#ah all these mage companions

[timethehobo]

Rook heard tales of the Warden, Hawke and Inquisitor and just wanted to get the questions out of the way.

[butterflewaway]

Hi! I really liked the scenario where the MC of touchstarved was too dumb to realize the boys simping for her and I wanted to as about how the others boys react to Leander being the only one who can hold hands with the mc (and a Leander pov knowing the others are jealous) and maybe even MC touching his face again to feel the difference in texture. Hope that's not too much! Thank you anyway!

Ohhhh you are so fun!! I like this request!~

I couldn't figure out where to fit Mhin and Kuras as I doubt they'd be at the bar in the early afternoon so let me know if you'd like a part 2 as a continuation! <3

Warnings: jealousy!!! Leander is his own warning, taunting! touching uwu

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

The dreary weather really was something else in this city. How could the air feel cool yet humid yet stifling as if pulling the breath from your lungs? Your bandages were dripping with sweat and coming loose, so you practically jogged into the Wet Wick.

Members of Leander's Bloodhounds were scattered around loosely, thankfully not densely packed this early in the afternoon. As you were about to slip behind a group of men and run up the stairs, an arm shot out from behind the bar to grab your hood, pulling it straight off.

Your hair tumbled out and you blinked as your eyes adjusted to the sudden light. Leander was leaned over the bar, lips pulled up into a smooth, pretty smile, eyes looking as tired as ever. "Hey pretty thing. Where you been all day?" You balled your hands into fists under your cloak and smiled back shyly.

"Oh you know. Around." Your ominous answer did little to dismay Leander, and he pulled you closer to the bar. "Would you like a drink, pretty? On the house." The barmaid looked over briefly after hearing that to scowl at the tall man. She hustled to the kitchen to presumably complain to the other workers.

You smiled as you shook your head. "Ah, no thanks. I was actually just on my way up. Really tired from ah- the day." You stared at each other in silence as your words replayed in your head. You could see the disbelief in Leander's eyes. Tired from the day? The sun had barely been up for less then five hours.

Leander let go of your cloak, and without thinking you moved your hand from the safety blanket to straighten the fabric. Piercing green eyes watched your every movement like a predator. "Ah." Fuck. You messed up. You flinched under his scrutinizing gaze and rushed to tuck your hand back into safety.

But before you could, his gloved hand once again reached out to grab, this time your hand. Deep inside, you knew Leander wouldn't get hurt. You flinched anyway. As if sensing your unenthusiastic response, Leander held up your hand to his face and gently kissed your palm, not breaking eye contact.

Your face turned beet red, mouth agape as you stared into his charming pale green eyes. Light reflected from the candles and bounced off his golden earring, grabbing the attention of the newcomers shuffling into the bar. You held your breath as Leander calmly unwrapped your hand halfway and rested his cheek against your palm.

You had no way of knowing, with your back turned to the entrance of the establishment. And though Leander acted as if the only thing he saw was you, in his peripheral he saw his dearest companions staring at the display before them with a mix of anger, jealousy, sadness, and thinly-veiled disgust.

You absentmindedly ran your fingers over his cheek and dipped down to trace the scar along his jaw. Your lashes fluttered tiredly, as if weighed down by the world. He smiled into your hand and pet your head. "Go take a nap pretty. You look like you need it." You looked away to hide your reddening cheeks and nodded, pulling away and wrapping your hand simultaneously as you trudged up the stairs, completely unaware of the eyes that followed.

Vere slid into his usual seat, pink eyes narrowing on Leander's face. The mage simply stared back blankly, before remembering where he was. A big smile erupted on his face and he grinned at the fox. "Hello Vere. Thirsty?" There was a sharp edge to the questioning lilt of Leander's tone. Vere scowled and reached to grab a bottle of champagne poorly hid by the missing barmaid.

Ais slid into the seat beside him, red eyes digging holes into Leander's cheek, as if expecting it to start decaying at any second. When nothing happened for a frame of five seconds, he peeled his unnerving gaze away to look at Vere's pretty pout. As Leander hummed and mixed a drink for the demon, his lips briefly flashes a wicked smile. He hadn't been chosen yet, but he was damned sure he was ahead of everyone else.

[dreaminglittlestar]

PAC: Love Story

Disclaimer!: This is a fictional story/reading! I picked out actual cards to kind of guide a story but this is not meant to be an actual reading or reflect your life. All of this is a FICTIONAL story for fun, like a mini-reader insert that has you in this kind of magical world.

This is just a fun little thing I've been wanting to try out for a while now, like a pick-your-adventure thing and again, is just meant to be for fun. Just think of it like a cute little surprise since this isn't meant to be tarot. But other than that, hope you guys enjoy this!

Ah, welcome traveler to my humble little magic shack. Would you like a fortune?

Choose which image you're drawn to, and your story will be revealed.

(Lovely images are from Unsplash and the links are in the image descriptions!)

Oh, a fellow mage I see. The 6 of Clubs immediately identifies you as someone with strong intuition with guidance from the forest and sky. Someone who is already in high spiritual power should seem to have no need for the guidance of some forest kook, so what brings you here? Let me see your palms if you will. Ah, yes, I see now. Soft yet hardened with lines, the burdens you carry deep within your tower. Perhaps, that is what brings you here. A relief from the great responsibilities that pile upon you due to your great sense of power.

Are you are a healer of some sort? Or is it ice that you wield? Stoic is your face, hardened by the tasks you are in charge of. Yet this ice mask of yours does little to hide your heart's desires. The 2 of Hearts comes out hidden, but underneath it lay your heart's want for love and companionship, a love truer than the gods gift upon you, instead of being stuck in the cold tower of yours making potions and spells for the good of the Kingdom. Worry not, this secret will be kept by the trees, yet they implore you to seek within.

Is this a forbidden love I see? Someone from the past, a familiar face you keep crossing paths with yet you never can seem to connect. Is this perhaps the knight from the bordering country, a rival to your owns with duty and loyalty separating the both of you from one another. Is this the person you love? Breathe, this information will not leave the safety of the canopy. While this love is not meant to be in the moment, I see a transition from the Jack of Clubs to the Queen of Hearts in the future.

By thinking outside of the box, and using that cleverness of yours you will embody all the love that you want to be, reuniting you with your heart with your mind and eventually you'll be reunited with your lover when time is right. I can not reveal more, but know that you will pursue the desires of your heart, the willow's weep of it's sincerity to come. Out of battle, when the thundering roars of war slows down and the field is empty of chaos, the night sky will sing to you to take your chance.

You appear like that of a frozen flower at the top of the mountain, someone who seems to stand strong in solitude, but under the frost lays the growing bloom, your heart desiring a true companion. And once the time is right, the exterior frost will disappear to reveal a worthy love. Worry not, those fears will dissipate, the 6 of heart repeats this tale.

Additional messages the willows' of the wasps sing to me, this knight you love is that of a "heart throb", royal and loyal, soft yet structured. You will truly be united within a couple of years, and the willows wisps for you to be patient, as he whispers to you "be patient my love, I'm almost there". Soon may not feel soon enough, but the magic can be felt and you will know. Take you chance and stand tall with your choice my dear mage.

For no brighter light than love could ever hope to stop this path.

(Disclaimer, this is fictional and for fun! None of this is accurate! Though I do hope that you enjoyed this little adventure with me! Feel free to visit again!)

Well isn't this a bit odd. A reclusive inventor paying a visit to my old humble shack? I'm honored, though it seems as your mind does not align with your heart, hence your hesitance to be here. Worry not, for the weeping willows weep no secret not meant to be revealed yet. Everything meant to happen will happen in due time.

So please take a seat, and do mind the fairies, they tend to love peeping in on any potential mischief to be had. However, I don't think you will as you seem to be kindred spirits of sorts. Ah, yes. Though hardened with time and diligence, the mischief is hidden within your eyes, still alive despite the years passing. Though along with the time came the nagging feeling of never doing enough.

A bit of a worry wart, are you? The 8 of Spades reveals that despite your outer appearance of being calm and in control, internally you overthink quite a bit. Your ambition for greater good is strong, yet it often leaves you too far from the ground. Stuck in your head with numbers and possible solutions, the greatest new inventions, but the forest advises you to think of what you already have achieved.

You are young and have yet more to grow, more than you know, though the 10 of Spades warns of your borderline workaholic tendencies creeping upon you if you overthink the future and fail to stay in the present. It's among this time between being swamped with mercenary orders and your drive for success through hard work where you will meet your future spouse.

Often stuck within the inner schematics of your next invention, you tend to fail to realize how much you already have. Perhaps the love you seek in already in your periphery, but you have yet to notice. Currently, everything blurs into together and perhaps that's also why you're here. This sense of time and dread builds up as you're constantly thinking of what to do next.

But breathe in the fresh rain after a storm, as when you do take notice of your surroundings, you will notice them, and that blurry storm will wash away. They are free-flowing, like water, and they leave you feeling light and refreshed, bringing a sense of living into your life. The Fool in Reverse and 3 of Clubs reiterates your stable footing in what is considered the real world, but you never venture far enough into the divine or present to see what's already there and the wind howls a warning; not to lose grasps what's important to you.

What do you truly seek? While you may find it a bit silly to take a break, everything may begin blurring together. Like water, let life flow and all will be revealed to you.

Additional messages that have trickled in through the sweet musings of the river tell me that you are to be patient as things happen in time, but it will be the most ordinary "magical encounter". There's even the musing of "Hey, where have you been my whole life?" with the "chilly" weather after the storm. Maybe this is love will feel like a first, but even against the current, stand strong with your values but also feel free to float along the river's path.

The river will flow where it needs to flow, as does life, with a little effort on your part, but also trust.

(Disclaimer, this is fictional and for fun! None of this is accurate! Though I hope you enjoyed this little interactive story and feel free to visit again!)

Oh my, you're quiet the adventurer aren't you? Ha ha. Harrowing through quest with that mighty sword upon your hips, you have drive and ambition. Yes, you seem quiet strong, your drive for knighthood seems compels you, is that what you wish for? I can see the fire in your eyes but your heart seems to be missing something. You seek financial compensation, perhaps?

I can see within the Ace of Diamonds that you wish to begin a new journey, an adventure or quest for financial gain within your adventurer life. Very fun I see. But to come here for a mere fortune, in this small little hut, with no near guilds or institutions that could offer you any real thrilling question begs what you wish for.

You are no longer a struggling adventurer traveling through the naked wood banks, but neither are you financially abundant. Hence, within your future, I see you taking the burden of an instrumental quest given by a powerful mage. Although you will begin the journey alone, along the way, you will meet companions and friends who will help lessen the burden placed upon you. Within that group, you will find your soulmate.

The 5 of Diamonds suggest that you will be prosperous in this journey, and you will find all that you seek for in addition to the finical gain you want. However, this is a life altering path, one where you will come to question your being, and life, as you know it. Not only is your path altered by the riches and fame of knighthood given to you, but by the companions you will meet in your life, that only enriches your adventurer mind.

The journey will not be easy and will challenge everything you had known of your previous life. But as a reward to ease your growing nerves, the willows tell me that your love is very handsome in deed. Gazes will be shared and maybe you have a trickle of fancy at first sight, but instead you busy yourself with gathering your companions.

No need for alarm, you must be patient, this does not happen in a day. And it may be possible that even after meeting, it would take a few years till you two officially begin your relationship. Dancing to the fire at nights, singing to the stars as other cajole you two to rest, and laughter will be abundant as well as comfortable silence. It's within these moments that your bond will grow and you will know.

The forest wishes to end it's wisdom, so I shall no longer speak.

Are you willing to take this jump? The rest is up to you, young adventure. May the world bless you with love and take care.

(Disclaimer, this is fictional and for fun! None of this is accurate! Though I hope you enjoyed this and feel free to visit again!)

Notes: So this was originally going to be posted in August but I kept delaying it but wanted to get it posted before October so here it is! I had lot of fun doing this but I'm not entirely satisfied with it as now. I may come back to do this again, but for now, hope you guys enjoyed this little interactive story!

Like said, this isn't an actual reading and shouldn't be taken seriously. This is just a fun little fictional story idea I've been dying to do for a while now so here it is!

[ode-to-fury]

Pure Gale Fluff

Gale/Tav

Ignore the layout of the tower mentioned here I tried to be as vague as possible but it doesnt make any sense🤷‍♀️. Also wizard magic=science rules right? That makes sense?? Does to me so there you go. I headcanon that Arabella Shadowheart and Astarion stay in Waterdeep for at least a few weeks before moving on to wherever they go next

I’m literally on a roll with these lol

The tower was warm against the chill outside when Gale got back from his errands in the city. It smelled of snow outside, and he smiled, happy to be home, at least before the flakes started falling.

Darkness was falling behind the clouds, and Tav had started a fire while he was gone, though she hadn’t closed the curtains, and soft light still filtered in through the windows, illuminating Tara’s curled up form in front of the fireplace, where she was snoring gently.

Tav herself was asleep on the couch in front of that same fire. She had taken it upon herself to slightly rearrange his library room, to make it more “homey” she said. He’d grumbled about it good naturedly, but in that moment he realised he’d let her rearrange anything she wanted if it meant he could come home to her, asleep in front of a fire like she was just then.

It had been… an adjustment, coming back to his tower. What he had thought would be a refuge against the world had turned out to be filled with less than pleasant memories of the time before their adventure.

Then we’ll make new memories, she’d said. New memories like coming home to her sleeping form after a cold day outside.

Golden brown hair spilled over an armrest, and a heavy leather tome was propped against her knees, arms crossed over her chest.

He walked over to her after depositing his packages, and almost reverantly bent down next to the couch. His fingers tangled in that silky golden hair even as he kissed her cheek softly.

