#there are several game char. appearances in here

[afuzzykitten]

paddler (n others) in spaaaaaace!!!

yippee :3

[meanbossart]

Jacked anon again (jeez I guess this is my legacy on your blog now lmao), I tend to forget how ripped he technically is in game, but that's because I tend to ignore that. Bro has a default strength stat of 8, which means a -1 to strength checks and strength based stats, so I tend to attribute his in game model's defined abs and tits to a few things: 1) not much variation to the game's body models, and 2) bro was starving for years, and so any muscle he did build up, whether for aesthetics purposes to lure in victims for Cazador or working out our of boredom or whatever the hell you want to say it was, were especially noticeable due to the fact that he was starving. Kind of like Hollywood movie stars being severely dehydrated so their abs are super noticeable.

So I personally don't see him as being super buff due to the combination of those things. Not to say he shouldn't have any muscle whatsoever, I just tend to forget that not everyone interprets things in the same way haha. To me, Astarion would be on the thinner side if there was more variation in BG3's body models. I also don't tend to see people drawing Astarion as buff as you do (nothing wrong with that at all btw, I love men with tits) and the fact that in your lore he's a Rogue/Fighter multiclass, it's definitely fitting and fun to see a different interpretation of him. Does that make sense? I hope that makes sense lmao. All this to say, I love how you draw him. There's no right or wrong way to draw a character (for the most part, nuance exists) and I enjoy seeing the different ways people draw him!

LOL, there are worse things to be than "the Jacked Anon", at least. Thanks for playing along!

At some point in my life I heard from a DM that stats should not necessarily be a factor in how a person designs & roleplays a character; and I really like that! Otherwise, I could see how characters within x or y mono class could all turn out a little too similar, so that's usually the assumption I operate under - though like you said, it's all up to preference, and at the end of the day I do still like to point and laugh whenever a low CHAR character sticks their elbow into their pint while flirting at the inn.

For me, I take the character's body types pretty much as they are save for some small changes I would make if it were up to my preference - but they wouldn't really affect their silhouette overall. Here are my personal justifications for everyone's vacuum sealed six-packs, plus what I would tweak if I had the chance:

Astarion: He was very fit when he died, and his body retains that state as long as he's well fed. I personally like to make him even more pale than he appears in-game and emphasize the tired eyes.

Gale: Using a charm to improve his appearance. I wouldn't change anything per-se, but I would have made it that at some point throughout the game he stops using illusion magic on himself and reveals a paler, older-looking man whose whole half of his body is rotting off.

Karlach: Just beef her up, to be honest. I also would have liked her outfit to resemble some type of rugged uniform to solidify the mercenary/wardog aspect of her story.

Lae'zel: She's perfect, LOL. But I wouldn't scoff at unique gith armor for her and perhaps a shorter haircut.

Shadowheart: A more, erm, subtle armor set would have been nice, and I think they could have pushed a more wild/messy look with the hair and makeup like we see in the concept art. it would have made her far more unique and served as a really neat visual foreshadow of her incident from childhood/father's lycantropy. I especially like the ones where her hair almost completely covers her eyes.

Wyll: I mostly think that his transformation into a devil could have been far more dramatic, but I also believe a large body type would have suited him more and made for a nice contrast with his gentle nature.

[girlvinland]

Ok was thinking more about some of my DS place HCs (these are just ones I personally like using for stories and whatnot. It is 10000% ok if you don’t like them or disagree). These are specifically places that appear in my own OC stuff, I’m not going through all three games for that at this second (maybe at some point though for fun though lol). Oh, and I’m leaving out places we see in-game for now (Lordran, Oolacile & the Royal Wood, etc.). Oh yeah, one more thing to add. A lot of these HCs are more oriented toward a time before everything started going to shit, however I imagine that in Dark Souls, there are still some cities or villages that maintain a way to either keep undead/hollows completely out or to cohabitate with undead who still have their wits about them. I like thinking that these places are still operating (for the most part) as close to normal as they can.

Carim: I always imagine it to be a very cold region that doesn’t get a ton of sunlight (I mainly based this on how in DS1, the character creator mentions people from Carim being very pale. A silly note, but dark blue hair is also specifically mentioned, so I gave that to two of my Carim chars 💙). In addition, I imagine Carim to be a mountainous, very mineral rich area, with coniferous/montane forests being the most common forest types. One may also find meadows, mountain springs, and geothermal features in the lower parts of the mountains. Titanite can be both mined and collected from monsters, and the region also has a major mineral export called Velkite (maybe this is a silly name, but I went with it anyway lol. I like imagining this material is used to make armor and weapons, and that’s it’s the same dark metal Morne’s armor is crafted from). Snowfall typically occurs from late autumn through early spring, and may transition to rain or other forms of precipitation before leading into a short few weeks of late spring or summer sunlight. These warmer periods are used in crop or flower cultivation in some areas, so predicting when (and if) they will occur has become something of an art in Carim. (No wonder though that some of our canon chars from Carim are so pissy— they’re not usually getting enough Vitamin D 😫).

Astora: Somewhat geographically diverse, with different sections of the region stretching into different biomes. Part of Astora is covered in rolling, grassy hills and meadows that bloom with wildflowers in the spring. I HC that some flat areas may be used for the growth and harvest of certain crops, as the climate is relatively temperate and receives a lot of sunshine (praise it 🌞) with enough short periods of rain to encourage growth. Vegetables (corn, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, soybeans, etc.) are a big export, and fields of sunflowers are quite commonly seen being cultivated as well. Like Carim, this is another region where weather prediction has become important, although in Astora’s case it relates more to rotating crops appropriately and planning for any potential dry spells. Other parts of Astora are more forested with mostly deciduous forests, but occasionally you will find coniferous woods. In these areas, forestry is abundant, with tree growth being managed and timber being harvested for firewood and construction purposes. Much of it is kept within the region, though a small amount is exported. Several rivers flow through Astora, creating nutrient-dense soil. Throughout the region, outcrops of limestone, sandstone, and shale can be seen.

Zena: I HC this region as being an island off the coast of the mainland. It is, therefore, a smaller region, but it is a common location for merchants and tradings. There are a couple of major ports on the island (one closer to the mainland, and one that receives ships and boats from lands elsewhere). The climate here is mostly tropical, and remains hot and humid for much of the year. Most inhabitants of Zena hail from other regions, and few of its original population remain. For those traveling further out from the mainland, it serves as a last stop for goods and preparation, and for many it also holds the allure of black market trades 🏴‍☠️.

Catarina: A large region with a big amount of geographical diversity, as one stretch is coastal with a Mediterranean-type climate, while the remainder ranges from subtropical to temperate. Like Zena, the coastal area has port cities where one can find bustling marketplaces and visitors from all over. Beyond those cities, the region is home to a couple of mountain ranges that contain and further lead into deciduous and coniferous woods as the landscape transitions towards that of Carim’s. While these more wooded areas experience a fair amount of precipitation that ranges from light rain to snow, much of Catarina enjoys a slightly dry and fair climate, with decent amounts of sunshine that encourage a well-minded populace. Certain fruits, wines, and ales are common exports from Catarina 🍻. Livestock and animal-derived products get special attention as well: milk, cheese, and chocolate from this cooler sections of the region can be sought after.

[telamoniamanor]

Heyo! Creator @scratchingheads here to give you info on this!! Q1: What is Telamons Manor? A1: Telamons manor is basically where a group of 7 people are invited to Telamons manor to have a formal dinner/meeting. Unfortunately, Telamon isn't there. The building locks down and suddenly they're launched into a basic hell space. Q2: Who are the characters so far? A2: Depending on the tags[CHAPTER #], the following characters will appear! Just know there are several ocs, which will be marked with <> A2.2: Chapter 1: John Doe[JD] + Jane Doe[Ja] Chapter 2: JD, Ja, Faith<>, Builderman, Guest_666, Dominous<>, PeaButJea_234<> Only leaking these two chapters because chapt. 1 goes by really fast(depending on asks). Q3: Cast line up? A3: on @scratchingheads ! Look for #telamons manor in posts :D Q4: Opinion on asks/Limits? A4: Asks are open to continue the story! Characters from other games/ocs are allowed, but I have some rules for while I'm starting up! 1. No shipping chars together, that will come as they go in the story. Ships out of ask are okay :D 2. Please don't be NSFW with the questions, I had someone do that in my actual ask box and I didn't really know what to do 3. If you ask something that is correct in the lore timeline, you will get an answer with a 🔟 in the tags, which belong t 4. Feel free to ask about information about the characters!! 5. Have fun with questions, be silly, let your goofy ocs or your self just bully them sometimes. Q5. Where's Telamon? A5. he's- 🔟0️⃣0️⃣.

[suckinitup]

steeples my evil little fingers. guess what im still thinking about. anyway i think mark spends several actual days in the Tube and the trickster keeps trying to keep him bugs and he’s starving and getting more and more pissed off. hangry even. but the only food the trickster gives him (every day on schedule dinner bell and everything. probably on schedule. its not like mark has a clock) is a fucking pile of meal worms. mark kills them, because he’s learned the hard way that constant wriggling unsettles him more than the lonely stillness, and ag LEAST it gives him soemthing to do. but he refuses to eat them. are you fucking crazy he’s not going to eat bugs. So he snaps one day when the trickster appears with that fucking bell and snarls something angry anout being starved and those are bugs. thats lizard food. Humans eat meat and he’s a human. The trickster freezes, smile still in place, and slowly tilts its head. “Meat?” it echoes, and mark realizes his mistake but he is so fucking hungry that he doesnt understand the potential ramifications yet. The trickster turns around and walks away without dumping the meal worms and mark figures he fucked up and wont get “fed” today. He doesnt want to eat those fucking worms. he wont. except he needs to live to safe ashe, so he’ll do what he fucking has to.

the trickster rings the dinner bell an hour later. his hands are full of meat. Raw. ground, but by a machine—like its been shredded by claws. There is no skin, no fur, no feathers. Nothing he can use to identify where this came from. The trickster cheers, “Dinner!” and the meat disappears from his hands and reappears on the ground on mark’s side of the glass. mark snarls again, scared but reacting to the fear eith anger, “no! I meant- cooked food! Beef or chicken or fish! *cooked!* or— fuck the meat, what about vegetables? tomatoes??” and he has to be specific here because his stomach is roiling with hunger snd an active imagination and the blood on the trickster’s hands reminds him of his wife’s heart in ashe’s.

the trickster leaves. mark doesnt touch anything. he’s so fucking hungry. he’s so angry.

when the trickster comes by the next day (more meat in its bare hands, still bleeding) he tries again. it tilts his head, stares at him, and smiles wider. “Say please.”

this is before, i think, a lot of the really horrific nightmares and shit. no time loop deaths. biggest horror is the trickster’s existence. mark is still angry and prideful and he wont eat the bugs because he wont play along with whatever sick game the trickster is playing. refuses to act the lizard. refuses to be a pet. stays silent, grinding his teeth (later he has to check that they arent cracked), and doenst say please.

the trickster laughs. Rings the bell. gives him the bloody meat. leaves.

and mark is fucking angry and he is so fucking hungry and he has to live for ashe. he’s getting weaker by the day. the trickster is gone for hours and he knows itll be gone for at least two dozen more. its disappeared for a full day at least once so maybe even longer.

…hes so hungry. its not bugs. he doesnt know what it is but it isnt bugs. he can even make it a person meal, kind of, when he grabs the raw meat in his bare hands and electrocutes it to cook it. horrible fucking idea btw because then its charred in most areas and undercooked in others but its something his brain will let him recognize as food.

he eats.

[hel-phoenyx]

Checkmate

Meili belongs to @azeler

Other mentioned characters belong to @corneille-but-not-the-author, @soupedepates and @thal-ent

"It's rare, you asking me to play chess. Any particular reason ?"

I raise my head from the board, where Meili is disposing all the pieces. He took the whites, and I'm playing the blacks. Had to toss a coin to decide, since both of us wanted to play second. Unusual, but Meili has always been a peculiar one.

We are in our old hideout, the one we discovered when we were children. It's so small, now that we are sixteen and seventeen, but it's still hidden from most. Only Kaizarz would find us here.

He's looking at me with his same unreadable brown eyes. This time, he let his armor at home. I still have mine.

"No, not exactly. I just didn't feel like fighting today and thought this was the next best thing."

Krakeni people are not keen to play chess. Even the best strategists do not employ that game, they prefer battle simulations. There's not a lot of boards, either, even in the castle. I don't find a lot of people that are able and willing to play with me.

I tried to teach the others, to no avail. Kriss, even though she was the one to teach me the rules, doesn't like playing with me. Oli doesn't seem to be a fan, either, and I beat Domhildr and Kaizarz every time they try to play against me. Which is not a lot.

Meili is the only worthy opponent I know and he's not here often.

He raises his hand, and a pawn steps forward.

"That's a good way to beat you without tiring myself, indeed."

"Don't act so cocky, the outcome is not decided."

I can't be overconfident with him. I know he got some battle strategy training among the Karibarn, and I'm self-taught. He has always a head start on me. Underestimating him would be my demise.

Yet underestimating me would be a poor move from his part, too. He still isn't used to my way of playing.

I move a pawn in return.

There are several ways to see a chess board.

A battlefield.

Or the court of a castle.

Mom used to tell me that every pawn, every little thing has its role and its importance. Also, and that is the most important, its ability to move.

She told me that the Mad Queen wanted us isolated. As pawns under her yoke, or foe kings with all their other pieces caught and destroyed, she wasn't sure which one. Now that she is dead, and I am the only piece left on the board, I know one thing for sure.

I am the rival king.

And she is not aware of the pieces I have left.

"Things are starting to move, says Meili while moving a rook forward. Now that her Majesty is starting to isolate herself, they're talking about a government transition."

I smile. Move my own piece.

"That is not at all surprising. I am honestly more amazed by the time they took to push her aside. She was following her own agenda since a long time."

"Well she did terminate all the people trying to do so while she was still in health."

His bishop takes a knight.

"True."

