#I love Fjord too! What a guy.

[c-kiddo]

cr2 rewatch is just over and over listening to cad say or do a thing and being like oh hes disabled for Real

[padfootagain]

Love in Verses (XIX)

Chapter 19: ‘I knew winter cold like the nuzzle of fjords at my thighs’

Hi! Here is new chapter! Today's chapter contains... an update on Saoirse and Sean, a man a little controlling in the kitchen, poetry, and our best boy Elwood!

I hope you like this chapter! Tell me what you think!

****

Pairing: Hozier x fem!reader (professor!AU)

Warnings: slow burn, angst, hurt, hurt/comfort, tooth-rotting fluff in later chapters, some scenes in later chapters will have heavy sexual themes even if it’s not explicit nsfw description, so minors here

Summary: Your life seems perfect. You're engaged, your career is thriving as you become an assistant professor at Trinity College, and this Andrew Hozier-Byrne you're sharing an office with seems to be a nice guy you hope to call a friend soon. Life seems to be smiling at you... until everything goes sour. When your fiancé breaks up with you, your perfect world shatters. And when your colleague also gets his heart broken soon after, your shared office seems to be a curse rather than a blessing. But Andrew seems determined to mend your broken hearts... Will things finally go according to plan?

Word Count: 3119

Masterlist for the series – Hozier’s masterlist – Main masterlist

Bog Queen

I lay waiting between turf-face and demesne wall, between heathery levels and glass-toothed stone. My body was braille for the creeping influences: dawn suns groped over my head and cooled at my feet, through my fabrics and skins the seeps of winter digested me, the illiterate roots pondered and died in the cavings of stomach and socket. I lay waiting on the gravel bottom, my brain darkening, a jar of spawn fermenting underground dreams of Baltic amber. Bruised berries under my nails, the vital hoard reducing in the crock of the pelvis. My diadem grew carious, gemstones dropped in the peat floe like the bearings of history. My sash was a black glacier wrinkling, dyed weaves and phoenician stitchwork retted on my breasts' soft moraines. I knew winter cold like the nuzzle of fjords at my thighs– the soaked fledge, the heavy swaddle of hides. My skull hibernated in the west nest of my hair.

Which they robbed. I was barbered and stripped by a turfcutter’s spade

who veiled me again and packed coomb softly between the stone jambs at my head and my feet.

Till a peer’s wife bribed hil. The plait of my hair, a slimy birth-cord of bog, had been cut

and I rose from the dark, hacked bone, skull-ware, frayed stitches, tufts, small gleams on the bank.

Seamus Heaney, North, 1975

Saoirse reckoned that at this stage, there was more caffeine in her organism than blood, or water, or any other normal component of her body. She was made of cheap coffee, her brain buzzing with chemicals and lack of sleep. At this point, her entire body was trembling…

By her side, Sean wasn’t much better. He had been procrastinating, and now he was paying the price with too much to be done in too little time.

Damn, exam season was something else… A new kind of hell, no doubt…

The library was about to close, that was how late it was. They gathered their stuff five minutes before closing time, and headed for the night. The cold burned Saoirse’s cheeks, although for once it wasn’t raining. It was snowing, instead… how great… she could get frozen and wet…

“Christ’s sake, don’t tell me it’s fucking raining again,” Sean complained behind her.

“It’s snowing.”

“No better. God, my feet are gonna be soaked.”

She looked down at his old boots, the leather visibly tired.

He heaved a sigh.

“Want to eat something before we go to our dorms?”

“A burger. Something that will give me diabetes and cholesterol just by looking at it.”

“Fuck yeah… extra fries too.”

“Of course!”

She almost slipped as they climbed down the few steps leading to the library, and Sean held her hand to steady her. They were both wearing gloves, and yet she felt warmth spread through her fingers as he held her. At the bottom of the steps, they didn’t let go, merely walked across the campus in silence, their feet making the thin layer of white snow crack under each of their steps. It was late, barely anyone was around anymore. Streetlights were tainting the snow a yellowish white, and the world was quieter than usual. It was a special power of the snow to make the world slow down, to make everything quiet. Saoirse was thinking about her exams though, about the book she had to finish for your class, about the notes she had to read again about Yeat’s poetry, and there was this essay she had to finish…

Both of them looked up when a voice rose over the stillness of the night.

“ANDY! LOOK! IT’S FUCKING SNOWING!”

Saoirse recognised you instantly, you were hurrying out of a building, arms spread open and face up to meet the falling snowflakes. You were laughing.

And then another silhouette came out of the same building as you, so tall it was easy to recognise Pr. H-B. He was laughing too, watching you enjoy the snow, his deep voice rumbling through the night.

“I see that,” he nodded, readjusting his man bun under his beanie.

“I hope it won’t melt too fast,” you pouted, looking at the white that covered the grounds, the leaves of the bushes, the empty branches of the trees, the wooden benches. “I want to make a snowman. And a proper one!”

“I want to send a snowball right into your face.”

You exploded with laughter, and he broke into a teasing grin.

“And I thought you were a peaceful lad!” you teased, reaching up to pinch his side, which made him giggle more like a boy than a grown man.

“Never said that I was!”

“You softy…”

You shook your head at him, let the snow fall on your cheeks and your closed eyelids again. Nor you nor Andrew seemed to have noticed Saoirse and Sean though, as they slowly kept on walking across the grounds, looking at their professors’ silly behaviour from afar.

“Christ, I’m freezing… let’s go! I’m starving.”

“So, you’re really going to cook for me tonight?”

“Yeah, I can make you something decent,” Andrew nodded, already turning in the direction of the carpark.

He groaned.

“God, I have to take Elwood for a walk. Fuck…”

“We can go together! It’ll be fun!”

“It’ll be fun to freeze our arses outside? Don’t worry, I’ll do it. You’ll catch your death.”

Saoirse saw you bending over a bench to gather snow in your hand. Not much, but a handful. You crept behind Andrew, went on your tiptoes before pulling on his scarf and pressing the snow against the back of his neck. He yelped, jumping in surprise and cursing like a sailor while he wiggled to get as much snow out of his scarf as he could, while you laughed so hard you were bending over and losing your balance.

“Fuck you!” he groaned, and yet there was a breathy laughter in his voice. “I’ll pay you back for that…”

He hurried towards the nearest bench, gathered some snow as well, but you were running off already, laughing. He ran after you, laughing as well, and managed to throw his snow ball to hit the back of your head. You yelped and doubled with laughter at the contact, but then you slipped, were falling on the icy ground.

Saoirse and Sean both gasped as they saw you falling, but heaved a relieved sigh when Andrew bent down and managed to catch you before you would hit the ground.

“Christ! You’re okay?” he asked with genuine worry, and you looked up at him as he pulled you upright again.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Thanks,” you mumbled as you found back your footing. “That was a nice shot, by the way.”

“One of my many talents, I’m a killer in snowball fights.”

“Your tall arse also must make for a very good target.”

“Depends, I can easily disappear. I just pretend to be a scarecrow, nobody notices me.”

You laughed at that, and so he smiled.

“Let’s go home,” he spoke in a softer tone.

Saoirse noticed that he was still holding onto your arms, she noticed the longing that appeared across his features for a moment when you pulled away, the way he stared at you as you started walking again, babbling about dinner and hoping he wouldn’t poison you. And then he blinked, seemed to find back the use of his muscles, and followed you.

Saoirse stared at the pair of you walking away, a smile forming on her lips.

“What are you thinking about?” Sean asked, noticing mischief in her eyes.

“He likes her.”

“What?”

“H-B. He has a crush on Y/L/N.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Haven’t you seen what just happened? The longing?!”

But Sean blinked, and she heaved a sigh as she pulled him further across the grounds, aiming for the large portal and the busy street of Dublin.

“Men…” she mumbled, shaking her head.

“ELWOOD!”

You had barely passed the door that you knelt to greet Andrew’s dog, generously petting him and complimenting him for no other reason than the fact that he was an incredibly good boy.

You didn’t see the grin on Andrew’s features as he looked at you, the warmth that made his cheeks turn a brighter shade of pink.

“Yes! I’m so happy to see you too! It’s been weeks! I’ve missed you!” you cooed, scratching him behind his ears, and Elwood happily wiggled his tail.

He excitedly licked your hands and cheeks, making you laugh.

“Alright, alright, that’s enough,” Andrew chuckled, bending to scratch his dog’s head as well, diverting his attention so you could stand again.

You made a mental note to buy Elwood a toy, next time you would come over. He was too adorable, deserved all the treats and gifts…

“Alright, I’ll go cook us something.”

“What have you planned?”

“Erm… I can do a decent pasta dish if you want. Like… with a sauce and everything.”

“Hmm… sounds nice!”

You followed him inside, but he stopped as you were ready to enter his kitchen, and turned to you with a serious look on his face.

“I have a rule though. You stay away from the kitchen.”

“What?”

“I don’t like it when people cook with me.”

“Oh… so you are a control freak,” you teased, but he seemed more offended than you had anticipated.

“Of course, not… just… don’t cook with me.”

“So, you’re a control freak, but specifically in the kitchen, then…”

He rolled his eyes, but yielded.

“Alright, maybe I’m a little controlling in the kitchen. I just… like things to be done a certain way. Or maybe I simply have terrible friends when it comes to cooking. You should see the look of those poor vegetables after Alex had ‘cut them’. An outrage, really.”

“I have a special skill though. It’s my superpower.”

He raised an eyebrow, intrigued.

“I can cut fruits and vegetables in perfectly even pieces.”

“What?”

“Like… if I cut an apple in half, it’s almost perfect!”

“So… your superpower is decently chopping fruits and veggies?”

“It is,” you nodded with fake pride, making him laugh.

“I mean… at least, it’s a useful skill!”

“What’s your hidden skill?”

He looked at you for a moment. You could see that he was hesitating, you gave him an encouraging nod. He blushed as he spoke again, his voice growing quiet.

“I can sing.”

You rolled your eyes.

“I already know that! I know you used to write music, I know you still like it. You’ve told me you used to sing in a choir too.”                    

“I sang at Trinity. Anúna.”

“Really? That’s high-level stuff!”

“I still play gigs sometimes.”

Your eyes widened. You couldn’t control your brain as you imagined Andrew standing on stage, singing, looking hot…

You pushed the thought away. Reminded yourself that you were colleagues, friends, and nothing more and this was out of line…

“That’s awesome!”