She was awake immediately, he knew, because she was the lightest sleeper in the realms, but she kept her eyes closed stubbornly.

He grinned, and this time he kissed those wonderfull lips of hers. She grinned into it, and when he pulled away, stretched awake, almost catlike in her movements.

“Sorry,” she said quietly. “I was reading this horrible dissertation. Can you believe this man thinks that Melf’s third law of evocation is as he put it “a loosely connected string of words with no real meaning behind them”?”

Gale grinned.

“You don’t agree?”

“The third law is the only one that makes any sense to me, if I’m being completely honest.”

She smiled, her wonderful eyes twinkling with delight. Her hand cupped his cheek, callouses scraping over his beard in the most wonderful way.

“A few weeks ago you didn’t know Melf had any laws,” he murmured, grinning as he kissed her again.

“Well, now I do,” she said matter of factly. “And I’ve formed an opinion, based on my sorcerous expertise.”

“Ah,” he said, “of course. Though many powerful mages would agree that your opinion is wrong.”

Her fingers tangled in the hair at the nape of his neck, and she pulled him forward for another kiss.

“I don’t think you know what the word ‘opinion’ means, Gale Dekarios.”

He laughed, and her eyes twinkled in response, and for a moment the breath was knocked out of him. So much so that he had to sit back, away from her.

She frowned, sitting up, all traces of sleep gone from her eyes and demeanor, replaced by a worried frown, a tension that meant she was ready for a fight.

“Gale?” She asked, “What is it?”

What is it?

How could he explain it? How could he explain the feeling of coming home to a tower where a fire was already roaring against the chill outside? How could he explain the sight of his tressym companion curled up asleep without a worry in front of that fire? How could he explain the sight of her, asleep in front of that same fire, the feeling in his chest when he was allowed to kiss her into wakefulness and she did not jump up, scared, because she knew, finally, that she was safe with him? How could he explain the way he had someone to discuss Melf with, after years of just Tara? Someone who would argue back as an equal? How could he ever explain how her laughter felt like a balm to his heart? How could he ever explain exactly what she meant to him? Him, who could normally find words for anything.

“I- uhm,” he grinned slightly, “I don’t know if I could ever verbalise how much it means to have you here. With me.”

Her eyes softened, and she lay her head down on the couch again.

“You’ll find a way, I’m sure,” she said softly, her starlit eyes twinkling.

There was a yawn from the direction of the fireplace, and Tara stretched herself into wakefulness not unlike Tav had done only a few minutes before.

“Ah!” The tressym said, “Mr. Dekarios, thank goodness you’re back! I trust you brought me back some of those wonderful fishes from the market for dinner? I would have gone out earlier to hunt pidgeons, but I’m afraid the fire was much too comfortable.”

He reluctantly broke free of Tav’s soft gaze to turn to his tressym companion.

“Why of course, Tara my dear,” he said, getting up with a groan. His knees really did not agree with the cold.

“Would you like your share now, or would you like to wait while I cook for all three of us?”

“Just the three of us?” Tav asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

“Yes, unfortunately,” he replied, walking down to the kitchen.

“Astarion and Arabella are still at the Yawning Portal, Arabella said she would keep him company until sundown. Shadowheart was ‘much too busy with Shieldmeet preparations to have dinner tonight’. So, just the three of us.”

He started charming spices and sauces from various shelves as Tara twisted herself between his legs in her age old ritual of welcome.

“I can’t decide,” Tav’s voice drifted down to him from the library. “Whether Astarion or Arabella is the worse influence.”

She appeared in the doorway, somehow managing to look put together with slightly mussed hair and dressed in one of his old sleep shirts.

“Now that is a question, isn’t it?”

She came up and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind, her cheek resting against his back, and again he had to take a moment and compose himself.

“Personally I think they both bring out the worst in each other, although at least the vampire treats me with dignity when he is here,” Tara spoke up, hopping up onto the counter in front of him.

“Arabella’s still learning, Tara,” Tav said.

“Hmpf. Well. She’ll learn quickly enough why no one else yanks a tressym’s tail if she ever does it again.”

“So, Tara,” Gale said quickly, aware his companion’s temper could flare sometimes. “Fish now, or fish later?”

“I shall wait, Mr. Dekarios. I have manners. Besides, if I eat now I shall most certainly fall asleep, and then how will the two of you entertain yourselves?”

He could picture Tav’s mischievous smile as she said, “Oh, I can think of a few ways.”

He blushed slightly as she kissed the back of his neck, but thankfully, Tara had turned away to inspect the quality of the fish he had bought.

[absolutefilthimsosorry]

Spoilers for DnP Incohearent!!!!

I’m having so much fun trying to solve these that I made a list to keep track! Message if you can help me fill in any I’m missing or if I’ve got any wrong!!!

Also lmk if you see any I’ve missed!! I’m going to keep updating this and have it unrebloggable but you can reblog this post to have a link to it!

These are all gathered from this post and this post so check the notes on those first to try to solve them then look here if you need answers!

Sow march cheer ray = so much cherry

Wee nay urn for uke oye yer tub = we’ve never fucked on youtube?

Ta fold in fig = the golden pig

Feed hay hid eho = vday video

Tat he won ape hit morse him he = daddy want a bit more simmy

Watt ken ice hay = what can I say

North key bus teabag king = naughty busty baking

Fool tie enter nit hobo / fall tie mint her nepo moe / fault aye mint earn are ohm owe/ foul thyme inch hermit hole mold = full time internet homo

Cumin mile aid deed or = come in my ladydoor

Hum hay zinc tan = amazingdan

Elven ower fug sedge own = eleven hour fuck session

An berry moth ribeye adam stir = and every month we buy a hamster

March rest array = Manchester eye

Cyst herding yell = sister daniel

Add a ding teps = editing tips

Cop dubai khaki luna = topped by kakuna

Late eat tore = ladydoor

Half tugger etch two eggs cyst = have the courage to exist

Perish she end wink = Parisian twink

Coal ten big/ goal then pick = golden pig

Cyst ordain yell = sister daniel

Train youth inks = try new things

Gay mean moss/ gain ink mass = gamingmas

Soften need = soft and neat

A wools lied = owl slide

Topper bought them hill = top or bottom Phil

Coat fit firenze = golf with friends???

Few ours pig meow fits = viewers pick my outfits

Read less tar = red lester

Eye eight soup igloo = I ate super glue

Insight youth era too walls = inside you there are two wolves

Mine amy stan = my name is Dan

Clap hella = glabella

Hiss teeth rent = hits different

Eel eyes apron kay kiss = Eliza pancakes

See pram haze ink bra jet = super amazing project

Feels lie yawn = phils lion

Fuel ease snot dawn fair = Phil is not on fire

Jaw shush ear son = josh hutcherson

Ball bull him tour food = bauble in your foot?

Sure eck = shrek

High ate dust = hiatus

Add a dink deps = editing tips

Ga hay shoom air age = gay shoe marriage

Pope eat plate aim = poppy playtime

Eat aches stu = it takes two

Goo gal few ed = google feud

Baze ick lee eye meg ay = basically I’m gay

Ko min yout ti ew = coming out to you

Ender knit subvert grew oop = internet support group

Phylis turn yar a sheen yes = PHIL LESTER YOU’RE A GENIUS

With Audi intern yet wean ed brr wood halve mat = without the internet we never would have met

Gum ban yins drool I’ve = companions through life

Reed sons wide answer flail = reasons why dans a fail

Ewan dam ah some are reed = you and Dan are so married

Denver sis fill/ Denver cis full = Dan vs Phil

Or lawn huffing = all or nothing

Dunk rye core raft = don’t cry craft

Mortal jester roam and thick/ Morph adjust row antic = more than just romantic

So wall how debris poll light = swallow to be polite???

Oar hinge art = orange heart

Foray virgo em = forever home

Chai reel loop/ share real oob = cherry lube

Cad boyd anne = cat boy dan

Far turf ill lip = father philip

Tess lit hen ink = the slittening

Forth house indie rolled or touches = four thousand year old tortoises

Hey moth swish roundup floating = a month without uploading

Jam march let pet tea an farms = Je mange les petit enfants

Day lion howl tour = Dalien Howlter

Ima let all kit = I’m a little kit

Feel pearl lays shell ter = Phil plays shelter

Fewer blue key app ending = viewer spooky happenings

Hell low iam tour reel = hello I am Toriel

Laugh tuh gey mile kuh = left to get milk

Villas eek wreck why vuh = Phil’s secret wife

Footy strain gin said dent = ___ strange incident????

Snow core play sum = snokoplasm

Nope puts cereal sleeping mage innit = no but seriously imagine it

Tear rip pulling flu hence = terrible influence

Jeff why eye aisle hike vague liner = fyi I like vagina

Eggs intense all cry cis = existential crisis

List of contributors

@fletthewreck @dandp @deadandphilgames @manchesterau @thephouseplants @awrfhi @jonsaremembers @rachosaurusrex @dapgolf @dan-whoell @dnphobe @dreamingalto @steveandscraggy @phanbeats @danandfuckingjonlmao @pepper-pastry @yonpote @un-interactive-introvert @spaniel-trowel @sisterdanieldyke @queerdnp @morganadelacour @amid-fandoms @spectral-kitkat @goingpheral @angelzonearth @wdapteo @2009phan @dansevilpianotea

[bossuary]

FIC: The Demon (ao3 link)

Rating: T or G, idk Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Pairing: Lucanis Dellamorte, Emmrich Volkarin Tags: m/m, pining, age difference, height difference, death, Nice Necromancer, Shit Assassin, romantic inexperience, a touch of hand kink, a smidge of spirit/demon kink?, a bit of intellect diddling, mary kirby is to blame Word Count: 1020 Summary: Lucanis discovers that insomnia in the Lighthouse is not a solo activity. Emmrich doesn't sleep much, either. And he's very interested in...things. Notes: MIGHT KEEP GOING AND MAKE SOME FILTH would that be...of interest to anyone?

***

“Oh dear. People truly call you that?” Emmrich’s voice was tinged with scorn and scandal. “To your face?”

“Some do, yes,” Lucanis said with a nod.

He smiled at the sensitivities of Westerners. In all the pages of his life, all the way back to when he had been Luca, demon was the least of the epithets he had endured.

“Charming,” Emmrich murmured.

The moka pot burbled on the stove. Its tin lid shimmied. They seemed illusions of warmth, meant to comfort mortal senses. Lucanis watched for steam, felt the dreamlike throb of the Lighthouse, and was grateful that it didn’t itch. He poured a short cup for himself, and one for his fellow sleepless companion.

Emmrich thanked him, and took his cup to the table. Lucanis plucked a lidded bowl from the cupboard, and spooned sugar into his coffee. More than he should have, less than he truly wanted, always.

“It’s a colorful appellation for a man of your profession,” Emmrich mused from his seat at the cozy kitchen table. “Tell me, is it…an accurate one?”

Lucanis tensed. Granules of sugar skittered across the counter. This wasn’t the time to work out the semantics of what he was. Not in the small hours, ragged with insomnia. Not in this place between places. Not with the death mage. He dropped the sugar spoon into its bowl and gave Emmrich a smile as brittle as his cup.

“It’s just a word,” Lucanis replied, fighting to keep things light. “It’s no different than assassin. Or necromancer .”

Emmrich nodded as Lucanis spoke, cradling his cup so the steam whispered up along his face.

“Mhm. Or, mage killer, for example,” he said, sipping his coffee around a tease so slight it took a demon to catch it.

Lucanis inhaled and looked away. “Ah. About that…”

Emmrich held up a hand. It would have been a patronizing gesture, had the old man’s smile been less disarming.

“Please. To serve death is to respect it utterly, wouldn’t you agree?” he said, holding Lucanis’ gaze over the rim of his cup. “I could never be afraid of it.”

Or of you.

“Uh. Well said, I think,” Lucanis offered, and lifted his cup in salute.

The placket of Emmrich’s shirt curled open at the throat, Lucanis noted, and the sleeves were rolled neatly to his elbows. He hadn’t just been sleepless, tonight, he had been working. Was there a tattoo above the sculpted forearm, or just a shadow?

Lucanis pushed past it. He savored his coffee. Velvety and dark, with a cherry tang. It anchored him in this unmoored place. Across the room, Emmrich appeared equally soothed. The silence they shared between fragrant sips eventually thinned. Emmrich cleared his throat.

“The word ‘demon’ is derived from daemonium, in Tevene,” he began, and rose from the table as if giving a private lecture.

If only Lucanis had been any kind of scholar.

He sipped his coffee and listened, and caught himself noticing useless things: the engaging rhythm of Emmrich’s accent, stray locks of silver that fell over his forehead, his hands. Mostly, damningly, those hands.

“For centuries, the Alamarri in the Frostbacks used an ideogram to refer to what one might call a demon today. It was a fish hook, rather a clever shape to describe such a complex being, or a complex relationship to one.” He came to stand a few feet from Lucanis at the counter, easing his lean shape against it, holding his cup like a precious artifact. “It looked…not unlike that symbol, there.”

Emmrich gave a subtle nod, his eyes fixed on Lucanis’ belt. Among the other medallions was one etched with a soot-black hook. Reflexively, Lucanis looked down at himself, and heat bloomed in his face.

Made you look.

Emmrich’s interest was so present, his gaze as deft as the finger of a jeweler, that Lucanis half expected to see the medallion move as if lifted by a spell. There was no itch, however. What Lucanis felt was purely the magic of the man’s attention.

An itch by another name. To name it, he would be a straw doll striking a match.

