#botgd 2

[hubwalker1]

New Horizons

A letter arrived on Peaceable Island addressed to Seasick a little over a year and a half after the War's conclusion. It was sealed with mahogany colored wax with an emblem of a phoenix wearing a crown in front of a decorated shield with crossed swords.

It read: "Dear Seasick, I hope this letter finds you and your family well. I write to tell you that I shall be arriving in one week's time to discuss a potential business opportunity for you. Details can be discussed upon my arrival. I look forward to seeing you again, it has been some time. Sincerely, Her Majesty Lila Ericson, Queen of the Phoenix Sovereignty."

[tezz-the-nomad]

Knells and Throes

The setting sun painted the marshy plains surrounding, what was until recently, High Central with amber, gold, and pink hues. This closing of the fourth day since the fall of the Tyrant Eternal left the search and rescue teams of the rebellion to find fewer and fewer of the scattered survivors. A ragged gasp and a sputtering cough came from beneath the shelter of a lonely mangrove cluster. The body that produced it belonged to a broken, nearly spent Tezz as he awoke from a comatose state. Pain, echoing from his mind through to his very marrow, wracked his body. The effort of transporting every living person he could sense in High Central to safety caught up to him in his lucid state. He dwelled in this state for several minutes, slowly willing his aching body to move and sit up from the muck. With his hand he was able to grasp the nearby roots and pull himself mostly from the water. He heard the distant sloshing of someone in the area and looked to the encroaching darkness of dusk. Tezz attempted to summon a voice from his damaged lungs to call out, and like sparks on wet logs he could produce nothing but more coughs. Catching his breath again he sighed and leaned back against the tree, he hoped it was enough.

[lbigreyhound13]

Honorary Big Brother (BOTGD 2)

Continued from this

Dagny and Kari ran through the medic tents looking among the rebels and their allies for any signs of the Arnason men. Dagny briefly considered also finding Nio and Sav, but Liam was the one, who Kezia was after. They had to make sure he was okay first.

"Where can they be?" Kari asked with exasperation.

"Relax," Dagny said, "we'll find them. They can't be too far from here."

"But...w-what if they didn't make it?" Kari asked.

Dagny couldn't help but feel her blood run cold at that thought. What if Kari was right? What if Liam and Vox didn't make it? Kezia wanted Liam for some reason...and there was no sign of them during the final battle. No...she shook her head. No...he had to be okay. They both had to be okay. "We can't think like that, Kari," she said after a moment. "Come on, I bet if we find Daybreak or Kendra or Aunt Tree, we'll find Liam and Uncle Vox."

Kari smiled and nodded before they continued to look.

[moe-lazyeye]

Jugen Turns Himself In pt 2 (botgd 2)

Part 2

"To apologize." Jugen answered, and for a moment, his lips pressed together tightly. But then he closed his eyes and breathed a gentle exhale. "I am sorry. And I've brought everything you'll need to hold me accountable."

He offered up the satchel, which was filled with parchment and document packets. "I fear I've done worse than just putting out a non-fatal hit. Most of the damage is so hopelessly tangled in so many different things that it'll be impossible to undo. So, answering for it in court is the only thing I can reliably offer."

[battleofthegroundeddungeon]

Shadows of the Father

The palace halls were quiet. He wasn’t sure he liked them so. Even though he had no reason for immediacy, he found his pace increasing. Torchlight to torchlight, shadows flying wildly across the wall, these apparitions were Egil’s sole company as he crossed from the throne room to his private chambers.

Egil always felt alone, anymore. And he always felt like something was following him. Shadows pursued him, and not just the physical ones. Good days, bad days, quiet days, chaotic days, stressful days, more stressful days, solemn days, aggravating days—at all points, he couldn’t escape the shadows of his father. The ominous darkness of Gareth’s death and the legacy he bestowed upon Egil were two shadows Egil could’ve done without.

He’d never wanted to be king. He’d never deserved to be king. Why the Helheim had the Powers that Be approved his coronation? He was the most powerful man in the Wilderwest, technically, but he couldn’t feel more helpless and trapped.

He passed a few guards, presumably the only people awake this time of night. But then he spotted several long-stretched shadows flickering ahead. They dissolved into Avara Aslaug Haddock and two diminutive forms.

“Egil,” Avara said, before he could slip down a side hallway.

“Didn’t think you’d be up this late,” Egil remarked.

As if on cue, eleven-year-old Eva broke into an enormous yawn, which got passed to Sara standing beside her. The hours were late for adults and his daughters looked miserable standing here.

Sara said, “We can go to bed, right? I’m tired, Daddy.”

Avara forced out a belabored smile, thin, little more than a perfunctory stretch of her lips. The smile didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m afraid we didn’t leave Brega’s until late.”

Egil shrugged and said, “Ah. Something hold you up?”

