#cranky elf is cranky about being pretty

[utilitycaster]

Wizard Breakdown Tracker: Echoes of the Solstice

You know it, you love it, it may return on an as-needed basis for Campaign 3 now that Allura has entered the narrative and we know the fate of Caleb, but no promises: it's the Wizard Breakdown Tracker! As a reminder, I now include PCs because I make the rules; wizard NPCs are included on the very scientific basis of "do I have something I think is kind of funny or meaningful to say" so as always, if I left someone off, it was on purpose specifically to annoy you.

Astrid Becke: well her boss is missing, Caleb has expressed concerns in private to Beau about all of the Assembly, apparently the king is bedridden and has been for some time, and I suspect news of unsealed things being unsealed gets to her quickly; even if she isn't aware of the events in Blumenthal yet, she's about to be. Also, it's the apogee solstice. 8/10; ever the opportunist, it is a good time for her to try to become head of the Assembly, but also shit's gone real sideways.

Eadwulf Grieve: lost his title of hottest mage (men's division) to one Fjord Stone during the last Nicodranas County Fair and has been sulking ever since but more importantly the temple of the Raven Queen is doing Not Great Bob as of like an hour ago so a rare Eadwulf stress moment. 7/10.

Planerider Ryn: just lost her arm...but is unaware of it, so that's probably helping. technically cannot be calculated because she is a rock but spiritually like an 8/10 and that's only because she is remarkably unflappable; she just witnessed the Malleus Key and that should drive anyone up to a 10.

Allura Vysoren: has absolutely sensed a disturbance in the force weave and I'm sure Kima's feeling some bad vibes from Bahamut right now, but rather like Ryn she actually has some degree of sangfroid, a concept unheard of in the entire continent of Wildemount. 6/10.

Yussa Errenis: have you ever dealt with like, an ER Nurse, and unless something is actually exploding or someone is actually bleeding out they're like "yeah it be like that sometimes"? After you've been sucked into the Cognouza Hivemind while trying to do your silly little arcane investigations nothing short of the Calamity will ruffle you. He's an elf; he knows this solstice is wonky but also he knows this is Someone Else's Problem. Also Jester's left him alone for a whole 24 hours? Incredible. 2/10 and that's really just because he's still a little cranky about the disappearance of his blast scepter. As always: never change, king.

Prism Grimpoppy: by my calculations she's discovering that she's actually fucking incredible in combat right now. 0/10, she's doing GREAT.

Pumat Sol and sure, fuck it, Oremid Hass: I suspect the Zadash Wizard Contingent is dealing with some wild unsealed shit from the time of the Julous Dominion and they can't get in touch with anyone in the capital, but it's probably manageable. 4/10. On edge but not too bad.

Ludinus Da'leth: oh did your little plan to unleash the god-eater go a touch sideways? were you unprepared for the possibility of fucking all of magic? did you think it was going to be easy? did level 9 "Fuck Up Airship" and level 8 "Shield Against Werewolf" fail to save your bitch ass? As we've seen, he'll scramble and recover, unfortunately, but it's a well-deserved 9/10 right now. I love to see a plan fall apart.

Trent Ikithon: OH this motherfucker has LOST IT in prison. Like...he was able to put together a pretty elaborate situation, to be clear, but also he's gone bugfuck nuts and does not really improve. I think he's already broken down from the start having clearly been planning this exact scenario from the moment of his imprisonment honestly given that he appears to be going off of the frissons he picked up from Caleb and Essek shortly before he was captured, but regardless: he definitely ends it at a 10/10. Stuck in an egg for eternity, if he's even still a separate entity from Omentis. A well-deserved fate if ever there was one. Get fucked lol.

Veth Brenatto: hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha 10/10 you know she watched Luc leap through the teleportation circle as it closed and has been shrieking loud enough to be heard at the Chateau.

Luc Brenatto: the arrogance and naivete of youth insulate him initially, but Aggy's demise probably spikes it to a solid 6 minimum and it's definitely 9 during the battle. It goes back down pretty quickly though; see Caleb's entry.

Caleb Widogast: he keeps it together pretty well, honestly! Still I have to imagine he's kind of at a 7 or so this entire time with occasional spikes to 9 (NEIN) throughout, and I wouldn't fault him for finishing up the Blumenthal Brunch and then quietly locking himself in a soundproof tower room to scream, cry, and throw up for a while. Indeed, I would encourage it; Caleb should go have a good cry and hug a magic cat for a couple hours until he feels better, and then come back down to find that everyone except the clerics but DEFINITELY including Luc has implemented Spontaneous Apogee Solstice Oktoberfest to celebrate the demise of Trent, the engagement of Fjord and Jester, and the general experience of being alive, and is varying degrees of extremely wasted. This will of course bring him back up to like 7 as he realizes he has to return a hungover teenager to Veth and then goes down to a 4 or so when he realizes the clerics can fix that and Veth will probably be so glad that Luc is alive she'll ignore the rest of it.

Essek Thelyss: Our international drow of mystery looms large in the narrative, but does not make an appearance, which makes this premise extremely funny. I assume he's feeling kind of rough given that the Dynasty wizards are well-attuned to leylines and I would imagine he picks up that Sending isn't working and was broadly aware Caleb was going into danger, so he's certainly stressed, but Trent doesn't actually seem to know Where in Exandria is Essek Thelyss and is merely threatening blackmail. Honestly while we're at it, we don't know where Essek is because I wouldn't put it past Mr. Geometer Owner to have been at a solstice nexus and to have possibly experienced his own Solstice Shunting. In fact I assume Essek is blissfully unaware of these specific goings on re: Trent and is just experiencing The Anxiety for all of the previous reasons. (1d6+3)/10.

Known Gem Wizard Hotsauce Lutefisk: Hmmm. Things becoming unsealed, you say? The uninvited guest list (The Real Gelidon, Isharnai) for The TusktoothStone-Lavorre wedding may have gained an extra entry.

[thewritetofreespeech]

Can I request bg3 headcanons for a short tav that has a habit of sleeping in really weird spaces and her companions never know where to look to find her?

((PKEASE include halsin and Karlach, and add as many more characters as you wish))

Astarion

Being a vampire and a half-elf, Astarion actually doesn’t sleep that much. So the bed is usually all theirs. Which leads to problems when he does try to sleep as they’ve developed a habit for being spread out and taking up all the bed. Also long as they use their weird positions for other bed time activities, he really has no complaints about it.

Gale

The tempest pools at Waterdeep have less torrents than his little lover. Gale is a bit of a diva when it comes to sleep. He needs it to be completely dark, completely quiet, completely still. He can manage the first two with magic, but stillness with them? He’s honestly considered using a mild flotation spell during the night to levitate just above the bed so he doesn’t have to deal with it. But then he’s too far away from them and he can’t sleep that way either? Maybe sleep potions would be the solution. Just knock himself out for the night? Or whiskey.

Halsin

A deep sleeper, so he never really notices when they move in their sleep. Halsin never knows where they will be until they wake up together and he always finds it amusing. He really has no opinion on their sleep habits. Nature & comfort dictates how one gets the best night’s rest, so who is he to argue? As long as they sleep together, he doesn’t mind.

Karlach

She sleeps pretty spread out at well. Due to her size, and her heat, Karlach usually starfishs out to be comfortable. She’s also a deep sleeper so it never bothers her when they crawl over her in their sleep or steals all the covers. Gets concerned though when they end up off the bed as she is worried she might have pushed them there.

Lae'zel

Being a warrior all her life, Lae’zel is a very light sleeper. Any movement wakes her and she has to try and go to back to sleep again. It’s a difficult transition on trying to find a way to rest together. Lae’zel has threated to tie them up before bed to keep them still; to which they make some lewd jokes, which causes Lae’zel to be more annoyed. Eventually they find a rhythm but it takes a lot of sleepless nights and cranky Lae���zel mornings to get there.

Shadowheart

Also not much a ‘night sleeper’. Due to her training under Sharrans, Shadowheart’s sleep pattern has been forced to be one of a night owl; as Shar’s presence and her best work is done in the dark. Free from their influence she is trying to get back to a ‘normal’ sleep pattern, but it is hard with a pattern like this. The movement always disturbs her. It’s hard enough for her to sleep with someone long term, and be that vulnerable, without being startled away by every flinch of the bed. Her mind thinking that it’s some new convert of Shar come to make their bones before they realize it’s their lover keeping them awake.

Wyll

Used to sleeping in tight, narrow corners, so the bed is all but theirs. Partly it is because of his learned sleep patterns on the road, but also it’s just Wyll’s giving nature that wants them to have as much space as they need. He requires very little, except their presence to sleep, so he just lets them run rough shot over him in the middle of the night. Although, he has been know to ‘aggressively cuddle’ them in their sleep to keep them still.

[inevitably-johnlocked]

do you have any fics where John accidentally calls Sherlock "love" or some sort of pet name, on accident before they're dating? It's my favorite but super hard to find. Thank You!!!

Hi Lovely!

I DO! Under my Pet Names lists, I have wonderful fics featuring our boys being schmoopy! I MIGHT have some with pre-relationship among these, but I want to use your ask to post another list since I don't have anything else for today, LOL. So I hope you love these fics!!!

And as usual, if you have Pet Name Fics, please add them!!

PET NAMES Pt. 3

See also:

Pet Names

Pet Names Pt 2

Date Night by inevitably_johnlocked (G, 4,451 w., 1 Ch. || Anxious / Worried Sherlock, Caring John, Schmoopy Fluff, Fidget Cube, Baking / Cooking, Date Night, Established Relationship, POV Sherlock Holmes, Understanding John, Grumpy Sherlock, John’s Bum, Kisses, Hugs, Domestic Fluff, Touching, Hair Petting, Light Humour) – It's John and Sherlock's first Date Night as an official couple and Sherlock needs it to be PERFECT. Mrs Hudson helps. Part 7 of I-J's Tumblr Ficlet Collection

A Comprehensive Taxonomy of Tobacco-Ash by Silvergirl (E, 11,475 w., 2 Ch. || No TRF AU || Cranky Sherlock, Alternating POV’s, Self-Esteem Issues, Jealous John, Pining John, Confessions, First Kiss, Frottage, Bed Sharing, Sensuality, Cuddling, Touching) – A handsome academic approaches Sherlock about publishing his magnum opus on tobacco-ash in a prestigious scientific journal. Sherlock is quite flattered and flustered, and John’s nose is out of joint.In this little AU there is no Fall and no Mary. Instead, there is humor and smut. Truly a disproportionate amount of smut.