He should have spoken by now. Emmrich, patient as the grave, used one of those elegant fingers to touch the scattered granules of sugar on the counter. Maybe it was the Lighthouse, or some other ancient charm, that freed Lucanis to imagine he could take Emmrich’s finger between his lips and have all the sugar he liked.

A swift pang of loneliness stole his rising heat, though, and stilled his hand as it drifted to the medallion. If Illario were here he would mortify Lucanis with salacious suggestion and vulgarity until misery became another name for family.

But Illario wasn’t there.

“For us, this does not represent demons,” Lucanis said, finally, and grimaced.

Emmrich gave him a confused look.

Bravissimo, Professor Dellamorte, very smart.

Lucanis drained the remaining coffee he would have preferred to sip, pushed his cup away, and nodded to Emmrich.

“Goodnight, Volkarin.”

He retreated to the dark hall beyond the kitchen light, but Emmrich’s voice stopped him.

“I pity the incurious souls of the world, those bereft of a willing heart, for there is such pleasure in knowledge. They won’t know the meaning of a word, or the nature of the creature it describes.” He strode to the edge of the lamplight, hands clasped behind his back, and fixed Lucanis with another arresting look. “A carelessness that too often extends, also, to people.”

Lucanis swallowed. The shadows seemed a meager protection, now.

“Meaning?”

With a smirk and a flick, Emmrich doused the kitchen lamps. Lucanis felt a brief scratch behind his eyes.

“Only that whatever I may be called by others,” said Emmrich, joining Lucanis in the shadows, “I wish you to know that I am not a careless man.”

Lucanis said nothing. He froze as if a great light had spotted him where he shouldn’t be.

“Goodnight, Master Dellamorte,” said Emmrich, warmly. “Sleep well.”

As he watched Emmrich disappear into the guest wing, Lucanis had a single, desolate thought in reply.

Not even when I’m dead.

[chuckeroo777]

Frieren Liveblog- Chapters 1-4

Welcome back! Today we start reading Frieren! Unlike my Dungeon Meshi liveblog, this one will be blind!

To start, let's go over what I do know.

-Frieren is an immortal elf mage of some renown.

-She lost a human companion she cared a lot about, but unlike Marcille, she's chill about it.

-The mimic scene.

-There's a guy with blue hair, and a demon(?) lady.

-I think they adventure in dungeons to get stronger?

Yeah, I think that's about all I know. Let's see what happens!

And here we have our intrepid heroes! Apparently they already beat the demon lord, so that's nice.

Wait, Himmel? Oh no. I'm pretty sure that's the dude Frieren misses. Alas, it was nice to meet you. Guess the character class "Brave" doesn't save you from death flags. Suddenly not feeling confident Heiter or Eisen will be sticking around either.

Oh no! She's tiny! I love her. LOTR did irreparable damage to fantasy by insisting elves have to be tall.

Well, that was quick. I guess other than Himmel's imminent demise, all my spoilers have already shown up.

Frieren's a high INT low WIS kinda character, isn't she? At this rate, his tragic death is literally going to be old age. No, seriously. I think that's what's about to happen.

This is gonna be a recurring problem, isn't it.

Saw that coming from a mile away. I wonder about the other two companions. Are they longer lived races? Or are they old and wrinkled too?

It's your own fault for being of optimal head pat height. Heiter looks a little older, but not too bad. I can't tell if Eisen is different. With the manga format, for all I know, he's gone grey.

Ah. Perhaps not as chill about it as I assumed. Also, I went ahead and switched over to a better translation. Maybe the other was more accurate, but good lord was it stiff as hell.

Who's this cutie? I'd hope she is a major character, but with 70 years having passed since the manga started, I'm worried about getting attached to anyone but Frieren.

Phooey.

This can only end well.

Now what exactly does that mean? I'm sensing some deeper motivations for studying magic for both of them. (Also, I'm not retracting my Phooey until I confirm Fern doesn't die of old age at the end of the chapter.)

Oh dear. I thought I got enough of this from The Monster who Wants to Eat Me, but I guess we're doing this here too.

Best case scenario really.

Yessss! New companion! Also, this is really sweet, even if it only worked because Frieren didn't care about wasting six whole years.

Telekinesis may not be flashy, but the raw utility it can provide is nuts.

The adventurer's creed. As long as the loot is magic, you want it. Guess who has a collection of hundreds of scrolls and potions in BG3 despite having used, maybe 5 total. No, I can't store them in camp. What if I need them later!

Yep, they're adventurers alright. I am rather happy to see that despite her stoic facade, Frieren is in fact, a goober.

Where's the lie?

Keep telling yourself that.

Oh god, please tell me this Manga isn't a cycle of new companions joining, growing old, and dying.

Please stop vagueblogging at your apprentice.

No one told me this was a sad manga.

Good for you, but don't forget to retrieve the lady's seeds before you leave.

This isn't giving hope that this mange isn't on a centuries spanning timescale.

Oh no. It's only been four chapters, but I already adore her.

Is candy a euphemism for something?

This is sadly rather relatable.

Oh my god Frieren, stop staring at Fern's bobs.

Ok, so, before I finish tonight's session, I decided to take a little peek ahead to assuage my fears. This is from chapter 107, so it looks like I don't have to worry about Frieren repeatedly outliving her friends in this story. At least with old age. They could still die the old fashioned way. The only other detail I accidentally spoiled is that Fern is still with her, so reverse death flag, I guess.

And that's the first session! Very different vibes from what I was expecting. It's very somber, while being funny in a rather low-key way. Frieren is already a delight, and I'm interested to learn more about Fern. So far she seems to mostly be the straight-man, but I'm sure she has some fun quirks.

Also, glad to see basically everything I was spoiled on was in chapter 1. I went into Dungeon Meshi knowing about the cool monster Marcille is in lesbians with.

[vangbelsing]

Lucanis X Qunari!Rook drabble

Short(ish) little blurb based on this stupid prompt from last night. It's been?? I think an actual decade since I've written anything and I rushed through this in about 2-3 hours after sipping a little bit of the mead I was gifted, so I know the quality is definitely not gonna be great hhgdssfjjjf 😭 I'm soooo sorry in advance for this purely self indulgent piece 🙏

Pairing: Lucanis X Qunari Rook, nonbinary Rook, implied AFAB, SFW but is slightly suggestive

Characters: Lucanis, Emmrich, Rook

The battle hadn't been long, but it certainly felt like a fortnight in the moment, if only because of how off guard they had been caught. One moment, he could hear Emmrich listing the many aspects of death that had caused this place to become such a hotspot for spirits, (he could feel the truth of Emmrichs ramblings in that familiar, unwelcome itching behind his eye) the next, without barely even a sound - as if to drive the point home - undead sprang from all corners imaginable; the air filled with the scent of decay and regret before they could even see the corpses.

It took only the first heartbeat that deaths stink assaulted his nostrils for his hand to shoot toward his blade, quickly barking to his companions that combat was imminent. They wasted no time. Rook swiftly fell to the back of the formation as Lucanis and Emmrich took their places nearest to the undead. Though he wasn't trained for defensive combat or for taking on the bulk of enemy lines like a warrior, he was currently the most martially adept of the group, and so he assumed the role of protecting the mages from any stragglers.

One by one, the shamblers fell, the sickening crunch of steel meeting already decayed meat and bone filling the Crows ears. He'd heard it numerous times before, but it never seemed to be any less foul. Seconds passed, then minutes, as each of them continued on through the sounds of groans and barks at each movement made, the crackling of raw fade being cast at the uncannily lively dead, and the final wails of their foes signaling yet another was slain.

"Only three left." He had thought to himself, quickly accounting for each way he might approach dealing with his opponents.

It barely took a moment for him to close the distance between them as he lunged towards one in a solid, fluid motion. He took the thing first by its arm, twisting it harshly enough to hear bone crack before he spun the creature to face the opposite direction. He then pressed his foot its spine before kicking it forward into the other undeads oncoming attack. It let out a ghastly moan as the blade went directly through its midsection, the monster now going limp. While the other creature worked to remove the corpse from its weapon, Lucanis took the chance to exploit its current state of weakness to relocate to its blind spot. Before it could even react, the Crow had removed its head from its shoulders, watching with only slight satisfaction as it rolled on the ground.

"Down to the last." He noted internally, glancing left and right as he scanned for the remaining undead.

"Lucanis!" He'd heard Rook shout suddenly, their voice panicked, strained and utterly laced with fear.

"Ah. Behind, then." Without so much as casting a glance, he had turned in a blindingly swift motion with such force that his blade immediately found its mark, cutting through a sinewy throat with a dry, unnatural sound.

It fell to the ground with a rotten thud as Lucanis sheathed his weapon. That was all of them. Truly, it wasn't even close to one of his more dangerous encounters, but he would be the first to admit that he certainly hated most battlefield surprises.

"An impressive display, Lucanis," The older mage chimed in suddenly, his breathing only slightly laboured, "you did well in seeing to mine and Rooks safety. Perhaps we ought to consider a change to that sobriquet of yours, hm?"

Lucanis exhaled deeply through his nostrils - the sound dangerously close to a laugh - as he turned to face Emmrich, the ghost of a grin dancing at the edge of his mouth. Before he could even respond, however, a familiar voice pierced his ears in a frantic, breathless tone.

"Lucanis!"

Recognizing that voice as Rooks, he turned to face them, his brow lifting in confusion at the sudden crying of his name. But no sooner than he had opened his mouth to speak did he feel their arms wrap around him; the sensation of their warm body pressing quickly against his, causing a flush to spread up his neck as one hand cradled his head in place against them while the other gripped almost desperately at his back. It would have been enough to give him pause to be embraced in any situation. He was unused to such contact, and certainly so unexpectedly. However, it was the instant realization that his head had been buried in their chest that caused him the most distress.

"Lucanis, don't scare me like that! Do you know how worried I was when you charged off like that? You could have been hurt!" Rook cried out frenetically, the worry in their voice practically seeping out physically from every word spoken.

Perhaps he might have reassured them, or reprimanded them, or anything at all, if he could will himself to focus on something other than the way their voice seemed to vibrate in their chest and against his face, the feeling very near to pleasant. He cursed himself at the way his mind was becoming less and less capable of proper thought as their skin seemed to sear his own; their soft, tender flesh pressing ever so delightfully to his motionless body.

He felt his throat tighten the more aware he became of just how close they were. He could feel their heart pounding; hear it thrumming madly in their ribs. He could feel the tremors climbing up throughout their entire body in their state of near delirium as they kept him flush against their person, their legs practically locking with his. He could only imagine his heart had started beating exponentially quicker as well, though for reasons quite far removed from the qunari that was holding him in a firm yet gentle grip.

"Honestly! Do you need to be so reckless? I can only heal so much! What would have happened if that thing had been faster?" They very nearly started sobbing as their hold on him tightened.

Lucanis gritted his teeth at the increased contact of their breasts against his face. He knew if Rook was paying even the slightest attention that they would feel the way his skin was burning at their touch; how his ribs felt as if they might burst open under the force of his racing heart beat and the pressure of his caged torso brought flush to theirs. They might even have heard it as much as felt it.

"Now now, dear. You'll suffocate the poor boy. Then he won't need to worry about undead anymore, will he?" Emmrich finally seemed to speak up after what seemed like an eternity.

Rook cast a quick glance towards the elder mage, momentarily caught off guard before suddenly seeming to understand. With a gasp, they released Lucanis with a swift and ginger motion, now using their free hands to cover their mouth in what could be interpreted as concern or embarrassment. Or both.

"Lucanis, I-I'm so sorry! I hadn't meant-"

"I-it's fine." He cut them off abruptly, turning away from them as he rubbed at his increasingly sore neck. He hoped they wouldn't notice the blush that travelled from his neck, to his face, to the very tips of his ears.

They took a small step towards him, the expression they wore looking almost guilty. "Really, I am sorry. I just... I was so worried when you rushed off like that, I really just-"

"It's nothing, let's just keep going." He interrupted again, attempting to keep his face from view. He was ready to be anywhere that wasn't under Rooks doe-eyed gaze... Or scrutiny.

"Rook?" Emmrich chimed in once again, "Perhaps you might make sure our fetid guests are as dead as they appear?" He suggested gently to the obviously shaken qunari before throwing Lucanis a very quick look.

"I..." They seemed to hesitate, their eyes darting from the assassin, to the corpses, then to Emmrich.

The necromancer gave a reassuring smile. "I believe he'll manage just fine, dear."

Another few moments passed in silence before Rook nodded in acknowledgement, taking out a small dagger as they made their way to the corpses and leaving the two men to themselves. Lucanis breathed a small sigh, his shoulders slouching slightly as if some weight had been lifted from him. When he heard a faint chuckle fall from the necromancers lips, he whipped his head to the direction of the elder man that seemed more amused than Lucanis thought he had a right to be.

"What." He grumbled. The word was spoken less like a question and more like an accusation.

"I might have confused you for a beet if not for the leather." Emmrich said in a somewhat hushed tone, not even attempting to hide the humor he found in all this.

Lucanis frowned and tugged at his shirt collar, his eyes narrowing only slightly. "A lack of oxygen, nothing more."

Emmrichs grin widened at that, the man turning on his heel as he started a steady stride forward. "Why, my good assassin, I would never think to imply otherwise!"

And with that, he made his way. The Crow stood there for a moment, catching his breath. Both figuratively and literally. He had lived through training that others had been known to break from. His life had been in more danger than he would even care to count. But in all of his life, he could never recall a time where he had been so utterly... Coddled. It was foreign. Unnecessary.

Rook fawned and worried after him far too much, and certainly far more than was warranted. Yet, he could not shake that tightening in his chest when they called out his name when worried. How their hands felt on his skin when they mended the cuts and bruises on his own. They their eyes seem to soften as they looked over his every wound, treating them with the utmost tenderness and care; treating him that way.

