#Resolute Blades

[wynilthyrii]

A letter to Zanrethan Sunforge, August 4

The letter bears the seal of Lady Ilthyrii—the dagger-and-stars House Ilthyrii arms crossed with the phoenix crest of the Order—pressed in dark gray sealing wax. In neat, familiar handwriting on the front, it is addressed to Zanrethan Sunforge of the Order. The missive is written on good parchment in dark gray ink, bearing the scent of coffee, incense, and smoke.

Zan,

I’ve thought hard before beginning this letter, started and restarted it half a dozen times in the past few days—because it has only been in the past few days that I’ve decided to write it at all. I’ve not told anyone about running into you as it occurred to me that perhaps you didn’t want anyone to know. You didn’t say and I didn’t ask and that was a failing on my part, truth be told. In some ways, I suppose my thoughts were elsewhere.

As long ago as it was, I still remember the morning after we thought you lost. I went to the war room office and spread a black cloth over your desk. What I don’t remember is how long it stayed there, how long it was before we finally cleared it all, filed some things and packed the rest away. Every so often these days when I’m going through the oldest files and reports, I still find things in your handwriting. The ache eased some time ago but every so often, there’s been the pang, the regret. I suppose it will be even less, now, since I know you did survive to live in a world where that fight has ended, despite how many years you lost somewhere in between.

You should know that the files are all classified, now, though I doubt you’ve gone looking—why reopen a wound like that, after all? I haven’t inquired about the classification level though from what I understand, having talked to some others, the level is somewhere like “five meters above your ass”—and that came from a retired combat commander turned archivist with the Order. I don’t even know that I could access them, and many of the last reports, about the very ending of the Neverdark War—that’s what we’ve called it these past few years, now, since the final stages and the end of it—were in my hand. So many that you knew fell away or simply fell, never making it to the end.

We’re seated in the Everlight, now, those remnants of forces that made it to the end. Arius stepped down as Dragonhawk in favor of athair some time ago, and while about half the Council would prefer to not answer to Drimmari Dra’zar as their lord, they can’t deny the strength of his claim to the title. Still, I wonder how long he’ll remain in that position. For my part, I suspect that he’ll return the mantle to Arius at some point, possibly in the relatively near future, though I can’t be certain. The quiet speculation about who he’ll name his heir when it comes to the Dragonhawk Seat is a minor sport, I think, among the Houses of the Everlight and its people alike.

I know both far too much and not enough about the Everlight these days myself—keeping that promise I made to Fleur all those years ago, the one I made again to Arius is part of it, though it’s more now than I think I ever intended. Today as I sat at my desk in the war room at Dawn’s Reach, staring at the board of all the mysteries we’re trying to solve, all the problems we’re sorting through, all the information and we’ve gathered about a thousand things, I wondered.

Wondered, if you hadn’t been taken, would I be in that chair? Would I be his general now, commanding the Everlight’s forces?

Of course, I suppose it doesn’t matter, but it’s one of those things that strikes. It certainly doesn’t stop me from taking risks or making mistakes. I’m currently under orders from Tyr not to swing a blade for the next three days unless it’s a matter of life and death—he doesn’t want to have to do any additional healing for my collarbone and decided for once on the luxury of letting it heal a little more slowly, with more natural healing than the alternative.

There’s always a new mystery to unravel, isn’t there? Always a new challenge. Perhaps someday I’ll tell you more, if you’d like to know. If I’m able.

I’ve not even told my husband about running into you. He might have been distracted enough not to notice but I know better than to count on that. Odds are that he knows something happened, just not what. Someday I’ll tell you more about that, too.

I meant what I said about not being afraid. If you love her as it seems you do, and she loves you the same, then take the chance. She’ll think it’s perfect, no matter what you do.

Be well, my friend. My brother. Wyn.

[Addressed to: @zanrethan-sunforge ]

[houseildanan]

Argents Lost - Summer Winds (part 3)

The former Ebon he’d met on the trail still hadn’t given him her name, but she’d told him enough to win enough wary trust for him to return to the outpost with her.  The enterprise had been aided by a sudden ache that began somewhere deep inside his knee and a shift in the wind.  He’d lived in Northrend long enough to know what those two things together heralded.

Stormclouds swept down onto K3 as they reached the inn, led by biting wind that stung his face and made his eyes water.  The inn at K3 was decidedly worn, weather-beaten, but in good repair.  The windows looked like they’d been replaced recently and the floors and tables in the common room were decidedly clean, though they still carried a timeworn, hard-used charm, battered and scuffed as they were. Its warmth and shelter—and the smell of venison stew and cider—were a welcome comfort after so narrowly dodging the storm.

