#c: xhorsquad

[druidscraft]

so what we’ve learned is that hannah cannot have a home village without it being absolutely destroyed, and laura cannot have a normal backstory meet up without it being overshadowed by sheer chaos

[druidscraft]

First watches with a new group of travelers typically go to the more established group members. This, Lyssa anticipates, though she soon after pretends not to understand the hushed conversation. Something about almost losing brothers, seeking closure and wanting to protect the villages, but it’s not polite to eavesdrop, so Lyssa turns her attention elsewhere. 

Like with all “rests” she has taken for the last ten years, she lets her mind wander through memories and thoughts, knowing no unconsciousness shall come to her. She still hears the squeals of the children as Corellia’s head comes out of the bag, the crystalized blood hanging like a ruby necklace from the point of severance, solidified from the coldness of the pocket dimension within the bag. They’re experimenting with magic, running around with knives and swords; of course they should know the consequences of those actions. Still, Lyssa doesn’t quite remember who her first dead body was not in a funeral context. 

She still feels it, the perpetual cold against her scales, the heavy rush of wind and heat and pain that came with screams cut short. She can’t remember her first dead body because there were simply too many to count. 

The conversation between the other dragonborn – Tatyan, Lyssa thinks her name is – and Bird drifts to a natural end, the ensuing next couple hours passing by in silence. As they return to their bedrolls, Lyssa nods to them, indicating that she’ll take the next watch. She intends to take it by herself, but about an hour in there’s an additional weight in her lap as Ikat shoves his head between her forearm and thigh. 

Wordlessly, she runs her claws through his hair, hoping to send him back to sleep in case he’s just having a bad dream. Ikat hums in pleasure, but it only lasts for a few moments before he too sits up. Even sitting like this he’s taller than her, and she turns to rest her jaw against his shoulder for a brief moment. 

When it’s clear Ikat intends to remain awake, Lyssa softly speaks to him in Orc, the harsh language sounding like the rumbling purrs of the moorbounders curled around their encampment. “What are you doing awake, beloved?” 

Ikat wraps an arm around her, only jostling her chains a little bit, and nuzzles his face between her horns, in a very practiced move, huffing her scent as if she could have somehow gotten attacked and he would not have noticed. “You smell...sad,” he offers, voice half muffled by her own feathery hair. “And angry. Like at egg-house.” 

She sighs, allowing this scent marking to continue for a moment longer. “Just thinking,” she admits, “about Corellia. And death.” 

“Oh.” Ikat thinks for a moment, pulling his face away from her hair so he can look her in the eyes. “Well, I mean, sure. That was pretty cool that they had her head in a bag. Wonder why they have it though. Maybe for trophy?” 

“Her head shouldn’t be a trophy anywhere but a prison.” The words are bitter, made harsher by the stillness of the night, and she closes her eyes, swallowing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap.” 

There’s a small, punched noise from Ikat, before he pulls her unceremoniously into his lap. The movement is quick; not even Cain stirs, though he’s not the lightest sleeper. At least he got his horn polish. 

“No need to be sorry, just want you to be happy.” He squeezes his arms around her in a hug that warms the perpetual chill Lyssa carries deep in her bones. She traces her claws over the scars covering his arms, some longer than others, as he’d upgraded his axes through the years. “Oh! Oh, I tell you something funny. Would that help?” 

She tilts her head, one pale blue eye looking into warm gold and a tusky grin. “Is it about why you and Cain decided to trek six days south when I told you to remain in Aruuth?” 

He giggles, a snorting laugh that makes Lyssa purr softly in lieu of a smile. “Nooo, but is about how we found you! And Lyssa…” His tone shifts, liquid and mercurial as ever. “You said to protect the village. You are part of village. And you are my beloved, my mate. How am I supposed to protect village if you are not there?” 

Lyssa sighs, a short puff of air tinged with ozone escaping into the night. Her mate has a point, as he usually does. “I said I would be back in a few days,” she grumbles under her breath. 

“Lyssandra.” His voice is unbearably tender, and she feels the last embers of her anger fade away in the face of how much he cares for her. “You were out here alone. Going after the same person who…” He squeezes her again, burying his face in her hair, unable to continue the sentence.

They both know what she did.

“Alright,” she murmurs, stroking his bare arms in comfort. “Alright; we won’t talk about that anymore. Tell me about that funny thing?” 