I still remember the flames and the smell of charred flesh. Every person that tried to voice their support to me, to the af Mundir got killed the moment they said a word too much. Sometimes very publicly. Sometimes when Kaizarz and I were among the only witnesses.

I am alone in the castle or at least, that what I appear to be.

I place my remaining knight in the opposing camp.

"We have to do something."

It's Fen's voice. His face is still as unreadable as ever, yet his fist is gripping my arm with an energy that can only be fueled by rage.

His anger finds echo in mine. In mine when I found out what happened to Kriss. What happened to my pregnant sister whose only crime was to exist.

"This cannot go any longer. Kriss is in danger, our people are in danger, and they're doing jack shit. We can do something, Tyr. We have to. For everyone."

"I agree with you wholeheartedly, Fen, but what can we do ? We're pariahs. The only one with access to the Mad Queen is me and you bet she has me monitored every damn day of my fucking life."

Because I am the biggest danger to her reign there is and now that she's weakening, this is the perfect opportunity to strike. To enact a plan I have in mind since I am thirteen years old and full of rage and Gustav told me to wait and see.

But I waited and saw too much and now I have no allies in that castle. No one to watch my back if I manage to kill her. Only my own strenght to protect me from Kaizarz's wrath.

It won't be enough.

However, Fen seems to share another opinion. On his face grows his usual lupine smile.

"We don't have to be that direct. As much as that damn wench is feared, she's also hated. Her health is declining and it's the perfect occasion to place our supports in a very strategic place."

My eyes squint.

"Where do you mean ?"

"Right to the next-in-line."

Fen's smile becomes carnivorous.

"You may be alone, but there is someone that, is I am not mistaken, always keeps you near him. And that someone just so happens to be the prince. He is the perfect starting point for the downfall of the Mad Queen."

"... You seriously think he is going to help us conspire against his mother ?"

A wink.

"That's why we are not going to tell him a thing."

Meili moves his pieces. I do too. The game is stalling, none of us are trying to attack. We're just disposing our strategy. I can't see through his, but he seems to have difficulties fighting against mine, either.

A rook comes threatening my order.

"I have heard Kaizarz is now regent. Is that true ?"

"You really were away a long time, Meili. Yeah, he took over some time ago. Still isn't king, tho. I wonder if they're waiting for the queen's death."

"Probably. There's still traditions, customs to uphold, and even weak she is probably still clinging to power."

Traditions, traditions, stupid traditions. Always with the traditions. The divine right of kings is a curse and a blessing at the same time. The blessing killed so many of my loved ones. The curse took away my best friend.

A bishop takes the opposing rook, building the ground for a check.

"Tyr, what are you doing here ?!"

It's the middle of the council, and I broke in quite cavalierly. The councillors are already sneering, how dare the af Mundir spawn disregard the customs that much, but Kaizarz just look surprised. As surprised as he is when he looks at my armor covered in blood, the cut still healing in my cheek and the inkan shield dripping in blood I throw on the ground.

"Sorry for interrupting, your Highness. I have news, and bad ones."

The bloody shield slides on those holy grounds, tainting the stone in red. I am the only one not caring. I will never respect the divine right of kings.

Kaizarz immediatly realise I am here as a warrior, and not a friend. His face hardens.

"Talk. What is this ?"

"What's left of an Inkan fleet spotted east of the frontier. They were heading for Alfsjland, using the defaults in our defence to slip through."

"You dare-" A councellor screams. "You dare insinuate our defence is faulty ?!"

I roll my eyes.

"Before accusing me of things I did not say, look at how fresh the blood on that shield is, that should give you an indication on how close they were from here."

That has the merit to silence them. Good. My name may not have any use, but facts still do. They're at least a little more reasonable that the Mad Queen.

Kaizarz is the only one keeping his cool.

"What happened to that fleet ?"

I have a grim smile.

"At the bottom the sea, thanks to a very convenient seastorm."

Understand : I send them all drowning with a spell. That will teach you to underestimate me.

"We managed to capture one of them, but they fought fiercely, there's not many survivors."

"We ?"

Perfect. He noticed.

"I was out with an independant ship when we spotted the fleet. Impressive fighters. I would not have been able to push back Ink if they weren't there. They're the ones guarding the prisoners, right now. I trust they already started to interrogate them."

And I need them in your close circle. I need you to trust them.

I need all my pieces on the board. Even if no one can see them before it's too late.

Kaizarz stays silent for a long, agonizing second. Before nodding, finally, and he standing up makes my chest pound in victory.

"All right. We'll see those prisoners later. In the meantime, Tyr, you can talk to me about that independant crew you seem to hold so high in your judgement."

"Of course, your Highness."

Finding that fleet was a lucky feat, yet not a miracle. Kaizarz did not reorganize our defence well enough, not yet, he's in power since too little time and does not know enough of the state the Mad Queen left our army in.

It's an opportunity for the Inkans and an opportunity for me. I could just have brought all of their ships down the sea when I noticed them, or killed them all and just brought back the proof so Kaizarz could reorganize the army and call it a day. Both those options would be excellent for my reputation. The Krakenites despise tyrants and weakness. They can't say anything to a display of pure power.

Those prisoners are just here to talk about how well the crew fought against them. How they managed to take them down swiftly, united, one against a common enemy. How they covered me while I sent all the other ships drowning.

It's astonishing what a testimony of a terrified sailor can do for a cause.

I don't need my image to be clear again.

I need all of them to be important.

Kaizarz doesn't even notice my slight smile.

It is the most vindictive I have ever felt.

The attack is in course and Meili is relentless. He counters everything I try. I stop every of his attempts to break my line.

"The country's foundations are shaking. It's rare, that the teenage prince has to take over for his mother when she's sick."

He's quite observant. I suppose it is a common trait of nobility. We have to observe, to survive. Wait and see. As Gustav said.

"Yeah, and I already heard some conversations. The lower classes are persuaded Kaizarz took over to stop the mad bitch. They think her low health is a pretext."

"Maybe it is."

"Yeah. But facts or rumor, his popularity took a hit. He's still well-liked and all, especially now that his policies are starting to take effect..."

Well. Those he could pass. Which means, not a lot. Some people still took a hit from that inaction.

Like his body hanging high over the arena.

"... But the most conservative ones think is is highly irregular, and the poorer people fear he's just a replica of the Mad Queen. Alfsjland is, for the most part, supportive. If you don't go in the lower districts."

"And you do ?"

"I don't live in the castle, Meili. My family was shunned a long time ago, might I remind you. And now that Mother and Father died, no one can stop me from seeing how the people are doing."

I bring a rook near his bishop. He has to run away now, or I will check him.

"I have to admit, you have an eye for people of value."

Kaizarz took me aside, after the raid. Fen passed the test brillantly, but it was also a test for me. And this one, I wasn't sure I managed to succeed. I am not even sure none of the others are aware of what I went through for this plan.

I needed to stop being the heir af Mundir for at least a few seconds. I had to be someone. Someone you can trust.

The people trust me. The people trust me because I am always among them, help them rebuild their homes, give them all the ressources I can, protect them from the nobility. I am in a perfect position to understand how much those people hate the Laangfisk.

But for me to enact my plan correctly I need to be someone for the warriors, too.

I smile.

"You doubted it ?"

"No. I knew you had it in you. But this kinda exceeded my hopes. You're amazing, Tyr."

Am I ? Or are those words fake in your mouth too, because that woman is still your mother and we haven't talked like this in so long and I know it won't be much until you leave me again.

But I can't tell you all of this can I ? It would ruin everything

I have ever worked for.

"You should keep your compliments for Fenrir, y'know."

"Oh he will get his when I'm done with you. I still think you're the hero of the day. You made it look so easy... Like everything, you know ?"

You have no idea what you are talking about.

You have no idea how hard I have to work to make everything look effortless.

My combat abilities. My audace against the council. My proximity to the people. All my image. All the respect I managed to regain.

It was never. Ever that easy.

"Look who's talking."

"Eh, I am the future king, of course I am making everything easy."

So this is it, huh ?

No matter how hard I try

No matter how well I perform

How well I appear to be

I will always

Always

Be in your shadow.

...

I too want to shine under the sun.

"I honestly don't know what will happen next."

Meili is still holding strong, even though the pieces on the board get rarer and rarer. I took his queen some time ago. He retaliated with both my rooks. It's been almost an hour.

I can't get the high ground.

Maybe because I am thinking a bit too hard about my other chess board.

"Me neither. In that climate, it's win or die."

The king will have to prove himself for good, to the people that hate him. I know there's more than he thinks. Most of them are the ones that always have hated the royalty. Others are people that can act.

And if he doesn't break that statu quo soon enough, well, his beloved kingdom will just becom a ticking bomb.

"You're not afraid people will try to use you, Tyr ? You have heir of Vanasul, you're a candidate for the throne, and you're a bit older than him."

My smile gets darker.

"You would have to find people able and willing to manipulate me."

Also, I am not sure I would be a good pawn, in any scheme. I may be of royal blood, but for the Krakenese warriors, I am first and foremost an af Mundir. The grandson of the sarcastically-named Good King Hrogni. A man that did worse than Matilda, because he tried to break everything that made the Kraken Coast what it was.

He destroyed their pride by bowing to the Tyrant.

The Krakenites can't have that.

Meili snickers.

"You're naïve if you think people wouldn't try."

"No, reasonable. Have you seen how much they spit on the rest of my family ? I have a pass because of my scales, but it only allowed me to try to regain my honor. No one in that castle would entrust me the throne."

Even if I know people who would.

I move my queen in the opposing grounds.

"Check."

"That's the weak point of the Laangfisk lineage. The prince. That's where we have to strike."

I grit my teeth.

"I am not sure about all this, Fen. Kaizarz is not responsible of what his mother is doing. Why hurt him ?"

Fen, sitting on the floor next to me, rolls his eyes in annoyance.

"We will not be hurting him, Tyr. But think. The Mad Queen is unreachable. On the contrary, the prince trusts you, and thanks to you and our little stunt he trusts us. We are in the damn army because you were there, that has to mean something."

He extends a hand towards the ceiling.

"So, if we manage to kick him out of the succession line in a way nobody can contest..."

"... I would be in a pole position to assassinate her and become king."

His fist close.

"Exactly. If you become regent in the place of the regent, only thing left to do for our people would be to get rid of the Mad Queen. Wait until she dies, or put her out of her misery."

Something is shifting on his face. Something I can't read.

I take my chin between my hands.

"I don't like that plan. Don't get me wrong, I want to get rid of that nuisance of a queen as much as you..."

For all the blood and ashes she has on her hands. For our people abandoned in the dirt and grime. For every death and crime I couldn't stop, for I didn't possess enough power.

"... But I don't like the idea to implicate Kaizarz. He's still my friend. And all of this is not his responsibility, for fuck's sake, he's thirteen !"

"And what a friend, sneers Fen, sour. Always getting all the honors, never seeing you as you are, just as you appear to be, never even trying to ask if you're okay. Did he even care about your mother's death ?"

A memory comes back to my mind.

Me, tears still hurting my eyes, the black of grief plastered to my armor, an earring hurting my lobe where still drip some droplets of blood. The eyes of a prince in a hurry, glancing over me before turning away without a word or a smile.

In front of my lack of answer, Fen sneers again.

"He's the future king, Tyr, or at least he will be if we don't do something. This will be his responsibility."

...

If I become king, this will be my responsibility, too.

I don't want to become king.

I just

want my best friend back.

".... Right."

I just need him to find the time to care about me again. Even if I have to lose myself in the divine right of kings.

Fen puts a hand on my shoulder.

"You won't be alone, I promise. We'll be there every step of the way. I just need your collaboration to enact the coup."

"I don't plan to let you down, Fen."

On his face grows a smile. An authentic, genuine one.

"That's my Tyr."

Meili swears at the board.

"Damn it ! We got in a stalemate."

"Are you fucking kidding me-"

But he's right. None of us can act anymore, all our pieces are blocked. A very rare situation, even in chess. A victory for no one.

I lay back on my chair, defeated.

"And I was so sure I got you..."

"That was a good strategy, I won't lie. But you were too hasty and lacked pieces to put it in place."

"Oh, fuck you."

"That was a compliment, you know."

I roll my eyes.

"You have a weird way to compliment me, Meili."

"You want me to insult you ?"

"Let's try that with my fist in your mouth."

He doesn't answer to my little provocation, just tidies up the board before looking at me.

"I had a nice time playing with you, Tyr. Been a while since I had a worthy opponent."

"That's better. I return the compliment to you. You're good, even if you put us in a stalemate."

He shrugs.

"Well, I guess sometimes there's situations where nobody can win."

I should have listened to that warning.

[dr-docktor]

Local Docktor thinks its a fantastic idea to crossover his two biggest interests at the moment.

First for some context (don't worry, I'll keep it brief). One of my best friends has been working on a table-top RPG since like high school called Percentile. And its the main game that the group plays for our campaigns. Thus, it never leaves my head.

You know what else doesn't leave my head? Spies are Forever.

So here I am. Planning out what theoretical character sheets would look like for Owen and Curt. I'm so normal. I swear. Below the cut includes my insane ramblings on this topic.

I will also be playing a little fast and loose with some of the rules here because making character sheets in this game, while fun, is LENGTHY. And I'm insane but I'm not THAT insane

Ok so I want to start with Owen because I'm making him a mage and I LOVE building mages.

For the sake of simplicity I'm gonna keep 'em both human. (boring I know. but the list of ancestries is so long it almost overwhelms me for this)

To quickly explain the percentages: That is basically your rate of success on any given skill/action. So the higher the number, the more likely they are to succeed!

Owen's Stats

Power represents magic. POW is just another word for mana. And size mainly only impacts things like how easy you are to tackle/grapple and what spaces you can squeeze into.

So he's got 10 HP

14 POW

2 Soak (armor, it takes 2 points off of whatever damage they were hit with)

+28 initiative bonus (initiative dictates who goes first in combat. The higher your number, the more likely you are to go first)

and can move 5 squares per turn (turns last 6 seconds), or 6 if he runs.

