#bc he's the heart he's the paladin he's going to lead them and he's going to save will because will needs him but also he needs will

[bylertruther]

society if the duffers had gone through with their original plan to have mike go to the upside down in s1 to find will

[stwaidwen]

HIIII im new to this sideblog so i actually dont know ANY of ur ocs yet!!!! do u have a crash course for them pretty please

I should REALLY have an OC page oh my god. Absolutely tho! Putting it under a read more bc it's so hefty.

BG3

Serendipity, or Sera for short, is a tiefling druid about to turn 30 during the events of the game. In my setting, there's a hidden city in the desert outside of Faerûn called "Gate" which functions as the 0th circle of hell. Tieflings in this city are subjugated and oppressed by higher and more powerful devils. Sera's parents conspired for almost a decade to orchestrate their family's escape, and when she and her twin brother (Ty, short for Unity) were 15, Sera's family finally managed it. They have been functionally on the run through Faerûn ever since, alternating between living in the wilderness and stopping in large cities, where her father taught her the basics of druidic magic, being a druid himself. Sera and her brother are best friends, and for a significant part of their lives, were incredibly co-dependent. They would go everywhere together, and Ty went through a period when they were still living in Gate where he couldn't sleep unless they were sharing a bed. When they hit about 22, Ty had reached a point where his mother had imparted all her skills as a rogue, and as Ty's affinity lay more with ranger-focused abilities, he decided to leave home, and join the Harpers. Sera initially took the decision very badly, but came round to the idea, and she gave him one hell of a send-off. The space enabled both of them to grow and develop, and to discover who they were without the other. They remained incredibly close, writing to each other regularly and aiming to meet up once every couple of months. Sera's parents eventually moved to Waterdeep, because the large city held great opportunities for them, both as a diplomat and assassin respectively. Sera decided to stay in Baldur's Gate, in a small house-share in Rivington. She enjoyed her life there immensely, but the wilds continued to call to her, and when she got picked up by the Nautiloid, she was on her way to the Emerald Grove, eager to continue her druid training. Sera is autistic, wears her heart on her sleeve and has a very strong sense of self. She is confident, passionate, and makes a great effort to choose kindness wherever possible. She can also sometimes be very immature, after essentially having her childhood stolen from her. She relishes in causing mischief, has very little regard for authority and has absolutely no qualms about speaking her mind, even - or especially - when it is likely to cause trouble. Whilst on the run, her family evaded capture because they relied on the goodwill of strangers to not give them up, and as such, she values allies more than anything in the world, and considers turning on your allies to be the ultimate betrayal. After a somewhat rocky start, Astarion grows to love her deeply, even if her penchant for altruism gets on his nerves. She teaches him that world is not inherently cruel, and he teaches her that being selfish sometimes is okay. She eventually proposes to him and they are married under the full moon. Her main party is Gale, Shadowheart and Astarion.

(Dark Urge spoilers ahead)

Aviv is my Dark Urge Paladin. When she wakes up on the nautiloid with no memories, covered in scars she doesn't have any context for, Aviv is absolutely terrified. She focuses on getting off the ship, and greatly appreciates Lae'zel taking the lead. When she wakes up on the beach, still with nothing, she frantically searches her pack for something; anything. This is when she finds the written oath she swore as a Paladin. She recites it over and over, until she feels a little less alone. This becomes something she does regularly over the course of their adventures. It becomes something to cling to. A fraction of a life lost. When she does finally remember who she was, it went a little like this: Aviv was the head of the cult of Bhaal in Baldur's Gate. She was revered and worshipped, trusted with only the most secret of missions and marks. She also despised most of the ritual and ceremony, because she believed it childish, tacky and unnecessary to venerate her father, but Bhaal's followers needed performance. However, she was not a wholly willing participant. Bhaal's hold over her was incredibly strong, but wavered, and during these periods of clarity, Aviv would attempt escape. It was during one of these spells that she found her way to an order of Paladins and swore an oath of vengeance, so that she could at least attempt, on some level, to combat some of the evil she was putting into the world. She was also, during this time, tasked with infiltrating the high society of Baldur's Gate and spreading terror amongst its members with some very strategic murders. This is where she met Enver Gortash. Their attraction to each other was instant, though Aviv made him work hard to woo her. He came to accept that she would often disappear for a month or so, and then return. He did not ask for an explanation, and she did not offer one. He was furious after Orin attacked her and left her for dead, and elated when he discovered she still lived. When Aviv finally battles Orin in the temple of Bhaal, she rejects him, willingly accepting her death. But Jergal has other plans, and she rises anew, free of her father's chains. Aviv is mostly very gentle and soft spoken, and people often underestimate her, or outright dismiss her as an opponent because of her quiet demeanor. She uses this to her advantage, particularly in high society politics - Enver always affectionately referred to her as a viper - but this is largely a performance, and on the battlefield, she transforms into an unstoppable, unforgiving force. During Act I and Act II, her friendship with Gale develops into a romance and by the time the party reaches Moonrise Towers, they are hopelessly in love. Act III however, complicates things. Gale's desire to pursue godhood, and Aviv's past catching up to her at the speed of a freight train both put extraordinary tension on their blossoming relationship, and I still haven't decided if they will stay together or not. Her main party is Gale, Lae'zel and Karlach.

Pillars of Eternity

Shachar is an 70-year-old (about 35 in human years) elf rogue from Old Vailia, who sought to rebel against a tyrannical ruler that held her state under martial law. The rebellion was crushed and she barely escaped with her life, fleeing through Aedyr to the Dyrwood for safety. Initially she thinks becoming a Watcher is awful, and she spends half the first game desperate to cure herself and return to her old life, but by the end, she's much more at peace with herself. In the intervening five years between 1 and Deadfire, she's very happy at Caed Nua, and thrives as leader of the new settlement. She's sarcastic, happy-go-lucky, and does not suffer fools. She doesn't enjoy violence but will not hesitate to take life ruthlessly to ensure her and her friends' survival. Very early on, she develops a deep, romantic attraction towards Edér, but does not act on it, and does not tell anyone about it. Her best friend is Hiravias, as both of them have a very similar sense of humour and outlook. During Deadfire, she's even quicker to temper, furious with every God, and absolutely HATES boats. She very quickly makes an enemy of the Royal Deadfire Company, and Maia is only on her ship for a month or two before Shachar demands that she leave. She and Tekēhu form an intense bond, and in the moment they meet, are absolutely perfect for each other. They share a bed, and their burdens, and believe the other to be a soulmate, but are very content to go their separate ways at the end of the game, their time together and needing each other now at an end. It is only by watching her and Tekēhu together that Edér realises he's in love with Shachar, and upon hearing they have split up, makes his move on the way back to the Dyrwood. Her main party in game 1 is Aloth, Edér, Pallegina, Hiravias and Sagani, and game 2 is Aloth, Edér, Tekēhu and Xoti.

Ziva is a human priest of Eothas, who was a slave in the Deadfire Archipelago as a child and freed by the Children of the Dawnstar. She is VERY young, barely pushing 20 at the start of the first game, and really struggles with the expectation and pressure put upon her by becoming a Watcher. Edér steps into the role of big brother, which helps him heal from his conflict with his own older brother. Aloth as well, and Iselmyr especially, also step into a role as her protector, and by the end of the first game she has really grown into a confident young woman. She is deeply religious, and still takes time to pray to Eothas every day at dawn, even though it could get her killed. The second game is very complicated for her, and a lot of the confidence she found in the first game is stripped away, as she is essentially forced to go back to the place where she was enslaved. She finds a very close friend in Serafen, however, and he always finds ways to make her laugh. She is very quiet and soft spoken, is very squeamish and has a strong affinity for dogs. Her main party in game 1 is Aloth, Edér, Grieving Mother, Kana Rua and Sagani, and game 2 is Aloth, Edér, Serafen and Tekēhu.

D&D

(art by my fabulous bestie @glamfellens)

Nina Riordan is my current main character. She is a human artificer, homebrewed subclass, in her early 30s. In our setting, all magic use has to be registered and practiced with the permission of The Dimensional Eye (or just The Eye), including healing, which means many common folk could not afford those services. In the small town where Nina and her husband lived, she defied the eye by recreating magical healing with both science and herbal medicine, and this pissed a lot of people off. One day when she was collecting herbs in the woods, the Eye killed her husband and burned down her cottage and she's been on the run ever since. She made her way to a city called Fortune's Cove, where she ended up apprenticing under a famed artificer, Slim Chance the tiefling. After about two years, they had a very amicable parting (and keep in regular contact) whilst Nina moved on. She made her way to Okovo Bay, the biggest city in the region, and set up a small, free underground medical clinic in the poorest district of town, living off of donations and bartering for favours. We've just finished up the first arc of our campaign, and her clinic has grown into a small community centre and soup kitchen as well as a medical clinic, but Nina has drawn too much attention and now has to make the decision between taking a stand and systematically dismantling the Eye, or leaving the party and going on the run again. She's fiery, blunt, pragmatic, scarily intelligent and often very vindictive. At the moment she's at the start of a long, bloody path of vengeance that she has the arrogance to believe is not going to corrupt her, and will also not fix the aching void of grief inside her, no matter how much she hopes it will. Her greatest fear is that her husband is still alive, that the body she saw was not actually his, and that they will reunite but he will reject her. She would rather be dead than alive in a world where he is also alive but not with her.

Fallout New Vegas

Ari Schultz is a deeply religious Jewish woman from the Boneyard who is trying to leave the post-apocalypse better than she was born into. She believes firmly in the power of community and will not hesitate to remove anyone who threatens that, be it raiders, Legion slavers or Mr House himself. She helps as many people as she can in the wasteland, in return for a little food, a good story, and if possible, a place to sleep. She gets on really well with Veronica and Raul in particular. She and Boone eventually start a romantic relationship, as Ari's explicitly Jewish outlook helps him overcome a lot of his guilt for Bitter Springs and forge a path forward (she asks him what purpose self flagellation has beyond attempted alleviation of his own guilt and it rewires his brain chemistry a little bit lol), but this relationship is very slow burn, and takes about 3/4 of the game to come to fruition. Their first kiss is in Caesar's tent after their successful assault on the Legion Camp (this is in front of Benny who interrupts them and asks to be untied). Her chosen weapon is a baseball bat, and she takes great pleasure in using it, and spends a lot of time maintenancing it. She's a fantastic cook, especially around a desert campfire, but doesn't really trust or use technology unless absolutely necessary. She can fix pretty much any vehicle or machine, and if she hadn't chosen to be a Courier she probably would have become a mechanic, but hacking and robotics are beyond her skill. When she travels to Zion Canyon she's really mad to find it full of Mormons and kills Joshua Graham without even really blinking, tells the other missionaries to get the fuck out or die with him and encourages the Dead Horses and Sorrows to talk with each other to find peace. She and Boone go to investigate a mysterious radio signal talking about the Sierra Madre, and when she wakes up with a bomb round her neck with Craig nowhere to be found, again, she's furious. It isn't as traumatising for Ari as it might be for some couriers, because she's a proficient melee fighter and is able to brute force her way through a lot of the toxic clouds After killing Father Elijah and staggering out of the bunker and across the desert, Ari collapses near Folorn Hope and is discovered by NCR Rangers. She is taken to the medical tent there to receive treatment. In her ramblings, she mentions the Lucky 38, and so her companions are contacted to inform them where she is. The truly traumatising experience for Ari is being transported to the Big MT. Surrounded by technology she doesn't understand, killing other patients and dealing with the loss of her autonomy, leaves her feeling incredibly vulnerable, and she is absolutely terrified of all the talking amenities in her room. She refuses to use the Auto-Doc because of this, and by the time she reappears in the Mojave, she's close to death. Crimson Caravan traders pick find her unconscious in the dirt, and luckily, manage to safely escort her back to the Fort so Julie and Arcade can patch her up. She slides in and out of consciousness for almost a week, and when she does wake up, she's so terrified of being in a medical environment that she has a full breakdown and ends up being sedated. She is incredibly touch averse for a long time afterwards, and is especially self-conscious of the scars she accrued from the surgeries. It takes about a year before she allows anyone except Boone or Arcade to tend to any injuries she gets. She spares Benny, saves him from the Legion, and invites him to come and help her run the Strip post-game because she has no idea how to run a business, and they eventually become very close friends. She chooses the independent route and invites the Followers of the Apocalypse to set up inside the Strip in the old NCR base. She and Boone move into the Lucky 38, and she sets up a Synagogue in Freeside. She has a dog called Kafir, so named because Ari in Hebrew means "lion" and Kafir means "lion cub". He is her best friend and whole world, and he is mostly a mix of Blue Heeler and German Shepard.

[bluebeetle]

posting this to help me keep track

Aboard Nautiloid

Save the brain.

Free Shadowheart (Necessary to recruit her).

Defeat Commander Zhalk and obtain his sword--didnt do, will try for my durge

Nautiloid Crash

Free Lae’zel (recruit her as a companion).

Find Astarion (recruit him as a companion).

Wake up Shadowheart (recruit her as a companion).

Free Gale from the rift (recruit him as a companion).

Unlock Speak With Dead and Talk With Animal spells. You’ll constantly use these throughout the game.

Investigate Dank Crypt (to the East of your starting point) and find Withers - This will allow you to reclass at any time at camp for 100 Gold.

Emerald Grove

Near Or In Druid’s Grove

Go to Druid’s Grove and meet Wyll, who’s training children with swords. (Recruit him as a companion).

Speak to Volo, which will make him move to the Goblin Camp. Then speak to him at the Goblin Camp, save him, and he’ll move to your camp.

Talk to Khaga and Rath. Learn about Khaga’s plan for the ritual. Rath will ask you to save Halsin.

Talk to the Strange Ox at Druid’s Grove.

Talk to Alfira and learn how to play an instrument.

Talk to Dammon (he’s needed for Karlach’s companion quest after recruiting).

Save the Tiefling from the Bugbear Assassin--he killed her ):

Rescue the child from the Harpies. Found to the Northeast of the Grove’s heart, keep going until you hear singing.

Absolute Cultists ambush you near the Grove.

Blighted Village

Find the Masterwork Weapon blueprints at the blacksmith’s home, and then finish them--still need to finish them, may look up the tree location bc i failed the nature check

Find the book Necromancy of Thay.

Climb into the well and defeat the Astral Spider Queen and its children--started this but havent fought the actual queen yet.

Rescue Barcus the Gnome from the Goblins and Windmill.

Find Scratch the Dog, who’s roaming just outside the village, and lead him to your camp.

Vanquish or recruit the trio of Ogres.

In the barn on the North side of town, there’s an “interesting” scene between a Bugbear and Ogre.

A cave outside of the village has an Owlbear and its cub you can interact with.

The Risen Road

Find and recruit Karlach. She’s at the end of the river over a log.

Help Karlach destroy the Fake Paladins that are hunting her.

Waukeen’s Rest

Save the survivors from the burning building. Just follow the Flaming Fist knights and clear the blocked door--triggered this but didnt do it so they all died except a few, oop

Find the Zhentarim survivors fighting off enemies, save them, and get the Missing Shipment quest.

In Northwest Waukeen’s Rest find the entrance to the Zhentarim hideout.

Free the artist in the Zhentarim Hideout. He’ll pop up later in Baldur’s Gate.

Goblin Camp

Find Halsin and free him from prison. Head West to find the prison when you enter the Sanctum part of the camp.

Rescue Volo.

Talk to the priest of Loviatar, found on the East side of the Sanctum.

Halsin will ask you to take out the three Goblin Leaders, or “True Souls.”

Race the Owlbear and free it from the Goblins. It’ll appear in your camp later--didnt do this ): sorry lil guy... def gonna do it in my durge or origin playthru

Putrid Bog/Riverside Teahouse

Save Mayrina and fight Auntie Ethel--started it

Confront the Monster Hunter tracking Astarion.

Underdark

In the Underdark

Find the Selunite outpost.

Retrieve Phalar Aluve, the sword stuck in the stone.

Find the Arcane Tower and explore it.

In Arcane Tower, there’s a Stool of Mysterious Strength that you can destroy for a rare Club.

