"Papa, Are You Ever...disappointed In Me And How I Turned Out?"

"Papa, are you ever...disappointed in me and how I turned out?"

   Artorias blinked. His mouth might as well have been held ajar by how taken back the question had him. What a fool he was being, he had a duty as a father to fulfill. “No, starlight. No. Never!” he assured her with a tone that hinted that the words had left some personal wound. Without a second thought, he ushered her into a tender embrace, his arms comforting and warm around her. He peeled back to look her straight in the eye. Fingers coaxed a lock of hair behind her ear, a habit he quickly formed in her early years as a show of affection. It was all he wanted her to feel: loved and adored, for that was all she was to him. 

   A dark cloud of doubt crossed his features. Not meant for her, but for himself. “Did I... do something that would make thou think’st so?”

The Lion and the Pup

Alright, let’s talk about Ornstein and Lucette. Ornstein, Captain of the Four Knights and Lucette, daughter of Artorias, the Wolf Knight. 

I have a lot of feelings about these two that I want to articulate but...haven’t quite figured out how to yet. So if this comes off ramblely, my bad.

When Lucette is first brought to Anor Londo, she was entranced and amazed by everything and at the same time, felt scared of it all. Everything and everyone was big and bright, exuding this aura of untouched brilliance.

Ornstein, in this child’s POV, is essentially the personification of that. The first time she saw him was in the throne room and she immediately was intimidated by him, more than by anyone else except Gwyn. She could tell that he was important and very serious.

Since then, Lucette has been extremely intimidated by Ornstein, almost to the point of fear. Luckily for her, that was normal for majority of other people that weren’t close with him. Especially the other children. Whenever the children are playing and run into Ornstein or even cross his path, the atmosphere of the room changes and becomes subdued. They apologize for interrupting him and leave as fast as they can. But at the same time, when he’s faraway and focused on something else, they will eagerly watch him from a distance in awe and make jokes about him.

Lucette is the same way. She will watch him from a distance and yet hide when he’s near. Except, its kinda worse for her because her dad is friends (and something closer) with the other guy. Artorias tried his best to get Lucette to not be so scared of Ornstein. Sometimes, he would bring her to watch the two spar and train. That would be the first time she saw him without his helmet. She would quietly comment (to Artorias) that he was pretty. He reminded her of a greek statue.

That’s as good as she can give. She would still hide behind Artorias’ legs or cape anytime he came to speak with him. Artorias tries to help her by telling her that Ornstein wouldn't harm her and that he actually has a soft center. Not that Lucette believed him.

Keep in mind, she was 7-8 years old.

However, as she got older and became an adult, Lucette’s fear of him lessened and faded over time. By the time she was 20, she was able to have a full conversation with him without being nervous. 

When she was getting married, she heavily encouraged her father to invite Ornstein to the wedding with him and was made sure that the two sat together. Yes, she does ship them. She was honestly mindblown when Artorias told her that they were dating but happy to see her father happy.

This post is getting really long, so I’ll end it here. I’ll talk more about the relationship from Ornstein’s side later on. When I get more of my thoughts straightened out.

I’m probably gonna hurt some y’all’s feelings but-

No, I don’t believe that the plume on Ornstein’s helmet is his actual hair. That makes 0 sense. Why would he leave his hair out in the open like that???

An enemy grabs it and pulls on it, that’s it for him. That does not seem like something Ornstein would risk.

8 year old Lucette after seeing Ornstein’s face for the first time: I’ll say this......He’s really pretty.

Artorias: Annnnnd?

Lucette: And what? That’s all I got.

Artorias: Annnnd?

Lucette, confused: And he fights good?

I really need to pick out names for the rest of Artorias’ grandkids.

Taking a quick glance around the room under her lashes, Lucette saw that everyone was busy doing their own thing and Bi-Han was more focused on his food. Perfect.

‘You cannot be serious right now.’

“I’m very serious. I deserve five more minutes of sleep. And come hell or high water, I’m getting those 5 minutes. One way or another.”

Lucette stood up and casually and silently made her way to the hall, doing her best to seem casual, as if she was just going to use the bathroom or something. That’ll be her excuse. 

‘And if they find you NOT in the bathroom but on your bed, peacefully napping the day away?’

“Well, I’m a woman. And sometimes womanly things come up and I have to rest to get better.”

‘That is the weakest excuse I have ever heard.’ Lucette rolled her eyes, now sneaking along the wall towards the direction of her room, mind already partly daydreaming about the the soft pillow and warm blankets awaiting her.

“If it works, it works. How many times have you called my plan stupid and it still worked?”

‘Out of luck, not skill.’

“Denial and excuses.”

When she was far enough away, she broke into a sprint to her bedroom. Nap time, here she comes!  Bi-Han can easily wait til afternoon, a reasonable time, to bully her.

kingarise

Lucette quietly grumbled as she made her way into the room where the others were. She was dressed in the uniform, hair still wet from her bath. No doubt that was going to come back and bite her in the ass later. ‘Are you allergic to properly drying your hair, girl?!’

“No, but it takes forever for my hair to dry. You know that.” Lucette grumbled back, sitting behind an empty table and beginning to eat. She reminded herself to savor the meal because it was going to be a good long, suffering while until she gets more food. It was a struggle to keep her eyes open and not fall face first into her food. How was she supposed to fight and train like this?! ‘By making a new routine and getting accustomed to waking up early. It would do you some good in your daily life as well.’ Lucette rolled her eyes, taking a sip of the tea, only to scrunch her nose up at the taste. Such odd flavors but it will have to do for now. Hmm, she wonders if she could sneak out of training….

‘Consider paying attention to your new student, I don’t think she was quite pleased with being woken up at the asscrack of dawn.’ Without waiting for a response, Saibot materializes out of him - Bi-Han shuddering at the cold that suddenly ran down his spine, a different sort of chill to his cryomancy -

‘What’s it with you and randomly appearing from nowhere? You’re going to spook the shit out of someone eventually.’

Saibot shrugged, opting to seat himself against a nearby wall with arms folded across his chest -

Anyone would be able to guess, on the assumption that she was indeed royalty, she would not be used to being woken up on time. The shadow muses with a light mental chuckle: this ought to be fun. If Bi-Han wouldn’t keep an eye on Lucette, then he would. If she tried sneaking away… should be rather amusing. The cryomancer would never be able to, but he would, warping from one shadow to another.