#POE Fic Swap 2017

[rannadylin]

So it looks like it’s some sort of Fic Writers Appreciation Day today? In that case, huge shoutout of appreciation to all the writers who have been taking part in the Pillars of Eternity events I’ve been running! Having never done something like this before, I was just hoping we’d at least get a few people involved and get a little more fic into the archives for PoE, but we had 14 wonderful writers take part in the fic swap and 7 have posted fics for the first week of the new prompt blog, @pillarspromptsweekly! I’m delighted by everyone’s enthusiasm and creativity, and no matter how many spreadsheets I have or how meticulously I organize the thing, we would have no fic events at all if not for your hard work. So thank you to @svartalfhild @alien-cafe  @queen-scribbles @ohvexahlia @thepebblejohnson @perahn @leeoliver @mandorways @haledamage @serenbach86  @reaper-kravitz @catofcombs @grumpy-jedi @captainofthefallen and everyone else who’ll be part of these games and challenges in future!

[perahn]

Things Unsaid

For the PoE Fic Swap 2017, prompted by the fantastic @catofcombs: The time has come for Oublie (my orlan Priest of Skaen) and Hiravias to part ways, post-game. They talk about the time they’ve spent together, what they plan to do/where they plan to go, and say their goodbyes.

Things changed, after Sun in Shadow. The people Oublie had gathered around her began to drift away as older ties and other commitments reasserted themselves. Sagani had been the first to leave. She hadn’t even come back to Caed Nua; too eager to return to her family and village with news of a successful hunt, the ranger had left them at Twin Elms. Kana Rua and Pallegina also had far to go, but they, at least, had stayed for the celebration at the keep. Aloth and Edér seemed undecided, and Grieving Mother would stay awhile yet – held more by little Vela than by any loyalty to Oublie.

That left only one of them, and the one who mattered most. Little had been said between them since their return to Caed Nua, and never anything that mattered. Then, some things didn’t need to be.

His expression had been clear enough.

“We don’t need him,” she murmured to Vela, hugging her baby close as they sat up on the battlements, watching the evening business of the keep under the rising moon. “Let him think me a monster. Anyone would have done the same. That’s how the world turns. You’ll understand one day.”

“There’s nothing creepy about that at all,” Hiravias said from behind her.

“Oh, fuck you!” she exclaimed. “You nearly scared me off the wall!”

“You should have heard me,” the druid replied. “You have two good ears.” He leaned against the wall beside her. “So, uh…”

“You’re leaving,” she said quietly. She had been certain of that for days; still, the spoken words felt like an icy breeze through her fur.

“Yeah. Before dawn. It’ll be a clear night for travelling.”

She ought to wish him luck and let him go, probably. Oublie had never much liked what she ‘ought’ to do. It rose in her like a winter tide: familiar and comforting anger made bitter and strange by regret. Savage honesty spilled free from her, as though her heart came pouring out of her mouth without her volition and unshielded by her customary lies. “Don’t insult me with small talk. I know you better than that. You stuck it as long as you could, as long as your quest for answers came with food and sex, but you’ve had enough. You can’t forgive me for the Engwithan ruins, for the choices I’ve made, the power I took, the people I killed, for taking Vela, for fucking Durance! Now you think I’m a monster and you’re running back to your bog. Maybe you hate me, maybe you’re afraid of me, I don’t know. Well, listen, you’re responsible, because I couldn’t have done any of it without you!”

She had almost shrieked the last words, and her fury had woken Vela. As the baby cried, Oublie turned away and started rocking her.

“Wow. Okay. You’ve been chewing on that for a while, huh?” Hiravias’s voice was very quiet. “That has to be the weirdest way anyone ever thanked me.”

There was more she could say, one final truth at the core of her heart, but was the point? He was leaving, and if he hated her, he didn’t deserve it. She had never cared for the truth anyway.

“You were fucking Durance?” he asked, and the humour sounded automatic, false. “That would explain the crotch rot I picked up-“

“No,” she said, her anger fading in the face of his jokes as it always had, leaving only regret. “I sacrificed him.”

“I guessed.” Oublie turned, and he was shrugging. “Well, it was a Skaenite thing, and you’re a Skaenite, and you kill people for less than the things he kept spewing at you. It wasn’t difficult to figure out.”

She met his eye for the first time in days. It seemed just as unreadable as the embroidered sigil of Wael next to it. “You never said – did the others-?”

“Oh, maybe,” Hiravias said. “None of us are entirely stupid. Which is one reason why nobody said anything about a lot of the shit you’ve done. Only Edér would poke at an angry lioness and expect to keep his hand.” He sighed. “Look. You want the truth?”

“You might as well,” she said, as Vela finally calmed. “You’re leaving anyway.”

“I don’t waste time hating – or forgiving - predators for what they are.”

She blinked, caught more off-guard by that simple statement than by almost anything that had been said since a bîaŵac changed her life. There was understanding and acceptance in it, and both were an unexpected balm.

“You’re what you were made to be,” Hiravias continued. “Vicious, impulsive, and dedicated to survival. It’s no use trying to change or tame something like you. Stelgaer or orlan, it doesn’t matter. Around a predator, you… take care. If you don’t behave like prey, you might not be attacked. Maybe it even sees you as one of its own, and you run as pack for a while.”

“For a while,” she repeated softly.

“Yeah,” he said. “You don’t stay long after the kill. Predators aren’t good at sharing their meat… and sooner or later, everything else is prey or a rival. That’s how it goes.”

The terms were Galawain’s, but the meaning behind them was almost of Skaen. There was power: those who had it would do anything to keep it, and those without would do the same to gain it.

It was enough.  

She let that final, hidden truth go free, and the words fell softly on the moonlight. “I could have loved you.”

“Who couldn’t?” he answered, his humour hiding nothing. “It wouldn’t have changed anything… but I almost loved you as much as I love myself.”

She smiled, then.  

“And, look,” Hiravias added. “Maybe one of these days you’ll feel like changing your hunting grounds. Maybe you’ll want to give Vela the choice of Eír Glanfath. Maybe you’ll find me and we’ll hunt together again.”

“Maybe,” Oublie said, as though it were a promise.

Nothing more was said between them that night.

But then, some things didn’t need to be.

[queen-scribbles]

Not That Bad

Second prompt fill for PoE ficwap, from @haledamage, reusing the ‘Tavi and Aloth have to share a bed for REASONS” prompt bc I wanted to do it justice. It was harder to figure out the set up than I expected, because the usual ‘two people/one bed’ trope wouldn’t work. Tavi’s far too willing to sleep on the floor. (the ending could be better, but I’ve been trying to tweak it for an hour, and I’m just... done.)

