#but Taimi had her own things going on

[riotrenegade]

3 and 6 for the aurene ask game pls <3

YAAAAY THANK U

3 was answered here!

Aurene & OC ask game by mistfallengw2!

6. Aurene kind of took a pinch of Graywall’s personality, which is. Not necessarily a good thing? Graywall is 50/50 Dignity/Ferocity when it comes down to it, basically. He’s charming in his own quirky way and quite handsome but like many of my characters, This Twink Will Break Your Bones.

He jumps to violent threats at a hair trigger and Aurene kind of took after him in that way. She’s had to learn to redirect/suppress that response because! Well!! She Is An Elder Dragon! And that’s not necessarily good for her reputation! It’s not a conscious thing on her part either, and neither of them do it maliciously. Gray’s had a rough run of it and picked it up from years of roughing around in the wilderness and fighting off various hostile factions. As much as he is a sort of light in the darkness in his canon, he is just kind of a grave individual at times. and Aurene just. In the way that any toddler would mimic a parent’s behaviour saw him act that way one too many times and now it’s just a habit for her too. It doesn’t help that this tendency bleeds into Gray’s sense of humor, so Aurene does it too. Lots of very casual “I’ll beat you to death with this [object i’m holding/nearby thing”] etc. Think violent tumblr humor but in person and with a little more “i could actually do this to you” weight behind it. Again, Very Distressing when said by a very large and powerful elder dragon.

She’s learning and does it less than she used to as an adolescent dragon, with lots of help from the rest of the Firewatch guild (Dragon’s Watch in Gray’s canon) [they wanted a more all-encompassing name than dragon’s watch since they kind of end up just. Being emergency responders to whatever world ending threat anyway] but it does still happen sometimes when she’s not paying attention to it. There’s been lots of panicked Caithe/Taimi/Gray/etc going “Ooooohokay she did NOT mean that please put the gun away” lmao

[ratasum]

I haven't talked much about Tiny Heist here so have some info I dumped earlier:

When Gorrik and Blish first came into the picture, that was when Qirri was first starting to grapple with her long time friendship with Taimi turning into a crush. She had never experienced this before, and so the attention from these two boys Taimi was getting made her jealous. And she wasn't as kind to either of them as she should have been. After all, her own older sister's spouse was former Inquest. She'd only really started to warm up to them around the time of everything going on around Kralk.

And then… Blish sacrificed himself.

Qirri was devastated, and seeing how hurt Gorrik and Taimi were hurt her in a different way. What if she'd done something different? Which was when she started asking Gorrik about whether or not they'd made backups of Blish's memory. A copy of anything. A fragment of life.

Turns out… they had. As a back up plan.

And so it happened that Qirri planned a heist. Break into the facility where the copies were stored, get the copies, bring them back, and put Blish in a new body. Problem solved! There was just one little problem with her plan that she hadn't really thought through: the last copy they had made had been JUST before the rescue, when Garrus, Vezz, and Rissia busted the boys out.

That meant that the Blish they brought back had no memory of anything that had happened since that point. Nothing about talking to Taimi about her being kidnapped by Joko. Nothing about the fight to stop Kralk, nothing about anything. It plays a lot into questions of personhood and what makes someone alive or even them.

Qirri felt SO guilty; she had wanted to try to fix things and had only made them worse. It caused a split between her and Gorrik that lasted over a month. They did eventually talk it out but the coldness was very obvious within the krewe spaces.

They do eventually get everything sorted out. Blish had a massive existential crisis, and that finally caused a huge blow up in the krewe. In the end, they basically were made to sit down and talk everything out together. Qirri was able to air why she'd been upset, why she'd done what she did and genuinely apologize for screwing up on that big a scale.

See, Qirri has the problem of being so self assured in her own intelligence. She's a prodigy, graduated genius first grade and top of her class in Dynamics. She went to college early, has prestigious awards, won the Snaff Savant prize. She was one of Zojja's only two apprentices.

It also means, however, that she doesn't always think to reflect on a choice to determine if it's a good one or not.

It was so simple- just get Blish back! ...without thinking of the ramifications.

(Worth noting this is something I think she picked up from Zojja, because Taimi does it too, and they were both her apprentices. They both have self destructive tendencies they also picked up from their mentor. But Knowing they're the smartest person in the room? Knowing they can solve a problem and they don't need help? Clearly they have the solution? Who does THAT sound like.)

Qirri is incredibly smart. But that doesn't always translate to being SMART. High INT, low WIS.

The theme of what makes a person a person are huge in Tiny Heist. Who is Blish, can he truly BE Blish? Who is he if he's not really Blish?

In the end they all do accept him AS Blish, so does he, and eventually he forgives Qirri too, though he takes the longest. It's a complicated road to get there. They actually don't sort out until after Bangar nearly kills her and Garrus.

One of these days I'll actually write the Tiny Heist ficlet but. That's the basic gist of it.

[spiribia]

My commander grew up Iron Legion. She wasn't so morally opposed to the structure or general culture of the Legions, but she thought the pockets of brash war attitude were wasteful, and her main project was designing effective turrets and other devices that could be put to field without having to sacrifice their own. She would use firearms, but trained more with axes out of her own sense of practicality - for her fondness for machinery, she had witnessed enough jamming and explosive unpredictability in her lifetime. There were opinions that she was cowardly or un-charr-like, but no one thought to bring it up to her face, because she towered over most of her bandmates, and had ravens that she had trained to go for the eyes, and she wasn't half bad at combat, though the combination of these things made them think in their privacy all the more poorly of her reticence to brawl. She was more willing to scuffle in her youth, and locked horns over things as foolhardy as impressing girls, but this eventually settled to more of an "I'm not risking an injury to my engineering arm over this. It could set my work back several days." Her turrets were not to her satisfaction at the time she left forever to become the commander. In her Personal Story travels she found herself sort of outgrowing the Legions, still less ideologically and more from a personal development standpoint. The life she had had before felt very small when she looked back at it, where it was once everything. There was a kind of sorrow to this revelation - leaving her childhood friend behind. Seeing Euryale at Drizzlewood was a reminder of how concretely she had changed. In her time as the commander interacting with all kinds of people, she became more and more a pacifist, and out of innate respect for personhood, where her former self had been viewing it more from a standpoint of 'we should avoid senselessly losing valuable hands and minds, and from time to time our friends.' She still tinkers with small machines late at night sometimes as a pre-bedtime activity on rare occasion, though it is little more than an idle hobby of hers now. She's tried to discuss builds with Taimi and can't keep up with or understand the need for convoluted Asura technology with all its different schools of thought. She thinks they should just use cogs, cogs solve everything. "OK, grandpa," Taimi says to that. To this day my commander thinks it's good for children to be raised in warbands. It teaches you skills and you make friends

