#oc: Erriox | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

egrets-not-regrets · 16 days

Text

Guesthouse of the (Lost) Astartes: To Render Aid (4)

Erriox and Lenora provide aid to a lost chaos space marine and his young bonded human.

Dialogue spoken in Gothic are bolded and italicized.

Author’s Note: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

I am finally done! That was such a ride. This last chapter is a big one with a word count of almost 4900. A few comments on this chapter: Big bad scary chaos space marine is soft for his (mate, wife) bonded human. Malaran is Ben's ride or die buddy, and also has very little filter. Apparently, being an aunt by space marine is a thing now. I have a bunch more of silly comments in my head for this chapter. Let me know if you guy want to see these comments.

Thank you @squishyowl for making the fic dividers!

Enjoy!

Tagged:

@kit-williams, @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat,

@gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan, @sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual

“Ben?” Both Lenora and Ben turned to the sound of the voice.

“Mom!” Ben cried, running towards her, “Mom!”

Amelia braced herself against the impact, laughing tearfully as her son ran into her arms. She hugged him tightly, “Ben! Oh Ben! I missed you so much!”

She had absolutely zero clue on how her son even managed to find his way here, let alone escaping out from under her ex and his family’s noses. But she didn’t care. He’s here, her boy is here!

Ben buried his face in her shirt, wetting it with his tears, “Mom! I missed you! I missed you so much!”

“I looked for you for so long!” He wailed.

Amelia’s heart shattered at her child’s cries. She tightened her grasp, apologizing over and over in weepy whispers, “I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry! I’m sorry, Ben! I tried! I tried to…Oh! I’m so sorry!” Hugging him tightly like it was her last day on earth.

Amelia desperately wanted to tell Ben how she tried again and again to visit and see him, each time only to end up blocked by her ex-husband’s family or his Black Templar Astartes. The gifts and letters she tried to pass onto him. How Alcyon managed to catch her ex unguarded and intimidated him enough to let her visit once more outside their home and give one last gift to him. How the Black Templar soon patrolled the school as well after that. She wanted to say how the judge ruled custody in her ex’s favour after Alcyon’s fight with the templar at Ben’s school. How they were then ordered by the Warsmith and the local Chapter Master not to contact him again, her own son, for the sake of keeping peace. She wanted to tell Ben so many things so badly, so he could understand that she had tried so hard and had never ever stopped loving her baby.

“I love you so so much, Ben.” Amelia mumbled into his hair.

What did it matter? She had still suddenly disappeared from Ben’s life without a word. God only knows what her ex’s family told him, given how much they disliked her. Her heart bled with regret. She could never apologize enough for not being able to fight harder for him. But now that Ben is here, she could make up for the lost time as much as possible.

“I love you, Mom.” Amelia laughed, full of joyful tears, when Ben gave her an extra squeeze.

But HOW did he get here? She wondered.

Eric’s voice drew her out of her thoughts, “Hey Amelia.” Passing her and Ben a box of tissue, which both gratefully accepted.

Amelia blew her nose and wiped her tears, noticing the other woman standing there with them. She smiled kindly at her, then gestured to Ben and Eric, “Let’s clean up a bit first before we continue. Eric, mind showing Ben to the bathroom?”

Once refreshed, Amelia asked her, unsure of who she was and what relation she had with her son, “You’re…”

“I’m Lenora.” She shook Amelia’s hand.

“Amelia.” She replied, “How did you meet my son? You brought him here, right?”

Lenora nodded, “Yes, well… Erriox, my Astartes, brought Ben and his Astartes to my home.”

Amelia encouraged her to continue as they sat together in the waiting hall, Ben curled up against her, “They were caught in a snowstorm when Erriox found them and led them to our house.” Lenora decided to skip the part where Ben caught hypothermia and needed first aid for now. Amelia already felt guilty enough, no need for her to add more worries to her plate.

“We found out that Ben was looking for you, but he and Orca were being hunted down by the Black Templar. It was only a matter of time before he would come knocking at our door as well.”

“Orca is…”

“Orca is Ben’s bonded Astartes.” Lenora confirmed. Amelia laughed quietly. Of course Ben would name his Astartes after some sea creature.

Lenora sighed, watching the boy start to nod off, “Ben told us that you were bonded to a chaos space marine. And luckily, between Orca and Erriox, they were able to figure out that it was brother Alcyon. So we made our way here to Steelix Fortress.”

Ben piped up, “We were chased by that asshole!”

“That asshole?” Amelia wondered, “You mean…”

“The Black Templar.” Lenora clarified.

“He was so close to catching us, but Ms. Lenora did this really cool Fast and Furious thing to avoid him! And Orca and Erriox jumped him and they started fighting!”

Lenora internally cringed at that, Ben’s mom really did not need to know how they drifted a truck and nearly careened off the road. So much for that.

“Erriox and Mal…Orca, they’re still out there fighting…” An uncomfortable anxiousness crept into her veins. So much so that she almost forgot to use Ben’s given name for the Black Legionnaire.

“Fighting the Black Templar, huh?” Amelia sullenly added.

“Yes.”

Amelia laughed with bitter admiration, “That Astartes is nothing if not doggedly dedicated to his cause with a one-track mind to succeed in his mission.”

“I’m sorry. That probably doesn’t relieve your fears.“ she added remorsefully.

Lenora stared at the distant entryway of the medical wing, mumbling, “I hope they’ll be okay.”

Ben piped up, “They can take him. Orca can take him.” He said with the utmost faith. Lenora wished she could believe the same. It’s been a long time since they had parted and yet Erriox and Malaran weren’t here yet. Two arms wrapped around her neck as Ben hugged her, “They’ll beat him. I know they will!”

She smiled sadly as she hugged him back, “Thanks Ben. I really needed that.” Just have to hang onto that spark of faith and trust that Ben’s intuition is correct. Right?

The boy then went back to his mother’s side, asking her, “Mom, is Brother Alcyon who you live with? Was that what you meant by the kingfisher?”

Amelia blinked, surprised at her son managing to find out where, rather who, she meant, “Yes, Kingfisher is Alcyon. How did you figure it out?”

“Ms. Lenora told me.” Amelia chuckled at Ben’s answer, “she’s a wildlife biologist who works with birds!” he answered proudly.

Lenora laughed, appreciating Amelia’s play on her Astartes’ name, “It made sense once Osteron told me who you were bonded to. For a little while, I was worried that we would have to check every area where kingfishers were known to be nesting outside the fortress.”

“You’ve seen actual kingfishers?” Amelia asked.

“Yes! There are at least one or two pairs that nest along the river just outside of the base. If you’re interested, I’d be happy to take you to see them at some point.”

Ben begged, “Please, mom?”

Amelia smiling, agreed, and traded contact information with the other woman.

**************

By the time Alcyon arrived, the two Astartes warriors were trudging on the road towards the fortress. The disgruntled Black Legionary dragging his feet, looking off-balanced, and his sullen loyalist battle-brother carrying the comatose body of the Black Templar over his shoulder. All of them looked like something a wayward Heldrake dragged in.

“Khornate idiot!” He heard his battle-brother hiss at the Black Legionnaire.

“Trench Skaven!” The chaos Astartes hissed back, spitting a clod of blood onto the snow, “If your Warmaster wasn’t so soft, we would have killed him and be done with it!”

“Orders are orders! The warmaster needed him alive to find a way out of this mess! If you hadn’t so carelessly engaged the templar earlier, you wouldn’t be in this state!” Erriox argued.

“Enough.” Alcyon commanded, “Brother Erriox, pick up the pace.” He went to support the wounded chaos marine, “We will follow.”

They soon made their way to the fortress. Luckily, Malaran’s injuries eventually healed enough that he could jog unassisted. The group went straight to the medical bay, dropping off the Black Templar with the order of binding and securing the unconscious Astartes as soon as possible, then quickly left to seek out their bonded humans.

Malaran, now that the haze of bloodthirst and battle faded away, was suddenly reminded of Ben’s mission. He asked his fellow chaos Astartes, “You are bonded to Ben’s mother, are you not?”

Alcyon confirmed his identity.

Malaran rounded on the chaos Iron Warrior, voicing his displeasure, “Tell me, why did she not return to see her son at school? Did she know how much distress she caused him?”

Alcyon straightened to his full height and snarled at the still-injured Black Legionnaire, his red lenses flared with annoyance, “It was the corpse-damned Black Templar! In the last several months, he patrolled the area around the house, cutting us off from seeing the child there. Then he started doing the same at the school. My human begged him and that blasted family. Begged. Him. To see her son, to pass on whatever gifts and letters she had for him. Whatever they did with those gifts and letters, we never knew, but it was clear the child never received them.”

His voice lowered in volume, remembering that they were in the medical wing of the base, “I could not stand for such insult. That was her son, not that damned son of Dorn’s! We fought, which had us banned from the school grounds. Of course, humans do not look upon chaos warriors favourably.” Alcyon scowled, his one good eye glared at the floor in front of them as he remembered the utter heartbreak in Amelia’s eyes when she found out what happened. She couldn’t bear to look at him, let alone be around him, for days after that incident. It hurt. More than a chainsword carving through his chest.

He growled, his anger flaring, “We were then ordered not to contact the child anymore lest the Black Templars decide to start a crusade against us. So do not even DARE accuse my bonded of not trying find a way to see him!”

“But since you have bonded to her son and brought him back, I will forgive your insult this once, but if your actions so much as put her and her son in jeopardy, or tarnish her name,… I will put you down myself.” Alcyon threatened. Erriox was surprised at how fiercely protective his battle-brother was of his bonded human over such a short period of time. To be fair, he would have perhaps done the same in his situation. His brother’s record of events did answer his question with regards to the templar’s accusation though.

Malaran scoffed, “I am the last person you need to say that to. You take me for a fo—?” His rant was cut short by Erriox knocking his chestplate.

“Shut it. They’re here.” The Iron Warrior scolded him as they caught sight of the two chatting women and the child with them.

“Orca!” Ben called out, running up to meet him. Alcyon snorted at the name. Malaran ignored him, wincing as his gut wound complained when he knelt down to receive his human’s embrace. Ben threw his arms around him and buried his face in Malaran’s neck. He looked at his injuries and the cracked armour, upset at his current state, “You’re hurt!”

“I am fine.” He crooned, nuzzling to soothe his young charge. He purred, rumbling deeply, happy to see his youngling safe and sound.

“Mom! This is Orca! He’s my space marine! He’s the one who helped me!” Ben said proudly. Malaran couldn’t help but preen at the tone of pride in his youngling’s voice. Amelia walked over to the pair, standing in front of the kneeling chaos marine. To his surprise, she hugged him, her voice tearful but happy, “Thank you, Orca. Thank you for caring for Ben and bringing him back to me.”

She was Ben’s mother. He recognized her mild floral scent from the momento Ben carried. Malaran didn’t understand all of what she said, but he understood that she was grateful to be reunited with her son. But why was she crying? Did he do something wrong?

Confused, Malaran leaned his head against hers and purred, going by instinct as that was what usually helped quell Ben’s tears when he cried. Amelia gave a small laugh before releasing him, “I’m okay, but thank you again for sticking by him.”

“She’s alright. She said she is grateful to you for staying with her son.” Alcyon translated, his gaze noticeably softened as his mechanical claw tenderly touched Amelia’s cheek, catching the tear threatening to run down. She patted the claw in thanks and gave him a watery smile. The chaos Iron Warrior recognized the boy from the many times he watched his bonded meet with him at the school. He mostly stayed out of sight during those times for Amelia’s sake, but close enough that he could easily protect her should she run into trouble. His bonded placed her hands on her son’s shoulders to turn and face him. She smiled warmly at Ben and then at him, “This is Alcyon. He is my bonded Astartes.”

Ben looked up at him. Alcyon was a tall Iron Warrior, reminding him of the kind apothecary he just met, Osteo-something. But much more fearsome. His scowling face was heavily scarred, his right eye was replaced by a collection of red lenses, a deep cut ran down the left side, splitting open his top lip, exposing a glint of sharp teeth underneath. There was a shallow nub on the left side of his forehead where it seemed there was once a horn that was cut off.

His modified armour and his mechanical limbs only added to his frightening appearance. His left arm was replaced by a large claw and a large mechanized limb replaced his right leg just above the knee. Ben couldn’t believe that he was related to Erriox or the apothecary. Whereas Erriox looked stern and strict, and the apothecary looked kind; Alcyon looked scary, even scarier than Orca when he’s angry.

Swallowing his fear, Ben asked the hulking chaos marine, “Are you Kingfisher?”

Alcyon knelt, getting a good look at Ben, though still towering over the boy, “Yes, Kingfisher is the name your mother gave me.”

“Thank you. For keeping my mom safe.” Ben said, meeting his gaze bravely.

Satisfied, Alcyon huffed and stood up once more, gently ruffling Ben’s hair with his gauntlet-covered hand.

“Your mother is my bond-mate. Protecting her is my duty.” Came his stalwart answer.

Erriox quietly went over to Lenora where she was watching the reunited family. He pulled her against his armour in a close embrace. She hugged him, giving him a tired smile, glad that he was finally there. He was here, safe and sound, in one piece, with her.

Her hand caressed the remnants of the recent battle on his chest armour, “I was so worried...” Her voice dropped to a murmur, her voice tight with emotion, “The last I saw you were fighting… and then we waited for such a long time… I was scared that you wouldn’t… I thought…”

Erriox quickly shut her up with a kiss, a brow twitching in annoyance when he heard Eric’s whispered cheer. He quickly turned, using his body to shield Lenora from everyone’s view. His gauntleted hand gently brushed away her tears as she leaned into his touch.

Clutching her tightly in his arms, he kissed her again, this time deeply and all-consuming, “Have faith in me, Lenora. I will come home to you.” Erriox vowed into her lips. It would take more than just a Black Templar to stop him.

“You better.” She kissed him back, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, pulling him ever closer for as much as his armour allowed. Desperately clinging to her Iron Warrior as if whatever entity that sent him to her will take him away if she didn’t. He only held her tighter and pushed his kiss deeper.

“Ms. Lenora!”

They broke off from each other at the sound of her name. Erriox quickly set her down and Lenora wiped her mouth before meeting the rest of the group, trying to ignore the swelling of her lips.

Ben rushed forward and hugged her tightly, almost knocking her off-balance had not Erriox braced her from behind.

“Thank you! You and Erriox! Thank you for helping me find my mom.” He mumbled into her chest. Lenora’s heart melted. She hugged him back, giving the boy a good squeeze, “You’re very welcome, Ben. Be good and take care of yourself, hm?” She mumbled into his hair.

Erriox reached over and patted the boy affectionately on the head, “You are welcome.”

“You might as well fuck her while you were at it.” Malaran snickered. Lenora's ears burned with that remark. Amelia blushed.

Erriox glared at him and growled threateningly, “Keep your comments to yourself, cousin. Don’t make me regret helping you.” Protectively looming over his human.

Alcyon elbowed the Black Legionary harshly, “Don't be so vulgar in front of my mate.”

“Your what?” Malaran’s mind came to a screeching halt.

“My. Mate. Did the templar hit you so hard that you have gone deaf?” Alcyon icily responded, resting his right hand against the base of Amelia’s back.

That was unexpected. The Iron Warrior certainly usurped the former husband’s position quickly, Malaran thought. The Black Legionnaire doubted that Ben would have known about this. He was about to ask, but thought better of it; this farce has gone on long enough for one day and he would like to spend time with his youngling now that this debacle was over. A moment of uncertainty ran through him, would this mean his position of Ben’s bonded was in danger too? His hands itched to bring Ben back to his side. He hissed lowly at the chaos Iron Warrior, reminding him, “Do not dare steal my youngling away from me.”