It was unnecessary, yes... But it was not wholly unpleasant. He could admit that his heart would skip a beat when they laid their hand on his back to soothe the salves into his flesh. How his breath would hitch if their hand brushed his at the table. How they would dawn that sweet, sweet smile as they apologized if they had made him uncomfortable.

How could they? The very thought was enough to illicit a scoff. No one had ever been so outwardly concerned or so patient. For him. No, they could never make him uncomfortable. Uncertain? Possibly. Embarrassed? Certainly. But never comfortable. Not when they were the only one who knew how to bring him comfort.

But he needed to focus. There was still a job left to be done, and he was never one to leave a job left unfinished. And all that besides, he would still need to calm himself down once they returned to base... Maybe with a cold bath.

And still, even as they pressed on, he doubted he would find himself able to think of much else for some time yet.

[tabitha42]

The Wizard's Apprentice - Chapter 21

Saffron is just a lowly apprentice with barely a successful firebolt to her name. So what chance does she have with the arch mage she's slowly falling in love with?

Gale x Tav, slow burn, eventual smut

Chapter 1 Previous chapter Next chapter

Gale had never been a morning person, and he was especially not a morning person when nursing the world’s worst hangover. 

By the time he finally emerged from his tent the camp was a buzz of activity. The tieflings were helping clear up after the party and Wyll was cooking breakfast at the campfire. 

“Ah, there you are,” Wyll greeted him, taking some cooked meat and putting it on a plate. “Thought you’d never wake up.” 

Gale blearily walked over and sat next to him, rubbing his eyes. Gradually his mind started to piece itself back together as he ate. 

“Where are the others?” he asked, finally realising he couldn’t see any of their other companions around. 

“The ladies decided to go bathe in the spring just down river, which I thought might be a good idea for us, too. Might even help wake you up.” 

Gale nodded slowly. 

“And Astarion?”

“I have no idea. Off doing… Astarion things.” 

Astarion still hadn’t returned from his Astarion things by the time they’d finished breakfast, so they headed to the spring without him. They bought a towel each, a fresh change of clothes as well as a handful of dirty clothes to wash while they were there. They found a spot far from where they knew the girls likely were and got undressed. 

Wyll had been absolutely right - the water certainly did wake him up. 

“Gods, nothing like a shock of cold water to really stimulate one’s senses,” Gale commented with a wince as he stepped into the brisk water. Wyll was already waist deep, much more used to this sort of living than Gale was. 

“Feeling a bit better?” he asked with a chuckle as Gale waded in to join him. 

“Better is… not the word I’d use,” he admitted. “I swear this was warmer last time I bathed.” “It’s that morning air. Crisp and fresh.” 

“Mmm…” Gale murmured, unable to have quite the same enthusiasm for it that Wyll did. Still, he decided to try to focus on the one positive of all this. “You seem to be in better spirits than yesterday.” 

“Ah, yes. Well. I’ll admit, for most of the party, I felt rather… out of place. As much as Karlach was right and the tieflings did accept me, I still didn’t feel myself. When she went to dance I took the opportunity to excuse myself. But I should have known Karlach wouldn’t leave it at that. She came and found me. When I refused to return to the party, she refused to leave me. We spent a long time just talking. About all sorts - our adventures, our childhoods, our hopes for the future. Then we heard Alfira playing her new song. It was distant and muffled, but we could hear it. She knew I love to dance, so she offered to dance with me. Not a full dance, of course, but as much as we could without touching. I’ll admit - it worked. By the end of it I finally found myself smiling. And I daresay, had I been able to touch her, the night might have ended up in more than just a dance.” 

Gale chuckled softly, glad to see Wyll starting to feel like himself again. He could relate. 

“Amazing what having the right person around can do for you, isn’t it?” he mused, taking some soap out of his bag and starting to wash himself. 

“It truly is. I used to curse the name Karlach, now I could sing it from the rooftops. The only thing I curse now is Zariel and what she did to her. That damnable infernal engine… I am honestly amazed at how she keeps so positive all the time. But she is sure Dammon will be able to cure her. And, well, she has made it quite clear what she wants when that time finally comes.” 

Gale chuckled, amused by the smirk on Wyll’s lips. 

“I won’t ask for details,” he joked. 

“Heh, if I’m honest, I’m not sure I’m ready for all she’s got planned. But still… I wish we could do something. A hug, a stolen kiss under the stars… but it will make it all the sweeter when our time finally comes.” 

Gale had to admit, that was a nice way to think about it. He hoped they would all find the cures they needed, and all have their time finally come. 

“Anyway, enough about me,” Wyll decided after a moment. “What about you? Did Saff finally convince you to dance?” 

“Ah… yes, she did. To the same song as you, in fact,” he said, a smile playing on his lips from the memories of the night. “Oh? And how’d it go?” he asked with an excited smirk. He clearly was expecting more than what actually happened between them. 

“Well… we were dancing, and it was lovely, and then… I was a lot more drunk than I thought I was, and fell over.” 

Wyll burst out laughing. 

“Oh gods, Gale. Don’t tell me you let that be the end of it, though? I’m sure she didn’t hold it against you.” 

“You’re right, she didn’t. But…” he trailed off and looked away slightly. Wyll looked at him, at first in curiosity, then in concern when he saw the pained look on Gale’s face.

“Gale? Are you alright?” he asked, growing worried for his friend. Gale had been hesitant to tell anyone just yet… but he knew he could trust Wyll with this. 

“I… haven’t told her this yet. But the truth is… you and I are in much the same boat.” Wyll frowned, deeply confused. 

“What do you mean?” he asked, trying to figure it out. Gale sighed deeply. 

“This,” he said, tapping the circle on his chest. “It isn’t just magic it reacts to. It reacts to me. To… my emotions.” 

Gradually Wyll’s eyes started to widen in realisation. 

“I hadn’t been sure about it at first,” Gale continued. “But I’m sure of it now. Whenever the two of us are close… it flares up. Everyone thought I fell last night because of alcohol. It wasn’t. It was this.” 

There was a moment of quiet as Wyll looked at him sadly, realising how much his condition truly affects him.

“Well well, look at you two. Cockblocked by the universe.” 

The two of them nearly jumped out of their skins as Astarion seemed to appear out of nowhere next to them. 

“A truly tragic tale,” he continued casually. 

“Where did you come from??” Gale gasped, equal parts surprised and annoyed. 

“Oh, I had been getting some food earlier. After how busy last night was I didn’t get a chance to get a proper meal. Then when I got back I heard you two had come down here, so I thought I’d join you.” 

Gale and Wyll glanced at each other, then back at Astarion, who was now looking at them with a smirk on his lips. 

“I had a wonderful night by the way, if anyone’s interested.” 

“Did you?” Wyll asked, curious now. “Who with?” 

“Oh…” Astarion started, looking at them playfully. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

Further downstream, the girls were enjoying a much warmer bath, courtesy of Karlach. 

“Ahh, this is the life!” Karlach declared happily, stretching her arms and leaning back against a rock. While the others were busy washing or cleaning their clothes, she was relaxing as if on a spa day. 

“You really enjoy bathing in rivers that much?” Shadowheart asked. She couldn’t say she shared the same love for it. 

“Yes! Never got the chance in the Hells. The rivers there were all boiling and stank of sulphur. But this… cool, clean water… I’d forgotten how good it felt!” 

Saff smiled to herself. It was so nice to see Karlach enjoying herself so much. Shadowheart shrugged slightly and went back to what she was doing, til she spoke again shortly later. 

“So, did you find Wyll last night after you went off looking for him?” 

“Yes! He didn’t want to come back to the party, but we still had a good time together,” she said with a big smile, reminiscing. Shadowheart narrowed her eyes slightly as she looked at Karlach. 

“Had anyone else said that I would assume you’d slept together, but with you I know that can’t be the case…” 

“Ugh, don’t remind me! I can’t wait til I can get this thing fixed. Then I have so many plans.” 

Now Shadowheart’s interest was really piqued. 

“Oh? Do we get to hear them?” she asked curiously, but Karlach only laughed. 

“No, those are for Wyll’s ears only. I’ll only tell you the first one - I want to share a dance with him.” 

Shadowheart looked marginally disappointed, while Saff looked more interested now.

“That’s so romantic,” she said softly, finding it sweet that that was one of the first things Karlach wanted to do. 

“Well, I hope he’s a better dancer than a certain other male companion of ours,” Shadowheart teased. Karlach lifted her head now and looked curiously at Saff, who looked slightly annoyed at Shadowheart. 

“Gale’s a perfectly good dancer!” she said defensively. 

“He fell over.” 

“He... was drunk,” she tried to argue in Gale’s defence, though didn’t do very well. Karlach started laughing, and finally even Lae’zel, who had previously been ignoring the conversation, joined in. 

“He fell over??” she asked, looking a bit disgusted. “Ch’k, any man who fell over while trying to court me would quickly learn of his failure.” 

“He wasn’t-... it wasn’t like that…” Saff stuttered, though all three of them gave her a disbelieving look. 

“Wasn’t it?” Shadowheart challenged. Saff didn’t answer, and just looked down to focus on the clothes she was washing. “You know, I’m surprised it’s taken you two this long. You’re both clearly interested in each other. So act on it.” 

Saff sighed, realising there was no point trying to pretend there wasn’t anything between them anymore.

“We are acting on it,” she insisted, trying to hide the slight blush on her cheeks. Shadowheart raised an eyebrow at her. 

“Half a dance is acting on it?” She said, a criticism more than a question. “Yes! It’s only been a few days!” Saff said defensively. “Plenty of time,” Lae’zel declared. Saff was beginning to feel a bit ganged up on. 

“Well, I want to take things slow, ok?” she said, hoping that would be explanation enough.

“Why?” Lae’zel asked. Saff might have got annoyed, but it didn’t sound like a tease like it would have done from Shadowheart - it was a genuine question.

“Well… sometimes if you take things too fast, that can ruin the relationship. I don’t want that.” 

“Why would it ruin the relationship?” she pressed. Her genuinely questioning tone reminded the others just how alien she really was to their world. 

“Because… you might end up in a relationship with someone you don’t really know yet. And they could turn out to not be the person you thought they were.” 

“Not the person you thought they were? Like someone in disguise?”

“No- no…” Saff said quickly, to the amusement of Shadowheart and Karlach. “I don’t mean literally, I mean, you might have this idea of them in your mind, of what they’re like. But then the more you get to know them, you realise they’re not like that at all, and that you’ve not actually fallen for them, but you’ve fallen for this idea you had of them that isn’t actually real.”

Lae’zel nodded slowly, beginning to understand. 

“Do you fear this is the case with Gale?” 

“Well, no… but I want to be sure,” she explained. It looked like Lae’zel was finally getting it, until she spoke again. 

“I still don’t see why this has to delay sex.” 

Saff despaired and buried her head in her hands. The other two laughed and Karlach finally sat up to give her input. 

“Some people don’t like having sex with someone unless they love them,” she said simply. Lae’zel looked almost disgusted by the suggestion.

“How ridiculous. You would miss out on so much of one of life’s greatest pleasures.” 

“I never thought I’d say this, but I agree with Lae’zel,” Shadowheart said, to Lae’zel’s surprise. “Short-term amusements are much better.” 

“Well, you guys can stick with your short-term amusements, I know what I want,” Saff said firmly. 

“Good for you, Saff,” Karlach said proudly. “You take as much time as you need, and don’t let these two tell you otherwise,” she said, gesturing to Lae’zel and Shadowheart. 

Lae’zel rolled her eyes. 

“How can you be sure you’re not wasting your time? You do not even know if he’s interested if you don’t make your desires clear,” she questioned. 

“Well… that’s all part of taking your time about it, to be sure you know they feel the same way. But I’m sure he’s interested. There’s been lots of times when we’ve been really close, way closer than just friends would.” 

“And those times have never led to anything?” 

“No. Usually either we get interrupted, or… he changes the subject or something, cause like I said, we’re taking it slow.” 

Lae’zel gave her a look. 

“How do you know he’s not changing the subject because he’s not interested?” she challenged. 

“Wha- I… I’m sure that’s not the case,” Saff said, though sounding rather more uncertain than before. It never took much to sow the seed of doubt in her mind. 

“You should strike while the iron is hot,” Lae’zel insisted. “Make sure he knows your desires, before he loses interest!” 

“I don’t think he’s going to lose interest,” Karlach started, “but I guess there’s no harm in making sure he knows how you feel.” 

“Karlach’s right. Plus, a small gesture to keep him on his toes can always be fun,” Shadowheart agreed. 

“You think? Like… what?” Saff asked, a bit unsure what she could do. 

“Pin him down and ravish him until he is so overcome by arousal he cannot refuse you your desires!” Lae’zel declared.

The others went silent, looking at her in shock. 

“...I was going to suggest a picnic,” Karlach said after a long moment. “But… I suppose that works, too.” 

“I’ll bear the picnic idea in mind,” Saff decided.

[thedeafprophet]

If you don't mind me asking, who were your tes ocs?

Ah im being visited by the ghost of Hyperfixations past. I'm giving a warning that the art here is older, some more so then others.

SO I had a few characters.

behold: old pinterest boards [this is not all of them lol]

But my main oc who I've had since i was like 13 is Eliana. She's changed a lot over the years. I was, suffice to say, pretty obsessed with her for quite awhile.

She was my main PC for Skyrim, and she primarily did the Dragonborn stuff alongside Dawnguard and the like [i split up the different plotlines among different characters]. She's a battlemage, uses a combination of fire magic and sword work, and tends to wear more lighter armor for dexeterity based moves. Originally from Hammerfell, she came to Skyrim on a rather personal mission before, yknow, all hells broke loose and oh boy! Suddenly you're expected to save the world and also you're not entierly mortal, have fun with that.

