#but Taimi had her own things going on

[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.

[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.

[echowilds]

y'know i just realized that 'characters whose internal magic system is fucked' is a bit of a theme for me

hanni

as aurene's champion they're always soaked in her magic. they aren't really branded but you can definitely tell they're a dragon champion based on their magical signature

as i mentioned before, they absorbed a part of balthazar's magic, which changed their own magic's signature more towards fire

but even before that they unconsciously started walking a very perilous line as they absorbed a lot of latent natural magic just by being the idiot who jumped at any weird magical stuff happening (and ate a good amount of it)

on more grim days they're just waiting to go up in a big explosion

but it's fine! they're working on a solution with taimi! everything is going great!! (sometimes they wonder what would've happened if they jumped in front of ankka's extractor instead of aurene)

they actually used to dabble in alchemy and elixirs but balthazar's magic messed it up entirely for them and most of what they brew now ends up as great explosives but isn't doing what it's actually supposed to do. at least the pact demolitionists are always happy about the results

leikkya

the experiments she was subjected to as a kid included her getting exposed to a low amount of magic continuously for years

while her body had gotten used to it over time, the abrupt cutoff after being freed messed her up again

i'm not entirely sure yet how i want the effects of that to go about but she might be a little addicted to magic. only a little though. it's fine

and two more peeps under the cut because this whole thing got so long

sade

while nowadays their weapons of choice are a disapproving frown, harsh words and noticable disappointment, they used to be an exeptional warrior

they're also old as fuck so when it comes to magic seem to have only improved, both in their control of it and the amount they can wield

but re: that being messed up

there were Things Happening and a sacrifice (though more borne out of a desperation not to die) that didn't work quite as planned and they got the whole magical essence of their closest friend a companion dumped into their own

which generally wouldn't be too big of a problem, but things can't be easy around here. the internal magical essences of the two aren't exactly compatible due to being of very different species and there still being a certain amount of intent left in the dead companion one's

they've had many years to get used to the dichtomy and figure out how to make it work for themselves but it can still flare up from time to time (and fire magic in the archives would be utterly disastrous)

it also seemingly came with immortality. joy. (it's actually just an extremely long lifespan and a.... let's call it failsafe against dying)

laerus

he's probably the least affected in his personal use of magic by the Events That Happened To Him To Make Him That Way out of all my characters but still

glossing over some stuff right now to keep this from devolving into a whole essay he has some souls attached to him (and is attached to them in turn but only emotionally)

there was a failed ritual and lies and betrayal by someone they all trusted and now laerus is the only one with a body, the voices of his allies in his head and some 'minor' temporal displacement

technically he's kind of a revenant now? but none of the other's were really all that powerful magically (and still aren't) and mostly it's made him really good at strategy, human royal ceremonial tasks and observation (spectral eyes that can see behind him are eternally useful). it's also distracting as hell

he's still mainly a necromancer, his soul and magic just have more people attached than what's common

it has made magic trickier for him since he needs to make sure he isn't drawing on the others' magic, but mixed into the usual necromancy green is some blue colour wise

[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.

[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.

[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..?

[mistfallengw2]

4, 12, and 20 for Tocchix! -couple-o-commanders

Just an asura ask game (questions are cut short in the reply)

4. How is their social life?

Tocchix was always pretty solar and friendly by nature, and while he generally has many friends and is on good terms with pretty much everyone he knows, he has a tendency to mostly stick around those friendships that make him very comfortable. Back in Metrica Province he almost exclusively hung out with Bunnie, and, after moving to Lion's Arch with his fathers, he spend most of his time just with Fynn, at least until he found Adamas and he became his adoptive brother. His first years in the Order of Whispers and the beginning of the Pact was probably the peak of making new friendships for him, but at the same time the nature of his job as an agent precluded deeper connections with most of them. After losing half of his team in Orr, he worked with Iotta for the most part (and they got together), but since she was adverse to social life (and actual dates, since she wanted to keep the relationship a secret), he spent a lot of his little free time (when she wasn't around) with family and friends.

After Iotta's multi-leveled betrayal during S2 and the following ouchy episodes that happened in S3 and S4, he progressively closed himself off from everyone until mid-IBS, focusing only on his job in a toooootally not self-destructive manner. Friends and family didn't know what to do to try to help without making matters worse, and the logical solution in his mind was to see them less to keep them from worrying. The only person that grew closer to him as a friend during that time was Ethanryel, and having his life saved by them during and right after the crash of the Pact fleet in the jungle was a pretty solid groundwork for that, along with the fact they never tried to "force" support on him.

After meeting Huki in Taimi's lab in early IBS and seeing them a bunch during a long-term covert mission with some shenanigans, they became another of those comfortable friends, and somehow they eventually managed to break into his heart and break him out of his shell. Dating them came with better balance in his life, more social occasions and a big family, and he's been awkwardly enjoying it all.

-

12. If given the chance, would they take the position of professor in one of the Colleges? Or would they prefer to become someone's mentor? What would they teach? Would they be a good teacher?