“Hmm… yeah… I’m playing a gig on Saint Patrick’s day, in fact,” he added, growing increasingly nervous as he went on, he actually turned away from you and started picking up plates and knifes and vegetables throughout his kitchen. “With Alex and the old gang. Erm… and it’s also my birthday, so we’re having a little party about that, nothing fancy, just… a barbecue if the weather allows. You… you could come, if you want to.”

Your heart felt warm at his words, at the thought that he wanted to share this passion of his with you, that he wanted to spend his birthday with you too. You tried to hide how excited you truly were, refusing to look too much like some kind of creep…

“I’d love to come!”

He froze, threw you a side glance, but there was a hopeful smile tugging at his lips.

“Really?” he asked, voice almost a whisper.

“Of course! Sounds like a way to get free beer and get hammered at your expense. Sign me up!”

He laughed at that, but the grateful look he gave you let you know that he wasn’t fooled by your joke.

“Also… are we going to mention that you were born on Saint Patrick’s Day? Like… that is disgustingly patriotic of you,” you teased, leaning your back against the sink so you could stand next to Andrew and look at him.

“Hey, it’s not that bad! Always a day off work, everybody is available, and if they’re not, then they’re just lying gobshites,” he beamed up as you laughed. “Also, my dad pretended the parades were for my birthday as a child.”

“Ha… that explains the size of your current ego…”

He laughed at that, washing tomatoes and stepping closer to you to do so. You didn’t budge though. You tried to ignore that you kind of longed for that sudden proximity…

“Right… I bet I’m insufferable.”

“I mean… you are… just not because of an ego problem,” you smiled at him.

“Because of what kind of problem then?”

You noticed a shift in his tone, and you hated it. You knew he was kind of serious now, that he was growing anxious. You saw it in the way his shoulders bent, how he tried to look smaller than he truly was. You gave him a mischievous grin, made sure he knew you were still joking around.

“You won’t let me show you my unbelievable skill!” you answered, dissolving any trace of stress that was left in the room.

He laughed, standing straighter again, before handing you a knife.

“Alright, show me.”

You made a show at placing the knife on the nearest tomato, and Andrew stared at you with glee, highly entertained by your antics.

“AND…”

You cut the tomato in two fairly even pieces, and Andrew dramatically inspected the fruit. You tried hard not to laugh, but quickly failed.

“Not too bad,” he admitted, poking his tongue against the inside of his cheek.

You threw your fist in the air in victory.

“So… does that mean that I can cook…?”

“Nope!”

You laughed at him, finished cutting the tomato you were still holding. Andrew eyed you for a moment, before sliding some vegetables your way.

You gave him a cheeky grin in return, one that coloured his cheeks with red.

Andrew shooed you out of the kitchen after all the ingredients had been cut though, claiming that you didn’t have a special skill in cooking, but only in cutting, and you yielded after some further teasing; you set up the table, then aimed for his living room while he busied himself with his food, claiming it was almost done. You played with Elwood for a bit, then busied yourself with a meticulous inspection of Andrew’s bookshelves.

A tender smile formed on your lips at his extensive collection of Heaney’s poetry. You picked up North, the collection you had been reading lately. You were not surprised to find traces of many reads on its cover and alongside the pages, with sticky notes here and there. You were not surprised to find the extensive notes slipped between the pages enclosing ‘Come to the Bower’ all through to ‘Strange Fruit’.

“It’s ready!” Andrew called after you, stepping into his living room to bring you back to reality while your eyes travelled through the first verses of the ‘Bog Queen’.

You looked up at him while he approached, tilting his head to the side. There was no animosity in his voice when he spoke, it was soft and warm, on the contrary.

“It’s impolite to snoop around.”

“I’m only assessing your taste.”

“And? Your conclusion?”

You smiled up at him.

“Not too bad.”

He chuckled, but there was something tender in his gaze. Something that made your heart skip a beat.

He bent a little to see what book you were still holding, he hummed as he nodded.

“I do love Heaney a lot,” he admitted.

“I know. I’ve started reading his poetry again, you know?”

“Really? What made you pick it up again?”

“You.”

His relaxed smile faltered, and for a moment, you cursed yourself, thinking you had been too direct, that you had spoiled everything. But then you noticed that he was blinking, saw his eyes shining a little while he averted his gaze.

When he spoke, his voice was so soft you could barely hear it, deeper than usual too, it made your heart beat faster, shook your frame with a shiver.

“That’s… that’s really fucking nice, Y/N. That… that you did that.”

“I saw the books sitting on my shelf the other day, and I know how much you love these poems. It made me think of you. So… I’ve started reading them again.”

Slowly, Andrew nodded, before he would clear his throat.

“Thank you,” he repeated, although you weren’t too sure of what he was thanking you for. It seemed natural to you.

“I see you have a lot to say about bog bodies, and I am not surprised,” you added, showing the pieces of paper tugged safely between the pages.

Andrew chuckled, rubbing at his neck as he grew a little uncomfortable.

“Right… yeah… I do love those an awful lot.”

“Hmmm… I had guessed. Actually… we should discuss them! That would be fun!”

It was your time to avert your eyes now, though, to grow uncomfortable. Fun? To you, perhaps, but Frank had showed you time and time again that nobody else was interested in talking about these things…

“God! Yes! What do you want to talk about? Like… the macabre aspect of it? The political side? The mythical side?”

When you looked up at Andrew, he was grinning, excited like a little child in a candy store. His hand was slightly shaking when he pushed his glasses up his nose again.

“Oh, and… you know, I’ve bought the Divine Comedy too!”

“What?” you asked, taken aback by the sudden change of subject.

“Yeah, I just… I… saw it at the bookstore the other day, and you love it, so I wanted to give it another try, and we have so many points to discuss! I’m almost done, not quite though, but there are so many elements that I want to go through with you… Like…”

He stopped his rambling as you blinked up at him. You must have looked stupid, while you tried to register what Andrew meant.

He had bought that book to read it… because you loved it. Just so he could… talk about it with you… without you recommending it to him or lending him the book, he just… He saw it. Thought of you. Bought it simply because of you. Read it because of you. And now he wanted to discuss it with you…

You blinked tears away. It was ridiculously simple and yet… no one had ever done that. Frank had definitely never done that for you…

“I… I’d love to talk about that with you,” you spoke in a softer voice, a grin slowly forming across your lips.

You were staring at each other for a moment, your hands still holding one of his favourite books, his eyes fixed on yours. God, his eyes… the green that dominated the brown tonight, like leaves on a summer afternoon, vivid and bathed with gold… you couldn’t look at anything else in the room, in the world, in your life…

You noticed that the space between your faces was slowly diminishing. You noticed that Andrew wasn’t that tall anymore, or rather, that he was bending closer. Closer. Closer…

You felt something bump hard into your leg, making you lose your balance for a second, although you recovered almost instantly. When you looked down, Elwood was staring up at you, waiting for your attention.

You laughed, scratching his head.

“The food is going to get cold,” Andrew mumbled under his breath, and you tried to ignore how much he was blushing now. You carried the book in the kitchen as you followed him, Elwood in toe.

God, had you dreamt this? Had Andrew tried to kiss you? Were you… were you ready to let him?

[morequeerbytheyear]

I’m fully expecting everyone will mostly just be business but so far on my list of TMN/BH crossover fantasies is:

Beaurebar what the fuck is up with that

Jester trying to convert Fearne, Fearne reveals she knows artie

Braius coming for jester, and veth egging him on because she isn’t a goblin anymore so she’s in the clear

Something something Essek mention

Veth coming on very hard to Braius

Bells Hells getting honorary Chaos Crew tattoos (maybe except orym and Dorian idk they just seem the least chaotic)

Someone mentions Essek’s philosophical “it’s love that makes people” in front of Caduceus; either cad gets emotional knowing that that message got back to Essek OR jester is like “oh I remember that it was this guy that said that!”

Abs

Jealous Laudna/Imogen/Beau/Yasha I don’t quite know what I want just something to come from the four of them

Fearne comes on hard to Fjord. Fjord acts like an idiot Jester runs over like hi sorry excuse me yes that’s my FIANCÉ (lots of emphasis on fiance)

Jester being like “oh my gods I’m not the only blue one here!” And Dorian looking uncomfortable and then some comment about how “hey there’s two greens too!”

Orym Cad Fjord “hey so how do you guys deal with all of (indicates to insanity before them) this?”

Something about Fearne being a fire titan and Caleb’s pyro streak

Some kind of mention of Aeor/FCG/Devexian

Beau looks at Ashton and decides she wants to know if it hurts to punch a rock person. Answer. Yes it does

Someone (probably jester) mentions Yasha likes flowers so Orym just starts druidcrafting a load (Fearne can get in on this too)

Sprinkles and lil mister and pâté interaction

They explain/see the Aeor movie and someone is like “oooohhh so that’s what happened to the Cognouza Ward” and someone (again, probably jester) is like “oh my gods you guys you should have seen what those people looked like a few years ago”

Something about dead people tea and everyone looks nervously at Laudna

[richardlawson]

The End

After a few years away from that particular couch, I started seeing a new therapist at the end of last year. It had been long enough, I sagely determined, after I was felled by a series of really nasty panic attacks—one happened while I was doing a Q&A on stage with some filmmakers. They didn't notice, nor did the audience, nor (most importantly) the publicists. But it was happening. Me contemplating running off stage, into the Soho afternoon. It was a terrible feeling, and eventually feeling terrible starts to be a drag, so I found, after a fair amount of searching, someone new.

He is in his late 50s and has a kind, open comportment. He's much more giving and lean-in-and-nod than my last therapist, a sort of prim and watchful gay guy who retired to Florida. I like this new gay guy, I think. Or, I am warming to him. At first, I thought his platitudes and constant quoting of various people were corny. But I have resisted such sentiment for so long, and lack of sentiment hasn't cured me, so maybe I should try the earnest stuff. He has me meditating for one minute a day. The panic attacks went away.

For a little while, anyway. They've been creeping back, when I least expect them, and when I most do. I am afraid of what I am afraid of, I hate what I hate, I feel increasingly indifferent to what I love. Winter hardens care. Do I like movies anymore? Do I like a play, seen on some chilly Saturday afternoon? Maybe it's just seasonal. Or it's media malaise in a time of such austerity. They're trying to lay off the best people while the worst people watch, safe as houses. They're trying to take the whole thing apart and replace it with nothing. I have worked in my business for 16 years, well over a third of my life, and for the first time it now feels truly dire and terminal and like I need to start making other plans for what to do with the rest of my time here in the waking, working world.

