#either after him or outside to continue her quest

[luna-loveboop]

So something I noticed in the Echoes of Wisdom- into the still world trailer-

The room where Zelda finds the 'mysterious sword' that gives her the sword fighter form is the same one where puppet link attacks her

Obviously the large center stone has moved- but the layout with grass and pots, the stairs, and floor markings are the same

The markings on the stones match as well-exactly match, although the center one has moved

So my theory? It is definitely Link's sword, dropped from puppet Link

Go get him girl

[kaahgyuya]

>> Angst - violent descriptions, death, blood, abandonment, huge spoilers for the Sumeru archon quest/Wanderer story quest! Extremely long. (I'll put a '☆' once it gets to the actual good part.)

Just know that I tend to switch to gender pronouns to you/yours/you're sometimes so just a heads up before you read! ( ￣▽￣)

Wanderer x gn!reader

Below this is the text, read the warnings/heads up before pressing the keep reading. Thank you! (　＾▽＾)

The puppet, 'Kabukimono' traveled across the lands. Gently caressing the grasses he lied upon, gently reaching for the stars he saw at the midnight strike, and gently crying from the nightmares he drew.

After he met you, though.

The broad horizons felt warmer, and happier. Running to you with a smile and a basket full of soft lavender melons and how sweet and the tender taste would comfort your taste buds.

"____ look!" He pulled their wrist and leading them to a beautiful cliff of inazuma. His light veil slowly lifted off his head as their grasp grabbed it in time before it flew away free.

They gently fixed it on top of his head making sure it wouldn't fall behind. Gently pushing their hands a bit forward to cuddle him with his own soft veil.

They smiled at him.

"Be more careful it doesn't fall off again, Kabukimono." Their smile shifted to a warm one.

Kabukimono's eyes widened a bit, only for his expression to change to a happy smile broadening his face.

"Thank you, ____." Kabukimono still firmly but gently holding their hand.

Only for mere minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, to only pass for a few seconds. Holding onto your hand as his cold wet tears fell onto their cheeks. Cradling your bleeding body as traumatize and fear covered his once gentle face.

"Please.. wake up, cmon.." His tears stained his cheeks and fell onto theirs.

Grasping onto your consciousness only to let go and only hear the verbal screams he once tore.

"You promised you wouldn't leave me.." His face contorted into disappointment, and sadness. Unable to control his tears they fell down rapidly.

Kabukimono let's go of their body. His once sparkly and curious eyes now filled with disappointment and anger. He walked away emotionless, moving on without asking, why or who?

years passed on and on without effort, yet it still haunted him and made him cry in his own sleep once more. Whispering to himself again how he could've saved every moment with you.

It came until then he was a God, then face forwardly falling into the harsh ground, crumbling as he landed. Unable to recreate his wantings and needs.

The God of wisdom, carefully cradling and crafting memories of once who. Remembering the past and forgetting it immediately, the large platinum pink tree brightened and glowed. Gently caressing the lands of Tevyat. Carefully caring for the gentle and fragile memories it's collected.

Only for the retired 6th fatui harbinger to step foot into the irminsul, with the silver companion and the blonde Traveler; Lumine.

Small chatter and comments filled the quiet domain of the blue tree, galaxy like lands filled the outside brim forgetting about complete real reality. Scaramouche found them having a conversation to themselves and he questioned, still collecting the information needed. Saying small words and sentences to each other.

"So uh, have you found anything yet?" Paimon put her hands on her hips as she nervously glanced at him like how he knew the Traveler, Nahida and herself had a telepathy conversation.

"Still looking. Don't get your hopes up though. You and your twin come from outside this world. It wouldn't surprise me if there was nothing on either of you in irminsul at all." Scaramouche complied blankly. He still looked for information inside of the irminsul as they continued.

"...Wait, how'd you know about that? Did Nahida tell you?" Paimon questioned confusingly. She crossed her arms and continued to look at Scaramouche.

"It's not like we've never met before. And anyway, you're world famous. It'd be more surprising if I didn't know a few things about you." Completely ignoring Paimon, he didn't turn around but his gaze moved to Lumine's direction behind him.

Scaramouche still stood silent. The talking of Nahida and Lumine and Paimon all numbed in his brain like static.

After a long time of just standing there completely silent, Paimon finally broke the silence.

"Sh—shall we see how he's doing?" Her voice trembled slightly like she was hesitant. But they approached him anyways.

"Hey, you all right..?" Paimon hesitantly asked.

Scaramouche, turned around at the Traveler and companion. He crossed his arms and had a smug face on like he was up to no good.

"..Are you worried about me? If we didn't have such a history, I'd almost think that qualifies me to be your friend." Scaramouche blankly admitted.

"We just want to make sure this doesn't effect the plan." Lumine stated.

"It won't. I'll keep my end of the deal." Scaramouche said, with that blank tone still painting his tone of voice.

Scaramouche scoffed quietly as he turned back again towards the tree and stuck his arm out again to collect information once again like nothing happened.

"Hey, are you investigating the stuff we wanna know about?" Paimon asked.

"That's why we're here." Scaramouche replied. His attention was turned once more to the tree.

"But unfortunately, there's no information about the Descenders in Irminsul." Scaramouche shrugged and turned back to them. Nahida and the Traveler talked and Lumine was disappointed, as the same goes with Paimon.

"Does this info count towards my mission? It wasn't from Irminsul, but was it valuable?" Scaramouche asked to Nahida.

"Very valuable." She responded.

"Good. In that case... I'll take some time for myself now." Scaramouche suddenly smirked, and a bubble like barricade surrounded them.

"Lesser Lord Kusanali was right: My power's all but completely spent. Even if I use all of the divine power left in me, I can't sustain this shield for very long." Scaramouche continued.

"Lumine, I shared a secret with you, and now you owe me. So, in return, I'd like you to answer a question for me." Scaramouche stepped forward to them both.

"What do you wanna know?" Lumine's curiosity was somewhat piqued.

Only speaking to the Traveler, he carefully worded out

"Give me your hand." Scaramouche stuck his hand out for the Traveler to hold. He waited, but the Traveler hesitated. But held his hand anyway.

"Can you hear my voice inside your head?" Scaramouche asked. His voice echoed through Lumine's mind as she processed it.

"Are you trying to brainwash me?" Lumine asked, completely ignoring his question, but somewhat answering it at the same time.

"No, l cant do anything like that anymore. At most, all l can do is exchange a few words with you." Scaramouche blankly said.

"So tell me: in this world, is it possible... to change the past?" Scaramouche asked sternly. It set Lumine off a bit.

"Wait, why would you ask that...?" Lumine responded. He was definitely up to no good whatsoever.

"Done." Scaramouche let go of her hand and the bubble disappeared. Paimon was completely clueless as she just floated there, next to them.

"Huh? What the.. What happened? Paimon only saw you hold hands for a second.." Paimon pointed out. Lumine thought for a second until he looked at Paimon.

"Nothing. I was just thanking her for helping me." Scaramouche said blankly, but a smug still painting his expression.

Lumine thought for a second, and then he turned around and walked away towards the tree.

"So long. I suggest you get yourselves out of here quickly." Scaramouche said. He approached the tree.

"Wait— where are you going!?" Paimon exclaimed. They both went running after him, but he disappeared.

"Don't do anything stupid!—" Paimon yelled out. Her voice echoed through the domain and Lumine and Paimon both went looking for him. After a while, he was no where to be found. Only to realize, he erased himself from existence.

☆

days later after his existence was erased, he met with the Traveler, but he was no long the Scaramouche Lumine once knew. He was Wanderer. They quickly resolved that matter into their own hands, reiving the memories of few.

It came until then, he finally remembered you. He totally had forgotten about the person he treasured most. The person who shared a community to show him the love and attention he has now. He still drowned in his guilt, knowing you were dead. Only to be drowning in the memories he once had when he was kabukimono.

"I'm going to get fresh air, Lesser Lord Kusanali." Wanderer put his hat on and looked at Nahida. Nahida had a blanket on the floor as she had some books beside her. She lifted her head towards him, and she smiled.

"Alright, but no need to call me that anymore. Don't go fooling around though, Hat guy." Nahida chuckled.

"Enough with the nickname, anyway bye." Wanderer scoffed and he left. The large door opened, and then closed, leaving an echo in the large sanctuary. Nahida's soft smile still lied on her face, and she went back to reading. Tiny glistening and soft sounds barricaded the outside of the sanctuary.

Wanderer walked out the Sanctuary of Surasthana and exhaled. He stepped down the stairs and walked some more, and then some more.. and then until he couldn't even recognize his surrounds.

"Where the hell am I?" Wanderer looked around his surroundings, of course he was still in the city, just... somewhere he wasn't in before. He went to look around for someone to ask.

He looked down at his pocket, and took something out. It was a tiny puppet. The fabric was soft, and the puppet had soft clothing. Dark indigo hair with flat bangs covered the front, wimpy closed eyes with a single tear drop at the side of the eye. He smiled softly, and it was genuine. The tiny puppet, he made with an old lady. He never met the old lady before, but the lady taught him how to knit a puppet of his own. This one resembled the one he was once given in the past, that was now gone. (Reference found in his story 4)

He exhaled, knowing he'll never see them again, and especially.. you. He sat on a bench looking at the people of Sumeru walking by. Still firmly but gently holding the puppet. Time had passed quickly, and the sun was now over dawn, and the gentle dusk was arriving. He hummed to himself.

His eyes widened when he lied his gaze on a certain figure.

"Wh..." Wanderer's eyebrows furrowed, he shoved the puppet in his pocket and stood up.

"You're... no." Wanderer blinked and then blinked again. Then again, and then again, and then again. He hadn't felt his feeling for a long time. Tears glistened from his eyes.

He ran towards the figure pushing away from the small crowds and didn't hesitate.

He was so close, and he engulfed the stranger with a hug.

"Wh— who?—" the stranger and Wanderer tripped a little until they got a steady balance. His hat fell on the floor.

"Hm?" The stranger looked up at the person, it was wanderer. Hugging them from behind and hugging them tight against his chest. His head lying on their shoulder.

"Have we met before?" The person turned their head and gave Wanderer a warm smile. Wanderer lifted his head and looked at them.

His expression was normal, but then immediately contorted into his furrowed eyebrows and his slightly agape mouth.

"No it can't...—" Wanderer hitched his breath.

"Do you have the wrong person?" Their warm smile changed into an awkward one. A feeling of nostalgia washed over them, like this had happened before. But where? When?

Wanderer looked at them, tears falling down his face.

"Wha— are you okay?!" The stranger suddenly panicked and they both suddled down a little. They both sat at a bench as Wanderer sniffed through his tears.

"I'm sorry for the sudden outbreak. You just reminded me of someone." Wanderer apologized. But he had to make sure, he had to make sure—

"It's okay it's okay! I was just kind of lost around Sumeru city, you seem like you know your way around here." The person pointed out.

"Oh uhm, no. I was just lost as well." Wanderer awkwardly said.

The person chuckled and continued to talk. Wanderer had to make sure. The way you talked, the way your hair looked, the way your eyes glistened and the way you just.. looked at him. It was like you were talking to an old friend, but you just met him.. right?

"Oh! I'm sorry I was rambling, was I wasting your time?" The person came in an abrupt stop in their sentence and looked at Wanderer in slight worry.

"No, you're not. Keep talking." Wanderer chuckled and gave them a small smile.

The person stared at Wanderer, their expression softening. Has this happened before? It felt like it's happened multiple times, so many times.

From afar, Nahida was watching them both. Blending in with the small crowds of people, she walked and looked at them with a soft gaze.

"Oh? Okay then! And apparently in Liyue they have really good teas, I feel like you'd like ones that are especially bitter. I'm sorry if I'm assuming but I just feel like it." They talked cheerfully at Wanderer. Wanderer was so blinded by listening to them talk he didn't even know his big softie side was showing.

"Oh I almost forgot to introduce myself! My name is ____." They added.

Wanderer's smile faded. And he looked at them. He didn't hesitate to ask but he sat up more straight and his mouth began to open.

"Can I hug you?" Wanderer gently asked.

"Hm? Okay." They said. They opened their arms and Wanderer didn't hesitate to come into their embrace. His arms wrapped around their waist and he hid his head in their shoulder. Gently sneaking his hand cupping the back of their head with it.

"It is you." Wanderer gently muttered.

For the people that read the part of him in the irminsul with the Traveler and paimon the dialog comes from the actual game so credit to them!! And some other small references put in it. I hope u enjoy the angsy 🫶🫶

@kaahgyuya 9/24/23 12:01 pm

[sachirobabe]

Chapter 5

Gojo Satoru x reader

Wc: 3576

Curseless au

Summary: Amidst the zombie apocalypse, your courage shines as you not only saves lives but capture the heart of Gojo Satoru. Together with his first-year students, you all embark on a perilous journey, not only for survival but in a quest for a cure that adds a poignant layer to the unfolding romance.

<— Previous | Masterlist | Next —>

"Where's Shoko?" Gojo asks as the two of you walk back into the kitchen/dining area.

Before Nanami could answer, the kitchen doors swing open, revealing a girl with brown hair. "What now—oh, you must be Y/n." She smiles. "I'm Shoko, I'm so happy to have someone smart."

"Oh, thanks," you laugh, "Are you a doctor as well?" She nods and takes out a cigarette.

"I for sure would've thought that you'd quit those by now." Gojo shakes his head, assisting you in sitting.

"I will." She rolls her eyes. "Unless we figure out how to make our own." Shoko winks at you.

It's ironic, a doctor smoking. They're all about health and here she is, smoking a cigarette without a care in the world, literally.

"How do you deal with him?" She asks you, "I already like you more than Gojo."

"He's not that bad." You say and he grins at you. "Well," you begin, "he did almost get us killed the first time we met."

"He's never leaving your side now." Shoko shakes her head, "You should've seen him before all of this happened."

"He was insufferable." Nanami's deep voice chimes in.

"Hey!" Gojo frowns, "I'm not that bad."

The entire group laughs, it felt a little nice to forget about the tragedies happening outside. It's quickly ruined as you let your mind slip away from the conversation at hand.

You remember everything that you had taken for granted. Now you're sure it'll never go back to normal unless there's another planet suitable for sustaining life. Even then, there's no way of knowing if there's someone capable of building a rocket.

You're in the beginning stages of spiraling, you feel like crying and shutting out the whole world. You excuse yourself to the bathroom, everybody continues the conversation. You briefly hear them talking about getting some rest for the night as you leave.

You quickly close the bathroom door behind you, your breathes become more rapid and tears begin to fill your eyes, you don't bother in blinking them away. You think it's better to feel your emotions rather than conceal them. You manage to keep your meltdown quiet, so others wouldn't worry as they walked by.

The thought of life and how everything is gonna turn out is eating you alive, your tears fall quicker when you think about if you'll survive, you're careful when going out, but are you going to have to live your entire life killing zombies and scavenging for food?

You're overwhelmed by the amount of questions flooding your mind, but you begin to calm yourself down, firstly by your breathing. They're not as frantic as before, you remind yourself to take it day by day. 'You're not alone now.' You repeat to yourself.

You blow your nose and wash your face to cool you down, your eyes look tired as you stare at yourself in the mirror. You give yourself another minute to make it look like you weren't just having a breakdown.

As soon as you open the door you're met with Gojo, his arm freezes in mid-air as he was about to knock.

"There you are." He smiles, you force one back and quickly advert your eyes, faking a yawn. "Everyone's heading to bed, you tired?"

You nod, even though you aren't. "Are you?" You ask and clear your throat after it came out raspy.

"Not really. We don't have to keep watch either, Nanami turned on the fence and made sure all the doors were locked." He says.

"That's good." You nod.

"Let's stay up a bit," He smiles and wraps his arm around you to help. He definitely notices your eyes being red, he's seen you tired and this was not it. "I'm so glad we found my friends—"

"Gojo, I'm sorry, but I really am tired." You interrupt him, now feeling even worse than you did.

He stops you both in the hallway and forces you to take a seat next to him, "No you're not. What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm tired like I said." You sigh.

"Liar." He sits next to you, fiddling with his fingers, "I could tell something was up when you left."

You try again once more, "I had to use the bathroom, nothing else."

"Bullshit," He starts, "This is my question. What's wrong?" His eyes now meet yours and you avoid his blue eyes.

You clench your jaw. You felt pathetic having to tell him that you were crying because of the future, you had only known him for a few days, but your trust in him had grown exponentially due to the circumstances, and that scares you as well.

"I didn't feel good."

"About what?" He pushes.

"The future. It's scary and sometimes it overwhelms me." You shrug, resting your head on your good leg.

He stays silent for a moment, nodding to your statement. "You can talk about it to me. No more of this 'I barely know you' bullshit, we're all surviving together."

You flinch a little at his harsh words, "I was just upset, that's all. When I'm upset I cry, it feels better to let it out." Your eyes are now staring into his, "And it terrifies me that I don't know what the future will be like. Will we have enough food? Will the government save us? It's endless."

"We'll get through it. Day by day." He reassures. "You don't think I'm terrified too? I worry about keeping my students safe, my friends, and now you. The government probably doesn't even exist anymore, we're fending for ourselves, which is terrifying, but the more people you have, the easier it is."

You feel your tears begin again and look away, this time you're able to blink them away, Gojo was making it harder because he rubbed your back reassuringly.

"I already failed in keeping you safe." He sighs, "It was so stupid of me to not think about jumping it before the zombies came." His brows furrowed.

"You weren't the one climbing, I was. I got myself hurt, don't feel like you need to take responsibility for that. You've already done so much for your students." You say. 

He shakes his head, his white fluffy hair falling into his eyes. "I don't know what I'd do if any of them got hurt. Any of you." He admits.

"You put a lot of pressure on yourself." You say, "I think you should depend on us sometimes too." He smiles softly at your words and gently bumps his shoulder with yours.

"Do you feel better?" He asks, noticing your sleepy face.

"Yeah. Thank you, Gojo." Your head leans back against the wall, your eyelids feel heavier with every blink.

"Satoru."

"Hm?" You say, barely keeping your eyes open.

"Call me Satoru." You nod and rest your head on his shoulder, he doesn't mind, laying his own on top of yours.

