#i still had to fix two towers and then do the whole vault. then establish eos and run to everyone and their mom on the nexus

[first-blight]

when i started playing i told myself "ok, only until i get to aya and meet jaal" and then that took me 5 hours and it's 4am. uhmmmm

[madmythologist]

Drink Play Pt. 1 (Vore Warning)

    “Is it him again?” One asked.

    “Yep, same kid,” another replied.

    “Well, who wants to host him today?” The first questioned.

    “I’ll do it,” a third answered without a beat passing the owner of the casual voice’s lips. A woman in the middle of securing a disposable frill beneath her short skirt, a thin mesh laced with herbs and spices.

    “Aren’t you clocking out in… what, fifteen minutes?” The second speaker cocked her head.

    “Yeah,” the volunteer nodded, “I’ll just see if he’ll take me home.” She shrugged, pointing to the original subject of the conversation to indicate who she was referring too. Said subject was a young man standing in line, keeping his eyes down, hand holding the opposing arm and obviously looking to make himself as unnoticed as possible. A funny thought, his soon-to-be-hostess mused, seeing as he was supposed to be a predator.

“Are you sure?” The first speaker asked, looking at her cautiously.

    “Yeah, it’ll be fine,” the hostess assured her with a dismissive wave of her hand.

    A moment of pause followed that. “Alright, I’ll take care of your punches.” The woman, who was apparently the volunteer’s manager, assured her.

    The young man, a regular at the cafe, went about his usual order. One camomile tea with one host. It was so routine by this point that the man’s hostess already put on the appropriately flavored clothing beforehand. It took no time at all, a simple task of pouring the carefully measured hot water into a teacup and his hostess vaulting over the rim in a practiced motion.

    Effortlessly, the young woman came to rest on a seat of glass- a shelf protruding from the inside of the cup designed for someone her size to sit on. Her back arched a moment as her skin adjusted to the practical hottub she hopped into. She was used to the sensation, but it always sent a wave of heat through her frame no matter how many times. Steam floated about the surface as the herbs embedded in her clothes began to tinge the water a pollen yellow.

    With that, she looked up to see her last customer of the night. Not that he was looking at her. No, he was looking at the handle like it was the most curious of features in the world. Not the person scarcely the size of his own finger sitting in his cup, but the fact the cup was left-handed. There was but a second his eyes glanced over her, immediately flicking to a small detail of the saucer her makeshift tub was resting on the moment he realized she was actually looking back. He towered over her like a skyscraper, stretching innumerable feet into the air, even with her being on a countertop. How was it that he was the nervous one?

    “Thank you for your time.” Even with his massive, booming voice, it still came out as a tepid, stuttering utterance. Then again, that was all she’d ever heard out of him. Quiet, timid words. The statement itself was a simple courtesy that seemed to pop up with these establishments, a small thanks to the host for their time and company.

    “No problem, big guy.” She replied casually, leaning back into the curve of the cup as he nodded, lifting his hands to the small dish and glass. 

Being lifted was far from a new sensation, enough so that she could note the subtleties, rather than focusing on bracing herself. For example, this man’s hands were shaking. Not unbearable, but the slight vibrations alongside the ripples rolling to the center of the water was a dead give away. The trip was short, of course, the gentle- if not jittery swaying carrying her to one of the empty tables near the corner of the building. Same spot, every time.

    An audible “klink” signaled that she was back on relatively solid ground. A tabletop- but solid ground as far as she was concerned. Her customer sat down a second after, back to the corner and facing the rest of the room. He looked far from relaxed, but at least didn’t have his hands trembling now that he wasn’t holding her. While he got situated, the girl simply ran her hands through the water, stirring the tea part of the drink around and getting some more of her own flavor mixed in. That was what she was doing sitting in a giant’s cup, after all.

This young man, despite his recluce demeanor, was supposed to be a predator. Her predator. Thus he, and giants like him needed to sate a craving of theirs long since ingrained into their instincts. And a person like hers flavor steeped into a drink seems to suffice, if drunk often enough.