Both Sides Now by Silvergirl (M, 14,724 w., 5 Ch. || Post-TEH / Reunion Fix-It, Bed Sharing, First Kiss / Time, Undercover John, Couple for a Case, Assassin Mary, Big Brother Mycroft, Norfolk Coast, Angry John, First Kiss, Worried Sherlock, Pining Sherlock, Hand Holding, Bed Sharing, Alternating POV, Infidelity, Meddling Mycroft, Emotional Love Making, Matchmaker Mycroft) – Sherlock, undercover on the Norfolk coast, texts that he needs help; John is still seething after Sherlock’s gambit in the train car, and he refuses. When Sherlock goes missing, Mycroft sends John in to pose as Sherlock’s bit on the side.

Domestic Matters by ohlooktheresabee (M, 29,404 w., 6 Ch. || Fantasy AU || First Meetings, Developing Relationship, Fluff and Angst, Domestic Fluff, BAMF Sherlock, BAMF John, Idiots in Love, Misunderstandings, Supernatural Elements, Implied / Referenced Child Abuse, Elf Sherlock, Human/Elf Politics, Emotional Abuse, Possessive Sherlock, Anxious Sherlock, Buddy Greg) – All flatmates need to work out domestic matters between them - who does the dishes, who takes out the rubbish, how often does the carpet need to be vacuumed - these are part and parcel of sharing a living space together. However, when you’re an elf and your flatmate is going to be a human you just met, this rather complicates things…Very loosely inspired by 'The Elves and The Shoemaker' by The Brothers Grimm.

Sunday Evening 6 p.m. by Silvergirl (E, 30,712 w., 6 Ch. || Post-TRF / TEH Divergence, Grief / Mourning / Stages of Grief, Mutual Pining, Dreams, Reunion, Love Confessions, First Kiss / Time, Alternating First Person POV, Smart John, BAMF Boys, Emotional Love Making, Song Fic, Referenced Suicide, First Kiss / Time, Touching, Sleepy Sherlock, Blow Job, Villain Mary) – Six months after Sherlock jumped, he learns that John is dedicating songs to him on a requests-only radio programme. Is John just working through grief? Or is he—communicating? Fixes the hell out of S3 by pre-empting it altogether. Remember, as TAB told us, John is Pretty Damn Smart.

Deck the Halls by itsalwaysyou_jw (T, 31,018 w., 24 Ch. || Advent Fic / Multiple One-Shots, Assorted Tags) – One Johnlock ficlet for every day leading up to Christmas. Who is ready for pining, first kisses, established Johnlock, and everything in between? This collection of stand-alone ficlets will have it all. 

Fade To Black by twistedthicket1 (M, 93,389 w., 29 Ch. || Split Personality Disorder / DID, Action, Romance, Violence, Implied Rape/Non-Con, BAMF John, Fluff and Angst, Baskerville, Human Experimentation, PTSD, Implied Self Harm, Trauma Amnesia, Past Child Sexual Abuse, Protective Sherlock, Smoking, Meddling Mycroft, Past Victor/Sherlock, Gay Sherlock, Sherlock’s Past, First Kiss/Time) – John Watson believes one day he'll just fade. That he'll drown in the black spaces of his mind, and that one day he will no longer exist. It's always been like this, the dark spots marking out moments in his life he can't remember. Where for just a moment he's someone else. Having a Dissociative identity disorder, he can't even be entirely sure he's really who he says he is. Then he meets Sherlock Holmes. A brilliant detective who when he looks at you can read your entire life story. John is immediately fascinated and afraid, half-wondering if maybe Sherlock can see the other personalities in him and half terrified of the thought of him finding out. Becoming his flatmate seems at once to be a wonderful and horrible idea. Yet as John's Blackouts become more and more severe and his other personalities begin to truly awaken and show themselves with Sherlock's help, the two soon discover that sometimes even the kindest person can harbour a demon best left untouched inside of them. Because not all of John's other personalities play nicely and some may be hiding secrets best left undisturbed...

Drawn to Stars by Silvergirl (E, 109,272 w., 60 Ch. || S4 Compliant to TLD / TFP Doesn’t Exist, Sherlock’s Italian Adventure, Sherlock/OC and Johnlock, Jealous John, Mutual Pining, Misunderstandings, First Kiss/Time, Idiots in Love, 3 Part Story, Slow Burn, Inexperienced Sherlock, Bottom Sherlock, Introspection, Multiple Alternating First and Third Person POV, Separation and Reconciliation, Emotional Love Making, Love Confessions via Letters, Angst with Happy Ending) – After the Culverton Smith case Sherlock is clean, working, and looking for a romantic partner—since John has told him that’s what he needs. Shame John didn’t mention he was interested in that role himself, before Sherlock went off to Rome with a gorgeous Italian copper to try to fall in love and become a complete human being.  Part 1 of the Drawn to Stars series

The Lost Special: Family Matters (As Do Relationships)  by ShirleyCarlton (M, 144,688 w., 40 Ch. || S4 Fix It Fic / Meta Fic, Unreliable Narrator, John’s Mind Bungalow, Friends to Lovers, Happy Ending, Demisexual Sherlock, Holmes Family, John Whump, Gay Mycroft, Misunderstandings, Drug Addiction, Parenting, TFP is a Nightmare, Virgin Sherlock, Slow Burn, Minor Character Death, Switchlock, John’s Past, Sherlock’s Past, Eurus, Love Confessions) –Sherrinford is not really the name of some high security prison. That was just a figment of John’s frantic coma dream. And Eurus is not actually Sherlock’s sister. That’s just something random she said to John before shooting him. Sherlock and John were never actually estranged. That was just their act to cover up what really happened to Mary – or Rosamund Moran, as her real name has turned out to be. Sherlock does have a secret sibling, though, and his name is Sherrinford. After finally eliminating Moran – though in a rather dramatically different way than they had envisioned – and exposing the truth about Eurus, John encourages Sherlock to delve into his past and to find out whether the reasons to keep Sherrinford away from Sherlock were the right ones, and to discover what really happened in 1981. Along the way, Sherlock and John gradually, finally, stop keeping each other at a distance, and eventually become a proper family of their own.

[hawkepockets]

thoughts/headcanons abt dao party body types…

morrigan is skinny, gangly, tough, and rangy from life in the wilds. she has sharp shoulders, stick-out shoulderblades, pointy joints, knobby long-fingered hands, a flat chest. she could be built like a ballerina, except that she doesn’t practice flexibility or grace. which makes her obviously graceless and brittle. the same height as alistair, annoyingly.

alistair is a big-boned, broad-shouldered, strong young man, inclined to beefiness, pudge, and nice boobs… except that he’s always been underfed and has now contracted the taint, so his strength is kind of wasting and drooping on his frame. a sad little belly… slightly pointed ears, just enough to mark him as a shifty character to the eye of a suspicious bigot, without being definitely elvhen.

leliana is plush, pear-shaped, and curvy with big (deadly) thighs and a heart shaped face. her arms have unexpected wiry strength, and her hands are hard. she loses a lot of her healthy fat & rosiness between dao & dai, becoming more rumpled, spindly and birdlike. SAD.

zevran is a beautiful, cat-footed rogue who can charm the rich and classy, so he’s fat and deceptively soft, apple shaped with dainty hands and feet and very strong calves from jumping and climbing. he moves very quietly and springily. medium height for an elf, short king by human standards. long, elegant ears.

wynne is a classroom skeleton. wynne is a folded up ironing board in circle robes. wynne is a murphy bed. wynne is a coffin lid. wynne is taller and more imposing than you expected from a distance. extremely straight, stern posture and big hands that she’s taken good care of. nothing about her bowed or crabbed by age. even her wrinkles are straight lines.

oghren has a beer belly and broad, hairy hands, but by dwarven standards he’s kind of small and slender.

melantho is tiny, much smaller than any of the humans, but to call her “lithe” or “willowy” because she’s an elf would be a joke. her sister is lithe and willowy. mela is a compact, unyielding mass of gristle and bone. no ass, no tits. the taint was already taking hold of her on the road to ostagar, and though its grip on her loosened with the joining she bears its marks—sunken eyes, clawed fingers and toes, blackened extremities, a fevered metabolism that melts away any remaining baby fat and keeps her cranky and cold, a slinking step, sensitivity to light. big, kitten-like ears.

sten is stacked like a sumo wrestler. best tits in the party, easily.

matsendra is bigger than mela but still pretty short with a fat, rounded hourglass figure. like zevran, he has a well-fed, satisfied, domesticated look, but unlike zev he’s not prepared for any chases or parkour. he is genuinely as used to soft living as he looks. with time away from the circle he firms up and gains a subtle, intimidating glow of strength and control, but never gets slimmer. for an elf he has smaller, rounder ears—one torn half off by the demon torpor—and unusually thick facial & body hair.

loghain is actually built very, very similarly to alistair, in a more advanced stage—a big frame that should be filled out, but miserable, ascetic living has stooped his shoulders and hollowed his gut, making him look older than he is.

velanna is an inverted triangle, a corn chip, a captain america. big shoulders, trim waist, tight butt. very disciplined. when she slouches in annoyance it’s artful, poised, and a little hard to believe.

nathaniel looks like a line cook. clammy, jittery, skinny, ugly defined abs, diet of mostly smoke. much much too tall. too tall by far. hunched, self-conscious body language. has erratic bursts of strength in which he can toss oghren like a sack of flour.

sigrun is a full and sexy hourglass!! but she’s all the way down there and wearing legion armor, so you don’t even know. you don’t even get to know how perfect she is.

justice is dead, and squishes like rotten fruit if you touch him. very big, looks as tall as nathaniel but that’s because nate has bad posture. actually slightly shorter. twice as wide.

anders is spare and kind of attenuated, like he’s been spread thin by stress, with an unusually long, slender torso, long arms, and short legs. his hands & feet are a little too big for his limbs, like a stray cat used to fighting, but his touch—whether healing, hurting, or grasping in passion—is gentle, firm, and clinical.

shale is shale.

and most of them are trans.

…………… TO ME❗️

[cheerscoops]

Steve Harrington x Reader || 3k

If you had known exactly what the amazing job opportunity your photography professor had offered you was, you probably wouldn’t have accepted it. He made it sound so appealing though. It paid above minimum wage, and it was only nights and weekends, so it wouldn’t interfere with any of the classes you were taking. It seemed almost too good to be true.

Of course, that’s because it was too good to be true. You’d unknowingly accepted a job as the photographer in Santa’s Village down at the Starcourt Mall. When you saw the bright red and green elf costume that you were going to be required to wear, you contemplated bailing, but as a broke college student, you decided you couldn’t afford to turn down the best paying job you could find over something as trivial as a jingle bell hat with fake elf ears.

You adjusted your name tag as you entered the staff room for Santa’s Village employees. If there was one saving grace of the job, it was that you got to choose your own elf name. You’d settled on Noelle. Simple, sweet, and Christmas-y enough to be a decent name for an elf without being obnoxious about it. The other two “elves” that you’d be working with were already there and wrapped up in conversation. Their name tags read “Jingle” and “Jangle,” so you figured they must have known each other prior to this and chosen their names together. Jangle said something that made Jingle laugh, and she shoved his shoulder in response.

