #capri #damianos #laurent #lamen #damianos of akielos #laurent of vere #character study #??? #hyperfixation #i literally spent hours on this post adhd is a menace #anything for my babygirl

[princess-of-ithilien]

People debating on how the collar really works post dark heir and trying to figure out how it will resolve between james and will, it gives me war flashbacks to the time before kings rising came out and we were trying to figure out whether Laurent knew who Damen was or not and how he would react either way and let me tell you, no one was prepared when 'hello lover' dropped, which makes me think that none of us will see coming whatever pacat has planned going forth

#dark rise

[ridleyandthebeast]

I just realized all of the parallels between the Dark Rise series and the Captive Prince series!

Dark haired powerful dude has an enemies to lovers arch with smart bitchy blonde hair dude with a lot of sass. It is literally them in a different font!!!! In this essay i will ....

Damen and Will are practically similar characters. To start with the basics like before they are both very powerful dark haired dudes. One has warrior strength, one was god like in sorcery powers. Everyone wants to be fucked by them and are mad about it and try to kill them because that was their best lay. But they only had eyes for some snarky blonde bitch. Their own siblings tried to murder them each! They both are hiding their identities from their new friends and love interest because their friends will react badly when they figure out who they really are.

Laurent and James are the same person because like I said blonde, bitchy, smart, and sassy. Both were raised by hypocrites who preached to be the saviors of their worlds. One was a prince ruled by his hypocritical uncle, the other was raised by his hypocritical father. Everyone wants to dominate them sexually or for power! Jame's is through the collar, Laurent's is through taking over his kingdom. They both fall for the puppy dog brute everyone ends up liking because he doesn't cross their boundaries, doesn't want to take away their power, and respects them.

Joakste = Visander

Violet = Nickandros

Katherine/ Will's mother = Kastor

Laurent's uncle = Jame's father/ light side

Captive Prince themes: slavery and child SA

Dark Rise themes: religious trauma and child abuse

I have a sneaky suspicion that the third book of the Dark Rise series will have similar plot twists and overall story arch and conclusion in a similar way that fits the narrative of this series. In Captive Prince, we thought Laurent's uncle was a little skeptical until plot twist after plot twist confirms that he orchestrated Damen's family's downfall and the death of Laurent's family. Not to mention he was a child predator. We already learned about the hypocrisy of the knights with the cup and how they are now tied to Sarcean with the shadow. I think we will soon find more bad things the light side has been hiding into how they brought down the "dark king". And lets not forget Laurent was revealed to know Damen's identity at the end of book two, beginning of book three. At the end of Dark Heir James now know's Will's identity and will now be further explored in book 3. It is not all gonna be rainbows and sunshines in book 3 for Dark Rise just like it wasn't in book 3 of Captive Prince. But like in book 1 they hated each other and finally decided to work together for a common goal, and in book 2 they started to fall for each other and would not act on it due to personal reasons. I think in book 3 they are gonna have to work through personal trauma and trust issues before they can truly love one another like they did in Captive Prince book 3.

All in all to say history was written by the winners so thats why each side has different perspectives and until the whole truth comes out like in the other series we will not know true piece for our characters. However, there is hope following those similar story arches because how well it turned out for the other couple. Also remember Damen was Laurent's slave and now the roles have reversed and Will is now James's master. But like Laurent said, Damen could never truly be a slave....

(Sorry this was long but I have been thinking about this all day, I don't know if anyone will read this but let me know your thought!)

#will kempen #james st clair #sarcean #dark heir #anharion #captive prince #laurent of vere #damen of akielos #damen x laurent #dark rise #dark heir spoilers

[my-monologues-to-my-brain]

You ever think of how Laurent acted like he was amused by painfully killing his horse cause he was ashamed and angry at the fact that he did it to protect Damen, all while in the midst of the shock of his uncle straight up attempting to murder him for the first time? Of how it was easier to play it nonchalant and make Damen be disgusted with him than to face the fact that he had chosen to protect him? Easier than to face the fact that his uncle was going for the kill starting now? Cause i do. Boy, i do.