“Oh! Yes, yes, yes. So, as you know, Cain and I follow after you. And we get into the city, and Cain knows we need to go left, even though I smell something to the right, but Cain is very smart so I follow Cain. And then I smell you! Well, I don’t smell you, I smell what I think is you, because it is a morgue and also a place with lots of pretty dragonborn people and smoke and weird lights. Some lady say that anyone could be you but I know that you were not there. So then we turn around and leave and keep walking until we eventually go right instead of left and then we go find you! And is easy to get in because the fence is down anyway.” 

Lyssa blinks, taking in the story. “So you...went to a morgue and a brothel and thought that was...me? Death and whores?” 

“Noo, death and dragonborn ladies,” he emphasizes, pouting at her. It’s an impressive feat with tusks as large as his, but the puppy dog eyes – or, rather, bear cub eyes – he gives to her make it impossible to begrudge him. Besides, she knows him; he physically can’t tell a lie, so odds are he did think that it was her, in some way. 

Honestly, it’s sort of flattering. Though she isn’t sure she would even know what customs had survived from Draconia to Xarzith Kitril, especially in terms of pleasure. By the time she was even having thoughts of such things, her standards of beauty and desire had become an amalgamation of Aruuth and Draconia, orc and dragonborn. She’s not even sure when the last time was that she went out of her way to use anything too scented – aside from whatever leftover horn polish Cain let her have whenever he switched brands, or particular perfume the tiefling felt like dousing the house in for the day, she doesn’t bother.

“That’s very sweet of you, darling,” she murmurs, letting their conversation switch back to Common. 

Ikat smiles at her, and she closes her eyes, nuzzling the tip of her snout against his mouth, asking for a kiss. He gives it to her, and she flicks her tongue out against a tusk, returning the gesture in her own way. 

“We sleep now?” he asks, looking down at her, brows furrowed in a hopeful way. “Please?” 

Lyssa hesitates, and then looks at the sleeping feline figure curled up on the other side of the gathering, and the sprawled-yet-elegantly sleeping tiefling beside them. There is nothing that could convince her to wake both of them up for a watch, considering she hadn’t spoken a single word to the tabaxi, and waking Cain is a battle in and of itself. 

“You can go back to sleep, beloved,” she murmurs, though she does settle further into his lap. “I have to finish this watch.” 

“Oh! Then no, in that case, we stay up together.” Ikat settles his chin just over her bun and locks his arms around her, looking around and sniffing every so often, in case his nose picked up something that his eyes could not.

She would much rather take this watch with him than with the thoughts in her head, so she puts up little protest. Instead, under the watchful protection of her mate, she closes her eyes and begins to pray. 

[druidscraft]

you know what time it is, it’s playlist time! this one is substantially shorter than my other ones but i don’t want to give too much else away, although lyssa is a very direct person and i hope you enjoy her playlist ❣️

Act I. Fallen Home

Before the dragon, there was Draconia. And though Lyssa and her family were in a higher caste, that did not mean they fully subscribed to the social structures that allowed them to have such a position. Bad decisions dedicated to supporting the few at the expense of the many don’t sit well with her, nor her extended family members, but she’s not yet an adult and is unable to enact the changes she knows are necessary.

Take Me To Church - Hozier

“Every Sunday’s getting more bleak / A fresh poison each week”

Bad Decisions - Bastille

“You said that maybe this is where it ends / Take a bow for the bad decisions that we made”

Act II. New Home (pt. 1)

In the aftermath of eternal winter, after the city plummets to the ground below, Lyssandra and her family start over in the village of Aruuth, a far cry from the life to which they were accustomed. This movement is dedicated to those years in which she began her life again. Without the appointed charge in her family’s possession anymore, Lyssa begins to feel adrift and lost - she’s lost every structure she ever had to teach her how to conduct herself. And for a worshipper of the god of champions, she feels like a failure. Until the sword resurfaces.

Way Down We Go - KALEO

“Time has come as we all, oh, go down / Yeah but for the fall, ooh, my / Do you dare to look him right in the eyes?”

Human - Rag’N’Bone Man

“Oh, some people got the real problems / Some people out of luck / Some people think I can solve them / Lord heavens above”

Shrike - Hozier

“I was housed by your warmth, thus transformed / By your grounded and giving and darkening scorn”

Act III. Betrayal

She makes her way to the then-wielder of the sword her family was divinely charged to guard, attempting to gain her trust and offer her services for it, while planning to remove the sword and reclaim her post as defensor sonantis tonituri. But Corellia found out, and Lyssa paid for it. Dearly. This movement is solely that fateful moment, of Corellia exacting her revenge and leaving Lyssa for dead, and Lyssa’s thoughts during that moment – a mourning for how much she had failed her deity, a threat to her captor, and a swearing of vengeance in some way or another.