Just as you were about to introduce yourself, a woman dressed up as Mrs. Claus entered the room and commanded your attention.

“Alright everybody. Listen up,” she said as she looked down at the clipboard in her hands. “Our first shift is starting in about five minutes, and I’ve got a lot of information to cover before that happens. We’ve got a few ground rules to cover, and then I’ll hand out job assignments. First and foremost, we only refer to each other as our character names out there. I don’t care if you use your real names in the break room, but we are creating Christmas magic, and we don’t want to break that illusion for the kids. Keep your language clean and your faces looking happy. I don’t care what’s going on out there. You’ve gotta keep smiling. None of you will be in the photographs, but you’re still a part of the experience, and no one likes a cranky elf. Save it for your breaks. We all take a break at the same time. Weekends like today are four hours from the start of the shift, an hour for lunch, and then another four hours on the floor. Week night shifts are six hours on the floor with a break somewhere in the middle. Santa chooses when that happens.

“Now, for your job assignments. Noelle, you’re the one with photography experience, right?”

You nod.

“Good. You’ll be our camera elf. You snap a couple pictures while Santa is talking to the kids, and then you get a posed shot at the end. Super simple. Jangle, you’re in charge of walking the kids over to Santa and helping them on and off his lap if needed. Jingle, you hand every child a candy cane and a tiny stuffed reindeer before you reunite them with their parents at my table. I take care of getting them to buy photos and all payments. The first day we’re open is usually pretty slow, but it will get busier the closer we get to Christmas. Take a minute to prepare your happy faces, and then meet me out there.”

With that, Mrs. Claus turned and exited the staff room.

“I don’t know what I was expecting from Joyce as our boss, but it definitely wasn’t a no nonsense control freak. Who spit her Christmas cocoa?” Jingle said, earning a laugh from Jangle. Satisfied with his response, she turned towards you.

“I’m Robin, and this is Steve,” she said. She waited for you to introduce yourself before speaking again. “Please never call us by our elf names if we aren’t on the floor. I hate them more than anything in the world.”

“You’re the one who picked them,” Steve replied. “This is totally your fault.”

“Only because you wanted to call yourself Hermey. What kind of name is that?”

“Hey! Don’t disrespect the first elf dentist like that. He probably did wonders for the world of elf tooth decay.”

At first, you weren’t sure how to take their bantering, but you soon learned that this was just the way they were with each other. In addition to the bantering, they seemed to speak in a silent language of eyebrow raises and weird looks throughout the morning half of your shift. During lunch, they practically sat on top of each other and shared Robin’s sandwich since Steve had neglected to bring his own food. There was a familiarity between the two of them that led you to believe that they were intimately involved in some way. They definitely made a cute couple.

And maybe knowing that Steve had a girlfriend that he was obviously very committed to would help to keep you from developing a crush on him because, by the end of your first week working alongside him, it was obvious to you that you’d be a goner otherwise. When the kids didn’t want to smile for their pictures, he made funny faces at them from behind the camera and told corny jokes to get them to laugh. Even though he hated the hat that they were forced to wear as a part of their uniform, he never complained in front of the kids, and he always had a smile on his face. He always asked the kids what their names were if he didn’t overhear their parents saying them, and he whispered their names to Santa just so you could see the kids’ faces light up when Santa already knew who they were. Those were some of your best candid shots.

You could pinpoint the exact moment that sealed it for you. It was towards the end of your shift on Sunday. The mall was closing in half an hour, and Mrs. Claus had already closed the line for pictures with Santa to make sure that everyone who had already been waiting got to have the full experience with the big guy. When it was finally the last little girl in line's turn, she started to have one of the worst meltdowns you'd seen so far that week.

Meltdowns weren't exactly uncommon. Sometimes, the kids were just tired from waiting in line for so long and desperately needed a nap. Other times, their parents had dressed them in fancy clothes to get a decent Christmas card photo that were too itchy or too warm, and the kids wanted nothing more than to be wearing literally anything else at that moment. And then, there were times when they were afraid of Santa and needed a little extra encouragement to make their way over to him. Even when he was in the Santa get up, Hopper was a pretty intimidating guy, and you couldn’t really blame the kids who were afraid to go up to him before they saw the kindness in his smile. You weren't sure which one was the case for this little girl, but she was wailing, clinging to her mother's leg, and refusing to get any closer to Santa than she already was.

“Tiffany, sweetie, what’s wrong?” the woman asked as she tried to coax her daughter forward. “You were so excited to see Santa just a minute ago. Don’t you want to show him your pretty dress and tell him what you want for Christmas?”

“Don’t wanna!” the little girl cried as she gripped her mother’s leg even tighter.

“I am so sorry about this,” the woman said to no one in particular. “She’s not usually like this. She loved meeting him last year. I honestly have no idea what happened.”

The woman was about to scoop up her daughter to leave, but Steve stepped in and crouched down to get on the little girl’s level.

“Hey there,” he said softly, trying not to scare her. “Do you wanna tell Jangle what’s wrong? Maybe I can help.”

The little girl’s eyes darted between Steve and Santa before she went back to hiding behind her mother’s legs.

“Does Santa make you nervous?” he asked.

The little girl nodded.

“Santa used to make me really nervous, too.”

“Really?” she asked, her eyes going wide.

“Oh yeah. The first time I met him, I was shaking so much that the jingle bells on my shoes and hat were going nuts. But you wanna know a secret? Santa is maybe the nicest guy in the whole world, and he gives the best hugs. And I know that nothing bad is gonna happen if you go see him. I’ll be right there the whole time if you need a buddy.”

“You promise?”

“I pinky promise.”

He held out his pinky to her, and she linked her own finger with his before cautiously stepping away from her mother. 

Most kids walked up to Santa on their own, or their parents carried them over if they were too little to walk on their own. However, this time, Steve took the girl's hand in his and slowly walked her over to Santa. You watched as he leaned in and whispered the girl's name to Hopper before moving to help her up onto his lap. For a moment, the girl clung to Steve in the tightest of hugs, and your heart melted as you snapped a couple candids of the moment.

Once she was securely on Santa's lap, Steve made his way back over to his position next to you and the girl's mom, and the rest of the interaction went smoothly. But, in the back of your mind, you were trying to push down the way your heart fluttered when you thought about him.

As soon as your shift ended, Robin ran ahead to take off her elf uniform in the locker room as soon as humanly possible. Hopper and Joyce were in deep conversation about the days numbers which left you and Steve to make the walk back to the locker room together.

"You were amazing with that last kid," you said, trying to fill the silence.

"That? I was just winging it. I have no idea what I'm doing," he replied.

"No, really. I never could've diffused that meltdown as easily as you did. She loved you. All of the kids do."

"It was nothing. You're the one with the actual skills here. Capturing everyone's memories."

"I just point and click," you said with a shrug.

"For the posed pictures maybe. But the candids? That's art. That one family who picked up their pictures yesterday couldn't stop gushing about the one you got of their kid kissing Santa's cheek. If I'd tried to do that, it probably would have been blurry or my thumb would have been in the picture. You're really talented."

You could feel a blush starting to warm your cheeks.

"Well, maybe we should just agree that we're both skilled in different and equally impressive ways."

"I guess I can agree to that."

Just then, Robin came bursting out of the locker room and told Steve to hurry up and get changed so they could leave, and you were instantly reminded that Steve had a girlfriend, and you couldn't flirt with him. The last thing you wanted to do was come between them and end up in an uncomfortable work situation. You were going to respect boundaries even if it killed you.

But after that moment, you could have sworn that Steve was flirting with you. The two of you shared smiles over particularly adorable children and weird looks when the more spoiled ones appeared. Whenever he ran over to steal a candy cane from Robin, he always brought one over for you as well. He joked around with you in your minimal downtime, and the two of you had made a game out of seeing who could flick the jingle bell on the other's hat the most without getting caught. You would have loved it if you didn't feel so guilty about it.

After a week of feeling like a bad person for enjoying all of the attention Steve was giving you, you couldn’t take it anymore. Steve seemed like the type of guy who would flirt with everyone without realizing it, but that didn’t mean that you should be flirting back.

You waited until the end of your shift before pulling Robin aside in the locker room.

“Can we talk?” you asked.

“Sure. What’s up?”

“I think I owe you an apology.”

“Is this about the candy canes that Steve keeps stealing for the two of you? Because I’m not really mad about that. I just like messing with him.”

“No. I mean, maybe a little bit? I don’t know,” you started. Talking to Robin about this had seemed so much easier when you were psyching yourself up to do it, but now that you were in the moment, you could barely find the words to speak.

“It’s just that I think Steve has been flirting with me, and I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t flirting back, and -”

“So he was flirting with you? I wondered if that’s what he was trying to do, but I swear I can’t tell the difference between his flirting and a train wreck half the time.”

“Yeah, I think he was. And that’s really not fair to you, you know?”

“I mean, yeah, I’d prefer it if he didn’t do it while we’re supposed to be working, but it doesn’t bother me if that’s what he wants to do.”

“So you’re not mad at me?”

“Why would I be mad at you?”

“Well, I’ve tried not to make a habit out of flirting with unavailable guys, and he’s your boyfriend, isn’t he?”

You weren’t sure what you had expected her response to be, but it definitely wasn’t her doubling over in a laugh so powerful that she had to take a seat on one of the locker room benches.

“I’m sorry,” Robin said after she’d finally caught her breath. “I shouldn’t be laughing at you. But you seriously thought Steve and I were together?”

“Yes? I mean, you two are always all over each other. I figured you had to be together with how close you are.”

“He’s my best friend, and neither of us are very good with the whole personal space thing, but that’s all there is to it. We are Platonic with a capital P.”

“So, I’m not actually coming between you guys?”

Robin stood up and put her hands on your shoulders.

“I can’t emphasize this enough, but I would rather make out with my chain-smoking great aunt Bertha than even think about kissing Steve. If you want to flirt with him, feel free to do so. It doesn’t bother me at all.”

With that, Robin picked up her bag and exited the room. Instantly, a wave of relief washed over you. You still felt a little bad about flirting with him when you thought he had a girlfriend, but the guilt was slowly disappearing now that you knew you weren’t a homewrecker.

Once you’d changed back into your regular clothes, you exited the locker room to find Steve and Robin waiting for you. As soon as she saw you, Robin pushed Steve towards you and shouted that she’d be waiting by the car before running off and leaving the two of you alone.

“Well, that’s Robin for you,” Steve said with a laugh.

“She’s really not subtle about anything, is she?” you asked.

“Not even a little bit.” Steve shoved his hands in his front pockets and smiled at you. “So, you really thought that Robin and I were a couple?”

“I can’t believe she told you that.”

“She’s my best friend. Obviously, she wasn’t going to keep that a secret.”

“In my defense, you two fully act like you’re together.”