Fuck me but i keep thinking of this. When reading Captive Prince and getting to that part i was genuinely as sick to my stomach as Damen was, and i truly couldn't see how any development of Laurent's character or of his dinamic with Damen was ever gonna get rid of that bitter taste in my mouth of He brutally killed his horse. He brutally killed his horse and even if he didn't enjoy it, he didn't even mind it. Cause even if the horse is "his toy", even if being rich enough to get replacements of anything with no trouble has you unworried about it, it's still a big leap from that to mutilating an animal with no empathy for their pain. Knowing that we weren't meant to think this of Laurent forever, knowing that Damen wouldn't, i figured the story would have Laurent gain some humanity, get him to a point where he would no longer do something like that, and i was dreading it. As Damen in this scene, i thought it too cruel to ignore, even as i knew the plot would walk away from it.

Boy oh boy was i wrong. And not even wrong in a way i could've guessed.

Props to C.S.Pacat, writing a character with actions so hateable and with attitudes to said actions that really make him dig his heels in, and then humanizing him not through change but by revealing that we had not in fact seen what was truly going on. Damen doesn't fully react the way he does to the killing of the horse until Laurent's words, what he did to the animal being terrible but not outstanding until Laurent's attitude tells him and us that Laurent couldn't care less. But the point is, we assume wrong. We don't come to root for Laurent cause he has changed, we just realise that what we saw as cruelty was something more, that everything when it comes to Laurent is not what it seems. It's scattered through out the three books, small and big discoveries of a truth we weren't aware of.

We don't learn until later, in Prince's Gambit, that the incident with the horse was the first time that the Regent attempted to murder Laurent. It's not until Damen and Laurent have to come to a point in which they are answering truthfully to the questions asked by the other, even if they're still both lying by omission when they need to- like Damen answering with the truth about Jokaste but skiping his own identity, or Laurent admitting to being caught off guard when his uncle poisoned his horse but skipping over their twisted dinamic leading to it that had him unsuspecting of an actual attempt on his life. And of course Damen has questions, the poison that had the horse fractious and covered in sweat not being what had killed it in the end.

A lot of things reframe the way the reader looks at Laurent through out the trilogy, the biggest one yet to come at this point, not to be revealed until Kings Rising that Laurent was perfectly aware of Damen being Damianos of Akielos since the very beggining, but this thing with the horse did something to me. Call it what you want, selective caring or whatever else, but i'm the type of person to find in movies animal deaths often more terrible than people's (god bless whoever started doesthedogdie.com, my anxiety goes through the roof when i'm worried about the dog to the point where i stop focusing on the actual movie)- maybe it's the fact that you can't really slap human morality onto animals in order to categorize them as Deserves To Die or Doesnt Deserve To Die the way we kinda do with people, but i think it's about how a person can understand the way an animal won't, the way there's no final telling them they are loved, or a way to make them not die afraid or feeling betrayed by loved ones or feeling like it's their fault. Call it what you want, but violence and killing animals hits as something specially devoid of empathy, even when the same action as applied against a person is already severely lacking in empathy (and we sure get a good taste of that with the themes of slavery in the trilogy). And so, Laurent. I didn't skip through the violence towards Damen, only half explained when we think that at the very least it's directed at him this way because he is a reminder of Auguste dying by akielon hands and at worst simple sociopathic cruelty, either way violence that can't be retaliated against since it's the violence of a master against their slave. But it still get's accentuated by having Laurent casually and painfully killing his horse. It is, in a way, the most on the nose representation of the violence of royalty: Laurent kills a being so loyal to him that they wont even break away while in pain, so beyond understanding that there isn't a choice to be made, all conception of the world defined by their relation to Laurent and their inherent obedience to him, and then he doesn't even have the humanity to care about what he has done. It was what i thought was a nail in the coffin of my sympathy for Laurent, a display that i wasn't all too sure i'd be able to walk away from.

It fits, where it's revealed in the story. By then, we have already begun to realise that we lacked vital context when it comes to Laurent, to his real character, and to his actual treatment of people. The horse incident starts to look somewhat out of place and then it's confirmed to us that it is. And, kill me why don't you, Laurents attitude after the hunt makes that much more sense.

