#plus enchanted dagger

[birdmitosis]

Silly little post, buuut I made Kate and Beau in Monster of the Week. I couldn't help myself!

(Unfortunately no move exists that I could give Beau that would mechanically let him do the skull cup thing. But it's there in spirit. Let's just say he can do it because of course he can.)

[shem-fatale]

Dragon Age Inquisition: "Canon" Choices Survey Results!

Tell us about your personal "canon" Inquisitor who will make an appearance in The Veilguard? What were their choices? Answers to this short survey were collected via a tumblr post between June 11th and June 22nd 2024. I have since found out which of the choices mentioned will and will not affect DA:TV but I will include all questions anyway. Text version and tags under the cut!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

1. Who is your "canon" Inquisitor and are/were they in a relationship with another DAI character? Female Adaar/Blackwall - 1% Female Lavellan/Blackwall - 1% Male Lavellan/Josephine- 1% Male Lavellan/The Iron Bull- 1% Male Trevelyan/Cassandra - 1%

Female Lavellan/Josephine - 2% Female Trevelyan/Josephine- 2% Male Lavellan - no romance - 2%

Female Adaar/The Iron Bull - 3% Male Adaar/Dorian - 3%

Female Trevelyan/Blackwall - 4%

Female Adaar/Josephine - 6% Male Trevelyan/Dorian - 6%

Female Lavellan/Cullen - 7%

Male Lavellan/Dorian - 12%

Female Trevelyan/Cullen - 13%

Female Lavellan/Solas - 33% Added headcanon comment from @spiders-scribbles: Male Adaar/The Iron Bull "Kas is played with the female model cause I hate how bulky the male Qunari body is and also trans reasons" <3 And another one from @doves-wing: Female Cadash/Josephine "i think they have an open relationship and so my quizzy has dated iron bull though that relationship ends before trespasser. she is still with josie though." <3 2. What combat class and specialisation apply to your "canon" Inquisitor?

Warrior/Two-Handed/Templar - 0% Warrior/Weapon and Shield/Templar - 0%

Rogue/Daggers/Artificer - 1% Warrior/Two-Handed/Champion - 1% Warrior/Weapon and Shield/Reaver - 1%

Warrior/Two-Handed/Reaver - 3% Rogue/Archer/Tempest - 3% Warrior/Weapon and Shield/Champion - 3%

Mage/Necromancer - 4%

Rogue/Archer/Artificer - 5% Rogue/Archer/Assassin - 5% Rogue/Daggers/Tempest - 5%

Rogue/Daggers/Assassin - 8%

Mage/Rift Mage - 30%

Mage/Knight-Enchanter - 32% 3. Did the Inquisition form an alliance with the Mages or with the Templars?

Mages - 86%

Templars - 14% 4. Who was left behind in the Fade?

Alistair - 5%

Loghain - 9%

Hawke - 29%

Stroud - 57% 5. Did the Inquisition give the Wardens a second chance?

Yes - 89%

No - 11% 6. Who rules Orlais?

Gaspard - 1%

Celene - 10%

Gaspard as Briala's puppet - 14%

Truce between all parties - 32%

Celene and Briala - 43% 7. Who drank from the Well of Sorrows?

Morrigan - 48%

The Inquisitor - 52% 8. Who becomes Divine Victoria at the end of DA:I?

Vivienne - 7%

Cassandra - 18%

Leliana - 75% 9. What happened to the Inquisition at the end of Trespasser?

The Inquisition continues in the service of Divine Victoria - 17%

The Inquisition was disbanded - 83%

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

A big thank you to:

@themightynej

@rotaryshakes

@slothsoep

@ladyotakukiut

@ellie-shy

@spaaace-ace

@infinitediversities

@missrosequeen

@re-venge

@tokyopewpew

@ennayeliah

@alesdaer

@what-ever-this-is-man

@maintitle

@doves-wing

@filbert-weevil

@robinthewarden

@flashyxtemplar

@0rzammar

@bonniemikaelson

@darthbootchie

@gugle1980

@hawkgirlriot

@huneybumble7

@onelessvenatori

@stillpanicking

@stuckyonbucky

@wildefiction

@animusrisunovatur

@anulindale

@azinareens

@cullens-babe

@energeticbasilisk

@fadejumper

@humonster

@joyfulpolicehologram

@krampus236

@maleficarmage

@mortalitasdeeznuts

@soft4sana

@themagnusbane

@thereiswarathand

@touchofweave

@tyralily

@witch-light

@witchybullshit

@littleballofanxiety

@precious-gem-of-a-cat @onlypartiallystars

@spiders-scribbles @titanwolfackerman @nervousparsnip @sowrongbutsowrite @argonian-at-heart @too-caught-up-in-moves @yjannu @lilywasx and also to everyone who didn't want to be tagged, plus everyone who spelled their user names wrong! I figured out some of the typos but some of you left me some crazy riddles hehe. <3

[bright-side20]

Koschei's Sleeping Beauty retelling 🌹

I've found Koschei's sleeping beauty details so here it is

_In the tale, it is said that once Koschei focuses his gaze on the chosen princess, he is capable of exerting a powerful influence over her. He recites ancient, arcane words, and the maiden collapses gracefully, falling into a deep, unbreakable sleep, immune to the passage of time.

_ Koschei was described to be surrounded by shadows and swirling mist. He then takes the princess to his grand hall with a bone throne, where she waits for the hero who can break the spell.

*In SF:

The being that stood atop the lake was a shadow. It must be a reflection, Cassian thought. Smoke and mirrors. "Where is Briallyn?" Azriel demanded, Siphons flaring like cobalt flame. “I spend so many months preparing for you,” Koschei crooned, “and you don’t even wish to speak to me?”

*Koschei in the book is described as a shadow being as in the tale. Plus he could be trying to lure Azriel to the lake because once he can fix his gaze on him he'll be able to manipulate him with his power and enchant him with unbreakable sleep.

What I think is that Koschei could have been trapped in the lake using the Starsword, so he needs the TT to undo it. That's why he wants Az because he owns the dagger, so he could curse him with eternal sleep and try to make Elain free him from the lake in exchange for breaking Azriel's curse.

_In the tale, the only way to break the enchantment is through an instrument called the gusli which is very similar to the harp.

Gusli. Harp.

_The strings of the gusli are made of pure silver and inbued with encient magic, when played correctly they emit a powerful, harmonic resonance that can break the spell and awaken the princess.

*In SF, the harp has ancient magic in its strings, and they are also made of silver:

The golden Harp, covered in intricate embossing, set with silver strings.

The small strings are for games—light movement and leaping—but the longer, the final ones … Such deep wonders and horrors we could strum into being.

_In the tale, for the Gusli's magic to work, it should be played by a hero who is pure of heart and noble intent.

*We know that Elain can use the harp because she's a cauldron made, and we also know that she has a different kind of strength:

“Elain had always been gentle and sweet—and I had considered it a different kind of strength. A better strength. To look at the hardness of the world and choose, over and over, to love, to be kind. She had always been so full of light.”

She is someone pure of heart, and her love for Azriel will definitely be strong and pure, so I think that could be another reason why she's the one who can break his curse 🥰

My theory about the harp is that, since in Hofas it was said that it can transfer one's power to the soul of another. Therefore, Elain may be able to give a portion of her life power to Az's soul through the harp to awaken him.

[mrs-pianofandom-98]

Valentine’s Day Coven

Lilia wakes them all up with a homemade breakfast. Has all of their coffees and teas done as soon as they come downstairs.

Rio makes sure she’s the first one to kiss each of them for the first time that day.

Agatha had went out and got each of them something they had been eyeing for months. She got Jen a new laptop for work, Rio a new dagger sleeve, Lilia got her more original Sicilian books, and lastly she got Alice a tattoo appointment as she was finally giving into Alice wanting to get matching tattoos. Does she act like it was an annoying yes. Did she hide her smile behind her mug..obviously.

Jen had made a product for her shop inspired by each of them. Agatha’s was called “Shadows of love” it was bath salts a scent of lavender and lemon (She called Agatha salty).Rios was called “River of life” a body lotion that smelt like coconut and rain. Lilia’s was called “Enchanted Aura” it was a facemask mix with ginger and oranges. And lastly Alice’s was “Tempting Ember” a set of face oils and moisturizers that smelt of firewood.

Alice has made them all gift baskets that have comfort items such as their snacks,drinks,candles and just any little thing that reminder Alice of any of them.

Rio acts more like a gentlewoman than she normally does. Opening all their doors,driving, and she had given them all their own bouquet of flowers that she related them to.

Alice made reservations for all of them for lunch. Jen picked all their outfits because she wanted to. (Plus Alice and Rio don’t really get dressy enough in her opinion.)

After their reservation they went back home. Rio and Alice finally got Lilia to agree for them all to help her bake. (Ending in a flour fight and a messy kitchen.)

When they all finally settle down Agatha and Jen bickered over a movie. Lilia snatched the remote and turned on a classic rom-com film.

(I love domestic coven.)

[rooks-dagger]

Nice Little Things

Thanks for tagging me, @antivan-sprig and @grimrevolution! This is such a fun idea 😁

Rules: Choose 10 objects that you will place in the room of your Rooks on the places intended for customization. These should be small objects that can be placed in the following places: 2 on the tables by the doors, 2 on the tables by the aquarium, 4 on the bookcases and 2 on the walls. Attach a photo of these objects and give a short description of why your Rooks chose them

Gently tagging the awesome @dancing--lights @themildmahariel @in-the-drowning-deep @jouskaroo @curiouswisp @master-of-the-elements @fatagenda @dudewheresmynug @augustnugs @mildlyupsetzebra @fenrelmercar and @litchigaming 💜 (No pressure of course!)