All fairly standard for a human mage. The interesting stuff starts with choosing his spells.

In Percentile, the standard mage can have a few collections of spells called Spell Schools. They can only have one spell from each school prepared at once but can spend 6 hours a day switching them out safely (or do it within seconds if you wanna feel the consequences)

So here's the spell schools I think he'd have

BLAST -> its in the name, you get several spells that are just different types of blasts. So magical bullets, lasers, etc.

CHANGE -> He'd probably use this spell school mainly for his DMA disguise but instead of a mask he can physically change his appearance for several hours a day.

VISION -> Great for espionage and detective work. Spells include making you really good at looking for stuff, being able to see events that transpired previously within a room, and gathering information.

WOUNDING -> Gives him access to several magical bladed weapons. Good for Torture and homosexually sword fighting your ex lover.

really good... ouch.

Skills/knowledges are another story and are one of my least favorite parts of character building so I'll briefly go over it.

High intimidation, spot hidden (looking for stuff. almost every percentile character needs a decent spot hidden), move quietly, resist, and rapine (rapine is like sleight of hand, pickpocketing, handling small and/or delicate things)

Middling physical skills like jumping, climbing, etc. first aid, hide, and survival

Low grapple.

His knowledges would include

High performance (haha actor man), espionage, and literacy

Middling lore

Low cooking. and everything else. He can cook its just all post WWII British food which I think should qualify for being bad at it.

OK NOW FOR MY FAVORITE PART: Traits and Scars.

SCARS

his scars include more physical stuff like reduced hearing and chronic pain (player would roll a dice to see how bad the pain is that day to see if he needs to use a mobility device). But also include

Untrusting - CHAR INT based - compelled to roll an idea check to see if someone is lying every time he starts a new interaction with someone. On a fail he believes they are lying no matter what

POSSIBLE TRAITS

Magic Hair, for my long-haired Owen fans. Basically he has hair that's so cool it makes him more charismatic.

Strong Promises. Whenever the character makes a promise, they get a bonus to whatever stat that will help them achieve that promise.

Plotting. Whenever characters with this trait record or speak out a plan, it functions as if they practiced it for an additional day. Perfect for villain monologues.

Pull At Soul. Characters with this trait declare a goal during each level up. These goals can be something like “plan with everyone in the party about the mission & use that plan”, it can be “avenge my fathers killer” “seek out & find the sage” or more abstract things, “Die & be born anew in the eyes of my community” or “See the moon as it truly is”. They cannot tell any other characters about this goal. Once they achieve this goal as determined by them & the GM, anytime they are at 1 HP they can choose to level up.

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE)

I think that's all for Owen!!

It's Curt's turn!

God I was SO tempted to make him a Ragamuffin for this. But I'm sticking with humans. I don't even know why. I just think it would be funny. Something fun about the 'brute' being made of fabric and fluff.

Anyway. Stats!!

12 HP

8 POW (not important given he's a fighter and not a mage)

3 soak

+27 Initiative bonus

and can move 4 squares per turn, 6 squares if he's running.

Instead of spells, fighters get weapon proficiencies and maneuvers! Maneuvers are basically fancy fighting styles and actions.

Possible weapon options: Short sword (what they fight with in the show), a gun, and fisticuffs. Mages also get a weapon or two and tbh these could all apply to Owen too.

Possible maneuvers:

Taunt -> It is what it says on the tin, mock your opponent to try and make them get sloppy and target you instead of your allies.

Reckless Strike Back -> When dodging an attack, you can take one extra damage to attempt to hit your opponent back. If you fail you take extra damage.

Induced Sloppiness -> Make yourself unpredictable! on a success you get bonuses to damage and to land hits. Those attacks are really difficult to parry and dodge. On a fail your opponent gets a bonus to parrying and dodging.

Dodging into My Blade -> you must have this maneuver readied. If you opponent dodges your or your allies attack while this is readied, you can basically say "Lmaoooo" and attack them again

Skills!

High physical stuff like jumping and climbing, resist, move quietly, hide

Middling intimidation, spot hidden, repine, and grapple

Low first aid (scared of own blood) and listen.

Knowledges!

High linguistics, cooking, and espionage

Middling riding arts (for cars and stuff)

Low almost everything else (doesn't mean he's dumb. Fighters just aren't built for having a ton of knowledges)

Possible Scars!

Alcoholic - CON based - Roll a withstand check upon the GM's orders to see if you feel the urge to take a drink. On a fail you either take a swig or suffer withdrawal

Bad With Magic - POW and CON based - Anytime characters with this scar roll a check involving power expenditure, the GM describes it as if they are deeply unsettled by it, that it seems strange, random and scary, and that they are somehow making a mistake, regardless of what the magic does, how it functions, or if they succeeded or not. 

Possible Traits!

Buddies! -> Select another character. Decide on a secret handshake, set of gestures, or exchange. It does not have to be uniform, but does have to be meaningful. Anytime you perform this with them, and one of you gains exhaustion, instantly both of you gain 1d3 to a stat. They do not have to be the same stat, select them when you take the maneuver. If the other dies, this trait is removed, granting the character back the trait points, and the character gains a -1d3 to that stat forever.  (THE FUCKING HANDSHAKE AGAIN)

Poison Blood -> Anyone eating characters with this trait takes 1d6 necrotic damage per SIZ consumed, and the character can take 1 HP from themselves to coat weapons in their blood, which deals 1d4 necrotic damage or stuns the enemy for 1d4-1 turns. It will add this effect to 1 attack until it dries in 3d6+CON turns. (something something alcohol-poisoned blood)

Sturdy ->  While at max HP characters with this trait cannot be reduced below 1 HP in one hit.

Natural Jester -> Anytime characters with this trait crit fail any check, anyone who witnesses it must roll a withstand check or be stunned for 1 turn. 

Fast to The Fight -> Add +3 to initiative rolls (can be taken more than once)

There's actually a TON of traits that could fit Curt but I'm capping it off here because I will go overboard.

Anyway thanks for reading! Sorry if any of this is incomprehensible.

[aspaceformbf]

Miside YB AU Part 2

Part 1

Miside YB being able to change the layout of his house, like switching rooms around. If YN tries to leave, the exit door opens to a wall, a black void with a loading icon on it, or another room.

The portal device disappears not long after YN reaches his house.

YN - What happened to the portal?

YB - Oh, I just moved it somewhere else. We don't need it getting in our way..

---

Inventory Shenanigans

(Based on this video, 1:37:00)

YN goes to the stove and attempts to cook something.

YN - Looks like I need a cooking knife for this.

YB - Let's see if I have any in my inventory..

He lifts up his hand and several items just.. materialize and disappear, one after another.

A lighter, a cigarette pack, a pocket knife (not suitable for cooking), his wallet, a cellphone, rope, handcuffs.. (they show up randomly, not in order, including the.. "special" items)

---

Dildo

YB - Whoops! Well, this is an adult game after all..

---

Photo of YN Taking a Shower

YB - Whoops! Well, I did say that I was watching you secretly..

---

YN's Underwear

YB - Whoops!

YN - Hey, didn't that go missing a week ago..

YB - Yeah, sorry.. I was going to give it back after a wash, though!

---

Bloody Knife

YB - Whoops! Uh.. I'm sure I have a cleaner one somewhere, hang on..

---

Kitchen Knife

YB - Here we go!

(If a "special" item appeared previously)

YN - I feel like I ended up seeing something I shouldn't have.. but thanks.

---

Rejection

YN can choose to react badly to one of his more "questionable" items, which leads to them running away from him and the stove.

However, when they go through the door, they just end up back in the kitchen. No escape.

He continues to circle through his inventory until he reaches the knife. He walks to you, holding the knife.

---

If you run through the door a few times, eventually you find him standing on the other side, holding his knife.

YB - I found the knife..

MC - Ahhhhh! No don't!!

He frowns sadly and crouches, trying to pat you with his free hand.

YB - I'm not going to hurt you, it's alright, I'm sorry for scaring you.

YB - Lets do something else, okay? I'll put the knife away..

> Okay.. --- > No! Let me OUT!!

YB - I can't..

MC - Or you don't want to???

YB - You're not wrong there.. but I know if you leave like this, you won't come back..

YB - Is there anything I can do to show you I'm not going to hurt you? Other than letting you leave of course..

Smoke starts rising from the stove after a certain amount of time has passed.

He does not notice because he is watching you the whole time, even if you spend the time running through doors or running around the kitchen screaming.

If you approach the stove after a certain amount of time has passed, the cooking is now charred black.

YB - Oh.. oh well. It's okay! We can always start again!

[french-toast-enjoyer]

Writing Share Game:

Rules: share some writing!

thanks to @rkmoon for the tag, here's a snippet from a symbrock fic I'm not sure is good enough to continue! I also submitted it to @funkycave so if you see it on their blog hey, same hat. lemme know if I should actually write this:

To the world, he was once known as Ediliaphon. The scribe of creation, and the angel of all to be known by man.

Now his collar simply reads “Eddie”. A bastardization of the name given to him by the god he once loved. The God who had abandoned him for daring to question his divine plan.

The God that had left him there, in the writhing city of Pandemonium with every other rejected angel. Tossed like an unwanted, unruly pet. Weighed down with a rock and thrown in a river to die.

And he would’ve died.

For nine full days after the collapse of Lucifer’s army, Eddie and all other now fallen angels had lay in the depths of what was now hell, paralyzed with the never-before-felt sensation that would come to be known as pain.

That fateful period had brought to birth several new, unbearable concepts.

Suffering came forth in the physical anguish of broken bones and hellfire-charred skin. Agony crept into the faces of those lost, regretful angels. And annihilation–

It claimed half of all lower angels on the first night.

Without a master or cause to tie themselves to, without faith in either their love or hatred of God, many of the regretful, lost souls had simply ceased to be. Succumbing to their injuries with no hatred to empower them to stand up and keep fighting.

But for those who did hate?

It disfigured them. Morphed their wounds into splitting heads. Their faces became permanent snarls, their halos had cracked into horns, and their bodies had melded into darkness from days of bitterly crawling on their bellies.

Eddie was lucky. Eddie had avoided both fates, somehow.

It eluded him, how he had fallen without shattering his soft white wings. And how he felt so little in the advent of his fall that malevolence had not consumed his broken, once divine body.

Much like the others, however, he was frail. Fading in real time without a deity to uphold him.

On night one, his wings had wilted, night two, his skin began to burn.

He'd have given up forever to touch God again. Just once.

There were nights when he’d remember his time as a scribe. Appointed by the Father to pen the histories of all that had been created. It'd been so brief, yet so blissful. To think he gave it all up, out of pride. Out of the want for more accolade than the ultimate honor of witnessing the birth of all the world. What a fool he was.

He would’ve died. But on his knees, something had found him.

It called itself Venom. A manifest of sin much like those conceived with Lucifer’s first betrayal. In perpetuity, it was meant to be the lord of treason. Of biting the hand that feeds.

He'd been despondent when the entity had found him. Useless. Too tired to curse God and too prideful to beg for forgiveness.

It had sensed the angel’s weakness. Known it to be the closest thing to a lamb this wretched pit could offer. Only in appearance, of course.

Much like that which tempted Eve, it'd crawled to the angel on its belly, whispering sweet nothings about divinity and reclamation. Offering him protection in exchange for devotion.

Eddie, feeling bloody tears welling in his eyes, knew that his choice was either to obey, or so begin the process of fading away completely.

He'd looked to the heavens. They couldn't be seen. God was not coming to forgive him, much less save his life.

In short, he'd agreed.

So began his life, given up to the first and last entity that'd shown him mercy.

Herein begins the true fall.

I'm gonna tag @spibbb and @bunsofhoney because I like what I've seen of their writing! as always, no pressure to participate:)

[amongfeathers]

supermodel...

“…and my greatest fear was that if I lost control, or did not have control, things would just, you know, be fatal…”

CANON-DIV QUACKITY BLOG! 🌟 part of ctrlverse -> cl!quackity or ct!quackity. run by pity, he/she, 18.

ctrlverse (stylized as CTRLverse, CTRLverse, or ctrlverse) is a roleplay verse based heavily off DSMP. it focuses on the untold stories of some of the characters as private bloggings about the events they experienced. it is not strict to the DSMP canon, and does not follow that timeline to the letter. anything goes in ctrlverse. almost anything, at least.

this blog is the equivalent of the vice president's private social media. open to manburgian citizens, people he follows, and denizens skilled at hacking.

please send in asks and anons! every interaction is appreciated!

art is by the beloved tham n0phis

mask from here

notes on CT!Quackity, a.k.a (big) Q: CURRENT ARC: Manberg, well into the first year of Schlatt's rule. TAGS: under the cut.

he is AFAB transmasc, and currently only uses he/they pronouns. he has (undiagnosed and untreated) BPD. he is on the autism spectrum. Q also has GAD, which can cause anything from severe self doubt to a full-on shutdown. as Schlatt's vice, Quackity reserves the sole right to effect the decisions of Manberg's self-declared emperor, but more often than not finds himself doing paperwork instead, ad nauseam. married originally for tax benefits and public appearance, he takes relationships very seriously, and sometimes chases after the wrong ones. when he's not being eaten alive by work he participates in small games with the citizens– he's an avid gamer, and gambler, a bit of a cheat at cards. loves any chance for distraction. Q is a phoenix hybrid, who has only died once before. instead of being reborn when he does, he simply respawns– depending on the esempi territory, his lives are reset. he is currently down one from four (three respawns left). he often binds his wings at the same time that he binds his chest, and as such has mostly forgotten how to fly.

some posts will be partially or entirely in spanish. mun speaks spanish, but not fluently. please excuse and/or correct any faults. translations will be provided!

“and if it's an illusion, i don't wanna wake up. i'm gonna hang onto it.”

in character tags are below the cut.