Laurent comes back after having killed his horse in a bloody mess, and having done so not only while struggling with this charming new development in his uncle but while knowing he was covering up the murder attempt to protect either Damen or any akielon slave whose framed involvement was likely to drag Damen with them. And he is fucking pissed about it. I don't know how he wouldn't be, knowing what i know now. By the time of the hunt, of the deal with Torveld with the akielon slaves, Laurent is no longer trying to get Damen straight up killed like he was in the beginning, he is starting to see something with honor and rooted in good where he was sure to only find bloodlust and brutality and the reason his brother is dead. But protecting Damen, choosing to protect Damianos of Akielos Princekiller, is quite a leap foward. I'd argue its the first time where maintaining Damen there requieres not just tolerating him without trying to maim him, but action. It's the point where Laurent has to admit to himself what he had avoided admitting until then: Damen is no longer this killer of legend, this myth that he has built in his mind ever since Auguste's death and that he has prepared himself to kill in rightful retaliation. Laurent chooses a course of action and in that has to admit that he is willing to protect Damen, the man who killed his brother, cause that is what's right, cause he has found in Damen someone not just guilty, not just a murderer, but also someone deserving of more than what he is about to get in the crossfire of this conflict between Laurent and the Regent. So he does what he does, he kills his horse and makes sure to maintain a casually arrogant demeanor when facing his uncle, the interaction of two men who know that the other is aware of what has been done but won't say it out loud... to then face the scapegoat he's pointed all his ire towards all these years, knowing he has now upended his ways for him. Yes Laurent is fucking pissed. He won't backtrack any of it, it's not his way, but he can distance himself from what he's done by acting like this role he parades with in court when he needs his defenses up, play it up and watch Damen's disgust while he distances himself too. He won't backtrack, but he will play up the image he knows he has, to Damen and to others, he will revel in the illusion of this rather sadistic glee, and going over it again it strickes me so much as a self destructive response that it tears at my heart.

So much of Laurent strickes me as self destructive upon second read, and has me honestly in awe of Pacat's storytelling. With context it's clearer and clearer how Laurent's way of interacting with people and his way of making decisions and planning ahead is a result of abuse, but also and more specifically the result of this self destructive instinct caused by the abuse. It goes from blaming himself for that first attempt on his life while recounting it to Damen, saying he provoked his uncle into it, to keeping everything and everyone at arms lenght for what is more than just safety reasons. He might want what things could be like, but why ever allow himself a normality he doesnt he doesn't deserve? A normality that doesn't fit someone who will never clear the stain of what's past?

Laurent came back from the hunt knowing the terms of this hidden war with his uncle had changed, seeing it as something brought upon him by himself, his fault, his failing, and having admitted to himself his failing with the Princekiller, his failing to do justice to Auguste by extending more mercy to this murderer than had been afforded to his brother, an unforgivable fault cause what kind of brother chooses the killer over his murdered kin, to hell with what is fair or right. But Laurent doesn't backtrack any of it, it's not his way. His way is foward, unyielding and proud, back to the hunting party. Into a death trap at border duty. Into a death sentence at the Kingsmeet.

And i guess the difference for Laurence ended up being the same as it for the rest of us cause, don't we all survive our self destruction by being followed when proudly marching foward? He wasn't alone in the end. No one is.

#captive prince #princes gambit #kings rising #cs pacat #laurent of vere #damianos of akielos #captive prince trilogy #c s pacat

[fanficandtheories]

Sometimes I wonder if Nikandros had unrequited feelings for Damen in KR. It feels obvious but also like a far-fetched assumption. I mean I know he’s your friend and king and brother and all that, but you don’t react like that to seeing scars on your ‘childhood best friend’s back’? Then there’s the matter of Nikandros hating Laurent so much, which, fine, can be attributed to Laurent’s obnoxious personality, but still.

