#niven the anemone

[ohpollenpowder]

I made a post about this a month or so ago, pondering whomst to take to Pride this year since I'm a volunteer. I've taken Reforged and Mordrem the past two years, so they're recognizable—hopefully—as a volunteer. But I'd also like to take someone new! So we're shelving the Swords for right now.

[mcalhenwrites]

The Hostile Credence excerpt

To go with my posts about dragon lore and characters that I posted yesterday! This hasn't been edited in a long while, and it's a bit old (I wrote it in 2014 or 2015, I think?), so what you read here will be polished up later on. But I like this scene. :) ~~~~~

Ewan let go of Niven’s hand. They knelt on the platform of wood raised a few inches off the walkway.  It circled around the marble Pillar. Niven placed his hands on the surface of the stone. Water trickled from the top of it and over his fingertips, down the back of his hand, and down to his elbows in cool veins.

What would he pray for? Everyone had selfish wishes and selfish desires, and Niven could think of several wants. Would the dragons grant him the sword he was saving for? Would Old Wicker ever take a bath so Niven could breathe when he entered the man’s store?

He prayed for the usual good health of the town. He prayed for the two sea dragon lovers, Tessa and Syra, to find one another. The thought that Syra ripped apart the continents to find Tessa always made his heart ache.

He thanked whatever powers had brought Ewan into his birth father’s house, otherwise he might have dehydrated beneath the floorboards.

He hoped Seth’s family would have more money.

And if I can have that sword, too?

Niven withdrew his hands. The sleeves of his tunic were drenched. Ewan took longer to finish his prayers, but when he did, he took out a pouch from a pocket in his pack and stood. Niven followed him to one of the offering bowls. Ewan tipped the pouch and shook out a pea-sized diamond into his palm. He showed it to Niven before tilting his hand over the lip of the bowl and letting the diamond roll in.

“That’s beautiful,” said Niven.

“Yes. The rest is for you.” Ewan emptied the pouch into Niven’s hand. There were two gold nuggets left, and Niven dropped them in next to the diamond.

Ewan took his hand and they walked another stone pathway through the forest, their way lined with herbs and lilies.

The Spicewood was a misty, cool place with waterfalls, streams, and even a few lakes. Ferns, herbs, and anemones decorated the forest floor, and thick-trunked trees towered high above them. Ewan often referred to it as a temperate rainforest.

Dragonflies, slugs, and thick beetles accompanied them on the path to the temple. Niven took care not to step on them, especially the slugs almost as large as his forearm. A fuzzy cat dashed from the temple steps to greet them. It rubbed against Niven’s leg.

Niven wanted to pet it, but Ewan kept tugging him along—not that he wasn’t gentle about it, but Niven didn’t have time to pause. His attention left the feline when they passed beneath the stonework of a large dragon with ferns growing from various parts of its body. The moss covering the engraving added to the details rather than obscured them.

“That’s Tempra,” said Ewan.

“She’s so green!”

“She was scraped clean last time I was here."

“Oh.”

“Don’t forget to take off your shoes.”

Niven and Ewan stripped their boots and socks. Everyone within the temple walked barefoot. They set them—along with the other shoes belonging to guests—on the sides of the steps, just under the stone ceiling where they would not be rained on.

The foliage behind them looked more vivid as the sunlight dimmed away to darkness. Niven inhaled deeply only to have a sneezing fit from the overwhelming scent of herbs.

“You silly boy,” said Ewan affectionately, handing him a handkerchief. “No one can take in the Spicewood all at once.”

Inside the temple, it was not so bad—the building was partially submerged, and much of it smelled like cool earth. There was a pond in the middle of the basement as they went down the stairs from the main floor to the second. Priestesses and priests carried basins and bowed to the father and son as they passed.

Niven knelt by the water’s edge to stare at the colorful fish.

A priestess paused. “Would you like to feed them?” she asked Niven. She stuck her thin fingers into a bag tied to her belt and withdrew a handful of pellets.

Niven took them, rolling one around in his palm and giving it a sniff. It reeked strongly of dried fish.

“Blech.”

The priestess laughed. “You’re not going to eat it, they are.” She pointed to the long-whiskered fish beneath the surface.