It had been a long day, Tavi acknowledged to herself as she focused on getting her aching and exhausted legs to carry her up the steps toward the room they'd rented in the Gréf's Rest. And while long days were hardly rare, fending off an ogre attack and dragging a woman from a burning building had certainly made this one unique. Right now, however, the uniqueness wasn't her concern; how exhausting it had been was. I might actually sleep tonight, she thought, with an almost perverse amount of glee, as she found the correct door and slid the key into the lock. I don't think even Watcher dreams could keep me- The door swung open. -awake. Haeferic had forgotten to mention something when he promised her "the biggest room in the inn" --it only had four beds. Tavi froze in the doorway as that fact registered, which meant Hiravias and Aloth both almost walked into her. "What's wr-" Aloth cut himself off as a glance over Tavi's shoulder answered his question. "Ah." "Yeah, 'Ah'," Tavi sighed, stepping into the room and to the side so the others could enter. "I may not be a scholar, but six adventurers an' four beds... ain't hard to see how that ends." "With us on the floor," Sagani volunteered, gesturing for Itumaak to follow as she headed for the rug in front of the hearth. "We've made do with worse." She shrugged gamely. "Least in here it's warm." "Well, that still leaves five people and only four beds," Tavi muttered, rubbing her forehead. She just wanted to sleep, godsdammit, but here she stood; hair reeking of smoke and her armor of worse, trying to solve a logic puzzle she definitely hadn't asked for- "Why don't you two just share?" Sagani suggested, grinning slyly as she picked burrs out of Itumaak's coat. "Who share?" Tavi retorted, and almost instantly regretted it as seven eyes--and one eyepatch of Wael--slanted toward her and Aloth. "Pallegina and Hiravias," Sagani deadpanned, still grinning. "Who do you think?" "I-" Can't say I'm opposed to the idea, her brain filled in (un)helpfully. She turned to Aloth. "Are you alright-" "Would you mind-" he started at the same time. They both cut themselves off when they realized the other was speaking, prompting Sagani's grin to widen. "C'mon, Tav, it makes sense," she cajoled, expression shifting faux-innocent as she ticked off her points. "The bed's definitely big enough for two, you an' Aloth are obviously close enough-" "I'm right here," Aloth muttered pointedly. "Am I wrong?" Sagani asked even more pointedly, raising her eyebrows as her gaze shifted between the two elves. "No..." both Tavi and Aloth conceded after an awkward second's silence, while the others all pretended to be ignoring them as they chose beds and unslung their packs. "Well, then," Sagani shrugged and gave her full attention to plucking burrs and chunks of ice from Itumaak's coat. Tavi and Aloth traded a look of optimistic skepticism. "Is... that alright with you, city slicker?" she asked, fighting the urge to nervously fiddle with her hair or the buckles on her armor. Aloth hesitated for the barest fraction of a second before nodding. "If you're alright with it, so am I." Are you sure?" Tavi pressed, having caught the hesitation. "If it mmakes you uncomfortable, I can sleep on the floor, too. There's plenty of room-" "No," he cut her off. "I'm sure. You have enough trouble falling asleep as it is, I'm not going to ask you to do that. I just want to be sure this is something you're comfortable with." She chuckled. "Shit, Corfiser, it's not like we're actually Sleeping Together, just sharing a bed. What's there to be uncomfortable about?" Aloth gave her a curious look, and Tavi immediately started doubting how well her bravado had hidden the very real butterflies in her stomach. "As I said, if it's alright with you, it's alright with me." "Well, then." Tavi circled to one side of the bed and sat down, dropping her pack and pulling off her boots. "That's settled." "I suppose it is." Aloth sat almost gingerly on the other side of the bed. It didn't take long to shuck their armor and other gear, and the two of them settled in to sleep, shoulders barely brushing. Tavi still instinctively shifted half an inch away before rolling on her side. It was her preferred sleeping position, since it worked best for pretending to be asleep in the event of an ambush. Old habits died hard, she reflected as she stared at the wall. She hadn't had to worry about being ambushed in months. Behind her, Tavi could hear Aloth shifting in search of a comfortable position, and wondered if his feelings about this development were in anyway similar to her own. Namely, giddy nerves, not wanting to make things uncomfortable, but a small pulse of warmth wriggling through her gut that had liked the idea the moment Sagani brought it up. But it wasn't long before Aloth stilled and soon after his breathing settled in to the slow, steady cadence of sleep. Tavi yawned, too a moment to appreciate the irony of being the last to fall  asleep when she was the most exhausted, and drifted off herself. >><><< The dreams hit hard and they hit fast. One minute, her prediction had proven correct, and the exhaustion had brought with it the thick cover of dreamless sleep. The next Tavi felt like she was shaking as if hit by lightning. Standing on a cliff, drenched by rain, rock clutched in her hand as she waited for the body at her feet to show signs of life. A blink and it was gone, replaced by the vision of an elven woman, stretched on a rack and clearly in pain. Another beat and she was staring through the blood-hazed eyes of a mother orlan protecting her young children from some threat just beyond her field of vision. Back to the elven woman, her back arched and chest heaving as she screamed in agony. Vague, hooded figures stepped forward and reached for the levers. The elven woman locked eyes with her and when the figures tightened the rack another notch, Tavi felt the agony in her own limbs; as if every joint was being pulled from its socket. The world went white- >><><< -and she bolted awake, breathing hard, pain lingering in her wrists and elbows. It's just a dream. Tavi swore under her breath and ran a shaking hand through her hair. That's all. The covers rustled and there was a mumbled "Wha's wrong?" beside her as Aloth blinked his way awake. Tavi immediately felt guilty. "Sorry. The dreams. They... they were really vivid tonight." She looked down at the hem of her shirt, bunching the fabric in her hand and then smoothing it out. "Didn't mean to wake you." "It's fine," he said around a yawn. "Are you alright?" "Yeah, I'll be fine," Tavi promised, the words only sounding slightly hollow. She pushed down the covers and started to slide from the bed. "Maybe I should sleep on the floo-" "No." Aloth leaned over and grabbed her wrist, halting her movement. "It's alright, Tavi." "But I'll prob'ly wake you up again." He shrugged. "I learned years ago that I don't need much sleep to function. If you wake me, you wake me. At least you won't be dealing with this alone." "Aloth..." She hesitated. "Please. Stay." His thumb lightly rubbed the inside of her wrist, probably feeling her jittery pulse. "You're not inconveniencing me or making me uncomfortable or anything like that, if that's your concern. I would... very much like it if you stayed. However," he let go of her wrist. "If you would be more comfortable on the floor, by all means, don't let me stop you." Tavi smiled and quickly slid back under the covers, nestling into a good position. "Please. You couldn't stop me if you wanted to, city slicker." Aloth chuckled quietly, his hand sliding toward her until his fingers brushed hers. "We can test that theory, if you wish." Tavi smirked into the darkness and whispered, "Nah, I'm good." as she deliberately brushed her fingers against his in response. >><><< Wakefulness was--for once in her life--slow in coming. Tavi lazily blinked her way to consciousness, feeling drowsy and well-rested, cradled in the warmth of the pelts and blanket that covered the bed. As well as the warmth of another body snuggled against hers. For one muzzy, half-awake moment, she was a kid again. Piled in one bed with her brothers because the house was too small and winters were cold. But only for a moment. The smell of bacon and something else elusive but delicious tickled her senses, and Tavi pulled herself fully awake. The rough-hewn walls of the Gréf's Rest greeted her. She yawned and scrubbed sleep from her eyes with the heel of one hand. Of course it had just been a memory. She wasn't a kid anymore, she had the scars to prove it. Which meant that wasn't Khellin or one of the others next to her. Full recollection flooded in and it took an actual, physical effort not to bolt upright and instead simply take stock. Aloth had rolled over at some point and curled up against her back, one arm wrapped loosely around her midriff.  Tavi smiled to herself and lightly ran her fingers up and down the length of his forearm, occasionally pausing to trace circles around his knuckles before resuming. Okay, she admitted silently, I'm not a touchy feely person most of the time, but I gotta admit this is nice. Her next pass up Aloth's arm slipped past his elbow, brushing the skin just beyond it, and he twitched, making a small noise that was almost a laugh in his sleep. Tavi grinned giddily--silently thanking the gods no one else was awake yet--and more deliberately ran her fingers over the spot again. This time Aloth mumbled something, his breath warm against her neck, as his arm jerked away. The cadence of his breathing changed, and Tavi felt him shift and stretch as he woke. "Ticklish, huh?" she teased in a whisper. "Surprised I hadn't figured that out yet." Aloth shook his head. "Not ticklish, jus' sensitive." Tavi almost giggled at how adorably sleepy he sounded. "That so?" "Mm-hm." His breath caught as their position sank in and he started to roll away. She stopped him with a gentle hand on his wrist. "You're fine, Corfiser." Aloth only relaxed fractionally. "Are you sure?" "Mm-hm." Tavi rubbed her thumb against the heel of his hand. "I mean, if you're not comfortable, go right ahead. But you aren't makin' me uncomfortable. It's actually kinda nice." "It is, isn't it?" he said softly as he settled back in. "Your hair still smells like smoke." "Sorry. I had no idea you were such a cuddler, city slicker," she teased in an undertone as she rolled over so she was facing him. "You're just learning all kinds of new things this morning, aren't you?" he fired back, smile tugging at his lips. "Heh, guess I am." Tavi wrinkled her nose. "This sharin' a bed idea turned out not that bad after all." "I'm gonna remember you said that," Sagani piped up from somewhere behind her, and Tavi groaned as she glanced over her shoulder at the dwarf, who was, of course, grinning. "And sweet Galawain, you two are adorable." The moment effectively ruined, Tavi sat up and chucked her pillow at Sagani. "No one asked you." Sagani snorted and caught the pillow with one hand. "That never stops you, Tav." "She makes a very good point," Aloth said as he also sat up, running his fingers through his hair to gather it forward over one shoulder. "You're supposed t' be on my side!" Tavi grumbled, raking her fingers through her own hair and forcefully suppressing the urge to kiss him senseless for being so damn attractive this early in the morning. She settled for bumping her shoulder against his. "I am," Aloth countered. "Your bluntness is part of why I love you, remember?" Tavi's heart stuttered ever so slightly(which she'd always thought was a myth at best, vapid prose at worst) as she sat there grinning at Aloth until he raised an eyebrow in confused curiosity. "What?" he finally asked. "That's the first time you said the 'l' word, city slicker," Tavi informed him, reveling in Sagani's expression. "No it isn't," Aloth protested, frowning slightly as he bit his lip in thought. "After we fought off the ogres-" "You said I'd be the death of you," Tavi said, still grinning impishly. "I said I love you, too, 'cause I knew that's what you meant." His expression softened and he ran his fingers through his hair, absently twisting the ends. "I do, you know." "I know," she nodded, leaning over to steal a kiss. "And your tactfulness being part of why I love you is why I've gotten so good at readin' between the lines like that." "Good for you," Sagani interjected. "But if I hafta listen to my stomach growl one more time while you lovebirds are bein' all cute, I may commit murder. Help me wake the others so we can eat." "Dibs on waking Kana," Tavi said as she shoved down the covers and scrambled out of bed. "I'll take care of Pallegina," Aloth added, only half a second behind her. "Dammit," Sagani laughed ruefully, glancing at Hiravias' bed. "If he's feelin' grumpy, shifts, and eats me, Watcher, you get to explain to Kallu an' my kids." "Aw, c'mon, 'Gani," Tavi needled, already poking Kana's shoulder with one finger. "It's not gonna be that bad." It wasn't. Everyone was awake in short order and with minimal grumbling, and they set about planning their course of action as they ate. As she listened to Kana and Hiravias debate the virtues of camping versus returning to the inn at night, almost effortlessly pulling Sagani and Pallegina in as well, Tavi glanced at Aloth and silently hoped the rest of this adventure would work out as well as sleeping arrangements the previous night had. That wouldn't be so bad.