The first few minutes of this interaction were awkward, to say the least. The man didn’t say much of anything beyond a “pardon” to warn that he was lifting the glass, and a “sorry” upon finishing with that sip. She pondered, for a moment, how to break the silence. She had decided to jump into this position to get to know this giant, after all.

“Pardon,” he uttered for the fourth time or so, prompting a smirk as the repeated motion of his left hand lifting the glass was carried out. Once again he wasn’t looking at her, like he was ashamed of this whole thing, couldn’t look at her outside of his peripherals. So, with a simple movement she decided to fix that.

Once brought before the awaiting maw that barely dared to open even a crack to let the warm liquid pass between his lips, his hostess simply let herself fall forward. Easily she caught herself on her hands, laying along the wall of the cup, water rushing past as she peered into his mouth like she was looking under a bed. He, however, didn’t take this so casually, shoulders hiking up and lips pursing shut as he tried not to jump.

“A-are you alright?” The first time she’d ever heard his voice with any air of urgency, a hissed whisper as he tilted the cup back a bit. She simply smiled at her accomplishment, those wide eyes nearly crossing to focus entirely on her minute readjustment.

“I’m fine, just wanted a closer look.” She offered coyly, prompting a raised brow from the young predator as his face was spattered red.

“Wha… what do you mean?” He asked, eyes only daring to glance away this time to make sure no one else was watching. Then they were right back on the occupant of his drink.

“I wanted a better look in your mouth. Go ahead and drink, I won’t slip.” She offered, not making any move to get back to her seat. He just looked at her for seconds that felt like minutes, instinctively wetting his lips as his mouth suddenly felt dryer than before he’d just taken a drink.

“I don’t… I can’t-” he stuttered.

“I promise,” she interrupted, “it will be fine.” He swallowed dryly, eyes scanning the room once again.

“If,” he paused, eyes landing back on her. “If you’re sure.”

A simple nod was all she offered in response, butterflies fluttering in her stomach this time as she felt the cup shift, water sloshing gently over and around her. The faintest tremble rocked her spot, the first time since he only needed to use his left hand. Just like before, the rim rested on his lower lip, the upper separating to let a crevice open up before her. A sigh from the goliath’s nose passed by her as he finally tipped the cup back. Water began trying to pull her into that warm abyss. She wasn’t sure she would have minded that, but she did make a promise. Thus she pressed her hands into the glass, doing her best to look inside while her subject tried not to blush harder. That attempt, however, went out the window when he felt miniscule, curious fingers rest on his upper lip. A chill ran up his spine, sparking something euphoric in the back of his mind. And to his surprise, he didn’t pull away.

    “Open up.” She breathed, taking a turn of whispering while she gently pushed his lip up. Another sigh, this one shuddering as it passed his lips and fogged the glass all around her. Tentatively he followed instruction, lip twitching as he allowed her a better look into the cavern of velvet and ivory. It was dark, warm, and damp. A lively muscle of pink gingerly guiding the tea to the back of his throat, massive teeth framing it with their interlocking counterparts hanging overhead. Curious as those were, her eyes wandered back to his throat, ring of muscle opening briefly to close once again and gulp down the liquid laced with her flavor.

    Slowly, the tinted water came to a stand-still, cup tilting back, and fingers sliding off the sensitive skin of the giant. She wasn’t sure which of them were more speechless from the exchange, both looking at one another and nothing else for a moment.

    “Good?” He asked, not bothering to lower the glass this time. Inches from his face she remained, finally pushing off the rim and settling back into her seat that was above the water level now. Even with the surface being warm from the drink, compared to the threshold she was just on the precipice of, she had to fight the urge to shiver.

    “Good?” He repeated tentatively, this time getting her to look up into the massive pools of his eyes. 

    I could get a better look.

    “Do you like this stuff?” She dodged the question, kicking her feet lightly in the water to show what she was asking about. “You get it everytime.”

    “I, uh… not exactly.” He admitted, brow raising questioningly again. “I just get it because…” he trailed off.

