dragxnsfire

[dragxnsfire]

He'd noticed his cousin-by-Mara's absence only when he'd turned to tease the typically-stern Redoran, his smile falling as he saw the unlocked door. So, with a sigh and an easy smile, Urnarseldo dismissed himself, leaving their shared family to enjoy the holiday away from it all; he took up two bottles of ale— not particularly good ale, but it was far better than the swill he'd been served in the Guild— and first poked his head out the door, before following Sulkan's well-worn track to the stump. The sudden movement, the flash of metal and Sulkan's hand flying to his blade— they all made the Vestige fumble, nearly dropping the drinks he'd thought to bring. "Nobody!" he said, an easy smile returning as he moved closer to the other mer, "Just a man who'd like to remain in one piece with the refreshments he brought his cousin." He moved toward the Dunmer, knocking a small log toward the stump his cousin-by-Mara had found to sit upon, and plopped down. "Here— you seem like you could use this." He popped the cork on the one he brought for Sulkan, before turning his attention to his own. "You seem restless," he said, gazing out into the dark forest beyond, "even when you should be resting. You work hard, Sulkan. I can see it, Hal can see it— you deserve a break, whether you believe it or not." "But," Seldo said slowly, tapping the mouth of the bottle to his lip, "if you want something to do, perhaps I could come up with something."

@dragxnsfire ; starter call

All the world he had traveled, all the ruins he’d excavated, all the places he’d trespassed; why did this place feel so strange? It was meant as a holiday— Halanor had insisted, and refusing him felt cruel, but Redorani didn’t take well to idle time. He began walking. Already now a slight trail could be seen around the home’s perimeter from just how often he excused himself. They were family, all of them gathered here, and it felt wrong to be too close to that. Like a pebble on still water.

The Dunmer rested on a stump along that little path he’d started, sitting cross legged as he stared blankly at his laced fingers. With a sigh, his hands came apart as his reached to scratch his chin. The silence in his mind only broken by the gentle rustling of twigs and pebbles, Sulkan bouncing up with a hand already against the hilt of his blade,

“Name yourself!”

[dragxnsfire]

It was an odd thing, watching the older mer putter about her little shrine, the one she should have been caring for— and, to her credit, did care for (at least for a time) after her grandparents’ passing. Her great-grandfather had shown her the rites, how to keep it clean and cared for, when he’d come to Skyrim for their funeral and to return their ashes to the family crypt back east. She tried to push from her mind, though, how he'd begged her to return to Blacklight with him, how he'd told her there was no future for one such as them in the province of Men... how very wrong he'd been about his little doom-driven Dragonborn. "I told you," she said, letting Moraelyn take her hand, and flopping to the ground at his side (not unlike an angry little rag-doll), "I have tried everything. I used the bowl, and the ash-yams, and their stupid leaves—" A gray finger poked into shined brass bowl, rubbing at the hackle-lo residue that stuck to it when she pulled it back. "If we're outside in a blizzard, their 'house' must be in... I dunno, Anvil, or something." His instance on kindness, his reassurance... it made her squirm. A hand reached up, rubbing the back of her neck as a shoulder rose and fell. "Anyone would have. Or, anyone should have. We're alone in this snow-covered pocket of Oblivion. We have to look out for each other, right? That's what my Grand-ata used to tell me, anyway." The smaller dunmer was silent as she watched the elder go about his business with the shrine, only giving a quick gasp as he spilled his own blood to make this odd little ritual work. Hopefully. She popped up for the briefest of moments and dug through her grandparents' old belongings, finally finding gauzy linen for the wound. Haleth nodded slowly as she returned to her seat, leaning forward to look into the bowl once again. The scent of the herbs made her nose itch, as did the smoke... but Moraelyn sounded so sure of it all. Like the priests in the Temples, or the guard captains talking to their men. "The faster we try, the sooner we can eat," she said with a sigh, and dipped her head. "So... alright." She closed her eyes, and remained quiet— though a ruby red eye soon cracked open, looking up to the once-priest. "Is something supposed to happen now?"

His eartips flicked upwards ever so slightly, his brow releasing a little of its unconscious tension at her begrudging acquiescence.