Something I talk about a lot with my therapist is inertia—I use the word constantly. Why can't I just, why can't I just, why can't I just. I know something's in me, latent under my lazy skin, but it never makes its way to the surface. At least not yet.

Which causes panic, this stasis. I am scared of the drugs that might help, and am resistant to other concrete life changes that might make this better. (I like a glass of wine too much; I'm a fan of my vape.) I have tried avoiding things, I have tried not avoiding things.

I guess it's not circumstance, really. I have panic attacks when I'm home at night, Andrew asleep in the other room, me watching some murder show or YouTube video (same thing) and suddenly a feeling hits me, the conviction that a blood clot or some other lurking thing is making its way up my body and that this is my sorry, lonely little nighttime end. Here it is, the moment when I'm carried off, when I disappear, when I slip away into nothing.

My parents just finished a cruise, a lifelong wish fulfilled, in South America, hooking around Cape Horn and then exploring the fjords and inlets of Chile. All the reports were good. They had the best time. I had worried about my mom itching for her work email, about my dad being newly 90 years old and maybe feeling exhausted by all the activity. But it seems they managed well. They saw Patagonian cities, they saw mountains rising out of the sea, they saw the shy, retreating edges of glaciers, so quiet and demure in their dying. My mom sent us pictures and I thought most about the glaciers, those last cracking murmurs of a time before. When I was in Alaska for a wedding, years ago now, we went to a park of some kind and the visitor's center that was once built over a glacier then stood cantilevered over dry land. The ice had crept much farther up the mountain, winking goodbye.

How awful. And yet, in the depths of my hypocrisy, I relish an unseasonably warm day. Whatever lifts me out of winter, I guess. Whatever can drag me out of the feeling that everything is indeed going to ruin—a career, a life, a liver, a future. My best friend moved out of my neighborhood recently, which is sad. But it also affords us the opportunity to explore new territory, to find backyard bars with good deals where we can huddle in forgiving late-winter winds and make uneasy escape plans, where we consider what parachutes could ever be made of.

It's not always enough, of course. I too often have nights, far too late, when I go pacing around the living room, circling the coffee table in a weird sort of marching step in my underwear, shaking my hands to get the dread to go away. My new therapist has urged me to find what centers me. To think of all that is known and steady.

I try to gather myself and remember the people I have, arrayed across the planet. Andrew, in restless sleep down the hall. My sister in her Los Angeles canyon, surrounded by trees. I walk the room, knees high and somehow defiant, chest straining with worry. And I see my parents, on a boat at the tip of the world, dreaming of lost things.

[my-midnight-musings-xoxo]

Major spoilers for MadK!

---

Dantenshou is one of my favorite characters, so I will yap about him! This isn’t a formal analysis by any means, (sorry!) I’d love to do an in-depth analysis one day though!!

The first time we meet Dantenshou is in his brothel, saving Makoto from being assaulted. He’s quickly shown to be motherly, given he’s birthed the incense children he has a soft spot for kids. 

In the next chapter, we see a conversation between Dantenshou and J with Dantenshou saying “...Of all the people you brought here thoughtlessly, not one of them…! It all ended with them going insane!” With J retailing saying Datenshou he didn’t, mocking him for being obedient and worrying when he was once a prince from a minor clan before leaving. Datenshou lashes out, muttering, “What are you dissatisfied about? I keep delivering don’t I…” befitting the worrying J mocked him for.

Dantenshou’s need, almost craving to please J is shown more than once. Many of these characters, if not all of them, could be described as tall children. They have power, status, and more, but at the heart of it, they are children forced to grow up too fast, unable to process their pain.

It’s a while before we see Dantenshou again, with him having lost his mind after betraying J, him being the first person to only add to his guilt. There’s a flashback with J and Dantenshou, looking quite young as J tells him, “What a good, obedient boy. Grow up into a powerful, influential demon and entertain me, okay?” Before this Dantenshoou exclaims, “I..I just did everything he wanted..” It’s made clear falling in love is fatal for demons, and I find this ironic because Datenshou uses scent to smother humans in love, becoming whoever they wish to make them addicted and unable to bear being away from him.

Chapters later after a client leaves Dantenshou and Fjord (another character I absolutely adore!) talk. Fjord brings up a past client who promised to free Datenshou if he was allowed to rip D to shreds, with Dantenshou replying with, “When people are sympathetic I just…” He’s often referred to as being nice, so human for a demon, clearly unchanging as he was as a child. In another flashback, it’s once again shown he was docile, loving J since he was young, letting J make him cry, and always doing what he was told. “You were so dedicated to J's expectations.” as he’s described by Shax, an old friend of J’s.

The moment Shax tells Dantenshou Makoto wasn’t bluffing about destroying J, he becomes enraged, immediately wanting to go see J with Shax stopping him. Dantenshou blames himself, proclaiming he wished he’d never been born.

There’s more to this scene but I want to talk about what happens after when Makoto is heading home while talking to Kiernan (another character I would love to yap about!). Makoto says, “...Talking with you guys makes me think about how alike you demons are to humans.” Kiernan asks what they look like to him. Makoto responds, “Fragile things bound by love.”

This applies to practically every character in this godforsaken manga, this masterpiece has so many quotable lines!! Ahem, almost done!

In the end, Shax and Dantenshou seem to be living peacefully, with little rafflesias joining them (the incense children) in quite the domestic scene.

You could argue he was the only one with a happy ending in that way.

As much as I want to do a Makoto analysis next, I’ll admit the thought is.. intimidating! He and J are two characters I love and want to do justice to, so if I ever do write an analysis for them it’s far off in the future unless I gain a surge of confidence one night! 

If you’ve read this far thanks for indulging in my rambles, it means a lot to me <3

Not sure what I’ll ramble about next, maybe Brutal? It’ll probably be another MadK post, hehe

[utilitycaster]

Fjord

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

3. Least favorite canon thing about this character?

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

2. Favorite thing: so much, but I particularly like how good and effective he is at herding the cats of the Mighty Nein. There are many reasons why they bonded so tightly, but a factor was that Fjord early on was insistent that they figure out ways to work together. You can tell how carefully his backstory was constructed; part of why Sabian and Vandran are such beloved figures despite almost no screentime is because you can get such a clear an outline of them from Fjord’s behaviors and discussions that is honestly more thorough than that of some fully introduced NPCs. Getting back to the original point, you can tell from early on that this is someone accustomed to team dynamics under pressure (ie, a sailor). In general, everything we learned about Fjord, as it was revealed, made me go “ohhhhhhh yeah that makes sense,” which is in my opinion the sign of incredibly skilled storytelling and character building.

3. This is tough; this is a character I truly love and I am always team “this person’s flaws are an important part and erasing them means you do not fucking get it," so like, I am in favor of his perfectionism and control issues and closed-off-ness and in case it's not clear from my Midst blogging and which characters I'm drawn to there, nor my enjoyment of Vex, a particular vibe of which he is one of the best examples. I also, admittedly, am defensive because while people watching C2 now without all the fandom discourse of C2 tend to enjoy him, he got done rather dirty by the fandom and was the recipient of basically every single thing I dislike that fandoms do (he is not alone; Keyleth got this with the added complication of rampant misogyny, and Veth got shades of this too, and all have similarly been received much better by people watching without fandom influence). So, for example, while I would love to have seen more of his backstory in-game, I am hesitant to say that because, well, ever notice how Caduceus was sidelined by the party and we didn't explore his past but Fjord avoided his backstory? Ever notice how Caleb's asshole behaviors are because of trauma but Fjord (grew up in a Dickensian orphanage, bullied over his race to the point of willing self-harm from a young age, betrayed, stabbed, and left to drown at which point he was forced into a warlock pact he didn't remember) is just an asshole? (I'm saying this as someone who very much likes Caduceus and Caleb, but this was blatant from the fandom, and pretty constant too.) So to be clear I think he has plenty of flaws, as a complex character, but I do not dislike those flaws as canonical aspects of him.

Anyway. The joke but also kind of true answer is, as Laura herself pointed out, why did he wait 7 entire years to propose to Jester.

25. I liked him from the start but Beau was actually my favorite in early C2! I liked the top table (and what faint impressions I had of Yasha) from the start, but Fjord had the Percy and Vex trait of "guy who can act normal in a social situation when no one else can" for the first stretch of the campaign, which meant he was high up there but didn't move up in my estimation until he started to reveal how civilizedly (not a real word, but vitally important as a modifier here for a number of reasons) unhinged and insecure he was.

[revvethasmythh]

I started playing BG3 bc of your post about it and I really love it! Who do you think Veth would romance if she played BG3?

