#Smugglers den

[battersweet]

Well?

(Yes i added eyelashes and eyeliner cuz f-ck you so deal with it/j i love him)

[landgraabbed]

gone slave hunting in the bitter coast

[nothingmoment]

Raw Glass. Drains Intelligence.

[77gigabytes]

The Fox's Den {Sylus x Reader}

This just kinda...spilled out of my brain... It started off as a few paragraphs and then spiraled into this, but uh, enjoy.

FAIR WARNING!!! THIS IS INCREDIBLY LONG, I MIGHT HAVE TO SPLIT IT INTO PARTS ACTUALLY IDK

|| Masterlist ||

-Seven

You’re finishing some paperwork at HQ when Jenna slides a manila folder on your desk.

“Advance tech labs has another mission for you.” She says and crosses her arms over her chest, “Hear them out first. Then go take a look.”

As if on cue, your watch beeps with a notification.

You click on it and the mission’s user interface window pops up.

Client: Unspecified - Investigative mission Status: ACTIVE Authorisation: Approved entry - No Hunt Zones: 105, 106, 107, 108

Task details: High-class Linkon residents have been seen carrying protocores to Fox’s Den, a host club, on the outskirts of Linkon. There are suspicions that the club is being used as a trading venue to sell and modify high-grade protocores into the N109 zone.

Objective: INVESTIGATE Fox’s Den FOR PROTOCORE SMUGGLERS. DO NOT ENGAGE OR ELIMINATE SUSPECTS. THIS IS AN INVESTIGATION ONLY.

As you re-read the objectives, Jenna speaks once more, “Have a look through this folder before heading to the Data Sector. ” She places her hand above the folder, “Nero and Tara are waiting there with some more information for you.”

You give her a small nod, “Yes, Captain. Will do.”

You do as you’re told and flick through the contents of the folder.

“Huh, the address is near the N109 zone?” You whisper.

Sylus has a safe house near there, I think.

It’ll be easier to complete the mission if you could crash there every now and then.

I’ll ask him when I have the chance.

There’s a few photos of the club tucked into the folder and from what you can see, it’s quite luxurious.

Entering the club shouldn’t be a problem with the brooch Sylus gave me. Hmmm. I might need to visit Jeremiah some time soon to forge another identity.

You sift through a few more pages and a photo catches your eye. It’s of a blonde woman with a hunter’s uniform and badge but stamped across the page is the word ‘TENEBRA’ in bold red lettering.

“Hmmm,” You hum as you read the sticky note attached, “If encountered, detain immediately? Who is this?”

What had she done to be labelled a Tenebra?

With that thought in mind, you think to your own situation.

Your involvement with Sylus is more than enough grounds to label you a Tenebra, but you brush that thought aside quickly.

“MC?”

Your head perks up from the sound of your name and you quickly press the folder to your chest, “Oh! Tara… Nero. I was just leaving to see you guys, actually.”

“About the case, right? Isn’t it interesting?” Tara grins, “But, yes we came here instead because Nero thinks that the Data Sector is too noisy.”

“They’re blabbing about all the time, it’s dizzying.” He retorts.

He pulls a nearby chair and motions for the two of you to come around, “Come, we’ve got work to do.”

The three of you discuss the case for a while until you ask, “Why am I being sent alone? Aren’t mission usually done in pairs?”

“Yes, well… Technically, it’s only an investigative mission, so the higher-ups don’t think we should waste resources on a mere investigation.” Nero makes quotation marks with his fingers. “You’ve got orders not to engage where possible.”

Tara leans forward to argue, “But even still, Fox’s Den is surrounded by no hunt zones! Isn’t it dangerous?”

“Yes, that’s true, and speaking of which…” He opens some tabs up on his laptop, “As I’m sure you’ve seen, you’ve been approved access to all no hunt zones surrounding the area.”

You nod, looking back at your watch and also the map that spread across the table.

“But that’s not the problem.” Nero continues, “The problem is getting into the club.”

You furrow your brows, “What?” You tilt you head, “Can’t I just go in as a client?”

He clicks his tongue, “They’ve got a very specific clientele.” He says and then draws a rectangle with his fingers, “Invite only.” He emphasises. “Did you think you could just waltz into the place?Everyday?”

You tense for a moment. I thought… with the brooch...

But you can’t tell them about the brooch; They’ll ask you how you got it. So you settle with, “I- well,” you scratch your temple, “I haven’t really thought that far yet.”

...

Your meeting with the two ended just as the sun dipped completely below the horizon

Somehow, they’ve got you a position as one of the hostesses.

You huff. You don’t know a thing about being a hostess.

To be fair, being a hostess would give you the widest variety of intel.

Never had you thought you’d be going undercover like this, but the job must be done, you suppose.

You harshly tug your helmet on and head to Sylus’ safe house on your 270HM.

If he says no, then you can just scout the area on the way back home. That way, the ride there wouldn’t have been for nothing.

“Oh! There you are, little miss hunter.”

You turn around at the voice of one of the twins. “Luke, Kieran?”

“Mephisto told us you’d be here.” Kieran says pointing to the sky where Mephisto circles above the three of you.

“Is Sylus-”

Luke responds before you can finish your question, “The boss has a important business deal, but,”

“You’re more than welcome to stay with us in the meantime.” Kieran finishes the sentence as he opens the gate.

You can almost see the grin behind his mask.

“How long will he be gone?” You ask as you walk with the twins into the house.

“It might not even be until tomorrow that you’ll see the boss.”

“If you’re lucky--” Luke starts

“--I’ve checked your luck index today, miss, you’re not.”

“Kieran!” You smack him on the shoulder

“Anyway,” Luke starts again, “As I was saying, if you’re lucky, he might be done by midnight.”

…

Well now, it’s way past midnight and the boys have convinced you to play card games as you wait. From old maid, to kitty cards, to Big 2.

Eventually, they pull out another deck of cards with haphazardly drawn crows. - “We’ve invented our own version!”

Your brows furrow.

“Crow Cards!” They say in unison.

You’re speechless. You shake your head with a chuckle, but oblige them regardless.

It isn’t long before Kieran has passed out on the couch and you can tell that Luke isn’t too far either.

“Luke, why don’t we get you and your brother to sleep?” You suggest.

“Yeah,” He yawns and give you a nod, “but Kieran can sleep here on the floor.” He snorts, but goes to haul him up anyways.

“I can use one of the spare rooms, right?” You ask

“Of course. The boss has even gotten spare clothes specifically for you in every house. They should just be in the closet of the en suite.” He points to one of the doors, “That one is your room.”

It didn’t take very long after your head hit the pillows that you drifted off into a shallow sleep

Just as the sunlight begins peaking through the horizon, Sylus enters into the safehouse

Mephisto is cawing at him incessantly.

“What has you so worked up?” He frowns.

“CAW!”

Sylus walks through to the main area and sees cards strewn across the floor.

He examines them, seeing the poorly drawn crows, and looks to Mephisto, “What?” Sylus raises an eyebrow at Mephisto, “You led me here because Luke and Kieran made you look like roadkill on these cards?”

Mephisto shakes his head and pecks the cards out of Sylus’ hand. He pitter-patters to the door of the en suite and lightly pecks at it

Sylus’ frown deepens but he follows after him.

And there you were - laying on your stomach atop the sheets.

He lets out a small chuckle, “Tsk tsk, kitten,” he shakes his head, “You’ll catch a cold at this rate.”

He gently turns you so he can lift you up into his arms.

With his Evol, he untucks the sheets and lays down with you in his arms.

You have your head on his chest and legs entangled with his own.

With all the movement, you lift your head blink your eyes open, “Hi.” You whisper.

“I didn’t expect to see you here, kitten.”

You plop your head back down onto his chest, “Yeah, I wanted-” you yawn, “I wanted to ask you something.”

“Oh? You’re asking me for a favour? How unusual.”

You only hum in response and close your eyes again.

For a moment, he thinks that seeing you in the sunrise makes the sunlight a little more bearable.

“What is it that you need, sweetie?” he asks, brushing his lips against the top of your head.

“The location of my mission is near this house.”

“And?” he shoots you a smug smile, “What is it exactly that you’re asking, Dove?”

You narrow your eyes at him, “I’m asking if I can stay here for a little while.”

He chuckles and gently swipes at the space between your brows, “Do you know what you look like right now?” he asks, “A kitten with a temper.”

You untangle yourself from his grasp, “Screw you.”

It quite futile since you end up in his arms once more.

“What mission is so important that the hunter’s association would send you into the N109 zone?” He asks.

“One,” You put your pointer finger up, “It's near the N109 zone. And two,” You lift another finger, “Apparently, there’s some shady trading of high-grade protocores.”

“Hah, when is there not?” He chuckles.

You quickly brush his question aside, “But you’ll let me stay, won’t you?” You pout for good measure.

“I never trade for a loss, dove.” He taps a finger on his temple. “What are you planning to give me in exchange?”

“Um…” You contemplate on the question. “I'll trade any protocores I find that I think may be of use to you?” Your intonation makes it sound more like a question than a statement.

“What makes you think that I don’t already have access to such protocores, sweetheart?” He shifts to lay on his side with his head propped up by his arm.

That’s true. What could you possibly offer to a man who already has everything in the palm of his hand?

You glance up at him, “Well, then… truthfully, there’s nothing I can give you.”

I guess he won’t let me stay after all.

One of the corners of his lips tilt upwards into a smirk, “There is…” he pauses as he procures a piece of paper with his Evol, “Something you can give me.”

You take the paper and frown as you read the contents, “Isn’t this that restaurant by the river? The one with the orchids?”

“Mmm.” He hums in agreement.

“What could I possibly give you there, Sylus?” You ask

He chuckles, “Well, it’s quite simple, really.” He leans forward to whisper in your ear, “I want you to stay with me… Until the moon is high above our heads”

His voice is so close to your ears that you have to turn away

“I want your time.”

A few days have gone by since your…encounter with Sylus.

Now you’re face-to-face with the owner of the club.

He has his hand grabbing the lower half of your face, turning it side to side.

You grit your teeth. Keep it together for the mission, MC. You say to yourself.

“She’ll fetch a hefty price from the clients, that’s for sure.” He chuckles

He almost throws you towards a woman who has a comb and spray bottle in hand.

“Another?” She asks

“Get her ready.” He says as he begins to walk towards the bar where the guests are, “I want her ready for service by the end of the week, Stella.”

The woman, Stella, as you’ve learned, rolls her eyes and grabs you by the arm.

She drags you across to one of the clothing racks and pulls various clothes up to your body. She takes some off, and others she returns.

Your eyes wander as you stay still, and for a brief moment, you see a blonde woman in a red dress, strutting towards the exit.

“Tenebra?” You mumble

“What?” Stella raises her brow.

“Huh? Oh, I was asking If I’ll need to wear a bra.” You gulp hoping she’ll believe your cover-up

She stares at you for a moment but then continues to find you a dress.

After a while, she’s finished with your make up and has given you a run-down of the rules.

“For tonight, you’ll be staying with me.” She says as she walks towards the exit

You scramble after her. You barely catch yourself from bumping into her as she abruptly turns around to address you.

“Keep close and don’t wander. Do you understand?”

You nod, “Yes.”

She wraps a red band across your wrist with ease, “This bracelet means that you’re off limits for the mean time.” She grips your wrist and squeezes, “So I suggest you keep it on your wrist even if your life depends on it. You won’t have this luxury for long.”

What have I gotten myself into?

You spend that night observing each and every one of the hostesses and clients.

Memorising faces, names, voices. Anything.

As the week ends, you’re back at the safe house trying to piece all the information you have so far.

You’re hunched over the coffee table with papers scattered about. Some of which you’ve scrunched up and have unintentionally made into Mephisto’s playthings.

You huff.

Everything looks normal, but clearly that’s not the case if HA has sent you here. They wouldn’t have sent you here if there wasn’t some concrete evidence of a covert operation.

Sylus stops cleaning his gun and smiles as you frown. The bastard.

You huff once more and rub your temples.

“You look as if you’re going into a grand battle.” He chuckles and leans back into the sofa.

“I feel like I’ve gotten nowhere!” You throw your hands into the air.

He carefully returns the gun to it’s case and settles himself on the floor next to you, “Talk to me.” He pulls the pen from your hands and spreads the papers across the table, “We can figure it out together.” He glances at you with the smallest of smiles.

A couple of weeks have gone by and you’ve gotten better at acting as a hostess.

You find that a lot of these clients have a very loose lips - ever so willing to give information with so little incentive

Today, you’re cozied up with a client, your legs in their lap, and an arm wrapped around one of theirs.

You grin internally as he continues to talk about all the protocores he could offer you.

“Oh?” You say sultrily, drawing circles on his arm.

YUCK

“Oh, I do, baby.”

EUUUGHHH

You’re trying your best to suppress a scowl.

“I could give you all -”

You glance up at him as he stops mid-sentence.

Your gaze shifts from his face to the mirror behind him where your eyes meet Sylus’s intense gaze.

What is he going here?

Sylus nonchalantly walks over to the two of you and the room has gone still.

“And who might this be, sweetie?” He glowers at the man, but his question is directed to you.

You open your mouth to reply, but the man beat you to it, “Mr Sylus, I’m-”

"I didn’t ask you.” He says sharply.

“Sylus, what are you doing here?” Your grip around the man loosens and you quickly shift your legs to plant your heels on the floor.

“Well… Sweetie.” He emphasises the endearment as he pulls you from the other man’s lap, “I’m here for you,” He pulls you to his chest

Without another word, he tugs you into one of the private rooms.

With the momentum, you fall to the loveseat in the middle of the room.

“Sylus!”

“When you said you had a mission here, I assumed you were going in as a client.” He locks the door and makes his way to you, “Not a hostess.” He narrows his eyes as he traps you between his outstretched arms on the loveseat.

“Why does it matter?” You glare back at him, “I’m still getting the information I need.”

“You realise that I could get you all that information in the blink of an eye, right?”

You know that. You do. He never lets you forget. Head of Onychinus. King of the N109 zone.

But what does that say about you?

Always relying on someone else to do things.

Always relying on Xavier on missions. Even Rafayel helped you at The Nest. Zayne’s always taking care of your health, and now Sylus, too.

When had you ever truly done anything yourself?

You grit your teeth, “Look.” You say as you muster up all your courage to glare at him, “I appreciate the help, but I’m not some dove that needs saving.” You push at his chest, “I can do this on my own.”

He yields as you push him until both of you are standing.

“I can’t just rely on you for everything,” You say.

Tenebra - the word plants itself at the forefront of your mind

His chest heaves as he looks at you, but he doesn’t speak.

“What am I supposed to say to the association?” You walk towards the door but look back at him with a soft smile, “They’ll label me a Tenebra for even breathing the same air as you, remember? We can’t have that now, can we?”

He takes a hold of your wrist. “You know I’d never let that happen.”

“Mmm.” You shake your head, “I know, but even then… I want to be able to proudly say that I was able to do a mission with my own strength.”

He doesn’t say anything, so you shrug your hand away from his hold.

“So,” You place you hand on the door knob, “Let me do this on my own, Sylus.”

As you leave, he deflates onto the loveseat with a sigh.

As much as it stings that you don’t want to rely on him, he understands what you’re trying to say.

You’ve gone many days without seeing Sylus, not even at the safe house.

At the host club, you return to your dressing room with the brightest smile, you’d think your face would split in half.

That drunk client spilled all the beans. They are smuggling protocores through this host club. He mentioned a warehouse south from here, in the no hunt zone. Luckily Jenna authorised your entry into that zone. You’ll have to check it out after you leave the club.

As you exit, your watch beeps, “Huh? Wanderers? This far from the no hunt zone?”

Your hands settle at the hilts of your hands guns strapped to either thigh.

With vigilant eyes, you scan your surroundings. Trees upon trees in every direction.

Taking soft and steady steps, you head deeper into the no hunt zone.

Eventually you see lights scattered throughout the tree line.

There’s a large building stood in the centre of the clearing.

As you walk closer, you hear voices. “The warehouse.” you whisper.

Then a truck whizzes past and you duck for fear of getting caught.

It drives far into the warehouse and you follow around to get a clearer view.

They seem like specs from this distance, but they’re unloading the protocores from the truck.

The impatient part of you screams to just sneak into the warehouse.

But that fire is quickly extinguished when you notice a few men patrolling the warehouse.

“I need to come back another time. With a plan.”

The next few days you observe the schedules and their protocol for receiving deliveries

You manage to sneak your way into one of the trucks as your shift ends at the host club.

In the truck, you’re shallowly breathing from the adrenaline coursing through your veins. You close your eyes to take a deep breath as the truck slows to a stop.

“This is the last one for today, boys. Let’s do this quick!” You hear a man shout.

Your hand comes up to press at your sternum. Your heart is beating right out of your chest so much so that blood is thumping in your ears.

“You think we’ve got some aether cores to sell today?”

“Tch, I wish.”

As their footsteps grow louder, you take a slow breath-

BEEP BEEP!

You gasp as your hunter’s watch detects wanderers nearby. You grasp at your wrist to dampen the noise. Hunching over, cradling your arm as it beeps again.

STOP! Please!

“What was that?”

What do I do? I’m going to get caught.

“Check it out.”

Think. Think.

From their footsteps, you can tell one of the men has walked into the truck.

THINK!

You don’t have a choice.

With a grunt, you charge at the man, shooting him in the chest, before hauling his body to cover yours as you exit the vehicle.

