#aloth: does this instead

[sun-marie]

So! Turns out this game's ending hits just as hard the second time around 🥹😭💗

[bragganhyl]

i saw someone post about how aloth doesn't actually love a romanced watcher and it upset me to the point i don't really enjoy their romance anymore. i know that's so silly but he was a comfort character and it was just an opinion but yeah. can you explain that he actually does, to try and get me out of this funk? you seem to understand his character very well.

Oh wow, this is... quite the ask. Let me just say this right out of the gate: I don't know if I could tell you anything that would work better than replaying the games and reminding yourself why he was a comfort character to you in the first place. Also I haven't seen the post so I can't exactly refute what was said there but... yeah this is kind of a baffling take to have to me at least.

The thing about Aloth's romance is that it's treated not so much as a route but more like a potential end point for the Watcher/Aloth dynamic that started as early as pillars 1. So if you try to view their story from the vantage point of the romance alone then you might find it - and him lacking.

But anyway here is a long ramble about Aloth and the Watcher that kind of aims to recap/break down their relationship that also won't tell you anything new and low-key goes into cringe territory haha lol bye but okay here you go

Aloth, however, is far more complex character than to try and understand him from that perspective. He is a character who strives for perfection bc any flaw was punished severely and painfully. He is a character who prioritizes duty and devotion above all else bc that is how arcane knights are taught to think (this is a call to read Until He Started Screaming lmao). He is a character whose name belonged to the gods, his hand to their service, who sought the company of shadows so that his labors may remain secret and whose purpose you'll know by the confession of his tongue, the deeds of his hands, and the oath of his soul, bc that's what's expected of the members of the Leaden Key. And that doesn't even touch on the secrecy he had to upkeep for 50 years in order to hide his Awakening.

So it's safe to say that by the time you meet Aloth in Gilded Vale, he is not someone who thinks he can have anything for himself or someone who has the freedom to choose to live openly and for himself. And yet in pillars 1 at every turn, he'll choose the Watcher. He takes steps out of his comfort zone when he opens up about Iselmyr. He's ready to fight the Leaden Key to keep them (and Kana) safe. And even when he finally admits that he hoped the Watcher would cure him of his Awakening, he takes it upon himself to sort it out by himself instead. By the Watcher's side, Aloth develops his own sense of autonomy. You could even say that the Watcher was the light to lead him out of the shadows. But Aloth is also someone who recognizes the dangers of making one such person an anchor. He says so himself in deadfire when he talks about why he left (I mean aside from going to hunt the LK) at the end of pillars 1 - he couldn't allow the Watcher to become another authority figure to him like Thaos or his father was. He needed time away to figure out what life he wanted to have or what he wanted to do with the freedom he found with the Watcher.

But he still dedicates his life to the LK (although he hunts them now or at least he does in the route I prefer to take), he still lives an isolated and secretive life - until he meets the Watcher again. And then he chooses the Watcher again. And much of the deadfire dynamic between Aloth and the Watcher points to Aloth treating the Watcher as a role model and being blinded to their struggles by their own admiration for them. But like... that gets resolved at Ukaizo: the end of that arc is Aloth realizing the sheer magnitude of what is expected of the Watcher and he pities them for it. Sure, I personally would have liked it if that point was reached earlier, but it's a sensible character flaw to give him at this point, especially considering all that they've been through. And the romance itself is pretty low-key and short which makes sense after all that Aloth has been through. Bc just take note of how he reacts to the Watcher kissing him - he holds them as if he was worried he'd break them. That is not someone who wants to keep his distance bc he doesn't love their partner, but someone who really doesn't want to mess things up with them. And he warns the Watcher that he might not be 100% open with them, that he won't be able to give them 100% of their time. And you might think that he's unreasonable to treat simple boundaries as deal breakers, but remember that this was what was expected of him for the majority of his life. Duty and devotion. His name belonged to the gods, his hands to their service. A part of him expected a demand to give all of himself when he was still learning how to be his own man - and when he was still duty-bound to hunt (or lead) the LK. That is what he means when he says that he can't make a commitment he can't honor and that is why it is such a relief to him when the Watcher offers to take every day for what it is. He wants a relationship that is happy and healthy but he recognizes that while he has healed somewhat, he still has a long way to go, and he's worried he might not be able to make such a relationship happen - especially with the person who gave him a sense of belonging that his family never could *cough*wealthyaunt*cough*.

And even in the ending where he leaves, you get the sense that he's doing it out of - you guessed it - duty and devotion. Duty, well that's a given. Devotion... I mean what better way to show your love than fighting for the world that your beloved wants to create? And as for the ending where he stays... well... once again, he finds himself to do whatever he wants and he chooses to stay with the Watcher even as they become the one rebuild the world after Eothas kickstarted the apocalypse. So yeah, idk what else I could say, Anon, as far as I'm concerned, Aloth is filled to the brim with love for the Watcher, but he's also someone who is too self-aware and nervous to really wear that love on his sleeve, but you can be sure that it's there and it's unwavering.

[therookandthecrow]

Szeverin/Aloth headcanons

-Szeverin teaches Aloth how to skate over the ice in the TWTW. The Glamfellen in my headcanon have a primitive but effective skate design that allows them to travel over vast surfaces of ice.

-In Aedyr, Szeverin proposes to Aloth under that water fall that he tells him that a location in the Deadfire archipelago reminds him of, and he tells Szeverin that he should take him there. The Glamfellen keeps that in mind, and being a sentimental person at heart.

-Szeverin is 50% less emotionally constipated than Aloth is, he did turn himself to an emotionally closed off state after his former boyfriend died because he feared getting his heart broken again.

-Aloth is the last person to acknowledge that he has feelings for Szeverin out of all of the companions from the first game, everyone else, even Edér and Hiravias were able to figure out the wizard was crushing on the mystic weirdo from TWTW.

-Aloth is almost always the little spoon. 85% of the time Aloth is the bottom until he finally gains the confidence to top, and even with that, he isn't really that great at it.

-In Deadfire, Aloth sleeps in the captain's quarters even when their relationship is still platonic and at the point where they are both asking themselves 'What are we?'.

-They braid each other's long hair, and they've had done so as platonic friends far before their relationship became romantic.

-The first time that Szeverin accidentally flirted with Aloth was when he told him that he had an Exceptional Wand in his inventory, the innuedo completely going over his head. He does so again when he asks if Aloth's wand needs to be polished.

-Szeverin is 100% a Schrödinger's flirt until he realizes that Aloth actually has feelings for him. His habit of playing mind-games comes to a maddening conclusion when he realizes that he too has been developing feelings for Aloth and soaks in self-loathing over it for five years instead of just telling him.

-Aloth's father perishes under mysterious circumstances not too long after Szeverin meets him, and Aloth doesn't even need to ask who was responsible for the unfortunate accident that caused his father to perish. He knew.

[curiouslavellan]

ELLYYYYYY!!!!! 📻📻📻 gimme three for everyone? and also three for soupmates? mayhaps? 👀👀

I'm gonna do everyone who pops into my head right away but I'll try to keep the post from being nine miles long 😂

I don't have a specific playlist for the fic but my Ariel playlist is just also the Ariel/Anders/Justice playlist so let's start there!

