burden-and-truth

[burden-and-truth]

// You have to post this

no i don't

why are you exposing me when i'm lurking kayle i'm not supposed to be here >:^(

[burden-and-truth]

Taking a break. Don't know how long. Just need some time to think.

[burden-and-truth]

Lux comes over with a bounce in her step and a familiar pouch on her hands “hey Garen I know you are training but what would you say to taking a break and playing a game with me, like Tellstones?” She asks politely.

-ask-the-beauties-of-runeterra

The Demacian was just about to strike the training dummy in front of him when his sister's voice met his ears. Garen turned to look at her, seeing the pouch quickly. Dark blue eyes moved up to hers with pressed lips and furrowed brows.

"As long as you don't speak about complete nonsense when I'm trying to make my play," he replied in a tone of warning.

@ask-the-beauties-of-runeterra

[burden-and-truth]

What if you guys sent me headcanon asks or just whatever you wanted to bother Garen with? Haha, just kidding...

Unless...?

[burden-and-truth]

How Garen's eyes look when he's ascended to godhood. On the right is a normal temperment. A brilliant calm as streaks of light emit from the pupil and move through the iris and into the sclera slowly. The left is when he is angered. The streaks of light are replaced with cracks as his divine power threatens to break through.

Drawn by the ever-talented @wingedprotector.

[burden-and-truth]

His militaristic and tactical mind was carefully breaking down each moment of this encounter, now. She claimed a former life, meaning her current one was not with the forests, despite her power seemingly revolving around them. The sorceress had command over some form of a mystical swarm of sprites that were not without their own personality. She could also either conjure plant life, or at the very least, create illusions potent enough to assume she could.

The way she carried herself and spoke was designed to ease a weary soul. She spoke of his home, but without being prompted to do so. He did not particularly enjoy how her facial expression shifted, if only for a split second, when speaking of her "charitable" actions. It made his blood run cold, for some unexplainable reason. Was it his caution that made Garen distrust the woman before him, or was it paranoia? Too often did those notions overlap in this day and age.

"I've my purpose set," the Demacian responded with a calm, neutral tone. He couldn't lash out on pretense and assumption. "So if your purpose is to guide the lost, then I need not your assistance."

Encroaching Darkness.

[burden-and-truth]

Garen really does his best to keep himself focused on what needs to be done.

But he has a difficult time keeping his mind off his lover's legs wrapped around his head as he's pleasing her.

Time for some more push-ups. Can't be distracted.

[burden-and-truth]

Reading Pantheon's Ruined/Ascended Bios, and it hits me...

I don't want to like it. Don't make me admit modern Riot did something I can agree with. I'm supposed to be a bitter, jaded, canon-divergent revenant.

[burden-and-truth]

We're destined to die... ...So make worthy your fall.

- Oh, Sleeper, "Decimation and Burial"

[burden-and-truth]

If he could stop breathing in that instance, Garen could be mistaken as a statue made of bronze. He was taking in every single detail he possibly could, between the bizarre whispers in the wind to the way the butterflies danced about. Thick eyebrows furrowed subtly at the laugh that echoed in the dark.

Never trust someone who laughs about death, his father's words echoed in his mind. Someone, indeed. The fact that the voice referred to him as "mortal" was unsettling. Either she was powerful or hiding something. Garen made no attempt to respond to her answer, letting patience rule the situation. Sure enough it was rewarded as the figure moved closer and spoke again. More words to make him sink into a distrusting nature.

As the butterflies convened, his dark blue eyes blinked once to compensate for the increasing luminosity. He could make the figure out, now: A beautiful pale visage accompanied with hair that melded into the night, and eyes comparable to a goldsmith's wares. Despite her stature being dwarfed standing before him, the Demacian was not foolish enough to underestimate this newcomer.

"You did no such thing," he responded in a neutral tone. He needed to be careful with his words. A loose tongue would not behoove him. "Nor should someone wandering in the dark worry over another doing the same thing."

@regina-tenebris

Encroaching Darkness.

[burden-and-truth]

Each moment that passed made the Demacian knight's bones ache. He couldn't see what Ashe looked like, anymore, yet he couldn't bare to imagine the expression of worry and confusion that were seeded in her crystalline blue eyes, taking the radiance of her positive nature away. Seeds that his own undoing planted.

She requested the two be alone, and the young assistant complied without a moment's hesitation. Garen's heart nearly stopped in that instant. Her voice, so bell like and serene, laden with a quiet sorrow that only began to increase as her attention was fully given to him. Oh, by the gods. Every infliction, every word, he could hear it. Silent footsteps neared. He wanted to retreat in that instant. Guilt, shame, and hopelessness started to encroach on his spirit. It almost felt like those many years ago when he thought he would die to a horrible and unrelenting cold.

...But then her fingers brushed against his skin, and she spoke his name. Despite how she barely grazed him, it was enough to send a blaze of warmth from his cheek and into his blood. Instinct overtook judgment, and his head rocked towards her hand, hoping she hadn't retracted it.

His hollowed-out gaze was hidden as eyelids covered discolored irises. The Demacian took a deep breath, before a shaky collection of gasps petered out.

"Ashe..." he whispered. "I'm sorry... I cannot be the knight I promised you I would be..." Garen moved his right hand up slowly to cover hers, keeping her in place. This moment was more important than ever, to him. He needed it. Garen needed Ashe, more than ever.

@frozen-sovereign

Bittersweet Beginnings.

