#but it's WORTH IT because i really really miss imogen :(

[benebonv]

devotion looks so pretty on you.

[quietblueriver]

Could not stop thinking about Marisha discussing self-worth as Laudna’s fatal flaw and this emerged in a flurry last night and during lunch. It’s all Laudna, immediately after the conversation with the Hells after sword-gate, and it builds a bit from this. Don’t usually write from Laudna’s perspective but giving it a go. She deserves so much, y’all, ugh.

Okay, anyway, angst ahead.

-

There wasn’t going to be any easy drifting off, not after the events of the last hour, but it’s even more difficult without Imogen. Laudna has grown spoiled, there’s no denying it, and she misses the heat of Imogen’s body and the pleasant burn of her touch.

It’s her own fault, of course, there’s no denying that either, and the cold and lonesomeness are a fit punishment. And in any case, even if she didn’t deserve it, her eyes are still intermittently leaking ichor. There’d be no point in dirtying Imogen’s bedding as well.

The rest of the Hells also seem to be having trouble sleeping, aside from Chet, anyway, whose familiar, constant racket is broken by a chorus of shifting bodies and too-loud sighs. She can hardly blame them; after all, she’s the monster and she can’t even sleep with herself in the room.

Delilah has gone quiet, something Laudna appreciates usually, still appreciates now, but it’s a much closer call than usual. Because Laudna, left with herself and the thoughts that are really, truly her own, feels somehow both restless enough that her skin itches and so heavy that it’s almost as if the ground has remembered she shouldn’t be walking and is trying to suck her back into itself, into the stillness where she belongs.

It’s not the ground, not really, because there’s her bedroll and the floor and the floor below that, and likely a cellar, at least, and Imogen would roll her eyes at the joke and Laudna wants to peel back her skin and help her tendons escape. Instead, she forms strings of ichor between her fingers, twisting them absently as she thinks.

It’s not productive, she’s well aware, to keep running through the night’s events, the fight for the sword, the conversation with Imogen on the rooftop, the conversation with everyone else afterward. Still, she can’t stop, and maybe that’s fit punishment, too. If she’s going to try to use Delilah’s power, she’s going to have to make decisions like she did earlier and to deal with their fallout.

The niggling, snide voice in her head clears its proverbial throat. A remnant of Matilda, it has become bloated and ever more confident from three decades with Delilah, even if it now appears less frequently, smart enough to wait until Laudna is alone so that it can’t be challenged by Imogen, who may always come knocking even with her circlet.

The cadence and tone are of Matilda’s life as well, a bit of Master Elron, who used to make her stand in the front of the class when she got distracted, back rigid against the snickers of her classmates, and a bit of her grandmother, who used to pinch her until she bruised for any perceived infraction or imperfection. Sure of itself, always, and smug in its confidence.

Laudna forms fists, ichor squeezing between the gaps in her fingers and nails digging lightly into her palm as it speaks.

And what, exactly, makes you think that you’re strong enough to use Delilah? If you recall, you forced poor Imogen and all the others to come rescue you from the tree where she’d trapped you in your own mind. Have you changed so much in a few months? Grown so much more powerful?

It’s a fair point. She’d told Imogen, told the others, that she wants to use Delilah, that Delilah owes her. It’s rather easy to stand by the latter, murder and all that, but the former, while not a lie, feels, when she’s outside the passion of the moment, to be…a stretch.

Not a stretch. An impossibility. What you should have said is that you’re going to let Delilah use you. Isn’t that right?

The voice has never been kind or shy, but it has, undeniably, often been right. It was right when it reminded Matilda that she likely wouldn’t have had dirt thrown all over her face and dress if she’d just pretended, acted a bit more like the other children instead of saying all the things that popped into her mind.

It was right when it reminded her that she wouldn’t have been murdered if she’d just been a little smarter, a little less gullible. After all, what possibly could have prompted a lady to invite Matilda as company for dinner? Not that she should have anticipated murder, of course–the voice wasn’t paranoid; it merely knew enough about Matilda, about who she was and what she could offer, to be pragmatically suspicious–but there was no world in which that invitation came without strings.

Now, it’s right that Laudna using Delilah is, at best, a tenuous proposition.

She turns her foot and ankle, twists and presses against the sturdy floor until each joint aches in protest, threatens to dislodge. Unwilling to risk waking the others with the noise of her bones, which are as likely to escape their bounds with a shocking loud crack as with a muted pop, she rides the edge and uses the hurt to silence the voice for a moment, assesses herself.

She is not a liar. It’s understandable, that they’re suspicious, that Imogen is suspicious, even if it hurts her, but Laudna cannot help that the truth right now seems much less like a looking glass and much more like a mud puddle.

She believed fiercely what she said about Delilah in their conversations tonight. She believed that she had a real chance, that she could do something good with all of her bad. It was truth to her.

She does not dismiss the Laudna of that moment now in the tempering darkness. That optimism and fervency have allowed her to survive this long. The beliefs and confidence they inspire are genuine. When the flame burns lower, though, she can acknowledge that her most ardent optimism is a force against the ruthlessness of reality and that it cannot see the full truth and maintain itself.

Even without the fire of the zealot, though, she still hopes. She is uninterested in doom as an outlook, finds it unproductive and just as divorced from reality as its opposite. So a part of her, small as it may be in the face of cruel facts, hopes very much to use Delilah, hopes that she can harness whatever power is available to her in service to Imogen and their friends. She hopes and she’s going to try to give that hope its best chance.

A toe frees itself from its joint, the click quiet enough that Laudna is confident only she could hear it, but she reaches down to force it back and then stops her motion anyway. The voice returns.

Trying is all well and good, but outmatching her would require someone much more capable, dear. You know that. You’ve always been a little easily led, and we’ve been down that road before, hmm? Ask Orym.

She brings her thumb to her mouth and bites at the nail, tugging until a large portion comes loose. The pain is more than she anticipated, deeper into her quick than she meant, and she sucks the raw skin dripping black into her mouth to stifle the noise that threatens to escape.

As it throbs satisfyingly, she thinks about Orym and the sword. It killed them. It killed her. It was evil and it didn’t belong, and she wanted it gone. It was her choice. Her choice.

Except that Laudna hadn’t been lying to Imogen on the roof, either, when she said she wasn’t sure whether it was worth distinguishing herself from Delilah. She confused even herself as she wavered between her hope and her fears, a messy, sticky thing and probably the most complete view of the truth.

It doesn’t surprise her that her love for Imogen, her desire to protect her, left her grasping for coherence, her own mind unwilling to withhold what might help her but unable to reconcile the parts of itself, muddling confident reassurances and righteousness with doubts and fears and warnings. All true but so obviously incompatible when presented together.

Still, it’s easier to prioritize when it’s Imogen’s future that’s at stake. Some things are constant. Laudna is a dead end and always has been. And as for the rest, well, with Imogen on the line, hope loses to the present moment, and she must admit that she isn’t sure how to distinguish herself from Delilah.

The natural consequence of that particular admission is that she can no longer honestly be sure whether her hope, her plan to use Delilah, isn’t itself the product of Delilah’s meddling, a ploy to get Laudna to give what’s left of herself willingly.

There it is, the voice whispers as the painful pulsing of her thumb eases. If there’s no point in distinguishing, what, exactly, is choice? If there’s no point in distinguishing, how much more of you is there really left to give?

She digs an incisor into the exposed quick and rolls to her side so that she can torture herself with a view of Imogen, the familiar bow of her spine as she sleeps. Laudna wants to count her vertebrae with her fingers, sates herself by counting the toes of the foot that has been flung out from her blanket and then counting them again and again. There are five each time. The voice is quiet.

Laudna loves her, stops the implication of Delilah’s infiltration at the door of that love. This, still, is hers. She lets herself believe the silence inside her is motivated by agreement rather than pity.

She removes her thumb from her mouth so that she might gnaw at her lip, dig her incisor into the fragile skin with more pressure than is required. She draws the wound into her mouth and holds it against the back of her front teeth, ichor sticky on her tongue.

Laudna doesn’t want pity, even from herself. Pity is what you give to someone who has lost all control of their circumstances. Pity is what you give to a lost cause.

The Hells don’t pity her. The opposite, really. They seem to believe Laudna is someone. That Laudna is special.

There’s a reason she chose you. You know that, right? Imogen’s plaintive voice echoes, edged with frustration, and Laudna hears herself, hears the truth. I don’t think I do.

Because she’s almost certain that if there is a truth of her lives, of the most remarkable pieces of her lives, it is this: If she has ever been special, it has been because others have made her so. Vex’ahlia made Matilda worth killing. Delilah makes Laudna powerful. Imogen makes Laudna palatable.

Without them, she’s simply Laudna, who was simply Matilda, who was strange but entirely forgettable once one left her presence. No one, when it came down to it. Unfortunately for her, she was no one who, if the observer were quite drunk or had terrible vision, vaguely resembled someone quite her opposite. Someone who was beautiful and powerful and far too smart to allow herself to be tortured and hung from a tree in living effigy. And being that kind of no one in a town with Delilah Briarwood turned out to be a death sentence.

It’s an incredible kindness for the others to try to build her up, to tell her that Delilah chose her, that it wasn’t merely chance or awful luck. They’re her friends, and quite good ones at that, as far as Laudna can tell. They believe what they’re saying, and she hardly knows what to do with so much good intention.