Then there’s Damen’s narration when he’s in Arles… longing to embrace Nikandros like ‘brothers’ when he goes home… only to act like the king when he finally meets him, and talk about it like something died between them. There’s so many other conversations between them too.. which I was too lazy to type.

But there’s one where Damen basically insinuates that he would do anything for Laurent in much the same way that Nikandros does for him. Which is very sketchy to say the least. Especially how Nikandros doesn’t have a response to that. Anyway. Idk. I would like to read a fic about Nikandros’ broken heart and angst, even if I’m imagining it.

#captive prince #c s pacat #damen of akielos #laurent of vere #damen #Nikandros #Nikandros x Damen

[0-0malik]

Okay, thought: In AUs where Auguste lives, how would Laurent, who's courting Damen, interact with Jokaste, who's Damen's lover? Like most of the fanfics have Jokaste going out w/ Kastor immediately or just not bother with them dating at all! Which begs the question of how would Laurent react.

Laurent might try to stop his feelings because he respects and wants Damen to be happy at first, but I think if he sees some similarities between her and himself, he might be irked that why can't it be him?? Hmm, then once he realizes that Jokaste wants a king she can manipulate easily, he might fight against Jokaste and Kastor.

I'm still unsure though. Like I imagine Laurent trying to make Damen jealous, like in the books, but it won't work if he thinks Damen sees him as a younger brother?

#captive prince #damen x laurent #laurent of vere #damianos of akielos #damen of akielos #just asking

[thickenmyblood]

I know it was a deliberate choice to end HIUH where it ends but I am SO curious about how Nicaise will react to his 2 dads being back together? Also how he might take the 2 of them potentially having another child in the future? I could see Nicaise feeling *a WAY* about feeling "replaced" by a new bebe that doesnt have the same baggage he has, but I feel like the fic makes a point to show that none of it will be perfect but they’re all in a supported place to compromise. THANK U FOR EVERYTHING.

hi there!!!

i have sooooo many headcanons for nicaise post hiuh!!! i think this ask kinda relates to the other one I got a few days ago about what would have happened if damen had been dating a cute, funny, nice guy instead of casually sleeping with kyra. both laurent and nicaise are very similar in this and so . . . nicaise would have THE hardest time coming to terms with lamen having another kid/baby.

he'd be jealous because duh, being an only child is not the same as having siblings. but also, like you said, that kid or baby will probably not have the same trauma background nicaise has. not only THAT but that kid would be younger than nicaise, which... i mean, it's implied in the fic when they talk about galen and the fishing trip, but nicaise is aware of his own growth and age in ways other teenagers aren't, so that would also be a huge source of pain for him—knowing that he's older and an adult and he's being displaced by a younger and better "model".

. . . do u think he'd be a good big bro i wanna know

edit: check out this fic by steele (features nicaise as an older brother to a cute baby)

#anon #hiuh #also if you haven't read it there's a fic by steele where lamen are nicaise's adoptive parents and they also have a baby and it's super cut #im on my phone so i cant find the link rn but!!!!!!!!!!! CHECK IT OUT

[ahdriking]

78 , 62 for Blue Blood pls , 58 , 14, 7 and 8 ! you don't have to answer all of these if you don't feel like it , i'm just greedy :) *

OH MY GOODNESS YOU SPOIL ME

What motivates you during the writing process? I'LL BE HONEST. It's the feedback. I can't wait to see what peoples reactions are going to be, can't wait to see what people are going to think and feel, whenever I write a particularly spectacular moment I'm practically vibrating with excitement just to see how people will react to it. In particular, right now, my personal muse is @kissporsche, I honestly want to finish as many fic as possible just to shove them all under their nose for approval. I've been told it's welcome 😂

in [insert fic], is there a deleted scene/idea you wish you could have included?  Why did it get cut? There aren't many deleted scenes! The only scenes I've actually written and not used later got repurposed (recycling ftw). But there are deleted ideas for the fic that I suppose I wish I could have found a way to include-- namely, that Kinn and Porsche's Friday night meetups were going to be a bit less sexually heavy and a bit more bantery/romantic, and would include Kinn bringing him a series of increasingly opulent gifts as a means of winning his approval in a convoluted courtship. It would have been cute, but I don't think cute necessarily works for blue blood 😂