It was silent for a few minutes, Gojo listens to your breathing soften and knows you've just fallen asleep. Now that he's alone in his thoughts he thinks about a lot that you said, he wonders how a cure could be found. He knows it'd be impossible to turn zombies back into humans, but what about preventing humans from turning?

It was late enough, he hadn't slept much in days, he was really feeling the effects of it. He gently moves your head off of him and is careful when picking you up bridal style. He quietly walks into the room and sees Nanami awake, a small flashlight in his hand as he reads a book.

He gives his friend a nod as he sees his futon is already set up, he gently puts you back down, making sure your injured leg is straight and not gonna ruin the stitches. Then he places a blanket over your body, he stares at you for a long as he can before his eyes give out on him and he passes out.

Your thigh is extremely sore, the small cuts have began to scab and your stitches are swelling, but that's to be expected. You finish wrapping and stand up, the place has running water and electricity, so you enjoyed a warm shower.

You walk down to get breakfast, wondering what the plans are for today, you see everybody already eating.

"Your food might be cold." Nanami says as he slides your plate and you thank him.

"Do you want it warm?" Satoru asks.

You're a little confused, "What?"

"Your food," He says, "do you want it to be warm?"

"Um, it's okay, it's my fault it's cold—" You begin, but he takes your plate and is off to the kitchen.

"Your leg feeling better?" Shoko asks, her fork is cutting up some of her food as she slowly eats it.

"I'm very sore today, so no venturing out for me." You chuckle, you tell her in a little more detail about the stitches and how it's healing, knowing she'd understand.

Satoru comes back with your food, now steaming. He sits back down and takes a bite of your sausage, "It's a fee."

You rolled your eyes, "Thank you." The first and second years were messing around in another room, so it was just the adults at the table. Satoru really knew how to push people's buttons, you've lost count at how many times Nanami has rolled his eyes at the white haired male.

"I'm trying to be serious here with you, Gojo, but I'm about to throw you out to the zombies." Nanami threatens, he takes his map back from the man child, erasing the drawings he was making.

"You know I'd win." He grins.

"Unfortunately. I'll take you out myself then." He glares and lays the map back out on the table, you move your plate to the side so there'd be more room.

"What's this?" You ask, putting your full attention on the blonde.

"A map, duh." Satoru says obviously. You can't tell if he's trying to annoy you as well or if he really meant his statement.

"I'll help Nanami and take you out too, smartass." You deadpan. "The markings." You face Nanami.

"These are all the radio towers we've tried." He softly smiles at your response to Satoru, but it quickly goes away, you're still able to catch it though.

"Oh shit. You've really gone far." Satoru brings himself back into the conversation.

"We'd like to try this one," Shoko places her finger on the map for a moment, "But it's very dangerous there."

"Gangs?" You question and she nods.

"We'd need all the help we could get, I would've liked to leave today, but.." Nanami stops, pointing to your leg.

"You wouldn't risk going without me? I don't want to hold any of you back." You say.

"Gojo says you're valuable when fighting. I'd feel more comfortable having another set of hands and eyes." Nanami explains, "How long would it take for those to heal." He means the stitches.

"Anywhere from 2-4 weeks if I'm careful and clean the wounds often." You estimate. "Could be longer because I'm running out of antiseptic."

"What's that?" Satoru frowns.

"Rubbing alcohol, idiot." Nanami mutters the last word, but Satoru's hearing picks up it.

"Or hydrogen peroxide and iodine." Shoko adds, "For this being military, there's no infirmary."

"Where the hell are we gonna find antiseptics." Satoru rubs his forehead.

"Luck, by visiting the pharmacy's nearby." You say.

"We can do that." Nanami decides, "Anything to get you to heal quicker."

You give him a small smile and thank the group, they are all getting ready to walk around and try and find some extra resources. You are obviously staying behind, you'd only bring the group down in the condition that you're in.

"I can stay with you." Satoru offers.

"No way. I'll be fine. Nothings gonna happen here." You assure, he's bringing up a chair for you to sit in so you wouldn't have to stand while keeping watch to open and close the gate after they leave.

"They don't need me." He smiles, "Plus I know how lonely you'll be without my presence."

"If anything, she's gonna be relieved." Shoko says as she leans against the doorframe and inhales from her cigarette. Satoru frowns at her, "Besides, I need a bodyguard."

"Nanami will be there." Satoru answers.

She shakes her head, "I need all the protection I can get."

Satoru knows what she's doing, "You've survived so far."

"She doesn't need protecting," She points at you with her cigarette, "she's badass. And she saved you." She reminds.

"I wasn't armed," He defends himself, "otherwise I would've protected her." His nose is high in the air, annoyed with the conversation.

"I'll be okay, Satoru. You guys shouldn't be too long anyway." You shrug, "Now go get ready."

He pouts, really wanting to stay there with you. As he leaves he glares at Shoko and she laughs. Nanami comes up after them and explains how to turn the fence on and off, even though you wouldn't need to, and how to open and close the gate.

It was simple, not complicated at all. Shoko handed you a medical book to read knowing you'd get bored. You open the gate and the group quickly slips through, as soon as Satoru goes you push the button to shut it again.

Satoru turns to face where you're at and waves, you chuckle and wave back, not sure if he can even see you. They slowly become smaller and smaller as they continue walking.

You were advised to not move in case anything happens and they needed to be let in quickly. You weren't planning on moving either way, you want to minimize the movement to not reopen the stitches.

Occasionally you'd read a page of the book and look up and scan the area to make sure the group wasn't back yet. It quickly became tedious, you sigh and push the book to the side. You look out to the semi-open land, it was a little out of the city, but there were still occasional buildings and complexes.

Your mind is constantly worrying about food, there is a storage unit attached to the military base you're all currently staying at, but foods gonna run out quickly even with rationing.

Gardening had been a small hobby of yours when you were little, you remember planting all kinds of vegetables with your mother. You smile softly at the thought, your father would snap pictures of two then he'd join in as well.

'Gardening doesn't sound too bad', you think to yourself, but you also think that you'd all have to be permanently stationed somewhere, it'd be difficult to move plants, you didn't know too much about that.

Out of the corner of your eye you spot white hair, it was of course Satoru. The group was back, you frown as you felt like not much time had gone by. The sun was starting to go down a little, you must've been daydreaming a lot longer.

You make sure no zombies or others were following them as you push the button to open the gate, you shut it once they've all slipped through and slowly make your way back down to the main area to greet them.

"Any luck?" You ask.

"We found antiseptics." Itadori answers, wiping his nose from the cold.

"And some bandages and stuff, no luck on food though." Shoko smiles and takes off her coat.

"Let's go, I'll help you re-bandage." Satoru says, holding you again.

"First-years, you guys are in charge of dinner." Nanami says and sits down with Shoko and the second-years.

"Ramen." Nobara declares as she heads into the kitchen and the two boys follow after her.

"Anything happen out there?" You ask Satoru as he sets you down on the toilet seat.

"Nah. Not much trouble, what about here?" He says as he carefully unravels your wrapping.

You shake your head, "No, but I was thinking," You begin and he nods letting you know he's listening, "I've been worrying about the food and how quickly we're gonna go through it, if we can find some crops or seeds anywhere I can replant them."

"Not bad," He smiles widely, "I don't think we'll be staying here permanently though."

"I know. I'd also like to have a lab to work with Shoko in, you know maybe find out some more things about the zombies." You say, "A military base would be the best for us, it's secure."

"I agree," he sighs, "I'm not sure how long we'll stay here." His hands are careful as he dumps the liquid over your thigh. You're starting to get used to the burning.

"Has Nanami had any luck radioing?" You do some breathing to help get your mind off of the sting.

Satoru shakes his head, "I don't think we will, but it's worth a shot."

You watch him clean up the liquid, his hands are still freezing as ever, but he's starting to get the hang of bandaging.

"Let's get you all better, starting with no walking." Satoru picks you up carefully just how he did the night before.

"Woah—" Your eyes widen, "I can walk—"

"Nuh uh, we want you healed as quickly as possible." He says.

"You'll get tired of carrying me." You answer back.

"I'm strong." He winks at you and then looks ahead.

"What if I have to go to the bathroom." You deadpan.

"Looks like I'm going too." He smiles widely. "Kidding, I'll wait outside." He rolls his eyes.

The next few weeks go by excruciating slow, you felt terrible about getting injured, but it couldn't be helped now. Everyone was so helpful and kind during your healing process.

You had gotten closer to the second-years, all of them have been great. Maki was still a little unsure about you, but at least she was kinder now.

Satoru though, in just a few short weeks you had developed a small little crush. He had a way with words and was much more comfortable with you now. You know it'll go away, you've just been deprived of human interaction. That's what you keep telling yourself.

But in the meantime, it was fun to have one despite the circumstances. He was there for you for your whole recovery, anything you mentioned he got it done.

"You want to watch?" You ask confusingly to Satoru.

"Yeah!" He excitedly says. "I was forced to be your butler so I wanna see my work be payed off."

"You offered." You press your lips into a thin line and he just chuckles at your reaction. You slowly removed each stitch and Satoru watched intently. You could feel his breath on your leg from how close he was.

"We should keep this as a trophy!" He says as you plant them in his gloved hand.

"Why would I do that?" You frown, inspecting your work and seeing your wounds healed. You still put on some ointment to keep it from getting dry and itchy.

"Is this your first time having stitches?" He asks and you nod, "Well, I'd say that's a milestone."

"We're not keeping them. That's gross." You say and force him to toss them in the trash.

"Let's see that leg in action." He backs away and gasps dramatically as you stand, "Good as new! All thanks to me." He stands proudly.

You roll your eyes at the man and walk past him, it felt good to stand and walk on your own. You still have to be careful since the area is still a little tender. Everybody was sat near the kitchen, all eyes turned to you and smiles were plastered on every face as they realized.

"You're good as new!" Itadori gives you his famous smile.

"Glad to have you back, these losers need a bodyguard." Nobara says and both boys glare at her.

"We should start planning." Nanami says as you sit down, he notices Satoru walk into the room and frown when he sees his students already taking a seat next to you. Nanami eyes the spot next to him and Satoru grumbles.

"It'll take us about three weeks to get there and back." Shoko says, pulling out a small notebook and pencil to write things down.

You feel someone bang on the table twice, all of your attention goes to Inumaki as he signs, "What about the cars?"

Nanami sighs, "It'll bring too much attention. I don't want any trouble." He signs back.

Inumaki thinks for a moment, "I think it'll make us look scarier and less approachable."

"I agree." Panda signs.

"Maybe next time, we have to be strategic with our risks." Satoru joins in and Inumaki slumps in his seat, not wanting to walk for weeks.

"We have our rest stops, remember?" Maki says to help ease the pain of walking for long periods of time.

"And what if the tower doesn't work?" You say, Satoru interprets for Inumaki since you're still learning to sign.

"At least we'll know." Nanami eyes the map, "I know there's a huge military base near the coast. I used to drive by it sometimes."

"It's far from where we are and if we get there and find out it's taken, we'd have nowhere to go." Shoko adds.

"Alright, so when do we leave." You say.

"Tomorrow." Satoru declares.

[thexgrayxlady]

I think I like the idea of Murtagh and Thorn handling side quest type things for a while once they make it out to Mt Angor. As annoyed as Murtagh is that his already abbreviated training keeps getting interrupted, Thorn's the only mature dragon who isn't tied down to one location.

The first time, they're sent up to the north of the spine, near Carvahall. The longer they're up there, the more Murtagh suspects that the villagers did not need the help of a dragon rider to get rid of a particularly vicious cave bear, but he's already here and it's nice to feel useful and wanted and once he gets over himself, he gets to meet Roran. Reuniting with his brother wasn't nearly as horrible as he thought it would be. Adding a cousin to the mix shouldn't be that bad. Once the initial awkwardness is past, they get along like a house on fire. Even so, he tries to leave quietly once the bear's been tracked and dispatched.

Roran's having none of it. He and Thorn are family, even if he is a prickly grouch. They're at least staying for dinner. Thorn will not let him say no. Ismira is delighted by her uncle and his dragon friend. Dinner turns into a few extra days of helping around Carvahall and spending time with his family. By the time he actually leaves, he, Thorn, Katrina, and Roran are plotting to kidnap Eragon and bring him out here for Ismira's birthday.

Then they spend a few weeks in Illeria, trying to help Nasuada negotiate with the mages because the system, as it's currently set up, is a powder keg. They're happy to see Alin settling in nicely and that she's genuinely enjoying the outside world. Murtagh gets to be a fancy boy who knows politics at galas. He's having the time of his life dragging an ambassador for being a bad dancer. The four of them get involved in so many spy thriller shenanigans because Murtagh cannot go five minutes without kicking some kind of hornets nest.

They go north and fight a sea serpent alongside Uvek. Murtagh can only watch with horror while Thorn plunges into the icy abyss to stop it from dragging their boat under. Then lines on their harpoons go slack and come up cut. He's about to dive in after him when Thorn's head breaches the waves.

"She will not trouble your tribes anymore," Thorn says, dragging himself, panting, onto the pack ice, and adds softly, "I could not bear to destroy something with such a beautiful song."

They find more leads on the Draumar, only now they have enough experience to follow them safely.

Of course, half the time they either create or stumble into far more problems than they wanted. Murtagh can escalate taking care of some small time bandits into a narrowly averted major diplomatic incident between the Broddring Empire and Surda in under three minutes. At one point, they go to take care of some minor smuggling and somehow, wind up leading a heist in Ellesmera and both refuse to elaborate on how those two things are connected.

Eragon looses count of the number of times they come back far later than anticipated, and when questioned about it, Murtagh's first answer is just, "Fucking Durza!"

Thorn continues his side quest to get Murtagh laid, only now he's armed with the knowledge of romantic ballads. His arranged meet-cutes with any of the men or women he deems acceptable are met with a resounding lack of success.

Thorn builds his confidence up with bandits and wild animals and more of the little surprises Durza left around the continent. He learns drinking songs and ballads in taverns and from harvest festivals and on the road and eventually starts to share his own work. He watches people change from approaching him with fear, to caution, to acceptance, and eventually to joy.

And slowly, but surely the people of Alagaësia stop feeling dread at the sight of the red dragon and his rider and instead, feel safe.

[bibibi-tchx]

welp shit

it was fun while it lasted, but rd is the foundation of my fic universe, and it is so so hard for me to ignore whats happened and continue writing

and YES ik its scripted, ive just got bp2 and therefore cannot cope

if it was somehow all a ruse, then expect me coming back when its revealed but until then clove is outy

thank you all sm for the love and inspiration, but since the liv thing even started its been hard

keep reading for the fic

im gna copy and paste it here, and if anyone wants to finish it go ahead, just make sure u credit me

They could do this. They could totally do this.

It was their first proper outing to a social event as a family, a work related event no less, since Rhea’s departure. Each member of the Judgement Day, and a plethora of their colleagues, had received an email from the big man, Triple H, himself, inviting them all to a company gathering to commemorate the company’s milestones since his takeover. It weren’t as if they could decline, either, because pretty much the whole roster from each show had been invited, and the whole of Judgement Day (including Rhea, barring the fact that it had to be discussed on a FaceTime where the whole family- inclusive of JD McDonagh for once- could come to a verdict) had agreed to going so that no one could possibly call them out on bunking the event.

For obvious reasons, Rhea herself would not be turning up, but she had played an essential role in levelling Dominik’s confidence to go to the event and actually socialise with his fellow wrestlers on the FaceTime call, reminding him of sweet nothings, of how far he has come in such a short period and how proud she’ll be even if he went with a pout on his face like he had been stuck in for the last few weeks.

So far, it had been a rough month or so without her, with all of the issues regarding Dominik and the rocky relationship he had been beginning to have with his regression since Rhea had returned back home to Australia, and then the whole debacle around Dominik feeling as though he would be abandoned to revel and reside in emotions of utmost despair- especially in the way in which Damian’s actions would juxtapose depending on if they were in front of the cameras, out in the ring, or when they finally reached backstage: where any quests initiated by preying and hurtful eyes that would attempt to enact upon their cruel and ignorant judgements based upon the interactions within their dynamic could be shut down.

In the most simplest ways of describing it: it had been an incredible mess, that not only Dominik learned that Damian, and Finn, would always love him to the point where it could be sickening, but Damian had it honed into his own mind that Dominik needed to understand that he was cherished, and Damian needed to express that no matter where they were. Even if there were thousands of people staring at them. Damian couldn’t keep on maintaining the perpetuating, unrelenting nightmarish cycle of not truly nor effectively communicating how much he genuinely felt heaps of adoration for Dominik outside of their family home; thus, Dominik was left to his own devices to think that Damian did not love him.

Overall, to keep it even more brief than before, it had been a horrible, cob-webbed debacle that no one in their family ever wanted to recreate.

As Dominik leans into Austin Theory slightly, knowing that the action makes people believe as though he is actually digesting their dialogue, he can’t help but pay mind to the feelings of layering guilt- he wanted to go home, but he knows how much work had been put into this moment; how long it took for them to get Dominik somewhat keen to go, and even getting ready had been a bit of a chore from what Dominik could remember from behind the fog of his headspace.

Originally, after some cajoling and totally-not-bribery from all three of Dominik’s caregivers, Dominik had been the most amped up to go, eager to finally step his anxious footing into the barrelling outside world after hiding away in the guarding of his Papi and his Daddy’s arms since Rhea’s departure to Australia. He had dragged Damian and Finn throughout their home, helping (more like rushing) them to get ready- even despite how he only had one working arm. Dominik was finally ready to leave the nest, in an odd way.

“Faster, Daddy! We got’sa go to the party!” Was hollered out from the depth of Dominik's throat more times than Finn would like to admit. But, in Finn’s defence, it is harder than the majority would think to wrangle a fully grown, six foot, toddler into the only sweatshirt that he would wear.

Not because any others were dirty. Or because of the presence of any holes in the fabric.

No- because Dominik wanted to wear his dark blue sweatshirt, the one with ‘Atlanta’ written across the chest in white lettering, and there was no other one that he wanted to wear. He had to wear that sweatshirt. And, by now in their loving dynamic, Damian and Finn knew more than fully well at this point it was better to try and help Dominik with what he wanted to achieve as long as it was within reasonable means.