But Laudna knows better. After all, they never knew Matilda, and they only came to know Laudna through Imogen’s brave and inexplicable affection, which is so steadfast that it shames strangers who once would have thrown rocks at her into feeling their repulsion without acting on it. What’s a grimace to a stone? Although Imogen’s indignation at that relatively small unkindness is still a force. Between Imogen and Delilah, Laudna was allowed to become something more than herself to their little group.

As for Imogen herself, her perception of Laudna is a mystery Laudna is quite certain she’ll never understand. For some reason, Imogen sees her in the gracious light of love, where Laudna’s shadows become possibilities, her sharpest and most feral features softened and blurred. Transformative.

Barely conscious, eyes clamped closed against the searing pain at her ear, a woman’s voice close enough that she can feel the contrast of her breath against the cold damp of the air. It’s confusing, the conversational tone against the background of repeated, erratic clangs of something heavy against metal and what she’s beginning to suspect are her own screams. “Not quite the resemblance I’d hoped, in the end, but don’t worry, dear. From the right angle with the right light, you’ll look just like her. Now be a good girl and hold still for the other side, hmm?”

Transformative.

It’s such a beautiful way to see someone, so very like Imogen, but in the end, it’s an impairment like any other, really. Although what a gift it has been, that Imogen cannot see her for what she is.

She licks at the last of the ichor on her lip and curls her own body in a mirror to Imogen’s. It is Delilah’s voice that whispers, That’s quite enough, I think. Sleep, child.

And she does.

[leikeliscomet]

Heartstopper's Aspec Representation Isn't For Me - And That's Okay (Mini Essay)

Spoilers for Series 3!

So I just finished series 3 and I feel conflicted. I don't hate Heartstopper at all. I think it's a very cute show. I'm happy queer baby gen z and gen alpha have something to see themselves in, I love how Tara, a darkskin Black lesbian girl is happy in her relationship. I'm happy Isaac makes my fellow aspecs happy. I'm happy Charlie tore Ben's singlet in series 2 and for once the victim/survivor is allowed to not forgive their assaulter. I like Heartstopper's little moments but I've felt like something was missing overall and now we're on the third season, I think I know what it is now. There's comments on BL and yaoi by Alice Oseman I don't fully agree with, some of the acting in the show could be a bit better I guess, most of the characters are comfortably in the British middle class and I am a grown adult now so my interest in school/teen dramas has dipped a little bit (but not you Waterloo Road ily <3). So to an extent, there were always gonna be limits on how much I enjoy this show, but nevertheless, I still think they're worth pointing out, especially if we're claiming Heartstopper for the next gen of queer rep. Because honestly having watched shows like Heartbreak High and Koisenu Futari plus being a massive Selah and the Spades fan, I feel a bit robbed in terms of quality.

Isaac still feels underdeveloped and for a show that's been going on for 3 series now this feels disappointing. Like obviously Nick and Charlie get all the screentime as they're the main characters. Tao and Elle got a lot more juicer storylines from s2, Tara and Darcy got more to work with this series even if it was rushed (oh I miss you long series 2010s shows), but Isaac still feels leaps behind everyone else. He didn't really get anything in series 1. In series 2 we saw him coming to terms with his identity which felt like a good starting point but I was still waiting for the 'big asexual plans' Alice Oseman promised and... nothing. I liked his comment about googling aromanticism to Charlie because the representation by PowerPoint style of aspec writing can get tired. I also liked his moment of feeling left out by his friends plus still wanting to know Nick and Charlie's tea, giving him sexual agency whilst aroace instead of feeding into infantilisation. But apart from that... nothing. I wanted to feel more moved by the aquarium scene, but it felt tacked on because whilst Isaac's upset was justified, Imogen just wanted to chat about gay fish, so Isaac came across as a little passive-aggressive instead of what was supposed to be his moment. Plus it feels a little backhanded how much effort series 1 went to in how big coming to terms with your identity is, plus the gorgeous way Isaac's aroace revelation was filmed in series 2 was filmed just to have him blurt it out in an aquarium and have barely any of his friends actually support him like he supported them. But life imitates art I guess. This whole season we've seen characters talking about university plans, gap years and going through the post-16 struggle. But what about Isaac? We never find out what uni he wants to go to or even if he wants to go. What subjects does he like? What job does he want post-school? What's his relationship like with his family? The people need to know! I always found it weird how Isaac was left out to the point where straight characters, whilst still bearing in mind that Tao x Elle is an interracial pairing between two POC and one of which is a trans girl and this is very rare and deserved representation too, had gotten more screentime than him. Imogen, Sahar, Mr Ajayi and Mr Farouk had all been introduced for bigger storylines but Isaac, despite being in the main group, still had to wait for his share. This series was such a huge moment for everyone but Isaac... again. And whilst I'm happy if everyone else is, I genuinely feel like we all deserve better.

Tori was given bigger moments this series and that was great because I was waiting for my introverted slurping sister to come through. Her concern and care for Charlie and jealousy of Nick were great plus with the introduction of Michael, it was all leading to the big reveal of Tori being ace, right? Right? Wrong, because this scene was cut from the ferris wheel moment and I have no idea why. Oseman confirmed it was because Tori's storyline will continue in s4 and she didn't want to rush it but like, what? Series 3, at least in my eyes, did an alright job at building up her coming out. And again, if Nick could get his bi awakening in a one series arc, why can't this asexual character then too? They also covered Darcy's non-binary transition and coming out in this series too so I don't know why there wasn't room for Tori apparently. There was plenty of room for an 'I'm asexual' within those 5 minutes. Waiting to develop her in series 4, which is yet to be confirmed and likely to be the show's last series so it will already have a lot to do with wrapping up the Nick x Charlie saga seems like a poor decision. This is the second time we've had to wait till next season for the aspec character's arc by the way.

I'd like to see some aroallo POVs on this but this season put a lot of emphasis on linking love and sex together and it felt a bit strange icl. Yes, they're linked socially/societally and it's great to have sex with someone you love and love someone you have sex with etc etc etc but the first 2 series made a point of separating the two by showing love without sex and how it was just as meaningful. Almost every time a character was sexually attracted to another e.g. calling them hot or started making out because they wanted to have sex in that given moment there would be a dialogue from one of them going 'it's okay we're in love 'it's normal you're in love' 'well that's what people in love do!' and these are all correct statements but like... we get it! You don't have to be head over heels in love to find someone sexually attractive or just want to have sex with them. It's okay if you're not in love too y'know? I'm not sure what that constant reassurance was for because depicting sex without love isn't as pearl clutchy as it seems when all parties are safe, consenting and comfortable, or, if you've ever had any knowledge about aro(allo) spaces tbf. Nick and Charlie are not aspec and are very much sexually attracted to each other so the conclusion of them having sex isn't surprising at all, especially when I already knew from tweets back in series 1 that Heartstopper the comic already had a storyline later on of the two having sex for the first time. Plus the other characters aren't aspec either so their sexual debuts are also unsurprising and deserved. Plus, I'm actually glad they included Tara and Darcy having sex because many 'sex positive' shows seem to leave out the lesbians. But for a show with an aroace creator and aspec characters, the depictions of romance and sex don't feel like they were written from an aspec lense or for an aspec audience. It's normal for people to be romantically and sexually attracted to each other and then date and have sex. But if you're aspec, you know this. We all know this. This is the mainstream and default depiction of human (hetero)sexuality. We're watching the queer shows to see something different from that. When romance without sex can only hinge on the characters being below the age of consent plus a supposed 'innocence' due to their young age and sex without love is non existent, plus when you factor in how there are no aroallo or alloace characters in the show with 'groundbreaking' aspec representation, it makes for a bit of a headscratcher. Heartstopper may be made by an aspec, has aspec characters and aspec fans, I don't consider it an aspec show. Bit sad, but it is what it is.

It's honestly strange how despite this fact, asexuality and aromanticism is barely mentioned in the main discourse about this show. Antis claim Oseman is a cishet woman despite being non-binary and aroace. They blame the sexlessness of the show on puritanism despite Oseman being aroace. There's constant arguments about how 'unrealistic' it is for teenagers to not have sex despite Isaac being a whole teenage aroace and how some people just didn't have sex in their teens... like aspecs. People are annoyed the show keeps giving Isaac aromantic and asexual storylines because it's 'not as important' and they 'don't care' as if he's not a main cast member and again, the creator is aroace! If you look at the promo pictures of the show, it has the main three pairings, Nick and Charlie, Tao and Elle and Tara and Darcy and no Isaac. Despite the fact it's supposed to be 'for' us and made by one of us, it's not. And a lot of non aspec queer fans watching the show don't see it for us despite being made by one of us either. And that's a real shame.

I'm fully aware Oseman knows about writing aroace characters from the book Loveless, which has an aroace MC. But I think Netflix choosing to adapt Heartstopper over Loveless was intentional. I think Netflix creating Isaac instead of Aled, a demi gay non-binary character from the og comic, was intentional. I think all the decisions Netlix made with Isaac and Tori are intentional, the same way bringing Yasmin Benoit to the Sex Education writers room to cut half of O's storylines was intentional. Netflix has fumbled the bag with asexual and aromantic representation several times now (Cash Piggot and Todd notwithstanding) so at this point, I'm not surprised anymore. Again, I'm happy for anyone who really likes Heartstopper, but I've finally accepted that it's not for me. And that's okay. When someone makes the predominantly aspec, slightly more grown, queer show with fully fleshed out arcs for its's asexual and/or aromantic characters or hits up Lovie Simone for the scrapped Selah and the Spades TV show, I know where I'll be.

