“Don't you hate her?”
Furina turned, eyebrows raised in confusion. “Huh?”
“Your creator. Don't you hate her?”
The girl pondered a moment, looking unsure. “I..don't know.”
“You should,” he asserted. “All this time you had to suffer alone, for what?? People who didn't even care about the real you?? People who were ungrateful and selfish and only cared about themselves, at the end of the day??”
“Not everyone is like that,” Furina protested, shaking her head slowly. “I ..did suffer, but it all worked out in the end. Besides, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her-”
“The same could be said for my mother,” Wanderer interrupted, eyes flashing. “I came into being because of her, but that doesn't make her a good person, or a good parent. She hurt me. These two facts can coexist. Focalors created you, yes, but she also subjected you to 500 years of suffering where you couldn't confide in ANYONE or risk losing everything. Wasn't that awful?? Wasn't it a horrible time? You were all alone living on a hope and a prayer, and if it went wrong, it would have been all for nothing. You were a means to an end, and what do you have to show for it? Sure, everybody was saved and all was well, but now you're just - a person, and people hate you for what you did, people hate you for what you DIDN'T do. Was it worth it?? Are you satisfied?”
“I am,” she nodded, after a beat. “Because, this is what I was created to do. And, I'm free now. I don't know what I'm going to do, but at least my life is mine. I can do whatever I want. I can live.” Wanderer's jaw clenched, and Furina frowned, nervously. “..why are you so angry?”
“Because SOMEONE has to be!” he shouted, voice cracking. “I mean- I heard about the trial, they were gonna kill you- they lured you there because you wouldn't talk, right? And then after everything, did anyone apologize to you or- praise you, for all the hell you went through? Anything??”
“.. Neuvillette is taking care of me.”
The pain on Wanderer's face was almost palpable, at that.
“..anything else?”
“.. it's fine," she tried to appease. "It's not like I serve any purpose anymore. Like I said, I did what I was created to, so I'm not of any use and-”
“Stop.”
“..what?”
“STOP- talking like that,” Wanderer snapped, eyes suspiciously glossy. She sounded so much like him, who he used to be, and it hurt so badly.
A blank sheet of paper has infinite potential, but it is nothing as long as it is empty, he'd said, a good while ago. He'd been wrong about himself, and Furina was wrong now.
“You're not just - what you were made for. You don't - what happened to you is wrong. You're not DISPOSABLE now that everything is over.”
“It- it was for everyone's sake, compared to my suffering, it's obvious what's more important! I had to save them! It’s what I was born for! It doesn't matter -”
“It DOES,” he yelled, eyes glowing an almost neon icy blue, and she startled. “Stop acting like your suffering was something that was necessary. Stop acting like it was just for the greater good. That doesn't matter! The fact of the matter is that you suffered, and you were hurt, and you're STILL hurting! And- barely anybody is there for you..your creator, she should have been there for you, she should have protected you, but she didn't. She didn't. And you - you have every right to be angry with her, for not being there for you. For you being unable to live, until now. It was wrong, even if it was, as she claimed, for the greater good. Don't defend her.”
"She loved me-"
"And she left you, so not enough."
Just like my mother ..
“...Wanderer,” Furina ventured, worry all over her face.
“What?”
“You're crying…”
..oh. He hadn't even noticed, but his cheeks WERE wet, and he put a hand to one with a start, quickly scrubbing at his face. “Ah-” and he pulled his hat over his face, to hide it.
“..it was a lot. I often wondered when everything would end. I wanted, to tell someone so badly what was going on,” Furina admitted, and Wanderer looked up, eyes red from weeping. “There were a lot of times I didn't think I was going to make it, but. But I did, and, and everything was okay.”
“But are you?”
There was a long pause, and the two of them stared at each other until Furina slowly shook her head no, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.
“See? You're - we're both so messed up, from everything, and no one was there,” Wanderer almost whispered, looking out the window. "No one was there to help. ..You're strong as hell, I'll give you that. If I was in your shoes, I don't know if I would have made it. It seems people are stronger than I've given them credit for..”