    “Cause it’s supposed to be calming, right?” She guessed, “The camomile?” He nodded.

    “Not… for you, though?” She continued, sounding more like an accusation than a question.

    “Ah,” he smiled sheepishly, “no. Just don’t want… you, for example, to be nervous.” It was about what she expected, it was clear as day this guy didn’t express these urges of his easily, nor did he seem to be proud of them.

        The girl took all of this in, alongside the fact the man was left handed and simply never bothered correcting the fact he was always given the wrong handed cup, and two simple questions began to form in her mind. Both of which, she was quite sure she knew the answers to.

    “Have you ever…” She trailed off, her own nerves getting the better of her. Taking the opportunity of heat rising to her cheeks, she took the opportunity to once again play coy.

    “Have you ever actually… sated that craving of yours? Properly- I mean.” She mused, damp-tipped hair shifting as she cocked her head. The question, alongside the consciously cute body language made the shy man avert his eyes downward once again, face shading darker once more as his lips pressed into a strained line.

    “I-I ah- no,” He stuttered, fingers trembling on the delicate handle, “no I haven’t.” She nodded thoughtfully, fully expecting that answer and making sure to avoid a strong reaction. After all, she knew that if that question wracked his nerves that badly, this next one she was going to have to be very careful with.

    That train of thought was interrupted when her seat began to shift once again, lifting closer to that ashamed expression as he took an unconscious sip to try and calm his nerves. With a small smile, she shifted back off of her seat, coming to rest sitting in the curve of the cup, legs splayed out to her side as she simply watched this everyday action on a scale and angle that no one her customer’s size could dream of seeing. She bit back a giggle at the realization his mouth was open just a hair more than when he first started drinking. She’d gotten somewhere.

    “And, would you like to?” She asked as casually as she could manage, watching his widen for but a second before hardening harshly as he held back his reaction. That was, until he went stock still, feeling that miniscule hand placed firmly on the cupid’s bow of his upper lip.

    “Easy,” she crooned, “I can help, if you’d like.” She breathed, hand tracing down and beneath his lip, fingers massaging into the tepid tip of his tongue, fascinated by the sight of his eyelids fluttering at the sensation.

    “I’m off for the evening, so I was wondering if you’d be so kind as to walk me home.” She explained with mocking formality, retracting her hand to rest in her lap.

    “Will a detour or two, of course.” She added, a sly wink looking up to those massive eyes of his, baring something she’d never seen in him before. Something exciting, something that set her nerves on end and a shiver up her spine.

Hunger.

[smallhatlogan]

Why Nonbinary Borderlands Fans are Mad About Zer0′s Pronouns, In a Timeline

2012

Zer0 was introduced in Borderlands 2 as a character meant to be absurdly mysterious in almost every way.  Zer0 is apparently not their real name, they seem not to be human (but it’s unclear if they’re an alien, robot, or something else entirely), no one knows where they came from, etc. Still, in Borderlands 2, they defaulted to he/him, and was assumed male.  It’s worth noting that Borderlands 2 also featured Bloodwing, Mordecai’s pet alien bird. In the original Borderlands Bloodwing was referred to as he/him, but switched between games to she/her. This is explained outside the game by Burch, who says that Bloodwing’s species changes gender halfway through life.

2013

Gearbox released the Diamond Plate Loot Chest. In it was the “Pandoran Gazette” an in-universe newspaper. It included an “Ask Doctor Tannis” advice column, the last question being:

Dear Doctor Tannis,

I have heard you are acquainted with the vault hunter known as "Zer0". I have been meaning to ask - that's not really his true name, is it? Hell, maybe Zer0 isn't even a "he". Do you have any details on this mysterious figure?

- Curious in Old Haven

Dear Curious,

I am indeed acquainted with the towering stack of leather and poorly-written poetry that so many refer to as "Zer0". As you have correctly noted, "Zer0" is not the Vault Hunter's true name. Zer0's actual name and gender are (CONTINUED ON PAGE 9)

Page 9 was not included. To my knowledge, this was where it was first seeded that Zer0 may not be male. 

