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mybg3notebook · 3 years

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Astarion Analysis

Disclaimer Game Version: All these analyses were made up to the game version v4.1.101.4425. As long as new content is added, and as long as I have free time for that, I will try to keep updating this information.

“Morals are all well and good, but power always wins.”

“If all I want is shallow praise? Hardly, there is also gold, sex, revenge, quite the list, really. But failing any of those, I will always settle for shallow praise.”

--Astarion

The majority of sources used for this article are in the game itself (including Astarion-solo playthroughs) and the dev’s notes and datamined information provided by pjenn. Astarion as origin is (almost) not taken into account since it’s not finished and is highly unpolished.

The itemised list will show some instances of approval or disapproval as seen in the game. To make the reading of this article easier and shorter, you can skip them since they are basically the proof I use to sustain the introductory concept of each block.

We can infer a lot of Astarion by analysing what he approves and disapproves of. Sometimes, we can even lightly infer some information from his neutral reactions, but let’s be honest: this way of analysing a char is pretty poor since it leaves everything to speculation. Neutral reactions can only be analysed by contrasting the same situation in other contexts, and seeing what other options Astarion approves or disapproves of. With these considerations in mind, we can proceed to describe this character.

Disclaimer: this is a meta with my personal interpretation of the character, sticking as much as possible to the facts and leaving little to “desires” or “projections” of what I want him to be. If I do so, I will state it explicitly in the text for the sake of analysis honesty. I want to be clear about what is canon (facts shown in bg3 EA), from what’s personal interpretation with little proof.

Also, this list is extensive, gathering as much as I could in my many playthroughs, but I’m sure it’s not absolutely complete. Some details may have escaped to me, but honestly, I believe they will be easily fit in these blocks once the pattern has been seen.

Understanding Astarion by enumerating his reactions

Astarion is usually seen as a character whose behaviour is the embodiment of “randomness”, and after several Astarion-solo playthoughts, I began to see the patterns that showed little randomness in my opinion.

We can say that he likes gratuitous cruelty and murder. He has a special taste for animal cruelty too. He is greedy, but mostly if it leads to murder or to make little people suffer. Sometimes this greedy side comes from the fact that he doesn’t like to “work for free”: most quests should have a reward for him to be neutral to them. Accepting them without asking anything in return tends to earn a disapproval. He is more reticent to humiliate or outsmart NPCs that may be potentially stronger and more powerful than him.

[[1]] Situations showing his greed:

He supports the robbery of the fishermen that were helping the mind flayer (MF) after the crash.

Astarion supports stealing the “magical” ring from the tiefling kid (Mattis). This could be seen also as a gesture of outsmarting a person or mere trickster behaviour (see below).

He supports asking for compensation from the deep gnome we saved at the windmill.

He agrees to force Tulla (dying gnome in the myconid camp) to give you her magical boots.

Denying Baelen the scrolls because “they don’t come cheap”.

He approves pickpocketing Mirkon while being lured by the harpies.

[[2]]Situations displaying plain murder or violence:

He supports joining Lae’zel against the tieflings if you persuade them to free her, since this means killing (which is always an entertainment for him) creatures he considers lesser.

He supports killing Gimblebok and his gang near the Jergal ruins if you avoid any attempt of persuasion. This can be shown as a demonstration of power. (see below)

He supports killing Kagha without trying to persuade her or change her ways, not because he thinks Arabella’s death was an aberration (he enjoyed the show, as his approval and later comment confirm it) but simply because he enjoys murder.

He supports attacking the goblin camp. It’s a great spectacle of murder combined with his personal dismiss towards goblinoid races.

He approves of joining Minthara and massacrating the tieflings. It’s another great spectacle of murder, but in this time, of weak people (He detests weak creatures, and despises Tieflings in general).

He approves of killing Lae’Zel in the scene where she attacks Tav during the night, out of fear of turning into MF.

He approves of killing Rugan in the hideout.

Still related to this level of violence and cruelty, he supports learning more about Shar once Shadowheart explains Shar’s teachings, all about violence and death, fighting against the illusion of safety.

He approves killing Ellyka, the tiefling spying on the Gith patrol, if Tav is a Githyanki (true or disguised as) and chooses “Attack.”

He approves of helping Glut in massacring the whole Myconid colony.

He approves of sacrificing one of the companions to the fish-people who worship Booal.

He approves fighting the fake god Booal because it’s a massacre; where there is bloodshed, there is Astarion’s approval.

For the same reason he approves killing the Githyanki patrol: pure bloodshed.

[[3]] Situations of gratuitous cruelty: I understand that a lot of people confuse this trait of his personality as a “trolling attitude”. There are different archetypes of tricksters in DnD, and he is not particularly the silly-funny one (e.i. Jester in Critical Role), but the cruel-funny one. His “pranks” don’t cause annoyance or silly troubles, they usually end up in murdering the person he is pranking, or causing them great pain. What he considers “funny” is always related to a lot of blood and suffering. Examples of this:

He disapproves of diffusing the situation between Aradin and Zevlor after the first goblin attack. He is “missing” his show. This situation is also related to enjoying humiliation of others (see below).

After letting Arka kill the goblin and take her revenge, Astarion will approve the comment that refugees are desperate and they will do anything. He is enjoying the show of despair of weak creatures. And he is also expecting for some of them to become survivalist beasts.

He approves of telling Kagha that you enjoyed the show of Arabella’s death as an answer to her question about if she is a monster.

He also approves of telling Arabella's parents that Kagha will release their daughter when the Rite of Thorns is completed (while Arabella, in fact, has been killed by Kagha's snake). This is another example of Evil Trickster, a prank with a really dark taste. This also shows that Astarion likes to give false hopes [One of the most iconic characteristic of Cazador]

He approves of telling the tiefling kids training with Wyll that they are going to die, inspiring that despair he enjoys to see in weak creatures. (see below)

He approves of breaking Alfira’s teacher’s lute, leaving the tiefling heartbroken because that had been the only memento she got from her teacher, and could not finish her tribute song.

Astarion approves of interrupting the goblinoid couple having sex, which he considers disgusting. After killing them, Astarion will support the idea that it was funny. Another example of Evil Trickster where the prank ends up with the death of the pranked one. But we also know Astarion despises goblinoid races.

He approves of killing Crusher after humiliating him.

He supports Tav who volunteers to torture Liam at the goblin camp.

He supports of laughing at Lorin (the elf trapped in Ethel’s house) after pretending to be the monster he sees (psychological torture). This example can be part of the list of humiliation too.

He states that seeing Mayrina’s horrified face after resurrecting her husband was funny. Another example of false hopes [One of the most iconic characteristics of Cazador] On the contrary, if Tav kills the undead afterwards, Astarion will disapprove, since he missed the “fun” of seeing Mayrina tortured.

He enjoys every state of Abdirak’s torture upon Tav. This can be seen as a fine bloody show he is enjoying, or as a way to put Tav in a humiliating situation (as he approved the dung-smearing or the foot-kissing instances)

Using the leader gnoll Flind to attack her own gnolls earns his approval. Asking her to devour herself increases approval once more. This situation could also be seen as enjoyment of animal cruelty (since gnolls are considered animals by Astarion too) but also as the reflection of Astarion’s inner desire of becoming a Master of bending wills.

Probably the most innocent prank so far we saw, he approves of doing Baaa at the redcaps in the Bog.

[[4]] As I said previously, he suports any form of animal cruelty:

He approves of kicking and killing the squirrel Timber in the Druid Grove. According to the dev’s notes, he is “shocked and annoyed” because “you stamped a squirrel to death when he could’ve eaten it.” (DEN_General_Squirrel)

He supports prodding to death the bird that Nettie was healing during the dialogue (you need Speak with Animals for this).

He supports freeing the Owlbear cub at the Goblin Camp, and feeding it later, because he wants to bite the owlbear cub eventually (he uses the word “delectable” to describe him, and when the owlbear escapes, Astarions states “You‘ve scared off the little snack.”)

When we find Halsin in his bear form, Astarion will have two instances of approval: the first one when Tav tells the goblin kids that throwing stones with sharp edges would hurt the animal more, and then when Tav themself joins the goblins in throwing rocks at Halsin.

We can also add the confrontation with Flind, the Gnoll leader, as another example of animal cruelty since he approves a smart yet twisted way of killing her by double-using the tadpole. First to command her to attack the gnolls, and then to devour herself. However, since Gnolls are considered aberrations lore-wise, this point could be left aside in this particular case.

If we take into consideration that Astarion sees Goblins, Kobolds, and Gnomes as animals, killing them always increases his approval. This happens when we kill, out of the blue, most goblin NPCs, or simply attack the camp. (Datamined content) He will also approve of killing slave gnomes in Duergar Encampment (place you find after the boat). All these moments can be also seen as “animal” cruelty if we take into account Astarion’s perspective.

He approves of killing Priestess Gut in the Goblin Camp. It could also be interpreted as his usual dismissal towards goblins (he sees them as animals), since he never believed that she could help them in the first place. Or this approval can fit perfectly fine the cruel, murderous aspect of Astarion. As I said, many approvals overlap different aspects of Astarion, but all seem to fit his patterns either way.

I suspect that the reason behind this particular kind of cruelty comes from those two hundred years of torture, in which he had to drink animal blood. Considering he was such an unfair magistrate, directing his rage against the ones who are not the root of the problem seems fitting.

[[5]] Astarion is filled with racial bias and prejudices.

He only sees elves and humans as the only creatures capable of thinking. (Scene after the bite)

However, he has strong biases against a particular ethnic group of humans: Gurs. He thinks they are all cut-throat, and probably would approve the rest of stereotypes that Gandrel added in that scene. (Scene of meeting Gandrel)

He mocks halfling and dwarf Tavs, who he thinks are naturally weak, until they prove him wrong. (Stargaze scene for short-sized Tav)

He supports the idea that tieflings have demonic powers just because of their heritage. (Speaking with the Grove halfling seller). During the party, he compares the lives of the tieflings with the lives of the goblins as something of similar value (which we know he considers as animal).

He sees goblins, kobolds, and gnomes as animals. (Scene after the bite)

After killing the goblinoid couple which was having sex, if Tav choose to say that the situation made them scrub their eyes, Astarion would add and extra “dehumanizing” comment against gnomes. “I’ve seen worse. Gnomes can be… ughh.” (Scene of interrupting sex)

[[6]] He finds pleasure in humiliating people or in outsmarting them, especially if they are trying to outsmart Tav. He dislikes weakness and loves to humiliate weak people in particular.

He approves telling Lae’Zel to say “please” when we met her again in the cage, humiliating her.

He disapproves of diffusing the situation between Aradin and Zevlor after the first goblin attack. We know he is “missing” his show where one of them is being humiliated.

Astarion approves of telling Elegis that she is pathetic for being scared of a few goblins. Once more, humiliation due to weakness.

He disapproves of telling Arabella's parents that the Druids overreacted when speaking in the Druid Grove’s stairs. He is disapproving for defending a weak and silly creature who was not smart enough to survive on her own.

Astarion supports stealing the “magical” ring from the tiefling kid. This is another situation of humiliation of a weak person and outsmarting them. This could be considered a prank of a more silly-funny trickster doing an innocent prank.

He approves of telling the tiefling kids that they are going to die.

He feels disappointed when Lae’Zel did not kill Zorru, the tiefling that she forces to kneel and confess where he saw the Gith patrol. He approves the psychological torture of the interrogation.

He enjoys interrupting the goblinoid couple having sex. This is an example of the prank cruel-funny trickster. This “prank” ends up with the goblinoid couple being killed.

Astarion approves of smearing dung in the guard's face at the goblin camp entrance. The show of seeing someone being humiliated is satisfying.

He supports booing and humiliating Volo off the stage in the goblin camp.

He supports licking the goblin’s foot (It could also be considered a prank).

He supports kissing the goblin’s foot while stealing the ring. This situation puts two things he enjoys in the same place: the humiliation experienced by Tav and how the Crusher was outsmarted in the process. Astarion will approve if Crusher is the one humiliated and forced to kiss Tav’s foot.

He approves of laughing at Lorin (the elf trapped in Ethel’s house) when the elf is scared of Tav who pretends to be the monster that’s torturing him.

Humiliating “low people'' is an important aspect of Astarion’s personality, since it’s a small petty pleasure he can have now, when during the last two hundred years it had been done to him. Humiliation has to do with power as well, another symbol tight to Astarion’s personality. Through humiliation Astarion can taste a little bit of power, that power he lacked for two hundred years. That power that, if his backstory is not retconned in future versions or in the full release game, he had before turning into a vampire, abusing those groups he considered less.

[[7]] If we think in power, we also have to think in manipulation. And of course, Astarion is a great master of it. Sometimes the events that stand out his taste for manipulation overlap with the ones displayed in the humiliation section.

Since the moment we meet Astarion, we know he keeps working in turning himself into a pleasant and useful companion for Tav. Astarion knows he has bigger chances to succeed and survive staying with this group. A lot of his “neutral” behaviours respond to this goal: he doesn’t want to enrage Tav to the point of being kicked out of the party, it’s not about a hidden gentle side inside he is showing with an apathetic neutrality, it’s, once more, raw preservation and survival. During the first scenes of the game, when we don’t know he is a vampire, Astarion tries to avoid taking a position in the situations we face: he is just feeling the ground all the time: with Sazza and with Arabella’s death is clear. He doesn’t judge hard, he is testing Tav, he is trying to understand their mind, and acting as pleasant as he can according to what he sees. It’s a natural use of manipulation to guarantee his survival in a group of strangers. During the bite scene—when this façade finally ends—he is truly nervous of being killed for his vampiric nature, and tries to convince Tav of keeping him in the group using arguments that go from seduction to practical usefulness.

The scene of stargaze also shows his usage of seduction as a manipulative tool to guarantee his survival (he weponises seduction and sex). Although he says mostly the same, he reacts very differently in tone depending on Tav’s approach. If Tav is wary, Astarion will act encouraging their ego and enumerating several feats, while getting uncomfortably closer. If Tav is already interested in Astarion, the elf will use softer manners to keep the seduction into a more intimate tone. This is a scene of a predator tasting his future prey as well (Dev’s notes are pretty clear about his manipulation). In this scene, also, Astarion is light-headed because he has not drunk blood in a while, and has “his head foggy” (something we can repeat during his origin as a personal tag). Exact words he will use as a narrative hint during the bite scene. Therefore, this scene has little of “Astarion falling for Tav”, and has everything of vampiric hunger combined with a raw sense of survival and usage of seduction to guaranteed it.

(potential interpretation) He approves when he is persuaded into sharing his dream with Tav. In any other character, we usually would understand this as an approval for caring about the character himself. In that scenario, failing the approval doesn’t cause a penalty (unless the character understands this failure as prying, as it happens with Shadowheart). In Astarion’s case, when you fail this persuasion, you are penalised with a disapproval. We can understand this in the same way we see it with Shadowheart: this is his annoyance for prying into his personal business. But there is another interpretation in this disapproval: he recognised a bad execution of persuasion as a manipulative attempt, and Astarion is in particular very sensitive to manipulations and mind games (see point [12]).

Most of his “romance” is manipulation as well, keeping in mind the first point of this section: he becomes pleasant for Tav, using whatever shape he needs, so he can survive (this is especially noticeable with a good-aligned Tav). Astarion has weaponised seduction and sex without any hint of subtetly for the player (As the Dev’s notes say: “For Astarion, this is a game of power - one he’s played many times before in the taverns of Baldur’s Gate, trying to lure people back to his master. He’s an old hand at seduction, very self-assured at first, but the player might not go along with the script he expects them to follow.”) We can assure that Astarion will find more satisfaction in having “fun” with a high-approval Tav rather than a low-approval Tav.