“INTRUDER!” the other man yells. “INTRUDER! LOCK EVERYTHING DOWN.”

Sirens blare as shots are fired in your direction. One lodges itself into your thigh. With a scream you dump the body shield and limp as best as you can out of the crossfire.

Another shot whizzes past the side of your arm. Another into your lower abdomen as you turn to shoot at them.

Before you make it to the forest, a loud roar shakes the ground and you stumble onto all fours.

A wanderer. A Hoarfrost Wyrmlord, you recognise.

It stomps it’s way towards the warehouse, likely drawn in by all the noise.

You scramble away as best as you can, but behind you are the men from the warehouse.

Your breaths have become rapid and shallow, “Where…”

The Wyrmlord locks onto you, blowing out gusts of air from it’s nostrils.

You begin shooting at the Wyrmlord but it looks unphased.

You duck for cover as it shoot icicles your way.

Protocores. You think. “You must have a shield somewhere.” you say as you peak over the metal pillar.

“You!” A foreign voice takes your attention.

The man has his gun pointed to you.

Swiftly, you kick your leg out in an attempt to disarm him, but he catches it and kicks at your other leg so that you land face first into the dirt.

For a few moments, you wrestle him until he’s got you in a choke hold.

You elbow him in his side and as his grip loosens you try to swing him over your shoulder.

But he uses the momentum to kick off of the pillar, and the action flings you backwards, and your back hits the ground with a thud.

You grunt and struggle to stand.

Before you can shoot him, a Harte Knave slashes through him.

Just as quickly, your bullets pierce though the Harte Knave and it disintegrates in dust.

Another roar shakes the ground as you and many others are pulled into a protofield.

“No!” You scream.

“Sylus!” You yell into the air.

Hoping, praying that he just might appear out of thin air.

...

“CAW!”

Meanwhile, Sylus is seated in another safehouse.

His leg is bouncing up and down.

You should have returned to the safe house hours ago, but there has been no notification of your arrival from the security system.

For every centimetre the moon rose into the sky, so did his worry.

“I appreciate the help, but I’m not some dove that needs saving.”

Your words echoed around in his mind for the past few hours.

“I can do this on my own.”

He knows that. You’re strong. He’s seen it.

“They’ll label me a Tenebra for even breathing the same air as you, remember?“

Tch.

“I can’t just rely on you for everything,”

But something was wrong.

His intuition never failed him.

“CAW! CAW!”

“Mephisto.” Sylus quickly stands and stretches his hand out for Mephisto to land on.

A holographic video pops up and Sylus sees you dropping the lifeless body and limping away into the tree line.

The screen flickers for a moment as you scream his name before you disappear into the protofield.

Even before the video ends, Sylus is rushing out to his motorcycle. He pulls up the coordinates from Mephisto’s previous location history and speeds away.

Why did I leave her by herself? Near the N109 zone nonetheless. I’m a fool.

In the protofield, the Wyrmlord is the last wanderer.

There are only a few other humans left and luckily, the Wyrmlord is beginning to stagger too.

You’ve managed to break it’s shields but you’re heavily wounded and the Wyrmlord has caused the temperature to drop so rapidly that it’s difficult to even pull the trigger.

Sylus… Please…

You know he can’t just appear into a protofield. But somehow his name on your lips gives you enough strength to continue the fight.

Out of desperation, you’ve managed to resonate with some of the Evolvers.

And with great effort, you and another Evolver deal the final blow to the Wyrmlord and you’re transported back to the warehouse.

Sirens are still blaring and the edges of your vision are fading.

“Sylus.” You whisper walking away from the warehouse.

You grunt as you slump against a sturdy tree.

The shards of ice that were lodged into your stomach have vanished along with the protofield and now your blood has begun to soak through your clothing.

With a few harsh tugs, you rip your sleeve off and press it against your wounds.

Everything hurts, but you try to slow your breathing.

Your watch beeps once more.

The adrenaline causes you to perk up at the thought of more wanderers.

WARNING! Critically low blood pressure - severe blood loss. Coordinates have been sent to the nearest Hunter’s Association field lab.

When you wake next, the room is too bright for your eyes to adjust.

You blink and raise a hand to your face to block the light.

Glancing around, you notice it’s like any other bedroom.

You groan as you sit up.

Looking down at yourself, you see the faint outline of multiple gauze pads from underneath your top.

You limp out of the room, using the wall to take most of your weight.

You flinch as you feel a tap on your shoulder, hands immediately going to where your guns would have been.

“Relax, Kitten.” Sylus says, with both his hands up in the air, “I’m just trying to help you.” He begins to lower his hands.

“Sylus…” You croak from the dryness of your throat.

You could do nothing but stare. Was this real?

You were hyperventilating a little, and he’s never really seen you so high-strung.

“You’re safe.” He says as he slowly cups the side of your face.

“Sylus… I…”

He lowers his forehead to yours and you visibly relax.

“You’re safe with me, sweetheart.” He repeats the phrase as he gathers you into his chest.

“I won’t let you go ever again.” He whispers. “Never again.”

I told you it was long XD. I had fun though. If you guys like it, I don't mind fully fleshing this out into chapters. I really enjoyed writing this one actually.

|| Masterlist ||

-Seven

[dovabunny]

Angsty Ghostsoap Idea of the Day - Not Soap anymore

Cw: angst, misunderstanding

Soap was so sure his heart was safe in Ghost's hands, his place was secure in the 141.

2 hours he stood there in the disciplinary hearing, listening as his every insecurity is turned on him.

Every thing he hated about himself, was self conscious about, or wishes was different is read out loud.

'Unprofessional. Insubordinate. Talks too much. Appearance not regulation. Too loud. Disruptive. Too familiar. Undisciplined.'

He fought back the tears.

'Too emotional'

He doesn't look up from the floor. Doesn't want to see Price and Laswell at the table with his old smug commander he thought he finally got away from.

He was wrong. He disobeyed a direct order to turn back and plant explosives to prevent the building from being used again.

The premise had been cleared 5x in the past 3 years of human traffickers. It was secure and by the docks. They were gonna come back. His suggestion was shot down but after what he saw in there.. he decided to do it anyway.

So yes, he was wrong. No, he doesn't regret it.

But then Ghost had yelled at him over the comms for all to hear. Calling him a danger, an idiot who can't listen, a liability.

Then he reported it to Price who wrote him up for it after shouting the same words.

Price didn't know it would be the third strike on his record.

💰Soap didn't see Price flinch as words he'd written were shot at Soap like bullets. They were taken out of context, and never meant to be used like this.

He sees the man tremble, sees his eyes glaze over. He could see this destroying his boy and he couldn't stop it.

💀 A firm hand settled on his leg and Ghost looks up at Gaz. He didn't even realize he made a motion to stand in his anger. He was beside himself. This was his fault - he did this to Johnny. The commander's vitriol as he dug into Soap's character felt like a knife to his chest.

This wasn't what he wanted! He had been so fkn terrified when Soap ignored him and ran back into a crumbling smugglers den alone to blow it up. It came from a place of overwhelming worry but all he knew was violence. So he snapped and hurt, just so Johnny won't ever do it again.

He told Price, had to. He knew Price had a soft spot for Soap and was also worried at how reckless he got. To show him how serious it was he wrote him up.

Not knowing there was a commander who had been waiting for a third strike on Soap's record.

Soap's punishment: 6 months off the task force stripped of his title as he was sent to undergo training with new recruits. To 'remind him how to conduct himself as a soldier'. All of it at a base away from the 141.

Price tried, he really did, Laswell too. It was helpless. They just had to wait it out.

6 months later Ghost, Gaz, and Prize stand excited on the tarmac awaiting their favourite Scott's return to the 141 and as Sargent. Gaz is excited to hear all the stories of Soap kicking his instructors' asses, Price hopes he slept well. Ghost just wants him close again.

The man who steps off the heli, however is not the Soap they were waiting for. He doesn't have a mowhak, or trademark t-shirt and jeans, confident swagger or beaming smile.

He walks upright, his gaze his fixed but distant, his hair buzzed to the roots dressed in full basic fatigues.

"... Johnny?" Ghost asks as if he isn't sure who this is.

"Captain Price, Lieutenant Riley. Sargent John MacTavish, reporting in."

"Welcome back son. Your room is how you left it." Price says slowly.

Soap nods and goes to walk off but is stopped by Gaz's hand on his shoulder.

"Soap? Are you okay, mate?"

He stopped, took a moment, then looked back at the three staring expectedly at him.

He was fixed now. Like they wanted.

"I'm not Soap anymore. My call sign has changed."

He takes off his dog tags and hands them over.

Sgt. John 'Hazard' MacTavish

[harpersessentials]

are you planning a jungle getaway for your sim? if you do, please be welcome to my list of favourite cc-free lots for selvadorada. because i tend to be very stubborn about lot sizes and what fits where, please take a look at the map to see the correspondence.

1 - Cantina El Arbor del Jaguar 40x30

plaza selvadorada (bar) by @peacemaker-ic

jungle juice (vacation) by @zebrafizz

jungle bed & breakfast (restaurant) by simpolcheeks

little jungle home chall (vacation) by lilie1311

selvadorada jungle bar (bar) by crisldicrisl

selvadorada restaurant & bar (restaurant) by @catsaar

selvadorada jungle bar (bar) by bcroton

2 - Museum of Archaelogy 64x64

alum archaelogy site (museum) by @peacemaker-ic

madre cosecha museum (museum) by @whimsyalien

el museo de selvadorada (museum) by simpolcheeks

ximari's golden temple (haunted house) by Jazmilia

old selvadorada manor (vacation) by Exitusletalis88

la costa verde (restaurant) by @moonlightowl-es

alam museum of archaelogy (museum) by @haledela

alam museum of archaelogy (museum) by @tipsycowplant

solitude selvadorada spa (spa) by rosemayhall

selvadorada museum (museum) by LukeRussoYT

alam museum of archaelogy (museum) by espegel

selvadorada temple museum (museum) by HighlandGaming

3 - Hillview Hideaway 20x15

casa en la colina (vacation) by @peacemaker-ic

Hillview Renovation (vacation) by @theseptembersim

hillview hideaway (vacation) by LoquatRooster

hillview hideaway reno (vacation) by misssimreno

selvadorada vacation home (vacation) by LacyLena

overgrown open-air jungle villa (vacation) by @m0ckest

4 - Villa Selvadorada 30x20

villa de cascada (vacation) by @peacemaker-ic

the frisky llama (restaurant) by @simdoughnut

selvadoradian wedding (wedding venue) by kiarako

spanish finca (vacation) by @catsaar

selvadorada jungle villa (vacation) by 32fe941e8f49e171

casa de selvadorada (vacation) by LouCvz

jungle family vacay house (vacation) by LacyLena

5 - Belomisia Trailhead 40x20

smuggler's den (national park) by @moonlightowl-es

belomisia trailhead (national park) by @moonlightowl-es

selvadorada campground (vacation) by @chrissieytbuilds

temple of the undead (museum) by LouisaBP

6 - Belomisia Field Station 30x20

casa junto a la grieta (vacation) by @peacemaker-ic

Spanish rental (vacation) by create4sims

lost in the jungle (vacation) by @frauengel

belomisia field (vacation) by @thetinycowplant

jungle treehouse (vacation) by @ludicsim

rent in selvadorada (vacation) by @96langerlui99

jungle vacation home (vacation) by MelanieDrakeYT

banana farm retreat (vacation) by Bibi_Builds

water temple (pool) by @moonlightowl-es

athabasca cabana (vacation) by @haledela

7 - Jungle Bungalow 30x30

ville escondite (vacation) by @peacemaker-ic

Luxury Jungle Villa (vacation) by @theseptembersim

delmy jungle mansion (vacation rental) by @therubyramses-sims

selvadorada jungle bungalows (vacation) by baby sixam

sun temple (library) by @moonlightowl-es

spanish jungle (vacation) by @catsaar

jungle bungalow (vacation) by @lilamausmaus

[emmyjulia-sims]

Journey To Batuu - NH Buildings Part I

Here we go again with some more from the Sims 4 Pack - Journey To Batuu. 10 new buildings to decorate your neighborhood with! Unfortunately they don't have night lighting. I was going to add it but my son took home some nasty stomach bug from preschool before the weekend. If you have kids I don't have to explain more. I just wanted to get it done. Anyway let's stop ranting and get to the download! Includes - Docking Bay 7 Food And Cargo - Dok'Ondars Den Of Antiquities - Droid Depot - First Order Cargo - First Order Tunnel - Oga's Cantina - Ronto Roasters - Savis Workshop - Smugglers Run Tower - Speeders Dwelling

All files have been tested and compressed. Found under Neighborhood - Decoration - Misc.

Download

SFS: Journey To Batuu - NH Buildings Part I

[magicalqueennightmare]

Always Us

(Always having to use a Takeshi gif cause they're ain't enough Rick ones)

Rick Flag X Reader

You and Rick have been best friends through so much but will an undercover mission change everything?

Warnings: normal suicide squad level of violence, cursing, NSFW happenings

It was a rare occasion that the suicide squad was called in to answer to anyone other than Waller on a mission. She was a greedy bitch and hated sharing her toys and loved everyone knowing that the squad was her attack dogs and hers only. The only exception was when she wanted to look good, make bigger connections so here you and Rick stood in a room filled with FBI agents, DEA agents and numerous other agencies from other countries and every single one of them had their eyes on the two of you.

There was a big time smuggler by the name of Ezekiel Morrison. Drugs, people...didn't matter. He was in the business for them. No one had managed to get close enough so far. Everyone who'd gotten close had ended up dead. That was where the idea to use the squad had come into the play, have a task that seems like a suicide mission? Who better to use? Besides the moment they mentioned that the last "shipment" of his that had been intercepted had been teenaged girls you and Rick hadn't hesitated to say you were in.

You listened as the agent in charge went over the floor plan for Morrison's club where the meet would go down. The working plan was Rick would go in as a buyer and Floyd as his business partner, you and Harley unfortunately had to play arm candy. All you had to really do was get close enough to the asshole long enough that the handy little device laying in the center of the table could clone his phone.

That would give you access to every account, password, location of his warehouses and holding units. "Lucky for us, he has a type" Waller spoke from her spot to your right and you raised an eyebrow "Underaged girls?" she shook her head "He sells them but doesn't touch that product. No he has a particular taste" the way her eyes were trailing over you made a pit form in the base of your stomach. She'd looked at Rick and June the same way when she'd figured out that the two of them had developed feelings for each other. You'd wanted to kill her for the pain that had caused Rick when he and June split even if that was years ago now.

"Let me guess..my hair color, body type and build?" she smiled brightly which was beyond creepy considering "and smart to boot, look at that" She opened a folder and laid out a stack of photos on the table. Every woman could've been your sister or at the very least a cousin given the similarities in looks. You felt a shiver run down your spine when you realized there were three photos of each woman. One was a driver's license or I.D. of some sort, one was a photo of them with Morrison and the last was a crime scene photo of their deaths.

"Rick is the lead agent on this but you're running point on getting his phone cloned. The device will be planted on you. It's up to you to get it done" you could feel so many eyes in the room on you and became acutely aware of how few women were in the room. You couldn't back down for a magnitude of reasons. One set of eyes in particular drew your gaze to them, the hazel hue of your best friend from where he stood with his arms crossed, listening to Waller and from the way the crease between his eyebrows was deepening, not liking a single word she was saying.

He started to open his mouth, no doubt to protest but you gave a subtle shake of your head. If he said something..Waller wouldn't let it go unpunished, not to mention there was no other agent here that matched the description of his type and you hated the idea of some rookie getting plucked to get sent into the lion's den and this benefited Floyd, Harley and the usual suspects of the squad along with you and Rick if it went well not to mention the potential victims you were saving.

You knew with Rick, Harley and Floyd at your back you'd be safe enough. "Then let's get on with it ma'am" You spoke, meeting her eyes with a smile that was nowhere near friendly. She nodded then turned to face the room "Colonel Flag and his second in command will get this done. They're the best there is" you cut your eyes at Rick and knew he was thinking the same thing you were just from the look you shared. Normally she talked about the two of you like you were well trained junkyard dogs at best. He tilted his head with the barest hint of a smile before turning his attention back to the room.

The plan would be set for when and where along with personas for everyone being laid in place then all that would be left would be to play the part and rip the asshole to shreds. You knew Harley would enjoy the undercover part, Floyd was a smooth talker and Rick was trained for this shit. You could handle your part. The facts at hand left you no choice but to handle it.

"Are you sure you're up to this?" Rick asked as he sat down next to you where you were currently curled up on his couch going over the files on Morrison again. The two of you along with Harley and Floyd would be flying out bright and early to meet up with the other agents working this joint op. That meant you'd spent the better part of the day with Harley and Floyd going over their personas. You cut your eyes up at him and you knew from the way his smile dropped you'd unintentionally glared at him "I'm not doubting your abilities sweetheart. I know you can handle this but Waller is waving you around like bait on a fucking hook. I goddamn hate it, I hated this guy before seeing those photos. After that? It's gonna take a lot for me to be civil"

You grabbed over your heart playfully "Oh Rick I didn't know you cared!" and fell over against his shoulder with a laugh. He shook his head and wrapped an arm around your shoulders "Bullshit on you not knowing I cared. You're my best friend, have been since before any of this shit ever fell into our laps" you laughed again "But damn isn't life so much more interesting than when you were just a grunt and me training to be a medic?"