Hungover in the City of Dust by Autoheart

The phrase City of Dust has always given me Kirkwall vibes, and I think the progressive sort of panic/agitation in this song reminds me of the build up of the mage issue over the years. There's also a line later that says "powder in my fingernails" which makes me think about the bomb

2. Dinner & Diatribes by Hozier

I think this song would be Anders vibe at any social gathering Ariel ever goes to as Champion lol. big "let's leave." energy. Also I do think Anders cares about the Kirkwall crew and they care about him, but "your friends are a fate that befall me" is undeniably a funny line for hime

3. Share Your Address by Ben Platt

This song is just cute and suits the way Ariel immediately moves them into the estate. There is no such thing as moving too fast in this trio. Make being obsessed with each other wholesome <3

for three more Aurelia songs, I'm gonna go with

Nothing At All by the Crane Wives

This is the first song I ever put on her playlist and actually one that helped me start making her characters, all about how feeling awful is actually better than feeling nothing

2. A Lady by Tally Hall

Very short but I like the sort of dreamy sound of this one for Aurelia and Cole. The phrase "Showed me that I was a gentleman" ties into Cole's quest, especially the way I eventually want to change it for See Fire

3. Something That I Want by Grace Potter

Also sort of a shippy song for the two of them but mostly about her finding drive and some healthy selfishness again after she's cured

More Helaine songs because I'm still working my way through Deadfire so she's heavy on my mind

Infinitesimal by Mother Mother

She literally does have scars on her soul, a problem that consumes her life in the first game. She also has a lot of issues about legacy and the idea of MatteringTM

2. Inkpot Gods by The Amazing Devil

Perfect ship song for her and Aloth, also the lines

And to those gods, I will speak bluntly "We've an accord, if you ever touch or harm him Please, rest assured that you might not fear a man But to a woman, by the end, you'll kneel and plea 'Cause I'm more than what my mum told me to be"

are basically a summary of her entire character

3. My Little Phoenix by Tarja

recommended by @herearedragons <3 I can't help but love attaching very literal fire songs to a girl with a flaming head

Also 3 Halveri songs because she's on my mind a lot now that Veilguard's on the way. heads up 90% of her playlist is sad.

LAIKA by Pigeon Watch

This song. Makes me cry. Every time I hear it. Yes it is literally about the dog, but I also put it on the playlist of any protagonist who just gets chewed up and used by the narrative, so it definitely suits Hal

2. The World We Knew (Over and Over) by Frank Sinatra

This really suits the vibe of the years in between the end of basegame Inquisition and Trespasser, when Halveri didn't even know about the Fen'Harel thing and just thought her regular boyfriend had ran off and abandoned her without warning or explanation

3. Rule #34 by Fish in a Birdcage

I have a worldstate where Halveri and Bull get together instead of her and Solas. This song is blatantly about BDSM. I feel like I don't need to elaborate much here lmao

[aylaaescar]

how tall is Aloth supposed to even be anyway, and how does that [Kiss him] dialogue even work when your Watcher is a dwarf who comes up to maybe his chest??

maybe I'll just hc that it was more of them leaning in at the same time instead of the impulse smooch from the Watcher in-game, bc otherwise Veriana is like. pulling him down a bit? and she would in a relationship, when they're both more comfortable in how they express physical affection, but maybe not for that first kiss when they're both about to take that leap from platonic to romantic

[ampleappleamble]

—

It was a simple platitude, and one he'd heard quite often growing up: "Be ever honest, forthright, and true, and ne'er shall Woedica frown upon you." The rhyme was reductive and childish, but the sentiment was understandable enough– Honesty is a virtue, and one that should serve any good, upright citizen of Aedyr well.

Of course, Aloth knew better.

He'd known better since he was fifteen years old, clutching his face in his hands and choking on his own tears while his mother tried to soothe him, brushing back his smooth, black hair and holding him close, careful to avoid the bruises, all the while imploring him you must never tell a soul of this, Aloth, never, for even I could not help you then. He'd known better after running to the proctor about the incident with the spellwrights gilde and their damned machine, trying to bring it all to light, and instead of finding himself languishing in a dungeon for the atrocity he'd taken part in, he was instructed to continue to meet with them, to keep his mouth shut and his eyes and ears open. No matter the rewards honesty promised, the people in his life always seemed to reinforce the lesson that deception and secrecy were the true keys to success.

Until now. Until her.

Since their very first meeting outside the Black Hound Inn, as far as he could tell– and he considered himself a decent judge of character, most of the time– Axa had not uttered a single lie to anyone she'd spoken with, had not suppressed nor sugarcoated a single truth, no matter how painful. The closest she'd gotten to lying was her reluctance to discuss the chain of events that had lead her to relocate to the Dyrwood, and even that had come out eventually, and entirely of her own volition. In fact, she seemed to not only practice honesty in her words and her deeds, but to relentlessly pursue the truth, to champion it, to draw it out of others like venom from a wound and leave both parties happier for it. Hel, she'd even managed to get him to open up.

How did she make it look so easy?

Practice, I reck'n. Isnae easy fer ye, tellin' sooth, coz yer nae accustomed to it, are ye, lad? Iselmyr's unwanted commentary was almost constant, now, and Aloth could not tell whether it was due to his control over himself deteriorating further, or if she had simply been emboldened by their secret finally being out after all these years. Either way, it was wearing on his nerves, and he worried that it was starting to show. It certainly didn't help that the others were as curious about Iselmyr as he was eager to be rid of her, and only about half of them seemed to possess the decorum to recognize his discomfort and drop it. Even Axa had asked if it were possible for her to speak directly to the horrid little pest, although to her credit she'd only had to be told "no" once, unlike Edér and Kana who seemingly only deigned to speak with him in order to badger him about his "friend," trying to trade jokes with her or learn Hylspeak from her or– Berath take him– flirt with her.

"Jealous," she'd smirked, and Aloth had gone bright red when Edér had laughed in response, only then realizing that she'd made him say it out loud.

Am only out 'n' jawin' wie kith cozza yer wee burd, laddie. If ye've aught t' complain about, tell it t' her. As much as he hated to agree with Iselmyr, he had to admit that she had a point– if he'd been left to his own devices, he might never have told anyone about his Awakening and simply lived his whole life suffering in silence. But since he'd started following Axa, talking with her, fighting alongside her, earning her trust and starting to trust her in return, he'd found that opening up about himself– and Iselmyr– was far easier than he'd ever expected it would be. The clever little woman had had him halfway figured out by the time he finally told her anyway, which had certainly helped speed things along. She had even suggested a method by which he might finally learn more about his condition, although the thought of letting some jackleg animancer strap him to a table (don't think about the spellwrights the experiment don't think about Targun his eyes empty and lifeless and dull don't think about it don't) and peer into his soul made his skin crawl.

But it didn't seem quite so dismaying when he reminded himself that she'd be there with him.

The events of the day thus far had only served to reinforce this notion. She'd broached the topic over breakfast, suggesting that after they finish their business with the Knights, they make the sanitarium their very next stop of the day– "May as well get it over with, right?"– but he had deflected and redirected, stating that he'd hoped to read up on animancy a bit more before making the plunge– "After all, I've waited fifty years, I can wait a few more hours"– while reminding her that she had expressed a desire to parley with the Eyeless Face sometime soon. A little nudge in the right direction was all it had taken for Kana to commandeer the conversation, excitedly gushing about banned books and Waelite secrets, and Aloth had sighed with relief even as he'd winced at the knowing look Sagani had given him. But Axa had not seen fit to press the matter, and so they'd agreed on their plans and headed for Crucible Keep, turning over the research for their new Forge Knights without any issues.