OUT OF CHARACTER TAGS 🌱 gen tag - #ctrlverse srs roleplay - #controlverse nsfw content - #tread carefully

other triggering content - #tw (trigger) nsrs roleplay - #featuring: OOC / non-char posts- #ctrlcamping end of roleplay - #20 something

🌱 IN CHARACTER TAGS #promise to be better - my journaling. nothing really important, I just need a place to get it out. #now watching MADtv - for my actually funny posts. #warm enough inside? - gay.. shit. gay stuff. yearning. 😑 #know i'm alive - reposts! silly, um, images I want you to see. yeah. #where are the askers? - this is for asks, suggestions, and submissions, so the joke doesn't really... go. you get the idea. *please* don't ask me to lower the taxes, I can't.

PLAYER TAGS 🌱 #flock together - ( nihachu ) #big tail bigger man - ( tommy ) #fresh as a daisy - ( aimsey ) #black sheep - ( minx ) #goopin & gunkin? - ( slime ) #composer-in-residence - ( wilbur ) #buzzing in your ears - ( tubbo ) #empty - no blog yet. #empty - no blog yet. #empty - no blog yet. #empty - no blog yet.

[gremoria411]

Alright, since I did a post on all the Gundam Units running around in the One Year War, and since I also just finished my big long post on Gundam: Code Fairy, I should probably do one on the Pale Rider series, shouldn’t I?

Being that they’re also very popular, and thus show up in a lot of places. I should note that I’m working off second-hand information for most of these, since I haven’t played the Missing Link Games.

I’m also going to talk about the original pale rider first, then I’ll deal with the others in (in-universe) chronological order in a second post:

The Original RX-80 PR Pale Rider (later retconned into being the 4th unit in the Pale Rider plan). First appeared in the Mobile Suit Gundam Side Story: Missing Link videogame. It’s first known deployment was against the Slave Wraith Team, an Earth Federation MS team made up of condemned criminals, often used as an internal disciplinary unit (read: taking out traitors and political enemies of the group’s controller, Grave) after they were judged too much of a liability (betrayed). It was later heavily damaged in battle against Zeon’s Marchosias Corps (basically a bunch of pilots that Zeon doesn’t fully trust due to possible ties with the Earth Federation, but who are too good for Zeon not to use) and captured (along with its pilot) at a Baoa Qu, at the end of the war. What happens to it next depends, since the Videogame and Manga diverge here. In the videogame it is eventually refitted into the AMX-18 Todesritter by Neo Zeon (in UC 0090, around the time of Char’s Rebellion), which I’ll get to later. Whilst in the manga it’s customised into the Pale Rider (VG) in UC 0080, then used by Vincent Gleissner, former member of Marchosias, and fought against the Pale Rider Dullhan, which I’ll also get to later. The Pale Rider (VG) is stated to be repaired using Gelgoog parts, but really the only notable difference is it’s weaponry. Notably, the name Pale Rider is implied to be something of a sick joke - in normal mobile suits the Pilot controls their actions as if they were riding a horse, with the Pale Rider, it’s the other way around.

So there it is, the unit that started it all. While I do understand it’s popularity I confess I’m unable to really appreciate the design. Why is this? Well…. The original Pale Rider design could be described as taking a bunch of existing cool elements from the Gundam Sidestories and mashing them all together. While not a bad method of designing a suit (especially one that you want to feel threatening, or a culmination of that which came before it), it does mean that the design is going to have a certain stitched-together quality to it.

First off, the mobile suit itself takes several design cues from the GM Sniper II (some of the chest and most of the legs and skirt armour) stated to be one of the best suits in the war, and it equipped with a HADES system, a derivative of the (strictly-limited) EXAM system used by the Blue Destiny Units, from which it also appears to derive its head design and general colourscheme.

(I’ll talk about it another time, but the EXAM system is essentially a super mode, where the suits limiters are released, but it places incredible stress on the pilot, since they’re essentially being used as a biological cpu. It is limited to three minutes, otherwise the suit is put under too much stress).

Armament wise, it has multiple weapon loadouts, all of which use weaponry cribbed from other machines. The ground type armaments uses the same 180mm Cannon as the Gundam Ground Type, and is also equipped with a Spike Shield used by the GM Striker. Whilst the Space use version uses the exact same armaments as the Gundam G05 - Giant Gatling Gun, Hyper Beam Rifle, Shield and this is also where the Pale Rider gets it’s beam guns which are built-into it’s arms.

When customised for use by Vincent Gleissner, it’s equipped with the Beam Machine Gun from the Gelgoog Jäger (essentially the best beam weapon available at that time) in addition to its Beam spot guns in the arms, to replace it’s destroyed beam guns. It gets twin beam naginata’s from the standard Gelgoog, and has twin missile pods added to the legs (I assume they’re standard Zeon equipment, but the only other suit we see them on is the EXAM Efreet).

This isn’t meant to call out the Pale Rider as a “Bad Design” or anything. I think it does a good job of blending its influences together. It’s just that I generally find myself preferring it’s component units over it (particularly the G04 and G05).

I’ll talk about the other Rider units in a follow-up post.

[lairofdragonagelore]

Comic: The Missing

This post belongs to the series DA comic. The main intention is to collect the basic story of the comic and highlight any potential lore concept that may be of interest and may be explored later in the game series.

This post has the following points:

Story

Relevant Details

Characters: a big cameo of various chars from the Tevinter Nights book

Lore

In the Lore section:

We have more details that keep reinforcing the idea that Solas knows very well how The Blight and the darkspawn work. This implies that this problem may have been older than we think.

The forest of Arlathan shows symptoms of having been a place deeply entangled with the Fade and the Veil in its creation. Since Solas is performing a long-time spell to destroy the Veil, the forest has been behaving chaotically in the recent time.

Veil Jumpers: group of Dalish mages and hunters and other non-elf people who try to contain the dangers that this alteration in the forest causes.

Shadow Dragons: Tevinter group that helps people in need inside the city [this includes elves].

The list of Tevinter cities under Qunari invasion increases: Carastes, Ventus, Neromenian, and now Vyrantium are all under Qunari attack.

Potential speculation that relates Arlathan to a city that was sunk, the Black City, and the Horror of Hormak. All this related to Blood Magic as well.

Another artefact has appeared: the crucious stone. We know nothing about it or its powers.

In the forest, there are paths where gravity works different than usual, people may age or return to their younger version as they walk through, and some spirits may force a temporary posession while the soul of the owner of the body is pulled away from their body [this last concept is a very annoying inconsistency with the usual concept of poseession in DA lore, in my opinion]

Two murals appeared: the central part of the famous “The Destruction of the Veil“ [without the figures of Meredith, Corypheus, and the archdemons] and another with two figures wearing dragon-like attires. Details inside the post.

[Index page of Dragon Age Lore]

Story

Basically, Varric and Scout Harding are after Solas to stop him. Varric wants to speak and knock some sense into him; Harding more like sinking an arrow in his head.

As they explore different places while following Solas’ tracks, we find several characters from the book Tevinter Nights. When they explore the Deep Roads, we meet the pair of Grey Wardens from the book: the female dwarf Evka and the male city-elf Antoine.

When they head to Vyrantium [Tevinter], now invaded by the Qunari, they find a powerful person turned into stone, showing how close is Solas. Here, we meet the Crows that killed Francesca’s brother: Teia and Viago, both of them also present in the Tevinter Nights book [they survived a Qunari plot that almost assasinated all the Talons, aka the heads of all the main houses of the Antiva Crows]. They had come to Vyrantium to kill the person who is now stone. They join Harding and Varric’s investigation in order to learn about the person who did it so they have explanations to give to the Crows.

Their investigation leads them to go to the Arlathan Forest, where “magic has run wild for the last thousand years”. They discover that Solas is after another artefact that we can speculate is similar to the red lyrium idol: an ancient elvhen artefacts of great power called the crucious stone.

Here is where the most juicy part of the lore comes: the exploration of the forest of Arlathan

The forest of Arlathan is chaotic and twisted, with paths floating and turning up-side down. Magic runs truly wild in here.

Before venturing forth, Varric and Harding meet another character from the Tevinter Nights: the mysterious elf Strife, who appears now with a Vallaslin of Andruil. We are introduced to the concept of the Veil Jumpers, which name is more dramatic than what they truly are. They are not “veil jumpers” technically, they are not violating the rule of “walking physically into the Fade”, but apparently, they walk “inside” the Veil that is part of Arlathan Forest, whatever that means. They know the ways of the Forest [they even have a detailed map of it]. The forest has been deeply affected by the creation of the Veil, and it’s similarly twisted like the Shattered Library in the Crossroads. What we can say with some degree of certainty is that this place has been deeply entangled with the Fade, hence the creation of the Veil, and probably the destruction of the city of Arlathan, caused this brutal disarrangement in it, going wild since the preparation of the Destruction of the Veil by Solas.

Since the Veil Jumpers know about the artefact that Solas plans to take [which is inside a ruined temple deep into the forest] and the danger that the Venatori who are behind Solas represent, they join forces with Varric and Harding in order to help them walk along the forest .

Clearly, their map shows that the path will be wild: there are part of the travel where their souls are taken while their bodies are temporarily possessed, others where they age as they step through, or walk upside down as if gravity works different here. 

Finally, they reach to the ruined temple and find out that Solas was there already. We know that he even painted a mural, the famous “The Destruction of the Veil“. It is not clear if this mural was painted recently and the chaotic magic of this place made it look aged, or it was painted long time ago, when the Temple was pristine.

In the temple, Solas left a letter where he explains that Varric and company don’t understand what’s happening. Solas also says that he will try to reduce the damage that his plans will cause as much as possible. As usual with these plots, we never know what’s going on exactly because the character who knows it considers us not enough to fully understand it.

It’s curious that so far, we know about two elvhenan artefacts that are related to alterations of the Veil. Maybe they were part of the creation of the Veil, so it makes sense for Solas to know so well their location and their importance in the process of destroying the Veil: The red lyrium idol was in the depth of a lost, odd Thaig, close to Kirkwall, where the Veil is the thinnest, and the crucious stone is located in the core of a Forest that was deeply entangled with the Fade and the Veil.

Without stop, the dwarves now go to Miranthous, the capital of Tevinter, where we find yet another char that was mentioned [but never seen] in the book Tevinter Nights: Neve Gallus; a private investigator and mage, who knows all what’s happening in the city. They learn that Solas passed through the city, helped to free some slave elves, and ended up using the dwarves to prevent the Venatori from recapturing them. This part of the comic is quite shallow in my opinion, with nothing interesting to highlight in terms of lore [beside the apparent existance of a group called the Shadow Dragons]. It contains a lot of “action” scenes that are not that great to see in comic style, in my opinion.

The last page of the comic clearly shows the cliffhanger of what will be the main protagonist of DA:D, a person who is unknown to Solas.

Relevant details

Why the title? I guess the Missing (person) represents Solas, the character that Varric and Scout Harding are after.

Time: After the DLC Tresspasser. I assume this because Varric is Viscount of Kirkwall and everyone is after Solas.

Places: Vyrantium is, like the other Tevinter cities [such as Carastes, Ventus, and Neromenian], under Qunari invasion. We also visit the forest of Arlathan.

Characters: There is a group of characters that appear in the comic and belonged to the book, but they are not explored deeply. It’s basically a cameo of each of them: the Grey wardens Evka and Antoine, the Crows Teia and Viago, the mysterious elf Strife, and the mentioned Tevinter private investigator and mage Neve Gallus.

Lore: The most important part of the comics; what can they provide in terms of lore?

We have a reinforcement of the concept that Solas knows a lot about the Blight: like Flemeth, he knows how to keep the darkspawn far away from him [similar to how Flemeth’s hut was free of darkspawns as long as she was around]. Morrigan told us in DAO that it was part of Flemeth’s magical tricks. Maybe it was something related to Mythal’s nature, which now is part of Solas’ too. 

Vyrantium is under Qunari invasion. This gives us an idea that Tevinter is being invaded by the Qunari with little resistance due to the inner fight against the Venatori. Tevinter is falling apart, fighting two wars at the same time; an external one against the Qunari and an internal one against the Venatori. This situation is extremelly dangerous for everyone in Thedas: if Tevinter falls, Thedas knows that they would have no other force to hold the line against the Qunari [we were informed about this in comic: Magekiller]. The situation is dire. So far we know, Carastes, Ventus, Neromenian, and now Vyrantium are all under the Qunari control.

Shadow Dragons: A Tevinter group that Neve Gallus helps; they apparently help people in need [this includes elves]. It’s not clear how and why, but seems to show, in contrast with the usually cartoonish evil Tevinter that we see, a group of Tevinters that want a better and kinder country. I guess it’s a concept that will be developed later in the DA:D game. 

Arlathan Forest

If we compare the Forest of Arlathan with all the strange things we saw in the Eluvian network but mainly in the Shattered Library [check the posts of the Crossroads in DA: Inquisition] we can conclude that they behave similarly, so we can assume that the Fade was deeply entangled with the forest, left to chaos when the Veil was created. This makes us pull a very easy conclusion with all the lore about Arlathan that we had via Solas and Felassan [read Felassan and bits of lore]: This Forest may have been where the original Arlathan was built. Thanks to some more-or-less “reliable” sources [read Tarohne, the Fell Grimoire, and Xebenkeck], we know this city was where the blood magic was originated, from a Seeker’s point of view [keep this detail in mind].

Thanks to Felassan’s words, we know this city was strongly dependent of magic, and potentially, of Fade itself [like the Shattered Library]. The unreliable tales of the Dalish claim that the city was “sunk” by Tevinter [read Arlathan’s codices in Ancient Elven codices; Din'an Hanin– Elgar’nan Bastion]. But on the other hand, we know that Solas colapsed a place where the Evanuris unleashed terrible things [read the main codex of “The Death of a Titan”], so there is potential lore that may link Arlathan as the place where terrible things were done by the Evanuris, and later it was collapsed, in similar fashion as we read about the The Horror of Hormak in the book. We also know that Arlathan seemed to be related to blood magic, which is a school that can produce horrors if misused [more details that may allow us to link it with similar horrors than the ones present in The Horror of Hormak ]. So, if Arlathan was sunk, or removed from existance [some people consider Arlathan is the Black City even though I can’t find any link or argument in favour nor against it], its magical nature may have been related to the Fade and, once removed/collapsed, it altered this place deeply, especially with the mofidications in the Veil that is experiencing now [Solas is performing a long-time spell to destroy the Veil].

