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fantasticbeasts_kinkmeme) wrote2016-11-23 07:27 am
fantasticbeasts_kinkmeme) wrote2016-11-23 07:27 am
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Prompt Post #1
ROUND 1
FUCK IT WE'LL FIGURE OUT SPECIFICS LATER
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FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-27 08:04 pm (UTC)(link)____________________________
Two days passed before Credence realized that Mr. Grindelwald had no intention of letting him go. Porridge continued to appear in the mornings and some variety of soup at night, but Mr. Grindelwald himself made no appearance at all.
“He does this, sometimes,” Percival said. He’d abandoned the tattered remains of his shirt in favor of nothing but his trousers, and was doing sit-ups. Credence had lost count after a hundred or so, because the sight of Percival’s bare torso gleaming with sweat was a bit distracting.
The realization made him flush with embarrassment and avert his gaze.
Stupid, he told himself. You’re such a stupid, sinful boy.
Except, he was already with child out of wedlock. He’d let Percival sodomize him more than once and he’d liked it. He coveted Percival and Percival’s world. What was one more sin on top of those?
He sneaked another glance. Percival’s torso was well-defined, and scattered with dark hair. Credence kind of wanted to kiss his way down Percival’s chest, like Percival had done to him, but he wasn’t sure he was allowed to. Percival had made no moves to touch him like … like that, now that he was with child.
Credence missed it more than he thought he would.
“The waiting’s hard,” Percival continued. “Not knowing what he’s doing, or who he might hurt.”
Credence suspected it was that last bit that really worried Percival, since Mr. Grindelwald was still wearing his face. Mr. Grindelwald could hurt people, and they would think Percival had done it.
“I’m worried about Modesty,” he confessed. “She’s so little. She forgets how to be good sometimes. I don’t …” He lapsed into frightened silence, because he’d almost said something unforgivable.
“You don’t?” Percival prompted gently.
Credence fidgeted. Mr. Grindelwald wasn’t going to take him back to Ma. He understood that now. And Percival wouldn’t hurt him. Percival was safe.
“I don’t want Ma to hurt Modesty for being sinful, like me,” Credence blurted. He pressed a hand over his mouth and hunched in on himself, more than a little bit terrified by the admission. He’d never dared to voice a criticism about Ma before. Not ever.
Percival stopped doing sit-up’s and rolled to his feet. “You’re not sinful,” he said firmly, coming to rest his hands on Credence’s shoulders.
“Everyone is,” Credence said. “We’re born that way. We can only be redeemed through faith.”
“Did your Ma tell you that?”
“Ma and the Bible,” said Credence.
“Your Ma was wrong,” Percival said. “The Bible, too. No one’s born sinful. We act according to our natures, and it’s our actions that redeem us, not our faith.”
“Maybe it works that way for wizards,” Credence said doubtfully. “But it’s different, for people like me. We – No-Maj’s – are born sinful.”
“Except you are a wizard,” Percival pointed out. “By that logic, you weren’t born sinful either. The only sinful person is your Ma, for trying to tell you you’re something that you’re not.”
That was perilously close to blasphemy. Ma had worked hard to overcome her own sinful nature. She’d been redeemed by her faith and her ministry.
Credence stepped back. “I’m not a wizard,” he said. “I can’t do magic.”
“You could if someone taught you how,” Percival persisted.
“Could you teach me?” Credence asked, finally daring to ask the question that had been burning inside of him for the last two days.
“I’m not much of a teacher,” Percival warned. “But yes. I can.”
“I think,” Credence said slowly, “that I’d like that. Please.”
Percival grinned, a little bit toothy and entirely self-satisfied. Credence wasn’t sure why agreeing to learn magic made Percival look smug, but it looked good on him, so Credence didn’t mind.
“No time like the present,” he said. “The first thing you should know is that most wizards use wands for a reason. Wands help channel our magic from raw power into something useful. Magical children often have outbursts of magic – like what you did with the potions bottle, a couple weeks ago. They break things, or sometimes set them on fire, or find themselves doing something impossible like conjuring up windstorms to carry them to safety. It’s instinctive, and primarily driven by self-preservation.”
Credence wanted to argue that he hadn’t broken the potions bottle, but he did actually want to learn magic, so he kept quiet.
“It’s not safe, letting your magic lash out like that. Magic needs to be controlled. A wand helps with that.”
“You don’t use a wand,” Credence pointed out. “Neither does Mr. Grindelwald, when he’s pretending to be you.”
“He couldn’t pretend to be me if he did,” Percival said. “My talent with wandless spells is … well known, in MACUSA. It’s one of the reasons I made Director of Magical Security so young.”