Ember “Rook” Mercar ⚔️

Tables by the door (x2)

Antivan coffee maker (in game)

One of the coffee mugs has lipstick on the rim… the same shade Neve wears. Interesting. 😏

Ember got this early on from the cafe in Treviso to fuel her caffeine habit. She wasn’t sleeping much with Solas in her head, anyways. It wasn’t long before Neve sniffed the coffee maker out. Ember’s brew might not be as good as Lucanis’, but it’s serviceable. Plus, it gives her an excuse to stop by Neve’s study with two mugs of piping hot coffee when neither of them can sleep.

Rogue kit (in game)

Lock picks, poisons and antidotes, fuses, smoke bombs, explosives, tools, gadgets and gizmos - everything a roguish hero needs to get the job done. Sometimes you’ll find Ember absently picking locks as a way to fidget and keep her skills sharp at the same time.

Tables by the aquarium (x2)

Broken chains (in game)

These were her chains. She broke them off in her escape from the Ludus Sanguis, the Venatori-run gladiator school and colosseum near Ventus. Ember keeps the chains as a reminder of what she’s fighting for and how far she’s come. (Ignore the key and imagine the chains were actually split open with an axe or something)

A deck of Wicked Grace cards + dice

A well-loved deck of Wicked Grace cards and assorted dice. Ember occasionally breaks these out for the lighthouse gang. They’ll all play long into the night. Davrin is convinced the dice are loaded and the deck is stacked (she just laughs and teases him about being a sore loser.)

Bookshelves (x4)

Varric’s shaving mirror (in game)

One of Ember’s most prized possessions. On tough days, it helps her remember the kind of leader she wants to be. The kind of leader that Varric believed she could be when he told her “Take a long hard look in it, kid. It’ll always show the face of a hero who can get it done.”

Gold snake pin with teal gemstone eyes (probably enchanted)

A token from Neve. She surprised Ember with the gift as they got ready for their first Victory Day celebration at the Archon’s palace. Said it was for luck as she gently pinned it to Ember’s uniform. It shimmers slightly with magic, but Ember has no idea what the enchantment does (and Neve plays coy when asked.) The pin is now part of Ember’s formal Leader of the Veilguard regalia and sits in a place of honor beside Varric’s mirror.

Medicinal bloom (in game)

A gift from Harding’s garden (just pretend it’s elfroot lol). With how many scrapes Ember gets into, Harding thought it’d be a good idea to have her own set of healing plants on hand. Ember made sure to take good care of the plant, especially after Tearstone Island. After all, Harding always took care of her. Ember was especially glad to have some of the medicinal herbs on hand when they found Harding in Kal Sharok weeks after the final battle (yes, I do subscribe to this headcanon on Harding's survival!)

A broken sword on display

The blade is shattered, no bigger than a dagger now. The jagged edge is still sharp. It was broken when Ember picked it up amidst the chaos of her escape from the Ludus. But it got the job done. And for someone who was taught that a losing fighter was no different than a broken blade or a lame horse - something to be put down and tossed aside - this sword proved otherwise.

Walls (x2)

Wanted poster + Shadow Dragon / Lucerni posters

A fellow Shadow Dragon sent her this wanted poster (found in Nessus) with the simple note, “this you?” Ember thought it was funny and that it had a decent likeness, so she kept it. She’s quite proud of it, actually 😂

Then she has a bunch of old flyers and posters from the Shadow Dragon and Lucerni on the wall, too. Propaganda? Perhaps. But she finds them encouraging.

Dart board

A dart board that’s seen better days. A few darts and throwing knives stick out from the pitted cork and wooden backboard. All thrown with impeccable aim. She finds target practice meditative.

[astarion-my-beloved]

got any bg3 mods?

First off: highly recommend downloading the BG3 mod manager if you're not downloading mods directly from the game. I download 90% of my mods from Nexus, plus a few from the in-game mod manager.

Secondly, a few of these will require a script extender, which you can download using the link.

Outfits/Gear

Better starting gear for Lae'zel

Better Raphael outfits

Origin equipment replacer

Citizen outfits as camp clothing

Assassin outfit (one of the hottest outfits imo. I use it all the time)

Astarion's gear - ALSO something I use constantly. Provides you not only with multiple custom made outfits tailored to his strengths, but with two enchanted daggers and two handbows, plus some gorgeous looking camp outfits. Makes him very unlikely to fail at unlocking a chest.

Character creation

17 new heads - Available to tieflings, humans and elves.

Strong femme heads - Adds two new head presets for body 3. Works for Elves, half-elves, drows, humans and tieflings.

Yves hair gallery - Available to every race. One of the more diverse ones out there.

Tepkunset hair collection - Gives you some gorgeous new hairstyles to experiment with. I like that there's a lot of done-up ones, rather than just untied.

Faces and hairstyles compilations - Gives you the faces of many beloved characters from the game.

Tav's hair salon - Pairs mostly with human/elf/half-elf/drow/tiefling, body 1 and 2, plus 2 hairstyles for gith, body 1.

Feywild heads and antlers for elves - Gives you six new heads and three antler options for body 1 and 2. There's also a file that gives you 15 more tattoo options, but that requires the More Tattoos and Makeup mod.

Animation replacers/add-ons

Cozier sleeping times - Changes the positions of characters while they sleep. Recommended for those who are looking for cute photography opportunities.

Better Disguise Self - Allows you to "disguise" yourself into 132 different characters from the game.

Hugs - Allows you to hug most characters in-game.

Kisses - Lets you use each companions' unique kisses with others.

BG3SX - Gives you custom sex animations and framework. Not limited to characters with certain genitalia, so go wild.

Realistic erections - Pairs well with the BG3SX above.

Softer animations and beards - What it says on the tin. Hasn't been updated since June of 2024, so don't expect it to work perfectly.

Appearance Edit Enhanced - Lets you change the appearance of origin characters. MUST have the optional file downloaded (Appearance edit origins) for you to save changes made to said characters.

Mama K's dance - gives you two teddy bears that let the person who's holding it do Karlach's little dance.

Psychotter's goth dye - Dark and light metal versions available (I use them almost solely because it has a proper black colour)

Copper

Gameplay benefits

Already Inspected - Chest remains opened after you inspect it.

Party Limit Begone - Allows up to 16 companions into the group, and 8 multiplayers.

Tutorial Chest Summoning - Use a spell or potion to summon the "tutorial chest", which lets you see all your mod-added items.

Weightless gold - Gold no longer weighs anything. Download it straight from the BG3 mod manager in-game by tying it into the search bar.

Easy Pickpocket and steal - Removes specific crimes from the game, allowing you to easily be a nuisance without getting into trouble.

Waypoints unlocked - Unlocks all waypoints from act I through to act III

Dice

Dark urge (Path Of Nightmares)

Origin Characters - Die based off the origin characters

Prism dice - 5 new die.

Misc

Replayable romance scenes - Allows you to replay romance scenes through a spell.

Tav gets a tent!

No more required sex scenes - uses a script extender to skip the sex scenes without ruining the story, for anyone who doesn't enjoy it.

Hopefully all these work... have fun

[witchthewriter]

@gossipgirl-edwardcullen.

If anyone is curious about this, here is the post with the information ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･

𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐄𝐒 ✩°˖ ⋆｡˚

I place you in ...

𝑯𝒐𝒖𝒔𝒆 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍

You have such a warm yet mysterious aura about you. Even the pose you chose; relaxed yet confident, that screams Martell. Even though I do not know you, you seem like someone who speaks their mind and has strong morals. Or strong ideals that you hold yourself to.

I can also see you walking around in either dress or pants (whatever your vibe is) with hidden weapons all over. Daggers in your boots, a sword at your side, throwing knives up your sleeves...

(Plus, Dorne is so much more freer than the rest of Westeros. Women and girls aren't put aside because of their gender. Dorne is a place where you can prove your worth, no matter how you appear.)

𝑺𝒆𝒂𝒕: Sunspear

𝑹𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒐𝒏: Dorne...The southernmost and hottest of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, known for its deserts, rocky hills, and proud, independent people.

𝑺𝒊𝒈𝒊𝒍: A red sun pierced by a gold spear

Set against an orange background. (The sun represents the warmth and heat of Dorne, and the spear honors the Rhoynish warrior-queen Nymeria who married into House Martell.)

𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒅𝒔: "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken."

𝑼𝒏𝒐𝒇𝒇𝒊𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝑴𝒐𝒕𝒕𝒐: Although they do not have one specifically like House Lannister for example. They are recognised with words/phrases such as: "Dorne stands alone."

𝑹𝒆𝒑𝒖𝒕𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏: Independent, outspoken, proud. They value personal freedom, gender equality (women can inherit titles), and cultural blending (strong Rhoynish influence).

𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 ˙ ✩°˖ ⋆｡˚

I place you in ...

𝑳𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒍𝒐́𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏

You'd be someone others instinctively trust, someone who’s reflective, observant, and deeply empathetic. But, if needed, you can show sharp cunning and skill, like Galadriel offering the Fellowship powerful artifacts.

I can see you having a strong love and deep connection for the land and your fellow elves. But there may be curiosity that nibbles inside of you.

What is the rest of the world like?

I think you would love the Hobbits. Merry and Pippin would be like brothers to you.

𝑨𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒕𝒊𝒄: Flowing green and silver garments, intricate natural jewelry, vines and starlight woven into her aura. She would likely wield a subtle but powerful form of magic; healing, protection, or foresight.

𝑹𝒖𝒍𝒆𝒓: Galadriel and Celeborn.

Galadriel is one of the oldest and wisest Elves remaining in Middle-earth, and a bearer of one of the Three Elven Rings (Nenya, the Ring of Water).