“Oh, the trip went without a hitch, didn’t it girls?” Avara tried to make her voice light. She looked like she wanted to say something else, but no one, not even Egil, caught the expression. Instead, Sara was saying again, “I’m tired,” while Eva, prompted by the mention of their trip, was descending into a tangent about the ducks they passed near a creek. Both Egil and Avara ignored it.

“Well. That’s good.” Egil didn’t know what else to say to his wife. Avara was slowly herding them to the bed chambers, and Egil fell in line with his mismatched family.

“Daaaaaddddy, I’m tired.” Sara clawed at Egil’s sleeve, and belatedly, he picked his younger daughter up. She was getting heavy for this and holding her felt unnatural.

“We’re all tired,” said Avara. “The trip is a little hard for a woman expecting.”

This time, Egil comprehended what she was getting at. “I couldn’t have gone. I’m the king, if you don’t remember.”

“Your father’s got time for you, doesn’t he?” crooned Avara to Eva, sickly-sweet. Implied in it was a barb Egil didn’t miss, if only because they’d had the conversation before.

“Girls, let’s get you to bed,” she continued, maintaining that soft voice.

“I could sleep for WEEKS!” Sara said.

“I bet you can,” Avara said. Her pace quickened. “Egil, you’ve got Sara?”

“Of course,” he answered. Sara was feeling floppier; she’d fall asleep in his arms if he didn’t get her to her room. The two girls’ rooms were next to each other, so Egil was forced to walk beside Avara, and even after setting Sara down on her bed, couldn’t leave without Avara’s notice. She came out of Eva’s room about the same time, and, with more firmness in her voice now that the children were out of earshot, said, “You really should be doing this when I’m due soon.”

"Sorry."

"You didn't think about it."

“Sorry for not thinking about taking them to my ex-wife.”

She pointed out, “They’re your girls.” Then, in a cruel parrot, “I’m not their mother, if you don’t remember.”

"Step-mother."

“And of course I love them. But this is something you could step up on. The trip happens once every three months. It’s hardly much of a responsibility.”

“If it’s not much of a responsibility, then why are you shitting on me for it?”

“Because I’m always doing your job!”

“My job is king. If you don’t remember.”

The two paused outside their bedroom door. Their faces mirrored displeasure.

There was a long, pregnant pause before Avara undercut, lowly, “I’d believe that if you took the kingship seriously, too.”

There couldn’t be anything more serious than Gareth’s death, than Egil’s awful descent to the throne, than the noose slipping around his neck every time he was expected to weigh in on foreign policy or local economics or the appointment of ministers. Ticked, he vomited out a “What the Hel?” before he realized he was speaking. Since it looked like she was waiting for a better response, he continued with the only other thing he could think of: “I do take it serious.”

“Do you? Then why haven’t you accomplished anything?”

“Now that’s l—”

“Am I supposed to believe you’re ruling when you slip off to the thirtieth ‘dragon stables inspection’ instead of entertaining dignitaries?”

“Is that what we’re calling feeding my dragons now?”

“No. It’s about what you’re avoiding, Egil.” Avara rolled her eyes. “You avoid Bre—”

“Who wouldn’t?” muttered Egil.

“You stop that! You stop that and listen. You avoid three-minute conversations with Brega to the detriment of taking care of your daughters. You avoid your royal duties, your actual duties. You avoid me. Egil, did you think I wouldn’t notice?”

Inflamed and insistent: “It’s too much. I’m busy.”

“I’m your wife, Egil.”

“Damn! Do you want me to spend time ruling the throne or don’t you? Because that’s becoming unclear.”

“I couldn’t BE more clear!”

“You could BE more supportive!”

“Of what? Your cowardice?!! YOU should be supportive of ME!”

Raised voices echoed through the hall. Egil sucked in a shaky breath. Avara squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead.

“Egil,” she bemoaned, trying to rein in her frustration. “If we’re going to make this work, you have to take ownership of yourself. Everywhere. Quit running away.”

“I’m trying to make this work,” he insisted. Didn’t she see him in the throne room every day, forcing himself to do what he hated most? Didn’t she hear him trying to talk this out now? What more could she expect? If she wanted more time with him, that’d take away from his kingship. If she wanted him to spend more time ruling, that’d take away their time. Couldn’t she respect his hard work? Couldn’t she at least acknowledge he was trying?

“No, you’re running.”

“Fuck this. I’m out. You want running? I’ll run.” Egil began to back away. His eyes locked into hers for several cold seconds before he whirled about, leaving her alone in front of their bedroom door. If she didn’t appreciate his presence, she could sleep alone tonight.

The palace halls were too loud. He didn’t like them so.

[hubwalker1]

Listen to Each Other's Heart (Part 2)

[X]

She sighs as she looks out across the hole. "At least you were surrounded by people you care about. I've got Jari and Kettil, but they both have someone and something to work on after all this." She pulls her knee up to her chest and rests her chin on it. "What does the warlord do when there's no more war to wage?"