Foreigner’s God - Hozier

“Since some liar brought the thunder / When the land was godless and free / Her eyes look sharp and steady / Into the empty parts of me”

Skulls - Bastille

“When all of our friends are dead and just a memory / And we're side by side it's always been just you and me”

Praying - Kesha

“And I don't need you, I found a strength I've never known / I'll bring thunder, I'll bring rain, oh / When I'm finished, they won't even know your name”

Act IV. Revived

She awakens in a thunderstorm, covered in her own blood, somehow freed from her chains and alive once more. She’s back; and while Corellia is long gone, Lyssa’s responsibilities are far from over. This movement is a challenge issued to the Stormlord by his cleric. If he has brought her back, then she is going to succeed; and if he hasn’t, and if he’s given up on her, then she will prove just how much of a mistake that was. 

River - Bishop Briggs

“Shut your mouth, baby, stand and deliver / Holy hands, will they make me a sinner?”

1000 Nights - FRENSHIP

“There's a bulletproof bond / Between meaning and you / It's hard to see beyond what's in sight / But when you tilt the light I realize”

This Mountain - Faouzia

“Look at me now / I'm not here to talk / I'm not here to talk / I'm just here to walk / Here to walk the walk”

Act V. New Home (pt. 2)

Years pass, and slowly but surely she becomes accustomed to her new form. It takes time, to be sure, for her to realize just how much Corellia actually took from her on that night. But sometimes, at the end of the world, you meet some very incredible people who can teach you that maybe it’s not all bad. This movement is dedicated to those two special souls who, above everyone else, have helped her find joy in her new life. 

4AM - Bastille

“Four in the morning, we find ourselves here / The best of us passed out, I don't know who's where / I got all my old friends and new friends I've met once before / In a blanket of smoke as we sink through the floor”

Joy - Bastille

“I'm your walking disaster, keep on dragging me / From self-pity, poor me / Then I feel my pulse quickening / But I wouldn't change a thing”

[druidscraft]

hmm....thumb rubbies....

[druidscraft]

SO with fáelán now tucked away* i can drop this little link right here to direct you to the pinterest board for the new character, the dragonborn tempest cleric (which i’ve never played neither that linage nor that subclass so i’m excited for the opportunity to branch out) and uh....pls look at her 🥺

*spirals will continue, don’t you worry

[druidscraft]

don’t mind me just thinking about the fact that ikat woke up to loud crunching followed by his mate screaming in pain and fear and will probably be having nightmares about that for the rest of. hmm. ever. while changing sleeping positions so he’s now entirely over top of her to at least mitigate the possibility of her being attacked first because what happened was a failure on his part as a warrior, as a bloodhunter, as a mate ––

[druidscraft]

don’t mind me just thinking about the fact that fáelán realized she was in love with tanvir the moment other people started asking him to use the sword in the fight against the wind wolf and she knew that she loved him too much to stand by and watch him torture himself through the actual fight and the moments after where he would (because...He Would) blame himself for somehow not being stronger or only being better because of the cursed weapon or, worse yet, actually getting attached to the sword itself. she loved him enough to be selfish for the first time and i ––

[druidscraft]

the only (!!!!) two (2) times fáelán has cupped tanvir’s cheek has been when a) she was possessed and the ghost in her was trying to get into tanvir and b) when he was blinded due to being separated from the cursed sword and she was checking to see if his eyes still hurt, and told him that he had beautiful eyes, even if he couldn’t see her, that tenderness was entirely in her voice....

[astraeal]

new updated playlist for fáelán because she’s a more dimensional character in my mind, and as such her playlist needed to reflect that! see below the cut for me gushing about the organization for this playlist, or just listen to listen 🥰🥰

Act I. Home

Her relationship with her home – the Pallid Grove, the place she was born and came from – is changing as she’s discovering more things about it. As it is, we the players and Fáelán the character, don’t know a whole lot about it. So it’s shrouded with mystery, even as she’s getting hints and memories unlocked with the help of the Luxon, and I wanted to secure that just...slightly “off” feeling of the Pallid Grove. It’s the sight of such horrible divine influence – both positive and negative – and the people inside haven’t left for hundreds of years in the aftermath that it has this almost...closed door, on the inside looking out feeling to it. Is that from fear? Safety? Community? Paranoia? I wanted to explore that. 