We deserved our moments too. We deserve our Heartstopper.

[utilitycaster]

(you don't need to publish this because a) it's not a question and b) I don't want that maybe you're getting attacked/vagueblogged over it) I just wanted to say, that I originally came to your blog because of your nuanced, deep and really really good Caleb meta and that Imogenfans are missing out big time. I think, if Im/odna fans wouldn't have acted the way they did and talented people hadn't stopped writing meta about them, at least I would have warmed up to the characters way more....

Hi anon,

I hope you don't mind me publishing it anyway just because it's a good opportunity to elaborate on a few rather fanwanky feelings in one brief-ish statement.

I don't really care if people vague me and I think people who don't like being vagued are valid, but people who don't like being vagued, whine about it, and then continue to vague others are, understandably, idiots making the situation worse. Most people who had issues with being vagued re: the above simply stopped writing meta, which is why there's not much of it. Also a lot of what people call vaguing is just meta that disagrees with theirs, to be honest. I mean I do vague, a lot, and I'm very good at it, but I've also written 100% good faith meta about things I was thinking about the narrative without consideration of other peoples' opinions and it was called vaguing because I used aggressive tactics like citing my sources.

I've covered the fact that Imogen was actually treated very similarly to Caleb with the key difference that people who wrote meta about Caleb were treated badly by his haters, whereas people who wrote meta about Imogen were treated badly by her then-supporters who are now mostly defending Ashton and Dorian because Imogen started saying things they don't like and don't want to address. I just want to reiterate that if someone ever says that The Male Characters Played By White Actors Never Receive Hate you should just block them and stop taking them seriously. The hate is obviously not motivated by bigotry against real people, typically (though some criticism of Veth was certainly misogynistic even though Sam is a man, for example) but they still did receive pretty intense hate. It is kind of telling, personally, re a certain lack of backbone that people will bring up the horrible things people said about Liam or Travis or Taliesin in their own defense and then turn around and willingly engage with the people making these accusations they clearly know to be false, but you know. Unsurprising.

I tried to write something longer that really dug into the outline of events but it really comes down to this: a lot of the direct harassment (not vagueing) of meta writers, especially with regards to Imogen or Laudna, occurred during episodes like...20-50 of this campaign, and I think those doing the harassment either thought this would somehow make meta writers go "oh my god you're so right about the thing that you said I should die for not agreeing with, I'm going to write meta for you now" or that this would shut them down but wouldn't make other meta writers say "oh this environment has become hostile", which obviously it would. Coupled with the fact that this is when a lot of meta writers realized the campaign pacing was fucked and the party wasn't clicking in the same way past ones had and it really turned into a case of high risk of unpleasantness for a not really worth it reward for many of the meta writers who were around in earlier campaigns, and that in TURN meant that it's harder to have a good conversation without having existing chats so it's a less pleasant place for new fans. Anyway uh. I think the lesson here is that those C2 meta writers ARE around for Midst and Candela Obscura so it's also kind of a waiting game in the event that there is a future campaign (and if not, they will still be here for Midst/Candela/Possibly Daggerheart or future EXUs); they're just not here to write about Imogen or Laudna because it's not worth the trouble.

[inconmess]

The sheer insanity of today's episode?

I mean daaaaaamn

The poor emissary. The amount of failed modify memories and his fate because of it… If only you had a lower save…

Technically too many hits to the head should've caused him brain damage anyway

I mean BH are chaotic but this was next level even for them!

Summoning Bor'dor as a guard dog??

The staged play?

The constant shifting of plans? Let's talk, no let's kill. No no no no TALK! Nvm, kill it is he's not talking and we don't want to leave evidence. Bells Hells - the Cleaning Crew, people

The sheer amount of fails on Bane and Modify memory and silvery barbs??? If FCG trying to commune with the changebringer was one thing, this is the next level. At the beginning of the episode and the end of the episode

Matt: You need 4 Marisha: *rolls 1* Matt: You need 3 and above Marisha: *rolls 1* Matt: You need 2 and above Marisha: ... *rolls 1*

That die had a bad day today and Matt's had a really good one

Gaes is back baby! Also poor Dorian the whole time at Nana Morri's place. Looked kinda spooked and miserable and it's a fair reaction

Also I wanna say the Sorrowlord will be missed but really, I don't feel it. Good conversation and a really interesting end tho. The Loom was certainly something. Killing him was a decision tho... I feel sorry for Gloamglut :(

And BH finally have a conversation. Effective maybe not but at least everyone has put most of their thoughts on the table?

Ashton commenting about coin flipping, cold

Chet being the only one to actually ask Imogen and Fearne

Orym… Put his point across really well tbh. And I kinda agree. It's it really worth putting a whole population at risk trusting an unknown entity just because you want the gods gone???

I get trusting no one than trusting yourself *flashbacks to the crown keepers* but is it really better in the longer run?

The crisis of faith I guess will happen regardless. Either due to the gods running, the clip of Aeor or something totally different. Also Braius commune??? And his night with Morri? (I think)

[beedreamscape]

VERY LONG POST EXPLORING C3 AND WHY SO MANY PEOPLE MIGHT NOT LIKE IT/MY PERSONAL GRIPES WITH IT.

I ended up exploring a bit of that Reddit community of critical role fans (not the main one) where they basically gather together and commiserate how much they hate C3. It's frustrating to read because at some point you can tell they make no effort to engage positively with the campaign and have a penchant for hating anything about it.

But, from the perspective of someone with very little emotional connection to the past campaigns, I kinda get why C3 feels so different and, in my opinion, it's all about personal stakes for the characters.

As writers, we constantly hear that we must give the characters something personal to care about so that the reader may care about the plot - yeah city-destroying laser beam is a big stake, but if main character's loved one will be used as a sacrifice to the aliens to activate the laser beam unless they do something, the tension doubles.

And with a shallow look over the arcs of the past campaigns, especially the fans' favourites, a pattern I find is of those with heavy personal stakes:

People often point the Briarwoods arc as a favourite. It's not just about bringing down the powerful Briarwoods, it's about avenging Percy's family and bringing his beloved Whitestone back to its past glory, all mixed with the fighting of personal demons.

We also got Vax'ildans overarching arc with the Raven Queen and Scanlan's with Kaylie and his self-worth/discovery in the party.

In campaign three, the struggle of Fjord getting over Uk'otoa's influence and turning to the Wildmother, rediscovering himself. Bright Queen's Favor with freeing Yuza, uncovering Nott's past, grappling with their preconceptions of the empire and the dynasty, and meeting Essek. Losing then Recovering Yasha from Obann. Traveler Con.

This post about the first third of the C2 comparing it to C1 explains quite well how M9 is driven by the party's personal stakes over any obligation to any institution.

Not only personal stakes that build the value of the campaign, but places that grow as their own: Whitestone, Emon, Zephrah, Xhorhas, the Menagerie Coast, Zedash, etc.

That's what's missing from Campaign 3: anchors and personal stakes.

Bells Hells doesn't really care about anything! We're entrenched in the Ruidus plot ever since we learned what ruidusborn means in the beginning of the campaign and yet, what does that mean to them? It was the subject of Imogen's dreams and afflictions but what else? The main victims of it will be the gods, but they repeatedly state how much they don't care for the gods and are in doubt if losing them would be bad anyway.

In a certain perspective, I don't blame them - the plot has grown so massive and subjective, while they haven't - they're still level 10 nobodies against a god-eating moon-shaped monster and the insanely powerful guy that wants to free it.

Bells Hells doesn't care for the places they walk through! Only two members of the party are actually from Marquet! Imogen and Dorian. And both are running from their past! so they don't even want to be there! Ashton hates everything about it and all the others have no reason to cling to it.

Jrusar was such a great city with great dynamics that were only half explored and they don't seem to care to return to it even though so much goes unexplored. Yios meant nothing nor did Heartmoor or the Taloned Highlands (and its apparently juicy political intrigues nobody cared to explore) and barely a mention of Ank'harel or the Silken Squall.

WHY do we keep going back to Taldorei???

Marquet as a whole goes mostly unexplored and underused in the campaign and it's so upseting.

Bells Hells have nothing to lose! They hold no personal stakes to the plot, most of them don't have families and those that do feel like something so distant and impersonal, no place or city they love or feel connected to, the only thing they owned (the very valuable skyship rip) they destroyed with barely any consideration. Their morals feel like the only thing at stake and even that feels already lost.

C3 is pulling too much from past campaigns. From the moment they first contacted the VM people, it felt like a mistake, and every appearance since has felt so much like fan service (especially bc specific fan favourites are the recurring appearances, no variety). The time spent in Whitestone, the connections to Delilah, everything with Keyleth, etc.

This last one, in particular, contributes to that group of NPCs feeling, always revolving around some other character struggle - who cares what is going on with Bells Hells when Vax's trapped in an orb and Keyleth is half dying, and Caleb is in an anti-magic collar, and Trent is probably loose, and this character and that character...

We haven't spent proper time with C3-exclusive NPCs excluding Nana Morri since episode 50! No Lord Eshteross or Xandis or Ira or Jiana Hexum or the Green Seekers or Milo. It was so special to me having Dancer and Imahara Joe around even if briefly.

And Lord Eshteross death left such a huge gap in the dynamics of the party with the world. I think it was premature, especially because the thirst to avenge him (which I suppose was meant to fuel their hate and intention to kill Otohan) lasted so little and from there on out began the heavy and meta-gamey (and personally, OOC) relying on VM characters.