The table his newfound companion led him toward was tucked into a shadowed corner and was already occupied by a figure tall enough that he guessed it must be another Kaldorei.  The figure had both hands wrapped around a mug of something steaming, beringed—and there was something else, something he didn’t quite see until the figure lifted the mug to drink, a glint of silver.

His heart slammed into his throat and he stopped in his tracks.  His companion put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

“She won’t harm you,” she said softly.  “You have nothing to fear from her.”

“There are—”

“Yes,” she said.  “But something tells me your face will strike her familiar.”

“I’m not—”

“It has nothing to do with your resemblance to Ildanan Sunstar.”

He swallowed bile, but started walking again.  The figure—a woman, and unless he missed his guess, the woman called the Mistwraith—was looking at them now, argent eyes gleaming in the shadows of a drawn hood. He swallowed again as he carefully drew one of the chairs out from the table and sank into it, glancing back over his shoulder to see where his companion was going to sit—and found her gone.

“She’ll be getting you something bracing,” the hooded woman said.  There was a faint rasp to her voice but the familiarity was unmistakable. He nearly swallowed his tongue.

“I—”

“You’ll be needing it, Lord Kyvare.”

He rocked back, eyes widening.  In the shadows of her hood, there was a flash of a smile, almost but not quite feral.

“Yes.  I’m aware of who you are.  I’m also aware of what you were taught.”

“How—”

“I’m not certain the answer to your question matters overmuch, but if you really want an answer, I’ll give you one in exchange for an answer to a question of my own, first.” She leaned back and he could feel the weight of her gaze hanging heavy upon him.  “Why are you, of all people, seeking them when you have a family and responsibilities that should preclude a mission like this—one, I might add, that has been forbidden by the organization that saw you bound to them? Of all the sorts seeking those lost, you were among the last I would have imagined to see here.”

“What of you?” he blurted. “Why are you two looking for them?”

“Because she is my mother,” she said.  “And they are her family and I should think, with all that’s happened, I should owe her that much.  And you?”

“Because I didn’t think anyone else was and I wasn’t about to ask my family to come unless—unless I knew.”

“Whatever goes into that gully doesn’t come out,” she said.  “But they’re not dead.”

“No,” he confirmed.  “No, they’re not.”

“You’re certain?”

“Your cousin is.”

She fell silent.  The former Ebon returned to the table, setting a mug slowly down in front of him as she looked between him and the hooded woman.

“Well,” she said dryly. “I see you’ve gotten started without me. I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t do that anymore.”

The hooded woman reached up to push back her hood, smiling up at the Ebon.  “One time.”

“Near unmitigated disaster one time,” the Ebon said, seating herself.  “And a lesson learned.  What have you told him?”

“Likely no more than whatever you did to get him to come back with you.”

He coughed politely and wrapped his hands around the mug, letting the warmth bleed into his fingers. “My apologies, ladies, but I think we’ve missed a few things.”

“You already know who I am, Lord Kyvare, and I know who you are,” Mistwraith said, studying him.  “Unless it’s not pleasantries you’re getting at.”

“I—well, it was, yes, but also no.  How—how long have you been looking?”

“Long enough to know there are two sites of interest,” the Ebon said.  “You stumbled across one.  The other is a frozen waterfall and a river that don’t seem quite right.”

The mug between his hands shattered.

[midna-chavelink]

It’s done, day 5 of purple week. And that concludes Hue Years Resolution. Since I’ve been going back and playing Fire Emblem Heroes a lot again. I forgot how much I adore my girl Fae. It also worked for a redraw I did 2 years ago for Hue years.

Anyways it’s been fun, but I am going to take a much needed break

[skitty-kirby]

(Laughs in another all-nighter doodle, that's becoming commonplace for this blog huh)

I felt severely burnt out working on my FC revamps and original stuff so here's these two dorks again to save the day. Plus the last drawing I did of these two I didn't use a reference for and it bugged me how wonky they looked hhhh

[pokesmashorpokepass]

[mattynmarns]

scheduled an appointment with my advisor AND signed up for an extra class to get support on my CS classes basically i WILL survive this next quarter even if it kills me!!!!!!!

[tilescel]

i am so ill

[elminsterbignaturals]

what the hell was that

[lafcadiosadventures]

Mariage à la Mode cycle, scene: The murder of the count, 1744, William Hogarth

[thelocalsalt]

[wynilthyrii]

A letter to Zanrethan Sunforge - 30 September

The letter is on good parchment and sealed in dark gray wax bearing the seal of Lady Ilthyrii. It shows minimal wear.

Zan,

I’ve been through the sketches you sent a dozen times as I’ve tried to write this. I can only imagine what it must have been like to be in the city in those moments. I can only imagine what it must have been like to see the fragments of the cobbles and the buildings scattered across the shore. We’ve had scattered reports and I’ve read them all at least half a dozen times, enough to give me a nightmare or three.