Alcyon glanced at Malaran, offended at his presumption, “You have nothing to worry about unless you foolishly put them in danger.”

Lenora shook her head, looking away from the two chaos space marines, “I think these boys are ready to head home and be done with it.” She chuckled to Amelia, then ruffling Ben’s hair goodnaturedly, the boy yawning mid-giggle, “This one too.”

She turned to Erriox, “Let’s go home?”

He was about to agree when Osteron walked up to the group, a warm smile on the apothecary’s face, “Hello Amelia, I’m glad you have your boy back.”

Amelia smiled at him, “Hello Osteron. Yes, I’m very thankful.”

He addressed the group, “It is rather late, so it is best to stay at the base and leave the next morning. You ladies and Ben here could stay in Brother Erriox’s and Brother Alcyon’s rooms. Brother Malaran, we will make arrangements for you to stay as well.”

He then addressed the three Astartes, irritation evident in his voice, “You three, tracking dirt and blood all over my clean medbay,…” Even Alcyon stiffened slightly at the change of tone, “Report to the Warmaster on today’s events then report back to me. You will spend your time cleaning up every speck of debris and stain in my medbay to my standard before you leave.”

“Yes sir.”

Malaran groaned and was about to argue, but Alcyon told him to shut up, “Don’t. It will only make it worse.” He said.

“Are you in trouble?” Ben asked worriedly.

Osteron chuckled, “It is nothing terrible. These boys made a big mess in the medical bay and now are going to clean it up. They will be back with you after they are finished.”

Malaran huffed and patted Ben’s head, purring and promising in Gothic to return to him as soon as he was done.

Lenora giggled at Malaran’s grumbling before turning to Erriox, “Don’t get into more trouble now.” She joked.

Her Iron Warrior huffed, side-eyeing the Black Legionary, “I can’t promise you that.”

Erriox kissed her brow and then her lips, “I will return.” He promised.

Lenora kissed him back, “One more for good luck.” She smiled. He smirked.

“We’ll see you later then?” Amelia asked Alcyon quietly.

“Yes, I will be with you soon.” Alcyon, almost bent double, pressed his forehead to hers. Amelia smiled and quickly touched her nose against his, “See you then.”

“Rest well.” With one last caress, the chaos Iron Warrior turned to follow his battle-brothers.

****************

Lenora walked Amelia and Ben to Alcyon’s suite.

“So… like… Is Alcyon going to be my new dad?” Ben asked, breaking the comfortable silence.

“You want him to be?” Amelia answered.

Ben shrugged, “Don’t you like each other though?” Recalling how Alcyon acted towards his mom.

Amelia paused, confused and slightly concerned, “Yes, but that doesn’t make him your dad. What if your teacher and I like each other, would you start calling him dad?”

“No, but he’s probably better than my actual dad though.” Ben replied, making a face, he couldn’t picture his teacher and his mom together. He understood her point though.

“Alcyon is a space marine. He’s our protector, but I’m not sure he’s um… ready for you to be calling him ‘dad’.” She wasn’t sure how to feel about Alcyon in all this, to be honest. He was intimidating, at some points can be very frightening, and was weird about certain things, being unaccustomed to what humans here take for granted. But on the other hand, Alcyon was incredibly devoted to her, fiercely so. He was so different, and was so much more than everything she found lacking in her previous relationship. Amelia had to admit that she did love him in the short time they were together and that their relationship was intensely… romantic? But the fact remains that the emotional wounds left by her ex were too raw, too recent. She didn’t want to use Alcyon and to think of him as simply a rebound or a temporary band aid solution to that emotional trauma. The topic of fatherhood? Yeah, she’s definitely not ready to touch that conversation at all.

Lenora stepped in, “Ben, maybe hold off on calling anyone your dad. Orca might feel real weird about that.” She figured that would likely cause conflict between the two chaos space marines, considering how overprotective and clingy Malaran was of Ben. Chances are, Malaran would be upset and jealous of Ben’s relationship with the chaos Iron Warrior if that’s the case. The thought of Malaran begrudgingly calling Alcyon “dad” was very funny though.

The boy agreed and decided to drop the topic. He hadn’t even considered how Orca would feel. Another question nagged his mind, “Ms. Lenora, since Erriox is Alcyon’s brother and Orca’s cousin, can I call you ‘Aunt Lenora’?”

Lenora stared, trying to find the correct words to say. She looked helplessly at Ben’s mother who only giggled at them. She tried to explain, “Erriox is not actually related to them, you know? Kind of like in certain cultures where I would call another woman, like your mum, “sister”; but she’s not actually related to me.”

“But that means I can still call you Aunt Lenora even though you’re not really related to me if Erriox calls Orca, his cousin. You’re much better than my actual aunts.” Ben countered.

Lenora laughed, she couldn’t fault his logic and she couldn’t say no to the little bit of flattery at the end. An aunt by space marine, she is then.

“I suppose.” She said exasperatedly and fondly, “You can call me Aunt Lenora.”

Ben cheered. By that time they had arrived at Alcyon’s room. Amelia turned and hugged Lenora tightly, “Thank you so much, Lenora. Thank you for bringing Ben back to me. I thought I lost him for good. I owe you so much for this.” She said, heart full and feeling eternally grateful to the other woman.

Lenora hugged her tightly back, giving Amelia a comforting squeeze, “It’s all good, don’t you worry about owing anything silly like that. Just take care of yourselves. I’ll probably see you around the base sometime.”

She pulled away a little, suddenly remembering something, “I put some extra toiletries in Ben’s backpack. So if he’s looking for a toothbrush or something, it should be in there.”

Amelia hugged Lenora again, she couldn’t be ever more grateful to her, “Thank you so much.You really didn’t have to.”

“It’s fine. I have extras anyway.”

“You’re the best, Aunt Lenora.” Ben said, his voice muffled as he burrowed in to join in on the hug. Lenora just laughed, her tiredness briefly forgotten with the boy’s enthusiasm. She clutched them both tightly once more before taking her leave.

“I’ll see you guys around.”

Mother and son watched Lenora leave before entering Alcyon’s room. His room was relatively spartan. The only evidence that he was bonded to a human was the soft dark green fleece blanket on his bed and a few stems of dried Achillea millefolium flowers and dandelions tied together in a small bouquet on his desk.

Once inside, Ben dug through his backpack, pulling out spare clothes, more snacks and sandwiches, a large bottle of water, a bag of toiletries, a ziploc bag with some first aid items, among other things. Ben gasped when he pulled out a copied set of Blue Planet DVDs and a letter folded inside one of the DVD cases.

“In case you end up somewhere safe and able to find a DVD player. Enjoy the Blue Planet series! They are very good and I think you’ll like them. I don’t know where you and Orca plan to go after this, but I hope this pack will be enough supplies for a little while. At least until you get to another safe place. Good luck! I hope you find your mom. - Lenora”

That woman gave her son so much. Amelia didn’t think the kindness of strangers would stretch this far as she had already done so much for them. Amelia decided then that she would at least treat Lenora to dinner next time she sees her.

****************

Mother and son were sleeping peacefully by the time the two chaos marines returned to Alcyon’s room. Malaran’s first instinct was to gather the boy and bring him with him to his room, but thought better of it.

“Let them sleep. I will be with them. Come join us again in seven hours.” Alcyon told him. The Black Legionnaire nodded as he retired to his own room for the night.

Alcyon stripped down to his body suit. Sitting at his desk, he switched out his heavy leg prosthetic for a lighter one and then took off his metal claw. It was only when he lived with Amelia that he started doing this, not wanting to accidently nick her again during their sleep. Human skin and flesh tears so easily. After the first couple of scars he made, Alcyon became much more careful using his claw around her, something he would never have considered for anyone, let alone a baseline human.

He slipped into the bed behind Amelia, his tall bulk protectively blocking them both should a threat enter from the doorway. He watched his human’s son sleeping deeply, nestled into the curve of her body. Reporting to the Warmaster had been interesting, piecing together the events between him, Malaran and Erriox. The Warmaster was deeply unimpressed and grumbled about a can of worms under his breath. In the end, Amelia was able to reunite with her son, which was all that mattered to him. This time, he will make sure to keep his this little family together, to make up for his past mistake to his dear mate. He will destroy anything and anyone who dares threaten his peace.

“Kingfisher?” came Amelia’s whisper. It was a strange name, but he didn’t mind it, though only she was allowed to call him that.

The chaos Iron Warrior rumbled a low affirmative, feeling her body sag in relief against him. He brushed her hair back delicately, pressing a kiss to the shell of her exposed ear, drawing out a blissful sigh. Her head tilted to reverently place a kiss to the skin of his arm stump where it met the metal attachment point for his claw. Alcyon hummed with quiet satisfaction, not daring to purr, lest he wakes up the boy. He wrapped his arm around Amelia, listening to their steady heartbeats as he closed his eye.

*****************

The mattress dipped with his weight as Erriox joined her. Lenora hummed in comfort as she felt his warm body curl around her and his rumbling purr vibrate down her back, relaxing as the exhaustion of the day’s events caught up to her. Erriox kissed the nape of her neck and nuzzled into her hair, inhaling her scent. She drowsily looked up at him, exhaling a sigh of contentment, “You’re back. It’s good to see you.”

“I’ve returned.” Erriox replied, his voice soft as his hand drifted along her exposed throat; memorizing the feel of her pulse and the warmth of her skin. He tilted her head back, kissing her languidly before pulling her closer to himself. “Don’t ever drive like that again.” He grumbled, closing his eyes and draping his arm over her. Lenora laughed in acknowledgment and intertwined her fingers with his, bringing his hand up to her chest as she drifted off to sleep.

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #iron warriors #black legion #oc: erriox #oc: lenora #oc: malaran blackspike #oc: ben #oc: alcyon #oc: amelia plover

46 notes · View notes

c-u-c-koo-4-40k · 12 days

Text

Child of the Sea, Child of the Land (Oops all Mythicals!)

Edit 2: Tis Finished! ENJOY!!!

Edit: Tumblr did it again dammit don't read yet its not finished!

Oops! All Mythical edition, and as a regular story instead of a poem!

Featuring a saytr reader with a posterior of a horse. Reader is a literal horses ass. And a human torso. But they're very pleasant otherwise. Why not a centaur? Cause Satyrs need more love!

Also a cameo from Lenora and Erriox who are ocs from @egrets-not-regrets ! They're great check our their stuff!

Warning: Flirting, Abrupt proposal that Kinda equates to marriage, violence, threats of getting eaten, descriptions of blinding, the word Whore, description of burning.

Notes: The mythical creatures are the humans of this world they can own other animals who are still just animals. No weird inter species stuff going on. The mythical creatures with human features just exist, as do the regular animals.

Tag: @kit-williams @sleepyfan-blog @egrets-not-regrets @barn-anon @bleedingichorhearts @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

Ahem!

Long ago in a world not unlike our own, their lived vast communities of strange and wonderful creatures.

There were the harpies that patrolled the skys, hunting and chorusing with their fellows. Each taking after the bird that shared their features in form and function.

There were the land dwellers, who tilled the soil, and raised the creatures of their farms to suit their needs. They came in many shapes and variances of limbs.

A centaur with the body of an Elephant who watched over the inland waterways, a drider who wove fine their silks in clothing, and most commonly, those land folk who we would call saytrs.

But more than deer or goats, they walked and ran with a plethora of mammalian hindquarters.

It is in this group we find, a very dutiful satyr. Their hind quarters were strong, resembling a horse, but enchanting with their feathered ends that contrasted their complexion.

Each day they tended to their farm, alongside their parents. With love and care and only Occasional outbursts of frustration.

Splash!

"Oh Dammit!"

Language!

"Um...sorry?" They snorted before grabbing a drying towel to mop the wet from their legs.

Anyway! However devoted...and dampened, this particular land dweller was, they did their work with a smile. For it truly brought them joy.

Crash!

"Fucking Dammit! Get back here!"

Languag- Oh Nevermind!

You got ahold of the wayward gelding before he could cause even More damage than he already had.

"Honestly Gemstone," You sighed, leading him back to his pen. You'd need a new chain...and a new fence panel.

The idiot had knocked the whole setup over trying to reach for a bit of graze on the other side.

You sighed heavily, another log to the pile. "What am I supposed to do with you huh?" You asked the rhetorical, as you tied Gemstone off to the side.

Huffing, you hefted a less destroyed panel over, followed by dismantling the first, fetching a new chain, and finally setting everything back together to your satisfaction.

You glanced back at the offending party.

"Well? Got anything to say for yourself?"

The gelding's dark eyes simply staired back. Before he slipped his tongue out and followed that up with a huge Yaaaaaaaawn.

Your serious facade broke. "Pfft! Ha..." You sighed, gently taking his head again and scratching his face the way he liked. "Guess I can't stay mad at you. Even if you are a silly bugger bear! Silly Silly bugoo be-wawr!" You cooed before returning him to his place.

"And stay there! Goofball." You shook your head and smiled, as your mother approached.

"That old fence panel finally gave up the ghost huh?" She asked, walking over.

You snorted, not unlike the horses you shared features with. "Yep, had to redo it." You huffed. "Cause somebody was a greedy Fart!" You scolded the horse again.

Gemstone simply went on munching his hay, unbothered.

Your mother chuckled, "Well it seems you've got this well in hand," She surmised, before handing you a bundle and a pitcher.

"Hm?" You took it, smelling something delightful.

"Your favorite," Your mother explained. "And some lemonade to help you stay hydrated. Go ahead and eat your lunch."

"Awww, thanks mom."

"You've more than earned it sweetie. mwah." She replied, with a kiss on your cheek, before walking back to your cottage.

As you watched her go, you felt an odd twisting in your heart.

"Her next birthday is pretty soon." You spoke, to no one in particular, maybe Gemstone could listen to your thoughts.

"I want to get her something special. I still remember when she showed me her collections of shells." You mused. "Some of those are even older than me..."

Your mother Loved the beach, and the ocean, after all she was born and raised with it practically next door. She'd spend hours at your age combing the beach for shells and sea glass.

But now...now it was so much more difficult for her. Between age and farm work, you couldn't even remember the last time You went swimming, let alone to the oceanside.

But...if your idea worked out, you'd be able to present her with a beautiful gift! A genuine piece of coral, and one in her favorite color no less!

There's was just one...small issue. Even at your best, you would not be able to dive long enough to retrieve it.

And even with your strength, you doubted you could break a piece from a creature that was more or less living rock.

And even if you Could, you'd run the risk of offending....one of them.

You felt a shiver pass through you.

Ah yes, the third and final group of this strange world's denizens. And by far the Most dangerous.

The sea folk.

Among their numbers were your typical mermaids, selkies, even the occasional crustacean-kin. Those honestly weren't frightening at all, no more so than any other stranger would be you mean.

But the most dangerous, most deadly, and most mysterious beings of the ocean, were those known as The Mer Astartes.

Armored, huge, stoic and nearly unknowable...but not completely.

Word was they Could be propositioned, for the right price.

That problem being that price, or rather the nature of the payment, varied Wildly depending on what mer you managed to contact.

You could end up trading something as banal as some land food items, to being demanded your own severed foreleg.

Again you shuddered.

But you would not be deterred! After all you knew where to gathe all the necessary ingredients. Those would be easy.

Well...all but...one.

As you sat beneath the shade of a tree, you gathered your long, luxurious tail into your lap.

The hair was wirey, strong, but well kept. It was a matter of pride for horse folk like yourself.

With the seasons changing, and biting flies soon to be a factor, you didn't want any of your precious equines to go without.

