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lucathiaTitle: A Slice of Wedding Cake - Slice 2
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 3,226
Summary: Sun and Judgment are getting married. The "why" and "how" really aren't that important right now. For this is not a story about their romance; this is the story of us observers. Yes, we, the underappreciated observers of this whole spectacle who did 99% of the work, and only received a slice of wedding cake in return. Grisia/Lesus, Ceo/Roland
Notes: Co-written with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
kiyutsuna! Odd chapters are hers. Even chapters are mine. Chapters will now be called "slices"~, yum. Illustration of the chapter at the end!
Slice 1: The Very Short Prologue
Adair
I know that the issue of who would wear the wedding dress is on everyone's minds, and believe me, it's on mine too, but before we can get around to that, I have to first tell you about all the changes in the Sun Knight Platoon and the Judgment Knight Platoon that the sudden marriage announcement brought about.
Think of it this way. You've always known that the men in black armor are your enemies, and thus you must treat them with animosity, like they had slaughtered your entire family, but one day, you're told, "Forget about all that. Now you're best buddies! Your leaders will even bond in the most intimate of ways and marry each other!"
While I always knew that the day would come that my captain would shock everyone into a heart attack with his boldness, as my captain was never a follower of rules, I could not help but feel despondent that my captain would be moving onto his next stage in life. Nothing would be the same after this, especially when he had basically overthrown years and years of traditions by declaring his intent to marry his "sworn enemy," the Judgment Knight.
But personal feelings would come later. Vidar and I both had our hands full at the moment.
Although it was expected of our platoons to get along now, years of conditioning meant habits were difficult to break.
"It must be your captain who seduced Captain Judgment!" a judgment knight claimed.
"Your captain is obviously the one who frightened, I mean, demanded Captain to offer himself!" yelled one of the sun knights. Thankfully, he changed his wording halfway. You never knew when Captain might be eav- I mean, checking in on us.
I stood off to the side with Vidar. I shared a look with him. Our two platoons were nearly flying at each other's throats. While we expected such behavior of them in the past and even went out of our ways to train it into them, now we had to undo all of that.
"We seriously need a bonding session or something," Ed said offhandedly.
I crossed my arms, a smile coming over my face. He had given me a good idea. A sudden hush came over the Sun Knight Platoon. They collectively took a step backward. Once the judgment knights realized their opponents had fallen silent, they too fell silent, turned to look at me, and then took a step back in unison.
I smiled a bit wider.
Ed groaned. "Now what have you thought of? I don't like that smile. Having Captain do that is more than enough!" He turned to the sun knights. "And let me say this first! It's not my fault, whatever he cooks up!"
None of the sun knights looked very impressed, as all of us knew that if something was up, it was usually Ed's fault. But this time, I thought his offhanded remark to be quite genius. I clasped Ed on the shoulder and said, "Thanks Ed, you gave me a great idea."
I turned to Vidar. "What do you think of a joint training camp?"
Vidar appraised the unruly knights before us. "A sound idea, Vice-Captain Adair. I will drill discipline into those sun knights!"
Even as I nodded, I thought that Vidar could use the bonding time too, and both he and I could use something to take our minds off of the upcoming wedding, when our captains would no longer belong to us.
Before we left, I had to apologize to Knight-Captain Storm. I would not be available to help him with the paperwork that the wedding would no doubt generate. When he finished listening to me explain, he groaned and covered his eyes with his hands.
I watched worriedly and decided to make an additional trip, this time to Knight-Captain Hell's quarters in an attempt to make sure Knight-Captain Storm would not die from overworking himself. Even a wedding between the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight would not be enough to cover up such a matter, and my captain would no doubt try to resurrect poor Knight-Captain Storm to doom him into completing more paperwork upon his awakening. If that didn't work, we would perhaps have another undead among us... Knight-Captain Hell and Knight-Captain Storm would make quite a pair.
Thus began the joint training camp between the Sun Knight Platoon and the Judgment Knight Platoon, with not-quite-blessings from the Storm Knight. True to his word, Vidar tried to drill discipline into the sun knights to varying degrees of success.... or failure, depending on how you wanted to look at it. It was only after I reminded the sun knights that honing their individual skills would most definitely help their skills in surrounding their opponents that they finally put in more effort.
When the first evening of the training camp rolled around, Vidar sat down on the log opposite of mine and gave a huge sigh. Not even the crackling fire between us covered up his sigh.