After all, the whole point of Dominik’s age regression was to help him heal from what he had faced growing up; to give him a stable sense of self where he can be extremely secure in the knowledge that he does have a support system.

What damage is letting Dominik be spoiled with a sweatshirt going to do to that bond they had carefully crafted?

Then, it was having to wrestle (not literally, of course) with Dominik’s black arm sling. It wasn’t at all akin to Rhea’s injury, and he was able to remove the sling when having a bath, but the ever kind doctors had advised that Dominik to try and keep the muscle compress on for as long as humanly possible: and Rhea had been fully made aware of this development as well; so, even from across the globe, Rhea had cracked down on her parenting partners with an iron fist to ensure that this had been implemented. Of course, both Finn and Damian had consequently agreed with this revelation. Additionally, there was no way that they were going to go against Rhea’s orders.

On the hour ride over- which, they were immensely happy for, as the shorter rides means that Damian doesn’t have to worry about packing snacks for when they were on the vexatiously long motorways- they had managed to help ease Dominik away from the light fuzz that was associated with his headspace whilst he was regressed, hyping him up and encouraging Dominik to relish the social evening for what it was: to take it as a time to distract himself from the eternally gnawing sensation that had been clawing and weighing down his heart since that fateful day back in April where Rhea had kissed him goodbye whilst he hid under the comforting leather of Damian’s jacket.

But, alas, an hour into the event, Dominik’s ears were starting to ring out, all of the noise meshing together in cruel and despicable ways.

The offensive hum of the people collided with the bombarding bass of the music, and all Dominik wanted to do was return back into the crook of either of his caregivers’ arms before they would head home where Dominik wouldn’t be subjected to the horrible noises of anything else but Finn’s exceedingly engaging storytelling, and the soft lull of Damian’s singing voice dancing in his ear drums.

His brown eyes darted around the room, not intentionally ignoring Austin Theory, notwithstanding the irksome fact that Austin was dragging on a pointless conversation, remaining to talk absolute nonsense into his ears, as Dominik knows it can be considered rude to not pay his attention to his friend, but he needed to locate Damian or Finn- he needed his ear defenders, at the very least.

Typically, Dominik would have all of his sensory-related items on his person, all organised neatly (all thanks to Damian, in that regard) into the tight compartments of his black backpack, that would always be slung around his shoulder and swinging against his shoulder blade- whereas Damian would hold his age regression supplies in his own matching (literally: it was the exact same bag and brand) black backpack. That was purely to restrict any confusion between the two bags, in case Dominik needed to whip out a fidget toy, and ended up yanking out his dark blue pacifier inside its sticker-covered plastic case.

One is a much more prefered conversation to have with nyon strangers than the other.

However, tonight, the group had made the very conscious decision to keep both bags secured, locked inside of their black Range Rover in a means of trying to prevent either bag from going missing or getting left behind due to the high levels of social intensity in the event.

Finn and Damian had checked with Dominik multiple times about the decision, not wanting to shove Dominik into a situation without any easy access to his comfort items, but Dominik had given them the same tooth-bearing grin as he usually does (the one that makes both of their hearts melt at the drop of a hat), shooting them a little, “Yeah! I’m all good!”, and they were on their merry way.

They brushed their way through the security briefing, with the whole shebang of ‘no drugs, no this, no that’ with everyone having to agree that no recreational drugs will be used on their premises, even despite how they literally worked there and knew all of this, and then the reminders of where to go if there was a fire. Triple H had concluded the meeting with bustles of praise, after all, it had been a celebration of their recent successes in terms of the brand’s growth around the world in the last few months, a way of the higher ups giving their thanks and recognition to their wrestlers. A nice treat as a means to encourage this behaviour. So, it makes sense for the Big Boss, something that Dominik has heard Damian refer to him as a lot more frequently than before, to make sure everyone left the room with a positive sense of keenness for the upcoming future of their company.

The only thing Dominik had paid attention to in the briefing was the suffocating sensation in the room, staring at the sweeping amount of people that had filled the meeting room to the brim.

Even as they began to sizzle out, groups and friends making their way to all of the different rooms to the evening, Dominik’s mind kept on focusing on how utterly foreboding it all felt; the awfully paralysing size of the people in each room painting Dominik with increasing layers of agony as he continued to survey the area.

There were bustles of them, incredulous amounts of many crowds of loud people surrounded them, laughing, talking, flirting- the whole seemingly-desirable package of general socialisation that was expected when it came to their company meetings.

Party? Meeting? Neither caregiver, JD, nor Dominik had really the foresight to pinpoint which this event was categorised as: the email hadn’t been all that clear. Sure, there wasn’t as much alcohol as a party, but there was no way it was a proper ‘meeting’, less there wouldn’t be such a heavy emphasis on all of the wrestlers from across all of the shows being able to socialise with each other.

Dominik knew that Damian was most likely to go and congregate along with the other champions, which he was more than fine with, and he had seen Finn and JD leave the meeting room with an unfamiliar woman, but Dominik mustered up the courage to try and be big, to try and talk with everyone else.

“I mean, who does that? Like-“ Austin continues, and Dominik knows that he’s merely just attempting to formulate a conversation with one of his longest friends since he ever joined the company itself, but he doesn’t want to talk anymore.

He wants his muffling sound defenders: the sticker-covered pair that he had decorated with his Mami back when she was still with them, and she wanted to do some activities with her little boy before they would head on their way together to one of her doctor appointments for her shoulder injury.

He wants to hide away from the world once more: to shove his head into his weighted blankets and feel the weight of the world transfer from him to the beads inside the grey and fluffy blanket.

He wants his Daddy and his Papi: he wants to pull them into the tightest cuddle that Dominik could ever be capable of mustering up the strength to enact upon, just so that he didn’t have to deal with none of the abrasive lighting of the rooms across the floor which the social gathering was taking place upon as his Papi would tower over any light coming through, and his Daddy’s hand would distract Dominik, toying with his dark brown locks of luscious hair that was still growing out strongly, his long and calloused hands working their ways in a rhythmic and familiar manner.

Maybe, just maybe, Dominik wasn’t all that prepared to go out and socialise as much as he originally thought. The promise of some of Damian’s specialised chocolate mousse that he crafts for Dominik at home be damned.

The haziness that often accompanies his headspace makes itself known, knocking at the doors of his mind with pastel hues and reminders that he’s clearly much too little or small to be in such a grown-up, matured, space like the one he was in. Dominik doesn’t particularly know where the heavy emotions had come from, nor can he exactly pinpoint when they had begun to swim in his mind, chucking any coherent, adult, thoughts out from his conscious mindspace with a beckoning urge to scream, cry out for his caregivers so that they could pluck him up from the agonisingly sticky leather sofa where people were ingesting ludicrous amounts of alcohol (he swears Triple H had put a limit on how much everyone could drink) and engaging in with prattling conversations and take him back home.

Dominik sucks in a breath of tension, holding it staunchly in the jaws of his mouth so as to prevent alerting Theory, or any of the other people on the sofa they were sitting together on, that something was starting to off-hilter his mind. The doe brown of his eyes look back at Austin, sending a swift smile (though, a thought rushes to his mind that his Mami would have pointed out that it was a ‘bread smile’- whatever that meant, it always went over Dominik’s head, so he never gave much actual thought to it) as a makeshift way of giving Theory the illusion that Dominik was still listening to what he was saying, before they go back to surveying the room.

He doesn’t see Damian.

And Dominik definitely cannot see Finn, nor does JD McDonagh breach his cautious eyeline.

But, there is one person that he sees. Sure, the guy himself is probably one of the loudest in the room, maybe one of the loudest people in the whole company, but Dominik had grown comfortable with the dude, even more so since he had practically saved him during the Royal Rumble- even though the reasoning behind his help was a bit out of pocket.

R-Truth was across the room, talking in that gravel-soaked voice that always made a regressed Dominik feel ever-so giggly. It appears as though Truth was the only person in the room who was actually aware of his regression, and Dominik doesn’t really have to second guess nor does he have the ability to dismiss that vague idea.

Dominik silently, fondly, curses Rhea, Finn and Damian for being territorial when it comes to him, not allowing any unwanted eyes to peek through their family curtains, and guarding Dominik with what might as well have been diamond swords. Maybe if they weren’t so restrictive, he could have the capabilities to find someone else, and not be forced to interrupt R-Truth’s conversation with some of the older wrestlers, who would have all known Dominik since he was actually as old as he feels, if not a little bit older.

Though, Dominik knows that their protection and restrictive behaviour is all in good faith to cage him from those who are able to cause any sort of disruption to him.

The Miz was there,obviously, and he’d seen Dominik back when he was still just a preteen. It was evident that he was by R-Truth’s side because he had assigned himself R-Truth’s caretaker, something that Dominik found funny to no end, but it also looks as though they were talking to Triple H himself, and that man has known him since Dominik could really remember when he had started to accompany his father to the shows.

“Sorry, Austin, but I wanna go speak to Triple H about something- y’know, before he slips off to go boast to whoever will listen to him again.” Dominik makes a measly attempt at a joke, but it appears to work as Austin chuckles a little, slapping his hand on Dominik’s shoulders in a clumsy, obviously intoxicated, manner.

“You go do you, big man. Good luck!” Austin cheers, pointing his drink in Dominik’s general vicinity, the cliche red cup in his hands causing Dominik to giggle a little about how Austin was the picture perfect example of an American party-goer.

The heavenly giggle still lays upon the pink of his lips just as Dominik waves his goodbye to Austin, “Thank you, Theory! I’ll see you later!” Dominik calls out, although, if things went his way, then there’s a very little chance that Theory will actually see Dominik again for the rest of the evening.

He walks the five seconds over to where R-Truth, Triple H and the Miz are in what is definitely exceeding five seconds, trying his best not to anger a colleague or two as he has to swim his way through the sea of people, having to keep in mind that shoving was rude, and that if his Papi or Daddy were to see him shove someone, without their direct guidance or direction, then they will surely be upset with the lack of manners, reminding him that his Mami always preaches about how we have to be kind to others, and they will be nicer to us in the return.

Funnily enough, the Miz caught Dominik heading their way first, and he more than welcomes the distraction- there’s a sense of fond annoyedness that Dominik sees in his Papi’s dark brown eyes whenever he’s up to mischief, and relief begins to collide with the anxiety that he was feeling only a few seconds ago.

“Wassup, little dude!” Before the Miz even gets a chance to welcome Dominik with grateful arms into the conversation, R-Truth beckons out a typical greeting, and the nickname makes Dominik want to bounce on his feet in delight; he’s not as graceful in stopping the behaviour, but he manages to reign it in.

R-Truth brings in Dominik for a ‘hug’: it was not so much as a hug but a way for R-Truth to have an excuse to pick up Dominik, his cherished and white Jordans dangling from the height that the older wrestler has managed to bring him up to, and swing him from side to side.

If Dominik wasn’t feeling the haze and the sensations of bewilderment of his headspace before R-Truth had made him feel about as heavy as a feather, he definitely was now. The fact that all three of them towered over him didn’t exactly help that much either- all it did was remind Dominik that he was evidently too small to be in such a setting, much too little, and that he needed to find his Daddy and his Papi to aid him in whisking all of the negativity and lugubriosity of the world.

“Hey, big dude!” Dominik says with a shabby, cheerful tone, repeating their nicknames for each other that had been coined during their time together whilst Truth was terrorising their family during the Monday Night Raw segments.

Although, behind the scenes was a whole different scene: Damian and R-Truth got along more than Dominik had ever seen his Papi bond with someone else, and it made the younger Latino happy to witness his Papi, his Damian, to finally get comfortable to relax around other people. And, of course, a regressed Dominik absolutely adored the older man: R-Truth would always pick him up and swing him around; he would crouch down and bend when speaking to Dominik when he was feeling small, which, of course, would only push Dominik deeper into his regression.

R-Truth was the best- no questions asked, no doubt riddled.

The Miz and Triple H join in with welcoming and greeting their younger colleague, but R-Truth, as he typically does, pounces back into the conversation- “What brings you over here, Dom Dom? What can I do for you?” Truth’s smile is truly infectious, and Dominik feels his lips replicating the joyous feeling that R-Truth was spreading as he tries to think of an answer.

He opens and closes his mouth for a second or so, fumbling around for a response- although, yet again, Dominik is interrupted by R-Turth’s hoarse voice ringing through their social circle, his eyes scanning around Dominik momentarily before looking in different areas of the room they were in, “Where’s the big dog?” R-Truth questions, hints of concern beginning to trail in his tone, increasing in prowess as Dominik shrugs his shoulders, a neat and non-verbal way of letting Truth know that Dominik was not aware of Damian’s location, “What about that grumpy old man Finn?” R-Truth tries again, and upon Dominik repeating his earlier actions, the older man sighs in a dramatic, hyperbolised manner, “Not even that alien looking dude?”

Dominik giggles a smidge at the insult aimed towards JD, and R-Truth’s dark brown eyes bulge open as he realises that Dominik had clearly come to him because of the fact that everyone else was off, leaving Dominik behind in a space that, judging by the way he was bouncing on his heels subtly, now that Truth actually gets a chance to analyse it, “No idea, dog. I was hoping that you’d seen them, actually.”

“Oh snap…y’know what, Mizer-”

“Miz.”

“And Mister H-Man-”

“I’ll take that.”

“Were starting to bore me- all this talk about the championships. You get it, don’t you, little champ? You guys should see how much he takes after Dame.” R-Truth comments, large hands gesturing at Dominik’s outfit, pointing at the matching silver chains (the really cool ones that Damian had gotten him even before he knew of Dominik’s regression, with Dominik having the smaller cross whilst Damian had the bigger one) that he and Damian would always wear together.

Heat rushed to Dominik’s cheeks, flushing his face a paintable shade of pink that highlights the browns of his doe eyes, and he can’t really tell if it’s because of the heat from all of the people, or because R-Truth has just successfully managed to make Triple H chuckle a hint about how much Dominik has been taken after the older Latino man in the last few months.

“So…you don’t mind tagging along?” Dominik asks, a juvenile sense of hope riddled in his voice that R-Truth notices as well- he may not be as well-versed or knowledgable on Dominik whilst in his regressed headspace compared to his three other caregivers, but R-Truth can tell that he was definitely dealing with a smaller version of one of his favourite colleagues.

“Nah- of course not! Farewell, Mister H. Mizer, I’ll catch you later. For now, returning the lost boy to his family!” R-Truth calls out, and Dominik’s just grateful that everyone is so familiar with Truth's shenanigans that no one, absolutely no one, even bats an eyelid in their pathway as R-Truth wraps his large and toned left arm around Dominik’s figure, bringing the regressed boy closer in to his chest so as to shield him from everyone else around them.

R-Truth walks Dominik and himself along the edge of the room, with his own right arm brushing against the wall every so often as he committedly guides Dominik out of the area, doing all he can to be as fast as he could whilst also making sure to treat the Judgement Day’s youngest member with great care as they pushed their way out and into the hallway; a significantly smaller amount of people were loitering in between the three or four rooms that they had been designated to socialise that evening, the only person of note being someone from NXT taking a phone call.

In a husky and hushed tone, R-Truth whispers something of concern into Dominik’s ear.

“Where’s your bag at, kid? That little black one that you and your Papi have.”

Dominik smiles a tad at the implication that someone else outside of his makeshift family actually cares about him that much to notice such intricate details, his voice matching how quiet Truth’s was, a drip of an attitude of a sombre kind evident in his articulation, “In the car- both of ‘em.”

“That’s fine, Dom Dom. I bet your old man has the keys, so why don’t we go find him? A R-Truth and Dominik adventure.” Truth ruffles the brown hair on Dominik’s head as he smoothes out his voice, recalling how the boy’s Mami had informed him one day a few months ago that it was best to distract Dominik with smaller, attainable goals if he was visibly upset or distraught at something and his caregivers were not in the immediate vicinity to even notice Dominik’s shift in mood.

The pair of them remain out in the hallway, utilising the floor-to-ceiling glass panels to save them both the stress of searching each individual hang out spot for Damian’s whereabouts

“He was wearing one of his baseball jerseys, wasn’t he?” Truth prods, trying to aid Dominik in looking for his Papi, who, in retrospect, due to his grand height alone, really shouldn’t be that hard to spot, both R-Truth and Dominik grateful for the fact that it would take significantly less time. Dominik’s head rested onto R-Truth’s shoulder, happy to let his head relax in the older man’s neck whilst they surveyed the room in silence.

Although, as Dominik had grown to be more than fond of in the last few months, R-Truth and silence is a combination that never works cohesively past five seconds.

“What’s the plan when we find your Damian then, little man? Just want to grab your special headphones?” R-Truth enquiries, his eyes squinting as he continues to survey the room, looking for people who appeared to be around Damian’s height as a first clue.

“Don’ know, Truth. I wan’ go home, but I know D…Dame an’ Finn are having fun- I don’ want to make them say bye’s to everyone.” Dominik shrugged his shoulders, the ghost of a pout beginning to strengthen, coming to fruition by the second as he heard R-Truth sigh in a tender and doting manner as Dominik continued, “It’s all so loud and… ugh. So much goin’ on.”

“Kiddo, they won’t mind. They know what they are doing, okay? You don’t ever need to worry about your Damian and Finn- they will absolutely understand if you need to go home. They are your caregivers, and, most importantly, your family. It would be rather silly of them if they didn’t let you go home.” R-Truth does his best to console the growingly anxious Dominik, his eyes catching how Dominik’s feet were shuffling against his own trainers once more. The thumb on R-Truth's left hand, the arm he had been clutching Dominik to his side with, rubbed up and down Dominik’s shoulder.

Suddenly, Dominik’s arm raised upwards and pointed at where he could see his Papi, along with Cody and Bayley (so, Dominik’s estimation was correct about his Damian going to see the other champions) congregating by the snack and drinks table, noticing Damian’s hands being bare of a beverage, which means Dominik obviously has to turn to face Truth as he began to jump on his tip-toes slightly, already starting to feel a bit more happy, “Look, tío!” Dominik says, an adorably awkward merge of a whisper and a yell coming out from his lips.

The sight of Damian makes Dominik teeter more deeper into his headspace, not to mention the deep chuckle from R-Truth upon hearing the term of endearment fall eagerly from childishly rosy-coloured lips.