[guardian-instincts-bad]

okay none of this is new information but as usual i am thinking about gorrik and arenanet just. really never considered the timeline of his life and the implications of that at all, huh

like, okay, for eod you needed him to have a relationship to ankka and you needed ankka to have connections to the aetherblades, so you threw them both in thaumanova, fine

except. thaumanova. which blew up in 1324.

and no, we don't have a canon age for gorrik. but we know taimi's age, that she was friends with blish, and that blish is older than gorrik

now. taimi didn't know that the brothers had joined the inquest. which means either they'd kept it a secret from her, or more likely, it happened after they lost touch

taimi was born in 1313, meaning that the absolute oldest she could have been when she last saw them, is ten

now sure, taimi skipped a couple years, she's a prodigy even among asura - but age really matters when you're in single digits. for blish to be a friend, rather than a mentor, he can't be much older than maybe four years above her? i'd put that as the reasonable upper limit, they could be closer

(i'd also honestly guess that gorrik is a bit younger than taimi, given a) how much he looks up to blish, and b) that taimi prior to s4 only thought of him as blish's weird little brother, they weren't friends. and again, at that young, age matters - if you're 7, your friend is 10, and his little brother is 8 or 9, your first connection to him is probably not "oh, the little brother", because he's not little to you)

but assuming im wrong on all of that, just going back to our facts, that puts gorrik at the most about 2-3 years older than taimi

which means that the age we're looking at, for joining the inquest, thaumanova, all the stuff with ankka... he was somewhere between 9 and 13. could be even younger but im giving him the benefit of the doubt

gorrik says he never thought about ankka romantically and i believe him, but if there was ever anything there from her side, it was definitely a kiddie's first crush kinda thing, like oh we are a boy and a girl who are best friends clearly this is what romance means

because both of them were so fucking young

god knows spending her teenage years in the aetherblades was not great for ankka's everything, and by the time we find gorrik and blish in bug in the system, they've been working for the inquest for at least 8 years

that's almost half his life, at that point. working for an organisation that the thaumanova fractal and rata primus make incredibly clear does not value the lives of its workers in any way at all - they'll feed you to their latest experiment just for standing there, and gorrik wasn't just keeping his head down and going along with it, gorrik was actively sabotaging their research when he morally disagreed with it

(and this isn't even getting into why they joined the inquest in the first place, which i will bet anything i own on being because of blish's illness and needing the technology to save him)

and to their credit, i do think this comes across in bug in the system! because if you go back to early gorrik, first half of s4, having played through the rest of the story? the difference is shocking, like he is so distrusting and snide and defensive as hell of his brother, he talks like he expects you to attack him or blish at any moment

but then they never do anything with that ever again, and like, i love all the new gorrik content, genuinely i do, but arenanet there are layers to this character that you have entirely forgotten about, and god i wish we had a story that actually explored that

[snowden-lodge]

Having finished SotO, I feel like the commander may have fallen and hit their head. Its all a fever dream. Seriously, imagine the commander contacting the team about this.

Commander: "Hey, so when we all went our own ways, I was sucked into a portal where I met demons and wizards!"

Team Mate: "Uh, Commander, demons? Also, we know wizards. You know a lot of elementalists, mesmers, and necromancers."

C: "No, no. Actual wizards. The people who read stars and wear celestial capes. I met Zoja there! But, she had her memory wiped to become more powerful, so she doesn't really know any of us anymore.

TM: "Uh huh."

C: "And then I made friends with a rebel leader of the demons, we went to the demon realm and overthrew the demon king. Sometimes she still talks in my head. No one else can hear it though. Oh, and they all call me Wayfinder there!"

TM: Commander, come sit down would you. Did you suffer a brain injury somewhere? Do you feel ill? I think you may have a fever, you are rambling about crazy things."

*I know, we put Taimi in contact with memory wiped Zoja at the end of the expansion. I know. Its still all feels detached. No one outside of SotO is ever going to call us Wayfinder, nor should they.

[bramble-mouse]

Vanish

Fandom: Guild Wars 2

Characters: Sylvari Commander, Gorrik, some aetherblade mooks

Content Warning: Safe, non-fatal vore, mentions of barfing

A/N: Here's another incredibly late voretober 2024 prompt! I've been playing through End of Dragons finally and felt like writing my very exhausted sylvari commander in A Situation.

Minor's do not interact!

"I don't know what to tell you." A charr aetherblade muttered, using a wrench as a backscratcher.

"The Commander, he just...vanished. Like. Poof."

A human aetherblade scrunched her faced up. "I've heard the commander had espionage training but I though he was more...I dunno. Flashy? I heard he was flashy." "Burn me if I know." The charr shrugged. The Commander pressed his back against the cold metal of a crashed airship, still reeking of the fires long since extinguished. He was bloody well surrounded. But he hadn't been alone.

He felt a squirm in his midsection and suppressed the urge to vomit. The sensation was unfortunately not alien to him- not after Gorrik had stumbled upon old Inquest research, made the mistake of going down a late night rabbit hole with Taimi- and summarily decided that the best thing was to finish what some mad asuran scientist had begun.

"Internal environment is still habitable, Commander." Gorrik's voice crackled to life in his ear, followed by a sickling gurgle from his own belly.

"And keeps me entirely out of harms way while I work on extending the range of our communications range! I really am a genius."

Silloch felt ill. The Inquest research had focused on the effect of dragon corruption on the physiology of different races- sylvari especially, since they'd already been born of an elder dragon. The innards of each minion often reflected the elemental attunement of each elder dragon master- and in the Commander's case, Aurene's resulted in a body that wasn't exactly so dangerous for living beings to be inside for a time.