If Tav is not evil enough (and therefore has a low approval), Astarion will need to be the one inviting Tav to have sex (to be sure the control is still in his hand, still pushing for “catching” Tav). If a low-approval-Tav invites Astarion, he will decline saying that he “has standards'', implying he needs to be the one controlling the situation (he is basically playing “hard to catch”. Astarion already knows that he “caught” Tav in this scenario since Tav was the first one showing their interest). If Tav is evil-like (and has enough approval), Astarion will not only weaponise sex, he may express some degree of personal desire in having “fun” with Tav. After all, evil characters can like one another. In this case, he would accept Tav’s invitation for more hedonist reasons such as personal pleasure and not mere survival. Still it’s always present the layer of using this situation as a manipulative tool to have control on Tav.

Approves persuading Crusher without a fight, understanding it as an approval earnt for the good manipulation tool used. Of course this scene is combined with the natural approval that Astarion gives when outsmarting creatures he considers lower or animal-like (See point [6]).

Successfully persuade Lae'Zel to "play along" when meeting the Githyanki patrol, and pull off the deception.

I personally found funny that Astarion, without the intention of the writer, is so good in his manipulations, that he broke the fourth wall and ended up manipulating a good amount of players as well into believing him.

[[8]] He supports revenge in all its forms and degrees, which is not strange since it’s his main motivation against Cazador.

He approves of letting Arka kill Sazza in the cage as revenge for her brother’s death.

He approves of the attack against Nettie when she poisons Tav.

He approves of telling Edowin's siblings to find the beast that attacked him as a way to avenge the True Soul.

Astarion approves of Arabella’s mother killing Kagha at the party.

He approves of helping the Sovereign to take revenge against the Duergars that killed their young. However, it’s not clear if Astarion approves the revenge itself or the method proposed, which is, according to his own words, “a bit genocidal” and therefore more entertaining for him (we need to remember he enjoys the display of murder and violence in all its forms, [2,3]).

He approves of helping Glut in massacring the whole Myconid colony, since according to Glut’s words, they saw Glut’s circle being killed by the Duergars and did nothing, so Glut is looking for revenge.

[[9]] He doesn’t like to get involved in anyone’s problems unless you can obtain a benefit or a reward for it (this is directly connected to his greed aspect [1])

He approves of telling Mayrina’s brothers that they are on their own, and actively disapproves if Tav agrees to help them find Mayrina.

He approves of declining to help Halsin in killing the Goblin leaders.

He disapproves of helping Wyll to save the Tiefling refugees in the Grove.

He disapproves of helping Zevlor.

He disapproves of finding evidence that confirms that Kagha is working with Shadow Druids. He will additionally disapprove again if, after exposing her, Tav asks her to change her ways. From Astarion’s point of view, Tav is basically meddling too much in the Grove’s problems for free, and ruining all the instances where murder could happen.

He also disapproves if Tav agrees to help the two Zhentarim humans that are attacked by gnolls without asking for compensation.

He approves of not getting involved in the rescue of the Duke when Tav speaks with Florrick

[[10]] Despite having been a slave, he lacks of empathy for those who shared his fate and, instead, he supports slavery:

If we take into consideration what Swen said about his background in one of the first playthough he showed, we know that Astarion, as a magistrate, used criminals as food for local vampires, and in an attempt to outsmart them, he began to sell them into slavery (we can see in this brief background that Astarion has been greedy and cruel before turning into a vampire).

Although he disapproves paying for Oskar, the painter in the Zhentarim Hideout, he does it because of the money. When Tav buys the painter and demands him to stay silent because “slaves should speak when they are spoken to”, Oskar will think this is a joke (which is not the case, since none of those options has, in this patch at least, a (performance) tag). When Tav reinforces the idea that this is not a joke, and Oskar is now a true slave, only then, Astarion will approve.

When seeing one of the servant Duergars of the Myconite Colony, Astarion will comment on how useful they are, and how Underdark drows should learn about these creatures, since these slaves are more efficient than the standard ones. If Tav brings awareness about the contradiction that those thoughts cause coming from an ex-slave, Astarion will justify his thinking saying that they are husks without mind, claiming that his feelings “may be different, had they been conscious beings. Or maybe not.” He emphasises in this dual possibility. And we can be sure that he certainly would not care slavery on conscious creatures, as we confirm it later with Oskar (A human who is not a Gur, and therefore, a creature that Astarion consider thinking acceptable beings).

(Datamined content) When reaching the Duergar Encampment, once Nere is rescued, there is approval for killing the slave gnomes when the True Soul orders it. One can interpret that Astarion minds little for these slaves because they are gnomes, and therefore, animals.

[[11]] He looks for power and dominance, to have control over others and also as a way to guarantee his own freedom.

In the discussion after every dream, Astarion supports the use of the tadpole's power in every opportunity, dismissing their effects. He is thrilling for the ability of bending everyone’s will (curious note, this is one of Cazador’s characteristics most hated by him)

He approves of letting the Koa-Toes bow before them as the Booal's chosen. This scene can be understood as a typical prank of a trickster, but also as a taste for being adored as a master/entity with more power. This scene shows that he and Tav are placed in the “Master” position. This reinforces the idea that Astarion wants to be a Master/Cazador, eventually. (Check post about Astarion and Power 1 and 2)

If Tav claims that the worship to them as True Souls can be useful after letting Edowin’s siblings leave, Astarion will approve. He shows in every instance more delight for having Cazador’s powers, making emphasis in the mind control ability, again.

Astarion approves of keeping the Necromancy of Thay tome. As we see later in his scene, he believes that there is something powerful hidden in it that may help him against Cazador. He wants to muster all the power of any kind he can.

Astarion approves of sparing Auntie Ethel’s life when she surrenders during battle because she will grant them power in exchange. He wants to muster all the power of any kind he can.

[[12]] Astarion is particularly sensitive to mind control. His expressions and the tone of his voice against any type of mind control are filled with feral ire (video here):

He is angrily affected by the movements of his worm in his own head,

He screams against Ethel’s control when using the mask,

The insults at the harpies when he is lured,

The way he is annoyed by the telepathic spores in the Underdark,

He disapproves failed attempts of persuasion (understood by his character as failed, obvious attempts of manipulations).

And, potentially, this is the reason why he disapproves of Priestess Gut cleaning Tav’s mind.

[[13]] Because he likes power, he also likes the demonstration of power whether his own or his allies’, therefore he likes most intimidation options in general

He approves of intimidating Gimblebok and the gang near the ruins.

He approves of intimidating or provoking both Aradin and Zevlor at the Druid Grove.

At camp, when discussing preferred methods of death, he approves if Tav tells him "If I die, I'll take you with me." (after first picking "Try it and I'll spill your guts") . He also approves if Tav chooses a method of death (decapitation, knife, poison). Both options show resolve, strength, and freedom in deciding one’s fate. Since Astarion died at the hands of strangers, he values the freedom of choosing how to die. He will disapprove picking the option of letting others decide your death.

He approves if you intimidate the mirror into allowing passage.

[[14]] He is a survivalist character, and therefore, a lot of his approvals are related to elements that will guarantee his life, such as looking for his own freedom, the acceptance of his vampire nature, and the encouragement in looking for strong alliances or keeping alive strong individuals that can be useful as allies.

He approves of being accepted with his vampire nature and allowing him to feed on Tav’s blood. He keeps approving if Tav defends him during the exchange of opinions in the camp.

He approves if he has permission to feed on enemies.

He approves of killing Gandrel. This approval is also mere raw survival.

He approves if during sex, Tav allows him to drink their blood.

He disapproves of promising Nettie to take Wyvern Poison if you feel symptoms of the Tadpole, since it goes against his survival instinct.

When Lae’Zel is killed by the Gith patrol, he will state in banter that it was a waste since Lae’Zel was a powerful/strong specimen, so clearly he is lamenting the loss of a powerful ally.

Despite appreciating his freedom, he has explicitly stated that he “would choose servitude over oblivion any day”, showing how extremely survivalist he can be.

[[15]] He likes to find a solution to their tadpole problem using unconventional ways, or at least, using options that may lead him to the twisted solution he needs (which is not exactly being cured of the tadpole, but to control it, he certainly needs more exceptional means)

He approves of telling Auntie Ethel about the tadpole in the Druid Grove simply because she “looks lunatic”.

At first, Astarion disapproves of Raphael's invitation to remove the Tadpole, claiming that he would not change one master for another. However, when the situation starts looking dire, he will approve of the idea, because anything “may be better than Cazador” adding later that he “would choose servitude over oblivion any day.”

A bit contradictory when he was the first one claiming that Raphael used mind games similar to Cazador’s, games they know they have won before starting.

[[16]] He has a “soft spot” for helping people to escape their masters or killing/rejecting people that can be seen as Masters. However it’s requirement that those escapees could be seen by Aastarion as strong and capable creatures. He would mind little for creatures he sees as underlings. (Weak concept, seeing it with squinted eyes)

He approves of helping Karlach to get rid of the Tyr followers, since they are in fact working for Zariel, Karlach’s previous master. With all what Karlach explained about her past, she certainly qualifies as a strong person who is trying to get rid of her master.

He disapproves of Tav who tells Raphael that they would do anything to remove the Tadpole. This is probably resounding in Astarion: his past bad choice when he was at death's door due to the Gur attack and Cazador appeared to “save” him. He knows that going to that extent has poor results.

Astarion approves of Tav if they say that they won’t become Raphael's pawn (conversation in the camp after the encounter with Raphael). It’s true that when the other options narrow, Astarion starts to consider the possibility of changing a vampiric master for an infernal one.

This post was written on April 2021.

→ For more Astarion: Analysis Series Index

#astarion #bg3 early access #bg3 meta

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popculturebuffet · 4 years

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The Owl House: Enchanting Grom Fright: Happy Valentine’s Gays

Happy Valentine’s Day owl ladies, gentleman and non-binary folks! It’s time to finish off this holiday in proper style with a LONG overdue review of enchanting Grom Fright and even longer overdue coverage of the Owl House. The Owl House was one of the best debuts of last year if not THE best, only in contention because Close Enough also started last year and looks to surpass regular show in terms of quality. But with stunning animation, tons of representation, and colossal worldbuilding. And given how i’m on record for thinking Star Vs went so far down the tubes they bumped into where Cthulu is sleeping, it’s nice to have another magic based show that seems to be on the right track: carefully building i’ts world, supporting cast and for today’s topic main romance. It also rather than just obliquely hint one character was bi and the other pan, actually goes out of it’s way to have a bisexual protaginst with a gay love intrest. As my good friend @jess-the-vampire has brought up quite a bit, star had plnety of options. .but no willingness to actually campaign for any queer rep, the way Gravity Falls head Alex Hirsch tried to, he still gets credit for trying, and Owl House creator Dana Terrace gets full credit for.

Terrace got her start working on Gravity Falls in line production before working her way up to directing for ducktales, being instrumental in how Webby was animated and how she moves and acts, and being the director for several classic season one episodes including “Woo-Hoo!”, “The Spear of Selene” , “Day of the Only Child!” which was one of my faviorites from season 1 and “The Beagle Birthday Massacre!”. And while I can’t 100% confirm she’s the only part responsible for starting Weblena, given she was director on an episode where a lot of the romantic subtext was in the visuals, she certainly helped so thank you Dana. Thank you a lot. Their adorable. Point is she’s a talented lady and wasn’t satisfied with directing, so she pitched her own show, combining tons of ides and stuff including of all things, Pokemon Red. I checked the article wikipedia had sourced, it was one of her happy childhood memories as it was one of the last things her dad gave her. Awwwwwww. That’s as sweet as it is painful. She’s also currently dating Alex Hirsch, something I was entirely unaware of but find also adorable. Point is i’m glad I looked into her as she’s a very nice person, and very much my kind of weirdo and i’m happy for her sucess and her singuarly weird show that sprung from that sucess.

Now that part of it’s out of the way the episode itself was an uphill battle as you’d expect. As anyone familiar with this blog is aware, but just in case your new, you tend to hear me bitching about Disney’s handling of queer represntation a LOT

For the most part Disney’s pretty bad at it: There was the string of “FIRST GAY CHARACTER IN AN X” they had going for a while.. that consisted of a character I dind’t realize was gay, a kiss I didn’t see, and a talk with a character who I honestly wouldn’t of been looking for had disney not patted themselves on the back with some giant sized hands because htey saved some pym particles for that occasion. Ducktales was unable to have Penumbra come out as gay more clearly because I don’t know Ducks can’t be day.. but they can be IMPLIED to be gay or pansexual as hard as the crew possibly can so they win anyway. Pixar was able to have a gay lead character for one of it’s sparks shorts out and even focused on him coming out of the closet and it’s very good and something I WILL give Pixar credit for... but not Disney Plus who go out of their way to not mention the lead being gay.. despite the fact the short opens with a gay space cat riding a gay space dog out of a rainbow and then it being revaled our lead is in a relationship not long into the short. My point is the idiots who won’t watch this for having gay characters are just going to turn it off, who cares what they think, why are you like this Disney. They need to do better, and be better and i’m getting tired of this shit.

That being said... this episode is a step in the right directoin as despite having to get past one obstructive asshole, not her words but damn if it isn’t the truth, as the rest of hte execs were fine with having a gay character, Terrace fought hard for it and WON, having a clearly gay character, and a clear road to a gay romace as the lead one, all because she wanted some representation in her works. So to honor this, I present this review in honor of love, effort and saying screw you to not having represntation because money. Join me under the cut and allt hat.

We open in the owl house, in the owl house, duck dodge push and shove, it’s how we show our love in the.. you get the point. Luz is learning yet another Rune, this time plant runes.. and already something I love about the series pops up: the fact Luz’s rise in skill is gradual but noticable. Each spell noticably improves in potency with time, going from simple lights to shaping them into simple constructs, and learning to control or time her spells and glpyhs so they launch she she says so, with each one getting more powerful the more she learns. And on top of that osmething I just noticed on rewatch of this episode is her tecnique in finding them evolved, something I dind’t notice the first time because I hadn’t fully caught up and checked this one out to see if Disney would actually let them go through with it.. and they did. Point is her first spell is found by accident, her second by realizing how her magic works fundemntally, both require skilled deduction and on the fly thinking and casting, so she’s already pretty skilled.. but now sh’es ACTIVELY seeking out a new spell here for the first time. She knows how she gets them, she knows each school is tied to a form, and she likely got the plant from williow since that’s her thing and she’s a saint. A demon but also a saint. They can have those too. It’s what I assume relicor is.

I miss that goblin demon bat man. Point is it shows an evolution in Luz’s thinking: while it’s a subtle thing she took a more proactive approach this time even if it took a lot of practice.. and it pay soff as by the time of her next rune, while it’s once again sorta handed to her she has less time to learn it, almost none, and finds it singed onto a ball.. and learns it effortlessly to the point where by the next episode it’s a crucial plot point. IT’s subtle but clever character progression, and stuff I really enjoy, showing our hero going from a bit inept but not helpless or incomptient.. to a force to be reckconed with and far more clever and strategic than yo’ud expect given her sometimes reckless and almost always happy go lucky attitude.

Luz worries teaching King about the internet was a bad idea because he gets excited about a literal cat fight which .. yeah... it was a bad idea but not because of that.. but because next he finds someone saying the earth is flat and she wisely yanks it away. It’s.. very sad that the absolutley maddening and easily debunked flat earth theory is still RELATIVLEY more sane than the stuff we’ve had pop up during the trump era and the cornoavirus pandemic.