Sensing a set of light brown eyes- his boy’s light brown eyes, no less- Damian’s own dark brown irises glance up from where they had been focused on Cody Rhodes, and his eyebrows soften, his eyes beginning to crinkle as love swarms his heart upon seeing Dominik switch on his heels to face his friend, R-Truth, a toothy grin on his face and mouthing words that Damian can easily tell, even from the distance alone, is something along the lines of, “Dame!”, as Dominik’s lips hold on the ‘m’ sound for longer than he would with any other word.

The older Peutro-Rican man is snapped out of his love-filled trance upon hearing Bayley let out a joking taunt, “Oh!” She teases, dragging out the vowel for as long as humanly possible, and when Cody catches on to the fact that Domnik is standing outside of the room, his left hand waving big and wide with a teeth-baring smile that could not more obviously be painted on for Damian to see, he cheerfully waves back at the younger boy whilst Bayley continues talking, “I was wondering where Dominik was- he trails right behind you these days; it is honestly so sweet how you care for him like that. How’s he been with the whole Rhea leaving thing?”

Damian expresses his gratitude for her thoughtfulness and compassionate words with a short simper, “He’s been doing better than we thought he would originally; I’m so proud of how he’s been handling it, you have no idea.”

“What about you?”

“Hm?”

Cody repeats himself, this time his hand touching Damian’s shoulder in a friendly and genial approach, “Have you been taking it since Rhea left to go back home? I can only imagine how hard it is for you- you two are literally brother and sister at this point.”

Damian chuckles at the implication, but also finds himself grinning once more at the fact that Cody seems to genuinely care about how he has also been feeling, “Well, I’ve been better, you feel me? It looks like Dominik’s getting all antsy about something, so I’m going have to leave this conversation here. It was genuinely so nice to have this catch up. Hopefully, we get to have another party soon.” Damian swiftly shakes each of their hands, both of his fellow WWE Champions saying similar compliments and niceties to send Damian off with.

Although, Cody does whisper something of note into Damian’s ear, and the way it was said so rushed and yet so cheekily leaves Damian walking away from the conversation with another set of his typical deep and rumbling chuckles, “When parenting calls, you always got to respond.”

Meanwhile, Dominik had been talking his way to R-Truth, the older wrestler always being happy to engage with the little one’s talks and eager questions about how the world works whilst they waited for Damian to leave the room.

“Tío?” Dominik signals, eyes still casted to where Damian was walking through the room t get to Dominik, a hint of concern beginning to riddle his chiselled features, looking up at R-Truth with a world of childish wonder painted in his eyes that R-Truth can’t help but admire.

Specifically, the nickname never fails to make R-Truth feel as though he’s truly being admired and appreciated by the little boy.

“Yeah? What’re you thinking about, Dom Dom?” Truth probes in a soft voice, curious about what Dominik was about to say, one of his eyebrows raising in curiosity, and also partly to make Dominik feel better about his beloved Papi taking so long to leave the room and bid his colleagues a good day - or, at least, something along those lines.

“Why’s the Sun follow me when…when I’s in the car?” Dominik asks, his voice just a tad bit timid from how he was slightly embarrassed to ask the question so loud in the hallway that his Papi would hear the ‘silliness’ as he gets closer to the glass door that opens up to where R-Truth and Dominik were waiting idly together.

“I think you might have to ask your old man about that, kiddo. I don’t really know myself.” R-Truth shrugs his shoulders, and Dominik’s eyes cast to the floor, a look of juvenile determination beginning to paint his round features.

“Eso es tonto…” Dominik mumbles under his breath, eyebrows furrowed and evidently not impressed with Truth’s response to his question.

“Say that again please, mi chiquitin. I couldn’t quite hear you over all the music that’s playing.” Damian requests in a nonchalant tone, and Dominik breaches the three steps in front of him and dives his body right into the comfort and familiar sense of home that Damian’s chest effortlessly provides, wrapping his arms tightly around Damian’s waist, his nimble fingers pulling at the hem of his Papi’s shirt as Dominik finally has a chance to collect his thoughts and focus on something else that isn’t how loud the music is, or how sticky his nice trousers felt from the sofa he was just sitting on with Theory.

“Papi.” Dominik breathes out into the fabric of Damian’s patterned shirt, delighted at the relief that Damian’s presence immediately provided.

“Yeah, I’m here, I’ve got you, Dom.” Damian reciprocates the hug in a moment of instinct. Damian’s dark brown eyes cast upwards from where he had been possesively staring down at Dominik, a paternal smile donning his lips, looking up at Truth, jumping straight to the point instead of dancing around the issue that was currently in Damian’s arms and dampening his shirt, “What happened, Truth? Anyone hurt him?” Damian probes, protective instincts surging any normal state of mind that he was in.

“No- he’s all good, big dog. Just felt a bit clogged up, if you get my gist.” R-Truth explains with an over-dramatised whisper, and Dominik lets out a wet giggle into the fabric of Damian’s white and blue striped jersey at how silly the older man seemed to lean into his Papi’s ear,looming over Dominik as though Dominik was no more than a foot or so tall, the two giants towering over him with Dominik beneath.

“Alright. Well, thanks for bringing him over to me.” Damian ’s voice is thick with gratitude, and R-Truth takes that as his cue to leave Dominik and Damian, on his way back to torment the Miz once more.

Damian’s dark brown eyes begin to pool with concern as he feels a small wet spot form on the shoulder of his jersey; his calloused, yet always able to grace Dominik’s sensitive skin with softness and doting drops of love, hands gently pry Dominik’s face away from his shirt and in front of his own face.

Damian decides to switch the language of their now-private conversation into Spanish, just so that any nosy ears couldn’t really understand what they were saying, “Qué voy a hacer contigo, mmm? Qué pasó, mi pequeño cachorro?” Damian dotes with a fond sigh, and Dominik’s feet begin to twist out of a stabbing sensation of anxiety as the older Puetro-Rican male’s concerns aimed towards the shabby state of his (only his, and Rhea’s, if their suspicions about JD, and even possibly Finn were true in the slightest of ways) little boy.

God, he really didn’t want it to be true. Not after what happened with Liv Morgan a week or so prior; it had taken ages of Finn wheedling his way back in, and even Damian had began to soften, but Rhea was stone cold and stubborn. No one she didn’t want, no one she did not trust, or respect, would be around her boy.

He was hers, first and foremost.

Damian begins to walk him across the hallway and to the elevator, knowing how shakey Dominik’s legs could be when he begins to regress into his smaller, more innocent, headspace.

“What happened, Dominik?” Damian asks, his tone leaving no room for Dominik to dismiss or ignore the question- concerned, for the lack of a better word, was how Dominik would describe Damian’s voice.

“It started when…when I couldn’t see you or Finn. It was all super loud, like in the stupid way-”

Damian lets out a chuckle at the way his little boy, who still had his regressed headspace swimming at the surface of his mind, manages to retell the account of his feelings: the level of his metric; the pacing of his words, and how it coincides with the rhythm of his foot swaying against the metal of the elevator floor.

“What’s so funny, Papi?” Dominik asks with an accusatory tone, obviously unbeknownst as to what exactly his older friend and parental figure had found amusing.

“Nothing Dom,

[rambheem-is-real]

Gold Rings and Black Roses Pt 4

pt 3 here

-

On the fourth day Aadhya tries her luck in going outside. It’s been a while since she’s been exposed to direct sunlight, staying inside the house all these days. She walks up to the main door cautiously, but the men standing guard don’t even look at her. Now or never, she thinks, and takes a step outside. When she isn’t immediately shot, Aadhya slowly makes her way down the steps outside of the mansion until she gets to the gravel road. Here she notices the outside guards staring at her, but they make no move to bring her back inside, so Aadhya keeps walking, turning to see the mansion from the outside. 

Somehow it looks a lot less scary now than it had when she was first brought here, though that was because Aadhya had thought she was being led to her death then. She’s no architecture buff, but she thinks it’s beautiful. She’s also more familiar with the inside of the mansion now, both in terms of the layout and the people. Aadhya’s made friends with some of the women working for Radha Rama, especially the tall one that gives her clothes to wear for the day, Sara. She’s spent a few hours every day talking to Sara and the other women about her life in America, and listening to their stories of Khansaar. She’s come to the conclusion that Khansaar seems like a terrible place to grow up, what with the constant threat of being murdered, but maybe Aadhya’s just soft. Sara had spoken of it with barely concealed longing, and Aadhya had sympathized with being stuck in a place far from home. She didn’t sympathize with the rest of it, though. 

“I miss Khansaar’s government,” Sara had said last night. “Here in India, there’s way too many laws against killing people,” she scoffed. 

“...I think that’s the case in every other country in the world actually,” Aadhya had replied. 

Aadhya thinks about the rest of the conversation as she walks around the building, taking in the sights around her. She had gotten Sara and another woman working for Obullamma, Rohini, to spill about Radha Rama’s ex-husband. 

“It was a political marriage, Bhaarava was a powerful warrior and Raja Mannar wanted him in his control,” Rohini explained. 

Sara nodded. “And of course ammagaru didn’t oppose the marriage, she was willing to do anything for her father.” Rohini gave her a look. “Well, she wasn’t opposed to Bhaarava either,” Sara continued cautiously, looking like she was nervous of Radha Rama appearing behind her. “He was attractive, competent, and knew how to play the game of politics. Ammagaru… really liked him.”

Aadhya frowned. “Then what happened? Did he die?”

“Well yes, just after he was exposed as a Shouryanga spy,” Rohini spits. 

Aadhya perks up at the familiar name. Was this man related to her too?? 

“But Deva killed him and many of his soldiers in his quest to hand Varadha the throne.” 

Oh. Probably not, then. 

“Good riddance,” Sara says. “He betrayed our ammagaru, that pig. Even before he went for the throne, he sided with Rudra against her during the ceasefire.” 

So Radha Rama probably only felt resentment towards her ex-husband, Aadhya thinks as she makes it to the other side. She gasps as she realizes the back of the building is a huge garden, plants clearly only recently trimmed and wrangled into place. Delighted, she runs over, examining the different plants. She has no idea about the differences between the flowers, but she thinks they’re very pretty. Further along the path are ornate benches to sit on, and carved statues. There seems to be a fountain in the distance, in the center of the garden. 

Aadhya loves it. 

She spends the next hour exploring, and just enjoying the fresh outside air. Towards the end of the hour, she spies a cluster of beautiful black roses. The petals of the roses are pitch-black, looking almost alien amongst the rest of the white lilies and jasmines surrounding them. As she brushes her hand through them, Aadhya’s reminded of the black saree that Radha Rama wore on the first day she saw her, before she changed into the yellow one. She tilts her head, considering. Actually they remind her of Radha Rama in general. She knows there’s probably a superstition about black roses somewhere, that they represent mourning and loss, but beyond that Aadhya can see the elegance and mystery that surrounds the flowers, much like Radha Rama herself. Even though she was in mourning, and had been for the last seven years over her husband, her kingdom, and her father, Radha Rama had stayed strong throughout, still managing to be so regal despite her situation. 

“Aadhya Krishnakanth.” Aadhya jumps as she hears a voice behind her, turning to find a bored man looking at her. “You are expected for lunch in ten minutes.” 

“Oh, I’ll be there then,” Aadhya says, and it looks like the man is satisfied as he walks away.

She turns back to the flowers. Has Radha Rama ever received a bouquet of flowers in her life? Was Bhaarava the type to pamper her? Aadhya frowns as she thinks back to what she’s heard about the man. Probably not. She makes her decision, plucking a handful of black roses from the ground. She looks around and spots someone that looks like the gardener, digging a few yards away from her. Aadhya makes her way over to him. 

“Hello!” She attempts a friendly greeting. The man, who was muttering angrily to himself, turns to look at her. 

“What do you want,” he sneers. 

Aadhya’s taken aback by the blatant hostility emerging from this man, but soldiers on regardless. “So sorry to bother you, but could you please dethorn these roses?”

The gardener stares at her. “...Aren’t you the kidnapped girl?”

Aadhya squirms. “Yes?”

He looks at the roses in her hand, then back up to her face. “Who the fuck are the roses for? You’ve been here for less than a week and you want romance?”

She blushes. “Radha Rama, actually.” He stares at her some more, then a grin spreads across his face.

“I want to see this play out. Give me the roses.” He pulls a device out of his back pocket, overflowing with other gardening tools, and proceeds to clip and dethorn the stems of the roses. He hands them back to Aadhya when he’s done. “Here you go. Hope you go out quickly.”

“...Thank you,” Aadhya says, and tries to walk back inside as fast as she can. She knows she’s impulsive, but hopefully this doesn’t backfire on her as much as the gardener clearly thinks it will. 

-

Aadhya enters the dining room with the flowers held behind her back, wanting it to be a surprise. Radha Rama is already seated at the other end of the table as is their usual arrangement, scrolling through her phone. Aadhya had successfully convinced the older woman to download a few social media apps yesterday, but not before Radha Rama had gone through every sentence of the terms and conditions for each app. 

“I am not giving a random businessman my private information,” she sneered. But Radha Rama had seemed to find Twitter funny, which Aadhya counted as a win, as she believed getting the older woman on the Internet was the best way to integrate her into general society. She wasn’t royalty anymore, and it wasn’t healthy for her to hold onto that grudge for so long. Aadhya hoped Radha Rama would learn to have some fun soon. 

Radha Rama looks up at Aadhya’s entrance, raising an eyebrow at Aadhya’s hidden hands. “Are you going to try to shoot me?” Aadhya… decides not to be offended at how relaxed she is under the assumption that Aadhya has a gun behind her back. 

“Nope. I brought you a gift.” Radha Rama blinks in surprise, and Aadhya shoves her nerves down. She presents the loose bouquet of black roses, holding them out in front of her like a shield. 

When Radha Rama keeps staring at the flowers, Aadhya shifts on her feet. “I got you some roses from the garden. They’re black, and I thought of your saree, and also how cool you are…” Aadhya trails off as the older woman looks up at her, eyes piercing through her. 

“You got me roses?” Radha Rama’s voice is hoarse. “Because of… how cool I am?” 

“Well yeah. You haven’t killed me yet, and you’re mysterious and beautiful just like these roses.” 

Radha Rama lifts her arms to take the bouquet, gently stroking one of the roses as she inspects the flowers. 

“Radha Rama?” Aadhya asks. “Do you like them?” Aadhya hasn’t ever seen Radha Rama this unresponsive, and she’s nervous. 

“Rama.” The older woman says, and there’s a hint of a shy smile on her face now. “Call me Rama. It’s what my dad and-” she stops herself. “It’s what my dad used to call me, and it’s the name I prefer.” 

“Ok,” Aadhya says, relieved that Rama doesn’t hate the gift. “Rama, then.”

“I like the roses,” Rama says mildly, but Aadhya can see the blush high on her cheeks. Oh. Aadhya had done that, had put that blush there. Her heart starts to beat faster as she realizes her crush may have the remote possibility of being requited. 

Rama turns her head to the doorway. “Obullamma!” she calls. When the woman comes in, Rama hands her the flowers. “Put these in a vase in my room.”

Obullamma gingerly takes the flowers and leaves, not before shooting Aadhya a look, a mix of jealousy and bewilderment. Aadhya tries not to do anything as childish as sticking her tongue out at Obullamma. 

Rama turns back to Aadhya, then sits back down, gesturing for Aadhya to take her seat. “Let’s eat,” she says, smiling. Aadhya obeys, feeling very much like she’s accidentally rolled a Nat 20 on a charisma check. 

The lunch tastes exceptionally good that day, Aadhya thinks. 

-

Bilal finds Aadhya in her room sometime in the evening. 

“You gave flowers to WHO?” he asks incredulously as he enters. 

Aadhya sets aside the book she was reading, a political text that Sara had given her. She found it boring, but apparently it was a childhood favorite of Rama’s. Aadhya can unfortunately see that, all the talk about authoritarianism and the duties of a centralized government was right up Rama’s alley. 

“I gave them to Rama.” She shrugs, but can’t help the flush that runs through her at the thought of Rama’s smile at the gift. “She liked them.” 

Bilal stares some more. “Is this my life then? Am I to spend the rest of it running after Shouryangas who fall in love with Mannars?”

“Bilal!” Aadhya blushes. “No one’s in love with each other.”

Bilal scoffs, clearly disbelieving. “Uh huh. And you’re secretly Amma’s favorite child. Right.” He sits at the edge of her bed, keeping a respectable distance. “Whatever you’re doing to keep Radha Rama on your good side, keep doing it, but don’t get too close. Do whatever you can to get yourself out of here, then run. Don’t look back. Don’t come back. Forget about Khansaar and your biological family.”

Aadhya frowns. Her first instinct is to defend Rama, but she remembers that she’s here because Rama did have her kidnapped. But that was only to get Deva here, right? “Well, what’s the update on Deva? I’m here because of my brother, right? When’s he supposed to get here then?”

Bilal shrugs, looking uncertain. “I’m not sure, thalli. But when he does come, you should escape with him. He’s not going to let Radha Rama live when he realizes she’s kidnapped his little sister.”

“You assume he’ll care,” she mutters under her breath, but Bilal hears it. “Oh no, thalli. If Deva truly sees you as his, he’ll protect you in any way he can. He’ll tear Radha Rama to pieces if he needs to.” When Aadhya looks up, ready to protest, Bilal sighs, and lifts a hand to stop her. “You can’t protect her from him, Aadhya. You only know her good side. Deva has seen her at her worst, and if he realizes she was initially trying to set him up to kill Varadha, he’ll be even more angry.” Aadhya remembers what Bilal had told her days ago, about how Deva had beheaded a lord for daring to grip Varadha’s collar. “Think about it. That’s all I ask. Try to save yourself, Aadhya. If not for yourself, at least for your father who’s probably very worried.” 

Once Bilal leaves, Aadhya lapses into thought. Deva, with his history, has every right to kill Rama, and it would be the smart thing to do for her to use the opportunity to escape. But Aadhya realizes, with a jolt, that she really doesn’t want Rama dead, that she’ll truly miss the woman. She resolves to try to negotiate with Deva, whenever he shows up, bargain for Rama’s life somehow. 