One asuran shrink ray and a lot of convincing later and they'd spent their first hour in the Commander's belly poking around, conducting tests and much more until Silloch violently ejected them for a good lecture. And now one of them was back inside of his guts again- and seemed to be enjoying it far too much. "Commander, are you are aware that your mucosa is phosphorescent and seems to glow in sequence with your pulse? Which coincidentally, is measuring quite high at the moment...Most alarming." Gorrik remarked as if tucking away the numbers he was already calculating into the great archive that was his brain. "Not now, Gorrik." The sylvari hissed quietly as he touched the communicator in his ear. He felt the shrunken asura move about in his belly and put a hand to his mouth as he fought off waves of nausea. "What was that?" Said the scrawny human aetherblade the charr had been complaining to.

Shit. Silloch sighed, put a hand to his belly and whispered. This was going to be horrendous for the both of them. "Hold on to something, Gorrik. I have company." "Lemme go check. Might be a rat. Or maybe one of those wierd fanged deer I seen 'round these parts...Cantha's got some strange critters." The charr muttered as he lumbered closer- only to get a solid whack to the face with a bo staff. "Not a rat, I'm afraid." Silloch said. "But I can squeak if that'll make you feel better." The charr groaned and rubbed his bloody nose, his other hand scrambling for his pistol. The Commander felt his belly lurch again and heard Gorrik squawk over the communicator. "You!" The human aetherblade sputtered and pulled a beam sword off their hip. Silloch gripped his bo staff tightly. Time to knock these buffoons out as quickly as he could- before the movements of a live, rambunctious little insect nerd in his stomach had him bent over and vomiting his guts out.

[mistfallengw2]

Gimme 3, 4, and 12 for Tocchix! @ratasum

A New Commander Ask Meme

[This is for the AU in which Tocchix is Commander]

3. Is there an NPC your commander is closest to?

For most of the story: Taimi.

After Tocchix saves her from the Inquest in Dry Top and spends a lot of time with her to make sure she's okay, Taimi becomes his little sister as far as he's concerned. They are the only ones allowed to fuss over each other's well-being, and while the sarcasm levels of it varies and they still keep a lot of things from each other, it is done with the mutual understanding that when one of them insists with it, the other should drop the facade of being fine and take a break/care of themselves. For a time she's also the person he's the most comfortable with. Taimi doesn't (directly) ask about how he's doing, and she doesn't need encouragement to eagerly infodumps on things, which is often enough to drown his thoughts out, so much so that at times he even falls asleep with relative ease... which accidentally made her the only one who knew of his issues with nightmares. Her krewe in Rata Novus was also fairly good company, and he met Huki there, who also helped him a bunch and much later became his other partner. Taimi was openly heartbroken on the comm when he was found dead, and while she did not tell him of her condition getting worse until she was forced to, he wasn't surprised as he had still noticed the changes over time.

Notably, at the start of season 2 Tocchix would have said Kas and Jory due to nearby (former) fields of work, but after Iotta's decision to leave and the aftermath of that, things became... awkward. For years Kas felt guilty due to having been the accidental catalyst for it, and even though he doesn't blame her one bit, he still tried not to be alone with them to avoid making things weird (being a third-wheel was particularly bad for him + he felt guilty because they acted differently around him to avoid that). [Things get much better after Iotta is in the picture again, but at that point Caithe has nudged herself in between them and Taimi on the "podium" of most important bonds with NPCs.]

-

4. Is there an NPC your commander doesn't care for at all?

Tocchix not caring? Impossible.

Whenever he's brought up during s3-s4, Tocchix often snappily claimed not to care for Braham. He was still hurt and angry about their argument in s3 (which takes on a more personal bad turn than canon), but that anger came from a deep place of caring and he is a bit sad that, despite mending their friendship, they never managed to fully remove the layer of awkwardness between them.

As for genuine "not caring", he's not really close to most of Destiny's Edge. Eir and Logan always felt too far from what he knew to really bond with them beyond being "allies". While he was friends with Zojja, their relationship has always been mostly informed by Bunnie yet also filtered by her presence, so he doesn't really "know" her.

-

12. Did your commander die to Balthazar? If so, was their experience different from canon in any way?

Yup and yup!

Like in canon, the former god chucks the fireball at him after having toyed with him and used him as bait, but Tocchix doesn't die immediately and Balthazar leaves him to pass away slowly. It takes a few excruciating minutes to succumb to his wounds, burns and sheer exhaustion (the fight was long, and being healed so much by magic still takes a toll on the body), during which Tocchix still tries to rally and go save Aurene as he fades in and out of consciousness.

In the Domain of the Lost things go similarly to canon, but the memories he sees while following His Purpose are a lot more and more personal to his own journey. When he tries to reach for that one unknown asura who appears often yet he can't recognize, Tocchix somehow manifests specter-like powers, which help him defeat the Eater of Souls. Taimi later theorizes that it might have been the domain's influence activating some latent magic within him, but he's afraid he knows the truth, and he gets confirmation of it when he encounters Iotta again.

[orrianreaper]

3 and 10 for all your commanders for the ask please :3

Ohh, fun ones! Thank you so much! <3. This got so long, despite trying to keep it brief, I am so sorry.

Is there an NPC your commander is closest to?

To quickfire it, Pleur's closest relationship with an NPC is probably Trahearne, he's her mentor and she looks up to him immensely and his death ripples through the rest of her actions and insecurities until the end of EoD honestly.  It's why she can't give up Caladbolg, it's why she grows a curdling, seething opinion towards Logan, it's why she feels she's done nothing but fail whenever she's had to take true charge and lead. That she keeps getting people killed. His death is probably more important to her development wise than him living.