Big Houses – Squalloscope

“In the circle around the kitchen table/I say my "amen" because I feel blessed/Secretly hoping while joining hands that you can't feel my trembling fingertips” 

This too Shall Pass – Danny Schmidt

“But deep inside/When every cell divides/Well, it sets upon the rule that states/Self-interest is divine”

Liability – Lorde

“You're all gonna watch me/Disappear into the sun”

Shrike - Hozier 

“Remember me love, when I'm reborn/As the shrike to your sharp and glorious thorn”

Act II. Selection Side A (Luxon Love Letters) 

At some point in her life in the Pallid Grove, Fáelán starts getting this pull from the Luxon. It leads her to Rosohna, but before that there’s an indeterminate amount of time that passes between when she left the Pallid Grove and when she arrived in Rosohna. This movement is dedicated to that journey, the part of her life that she doesn’t have any memory of, because somehow all alone she crossed the entire Wildemount continent and had absolutely no idea how she did so. It’s important to note that neither do I, the player! It’s a complete mystery. But the only thing she remembers from that time is the incessant need to be near the Luxon, and that was her only driving force. So while some of these are “love” songs, they’re also songs to the Luxon. It’s those conversations with this entity that’s pulling her closer, from the weariness of a long travel (1000 Nights) to the doubt cast by not getting a ton of answers (Games), that remain with her even now. 

1000 Nights - FRENSHIP

“There's a bulletproof bond/Between meaning and you”

Heaven/Hell - CHVRCHES

“If none of this is real, then show me what you feel/'Cause I can't tell”

Games – Tessa Violet

“And I long to take you at your word, but then/All along you're hiding even when you're by my side”

It’s You – Ali Gatie 

“I'm hurting inside/I'm so scared to fall in love/But if it's you then I'll try”

Act III. Arrival

This encapsulates really the most recent ~50 years of her life, about how much she remembers after her journey. In these brief songs, we see how different she is from her old “home”, her old space of the Pallid Grove. Things are different, she has a higher energy now, she’s in a place where she has her new mom and her new brother and the Luxon. With that connection satisfied, she feels like she can take on the world! In a lot of ways, this is the highest energy of the movements, because she’s feeling. Feeling both good and bad things, but she’s alive and she’s feeling and her powers have begun to manifest the more she devotes herself to the Luxon and the Lucid Bastion and the Dynasty in general. 

Up To Something - Naaz

“Don't want to hurt them/But this is who I am/Chasing ambitions/Making my own mistakes”

Capsize - FRENSHIP

“Drop tears in the morning/Give in to the lonely”

When You Were Young - The Killers

“You sit there in your heartache/Waiting on some beautiful boy to/To save you from your old ways”

Wild Things - Alessia Cara

“I lose my balance on these eggshells/You tell me to tread, I'd rather be a wild one instead”

Act IV. Selection Side B (Conscription)

Obviously, she can’t remain in the temple forever. And as tensions rise with the Empire, she gets selected to join the Xhorsquad party, by the Taskhand himself. In obvious ways, this is another way that the Luxon has chosen her to represent something that it believes in, and also another way for her to serve her Dynasty. But it’s dark and scary and far from the comforts of home. She doubted herself a lot, doubted her abilities and her place in the team and her morals when surrounded by people who have definitely killed before in their lives while she’s lived in the Lucid Bastion. 

The Sound of Silence - Pentatonix

“And in the naked light I saw/Ten thousand people, maybe more...And no one dared/Disturb the sound of silence”

Only If For A Night - Florence + The Machine

“And the only solution was to stand and fight/And my body was bruised and I was set alight/But you came over me like some holy rite/And although I was burning, you're the only light”

Shake It Out - Florence + The Machine

“And I'm ready to suffer and I'm ready to hope/It's a shot in the dark and right at my throat”

Freaking Out - A R I Z O N A 

“It's stupid, but I'm better off and I'll stay quiet/'Cause I pushed away all the ones that hold me close”

Act V. (Dis)Connection

The most current act, the one she’s playing out right now. She’s beginning to emotionally connect and respond to the people around her, and beginning to understand that not everyone you spend a lot of time around is going to be exactly like you. But she’s still privileging the needs of others above the emotional needs of herself, with some small exceptions. Recently she’s let in Tanvir and Bird, two of the three that she feels closest to, and they know more about her than other party members. And after they began the process for consecution, she now feels even closer to Tanvir. They were the only two to leave the Heart in tears, after all. But, as she’s used to being the person who channels the Luxon to help others in need, she’s trying to keep her own emotions at bay. How that will work out, we’ve yet to see! But as indicated by those final two songs...she’s going to have to talk about it sooner rather than later. 