[tezz-the-nomad]

Knells and Throes II

[prev]

"Yeah. I was there. I wish I could have been the one to end her. But, I'll take the consolation prize of getting everyone to safety." Tezz had fully slumped into Blunt, too exhausted to keep himself upright. "I'm sorry I couldn't get them into one spot, or at least closer together. A portal that large and summoned that quickly is hard to keep stable. But they had a better chance of surviving up here." The two of them sat a few moments in silence. Blunt's mind raced, unable to know for sure if this man would survive another night. He kept looking him over, trying to see if there was anything he could do. The soft, warm glow of the lantern flickered across the pair. Creatures of the night awoke and stirred around them.

Tezz's mind was preoccupied. There was so much he wished he could say right now, just in case he couldn't do it himself. No. I can't think like that. Not yet.

"Blunt?" Tezz's crackling voice broke the silence. "My eyes are getting heavy. Do you think you could carry me back, so I get a little rest?"

[lbigreyhound13]

Listen to Each Other’s Heart (BOTGD 2)

@hubwalker1

Continued from this

When Dagny and Kari ran off to find Liam and Vox, the Chief found herself leaning against Brandt looking out over the hole that used to be High Central. The war was done. It was time to rebuild and erase High Central’s fascist regime from history and to change Aidorin for the better, but what was she meant to do? After all, she was an artifact of the past. She hated that even though Kezia was dead…gone from the world she tried to destroy…her words taunted Grey…and probably would for the rest of her life. It didn’t help that some of the most important men in her life voiced the same sentiments when she and Lila went through the fear trap.

She sighed. This was one of those times, where she had no clue what came next.

Brandt sensed her tension and fear and kissed her on the head. “Hey, you okay?” he asked.

“I-I don’t know…” Grey said sadly. “I guess…I just…I-I don’t know. I know I should be happy, and I am. But…”

“What she…said…” Brandt finished for her. He sighed as he hugged his wife close hating to see her hurting like this.

Grey buried her face in her husband’s chest inhaling his scent, and his scent and the warmth of his embrace calmed her down. She shouldn’t be upset. She should be happy…thrilled that they managed to defeat High Central. She should be relishing in the victory.

“I know it doesn’t fix it completely,” Brandt whispered into her hair, “but whatever happens…I will be there by your side through every step of the way. And the kids will too.”

She closed her eyes hugging him tightly in return. "I know," she said. She then looked up at him kissing him. "And I appreciate it." She deflated slightly as she was not sure as to what she needed to do next...with the Rebellion that is. Was she needed anywhere? Did Lila need her to do anything? She was jolted out of her thoughts when Shadow brushed up against her and Brandt nuzzling them, and she couldn't help but chuckle as she scratched her Night Fury's head in return.

[lbigreyhound13]

Lila led the Rebellion down to the cavern, and the Felman family was not too far behind. Grey and Brandt mounted Shadow while the kids mounted their respective dragons. They flew down following Lila’s flames.

“So…umm…I might be a little lost here,” Sven said as he flew close to his sisters while their parents were in the lead, “but who is this Kezia we keep talking about?”

“Uncle Vox told us about her while we were trying to get that beacon back,” Dagny said from where she sat on SkySinger. “Apparently, she was one of the leaders of High Central. She and Darien are the ones who basically started all this.”

“The persecution of the half-breeds…the dungeons…everything,” Kari added.

“Wait…Mom, did you know her too?” Sven asked.

“I didn’t know her,” Grey answered keeping her eyes forward, “but I knew of her. I knew she was assassinated a long time ago, but that was essentially it.” In all the years Grey had knowledge of the mistreatment and High Central, the one thing she was very limited in was the three leaders of High Central. That changed of course when she finally met Darien, but Kezia was always in shadows. It was hard to put a face to a name with her, and that was about to change. “Listen, guys, I don’t know what exactly we’re facing down here with Kezia, but I want you all to stay close. If it gets to be too much, then you need to get somewhere safe, okay?”

“Yes, ma’am,” the three teens said in unison.

“We’ll be okay,” Brandt said placing a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

Grey smiled at her husband. “I know,” she said. “It’s just…this is likely going to be our last battle, and there is no way Kezia is going down without a fight.”

Rumble PT 2

[Previous]

Indigo let out a little growl when Lila jumped right in without hesitation, and knew this was an excellent moment to dive right in.

To prove even more how dedicated he was to helping this cause and these people. To being an ally, and one worth keeping. Worth trusting. The Indigo Phantom got to his feet with a burst and ran full speed towards the hole, Storm chasing right on his heels.

He didn't even mount the dragon, letting out a holler, almost a war cry, maybe the screech of a fury, and jumped in after the leader, his dragon companion on his heels.

They met up midair effortlessly and vanished into the red tinged void below, the wing whistle and roar of a night fury coming out after they'd vanished.

He didn't even see Indi, perched hidden inside one of the many holes in the walls, watching them, since they were going so fast.