"They'll come around," I said. While the sun knights were not as practiced in drills, unlike how the Judgment Knight Platoon always diligently went through their drills every morning (our training sessions were a lot less by the book), they were not unfamiliar with them either. They were only trying to give Vidar trouble with their reluctance, and Vidar could sense it.
Vidar frowned. "This is going to take a lot of work."
I bit into my rations. After swallowing the nearly tasteless food, I said, "If anyone could drill discipline into them, it would be you." The judgment knights were no easy holy knights to lead, and Vidar had done it splendidly despite the flak they had initially given him for his baby-face. If Vidar could win them over, then he could win anyone over, even rebellious sun knights.
He gave me a tiny smile that I thought looked quite nice. It suited him much better than the frowns he tried to put on to look more serious.
The next morning, I was given the leadership, and so I led all of the holy knights in nine laps around the forest. Though we were not in the city, and the Judgment Knight Platoon had joined us, that did not mean we should let up on our traditional morning routine.
By the seventh lap, a gap had grown between the front of the pack and the rest, and there was a clear division between sun knights and judgment knights, white uniforms and dark ones. I slowed my pace down until I was side-by-side with Vidar.
"You okay?" I asked.
Vidar nodded but did not spare energy to speak. I took a look at the judgment knights behind us and called out encouragingly, "Two laps left! Keep it up!"
Then, I jogged back to the front to lead us to the finish.
Once we reached the camp, the judgment knights all collapsed onto the floor. Most had fallen to their knees, some had shakily made their way to the shade of trees to sit down, and a few had completely sprawled over the floor bonelessly.
Vidar was part of the middle group. With his back resting against a tree, he said while panting, "Do...you...do that every...day?"
"Yeah, we do," I answered. Ed and the others were chatting by the side, not nearly as winded as the judgment knights. It was clear to everyone now that if we competed in endurance, the sun knights would emerge as the victors.
Vidar looked at the sun knights with new respect. "How long...?"
Although he hadn't finished his question, I could guess what he wanted to ask. "We haven't always been doing this many laps, but we started running two years before our captains took office."
"No wonder," Vidar mumbled. Then, he glanced at me with a wry smile and said, "So they do know discipline."
I laughed. "Just a different brand of it."
With a captain like ours, we'd learned to adapt.
After a short rest, I led everyone to the cliffs. The sun knights immediately started groaning while the judgment knights looked on in confusion.
"Not this again, Adair!"
"We'll die!"
The judgment knights' looks of confusion turned into wariness upon hearing the Sun Knight Platoon's complaints.
One look from me silenced the sun knights though. It was now the Judgment Knight Platoon that I had to worry about, as they did not seem willing to join the practice.
"Come," I said, "nothing speaks comradeship more than sharing a bit of danger together. Surely you judgment knights are not so spineless as to refuse to do something we sun knights have been doing for years?"
That did the trick. Scowling judgment knights immediately threw themselves into the task.
What task was this, you ask? Why, "falling," of course. On flat land and even halfway from the cliff. I was not so heartless as to make them fall from the top of the cliff. We did not have any clerics with us, and none of us were as proficient at healing as my captain.
The practice session that followed after that was one of the most interesting ones I'd overseen, with "oofs," "guhs," "owww," and "nooo, don't flatten me like a pancake!" as our background music. I strongly believed that the art of falling was one of the most important skills one needed to learn, and I was proud to claim that all sun knights could be considered experts at it. Years of practicing falling by the cliffside did wonders. It also made us a very tough platoon to deal with in a fight. Not only were we resilient with high endurance, we were also masters at avoiding damage.
I overheard a pale-faced judgment knight whisper to one of the sun knights, "I never knew Adair was so scary!"
Despite how he tried to lower his voice, several sun knights overheard him and laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet!"
Good, they're bonding.
Near the end of the session, a bruised Ed limped over to my side. "You are a total sadist," he complained.
"Thank you for the praise," I replied, though I was not without scratches myself. I cast a Minor Heal in the direction of a limping judgment knight, causing him to straighten up and thank me.
Ed pouted. "What about me?"
"You can heal yourself," I said.
After all, we sun knights were more proficient at healing magic than the judgment knights. It was another area that they could show off in to their brethren and would surely elevate the judgment knights' opinions of them.
That was, as long as they didn't remind the judgment knights why they'd received the injuries in the first place, but I've found that most people usually didn't hold grudges very long if you showed a willingness to make up for things... unless your name was Grisia Sun.
He was definitely not "most people."
I looked at the cliffs fondly before joining everyone else.