“Well, we aren’t.” He took another step towards you. “So, I’m going to be completely honest with you. I kind of have a policy about not dating people I work with. Keeps the job less complicated, you know?”

“So, you weren’t flirting with me?” If dying of embarrassment was possible, you were pretty sure that you would have dropped dead on the spot.

“Oh, I was definitely flirting with you. I was just going to wait to ask you out until after our last shift.”

Once again, you could feel your face heating up because of this man. You were going to have to work on that if you planned on surviving the rest of your shifts together.

“So, does this mean you’re still going to steal me candy canes in the middle of our shifts? Because I’ve gotten pretty used to that, and I would hate it if my mistake kept that from happening.”

“I think I can make it happen. I’ve got a hook up with the girl who passes out the candy canes. I’m pretty sure I can convince her to look the other way every once in a while since she’s very obviously into me,” he said with a smirk.

“You’re never going to let me live this down, are you?”

“Never.”

“Well, in that case, I would like to preemptively accept your future offer of a date to dispel any notion that I still think you two are a couple.”

“I’ll start planning something for after the holidays then.” “Can’t wait.”

The end of this job couldn’t come soon enough.

[herrscherofsentence]

Summary ; You’ve been your father’s assistant for the last 600 years. A couple mistakes now and again but they weren’t big mistakes that made Christmas go on a stake, Bernard did go easier on you. But he still scolded you as he would do to any other elf but much easier. However today wasn’t necessarily bad its was just going downhill hour after hour and it led to you getting badly injured.

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—「☆」—

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Bernard the Elf and Male/son reader

Pronouns used- you/yours and He/Him used

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—「☆」—

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You gripped onto your satchel very tightly “Father..” you quietly murmured, “Over there,” You pointed outside to the tinsel elf playing tinsel ball, a small smile appearing on your face “May I go play with them?” you asked, “No, [name] your still grounded.” He replied with an eye-roll from you. 

For the remainder of the day it was pretty okay, it was until a certain group who always mad Bernard’s day worsen and make him more cranky and made him feel more overworked. Today you were this group of elves victim, elves are usually jolly and happy but this group wasn’t jolly they wanted a little fun, chaos, if you will. Not to destroy Christmas spirit for other elves obviously, just a little mischief. However this time the series of pranks from the group went very wrong, at first it started out with a little prank ones that were small enough to make others giggle. But today the group of elves went too far and they mistakenly did it on the head elf’s son even though this group or gang, if you will, of elves never did any pranks that would harm others but this group never really liked you. They thought you got a special privilege with having a father and being his assistant, instead of a prank it ended up being they more of so beat you up, kicking you when they kick you down. For the first time in a long time you were basically sobbing your eyes out. You didn’t know how long went by until the group of elves left and you ended up hearing your father not so long after in the distance, saying “Where is he?”, your body was so limp as it laid in the cold for the maybe a couple of hours. You heard footsteps running up towards you “[name]! Can you hear me?” He asked, holding you up so you could now see him. You nodded slightly, too drained to even speak from the north pole’s coldness Bernard put one of your arms over his shoulder and one of his arms over your shoulder. He took you back to the your shared room, placing you down on a bed of your own, putting a warm rag over your forehead and blanket over you. Tiredness took over you and you fell asleep, while you unknowingly knew what he was doing, working in and out trying to figure out who just left you in the cold. When you woke you saw your father still awake, when he came into the room, unknowingly to you he did end up going to sleep but however he managed to find the ones the beat you up. “Dad..?” You stumbled out, in a tired gaze, Bernard replaced the cloth on your forehead with another warm cloth “Dad..! Dad, I’m okay now..” you tried reassuring him “You were out in the cold alone and on the ground with little to no movement! You could’ve been dead, [name].” Your father replied just wanting the best for you “I’ve dealt with those elves that did this to you, do you know why they did this, [name]” he asked, rubbing your shoulder, you sighed in response “I’m not sure..it could be because your my dad..?” You answered him. “Stay here,how about rest a bit?” He titled his head with a smile which just made you nod. 

[adleryoung]

"My lord," Rebecca blinked in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

I nudged Burnside with my free hand, but she hung on tenaciously.

With a shrug and a sigh, I prepared myself for the unpleasant tale I would have to tell. "Rebecca… Bunkirk is gone."

"Gone?" she repeated. "What do you mean gone? Where did it go? Did you apport the entire village away?"

"That's purty dang impressive, even for you," Burnside sighed as she nuzzled against my neck.

I took a deep breath. This was not going to be easy. "Rebecca, something terrible happened … A vicious Unseelie lunatic burned it down."

"No, that can't be right," Rebecca insisted, shaking her head in disbelief. "That lunatic beaver firestarter died a long time ago after she burned her husband and sister alive."

"Remember how I was looking for an elf noblefemme?" I pressed on reluctantly. "I needed her to crown me so I could lift the geas that was keeping me imprisoned. Well, I found her… but she turned out to be an irredeemable criminal, multiple murderer, and a callous manipulator who treats people as mere pawns to use and throw away. My time with her showed me that she has no empathy for anyone, and cares only about herself. She even traded her soul to a demon in order to gain immortality!"

"That's … pretty hardcore," Rebecca murmured in awe.

"And to top it all off, she's a liar too! Her Elfmind is broken and she can't hear the Voice of the Forest! I was obliged to mate with this monster because I needed an elf of noble blood to free me. After that, maybe it was spousal instinct, or maybe it was some insidious Wile that got past my defenses, but I naively thought that I could tame her and turn her onto a better path. During our time together we became very close, and we conceived a child; a daughter. I didn't want this witch anywhere near our child until I was sure she could be trusted. While she was asleep, I placed my daughter in the care of a childless family in desperate need of some good fortune. When I returned to my bride, she accused me of being a child killer and stormed off, where she immediately ran afoul of the residents of Bunkirk. They thought she was a witch; coincidence? I think not… Nevertheless, at great personal risk, I donned a disguise and infiltrated the village in an effort to intervene on her behalf. The people of Bunkirk could have been convinced to let her go, but instead of helping her cause, the psychotic loon just hissed and snarled like some kind of feral animal. There was no saving her after that, and the townsfolk hanged her at a crossroads."

"Okay, but … why is Bunkirk gone?" Rebecca asked, perplexed.

"The story isn't over. Remember how I said she had made herself immortal? Well, hanging didn't stop her. It only made her cranky. Later that night, instead of simply leaving like a sane person, the sadistic wench stormed into Bunkirk and started indiscriminately murdering people."

"She sounds purty bad-ass," Burnside remarked.

"She killed EVERYONE," I continued. "It didn't matter if they had taken part in hanging her or not. She slaughtered mels, femmes, even innocent children. No amount of pleading or begging for mercy could slake her bloodlust. I witnessed the horror from my scrying tower, but there was nothing I could do. Before I could even process what I was witnessing, she had set the town alight. Bunkirk burned to the ground in a matter of hours. By morning it was a smoking ruin, and she had the gall to act as if the whole incident was my fault."

Rebecca swayed dizzily and dropped to her knees. To my surprise, Burnside let go of me and rushed to her side.

"Elves don't lie," Rebecca mumbled, seemingly in a daze. "Everyone in Bunkirk is dead? The town I grew up in .. burned down? I admit I've been out of touch with them for a long time, but I had relatives living in Bunkirk, the descendants of my siblings. The people there weren't evil, they were just misled by lying charlatans. They were getting better! In another generation or two I could've opened their hearts and minds to Fuma. I often dreamed of someday going back as a missionary of Fuma's word and leading Bunkirk into a new era. And now they're all gone."

"Who done this dreadful deed?" Burnside snarled, brandishing a large knife. "Tell me the varmint's name, and I promise she'll suffer tenfold for her crimes."

[imakemywings]

Elrond and Turgon for the tolkien bingo thing?

Elrond and his great-grandpa 🥺

Turgon:

I feel like I'm stepping into my defense attorney shoes again. Turgon is a great character and I'm really flummoxed by how much he's hated by the fandom. Yes he--as with basically ALL characters in Silm--made mistakes (ignoring Ulmo) but it also seems like he really tried to do the right thing and he cared about doing the right thing. He built Gondolin to be a safe haven for the Elves (and also in memory of Tirion, for which he was pretty explicitly homesick). He is the only one who tried to send ships back to Aman to get help for Middle-earth. He agonized over whether to stay in Gondolin or evacuate as Melkor starts turning up the heat. Gondolin is explicitly noted to take in former prisoners of Angband, of whom the rest of the world is deeply suspicious (not without cause).

And he loses so much. He and his family are made kinslayers in Alqualonde for the sake of the Feanorians, who then abandon them. He loses his wife on the Helcaraxe and Aredhel first to an abusive marriage and then to murder right in his own court. His youngest brother gets killed in the first battle they have in Middle-earth. His dad's body is dumped on his doorstep after he gets smashed by Melkor. His older brother is stomped to a bloody pulp by balrogs. He's betrayed by his nephew, whom he took in and raised, and his entire city which had been a refuge for centuries is razed to the ground. This guy cannot catch a break!

A lot of the Turgon hate seems to come from the idea that he was unfair to or mistreated Maeglin which I just do not buy. Everything in every version of this story suggests to me he fostered Maeglin and tried to have a positive relationship with him. Whether Maeglin never liked or trusted Turgon, or whether he eventually grew to desire power and Idril over any positive feelings he may have had for Turgon is up for debate, but there is no evidence Turgon ever neglected him.

Of his siblings, I think he was particularly close with Aredhel, despite their disagreements. The fact that she went with him to Gondolin, presumably understanding it was intended to be a one-way trip, suggests to me they must've liked each other a lot, or she never would have gone at all.

I am also delighted by his friendship with Finrod, because it's easy to see them as very different people, and yet their friendship persisted. I think they really consider each other like brothers and it must have killed Turgon to find out about Finrod's death, especially since they hadn't seen each other in centuries at that point. It's also very possible he didn't learn about Finrod's death until well after it had happened. Maybe that shouldn't make a difference, but I think it would. Finding out your beloved friend who you thought was alive and well has actually been dead for years, and died brutally and alone in the dungeons of Sauron? Ouch.

I think he should get credit for being like, the only Elf parent who seems completely unconcerned with his daughter marrying a mortal. As far as we can tell from the text, he takes zero issue with Idril and Tuor's relationship and has no problem welcoming Tuor into the house.

Also, Turgon going down with Gondolin and the whole "Great is the fall of Gondolin" -> "Great is the victory of the Noldoli" thing are such badass impeccable vibes. Turgon to me is someone who tries a lot and he doesn't always get it right, but that's part of what makes him interesting. Yeah it turned out to be a mistake to follow Fingon into Alqualonde...but he was trying to defend his family. Yeah he should've listened when Ulmo said it was time to ditch Gondolin...but he was proud of what they had built and it seemed safer than the rest of Middle-earth. To me, his mistakes were reasonable in the circumstances and they make him more than the stodgy, cranky counterpart to Fingon he's often seen as in fanon.