The ticking clock on the apogee solstice strained much of the campaign and brought this looming fear of 'if we don't take care of it nobody will so we can't waste time', therefore the alternative paths and personal arcs fell to the sidelines in favor of the elephant in the room, so it felt like several episodes of dragging towards this event, then the peak of ep 50-51, to re-start the drag of post moon beam.

Guest PCs are a whole other can of worms I'm not ready to explore also bc it entails a lot, but it's a shared sentiment that people miss Dorian and what he brought to the table.

On a personal view, the Hellcath Valley was my favorite arc. Bassuras felt so tactile and real and gritty, we had a clear objective of infiltrating the Paragon's Call and retrieving Armand Treshi, Deathwish Run, the mystery of Dusk unveiling into Yu, Fearne's parents encounter, Ira, Imahara Joe and reveals about Dancer and D., first FCG nervous attack, Otohan battle and Laudna's death. SO MUCH.

Special mentions to everything Jrusar and Shade Creepers, Heartmoor and the Museum, Savalirwood, and the time spent on the Silver Sun.

I miss these small-scale objectives, I miss the C3 NPCs, I miss Marquet, I miss turning our eyes to these character tensions and exploration, I miss the one-on-one talks, the unity they shared in those dire moments.

I can't wait to leave the Predathos plot and all the repetitive discussions within it behind.

This doesn't cover everything (interpersonal relationships are a whole other spectrum of discussion) but a few things I feel puts an obstacle towards people liking this campaign when comparing the past ones.

[quipxotic]

Answers and events I hope for in C3E96; spoilers for C3E95 below the cut, obviously, and also because it got really long:

For everyone left in the room to talk about what Orym experienced in the fight. I think it’s hard to judge where people will ultimately fall on the intra-party conflict based only on what we saw in that last hour of the previous episode when, A) they woke up in the middle of a situation and may have missed some of the context, and B) were so shocked in the moment that some of them seemed unsure of how to act or what to feel. Talking about it would be helpful to everyone, including the audience. I’m particularly interested in the Ashton-Orym-Fearne of it all. Ashton tried to de-escalate and get Laudna to apologize, but was not as demonstrably supportive of Orym having the sword as Dorian and Chet were. Previously Ashton and Orym have been among each others' biggest supporters, so how does Orym feel about that reaction? Personally, I don't think this will open a rift between the tanks, but it would be bad if it did. Also, Fearne was reluctant to take sides between her two friends. How does Orym feel about that?

For Imogen to return to BH’s room and immediately blurt out that Laudna is knowingly feeding Delilah. Do I think this will happen? No*. If she did do it, might Laudna see it as a betrayal? Probably. Might it ultimately help Laudna? I think it could help to have everyone know what she's dealing with and why she's acting out of character. Plus, while the reemergence of Delilah is a recent event in-story, I am personally ready for the narrative to move on from her being the unaddressed elephant in the room. And BH definitely needs to come up with a plan before Delilah either seizes control of Laudna or Percy sees her form of dread and takes the choice out of their hands.

How is Laudna going to act towards the rest of BH after her absorption of Otohan’s dagger? In her conversation with Imogen at the end of the last episode Laudna said she "didn't mean to...," but that seemed to me to have more to do with Laudna’s fear that she’d damaged their relationship, not any actual regrets about her actions. Will she be immediately apologetic with the rest of the Hells? Will she deflect and try to act like nothing has changed? As in her conversation with Imogen, her reaction may depend on how they act toward her and whether they insist on consequences.

Some push-back or boundary setting from BH toward Delilah and Laudna’s recent actions. Again, I’m not convinced this will happen based on prior experiences and I know they’re about to head into something difficult, but ignoring what’s happening with Laudna has the potential of making that difficult situation even more dangerous. When Ashton tried to absorb the shard, he had about two-and-half to three episodes-worth of consequences and mea culpas. You can debate whether that was warranted, and I know there are strong feelings on all sides there. You can argue that the situations are different, which is certainly true. But Ashton didn’t attack anyone in the party and, intentionally or unintentionally, Laudna did. There's got to be some kind of reckoning with her doing that. It’s not about whose actions were worse, again they are different situations. And it's not about making Laudna suffer because Ashton did, but the whole point of the trust-building exercises was to build a stronger group. This is a setback in that effort and I don’t think it’s just we fans who will draw connections between the two events.

Also, as an aside, I find it funny (in an "Oh look, narrative connections!" not "Ha-ha" kind of way) that both Ashton and Laudna's respective power grabs could have/may have destructive consequences for Whitestone. One up close and the other (currently) at a distance.

For Fearne to question Orym about his pact with Nana Morri. There’s been a lot of fandom speculation around what everyone’s reactions to that will be, so I can’t wait to see how it plays out in-game. I suspect there will be some surprises.

How will the Fearne/Ashton and Orym/Dorian relationships develop? Will the potential for romantic partnerships there change the EXU trio’s friendships with each other?

Let’s go to Aeor everyone! As a C3 fan, it’ll be my first time there but I’ve seen a lot of hints and discussion from C2 fans and I adored EXU: Calamity’s depiction of the Age of Arcanum, so I’m excited about BH exploring the ruins of another city from that time period.

Essek’s reaction to BH’s…everything. To the fight and the tension in the group, yes, but also to just them as individuals. I always enjoy outside characters' impressions of the Hells.

New outfits and character art! Maybe? Hopefully?

Where are the other members of the Cerberus Assembly and where do they stand on Ludinus and his plans?

*I will be very surprised if Imogen tells everyone, but I will not be surprised if she tells at least one person about it telepathically. In the past that person would have been Orym, so it'll be telling if she chooses to confide in him this time. Given the situation, she might go to Ashton, Chet, or Fearne instead and all of them would react to that information in very different ways.

[nellasbookplanet]

Let's talk about the Scanlan -> Caduceus -> Laudna pipeline of characters who give off a chill vibe but refuse to talk about the often turbulent feelings underneath.

I've talked before about the unexpected similarities between Scanlan and Caduceus, but a tl;dr: both of them actively discourage others from making them talk about their emotions (Scanlan by being a very good liar and turning everything into a joke, Caduceus by trying to fix other people instead of himself) and are in a sense their own biggest enemy, but eventually get their shit together. Scanlan takes some time away to work on himself, Caduceus gets more open with his feelings when prompted and reconciles with his sister on his own accord.

Now, on to Laudna.

Laudna really, really doesn’t want to deal with her trauma, neither the past nor the on-going. She jokes it away and compartmentalizes like Scanlan, she pretends it isn't really happening like Caduceus (who wouldn’t message or scry on his missing family because then he'd know if they were dead, and put off going to find them for as long as he could).

She mentions the possibility of feeding Delilah to make herself stronger, and the risk of losing herself to this as being worth it, but it feels like an excuse, because she doesn’t really do anything, doesn’t actively make choices that would make Delilah (and herself) stronger. It’s just something she says, because it means she doesn't have to either fight or feed Delilah. She doesn’t really have to do anything. She knows it's likely to eventually blow up in her face, but she’d rather not think about it, as if that would somehow keep it from happening and conserve the status quo she been in for 30 years while she puts her all into fixing Imogen's life instead, because it isn’t too late for Imogen.

I think, in a way, being with Imogen has been a comfort for Laudna, because it didn’t push her to do anything. They both have that seed of darkness and the urge to give in to it. "I get it" Imogen said, when Laudna voiced wanting the power Delilah brings; "Look at that fucking moon in the sky. I don’t know if I want to get rid of it." Laudna felt seen in that. She isn't alone in feeling this helplessness towards power and not entirely wanting to fight it. But where Laudna saw validation in not fighting, Imogen saw recognition in her on-going struggle.

Laudna says, "Maybe it’s our destiny to harness it" and Imogen replies, "Maybe it’s our destiny to fight it"; Laudna says, "Maybe it’s a necessary evil" and Imogen pushes, "I don’t want her, I want you". I think Imogen, in the latest episode, realized that Laudna wasn’t just looking for recognition, she was looking for validation in her willingness to give in to the dark. And Imogen isn’t about to let her.

[dadrielle]

I’m not worried about Imogen.

It’s probably no surprise that I think that expecting Imogen to go evil at this point, or even to consider it, is a misread of her character. I think there’s something very much missing from conversations that try to parse where she’s at, what her questioning of the worth of the gods means, through a lens of a fight the Vanguard/join the Vanguard binary. It’s actually incredibly strange to me not to see this mentioned more since it is like, one of the cornerstones of Imogen’s arc.

Because the one thing Imogen’s mother has always told her is to run.

That’s been a through line of Imogen’s whole journey through her powers; she started getting answers when she stopped running from the storm, stopped listening to her mother.  But before that? She ran in every dream. And as a highly anxious character, she’s also prone to getting too caught up in spiraling what-ifs to the point of not being decisive. So if we want to keep it simple, the question, I think, isn’t Oppose/Join; it’s Fight/Flight/Freeze. I think that’s the real temptation here for Imogen - not to JOIN the Verity, but to do as her mother has always told her, and run from this. From the responsibility of making the choice, from the pain of opposing her mother, from the fear of fighting Otohan again. If losing the gods isn’t THAT bad, then maybe she could live with inaction. We all know that the idea of the Hells as a party of NPCs is one the cast likes, and while Imogen is definitely less that in terms of story beats, a key thing is that she wants to be one. The freedom her mother showed her as a temptation was the freedom from her powers, yeah, but even more from being someone who is fate touched. It’s the freedom not to have to choose (which of course isn’t a freedom at all).