[moe-lazyeye]

Race to the Edge (botgd 2)

Amid the haze of victory and the twisting fabric of time and space itself, The Force of Nature felt a strange pull on their consciousness. It was a pull that separated them from their current perception while oddly leaving it intact. Liam found that he had no diverted focus from the task that he had before him while still being able to give his full attention to this new sight.

In many ways, it showed him that it was simply something he was able to do now. The beginning of omnipresence.

Soft light of the afterlife enveloped him, although this one was warm, natural, as opposed to the divine, almost oppressive golden heat that Odin had once radiated through it. The haze parted, and Liam found himself seated beside Hel, as she had appeared when reincarnated into a half breed.

Across the way, behind a shimmering wall, was a land just as grand as Midgard, but somehow...at peace. It's very essence reverberated challenge, intrigue, and even the harshness that came from nature and the cosmos. Only now, untouched by the concepts that wounded humanity. A place where patients was not laced with heartbreak. Where survival was not bound by cruelty. Where matter changed forms without destruction. A place that was sovergine from the likes of Kezia's hate, Orskaf's rage, and Dixie's greed, and the foothold they held in the world below.

It was...not...perfect. But in the way that only something beautiful could be. An afterlife and world crafted paitently in humility, past the edge of eternity. And even as the ghostly, collosial outline of Hel, in her true size and form, loomed protectively over the creation, the half breed figure sat as herself to speak with Liam.

The image was an invitation alone. One The Force of Nature could join or peacefully depart from.

[battleofthegroundeddungeon]

Training the Gauntlet (Part 3)

Part 2

Egil: Egil could sense the heart behind Stonegit's actions. And much was appreciable. He couldn't get behind all of Stonegit's thoughts, though, so while he paused and listened to Stonegit, he did also belatedly take one - one - step back.

"Not sure everything that can come out of us should," he said regretfully. "Or. Or, like, at least, we don't need to think about it as 'good' character development. It'd development, neutral. A person could go one way, or another, equally valid. Just because someone could - could hypothetically - become great at chess, or dragon riding, or sword fighting, or war, or writing - it - it doesn't mean that's what should come out. They can do none of those things, and their life will be as fine for it."

Maybe I don't need this 'development.' Maybe I don't want it to come out one way or another.

Stonegit: Stonegit could sense he had lost Egil, but only by the single step he had taken away. The new King had misunderstood his meaning.

In Port Krum, the phrase Stonegit had said essentially meant that if people did not speak of their problems then, like the cut upon his cheek, violence and rage were likely to arise instead, as opposed to any great character development.

It had taken Stonegit one too many years to realize that his dialect and cultural idioms often mixed poorly with the refined speech and academics of those in a royal line.

He took a step forward, not to chase, but to show that he too was finding the right way to walk through this situation he and Egil had found themselves in.

"I don't ask for words to push you on some path, stress a responsibility, or develop you...I just...I..."

He stopped to take a breath, and he was ashamed to realize that a part of him still feared moments like this. Perhaps it was time for a moment of silence again.

Egil: "You're reaching out with the goodwill of your heart," Egil said. He fiddled with his training sword. "Stonegit, look. You know what I'm bitter about. And it's not that you don't have a point. And it's not like I should have been talking about myself just now." Stonegit's latest response had reminded him of that.

"But."

He paused to spin the sword several times.

"We're here to fight."

There was an indication in those words, not unkind.

I came to spar to help you.

It's your need we're taking care of right now.

"Or," he said, more successfully reaching into his earlier humor, "get your ass back in shape."

It wasn't a request to end the current conversation. It wasn't an invitation to fight again. It was neutral in those regards. But while Egil wouldn't have been able to voice it with such nuance himself, it was a reminder that Egil had been trying, at the start, to make this about Stonegit.

Stonegit: Silence fell.

One that was tense, but not due to anger or any kind of ill will. More that Egil's words had threatened to crack something open within Stonegit.

I did...come to him...didn't I? Stonegit's gaze drifted to the side in thought. I'm so used to trying to help them...did I really just come here to train my craft...or was there always something more?

He then recalled the words of his old instructor, Grunkstomp, as the man recited the words of the god Tyr - "men like us fight to help our minds think, while our bodies are occupied."

Stonegit slowly turned away from Egil as he gripped his training sword in both hands, one on the handle, and the other on the blade.

"Yes...we should fight." He said, as if finding his own way of saying that he agreed with Egil's implication that this matter should be about him. "But like your father, there was never a skill I possessed with any blade that could truly challenge you." His teeth ground as he prepared himself, and wondered if Egil could be prepared as well. "If you want to get my ass in shape...you'll have to fight a bit with what even Gareth seldom faced head on."

He calmly turned back to raise up his blade again. The invitation open once more to sparr. "My words..."

And Egil could see it. The fire so often kept behind the bodyguard's demur, and often tired demeanor. The boy of unbridled passion still alive somewhere within the older man.

Egil: Egil felt it. The fire, throbbing subtly, flames licking about them. He tried to feed it, to make it grow. He lunged, ready to spar once more. As he leaped, he felt Stonegit rise to meet his strike.

