#bless em

[eliotbaum]

Them³. 

Some people expressed interest in the backstories & relationship between these characters so it’s under a cut. Beware, it’s full of Vallaki spoilers and. very long……. 

Lydia Petrovna/Fiona Wachter/my pc Father Dunant

Alright so, a not-so brief overview of each individual’s background and where their stories meet. Mind you, that is everything I currently know about the characters, and I'm pretty sure Lady W is still hiding something.

Lydia Petrovna has always been a frail, meek-hearted woman, but with a kind soul. For what she lacked, her best friend from ever since made up for it; Fiona Wachter was everything she ever wanted to be. Strong, assertive and with force of will. 

But Lydia also desired her in a different way, one that went beyond friendship and admiration. Fiona was not aware of those feelings and pursued Nikolai, while Lydia fell for Vargas, despite Fiona’s warnings and wishes for her not to do so. It fell on deaf ears, as Vargas seemed like a genuinely kind man. Suffice to say to those who played the game: the good qualities Lydia loved disappeared over time and he ended up emotionally abusing her, smothering her in a way where she completely lost who she was. Lydia was always desperate to help others despite her constitution and lack of powers or influence, so she thought putting on a bright face and encouraging the "all will be well" ideology would suffice. But she suffered greatly under it, too, coping with solitude and drug/alcohol abuse. Regardless, she kept holding onto hope, believing a better tomorrow will come one day. 

Vargas growing more paranoid of everyone ended up manipulating Lydia into believing Fiona and her husband were not to be trusted. And with Lydia’s facade steadily replacing what Fiona loved about her, ultimately drove the friendship to a breaking point after decades.

Fiona Wachter received a prophecy from an oracle (Madame Eva) while she was a young lady. The prophecy foretold of an outsider coming into Vallaki to bring great ruin, but his blood would also bring back sunlight to the town. She believed in this prophecy ever since, all the while pledging allegiance to Ravenloft as a family tradition, which earned her conflicting powers. On one hand, she could perform miracles and harm with radiance, on the other she received darker powers from her pledge. As such, she is also caught between two fronts — wishing for sunlight to shine upon the lands again while serving Ravenloft as is her family tradition. (This is something my PC challenges her with a lot)

This was all kept secret from her best friend as Fiona had always been a cautious woman. Fast forward to her strained relationship with Lydia that broke apart during Nikolai's early death. 2 years before the campaign starts, he died of an illness, and when Fiona turned to Lydia for comfort she didn't receive it. Lydia pretended like everything was fine still, and tried to deflect any mourning or sadness with Vargas’ messed up ideology. Suffice to say, Fiona felt betrayed, bereft, in more ways than one. And then, her daughter, who was to be betrothed to Viktor Vallakovich, Lydia's son, went mad after prolonged contact to Viktor. Fiona went scorched earth and planned an assassination on Vargas ever since.

In comes my lil guy! Father Kasper Dunant, a humanitarian priest always striving to be virtuous, to be of help, but who leaves calamity in his wake for whenever he tries to do good. Up to a point where experimentations with blood healings destroyed his hometown, (if this sounds like Bloodborne. big inspo haha) and he fled — only to get trapped in another ruinous and cursed place. In Vallaki, he helped with the St. Andral church and Father Lucian, Lydia's brother. Vargas also took a liking to him, which resulted to Kasper and Lydia growing closer. He was attracted to her gentle heart, her kindness he found beyond her facade. They became light in each other's darkness. 

Meanwhile, Fiona Wachter invited him & the party, intrigued by hearing of outsiders. She had hoped they could be part of her prophecy, and she intended to more or less rope them into her assassination plans. Now this being conflicting with many values and relationships our characters built, the party took a "safer" angle, in which we removed the biggest threat (general Strazni) from town and saved townspeople during riots following the assassination; Lydia being among those saved, who they hid away at the Martikov’s tavern. Lydia, who had fallen for Kasper early on, held onto him as she had lost almost everything (Vargas assassinated, Viktor teleported away) and they both found new hope, comfort and love in eath other. 

And in a way, Fiona also freed Lydia of the shackles of her abusive marriage.