But one of the main conlficts of the episode pops up as Luz’s mom messages her and Luz can’t bring herself to tell her anything and just sends a thumbs up. I do think this episode helps even things from the pilot a bit as it was a bit lopsided: While I got that Camillia was genuinely struggling with how to deal with Luz, and was offered an out and had to take it... the fact she sees NO problem with the normalcy camp, which comes off intentioanlly or not a sa parallel to conversion camps or camps to make autistic kids “Normal”. And as someone whose both bisexual and autistic, I naturally relate to luz way more as someone whose intrests sometimes just don’t quite fit with everyone else, and who dosen’t get how bad some of their actions were. THat’s why this episode feels like a necessary course correction: Luz is shown to genuinely love her mama and feel guilty.. but we see camilia genuinlely loves and supports her daughter a bit more. While it was clear from the pilot this shows it more, with her genuinely just wanting to know her daughter’s okay and checking up on her, and giving me the feeling that possible consequences or no if something bad WAS happening or she didn’t hear from her for a long time, she would’ve drove up there to get her. It feels like the writers realized the implications they accidently created and wanted to fix it, though I can’t say for certain. But if so good on you for course correcting, not every show does that.

But King encourages her, telling her she’s doing the right thing by lying and to “trust the demon on your shoulder”. Keep this in mind for later, but that joke is great on it’s own. But soon i’ts time for school and Hooty.. barfs out Luz’s books for her.

I haven’t been this disturbed since.. (Looks at the clock) About 2 maybe three hours ago when I watched a man have, if apparently shorter than the oriiginal cut as I wanted to see everyone else’s reactions dammit, sex with hiis car which was possesed by the mad ghost of his dead wife. Because that’s the kind of stuff i’m into when i’m not reviewing stuff. And before that Tinky.. just everything about tinky.

I do not have enough time to get into TInky here or why he exestially horrifies me. Or why Jeff blim is a living god. I will save that for a proper review if I have the time tomorrow. Point is I saw a lot today and that still tops it. Willow and Gus are likewise grossed out and want to leave.

Cut to school where Luz wonders what’s with all the decorations.. that remind me of this honestly

And frankly given the whole state of the boiling isles it REALLY wouldn’t surprise me if the decorations were indeed well cooked faces. But i’ts Grom time, which means elaborate gromposals (Some Dude asks Skara out with a beating heart and an elaborate medical proposal.. which.. points for effort. And for using an actual heart. Couldn’t get one for mine. ), dancing and someone being chosen for Grom Queen. WHich Willow hints isn’t as nice as that sounds. Before we can get into that though Amity bumps into them and gets into a tizzy before meekly greeting “Luz.. and Co”. which.. not going to lie.. is my faviorite gag of the season. Just htw way she adds them and just the way Willow and Guz both smile widely at it as if to say “That’s us!”. Amity drops a note and snatches it back. This will be important later, you all know why, point is Amity becomes Grom Queen.. and is heavily depressed with Luz following her to find out why. At the gym.. she does indeed ifnd out why: Turns out Grom is not some mutation of an earthname but is based around a horrifying entity lurking beneath the isles, Gromethious the Fear Bringer, who emerges from his slumber once a year and must be fought back and brings out his target’s greatest fears. Just like groundhog day only with less time loops and rodent abuse. Amity is scared of hers, and i’ll obviously get into this more later, and Luz simply suggests asking bump to opt out and Amity appricates the support. Awwww.

Luz heads home and we find out Eda is chaperoning and King is mcing. Eda is also rocking a suit. Just damn girl, damn. But Luz considers taking her place.. and gets laughed at, with Eda assuming she’ll have to save her and King just being kind of a dick. I mean he’s a loveable thoroughly cuddly dick but he’s still a dick... just more like a stuffed plushie of one. So basically exactly like Tinky. Look I mention him more than once in this review he dosen’t put me in the bastard box. It’s a great system. Naturally this makes Luz more determined than ever to prove herself and she finds Amity in the night, with Amity having been unable to get out of it.. and Bumps a resonable guy, he just wants a substitute and no one wants the job.. except Luz who galdly volunteers and insists ntohing scares her before the giant spider on the back of her head proves otherwise. Because of course it does, spiders are fucking terrifying. Kill then all.. except the pokemon ones. Galvaltula are sweethearts. As are Ariadoses. Sweethearts who can elctorcute or poison you but still.

So the next way Luz begins preparing.. and by that I mean it’s time for training. Sadly we don’t get an episode of Luz and Amity getting trapped in an 80′s fashion montage... I mean yes Rise of the TMNT also did that plot the same year, but we had two diffrent plots about someone getting trapped in an eldtrich sitcom and a THIRD this year, all entertaingly unique. Though we do get Luz pulling out an otter suit that’s adorable and she sadly still hasn’t worn yet. “This one says i’m an otter, with a dark side”. She also got thrown out of a school dance for.. wearing an otter suit. Okay the other things we saw in the pilot were understandable but htis is just.. baffling. Who cares what you wear to a dance as long as it isn’t horribly racist of nothing at all.

Damn you flanders and your glorious ass. Point is Amity shows up and threatens hooty’s life because.. he’s hooty. The fact he isn’t dead already is a testiment to how badass he is and how much money he’d cost Eda to replace. Owl Tubes don’t come out of a stygian hole in the unvierse every day you know. That’s only every three years. It’s basic styigan owl tube science.

But Amity wants her to be ready and that she’ll have to face her greatest fear.. and cue hooty popping up, poking amity in the face and asking if she wants to know her greatest fear. Really he can clearly hear everything in the house given he heard that, so he heard the death threat he just chose to ignore it. That.. was a mistake. And by mistake I mean we get a hilarious cut to the outside of the house as Luz tries to stop her love intrest from murdering her second mom’s tube monster. The result is some bandages and an eyepatch. To be fair that last one was just flaring up from a previous beating.

For this solem task of training, Amity has brought in her local disaster bisexuals.. aka her twin siblgins Eldric and Elmyra, whose greatest fears are dying alone and being stuck with Eldric. Both understandable. They conjur luz’s greatest fears which are.. some of the funniest shit I heard all year.. and also very relatable. Human souls in cat bodies, which is genuinely terrifying good job Luz, Jerks on the internet who mansplain things, relatable, and soy milk.

But Amity knows this is just the openign act. it needs to be something deeper.. so while Luz dosen’t realize it’s probably her mom issues she brings up her issues with her other mom: that Eda dosen’t think she can do this. Hence we get a giant eda putting Luz in a babychair. Before we can unpack how wrong that sentence sounded, Eda comes out, and marvels at how hot giant her is. But she’s quickly distracted from sex with a giant version of herself, which is not an easy feat, by the relization “Wait Luz is going to fight grom isn’t she.. fuck i’m going to have to save her”, though Luz holds firm on doing it to prove she’s fine and dosen’t need to be saved constantly. it’s a good conflict. Eda IS right that Luz is not ready for this alone, that she’s overcompensating and that Eda would, in normal circumstances be the one to rescue her. As we’ll see it’s not her who does it but still, were this any other foe she probably would be. But Luz’s motivations are equally understandable: She wants to help her friend not have to do this and she wants to prove she can do it. She just wants her mentor, the only person in her life up to meeting her that GNEUINELY supported her in magic to respect her. To have faith in her and actually see how far she’s come. And given how her own mother writes off her dreams, if not unrealistically, and before this she had no friends or support system to speak of outside her mom, it’s easy to see why this is so improtant to Luz: she just wants to make the one person in her life whose ever support her actually think it was worth it when in truth Eda already thinks it does and just dosen’t want her to die.

She’s just not good with talking to her or not condescending to her as her own ego is stacked sky high, probably because the whole curse thing meant Eda was an outcast by default and the system wants to either chain her to one form of magic and one only or shackle her to them as a hired goon. Her ego, while justified, is also a defense mechanism: a way to shield herself from the fact almost no one cares about her and one of the few people who DOES, dosen’t care what she wants or needs. Once the curse happened she lost just about everything and had to rebuild and thus build up walls around herself and kept everyone else at arms length till Luz changed her for the better. It’s just a tragic clash of two wills both with similar problems but both unwilling to talk about them.

But with time up, our heroes need to get to the diggity dance. So they indeed do and we get some fun sight gags, Willow makes corsages, that one girl with the cresent head somehow ended up with Mathomule and is not happy, as anyone who ends up with him should. And it’s time for Luz to face her destiny.. in a tux with a tutu because of course, and Amity likes it because also of course.

IT’s time to rumble, with King getting nervous due to eda’s prodding about mcing since his co-mc gus is really good at it, and introducing our champion.

No wait sorry he’s still trapped in Mojoworld. no it’s still Luz who shows off a seasons worth of skill by easily dispatching the first few fears and saying to grom let’s finish it.. before grom puts a tentacle on her head.

It’s to downlaod her fear.. which is Camillia. Granted we could all see it coming but still Luz obviously can’t fight her own mother or her own overwhelming guilt.. her mom did hurt her.. but she gets why and just loves her and wants her to be proud but dosen’t know what to do: tell her the trutha nd possibly loose a happy and fufilling life or wait until it all blows up. It’s a painful choice. So luz and king end up running. King runs first because he can’t handle it and Gus talks him back into the groove while Luz runs away because she can’t fight her own mom, understandable, and Gus encourages king to lead the crowd which he does. Amity and Eda follow Luz.

So Luz is backed down, facing down a monster tha’ts going to go on to everyone else next if she fails... and Eda prepares to interfere.. but it’s AMITY who faces her fear and dives in. And we find out just what her fear was as grom turns into a humanoid shape and rips the letter in half.. it was a grom invitation. Though conviently the who it’s adressed to was ripped out.

And yeah not going to save this one: It’s Luz. You know it I know it I didn’t even hide it in the intro. Even before the reveal in a bit it was obvious. But it also makes perfect sense. I’ve avoided talking about her character arc up to this point because I was waiting for now. Amity’s growth is the third major arc of the season behind Luz’s slow learning of magic and eventually induction into hexside and eda’s curse, which I lump in with Lilith chasing her since both were mildly entertwined and then entirely are once the reveal hits in the finale. When we meet her she’s an outright bully.. but we slowly see there’s more there. That she’s not really HAPPY or content, is contstantly under pressure by her family name, is outright bullied by her own siblings who don’t understand her. So Luz coming in, seemingly only being intrested in magic because i’ts neat.. understandably bothers her. She’s not a great person, bullying her old best friend because tha’ts what’s expected and being close with outright bullies because of that.. but it’s through Luz she starts to grow, realizing Luz is genuinely nice and genuinely sorry for any trouble she caused Amity, and evne then both cases were causaed by Amity’s own dickishness and outside forces, so it’s easy to see why she defrosts faster. Her siblings realize they’ve genuinely hurt her, and actually try to be good siblings from then on and help her, and slowly Amity learns to truth luz, trust in her, and accept her... and thus accept her feelings for her. There are gradual hints she’s growing attracted to her.. but her walls had to come down first, and it wouldn’t of worked from the outset. The show cleverly has the two build a genuine friendship, two opposities who work well together, so when feelings do happen it feels natural. It’s not “I’m in love with this person because I have to because you can’t be friends with someone your attracted to” bullshit or anything like that, cough star vs cough, it’s just well built catching feelings. I’ts how this kind of thing SHOULD go: niether went in intending for this to happen.. it’s just happening.

And Amity’s reluctance is painfully understandable, as Luz is the ONLY friend and support she has. Sure she and willow are patching things up, but WIllow would understandably choose luz over her and she’s terrified of loosing the one good thing in her life. Of course Luz would either say yes, and probably will some day, or let her down gently, she’s nice.. but it’s also understandable to be afraid that someone won’t take the reveal well. I’ve been there trust me, it’s easier when you let it out even if you get rejected, but I get it being hard to let out because you don’t want to loose a friend. I did not, and niether would she, but I can see why she wouldn’t want ot take the plunge. At least not yet. We’ll see this summer hopefully.

But we do get a shiptastic, gorgeously aniamted scene of the two dancing an fightin gin perfect synch, combinging luz’s new use of plant magic with amity’s mastery of abominations resulting in the two utterly decimating grom, likely in part because with two fast moving targets he can’t get a lock on and likely nees more fear and mass to attack multiple targets at once. Or just more tendrils. it’s a quick, beautful sequence that’s utterly glorious, being framed as romantic as any hetero scene of the type and rightfully so. A triumph and well deserving of this praise.

Our heros have won, get crowns, and King gets praise. All is well.. except Luz drops the crown once she gets home because she feels like she failed and feels lost about her mom.. though at least king gets it “I’m king and queen, best of both things!”. You tell em sister.

So we end with Luz genuinely responding to her mom, with some montage stuff as we see Gus and Willow poke a fear blob, willow fears bugs, understandable and Gus fears clowns...

Also understandable. Though I didn’t put up a bug picture because

And Amity looks out folornly into the night. Camilla responds to Luz.. and mentions letters.. which while Luz brushes those off.. we see someone sent them. And by someone I probably mean king since we now know only eda and him had acess to the portal, and given he was actively encouraging her to lie.. yeah i’m supscious. But we’ll see next season. For now this episode is fan fucking tastic, showing off tons of character development, being representative and sweet as all hell.. and being really funny. Tons of great gags in this one including the turtle guy from an earlier episode being forced to be adisco ball. This is easily the series best so far and if you haven’t checked it out, please do it’s fantastic as is this show. Check both out. Until the next rainbow i’ts been a pleasure. Tommorow more disney shenanigans this time with pete. And also more of this possibly we’ll see what I get done.

Goodnight everybody!

#the owl house #lumity #luz noceda #amity blight #willow park #gus #eda clawthrone #king #principal bump #grometheious #enchanting grom fright #lbgtq+#disney #disney plus

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societyofbadgers · 4 years

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J.K. Rowling and Transphobia

First, I must apologize for not posting this sooner. In the light of her recent transphobic tweets, I had to do a lot of self-evaluation before posting a word.

When I read Harry Potter at the age of 12, I feel in love with both Harry and its author. For many years if you asked me who I wanted to meet most in the world, I would say J.K. Rowling. I idolized her.

When she liked a few tweets awhile ago by transphobic people, I didn’t necessarily step up to defend her, but I didn’t “cancel” her either. I reasoned to myself that she probably didn’t realize the implications of liking the tweets, that everyone made mistakes, etc. She didn’t actually say anything transphobic herself, I didn’t think, so she just made a mistake. We’re all human. It happens.

But even then, I had niggling doubt. If it was an ignorant mistake, why didn’t she come out and apologize? Why didn’t she read and acknowledge her fan’s concerns and apologize to them?

And now, I’m here. I have made excuse after excuse for her behavior up until now, but I can’t ignore it any longer. My high opinion of her has collapsed.

The easiest thing to do is to say, “death to the author”. To love Harry Potter with all of your heart, but disavow J.K. Rowling. But that’s the problem with fiction - it’s a product of the author, of the author’s thoughts and values, whether it’s done consciously or unconsciously. And Harry Potter reflects that. It is liberal - to a point. Muggle-borns and half-bloods are stand-ins for minorities, but this avoids actual meaningful diversity. There are very few black people in the series, and the only Asian character doesn’t even have a culturally appropriate name. LGBTQ+ characters are nonexistent. She made some strides after the book came out, revealing Dumbledore to be gay, accepting a black Hermione, etc., but these were not a part of the original books. In the past, I’ve excused this because she wrote the series in the 90s, when issues like this were less explored in fiction. But the fact of the matter is, the books series lacks.

One thing I’ve long been disturbed by is the fact that house-elf slavery is played off as a joke most of the time. By the end of the series, this issue isn’t really solved, and there’s not much of a hint that it will be solved in the future. Recently, I was enlightened that goblins are essentially an anti-semitic, stereotypical portrayal of Jewish people - they are greedy, money-hoarding, short, oppressed creatures that you shouldn’t trust. (The only notable goblin, Griphook, betrays Harry.) Whether this was done consciously or unconsciously, I don’t know, but it was done. By the end of the series, Harry isn’t fighting for a new, better world after Voldemort, he’s fighting for a return to the status quo.