Besides...well kept satyr tail hair would be seen as more valuable...you hoped.

You turned your gaze toward the sea, though you could not see it. With your anticipation you could almost catch the faintest hint of salt brine.

You hoped the objects you would gather would be enough.

You hoped the old stories about the merfolk's preferences were true.

You sighed. "Another log to the pile..." You mumbled.

You left your tail unchanged for now. You didn't want your mother noticing.

You finished your lunch and the days work, and turned in early. You had a long day ahead of you.

...

The port city was Bustling with activity, even as early as you had set out.

You'd let your parents know you'd be away running errands, and the farm had another of your village's neighbors looking after it today.

Meaning you could focus solely on your task.

The crowds of different animal folk buzzed about with purpose.

Ox and cattle folk carrying Huge burdens, and drawing carts through the city streets.

Harpies of many kinds, flitting and squawking their trade and barter above in the open air and in the air market.

Like the Vulture and Eagle harpies displaying a variety of bone trinkets, and dried salted meats.

Hummingbird harpies tending to and selling flowers.

A hippo centaur carrying water with its little calf following close behind.

Adorable.

But you had two particular items in mind. And you wanted Prime quality for the task at hand.

You surveyed with not just your eyes, but your sharp nose as well, until-

"Oysters!" A voice cried out. "Fresh fish and oysters! Caught only this morning!"

Perfect!

You approached the calls, and what greeted you was an Osprey harpy. The bird woman stood behind a stall filled with fish and other marine delicacies.

"Greetings and welcome! Please have a look at our wares." She entreated as you approached.

"Hello," You replied, scanning over the offerings.

Mussels of various sizes were displayed in boxes filled with clear salt water. And many dried salted fish hung in bundles around the stall.

Plenty to chose from!

Maybe...too many.

Well, this might be harder than you first thought.

What type of Oyster and Fish Skin would most appeal to a mer Astarte?

"Something on your mind dear?"

You were woke from your thoughts by the Osprey women, the experienced seller clearly seeing your hesitation.

"Ah well..." You felt awkward, not sure how to explain your reasoning for Needing these things.

"You see...I need an Oyster and some fish skin, but I'm not sure what particular..."

"You're trying to contact an Astarte?"

You froze before stammering over your words. "How did- I mean no- I."

The Osprey harpy smiled and held up one of her taloned hands. "It's alright dear, you're not the first to go snooping for things based on the old stories."

You relaxed a bit.

Only for her demeanor to become strict. "You're not trying to lure one in to poach it are you?"

You?

Poach an Astarte?

On your own!?

"Pffffffft! Ha!" You couldn't help the outburst, only to see the Osprey's face was still serious.

You quickly tamped down your laughter. "Oh ah, sorry no. No no no, I need to ask one for help you see."

The harpy's posture immediately relaxed. "Oh?"

"Mmhm," You nodded before retrieving a piece of parchment from your satchel.

"I want to give my mother a piece of this coral." You explained, showing the image and information you'd copied from a book.

The Osprey looked over the image, examining it closely. "This Coral..."

"Is only found in the waters controlled by the mer astartes, I know." You completed her thought, returning the page to your bag.

"I know it's risky...but my mother hasn't gotten to see the ocean in so long, and it's hard for her to make the journey." You explained. "I was hoping I could bring a small part of the ocean to her."

The osprey harpy's gaze softened, clearly moved by your wish. She seemed to be mulling over her next words.

"Well...I think I can help you. At least a little bit."

You perked up.

The Osprey pulled up something from behind the counter, and laid it down so you could view it.

It was a map of the port city and nearby shorelines.

"Your best bet is to go here." She explained, pointing to a particular spot.

The name scrawled across the parchment stared back at you.

Fire Drake Shore

You paused for a moment. "Why there exactly?"

The Osprey smiled wryly. "You'll have the best chance finding someone willing to help with your quest."

"Really!?" You asked excitedly, the Osprey nodded.

"But," Your joy was interrupted buy the harpy's shift in tone back to serious. "You Must go during the day, and stay no later than sunset." She explained further. "Different mers are more active at different times of the day. You might end up contacting something far more dangerous if you don't heed these warnings."

You nodded, letting the words sink in. "Fire Drake Shore, during the day, no later than sunset. Got it!"

"Alright," The Osprey once again relaxed, placing her clawed hands on her hips. "Now, how's about I get you set up with a proper oyster and the finest shimmering pickled fish skin." She crowed, reaching into the oyster box and for her knife. "I'll even give you a discount!"

"Really? You don't have to-"

"Think about it as being for your mother." The Osprey said, gathering your purchased items together.

Well...you supposed you wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. "Thank you, thank you so much! Um...what is your name?"

The Osprey woman smiled. "It's Lenora, sweetie."

"Well...thank you so much Lenora!" You said gratefully as you payed.

Once your items were secure, you bid Lenora the Osprey woman farewell, as you excitedly made your way to Fire Drake Shore.

As she watched you leave, the Osprey harpy felt happy, but still a little concerned.

"I wish I could've helped you more." Unbeknowst to most, Lenora had...a certain relationship with a mer astarte she'd helped by chance.

Had he not been on an extended hunting trip Erriox could have been convinced to help. He'd have grumbled and groused, but he'd have done it. Maybe even would have smiled at the adorable Horse folk getting to give their mother a beautiful gift, before acting like it didn't affect him at all.

The Osprey harpy smiled at the thought of her companions rough, but sweet demeanor. But as her thoughts went on she found herself troubled.

Fire Drake Shore was the best place that Horse saytr could go...but even there wasn't completely safe.

She hoped things would work out.

By the stars, and the ancient mothers, she hoped it would work out.

...

The crashing of waves, and salty brine met your ears and nose as you approached the shoreline.

Fire Drake Shore...

You're not sure why it was named such, nothing about it spoke to you as very...fire drakey.

But as your approached the gently rolling waves, and breathed in the salty air, you couldn't deny this place was beautiful!

Serene, and yet lively. With the call of gulls in the air, you made your way down to the water.

You stood before the waves, watching as their reach came just far enough to touch your hooves.

And for a moment, you gave yourself permission to just...enjoy the present.

The way the water would run up the sand, before seeming to vanish and melt into the beach as it receded. The salty brine that filled your nose and lungs. The way the water stretched so far out it was nearly impossible to tell where the water ended and the sky began.

But you couldn't dwell on that for much longer. There was...something else that had to be done.

One more piece to prepare...or rather two.

You gathered a chunk, about one third of you precious tail, into one hand. With your other, you took out a knife.

It wasn't even all of it...but the piece would be noticeable in its absence.

But it Would grow back. And the struggle would be worth it, it would all be worth it.

With careful precision, you began to cut through the strands of your own tail.

Snip, by snip, broken severed hair, by severed hair. You winced, but did not falter until at last you held the separated hair in you hand.

"No turning back now." You muttered, pulling out the oyster and fish skin.

You used your knife again, plunging it into the gap of the oyster and carving it open. Then, you sprinkled a bit of vinegar into the gap from a small flask you'd bought.

But rather than use your knife for the final ingredient, you chose a less painful method.

You'd intentionally let your lips become chapped and plucked and picked at the dry skin until you tasted Iron.

You carefully wrapped the now opened oyster, the fish skin and the horse hair into a bundle, much like a gift.

You pressed your bleeding lip to the parcel.

"Please, Please let this work." You whispered your prayer, feeling your heart race despite your quiet.

And with that, you reared back and Threw your bundle as Hard as you could into the sea, where it splashed and sank below the waves.

...

.........

.................

Nothing. But maybe you just needed to wait longer. You paced back and forth a bit, looking out into waves, hoping to see something come from them.

....

.............

.............................

You felt your heart sink.

All that preparation, all that hope...and for what?!

Part of you wanted to scream, the other half wanted to cry.

"RrrraAGHH!" You let the frustration out, kicking the sand and stomping about. Snorting and head tossing, and flicking what remained of your tail!

Only to slip and fall ass over tea kettle onto the sand. "WOah-oOOF!"

You laid there in disbelief for a moment. "UuURghaaaaAh!" You let out an odd mix of growl and shout in frustration, covering your eyes with your hands and thrashing for a minute before...

Before you just, slumped down, defeated.

You let out a sigh, and laid there.

The sounds of the waves and the gulls, the scent of the brine and the sluggish sparse clouds above....all was Just as peaceful and as beautiful as when you first arrived.

Maybe you could wait longer?

But maybe that wouldn't help.

Lenora had said this beach was the best option. Wouldn't that mean the old stories of summoning Astartes were true?

True doesn't mean a certain method would always work...the ocean was avert place after all.

Maybe no mer astartes had seen your offering.

You brought yourself up and sat, facing the waves still rolling.

The waves your mother used to love, the same ones that went on even without her being here...

If waves could love...would they love even when no one was watching? When the people who once adored them left and some never came back?

You felt a twinge and sniffed as some tears began to form at the corners of your eyes, you wiped them away quickly. And sighed.

Well...at least the view was pretty.

You sat there for a bit, before bringing yourself back up to stand.

There was no use dwelling on something that couldn't be changed. You'd find something else to give your mother, even if the disappointment of your failure still stung.

You turned to walk back into town, perhaps you could find something nice at one of the stalls-

SPLASH!

A damp wave of water suddenly doused you, soaking you from head to hoof in brine.

"P-pthoo! What the-" Your shout was cut off as you realized you were enveloped in a shadow much larger than you.

Your eyes trailed up at the imposing figure before you.

Long marine tail? Check, it was the color of cooled molten rock and had bright red orange veins.

Armored torso? Check, it was plated a deep green color, with dragon like insignias on the chest and shoulder pauldron.

Inscrutable, helmeted gaze? Check, the large marine had red lenses that peered down at you intensely, regarding you with curiosity, as you regarded Him with trepidation.

Neither of you spoke for a moment. The only sound passing between you his breathing. Until you decided to break the ice.

"Um...he-hello?"

The Astarte tilted his head slightly before bringing up his hand between the two of you.

You found yourself bewildered as you were presented with the parcel you'd just thrown into the sea.

Was he...trying to return it to you? "...oh...Oh, no!" You replied, gently pushing it back towards him, his arm didn't even budge. "It's for you!"

The slight twitch backwards he did is response was more readable. He was confused.

"Ah sorry Sorry, what I mean is...I need your help. And...I was told that the best way to contact you was buy...throwing this into the ocean." You hurriedly explained.

This seemed to give the marine pause, before he lifted his other hand to his helm.

Click, hiss

With a practiced ease he removed his helm, and you were taken aback by what greeted you.

A skin as dark as charcoal, but eyes that were surprisingly soft despite them being totally red. And his hair! Long and pale and curly, it seemed to bounce as it came free.

You felt a slight blush creep over your skin. He was...very attractive.

And when he spoke his voice was warm, and smooth.

"I see," He replied to you. "Though this method is a bit...outdated, To serve and to aid is the most honorable of acts. How may I assist you this day, child of the land?"

You had to force yourself to respond. "I well...I was hoping to contact an Astarte so I could get my hands on some of this. Ah one sec let me find it."

As you fumbled in your bag you had no idea Pyrus, the large Salamander, was secretly enjoying how adorable you looked.

Land dwellers were always so funny. Though he Did wish you didn't appear so frightened, but he supposed it was natural, all things considered.

You finally pulled the coral parchment from you satchel, gladdened that it wasn't too soaked, and displayed it for the marine.

As he looked over the image you continued to explain. "I want to give it to my mother as a gift. She's...always loved the ocean."

The marine looked to your face, some of your apprehension was replaced with melancholy. It tugged on his two hearts.

"It's...hard for her...she can't travel as easily these days so...I wanted to bring a bit of the ocean to her." You explained. "This coral is her Favorite color, and I wanted to give it to her for her birthday. So...in exchange for these items...do you think you could help me?"

Pyrus felt his chest swell. The Salamanders prided themselves on the virtues of love and camaraderie. To see your concern and desire to please your loved one was not only sweet, it was very attractive indeed.

He was a Slight oddity in his pod. Most of his kind didn't really...feel attraction in the sense that most baseline creatures did.

Those that did preferred the features of sea folk, which was fine, but...it did leave him a bit isolated in the fact he much preferred the features of land walkers.

He just found them so...fascinating! He'd spend hours watching at a distance as the port city buzzed with life. The music, the food, the inurmerable sights and sounds and experiences to be had.

And him...stuck out there in the ocean. Oh sure he had the ability to swim through air but if he took one step in that town the people would scatter in fear.

Not...like he blamed them.

Between his preferences and his hobbies, he often felt...alone.

Even amongst his brothers, but maybe...he didn't have to be as alone anymore?

"Indeed, this is a task I can take well in hand." He proclaimed. And he saw your ears perk up.

"You can! Oh thank you!"

Pyrus held up his gauntleted hand, he may be about to ask something...much in return, but he would not get your hopes up or lie to you.

"But...I must ask for one more thing in return."

You waited, unsure of what he'd ask for, but you'd gotten this far.

"The truth is...it is quite Lonely, below the waves." He began, now himself feeling awkward. "I hold each of my brother close to my heart but...we do not share the same interests."

"As your mother yearns for the sea, I yearn for a connection I cannot obtain within it." Pyrus continued. "So I wanted to ask, if I grant you this request of your heart, would you grant me mine?"

You tilted your head. What could you offer the heart of an Astarte?

Pyrus squared his shoulders, he would do this right! Even if it was sudden. "Dear child of the land...would you join me beneath the waves, soothe my lonely heart, as I will soothe yours. You kindness and devotion have smitten me. If I grant you this favor, this is what I ask in return."

He...he what now?

You shook your head in confusion. "I'm...sorry, did you just ask me...to...Join you under the waves?"

Pyrus nodded, a bit worried about your tone. You didn't seem to like the idea.

"Yes, we Astarte possess the ability to change others into our kind. Granting the ability to live in the water as we do."

Well...shoot.

You didn't know how to respond. But, you didn't want to lie to him.

"I...um...I'm sorry." You replied. "I mean...your offer is Very flattering." Very flattering, an ungodly attractive and kind man just essentially...proposed to you out of nowhere???

"But...I have to say no." You stated. "As much as I love this place...it isn't my home. My home is back on the farm, with my mom and dad and our creatures...I can't just up and leave them. They Need me." You explained.

Oh...oh...Pyrus felt his dark skin flush with embarassment. Of course you couldn't just up and leave the family you cared so much for, what was he thinking!? Stupid Pyrus, absolutley stupid! "Oh..."

You saw his dejection, and you felt your heart twist. He really did seem so sweet.

"Hey," You entreated, getting his attention. "Even though I can't Live with you...I'd love to get to Know you."

Pyrus perked up a bit at that.

"We just met, so the living beneath the waves together isn't the best idea. I mean...what if we found out two weeks in we were terrible room mates." You jested, trying to lighten the mood.

Pyrus did feel a slight smile turn the corners of his mouth and he chuckled. "I...suppose that is true."

"But I do want to learn more about the ocean, and I'd be happy to come and visit! Heck, if possible we could even find a way for you to visit my home!" You offered.

Pyrus could sense your earnestness, and it made him so happy. A place where he'd already have a friend, and be able to explore without worrying about scaring others.

He felt a buzzing excitement light in him. But he kept his composure.

"I...would like that very much."

"Perfect! Then let's start with proper introductions." You held out your hand and shared your name to the marine.

Pyrus took your small hand in his, rejoicing in this new connection. "I am Pyrus, son of Vulcan," He stated. "And I will grant you this favor, in return that you will visit and teach me of your home, as I teach you of mine." He stated.

"You will return...won't you?" He asked softly, knowing he technically couldn't Force you to uphold this vow.