Find the dog’s grave near the Arcane Tower, and leave flowers on it.

Opposite the Arcane Tower, find the Festering Cove and the fish people worshipping a false god.

In Arcane Tower, interact with the Gith Disk, then show it to Lae’zel.

Find the petrified Drow and defeat the Spectator in combat.

Find the Myconid Colony, and choose to help the Myconic or the Duergar.

Help Gut defeat the Duergar, then either befriend or betray Gut.

Find the Gnome Thulla in the Myconid Colony, and cure her with an Antidote.

Find Baelan and save him from the explosive mushrooms.

Where you saved Baelan, you can also pick a rare mushroom and give it to Baelan to restore his memory, or give it to Shadowheart to unlock a special memory for her--i fucked up, will do as durge.

Meet Omellum in the Myconid Colony. He can give you a ring to protect your mind from the tadpole.

Find Sussur Bark for the Masterwork Weapon in the Blighted Village.

Find Icy Metal, Icy Heave, and Icy Crystal, then craft the Mourning Frost Staff.

Eliminate Nere and bring his head to the Myconid.

Grymforge

Obtain the Sergeant’s boots.

Save the Grymforge Gnomes, then report back to Thulla at the Myconic Colony.

Find the Runepowder Gnome, past the hidden kitchen area.

Find the Adamantine Forge and two pieces of Mithril Ore. Then defeat Grym in battle (use one character to aggro Grym onto the hammer platform, then another character to pull the lever and drop the hammer on him.)

Help the cursed monk

Mountain Pass

Find the Githyanki Creche and investigate it. It’s a lengthy section that ties into Lae’Zel’s companion quest.

Steal a Githyanki egg for the woman in the pass.

Find the Blood of Lathander mace.

Speak with Elminster at the entrance to the Shadow-Cursed Lands (part of Gale’s quest).

ok still a lot to do, imma take a break from the auntie ethel stuff for now and see if i can do anything else. i know where lae'zels stuff is but im gonna see if i can get to some of the other stuff i havent done yet. and if i miss something or fuck it up ill use my other runs to hopefully do them?? there's just so much jeez...and i dont wanna trigger act 2 yet by going to the moonrise towers.

[mirkwoodshewolf]

IATCOD Chap. 25; The siege continues

*Author's note*

So confession time, I've had this chapter done for about a week or so but I wanted to rework some things because I've got a double update for you guys today. Now this was probably my fav. chapter to write bc I absolutely LOVE the battle of Pelennor fields scene, and I wanted to do it justice through Cain's POV. So I'll stop typing and let you guys get to reading :)

NEXT CHAPTER

Taglist:

@plethora-of-things

@waddles03

@psychosupernatural

@jd-johndeacon-or-jackdaniels

@queen-paladin

@thats-s0-ravenn

@gay-and-ready-to-cry

_____________________________________________________________

*Cain’s POV*

After our departure from Dunharrow we rode on till midday where Eomer and some other Rohirrim members went to meet with some scouts who went ahead towards Gondor to inform us about the severity of the White city.  From what I heard, it wasn’t looking good.  Orcs taking over the capital city of Osgiliath, the walls overrun with orcs, and all nine Nazgul raining down their terror upon their fellbeasts.

Suddenly my ears picked up a piercing scream.  I tensed inward as my face contorted into pain.  The screams were getting louder and louder until all that was left was this piercing ringing sound.

“Lord Cain?” I heard Gamling say my name in concern.  However his voice sounded muffled while some sounds like the horses huffing and eating sounded normal.  “Are you alright?”

“I-fine I’m-I’m fine.” I assured him as I stood up and walked over to Wysteria and felt around for my waterskin.  Things seemed to return to normal as I drank my water but then suddenly there was silence.  Absolutely silence.  I couldn’t hear anything, no wind, no voices, not even the sound of Wysteria’s heartbeat.  My body froze as my tastebuds were suddenly enhanced further than they’ve ever been before.  The taste of cooper and iron suddenly came across my upper lip, I knew the taste anywhere.  Blood.

I raised my hand and my sense of touch had picked up the feel of blood running down my nose.  My heart raced as now my hearing had finally been taken from me.  How was this even possible? And more importantly how long would it last?  I felt someone touch me and in fear I twisted the man’s arm before kicking them to the ground.

As I too collapsed to the ground, I felt through my hands the thundering sound of something surrounding me.  But without my eyes I couldn’t see just what or who was making that sound, and now without my hearing I—I can’t tell what is going on around me.  The only thing I really could do was scream as loud as I could until I was able to hear something.

*3rd Person POV*

Gamling quickly raced back towards Theoden and called out to him.

“My king, something’s wrong with Lord Cain!” Before Theoden could ask, Cain’s screaming was soon heard throughout the entire platoon.  He, Gamling, Eomer and the other leading captains raced towards Cain to see him lying on the floor on his back, screaming as loudly as he could.  His mare Wysteria was going frantic, not out of fear but she wasn’t allowing anyone to come near Cain.

She circled around him, stomping her hooves and rearing towards anyone who came near snarling and neighing protectively.

“What happened to him Gamling?” asked Theoden.

“I don’t know sire. He just—froze in his spot holding his ears in pain. He told me he was fine until one of our soldiers tried to grab him and he nearly broke his arm off.”

“There’s no point in going near him his mare won’t let anyone near him. I’ve seen this only once before with Brego and my son long ago. We’ll have to wait it out. Hopefully Lord Cain will come to his senses.” Theoden said.  That being said, Gamling ordered every man to not go anywhere near Lord Cain and to steer clear of Wysteria’s protective barrier she was making around him.

In the back of the crowd, Merry and Eowyn looked at each other worriedly, Merry most of all.  Eowyn wrapped an arm around the young halfling in assurance that Cain would somehow pull through.

After a few minutes, Lord Cain finally became calmer as he now just laid there on the grass, his hands resting over his stomach as he took calming, deep breaths.  Meditating and focusing on his breathing, Wysteria still circling around him.

*Cain’s POV*

After screaming didn’t help, all I could do now is do what Ajak taught me shortly after I had been resurrected and had lost my sight.  Whenever my senses became too heightened or the world became too much for my darkened eyes to take, she taught me how to focus my breathing and find peace within me.

I took deep, calming breaths and remained still.  After awhile the silence around me soon turned to muffled conversations until finally I heard Eomer say.

“How long do we have to wait?”

“Not anymore.” I spoke up.  I soon heard the sound of every man’s heartbeat that surrounded me pick up.  I then heard Wysteria’s hooves walk closer to me and she lowered her head nickering softly as I felt her warm breath at my face.  “I’m okay girl, thank you.” She knelt down softly whinnying and I reached out to her and allowed her to help me stand up.

“What happened Cain?” I heard Theoden ask me.

“The Celestial roar.” I answered.

“The what?”

“The Celestial roar. It’s not necessarily a power, but in pure, raw rage, a Celestial can let out a scream so loud and so thunderous, it is said to make the Misty Mountains themselves tremor. Only few Celestials in history have ever done such a scream, most of them being from Thena’s side. Something must’ve happened in Gondor to allow Hela to roar like that. Something bad, and I fear it’s not because of the city falling.”

“Lord Cain I must ask this, are you able to still fight? Or even ride?” Theoden asked to which I immediately responded.

“Yes. I know what all of you must be thinking, and I sincerely apologize to whoever it was that I hurt. But I am still able to fight and ride.” Theoden remained silent for awhile until he said to me.

“Very well. But if you should have an outburst like that again, I will have no choice but to order you to return to Dunharrow and recover under my niece’s care.” Little does he know that his niece is closer than he thinks.

“Yes my lord. Again I severely apologize for making everyone worry and for delaying our trip to Gondor.”

“We ride through the night.” Theoden told me.  “Sound the call!” I then heard the horns of the mark sound off and Wysteria nudged her face into my chest.  I patted her nose and got onto her back and soon we all rode in full gallop, long through the night and day without rest until we would reach the white city.

*My POV*

I had hoped I’d never even get within 20 feet of this place.  Ever since the Witch King took over this place, it brewed an aura so foul and evil, it made me tremble in fear at the mere mention of it’s name.  Now Haldir was inside this horrible place, who knows what tortures those council members have already done to him.

I took a deep breath and exhaled before finally taking that first step across the bridge and came to the doors.  Using Thena’s strength, I kicked the doors opened and it was so quiet.  No orc guards, no Nazgul, not even the torches were lit.

“Show yourselves cowards.” I hissed lowly.  I looked around as I summoned Aeglos to my hand and slowly walked further into Minas Morgul.  Already the dark magic of this place was starting to affect my mind as I heard the dark chants of not only the lost souls who had been trapped here after the fall of Minas Ithil, but also the Witch King himself.

Perfecting his dark incantations he’d use in battle long ago before his fall in Angmar.

“So, you’ve come at last.” I heard Deimos’ voice echo through the darkness.  “I was beginning to think you were too weak to come here to this place.”

“Why hide in the shadows like a snake in the grass?” I said looking around in every direction to where he could be hiding.

“We have nothing to hide.” Nergal’s voice soon spoke up.

“Then show yourselves.” I sneered.

“To find us, follow the cold shiver running down your spine, and the cold spots that cling to the back of your neck.” Nergal said, almost mocking me.  Then all went silent once again.

I slowly walked further into the fortress until I came to the stairs that led up to the watch tower.  Like Nergal said, I felt a cold spot as my breath suddenly became visible and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck begin to stand up.  A shiver of fear ran up my spine as I made the climb up the stairs.  Finally I made it to the top level of the tower and I was horrified at what I saw.

Haldir lay there on his back unconscious and surrounding him looked to be the same symbol that I had seen branded on Théodred’s soul when he came as a hybrid Deviant back at Helm’s Deep.

“Haldir.” I quickly raced over to him and was shocked to see that his entire body had been cut with what almost appeared to be a thousand knives no not knives, they were too shallow to be knife wounds, thread? But how could thread do something like this? “Haldir? Haldir? Come back to me.”

He remained still, like he was in a deep sleep.  I pressed my lips to his forehead and remained there for a solid minute until I felt him awake choking and gasping for air.  His eyes (for the first time) showed true, blind fear as he frantically looked around.

“Hey, hey, hey look at me. Look right at me Haldir. It’s me, it’s Hela.”

“Hela….” He croaked.  His voice completely parched from lack of water.  “Y-you sho…..”

“Shhh, save your strength.” I whispered to him.  “I’m here to get you out. Can you stand?”

“Trap…..”

“What?”

“Trap……it’s a trap! They—they’re after you. They—AHHH!!!” suddenly Haldir’s body contorted itself inward before he was lifted into the air.

“Don’t you just hate it when puppets don’t do what they’re told?” I growled and summoned a whip and captured Nergal by the waist.

“Whatever spell you have him under release him now or I’ll have your bones crushed underneath this whip!”

“The smell of rage, yes. Almost as pleasant as the smell of fear.” Deimos soon came out from the darkness to my right.  Another pair of footsteps soon followed and there stood Perses just a few feet in front of me.

“That is a rush isn’t it? Knowing you have someone’s life under your will.” Perses spoke with a growl to his voice.  It was almost as chilling as Sauron’s voice itself.

“What do you want with me? And why bring Haldir into this? If you wanted me you should’ve come for me directly and left him out of this!” I snarled at Perses.

“Then you wouldn’t have felt what you’re feeling now. Can’t you feel it Hela? The power you had unleashed when you found out about your precious Elfling being brought here. The rage, the anger, it fueled you did it not? We heard it ourselves. The Celestial roar.”

“So what? You want it? Hate to tell you it’s not really a power that can be taken by any means.”

“No, you misunderstand me Hela. Much like you misunderstand why you and your kin were brought to Middle Earth.”

“What?”

“I’ve seen how she’s trapped you. Fighting the Valar’s ‘holy, moral mission’. Bringing peace to Middle Earth and guiding it’s new comers to a better world. That’s not the mission of the Celestials, let alone the mission of the Celestial of Death.”

“And what would you know of why I was brought here? You don’t know anything about me!”

“Don’t we?” Deimos said.

“Middle Earth doesn’t need you to save them, they don’t deserve your help!” Nergal said.  “What you are is not a curse, it’s a gift.”

“You three don’t know what you’re talking about.” I tried to ignore them and redirect the conversation elsewhere but Perses soon spoke again in that haunting grovel of his voice.

“I myself have watched you from behind Denethor’s cowardly eyes. Struggling to have everything you want. While the world makes you choose. Celestials don’t have to choose, we take.” Not wanting to hear another word, I threw Aeglos straight at Perses and saw as it pierced right through his chest but it had no effect on him.

A sadistic smile came across his face as his eyes grew wide and glowed pure white and his hands began to glow white and he fired a powerful magical blast right at me.  I summoned a Celestial shield to block it and I soon saw Deimos’ hands glow red as he began to fire at my other side.  I summoned another shield but together both of their blasts were too powerful for me to hold back.

Soon I had no choice but to disband the shields but using Makkari’s speed I got out of the way as their blasts hit each other creating an explosion of white and red.  I then saw as Nergal began twisting his hands around (much like my water elemental sisters did) and saw Haldir land to the ground on his feet, his hands going straight to his belt as he was forced to draw out his sword.

Against his will, he came at me swishing and slicing his sword frantically.  I dodged each of his attacks before flipping over him and used Makkari’s ability to chi-block.  Hitting each of Haldir’s pressure points hurt me but I had no other choice.

‘I’m sorry Haldir.’ I signed to him.

“You did what you had to do.” I felt the vibrations of his voice say.  Suddenly my arm began to twist backwards before it was pulled behind me.  I gripped my arm but I couldn’t bring it down, then I felt myself being forced to stand fully erect like a guard of the Watch tower.  I soon felt myself being lifted into the air and slowly being turned around to face Nergal.

“You should’ve learned this technique before you faced us. It’s impossible to fight your way out of my grip. I now control every muscle, even your very soul is mine to command.” With a twist of his hands and arms, I was jerked to the right before I felt my feet sliding across the floor towards the left only to feel both my arms being thrown behind my back to stop me.

My body contorting, almost spasming as I felt my entire body crumble then go erect before crumbling again.  Until finally I was forced down on my knees, tears falling down my face in pain.  In the pain, I was forced to let go of Makkari’s powers and I pleaded with Nergal.

“Stop……please.” Nergal only cackled at the sight of my agony.  But then through the pain, I felt this rush of power surging through me.  I breathed sharply through my pain as I used the magic that surrounded me.  I slowly stood on my feet and said, “You’ve underestimated me Nergal. You, Deimos and Perses all underestimated me. I am not the same Celestial of Death I once was, and technique is useless on me!”

Using my own Celestial magic, I drew in some of the dark power from this very fortress and converted it to my own personal brand of Celestial of Death magic and fired it at Nergal.  He took the beam and redirected it back towards me as well as drew in dark power from the fortress as well and all three beams of magic combined into one as it headed straight for me.

I took a strong front stance and did a palm-heel strike at the beam which dispersed and scattered around the fortress like millions of fireflies.  Nergal was shocked at what I had done then using Makkari’s speed I slammed right into him and repeatedly came at him punching and kicking him into the wall until he was all but unconscious.  A gleam soon caught my attention and I took his left wrist to see a vial with both a red and watery speck within.

The vial was what one of the Blue Wizards called a voodoo vial.  If someone’s blood or any form of fluid got into this vial, the magic bearer could control said person using their own fluids against them.  Nergal must’ve used both Haldir’s blood and the sweat from my armor after the battle of Osgiliath and put it into this vial.

But how he got it was the question, these vials hadn’t been seen since the Blue Wizards vanished from Middle Earth.  I tucked it away so that Nergal couldn’t use it again before racing back to Haldir.  I helped him up dropping Makkari’s powers and said to him.

“I’m sorry again about what I did earlier.”

“And as I said, you did what you had to do. I probably would’ve done the same thing.” I smiled softly and got us back towards the stairway and we tried to get out as fast as we could.

Once we had reached the main level, a powerful blast was shot behind us which threw both Haldir and I off our feet.  We both turned to see Perses and Deimos levitating above us.