November 2, 2014

 In a panel titled “Playing as a female character panel - Does it Matter” during PAX Australia, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford discussed Zer0’s gender:

“The other things that’s interesting to me is sometimes when there’s characters that don’t have a gender or have an ambiguous gender I’ll choose them...In Borderlands 2 we left Zer0’s identity very ambiguous. What gender is he?” *crowd laughs* “We need better pronouns, don’t we? Don’t we need better pronouns?” (Timestamp) 

“What’s the gender of Zer0?….That says more about me than it does say about Zer0, the fact that I use the pronoun he when I describe Zer0. In fact, um, we purposely have left Zer0’s gender ambiguous. There’s a lot of folks at Gearbox that like to think that maybe Zer0’s of a particular species that doesn’t have gender- That is more androgynous.”  (Timestamp) 

(Timeline continues under cut)

November 25th, 2014

The first episode of Tales From the Borderlands was released. Anthony Burch answered this question on his Ask.fm: 

To my memory, tumblr blew up with excited nonbinary fans. Prior to seeing screenshots of this, I really didn’t have interest in Borderlands. The idea of a cool nonbinary character who used they/them pronouns, admist a virtual desert of representation, made me play through the entire series as fast as I could so I could catch up in time to see these pronouns in action. For a long time afterwards I’ve seen other nonbinary people expressing the same sudden interest in the series after learning this about Zer0. Because, yeah, it was a pretty big deal. 

2015: 

Zer0 appeared again in episode 5 of Tales, released almost a year later after the first. Their voice had changed to one that sounds more ambiguous in terms of gender, but Zer0 was still being referred to as “he/him”. Anthony Burch was one of the writers on this episode. Afterward, he answered this on his ask.fm:

Since he claimed it was honestly a mistake, nonbinary fans held out hope. There were posts going around tumblr clarifying that yes, Zer0 was still nonbinary, and still was meant to use they/them pronouns. It was just a mistake made by a thoughtless cisgender man. Of course, then some presumably-cisgender fan goes to Burch, and validates him, because clearly a character can’t just up and CHANGE pronouns! It’s not like anyone ever does that in real life! 

It’s not a fair point. It’s a dumb point from someone who has no stakes in this.  (Another thing worth noting is it has only been other characters who referred to Zer0 as he/him. Zer0 has never made a point of standing up for their own pronouns.) After this Burch just kind of gives up on the whole idea. 

This statement about characters being “progressive enough not to misgender someone” is weird, because the characters, even the sympathetic ones, in Borderlands have often blatantly failed to be progressive. The original Borderlands has the worst of it, it’s your basic 2009 edgelord shit. There’s blatant misogyny, not to mention the extremely homophobic joke surrounding Mr. Shank (and within that the transphobic joke about his girlfriend being a man in a wig). Burch only started writing for the game in Borderlands 2, however. It’s a huge step up, but there’s still a lot of bigotry. Captain Scarlett makes a “no fatties” joke. Mr Torgue fat-shames Ellie. Mr Torgue uses the R-slur. Multiple characters slut-shame Moxxi. Incest jokes surrounding Scooter, who also is implied to be a huge creep towards women.  Heck, there’s the entirety of Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt DLC is a racist, colonialist mess. Its antagonist is implied to be gay, one of two gay male characters introduced thus far, and he’s a pathetic, creepy stalker.  This is the game series where there are two common enemy types whose names are straight up ableist.  So citing characters as being “too progressive” rings hollow with this context.  Besides, trans people are often misgendered, even by people who’d otherwise be considered progressive.  Burch left Gearbox the same year, so he’s not entirely to blame for what anything afterwards. He just set a pretty bad precedent.