Do you have a favorite piece of figurative language you’ve written? Bold of you to assume I can remember anything i've written once it's published 😂 I probably have some real gems in my works that I would be proud of, but I'm always looking so far forward that I struggle to make room in my brain for looking back. The only thing that jumps to mind is this, from my Hardest of Hearts capri fic:

"Loving Laurent was like loving the sun. It burned warm and bright to be in his company, and, when Damen basked in it, it was the thing that staved off the cold, the thing that made his heart beat, that gave life to his very being. But, like Laurent, the sun was the cruelest and most fickle lover of all; to know what it was to have it, meant also to know the incomprehensible and frigid loneliness of its absence. When the shade came, and it always came, when the world turned and the light shrank beyond that ineffable horizon and darkness fell, that, too, was like Laurent’s love. The long nights of winter, when nothing grew, when the world was bleak and lonely and cold and everything shriveled and died in the wanting of something that would not come. That, too, was like loving Laurent."

What is your favorite location and position to write in? In bed with my laptop on my lap and my cat between my knees 😸

Post a snippet from a wip. From an upcoming fic for kissporsche 😏

“I’m sorry.” It’s inadequate. It’s not enough, and Porsche knows it. “I’m–” “Do you know what I would do to any of the other bodyguards, if they had done what you have done?” Porsche flinches, and his gaze drops to the floor. He bites his lip, unsure how to respond, unsure if Kinn even wants him to. “I would punish them.” The words drop to the pit of his stomach like hailstones. A cold sweat forms on his brow, and his chest suddenly feels too tight. He closes his eyes, and bites the inside of his cheek so hard he tastes copper. “Then punish me.”

Post an out-of-context spoiler from a wip.

“Porsche,” Kinn repeats. The timbre of his voice makes shivers roll down Porsche’s spine. “If you won’t let me call someone, then what do you want me to do?” It’s a dangerous question. What does Porsche want? He knows that the symptoms are only going to get worse. He knows that very soon, he’s going to be in a lot of pain, pain that isn’t going to end until his heat does. He knows that there is only going to be one source of reprieve. Porsche also knows that he will never let an alpha fuck him. He will never let another alpha put him on his back, or on his knees, and have their way with him like he’s just another simpering omega slut. He will never submit to that. He will never lower himself to that. But… Kinn isn’t like other alphas.

#ahdri asks #ask game

[damianosismyking]

provisional circumstances - chapter 5

" “Why are you getting mad at me for something you brought up?” Damen said. “I have never said I wanted anything from you.” 

“You mean to say you agreed to go through all of this—a legal trial, through fucking marriage—for free? That there's nothing in it for you?” 

“Yes.” 

“ Bullshit, ” Laurent repeated, firmly. 

“You’re the one who’s been asking for favors since the moment we first met, not me.” Laurent reacted the same way he did the day Damen slapped him. Damen tried to fix it, “And I’m fine with that,” he said. “I’m glad to help whenever I can. I just can’t understand why you would assume I want to take advantage of you when I’ve done nothing to allude to that. Ever.” 

Laurent’s entire face twisted. “Why?” He said it like it irked him somehow. “How can you agree to something like this and expect nothing in return?” 

“I don’t know.“ Damen frowned back at him. “It’s what friends do?” 

Laurent went very still. “Friends?” 

“Yes?” It took Damen no small amount of effort to say it.

“We are not—” Laurent began and cut himself off. “We—” he tried again, equally unsuccessful. “I’m—” 

Laurent took a step back, heedful of Damen. Damen sustained it. The silence stretched.  

Finally, after setting a long discussion he obviously had in his own mind, Laurent said, “You are remarkably stupid.” 

“ Excuse me? ” 

“You are an idiot,” he said, stepping away. From a good distance, he turned and shouted, “Are you coming or not?” "

read it on ao3.

#my writing #fic #fanfic #captive prince #lamen #laurent of vere #damianos of akielos #pls don't hate me for how long this took