Stonegit: With a crack the wood of the meeting blades snapped and echoed across the room. Despite the purpose of the weapon and the damage to Stonegit's arm, the bodyguard nevertheless put more brute force behind his parrys, as if he needed to separate himself from his old ways in smaller steps.

Egil had responded to his shift in temperament and spirit, and so Stonegit had to work extra hard to keep himself from taking another blow. But at the same time, Egil, perhaps for the first time, now sparred Stonegit apart from the man's usual calm, and teaching oriented self.

Now it was all that old passion, and ferocity, only this time instead the damaging rage, there was more clearly what had always been...vulnerability.

The two blades slammed into each other and threatened to splinter as Stonegit's other hand shot out, and balled up into Egil's shirt. His flaring eyes met the King's as his teeth barred from between his grizzled beard.

"You jumped in mighty quick for someone who's heart just skipped a beat." He said in bitter challenge, but again, no malice. Then with a grunt, he used a move taught to him that he hadn't originally planed to refine today, and stepped in to hurl Egil over his shoulder.

An extra safety bump upward of his back, and Egil's generally keen dexterity, saw the King land on his feet, but it was still a disorienting spin.

Egil: "Damn!" he hissed, breathless for seconds. It genuinely surprised him. He took the challenge, embraced the rising heat. He held wood but the hilt burned like smelted iron.

Smoke, flames, spark. Lunge, parry, riposte. Each man moved a different way, Stonegit with his smoldering ferocity, Egil with the elegant but deadly strike of a viper. The fangs and tongue of the serpent rose to meet the tongue of fire.

It was time to get creative - not his strongest suit, but one he'd learned over years of fighting Stonegit. He ducked into a gutsy passata sotto, extending outward toward Stonegit's left ribs. Either he'd be knocked on the head, or he'd manage a 'killing' strike.

Stonegit: The training blade jammed into Stonegit, and pain flashed over the man's face. As if the physical blow had permitted the pain within to manifest. His fingers wrapped around the blade to acknowledge the scoring hit, his mouth paritally open.

Haddock's death. His immediate betrayel of everything he had tried to fix within himself as a result. Facing his old assailant. Breaking his body against Vidar's jaw. Nearly losing the Warden, twice. Endangering her during a scrambling back peddle. A family he adored, that he was nevertheless always scared to fully open up to because of past cpmmunication misfortunes. His old wounds. A marriage and partnership with people he loved but had hurt beyond words more than anyone else.

It all felt like a raging forest fire. Where could the first bucket even be splashed? Would it matter? Would it make any kind of difference?

Stonegit shoved the blade back as he paced a few steps to 'reset the match,'and then leveled a hand at Egil, the fingertips radiating true heat as if to match the temperment of the room. "He is GONE!"

The words ripped from him as a ugly, all too often unspoken, truth to himself.

"And every moment of mourning I have had, that I have tried felt empty. Meaningless! I had mourned so deeply as a child the first time that I allowed myself to be lost to everything I was...and now..." The extended hand balled into an impossibility tight fist. "It's just like he disappeared...like he wasn't somehow part of all of this even to my own mind!"

Egil: Egil's eyes opened wide at the outburst. He instinctively took a step back, just as he instinctively raised his weapon for defense. A jolt of electricity shot up him, mixing with his own fire. His own senses of loss and pain flared up again.

He managed to say, "W-what?"

Stonegit: Stonegit's fingers clenched around the hilt of his sword the way a man having his arm cut off would clamp down on a bite.

He wasn't sure whether Egil's question was literal, given that he had been a child during the time he was referencing, or rhetorical, given the rawness of the confession. He answered nonetheless.

"I...I have spoken of this...to Blunt, to some friends..." He recalled his first attempt to mourn, out facing the sea as he spoke to his King and declared his resolve to do the right thing by his life...not that he could be heard across Midgards mortal plain. "To Gareth too..." His gaze lowered, and then Stonegit gave a little shake of his head. "But none it felt...true..."

Egil: As much as Egil was someone capable of frequent outbursts, he wasn't as adept receiving raw emotion. His tongue usually got tied around something in the process, or he said something that made a person worse. Trying his best, trying to mirror Stonegit, he prompted, "And, eh. Mm. What could make it feel true?"

Stonegit: A million thoughts flew through Stonegit's mind. From his young adulthood to that very moment. A raggid exhale escaped him as a moment of surprised relief took his shoulders before they gnarled once more under the strain of this encounter. So he answered.

"You..."

Egil: Egil tried not to show a reaction, but his face went through five or nine distinct expressions when he heard Stonegit's words. He didn't know what to do. They were honorable, but... "You're gonna find disappointment there," said Egil, throat dry.

Stonegit: "Why?" Stonegit challenged in a quiet voice.

Egil: Egil looked him in the eye with a combination of hardness, skepticism, uncertainty, and... gratefulness, maybe.

"You're not that blind."

Stonegit: "Try me." Stonegit returned.

