#antares silverstrike

[fractal-quadrilioquy]

Morning

Silverstream Homestead, near Snowden Drifts. One year after the deaths of Cadira, Cadfael, and Mira. Timeline Carinae.

The sky was still dark when Avin walked outside, shutting the door quickly to keep out the winter chill. He leaned his back to the wall, shoving his arm into a pocket and looking out to where the valley stretched below them.

"You're up early," he said, softly, into the quiet night.

The red lump above his homestead didn't say anything. He didn't expect them to, especially not today, not at this hour. That was okay. They spoke better in silence sometimes.

"I'm coming up. Leave a space for me?"

Avin waited a few seconds, and nodded, hearing a response in the silence, then made the small trek up. Snow crunched, small in the vast peace of the night. 

The lump still hadn't said anything, but there was a small patch of displaced snow to their left. That was invitation enough.

Avin sat down, swinging his legs over the edge in a motion made familiar with time, and leaned against their shoulder. Antares still ran warm, despite the thinness of the blanket wrapped around him. 

But then, so did he. They matched, in that way.

Time passes. Avin lets his attention wander, eyes following the path of near-invisible snow owls, tracing the slow movement of the clouds, backlit by the moon. 

Snow Leopard's starry tail had just begun to hide behind the mountains when Antares sighs, heavy and frail. Avin calls his attention back down to Tyria, to the too-young charr beside him.

"It's... hard." Antares said. They didn't bother giving context. They both knew what they were talking about. "Sometimes it doesn't feel like they're gone. Like I could turn and hear them again. Sometimes I do."

Avin hummed in acknowledgement. Displaced snowflakes drifted to the ground, making no sound.

"They were- are, my warband. But... Rylix and Cadfael. Nasius and Mira. Vachel and Cadira. They were all so much closer."

"Feeling left out?"

"No," Antares says, a little too fast, a little too brittle. "Wouldn't... wouldn't want that."

Another hum.

"But. It's... I can hold it together. We all lost them, but the others lost more."

"Doesn't mean you didn't lose anything," Avin says, gently.

A frustrated growl. "But- You can do it."

"Hm?"

"You're so... solid," Antares said, picking at his clothes, and leaning on Avin just that little bit more. "Even when one of us gets injured. Or when you're in pain. Or when Satyrn doesn't write, and the others are worried. You're always collected. Always looking out for us."

"Part of being an adult," Avin says, unable to keep the dryness out of the words, but preferring it to the surprise that flooded him.

A huff. Silence. A pouty one this time.

"Sorry," Avin said, leaning back on his arm. Above, Wolf's astral form glowed brightly, not yet broken by the sun's rays. "Bad joke. I've always had the tendency to do that. Probably picked it up when we were kids, and then held until we had kids."

A questioning sound. "Tessa, and...?"

Avin laughed quietly, letting his fondness shine through. "Haven't figured that one out?"

"No." Simple, succinct. Silly.

Avin pushed himself back upright, and reached over to ruffle Antares's hair. "Okay. Let me know when you do, alright?"

Antares looked grumpy, but it was more of a normal, standard grumpy, and less the shroud of grief that had shrouded them for the past week. Avin took the win. The one thing all the Silvers shared was enjoying having a puzzle to solve. Even if some of them wouldn't admit it.

Though he had a little bit more faith that Antares would figure it out soon enough.

"Sun's rising," Avin said, gently. "I'm headed inside. Want a warm drink?"

Antares's sigh breathed fog into the early light. "Yes, please. Thank you."

"You're always welcome," Avin said, and bumped their shoulder with his own before jumping down.

[fractal-quadrilioquy]

Silver warband: Iron legion who creatively named themselves after a colour of metal.

Cadira Silverflux - Flux because he's a mesmer and a bit of a trickster who enjoys playing tricks with his clones. Also a joke on electrical flux, which is the measure of strength of an electric field through a space, even though the field doesn't actually flow.

Cadfael Silverfrost - Minor necromancy often felt cold/chilling. Her bandmates also sometimes joke that she can seem cold/aloof to others when really she's just focusing on something.

Rylix Silverflame - Partially to match with his twin's Silverfrost, partially because he is prone to anger issues, partially because he likes working with machines as an engineer.

Antares Silverstrike - Has the highest strength in the warband by far. (In-game, he's Antares Jomuer, Jomuer being the name of a fictional red star, like the star Antares)

Nasius Silverline - Pun on the phrase 'silver lining' as she's generally an optimist.

Vachel Quicksilver - He's very fast and a daredevil (in personality. He's actually a very quick deadeye). Also for the pun, though I wouldn't describe him as particularly mercurial.

Mira Silvertail - Ranger! And also because her tail is naturally gray compared to the rest of her.

Star warband: Star students in their fahrar, later becoming an elite strike team of their own. Upon realising they all had 5 letter first names they also went with 5 letter surnames.

Kaden Starsight: Warband's scout with keen vision, and later, fitting as she becomes a revenant.

Zaera Starskred: Used to be something basic like Starblade (though it's still pretty cool) but changed it after a norn taught her how to do an ambush using an avalanche. Also because some of her actions kickstart, a lot of things happening differently to canon in her timeline.

Ryker Starflare - Very shiny tank who draws attention to himself and uses guardian and light magic to keep it that way.

Tersi Starskite - Daredevil who avoids and deflects lots of things. Has a disconcertingly easy time avoiding attention despite not using magic at all.

