notes: mild spoilers for xavier's 'eulogy of light'. banter/flirting. pre-relationship.
the favourite ✶⋆.˚ xavier / gn!mc
The guards nod as Xavier approaches the entrance to your private quarters. If they were surprised to see the former crown prince at such a late hour, they didn't make it known.
He opens the door with a press of his thumb and continues into your bedchamber, thankful that his previous life made him intimately familiar with this portion of the palace. How ironic that you occupy the very chambers he once did.
But times have changed, and he is no longer the Crown Prince. Now, his relation to power is entirely different.
If you're surprised by his arrival, it doesn't show.
"You're earlier than expected," is all you say. Careful, measured as always.
Xavier steps forward, holding your gaze through the mirror as you remove your earrings, carelessly tossing them onto the vanity.
"The Secretary said I am your favorite," he can't stop the amused quirk of his smile.
YE SUES YES YES YE YESSSSS!!!!! THE TENSION!!!!! you capture their dynamic in the card so PERFECTLYYY
"We should make this convincing," he murmurs, right into the shell of your ear, thumbing the clasp of your necklace. He's crossing the line of decorum here, assuming an intimacy he hasn't quite earned yet, but everything he wants right now is on the other side of polite.
I need a moment, I need to run laps, I need to SUCK HIS DI—
Percy listens to those whale noises that people use to sleep but he just listens to them like a podcast.
And any time he hears someone like Annabeth listening to them he's like "Wow Daphne is really something else. Honestly I can't believe she would do that"
And Annabeths's like "what?"
And Percy just translates the entire thing to her and instead of calming sounds to help her concentrate she now has Percy tell her all the whale drama which she is oddly immersed with.
So I know there's been a ton of discourse on Caleb's event card, Imperial Thornesong (or whatever it's called), but the one thing I haven't seen people talk about is the dude in the rug. Like Caleb beat the shit out of that guy, rolled him like a rug burrito, kicked the shit out of him some more when MC entered the room, he and mc fuck while the guy is still in the rug(!), and that's the last you hear of him. I need to know the fate of rug guy. He's never mentioned again. IDC about the rest of the drama surrounding the card ( I had a European royals hyper fixation in my late teens and have consumed sci-fi and fantasy since I could form thoughts, the sibling thing icked me but also wasn't completely out of theme) I need to know if he lived or if Caleb disposed of him afterwards or what. If that guy lived he is so traumatized!
certified moon lover.
OKAY. Thinking my thoughts: In ancient Greek literary tradition, an apple is a symbol of love given by the lover to the beloved PLUS pre-Christian concepts of shame/bashfulness that are the antecedents to chastity generally demanded the beloved have some kind of token objection to love overtures. THEN we have Biblical imagery of Eve giving something to Adam that later evolves to an image of an apple because of the Latin pun ("evil" and "apple" are both "malum"). IS THERE an essay that perhaps tentatively explores potential later connections between Eve gifting Adam an apple as also a lack of proper shame, where she is inappropriately inverting her role of beloved to role of lover. Is this anything. Can anyone hear me