“Haldir, run.”

“But Hela—”

“This is not up for debate, you’ve already been in this foul place long enough, I refuse to allow you to stay another second here!”

“My, my how adorable they are. Seems ashamed we’ll have to tear you both apart. Limb from limb.” Deimos mocked with a sadistic grin on his face.

“Haldir please. Just get out of here!”

“I won’t leave you to fight them alone!” Valar above Haldir don’t make me do this! I took the vial and thought my command.  Soon Haldir stood up, his eyes widened in shock.

“Go.” Then he turned and against his will, he ran out of Minas Morgul leaving me to fend off both Deimos and Perses.

“Such a noble cause, but he won’t get far.” Perses said to me monotonous, almost devoid of any feeling.

“If either of you want him, you’ll have to kill me first.” I summoned Aeglos back to my hand as well as used Kingo’s power to summon a cosmic energy ball.  Deimos soon summoned out his two sickles flipping the blades together making a clanking sound.

“I’m going to enjoy this.” He said lustfully.  Then the three of us charged at each other.

The battle lasted throughout the night, by the end Minas Morgul was left with various openings and cracks within its structure.  As we stood upon the highest tower once more, I was panting and breathing heavily, my body bleeding and bruised whilst both Perses and Deimos barely had a scratch on them.

How were they able to get by with barely a scratch?! They couldn’t be normal mages or sorcerers so just who or what were these men? Suddenly I became overwhelmed with the crying voices of the people of Gondor.  Hearing their heartbeats beat their last beat or feel the souls leaving their bodies as they were being slaughtered like pigs.

“Ohhh that is a delicious scent. Death. Feeling the souls of the departed and their blood pour out.” Deimos said taking a deep inhale before exhaling in pleasure.  His eyes seemed to glow redder as he slid his sickles across the ground and walked towards me.

“You’re even viler than Azog himself.” I muttered.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Deimos mocked.  I charged at them again but they quickly disbanded and took to the air.  I fired at Deimos using Kingo’s cosmic arrows firing them one after the other when I felt Perses coming at me from behind.  I quickly ducked his punch and went to punch him but he grabbed my wrist in his hand.

“Strong enough to have it all,” he then kneed me in the gut which knocked the wind out of me.  “Too weak to take it!” he then kicked me in the face sending me across the tower but I got back into a low crouching stance.  I then used the peaks of the tower to run up and capture Perses with my legs (a technique favored by Thena and Makkari).

I used my monetium to pin him to the wall and with as much force as I could I began punching Perses in the face repeatedly.  But what frightened me was that with each punch, he kept turning his head back towards me, a wicked smile spreading across his face almost as if he were enjoying it.  As he cackled I cried out and punched him harder even elbowing him straight down on the head.  But Perses held me by the back before finally slamming me down through the roof of the tower sending me falling straight back to the same room where I had found Haldir.

I groaned and coughed up some blood as I tried to pick myself off the ground.  I then felt a foot on my back and saw as a sickle came at my throat.

“I say it’s time we put an end to this little game of ours.” Deimos said to me.  Just as I felt the blade start to touch my neck, a horn was heard in the distance.  A horn that I knew all too well.  “Impossible!” Deimos growled and I let out a laugh.

“They’ve come.”

*Cain’s POV*

With the sound of the Horn of the Mark echoing through the sun’s rising in the East, we had finally arrived at Gondor open fields.  Our horses neighing and whinnying as we marched over the Pelennor fields and looked down upon Gondor.

Even though I couldn’t physically see the destruction that lay before us, I could easily compare it to one other city that had been this badly attacked.  The night Gondolin was attacked.  The fire, the panicked screams of the people, the smell of decaying flesh, it all came back to me as we stood upon the hill.

The haunting chants of the number of orcs that stood before the walls of the White city were probably the greatest I had ever felt in my lifetime.  Sauron was willing to take no chances to allow the city of Kings to remain standing.

Wysteria nickered and stamped her hooves nervously, and I could pick up the fear coming from Merry deep within the armies.  I patted Wysteria’s neck comfortingly and whispered to her.

“Steady girl, steady.” ‘You too Merry. This is what true war is like, but if you remember your training, you may yet survive this.’ I soon sent a telepathic message to Merry.

“Form ranks you maggots! Form ranks. Pikes in front, archers behind!” I heard a general orc command his army.  I heard as the orc armies got into position and I tightened my grip on Wysteria’s reins.  I then heard the thundering hooves of Theoden’s horse Snowmane and he gave out the orders.

“Eomer, take your eored down the left flank.”

“Flank ready!” Eomer called out to his section of the army.

“Gamling, follow the king’s banner down the center. Grimbold, take your company right after you’ve passed the wall. Forth, and fear no darkness!” The two men got into position and soon Theoden stopped before me and Wysteria, “Master Cain, you ride with me at my side. Together we lead our men to battle!” I nodded and urged Wysteria to follow Snowmane as Theoden proclaimed to one and all of his riders, pacing across the entire army of Rohan.  “Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered. A sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!”

The riders lowered their spears and I heard the orcs wielding their pikes get into full position crouching down with their pikes standing outward.  Snowmane soon rode onward and I urged Wysteria behind him, Theoden’s sword clanking with each spear as he gave his men the courage to ride forth into battle and death.

“Ride now! RIDE NOW! RIDE! RIDE FOR RUIN AND THE WORLD’S ENDING!!” When Theoden stopped at the middle of the army to lead us onward, he proclaimed out for one and all to hear, his sword raised. “DEATH!!”

“DEATH!” the men echoed back raising their own weapons.

“DEATH!” I then cried out.

“DEATH!” the men echoed back, accepting me as their Celestial General as they and their ancestors had done for Hela so long ago.

“DEATH!!!!” Both Theoden and I cried out once more and this time the riders, Merry and Eowyn echoed back death so loudly, the sun fully rose behind us.  Lighting up the darkness that had befallen Gondor and giving their people back their hope.

“FORTH EORLINGAS!” Theoden proclaimed as the Horns of the Mark pierced the dawning sky.  And with the final horn call, Theoden and I lead the charge as the riders all yelled and cried out a battle cry, I could swear it would’ve rivaled a Celestial’s roar.

Wysteria went from a slow trot to a run and finally a full on gallop.  I gripped my axe in my hand as I urged her to go faster.  My confidence urging her onward as she neighed fiercely.  I soon heard the orc general proclaim the archers to fire and the sound of whizzing arrows filled the skies, and the sound of horses tripping and falling as well as men being taken down off their horses.

But we did not stop.  We kept charging towards the orc armies head on.  As Theoden let out the full command to charge, I could already hear the shift in the air from the orcs.  More arrows continued to come down at us, but even the orcs soon realized that we weren’t retreating, they became shocked, nay frightened.

I raised my axe into the air and proclaimed out to Gamling and the rest of the men at the center.

“CHARGE!!!” The sound of the orcs’ heartbeats beated furiously with fear and some even started to retreat back but it was too late.

Like a tidal wave crashing down, the horses ploughed through the orcs like they were nothing.  I sliced every orc that was within range, relieving them of their heads or slicing their necks open.  Wysteria rammed down each orc and made sure to trample over each one she had knocked down as we continued to charge deeper within the ranks of the orc armies.

Rohan had come to Gondor’s aid, and the old Alliances of Men was finally reforged.

Swords clashed, spears broke, shields splintered, just as Theoden said but we managed to slay most of the front lines of orcs and free the gate of any orcs that tried to enter the city.

I beheaded two orcs one after the other before coming across another orc who tried to come at Wysteria.  I grabbed his spear and headbutted him before using his own spear to stab him through the heart.  Wysteria reared as she kicked another orc that came near us before riding onward.

“Drive them to the river!” I could hear Eomer’s voice call out and his men did as they told.  The orcs quickly retreating as Theoden proclaimed.

“Make safe the city!” that’s when a deep rumble was heard.  I knew I was the only one who could hear it because the Riders had yet to notice what was coming.  I knew those deep, thunderous footsteps well and just the smell of them coming I knew who was now here.

“Find Theoden Wysteria. Hyah!” she rode onward but it was too late.  Soon the fighting stopped as the sound of chants echoed through the plains.  The deep bellowing horn and the chants of the Men now became clear.

The Haradrim had come.

The spiked heartbeats of the men around me grew in fear as they now looked upon the beasts that stood before them.  The Mumakil or as my kin called them once Oliphaunts.  Long ago, the Celestials once bred them for helping to build our great castles and removing dead trees to make room for new ones.

But shortly after the Deviants destroyed our home, they had been scattered and found themselves into the hands of people of Harad.  Nowadays they bred the Oliphaunts as war-beasts.  Which soon earned them their new name, Mumakil.

Wysteria nickered and paced fearfully.  I patted her neck and urged her to find Theoden once more.  She huffed but obeyed my command.

“Reform the line! Reform the line!” I heard Theoden’s voice proclaim.  What no! Theoden you can’t lead these men in a direct attack against these Mumakil, you’ll be slaughtered!  The Oliphants’ soon roared out furiously as they now began to charge.

“THEODEN! THEODEN WAIT!” I cried out as I rode towards him but it was too late.

“Sound the charge! Take them head on! Charge!”

“NOOO!!” I cried out but my voice was drowned out with the Horn of the Mark and the cries of the Men as they charged head on towards the Haradrim soldiers.

Within seconds, the sound of horses being flung through the air, men falling to their deaths at great heights, and giant hooves squashing both men and horses bones were all I could hear.  Arrows whizzing from both Haradrim and Rohirrim soldiers silenced any and all (but I could mostly hear the Rohirrim being slaughtered).

I growled and urged Wysteria forward and as I got closer I advised to them.

“NOT THE BEASTS! TAKE DOWN THE RIDERS! AIM FOR THE HEAD RIDER! EOMER!! TAKE DOWN THE LEAD RIDER! BRING HIM DOWN!!” Eomer’s head turned to me and I felt him grip his spear tightly as I heard a Mumakil coming right towards him.  He waited and waited for the right time to strike, then he let out a grunt as he threw his spear straight at the lead rider bringing him down.

By killing the lead rider, you force the Mumakil to go wherever they go.  And since this one was now dangling dead to the right, the Mumakil he was controlling was forced to go right, straight into another Mumakil bringing them both down.  I rode to Eomer and told him.

“Nice throw.”

“Thank you.”

“Tell your men to either aim for the riders, the head or their lower legs and ankles with your swords and spears. Their skin is too think to use arrows anywhere else.”

“I take you’ve dealt with these soldiers before?” he asked.

“Unfortunately yes. Haradrim soldiers, they’re twisted, vile, and kill for the pleasure of it. If I had to say whose worse orcs or them, you’d be surprised to say I’d rather take my chances with the orcs before these men.”

“Thank you for the advice Lord Cain.” I nodded then urged Wysteria onward to find Theoden.  Taking my advice, I heard Eomer command the men to fire their arrows where I had told them to.  One Mumakil was getting ambushed on all sides having arrow after arrow being fired at him.  He reared up taking down some of the men before a spear to the leg finally brought him down and finally give the men enough fire power to kill him.

It was sad to see these once innocent creatures now being used for war but I couldn’t let it interfere with my part in the war.  I urged Wysteria onward and used my axe and orc spear to cut one Mumakil at the ankles which brought it down.

I then used the orc spear to take down one of the archers before he had a chance to take either me or Wysteria down.  I then heard Eowyn’s voice calling out for Merry in a panic.  No! What happened!

“Hyah!” I kicked Wysteria’s sides and she raced onward.  I followed Eowyn’s heartbeat and soon tracked her near Theoden who was surrounded by orcs.  But her love for her uncle fueled her fire to fight and defend him in battle.  That’s when I heard the sound of coughing nearby and the familiar choked grunts of Merry.  “Come on Wysteria! Ha!”

She raced ahead and I soon picked up Merry’s racing heartbeat and his labored breathing.  Surrounding him were three Haradrim Soldiers.  Two of which had him held prisoner, while the third was ready to behead him.  I urged Wysteria on and she raced ahead before rearing up and kicked the Haradrim soldier holding Merry by the neck hard in the head, breaking his neck.

I then sliced one of the soldiers holding Merry across the face before twirling it and threw it at the other one, silencing him.

“Master Cain!” I got off Wysteria and knelt down in front of him, cupping his face.

“Are you alright?”

“I am, thanks to you.” I sighed in relief and embraced the young hobbit tightly. 

I was forced to live with the fact that I had allowed Hela to be tortured by the Haradrim soldiers for an entire day just because I couldn’t allow anyone to see how a blind man could fight.  I refused to allow anyone else I care about fall victim to these vile men ever again.

“Are you okay?” I sniffled softly and separated from him and said.

“Yes. Now that I know you are.”

“I remembered what you taught me, but they came out of nowhere from the orcs that also came by to take advantage of me.”

“As I said, they’re clever but they also fight dirty. Come.” I took back my axe and whipped the blood off of it and put Merry on top of Wysteria and got on her back just behind Merry.  “Let’s finish this, Hyah!” together Merry and I rode into battle slaughtering any stray Haradrim soldier that came at us or aiding the men who needed help.

Suddenly a piercing screech filled the air which made me clench my ears in agony.  Wysteria reared in such a panic, she had bucked both Merry and I off her back.  I soon heard the growls of a fellbeast and the crunching of horse’s bones before hearing the cracks of Theoden’s lower back snapping in two.  With an injury like that, even if he did somehow survive, he’d never be able to walk again.

“What happened Master Cain? Why did you horse do that?”

“The Witch King. He is here, and he means to kill Theoden.” I then heard his haunting voice say.

‘Feast on his flesh.’ But then a heartbeat filled with both fear and anger stepped forward and I heard Eowyn say.

“I will kill you if you touch him!”

‘Do not come between the Nazgul and his prey.’

“No, Eowyn what are you doing?”

“Lady Eowyn is there? Facing that thing? I have to help her!”

“Merry no! You can’t. No man can beat the Witch King of Angmar. He’s too powerful.” I gripped his arm before he could run off.

“But I’m no man, I’m a hobbit. Please Master Cain, I have to help Lady Eowyn. She’s helped me just as much as you have. I’d never forgive myself if I let her die when I know I could’ve helped.” I looked at the halfling and nodded.  I released his arm and told him.

“I’ll cover you.” He quickly embraced me before racing off to find Lady Eowyn.  Any man or orc that set their eyes on Merry, I slaughtered them where they stood.  Until finally the evil aura of the Witch King was so close, I couldn’t take another step out of fear.

With no other choice I turned and ran the opposite way, hoping Merry would be alright.  That’s when I felt a strong spiritual wave overcome the fields of Pelennor.  The same ghostly presence I had felt back at Dunharrow just days ago.  They did it! Aragorn and them succeeded in bringing the Army of the dead to help aid us.  Knowing the dead cant be killed nor have anything else to die for, the armies of Sauron were doomed far worse than ever before.

I slayed a few Haradrim soldiers and as I was crossing blades with another one, our strengths equally matched until he headbutted me and sliced at my leg through my disorientation.  But before he could deliver the finishing blow, Wysteria came and kicked the soldier in the chest cracking his ribs and then trampled his face in.

She came up to me and helped me stand back up.  I patted her neck as I slowly got on her back once more praising her on saving my life once more.  She whinnied and charged onward while I beheaded or cut the throats of any enemy that came near us.  But as I relieved two orcs of their heads, three arrows whizzed and Wysteria suddenly collapsed rolling forward neighing in pain, sending me off her back and down in a crouch position, my axe held close to my chest.

I heard the heartbeats of six Haradrim soldiers surrounding me and I took out my small dagger kept behind my boot and with grace and agility, I sliced through each of their necks, ending their worthless lives before turning back to Wysteria.  I knelt down beside her and could hear her heartbeat starting to slow and her breathing was labored.

Tears filled my eyes as I stroked her neck and pressed my head to hers.

“You were very brave Wysteria. So very brave, and I am honored to called you my faithful steed. You can rest now. Be at peace wild mare of Rohan.” She nickered softly once more before her heart went still and her breathing stopped.  I kissed her muzzle and stroked her neck once more.