Celeborn is her husband, known for his wisdom and leadership

𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒃𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒎: Lothlórien represents a preserved piece of the ancient, undying Elvish world; a place where time seems to slow or even stand still.

𝑮𝒆𝒐𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒑𝒉𝒚:

Location: Eastern side of the Misty Mountains, bordered by the rivers Celebrant and Anduin.

Physical Features:

Enormous silver and golden mallorn trees.

The city of Caras Galadhon is built high among these trees with flets (platforms) and delicate, luminous structures.

Surrounded by natural defenses: rivers, forests, and magic — including the Elves' own secrecy and enchantments.

Environment:

Dreamlike, serene, bathed in a golden light even when it’s winter elsewhere.

Sounds are muted, and an air of deep peace and melancholy hangs over everything.

𝑪𝒖𝒍𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 & 𝑷𝒆𝒐𝒑𝒍𝒆: Primarily Galadhrim, the "Tree-people," a branch of the Silvan (Wood) Elves. They are guided and protected by Galadriel's wisdom and power.

𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐀𝐍𝐓𝐀𝐒𝐘 𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐔𝐑𝐄 ˙ ✩°˖ ⋆｡˚

Is a ...

𝑷𝒉𝒐𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒙

The Phoenix is a symbol of eternal rebirth, beauty through resilience, and fiery transformation. You seem like the type of person who doesn’t crumble when things fall apart. You rise, and often stronger and more radiant than before.

Passionate without being reckless, warm without being naive. The Phoenix isn’t just about surviving; it’s about evolving after adversity.

You are the person who reinvents yourself over and over, inspiring others around you just by existing.

𝑷𝒐𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒔/𝑨𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒆𝒔:

Rebirth and Immortality

A phoenix is most famous for its cycle of death and rebirth: when it grows old or is fatally wounded, it bursts into flames and is reborn from its own ashes, completely renewed.

Symbolizes eternal life, resilience, and the triumph over death.

Healing

Phoenix tears (or sometimes their songs) are incredibly powerful and can heal even mortal wounds, deadly poisons, and illnesses.

In some versions, a phoenix can heal not only others but itself mid-battle.

Flight

Naturally, phoenixes can soar to incredible heights, often leaving trails of fire, gold, or sparkling ash behind.

Their wings are sometimes described as strong enough to stir the winds or create small storms.

[felixcloud6288]

My stupid guide to playing Skyrim

Give up on being an adventurer and become a merchant. Speech, Smithing, Alchemy, and Enchanting are ridiculously easy to level up compared to everything else.Put most of your points into those so they can level up even faster and then redistribute your points when you can reset them. At any town, buy as much as you can, especially crafting materials, craft what you can, and then sell what you have. Then move onto the next town and repeat. You will level up several times when you return to the first town.

You're a weakling. Make someone else do your fighting. Since you're putting all your points into merchant skills, fighting will be harder in the early game. Get a follower who can take a few hits and don't fight a strong enemy unless your follower is also fighting it. Give your follower a lot of potions to make them sturdier. Once you tune your muscles from all the smithing, unlock the secrets of the universe through all your crafting, and learn the art of deception with your speechcraft, you can start picking your own fights.

Stun your enemies with your staunch vegetarianianism. Vegetable soup is easy to make and gives you a small HP and stamina regen for 12 minutes. While the HP regen sounds like the reason I'm suggesting this tip, the actual reason is the stamina regen. You only need one point of stamina to shield bash or do a power attack. And the animations for both is longer than 1 second. This means you have functionally infinite stamina to stun lock an enemy with a shield bash and then followup with a power attack before putting your shield back up for another shield bash.

Trick your follower into becoming a pack mule. Followers have an upper cap to how much weight they can carry. However, if you put items into a container and tell your follower to take all the items in it, the game does not check if they are over their carry limit. You can use this glitch to get them to carry an unlimited amount of items. The worst thing I've ever experienced is my followers' default gear might become unequipped and it becomes slow to take items back from them after a point. As a mild consequence, this means you don't have to use fortify carry weight enchantments on your gear so you can use them for something else. NOTE: Items your follower carries this way will become flagged as stolen. That's resolved in the next point.

Conspire with your friends to launder goods. If you've befriended an NPC, you can take some items from them and rummage through any containers they own. If the container does not have the steal flag, taking any items that were originally in the container doesn't count as stealing either, even if they say it is. But putting an item that already has the "stolen" tag in the container retains that flag (But doesn't count as stealing) But if you put a stolen item in such a container and then have your follower take the item out, the stolen tag gets erased. To test if a container can be used for this, place some valuable non-stolen items in the container and check if their item text is red when you check the container. If that happens, you can use this trick with it.

Work on your biceps to improve your movement. If you become overencomubered, you get get some decent movement by taking out a weapon, performing a walking power attack, and then sheathing it part way through the animation. If you time it right, you'll regain your normal movement speed plus the added momentum that swinging your weapon would normally give while going through the weapon sheathing animation. I find daggers are the best choice to do this with because their high attack speed gives you the most added momentum. And the most optimal time to sheathe your weapon is right before you swing down. Just be aware that you can lose control of your character's movement and you should avoid doing it near anyone you don't want to stab.

Play pretend thieves with your follower. Jewels and jewelry are the best items to steal for pickpocketing experience. Give your follower several of them, dismiss them from your service, then pickpocket them. Ideally, do this in the area your follower lives in case problems occur. Lydia, and probably every housecarl, will not report you for pickpocketing them nor become aggressive. So you can pickpocket until you're caught then hire them back into your service. Any follower with the same behavior is an ideal partner to do this with.

Spec into Unga-Bunga. Don't put points into increasing your max Magicka. The game offers many ways to reduce Magicka costs or increase Magicka. Once you have mastered Enchanting and got the Extra Effects perk, you can craft a ring, necklace, helmet, and chestpiece that each give a 25% cost reduction to two schools of your choice. This can mean having two schools of magic that can be cast for free, or you can spread the effects around. If you're really into it, you can make several armor sets for each school and just alternate what you're wearing when you cast a spell. Your gloves can also have the Fortify Magicka enchantment.

Become a fashionista. Along with your combat gear, make a new set of equipment to fortify Smithing and Alchemy. If you get the Extra Effect Enchanting Perk, you can consolidate these effects to one outfit. When you're in town, switch to your Smithing/Alchemy gear to maximize the quality of potions and equipment you make. You can also chain crafting/enchanting to craft better Fortify Enchanting potions so you can make better Fortify Alchemy gear. There's also a fortify barter you can put on a necklace. Sadly, you'll have to put that on something separate from the rest of your civilian gear.

[the-unconquered-queen]

You know, Blades of Light and Shadow gave us some really cool skills. Now that it's over, I have decided to rank my absolute favorites more-or-less definitively based on my playthrough and MC, so here goes.

Beastmaster - I know seduction and bows are the most popular among fans, but this one is simply too iconic to me. MC casually being a Disney Princess and busting out the animal speak? The complete lack of an explanation of how she knows how to fluently communicate with creatures she's never even encountered? Am I supposed to not recognize how impressive this is? Definitely the skill I missed the most in subsequent books.

Scythe - I will admit, this one snuck up on me. I love a bow and arrow, and with an elf MC, archery was even more perfect, so I always viewed that as my MC's signature weapon. But getting the scythe as the first skill in b3 and having the game mention that MC used to use those back in the farm made it all click for me—not only is it badass (being a scythe-wielder is so cunty, even just the visual of carrying it around), but it's a weapon she would have been better trained in than any of the others across books from all that farmwork growing up. So MC gets an aesthetically distinctive weapon AND it's a tie to her life in Riverbend, something I like to emphasize in my MC.

Bows - Here we go. I explained this one above. It's really straightforward—I just love a bow. Plus, Aerin's reaction to seeing MC with the premium bow in b1 suggests that it's very impressive, and I love that for my MC. It's definitely her second-most-used weapon.

Seduction - Y'all love it, and I love it. There's a badass energy that comes with seducing your enemies into defeat, plus it was just as amazing, if not more, to see the group (read: Mal) react to MC's seductions (shoutout to the Shadow Realm bug monster and also Xenia). Will forever owe this skill my life after it granted me the most iconic moment of the Aerin route ("All I want is to be with you" you will ALWAYS be famous).

Realmwalking - I feel like this one is not usually the first to come to mind when talking about cool skills since it's a default skill, but it is objectively so impressive that MC can do it. Also, it's great when it's there along with other skill-locked choices because it's the one skill everyone is guaranteed to have to get that xp.

Assorted, miscellaneous commentary on other skills (not rankings—I didn't feel like ranking all 42(?) skills):

Blades - Such a cool skill, doubly so once MC learns to enchant weapons to look extra badass like Tyril does. Or it would be. Because despite the series literally having "blades" in the name and how epic it would be for MC to focus on this kind of weapon after wielding the titular blades and defeating the Dreadlord, the actual blades skill is the second least relevant skill in all of book one (second to charisma, I think it was? The actual least relevant skill). And as someone who always goes for maximum XP in these books, I don't get to enjoy this skill because it's only called for near the very end of book one. I will also say that, given that it's "blades" and not "swords", there was more room to bond with Mal over daggers. Also, in book 2, at least, MC is shown to carry around a knife, so why am I not getting Mal and MC dual flipping their blades Loki-style together or tossing them between each other during fights?

Spellshot - I still don't barely know what this is

Alchemy - Makes MC come off as very smart, and it gives her something to bond over with Aerin? What more could I ask for? Just for that, I can forgive it for getting in the way of outfits.