That night after we finished training, instead of surviving on tasteless rations again, I split the platoons into groups of four, with two sun knights and two judgment knights in each group, to prepare dinner. Some groups were responsible for hunting, some for gathering vegetables, some for drawing water, some for gathering firewood, some for setting up the barbeque racks and the stew pots, and some for cooking.
I assigned myself to the cooking side while Vidar decided to join the hunting groups.
When the hunting groups returned with boars, the cooking groups got to work. I was pleased to see the sun knights and judgment knights joking around with each other as they lugged the carcasses of the boars before us. The cooking groups likewise bonded as they complained over the many difficulties of food preparation, like one big happy family.
I instructed them on how to skin the boar and prepare the meat, and then I made sure another group started the fire to boil water for stew. When we were finally done and the other groups returned from refreshing themselves, we all sat down to enjoy the meal that resulted from all of our efforts put together. Unfortunately, the "vegetables" scavenged by the vegetable groups all had to be thrown away, as I did not want anyone to end up poisoning themselves. We settled for a meal of only meat, but even so, the aroma was heavenly.
"So delicious!" I heard several people exclaim. "I've never tasted anything more delicious!"
Then you must not have tasted Knight-Captain Ice's cooking, or Knight-Captain Leaf's. Still, I understood where they were coming from, and the cause of their exaggeration. There was truly nothing like preparing the food yourself, and there was truly nothing like making a meal together for people to bond. The food itself was a great way to win people over. I knew that fact very well.
I looked down at my skewer of meat, recalling the first time I'd successfully made food for my captain, and how his face had lit up. That was when I'd learned what his true smile looked like, and how I became a hundred percent certain that all his other smiles were faked. His true smiles were rare, but they came to him easily whenever Knight-Captain Judgment was involved. Now that Captain no longer had to hide his relationship with him, would I still be able to bring him breakfast every morning like I used to?
"I take it back," a judgment knight suddenly said, eyes shining as he bit into the savory meat. "Adair, you're the best!"
The sun knights all laughed and said once more. "You haven't seen anything yet!"
The mood grew jovial, chatter filling the air. I grew less morose myself and looked across the fire, catching Vidar's gaze, pleased that we had come this far.
I gave him a smile.
Perhaps our platoons could grow closer after all.
He smiled softly in return.
Besides, I won't be alone, will I?
The next day, it was once again Vidar's turn to lead our platoons. Since the holy knights had begun to bond the day before, they were a lot more willing to participate, but they were also a whole lot chattier.
Apparently, the thought of who would wear the wedding dress was never far from their minds, and now both sides were finally comfortable enough to start what my captain hated the most from us -- gossiping.
Especially if the gossip involved him.
"Surely your captain will be wearing the dress!"
"I actually think so too..."
If Captain were to hear them, he would surely explode or flip a table. Or both. Sadly, he was the reason why a wedding dress had to be involved. If two men wanted to get married, why not wear suits? There was no need for one to wear a dress.
However, in the case of the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight getting married, one of them had to wear a dress.
The entire affair of the wedding dress actually came about because of the Pope's insistence. When my captain proposed to Knight-Captain Judgment and declared his intent to marry him, the Pope grudgingly allowed it -- only if one of them wore a wedding dress.
Stubborn to a fault, and gleeful that he had managed to wheedle such a compromise from the Pope, my captain had agreed. It was only afterward, when the Pope smirked, that my captain realized the Pope had played him. A wedding between the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight, with one of them guaranteed to wear a dress? It was bound to become the event of the century, and you can be sure the Pope would rake in all the money he could from it for the Church.
The wedding came just in time too, since Elijah and the princess had only just gotten married, which the Pope claimed gave too much power to the royal knights. Although Knight-Captain Leaf's marriage with the second princess of the Kingdom of Moon Orchid brought in new converters to the Church of the God of Light from the neighboring kingdom, it also meant that some people had decided to move to the same neighboring kingdom. That led to a loss of followers who had decided to convert to the main religion over there, so Knight-Captain Leaf's marriage did not provide much of a boon.
At the end of our joint training camp, Vidar, who had learned the importance of rewarding people for a job well done from his captain, suggested that we celebrate at the tavern. Sharing drinks was also a great way to bond, so I heartily approved of the endeavor. I was also pleased that he was getting along with the Sun Knight Platoon a lot better now, no doubt because they had actually earned his respect.
Vidar was that kind of person, one who only respected you if he felt you deserved the respect. Once you earned his respect, he was loyal beyond measure.
At his suggestion, we made our way to the tavern and ordered rounds for everyone. It was while many were drunk that the conversation once again returned to the matter of the wedding dress.