I wish I had more time to grieve but the battle still needed to be fought.  I ran away from Wysteria and continued fighting on foot, cutting down any enemy forces that came my way until I came across a few familiar heartbeats that I knew had come with the army of the dead.  I sliced off an orc’s head and proclaimed.

“Aragorn!” I heard him chuckle as the two of us came together and embraced each other.  “Glad to see your mission was a success.”

“Glad to see you’re still in one peace. Not that I doubted from Hela’s older brother.” We both chuckled.

“Hate to say you were wrong before but 6000 was enough to break the lines of Mordor. At least until the Haradrim came and tipped the scales with their Mumakil. But with you and the armies of the dead here, we may yet reclaim the city back in your name.”

“Yes. Fight at my side Lord Cain?”

“To the death, King Aragorn.” I said gripping my axe and dagger tighter and giving him a smirk.  Together we both charged at any enemy in range.

As the battle continued to rage on, I sensed something.  Something far beyond the fields and pass the White city but not at the gates of Mordor.  It was somewhere inbetween the two kingdoms, a dark fell place and suddenly there was a loud boom.  A boom so loud, it shook the very earth and I could hear what sounded like a building starting to crumble down.  More explosions followed and I turned to Aragorn and asked him.

“What do you see to the West?”

“A fog of green and black smoke. A shape of a skull now forms in the sky, just over Minas Morgul. I knew it was a fell place of dark magic but never before have I seen something like that before.”

“Seems we’ll have to wait till after the war to decide what it was that caused that explosion.”

“Agreed. We’re almost at victory, we can’t afford to stop now.” I nodded in agreement.  After a few more minutes of fighting, I felt as the army of the dead swept the city and all the orcs that had breached the city were silenced.  Soon all went quiet except for one faint heartbeat.

I followed it and soon discovered that it was Theoden King.  He was barely clinging to life even with his body broken.  I knelt down beside him and stroked his head softly, I could feel the muscles around his eyes struggle to open and soon he said.

“You have your sister’s heart.” I smiled softly.  “And her smile, Master Cain.” His voice was soft as his heartbeat was slowly beginning to fade.  His gloved fingers came to my cheek softly stroking it, “My eyes darken.”

“I know…..I know.” I softly told him.  “I’m sorry I cannot spare the pain of your passing like my sister can.”

“You already are.” He assured me.  As a tear slowly slid down my face, Theoden stroked the tear away.  “Master Cain, do not weep over me. For your sister has taught me to not fear death.” I smiled softly.

That was what I had hoped Hela would give to the world.  For if she befriended all races that live in Middle Earth, when death comes for them no matter what shape or form, Hela is the sign that death is not a path to fear, but to one day embrace.  And look to like one looks at a dear friend.

“I go to my fathers, in whose mighty company I shall not know of yet shame.” Ever so slowly his heart beat got quieter and quieter until he choked out my sister’s name before he went silent.  His heart beating no more.

Theoden King had now passed.

Tears fully ran down my face as I cupped the face of the now dead king and whispered to him.

“Be at peace, Theoden Horse-master.” I kissed the center of his forehead before closing his eyes forever.

*My POV*

With the arrival of Rohan coming to Gondor’s aid and the Alliances of Men finally being reforged, it seemed to anger both Deimos and Perses in a way I had never seen before.  It fueled their attacks which took a deep toll on my body.

I tried to fight back with all my strength but even that wasn’t enough for the two of them combined together.  At first their fighting style had been to toy with me in order to keep me here and not go back to aid Gondor.  Now, now they were fully out for blood.  They weren’t holding back on anything whether their physical attacks or their magic.

I had been thrown against the tower by Perses before he came at me holding me by the throat.  He then picked me up and together the two of us slammed through the walls of Minas Morgul until we came to the main level of the fortress once again.  As I slammed hard against the floor, creating a large crater-like dent in the floor, Perses and Deimos soon appeared on top of me, Deimos taking my hands and pinning them to the ground while Deimos squeezed my throat with both his hands.

“Your weakness Hela, is morality. It’s choking you!” Both of them stared me down with insane, wide eyes.  There was nothing I could do now, my body was practically beaten and my vision was quickly going black as the air from my lungs was quickly running out.

“Can’t you feel it?” Deimos taunted as he gripped my left wrist and snapped it within his palm.  I didn’t even have any air to scream as I could literally hear the bones in my wrist crack but then the both of them screamed and finally let me up.

I let out a loud gasp as coughed and crying were mixed together.  I looked up and had seen that Haldir had returned.  Deimos and Nergal growled lowly as they withdrew Haldir’s twin daggers out from their backs and tossed them aside.

“Stupid Elfling you really thought those daggers would work?!” Deimos snarled.  As I continued coughing and rolled over to my side cradling my broken wrist and slowly tried to stand up.

“Nergal was right! She got it from you that pathetic sickness that is love!” Perses snarled.  I then felt a foot slam into my back sending me face first back into the rubble of the marble floor.  Haldir stood his ground now wielding Aeglos.  Both Deimos and Perses forced me up gripping either my hair or shoulder roughly.

“The cunning warrior attacks neither body nor mind.” Deimos taunted me.

“Haldir go…..” I choked.

“They attack your heart.” He finished.

“Haldir……please…..” I pleaded.  But he stood his ground.  Then suddenly a fellbeast bursted through the main entrance of the fortress knocking Haldir off his feet and threw him across the room.  I cried out his name as the fellbeast flew around before landing.  Riding on top of it was Nergal, he gave me a smirk and soon joining with him on top of the fellbeast were Deimos and Perses.

“Hela, Hela, Hela. No good deed goes unpunished. You can thank us later.” Perses told me.  I saw as Haldir lay there on his side near one of the columns grimacing in pain.  I watched as Perses nodded to Nergal who took out a circular vial filled with green colored potion.  He tossed the vial towards Haldir but I leapt towards it.

But the second I touched it….BOOM!! Just like at Helm’s Deep, a large explosion happened everywhere and I was thrown across the other side of the fortress.  I heard two more additional explosions ring out and the last thing I saw before I briefly blacked out was nothing but green and black mist forming around me.

[inquisitorsnappy]

Self and Partner from the relationship asks for Cinari? c:

hello!! thank you for asking about cin!!

Self: How is your OC's relationship with themselves? Does your OC like who they are? Is there anything about themselves that they would change?

kinda complicated. more complicated that she probably even registers.

her guardian, vaylin, taught her everything she knows and, as such, is very much why she grew up into such a giving, selfless person that was so willing to give herself up for the sake of others. as such, cinari found herself feeling as though she needed to be useful and help other people to have an value as a person. but vaylin was also a harsh teacher with high expectations that cinari never seemed able to meet. she always seemed to disappoint vaylin. especially when she decided to leave home to do the very thing that vaylin taught her to do. cinari always saw this as a failing on her own part and, despite evidence to the contrary, saw herself as a failure. it's not been until recently that she's considered that vaylin was at fault for her low self-esteem and saviour complex. but that's now left her in a weird spot where she thinks that vaylin was wrong in how she raised her and that she shouldn't have grown up feeling unloved. but she still struggles to feel worthy of the good things that happen to her. she's having a hard time unlearning what vaylin taught her despite knowing that she needs to unlearn it to grow as a person. she thinks she's a failure but part of her is almost screaming at herself to listen to the people telling that she is a good person because she knows, deep down, that they're right.

the thing that'll probably help her work through it all will be to return home and talk to vaylin (she's got other Shit she needs to yell at her about anyway) so, once strahd is dealt with and she's free to leave barovia, her plan is to do just that.

Partner: Does your OC currently have a partner? Multiple partners? How did they meet, and what is that relationship like?

she does! she has two partners; Cain Braun, a shifter paladin, and Durkel Glimmerbelly, a dragonborn bard.

i am gonna put the rest of my rambles for this one under the cut bc i have A Lot to say about these idiots (affectionate)

when cinari first arrived in barovia, she ran into durkel soon after. with neither having seen anyone else for a while since they started their respective journey's into barovia, decided to stick together at least for a little while, travelling to a nearby inn with asher, the other person they crossed paths with near the outskirts of the valley. at that inn, they met lillith, a dhampir that relied on her friend cain to remain safe and undetected by strahd. cain had gone missing and she needed help to find him. she asked cin, durkel and asher for their help in finding him, leading to the four of them staging a rescue. and that was the formation of most of the party, with them meeting eva, the final member of the gang the following day.

it took a while for romance to develop between the three of them. cinari is very oblivious to any romantic feelings that involve her so she didn't realise her developing feelings for either of them for a long time and was very blindsided by the suggestion that they liked her. cain is also pretty oblivious, mainly because he's not actually been in love before cin and durkel. and then by the time durkel was sure of his feelings, the fact that there was something going on between cin and cain was a pretty known quantity within the party and he didn't want to get in the way. but even before cin knew of her romantic feelings, she gravitated towards both of them pretty naturally. durkel's light-hearted, jokey demeanour was a comfort and he was also the only other non-barovian in the party so they were able to talk about the world outside the valley and bond over that somewhat. and cain has a similar sunny-disposition and inherent kindness to her. he also turned to her for advice and insight as discovered his own faith and began his steps towards becoming a paladin, since she herself is a cleric. these three made fast and easy friends.

cain fully realised how he felt after he made a really big sacrifice to save cinari from being turned into a vampire spawn by strahd. when talking to her about it, he blurted out that he loved her. cin asked for time but she did end up realising that she felt the same but also, now recognising what love felt like, that she felt that way about durkel as well. she at this point already suspected that durkel had feelings for cain so she started to hope for a polycule but struggled to know when was the right time to say anything. durkel ended up confessing his feelings for both of them when a puzzle required someone to reveal a secret. cin spoke with durkel about it, telling him that she felt the same and they agreed to speak with cain. and then she got captured by rahadin and taken to strahd in ravenloft so that was kinda put on hold until they saved her. during the time she was captive, though, cain and durkel talked. so by the time they saved her, they were a thing and so it was just a case of bringing cinari into that relationship once she was safe.

the three of them are very protective of one another which, isn't surprising from cinari; she has always based her whole identity and self-worth on her ability to save the people around her so it's no surprise that she'd do anything for the sake of her boyfriends. but they have also helped her learn to stop and take time for herself as well. before cain saved her from strahd, she didn't think she was worth such a sacrifice but the fact that he went to such lengths made her realise that maybe she was. and whilst obviously she didn't witness it, she's been told about how hell-bent durkel was to save her when she was captured (he was lashing out at people, refused to sleep, refused to wait for the others). and both of them have been very doting as she recovered from these events. through their actions, they've basically told her that she is worthy of love and it's okay for her to be the one that needs help sometimes. it's a lesson she's still learning but it's safe to say they've had a very positive impact on her life and sense of worth. the events of the last several sessions have been Very Rough emotionally and cinari has felt very, very low but she's found a lot of comfort in her relationship with cain and durkel and even just the simple knowledge that she is loved, something she hasn't felt in a very long time.

ask me about cinari!! (question list | askbox)

[queerloquial]

thoughts so far

- being a drow fucks

- being a paladin Really Fucks

- I'm actually tempted to use the worms?? like normally when games do the "ehehe here's an option to acquire Power but it has A Cost" I'm like lol no thanks idiot but. I keep finding myself going "maybe a little illithid power could be okay..." Slippery Slope, Babes

- general party setup: me (ancients paladin) + astarion (assassin with bow) + wyll (fjord criticalrole really opened my eyes to how warlocks can be useful) + karlach/lae'zel swapping out

- i'd thought i'd like shadowheart more than I do. 90% chance it's just her early personality not vibing with me, but also getting her approval is super slow for me bc. I just never take her anywhere. don't need to. I've got heals + potions, the party has 3 melee fighters, and there's not a lot of utility magic in this game so that's half the point of a cleric out the window (at least compared to what I prioritize when making actual-dnd clerics)

- did Not expect to like lae'zel as much as i do. it's partly bc I know already that she Can Get Better but also I find her directness and intensity relatable

- gale is alright, but like shadowheart suffers from "sorry we've got two casters in the party already" and "jfc are my only spell options to deal direct damage to one (1) target or to waste a slot on something useless in combat" (I want utility! crowd control! set up environmental or status conditions that the others can exploit! aloth pillarsofeternity was a permanent fixture in my party not bc he could kill things real good but bc he could hit a whole cluster of enemies from forever away and set things up for my fighter pc to McFuck Everyone Up)

- i went into this believing wyll and karlach would be my faves and i am correct

- have not met halsin yet, much less any other companions

- this camera is so finicky s2g. I almost got stuck in this gnoll cave because I was underground but had somehow managed to get the camera above ground and could not for the life of me return it to the party. it took three solid minutes of trying to find the precise angle and zoom level to reach a point where i could get any reachable ground on screen to gradually direct the party to the surface

- I didn't realize that the party supply bag in my inventory contributed to my encumbrabce for the longest time. I am a terrible hoarder and will pick up Every Lootable Item so you can guess how frequently I was popping back to the grove to try to regain a few pounds of inventory space until I discovered the problem (and the Send Item To Camp option...)

- I pushed the maturity slider in chargen all the way to the end and my pc still looks like. mid 30s. maybe 40 at worst in certain lighting. hashtag just elf things ig?? I've seen other people's characters, i know they can look sufficiently aged!

- mmmmm i like my pc, haelra. big tol beefy drow enby

- I think they were originally a mercenary, probably classed as a fighter, though with a quiet interest in arcana and a fascination with the mages employed by their company. eventually crossed paths with a sunny purple tiefling, a devotion paladin, who caught not only their interest but eventually their heart. over time they grew close, enough that haelra left the company to marry them. several decades of settling and asventuring and settling somewhere new, until the spouse aged and died naturally. imagine it's been another decade or so since then, and haelra returned to life on the road, leading to whatever got them on the nautiloid and started the game. the guardian, naturally, took the shape of their spouse, later in their life but still strong and healthy and with a soft, comforting smile

so my partner came to my state this week + i spent a lot of the time playing bg3 on xir laptop

might have to bump it up my priority list, this shit is fun once you've got your feet

[biqherosix]

*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧ keith with an s/o who is a literal ray of sunshine

rise with the moon, rise with the sun - headcanons

fluff, angst

(voltron legendary defender — romantic! keith kogane x reader)

while you rise with the moon, keith has always risen with the sun. your bright, shining personality catches his fire, temperamental heart which leads to a surprising dynamic

cw / none

a/n — i thought this was gonna be strictly fluff, but it ain’t a true keith akira kogane piece by yours truly if there ain’t angst in it woohoo !! anyway enjoy ily tell me what you think bc i appreciate the feedback :) have fun !!