The books cannot be fully divorced from J.K. Rowling as much as we’d like to pretend. She created them. But then how do we move on? Because I have invested too much of myself in the book series. I’ve been running this Hufflepuff blog for years. I am currently the president of the Harry Potter fan organization at my college. Every summer I help run a Harry Potter camp for little kids. I discovered one of my favorite hobbies - writing - by starting with Harry Potter fanfiction when I was 13. And quite a few of my friendships were initially forged through a common love of Harry Potter. How can I toss something aside when it’s been such a huge part of my life?

As someone with a Hufflepuff blog with a decent following and as a leader of a club, I know I have a platform to say something. But I’m struggling to say something that would be meaningful and put-together when I feel so lost myself.

So, I will say this - whether you chose to burn the books or continue to cherish them, that is your own decision. I think everyone has their own decision to make that is personal to their own experiences. But one thing Harry Potter has created is this beautiful community. This community includes transgender people, non-binary people, and more, and I will defend them a hundred times over rather than defend J.K. Rowling. As Harry Potter fans, it is our job to stand up for our trans members within our community.

I hope you will stand tall with me in defending our community against the bigotry and ignorance of J.K. Rowling and creating a place that is inclusive for our trans community. I don’t want any trans Harry Potter-lover to feel excluded by the HP fandom, and I will attack anyone who thinks they don’t belong.

Oh, and - trans women are women. I hoped that would be common sense and straightforward, but apparently it isn’t. But there it is, loud and clear, in case anyone was confused. (By the way, J.K. Rowling - trans women are not “confused” or being pressured into changing their gender identity. They’re also not infringing on women’s spaces, because they ARE women.)

#j.k. rowling #Harry Potter #transgender #transphobia #tw: transphobia #lgbtq

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soyeahitsmiddleearth · 5 years

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Birthday

Thorin x Reader

Request: It’s the reader’s birthday, which Thorin has found out. He knows from Fili and Kili that she likes writing but doesn’t have her thing called a computer with her, so Thorin gives her a leather bound notebook with parchment, much to her surprise. Thorin ponders his feelings for her.

Your initial arrival in this strange other world was not the best. The transition from electricity, social media, running water, and family, to being surrounded by multiple men, dirty, technology-less, and constantly hungry.

To say it was difficult would be an understatement, but you did eventually learn how to adapt to your surroundings.

You became friends with the majority of the people in this Company and have been accepted quite easily despite the oddity of your arrival and circumstances.

Actually, the abnormality of your admittance into this journey is what’s made you so popular in the first place. The dwarves (and little hobbit) were entranced with your stories and explanations of the things you had in your world, awestruck at the vivid descriptions and theatrical ways you tell them things.

What surprised you more than anything was the way the leader of this group of dwarves took to you. It seemed he enjoyed your company quite a lot, and he always listened when you went on one of your little rambles about what technology and things you had once upon a time.

Fili and Kili, Thorin’s nephews, also grew to like your stories and decided to ask how you could describe things in such evocative detail, and that’s when you told them about your hobby back when you were still at your original home.

Writing has been a big part of your life for as long as you can remember, so naturally, you became rather good at it the more you practiced.

“Usually I would write my stories on my laptop, you know that thing with the buttons and flat-screen that lights up I told you about, and I’d show them to others and even submit things to contests sometimes.” You had a smile on your face when you’d explained it to them, “Gosh I miss it… I miss my home, but I’m grateful to have such a wonderful group to look after me."

Those were your sentiments then, and they’re the same now a few weeks later.

You’ve been keeping track of the days since you arrived in this place and tomorrow is to be your birthday.

It’s around this time where you begin to really feel the toll that being away from all you know and love is taking on you. A mixture of homesickness and deep sorrow has been keeping you down these past few days, and it seems everyone has noticed as such.

You don’t really try to hide your internal suffering, but you don’t necessarily wear it on your sleeve either. It’s hard to pretend everything is alright when there are already 1000 other worries stacking up on top of you as time drags on, but you try nonetheless (not that you’re fooling anybody).

The two brothers, Thorin’s nephews, asked you a day or so back what had you so down, and you explained half-heartedly what was eating at you.

They seemed very understanding and tried to cheer you up. Though their attempts didn’t work completely, you did still appreciate it, and their thoughtfulness made your heart all warm and happy.

When you wake up the morning of your birthday, feeling a bit more well-rested than usual and pretty warm. When you sit up to stretch, you realize you have an extra blanket from who knows where, and it succeeds in bringing a smile to your face.

You stand up and glance around the still-sleeping group of dwarves, trying to see who it was that gave you their blanket.

During your first glance around the camp, you don’t spot who is missing their blanket, but on the second look, you realize that Thorin is the only one coverless.

A small smile tugs at your lips, grateful and also a little flattered that he’d do such a thing.

You begin to make your way over to him careful not to step on any unsuspecting dwarves, and you flash a smile at Bofur who is on morning watch.

Bofur returns the smile with a little less energy, then looks back out at the forest again.

When you finally make it to Thorin you crouch down and lay his blanket back over him, then turn and slowly make your way back to your bedroll.

—

Later on in the day begin to feel less energetic than you had been that morning, but you are definitely happier than you have been in previous days.

Walking on foot isn’t exactly your favorite thing, but you prefer that to being the prisoner to Goblins and on the dinner menu.

You walk by yourself for the majority of the time, but you don’t mind some space to think during a long multi-mile trek.

At some point during the hike up a big hill, Thorin steps up next to you and trudges quietly for some time. It’s a comfortable walking silence, and even though the two of you don’t speak you still find yourself enjoying his companionship.

The silence is broken suddenly when Thorin pipes up, "I hear that today is the anniversary of your birth."

You’re a bit surprised that, that’s the first thing he says when he finally addresses you, and you’re caught between confusion on how he knew and happiness because he knows in the first place. "Ah, yes it is. How did you know?"

"Kili told me as such.” He replies easily.

Oh, that makes more sense.

“Of course he did.” You don’t say it negatively, but instead with humor in your voice, “I’m turning 24 today."

At first, he looks surprised when you mention your age, but it doesn’t last long as realization dawns on him. "Oh, yes I forgot that the ages of men are different than a dwarf. You would be no more than a child if you were one."

You nod your head in understanding, finding it a bit funny that he was so taken aback at first. "Well, I’m sure you don’t see me as a kid, right? That’d be embarrassing."

"Well of course not. If you were to ask for my inquiry, I’d say that your maturity is rivaled by none in this group, excluding myself and Balin of course."

That draws an amused laugh from you since it’s essentially a compliment that both flatters you and backhands the rest of the group. "Even Bilbo?” You question jokingly.

You’re surprised when he nods his head, “He is extraordinarily polite and proper, but those qualities do not make for maturity.” He sounds so sure in his reply that you actually believe him, “and one who is a writer of poetry such as yourself has a better way with words than any of us.”

“Well, I don’t know if it’s fair to consider myself a writer anyway, Thorin. I have nothing to write on or with, and my works would probably only confuse the lot of you.” Your speech is slightly more complex than it was before you ended up here, as it seems you’ve begun to pick up some of their speech habits.

The soon-to-be King Under the Mountain looks surprised at your reason for quitting, “You give up because you’ve lost your medium? And because you fear not being understood?”

“Well, yes."

Thorin doesn’t say anything right away, but you can see from the expression on his face that he does have something he want’s to tell you. But you don’t try to get anything out of him, instead, you wait and hope that he’ll just get to it himself.

"There’s something I wish to give you.” His voice breaks the silence again, and you find yourself a bit surprised that he even has anything for you to begin with.

“You want to give me something?” You repeat with confusion clear in your voice.

“Yes.” He reaches into the bag on his back and feels around blindly for something for a few moments, and you just watch and walk hoping that he doesn’t trip on anything by accident.

“Ah, here it is.”

You cock your head to the side when he pulls out a cute little leather-bound book. “What’s this?"

He doesn’t reply right away for he instead holds out said book to you and waits for you to take it before saying anything more.

You accept the gift and look at the little leather thing in your hands, flipping it open to see several blank pieces of parchment inside.

"Kili also told me of your desire to begin writing again, and while it is no ‘laptop’, it’s still a rather fine book.” He sounds sheepish almost like he’s afraid you might dislike the present and give it back.

A huge smile breaks out on your face as you look at him joyously, “Oh my god, Thorin, t-thank you so much!"

At this very moment, you couldn’t be happier. The gift is so thoughtful and sweet, and for the first time in a while, you feel like something has gone - mostly - back to normal. "I love it…” You say quieter this time, placing a hand on his shoulder to squeeze it appreciatively, “I’ll write a story just for you, how does that sound?"

The raven-haired king to-be smiles at you warmly and nods his assent, "I would like that."

#kili #fili #the company of thorin oakenshield #thorin durin #thorin oakenshield #thorin x reader #thorin fic #the hobbit fanfiction #the hobbit #tolkien #fluff #reader #reader insert #originally posted on ao3

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tactyl-ymon · 4 years

Text

DnD session write up - Remorse and Revelations

Boy howdy, who knew a global pandemic could disrupt social gatherings? Anyway, straight into it kids. Enjoy.

We open with everyone still laughing on an empty beach, catching their breath after narrowly escaping a collapsing demi plane that held an imprisoned dracolich that fed off peoples memories and the revelation that they'd been in said hell plane for a month when Eridol, Veiraen & Whisky all collapse on the ground trying to stop their skulls from retching open as the magic Nervlyth had used to repress every memory from before coming to Ostaria shattered and lifetimes of memories snap back into place. While Whisky and Veiraen take a few minutes to shake off their psychosis, Eridol is trapped in an kaleidoscope of his worst memories and is probably stuck that way for a while, whisky offers to stay back and drink the pain away/keep him safe until he's somewhat functional again and the other three decide they need to debrief Core and the council and with their magical fax machine out of commission it means a jaunty several hour trek through the woods to the capital city and we have our first proper split party of the campaign.

It's around sunset that Whisky notices Eridol doing something besides mutely staring directly at the sun and drinking too much beer and she asks if he's ok after everything they went through and in between too large gulps of booze and those gross sad snot bubbles you get when you cry too hard he tells her about his fiance and how happy they were, about the friends he'd lost to cultists of Bane, the torture they had put him through, the brand on his abdomen that won't go away no matter how many times he burns it off. He tells her about being freed from the cultist camp by clerics of Tyr, he's about halfway through explaining how he ran away from his fiance when he clams up, realising what he was saying and without thinking, gets up and mentions that they should really catch up to everyone else or at the very least head back to the keep so it's safer than camping on the ground near a possible exit from hell space and before Whisky can stop him, the tiny heavily armoured drunk wades into the water and begins paddling for the mainland and Whisky has no choice but to wade in after him.

Because Eridol has the emotional processing power of a particularly dense rock, he's too focused cramming everything he just said back in his head that he doesn't immediately notice that he can't hear Whisky swimming behind him anymore. In a panic he frantically scans the water that accompanies this thought shoving itself to the front of his mind he notices several small bubbles clearing the surface 20 feet away and Eridol does what he does best, which is stupidly dive and swim to the bottom of the lake to find a thrashing Whisky tangled in some kelp. He gets her free just as the bubbles stop and she goes limp. With the fear and adrenaline of having someone else he cares about die, Eridol drags her along with his exhausted chainmail wearing self out and with his limited resources, immediately channels all his remaining energy into a single healing prayer and using it to force the water out of her lungs. While Whisky is busy taking her first of many new breaths, Eridol is babbling about how this is his fault and he can make it better as he begins digging through his pack and shakily offers up a small, rough cut gem necklace. Offering apology after apology even as he slumps into unconsciousness.

Whisky silently tries to take stock of the situation which now includes one severely passed out and heavily waterlogged gnome with a pendant laying on the sand just out of reach and with a single solitary “fuck” she scoops up the necklace and begins thinking on how to move what is effectively canned dead weight and decides the best option would be to get the armor off him and at that point he's basically just a toddler sized sack of potatoes. With the armor off, Whisky gets an unhindered look at the hodge podge of scars that make up Eridol's torso. Skin knitted back together over burns, cuts and punctures, a deep cut through one shoulder surrounded by lots of interlocking circles and a large patch of heavy burns on his right side that he would normally keep hidden. She takes all this in for a moment and decides the most immediate need is to draw a large charcoal penis on his forehead before bundling the tiny man up and dragging him through the forest back to the keep before dumping him in front of one of the fireplaces for the guards to find and wandering off to bed.

Meanwhile, the adults of the group were finishing their several hour trek to the capital and began to notice small camps dotting the farmland outside the city, growing more and more dense until they were smack in the middle of a makeshift tent city. Taking a moment to look around they see the normal array of humans, elves, dwarves and the like but also a greater population of half orcs, goblins, bugbears and teiflings than would have been allowed this close to the city before the slight jaunt through time and space. As they wander through the shanty town fearing some kind of attack had taken place within the city walls to displace everyone, they learn that the newly formed ruling council ordered the lower quarters of the city to be upgraded to decrease the gap between the elite at the centre of the city and the less wealthy that surrounded them. Continuing through the city gates and past the city wide work sites, they come to where the ostentatious council building should be. In its place stands a squat, single storey wood and stone hall, a few small meeting rooms sit on either side of the larger council room. A short queue of the days remaining business slowly filtering through the rough wooden doors of the central chamber, which Veiraen, Septima and Emmi attempt to bypass because they’re big damn heroes, but faced with several town guards and a fairly aggressive half orc with a hard on for bureaucracy at the head of the line, they are momentarily pushed to the back of the queue until the council chamber doors open and Core pokes his head outside, spots the responsible half of the adventurers group and merrily ushers them inside to debrief.

They enter the central chamber to find the two remaining council members, Rorstaad, the human and Sharona the high elf. While Rorstaad remains seated, on seeing Emmi, Sharona immediately strides over and hugs the daughter she had magically forgotten for so many years. Emmi doesn’t say anything but just shrugs off the affection and Sharona meekly walks back to her seat and the trio take turns covering the basics of what happened after they had left through the Slyph’s portal, how they found themselves in an overgrown mushroom forest which paralysed or caused hallucinations in some of the party when it was burned. Whisky’s impromptu growth spurt. Fighting off a giant bird that looked like the night sky itself. Following Septimas sometimes moral compass through the woods and to the druidic village of Kincaid, jumping through a tree into a voided hellscape of nothingness that contained a highly intelligent undead dragon that had been eating peoples memories as a way to sustain itself after Septima, Fulgur and Fafnir had sealed it there a few centuries ago. They go on about how the dragon asked for two people to sacrifice their lifeforce because he just wanted the freedom it deserved, that was all and after a clever ruse from Septima all hell breaks loose and then he kind of dies twice because nobody really knows how warforged work and now the dragon is free. Somewhere in the material plane, maybe. Things got a bit fuzzy after that point. But with the dragon gone, Ostaria is now back in the material plane properly and there’ll be no more weird amnesia things going on so it’s a win win really.

After taking a moment to take all that in and pour himself half a bottle of wine, Core tries to change the conversation and ask where the other members were? It was strange not to see the group together and with the magic words uttered, Septima gladly mentions how Tornur disappeared as soon as they made it out of the mushroom forest and left a note saying he was called for something and they left Whisky next to a non responsive, shaking Eridol back on the beach they tumbled out onto. Hearing all this, Core pours the other half of the bottle of wine into his cup and downs it in an instant, takes a deep breath and begins very uncalmly explaining why literally all of those are horrible choices. They can deal with Tornur when the time comes, but why did they think leaving the easily spooked, emotional powderkeg of a cleric basically on his own was a good idea? Septima mentions it was fine, he had been like this since Veiraen set him on fire before trying to break his curse on top of a mountain with Fulgir the sometimes dragon a few days prior to them leaving. Veiraen to his credit who had mostly been standing there quietly trying not to draw attention to himself doesn’t shy away from the slew of verbal abuse Core throws at him, only offering a small apology before retreating back into himself. With the initial debrief over, Core dismisses the trio but asks that they get in touch with Eridol and Whisky to make their way to the city just in case the council needs some additional information. Septima opens his hand and like the disney princess he is, snatches a bird out of the air and asks that it deliver a message to Eridol about Core needing to speak with Whisky and him, before the trio make their way to the short barracks building they had been using before the keep was built.