Acyra Starshawl - Known for a specific piece of clothing that contains a working invisibility charm about half the time. Also because her attention to detail/coordination tends to blanket a large swath of ground.

Sky warband: Iron legion warband based around developing/piloting aircraft.

Tailon Skyshift - Emergency teleportation/safety specialist.

Rinclex Skyblast - you know, someone with that surname should probably not be the legionnaire but here we are. Usually good at fixing the consequences of things going wrong. Also named for his stunning personality.

Grave Warband: They just thought it sounded neat.

Nuvia Snowgrave - Ironically, was originally part of the Snow warband, and bounced from warband to warband until some charr with a sense of humour decided to reassign her to the Grave warband.

Cenoxi Shallowgrave - He's a necromancer with a hell of a lot of death magic in him and has come back to life, so.

Other charr:

Vertis Forgefever - Forge warband, a warband working at the Black Citadel's smelter. Used to be in a different warband before Flame Legion Reasons and he left them.

Kolya Twiceforged - Was added to her friends's Forged warband after her old warband all died. Previously Tinkertwice, of the Tinker warband, due to being a meticulous engineer and also a mesmer.

Versira Nightrise - Night warband, she wanted to pun on 'sunrise' and did not entirely succeed. Also bc she gravitates to high places. Her legionnaire however will 100% say that she's named that for her ability to annoy people.

Finally, Denara Stormdelver (Storm warband), and Avry Triplestrike (Ash legion, not sure which warband) who I haven't given name lore to yet.

ok lore question for people with charr characters because ir eally want to know: what is their surname, what warband are they apart of, and what meaning does the surname have?

[fractal-quadrilioquy]

Family photo!

(Pictured, from left to right: Antares Silverstrike, Cadira Silverflux, Cadfael Silverfrost, Rylix Silverflame, Nasius Silverline, Mira Silvertail. Vachel Quicksilver is not pictured, presumably taking the photo)

[fractal-quadrilioquy]

A Non-Exhaustive Guide To My Various (In-Game) Cats

Cadira Silverflux:

- mirage supreme

- don't let him fool you - his gun shoots real bullets.

- if you're looking at four cadiras and trying to figure out which three are the clones, the real one is behind you

- allergic to calling others by their names

Cadfael Silverfrost:

- ~I, can, feel, your heart-beat~

- cutest of my charr

- engineering is basically just necromancy but with metal, right?

- suggest that she change her name and she'll fight you. if she's feeling nice, she might even officiate your funeral.

Antares Silverstrike:

- quiet, and looks like he's eternally brooding

- isn't actually brooding he's just thinking about things constantly

- body language is actually extremely obvious but only if you know what to look for

- wins 80% of his bets. you'd think people would learn by now but they haven't. looking at you, nasius.

- he/they. yes, he's a they. yes, they're a he. we exist.

- don't shorten his name to 'ant' or 'aunt', he will bite you.

Kaden Starsight:

- can and will overthrow bangar ruinbringer

- kalla's ghost has a megaphone in one hand and a box of popcorn in the other

- accidentally on purpose adopted three tiger cubs

- feral

- good at pretending she isn’t feral

- nobody is surprised when they learn this anyway

Zaera Starskred:

- centauri's emotional support and physical support cat

- solves problems by neutralising them

- geology nerd

- has been considered for a promotion to centurion but she left to join the pact before she could be notified

- doesn't like wearing chestplates even though she probably should

- does an excellent ryker impression

Ryker Starflare:

- BIG and SHINY

- uses the light of his virtue as a bludgeoning weapon

- bffs with a rogue

- pretends he's a himbo so people underestimate him or play nice with him. unfortunately for them he is very smart and good at maneuvering people

- does an excellent zaera impression

Denara Stormdelver:

- broke time a bit and by a bit i mean a lot

- probably harnesses the power of doomed timelines as a power source

- longstanding rivalry with her coworker(s)

- broke time a bit and by a bit i mean a lot

- old school blood legion mesmer

- warning: breaking time may have unintended cosmetic side effects

- broke time a bit and by a bit i mean a lot

Arcshod Skyblitz:

- biggest dad energies even though he's only 27 years old

- grew up in the snow and will melt if he goes to ascalon

- has at least one alternate self. does not know how to feel about said alternate self.

- impromptu pirate. surprisingly okay with this

- will launch himself out of a tree, screaming. often, not even to attack things.

Rinclex "Rin" Skyblast:

- obstinate asshole

- death couldn't stop him from heckling his bandmates

- shadow magic specialist

- i'd almost say he has a heart of gold except that he very much doesn't. he has principles, however, and sticks by them, selfish as they are

- misses the sky

Tailon "Tai" Skyshift:

- three-limbed charr with a walking stick

- uses clones only for the most basic of tasks; doesn't have the focus to maintain more

- material sciences and bioengineering specialist

- haunted. and not even metaphorically.

- knives and portals, portals and knives

[fractal-quadrilioquy]

So I was thinking about Mira and Nasius, as I am wont to do (and who I can actually make now I have the character slots! (sorry vachel you don't get real boy priveleges yet)) and realised that Mira, Nasius, Antares, Vachel, and Cadira, all have a sort of rhythm or dance-like movements that're part of their attacks (untamed hammer bonks, holosmith sick flips, axe/gunblade spinny spins, daredevil sick flips, mirage sick flips--)

And then you have the twins whose fighting style consists of 'deploy a bunch of little things to rally around and shoot people until they stop moving.'

It is eminently clear that these cats named themselves after a colour and not a metal that has any substantial use in warfare.