Tag Archive | character: luke

Arm-twisting, an answering drabble of Addergoole @kissofjudas

Dec5

Addergoole, year 39-ish. Luca Hunting-Hawk, Mike Linden-Blossom (VanderLinden). In response to this Addergoole fic by Rion.

Backstory: across several other stories, Mystral, a second-generation student in Addergoole, asked Luke to father her second child. He agreed, and has been visiting the daughter (his first daughter!), Chavva, regularly ever since.

The world ended around Year 17 of Addergoole (2011, June, is when it began), in something Luke refers to here as the Fae War.

Luke and Mike are both teachers at the Addergoole school, and 2 of the co-founders.

“You should build her a house.”

That was further out of left field than most things Mike said, but Luke – who was packing to visit Mystral and Chavva – knew what his oldest and most obnoxious friend was talking about.

“She has a home.”

“You’re in love with her.”

“What’s that have to do with the price of tea in China?” He did not want that wound poked at, thank you, most especially not by Mike.

“Is it still there? China, I mean.”

“In a manner of speaking.” China had gotten hit – not harder, but differently – by the Fae Wars that had nearly destroyed their planet. “They lost more people than we did in the cities, but their farms don’t look much different.” And if Mike could be distracted long enough…

“You should take me there sometime. But you should build her a house, too.”

“Mike. I fathered her daughter. That’s not…”

“Listen, Bird-Brain, I’ve known every time you’ve ever been in love. Every. Time.” Even Luke could hear the edge in his oldest friend’s voice. “And you are in love, mister.”

“She’s a child.”

“She’s not. If she was, you wouldn’t have fathered Chavva on her.”

“I have grandchildren older than her! Great-grandchildren older than her!”

“And I’m more than twice your age. Get your head out of your ass.”

Luke glared at Mike. “So what if I love her? She’s never given any indication of anything like that.”

“Have you?”

“Of course not. That’s not what she asked me for.”

“Dead gods’ nuts, Luca. If you don’t ask the girl, I’m going to.”

“…fine. Stay away from her. I’ll talk to her.” And be rejected, just to soothe Mike’s pride.

She beat him to it.

His wings flared as she talked. He wanted to pull her close to him and protect her. Take care of her. He wanted to tell her what was in his heart.

You’re just not ready. Wil had chided him more than once. You’re not ready for an adult love, and I am. Never mind that she was younger than him.

You never say anything. Ké had been angry at him already, but that had been the end.

Say something! Mike’s voice was louder than even his daughter’s.

“I want to build you a house.” He blurted it out, feeling more like a two-year-old than someone with nearly three centuries under his belt. “A big house. Strong.” His wings flared, and he pulled them back close to his back, wondering how, exactly, he could be such an idiot.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/425693.html. You can comment here or there.

Love Meme Answers 1: Morrigan/Reid, Luke/Regine, Linden/Luke

Apr5

For the meme I posted last night here and here, though I just realized I flipped the third one. Guess it’s a freebie!

Morrigan lay in bed, pressed up against Reid’s body, watching him sleep. When he slept, he didn’t pull away from her. When he truly slept, sometimes helped along by a nudge from their doctor, his body relaxed, and she could see how young he was.

She was going to keep him. She’d already known that when she hauled him into her van. She was going to keep him, because he was so strong, so brilliant, and so utterly vulnerable.

He made her want to take responsibility. He made her want to be a grown-up.

Shira watched them together, pouring over the new student lists. She wondered if Luke knew how his wings curled protectively over Regine. She wondered if Regine knew how she looked up to the older Ellehemaei, even when his opinion hurt, even when she stubbornly ignored everything he said.

Shira could see the echos of them, a hundred years past, a hundred years hence. She could see the moment Luke bent to comfort Regine, and the moment Regine learned how to be human for long enough to comfort Luke.

She wished her students, the ones who didn’t always understand friendship, could see this.

Summer. Finally. Mike saw the last of his Students off on vacation, spent one last evening with his favorite non-Mentored student, and braced herself to visit Luke.

He would glower, of course, and grumble. He’d invite her into his home because they were crew, and friends. He’d pour her a drink and have none himself, like he didn’t trust her. He’d refuse to touch her.

But in the end, he would hold out an arm, and hug her, and yell at her for an hour about being a better person. And when he was done, when she’d cried in apology and grumbled and yelled back at him, Mike always felt like she could be better, could be a nicer, more responsible person. Like he made her better.

This entry was originally posted at http://aldersprig.dreamwidth.org/315437.html. You can comment here or there.