[takeasmiletoday]

primrose lunar mist bird of paradise gardenia lions fairytale queens cup lavender dream lantana tulip lilac tea rose love in the mist bell flower sundrop anemone calendula

primrose; what book does everyone right now need to read? - all the bright places by jennifer niven

lunar mist; do you like wearing other people’s shirts/jackets? - hell yeahhhhh

bird of paradise; what was the best thing that happened to you this month? - started talking to the best girl in the world

gardenia; what’s a promise you’ve recently made to yourself? - that i wouldn’t keep letting toxic people come back into my worth. it’s not worth it and it’s not healthy 

lion’s fairytale; would you rather be the sky, the ocean or the forests? - forests

queen’s cup; what are you craving right now? - cuddles

lavender dream; turn ons/offs? - turn ons - selflessness, sense of humor, smelling nice, good listener 

turn offs - smoking, arrogance, selfishness

lantana; what’s on your mind right now? - what i’m gonna have for lunch smh

tulip; name 5 facts about yourself.  

1) i’m 20 

2) i’m a junior in college

3) i’m a pysch major 

4) i’m obsessed with taylor swift

5) i’m a virgo

lilac; if you could go back in time which time period would you visit? - the 1920s

tea rose; what’s something you always wanted to do but were too scared? - karaoke 

love in the mist; best books you’ve ever read? - idk if i would say they’re the ~best~ but my favorites are catcher in the rye, all the bright places, reality boy by A.S. King, and impulse by ellen hopkins

 bell flower; what is your biggest addiction - tumblr apparently

sundrop; are you a morning or a night person? - night

anemone; describe yourself in 3 words - caring, hardworking, messy

calendula; biggest pet peeve? - when people don’t listen to me idk

[ohpollenpowder]

lmao No one see that first oop. I didn't realize Malena and Spirit also tied.

[ohpollenpowder]

Found a Fairy Circle in core. Does not turn you into anything or kidnap you. Missed opportunity, Anet.

[ohpollenpowder]

(Prefacing this with I'm rusty as heck with writing. That and sharing is...hard for me—I've been harshly criticized in the past and the joy of writing kinda disappeared because of it. If anything, I realize it might lack depth of emotion, for that's the hardest part for me to write as it's hard for me to articulate it properly.)

Blinding, striking pain lanced through his head, drawing a ragged gasp from him. His hands wanted to drift up to his head, yet they felt heavy, almost impossible to bring up. Instead, it felt like the tightened vice around the lower half of him released, he slumped down, falling on top of something soft and pliant. It was familiar in a way…but not one he could immediately place. Familiar voices called out as well, but not the one that he was looking for, as his consciousness slipped from him. All he could hope was that he was successful in saving Trahearne from Mordremoth.

The next time he remembered coming to, his companions were carrying him; his arms over their shoulders. But instead of the air being filled with joyous celebration and talks of the final battle… It was quiet. Dead quiet. Confusingly, there were a few, muted sounds of crying coming from behind him, punctuated with soft questions of "why?"

A frown spread across his face with his head bent down by gravity as he listened, his attempt to save Trahearne must not have been successful after all. Another flash of pain lanced through his chest, this time from no physical wound, but the hiss of pain drew attention still. The footsteps leading him on came to a stop, he could feel bodies turning towards him, one bending down slightly to look at his half-hidden face.

"Marshal Trahearne?" …What? "Marshal, sir? Are you awake?" He forced his eyes to open, blinking into the dimly lit jungle, they focused in on the aide-de-camp that Laranthir had issued to him before all of this had started. Those blue-grey eyes recognized him, yes, worried over him, certainly. But there was a lack of deeper connection in them, even though they had spent hours upon hours bonding over ale sitting by the campfire.

"Kirk…?" His voice came out raspy, as if he'd screamed his throat raw. No…not his voice. Familiar to him achingly well, but not his own. It couldn't be…

He stiffened in the arms that held him, forcing his knees to lock under him in order to at least get some semblance of control out of all of this. Their hold on him slackened from supporting to just hovering, another familiar face popped into view, Caithe. The concern on her face was striking, he had never seen her face look like that before. She'd shown lesser versions of it to him before when he'd gotten hurt as a Valiant, but this was different.

"Trahearne… Brother, please, let us help you." Her hands came up and cupped his face and Ventari help him, he couldn't help but lean into them as his eyes slipped close again. His head bent down and found itself pressed against her forehead, "Just breathe, brother. We're almost to Tarir now." Tugging his own arms free from those holding him, he covers her hands with his own, dragging in ragged breath after ragged breath.

Fingers grasping, gripping, he steadies himself against her for a moment longer before lifting his head out of her hands, "Caithe," he licks his lips, "What… What happened?" There. Again. Trahearne's voice.

Eyes open again, his vision swims, thrown off by seeing things out of two eyes instead of the one. There's movement behind him, a restlessness, that causes him to turn his head back. Briefly, oh so briefly he sees it, before Caithe has grabbed his face again, pulled it back down so he only sees her teal eyes, "No, not yet."