"Have you heard?" one judgment knight said. I felt deeply touched that they'd learned the art of gossiping so quickly. My platoon was truly wonderful at luring people to our side. "There's a betting pool going on over who will wear the dress!"
Of course, we hadn't needed to give them much of a push. Most of the holy knights in the Holy Temple were skilled at gossiping. Some were just more reluctant and tight-lipped, with the Judgment Knight Platoon being at the top of that list, given who their captain was. So, I counted it as successful bonding that we had gotten them to loosen up.
"The odds for Knight-Captain Sun are 1.083 to 1!" another judgment knight added.
"While the odds for Captain Judgment are 563 to 1!" a third judgment knight chimed in.
That, of course, led to the question of who they would bet on.
"Knight-Captain Sun, of course," nearly everyone agreed. "Betting on Knight-Captain Judgment would just mean we would lose money! Though betting on Knight-Captain Sun means we wouldn't get much of a return... at least it would be a guaranteed return!"
Vidar nodded. Even the judgment knights shuddered a bit at the thought of their captain wearing a dress. The sight would not be very pretty, they claimed. Now I was sure they were drunk, since if they hadn't been drunk, they would surely have protested (even if only a little), that their captain would look fine in a dress.
"Are you betting on my captain too?" I asked Vidar.
"Yes, I have no doubt that your captain will be the one wearing the dress," Vidar answered, his cheeks rosy. I could get used to the look.
I laughed into my cup and downed the wine. As I placed it down, I flashed Vidar a grin, "That's only because you don't know my captain well enough. Tell you what, I'll bet on your captain."
Maybe it was because I was drunk. If anyone asked though, it was because I was that confident in my captain.
to be continued
Kiyutsuna: Kiyu have nothing to say for she is too busy fangirling over Adair and Vidar.
Lucathia: No one is surprised that I ended up writing the Adair chapter, haha...ha.
ETA: Now with art from Kiyu of the chapter! XD
Slice 3: The Art of Eavesdropping
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 3,226
Summary: Sun and Judgment are getting married. The "why" and "how" really aren't that important right now. For this is not a story about their romance; this is the story of us observers. Yes, we, the underappreciated observers of this whole spectacle who did 99% of the work, and only received a slice of wedding cake in return. Grisia/Lesus, Ceo/Roland
Notes: Co-written with
kiyutsuna! Odd chapters are hers. Even chapters are mine. Chapters will now be called "slices"~, yum. Illustration of the chapter at the end!Slice 1: The Very Short Prologue
Slice 2: Training Boot Camp Bonding Time
Adair
I know that the issue of who would wear the wedding dress is on everyone's minds, and believe me, it's on mine too, but before we can get around to that, I have to first tell you about all the changes in the Sun Knight Platoon and the Judgment Knight Platoon that the sudden marriage announcement brought about.
Think of it this way. You've always known that the men in black armor are your enemies, and thus you must treat them with animosity, like they had slaughtered your entire family, but one day, you're told, "Forget about all that. Now you're best buddies! Your leaders will even bond in the most intimate of ways and marry each other!"
While I always knew that the day would come that my captain would shock everyone into a heart attack with his boldness, as my captain was never a follower of rules, I could not help but feel despondent that my captain would be moving onto his next stage in life. Nothing would be the same after this, especially when he had basically overthrown years and years of traditions by declaring his intent to marry his "sworn enemy," the Judgment Knight.
But personal feelings would come later. Vidar and I both had our hands full at the moment.
Although it was expected of our platoons to get along now, years of conditioning meant habits were difficult to break.
"It must be your captain who seduced Captain Judgment!" a judgment knight claimed.
"Your captain is obviously the one who frightened, I mean, demanded Captain to offer himself!" yelled one of the sun knights. Thankfully, he changed his wording halfway. You never knew when Captain might be eav- I mean, checking in on us.
I stood off to the side with Vidar. I shared a look with him. Our two platoons were nearly flying at each other's throats. While we expected such behavior of them in the past and even went out of our ways to train it into them, now we had to undo all of that.
"We seriously need a bonding session or something," Ed said offhandedly.
I crossed my arms, a smile coming over my face. He had given me a good idea. A sudden hush came over the Sun Knight Platoon. They collectively took a step backward. Once the judgment knights realized their opponents had fallen silent, they too fell silent, turned to look at me, and then took a step back in unison.
I smiled a bit wider.
Ed groaned. "Now what have you thought of? I don't like that smile. Having Captain do that is more than enough!" He turned to the sun knights. "And let me say this first! It's not my fault, whatever he cooks up!"