“Oh.” Credence mulled that over. To earn any position in government relatively young, you needed raw talent and ambition or a good family name and a lot of money. He suspected that the wizarding world wasn’t so different from the ordinary one in that regard. Percival did have a good family name, and probably a lot of money if the nice suits Mr. Grindelwald liked to wear were any indicator, but Percival didn’t strike him as the sort of person who bought his way into anything. It would mean more to him if he earned it. And to use magic without the proper tools to guide it … “You’re very strong, aren’t you?” he asked. “As a wizard, I mean.”
“I thought so, once,” Percival said, faintly sardonic. “Now, I’m not so sure.”
That was Percival for yes.
Credence smiled, satisfied. Half of the things Percival said made no sense, most of the time, but it was getting easier to figure out what he meant.
“Anyway,” Percival continued briskly. “My point is, wandless magic is difficult. It can be done, if you have the will for it, but you can’t get discouraged if nothing happens the first time or the tenth or the fiftieth. You have magic. It’s just going to be hard to learn to use it.”
“I’m not afraid of a little hard work,” Credence said, because he wasn’t. Learning magic would probably be easier than handing out pamphlets or trying to complete his chores on too little sleep and even less food.
Percival smiled at him. “I didn’t think that you were. Now. The first spell most everyone learns is the one for light. Lumos,” he said, and a ball of soft white light appeared over both of their heads.
“Oh,” Credence said, delighted. It was just like Genesis, but better. And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good, and God divided the light from the darkness.
“Most spells have their own signatures,” Percival told him. “A series of wand movements associated with them. Magically sensitive witches and wizards can feel the shape of the spell in their minds. It’s part of what my sister’s researching, at the Fisher Institute. Can you feel this one?”
Credence shook his head, because he only felt wonder. He didn’t know how to sense magic.
Percival made the light disappear. “Try again,” he said. “Lumos,” he repeated.
Credence strained his senses, trying to feel something.
Percival banished the light again. “The wand movement for lumos is like this,” he said, using right index finger to trace a single looping corkscrew in the air. “Try to hold that shape in your mind. Think about … think about the light from a single candle in the darkness, just a little glow to lead the way. Lumos.”
Maybe it was his imagination, but Credence thought he felt something that time. A glow in the darkness, maybe. He pictured the shape Percival had drawn and thought about the way the solitary working streetlamp outside the church looked at night, beckoning the needy to their doors. He thought let there be light and felt something unfamiliar uncurl in his chest, a sense of rightness he’d never felt before.
“Lumos,” he whispered.
Nothing happened.
“Keep trying,” Percival said encouragingly. “I told you, you can’t get discouraged if nothing happens the first time or the tenth or the fiftieth.”
“Lumos,” Credence repeated, making his voice sound firm and commanding, the way that Percival’s did. The thing in his chest turned a somersault, like a key catching in a lock. Credence thought maybe it was his magic.
“Lumos,” he said again, drawing the shape in his mind.
The thing in his chest broke free and light burst into their cell, bright as the sun but without the warmth.
“You did it!” Percival crowed, yanking him close for a hug. He pulled back a second later, looking chagrined. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to do that. I’m all sweaty.”
“I don’t mind,” Credence said honestly. He rather liked it. It was sort of like how Percival was after … after they’d finished, when Credence was boneless and content beneath him.
“Still,” Percival said, awkward. “Alright. The spell to banish lumos is nox. The wand movement is exactly like the one for lumos, but in reverse. Think about snuffing a candle out.”
Nox was easier than lumos, now that Credence had the shape of it in his mind. The wand movement erased what lumos had done, letting the magic go. He thought and God divided the light from the darkness and said: “Nox.”
The light vanished like it had never been.
“Well done!” Percival said, beaming at him. “Can you do it again?”
“Lumos,” Credence said, by way of answer. The light flared into existence, bright and beautiful.
“Try and see if you can temper it,” Percival suggested. “Make it smaller, and a little less bright.”
“Nox,” Credence said obediently. Trying to make the light smaller didn’t work quite as well as he’d hoped.
“Keep at it,” Percival said, clapping a hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be able to control it in no time, I’m sure of it. I’m going to practice a spell of my own, if you don’t mind.”
“Not at all,” Credence said, still too elated by the fact that he’d done magic to care about anything. He’d done magic! Him! Credence Barebone! Mr. Grindelwald had said he had power, but that he couldn’t use it, and he had.
He had magic, and he was going to learn how to use it to keep his son safe from anything that meant him harm. He didn’t know how, but he had magic, and nothing seemed impossible now.
He focused on trying to make the light smaller and softer and hardly noticed Percival settling down on the floor again, his eyes staring off into the distance at things Credence couldn’t see. He’d done that sometimes, when he wasn’t exercising or telling Credence stories about the Round Table. Credence hadn’t realized it meant he was practicing magic, because nothing happened.