-

Late that night Aadhya goes back outside. The skies are clear and she wants to see the stars, suddenly feeling homesick. As she tilts her head up to the sky, letting the vastness of space calm her down, she spots a familiar figure sitting on the roof. What was Rama doing up there? She wonders, but if Rama’s up there it means the guards will let her go up there. Aadhya finds the stairs that lead to the balcony of the mansion, giving an awkward wave to the unamused man standing on patrol near the staircase. She climbs up the stairs, then climbs up the ladder that leads to the rooftop. 

Rama turns her head to the side slightly at Aadhya’s approach, but seems to realize who it is and relaxes, facing forward again. Aadhya takes the opportunity to observe Rama from the back. 

The older woman is still in the red Banarasi saree she was in this morning, patterned with silver diamond designs. Aadhya absentmindedly wonders what her pajamas look like, or if she sleeps in the sarees she wears all day. Rama’s thick curls are gathered into a french braid, falling beautifully down her back, and Aadhya blushes as she realizes one of the black roses she picked this morning was carefully placed in the center, surrounded by silver earring chains. Rama’s still sitting as straight-backed on the roof as she does in chairs, but the set of her shoulders seems more relaxed than usual. As Aadhya sits next to her, crossing her legs, Aadhya’s breath catches as she observes the way Rama’s face gleams in the moonlight. The soft white light turns the hair in the front silver, making it look almost like a crown. 

Rama glances at her, brown eyes shining from the moonlight. “Couldn’t sleep?”

“I wanted to see the stars, so I came outside. Then I saw you up here, so I came upstairs,” Aadhya explains. 

Rama nods. “The stars are beautiful tonight.” 

Aadhya just barely stops herself from responding to that the way she really wants to. “Yes, they are,” is what she replies with instead. “Is this a habit of yours? Coming outside to stargaze at night?”

“I never did anything as simple as stargazing in Khansaar, no.” Rama sighs. “I was too busy for things that weren’t related to politics. It was always ‘Rama, there’s a rebellion that needs to be put down in one of our territories, authorize the military’, or ‘Rama, can you go sort out whatever’s wrong with your brother’, or ‘Rama, your husband didn’t show up to the lords meeting today, find out what happened’. I was my father’s finest weapon, and I’m proud of it. But in the grand scheme of things, does all that I did even matter? If the owner of the weapon is dead, then what good is the weapon?” 

She leans back a little, closing her eyes. “That bastard brother of mine didn’t even give my father an honorable death. Decapitated him right in front of everyone, then went and sat on the throne like it was his birthright. Of course that boyfriend of his slaughtered everyone on his way to the throne, then offered the crown he picked off my father’s corpse to my brother.” She swallows, and Aadhya can hear a deep bitterness in her voice. “It was still stained with my father’s blood when your brother crowned mine, did you know that?” Aadhya can only shake her head. “All those years Raja Mannar still kept that boy in his heart, even after he threw away my father’s greatest gift. He wanted to make him a lord, was willing to upset the Ghaniyars for it. And what did Varadha give him in return? Nothing. He kept taking and taking until he took what mattered most to my father.” 

The two sit in silence for a few seconds, Aadhya thinking about her response. She doesn’t want to anger Rama, doesn’t want to ruin the vulnerable mood between them, but as a neutral observer she thinks Raja Mannar is also very much in the wrong.

“Your father shouldn’t have punished him so harshly for what he did as a child,” Aadhya says hesitantly. Rama looks at Aadhya sharply, but Aadhya decides to keep going. “Not to mention killing Varadha’s friend’s entire family, and turning a blind eye to Varadha’s suffering all the years after.” 

Rama scoffs, quickly standing up, and Aadhya’s stomach turns. Oh, now she's done it. All the times she kept pushing, hoping that Rama would be charmed by her instead of offended, and now the worst has actually happened. 

“Of course you’d take his side,” Rama hisses at her. “You’re one of them Shouryangas too. I don’t know what I expected from you.” This is the first time Aadhya has seen Rama angry, and the shock is made worse by the fact that it’s directed at her. 

“Rama wait! I have nothing to do with the Shouryangas, I just got here! And I can’t just blindly take your side either,” Aadhya tries to explain. 

“No.” Suddenly the anger is gone, replaced by sadness. “No you can’t.” Rama wraps her arms around herself after a sudden cold gust of wind, and Aadhya’s horrified to realize that she looks close to tears. “No one takes my side, not even my own brothers, and not even my own fucking husband.”

“Rama…” Aadhya trails off, not knowing what to say. 

Without another word, Rama turns and descends the ladder. 

Aadhya stays up there for a few more hours by herself, feeling miserable and even more homesick than she was when she first came outside.

-

@illusions-of-serendipity @just-a-lazy-person @nini9224 @recentinterest @omgdontlookatmeuniverse @greatkittykoala @theimmortalprince

[certifiedkazuhaskitten]

Wriothesley as a duke duke in an actual kingdom setting is so underrated for no reason. He's called Duke of Fortress of Meropide for a reason?? It's uncommon to stumble upon writers who ran with it literally.

Map-wise, Fortress of Meropide was located around the Liffey region + near the Fontaine Kinetic research institute, which, canonically was the northern part of the entire fontaine region. It was near Snezhnaya and Natlan (which opens up a lot of potential troupe of diplomatic issues). It's underwater, have a very unique demography of criminals, and relies almost solely to meka machine production as it's source of income. People who come to the fortress of meropide dukedom are either officials, knights, or criminals. One of the main duty of the fortress of meropide dukedom is to guard the primordial water gate (say this is before archon quest) which opens up plot similiar to guarding the borders from monsters and savages, etc.

Wrio can be titled the uncrowned king of no man's land and it is true.

Someone could just write Wriothesley as the "monster" duke of the north with a very mysterious personality. No one outside the dukedom Fortress of Meropide (except for officials like Neuvillette and Clorinde) have ever seen his face, so they deem him as a rough ex-criminal with an ugly face.

The only good thing the nobles had to say about him are his military resources. The dukedom have donated 1/3 of the entire royal knights, beating even top military academies in the capital. Nobody knows how much military power he got on his sleeves. He was also known for his wealth. As the sole producer of the meka machines used all over Fontaine, Wriothesley have accumulated more wealth then any other nobles could even imagine. This allowed him to have crazy intel (through an infamous guild named Spina de Rosula) and people grew to fear even speaking of his name.

Meanwhile, [name] was the adopted child of a middle-class noble, say a count. [name] was to be married to Wriothesley as a way from the Iudex to validate Wriothesley's title as a duke because many nobles invalidate Wriothesley's nobility (they think Wrio is a lowly ex-criminal who only got his title because he took over the Fortress). The family of [name] was one of the nobles that openly criticized Wriothesley; afraid of the Iudex's order to send one of their child to marry the duke, they sent [name], a convenient scapegoat who happens to be adopted because they have a pyro vision and is intellectually superior.

So now [name] is set to be sent to the fortress of meropide dukedom. Relieved they can finally part with the toxic noble family that housed them all these years, they marched straight to the dukedom with their escorts.

... I will write the continuation of this later.

My extra ideas in a list;

1. Navia, the famous Marchioness who is known to host an exclusive salon and takes over the land of Poisson (in this case salon is a space for mingling within nobles) is actually the leader of the infamous Spina de Rosula guild, selling everything from information to rare artifacts highly sought after. She is the anonymous affiliate to The Fortress of Meropide Dukedom and supplied a lot of stuff in the dukedom.

2. Furina, the grand duchess of Fontaine. She is the face of the royal court, known for her famous acting and directing career. Responsible for the diplomacy of Fontaine and international affairs.

3. Neuvillette, the Iudex and ultimate head of the royal court. Responsible for carrying out judgement to every trial, national affairs, and control the noble faction to prevent overpower from the higher class of fontainians.

4. Cheuvreuse (is this right spelling?), the Captain of the Shadow Knights. Main duty is to spy, interrogate and catch criminals. Frequently sighted coming back and forth to the fortress of meropide to send more batches of criminals.

5. Clorinde, the Captain of the Royal Knights Division 1. Main duty is to act out the ultimate verdict made by the Iudex and guard national affairs.

[95jezzica]

Additional Scion Jobs

Long title: Additional Classes & Jobs I think would suit/have suited the Scions. 👀 (And no, I'm not gonna cheat and put Scholar on all of them, although in some case it would actually fit).

[Sorry in advance, the European FFXIV servers went down and they didn't bother to get them up again before the planned maintenance in a few hours, SO this accidentally became a long one post of thoughts, so I'm putting it below 'Read More']. 😂

So. Additional Classes & Jobs I think would have suited the Scions.

Minfilia Warde: White Mage. 🌟 I always wished for her to get something more to fight back with - and White Mage would fit her with the themes of seeking peace, harmony and wanting to support her friends. Seeing as Minfillia spends most of ARR stuck back in the HQ overseeing their operations it'd also make sense to make her a Healer who can take care of her returning comrades once they come back from their missions. Minor spoilers for HW/Shadowbringers, but her being White Mage could also further explain her connections and deeds later on in the game. Though there's a lot of memes about White Mage being a "green DPS" I think she'd be more focused on the healing part.

Tataru Taru: I was about to jokingly say Machinist to give her a gun, but jokes aside I'd give her the class/job Botanist. 🌼 Tataru not being a fighter but still wanting to help is kind of a plot-point within the game, and so I shall abide by the rules. (Though I suppose her being an Arcanist can still be considered canon considering the blue quests in Stormblood?). At any rate I think she'd fit well as a Botanist. Not only would it give her a way to Sneak around, but it'd also help her Gather the resources she or her friends need. As her only listed canon class is Weaver on the wiki, I'm also tempted to add Leatherworker and Culinarian into the list, seeing as we do have some moments where she already works on these even if they're not listed as canon classes (yet?).

Y'shtola "Master of Destruction" Rhul: Summoner. 🔥 No one can deny Y'Shtola is a master of magic. With Conjurer & Black Mage already under her belt it should come to no surprise I think she would continue with a similar line of study, and because of this I think she'd be perfect as Summoner. We COULD technically argue Arcanist/Summoner is semi-canon considering her past studies, but since it's not listed as one of her canon classes/jobs I shall not count it as one either, because the job is too perfect for her to ignore. Additionally I could see her pick up Blue Mage for the challenge it'd give her, even if it wouldn't be a main-job she'd use in world-deciding battles.

Lyse Hext: Dancer (and/or Monk?). 💃🏽 I was admittedly surprised Lyse's only canon listed class/job on the Wiki is Pugilist, and I honestly can't remember if Lyse ever got to upgrade to Monk, but I could have sworn she got the Dancer? Maybe I'm remembering it wrong, but either way I think she'd fit well with the Dancer job. She has always been light on her feet and being Dancer would also give her a ranged class to complement Pugilist/Monk, which is very close-ranged.

Papalymo Totolymo: I'd say Sage, after much consideration. 🛡 He was a difficult one to decide on though, but in the end I think it's the one who would make the most sense for him given the lore of Sage being a Sharlayan job difficult to master. It's also canon Papalymo studied the arcane for most of his life, so it'd make sense to give him something related to magic outside of him being a Thaumaturge. That, and I don't feel like he'd fit as a Scholar (the job), Astrologian, Summoner, Red Mage or Pictomancer. I could give a maybe to White Mage, but that's a MAYbe.

Thancred Waters: 🔫 Machinist was obviously my first thought, because hey, canon Gunbreaker already - but given his past as both Gladiator & Rogue he also has a lot of potential as Dark Knight and/or Viper, all which I feel would fit him well. Since he's already a tank with Gunbreaker I'd say Thancred getting Machinist and Viper would be the most useful for him though, and would let him use his experience at the same time as giving him better DPS stats. 🔪

Urianger Augurelt: Scholar, to the surprise of absolutely no one. 😂 xD Listen, if any of the scions deserves the Scholar job, it's him - and it'd be especially fitting for Shadowbringers and give additional reason(s) as to how and why he was able to get along so well with the fae. 🍄 Perhaps a little more surprising is instead that I think he'd also do well as a Reaper. Urianger has proven again and again he does what's necessary to save those he cares about, even at the risk of earning their scorn, and since he's already a canon Astrologian with Scholar added to the list from me Reaper is a good way to balance him out a bit to not only be focused on the healing jobs. 👻 Especially since there's already so many Scions who are Thaumaturge and/or Black Mages and I can't really imagine him taking on a job as a tank. Even with his character development I wouldn't say he enjoys being the center of attention.

Alphinaud Leveilleur: I so badly want to give him a DPS job, but tbh I don't think he'd really fit as any of them? As previous Arcanist and nowadays Scholar/Sage I could simply give him Summoner and be done with it, but it'd be kind of ironic to see him running around summoning a mini-Bahamut. If hard-pressed I'd give him Pictomancer instead, which would be a fun nod to Shadowbringers/Endwalkers as well, but it doesn't feel like a perfect fit either. 🖌 Tbh the perfect job for him would be a tank focused on magic with magical shields and the likes, and to this day I badly wish FFXIV will introduce one in the future. Sadly I think it might be difficult for them to make it different enough from Sage, so Idk if I'll ever get my wish come true.

Alisaie Leveilleur: Gunbreaker. 🔫 / "Jezzica, WHY!???" / Okay, so admittedly part of it is because it'd be hilarious to see her run around with a big gun, but given her personality a job as a tank would actually suit her very well and make her tanky enough to actually continue to stand in the aoe without moving. 🔫 Alisaie is not the healer in a battle, but doesn't mind helping out with healing outside of it. She's loud, honest, and loves being in the middle of it all. Additionally Alisaie has always been the most outspoken about how everyone is relying too much on you (the WoL). Her being a tank fits her personality really well, and quite frankly I think she would quickly become a Dark Knight if you (the WoL) ever died within the game. Given the fact Alisaie is already a Red Mage she also has potential as a Viper, but at the current time I still think Gunbreaker would fit her the best as an additional class/job.

Krile Baldesion: Another difficult one, but I'd probably give her Dancer based on vibes alone from the DT-trailer(s) and her already being a canon healer and Pictomancer. 💃🏽 She's a difficult one though, because I haven't spent as much time with her in the game yet.

Estinien "Wyrmblood" Varlineau: Defeating dragons was his entire life for so long that I think he'd struggle to be anything but a Dragoon even if he has another purpose now. 🐲 The fact that he was basically raised by the former Azure Dragoon after being orphaned wouldn't have made it easier to introduce Estinien to another job either. 🐉 Part of me wanted to put Estinien's additional job as a Dark Knight ⚔ , but tbh he's more of a "attack is the best defense" kind of guy, and he's more driven by attacking the problem than defending those behind him. 🪓 He could potentially fit well as a Warrior, but then he'd probably be a "one-man army" kind of Warrior who forgets to turn on his stance. 😂 Anyway, in all likelyhood I think Estinien would aim for another DPS if he had to add another job, and amongst those I think Reaper might actually be the best fit. Purely physically he could do a good job as Pugilist as well, but I have a hard time imagining him go around unlocking chakra(s) and/or later upgrading to Monk. x)

G'Raha Tia: 🐱 Jack of All Trades, Master of None, is yet always better than Master of One. With that said I think we can all agree that adding Summoner to his list of already many jobs is too perfect to ignore. 😂 With Archer/Black Mage/Paladin/White Mage already under his belt we probably shouldn't add more to his big list after that though. 😂 xD

[stonesparrow]

Early Riser Ch. 4

The Ishigami-Oki-Ogawa party continues their quest!

Once they reach a farming town, they revive what looks to be a family of rice farmers, since it’s still rice planting season and they can actually try to start production. 

“We’re certainly thankful that you freed us,” the patriarch of the family says as soon as he realizes what’s going on, “but…who are you people? You don’t exactly look like the sort who’d be affiliated with the government or the military.”

Mr. Ogawa steps forward. “Apologies for the rudeness. My name is Ogawa Makoto,” he says. “This is my wife Hikari and daughter Yuzuriha, and our friends, the Okis and young Senku. We’re all just ordinary folks, really. The kids were the ones who discovered how to undo the petrification.”

The Kuratas, as they introduce themselves by, are certainly surprised that teenagers managed to figure out how to revive statues, but Mr. Ogawa manages to talk them into being on board with the plan since they’re not particularly keen on the idea of the military seizing control of their farm.

“This is all…a lot to take in,” Mrs. Kurata says. “We were just about to finish up the month’s planting, and now it looks like we’ll have to do it all over again, only with new, unforseen challenges.”

The main issue is the lack of electricity and fuel. The Kuratas have an emergency generator, and there’s the one that the Okis brought from Tokyo, but the Kuratas’ runs on gasoline, and non of them are exactly equipped for restarting the oil drilling industry. So with few other options, they start preparing for a return to more traditional living, breaking out a stash of candles and books on more old-fashioned but still effective farming practices. 

The Kuratas also prove to be quite generous, assuring them that they needn’t set up in tents outside the house but instead should sleep inside with the family. Mr. and Mrs. Oki are given the guest room, while a storage room is cleared out for Mr. and Mrs. Ogawa. Yuzuriha is invited to share the Kuratas’ daughter Ryoko’s room, and the boys set up in the living room on the couches.

It’s a bit cramped, and with the plumbing out figuring out how to deal with the toiletries situation was a hassle and a half, but it’ll be their life for the next several weeks.

Days usually pass like this: Senku wakes up, takes his turn in the “bathroom” they made outside, then goes to the rebuilt quail coop to collect eggs for breakfast. The little birds have a shockingly high egg production, good for increasing the protein in their diets. Yuzuriha will either be hanging up laundry outside or doing mending indoors, while Mrs. Kurata and Mr. Oki are cooking, Taiju is chopping wood, the Ogawas are tending to the vegetable garden, and Mrs. Oki, Mr. Kurata, and Ryoko prepare for a day of hunting and surveying.

Mr. Kurata is thoughtful and pragmatic, while Mrs. Kurata is skilled at seeing the big picture when it comes to their agricultural plans. They’re both a bit stunned by Senku’s skills with mechanics and engineering, but thankfully they seem to care more about efficiency than questioning Senku’s abilities.  

