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Description
Champion.

It is, Lu supposes, the most accurate word for the role she intends her now-fiancé to play in her plans.

Champion - a word she gleaned from the sagas and epics that her father sung to her in her cradle.

Someone who fights on behalf of their patron when that patron is otherwise occupied, who upholds and defends the ideals of their liege across time and space.

Lu has long known that her plans will require a Champion. The road to the Defender's throne will be long and arduous - and once she has earned it, her sole reward shall be the burden of directing the servants of God against the enemies of God. She knows she cannot be everywhere at once; and thus, she is aware that she will require someone to act in her name and battle her foes.

And Christ willing, she intends for Hunts-with-Passion to be her Champion.

On occasion, she wonders if his attraction to her is a sign of Divine approval for her plans. That she caught the eye of the best hand-to-hand fighter in the Flock of the Thorny Crown. Of the second-best tactician after herself. Of a man whose easy, swaggering bravado has made him adored by the male half of said Flock.

And, most importantly of all, that she found a man who has proven to be utterly, fanatically loyal to her.

It helps that she finds him attractive also. His training-hardened musculature is a tactile delight to her sensitive fingers, and the sheer heat that pours from his neck when he flares his hackles excites her in some primal, hard-to-explain fashion.

So yes, 'Champion' - that is the title that Lu whispers to Hunts-with-Passion during their pair-bonding sessions, the word she breathes out while running her tongue and her teeth across his ears.

A trick she learned from her mother.

There are some who would call what she is doing to her fiancé 'manipulation.' Truth be told, she would almost agree-

-if Hunts-with-Passion wasn't already well aware of her plans for him.

It had been part of Lu's offer, all the way back at the beginning of their relationship: join her, and he would rule the Sacred Republic at her side. Be her crushing right hand and the means by which a hundred worlds would be opened to the Gospel, and she would grant him unimaginable power, glory, and pleasure.

He accepted, of course. And even though they are not yet married, Hunts-with-Passion has already learned to joke about their plans together - to laugh as he asks how exactly Lu wants him to lounge at the foot of the Granite Throne once she has earned it.

Before she can think on that much more, a voice calls the Shepherdess out of her reverie, reminding her of where she is.

Graduation photos - their last days in these grey training uniforms, soon to take on the deep black of adulthood.

Their last days before she and Hunts-with-Passion intend to marry.

They pose for the photo together-

-and somewhere, someone knocks over what sounds like a tower of paint cans or something similarly hollow.

Panic has been removed from both their genomes, yet all the same the noise touches off the two altered spiregliders' simulation-honed instincts, kicking off a dance they know all too well.

Without thinking, one of Lu's hands darts to the drag ring on the back of his uniform, checking to see if he is wounded - and getting ready to drag him to cover if he is. The other goes for the haft of her war-pick, as she openly curses her empty pistol.

She feels Hunts-with-Passion tense up under her grip as he looks for the source of the sound, feels his entire body coil in preparation to lunge at whatever threat presents itself.

And somehow, through whatever odd connection they share, she can tell that he would attack whatever else Lu pointed him at.

The moment fades without incident, and as calm returns she makes note of her husband-to-be's reaction.

It seems he is her Champion already.

--------------------

Last one with Lu and Hunts-with-Passion for a while, everybody, I swear(lol).

Just a nice little character piece to fill in the gaps, done by the honorable twitter.com/ArtisticStudi10 . Hope you all enjoy.

Description
Champion.

It is, Lu supposes, the most accurate word for the role she intends her now-fiancé to play in her plans.

Champion - a word she gleaned from the sagas and epics that her father sung to her in her cradle.

Someone who fights on behalf of their patron when that patron is otherwise occupied, who upholds and defends the ideals of their liege across time and space.

Lu has long known that her plans will require a Champion. The road to the Defender's throne will be long and arduous - and once she has earned it, her sole reward shall be the burden of directing the servants of God against the enemies of God. She knows she cannot be everywhere at once; and thus, she is aware that she will require someone to act in her name and battle her foes.

And Christ willing, she intends for Hunts-with-Passion to be her Champion.

On occasion, she wonders if his attraction to her is a sign of Divine approval for her plans. That she caught the eye of the best hand-to-hand fighter in the Flock of the Thorny Crown. Of the second-best tactician after herself. Of a man whose easy, swaggering bravado has made him adored by the male half of said Flock.

And, most importantly of all, that she found a man who has proven to be utterly, fanatically loyal to her.

It helps that she finds him attractive also. His training-hardened musculature is a tactile delight to her sensitive fingers, and the sheer heat that pours from his neck when he flares his hackles excites her in some primal, hard-to-explain fashion.

So yes, 'Champion' - that is the title that Lu whispers to Hunts-with-Passion during their pair-bonding sessions, the word she breathes out while running her tongue and her teeth across his ears.

A trick she learned from her mother.

There are some who would call what she is doing to her fiancé 'manipulation.' Truth be told, she would almost agree-

-if Hunts-with-Passion wasn't already well aware of her plans for him.

It had been part of Lu's offer, all the way back at the beginning of their relationship: join her, and he would rule the Sacred Republic at her side. Be her crushing right hand and the means by which a hundred worlds would be opened to the Gospel, and she would grant him unimaginable power, glory, and pleasure.

He accepted, of course. And even though they are not yet married, Hunts-with-Passion has already learned to joke about their plans together - to laugh as he asks how exactly Lu wants him to lounge at the foot of the Granite Throne once she has earned it.

Before she can think on that much more, a voice calls the Shepherdess out of her reverie, reminding her of where she is.

Graduation photos - their last days in these grey training uniforms, soon to take on the deep black of adulthood.

Their last days before she and Hunts-with-Passion intend to marry.

They pose for the photo together-

-and somewhere, someone knocks over what sounds like a tower of paint cans or something similarly hollow.

Panic has been removed from both their genomes, yet all the same the noise touches off the two altered spiregliders' simulation-honed instincts, kicking off a dance they know all too well.

Without thinking, one of Lu's hands darts to the drag ring on the back of his uniform, checking to see if he is wounded - and getting ready to drag him to cover if he is. The other goes for the haft of her war-pick, as she openly curses her empty pistol.

She feels Hunts-with-Passion tense up under her grip as he looks for the source of the sound, feels his entire body coil in preparation to lunge at whatever threat presents itself.

And somehow, through whatever odd connection they share, she can tell that he would attack whatever else Lu pointed him at.

The moment fades without incident, and as calm returns she makes note of her husband-to-be's reaction.

It seems he is her Champion already.

--------------------

Last one with Lu and Hunts-with-Passion for a while, everybody, I swear(lol).

Just a nice little character piece to fill in the gaps, done by the honorable twitter.com/ArtisticStudi10 . Hope you all enjoy.