Egil: Egil stayed silent but his crook-eyebrowed stare didn't alter.

Stonegit: Stonegit remained in the silence with him for a moment, and then closed his eyes. "You do make it true for me Egil...because I think you are also like me." He returned Egil's dry swallow. "You and I...we've always had so, much, to say. But something always kept it check."

His eyes became focused. Very, very focused at an insignificant spot on the ground. "Yes some of it was learning the wisdom of silence, and thought. But there are also few who actually can...or even want to hear us..."

Egil: "Well then you'd be the first," Egil barked with a derisive laugh. Maybe Stonegit had learned something over the years. Egil sure hadn't.

Stonegit: Pain came to Stonegit's expression again. But not the same grief from before. Rather a pain for Egil's sake. A pain that came from knowing a shared experience. A voice unwilling to be heard. Help that would not come...

God in Helhiem...did I fail him? Did I let him suffer the same fate as a young adult that I did?

The thought hurt him more than anything his shattered arm and injured heart could have caused.

"I'm sorry..."

Egil: Egil shook his head. "Don't be," he said wryly. "Like. I'm the one who's managed to piss people off and never take up the mantle expected."

He paused though, and shrugged. "Maybe we are alike," he said. "I don't think it's been easy for us. And I'm not blind either - I can tell you get dissatisfied with yourself sometimes." Like today, despite the fact it would have been impossible for Stonegit, at this point, to be flawless training something new.

Stonegit: "I do...have regrets..." Stonegit related carefully, the grip on his blade a little looser now. "I should have been brave enough to speak with you more candidly..."

Egil: "To chase me off faster?"

Egil's response sounded like a jest on the surface, and he probably meant it only as that, but it was a valid point. As avoidant as Egil was, directness might not have worked. Thus it eased off on the idea of regrets.

Stonegit: "Eegh...good point." Stonegit related as he briefly gripped the back of his neck in thought.

"My point remains. Nothing felt right...but this, with you, did. And I am grateful. You not only invited my words, but you did not balk at them. To some that might seem trvial...but it means a great deal to me."

Egil: "Well," Egil smiled just a little, and gave a slight, respectful nod, "ah. Welcome."

Stonegit: Stonegit nodded in turn. His gratitude in Egil neither dismissing nor over complicating his openness couldn't be overstated.

But there were still some unturned stones to this conversation he ventured to address.

"Understand I hold your judgement in high regard when it comes to your own choices...given this...that mantle of which you speak. Is it anything you can come to me with?"

Egil: "I don't know where I'd even start," Egil said, staring into the middle distance.

Stonegit: "This can be all the start needed if you wish." Stonegit said, as if to open an optional, proverbial escape to the topic.

"The ears willing to hear my voice...I discovered through good fortune-"

He recalled his possession under the Warden and cleared his throat.

"Through fate-"

He recalled mutually poor choices that had resulted in...leas than desirable outcomes.

"Hm..." Stonegit rubbed a hand over his mouth.

"Through...circumstances. Nevertheless, I would prefer you not have to seek so far or low to find such a thing." His gaze became contemplative. "It can make a great difference..."

Egil: "Let's just, ah, keep this as the start," Egil hastily interjected. He wasn't unappreciative, but this was going beyond a depth he thought he could even understand.

He was a retreater. Where his father charged, Egil retreated.

Stonegit: Stonegit gave a slow, careful nod. His posture neither accommodating Egil's quick choice to balk, nor fighting against it. The man had taken a good step forward today. More than that, he had gone out of his way to try and help him without Stonegit having to ask for it first.

"Let's get something to eat." He invited.

Egil: Egil nodded in agreement. "I'm game."

It looked like some of Egil's good mood returned.

Well, it was a different emotion, wasn't it? There was less conflict than when Stonegit had invited Egil to spar, less tension than when they had sparred with sword and word. Maybe it wasn't exactly relief. But it was, as Stonegit had called it, a start.

[hubwalker1]

Gleam and Glow (Pt. 2)

[X]

She chuckled and smirked, bringing one her knees up to her chest, the other leg stretched out before her.

"Thanks." She replied. "I got it from my Dad."

[lbigreyhound13]

Silhouettes, Part 3 (BOTGD 2)

Continued from this

@furibotgd

“Keep it up, Kari!” Dagny said as she loaded yet another arrow and fired it at the soldiers.

“I’m trying, Dags!” Kari shouted back. She was sweating and wiped the sweat off her brow. “What do we do if we run low on arrows?”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Dagny replied as she fired another arrow.

[moe-lazyeye]

Race to the Edge pt 4 (botgd 2)

Part 3

"I will be here until every shard of every soul has been sorted, and sealed." Hel answered, and then gave him a coy smile, as she read his expression. "And before you run off to ruin my reputation, just know I get to be my proper bitch self elsewhere."

She settled back in her seat. "But here...I get to foster something that I had never been afforded before. I need it. And the souls that come here, including you, including the Norns, need it too..."