(Also fun fact, while obviouslly not by name in universe, she has type 2 waardenburg syndrome, which is why her eyes are discoloured + has hearing loss)

El's generally a pretty friendly and sweet girl, but she very much tends to get caught up in her own head, and struggles a lot with the balance between power and responbility, and uh, quite a lot of ptsd and stress by the end of it. theres a lot more but uh, we would be here forever lmao.

and uh. i guess ill give a brief overview of the others under the cut. I had vague ideas of a lot of them exisiting in the timeline and their interactions overlapping.

Laymus is an imperial who originally grew up on a farm with a lot of siblings. He struck out on his own in hopes of taking a stronger control of his own life, and because there wasn't really much for him there. Primarily a hunter, Laymus had an unfortunate encounter with a werewolf... which, left a substiantial impact on his being. He specializes in archery and fighting from a distance... at least, most of the time. [yea he's a werewolf lol. i was gonna do the companions quest with him but never got around to it. i usually play as him when im playing with survival mods, its very fun. he was also one of my earliest forays into having a transmasc oc ]

Faelynn is a bosmer, but was actually raised in Cyrodiil by her adoptive father, who ran a tavern there. She is considerbly older then some of my other characters, and long since outliver her human parent. She had a fascination in poisons from a young age, and after an... incident, became far more invested in them. She is the character I play through the dark brotherhood with, specializes in daggers and poison, alongside alchemy.

Erion is an aldermi character of mine, someone who's family has ties to the thalmor, an area of which he does not connect to. He has a rather.... unfortunately complicated history with his family, that was made all the more interesting by an encounter with Nocturnal at a young age...

He focuses on shadowy skills, a master of sneaking and not being seen when he doesn't want to be. He is the one i do the thieves guild questline with.

Adra is a dunmer, and grew up with a particularly strong set of daedra worshippers, which, suffice to say, has some complications with her background. She vaguely remembers her mother, but has little concept of who her father could even have been. She struggles a lot with self esteem and has a tendancy towards jealousy of those she percieves as doing better then her.

She specializes as a mage, primarily in destruction magic, with a knack for electricity and lightning. She is a student at the college of winterhold.

and that covers the main ones! Or, at least the ones i play the game with anyway. Honourable mentions are Valia and Ashanta, who are Eliana's mothers.

These two met during the battles between Hammerfell and the Aldmeri Dominion, of which Ashanta was a warrior on Hammerfell's side, and Valia was a healer of whom defected, their paths crossing. Its quite a tale in and off itself!

Valia died prior to the start of skyrim.......... the aldmeri are particularly kind to defectors, we shall say.

And then i have a few others. Anja is a nord background character concept I made, who runs a bakery in Riverwood [inspired by me learning about the history of bread making and the important of a baker in a town]. She also ends up adopting some of the orphans in the game lol. Allian is my oblivion character who wasnt ever super developed, i should get back to that... he's an imperial, and is actually Laymus' uncle.

I'm pretty sure I have a few more somewhere but uh. yea! thats the base up of it. hope you were prepared for my great overview XD XD

[purplecatghostposts]

I think all the Spell Caster Companions should have like, a mini, petty rivalry over who is the better spell caster, but mostly just to tease each other.

It starts with Gale making an off handed remark about Clerics but when he gets targeted later during a fight and nearly goes down, Shadowheart looms over him like, “What’s wrong, Wizard? Can’t heal yourself with those spells of yours?”

Then a day or so later when the whole group is surrounded by enemies, Gale casts Fireball, taking out the enemies but leaving everyone else unharmed, then shoots a cheeky grin at Shadowheart like, “My apologies, were you going to call down some divine magic just then?”

They’re at it for a while, constantly going back and forth, then one day they’re both tired and ended up spending all their spell slots up early in the day due to some tough fights but Wyll walks up after just having gotten his back and casually is like, “Imagine not getting all your spell slots back after an hour of rest. Couldn’t be me. I guess I’ll have to do the heavy lifting today while you two stick to Cantrips :)” and is promptly added to the ‘Spell Caster v Spell Caster’ war.

And from then on it’s just like:

Gale: Ah, Wyll! Can’t cast Fireball without possibly scorching one of our dear friend’s eyebrows off in the process, eh?

Wyll: I admit I cannot, but at least I can cast Mage Armor without expending a Spell Slot and I have the best Darkvision in the camp, able to see through both magical and non-magical darkness. Can your spells do that?

Or:

Gale: Not many ranged spells, hm? Firebolt is one of your best options, and it’s a Wizard spell.

Shadowheart: You really shouldn’t pick a fight with the one person you depend on to bring you back from the dead and heal your bruises.

Or:

Shadowheart: Out of spell slots again, Wyll? I suppose it’s good you have that little Eldritch Blast Cantrip.

Wyll: You’re just jealous I can speak to Scratch and any other animal my heart desires while you can only watch.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

Not me thinking about how Brennan gets hit with Dorian going back to Tevinter and Ena dying in rapid succession. But what I actually came to ask is does Ena ask him to take care of Esti because she knows her sister's gonna be a mess?

“Dorian,” Ena says. “I need your help.”

“Of course,” Dorian says. “What ever would you do without me?”

The corner of Ena’s mouth twitches. She holds her left hand with her right, her thumb pressing into the center of her palm where the Anchor resides. “I need you to find Brennan, and get him away from Esti in a way that she won’t follow.”

“Oh, is that all?” Dorian asks. “That will be–”

“And I need you to bring him back to me in a timely manner,” Ena interrupts. “I need to talk to him. And you. Without Esti around.”

“You’re making this much less fun,” Dorian says.

“Dorian,” Ena says. “Please.” 

Her voice hitches on the single word.

“All right,” Dorian says, his manner snapping back to sober. “I’ll get him.”

-

Ena drags them all the way down to the pantry off of the least-used kitchen. Cole is waiting there, like Ena asked him to clear the kitchen, or perhaps to find her a location already cleared. “This doesn’t - ah!” She winces and flexes her left hand as it flashes green for a moment. “This doesn’t leave this room.”

“Are you sure that’s all right?” Dorian asks.

“It’s fine,” Ena says.

Cole, sitting on a table next to a few cheese wheels, swinging his legs, staring at the floor, suddenly looks up at her.

“It was glowing like - like you’re closing a rift with it,” Brennan says, “but when nothing is happening.” In the quiet, he swears he can hear it. Not a steady hum, but an erratic crackling like a distant fire, and then it pops—

The bright green light flares for a moment again. Ena hisses softly.

“It hurts,” Cole says. “You brought them here because it isn’t fine.”

Ena stares down at her hand. Curls it into a fist. “Right,” she says. “Actually, I’m dying.” 

“This isn’t all that funny,” Dorian says, his voice hardening to a cold edge because it can’t - it has to be—

“The anchor has been doing this for a while,” Ena says. “And getting worse. And now with the Crossroads, all the magic there, it’s getting–” She curls her hand into a fist. It’s shaking. “It’s going to kill me. Sooner.”

“How - how long is ‘a while’?” Brennan asks. It can’t - it can’t be as bad as she’s saying. It can’t. Someone would’ve noticed. He would’ve - he would’ve seen something. Esti would’ve. And Ena - she’s at the training grounds less, but there’s not a war. She doesn’t do her hair like she used to, with the braid, Esti remarked on that once, but that’s - she needs her hand to braid - to swing a sword - that can’t—

“Months,” Ena says. 

“And you didn’t–”

“You should have said something!” Dorian says. “To me, if no one else!”

Brennan doesn’t know what he should take this remark to mean.

“So you could do what?” Ena spreads her hands. They’re both shaking. “Dorian,” she says, softer now, “there’s nothing you could have done. We don’t know anything about this magic, even now.”

Dorian laughs. It’s sour, and ugly, and bitter, and curdles in the pit of Brennan’s stomach. “Solas does,” Dorain says, and the sneer wraps itself all around the words.

“Well,” Ena says, and her expression has gone still, her eyes forced just a little too wide like if she blinks she’ll cry, “he’s not here, is he.”

Brennan remembers all the times he went down to the rotunda with questions for Solas. He’d always thought that Solas had been so patient with him, the human who’s not even a mage, blundering in trying to understand something so far beyond him. All the times he went down to the rotunda and Ena was already there with questions of her own. Or her books, or Inquisition correspondence and reports, laid out on the floor around her while Solas worked on his frescos, the two of them separate in a companionable silence. And Brennan remembers talking to Solas - after - and how even if the conversation never veered anywhere close to Ena, or wasn’t a conversation about anything at all but just a passing hello, sadness still hung heavy over him.

Either he was the world’s greatest actor, greatest liar, or - what? Or what?

Two years and it’s never made sense. Brennan hasn’t even had half an answer. Ena said once she thinks he must be an ancient elf like those at the Temple of Mythal, but that still doesn’t answer the biggest why. 

Brennan wishes that Dorian hadn’t brought up his name. Ena knows as well as he does that Solas was the only one who could ever have claimed to understand the mark.

He left and now she’s going to die.

“I’m not asking you to try and fix this,” Ena says. “Or even - Tevinter doesn’t deserve you, Dorian, but it needs you. Brennan, go where you will, wherever your heart takes you. I just need you to - to look after Esti. When I’m gone. Whatever else you have to do, promise - promise me you’ll make sure she’s okay before you leave.”

“Of course,” Dorian says softly. Ena smiles sadly, curling her left hand up against her stomach and reaching out and squeezing Dorian’s hand with her right. 

Brennan chokes out a sound like a goat. Then he tries again. “Yeah,” he manages. His head spins. He needs to sit down but if he moves he might just collapse. “Yeah, I promise. But I - if you’re not going to tell her - I don’t think—”

“She’ll find out,” Ena says. “Soon. I’m sure.”

She isn’t asking him to hide it. She doesn’t think she can hide it. She just knows that Esti chafes when she thinks Ena is treating her like a child, but Ena - Ena wants to protect her. Even now. Even after. Make sure Esti’s okay. Make sure Esti doesn’t know how Ena worries. Even now.

“A hammering heartbeat, not yours, louder in the last verse,” Cole says. “Your heart howling through crossroads, closer and calling for you, your hunt almost at its end.”

Brennan doesn’t know what all of that means, but it doesn’t sound very good. Too much of it sounds final. Last verse. The end of the hunt. He really needs to sit down.

“I won’t get any sappier on you now, don’t worry,” Ena is saying to Dorian, and Brennan doesn’t know if he missed words in between. “Heavens forbid. Sooner isn’t now.” She lets go of his hand. “I’ll wax poetic about your virtues once I’m on my deathbed and not before.”

“Oh, well, if you want to sing my praises and tell me how I’ve carried this Inquisition as far as it’s come, by all means—”

“Later!” Ena says brightly, but Brennan can hear where her chipper tone is forced. He’s known her long enough to pick up on that. “For now, I must go speak with Cullen again, and I—” She stops in the doorway. Cole slides off the table. “I know you would,” she says. “Even if I didn’t make you promise. But I - thank you.”

Then before either of them can say anything in turn, she is gone, with Cole trailing after her like a shadow. Silence falls. The crackle of the anchor fades. A door closes across the kitchen. Dorian lets out his breath in a shuddering sigh. Brennan lets his body give up, sinks to the floor, and puts his head in his hands.

[sundogsandrainbows]

STORY SUMMARY: Trust is a delicate flower that needs to get nurtured and time to grow. Even more so love. A tale of two disparate Wardens forced together, of finding a way to overcome the distrust, and their own painful past in the time of the Blight. Very in-depth, character-focused exploration of the Dalish origin/warden, of all DA:O companions, and their relationship dynamics during the Fifth Blight. Follows and expands on canon events; AU in some ways. Multiple POV's, origins, and pairings. Slow burn af.

CHAPTER SUMMARY -- CHASING ECHOES: Back on the road, Zevran has to find his own amusement to liven up the dreadful days of walking toward their new destination. But he gets more excitement than he'd bargained for when some ghosts of the not so distanced past start to appear in front of the Wardens, and a secret is revealed.

CHAPTER EXCERPT:

[...] The Wardens, of course, both stuck together at the front like glue, as they always did these days. Even when not talking they were in sync with their steps, despite the Dalish being more light-footed in the snow than the human stomping through it. Come to think of it, they’d been insufferably inseparable ever since he’d joined their merry band to escape the Crow’s retribution, actually. They were just not aware of such, back then. 

That strong bond between both Wardens was all the more apparent since their latest return from Orzammar and their private talk together that night. Ah to have been a fly at the proverbial wall there during it to understand what caused it, but alas. However, the dear Warden hadn’t realized that shift in her attitude toward Alistair yet, nor her feelings. Amusing, that. Unsurprisingly, Lenya also wasn’t at all receptive to his usual attempts of flirting or teasing, which probably was for the best as he already came too close to her flame. No reason to burn just because it was so bloody cold, no? 

Alas, this made the dear Warden not less interesting. Ah, to be able to gaze behind her prickly veneer and experience her fierce protectiveness instead of constantly being subjected to it when teasing Alistair would still be so worth it, indeed. He’d expect nothing more of her, always acting on the principle of reciprocation in interpersonal matters. Since there was nothing more loathsome than one person feeling entitled to another’s attention or time just because they shared the same vicinity or group. Progress with the dear Warden was glacial at best anyway, but there , so given enough time maybe – ah here he flew again too close, all too ready to burn, tsk . Zevran shook himself. Perhaps it would be better to fall back a little in their group instead to stare at her – admittedly very lovely and lean-muscular – back. Wearing lighter travel leather instead of her usual, more sturdy Warden armor,

Lenya would only leave Alistair’s side to periodically scout ahead with her mabari in tow. Either looking for impending danger, game to kill or a suitable place to camp the night, such as clearings or crevices of valleys in the hilly areas that started to come into view more often now. Before this it had been flat terrain only, leading along the last vestiges of that enormous mage lake that was curiously not frozen over. Still all in the same monochrome white, the snow as its pesky, sticky blanket. [...]