contrary to popular belief, keith would actually get along super well with a sunshine s/o

i mean come on guys he hangs around with people who practically have sunshine pumping through their veins (example a: all of team voltron with an emphasis on hunk and coran)

so you shouldn't be surprised when he's very much used to the rambunctiousness and chaos surrounding the bright personalities

but like everyone on the team makes fun of keith anyway bc of the difference in dynamic and even just dating you bc they either thought he'd turn up alone or date someone that mirrored his personality (lance's idea lmao)

they're just jelly as you balance him out, and keith definitely gets the love he mf deserves when he's with you

and i mean it when i say that keith was so touch starved before he dated you

but as your relationship goes on you'll just be holding onto him in any shape or form and making sure to tell him you love him as you give him a sweet kiss

in front of the paladins he doesn't reciprocate your affection, with you leaning your head on his shoulder and holding his hand during meetings or just nuzzling into him while lounging around

but like in private, you can actually get him to cuddle with you and you lay your head on his chest as you play with his fingers and babble until you're lulled to sleep (and when keith wakes up he smiles because he sees you with a ghost of a smile as you subconsciously tighten your grip on his waist and he thinks about how he doesn't deserve you in the slightest)

sometimes he even pretends to not like it when you take a few of lance's face masks and self care products

but then he hears your laugh while he brushes a sticky purple goo on your cheeks (mainly bc he sticks his tongue out and furrows his eyebrows in concentration and you think it's just such a cute look) so he begrudgingly does one too even though you know he's particularly fond of the red face mask

don't tell anyone but you even got him to put on one of those thick fluffy headbands to keep his hair out of the way

okay but sometimes you get in a rush outside paladin work (you spend a lot of time tinkering with pidge, just keeping them company and making sure they actually get the breaks they deserve) so you give him a quick kiss on the cheek and a bright smile before pidge drags you away

you also like to leave little notes of positive affirmations in his room and when he goes off to train you stick them onto his bayard so he actually sees them, and he doesn't write back but is sure to give you a chaste kiss on the forehead and hug you a little tighter when he sees you after

but damn the shift in attitude surrounding his leave was like instantaneous once the doors closed like who were you gonna cling onto now? like heck yeah you're so supportive about him doing what he feels is right, but you're gonna miss him obviously

though before he left for the blades and got stuck in that stupid time abyss for two years he spent all of the night before just writing out little notes and affirmations of his own and placed them in this little jar that he stole from lance bc he already made his decision

keith was like this close to making some morale boosting videos but then he remembers the disaster that coran set him up with during paladin diaries so that was a no go

he leaves the jar of notes in your room, as well as his jacket bc it's the least he can offer when he leaves (you cry when you walk in after he leaves and you see it in your room and read the note in the pocket)

though they didn't see your breakdown and you're definitely still trying to keep up the positivity, the team definitely feels bad because they notice your eyes don't shine as bright, or when you turn around to act out the little quirks you do around keith and keith only but then you remember he isn't there

allura is convinced she saw coran's heart break when you turned around to whisper with a smile that there's the planet you'd be landing on but you're met with coran instead and your smile falters coran had to leave the room so he could cry for you

they try making you feel better by doing little activities in their downtime to keep your mind off it

and even gorgeous man coran helps out bc he cares and is concerned !! just dad things you feel me, he has you accompany him to get some local planet flowers and you place them around the castle as he sings the altean alphabet and just assures you everyone is here for you

but they don't know keith isn't doing well either

he'd be lying if he said he wasn't used to your constant affection and he craves it by now

one of the only good things in the time abyss besides meeting kosmo though, was befriending romelle

bc honestly dating you helped keith get used to being around romelle everyday for two years and she kinda reminded him of you (he spilled everything about your relationship when romelle caught him holding out his hand and retracting it bc he was so used to you grabbing it, then he just has this low-key burst of anger and kicks the dirt or something)

romelle ever the curious would ask more questions and he just couldn't help but talk about you

let's just say krolia was a wreck after keith fell asleep that night bc he's so far from one of the people who took care of him while she was gone and it hurts for him to be in pain (well guess what it hurts coran too okay)

y'all remember reuniting so vividly like yay cheers !! but also lotor is about to kill us !!

but omg okay so the castle is malfunctioning right and pidge forces you to get supplies and tools as if coran isn't right there but you do it anyway but bc you love pidge with your whole heart so you do it

your timing is actually so off though bc keith the mf contacts them in the control room and gets back to the paladins with romelle and krolia and kosmo miraculously as the castle starts up again without you in the room

you notice everything around you brighten, but just in case you've got the supplies in hand bc with pidge you can never be too careful

keith is already skimming the room for you and he's sad but coran is too busy giving him a lecture and pidge sees romelle and assumes some stuff

they really forgot they were in a war for a fat second for y'all that's true love

"you're alive?? y/n was so worried about you! now why is there an altean with you >:( did you replace them 😡 so help me king groggery the infirm 🔪🔪🔪 you have no idea how sad they've been? morale has been low since you left! 😤"

"get ready to hold me back guys !!!" - pidge, a 5'2 icon ready to throw fists against keith who went through a second puberty

you come back to a huge crowd and you don't really notice bc you're too busy balancing your supplies like "hey pidge where do you want this?" everyone is shook bc they forgot you weren't there bc pidge was honestly ready to go at it

and it's like this dramatic moment where they all move away from each other gradually and you see him

you fr widen your eyes, gape, and drop the supplies (pidge can fix them it's okay the love of your life is in front of you and god he looks hot)

also yk how sokka sees suki and does that thing where he's like "🥰 !!!!" that's how you are when you see him

"keith?!" and he just looks back at you with the softest smile (and he sees you wearing his jacket and you look like an angel bc no one else can pull of the look of his jacket other than him) and you can't help it you're already crying and you just run up and jump and tackle him in a hug

and it's like a full hug as in you tightly wrap your legs around his waist and steady yourself by wrapping your arms around his neck crying into his shoulder because he's really with you !!!

his balance falters because the impact was a little heavy but he softens up quickly, wrapping his arms around your waist and letting his chin bury into your shoulder bc he's missed this, he's missed you

he doesn't let any tears fall, because keith being soft in public? he can't take it but he hasn't seen you in two years so dammit he's getting that hug

but lance and coran are sniffling like??? the audacity for you to be this cute and happy omg sunshine and blink-182 are back in business :) then there's hunk who's sobbing and holding onto pidge who are wiping away their own tears

keith helps you get your feet back on the ground and places a kiss on your forehead and adjusts his your jacket before diverting your attention to the three unfamiliar figures in the room and lance scoots over to whisper in your ear explaining everything

"guys i was gone for a tick and you meet another altean and keith's mom without me?! and you got a dog!!!" - you, shaking keith's arm and eyes bright as ever before kneeling down to pet kosmo bc kosmo supremacy

okay anyway remember when i said he was prepared for the peppiness upon meeting romelle? what he wasn't prepared for was having you and romelle not only being best friends as well, but becoming attached to his hip with some optimistic shit (pidge, lance, and hunk do reenactments of keith, you, and romelle in that order it's the funniest thing ever but also mel swoons over your relationship too it's so embarrassing for keith but you just find it entertaining)

as well as stealing his dog (he just looks away with this smile whenever you sneak in some kosmo cuddles bc you don't want him to know but it's just so blatantly obvious)

but back to you and romelle, keith is pretty sure if you weren't dating him you'd be dating romelle; honestly though he's just glad his sunshines get along

also omg krolia also didn't expect you to be the way you were but she knew she liked you after she came back to earth and saw you blatantly punch james griffin in the nose with the sweetest smile for insulting the paladins

granted you screamed about it right after bc it hurt and your knuckles are bruised but krolia pulled you aside and cleaned your knuckles thanking you for taking care of keith

to which you respond he didn't need taking care of, just someone to lean on and you're glad to be that person even if y'all have opposing personalities

so even though you rise with the moon and he rises with the sun, you know what they say: opposites attract and your relationship with keith is the epitome of just that

[sleepy-moron]

Okay so y’all have been freaking out over the @doriandrifting post about how Mike is the reason time stopped in the upside down and I agree because that theory is super interesting and it would be an extremely cool twist I’d be interested in seeing. Mikes connection to time and the overall plot of vecna is something that you probably don’t pick up on until someone points out a bunch of odd repeated details and then you can’t stop thinking about them. I have my own theory that’s similar in some ways but way more batshit and far less likely to happen.

It’s been sort of a pet theory of mine for the last month or so that Mike might also have powers but more so mild prophetic abilities or something a bit more akin to spidey sense. Basically I think there’s some outside force influencing his decisions and sort of guiding him in the direction of what “needs” to be done. He is the dm and a writer after all, it only makes sense that he’s the one who gets how the story should go. He’s also a paladin/ cleric according to the official material and that makes his status as a sever hindrance to Vecna’s goals fitting in the dnd lore sense. Both classes are tied to receiving powers from the gods and are really good at dealing with the undead while Vecna is an undead wizard who wants to become powerful enough to surpass the gods. Additional fun detail is that the two highest positions in the cult of vecna is the voice (which is actually a manifestation of vecna) and the high priest of the cult known as the heart of vecna.

Now all of this leads me into a very weirdly specific theory that I don’t necessarily think is plausible but it’s a fun idea and I wanted to share it with you guys. So basically there’s this force that like loosely guides Mike from the start of the series onwards until they finally defeat Vecna/the mind flayer (for the sake of this argument and my sanity I’m going with the idea that vecna either made the mind flayer or has sorta fused with it by the end of season four). In season five Mike winds up cursed or otherwise possessed by vecna because he is will’s heart and love is a serious threat to his plans for world domination. They basically do something similar to the plan to kill his physical body by either literally killing real world Mike or killing mental scape Mike via stabbing through the chest and killing the “heart”. (Will brings him back to life Mike is not dying in this for reals)

The they in question is Will and or El as a parallel to Kas the betrayer (sorry Eddie isn’t dead believers, if anyone is Kas it’s these two) and while they kill vecna and Mike a sort of chain reaction happens and a very vague imprint of the “proper” series of events gets sorta psychically attached to Mike, and since the upside down is still stuck on the day Will is missing it psychically links itself to Mike from 1983 as well bc time shenanigans so the whole show becomes a kind of retroactive predestiny thing (because the events that must take place don’t get locked in until Mike “dies” in a sort of Oroborus way). Also Will has powers related to light because eyeballs and true sight and also time bc using the sun to tell time and the light reactive particles in the upside down freeze the whole dimension starting from the point Will gets taken. This theory makes no sense but I am enamored with my nonsense brain worms and will not be stopping !!!! Seriously though if you don’t get it it’s not a big deal because I don’t really understand what I meant and I made this nonsense

[ironmandeficiency]

tf boys + dnd headcanons (bc i clearly have nothing better to do)

pairings: benny miller / reader (romantic) but platonic w the rest of the tf boys

word count: i’m typing this in the post itself good luck fuckers

summary: i got nothing y’all. just know that benny & will have a little extra info idk why

a/n: i’m semi-new to dnd but i’m armed w the player’s handbook and google so i will do my best

benny: i think dnd was a guilty pleasure for him during high school. yeah he was seen as a Hot Popular Guy™️ and played football and baseball, but there is and always has been a nerd living in that heart of gold. had one (1) set of dice he used for every campaign and even kept them with him when deployed. he joined a campaign for the first time in years after coming back from The Mission That Shall Not Be Named™️. creating new characters & a homebrew or two became a way for him to cope with everything that happened there and heal.

details abt (one of) benny’s character(s):

half-orc barbarian-bard multiclass, affectionately known as a bardbarian

college of lore + berserker pathways

himbo af and benny laughs a lot when he gets to act out said himboness

character has a tendency to start bar fights if his talent is questioned, and usually it’s beating them with his fists and/or lute. there’s an npc that owns an instrument shop the half-orc frequents that gives him a glare every time but will always repair or replace said lute

uses vicious mockery against the BBG (big bad guy) every time they face a new one and the guys have never laughed so hard at benny’s random insults

focuses more on utility spells bc it’s just that easy for him to beat the hell out of someone with fists and weapons. becomes a jack of all trades kind of guy (similar to irl) and enjoys the “oh shit he can do that?” questions when he pulls off an intricate

when you offhandedly mention dnd night with your friends while planning for a date, benny’s eyes go wide. “you play dnd?! why didn’t you tell me earlier, lovebug? i love dnd!” precious baby boy will gush abt his first campaign back in high school and find his first set of dice to show you. he’s excited bc dnd is now another thing you can do together as a couple. will ask if you two can make characters with interlocking backstories 🥺

will: he didn’t play in high school but knew some guys in basic training that played who explained the basics to him and his first thought was “oh benny would love this” bc he knows his brother that well benny never had the heart to tell will that he had been playing dnd for years before will told him abt it so will takes credit for introducing benny to dnd. didn’t join a campaign but a character was built & he was gifted a set of dice from that group’s dm in case he ever wanted to start. ends up taking this character with him when he joins one of your campaigns and enjoys it a lot more than he thought he would

details abt will’s character:

goliath male, abt 7’8” and 300ish lbs bc he a big chonk

ranger-fighter multiclass — “warrior who used martial prowess and nature magic to combat threats on the edge of civilization” & “master of martial combat, skilled with a variety of weapons and armor” (pg. 45, dnd player’s handbook)

you can’t tell me that william miller wouldn’t enjoy the FUCK out of this combo without your pants catching fire

favored terrain: mountain, forest at level 6, and arctic at level 10

fighting style: two-weapon fighting

archetype: beast master. prefers a wolf, hawk, or mule companion but isn’t too picky

less of an emphasis on strength (goliath characters already get +1 to strength & rangers need more dexterity and wisdom anyways); instead, put his higher stat rolls into dex, wisdom, and constitution

you mention dnd early in getting to know will partly to just make conversation (and to snuff out whether he was the kind of guy to look down on the game as a whole). he tells you abt benny and a few of his army friends that played, and that he didn’t consider himself a player bc he hadn’t used his character yet. you called bullshit and, after getting him to play once, discovered that will would make a fabulous dm. his memory? impeccable. session plans? infallible, no matter what the party can improvise. is somehow always able to steer the party in the direction he needs them to go without being forceful. no one has ever heard a “you can certainly try” sound so encouraging yet foreboding at the same time.

frankie: poor man is absolutely clueless. he joins in on the dnd fun bc he saw how excited benny was and figured that it would be better than sitting at home by himself watching western reruns. ends up being inspired by said westerns (namely “the rifleman”) when creating his character and is crossing his fingers the entire time hoping that no one calls him on the similarities. despite the emphasis placed on charisma, he’s drawn to the paladin class bc of their self-chosen holy quest and the desire to vanquish evil (trauma 🥺). is learning how spells work as he goes and is frequently apologizing for holding up the session bc of this.

details abt frankie’s character:

half-elf paladin male

neutral good alignment

worships helm, god of protection (forgotten realms)

strength & charisma highest stats

protection fighting style

takes the oath of vengeance — “a solemn commitment to punish those who have committed a grevious sin” (phb, pg. 87). the character’s own purity is inferior to serving the justice they believe is required. to me, this just SCREAMS frankie

with the guidance of helm, his character became the sole caretaker to a child whose village was slaughtered by his character’s sworn enemy. strives to defeat said sworn enemy both in the name of his adopted son’s lost family & simply bc helm was like “dude you gotta stop this guy” shortly before frankie’s character found the child

has a bunch of healing & defense spells instead of combat spells bc why would he need combat spells if he can just fuck someone up with a weapon of choice?

santiago: like frankie, santi was absolutely clueless. but unlike frankie, he did a fuck ton of research during the days leading to the first night of the campaign. he he showed up after actually having done research with a well-rounded character with fitting stats and an intriguing backstory. does what a lot of men can’t and won’t by giving the party a female that is a genuine badass and respected for her badassery instead of being talked down to simply bc she’s a female. enjoys putting feline tendencies into his rp and the guys make cat jokes a lot.

details abt santiago’s character:

female tabaxi monk, way of the open hand

chaotic neutral alignment

was raised in the monastery and became a teacher in the ways for a short time. left the monastery after her curiosity revealed corruption within the ranks & was only allowed to leave freely under the condition of not telling anyone what she found

she was called back to teach when a sickness took down a lot of the elders and despite the reluctance, when she learned her mentor was sick, she went back. taught until his death and is in search of a medicine to save the monastery

her curiosity is fueled by her passion to learn everything she can. sometimes this gets her into some shenanigans but nothing too bad

triple frontier taglist: @pedropasscals @max--phillips @likeshootingstarsinthenightsky @obirain @themarcusmoreno @catsnkooks @battletales @darthadeline @jedi-mando @book-of-anarchy @andysficrecs @purelypascal @whovianwar @lv7867 @kaermorons @princess76179 @greeneyedblondie44

[f-117-nighthawk]

Playlist Update? From MY Brain? More Likely Than You Think

can't remember the last time I posted these all together but I just put a few new songs in. I've been playing Arknights bc STARSET songs keep being used in the trailers, and then I was listening to Transmissions while making dinner, and uhhhhh there's two new Transmissions songs on the playlists, plus whatever else the spotify links needed to update to my ever-changing apple versions.

This is just the main playlist, because this one is now 3h 40m, and the other three playlists are about an hour each. I’ll give them their own post tomorrow. Under the cut, because it's also Write Random Snippits and Include Important Lyrics time

Dark Matter

Surprise surprise, this one’s got probably the most work done on it. A lot of that is moving things around, a few deletions, and the additions.