[burden-and-truth]

>Make tirade about the Ruination angle yesterday >Sentinel skins get shown >Hits a lot of my aesthetic checkmarks >Like, a fucking lot of them >Only saving grace to prevent me from being a hypocrite is the fact that there's no Garen skin

[burden-and-truth]

I know it's been a few hours since my ramble-post this morning but I just wanna make an addendum:

Garen is and always will be my number one baby boo

Thanks for your time.

[burden-and-truth]

I'm probably making a bigger deal out this than I should be, and for that I'll apologize. I just gotta get this off my chest, if anyone even cares to entertain my borderline psychopathic ramblings.

I've been trying to organize my thoughts about Riot's unique choice to target Demacia as the "first to fall" to Ruination. Not going to lie, I was really upset at hearing it. I still kind of am, but I wanted to take some time to cool off before just saying "RIOT U DUM DUM" and not having any substantial points to justify my distaste for it all. So, for the sake of keeping this semi-rant contained, the rest is going under the cut.

1. I'm going to get my personal reasons out of the way first: It's another thing I, as a canon divergent RPer, have to deal with. I try to make it abundantly clear to anyone that wants to RP with me that they aren't playing with Riot's Demacia. This is a place I've cultured and nurtured well before they tried to add more detail the world, and I'm not willing to let it go, as selfish as that sounds. So I have to go on this whole tirade with RP partners, jumping through hoops and complicating things. I feel bad doing it. That's on me.

2. Another personal: It clashes with my Fallen AU severely. I've had this AU for YEARS. Once again, at risk of sounding selfish, all of this I've made is very near and dear to me due to how long I've been working with it. I just don't see myself being able to work it into my narrative like I did with the Mage Rebellion.

3. These next few are less personal and more from an overall narrative standpoint, and I'm gonna copy/paste a previous rant I had when there was discourse over The Black Rose having impostors in Demacia's ranks: "Handling a whole fantasy world with so many moving parts takes even more time. Riot does not function on that kind of time due in part to their focus being on game content, while just making up lore along the way that “sounds good” within that small timeframe the content comes out and is relevant… before the next “new” thing hits. It then results in this broken mess of plot holes, questionable reasoning, and other issues that won’t be touched upon because Riot is too busy promoting their shiny new toy." This Ruination plot just feels like more of the same.

4. Is the Ruined King game just being ignored, now? I feel like this angle is going to clash with that game.

5. With Viego's lore, there's been confirmed lands on Runeterra well beyond Valoran (Viego put his previous kingdom into shambles trying to do everything he could for Isolde before Thresh recommended invading the Blessed Isles). So we don't know how the world is setup beyond what we see. Slapping the entire world on a globe would more than likely mean that the Shadow Isles are not right beside Demacia. Did Viego really travel across an entire continent, unnoticed, to strike Demacia first? I can understand the logic of wanting to dismantle a place that could very much challenge the undead and the Mist... but he's not a very conspicuous traveler, as we've previously seen. Geographically speaking, it just doesn't make sense to me.

6. Where are the Darkin and the Void? Last I checked, Aatrox still very much wants to raze everything to the ground, and the Void still very much desire to consume everything and turn Runeterra inside out. Are these factions just chilling, right now? Do they take turns on when its time to terrorize civilizations?

7. Garen: First Shield ends on heavy implication that Noxus' attempts to invade Demacia are beginning, which would obviously lead into the Noxian/Demacian war. Guess that's gonna be put on hold, now. Kind of frustrating because, even though I'm canon divergent, I try to follow the world Riot creates on my own time, not in the sense of following it in my lore. This all has a feeling of cheap shock value. Is that due to my ravenous desire for Demacia to be a good place? More than likely. I'm not blind to my personal bias.

That's all I got, right now. Am I making a huge deal out of this when I really shouldn't? Probably. Am I selfish for not wanting this? Absolutely. I couldn't let myself remain silent, though, as this event really does hit close to home, for me. I'm not mad at anyone who might be excited for this. Hell, I'm not even mad at people who just hate Demacia and are getting a huge kick out of it. At this point I can't even say I'm outright mad, anymore. Just thoroughly disappointed in it all.

[burden-and-truth]

Garen is at peak physical condition between the power of his soul and his own personal drive. With this, his abilities in combat are not limited to only tools some would call "too big to be a sword." He is also a very competent unarmed fighter. He isn't as fluid or nimble as a Shojin Monk, but he can certainly hold his own when things are coming down to the wire.

Needless to say, you don't want to catch a raw right hook from a fully-loaded Demacian arm cannon.

Legends say he can drop-kick people in the head, too. It's a sight to behold.

[burden-and-truth]

"Heyy! How's your Luxter? I — I mean your Lux. I mean how's life in the Demacian Lux? I mean, is your sister around? I ask because of Lux reasons — I mean professional sisters. I mean ... Oh no."

There was a minute of nothing but silence between the explorer and the knight. His expression, rigid and stern, didn't crack as the man deliberately let the situation grow more awkward for Ezreal as he attempted to decipher what... language was just dumped into his ears.

Finally, he blinked once, then bent over slightly to lower his line of sight to Ezreal's. He opened his mouth, and only one word was spoken:

"No."

The tone, however, spoke volumes. It held a mixture of, "I'm sorry your father never taught you to be a man," and, "If you speak to me or Lux this way ever again, they'll never find your body."

He then raised himself back up to his full height, put a hearty pat on Ezreal's shoulder, consequence of breaking it on accident be damned, and he sauntered by the young man, continuing on his way.

@essence-flux-primed

[burden-and-truth]

So while recovering after my battle with COVID, Fate decided to punch me square in the solar plexus with another sickness. Mainly sore throat and fever, but it's taking its toll on me. Struggling, but standing. Activity will be kinda spotty.