He caught her looking at him and smiled back.

No, Tavi thought to herself. Not bad at all.   

[leeoliver]

just so everyone knows, the working title for this fic was “furcon 2823”

[ohlawsons]

THE NEWEST RECRUIT

SUMMARY. Maerwald was a disappointment and the place is infested with spirits -- but then Neria rescues a dog, and Eder decides that Caed Nua might not be so bad, after all. NOTES. prompt from @rannadylin for the pillars fic swap! LINKS. [ ao3 ] [ neria’s tag ]

It was raining the next morning -- because of course it was -- and that was the second thing that Eder noticed when he awoke. He was sore, and he was stiff, and sleeping on the rubble-covered floor of Caed Nua’s ruined inn didn't help, especially given the state he'd been in after the battle with Maerwald the day before; but, at least, he was dry and that was something of an improvement over the downpour outside.

The first thing he'd noticed that morning, directly before taking note of the patter of rain on the wooden roof, had been the yelling that was coming from outside -- yells that sounded a lot like their Watcher, who was missing from the tired group huddled in the inn. She didn't sound hurt or panicked; there was a loud whoop! over the drumming rain, and Eder assumed that even if there had been trouble, Neria had it well in hand.

Still, he pulled himself to his feet and went to investigate, groaning a bit as he rolled his shoulders to loosen up. The front door of the inn opened with a drawn out creak, and Eder stepped just outside to stand under the small overhang on the inn’s roof, managing to stay mostly dry as he watched Neria.

As expected, she wasn't in any trouble; the Watcher was standing, soaked and barefoot, in the grass out in front of the inn and taking wild, reckless swings with a pike that was easily a foot taller than she was. There was a pattern to her maneuvers, and it seemed almost as if she were running through a set of well-practiced -- albeit erratic -- training drills. Neria’s usual weapons, a hefty war hammer with thin red leather wrappings around its haft and a simple hand axe, were resting against the side of a ruined fountain.

She perplexed him, their Watcher. She was one of the godlike, one touched by Berath, with a mask-like growth that veiled her eyes and a halo of shadow that framed her like a mane of curls; common superstition would label her a curse, an ill-omen, but Neria stood no taller than an orlan and had a wide grin that was more mischievous than malevolent. She was filled with a boundless energy, with a disdain for war but a love of the fight, and there was nothing anyone could say or do to change her mind once she'd made it.

So when he leaned up against the sagging door frame of the inn, watching Neria with a slow shake of his head, he didn't even bother trying to suggest that she should come back inside. At least, not directly.

“Might be more helpful to go after some of those leftover specters. I'm pretty sure that library’s still haunted.”

“Why do you say that?” Neria shot back, not missing a beat as she lunged forward with the pike. “Because something spooked Aloth last night? I'm pretty sure that's just Kana. I think he talks in his sleep.”

“Wouldn't surprise me.” He paused as a crack of lightning unfurled across the sky, followed by a delayed rumble of thunder. “Still, that dog of yours was making all sorts of noise while I was on watch last night. Took all the jerky in my pack to quiet her down.”

At that, Neria stilled, turning to Eder to give him a look he couldn't quite decipher; her lips scrunched into a thin, uneven line and the mask-like folds over her eyes drew together ever so slightly, almost like a brow furrowing. The halo of shadow surrounding her flickered and twisted in the rain, and she continued to stare at him with that odd look for another moment before she snickered, then fell into a complete bout of laughter, loud and unabashed as it rang out over the sounds of the storm.

“You--” Neria fell quiet, gasping for breath between her now-silent laughs; she drove the pike blade-first into the ground, leaning on it as she attempted to regain her composure. “You fed all of your jerky to Penelope last night?”

“Had to quiet her down somehow,” he offered with a shrug, not sure what exactly about the situation warranted quite so much laughter. It had only been three strips, and besides, Eder was more preoccupied with the name Neria had chosen for the stray they'd discovered hiding amongst the rubble of Caed Nua’s destroyed barracks. “You named her --  so that means we're keeping her?”