He shook his head and reached for the file still in your hand before tossing it onto his coffee table "Enough of this asshole. Let's finish this movie we've been watching for the last two weeks so we can get some sleep" You had a habit of staying at each other's place the night before missions, especially ones like this. That was why Rick had picked out your couch and you his. Had to make sure your beds were comfortable.You turned to lean into the pile of pillows you had on the arm rest of the couch and Rick watched you with a raised eyebrow "What are you doing you fuckin gremlin?"

You shrugged "Getting comfortable. I always fall asleep before you and end up getting tossed around like a sack of potatoes so you can go to bed but.." you put your feet in his lap and tossed a blanket over your legs and his lap before continuing "this way maybe I don't end up feeling like a ragdoll when you want to go to bed you fuckin giant" he shrugged "Ain't my fault you're short. You never let that stop you on a mission. Hell you and Harley get twice the kill count of most of the guys" you winked at him "Never underestimate feminine rage"

This was the definition of your relationship with Rick. The two of you had met way back when and had hit it off, he needed chaos and you needed grounding and that's what you bought to each other. You met in the middle most days and when you did argue it normally never lasted long because you needed each other too much to stay mad. He was the one person you always counted on to be in your corner. You trusted him with your life and he trusted you with his.

---------------

When you'd started seeing GQ it had been a little bit of a blow up. Something along the lines of "You can't seriously date one of my men!" but when Waller had launched the idea of the squad and drew your card for their combat medic he couldn't say too much considering you were both then "his men" he'd just given his blessing when he met June. The speed at which he'd fallen for her had made your head spin but if that was what made him happy you'd been happy for him but Midway city had blown a hole in your life in more than one way.

After losing GQ and the squad becoming a concrete thing you threw yourself into work while Rick threw himself into the relationship with June. There was one thing while you were with GQ you'd never done and that was ignore Rick. Hell you'd had more than one relationship implode due to the six foot two man sitting next to you, because you refused to lose him. He'd been there for you during some of the worst years of your life. Unfortunately it had seemed he hadn't felt the same.

For weeks the only time you'd seen or spoke to Rick was over briefings. You hadn't pushed. He'd said he loved June. You'd seen it in how hard he fought for her so you concentrated on training the squad, on training yourself more,traveled with Katana a while, even going back and forth between D.C. and Louisiana on errands for Waller. Anything to not sit still.

The startling realization that your feelings had somehow sank so much deeper than you'd ever intended snuck up on you. You'd been in D.C. when he texted you asking where you were. A part of you wanted to ignore it but it was Rick. Your heart could only take so much distance from him. Waller was making you want to smash your head against a wall, Katana was depressing at best most times and the squad...well Croc was the best behaved currently. When you'd told him you were in D.C. He'd asked when you'd be back in Louisiana so you'd told him and he asked if the two of you could have a movie night "like old times"

You hadn't meant to be snarky but before you thought about it you'd typed out "Are you sure June would be cool with you coming to my place?" "No but we're not together anymore" your heart broke for him in that moment. No matter how you'd felt about June or the entire situation you hated knowing Rick was hurting. You texted back to tell him you'd see him when you got home.

That night when he'd come over it was like any other night in a lot of ways but he'd been quiet until you pushed. "Rick, not that I'm not happy to see you outside of Belle Reeve or D.C. but you haven't said anything outside of hey and asking how I've been. Are you ok?" you'd turned on your couch to face him, drawing a leg up underneath you. He stared down at his hands as he spoke "I've been a really shitty best friend to you. I don't think you loved G not yet anyways but I know you cared about him and goddamn deadshot comforted you more than I did. Midway City was hard as hell and I left you high and fuckin dry after it. You've been running errands for Waller, been traveling with Katana and training the squad" "So just a recap of the last few months?" you teased before he raised his eyes and you saw the actual pain there "Oh Rick, I'm kidding"

You moved to pull him into a hug and he wrapped his larger frame around you, burying his face in your shoulder. "I know June isn't used to any of the crazy shit we are. She was possessed by an ancient meta.Thats huge and hard as hell! I was just trying to help so you had more time to help her adjust" "I fuckin left you" it was muffled but you caught his words. You had to put most of your strength into it to push him back to look him in the face as you said "I'm a big girl Rick. I can handle a few weeks. You don't have to put your life on hold to still be my best friend"

You couldn't stand seeing him in any pain, especially mental. You couldn't even attempt to fix that. He raised a hand and brushed your hair back "It's always been us" you felt your heart flip at his words but knew he meant it platonically which was fine, you loved Rick in every way there was to love a man. The recent distance from him had forced you to realize that. You covered his hand with yours "Nothing will change that Rick. You loved June. It's normal to bury yourself in a new relationship, especially when your girl has trauma like she did. Now what happened"

He ducked his eyes before laughing lightly "She wanted me to quit the army, get a job in North Carolina where she's from" your heart crumbled at the idea of losing him but if that's what made him happy "Do you love the army or her more?" he shrugged "Doesn't matter because she also told me I had to cut ties with you. That was the deal breaker. You're my best friend. I'm not losing you"

-------------------

You were drawn back to the present by Rick's hand squeezing your ankle lightly. When you flicked your eyes to him he smirked "Dozing off on me already?" you grinned "Maybe? Tomorrow is a whole new type of fucked up, even for us" he nodded then lifted your legs long enough to stand up before gently placing them back on the couch "Get some sleep. I'll wake you up when my alarm goes off then we'll head to meet transport"

You watched him walk across the floor to his bedroom, he was wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and nothing else but you couldn't exactly say anything considering you were wearing one of his old shirts and a pair of his boxers because you'd forgotten to pack something to sleep in from your apartment. The ink on his biceps drew your eyes when he turned to look back at you and grinned when he saw you were already looking at him "We'll get it done like we always do. Those photos just threw me off a little" you laughed lightly "They didn't look like you" he nodded "True. Goodnight Y/N" "Night Rick"

The bedroom door closed so you rolled over to face the back of the couch and hoped sleep would come soon.

You were glad you never got roped into undercover work,wrangling a team of maniacs from Belle Reeve was easy compared to this. Wardrobe had been insane to say the least. The guys had the easy part, nice tailored suits and a shave for Floyd and they were good to go. You and Harley on the other hand, the two of you had to go through literal hair and makeup. After that you'd tried on several different outfits, damn near growling at a few of the choices because the vest you normally wore on missions would've covered more. You'd even been forced to wear a different style of bra and panties than you'd packed.

Eventually the choice was made with Harley deciding on a spaghetti strap dress that was gold with a plunging neckline and heels that hurt your feet just from looking at them. Your dress for the evening was black with sleeves that skimmed your arms, hiding the scar on your shoulder from a bullet a few years back. Where the sleeves should've cut down on the sexy factor the neckline made up for it considering it dipped down to mid sternum and hugged your body in all the right places. Harley, bless her for feeding into your comfort zone as much as possible, found a pair of knee high, heeled boots that went along with the dress beautifully.

You did a little spin for her and the two agents that had been helping the two of you get prepared. "Ya look delicious babe. No way is he not taking the bait" Agent O'Rourke who was probably a year or two older than you gave you a smile before leaning down to your left boot. You were about to question what she was doing until you felt a sheath slip into your boot and hook into the side of it. When she straightened up she winked at you before saying "It's a ceramic blade, even if they wand you it won't go off" An understanding look passed between the two of you before you nodded slowly "Thank you"

She tapped the com in her ear, listening to one of the other agents before looking back to you and Harley "Let's get you two mic'd up then we'll go meet the men of your team. A driver will take you to Morrison's club for the meet"

--------------

You followed Harley and Agent O'Rourke out into the hall. Rick and Floyd were just waiting for the two of you. Your nerves were through the roof but that was normal for a mission, right? Besides, you'd feel better once Rick was at your side. You always did.

You were trying to not pick at your outfit, you stopped short when you heard the unmistakable sound of Floyd whistle. You cut your eyes up to see him and Rick standing with a few agents. He gave you and Harley both an appreciative once over before raising an eyebrow "You two out here looking like full course meals and I don't get a single damn taste...really gonna do me like that?"

You laughed, feeling the nerves fade a bit. Leave it up to your squad to cut jokes before undertaking something like this. "Easy deadshot, Harley is your girl for the night" Rick warned and for just a second you could've sworn he sounded jealous but he was probably just feeding into the personas set out. You turned your eyes towards him, trying and failing to not let your eyes linger on just how perfectly that suit hugged his shoulders. You felt a blush warm your face when he gave you a once over, his eyes following the neckline of your dress before he swallowed thickly and muttered "I fuckin hate Waller" you couldn't help the small laugh that escaped you.

He held a hand out so you took it and he pulled you into his side "Ready to do this Allison?" That was the name of your persona, the long term girlfriend to Rick's persona Jonathan Kenzie. When Waller had told you that you wouldn't just be playing arm candy but someone Rick's persona was actually supposed to be committed to you'd nearly flipped the damn table on her but it was too late to back out. "Ready as ever Jon" You replied, brushing a stray piece of hair back from his forehead.

Floyd's persona was Anthony Colton, Jon's business partner. Harley was Alexia Long, Anthony's most recent fling. You turned your attention from Rick to Harley and held your hand out "C'mon Alexia" She smiled and grabbed your hand. Rick held your gaze as he addressed the room "We get in, we get what we need then we get the hell out. Everyone goes home in one piece after we tear this mother fucker's entire enterprise down around him" Floyd slapped Rick on the shoulder and laughed "I'll be damned! You finally learned how to give a fuckin pep talk"

The heat from the club hit you the moment you stepped inside, whether it was from the heat of the lights or the amount of bodies shoved into the small space you weren't sure. You swallowed hard, without thinking your hand shot out for Rick's. He laced his fingers into yours and gently rubbed his thumb across the back of your hand. You felt the tension in your shoulders loosen at the touch. You could handle this. You'd handled a lot worse than one psycho.

Rick led your small group through the club, avoiding the overcrowded dance floor and heading for the V.I.P. section where a booth was reserved. Morrison had told "Jon" he wanted to meet in public to get a feel for each other before moving the meeting to his office. You knew the play was probably to get surveillance photos of all of you and run them to ensure you were who you said you were but considering the agencies behind you on this you were confident on that end.

---------------------

Rick's hand never left yours, even as he took a seat at the booth before pulling you down into his lap. Floyd sat across from Rick, pulling Harley down into his lap as well. The four of you were supposed to look like couples so you had to play the part because you knew from the moment you stepped into the club Morrison already had eyes on you. Harley and Floyd had no issue with falling right into flirting and even suggestively touching each other. To anyone else it looked like they were completely oblivious but you knew if you asked, Floyd could tell you what color the third person to the right of the Dj booth's shirt was and Harley could probably psychoanalyze someone from their body language where she sat with her face in the bend of Floyd's neck whispering something to him.

Rick's hand slid up into the hair at the base of your neck,nails lightly scraping your scalp and it took every ounce of self control you had to not let a soft moan escape you at the feelings that small touch evoked.He pulled you back against his chest, careful of how short your dress was before pressing his mouth to the shell of your ear and speaking barely above a whisper so the coms wouldn't pick it up "Sweetheart you've got to loosen up and act like you want me. We're supposed to have been together for eight years" You couldn't even attempt to hide the shiver that ran down your spine and he chuckled lightly. Nothing on earth would have prepared you though for Rick to gently graze his teeth across your neck right over the pulse point. "Oh fuck" you gasped, feeling heat roll through you as he shifted under you "Atta girl"

What the fuck was he doing? More importantly how the fuck was he making you fall apart with so little actions? Damn you were in the middle of a mission and those nerves you were feeling just moments before were long forgotten, replaced by the feeling of Rick's lips on your skin as he kissed the spot right behind your ear that made your legs tremble. You felt your body react to his touch even more and had to bite down on the inside of your cheek to keep from leaning into him even further.

You turned to look over your shoulder at him and he gave you the slightest of smiles before mouthing the word "Relax" about the time the feeling of eyes on you grew stronger and you had to fight the urge to not clock the bodyguard standing about four feet from where all of you sat. There were a few more posted around the club and if you were right from their formation it meant Morrison's office was behind the stage, near the very back of the building but at least it was on the base floor. You didn't feel like going out of a window wearing those boots.

You sucked in a breath of air, smoke and an abundance of different colognes and perfumes assaulted your senses but it still managed to ground you. Rick was playing a part. He was a trained soldier. This was nothing more than another mission, a different type of firefight.

---------------------

You cut your eyes over at Harley and Floyd as Floyd struck up a conversation with Rick about their "Most recent trades" Harley was comfortably wrapped around Floyd, her eyes lazily flickering around the club. When her gaze met yours they shifted to Rick then back to you before she raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"How long is the damn background on us gonna take?" You spoke low enough only they could hear you and O'Rourke's voice in your ear nearly made you jump off Rick's lap when she responded "Few more minutes. He's gone through Floyd and Harley. He's currently working on you and Rick"

A bodyguard near the stage looked toward your group so Rick slipped an arm around your waist, effectively locking you in place against him as his fingers trailed down your side "Always so damn impatient Allie. Enjoy a night out" Floyd waved a waitress down and ordered drinks when Rick gave him a nod.

"That one has always been a live wire Jon" Floyd spoke with a look towards Rick that felt a lot more loaded than it should've been. You shook your head and let a laugh fall from your lips "Easy Anthony. I've known you for how long now? I could tell Alexia some stories"

Harley perked up at the chance to play her part and honest to God giggled "Oh please do!" She looked past you to Rick "If I can manage to get you out of Jon's grasp I may have to drag you onto the dance floor with me so we get a little one on one time"

Rick looked up at you from where he was propped back against the seat with an arm up like he owned the entire place "Allie, you wanna go dance baby?" You looked towards Harley then pulled your bottom lip between your teeth for a second before nodding "Yeah" he smiled and leaned up to place a kiss on your neck, right along your jawline before saying "Go have fun baby. Just stay where I can see if any asshole tries to put his hands on you is all I ask"

That was Rick reminding you and Harley to stay where him and Floyd could back you up if need be. You nodded and placed a kiss on his neck, feeling his pulse under your lips and felt a little thrill at how much faster it was than normal "I promise love"

---------------------

Rick and Floyd watched you and Harley head to the dance floor. Rick's eyes never leave you even as the music started and Harley eased you into dancing, a broad grin on her face.

"She has you wrapped around her little finger doesn't she?" Floyd asked him and Rick was thrown off for a second because he wasn't sure if it was Floyd asking him or Anthony asking Jon or Floyd using the excuse of Anthony to be nosy and not get his head knocked off.

Rick turned his eyes back to you and couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face when you winked at him. That reaction was all Rick, no Jon required. "More than she knows" he answered without thinking and Floyd chuckled lightly.

---------------------

You were enjoying yourself actually. Harley was her usual wildness but you were used to it and her mood helped yours. The two of you had probably danced for two songs when you felt someone touch your back.

You knew Rick's touch well enough to know it wasn't him. You turned around to be face to face with Ezekiel Morrison. "Showtime" O'Rourke spoke over the coms and you could feel Rick's gaze even before you cut your eyes over at him and Floyd.

You'd seen Rick ecstatic, horrified, downright depressed and if someone had asked you before that moment you would've said you'd seen him angry but the look in his eyes made a shiver run down your spine of an entirely different kind and you knew for a fact he'd never hurt you. He looked enraged at the fact that Morrison had touched you even if that was the plan. You gave him a small smile, hoping that would calm him before turning your attention to the man in front of you.

"Excuse me?" You asked, making your voice sound as innocent as possible. Ezekiel would've been a decent looking man had you not known what he'd done. He was about an inch or two shorter than Rick, nice build and light brown hair with straight, extremely white teeth. "I'm sorry to interrupt you and your friend but I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't ask for a dance"

You forced a bashful laugh "Oh my. Well um I'm here with my boyfriend" you pointed towards Rick who had to school his features when Morrison smiled even broader "You're Mr Kenzie's significant other? My my he does have fine taste indeed. I'm sure he wouldn't mind one dance"

Yeah, you'd need four showers after this. You looked from him over to Rick, making sure to pull the whole doe eye act before nodding "You're right. One dance won't hurt"

Harley smiled "I'm gonna head over to Anthony" Morrison didn't take his eyes off you to acknowledge her. Yeah he was basically a serial killer on top of everything else and Waller had laid you on a silver platter.

You took Morrison's hand and allowed him to pull you back out onto the dance floor, focusing your mind on how Rick's touch had felt, on the teenaged girls this mother fucker trafficked, on anything but how oily his hand felt and how his eyes were glued to the flesh your dress showed "So miss..." "Allison..Allison Gore" he nodded "Allison. How did you meet Jon?"

You fed him the backstory that had been laid into place, all the while listening to O'Rourke's voice encouraging you to keep him talking. He nodded as if he was enthralled but you knew he hadn't heard a single word you said.