Intimidate and dominate - This is the same skill twice. They were just running out of ideas. I realize that dominate is portrayed as somewhat magical (unlike intimidate), and don't get me wrong, it's a cool energy to intimidate/dominate enemies into submission, but again. Same skill twice. At least in use. Now, if this had at least had come up as an option in a sex scene... (I'm kidding. Maybe.)

Medicine and healing - Imo this is another case of essentially the same skill, not necessarily in nature but maybe in application. Don't get me wrong, I think there is a very clear difference between healing via magic versus using nonmagical resources (the latter of which may not always be available), but I feel there are instances in which MC could conceivably use them interchangeably but the game doesn't allow for that. Also a loss when you can no longer use these skills, because given how often MC and company get injured, it makes no sense in-universe for MC to not use them. Especially when all the healing gets relegated to Nia, who certainly is the best at doing it magically, but it's like. Y'all are leaving all this life-draining magic to the human person who is already well on track to have a tragically short lifespan when MC (who, in my pt, could easily live over 300 years) is perfectly capacitated to do the same, or, at the very least, concoct a salve or something? Do better.

Insight - I love that having common sense is a skill. Another one that makes my MC look smart.

Shadowsight - Cool skill, but I think it makes no sense that MC can just learn to see in the dark. I feel like instead of making this one a skill, it should have just been kept to race-exclusive dialogue/choices for elf MCs, who canonically have sharpened senses.

Light - Shoutout to this one. The bedrock of all magic skills. Many subsequent magic-related elite skills are just specific tricks, but this one is basically the branch of magic itself. And bonus points because it's MC's introduction to her own magic affinity.

Shatter - Remember how I mentioned when discussing Light that subsequent magic skills are generally specific tricks? This is one. I wish that it had been Valax teaching MC Shadow magic in general to parallel Nia teaching MC Light. Also wish MC could do more Shadow magic throughout the series period.

Divination - Super cool skill, but I don't think it makes any sense that it can be taught. I feel like it should be something you're either born with or you just don't have it. And ultimately, it ended up being fairly useless in the story.

Shapechange - AMAZING skill that I wish we'd gotten for longer, but just like divination, I think it makes no sense that someone can just learn it, especially since it's so easy. Literally all my MC did was listen to her friends' common-sense advice and will her body to change and it did. Like divination and several other super useful skills, it also makes no sense that only MC learns it, because you're telling me they're giving out free shapeshifting/clairvoyance lessons but everyone else just sits them out when it would come in incredibly handy on their quests to have everyone train to the best of their ability? At the end of the day, I definitely prefer MC being more powerful than less powerful, but this is almost absurd. That's it, that's the only reason I don't place it up on the proper rankings even though it's certainly more than good enough to earn its place.

The Blades writers really went "this is MC she's the hero of the realms (also potentially royalty) and she can walk between them at will and she can see the future and she can shapeshift and and she can see in the dark and talk to animals and wield at least nine weapons and and and-" like they may have overdone it because at this point she's a basically a goddess herself 😅.

I actually don't know/haven't thought out the extent to which the version of MC I imagine in my head has all these skills, because if she truly has the 42 skills simultaneously (which would be the case in-universe, only that for whatever reason she doesn't make use of all of them), it's comically unrealistic and borders on Mary Sueism. But again. Beats being underpowered, so.

[delimeful]

be unbroken or be brave again (3)

warnings: threats, fear, arguing, cliffhanger

-

The first obstacle to their little road trip was convincing Roman to dress appropriately for the journey.

The armor itself wasn’t all that stand-out. Patton had seen plenty of well-funded mercenaries out there who could afford an enchantment or two for their greaves. The coat of arms stamped on everything, on the other hand…

In all fairness, they had kidnapped the guy. He’d already been uncertain about, well, just about everything in the situation so far, and now he was being told that he couldn’t even wear his favorite accessories.

Patton would have had a little bit more sympathy if the accessories in question weren’t all emblazoned with the decorative sigil of Faerin, a kingdom that had personally victimized his best friend, as well as frequently seeming to make trouble whenever and wherever it pleased.

Plus, the other thing was—

“If you walk into town with that on, we’re all gonna get jumped,” Virgil said bluntly, waggling the blade of Roman’s dagger at the coat of arms brightly emblazoned on multiple pieces of the knight’s armor. “Seriously, ditch it.”

Roman huffed, holding a scandalized hand up to his chest as though Virgil had told him to strip down to his trousers and jump into a briar patch. “We will not get attacked! Faerin isn’t currently at war with any of the nearby territories.”

“Wow, real gracious of them,” Virgil replied flatly, and Patton jumped in to prevent the tensions from rising any further.

“Roman, kiddo, it’s not really about the war,” he explained, holding his hands up peaceably. “It’s more about all the taxes. People really don’t like the kingdom’s policies, so as soon as you get clear of the enforced territories, well. Folks out here tend to atax first, ask questions second when it comes to Faerin.”

Virgil snorted, leaning back against the wall and twirling the blade in his hand smoothly. He had flatly refused to give the dagger back to Roman even when Patton asked him in private, which was how he knew this little venture was really putting his friend on edge.

It wasn’t fair of him to ask Virgil to do this, not really, but he couldn’t help but ask anyhow. To meet another survivor of one of the worst days of his life and find that they’d developed a hatred of the very one who’d saved him that day… it was too sad to bear, so Patton was going to fix it! Or, he was going to try really hard to, at least.

The fixing process would have gone much smoother if the pair of them would stop jumping like startled cats every time one or the other did anything, but Patton had no say in that. Virgil was twitchy by nature, and Roman had proven rather reactive himself.

“These could have perfectly useful applications as well, you know!” Roman huffed, running his fingers over the embroidered underlayer he’d been about to put on. “Imagine if we run into a fellow Faerin knight out there? My kingdom’s symbol could grant us an ally, as simply as that, giving us more protection from malignant forces!”

Patton resisted the urge to grimace at the very idea.

Less restrained, Virgil reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose for a moment, and then huffed out a disbelieving exhale, sheathing the dagger. “Okay, sure, let’s imagine that. After you get done exchanging obnoxiously overdramatic greetings with this imaginary knight who somehow survived out there without getting robbed, what then? What do you think your fellow knight will have to say when you let it slip that I’m a dragonwitch, infamously the number one enemy of your kingdom?”

Roman immediately descended into sputtering, his shoulders hunching at Virgil’s sharp critiques. “We— Obviously I would inform them of the specifics of the situation, and let them know that despite what it may look like, there’s no reason to worry and nothing to fear, for I have everything well in hand!”

At the words, Virgil went still for a moment, a sudden edge of danger seeping into his rigid posture. Pushing off the wall, he stalked closer to where Roman stood, gaze flinty and mouth slanted. For every step closer he got, Roman’s shoulders bunched up further with tension, his hand dropping to his hip as though to draw a blade that was no longer sheathed there.

Patton thought about getting involved, and then decided that he couldn’t step in every time the two of them started bickering. He had to let them do some olive branching of their own! Virgil wasn’t the best gardener, but anyone could wield a spade if they tried hard enough! It would probably be fine.

… Emphasis on probably.

For his part, Virgil leaned forward slowly until he was practically looming over Roman, and let his leathery wings slowly rise like the mantle of a bird of prey, the early morning light reflecting off his scales like oil gleaming in a lantern’s glow. He tilted his head with a menacing, narrow-eyed smile, sharp teeth on full display. “Do you have everything well in hand, Princey?”

Roman swallowed, lifting his chin to meet Virgil’s gaze head-on. “As far as anyone needs to know, yes.”

Despite his bravado, his hands were clenched into shaking fists at his sides. Virgil’s malicious smile eased into something harder to read, and he rolled his eyes before backing off.

“Just get rid of the sigils. We don’t need the trouble.”

Roman’s brow furrowed for a moment, his expression hard to read, but this time, he didn’t protest.

—

The second obstacle to their road trip was convincing Roman to actually get on the road.

Or, rather, on the dragon.

“There is absolutely no way I am literally placing my life in the claws of a dragon,” Roman stated plainly, expression dour. He was trying to look aloof, but the effect was ruined by the way his gaze kept roaming back to rest on the large footprints Virgil had left in the dirt when they’d first arrived back home, unconscious knight in hand.

“That’s probably the smartest thing he’s said all day,” Virgil added unhelpfully, picking dirt out from beneath aforementioned claws with his pilfered blade. “Give the guy a prize.”

“Virgil,” Patton said, exasperated, before turning to Roman. “There’s no need to worry, Virgil is a very safe flier. Plus, you’ve already done this once before, remember?”

“You know, I actually don’t recall! How strange,” Roman retorted, re-adjusting his pauldron in short, jerky motions. “It’s almost as though someone clubbed me over the head with a big rock or something. Imagine that!”

Patton’s cheeks went a little hot, and he cleared his throat pointedly. “Well, I was there, and he was very careful to make sure neither of us got hurt! To be honest, I was pretty darn nervous being that high up, too. Really, heights like that aren’t always fall they’re cracked up to be!”

“Don’t add pun-based insult to my injury, I beseech you,” Roman replied, grimacing. “And I’m not afraid of heights themselves, I’m afraid of being dropped from them!”

Virgil snorted, finally sticking the sheathed dagger in his boot and ambling away from them. “If you want to avoid assassination attempts, maybe stop giving out free ideas, Princey. Not that it matters. If I was going to kill you, I’d do it human-shaped. More fun that way.”

Ignoring Patton’s exasperated look and Roman’s squawk of offense alike, Virgil walked over to the middle of the clearing, taking care to circle around the daffodils Patton had planted as he went. He stopped once he had a wide stretch of space between him and any potential obstacles, glancing back over briefly with his lips pressed tightly together.

Patton gave him an enthusiastic thumbs up, mostly to encourage and support him, and a little bit to remind him that no matter what happened with Roman, Patton would always be there at his best friend’s side.