You smiled, and gestured for him to lean down a bit. He acquiesced.

"Mwah," You placed a sweet kiss on his forehead, causing the son of Vulcan to freeze in surprise for a moment.

"I do solemnly swear!" You stated proudly.

Pyrus felt that blush return, all about his face and neck. But again he reined in his response.

"Thank you, landling." He hummed returning his helm to his head, and taking the originally offered bundle of items.

Pickled fish skin was a rare treat, as was the vinegar oyster, and the horse hair was useful as string was difficult to come by underwater. He stowed these items away and turned toward the open sea.

"It will take some time to retrieve this coral. Please wait here until I return." He asked, and you nodded.

"I'll be here." You assured.

...

After a number of hours had passed, you were Really wishing Pyrus had given you a better idea of when he'd be back beside, some time.

Good lord you were bored. You'd forgotten to bring a book or journal or even a sketch pad. And you could only take so many naps in the shade before your body refused to fall back asleep.

At least the beach was peaceful, and you marveled at the shift from bright day, to hazy evening and finally the sunset-

Sunset.

That...that made you more worried.

But...it was probably fine. Pyrus and his brothers were out there, and if his brother's were anything like him, you'd have nothing to worry about.

As you sat back pondering these troubling thoughts, you saw a large shape begin to emerge from the water.

Your heart leapt, and you quickly stood up. Finally!

"Pyrus!" You called. "I'm so glad to see yo-"

The shape broke through the surface and your gut felt like a brick of ice dropped into it.

That...that wasn't Pyrus...

The sun's dipping rays illuminated the purple pink armor, rimmed with gold, as the unknown Astarte continued to advance, languidly drawing closer.

You didn't move. You almost couldn't bear to breathe.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide.

Running might only make things worse...especially now that you were in his sights.

The Astarte emerged completely from the water, just off to one side of you. Unlike Pyrus who had come to you, talked to you, like an actual living being.

This one instead eyed you, and began circling you where you stood with a curiosity that felt...predatory. Swimming through the air in a way that felt so...targeted.

As if daring you to move...to flinch.

"Well...well....welllllll." The Astarte cooed with a sick glee in his voice, slightly modulated as it came through his helmet. "What have we heeeeere?"

Suddenly his hand shot out and grabbed your face roughly forcing you to look him in the eyes.

"A cute little saytr, all alone. How sad...how pitiful...how..." He hummed and the image of him licking his lips came to mind. "appetizing."

Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.

"Me? Ah pfft nope!" He responded nervously, as best you could with your chin in his grasp.

He seemed a bit stunned you could respond, but quickly recovered. "Oh? And why is that my little...morsel?"

Think fast think fast. "Ah I mean...have you actually ever Had horse meat? It's really not that good." You explained. "Mostly grisle and wirey muscle, very stringy, not at all appetizing." You stated, as if critiquing a five star dish. And one you'd never actually eaten, only hearing about it from others.

"PFFtt ha Ha HA!" Well you weren't sure if that was positive but you'll roll with it. His laughter had caused him to let go of your chin.

"And the torso bit isn't much better!" You continued. "Far too much adipose, and so low on nutrients. Dare I say you'd be better off eating sand and tree bark. At least then you'd been getting fiber."

The Astarte continued to laugh. Full on shaking cackles as you Slowly stepped back. "Oh My...you're quite funny." He said as he calmed, and removed his helmet.

Beneath you saw a beautiful but terrifying appearance. His face was pale, his eyes a luxurious but cold looking purple with unnaturally shaped pupils.

His Teeth. Sharp, fanged, with marks on his chin you weren't sure if they were makeup or...blood trails from previous meals.

And his hair...it wasn't hair. It was long tendrils with sharp mouthed ends. Like a Medusa but with carnivorous eels instead of snakes.

"Oh go ahead, enjoy the visage~" He cooed, brushing back his...locks. "I'll allow it since you entertained me. Most land folk just scream and cry and beg for their lives. Not nearly so entertaining after a while."

You swallowed dryly. "I mean...why lose your sense of humor am I right?" You shrugged nervously, still carefully working your way back.

You couldn't outrun him, but maybe you could keep him distracted till-OOf!

You suddenly found yourself pinned to the sand, the large Astarte floating above you.

Those eyes, those eyes, they looked down at you with a sadistic glee, as his hair fanned out in different directions.

"Ah, ah A-ah~." He sing-songed. "Tsk, tsk, I didn't say you could leave. How Rude to try and break from a conversation without proper decorum."

He held you down effortlessly with one hand, Just hard enough to be uncomfortable. The other tapped your nose as if you were a naughty child.

"Hmm~ Well, this has been fun." He conceded. "But I really Am hungry, and I think a sweet little treat like you, would just perfectly Hit the Spot~" His jaw unhinged, revealing a second set of jaws behind the first, as his eely locks began swarming revealing their own nashing teeth.

"And the Sweetest part will be your screams! Please be as loud as you can! It makes the meal even more thrilling!" He chortled planting his other hand in the sand next to your head.

You couldn't move, the pressure was too much, but you did still have your satchel.

You reached in feeling the small bottle of vinegar you'd brought. You grasped it tightly and in one quick motion, broke the bottle into his face!

"RWAGGGG!" He cried and hissed as the glass and acidic liquid went into his eyes, causing him to rear back.

You scrambled away as his hands came up to his face, he fumbled over to the sea water, desperately splashing it into his eyes and dipping his face.

"You little Whore!" He snarled, still doubled over, his eyes and face had blood running down them.

CRACK!

That...that move had been pure adrenaline. You capitalized on his weakness and disbelief, cracking him square in the face with a downward kick.

Now blood ran over his mouth from his broken nose, as he sputtered and choked.

You did it again, rapid repetitive strikes with your hooves.

CRACK! SPLASH! CRACK! CRACK! CRACK!

You might've even broken some of his teeth.

Still flush with rage and adrenaline, you shouted. "How's that taste you deep sea, punk ass fish breath Bitch!"

Only to Immediately remember what you were up against when the marine caught your next strike.

"WOAH!" You suddenly found yourself upside down, looking up at your attacker as he held you by the leg.

The blood made his expression even more deranged as he smiled, oh no.

"AAAAH-O-OOF!!! Next thing you knew you were being flung away and down like a rag doll, right into the middle of the beach. Even on sand the impact knocked the wind from your lungs, and you worried briefly about broken ribs.

Briefly because you saw the violent violet marine approaching, stalking toward you like a cat hunting a mouse. You scrambled to your feet though it hurt.

Everything hurt.

You stepped back slowly as the marine advanced, enjoying your rapidly deteriorating courage.

He towered above you. "I'm going to enjoy, ripping you apart piece by piece." He said lashing out with his claws. It left a shallow but long and stinging cut on your face. You stumbled back.

"I'm going to enjoy Flaying your skin inch by inch." He laughed lapping the fresh blood from his claws.

He raised them again as you had nowhere left to go. No hope of escape. You braced for the worst.

"And I'm going to Relish keeping you alive as I Devour you -OUGh!"

His speech was cut off as a blur of green and orange suddenly burst from the ocean, tackling your assailant.

Even in the more dim light you saw the red helmet lenses, the burning firey veins on that molten rock like tail. And you saw the steam rising from the grappling marines.

"Ah-ah-ah AHhhhhAh!" The purple marine actually shrieked as the the coils smothered and burned him. You could smell the burning fish flesh...

The gauntleted arm of the second marine held his head in a vice grip headlock. The purple marine struggled and slashed and bit, with both his limbs and his living hair.

But soon his struggles weakened and ebbed into nothing, the last tremoring shakes of life as he finally stilled.

There was a moment of pause before the green marine made a sudden swift jerk.

You heard a sickening crack! And the purple marine'a body dropped to the sand.

Limp.

Lifeless.

You could see the green marine's heaving breaths.

You hoped you weren't wrong this time. "P-pyrus?" You asked hesitantly.

The marine did not answer verbally, but instead reached into his pack, and pulled out a fist size lump of coral.

Your mother's coral.

You couldn't believe your eyes.

"Pyrus!" You cried jumping past the object and wrapping your arms around your Astarte.

You pushed and nuzzled into his chest plate. Rubbing your head up and down it in glee. "I knew you'd come back!"

Pyrus removed his helmet with his free hand and dropped it, before leaning down and bringing his arm around you.

He nuzzled close to you, feeling your skin and heartbeat. The same precious heartbeat he'd been seconds away from never hearing again. "I'm so sorry! Had I known, I would've protected you better. I thought you were safe here."

He'd need to contact his captain and chapter master. A Chaos marine making it this far in their territory, could not and would not be tolerated.

But for now he brought his large hand to your face examining the damage.

It was then you realized you'd rubbed your bloody cheek on his chest plate.

"Oh! Sorry."

"Thanks." You sighed, utterly exhausted. You did take the coral from Pyrus, examining it closely.

"No...you have nothing to apologize for." Pyrus assured. He even noted the Slannesh marine's broken nose and teeth. His hearts swelled with pride. "You fought well, Here."

You hesitated for a moment, as Pyrus leaned down, only to relax when he simply laved his tongue over your cheek.

His saliva soothed the sting of your cut, helping the wound close.

"Its even more beautiful in the water." He stated, noting your fondness. "I would love to show you when you next visit...if you wish to."

He wouldn't blame you for not wanting to.

Instead, you smiled, tired but genuine. "I'd like that very much...and hey, maybe with the right prep, my mom and dad could see it too."

Pyrus smiled. "I will help in whatever way I can, to make it a reality." He assured nuzzling you again.

You both stood there, watching the waves crest and roll in the newly fallen night.

You could go back into town, find a inn to stay at, but you didn't fancy being alone.

"Pyrus, is there somewhere...we can stay the night together?"

The marine seemed surprised by your request, but nodded. "Of course, follow me."

He led you a little ways down the beach, to a sheltered cave where sand met surf.

It would've been cold in the night, if not for the living heater that coiled around you as you settled in for sleep.

As you laid down, you felt a great peace overcome you.

"Sleep now my dear child of land." He cooed, petting your head. "I will guard you."

You smiled and cuddled into him. "And I will keep you -yaaaawn- from feeling too alone."

Outside the waves and winds rolled in. The brine of the sea carried inland, as the seabirds hunkered down in their nests.

The horses rested safe in their pens, and the winds gently waved the leaves of the trees.

And two lonely souls rested well, as they didn't feel so alone anymore.

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry sentience #c u ckoo anon #salamander oc #oc: pyrus #x reader #mermay #mermay 40k

33 notes · View notes

egrets-not-regrets · 5 days

Text

Mermay: Stay

Erriox (Iron Warrior mer) finds a wounded Lenora (osprey harpy) seeking shelter at his nest to recover from her injuries. Luckily, he was already well prepared.

Author's Note: Not my original planned story for Mermay. So in this world, the Astartes are mermen and named humans are now harpies.

Thanks to @saradika-graphics and @squishyowl for the fic dividers!

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior); Lenora

Tagged: @shadowfirecat, @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts, @barn-anon, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual, @ms--lobotomy

She flew on, trying to breath in regular measures and ignore the pain and aches from her body wounds. It was difficult as stabbing pain struck in sharp bursts with each flap of her punctured right wing. Lenora roughly shook her head, trying to get rid of the tears leaking from her eyes. Her pride hurt more. She just lost her nest and territory to some brazen bald eagle harpy. Though she put up a good battle, in the end, the bald eagle chased her off, herself barely escaping from more serious wounds.

Bless the SkyMother! The osprey harpy nearly cried with relief as a familiar cave near the base of Steelix Cliff came into view; that cave belonging to the Iron Warrior merAstartes, Erriox.

Manoeuvring to get into the cave was a different story. On any other day, it wouldn’t have been a problem, but it was proving to be more difficult with her wounds and increasing exhaustion. All was going well until she neared the cave mouth. Her right wing faltered in the last flap, causing the osprey harpy to crash into the bottom lip of the cave and into the water. Lenora let out a burst of shrill, whistled curses in angry frustration as her claws and talons scrabbled for purchase on the slippery rock, feeling her wounds sting harshly from the seawater. Finally, her talons were able to dig into the rock face and she slowly and painfully dragged herself into the cave entrance before collapsing in a flat, unhappy pancake of waterlogged feathers.

Lenora eventually stood up and shook herself off, ruffling and puffing out her feathers to get as much air between them to dry out and build back some warmth around her body. Once she felt she was sufficiently dried, the harpy stalked past the secondary underwater entrance and crawled into the nest at the end of the cave, her path lit by the bioluminescent algae that grew on the walls.

It was a large nest shaped from the rock within the cave, lined with sticks, twigs, grasses and seaweed, feathers and cloth, and decorated with an assortment of collected items. Whatever was embedded in the rock base or within the sticks and twigs of the nest emitted heat, making it surprisingly comfortable and warm despite the dampness of the cave. Lenora knew that was Erriox’s doing. She didn’t know how he made it happen, but she guessed it must have been some sort of clever Iron Warrior mer-magic and engineering. Erriox who did most of the nest-building first, after all. He had welcomed her to bring materials to make the nest more comfortable as he let her stay over when the storms and seas turned too rough to make the flight home.

In harpy culture, nest-building and sharing were gestures that could be considered a courting gift. Lenora had thought about asking Erriox about it, wondering if it was similar in merAstartes culture as well. Even though the Iron Warrior mer never outright said it, the stoic mer had always been surprisingly kind to her ever since their temporary alliance in taking down the group of kin-stealing human poachers. If he indeed intended for it as part of courtship, she would probably not say no, Lenora mused.

The harpy breathed sharply as the aches and pains from her injuries came back with a vengeance. At least the bleeding had either slowed down or stopped. Lenora plucked out some down feathers from her body; and wincing, she stuffed them into the still bleeding puncture wounds. Harpy down feathers, at least for their own kind, acted as a coagulant and an effective healing factor when working in conjunction with their own healing potions. Unfortunately for Lenora, she had lost her pack of potions and herbs during her territorial battle with the eagle harpy, so her own down had to do for now. She then tore off two strips of cloth and bandaged her deep punctures, one on her wing and one on her leg. Once completed, the osprey harpy sighed and focused on breathing evenly and ignore the pain as she adjusted her injured body to settle into the nest more comfortably. She just needed rest to let the wounds mend. When she wakes up, she’ll go fishing for food, Lenora decided as she closed her eyes.

Erriox knew something was wrong he when returned to his nest from his hunting trip with his brothers. Why were there traces of Lenora’s blood in the water? He quickly swam through the underwater entrance and into the cave, alarm bells tripping in his head as the scent of his osprey harpy’s blood became stronger and heavier. Erriox spotted her familiar brown form in their nest, her right wing flopped over the edge. The MerAstartes quickly made his way to his injured harpy’s side. Seething anger rose as his eyes roved over the gouges in her back and the soaked bandage on her right wing.

“Lenora!”

She woke up with a start, ready to buffet the offender with a wing slap. Only to relax when she realized it was the Iron Warrior mer.

“Erriox? Thank the Skymother, it’s you.” Lenora sighed with relief.

“Who did this to you?” The merAstartes growled menacingly, his venomous dorsal spines raised in anger and agitation.

Lenora trilled softly, trying placate the irritated mer, “It was only a territorial scuffle…”

“I asked for who, not how.” He demanded.

“I lost my nest and territory to a bald eagle harpy.” She replied, her voice sullen, “I know what you’re going to say: that nest was too open, too vulnerable.” Her voice lowered as she turned her head away from him with shame.

“I was not going to say that. Don’t put words in my mouth.” He stated tersely.

“Sorry.” The harpy mumbled, tucking her head under her wing, feeling even more miserable than before.