And upon arriving at the Hall of Revealed Mysteries, the distractions had quickly accumulated, as they tended to do. The forgemaster at the Keep had done little to assuage his worries about animancy in general, and every book about animancy he'd half-heartedly attempted to peruse only ended up making him more anxious, so instead he'd spent most of his time leafing through old favorites, comforting himself with the certainties of the classics, repetitively tracing his slender fingers over ancient runes in arcane treatises he'd practically memorized years ago during his training. It was a surefire method of calming himself down, helping him to collect his thoughts– or it would have been if he hadn't been continually interrupted by Iselmyr's whining, Edér's yawning, Kana's incessant attempts to "help" him with his research.

Aloth had just suffered yet another of these intrusions (Kana had jokingly shoved a primer on orlan physiology and anatomy under his nose, opened to a page with some... detailed illustrations) when the messenger from the palace had arrived, summoning Axa to court. He'd have been pleased for such a convenient excuse to continue the deferral of their visit to the sanitarium, but the scene at the Hall of Records had been far from a pleasant one.

"This is she?" Arledr Gathbin had glared down at the little woman, naked contempt on his sneering face. "This little varlet, she's the one who murdered my kin and now clings like a leech to my ancestral land? I'd thought she was just some servant, a wench from the scullery."

"This wench," Axa had snapped back, "claimed that land– a keep abandoned by your noble line for well over a hundred years, I'll remind you– by strength of arms, and with the assistance of the few good men and women standing alongside me."  Sagani and Pallegina had blinked in surprise at her words, but raised no objection. "And in any case, I didn't see your name on the door."

Gathbin had reared back as though she'd spat at him. "Never speak to me so brazenly again, cur," he'd hissed, "or you won't have time enough left in your miserable life to regret it."

Chancellor Warrin had been quick to bring the meeting back to order, but the calm had not lasted long. Upon learning that Caed Nua would only be his upon the condition that he pay reparations to Axa for services rendered in recovering it, Gathbin had flown into an even greater rage, going so far as to raise his hand to the Chancellor. And although he had effectively just declared Axa homeless, she had still leapt between the two men to defend the Chancellor, her eyes blazing as she'd roared at Gathbin to stay his hand.

"You dare to issue orders to me, you hairy little wretch!?" He'd whirled on her, his face beet red, and the captain of his personal guard, a sharp-featured elf in gleaming black plate, had grinned eagerly as her hand flew to her pistol. Aloth had been surprised to suddenly feel the spine of his grimoire under his fingertips, his heart racing. And he hadn't been alone: all of Axa's allies had prepared to draw arms as well, Pallegina's blade already halfway out of its scabbard by the time Marshall Forwyn had stepped forward, hand on the hilt of his weapon, calmly but firmly suggesting that Gathbin contain himself.

After Gathbin had stormed off, after the dust had settled and Axa was officially declared thaynu and roadwarden of Caed Nua, she'd still had enough composure to ask the Chancellor to invite his lordship to settle their differences over dinner sometime– in her halls at Caed Nua, of course– before immediately turning to the record keeper who'd seen it all and asking him if she was now "established" enough to access the records from the Saint's War she'd inquired after previously. Edér's eyes had gone wide, his jaw rigid with apprehension as he'd accepted his prize at last, and as he'd flipped anxiously through the casualty listings, Aloth had mused on the little woman's fortitude, her quick wit, the loyalty she inspired in those who followed her.

And that loyalty was not misplaced. Even now as he struggled to gather the resolve to say what he needed to say, he couldn't stop thinking of the lost, haunted expression on Edér's face as he'd found his brother's name, looked up into Axa's eyes, asked her as though she'd known all along: "Why'd he fight for Readceras?" She hadn't hesitated for even a second when he'd beseeched her to go with him to the battlefield where Woden had died, laying her small, fuzzy hand on the blond man's shoulder and assuring him she'd do whatever it took to give him peace of mind.

Be ever forthright, honest, and true–

Maybe it was bearing witness to all that– her ironclad resolve in the face of a daunting foe, her powerful devotion to those who placed their trust in her– that made Aloth face Axa now, standing outside the Ducal Palace, and tell her he was ready to head for the sanitarium. "If you're still amenable, of course," he added quickly. If you'll help me stay strong enough to see it through, he thought.

If ye'll held me haund, kiss me wee arse–

She blinked in surprise, recovered, smiled warmly at him. "Of course," she replied. "We can go there now. As long as you're comfortable with the idea."

"Oh," he sighed, smiling pleasantly, "I'm not, no. But to be frank, I'll almost certainly never be more comfortable with the idea than I am right now, so honestly, it's now or never. I'm... simply choosing now."

"I can get behind that," she nodded, turning to the road before them. "Shall we, then?"

She lead, and he followed, desperately hoping he wasn't making a mistake.

—

[mischiefmuses]

renn faire mini event 

This will be character info like if they will be participating or not. A few of them will definitely feel right at home others may stay away. But like this for a starter and pls specify which characters they are for. There is so much going on that if the characters are not specified I won’t do them. (Plotting call is on discord) 

(might be doing costume edits as well) 

Angel - It’s very much not his scene anymore. Too much like the time before he became a vampire. He will likely go for Buffy. The chances of his dressing up are minimal. Buffy, 

Loki Laufeyson - He will definitely be going and causing some unharmful mischief. He will be enjoying it a lot. Probably wandering around. We shall see what he does. Gabriel

Yennefer of Vengerberg - It is the clean and fantasy version of home. She will feel some nostalgia and maybe have a bit of fun with her magic. Help create that illusion of a fantasy world - Pippin, Dru, Asmodeus, Leia 

Rabastan Lestrange - Might go out of curiosity but not get very involved. It’s all a bit too loud for him. So he won’t stay long. Voldemort, Cissy

Billy Loomis - He will go. Try some of the weapons. Just have a bit of fun. He loves movies and so a renn faire when he can wear a costume is very much up his alley. Seol, Jill

Cleo Mckinnon - She loves a fantasy world and so she will definitely be going for the whole thing to just enjoy the vibes. She’s fascinated by vikings so will likely dress up as a viking of some kind. Marlene, Thor, Esther, Ewan

Charles Xavier - He will likely be dragged there. it’s not really his environment but he is eager to please. So he’ll have fun but under slight protest at first. Ororo, Jean, Billy

Cullen Rutherford - It’s just like home. Like Yennefer he will go for the nostalgia of home. He can bring out his cape and sword from home without seeming weird. He can give some sword fighting lessons as well. Arthur, Vax

Fleur Delacour - She is a badass but she loves romantic stuff and is very happy to dress in a beautiful dress. She will be enjoying it a lot. - Bill, Zishu, Rose, Dominique, Vic, Cedric

Hunter - Let’s face it he will be dragged to the event by Omega and Rowena. So he will go. But swords and medieval stuff isn’t his way really. (Though yes he will likely be dressed like a pirate) Beau, Rowena, Fennec 

Jorah Mormont - He will be a little hesitant going but curiosity will get the best of him. He will be part of the jousting tournament with his horse. He will get into the vibe and regress a little bit to his time of being a knight. Mingjue, Jaime, Dany 

Kirby Reed - She will go. A nice escape from everything and a chance to have fun. Randy, Sam

Bones McCoy - He will be dragged there likely. He is a bit of a kill joy so won’t dress up but secretly he will enjoy the vibes. Have a few drinks and let himself relax a little bit. 