That’s part of why Imogen’s talk with Laudna is so damn important. Laudna, beyond recognizing how Imogen thinks and needs to talk things out - which, don’t get me wrong, that is SO SO IMPORTANT as well, and I could wax poetic on it for days - recognizes where Imogen’s struggle really lies. Laudna hammers on choice, not just because she wants Imogen to know that she supports her and trusts her, but because she knows that the real temptation here for Imogen is to run, to abdicate the choice. That’s the real power she’d give up, that’s why she says “don’t let them get in your head and make you think otherwise” specifically about choice, rather than anything about the character of the Vanguard’s mission. Laudna reminds her you always have a choice, and that that is a gift, that is real freedom.

I understand why people want to talk about Evil Imogen. It’s super dramatic. And I think we might have gotten it if dealing with Delilah was the only way to get Laudna back. But I also think that time’s past, and stuffing her reactions to her mother being a true believer in the cult into that mold requires either ignoring a lot of what Imogen has said or done throughout canon, or operating with an assumption that she is always lying about everything. And look, I think it’s important to note that every time the Vanguard has come up in any capacity, Imogen has reiterated her opposition to Ludinus et al and their methods. She’s done that immediately every time, it just gets forgotten because it isn’t an impressive speech on their morality like, say, Ashton’s. It’s easy to remember those speeches and think they must have been dunks on her, that she was arguing with them, but that’s simply not what happened.

The first time she showed any kind of sympathy for the Ruby Vanguard’s anti-god sentiment, it was simply because she felt bad about the idea of murdering Tuldus, because he had been abused in the name of piety. And so she….turned him over to the Verity to be further interrogated instead - not exactly a pro-vanguard action. When she spoke with Ludinus not long after they had discussed her potentially acting as a mole, she was demonstrably lying her ass off - saying her mother had been asking her to join them - so to take any comment from her about possibly joining them or being sympathetic as proof of a potential defection ignores the context. And when Ludinus left, she almost immediately said “we have to stop him, I have to find my mother.” Up until the point her mother pushes a vision with feeling into her brain, she was working on the assumption that her mother was caught up in something she felt trapped by, something she didn’t believe in - and she just wanted to get her out. And that vision pushed into her brain - immediately after she blurt out “what if it’s not that bad, what if we’re just fighting change-” Orym snaps her out of it, and she apologizes, says it was just overwhelming, that she wanted to see this through. She says Predathos is selfish, it just wants to eat. Nothing, nothing she says absolves the Vanguard of any crime, or indicates support for them.

You don’t have to care about the gods to oppose the Vanguard. Most of the other Hells don’t care much about the gods, either. I think Imogen’s word choice is interesting too, and feeds into my point. What if they’re just fighting change? She swears she wants to see this through. She asks Laudna if they want to do this. Those phrases to me imply that she’s wondering if they should just bow out of the fight, not swap sides. Those are phrases about whether or not to abort an action in motion, not to do an about face.

And I think it makes sense for Orym and Fearne to be misreading this struggle, too, because they are both people of action. Fearne’s action is more impulse,yeah, but it’s still action. And Orym is the man of duty, who doesn’t think of himself as a big player but can’t even really conceive of not answering the call to make heroic choices. He’s been steadfast in working towards a goal, and taking down these people who took his family from him is that goal. I don’t think in this moment he can quite conceptualize that running might be an option for any of them.

Imogen’s talk with Orym wasn’t about the gods. It was about what Orym fights for, and whether it’s still worth it. Imogen’s talk with Laudna wasn’t about the goodness or usefulness of the gods, it was about choice, and wanting a future. That’s significant. Imogen needed to crystalize why she should fight rather than run, to solidify her convictions so she won’t freeze.

I also think there are actually 3 key things that happened for Imogen in episode 49 that will keep her from running or freezing. Her talks with Orym and Laudna, obviously, but also? The fact that Keyleth is coming. Because up until Keyleth told them she was coming with the calvary? The choice wasn’t just between loosing Predathos, or ignoring it, or stopping it - it was also a choice between martyrdom and possible survival. Until that point, it had the makings of a suicide mission. 7 slapdicks and an untrustworthy Fey against an army, with a big clock hanging over their heads? When the cause is protecting gods you don’t much care about, and you don’t know for sure it will even result in anything that will hurt the people you care about? That will muck up the calculus real quick if you’re not keen to die. But now “It feels hopeful.” They don’t have to be martyrs, just part of the fight. Removing almost certain death takes some of the weight off the decision.

So I don’t think, personally, that there is any chance now of Imogen running, unless hope seems lost and that’s all they can do. I don't think there was ever a real chance of her turning. She might still freeze, when confronted with her mother as an enemy, but I think that’s lessened exponentially as well, thanks to Laudna. Hell, I’m not even real worried about Imogen getting charmed into fighting the other Hells because her psychic defenses gives her advantage on those kinds of wisdom saves. I’m not worried about Imogen. Go get ‘em girl. They don’t control you. You are the storm.

[sturnioloblogs]

Vaping

Y/n x sturniolos

Summary: y/n’s anxiety has always been really bad. one day she starts vaping to cope with it. Her brothers find out, what will happen?

Extras: you are 15 and your brothers are 20. Ava is your bsf. Also, sorry if the vape part isn’t accurate, I don’t vape so I don’t know how to do it LMAO😭😭

Warnings: vaping. Anxiety. And language. Ava is lowkey toxic and mean lol. Guys please don’t get into vaping it’s really addicting and it’s not worth it. Lmk if I missed anything.

A/n: hiiii I hope you enjoy and give requests! I am also working on part2 of tipsy, I just don’t know if you guys want me to add anything in particular. When I was writing this, the song that I put in reminded me so much of the story I don’t know why😭

𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹

Ever since I was 10 I’ve had horrible anxiety. And I’ve gone through so many different medication‘s, ways to cope with it, and I just feel like nothing is helped.

I have always been very open about my anxiety to Matt, because he also has anxiety and I feel like I can relate to him the most.

When I was 14 the triplets moved to LA. It was the hardest thing in the world for me. I need them. I needed Matt.

My parents knew that Matt was a huge part of my life and that he could always help with my anxiety whenever I needed.

But one day everything became too much.

So I convinced my mom to let me move in with my brothers at 15. I knew my mom was scared and worried for me to go to LA with my 20 year old brothers, but she knew what was best for me so she let me move in when them.

Time skip 5 months

I had just walked into school on a cold Tuesday morning. I started school in LA only a couple months ago and luckily I have already made a couple friends!

But my favourite was Ava. She was so kind to me the first day I came and she was stunning. One thing that was surprising to me, is that she vapes. I’m not saying it’s a bad thing I’m just saying it’s unexpected..

My brothers hated her. They thought she was a bad influence on me. I think they just didn’t want me to vape like her.

Ever since I met Ava I have always told her about my anxiety, and how nothing helps.

Lately Ava had been getting on my nerves, and by that I mean she wants me just to trying vaping. She says it will “calm my anxiety”and that might be true, but I just wanted to stay sober. And if my brothers found out.. only god knows what will happen.

As I arrived at my locker Ava was already waiting for me, with her books in one hand and a black bag in the other.

“Oh hey Ava!” I say as I open my locker. “Y/n I wanna show you something, come with me.” She says not showing any emotion.

I don’t say thing and grab my books Before closing my locker and following her to the bathroom.

When we walked in, she placed her books on the counter and opened the black bag and pulled out a vape.

“Your anxiety is really pissing me off lately. And All you do is fucking complain about it.” Says harshly, shoving the vape in my face. “What the hell a-“ I was cut off by her saying “take a fucking hit! Trust me it will help y/n” I slowly started to back up into the wall behind me just wanting to get it out of my face. But she only walks closer.

“A-Ava please stop” I say tears threatening to fall “oh my fucking god stop being such a baby” she answered.

I just wanted it to be over and the only way it would be over if I took just one puff.

I stuck my shaky hands out and grabbed the vape. I put it against my lips and breathed in the flavoured air. I immediately tasted a pink lemonade flavour on my taste buds. I pulled the vape away and blew the foggy air out of my mouth.

“See wasn’t that fucking bad” Ava said laughing. I tried to give it back to her but all she said was “no keep it, your anxiety might go away, so you don’t have to complain to me” she said picking up she books and walking out the bathroom.

What was her problem? She never acted like this. Was she actually annoyed about my anxiety?

I went through the rest of my day like normal except Ava just wasn’t there. She probably went home. I thought to myself.

Time skip to 7:30pm

I still had the vape in my pocket and I haven’t dared to take it out. I almost felt scared of it?

But I eventually did, and I looked at it for a while debating if it’s really worth it. I decided I was gonna take another hit just to see if it would actually help me. And so I did. I sat in my bed and took about 2 more hits before my body got all tingly and funny. It felt nice…

And with that I couldn’t keep my hands off of it. I would bring it everywhere. I noticed how my anxiety definitely was not as bad as it was before the vape, no more random breakdowns, overwhelming thoughts, and and when I would feel like that, I would just take a puff and I’d feel better. I just had one problem.

My brothers.

It was easy at first but the more and more is used it the more and more I wanted it. Every time I was in my room I would lock my door so no one could abruptly come in and see what I was doing. Till one day.

I had just been done eating supper, so I walked up the stairs not paying attention and just scrolling on my phone, I went in my room and closed my door. But my stupid self didn’t lock the damn thing.

