Veloce/Blackbird

"Yet you come to my rescue once again... What have I done to... warrant such kindness...?"

- Veloce to Blackbird (Book 7)

Veloce/Blackbird is the femslash ship between Veloce Visrin and Blackbird from the Carciphona fandom.

Canon
Carciphona = Blackbird is an infamous assassin, known for assassinating a multitude of famous victims. "She slaughtered the world's most prestigious warriors without fail, and no one knows why."

- Mr. Gorchen (Keritzel's tutor) to Keritzel about Blackbird (Book 1)

On the otherhand, Veloce is a Viscrin, a family of extraordinarily strong and feared sorcceres who are known for carrying the curse of being a Carciphona (a human who's soul is infected with demons). Her mother, Auresque, died giving birth to her, and despite the fact that her mother's infamous reputation keeps preceding her own, the King of Kronzel still spares her from the prohibition (the world's ban on magic) with one condition: that she'll stay hidden and never use her birthright, the ability to use magic. Despite trying her hardest to follow the laws he set for her, the people living around her resent her because of her ability to wield magic. One night, Blackbird appears in Veloce's room, seemingly ready to take her life. After a quick fight because of Veloce's fear crippling her ability to properly fight, Blackbird successfully managed to transfix her against a wall using a sword she summoned out of her bracelet. Even though Blackbird clearly has the higher ground, she leaves, and allows Keritzel (the son of an insanely wealthy aristocrat) to successfully save her and nurture her back to health. Eventually, after befriending Keritzel and his childhood friend, Weirin, the king comes for her, stating that because she used magic trying to defend herself from Blackbird,- "Veloce Visrin has betrayed my mercy and trust..."

- The King of Kronzel about Veloce (Book 1)

This causes Keri to invite her over to his family mansion to house and hide her until they figure something else out. Here, she once again runs into her now stalker, Blackbird. Blackbird starts a monologue, talking about how she should just end the games and kill her, but Veloce begs for one more chance and Blackbird cheerfully agrees. While those two are fighting it out, the King makes his grand arrival, demanding that Keri hands over Veloce so he may kill her. Meanwhile, the fight keeps escalating until Blackbird finds an opening, and goes in for the kill. Except... She doesn't. She leaves a superficial wound across her face instead, granting Veloce the right to keep her life. "You said you wanted a second chance so I gave you one. Veloce Visrin, a name known by and respected among the circles of sorcery, though a mere youth, those who know their place would bow in humble respect. Just how powerful you are I'm sure you know better than anyone else in the world. And I find it hard to believe that someone of your caliber can be so... Submissive. When your neighbors wrong you, you let them. When your king persecutes you, you let him. When I'm here to kill you, you let me. I didn't give you a chance to defeat me, I gave you a chance to take back what you willingly gave away. And you did!"

- Blackbird to Veloce (Book 1)

After that speech, Blackbird hands Veloce a sword and tells her to do her a favor before getting lifted up into the sky by a pair of wings from her bracelet. Driven by her motivational speech, Veloce confronts the king, and stands her ground when he unfairly chides her for becoming her mother that she's never known. Eventually, the king lets his army lunge forward, and once again, a brawl starts, only this time, the duel's rather short lived. Once everyone is seemingly killed in cold blood, Veloce goes up to the king and starts a monologue of her own. "These could be the last words you will hear in this world. You've let your people down! How do you feel? I could send Kronzel to hell with you, too. Because I'm from the Visrin family, right? But why would I? Yes, your misjudgment cost me my childhood, but I'm not a senseless barbarian. I know vengeance won't restore what I lost. Maybe I should've grown up to be a barbarian and lived up to your view of the Visrins. Because knowing you stand no chance against me, you still dispatched your men on this mission. Was it worth it? I wanted to leave Kronzel in peace. Had you not made your ultimatum, I would've disappeared into the world without a sound, if your soldiers were killed in this pointless battle, how would YOU, their pledged lord, even begin to bear the responsibility of sending them to a meaningless demise!? I know my strength well, so no one seriously injured because of you, if you're truly doing this for your country... I promise you I won't taint the name of Kronzel with my own."