[CONTINUE READING] ||[READ FROM THE BEGINNING]

[atlasthegreatest]

Friends...? Friends. / Lucy Heartfilia

After a long and exhausting night, Lucy finds herself walking towards her house when an explosion occurs. But when she went to help, she only ended up getting a house destroyed, and a lot fewer coins in her purse. Now, she has a grumpy fairy using her as a home until she rebuilds what she has blown up.

Word count: 4781

A/n: Sorry for the delay. I forgot to post this after I finished editing.

A girl could be seen walking through the streets of Magnolia City while staring at the stars shining in the dark sky.

But you may be asking yourselves: “But what is a girl doing walking down the street at night?” Well, the girl was none other than Lucy Heartfilia. Heiress of the Heartfilia Family, and more importantly, member of the most troublemaker guild in all of Fiore – Fairy Tail.

The celestial mage and her team of friends had just arrived from a four-day long search and when they arrived they were immediately greeted with a welcoming party at the guild. After spending hours eating, drinking, and chatting, the tiredness of the four days of searching finally took hold in Lucy. Although part of her wanted to stay and enjoy the big party her friends threw to celebrate their arrival, there was another part that wanted to go home as quickly as possible and throw herself in her bed, which, without a doubt, I would be comfortable now. So, saying goodbye to the girls – Levy, Mirajane, Cana, and Juvia – who she was talking to in the middle of all that confusion, she headed towards the exit of the guild, leaving behind an Erza readying one of her swords and a Natsu and Gray running to get away from the scarlet girl.

And now here she was, walking along the sidewalk under the light of the streetlights and stars, accompanied by Plue – her celestial companion, who walked in front of her pointing one of his trembling little fingers at the stars, turning to face the bearer of his key in astonishment. Making Lucy laugh. “The sky is very beautiful, isn't it Plue? Ah– I'm so tired! I guess that's to be expected after having opened three portals at the same time, huh? Now I just want to fall into bed and sleep until I can't sleep anymore.” The mage says, stretching her arms upwards. But just as she raised a hand to stop the yawn that escaped her mouth, an explosion occurred, causing her and Plue to be thrown back by the force of the explosion.

The blonde girl took the little being in her arms to protect him from the pieces of concrete that were flying towards them. Breaking the fall with her back, Lucy let out a grunt as she felt the rocks from the road slightly pierce her.

"What the-" The celestial mage exclaimed as she dropped to her knees as a second explosion occurred, causing her to raise an arm to shield her eyes from the flying debris, creating a large cloud of dust that settled across the entire room. area. Plue disappeared in a puff from his companion's arms and returned to the celestial world in fright.

Rising to her feet, Lucy coughed into her closed fist as she tried to find with her eyes where the explosions had come from, when she spotted a figure limping out of the cloud of dust. Ignoring her discomfort from the fall, she quickly got ready to help that person as soon as she saw him weaken to the side.

"Hey! Everything is fine with you?" The blonde mage asked worriedly, arriving just in time to support the person's body by the shoulders before they could fall to the ground. “Please ignore what I just said. That was stupid to ask.” She says correcting herself when she noticed the state of her clothes and how she had open wounds from her face to the rest of her body, noticing that the person really wasn't in a good state. " What happened? What caused the explosion Oh–” Lucy was cut off when the person abruptly pulled away from her as if her touch had burned him.

“I didn’t ask for your help.” The person says shortly, limping away from Lucy, getting further and further away. “I have to get out of here.”

“Oh? Hey-- Hey! Wait!" Lucy says running after the person who looked like he was going to fall at any moment. “You are in no condition to walk! You just came out of the middle of an explosion with multiple wounds and you’re limping!” She says trying to get their attention, but they still seemed to ignore what she was saying and continued limping away from there.

“Hey, don’t ignore me! I’m just trying to help you!” Lucy said, hurrying up her steps and going to touch the person's shoulder to make them stop, when a movement on the other side of the street caught their attention. In a quick movement, Lucy grabbed the tall person's arm and threw herself to the ground to dodge the magic attack that narrowly missed their heads.

When Lucy raised her head to see where that attack came from, she came across a group of six mages and could hear the person beneath her let out an expletive. " Do you know them?" She asked as she observed the group. They also carried wounds on some parts of their bodies. Which made her deduce that they were the ones who caused all that destruction. Discreetly moving her hand to the small bag that was at her waist, the mage waited for their reaction to use one of her keys.

“Did you think you were going to run away from us? After what did you do to our guild?” Says the wizard – who the blonde mage deduced to be the leader – as her hand glowed, indicating that he was ready to use another attack.

“I did nothing more than you deserve.” Says the person as they awkwardly stands up. “Looks like you guys didn’t learn it the first time, huh?” The person says, taking a deep breath as they rests their entire body weight on their left leg and cracks their neck.

Without giving a warning, they extended a hand, causing a circle of dark green magic to appear in their palm, activating their magic.

Lucy could feel the entire asphalt tremble beneath her feet, and she quickly dodged to the side as a section of the asphalt broke free and was thrown towards the six mages, hitting one of them brutally.

“If you want to help, I think now would be a good time to do so.” Says the person in a strained voice as they failed to dodge the attacks that were thrown towards them.

Lucy wasted no time in reaching into the small pouch at her waist and pulling out the first celestial key she touched. Seeing the celestial key she took out, she couldn't stop the shiver from running up her spine. Looking at the river on the other side, Lucy knew what she had to do. “Open the Water Bearer’s Gate! Aquarius!"

“How many times have I told you about summoning me when I'm on a date with my boyfriend, you brat?” Says the celestial spirit with long blue hair that was summoned. “What’s more, in water that isn’t clean at all! What do you think I am?” Says the mermaid, shooting the magician, causing the blonde's body to tense in fear.

“Sorry to interrupt your date, ma’am! But now I need your help with those bad guys!” Lucy pointed towards the battle between the wizards and the strange wizard.

“Tsk. Let this be the last time you interrupt my free time.” Aquarius says with a frown. Picking up her urn, she sucked up the water from the river and launched a tsunami towards where the mages were fighting, not caring who it hit or what. " Get out of my sight"

“Huh?” The strange wizard was confused when the attacks stopped coming towards him and he saw his attackers looking at something behind him. Looking over his shoulder, what little air was in his lungs escaped completely when he saw the large wave of water coming towards them. “What the-” They barely got to speak when the large wave crashed into his body.

“oh.” Lucy stared at the destruction that Aquarius' attack caused without any reaction. The debris the explosions caused seemed nothing compared to the damage the celestial spirit caused. The water not only swallowed the six wizards and the strange wizard, but also destroyed some houses that were nearby. “There was no need to cause so much destruction! Was it necessary to exaggerate so much?” She says, glaring at the mermaid and then scanning the entire area to try to find the strange wizard who was injured.

“I offer my help and this is how you thank me?” Aquarius snorted indignantly. " Tsk. What an ungrateful girl. Don’t count on my help next time, brat.” With that said, she disappeared, leaving destruction and an indignant blonde behind.

Leaving her indignation at the celestial spirit behind, Lucy went after the injured wizard. Arriving close to the wreckage and stepping over the unconscious mages, she found the stranger with his back against a large piece of asphalt, unconscious as well. "Hey. You need to get up. We need to get out of here.” She says while lightly slapping the stranger in the face. Lowering her head, she pressed her ear against their chest, and the next thing she knew, there was still a pulse. Then she brought her hands together and pressed them in the middle of her chest and began to push, without forgetting to make mouth-to-mouth movements. She did that for a good few minutes until the wizard suddenly stood up, coughing out a large amount of water and then falling on his side in a daze.

"That’s it." Lucy says as she runs her hand down their backs. “Let it all out.” But when she heard murmurs, she moved closer so she could hear better.

“–My house… My... house… what did you do with it…” Their eyes rolled back behind their eyelids, fainting again.

Lucy cringed when she realized that this strange wizard's house was in pieces because of her. “Thank you very much, Aquarius.” She says sighing as she bent down to pick the stranger up off the ground and throw one of his arms over her shoulder. “Come on. I'll take care of you.”

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

They could feel their body pressed against something cozy.

Frowning, the stranger slowly opened their eyes, finding a fan and a white ceiling. Blinking their eyes to try and get rid of the confusion in their head, they quickly stood up when they realized they were in an unfamiliar place, but grunted slightly when they felt a sharp pain in their head. Raising a hand to their head, they felt the gauze that was wrapped around their head, flinching when one of their fingers accidentally grazed there. Lowering their gaze, they swept their eyes over their entire body, taking note of how half of their body appeared to be bandaged.

Analyzing their whereabouts, they realized that the cozy thing they were lying on was, in fact, a brown couch. Sitting on the edge of the armchair, they threw their feet out and with some difficulty, stood up. Putting their weight on their other leg so as not to hurt their injured leg further, they slowly limped to the window, leaning against it. Taking great care not to make any noise, they tried to look for a way to open that window but the lack of lighting did not make their mission to escape from the then-unknown place easier. But when they finally managed to find the opening, a sudden noise made them stop in their place, making them aware that there was someone else with them in that compartment.

Turning away from the window, they cautiously approached the bed that they surprisingly hadn't noticed before and faced the source of the noise.

Stopping the growl that wanted to escape their mouth when a flash of memory of the event passed through their mind, making them momentarily hold their head as it throbbed in pain. Letting go of their head, they squinted toward the woman who was muttering something in her sleep as he remembered what she had done.

After all… because of her, they no longer had a place to live.

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

The sun was already up and shining brightly in the sky when Lucy woke up from her sleep.

Sitting on the bed, Lucy stretched her arms to try to relieve the tension in her upper limbs while yawning audibly and then threw her feet off the bed while rubbing her eyes, heading to the bathroom, not noticing the lack of the presence of a second person in that room.

Taking her toothbrush and then applying some toothpaste to the end, the blonde began to brush her teeth. As soon as she finished brushing her teeth, she turned on the tap and lowered her head so she could wash her face. Once that was done, Lucy took a towel that was hanging next to the sink and began to dry her face while humming some melody. But it was only when she saw her reflection in the mirror that she dropped the towel to the floor, shocked by what she saw in the mirror. But as soon as her brain processed what she saw, she let out a piercing scream.

Her nose had increased in size overnight! She looked like the wooden dolls they sold at the stall at the end of the street!

“Why do these things always happen to me!?” Lucy whimpered in panic as she leaned closer to the mirror – while trying to be careful not to bump her elongated nose against the mirror – analyzing it.

“Why are you screaming at this time of the morning? I don't know what human customs are like… but in my species, we are used to enjoying silence at the start of the day. Not shouting for nothing.” The sudden voice that echoed through the bathroom scared Lucy even more, who was left looking wherever the voice had come from. “Look at your nose.”

Lucy then did as the voice said and looked down at her own nose, only to find the mysterious person she saved yesterday staring at her with a blank expression. And once again she screamed.

“But–But how? Until yesterday you were normal and now, now you seem to have shrunk!”

“Are you finished yet?” Lucy nodded uncertainly. "Excellent. You were about to burst my eardrums from screaming so much.” The still strange person said in an indifferent tone of voice as they cleaned their ears – which Lucy, now that she noticed better, were pointy. “And this is my normal form. The ‘I’ you saw yesterday was my battle form.”

“And what exactly are you?” Lucy asked curiously, momentarily forgetting that her nose wasn't in its normal state, and that she had someone extremely small standing on it. “And you were the one who turned my nose into that? If so, why?”

“And do you want to know why?” Says the strange being, crossing their arms, frowning. “And yes, it was me.”

"Why?" Lucy asked as she furrowed her eyebrows. “This is very uncomfortable.”

"Oh well. If you hadn’t destroyed my house with the help of that blue fish, we wouldn’t be in this situation.” They say lifting their shoulders, ignoring Lucy's discomfort.

Lucy mentally smacked herself in the forehead as she remembered Aquarius's exaggeration, ignoring the way her body shivered when the words “blue fish” came out of the strange little being's mouth. She was quite sure that Aquarius must be somewhere in the celestial world making a fuss about the way she was called.

"You're right." Lucy says. “How about we make a deal?”

“What will I get in return if I agree to your deal?”

“We both came out ahead in the end.” Lucy starts by explaining. “Assuming my mistakes, I will rebuild your house that was destroyed in the middle of the battle and you will transform my nose back to its natural shape.”

“And how are you going to do that? From what I’ve seen, you don’t seem to have much of a talent for much of anything, other than destroying things.” Says the strange person, turning their back to Lucy and opening a small wooden door in her nose to return to their sleep.

Lucy's face fell with an expressionless face, but then turned into an irritated expression, not believing the audacity of that little being to doubt her abilities. But then she took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves before she lost her temper and strangled them with her fingers. "Whatever. I will quickly find a way to rebuild your house.” She says pointing a finger at herself while staring at the person that occupied her nose. “And you, you’re going to put my nose back in its normal shape.” She says finally, her face contorting into a grimace as she realizes that the strange being is no longer there and that she is left to speak to herself.

“It was just what I needed.”

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

“So, Lucy, can you tell us again what happened to make your nose the size of a ruler?”

The blonde mage sighed for what seemed like the thousandth time, rubbing her eyes as she tried to ignore the hysterical laughter coming from the two boys on her other side. They had been like that for a good few minutes since they walked through the door of their house.