Elrond:

Is there anyone who doesn't like Elrond? I don't think I've ever seen one. Elrond is a character I liked long before reading The Silmarillion, but reading that really makes your heart break all the more for him. Here, again, is a character who has lost so much and yet in spite of that manages to stay kind and gentle--and not without effort on his part, I'm sure!

Given the events of his youth, it would have been so easy for Elrond to be bitter and angry, but he isn't (at least not by the Third Age). He doesn't do terrible things or act like a jerk and blame in on having had a hard childhood. If anything, his difficult experience seems to inspire him to ensure others don't have that kind of experience.

I don't have my copy of LotR with me so I can't look for quotes right now, but I love the callbacks there to his mom and dad and how he followed the tradition of his maternal family in naming his own sons. It must have felt so unfair to have them taken from him, and he never really got to know them, but that connection is still there and it clearly means a lot to him. I am so invested in Elrond getting to see Earendil and Elwing again in Valinor.

The naming tradition is particularly interesting since Elrond's maternal culture is effectively erased by the Third Kinslaying. There's nothing really left of Doriath or the Iathrim and there's no mention of them after that outside the note that Oropher led the straggling remains of them to the Greenwood where they took up the traditions of the Silvan there. Because Elrond was taken away from them, he really loses any chance to connect with his maternal culture until adulthood, where he might seek out what remains of the Iathrim, if he wanted. Yet he chooses to stick to the naming tradition of the royal family, one of the few pieces of their legacy that he knows of. I suppose I see him as someone who is continually seeking out those bits of information, trying to learn more about Doriath, about Gondolin, about the people and places his parents came from, about his heritage. He had no one to teach it to him, so he has to figure it out himself.

I wish we got to know more about his relationship with Celebrian! He basically falls for her at first sight but we don't get a lot of elaboration and it would be interesting to know more about their dynamic since she's out of the picture by LotR.

His goodbye with Arwen literally rips my heart out every time. Agony. At least she'll get to meet Uncle Elros.

Also, it's so fun telling LotR fans who haven't read Silm "btw Galadriel is Elrond's mother-in-law."

[painsandconfusion]

Who is Zah

SIGH

what a question

Zah is one of my absolute favorite ocs but I've only ever used him in rp. There's not much about him on this blog except fuckin HADES (@a-whumped-tea I'm fuckin looking at you, bitch) being a bitch to him.

Anywho.

Archon Hindlen Zahlor, Prophet of The Blood

Yeah that's his full title it's a mouthfull and he knows it.

He's a sadistic bastard who also kinda hits on everything. Which isn't the most professional considering he's essentially the leader of his entire fucking species and he should grow up a bit.

It's fine, they're almost extinct anyway so it's pretty much just him and his family fucking around and doing shit.

They're blood mages. Zah is a blood elf. He's like just shy of 7,000 years old.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Idk what else to say about him, he's just really fuckin cool but also a big softie for being so vicious. He simultaneously has party boy vibes, dark academia vibes, and wise old grandpa vibes. Oh. And the Karen vibes if you disrespect The Blood. By doing basic things. Like. Calling it 'your blood'.

He gets cranky.

Love this bitch.

[choccy-zefirka]

Laulu Casts Disguise Self

Just a small introduction to Laulu and the tiny bit of backstory she shares with Gale (neither of them has put the pieces together, though). Thank you @sky-scribbles for being so receptive to my DM screaming about them!

The crowd has been growing restless. Shuffling in place, shifting and shoving, smooshing their shoulders together, spitting out little barks at this or that hapless soul who happens to be too tall, or sport obstructing Tiefling horns or Dragonborn crest, or just wear an overly large hat.

But at long last, the glittering plumes of alchemical fog roll onto the little outdoor stage, and she steps forward. The petite wood elf, pretty as a painting, with soft, flowing pastel curls and huge eyes of different color, one green as an emerald, one warmly brown. Her curvy form is hugged by a shiny dress that fans out below her hips into a burst of bright yellow feathers. Perfectly fitting for the nickname that was given to her in Baldur's Gate, and then travelled ahead of her here, to Waterdeep, on the wings of awed whispers and shrill newsboy cries.

Oriole.

She carries her lute with her, and when she hoists it up, and prepares to pluck the strings, the crowd's cranky murmurs erupt into screams of excitement. A male half-Orc at the back even begins to sob, in a huge, booming voice that catches Lady Oriole's attention.

She looks up from the lute, and those onlookers who have wrestled their way closest to the stage can almost catch a glimpse of an odd shadow that flits across her face, marring her perfect, perfect features. But that passe, before they can even process what came over her.

She breathes in, and tries to stand taller — ah, so adorable, many in the front row think, for she is so sweet and small and non-threatening — and begins to sing.

She gives her all to the music, melting into it, lost in the enormity of what she has created. Amplified by the shape of the stage and some simple theatrical magic, her voice fills the square and warbles down the starburst of surrounding streets — like a clear, gentle, soothing stream. Here and there above the narrow, cobbled paths, the wooden shutters fly open, and entire families push against the much too small windows, almost falling out, entranced.

And high above their heads, hopping from chimney to chimney, gliding over the tiled roofs on speckled wings, dancing elegantly along the tightrope of clotheslines, a tressym makes her way closer and closer to the square.

In her little number-three-shaped mouth, there is a long shard of polished crystal. Stolen from one of the local wizards maybe? No; there is too much precise determination in her movements to be a fleeing thief. The tressym is not absconding with her burden; she is bringing it to the stage. Straight into the welcoming embrace of the music.

Even when the waves of Lady Oriole's voice wash all over her, she does not let herself get swept off by the rippling currents, not like all those swaying, clapping, ecstatic two-leggers. She is on a mission. And she is not satisfied until she pinpoints the perfect vantage point — on the shoulder of an imp gargoyle that is frozen, forever retching on rainwater, on one of the larger, more imposing buildings in the square.

Once she's found a foothold, the tressym leans forward, angling the crystal in her mouth so that whatever magic swirls inside of it, glowing like a swarm of trapped fireflies, can capture every note of the song. And the next song. And the one after that.

She stays well into the night, a winged silhouette against a skyline that's painted first soft pink, then blazing scarlet, then inky blue.

Only after the last encore fades, and the little bard raises her lute high above her head and cries out "I love you, Waterdeep!", and the crowd thunders something incoherent yet elated in response, and finally begins to disperse, splitting into little pockets of breathless post-concert banter — only then does the tressym spread her wings again.

A tiny shadow melting perfectly into the darkening streets — save for her pair of flashing eyes, and the pulsing glow of the crystal she carries — she zooms above the rooftops. Higher and higher, all the way to the elegant harborside tower that has also turned into a silhouette of pitch black, even though at this time of night, its windows should be brightly lit, and its top-floor balcony should be basking in a cozy amber glow. But instead, all is awash in icy murk, and the cushioned bench in the balcony's best spot stands empty, a long-abandoned book on its edge slowly turning warped and pockmarked with many nights' worth of sudden rain showers.

The door inside is shut tight, but not locked — hardly an obstacle for a cat with an ounce of brain matter. And the tressym do have more of that than most cats (if you ask them, at least).

With a little push, the little crystal-bearer slips into the tower. Here, the air is so heavy, so stale, that the nocturnal cold outside would now seem refreshing. The tressym sets her prize down, carefully tucking it under her soft paws, and wrinkles her nose.

"Once again," she meows into the dark, "I insist that we should keep at least some doors and windows open."

"I... I cannot do that, Tara," another voice responds, somewhere from the depths of the stagnant void. It is hoarse, like the labored scrape of some machine that has been left to gather rust for far too long.

"I would rather not take that risk."

Tara huffs to herself, her white-whiskered brows knotting into a frown and her tail trashing against the dusty floorboards. Then, she picks the crystal up again and flutters off to the source of the voice. The messy vortex of blankets right in the middle of the floor, at the foot of a massive bookcase — one of the many, many bookcases in the tower, which have gradually been turning into a silent, mournful forest of cobwebs.

Beside the blankets, a small bowl of cold soup has been left on the floor. Tara puts the crystal down again and sniffs carefully at the bowl's contents.

"You have barely eaten," she notes, tail trashing stronger now.

A stifled, colorless laugh escapes the blankets; and with it, a hand, just as colorless. It waggles an index finger at her.

"An attempt was made, was it not?"

Tara is not impressed.

"A very poor attempt."

 She bats at the crystal with her paw, pushing it closer to the blankets.

"Do you remember how you took your mother to see a bard in Baldur's Gate, and you were both so moved by her songs? She is touring Waterdeep now, and I have collected memories of her performance. Perhaps listening to her again might... enthuse you enough to at least leave your bed and take a stroll across the room?"

The blankets stir, and even more of their occupant emerges. A gaunt face, framed by disheveled hair and a beard that just barely remembers being well-groomed; and a torso, wrapped into a days-old bathrobe that, no matter how tightly the poor human tries to twist it around himself, barely covers the bruised circle on his chest. The mark left by the... entity that slithers, barely contained, underneath his sallow skin; brimming with malignant energy and so much more alive than the rest of him.

"Tara..." he whispers, reaching for the crystal with a stiff, fumbling hand. "This is too much to do for my sake, truly..."

The tressym protests — by half-swatting him across the nose, claws drawn in, pink toe beans barely touching skin.

"Nonsense, Gale. Now, listen to your music while I go and see if the enchantment on the broom still holds. This much dust can only be removed with magic."

She flies off, and Gale slips back into his makeshift nest, cradling the memory shard with a quiet reverence. His touch awakens the memories that Tara so painstakingly trapped within: the gentle cascade of Lady Oriole's songs.

He takes them all in with his eyes closed, his brows arched. Some of them are entirely new, perhaps composed specially for the Waterdeep tour; but some, he recognizes from that evening at the Elfsong with his mother. In a past life, buried deeper than he has burrowed into his blankets.

Barely conscious of what he's doing, he begins to hum along, a smile trying, again and again, and finally managing to perch on his lips. He throws his eyes open; though still tired, still bruised, they are alight with something a little more than just the reflection of the glowing memory shard — the only bright speck in his dark tower.

***

Alfira shifts to the side on her rock ledge, inviting her new adventurer friend to join her.

The young half-Orc's patchwork travel overcoat has been left out to dry among the refugees' modest laundry, still soaked from wading around the harpy nest. And now that she's left in nothing but a plain white undershirt and breeches to cover all the rolls of her large body, she instinctively shrinks into an awkward, tense lump, trying to make herself smaller. A motion that might have been rather adorable if made by someone not quite so... like her.