[battleofthegroundeddungeon]

Training the Gauntlet (Part 2)

Part 1

Egil: Stonegit certainly wasn't fighting to his usual standards. Egil had expected that since they were trying something new, but after Stonegit's curse, he frowned and said, "How long have you been working on this?"

Stonegit: Stonegit hesitated as he gave his leg another quick shake, and rubbed at his beard. "Eeeh...not...that long..."

Egil: "Then, like, you're not doing that bad," said Egil. "Catching on faster than I think I would." He gave his crooked smile, just a slight one.

Stonegit: Stonegit watched Egil as he spoke, and then a slight smile of his own crept over his expression. He lifted the sword and waved it at him a little as he raised his eyebrows. "You're making fun of me." He guessed.

Egil: "Noooo!" Egil threw his hands up in the air defensively, nearly dropping his training weapon as he did so. "You've seen me over the years! Fenrir and Frigga, you've seen me recently. Not everything comes easy." He paused, smirked, then said, "Though I can make fun of you."

Stonegit: "No!" Stonegit said quickly as his eyes momentarily widened, before they righted themselves. "No." He added again, a little more dignified this time. He sighed, and then gave Egil a very sincere nod, more than appreciative of his words now that he understood them.

Stonegit once again resumed his stance. "There is very little I would seek to correct about your blade work Egil, especially recently."

Egil: Egil swung his blade around once, but he didn't mirror getting in stance.

"You ask me if I'm joking, I'm gonna ask you if you're flattering," said Egil. He'd seemed in a decent mood since Stonegit came to him, but a little something... dropped... in this moment. He looked tired. More... emotionally worn. Hollow, maybe. "Like. Maybe it's more about saying something is right because everything's been wrong recently."

Stonegit: They are so alike...

Stonegit couldn't help the thought, but it helped remind him what to do. There had been some, if not significant, emotional acrobatics that had gone into successfully communicating with certain male members of the Haddock family. Stonegit certainly didn't want to dismiss this moment of vulnerability, but he also knew better than to lean too strongly into it. So he did his best to meet Egil's expression, posture and tone somewhere in the middle.

"It is right to say that if we truly fought, you would win." Stonegit said. "But not in the face of any wrongs or flattery, but just because it's true, and you are warranted that credit even to yourself." He carefully slipped his training sword into his belt, as if to wordlessly invite a reprieve from training, and open the floor to allow the thought Egil had started to continue.

Egil: Egil shrugged, eyebrows dancing up and down for a moment as he thought, and he paced in a lopsided-circle. It only took a few seconds. He then stared at Stonegit with that ever-present crooked smirk. His eyes hadn't lightened up, though. They were still hollow.

"I'm not the one being tested here," he said. "And as far as any credit to myself... well, it's all new." The 'it' was not the fighting. With Egil's vague gesture to the whole castle, he was clearly referring to kingship. "You're relearning to fight without fucking shit up, I'm learning to sit on a throne and pretend it doesn't make me itch."

He swung the training weapon again.

"So take my words that you're doing okay given where you're at, dammit."

Stonegit: There was more at stake now in Stonegit's mind. His focus shifted away from the need for practice, and instead turned towards Egil.

Stonegit knew the look of empty eyes but a forced smile. He had seen it on too many friend. He had seen it on himself. A man he considered a son now had that look, and perhaps the only way he could keep him talking about it was to give Egil something to do with his hands so that he would allow his thoughts and words to flow with the freedom they needed.

He would have to be able to hold his own...

His opponent being a Haddock now implied an extra layer of challenge.

This time Stonegit started with a dodge. It wasn't his fortie as a bodyguard, but if he couldn't defend himself he wouldn't be able to defend others. His arm left arm came around at Egil's return swing, and let his wooden blade lightly guide Egil's off to the side.

It was more testing the waters above anything else.

"You're right...I accept." Stonegit said, as he and Egil paced a quick circle after the clash. "And what would you take of my words should I say the same about you?"

Egil: "About fighting?" Egil scoffed, circling low, then twisting into an offensive thrust. "We both already know I can do that!"

Stonegit: This time Stonegit's sword caught Egil's so he could control it just enough to grab his wrist and take a quick stab at his midsection.

The grip didn't stay though, and Stomegit's chance to score a point missed Egil comfortably, although the bodyguard was happy he had gotten closer that time.

"Your kingship." Stonegit clarified. "You've learned far more than just how to supress an itch."

Egil: "This isn't!" Egil snapped, "about me!" He lashed out hard, a rough swing, atypical to his more fluid style, knocking Stonegit across the cheek.

Stonegit: The strike from the wooden blade caused Stonegit's face to turn, but not snap harshly to the side. He had been, regrettably, hit harder too often in the past for that. Even as the skin of his cheek bone parted partially over the old crescent scar around his eye, Stonegit's calloused hand came up, and ripped the sword from Egil's grip, just as it had done countless times before whenever Egil had made a rash move during training.