The mer’s gaze softened as he off his helm before reaching in and tilting her chin to face him again, “Look at me, Lenora... I may have said that before, but it is irrelevant now. Let me help with your wounds as you have helped with mine.” His gauntleted hand cupped her cheek, his thumb stroking her facial feathers as he crooned. The mer pressed his forehead against hers in a comforting gesture. Lenora pressed back against him, nuzzling him in return. Erriox purred, deep and reassuring.

“You’re back and wing are not the only place that’s wounded. Sit up and let me see your front.” The mer commanded.

“You’re correct.” Lenora replied as she slowly sat up, revealing the deep puncture wounds on her thigh and by her right shoulder. Two other sets of deep cuts marred her front: three long cuts clawed diagonally from her right shoulder to her left breast; the other cut across her collarbone, coming dangerously close to her vulnerable throat. The thick feathers in the area were stained rust and grey from the dried and watered down blood. The Iron Warrior’s yellow and black striped fins flared as he examined the extent of her injuries.

“They should have mostly stopped bleeding now. Except for the deeper ones.” She explained quietly, “It’s not as bad as it looks anymore.”

Erriox begged to differ, “Where are your healing potions?” He asked sternly.

“They were lost during the fight.”

The mer opened a nearby chest and pulled out a bottle of glowing orange liquid, “I do not have anything specific to harpies, but I’ve seen this healing potion applied to other creatures with no ill effects. I can use it on you if you are willing.”

“Let’s try it.” Lenora agreed as she laid down on her front, exposing her back again, “There are some shallow cuts there you can test it on.”

The Iron Warrior mer looked at the mess of scratches and blood-matted feathers on her back. He took off his gauntlets, then closely examined her wounds, lifting matted feathers every now and then, “This healing potion is topical rather than something you drink. Your feathers will block the way.”

Lenora nodded, “You can go ahead and pluck out the feathers around my wounds. As long as they are plucked out cleanly, they will grow back. If you see any of the fluffy down feathers that can be salvaged, could you put them aside please?”

Erriox paused, he knew that doing something like this was considered an intimate gesture among harpyfolk and was generally reserved for their close kin, friends and lovers. The only exception for strangers taking part in feather and wound care rituals were healers. Especially while a harpy was this vulnerable. The mer felt like he needed to be sure of her consent before he proceeded.

“You trust me?” He asked.

Her bright yellow eyes met his metallic amber gaze, “I trust you. And I have not been wrong in that yet.”

Those sincere words in her reply settled deeply in his hearts. She trusted him. Erriox never thought much of it during their interactions up until now. After their temporary alliance, Lenora chose to continue to interact with him: mostly seeking him out to trade materials at first. There were some things in the ocean that were too difficult for her to acquire for obvious reasons and other materials he desired but were too far inland or too near major settlements to make the trouble worth it. From there, they just naturally spent more time together: from trading labour and information to trading stories and meals. Trust had never been an issue between them… maybe except for the time they first met, when Erriox nearly drowned the osprey harpy. But to hear her say it,… those words held significant weight.

“Then I hope I will never prove you wrong.” Erriox solemnly replied.

Lenora smiled at him fondly, “I know.” Sometimes that merAstartes was too serious for his own good.

The mer’s hands diligently and patiently plucked the feathers around her wounds. Matted, bloodied and damaged feathers were discarded into a container, any salvageable down feathers were reserved in another. Erriox started to understand why these kinds of rituals were reserved for a harpy’s close and trusted ones as he watched Lenora doze off and her muscles relax. His prey, sleeping so peacefully right under his hands; it would be so easy for him to end her right there, right now. No. He pushed those dark thoughts away as he continued in his task, slowly and surely revealing all the gouges and cuts underneath her feathers. Once that was completed, he took a damp cloth and cleaned off the dried crusted blood on her skin. Lenora woke up then, her nictating membrane moving sideways, clearing the sleep from her eyes as she blinked.

Her back, when cleaned, was crisscrossed with a multitude of claw marks.

“This…” Erriox glared at the sight. Whoever did this would pay. Lenora keened softly at him, breaking his angered focus.

“Fighting over territories is common among harpykind. It’s not so much different than merAstartes battles between the different shoals and pods. Just… not as deadly.” The harpy explained.

The mer scoffed, “Not as deadly. Your wounds, if left untreated…”

“… would eventually heal. It just takes longer.” Lenora interrupted his sentence, “I do appreciate you helping me with my injuries. Thank you. Truly. I owe you one.”

“Don’t mention it.” Erriox grumbled, still bothered by the notion of his harpy having to deal with such injuries alone. He poured some of the potion over the shallower cuts, watching flesh and skin knit together until they were nothing but thin lines. Then he poured the potion into one of the deeper cuts. Erriox frowned, it took longer for her flesh to mend those cuts, and even then there’s still an open gap. There was only a limited amount of potion, so he must ration it carefully. He made a mental note to stock more healing potions next time.

Lenora shuddered slightly at the sting from the liquid starting to work and heal her deeper wound. Suddenly it stopped. The harpy turned her head and noticed the mer looking at the potion bottle.

“Erriox, try lining the down feathers in my wounds and then pour a bit of the potion onto them. The down might speed up the healing process so you don’t have to use as much of it.” She said.

He did as Lenora advised and luckily it worked as well as she had guessed. The Iron Warrior watched with fascination as the down feathers absorbed the droplets of potion before dissolving into webs weaving and growing into her flesh. Erriox repeated the process several more times before Lenora’s wounds on her back became just pale lines on her skin.

“Harpy down contains healing magic?”

“To different degrees. Yes.” The osprey harpy confirmed as she sat up and unwound the bandage on her thigh. The bleeding had already stopped and the down feathers in the puncture wounds were already dissolving.

“For most harpykind, our down feathers acts to stop our bleeding and kickstart our healing, but even this process takes a relatively long time. Typically, we have to use our down in combination with our healing potions to make the healing process much quicker.”

He asked, curious, “How much quicker?” Passing her the potion.

“ Thirty minutes to an hour for an injury that may take a week to naturally heal.”

Lenora stuffed a few more down feathers inside her thigh injury, before dripping a few drops of the healing potion into them. She sighed in relief as she felt the potion work and the pain steadily faded away, “The exception are our healers and sorcerers whose own internal magic heals themselves and their feathers are naturally imbued with their own magic. They don’t require potions for assistance.”

She asked the mer who was quietly watching her, “Could you help me with these ones?” Gesturing to the wounds on the upper half of her body, “I can’t see what I am doing there.”

“Lay down on your back.” Erriox ordered. It took a few moments of awkward repositioning of her wings and tail, but eventually the osprey harpy was on her back, facing him. The merAstartes started to pluck her feathers from around her chest wounds, exposing the torn skin underneath. Doing the same as he done on her back.

“Does harpy down work on others outside of the harpy race?”

Lenora winced as he pulled out a bunch of feathers from a rather tender spot, “It worked on you.” She answered.

“When I found you, you were badly injured but alive. Your body was already healing your wounds, but slowly and you drying out in the sun was not helping either. So I used my healing potions and my down feathers on you, which seemed to help kick start your healing factor again and mend the slices in your tail. Magic for us is much more effective if freely given as opposed to being coerced or taken.”

The Iron Warrior mer listened as his harpy rambled on, contemplating collecting some of Lenora’s down for his apothecary brothers. If harpy down can speed up or kick start healing like she had demonstrated, it would be a useful ingredient that he knows they would be interested in. Especially if they have a willing supplier rather than having to hunt down harpies for them. A selfish part of him wanted to keep Lenora and her magic all to himself. She was his and he had laid claim on her first after all.

“Amelia, the healer we rescued, would be much better at explaining all this.” Lenora ended. She felt the last puncture wound slowly closing once the potion dripped in. The harpy sighed in relief as she felt its effects take place, leaving behind soreness and exhaustion. But it was natural as healing also required her own body’s energy to mend itself as well. There was still a quarter of the potion left.

“Thank you for everything, Erriox.” She smiled at the merAstartes, sitting up and stretching her wings, pleased at the lack of stabbing pain when she did so.

“What is your plan now?” The mer asked, “Do you want your old nest uback?”

“I… haven’t thought that far beyond resting and recuperating.” Lenora confessed, “if you’ll have me, of course.” She quickly added, not wanting to overstay her welcome.

Erriox reassured her, “You can stay as long as you want.”

She smiled at him, thankful for the mer’s allowance to use his home. The osprey harpy turned thoughtful, “I don’t… think my old territory is worth fighting over, at least my old nest isn’t. Yes, there were a few extra shoals of fish to hunt there, but I have come across other similarly productive areas in my flights. There are more options out there to explore.”

“Stay here then.” Erriox insisted, “This nest is well-protected. My shoal patrol these waters regularly, and these waters are productive. You will want for nothing here.”

“I… ” Lenora became surprised and flustered by the generous offer, “I would love to. Thank you. I really appreciate it.”

The Iron Warrior mer chuckled. “Stop thanking me. This nest is yours as well.” He had built the nest with Lenora in mind, after all. Hoping that one day she would stay more than just a night or two. Whether or not she knew that, Erriox had left it to chance. Now fate has seemed to play his harpy right into his hands.

The osprey harpy looked around at some of her personal effects that decorated the nest and the cave. She laughed brightly, “I suppose you’re right.”

“In harpy culture, such generosity would be considered a courtship gift.” Lenora gently teased him.

“What if it is?” Erriox asked her, his tone was stoic and resolute, but she heard a hint of hopefulness to it.

“Truly?” She was struck by his fond gaze looking back at her.

“Yes.”

“Then I would accept.” The harpy leaned forward and opened her wings, drawing the merAstartes into a feathery embrace. Erriox slid into the nest, letting Lenora pull him close. He wrapped his arms around her, memorizing the warmth of her skin as his fingers wove beneath her feathers, chuckling when she twitched from one of his hands settling on her naked back.

Lenora trilled happily, “I could not think of a better partner to have as my mate, regardless of how different we are.”

A pleased purr rumbled from the mer’s chest, preening at her compliment. She nuzzled the soft part of his throat that wasn’t covered by the collar of his armour, “I don’t have much to gift you in exchange, but as a start, you can keep my down feathers. It’s yours to do as you wish. You deserve them.”

“That is more than a generous exchange, my harpy. Do not think so little of it.” Erriox rumbled, his lips brushing against Lenora’s before kissing her deeply. She sighed into his kiss, relaxed and content.

“Did you leave behind anything of importance in your old nest?” He murmured against her lips.

She gave him a quick peck, crooning, “Nothing that cannot be replaced. Please don’t worry about it.”

“Will you be staying the night?” Lenora then asked, tucking herself against his armoured chest, one long wing draped over his body. Instinctively, he laid his tail over her legs and covered her hip with his large pectoral fin, being mindful of his venomous spines.

Erriox nosed her feathered crown affectionately, “Only for a while. Then I will head out on another mission.”

She hummed thoughtfully and pressed her lips to his throat again, “Be careful.”

“I will. Now sleep and recuperate, Lenora.”

Erriox watched and waited until the osprey harpy fell into a deep slumber. He then extricated himself from her, donned the rest of his armour, and silently dove back into the sea via the underwater entrance.

He had an eagle harpy’s nest to visit and some belongings to recover.

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #oc: erriox #oc: lenora #iron warriors #mermay #mermay 40k

41 notes · View notes

egrets-not-regrets · 22 days

Text

Guesthouse of the (Lost) Astartes: To Render Aid (3)

Erriox and Lenora provide aid to a lost chaos space marine and his young bonded human.

Dialogue spoken in the Gothic language are bolded and italicized.

Author's Note: This is part 3 in a multi-part story: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4.

It is not the end yet. 😅 We get to meet some more characters though!

This story focuses on the relationship of a chaos space marine who is intensely bonded to his human and touches upon the issue with Black Templars bonding with humans.

Also, Erriox is a responsible space marine and does responsible things. And no, he definitely does not do it for his bonded human's approval.

Thank you @squishyowl for making the fic dividers! Also thanks @sleepyfan-blog for letting me borrow Sirass.

Tagged:

@kit-williams, @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan,

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k, @bispecsual

Tunes from the radio played quietly in the truck while Lenora drove through the snowy landscape. Her eyes scanned for signs of their bonded Astartes occasionally. They should be halfway there, she thought, judging from the familiar landmarks they passed by. Once they hit the S-curve in the road, the next turn at the intersection would be a clear shot straight to the base. And that was a well-built road too.

“Do you think my mom would still want me back?” Ben asked, forlorn and unsure.

Lenora eyed her passenger strangely, “Now why would you think that?”

“She stopped showing up a month ago. It’s like she disappeared!”

Ben continued, “I don’t know how to contact her. My friends tried to help me find her online, but someone snitched to my dad.” He ended with a growl.

“Ben, do not believe for a second that your mom doesn’t want you!” Lenora replied, feeling a wave of protectiveness well up inside, “She tried to meet you before, right?”

“Yeah…” Ben nodded, his voice quiet, “She used to wait for me after school before my dad came to pick me up.”

“Did she say where she was living?” Lenora pressed on.

“She said something about outside the Fortress? Something about where the kingfisher lives?”

Where the kingfisher lives? Huh… Lenora thought, trying to piece together the clues. She knew several locations where kingfishers nested outside of Steelix Fortress, but those are still multiple areas to narrow down. Maybe Ben’s mom meant that figuratively…

A knock on her window drew her attention. She looked and breathed a sigh of relief at the familiar figure running next to them. Erriox signalled for her to keep going. She smiled and nodded, putting her foot to the pedal to speed up.

*********

Elsewhere, the snowstorm died down as Malaran ran westward from the trail end. It wasn’t long before he heard the familiar heavy footfalls of another Astartes following him. He knew it was the Black Templar. At least this meant their plan had worked for now. He easily crossed the trenches following the Iron Warrior’s instructions and pressed on. It was tempting to turn around and fight the Black Templar, but his need to reunite with his bonded youngling weighed heavier on his mind. Malaran chuckled when he heard a stumble and fall behind him.

He was about to turn to follow the southwest road when he dodged to one side, a bolter shot just grazing his armour. Malaran turned around, firing back at the offending Astartes.

“Return the boy, chaos scum!” Came the Black Templar’s voice.

The Black Legionnaire snorted as he hurled the bundle he held at the other space marine. The templar rushed forward to catch the bundle only to watch the backpack and heat packs fall to the ground as the cape unravelled in the air. He roared, unsheathing his power sword, “You… and the Iron traitor! Where did you hide the boy?!”

“You don’t deserve to know, corpse worshipper!” Malaran bellowed as he clashed with the Templar, his chain axe revving. He couldn’t resist the Khornate pull for an exhilarating battle. His blood sang savagery and bloodthirst into his ears. It was a good night for a fight.

***********

It was uneventful as Erriox followed Lenora’s truck for the first hour or so. On the one hand, he was thankful that it had been uneventful as Lenora and Ben were able to safely drive through the snowstorm, but now that the storm died down… it was too quiet.

Erriox knew that something went awry. His feeling was only confirmed when heard the footsteps of the Black Templar running toward them. He quickly turned and ran towards the other Astartes to cut him off. Alarms raised in his head when he saw the raised bolter. Erriox fired a shot, hitting the Templar’s gun, throwing off his aim and drawing his attention to him instead.

*************

Lenora pressed her truck to speed forward, trying hard to ignore the sounds of the gunfire and Ben’s whimpers. Then it went quiet. Fear gripped her heart, what if Erriox… Ben looked at the side view mirror and yelled, startling Lenora out of her thoughts, “It’s the asshole!”