“Yeah, especially now that I know she's the smartest one of the bunch.”

As if on cue, Penelope -- a sturdy little dog, with short grey and white dappled fur and splashes of brown over her ears and face -- came padding out from wherever she’d been, off to Eder’s left, and ran straight into Neria, whining and giving her an affectionate headbut to the stomach. She sat back with an expectant look and whined again.

Neria planted her hands on her hips and stared down at Penelope, frowning. “No. I told you not to destroy the stick, and you destroyed the stick. It’s not my fault there’s nothing left for me to throw for you--” another whine, “--and I’m not gonna go search in the rain and mud for another stick.”

Penelope pawed at Neria, leaving a smear of mud on her already-soaked pants, and let out a loud bark that cut through even the pounding rain.

“You’re not gonna change her mind,” Eder warned, the words directed at Penelope though he suspected she was just as stubborn as their Watcher, and the sentiment could easily go both ways. He knelt down and beckoned to the dog, tongue out and ears perked as she continued to wait for Neria. “C’mere, girl. I’ll figure something out for you.”

Without hesitation, Penelope bounded towards Eder, launching herself at him and resting her paws on his shoulder as she began licking his face, leaving him covered in both mud and slobber. It wasn’t what he’d had in mind, exactly, when he’d called her over, but in hindsight maybe he should’ve expected it; Penelope had done the same to Neria the night before, when they’d first found her rummaging through some overturned barrels as they’d been making the rounds through Caed Nua after meeting Maerwald. Neria had emerged from the barracks carrying a dog nearly as large as herself, triumphantly announcing that there weren’t any more spirits to worry about.

Eder stood, carrying Penelope the way Neria had the night before, ignoring the fact that his shirt was now soaked and covered in mud. He glanced up at the sky -- it was hard to tell, with the thick cloud cover, but he was fairly certain it was early morning -- and leaned back a bit to look at Penelope. “Let’s get you dried off and find something to eat.”

She responded with an enthusiastic bark -- right in Eder’s ear.

“Don’t spoil my dog,” Neria called, twisting and prying the pike out of the mud and tucking it under one arm as she reached for her war hammer and hand axe.

“There’s nothing wrong with spoiling her just a little bit.”

“Don’t spoil her,” she repeated, pointing her war hammer at him and giving it a little shake. “I’m gonna train her. She’s gotta earn her keep.” She brushed past them and pushed the door to the inn open, dropping her weapons just inside and they clattered to the ground loudly enough that Kana, sleeping on a bedroll in the center of the inn, jerked away and bolted upright. “C’mon, Kana, you’re on breakfast duty since the rest of us can’t cook for shit. And maybe I’ll train her to be a guard dog -- y’know, so she can stay on watch and the rest of us can rest.” One corner of her lips twisted into a half-grin, and her voice lilted upwards as she teased, “Berath knows you need plenty of beauty sleep.”

“No more than the rest of us. Besides, she wouldn’t make a decent guard dog. She’s loud, maybe, but a girl like her is made to be off chasing livestock.”

“So we are keeping her?” Kana asked through a yawn, reaching for where his cap sat on the ground beside him. “Not that there was much question,” he added with a wide grin, “but it’s official?”

Neria let out a long, exaggerated sigh. “I guess, even if Eder insists that Penelope won’t ever be a good guard dog.”

At hearing her name -- or perhaps just because Eder’s attention was now divided -- Penelope wriggled and squirmed until Eder let her down, and she bounded back over to Neria, giving an excited little bounce. When the Watcher didn’t respond, she let out two quick barks; in the corner, Aloth curled into an even smaller ball on his bedroll.

“Go make yourself useful and wake Aloth up.” The wizard gave a grunt in protest, but Neria wasn’t deterred and pointed towards his bedroll; with another bounce, Penelope took off to the other side of the inn, searching the floor for whatever she thought Neria had thrown. She nosed along the edge of Aloth’s bedroll, sniffing at him, and when he tried to swat her away Neria fell into a fit of laughter. “We’re definitely keeping her.”

[astrifer0us]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Pillars of Eternity Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: The Watcher/Sagani (minor) Characters: The Watcher (Pillars of Eternity), Sagani, Itumaak, Cameo appearances of other companions Additional Tags: 5+1 Summary:

or: 5 times Athyx tries to befriend Itumaak, and one time he succeeds

__

written for the poe fic swap organised by the lovely @rannadylin; prompt was courtesy of @serenbach86, thank you so much!!

[svartalfhild]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Pillars of Eternity Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Edér Teylecg & The Watcher, Aloth Corfiser/The Watcher Characters: Female Watcher, Original Female Character(s), Edér Teylecg, Aloth Corfiser Additional Tags: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Loneliness Summary:

A fews years after the Watcher saved the Dyrwood, Caed Nua is a prospering center of agriculture and trade, but Lann finds it lonelier than ever. An unexpected visitor arrives to interrupt her solitude.

[javier-taco]

“Will you spend your life sleeping the night away? Or will you go and seek the sunrise?”

My contribution to the Pillars of Eternity Fic Swap 2017.

Swap partner: alien-cafe

Prompt: A happy and carefree Watcher looks back at his angry(?) past

Read: Here

[haledamage]

Title: Fire-Haired Girl Author: haledamage Pillars of Eternity, Gen fic, Watcher-centric Summary: A few moments in Kai's life that helped shape who she is.

For PoE FicSwap2017. Prompt from @queen-scribbles “some of Kai's backstory”

read on AO3

[ao3feed-kyloren]

it’s late september and you really should be back at school

read it on AO3 at https://ift.tt/2jSVPXi

by shiiera

Poe sent a few messages: a bunch of stupid cat memes and 90s Kids jokes that make her roll her eyes and promptly delete. There’s two from Finn, but she knows its Rose wanting to know what happened between her and…

   … The twenty five year old law school kid from the rich side of town.

 A Modern AU where Rey is a 32 year old waitress at Denny's and Ben is a 25 year old grad student, and Rey's finding it difficult to get Ben out of her bed after a night of marathon sex.

Words: 2216, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Fandoms: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017)

Rating: Explicit

Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply

Categories: F/M

Characters: Rey (Star Wars), Kylo Ren, Ben Solo

Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo

Additional Tags: Smut, Fluff and Smut, maybe? lol, Prompt Fic, Explicit Sexual Content, Age Swap, Age Difference, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Older Woman/Younger Man, Cunnilingus, Sharing a Bed, Cigarettes, Beer

read it on the AO3 at https://ift.tt/2jSVPXi

[rannadylin]

Darkest, DARKEST Rauatai Cookies

For @ohvexahlia in the Pillars of Eternity Fic Swap: A look into my Watcher Violet’s leisure time. This would probably be the fluffiest thing I’ve written in ages even if it were not the ONLY thing I’ve written in ages, and that’s exactly as it should be. :-D

Featuring: Violet, Watcher of Caed Nua, Orlan Priest of Eothas (and amateur baker...); Aloth Corfiser, research assistant and reluctant baker’s apprentice; and Kana Rua, he who holds the mysteries of Rauatai Cookies.

Word count: 2383

Rating: G (as fluffy as can be...also chocolatey)

Also on: AO3

“How odd,” Aloth’s voice broke softly into Violet’s thoughts. She looked up from the tome propped open on her knees, where she sat curled up in an overstuffed chair far too large for her, tucked into a corner of Caed Nua’s library. She rubbed at her eyes, tired from hours of searching for clues to her predicament as Watcher. Such books as they had been able to recover from the mess left of Maerwald’s time at the keep were generally not in the best condition and thoroughly lacking in organization, so it was a slow and exhausting process.