I’m thankful to hear that the warning did some good. I’ve shared your letter with Tyr—he’s had a spot of correspondence with his old Argent unit. It sounds as if they’re stationed somewhere in the same area you are, though perhaps nearer the wall. The last letter he let me see said something about holding the line.

It’s only a matter of time, I think, before someone sneaks off to see what’s what. As for me, for now, my place is here with the rest—we’ve work to do that will keep us from the new front, at least for the short term. Volunteers have filled out a decent Farstrider contingent, though, and they shipped before I received your last letter. Lord Hawksong is with them, at least temporarily, and there are several dozen of the Watch, both active and retired, that have answered the call for reinforcements to ship out. Still others have gone to help fill gaps in the kingdom as others ship to the front for whatever waits for them there—for however long they’re required.

I send this by way of an unusual route—the last time, I routed it through Argent contacts, which I’m sure you noticed. This time it was a bit more direct.

I suggest you have a look outside toward the nearest wall with a likely perch.

Take care of each other. Please.

Faithfully,

Wyn.

——

Outside, settled onto a likely perch and halfway through an apple is a blonde Farstrider of mutual acquaintance, one who bears a striking resemblance to the author of the letter that’s arrived by his hand.

In response to @zanrethan-sunforge:

[houseildanan]

Argents Lost - Summer Winds (part 2)

The trees thickened as he followed the game trail up into the foothills, a trail that doubled back on itself twice to take a more easy grade.  That was enough to make him begin to wonder if perhaps it wasn’t a game trail at all but an old patrol route or a hunting trail.  The ground was hard, though there was little snow on the path as the trees grew thicker, blotting out the light as much as the weather as he climbed higher into the foothills.

His leg ached, though ignoring it was easier than usual.  Perhaps it was his level of focus, or knowing that perhaps he was on the right path.

Perhaps it was the knowledge that no one back home knew he’d come here, that the Crusade didn’t know he was here, that if something were to happen to him, it could be days or longer before someone managed to sort it out if Arius didn’t find the note amongst the bottles on his workbench.

But he trusted that Arius would find it soon enough if it came to that.

Wind worried the treetops above him, setting needles and branches rustling.  He exhaled slowly, squinting upward for a moment, then into the gloom of the path that continued onward, upward, for at least a hundred yards before it curved again.  Somehow, the mile described by the trapper seemed longer than any mile he’d walked before.

But they, too, would have come on foot.  The trees were too thick and they would not have risked missing anything by attempting to teleport or fly.  Perhaps they would have deployed some aerial patrols later—or had scouted from the air before starting their trek—but looking at the branches above him, even with the change of seasons, he couldn’t imagine that they would have been able to see much from above the treetops.

No.  No, they would have walked this same trail.   He was sure of it.

There was a small clearing beyond the bend in the trail, one where he could see the sky.  A few rocks jutted up from the snow and he sat down on one of them, stretching his bad leg for a few seconds and taking a water bottle out of his satchel.  He watched a few fair weather clouds drift through the blue sky as he drank, taking slow, deep breaths of the cold, clean mountain air.

It was so, so quiet.

“About two hundred more meters down that way, there’s a switchback.  Beyond it is a gully and anything that goes in doesn’t come back out.  I can’t let you go any farther.”

It was a woman’s voice, her Thalassian carrying a slight accent and the weight of age.  He twisted toward it, saw her emerging from the trees behind him, far enough from the mouth of the trail that he knew she hadn’t followed him along it.

“Why’s that?” he asked softly, studying her for a few seconds.  A kaldorei dressed in armor reminiscent of the Watchers and Wardens of old, complete with the glaives strapped against her back.  Her hair hung long and loose but for a pair of thin braids that kept it back from her face and there was a pallor to her flesh that he recognized. A Death Knight—or a former one.

“I won’t have the death of one of Sunstar’s brood on my conscience,” she answered, resting her wrist on the hilt of the blade at her hip.  “No matter how many generations removed.”

He stood slowly, capping his water and putting the bottle away.  “You knew him.”

“Not as well as some,” she said.  “But yes. I knew him.”

“I came looking for the Argents—”

“—that vanished along this trail.  We thought perhaps you had.  Come. We’ll go back to K3 and tell you everything we know.”

“We?” he echoed.

She smiled.  “Yes.  We.”