I'm so glad you're enjoying it! Also, what a great question. i have thought about this somewhat extensively already, admittedly. There are a few options here and Veth does love to be horny about multiple people, so I think it'd be something like this: I think she would be unbelievably horny about Karlach in a Sunbreaker Olomon kind of way (but also genuinely love her because how can you NOT love Karlach), have a more Fjord-esque love/hate thing going on with Astarion, and Shadowheart is exactly the kind of pretty, mean, sadgirl that I think would utterly bewitch her (she loves mysterious people, she thinks it's sexy). But still at the end of the day i think she'd be head over heels for Gale. That woman LOVES a dorky, incredibly intelligent man who is physically weak and struggles with hubris. This isn't even a Caleb-specific theme, she's like with Yeza, too! Gale would be a great balance of the adventure and domesticity that she wants in life, in addition to being EXACTLY her type of guy

[thecavernsabove]

okay now i just want to talk about my expectations versus why i have ended up liking certain characters because i am just so intrigued by everything these people and characters do. for bells hells, i went into it knowing i would love ashton because they are the reason I started watching, i didn't think i would really latch onto any other character, apart from maybe fearne because she's a satyr and i am particularly partial to satyrs, and imogen because i mean it's laura bailey!

but what actually happened, is that yes i did get super attached to ashton of course i did, but my top three quickly became ashton, orym and laudna (and as someone who started being able to watch live at the split you can imagine how devastated i was). and recently chetney is really creeping up there. i do love all the characters dearly though.

ashton just reminds me of myself so much, apart from the fact that they are much braver than i could ever be, and blunter too. i wish i could be them and also see all my faults in them. its a lot.

orym was my first introduction to liam o'brien and his devastating little guys (more on caleb later), and just his backstory and the way he deals with people intrigues me so much and i want to see him happy so bad.

laudna oh laudna. marisha ray you have ruined me. even going into this with my minimal knowledge of the briarwoods, her backstory reveal was so intense and it hurt. also, creepy unnerving girlies stick together! she's iconic.

chetney is so wild to me i love him so much. he is so intensely gender as well i love him so much. i love gruff and grumpy characters that are actually nice once you are more friendly with them.

imogen. i will say it took a little bit for her to grow on me but i do love her. i think the bassuras dusk stuff really helped me like her more. also her immense power and lightning scars are pretty cool if you ask me.

fearne. i love how sweet she is and the stuff like being bad at lying and also just stealing little things here and there was really fun. but what made me like her more was when she got more serious and i didn't expect that (foreshadowing for later!)

fcg. now, i still have, mixed? feelings for fcg. in a sense of i dont hate the character but i think the character arc is not something im too interested in, but i do still like them. the stuff with frida was very nice, and i do like the bits that they do - but i think there still feels like there is something missing for me somewhat.

now, with the mighty nein, i had an inkling on who i would like. i thought caleb certainly because we seem very similar, molly maybe because i liked ashton so hey i might like this taliesin character too! and that was it really. going into it though, because i had seen so much of jester (talking about her and cosplays mostly) i thought that she would be probably my least favourite because her personality didn't seem to really gel with what i usually like in characters. but here i am, on the other side with my favs being caleb, fjord, and jester! it was so much watching everything for the first time, even with knowing the big spoilers and then looking at more minor spoilers so i knew somewhat what would happen - but i do that with a lot of things, its different knowing what happens versus actually watching and experiencing what is happening.

caleb. caleb widogast is such an intense character and i loved every minute i spent with him. i spent so much time checking when i would finally see the nein sided tower of his and watching liam describe everything for an hour was so incredible i was in awe. i truely love that dirt wizard so much.

fjord was a truly unexpected character for me to fall for. the first time i realized that i was going to love him though was when they were in the one politicians house early in the campaign and he held his sword to caleb to make sure he wasn't fucking with them. then seeing his growth, the accent change, and just his whole deal i was enraptured. i do miss the southern eldritch blast though.

jester oh my goodness did she creep up on me. i think her initial cuteness that i had experienced throughout just existing on the internet put me off for some reason but i don't know why. however i did quickly fall in love with her, when she had one of her more sinister/serious moments early on. i don't remember what it was but i remember thinking oh. /oh./ okay. i love her. and then her relationship with her mama, and artie, gosh i just loved watching laura bailey do literally anything. the cupcake bit! also the sprinkle bit is quite funny. i also just love doing her voice when im talking to myself. she is also the reason that i take a decent amount of damage spells with my current cleric.

beau. i think i thought that i would have liked her more than i did (don't get me wrong i liked her a lot but she is not in my top three), but she is incredible. as a fellow monk pc i do love going the extra mile with those stunning strikes, and also seeing her relationship with yasha blossom was so lovely. and her bro relationships with fjord and caleb were also some of my favourites.

yasha. after starting with campaign three, it was really hard to not see ashley all the time and i remember having to look on the wiki while watching to check when she would come back every time she left. i think i really started to like her more after her she got taken, and went through that big arc, and we were around her more often. i loved watching her dreams. i loved watching her so much.

veth was so unexpected are you kidding me?? i will say i have yet to have a sam character be in my top three but god he knows how to throw an emotional punch and i love that kind of stuff. i love her relationship with caleb, the detective agency, the chaos crew. i love her arc of getting herself back, of seeing her family again. ough. im a big lover of families.

caduceus. goodness gracious me what a character. i just absolutely loved the aesthetic and caduceus's whole relationship to how he approaches death. he is also the reason i started playing a grave cleric in a newer campaign. but truly, has made me think differently about death - which was especially needed for me this year.

mollymauk. i knew he was dead. i knew he would die. but that didn't make me any less upset when it happened! i think about him often, what could have been. especially since i was so sure he took the wrong amount of damage in that fight and should not have quite have been knocked out at that time. but his whole maximallist aesthetic is something i very much enjoy, and i love the through line of his cards with jester.

wow okay this has gotten to be very long but i need to get my thoughts about everyone out somewhere!! if you've read this far im so sorry this is so much of my own ramblings.

[tiny-vermin]

I want to know more about the m9 artist au!! I remember reading a post or two about it a billion years ago (and would love to read them again) 💜

hi jess!!!! thank u for being interested hehe :")

so ever since i drew that lil thing of essek painting a frank stella inspired painting (or even before), ive been thinking of what kinds of art each of the m9 would do. essek ofc is inspired by a minimalist show that i went to here, all the big names from that movement were shown, but those really dark, sinkhole-like paintings are speaking to me. another artwork of boxes made of mirrors also seems like the thing he would do too

there's a kiln here that we visited which was huge, and surrounding it were artists' studios and some other ceramic sellers, i imagine the clay family having a place like this in the middle of nowhere amongst the trees, and caleb would do his work there

anyways because at heart im a shadowgast luver its centred around them,, they meet at an artist residency or something like that and its an incredibly slow burn that involves talking and not-talking and looking and not-looking. in the end i am but a simple wong kar wai fan so. that kinda vibes would definitely influence this, i would describe it as a quiet burning i guess?? time skipy and words that are not said

i think im gonna rant a bit more about their different mediums and styles so i'll keep it under the cut

i think caleb sculpts figures and portraits, but in a sad, kathe kollwitz charcoal vibe. maybe some funky looking animals, perhaps some pots and vases to look at the pretty glazes. he's interested in using fire to burn texture into different mediums, like ive seen it being used on shellac to make a really cool net of ink looking structure.. but yknow, just seeing the aftermath of glazed ceramic from the kiln is enough, and probably better for him to keep his distance anyways

the clay family produces most of the ceramic to sell, vases, pots, plates, cups, teapots, yknow just a whole array. and its really colourful too, depicting every family members different style. i think caduceus would do some matte glazes with a lot of different colours, theyre all a little wonky but theyre better off that way anyways. he does some really mean ink calligraphy and painting though

jester definitely does,, everything, whatever her heart desires kinda thang. she makes pastel textile installations and lighthearted cute paintings, but theyre always so contemplative and soothing. she gets m9 a lot of work cus her mom has connections, etc etc. i really love the idea of jester creating works that talk about the female body and femininity (definitely not projecting no)

beau is a printmaker and photographer who's really experimental, she loves cyanotypes and printing flowers (for yasha), idk she seems like she would put fabric and rocks into the washing machine to see what would happen. u would probably catch her in someone elses studio learning about what they do or in the library learning about what old people did

veth works in a museum as a curator, getting beau to help her sometimes with gathering artworks and artists etc. she probably organises community art projects for kids and public art installations. her house is full of m9's artworks and various other artists shes worked with.

yasha does bouquets as her post-retirement part time job, prior to that no one really knows what she did ("she probably murdered a bunch of people and is now hiding from the government"). fjord draws comics for fun but is also not a job for him, molly is a question mark for me. but these guys probably wont be in it as much anyways

im still not sure what format i wanna do this in, im actually having fun just writing it in my notebook now (digital does not facilitate the creative juices) but i do want to do some visuals like fake movie stills or storyboards. maybe they will work together well???? dunno. working on the other shadowgasty thing im doing made me realise how much easier it is to draw when there's a script already there, so im writing the script for myself

im definitely not as practiced in writing as i am in drawing, but idk im just gonna have some fun and see where that takes me, meanwhile try not to feel too bad that its fanart HAHA (very bad habit)

edit: i just saw my previous thoughts on beau being an art journalist, but i kinda like this better.. but maybe she can do both muah

[littlepinksapphire]

Question for older Critters: Were people this skeptical of long-game ships in previous campaigns?

I started watching campaign 2 during quarantine and didn’t really join the community till campaign 3 started. While Imodna and Dorym are probably the most popular ships of this campaign, they get backlash too. Mostly from people who think there’s no way that it could happen. Even when cast members allude to it both in and out of the game, people will either put their heads in the sand or say it seems forced.

Were fans like this about Fjord and Jester? Jester flirted with Fjord from the beginning and we didn’t know Fjord’s feelings till the end of the campaign. They talked about it on Talks Machina as well, but did people call it forced then?

Prior to recent events, I saw a lot of people saying they felt Laudna seemed uncomfortable with Imogen’s crush on her (ngl, I think they were projecting their own feelings about the ship on to Laudna). Did people say that about Fjord?

I’m sure all the major ships have their haters, and idk what Imodna haters are saying right now (I am quite literally on cloud nine and cannot hear them), but I can’t help but notice this particular brand of criticism directed at two queer ships.

It reminds me of Korrasami back when season 4 of the Legend of Korra aired. Obviously there was studio pushback to keep that relationship censored, but people still refused to read the subtext that was there. And here, we have bafta award winning actor Laura Bailey making subtle, intentional choices to make it clear she’s playing the long game, looking forlornly in the distance with every gay thought she has, as well as king of angst Liam O’Brien pining into a walkie talkie rock about once a month and people are just like “I love strong, same sex friendships”. I just really think if Imodna was a straight ship, way less people would have been skeptical about it.

And on the meta side of things, do people really not think the players talk about this stuff outside of the game? Like do they really think Marisha hadn’t long since given Laura the go ahead to attempt a romance? These are things that have to be communicated about as both players and actors. Making sure everyone is comfortable first is of the upmost importance, and these people are close friends and long time coworkers. They trust one another and are professionals at their craft. Idk, I just feel like this part never gets taken into account on either side.

Ok, I think I’m done ranting. These were just some thoughts and questions that’ve been brewing well before we had a huge sapphic win, I just needed to purge them from my system. Anyways, I fucking love this show, petty ship squabbles aside. Let me know what you guys think.

[lysreadsbookssometimes]

So I was on a cruise in norway last week and one of our stops was Flåm. And because I am at my core a huge Rick Riordan Fan, I tried to figure out how and where the happenings of Ship Of The Dead happened. Enjoy!