In the morning, Eridol is woken up by a bird landing next to his head, slowly opening its beak and without moving begins emitting a message in Septimas voice, Eridollets out a shriek and immediately scoots several feet backwards in terror at what is obviously a literal nightmare. Animals can’t talk. The bird repeats the message a few times before Eridol calms down enough to realise what’s going on and quietly thanks the bird and it closes its beak and takes off through a nearby window. The gnome takes in whatever that was before realising that this is definitely not the beach he passed out on and he is definitely half naked on a couch in the keep, with no idea on how he got there Eridol grabs his armor from the foot of the couch and scuttles upstairs to get ready before getting Whisky who successfully stifles a laugh at the large charcoal dong on the tiny mans forehead and they set off to the city, encountering the same large tent city surrounding Principium as they make their way towards the bar the rest of the party were waiting and spend several hours drinking and carousing with the locals. During the impromptu pub crawl, Whisky and Emmi take a spot of gambling with bar patrons, Veiraen makes several attempts to apologise to Eridol who refuses any attempt to have the conversation and Septima befriends a travelling merchant and they begin talking about how the group has a lot of money and money can be exchanged for goods and services and Septima being the good boy that he is decides he should get gifts for everybody, but he doesn’t have much money on him so he asks a very drunk and distracted Eridol for the bag of holding because that’s where all the gold is. Eridol can’t see any faults in this logic and begins handing the bag over before Emmi swats the bag out of his hands and glares at the tiny drunk who sheepishly shrugs before being distracted by a dog and runs outside to pet it. Emmi and Septima have a short discussion with the merchant about where he’s set up and that they’ll come by in the morning to check out his wares but for now they’re just going to keep drinking and enjoying the company. After a fairly extensive shopping montage that got the group some new weapons, armor and several magical wands for future shenanigans the crew makes their way back to the keep, trying not to discuss the tension between Veiraen and Eridol on the way. It’s a couple hours after midnight, with everyone capable of sleeping being out like a light that Eridols door quietly opens and Septima creeps in and grabs Eridol’s mount and occasional emotional support dog, Pickle from the base of the bed and taps his newly bought staff to the dogs head, asking him to be the friend that Eridol desperately needs at the moment and blessing it with enlightened intelligence and the ability to speak before whispering not to wake Eridol just yet. Which lasts a whole 5 seconds after Septima shuts the door behind him and Pickle begins headbutting Eridol and licking his face and yelling his buddy’s name excitedly and saying how much he loves his tiny master. Faced with all of this, Eridol not sure if this is a dream or that all the psychosis finally caught up to him and he does the only thing that makes sense and begins hugging his dog and quietly crying into his fur for the remainder of the night.

#dnd #Tactyl Ymon #Eridol #Veiraen #Emmi #Whisky #Septima

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mieczyhale · 4 years

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a messy explanation of things and unnecessary information about life lately

soooo... right. i’m sorry i haven’t really been around aside from popping in here and there, and that i’ve been taking longer than usual to reply to things / not replying to things at all. it’s NOT that i’m upset with anyone or trying to ignore / avoid anyone, and it’s not that i don’t care / don’t love talking to you (whomstever you may be) i love chatting with y’all and wish i could get myself to reply to things quicker but i do not control the me lmfao honestly my sleep has never had a schedule but in recent weeks it’s kinda been operating like there’s a lil gremlin in my head who spins a wheel and picks my sleeping times at random - and it’s either like.. two hours or most of a day. there hasn’t been a lot of in between so that’s a thing!!

also in a fun added mix of maybe sleep?, missing meds, being stuck in the house more often than not, and the FUCKING EVERYTHING happening in the world right now my mental health is... probably run by the same goblin that runs my sleep schedule lmao consistency whomst?? since the lockdown started the depression has of course been around more but actually, worse than that, is how my anxiety - and by extension: my ocd - have really amped up and i need y’all to know that the struggle is painfully real (and another thing that affects shit like my replies and writing. reading as well. fics have been kinda stressful and that should be illegal. who authorized this?) i don’t hate talking about it but i don’t really like it either?? especially like.. in depth. but i will say there has been crying, screaming, pain!, and i’ve acquired a few physical injuries.

yeah

on a personal level - a ‘just me’ level - shit is an even bigger mess than usual lmao but all these things will get better eventually - they always do.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NOW

ON A PERSONAL LEVEL - THE FULL LEVEL - THINGS.... are pretty great actually! i mean aside from the state of my fucking house e__e but Josh has been working from home for two (2) months now and it’s been really nice - people complaining about their partners being home?? can’t relate. yknow what?? i just might love that tall bastard even more from all this.fuck all y’all miserable fucks

we’ve been going out for drives and we’ve gone fishing and the only place i’ve gone too that’s re-opened is goodwill. because i require.. the shop. they do have a masks required rule! (at least at the one here) and, alongside that, the places we’ve gone that never closed (like grocery stores and the gas station and the hardware store) have social distancing rules and stuff in place which i love. can we keep social distancing after this is all over?? more things here in wisconsin are opening up and we might go to some. idk though. we also might not. either way its still a weird kind of exciting to see things opening back up?? even though i do think we’re not totally in the clear because most of our gov. sucks (our mayor tried to extend our stay-at-home order - keyword there is TRIED. we are the land of cheese, cows, and no fucking braincells for anyone)

having pets is obviously not a new thing for me but it’s still a thing. so it takes time and effort and energy and patience and love and a certain disregard for your own safety (claws. they really be as sharp as you think) so... it can be stressful, especially cuz we’ve had to keep them inside more as it gets hot out and something keeps breaking our porch screens (our cats are allowed onto our screened in porch or they can go out in a harness but we will never let them run free outside. fuck that noise) my bbies are all so cute and their personalities and idiosyncrasies are just... *chefs kiss* i love em and they’re definitely a part of what has made quarantine better

i’ve seen my mom a few times, like for my birthday and when she needed help moving Isaiah from one dorm to another and such, but that’s primarily been an option because she has become anti-mask and anti-stay-at-home-order. initially she wasn’t - she gave Isaiah and i fun lil masks since at that time trying to buy them would be impossible and she thought nothing of staying home - but i guess either as its dragged on or as she’s consumed her middle-right wing news that changed s o. she does take social distancing in public very seriously though, so at least there’s that. our favorite coffee shop, where we - pre-lockdown - always went one (1) or two (2) times a week to do art for hours re-opens on monday and that’s one of the few things i’ve truly missed.

josh’s camping trip for this weekend with his friends had to be cancelled because the parks weren’t going to open in time. so today they’re going somewhere to do at least some of the things they would have done if they had gone camping. bikes, bonfires, and cigars. i’m kinda jealous negl but he was really excited about it so mostly i’m happy

trying to figure out how human services was running things during lockdown was rough but thankfully it didn’t take much to get it sorted. mostly because my mom made the phone call i was supposed to lol (the phone anxiety is on its own level) so wednesday afternoon my mom sat with me while i had the appointment with my psychiatrist over speakerphone (which was.. an experience)

ummm.....

OH YEAH! Probably absolutely my favorite thing that’s happened is: WE’RE STARTING THE SEARCH FOR A NEW HOUSE!!!! it doesn’t mean we’re gonna be moving soon or anything, we don’t want to make the same mistake twice (buying the first house you tour that you love) because while it is a great house ultimately it is way too small for us. i mean there’s me and josh, all six cats, and ALL OUR SHIT. listen: i have an entire room dedicated to my various hobbies. and a walk in closet that isn’t big enough. and we both have collections we love and want to display (right now upstairs its hello kitty and downstairs its astronomy and the titanic. and then there’s pop figures, mtg, collectibles, our bottle collection and various knickknacks, etc.) plus all our books! then furniture and cat furniture (i.e towers) and all their shit because they are spoiled babies. and god forbid we ever have a human kid?? yeah. it’s just not big enough.

so we’re gonna take more time with this choice but what we do know is:: we wanna live out in the country (i’m paranoid and don’t like to be looked at and he loves the outdoors, lived on a farm for awhile. i also enjoy the outdoors but mostly since we moved into this house i’ve struggled with doing anything outside... while we only have one neighbor on our road. but there’s one across the road and one at the other side of our backyard and that’s just too much lol)

lets see.. um.... my birthday was may 2nd and that was pretty nice, for a pandemic birthday. there’s been a lot of stuff happening involving josh’s family but that’s not something i really wanna get into on here, tho i will say things have been better in recent weeks and it’s been... really nice. josh and i went to his mom’s house the other night and got drunk with her for fun and i actually had a really good time?? and didn’t complain about going?? that’s kinda unheard of.

i don’t have a job anymore - haven’t since early march-ish - and it kinda sucks but also the universe really did me a solid because my choices were either allow myself to work until i have a mental break again or quit. and i was leaning towards quitting (things had been going down hill with the owner and other employees and just the business as a whole for awhile and there’s a limit to the amount of bullshit i can take thanks) but now it doesn’t seem i have to. why do i think i’m jobless? i was barely working anyway, bc of the snow business was slow, and in march i got really sick and stayed home for a week. the day i was supposed to go back i was still sick, and covid19 was starting to become more of a serious situation everywhere, so josh called in for me and explained that between still being sick and my anxiety over covid (asthma + a not so great immune system) i wasn’t going in that day. i never heard from them again. so.

but it’s all good - there are some options but i’m not looking into them seriously until it’s safe to.

THAT’S ALL OF FUCKING THAT ON THAT

i felt it wouldn’t be a bad idea to come on here and explain A. what’s been going on and B. where i’ve been and C. that if i haven’t responded to you or acknowledged something you sent me / tagged me in it’s literally just because i either forgot to (for all reasons and none) or i don’t have the mental space / energy to. but that doesn’t mean you have to stop talking to me! even if i don’t respond or respond immediately i do read everything and i would die for any one of you fuckers (especially my clowns and the tom hardy movie)

oh! and just btw - sometimes i don’t get notifications (quelle surprise) tumblr and skype should really pair up and talk about their truly great systems that function so well /s 8| ANYWAY: the best and most reliable ways to get my attention are twitter ( @/mieczyhale) and discord (same name) because i have yet to see their notifications fail. ahem.

i feel like i’m missing things / forgetting things but honestly this post is long enough and also enough of a rambley mess that i’m just gonna try and ignore that feeling and carry on with my goddamn day so i might actually accomplish something. sorry if there’s spelling off or missing words. i’m not taking the time to re-read this and might even delete it bc it’s already giving me anxiety bUT WE’LL SEE ALRIGHT HI AND BYE I LOVE YOU GUYS <3

#might delete later?? probably?? havent decided.#maison speaks #tinysquidrachel

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tobiasfarnal · 4 years

Text

Left Behind

Dymphna ran towards the cliffs pursued by the hulking orc and lumbering drunk human, she hurled her bleeding body down into the ocean, the only thought that escaped her was the hope that everyone else made it out alive. She only knew those she’d seen step through (or were tossed into) Toby’s portal.

As the wind flew past her face, her now red hair billowed behind her as the water grew ever closer.

“I’m sorry Toby, I’m going to be missing our date” she thought, having no way of knowing that Toby laid unconscious and broken as she hit the surface; cold and shocking despite the warm air, her own world growing black as the waves enveloped her.

***

“What ya fishin’ up there Tigule?”

“Dunno, Foror...looks like a body.”

“Lots of bodies round here, why you pullin’ that one up?”

“Looks fresh, might still have stuff in its pockets, gonna check, then chuck it back” the goblin chuckled as he pulled Dyn up onto the skiff, looking down into her face, putting his ear over her mouth. “Ey…EY! This one’s still breathin’” he panicked as he turned her over, smacking her on the back to get her to start coughing up the water she’d ingested. “Get a bird out to the Speedbarge, this one needs a medic stat!”

Tigule raised an eyebrow at that, scratching inside of his big green ear, “Why you care, just a human...an a female.”

“Don’ let yer old lady know you said jus a female, she’ll smack youse upside one ways and down anotha. Sides, could be one of the fella’s up from the cliffs, they might pay well to get their people back”

“Ain’ onna the PMC people, she don’ look so dirty, could be new, they broke ‘er threw ‘er away. Look at those wounds. Eitha way, lets get her to the medics, Fizzle should be able to speak Common to her to find out who she is, if she makes it” he grumbled sending a seagull off to fly to the Speedbarge before turning their skiff along behind it.

***

Toby didn't come to until the morning sun breaks and begins to cook him in his cage. He blinks a couple of times, then moans with the pain of his shattered ribs, the orc's great maul having smashed into him once, twice.

He replayed the last nights' events over in his head, and looked around at the other cages. No Iorune. No Digglesdeep. No Dyn. Did they escape? Were they dead? He'd no way to know.

He sat back in the cage, unable to stand or lie down in the cramped confines, and tried to summon his magic to teleport out--but it didn’t come. No magic surged through him, none of his arcane power. He looked down at the manacles clapped across his wrists and sighs at their warding pattern. No magic. No mage. Just…Toby, here to get beaten by the bullies one, last time.

"Oy. The pink one's awake," comes a call from the tower above him, and soon an orc and a troll in Bull's Horn colors approach the cage.

"Hello, mage," said the orc in a nasty snarl, unlocking the cage. "Time for us to talk."

Toby's eyes glazed, and he remembered the state of the Bull's Horn prisoners he'd helped save. He tried to swallow, but his throat was already dry and parched...not a good sign. He closed his eyes, remembering an old technique.

Getting beaten was Toby's forte. He'd spent his life growing up in the slums of Old Town, and the Alteraci-faced boy had been a common target for sport. He'd learned, then, how not to be present in himself. A part of him took the boot to the stomach, screaming and crying out, but the rest of him...simply watched the horror, looked on as though it were someone else's body, and not his. In this way, he examined the pain clinically, disinterestedly, and even though he screamed and cried out it never affected that core part of his thoughts.

He hadn't known, then, how handy that skill would be, but he used it now. The part of him that thought, that remembered, talked, laughed, and was human--that part of him simply looked on as the big orc pulled a hot iron from the fire. That part of him watched the animal pieces of him in his body scream as his flesh burned, and that part of him spoke not a word about the Forty-Seventh and those few people who had risked themselves to bring these animals to justice. He clinically noted the way his flesh reeked as is burned to a char, passively felt his voice crack when the screams ripped through his parched throat.

But he knew that, whatever the orc did to the flesh-lump that contained him, he'd already won. So he sat, and he watched himself be tortured. Then he watched himself be thrown back in the cage, untreated, without food or water, into a pile of his filth and others. He was dead, of course. This was the end of Tobias Farnal. But he'd always accepted that--always known that's where military service led. And he'd end in pain and filth, unsung--but he'd end in victory, nonetheless.

Which explained the small smile that creeped across his face as the pain dragged him back down into unconsciousness.

***

“Hey kid, wake up” a gnome’s voice suddenly in her ears, cool hands gently shaking her awake.

Dymphna gasped, trying to jolt herself out of the cot but she seemed to be restrained. Blinking in the dim light she tried to focus on the source of the voice. “W…where am I?” she asked quietly as she relaxed herself, knowing fighting would probably not be a good option at this point until she assessed her situation.

“Speedbarge, you’re safe for the moment” he smiled as he looked her over. “You were in a pretty rough state there missy, little bit longer and you’d have been lost, oh dear yes. Good thing I keep more than a few healers on the payroll, cause, you know, pirates” Fizzle sat back on his stool, giving her a warm smile.

“Why am I tied down then?” she asked quietly “May I have some water?”

The gnome motioned to one of his employees nearby who promptly brought her some water, but also checked her bonds. “Safe side, really. Cause, Pirates”

Dyn chuckled at that and nodded her thanks to both of them. “Makes sense, I’m no pirate, I assure you,” she said. Her fingertips gently touched the edge of the bonds, but she still did not try them.