2019:

Gearbox did seem to take the “make a new nonbinary character” thing to heart.  They give us Fl4k, again a nonhuman character, who uses they/them pronouns. And okay, I love Fl4k, but like most nonbinary people I’m tired of all nonbinary characters being robots, aliens, or otherwise non-human in appearance (a trope that yes, Zer0 falls into as well). Still, Fl4k is cute and having a nonbinary playable character who uses they/them pronouns is cool! I definitely plan to play as them. Many nonbinary fans were suspicious though, it seemed likely that Fl4k might be meant to appease us and they could keep on using he/him for Zer0. We were proven right when they released the gameplay preview on May 1st. We hear Zer0 called “he”. None of us are surprised, but it still hurts, we felt like we’d been baited with Zer0.  Besides, why can only one character at a time be nonbinary? Why can a bird change pronouns but not a person? Why was a writer allowed to go out and promise this if it wasn’t going to be followed through on (yes, he didn’t use the word “promise” but telling a marginalized group something like that isn’t something you can just “forget” without people feeling betrayed)?

And that’s where we’re at, as of me writing this. I feel like there are some comments I’m bound to get on this, so I’ll answer them here: Why are you making such a big deal about this?

Me typing a few paragraphs isn’t making a big deal. But I feel misled and baited. After a few years of no clarification after Burch promising us they/them Zer0, a lot of people hung on to hope. A lot of people became big fans of Zer0 because they’re a fun, badass, nonbinary character. Their design is really, really rad! And heck, they were (at least for a time) the most popular playable character in Borderlands 2. Telling everyone, in-game, “actually Zer0 was never really a he, they’ve been a ‘they’ this whole time” would have been HUGE. Like how Blizzard made Overwatch’s poster girl, Tracer, canonically a lesbian, and then revealed their badass gruff guy (who fills the roll of your basic FPS protagonist), Soldier 76, to be a gay man. They/them are still not widely accepted pronouns. For us who use them, it’s difficult to convince people not to default to something gendered. Especially when we fail to appear completely androgynous. I’ve been told Zer0 can’t possibly be nonbinary because they have a deep voice and “masculine” body shape. But real nonbinary people come in all shapes and sizes with all kinds of voices! 

What about Fl4k?

As I said, I’m very happy about Fl4k. They fall into some problematic tropes even more than Zer0 (as Fl4k is verified beyond a doubt to be a robot, and has an “acceptable” androgynous shape to them). I don’t know their voice yet, I wouldn’t be surprised if it also fell into the category of “acceptably androgynous”. Fl4k is new and already “they/them”. Zer0 is an established character who already has a lot of fans among a bunch of different groups of people. There’s definite value in demonstrating a character can switch pronouns, since pretty much every nonbinary person who uses they/them haven’t used those pronouns their entire life. Besides, there can and should be more than one nonbinary character.  Fl4k being nonbinary but not Zer0 kind of feels like Gearbox expects us to shut up and be happy with what we’re given.

What about nonbinary people who use he/him pronouns? Can’t Zer0 be that?

Those people are real and valid.  However, we’re talking about real people versus a fictional character. I admit I’d feel better if it was stated, in-game, “Yeah, Zer0 is nonbinary and uses he/him”. But even then, it’s REALLY EASY for cisgender people to ignore that information and write Zer0 off as male (And knowing gearbox, they’d put it somewhere easily missed. I’ve surprised so many straight people who’d played through Borderlands 2 with the fact that Sir Hammerlock is gay, simply because it was only verified in a side quest). And you know, we were promised they/them, so like, not doing that kind of sucks. Also I think it’s really important to normalize they/them.

So what are we supposed to do about this? What do you expect to change, anyways?

Honestly? I don’t expect Gearbox to fix this so late. In all likelihood, that’s way too much dialogue to re-record. But I still think it’s worth making our voices heard. We shouldn’t silently put up with this kind of thing. Other people will pull the same shit, being either unsympathetic or unaware of the harm they do. And heck, it’s unlikely, but maybe Gearbox will at least acknowledge their wrongdoing.

Also, it’s maybe worthwhile to ignore canon, and keep referring to Zer0 as “they/them”, or if this whole thing is news to you, it’s not too late to start. It would mean a lot to nonbinary fans, and make a point about how Zer0 is regarded.