None of the sun knights looked very impressed, as all of us knew that if something was up, it was usually Ed's fault. But this time, I thought his offhanded remark to be quite genius. I clasped Ed on the shoulder and said, "Thanks Ed, you gave me a great idea."
I turned to Vidar. "What do you think of a joint training camp?"
Vidar appraised the unruly knights before us. "A sound idea, Vice-Captain Adair. I will drill discipline into those sun knights!"
Even as I nodded, I thought that Vidar could use the bonding time too, and both he and I could use something to take our minds off of the upcoming wedding, when our captains would no longer belong to us.
Before we left, I had to apologize to Knight-Captain Storm. I would not be available to help him with the paperwork that the wedding would no doubt generate. When he finished listening to me explain, he groaned and covered his eyes with his hands.
I watched worriedly and decided to make an additional trip, this time to Knight-Captain Hell's quarters in an attempt to make sure Knight-Captain Storm would not die from overworking himself. Even a wedding between the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight would not be enough to cover up such a matter, and my captain would no doubt try to resurrect poor Knight-Captain Storm to doom him into completing more paperwork upon his awakening. If that didn't work, we would perhaps have another undead among us... Knight-Captain Hell and Knight-Captain Storm would make quite a pair.
Thus began the joint training camp between the Sun Knight Platoon and the Judgment Knight Platoon, with not-quite-blessings from the Storm Knight. True to his word, Vidar tried to drill discipline into the sun knights to varying degrees of success.... or failure, depending on how you wanted to look at it. It was only after I reminded the sun knights that honing their individual skills would most definitely help their skills in surrounding their opponents that they finally put in more effort.
When the first evening of the training camp rolled around, Vidar sat down on the log opposite of mine and gave a huge sigh. Not even the crackling fire between us covered up his sigh.
"They'll come around," I said. While the sun knights were not as practiced in drills, unlike how the Judgment Knight Platoon always diligently went through their drills every morning (our training sessions were a lot less by the book), they were not unfamiliar with them either. They were only trying to give Vidar trouble with their reluctance, and Vidar could sense it.
Vidar frowned. "This is going to take a lot of work."
I bit into my rations. After swallowing the nearly tasteless food, I said, "If anyone could drill discipline into them, it would be you." The judgment knights were no easy holy knights to lead, and Vidar had done it splendidly despite the flak they had initially given him for his baby-face. If Vidar could win them over, then he could win anyone over, even rebellious sun knights.
He gave me a tiny smile that I thought looked quite nice. It suited him much better than the frowns he tried to put on to look more serious.
The next morning, I was given the leadership, and so I led all of the holy knights in nine laps around the forest. Though we were not in the city, and the Judgment Knight Platoon had joined us, that did not mean we should let up on our traditional morning routine.
By the seventh lap, a gap had grown between the front of the pack and the rest, and there was a clear division between sun knights and judgment knights, white uniforms and dark ones. I slowed my pace down until I was side-by-side with Vidar.
"You okay?" I asked.
Vidar nodded but did not spare energy to speak. I took a look at the judgment knights behind us and called out encouragingly, "Two laps left! Keep it up!"
Then, I jogged back to the front to lead us to the finish.
Once we reached the camp, the judgment knights all collapsed onto the floor. Most had fallen to their knees, some had shakily made their way to the shade of trees to sit down, and a few had completely sprawled over the floor bonelessly.
Vidar was part of the middle group. With his back resting against a tree, he said while panting, "Do...you...do that every...day?"
"Yeah, we do," I answered. Ed and the others were chatting by the side, not nearly as winded as the judgment knights. It was clear to everyone now that if we competed in endurance, the sun knights would emerge as the victors.
Vidar looked at the sun knights with new respect. "How long...?"
Although he hadn't finished his question, I could guess what he wanted to ask. "We haven't always been doing this many laps, but we started running two years before our captains took office."
"No wonder," Vidar mumbled. Then, he glanced at me with a wry smile and said, "So they do know discipline."
I laughed. "Just a different brand of it."
With a captain like ours, we'd learned to adapt.
After a short rest, I led everyone to the cliffs. The sun knights immediately started groaning while the judgment knights looked on in confusion.
"Not this again, Adair!"
"We'll die!"
The judgment knights' looks of confusion turned into wariness upon hearing the Sun Knight Platoon's complaints.
One look from me silenced the sun knights though. It was now the Judgment Knight Platoon that I had to worry about, as they did not seem willing to join the practice.
