flunkyofmalcador:

adepta-astarte:

I thought about what to write for @birdechoes and @soniampride for a wedding present. Then I thought vore and facepalmed. Then I couldn’t think of a better idea and wrote as much as I could before I got too embarrassed. [Sanguinius/Curze, nsfw/PWP]

AOOO

Did you ever see the Sanguinius/Curze thing I wrote?

No, I think I missed it. Link?

Summary: Thiel is a very sensible person about recent political changes and has no idea why everyone else is so upset with him, as usual. [No Nails AU, gen, sfw]

***

‘How do you feel about being a traitor?’

The other Ultramarine flinched, which didn’t surprise Thiel or he wouldn’t have asked the question.

‘We’re not traitors. We fight for Ultramar. We fight for Guilliman.’

‘To the Imperium,’ Thiel specified pedantically. ‘You remember, that place we used to fight for? Just last week? And for the previous century?’

His fellow sergeant glared at him. ‘It was not worth following. Our primarch showed us the way.’

‘So you’re pro-treason. Hey, I’m not saying I disagree with you.’

‘Sergeant Thiel,’ Captain Taerone cut in, looking to restore order among his subordinates before Laronius got too occupied hitting his brother. ‘Consider if I want to know why you’re being even more obnoxious than usual or if you should just shut up.’

That had been a stupid order. Aeonid Thiel had never resisted sticking his foot straight up his throat in his life.

‘As Lord Guilliman said in his Justifications for Secession: “Many shall call us traitors and we will accept this condemnation for the sake of our principles. Loyalty to an unworthy cause is treason to humanity, and this treason we rank higher. So we shall be traitors.”’

‘Yes, sergeant. You’re not in trouble for… using the word, but for being so aggressive about it.’

‘But that’s the thing. Theoretical: No one, especially not the noble and stalwart Ultramarines likes being called a traitor. It is an accusation our enemies will hurl against us to hurt our morale and open us to doubt. Practical: we should desensitise ourselves to it.’

Thiel could see perfectly well that they were not perfectly free of doubt or fear–yes, call it what it was. Their primarch had upended all they had fought for, all they had killed for for so long. There was no shame in it, in his eyes, but it was a weakness that needed addressed. They would have needed to be automata to feel nothing, or degenerates with no true loyalty in the first place. The hypnoconditioning resisted the idea of either his primarch or his Emperor being wrong, yet one of them had to be.

‘Though your idea is not entirely without merit,’ his captain’s voice suggested he was making a great and reluctant concession, ‘your practical is denied. We are the proud Ultramarines, as you say so flippantly. When we use terms like secessionist, we do it not out of reluctance to face a hard trust, but as a reminder of the rightness of our cause. We have broken one oath, but we will not break any others. We will not degenerate into rabble. We will be noble still, not those who rejoice in the name traitor time after time.’

‘But–’

‘And don’t let me hear you lowering coalition morale, sergeant. The people of Ultramar need to know we are doing the right thing and their loyalty should remain with our lord and primarch, as he remains loyal to them.’

‘Good thing the cult of Roboute Guilliman has always been stronger in Ultramar than Emperor-worship.’ Realising, as usual, that he had gone too far (and that had been out loud), Thiel added, ‘I’ll go see ot the loading of the company Rhinos while I think about what I’ve done.’

‘I almost wish we were the Imperial Fists, so I could have that boy flogged,’ Captain Taerone commented to himself as Sergeant Thiel preemptively consigned himself to punishment detail that had never made a dent his captain had seen in his red-helmeted skull.

birdechoes:

You know, the Horus Heresy likes to talk about alternate futures, and various paths one can take to change the coming future, and all that. Well, I kinda want to see a bit more of exactly that. Some Ordo Chronos nonsense, maybe, or Eldar folks jumping around alternate realities and playing with concepts of 40k you don’t often get to see- since you know, it’s a set setting and it’s trying to sell some darn models to you for gosh sakes! What’s that show? Quantum Leap? That, I supposed, but where Orks are very civil and good in one reality, and where the Imperium is attempting to destroy reality and the four Gods of Being a Good Boy try to stop that oh so evil human empire. Or, maybe just an Imperium where everything is the same except the Imperial Fists picked a better color than yellow.

I joke, of course, but I would very much like to see some reality hopping nonsense in 40k. Out of all the silly and goofy sci-fi tropes 40k likes to prance around in, that’s one I’d like to see a bit more of, ya feel me?