You felt his hand that had been on your lower back begin to slip lower as the two of you danced. You knew this was a possibility and could handle it gracefully or would've had you not heard "Goddammit Flag" over the coms right before you felt that familiar touch pulling you back against that toned chest you'd know anywhere "Mr Morrison! I see you've met my Allie"

Ezekiel winked at you "I did indeed. She's extraordinary" "stay within two feet of him Y/N. We just need three more minutes" you leaned up from Rick's embrace to lay a hand on Morrison's arm "This club is wonderful but I understand Jon and Anthony as here on business. Let's move this somewhere more private"

Morrison nodded "Mr Kenzie do you want to grab your partner and his girl. I'll gladly escort Ms Gore" you looked up into Rick's eyes and the look made your heart flip. "Jon, go get Tony and Alexia" he nodded stiffly then leaned down close to you. To anyone else, including Morrison it would look like he was kissing your neck but he whispered into your ear "If you say stop. This shit stops. Nothing matters more than you"

When he pulled back you knew your eyes were wide but you recovered fast enough "Love you too babe" then turned to Morrison and took his offered arm "Lead the way"

You swallowed hard and heard O'Rourke's voice "Two more minutes" as Morrion led you towards a darkened hallway at the far back of the club. You shifted your foot to feel the sheath in it as a comfort as you heard Rick growl across the com "Hurry the fuck up"

--------------------

Ezekiel was purposely invading your space, leaning in too close. You could smell his God awful cologne and the cigars he smoked. Rick, Floyd and Harley had yet to make it to the office but you imagined that was on purpose.

"Tell me miss Gore, are you happy with Mr Kenzie?" You nodded "Very. Jon's a good man to me" the bastard shrugged "Does he treat you like a queen? Because I could give you an empire" he put one hand on your hip and was leaning closer when you finally heard O'Rourke say "It's cloned. Teams are moving into position. When they hit the warehouses and holding units we have the all clear to take down Morrison and any guards. Hold positions. Ten minutes tops"

Where was Rick? You stepped back from Morrison "Where is Jon and Anthony?" You asked and he smirked "I wanted some alone time, ya know. Get to know each other better. They'll be here soon" "Find her now or I'll blow this whole damn op sideways" Rick's voice across the coms hit you square in the chest. He was pissed, worry evident in his tone laced with an underlying fear you'd seen in his eyes when he'd looked too close at those photos. You just hoped O'Rourke knew he meant every damn word.

"Where are they?" You asked and he smiled "Don't worry. I want their business. I'll be gentle" he brushed your hair back and spoke close enough to your neck you could feel his breath "Unless you want me to be rough"

O'Rourke and Rick's voices both drifted into your ear "Nine" "WHERE THE FUCK IS SHE?"

Adrenaline flooded your system mixed with a little bit of relief. He hadn't figured out they were undercover, he still thought this was just a buyer who happened to have a girl who matched his fetish. That, you could handle"Yeah, No"

---------------------

You made a move to go around him and he tried to grab for you so you side stepped and slammed your knee into his crotch "No means no" "Fuckin bitch" he growled, hitting the floor. You stood over him and repeated yourself "Now do you want to act like a gentleman or continue to act like a neanderthal?"

He cupped his balls as he glared at you "I'll fucking kill you" "Wrong answer" you smiled, drawing back your foot and kicking him where you'd previously caught him with your knee. Harley's voice finally graced your ear "North end of the club Flag. I'll get the guards' attention. You go get our girl"

O'Rourke's voice followed "Colonel Flag, Harley we just need five minutes" "Better be a fast five minutes" Floyd's voice was clipped, he was pissed.

Morrison was beginning to recover so you backed up, crouching to slip the knife out of your boot because you had no idea what he was doing "You either give me what I want or I'll kill your man, his friend and your little whore friend while you watch"

"Those three can handle themselves," you replied with a shrug. "Three" O'Rourke's voice rang through your ears as Morrion moved to grab you again. You flipped the knife up and drove it into his left arm. You weren't trying to kill him. Not yet anyways.

He roared in pain and called you a few choice words before the door slammed open, barely hanging onto the hinges from the force and there stood Rick, anger rolling off him in waves. Morrison fell back from you "Your whore attacked me Kenzie"

Rick strode into the office and didn't say a word as he closed the space between himself and Morrison with few steps. He wrapped a hand around the other man's throat before looking over at you. You saw a few marks gracing his face that was evidence of a fight of some sort but he didn't look too injured.

Rick looked back at Morrison before snatching your blade free of his arm and putting it at his throat, the tip of the blade digging in enough you saw blood begin to trickle down Morrison's neck. "No, you're just a sorry excuse for a man that likes to put his hands places they don't belong"

The blade drove in further and you heard O'Rourke's voice "We're coming in. I repeat we're coming in. Start taking down who you can" "Rick!" You grabbed his arm and when he looked down at you his eyes trailed over your face "Did he touch you?" You shook your head "No. He tried but no"

He nodded slowly before smashing Morrison's head roughly into the wall. You watched the slimy mother fucker crumple before you heard gunfire break out and you both looked at each other "Got me a gun?" you asked with a hopeful grin.

He lifted the back of his jacket and you smiled when you realized he'd placed one where he'd have no chance of drawing it but it was the perfect position for you. "I knew you loved me" "More than you know" he muttered so low you barely heard him before pulling his own gun. You didn't have time to ask what he meant, the two of you taking one final look at each other before joining the mayhem in the remainder of the club.

Both yours and Harley's dresses had somehow gotten ripped in the fighting. The material wasn't exactly made to hold up to the two of you so the plane ride home consisted of the two of you wearing FBI sweatpants and the guys' suit jackets. You laughed from where you sat across from Floyd and he raised an eyebrow at you "Y/N? You finally flip your shit? I knew hanging out with Flag was gonna get to you"

You looked towards the front of the plane where Rick had been on the line with Waller since all of you had stepped on board "Naw, he's not that bad once you get past that wall he puts up" Floyd shook his head "You two and your puppy eyes are kinda sickening" Harley slapped his shoulder "Shut up! I think it's cute"

You looked from one to the other "What?" They exchanged a glance before Floyd said "Dollface, you nearly melted into a puddle in that man's lap from him doing very little" "Plus he looks at you like you hung the fuckin moon" Harley added. Floyd nodded then shrugged "Not to mention the entire reason they sent everyone in early is because he told em that was their only option if they wanted Morrison alive"

You looked back towards Rick, he had his back turned to you. You could tell from the set of his shoulders he was arguing with Waller. He glanced over his shoulder after a second as if he could feel your gaze and when he did his entire body seemed to relax when he looked at you. You smiled at him and he smiled in return before turning back to whatever Waller was saying "See?" Harley and Floyd spoke in unison.

You shook your head "Get some sleep. You two earned your walking papers with this one, I hope this is the last mission I work with either of you" they both grinned at you "You'll miss us" Floyd teased so you nodded "Yeah but I'll be glad to see you go home to your little girl" then looked at Harley "and you better stay out of trouble" She winked at you "I'll try"

You followed Rick out of Belle Reeve into the parking lot where both your car and his pickup were parked. He'd been silent the ride back and during the group debrief besides when asked a direct question but then Waller had asked to speak to him alone. You'd gone to the warden's office to finish up Harley and Floyd's paperwork while you waited on him. You'd changed into one of his extra shirts he kept in his office so it was a bit more comfortable than the suit jacket considering you were still wearing the boots. Hell you were considering seeing if Rick had any extra shoes stored anywhere even if they'd be too big.

He stopped when you got to your car and dug his truck keys out of his pocket before looking at you "Um..can I come over?" "Movie night?" you asked and he started to nod then stopped "No, not movie night. I want to talk to you but not here when I know every damn thing is gonna run back to that bitch" your eyes widened at his words but you nodded nonetheless "Ok"

--------------------------

You stepped out of the shower and heard your front door open. It had to be Rick because outside of him only your brother had a key and he was currently states away. You'd ended up pulling one of his old shirts he'd left at your place out to sleep in and considering how long it was on you, nothing else but panties. He'd seen you in less when you'd been hurt.

You walked out of your bedroom into the living room and he was sitting on the couch with his head back and looked half asleep, from the looks of it he'd showered at his place when he'd grabbed his forgotten overnight bag. He was now wearing black sweatpants and a white t-shirt, his shoes were by the front door where he'd kicked them off time he walked in. You smiled when you realized he had locked all three locks behind himself. "Well that was insane" you spoke and his head shot up at your voice, a lazy smile slipping onto his face "Yeah, thats a word for it"

He patted the cushion next to him "C'mere" any time he was tired his accent slipped out so much thicker. You loved it. You walked over and sat down next to him, curling your feet underneath you so you could lean your head over on his shoulder "How pissed was Waller?" he shrugged "You and the team are in the clear. I think a part of her enjoys being right about having something to hold over my head" He slipped his arm around your shoulders as he spoke, head dipping down so he could place a kiss on top of your head "What does she have?" you asked, praying you were right but refusing to say it outloud.

He laughed lightly "You're gonna make me throw every damn card I got on the table, ain't ya?" You leaned up off his shoulder so you could look into his eyes "Yeah. I want to know what's going on in that head of yours. You know it's always been us and always will be but I need to know just what you mean" he leaned forward until his forehead was touching yours and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before saying "She knows I'm in love with my best friend and that I have been for a very long time" you gently cupped his jaw and waited until he slowly opened his eyes. He looked so damn uncertain. Where was that man that had you falling apart in Morrison's club just hours before? Was it that much easier when it was under the facade of a mission?

"Please say something," he nearly begged. you let your hand caress down his jaw, trying to collect your nerve before finally leaning in to let your lips connect to his. The kiss was gentle, hell chaste even but it lit a fire in you as you pulled back to look at him. a smile slipped onto his face "Please do that again" a laugh fell from you "Rick Flag, you had me squirming in the middle of a club! I think you're more than capable of taking control of a situation" "Do you want this? Want me?" he asked, reaching for your hand and placing it over his heart where you could feel it thundering even through his shirt. You rolled the soft material through your fingertips before nodding "For a very long time"

"C'mere" he repeated, pulling you across the couch. You gladly let him pick you up and put you in his lap, slipping your legs down on either side of his hips to be effectively straddling him "First time you've not complained about me picking you up" You shrugged "I like how big you are when I'm the one getting to take advantage of it" he smirked at your words "Darlin, I just ask two things of you" he dipped his head down to let his teeth tease across your pulse like he'd done earlier and you tried to muffle the moan that it caused by biting your lip but he moved one hand up, cupping the side of your head and using his thumb to gently coax your lip out from between your teeth "Tell me if you don't like something and don't try to be quiet baby. Please let me have every little sound I can pull from you because I'm gonna do everything I can to make sure you forget any man that was in your bed before me"

You nodded, unable to form words at the moment but he shook his head "Use your words sweetheart" "I will Rick, please just fuckin touch me" he raised an eyebrow and looked down to where his hands were touching your hips "I am touching you baby" "Rick!" you pratically whined and was rewarded with the rumble of his laughter when you tugged at his shirt. "Ok ok" he teased before pulling his shirt off and tossing it next to him on the couch "That what you wanted?" he asked and you answered him by letting your hands and lips trace the familiar scars that decorated his chest, the muscles shifting under your touch as little groans escaped him.

When your lips moved from his chest up to his neck his head fell back against the couch "Damn sweetheart that feels good" you moved across his neck, kissing and biting the smooth skin there. His hips jutted up against yours when you hit a certain spot and you gasped feeling how hard he was, fuck you'd always figured Rick was well endowed. Boxers and sweatpants didn't hide much but feeling it rubbing against your core with only thin layers of material separating it was an entirely different feeling.

Your lips found that spot again, rolling your hips against his as you sucked a dark mark over it. His grip on your hips tightened as he swore under his breath "That's it darlin. Mark me. Let everyone know I'm yours" you whimpered into his skin at his words. He slipped a hand between your body and you broke away from his skin to gasp when his fingers made the first swipe across your clothed center, the material not offering much of a barrier given that they were soaked.

"Fuck, you're soaking wet honey..that for me?" he teased, pushing your panties to the side and allowing one thick finger to tease past your folds before finally pushing it inside of you, grunting when he felt how your pussy squeezed just one of his fingers "Oh sweetheart" he curled his finger up, finding that spot inside of you that had you gripping his shoulders. "It's ok, I got ya" he kissed the side of your head as he added a second finger. "Fuck..Rick" he used his thumb to work your clit as his lips found your neck attacking the spots that had you shaking in his touch as he worked you towards an orgasm.

You felt that pressure building a half second before that wave crashed over you "Oh god" you moaned, burying your face in his neck as he used his fingers to work you through the orgasm. When your walls stopped tremoring around his fingers, he slowly pulled them out of you. When you lifted your head he winked at you before sucking his fingers into his mouth, humming in contentment at your taste "I need more than a tease of a taste" he spoke before moving you off his lap to lay you back across the couch.His hands went to the shirt you wore, eyes flickering to yours "Can I take this off?" you nodded then remembered he wanted more "Please"

He grinned, slipping the shirt off of you then tossed it "Fuck, look at you" he started at your panty line and left a trail of open mouthed kisses up your body until he got to your breasts. He rolled one nipple into his mouth and your back arched up when he let his teeth just barely graze the sensitive bud. "Fuck, just like that..feels so good" you praised and felt him grin against your flesh.

He moved to the other side giving it the same attention before moving up to catch your lips in a wet kiss that had you both gasping for air when you pulled away. "So damn gorgeous" he praised before moving back down your body leaving wet kisses everywhere he could reach. When he got to the top of your panties he looked up to meet your eyes, the request silent. "Please" you whispered and god the look he gave you in that moment damn near made you come undone "I fucking love you"

He slipped your panties down off your legs and tossed them before tapping your hips "Spread your legs for me beautiful. Let me love ya" you did as he asked and felt the first tentative flick of his tongue which had your eyes rolling back in your head. Your fingers buried themselves in his hair as he dove in like a starved man offered a four course meal. Your hips rocked against his face as he worked you closer and closer to that edge and when he slipped two fingers in to tease at that spot deep inside of you while barely letting his teeth graze against your clit your back arched off the couch and you came with a scream of his name on your lips.

Once you weakly pushed at his head from being oversensitive he started to kiss his way up your body, marking every inch of skin he could with his mouth along the way. When he got to your mouth he pulled you into a passionate kiss, rolling his tongue against yours, allowing you to taste yourself on him. Your hands were locked around his neck, holding him to you "Rick, I want to return the favor, I want to do so much but right now I need you inside me" you begged.

He kissed the tip of your nose before saying "It's ok baby" he leaned up far enough to slip his sweatpants off and kick them away. You felt the head of his cock teasing at your entrance and you felt yourself clench even before he started slowly easing in. When a loud gasp ripped from you he froze "Did I hurt you?" you shook your head "You feel so fucking amazing Rick, never been filled up so much"

He leaned his head over against your chest, kissing the few scars you also had before sliding the rest of the way into you until his hips rested against yours "So fuckin warm and tight and fuckin perfect" he groaned as he gave a tentaive thrust and when you responded by hooking your legs around his waist he lifted his head up to look at you "You're gonna be the death of me..but what a way to go"

---------------------

Your fingers dug into Rick's shoulders as his dug into your hips. Both of you desperate to pull each other closer as both of your highs drew near. He moved to kiss you but you could barely get your mouth to meet his from how fuckin amazing he had you feelin which resulted in you gasping into his mouth "So damn close Rick...fuck I love you" his hips faltered slightly at your words before regaining his pace, pushing you both towards as orgasm.

When he moved his fingers down to rub tight circles onto your clit your eyes tried to close but he spoke with his mouth right next to your ear "Open those eyes darlin. I wanna see you come apart" you opened your eyes and his hazel ones were inches from yours. You pulled him into a kiss just as your orgasm washed over you and when your walls clenched down hard around him it pulled him over the edge with you, he groaned loudly as you felt him coat your insides.

"Fuck that was amazing" you cursed and he looked down at you and smirked "Just what I was thinking" before placing a gentle kiss on your lips. When he pulled out of you,a small gasp left you so he apologized before asking "Wanna get another shower?" you raised an eyebrow "You carryin me Flag? Cause my legs are kinda jello after that" he couldn't have looked more proud of himself if he tried in that moment.

You laid across Rick's chest, one leg throw over his waist as his fingers traced imaginary patterns on your bare thigh "Did you mean what you said or was it an in the moment thing?" he asked and you were confused for a second then realized what he meant and shook your head "Rick, I've been in love with you for longer than I care to admit but I wasn't losing my best friend because of it"

He nodded slowly before using his other hand to tilt your head up to him "You'd never lose me and now you damn sure won't" you felt a blush warm your face. "Rick Flag, I'm yours. You don't have to keep being such a sweet talker" he laughed before shaking his head "Damn right you're mine and I'm yours but I will sweet talk you until the day they put me in the ground darlin" you laughed lightly "Lets get some sleep" he somehow managed to pull you closer before saying "I think I like sleeping in your bed even better than the couch" you grinned up at him "Good, cause tomorrow night we need to break in your place" "Yes ma'am"

@spaghettificationandpretzels

[raeynbowboi]

Translating the Teen Titans to Faerun

A long time ago I did a post translating the Gaang from Avatar: the Last Airbender to the world and lore of DnD, making Katara a Cleric of Selune, Toph a blind-fighting Ranger, etc. While that was a good first foray into the idea, I wanted to explore the idea again with my favorite team of heroes: the Teen Titans. I've built all of them before, Raven more than anyone else. But today, we're not building the Teen Titans based on their powers. We're building them based on how they would fit into DnD lore as if they were natives of Faerun, born and raised in the setting. How would this change their backstories, or would it simply change their powers? Let's find out.

With a well-crafted team like the Teen Titans, we want to be sure each character stays true to their general party role, and the group works well together in a campaign. An all monk party isn't going to fare as well as a party with diverse roles and classes. So, while we won't get too hung up on this, it's worth thinking about. Robin is the leader, and specializes in stealth, infiltration, and investigation. Cyborg is the meat shield, gadgeteer, and primary doctor. Starfire is the flying warrior princess with laser powers and super strength. Raven is the scholarly wizard with powerful psionic powers from a dark origin and minimal healing powers. Lastly, Beast Boy is the goofball comedic wildcard shapeshifter. These basic ideas we want to keep in tack as much as possible, while filtering the team through the lore of Faerun.