"Come," I said, "nothing speaks comradeship more than sharing a bit of danger together. Surely you judgment knights are not so spineless as to refuse to do something we sun knights have been doing for years?"
That did the trick. Scowling judgment knights immediately threw themselves into the task.
What task was this, you ask? Why, "falling," of course. On flat land and even halfway from the cliff. I was not so heartless as to make them fall from the top of the cliff. We did not have any clerics with us, and none of us were as proficient at healing as my captain.
The practice session that followed after that was one of the most interesting ones I'd overseen, with "oofs," "guhs," "owww," and "nooo, don't flatten me like a pancake!" as our background music. I strongly believed that the art of falling was one of the most important skills one needed to learn, and I was proud to claim that all sun knights could be considered experts at it. Years of practicing falling by the cliffside did wonders. It also made us a very tough platoon to deal with in a fight. Not only were we resilient with high endurance, we were also masters at avoiding damage.
I overheard a pale-faced judgment knight whisper to one of the sun knights, "I never knew Adair was so scary!"
Despite how he tried to lower his voice, several sun knights overheard him and laughed. "You haven't seen anything yet!"
Good, they're bonding.
Near the end of the session, a bruised Ed limped over to my side. "You are a total sadist," he complained.
"Thank you for the praise," I replied, though I was not without scratches myself. I cast a Minor Heal in the direction of a limping judgment knight, causing him to straighten up and thank me.
Ed pouted. "What about me?"
"You can heal yourself," I said.
After all, we sun knights were more proficient at healing magic than the judgment knights. It was another area that they could show off in to their brethren and would surely elevate the judgment knights' opinions of them.
That was, as long as they didn't remind the judgment knights why they'd received the injuries in the first place, but I've found that most people usually didn't hold grudges very long if you showed a willingness to make up for things... unless your name was Grisia Sun.
He was definitely not "most people."
I looked at the cliffs fondly before joining everyone else.
That night after we finished training, instead of surviving on tasteless rations again, I split the platoons into groups of four, with two sun knights and two judgment knights in each group, to prepare dinner. Some groups were responsible for hunting, some for gathering vegetables, some for drawing water, some for gathering firewood, some for setting up the barbeque racks and the stew pots, and some for cooking.
I assigned myself to the cooking side while Vidar decided to join the hunting groups.
When the hunting groups returned with boars, the cooking groups got to work. I was pleased to see the sun knights and judgment knights joking around with each other as they lugged the carcasses of the boars before us. The cooking groups likewise bonded as they complained over the many difficulties of food preparation, like one big happy family.
I instructed them on how to skin the boar and prepare the meat, and then I made sure another group started the fire to boil water for stew. When we were finally done and the other groups returned from refreshing themselves, we all sat down to enjoy the meal that resulted from all of our efforts put together. Unfortunately, the "vegetables" scavenged by the vegetable groups all had to be thrown away, as I did not want anyone to end up poisoning themselves. We settled for a meal of only meat, but even so, the aroma was heavenly.
"So delicious!" I heard several people exclaim. "I've never tasted anything more delicious!"
Then you must not have tasted Knight-Captain Ice's cooking, or Knight-Captain Leaf's. Still, I understood where they were coming from, and the cause of their exaggeration. There was truly nothing like preparing the food yourself, and there was truly nothing like making a meal together for people to bond. The food itself was a great way to win people over. I knew that fact very well.
I looked down at my skewer of meat, recalling the first time I'd successfully made food for my captain, and how his face had lit up. That was when I'd learned what his true smile looked like, and how I became a hundred percent certain that all his other smiles were faked. His true smiles were rare, but they came to him easily whenever Knight-Captain Judgment was involved. Now that Captain no longer had to hide his relationship with him, would I still be able to bring him breakfast every morning like I used to?
"I take it back," a judgment knight suddenly said, eyes shining as he bit into the savory meat. "Adair, you're the best!"
The sun knights all laughed and said once more. "You haven't seen anything yet!"
The mood grew jovial, chatter filling the air. I grew less morose myself and looked across the fire, catching Vidar's gaze, pleased that we had come this far.
I gave him a smile.
Perhaps our platoons could grow closer after all.
He smiled softly in return.
Besides, I won't be alone, will I?
The next day, it was once again Vidar's turn to lead our platoons. Since the holy knights had begun to bond the day before, they were a lot more willing to participate, but they were also a whole lot chattier.
Apparently, the thought of who would wear the wedding dress was never far from their minds, and now both sides were finally comfortable enough to start what my captain hated the most from us -- gossiping.