Ryoko is nineteen, a talented shot, and an extremely bright personality that Mrs. Oki, grumpy as she is, quickly takes a liking to. Taiju seems to enjoy talking to her about sporty things, and after a while Yuzuriha starts calling her Ryoko-nee. Senku isn’t sure what to make of her, honestly. She’s very chatty, and seems to hate the feeling of dead air with no conversation. Even when Senku’s tinkering away at something in the shed alone, she usually finds out where he is and tries to talk to him.

And then one evening Senku finds her sitting up against the side of the toolshed gazing out into the distance with a strangely lost look in her eyes. 

He stands there silently for an uncomfortable amount of time before she finally seems to notice him. “Oh. Hi.”

“...Hi.” 

They stare at each other for a long moment. Finally, Ryoko breaks eye contact and leans back against the tree. “You know. We had a cat.”

She smiles wistfully. “Her name was Wasabi, and she was a real spirited little thing. Scratched me more times than I can count, really. And an excellent mouser. She’d bring all sorts of dead birds into the house and leave them on the furniture, it drove my mom nuts.”

Ryoko sighs. “She was eight years old.”

Senku does the math. Cats live an average of thirteen to seventeen years. If Wasabi was still alive, she’d be eighteen. Not impossible, but…

He sticks his hands in his pockets. “...I’m going to go check on the fencing around the quail coop. You want to help?”

Ryoko is silent for a moment, then takes a deep breath. “You know what? Yeah.”

It becomes a thing for them, hanging out when Ryoko runs out of words.

-----------------

A few weeks later, they venture out to the Kuratas’ neighbors and revive them as well, and steadily begin to rebuild the local farming community. They’re still being rather careful not to revive too many people at once, especially since they’re getting all their water from local rivers and relying pretty heavily on small scale vegetable farms as well as hunting for their food. 

Summer passes, and the food stockpile continues to grow. Senku works with the one electrical engineer in the community in order to salvage the parts to rig up solar panels to provide electricity to everyone, which allows them to work in the night as well as the day. The Ishigami-Oki-Ogawas also move out of the Kuratas’ place into an unused home owned by an older granny whose children left the farm life for the city, and every day there’s something to fix, something to build, and something to talk about. 

There might not be video games anymore, but there are still books—some that are definitely a bit damaged, but in good enough condition to read. There’s still board games. There’s even an old CRT that one of the older folks has that Senku manages to revive for everyone to crowd into the town library in order to watch frankly ridiculously ancient tapes on. 

It’s a nice life, as busy and strange as it is. 

Eventually, their revival fluid supplies start to dwindle, and Senku decides it’s about time that they set out in search of some proper machinery for both the Haber and Ostwald processes in order to more consistently produce ammonia and nitric acid respectively. Their best bet is to go to the factories of Mitsubishi Chemical Holdings, the country’s leading chemicals company, which is conveniently located in Tokyo. 

Obviously Senku is going on the mission, though Taiju and Yuzuriha elect to stay behind in the farming community since their skills probably aren’t the most helpful for revitalizing chemicals production. Mr. Ogawa decides to go with him, along with a few of the engineers they have. They also make plans to stop by the hospital to collect some medications and other items that are in short supply in the town clinic. 

When they get there however, they’re met with a huge surprise. A blonde couple in ratty looking clothes stands before them in front of the hospital doors, people that Senku at least recognizes from a few photographs sent over text.

Mr. Ogawa breaks the stunned silence with a calm, “Hello there. Do you speak Japanese? English?”

“English is better,” the man says hesitantly. “You are survivors?”

Suddenly, the woman gasps and points directly at Senku. “You’re Byakuya’s boy!”

“Byakuya?” Mr. Ogawa blinks. “Senku-kun, do you know these people?”

Senku laughs, and there’s a lightness in his heart as he does so. 

“In a way. It’s nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Nikitin.”

[cdroloisms]

I like messing around with the characters who have nothinburgers of lore its a fun playground

see c!eret doesn't even have nothingburger lore it's just. sighs. inconsistent. especially with what i'm preeetty sure was creator intent, especially near the end of things.

i can take the lore at face value, right, and tell you that c!eret was a character that got supremely fucked over by a vindictive harassment campaign, canonically at least partially fueled by jealousy (as well as c!wilbur obviously being. triggered as hell over the final control room and the loss of control he felt bc of it) that had very real ramifications in character (and outside of it, honestly). and i can tell you that the consequences on the character made them rewrite history in their own head and then like, literally, where they had to redeem themselves of their single sin that they got tempted into by the devil manipulated by c!Dream into committing, when from the beginning while c!Eret was partially motivated by self-interest she ALSO just thought that the FCR was the best way of returning the server to peace??? and either way ... it was a war like yes i'm sure there are ethical and moral ramifications to being a spy in a war yadayada but a lot of the assumptions that emphasize the FCR as being something ~supremely fucked up~ relies on the idea of L'manburg's side in the Revolution being So Much More Moral than the DreamSMP side, never mind that the FCR existed at a time where physical violence with long-lasting ramifications such as canon lives literally wasn't a thing yet and was explicitly a means of stripping them of their gear. that they returned to them after the war.

and it's just so crazy to me, because the actual FCR which became twisted into c!eret's Single Crime is just nawt that big of a deal at all but did become the major talking point for the campaign to treat her fucking terribly on the account of Being A Traitor Hey New Person Did You Hear That Eret SUCKS Because He Betrayed Us !!! but what does feel like more of an issue include a lot of the later actions, such as the excessive gloating towards L'manburgians in ways that were kind of meanspirited (but were hella funny shoutout to the prank war) and then the...kind of tyrannical actions lol umheyyyy do we remember the taxes. also just the knights of hope were ... well they sure were! (i wish wegot that lowkey yesssssssss go hunt c!dream like an animal please ^_^") mexican lmanburg negotiations cough cough anyway. TURNING LOGSTEDSHIRE INTO A MUSEUM EXHIBIT????????????????????GIVING TOURS THERE???????? HEY LOOK HERES THE POLE WHERE THIS KID WHO IS OUR NEIGHBOR BTW TRIED TO KILL HIMSELF. LIKE WHY. WHY DID THEY DO THAT.

i don't mind any of this, btw--if i were to give a kind of short explanation to c!eret's character i'd say that she tends to have good intentions overall, but drank so much of the lmanburg kool-aid that it became a whole new thing and also in general has a tendency to act in her personal self-interest and have a pretty short-sighted, self-centered view of the world more often than not. they're not evil, and they certainly don't go out of their way to hurt people, but they also push the blame onto c!Dream a lot, including in ways that don't make sense, and does things like the museum exhibits abt exile and the casual taxing of everyone just cuz and expecting all of dream smp to follow them in supporting a coup against the country they're allied with For Their Redemption Quest in ways that suggest that they tend to prioritize themselves and their wants over a more reasonable. consideration of the people around them. also he got SUPER fucked over by c!wilbur and continues to center their story around him because he thinks that he needs to be redeemed through him, and the thing he thinks he needs redemption for he simultaneously blames on someone else and also just wasn't. A Grand Crime For Her To Need Redemption For. she took the lmanburg story said 'what if i was the main character doe' made a new lmanburg koolaid chugged it and tried to make the whole server fall in line. essentially.

the problem is that i don't think that the character was ... meant to be written like this, and therefore there aren't that many satisfying conclusions. also just in general plot points kept getting set up with little follow through. (i'll limit any cc criticisms here, but i will say that the fandom was an obvious driving point in what happened with the character.) the biggest problem for me was the frequent retconning--it's kind of bad practice in general to Take Back rp frequently, tho c!eret is mostly forgiven bc most of the retcons did happen with solo lore (not ... all of them tho)

but yeagh. i appreciate what is there for c!eret dont get me wrong but ... i do wish it was utilized in a slightly different way

[masiethewriter]

Honored Eternal Path of Demise CH. 6 - Companion Quest: Part 2

"Ye-yes, we found the corpse of-"

"And you are just running around? You find a dead body, someone attacks you and you think that is the best time to wander around?" Shen Qingqiu keeps interrupting. While Ning Yingying is still wet from being outside and likely was already crying when he stumbled upon her, he still thinks he can see more tears fall from her eyes. Her body has begun to tremble and like this, she seems much smaller. Like she is just a frightened child caught in a horrible situation. 

Shen Qingqiu clears his throat in the hope that it will release the pressure in his chest.

First Chapter ~~ Previous Chapter

Immediately opening his eyes, Shen Qingqiu sits up. A hand clasps at his neck, nails digging into skin. The other grasps around the bed until he can snatch a pillow. He presses it to his face. 

In his first life he would go to internet forums and write out (constructive!) criticism when he needed release for some of his stronger emotions. Turns out screaming continuously for a minute also helps.

After that nice moment of embarrassment, he puts the pillow down and gets up. He is out of the room and on his way down the hallway in the very next moment. 

Two sessions done, a third started, infinite more to go. He can do this!

The main entrance is as impressive as always as he steps through, but for some reason he can't find it in himself to appreciate it as much anymore. As he looks down, he can’t help the way his eyes are drawn to one spot. Luo Binghe and Ning Yingying stand exactly where he expects them to. 

"Senior! You are here too?"

"Ning Yingying, you know who this is?"

"Of course! That is Shen Qingqiu. One of the seniors that helped us when we first started. Don't you remember A-Luo?"

As he steps down the stairs, he finds his hold on the railing is no longer just trailing, but a proper grip. He can't find it in himself to loosen his hold. The relief he feels as he reaches the bottom is also uncharacteristic of him. He reminds himself it is just a set of stairs.

"Senior Shen, it is so good to see you! Do you have any idea where we are? A-Luo and I woke up with no memory of how we got here. I am so lucky we found each other, I have no idea what I would do if I was all alone by myself! Have you seen anyone else, I was certain it was just me and A-Luo here, but with you it might mean that others-"

Belatedly, Shen Qingqiu realizes he needs to make her stop talking. 

"I just got here after waking up myself," he starts, but then hesitates. His voice is not as cold and arrogant as it is meant to be. He clears his throat and tries again. "I don't know anything either."

Whatever, good enough. 

He manages to get through the rest of the conversation. Ning Yingying acts exactly as he expects, but he can't help but feel Luo Binghes gaze is heavier than usual. Probably just paranoia after a particular distressing session.

"Will Senior be okay? I don't like the thought of you walking all by yourself."

"You should worry more about yourself than others. You stick with your friend and he should take care of you. This one is perfectly capable of taking care of himself."

"Be careful Senior Shen! Please don't run off all by yourself!"

They leave and Shen Qingqiu is finally alone. He lets out a heavy breath. Time to move on. 

He gets the spiritbox and returns upstairs. He feels confident in his exploration of the first five rooms, so no need to check them again. It will be nice with some alternative environments. Starting from the laboratory is not a bad place to continue his search.

With the long hallways, it takes a second to reach, so he is left to his own thoughts. Thoughts that immediately ask how the hell Ning Yingying found him that quickly! He was nowhere near the first place she found him last session, so why was she suddenly changing her route!? The Killer he could excuse with bad game mechanics. It is common that games spawn their monsters around the player to always have danger near. But Ning Yingying is not a monster! She is another character! Those rules should not apply to her!

He will have to keep an eye and ear out for her. Especially when the Killer is near. 

As he stands by the laboratory, he considers his option. His rule of right-is-always-right already broke during the first chase with the Killer, as the room is placed on the left wall. Funny how you don't think about stuff like that when running for your life. 

Rule already broken, so where to go? He might have already missed a door or two, so should he go back and check? He will admit he is already getting kind of tired of this hallway and there is still a third direction he has yet to check out, back where the hallway splits.

Okay, he can always come back later. He knows there is more stuff to explore, so he adds it to his mental to-do list. He turns back towards the way he came, and with the left wall now becoming his right, he goes back with his hand trailing the wall. 

He turns around the corner before he finds another real door. It is actually nice that the amount of locked doors has been limited. The fake doors are easy to pass when just walking around, so if they instead had been real, but locked, he would have been much more of a hassle. He can appreciate not having more of his time needlessly wasted.

The room he finds is a large living room. Multiple bookshelves line half the wall and there are a few tables clearly meant for card games and such. The furniture appears soft, with a few couches and armchairs scattered around. It seems like the kind of room that guests would gather in later in the evening. A big deep red carpet covers the floor, softening his steps as he enters. 

Only three sessions in and Shen Qingqiu can already feel he is getting drained. The excitement of exploration is much weaker after dying three horrible times (Not even counting the meat bun incident!). It is only the beginning of the game and he already wants this to be over.So he tries not to think of how little of the beginning area he has solved, so exhaustion doesn’t settle in.

He finds almost nothing of interest in the room. Some supplies that he honestly considers just leaving. They certainly haven't done him any good so far. One of the bookshelves has an interesting selection of high quality alcohol. But trying to interact with any of the bottles, it is as if they are glued to the shelf. So in the end, he can only leave.

He walks for a long time before he finds another real door. He gets back to the hallway split, finally checking the third corridor. Even then, it is first when he almost reaches the end that he finds a real door. Though when he grabs the door handle, it is locked. There is a shiny keyhole, so clearly he is meant to return here later.

Continuing from here, the next door, the one at the very end of the hallway is both real and unlocked. Opening it up, he is introduced to a larger bedroom.

At first glance, it is noticeably more luxurious than the room Shen Qingqiu keeps finding himself waking up in. Best represented by the huge balcony framed by glass doors. He is immediately distracted from checking the rest of the room, the prospect of fresh air too enticing to ignore.

Stepping outside, the wind against his face is pure relief, blowing away his aches. It is still raining, but a small roof above the balcony keeps him from getting wet. The entire balcony is made of smooth stonework, the railing carved into graceful shapes. It is a bit low, but still Shen Qingiu leans against it as he takes in deep breaths. It is bliss to feel the cooling breeze against his skin compared to the stale and dusty air of the mansion.

There is also more to see of the outside from here. A few light posts are placed in what appear to be the beginning of a garden. At the start there are mostly flowers and smaller bushes, but they grow into hedges that lead deeper behind the mansion. Shen Qingqiu can't help but look around, but sees no traces of Luo Binghe or Ning Yingying. Sadly the entrance is not visible from here. 

With nothing of use out here and lungs full of clean, nice air, he steps back inside. He feels more clear headed after that, like his batteries just got charged. He is again determined to properly investigate this mansion!

Finally taking a look around the room, he first takes note of the high quality of the double bed pushed into the corner. Mostly because it looks much comfier than his own room's bed. Not that he expects to be sleeping in any beds with all the dying and restarting that he is dealing with. 

Beside the bed is a small bookshelf. A quick look inside reveals a ripped picture of two people wearing old fashioned clothes standing together. Both of them look at something to the side with disdain, though that part is ripped off. The backside contains what he assumes is their names, which reveals they must be family.

A clear hint towards a backstory that he already knows.

The room also has a huge clock, small decorations of instruments carved into it. It is currently broken with one of the clock needles missing. Something to look out for, he supposes.

What is most noticeable is a glass container resting against the wall opposite from the bed. When Shen Quingiu looks into it, he sees a flute resting on a pillow. The light wooden material almost lighting up when contrasted to the dark fabric beneath it. He is quick to find the container is locked. With a number combination lock.

If he is wrong, it could result in a trap. But he still dares to try. 

4-8-6-2

The container clicks and Shen Qingqiu can't help but be excited as it opens. This might actually be the first puzzle he has solved since transmigrating to this game! Well, there is also the sliding puzzle for the spiritbox, but that one is so easy, so it doesn't count. This one was also quite easy, he just had to find the correct note, but still! He is actually progressing!!

Reaching inside, he picks up the flute. It is very light. He doesn't recognize the wood it is made of, but it is clearly a high quality craftsmanship. The image of a small bamboo forest is etched into the flute and Shen Qingqiu can't help but follow the pattern with the tip of his fingers. Turning it around and looking inside, he finds a piece of paper wrapped around a key. 

The other half of the picture. 

This part depicts a child. It is hard to determine his age, especially because he seems big compared to the baby fat softening his face. Looking on the backside, he confirms the child must be related to the other half’s adults.

He leaves both parts of the picture in the glass container. He is much more interested in the small key, as he already suspects where it will lead. Taking it and the flute, he is ready to abandon this room. And right as he leaves, he is surprised by two things he should not be surprised by anymore.

The spiritbox turns to life. And Ning Yingying stands right on the other side of the door. 

Before she can open her mouth, Shen Qingqiu is already dragging her inside the room. He peeks out for a second, but sees no sign of the Killer. He closes the door and quickly turns off the spiritbox. 

Turning towards Ning Yingying, she throws herself at him. 

"Senior Shen! I am so glad to see you! I was afraid something had happened to you! Luo Binghe is gone and-"

"I know. What are you doing here?"

At his cold tone, she freezes. Stepping back, her expression of relief falls into something closer to insecurity.

"Wha- What do you mean senior?"

"You-!" Shen Qingqiu is about to start, but then realizes he interrupted her too quickly. She hasn't mentioned the Killer yet and this early it doesn't make sense that he has seen him. He has to give a different explanation. "Why are you split up from Luo Binghe? You and him should have been on your way by now, so obviously something has happened."

"We got a-attacked by someone. Right after we s-saw a corpse-"

"Someone is dead!?" 

Shen Qingqiu feels bad as Ning Yingying flinches at his harsh voice. He can only mentally apologize as this is for the best for the both of them.

"Ye-yes, we found the corpse of-"

"And you are just running around? You find a dead body, someone attacks you and you think that is the best time to wander around?" Shen Qingqiu keeps interrupting. While Ning Yingying is still wet from being outside and likely was already crying when he stumbled upon her, he still thinks he can see more tears fall from her eyes. Her body has begun to tremble and like this, she seems much smaller. Like she is just a frightened child caught in a horrible situation. 

Shen Qingqiu clears his throat in the hope that it will release the pressure in his chest.

"I'm sorry," Ning Yingying says, in a voice so small it could be a whisper. "I was afraid something would happen to you."

This is too much. With a sigh, Shen Qingqiu takes off his coat and hands it to her. She hesitates, looking into his eyes to ask for permission, like he isn't already giving it to her. She sniffs as she takes it.

"I am your upper classmate. Your senior. It is not your responsibility to look after me. So it would have been better for everyone if you just had found a place to hide," he reprimands. Ning Yingying just nods, looking down at the ground. "I will go look for something that can help us. You will stay here and hide. I will come get you after I find a way out."