“In short…” Lucy says, sighing again, looking at her scarlet-haired friend – Erza Scarlet. “I was on my way home when I heard an explosion, the explosion was caused by a group of six mages who were after someone, I tried to help that someone, but it didn't work out very well, houses were destroyed, and now I have someone living in my nose– Can you two stop laughing like idiots and help me?” Lucy scolded the two boys, causing the pink-haired boy and the dark-haired boy to stop laughing immediately when their eyes met Lucy's sharp gaze.

“ You have to admit it's a little funny. You know… have you ever been told that you look like those wooden dolls that old man sells?” Says the dark-haired boy – Gray Fullbuster, while gesturing with a finger to his nose.

“As funny as it is, Lucy could have gotten herself into big trouble by fighting six wizards alone,” Erza says with a serious face, her tone full of concern.

“It's Luci! She's fought tougher opponents! Those six were something easy to deal with” Says the pink-haired boy – Natsu Dragneel as he busied himself picking up the bowl of potatoes that was on the table and placing it on his lap, taking a dagger of potatoes and filling it in his mouth with them.

Erza took a deep breath, deciding to leave that part behind. “And there’s nothing you can do to get your nose back to normal?” She says as she approaches Lucy to better observe what she sees, causing Gray and Natsu to do the same, causing Lucy to shift uncomfortably in her place due to the way the three of them stare at her nose.

“Can you stop staring at me like that?!” Lucy says, turning her face away from her friend's observing eyes in a failed attempt to hide her nose, which seemed to have grown since the morning. “You are making me feel self-conscious!”

“Can you make less noise? You are interrupting my reading time.”

“Huh?” Natsu muttered in confusion, leaning even closer to Lucy's face to get a better look, when something hit his nose and forced his head back, causing him to fall to the ground. “Ahk!”

As Natsu was on the ground, with his forehead bleeding, Erza and Gray were on alert, readying their magic to attack whoever attacked their friend.

As for Lucy, she just massaged her temples with her hand as she sighed deeply. “I had already talked to you. You can’t attack people just because they bother you.”

“I do whatever I want. You don’t command me.”

“It’s my nose that you’re making a home. So yes, I command you!”

“That has nothing to do with it.”

"Yes it has! It’s a part of my body!”

"Stop being dramatic."

"Me? Dramatic? As if!"

While Lucy argued with the mage, Erza, and Gray got rid of their magic and watched as their blonde friend seemed to be talking to herself, questioning her friend's mental health. Until Erza decided to interrupt. “Who are you talking to, Lucy?”

“With the reason you are here,” Lucy says, stopping the battle of glances between the strange mage and then looking at her scarlet-haired friend.

“And where are they right now?” This time it was Gray who asked. The ravenette looked around every corner of Lucy's house looking for the voice.

Lucy pointed to her nose. "Here. I think I should introduce you to each other. Guys this is–” Lucy turned her gaze to her nose. “You never got to tell me your name.”

“Call me Jun.”

“Guys, this is Jun, the wizard I helped and destroyed the house last night. Jun, these are my friends, Erza, Grey, and I think you've met Natsu." Lucy introduced each one.

Jun, Erza, and Gray exchange nods, acknowledging each other's presence. Jun then looked back at Lucy. " I am a fairy. A nature fairy. Not a mage.”

“But if you're a fairy, why don't you have wings? Isn’t that normal for you to have?” Erza asked curiously. After all, it wasn't normal to see a fairy without her wings.

Jun didn't respond. They just remained silent, and turned to go back into their temporary house.

Lucy, upon noticing the fairy's discomfort, quickly changed the subject. “I called you here so you could help me build a new house for Jun, since I ended up destroying their old house last night.”

Erza and Gray looked at each other. "Please!" Lucy begged holding hands, pouting towards them.

"Sure. Anything to help a friend." “I have nothing to do anyway.”

"Excellent!" Lucy says excitedly. “Thank you so much, guys!” The blonde went to her two friends and pulled them into a hug.

"Ugh…" Natsu woke up, sitting dazedly on the floor while massaging his forehead – which had already formed a bump – with one hand. “What did I miss, guys?” He asked as soon as he saw that his friends were in a group hug.

“Come on. We have something to do, flame brains.” Gray says, taking Natsu by the collar of his shirt, heading towards the apartment's exit door, with Lucy and Erza behind him.

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

A few weeks had passed since then. Jun had already recovered from the injuries they had on their body, and oddly enough, they learned to put up with the presence of Lucy and the rest of her friends (not that they would admit that to her).

With the help of Erza, Natsu, Grey, and a few more members – which Jun had discovered through Lucy were her members from Fairy Tail-- Jun's new home was ready faster than the fairy expected. And fulfilling their part of the agreement, they transformed Lucy's nose back to its normal shape (not before increasing the size even more just to irritate Lucy even more).

The duo was exactly in Lucy's apartment, having “a goodbye pajama party” (Lucy's words, not Jun's) in the company of Erza, Gray, and Natsu.

The group spent the whole afternoon playing various games to pass the time, chatting, and Jun just watched the confusion that Lucy and her friends made whenever one of them cheated in the games.

It was already past midnight, and the apartment that had previously been alive with screams was now calm, with no noise present in the room. (except Natsu's snoring). Everyone was already in their sleeping bags, tired from the long afternoon they had had, except two people who were still awake and were talking quietly so as not to wake up the rest.

“Jun…” Lucy caught the attention of the fairy – who was in their second form – who was sitting on the floor, leaning their back against Lucy's bed. Jun nodded, implying that they were paying attention to what she was going to say. “What was the reason that led you to fight those wizards?”

Jun, upon hearing the question, couldn't help but let out a heavy sigh. They knew it wouldn't be long before someone asked about it. They were a little surprised that Lucy hadn't asked sooner rather than later. “As you know, I am a fairy. And those mages were from a dark guild and they used to hunt my kind.”

“They used to? What happened to make them stop?” Lucy asked again, interrupting Jun, who gave her a slightly cutting look. "Sorry. You can continue.”

"Right," Jun says. “They used to hunt other fairies like me. They wanted to use our magic for their benefit. So, to achieve this, they captured us and tortured us, cutting off our wings and other types of torture that may exist, and then sucked out our essence: our magic. Few managed to escape alive. And of those who did… succumbed to the injuries they had.”

“But you managed to escape,” Lucy says as she stares at Jun with apprehensive eyes, noticing the visible guilt on the fairy's face. It was noticeable to Lucy that the fairy felt guilty about being the only one to have survived. She couldn't imagine being in a situation where she would see her friends being tortured and killed in front of her.

"Almost," Jun says, hugging their knees close to their body. “The damage I suffered was too much. I was chased until I managed to find a place where I could hide and not be caught by them. With the little magic I still had, I slowly healed the wounds I had for four years. Since then I have been alone. But all this time I was perfecting my magic. And when I felt like I was better, I went to the guild and killed every member there. But I didn’t count on the appearance of those other six.”

Lucy got out of her bed, and bending down, pulled Jun into a hug, not caring that the fairy's body tensed at the contact of their bodies. "It's alright. You are no longer alone.”

Jun's eyes stared at Lucy's blonde head in shock. Their body, which had previously been tense from the lack of physical contact after four long years, relaxed under Lucy's touch. Lucy, tightened the hug even more when she felt Jun's body shaking and the fabric of her sleeping blouse getting damp.

"Sorry about that," Jun says, breaking away from the hug, feeling their cheeks heat up when they felt their face wet and hid it from Lucy while trying to wipe away the tears that fell.

“What are you apologizing for?” Lucy asked with a sweet tone of voice, watching the fairy with an amused face when the fairy looked away from her again.

“For crying on you and for getting your blouse wet,” Jun says, still not looking at Lucy. They felt embarrassed that she had seen them cry.

Lucy put a hand to her mouth to contain the smile she wanted to break out. It was cute to see Jun like this. But she quickly hid her smile when Jun glanced at her from the corner of their eye. “It’s normal to cry, Jun. And about the blouse… well, it will eventually dry out.”

The two remained in a small silence between them. Until Lucy broke the silence again. “What do you think about us being friends?”

"Friend?" Jun pointed a finger at their chest. " You want to be my friend?"

“Yup!” Lucy then reached out a hand to Jun. “What do you say? Friends?"

Jun looked at Lucy's hand for a while, and did something they hadn't done in a long time.

With a small smile on their lips, they reached out a hand and wrapped it around Lucy's hand, squeezing. “Friends.”

[trickstarbrave]

so. steren in morrowind is a spellsword. he did the mage's guild questline and not the fighter's guild. he is still good with his sword but he does best with a mix of magic and swords. or even magic and spears

but in skyrim so far as i have written him he joins the companions and doesnt seem to use magic as much. maybe its bc i dont actually enjoy magic in skyrim much. but i was thinking it would be fun if like. while he is healing well enough and getting his body used to fighting again. maybe the poison he was being constantly fed in the brothel SEVERELY damaged his magicka and ability to cast spells. he can only do the bare basics in skyrim and its a challenge to use new spells.

i think this keeps up until they go to the college of winterhold to look for the elder scroll. by that point steren has just resigned himself to not being able to cast spells very well anymore and doesn't tell vivienne about it bc he doesnt want to worry vivi when vivi has enough on his plate. and its not like he's going to die because he can't cast anything outside of almost exclusively novice spells.

but i think a professor or someone looks at steren and hears him offhandedly mention he was a part of a mage's guild in morrowind. asks if he wants to join which he declines and says he can't use magic as well as he used to. not since getting poisoned. but take him to colette to heal him thoroughly. it takes quite a while bc the poison+injuries from dagoth ur's magic REALLY destroyed his body's ability to use magicka properly and colette says she's surprised he can cast any spells at all. inevitably this makes vivi worry which is what steren wanted to avoid but she DOES manage to fix him up.

he goes out to the court yard to practice. casts one of his old custom spells at a tree. fucking vaporizes it practically.

tali: ah. hm. well. steren: yes? tali: i see your talk of how strong you were in morrowind wasn't just. talk. steren: did you think it was? tali: .... i'm choosing not to answer this question after seeing what happened to the tree.

[llaberration]

Coyne's Chronicles: Shadow Over Yfiria - Chapter 6

“Alan?”

“Hm?”

“Do you remember yesterday? When we agreed that you might catch more suspicious individuals if you didn't draw attention to us?”

“Yeah...”

Thenore sighed, once more running an eye over his companion. “That's... not what I meant.” Somehow, the well educated, well raised man who apparently had the intelligence to ace classes consistently throughout their years at the college, did not have the intelligence to know what 'keep a low profile' was. Rather than opting for normal, mid-range clothing like himself that drew the eye of nobody, the college mage had gone from one extreme to another... and was now dressed like a beggar. He had managed to get the scrappiest, most ripped up clothing Trevor had ever seen anywhere. That plan could actually have worked if the other mage were a little rougher around the edges, like himself, with his unshaven look and skinny form. Alan however, was well-blooded, with excellent pale skin, clean, groomed hair, a shaven face and quite a softness from eating too many bilberry pastries after dinner.

“Well what did you mean?” asked Alan, shooting him a look.

“You look like you robbed a beggar and put his clothes on as a fashion statement. Don't get me wrong it goes nicely with your 'stay away from me I'm clearly a dangerous lunatic' demeanour but... you're still scaring everyone off. It's just that now, they're less concerned that you're going to kidnap them and send them to the college, and more concerned that you're going to try and cannibalise them.”

“I suppose that's more your area of expertise?” replied Alan, giving him a pointed look.

Trevor let out a surprised, indignant snort at the speed and wit of this response coming from Alan, but it did take the wind out of his sails for criticisms for now. He flopped back on his barrel with his arms folded over his chest. “Fine. It's an improvement of some kind I guess.”

He felt off today for some reason. Something in his guts felt... wrong. He didn't know if it was his senses telling him there was a distant but present danger, or whether the pie at their inn last night had not been quite as fresh as the landlord had claimed.

“Morning gents.”

Trevor looked up to see one of the guardsmen heading over. “Oh hello Sir Boregar...” he greeted in a monotonous, not terribly interested tone. The wall guards rarely bothered speaking with them, but this one for some reason had taken an interest in the two young college mages. Sir Belfus Boregar was probably only five years older than them, and had little in common with his fellow guards, so perhaps that explained it. He was better-read than most of the normal soldier fare, from blue-blooded breeding apparently, and tended not to fit in particularly well with his peers. Perhaps that was why he had pinned himself to Trevor and Alan, who were equally shunned by the rest of the legion. “Any juicy magic yet today?” he asked.

His voice was thick with a hammy, posh accent. His black hair was slicked back heroically, and a small, clipped moustache graced his high-cheekboned, frustratingly chiselled face. The heavy metal chest plate unnecessarily adorned with muscle-pattern and bright blue cape completed the look, and Trevor felt a little bitterness in the back of his mouth as he wondered how anyone could stand to walk around looking so bloody perfect. “Not today,” said Alan, looking dejected. “Nobody exciting coming through at all really...”

“Hm, wonder why that is!” said Boregar, his stuffy voice hesitating a little as he looked Alan up and down. “I say...” he said, leaning over towards Trevor. “What happened to him? Did he get robbed?”

Trevor let out a little laugh-snort. “No. He's 'keeping a low profile' today.”

“Ah... I... uh... I see...” said the guard, still looking at the other mage, who had turned back to the crowd.