Virgil offered him a slight upturn of the lips, more grimace than smile, but he seemed a bit more relaxed when he closed his eyes and turned away from them, hand lifting to press against the little purple stone set between his collarbones.

“Wait, he’s not actually going to—,” Roman started, only to be cut off by Patton flapping his hands at him in a shushing gesture, eyes still locked on his friend.

Virgil rolled his shoulders, drew his wings close around himself, and then began to stretch the leathery appendages out, wider and wider. There was a thick crackling noise, like bones snapping or lightning running through an old tree, and with a twist, Virgil shifted into his largest form.

It only took a few moments, the air around him warping strangely, and then, there he stood, tail brushing the ground as he shook himself like a very, very oversized dog after a bath. The dust stirred around them from the intensity of it.

Roman had yelped and skipped back a fair few steps, but Patton didn’t bother even shuffling out of the way. Sure enough, none of those huge claws even got close enough to think about grazing him.

He knew his friend, and so he knew that Virgil was a worrier like no other. Frankly, Virgil’s pinky finger probably held more caution in it than a grown man or three had in their whole bodies. His human pinky, not the dragon one, to boot.

Patton was probably the safest he’d ever been, standing in the shadow of Virgil’s wings. He sure felt that way, at least.

“Hey, kiddo!”

Virgil perked up at the call, shuffling around a bit to lower his big scaly head into closer range. He was rumbling low in his chest, not necessarily loudly, but still definitely big enough that Patton could feel the noise in his bones.

He reached out and embraced the surprisingly soft snout as Virgil nudged it lightly against him, huffing lightly and waiting patiently for Patton to get his fill of impromptu dragon cuddles.

Patton smiled to himself. This was a far better sight to see than the nervous, flinching way that Virgil had acted that first time he’d shifted, when he kept sneaking glances at Patton like he was waiting for him to realize what he was and run screaming for the hills.

When he finally pulled back and turned to grab their bags, he found Roman standing only a few meters away, looking more strung out than a ball of yarn rolled down a hill. His hand was once again hovering near his side as though seeking a weapon to draw, a nervous tell.

“Is he still… He’s kept his mind?” Roman asked, eyes flickering down to Patton for the briefest moment before returning to the intense stare he was directing at Virgil.

Patton reminded himself that in Roman’s eyes, the only reason a dragonwitch would take this form would be to wreak havoc, and managed to keep himself from frowning too overtly at the knight.

“Virgil is Virgil, no matter which form he’s in,” he replied, forcing some pep into his step as he scooped up the first of their bags. “He’s just a little more… caught up in his instincts, when he’s in this form.”

That was how Virgil had explained all the happy rumbling and gentle nudges the first time, at least. Patton had made the merciful decision not to tease him about the purring.

“Oh, so murder is still on the table, then,” Roman muttered, finally breaking the stare-off to avert his gaze as Patton sent him a pointed look. “Joking! Just a joke, much like the one our reptilian associate made mere moments ago!”

“Mhmm,” Patton hummed dubiously as he turned back to Virgil. “Well, Mister Jokester, it’s time to get moving! We wouldn’t want the daylight hours to drag-on without us!”

Apparently feeling more confident now that he was the size of a house, Virgil yawned loudly— the sight of which made Roman go a bit grey— and then settled into a resting position to allow Patton to clamber up onto his back.

It only took a handful of minutes for Patton to successfully haul up and tie down their bags, with Virgil’s ears carefully flicking back to listen to his humming as he made sure everything was tightly secured to the spikes along his dragonic friend’s spine.

It took more than twice that time for Roman to stop staring dumbfoundedly at Virgil and actually begin to approach.

Of course, the moment he got within a few meters range, Virgil’s large slitted pupil flicked over to watch the knight, making him freeze mid-step like a deer before a mountain lion.

Patton resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he slid down to stand at Virgil’s side. At this rate, they wouldn’t even get off the ground until noon.

“That’s Roman, remember?” he reminded Virgil, reaching up to pat his shoulder in the hopes of helping him refocus on the task at hand. “You looked after him while he was sick, and now he’s traveling with us for a bit.”

Virgil blinked, his gaze still following Roman’s every move, with far less irritation than Patton would have expected. His pupils had even rounded out slightly, making him look far more friendly in Patton’s opinion.

For some reason, this didn’t seem to reassure Roman.

“C’mon!” Patton gestured for Roman to approach, and Roman shook his head vehemently, as though Patton was insane for even asking.

As though prompted by the exchange, Virgil rumbled and shuffled around a bit in place, his paws creeping forward and head dipping lower in a pose that Patton didn’t recognize until he noticed the dragon’s tail swishing back and forth behind him.

Roman picked up on what was about to happen much quicker, going by the way he went pale and immediately attempted to scramble away.

“Virgil, wait—,” Patton attempted, and then sighed as his friend lunged forward like a cat pouncing, eliciting a terrified shriek from the knight they were supposed to be befriending.

Well. At least none of the bags had been jarred loose by the motion.

The screaming was a little concerning, but Patton was sure that Virgil wasn’t going to murder the guy or anything, so he didn’t bother rushing as he circled around to see what was going on.

What was going on was that Virgil had neatly pinned Roman down with one clawed paw, and was now snuffling at him intently.

Huh. That was a lot less aggressive posturing than Patton had expected, honestly. The more he watched, the more it looked like Virgil was checking Roman over the same way he had inspected Patton for injuries earlier, all gentle nudges and enquiring chuffs.

Not that one would have guessed listening to them. Roman yowled like he was being murdered for at least a solid half a minute after it became clear that there was no mauling going on. Patton pursed his lips, trying not to look too amused at the knight’s expense.

“He’s just checking on you,” he took the opportunity to say once Roman’s shouts had wound down to bewildered, rapid breathing. “He did the same to me, remember?”

Roman shot him a panicked, disbelieving glance from under his impromptu dragon-paw prison. “Yours was far less intensive than— than this!”

Patton shrugged. “Maybe he was just more worried because you were so sick for a while there?”

It made sense, when he thought about it. Virgil had always been a real mother hen whenever Patton so much as got the sniffles, and that was with a much smaller fraction of a dragon’s instinctual possessive worry. Patton had always endured his best friend’s neuroses about illness with as much patience as he could manage, but Roman hadn’t been willing to let Virgil do so much as a checkup once he’d woken up properly. Virgil’s pride wouldn’t let him insist on looking after the slayer after he was conscious enough to be kind of a jerk again, but not knowing the condition of someone he’d been responsible for had to be driving his friend crazy.

“Worried wasn’t really the impression I was getting from Virgil,” Roman gasped out, the tension in his frame slowly leaking away the longer he remained unharmed.

“Really?” Patton asked, a little surprised despite knowing his friend wasn’t exactly the open type. “Well, there’s your first lesson: Virgil’s always worried.”

The dragon in question glanced over at Patton a little sourly, and whuffled at Roman one last time before withdrawing, apparently entirely unapologetic for nearly scaring the soul out of their guest.

Roman lay on the ground for a moment longer, looking a little like he’d been struck by a runaway carriage. He sat up and patted himself down as though checking that he was still all in one piece.

He was, of course. Virgil sent him a slanted, disdainful look for thinking otherwise.

“Are you ready to give this a proper try, now?” Patton asked with an encouraging grin, reaching out to offer him a hand up.

Roman cleared his throat extensively, looking a little red around the ears, but ultimately accepted the help without much protest. He took a deep breath, regaining his composure.

This time, when he turned to survey Virgil’s draconic form, it was with more wary determination than outright fear.

“Very well,” he said, stepping forward. “Let’s get this over with.”

—

The third obstacle to their road trip was finding a place to stop for the night.

Not, as one might assume, because of a lack of safe or viable options on the ground below. No, it was convincing his companions to land at all that was proving to be the issue.

As it turned out, Roman’s fear of the flight had lasted for about as long as it took for Virgil to do his first midair spin, at which point he’d whooped with astounded delight so loudly that even folks on the next continent over had probably heard him.

“Gods above, you’re fast!” he’d gasped, clinging to Virgil’s leg as the land flashed by distantly below them. “There’s no way you could do that from higher up, though.”

It seemed Virgil was easier to goad than ever in this form, because he’d immediately taken a sharp incline, earning him yelps from his passengers. Between the two of them, the bulk of their flight was spent doing gravity-defying tricks and thrilling dives to just barely skim the mountains below.

Patton was glad they’d found something in common at last. He would have preferred they bond over a hobby that wasn’t so terribly dangerous and liable to make him so dizzy he upchucked, but beggars couldn’t be choosers!

He really was begging to reach land soon, though. Best friend or no, there was only so much strain a guy’s poor heart could take.

Plus, he’d plotted out their course with a little detour, and if they kept racing on like this, they might overshoot it completely. They were traveling all this way, it would be a downright shame if they couldn’t at least stop by and say hello to one of Virgil’s other buddies!

—

The fourth obstacle in their road trip was that Patton had forgotten just what kinds of acquaintances a Dragonwitch might have.

Or more importantly— what these acquaintances might think of the company Virgil was currently keeping.

This particular obstacle arrived at their camp that night in the form of an arm suddenly wrapping around Patton’s neck from behind, tugging him into a barely bearable chokehold as Virgil bolted to his feet and growled out a vicious warning.

Across from him, Roman was in a similar situation, but with a wicked-looking serrated blade pressed right up against his jugular, and a pair of unearthly yellow eyes visible over his shoulder.

“My, my,” a smooth voice broke the silence, making Virgil twitch. “I wonder what business a Faerin knight and his tagalongs have in my stretch of the woods?”