She doesn't answer. He forces his voice to become harder. "Do you understand?" he presses. 

She finally nods again and that is enough. So Shen Qingqiu turns and leaves her alone in the room. Right before he goes, he checks the spiritbox. The Killer is still around, but not close by. That must be good enough for now.

Back in the hallway, he goes straight for the locked door. It is the only room he knows for certain is close by and he doesn't like staying around in the open with the Killer wandering around. 

Earlier, he assumed correctly. The key fits. 

inside isn't that impressive though, as Shen Qingqiu realizes he just entered a bathroom.

It is small, with just a single toilet and sink. The humbleness of the room fits much better with Shen Qingqius' wake up room than anything else he has seen of the mansion so far. 

With the bathroom this small, there isn't a lot to search. The toilet is clean and functioning. The pipes going to the sink are slightly rusty. As he turns on the water, though, he can hear something rattle from the drain. He doesn't quite stick his finger inside, but he finds it is too deep down to reach by human hands.

After the quickest search so far he leaves. Finding Ning Yingying standing right outside the door. 

She no longer looks like a miserable drowned mouse. As she stands in his way, her eyes are full of determination. Her inner lion has broken free, a cornered beast ready to fight back.

"You know what Shen Qingqiu? I won't just hide while you go around putting yourself in danger! I'm not some little girl and I know I can help if you would just listen to me-" She starts, but before her confrontation can continue they are interrupted. 

They both hear heavy breathing. Simultaneously turning their heads, they look down the hallway. Standing closer than should be possible without being noticed is the Killer. 

He lifts his axe. 

All the bravery Ning Yingying had managed to gather evaporates like water in a desert at the sight of their doom. There is only one place they can run to with any hope of surviving. 

Crashing back into the bedroom, they both panicky look around for any place to hide. Before they can act, the door bursts open from the force of the Killer.

Ning Yingying runs out to the balcony. 

Shen Qingqiu turns around in time to see the axe swinging and this time he manages to avoid it by leaping to the side. This only gives him a second to react to the next swing, in which he falls to the ground. 

But he doesn't stay down. 

Pushing himself back up, it is pure luck that the next swing just barely misses his leg. With the wild swings, he won't be able to get around the Killer. So he throws himself outside where Ning Yingying is. 

While the balcony is big, it is not two young adults and an oversized killer big. So as Ning Yingying catches him at first, they are forced to push away from each other as the axe attempts to cleave them. Shen Qingqiu lands against the railing while Ning Yingying falls to the ground. The Killer steps out with them. After a second he decides to turn his focus to Shen Qingqiu. His target has been chosen.

The axe comes for him. First Rusty metal hits stone, the screech from the impact making their ears bleed. Second, the axe aims for his chest. The swing forces him to step back. 

There is nothing but railing behind him. A railing that is too low. 

Instead of being cornered, Shen Qingqiu finds himself losing his balance. His mind flashes back to the stairs, as his hands try to grasp at the reiling. He doesn't catch it in time. His feet don't find ground. 

He falls. 

With his back to his doom, Shen Qingqius' eyes are locked with the grinning demon above. As he falls through the air, strong winds pulling at his clothes, he sees nothing but dark empty slits. Two pools of void.

He hits the ground with a sickening crunch. 

He thought his body broken when he fell down the stairs. He was wrong. Falling from the second floor, right onto stone and concrete, there is nothing to soften his impact. Too many bones break at once. His spine. The back of his skull. His arms and legs. The skin and meat of his back splits apart from the force. Turns into mush. Blood and flesh and brain matter leaks from his body.

And during it all, Shen Qingqiu sees nothing but the black eyes of a mocking devil, its gaze heavy as it looks down at him.

The last thing he registers is light footsteps coming towards him.

[theadventurerslog]

Quest For Glory IV: Shadows of Darkness | Part 6

The Adventurer's Log

It was night after a failed visit to the gypsy camp. Nothing else to do but keep going forward. I encountered my first necrotaur.

I found a strange fountain...

That's totally safe. Nothing suspicious here. I had options to drink, take a taste or jump in. Jumping in just got me scolded by the narrator, and sipping and drinking led to the same result. Cinder Win didn't win and passed out.

And I saw a...fairy? Forest spirit? Elf? (depending on whether elves and fairies are considered one and the same here).

Yeah I have much to learn like not taking drinks from strange fountains in the middle of forests at night? Besides, what was I gonna do, NOT take a drink? I have the power of saving on my side! Still, the number of interested parties here seems to be growing... And I still don't know why I was brought here in the first place.

After waking up, all was well shortly after and I continued. In a night that was quickly turning very eventful I ran into a ghost.

I greeted her.

She was lost and wanted to go home. She wasn't aware she was a ghost and I could offer to help her and guide her home but I wasn't sure how to actually do that. She seemed to just keep disappearing. She was also really slow to come to me. So, my thought was that I'd need something to... entice her? Convince her she was a ghost? Hold her somehow to bring her back to town? I'm assuming this is Anna, so bring her back to Nikolai?

Hopefully something will get clearer and I can tackle that better...

I found my way back to town anyway, and the pumpkins were jack o' lanterns!

Also, Katrina was there.

She scolded me for not taking better care at night and gave me a healing potion.

Displeased huh?

Then she intended to teach me a lesson for not listening to her warnings which sounded very menacing but actually resulted in her teaching me a new spell, Frostbite.

I don't know what to make of her and I couldn't even talk to her about every available option before she left.

I levitated over the closed gate and went to get some dinner and bed. It wasn't as late as I thought, but I wasn't in the best shape in all of health, mana and stamina.

Bad news when I stepped out in the morning. The trio of chatty villagers that are normally in the inn in the evenings were gathered outside. Igor was missing, oh no! They caught a gypsy just outside town while searching for Igor and are insisting he's a werewolf and ate Igor. Make him talk and bring him to justice and they were all basically one step away from bringing out the pitchforks. The Burgomeister thankfully wasn't having it.

We need to figure out what actually happened here. Igooor.

They kept being insistent and think they ate the innkeeper's daughter too.

The Burgomeister wasn't having that either. Tanya... now I know who she is anyway.

He tried to get the others to stop riling themselves up with tales of werewolves--he himself doesn't believe in them--and to go home. He would also appreciate my help when offered in proving one way or another what actually happened to Igor. He doesn't want to blame someone for a crime that may or may not have been committed.

You know, the Burgomeister didn't trust me but I didn't fully trust him either. He could have been corrupt. He seems to be proving otherwise now. Appreciate him trying to keep things from flying off the handle here anyway and even accepting my offer to help despite previous grumbling at me.

But Igor! Now I had an investigation to add to my plate. I was gonna be making the rounds around town anyway and now I had even more reason to.

I went inside and talked to the Burgomeister a little more. He was skeptical in general, maybe a bit overly so given everything that is going on around here, but I appreciate him being grounded about this missing Igor situation. He really didn't believe the gypsy is responsible but was uncertain of what to do. I'm here for the rescue! Somehow.

I went to talk to the gypsy in the cell who's the same guy I talked to at the camp. He refused to say anything and seemed disbelieving when I offered to help and then the Burgomeister got after me for just standing around talking.

I was just appreciating you, sir! Talking is part of my investigation! But fine, I'll go leave and do stuff. Like talking to more people.

And as I left I think I just got put on a time limit...

So I've got today before they go after the suspect...

Olga didn't have much of use, just ready to burn that werewolf before it eats them all.

I tried talking to Nikolai on my way to Dr. Cranium in hopes of some clue of what to do about the ghost I assume is Anna, but no luck there.

Dr. Cranium had nothing about Igor either, however, he thought he came up with a way to make a Rehydration Solution. That would certainly help with the dried-up Domovoi. I had to give him the elements of the formula and he requested some Grue Goo.

With nothing helpful in town, it was time to go hunting for clues about poor Igor.

I went to the cemetery first.

A groan. A fallen tombstone over a previously open grave. Igor got trapped, didn't he?

I couldn't move the tombstone by myself, but an Open spell worked to my slight surprise, and sure enough, up came Igor.

With messed up colours. A lightning bolt struck right around this point so I don't know if it was because of that or just glitched. He thanked me anyway and wandered off, hopefully back to town. That was easier than expected.

Back in town, everyone was cleared out. The prisoner was released and the Burgomeister thanked me for finding Igor. He didn't want to burn the prisoner at the stake.

Then I went to see Igor who considers me a friend now! Aw. You're my buddy too, Igor.

I told him about the townspeople worrying about him.

"Igor now morgue happy than ever!" That little graveyard humour heehee. I'm genuinely growing rather fond of him and his graveyard humour. The gnome may be... that, but Igor's got my back!

I asked about the crypt key which he was happy to give me now as a friend. Not that I needed it with magic, but good to have.

I couldn't remember if I'd asked him about Erana's staff before so I did again: Erana's staff has been in town for a long time. Dmitri's grandfather brought it. So, Piotyr is Dmitri the Burgomeister's grandfather huh.

With Igor safe and sound I figured it was time to go search for some Grue Goo for Dr. Cranium. There was all the goo near the cave I came out of but I needed to find my way back there. I also stopped by Olga, but not too much to say beyond some general horror at the gruesome fate of being trapped in a grave so it was a good thing I found Igor.

I was having trouble finding my back to the cave area. I certainly hadn't mapped at all at that point and my mapping efforts have been somewhat haphazard in general.

I found a deadly bush! Joy of joys!

A bush with eyes.

This had to be the bush Leshy's last riddle referred to.

It was an elderbury bush. I got too close by accident and it killed me. Buried me perhaps.

After some failed experiments including throwing a sandwich at the bush which did make the eyes dive down into it, I was able to use force bolt to knock a branch off then fetch the branch to get some elderbury berries.

I did find the starting area again. I'd been going in the wrong direction. For some reason I thought it was more to the east even though I've been to the swamp recently which is westerly and mostly a straight shot south of town. I even knew the swamp wasn't far from the cave. I'm good at directions! (I'm really not). But goo acquired.

I brought it back to Dr. Cranium who was thrilled and gave me the Rehydration Solution which seems suspiciously like water.

I'm coming Domovoi!

I saved the Domovoi in the Monastery who thanked me and warned me of the dangers of this place. I needed to destroy the guard or feed it for a secret passage down.

I assume he means something in here. There is a hexapod statue decoration thing over the hearth I could fire spells at, but before I do anything further in here I wanted to talk to the Inn Domovoi again. Generally get more information... Which meant I had time to kill before midnight.

With the berries from the bush I tried going to the Leshy again, but I guess that wasn't enough of an answer...

I tried for the camp again, but the wolves blocked me and there was no sign of our former prisoner.

With everything else failing on me, I tried for the ghost and confirmed she was Anna. When I talked to her again she asked why I left her behind but she was the one who kept disappearing. Every time she tried to follow me she'd find herself back in the same spot again. I had to keep talking to her and leaving and coming back to nudge her into starting to realize she was a ghost.

She remembered she was walking home when something chased her. She tried to run but something knocked her over and everything went black. She remembered her name and the place she lived in town. She remembered Nikolai and asked me to talk to him about her. She doesn't want to leave without seeing him again.

This is sad...

I was gonna try some wandering or finding something to do while waiting then I realized I was nearly out of MP and I didn't want to wander around at night with no MP and not much of a goal or get stuck outside of town without the MP to levitate over the barred gates. Yes I have the magic fruit, but not many... I need to remember to return to the garden to get more.

Instead I slept until midnight and went to see the Domovoi. He was very pleased I saved the dried up Domovoi and that Domovoi is now living in the Burgomeister's place! I hope I get to see him again... and maybe his presence will somehow help the Burgomeister? And my inn friend here was ready to help me with more information. I would need to help people and be "plenty big hero" here.

I would need to be very powerful, skilled and smart.

He told me a story about Tanya, Bella and Yuri's daughter. Time to find out about her at last. She was taken because of a doll he thinks.

Tanya was a very sweet child who liked everyone. One night Bella had a terrible dream that Tanya was taken away and Bella got scared. She stopped letting Tanya play outside or have friends. Tanya was scared of the dark and spent many times alone at the back of the inn. Then one day a big and friendly monster came to her window. He talked to her then she wasn't afraid of the dark and they became friends. One night while she was very unhappy the monster came and took her away. It wanted to make her happy. Now she was gone; now she was gone to the castle. No one except the Domovoi saw this and he couldn't help her.

As for the doll: one night Tanya got a beautiful doll that she'd never had before and she loved it very much. Bella and Yuri didn't know where it had come from or from whom and got scared, so Bella took it away and locked it in the cabinet which made Tanya very sad. The Domovoi told me to take the doll to Tanya and maybe I could help her when I become a very powerful hero.

He told me not to tell Bella or Yuri. Tanya needed a hero not dead parents. He told me not to show the doll to Bella--it would make her very scared and unhappy.

So I needed to keep helping people for now which I've been working on. I'm still not sure how this all ties together between Katrina, Ad Avis and Tanya. Unless Ad Avis was the one to take her for some reason? Only seemingly a monster and hypnotized her like he did to me? I don't know!

I went to bed, and got more voices. This time, judging by the subject of their talk--trying to get a clear view through a crystal ball, and most of all by their bantering nature, I think it was Erasmus and Fenrus.

I guess they weren't having an easy time of it.

"Either you are mystically rusty or your crystal is dusty." Yeah, this has to be them right...?

Regardless I woke to a new day.

Day 6 I think and I’m just glad I got the Domovoi situation resolved as it was making me nervous. Onward to more tasks, helping people and uncertainty of how to handle some of them!

[the-late-night-writer]

Baldur's Gate 3: Act I Guide

My group of friends have been wanting to play BG3 since I've been raving about it, but have all had a lot of trouble getting through Act I because of the way the game is set up with earning experience and leveling up. So I've put together what I believe is a good order to do quests/areas in Act I and also left some helpful tips! I tried to keep it as spoiler free as possible. Guide below the cut :)

(Note: You can recruit Karlach as a companion much earlier than mentioned here, the area she's in just happens to have higher level enemies)

Ravaged Beach

Recruit Shadowheart, who can be found either passed out on the beach or knocking on an ancient door, depending on whether or not you saved her on the nautiloid

Recruit Astarion, who can be found just past the wreckage where you defeated the intellect devourers

Recruit Gale, who can be found in the "dangerous portal" near the overgrown ruins

Recruit Lae'zel, who can be found in a cage being guarded by some tieflings in the overgrown ruins

Abandoned Chapel

Bandits will have moved into the chapel, and you can engage them in combat for some good xp

The chapel will have lots of camp supplies for you to loot

The tombs here are heavily trapped, so it'll help to ungroup Astarion and send him out to dismantle them all, since he has several bonuses for this skill

The final room in the tomb has some enchanted corpses who will engage you in combat. Defeat them and you can go into the secret room where you'll meet Withers and get some decent loot from his sarcophagus

Emerald Grove

After battling the goblins at the gates, have your party travel up the hill to the right of the gate. A bugbear assassin will be there attempting to kill Nadira. If you save her, you can pass a DC to receive a Soul Coin from her

Convincing Rolan to stay or go from the grove will impact which tieflings you can encounter in Act II and III. I recommend convincing him to stay

While exploring the druid's inner quarters of the Emerald Grove, you can climb behind a bookshelf where you'll find a chest. There's a note in the chest that opens a quest to investigate Kagha

At the small beach near the Sacred Pool (the one with the bear), you can overturn a rock to find The Amulet of Silvanus, which allows the wearer to cast one Lesser Restoration per day without spending a spell slot (very helpful if you're romancing Astarion :p)

At the rocky beach behind the grove, there is a nest of harpies trying to lure in a young tiefling boy named Mirkon. Defeating the harpies will give you xp and also Mirkon will give you the password to enter the children's hideout

Recruit Wyll, who can be found training some tiefling children in The Hollow

Forest

There will be a trio of siblings, one of whom has been attacked by an owlbear. You can either engage the surviving siblings in combat, send them to the owlbear cave, or encourage them to continue living their life which will result in them finding the goblin camp

Just north outside of the Blighted Village, a dog named Scratch will be protecting his master's corpse. You can convince Scratch to follow your scent and come to your camp if his master doesn't wake up, and he'll become a permanent camp companion. Don't shout at the body to prove he's dead, as it will engage Scratch in combat

You may encounter a group of harpers just at the entrance of the Blighted Village. Speaking to them will allow you to get information on the Nightsong

Owlbear Cave

There is some decent loot in the cave outside a statue of Selûne

If you encounter the mother owlbear and convince her to let you leave the cave, leave immediately. Trying to sneak around and get more loot can result in engaging both her and the owlbear cub in combat

It's important to encounter the cub before traveling to the goblin camp, so he may become eligible to be a camp companion later on

Blighted Village

Wipe out the goblins in the village for a good amount of xp. There are also ogres in one of the abandoned buildings, as well as an ogre and bugbear in the abandoned barn. You can fight the ogres, but you can also convince them to work for you

Rescuing the gnome that the goblins are torturing on the windmill will benefit you in Act III

Underneath the apothecary there's a cellar with a great amount of loot, and navigating it just right will lead you to other secret rooms where you can engage in battle and find The Necromancy of Thay

In the well near the Blighted Village waypoint, there's an area you can access called the Whispering Depths, but leave that alone for now

Sunlit Wetlands

To the left of the tea house, you will encounter a monster hunter named Gandrel who you can trade with, and also engage in combat. He carries a decent heavy crossbow if you choose to loot him

If you encounter the frog while in the swamp, do NOT engage in combat with it! You may think haha late is being silly goofy, it's just a little frog. The frog will kill you. You will regret your decision. Plus if you speak to it after killing the hag, it'll lead you to some nice loot as a reward!