But Alfira's smile is open and friendly, even if shaky at first, wobbling through the wet pall of recent tears for her lost mentor. And the lute that she has handed over settles into the half-Orc's arms with a familiar ease. So she returns the smile, through fluffy strands of pastel hair, and takes up all of the space offered to her, ready to give her all to the music. To melt into it, leaving her physical form — too big, too much, too conspicuous — far behind.

When her and Alfira's voices take wing together, each stanza resounding stronger than the last, the half-Orc's traveling companions look on with various degrees of surprise, befuddlement, and curiosity.

They never knew she could play. They never knew her as anything but Laulu, a humble farm girl who went to the big, wondrous city of Baldur's Gate to find her fortune, with the blessings and tearful goodbyes of her doting Halfling father and no less doting Orc mother... Only to be plucked off the streets in a wisp of black smoke, and have an Ilithid parasite forced into one of her different-colored eyes.

It has been easy to take her for granted: a soft, unobtrusive presence around the campsite; ready to offer a helping hand yet never asking any questions about the many, many secrets of her fellow infected. Just as they never asked any questions about her, beyond what she’d volunteer about herself, blushing the color of swamp moss. Such a boring young thing, surely.

Yet now, when she sings, when she unleashes the melody like a tidal wave, to sweep down from the cliffside and through the Grove, it is like they are seeing her for the first time. Gale especially seems affected. His hand travels involuntarily to his chest, clawing at the folds of his robe; and his eyes study Laulu with an almost manic intent. It is hard to be certain, because she is singing in a duet with Alfira, but something about her voice is profoundly, poignantly familiar. And when, for a fleeting moment, she looks up from her lute strings and their gazes meet, his eyes are alight with something a little more than just the golden sunbeams that stream through the gaps between the druids' mossy standing stones.

[eruhamster]

I saw your tags on the dungeon meshie Gnome Fortress post and I just wanna clarify something. The post was a riff on how Dwarf Fortress was only translated into English so everyone else had to rely on fan translations. Marcille(the elf) is a stand in for the author and other non English speakers who have to rely on fan translations and other fan resources as the devs won't translate into other languages, the emails sent most likely based on irl emails, its a problem for most modern games

sorry are you ryoko kui. do you personally know her. do you know that she is a stand-in for the elf that isnt even actually stated to be marcille? damn if you can read her mind go ahead and just tell me if farcille is canon or not!!! since you know what's in her mind!!!

also i'm gonna be real with you even regarding dwarf fortress, it's big baby bullshit to think you're the good guy for throwing a fit over two dudes not translating their game into languages they don't speak when the way the game is developed the language is baked into the code and they'd have to recode for every language. as explained here:

but that's like. beyond the point because the comic is pretty clearly showing the gnomes being cranky about the elf being specifically annoying about something others work with just fine. it even basically calls out why any translations in games inherently have issues so only waiting around for your language when you can read the original is a stupid thing to do anyway:

i just cannot comprehend how people read that comic and went 'YES THE DEV IS WRONG' or how people can think that dwarf fortress devs are bad for not translating to other languages. i /cannot/ comprehend it

[spacecapart]

I've been really into some of my own OCs lately, so here's some Willas and a Sam! I've been using them as subjects while experimenting with some more complex marker rendering, and it's really rather fun to have some more proper drawings of these guys.

Willa, I've talked about a few times before - she's a character who originated as a mashup of two of my favourite soldier characters (Generals Ironwood and Armstrong, from RWBY and FMA respectively), and has since grown into very much her own person who I'm very fond of. She's the classic exhausted leader type who exists to be a side character in someone else's story but, as a middle-aged butch aroace woman in a society that doesn't value any of those traits very highly, she's sick fed up of being side-lined and Not Going To Take It Anymore. I love her, she's exhausted and cranky and stuck leading the fight in a war for survival that she's pretty sure can't be won by someone like her, but she's going to burn herself to the ground trying anyway.

The two drawings I did of her were mainly to figure out her face properly, and I ended up with one dramatic pose and one that's supposed to have the vibe of an official portrait. I always have far too much fun drawing wrinkles on faces, and I've recently discovered how fun it is to include details like freckles and red patches on skin with coloured pencil. I also experimented with inking some of the lines in colours other than black, and it's a subtle effect but I rather like it.

The fellow with the ginger hair is Sam, otherwise known as Dr Hargrave, and he's a supporting character in Willa's story as the chief medical officer at the wall fort she commands in the frozen north of their country (which is very loosely science-fantasy!Scotland), and also the closest thing she has to a best friend. If you've followed me for a while, he might look a bit familiar, and that's because Sam actually originated as Sammarion Harnendil, my half-elf life cleric DnD character, who I've drawn a bunch of times before. This version of Sam is slightly different (he's fully human, for one, although he still has big ears), but on a personality level he's exactly the same, which makes him cheerful, friendly, dad-joke-making and deeply devoted to being a doctor and helping people. Translating Sam's DnD stuff over into a different setting was actually what helped me pin down the nature of the magitech in this setting, and that magitech is the reason that Sam looks like he does despite being practically the same age as Willa. He's got some complicated accidental immortality going on, it's fun.

That drawing of him came about because of a screencap that I rather liked of one of the characters he's based on (Dr Harry Cunningham from Silent Witness), and I had a lot of fun drawing the folds and creases in his jumper. Sam's also the reason I've ended up so fond of adding pencil details to faces, ever since I decided he ought to have freckles when I was first designing him. I'm really pleased with how he turned out, especially since that's the first full colour drawing I've done of this version of the guy, and my first time drawing his face from that angle.

[britcision]

Just gonna throw on top there to the lovely and complicated pile that is Rin:

It’s entirely possible that being taken by the Canaries saved her life

She was a child whose parents were lynched for “evil” magic, alone in the burned ruins of their house; it’s not likely anyone from the nearby town was going to pick up an eleven year old kid and keep her fed after that

When Kabru is thinking about his own party being taken by the Canaries, he mentions Rin has bad memories of the elves

And shows Rin in Canary armour

Eleven year olds grow. Real quick. We know the Canaries were in contact with Milsiril pretty soon after they acquired her, since Milsiril raises short lived kids and they couldn’t get Rin to eat, but she didn’t actually die

(Milsiril also specifically refused to take Rin in because she “couldn’t take another child”, but sent Kabru to socialise with her and see if he could help - 3 years after his own major trauma, which he at least seems externally to have recovered from - or repressed)

I think it is possible that Rin got informal magical schooling from the elves while she was in custody/whatever the formal explanation was for her presence; we know even just routine questioning often takes years, and Rin got out relatively quickly to travel freely with Kabru

Milsiril is an impactful enough figure that Kabru stealth-name drops her to get the Canaries to do what he wants… and it works

Milsiril knows where Kabru is, and what he’s doing - she shows up at his room to visit him in one of the supplementals

She knows he left with Rin, and she insisted on putting him through hell/training him extensively before letting him go dungeon diving

(We also don’t know what Helki, the Canary convict who still lives with Milsiril and is poking traumatised baby Rin in OP’s post, did as a magical specialty soooo lightning is on the table)

We do know Rin’s magical training was never formal because of her grudge against people who did get to go to school for it as being privileged and stuck up… an attitude, by the way, that she shares with Cithis, another of the Canary convicts who explicitly recognises Milsiril’s name and takes more interest in Kabru once it’s spoken

Since her parents were suspected of ancient magic, it would make sense for the Canaries to try and see if she could recognise any of it; there’s literally no other reason to take her

(except again that she’d probably die if they left her; Flamela’s an angry and aggressive elf with absolutely no grasp on her softer feelings because when she was a very young child (Rin-sized, funnily enough) her twin sister was taken away and probably assassinated at court

She is. Not someone you would expect to articulate sensitive topics well. Especially with a free and cranky sounding excuse.)

Given that all of the Canary convicts are in for a personal relationship to ancient magic, they’d probably also want to see Rin cast, since I agree she was old enough to learn; who better to recognise any “dangerous” habits?

With the added bonus of Milsiril’s interest via Kabru, I’d say the reason Rin can definitively recognise (or believes she can recognise) specifically elven casting, not just elven style magic like Laios will learn, is because of what she learned with the Canaries

She either saw them cast enough to pick up tells, which is less likely since the convicts’ magic use is heavily restricted outside of a dungeon and Flamela’s unit was canonically kept from all dangerous assignments (so they didn’t get called in on the way to bringing Rin to jail)

Or when Kabru made it clear to his mom that his new friend was coming with him to a dungeon, Milsiril pulled some strings and got Rin some informal lessons, probably from the Canary wardens since it’s all legal magic

(Given the HEAVY mage leaning of every single Canary party, that was probably actually reassuring for Milsiril; Kabru ain’t great at magic, but at least if he keeps Rin around he has a mage Milsiril knows and can estimate the ability of

Milsiril was sadly probably the tank of her own squad, unless they had a beastman, because she is specifically known as one of the finest sword masters of the elves… and her magic seems to mostly be animating dolls to Also Stab Things)

Anyway all of this is just to add yet more complexity to the depths of Rin’s feelings towards the elves, because she plainly does not like them (and freaks when she’s backed into by Flamela, the elf that arrested her ass in the first place)

But at the same time, everything she has now is in one way or another because of the same exact elves who traumatised her as a child, who she may well remember better than her actual parents

Even Kabru, whom she never would have met if Helki hadn’t wandered in to visit and then gone home to Milsiril

Emotional damage! 😃

Rin Masterpost

Rin! Rinsha Fana! Beloved side character I think about far too much (or maybe not enough?)

I decided that it might be nice to put together an informational post about Rin, since she has some of my favorite background details of any character in Dungeon Meshi. This is partly as reference for myself, and partly for anyone else who might be interested in her but not know where to chase down the tidbits we we get of her, both in canon & extra materials. There’s also a little bit of theorizing and analysis sprinkled in for fun.

If anyone spots something I missed, please let me know and I will add it in!

Alright. Time for ultimate #rinposting

History and Timeline:

We don't have an official timeline for Rin (even in the expanded Adventurer's Bible, sadly), but we can put a lot of pieces together based on Kabru's timeline & their respective ages.

Rin is 2 years older than Kabru, and they met when he was 9. Assuming that he met her soon after she was taken to the elven capital, that means that the elves took her when she was 11.

Before that, she lived on the Northern Continent. Interestingly, when Mickbell asks about Shuro, Rin says she was born "here."

Since "here" doesn't mean the actual Island itself, it must mean simply "not the east." She is described in the Adventurer's Bible as having "no real knowledge of or attachment to the East," so maybe that's why she draws a "there" verses "here" line.

I'd also like to add a note here that the elves don't seem uh... they don't seem great about respecting the value of other cultures, especially those of short-life species. Milsiril seems to have discouraged Kabru from eating or remembering food from his hometown, at least, and that's even as an adoptive parent who cares (at least in some way) for her child. As I will touch on later, the "care" that Rin was under probably had even less respect for her history or ties to either Eastern or Northern culture.