Additional information can be found in the short story called Ruins of Reality:

We learn that Arlathan Forest has been behaving chaotically only recently, so we can suspect it’s related to Solas’ magic: he is performing a spell to destroy the Veil which takes some years [he implied that in Tresspasser’s ending, when he justifies that he helped the Inquisitor to avoid the Qunari invasion because he wanted to give Thedas some years of comfort before releasing the chaos that the destruction of the Veil will produce].

The forest shows alternate images of Strife; they are echos that have premonitory characteristics: they may show what is going to happen to him in few seconds.

Apparently, Strife is not a city-elf, but a Dalish from the clan Morlyn [but there are also implicit information linking him to the Excecutioners too, so maybe he “entered” the clan as a cover agent? It’s hard to specualte about Strife with the little info we have].

“His” clan had a leatherbound journal which started to write itself, describing sacred ruins in Arlathan Forest that guarded an artifact of fabled power. This is the crucious stone we see in the comic. Curiously, this journal sounds a lot like the book we find in a codex of DA2: The Emergent Compendium.

 One of the Veil Jumpers claims that this Forest is the Veil itself, and thanks to the short story, we can assume that these anomalies are recent: they have started since Solas may have begun the spell to destroy the Veil [every previous interpretration keeps making sense].

In Arlathan Forest, like in the Shattered Library [ Inverted Ward], we have places where we walk “upside down”.

However, there are effects that are unique of Arlathan Forest like spirits stealing your body, so you have to run after them for a good part of the path. Personally, this feels a bit of crappy lore. We never had lore in DA series that could explain or even suggest/suspect this, or could be close to this mechanism: possession [of a living creature] is a merge between the body’s soul and the spirit/demon, in the same body, and it’s hard to undo it. The Avvar have shown that it’s possible after an exhausting ritual [Sigrid’s quest explains about this part of the lore, check Stone-Bear Hold Avvars - Part 1]. Besides, this situation violates deeply the strong lore concept that possession cannot be performed unwillingly as we see it happens with Harding and Varric: they are not exactly informed to “allow” this temporal possession beforehand. One of the Veil Jumpers explains this only after Varric and Harding are “body-less” souls. Details like these make me question how much lore-consistent the DA:D game will end up being. Are we going to have a lot of crappy out-of-nowhere lore just to make a story that they can sell to new players while assuming the old ones are going to consume it no matter what? Anyways.

There are also parts where people age suddenly, because “time runs chaotically”. 

We also see a unique Varterral [details in DLC: Witch Hunt] that looks nothing alike the ones we know from the lore: 

creatures made out of stone and bark, that one can even suspect that they may be related to experiments similar to the ones performed in The Horror of Hormak. As usual, the Varterral is protecting something: in this case, the artefact [crucious stone] hidden in the ruined temple.

Finally, when we reach the Temple, two murals are seen: the central part of the famous “The Destruction of the Veil“ [without the figures of Meredith, Corypheus, and the archdemons], and another where we see two humanoids wearing dragon-like attires [Evanuris maybe?, one of them may potentially be Mythal?].

Mural of The destruction of the Veil 

This mural is the central part of the one we saw in the trailer promotioning the game under the name of Dreadwolf. A detailed analysis of it can be found in “The Destruction of the Veil“. 

This mural in this ruined temple may or may not be the same one we saw in the trailer, where Solas touches the wall. I have mixed feelings about this idea. On one hand, it makes sense that Solas may have reached this place in the Arlathan Forest and may have processed what he has to do through a mural, since it is his way to deal with his [lesser evil] decisions. We speculated about this in “The Creation of the Veil” and in “The Death of a Titan”. It’s also specualted in “The Dragon Slain” in  “The actions of the Inquisitor”.

Solas is a character who wanted to learn and teach more than leading rebellions and giving orders [Cole says this in Tresspasser in his line: "Bare-faced but free, frolicking fighting, fierce. He wants to give wisdom, not orders"]. He has been changing over the centuries as the Evanuris pushed the situation to a point of no turning back with the assasination of Mythal. Now, he has to destroy the Veil and unleash the sealed Evanuris to deal with them for good, and also to contain and erradicate the “true” evil that has been hidden behind the thickest barrier of DA lore: the true danger to the world contained in the Black City [considering how much he knows about The Blight and is against it, I imagine this ultimate evil is related to the Blight]. However, it is not clear if this mural is contemporaneous but looking old due to the chaotic nature of time inside the Arlathan Forest, or it’s indeed an old mural, painted ages ago.

In any case, the big difference between the mural we saw in the trailer and the one we see in the comic is that, in the later, there are no Corypheus, Meredith, nor archdemons. This detail made me wonder if this mural is as old as the temple itself. If so, it would mean that this was a “to-do-later” task; an “unstoppable” ending that Solas saw coming when he sealed the Evanuris. He may have known that this was a needed action that would requiere a solution eventually. He only borrowed time to Thedas.

If we think that he sealed the Evanuris in the Black City [with Andruil probably Blighted already, as her codex seems to suggest in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal], he may accidentally created the red lyrium, and put Great Dragons as guardians of the acess to this place [creatures who are resistant to the Blight but not immune, details in “The Creation of the Veil”]. One can suspect that Solas always knew that his creation of the Veil was a temporary solution, a trick to hold the big evil and give him time to plan and recover energy to truly deal with it in the future. For that, he needed the energy that the orb would gather for a millenia [but Corypheus wasted and broke].

Under this interpretation, the mural we see in the trailer would be a “redrawn” of the mural he did back in that time in the ruined temple of Arlathan Forest. In this recent version, he acknowledges two figures that were not a danger in ancient times: Meredith and Corypheus. Meredith somehow showed that Templars could use the power of the Red Lyrium [she showed how much power they can drawn from it; after all, Templars are the only ones who can use it without immediatelly die as common people do; we can conclude this from the many notes and codices related to experiments of red lyrium in Western Approach and Emprise du Lion]. Corypheus took the power of the orb and ended up destroying it. So now, Fen’Harel will need the help of the remaining Archdemons [if they are not blighted yet] and the remaining power of Mythal [within him], to erradicate the true Evil of the world [and avenge Mythal in the process? Flemeth wanted that for her].

So, in a short summary, we can assume two speculations about when this mural was drawn:

This mural was painted long time ago, probably by the time of the creation of the Veil and the caging of the Evanuris. Solas acknowledged that there was a bigger evil trapped in the Black City that should be eventually deal with it. This idea concords with the lack of figures such as Corypheyus and Meredith [they were not even born yet]. This speculation implies that Solas redrew this mural later [in the Dreadwolf trailer] with the additional characters who accelerated the need to deal with the Veil. I personally like this idea, although it adds inconsistency to previous interpretations [such as the potentiallity that the image of Fen’Harel with silvery-blue eyes was because he had absorved Mythal’s powers]. This could not be possible since back then, Solas was not aware that he will need to absorb Mythal’s powers to deal with this evil.

This mural was painted recently, but the chaotic nature of the Forest made it look aged and cropped parts of it, leaving only the central part of the original illustration. I don’t like this idea at all. The Magic of the forest is wild, but seems ridiculous to assume it can cut parts of a mural just because.

Mural of the Evanuris/Dragon priests

I suspect this mural shows dragon worshippers, or dragons in humanoid form. 

Design-wise, both characters have no way to show their ears or heads. We don’t know if that black thing is hair or decoration of their hats. We don’t know if they are elves either. Their sleeves have in their inner side a texture that may suggest “dragon/lizard belly/inner parts”

The green one has a face in her knee; similar design is seen in the Mythal’s Temple’s guardians and in Solas’s Fen’Harel’s attire.

The hat of the green one has strong similarity with the hat of the attire of the Tevinter Archon. Since Tevinter always worshipped dragons as gods [and the design of their clothes and cities are related to dragons most of the time, details can be seen in “outfit” section from Patterns and Styles: Tevinter], one may suspect that this char in green may be related to a dragon [because she is one of them or because she worships one]. This link makes me guess that Elvhenan worshipped dragons originally, until they took Divinity [dragon blood maybe?] for themselves. 

The shape of the hat of the green one is strongly related to Andraste’s helm and Flemeth’s staff too. In a less convincing way, it may be related to the strange figure in the Deep Roads that I called  moon head creature. This makes me suspect that the figure in green may be Mythal, giving comfort to another, in a motherly way, as she always was depicted. Mythal was also a [green] dragon so it does not contradict my previous statement.

The other figure wearing reddish attire has a hat with the shape of what I called Bull horn head creature. We even find an eluvian with this shape on its top that directs us to the Sundered Hall and Lower Archives in the Shattered Library. I can’t speculate who is this one. A wild, very wild speculation is the following: If the green one is Mythal, the red one may be Urthemiel, simply because Flemeth always wanted to protect Urthemiel’s soul in DA:O. But as you can see, it’s a super weak argument with no confirmation at all [and we know that Urthemiel’s symbols is not the Bull horn head creature, so this seems a very wrong speculation].

Since the strong similarity with the Archon’s attire and the lizard-like details of their sleeves, this image makes me suspect that these two characters are wearing dragon-icon outfits, probably related to worshipping dragons. I consider this because we can make an analogy with another culture of Dragon-worshipping: Tevinter has designs where normal Tevinter people wears Archdemons/Dragon iconography as part of their outfit [check “Outfits” section in Patterns and Styles: Tevinter]. 

If each Evanuris worshipped a dragon, and tried to imitate/earn their powers and shape [the shape of the divine], we know that Mythal did not need that since she was a dragon herself. This would imply that she was, alongside the other Old Gods, another Great Dragon that was part of the group that later was understood as the Old Gods/Archdemons. The fact that she represents herself may be related to the strange addition in DAI that may have existed a 8th dragon among the Old Gods that represented simply a dragon [Constellation: Draconis]. It’s worth noting that this 8th dragon is seen more as a serpentine dragon, and serpentine is the shape that Mythal took to fight Andruil [read the codex of Andruil in Ancient Elven codices, Temple of Mythal]. 

So, with all these details, I find myself inclined to think that these two were two Evanuris or two Old Gods. 

In the case of the Evanuris, they were worshipping or trying to have the “divine shape” [in an attire] of the dragons that controlled the skies when there was only “one song”. Dragons are, after all, “the blood of the world” [details in The Silent Grove, Those Who Speak, and Until We Sleep]

In the case of being Old Gods, the green one could be Mythal, considered the 8th Old God [the serpentine dragon] that was erased somehow, while the red one could be any other. One could suspect Urthemiel, but the shape of the hat has nothign to do with the symbol of Urthemiel that we know for sure. 

As a last speculation that has no arguments to sustain itself: another potential identity for the one in red may be Dirthamen. We saw in the Fade of Flemeth: Part 2, that she has a statue of Dirthamen in a central position, bleeding, and in a design that implies that he may have been betrayed too. Dirthamen is the only one with almost no codices and iconography in most of the game [since most of it is always co-opted by Falon’Din, the best example of it is the Temple of Dirthamen Part 1 - Part 2, which has no mosaic of Dirthamen, ironically]. I always had the impression that Dirthamen was the only other Evanuris who, beside Mythal, could work in a positive way with Solas. But that’s basically my argument here: the lack of negative narrations of Dirthamen against Mythal does not necesarily mean that they were allies. 

[angelasscribbles]

Complicated Couples: Applewood

Series: Hinge. for @choicesholidays Valentine's Prompt Event (Yes, I'm late!)

Fandom: The Royal Romance

Pairings: Various

Rating: Teen

Warnings: none

Wordcount: 4,242

A/N: There are EXTENSIVE author notes for this one and I would recommend reading them unless you've read Complicated recently and remember everything. See the author's note here. 

If you'd like a refresher on Madeleine and Cassie's relationship click here: Madi and Cassie.

Everything else: Master List.

Marco and Callie

The black SUV pulled up and stopped in front of the royal estate of Applewood Manor. Marco oversaw the unloading of Riley’s luggage, instructing that it be taken directly up to the royal suite.

His eyes darted from the butlers stacking suitcases onto the luggage carts to the area surrounding the estate. Tendrils of smoke still curled into the air, the once vibrant apple orchards now charred and decimated.

With the recent attacks, he, and the rest of the guard, were on high alert. He couldn’t let anything happen to their future queen on his watch. Not again.

He was lucky he still had a job after losing her in New York. Not that it had been his fault. He had simply followed orders. When Captain Walker told him to go get the car, he’d gone to get the car. How could he have known that a social media influencer was going to spot her and that Ana De Luca was going to drop that story early?

None of them, not even Captain Walker, not even the king, had seen that catastrophe coming. But all’s well that ends well, and he still had a job. One that he didn’t intend to lose.

“Bruno! Go find Lt. Fitzgerald and see if they need any help securing the perimeter then report back to me!” Marco was determined not to be caught unaware ever again.

He followed the luggage to the room the royal couple was staying in and personally swept it before allowing the butlers to bring the luggage in. Several maids appeared in the room to unpack and put the clothes away.

A familiar voice drew his attention, and his eyes, across the room. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her. It was the girl he’d met on the train the day before he’d left with the engagement tour for New York, “Callie, right?”

“That’s right,” she answered, “And you’re Marco. I remember. I haven’t seen you since the engagement tour left Paris.”

“I know,” he responded, “I was in the states, then there’s been a lot of…turmoil since getting back.”

“Yes, that’s true,” she acknowledged sadly.

He hated seeing her sad, so he changed the subject quickly, “So, are you working the royal wedding?”

“Actually, no,” she giggled, “I have the day off. I’m going as an invited guest!”

“Really?”

“Really!” she confirmed, “Lady Riley invited me!”

“Oh, that’s great! I’ll be working that day.” It was all hands on deck for the royal wedding. Literally, no one in the guard had that day off. Not even Captain Walker. Being the best man situated him perfectly to be up close, covert security for the ceremony.