[kainfamilyfortune]

Silas - Journal Entry #32-34

Packing my bags was a more difficult process than I imagined; I ended up consolidating many of my past possessions - sneaking away in the night, finding a pit outside the village and lighting robes, ink, and even past books ablaze, thinking that they had served their purpose, that they would not be much use to anyone. Ramblings of a dead man. I was able to get it down to my ceremonial robes and matching knife, my wand, the clothes on my back and four books - two of which were my latest works in Pandaria and one was my current journal, and the final tome was my first publication I had the honor of working on with Dorene, a green hardcover with silver filigree, ‘Elements of Medicine’. I secured everything in my satchel, gazing at the tear where the forsaken badge used to be. A few nights would persist as I fixed my satchel, burning items slowly as to not draw too much attention... before the missive was released. 

I had no idea that war parties still ventured as far as these lands, but I kept a watchful eye as they made their way through the quiet village, morning mist still surrounding the country-side just before dawn. Pulling my hood up, I exited my hut to see what they had left for the Coalition’s eyes. A finely embossed sheet of parchment pinned to the bulletin board.

‘Wanted: For Defecting and Inspiring Rebellion against the Horde

In regards to conspirators, the Desolate Council of The Undercity, Thirty Thousand Gold will be awarded on delivery of each perpetrator.’ 

The list started...

‘Lyndow Callow, Edmundo Alden, Silas Kain, Dorene Denholm.’ 

Were we all of whom that was left? Or... All that defected and decided to not to cower in fear at the might of the Banshee Queen.

‘If found, these individuals are considered to be highly dangerous and manipulative, capture dead or alive and deliver to Valley of Honor, Origrimmar for verification and payment. For the Horde.

                                                         Nathanos Blightcaller’

Of course I tore down the missive immediately, pocketing it - however incriminating as it was, at least I now had a list to go off of as far as who to track down. Now it was a matter of where to find them... Light only knows where they’d go into hiding, I was only truly sure of two relationships. Professor Alden, whom I worked at length with on studying his recovered Zul’Aman artifacts in the Ghostlands. Perhaps he has chosen to hide in plain-sight as he always had; and Dorene Denholm who introduced me to the apothecary and medicines. Last assignment she was given was cultivating rare herbs in Sholazar Basin.

33.

Some time has passed. I left no clues besides the memories I had with the Coalition, I hoped that they would understand. I started a few days travel, following the roving war party, tearing every poster they hung in their tracks. They led me all the way out to Mistfall Village, where they headed to the capitol portals within Mogu’shan Palace. At least that is what I assume. I stayed the night, laying low, eavesdropping upon a few sin’dorei speaking of selling passage off the northern coast. If they had the boat and man-power, that was all I needed. 

After buying them a few rounds of drinks and asking where they were headed I had paid for my passage to the Ghostlands, with a short stop in Tol Barad. The journey would take a week, that they were leaving before dawn by yak to where they had docked in Binan village. They didn’t ask my name or have questions... yet. Good. I needed to seek refuge in a neutral spot, Light knows who would sell me out for gold at this point in time.

The boat was a small fishing vessel, although nets were exchanged for extra storage and what seemed like a kite on the hull of the craft, for what they called ‘Para-kiting’ which they tried to sell me on, but I wasn’t one for heavy winds, nor heights. The crew totaled five in all, who seemed earnest in their tourist ventures - over the breakfast as we were casting off, I learned of their history, traveling back and forth between capitols to earn a little extra coin in a fishing venture gone south between the crew and their old captain, who was smuggling goods and making shady deals without the crew’s knowledge. One day, he made a wrong deal and a rival group of pirates came after them all. They made a deal to exile their captain and trade it for freedom and now they all had equal say, and traded fish for... well tourists. 