I pulled out the vape from my pocket and took breathed in, just as I was exhaling the smoke I could hear muffled voices, and then my door swung open, revealing all my three brothers. “Y/n we are goi-” Matt immediately stopped talking when he saw the smoke come from my mouth. 

I froze in fear.

I couldn’t speak.

“What the fuck?” Chris said in shock “g-guys I-i can explain” I say, my voice scratchy and quiet “start fucking speaking then” Matt said looking me dead in the eyes.

“I-I’m sorry! Ava made me try it a-and then I couldn’t stop I’m sorry! My anxiety has been so bad and this is the only thing that helps, nothings w-working not even the m-medication” I say sobbing into my hands, at this point I had no control over my tears.

On my left and right I felt a dip in the bed, and then in front of my someone was sitting on the floor rubbing my knee.

I had to calm myself down quickly or else this would lead to a panic attack. This has happened before, but not in a while.

Matts arms came around waist and he pulled my head into his chest, whispering reassuring words into my ear.

“Shhhh y/n shhh” he said running his fingers thru my hair.

After a couple minutes or so, I finally calm down. I was still sniffling, but not as bad as I was a couple minutes ago.

Nick broke the silence by saying “y/n we absolutely love you so much, and care about you, and your health. We know your anxiety has been so bad lately, but vaping isn’t one way to go with it.”

“Maybe we need to find a new medication or a new therapist. Whatever you want.” Matt said smiling softly at me.

“O-okay yeah maybe that would be good” I whisper looking at all three of them. “I love you guys”

𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹𖦹

A/n: IM SO BAD AT ENDINGS HELPPPP…. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed this!

Also, if you guys are struggling with any mental health problems and need to talk, my Dms are always open💝

For some reason, I find my stories cringe, sometimes 😭😭



[lavender-temult]

my timeline for otohana has always been loosely “1) they meet and become friends in gelvaan, 2) ????, 3) profit”, but I have thought about it some more and please consider: Otohan and Relvin are friends first. (headcanon rambling under the cut)

They meet when they’re young, Otohan not even a general yet, but she’s ambitious and little Relvin, very much intimidated by them, is quite confident in their abilities. But he mostly looks from afar, watching this muscly stranger staying with the other soldiers in Gelvaan.

Later, Otohan comes back to Gelvaan, although they’re a general now. Tired and worn out from a recent battle, she needs a place to stay - quiet and comforting, and Relvin is exactly that. He welcomes her, albeit somewhat nervously, and makes her tea while telling her stories to distract her. He tells her stories of his work, of how one of the horses is pregnant now. He tells stories his school, of his teachers, of a purple-haired girl who says hi to him in school hallways. Otohan doesn’t have any good stories to share, their life filled with too much bloodshed and pain, and Relvin isn’t particularly interested in battle tactics, so they sip their tea, block out Relvin’s thoughts, and every so often offer up names for the soon-to-be-born foal.

The next time Otohan visits is during a brief truce between the two warring parties, and Otohan had been looking forward to going back to Gelvaan, a part of her (that she would never admit) missing the boy who had almost become something like a friend to her. Relvin greets her (no longer nervous this time), and he introduces her to his girlfriend, Liliana. Otohan is fascinated with her, with Liliana’s powers (similar to their own - that’s new), with her violet eyes and lavender hair (they smile to themself when they remember Relvin’s stories from a little while ago). But it’s more than that, too - Liliana is inquisitive, bursting with questions (she was just a simple farm girl, after all, desperately curious about the outside world). She was smart, too - when she asked questions about the war, she seemed to instinctively understand battle strategies and the like, and wanted endless details of what happened. Relvin was glad to his his girlfriend and best friend (there unfortunately wasn’t much competition for that title) getting along, and he joked that Otohan may as well steal Liliana away from him, and they laughed, because how could that happen? Why would Liliana want to leave? (Otohan knows why she’d leave, and they keep quiet with a pang of guilt.)

Otohan heard about the fires in Gelvaan, and was terrified. It took her too long to get there, and when she finally arrived in Gelvaan, she took in the wide swathes of farmland withered and charred and raced to the home of her best friend (there unfortunately wasn’t much competition for that title). They arrived, and Relvin welcomed her (this time looking as if bags had been permanently carved under his eyes). He introduced them to his newborn daughter, Imogen, and Otohan (mostly relieved he and Liliana were alive) held her, rocking her to sleep as the two exhausted parents tried to rest.

Otohan wasn’t able to visit for a while, and she tried to pretend the part of her that worried for the Temult family didn’t exist. (But were they well rested? was Relvin less lonely? did Liliana feel more trapped? was Imogen ok? was she like her mother, like Otohan herself?) As soon as the war was over, they rushed to Gelvaan (still reeling from the war, and reckoning with their religion - after all the bloodshed and pain with no reward, was it really all worth it?) and they held Relvin tight - uncharacteristic for both of them, neither of them were physically affectionate people. They sat to talk, drank tea together, and when Otohan asked how Liliana was, Relvin flinched and said nothing. But (like Liliana, which Relvin tried not to focus on) Otohan was Ruidusborn, and she simply had to open up her mind to know what had happened. They promised to try to find her, and Relvin just nodded, and the two fell back into their regular quiet.

Otohan does find her, although she doesn’t bring herself to tell Relvin - she doesn’t actually reach out. Every time she puts a pen to paper, she doesn’t know what to say. What was there to say? “Hello, Relvin. Saw Liliana. She’s doing good, we’re fucking now! How’s Imogen? How’re the crops? The horses? Love, Otohan.” No, that wouldn’t do. So Otohan doesn’t write, and a part of her longed for the quiet comfort that is her best friend.

Relvin, for his part, was not having a good time. His wife left, his best friend hadn’t reached out for years, and he was lonely with no one but a child he might’ve struggled to raise even with Liliana’s help for company. He had long stopped hoping Liliana would ever come back - had long since grown to resent her - but part of him still longed for his best friend to return. And another part of him, the part that he tried to ignore, was the agonizingly cruel humor that all those years ago, when he had joked that Liliana and Otohan would run away together, he might as well have been right.

[captainsspnanon]

C3E78 - reaction

No Liam! Sad times :( This is the second time he’s missed a game (my mom just watched the C2 episode where Marisha jaegered Caleb, she’s on such a great parallel watching as she bounces back and forth between the two campaigns)

I was very surprised by Fearne’s very physical reaction continuing after the end of last episode, but then I wonder if a part of it is above table. Not anger from Ashley, but her going ‘oh this is the first time I’ve actually been at the table during one of these moments, I’mma take it for all it’s worth!’. I mean, she wasn’t there when Scanlan left, she wasn’t there when Molly died, she wasn’t there when Fjord was going through his big power adjustments, so a part of me thinks that maybe a small part of Fearne’s reaction may be Ashley just reveling in being there for the moment.

Did NOT call the Delilah resurgence, nor did I even consider that Laudna could view this as a betrayal, but I’m loving it! I’m really happy that Marisha is leaning into the Delilah aspect more and more and Matt meeting it perfectly with voices, wisdom saves, etc.

CONSEQUENCES! Holy shit, con down 2 permanently???? Pretty sure a greater restoration won’t fix this! I am FASCINATED. There HAD to have been an outside conversation about this – I feel like it’s completely flipped from how it left off at the end of last episode? I mean, Narrator!Matt was saying how Ashton was now “unprecedented”, Taliesin was talking about high risk high reward, and Ashton’s physical body was certainly being described as a combination of earth and fire. But now here, their eyes are back to normal, their arm is now just a bigger mismatched earth arm, the gold veins are back to normal, and the shard got REJECTED. I just can’t imagine Matt choosing to do this without having some sort of conversation beforehand, even though I know he’s played with Taliesin for years even before CR. I wonder if it came from Taliesin though, if he could have wanted Ashton to fail for this…. I can think of so many different conversations above table, but this is just a full 180 from end of last episode, and honestly a harsh punishment from Matt. I’m all for it, and I’m so excited to continue this, but I would be VERY surprised if Matt did this on his own without any above table talk.

The vision that Ashton talks about seeing themselves with their family, and seeing that they were bad, and everything being their fault makes me think that Taliesin may have chosen the outcome of the shard being rejected, though of course it’s all pure speculation.

(Side note, can we talk about how Ashley is absolutely gorgeous and Taliesin’s hair is fucking phenomenal??? I like the Caduceus swirls a lot more than I liked the Percy geometric. Okay I’m done being distracted)

I was trying to figure out why I was enjoying this episode more than a lot of C3, and I realized that it’s because this is very reminiscent of the M9 relationships. It’s been a long time since we’ve had real interparty conflict with the Hells, whereas that was M9’s bread and butter. I’m hoping this isn’t something that’s just fixed by next episode, because I am THRIVING. I know that C3 has mostly been about external conflict (the solstice), but the PCs have all been….well...almost ‘shallowly’ connected? I don’t feel like that’s the right word, because there WERE true relationships between the group, but I just feel like the internal conflict is always so great at deepening the relationships.

(I’m actually doing this write up AS I watch, rather that after I watch the full episode as I’ve been doing for most of C3)

I am genuinely surprised about how everyone is being very aggressive towards Ashton. I didn’t expect FCG to lash out as hard as they are, and Imogen is cutting NO slack. Again, missing Liam at this moment as I would really love to see where Orym would fall on this, but a tiny part of me is a bit glad, as I don’t know if the conversation would have gone the way it’s going if he was there. And while I didn’t expect it, I am LOVING it. Sam is thriving! And honestly? Big growth moment for FCG here too, even a dozen episodes back I’m not sure they would have reacted this way.