ROBIN

DICK GRAYSON

Before moving to Jump City, Robin mentored under Batman, a master detective and vigilante crimefighter in the crime-infested major city of Gotham. In some Teen Titans media, the Titans are firmly located in San Francisco, California, but even in the cartoon, Jump City appears to be located in southern California. Gotham has influences of major American cities like Detroit and Chicago. Meanwhile, Superman's Metropolis is more closely based on New York City. There are three major cities in Faerun: Waterdeep, Baldur's Gate, and Neverwinter. Of the three, Waterdeep seems the most like New York City as the biggest city in Faerun. Baldur's Gate started as a smuggler's den, mapping well onto Gotham. And that leaves Neverwinter to map onto Los Angeles/San Francisco. This would mean that Batman is a Baldurian nobleman, and that Robin moved from Baldur's Gate to Neverwinter to pursue his own career as an adventurer.

Robin is an ordinary human in every definition of the word. There's nothing special about his bloodline and his biology was not altered in any way. Robin is a Standard Human.

While Robin did begin his career as a performer in the Flying Grayson Circus Act, he's not really a performer anymore. Robin's true training came from being mentored by Bruce Wayne in Baldur's Gate, learning the tricks and tools of crime-fighting, investigation, martial arts, and stealth. We'll say his background is an Investigator for Insight and Investigation proficiency.

It really is worth pointing out that Robin became a villain twice while trying to chase Slade. When he lost to Kotaro, Robin disappeared to the other side of the world for weeks, possibly even a month or longer with little notice. When he broke his arm chasing Johnny Rancid, the entire team tackled him back into his chair thinking he was going to insist on hunting down Rancid in spite of his broken arm, and they were all surprised he was just grabbing the remote. Robin is textbook Chaotic Good.

CLASS

Battle Master Fighter: Fighters are trained warriors. They're soldiers, guards, knights, and faith militants. Battle Masters are experts in strategy and tactical combat. Their maneuvers allow them to command their party, crowd control enemies, or gain advantages in a fight. Robin is well-versed with a variety of tools and weapons, and puts tactics at the forefront of his fighting style. Way of Shadow Monk: while Robin is a skilled martial artist trained by the Grand Master and talking animals, monks possess a mystical, not quite magical power. Their ki is beyond human ability. And a major aspect of both Batman and Robin is the complete lack of supernatural powers. Shadow Monk is not a horrible way to build Robin. He is a martial artist who favors stealth and secrecy. But, it's not the most in-character option there is. Inquisitive Rogue: Rogues do not need to be ruthless cutpurses loyal to some lowly den of thieves. They are simply highly specialized experts in the areas of infiltration, stealth, espionage, forgery, and extraction. It just so happens many use these talents for criminal offenses. Inquisitive Rogues are skilled detectives and investigators. They can study an enemy for weaknesses to exploit, gaining advantage even in a 1v1 scenario and dealing extra damage. It's also worth remembering Robin was trained by Batman, a man often called the world's greatest detective.

Looking at Robin's abilities, backstory, and training, I would ultimately declare him to be an Inquisitive Rogue. They excel at sizing up enemies that are bigger and stronger than them, they're designed to be great detectives, and their littany of skills and talents sure sounds like our Boy Wonder. You could reasonably multiclass with Battle Master Fighter for the maneuvers. Or you could go straight Rogue and just take the Martial Adept feat to gain Maneuvers.

STARFIRE KORRIAND'R

Korriand'r is the princess of Tameran, a planet somewhere in the Vega system. Her race are proud warriors with emotion-heightened powers, including superstrength, flight, and starbolts. Tameraneans are similar to Kryptonians, except they aren't weak to Kryptonite, and they get their powers from emotion instead of the Earth's sun.

There are a few Alien species that Starfire could be:

Astral Elf: Space-faring elves that left the Feywild to explore the stars, Astral Elves have starlight in their eyes, and automatically know either Light, Dancing Lights, or Sacred Flame. Astral Elves can also teleport 30 ft as a bonus action a number of times equal to their proficiency bonus. Dragonborn: Contrary to popular belief, Dragonborn are not the result of a dragon and a bard doing the horizontal monster mash. Rather, they are aliens from the planet Abeir that crossed over to Toril during the Spellplague. Once the unpaid servants of Abeir's dragons, they overthrew their masters and made their own culture. They have a strong warrior culture, and value their clansmen and kin above all else, even faith. Dragonborn aren't always religious as the gods could not hear their prayers on Abeir, but Bahamut is a very popular god for worship in Dragonborn society, and other dragon deities do see worship in Dragonborn society. Githyanki: The Githyanki are the psionic warriors of the Gith race. Once the unpaid servants of the Illithid Empire, they freed themselves from servitude. However, in the aftermath, the Gith separated into two factions: the Githzarai and the Githyanki. The Githyanki serve the undying Lich Queen Vlaakith, hunt Mind Flayers, and ride Red Dragons. They also have a very "the strong eat the weak" mentality, and have extremely harsh policies on failture and usefulness.

While the Astral Elf looks the most like Starfire, I'm going with the race that seems the closest to Tameraneans. I'll be making Starfire a Gold Dragonborn. If the setting allows, you could absolutely make her a Crystal Dragonborn for Radiant energy, but not every setting is going to work for gem dragonborns, so I chose to stick to the classic varieties.

As for her background, Starfire is the Princess of Tameran which could make her work as a Noble. She is a highly skilled fighter which could make her a Soldier. She's also an alien from a far-away planet new to this earth and its strange customs, which could make her a Far Traveler. As being a princess is what shocks the Titans the most, it's what defines her more than the other two things. We'll call Starfire a Noble, but we'll swap out her History proficiency for Athletics, and keep her proficiency in Persuasion. She speaks Draconic as a Dragonborn, as well a language of her choice. We'll go with Gith for flavor, as it's another alien language. If you want a more core rulebook language, Deep Speech is the language of Aberrations. If both those languages feel too alien and you want a language she's more likely to encounter in a campaign, then the strong warrior cultures of Goliaths and Orcs could be nice choices for her, having her speak Giant or Orcish respectively. Because Tameraneans learn languages through lip contact, if you wanted to play up this aspect, you could have Starfire take the Linguist Feat once or twice to learn more languages, but this is entirely optional and mostly for flavor and roleplay.

Starfire always follows her heart. Even when told not to do something, she will do it if she believes it is right, which leans more Chaotic. However, Starfire can also usually be expected to keep her word, dislikes fighting unnecessarily, does not like lying, cheating or stealing. She was even willing to marry Glgrdsklechhh if it meant avoiding war, unaware it was a gambit for Blackfire to gain a powerful artifact in exchange for Starfire's hand in marriage. As such, I would say that Starfire is Neutral Good. She will always do whatever she feels is best in the moment. Whatever course of action she believes will do the most good for the most people.

CLASS

Like with her race, there are a few build options each of which translates Starfire to DnD's world and lore in different ways.

Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer: Being a dragonborn, the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer translates nicely as her race's natural affinity for draconic magic, mirroring how all Tameraneans have starbolts. She gives up her melee warrior aspects to focus on her dragonborn magic, specializing in Fire magic. Light Domain Cleric: Cleric is a surprisingly good choice for what Starfire would be if raised in the world of DnD. Clerics aren't just healers, some join their faith militant, acting as the sword of their god's divine justice. Clerics can cast radiant spells like Guiding Bolt, Sunbeam, and Sunburst, they're decent frontline warriors, and they heal and support their friends. War is a better fit if she wishes to worship Bahamut, but Light lets Starfire make better use of radiant magic, and also gives her a few fire spells as a Cleric as well, letting her keep the heavy light and fire theme. She may worship Tamara, the Draconic Goddess of Light, Mercy, and Forgiveness. Oath of Devotion Paladin: She starts to really lose her Starbolts at this point, but she puts greater emphasis on her warrior spirit, and she still has radiant smites. Whereas the Cleric angle makes Starfire a better support for her friends and Sorcerer puts all the attention on her starbolts, the Paladin focuses on turning Starfire into a heavy-hitting tank that shakes off the hits her friends can't handle. She still gets some healing with her Healing Touch, and a few healing spells. Starfire fits the mold of fighting for beliefs, as her powers manifest through strong convictions such as righteous fury, boundless confidence, and the joy of flight.

While I was tempted to make Starfire a Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer as a good translation of her canon emotion-based powers native to her race, I had to remind myself that we are not just building Starfire. Dragonborn are not Tameraneans. While they have access to draconic magic and blood, draconic sorcery is not a universal thing across their race the way it is with Tameraneans. We are asking what would Starfire be if raised in Faerun? And I don't believe Starfire would be a Sorcerer. However, Cleric and Paladin is a much tighter race. Both gain their powers from convictions and beliefs, which reflects the way Tamaraneans like Starfire draw their power from strong emotions and beliefs. But which one you favor comes down to splitting hairs. Ultimately, I would chalk Starfire up as an Oath of Devotion Paladin. For starters, we are ignoring their canonical powers when picking a class. Paladins are great warriors, and the people of Tameran are a strong and proud warrior race. Dragonborn are not super religious with Dragonborn Clerics being rare, but Paladins are extremely common in Dragonborn society. Finally, their main stats of Strength and Charisma is very fitting and appropriate for Starfire. She is strong and very charming. While I favor Paladin, the divide between Paladins and Clerics is extremely narrow, and being a Light Domain Cleric is not a bad way to build Starfire. She'd have ample access to tons of radiant and fire spells, she'd be able to heal and support her friends, and nothing is stopping her from putting points into Strength as a Cleric and being a decent front-liner. If you want her to draw strength from her convictions, be effective in melee, and be a full spellcaster, then Cleric is an equally great choice. As I said, Paladin only barely squeaks past Cleric in my analysis, and in the first draft, I did originally settle on Cleric. Both work for Starfire, and thus, I'll leave a spell list for both. For her Paladin build, I had Starfire take Magic Initiate: Sorcerer to give her some ranged spell attack options. You could also do a dip into Sorcerer with a Paladin build as opposed to taking the Magic Initiate feat.

PALADIN SPELLS

Bold: Magic Initiate (Sorcerer) Orange: Oath Spells

C Firebolt, Light 1 Burning Hands, Cure Wounds, Protection from Evil & Good, Sanctuary, Searing Smite 2 Branding Smite, Lesser Restoration, Warding Bond, Zone of Truth 3 Blinding Smite, Beacon of Hope, Crusader's Mantle, Daylight, Dispel Magic, Revivify, Spirit Shroud 4 Death Ward, Freedom of Movement, Guardian of Faith, Staggering Smite 5 Banishing Smite, Circle of Power, Commune, Destructive Wave, Flame Strike

CLERIC SPELLS

Orange: Domain Spells

C Guidance, Light, Resistance, Sacred Flame, Spare the Dying, Thaumaturgy 1 Bless, Burning Hands, Guiding Bolt, Healing Word, Faerie Fire, Sanctuary, Shield of Faith 2 Aid, Flaming Sphere, Lesser Restoration, Prayer of Healing, Scorching Ray, Spiritual Weapon 3 Daylight, Fireball, Mass Healing Word, Remove Curse, Spirit Guardians, Spirit Shroud 4 Aura of Life, Banishment, Guardian of Faith, Wall of Fire 5 Commune, Dawn, Flame Strike, Greater Restoration, Holy Weapon, Scrying, Summon Celestial 6 Heal, Sunbeam 7 Divine Word, Fire Storm 8 Sunburst 9 Mass Heal

CYBORG VICTOR STONE

Victor "Vic" Stone is the son of famous cyberneticist Silas Stone that grew up in Detroit. Once a prolific high school athlete, Victor was horribly injured by an explosion at S.T.A.R. Labs caused by an invasion by Darkseid. With his cybernetics expertise, Silas saved Victor's life by infusing his son with the Mother Box.

Because Cyborg was born human but has since been infused with technology, we'll call Cyborg a Variant Human. Why is he not a Warforged? Becaues he was not built the way Grid was. Cyborg is not a robot, so he is not a warforged. He's also shown several times needing to eat and sleep in order to function, two things Warforged do not require. As a Variant Human, we'll give him +1 Strength and +1 Constitution. And we'll add on the Tough feat to increase his durability. Cyborg is the team meat shield, after all.

In terms of background, Cyborg was a high school athlete before the accident, so we'll call him an Athlete for Athletics and Acrobatics.

When Brother Blood steals Cyborg's blue prints, he becomes determined to stop Blood because it's his plans. His technology. He feels it is his responsibility. He similarly gets upset when any of his technology or gadgets is commandeered by villains. He puts his heart and soul into those inventions, and gets very upset when they're hurt or stolen. Cyborg is a lot more laid back than Robin as a leader, but still cares about getting the job done. I find it hard to really say whether he leans more Lawful or Chaotic. He has principles and sticks to them, but he's also left the team multiple times after a heated argument with Robin. I ultimately land on Neutral Good for Cyborg's alignment.

Now, how does his prosthetics come into it? Well, there's an item in DnD called the Prosthetic Limb, a common wondrous item that can replace lost limbs, doesn't require attunement, can be detached, but not against the user's will. But Cyborg's metal body clearly acts like armor, how do we incorporate this? We travel to Theros. Mythic Odysseys of Theros introduced an item called Molten Bronze Skin that comes in Breastplate, Half Plate, and Plate Armor variants. This item molds itself to the wearer's body, allowing them to easily wear clothes over the armor, and making it impossible for someone else to take off. This item does require attunement, but it accomplishes the same effect of giving Cyborg "built-in" armor, the way a Warforged would have.

CLASS

Artillerist Artificer: Artificers are gadgeteers and magical smiths that can defy logic with their inventions. Both Cyborg and his father are experts in cybernetics, metalworking, coding, and engineering. Cyborg built a car, a submarine, and then turned that submarine into a spaceship. The artillerist can make a tiny cannon they can carry with one hand that can fire a force ballista. Just try to say that's not Cyborg's sonic cannon. Champion Fighter: Cyborg is the tank of the party. It's his job to take the hits others wouldn't survive. In a low-tech fantasy world where Artificers don't belong, this version of Cyborg is a blacksmith who forged his own weapons and armor. The Champion is an athlete who prioritized physical strength over other aspects. When Cyborg isn't using his sonic cannon, he's throwing punches and lifting heavy weights, and he was a high school athlete until his accident. This is also a good multiclass option to get both sides of Cyborg: the tech and the muscle.

At minimum, Cyborg needs at least to be level 3 in Artificer to gain his Eldritch Cannon. After that, he can put as many levels into Artificer or Fighter as he wants. If he manages to become a level 11 Fighter, he'll get to make 3 weapon attacks then fire the Force Ballista as a bonus action, giving Cyborg 4 attacks at level 14. If you choose the Unarmed Fighting Style, Cyborg can wreck shop with his fists, making him an effective pugilist. Thanks to Action Surge, he can attack up to 6 times with just his action, and 7 times once you include his Eldritch Cannon. This makes him a pretty effective damage dealer, and the fighter levels would boost his Hit Points to make him a more effective tank. If you choose to take Artificer to level 9, his Force Ballista increases from 2d8 to 3d8. If you're okay with odd numbered levels and losing out on ASI, then Artificer 9/Fighter 11 could work. But for those who like getting ASI, then Artificer 4/Fighter 16 or Artificer 8/Fighter 12 may be more appealing. Just make sure to max out his Strength, and give him good Constitution and Intelligence, while dumping Dexterity. As an Artificer, we'll add Medicine and Perception to his skill list.

SPELLS

Blue: Artillerist Spells

C Light, Mending, Message, Shocking Grasp 1 Alarm, Cure Wounds, Identify, Shield, Thunderwave 2 Heat Metal, Scorching Ray, Shatter, Vortex Warp, Web 3 Fireball, Glyph of Warding, Haste, Tiny Servant, Wind Wall 4 Fabricate, Ice Storm, Mord's Private Sanctum, Summon Construct, Wall of Fire 5 Animate Objects, Cone of Cold, Creation, Greater Restoration, Wall of Force

This spell list was made for those who build Cyborg as a pure Artillerist Artificer, while those who build him as a Fighter multiclass will obviously have fewer spells.

RAVEN RAVEN ROTH

In her youth, Raven's mother Arella was lured into joining a cult that worshipped Trigon. She was chosen to be Trigon's bedmate, and afterwards, was approached by the Monks of Azar. They offered to shelter her and the child from Trigon, agreeing to raise the child in another dimension. A dimension named Azarath.

I believe the best translation of Raven's backstory is that Arella was lured into the cult of a powerful Fiend. Afterward, Arella was approached by Githzerai monks who offered to shelter both her and the unborn child with them in their home: the Chaotic Neutral Plane of Limbo. It would be here in the monasteries among stoic and scholarly Githzerai monks and wizards that Raven would learn to control her emotions, expand her mind, and hone her psionic powers. And one day, she would leave Limbo to return to the Prime Material Plane. This encompasses every part of Raven's backstory: being raised in another dimension, learning to control her emotions, honing her psychic powers.

As a half-demon, Raven translates nicely to Tiefling. Due to her empathy powers to manipulate other people's emotions, we'll go with a Fierna Tiefling. This will give her Friends, Charm Person, and Suggestion.