Sorrix is going to cheat, I'm picking two and it's Taimi and Zojja. Taimi is his *daughter*, he adopts Taimi during S2 in order for them both stick it to the Arcane Council. From there, things just develop and it goes from her calling him dad as a joke to entirely sincere. He adores Taimi, she's quick, she can keep up with him, they have a back and forth, he doesn't talk down to her. She pipes in with suggestions as he builds prosthetics as he looses more and more pieces of himself, and he has his own suggestions regarding Scruffy. They have their arguments, but they're Family, something Sorrix swore up and down he didn't need a decade ago. Zojja meanwhile was his best friend, is. They had an incredibly snappy back and forth as  bright but short tempered, brilliant savants and despite the snark they made a fast bond. They pushed one another, , they bickered, and they were both determined geniuses stubbornly refusing to let Tyria go up in flames. My initial canon was that post-HoT Zojja is in a coma until the end of s4, I haven't worked out how on earth soto works. But in the original plan her coma breaks his heart - he has it set up that he gets first notification when she wakes up, and the second she does he's throwing everything aside to be there and help her recover. He missed her, she asks if he's gone sappy, he admits he might have. It's been a while, he's changed a lot.

Cryssi is closest with Caithe, they raised Aurene together and although Caithe wanted to hate Cryssi - she couldn't. They were too sincere, too genuine, and looked to her for guidance and opinions and information with so much trust and innocence, she couldn't be angry at them being given the trust as a stranger that she wasn't. Cryssi adores Caithe, and is always over the moon to see her, that's their crystal buddy!! Especially when she branded, and then it's Cryssi's turn to teach Caithe a few things about crystal magic.

Demon is Demon, I don't think they're close to anyone but Logan is the one who found them in a basement, surrounded by white mantle corpses and covered in blood, and got them involved in everything. If that counts?

Matthia is closest with Rytlock without a doubt, and looks to him as sort of a parental figure. Which is as great a choice as that sounds. In Icebrood especially, the father thing is such a rough spot. Matthia is having a bad time, borderline on the edge of retiring from being the commander at all, and desperately need Rytlock on side. Rytlock who is too busy chasing after a son who hates him, to realise Matt needs him. Icebrood's an entire mess between these two, and Rytlock trying to kill them certainly makes it a so much worse. Cat Family Drama. Cat least Matt gets along with Crecia.

10) Are there any oc's of yours or someone else's that they travel with?

Pleur has an entire guild made of my oc's - Reverie's Vengenace. Which consists of; > Merianus Blacktide, ex-ash whisper's Lightbringer & Pirate, > Sruffi, a Chronomancy Protégé, > Elan Heartkeeper, a blood legionnaire Brand Sentinal turned Vigil/Pact Warmaster, > Paara Ghostburn, a once priory explorer now Iron Legionaire Asura, > and Connae, a sylvari druid who was briefly a whisper's agent. She meets them all at varying times during the Personal Story, but the guild is formed in Orr, and still exists in modern times, and worked alongside Dragon's Watch. They could've just been rolled into one guild, but Reverie's Vengeance didn't want that. So Pleur gets two guilds, who work together constantly. It's makes sense, it's fine.

Sorrix doesn't really have any other oc's in his universe, I have toyed with him having an Arcane Eye agent following him without him knowing, but nothing concrete.

Demon and Cryssi and co-commanders. Demon does the entire personal story, and Cryssi appears with Rytlock when he falls out the mists in HoT, and from then on becomes a more Traditional Commander/Champion role than Demon ever was.  Cryssi is a better Figurehead, and it allows Demon to do their best work, being ominous from the shadows and teleporting in and out of situations with cryptid few word answers. Demon drops a lot of responsibility and trust onto Cryssi, giving them the egg and all. They knew Glint had steered Cryssi after Rytlock to be a champion for Aurene, or at least assumed based on the remnants of magic stick to them from the mists. And Cryssi is the only person to ever have seen Demon curl up and lick their wounds. Two lost creatures tied to the mists, warped by it, and from ancient Tyria. There's a kinship.

Matt has a whole little gang! They're not a guild like Pleur's squad of my oc's, but they are essentially extra dragon's watch members in a way. From the base game, Matt meets two human priests, Elvire a Priest of Lyssa, and Damianos, a Priest of Balthazar who grew up in Ebonhawke and served in in the Ebon Vanguard. Elvire is less a solider themselves, and more acts as a leader and support type roles in the pact. In Elona and Cantha, they're very Diplomat - and in general they're very much a lot of emotional support for Matthia being so calm, it's similar to what they used to do back in Divinity's Reach for folks, a reassuring shoulder. Damianos is very much a solider as you'd expect, and he ha a rough go of it. He joins Balthazar at the end of s3, but regrets it in PoF and is working on making amends ever since, he feels extremely guilty for being misled and stubborn. He's got a good heart, he just makes a lot of mistakes and hard judgements. During HoT Matt picks up Sage, a daredevil sylvari who was very almost mordrem, who wandered into the wood away from the circus he ran away into from the grove, following the call. Sage is a cheerful, bouncy acrobat who seems to take everything with a quip and a backflip, and he sticks to Matt like glue after they meet despite plenty of suspicion. He's also soundless. And very finally during seaon 4, after Joko's death they pick up Nekkt. Nekkt is ex-inquest, and was awakened by Joko after being killed by his forces in Rata Primus. She's grumpy, sullen, and has been picked up by the scruff and stuck with the Good Guys because where else is she going to go. and Her and Matt certainly don't have any weird bonding over having both died, absolutely not.

[sylvaridreams]

Always rubs me the wrong way when people try to assert Aurene and Taimi as the Commander’s daughters. Used to see it with Braham sometimes too, the "that's your son!" talk... Those aren't Alba's kids and he would not come pick them up from the help desk if they were lost in a store. Because he is also lost in the store. And he's crying way more than they are.

Maybe it's just like. Taimi is an adult and even having known her as a progeny it was hard for me to aim my very young sylvari at her and say "oh yeah! this is her dad! 😎 👍" because even when she WAS a progeny, Alba was still a sapling. They were on equal footing and they've stayed that way. In fact I'd not even hesitate to say that Alba struggles to stay at Taimi's level of maturity and wisdom and always has; there are countless ways in which he's younger than her, not just his physical age.