LOL Ashley’s face when FCG asks Ashton how they could hurt Fearne because she’s so wonderful.

God the Fearne and Chetney dynamic is SO GOOD. He scolded her, gave her advice, tried to boost her confidence, maybe was a little offended that she was going for Ashton instead of him, helped her redirect her anger towards a more constructive destructive outlet…. Travis is SUCH a good player, y’all. And Ashley!! UGH I am so glad we get her for so long. *chefs kiss*

Fearne and Laudna/Delilah just off on their own, and holy shit I did not expect that harshness from Chetney, though I suppose I really should have. He’s always been incredibly pragmatic, and we’ve never seen how he would react with a betrayal of trust before.

This...this is both a new and an old perception of Laudna, or rather, it’s bringing new context to the woman who still plays with dolls and assumes they come alive at night. I really REALLY hope we get to see more in this vein, this is FASCINATING.

Alright, a lot of this is now post-watching rather than mid-watch. I really strongly speculate that Taliesin talked to Matt about having Ashton not fuse with the shard. All his RP this episode really feels like he planned to have the backlash and guilt ahead of time. I wonder if he felt that this would be the best way for Ashton to move forwards? Of course, definitely still can be wrong here and this could all be in the moment, but it just feels too off for Matt to have done it without some sort of discussion.

I can’t even begin to sum up how I feel about the feywild trip. It’s needed, I’m excited, I want to know what’s going on with Birdie, what’s going on with Fearne!

[theresawritesstuff]

Maisel prompt - Midges postcards to Imogene

(This turned into a little bit of an alternate on Miami...)

When she was first married, being friends with Imogene was simple. Second nature. 

Expected.

Joel and Archie were best friends. Naturally their wives should be too.

Thankfully, she actually did like Imogene. 

Underneath that tiny, bubbly blonde exterior was the heart of one of the strongest, most steadfast friends she would ever know. 

People always underestimated Imogene, much like people often underestimated her. 

But when you were a woman trying to make it through the day under the crushing expectations of being the perfect housewife, there was no one better to have in your corner.

Imogene had been there for setting up those must impress dinner parties. 

She was there with a casserole and a firm, take charge attitude when Midge was postpartum and just needed a break. With both kids. On multiple occasions.

And unlike other friends who dropped in to "help", Imogene would send her to bed to take a nap, clean her apartment, feed Ethan lunch, and rock Esther to sleep for her.

And when she left, on her way out she'd tell Joel "Your wife is amazing."

There was no truer friend than Imogene.

Midge realized that after her divorce and her dive into comedy.

Most of her other friends just faded away. Didn't know how to talk to her anymore now that Mrs. was only part of a stage name.

But Imogene stuck by her. Embraced her for taking a brave new path, even if it was into a world she herself didn't fully understand. 

Keeping that friendship alive when their lives were no longer mirror images took effort. But it was worth it.

So when her career took her on the road, Midge made sure to always send a post card from every stop.

A wish you were here. 

Thinking of you.

This place was so weird. You would have loved it.

Thank you for being my friend.

She always tried to look for the more interesting postcards when she could. 

Ones featuring spots like the world's biggest ball of twine or a statue of Paul Bunyan. Something a little hokey and just a bit odd.

Because while Imogene could put on the normal facade with the best of them, she delighted in the quirky unknowns beyond her own experiences.

It's one of the reasons they got along so well.

But in this particular Miami hotel lobby, she couldn't find anything that looked interesting enough for the life of her.

It was all beaches and sunset views. Pretty. But boring.

She finally found one with an alligator wearing sunglasses tucked way down near the bottom when the faint scent of a familiar aftershave drafted to her nose.

"They never make anything that encompasses sorry you got gout with these, do they?" Lenny quirked a brow at her as he casually picked up a card from the rack.

They always seemed to run into each other like this. She'd heard he was in the area, and if she said she hadn't been looking for him in the crowd the past few nights, it would have been a lie.

"Someone actually got gout?" Midge laughed.

"No." He shook his head. "Any of yours?"

"Not as far as I'm aware," she replied.

"Good."

He regarded her quietly for a moment with a fond smirk.

"Hello."

"Hi."

Midge peeked around at the card he was considering. "Didn't really picture you as a postcard kind of guy."

Lenny's smirk broaded. "Well, you know. Officer Peluso misses me when I'm on tour."

"Is that so?" she wondered teasingly.

Lenny looked her over again instead of continuing the bit. "What are you doing later?"

"My set is at seven. After that I'm free."

"Good." He nodded. "Let me buy you a drink. I know a good spot."

"Okay. I'll catch you after at the bar."

"It's a date."

He tapped his postcard on the rack before wandering off to pay.

She watched him go for a moment before giving the rack a final once over before making her selection.

Later, as she reset her hair back in her room (the Florida humidity was giving her hairspray a real fight) she sat down and put pen to postcard.

Dear Imogene,

It is so hot down here. I can't get my hair to cooperate. You step outside and it is like walking through soup. Or like walking into a waterfall. The rain is intense, but so far short lived. I'm getting drinks with a friend tonight. Everywhere you go, the cocktails come with an umbrella! Even the beverages know about the sudden downpours! Here's hoping I don't ruin any shoes on my way out the door.

Give my love to the kids and Archie.

Your friend, 

Midge

[blackbird-brewster]

Friday Fic Recs

What I've Read:

Criminal Minds, JJ/Emily, WC: 7882 (WIP) Author: sunshineandguns (@cargopantsprentiss) || Rated: T

Why I Love It: Wholesome and fluffy, which has been a much needed palate cleanser in between chipping away at my WIP. The newest chapter is so warm and fuzzy. Sunshineandguns has a way to building tension with brevity and I relish her writing style.

Criminal Minds, JJ/Elle + JJ/Elle/Emily, WC: 1624 (WIP) Author: wrensumbreon || Rated: E

Why I Love It: I miss Elle so much and I have always shipped her with JJ, this fic is really lovely and full of potential. I hope the author comes back to it at some point, because there is so much that could be explored with the dynamic between JJ/Elle/Emily.

Criminal Minds, JJ/Emily, WC: 12,784+ (WIP) Author: sunshineandguns || Rated: E

Why I Love It: This canon divergent AU has everything I could hope for in a Jemily fic. The angst is unmatched, thick with tension, the inner turmoil between JJ and Emily is incredibly in character and the SMUT!?!?!?! HOLY SHIT THE SMUT!?!!!!! I have absolutely bookmarked this fic for masturbatory purposes. It really ticks every box, I cannot recommend this one highly enough.

Criminal Minds, JJ/Emily, WC: 5119 Author: notabene187 || Rated: E

Why I Love It: Just really well written smut!! I don't usually engage with Top!Emily fics, bc it's not really my HC. But this was done so very well and the dynamic between JJ/Emily was very true to character. Love how this fic wove in bits of canon and made them hit different in the context of the fic. I haven't seen a lot of Jemily CME smut, so this was really sexy! (Totally masturbatory worthy!)

What I'm Writing:

Criminal Minds, JJ/Emily, WC: 47,197+ (WIP)

Update: I just posted Chapter 8 and things are getting really serious now. I originally slated this fic to be seven chapters, then thought it'd be ten, and now I have it planned to be thirteen total chapters. I'm very excited to share where this goes from here. Stay tuned!

Criminal Minds, Tara/Rebecca/JJ, WC: 10,119+ (WIP)

Update: Thank you for everyone's patience! I finally got chapter 2 posted after a couple of months of writer's block. Canon really broke my heart and I am dedicated to giving Tara/Rebecca the happiness they were robbed of in the show, and part of that is giving them a bit of JJ as a treat!

More Fic Recs Under the Cut

Multi-Fandom Fic Recs

My partner and I have been watching Warehouse 13, so naturally I'm back on my Bering and Wells bullshit. They're such a great pair and if you haven't watched Warehouse 13 it's absolutely worth checking out. I'm also always dipping in and out of Critical Role fics so this week, I've included recs are a range of fandoms, maybe you'll find something that piques your interest!

Warehouse 13, Myka/Helena, WC: 1940 Rated: E, Author: lilolilyrae

Why I Love It: I love the tension here, the author's really captured the authenticity of Myke and HG, their characters really shines through in this work. Not to mention it's extremely sexy.

Critical Role, Laudna/Imogen, (Fanart) Author: @astoriacolumnstaircase

Why I Love It: Astoria's drawing style is so gorgeous, I love everything they draw and these comics are such a joy. We actually have a couple of their prints framed on our wall! I think this is my favourite visualisation of Laudna to be honest.

Other Recommendations:

Past Friday Fic Recs:  [Friday Fic Recs - Tumblr] || [CM Fic Recs - AO3 Collection]

Criminal Minds Rec Lists: [JJ/Emily] || [Tara/Emily] || [CM Femslash]

My Fics: [Jemily] || [Temily] || [All]

[utilitycaster]

hi! I'm sorry if you answered this already and I missed the post, but what are your general thoughts on the party being split for so long?

Short answer: I think it's great. I think the best way to answer this accurately is to cover some of my past complaints about the campaign, and discuss how this split is addressing the vast majority of them. This is also, I suppose, serves as an argument for why it's worth getting caught up with Campaign 3 for anyone who fell off of regular watching.