Credence thought he almost had the knack of making a neat round globe the way Percival had when he heard the sound of stone breaking. He spun around and stared at Percival, who was looking at the fresh gashes on the floor with predatory satisfaction.
“Got it,” he said.
“What was that?” Credence asked.
“One of Grindelwald’s favorites,” said Percival. “Dilaceratio. It’s the slashing hex he used on my leg. And my arm. It works well enough on stone, if you’re determined enough.”
Credence had seen enough of the damage that spell could do to know that it was dangerous, and that he didn’t like it. “Why would you want to learn that?” he demanded, breathless and more than a little uneasy.
“It’s a combat spell,” Percival said. “I’d rather know it and not need to use it when we get out of here, than need to use it and not be able to cast it.”
Credence looked at the gashes on the floor and thought about the way they looked in human flesh. On Percival’s flesh. There was the awful wound just below Percival’s right knee that he’d seen the first night they’d met. It was an angry looking scar and a very faint limp now, but the damage was already done. The wounds on his left forearm and his cheek had scabbed over and begun to crack and peel, and Credence suspected that they still hurt more than Percival would admit to.
“It’s awful,” he said.
Percival tipped his head in acknowledgment. “Most combat spells are. But they are useful, under the right circumstances.”
Credence thought back to what Percival had said: I’m not fighting a war right now, but I am a warrior. It’s in my nature. I’ve always been this way.
He didn’t know if he could bear it, if anything happened to Percival. Percival was good and righteous and kind and safe. Percival wouldn’t hurt anyone if he didn’t have to. Not even Mr. Grindelwald. He was like one of the knights from his stories.
“I can’t stop you from fighting, can I?” he asked, feeling stupid and helpless and useless.
Percival did something that smoothed the damage from the stone floor like it had never been. He reached out for Credence’s hand, and rubbed his thumb over the knuckles. “No,” he said, sounding regretful. “No one can. But you can give me a reason to fight to come home again.”
Credence tightened his grip on Percival’s hand. “Promise me,” he said, daring to press a kiss against one corner of Percival’s mouth. “Promise me you’ll come home to us.”
Percival rested his forehead against Credence’s. “I promise,” he said, and because he was Percival, Credence believed it.
Re: FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-27 08:19 pm (UTC)(link)Anyway, Credence starts to like Percival, Percival starts to like Credence, and they can't do anything about it. Oh joy. I liked how Percival was telling Credence stories and how they were talking in this chapter - they are getting more at ease around each other, aren't they? Credence should know by now that not every aspect of magic is nice - and it would be nice if he cast that slashing spell at Grindelwald for hurting Percival.
I'm not surprised Grindelwald doesn't want to let Credence go. He cannot risk Credence getting hurt now, when he is pregnant, but also he can provide better food for Credence. Percival was right, Credence needs to eat properly now.
Thank you for this part and for giving us a mental imagine of sweating Percival. That was an unexpected, but very pleasing surprise ;)
Re: FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-28 06:14 am (UTC)(link)The HP wiki suggests that Mary Lou might've been descended from some of the original Scourers, so it made sense to me that she would've been raised to view religion as a kind of camouflage. Saying witches are real and need to be wiped out sounds crazycakes. Saying that witches are real and the Bible says they need to be wiped out hits that uncomfortable 'your religion makes no sense to me, but those are your beliefs' button that makes people back off. Add that to an emphasis on philanthropy, and you've got a veneer of respectability/sanity.
After that, I kind of figured religious indoctrination was the sort of thing an abusive person would use to make their victims believe they deserved to be hurt. It's one of the reasons Grindelwald doesn't scare Credence as much as he should; he's used to dealing with fanatics. And Grindelwald, outside of that one instance, has done more to heal than hurt him, which makes him less scary than Mary Lou. (Grindelwald is pretty much of the opinion that no one is allowed to break his toys but him.)
Sorry if this got a little TL;DR. But I am so with you, anon. Sweaty!Percival is a nice image.
Re: FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-27 10:36 pm (UTC)(link)Re: FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-28 06:25 am (UTC)(link)Percival is really going to enjoy using Grindelwald's spells against him. Just. So much. Give him half a chance and he'll demonstrate exactly how powerful a motivator spite can be. (He is going to be so pissed that some random British wizard took Grindelwald down before he could properly kick Grindelwald's ass.)
Re: FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-28 08:10 am (UTC)(link)Re: FILL: "Nothing Shall Be Impossible" Part 13/? - Grindelwald + Graves/Credence Breeding Program
(Anonymous) 2017-01-30 12:34 am (UTC)(link)