“It is not that they do not care for you, Haleth,” Moraelyn assured, reaching into a tied pouch at his waist for a stub of candle, an old but well-shined brass bowl, a little twist of dried hackle-lo bought dearly from a Riften spice trader. “To hear the calls of the living can be very difficult. It is like…” He brushed aside the dust that had gathered upon the Waiting Door’s offering table, setting forth the bowl carefully at the very centre as he reached for a fitting analogy for Haleth. “…Like being inside by the fire, while a lost child calls out through a howling snowstorm. Though he cries for help, his voice alone simply is not enough to make out above the wind. But we can make it easier for them to hear us.”

Moraelyn folded his fingers lightly around Haleth’s hand, drawing her with him before the Waiting Door with the patient imploring of a Temple tutor. “You have been kind to me.” He smiled  for her with gently-hidden teeth, truer than most of his smiles. “Let me do you so much favor in return. I could hardly live with myself if I did not help you with this.”

And that was not a lie, true. He did not lie to children– though Haleth would no doubt bridle at the categorization– and every child deserved the comfort and protection of their family’s shades. 

His own living blood bought only so much proof of lineage, however; even when spilled in desperation upon the offering plate to amplify his intent, without anything else to anchor his beseeching to specific ancestors, his summoning rituals were unstable. He made of himself an open door to… Anything. 

A door snaps open. A light shines. Skin prickles. Time slides sideways…

Kneeling upon the rug before the altar, jaw tensing against the barbs time had sewn into his joints, he gestured to the offerings laid out before them. “Smoke, fukahn, to please the spirits. Candlelight, hla-sil, to draw their eye. Their relics, deif kulint, to call them by name. Our blood, molkhun, which calls to itself.”

The fragrant hackle-lo rustled and crackled between his fingers, crumbling some into the bowl at the centre. His sister used to help him fill the beshe’m, crushing up the leaves and spices in pudgy toddler’s fists. He allowed himself a moment to breathe in the scent.

“Do you wish to start?”

[dragxnsfire]

|| !!!! should also put Myn's gif on here (not sure why it's so choppy but oh well)

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|| another gif of Seldo

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|| The dye is cast and the game I've put a year and a half of my life into is announced ✨✨ I can't believe I can finally talk about this silly little game and my tree man son 😭

[dragxnsfire]

|| Myndilon Sancrevar, Knight-Paladin of Meridia, Beholden to the Radiant Lady

[dragxnsfire]

tw negativity and winter stress under the cut

so uh..... anyone know how to get a car unstuck from the snow

the roads were plowed so i thought i'd go pick a few things up from the store

thirty minutes later and i've had a meltdown, used a whole box of kitty litter, and my car is still stuck in the driveway and i can't move it

naturally, i have no things from the store.

(and my stupid little plastic snow shovel isn't doing shit for the layer of ice under the snow)

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|| listening to the wicked soundtrack made me think so much about haleth at the college of winterhold. for some reason hehe

[dragxnsfire]

Tw grumbling under the cut

Can tes.blr get this mk fetish art of sotha sil out of the latest in his tag already pls and thanks

Do not get why this guy is so popular with a group of m.orrowind fans but. Sigh.

[dragxnsfire]

Send [ APPROVAL ] + (a decision that your muse is making), and I'll tell you whether the action GAINS approval from my muse, LOSES approval from my muse, or if approval is left UNCHANGED. ♡

[dragxnsfire]

[dragxnsfire]

|| not to be cringe oc x canon on main but seldo x tanlorin.... EDIT you better believe he's still thinkin about them in 4e201. they'd laugh at him.

[dragxnsfire]

Btw I’m still around, still lurking and vibin— just neck deep in veil.guard ^^; def gonna try to shake out some muse for tes things this weekend tho

[dragxnsfire]

|| I won't talk too too much more about it (mostly because I'm exhausted and numb and can't think straight) but please reach out if you need to vent, or have a cry together. Discord'll be open, dms too

[dragxnsfire]

hey if you're trans in the us i love you. hey if you're queer in the us i love you. hey if you're a person of color in the us i love you. hey if you're a woman in the us i love you. hey if you're disabled in the us i love you. i love you i love you i love you

[dragxnsfire]

|| I just described haleth as 5' even of this and I think everyone should know. it's her Defining Trait tm

[dragxnsfire]

|| veilguard got me hyped to drag runilaros into a dragon age verse