It was something that surprised him, again and again.
“I just don't understand why you care..”
“.. I don't know why I do,” he shrugged. “Maybe because you remind me of myself, and. It hurts, looking at you and feeling like I'm looking in the mirror. But someone has to be in your corner and -”
“And you want to do that?”
A pause.
“..Well, if you don't stand up for you, no telling who will.”
“You don't have to cry over me. I'm -”
“If you say you're not worth it, I am going to bodyslam you,” Wanderer growled, eyes flashing, and Furina put up her hands.
“I wasn't going to! I was going to say that I will be okay. Not now, but. Eventually. I'm healing. I promise. There's people who care, like you.”
Wanderer fell silent then, looking away, and she reached out and squeezed his hand. “Thank you. I'm still wrestling with - with what I want to do and where I'll go but. It's nice to know that I'm valued just for existing.”
“That's all you need to be valued,” he muttered, looking to the floor. “You don't have to prove the worth of your existence. It's fine to just be.”
“..are you talking to yourself, or me?”
He looked to her then, expression unreadable, and she smiled sadly, in understanding. “Both is good. It's okay to just be. We're here, and we'll be okay.”
“Yeah,” Wanderer whispered, giving a shaky breath. “..we will."
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Thinking about that time in our first campaign my character's dad (adoptive, a very important baron) almost died.
Apparently, he was supposed to. He was not supposed to survive contact with the lich. Don't even ask me how or why we got to the lich, genuinely all I remember is panicking because all of a sudden he had like five hit points and as the party schemer I had two thoughts that erased my awareness of everything else: (1) MY FUCKING DAD (2) THIS LICH IS GOING TO KILL US.
See, my job is finding ways to get us out of things, and as a wizard, I was well equipped to handle that. Except thought one, "MY FUCKING DAD," took priority over EVERYTHING ELSE. My little wizard was orphaned and down his only brother. This guy was all he had. His whole world. World's #1 dad.
... And the lich almost one shot him. He was collapsed on the ground and struggling for breath. This did not register as a cinematic moment to me because I was PANICKING. We roll initiative.
The lich rolls highest. I'm frantically looking through my notes to see what's available to me. Tries to kill me, too. Counterspell.
My turn. Throwing ALL CAUTION to the wind, plan only vaguely half formed, I run up to the baron and tell the DM I'm going to drag him back to the party.
"Your speed is halved from carrying him. You can't make it in 15 feet."
There's dead silence. Everyone is waiting for my response. Seconds of silence. "What are you going to do?" (DM speak for "please hurry up.")
"... I'm a tabaxi. I can make it in 30."
I double my movement speed and drag him back there anyway, to the confused relief of the party. Our sponsor (MY FUCKING DAD) is safe for right this second, but how are we going to fight a LICH?
"Anything else?"
"... I have a scroll of teleport in my bag. And I'm within 10 feet of everyone." Most importantly, I'd DUCKED BEHIND A WALL OF BARRELS AND CRATES so the motherfucker couldn't see me to counterspell.
There's dead silence for a few moments. The voice chat proceeds to blast my eardrums with excited cheering and laughing. The DM and I both pull up the spell. "Roll for it. Where are you going?"
"Home."
I roll a 99. We vanish from the lich's lair and are deposited, battered, bleeding, without guidance, in the charred, crumbled ruins of what had been the baron and I's residence. (It had not been that way until very recently. It was news to me.) There's relieved silence. There's an emotional reunion in what remains of our living room. I cast Tiny Hut in a defensible corner of the ruins after we all chat and we get what sleep we can.
(The DM would later confess that the baron wasn't supposed to survive and he had to change his plans now lol. We were supposed to be cut off from all resources at that point. My dad showed up in the final fight since he'd survived TWO murder attempts [ig the BBEG was the third lmao] and, well. I schemed then, too.)