Having been raised in another plane, I would call Raven a Far Traveler. This grants her proficiency with Insight to get a reading for people's true feelings, and Perception to sense things around her, both of which can be flavored as her empathic powers and her extrasensory abilities. It also grants her proficiency with a Dragonchess Set, and she learns the Abyssal language.

When Robin becomes Slade's apprentice, Raven is the one to remind the team that he's a villain now, and they have to take him down. No matter how much the thought of it upsets her. When Cyborg leaves the team, Raven rationalizes that it's pointless to get upset and to focus on their duty as heroes. When Raven and Starfire switch bodies, Raven explains that she has to remain in control of herself to keep her powers from leaking out of her and destroying everything around her. When Trigon's prophecy comes to pass, Raven reveals that the reason she became a hero was that she wanted to do as much good as she could before the prophecy came to pass, hoping her good deeds would redeem her for the horrible destiny she knew she would one day fulfil. Raven is inarguably a perfect example of Lawful Good.

TRIGON

But what about Raven's father? After all, we're not importing Trigon into the setting, we're picking an existing DnD Fiend to be the stand-in for Trigon. Firstly, we have to settle whether Trigon is a Devil or a Demon, and I believe he is a Demon. He betrays Slade the first chance he gets once it's time to pay up on his side of the deal, and his very presence on Earth changes the entire planet. Demons in DnD are Chaotic Evil, untrustworthy to keep their word. They also have an impact on the world around them that corrupts everything to resemble the Abyss. And prolonged demonic presence only makes these changes worse. But which Demon Lord is her father?

Graz'zt: Graz'zt is an interesting choice because he's actually had a relationship with a human: the witch Tasha. He is the Demon Prince of Lust and Pleasure. Graz'zt will take any opportunity to turn any moment that is sweet, beautiful, and tender into something perverse, degrading, and carnal. If anyone was going to sleep with Arella just to use her to make a kid he can manipulate, it would be Graz'zt. He's not as big as Trigon, but his personality does support that he'd play the waiting game. After all, he used to be a devil before he realized he would never rise high enough to stand beside Asmodeus, and defected to the Demon side. So unlike other Demons, Graz'zt is more clever and patient. It also means Tasha could be a DnD counterpart to Arella, and also gives Raven a grandmother: Baba Yaga. This places Raven in a very prolific magic bloodline of powerful female spellcasters. Before Demogorgon showed up, Graz'zt was contending with Orcus, the Demon Lord of Necromancy for supreme rulership of the Abyss, so he's no slouch in terms of power. He is a Large CR 24 Demon. Baphomet: Baphomet's strongest argument is that he resembles Trigon the most, with his cloven hooves and antlered head. However, Baphomet is more of a king of beasts and brutes, and his general behavior does not support Trigon's plot to conceive Raven. However, Baphomet's sphere of influence is brutality, aggression, rage, and conquest. Red Raven or Dark Raven literally embodies Raven's rage, and anger causes Raven's demonic powers to rise to the surface. Which is on point for Baphomet. The biggest point against Baphomet however is that he favors those with natural weapons such as claws and horns, as his followers should want to rampage and gore with their natural weapons. So a magical daughter like Raven doesn't really fit the bill. This could be her rebelling against his physical aggression mindset, but that's stretching to make it work. Trigon also doesn't care about fighting the Titans, using magic to distract them while he gathers his strength. Baphomet would take glee in the fight, something Trigon does not do. He is a Huge CR 23 Demon. Demogorgon: The Prince of Demons, Demogorgon is the most powerful of all the Demons in the Abyss. He's enormous, and an absolute world-ending level threat. But is he clever enough to plot to conceive Raven? Yes, but only partially. Demogorgon's two heads are basically his left brain and his right brain. One calculating and clever, the other feral and impulsive. The clever head could plan to use Raven as a portal, but the other head might be too impulsive and ruin the plan. He is a Huge CR 26 Demon.

Ultimately, I have to go with Graz'zt as Raven's father. He's not as powerful or as huge as Demogorgon, but he's more manipulative and cunning. He has the patience to wait for his plan to come to fruition, he's manipulative enough to use false love and affection to coerce people into obedience, and he's depraved enough to get a sick pleasure out of using, debasing, and defiling any amount of love shown to him. More importantly, half his brain isn't impulsively trying to undermine every single one of his schemes. While Demogoron is more of a world-ending 'we are so f*cked' threat, Graz'zt is still a Demon Lord. Just because he's prettier does not mean he's not still an enemy that even high level adventurers would struggle with. Graz'zt, after all, is a CR 24 Fiend. Certainly nothing to scoff at. That's only 2 CR below Demogorgon.

CLASS

Raven is clearly a practitioner of arcane magic, but the source of her magic is so muddled that she could be any one of the three main arcane casters.

Aberrant Mind Sorcerer: Raised in Limbo amongst the Githzerai, the Aberrant Mind works well for Raven's backstory. For sorcerers, magic is infused into their very being. They don't need to study or make a deal, they just have a well of magical power innately. How they get this well varies. Usually, it passes along bloodlines. But it can also be like a mutation. One could go to the Shadowfell for Spring Break and return as a Shadow Magic Sorcerer. One can be given a spark of magic by a willing benefactor, they could touch an object that imparts magic to them, or awaken the power in a moment of dire circumstances. They could be born during an eclipse, travel to another plane, or be exposed to the weave itself. Their magic is constantly bubbling up inside of them, and leaking out if they don't contain it. Their magic can be explosive and hard to control. All of which sounds remarkably similar to Raven's powers and the constant struggle she undergoes to contain and control these powers. With Revelation in Flesh, Raven can fly for 10 minutes at a time at the cost of a single Sorcery Point. There's also no limit to how often she can reuse this power, other than her sorcery point pool. Granting Raven something akin to limitless flight, though not exactly. Fiend Warlock: While Raven herself did not make a deal with Trigon, Arella did. Arella was in Trigon's cult. According to Xanathar's Guide to Everything, one way a warlock might be joined to a patron is that their patron has been a benefactor to their family for generations, meaning it is possible to inherit one's otherworldly pact from their parents. There's also something I like to call the Sleeping Beauty Rule. The princess didn't choose to have fairy godmothers, but the king and queen did. The Player's Handbook also highlights that it is entirely possible to stumble into a pact without realizing it, or to become a warlock by simply reading an esoteric tome or touching a sentient blade. As such, it is entirely possible for Raven to be an unwilling warlock of her father. In the show, Trigon says that he gave Raven her powers, and Raven herself says in The End Part III that now that Trigon has no need of her, she no longer has her powers. But this is false, as Raven still has her powers, and uses them to fight back against Trigon. However, this is sort of fuzzy on how this works. Did Trigon really give her those powers, but could not take them away from her, or was Trigon mistaken and was never the source of her power to begin with? There's also the issue that in DnD canon lore, while a warlock Patron can bestow powers, they can't necessarily take them away. And Sorcerers can also have their powers bestowed upon them, further blurring the lines on whether Raven's gifts are more of a sorcerous origin or an otherworldly pact. The w Enchantment Wizard: I've built Raven several times, and every time, she's a Wizard. Raven is the brains of the party. She's a utility spellcaster with a vast knowledge of arcane lore and history. She's a polyglot who speaks several ancient languages, and has a library's worth of creepy esoteric books of arcane lore and eldrtich knowledge in her bedroom. Every spell that deals Psychic damage is under the School of Enchantment, and the school is full of spells that manipulate the mind, the senses, and emotions, all things Raven has displayed the ability to control. But we're not building Raven based on how she behaves in the comics or show. We're building Raven based on DnD lore, and Raven's powers were not cultivated through study. Yes, she learned new spells from Malchior. Yes, she is a highly intelligent person. But scholarly study is not the source of her powers. She does not have a connection to the Weave or any other sort of magical energy in the DC Universe. There are metaphysical forces in DC Comics, such as The Green, The Red, The Black, and other such forces, none of which Raven herself is linked to in any way. As such, I cannot confidently label Raven as a Wizard in accordance with DnD's lore.

Ultimately, I have to go with an Aberrant Mind Sorcerer. Her magic is innate. She works to control and maintain it. And a lack of restraint leads to her magic flooding out of her and impacting the world around her if left uncontrolled. Raven is a Sorcerer. However, she is a good candidate for multiclassing if you so choose. The main reason Raven is said to have left Azarath was due to Trigon finding her, forcing Raven to flee. However, in some versions, it is Raven herself --driven by curiosity -- that seeks her father out. In so doing, alerting him to her location, and dooming Azarath in the process. Either way, the moment of Trigon finding her could be the moment her pact is sealed, multiclassing Raven into a Fiend Warlock. Thus, Raven can start out as a Sorcerer, and possibly dip a level or two into Warlock to boot. This is also a large part of why I didn't make Starfire a Sorcerer. The party doesn't need two sorcerers, and Sorcerer works much better for Raven than it does for Starfire. For my spell recommendation, I will be assuming Raven has 2 levels in Warlock, and 18 levels in Sorcerer. For her Sorcerer skills, we'll give Raven Arcana and History.

SPELLS

*Racial Spells Bold: Aberrant Mind Origin Spells Italics: Warlock Spells Purple: Sorcerer Spells

C Blade Ward, Eldritch Blast, Friends*, Mage Hand, Mending, Message, Mind Sliver, Mold Earth, Prestidigitation, Toll the Dead 1 Arms of Hadar, Catapult, Cause Fear, Charm Person*, Command, Dissonant Whispers, Hex, Shield 2 Calm Emotions, Detect Thoughts, Mind Spike, Suggestion*, Tasha's Mind Whip 3 Counterspell, Hunger of Hadar, Fly, Sending 4 Dimension Door, Evard's Black Tentacles, Raulothim's Psychic Lance, Summon Aberration 5 Bigby's Hand, Rary's Telepathic Bond, Synaptic Static, Telekinesis 6 Globe of Invulnerability 7 Plane Shift, Teleport 8 Demiplane 9 Time Stop or Psychic Scream

ELDRTICH INVOCATIONS

Agonizing Blast

Eldritch Sight

BEAST BOY GARFIELD LOGAN

Garfield Logan was born an ordinary human, but when he became sick as a child, his father injected him with a serum using the DnA of a green monkey. The serum saved Beast Boy's life, but he turned completely green as a result, and unlocked his shapeshifting powers. Beast Boy can turn into more than just garden variety zoo animals. He has turned into alien lifeforms, microorganisms, dinosaurs, and dragons. The Werebeast Form he got in the 2003 cartoon episode "The Beast Within" later became Comic Cannon when Beast Boy was captured by Lupus, a minor werewolf villain. Beast Boy's best skill lies in his wild card shenanigans, as he can do things like turn into a whale to make use of how quickly whales think to artificially inflate his intelligence. When the Borneo Rainforest faced extinction, Beast Boy and Swamp Thing worked together to restore the ecosystem. Swamp Thing provided the seeds and flora, and then Beast Boy dispersed himself into a swarm of insects to help pollinate and stimulate the regrowth of the rainforest. Raven even tells Swamp Thing that when Beast Boy does this, he risks losing small parts of himself should anything happen to his many insect forms, but he takes on these risks willingly for the benefit of nature. While Beast Boy's green skin and shapeshifting are a result of the monkey serum he was injected with, Beast Boy's actual ability to shapeshift comes from a metaphysical energy field in the DC Universe called The Red. Think of it like the Force but specifically for all animal life forces in the universe. A similar force called The Green caters to all plant life in the universe, and this power is wielded by characters like Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy.

In terms of his race, because Beast Boy was a normal human until he turned green, I'd have to chalk him up as a Variant Human. Because he's short and green, there is a primal urge to make him a Goblin, and it would be cute, but inaccurate. There's also an urge to make him one of the partially bestial races like Leonin, Hadozee, Satyr, Minotaur, or Yuan-Ti. Even Simic Hybrid has a valid excuse to be in consideration. However, because Beast Boy was born human, I have to go with such. We'll give him +1 Wisdom, +1 Dexterity, and the Charger feat to dash into melee range and get a free attack out of it.

Beast Boy has pretty much always been a hero, first being adopted by the Doom Patrol, and later joining the Teen Titans. Momento ran the Doom Patrol like a military outfit, and Beast Boy grew up respecting rank and following orders. As such, I'd call him a Soldier making him proficient in Athletics, but we'll substitute in Performance to replace Intimidation.

Beast Boy wants to do good, but he's also the Lancer to Robin's stoic serious Leader. Beast Boy is a goofball knucklehead who often shows little regard for the rules. Upon running into the Doom Patrol again, Momento chastises Beast Boy for prioritizing his team's safety over completing the mission. He's usually also the first to suggest bizarre plans or spout off ridiculous theories. As such, I would say Beast Boy is Chaotic Good. He'll do what's right, just in a very unorthodox way.

CLASS

Moon Druid: the most obvious choice, Druid is the only class in the game with access to Wildshape, the ability to shapeshift into animals. Although Beast Boy's powers were originally from genetic experiments gone wrong, his current lore makes Beast Boy connected to The Red, a metaphysical energy that links all animal life in the universe under the Parliament of Limbs. The Red is closely connected to The Green, which characters like Swamp Thing and Poison Ivy are connected to. Due to his connection to the energy of all living animals, Druid is fitting for Beast Boy. The Circle of the Moon is the most fitting option, granting Beast Boy Combat Wildshape. Lycan Blood Hunter: Before he was connected to the Red, Beast Boy's powers were a form of genetic mutation. Blood Hunters are the class that deal with altered DnA. While Beast Boy can't turn into every animal, his Lycan form is suitably animalistic and primal. It can also be a good option if you want to specifically play into the WereBeast form from the episode "The Beast Within". Because Beast Boy lacks supernatural powers beyond his shapeshifting, this version of Beast Boy sacrifices the variety of his wildshaping to keep him a strictly martial character. The Path of the Beast Barbarian also works, but Beast Boy only really has rage issues in "The Beast Within", and it is not otherwise a core aspect of his character, to the point that I didn't feel Barbarian was a good fit for his character. Valour Bard: If we ignore his powers entirely, then Beast Boy's role in the group is comedic relief and unexpected wildcard, which sounds like a Bard. Polymorph is on the Bard spell list, giving Beast Boy a backdoor method of wild shaping without being a druid. Through magical secrets, Bards can also pick up spells from other spell lists, letting Beast Boy pick up Druid spells like Web, Insect Plague, Summon Beast, Conjure Animals, and Guardian of Nature for the Primal Beast form. None of the subclasses jumped out to me for Beast Boy, but Valour Bards are great cheerleaders and sidekicks. Beast Boy has a chronic people pleaser mentality, and uses humor to lift his friends' spirits. Beast Master Ranger: Much like the Bard, this class option doesn't really fit Beast Boy, but it works as a variant build option that rather than being a full caster druid, Beast Boy protects his animal brethren as a mighty hunter. Tigers, Cheetahs, Lions, Gorillas, Elephants, and Rhinos are among his favorite animals to turn into, and would work well as Beasts of the Land. He also favors turning into a Hawk, Falcon, or Pterodactyl for a Beast of the Air. If you want a Beast of the Sea, he tends to favor Crocodiles, Sharks, Octopi, Whales, Swordfish, and Turtles.

While each of these offers interesting character angles, I obviously have to chalk up Beast Boy as a Circle of the Moon Druid. The Lycan Blood Hunter is a very close second choice, but lacks the connection to nature that Beast Boy (especially his Comic counterpart) definitely has. The bard was mostly thrown in to consider his personality, and it wasn't a terrible idea. He is funny, and would absolutely spam Vicious Mockery. A Beast Boy native to Faerun becoming a funny bard feels very organic to his character. But Druid feels just as organic, if not more-so. Finally, the Beast Master was pretty much thrown out as an extra idea, but not one I was taking seriously. Thematically, the idea of Beast Boy as a Lorax but for P.E.T.A. is interesting. Using his bond with animals to protect other animals. But the Druid was the clear winner. For his Druid skills, we'll give Beast Boy Animal Handling and Perception.

SPELLS

Because Beast Boy does not really have magical powers beyond his wildshaping, I put together his spell list by trying to focus on shapeshifting, summoning animal companions, and any other bodily augmentation spell I could find. Spells that change some aspect of a person's body or enhances their senses in some way. I steered clear of any spell that felt too plant-themed or elemental, as Beast Boy is more connected to beasts than he is to storms or the elements.

C Druidcraft, Guidance, Infestation, Primal Savagery 1 Absorb Elements, Animal Friendship, Beast Bond, Speak With Animals 2 Animal Messenger, Beast Sense, Darkvision, Enhance Ability, Enlarge/Reduce, Locate Animals and Plants, Summon Beast 3 Conjure Animals, Protection from Energy, Water Breathing 4 Charm Monster, Dominate Beast, Giant Insect, Guardian of Nature, Polymorph 5 Commune with Nature, Insect Plague 6 Primordial Ward 7 Draconic Transformation 8 Animal Shapes 9 Shapechange

I will say, more than anyone else, his spell list really surprised me. I've always avoided building Beast Boy and hated the idea of him being a druid because it meant giving him spells. But I am surprisingly content with the spell list I have devised for him. It puts all the correct emphasis where it should be: on making Beast Boy the master of body modification, as well as allowing him to channel The Red as well through his animal spells. I used to think Beast Boy didn't work flavor-wise as a Druid, and now I can't believe I ever thought to build him any other way.