“Maybe you are, maybe you aren’t. What’s your name kid?” he grinned at her.

“Regina,” she smiled back, relaxing once more, using the moniker she had assumed a few nights earlier. “Regina Cantswell”

“Well, Regina, how’d you end up in the deep? You looked like you came out of the wrong end of a cat fight.”

Dyn knew whatever story she came up with, would be crucial to whether she would be released from the bonds. “I was traveling from the Barrens, trying to visit a friend in Feralas, Quillboar shot down my griffon when I flew too low to avoid the thorns, it knocked me off and they started attacking me, I escaped, but, it was dark, I fell over the cliff into the canyon, I don’t remember much after that” she sighed, faking a sad face “I’m going to miss that griffon, raised her from a hatchling, I hope she made it out”

The gnome looked her over, seeming satisfied with that response, “Yeah, you’re lucky, don’t see many people fight with the Quillboar and win, you should be more careful” he smiled, releasing her bonds and patting her arm. “My healers say you should be recovered in a day or so if they keep on you. Then we can get you a griffon back home. I wouldn’t linger too long though, there are some unsavory types around the Needles lately. I’ll send you some food up in the meantime”

“Thank you, sir,” she smiled sweetly as the gnome shuffled out, his assistant following behind him. When the two were out of sight she rose, the pain of fighting a familiar memory after her many times during the campaign. “Waking up in the infirmary again, Hempstead. Tinkertorch is right, as always,” she muttered to herself. “And yet, I still keep going” she grinned as she went to the porthole, assessing her situation. She could see the cliffs where the PMC Camp still stood. “At least I’m not too far away” she whispered under her breath looking towards the camp, plotting her next move.

***

Toby's cracked lips managed a little smile as he watched the hurried movements of the PMC around him, unpacking and leaving. He'd no clue where they were going, what was in their boxes, or how they were getting anywhere...but it was clear that the Bull's Horn was de-assing their base camp with the quickness, and that was all he could ask for.

They'd stopped torturing him, though Toby suspected that had more to do with their partial evacuation than any real change of heart. He also suspected they had no need--the info had done its job, the regimental mission was complete, and these bastards already knew they'd been had.

He had no illusions that he'd live. That he'd be some prisoner in a camp for Alliance troops to rescue, like those poor bastards he'd helped pull out of the jungle. He looked up as the sun beat down on him and squinted, then looked back at the scurry. His legs cramped and bucked with dehydration and inability to stretch, and he barely paid attention to it.

It was strange, really. The torture had almost been preferable to this casual neglect he experienced now. The torture, at the very least, was nteresting—if in a terrible way. Now, he could but sit in this caged box, rotting in his own filth, and slowly bake to death--and be bored while doing it.

He closed his eyes and began to run through mental drills, student exercises designed to prep the mind for wielding immense arcane magics. Each breath came hot and dry through his parched throat, but he focused that mind of his.

He was going to die, slowly and painfully. His energy drained, and the beginnings of a fever from infected wounds beginning. But he was bound and determined to die a mage, and not a gibbering Lunatic.

Please, he thought. Light, please give me that much. I'm not going to die well...let me at least die me.

***

As the day faded into evening, Dyn played nice with the various healers that would come and visit, be they goblin or gnome. They brought her food, water, or offering healing when she needed. She smiled, played innocent, made herself out to only being a simple girl who ran afoul of the quillboars, nothing more. As the night wore on, the barge grew rowdy with the various patrons of the bar either fighting, yelling, or just singing bawdy songs together.

The little gnome woman who had been watching after her allowed her to go downstairs for but a few moments to stretch her legs. She was just a human after all, one of many visitors to the barge stopping on their way to somewhere else. Using this opportunity, Dymphna was able to slip around, finding herself a few daggers, a couple skins of water, and, being a ship with both gnomish and goblin inhabitants, plenty of incendiary items for her to stash in a rucksack in her quarters, waiting for the right moment.

As the watch called midnight, the ship seemed to settle. She pretended to be soundly sleeping as the nurse made her rounds, checking her vitals, giving her another dose of healing to her deeper wounds before calling it a night. When the woman padded away, and the ship grew silent to all but the sound of the waves lapping at the sides of the barge, Dyn made her way out of her room, slipping past dozing guards to find a small rowboat. Jumping inside, she waited for the sound of anyone coming behind her, yet nobody came. "Good" she muttered before making her way back towards the cliffs.

***

The days had blurred together--had it been a week? Two? Toby couldn't tell, and didn't care. Each day, each night, the same, sitting in his iron cage. He could tell that his burns were festering, infected by the neglect of leaving him in his own waste, but there was naught to do about it. The Bull's Hord paid little attention to him, now, leaving him in the cage without consideration as their skeletal crew finished packing whatever it was that needed packing. Where they were headed, and in what form they'd next be seen, Toby didn't know and, idly, didn't care.

He regretted not talking to his parents, the last couple of times there'd been leave. Oh, he'd had letters, but he hadn't summoned the courage to actually go see them. His mother would be heartbroken as he simply...disappeared from the earth. Rosa--he'd made a promise there, to the strange young worgen, and he wasn't going to keep it--one more person in her tally-book on that score. And Dyn.

“You still have that date,” he heard her say. Prior to the mission, their running promise throughout Friendly Neighbour. He owed her a date, something nice. Something private. He remembered the weight of her head, leaning on his shoulder as the regiment sat around the table. Yet another promise he wouldn't be able to keep.

For the hundredth time, he tried to find that well of magic within him, only to find the wards on his manacles blocking him from using it. Not that he'd much strength left to use it with, anyways, but if he could only summon some water. Just...just a drop or two of water for his paper-dry throat. But he'd no chance of it, and no chance of life, and he leaned back in his crate and continued his long, slow wait for death.

***

When Dyn finally made it to shore after what felt like agonizing hours she began the ascent towards the cliffs, thankful she had chose a landing spot where she could stow the boat, as well as having a convenient path that ran towards the mountains. “Thank the Light for that” she smiled as she hefted the backpack over her shoulders. Glancing up towards the sky she checked the position of the moon. “Few hours until daylight, gives me time to get in” she spoke to herself in the darkness as she made her way towards the base.

Remembering the layout of the camp she found her way around the wooden walls, beams not unlike what they had erected in and around Kingsland, yet, she could see the hustle of activity, people rushing from building to building, “What’s going on, I imagine” she smirked as she found a safe place to stash her pack in the dark. She quickly pulled her hair up into a fierce bun, pulled up her hood and found some dirt to rub on her face and neck, giving her somewhat of a more weathered look before she quickly moved to try to blend in with the various people moving about.

She grabbed boxes and bags from people, loading them into carts to be hauled down to the ships, noting somewhat what was inside, tools, ammunition, paperwork. Most people barely speaking to each other, merely keeping to the task at hand, evacuation. She looked around for signs of her companions, but thankfully, did not see any bodies, at least not out in the open.

“You there!” a gruff Orc voice snarled towards her. “Come here!”

She turned, biting her lip as she obeyed and moved towards the man she recognized as one of the ones she fled from mere nights prior.

“What are you doing? I don’t recognize you!”

“I’m new, Sir…. signed on a couple weeks ago…helping move stuff” she kept her face down, lifting her box up to show him as she motioned again to the path that lead to the dock.

“Why haven’t I seen you before now?”

She shrugged, “New blood, I got latrine and cookhouse scullery duty, do you recognize every shit hauler?” she smirked, giving him a look.

The Orc laughed, then slapped her, “No insolence, grunt” he grinned as she reeled slightly, dropping her box. “Now get that down to the shore and get on the boat with the rest of them, we’re almost done here, and stay where we can see you, no wandering, we’re almost free of this rock” he retorted, casting what was probably an unintentional sidelong glance towards the prison cells, where she had callously dispatched one if its inhabitants only nights prior.

“Yes Sir, of course Sir” she nodded and headed back down to the ship before slipping her way back up, this time moving towards the watch towers, carefully avoiding the pile of shit underneath as she moved towards the cages.

“GRUNTS, PEONS, ON THE BOATS!” a harsh Kal’dorei voice yelled. “UNESSENTIAL PERSONELL TO THE BOATS”.

As she moved towards her hiding spot behind some boulders, she watched the flood of bodies rushing down to the docks finally, leaving everything else behind, only a handful remaining as the boats pulled away, lingering around a campfire.

“Five….” She counted the remaining men, pondering why they just didn’t all evacuate at the same time. She pulled her spyglass out of her bag, surveying around the camp then towards the cells before seeing a blonde lump, with a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach she let out a soft exclamation "Toby!"

She pulled herself back into hiding, into cover, while her mind raced. He lived…and was a captive. What had been a suicide mission to burn this place to the ground changed, suddenly, into a new set of objectives. She looked at her bag of timed incendiaries and two daggers. Would this be enough? Could she pull it off? She rolled back into position, deploying her spyglass and waiting for the chance to strike. A long while passed before it came, but came it did. Narrowing her eyes, she watched the human soldier stumble behind the now-empty building, hands fumbling at the front of his trousers.

She slipped forward through the night and drew one of the knives she’d stolen from the barge from her boot. The man, inebriated and singing some slurred drinking song, lumbered against the building drunkenly, coating it with his urine, and never saw her coming before he slumped down onto the sands, his throat cut from end to end.

“Three, that’s good enough I suppose” she chuckled before opening the door of the building, placing a small bundle just inside the doorway, setting a timed charge. “Gives me enough time to get away”

“Talon, Talon, what’s taking you so long?”

She froze as the Night Elf’s voice suddenly was heard coming closer. Shit shit shit! she thought as she dove under the building.

“Ey Talon! You fell down drunk again while pissing, damn human.” The man laughed slightly as he bent down to try to bring his friend up, only to come away with warm bloody hands.

“What the…Talon…GU….” His cry out to his compatriots cut short as Dyn brought a rock down to the back of his head, the Kal’dorei falling like a lump over his friend.

“Well, that’s two” she sighed, backing away from the scene and rushing back to pick up her backpack, placing another timed explosive near one of the guard towers before moving off to the cages, the way now cleared to… No Toby. Instead of the young, sandy-blonde mage, all she saw was an open cage and a set of drag marks.

***

Toby barely registered the sound of the lock being opened. "Alright, pinky," said the gruff, orcish voice he'd heard during his sessions with torture. "You're with me."

The orc reached in and dragged him by the manacles out of the cage. In his fugue of fever and dissociation, he felt the motion, registered the pain of it. The orc tried to make him stand, but he'd no strength in his legs to hold his weight. Disease, starvation, dehydration, and trauma prevented him from the basic act of carrying his own weight.

"Damned weakling," his orcish captor muttered to himself, then simply began dragging the young mage over the sand. "Higher-ups want you to die elsewhere, so we're going to take a little trip. I voted for leaving you to rot, but you're lucky...I've been ordered to make sure." He gave a low chuckle. "Wasn't ordered to make it too quick, though," he says as he dragged Toby out of the compound and away from the final evacuation of the Bull's Horn PMC. Toby had no energy to fight, no ability to move himself--the end had finally come, and he could but wait patiently as his orcish executioner dragged him into the high desert in the moutains between Tanaris and the Thousand Needles...and to his final, unmarked resting place, wherever that would be.

He’d no clue how long it took before he felt his body flop onto the sand, the impact of it registering through his ravaged body. He expected the orc's axe to follow shortly, but it didn't. Instead, the Orc took a long draught off his canteen, polishing it off then chucking the empty container over his shoulder.

"None of this is personal, Pinky," the orc said. "You folks worked us over, and good. Whole PMC is disbanding, organization's filing for bankruptcy. Us grunts are going to have to find a new place to sign on...though chances are we'll just re-form under a different name, transfer our contracts, and go on with our lives. Heard you're the one that got your people free."

The big orc pulled his axe free, and began sharpening it with his whetstone. "But word has to get around. You screwed us, and there's got to be a price to that. I'm not gonna tell you I'm sorry for this, because I'm not sorry at all. But I want you to know...still respect you, warrior that you are."

With that, the orc raised his axe above his head, aiming first at Toby's legs. "Doesn't mean this isn't going to be painful."

***

Dymphna followed the pair through the desert, her leather booted feet silent. The Orc seeming to not know or even fathom that anyone could be following him. As she watched him unceremoniously plop Toby down and draw his axe, she felt a cold rush over her, a focus she had rarely felt before. This was her friend, someone she cared deeply for, to see him bloody and broken, she knew what had to be done.

But how? She’d faced Orcs all her life, from the Blackrock who would perpetually raid the family farm, to most recently against the PMC. Their hubris was their weakness, she knew this; the thought that they could not be bested. She had to resort to thought and motion together to be able to at least get him to focus on her and move away from Toby, especially with the sound of the whetstone grinding against the axe.

Drawing up everything inside of her she took a step towards the Orc, “Now or never” she thought, knowing that things needed to happen quickly to change his focus before he brought that axe down. “Hey!” she yelled.

“OH my god, another person, Oh...you’re an Orc…do you even speak common? I’m so lost” she sighed, once again giving him the appearance of a damsel in distress. “WHERE……IS……HERE?......” she gesticulated wildly, pretending not to notice the lump before him in the lightning darkness of the dunes.

The orc looked up briefly, then his axe flashed down, neatly cleaving through Toby’s tibia and fibia and severing the young mage's foot and ankle cleanly from his body. His back arched with the sudden, new pain, and his parched throat opened in a scream he could not voice--and then slumped, fainting from the pain, his blood leaking onto the sand of the desert below him.

Dyn gasped at the sight of Toby’s foot, then swallowed—she’d a wall that needed to be taken down first, and she told herself she’d die trying.

The unnamed orcish grunt raises his Axe from his bloody work and looks back to Dyn. "Brave of you, coming back for him like this," he said, gesturing at the mage now bleeding out into the sand. "We've got descriptions of all of you that fled, lass--you're the one that jumped the cliff. I had two gold riding with Duffy that you hadn't made it--looks like I owe him. And looks like I'm killing two little mice out here, instead of one."

Dyn cocked her head to the side and smirked, letting the wild feeling of combat wash fear from her. “Good,” she said in a clear, cool voice. “I was never good at the pretext anyways. Maybe I can save you the gold by killing you”

Drawing her daggers once more she dug her ankles into the sand before leaping towards the Orc, aiming to get to get blades into him before he could swing that massive axe into her once more.

Her foe eased back into his stance, waiting, and as Dyn rushed him he timed it perfectly, pivoting away from her charge. He was too close to get a swing with his axe, but her momentum carries her past him, and as it does he brings his knee up into her gut, knocking the wind from her. The woman coughed, trying to recover, as the big axe swung it in a screaming arc downwards toward her head.

Dym tried to step to the side, and managed to avoid taking a lethal blow to her head. But she didn’t avoid the axe entirely, and her shoulder and back erupted in pain as the axe sank in deep. Fighting through the pain, she reached down and grabbed the sand, red with sprays of her own blood as she threw it into his face.

Her orcish opponent stepped back, blinking, trying to clear his eyes as Dym drove hard at his side with a dagger. At the last moment, he twisted a bit, stepping back; Dyn's dagger bit into flesh, then pulled out quickly. Blood flew from the orc's side, but he stayed on his feet and chuckled as he looked at Dyn, panting and bleeding.

"Was telling Pinky, here," he said, gesturing to Toby. "Nothing personal in any of this--got a lot of respect for the both of you. Warriors. Killin' you's an honor." He nodded to her in a little salute, then took a step toward her, his axe in motion, ready to deliver the killing blow at last.