Parker - She’s going and dressing up as an elf and no one can tell her otherwise. - Yuri, Aloth, Legolas, Stitch, Eddie

Peter Ballard - It’ll be an interesting event for him to witness. He is there to observe. Learn and experience. But keep a low profile. - Tandy

Peter Hale - It’s a bit of fun so Peter will be there. Maybe cheat a little with his werewolf strength on some of the games and competitions. - Noah, Theo, Bev

Satine Kryze - Another chance to have some fun. Actually enjoy her time instead of worrying. She is very intrigued. Excited for it all actually. Obi Wan

Silco - He will go. Show his face as he feels he should do as a senator. He is unlikely to get to involved but could get swept up in the fun.

Sion Val Palpatine - He wants to part take in all of the tournaments. Learn as much as he can from all of the masters. He will have the best time if also to distract him from Sella. - Claire, Allana, Chewie 

Tenel Ka Djo - A bit of fun never hurt anyone. So she will be there. It’s not really her scene these days but she’s not opposed to trying new things. Jaina

Ygritte - She will be showing off her skills at the archery stand. It is likely where she will spend most of her time. Amber

Cordelia - She will enjoy going. Even just to enjoy the atmosphere. She loves the music and seeing everyone have fun. Alastor, Reed 

[babineni]

Just Like Old Times?

A little something something playing around with an idea I kinda outlined here. In other words, Edér and Aloth have a conversation early in Deadfire about Aloth's actions in Old Vailia.

About 1225 words.

Edér couldn't stop grinning. He and the Watcher spent the afternoon teaching the crew how to play Dozens - an act of reconconciliation after Gaura forbade them to play Orlan's Head. She never liked that game so she was unapologetic about her decision. But she also hasn't been captain for long and so she was worried about the impression she left on the crew. She became adamant to make them warm up to her by the time they reached Neketaka. The farmer was more than willing to help. And a few hours later the hold was filled with raucous laughter. Once Gaura saw that the sailors mastered the game, she excused herself and left for her quarters. Edér didn't feel like sticking around much longer after that.

When he turned to leave, Edér noticed Aloth looking at him from his bunk. Of the bunk bed they agreed to share. There was a book lying in his lap, and the veteran half-expected him to bury his face in it, when their gaze met. But the wizard not only held his gaze but replied to the farmer's involuntary grin with a faint smile of his own.

'You know, you could've joined us,' Edér said as he approached him.

'And you know that I'm not much of a gambler,' Aloth moved to the side, giving him some space beside him just as Edér was about to ask him to do so.

'That's just it,' the farmer chuckled as he sat down, 'I don't. Haven't really had the time to see how you've changed.'

'And here I was trying to see just that,' Aloth closed the book, but didn't put it aside. He tapped on the cover with a finger trying to figure out how to continue. 'I have to say, I'm... happy for you. I think.'

'Yeah?'

'What I mean by that is, you seem healthier, more vigorous. I recall the man smoking under that tree in Gilded Vale, apathetic towards his own well-being and I see none of that apathy now. You seem... more focused, more mature.'

'Dunno about that latter bit,' Edér took out his pipe and continued with his teeth holding on to the stem, 'but uhh... yeah, having a sense of purpose does that to you,' he said as he searched his pockets for flint but he was unable to find any. Similarly, he couldn't find the right response either. He wanted to compliment Aloth the same way, tell him that their time in that Engwithan arena on Maje Island felt just like old times. But the words got stuck in his throat - blocked by a stinging sense of disapproval that he felt when he overheard the wizard telling the Watcher about his travels in Old Vailia.

'Is something wrong?' Aloth's question snapped Edér out of his musings.

'No, it's nothing,' Edér shook his head, he took the pipe out of his mouth and fiddled with it instead, 'just trying to find a way to repay the compliment, is all.'

'Oh, it's... It's fine,' Aloth dismissed his words with a wave. 'You did say, you need more time to... assess me. I was merely commenting on my first impressions too, I'm sorry if I overstepped.'

'No, that ain't it. I mean, you didn't overstep, it's just...' Edér had a hard time continuing. By that moment, Aloth's smile faded completely and the farmer couldn't stand his gaze.

'Is this about-'

'It's about Old Vailia.'

The wizard didn't respond. He nodded slowly and turned his attention to the book on his lap. He watched the empty cover with great intensity as if he looked hard enough, he would find something there that he didn't notice before. A solution to all the questions that plague him, including the one on his mind in that given moment: how to explain a mistake, that should not have been a mistake. It should've worked, his idea should've been the right one, but it wasn't.

'Sorry,' Edér went on. 'I uhhh... Overheard your conversation with Gaura.'

'We were hardly subtle. And you were welcome to join us,' Aloth sighed and turned to the veteran once again. 'I assume you have thoughts on my actions.'

'Yeah... I guess I do,' Edér scratched a spot on back of his head. 'It just... didn't really match how I remembered you. The Aloth I remembered was... responsible above all things. He wouldn't have left that village to its fate.'

Aloth blinked at him in surprise. 'You have no qualms about me killing that man, but you do about me leaving afterwards?'

Edér let out a laugh ringing with irony. 'Remind me to tell you how I became a mayor. But yeah... I guess that's what I got qualms about.'

'What was I supposed to do? Replace one master with another? Take over and force my own ideas on them? If I did that I would have been no better than Thaos.'

Edér frowned and exhaled heavily through his nose. 'You stripped them of their leader. You were fine with forcing that on them.'

'I was merely removing a shackle, it was not my place to dictate them how to use their freedom.'

'They've lived with those... rituals or whatnot all their lives. It was their only way of living. If you wanted them to change for the better you should've showed them a different way.'

'They were supposed to find one on their own,' Aloth almost hissed the words. He kept his gaze fixed on his hands clutching the book so hard his knuckles turned white.

'That ain't how it-'

'I had faith in them!'

Aloth's sudden outburst left Edér speechless.

'I had faith in them,' he repeated, quieter but not calmer, 'the kind of faith I... I didn't have five years ago.'

Edér pondered his words. Memories of the wizard making snide comments about people's ignorance emerged in his mind, along with memories of his hatred towards those who would exploit the same ignorance. He couldn't recall a moment of Aloth being responsible in a way that did not intertwine with either of these things.

'That is how I've changed, I suppose,' Aloth continued, as he turned to Edér again. 'I made a lot of mistakes that I deeply regret but... I can't bring myself to regret this change.'

The veteran didn't answer at first. He examined the wizard's features as if this was their first meeting in five years. The scar above his brow didn't look this prominent before, Edér thought. But maybe it was just the contrast between the cut and Aloth's gaze, filled with hope for an understanding, that made it look deeper.

'There ain't nothing to regret about that,' he said eventually.

Aloth sighed as a response. Edér couldn't tell if he was relieved.

'Mind helping me with this?' He asked inclining the pipe towards him. Aloth conjured a small flame on the tip of his index finger and lit it for him. 'Relax,' Edér said as he took a whiff of whiteleaf and continued as the smoke left his lips, 'I got a good impression just now, even if I don't agree with everything you said.'

The faintest of smiles tugged at Aloth's lips. 'When have you ever agreed with everything I've said?'

Edér laughed as a response and clapped him on the shoulder. 'See? It's gonna be just like old times.'

[queen-scribbles]

22. grabbing the other’s hand to pull them back from something, for whoever your heart desires

Going Taviloth and gonna double this up with a very, very, VERY old one from @rannadylin I still had sitting in my inbox \O/

------

Tavi had never been fond of jungles, but this one was doing its best to make her loathe them. That was what it felt like, at least, as her hair went curly from the humidity and yet another cloud of midges swirled around her head. 