DM now starts with Your World Will Fail, Dark Matter, and Eater of Worlds. Turn the Lights Out still kinda applies, but I stopped vibing with it starting everything, and wasn’t really sure where else it should go so it got dropped. It’s role is sort of picked up by a UtA song later? Anyway, the opening three are still very much about not only the birth of [REDACTED], but the birth of the universe itself. And that’s why it feels better to start out with YWWF. Because it is the start.

(Your world will fail my love/It’s far beyond repair/Your world will fail my love/It is already there)

(Bring me your soul/Bring me your hate/In my name you will create/Bring me your fear/Bring me your pain/You will destroy in my name)

(Can’t imagine the violence/The rage and the love in my madness/I am the eater of worlds and I’m looking for someone to feed me)

Remnants of Stars is a hook to Filaments at this point, but stays way up here because the thing it’s about connects back up to those three ^ and is something slowly realized by the Paladins throughout the series. There’s kinda three different points that they realize something new about this (at the moment, I Am the One, Cosmic Vertigo, and Centigrade).

(Shed all you know and make way for a galaxy of light/Answers found hidden inside the smallest stone/Bringing forth a new way of life/Open your heart to the sky)

Apocalypse 1992 hasn’t changed. Still about The Fall, still the turning point for the entire damn war. Still about poor Krolia. Still the Rogue One of DM. It happens between parts of Awakenings, detailing the rise of [REDACTED] and the final hours before the destruction of everything sentient species knew beforehand.

(Fly high through apocalypse skies/Fight for the world we must save/Like tears of a unicorn lost in the rain/Chaos will triumph this day)

Apex is the final moments of Apocalypse 1992 from the Red Lion’s perspective, and connects nicely (just as in the albums lol) to the next UtA songs. Which we’ll get to in a bit.

(Brother mountain/Now we sleep/For a thousand years/I will see you again/Something is coming/Coming for me)

You Keep What You Kill covers the slow degeneration of the Empire between The Fall and the Battle of Arus. The knowledge harshly taught by the Thuanial War is forgotten under the influence of Zarkon, Haggar, and [REDACTED]. Marzin and Galraasa quickly rise the ranks as the Empire’s left and right hands, like omens of destruction before them. The four are the ‘holy half-dead,’ the ones who shape the devouring of the universe before them.

(Defying dimensions/These ruthless creatures will steal your soul/Breaking away from the chains of mortality/They won’t be taken down/Bow now to the holy half dead/The master to death mongers calls)

The Glory and the Scum is partially here bc I missed having Delain, I’ll freely admit that. (Delain split up! Like six months ago! I’m still sad!) Here, it’s (most) of the reason why Krolia isn’t around until MGHM. Think Winter Soldier-ish. It’s also from Krolia’s perspective as she’s talking to Kolivan in a conversation I implied in Shatterpoint. Perhaps it shall see the light of day.

(Look at what we've done/Take a step back/Shake your head at what we have become/We're the glory and the scum)

The Seven Sisters is about Keith, mostly, and connected to Closure via its influence on Child From the Stars (Lost in the Dark) and also to Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met. Also the thing about the Pleiades has kinda become A Thing associated with my two favorite halfbloods.

(I cast my hope upon The Pleiades/The Seven Sisters who would come for me/They’d fall to Earth to grant a child’s dream/But I’m still waiting)

Starlight is the Adashi song. Here, it’s the sad part, based around the time that the SFSS Genesis launches for Kerberos. It also is sort of about Shiro’s thoughts throughout the war as he watches ‘from distant skies’ (and influences String Theory kinda)

(At night the earth will rise/And I’ll think of you each time I watch from distant skies/Whenever stars go down and galaxies ignite/I’ll think of you each time they wash me in their light/And I’ll fall in love with you again)

Waking Dream and Abyss are Awakenings. They’re specifically the Red Lion waking up on Sendak’s ship to her new Paladin, but also sort of the rest of the Lions as they find new Paladins for the first time since The Fall (and, also, an accidental hook to the end of Filaments just by virtue of being on the same UtA album…)

(Centuries like flowing streams as years go rushing by/Waiting in the dark for afterlife)

(Open my eyes in a daze/How long has it been? Am I so out of place?/Warmth I can no longer feel/My mountain is gone, I’m surrounded by steel/The strangest of structures arises ahead/Seems to be held up by nothing/Where have I gone, do I dream?/How can the stars be all I can see?)

Who Will Save You Now is about the Paladins in First Contact. It’s the video messages they send to their families, the warning that Something Is Out Here that they need to prepare for. It’s a declaration of protection for Earth, but a recognition that the Paladins may not be able to do what they say.

(I will not take from you and you will not owe/I will protect you from the fire below/It’s not in my mind/It’s here at my side/Go tell the world that I’m still alive)

Then there’s The End of the Beginning. Which is, well, the eponymous fic. And don’t forget the String Theory connection! Fun fact: part of the last chapter leads directly into part of String Theory at the moment.

(Every night I die just a little/All this time, I’m caught in the middle/All your life, you fought with no winning/This is just the end of the beginning)

A Simple Plan is about anything but a simple plan. Lotor is making his secret bid for the construction of the Sinkline ships, but there’s one more thing he needs before it can come to fruition. Haggar has suspicions, and knows one thing that she needs to keep from both him and Voltron. Team Voltron is still struggling to fit into their new roles, especially with a Black Paladin who adamantly does not want to be Black Paladin, and is in desperate need of one thing to fix the last of the damage done during the Battle of the Sarnan Nebula.

(How long can we hold off ending?/How long can we pretend we’re ok?/No one goes on fighting it forever/I know I’m better this way)

Memories of a Girl I Haven’t Met. Such a short song for such an important fic. It skips all the way over Naxzela to the Mission to the Baaria Shipyards, the first major offensive that isn’t somehow connected to canon (even if only a very very small part of it is actually at the shipyards lol). This is also the song that solidified Keith’s very queer identity in Dark Matter. And more Pleiades stuff!

(In this lonely place, bathed in silence and thoughts of you/I can’t see your face but I’m trying to envision you/So are you really out there? Are you awake with memories/Of a boy you haven’t met yet who’s wished upon the Pleiades?)

There’s another fic in here that I’m still waiting for a song to catch my ear, but it’s pretty big so I’m putting it in here. For the moment, it’s called MGHM 2.0: Electric Paladinloo. Featuring the Whispers, Voltron, and a few mullets.

And then. Hoh boy. The beast of beats. TRIALS (reimagine), Dark On Me, String Theory, and I Am the One. We’ve got [REDACTED], we’ve got [spoiler], we’ve got the first major turning point in the entire war, and the first revelation of the true nature of [REDACTED]. Hence the honor of being the separation point of my two main DM folders. TRIALS is the first part, the horrifying realization. Dark On Me and String Theory itself are from Shiro’s perspective. I Am the One is… an image song? I guess? That’s all I’ll say on that. (I would like to note that the STARSET songs bar OWtT tend to be about the Shiroganes…)

(Hear me from the bottom/Forged in regret, I'm the silversmith/Doomsday, you we had it coming/Marching the streets with an iron fist/Obey no more in silence/The steel in our hearts will be monuments/Today, they'll hear the violence/We'll rise from the dark like Lazarus)

(You're the cause/The antidote/The sinking ship that I could not let go/You led my way, then disappeared/How could you just walk away and leave me here?/Light the night up, you're my dark star/And now you're falling away)

(You don’t believe in space/You don’t believe in light/You don’t believe that anything is well beyond your might/We walk across the sky and beneath the ocean floor/We’re never going anywhere we’ve never been before)

(I am the one/I am the architect to rule your fate)

House on Fire is the aftermath of String Theory, and a large vibe of We ARE Struggling Together! It’s about family, never letting go of something you care about, and the slow act of trusting.

(So I’ll just hold you like a hand grenade/You touch me like a razor blade/I wish there was some other way right now/Like a house on fire we’re up in flames/I’d burn here if that’s what it takes/To let you know I won’t let go of you)

Belgrade is The klance song! It is a) a bop b) always stuck in my head because it is That Good. The line in the chorus about ‘sweet songs of seduction’ is eternally funny to me bc a)they’re both ace and b)QPR’s don’t usually involve seduction. Belgrade also leads almost directly into…

(We pretend in the darkness/We pretend the night won’t steal our youth/Singing me the sweet songs of seduction/Let me be the fool, fool, fool/Who will live and die for you)

Here to Save You is about Sam. Mostly. It’s also about Pidge. And Zaivorge cannons.

(A slave for humankind/I made sure I would survive/To stay alive/Now it’s time to move on/When there’s nothing left to prove/I’m coming to get you)

Iron is the third Closure fic (the second is End of the Beginning, forgot to mention that. They’ve slowly moved away from actually being related to it in anything but name and general idea). It’s about Keith coming to terms with parts of himself, and learning how to use them to great effect. Also has a huge info dump about the Blade.

(You can’t live without the fire/It’s the heat that makes you strong/‘Cause you’re born to live/And fight it all the way/You can’t hide what lies inside you/It’s the only thing you know/You’re embracing that, never walk away)

The second major turning point in the war is Monarch, Birthright, and Firewall. I really recommend reading the whole lyrics for Monarch, because the entire thing is very much a Lotor song. I had a bit of trouble picking a lyric to use here. Monarch is here because Lotor is also the ‘singer’ of Birthright, and both songs are to a very specific high-level target of the Coalition. Firewall is a little different as it’s a Team Voltron song not a Lotor song, but happens because of the same thing the other two do. They’re all not exactly a direct result of Iron, but they wouldn’t happen how they do without it, and then [REDACTED] swings back into the fray and things learned in String Theory/the framing story for Through Apocalypse Skies hit in full force.

(I am not the person you remember from before/The one you patronized and stepped on, the one you hurt/And I have pulled the arrows, now my skin has become stone/No longer am I prisoner to your empty fucking words)

(The voices in my head have all begun to sing/(The voices in your head have all begun to sing)/And they sure as hell hope I am listening/(I sure as hell hope you are listening!))

(They come to your dreams with illusion/They come to bring shape to your mind/You know how to stop the intrusion/We all have to fight for our lives)

and then, The Day the Earth Collapsed

(How much time has been elapsed/Since the day the earth collapsed?)

Here Comes the Reign doesn’t come into full effect until several months after Birthright/Firewall, but starts with The Day the Earth Collapsed. It’s largely about Haggar and [REDACTED]

(You made something they can’t take away/Now bring the fire of the burning sun on everyone)

Supersonic is here… kinda as a placeholder? Things have shifted around since its original purpose, and frankly it’s here still as a framework for what I like to call The Meme Battle. It’s generally about the increase in Coalition support and general winning as they go after warlords in the aftermath of Feyiv, culminating in I Need a Hero which is, of course, The Meme Battle.

Yes, it’s the Shrek version. It’s the Meme Battle.

(Supersonic, polyphonic, this is our war/Mustering the armies, marching faster than before)

(I need a hero/I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night/He's gotta be strong, and he's gotta be fast/And he's gotta be fresh from the fight)

But Tonight We Dance isn’t exactly a klance song, but it’s here for them. On a diplomatic mission gone wrong, the Red and Blue Paladins of Voltron uncover a literally-buried government conspiracy, a rebel cell, and nearly die. A normal days work for the two of them. But they’ve really gotta stop having relationship milestones in the middle of a warzone.

Another reason it’s here is Tonight We Dance is a very aro song to me. “A language universal, but I speak not its tongue” hits hard. I felt like I needed a bit in here to remind listeners/readers that romance isn’t a language Keith speaks. And it becomes very explicit in this fic, just like Belgrade.

(Tomorrow we might wake in servitude and silence/I will give you everything if only you would have me/Tomorrow we will sweat and toil/Our hands will quiver, caked with soil/Tomorrow we'll give it one last chance/But tonight we dance/But tonight we dance!)

But Tonight We Dance is the last of the Closure fics, which is why it’s here. Closure in general is a lot of Keith’s character development and some of the struggles he goes through to accept his place in the universe and the fact that yes, he does have people that care about him. The last fic is me shining a brighter light on Closure’s chorus and taking a ‘last goodbye’ as never needing to say it again

(I am the child from the stars/That got lost in the dark/Between heaven and hell/I am forced to live on/I am the cause when you sin/I am the demon you skin/But there is no more tears to beautify/This is my last goodbye)

Then we step back into the universe-level action with Soulbound. Revelations from String Theory and Firewall swing back in with a vengeance on a joint Whispers-Voltron mission, leaving them reeling and Krolia questioning her very identity.

(Soulbound, endlessly forever/Locked between the darkness and the light/Don’t drown in the swarming, blackened rising/Hold on to humanity and fight)

About three months after that is My Darkest Hour and Faster Than Light. Haggar realizes something and goes searching for her fifth [spoiler], sending the Blade and the rest of the Coalition scrambling. These also lead directly, and I mean directly, into…

(When the sun comes crashing down/When the world is spinning round and round/I will face what must be my darkest hour)

(Once more we’re flying fast as light/Dark matter passing in the night/Pursued by a force we can’t outrun/As we hurtle towards a dying sun/We maneuver through the remnants of a moon/On the solar winds of supernovas/There is not a place to hide, the Matriarch is close behind/It’s plain to see she’s coming for us all)

Cosmic Vertigo and Other Worlds Than These. Together they are the second of two revelations in what, exactly, is [REDACTED]

(Banish me like burned down planets/Write my fate with sparkling lies/I am the universe; you're just one sky)

(Pull the wool out from your eyes/It won’t shade your frail belief/In the end we cannot hide/There are other worlds than these)

Godhunter is Team Voltron, well, hunting for gods, even as one of them disappears.

(She’s been watching for a century/With hatred, and with scorn/If you know the hunter’s coming/Then you hide or keep on running/'Cause she’s slain the gods before)

Trophy Hunter, Ember, and Redemption are the culmination of Godhunter. I’ve been thinking of them as akin to the suicide mission in Mass Effect 2, if that gives you an idea of what the hell they run into. Also I switched which specific Redemption is on the playlist, because I was listening to Red Handed Denial again and their Redemption was vibing way more than the Hammerfall one. They link up to Godhunter and Soulbound in subject matter, and lead directly into…

(You, you won’t escape me, I’ll rise from the deep/In this final moment, no words left to say/I can’t let you be when a life fades away/You, you won’t escape me ‘cause I’ll set you free)

(Dark matter falling from the sky/Dancing flames reflecting in your eyes as you watch them burn/Watching all your riches witches burn)

(Remember me not for the mess I’ve made/But who I could have been/Finally I’m going home)

World On Fire, This is a Call, The Reckoning, The Wind That Shapes the Land, and Louder Than Words. Switched the order up a bit so it makes more sense chronologically, because the message ‘sent by forces beyond salvation’ has to get there before the reckoning can begin.

(World on fire with a smoking sun/Stops everything and everyone/Brace yourself for all will pay/Help is on the way)

(This is a call to action/This is a call to arms/All lives for one, together/There are no false alarms)

(I see your face, find peace of mind/Between the madness and the sadness and the fire burning/The end of war, the great divine/We’ll see the day of reckoning)

(Search within/Uncover the will to win/Turn against the tide that washes o'er/Find the strength to fall and rise again/Open up the gates, unleash the force/I am the wind that shapes the land/Old as time and twice as strong/Oceans arise at my command/I alone can carry on)

(We have the force to fight/We have the blinding light/A war is more than heard/Coming in louder than words)

[neighborhood-goblin]

Why didn’t I think of this until now???

Imagine the phoenix riders playing D&D omg

Cassian is the DM obvs and he just has to put up with so much BS from Tris’ patrol

Tris is like a human paladin or some divine warrior type crap

Nyka is an elven druid and has like a falcon companion or something

Anders is a bard obvs but other than that I have no opinions for the rest of the patrol

At some point Sev and Kade join them and it’s amazing

Sev is a human rogue and is absolutely stealing everything in sight

Kade honestly is probably a cleric bc yes he wants to fight but also wtf guys you didn’t have a healer until now?!

They all get so tired of Anders doing stupid stuff that Kade refuses to heal him. 

Anders: C’mon, Kade, buddy, friend, pleeeeaaaase?