Saturdays (feat. HAIM) - Twin Shadow, HAIM

“When we dance in the dark in the room where it all gets real/I know you know how it feels/Saturdays/When the moonlight hit up your face and let love spark”

Too Much - Carly Rae Jepsen

“Trust the, trust the feeling/It's hard to get to know you/But I'm down”

Someone New - Hozier

“I wake, at the first cringe of morning/And my heart's already sinned/How pure, how sweet the love beneath it yeah/You would pray for him”

Crush - Tessa Violet

“I wanna touch you but don't wanna be weird/It's such a rush, I'm thinking wish you were here”

[astraeal]

yeah we had touching moments this session but fáelán also bought a butt plug so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 

[druidscraft]

11, 13 and 28 for Faelan or Lyssa

ooo why not, i’ll do both! 

11. Do they have a “type” that they’re attracted to? 

fáelán: he has to have a cause that he believes in. she has no time for guys who are just casually making their way through life, because she doesn’t understand not having something that you’re interested in. for her, that’s the luxon and the church’s role in the dynasty. her ideal guy is someone who equally has a cause, that serves to better the dynasty and the world that they’re in. in part, this is because she was raised by a capable soldier and grew up with a talented bard, so people who specialized in the military and the cultural developments of the dynasty. her first social bonds were with other acolytes and government officials, so she really doesn’t understand how people orient themselves in the world without a greater cause. 

lyssa: similar to fáelán, but with lyssa it’s also about competency. she has also been appointed to a greater destiny that began before she even hatched. so she needs someone who has things that they will stand up for, while also having the ability to enact that change. words are just words; they are no substitute for action. with that said, she does want someone she can have a conversation with; dull tools are not wanted here. and i don’t think that she would want to have a relationship with another dragonborn, just because of her own unresolved trauma/feelings with her previous society. but, she’s already in a committed relationship, so she’s all set! 

13. Do they have any tattoos? If no, would they ever consider getting one?

fáelán: she does not have any tattoos, but she would consider getting one! in a modern au, she has a matching set of tattoos with tanvir, a little minimalist sun on her wrist and he has a moon on his wrist as well. i think she’d get a couple more but they’d be like, small and gentle, like her. 

lyssa: she does not have tattoos, although she does have unique markings and coloration anyway. i think she would maybe consider getting a tattoo, but probably of the magical variety rather than an actual tattoo (she’s not sure how tattoos on scales work, and she’s also not wanting to tempt putting more marks on her body than already exist). 

28. Are they ticklish? 

fáelán: absolutely, are you kidding me? tanvir’s braid brushes across her shoulder blades and she’s shrieking like it’s a spider coming to grab her soul

lyssa: not......really? she doesn’t feel physical sensations the same way anymore, what with a p large chunk of her nervous system not,,,really as it should be......and also she’s channeling lightning so often that really, what are her nerves doing? there are gentle sensations that make her happy, so she’d laugh, but it’s not tickling 

[ send me a number and a character! ]

[druidscraft]

do we split the party and try to fix two things at the same time, or do we prioritize the wind wolf and let tanvir just become a puppet to a sword that can talk in his head and rendering him useless in combat, or do we prioritize the sword and let horrible things continue to NPCs beyond our hope

[druidscraft]

a voice crack with tearful eyes softly saying “I’m scared, and I’m still scared, and I’m sorry” is actually something that can be so tender 

[druidscraft]

also crying a little internally because i know ikat firmly believes that everyone is best best friends now because they fought in a battle together and that’s social bonding baby!! 

[druidscraft]

i’m also just waiting for when either tatyan or bird to pick up on the fact that lyssa did not use her breath weapon at all during the fight despite the fact that the lamia were perfectly aligned (and DM hints) to have a line of lightning be perfect yet not....using it 🤔🤔

[druidscraft]

not a whole ton to spiral about but it is so nice to have reactions as a cleric