#etain/casavir

[haledamage]

a kiss after treating a wound for Etain and whichever out of Casavir, Lann, or Vikkari you wanna use 😊

While all three options are very tempting, Casavir won out this time around 😁 mostly because in Faerun, Etain doesn’t have angelic powers that include very powerful healing spells, so more drama and less righteous smiting of her enemies 😇

Etain/Casavir, Neverwinter Nights 2, sometime in late Act 2/early Act 3 I guess? It’s not really related to the plot beyond mentions of stuff from very early in the game. Not yet in a relationship, but so, so much pining. So much.

---

Healing wasn’t Etain’s specialty.

Magic in general wasn’t something she had much talent for, beyond a few bits and pieces Aimee had managed to teach her when they were children. But what she lacked in skill she made up for in sheer willpower. 

She spent all afternoon expending every ounce of curative magic she had and wracking her brain to remember any of Father’s lessons in herblore or Tarmas’s in alchemy that might help. She even tried praying, to the gods of the sun and the forest, and even to Tyr, who had never paid her much mind but would hopefully be willing to listen on behalf of one of his faithful.

It had been enough--barely--to pull Casavir from the brink.

Sand had come by sometime just before sunset, looking exhausted and disheveled and even more surly than usual. He stayed just long enough to drop off a handful of potions and a stern if hypocritical lecture about not overextending herself. The potions had taken the gray cast from the paladin’s skin and cooled his fever, but it hadn’t been enough to wake him.

That had been hours ago. Long enough that the lanterns were starting to burn low, the shadows in the small room growing long and flickering. Etain stayed by Casavir’s bedside, mixing herbs and moss with her mortar and pestle until it formed a serviceable enough paste. She grabbed a pinch of it, rolling it between her fingers before carefully pressing it against the wound in his side.

His eyes immediately shot open. In a single, fluid motion, he sat up in bed, seizing her wrist with one hand while the other reached out for his sword.

“Whoa, easy!” She knew she wouldn’t be able to physically overpower him, but she still pressed her free hand to his chest like she might be able to push him back down. In the most soothing tone she could muster, she continued, “Easy, Cas. It’s okay. You’re safe here. But you’re injured. I need you t’lay back down, okay?”

To her relief, he obeyed, his sudden burst of energy calming at the sound of her voice. He let her guide him back down to the bed and settled down with a heavy sigh.

In the silence that followed, he rolled his head enough so he could watch her more easily. She tried not to tense under his inspection, letting him take in their surroundings, the table of empty potion bottles and half-crushed healing herbs, the fact that both of them were out of their armor and alone except for Pippin, who was curled up by the door. The grizzly hadn't so much as moved during Casavir’s brief outburst, knowing his mistress wasn't in any actual danger.

“Please do not be a dream.” Casavir’s voice was rough with pain--and probably also from whatever Sand put in his potions--but the words were clear enough.

Etain shook her head, sending a small smile his way as she picked up the bowl of her mortar again. “Is this somethin’ you dream about a lot, Cas? Gettin’ stabbed?”

His eyes were fever-bright but clear when they met hers. “I dream of you, Etain.”

“...Oh.” Any reply she might’ve made disappeared in a puff of smoke. She turned away, shaping another pinch of herb mixture in her fingers for far longer than necessary, waiting until her heartbeat slowed and the blush faded from her face before getting back to work.

Casavir didn’t so much as flinch this time when she carefully spread the concoction over the stab wound in his side. The swelling around the wound started to fade, the angry redness of his skin fading as poison and infection were drawn from him. By morning, he should be almost fully healed, and the herbs would flake away like ashes.

Hopefully. Assuming Etain hadn’t screwed up her measurements.

“Where are we?” he asked eventually. If he felt any discomfort from either her silence or her makeshift poultice, he didn’t show it; he just watched her face, expression warm but otherwise unreadable.

“My old room at the Flagon. Duncan was nice enough to let us crash here for a bit, but my room’s the only one that was ready when we arrived.” She set down the bowl and reached for a roll of clean bandages. “Do you remember what happened?”

“I recall… fragments.” He closed his eyes as if that would help his recollection, a familiar frown furrowing his brow.