And I've already touched before on his relationship with Aurene never being parent/child. He loves her a lot and yes he was there for her as a baby and they were incredibly close. But. I dunno. Aurene also quickly surpassed him in emotional maturity and wisdom. He could never catch back up to the baby dragon he took care of, even if the chance arose to see her again. And while they did have a bond that felt familial, again, it was never a parent/child thing. If we absolutely had to put human familial terms to it I'd say Alba was like a big sister to her, and the roles changed and reversed quickly anyway as she neared and then reached maturity. At their cores they are both creatures forced to grow up very fast to feed the war machine. Aurene gained a lot of insight and a higher plane of understanding of the world as she did so, while Alba gained a lot of trauma and heavy burdens. And he's never gotten over a single burden he's been handed. He's emotionally trapped in cycles of mourning things that happened a decade ago as if they were new developments, because he never learned to let go and move on. And Aurene moved on from everything. She's advanced past the point that he can reach, while he's regressed.

Anyway the original point feels to me similar to when people say "found family" and what they mean is "nuclear family reenactment." Wherein we need a mommy a daddy and a boy and a girl, and each close tie needs to fit neatly into one narrow category of relationship and never deviate. Well they don't. 🙆

Bold disclaimer this is my opinion on my own character I'm not telling other people what to do or how to feel about it. 🤸 I just don't enjoy it myself.

[mystery-salad]

2 and 3... for all the commanders hehe >:D

ALL OF THEM????? Hough *rolls up my sleeves*

2. Who among the canon "allies" does your commander most relate to?

- Laighe most relates to Caithe is many ways, from valiant to outcast who found a home away from the Dream.

- Matthias relates to Canach, though you will NEVER hear him admit that to anyone. Not even his partner.

- Ruan relates to Marjory, both canthan diaspora finding lives and purpose in their own ventures, wanting to reconnect with her heritage.

- Kai relates most to Canach, though the two got off on such a bad first foot they don't seek each other out to talk. It's a shame, but at least they've made peace.

- Hastigi relates to Rox. The two have had long conversations, figuring out where you fit...what a family away from home is for them both.

- Cora relates to Blish a lot now, the two spend time together away from the judgement of those who might go off of how they look instead of how they feel inside.

- Taomesin relates very little to any of them, but mostly they'd relate to Gorrik in a way. In over their heads, sure of themselves until things go wrong. Getting over some rough situations.

- Joel relates to Taimi, two rash delinquents of a sort with an issue with authority and needing to be heard.

- Vuisce doesn't know the canon team but if they did, they'd relate to Gorrik! Honestly they'd be two peas in a pod~

- Roibird connects deeply with Taimi, two tinkerers having a grand old time!

- Roi has only known everyone since EoD, but of that team she can have long conversations with Caithe...

- Cara doesn't relate to any of them, such a fucking bitch that they are. If you said it they'd kill you, but they'd relate well to Canach if they were nicer about it.

- Call relates to Braham! The two became such steadfast friends who can talk long into the night.

- Trella and Gorrik have lots to talk about, but even moreso she would connect with Blish.

- Mai Trin connects to Canach, for many obvious reasons lmao

- Quaille relates to Caithe. The sense of duty, of martyrdom and doing things yourself, reaching for help but not finding the kind you need most of the time.

- Marta relates to Braham on a deep level, they're both trying to put some things right.

- Riagain relates to Canach, two thorny besties inside and out.

- Leaf doesn't know the team well at all yet, and just crashed in as of SotO, but they'll grow to relate to Kasmeer quite a bit I think.

- Stixx is the most WIP commander I have right now...I think with time they'll end up actually relating most to Aurene.

3. Who among the canon "allies" does your commander dislike the most?

- Laighe does not like Rytlock. He is no longer an ally, Crecia has fully replaced him.

- Matthias also doesn't like rytlock, grudge for the whole releasing a god that killed him thing.

- Ruan isn't a fan of Joon, rubs them the wrong way...

- Kai hates pretty much all legion charr teammates, though she begrudgingly came around on Rox after some major pushing from the team. It helped that she eventually swapped from legion to olmakhan.

- Hastigi doesn't like Gorrik, too methodical and by the book.

- Cora isn't a fan of Rytlock, especially after her big physical change. The guy just doesn't seem very chill with differences.

- Taomesin does not really like anyone on the team much, they're a loner and prefer it that way now. Taimi is way too high energy for them though.

- Joel didn't even bring rytlock on the team once Rox was on, no authority figures.

- Vuisce again doesn't really know any of them, but if they did know the canon team they'd clash the most with Marjory. The two are both very stubborn on how things should be done.

- Roibird clashed with Kas and Jory a lot, they don't wish each other any ill will they just have a lot of differing views.

- Roi clashed with Joon a ton lmao

- Cara clashes with everyone but ESPECIALLY Caithe, the two are enemies to the core.

- Call does not like Gorrik much. She's nice to him, and goes along with things, but she doesn't casually hang out with him.

- Trella stays far from Caithe, and most sylvari. Hilariously, not for the reason you'd think! She's seen too many die and thinks they're too self sacrificing.

- Mai Trin and Kasmeer clash a lot after how much Marjory went through in the fight against Scarlet.

- Quaille does not like Taimi, little twerp who keeps trying to find loopholes around what needs to just be done.

- Marta would like to stay 50000000 feet away from Canach if possible, never really got over the harm he'd been doing in bloodtide coast. His heart was in the right place but his actions were wrong.

- Riagain would dropkick Rytlock if he shows his face again.

- Leaf doesn't know any of them well enough for strong judgements yet, but I think Gorrik is gonna come on really strong for them.

- Stixx I'm still developing but they and Kasmeer aren't gonna get along at all I don't think.