At any other time, Lenora would have laughed at that sudden statement. She glanced at her rear view mirror and felt the cold rush of dread down her spine. It was the Black Templar. Despite what looked like obvious injuries, he was gaining on them. Fast.

The S-curve was coming up soon.

With a surprising burst of speed, the Black Templar pounced on them. Ben screamed.

“Hang on!” Lenora shouted as she accelerated and steered into the sharp turn, swinging the truck end just out of the templar’s reach, drifting the curve of the road, and counter steering the other way to straighten out the truck again.

Erriox’s hearts nearly froze at the sight of the truck careening out of control on the snow-covered road before correcting its course. He raced towards the templar again, seeing his arm about to throw his combat blade, tackling him just in time to throw off its trajectory.

“Dagger!” Ben screamed as he saw the glint of the weapon leaving the templar’s hand.

“Head down!” she yelled back.

Can’t worry about that now! Lenora thought, gritting her teeth as she desperately focused on making it through the next turn at high speed. Both her and Ben screamed as the blade thunked into the truck, embedding deep into the truck chassis.

The Iron Warrior saw red, how dare this Imperial Fist knock-off try to kill his bonded! He stabbed his chain sword into the templar’s body, hearing the satisfying grunt of pain as his blade cracked through the armour bit into flesh. The power sword flashed as the Black Templar swung down. Erriox dodged, but not before the sword left a deep score in his pauldron. Both Astartes stood and charged at each other again, their blades clashing.

“Iron traitor! You and your brother will pay for your sins! He was not yours to take!” The Black Templar accusation was laden with ire and venom,

“It was none of our business until they made it so! This would not have happened if you treated the boy better!” Erriox reproached him.

“This one is mine!” The Black Templar suddenly turned as Malaran’s roaring dark form came swinging down with his axe, crashing against the power sword.

**********

“It’s Orca!” Ben exclaimed, his excitement soon waning to worry as he noticed the slightly unbalanced movements of his bonded Astartes.

Lenora glanced at the rearview mirror at the three battling titans as the truck sped forward. It was easy to forget how dangerous space marines actually were with how gently Erriox treated her in the time they’ve been together. Moments like these served a stark reminder at how vulnerable humans were compared to the Astartes. Like great predators in a sea of fish. She shivered, her hands white-knuckling onto the steering wheel. Hopefully the Black Templar was the only one they had to worry about.

“Will they be ok?” Ben’s worried voice piped up.

Lenora gave him a strained smile, “They will be.” They have to be, she prayed to whatever gods that were out there.

It was tense and silent as they turned onto the road leading to Steelix Fortress.

“One day, I’m going to be strong like Orca. Then I can help him fight the bad guys too.” Ben vowed, his voice quiet and resolute.

Lenora laughed uneasily at his naive declaration, “Well, focus on getting stronger first.”

**********

They soon arrived at the fortress gates, smoothly proceeding through to the vehicle bay.

Lenora parked and shut off the truck. Leaning her head back and closing her eyes, she slumped into her seat, letting out a breath of relief. Soreness slowly creeping up her arms after gripping the steering wheel too tightly for so long.

“Ms. Lenora?” Ben asked timidly.

She hummed in question, not bothering to correct him.

“Sorry for giving you guys so much trouble.” His voice was morose and full of regret.

Lenora chuckled and reached over to give the boy a reassuring hug, “Don’t feel bad now, we’re here right? We’re safe here and you’re going to see your mom, and Orca and Erriox are on their way. Everything will be okay.” Ben hugged her back.

“Besides, that was a good test for this truck and my driving skills.” Her voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper, “It was pretty fun drifting around those curves like that.”

Ben laughed, feeling more at ease, “Yeah, that was like the Fast and the Furious movie!”

A knock at her window startled her. Laughing at her own reaction, Lenora turned to see the face of Sirass peering in. They both hopped out of her truck and she turned to greet the Iron Warrior.

“Hello, Sirass! It’s good to see you.”

“You too.” He gently clapped against her shoulder in greeting, “Erriox is still out there?”

She patted his armoured gauntlet affectionately, but her eyes couldn’t meet his gaze, “He and Malaran were still fighting the Black Templar when we left.”

“Brother Alcyon is on his way to meet them.” He replied, easing her worries. She smiled wanly at him, “That’s good. Give him my thanks.”

Sirass went and pulled out the combat knife embedded in the truck chassis, “I’ll hand this over to Erriox once he arrives and see to patching this hole before you leave.”

“Thank you, Sirass. It is much appreciated.” Lenora replied gratefully as she left her truck key on the dash before closing the door.

“I’m ready, Ms. Lenora.” Ben chirped.

The boy smelt familiar, Sirass noted “So you’re Amelia’s son. Ben, correct?”

Ben nodded, reaching a hand to him, “Yes, sir.”

The Astartes chuckled and gently shook his hand, “I am Brother Sirass and I will be guiding you to the medical wing.”

As they walked to the medical wing, Sirass idly asked Lenora, “Did Erriox tell you about the cookies?”

She laughed, “No, he didn’t! Other issues were more pressing at the time. Did you like them?”

He grinned, “They were very good. He said you will bring more next time.”

“Which ones did you like?” She asked.

“The ones with the chocolate pieces on them.”

The oatmeal chocolate chip cookies… never could go wrong with that recipe, she thought. Lenora smiled at him, “I will bring more of those cookies next time. Good thing you told me.”

Sirass dropped them off at the doors of the medical wing, waving goodbye before parting. Lenora and Ben went inside, making their way to where there was a young man in scrubs manning the administrative desk. He looked up, recognizing Lenora.

“Hey! Long time no see!”

“Hey Eric! It’s been a while. How’ve you been?”

Eric waved his hand nonchalantly, “You know, the usual. Always learning. Coffee’s my savior.” Lenora laughed.

Standing up, the medical technician finally got a good look at Ben, who’s hair just crested the top of the desk and had been silent up until now, “Hey! You’re Amelia’s son! You are so much taller than I expected. She talks a lot about you, you know!” He cheerfully greeted him, “Apothecary Osteron is expecting you guys. Room One, if you please. Lenora, you can go with him.”

“Thanks Eric.” Lenora nodded as she directed Ben to the appointed room.

Apothecary Osteron was an imposing Astartes, what with the various medical implements attached to the mechanical arms on his armour and all; that and being one of the few marines that towered a foot above most Astartes at the base. For an Iron Warrior apothecary though, he had surprisingly good bedside manners with baseline humans. Thus, treating humans at the base tended to fall on him.

Ben shuffled in closely behind Lenora, using her body as a shield of sorts.

“Lenora.” His sonorous voice greeted her.

She dipped her head respectfully, smiling, “Apothecary Osteron, it’s good to see you.”

“Good to see you in good health. I see you brought the boy.” He looked over at Lenora at Ben peeking out from behind her.

She nudged the teen, encouraging him to move out into the open, “Hey, it’s alright. Apothecary Osteron is a lovely man, he’s the doctor that takes care of the humans at the base. Don’t be scared.”

Osteron chuckled. He recognized Ben’s scent, “He certainly is Amelia’s boy. She was such a shy thing when we first met too.”

Lenora grinned wryly, “To be fair, you are rather intimidating at first meeting.” The apothecary laughed at that.

“You know my mom?” Ben asked curiously.

“Indeed, youngling. She works with Eric here.” Osteron answered patiently, “Get on the bed, and I will check you over. Erriox said you caught hypothermia?”

Ben shrugged, “Lenora said I had frostnip.”

Lenora answered Osteron, her voice clinical, “Ben was cold and barely awake when he got to us, so we suspected hypothermia. Thankfully, he seems to have recovered once we warmed him up. I checked on his digits thinking there may be frostbite, but it only looks like frostnip instead. We thought it would be better for a doctor to check him over just in case.”

The apothecary nodded, scanning Ben for other injuries once he did his initial check, “The ends of toes are still red, but it is on its way to recovery. The boy is slightly dehydrated as well, but is otherwise fine, he just needs good meals and rest.”

Osteron addressed Ben, “Your toes will be sore for a few days, but as long as you get rest and sufficient food and water, you will be fine. If you feel your toes swelling or you start to feel ill, make sure to come back here, alright?”

The teen nodded, “Okay.”

Satisfied, Osteron patted his head and led them out the examination room, “Good lad. You can wait in the hall for your mother to arrive. If you need anything, just ask Eric.”

Lenora paused as she remembered something, “Osteron, do you know who Amelia is bonded to? Erriox didn’t mention it before we left. I only know that he is one of the chaos Iron Warriors.”

“Brother Alcyon is her bonded.”

She hummed thoughtfully as Osteron left them with Eric.

“My mom! She’s here, right?” Ben asked, his voice hopeful and excited.

The teen deflated at Eric’s answer, “Sorry, Ben. She’s not here yet, but she’s on her way.”

Lenora gave his shoulder a comforting squeeze, “Hey now, you’ve come so far. You only need to be patient and wait a little longer. Your mum’s coming, and Malaran is on his way. Why don’t you take a seat? I’ll join you soon.” Pouting, Ben went and slouched onto one of the Astartes-sized chairs, looking comically small.

Lenora covered her smile at the cuteness. The medical tech gave her a clipboard with some forms to fill out, with a chuckle, “Cute kid. Here's some forms. Just fill out what you can and the rest we can hand it over to Amelia to finish. I’ll have you know, she works with me in the medical ward here. Lovely woman. She misses him. A lot.”

Lenora smiled sadly, glancing at the teen before grabbing a pen from the container, “He missed her very much too.”

“You were thinking about something earlier.” Eric asked thoughtfully, “Something about Brother Alcyon?”

“Yeah, something about his name sounds familiar, but I’m sure I’ve never heard his name outside today.” She replied then shrugged, waving the clipboard of forms, “I’ll hand it back once I’m done.” returning to sit next to Ben.

“You hungry?” Lenora asked the boy.

Ben blushed when his stomach growled, “Yeah, kinda.”

“No worries, you’ve only drank hot chocolate all day, but hadn’t eaten anything yet. Take a look inside your backpack, there should be food and water in there.”

Ben did as she instructed, “Woah! You didn’t have to put so much stuff in there!” he exclaimed. He pulled out a peanut butter and jam sandwich and a bottle of water.

Lenora laughed quietly, “I don’t know where you and Malaran planned to go after. Having some extra food and water is always good just in case of emergencies. Don’t worry about it, I have enough at home.”

She urged him, “Eat up and make sure you drink some water too. You only had hot chocolate the entire day.” Ben didn’t argue and started on his sandwich.

Lenora looked through the intake forms, filling out the blank fields where she could. She paused when she got to the address field, “Hey Ben, where did your mum say she lived again?”

“Somewhere outside the Fortress.”

“And… where the kingfisher lived?” Lenora recalled. Ben hummed an affirmative, mouth full of sandwich. It was then it clicked in her mind. She grinned, “I think I know who the kingfisher is.”

Ben swallowed the last bite of his sandwich, finally satisfied, “Who?” he whispered.

“Alcyon, your mum’s Astartes.” she replied, her voice, equally as hushed.

The boy pursed his lips in confusion, “I don’t get it.”

Lenora chuckled, “Alcyon is the latin species name for the Belted Kingfisher. Though the word can just mean kingfisher in general.” She pulled up the belted kingfisher entry in one of her bird identification apps on her phone, “See?”

“Oh…” Ben took her phone, looking at the picture of the blue and white bird with fascination, then swiped to another bird, “Can I look through this?” He asked.

“Of course.” Lenora said warmly, showing Ben how to back out to the main list of bird species for him to browse. She went to return the forms to Eric while the boy was occupied.

“Where’s Erriox? He’s usually attached to you by the hip.” Eric asked.

Lenora laughed, “Oh come on! No he isn’t.”

The tech snorted, “Well, every time I see you, you’re always together.”

“We make that much of an impression, huh? Maybe it’s only when you see us.” She teased him, her voice then lowered with concern, “He’s out dealing with a Black Templar with Ben’s Astartes. I am worried that they’re not back yet, to be honest.”

Eric hummed thoughtfully, “They’re big tough boys. I’m sure they’ll be okay.”

Lenora gave him a smile, still worried, “I hope so.”

She returned to Ben’s side. The teen handed the phone back to her, “Is there something for fish and marine animals?” He asked.

“I’m not sure, I never used it so never looked for that kind of app.” Lenora replied, “I’m sure there should be something available out there. I can ask my friends if they know.”

“Your friends are marine biologists?” Ben’s voice was full of awe.

“Well… no, but they do know marine biologists.” Lenora laughed.

“Then what do you do?” He asked her.

She smiled, “I’m a wildlife biologist.”

“Like you work with tigers and bears?” Erriox was not far off…, she laughed to herself.

“I work with birds mostly and sometimes reptiles and amphibians, but we also have wildlife cameras to catch some of the bigger animals. Would you like to see?”

“Yeah!” Ben leaned against her as she swiped through the gallery of wildlife camera photos. He’s pretty clever, Lenora thought, listening to him point out the animals in the pictures.

He suddenly laughed, “Who is that?!”

Lenora looked at the image of a jovial Space Wolf grinning at the camera. She giggled, “Sometimes we get space marines passing through. Some of them like to have some fun, when they don’t destroy the camera.”

“Ben?” Both their heads turned at the sound of the voice.

“Mom!”

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #oc: ben #oc: malaran blackspike #oc: lenora #oc: erriox #iron warriors #black legion

37 notes · View notes

egrets-not-regrets · 26 days

Text

Guesthouse of the (Lost) Astartes: To Render Aid (1)

Erriox and Lenora provide aid to a lost chaos space marine and his young bonded human.

Dialogue spoken in Gothic are bolded and italicized.

Author's Note: this is part 1 of the multi-part story. Here is Part 2, Part 3. and Part 4.

This fic is turning out to be very long, so I've divided it into two parts. It focuses on the relationship of a chaos space marine who is intensely bonded to his human and touches upon the issue with Black Templars bonding with humans.

Erriox is a responsible space marine and does responsible things. And no, he definitely does not do it for his bonded human's approval.

Thank you @squishyowl for making the fic dividers!

OCs: Lenora; Erriox (Iron Warrior); Ben; Malaran Blackspike (Black Legion)

Tagged: @kit-williams, @barn-anon, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan,

@sleepyfan-blog, @c-u-c-koo-4-40k

Lenora had a sense that something was wrong just as Erriox barged into the house.

“Bring blankets and a medi-pack. He has an injured child.” He told her as he urged whoever he was leading to come inside the house. She swore and immediately went to her linen closet, drawing out a few bath towels and blankets, and set them onto the couch and one of the blankets on the ground. Erriox had already pushed away the coffee table to make more room. Lenora then went to get the first aid kit from her backpack. The other space marine stood there, unsure and wary of all the activity, only holding his bundled charge tighter against his armour.

When Lenora returned, she finally got a proper look at the new ‘guests’. The space marine was a chaos marine, she recognized the symbolism of the eight-pointed star with the red eye that decorated his worn and battered armour. He looked like he had seen better days and had good reasons to be wary. She worried about the human he carried mostly. It was still in the thick of winter, and very likely this person would be suffering from some degree of hypothermia. Even bundled in that blanket or cape, it was not enough to insulate from this biting cold for long.

“We should call and get them to a hospital.” She said to Erriox, about to pull out her phone.

“NO!” the chaos marine roared, about to leap forward to stop her. He didn’t know what she was saying, but he saw the phone that she was reaching for. Erriox snarled back, immediately shoving Lenora behind himself. Movement coming from the bundle in the chaos marine’s arms and a disconnected whine caught all their attention.