Fiona would've taken charge of Vallaki had it not been for Kasper's suggestion to establish a council instead of a single ruler. Consisting of him, Fiona, Vasili (completely different character in our game and not secretly, yknow), a homebrew NPC and Ireena. Fiona and Kasper started to develop this dynamic of push and pull, feeling for how much they can trust and work each other with their opposing views in terms of politics and Ravenloft. But they had one moment where they forged a bond; Kasper, a blood cleric, summoned a mock sun through 'Daylight' for her (my flavor is that he spills blood for some spells). 

Voila, exactly what her prophecy foretold. She understood it wasn't real, but Kasper promised her to bring true sunlight back to Barovia. In a moment of fervor, Fiona suggested they could rule the town, the country together.

They are still very cautious but enjoy the tension and mystery they have about each other. Lydia, in the meantime, has been growing conflicting feelings about Fiona. While she was certain old feelings have been put to rest, the things Kasper tells her of Fiona seemingly awakened something again. There's a lot of guilt and hurt there, though, muddled with affection, and Lydia is sorting out her feelings still.

Meanwhile, Fiona still resents Lydia for her weakness. It was always clear how much Fiona cared for Lydia, repeatedly challenging her to put down this mask, to be herself again. And being hurt by seeing her friend lose herself so easily.  It's bitter, but Kasper has been meekly trying to calm the waves, to little avail so far. 

It is, A Mess to say the least, and Kasper together with Lydia have been growing concerns and worry for Fiona’s safety and ultimately, herself, since she changed so much, became so much darker since her husband’s death. But those two idealists hope there is still a chance to save her 🥺💦

tl;dr young outsider priest becomes entangled in noblewomen’s personal drama while both believe the gods and fate has sent him their way as he tries to mend a broken relationship 

[intriga-hounds]

two teaching things that happened today that almost made me Break Down:

1. i have my creative writing kids entering their poetry in a statewide contest. today they asked me, “did you ever enter any contests in high school?” i said no, i didn’t, because i never knew anything about them. one said, “you didn’t have a ms. [my name]?” i said no, i really didn’t. a group of them said well thank you for being ours and i almost died right there.

2. a science teacher came up to me and said, “you have alex [redacted].” alarmed, thinking she was about to tell me something bad, i said, “yes. in creative writing.” she told me, “he asked me to read his poem. he said he spent weeks on it, researching things to make it good. i’ve never seen him show emotion before. he’s one of those kids who got left behind during covid. you need to know how much that class means to him.” TEARS.

[yvehattan]

delirium in the streets, nihilism in the sheets

[voiceemporium]

Asami Sato from Legend of Korra voiced by Seychelle Gabriel

[settle-down-frohike]

Just wondering what excited, Mulder-replacing soul in the VCU got a stack of anonymous candidates’ files to analyze for a “top secret” job placement, chose Scully’s, got fired 3 months later, and still has no idea why.

[shadowthestoryteller]

Shadow: *calls the Kaminoans 'Sun-Bleached Spaghetti Betty Rejects'*

Cody:

Rex:

Kenobi:

Crosshair, proud af:

[bkdk-and-extras]

Status: aggressively appreciating his scars

[joeyclaire]

god bless fanfic writers

[foldybikes]

lmaoooo the teenage dwarf stealing a bit of his grandma's liquor in order to impress beau is such stupid fun levity. love matt and marisha playing these two dumbasses making covert under-the-table deals through a bnb door. here's your four drops of meemaw's alcohol I had to put in a perfume bottle. thanks kid here's a ninja weapon that I got from sasuke himself I swear. these fucking idiots.

[crplpunkklavier]

this is 100% only due to how much i text with middle aged dads in the work slack, but lately ive been really into using 🥸 for no discernible reason. he does not convey any emotion he is just there and he's a guy and he looks like me 🥸

[jestroer]

you give off magma cube vibes i think

I be. Cubic. And magma.

I do love to hang out in the nether but those guys...... To the lava with them.

[pizzaochcola]

God these two are so fucking funny

[my-river-styx]

hi bestie tumblr collectively decided to make up an entire movie called goncharov and we've just been observing everyone undergo mass hysteria while posting abt it like any other media 🧡 it took me 2 days to realize it wasn't even real

Ah I see...understandable

[istherewifiinhell]

Tiny kid with a tiny mini daushund puppy my god

[shoomlah]

I'm not sure what else I can do for the apparently VORACIOUS Spies In Dresses fandom, but might I offer you the original sketches in this trying time

[hualian]

E-Ming, the "Deadly" Scimitar 🤭🦋 | Heaven Official’s Blessing S2 Ep3