“How come they ain’t fuckin’ botherin’ either of you?!” she growled at her companions as she batted away the flurry of insects.

“Must be drawn to your charming personality,” Aloth deadpanned, though he did shoot her a sympathetic smile.

Tavi glowered. “Anyone else’d end up neck deep in the next swamp we pass, city slicker.”

His brows arched briefly, understanding in his eyes. “Sorry.”

“It’s not you,” Tavi said, halfway between a sigh and another growl. She ran a hand through her hair and glanced around. “It’s this place. How the fuck do you live here, Khel?!” she demanded of their guide.

Her brother chuckled and raked reddish-blond hair out of his eyes(also curling, but not nearly as bad as hers). “First off, Tavi, by not living in the actual jungle,” he pointed out. “Second, it’s been almost forty years. You adjust. It’s not that bad.”

She shot him a skeptical look. “Really?”

“Too much for you, serre?” Khellin teased. “Here I remember you bein’ the adventurous one.”

Aloth coughed and she just knew it was to cover a laugh.

“Adventure is all well and good and I like that part,” Tavi retorted, smacking aside a tangle of vines. A pair of pygmy monkeys screeched at the disturbance and bolted deeper into the trees. “It’s mugginess an’ the fuckin’ bugs I wouldn’t wanna deal with all the time.”

“Good thing they’re only a problem in certain areas, huh? If this doesn’t pan out and we wind up somewhere else you might not hafta deal with them.” Khellin held aside some of the undergrowth. “The ruins we’re after are this way.”

Tavi wrinkled her nose at the track, even narrower and more overgrown than the one they’d been following. “...If you say so. How far?”

“Rate we’re traveling? Couple hours, but only the first part’ll be like this.” He gestured at the surrounding flora. “It does open up deeper into the valley.”

She growled and Aloth squeezed her hand sympathetically before stepping past to head down the path. If the move was intended to block the midges from her it didn’t work. The little pests still ignored both men to swarm her instead.

“So this is how you made a livin’ for decades?” she asked to distract herself.  “Who the fuck comes here by choice?”

“You’d be surprised,” Khellin said dryly. “Explorers. Adventurers, scholars, sometimes trophy hunters bored of their local game and looking for something exotic.” He ducked under a huge, arching tree root that bridged over their path.  “And like I said, not everywhere is like this. Some of the ravines and the flatlands aren’t muggy or full of bugs. They have angry monkeys or quicksand, or pesky little birds that peck your hands to steal food. This place just is chaos, Tavi. Every part of it has good and bad, you’re not escapin’ it.”

“I know, I know,” Tavi groaned, running her fingers through her hair. “Bein’ hot just makes me grumpy.”

“Oh, I remember,” Khellin said with no small amount of amusement. “S’why we’re goin’ the absolute fastest route instead of one that’s a little safer but twice as long.”

“Thank you,” Tavi said fervently.

“Also, it’s not that far to where the foliage starts thinning out, so you’ll get a break.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Let’s g-” She almost ran into Aloth, who had stopped dead.”Hylea’s tits, give a girl some warnin’, city slicker. What’s wrong?”

“Not... wrong,” Aloth said slowly. “Just....” He reached out to brush dirt away from a spot on the embankment next to the path. It revealed a cracked and weather-beaten plinth, the rest of whatever sculpture or structure it had supported long ago consumed by the jungle. The inscription was faded, worn away entirely in spots, but still familiar. “Tavi?”

“Engwithan,” she nodded, following what words remained. ‘To see...craft... or wilde...’

“We’re on the right track, then,” he murmured, more to himself than her.

“Good, I’d hate for this to have been for fuckin’ nothin’,” Tavi deadpanned, nudging his shoulder. “On that note....”

“Right.” Aloth turned from the plinth and resumed following Khellin. His gaze swept the terrain for any more signs of the Engwithans who had lived here once upon a time, brushing aside vines as he looked. And Khellin was a ways ahead, focused on picking out the pat of least resistance, so they both missed the flicker of movement from above.

Not Tavi. Even as the yellow ombre plant shifted, its petals splitting like jaws, she grabbed Aloth’s hand--”Watch out!”--and yanked him back toward her. Between her strength and his surprise, the force of it had him crashing into her and knocking them both on their asses.

But the needle-like spines edging the plant raked through the air instead of snapping around Aloth. That was more than worth having the wind knocked out of her.

“Tolja the plants’ll try to eat you, city slicker,” Tavi said breathlessly, smirking despite the way her heart pounded and Aloth’s elbow was digging into her ribs.

“I stand corrected,” Aloth muttered, still staring at the plant as he shifted to at least partly untangle them.

“First one I’ve seen this far east,” Khellin commented, frowning. He flicked one of the vines, and when the plant swung down again, he grabbed the stalk and sliced off the blossom and bud with his hunting knife. “They’re common in the valleys and swamps southwest. Do not want them movin’ this way, there’s enough to watch out for without addin’ another hazard.” He arched a brow at the two of them. “You alright?”

Aloth nodded, shooting Tavi a grateful smile. “Thanks to her, yes.”

“Just glad I was keepin’ an eye out,” Tavi mumbled, staring at the spines rimming the plant that now lay on the path. They were almost as long as her forearm, one edge rough and crowned with a barb. Really fucking glad.

“So you could save my skin for the umpteenth time?” he said dryly.

“Good thing we don’t keep count,” she said with a wink. “‘Sides, I’m pretty fuckin’ sure you saved my hide at least as often as I’ve saved yours.”

The two of them finished untangling themselves and stood, brushing dirt off their clothes and Khellin cut down all of the rogue man-eating (elf-eating) plant. Tavi leaned over to pull a small stick from Aloth’s hair and he flicked a spider off her shoulder as she pulled back.

“When you’re ready...?” Khellin waited until they both nodded. “Like I said; jungle starts to thin out not far ahead. We can take a proper rest before pressin’ on for the ruins.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Tavi said. “I like the idea of a break where I can see the fuckin’ sky.” She reached for Aloth’s hand as they resumed course down the narrow path and held it tight.

Just in case.

[risualto]

Tai Lon, 9, 23, and 29, please^^

Thanks for asking :D

9. What is the most embarrassing thing they have done in front of each other? I’m going to pass on this one again because I hate secondhand embarrassment.  I’m sorry!

23. Where is their favorite place to be together? They like spending time in places where they don’t have to watch their back.  The library at Caed Nua, the cargo hold or captain’s quarters on The Defiant, tucked away in a room at a familiar inn, etc.  Somewhere they can just focus on each other and what they’re doing instead of work and so on.

29. Why do they fall a little bit more in love? I think Aloth falls a little more in love every time Tai Lon does something to stand up for people--herself included.  And I think Tai Lon falls a little more in love every time she sees Aloth using the confidence he’s built up...and also every time he fireballs something that was about to kill her.

[rosykims]

6. to say goodnight for saoirse and aloth!

to say goodnight.

She doesn’t hear the awkwardness of his entrance, nor the hesitance in which he crosses the threshold of her captain’s quarters, pausing to worry over her sleeping figure before finally deigning to lie down beside it.  She stirs only a little, exhaustion lulling her back into stillness a moment later. Aloth exhales in a quiet sigh as he settles into the mattress, neck tilted to take in the rare sight of her peaceful, softened expression.