“And how is your day? How's Poffers? Ordered the execution of any more inanimate objects recently?” The commanding officer of this particular area of the wall was an older soldier with a few too many years of experience, at least when they were calculated by bumps to the head. Captain Hortense Pofiddle, also liked his whiskey. Not many days ago he had become so drunk on the legion's supplies that he had gotten into a 'fight' with a barrel and thereafter demanded its execution on the grounds of assaulting an officer. He was the sort of leader the college best liked to work with on the wall, because he basically ignored everything they did as long as it did not directly affect his precious guards. The soldiers were satisfied to work around him too. He was one of those leaders whose men were always happy to follow him, not because they truly believed he was capable, but more out of a sense of curiosity to what he would get up to next.

Even the government liked him, because his attitude to guarding the wall was so overly heavy handed that they knew not a single mouse would manage to get through without him seeing, and having it impaled a dozen times. When he got into his little 'accidents' with whiskey, their answer was normally just to send him more of it in the hope he would continue keeping his region of the wall more secure than a thief's lockbox.

Belfus shot Thenore a manufactured smile through clenched, overly white teeth. “You know we're not... supposed to talk about the barrel incident...”

Trevor gave a second, more satisfied laugh-snort. “My mistake. It must be great fun working in the military,” he said, sarcastically. “All the bullshit you can eat.”

The guard looked offended but only in an 'obligated to do so' manner. “Come now. With the plague getting more powerful all the time, I'd think your college would be grateful to us for keeping trouble away so efficiently.”

“Oh I'm grateful for that,” said Trevor, “Don't get me wrong I'm glad to have the wall keeping us all safe here... like a big pointy angry dad...” his voice trailed off as he looked up at the wall, unease shifting within him again. He hated being this close to it, unable to see half the sky over them... he knew this side was his home but... he did struggle with the reality of urbanisation sometimes.

Belfus watched the druid's eyes tune out, going vacant as his mind went elsewhere, and he shrugged, well used to this by now. All magic users were, in his experience, a bit odd, and these two were no exception to that rule. “He's... not very good at keeping a low profile is he?” he asked, watching a family of traders speed up to pass Alan as fast as they could, dragging their staring child.

“Hm? Wha? Oh. No. Not at all. He's pretty terrible at it, but he's enthusiastic and smarter than he looks so... at least he's got that going for him...” Trevor glanced sharply at the soldier. “But don't you dare say that to him. You two high bloods are bad enough without people going around complimenting you.”

The guard shook his head, “Alan is well bred but he's hardly a high-blood,” he scoffed, until he glanced at Trevor's grin and realised the man was making a mock. He huffed a bit, folding his arms, “Well. He certainly doesn't look like it today.”

Trevor chuckled, “You're not wrong. He looks like he was dragged through a gutter. I think even more people are avoiding him now than when he had the college robes.”

“I can hear you Thenore...” muttered Alan, giving momentarily up on his checking and coming over to look at the man. “Maybe if you got off that barrel and helped me, we might get a bit more done.”

“Well... that's an interesting idea... I could give up my duty guarding this extremely comfortable barrel...” said Trevor, sitting up. “Let me see... is there... anything around here that needs to be hit really hard by a bear?”

��Um... no?” said Alan, looking around.

“How about anything that needs to be chased down by a stallion?”

“No...” sighed the other mage, seeing where this was going.

“How about a misbehaving carrot that requires urgent attention from a rabbit?”

“I see what you're...”

“Anything that needs the keen nose of a bloodhound?”

“Orange.”

“What?” the Druid stumbled on his words at that response.

“Orange.”

Trevor realised the man's strange eyes were focused over his shoulder, “What?” he repeated, turning in place to stare behind him. There was nothing. Normal, boring people milling around. “What are you talking about?”

“Orange...” repeated Alan, his eyes twinkling like he had seen something both amazing, and quite impossible.

“Is he alright?” asked Belfus, frowning a little. “Is... he having some kind of episode?”

“No...” said Trevor, waving a hand in front of Alan, who completely ignored him. “At least I don't think so...” he had never seen Alan do exactly this before. It didn't seem like an entirely good or bad thing, so he gave the man's shoulder an experimental shake. “Alan?”

Alan brushed his hand off with a gentle but insistent movement, and then appeared to start wandering off into the crowd.

Trevor watched him, his dark eyes silently observing as the blonde man made off towards something he either could not see, or could not identify as special.

“Shouldn't we... uh... follow him?” suggested Belfus, cocking his head curiously, causing the chainmail around his neck to clank loudly against the tall collar of his outer armour.

“I... guess?” said Trevor, his senses starting to tingle that something might not be quite right as he watched Alan dodge off into an alleyway not far from the gate. A look of concern began to tug at his face as he hurried across the courtyard after his friend with Belfus clanking along after him.

Alan followed the orange, his complete and full attention on the bright glowing smear in his vision. He had seen almost every colour come from humans or animals before, but orange was completely and entirely new. Not only was this a new colour but it was vivid, shining like a beacon compared to the mute trails of the people around it. So bright he could barely see the individual beneath the colour. He knew this had to be something magical, but it was certainly nothing he had experienced before, and it had just strolled right in through the gate as though nothing was wrong... so it had to at least look human underneath all that.

He jogged a little, working to get closer, his sense of duty for the time being set aside behind a veil of wonder.

Coyne was already well aware of something being off. He had gotten past the guards and through the gate just fine, and dodged himself down the first convenient alleyway he had seen, striding like a local who knew exactly where he was going.

At first, he thought he had gotten away with it, the tense knot of muscles (and dragon) in his belly starting to relax.

A step on the cobble behind him however, made him realise that perhaps something was not exactly as he had thought. 'It could just be someone innocently walking' he reasoned with himself, but a glance over his shoulder caused every muscle he had to clench. “Fez,” he breathed ever so softly. “I think there's a crazy person after us...”

“I saw him... looks like someone dressed a lord in rags...” muttered the dragon. “He looks soft, I'm sure you can out-run him... but don't yet,”

“Why not?”

“We're literally feet from the wall still... if you draw attention you might get an entire legion after you.”

“So what do we do?”

“Get another look at him, let me see.”

Coyne hesitated, but looked over his shoulder, shocked to find the man was a lot closer, speedwalking much more swiftly than he had anticipated. He recoiled, going still as his eyes met the other man's, almost stumbling over his feet as he stared into the black orbs, lit only with a pinpoint of light.

“The eyes of an ancient...” breathed Fez's voice in his ear, sounding genuinely shocked. “Coyne! I want him!”

“What?!”

“I. Want. Him. Draw him into an alleyway.”

“We're IN an alleyway!”

“Find a more alley-like alleyway!”

Coyne, shocked that the man was still dreamily following, his strange eyes almost dazed as they stared at him, did as he was told. He didn't know what was going on... but Fez seemed to have a plan. He found one of the tiny access ways between buildings that was designed only for the most skinny people, as these were normally devoid of all life, and windows.

The man continued following, a fascinated stare on his face as Coyne wound himself around a corner into the dimly lit space.

“Now... let him get near you then put hands on him. Flesh, not cloth. I'm going to pass a spell through you...”

“You're going to what?!”

“Just do it!”

Compelled to obey, Coyne stopped, letting the strange, staring man catch up with him.

Alan got time to breathe the words, “What are you?” his eyes twinkling in wonder before Coyne reached his hands out and placed them one on the man's arm, one on his neck, the two nearest spots he could grab.

Instantly, the mimic's veins seemed to catch on fire as purple light spilled from his hands, crackling and glowing as the magic seized the man, obscuring him in sparkling, purple smoke. He seemed to disappear from beneath Coyne's hands, and the veil of magic faded. “Now grab him quick!” the dragon sounded hoarse from exhaustion.

The order from Fez puzzled Coyne, but as he looked down, he saw what the dragon meant. He had clearly worked the same spell on the strange man as he had put on himself... as he was lying on the cobbles, around three inches tall, and looking stunned. “Grab. Him.”

Coyne complied, snatching the small body up, holding it desperately in his hands as he began to hurry along the remaining length of the access way. He spotted people on a larger road ahead, and not knowing what to do with the tiny man, stuffed him into the carrying pouch in his shirt, clipping it firmly closed as he tried to appear normal and calm, emerging from the access way, smoothing his hair down and continuing away from the wall as fast as he could walk without looking suspicious.

“Good, good...” the dragon's voice seemed weak, and he had once again gone limp with exhaustion. “Keep him safe... I... want... him...”

Puzzled and terrified but trying hard not to show it, Coyne hurried to lose himself in the crowds, steering away from the wall.

Trevor was growing increasingly uneasy, his senses struggling to follow Alan's trail accurately. He lost him for a moment, then picked up the scent down one of the access ways again. Alan smelled clean, unlike a lot of the people here, and that was what made him trackable. “Here...” he said, rushing down the narrow path.

Belfus' armour scraped noisily on the buildings as he followed, but Trevor ignored the guard for now, his attention fully consumed pursuing his friend. A short way down the narrow walkway, he stopped dead, his scruffy hair all but standing on end as he felt the powerful whiff of magic use... strong magic. He looked around them, his sharp eyes searching for any clue as to what had happened. “This isn't wizard magic...” he muttered, as he bent down to examine the ground. “Something older... stronger...” he scowled, straightening up. His friend had met some kind of mishap here... he could tell because there was no more scent of Alan having continued down the path. “Alan?” he called, looking around, hoping his senses were lying to him. There was no magic that could simply make someone disappear, even teleportation magic was all but a myth, there was nowhere the man could have GONE! Frustrated with himself, Trevor snorted, looking up at Belfus, who was looking on with puzzled concern from his position, stuck by the armour in the corner where the alleyway turned. “He's just gone...” muttered Trevor, to update the man who did not share his animal like senses. “He's just gone but he can't just be gone!” he snapped. He let out a growl and dropped onto all fours, smoothly and quickly transitioning into a dog. A mutt of some kind, and began scouring the ground for answers with his vastly improved nose.

The scent of magic still dominated the scene, thick and powerful, it masked most information... he could find one spot where Alan's scent seemed to concentrate itself on the ground, but gained no further information than that. He snorted angrily, looking up at Belfus, who was still trying to un-wedge himself. Smoothly transitioning back into himself, he had to wait until he had a human tongue and teeth again to exclaim. “He's just gone! Something magical has taken him somehow!”

“So... what do we do now?” asked the guard. “He must be somewhere...”

Trevor frowned, “Oh what am I going to tell the college?! That I LOST their magical eye-man? I'll be weaponised and sent to the battlefields...” he shivered, grabbing the guard's shoulder. “We have to find him... now.”

“Alright so... how do we do that? Do you fellows have some way of... tracking each other?”

Trevor stared for a moment before giving the guard's chest plate a celebratory punch, the impact enough to dink the guard un-stuck, “Go on, back the way we came... I know what to do.”

He helped scrape the guard back out of the walkway, and dashed off down the street, the merry clanking sound intensifying as Belfus attempted to keep pace in his heavy set of armour.

Trevor arrived back at their lodgings with perhaps a two minute lead on the guard, already upstairs in their shared room, rummaging around in his belongings by the time Belfus clattered in, his normally perfect hair now out of place and damp with sweat as he leaned on the door frame, panting heavily. “What're...” he began, cut off as his breath ran out after only a single word. “we...” he continued, struggling to maintain full dignity. “Doing?”

“Aha!” Trevor let out a triumphant noise as he found what he had been seeking. He held it up in celebration, and Belfus eyed the trinket.

“Your... Meadowfield seal?”

The seal was basically a pendant cast in bronze, stamped with the rounded sigil of the college, and studded with nine gem stones, each representing one school of magic. “Yes... but more,” said Trevor, with a tone of conspiracy in his words. He brought the thing up to his mouth and using just a hint of magic, he whispered his name to it. Belfus watched with interest as one of the gems slightly to the right began to glow. “It tracks us,” said Trevor, holding up his right hand, on the middle finger of which rested a thick, gold band with an inset green gem. “Our college rings... which we can't take off by the way...” he said, circling his hand around the seal, showing that the glow accurately followed his ring. “Which means... as long as Alan is still alive... and on this continent...” he brought the thing back to his lips and whispered with magic once more, using Alan's proper college name.

There was a slight pause, in which they both stared at the trinket, breath held tight in their chests, slightly more so with Trevor. Then one stone glowed, and they both relaxed. “Right then... we know the way,” said the druid, grabbing his bag and hauling it onto his shoulder. “Let's go...”

“Wait...” said the guard, “I can't just go running off... what about my duties... what about...”

Trevor stared at him, a stare so intense that it froze the muscular man where he stood and caused him to shrink into his collar a little. “Are you telling me you're not going to help? An innocent young mage has been kidnapped on your watch and you're just not going to do anything? What is it with you soldier types... you always talk about rescue and adventure and yet when it swims up with a little bow on its head and bites you in the arse you just panic and hide in your little wall!”

“Well... I need to sign off... we need supplies...” the guard continued, his voice a little more timid now. “I need to at least tell Captain Pofiddle something...”

“Fine,” said Trevor, “I need to figure out what kind of magic that was anyway. And I suppose we don't want Poffers sending his legion out after you. I'll send a communication to the college to tell them we're...” he paused, twirling his fingers in the air. “Following a lead on a magical... something... and you tell your lot the same thing.”

“I can't lie to...”

“It's not lying. There was magic, we're following it. That's all they need to know,” said Trevor, feeling oddly alive to know that he was a) leaving the wall, and b) going to do something more than sit and broodily stare at passers by.

“Are you sure about...” Belfus was silenced as another hard stare was directed at him, and he turned around with a clatter.

“And leave the bloody armour at home!” snapped Trevor. “It's about as stealthy as a horse with buckets stuck on its feet.”

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<<First || Previous || Masterlist || Next>> And so we reunite with the meadowfield mages in order to begin thoroughly ruining their day! Hanging out with a dragon sure does attract trouble.