That is all to say, considering that Rin spent many years with the elves, I'd take her having "[no] attachment to the East" as more of a comment on how she feels now, and less as a definite choice she made. She may genuinely have chosen that approach and opinion for herself, she may have been pushed towards it by the elves, and she may have had little choice at all in the matter - all are valid interpretations, though I personally lean towards the thought that it's unlikely the elves didn't have at least some hand in it.

Anyway, Rin does seem to know at least a bit about her heritage - she can presumably name and identify the specific island her parents are from, and she recognizes that "Shuro" isn't a name used there. She also knows that different places from the Eastern archipelago speak different languages, so she knows at least a little about the other islands as well.

Some additional extrapolations I'll make based on these facts: she never mentions, and probably isn't in contact with, any family from her island. This may be because her extended family died, because her parents didn't (or weren't able to) maintain contact, or because she lost contact when she was taken by the elves. Somewhat relatedly, she also prooobably doesn't speak the language, at least not fluently, though her being able to comment on the state of language in the archipelago makes me think that she at least learned a little as a kid.

Anyway, Rin's parents were refugees from the archipelago, though we don't know what specifically caused them to leave. There is this little tidbit of info we get (from the cover of chapter 48, of all places), though:

So yeah, that seems like it would be the backdrop of Rin's parents fleeing. As I said earlier, it's unclear if Rin might have any living family left back on her island. The listing she has for “family” in the Adventurer's Bible is just a dash, but so is Izutsumi's, for instance, and we know that she was taken from her family with no knowledge of who might still be out there. It's possible everyone else was killed, it's possible they were separated... it's possible that Rin's parents didn't even know.

As an additional note, and this is speculation on my part, but I think there is an argument to be made, with this tidbit from the cover as well as the Nakamoto clan's specialty in espionage and use of ninjas, that the politics of the archipelago are partially based on Sengoku era Japan. Not necessarily super relevant here, but I think it's interesting context for all... of the archipelago characters, honestly.

(Especially considering it seems like the Nakamoto clan is in a relatively comfortable position, and yet clearly are involved, or at least prepared to be involved in larger conflict. How stable is their position, really? How is Shuro's father viewed by the wider region and archipelago as a whole? What about his lord? NOT THE POINT THIS IS A POST ABOUT RIN. BUT IT'S VERY INTERESTING TO THINK ABOUT.)

Okay, back to Rin's parents.

Whatever caused them to leave, they made their way to the north, where they made their living with their magic for a time. There are no specifics about what kind of magic they used, but we know at least some examples of jobs that magic can get you, based on the flashback to Laios and Falin's childhood in chapter 26. Laios proposes that Fain could use her magic to be a priest, gravekeeper, or wandering exorcist. Though these are specific to Falin's affinity with spirits, they give some idea of the shape of the work that might be available. It's important, but it is also on the outskirts of society - not necessarily admired or appreciated by the average person.

And Rin’s parents were killed by vigilantes for that magic. It's not entirely news that superstitious villages in the area would sometimes kill magic users - we see a small drawing of people being burned at the stake in a panel towards the end of the manga:

Nonetheless, Rin is the only person in the main cast who has experienced this brutality firsthand. And she did experience it firsthand, having been found by the elves as the sole survivor within the burnt ruins of her home.

It is unknown exactly how she survived, or what happened to her parents before and during the fire. Rin lived, and they did not.

The elves came some time after the fire, intending to investigate reports of ancient magic. They (and we) don't know if Rin's parents actually did use ancient magic, or if the reports and murders were simply spurred by general fear and superstition. Rin was the only piece of "evidence" that remained, and so she was taken back to the west with the elves when they left.

We don't know much about her time on the Northern Central Continent (where the elves/Canaries are based), but it doesn't seem like she was adopted or taken in by anyone the way that Kabru was. According to the Adventurer's Bible, after being taken into custody, "under their care she was treated as a captive animal would be." I would guess that means very basic food and shelter, little to no education. Probably the most social contact she got was from Kabru, as well as maybe, occasionally, from elves treating her as a curiosity, such as in this bit in the Adventurer’s Bible:

Assuming she left with Kabru (which seems like it is the case, there's no info about them having separated during that time), she spent 9 years with the elves, and has been with Kabru on the Island in the 4 years since then.

She also stays in the Golden Country after the end of the story, apparently working as an alchemist.

Additional Details (& Speculation):

What does she remember of her family and home?

I'd like to take a moment here to explore a little of what Rin might remember of her parents and home.

For reference, we can look at Kabru. The canaries came to Utaya when Kabru was 6, and he arrived in the capital when he was 7. He remembers the events of the tragedy in his home, and has some memories of his mother and life in Utaya, including memories of local dishes.

Rin lost her parents and home at 11, so she presumably has much clearer memories of the events that lead to her being taken by the elves... or she might, assuming that they haven't been completely blocked by her trauma from the event.

Yeah, I am fairly damn sure that she's got some memory issues from trauma and PTSD. For one, this is the state she was found in:

As already mentioned, she was also treated like something of an animal by the elves. She probably didn't have a lot of contact with other people, which would further perpetuate that sense of isolation and dehumanization. What I'm getting at here is that Rin probably didn't have much to help pull her out of this place, or heal these wounds. She had Kabru, who was also a kid and even younger than her, and she had herself.

Obviously trauma leaves different scars on everyone, and everyone responds and copes in different ways. But I do think it is interesting that we never hear anything about Rin's parents or life before the elves, and there are no real details about it given in the Adventurer's Bible the way we have for Kabru. What's presented is more surface level facts: they were refugees, they made a living with magic, they were killed.

I'm inclined to believe that things are laid out this way because that's how Rin holds on to these things. She knows things about them, but possibly remembers them more as things she was told/knows to be true, rather than actual memories she can picture herself experiencing.

Rin's Magic

In an interesting counterpoint to her potentially spotty memory, I do actually think Rin may have learned magic from her parents (or started learning, and was self-taught from there). She never attended a magic academy, and actually has a bit of grudge against people who did - owing to the social protection afforded to "upper-class mages," which her parents did not have. She also almost certainly wouldn't have been taught by the elves, who not only treated her as an animal but also knew her parents may have been involved with ancient magic.

Falin began to show signs of magical talent at 8, and was sent to the Magic Academy at 10, and that was as someone who had absolutely no guidance about or exposure to magic in her home town. Raised by two mage parents, I think Rin absolutely could have been learning some things by the time she was 11.

In terms of continued learning, I'll add that Rin is able to identify Marcille's magic as being A) from an Academy student, and B) cast by an elf:

This makes me think that she continued to study magic on her own while held by the elves, and probably even more so after leaving with Kabru. They didn't form the party until two years after they left the elves, which would give Rin plenty of time to try and learn from other adventurers on the Island, or to study up on her own. She'd probably be able to pick up some dungeon-crawling basics (like the water walk spell), as well as become familiar with the skill level and expression of skill common in different people with different backgrounds (hence why she is able to comment on the "textbook" academy wards).

Much like Marcille, Rin also seems to rely on a 'one size fits all' Big Boom method of dealing with monsters: lightning. We see the best example of its power in the fight with Chimera Falin:

But we also see her cast it pretty recklessly in a few other places, including the end credits of the new anime ED, which I think provides a good example of the downsides to such an approach...

Yeah, it is very much a 'get out of the way or get zapped' spell.

Especially since Marcille's offensive magic is self-taught and works very similarly, this definitely reinforces the idea that Rin figured most of this stuff out herself.

Outfit and Character Design

Dear sweet Rin of the Red And Black... how I love her design.

First of all, her clothes are damaged. Despite the fact that Rin looks relatively well put together overall, her outfit is worn out. I have some theories on why this is that I'll get to in a bit, but for now I'll just touch on what this design communicates in general about it.

I think, just like with Kabru's horribly messy room, it creates a sense that there is something more complicated underneath the surface. Something that isn't being addressed or seen to, just as the dress hasn't been mended or replaced.

It also reflects her not caring a ton about her appearance. She's neat, but she's not concerned about being pretty, so she doesn't bother with fixing up her outfit after her dungeon crawls. This also fits with her perpetual scowl (which I will talk more about in a bit), and slightly disheveled hair.

Next: the gloves. At first I thought they might be a sort of uncomfortable-with-touch thing, but after skimming through the manga and some bonus content, I have another theory. Rin takes the gloves off to eat, as well as a few other instances, such as when working on a spell with Holm and Marcille in chapter 36

This one is especially interesting because she has them on in the next chapter, during the fight with Falin. Since she also isn't wearing gloves during some of the Daydream Hour art of her outside of the dungeon, that leads me to believe that they are specifically for combat.

What does she need them for, though? Most other casters we see don't wear gloves. Well... just look at the other half of the page where she attacks Falin with lightning:

She is enveloped by this spell. I said it before was pretty reckless magic, but maybe its not just a problem for her teammates, but for her as well.

So here's my theory: maybe the gloves are rubber, or some other electricity-resistant material? They might help protect her from her own magic. I don't know why a caster would need gloves for combat otherwise.

I also think this might be why her dress is tattered at the bottom, by the way. Especially since the Daydream Hour genderswap design doesn't have a similar problem with his outfit, since the tunic isn't as long.

I will admit this is a bit of stretch/guess, but I think it's a fun one, and I wanted to share. I do think I'm right about the gloves being for dungeons/fighting specifically, at least. That seems pretty consistent throughout all of her appearances.

I also mentioned her scowl, so I'll touch on that briefly as well. The (fairly confirmed) explanation for Rin's expression is that she intentionally wears a frown to prevent her other expressions from showing through. I think it's important to emphasize that it's not just smiling that she is trying to suppress here - it's any strong emotion:

Anyway, because I can, here is the art of Rin smiling.

Rin and Kabru

I have talked a bit about Rin and Kabru's history, but I think it deserves its own section.

I think it's very interesting that Rin is pretty much the ONLY character in all of Dungeon Meshi that has explicit canonical romantic interesting in someone. It's literally part of the main summary sentence in her character profile.

This could be sort of reductive as a way to describe a female character (and in some ways it still is), but I think in part the simplicity and directness of it actually is part of what makes it so interesting. Especially when on the very next page we see the comic about her backstory. "This mage is in love with Kabru" -> one page of a horribly traumatic event and a child frozen in shock with no one to comfort her. What does that do?

Well, in my opinion, it shows how much Rin focuses on Kabru as something to keep her in the present. In contrast with the immense loss she has experienced, her love for Kabru is current and alive. He has presumably been her anchor for years, and I think that her love is part of that anchor.

Adding to this, in contrast with how explicit her feelings are, she never seems to actively pursue Kabru. She complains about his potential interest in other women, but she doesn't really flirt. She doesn't let herself smile around him any more than anyone else, and she doesn't hide her bitterness or anger from him to present a more appealing persona.