Saoirse resents being called beautiful – he wagers she’s heard it too many times in her life from sailors and seamen who saw her as little more than Ondra’s shiny trinket – but the word lingers unspoken in his thoughts as he regards her now, maintaining a careful space between her body and his own. This intimacy between them is a newfound thing; a puzzle they haven’t quite figured out the rules for, still moving about parts to see which spaces they fit and fill. The months following their reunion have been an exercise in patience for both of them; patience and slowness and restraint, but of a kind he isn’t at all familiar with.  

In the moments in which Aloth would sooner kiss her, he brushes her hand with his fingers instead. Where he would tell her “you’re lovely, perfect, beautiful”, he does so under the guise of a warm and wordless smile. If there’s time at all for anything once all of this is over, there will be more than enough time for that.

And while for now he likes it better this way, just as she does, it doesn’t make the ache, the restless wanting, any easier.

Today had been the worst of it, and continues to be even now, with the morning’s events supposedly behind him. The pirate that had sought to press his blade against Saoirse’s throat now sinks lifeless and cold below the Deadfire seas, but Aloth still feels the chill in his blood when his eyes linger upon her freshly bandaged wound, as if it’s happening all over again. As if it hasn’t stopped happening since the second that bastard grabbed her.

It isn’t the first time she’s been injured – it certainly won’t be the last. It isn’t even the first time she’s had a knife to her throat, or been caught unawares by an enemy twice her size, or had a close call that damn near stopped his own heart, too.

But it’s the first time he’s seen the knife press in, too hard, too deep against her skin, drawing against her throat with just enough force that her eyes go wide and she shudders, gasps, a fine trickle of blood seeping out beneath a jagged edge of silver, running down the violet hue of her neck and seeping into the collar of her shirt . . .  

The steel presses deeper, not a threat so much as a taunt, a game. More blood drawn, spreading red against white cotton. She lets out an involuntary whimper. The pirate laughs. Aloth’s magic flares inside him. He can’t breathe, can’t see anything before him but the red upon white, the glint of silver.

Not her, not her, please, please, please, not her.  

“Aloth?”

He blinks, eyes flickering up from her injury to her irises, still striking even in the dark. She watches him sluggishly, still half asleep, he imagines, but when he offers her an apologetic smile, she returns it with a warmth that tugs at his heartstrings.

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs, barely more than a whisper. “I was . . . lost in thought for a moment. Go back to sleep, Saoirse. You need rest.”

“M’okay, Aloth. You don’t need to worry about me.”

He smiles, small and sad. Even after all this time, she knows him far too well. “I know that. You can hardly fault me for worrying anyway, can you?”

She offers him a mumbled laugh, and then sluggishly her hand migrates across the expanse of mattress between them, pausing in the center like an invitation.

It’s late, and he’s more stressed than he’d realized, and so he accepts, shifting to his side to hold her hand with both of his.

“M’not going anywhere.” Her words are slurred from sleep, but she squeezes his fingers lightly and with purpose. “Still got . . . . mhm - four years, five months to make up for. And then some.”

“That’s a long time, indeed.”

“Not long enough.”

The omitted meaning in her words hovers silent in the air between them, something profoundly terrifying and impossibly comforting, all at once. Her eyes flutter as she clings to wakefulness, and even in the dark, he’s overwhelmed by the sight of her. How did I ever leave you the first time, he thinks, but doesn’t say. Theirs is an exercise in patience, after all; patience and slowness and restraint. Aloth has always been good at restraint.  

And so where he would tell her “I love you, I love you, I love you” he instead brings her hand to his lips, kisses her knuckles and whispers, “Goodnight, Saoirse.”

She smiles, curls her fingers around his own, and he thinks that maybe she understands anyway.

[thejakeformerlyknownasprince]

So, you might've mentioned this before, but why is #38 among your faves? I don't usually think about that one when I think about the most beloved books, so I'm curious as to why you love it so much.

In a nutshell: I am a SUCKER for “the same person never steps in the same river twice” plots.

I love #38 because it’s a really important checkpoint for the team, for the series, for the war effort, and especially for Ax.  The Ax who first joined the Animorphs, or even had a few months with them, would never have acted the way that Ax does in this book.  Instead, he’d have been exactly like we see in #18: accepting Gonrod’s authority in spite of his sketchiness, not picking up on the problems in the andalites’ mission until it’s too late, failing to question the casual imperialism with which he was raised.  But Ax has changed, and grown, and been through hell, since he was last on board an andalite vessel.  This version of Ax already knows that he can’t ever be the kid he was again.

The Ax who we get to see in this book is, if anything, even more lonely for his own people than the Ax we see in #18.  He wants so badly to fall in love with Estrid and find a version of normal with her.  He longs for his parents.  For his culture.  For his part of the war be over so that he can finally, finally go home.  But this time around, he chooses his found family.  He chooses his second home.  He chooses to do the right thing, even though it’s brutally hard for him.

The book opens up with Ax contemplating the assumption that he’s going to die on the same planet that killed his brother and is never going to see his family again.  It ends with him crying silently with Cassie holding onto him, trying to come to terms with the reality that he cannot have it all.  From now on he’s always going to be away from some part of his home and separated from some part of his family no matter what he does, because that’s what it means to be an immigrant.  Throughout the middle, the Animorphs demonstrate dozens of times why Ax has chosen them over his own people.  They’re faster at morphing, more competent, more realistic, infinitely more skillful at teamwork, and better at strategizing than even an elite team of andalite assassins.  Not because of training or genetic superiority, but because of the sheer weight of experience.

The Animorphs are still clueless kids.  But along the way they’ve become a badass team of warriors, and along the way they’ve become a family.  Ax can win a tail-fight against Estrid, who says she’s one of the most trained fighters in her world.  Jake goes up against two real war-princes for leadership of the mission, and Jake wins.  Cassie morphs skillfully enough that even an andalite warrior trained to look all directions at all times cannot see her coming.  Aloth might be obsessed with Ax’s connection to Elfangor, but it’s Tobias who ends up demonstrating Elfangor’s ability to inspire others to fight when he saves everyone’s bacon at the end.  Jake and Rachel start the day with six warriors, and end it with six warriors; Gonrod cannot claim nearly as much.

The only reason the Animorphs feel weak and hopeless and overwhelmed is because they’re six kids against an entire empire.  They’re fighting a forest fire with a bucket brigade — and they’re holding their own.  It takes the contrast to another team, one comprised of allegedly-superior andalites, for that reality to be brought to the fore.

One last thing of note about this book: it’s not the end of the arc yet.  Jake is so certain that it’s impossible to kill one’s own brother, controller or no, that he’s contemptuous toward Arbat for even wanting to try.  Ax’s appalled shock upon learning about the second quantum virus in #38 is nowhere close to his resigned acceptance that the andalites are planning to quarantine Earth, “the first step toward genocide,” in #52.  The Animorphs are scarily competent, and heartbreakingly codependent.  But they’ve not yet crossed the moral event horizon, and there’s still more jading to come.

[ariela-of-aedyr]

So I just finished reading through @stylishanachronism‘s post about Eder’s narrative, and it occurred to me that a) Eder’s personal quest in Deadfire is absolutely not Eder’s personal quest at all, but also b) Bearn’s personal quest actually potentially has more narrative relevance to Aloth than to Eder?

Like, ignoring the links to Eder through Eothas and that-woman-who-he’d-never-mentioned-before-but-who-was-apparently-the-love-of-his-life-or-whatever, the quest is essentially ‘Young Man who was feeling lost and alone was inducted into Cult That Has Terrible Purpose. Can you help him realise the error of his ways before it’s Too Late?’ and why does that sound familiar?

