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Percy has been saying her full name a lot recently. For a man who hates wasting time, he seems to love taking twice the amount to say her name. The additional ‘ahlia has left his lips with every other name call since the tomb.
“Watch your step Vex’ahlia”
“Vex’ahlia, over here”
“Good night Vex’ahlia”
And of course her favorite: “Lady Vex’ahlia Baroness of the Third House of Whitestone and Grandmistress of the Grey Hunt”
It’s one of the many changes since her death. Everyone treats her a tad differently thinking she wouldn’t notice. Pike’s constant healing checks. Keyleth’s jumpiness when Vex goes to scout ahead by herself. Vax’s–well Vax’s everything. Luckily Scanlan and Grog haven’t changed, but Percy, his behavior perplexes her.
He jumps from spurts of protectiveness to distancing himself. He’s taken care of any need she finds herself complaining about with a strange sort of attentiveness she isn’t used to, but he maneuvers around her with such awareness of his body as if touching her would kill her. He keeps his distance but then does something as grand as giving her a title to stick it to her father. All the while using her full name. It’s just weird.
It’s not that she doesn’t like it. Vex rather likes the way her full name sounds in his refined tone. Even when he shouts it in a fight, it has a twinge of fancy that makes her ego sing. But why the formality? It seems like such an insignificant change to make after she died. Vex understands the protectiveness, the distance, the attentiveness, but why her name? The question has been sitting in the back of her mind for a while now but with volcanos, sphinxes, and fey to worry about, she hasn’t found the time to ask.
The group- or rather half the group- are on their way to Westruun. Keyleth was able to get them to a tree a couple of miles away. Now would be the perfect time for a quick conversation about it. The urgency of meeting up with the rest of Vox Machina would provide just enough time to get answers that aren’t too deep, and the inevitable chaos that will ensue upon their arrival would provide plenty of distractions if their talk goes wrong. It’s absolutely perfect.
Vex puts her plan into action as she slows her gate to meet Percy at the back of the group. His eyes are focused ahead as he walks. He doesn’t seem to notice her arrival. It’s one of the many moments where she finds him lost in his thoughts. She smiles to herself letting them both be lost together for a little while only making herself known with an intake of breath when she’s ready to speak.
“Percy, dear?”
He looks over at her with an endearing openness. “Yes, Vex’ahlia?” He says. There it is again.
“Why do you keep doing that?” She pushes.
“Doing what?”
“Saying my name.”
His brows contort in confusion as he chuckles a little. “Because it’s your name and I use it to refer to you in conversation.” His statement sounded more like a question.
“No, my full name. Vex’ahlia” she looks up at him. It’s foolish, but she feels incredibly vulnerable discussing this. Admitting that she noticed is almost like revealing something to him. Something she doesn’t want him to know or hear.
“Oh?” He tilts his head a little eyes shifting as he searches his thoughts for an answer. Vex seemed to have caught him by surprise. He hadn’t realized he was doing it, had he?
“I have, haven’t I? Hmm,” Percy says to himself as much as her. “Well, I guess I just like how it sounds.”
“Really? That’s all?”
“Yes the added ‘ahlia really makes a difference,” He says with a resolute nod. Vex laughs a little at his assuredness rolling her eyes. “No, it really does! Your father may be an irredeemable fuck but he can pick a good name.” Her heart pangs at the assumption.
“My mother named us. My father didn’t do shit,” she says looking straight ahead refusing to make eye contact refusing to make the correction something more than a simple comment. Refusing to show how fragile she is after Syngorn, after Saundor. The city’s sudden appearance let loose all the emotions and secrets she kept locked and secure in her heart. It was like she exposed her belly to a predator. Everyone knew now. It’s futile to attempt to guard herself once more, but old habits die hard just like she did.
“Vex’a– Vex– I didn’t,” Percy’s immediately guilty tone is sadly familiar. He’s so quick to think he’s done harm when he’s done nothing wrong. A constant feeling of remorse has consumed him ever since Whitestone and has only been amplified by recent events.
Vex quickly acts to change his mood. To remind him she could never hate him or abandon him no matter how much he thinks he’s worth. She bumps his shoulder and looks up at him letting her facade melt a little. “It’s alright darling, you didn’t know.” His eyes widen a tad with such genuine surprise that she’s reminded just how hard it is to guard her heart when he already holds it.
“Do you really think it fits me?” Vex moves the conversation along. She always thought herself too rough for the flowing syllables of Vex’ahlia. The extra sounds too slow for her. The name just can’t keep up.
“Well, that’s what’s wonderful about it. It’s adaptable, like you. Multifaceted if you will?” He pauses to think, taking the time to put together the puzzle of his words before speaking. “You see, Vex sounds quick and sharp. Like your arrows and your wit.” He rambles gesturing to the arrows at her back. Her hand grasps the intricate arrowhead she keeps safe and close in her pocket. “But Vex’ahlia,” He pauses, giving the name some space. “It sounds like the wind through the trees, the stillness during a hunt. Well, it sounds like you,” he rubs the back of his neck as he talks. A nervous tick she’s seen before. He says her name so thoughtfully treating each syllable with care like it’s precious. No one but her mother and Vax did that and never in this way. A way that makes her cheeks blush like a child's. Gods, it’s just her name! She quickly looks away to save what dignity she has left.
“Alright, Percival Ferdinand–“
“Fredrickstein,” he corrects.
“Von whatever the fuck– that’s enough talk about me,” Vex wants to move away from this topic as soon as possible. She suddenly wants Umbrasyl to swoop down so she can avoid the further escalation of her heartbeat. She doesn’t care if she melts in acid as long as she doesn’t have to name the warmth in her chest when he says her name. “Your name is much more complex than mine.”
He gives a short laugh looking down and fiddling with his glove, flexing the hand that wields Diplomacy. “I have five names and none of them encapsulate myself as yours does.”
Gods he says such nice things so easily. He says them like they’re true like they’re obvious.
“Hmm, I don’t know about that. We’ve still got time for you to grow into all of them.” Vex playfully hunches over to meet his downturned eyes.
Percy lets out a wry smile. “We’ll see, but Klossowski seems like a stretch for me.” Vex lets out a startled laugh that melts into a quiet giggle as they continued walking. Percy chuckles as well, maintaining the soft conspiratorial nature of their joy.
“I forgot about Klo—“ she stops suddenly. Smoke rises from a ruined city in the distance. Westruun. They were finally there and the city looked as expected. A pile of ruins marked by acid barely standing and overrun by raiders. The raiders that might kill Grog. That might kill them. And just like that their tiny moment is gone. Swept under the dragon-shaped rug as Percy wordlessly reaches for the bag of holding to fetch Bad News.