“Or-? Wha- s- wha- s-m going on?” The person in his arms was young, teen or a bit older perhaps, by the way they sounded. Lenora let out a breath of relief. Good. At least they were awake, somewhat.

She called out to them, slowly moving out from behind her Iron Warrior, his hand still preventing her from moving too far forward, “Hey buddy, I’m Lenora and this is my Astartes, Erriox. You’re at my house. Erriox brought you guys here to get you help. Do you understand me?”

The teen mumbled, “S… cold…”

“I know hun, we’re gonna take care of you. What’s your name?” She cooed comfortingly.

“Ben.”

“Okay, Ben. I’m going to have these guys help warm you up okay?

“K.”

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” She asked.

“Ssso c-c-cold.” Even Lenora could hear Ben’s teeth chatter without enhanced hearing. The chaos marine let out a worried gruff “Ben?”

She turned to Erriox, her voice stern and serious, “I’ll need you to translate for me. One, Tell him I will need to touch Ben to check for injuries. Two, Ben needs warmth immediately and you space marines are like giant heaters. Skin to skin heat would warm them up the quickest. Either you or he needs to take off the top half of your armour, gauntlets too, and put the child’s back against your chest. Hold his hands in yours to warm up his fingers. ”

The Iron Warrior translated what she said to his chaos-touched brethren. Lenora could only understand bits and pieces of their conversation, but it was clear that the chaos space marine did not like what was being asked, especially about being unarmored. She frowned, tapping on Erriox’s armour to get his attention, “I hate to put you in such a vulnerable position, but could you do it? Once I get the heating pad working, we can use that instead. We shouldn’t be wasting any more time.”

Her Astartes glanced at her and after some brief but terse words to the chaos space marine, took off the top half of his armour, gauntlets and all, exposing his bodysuit. He kept his weapons within short reach though. Erriox then quickly snatched the young human from the other marine, and settled on the floor. The teen sat securely in his lap unwrapped from the cape, back against his chest, their hands clasped in his.

“Ben, this is going to be a bit weird, but I’m going to lift the back of your shirt so you have more skin contact with Erriox. That’ll warm you up faster, alright?” Lenora said as she lifted the back of Ben’s shirt before pushing him against her Astartes again, trying hard to ignore the chaos marine’s intense stare.

She covered the teen with the cape again, then knelt in front of them and asked, “Ben, could you let me take off your shoes?”

Ben only nodded, wincing slightly at the friction of his shoes being pulled off his feet. Lenora frowned, worried at the state of the teen’s extremities. They’re cold and looked red. She looked at him, “Could you wiggle your toes for me?”

He did as asked, his toes wiggling slightly.

“How do your toes feel?”

“Kind of tingly.”

She then pinched each of his toes, confirming that the teen was able to feel, except for some numbness.

Lenora smiled slightly, the frostnip on Ben’s toes wasn’t as serious as she thought. That’s a good sign.

“Luckily it’s just frostnip and not frostbite.” She told him, “I’ll give you heated socks to warm your toes and bring back some feeling to them. Your toes might start feeling like they’re on pins and needles for a little bit. Ok?”

Ben nodded.

“Can I see your hands?” She requested, “How are they feeling?”

The Iron Warrior released his hands so Lenora could check the child’s hands. Ben nodded, confirming that he could feel his fingers again.

Erriox watched in silence as his bonded patiently tended to their young charge, glancing at the chaos marine occasionally. His dear gentle Lenora, still admirably calm despite the chaos marine’s constant glare. She had a penchant for making those around feel safe and comfortable. Most people, Erriox thought, with the exception of that irritated chaos marine.

He wasn’t well-versed with all future successor chapters of the original legions as he arrived in Ancient Terra before Horus’ betrayal occurred. To be honest, he still hadn’t quite processed that fully. Nonetheless, he recognized the chaos marine’s armour to be from the Black Legion. His hand itched for his bolter at his waist under the chaos marine’s hard stare made, but luckily or unluckily, they were preoccupied with warming up the youngling. If his Black Legion cousin had such a hard time having them care for his charge, maybe he should doff his own armour and do it himself.

What had even possessed him to let this pair into their home, potentially endangering both of him and Lenora? Granted, the pair were in such dire straits at the time. Any longer out in that freezing weather would have exponentially worsened the youngling’s condition, and at worst, would have resulted in his death. I’ve gone soft, Erriox thought sourly. The slight upside was that the boy was now at least out of danger and the Black Legionnaire had yet to make a move to attack them. Though the Iron Warrior wouldn’t hesitate to use the youngling against his cousin if that came to pass.

Erriox could feel the youngling’s body temperature slowly increase and his heartbeat regulating back to its normal rhythm and strength. The child sighed in comfort as his posture sagged against his body, his breaths slowly evening out as drowsiness set in. He looked at Lenora and she smiled at him appreciatively.

“Thank you.” She murmured to him, giving him a reassuring squeeze on his arm as she pulled up another blanket to cover the boy. Erriox nodded curtly in acknowledgment, sitting straighter, holding the youngling securely against himself.

She patted the teen’s shoulder to wake him up, “Hey Ben, I’m going to get you a heating pad to hang on to and some heated socks. Do you also want some hot chocolate?”

“Please.”

Lenora smiled, “Alright. I’m sure we could all use some.”

She gave Erriox another thankful squeeze on his shoulder before going to get the heating pad and other items to further warm their temporary ward. Only to hear armour clanking and a muffled conversation while she looked for said items. Her brows furrowed with concern, wondering what was going on, though confident that Erriox had a good handle on that situation.

Malaran Blackspike closely observed the interaction between the Iron Warrior and his human tending to his own charge. He glared at them. How dare that Iron Warrior chastise him, short of calling him a coward, for not wanting to disarm himself in case of potential attackers. He didn’t know half of what they went through! And as if he trusted them!

Then he had the audacity to grab his youngling right out of his hands? Malaran’s fists were balled tight, holding himself back from drawing his weapon right there to fight the Iron Warrior. He knew they were trying to help his youngling, but he resented his lack of control and knowledge of the situation. They’re not here to steal his boy away like all the others, he had to remind himself.

To be fair, Malaran didn’t even understand why or how he got so attached to this youngling. Ben. Ben was this child’s name. As soon as he saw him, some wall in him broke. Some instinct in himself screamed to protect this boy. He must protect his child.

He couldn’t explain it. Perhaps they were kindred spirits, both as lost in this world as the other. Ben had been wandering, lost and confused, when he first found him after all. The boy was lucky that he found him first, rather than his less than human-friendly brethren. Though it felt like a constant struggle from the very start. First, fighting off and escaping his brethren, then coming to blows with the family’s Black Templar before finally escaping with his charge in tow, then fighting through and narrowly escaping a roaming group of ‘ferals’ that tried ambushing them one night.

He should’ve left his charge back at his family’s home. Ben would’ve been unhappy, yes, but he was safe there. Yet here they are, seeking sanctuary in a strange woman’s house after being found by some Iron Warrior. He counted himself lucky, though his pride would not let him admit it out loud. Ben was freezing to death and he was faced with an enemy he could not fight. He did not know where to go, where he could find sufficient shelter for him and his bonded little one. A strange kind of anxiety writhed in his gut.

This was all confusing and contradictory! A part of him felt a sliver of disgust watching how intimately and familiar they all interacted with each other, yet another part of himself warred with that thought. He should also be in that picture. He should be the one taking care of his young charge. Why wasn’t he the one warming him? He should get his youngling back.

“Iron Warrior, give me back the boy.” Malaran demanded.

“Why?”

“I will tend to him. He is my bonded human after all.”

Erriox eyed him with indifference, still cradling Ben who now dozed off against him, “Take your armour off. Your child still requires warmth.”

Malaran grumbled with frustration at being told what to do, but nonetheless started to remove his armour. He was not going to let this iron canid steal his youngling away so quickly after all they went through. The helmet dropped with a resounding clank (Lenora winced when she heard that. That one’s going to dent her floor.), followed by his gauntlets, and various pieces of his armour until his upper torso was devoid of it. “There. Now return my boy to me.” He demanded.

Erriox gently pushed up the sleepy teen, who groaned in complaint, “Ben. Wake up. Go back to… my cousin.” He turned to Malaran, “What is your name?”

“It is not your business to know.” The chaos warrior sneered, now seated on the couch, hastily bundling Ben into himself like a broody hen.

Erriox snorted derisively, “It matters not to me. Does your bonded even know your name?”

Malaran growled, “I was gifted my name from the boy. You know nothing of the trials we went through.”

“Yes, and you know nothing of us either. Yet here we are, saving your bonded from freezing to death. I am asking for your name, not your secrets. Unless you prefer I make up a name for you.” Erriox replied with a sarcasm-laced sneer. Frankly, he was getting sick of this Black Legionnaire’s belligerent attitude.

Reluctantly, Malaran grumbled out his name.

Lenora came back to the sight of both the Black Legionnaire and her Iron Warrior, each returned to sitting on a couch, each stewing in their own feelings. The coffee table was back in its original place. Ben, all bundled and tucked under the chaos space marine’s chin.

She turned to Erriox in question; his only answer was a shrug and, “He wanted his boy back.”

Perhaps it was best for Ben to be with his chaos Astartes; he certainly cares for Ben very fiercely, Lenora thought. She plugged the heating pad to an extension cord, immediately feeling heat emanating from the pad. She set the power to “low” before handing it along with the pair of her heated socks to Ben, pointedly ignoring the tensing muscles in the chaos marine’s arms.

“It’s to help you keep warm. But if you feel it’s getting too hot, feel free to turn it off and put it aside.” She advised the teen. Ben accepted the heating pad and put on the socks with some finangling, being slightly hindered by his chaos space marine. Lenora looked at the pair with quiet approval before turning to get the hot chocolate ready. Erriox stood up, “Do you need assistance?”

She looked to her bonded, “I could use the company.”

The Iron Warrior went to his human’s side, pulling out the canister of hot chocolate powder while she filled the kettle.

“How far do you want to aid them?” He asked quietly as they waited for the water to boil.

Lenora sighed, looking out into the winter landscape, “Enough so we can find out what’s going on and be able to send them to where they can get more help.” She murmured back, her brows furrowed in worry, “But I am afraid this is either a kidnapping and I’m missing the signs or this is something more complicated.”

She then let out a short huff with a grin of resignation, “I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get there.”

Erriox laid his hand against the small of her back and assured her with a wry grin of his own, “We’ll see this to the end together.” She smiled back.

As they waited, Lenora leaned into his side; something she did out of habit when they cooked together, but right now needing his presence to ground herself from the stressful atmosphere. Erriox automatically pulled her in securely against himself, his arm wrapped protectively around her. Malaran did not miss that gesture.

It didn’t take long before Lenora and Erriox were back with steaming mugs of hot chocolate. The chaos space marine growled at her as she made to pass a mug to Ben. She shot him an annoyed look, finally fed up with his suspicions, “Why would I kill Ben after all the effort to save him? That is stupid!” She said in frustration.

The marine was gob-smacked, her little statement in gothic catching him off-guard. Ben looked at her in awe. Erriox tensed, ready to leap to her defence should the Black Legionnaire decide to take action. Lenora only sighed and turned to Ben, “Sorry bud, I will leave the hot chocolate on the coffee table for you two to take it, ok? The last thing I need is for hot chocolate to spill on you.”

A loud, threatening growl erupted from the chaos marine’s chest, his suspicions at an all time high. How dare they hide the fact that she knew Gothic! Was she a spy? Why wasn’t the Iron Warrior concerned?

“How much did you understand?!”

Lenora glared back, not backing down, “Enough to know you were unhappy to take off your armour.”

“Are you calling me a coward?!” Malaran tensed, about to roll Ben off of him to get up from the couch.

Lenora was alarmed by his remark, “What are—? No!”

Erriox immediately pulled her back to his side on the other couch, putting himself between the Black Legionnaire and his bonded once more, “Think carefully about your next actions, cousin.” he growled lowly, threat and promise carried in his voice.

“Stop! Orca! Stop!” Ben pleaded, clutching to him tightly, “Please!”

Thankfully, the chaos marine backed down at his bonded child’s request.

Lenora turned to the boy, “Orca? Did you give him that name?” She knew the chaos space marine definitely had another name.

“Yeah! You should see how awesome and strong he is! He fought off all those other space marines all by himself!” Whether or not those other space marines were trying to rescue Ben or hurt him remained the question, Lenora wondered. It would be concerning if “Orca” had kidnapped Ben from his family though.

“I see…” Lenora decided to change the subject, if only to dissipate some of the tension in the room, “Are you a fan of marine documentaries?”

“Yeah! They are the best!” Ben perked up, glad that there was finally a topic he could talk about.

Lenora smiled kindly, “Orca is a good name. Don’t they hunt in family pods though?” she asked

The teen nodded, “They normally do, but there’s some orcas that can kill a great white shark all on their own!”

Malaran looked on with confusion upon hearing his given name while his bonded youngling animatedly chatted with the Iron Warrior’s human. He turned to the other Astartes, “What are they talking about?”

“Sea creatures and the merit of your given name. She said your boy gave you a good name.”

Malaran snorted, but he was satisfied. Of course his bonded would give him a good name! And name him after some sort of sea creature. He remembered seeing the few books that Ben had, contained pictures of water beasts, though he couldn’t understand anything of what was written. He felt the boy reach out for the drinks on the table. He crooned with concern and held Ben back.

Erriox sighed, “Let your boy have the drink. It is not poisoned if that is what you are concerned with. He needs to replenish his fluids.”

The Black Legionnaire relented and loosened his grip. Ben leaned forward and grabbed both mugs, passing one to him with a big smile, “Here! You should have one too.”

A warm feeling grew in his chest, similar to when Ben first led him home and gave him his name; remembering how the child tried to stuff him in his closet to hide him from his paternal parental figure. Malaran chuckled at the memory and looked at Ben fondly before taking the offered mug and patted his head. Ben giggled before snuggling back against his body again. The wall in him broke open further, letting the warmth strengthen his bond with his youngling. Watching Ben drink his hot chocolate, he decided to take a sip as well. It was sweet, with a hint of bitterness. Malaran decided that he liked this drink.

Lenora watched the pair with fondness as both her and Erriox drank their share. She let out a quiet sigh of relief and leaned into her Astartes. Erriox glanced at her in question, she smiled at him and squeezed his hand, “Thank you for taking them in. You did good.” She murmured.

His gaze softened as he squeezed her hand in return, “You’re welcome.”

“Miss…?” Ben’s unsure voice cut through the lull.

“Lenora is fine, no need for the ‘Miss’.” Lenora responded kindly, “You have a question?”

“Yeah, you asked if Orca was the name I gave him. Does that mean he has his own name too? Can he tell me his name?” The teen asked.

Lenora looked at the chaos space marine, “You’re bonded wants to know your name. Do you want to let him know?”

The Black Legionnaire mulled it over for a moment then patted Ben’s shoulder, getting his attention, “I am Malaran, but I want you to call me Orca. You gifted me a good name.” He‘d rather his youngling call him by his given name; outside of being quite attached to that name, it was also for Ben’s own safety, in case anyone else recognized it.

“Ben, his name is Malaran, but he prefers to be called Orca.” Lenora translated for the boy.

The teen perked up, “He likes my name?”

Lenora smiled, “He sure does.”

“Can you teach me to say something in Orca’s language?”

“Sure, go ahead.”

Ben looked at his guardian briefly before looking back at Lenora and Erriox. “Thank you for staying with me. You are awesome. I want to be strong like you one day.”

Erriox chuckled, surely this will no doubt inflate the chaos marine’s ego. He put his hand on Lenora's leg signalling that he would take over, “Ben, repeat after me. Orca, thank you for staying with me. You are amazing. I want to be strong like you.”

