buildingxsandcastles

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Wrapped in Shadow

Pairing: Shadowheart x f!Tav Summary: Beneath the ghostlight of the Sussur Tree, Tav and Shadowheart share a quiet moment in the Underdark—tense, vulnerable, and too honest for comfort. A conversation wrapped in shadows and softness, where neither of them says quite what they mean, but both feel it all the same.

Track inspiration (by Tetsugaku): www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnzsFa56_6c

The blue glow of the Sussur Tree pulsed faintly in the distance, painting the jagged walls of the Underdark in hues of ghostly light. A soft hum echoed through the caverns, too low to be music, too present to be silence.

Tav knelt near the edge of the rocky path, her fingers brushing over a patch of bioluminescent moss. Caine, a dire wolf, padded a short distance ahead, ears twitching at every skitter. The cave floor crackled underfoot, dry and brittle in places despite the damp.

Behind her, Shadowheart’s boots whispered across stone.

“You shouldn’t wander off like that,” she said quietly, voice low but not unkind. “It’s easy to get lost down here.”

Tav turned, a small smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. “I wasn’t far. I just wanted a moment to breathe. It’s quieter near the roots.”

Shadowheart stopped beside her, folding her arms and gazing out toward the tree. “Quiet, perhaps. But not safe.”

Tav nodded. “Nothing down here is. But it’s… strange. The tree doesn’t feel threatening. Not like the rest of this place. It feels sad.”

She glanced up at Shadowheart. “Like something that lost its way.”

Shadowheart didn’t answer at first. Her dark hair caught the soft blue glow. “You see emotion in everything,” she said—not as a criticism. There was something almost admiring in it.

“And you keep yours wrapped in iron,” Tav replied gently, not pushing. Just… stating a truth they both already knew.

A long silence stretched between them before Shadowheart spoke again, softer this time. “This place… it doesn’t allow for softness.”

“No,” Tav agreed. “But sometimes we carry softness with us. Even if it gets a little battered.”

She reached up and plucked a stray thread of spider silk from Shadowheart’s cloak. “Even if it’s wrapped in shadow.”

Shadowheart’s brow furrowed slightly, but she didn’t move away. “You’re not afraid of me, are you?”

The question lingered in the dark.

Tav met her eyes. “No. I think I just… don’t like the thought of losing someone like you.”

The cleric blinked, then looked away, as if caught in a moment she hadn’t prepared for. “Don’t say things like that,” she said—softly, but with warning behind it. “Not down here.”

“Then when?” Tav asked, voice just above a whisper. “When we’re back at camp? When we’re not surrounded by things that could kill us? Or when it’s too late to say anything at all?”

Shadowheart’s jaw tightened, but not out of anger. “You care too easily.”

“And you punish yourself for caring at all.”

The words hung between them like a drawn bowstring—taut, delicate, waiting to break.

Shadowheart turned back to the Sussur Tree. “We should move. It’s not wise to linger in the Underdark.”

Tav stood slowly. “Of course.”

But her voice was softer now. Not pressing—just present.

Shadowheart didn’t look back as she started walking. But her hand brushed Tav’s arm—fleeting, deliberate, gone.

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I’m in love with a pretty girl with sad green eyes

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Night Orchids

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I couldn't help but overhear... well, all right, I could've helped, but didn't.

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a beach day with your favorite cleric

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Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3 (2023).

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