When I got to my feet and looked over the railing, I lost the ability to breathe. [...] T.J. laughed. “No, it’s just Norway. Pretty, huh?"

The entire description of the fjords is too long to put here, reread it yourself (Ch29), but see my best attempt to capture this majestic beauty on camera.

If you have the opportunity, absolutely go visit the norwegian fjords, they are stunning.

The boat glided onward, the soft applause of the waterfalls echoing through the fjord.

There were a lot of waterfalls, so have these two, the left one goes directly down to the fjord, the right one is a short hike inland from Flåms center.

Its called Brekkefossen and if you like walking up a bazillion irregular slippery stone steps it might be exactly the view for you.

We slipped into the dock farthest from the cruise ship. Our only neighbors were a couple of fishing boats and a Jet Ski with the dubious name Odin II painted on the side.

So I actually had a little bit of a hard time identifying the docking site. First I thought it might have been across the harbour, but later they mention the docking site being next to a beach and there is no beach on that side. Next to the beach I did find small boat sheds (Not a Jet Ski called Odin II, sadly, but hey) and they had wooden docks somewhat far away from the cruise terminal. Enjoy my artists rendition of it.

I love the pure concept of the Big Banana so much its ridiculous

We walked about three blocks through crowds of tourists, past shops selling chocolate and moose sausage and little wooden troll souvenirs. (You would think anybody descended from Vikings would know better than to create more trolls.)

We saw a lot of trolls. Norway seems to think these creepy gremlins are a fun thing to have tourists take as souvenirs. But in Flåm we had this - thing - in front of a gift shop.

I actually forgot to take a picture of the shops, but my mom did, so everyone say thank you to my mom.

As we passed a small grocery store, Mallory grabbed my arm with enough force to leave a bruise. [...] Mallory pointed to a store called Knit Pickers, where tourists were oohing and aahing over a sidewalk display of locally produced wool yarn. (Norway offered something for everyone.)

Despite my best efforts, i did not find Knit Pickers. The closest thing i found was a small yarn store a few kilometers outside of Flåm on the way to Brekkefossen, but that was too far away. But, I found the grocery store, so closest thing i guess?

This is my favorite doodle amongst all of them. I do invite you to zoom in and take a look at the random baby Magnus is carrying.

By the time Sam and I caught up, she was clinging to a chain-link fence outside a small train depot, cursing as she scanned for her lost prey. “You found the train,” I noted. Parked at the platform were half a dozen brightly painted old-fashioned railcars. Tourists were piling on board. The tracks wound away from the station and up the hills into the ravine beyond.

I did not have an opportunity to ride the train. But, I have a picture from outside which i also doodled on. The norwegians claim it is "one of the most beautiful train rides in the world".

The guy i doodled Mallorys hair on looks like he is having an existential crisis and if that doesn't fit her experience on this train ride I don't know what does.

So because I didn't go on the train, I can't show anything in regards to the train and the myth stuff and everything. But, I can show you some approximations of the way back.

This would be what it looked like when Sam flew back, Mallory in the walnut, featuring the cruise ship I came with as well as the Big Banana probably too big in the corner.

That is actually the view from Brekkefossen, as a teaser what waits there if you ever want to go.

Before the murder could murder themselves on the scythe blades and blame me for it, Jack and I began our long hike back to the Big Banana.

And this would be what that would probably look like.

I need to practise drawing people, jesus christ

Our crew had taken care of the other giant.

I could tell because of the badly hacked-up, decapitated giant body sprawling on the beach next to our dock.

My giant is a work of art, but i am pretty sure they are supposed to be ugly in some interpretation of it and i couldn't be bothered.

I can offer a perspective with the Big Banana in, too. This picture was taken from the ship while departing. It was really cool.

Flåm is stunning. The nature is absolutely beautiful and I get why Magnus was so overwhelmed with the Fjords. I was too when I woke up in the middle of a fjord the day prior, and I was on a gigantic ship, not a small to medium sized longboat. It truly feels like magic. In Flåm, there were clouds against the sides of the mountains surrounding the village. I don't think I've ever seen something like that.

Long story short, Norway is stunning. Flåm is stunning. It is so beautiful that i barely took pictures, because they couldn't capture it properly. I absolutely get why that was a stop on their journey, and I am pretty sure I want to come here again. It is a dream on earth.

[grigori77]

Critical Role, Campaign 3 Episode 111

Matt; "Melting internally and outide ..." Okay then ...

Oh my gods what a perfect start to the bit ... you can't just bluff this Sam, you have to open it first to continue ... a threat of nina assassination violence implied with failure? Oh my ... that's great. I love it ... HOLY FUCK MATT IS NOW DYING OF MYSTERIOUS FAST-ACTING NINJA POISON!!! Wow ... Marisha too? BECAUSE TRAVIS USED HER AS A MEATSHIELD?!!! You goit ... and Robbie gets it by refusal ... wow ... and now EVERYBODY' DEAD BUT SAM ... I love this one so much ... oh, SAM was the ninja? You prick ... XD

Yeah, I know it was about the new Assassin's Creed game, but given I just watched The Shadow Strays on Netflix my irony is tripped in a different way ... O.o o.O

15? Oh my ... did Marisha make a backhanded confirmation they're all gonna be playing BOTH of their characters each, except for Robbie? Are we REALLY about to get a WHOLE SESSION of Bells Hells AND the Mighty Nein just vibing? I'm so ridiculously excited ...

OH GOD AND HERE WE GO ... PLAY THE SONG!!! IT'S THURSDAY NIGHT!!! ON A MONDAY!!!

SPRINKLE!!! Yay! And Pate! Oh my gods how's THIS meeting gonna go? And now the weasel's in the house on Laudna's back ... ye gods ... he continues to suffer, then ... XD

Yes, OF COURSE Beau remembers THEM ... and Marisha has ENTIRELY forgotten about the live game at WEMBLEY!!! Yup ... nice going, boos lady! LOL

True, true, Jester and Dorian ARE both blue ... "space pirates"? Oh yeah, OF COURSE Jester TOTALLY loves THAT idea ...

What the fuck are you saying, Samuel? Veth is wearing A FUCKING CATSUIT right now? XD An open relationship, Veth, REALLY?!!! So very convincing ... seriously DO NOT shag the minotaur ...

They WERE very stern with him, yes ... for all of FIVE MINUTES ... oh my sweet fuck is Chetney gonna try and shag Veth now? Is THAT where their minds are going right now?

Caduceus IMMEDIATELY marking Imogen and Orym as theonly two of BH with the working braincells ... I love that ... XD

Honestly, right now it looks like Matt's LITERALLY just watching a game of tennis, he's nothing but a pure spectator right now and having SO MUCH FUN as a result because he just UNLEASHED THIS on all of us ...

YASHA!!! Watch Ashley spent the next HOUR trying to get the hang of THAT FUCKING ACCENT again ... LOL ... The couples ... oh the couples ... Marisha's getting SO CONFUSED about the multiple ships she's involved in right now ...

Braius likes Jester? Is that ... oh ... oh no ... no, he RECOGNISES her from somewhere? Oh shit ... how is he gonna react to THAT revelation? O.O

Fearne is fawning over how built Beau and Yasha both are ... :3

Oh shit ... Jester and Veth are ADMITTING that they did the thing at the Temple of the Platinum Dragon and Fjord is trying SO HARD to kep them from just digging deeper holes for themselves ... oh wow she's hugging him ... hmmmmm ... and now trying to sell him on the Traveller ... yeah ... here we go ... as if that boy wasn;t ALREADY playing half a dozen different sides all at once ... O.O

Braius: "You ruined my life!" Oh wow ... are Braius and Yasha about to fuck each other up?

Jester is trying to cast CHARM PERSON on Braius ... wow ... yup, he just CRITTED his save ... and now he's MAD about that shit ... wow ...

Caleb and Jester are both FASCINATED by Ashton ... yeah ... oh, the Dirt Wizard will just GEEK OUT over the Dunamantic DOME in that rocky skull ... Fortune's Favour? Oh here we go ... Ashton backstory recap! Yay!

Yeah, that's right, these guys are Essek's peeps! XD

Comparing notes on the fight ahead, then ... yeah, safe to say the MIghty Nein need a crash course in what they're about to face ... and now comparing PSYCHIC notes too ... XD

Oh yeah, I forgot that Veth HATES the water ... LOL

Beau taking exception to Yasha considering herself SIMPLE-MINDED is so adorable ... :3

Marisha needs to get a handle on who she's playing when ... XD ... oh wait ... yeah, the fan is kind of cheating ...

Matt; "This is my favourite episode already. I haven't had to do ANYTHING yet."

Here we go ... the flirting begins ... she really is WEAK for minotaurs ... yup ... it is indeed beginning ... LOL

Imogen's not attuned to the Circlet? Oh boy ... she's got WAY TOO MUCH blasting her in the head right now ... wow ... yeah, Jester's mind-music will be SO LOUD ... O.O

Laudna's weird mementos ... ye gods ...

Insight check on whether or not the Mighty Nein are REALLY sneaky ... hmmmmm ... I mean they CAN BE ... yeah ... ummmmmm ... O.o

WOW ... nice Keyfish reference that has NO ACTUAL RELEVENCE in this situation, Caleb ... LOL

Laudna's turning Sprinkle into a puppet ... oh gods ... and Jester's just LETTING HER torment her weasel ... which is par for the course ...

Beau and Ashton both acknowledging that they're equally grumpy is cute ... meanwhile Caleb's grumpy too ... XD

Jester's trying to make up for ruining Braius' life ... hmmmm ... yeah, I mean SHE WAS going through a kind of crisis of faith ... oh ... are they both about to finallys BOND about being mutually artistic? Oh my ... a naked painting of Fjord ... oh, and Braius is very much PAYING ATTENTION to certain details, as he would ... XD ... HIS FIANCEE?!!! This is news ... O.O ... Suzy Greene? Jester's volunteerring to SEND HER A MESAGE?!!! Of course she is ... hmmmm ... how well is THIS gonna go? How likely is it she;s just going to make this poor girl think she's having a psychotic break?

Jester: "What is a guartertaur?" Yeah, indeed, I'm curious too. O.O ... she does sound pretty cute, yeah ... wow ... how many spell-slots is Jester about to burn to tell her ALL OF THAT?!!!