Malaran hearts nearly burst when he heard that. Ben’s pronunciation was a bit off, but the meaning behind it was there, with truth and sincerity. This was definitely his youngling, his bond made the right choice. He will protect and cherish this one for as long as he lives, regardless of who or what gets in the way. His purr grew to a loud rumble as Ben laughed when he hugged him and ruffled his hair. Their heartfelt moment was unfortunately cut short when Erriox asked his Black Legion cousin, “How did you end up here?”

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #oc: erriox #oc: lenora #oc: ben #oc: malaran blackspike #iron warriors #black legion

53 notes · View notes

egrets-not-regrets · 1 month

Text

Kiss the Cook

Lenora returns home late from work to find Erriox had already prepared dinner.

***Dialogue spoken in Gothic language are bolded and italicized.***

Author's Note: Kind of based off of @bispecsual's tag conversation. ?Poor? Erriox is slowly turning into Lenora's househusband.

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior), Lenora

Tagged: @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts,

@shadowfirecat, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan,

@barn-anon, @sleepyfan-blog

Lenora heaved her exhausted body through the front door. The aroma of something delicious and warm filled her nose. Her spirit lightened, glad to be home, even though her whole body felt weighed down by leaden weights. She dropped her heavy backpack nonchalantly on the floor with a loud thud.

In the next second, a warm bulk engulfed Lenora, wrapping her in familiar cedar-scented musk. Her own arms automatically came up to wrap around her Astartes’ waist to return the hug. She sighed heavily and closed her eyes, pressing her forehead against his chest like an affectionate cat, “Hey Erriox. It’s good to see you.” Lenora murmured. He was warm, he was so warm. She could fall asleep right there.

“Same to you.” Erriox rumbled back, idly massaging the back of Lenora’s neck. She hummed appreciatively. His human’s exhaustion was palpable. He had never seen Lenora this tired in all the time since he started living with her. Lenora had explained that the cusp of spring and summer tended to be the busiest time of her work in the field as multiple projects are starting to run at the same time.

She had left for work an hour before dawn and only now returned in the evening. He heard her dragging footsteps outside and went to greet her as usual. As soon as Lenora entered, she wavered on her feet, looking about to collapse if he wasn’t there to hold her up. It was concerning to say the least, he hoped this wouldn’t be the pattern for her.

She nuzzled against his torso, “I thought I would get home earlier…sorry, we’ll cook together to-m—?” The rest of her sentence was swallowed by a big yawn.

Erriox chuckled, “Tomorrow. I’ve prepared dinner today.”

Lenora looked up at him briefly, a sleepy, loving smile on her face, “You’re so good to me... I don’t know what I did to deserve you.” She wondered out loud.

The Iron Warrior said nothing. Even after all this time as her bonded Astartes, he still hadn’t gotten used to Lenora’s casual compliments and declarations of love and appreciation (Not that he’s complaining!). It wasn’t that she was insincere, but it felt strange to receive appreciation over such minor easy tasks that, in his opinion, didn’t deserve such a thing. Erriox discussed this with his Iron Warrior brothers as a topic of curiosity before; it seemed a number of his brothers, both loyalists and chaos, felt similarly, even more so among the more recently bonded ones. He wondered if the inferiority and the feeling that they were undeserving of any kindness and appreciation was something passed down from their genesire or a side-effect from all the thankless wars of attrition that they fought.

What Lenora had said though, Erriox understood. However, he felt their places in that dialogue should have been reversed. She saved him, fed him, helped him source out or acquire what he needed or wanted, invited him into her life, let him take his own time to sort out his feelings before doing so, accepted all of him flaws and all, in essence becoming his home; his small, precious, piece of sanctuary. What more could he ask for? He was the one who was truly undeserving to be bonded to her.

“I am lucky you are mine…” Erriox murmured as he tightened his embrace around her. If Lenora heard him, she gave no indication other than further relaxing into his arms.

Thankfully, Lenora’s sleepy mind moved onto another topic, saving Erriox from having to respond further, “It smells wonderful. What did you cook?”

“Beef and vegetable soup.”

“I bet it will taste as good as it smells.”

“Do not flatter me before you taste it.” Her Astartis replied dryly. Lenora laughed, her exhaustion temporarily forgotten.

She let go of her Iron Warrior and went straight to get some bowls and spoons, “Shower can wait. I should have a bowl of soup right now and give an honest review then.” She said, grinning. Erriox followed, letting out an amused huff.

“This is delicious.” She commented after three bites.

“Are you sure it is not because you are hungry?” He teased her.

She mock-gasped, “I would never!” then laughed. Lenora looked at her bonded with an exasperated smile, “It would be obvious if I didn’t like something. I think you did a good job on this one.”

Erriox preened at her approval. Lenora devoured the rest of her soup before getting up to serve herself a second helping. She felt a bit more energized now that her hunger was somewhat sated. As she passed by, she playfully snaked her arm loosely in front of Erriox’s neck. She kissed his cheek, “Thank you for the wonderful meal.”

The Iron Warrior caught her hand in his as she pulled away, “You’re welcome.” He said, pressing his lips to her knuckles. A grin formed on his face as he watched a blush rise in Lenora’s cheeks and a bright smile form on her face before she fully pulled away from him. Her expressions always endeared her to him, especially when he catches her off guard.

Lenora laughed to herself as she ladled more soup into her bowl. Would Erriox wear a “Kiss the Cook” apron if she got it for him?

#space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #warhammer 40k #iron warriors #oc: erriox #oc: lenora

35 notes · View notes

egrets-not-regrets · 2 months

Text

Translation: Mine, Yours

Some words are better translated using body language. Warning: Erriox/Lenora smut.

Dialogue spoken in High Gothic is in bolded italics.

Author's note: Short and smutty. Also cw: SMUT. My piece for #mating press march. Hope it's hot enough. Lol.

OCs: Erriox (Iron Warrior); Lenora

Tagged: @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

“You will smell of no one but me. Speak no one else’s name but mine. Think of no one but me. You are mine. Mine to have. Mine to claim.” Erriox growled into her ear. Each squelching thrust emphasizing each sentence.

Mine. Mine. Mine… was all Lenora could hear. She whimpered. All she could smell was him. All she could feel was him. He was her Astartes. Her Iron Warrior. Her Erriox. Her mind spiraled, threatening to drown her in the pleasure of it all.

“Look at me. Who do you belong to?” His stormy blue eyes bored straight into her soul.

She scrambled to put together a coherent thought, “You...”

“In Gothic!” He snarled, snapping his hips.

Back arching, eyes rolling into her head, Lenora mewled, “I’m yours…! I belong to you…”

Not satisfied with her response, “Louder!” He commanded. Bullying his cock into her gummy walls, angling so he would hit that sweet spot that left her screaming. Driving home his message. “Who do you belong to?”

Lenora wailed, “Aanngh! You! Erriox! I belong to you!” Her overstimulated, sex-addled brain could barely register what she was saying. She could feel the stretch of his length filling her; feel the mess of slick and his cum between them dripping down her thighs, wetting the bedspread underneath. She whined. Her leg kicked out helplessly as she tried to hook her leg around him, trying to draw herself closer. Her fingers digging into his arms, trying to ground herself in some way. Erriox snarled, pinning her hips to the bed, relentlessly pushing her towards the edge.

“Beg for it.”

Her eyes flicked up towards him, fierce and angry, having had enough of his teasing, “No! No more!” She snarled back. And promptly pulled herself to him and sank her teeth into the meat of his shoulder.

Erriox yanked her head back by her hair. He grinned fiercely, teeth baring, “You call that a bite?” He scoffed. He drove his cock into her roughly and deeply, groaning as he felt her tighten around him with each punishing thrust. He knew that she enjoyed that as much as he did.

“Let me…” he grunted, “show you…” another thrust, another moan, “…what a proper bite is!” He bit down hard into the side of her neck, breaking skin. Lenora keened wordlessly, clamping down onto him as pain and pleasure threw her over the edge. Himself, following not long after, swallowing her moans with a searing kiss. His arms grasped her tightly as he painted her insides with his seed.

They lay there nestled into one another, sweaty foreheads pressed together, slowly coming down from their high. Lenora let out a shuddering breath, “That was… intense,… but god… that was good.” Ending in a giggle. She pressed her lips to his, sweet and loving. Erriox chuckled as he returned her affections, preening at her compliment. He then lathed his tongue over his bite mark, tasting the iron in her blood as he cleaned the wound. Erriox wasn’t into biting and drinking blood as intensely as his Blood Angel cousins, but he could admit that there was something darkly satisfying about biting and marking his Lenora.

He nuzzled her, nosing against her cheek, “Are you alright?”

Warm brown eyes met his stormy blue, “I’m ok.” Lenora nuzzled back, “Thank you…” she murmured, before claiming his lips again. Wrapping her arms around his neck.

Erriox purred contentedly as he pressed deeper into her kiss; one hand sliding down the small of her back, the other giving her ass an affectionate squeeze before pulling her body in ever closer. He pulled away slightly, lips brushing hers, rumbling, “I am yours as you are mine.”

Smiling, Lenora kissed his scarred lips as she breathed, “I’m yours for as long as you are mine.”

#cw smut #mating press march #space marine husbandry sentience #oc: erriox #oc: lenora #iron warriors

53 notes · View notes

egrets-not-regrets · 3 months

Text

Exchanges

Erriox gets a bit paranoid, but what the heck. The food is delicious. Who is he to deny his bonded human’s hospitality?

Words spoken in Gothic are in bolded italics

Author’s note: I like my Iron Warriors a little paranoid, juuuuust a touch. Also, this fic follows after “Finally Found You. (You Survived.)”. Some snippets are written out of order because it just depends on what inspires my brain, but I will make notes if certain fics are in some particular order. The fics will also be in chronological order on my masterlist.

OCs: Lenora; Erriox (Iron Warrior)

Tagged: @kit-williams, @bleedingichorhearts, @shadowfirecat, @gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan

The first thing Erriox noticed as he entered Lenora’s home was the fact that a number of the larger furniture pieces were made to fit Astartes warriors. She seemed oddly prepared. He looked around warily, did another space marine already live there? Did he walk into a trap? The instinctual wariness and caution borne from battle-worn experience through countless warfare kept him alive thus far. She was far too calm about this and she also knew so much, definitely much more Gothic language than most other humans he had encountered. Perhaps he had been too hasty, too blinded by this bond? He couldn’t help but be cautious, though a part of him felt a pang of jealousy at the possibility of another Astartes sharing the same bond.

Lenora was already spooning rice and stew into bowls when she noticed the Iron Warrior’s hesitancy, “Are you alright?” she asked him with concern.

“I am fine.” He eyed her for a moment, taking the next second to assess the scents in the air. The aroma from the food Lenora cooked made his mouth water, but aside from that, he could smell the thin presence of another Astartes, not current, probably from about a week ago. He wondered who it was and which legion they were from. If there were hidden enemy Astartes, Erriox figured he could deal with them. Fighting off multiple enemies wasn't new to him after all. He sat and took the offered bowl.

That first bite of food filled his mouth with a rich and savoury combination of taste and texture, even better than he what imagined when its aroma hit his nose. It was a rather non-existent thing for the Fourth legion since his life was mostly in a state of siege warfare; nutrient-rich gruel or bars were the standard. Even here in ancient Terra, while cooking was more common among his battle brothers, having the skill to cook well was still limited; though individuals from certain legions seem to have a knack for it. Being able to eat such flavorful food was still almost sinfully indulgent. Even if it had been poisoned, it would be the most delicious poison he ever ate.

Already three spoonfuls in her own bowl of stew and rice, Lenora watched Iron Warrior with amusement as his brows quirked at his first bite, then continued taking bite after bite of his food; inwardly relieved since he seemed so wary upon entering her home, a sudden change from his earlier boldness when they first met. Drinking a gulp of water to quell the giggle threatening to bubble over, she asked “Is it to your liking?”

Erriox shot her an almost bewildered look, breaking his stern countenance, “What sorcery is this?” his bowl, already empty.

She couldn’t help but laugh then. Of all the Gothic words she knew, “sorcery” was one of, if not the first few words that she learned from Mithras, her friend’s Thousand Son Astartes. Her hand may have hid her grin, but her eyes and voice could not conceal her mirth, “It is not sorcery. It’s only a combination of meat, vegetables, and herbs.”

“You can have as much as you want. I’ve made more than enough. Go help yourself.” Lenora gestured to the pots sitting on the stove. She had originally intended to freeze the leftovers, but it’s not everyday that the Astartes warrior that you had found almost dead months ago would drop by for a visit. It would be churlish not to feed her guest well. She could easily make more tomorrow anyway.

Since she insisted, who was he to say no? Erriox went to fill his second bowl.

He finished his third when the thought occurred to him, “Who taught you Gothic?” Erriox asked her. It wasn’t an easy language to learn without assistance and practise, and she was able to speak and understand enough of it that he could tell that she had been learning the language for quite some time. He figured she would likely tell him which other Astartes lived there in answering that question as well.

She swallowed her last bite of food then answered, “Mithras.” After a beat, she quickly added, “He is the Thousand Son that bonded to my friend. They visit pretty regularly. You’ll likely meet them if you st–” Lenora stopped herself from continuing, eyes widening at the realization that the Astartes just spoke English, “You know how to speak English?”

He nodded, making sure to enunciate his words clearly, “Yes, I can speak some English, but I am not fluent.”

“That is amazing!” She gasped in awe, eyes shining in excitement, “I don’t know how long you have learned it, but you speak it very well!”

Heat rushed to his cheeks at her compliment, so unused to being praised so genuinely. Erriox hoped that his face wouldn’t show it, but inwardly he was a mess. His bonded was too good to be true. Inviting him into her home, feeding him this delicious food, and the praise? And not once did he feel that she was disingenuous about it. Was this just but a dream to lower his guard? But his soul felt the bond burn with a zeal he couldn’t explain. He stubbornly stomped down his muddle of feelings before answering quietly, “Thank you.”

Her gaze grew soft and kind, before suddenly straightening her posture, remembering something important that she had forgotten, looking abashed, “I didn’t even ask you your name. What is your name?”

“Erriox. What is yours?” he asked in return.

She smiled warmly, extending her hand in a handshake, “Lenora. It’s good to see you again.”

Erriox clasped her wrist, mindful of his own strength, his stoic expression slowly relaxing, “You as well.”

“Erriox,” his name rolling pleasantly off her tongue, “Do you need a place to stay?” Lenora asked.

“Are you not housing another Astartes?” The Iron Warrior questioned, glancing at the furniture around her home.

She laughed brightly, “No, Mithras and Iris visit regularly. I got tired of seeing him standing around and sitting on the floor for fear of breaking my furniture. I’m also anticipating my coworkers coming here during the summer that might come with their bonded Astartes as well.” She added, “You are more than welcome to stay if you want.”

Erriox felt a lot more at ease after her answer, but regretfully, he had to turn her down. Her offer was tempting, but he needed to sort out his thoughts first. He couldn’t stay, at least not right now.

She nodded, understanding that space marines tend to have other things to do and deal with, “That’s alright, you’re always welcome to visit regardless.”

Her voice turned playful and teasing, “I might ask you to teach me more Gothic in future visits.”

The Iron Warrior huffed, smirking, “Only if you teach me how to make this food.” Tapping his spoon in the empty bowl.

Lenora stretched out her hand to him again, laughing heartily, “Deal?”

Erriox shook her hand, “Deal.”

#warhammer 40k #space marine husbandry #space marine husbandry sentience #iron warriors #oc: lenora #oc: erriox #my writing

46 notes · View notes