[sycamorality]

OMG ANCIENT OCS!! TELL ME EVERYTHING NEOW!!!!!

i dont even remember what ive said about eclipse, i know i've said a bunch about her - should be a few links to posts where i've talked about her. a basic tl;dr-

purposed organism turned ancient in a very unethical bio-engineering experiment, lead by limit upon a silent vigil and a few other higher circle members. nobody really knows of eclipse's origins other than those higher circle members- she was introduced to the rest as "some weird child we found on the ground left alone". she's very not okay and i love her actually. she's really fucking creature because self-modding. look at her. my favorite little bastard. they use any pronouns hehe

uh five embers is a bastard please hate him he neglected and abused the iterator he was adminstrator to and does everything to keep the control, he even modded himself to have a king vulture harpoon he can shoot at will. i hate him actually

limit upon a silent vigil is uh. yeah he was somewhat the had of the experiment eclipse was involved in. violent negative reinforcement to get her to listen. he tried to force ascend her but got uno reversed because eclipse reacted quicker than he could and he got echoed. L

pearls is a pretty young kid who got echoed but stayed- relatively the same other than an echo aura and some echo scales here 'n there. they kinda vibe post-mass ascension and doesnt have any recollection of ascension, but if they go near void fluid they can see they will freak out and get the fuck away from it. they wear a carved vulture mask adorned with parts of shattered pearls. they've got a tail w some pearls on it too

seven leaves was the mechanic's kid. they were left behind after the mass ascension and doesn't know where everyone went, but stayed with the iterator they lived on, which is helpless binary, and ended up becoming close friends with them. helpless bianry's systems kept degrading and at some point ended up beyond fixing, so seven leaves, with the knowledge of bio-engineering and the like they've been taught by binary, offered to make them an organic vessel using their own genome (with lots of modifications of course, to have binary be comfortable) so binary wouldn't have to feel the pain of their own inevitable collapse. seven leaves is also very fond of the wildlife and spends forever stargazing with binary

star-streaks is um. ancient turned iterator because he didn't want to ascend like everybody else, so he offered that instead of programming an iterator that was being built, he could be transferred into it instead so he wouldn't die or have to ascend but instead help solve the problem. he also had the.... unpleasant experience of having to transfer his own brother into an iterator because the higher circles demanded it. his brother doesn't know that they were once an ancient, rather only knows they were an iterator. those memories were long erased or encrypted deep in their memory conflux. before star-streaks became an iterator too, he was one of the 'creators' of the iterator his brother is now, and the head administrator. he kinda vibes as an iterator now though

shrike is after dark's creator. they were both really close and spent a lot of time with eachother. after dark didn't quite feel like their puppet fit them and requested it modified quite a few times, which was granted by shrike. whenever shrike had a problem they usually went to after dark for comfort, and vice versa. shrike didn't want to ascend, but was forced - though narrowly avoided it and died of "natural" causes and got reincarnated into a scavenger that made its way to after dark's chamber and ended up finding their old id drone and reactivating it on themself. and also their mask at some point later

stars is uh. ancient turned slugcat. did not consent to it. their echo is basically tied to the slugcat and when they die their cycle resets to when they were transferred. theyre some fucked up mortal echo and they can spit void fluid and they hate it. theyre fucked up

three clouds was eclipse's creator. they were in the middle circles and just kinda existed on their own, very introverted. made a lil friend and then got fuckign murdered with void fluid

warped aerie is. hooo boy. they were involved in a very..... morally questionable iterator project. that's all i can say on them unless you wanna prompt me for more on them

[taito-division]

Blade Maiden New Year's Resolutions

To continue teaching and molding the minds and bodies of my students

To take care of my father and hope that he recovers from his illness soon

To continue to search for whatever happened to my mother

To continue to preserve my family's legacy and our family dojo

To continue holding onto my blade, regardless of what Chuohku says or thinks

To work on not being so easily embarrassed

To control myself whenever I became inebriated

To continue improving my music skills

To work harder on my painting

To continue being a good girlfriend to my boyfriend, Rio

To improve my swordsmanship so I can prove to be a challenge to Kenzaki-san someday

To continue making the Tokyo Museum the best in Japan

To study more on my family's history

To continue living an honorable lifestyle

To continue being the MMA Champion of the World

To work on better controlling my emotions and temper

To be a good mentor to my student, Kanra

To be able to look at myself in a mirror for longer than 10 seconds

To continue being a good older sister to my brother

To follow Azusa's advice and meditate more

To continue being a good spouse to my wife, Kirumi

[fogaminghub]

🌸 Before the Dawn: Dive into the Heart of 1868 Edo and Kyoto! 🌅 

Get lost in the intricate narrative of Rise of the Ronin. From dramatic confrontations to the weight of your choices, this mission will captivate and challenge you. Are you ready to redefine history? ⚔️✨ 

Explore the bonds that connect us all and the choices that could change the course of fate!

[lunarburdened]

tag dump 3/4. hsr edition.