Oh right, perhaps because of that one guy I know who was feeling desperate and alone after his shitbag abusive father (only facts here on this blog) poisoned all potential employers against him so that he would have to take the job that he wanted for him, and ended up unwittingly inducted into the Leaden Key when they presented him with another option? The same one who pledges his allegiance to the Watcher on the basis of them offering him friendship and support, and opening his eyes to the horrors caused by the organisation he was formerly a part of?

I can’t help but feel like it could have been interesting if it had been him that had latched onto this young man instead? Like, Eder has the tenuous link of ‘I knew this kid’s mother once, years ago, so I don’t want him to die I guess’, but Aloth has actually been this kid in some form, and since his Deadfire arc seems to be ‘I am grappling with the fact that sometimes I cause bad to happen in an attempt to do good, and don’t know if it is worth it to keep trying’, it seems natural that he would respond to meeting this young man with “this is a situation in which the ‘right’ answer seems obvious. Watcher, please help me to save this kid’s life. Help me save him like you saved me. Help me to actually observably do good this one time“.

And the quest would actually play well into setting him up for his endings? Like, being able to save the Young Man could give him the boost that he needs to see that while perhaps he can’t fix everything that’s wrong with the Big Picture, if he keeps trying, perhaps he can still make a difference to some people. While failing to save the Young Man would obviously edge him towards the ‘I can’t fix what is wrong with the world, perhaps it’s time to find another focus for my life’ ending. idk, just food for thought.

(Disclaimer: I’ve never played with Pro-LK Aloth so idk what his arc is, and this might not fit him at all, but ehh).

[marigoldfaucet]

🌻🌺🌾for maren?

This got a little away from me, so under the cut it goes.

🌻  What little things do they notice about people or the world around them that make them happy? What tiny little treasures do they find in the normal every day that makes the world seem a little brighter for them?

Between the pages of a book at the bottom of her bag, there is list of things Maren knows. The little, certain things she knows about herself to be true, that cannot come from the echoes of lives past lived. People, places, things. Thoughts and feelings and dreams. All her grief, all her anger. All of it, hastily scrawled by the light of the fire with shaking fingers or carefully transcribed in the cold light of dawn.

Beneath that list is another list, delicately inked and heartbreakingly small. A list of things Maren knows and makes her happy.

Butterflies.

Birds and trees.

The colour blue.

The song they were playing in the tavern as retired for the night.

These little yellow flowers I found by the road.

Kana has the biggest smile I’ve ever seen.

Edér loves the cat we f

Edér loves the dog we found.

The smell of earth after rain.

I gave Aloth a book I found. His fingers twitched.

I like to think we’re friends now.

Sagani listens. She reminds me of my mother.

The smell of earth after rain.

Pallegina’s healing hands.

Her hair. It’s so soft.

Yellow. 

Blue. 

Purple. Pink. Red. Purple.

My friends.

Libraries.

Truth. Honour. Justice. The way it should be.

The colour of her eyes. Whose eyes?

Edér helped.

I gave Aloth another book. His fingers twitched again and he almost smiled.

Butterflies?

🌺  What does your OC do to calm down when they’re scared or after a nightmare? Do they have any special comfort items or need to be reassured by a specific person? How do they handle this if they’re alone?

A nightmare is a nightmare and it cannot hurt her.

But a memory is a memory and it hurts, even if the memories are not her own. These are not her hands holding the chains, soaked in blood, holding another’s as they lead to a fall. These are not her feet sunken in mud, crunching over a field of bones, stumbling as she screams and screams and screams and--

Maren.

Maren. Maren. Maren--

“Maren.”

Edér’s voice, soft and kind, somewhere above her. She turns towards him, eyes blinking, blinking. Shaking hands seeking. “Easy now,” he murmurs. “It was only a bad dream.”

No, no, she wants to say. It was more than that, more than only. Her ears still ring and her heart still aches. Her hands are wet with blood--no, sweat. She reaches for Edér’s hands, clasps them and squeezes them. Tries to remember where they are, why they are where, who they are with. Counts back the events of the day on her ten fingers (not nine, not four). The broad strokes, focuses on her companions. Their faces, their names. The memories she knows for certain are real.

And with remembrance comes clarity comes calm.

Edér squeezes back, firm and warm and real. Maren clings to it, lets the sensation slide beneath her skin and sink into her bones.

“Hey,” he says.

“Hi,” Maren croaks.

Her eyes dart around camp, moving from the low fire to one sleeping form to another. At least she didn’t wake them. She hopes.

“Seemed like a bad one,” Edér frowns.

“It was.”

“Do you wanna talk about it?”

No, Maren doesn’t say, instead: “I think I used to be a terrible person.”

Edér’s fingers spasm around hers. “I can’t pretend to understand what’s happening in your head, but I do know that was another life. Whoever that was, it ain’t you.”

Her throat closes around all the words she wants to say, thick with fear and tears. Sometimes I can’t tell the difference.

“Please don’t tell the others.” I don’t want them thinking I’m the worst of me.

Edér hums his agreement (and it sounds nice, better than--) and says no more. He doesn’t let go of her hands and for that Maren is grateful. It feels like a tether, a reminder that she is here and she is real.

A promise that the woman Edér thinks she is is true.

🌾  Describe your OC through the eyes of someone absolutely head-over-heels in love with them.

He is falling, falling, falling and there is nothing Aloth can do to slow it. No spell, no armour strong enough to cushion the blow.

This will kill him. This will kill him and--

He feels a hand cup his cheek, rough thumb brushing away a stray tear. He is too afraid to open his eyes, to look, to see. To see compassion. To see empathy and understanding in her eyes. He knows it is there, without a doubt because he has spent months looking, seeing it in her very being.

She is a good person and he yearns for her, fears her. He does not deserve her. He has lied to her, used her. Held his tongue when he could have helped her own unravelling and now she holds him, his mind, his heart, at the tips of her tender fingers.

He knows she will make the kind choice, the right choice, when he asks her what he should do. He cannot trust his own mind, his own heart in this. All he can do open himself up, bare the ragged edges of his soul, let loose the last of the secrets holding him up and trust she will catch him.

The brush of a thumb over his eyelid.  It’s okay, she says and--

There are arms and legs and body, wrapped in metal and scale and cloth, wrapped around him. Holding him tight, holding him close, changing his fate with a change of direction.

Aloth has no spell, no armour to cushion the blow, but now there is a body between him and the ground. He is too slow to realise, too slow to beg just as he was too weak to hold on.

But she was always been faster, stronger, more resolved and now--

They hit the ground.

The world stills in ears and fades in eyes. He hurts, but he lives and scrapes his hands out from between their bodies, presses his shaky palms against the stone and the grit. He pushes himself up with a cry, half pain, half agony. The body beneath him does not move.

“Maren,” Aloth breathes and touches her cheek, her eyelids. Her lips. “Please.”

Maren stirs beneath him, still alive, still breathing, and smiles a little bloody. “I caught you,” she says, voice a whisper, but it rings in his ears and fills up his chest.

“Yes,” Aloth says, relief overwhelming. “I rather think you did.”

[secretsfromwholecloth]

Deadfire, day 5.

Looking at everyone’s skill loadout, I think it’s time for me to bring Maia on the bathhouse spying quest for the first time. This ought to be good.

Sadly for me, that still wasn’t enough Diplomacy points to get Quarno to talk, and Maia didn’t have anything to say for herself. Welp.

To the Watershapers’ Guild, then. I think I’ve picked a party with enough Metaphysics between them to do the thing.