The tea house has a good amount of loot including camp supplies and potions

Choosing to rescue Mayrina will benefit you in Act III. If while battling the hag she takes the appearance of Mayrina and you're having trouble distinguishing between the two of them, the hag has higher HP

The hag has great loot as well as lots of helpful items in the room behind where you fight her for Mayrina

In the swamp there's an island you can get to by jumping across rocks, the Decrepit Sanctuary. You can engage in combat here with some nature spirits, and investigating the tree stump in the center will give you evidence you need to complete the "investigate Kagha" quest

Underground Passage

While walking through the forest, you and your party will roll a perception check that if passed will reveal a stone door leading to an underground passage connecting the forest to the druid grove

Stealth your way through here to deactivate the runes, aggroing them will cause them to shoot fireballs at you

There are some goblins in here you can engage in combat, and also can save the man they've beaten up

Whispering Depths

Entrance can be found at the well in the Blighted Village

Large spiders in this area are guarding a dark amethyst, which is related to the Necromancy of Thay quest

While in combat with the spiders, you can use a cantrip like fireball and aim it at the webs they're on, and they can take a good amount of fall damage

In this area you can also find an entrance to the Underdark. You can use featherfall or fly to jump down without dying

Risen Road

Recruit Karlach, who can be found just across a creek near the tollhouse

Gnolls are all over this area, the tougher of the two groups is further up the road, and the fight can be made easier if you convince the lead gnoll to turn against the travelers in the cave. But if you defeat the gnolls and the travelers survive, it opens up an opportunity to progress the "Find the Missing Shipment" quest

Visiting Waukeen's Rest opens up the quest to rescue Duke Ulder Ravengard. If you agree to help, you can obtain one of three powerful weapons as a reward

If you encounter the githyanki patrol, do the talking yourself. In my experience Lae'zel somehow always aggros the group into a fight and I've personally never managed to beat them in combat

Goblin Camp

At the goblin camp, there is a booze tub that can be spiked with poison. You can convince a good amount of the goblins to participate in a toast, and everyone who drinks will end up dying. You have to pass a DC to convince them that you had nothing to do with it, but it takes care of a handful of enemies

Interact with the owlbear cub and offer him your scent so he may later come to your camp

Once you're in the Shattered Sanctum, stealthily destroy all the war drums so that if you end up in combat the goblins can't call for backup

If you choose to participate in the Priest of Pain's ritual, take off all your clothes and armor and participate in the ritual naked. It'll give you a +4 advantage to your rolls for the ritual. If you succeed, you'll receive the buff "Loviatar's Blessing" which is beneficial if you have 30% health or lower

If you're under leveled, or you're like me and just don't like combat, there is a way to defeat all the Goblin Camp leaders without fighting them directly:

Priestess Gut: Separate a member of your party who can be poisoned and send them back with the priestess to be examined. I used Lae'zel. The priestess will give you a sleeping potion and you'll be knocked out. When you wake up, you'll be restrained, but don't try and escape. Korrilla, one of Raphael's minions, will come and kill Gut for you and set you free.

Minthara: Agree to go along with raiding the druid grove, but as she's walking across the wooden bridge away from the area, have a member of your party with a ranged weapon shoot the bridge. She'll fall to her death in the chasm, but you'll miss out on her loot.

Dror Ragzlin: Separate the strongest member of your party from your group and have them take an invisibility potion (the vendor Roah Moonglow sells two of them). Have them go over to Dror and shove him into the chasm. He'll fall to his death, but you'll miss out on his loot. You'll still have to fight the others in the room, but the fight is much easier without him.

Githyanki Crèche

Complete the ceremonial weapons puzzle to unlock the crest to the Blood of Lathander. If not, when you try to take the weapon, it will trigger the destruction of the entire monastery. The mace is found on a drunk kobold, the battleaxe is with the guardian, and the war hammer is on the roof in the eagle's nest

There are 3 mind flayer parasites located in the back of the infirmary with the doctor that you can swipe after she leaves the room

If you visit the hatchery and convince Varsh Ko'kuu to give you the egg, he'll also gift you a pair of boots that give you resistance to acid damage

The inquisitor's chambers has a TON of good loot, make sure to check all the chests and display cases

Don't worry about handing the artifact over to the inquisitor or Vlaakith - you can do so and still come out of the situation without killing your guardian. You can go in the Astral Plane and simply speak with them before returning to the chambers and you can come away from combat with the artifact still in your possession

By solving a statue puzzle in the inquisitor's chambers, you'll be lead to the basement of the temple where the Blood of Lathandar is kept. Make sure to complete the ceremonial weapons puzzle as mentioned above to keep the monastery from collapsing when you claim it

Underdark

There are four entrances to the Underdark in Act I: the pit in the Whispering Depths, which you can enter by using featherfall or fly to avoid fall damage; one accessible through the Shattered Sanctum at the Goblin Camp, where you'll need to get to the Defiled Temple and solve a puzzle to grant entrance; the pit in the hag's lair, again use featherfall to access it; and finally, a shed in Waukeen's Rest has an entrance concealed behind a wardrobe

At the decrepit village near the beach waypoint, there are duergar waiting to ambush. Defeating them will get you some good loot, and also progress a quest available with the myconid colony. This will also give you access to the duergar's boat, which you'll need to take later to reach Grymforge

Speaking with Spaw, the myconid sovereign, will open up the quest to kill Nere and bring Spaw his head. Completing Spaw's quests will reward you with some good loot located in the circle as well as a bonus for bringing Nere's head

There is a poisoned gnome, Thulla, in the same area as the sovereign who you can choose to help, and as a reward she'll give you her boots, which are an item needed for another quest if you so choose to follow it

The dwarf merchant who sends you looking for her husband will reward you with loot if you bring him back safely. The husband himself will also give you some scrolls for your trouble

If you find the large cluster of Bibberbang mushrooms where the husband was trapped, DON'T detonate them to clear the area. Doing so destroys the rare mushroom the couple was looking for - and it's the only one found in the game (learned this one the hard way 😓)

Speaking to the hobgoblin Blurg about the tadpole will open up a quest for a potential cure, and completing this quest gives you the chance to obtain a rare ring as loot (you'll need to pass some DC checks)

Approaching the Selûnite temple from the front is a bad idea - you and your party will get fried by the temple's security. There is a way to enter the temple through a side window if you take the long way around, and from there you can destroy the moonstone held in the statue's staff to disable the security system

The Arcane Tower has several arcane turrets that will target members of your party if you get within range. These turrets are weak to lightning - I recommend using an invisibility spell to send in a member of your party with a shocking grasp cantrip or a conjure lighting spell

Grymforge

IMPORTANT: Freeing True Soul Nere from the collapse is a time sensitive quest. Long resting will pass the days and if you long rest twice, it will trigger his death along with the gnomes that are trapped with him

Speak to the duergar called Elder Brithvar, and you can cut a deal with him to turn against Nere after you free him from the collapse. He and several other duergar will aid you in the fight against him

If you find the spiders near the boats, convince them to become followers of Lolth, the spider goddess. Now if you find yourselves in combat, the spiders won't aid the duergar in their fight against you

If you convince the duergar tossing the deep gnome bodies into the water to let you take over, you can loot the bodies and obtain a rare ring

Barcus Wroot, the gnome from the Windmill in the Blighted Village, can be found here if you saved him from the goblins. If you choose to save him here it'll open up the option to reunite him with the friend he's been looking for

If you choose to try and free Nere from the collapse, you can locate a runaway gnome called Philomeen and bargain with her for a vial of runepowder (after convincing her not to blow the place up, of course) that will help clear the blockage

If you side with the rebel duergar against Nere and take him down in battle, you'll be allowed to take his head, but if you want to loot his pockets, have someone become invisible or stealth your way through it. Looting him will trigger a fight with the duergar you were just allied with

At the Ancient Forge when battling the forge guardian, have a member of your party stay near the lava valve and periodically turn it on after the lava drains from the forge. This makes the guardian superheated and vulnerable to certain types of damage. You can also lure the guardian to the forge hammer and use it to crush it, dealing 100 hp of damage

There is an elevator at Grymforge that leads you to an area with access to the Shadow Cursed Lands, should you choose to travel this way. I personally recommend returning to the mountain pass, as it's the fastest way I know of to obtain a Moon Lantern

Let me know if you have any useful tips to add! Hope this helps, and enjoy the game :)

[iphig3nia]

From Eden || Sebastian Sallow

“I slithered here from Eden, just to sit outside your door”

Sebastian wants to tell you his feelings so bad, however he might be just a little nervous about it

cw - slight angst, open-ended ending :0, Sebastian has low self esteem :(

a/n || now that I know how tumblr works (mostly), and how its awful with copy and pasting work from google docs (like whyyy), I’d like to write more :), I also opened requests (I think I did, I’ll check again)

—

“Meet me in the undercroft after your class, there’s something to discuss.”

That’s all Sebastian told you before he scurried off, leaving you in the dust. “How strange..” you murmured watching his silhouette disappear around a corner, accepting this as a regular occurrence you went on with your day normally. However on the other side of that wall Sebastian was breathing like he’d just ran a mile, blushing and wiping the sweat off of his hands onto his slytherin cloak. He almost froze right in front of you and he wasn’t even telling you how he felt! He smacked his face a couple times “get it together” he peeked around the corner and saw you walking off into the distance and let out a dreamy sigh, he has all day now to plan.

Your day continued quite normally, you had classes and met up with your friends and studied for a bit. On the other side of school though Sebastian was a wreck, he rushed to the bathroom at the end of his second to last class of the day. He bent over the sink, gripping the porcelain white of the bowl as he shook with each intake of breath. All day you were on his mind and no matter what you always said no to him in his head. Sebastian was torturing himself with the thought of you rejecting him, the thought of you looking at him with disdain “why would I ever go out with you?” He tried to shake the thought from his head, you stood by him through a lot of things that have happened recently and he just somehow developed feelings for you…but did you feel the same?

Sebastian looked into the mirror, a slight tremor could be seen and he sighed and quickly washed his face with cold water. You were just so…pure and kind-hearted to everyone and everything unlike him who would use the dark arts when beneficial. You knew about his sister, and his ceaseless searching for a cure, for any way to help her. But deep down he was worried that maybe that would be the dealbreaker for you, maybe you didn’t want someone like him who could so easily dabble in that cursed magic. He stared down at his hands and his eyes furrowed in slight disgust, his innocence died screaming a while ago “I should know..” he muttered and dried his face off before heading to his last class.

As your last class ended you gathered your things quickly and left for the undercroft, the familiar twists and turns setting your nerves on fire. What did Sebastian want to talk about exactly? You’re not so sure, but you feel a glint of hope as you think that maybe he’s finally going to talk about his feelings for you. He hasn’t been the most secretive person about it, and you haven’t been so good at it either. You sigh as you hold your book close to your chest in comfort, Sebastian had been under a lot of stress recently and you were so worried about him. His quest to find a cure for Anne while good-hearted is leading to him plunging himself into the dark arts, and you can see the toll it takes on him with your very eyes, and it hurts you deeply.

You want to remind him so bad that he is still good despite his choices, that he’s still the Sebastian you fell in love with. You pause at the entrance of the undercroft with that in mind and decide that even if the conversation doesn’t go that way, you will admit to Sebastian your feelings for him whether he accepts them or not. You enter the undercroft and find it deserted, the room silent save for the door closing. This doesn’t seem to help your nerves as you resign yourself to standing around and waiting for him, thinking of what to say.

Sebastian didn’t mean to leave class so late, it doesn’t matter though as he races through the corridors. A million thoughts are flying through his head, into one ear and out the other. What if you’re not there, what if you left after he took so long, what if you already have a boyfriend that he somehow didn’t know about, what if you say no. Sebastian huffs as he reaches the entrance to the undercroft and finds himself pausing just before he opens the door. Last minute thoughts begin to bubble and surface, Sebastian almost feels too revolting to even think about speaking to you especially about this, he feels as if he’s like a slimy snake, slithering here from Eden just to hide outside the door.

On the other side of the door you become anxious, thoughts about where Sebastian could be are coursing through your mind. “Maybe I should go look for him.” you look around again and decide that’s the best course of action for now. You walk towards the door and reach for it slowly. Sebastian sighs and looks straight at the door, “It’s now or never.” He murmurs to himself as he goes to open the door.

You jump back in surprise when you open the door to the undercroft to see Sebastian, and you clearly see his eyes widen startled. Staring into each other’s eyes many feelings can be seen: fear, anticipation, hope, love.

You already know how this will end, and you like to think he knows as well.

“Hey” you smile

“Hey” he smiles

[psielapki]

@playedbetter's     zevran     &     the     fate     /     continued

                    𝘢𝘭𝘭   𝘣𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴,   𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘺   𝘢𝘯𝘥   𝘪𝘯𝘬𝘺   𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥,   𝘪𝘴   𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥   𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺   𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮   𝘵𝘩𝘦   𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳'𝘴   𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦.   there   is   no   reason   to   look   at   one's   face   whilst   talking   when   you   can't   see   it   一   doesn't   matter   how   much   of   an   inhumane   behavior   is   it   deemed   (   there   is   a   tale   upon   tale   upon   tale   preceeding   you   anyway   ;   an   opinion   is   made   before   you're   met.   good.   ).

                    onyxes   stare   into   the   abyss   and   make   it   seem   like   the   face   -   blind   witch   is   lost   in   thought,   while   in   reality   she   listens   carefully   to   what   her   elven   ally   says   (   and   although   it   is   rare   for   his   mouth   to   close,   the   conversations   with   him   are   oft   something   other   than   brainless   chatter   offered   for   the   rest   of   the   party   ).   years   spent   in   this   reality   made   her   stop   flinching   at   the   touch,   so   the   bloodied   hands   can   trace   any   scar   they   desire,   staining   porcelain   with   crimson   一   fate   was   never   the   one   afraid   to   get   dirty   anyway.

                    the   night   is   peaceful.

                    there   are   stars   glimmering   in   the   night   sky,   and   when   she   raises   her   head,   they   reflect   in   her   eyes   all   the   same   :   just   like   what's   above   is   undiscovered,   so   is   the   past   of   hers   一   thick   veil   covers   it,   and   although   it's   just   some   fabric,   it   can   only   be   peeked   through   if   she   allowed.   there's   a   thought   to   let   zevran   see   even   if   just   a   little,   listen   to   the   tales   of   cities   filled   with   metal   buildings   reaching   high   enough   to   touch   the   stars   一   with   weapons   shooting   concentrated   energy   just   like   her   staff   does,   but   without   any   input   from   the   user   :   all   it   takes   is   just   a   pull   of   the   trigger.

                    there   aren't   horses   on   the   streets   一   the   carriages   move   by   themselves   fueled   by   gas   or   electricity,   oil   put   in   lamps   to   lighten   the   nights   making   these   armoured   wagons   moving,   their   outside   impenetrable   by   swords   or   arrows.

                    these   are   all   the   concepts   she'll   feed   him,   if   there   was   room   for   grasping   it.   in   current   times,   there's   not.

                    even   the   shapes   of   her   past,   crosses   adorning   skin   of   her   legs,   are   not   a   known   symbol   in   here.   there's   way   too   much   to   explain   with   little   to   no   energy   to   do   so   ;   the   face   -   blind   witch   decides   against   speaking   about   it.   she's   already   deemed   crazy,   insane,   dangerous.   no   need   to   fan   the   flames,   not   here,   not   when   she's   close   to   either   solving   her   issue,   saving   the   world   or   dooming   it,   if   they   failed   in   their   quest.

                    when   she   decides   to   respond,   her   voice   is   laced   with   amusement   &   just   the   right   amount   of   sarcasm.   without   much   shame,   she   hikes   up   her   skirt,   parts   her   legs   一   cut   after   cut   after   cut   after   cut,   an   aftermath   of   a   war   survived   ;   battleground   of   knives   against   skin   is   revealed   and   though   never   really   concealed,   never   really   shown   on   display   either.

                    ❝   really?   ❞   fate   muses,   smile   dancing   in   her   tone.   ❝   how   could   you   tell?   ❞

[insignificant457]

Assorted light bringer predictions, just to see how wrong I am later

Pax has the minds eye (or some version of it). He is simply Too Smart, and he fought the obsidians with his eyes closed just like Lysander does in the desert. The secret to the minds eye is probably in Octavias vault, which we know Virginia has access to, and this would fit with her saying she raised him to be as much an ally as a son

Alternatively: the minds eye is somehow related to the figment parasite. Either the parasite is attempting to recreate the minds eye, or Lysander has a parasite himself and doesn’t know it

Oculus is an attempt to create a utopia outside of color—this is where Mickey has been for the last two books, creating an entire new species. By the end of red god, volga, lyria, and kavax will rule over it, fulfilling this line of ozgards prophecy:

Diomedes and his pink lover are working with Cassius/the reformers/possible sons of ares remnant. Honestly this is so widely theorized that it almost feels like it’s already canon

Diomedes’ lover is Evey. I remember seeing a theory about this years ago, shortly after iron gold came out, but I don’t remember where anymore. It was very compelling and it wormed its way into my psyche like the figment forcing itself up lyrias nose.

Lysander kills atalantia for killing his parents. Yes I know he’s awful and he needs to lose, but everyone deserves to kill the person that groomed them as a child so he gets to have this one win as a treat

Related: lysanders mommy issues and oedipus complex continue to get an uncomfortable amount of page time

Sevro comes back with his brain all scrambled. Ideally, for comedy purposes, he comes back a total Normie, and everyone’s just like eww put him back and it causes zero conflict. More realistically, this is the most heart shattering thing to happen in the whole series and part of the reason people with arcs are crying

A Big 5 (Darrow, mustang, sevro, Cassius, victra) death. It’s a miracle these OGs have made it this far, one of them has to be toast. My money would be on Cassius or sevro. Could also be the reason people with arcs are crying.

Volga Lyria lesbianism

Mustang and Darrow are kept apart for ANOTHER book because Pierce hates us and wants us to suffer

Victras mental health is at an all time low (I’m worried about her, can she please have an easy time just this once?) and it becomes a liability

Volsung fa reaps the consequences of eating the heart of his daughter who was suffering from a dna specific poison and dies without Volga having to face him (pls? She’s too sweet don’t make her be in the same room as that freak)

Alternatively, volsung fa faces no consequences from the above and this is our clue that he’s not actually sefi and ragnars father and is in fact some carved monstrosity

The ascomanni continue to give me the heebie jeebies

Rim politics that make Darrow want to rip his hair out (I’m with you buddy)

Darrow Cassius side quest? Pls?

The abomination runs rampant on Luna but it’s like in the background? Mustangs like yeah we’ll get to it eventually there’s other shit happening

And lastly: I am emotionally destroyed for 5-10 business days after finishing