Tocchix didn't go to College nor continued his studies past early education, and his father only taught him medicine-related stuff once they opened a little hospital in Lion's Arch, so he couldn't become a professor in the Colleges even if he tried.

As for actually becoming someone's mentor, he had... quite conflicting feelings about it, at least until quite recently. Iotta was his main mentor once he joined the Order of Whispers, and he learned nearly all he knows from her. Too bad that unbeknownst to him she was Inquest and trained by one of their most ruthless operatives, so that damaged his own self-perception quite a lot, on top of the emotional implosion for the fact they had been romantically involved for over a year by the time that came up and that he had lost his mother to the Inquest. He knows what he learned from her is what makes him a great agent and that it's something worth teaching others no matter its origin, but the idea of becoming someone's mentor made him queasy. He felt like he's part of a line of mentors that eventually end up betraying their apprentice's trust (Iotta left to go back to the Inquest, and later died because of her mentor's selfishness), and he never even want to risk it.

Getting the chance to kill Iotta's mentor during a mission kinda shook things up in good and bad ways (mostly bad), but he's also gotten a few years of proper healing process since then. Since he and Huki have adopted a pair of orphaned siblings a couple years ago, he's been faced with the fact he's technically in a teaching position already, and in spite of the anxiety he's not taking it as bad as he thought. So who knows what will happen?

-

20. Has any experiment (or experience) blown up in their face?

As for experiences blowing up in his face, Tocchix's line of work in the Order of Whispers never lacks such occasions, and at times that includes other people's experiments! Raiding Inquest labs is a dangerous job no matter the objective or scale of the operation, and he has to thank his mentor for teaching him the appropriate methods and distance from which to safely damage machinery and experiments. In retrospect it kinda stings to realize she likely knew that stuff from being Inquest herself, but it sure would have stung more to be caught in the blast that one time Iotta saved him from a really close call and then berated him for close to an hour afterwards.

Other than that, he hasn't done much experimenting since his early education days, and the worst that ever happened was the occasional mini-explosion coming from his and Bunnie's golem prototypes when they were kids.

[sylvaridreams]

Apropos to nothing I'm still in the year 2024 trying to nail down 2/3 of my asuras backstories and what they're doing now. (Tzuuya and Buulma.) Like I guess I know Enough about their past already but I have no idea where to take them from there. 🚶‍♂️

WHAT I KNOW...:

Tzuuya (she/they) is around 14 years older than her sister Buulma (he/her)

Tzuuya excelled in her college (which one? Idk because I don't know what field she's in. 🤗) There was a huge age gap and a general social distance between them and they were never close. While Tzuuya was schooling over in Rata Sum, Buulma lived in the city over Thaumanova with their parents. (Do you see where this is going.)

The world's fabric turned inside out, Buulma survived but their parents didn't, Tzuuya had to choose between her very promising career on an incredibly brilliant krewe, and her little sister who she'd never really known that well or been close with. They didn't have other relatives outside of Thauma. There weren't other options.

So she backed out of her career and halfway out of her college to take on raising an 11 year old progeny that she barely knew and struggled to understand or even tolerate much of the time. Buulma was sickly, viciously angry, and deeply traumatized after the destruction of their home city. She regularly did things that made no sense to Tzuuya-- she'd destroy Tzuuya's belongings, especially her college work and experiments (of whatever field Tzuu is in cuz I still Don't Know.) Buu seemed to develop a deep obsession with fire especially, burning papers Tzuuya had written just before the deadline, and starting kitchen fires on occasion. IN HINDSIGHT, a trauma response to the reactor explosion and subsequent days spent buried in burning rubble. At the time it seemed nonsensical and obviously didn't help to bridge the gap between them.

Eventually Tzuuya puzzled out something that Buulma would react well to and even talk to them about. He turned out to have a strong affinity for all manner of hideous wild beasts, and could talk her ear off about murellows and siamoths. Tzuuya quickly sought out a ranger to train their sister; within a year of the reactor explosion, Buulma had her own bow and a young murellow of his own to train. And, with her younger sibling mellowing out, Tzuuya was able to amp up their own workload; though the chance to join the krewe she wanted was long past, they were able to get in with the Priory for work instead.

by later in the timeline (start of Icebrood Saga, when Buulma is 19) I believe he's working in Taimi's backup-backup lab with the mordrem reform project. No idea what comes for her after, and I don't know what Tzuuya is doing by that point or later. so that's kind of where I get hung up... is not knowing what the future holds for either of them after a point. heh.

[void-galaxy-shenanigans]

You mention your girlfriend a lot in a lot of posts about your growth. How did you two meet? What is she like?

I'm willing to answer this, but it comes with some not-fun news— we’ve since broken up. Just saying that up front, but I’ll talk about how we met & what attracted me/us to her (& what kept our relationship going/healthy for so long) 💜. Also gonna use initials for anonymity (C, S, & M).