Especially if the gossip involved him.
"Surely your captain will be wearing the dress!"
"I actually think so too..."
If Captain were to hear them, he would surely explode or flip a table. Or both. Sadly, he was the reason why a wedding dress had to be involved. If two men wanted to get married, why not wear suits? There was no need for one to wear a dress.
However, in the case of the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight getting married, one of them had to wear a dress.
The entire affair of the wedding dress actually came about because of the Pope's insistence. When my captain proposed to Knight-Captain Judgment and declared his intent to marry him, the Pope grudgingly allowed it -- only if one of them wore a wedding dress.
Stubborn to a fault, and gleeful that he had managed to wheedle such a compromise from the Pope, my captain had agreed. It was only afterward, when the Pope smirked, that my captain realized the Pope had played him. A wedding between the Sun Knight and the Judgment Knight, with one of them guaranteed to wear a dress? It was bound to become the event of the century, and you can be sure the Pope would rake in all the money he could from it for the Church.
The wedding came just in time too, since Elijah and the princess had only just gotten married, which the Pope claimed gave too much power to the royal knights. Although Knight-Captain Leaf's marriage with the second princess of the Kingdom of Moon Orchid brought in new converters to the Church of the God of Light from the neighboring kingdom, it also meant that some people had decided to move to the same neighboring kingdom. That led to a loss of followers who had decided to convert to the main religion over there, so Knight-Captain Leaf's marriage did not provide much of a boon.
At the end of our joint training camp, Vidar, who had learned the importance of rewarding people for a job well done from his captain, suggested that we celebrate at the tavern. Sharing drinks was also a great way to bond, so I heartily approved of the endeavor. I was also pleased that he was getting along with the Sun Knight Platoon a lot better now, no doubt because they had actually earned his respect.
Vidar was that kind of person, one who only respected you if he felt you deserved the respect. Once you earned his respect, he was loyal beyond measure.
At his suggestion, we made our way to the tavern and ordered rounds for everyone. It was while many were drunk that the conversation once again returned to the matter of the wedding dress.
"Have you heard?" one judgment knight said. I felt deeply touched that they'd learned the art of gossiping so quickly. My platoon was truly wonderful at luring people to our side. "There's a betting pool going on over who will wear the dress!"
Of course, we hadn't needed to give them much of a push. Most of the holy knights in the Holy Temple were skilled at gossiping. Some were just more reluctant and tight-lipped, with the Judgment Knight Platoon being at the top of that list, given who their captain was. So, I counted it as successful bonding that we had gotten them to loosen up.
"The odds for Knight-Captain Sun are 1.083 to 1!" another judgment knight added.
"While the odds for Captain Judgment are 563 to 1!" a third judgment knight chimed in.
That, of course, led to the question of who they would bet on.
"Knight-Captain Sun, of course," nearly everyone agreed. "Betting on Knight-Captain Judgment would just mean we would lose money! Though betting on Knight-Captain Sun means we wouldn't get much of a return... at least it would be a guaranteed return!"
Vidar nodded. Even the judgment knights shuddered a bit at the thought of their captain wearing a dress. The sight would not be very pretty, they claimed. Now I was sure they were drunk, since if they hadn't been drunk, they would surely have protested (even if only a little), that their captain would look fine in a dress.
"Are you betting on my captain too?" I asked Vidar.
"Yes, I have no doubt that your captain will be the one wearing the dress," Vidar answered, his cheeks rosy. I could get used to the look.
I laughed into my cup and downed the wine. As I placed it down, I flashed Vidar a grin, "That's only because you don't know my captain well enough. Tell you what, I'll bet on your captain."
Maybe it was because I was drunk. If anyone asked though, it was because I was that confident in my captain.
to be continued
Kiyutsuna: Kiyu have nothing to say for she is too busy fangirling over Adair and Vidar.
Lucathia: No one is surprised that I ended up writing the Adair chapter, haha...ha.