[i-mybrunettelady]

so, while i’m on a rytlock run, let’s rewind all the way back to nyra & rytlock. i don’t think i’ve ever mentioned it aside from a few throwaway lines, but when they first met (before we meet the rest of destiny’s edge) he essentially saved her from getting very beaten up in still unclear circumstances (i’m still waiting for the day nyra explains that one lmao.) she still was, but not as grievously. he even made sure the soldiers in question were punished.

because let’s face it, while he rough around the edges, and sometimes a jerk, an ass and all the things, yeah, he’s also very sensitive to bullying. and there’s a point of their age difference - i hc rytlock is in his 40s rn, so around a 10 year age difference between him and nyra (who’s currently 29!) and when she started adventuring, she was 19. so rytlock sees this obviously new, young adventurer in trouble and steps in to help.

she’s respected him enormously since then. over the years, his respect for her grew as well. there have been roadblocks (for example, she was so fucking angry at him for turning with crecia against her and braham in icebrood, even if she understood why he did it. they eventually made up, though) but overall, they’ve been each other’s support over the years.

and it makes sense, right! they’re both leaders, military ones as well, but with decidedly different approaches - his brash, blood legion violence is tempered by (adult) nyra’s diplomacy and to a certain extent, more responsible, dare i even say a little honorable, bearing about it. babymander nyra is another thing entirely.

a little side note on nyra’s take on honor in war: she doesn’t believe it’s a thing. she doesn’t believe honor is a thing that can coexist with war, so she considers herself dishonorable, at least to a degree. if there’s one thing she does well, maybe too well, it’s owning up to her mistakes.

there’s an implicit understanding there. there’s a reason he came to her in the aftermath of ryland’s death (knowing full well she had to make a similar tough call as well. cue nyra sending him names and contacts of various therapists with him going O-O at her for it.) there’s a reason they’ve been each other’s bedrock over the years. they learned a crapton from each other and continue to do so. he is, after all, her second-in-command when it comes to dragon’s watch.

i will never not be soft over nyra and rytlock’s friendship and how it has a very distinct note from, for example, her friendship with jory or kasmeer, or the big sister role she took with braham, or the protectiveness she feels for taimi and rox.

i am never not soft for commander & rytlock’s friendship...

[guildtree]

EXCEPT IT'S WEDNESDAY BECAUSE I DO WHAT I WANT

Anyways, this is meant to be an opportunity for writers to do a "behind the scenes" look at one of their fanfics, something I've wanted to do for a while. I'm choosing Left Behind, my story about Taimi and Marjory becoming friends while recovering from Balthazar, because not only is it my first posted fanfic and one I still love, but because GOOD LORD does it have a story behind it.

So here's the tale: I wrote this thing in October of 2022, shortly after essentially dropping out of college. COVID had knocked me flat on my ass both mentally and physically, so I was still recovering from a pretty severe health crisis/depressive episode and had very little to do with my life. I'd started writing fiction again after a few years of not doing it at all. And then my uncle calls me up and says, "Hey, I'm going to Europe for three weeks, I know you're not busy, would you like to catsit my two kittens while I'm gone? I'll pay you." Obviously, I jumped at the chance to cuddle cute fluffy animals and earn money for it. Easy, right?

WRONG. First off, these kittens were not tiny fluffballs, they were five-month-old former-stray terrors that hadn't been fixed yet and still had tons of nervous energy. They caused chaos whenever I wasn't watching. Second, it took all of half a week for them both to somehow get sick with gonorrhea (honestly, they'd probably had it before and the symptoms just hadn't shown up yet). If you've never had to deal with two hyperactive, aggressively cuddly kittens with diarrhea ... be thankful. It was a disaster. Between taking them to the vet, giving them medicine regularly, cleaning up after them, and making sure they didn't break anything important, I wound up over at my uncle's house way more than I'd expected. Eventually, I just started dragging my laptop along so I could sit on the couch and write for hours while keeping the little fuzzy troublemakers in the corner of my eye.

I'd had the idea for Left Behind for a while - ever since I'd heard that little achievement line where Taimi mentions that Marjory's been calling her a lot and, "it seems like she's kinda lonely." (Which like, Marjory? Lonely? What? But then it clicked for me that she's not only alone, she's alone and injured, and she's probably feeling frustrated about not being able to do anything, much like Taimi has felt over several arcs, and ohhhhh... I can make them friends.) But I'd also be deluding myself if I said that nothing about my situation while writing bled into my work. I mean, I certainly had a good perspective on how much medicine sucks, and how hard being a caretaker can be, especially when the people (or cats) you're taking care of aren't cooperating! There are references to Taimi and Marjory being up at ungodly hours because I was up at ungodly hours trying to find the very small, pitch-black kitten who was hiding in the house somewhere because she really did not want to take her medicine. Some of the more out-there comedy is definitely influenced by that sleep deprivation as well.

But on a more serious note: I think the reason why my first posted story is at it's core about recovery and finding camaraderie in that recovery is because those were the things I needed at the time too. I mentioned that in October I was just starting to come out of a nasty depressive episode? I do mean just starting. I didn't feel good, I merely felt not terrible, which was a significant improvement but still didn't feel like enough. I think, consciously or not, I put a lot of my own hopes, wants, and frustrations into these characters. Hidden in Marjory's rage at feeling useless are a lot of my own frustrations about how my depressed brain simply wouldn't let me do things sometimes. In Taimi's fear of being forgotten are my own anxieties about how in taking a break from college I'd ruined my whole future. And their entire story of healing, growing closer, and finally moving on was what I wanted for myself most at that moment: a way out, a new start, and people who could understand and help me through all of that.

I wrote that entire fic over the three weeks I was catsitting, fending off kittens who wanted to step on my keyboard and chew my laptop wires the whole time. I finished a few days before my uncle was due to come home from Europe, and I was so exhausted and annoyed at that point, I was just like, "You know what, FINE, this is pretty good, why don't I post it." So I did, and then I went to go give the cats their meds and fall asleep, and when I woke up the next day there were 11 comments waiting for me, and I learned that people actually might like my writing and what I had to say. And now here we are 8 months later, I'm in a much better place, I've got a little community of friends and people who like my stuff, and writing has been a valuable hobby that brings me accomplishment and happiness. All because of my uncle's sick kittens xD

This got long, but it was a story I've wanted to tell for a while, so as always: thank you for reading.

[ratasum]

I think I maintain that Zojja would have been better served by bringing her back during season 4. They didn't HAVE to have her kidnapped like Taimi (that was their original idea; they didn't do it because they'd just had the Taimi Kidnapping).

But Taimi's kidnapping COULD have been used as a way to bring her back.

Number one, Joko leads into what will eventually be our final fight with Kralkatorrik, the very dragon that Destiny's Edge sought to destroy in their ill-fated adventure. Number two, Taimi is her ward and her apprentice. There's no way she wouldn't have rushed in to have our EARS for her getting caught in all that.