The first thing she calls him is "a shell of a man" ... LOL ... yeah, this is going JUST how I thought it would ... Ashton: "I love a drunk text, this is so good." Oh gods yes ... Jester really does SUCK at Persuasion ... XD ... oh man ... is this not working? Oh ... now she's just trying to let him down easy ... hmmmm ... yeah, he is NOT convinced ... but she BEAT HIM on an Insight check? Holy shit ...

Saint Jester the Pirate ... oh boy ...

Oh, are they going to make this a FRIENDLY match, then? That could be fun ... let Braius and Yasha just have a little sparring match instead ...

Ah yes ... Jester and her pastries ... which leads to reminiscence about FCG ... awwwwww ... man, not now, please ... everything was getting so fun ...

It's just getting HARDER AND HARDER to keep track of who's who and I'm enjoying it so much every time they have to catch themselves ...

FINALLY come to a decision, then ... going to the moon first, THEN set up the Tower for them to camp out before starting to mission proper ... here we go ...

Are they seriously considering putting Veth IN THE HOLE right now so she won't have to swim?

Just follow Orym, that's probably the best idea ...

Awwwww ... :3 ... I love Orym's sisters so much ... give them ALL the hugs, please!

That is some seriously cool Prince of Egypt shit right there ... O.O ... time to GO QUICK guys! Veth: "I'd rather ride HIM!" And then Yasha picks her up and puts her on Braius' shoulders ... LOL

Once again Sam derails Matt's narrative train of thought with his t-shirt nonsense ... yup ... just like old times ...

THE TUNNEL!!! YEAH!!!

It's all a bit trippy, yeah ... Dancing Lights! Yay! Meanwhile Caduceus is doing his cleric thing ... I love how they low key geek out together ... :3

So ... back on the Moon, then ...

Yeah ... giant worm tunnels are definitely A THING for both these groups ... yeah ... O.o

Dorian DOESN'T KNOW he's on the Moon yet ... and now they start fucking with him ... LOL

Roll a D20? REALLY Matthew? 8? Oh fuck ... something's coming? Of for fuck's sake ... O.O ... oh, so it's just a STORM on the surface? Okay then ...

Wait ... Caduceus has a new storm prayer? Hmmmmm ...

Imogen sends a message to Zhesh ... so it's potentially safe? Cool ... okay, then ...

Oh yeah! The Ruidian glass dancer ... sweet ...

MARISHA!!! Get your tabs in order! Two Beaus is not useful!

Yay! Sashimi! So sweet and disturbingly creepy! Awwwwww ... :3 And yeah, the glass daggers ...

Making arrangements for teleportation travel ... and now they're gettign EVEN MORE CONFUSED ... XD ... and also some rather thinly veiled insults to Chetney ... this is getting increasingly hilarious by the second ...

Ashton: "It's really nice not to be the most fucked up person in the group for once."

BOOF!!! So ... did they all make it in one piece?

Oh phew ... thank fuck that worked out ... and now they're all crammed into a really tight little space ...

Yay! Caleb's Tower! Sweet! I've missed this ... pancakes and cat smell! Awwwwww ... :3

Now he's just showing off and I love it ... XD

Everybody's floating! Yeah, totally Willy Wonka style indeed ... XD ... oh, okay ... time to explore ... and Laudna's totally being her usual creepy self Spiderclimbing all over the walls ... startling spectral cats as she goes ... LOL ... oh yeah ... I forgot she could do the creepy cat-bone dislocation thing ...

Oh, so we're taking a break? Yeah, sounds about right ...

So ... is Laudna, like ... LOST IN THE WALLS now?

YEAH!!! THE BONE HARP!!! PLAY THE BONE HARP!!! I love the idea of a Yasha and Dorian harp and piano duet ...

Chopsticks ... snort! LOL

Wait ... Laudna's found the Cat Kitchen? O.O ... surreal ... Laudna shows Sprinkle ... by pointing him around the room like a flashlight ... XD

Laudna just slurped out of a hole and splattered down in the midst of them all ... lovely ...

True ... good point, the MIghty Nein never actually HAD a bard ... hmmmmm ...

Veth is now SLOWDANCING with Braius to sexy music ... LOL ... Sam is basically playing a flirty scene with himself ... this is beyond surreally meta ... LOL

Fearne and Jester are considering turning into cats and going exploring ... :3

Hero's Feast? Yay!

Laura Bailey and her dirty mind ... even more so whenever she's being Jester ... XD

Smart move ... making sure Yasha can't be turned against them for 24 hours ... shame they didn't have THAT capability once upon a time ...

Caleb and Orym personal time? Interesting ... oh ... is the Dirt Wizard going to offer the Wee Man up some advice? And yes, it definitely is very sound advice ...

Beau is NOT HAVING IT with Laudna ... LOL

Oh my ... is Ashton really asking Yasha for flirting advice from Yasha? Hmmmmm ... yeah, I mean it;s true, the big girl has ZERO game ... Beau pretty much just landed Yasha BY ACCIDENT, really ... yeah ...Jester TOTALLY gets in on that ... then again she is a MUCH BETTER choice to offer him advice ... yeah, Fearne DOES have really nice big boobs ...

Tusk Love! Oh boy ... seriously, how is Ashton going to take to the ultimate Exandrian romance novel? Oh ... just stuff his face in her boobs? Yeah ... yeah, that would definitely be a fun experience ... O.O

Here we go ... time for funky cat exploration games ... these two are definitely TROUBLE together ... I'm loving it ...

OF COURSE they go into the laboratory and just KNOCK SHIT OFF the worktops ... XD

A TIGER?!!! Ye gods, Caleb ... O.O

Beau and Fjord are currently MASSIVELY underestimating the Hells ... XD ... ah, the Taste of Tal'Dorei ... oh yeah ... now they're just FULL-ON INSULTING them ... LOL

Wait ... is Caleb A FAN of C-Pop creations? O.O ... holy fuck HE IS!!! And he has some of his pieces? Crazy shit ... wow ... so now they're bonding ... OF COURSE they are ... nothing appeals to the Old Man like flattery ... "Nein Hells"? Awwwwwww ... that's really sweet, actually ...oh ... "Nein HELLZ" ... that's even better, actually ...

Orym: "Chetney has spent many years bringing joy to the children of Exandria." Ashton: "And if he dies tonight he can bring much joy to the cats as they start feasting on his corpse."

CALEB HAS ONE OF THE WOODEN EGGS!!! O.O

OF COURSE Fearne tries to steal the egg ... while Caleb's holding onto it with Telekinesis ... oh boy ... she does SUCH A BAD JOB of that, I swear ...

Yeah ... I really don't see Caduceus being AT ALL responsive to any flirtation from Braius ... he's always struck me as being unapologetically ACE, if I'm honest ...

So Braius REALLY IS starting to return to the true path of the Platinum Dragon, eh? That's quite sweet, really ...

I love that so much ... Braius admits to having been drawn to Asmodeus and Caduceus simply answers: "I've heard worse."

Beau: "All right, fuckers. We got a big day tomorrow." Braius: "Dorian, you can stop playing now." Dorian: "I'm sorry, I was startled by the profanity."

Laim: "Yeah, we saw you from over in Campaign 2 and really liked your vibe." XD

Fearne's still pouting about not being able to start her collection of Chetney's eggs ... ALL FIVE?!!! Ashton: "All right, Thanos."

A future Bells Hells One-Shot? The Quest for Chetney's Eggs ... yeah, I could get behind that ... XD

So they're taking a rain check on that Braius/Yasha fight, then ... there's always tomorrow ...

"BABE!!! SEX!!!" Oh boy ... LOL

A Moon thing? Oh ... yeah, well as long as Laudna CAN come ... okay ... so now it's Imogen, Laudna and Caleb just floating around in endless empty space ... oh, LITERAL space, then ... cool ... oh weird ... that's some bizarre Quantum Realm shit ...

Ah yes ... or ja, if you will ... OF COURSE Caleb's been incommunication with the Voice of the Tempest, and indeed about Imogen's mum ... yup, sound advice right there ...

I find it very amusing that IMOGEN considers Caleb to be "very powerful" ... of course Caleb can see plain as day just how powerful SHE IS ...

Ooooh ... a gift from Caleb? Sweet ... a small metallic pyramid ... an Intuit Charge? Intriguing ... "It goes BOOM." Ja, of course it does. Not really expecting anything else from the Dirt Wizard who likes to set shit on fire ... XD

A celebratory party at Taste of Tal'Drei if they succeed? I could get onboard with that ...

Oh yeah! The Raven Mask! Get Identifying, Fearne ... just a lot of geeking out and nobody actually SAYING what it does ... XD ... that's kinda mean in a really funny way ...

That's an INSANELY high roll ... yeah, Braius just painted a bona fide MASTERPIECE ...

Fuck ... did Fjord just ANNIHILATE Pate with an Eldritch Blast? O.O

Oh my gods ... Laudna is continuing to torture Sprinkle without intending to ...

Chetney's whittling away ... stark naked ... and he lives through the night ... again ...

Dorian's calling on Orym just before bed? Oh shit ... OH SHIT IS THIS FINALLY IT?!!! Please please please please please let this be it ... Orym: "I have feelings for you ... maybe stince the day I met you." OH MY FUCKING GOD!!! The minds of EVERY FUCKING DORYM SHIPPER just EXPLODED!!! O.O ... and OF COURSE Dorian is receptive ... and so incredible sweet too ... oh my gods these two are being SO IMPOSSIBLY SWEET ... :3

Look at Matt's face ... oh my god he's just ENTHRALLED ... he's EVERY FUCKING ONE OF US right now!

THEY FALL ASLEEP IN EACH OTHERS' ARMS!!! OH MY GODS THIS IS SO FUCKING ADORABLE!!! I'M SO IMPOSSIBLY HAPPY!!! IT'S FINALLY HAPPENING!!!

Bedtime for everybody ... and YES MATT MERCER YOU ARE SO FUCKING RIGHT that is a PERFECT PLACE to call it a night! That was THREE AND A HALF HOURS of perfect geekgasmic AWESOMENESS ...

[survivalist-anon]

Log 16: A bark worse than his bite

Pine Hills most reputable bar: Big Foot Saloon. Ironically, we don't get bigfoot sightings here in Pine Hills, but with nearly 8ft space soldiers with occasionally some quirk about will probably confuse a few folks now.

The morning staff now finally get to have that night out drinking they wanted.