Kade: Last time I healed you, you immediately ran back up the broken staircase and fell off again, so, no, I’m not gonna waste any more spells on you.

But Kade will always heal Sev no matter what and it drives everyone absolutely insane

[Everyone falls and takes large amounts of damage, Anders is bleeding out and close to death, Sev took less than half damage]

Kade: I heal Sev first using my first three spells

Literally everyone except Sev: COME ON!

They all also get annoyed at Anders, because Anders refuses to flirt with anyone other than Latham’s character

Elliot: This is literally the only reason we let you be a bard, so go over there and seduce that noblewoman, we need her to be distracted while we raid her house.

Anders: Absolutely not! Latham is the one and ONLY king of my heart and I refuse to betray him!! 

Latham literally just goes along with it, glaring darkly anytime the others beg Anders to flirt with npcs

Eventually they literally have their characters get married and Cassian is like “why did I agree to this” because now they’re both insane about it

Tris: Ok ok so we need to lead the lord away from his stash, but the only one with enough charisma to do it without raising alarm is......*sigh*....Anders. Anders, will you PLEASE just flirt with the lord and bring him away from his stash?

And like Latham, so in character it’s amazing, just stands up, knocking over his chair like

Latham: HOW DARE YOU! THAT IS MY HUSBAND!!!!

And Tris has his palms up in surrender and Cassian is dying inside as Latham’s character challenges Tris’ to a deathmatch and long story short, Tristan’s character dies but no lie as soon as Tris is dead

Anders: Hey guys I just had an idea! What if I just like seduce that lord real quick and y’all can sneak on in and steal his stash?

and then Latham’s like

Latham: Omg good idea go do that

And basically Cassian refuses to DM for them again because Nyka just strangles Anders’ character and then Latham kills Nyka’s character, then little Lysandro tries to avenge Tris and Nyka and also ends up dead, and Ronyn quits. 

So then it’s literally just Latham, Sev, Kade, and Elliot, and they beg Ronyn to DM for them, and he reluctantly agrees, but now this new group is way more fun than the other one, bc despite as stern as he is, Ronyn lets the party do whatever dumb stuff they want, and he super upped their stats so they literally can’t die, and they just go on little fun quests all the time.

But then drama starts up again because Nyka, Lysandro, and Tristan want to play again, but not with Ronyn’s group, so Tris just DMs for Nyka and Lysandro, the ultimate power duo, and yeah idk where the rest of this is going but yeah

TLDR- Anders is banned from playing D&D at the Eyrie 

[ziracona]

hey zira, what are your hot takes on all of the fo4 companions?

Haha, I don’t know how hot they are, but I can give you a speed run! (Also I am very excited to get this. FO4 was the first open world game I ever played and just the concept of that and the hugeness of the world and branching story & sudden feeling changes towards me in companion characters totally blew my mind, & it still lives rent free in my heart).

Ada, Old Longfellow, and Strong I /still/ haven’t maxed despite having too many hundred hours to want to list on this game—the former bc they were DLC, Strong because honest to god I left him at a nice settlement and then completely forgot about him and remembering that I am the energy in this Ryan O’Flanagan video but abt leaving my super mutant in a tiny settlement alone. I will get there! To max affinity I mean. But anyway, I don’t truly know those three, so my takes are incomplete. So far though, I really like Ada. She is a good girl just trying her best. Fucks me up I can tell her to self destruct. Even though I feel sure she would ignore me, I cannot imagine ever saying that to her. It was really sweet she was willing to forgive the Mechanist and move on with her life. A good girl. Longfellow I am maxing rn (was last time I played anyhow). I enjoy him. Gruff grumpy old man but he seems quite decent and I like his idle banter and when he sings to himself a lot. Seems like he’s had it rough. Strong I liked. He’s wild, and I loved how insane meeting him was, and am worried about him eventually understanding poetry and how that might mess up his sense of world understanding. But he’s a chill dude in his own way and I am glad they gave us at least one nice super mutant.

For the companions I actually do know like the back of my hand, the speedrun:

Nick Valentine: Best man on earth. One of two fictional characters I ever called husband. I would die kill or live for him. I want to be 1/4th the man Nick Valentine is. One of the best characters ever period and I adore literally everything about him. It fucked me up early in game where right after he offered to basically risk destroying his mind to help a stranger look for her son, he asked me how I was doing. First character in the entire game to do that. His first companion dialogue is abt how you’re doing TuT. The man is very kind and forgiving and fair, but knows when the draw the line and take no shit. Emotionally mature, kind, caring, longsuffering. Incredibly damaged and broken by life, but holding on and living kindly and to help others anyway. One of the four most marryablen fictional men I’ve ever seen.

Preston Garvey: Brave, kind, sweet man. I would defend him with my life. He really just wants so bad to make the world better and life has been so hard, but he’s still trying. A beautiful and underrated companion and I would throw hands for him on sight. I adore how he whistles. A true and gentle and loyal friend. Take him to Quincy and let him get his justice it’s what he deserves. People who hate him because he tries to get help helping civilians in that game are weak. I love him so much... please give him enough time to reach max affinity he’s so worth it.

Deacon: *To the tune of You Are My Dad* You are my friiiiend! You’re my friend! (Boogie woogie woogie). Initially, he pissed me off bc he lies all the god damn time, but after we got close enough he actually trusted me, he stole my heart and I would also die for Deacon. He’s a really good person who thinks he’s shit because of who he was on his past. Also him 🤝 Preston: massive survivor’s guilt. They should be friends. Poor Deacon has been the last member of the Railroad like four times, and it’s awful. Help him. Give him love and support. He’s one of my all time faves. Also, Railroad hands down best faction and if you kill them for any reason other than like a walkthrough route video and I ever get the chance I would 100% clock you in the face as hard as I can, like going for losing teeth, and feel no guilt. I know it’s a game and that’s wrong, and I’d be wrong, but I’d still do it. Also, Ryan Alosio (his VA) saw me do cosplay for Deacon once and told me it was great and it filled me with even more love. Anyway Deacon is great. Also, his whole “There are other organisations out there. And, in time, I'm sure they're going to spoon-feed you their own patented form of bullshit. Ignore the verbage and look at what they're doing. What they're asking you to do. What sort of world they'd have you build and how they're going to pay for it.” Is one of the like, two most iconic quotes in all of FO4 & just super good in general.

Hancock: Hardcore badass man but also a good dude and a champion for the people. Man really puts his money where his mouth is and you gotta respect that; another favorite companion for sure. Big fan of the way he stabs a guy for you upon meeting, and is a cool leader who organized his crime and does a decent job actually leading. He works hard to help people and bites back hard. Social justice advocate, dangerous man about town, not afraid to cosplay a revolutionary war hero 24/7 & u gotta respect the no fucks given attitude. A chill dude. Like that he fights the institute, hates the Brotherhood, helps the Railroad, and is friends with Nick. He’s legit af. Also, his VA gives a different answer every time someone asks him about the voice he did for hancock and they’re funny af.

Piper Wright: A cool spunky lady. Lois Lane on the case, kicking butt, and taking name. She’s nice but also hardcore and smart, supportive, fun. A good person. You always get points if you like Nick (which most companions do), and they’re good friends. She’s funny and I love her. A good heart.

Codsworth: He’s great. He’s family. He’s like my...weird brother. Getting to max affinity is heartwarming and also makes my heart go :’-] . Great early-game companion bc he kicks ass and doesn’t need stims to heal. I love getting called by my name and think that was a great feature (well, my PC’s name). He’s a wonderful funky little robot dude and I am so glad he likes me.

Dogmeat: Amazing. A good boy. Doggo of the year. His actor deserved the game award she won. Cute, full of love, and plays with a teddy bear if you give him one. 100/10z

Cait: I like her a lot. She’s been through so much shit, and it makes sense she is how she is. I like they actually gave her an emaciated and messy (though still pretty) design, since she is a drug addict. And that they make her main quest about taking that seriously and wanting to get help, and that she’ll call out the player if they fuck around and do drugs in front of her after she gets rehabilitated. Her relationship to the PC if good is really sweet, and I am a fan. I like that while she’s not sympathetic to synths and thinks they aren’t people, she forgets that every time Nick walks into a room and is like “Oh hey Nicky : )”. She’s a good girl who has been through a lot and still needs time to heal and find herself, but she’s making great strides.

Robert Joseph MacCready: Human disaster (loving). Homeboy a goddamn /mess/ but I love him. He tries so hard to be cool. I love he makes you pay him to come with, then chickens out and gives it back lol. A fool ball of anxiety and bad decisions and what he thinks brovado is. I wish he, Preston, and Deacon would quit fighting, bc I am always like “ :’-] </3 Boys Please” when they swap out, but I love them just the same. He’s doing his best, he’s just stupid and a fool. Like Philip J Fry. Keeping his goddamn soldier toy, which somehow is listed as junk instead of sent to Misc with quest items where it would be fine, safe?parylizes me with fear. I’ve lost 2 hours of gameplay reloading an old save bc I accidentally lost it.

X6-88: A more complex one to answer about. He’s bad, but like, I’m pretty sympathetic to how he got that way. He was created in a lab and had his emotions mostly dragged out of him in intense psychologically damaging training so he would be a weapon and view himself as an object. I was relieved he chose me over the institute even if he wasn’t a fan of the chocie, and think that means there’s a lot of hope for him. Wish he’d chill the fuck out and quit intimidating civilians for 6 god damn seconds, but I like him. I bring him fancy lad snack cakes home from travels all the time, bc Synths are supposed to like them. Really like that he’s the /most/ sympathetic companion towards Danse in Blind Betrayal, even though he should not be programmed for that, and Danse hated him and made it clear any time they interacted.

(EDIT) Curie: I FORGOT HER BABY IM SO SORRY. I like Curie a lot, despite the fact I temporarily forgot she existed. I stg I thought she was in here. Uhhh, okay. Curie: like her character and personality, HUGE un-fan of both the way her desire to get a synth body is to be ‘more real,’ as if Codsworth isn’t a fully realized person while the same robot type she is, instead of just like. Because it would make her happy. ALSO hate how much of a Born Sexy Yesterday she is, even intentionally in not-determinate affinity talks. It’s gross. But her herself, I like a lot. She’s my daughter and I will protect her. She works at The Castle right now as their on-site medic.

Paladin Danse: I know I’m gonna take heat for this but honestly? He didn’t do much for me. I like that he looks and sounds kinda like Buzz Lightyear, and that’s fun, but idk at all why people think he’s so hot. He’s very boring & generic looking to me. Like you’re valid! Taste all be different. But he doesn’t do it for me personally in looks or personality. I don’t at all like, hate him. Or even dislike. Tbh I am fairly neutral on him. It was funny making affinity with him though. Every other companion I had maxed, I liked more and more with each affinity talk. They’d be like “So my dad was a minuteman and died and I want to honor him” or “I just want to really feel like I’m a person, for real, myself, and I am glad I met you, because the good we have achieved together is ours, even if I can’t be sure of anything else,” or “My brother threw the cultural minorities out of our city for clout bc the rich citizens were all racist, and I tried to help—I snuck them food to the unsafe ruins they set up in for weeks, but eventually, they just vanished, and I still bear immense guilt and self-hatred over not having stopped that.” And Danae’s would be like “One time a buddy of mine got kidnapped by super mutants. They turned him into one of them, and they’re all abominations, so I killed him and it made me really sad.” And I was just like “...Oh danse. I really wanted to like you more. But what the fuck.” His relationship to Haylen is sweet though. And ofc I saved him in Blind Betrayal. I blew up the Prydwin so he’s safe now too, and he lives in the garden by my house and tells me how glad he is we’re friends, and I’m p into that. Overall, my feelings on him are not strong at all though.

Porter Gage: Not a fan. Like, I appreciated he helped me kill the old boss, sure. And bc I owed him for that, I went to max affinity to see what there was to him as a person. And like, as far as raiders go, he was okay. But he wasn’t deeply sympathetic, and he’s a slaver, and if you try to liberate the slaves he and the others own, he /will/ turn on and attempt to murder you immediately, no matter how close you were, so he made his choice, and it was to be a bad person and an asshole to the last. Really enjoyed the VA’s work a lot on him tho.

And there you have it 👈👈😎. Thanks for asking!

[bubblegum-switch]

hello! idk if you’re still active on this blog but i saw a post saying you’d accept requests and headcanons?? you’re honestly one of my favorite blogs and your writing is adorable 💞 anyway, my request because voltron still owns my entire ass. i was thinking maybe pre established klance and errr, lance having a huge thing for tickling and not knowing how to tell keith he likes it, bc he’s worried that keith would be weirded out by it if he finds out but when does keith finds out, he’s not? 🥺

YOOO SAME BOAT W VOLTRON STILL OWNING MY ASS

no i have not watched s8 and no i will not but i still love the characters SO much

Anyway absolutely I can do this yes. I haven’t written tickling in literally years (whoops) but I can only hope it’s improved since then. Also good lord ticklish!Lance still owns my whole heart so omg thank you for this amazing prompt, i hope you weren’t hoping for a full one-shot and are okay with a less-formal one this turned out longer than expected lmao

Also aaaaaaaaaaa your words are so kind, ily anon <3 I hope to remember this blog more often bc I’m so bored bc of quarantine and what better way to pass the time than to write?

Note: There’s like. no actual tickling in this bc I wrote it pretty much entirely around the confession itself but there’s still some teasy Keith which is always good. Also I wrote this from like 3:30-5am whoops

Also this isn't letting me put in a working Read More and I am sorry for the resulting long post

Rating: T, it gets suggestive in words but not actions and there’s nothing explicit

---

Lance bit his lip. It was Space Family Movie Night, and while it was a good movie that Hunk picked out, the scene that was currently playing was...

Well. The two main characters were having a (brief, but still) tickle fight on the protagonist’s bed. Lance had been hardly paying attention up to this point - it just wasn’t his kind of movie - but this... this scene had his eyes glued to the screen

He tried not to pay attention to Keith’s arm around his shoulders. He tried not to think about the fingers that absentmindedly twitched every so often. It was probably just a byproduct of his arm getting tired and wanting to move, but during this scene Lance was hyper-aware of those fingers.

None of the others seemed to pay much attention to the scene. To be fair, it wasn’t a major scene. It was objectively cute - the protagonist had a mutual crush on the other character, and they were finally getting close. But Lance couldn’t help but be minorly petrified by it. He tried to be nonchalant, but felt restless throughout it. He tried to hold still, but found himself drinking from his glass of water less calmly than he’d have liked to afterwards.

All too soon, his cup was empty. He extracted himself from Keith’s arm and walked to the kitchen both to refill his water and take a breath.

He looked out the window of the castleship at the vast expanse of stars as he turned on the sink’s faucet. After testing the temperature with his hand, he brought the glass to it, nearly overfilling it. He raised it to his lips and let the crystal-clear water cool him off from the inside-out.

After a few sips, he set it back down on the counter, looking out into the cosmos once more.

“Coming back soon?”

Lance jumped as he heard his boyfriend’s voice suddenly in the room with him.

“You startled me,” he chuckled nervously, picking his glass back up. “I’ll be back in in just a minute.” 

Keith smiled at him, then walked over to him, gently embracing him against the counter and following his gaze outside.

“I’m glad we did this,” Keith said softly into his shoulder. It was still a relatively new relationship between them. They had been dancing around their feelings for long enough, and about a week before they decided to cut their losses and give in.

“Me too,” Lance said, nuzzling into his arms, letting his earlier flustering dissipate from his mind.

“So, care to tell me why you left so suddenly?”

Lance could hear a gentle smile in Keith’s voice. “Hm?” he asked, feigning ignorance.

“You got up so quickly, are you alright?”

Lance thought quickly to cover himself. “Y-yeah, I just got thirsty all of a sudden.” He took another sip of water to cement his point.

“Well,” Keith pulled himself away and began turning to walk back to the lounge, “don’t keep me waiting too long, okay?”

“I’ll be back in soon,” Lance smiled warmly back at him. Crisis averted, for now at least.

---

It was movie night again, a week later. This time, Pidge had control of what they were watching. It was a spy movie of sorts, one Pidge said she used to watch all the time on Earth.