Struggling with a sense of place, with the echoes and pains of the past, with letting Taimi grow up and letting herself grieve and heal. And getting to be present to see the end of the very thing that led her mentor to his own death so many years before.

It also means she gets to be there during Legacy, to hear Snaff's voice one last time, and to have him finally let her let go.

[commanderhorncleaver]

May I ask how Gaius ( and the warband) get along with Dragon's Watch?

For the most part, the entire warband gets along decently well with Dragon's Watch. I'll mostly discuss notable examples or exceptions here.

Gaius more or less adopted Braham and Taimi in the way he typically does--it was a bit awkward, and continued to be a complex relationship particularly in regard to Braham, because of the norn's very complex issues regarding heritage, particularly parentage, and Gaius' own parental issues, but also the charr-typical "just do your own thing."

Gaius and Rox had a strained relationship for an extended period, but circa the point Rytlock jumps into hell, Gaius has actually become a rather big supporter and emotional support for her.

Augustus and Kasmeer get along extraordinarily well, both being Mesmers, and having very different backgrounds and general focuses. I think August is her first real friend from the warband--Gaius is more her boss/coworker.

Oberon and Rox had a brief fling during LWS1-2. It didn't work out, but neither party was looking for anything beyond what it was. They're generally amicable, and like. I do genuinely think they're the sort to stay up super late on watch having really deep conversations.

Phlunq greatly enjoys the presence of Taimi and Gorrik--it's very nice for him to not be the only Asura, particularly because they're folk he can talk to about things he doesn't think his warband will understand.

Terang Bulan gets along with everyone generally amicably, if they talk to him.

Rytlock is an interesting topic for the warband, because they all know him (or at least of him, in some cases) prior to Dragon's Watch, save for Phlunq and Arashi. He doesn't have the best reputation among the warband just on the grounds of being Blood versus a bunch of Iron charr, and then interacting with him. Then, of course, there's the various issues they witness between him and Gaius. August in particular never really lets go of his disdain towards him post PoF.

[brightwingedbat]

Naz, tell us what camping with Dragon's watch was like sometimes (I am, going to just act as if there's actually alot more downtime in the campaigns)

Tent distribution, campfire stories etc. Maybe some fun disagreements that happened? Cultural clashes

"Hmm, camping out was interesting at times. Certainly nothing I was new to, did plenty of it in my time as a legion soldier before I was the Commander." "For a start, it should be obvious but Marcus and I shared a tent pretty much every time we camped. For the others, they mainly stuck to their own tents. Except for Kas and Jory, they'd share if they were around at the same time. Taimi rarely camped out too, the few times she did she mostly stayed in Scruffy, having a golem made to suit your needs helps with that."

Nastazya brushes her chin as she thinks about some of those camping moments. "I do remember Kasmeer complaining about both Rytlock and Braham's snoring. She'd never tell it to their faces though. She probably had the roughest time camping out, especially when Jory wasn't around."

"Oh and there was this one time Marcus was telling stories about his time in the Mists along with Rytlock. Including one where Marcus woke up to Rytlock shouting, only to find him dangling about by one leg by some... demonic creature with tentacles on its head." She chuckles lightly at the thought. "Rytlock was not happy about these stories, not one bit."

"I do miss those times, we're all split apart doing our own things now..."

[0carkki0]

Icebrood Saga.

Song: Vampire’s Kiss by Acting Lovers.

The Vommander while now hanging out more in the cold areas lost his tan and was getting his usual greenish-pale skin. Not that Taimi hated the tan, but this look was What Taimi had gotten used to. The only differences were his whitening hair and red eyes. In other words, Vivs looked again like some bloodless bloodsucker. Probably even more so, than usual. Taimi really didn't mind becoming his bloodsucking Bride.

Prologue: Bound by Blood. Rytlock, the Vommander, and a few others were called to the Blood Legion playgrounds... homelands to celebrate finally killing off Kralkatorrik. They made that in a very charr way: one charr Slayed one of the remaining branded creatures, but Aurene wanted to clean up her grandfather’s messes covered and killed it with her own crystals. This got a lot of charr on edge thinking, that the Vommander vommanded… commanded her to. The Vommander and others had to start showing that they were not there to start a fight, but while things progressed the party seemed more and more like a cover-up to What they were really up to. While Braham was getting very drunk, Rytlock’s son stole his legendary bow to give it to Bangar. The Blood Legion’s Leader. While Vommander and others followed their tracks, they learned that Bangar was planning on getting an Elder dragon of his own: Jormag, without realizing the difference between an Elder dragon raised by mortals from the egg, which was Aurene, and a wild Elder dragon.

Song: Your Sweet 666 by HIM (be sure to listen to the original version, It’d better than the other one IMO)

Taimi was writing her thesis about Elder Dragons at Rata Sum, so she didn’t see the Vommander that often. How were they doing there without her? Did the Vommander miss her at all? Taimi sure did miss him. No. He must feel a bit lonely, even if Rytlock and others were with him...

Episode: 1: Whisper In the Dark. The Vommander was called to Jora's Keep by a voice that sounded like Almorra Soulkeeper. Though the Vommander could tell that something was off. When they arrived at the location, it was full of dead massacred people. Braham and the Vommander got trapped inside the barracks, but with a Raven's Lens got free. With the lens, the Vommander could see where Almorra and Jhavi were taken and followed the tracks there. After they rescued Jhavi, she told them that Almorra had the second lens that could get them to Raven Sanctum, where one of the dangerous Sons of Svanir's shaman was at. While looking for traces of Almorra, the group experienced taunting whispers and visions. Especially Marjory got a really traumatizing vision and had to go back to the camp. They finally find ALmorra, but she was dead and buried under rubble and has her sword as a marker of her final resting place. The group got the lens and they could enter the Rave Sanctum, where the Vommander got quizzed by the spirit of the raven.

Song: Crazy World by Scorpions.

Taimi got a visit from the Vommander who told her everything that had happened so far. Taimi wished she could be there since it all sounded interesting and exciting. And insane. But she had to finish her thesis. Even if the Vommander wasn't happy about Almorra's death, Taimi could tell that the Vommander was still very thrilled by the weird happenings. And needed a little calming down help from Taimi again...