“Odd? What’s odd?” she asked, twitching an ear in his direction.

He gestured to the dilapidated pages spread out before him on a lectern near one of the recently restored shelves. “It appears to be a recipe.”

“A recipe?” she echoed him again. “You’re reading cookbooks now?”

“I am not,” he narrowed his eyes in a glance her way. “It seems to be the journal of a medic traveling with a caravan that sheltered here early in Maerwald’s reconstruction of Caed Nua, well before he…” Aloth met Violet’s eyes and winced in allusion to their mutual predicament. “Well. You know.”

“A medic.” She yawned, shoved her book aside, and hopped down from the chair to get a closer look at Aloth’s find. “You think this medic might have examined our...forebear?”

“I’d hoped so,” Aloth nodded, “but mostly it’s been notes about the other lands the group had traveled through. The references to Caed Nua were fairly early on, so I’m not sure how the journal even ended up back here. I was about to give up on this and look for another.”

“And suddenly, a recipe.” Violet grinned and stood on tip-toe to get a closer look at the journal on Aloth’s folk-sized lectern. “Maybe our medic just liked to cook.”

Aloth tugged thoughtfully at a lock of hair hanging over his shoulder as he scooted over to make room for the curious Watcher. “I’m not sure it belongs to the journal, though. The parchment seems newer, and there’s been no mention of cooking before this.” He lifted the page in question from the lectern and handed it down to her.

“Oh! It’s loose?” She handled the page gingerly, turning it from side to side in search of tell-tale holes where it might have been torn from its binding.

“The whole book’s unbound,” Aloth explained. “Just a collection of the caravan’s adventures, scribbled on odds and ends of any material the writer could find, apparently. But they do seem to have been kept in order, and this one appears far less faded than the rest.”

Violet scanned the lines of ink, scribed in a precise hand but softened and smudged with time. “And definitely a recipe. My goodness, that’s an awful lot of cocoa it calls for.”

Aloth peered over her shoulder and nodded. “Relatively so.”

“Hm…” Violet ran a finger down the list, brightening as a chocolate-filled suspicion occurred to her. “We probably have that much left over from what we picked up at The Wailing Banshee, though. And I’m sure the kitchen has fresh eggs today.”

“Hold on,” Aloth said with a frown. “You’re not thinking of cooking this, are you?”

“Looks more like baking, actually,” she shrugged, then smiled up at him. “And why not?”

“For one thing, we don’t even know what it’s supposed to be. It’s a vague list of ingredients and minimal instructions with no title.”

Violet was already on her way to the door. “I’ve got a decent guess. Are you coming or aren’t you?”

He blinked, his hands fluttering to the edge of the lectern. “I’m sure I would be of more use here --”

“So might I. But we could both use a break, Aloth. Also delicious cookies.” She winked at him and waved the parchment towards the door.

“Cookies?”

“I think that’s what we’re making, anyway.”

Aloth hesitated but soon followed after her, huffing a sigh. “Fine. But since when do you cook, anyway?”

“All the time!”

“I’ve never seen you do it.”

“Well, you’ve mostly seen me on the road, haven’t you? Baking like this calls for a proper kitchen.”

“Which, at Caed Nua, is currently under construction, you’ll recall.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll manage,” she laughed, grabbing his hand as he caught up to her and tugging him along with her to Brighthollow and its improvised, temporary kitchen.

Nearly an hour later, Aloth brushed at a wayward dusting of cocoa powder on his tunic, his lips pursed in distaste.

“You’ll only rub it in deeper,” Violet advised, shoving a bowl of a dark brown batter up at him. “Here. Stir in the chocolate chips while I find a baking sheet.”

“Shouldn’t we have found the baking sheet first?” Aloth pointed out, dutifully stirring.

Violet’s laugh sounded from within one of the larger cabinets. “I sort of hoped we’d unearth them in the process of finding the chocolate.”

“Please tell me renovating the kitchen is next on the Steward’s list. Or at least an inventory of whatever’s in here?”

Violet emerged, triumphantly waving an only slightly misshapen sheet of metal. “On the bright side, we’ll be half done with that inventory by the time we perfect these cookies.”

Aloth sneaked a taste of the batter in his bowl and grimaced.

“What is it?” Violet asked as she ran a cloth over the metal sheet, scrubbing at decades of accumulated dust. “Too much cocoa?”

“Too much sugar, I think,” Aloth said.

“Don’t tell me we’ve finally found the limit to that Aedyran sweet tooth of yours,” Violet beamed at him.

“Violet, we put in nearly three times as much sugar as anything else. Are you sure you read that part right?”

“Might be a bit smudged…” she admitted, picking up the recipe to squint at it in the light squeezing through a crack in the kitchen’s wall.

“Also, is there nothing in there about flour? What sort of cookies are these?”

Violet grinned and took the bowl from him to begin spooning batter-lumps onto her tray. “That’s the thing, you see. I’ve only once heard of cookies made with sugar and cocoa and eggs, but no flour or butter.” She glanced at him from beneath a raised eyebrow, waiting for him to make the connection.

Aloth’s eyes narrowed in thought, then soon widened in remembrance. “The ambassador?”

“The one from Rauatai,” she nodded. “Who paid her respects to the new management at Caed Nua while Kana happened to be away on an errand for me. Remember how disappointed he was when he got back and we’d finished off the cookies she brought?”

Aloth chuckled. “He practically composed a recipe in verse form on the spot, as I recall.”

“A recipe devoid of flour and rich in sugar and cocoa.”

“Only Kana could make a tragic poem out of cookies,” Aloth sighed. Then he smirked. “I wondered why you bought so much cocoa the last time we were in Defiance Bay.”

“I did decide against attempting to recreate the cookies based on Kana’s poem alone,” Violet admitted. “But I think we have a shot at it now!” She finished scooping the last of the batter onto the tray and nodded to the oven door. “How’s it looking in there?”

Aloth gingerly swung the ancient oven’s front panel open on the one hinge that remained to it and peered in at the glowing coals. “Like there might still be a Will O’Wisp or two hiding in here, honestly.”

“Well, banish them so we can get these cookies made,” she retorted, lifting the tray and carefully stepping over what remained of the debris that had littered the kitchen when they first explored Brighthollow.

The minutes passed slowly. Violet sat in quiet confectionery contemplation, focusing her senses of sight as well as smell on the oven. Aloth stood tapping his foot, alternately watching the oven and then the Watcher, reading over the recipe parchment again and again for lack of any other text to peruse.

Finally, his voice broke into her thoughts once again. “This is a lot of work just for cookies.”

“But very remarkable cookies,” Violet pointed out, still staring at the oven, “if I’m right about the recipe.”

“Still.”

“Also,” she admitted, “I wanted to make it up to Kana for missing the ambassador’s batch.”

“That was...weeks ago.”

“Well, if I’d had a recipe then…”

Aloth sighed and came to sit by her. “I suppose it’s obvious I...have no experience with this sort of thing.”

She greeted him with a warm smile and a nudge to the ribs. “Hurray for new experiences, then. And cookies.”

“Indeed.” He sniffed at the aroma of chocolate now sharp in the air. “Does it always take so long?”

“It’s only been a few minutes,” she laughed. “Cookies are fairly quick to bake, I think.”

“You think?” He raised an eyebrow at her. “I thought you did this all the time.”