Dym grimaced, the pain in her shoulder beginning to sap her strength. The Orc before her became the embodiment of everything that had happened in these past months, the snipers, the bombings, the camp full of the dead and the dying, Nyla, Novo, everything. Her own wounds cried out for vengeance as she fixated upon her foe, but she knew he had the advantage. Less wounded. Well fed. Longer-ranged weapon. Better armor. More training. She raised her dagger, ready to fight to the death…but she grasped no illusions as to her chance of success.

And that's when the explosions began.

It started with a single blast, but two more follow in quick succession, and the pre-dawn light flares with orange fire as Dyn's incendiaries detonate within the camp. The orc reacted in a basic, completely instinctive manner by stopping his step and turning his head. His voice came out low and curious as he watches the flames licking at the dry wood of the PMC's building.

"What the--"

Dym launched herself in a white hot rage at him once more, blood pouring out of her shoulder as she plunged her dagger deep into the Orc’s throat, sawing at it to be sure the artery was cut, never for him to hurt another person again.

The Orc tried to fight, but it didn’t last long as he fell, nearly toppling over onto her as she drew away, unsteady as she turned to look at the base, slowly becoming engulfed. "I'm no mouse you piece of shit, I'm a Lion" She turned and bolted towards Toby, her hands cradling his as she sobbed, holding him close.

“Toby…can you hear me?” she looked towards his severed foot, rushing to grab something, anything, to stop the bleeding. Rummaging through her pack she found some cloth where she could tie a tourniquet. “We need to get out of here” she whispered, ignoring her own wounds for now, sights focused only on him.

"B-Brooks?" he murmered in a cracked voice barely above a whisper, then leans his head back struggling to swallow. "How...where..."

She almost laughed at the absurdity, remembering her dyed-dark hair as she tied off the tourniquet. She saw his chapped lips and mouth, rushing back to her pack to get the waterskin, lightly wetting his lips, not wanting to give him too much too soon. "Shh...no, its me, Dyn.....I'm here....we need to get out of here."

"Dyn?" he asked, his voice a bit restored from the gulp of water. "You're...you're alive," he says, and a small smile crept up his face. "But leave…no. Can't. No leg," he says. "No magic," he adds, then wiggles the manacles at her, indicating them. He leans his head back on the pillowing sand for a moment.

"For now" she replied as she looked back towards the camp, not seeing any figures heading their direction. She gave him a bit more water to drink before searching over the corpse of her fallen foe, finding a small ring of keys.

"We're going to get out of here, and Brooks, Brightmaul..someone is going to put your foot back," she said, her voice far more confident than she felt. But the key turned smoothly, and a moment later the lock popped off.

Toby closed his eyes as the manacles fell from his wrist. The pain of his fever-ridden body, slipping into shock from the trauma of losing his leg, racked with burn scars and disease, faded as he reached for his power.

He felt that arcane torrent, and coughed as he mustered what little reserves he has left. "Can't...hold this...long..." he says, and a portal began to form. It flickered and flashed as he struggled to hold it, and

Dym couldn’t help but remember his warnings about the risks of using a portal in an altered mental state. She also remembered that he'd managed to pull it off once. Toby's eyes began to flicker, and she knew the effort this cost him, this one, last-ditch attempt to go home. She knew she had but a moment’s chance. She grabbed his foot, wrapping it loosely and putting it into her backpack, slipping it in front of her.

"Ok Corporal" she grunted, her own energy fading just as quickly, "We're going through this together, right?" She bends down, lifting his body, the dehydration and malnutrition making him somewhat easy to lift for the girl who was used to lifting livestock and pulling drunk farmhands around. She didn't know where the portal led, only that it wasn't here as she jumped through, both of them together, like they did on that first fateful night where they met.

#wra rp #WrA Alliance #wra roleplay #fortyseventh #wow rp character blogs #wow rp #wyrmrest alliance

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lextherandlxce · 5 years

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Oh man thank you so much for answering my ask! I still am into Longmire, and Branch remains my favorite character, and you are so right about people not looking long enough to see what a great guy he is! Now you’ve got me hooked though, haha! What are your headcanons for Branch’s hobbies? What’s his taste in books and music? Does he like scary movies? Dogs or cats? CAN HE SING? (I’m a sucker for a man that can sing) you write for him so beautifully that I just wanna know more haha! Thanks love!

{ You are so welcome! And thank you for sending another one!! I can’t tell you how excited I was to see all these questions for Branch omg :3 Feel free to send anything you want about Branch. I’d love to keep talking about our boy with you! Also, thank you so so much. I’m so happy that you enjoy the way I write Branch ! }

Branch’s hobbies tend to be pretty Wyoming typical. He loves camping, fishing, hunting. He loves to go swimming in different rivers. He’s not a huge fan of swimming pools. He prefers to be out in nature. He, of course, loves riding his mare to clear his head. He used to be a bronc rider before he became a deputy, so sometimes he likes to go visit his old friends who are still involved in the rodeo circuit. And occasionally, he’ll take up the invitation of a ride. He still needs a good rush of adrenaline from time to time. He also tries to volunteer with animal shelters. He hates seeing animals abused or neglected, so when he was younger he loved going to take care of them. His father hated him doing it. He thought it made Branch look weak. Branch never cared what his father said about it, but since he’s become a deputy, he doesn’t have too much time anymore. He’ll do his best to attend an adoption day or donate large amounts during the holiday seasons though. Overall, I think Branch’s biggest hobby is simply to build things. He loves doing things around the house (like putting in a new deadbolt for Cady). Any home improvement project is something he’ll gladly take on. Anything that lets him use his hands. He really wants to learn more about carpentry. He has basic knowledge and can build basic things, but he wants to be able to create really beautiful woodworks.

Branch is a total classic rock guy. It’s the music he grew up with, and he loves it just as much as when he was a kid. He doesn’t listen to country. He doesn’t want to be that much of a walking cliche. He doesn’t really ever listen to new music either unless he just happens to be where it’s playing. But classic rock and sometimes old school funk are his jams. If you want a few examples of songs Branch loves, listen to Leroy Brown by Jim Croce. But Branch loves every song by Jim Croce. ( @peritxetxinvenit I can’t lie, Leroy Brown reminds me very much of Vic xD ). But he also loves songs like What a Fool Believes by the Doobie Brothers. Okay, if I’m not careful I’ll wind up making an entire playlist of songs Branch likes! But for some more recent songs, Branch likes Mr. Brightside by The Killers and Somebody That I Used To Know by Gotye.

Now, can Branch sing....? YES. Yes, Branch can sing. And he can sing very well. When he listens to any of the songs I’ve listed above in his truck, omg, does this boy belt it out. One thing that always helps put him in a better mood is to get in his truck, drive down a quiet road, roll the windows down, blast music he loves, and sing along to it. Now while Branch can sing, he never let’s anyone hear him. He’d be mortified if anyone heard. He doesn’t realize that he has a wonderful voice, and he feels like a fool at the idea of people hearing him sing. He doesn’t even hum to himself or silently lip-sing to songs he likes with other people around. He won’t even sing in his own house because he’s worried someone might come to visit and overhear. However, after a couple of beers and with someone he really cares about, they might be able to get him to sing a little tune for them. An aside note, Branch had a couple of piano lessons when he was young, but he hated it and his father never made him pursue it. He can’t play any instruments, though he’d like to learn to play the guitar.

Branch is a very intelligent man, and he’s actually an avid reader. Some people might think of him as the dumb high school quarter back, but he’s not stupid despite loving sports. During high school, he read a great many classic novels. He actually loved them all. It shames him to no end, but when Walt lent him Hound of the Baskervilles in order to chastise him, Branch did indeed take the book home and very carefully read it. He learned a lot from it and thoroughly enjoyed the story. But because his job demands a lot of his time, he doesn’t ever feel like he has the time to read many novels anymore. Branch is at a point where he’d want to get through a book in an afternoon. So he doesn’t read novels or novellas, instead, he reads plays! Plays as old as Oedipus Rex to contemporary plays. He enjoys that they’re quick reads, but he also has a lot of fun making his imagination work to visualize everything. He actually much prefers reading plays instead of going to watch them. And because of his Uncle Lucian’s talent for writing poetry, Branch will always go buy a collection of poetry based on whoever his uncle recommends he reads.

Branch loves scary movies! They’re one of his favorite kinds of movies. Yet as often as he watches them, he’s not often truly impressed by them. He hates cheap jump scares. He loves the old school horror movies, no matter how camp they are. Evil Dead, Friday the 13th, Nightmare on Elm Street, and Chucky to name a few. All the cult classics that had phenomenal horrifying originals. He never bothers with any sequels. He doesn’t really care much for blood and guts in movies. In fact, he’d like to get away from that once he’s out of work. His favorite kind of horror movies have good characters, strong plot lines, and a sense of unease that builds and builds until it’s intolerable. Though I will say, he’ll never watch horror movies alone.

And here’s a little headcanon near and dear to me that almost ties into the last one. He’s not a coward by any means, but having grown up in close proximity to the Cheyenne reservation has influenced his belief in frightening creatures and spirituality as a whole. While Branch says he doesn’t believe in ghosts or goblins of any sort, he feels it’s best not to push his luck with any possible malevolent entities or cryptid creatures. When Vic Moretti mentioned having her tarot cards read, he actually thought she was pretty brave. He was being honest about never having had them done because he’s a guy in the middle of Wyoming. But I do imagine after that, Victoria would have really tried to get him to go with her for a reading. He would have flatly refused, and it’s because he would be afraid. He’d be afraid of knowing something bad was coming his way and he’d be helpless to stop it. For Branch, he’d rather not see the snake in the grass until he’s bit rather than to know it’s there and know he’s trapped.

And last but not least, Branch loves cats and dogs!!! He never had any pets other than horses growing up, and he doesn’t have one now. He’d really like to have a pet, but he worries he wouldn’t be fair to them by working all the time. But he adores dogs and cats equally. He loves that a dog can go anywhere with him and be an outdoor companion. And when he visits people who have cats, the kitties tend to take to his lap instantly. He loves cuddling with a kitty inside, but he doesn’t like how their fur gets everywhere. And usually it’s so fine that it makes him sneeze terribly compared to dog fur. He likes to think that once he’s Sheriff or even retired from the Sheriff’s department, he’ll adopt a dog and a cat.

{Thank you again for all these questions, my sweet! Please feel free to send in any more you have about Branch. I don’t mind answering anything about him. It all helps me flesh out how I want to write him. I hope this was an enjoyable read, and thank you again for your support of my writing!}

#;branch #;headcanon #;headcanons #branch connally #{i will love this cowboy to the day i die <3 }#ashomee

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heyyy-thats-my-chips · 6 years

Text

Tales of The Wicked

Chapter 1

Goddess surely have a malicious taste of humor.

I can’t take a guess of what jokes she will make in the future, but surely it’ll makes me laugh when it’s time.

Like one time she decided to shows us a new dragon created from broken fragment of chaos dragon named Black Dragon that destroyed almost every villages it accidentally found and wiped out half of our population. I’m laughing even in my sleep. Watching us living in harmony must be boring for God.

Speaking of population, there are 7 races in this world, The Sorceress, The Warriors, The Clerics, The Kalis, The Archers, The Lancers and the last one, Assassins. I was born as an assassin.

The Kali race is the only race that have only women in the tribes, there’s barely men, except the elders. They were known as The Guardian of Ancient, the one who could read Goddess dreams. Remember what I said about God having a malicious taste of humor? Well, out of nowhere, Kali tribes was destroyed overnight, but one of them managed to escape and now she’s the only Kali in the world. And don’t forget about a sudden appearance of the Prophet who was predicted could save the world, but ended up being kidnapped by the mysterious Black Knight. And a white haired woman in red hood named Argenta visited the Calderock Village and claimed to be the Silver dragon, a fragment of ancient dragon who bossed around for her ‘job’ to find the Black Knight, but now the Black Knight and the Prophet are nowhere to be found.

And the rest? They were ordinary peoples, villagers. Many peoples except archers who didn’t go to a training camp would ended up as villagers, the blood of their ancestors will still flow within them, but discrimination from others will makes them forget about their origin. They’d lose their confident, but some of them will rise up and become important peoples instead, such as generals, soldiers, blacksmiths, tailors, warehouse keepers, mount trainers, potion makers, and the others I couldn’t remember. Studying as a trainee itself required lots of patience and times, you should be able to perform basic skills and be able to do the quests given by your trainer, such as entering a dungeon to gather specific ingredients and kill monsters and the mission could cost your life.

Oh, I forgot to mention, my ancestors were actually the real leaders of Silver Dagger, the most feared and famous guild in Saint Haven, their name will never be written in the history, but they’re the one who make history of victories and wars in almost every conflicts, even King Peter in Cassius Palace frequently sent them into secret missions or called them whenever they need a counsellor. You can tell from my story that my ancestors are the shadows of the Cassius. My father always told me that someday I’ll replace him, but I’m not interested.

Because of the absence of siblings in my family, my days are always filled with training and studying. My father shows no mercy, he trained me so hard that seems like he doesn’t care if I die during my training, but in the end of the day, my father will become softer and appreciate many thing that I did in my training and study. Sadly there’s only two of us in the family, there won’t be mother for me who welcomes me home. My mother died to protect me when I was a little kid because of sudden attack from Black Dragon in Saint Haven, and I know since her funeral held, my father is trying so hard to replaces her role. When I was younger, my father always told me a bedtime story in every night, but I refused and told him to tell me his journey instead, but he just smiled and tells me I’ll know it soon. Now my nights are filled with stupid tales of the ruler of God, named Desmodeus who ordered two Goddesses, Althea and Vestinel to create a world, but because of envy, Vestinel poisoned Goddess Althea into slumber and turns this world that created by Althea into chaos, and we, in the name of Silver Dagger, should bring peace back to the world, along with the ancient and chaos dragons. Now I really want the old tales of him back.

Since Saint Haven is the capital city of the world, where 7 of the races gathered to seek a better job, I frequently meet peoples from other races, and new adventures in every corner of the city. One day, when fate decided it’s time to meet my dear friend, I met him in the most unexpected way.

I remember that day, when my father forced me to enter one of dungeons in foothills of the Black Mountain, where almost all of the soldiers and members of many guilds from Saint Haven fought battalions of monsters that suddenly came and attacking the front base of Saint Haven’s fortress. It’s funny that when I watched the war while eating apple and sitting in the branches of highest tree in the foothills of the Black Mountain, I accidentally saw a boy with silver hair that has the most beautiful face even for a man, I snickered, he must be the new Knight Templar that has been in every headline of newspapers because of his contribution for Dragon Follower’s investigation. No wonder the King Cassius and General Douglass sent him in the front line, he’s strong.

I started to notice that he’s a rare case in his race, he’s a priest and also a paladin, meaning he could either be an inquisitor, a crusader, a saint, or even a guardian. Interesting.

But in just a second, something changes from his appearance, I furrowed, but then realize that he casts a spell to call lightning—upon me

I jumped to another tree before a thousand volts of lightning suddenly strikes the tree I was sit on, the fire quickly spreads from one branches to another, my half eaten apple is long gone. In the thick smoke and burning woods, I detect a flash movement of one people and suddenly the smoke in front of me is vanished, replaced by the beautiful face I’ve been watching. He spells a cast again and makes another thunderbolt strikes barely an inch from my place, if I didn’t move faster—

He continues to attack with force of winds and makes the trees around him breaking, a sharp piece of wood almost planted on my face, I jumped backward and let my body pulled down by gravity before hard ground under my feet breaking because of heavy pressure of mine, but then I must jump away from there before the shield of the Cleric makes the slightest contact with me.

A loud of crash could be heard. Our surrounding is filled with dust that flies because of Cleric’s attack—what a powerful skill he has. When the surrounding become clear from dust, I see something like an orb in front of my face—Cleric’s wand pointed at me.

“Who are you? Are you a Dragon Follower’s spy?” He exclaimed,

“I think you got the wrong person.” I lifted up both of my hands, but seems like it only makes him more suspicious because he just shoves his wand closer to my face.