ETA: Now with art from Kiyu of the chapter! XD
Slice 3: The Art of Eavesdropping
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Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 12:16 am (UTC)I never had been into (Light) Novel series really, usually I drop them after two volumes... (except for Trinity Blood, but the german release of the novels was discontinued after three volumes). I've had a long standing "oh that series again" relationship with the 1/2 Prince manhua, haha. It popped up regularly and I've clicked it quite a few times like "what was that series again" but never actually read it... mostly because the art isn't my thing. (in the end I am into overly fancy fantasy knights, after all |D;;;) By now I've read the first 3-4 chapters of the manhua and the first of the novel but I really have trouble keeping chinese names so I never really got into it :/ I still want to read Yu Wo's other works eventually (until now I've only really read LSK as far as the translations go, Female Warrior and the 39LSK summaries), but well, I'm just so stuck on LSK xD //one-track mind
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 12:29 am (UTC)I LOVE Trinity Blood! The English release stopped after six volumes (I think,... three for ROM and three for RAM... why did they do that??) all because the US Publisher went out of business. TokyoPop is supposedly back, but they are only continuing series that I have no interest in!! I read 1/2 Prince on winter break from school, so I was basically able to read it all at once and hold interest. I had to stop reading Gong Hua because there's just too much time between chapter releases that I can't stay interested. I might go back to it once it's further along.
I'm a voracious reader of anything.... It's ridiculous.... manga of all kinds, novels of all kinds... news paper articles, blogs hahahaha XD Fan fiction is really the only thing I don't read, but Lucathia's LSK as well as one other fic writer (for the American TV series Chuck XD) are exceptions.
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 12:52 am (UTC)I don't even know who published TB in Germany, but I think it was Panini? I have no idea why they stopped though. Probably low sales. We only got the first three ROM volumes :'c
I am a picky reader :'D well I read a lot of (fantasy) manga as long as I like the art, but for novels... it really depends. There are times I devour them, and others when I don't read at all...
For fanfictions, I only raaaarely read any and usually I only read parodies. LSK is a rare exception! Tbh at first I wasn't really interested in Lucathia's works because I don't care for Bittersweet Sweetness and annaASSASSIN's Waking caught my attention early on, but then I came over here for 39 summaries and gosh LUCATHIA YOU ARE THE SWEETEST AND I LOVE YOUR WORKS
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 01:03 am (UTC)That's sad :'( Trinity Blood is truly a great light novel series!! I only own Volume 1 of RAM and had to hunt down the rest of TokyoPop's translations on the internet because the books are out of print and difficult to find (well... I guess I could check Amazon... but what's the point now since they won't ever continue??)
I used to be super picky about art (and preferred Shounen style over Shoujo) until a friend convinced me to read Fruits Basket. The art is not great; I'll admit that I don't like it at all. However, the story was so good that I couldn't stop reading it. Now I'll check out anything regardless of my initial opinion of the art.
Bittersweet Sweetness (which I adore) is how I managed to stumble upon Lucathia's fanfics and become quite fond of them! In fact, I'm trying to convince a friend to read LSK and said that Lucathia's fanfic can be considered supplemental reading bc they are that good!
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 01:17 am (UTC)What is going on here, both you and
*scurries off to write*
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 01:30 am (UTC)The good writing and solid characterization doesn't hurt either.
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 03:32 am (UTC)The multiple stories, I find, is a great way to combat writer's block :'D
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 04:24 am (UTC)Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 05:20 am (UTC)Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 01:22 am (UTC)That said, annaASSASSIN's stories are amazing. I was flailing so hard when she started writing. All the twists and turns are amaaazing.
(plot, you and I are not the best of friends)
LSK has basically devoured my life for the past... 3... years... It's great being able to flail over it like this with other people. :'D
I'm personally the fondest of fantasy stories, so out of Yu Wo's works, it's the fantasy ones I like more than sci-fi stories. So, Kill No More is high on my list of favorites, more so than No Hero.
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 01:35 am (UTC)*must go check out annaASSASSIN's stories*
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 03:32 am (UTC)Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 04:28 am (UTC)Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 07:05 am (UTC)So, I picked a random comment. I attempted to draw your description of Moon (https://www.dropbox.com/s/fypx9kw3w2kx83m/Sketch28124817.jpg).... but I really couldn't stop giggling *has the maturity of a 12 year old* I either need to learn to draw them in the manhua or novel style or just not finish this whole challenge to draw the 12 holy knights in drag. I didn't even finish this sketch XD his arms are SO MANLY but his face is not OTZ
I hope this doodle leaves you with a good laugh next time you are on lj!!
Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-04-28 05:50 pm (UTC)Oh my God of Light why does this fit you so well, Vival...
he looks better in a dress than I do what is this gloryOh my, that flirty look on his face! xD Thank you so much for sharing <3333Re: Say Yes to the Dress
Date: 2014-05-02 05:45 am (UTC)he looks better in a dress than me too Waaaaaahhhhhh. I can't help but draw Vival with a seductive look over Storm bc storm to me = playful innocence heheh hmm.... storm... maybe you'll be next! mwahaha