“Well.” Violet shrugged. “I’ve done a lot of cooking since I set out on my own. One doesn’t as often have the opportunity to bake as an adventurer, though. It’s the sort of luxury you get to experience after liberating an ancient keep, I presume.”

“Maybe for those who liberate keeps with fully functional kitchens. But I suppose there are worse ways to spend an afternoon,” Aloth allowed. And sniffed the air again. “Should it take much longer, do you think?”

Violet shook her head. “It’s probably been long enough. Shall we?” She gestured to the oven, and Aloth sighed with relief and hurried to hold its door open for her to lift out the tray with the aid of the same cloth that had earlier cleaned it -- the only scrap of fabric to be found in the mess of the kitchen.

She set the tray down on the table. They both stood over it, frowning. Finally, Violet peeled one of the oddly flat, shiny-brown disks from the tray and twisted off a piece. She offered it to Aloth along with a hopeful smile but he shook his head, his expression disavowing all responsibility for the outcome of this experiment. So Violet nibbled on the scrap of the hypothetical cookie herself.

“Hm,” she said after a moment.

“It doesn’t quite look like the other batch,” Aloth pointed out helpfully.

“It tastes a little like it!” she insisted, shoving a cookie in his direction again. Aloth relented and tasted their odd creation for himself.

“Hm,” he echoed her.

“Well?”

“It does taste...similar,” he said. “But I don’t recall them being so crisp.”

“Perhaps we left it in too long,” Violet wondered.

“Or we left out an ingredient that our mystery writer failed to record. Or we mixed things in the wrong order. Or our oven is oddly cantankerous after being out of commission so long.”

“Are you sure you’ve never baked before?” she grinned. “We could try again. Experiment with it.”

“If only we hadn’t used up practically all the cocoa,” he reminded her.

Violet’s face fell. “I really did want to surprise Kana with them.”

“They’re certainly surprising,” Aloth muttered under his breath. But at the sight of the Watcher’s downturned ears, he hesitated, then reached to awkwardly pat her back before hastily gathering the cookies -- or whatever they were -- up into a basket. “Violet,” he soothed, “in what world could you imagine Kana Rua not being pleased at your intentions, no matter how the cookies turned out?”

Violet considered this and then nodded. “True enough.” She surprised her elven friend by reaching up to squeeze him into a quick hug, before stepping up to the table to help him finish the gathering.

They presented the basket of cookies -- some shattered to pieces, some twisted in odd shapes, all just a bit overcooked and smelling strongly of caramelized sugar along with the chocolate -- to Kana that evening, after luring him into the library, that being the one place in the Keep where the three of them were most at home and least likely to be bothered by the rest of their small society.

“Hm,” Kana said, tasting.

“We thought so too,” Violet nodded solemnly.

“Mind you,” Aloth interjected, “we’re not even certain what the recipe was for. Perhaps this rather...stiff texture is intended.”

“Could be,” Kana nodded pleasantly, breaking another chocolatey disc in half while taking another look at the recipe where Aloth had spread it out on the lectern. “It is interesting how easily they can break, if pressure is applied quickly, and yet they just as easily bend under gentle pressure. Perhaps there’s a metaphor here.” He tapped a finger to his chin, holding the cookie fragment up before his eyes.

“Does the recipe look right, though?” Violet asked.

Kana chuckled and scratched at his head. “You know, I’ve never actually seen a written recipe for these cookies. I suppose it could be.”

Violet and Aloth exchanged a glance. “But you recited all the ingredients for us once!” Violet pointed out.

“In verse,” Aloth added dryly.

“Oh, I recalled all that from watching my mother make them on occasions when I was younger. Not very often, you know. They were the sort of thing reserved for very special days. The last time I had them -- well, it was when I set out on my journey. Though I suppose you could hardly expect I’d have had them since leaving Rauatai!” His booming laugh echoed among the shelves for a moment, till he noticed his friends awkwardly looking away. “Oh,” Kana said, stretching the sound out while he lowered the cookie fragment to the basket again. “You, ah, were expecting just that today.”

“I’m sorry they didn’t turn out, Kana,” said Violet.

“There’s more to it than just the ingredients, from what I recall,” Kana shrugged. “Not that I, ah, ever learned it too precisely. But you know, why don’t I just write home and ask for a proper recipe?” He grinned toothily at them. “If you’re interested in giving it another try, that is. Of course, it’ll take some time to get a reply.”

Violet and Aloth exchanged another glance. When he sighed and nodded, she turned back to Kana with a smile. “Just enough time to send to The Wailing Banshee for more cocoa!”

[queen-scribbles]

Last Night Tavi

Based on several prompts from @haledamage for the PoE Fic Swap 2017. On AO3 here.   I couldn’t decided, so used three in one fic:

 Tavi and Aloth have to share a bed, for REASONS

Drunken shenanigans

Aloth is always biting his lip. Tavi finds it very distracting

 (Heavy on the drunken shenanigans bc TAVI, light on the bed sharing. I'll have to rectify that in another fic.)  

 There wasn’t much in this world that Tavi considered distracting. (And yes, awareness of her surroundings was distinctly different from being distracted) High on that very short list, however, was the way Aloth bit his lower lip whenever he was concentrating or deep in thought or both.

Very much like he was doing right now, in fact. His gaze was fixed on the mug sitting in front of him, as if hoping to find the solution to whatever problem he was worrying in its depths. Even as Tavi set down the small wooden fox she’d been whittling, finally accepting there was no way she could concentrate with him doing... that, he sighed a little, brows drawing into a worried frown.

“Whatcha worryin’ about this time, city slicker?” Tavi asked, pocketing her knife and figurine before taking a drink from her tankard.

He turned to look at her, gaze lingering on the bandage wrapped around her hand and arm. “Not so much worrying about anything in particular as it’s truly sinking in how close a call today was.”

She shrugged, unable to stop a glance of her own at the still-red cut along his cheekbone. “We’ve fought more’n that before.”

“Yes, when there were six of us,” Aloth countered. “Not two. You said yourself, Tavi, if you’d been alone you probably would have run.”

“But I wasn’t alone. I had you.”

“And it was still a close thing.” He picked absently at a nick in his mug rather than drink the contents and bit his lip again. “You... you almost bled to death-”

“And you got poisoned,” Tavi cut him off bluntly. “But we’re still alive, and far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters.”

“I do seem to recall simply mentioning that I prefer you alive,” Aloth said with a wry smile. “Perhaps I should be more specific in the future.”

“Perhaps you should,” she laughed. She finished off her drink and motioned the barmaid for a refill. “Don’t get me wrong, I am pretty fond of livin’. Even more fond of you livin’. But my point here, city slicker, is we survived this one, so there’s no benefit on dwellin’ on how badly it could have ended. We’re alive, if slightly worse for wear,” she acknowledged, her knee twinging as she shifted in her chair.

“So let’s just get on with the business of living?” Aloth finished for her, reasonably safe in his guess at where she’d been going with her little speech.

“Zacktly,” Tavi nodded, only feeling the slightest bit tipsy. “I’ll drink to that.”

He chuckled fondly. “You’ll drink to just about anything.”

“S’true,” she agreed easily. “But, c’mon, survivin’ attempt number twenty three on my life’s as good a reason as any.”

“Very true,” Aloth conceded, smile finally reaching his eyes.

Still, Tavi knew he was still nursing his first round as she was starting in on her third. But that was probably a good thing. One of them should be sober, and it sure as shit wasn’t her.