Etain waited to see if he’d say anymore, but he didn’t. “D’you remember the part where you saved my life? That knife was meant for me. You stepped in front of it.”

Casavir’s expression immediately evened out again, relief overtaking his previous consternation. “Good.”

“‘Good’? Cas, it was poisoned!” She bit her tongue, surprised at her own outburst, and didn’t speak again until she was sure she could do so without yelling at him, though she wasn’t quite able to smooth away all the sharp edges from her voice. “I’ve been fightin’ tooth and nail to keep you alive until Sand could mix an antidote. I thought--” her voice broke, anger giving way to fear, “I thought I was gonna lose you for a minute there.”

He reached out and took her hand, and she dropped the bandages back to the table, forgotten. At his wordless request, she abandoned the rickety stool she was perched on and sat on the edge of the bed instead. He pulled her even closer until he could hold her hand over his chest, covering it with both of his and pressing her palm against his skin so she could feel the steady, even beat of his heart.

“I apologize for worrying you, my lady,” he murmured, voice deep and rough and heart-stoppingly sincere, “but I will not apologize for saving you. I will always try to save you.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d made that vow. And like every other time, Etain was torn between wanting to kiss him for it and wanting to shake him until he placed more value in his own safety. 

She didn’t do either, and instead used her free hand to push a few wayward strands of hair out of his eyes, then let her fingertips trail lower, tracing the sharp line of his jaw. “My life is not more important than yours, Casavir.”

Her rare use of his full name brought a smile to his face. “Yes it is.” His knuckles brushed against her cheek, his touch gentle and almost reverent. “No one is more important than you are. Not to me.”

His ice blue eyes watched her with an intensity that was at odds with the softness of his touch. Etain could feel herself blushing again under the heat of his stare, but she held his gaze as best she could, fighting against the urge to turn away and hide from it. “You’re just sayin’ that because you think you’re dreaming.”

“No, Etain. I say it because it’s true.” His smile widened enough to show a hint of the dimple in his right cheek. Casavir had a beautiful smile, dashing and boyish and even a little playful, made all the lovelier for how rarely he let it show. Etain had fallen a little bit in love with him the first moment she saw it.

And had been falling ever since.

He murmured her name again, drawing her eyes back to his and making her realize she’d been staring at his lips for gods-only-knew how long. Too long for him not to have noticed, even addled with potions as he was.

“Cas--” she started, but she wasn’t sure what she intended to say after. She bit her tongue before more words could escape.

Casavir looked at her like her awkward fumbling had just given him the answer to a particularly complicated riddle. “This is not a dream.” He sounded like he was trying to reassure himself of the truth. Like he needed to be reminded.

“No. Or anyway, if it is, I…” Etain looked down at where her hand still rested on his chest, unable to meet his eyes anymore, “I don’t think it’s one of yours.”

He chuckled, and warmth bloomed in her chest at the sound. “Is this something you dream of often, my lady? Tending my wounds?”

She smiled slightly, daring a quick glance back at his face, and echoed his declaration from earlier. “I dream of you, Casavir.”

Instead of replying, Casavir slowly sat up, mindful not to reopen the wound that Etain had spent so much time and effort healing. With a gentle touch, he lifted her chin until she met his gaze again.

It wasn’t until she looked up that she realized how close he was. Their positions on the soft, worn mattress erased the slight height advantage Etain usually had, putting them at almost the same height. It made the space between them seem much smaller than it actually was.

The way Casavir continued to watch her didn’t help matters either. There was a wistfulness in his expression, and something she could only call longing. It reminded her, strangely, of Aimee, and the way her friend would talk about the adventures she wanted to have and the places she wanted to see; a mix of desperate desire and resigned sorrow, like mourning the loss of something before she even had it.

His next words only made the comparison stronger. “If this were a dream,” he whispered, “I would kiss you.”

“You can’t kiss me when you’re awake?” Etain matched his tone, not wanting to break whatever spell they seemed to be under by speaking too loudly.

“There is nothing I want more. I have wanted to for far longer than I care to admit.” His thumb traced the curve of her lower lip, as if imagining what it would be like, but his smile was sad. “If only it were that simple.”