“I ask you once again, who are you?” He demanded,

I sighed heavily. “My name is Reuvaldy.”

But seems like my answer didn’t satisfy him, he furrowed deeply. “What?” I shrugged, “you asked me who am I didn’t you-” my words are cut off by a sudden enormous cross that fell besides us, and there’s lightning in every inch of it.

“If you don’t answer me, I will not hesitate to kill you.”

“Alright! I’m an adventure who’s too lazy to join you defeating those monsters.”

He fell silence for a while, but then he quickly composed himself, “show me your license.”

I rummage through my pocket, then hand him the license my father gave me so I didn’t have to go to the training camps, in exchanges of strenuous training from my father himself. He takes it and examining it carefully before handing it back to me. But I know he didn’t read any description in my license.

“I’ll let you go this time, but you should help us get rid of the monsters.” He stated, I reply it with a heavy sigh.

“Fine.” I got up, “but before that, could you please remove your cross thing? It makes me uncomfortable.”

He looked at me once again before flicked his finger, which makes the enormous cross of lightning disappear. “Let’s go, we don’t have much time.” He turns around and runs into the war while shouting a command before he’s disappearing from my view. I chuckled, maybe he’s not that bad, could spotted me far above the tree in short time. I quickly made my way to him by slashing monster’s throats that are on my way, another stupid orcs, and annoying goblins that basically a parasite in every monster battalion tried to stop me, I smirked, “shower me with blood.” I snorted as I cut another orc’s throat open, a disgusting blood of them burst out, making another monsters fled when I glared at them. But it doesn’t affect the cocky harpies, they must thought they’re strong enough to kill us—especially the one with red feathers. But they’re all wrong, I slipped my hand into my pocket and quickly throws my

I finally saw the silver haired boy again, but before I could reach him, there’s a deafening howl echoing through the Foothills.

Yes I do realize we’re in the very front line of the soldiers, and I do realize those howl means the General monster has come down. And I do saw the gigantic General monster running to his target—the Cleric. “Cleric!” I shouted, but he can’t even moves because the monsters are surrounding him, I looked at the General monster who’s become very dangerously close to him and already lifted his giant axe pointed to the Cleric—there’s no time.

I lift my hand up in the air, absorbing the dark shadow into my hand before the fire starts to burns around the shadow, creating a red line which I called ‘hell’s ribbon’ and slowly this dark matter of mine forms into a huge piercing star which I throw toward the general monster’s neck and swiftly slash the monster into two before a loud metal clacking echoing through the foothills,

Shit.

The cleric’s eyes widened, he just saw one of the silver dagger’s legendary skill. He quickly turns his head and sees where I am standing, where the dark star came from.

I messed up.

The other monsters suddenly fled from the battlefield, their general is dead, making the soldiers and adventures confused with the sudden victory. The cleric’s view was blocked with hundreds monsters that run toward their base fortress, saving their life. The shout of victory filled the foothills of Black Mountain, they all cheering, except the cleric,

Who only saw a solid wood log laying on the spot where the assassin supposed to be.

#dragon nest #dragon nest fanfic #it's still a wip tho #i'd like to know what you guys think since i'm not sure if it's a good story yet #inspi #inspirated by some player i met in DN #a few names in FF are real players

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zexxcandell · 7 years

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👿 - An Enemy

The Wayfarer was sinking.

Sevlaz sat back against the burning hull, his red eyes burning with hurt just as the fire did around him. His hand held tight to his stomach as he could feel the heavy out pour of black blood between his fingers. His usual loose finery was torn and singed from their current predicament, he'd always had a taste for the finery of life. Silver and gold, they were what he craved and was willing to do whatever he could for. He wasn't a large orc by any means, but he was tough and he was clever concepts generally lost to his people's brute strength and might. Sadly it seemed, this was the last time his cleverness was going to be of any use. His cutlass in the other hand hung loosely as it bumped against the aged timber of the deck, sending a clear ding of steel despite the roaring heat and screaming storm outside of the ship. Eyes blazing yet he looked across at the young human, the blue eyes of his apprentice staring back with unbridled fury and frustration.

"You done killed us all, boy. Ya know that right?" Came his gruff, furious voice calling out the young man. He was tall and lanky, but despite his beanpole stature there was a quickness that Sev had taken a shine to right away. Zexx was fun, he was fast, and he was his friend. Almost a son, and that was saying a lot from an orc about a human. But again he wasn't very much like his kin. He could still remember when they had picked him up in that gobo port, scrawny and broke trying to figure out where to find food and shelter since he'd dumped off that Kul Tiran refugee boat. It was a sad story for the kid, but it was a well told tale all over since the Scourge had come and razed Lordaeron to the stones.

Despite the horrific beginning, the last few years had been good. Jae had given him to Sev to train, finding the young man's fury was a good fit for the orc to temper. He'd done his best, teaching him to fight, to stand, to know where the money is coming and going. Lucky for him, Zexx was near clever as he was and soon they were running jobs all over the coasts together. Fighting murlocs, waylaying Theramore marines, and even breaking into an internment camp to free a pair of goblins. Looking back on it, probably would have been better to leave Gravelsnak in that death trap. And then Captain Jae had needed to leave, no word why or where but she said she had to go with a far off look to the west. She handed her sword to Zexx and disappeared into the wilds.

A bark of a laugh answered back followed closely by a crack of thunder causing the ruins of the ship to shake and groan in pain as it let more water below, the rocks below grinding into the broken and torn planks. "I did? You stupid old bastard, if you'd had some god damn guts we would have made it! We just had to stay the course and they would have broke chase!" Zexx was turning Jae's rapier in one hand as he began to mutter and pace again, his steps buckling here and there from the gash to his right leg. It had been a wild swipe and scored the orc a hit, but left him open to a thrust straight through his middle. Sevlaz's black blood was still leaking down his front, but he could also feel it weeping out his back in a steady drip.

"Zexx they tried to break chase, but Grav got sucked in just as we did! We didn't need this, we could have all gotten away. I don't know what the hell Jae was thin-" The orc shouted back, his harsh guttural words rolling into a lecture he was used giving to the sailor before he was cut off by the scream of frustration from the human. He was coming apart at the seams thought Sevlaz as he watched the dark haired man pace within the burning boat, neither of them seeming to care about their crumbling surroundings. His red eyes darted past Zexx and saw the still holding stairs leading up to the deck again, perhaps if he caught him off guard he could slip by him and somehow survive this. He'd been in tight situations before. Maybe Beil was up there and could come talk some sense into the would be 'captain'. Gritting his teeth and willing his thick fingers to tighten about the hilt of his sword he readied, his tongue starting into another lashing.

"Yeah you remember Jaetha? The woman who took you in? We all did you arrogant upstart, and now they're all dead cause of you. Cal. Beil. Kybb. Renah. We trusted you to keep this boat afloat! Instead you let your temper get the best of you over a stupid goblin and now you've damned us to this watery grave!" Zexx had stopped now in his pacing as Sevlaz's words struck at him as well placed as any sword thrust, the winces and flinches as the accusations flew at him. Sevlaz's anger blanched as he checked his footing and took a step forward with his weakening heavy step. "Son we ca-"

Thunder of a different kind roared to life from within the sinking ship, the smoking barrel of one of Beil's flintlocks held in Zexx's free hand. The boy was shooting blind of course as he held it out loosing from his side, but he supposed neither of them expected the large ball to tear through the orc's knee and send him crashing to the weakening floor. Sevlaz howled in agony as he let go of his wound and sword to try desperately to staunch the blood and pain staining the wood below him. His foot hung at a strange angle as the knee didn't seem to be in the right place any more. His hands soaked in black as he felt shock settling over him as he looked frantically from his leg and up to the human he knew as his friend. The gun lowered slowly as he turned to face his mentor, his shoulders squared as he glowered down at the dying orc.

"I am not your son." He tossed the heavy pistol to the floor with a thump before slipping the sword into his belt loop, blue eyes cold and empty as that of the monsters that took his father and mother. They were the last words spoken as he turned and limped toward the steps leading up from the hold and soon he was gone. The orc stared agape as Zexx left him, despite the warmth of the fire around him he felt cold and tired. His body growing heavier by the second he felt himself losing focus and fall back to stare up from the burning main deck, finding a breaking of wood to see a break in the swirling storm of the Maelstrom. One last sight of the stars of this world he had grown to love. His final thoughts drifting back to a woman he knew so long ago, when he was a young orc tending to the pigs. There was a female. She was his. He was hers. And he left. "Elras."

The heavy skinning knife fell from the orc's hand, her fingers twitching and shaking still as she felt as if a great pit had opened in her middle. Elras breathed heavy as if the talbuk below her had actually skewered her instead of falling to her spear. Something had happened. Something she did expect or know of, but knew a great sadness filled her heart as tears began to fill her eyes and she placed her sobbing face into her bloody hands. Intense and sorrowful as she wept, blood mixing with tears as he knelt before the dead beast beneath her. Suddenly a she felt a small strong hand touch her shoulder with a soft child's voice to follow, her head snapping up as she drew in a shaking breath again and tightened her calloused hands into fists. "Mother?"

"I am alright, Fenrag," her deep voice answering the worried word of her child. The fists relaxing from their intensity as she reached up to pat the small orc boys hand with a smile on her tusked face, turning to present it to the concerned boy in an act of reassurance. "I am alright, I promise. I just had a moment with the Spirits, reminding of the precious and fragile pact life carries."

The boy did not look convinced as he frowned at her still, but she was his mother and he a good son. Squeezing softly at her shoulder again he would come about to pick up the knife and offer it to her as he went around the other side of the talbuk they would have for many dinners to come. She smiled yet at her child as she began cleaning the beast again, her work soon filling the emptiness that had struck her so deeply. They finished in silence and they kept it all the way home, the red patch where the carcass had been among the green of the Nagrand high grass drying in the afternoon sun.

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throughtheglassdarkly · 6 years

Text

Scorched Earth, part 3.5

Welcome back. I know last time I said I would pick up with the assault on Scáthach’s keep, but I realized that there were a few things that went on in camp between our bringing the crystal spear back and our next big adventure that you should probably know about. After everything that had happened, none of us felt like letting grass grow under our feet. One thing that the changelings seemed to be worried about was that several of us seemed to be able to use glamour and access magical abilities. None of them were willing to tell us about why they were worried and Cassi tried to downplay it. It didn’t make me any less concerned.

Day spent a lot of time trying to work on his weapon skills. He’d been sulking after he wasn’t able to use that awesome crystal spear we brought back – he could hit things pretty hard or shoot anything, but actual melee weapons were a little beyond him. He worked with the practice dummies and then tried fighting with a couple of the other grunts. He wasn’t half bad with the dummies and could stab anything that was standing perfectly still, but as far as engaging another person in direct battle… that was a little less successful. So he kept sulking.

Yova went native. She made herself an entire new outfit out of the same mossimer fabric Adrian wore and was willing to sew things for other people as well. She also turned into that dude with the lute at the Ren Faire who followed people around asking if they had requests (she didn’t quite go “Penny for the song of it, guvnah?” but wasn’t that far off). She tried her best to keep morale up as much as possible. She also wasn’t afraid to join Pam and me in the mess hall and dish on the gossip with us while taking dishwashing duty. There was also something kind of strange around this time – she started being… I don’t know how to describe it, other than hard to look at. Not in the traditional way, she was still very striking, but it was almost like looking at her was like catching a direct glimpse of the sun out of the corner of your eye. Sometimes I found myself squinting when I was looking at her.

Speaking of Pam, she spent almost all her time in the mess tent. We bonded a little over our love of baking and shared some recipes. I told her I had to learn how to make that gourd bread she whipped up that was such a hit. She told me all about her kids, what they did in school, her husband. We learned that we were both chemistry majors in college and did a little nerding out over the science part of baking. Aside from that, she spent quite a bit of time sorting through the local flora and trying it out in dishes. She seemed pretty happy to just be helping out, making food, cleaning things, and generally being a total mom.

Bella spent a lot of time talking with both me and Yova. She seemed receptive to Yova’s flirting, though I couldn’t figure out if she was actually interested or just happy to flirt back herself. After she was able to use the shadows to help us hide, Amberleigh directed for her to join the scout/strike team. The others in her group were Luca and the shadowy man she talked to after we got back from our mapping mission, whose name was Elroy. She was probably the most annoyed of all of us that nobody would tell her why she shouldn’t use her powers.

And then there’s me. So around this time, I started having an urge to write down what was happening to us. I used to journal back in high school but hadn’t done it since then. Without Netflix, YouTube, or podcasts to distract me, I thought I’d give journaling a try again. There was a tree near camp that exuded a black, tarry sap which made a half-decent ink when I diluted it with water and there were scraps of paper I could write on. After a couple of days, people seemed to notice I was always writing. In a really sweet gesture, Cassi offered to help bind my journal together. She found a couple pieces of thick leather and bound it, protecting the pages from the elements.

Around this time, I started talking to a few of the others, trying to find out more about them. Pam and Bella were really chatty, telling me all about themselves, their families, and their lives. Yova was a little more reserved, not particularly interested in telling me anything about her life before New York. I got the impression that it was painful for her and didn’t press. Day was even more tight-lipped. All I got out of him was that he was a cop; anything aside from that, he started getting borderline hostile about.

I also spoke with a few of the changelings in camp. I’d spent a lot of time helping in the mess tent and got Nash to talk about himself a little bit. He was an Ogre, a changeling who was large and physically imposing. Amberleigh insisted that he be on the front lines. I couldn’t see him ever bashing people over the head, he was so gentle, but I couldn’t argue that he was tanky. I noticed that he spent a lot of time after dark looking up at the stars and sketching star maps. I asked him about it and he said that he was hoping to help get everybody home by charting the stars. He told me the only things he remembered about his old life were that he came from Nashville (hence, Nash) and the face of a young girl. He didn’t remember who she was, but he knew she was important and focusing on her helped him get through the roughest times in Arcadia.

I also tried to talk to both Cassi and Adrian about their pasts and see if they were willing to talk to me about what happened to them. Cassi was very flustered and uncomfortable, so I let it drop. Adrian was a little more receptive. I learned that he was taken when he was in his second semester of grad school, studying to be a social worker (just when I thought he couldn’t get any more good...). He was volunteering at a homeless shelter and stumbled upon a trafficking ring run by goblins. He was taken and sold in a goblin market. He didn’t want to talk about his keeper or the time he spent in slavery, which I couldn’t blame him for. The more I got to talking to him, the more I wanted to get to know about him. I’m far from the smoothest talker in the world, but I tried a little flirting to see if he was receptive. He seemed flattered, but gently let me down, telling me it wasn’t a good idea to get involved when I was going to be home before long and he had to stay and help the army. I asked him if he could help me decipher the fortune he gave me by the campfire. He said he couldn’t really interpret what the fortunes meant. He did say he was pretty sure it meant I was going to find someone who would care for me, though he wasn’t sure what form that care would take.

And then there’s the last thing. Amberleigh noticed that I liked to write and she assigned me the task of being her assistant. She would dictate and I transcribed everything, whether it was notes, letters, or even an inventory. I started working on helping get the camp organized. It was pretty obvious that there weren’t enough hands on deck before for anyone to really take on an organization role. I ended up spending a lot of time in Amberleigh’s shadow, following her around camp wherever she needed to be. It was hard to get a read on her. The only thing that was clear is that she was in a permanent state of irritation. Every once in a great while, I saw that shark’s teeth smile (which wasn’t any less creepy than the first time she did it) and every time it happened, both she and Belle would go completely out of sight for about an hour or so. Then when they came back, Belle would be leaking smoke from her stitches. Yeah. Not worrying at all.

At any rate, that about covers the downtime we had. Next time, something much more exciting. Until then, may you have a lot greater foresight than any of the rest of us did.

#ctl #changeling: the lost #changeling #downtime

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