I'll begin by saying that I understand the desire to have something akin to Campaign 2 but in Marquet: a group of people deeply tied into the lore and fabric of the setting and yet displaced within it, finding each other. I still would have liked to see that story. I do not fault people for being disappointed in not getting that, particularly given what Marquet means as a setting, and this still is not that campaign. But pretty much all of my other complaints have been addressed by the apogee solstice and the party split and so I'm not here to mourn what I know didn't happen, and instead to talk about how the last ten or so episodes have been banger after banger.

I said this elsewhere recently but my issue wasn't that the campaign was building up to the apogee solstice setpiece; it was that it took about 30 episodes to even reveal that was what the buildup was for, and yet, somehow, 35 episodes to finally be done with Treshi. Which meant in turn that the party was constantly kind of shepherded from place to place. Even the sidequests were mostly part of the buildup - Heartmoor Hamlet is a good time, and achieves quite a lot in only a handful of episodes - but it is, ultimately, mostly there to wipe out Ashton's debt which would be a detriment to getting to the main plot. The modular, party-driven nature of Campaign 2 just wasn't an option, since they could have quite possibly avoided the solstice (akin to how Campaign 2 completely avoided the Augen Trust plot and required a drastic reworking of the Lucien plot). But because it started so early, it was hard to get a sense of what would actually motivate the characters so that they could be guided more naturally by hooks they'd be likely to take, since they were doing fetch quest after fetch quest with a wealthy patron (I love Eshteross with all my heart but that kind of figure early in the story is tough to incorporate; more on that later) and getting lore dumped at by NPCs and never really had to scramble or take weird jobs killing rats in the sewers or even share rooms in an inn with people they didn't already know before the story started.

Which is the second part: the party did not really mix that much. Imogen and Laudna came in codependently joined at the hip, and Orym and Fearne were also quite close. Ashton and FCG had a looser arrangement, and Chetney was the only true free agent. So a lot of the time, the party felt like three groups working together with tenuous bridges rather than a coherent party, and they never quite had either the downtime to cohere, or the massive crisis to force them together. This party has actually seen quite a lot of death, but Bertand's happened too early, and while Laudna's didn't quite reset to the status quo, it also occurred just as the Treshi plot had ended and so the timeline was becoming even more accelerated. The seeds of something were there, but they needed something more to actually take root.

Enter the apogee solstice and the party split. This has fixed basically everything:

The fact that the solstice happened means that now we're in damage control mode. There's a clear motivator for the party, but one that they genuinely care about rather than one that requires the DM being like "and THIS NPC wants THIS thing."

It also forces the party to develop those relationships outside of the friend they started with. The obvious first reason is that the groups are split up along those lines. That is not an accident or a cruel joke; that's fucking necessary, frankly, to get the party to bond. As my meta about Laudna and Orym points out, not having their emotional support prior colleague - even by sending - and frankly, yeah, not even knowing they're alive, for certain, is what will make these characters actually grow and change. As we saw, the same is true for Fearne, Imogen, and FCG.

It notably removes the spotlight from Imogen, which is good, because the cool development happens after the character-focused arc, when they can process, rather than during. She's still Ruidusborn, but what that means is very different from what it meant pre-ritual.

Then there's the practical element of travel. This party probably isn't going to be teleporting nonstop, but they did have comparatively fast travel in the form of a skyship from very early on, and in another three levels Fearne will have transport via plants, and Imogen can take teleport as a cast spell the level after that, and then we'll never get to see much of the world...but if you break teleporting a bit? You send them into the middle of the wilderness? Yeah, they're going to need to have those watch conversations that were far too few and far between early in the campaign.

And allies! This party's doing it backwards. They've lost Eshteross; Keyleth's fate is unknown to them; Ryn is a statue; Beau and Caleb's fates are similar question marks. After so much time of having patrons and friendly wizards telling them what to do? They're alone, and they have to survive by their wits and by leaning on each other.

The fact that we've got guests is good both because we get to see different facets of the main cast's characters through their responses to these new companions, and because we're getting to fill some of the gaps in the party (people with more longstanding relationships to deities; people with 20 INT scores). It also pushes Bells Hells, in some way, closer together, by having to assert that they are part of a group with shared experience. And it's just a delight to have them.

This is also just fun for fans in that we're getting to see some of the most wished for locations - the Mighty Nein's time in Uthodurn was brief and very focused, and everyone's been clamoring for Molaesmyr and Issylra. For all that Vox Machina and the Mighty Nein fought world-wide threats, they were largely contained to a specific region, and I think this is really setting the stage for how big a deal the apogee solstice really is, by flinging the party across the world and showing how everyone is affected.

Anyway: love the party split. I honestly would have been happy with one or two more episodes of the other party and am looking forward to a similar length arc for this party, and honestly, even then, it might take a few episodes for them to reunite, and I think they'll all be better for it.

[x-ceirios-x]

herondale

andromeda meets an old family friend.

cw: mention of (old/antique) guns

The Silent Brother exiting the library initially startled Andy, as it was whenever she saw a Silent Brother. She’d mentioned Maryse’s summoning of them to Isabelle over dinner and she seemed to shudder at the thought; apparently, they shared the same sentiment. They were entirely unnerving. She paused her rushed pace so as not to crash into him and waited patiently. 

The Brother turned his head to look at her. Andromeda Herondale, he said from within her head. She cringed. She’d never enjoyed the feeling of it. Stephen’s daughter, are you not?

“I prefer not to think about it very much,” she said plainly, no malice in her words. She tried her best to phrase her words carefully, not wanting to show disrespect to such a powerful shadowhunter but she wanted to get out of the conversation as quickly as she could. “May I ask why you stopped me?”

Personal interest, he said. That didn’t answer her question. Maybe the Silent Brothers were trying to recruit her, just like Sister Cleophas at the Adamant Citadel. She was too pretty to be a Silent Brother. I am particularly interested in the holster on your hip.

She looked down for a moment. She’d never changed out of the gear she’d worn to the Citadel earlier that day, and when taking off her weapons in her room, had missed one. Still sitting on her hip was the gun she’d found in an antique shop a few years back; her passion project that she’d attempted to fix. To her dismay, every time she tried to fire it, it jammed. The Marks on the gun and bullets caused issues with the powder that she hadn’t been able to fix yet. She spent her off time tinkering in her bedroom or the weapons room, these days. It was a gorgeous, old revolver and was one of her favorite possessions. “This?” She asked, pulling the gun from its place on her hip and handing it out to him. “It’s not loaded, by the way. But what about it?”

He took it, and when his finger brushed hers, she realized how cold he was. She didn’t think Silent Brothers were human, even if once, they had been. An interesting weapon of choice for a Shadowhunter, he said. It’s rather old, isn’t it?

She nodded. “Yeah. I found it at a weapons shop in Alicante for cheap. The seller said it wasn’t worth much since it wouldn’t fire, but I told myself I’d figure out a way to make it work.”

His attention turned towards her as she spoke. If his eyes hadn’t been sewn shut, she figured he would have been staring at her. There was a sort of blank look on his face that sent a chill down her spine. I believe it is ironic that you ended up with this, he explained, because it is an heirloom in your family, of sorts. This belonged to James Herondale, many years ago.

Andy wracked her brain for the name. She’d looked through old records and family tree information when she was a young teenager, in the days when she was desperate to find some other family in the world. As far as she knew, her only remaining, live family was her mother, Luke, and Imogen Herondale until recently. There was no lost love there. She traced the Herondale family line back several generations and remembered the name—her grandfather, several generations back. The son of Will and Tessa Herondale, who ran the London Institute at one point. James was their son.

“Really?” she asked, her eyes wide. “This was…his? How do you know?”

The Silent Brother nodded. I knew the Herondale family better than most. I made a promise to a…friend to always protect their children and their children’s children. I have taken interest in the search for Jace Herondale. Though, I did not know you were involved in his search as well.

“Call me the last of the name, I guess,” she said, the laughter in her speech tense. “Until Jace. I didn’t know he existed for a while, but I guess we…found each other.” She stared past him, her gaze on something fuzzy in the distance. She wasn’t looking at anything in particular, but instead thinking about Jace, how horrible he’d looked that night she found him after a nightmare and the guilt that pooled in her stomach whenever she thought about him. She should have reached out to him, done more, gotten him to talk to her, and maybe he wouldn't have fallen under Lilith’s influence. If she had left the Shadowhunters in the lobby sooner, she could have gotten to Sebastian’s casket sooner and fought him off or died trying to protect him. Jace wouldn’t be halfway across the world, being controlled by a man who they knew little about other than the fact that he was a murderer. 

The Silent Brother shifted slightly, into her line of sight, and it pulled her from her thoughts. She cleared her throat awkwardly. “I’m sorry. I meant to go speak to Maryse.”

Of course, he said. He handed the gun back to her and stepped aside to let her pass into the library. She walked quickly into the doorway but paused as she heard his voice in her head again. Andromeda, he said. Wait a moment. 

She turned and leaned against the doorway, looking at him curiously. 

I intend to keep my promise. Should you ever be in need of aid, you need only summon me, he said. His voice grew softer if that was possible. If the Silent Brothers could smile, she thought he would have been. 

Andy nodded and brushed a bit of hair from her face. “I didn’t catch your name,” she said. 

He didn’t answer until he began to walk away. He made no noise, almost like he was hovering a few inches off of the floor; the only clue he was even moving was the slight ripple in his bone-colored cloak. For your concerns, my name is Brother Zachariah.