It could be, she wanted to say. It could be so simple. Let us have one thing in our lives that’s easy. Something we don’t have to sacrifice or fight for.

All she actually said was, “I know.” She turned her head so she could kiss his palm. “But I wish you would.”

Casavir exhaled sharply, like her confession had forced all the air from his lungs. He pulled her close, his hand curling gently around the back of her neck, almost but not quite embracing her. Warmth radiated from him, and this close Etain could tell it wasn’t an entirely natural heat; his fever was returning.

“Tell me again in the morning,” he murmured into her hair, punctuating the plea with a quick, searing kiss to her temple, “when I can be certain I will remember it.”

“I will,” she promised, forcing herself to withdraw from the safety and comfort he offered. “But right now, you need to rest.”

He let her guide him back down to the bed without argument. It was clear that their conversation had taken a toll on him, no matter how much he tried to hide it, and by the time she pulled the blankets over him he was more than half asleep.

Though he was still awake enough to grab her hand before she could pull away. “Stay with me. Please.”

Etain only went as far as the stool still waiting by the bedside. “Don’t worry, Cas, I’m not goin’ anywhere. I’ll still be here when you wake up.”

That was all the reassurance he needed, and within minutes Casavir was fast asleep.

Etain went back to her herbs, trying desperately not to think too much about what would happen when morning came.

[haledamage]

ALRIGHT YOU ASKED FOR IT. FIRST. Because as it happens, I do love Etain, the grey area one for her and Casavir :3

OH BOY this is a fun one :3

Etain and Casavir's relationship is something I've been having a lot of fun figuring out, since Neverwinter Nights 2 leaves a lot of room to play around with it

in the actual game, there's only one real "romance scene", right before the Final Battle against the big bad, and in fact a majority of the romantic dialogue doesn't even feature the main character, but instead is mostly Casavir and Bishop talking about Etain

Bishop wanted it to be a love triangle so badly but sorry bro, she is just not into you

so I've chosen to believe that all the real romance happens off-screen so I can give Etain and Cas the mutual pining slow burn they deserve

one of my favorite parts is the complete lack of denial on Casavir's part in what little romance content there is. he openly admits his feelings (mostly in a "yeah I'm in love with her, mind your business" kind of way), but he has no expectations of them being reciprocated and no desire to make a big deal about it. it's just a fact of life for him: water is wet, the sun rises in the east, Casavir loves Etain

that leaves Etain in a kind of gray area of knowing their feelings are mutual but also not wanting to push if Cas doesn't want to act on them. they spend most of the game's second act in this gray area before they finally reach a breaking point

and to help us get closer to that, we have one of my favorite catalysts, in the form of "one of us almost died" >:3 Etain sure has a thing for the self-sacrificing type, no matter which universe she's in

I just checked and it turns out the prompt for this is actually one you sent me! "a kiss after treating a wound"

the main thing I've been struggling with is the "kiss" part, these two really want to just keep Pining™, but I think I've managed to convince them to skirt around that with either a cheek or forehead kiss ;)

here's your five sentences!:

His smile widened enough to show a hint of the dimple in his right cheek. Casavir had a beautiful smile, dashing and boyish and even a little playful, made all the lovelier for how rarely he let it show. Etain had fallen a little bit in love with him the first moment she saw it. And had been falling ever since. He murmured her name again, drawing her eyes back to his and making her realize she’d been staring at his lips for gods-only-knew how long.

my poor smitten Knight-Captain XD

I've managed to write an addition 200 words after these sentences now, and I think I've almost got this one finished actually 😁 I'm gonna try and finish it up real quick while it's cooperating and then I'll move on to the next one

[haledamage]

I was re-tagged by @queen-scribbles to do this template with another pairing but then I made her work on it too by pestering her for Vikkari's answers 😁

open tagging anyone who wants to do it (or has already done it, but wants an excuse to do it for a different ship 😉)

[haledamage]

finish your fics friday saturday

tagged by @queen-scribbles 💖 leaving my IFs out of this, but even so hoooooboy, I half so many half-finished fics right now lmao

rules: send an ask with one of the listed WIPs, I'll add five sentences and ramble about it a bit. :3

hope you like Etain, because she's featured in a lot of these :3

4 NWN2 Etain/Casavir: one pre-relationship, one in the gray area between pre-relationship and when they actually confess feelings, one somewhere after they get together, one post-Mask of the Betrayer reunion/epilogue, all of them prompt fills