TERRA TARA MARKOV

Terra is yet another princess, this time the illegitimate daughter of King Viktor Markov of Markovia. In the Comics, she made her living as a mercenary and criminal, taking odd jobs to get by, while in the show, Terra is a wandering homeless teen. In the comics, Tara was already working for Deathstroke before she met the Titans, while in the show, Terra met the Titans before she met Slade. This is to say, Terra has two completely different personalities. Comics Tara is a villain through-and-through, while Show Terra is a misguided hero turned villain turned reformed villain. Because the other characters are mostly going by their show counterparts, I'll mostly be looking at the Comics version of Tara only to answer any questions about her backstory we don't have from the show. The most important detail from the comics is that Tara's half-brother, Geo-Force (Prince Brion Markov), also has geokinetic powers. However, these powers are not signs of a magical bloodline, as neither King Viktor nor King Gregor Markov had these same powers. Their powers came about from the experiments of Helga Jace, the royal scientist of Markovia. Later, Brion's wife, Denise Howard, exposed herself to the same energies, turning her into Geode. Both Denise and Tara suffered from mental instability after the experiment, suggesting that the source of their powers had a debilitating effect on their mental states. Tara hated pretty much everyone and everything, while Denise desired to kill her own husband. In the comics, Tara was at one point part of the Black Lantern Corp, which raise their members as zombies to harness the power of death and hatred. This zombie Tara then sought revenge on the Teen Titans. I won't be covering this, but thought it was neat trivia.

We're going to stick mainly to the show's lore, so we'll call Terra a Variant Human since her powers are a result of scientific experimentation. We'll give her +1 Dexterity, +1 Wisdom and the Actor feat so she can pretend to be somebody else.

For her background, Terra is a wandering homeless kid. We'll call her an Outlander for Athletics and Survival. However, if you want to play more into Tara's backstory, then Criminal, Spy, Urban Bounty Hunter, and Haunted One could also work.

Show Terra's alignment seems to me to be True Neutral. She joins the Titans because it's offered. She works with Slade because he's an option. It never feels like her betrayal is personal until after Beast Boy turns his back on her. Up until then, she's hesitant and guilty about it. Terra looks out for Terra. That to me says True Neutral. Terra never seems to care that much about helping people or stopping villains. It was always more about just wanting to belong and to have a home. No strong convictions to be a hero or a villain. Which explains why The Girl Who Might Be Terra in Things Change is just an ordinary school girl. Not some great hero or wicked villain. If you're going by Comics Tara, that's straight up Chaotic Evil. The girl hated everyone and everything, and wanted a horizontal relationship with a middle-aged man. Comics Tara was just really unstable. I mean, she saw a Jerricho-possessed Deathstroke freeing the Titans, and instead of talking to him or trying to figure out what was going on, she just pushed the Big Red Button and brought the building down on herself in an attempt to take everyone with her.

CLASS

Terra's class is tricky because unlike Starfire with her light and fire theme, or Raven's psionics and general magic, there's not really a clean and simple class for Earth-based spells. Druids are connected to nature, and Sorcerers and Wizards have pretty wide elemental coverage, but there's not a clear and clean answer like with the other titans. So, let's look at our options:

Wild Magic Sorcerer: While there was a Stone Sorcerer, this subclass never made it past Unearthed Arcana, so we can't really count it. In the show, Terra has poor control over her powers, often causing side effects accidentally. The possibility that the source of her powers also warped her mind in the comics also fits, as wild magic is the pure chaos of the feywild. Sorcerers sometimes get their powers from being exposed to a source of magical energy, visiting other planes, or being born during cosmic events. And the Wild Magic Sorcerer often causes chaos and problems at the table because of the random side effects of their magic, such that a lot of tables hate playing with the subclass because of just how detrimental it can be to have around. Which seems really fitting for Terra. Swarmkeeper Ranger: Like Toph, Terra in the show is an outdoorsy girl who prefers roughing it in the great outdoors. This rough and tumble lifestyle translates well to being a Ranger. The Swarmkeeper can be aided by a swarm of just about anything, and nowhere does it say it has to be sentient. So, Terra could be a ranger aided by a swarm of rocks or sand fighting alongside her. It's certainly an interesting and flavorful option. Rangers get a few earthy spells, but not a ton of them. However, you could always ask your DM to homebrew a rule that would let Ranger Terra pick up some more earthen-based spells from the Druid spell list. Mutant Blood Hunter: If we ignore Terra's powers completely to focus more on where they come from, Terra makes for an interesting Blood Hunter. Her powers are a result of scientific experimentation. Mutants literally alter themselves to fight, fitting that genetic experiment angle nicely. The only difference is that this version of Terra has learned to do it herself. It's not a bad choice. Assassin Rogue: Like the Blood Hunter, the Rogue is being considered without her geokinetic powers in mind. Rather, I'm looking at the Rogue because of how rogues are often infiltrators, spies, and thieves. I chose the Assassin as they have the ability to create a false identity, which is very fitting for Terra and the Judas Contract. Whispers Bard: This one is being suggested mostly for the worldbuilding implications. Bards from the College of Whispers work as spies and saboteurs, infiltrating parties and guilds disguised as other kinds of bards, then selling their cohort's secrets back to whatever spy network they serve. They literally pull off a Judas Contract as a Subclass. And with their Magical Secrets, a Whispers Bard Terra can pick up the few spells that actually let her throw rocks.

If we were just building Terra based on her powers, Wild Magic could have been a decent fit thematically. However, the purpose of this post is to ask ourselves 'what would the Teen Titans be if they were born and raised in Faerun?' And being exposed to the crazy magic of the Feywild just doesn't feel right for Terra. Whispers Bard creates an interesting angle for roleplay, but it caters more to players wanting to play more into her Comic Book Tara counterpart. The willing traitor. Whispers works great for a villainous version of Terra, but not for Show Terra. Blood Hunter and Assassin Rogue are decent ideas, but Terra isn't much of a scientist, and again, Assassin caters much more to Comics Tara than Show Terra. Ultimately, I have to go with the Swarmkeeper Ranger for Terra. As a girl roughing it in the great outdoors, sleeping in caves, and taking care of herself, becoming a ranger seems like a natural extension of the lifestyle she was already leading by the time she met the Titans. And if we're asking what the characters would become if raised in Faerun, that's a pretty cut and dry answer. Terra would have naturally gravitated toward the life of a roaming Ranger, aided by swarms of rocks and sand. Terra Markov is a Swarmkeeper Ranger. For her Ranger skills, we'll give Terra Perception and Stealth. If you want to give her Deception, swap one of the background skills she gets from Outlander, then pick up the dropped skill from the Ranger skill list.

SPELLS

While we decided to make Terra a Swarmkeeper Ranger, it does sacrifice a lot of her Earth-based abilties. However, if you have an open-minded DM, Terra does get a few spells from both Primal Awareness and the Swarmkeeper Subclass that don't quite fit the theme, and a cool DM might be okay with letting you make a few substitutions for Terra's spell list, pulling more Earth-based spells from the Druid and Wizard spell list as an exchange for the excess spells than the base Ranger class gives her. But even without homebrewing in more Earth magic, Terra still gets a few stone-based spells, and Wrath of Nature can let Terra chuck rocks at enemies every turn as a bonus action so long as she maintains concentration on the spell. So even a pure Swarmkeeper Ranger will still get some earthen flavor as Terra. And you could also reflavor spells, such as treating Web like quicksand to keep Terra's earthen flavor.

Italics: Primal Awareness Spells Bold: Swarmkeeper Spells Pink: DM Approved Earth Spells (Homebrew)

C Mage Hand (Mold Earth) 1 Ensnaring Strike, Faerie Fire, Hunter's Mark, Speak With Animals (Catapult, Earth Tremor) 2 Barkskin, Beast Sense, Pass Without Trace, Web (Earthbind, Max's Earthen Grasp) 3 Conjure Barrage, Gaseous Form, Meld Into Stone, Speak With Plants (Erupting Earth, Wall of Sand) 4 Arcane Eye, Locate Creature, Stoneskin, Summon Elemental (Stone Shape) 5 Commune With Nature, Conjure Volley, Insect Plague, Swift Quiver, Wrath of Nature (Transmute Rock, Wall of Stone)

Conclusion

I felt this was an interesting thought experiment. Some characters like Robin and Cyborg changed very little from the last time I built them, while Raven and Beast Boy stayed what I expected but offered new insights into how they fit into the lore of the world. Starfire and Terra had the biggest changes, but those changes I feel are for the better, at least for this post. At least now, you could play a campaign with the Teen Titans while also being completely faithful to DnD lore.

[ceresu]

that one friend who casually teleports to a crime den within an enemy nation to hold hands for a bit, spends a fortune to enlist a smuggler to get you a magic item from a cursed forest, and then goes with you to an even more cursed place to prevent a mindflayer from maybe taking over the world

but what if he doesn't like you like that? unclear. impossible to know for sure really. It's been like a year since it ended, but sometimes I still miss this campaign and the characters and NPCs so much - so here’s that full Vielyn character design that I never got around to do in time for the actual campaign. Better late than never.

[captainsophiestark]

The Level-Headed One

Obi-Wan Kenobi x Reader

Masterlist - Join My Taglist!

Written for Fictober 2023!

Fandom: Star Wars

Day 8 Prompt: "Give that to me, before anything happens."

Summary: Obi-Wan and his partner (in life and on this mission) break into a smuggler's den in search of information the Republic needs, when things go a little sideways.

Word Count: 1,262

Category: Fluff

Requested by @ghostofskywalker! Hope you like it Tori!

Putting work into an AI program without permission is illegal. You do not have my permission. Do not do it.

"Missions like these are my favorite," I muttered, smiling up at my best friend and partner, Obi-Wan, as we ducked down a darkened bar hallway, his arm wrapped tightly around me and my arms around his neck. Obi-Wan hummed, leaning down and towards me until we disappeared from the sight of the rest of the bar, when he pulled back.

"They are more fun than rushing into battle on a dusty planet."

I smiled, leaning up to give him a brief peck on the cheek before we both returned our focus to the task at hand. We'd come here looking for information about smuggling routes the Separatists had been using to run supplies past our blockades, but with a cover as two people on a date in a seedy bar. Away from the Jedi Council, on missions in dives like this, were some of the only times Obi and I got to spend as a couple.

Unfortunately, they also often included people trying to kill us at some point or another. We'd just have to keep surviving long enough to get to the other side of the war and retire happily.

"Do you want to take care of the door, or should I?" asked Obi-Wan, both of us scanning our surroundings as we reached the locked door of the club owner's office. If we were right, all the information we could hope for and more would be in there.

I shrugged. "I'm probably going to kick it down, so if you have another way..."

"Hold on."

He closed his eyes, raising his hand ever so slightly as he concentrated and worked through the force. I turned to watch our backs, until I heard the telltale 'click' of a lock unlocking itself.

"You did that by moving the lock from the inside with the force?" I asked, turning to my boyfriend with a raised eyebrow. He shrugged.

"I've needed to develop that skill more than a few times in the course of the war."

"Still. Impressive."

With one last glance around the hallway, the two of us ducked quickly into the office, carefully shutting the door behind us. I relocked it before turning to take in the room with Obi.

We'd definitely found the right place. The office was a disaster zone, papers, boxes, and filing cabinets scattered everywhere. This was going to be a long, long night.

"I'll take the left half if you take the right half," Obi-Wan deadpanned. I sighed.

"We didn't do nearly enough dancing and drinking in the bar before hand to deal with all this."

Since neither of us knew when an enemy might next appear, we tried to work quickly while still doing a thorough job. I kept one eye on the time, all too aware that every minute that ticked by was another increasing the risk of our death.

I'd been getting jittery as we neared the half hour mark, but Obi-Wan and I had almost made it through the entire room. We'd started at the edges and gradually worked towards the middle and each other, and finally, we'd met at the desk.

I huffed a sigh and popped the top off yet another box and started digging through, until a large, familiar object made me pause.

"Oh boy," I muttered, reaching into the box and pulling out the flashbang grenade. I held it up to show Obi-Wan, turning it over in my hand. "Look at this. Who leaves something like this in a box on their desk?"

"Seedy smugglers who might need to throw one at someone coming in the door?" he suggested.

"Yeah, I guess so." I tossed the grenade lightly in my hand, testing its weight and getting a feel for it. "Interesting."

"Give me that, before anything happens," Obi-Wan said, holding out his hand with a sigh. I rolled my eyes, but dropped it in his hand anyway.

"I'm not going to blow us up, Obi-Wan. I might be best friends with Anakin, but I'm not completely stupid."

He snorted, which made a smile tug at the corner of my mouth. I nudged him with my shoulder as we both continued our search, the feeling of him in the force putting me at ease and bringing a smile to my face even in the middle of a mission like this. A few minutes later, I smiled for a different reason.

"I think I found what we're looking for."

Obi-Wan leaned over my shoulder as I fanned out a stack of documents, all detailing several shipping routes and smuggling runs designed to get around Republic blockades.

"Excellent work," he said, eyes still scanning the information. "Let's take that with us and get out of here, shall we?"

"Neither of you is going to be going anywhere, ever again."

Obi-Wan and I's heads snapped up to find the club owner standing in the doorway, flanked by two burly guards cracking their knuckles. I sighed.

"Two more minutes, and we would've been gone," I muttered.

"Nobody gets away with stealing from me, in my own club, with their lives."

Rather than returning fire with our new enemy, Obi-Wan leaned in to whisper in my ear.

"Can you gather those papers quickly if we were to run?" I nodded. "Good. Then close your eyes and cover your ears."

I turned to give him a questioning look, only to see him pick up the flashbang grenade I'd found and pull the pin, hurling it at the club owner without a second thought. I ducked and covered just in time as it went off before quickly springing into action, grabbing the papers off the desk and following Obi-Wan as we pushed past the stunned club owner and his guards.

We rushed back into the noise and confusion of the club, angry screams following from behind us. Obi-Wan reached back and took my hand as we wove through the crowd, finally making our way to an exit near the back and ducking out the door.

"You got all the papers?" he asked as we jumped into our speeder and he quickly guided it into the sky. I nodded.

"Yes, I did. And I'll absolutely never understand how you got your reputation as the level-headed one."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "It's easy. I got the reputation because I'm constantly surrounded by you and Anakin. And when he dives out a thousand-story window without a plan to catch himself and you run into an ambush with nothing but the force to get you out of it, a little flashbang grenade in a pinch becomes the most rational thing in the world."

I snorted, but he wasn't wrong. I caught him grinning out of the corner of my eye, so I turned to him more fully with a grin of my own.

"So... mission success, but I still think we got run out of that place a little early. Do you want to go somewhere for a little victory celebration before we go back to the Temple?"

"...What did you have in mind?"

"Padmé told me about a jazz club not too far from here."

Obi-Wan chuckled. "You certainly know me well." He glanced at the still-dark sky, then sighed. "I suppose we do have some time. Just tell me where to go."

We shared a smile, blending in amongst the lights of the city as two other people, no Jedi Order or war following us like it did everywhere else. And for tonight, we'd enjoy that escape for a little while, to help remind us exactly what we were out there fighting for.

[rjzimmerman]

From National Geographic:

You’re looking at a seven-month-old cheetah. He is hissing in the back of an SUV. He has been intercepted before he can sold to a smuggler. Nat Geo Explorer Nichole Sobecki, in this week’s Photo of the Week, captured a happy ending.  But scores, maybe hundreds, of young cheetahs are taken from Somaliland each year to be sold as “pets” in Persian Gulf nations.

More from the National Geographic story:

Fewer than 7,000 adult cheetahs are left in the wild, according to recent estimates, most in southern and eastern Africa. International commercial trade of cheetahs has been banned since 1975. Even so, from 2010 through 2019, more than 3,600 live cheetahs were for sale or sold illegally worldwide, with only about 10 percent intercepted by law enforcement, says Patricia Tricorache, a researcher with Colorado State University who’s been tracking the cheetah trade for 15 years. Taking cheetahs from the wild has been illegal in Somaliland since 1969.

Habitat loss and retaliatory killings by herders when cats prey on their livestock are the biggest threats to the cheetah’s survival, compounded by the illegal trade in cubs. Babies, often still nursing and dependent, are snatched from the wild while their mothers are hunting or when a lactating mother is tracked back to her den. On foot and by camel, car, and boat, traffickers move the cubs through the Horn of Africa and across the narrow Gulf of Aden to Yemen, a journey of 200 miles or more that can take weeks. Cubs that survive are sold as pets in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), Kuwait, and other Gulf countries.

[icysoulart]

Old PMD art from my 3DS of a smuggler's den. Another one I'd like to try again someday.

[hawkinsmafia]

day 11 : morning light

featuring Dmitri Antonov x oc Lilibet Grey, with Murray Bauman & Yuri Ismaylov

summary: an intimate moment isn’t quite as discreet as they thought, and Lilibet might be falling in love once again

rating: mature (fade-to-black sex recap)

wc: 645

cw: semi-public sex, voyeurism without consent, implied piv (unprotected), coffee abomination

an: written for the 200 Words Challenge. Kinda proud of this one considering I put this pairing together just a couple hours before writing this!

Pink light filtered gently into the abandoned church-turned-smuggler’s den as night gave way to dawn, and it was about the only gentle thing she had encountered in this country.

Almost.

Behind her, the Russian man stirred softly and Lilibet froze, waiting for him to drop back to sleep again, and was grateful when his breathing deepened once more. Carefully she rolled over to face him in their little cocoon of layered blankets and wraps. She was hoping that seeing him in the morning light would change things, that the spell would break with the dawn, and last night would go down on the list of mediocre encounters that were probably a mistake.