Uh oh. It looked like maybe their little detour would take longer than he’d expected…

[nomsfaultau]

I read ‘worth far more than your weight in gold’ at least two or so months ago, possibly more, and every aspect of it still lives rent free in my head

i really really loved the way you had Philza & techno’s instincts overlap?? The gifting and gold just. Aaa.

Yet also like? The differences? Like Philza being so worried over techno & Tommy leaving the nest because when fledglings leave the nest they don’t usually return, but for techno it’s basically required that you return at least once a year, and that he thinks Philza is drastically overdoing the protectiveness until he realizes the difference between them

and????? Just. Seeing each other as lesser than, yet slowly coming to realize that they are both as competent as each other. for techno, at least- I still feel like Philza thought he was… not superior to techno, but smarter I guess.

Technos realization that Philza wasn’t some mindless monster or something. Idk.

Bedrock bros in this may have actually had me shed a tear at some point… Tommy’s obliviousness was done so perfectly, especially in terms of the dagger?? I love that Philza realized what it meant before Tommy did

Oh not to mention, like, enchanting??????? It was so cool to see that played out

Last but not least, of course, is Kristen. She was done amazing. I love techno being like ‘oh shit, that’s where the stories come from’ when he sees her, after thinking the stories were exaggerated after his encounter with philza

your writing is amazing okay bye

Man I absolutely love Worth far more than your weight in gold. Like aahahsahhahhaa it was so fun to write. Plus raising money for cancer/genocide prevention was really cool. Philza is so clearly messed up from his egg being stolen, and like going from 'haha silly bird instincts thinks Tommy's hair is gold' to 'this is a grieving parent' is so fun because I love reframing quirks with the hindsight of trauma. I had an absolute blast coming up with speculative biology and subsequent cultures, definitely influenced by Dungeon Meshi lol. And found family dynamics that don't cleanly fit into a nuclear family are so crunchy to me, like emerald duo's mix between enemies AND rival co-parents AND father/son AND roommates. Tommy being his little brother/kid/nephew/ANNOYANCE. Cause of course Techno doesn't want to be that openly affectionate or label his relationships to others. His alienation from others both as a racial minority and as a traveling mercenary so clearly affecting how he can vocally and internally define his connections to others. ugh. Emotionally constipated Techno my beloved.

"How strange, to be worth more than the pain he could endure, the damage he could inflict, the gold he amassed for power."

[demigoddessqueens]

I’d like to request one of the Vox group with a member who is the most “ordinary” in that they don’t have any magic or special powers as they are human, but they are almost supernaturally good at fighting. They can wield any weapon put into their hand with expert technique and have superb tactical knowledge that puts even longer lived races on the back foot. How would such an ordinary yet extraordinary person be with this group of weirdo’s?

This is Belmont-Black Canary levels of badassery!

A/n - ok, all bird imagery aside I know who I’m picking

Vax’ildan

Ok, hear 👂 me out

Aside from the ones with enchanted/cursed weapons, god-affiliations, and Vex’s quote “cause we both now you used to lie about fights”, I feel like Vax would be impressed with battle tactics

Sure a dagger can slow someone down, especially if they’re bigger, but you’re self with a blade, rope, knife is a sure guarantee to take them down

You’re like the walking encyclopedia of battle tactics, and it helps the party against rival mercenaries and when it counts against the Chroma Conclave

In a oh so smooth attempt to flirt with you, Vax feigns curiosity about your fighting styles, wanting you to teach him

Of course you always win practice spars, and he blames his blush on the heat

Hook-blade, long bow, dagger, short swords, long sword, grappling, hidden blade, broad sword, you sometimes rattle off your knowledge and Vax is just sitting there like “uh, uh 😃”

even the rest of the party sees it

PLUS once he gets the Vestige armor, Vax does come to you because he has no idea what’s going and it scares him, and you’ve never seen such fear in him

Even when you spend hours telling him more about what said armor entails, the pit in his stomach doesn’t entirely go away, but at least coming from you, it feels more welcoming to accept

[songbirdandstars]

𝟙𝟚 𝔻𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕊𝕖𝕝𝕗𝕤𝕙𝕚𝕡𝕞𝕒𝕤

𝕕𝕖𝕔. 𝟚𝟝 ✧ 𝕕𝕒𝕪 𝕥𝕨𝕖𝕝𝕧𝕖 ✧ 𝕘𝕚𝕗𝕥 𝕘𝕚𝕧𝕚𝕟𝕘

𝕋𝕠 𝕞𝕪 𝕕𝕒𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕝𝕠𝕧𝕖…

ℙ𝕒𝕚𝕣𝕚𝕟𝕘/ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕔𝕥𝕖𝕣: all romantic f/o’s x their pairing

𝕎𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤: 469 (only the actual writing, not including the mini titles)

𝕎𝕒𝕣𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕘𝕤: fluff, some do have optional angst, not proofread

𝔸𝕦𝕥𝕙𝕠𝕣𝕤 ℕ𝕠𝕥𝕖𝕤: less a fic and more a list of what each f/o would get for Christmas and what they would give. F/o first then my (s/i)/oc. I had so much fun doing this! And would love to do it again next year! ❤️ Christmas light dividers by @tsunami-of-tears

𝔸𝕒𝕣𝕒𝕧𝕠𝕤 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕐𝕧𝕒𝕚𝕟𝕖 (The Dragon Prince)

Aaravos gets Yvaine a new sketchbook and fancy pencils, or a star-spider silk shawl. If he gets her the notebook he definitely writes a little note in the front cover for her. Yvaine gets Aaravos any type of spell book/magical item/relic she found that he doesn’t have. Aaravos and Yvaine both help Leola make her gift for the other. (Want Angst? Here, Yvaine kept the sketchbook, and after Aaravos’s imprisonment she constantly rereads his note to her. Reminding herself that there was a time when he did love her.)

𝔸𝕕𝕣𝕚𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔸𝕕𝕖𝕝𝕙𝕖𝕚𝕕 (Castlevania)

Adrian gives her one of his mother’s or father’s old research books. Adelheid would definitely make him something, a new invention or alchemical solution specifically made for him.

𝔾𝕚𝕪𝕦𝕦 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕦𝕟𝕒𝕜𝕠 (Demon Slayer)

Giyuu probably needed Tanjiro to help him get a gift for Sunako, and in the end he would probably make her something like her favorite noodles. Sunako would also ask Tanjiro for help, getting him something practical, something he could use in training.

ℍ𝕠𝕨𝕝 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕄𝕖 (Howl’s Moving Castle)

Howl would probably give something enchanted. He is the greatest wizard in all of Ingary. I would probably get him some type of fancy clothing, fancy jewelry, stuff that fills that love of his appearance.

𝕃𝕠𝕥𝕠𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕤𝕚 (Voltron)

Lotor’s definitely using the Galra treasury to get her something that she would use or need often. Perhaps a new blaster or an upgrade to her ship or hearing aids. Cassi gets him a joke gift about Universal sign language, but would actually get him a custom sword hilt with an inscription.

ℕ𝕖𝕦𝕧𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕖𝕥𝕥𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕦𝕝𝕞𝕒𝕥𝕚 (Genshin Impact)

Neuvillette gets Fulmati rare flowers from different regions as to add to her green house. Fulmati 100% gets Neuvillette some top quality water, all the fixings.

𝕊𝕦𝕘𝕦𝕣𝕦 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔽𝕦𝕜𝕒 (Jujutsu Kaisen)

Suguru buys Fuka all of the books on her “want to read but don’t have yet” list (hint, it’s a lot) Fuka gets him some experience, like a new museum or an aquarium date just the two of them.

𝕍𝕒𝕩’𝕚𝕝𝕕𝕒𝕟 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕍𝕝𝕒𝕕𝕚𝕤𝕝𝕒𝕧𝕒 (Vox Machina)

Vax would give Lada a necklace he made himself (with Vex’s help), it would have some charms or things to remind her of him. A small raven feather, wood carven dagger, stuff like that. Lada gives him a hand sewn leather dagger sheath, with embroidery similar to that of her people’s. (Want angst? Don’t mind spoilers? Here you go, Lada always wears Vax’s gift after he goes with the Raven Queen, as a way of remembering him.)

𝕍𝕚𝕜𝕥𝕠𝕣 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕟 (Arcane: LoL)

Viktor uses hextech to make Shan something, like a watch (so she can actually be on time for once) or something that she would like. Shan welded a metal flower for him. Which be keeps on his desk in the lab.

𝕎𝕚𝕝𝕝𝕚𝕒𝕞 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝔼𝕝𝕚𝕫𝕒 (Moriarty the Patriot)

William gets Eliza hair pins, brooches, rings, lots of jewelry. Plus some chemistry books. Being a lord has some perks. Eliza in turn gives William some special chalks for his classes (inspired by @saioratral’s William x reader fic)

[morganaseren]

Saoibh "Rook" Cousland

BASICS

Fandom: Dragon Age

Name: Saoibh (pronounced "Sive"; like the number "five" but with a "S" in front of it) Cousland

Nickname(s):

Rook - headcanoned as being given to her specifically by her mother Leliana, Left Hand of the Divine and Inquisition Spymaster (or simply Empress Celene's feared Nightingale of the Imperial Court in the Werewolf/Vampire AU). Saoibh serves as her mother's eyes and ears when abroad—the Rook to Leliana's Queen essentially.

Trouble - given to her by Neve obviously

Any variant of Pup or Puppy - these see more use by the members of her family, especially those of the Mac Eanraig clan

Pronouns: She/Her

Sexuality: Lesbian

Occupation and/or Titles: Canonically, she's the laidback but eccentric leader of the Veilguard, but Saoibh's also one of the Lords of Fortune in any verse she's in.