Fjord by this point was just enjoying himself, he was more familiar with a bar setting than I thought. He practically blended in, if were-vikings were common place the west coast.

Ronnie and guys were laughing about some plans they're going to make this weekend.

Jonas was telling us a story that happened to her for the billionth time.

Fjord intensively listening. As for me, my brain checked out a little while ago.

"-And so than, I had my tonsils removed, for the thrice", Jonas concluded.

"....Jonas I'm not certain you CAN remove your tonsils more than once...", I'm certain the last time she said 'twice'.

Frank hand walked up to our table with a rather sizable tab. "Here you go folks, hope you enjoyed your drinks", he looks to Fjord who had drunk a horrendous amount of alcohol, specifically beers, IPAs and I believe I recommended him an actual craft mead, he absolutely loved it. Yet he was more sober than I was with my one bottle of hard cider.

"Oh right, ugh, this be my 'treat'," he quickly handed the little bag of gold nuggets to Frank.

Frank takes the bag without question and promptly leaves.

Ronnie looked at me wondering why Frank accepted a mystery bag rather than cash (Frank apparently didn't believe in the American banking system). "Dang, thanks Fjord...that must have been quite the bill. That had to have been like...I don't know hundreds of dollars.".

Jonas nudged my shoulder again, "dang girl, is he loaded too?", giggling.

"Ah no worries, I just wanted to show my appreciation for being so welcoming.", his smiled warmly. Suddenly he snapped to head to the door.

Oh no.

Jeff and his gang were at Frank's tonight. I guess their usual hangover hang out at Tom's house may have gone wrong considering he lives with his mother.

I was sitting next to Fjord and I FEEL his growling. I had to whisper to him, "Fjord ...Fjord not here, you don't need to do anything.".

His eyes were locked on to Jeff, I was starting to get scared of he was going to kill him in front of everyone in the bar.

His friends from the station were laughing, meanwhile he still looked so drained, a little more rested but drained.

"Hey what are you looking at asshole!?", Tom aggressively spoke to Fjord from all the way across the bar.

Jeff turned around to see who it was...I could tell there was something brewing in him. I would feel more sympathetic to him if it weren't for everything I'd gone through with him.

His eyes shot to Fjord, it was a look of jealousy.

Fjord was standing his guard. Me and him knows he could take every single one of them. However I was more worried of the scene this could cause.

The others at our table began to worry, Ronnie looked at Jeff, than to Fjord. Whom by this point resembled a guard dog than that tall strong friendly weirdo who made wolves howl.

"Lorey, what's going on? Does Fjord know those guys?", the concern in his voice began to match my anxiety with the situation. I look to him and began to gently touch Fjord's arm to calm him down.

"Fjord, you can relax. Please. He isn't going to do anything....he can't anyway.", I felt like I didn't get through to him yet. So, I pull his arm a little, put my arm around his shoulders and place my face on to his, I didn't care about the pungent alcoholic smell from either of us... just close as contact I could get sitting next him.

It was for some... primordial reason....all I could think of doing.

Fjord, finally began to loosen his guard. "Lass?".

"Please Fjord, I'm ok, you're ok, and everyone here is ok...", all I could do is speak as if I was soothing him. I'm not even sure if it was the correct way to do it, but it was working.

He shuffled closer and wrapped his arm around me. "Yes, ok...thank you lass....".

It was a strange moment, time stopped, the sounds of the bar faded out, and it was just our hearts beating.

"Hey, man, come closer to us and-", Jonas was threatening someone as I had my eyes closed.

"-or what... you'll call the cops?", a dead toned, familiar voice had rung out.

"oh shit.", I whispered. I look up to see Jeff.... just standing next to our table. The look on his eyes was of betrayal? Bags under his eyes and an unblinking stare.

"Jeff.... seriously. Please leave us alone.", Ronnie and the guys at our table had not begun to raise their guard.

"....who's....the red head....", Jeff didn't ask...he just made a statement disguised as a question.

Fjord just turned to him, expressionless as he could muster. "....Fjord....you must be Jeff...."

"yeah..... you're not from around...are you?", Jeff was just looking at Fjord, trying to make sense of him. This huge, big red haired man, something about Fjord reminded Jeff of.... monsters...".... where are you from...Fjord?"

Jonas interrupted, "He's from Europe, Jeff, of course he's not from around here.", although Jonas could have been off by a few light-years. Her comment actually helped.

"oh...like...where.... Ireland.... Scotland?....", he continued monotonly.

Having no idea where or what was either of the two countries, "Yes. Both.", I couldn't help but think maybe Fjord was messing with him. "I have family there.".

Jeff just stared at him, than to me. "....you moved on pretty qui-", suddenly Fjord just barked at him.

"Wrouff!", it was as if I had a large but gentle dog next to me.

The scream Jeff let out along with the startled jump he did was the greatest comedic timing one could ever ask for. Not even on accident you could ask for a better jump scare.

He fell to the floor as his Tom, Beck and Mark help him up, "See I told you we should have gone to Portland today!", Beck scolded Tom.

"What and have my girlfriend find out?! Hell no.", he refuted.

Struggling to get his friend up as he was a bit tangled in the chair he felt on, "You asshole it was your idea!", Mark squeaked.

The gang was laughing harder as some of the patrons, who already had their share of grievances with Jeff's gang of friends, began to laugh too.

"Come on man! He wasn't even that loud.", Ronnie cackled.

I hid my laughter so I didn't make it worse for Jeff, Fjord's laugh sounded like the victorious chuckle of some fantasy hero who's just defeated a dragon.

"What is the matter lad? Dog got yur tongue?", Fjord quipped, the laughing continued.

Jeff quickly shuffled up to his feet, "YOU SON OF A BITCH! THATS ASSAULT OF AN OFFI-", Tom tapped his shoulder.

"Bro that isn't going to work there likes several witnesses and Chief already said you can't just say that.", Tom had made a serious point. Jeff for the longest time had always used that excuse whenever he had been inconvenienced by some of the people around. Now, it's completely pointless to do so.

Huffing angrily, "I'll get you for this! FORD!".

Tilting his head, "Ugh...it's Fjord.".

"WHATEVER YOU FUCKING SWED!!!!", he huffed again and looked at me.

Probably hoping for some cheesy revelation that Fjord is some highschool picking on the little guy trope....but it's not going to work anymore.

I just gave him a look of pity. "Jeff... please. I'm sorry for what's happened between us...but its really over now...".

The ball dropped for him right there. "...you know what....fuck it lets-", he was about to put up his fists until a heavy hand was placed on his shoulders. It was Frank.

Frank the only retired Navel officer in the whole time. He had trained out at sea for a better part of his youth, took absolutely no shit from anyone....and he wasn't just going to let a bar fight happen in his nice and reputable place.

"No pig fights allowed.", it was barely a warning, he just dragged Jeff outside along with Tom in tow, Beck and Mark were also being forced out but his brother and husband. All four where kicked out of his bar. "AND STAY OUT, chumps.". He went back behind the bar and went on like nothing happened.

Fjord was impressed by this, "Oh...thank you Frank! I owe you a debt of gratitude!", he waved.

Frank just grumbled to himself just satisfied that no one split nose blood on his nice clean wood flooring. "Oh, Pauly, can you please call Chief Colt and tell him his rascal son is causing a commotion again. He's also banned.".

Pauly cocked his eye, "Wasn't he banned from here last time for that Christmas party last year?".

Frank stopped for a quick second to think about that, "...well he's banned again until I forget.".

After a few more minutes, it was finally closing time.

Ronnie checked if it was clear for us to go to back to our cars. These guys were still police officers after all. "ok, looks like they left."

As everyone headed back to their cars and said their goodbyes, me and Fjord head back home.

I sighed from the fun, all though a little bit too close for a close shave situation, we had back at the bar. "Fjord I have to ask, why are you still so sober? I swear you had drunk like 2 gallons of beer or something.".

Licking his lips remembering the mead likely enough, "Oh yes. You see lass, all Astartes had a special organ implanted in us. It helps filter and purify any contaminats, poisons or anything that could inebriate us. However, life can be pretty boring of you're sober lass. So...we the mighty Vlka Fenryka, had found a cure for such an issue...MJORD. Unfortunately...I can kill mortals like you just by getting a whiff.", he laid back a little.

"Ah yeah, I remember you telling me that...", the mystery toxic concoction he told me about a while ago had me wondering. "...what is it made of?"

He gave a tilted smile, "heh, nothing that could be made 'ere on earth. It requires the vegetation and Fenric roots to ferment for weeks, than a ceremony has to be done to purify it so it don't just turn into some nurglelin sludge.", he huffed a little and looked out the car window to see the stars. "....I wonder where Fenris is from this planet....".

I could tell he was homesick, "you miss your home don't you?", I glanced over to him laying down comfortably.

"Well ...yes, there are aspects of Fenris I do miss...yet...so far here has been great too....it's... peaceful."

The word peaceful may mean two different things from both our perspectives. In my eyes, the world had gotten very dangerous....wars, the climate, the looming doomsdays that supposedly needs to happen.

Maybe from his world view, this place is peaceful not because it is.... because it isn't the world he is use to.

"Yeah, it's nice out here, I'm wondering...do you think I'd like Fenris if it was possible of me going?", wondering what he would say.

He looked at me a with shock, "Would fancy bein frozen the second you step foot on the cold sharp winds lass?", he said it with much urgency it was cute.

I giggled a little from his reaction, "no not really, funny enough it sounds like you lived in a place similar to Antarctica. It's the coldest place I know for certain.".

He sat there wondering about what I said, "ugh... pardon me lass but where is Antarctica?".

"It is a cold, isolated place in the most southern pole of Earth, it's name purely defined by the fact it has no bears.", I felt the need to throw that little tidbit.

The cogs in his brain were trying to figure out how dangerous were the bears on earth to the point we named a whole continent after not having bears.

He just laughed off, "Alright lass, such a strange planet this is... wonderfully strange."

We drove back home with the volume of the car low.

As we get out of the car, I checked my new yellow mail box for regular mail. Nothing new, just bills and useless advertisements.

We head inside and lay down to relax after an eventful day.

"So lass, I believe it is time for your slumber I presume?", he sat on the couch, laying his head back watching me place my things on the kitchen table.