“Okay,” she gave him a shy smile, “Maybe I’ll see you there.”

She turned to leave, and panic sliced through him, “Wait!”

“Yes?” She turned back toward him expectantly.

“I…uh…I mean…” he rubbed the back of his neck as he silently cursed himself for fumbling this so badly. He had no game. He just knew he couldn’t lose track of her again, “Would you…maybe want to go on a date…with me?”

The smile on her face and the sparkle in her eyes took his breath away as she replied, “Yes, I would like that very much.”

Alec and Max:

“Hey, Max, need help with that?” Alec reached for one of the three suitcases Max was dragging from the trunk of the Beaumont limo.

“Oh…I…uh, sure, thanks!” He had been planning to wait for the Applewood butlers but suddenly found himself with a burning desire to carry his own luggage.

“Are you planning to accompany the king on the rest of the unity tour?” Alec asked as he pulled the front door of the manor open.

“Yeah, Riley needs me there for support. I’m the closest thing to a brother she has. Well, me and Bertrand.” Max answered as he walked through the door and headed for the stairs.

“Right,” Alec nodded, “I’ve noticed that.”

Max’s head snapped up, “You have?”

“Of course,” he replied as they climbed the stairway, “It’s my job to be observant. I see a lot.”

“Oh, yeah, right,” Max pushed away the disappointment that swirled through him. Of course Alec wasn’t noticing him specifically, just things around Liam, because of his job.

“I’m So Good at Yoga” blared out of Max’s phone as they made it to the hallway at the top of the staircase and he tried to juggle the luggage while digging in his pocket.

“Here,” Alec took another one of the suitcases so Max could answer his phone.

“Thanks!” He pulled the phone from his pocket as they resumed walking and glanced down at the missed call then back up at Alec apologetically, “I should probably call back, it’s kind of my boyfriend…”

“Oh…you have a boyfriend?” There was something in his tone that made Max wish he didn’t have a boyfriend.

“Well, I mean, it’s not serious or anything!” Max said hurriedly, “We just went out a couple of times right before I left on the engagement tour.”

“You haven’t seen him since you’ve been back?”

“No, I’ve been…busy,” Max hedged. The truth was that Adam was hot as hell but as it turned out, they had very little in common. “What about you? Do you have a boyfriend? Or a girlfriend?” Max flushed from the tip of his nose down to the tips of his toes. Why would he ask Liam’s smoking hot personal guard about his relationship status?

“Well, it’s….complicated,” Alec answered.

“Isn’t it always?” Max asked rhetorically as he stopped in front of his room, “Well this is me, thanks again for the help.”

“Anytime, Max,” Alec pushed the door open and deposited the suitcases in the room. He hesitated in the doorway for a moment then gave Max a little wave before backing out into the hallway, “See you around.”

Leo and Liv:

“Oh, Leo! I didn’t realize you were here!” Olivia was shocked to find the older Rys brother wandering the halls of the Applewood estate.

“My little brother’s getting married, and my country is under attack! Of course, I came, Liv!” He huffed as if he were offended.

His defensive posture put her on the offense, “Well can you blame me for not knowing? You’re not exactly known for living up to your obligations.”

Leo looked like he’d been slapped, “That’s unfair, Liv! You know why I really left!”

Olivia flushed as she looked anywhere but his face. Liam’s coronation had been the first time she had seen him since the night he had chosen Madeline as his fiancé at the end of his own social season, and he had avoided her the entire night. She’d never gotten the chance to apologize, “Leo…should we talk?”

“What’s there to say, Liv? You walked out on me when I needed you most!” He turned to walk away. The memory of their breakup still stung a little too much.

“What if I wanted to say that I’m sorry? And I was wrong?”

He froze, his feet stuck to the hallway floor as his head turned to her in astonishment, “What?”

“I was wrong! I knew it the moment I walked out your door.” Her voice was almost a whisper.

“What are you saying right now, Liv? And I need you to be very, very clear because my heart can’t take anymore breaking!”

“I’m saying I was wrong…and….I want you back…” She studied the toe of her shoes, knowing and hating that her face was as red as her hair in that moment.

Hope surged in his chest, but he beat it back with logic as his face darkened, “Why? Because my brother is marrying someone else? I don’t want to be your consolation prize, Liv!”

“No, it’s not that!”

“What is it then?”

“Whatever residual feelings I had for Liam are long gone. And before you say it, this isn’t a rebound either! I’ve already done that! Don’t ask. My point is…You’re my best friend, you always make me laugh, and you’re the only one that really gets me, Leo. I…I love you!”

“Liv…I…I don’t know what to say…”

“It’s okay. I don’t expect you to forgive me. I just wanted you to know.” She wiped the tears from her eyes as she turned to hurry back to her room.

“Liv, wait!” He dropped his duffle bag on the floor and raced toward her.

She turned to face him and uttered a surprised, “Oh!” as his body crashed into hers. His arms went around her in a flash, keeping her from falling. She looked up into his sparkling ocean-blue eyes right before his lips crashed into hers.

Madeleine and Cassie:

Cassie walked back and forth in front of Madeleine’s door nervously twisting the butterfly ring on her right hand. Riley had given her the heads up that Madeleine had accepted the position as royal communications director, joined the unity tour, and would be at Applewood with them.

She hadn’t seen her since New York. After news of their separation broke, Madeleine had taken Liam up on his offer to take the royal jet home alone and send it back for the rest of the passengers. She had been in Fydelia licking her wounds in private until the unity tour had shown up on her doorstep.

Before she could work up the courage to knock on the door, it opened and she found herself face-to-face with the woman she had tricked and betrayed.

Madeleine froze as her eyes widened in surprise for a fraction of a second before the practiced haughty expression she used as her mask slammed into place, “What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been staying here since we got back from New York.” Given that the press had been hounding her for a statement about her now nonexistent relationship with the countess of Fydelia, Applewood had seemed like a good spot to stay out of the limelight. Reporters staked out the palace on a regular basis.

“Okay. Why are you skulking outside my door?”

“You haven’t returned any of my calls or texts!”

“Why would I?” Madeleine asked coldly, “You made it very clear the night of my bachelorette party that you were horrified by my behavior and done with me. Then you used my feelings for you to lure me to that restaurant in Paris so you could set me up!”

Cassie blew out a long exhale, “I did do that, Madi, and I’m sorry but-“

The ice princess façade crumbled as fury flashed across her porcelain features, “Don’t call me that! You lost every right to call me that when you conspired with Liam against me!”

“He’s my cousin!” Cassie’s voice rose, “I told you, in the beginning, I was on his side!”

“I wasn’t aware there were sides, Cassie! I was blindsided by that article! Humiliated! Disgraced!”

“Were you though?” Cassie shot back, “That article made you look like fucking Mother Theresa!”

“I…” Madeleine glanced up and down the hallway, “If we’re going to do this, come inside. I don’t broadcast my business to the world!”

Cassie walked past the blond as she held the door to her room open. She turned to face her, “Madi-Madeleine, I did what I did because Liam asked me to and because I knew it was the right thing for him to be able to marry for love! But also because I believed it would be better for you as well, to be free from your father’s expectations and the prospect of a loveless marriage!”

Madeleine slammed the door shut. “You had no right to make such decisions on my behalf! Trying to control what I do and how I live my life makes you no better than my father!”

“You’re right,” Cassie conceded, “that was just an excuse, to justify it to myself. I did what I did for Liam. I’m sorry it hurt you, but I’m not sorry Liam is free to marry the woman he actually loves! And I’m not sorry you’re free to be your true self as well!”

Madeleine stared at her in shock, “You think this is supposed to be my coming out story? That you did me a favor by blowing up my life? Liam and I both could have taken lovers! It’s more or less expected of royalty! Do not try and spin this as being for me in any way!”

“Fine, I won’t. I’m sorry I hurt you, Madi.”

“Whatever. Why are you here?”

“I just wanted to check on you…make sure you’re okay…”

Madeleine made a choking noise of indignation, “Oh, how benevolent of you! I’m fine! Great! Fucking perfect! So, you can get out now!”

“Madi-“

“I told you not to call me that!” She said through clenched teeth as she flung the door open, “Now get out!”

Bertrand and Savannah:

“Savannah, thank you so much for allowing me to see Bartie today,” Bertrand said stiffly as he stood in the grand foyer of the palace. He should probably be at Applewood supporting the king, but he had a date with his son.

“Of course,” Savannah replied, “I wouldn’t keep him from you, you know that!”

He bit down on his lip so hard he drew his own blood.

She noticed, “What?”

“It’s nothing,” he adjusted his suit jacket, “I don’t want to start an argument.”

Savannah crossed her arms and tilted her head to the side, “Just say it, Bert!”

With an exasperated sigh he brought his eyes to hers, “But you did Savannah! You did! You robbed me of the first year and a half of his life! My son doesn’t even know who I am!”

“I…” she faltered at the obvious pain and anger in his eyes and his tone, “I told you why I did that! I thought you didn’t want to be with me!”

“And I told you that’s not true!” he hissed at her, “but even if it were, how does that justify keeping my child a secret from me? People who aren’t together co-parent all the time, Savannah!”

“I…that’s true,” she relented, “I’m sorry, okay? I was hurt and scared, and I needed some time and space to figure things out!”

“Two years though? In two years it never once occurred to you to call me? Text me? Email? Drop a letter in the post? Let Maxwell tell me? My own brother betrayed me in service to your secrets!”

Tears pooled in her eyes, “It occurred to me every single day! I wanted to call you, Bert! So many times! You have no idea!”

His anger abated in the face of her tears, “But you didn’t because you thought I wouldn’t want to hear from you.” They had been having this exact same argument over and over since she had returned from France and taken up residence in her old set of rooms at the palace.

It had ripped his heart out when she told him he had made her feel worthless and unwanted. Not good enough for him.

Bertrand and Bartie were gradually forming a parent-child bond but he wanted more than weekends or the occasional Tuesday in the park. He wanted to be a full-time parent and he wanted the woman he loved back. He wanted it all. He just had no idea how to fix the mess he had made when he’d told her they couldn’t be together.

He’d done it to protect her but it had been the biggest mistake of his life. She still didn’t trust him and he was angrier than he wanted to admit about her running away and keeping his child from him. She claimed it wasn’t, but it certainly felt like a punishment for his apparent rejection of her.

They’d had a few conversations and a lot of arguments in the week or two she’d first been back, then Drake had gotten shot and her focus had been on her brother, as it should. Bertrand had stepped up and taken over parenting duties so Savannah could spend time with Drake at the hospital. They had made progress, but it was slow going.

Now that Drake had left the capital to attend the unity tour as part of the royal entourage, he had hoped they could get back to working on what had gone wrong between them. It wasn’t going well. But he loved her and he felt tremendous guilt over his actions that had set the whole fiasco in motion. “Do you love me, Savannah?”

“What?” She blinked up at him, face wet with tears.

“It’s a simple question. Put everything else to the side for a moment. We can focus on just co-parenting if that’s what you want. I want more than that, I want us to be a family. I want you, Savannah! But I need to know if you want it too, or if I should give it up as a hopeless fantasy. I love you and I’m willing to put in the work. I just need to know I’m not alone in this. Do you even want to fix things between us?”

It was the first time he had ever plainly said how he felt and she felt every wall she had put in place to protect her wounded heart start to crumble as she nodded her head, “Yes, yes, I want that very much!”

Constantine and Regina:

“I should be on that unity tour with Liam!” Constantine struggled to sit up in the queen size hospital bed that had been custom ordered for him. The orchards at Applewood had been burned. Liam was there and would be addressing the nation later today while he was stuck at the palace. He should be there guiding and supporting his son in his new role as king, especially during such turmoil.

The exact thing he’d been trying to prevent when he’d ordered Bastien to sabotage the American suitor. For all the good it had done.

“It’s okay,” Regina soothed as she fluffed his pillows and helped him lean back, “He understands why you can’t be there.”

“He doesn’t trust me anymore.”

“Do you blame him?”

“No,” he sighed in defeat. Constantine had only wanted to spare Liam the heartbreak that marrying a commoner would eventually bring him. At least that’s what he had believed when he’d set his plan in motion. He had made peace with his son and future daughter-in-law but he had regrets. He looked up into the face of his wife as he took her hand, “I’ve done things that I’m ashamed of, I’ve made mistakes, but marrying you wasn’t one of them.”

“I know,” she smiled softly at him as she squeezed his hand, “You know Leo is back.”

“Is he?”

“Yes, he came for the wedding.”

“Is he here now?”

“No, he went straight to Applewood to join Liam and Riley, but I made him promise to come here and see you once the tour leaves for Castelsarreillan.”

“Good, that’s good.” He would get a chance to set things right with his older son before he died, “Thank you, my love.  I don’t deserve you, I know that.”

“Hush,” Regina blinked back her tears as she leaned over to drop a gentle kiss on his lips, “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

Logan and Ellie:

Logan and Ellie stepped off the plane in Cordonia. They had flown in on a small, private jet with Rashad Faheem, the lawyer that had helped get Logan’s passport expedited.

Regular flights into and out of the country had been temporarily suspended due to the volatile nature of the current situation. It was the same reason Drake wouldn’t be there to greet them. He was with Liam at a place called Applewood. Some orchards had been burned or something.

Instead, they were approached by a woman with short-cropped dark hair and a dark suit. She was followed by several uniformed guardsmen, “Welcome to Cordonia. You must be Logan and Ellie. I’m Lieutenant Colonel Mara Levidis, I’ll be escorting you to the palace and getting you set up with your credentials.” She motioned to the guards behind her, “Let’s go! Lord Faheem, thank you for delivering them.”

“Not a problem Colonel,” he smiled warmly at her then clapped Logan on the back, “I have to get back to my office now, see you two around!”

Their luggage was taken by two guardsmen and they were escorted to a black SUV. “I can’t believe we’re going to live at a real-life palace!” Ellie whispered to him.

“It’s a whole new adventure,” he whispered back, taking her hand in his, “And I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else! You’re not just my girlfriend, Ellie, you’re my best friend! You know that, right?”