Lance was laying with his head in Keith’s lap, feet hanging over the arm of the loveseat they were in. He was more invested in this movie than the one Hunk showed the previous week.

When the protagonist was kidnapped by the enemy agents and woke up tied to a chair, a tiny warning bell went off in Lance’s head. Be on guard, it said.

When the head enemy agent approached the protagonist saying she had ways to make her talk, the warning bell got significantly louder. Logically, Lance figured it wasn’t going to be what he simultaneously hoped and feared it would be.

When the enemy spy walked around the back of the protagonist and extended her hands to the tied woman’s sides, Lance tensed up. Yep, here it comes.

Sure, the scene only lasted a few seconds before the enemy paused, threatened more, and the protagonist gave in, but it felt like an eternity to Lance. He quickly downed the juice in his glass, leapt up and went to the kitchen once again. 

“Come on, it’s not a big deal,” he said to his reflection in the window’s glass. He gripped the edge of the countertop. He felt that his face was probably glowing pink, and tried to shake his head to clear his mind.

“You should be able to handle 10 seconds just seeing it.” Lance set his head on the cool stone under his hands and groaned.

“So you’re obviously not okay,” a voice behind him spoke.

He jumped up and whipped around to, sure enough, see Keith standing across the kitchen. Lance noted he seemed to be fighting a smile.

“I’m fine,” Lance said shakily, filling his glass with water once more.

Keith’s trace of a smile melted away into a concerned frown as he closed the distance between them.

“Look,” he began. “Two weeks in a row you jumped up and ran out of the room. Is it me? Is it the movie choices? Do you now want to be touching me when we watch them?” The genuine concern in Keith’s voice hurt Lance to hear. 

“N-no, it’s not that,” Lance rushed to amend. “It’s just... uh...” and he quickly faltered. How was he going to explain this? It hadn’t ever come up between them, and it wasn’t exactly easy for Lance to talk about.

Keith’s face changed before Lance could continue, and for the life of him Lance couldn’t name the expression he now held.

“Is it something with tickling? You don’t like it, do you?”

Static was now the only thing in Lance’s mind. He flinched and felt his face grow warm as he fought back a smile with an attempt at a frown.

“Ah-n-no it’s not that I just - uh--”

“I can make sure there isn’t any content of it in movies from here on out,” Keith stepped closer and took Lance’s hand. “I want you to be comfortable, and if this helps it helps, right?”

Lance still couldn’t figure out the expression on his face. In the meantime, he was panicking. Oh god, Keith was saying things Lance didn’t want to hear. This was embarrassing, but for the wrong reasons. Keith was wildly incorrect, but Lance couldn’t bring him to tell him so.

The blue paladin only couldn’t handle those scenes because of everyone around him. If Lance let himself react naturally to it, surely they’d notice the squirming and stifled giggles coming from him.

He just couldn’t bring himself to tell Keith he not only enjoyed but loved being tickled. It just felt too weird to admit, plus he couldn’t exactly say The Word out loud which made things significantly more difficult.

“N-no, it’s not...” he bit his lip and avoided Keith’s gaze. He was so afraid his boyfriend would think him weird for it, especially the extent to which he loved it.

“Then what is it? You know you can tell me anything, right?” Keith squeezed his hand. 

Lance couldn’t meet his gaze. He tried his best to squeeze out the words anyway. 

“It’s not... that I don’t like it...” and he couldn’t speak any further. He could only hope that Keith could extrapolate far enough.

Lance felt a squeeze on his hand again as Keith laughed softly. “That’s it, Lance?”

“I’m sorry... I know it’s weird--”

“Look at me,” Keith interrupted, gently cupping Lance’s chin and turning his face to meet his own. The blue paladin still struggled to make eye contact. “There’s nothing weird about it.”

Lance stayed quiet, looking down at the floor.

Keith fondly rolled his eyes before pressing a kiss to Lance’s forehead. “If anything, it’s adorable. You like laughing and smiling so much, it’s only a natural progression.”

Lance snickered at his boyfriend’s logic.

“Oh? Was that a laugh?” Keith quickly responded, enjoying watching Lance blush deeply. “I wasn’t even doing anything!” he smiled, moving to pin him between himself and the counter. With a shift to a bit of a darker expression and an evil grin on his face, Lance knew things were going to be alright.

“But I can,” and Lance’s stomach was full of butterflies.

A nervous giggle spilled from his lips. “Not here,” he whispered back. “The others might hear.”

Keith leaned in close to his ear. “Then tell me, Lance, how much do you like it?”

A shiver went up and down Lance’s spine. The blue paladin grabbed his boyfriend’s wrists in  surge of energy and started leading him towards his bedroom, so they were out of earshot. 

Their impromptu “sparring sessions” were about to get a lot more interesting.

[scriveyner]

Director's commentary: the path to earth

[I am not ignoring star asks, I just need more time to think about those because, uhh... (looks at smudged hand) decisions are hard I’ve written SO MUCH FIC]

Anyway, the path to earth!

This was actually planned to be leading into a much larger arc introducing both Pidge and Hunk as well as the actual stakes in the grander scheme of the story I had envisioned for the frost spirit AU. Which, I still do have the entire story laid out in my head, but if there’s one thing I’m good at it is biting off WAY more than I can chew in a storytelling sense. 

(I have a plan to write out... I am calling them outline-fics, where I just lay down the bare bones story beats for people who are interested but I have no desire or drive to actually complete the task of finishing the story. I will probably get to this one someday. Maybe.)

Some fun items here:

- Because Lance has half of Shiro’s soul there is a lot going on there that I intended to plumb the depths of including how deep the connection goes. Lance is able to sense stuff about Shiro and Shiro’s past bc of the stains and scars it left on him, and I had a lot I wanted to say about that. (Also, their hearts beat in sync, always. I think I used that tiny detail once or twice, dunno if anyone picked up on it.) - there was a WHOLE LOT going on with Keith that I never even got to take a crack at, holy shit. banished half demon/dragon princeling stuff going on there he was going to be the tropeist fantasy mc ever but the story wasn’t about him so I was loading him up lmaooo - I was using Markarth as my mental map for the city they arrived at. - the green magic that Allura harvested was quintessence and meant to be Pidge’s - Allura can identify all of the Paladins by their quintessence of course, and is seeking them because they are reincarnations of her personal guards. Lance in fact may have even straight up been one of her guards before becoming a frost spirit but I never decided if I wanted to go that route or not. - Pidge was going to be an alchemist, and was also mentioned at the end of the original frost spirit AU fic, but never got to feature prominently because I unsurprisingly wandered off.

I never got far enough to decide what I was doing with Hunk... a lot of my writing is here’s the outline of the story beats and we’ll figure out the rest as we go and as this was always meant to be Shance First, Fantasy Plot Second ... Hunk really got shafted. orz Sorry Hunk!

Finally: while the frost spirit AU and the werewolf AU don’t technically exist in the same plane they overlap each other bc magic tomfoolery... I have at least two typetriggers out there that indicated that overlap, from things I intended to explore but ran out of juice on.

[lunarosewood23]

Stories I want to write...

...but haven’t gotten to yet.

Tagged by @gunbun, thanks for the tag!

This is gonna get yeeted under a cut bc this is gonna get long af. And I mention several spicy smutty ideas from my sinbin files.

Tagging @stars-bleed-hearts-shine, @inkblood-mistrieu, @illia-ast, @sola-ffxiv, @desimirffxiv, @beetlebrownleaf, and if anyone wants to, say I tagged you!!!

1: Raven’s Paladin questline in the good verse/LbR (Let’s be Reasonable). (BC the in game one sucks.)

I have this outlined, and the 30-50 quest specifically focuses on Raven and Haurchefant’s friendship throughout ARR, eventually leading up to their confessing feelings a day or two after Shiva. Which is another thing I need to develop.

2: A story based on Cinderella, but with some twists.

Another one I have outlined, but have not had much of a chance (read: creative spoons.) to really write out. Basically it’s Haurchefant in the slot of Cinderella and Raven is the princess looking for her knight. Also Raven doesn’t have the patience for masquerades so she takes off his mask (with permission) and they talk at the ball. It’s actually really sweet.

3: ALL THE FREAKING SMUT IDEAS IN RAVEN AND RUKIA’S SINBIN FILES JESUS FUCK

I am being dead serious, I have so many smut ideas in my sinbin files for both Raven and Rukia that I keep going into overload looking at them all. Some of the things in this goes as follows

From Raven:

Their first time

Haurchefant asking Raven to peg him

Haurchefant getting handsy with Raven after the trial by combat and pinning her against the wall

Haurchefant pinning Raven against the wartable or his desk and having his way with her until she is an incoherent mess

Raven finding Haurchefant in various skimpy outfits and proceeds to blow him

From Rukia

All the people she’s fucked

Some smutty ideas for LbR where Rukia ends up in a cozy little triad with Mingxia and Foulques.

Rukia and Artoriel wholesome smut

Utterly filthy threesome with Hien and Magnai

Lucia and Hilda having their wicked way with her until she’s an incoherent mess

4: Reattuning to the City

My telling of the events of their first few days in Ishgard. Which includes Raven going on a date with Haurchefant and meeting people important to him, and he meets people important to her.

5: Raven’s canon timeline

I do NOT have the mental spoons to properly write this, much as I WANT to. Because Raven in her canon timeline is a very sad and depressed dark knight who just wants to go home. She throws herself into battle and doesn’t hesitate to let herself bleed and hurt bc she gets that much closer to going home.\

6: Raven’s goals of abolishing trial by combat

Very little mental spoons and also I am bad at politics.

7: Rukia’s adventuring days and her childhood before the events of ARR

I need to brush up more on Rukia’s story, and properly explore. But I’m just...work is a bitch.

8: Coronette’s story and childhood.

I have vague ideas and one plotline for Coronette involving Haumeric of the Heaven’s Ward. But that is something I need to plot more before I write anything solid.

[riskeith]

oo.. a read more.. how mysterious ;)

shsjjdhdjf hi! it’s pretty and fluffy yes ! some of it have melted away though sadly.. 🥺 how are you? hope your day has been amazing <333

i tried to go to dragonspine last night because albedo’s quest opened up for me a while back and it took me there and i failed like two seconds after so i just went to bed all angry shekdhskdbncj i kept thinking about how easy it would be if you had diluc, xiangling or klee on your team since they do ‘big’ fire attacks that would help with the frost... :(

have you decided that you want to build your whole team or just focus on 1-2 characters? i’ve heard some people say that it’s better to do just 1-2 but i’m hesitant over it... they’re your main team for a reason you want them all to be reliable yk..?

“LEGEND OF KORRA?” omg..... fun fact the first klance fic i ever wrote (never released it though since its still unfinished hskshdj) was a klance lok au! imagine the boys as rival probenders... 🥴 lance waterbender... keith firebender..... 🥵 but thank goodness you decided to give it a shot sjdkfjdk look where it lead us.

i meant that exactly! that’s not negative that’s just life because same here. i ended up just deleting everything when i started uni (the only thing i have left is tumblr) because it’s kind of hard keeping up with fandoms and stuff when the weight of the world is on your shoulders ... :/ even lost contact with practically all my internet friends lmao sheesh. do you still find it difficult to find motivation to write n stuff? (this is such a heavy topic soz)

us on our date.... chillin... suddenly hilichurls attack. incredibly romantic.... <3333 venti to your xiao i wish!!!!! #bringventiback2k21pls 🥺.. dude you reminded me!!!! i was on ao3 the other day (as one usually is) and did you know there are so many genshin fics? i was SO surprised?? kind of fun tho, have you checked them out?

no need to promise!! but you have my undying support <333

ohhh?? you wouldn’t? i mean your reasoning is absolutely valid!! the end was most definitely very disheartening in so many ways lol.... i probably would still tbh i just miss them a lot. like getting a chance to see lance and keith again with the same voice actors n everything??? i think i’d do anything for that LMAO when it comes to story though i have no idea... not really sure what they could do with it. maybe something with lotor?

YOU WATCHED SPIRITED AWAY????!!!?!? BABY I’M SO HAPPY FOR YOU!!!! i’m so so so so so glad you like it oh my gooooood this is the best news ever <333333333333333333 i take it you’re now finished with it; what did you think? 🥺 also howl’s... girl my heart is soaring. i just know you’re gonna enjoy it so much!! aaaaah, let me know when you check it out <3333

icb you’re teasing me like this....,,..... ‘just wait until you read the last section’ i’ll just go die then. that was already so beautiful and there’s more??????? let me go back to my original roots and ask; hand in marriage? 🥺💍 multiverse.... i have questions.... is it like, a one shot for each or is it like.. jumping between the universes? 🥺

stay safe, stay healthy mwah!! 🥰

hiyaaaa~

awww does snow not stay for long where you are? or is it not cold/thick enough to stay 😔 and i’m good! didn’t get as much done as i wanted but tomorrow certainly.. (i say every day FHSKFSD) hope yours is amazing as well <3 :*

FHSDKJFHSDKFHSJD omg ripppp im sorry 😭 but one day!!!! you will conquer dragonspine i can feel it. oooo wait do you not have xiangling yet? :o and also you mentioning diluc reminds me of this tweet i saw here, maybe he isn’t actually optimal for that enviroment AHAHA

yeah i agree with you! I kinda focus on building the traveller most bc i use him a lot of the time, but recently i’ve been trynna build everyone else up too and balance them out. like you said we want them all reliable and they all have different uses and functions, so.

PRO!!! BENDERS!!!!!!!!! omg wait were they gonna be... forced to work on the same team?? 🤪🥵 either way S tier concept. but also um excuse me?? you write fic too?!?!?! “first klance fic i ever wrote” implying there are more??? maybe published ones??????????? i won’t ask for links in case it like outs you LOL but omg??? excuse me?? how is this the first time i’ve heard about it >:(

shit that sucks :(( ugh im sorry you felt the need to do that! :( is it also kinda freeing and relaxing tho? that you’re not involved or have any connections or obligations.. idk sometimes all that overwhelmes me too. sometimes i have a really hard time writing yeah, but that’s also due to various other reasons unrelated to school. like twice a month i tell my friends i’ll quit FHSJFKDSHK but i never do lollll and then sometimes i’ll just get hit with such an intense urge to write and then im like?? i was so stupid for thinking otherwise? (and no worries at alll <3)

FJHSDKFS couples that fight together stay together 🤪 i think that was in one of my todobaku? fics LOL. okay but i saw some leaks (which i don’t condone but welp) suggesting that maybe... venti would return 2 banners after xiao or something so hopefully!!!!!!!!!!!!! i was looking at tier lists too and he was really high up so now im like fuuuuck maybe i can’t spend on my primogems for xiao i’ll have to save again FHSDKJFSD. ngl i was pretty surprised to see so many fics too! but nah i haven’t really read anything, hbu? also did you know there’s an official genshin impact webtoon? i haven’t read it but i am considering itttt

<33333333

AHAH yeah that’s fair tho. i think s8 ruined it so much for me that anything else would make me feel empty sighhhhh. but i was also gonna say something about lotor! honestly i feel like if they did make something else, it’d be a prequel or something, maybe even the prior paladins, so we wouldn’t even get to see klance at all fhkfhsksd.

i really liked it!! not sure if it was bc i zoned out towards the end tho, but i felt like the ending came pretty quickly? or maybe i was just so immersed i didn’t want it to end... ahaha. but i still stand by the fact i love haku sm..... i think i’ll watch howl’s tomorrow! i considered starting it tonight but i still wanna soak in spirited away for a bit so... we shall see <3 but ofc i’ll def let you know all my thoughts when i do

YOU ALREADY HAVE MY HAND BOO!!! you have my whole heart too just take it i’m giving it to you 😩❤👐. it’s one shot for each! I was actually considering making it a multichap with each chap as a new universe, but i have a horrible track record with those and idk that i could make each universe long enough fhdkfjs. ugh honestly i’m tempted to just like send you what i currently have anyway bc i honestly don’t think i’ll ever finish it fhskdf but there are some good moments in there that deserve to be Seen..

thank you!! you too, hope you’re all nice and warm 😘🤩