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Hello, hope you don't mind me coming in so much to posit a lot of What If questions. BUT YOU CANT STOP ME EITHER WAY! You've just made a really good sandbox world to ponder in lol
But! I'm on my lunch and NEEDED to ask you: I can probably assume that you've thought about an AU where Jacqueline was the firstborn and therefore got cursed. BUT! What if it was THE TWINS that were born first? Twins -> Jack -> Jacqueline birth order.
Would the curse only work on one twin? Would it work on both? How devastating do you think it would be for Blaise to deal with two cursed twins? How MORE devastating would it be for him to watch as only one twin is cursed and they both have a violent falling out HAVING TO WATCH THE CYCLE CONTINUE YET AGAIN!?
How would Jack and Jacqueline deal with their oldest sibling (or siblings) being cursed and evil?
I know we're on the cusp of receiving more Blaise angst in the next chapters, but just a whole lot of family angst please!
Do you know, I have tango'd with the idea of reverse age order, where Fino and Fiera came first, THEN Jack and Jacqueline, and I've never actually been able to like. Figure it out in my head! I think a younger Jack and Jacqueline is an absolutely HORRIBLE thing, could you IMAGINE???? They'd be gremlins, my god, there's only a few hundred years between them instead of a thousand and an almost half and they'd be TROUBLE. ON TOPIC NOW
I've no idea which twin actually came first. I think Fiera's older? But some days she says Fino is older? But I'm like, 80% sure Fino's the baby. By a few seconds if anything. Anyway, rambles aside, lemme. Rotate this in my head all day as I slowly answer this bc now I'm thinking! Now I am THINKING.
Anyway, we love to see what ifs so please, don't apologize! SO. Let's what if! Here's how I think it would go...
I think that they would share the curse, a la the way Eda and Lilith do in The Owl House. MAYBE they're both born with it; maybe it's just the one. Regardless, they look out for one another because curse aside, that's their hecking TWIN. So somehow, in some way, whether it be one gets it and the other finds a way to use magic to split it, or they are both born with half a curse, they're sharing it.
And it's. It's rough. given that it is divided, they're not as evil as they could be, but they have some bad days, some worse days, sometimes they're both doing schemes, other times one is scheming and the other is being a voice of reason. Basically, the entire time they are cursed, they're out here supporting each other, both WITH evil schemes/shenanigans, and maybe NOT doing that particular one. I will say, though, that a cursed Fino and Fiera duo would deff be responsible for some (if not all) of the following, and more probably:
Pompeii
Every fire London has ever had, ever
Global warming/climate change
Waters receding
Summers being WAY TOO HOT
Forest fires
Most famous explosions
The Titanic, somehow, but that was an accident, for real, they mean it
They're chaotic! And they don't really have a sort of focus on any one particular like, legendary figure or anything. They're just here to ruin everything. They're trying not to, most days! Really! But it's HARD. They just can't not set the thing on fire. And when Fino starts dipping into the warlock stuff? Dear god. Shenanigans do be RAMPING UP.
Blaise is just constantly exhausted. He is too tired to even THINK of the moral consequences or how he feels or anything like that. His daily mantra is "FUCK my STUPID, FUCKING BROTHER". I think if the Twins were BOTH cursed, he'd 100% believe in the curse and just. Curse Pyros back, maybe even. Winter, meanwhile, is too warm to function. This house is too hot. But she agrees with Blaise 100%: FUCK Pyros, man. That guy SUCKS.
BUT ANYWAY, I've no idea when Jack comes around, but when he does, the Twins do tone it down a notch. they're like, look, there's a kid involved? Maybe we should like. Try to keep it cool. Winter's happy to finally have ANOTHER WINTER SPRITE in the house. Finally, she can cool off.
OH. BUT YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD PROBABLY HAPPEN??????