>><<

She was awakened by a headache, and with one of the worst hangovers she’d had in years. Since I left Silversteel. The thought dredged up memories that made her head hurt worse, and Tavi groaned as she forced her eyes open. It took a few seconds to blink things into focus, despite the aid of the morning sunlight streaming through the window.

Focus brought with it more confusion. As her vision unblurred, Tavi was greeted by the sight of a nightstand, bare walls, a fairly solid door, all the trappings of your typical inn room. Including an undisturbed and very empty bed between her and the door. How... Where...

Hylea’s tits, even forming full thoughts hurt. But the old ingrained instincts triggered by unfamiliar surroundings kicked in, and Tavi rolled onto her back and started to push herself upright. She was stopped halfway by two things-- another splitting pulse of headache, and the sluggish realization she’d rolled over almost on top of Aloth, who had somehow managed to fit himself between her and the wall despite the narrowness of the bed and was sleeping with one arm wrapped around her waist. Well, had been sleeping. Tavi’s flurry of motion dragged him awake as well.

To his credit, he woke much more smoothly than she had, despite nearly getting a face-ful of elbow. “How’s the hangover?”

She just groaned and flopped one arm over her eyes as she tried to sink further into the pillow. “Mornin’ t’ you, too, city slicker.”

“That bad, hm?” he asked, voice pitched low in sympathy.

Tavi groaned again. “No talking...”

The bed creaked and Aloth’s hair brushed against her shoulder as he reached over her to retrieve something from the nightstand. “Fortunately, I’m prepared for this eventuality,” he whispered, and pressed a small glass vial into her uninjured hand.

Sighing at the effort, she shifted her arm and pried open one eye just enough to squint at him. “I’ll bite. What is it?”

“Something for your headache. I had a feeling it was going to be bad,” Aloth said, letting his arm rest across her stomach again, fingers absently rubbing soft circles just above her hip.

Only half believing it would actually work, but willing to try anything at this point, Tavi reluctantly sat up, flicked out the stopper, and drank it fast enough the bitter taste barely registered. It took a couple minutes, but whatever it was did dull the edges of her hangover, at least enough she could remain upright without too much effort. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Aloth nodded, sitting up as well. He shifted position so he was perched cross-legged and facing her. Tavi very nearly kissed him for not making her look toward the window to talk to him.

“So,” she began, keeping her volume low in consideration of her lingering headache, “why’re we crammed in this bed together when there’s another perfectly good one right there?”

“I... may have been worried about you,” he said slowly, looking sheepish.

“Why?”

Rather than answer, Aloth picked at the blanket for a moment before meeting her question with one of his own. “What do you remember from last night?”

That couldn’t be a good sign. “Nothin’ past round three. Why? What’d I do?”

He bit his lip, and Tavi got so lost staring at his face she almost missed it when he started talking. “Quite a lot. I’m not sure where to begin...”

“How ‘bout you just go in the order things happened, city slicker,” she groaned, flopping back into the nest of pillows.

“As you wish,” he shrugged, fingers idly playing with the ends of his hair as he began. “You were fine through the first three rounds, as you know, but round four was when you started threatening to stand on the table and sing-”

“Oh no.” I have a bad feeling-

“-and five rounds was when you actually did.”

FUCK. “Oh no. I sound like a rusty hinge when I’m sober, I pity all of you who had to hear that. What did I even sing?”

“Well.” Aloth winced sympathetically. “I’m not entirely sure. You weren’t really singing words for the majority of it.”

“Fuuuck,” Tavi groaned. “Please tell me you didn’t let me drink anymore after that.”

He hesitated. “I wasn’t going to. But you kept insisting just one more, just one more, and you’re even more stubborn drunk than you are sober, so... round six was when you almost started a bar brawl.”

“That sounds like me,” she conceded with a wry smile. “Haven’t done it in years, but... did whoever I went after deserve it, or do I need to go make a heartfelt apology sometime today?”

“You could say the former...” Aloth hemmed.

Tavi sat up and squinted at him. He’s so easy to read. “Which of us did he compare to a plaything?”

Aloth’s surprise was there and gone in a flicker, followed by a sheepish smile as he tugged on a narrow lock of hair. “How did--  Me. Followed by offering his services when you were ready to have a real man.”

She scowled. “Berath’s bony ass, tell me I decked the bastard.”

“Twice,” he nodded. “That’s when his friends realized what was going on and looked ready to get involved, so we were... asked to leave. I was also worried you were going to tear the stitches in your hand,” he admitted, “I would’ve stopped you anyway.”

“And that’s why I love ya.” Tavi glanced down at the bandage covering her knuckles and winced at the fresh bloodstains peeking through. “Might be too late for that, but I ‘ppreciate the thought.” She pulled him closer by the front of his shirt and stole a quick kiss before letting go. “Any more drunken shenanigans, or did I behave myself after that?”

Aloth gave her a skeptical look. “Tavi, you don’t behave yourself when you’re sober.”

“True.” She raked her uninjured hand through her hair. “Continue.”

“There isn’t much more, don’t worry,” he assured her. “You kept going in zigzags, and tried to walk along the rim of the fountain in the middle of the city.”

“D’you mean what I think you mean by tried?”

“You fell in,” Aloth confirmed, biting his lip to keep a smile in check, and a pulse of something warm and fluttery curled in Tavi’s gut. “Or, well, started to.”

“Bullshit,” she groused. “I have excellent balance. Even when I’m drunk.” Tested it plenty of times, too. But that way lay thoughts she didn’t want to think.

He shook his head. “It was nothing to do with your balance and everything to do with trying to rest your entire weight on a leg that suffered a crossbow quarrel to the knee less than ten hours beforehand.”

“I was just a mess last night, wasn’t I?” she muttered.

“Yes. But I didn’t mind. Not if...” he hesitated. “Tavi, was yesterday really the twenty third time Those People tried to kill you?”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “Usually didn’t hafta deal with that many, though. Like I told you, there was only one other time that was such a close call. That time I ran--well, hobbled off and hid--but yesterday I didn’t have to. And I still walked away from it ‘cause I had you with me.” She reached over and brushed her fingers against his arm just below the bandages wrapped around his bicep. “Dunno what I’d do without you, Aloth.”

“Fall into fountains, I expect,” he teased, wry but quiet, reaching to cover her hand with his own.

Tavi snorted and rolled her eyes, hair falling back in her face as she laughed. “Asshole. I thought ruinin’ touchin’ moments with sarcasm was my thing.” She cocked her head and shot him a questioning look. “Though if I almost fell in the fountain b’cause my knee gave out, how’d we get to th’ inn? I can’t imagine walkin was easy for m-” she narrowed her eyes at him. “No.”

“Piggyback isn’t that hard, Tavi,” Aloth shrugged. “And I’m-”

“Stronger than you look, I know. Still manage to forget it all the damn time.” She tucked her hair behind her ears again. “Anyway. Was reliving my drunken shenanigans an attempted dodge, or just a really roundabout way of explainin’ why we’re sharin’ one bed rather than each in our own?”

“The latter,” he said. “Given your... other shenanigans, as you put it, I was worried you might wander off without supervision and do serious damage to yourself or others.”

“An ignoble fate for the Watcher of Caed Nua,” Tavi deadpanned, playing with the loose end of the bandages wrapping her forearm.

“It was less big picture concern and more me not liking the thought of the world without you in it,” Aloth admitted, smiling as he leaned forward to still her hand.

“Aw, that’s sweet,” Tavi murmured, half teasing and half serious. “So, what, you squeezed in with me and wrapped an arm around me to keep me in bed?” She smirked. “City slicker...”