Eye squinted and face scrunched around the small cut, Stonegit spat lightly off to the side as excess saliva had rushed to his mouth.

Posture relatively unchanged, Stonegit waited for a moment. To let the adrenaline fade. To allow any tempted anger to cool, and to allow both of them a moment to, perhaps, collect their thoughts.

Egil: Stonegit's actions effectively made Egil pause. He stood there for a short moment, the heavy inhales and exhales of someone exercising abating. Egil eventually shook his head and grimaced, slightly, before mumbling, "I'm better than that."

It had been a short slip. Some days he felt angry and bitter dawn to dusk, other days he was drowning in sorrowed disbelief. Today was better, and he had been enjoying the exercise with Stonegit. But the raw wound of losing a father and accepting a heavy burden he didn't feel qualified for was fresh, so even on the good days, insecurity would make its mark.

There wasn't time to have gotten better at kingship. And he knew that. Months weren't enough to get the grips on the intricacy of rulership, and chances were, he'd make worse slips in the next few years before he found a stride. But he didn't want to be better, either. This was his father's role, not his own, and talking about it as though it was something he could improve upon was rubbing in the wound that Egil was here at all. Who'd decided someone like him should lead? Why not Jonas! There was no compliment that could suggest Egil was "doing a good job." It was all a dour existence, a hard weight he'd flee from if such an option had existed.

Stonegit: Far be it from Stonegit to assume, but there were days it were as if Egil's thoughts where written in out in front of him like a sprawling runestone. He carefully pushed forward his arm to offer the King his training sword again. "Yes you are." He said, and meant it.

His face then fell a little. Egil's expression was known to him, the ghost of what had been there the day Egil had learned Gareth had died. It ripped open a wound deep within him for the same reason.

Stonegit had decided silence was best first, this time he went out a limb. "Egil, neither of the burdens on your shoulders were meant to be carried alone..."

Egil: "Then by all means," Egil said, "take them." It was sardonic, maybe a little sarcastic, but also... open enough. He wasn't reacting poorly to Stonegit's statement. Maybe, though he hadn't processed it yet, it was something he needed to hear.

Stonegit: "If I could take it all I would." Stonegit told him, his arm still extended, the moment frozen between them in a way.

He gave a low exhale, and then stepped forward as he put away his own blade, and placed a hand over Egil's heart. "But I can't...and what is in you, just like all of us, will come out one way, or another." A small droplet of blood mimicked a tear on his cut cheek. "So let it be words..."

[hubwalker1]

Lila nods hearing the report from the forward team. "Glad to hear it. Thought we might have lost you down there for a few minutes."

Her eyes scan over the battlefield, taking in the details as her tactical mind starts using them to calculate the timing. "Faysal, start the charge across. I went men through the gate moments after it's down. Jari, start bringing in the big guns. Forward team start bringing our soldiers into the city."

"You got it boss." The voice of the younger Ericson answered back. The trebuchets were wheeled back in exchange for cannons. As Faysal began the charge across, the air filled with loud crack, smoke, and the smell of black powder. Cannon balls flew through the air and began to impact against the wall with greater force than the trebuchets could hope to muster.

Lila watched this with satisfaction. This wasn't over, not by a long shot. But it was the first steps.

Silhouettes in the Night

Seeing Lila in this light was a welcomed change.

Blair's previous encounter with the Commander was less than ideal, much to his own credit, but seeing her steadfast approach to leading those under her was almost entrancing. Still clinging to the beacon fashioned against him, he stood near the gate cresting above the waters below. The commotion of battle, even if just speech in his current location, was jarring to his already sensitive ears; he couldn't help but wince at any sudden noise.

Not able to see the source of the command barked to his left, Blair felt himself recoil- only to then feel a set of paws envelop his ears.

"Start wearing something over your ears, Blair."

The ferret spun around, the momentum of the beacon nearly causing him to stumble to the feet of the taller copper man. The timbre of his voice was unmistakable.

"E-Ellis?" the mustelid stuttered in disbelief. "You... how are ye' here?"

"Easy, they didn't say no." The fox chuckled, placing his paws on either side of Blair's reddened face. "Dario mentioned you'd be here, and I wasn't going to sit back while mi amor saunters into danger."

"Do ye' see who we're in te' company of?" Blair forced an incredulous look to his parter, further turning to glance at the populous present in their vicinity. He could see the stag and the goat; inseparable. The sweet girl with her strange father... there was no shortage of fight to be had. "The last thing any of us will be doin' is saunterin'!"

"Calm yourself. I'm trying to bring some levity." The canid looked to the gate ahead, awaiting any signal from Lila to progress. "But I will say, I didn't expect any of this."

Blair studied the light armor and blade that adorned Ellis- it was in this moment he realized that he'd never seen his partner in any combat situation, and vice versa.

"I would 'ave been plussed if ye' had." The ferret sighed, feeling at least a semblance of relief in the present moment. "Either way, I'm glad te' have ye' here."