No such luck. Somehow, sleeping in a survivalist’s bundle on the floor of a frozen church only made Dmitri cuter, if that was even possible, the slack of his expression giving him a youthful innocence. One that had an interesting juxtaposition with Lilibet’s memory of his strong, sure hands sliding into her pants last night in pitch darkness, the chapel filled with the sounds of howling wind and the chainsaw snores of the pilot, at the opposite wall.

With their companions sleeping, or reasonably close enough to sleep, Dmitri had shifted closer to Lilibet, offering quite sincerely to combine their cocoons together and increase the warmth. Murray and Yuri had done it—though it was at least partially so that Yuri couldn’t attempt to escape in the night without waking Murray in the process—and Hopper and Joyce hadn’t quite merged their blankets into one, but had lain as close to each other as they could get otherwise. And watching the man she had loved and the woman she did love reconnect with each other, pulling away from her, made her heart ache in ways she couldn’t articulate. So she accepted Dmitri’s offer, and they wrapped themselves together, and when their bodies had slotted together gratefully in warmth, Lilibet asked if this was okay, and Dmitri responded with a soft, sultry, “This is perfect, little dove,” as if he could sense her loneliness, her heartbreak, and wanted to console her. She wanted to be consoled. When his palms slid beneath her layered clothes and found bare skin, she gave no signs of protest, and when her hands found his zipper and began opening it, he kissed her to silence his groan.

She wanted so badly for it to be a one-time thing, something she could easily let go of and walk away from. But Dmitri, damn him, was even more beautiful in the morning light, and the memory of his gentle lovemaking would replay in her fantasies for a long, long time, she knew.

With exceeding care, she pulled herself out of their cocoon without disturbing Dmitri, made sure her clothes had come to settle in the right places, and silently moved among the crates of smuggled goods. There was a shipment of jars of Nescafé instant coffee granules, and a dozen flats of bottled water, which she combined together to make a horrible bastardization of coffee. Pulling on her fur-lined hat and leather gloves, she tugged open the heavy church door and slipped outside with her bottle of cold, muddy coffee.

“Dobroye utro!”

Squinting against the sharp morning sun, she saw Yuri and Murray were working on the helicopter known as Katinka, and Yuri was waving a socket wrench at Lilibet with a horribly cheerful grin.

“Good morning!” he repeated loudly in English. “I hear somebody have good night last night, no? You make bad choice when choosing Russian lover, but Yuri will not hold against you.”

“Morning, Lil,” Murray said, speaking more quietly but with every bit as much mischief in his grin. “So… that was a fun little show. How was the disgraced former prison guard of a Russian gulag?”

Lilibet groaned, and pulled her hat down over her eyes in embarrassment.

dividers by @saradika-graphics

[sholiofic]

If you're still taking prompts for Biggles - then Bertie, Algy and Fritz on a hunting weekend in Chedcombe? Maybe make it a casefic where there's robbers/spies/murderers? I imagine Fritz being a very skilled horseman, like his uncle :D

I am back to answer fic prompts! This is a LOVELY prompt, and I don't have a full story in my head for it, but have a little snippet of their weekend <3

--

Fritz had been uncertain and shy about the weekend's invitation, but after a slightly awkward car ride and even more awkward introduction to the Chedcombe staff, he was charmed immediately by the horses.

"We've a quiet old lass in the stables here, Lady is her name, you might enjoy her," Bertie suggested, while Fritz was making friends with all the horses, petting and talking to them.

"Oh, but I like this one very much," Fritz said, stroking a silky equine nose. "He's beautiful. I would very much like to ride him. What is his name, please?"

"That's Jupiter, old boy, he might be a bit much for a novice rider, but let's see if he's been getting his daily gallop, what?"

The groom saddled the horses for them. Fritz listened avidly to Bertie's explanations, mounted with a little awkwardness but sat his saddle proudly, adjusting his grip on the reins swiftly at a word from Bertie.

"Let's walk him round a bit, what? Good form, lad," Bertie said happily. "You've ridden before?"

"Only a little. There wasn't much opportunity back home."

"Chip off the old block, I say," Bertie declared, and Fritz flushed and ducked his head. Meanwhile, Algy mounted up on the blue roan hunter he had selected for himself. After a few more turns round the paddock and some corrections to Fritz's seat, Bertie announced them ready for the gallops -- or the walking trails, at least.

"Chip off the old block, what?" Bertie repeated to Algy as they rode behind Fritz, who sat upright and natural, holding the rein self-consciously but with a relaxed grip. Several of the dogs from Bertie's kennels coursed alongside. The well-trained horses danced only a little at the dogs' presence, and Fritz, reacting almost instinctively, tugged his horse back under control when it began to prance.

"Exactly what we all hoped for," Algy said dryly, but he said it quietly, so that Fritz couldn't hear. 

"I told you the lad's a natural. Jolly old Biggles doesn't know what he's missing."

"Jolly old Biggles would be bored off his head in an hour and driving the rest of us up the wall by evening."

Bertie laughed. "Right there with you, right with you. The Chief and Ginger will most likely have found an entire smuggler's den of criminals by the time we're back. Not to speak of old Erich--"

"Let's not speak of him, then," Algy said between his teeth.

But whatever Biggles, Ginger, and (regrettably, in Algy's eyes) von Stalhein might have been getting up to back in London, the Chedcombe parkland and forest lay golden-green and lovely in the afternoon sun. They flushed a pair of foxes, but Bertie called back the dogs -- "Just a married couple on a stroll, let's give 'em a little space" -- and they ended up walking the horses down to a lovely pond with ducks paddling about and pheasants on the far grass. It was a soul-soothing place after all they'd been through, and Fritz looked delighted.

[inkydiamonds]

THANK YOU FOR PUTTING SULLY ON YOUR ARTFIGHT I CAN NOW DRAW HER YAYYYYY

also any updates bout the fate of tirazia !!!! I am invested

YAYAY NP!!! I'm so excited to see your art! (Edit: I took so long to answer this that I have seen it!!!!!)

I also really gotta add more characters to my art fight- including more FOT NPCs maybe ?? Maybe ??? I have one in particular I wanna do but I'm not sure how to do it bc I don't want Blue to see him bc he hasn't shown up in the campaign yet lol

For the actual campaign itself! I'm not sure where I left off lol. [Looks at that one long post] Ah! Session 7 it seems, then Blue sent some memes about session 8.

We haven't done any over the summer bc now we're 8 people total and also. Timezones. But! We ended on session 9, and holy shit were these some crazy last two sessions.

Brief session 7 recap:

Sadly, Hans's player couldn't come, so he canonically spends the entire session digging holes in the ground (... long story) and inspecting the mysterious magical skull he got after we raided the Order of the Five castle (where Sully buried that one person alive). However! For the first time, we have a new player who takes over playing Paul. Through this, the rest of the party goes on a wild goose chase to get a magical artifact with him except Anawrete, who visits her parents' place, and we get lore there. At the end of the session, Alloces goes off to investigate mysterious smuggler's den with ties to Anawrete at the Order of the Five castle and Silen follows him. It ends up having a tunnel leading off into the Underdark, and Silen loses sight of Alloces and starts walking down there.

That's session 7!

Now, session 8:

Sully, Paul, Mal, and after a minute Alloces go and reunite with Hans. Hans is outside the Shipbuilder's Guild, having dug a bunch of holes without finding what he wanted to (a lead brick we buried in like session 4ish) This is very concerning, bc it was supposed to be a message to a demon to kill this one guy (we were trying to solve a mystery and didn't know what else to do..... so we did that. Then we tried to unearth it bc we finished the mystery). Also, it wasn't supposed to disappear, even if it did work! So. Um?

However, the party decides that it's not that important, bc we're preoccupied with something else: the skull. Turns out Hans figured out that it's "locked" and that he can brute force unlock whatever magic it has inside it by blasting it with all four types of elemental magic at once. We figure out that between Hans, Alloces, Paul, and Sully, we have the needed elemental magic to do this. Unfortunately, Sully has suddenly become very up-in-arms, saying that combining elemental magic is against everything she believes in, and that she could never help with this. Hans refuses to listen, however, but he's stuck bc Sully is the only one with Earth magic in the party (and Earth magic is hard to obtain as a spell lol). Therefore, he decides to do something... not the greatest. He whispers to Alloces to use Suggest on her, and bc Alloces likes chaos, he complies. (Fun fact: ooc, I was actually the one to propose the Suggest idea. I thought it would be silly. <3) It works, and Sully now has to participate in this ritual against her will.

Meanwhile, Mal is watching all of this go down. She sees Sully rapidly change character, and realizes that something is up. She pulls Sully aside, asking if Sully is okay. Sully, unable to say otherwise, says yes, she's okay, she's just decided to do the ritual now. Mal fails her insight check, and decides that Sully must be okay if she says she is. Mal's player then does something which makes me go CRAZY insane and makes me want to chew on glass (/pos) and decides that NOW is the time to do a scene which she's been thinking about for a while. The Context: back in session 6 during our big fight, Sully got Mal out of death saves with a healing potion. Healing potions are a bit expensive, and Mal had her own which she didn't use before she got downed (overestimating her abilities), but Sully probs didn't even think twice and used her own on Mal. However, Mal obviously has been thinking about it, because she gives Sully that potion, then. Mal, very obviously very nervous, apologizes for "letting Sully down" and for being a burden during the fight, and not being strong enough to stay up herself. AND SULLY CAN'T EVEN SAY ANYTHING BC SHE'S PREOCCUPIED WORRYING ABOUT THE RITUAL + BEING UNDER SUGGESTION. Mal then leaves very quickly, and Sully is left there, speechless.

Then the fucking ritual happens and we all unlock the Skull, and Sully snaps out of her Suggestion. The Skull has some kind of spirit inside it, and is filled with Aetheric energy (which......... happens to be something Sully ALSO is very against). Sully then starts yelling at Hans, telling him to drop the Skull and berating him for getting Alloces to possess her (she also hates Alloces but like. She's always hated Alloces. She really liked Hans. This is a betrayal of literally everything she believes in). The spirit of the skull starts speaking and reveals himself to be Logan Mortem, the original founder of the Order of the Five, and with that name Paul freezes as well. Apparently Paul somehow knows him- and is horrified. Then we fight bc Hans still refuses to drop it: Hans and Alloces versus Sully and Paul. Sully and Paul lose as we both roll very low lol (also Sully was mostly trying to knock the skull out of Hans's hand), and Sully, fuming, injured and panicking, decides to leave. Hans and Alloces have a conversation with the skull where it reveals some of its goals. Alloces apparently knows Logan, and Logan is maybe his dad/creator (????). Hans has been chosen to be the next heir of the Order of the Five apparently. Logan wants to "bring order to chaos". Hans is like. "hm. btw, you're not evil, right?" and Logan is like "........no." Hans is like "seems legit 👍". Paul tries to attack Hans one more time, this time with his moon staff (the artifact we were looking for session 7), but it backfires and hurts him somehow. After Alloces and Hans leave, its revealed that when it backfired, Paul got some of his memories taken from him and forgot what he was doing and where he was. He also leaves for the Shipbuilder's hall.

MEANWHILE. Silen is in the fuckin UHHHH Underdark.

When he's walking down, he hears a thunk behind him and ends up running further in. He keeps going down, and down, and down, until he ends up in the Underdark. Honestly, nothing really happens here except him hearing some Drow or Duergar and realizing that he's in the Underdark, and heading back up the way he came. However, when he comes back up, he hears voices in Common (rather than Undercommon). The group of people hear/see him, and they're wearing colorful robes of some kind and have a huge piece of stone in the shape of a body with them. He's like "haha hiiiii". The people, ofc, ask wtf he's doing here, and with his very poorly made excuses, they decide to take him with them. He tries to escape, and they stop him- and when they use elemental magic to stop him, he finally realizes that their robes look quite similar to Sully's.

They take Silen and the rock with them underwater with water magic, and they go into a cliff face opened to show another tunnel in the earth.

Switching over to Sully's perspective, she decides to head over to the Monastery, for the first time as shown in this campaign (tho I think somewhere she goes there and leaves a note about Ansa after session 6 before session 7 for continuity). The party knows nothing about it other than it existing. Even though she's shaken about the fight, she was planning to go here anyways, and talks to Jenevra, a water-aligned monk, saying she's here about the "Anatheme". Jenevra leads her to a secret passageway she's never been in before, and there, she sees, against all odds- fucking Silen.

Adreyão, the lead figure in the party of monks, says that Silen claims to know Sully. Sully, ofc, confirms it, but asks wtf Silen was up to. He really doesn't have a good reason, but Sully takes it as Silen being Silen (which it is), and she says that they can let him go. But before they do, she explains what happened with the fight, and warns Silen not to trust Hans or Alloces, saying that they've been corrupted and don't have his interests at heart. (Kind of unreliable narrator- Sully is very very biased, close-minded, and is actively working to split the party against the two of them). Silen... kind of believes her, but ofc refuses to acknowledge that Alloces is bad bc bro is head over heals in love (why).

Silen is led out by Jenevra, and Adreyão guides Sully through a ritual of their own. She drinks a mysterious liquid, and is suddenly able to change the stone into orange-tinted quartz, revealing what was inside the rock that they transported- Ansa. Chained and cast in crystal, Ansa is transported into a larger room, where many many others like her sit. Surrounded by countless Anathemes cast in ice or crystal, Sully feels much more calm than before.

For the rest of the session, it's a lot of character interactions as we all try to deal with all the shit which just went down (and PAUL LORE). Unfortunately, Anawrete missed all of it (sorry Blue :((( ) so a lot of it is catching her up as she's like I WAS GONE FOR TWO MINUTES.....

When we take a long rest, some people hear weird rustling and chaos coming from Paul's room, and Sully (+unbeknownst to her, Alloces's shadow) investigate and find papers everywhere and a weird blue stone, which the shadow takes.

Meanwhile, Paul sees Anawrete on his morning walk, and tells her a bit about his moon rod, then about the fight and shit which happened the other day. Then he tells her to go touch the rock up in his room, saying he's "not been quite honest".

All the party starts meeting up and chatting in the common room. Mal is chatting with Anawrete about her new fit, Silen is trying to dissuade Hans from the skull (telling him about it possessing him earlier and saying "abomination") (end of session 6 idk if I mentioned this lol), Sully walks in and tries to talk to Mal, but is distracted by the conversation of what the skull is where Alloces says some ominous shit. It's very tense, but Paul walks in, interrupting the conversation by saying "who wants scoOOOOnes :D" (LMFAO)

We briefly talk about the stone, which Alloces gives up. Apparently Paul is losing his memories and says that we can access them through the stone- but that he doesn't want to be there for it. Sully take the stone, and says she'll do it in a bit, then takes Mal to talk to her. (Honestly even tho it was in character I felt bad about being like NO LORE NOW but I'm glad we saved it for the next session bc it was a long sequence of events lol).

Sully and Mal have a conversation, where Sully first says the same thing she did to Silen- explaining the fight, saying that Hans and Alloces don't have their interests at heart, etc. She says that Mal was correct that Sully was not herself at the time, and thanks her for being there, and also says that... Mal never let her down. But Mal has been slowly getting more panicked as Sully has been talking, and says "but now I've let you down twice now! Because I didn't even realize you were influenced by them!!" and Sully doesn't even know what to say to that. She tries to reassure Mal, but it doesn't really work, and they. AUGH THEMMM PIX I'M SO UNWELL ABOUT THEM...... THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO COMMUNICATE FOR SHIT..................

Anyways, Silen and Anawrete talk, because she figured out that he was at the smuggler's den (tbh I forget how lol, maybs Alloces said it or just Silen himself). She interrogates him, and although he was VERY scared of her, he somehow doesn't mention that Sully's people were there, but he definitely throws Alloces under the bus. He then immediately runs to Sully and says that Anawrete lives there at the den (???) (she does not. bro was confused and scared out of his mind). Anawrete sees him talking to Sully (who mostly ignores him) and I think guesses that Sully was somehow related to all this.

However, at that moment Paul decides he wants to talk to Sully. They go off on their own, and have a very interesting conversation, where it's revealed that Paul definitely has a (negative) history with Logan and he's on her side. He says a lot of other ominous things ("you might have to become a demon to fight one" and "if I start feeling the effects of the skull, finish me off" are notable), and it's pretty obvious that they're against the skull for different reasons, but that they're on the same team.

Anawrete, with so much new info, goes back to her family complex briefly and talks to her mom about it. Her family has been tracking the Order of the Five and their movements, and found that the remaining troops have been heading up to Nortepont (a northern dwarf city), which is very interesting.

Finally, Alloces and Silen have a hilarious talk where Alloces tries to do a deal with him (favor for crossbow Alloces found in the den bc Silen is a ranger) and Silen's like "sure :D. As long as you take me to lunch again" and Alloces, done with this shit, decides against it.

AND THAT'S SESSION 8! SO MUCH SHIT WENT DOWN !!

But uhhhhh we've gone up to session 9. So. There's still more to talk about, though sadly I do not have the time rn. I will get to it later, and I hope you like this very long update!!!!

(I also got a lot of analyses and theories and art AND a whole ass cipher puzzle thing I gave to my campaign so there's. That too)

Also @blue-rhapsody feel free to add on anything! (Or even summarize session 9 I would be so happy if you did that lol)