The adventurous escapades they get up to would honestly fit in so well with her wild personality. Plus, all that seafaring would go well with her background, especially with the Mac Eanraig blood she's got flowing through her.

In the Werewolf/Vampire AU though, she's the partner in crime to Neve Gallus, a centuries-old vampire and longtime secret leader to one of Minrathous' most infamous crime syndicates: the Threads.

Birthday & Age: She was born on the 7th of Kingsway in 9:32 Dragon, so she's 19-20 years old by the time the events of Veilguard happens. She's definitely on the younger end of Rooks since she was conceived just before the endgame of Origins.

In any of her AUs though, she's in her very early to mid twenties.

Physical Description: Although the height gene escaped both her parents (who aren't too terribly short to be fair 😂), Saoibh regained it during her generation. She stands taller than most Fereldan women at an impressive 6'2" (188cm), which is perhaps the one trait people can note of her from a distance.

Within arm's reach though, most would likely see that she bears an almost uncanny resemblance to Leliana with her general facial structure, the glacial blue color of her eyes, and her freckles. Granted, Saoibh has more of a sea of freckles—which actually extends out to the rest of her body—than her mother does. 😂 She also inherited the Couslands' dark-haired good looks, courtesy of Niamh, but the little braid she typically fashions on the left side of her head is an homage to Leliana.

Saoibh sports broad shoulders, and due to training with both bow and daggers as well as tracking prey/targets over long distances, she has the muscles to show for it. On her right arm and left leg, she has tattoos done in bold, black ink to show her allegiance to the Lords of Fortune.

Clothing Style: Saoibh grew up along the sea though. As such, she spent most of her formative years learning her way around a ship with her Great Aunt Eithne, so her casual wear tends to lean more toward anything that allows her skin to cool off efficiently beneath the scorching rays of the sun. This doesn't really change too much in colder weather either although she switches out the lighter cloth materials with more leather, which can be seen in the images above.

When it comes to armor, however, she wears an actual chestplate and more layers in either the form of cloth or leather—or any combination thereof—in order to better deflect blades and incoming projectiles. As a rogue, her armor is typically enchanted against magical attacks. Headcanonically, as a Lord of Fortune, Saoibh also wears a number of golden rings on her fingers in her normal casual wear that offer the same effect.

Overall, Saoibh keeps to the same color palette of black and silver that Niamh does; it's Saoibh's own way of honoring her since she doesn't possess magic. However, it should be noted that she starts incorporating certain accent colors and Tevinter-style motifs into her wardrobe to better match with a certain ice mage... 😏 In turn, Dock Town's Darling starts wearing Saoibh's signature colors. 😉

COMBAT & SKILLS

Class: Rogue

Specialization: Saboteur

Preferred Fighting Style: Saoibh introduces absolute chaos onto any battlefield she steps upon. There's no moment where she's not moving because her goal is always to close the distance between her and her target. Close quarters combat is where she absolutely thrives.

Like her mother, she's every bit a trickster, so beyond her usual array of daggers and arrows, Saoibh also equips explosive knives, flasks of either poison or lightning, and turrets. As such, her enemies never know a moment's peace so long as she's there with them.

Special Skills: Saoibh's something of a mad genius when it comes to alchemical mixtures and traps. A warrior's using a shield to try and block her blades and arrows? Well, her explosive knives have a substance on their tips that allow them to stick on any surface! She's about to be surrounded 20 to 1? No problem! Watch her throw a flask to the floor imbued with actual lightning that electrifies her body (headcanon: her enchanted armor and rings allow her to do this unscathed) and that of everyone else around her as she moves in and around the crowd to dispatch them with her blades. Saoibh's fighting in too open a room without any chokepoints? She can deploy a portable turret that will help her reduce the amount of enemies around her!

Don't even get me started on the canonical ultimate the Saboteur specialization has. Who in their right mind gave Saoibh access to an actual mini cannon? 😂 (Headcanon: it was The Iron Bull. He probably told a wide-eyed, young Saoibh about gaatlok, and she took the idea and ran with it when she got older. 😏 )

RELATIONSHIPS

Family: She's part of the newest generation of Couslands alongside her half-brother Kieran. They're very close to Niamh's siblings, which includes Uncle Fergus, who is the Teyrn of Highever, and their Aunt Saoirse, who is the Warden-Commander of Ferelden.

Saoibh loves her mother Leliana dearly. Unfortunately, due to the nature of her profession, Leliana had a growing number of enemies by the time Saoibh reached schooling age. Out of an abundance of caution, Leliana sent Saoibh to live with Morrigan and Kieran in Orlais when the other woman had been named Empress Celene's Arcane Advisor. Leliana would discretely send her letters and care packages through her agents, but Saoibh would stay under Morrigan's care until she could be reunited with her mother during the events of Inquisition.

Along that same vein, Saoibh holds a great amount of love and respect toward her sire as well. However, Niamh's role as Ferelden's Constable of the Grey meant her duties to the Wardens would occasionally pull her away. Whether Saoibh was in Amaranthine or Orlais, Niamh would always find a way to visit—often with gifts to spoil her and Kieran. By 9:40 Dragon though, Niamh's gone off in search of a cure for the Calling.

Although her immediate family dynamics are a bit unconventional thanks to the Dark Ritual, Saoibh absolutely adores Morrigan as well, who she views as another mother. When Leliana sent her off to live with Morrigan in Orlais, Saoibh hadn't offered any form of complaint. She honestly thinks Morrigan's ability to use arcane magic—something so different from what her sire is capable of—and shapeshift are amazing.

Saoibh also has a lot of relatives in the form of extended family though.

From the moment she was born, the Mac Eanraig clan—particularly her Great Aunt Eithne—always made her feel welcome. Following the end of Inquisition, Morrigan and Leliana relocated the children to Amaranthine permanently. As a result, Saoibh learned a lot of seafaring skills from her Great Aunt, which she'd hone on her own in addition to her training as a rogue during her teenage years. Such a unique skillset would catch the eyes of the Lords of Fortune, who would later recruit her as an adult.

Love Interest: Her lover is honestly a woman whom needs no introduction, but let's just say it was practically love at first sight when she laid eyes on Neve Gallus. 😍

Saoibh was still running high on adrenaline on the trek over to Dumat Plaza, but as she turned the corner to see the immense, icy dome covering the area in its entirety, she couldn't help but be filled with awe. When it came to elemental magic, she'd only ever seen power and control of that magnitude from her sire before.

She reached out to touch the dome, but before her fingertips could even graze its cool surface, it simply... fell away. With great shifts and cracks, the icy structure slowly dispersed in a soft veil of snow, revealing a single woman at its center: utterly beautiful, quietly confident, and oh so calm and deadly as she casually took a drag from her pipe as several Venatori laid in various states of frozen decay around her.

Saoibh had never been more aroused in her life than she had in that moment, and who could possibly blame her? 🥰

Best Friends:

Bellara - There's an excitable enthusiasm about her that laces itself into nearly every conversation Saoibh has with her. It's a feeling that she can easily relate to, given how often she gets lost in her alchemical projects or brainstorms new trap ideas. They tinker about with their various gadgets together—sometimes in companionable silence and sometimes not as they eagerly bounce ideas off each other—in either Bellara's workshop or Saoibh's room. Given that Neve likens Bellara to a sister, she's constantly exasperated by all the antics these two inevitably get up to.

Davrin - No one's quite as adept as getting Saoibh to relax quite like him. Their adventures often take place out in nature and typically don't involve much other than gathering more gingerwort truffles for Assan or just observing wildlife from afar. Still, these little excursions are always a helpful reminder for Saoibh to take such moments of time to herself and savor them for all they're worth. Life and their respective duties take away enough from them as it is.

Taash - Saoibh's absolute "Ride or Die" companion. Due to them both being Lords of Fortune, Taash likely got to experience her being a "big, dumb puppy" every time a dragon distraction/hunt came around. Given the treasure hauls for such excursions were extremely profitable, Saoibh became very competent with such tasks once she learned to tone down the overexcited behavior and focus. And even Taash would begrudgingly admit that the rogue's multitudes of tricks and traps were useful in distracting such large targets. As such, Saoibh is always the first person that Taash would ever willingly choose to come along with them on anything dragon-related. Their friendship only grew from there. While Taash is admittedly more blunt—and can even come off as an absolute arse at times—Saoibh can appreciate how straightforward they are. She can always trust they won't lie to her even when the truth hurts. She also knows they'll always have her back even in the most impossible of circumstances.

PERSONALITY

Positive Traits: She tries not to take life too seriously, so she's very playful and mischievous. She's also very compassionate though, so she never hesitates to go out of her way to help someone in need, especially if children are involved. Saoibh's also ridiculously charming, so she's quite talented in getting people to open up to her even if it involves making herself look like a fool at times.

Negative Traits: She has a strong tendency to act first and think later, which makes her highly impulsive. Can a situation be solved by applying a bit more stealth and diplomacy? Sure! When lives are on the line though, you can bet she's always going to find the quickest path between points A and B. Apologies can always be made later if a situation goes completely sideways due to her last second plans—provided they all survive later of course... 😅

Likes: Cooking (although it's limited to seafood dishes thanks to her upbringing and later profession), tinkering, sketching, fishing

Dislikes: Condescension, discriminatory behavior, arrogant authority figures

Fears: Given that her parents were veterans of the Blight, it can be difficult not to feel like she has an important legacy to uphold in regards to them. She doesn't want to be seen as a disappointment or a failure to them.

Guilty Pleasure: Like her parents, she greatly enjoys sweets, but she has a strong preference for chocolates. Although it can be seen as unbecoming of a leader, she also loves sleeping in whenever she can.