Episode: 2: Shadow in the Ice. The Vommander and others had to put a stop to the whispers, and while helping local Kodan they learned that behind the whispers was Jormag's champion Drakkar. But they were too powerful at the moment since they were feeding off of the corrupted spirits of the Wild. With the Vommander's help, Braham could purify the spirits' shrines. The others, Jhavi, and her group had fought the Drakkar and chased it into a cave where they could no longer suck in the magic of the Valley. The Vommander and others went there too to help take care of Drakkar, but the whispers were getting too strong and Rytlock and Crecia both fell under its corruption. The Vommander had to beat them unconscious to be able to continue fighting the Drakkar, which Braham and the Spirits froze in a crystalline form. The Whisper of Joramg showed itself and forced Braham to doubt himself and the Vommander to fight himself off in his mind when Bangar and Rytlock's son Ryland appeared. The Vommander and others tried to tell them it wasn't possible to get a wild Elder Dragon of your own. Aurene wasn't a possession, she was a friend. Just then Bangar shot the Vommander with the bow, nearly dying, when Braham lost his cool and finally changed into the form of a wolf attacking the two charr for hurting his dear friend, the Vommander.

Song: Crucified 2013 (Radio Edit) by Army of Lovers.

Again, the Vommander visits Taimi and told her everything. Taimi had to scold him. Never provoke a dangerous psychopath with a dangerous weapon in such a small area. The Vommander seemed to love to be scolded by her. Well, if the Vommander would do stupid things like that when she wasn't there, she should hurry up and finish the thesis, so the Vommander would not get killed out there. They did it again...

Visions of the Past: Steel and Fire. Aurene shows the Vommander the Scrying Pool, which put the Vommander in a state of mind where he could experience firsthand what happened after Bagar had gotten the bow to himself. The Steel warband had gotten to the Bjora Pass and weren't sure how to proceed. While Bangar and Ryland were looking for a new route, they come across Almorra, who was a prisoner of the IceBrood. They help her to defeat the Ice Brood, but since Almorra did not agree with Bangar on the way he dealt with things, Ryland was ordered to fight with her. After beating her up, Bangar ordered Ryalnd to kill her off. Ryland refused, so Bangar did it himself.

Song: Something There from Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

Taimi thought about the last conversation the two had. The two have become a bit too needy of each other's company, huh?

Episode: 3: No Quarter. The legions were having parley negotiations, while the Vommander arrived at the area, but when Logan and Kasmeer arrived with a few other humans, Ryland pulled back his parley and left the place. Smodur's war tactics did not help with trying to create any kind of agreement with the Dominions. He attacked the enemy in sight. Tricked Rytlock and the Vommadner to bomb a base full of Dominions. And the final killing of a war prisoner, which was supposed to be used to negotiate his rejoining the legions and talked about the dangers of waking Jormag up.

Song: Gotta Get It Groovin' by E-Rotic.

The Vommander visits Taimi again telling her everything. He seemed to be very stressed and disappointed at Smodur's ability to use his brain. The Jormag waking was closer and closer all the time. Taimi thought to give the Vommander a bit of stress relief...

Episode: 4: Jormag Rising. The Vommander met up with Malice's double agents, who told them that the Domions' Forst Legion had a citadel and that Jormag was in there. The Vommander joined with Braham to investigate a way to the Frost Citadel and found a huge door, that needed all spirits to open. Smodur and Braham could not agree on how to open the doors. While at that they were ambushed by Ryalnd and his group. Smodur was shot dead. So, they continued after dealing with Ryland's group, and everybody agreed to go with Braham's plan. The Vommander helped with that, which involved with dealing with totems and doing some stuff to the spirits. They got the doors open and proceeded further, but they were then faced with a thick ice wall. With some roof shattering to get some war equipment to help with e thick wall problem, they got finally to the chamber where Jormag was sleeping. Bangar had the Spirits of the Wild captive in hopes of using their power to control Jormag. First, the Vommander fought Bangar, but then Ryland joined the fight and the Vommander saw an opportunity to free the spirits. Before Bangar was about to be defeated, he was saved by wakened Jormag, but instead of controlling the elder Dragon, or even becoming the champion of the Elder Dragon, he was made to become the voice of Jormag, so that they could talk to the mortals. Instead, Ryland was chosen to become Jormag's champion.

Song: Mi Amante by E-Rotic.

Taimi heard that Jormag had wakened up. This was going to get them even busier, but at least Taimi could finish her thesis. Apparently, the Vommander was too busy to come to visit her now. Right at the time Taimi really wanted to see him. Was he getting used to not having her there?

Episode 5: Champions. Primordus was waking up, and it showed all around central Tyria, and the Vommander and his friends fought against them -even with the Jormag's brooded and the Frost Legion. Jormag was gathering allies against Primordus, but the Commander and some others didn't trust Jormag but played along... till Jormag showed how cold and uncaring they could be about the mortals. But Aurene as well as the Vommander with his friends still needed Jormag's help with defeating the Destroyers around the Central Tyria. And to destroy them both, then they needed another Champion, and that was Braham. Braham became the Champion of Primordus. Then when finally Jormag and Primordus were about to face each other, first the Champions fought while the Vommander made sure neither of them was winning by adding more and more magic to them when they had lost too much energy. After enough time had gone by, Jormag's and Primordus' patience ran out and they attacked each other, both dying in the process.

Song: Resonance by Yuuki Okamoto (intro from the anime 'Soul Eater')

When others weren't looking the Vommander expressed his happiness of finally fighting again alongside Taimi, especially now when nowhere was safe. As long as the final elder dragon was still remaining, nowhere was safe. So she might as well be near him so that he can come for her and she can come to him if either one was in danger. His hands sure are quick to get everywhere...

After the dragon fight, the Vommander was clearly jealous of Gorrik being able to work with Taimi in the same lab but looked revealed when he found out that the lab was built next to Aurene. In a very public area. Of course, it made it also more difficult for Vividatt to have another stress-relief moment with her.

Did Taimi just witness the Vommander coming on to Gorrik..?