Thing done. You’re welcome, Scyorielaphas. And Onekaza.

And apparently we’re taking a trip to Sayuka before we take our newfound knowledge about Yseyr and Rivan to Dunnage. Welp. Get over here, Serafen.

For a second there I was afraid I didn’t have enough information to do Serafen’s quest right, but, no apparently getting Castol’s quest to talk to Furrante is enough? Or something?

Aww, thanks for the hat, Serafen. Even if Anlaf can’t wear it.

Hey, Edér, want a hat? It’s a pretty nice hat.

I don’t love killing the bog druids, but the one time I killed Okaya instead I hated myself even more, so...

“Can you make him target who he poops on? ‘Cause I got someone in mind.” Does that someone perhaps have tentacles for hair, Xoti? Because I know you’re not much enamored of our resident watershaper.

...I mean, Cignath Mór is right here, may as well do it. Come on, Aloth, I’ll be needing your wall spells.

Kraken bagged in one try, though a lot of injuries were picked up. Oof.

Oh, that’s where Dorudugan is, not the other place I was avoiding (I think that one might be Hauani o Whe). Game, how the entire tap-dancing fuck does a megaboss only rate one skull?

In conclusion, nope nope nope nope nope nope nope. Off to the sandswept ruins, which are only mundanely annoying.

Godsdammit babies no don’t step on—*headdesk*

I’ve been getting very little use out of Rekke this playthrough, because the last thing this party needs is another melee character who doesn’t contribute support or crowd control abilities. Which makes me very sad, for reasons of Rekke is adorable and I like him. Time to take him out to mop up some bounties.

And more in the morning, it’s late.

[orokin-made]

20 OTP questions

@orime-stories tagged me, thank you! ^v^  I’m not sure who to tag in return tbh, I don’t know very many people (yet)! But if you’re reading this you should probably consider yourself tagged. If you want to.

Doing this one for Elehal and Aloth since that’s who I’m feeling these days

1) who can out drink the other?

Elehal is a seven foot tall adventurer from the Deadfire who practically grew up among sailors and Aloth is a tiny wizard who has some unpleasant associations with alcohol this has never been a question.

2) who says “I love you” more?

Good question. Elehal is more open with showing affection but he really prefers to express the sentiment in nonverbal ways. Aloth is more reserved but on the other hand I can see him being the kind of person who would actually say “I love you” in the kinds of situations Elehal would go for a kiss or a special gift or something similar.

3) who has trouble sleeping alone?

They’re both pretty used to it, actually. Sharing a bed is nice, of course, and Elehal still has the occasional Watcher nonsense that having someone around helps with, but it’s not that big a deal. It might actually be kind of a pain to sleep next to a fire godlike I think, with the horns and the constantly glowing and the heat (nice in winter, less nice in summer).

4) who swears more?

Elehal was a sailor and he has the vocabulary to match, but rarely uses it within earshot of other people. Most often it’s during the immediate aftermath of an encounter with a wizard “challenging” conversation, when he has to find an out of the way corner or alley and let it know what he REALLY thinks of the person who just left. Sometimes it takes a while.

5) who does more of the housework?

Elehal has.... never lived in a house. He’s lived in a castle, and onboard most kinds of ships, and in his parent’s one room hut in their village but those aren’t houses. I don’t know for certain that he is aware of the concept of dusting. Aloth appreciates tidy-ness and would probably prefer to keep his space neat, but I’m stealing Orime-stories headcanon about some kinds of housework being triggering for him due to the circumstances of his Awakening. And besides, there’s always something more important that has to be taken care of first.

Please don’t let these boys buy a house.

6) who forgets their anniversary?

Aloth knows it off the top of his head, Elehal would forget but he keeps extensive field journals and definitely has it written down somewhere.

7) who steals the duvet in their sleep?

Who needs blankets when your boyfriend is a giant living hot water bottle?

8) who keeps the other awake at night with their snoring?

If it’s either of them it’s Elehal, his horns necessitate some sleeping positions that probably aren’t technically ideal for airflow.

9) who finds stray animals and begs the other to let them keep them?

Elehal’s tendency to collect strays includes animals as much as it does ghosts and actual, living people. The compromise they came up with is that some of the animals get dropped off on Hasongo with Eder, who lives on a farm and not a boat and actually has room for them.

10) who usually makes dinner?

Aloth is the one who actually knows how to cook. Not a lot of things, but like, enough. He understands the basic concepts of a kitchen. Elehal loves cooking for people but can only make Taar loaf and like, soups. Adventurer food.Stuff that can be cooked over a camp fire. Eventually he gets Aloth to teach him some stuff though, and it IS as cute as it sounds.

11) who plays their music out loud?

Elehal hums more or less constantly, to the point that if he’s not it’s a pretty clear sign of something being extremely wrong. He’s gotta practice his songs and chants too, but he tries to do it quietly unless he’s sure he won’t be bothering anyone.

12) who hogs the bathroom?

I mean, probably Aloth? He’s the one with, you know, actual hair that needs seeing to, and definitely takes some pains when it comes to personal grooming and appearance. On the other hand, I don’t know the specifics of what fire godlike personal hygiene entails so it could either be extremely fast and simple or very very complicated (I imagine the horns are an obstacle)

13) who gives the most compliments?

A pretty even split but Elehal gets particularly flustered and delighted by them so Aloth’s the one actively seeking opportunities to do so.

14) who usually starts/causes arguments between them?

The closest thing to an argument I could see them having would be the discussion around Aloth leaving to continue his hunt for the Leaden Key after the events of Deadfire, and that’s more of a “Neither of us are happy with this situation but we’re both too concerned with duty and responsibility to let something like personal happiness get in the way of what needs to be done. Not that we would be willing to admit to feeling hurt or upset anyway.” situation and less of a full on argument. Also Deadfire’s canon epilogue makes me SAD so sometimes I just ignore it!

15) who isn’t afraid to embarrass the other in public?

HAHAHAHAHAH no.

These are two people who have structured their entire lives around avoiding public embarrassment. The closest they would ever come would be Elehal breaking out his repertoire of love songs while Aloth’s in the audience and that’s pretty tame tbh.

16) who gives the other cringe worthy pet names?

Eventually they’ll work their way up to, like, “dear” but that’s probably as far as they’ll get. Not big on pet names, either of them.

17) who fusses over the other when they get sick?

Aloth considers getting Elehal to sit down and let himself be taken care of to be at least 50% of what he brings to the table in their relationship.

18) who finds it impossible to stay angry at the other for long?

Mostly only relevant to the events of the Deadfire epilogue referenced in the previous argument question but Elehal’s inability to just let himself be angry with people instead of bottling that shit up and letting it ferment like the finest, bitterest wine is going to make problems for him at some point and that’s all Im saying about that for now.

19) who clings to the other for comfort when they’re sad or scared?

Elehal is inarguably better suited to being clung to, which Aloth definitely takes advantage of, but he’s also the one having visions of torture scenes and intrusive past-life flashbacks and occasionally getting his soul ripped out to go have a chat with some gods so like. It evens out.

20) who is more ‘physically passionate’? (hugs, kisses, or maybe more…)

Elehal by a long shot. He’s naturally very physically affectionate but usually holds back for fear of making other people uncomfortable, and Aloth is one of the few people he can allow himself to loosen up a bit in that regard, after a great deal of reassurance that no, he’s not overstepping and no, he’s not in as much danger of breaking his tiny elf boyfriends ribs as he thinks he is.