(How we broke up is probably triggering, & not necessary to answer this 🤷‍♂️)

~~

In answer to your question (it’ll be long):

At the time, I was living with our ex C. We were supposed to be polyamorous, but C was controlling & bad (that’s its own story). But we finally talked out how we would be comfortable with polyam working (our boundaries/rules & setup & whatnot) & I made an account on Taimi, because a fellow queer told me it was a good place to go. (Unfortunately Taimi is now wrecked; everything requires a subscription & most of the good folks left it.) I connected with a few people at first.

When I met C (Dec. 2022), I was looking for long-term relationships. So I went into this time looking for short-term, so I could learn what made me happy, comfortable, & safe in the present moment. I needed to learn what my needs & desires were, & what made a relationship actually feasible for long-term. I knew this was my intention, & mentioned it in our bios.

M is trans in the opposite direction, she/they/fae (we're trans masc, he/they). They’re also neurodivergent like we are. She actually reached out to us (Sept. 2023), because in our (long) bio I put ‘touch starved bitch, would love cuddles’, & fae apparently took the time to read the whole thing & notice that. So they messaged like, ‘hey, I’m new to the area and also touch starved ’, & asked about some of my interests.

We talked for a couple of weeks, infodumps & some trauma talks (discussing why our previous relationships failed), & I mentioned that I was living with C & it was getting more unsafe.

M ended up offering to go on a date to a coffee shop near them (we both wanted a public place). I showed up on time (5:30 to 6p was the window), to find out the coffee shop was inside a university. Eventually I found it, & got a coffee, & went outside to sit and drink it where I could see the trees. I started writing a story on my phone (I do that often) & was vibing, in my zone.

Around 6:20p, she was like ‘oh shit sorry, I was in the shower and lost track of time, I’m getting ready now’. They arrived at 6:30p, flustered and out of breath.

I was still sitting, writing and vibing. M stopped, & (fae later told me) saw me in my zone having fun & went ‘this is a cool person I’ll vibe with’. They then approached to say hi, pulling me out of the story zone. I let them know the coffee shop closed at 6 (online said 6:30), so we chatted outside & assessed vibes.

Her vibes were good, so we went off walking down the sidewalk & infodumping back & forth. After about an hour, we both agreed the vibes were safe enough to go to her house.

We went back to my car (M didn’t have one), & I drove over to their house. I found out along the way that (coincidentally) we had both slept only 3-4 hours that night & didn’t have the energy to mask (neurodivergence), hence the immediate click.

We went into the house, into faer room, & I sat down on the floor (twas Floor Time™). We talked a bit more, went to get food, then laid down on their bed & cuddled. We kept infodumping.

Around 9p or so, I felt comfortable enough to start happy stimming while I was rambling, & she gave me one of those You’re Adorable™ smiles that I would later find out was adoration (I’m used to people being annoyed/exasperated when they look at me 😅).

Around 10p, I got up & went home (I had work the next morning & wasn’t prepared to spend the night). That was our first date - infodumping & cuddles. Nothing spicy, no pressure or rudeness, no problems.

They then helped me move out of C’s apartment a week later, into my current living situation (not the best, but it’s not with C 🤷‍♂️), which...is pretty attractive, ngl. Between them & my best friend (she/they), they did 90% of the work (I’m physically disabled, they both let me direct but didn’t want me hurting myself to help), & fae said they were just happy I was safe (safer, I wasn’t really safe & I’m not very safe now).

We dated for about 2 months, then they met their first local girlfriend S. They stopped spending time with me, & hardly reached out. On Thanksgiving Day around 9p, I reached out letting them know I felt distanced & uncared for, & they showed up ASAP in person to discuss. They said S was also uncomfortable with the “distribution of time” (big words to say there was an imbalance in our new polycule), explained that they’d been experiencing a lot of ADHD time blindness. But they followed that up with the first real apology we’ve gotten - “I’m sorry I neglected you”. No dodging, no misplaced blame, actual accountability.

We then established a routine where they’d stay over at my house 3 days of the week, stay at S’s apartment 3 days of the week, then rest at home 1 day. So I had reliable routine & knew I’d see her. She had the follow through too, for a couple months (that’s the beginning of the end).

In our time together, we talked a lot about healthy relationships, unpacked our trauma together, and had a lot of fun. I learned a lot about what I need, want, & deserve in a relationship. A lot of the more recent healing posts have been things she made me realize, or just observations fae offered when I was talking about trauma. They also helped me recognize why C was so toxic along the way.

Ironically, she raised my standards, & then later on failed to meet the new standards they’d shown me I deserve.

But I learned what I needed to, and now I’m resting out of any romantic relationships, unpacking what went wrong with our relationship with M and what I/we can do better in the future.

(I’ve also learned to trust our best friend’s judgment, because she apparently saw the end coming & didn’t say anything, so I now ask for their opinion on new people & invite concerns/criticism.)

Despite it all, despite how it ended, I really hope she has a good life, wherever that leads. I learned what I needed to, and I hope fae learns what they need, too.

~~

I hope you & anyone else who’s seen/read those posts also benefits/benefited from what we learned from her. I know they’re gone now, but faer impact on us is gonna last for years (probably the rest of our life).

~Nico💜