Hobbies: She loves working with her hands. If she's not working on alchemical mixtures or one of her various gadgets, Saoibh's usually in the middle of some type of carpentry project. Working on a ship in either the Mac Eanraig fleet or the Lords of Fortune got her used to making repairs or just making things in general. For instance, if she notices the Lighthouse's kitchen lacks proper storage, then she goes about building new cabinets and shelves. If there's a door that just doesn't close right, then she's there on the job. If she thinks any of her companions could benefit from some type of furniture (chair, desk, bed, etc.), then that becomes her focus during any free time she has.

BACKGROUND

To expand on the last section on this particular AU, Saoibh was born from an unintended side effect of the Dark Ritual. 😅

Niamh was the Warden who agreed to participate in it, but due to the fact that she and Morrigan were both women, the other mage had to use a variety of other spells to compensate for that and ensure conception. Since the spells used on Niamh had still been active when Leliana approached her not long after the ritual was completed, this also resulted in the bard becoming pregnant with Saoibh.

Were it not due to the constant morning sickness some months after the Archdemon's defeat, Leliana likely would it thought it to be just simple illness. It wasn't until the wizened apothecary at Vigil's Keep subtly mentioned she should seek out the expertise of a midwife—patting her hand gently with a toothless, congratulatory grin—that shocking realization finally dawned on her.

Niamh had been equally surprised when Leliana broke the news to her. Then, when Leliana absently mentioned how far along in her pregnancy she was, she saw how the other woman was unconsciously piecing a timeline together—ever discontent to leave a mystery unsolved—which was evident in how that gaze clouded over in thought.

And then those silvery eyes blinked.

Twice.

Thrice.

And then they widened almost comically as Niamh and her both came to the same conclusion:

The Dark Ritual.

Saoibh was born just a little over a month after the events of Awakening. Her birth came a tad early, likely as a result of the stress Leliana endured during the darkspawn siege upon Amaranthine, where she'd been staying as an honored guest of Eithne Mac Eanraig—Niamh's aunt, head of the Mac Eanraig clan, and Arlessa to the city.

Despite arriving into the world prematurely, Saoibh proved to be as much of a survivor as her parents. Within a year, Saoibh had grown to a healthy weight and had reached developmental milestones to any baby of the same age.

Around that same time, Niamh managed to find Morrigan and convince her to take their son and come back with her to Amaranthine. While she never doubted Morrigan's abilities to keep herself and Kieran safe, the events surrounding The Architect and The Mother had left Niamh greatly unnerved. While both Amaranthine and Vigil's Keep had both survived the darkspawn onslaught, that either location were still standing at all had been a very near thing in the end. She didn't wish to have Morrigan endure any similar attack alone.

It was only when Morrigan saw how earnest Niamh was regarding her and their son's safety that she finally relented—much to the delight of Aunt Eithne upon their return.

-----

"You're... taking this all rather well," Niamh said, some measure of confusion creeping its way across her features with that admission, as she watched her aunt gently bounce Kieran in her arms. "Even Saoirse was flabbergasted when I originally told her about this."

-----BONUS SCENE-----

Saoirse sat heavily at the table as she stared at Niamh with an odd expression of dumbfounded queasiness. Her jaw worked itself uselessly for several moments before she slumped forward, tangling her hands in her hair, as she struggled over the fact that her baby sister had essentially fathered a child with not one but two women.

"I LEFT YOU ALONE FOR ONE NIGHT!" she bellowed with utter bewilderment.

As Niamh stared in concern over her older sister's increasingly disheveled state, the two women behind her seemed more amused by the Warden-Commander's current disposition.

"'Tis true."

"One night was all she needed," Leliana added with a giggle.

-----END BONUS SCENE-----

Niamh came out of the memory with a grunt when her Aunt Eithne placed a large hand over her head to pat it placatingly. The older woman's laughter was akin to a deep rumble of thunder.

"I really don't question half the things you're capable of anymore, Pup!"

-----

Due to them being conceived on the same night, everyone in the family referred to both Saoibh and Kieran as twins.

As they both grew up, however, it was clear their personalities were as different as night and day. Saoibh was far more extroverted and preferred to be outdoors or along the water while her Great Aunt Eithne taught her everything about the sea. Such knowledge would eventually lead her to become a rogue with the Lords of Fortune. Kieran, on the other hand, preferred the quiet solitude of libraries. He held a great fascination for the knowledge that could be found inside the collection of tomes at Vigil's Keep and could often be found around Velanna, wanting to learn more of her stories about the Dalish. His studies would lead him to become one of the Spellblade mages within the Veil Jumpers.

[vehksfingerguns]

🌈 💝 and ⚡ for Rathas

🌈 - Do you associate any colors with them? Black, black and more black. Okay, sometimes gray. No I'm kind of kidding, although darker colors always make me think of him. Black, Dark Indigo, Burgundy. Blacks and purple blues and deep reds with blue undertones. He does a lot of work under the cover of night, both with his magic, and as a bounty hunter, so dark colors appeal to him more because they help him blend into his surroundings. Plus, he's been told he looks devastating in black and he took that to heart. 💝 - How much effort do they put into appearances? Do they have a favorite article of clothing? Rathas is very much a creature of habit, and doesn't vary his wardrobe too much. He's the type of guy that will wear something until it finally is just not functional anymore. He's not particularly fussed about clothing beyond it being practical and dark in color. It actually drives Val NUTS because Val is a 'outfit for every situation' kind of guy, while Rathas is a function over form. That being said, he is almost CONSTANTLY on his feet doing something, spends a lot of time "hitting the pavement" so to speak when tracking people, and his boots are his favorite thing in his arsenal. They're a dark grey/black dyed netch leather, sort of styled like a loose laced combat boot. Incredibly comfortable, strong despite being magically repaired more than a few times, have been enchanted for water proofing and muffle, and are stretched out enough around the ankle and calve that he can keep a secondary dagger strapped to his leg down near his ankle for easy retrieval. Unless he can't wear them (like he and Val have to dress up for something), they're pretty much always on his feet unless he's in bed. ⚡ - Does this oc have any unusual or “irrational” fears? So after his magic was discovered, his mother took it upon herself to try to train as much emotionalism out of him as possible. He had to be rational and logical about things because shadow magic is unstable and hostile, and has a propensity to turn on its users if not wielded correctly. So Anara wanted to make it CRYSTAL clear to him that unchecked fear, sadness, anger, etc., could put him at risk for his magic turning on him and killing him. Once she felt he had sufficient practice and training, he'd be put in deeply uncomfortable situations just to see how well he could keep his shit together. Small tight spaces. Absolute silence. Absolute darkness. He was forced to learn how to work through the anxiety and fear that would creep into him in what was basically solitary confinement, to parse it out and keep himself calm knowing that if he didn't, he could accidentally hurt himself, or worse. So he's a bit claustrophobic and sedatephobic, and now whenever he's in tight spaces, or it gets too quiet, his heart quickens and so does his breathing because in his mind, at least for the first few seconds until he gets a handle on himself, he's right back in that place, with his life potentially on the line if he doesn't control his emotionally panicked response. He also doesn't like to cop to it being a fear (it is) but he doesn't like bears. Too big, too loud, too fast. His trip into Skyrim for the bounty that led him there and led him to meeting Val started in the Rift, which is, as you know, the headquarters of fucking bears in Skyrim. The walk between Riften and Shor's Stone, and eventually to Cragslane left him swearing up a storm, and he agrees wholeheartedly with Temba's hatred of them.

[flame-of-tar-valon]

🤏and 💼 for lleidspar and vivimani

the icons are super small on my screen so I'm guessing on the hand one, if I got it wrong let me know and I'll redo it!

[ 🫳 ]ㅤ.ㅤwho do they feel they owe, but never paid back ?

Lleidspaer will always feel indebted to Merlwyb, Thubyrgeim, Rhoswen -- basically everyone who helped her find her path in early ARR. She did pay back Thubyrgeim and Rhoswen, but Merlwyb is complicated because she's the head of state. Lleidspaer was once stripped of titles and imprisoned for insubordination (starting a war) and then a few years later led an actual uprising to curtail Merlwyb's power. But despite all that, Lleidspaer thinks Merlwyb is a good person and a good leader, and regrets that she can't repay Merlwyb as a person without making some sort of political statement in the process.

Vivimani feels that he owes everything to Mumuepo, the former Thaumaturge Guildmaster who dabbled in necromancy. Mumuepo was Vivimani's first mentor in magic, but by the time ARR starts he's in prison for embezzlement. Vivimani can't repay him, because he's already locked away.

[ 💼 ]ㅤ.ㅤwhat do they always carry with them ?

Lleidspaer carries with her only the essentials. When she needs to travel with belongings, she brings: sleepclothes, plainclothes, armor; her sword and buckler, plus all materiel needed for their upkeep; a medicine pouch full of salves and ointments; a miscellaneous utility pouch including a spyglass, tarp, knife, firestarter, and fishing net; provisions including hardtack and dried fish. Then in all the extra space in her travel chest she brings as many books as she can fit, with a minimum of four: her mother's journal, an almanac, her personal journal/ledger, and her arcanist codex. She also brings as many history or aetherology books as she can fit.

During day-to-day work, she leaves most of that stuff at her camp. She still brings all four of her books in a special tome holster thing, as well as her sword and buckler, her medicine pouch, three days' rations and a waterskin.

Vivimani doesn't concern himself with packing; he lets his retainers take care of all that nonsense. On a day-to-day basis, he brings at least one change of clothes in case he needs a dramatic disguise; a set of culinarian's equipment; a fishing rod; and, of course, a cursed dagger, cursed amulet, deck of not-tarot cards, enchanted mirror, and a phial of voidsent blood he wears on a chain around his neck.