Cere, a jovial sin’dorei female with amber-red hair, golden eyes and pointed nose exclaimed in her light airy trill of a voice over the next three days about the other members and how they came to be friends over the years, some excommunicating from their factions after fighting wars they longer believed in, while others were simple farmers, and her, a former escort, wanting to leave her shackles from talk of politics and a fake smile she would wear, to please those around her. 

We docked in Tol Barad on the fourth day; the crew told me they needed to resupply on some goods and seek some information about a potential hire they were corresponding with, and that I should try for the Heart of the Raven - an inn and tavern just in town. I walked up the cobblestone stairs, snow still gathered in the silent town - only a few shops and houses lined the streets along with a fountain which had frozen over. The trees stood with no leaves - extending bare towards the brightly clouded sky. My eyes followed the path to a warmth coming from the larger two, maybe three story building with a small raven upon it’s sign, swinging in a light rush of wind - creaking slightly as I let the door hit me on my way in. As the crackling of the fire sparked my senses and the waft of ginger and honey greeted me, I knew I had found something special. 

34.

I spent the most of the afternoon here, listening to the gentle rhythm of their guitarist and making notes in my journal, indulging my thirst for a change, Stormsong honey grapefruit ginger soda. Simply divine, although my thoughts were no where near on the same wavelength. I mulled over where I was to find Edmundo first, Dorene was likely fine for now... But it has been so long since I’ve been to the Ghostlands, let alone Eastern Kingdoms. Since I watched Lordaeron from afar, slowly being swallowed away by the blight. The retaliation. That was in the past now, and I would do well not to think of it, but I could not help but hear voices linger and pull me in all directions. Spirits screaming. I drank a heavy swig, attempting to wipe it from my mind, when Cere entered the establishment, asking me if it would be alright if we could extend our stay here, as one of the crew injured himself. I did not ask questions, only offering my healing experience which was politely declined.

I paid the barkeep for a suite and rested my head. Although sleep would never find me, pretending was never much of an issue, as my reveries filled the space. I was in a forest, dark tainted grounds that had once been a lively autumn color pallet. Eversong Woods. Why my daydreams led me here, I had no idea, but I sensed the light guiding my thoughts. The large pillars of ivory, gold gilded decor - deteriorating and fading in color after the march of scourge. My skin materialized into dust that flowed from my hand out in front of me, ushering me forward to follow, leading me inside the old tower.

The inside was pitch black, but from what I could make out it was nearly empty with the exception of an unlit brazier and two end chairs resting across from one another. The vaulted ceilings echoed and the wind rustling in the large entry way wafted abandoned webs of spiders that had long since been gone. I sat in the chair closest to me, the feeling of anxiety rose up once again and the brazier lit with a familiarity I have not felt in a millennia. The same flame erupted upon my death as the soothing voice struck a deal. A deal that would lead me here, but why? As she spoke again the chill went through every crevice of dust compacting to form my spine and skin. I could feel my jaw clench and the dust shifted off my form, floating like a tornado around the fel green flame. 

“You have done well Silas.” A chuckle surrounded my senses, and the panic started to heighten. I tried to grip the arm rests to throw myself out of the chair but my hands were gone. I was frozen as more and more bone dust swirled around the fire. My legs too were gone and I was fading. The last thing I saw was the reconstruction of a human girl in the opposite chair, smiling wickedly before my vision cut to black. I couldn’t help but scream.

The knock on my door was sudden as I came back to reality - immediately checking my hands which were once again whole; One of the staff greeted me at the door to ensure that I was alright. I was gasping for every breath I could hold in my lungs as I told them that it was nothing, that I had just had an accident. The illidari offered help which I declined as she nodded slowly and left, obviously looking worried. I laid my head once again upon the bed but decided against daydreaming again. The only question on my mind was who that girl was. And what she had to do with any of this.

((Special Thanks to @heartoftheravenwra for giving me a scenic, faction neutral spot to call home for the last few weeks. RP here is awesome and I heavily recommend their Monday Night Mixers! There will be more to come as Silas makes his journey north. Apologies for the longer posting frequency as well. Quality > Quantity, since work has been wiping my booty as of lately. Cheers!))