It was odd, seeing it from this kind of perspective. The armor not so much seeing as he spent hours caring for it, seeing similar pieces on others, but the hair… The gray curl of the leaves and dark blue of the petals, stamen laying flat against it all and dull. It was night and yet there was no familiar light blue glow pulsing in and out. His mind started to whirl at the implications of it all, of seeing that form, familiar and yet somehow not. Something had gone wrong… Terribly wrong. I tried to help, but...

"Go back to sleep now, brother."

His breath hitched as he felt the curl of Caithe's magic taking hold of his weary mind; drowning out the cacophony of confusion, anger, denial that was sweeping through him. And the world went blessedly dark again.

(Sorry if any it is confusing with just references of he/him everywhere. Since at this point Comndarem has only roughly started to figure out that he's no longer in his own body.)

[ohpollenpowder]

[ohpollenpowder]

Because I hate myself... I took a moment (or should we say like two hours) to "cut" folks out and put them onto the screen with those from their universe. So we have here Nichneven, "Trahearne", and Niven! This was...a height adjustment for Niven to say the least. As well as having to get used to having two eyes—he never had use of the right to begin with. Not sure what to call their universe, maybe ReRolled?

[ohpollenpowder]

My favored name won! So we're now graced with Niven the Anemone. I wanted a second, more relaxed outfit for him as well as his more "paladin"-esque look. I really do wish they'd give us an option to have our headpieces on in cutscenes, even though these are a now obsolete story-way.

[ohpollenpowder]

Trahearne. My dude. You're not facing mom. The disrespect.

[ohpollenpowder]

Help! Niven turned into a Risen Charr!

[ohpollenpowder]

Why is Snaff so shiny? Like. I've never had him out before so I didn't notice he's his own little disco ball.

[ohpollenpowder]

Got Niven to 80! So now we'll work on either Comndarem or Nichneven. I gave him one pistol because I want him to have the Moon shield. His other weapon I gave him greatsword, but didn't skin it to Caladbolg—he wouldn't have really "earned" that weapon. Nichneven probably won't even wield it in their world, not sure if Comndarem would bother knitting it back together... Maybe it's a good place to work Reforged Caladbolg into their world? Not sure. Because that would need them to put it back together. Maybe they "buried" it with Niven. By "buried" I mean he's in a neutralized blighting pod with some kind of preservation technology on it. Not sure where it would be located, but Nichneven often visits. Comndarem...sometimes in the dead of the night when he's sure no one is watching. Anyway. Will probably still try and get him into Firebrand since it was the only elite available for Guardian at the time of his death.

[ohpollenpowder]

Have Niven with his eye patch kinda more...blended in to his skin. So that it's more a part of him and less an accessory. Niven actually experienced the Dream and then Awoke without that eye formed, so all he's ever known is sight through one eye and he's gone through it pretty good without it. Which is why being thrust into Trahearne's body with two eyes is rather jarring for him, I figure he'd close his eye when no one was looking in order to do things until he got used to it.

[ohpollenpowder]

...Not me staring at Comndarem and this introduction that I'm writing and being like "oh. oh no." but "oh yes." at the same time. What if...

Star-crossed lovers(-ish) route. Niven knew Nichneven once upon a time in the Dream. Knew each other and fell in love there. And when Niven woke first, she was despondent, and followed him around while still in the Dream. She saw it all. From the moment he started his Wyld Hunt, all through the forming of the Pact, Zhaitan, Scarlet... Through the heartbreak of the Jungle, the last thing she sees before she starts to Awaken is the fight with Mordremoth, waking just after the final blow.

But her memory slips... And so she doesn't remember any of what she saw after he Awoke. Barely anything of their time together in the Dream, her connection to it all but severed and replaced with the bond with Aurene. She knows enough to know that they had been friends with the start of something more when he just up and disappeared. So she's sad, yes, when she sees his lifeless body but not heartbroken, not outwardly. In private moments, in moments where she thinks no one is looking, her face falls into immeasurable heartbreak, yet she doesn't know why. "Trahearne" sees these moments, remembering his time with her in the Dream as Niven.

Having spent so much time with Trahearne in the past few years, it's easy enough to pretend to be the Marshal. To fool everyone necessary. Things start to slip, though... And Nichneven sees these moments. And is painfully reminded of the one she lost.

(Little things so I don't forget: Niven used to call her his lilac. She carries around an Anemone for him in remembrance.)

[ohpollenpowder]

More of Niven!