THE TWINS WOULD PROBABLY GROW RESENTFUL TOWARDS JACK! ESPECIALLY SINCE HE IS, AFTER ALL, JACK FROST, RIGHT? SO HE GETS THE TITLE AND MAKES A NAME FOR HIMSELF AND IS KNOWN BY ALL AND FINO AND FIERA AREN'T AND THIS DEFFS UPSETS THEM. OH MY GOD. OH NO. AND THEN JACQUELINE COMES AROUND, AND SHE IS THE BABY OF THE FAMILY, AND JACK IS LIKE, LOOK AT MY LITTLE SISTER! AND SHOWS OBVIOUS FAVOURITISM, AND OH MY GOD. THE RESENTMENT BUILDS.
Sorry this is so rambley, but like. I am thinking as we go here! This is a Live Dani Reaction! Anyway, the downside to all of these speculations is that I see NO way in which Jacqueline doesn't STILL get hurt bad, barring the obvious "Only one twin is cursed, the other isn't at fights to save their Twin, only to get hurt badly in the end in the Twin's own version of the day of darkness". AND THEN, seeing all FOUR kids be part of this infeuding fallout thing, my god. Repeating the cycle? these fuckos are out here doing it at TWO TIMES THE SPEED, APPARENTLY!
Okay this is SUCH a ramble, I am SO sorry, let me tl;dr some answers for you:
The curse could work on one twin, or both! I personally like the idea of them sharing it, bc it would frustrate both Blaise AND Pyros and that is HILARIOUS to me
Pyros being like COME ON. BE MORE EVIL and Blaise being like PLEASE. BE LESS EVIL. As the pair of them pull one way over the other and deal with this life long struggle of being cursed stony!
IF they share it, they would grow resentment when Jack gets his title, and even more resentful when Jacqueline comes along bc of favouritism from Jack, and also favouritism they'd perceive from Blinter, though Blinter wouldn't show obvious favouritism to the two younger kids.
(Jack's an ass, though. He WOULD show favouritism amongst the siblings, and not being the cursed kid wouldn't change that at all lmao)
And this would lead to a DoD tragedy with the Twins hurting Jacqueline, because in the "they share it" option, there is no way Jacqueline DOESN'T get Day of Darkness'd, FIRE edition.
Anyway (so much for a tl;dr)
IF one twin is cursed but not the other, either
A) the not-cursed Twin would find a way to share the curse, or
B) they would have a DoD equivalent fallout
And yes, Blaise would be heartbroken by this! Because the cycle, despite his best attempts, continues once again; he's been dragged back into his toxic family's shit, the history has repeated himself and he tried EVERYTHING to avoid it but couldn't do it! Devastating blow for the groupchat! It isn't his fault but of course he'd blame himself.
Jack would probably be really shitty right back to them any time they were super evil to him, whereas Jacqueline, being the lil bundle of energy and excitement and absolute sunshine she was as a kid, would ADORE her twin siblings and be ALL over them which I'm sure would get annoying to a point
She'd probably try, when she's older, to find a way to help them. Could you imagine? A travelling sorcerer Jacqueline, who picks up on the Warlock blood and learns as MUCH as she can to try and help her older siblings, bc she sees how hard it's been for them; she sees how much they've upset Jack, and she sees how much it hurts her parents and by the GODDESS, SHE IS GOING TO BREAK THIS DAMNED CYCLE OR HER NAME ISN'T JACQUELINE WINTER FROST, LEGATE TO JACK FROST, SORCERESS EXTRAORDINAIRE (she'd totally call herself a sorceress bc it sounds badasss and sorcerers would get mad at her like YOU ARE USING ALL THE MAGIC! YOU ARE A WARLOCK NOT A SORCERER! and she, of course, would reply with an I do what I WANT)
So yes, a LOT more angst on ALL fronts, especially with Blaise! But I think that Jacqueline's determination to break the cycle, her unrelenting positivity and her "idgaf that you don't think I can/should do this, I AM GOING TO DO IT" attitude really kinda moves them all!
And maybe, maybe she manages to break the curse just through sheer determination. Or maybe she runs into Lucy in her travels, who helps her break their curse. who's to say! There's so many ways it could go! But by GOD if I don't love every single one of the possibilities that I've thought of, LET ALONE the ones anyone reading this may think of along the way!
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