As much as she craves Kabru's attention, and has stayed by his side for years, I don't know that she really wants to possess him. He seems to know about her feelings, more or less, and she seems to know that he knows. Maybe she believes he doesn't reciprocate and is respecting that, maybe she's afraid of what she could lose if she tried to change things, or maybe the change itself frightens her. In any case, though she's not exactly happy with the way things are between them, she doesn't seem to be trying to change that status quo.

A specific thing I'd also like to talk about with their relationship, beyond Rin's love for him, is her fear for him. As the Adventurer's Bible puts it, "she worries that his knack for dealing with whatever life throws at him might lead him to get too full of himself and end up in serious trouble."

Rin is an interesting mix of restrained and explosive, herself. Her magic is destructive, her temper seems to run hot (she gets annoyed easily, at least), and her feelings for Kabru are apparent. At the same time, she doesn't let her emotions show on her face, she is the one who bluntly states that the group has hit the limit of their abilities, and she doesn't act on those obvious feelings for Kabru. It's interesting, then, that what she fears for Kabru is that he won't restrain himself.

And a small personal idea about that as well: I wonder if she somewhat blames her parents for getting killed. Again, this is very speculative, but I think it's interesting that her fear for Kabru is that he will get too full of himself. Take up too much space. It's never really stated what Rin thinks of her parents, but it can be easy in grief to search for control, and control often means blame. If they hadn't been so confident, so flashy, would they still be alive...?

I don't know if she's ever thought like that, and it could well be that her fears for Kabru come from a totally different place. But it's an interesting connective thread between her past and present - the idea of "getting in trouble" for taking up too much space and being too confident in one's own abilities.

Miscellaneous Tidbits:

On that note, I'd like to wrap up the main part of this post, and move on to a few extra things that I couldn't find another place for.

Rin plays with her hair when she's stressed

Using stressed as a pretty big umbrella here, because I think it's hard to perfectly pin down all the emotions at play, but it is a habit of hers. Best displayed in chapter 32, but it shows up in other places, too.

Her design contrasts with Marcille

This is a small thing, but I just love how much they are visual opposites.

Rin wears red and black and has dark hair, Marcille wears blue and white and has light hair. Marcille cares a great deal for her hair and puts it up in elaborate hairstyles, and Rin's is mostly loose and a bit messy. Marcille was even educated at the Magic Academy, which Rin dislikes. They both have little capelets. Also they both look very cute in each other's clothes.

Rin knows Flamela (and they meet again in canon)

Nothing much is done with this in canon, but I think it’s super interesting that Flamela's squad are the ones that find Rin as a child and take her away to the west, and then they end up stuck in the dungeon together for a bit.

Two days??? I'm so very curious what things were like between these three.

Aaaand I think that's all I have to say about Rin! For the time being at least. There's a lot more analysis that could be done about her and Kabru especially, but for this post I wanted to keep things at least somewhat anchored to canon facts, with only a layer or two of speculation on top.

If it isn't already obvious, I think Rin is a super interesting character with a ton of potential depth to explore. She mostly interacts with Kabru in canon, but has ties to a bunch of other characters: she and Marcille fill similar roles in their parties but have differing personalities and histories, she and Falin (and Laios) have been tremendously shaped by xenophobia and fear of magic common in the Northern Continent, her parents fled from conflict in the same region Shuro and his retainers are from, and she has history with Flamela and some of the second canary squad.

Her temper, her fear, her love... her repression and passion - they all inform her character, even in small ways, even with as little time as she spends on the page.

[sammysdewysensitiveeyes]

Dungeon Meshi is one of those series where I saw enough memes and gif sets that I knew who my favorite character would be before ever watching the series. Cranky middle-aged divorced dad who is very professional and good at his job and whose crankiness is often related to worrying about his coworkers that seem determined to get themselves killed? "Support" character who usually doesn't engage in fighting but whose skills are essential to the group?

Sounds an awful lot like another favorite of mine!

Honestly, though, I like all the characters. It's one of the rare manga where I love the entire group rather than getting annoyed with the "main" character and latching onto a minor side character.

I love Laios and his monster obsession and his inability to read or understand people to the point that one of his former "friends" could barely stand him, but at the same time he can notice details and analyze well enough to guess everyone correctly in the changeling episode. He comes across as a standard hero at first but he's really kind of a misfit weirdo and also a hero.

I love Senshi and how well he has fit into the group despite being a relative stranger to them and how he tries to take care of everyone, and how he is so knowledgeable and resourceful and cares about the dungeon as a ecosystem to be maintained. Plus the man can cook! And we finally get into his backstory, and damn, I can understand why he so desperately wants to look after everyone and cares about proper nutrition and why he constantly treats Chilchuck like a child even after Chilchuck gives his age (especially since Senshi was apparently a very young dwarf at "only" 36).

I love Marcille and her angry little fits, girl, I get it, I wouldn't want to eat any of that either, and how she is willing to endure ALL of it, and basically break both actual laws and the laws of nature to get Falin back. She seems like the cute elf girl, but she will just blow a monster's head off and she has been studying all sorts illegal magic. Marcille is like the physics student at the top of her class who has been building a nuclear reactor in her basement. I have a lot of love for old fantasy anime like Record of Lodoss War (still one of my favorites), but I'm still relieved that the blond elf girl does not spend the entire series pining after the swordsman hero, if anything she seems more interested in Falin.

I love Chilchuck constantly pretending not to care and obviously caring very deeply. He claims that he is all business and that personal relationships will ruin a party, but he has stuck with the group far longer than it would be practical or even sensible, even if he got paid up front. He cares very much about being useful to the group and doing his job properly, and he will stick his neck out in a fight if he has to, he's mostly just smart enough to get out of the way. Also, after apparently years of refusing to even give his age, Chilchuck just sits down and spills that he has a (divorced) wife and kids in order to get Senshi to feel comfortable enough to talk about his own trauma.

I love how Falin, despite being killed in the first five minutes and basically spending most of the series as the "damsel in distress" needing to be rescued, gets fleshed out through flashbacks so that we can care about her as a character. She is sweet and self-sacrificing but also not a push-over, and seems just as interested in the world around her as Laios.

Izutsumi only just joined the group, but I love her, too. At least she isn't an overly "sexy" fetishized catgirl, even in a scene where she takes most of her clothing off. Actually, this series is pretty good about not relying heavily on fan service, aside from all those sexy panty shows of Senshi.

A fantasy cooking manga/anime is already a unique idea, but it also has a legitimately good overarching story, with the history of the dungeon and the mysteries behind it, and the politics of who controls the dungeon. Paying close attention to the monsters, either to eat them or because of Laios' obsessions, helps the characters understand how to fight them and stay alive, and they often solve problems in creative ways rather than just "sword fight good." It's been awhile since I enjoyed an anime this much.

[pellelavellan-a]

"Can I help you out of that?"

@q825

He turned his head, caught in the middle of a feeble attempt to reach the ribbons laced up his spine. He'd never cared for these awful corsets. While he'd be lying if he said he didn't find them to look flattering on him, the discomfort of having his body forced into better posture was not a price he was exactly willing to pay for beauty. He'd never even thought there was anything wrong with the way he stood, but the high brows of society would find anything they could to instill even a drop of self hatred. They needed your insecurity, they fed off of it.

He'd been told no one would take him seriously if he couldn't stand up straight. That hardly made any sense to him. Some of the wisest people he'd known needed a walking stick to even make it up off of the ground. It wasn't fair to doubt their intellect or experience based on how poised they looked when they stepped into a room. His posture might have been allegedly terrible, but he could thank hours of studying and learning far more important things than any of those people valued for it and yet--most of them would bet a large sum of gold that he couldn't even read. He didn't even know why it was so hard to get in and out of the garment. He was more than flexible enough to reach the thread, and yet the garment had been designed to encourage a beautiful uselessness that all of those wealthy humans seemed so enamored with. It was all very stupid he thought. Why would anyone make clothes that required assistance to get in and out of? He supposed for him it was to his own benefit to be so difficult to disrobe, but for everyone else? Why?

Something in him didn't want to accept the help. Not due to a lack of trust or fondness for a friend, but he almost wanted to do it himself. He'd never liked feeling helpless even when it was something as small as getting dressed. He did wish his tailor had maybe taught him what it was she was doing when she put the garment on him in the first place, but she hadn't, and so he was a bit clueless that was going on back there. He liked the ones that laced in the front much better."Is there a reason that makes such a ridiculous garment necessary?" he asked, fingers still trying to reach the ribbons in a way that was not awkward and uncomfortable. "It would maybe make sense for consummating a marriage--but I'm not getting married am I?" the elf complained.

[theboarsbride]

hey!! I’ve a question that’s been tormenting me for almost a week now. What if some of the characters from your different WIPs met?? Like, Sophie and Tathareth or idk,,,,

Have you thought about a cross-over?

!!!!!!! OHHHH OHHH!!!!!!! A CROSS-OVER!!!!!!!

Dude, Tathareth and Edgar would be so cute and sweet together, deadass. Like... lowkey I think of them together a lot because they would just be so wholesome.🥺 She would wanna use her elvish healing shit to try and see if she could undo his 'curse', and would overall just be gentle with him right from the beginning. Would listen to him ramble about books and birds without another word. Edgar would lowkey be a simp because pretty elf lady and she's an utter sweetheart. And they both would bond about being shy lmao.

Sophie and Grima though???? They'd loathe one another. XD It'd be like putting two stray alley cats alone together in one room. It'd be super tense, they'd exchange some nasty quips, and if they're together long enough... there will be blood. (Grima would remind Sophie too much of Claude, Sophie would remind Grima of both Eowyn and Eomer)

And for my monster men?? We got ourselves Edgar (cursed bird-man), Lowell (werewolf), Jack (cursed body horror snake-man), and Grigore (killer vampire), and literally all of them would be scared of Grigore because he is just a murderous, mindless killing machine lmao. They'd all find Lowell annoying because he has a giga-Chad attitude (and leaves dog hair everywhere), would probably find Edgar pathetic, but they're all chill with Jack, because Jack is a chill, fun guy. He wears leather jackets, smokes, rides motorcycles, and has such a carefree, playful attitude so what's not to love? XD

For my leading ladies, we've Sophie (cranky Victorian era flower seller), Selene (mute detective), Sorina (a skeptical Romanian village girl turned vampire meal), Temperance (a shy, autistic, socially anxious apothecary owner), and Tathareth (a shy, autistic, socially anxious Lothlorien elf healer). Sophie, Selene, and Sorina would be (sort of) buddies since they can be cranky, bitter, anti-social gals together, just as Temperance and Tathareth can just shyly watch from the corner. XD Collectively, they'd probably all find Selene cool because badass detective lady that hunts a werewolf.

AAGH THESE CROSS-OVERS ARE SO MUCH FUN TO THINK ABOUT I NEED TO DO IT MORE TBH!! THANK YOU SM FOR THIS ASK!!!