“I know,” she nodded, “and you’re mine.”

She wasn’t just his best friend either. She was his future and now that the charges hanging over his head were gone and there was an ocean between them and her father, he could make good on the plans that he had for them.

Based on the salary he had been offered as Liam’s personal driver, he was sure he could have enough money saved to buy an engagement ring by Valentine’s Day. He released her hand so that he could loop an arm around her as he leaned back into the leather seat and watched the Cordonian countryside fly past his window.

Bastien and Bianca:

“Thank you, Harvey,” Bianca took the bundle of mail from the letter carrier. The mailbox for the ranch was at the end of a two-mile-long private drive and Harvey often drove the mail to her door when there was a lot of it.

She closed the door and walked back into the kitchen, glancing up at the small TV mounted in the corner of the room as she made her way back to the table. She kept it there so she could catch up with the news and weather reports in the morning over breakfast and coffee.

Right now it was tuned to an international news channel. A reporter with a blonde bob stood in front of Applewood, the Rys family estate. Liam was scheduled to make a statement about the recent attacks in Cordonia.

Bianca was worried about her children. Especially Drake. Unrest was bad news for everyone, but her son was more at risk than most due to the nature of his career choices. He was a lot like his father that way.

She knew a lot of people looked down on her for abandoning her children after her husband’s death, but that wasn’t what happened.

Jackson Walker had been the love of her life. She had been there for her children as much as she had been capable of considering she had been drowning in an ocean of her own grief and despair. She’d done what she had to do when she made the decision to come back home. She couldn’t stay in the home she had shared with Jackson, and the ranch had needed her.

Leona had called her in the months following the funeral to tell her the ranch was going to be repossessed so she’d gotten on a plane, thinking at the time that it would be a short trip. Once she’d realized that the ranch needed her to stay, she had begged her children to join her, but they had refused, not wanting to give up the lives they’d built in the only home they’d ever known. Realizing they had already lost enough, she’d eventually relented and let them stay.

She sorted quickly through the mail, her heart stopping at the letter from Cordonia with the familiar slanting script on it. She tore the envelope open and scanned the contents.

She’d already been invited to the royal wedding, by Liam and Riley. She was one of the few people who knew that even though Riley would be walking down that aisle to Liam, she had already pledged her life to both of the men who would be waiting at the altar. There would be a separate, private, unofficial ceremony for Riley and Drake. It wouldn’t be legally binding, but it would be emotionally significant for them. She wanted to be there for that.

What she held in her hands though was not an official invitation to anything, but an impassioned plea to come to Cordonia and attend the royal wedding as Bastien’s plus one. His date.

She had not been completely unaware of Bastien’s unrequited feelings for her when she was married to his best friend and mentor. She was not ungrateful for the way he had stepped up and been there for Drake and Savannah, and for her after Jackson’s death. She also wasn’t without guilt for letting herself fall into his arms in the way of comfort on several of those long, dark nights and she certainly wasn’t without a bit of shame for the way she had ghosted him because of that guilt when she’d decided to stay in Texas.

Jackson Walker had been the love of her life. But Jackson had been gone for a decade and he’d want her to move on and live her life.

She tapped the letter against her palm for a moment before deciding that it was time to stop running from her past. She picked up her phone and dialed a number she hadn’t dialed in nearly ten years.

[anotherhawk]

Mechtober day 31 - favourite death

A/N: For personal reasons, today is not a good day for me to engage with the concept of permanent death. So....my favourite death? Ambiguous ones.

Jonny D'Ville had been a pirate for most of his extraordinarily long life, and so it should be no surprise that when he finally died, in a barfight, with laughter on his lips and a song in his mechanical heart, the ship of the dead, the Flying Dutchman herself came for him.

The dread ship towered over him, dark and immense, her engines fueled by the wailing souls of the damned, and Jonny smiled to himself as he caught sight of her captain - a twelve foot tall monster with knife like talons and rows upon rows of shining teeth.

"Good to meet you. I wonder, do you fancy a game of cards?" He pulled his old battered deck out from his vest pocket and waved it enticingly.

The captain's gaze was blank. Impenetrable. "YOU WISH TO PLAY FOR YOUR SOUL? I WARN YOU; BILLIONS HAVE TRIED. NONE HAVE SUCCEEDED."

Jonny laughed, the glee echoing unnaturally through the endless corridors of death. "My soul? Why would I give a fuck about that? No, I want to play for your ship."

*

Nastya stood at the edge of a vast and terrible desert and shivered. It was always night here, and her blood froze in her veins. She turned to the tall, skeletal man at her side. "And I have to cross it all alone? What is on the other side?"

The skeletal face managed to look long-suffering. "NORMALLY YOU HAVE TO CROSS ALONE. YOU...HAVE OTHER OPTIONS."

She blinked, and suddenly there was a dark and immense ship beside her, emerging from the sands as though it had always been there. 

A familiar figure posed dramatically atop the figurehead. "Need a ride?"

She felt her lips twitch, even as she rolled her eyes.

*

Neither of them were particularly surprised when the Flying Dutchman was enveloped by a familiar presence...when she began to change and grow.

Even if a ship has none of the same original parts, her soul may endure.

Jonny and Nastya stood shoulder to shoulder on Aurora's bridge, and set their course squarely into death.

* 

They found Ashes standing in the middle of a plain of grey ashes, a faint smile on their face. Whatever afterlife they had found, they'd plainly burned it down, leaving nothing but a handful of charred feathers.

All they would say on the matter was "Fucking self-righteous bastards with their stupid little harps."

*

The tree buried its roots deep into the ground, drinking in the ancient magics of Avalon. It was a tree, and as such its emotions were complex, but it could be translated as…contented. 

"Is that Brian? Why is he in a tree? How do we get him out?"

"You could try kissing him?"

"Why is that always your go-to answer in these situations?"

"Fine. Go ahead. Try your usual solution -"

"-do not shoot me," the tree interrupted, opening its eyes just to glare at them. "Also I'm not in a tree, I am a tree. Reincarnation."

"Oh." Jonny's gun was drawn, but thankfully 

he wasn't shooting yet. "Why a tree?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted, trying to ignore the way his branches were now glinting like metal. "It's either a punishment for all the piracy and murder, or a reward for putting up with you lot."

"Sounds really boring."

He huffed. "Now that's just rude. I don't make fun of the way you've chosen to spend your death, now do I?"

"You could, if you would like to."

"Want to come with us and see for yourself?"

It was pretty boring being a tree. And he'd missed his friends. "Oh, alright," Brian said, pulling his feet out from the ground.

*

Ivy's books appeared several days before Ivy herself. One day there was a blank wall, and the next there was an archway leading into an archive far larger than any the living world had ever seen, much of its contents either waterlogged or smelling faintly of smoke.

A few days later Ivy was standing by the shore, waiting patiently as the void washed up and down at her feet. "Ah. Good. There you are. You got the deliveries I sent on ahead, I trust?"

"Yeah. Books, books and more books. You couldn't have added something else? Like instruments, maybe? Ashes needs a bass."

Ivy raised an eyebrow. "Jonny. By my calculations everything that has ever lived is here somewhere. And we're pirates. I'm sure we can figure it out."

*

They raided countless afterlifes, looking for anything they needed or wanted, and somewhere along the line Tim came on board, dragging behind him a very confused young man whom he referred to as Bertie. 

Raphaella, they found standing in front of a large jackal, arguing about the relative weights of her heart and her feathers.

"I can assure you, I've weighed them both myself, multiple times. I know which one is heavier."

She gladly came on board, eager to conduct a thorough scientific exploration of death - and to try out the piano they'd stolen from the 

feathered fucker with the throne in the fun afterlife with all the torture.

Marius had, once again, found them, turning up on board with a violin in one hand and a diploma in the other. It was unclear whether or not he had even noticed he was dead.

"I am absolutely never going to call you doctor. You can forget that right now."

"Ah, ah, read right here. Doctor Baron Marius Von Raum is hereby awarded a doctorate - "

" - in music, not medicine. That doesn't count."

"What use is a doctorate in medicine? You're dead, Jonny, you don't need medicine. But with a doctorate in music I am fully qualified to tell you that your verse structure is derivative and -"

Jonny shot him. It changed nothing. Dead was dead, after all.

*

The Toy Soldier had pretended to be real for a very long time, and it had thought it was content with its decision to stop. So it was confused to find itself walking through an eternal void. It was rather like those times when its old friend Jonny had thrown it out of the airlock, but there were no stars to be seen...just void. 

There wasn't anything else to do, so it kept walking, singing quietly to itself as it went. It couldn't shake the feeling that it might just be the most real thing here, which was not at all a comfortable thought.

It could have been walking for days, or perhaps centuries, when it realised that a ship had pulled up alongside it. 

Jonny was leaning out of the airlock, hand stretched out towards it. "Where the fuck have you been? We've been looking everywhere. Ready to come on board?"

It felt warm.

*

Death didn't change. No matter what they did, what afterlife they raided, who they killed or rekilled, everything would go back to just the way it was. And for a group of formerly-immortal space pirates that could be very boring. So when a ghost started manifesting on their ship, everyone gathered to try and figure out what was happening.

At first it was just a hazy figure, barely visible for more than a few seconds. But bit by bit, day by day, it grew stronger - until Dr Carmilla stood in front of them.

There were deep black shadows beneath her eyes, and a beating heart in her chest, and she flickered in and out of existence as she looked them all over, smiling, until her eyes fell on Jonny. "I should have known."

He didn't return the smile. "What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Rewriting the laws of physics and metaphysics, and inventing a few new scientific disciplines to revolutionise.

I'm sorry it took so long. I started work as soon as I heard about your death."

"And what do you want?"

Her form rippled, but she squared her shoulders. "I wanted to do it right this time. Let it be your choice. There are so many worlds out there, and so many stories still waiting for you. The book may be closed for now, but we're storytellers, you and I. We can always re-open it. There's always another tale to be told."

She reached out a hand. 

Jonny grinned.

[four-loose-screws]

FE7 Novelization Translation - Chapter 9 Section 6

If you would like to start from the beginning, read a missed part, etc., click here!

FE Game Script Translations - FE Novel Translations - Original FE Support Conversations

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———————————

Chapter 9: Dragon's Gate (Section 6)

Eliwood, who’d just barely managed to escape, looked up at the charred remains of the Dragon’s Gate and said, “...What happened?”

Beside him were Hector, Lyn, and Elbert, as well as the siblings Ninian and Nils.

He took a moment to confirm that everyone was alright, then breathed a sigh of relief.

But he had not a second longer to relax.

“Grrr…! An utter failure!! That Nils! If only he hadn’t gotten in my way…!”

Now that the ceremony he’d long waited for had literally gone up in flames, Nergal’s anger reached its peak.

He glared at them with eyes full of hatred, then disappeared again into a teleportation circle. 

When he reappeared, he was next to Ninian and Nils. “...Come, you two!!”

“No!!”

“No way!! We’d never go with you!”

Nergal forcefully grabbed the two siblings.

Eliwood raised his voice in anger. “Stop, Nergal!!" He tried to unsheath his rapier as quickly as he could to attack Nergal - but he could not. Though his rapier should have been in its sheath, it was not.

The instant he looked around to figure out where his rapier had gone, he heard the sound of a blade stabbing into flesh.

“I cannot… let you do that!”

“Huh…!?”

Eliwood’s rapier was in Elbert’s hands. And the blade was stabbed deep into Nergal’s side.

“...You fool… I could never be defeated by the likes of you…”

“...As I said. I will never… allow you to do as you wish…!”

“...You… have outlived your usefulness… Guh…!!

Nergal cast a spell, pushing Elbert off of him. Then he looked down at the rapier in annoyance, pulled it out of his body, and cast it aside.

That seemed to have used up the rest of his power, as he disappeared into a teleportation circle alone, and left Ninian and Nils where they stood.

“Father!!” Eliwood rushed over to him.

Elbert warned his son, “...Eliwood, do not put your guard down. He will appear again…”

“I know. But, right now…. let’s get off this island… and return to Lycia.”

“This is… the end for me. …Eliwood, I leave… the rest to you.”

After being kept in confinement for so long, his body was weak, and his face was so white he looked as if the life once within him was gone. After everything he’d been through, his strike back against Nergal seemed to have squeezed his last bit of energy out of him.

Elbert no longer had any strength left to survive.

Eliwood would realize that soon as well. But he could not immediately accept it. After his long journey, they’d finally been able to meet. The fact that their meeting would be so quickly followed by their parting nearly made his chest tear open from sorrow.

“Please hold on! Mother… she’s waiting for you in Pherae!”

Elbert chuckled. “Ah yes, Elenora. She’s probably going to get mad at me again…”

Elbert pictured his beloved wife’s face, and his expression softened.

He’d been born and raised as the son of a marquess, then met Elenora and had Eliwood… His life was flashing before his eyes.

“Eliwood… Tell your mother… I’m sor…” Elbert’s words were cut short.

“No… Please don’t die… Father… Open your eyes…” Eliwood, unable to accept the truth in front of him, shook his father several times.

But Elbert did not respond.

Elbert, Marquess of Pherae, breathed his last, and vanished from this world.

“Fatherrrrrrrrr!!!"

Eliwood’s cries of grief echoed through the shrine like neverending raindrops falling from the sky.

[maximons]

Without You

Summary: Everything seems to be going alright for Wanda Maximoff, but a mission gone horribly awry makes everything crash and burn.

Word Count: 3,101

Genre: Angst

Requested?: Yes

Warnings: Graphic depictions of violence, mentions of blood, burns, scarring

A/N: Alright kids, you ready for angst time? My first full out angst fic, oh boy. This ones got no happy ending guys, so do with that what you will. This takes place during Civil War, so spoilers...? I guess? I’d say Happy Reading, but I don’t think you guys will be that happy by the end of this sooo good luck!

Lagos.

That’s the place where everything in Wanda’s life fell apart. Or at least fell apart even further than it had before.