Aloth rolled his eyes at the look she was giving him. “It was nothing like that and you know it-”

“Yeah, but you’re fun to tease.”

He ignored her interjection, though his ears did go pink. “I simply figured on the slight chance you didn’t remain dead to the world until morning, you’d wake me as well, and I could, well...”

“Keep me out of trouble?” Tavi supplied with a grin.

“Basically, yes.” Aloth looked away, out the window, biting his lip.

Gods damn it all, he is way too distracting when he does that. “Thank you.” She waited until he turned to face her again before continuing. “It’s been a really long time since I had someone who cared so much about what happened to me. It’s nice.”

“I could say the same to you,” Aloth said quietly. He shifted position, leaning closer. “I very much appreciate having you in my life.”

“Stop bein’ flowery an’ kiss me already, Corfiser,” Tavi growled playfully, sitting forward as well, the unraveling bandage forgotten.

“Very romanti-” Aloth started to tease, before she curved her hand around the back of his neck and tugged him into the desired kiss.

“How long do we have this room?” she whispered, resting her forehead against his.

“At least one more night, but Tavi-”

“Relax, city slicker, I’m not thinkin’ anything like that,” Tavi assured him, hand sliding from his cheek to rest against a suddenly tense shoulder. “It’s not like this is the first time we’ve shared a bed without anything frisky goin’ on. Wonderful as that whatever-you-gave-me was, I still have a headache. I was askin’ more to know how long I have before I have to act like there’s not a xaurip playin’ drums in my skull.”

“Oh, well, in that respect you have plenty of time,” Aloth replied. “But there are things we should do.”

“Like what?” Tavi asked, stealing one last quick kiss before she laid back down in the soft cradle of her pillow.

“Like a return visit to the healer so he can rebandage your arm and hand.” His fingers brushed over the bandages in question, loose and dingy after her antics the night before. “And we really should tell a local authority about what happened so they can dispose of the bodies, at least.”

“Or,” Tavi countered, eyes closed. “Or. We wait for th’ fuckin’ banging in my head to go away, go back ourselves, and pile and burn the bodies. I know you know spells that involve fire.”

“A compromise, then,” Aloth said, voice lowering in pitch as he lay down next to her. “We wait a few more hours for your headache to lessen, if not go away entirely, then inform the authorities but take care of the bodies ourselves.”

“Deal,” Tavi agreed without hesitation. “Long as we can just lay here in silence for a while first.”

And that’s exactly what they did.

[fandomtrumpshate2017offerings]

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beetle Auction #1

Type of fanwork: fic Subtype(s): n/a Fandom(s): Marvel/MCU; Star Wars: TFA, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; LoTR/The Hobbit Rating(s): Explicit Length/size: 20-50K, It depends on how much the bidder contributes (tell us more in the ""additional info"" section) Especially interested in: Pairings: Spider-Man/Deadpool; Bucky Barnes/Sam Wilson; Peter Quill/Ronan the Accuser; Steve Rogers/T'Challa; Science Bros; Chirrut Imwe/Baze Malbus; Bodhi Rook/Galen Erso; Orson Krennic/Galen Erso; Angel Dust/Negasonic Teenage Warhead; Finn/Poe Dameron; Kes Dameron/Luke Skywalker; Bilbo Baggins/Thorin Oakenshield; Bard/Thranduil; Gimli/Legolas.Themes: Open.Subjects: Open. Will not: GRAPHIC sexual assault. GRATUITOUS violence/killing. I can and don't mind addressing the subjects tastefully and with sensitivity, but I don't write snuff-films. I don't wallow in the deep details of rape, harming of the self or others, or murder. Notes: I try to give more bang for more buck. The higher the donation, the more likely I am to extend the story beyond my 20-50K ceiling. For ten bucks per thousand words, I'd write a novel. Which is, pretty much, 50,000 words. But I don't generally write epics, so I'm not likely to write more unless the spirit REALLY moves me and the donation is REALLY high.I'm open to just about any theme or subject and the mixing/matching/crossing over of any of the fandoms I've listed. I generally don't like writing het unless the characters are gender-swapped. Probably should've mentioned that in the ""subjects I will not write"" . . . but I forgot to.

Auctions run from 12 January 2017 (Midnight, EST) to 19 January 2017 (Midnight, EST). Bids before or after this period are invalid and will not be counted.If you would like to bid on this auction:

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Step 2: Fill out the seller’s bidding form with a bid that is higher than the current high bid. If you want to make it harder for someone to outbid you, bid higher! You will NOT be notified if someone outbids you, so please bookmark this page and check frequently. You will only be notified if you are the high bidder after the auctions end.

Thanks for participating in Fandom Trumps Hate!

[fuckyeahhiravias]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Pillars of Eternity Rating: Mature Warnings: Major Character Death Relationships: Hiravias/The Watcher Characters: Hiravias, The Watcher - Character, Vela - Character Additional Tags: Orlan Watcher, Priest of Skaen Watcher, Mentions of Major Character Death, Stolen Orlan Baby, Angst Summary:

For the PoE Fic Swap 2017, prompted by the fantastic catofcombs: The time has come for Oublie and Hiravias to part ways, post-game. They talk about the time they’ve spent together, what they plan to do/where they plan to go, and say their goodbyes

[rannadylin]

Pillars of Eternity Fic Swap Masterpost

Our first-ever Pillars of Eternity Fic Swap wrapped up this week. Fourteen writers paired up to chat about our Watchers, trade prompts, and write stories, fifteen of which showed up in our collection on AO3, expanding the total number of PoE fics on AO3 by almost 30%. Nice work, everyone! It’s been so much fun seeing new stories appear in the collection or in our Tumblr tag. These fics portray a fascinating variety of Watchers. I hope we’ll hear more about them from their authors in the future!

Now that we’ve reached the end, here’s a masterlist of the stories that were posted, for easy reference. Deep apologies if I’ve missed anyone’s posts – I went back through the tumblr tag as well as the AO3 collection but there could be fics that were posted independent of either of those. If you wrote a fic for the Fic Swap that I’ve left off this list, please let me know and I’ll add it!

By @svartalfhild, “Echoes of the Lost” – tumblr | AO3

By @alien-cafe, “in which an amaua midwife gets yelled at by an angry orlan who then decides to fight a tyrant” – tumblr | AO3

By @queen-scribbles, “Last Night Tavi” – tumblr | AO3  and “Not That Bad” – tumblr | AO3

By @ohvexahlia, “The Newest Recruit” – tumblr | AO3

By Firelight_and_Rain, “Better Than Magic” – AO3  and “R & R (Rest and Research)” – AO3

By @javier-taco, “Buried Memories” – tumblr

By @perahn, “Things Unsaid” – tumblr | AO3

By @leeoliver, “Symbiosis” – tumblr | AO3

By @mandorways, “Then Came the Morning” – AO3

By @haledamage, “You Get Brighter the More it Gets Dark” – AO3  and “Fire-Haired Girl” – tumblr | AO3

By @serenbach86 , “A Moment Alone” – tumblr | AO3

By @reaper-kravitz, “of watchers and foxes” – tumblr | AO3

By @catofcombs, “Blood Moon” – tumblr

And by yours truly @rannadylin, “Darkest, DARKEST Rauatai Cookies” – tumblr | AO3

Thank you all for your contributions to Pillars fic! Here’s looking forward to the next round of fic swaps…or another type of fic event! We shall see what’s to come…(Also, a reminder that there’s a survey here, for anyone whether or not you took part in this swap, seeking input into what kind of swap we do next!)