PfWotR Etain apotheosis, with a side of Etain/Vikkari

Riykas/Zenith in "if swtor won't do it I'll have to do it myself"

2 Marii/Tragen AU that were supposed to be for OC Kiss Week, but both decided to take place too early for smooches so I set them aside for now XD one during the Yavin stuff, the other their reunion in KotFE

Kira/Adam snowed-in-as-an-excuse-to-cuddle fic, but it's still in very early stages of making the premise plausible ;)

I swear there were a couple more, but I can't find them at the moment...

who's working on something at the moment? you're tagged if you are! 💖

[haledamage]

Six Sentence Smonday

tagged for Six Sentence Sunday by @queen-scribbles but I didn't have a chance to do it while it was still Sunday 😅

I'm multi-WIP drifting right now (I'm working on... four or five things, I think? I haven't actually counted them), so here's some Etain/Casavir for a prompt fill, since it has the best six-sentence section for sharing :3

"Please do not be a dream." Casavir's voice was rough with pain--and probably also from whatever Sand put in his potions--but the words were coherent enough. Etain shook her head, sending a small smile his way as she picked up the mortar bowl again. "Is this somethin' you dream about a lot, Cas? Gettin' stabbed?" His eyes were fever-bright but clear when they met hers. "I dream of you, Etain."

I'm not sure who has something they're working on right now, so I'm gonna open tag, but I'd love to see it if you do! 💖

[haledamage]

"you deserve good things." for whoever strikes your fancy ;D

I realized after I finished this that I don’t actually know if you’ve played Neverwinter Nights 2 before 😅 but it’s written now, so here you go! if you haven’t played NWN2, you should, this game is for me what KOTOR is for you 💖

Etain/Casavir, mutual pining my beloved, sometime in the early days in Crossroads Keep, spoiler-free except for one very vague reference to in-game events

---

Etain found Casavir right where she expected to, in one of the rooms that hadn’t yet been furnished enough to see much use beyond one paladin seeking solitude. This one was fully constructed, at least, and had a fire crackling merrily in the hearth, though it wasn’t quite enough to chase away the chill that seemed to radiate from the very stones of Crossroads Keep.

There was a pile of old furniture against the wall opposite the hearth, some of it little more than splintered wood while others seemed to be fine except for a bit of threadbare upholstery and a lot of dust. Casavir had managed to find a few chairs that were in working condition, and had saved them from their fate as firewood. One of them had been repurposed into a table, holding a well-loved book and a steaming mug, while he sat in another one with a piece of his armor in his lap, meticulously repairing a ripped seam. The rest of his armor lay in a neat pile next to him, his sword and shield propped against the wall next to the fireplace - within reach, as always, just in case.

A third chair sat across from him, empty and inviting. Etain took its presence as offer enough, and slid into it cautiously in case it couldn’t support her weight. It creaked loudly before settling, announcing her arrival with more fanfare than she would have preferred.

Casavir looked up from his sewing, the warmth that bloomed in his pale eyes as they met hers doing more to dispel the cold than the roaring fire. He bowed his head to her, as formal and solemn as always. “Good evening, my lady.”

“Hey.” She flushed at her own comparative lack of decorum, and added a mumbled, “I mean, good evenin’.” He chuckled quietly, the sound clearly intended to be kind rather than mocking, though it also made her blush darker.

“Is there something you need of me?” His voice wasn’t quite hesitant, but it was the closest to it she’d ever heard. While his face betrayed nothing - it rarely did - he tensed, sitting up straighter in his chair. He looked like he was about to reach for his sword, as if he expected trouble; she was starting to realize that he always expected trouble. 

In his defense, trouble did tend to find them - and her in particular - more often than could be explained away as coincidence.

“Relax. There’s no emergency or anythin’. I just, um…” Etain bit her lip nervously, digging around in her pocket until she found the little cloth bundle she had hidden in there.

“You what?” he asked patiently. He set his sewing down on the floor next to him and relaxed back into his chair, slowly untensing.