"yeah, it's past midnight, lucky for me I have a day off tomorrow.", as I tell him this, that business card falls right out of the pocket.

"hmm.... Ben....I wonder....", I remember what Ben and his gang wanted to do but I had begun to wonder how much they knew of the space marines. "Hey Fjord, let's go out tomorrow. I want to do some...reconnaissance.".

He turns around, "Oh, what for lass? Is there something you think Aldercon needs to know about?", he gives a cheeky grin.

"Maybe, there's a guy in town who tries to find Space Marines. I'm wondering how much he actually knows...you know....to see if he could be helpful or a threat?", I look at him, he knows what I mean by threat.

"oh ok lass, do you need me to do anything for now?", he asked.

A bit of a strange question, "ugh, no I'm fine. I better get to bed.", I yawned a little, I get a glass of water for him if he needed something to drink in the middle of the night. "Goodnight Fjord, I'll see you in the morning.". I give his head a little scratch and caress.

"hmmm, goodnight lass.", his eyes close as he dozed off.

I turn off the lights and head to my room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Driving down the highway, a large bus full of people drive past the welcome sign of Pine Hills.

There was noise in the bus, chanting, incantations humming in the air.

The driver.....blank masked man.

An old, greyed lady in bright, fashionably colored robes lifts her hand up. "STOP."

The bus makes a stop in a camp parking lot, the bus door eerily opening, with the clapping of her sandles, the lady steps out and examines the clearing. She looks to the stars, uttering in tongues to herself.

Praying to something....or someone.

Turning around, with a terrible grin on her face, "COMMENCE....the pilgrimage! TO THE GREAT ONE!", pointing dramatically to the forest trail. "HE awaits.....".

As her command was heard by the group of 20 or so people. As they all get out from the bus in a single file line. They collect their things, and march to the mountain ridge.

The lady stays behind, waves her hand at the bus....as a pinkish and blue glow emanates from her palm, a familiar sigil appears.

The bus begins to fold, unnaturally like if it was being crumpled like a piece of paper. The driver inside, unreactive to what was happening. He too, began to fold like paper. With metal bending, glass cracking and plastic squeaking.

The bus had shrunk down into the size of a model toy version of the bus. The driver was strunken as well.

The lady walked up to the bus, picking it up and peaking into the bus. "Soon...the great one will consume this pathetic world...and create a new world. HEHEHE HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA HAHAHAHAHA!", her manic laughing echoed through the night.

What had once been considered an impossibility, had now begun to leak...into our world.

End of Log 16

@kit-williams @barn-anon @egrets-not-regrets

@gallifreyianrosearkytiorsusan @walking-natural-disaster @starfrost740

@squishyowl @sleepyfan-blog @lawnchair86

[waltwhitmansbeard]

20. holding your face in their palm as they smile widely before kissing you, for the physical gestures prompt

20. holding your face in their palm as they smile widely before kissing you

The world may be ending, but if it is, the Nein's gonna get one last party in. Trent Ikithon is dead, or gone, or banished, or whatever, and Artie is working his magic to fix Caleb's hometown, and Jester is engaged. She can't stop grinning as the people of Blumenthal flow in and out of Caleb's magical tower, everyone leaving far more inebriated than they entered. No one really knows what the celebration is for—some guy they've never heard of summoned this terrifying monstrosity and they didn't die, and also there was a dragon, but it was okay?—so Jester tells anyone who asks that it's her engagement party, because, well, it is!

She actually hasn't had much of a chance to see her betrothed since he popped the question. She's been too busy sending her hamster-sized unicorns and illusory duplicates around the town, filling the place with explosions of color and more than enough mischief to make up for the horror of the fight that crashed through their streets so early in the morning. Besides, Beau and Yasha have been razzing Fjord since the big moment, leaving him blushing and stammering as they half-force whiskey down his throat.

Jester loves him like this, silly and happy, so different from the guy she met with someone else's accent and a debilitating fear of being known. Now he's a pirate, looking like something off of the cover of one of the smut novels Caleb sends her from time to time, and he's hers. Quite the catch for a girl who once could only dream of romance from the walls of her bedroom.

"What are you doing here?"

Jester turns, and there's Artie, looking harried and annoyed. She figures there's somewhere else he probably needs to be right now, what with the whole moon fiasco, but she's so glad he's here. "What? I'm just trying to help." She waves her hand, and one of her duplicates dances over to a group of kids with a large plate of food cooked up by some of Caleb's mystical cats.

"No, I mean, why aren't you drooling all over your fiancé?" He layers with the word with all manner of suggestion.

She scrunches her face. "I don't know! We just had this really big fight, and it was, like, really traumatic for Caleb, and also this town got crushed a lot, so...I don't know! It didn't seem like the moment."

"Jester, I'm not going to lie to you." He leans down, and Jester gets up onto her tiptoes to hear him whisper, "I don't know what the fuck is going on."

"No, me neither!"

"Like, things seem bad, right?"

"Really, really bad."

"And not to knock my own abilities, but I think I'm going to be of...limited use in whatever comes next. If, that is, anything comes next, and we're not all doomed to oblivion or whatever..." He flaps his hand generally in the direction of Ruidus. "...this means.

"So go!" He gently shoves her by the shoulders toward Fjord. "Go be silly and in love. I mean, I'll probably survive whatever this is, but who knows how much time you mortals have left! Go be with your slutty sea captain."

"He really is slutty," Jester whispers conspiratorially. "I didn't even ask him to wear his shirt like that, he just does it now."

"No complaints here."

"Of course not, look at him!" Jester rocks up on her toes again to kiss Artagan's cheek. "Thank you, Artie."

"Anything for my favorite."

Jester bounds across the main floor of the tower to Fjord, whose green skin is tinged red with alcohol. "Jester!" he booms, abandoning the glass Beau'd just shoved into his hand to swing his arms out wide. "There you are!"

"Here I am!" She stops right in front of him, and her stomach swoops low as his broad hands come to cup her face. "You seem like you're having fun."

"More fun now that you're here." Then, grinning ear to ear, his tusks gleaming in the lights of Caleb's arcane lights, he kisses her, and he tastes like whiskey and sugar and seawater, and despite the looming unknown coming for them all, Jester has never been less afraid.

[noxspost]

fjord and melora

@cr-aspec-fest

“Why didn't you tell me sooner. you always tell me I often overdo it?” she felt a bit hurt “I know that.” he confessed “but you didn't tell me the extent of it why?” her voice was small “because many of people prior to meeting you guys often call me broken or wrong. because I don't always feel it the way they expect it to I— I still love them you know they don't feel it as much when they kind of turn on me and stuff—"

she looked at him her hand gently on his face causing him to stop talking and stare directly into her blue eyes look at me she said “and why would I hate you? I still love you. There isn’t wrong with that you. We can still be together so what if the marriage isn't just all romantic and that's fine.” she wipes away a single tear as he looks at her like she was holy being “I knew what I was getting into when I married you,” she leans to his ear “I love you for who you are not the idea of who you are.” he hiccups hiding his relief and tears and after a bit she spoke normally “let me guess you were talking to the wild mother?"

"Yeah- yeah.” he said stammering a bit as if holding back his tears “you know we could still raise kids together. My mother never really needed romance to start a family, sure she didn't fully choose that life, but you know it doesn't change the fact she loves me. She loves her former boyfriend, my father and she have friends she loves. She never really through that on me that expectations.” Jester spoke sweetly as fjord nods still holding back his tears then jester wraps the blanket around him and she went on letting go of his face she got to his eye level and said again “so then why should I ask you to conform especially in a way that you feel uncomfortable in doing so?”

fjord tries to voice an argument “it is dumb since it's like telling Caleb he should conform to the same gender that are dictated by his sex organs?” it clicks for fjord who laughs a bit “oh right.” she looked at him again “and I know you wouldn’t force me to conform and you never force me into the expectations you assume just because of who I am.”

He pauses for a moment and realize how stupid he was kind of being “but it's understandable to feel these emotions I often feel weird and uncomfortable in my own skin too.”

[blood-orange-juice]

Hello! May I ask if you have any headcanons for Fischl, Albedo, or Kaeya? Or thoughts about them in general?

Either way it’s quite fun to read your posts on Childe’s personality✨

Hello! ^^ Thank you for the ask and for the kind words! These guys are among my favorite characters and I mostly have incoherent shouting.

*

My main Fischl headcanon is that Oz is not an electro construct but an instance of true creation magic, similar to what Gold did and Narcissenkreuz Ordo tried to replicate.

Girl just accidentaly performed a godlike feat because she was lonely and bored. She does that.

Other than that, all my previous headcanons have been covered in the last year summer event. She's talented, kind, observant, a bit too sensitive for the everyday world and brave af (not the "rush into danger" brave, the "I can look at myself closely and admit I was wrong" brave).

Lil sis is majestic. And she got all the important stuff right. If she wants to roleplay through life then I see no problem.

(it's so often shown how caring she is! during Unreconciled Stars she's one of the first to arrive in the disaster zone. and she regularly invites Mona for dinner because she knows Mona keeps spending all her earnings on books instead of food.

she just... helps others. all the time.)

Also Bennett absolutely has a crush on her.

Also sitting in a garden watching a play is THE shit (even more so in real lfe) and I loved that summer event.

*

With Albedo it's weird in the sense that there's a lot of going on with him but we either have obvious things (him being Gold's creation) or things we can't really connect with anything yet. I wonder if him being a potential danger to Monstadt will be subverted.

I also hope that him not getting a winter event this year means Hoyo are cooking something else. They usually do that when a character doesn't appear for a while.

*

For Kaeya I would need a week and multiple posts.

Do you know that his surname, Alberich, means 'king of elves' in Old High German?

(which in Old French slowly became Alberon and then Auberon. so not just a king of elves, the king of elves)

Which is incredibly bizarre because he's a descendant of the regent family, not the royal family. Why were they called Alberichs?

Also In The Song of the Nibelungs (which for me rhymes thematically with The Ballad of the Fjords spear lore) Alberich is the dwarf/dark elf (svartálfar) who guards the treasure of Nibelungs.

(actually I should write a detailed post about it. hold my beer)

A smaller thing: it also makes me sad how his EN VA makes him sound slightly sadistic while in CN he's more of the "teasing older buddy/coworker" type (and later in the story we learn he's incredibly kind). He's just so beautifully voiced in the Chinese version and none ot the translations do him justice.