Some of the team were out on a mission. You guys finally managed to track down Rumlow and his gang after about a year of searching. Everything was going fairly well, yes there was some collateral damage, and things didn’t exactly go according to plan, but overall, it looked like you guys would come out of this with a win.

And then, it happened.

Wanda and you had begun to jog up to Steve’s location, where you saw him stare Rumlow down. Something in you just told you that this wasn’t going to go well. You looked at the scene in front of you, and then your gaze fell onto the building behind it. It was too close for comfort.

“Babe, I’m gonna go check that building.” You turned to your girlfriend. “Looks like there could be a lot of people in there, I’m gonna try to get them out.” She looked at you, and then to the building briefly. Part of her wanted to question why when the fight was happening out here, but she knew in your line of work things can be unpredictable.

She nodded. “Okay, be safe.” You nodded back with a small smile, and pecked her on the cheek.

“Always am.” With that, you ran off.

It was only about two or three minutes after you ran in when things went to hell.

Rumlow pulled a pin on his vest, and Wanda reacted as quickly as she could, capturing him mid explosion in her magic. She lifted him up, trying to get him as far away from the people below as possible, but she couldn’t hold it anymore. The explosion went off.

Blowing a huge hole into that building.

Wanda stood there, shocked for a moment over what just happened. Her hand came and slowly covered her mouth, mind going over all the damage she just caused. She vaguely heard Steve calling for fire and rescue, and then it hit her.

You were in there.

“Y/n...” She whispered, still in a state of shock, but she quickly snapped out of it and sprang into action. “Y/n!” She heard Steve yell for her to wait, but she didn’t care. She took off, flying up and landed in one of the building’s destroyed floors.

She did her best to ignore the carnage around her, carnage she caused. She pushed down the bile that was rising in her throat, and continued her search for you. 

And then she found you.

You were a super soldier, so luckily you didn’t die from the blast, she could still feel your pulse. But you didn’t look good.

You were lying on the charred floor, unconscious. Half of your suit was burned off, leaving nasty burns all on your arm and torso, some even creeping up your neck and face. Blood also dripped down from an open wound on your temple.

Wanda couldn’t bring herself to care about your appearance, though. You were still alive, and that’s the main thing she cared about right now.

“Don’t worry.” She sobbed out, hand gently caressing your unburned cheek. “You’re okay...you’re gonna be okay...” She tore her gaze away from you for a minute, and looked around. Tears falling at the sight of multiple bodies, people who weren’t as lucky as you.

People who were dead because of her.

“...I’m so sorry...”

The next week was chaos.

You were brought to the compound’s medical facility immediately, doctors working fast to try and save your life. They managed to stabilize you, now it was just a waiting game as to when you would wake up. Wanda would visit you everyday, barely being able to leave your side. Steve managed to convince her that she needed to rest, saying that you wouldn’t want to see her neglecting her needs. She hesitantly complied, and finally went to her room to sleep for the night.

The next morning, the news started reporting the incident.

And of course they blamed her.

Logically, Wanda knew this wasn’t entirely her fault. Rumlow was the one who turned himself into a bomb. She was just trying to save the lives below. That thought brought her little comfort though.

She was still responsible for the lives lost in that building. She was still responsible for you, the love of her life, being severely injured and in a coma.

Maybe they were right.

Steve didn’t let her wallow in that thought for too long though, because he shut the TV off. He sat down and gave her one of his hope speeches, and she appreciated the effort, but she didn’t want to hear it.

“It’s my fault.” She whispered. “All of those people, dead because of me...and Y/n...” She trailed off, tears forming in her eyes. Steve placed a hand on her leg, trying to comfort her.

“You know...she doesn’t blame you, I know she doesn’t.”

“Maybe she should...they all should.”

Steve couldn’t get anything else out, as Vision phased in the room and told them of the arrival of Secretary Ross.

As if things couldn’t get any worse, he had told them about the Sokovia Accords. Wanda hated the idea, forcing heroes to register with the government, essentially making them puppets for them. She knew you would hate it too, you never were one to trust the government.

“Look, we understand where you’re coming from, but if it weren’t for us, there’d be a lot more blood spilled.” Sam argued.

“Tell that to the innocent civilians in that Lagos hospital building.” Ross argued back. “Oh wait, you can’t.”

“If it weren’t for Wanda, hundreds of people in the streets below would have been killed.” Steve cut in. “If it weren’t for Y/n, hundreds of more people would have been in that building.”

“And look where that landed her.”

Wanda had enough. She shot up from her chair, and stormed out of the room.

She went straight to your hospital room, your still unconscious body covered in bandages. She pulled up a chair beside your bed, hand going to grip yours. She tried to speak, but couldn’t bring herself to form the words. So she just rested her head on your joined hands and cried.

The next few weeks saw the Avengers falling apart, divided over the accords. Wanda was especially disappointed in Natasha’s decision, given that you two were best friends. 

Wanda hasn’t left the compound. Most of her time was spent visiting you and sleeping as best she could. Your burns had begun healing, but barely. They still left pretty nasty scars. Your breathing had improved, which satisfied the doctors. They had said you could wake up any moment now, Wanda just hoped it was soon.

The next day, Wanda walked into the kitchen to find Vision cooking. She found that odd, since she knew he didn’t eat, but he explained that he was making it for her. You used to cook for her a lot, and after a few disasters, you finally got the recipe down. Vision’s was no where near as good as yours, but she appreciates the effort.

After a conversation about their powers and their fear of them, Wanda volunteered to go to the store to pick up some paprika that would greatly help the dish. Vision stopped her.

“Vision...are you not letting me leave?”

“It’s a matter of safety.”

“I can handle myself.”

Vision stopped her again. “Not yours. Mr. Stark would like to avoid the possibility of another public incident.”

Wanda looked at the synthezoid in disbelief. “I’m not an out of control time bomb. It was an accident.”

“I know. I do, but...you powers are very unpredictable. You are also...vulnerable. My scanners have indicated you are, how you say, ‘on edge’. You have been ever since Miss L/n was admitted in the medical wing.”

Wanda’s gaze turned into a harsh glare. “I know that human emotion is a foreign concept to you Vision, but trust me, if your girlfriend was ever put in a coma because of you...being ‘on edge’ is the least you would be.”

Without waiting for a response, Wanda turned around and stormed off. She headed to the one place that her feet often dragged her to the last weeks. Your bedside. 

She sat and took a hold of your hand. She stared at you for a moment before she spoke. “Hey, baby. Things have been...hard without you to say the least. Not that this wouldn’t be hard anyway, but everything is falling apart. These stupid accords are ruining everything. Tony has become a government pet, Nat joining him, Steve is off doing who knows what, and now...I’m locked in.” She paused. “You know, as much as I wish more than anything that you were awake and by my side right now...part of me is glad that you wouldn’t have to see your family fall apart like this. It’d break your heart...” She stayed for a few more moments, staring at your face and taking in your features once again. She then leaned down to kiss your hand. “I love you.” With that, she left.

Later that night, Wanda was back in the main room of the compound. You still haven’t woken up, she just learned she was essentially on house arrest, so she was trying to find ways to find ways to distract herself. She was reading a book, when she heard a loud explosion go off outside. She walked over to the window to take a look, Vision joining her a few moments later.

“What is it?”

“Stay here please.”

Wanda was left alone for a moment, before she felt a presence behind her. She quickly grabbed hold of the knife on the table, and flinging it towards the new presence. She halted it when she saw who it was.

Clint.

The next few minutes passed by like a blur. Clint was convincing her to come help Steve, Vision came back in but was trapped, Wanda hesitated and Clint gave her one of those hope speeches. She was about to decline, before he said one last thing.

“You know, if Y/n was awake...I know she’d side with Steve, and she’d only hope you’d do the same.”

Was it manipulative? Possibly, but he was also right. You would have sided with Steve, no question. Doing what you could to help. She thought on it for a few more moments, before she nodded. They were about to leave before Vision broke free. The two men fought, and before she knew it, she was sending the synthezoid several floors down and into the ground. 

She went to her room, quickly packing her suit and anything else she thought she would need. She went back out to meet Clint, about to leave, but she stopped.

“Wait! I gotta see Y/n first.” 

Clint sighed, but knew he couldn’t deny her of this. “Alright, make it quick.”

She booked it to your hospital room. You were lying there, same as you have been for a while. She quickly surged forward grabbed your hand, not bothering to sit. She knew they didn’t have time.

“Alright, baby. I’m gonna go out for a bit, okay? I’m not sure when I’ll be back, but...I’m going to do what’s right. I’m going to fight. I finally ‘got off my ass’ as you would say.” She chuckled, but it held no real joy behind it. “I just hope you’d be proud of me...and I just hope that I can come back to see you-”

Wanda cut herself off when she felt you begin to move. All of a sudden your face shifted, and you began to turn your head. 

“Y/n?...”

You began to open your eyes slowly, head slowly lifting off your pillow. Your eyes looked around, trying to adjust to the brightness of the room. Before you could even look at Wanda though, you began coughing. 

Wanda rushed to poor you a glass of water, knowing your mouth would be dry from not using it for a while. She handed it to you, quickly, and you slowly raised your hand to take it. As you began to drink, Wanda couldn’t help but smile. You were finally awake. She was beyond relieved. She was put in a rough spot now, she knew she had to meet Clint so they could go, but...you were finally awake. She couldn’t leave you.

“Wanda, we gotta go!” She heard Clint yell, and without tearing her eyes away from you, she yelled back.

“In a minute! Y/n just woke up!”

She didn’t hear a response from the man, but she heard footsteps quickly making its way towards your room. 

You finished drinking your water and placed the cup on the bedside table. You began to try to sit up, but Wanda rushed to your side to help.

“Here you go, easy.”

When you fully sat up, you took in the appearance of the woman next to you. You smiled. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” She breathed out. You looked her in the eyes, smile still on both your faces. But, Wanda’s smile dropped instantly at the next words that came out of your mouth.

“Sorry, hi, I’m Y/n. You probably already knew that though.” You chuckled nervously. “Are you one of the nurses?”

Wanda froze. No. This couldn’t be happening. The doctors told her that Amnesia was a possibility since you hit your head on impact from the blast, but it never seemed like a real threat. She stared at you, jaw slacked for a few more moments.

“Um, hello?...Oh! Are you my doctor? Sorry, I didn’t mean to assume.”

Wanda snapped out of it when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned her head to see it was Clint. You spoke up again before she could say anything though.

“Oh, hey, are you a nurse? Or doctor?”

Realization filled Clint’s face, but he held it together. He simply shook his head.

“Oh...so, is someone supposed to help me or...?” You trailed off. 

Clint looked to Wanda, who was still in shock, tears beginning to form in her eyes. He knew he had to take over, get them out as soon as possible. “Sorry, Y/n. We’ll get your nurse to come and check on you. Glad to see you’re awake.” Before you could respond, he quickly rushed out of the room, pulling Wanda with him.

Wanda finally let herself break down, and cried in the van. She barely had time to process everything before they picked up a man name Scott and flew to the airport to meet Steve.

Steve broke down the plan and the team went separate ways to suit up and get in position. Except Wanda. Steve was about to go get himself ready, but paused when he saw the witch frozen in place.

“Wanda? You okay?” Wanda simply shook her head and looked up at him, he could see the tears in her eyes. “What happened?”

“Y/n woke up.”

Steve raised his eyebrows in shock. “She did? That’s great-” He was cut off when Wanda let out a sob. He then put two and two together, something was wrong. “...What was it?”

“She...doesn’t remember anything...doesn’t remember me...”

Steve sighed. He was saddened by the news as well, you and him were very close, both being super soldiers and all. He couldn’t even imagine what Wanda was going through in this moment though, so he put on a brave face. He went over to the witch and wrapped an arm around her. “Y/n is strong...when this is over, we’ll go see her and start-” Steve was cut off again when Wanda shook her head.

“Steve...you and I both know this isn’t gonna end with us just being able to go back...” She looked up at him. He was about to speak up again, when he heard Sam in his ear.

“Cap, Tony and Rhodey are flying in now. You good to go?” 

Steve looked to Wanda, knowing she heard him too since they all had coms. She nodded. “On my way.” He turned to leave, before giving Wanda one last look. “Whatever happens, it’ll be okay.”

It wasn’t.

The fight at the airport was beyond tiresome, and they lost. Steve and Bucky got away to handle the other Winter Soldiers, but the rest of the team was captured.

So now here she was, sitting in a cell in a high security prison in the middle of the ocean...with a straight jacket and shock collar on. Wanda couldn’t even be upset about it. She was numb. She’s already lost everything she possibly could. Her parents, her brother, her country, and now...you. She couldn’t bring herself to care whether or not she wasted away in this cell. Maybe she deserved to.

But of course, she couldn’t even have that for long, as Steve broke them out a few days later.

Up on the quinjet with Steve and the rest of the team, she sat alone, staring out the window watching the dark clouds pass by. After a few moments, she felt a presence next to her. She looked over to see who it was. Natasha.

“What are you doing here?” Wanda asked, looking back out the window. 

“It’s a long story.” She answered. “Steve told me what happened, I...I’m not even sure what to say. I am so sorry Wanda.” Wanda merely nodded, not trusting her voice right now. Natasha took a deep breath and continued. “Y’know...I can pull some strings, the ones I have left anyway. Get Y/n relocated to be with us. I know she doesn’t remember anything right now, but-”

“No.” Wanda cut her off, surprising the redhead.

“Wha...what do you mean ‘no’?”

Wanda had thought about it, she’s thought about it the entire time she was in the Raft. She would love nothing more than to see you again, to hold you and help you on your recovery, but...she couldn’t. She was a wanted fugitive now, and you were only in this predicament because of her...she had to be selfless here. She couldn’t bring you into this life, not when you were missing chunks of your own.

“I mean no.” She said, looking up into Natasha’s eyes, tears pooling in her own. “She’s better off.”

And with that, Wanda got up, walking towards the back of the jet to be alone. She took a deep breath, and prepared herself. Preparing herself for a new life as a fugitive on the run. And most importantly...

Preparing for a life without you.