- Veloce to the King of Kronzel (Book 1)

Afterwards, she's seriously injured without her necklace, which protects her from her carciphona illness, and when Keri tries to help, she adamantly and stoically refuses it, saying she's caused them too much trouble. Weirin calls her out on this, saying that she's a "total wreck but still act all high and mighty." Being alone her entire life, Veloce has never had to depend on others before. Eventually, she caves in and lets herself trust them just this once, even if it's only for a little while. Afterwards, after acting as a bodyguard for Keri and Weirin, and a little run-in with Meron, who followed them onto Keri's private ship, Blackbird attacks again. Weakened by the demon spirits without her necklace, Veloce has trouble holding back Blackbird. Blackbird comments that Veloce isn't scared of her anymore and Veloce remarks that she shouldn't be scared of someone who isn't trying to kill her, calling her out. "I'll get in trouble if my boss finds out, thought, so keep it to yourself, hmm?"

- Blackbird to Veloce (Book 2)

Keri and Weirin throw themselves at Blackbird, trying to get her to let go of Veloce, and Blackbird remarks that- "Quite the charmer aren't you Veloce! I leave you for a day and you got yourself a harem."

- Blackbird to Veloce (Book 2)

Seeing how Veloce's suddenly a lot weaker than she should be, Weirin and Keri finally take notice to Veloce's weakened state and lack of resistance to Blackbird. Demanding to know what she did to Veloce, Blackbird gleefully informs them that- "Nothing! She's been like this... Alllll day. Maybe you've been too inattentive and didn't notice. Oh! I remember now. You were too busy ordering her around like a servant to solve your problems for you. Am I right?"

- Blackbird to Keri (Book 2)

After calling him out, Meron points out that Blackbird herself bears a greater responsibility as to why Veloce is in the state that she's in, revealing that Veloce needs the necklace that Blackbird stole to sustain her life. Blackbird then summons the neckalce out of her bracelet before tossing it into the open sea, out of reach. Veloce chases after it only to be stopped by Blackbird who taunts her with her own words. Veloce then makes a desperate bid for the necklace, and Blackbird throws her into the water, presumable to drown with the necklace. Meron (Veloce's former mentee) attempts to save her, but her fear of water overpowers her desire to save Veloce, and Blackbird mocks her because of it. Meanwhile, underwater, Veloce is painstakingly barely an arm's length away from the necklace before she runs out of energy, and is swallowed up by the demon spirits. Yet, a hand (presumably Meron) reaches out at the last possible second, handing her the necklace before a whirlpool envelopes her and Meron yanks her back up to the surface. The next time the Veloce meets Blackbird again is in a rift, where Blackbird just suddenly appears in front of her, congratulating her on making herself harder to find this time around. After hearing this, Veloce realizes that Blackbird can track people in rifts and immediately asks her for help finding her companions. "...Are you feeling alright? Asking your assassin for help?"

- Blackbird to Veloce (Book 3)

Veloce then calls her out, stating that if Blackbird really wanted her dead, she'd be dead long ago. In retaliation, Blackbird makes a small remark about Vocruen (Veloce's former servant that she's looking for), stating that she might end up dead like he is if she kept talking with such assumptions. As one can imagine, this didn't go well for Blackbird as Veloce proceeds to beat the crap out of Blackbird without even the slightest bit of retaliation (although she did make a lot of remarks about how Vocruen left Veloce all alone as a child). In the end, Veloce ends up pinning Blackbird against a giant tree in the rift, her blade pressed against Blackbird's neck as she demands answers that Blackbird simply won't give.

Veloce is a Cello player, and Blackbird is their orchestra conductor. Their first meeting was Blackbird's first time conducting five years ago from where the present time takes place. At first, no one quite knows Blackbird that well, but the orchestra generally shows great interest in trying to figure out what instrument she plays. Then, one day after leaving her cello at the center, Veloce stumbles upon Blackbird trying out a myriad of different instruments. Veloce watches at first in amusement, watching Blackbird stumble her way through trying to figure out how to assemble and play each instrument before she finally picks up a violin. Her familiarity with the instrument is apparent, and soon, Veloce is staring in awe. "She... Really is a violinist... A devilishly good violinist."
 * -|Amongst Us=

- Veloce thinking to herself

Fanon
Veloce and Blackbird is one of the most popular ships in the Carciphona universe since it started in 2006, especially since the writer herself seems to ship them. The release of Amongst Us (A webcomic centered around the ship) caused the ship to grow in popularity and many have begun to start head-cannoning the two in the main Carciphona universe as well.

While there's only 13 works in under the AO3 tag, recently, it seems that with the release of Amongst Us, more fans are becoming aware of Carciphona and making more fan work.

Fandom

 * FAN FICTION