“I have a gift for you,” she said in a rush, thrusting the bundle at him. He took it much more delicately than she had presented it. “A little bird may’ve told me that your morn day was a few days ago. I wanted to get you somethin’.”

The ‘little bird’ had been Katriona, but truly his birthday was just a convenient excuse. She'd bought the gift weeks ago - not that she would tell him that.

Casavir ran his fingers over the soft green cloth square as if trying to map the shape of the item within it before unwrapping it. The corner of his mouth rose with the beginning of a smile, though he didn’t let it fully bloom. “It was kind of you to think of me, my lady, but you did not need to trouble yourself on my account.”

“It’s no trouble. Really.” She laughed as he still made no move to open the gift, and nudged the toe of his boot with her own. “C’mon, open it.”

He studied the cloth for another long moment before carefully unfolding it. In it was a bronze cloak pin about the size of his palm, simple but well-made and shaped like a sword and shield. On the shield was a crescent moon, curved like a bow and crossed by an arrow - the symbol that had been chosen as Etain’s heraldry when she’d been knighted.

His old cloak pin, a dented and battered shield bearing Tyr’s scales, had been his gift to her before her trial, a token of his faith in her that had helped her through one of the darkest nights of her life. But that had been over a month ago, and he hadn’t gotten a new one yet; he’d been using an unadorned one since. It was only appropriate that she replace it, since she’d taken his old one.

Part of her felt like it was arrogant to give Casavir a pin with her own mark on it, but she knew his bond with Tyr was a complicated thing, and his relationship with Neverwinter was tenuous at best, so they were both out of the question. He’d cut so many ties that, when you took those two away, all he had left was… this. This room, this half-ruined keep, and its Harborman commander.

“It’s lovely,” he said eventually, oddly subdued. He traced the crescent on the shield with his forefinger. “I do not deserve--”

He moved like he was about to try and hand it back, and one of her hands shot forward to stop him. He froze as soon as her skin touched his. “Yes, you do. You deserve good things, Casavir. In all the months we’ve known each other, you’ve never asked me for anything.” Sure that he wasn’t going to try and give her gift back, Etain loosened her grip on his hand, though she didn’t pull away completely. “When’s the last time you let yourself want somethin’?”

“What I want…” His hand unfurled under hers, the rough pads of his fingers brushing light as spring rain over her palm before coming to rest at the inside of her wrist, where her pulse raced at a hummingbird pace. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, a small catch in his normally smooth, deep voice. “What I want is irrelevant.”

“Not to me.”

He met her eyes again, and he looked at her in a way no one ever had before. The normally wintery blue of his eyes turned as warm and intense as a summer storm, and made her feel the same way, powerful and wild. 

The smile Casavir had been holding back finally settled on his lips, small but real. “Etain…”

Someone cleared their throat in the doorway. “Knight-Captain.”

Etain jumped back, her face burning as she realized how far she’d leaned toward him. She turned toward the door, relaxing a little to find it was only Kana. As far as she knew, her right-hand woman wasn’t much for gossip, so there was a small chance that they might be spared from the rumor mill for at least a little longer.

“I apologize for interrupting.” Kana seemed to mean it, though if she had any opinion beyond that she kept it close to the chest. “A group arrived at the gates, and the leader is requesting an audience. He says he knows you.”

“Of course he does,” she muttered sourly, then louder she added, “Thank you, Kana. I’ll be right there.” She saluted and left without another word, and Etain turned back to Casavir and his poorly concealed amusement. “I guess duty calls.”

“It always does,” he said, a hint of either sadness or disappointment behind his voice. He rose to stand, his movements stiff from the unhold hours he probably spent in that chair before she disturbed him. But when he bowed and offered her a hand, the motion was as graceful as ever. “May I accompany you?”

“Are you sure?” Despite the uncertainty in her voice, she still took his hand and let him pull her to her feet. “You were in the middle of somethin’ when I came in.”

Casavir tucked her hand into the crook of his elbow. “It can wait.”

Arm in arm, they left the room to go see what trouble had come to find them this time.

