#I promise there will be fun lil companion/NPC cameos that I couldn't help myself from adding

[optiwashere]

Finally, the modern/band AU is more than idle coffee thoughts.

In which Shadowheart is part of a three-piece metal band that gets stuck in a town called Rivington. Where happiness and a much softer life is something that she doesn't think she deserves. Where she's always in danger of falling back into the relationship with her ex, the Avatar of the cult that raised her, who just so happens to be the band's frontwoman.

Featuring a modern version of my primary Tav, Asheera, as a mechanic who's just doing her job working on the band's broken down van when things get a little more complicated. You can peek at in-game shots and art of her here and here.

Rating: E for Eventual Smut

Category: F/F

Ship: Shadowheart/Trans Fem Tav

Tags and AO3 Summary under the break.

Tags: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Band AU, POV Alternating, Romance, Angst, Strangers to Lovers, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Religious Cults, Abusive Relationships, past abusive relationships, implied/referenced past prostitution, Dissociation, Trans Female Character, Eventual Smut, in which a traumatized metal guitarist finds love in a small town, and searches for her cottagecore fantasy

Summary:

Shadowheart, the guitarist for a small-time metal band on tour, nearly crashes her band's van into an auto body shop in a podunk called Rivington. That's the least of her worries. Every day on the road revolves around the devolving relationship with her ex, the Avatar of her religion and the frontwoman of the band. Everything is Shar, and Shadowheart knows no escape nor if she deserves one. At least until Ash, the head mechanic of that dinky garage, questions everything Shadowheart's ever known, digging into her life until they both bleed. Ash told herself to forget about them. Forget about Shadowheart. She needed to make forgetting easy and turn her heart to stone to the attractive, enigmatic stranger. That’s all Shadowheart was. That's all she should be.