[haledamage]

tagged by @queen-scribbles​ :D and I’m gonna tag @risualto​ @starkhavn​ @rannadylin​ @iustine​ and whoever else wants to do this (no pressure of course)

I’ve gotten back into Neverwinter Nights 2 recently and have been thinking of finally writing some things for my Knight-Commander, Etain, so I picked her! although I guess it would be more accurate that I’m thinking of finally sharing some writing about her, as I’ve been writing about her for almost 15 years, I’ve just kept it all to myself...

B A S I C S :

Full Name: Etain Farlong

Gender: nonbinary/demi-girl I think?

Sexuality: bisexual

Pronouns: she/they

O T H E R :

Family: Daeghun Farlong, adopted father; Duncan Farlong, adopted uncle

Birthplace: West Harbor, Faerûn

Job(s): Adventurer, Knight-Commander, Kalach-Cha, Spirit Eater

Phobias: abandonment, confrontation, gith silver swords, enclosed spaces

Guilty Pleasures: telling very important people “no”, sleeping in, spending money on herself

Hobbies: poetry, gardening, embroidery

M O R A L S:

Moral alignment: neutral good

Sins: lust / greed / envy / gluttony / pride / wrath / sloth

Virtues: charity / chastity / diligence / humility / justice / kindness / patience

T H I S - O R - T H A T :

introvert / extrovert

organized / disorganized

close-minded / open-minded

calm / anxious / restless

disagreeable / agreeable / in-between

patient / impatient

outspoken / reserved

leader / follower / flexible

empathetic / unempathetic

optimistic / pessimistic / realistic

traditional / modern / in-between

hard-working / lazy

R E L A T I O N S H I P S :

OTP: Etain/Casavir, Etain/Gann

Acceptable ships: Etain/Sand, Etain/Neeshka, Etain/Safiya, Etain/Shandra, Etain/Nevalle

BROTP: all the ones above, also Etain&Khelgar, and really Etain + any of her companions except Bishop, who they didn’t get along with, or One-Of-Many, who she never met. they’re on okay terms with Qara and Ammon, but it takes them a long time to get there (and we’re ignoring the Qara-vs-Sand ending thing)

NOTP: Etain/Bishop. I know he’s popular (or at least he was, back in the day) but I’ve never understood the appeal

[haledamage]

👾

from Etain's Playlist: Back From The Dead by Halestorm

On the edge of the world getting lost in oblivion To the devils who tried to keep me living like a prisoner Couldn't chain me down, couldn't cage me in So keep your savior, give me back my sins 'Cause I'm still standing on the ground

Etain is both my Knight-Captain from Neverwinter Nights 2 and my Knight-Commander from Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous, and one thing both those games have in common is that she disappears and is presumed dead (during the trip to the Abyss in WotR and during the Mask of the Betrayer campaign in NWN2).

People really need to stop underestimating how hard she is to kill. She will continue existing out of pure spite just to prove people wrong. It may take her a little while to find her way home, but she can and she will.

and a bonus, because I couldn't choose between the two: Quiet by Kina Grannis

I never knew where I belonged Searched for myself in every song But I'd had it in the stairwells all along How was I supposed to get by? Pick myself up, say it's alright, alright I didn't know it was fine I didn't know it was fine to be quiet

Etain has always preferred silence. She spends a lot of time alone (or did, before Adventures happened) and just isn't very good at carrying conversation. When she does speak, her voice is very soft, and she only says as many words as she needs to make her point. No speeches, no rambling.

In West Harbor (NWN2), she got bullied for it by some of the other kids, but also luckily had Amie and Bevil to do the talking for her. In Mendev and later Kenabres (WotR), she's been living in the woods with only her bear for company for years, and only talks to people to buy supplies.

But her new companions don't judge her for her silence, or mind that she prefers to be quiet, and ironically that's what makes her more comfortable speaking up.

In NWN2, Neeshka is very quick to volunteer to do the talking for her. So are Khelgar and Grobnar, really. And Elanee, Casavir, and Bishop all prefer the quiet anyway (it's actually one of the few things she and Bishop agree on ever). In WotR, it's Seelah who does the talking for her, followed closely by Lann and Woljif, and it's Regill, Arueshalae, and Sosiel who help her learn that it's fine to be quiet (again, it's one of the few things she and Regill agree on).