#goes for most armor tbh but i am nothing if not stubborn

[energeticpoltergeist]

Part 1: Mad King's War

Prologue: Diverged History(pages 5-10)

[captain-of-silvenar]

For Kerasil:

1, 3, 10

For Yera:

9, 11, 12

KERASIL

How are their parents? Are they good? Are they terrible? Are they dead?

I actually haven't really considered Kerasil's parents. If we look at the timeline, I created Yera first and then went backwards to make her parents. When I played ESO I never really thought to think one more step backwards.

Which could mean a few things tbh. Kerasil is a determined woman and I know she fought and worked hard to get her position as Captain of the Guard. I can imagine a little bit her parents or relatives are also of similar career paths and that inspired or encouraged Kerasil to follow suit. She also does have temper, and a desire to show that she is worth the position and bristles when she is told otherwise (directly or indirectly).

The temper had to come somewhere. The desire to show 'I am worth this!' had to come somewhere too.

I might have an inkling that Kerasil's parents were not as intense as her, more so relaxed and laid back and even this could've been a cause of conflict. Disinterested can hurt more than outright rejection, to try and get any sort of reaction than nothing at all.

I don't think Kerasil's relationship with her parents or extended family are in any means horrible, but there could've been more chances to get to understand why Kerasil had her interests in the first place.

Have they died before?

Once. Twice. Maybe too many times. Being a Vestige and knowing that your death is not permanent anymore is not always a blessing. It is different and othering; when time come and takes your friends and loved ones away to their final rest she cannot follow anymore.

What should be a checks and balances against risk are thrown to the wind; why worry when every wound and damage is healed over when she revives?

It's not something Kerasil likes thinking about. She doesn't want to use this to her advantage. Dying still hurts every single time and there isn't really anyone else out there that understands being immortal other than liches and dremora.

Not the kind of crowd Kerasil really wants to hang around if she wants to be honest.

How do their friends and family think of them?

Dedicated would be a word to describe Kerasil. Even when in the depths of darkness or world ending disasters, Kerasil is there to be a foundation and help everyone back onto their feet.

Loyalty amongs peers, she is reliable and if she can't solve it she can find someone else who can.

And amongst all of them, the one Kerasil likes to hear the most is that she is a caring individual. Her family at home is her greatest desire and gift. Everything revolves around them. Her duty to her city is important, but her family is in the city so it's almost a neat package to lace them near each other.

She's also stubborn, incredibly so. It has to be done this way, or it needs to be discussed argued otherwise. It would be at least a 'negative' trait that is openly discussed, though stubbornness can also have a positive. To not backdown at the first pushback, to keep ground when others would fall back.

YERA

Are they looking for someone to save them or do they think they’re beyond saving?

Yera does not want to be saved. From what? Oh there's a hundred answers to that.

Destiny, Fate, responsibilities, daily grind, her reputation, and the list goes on and on.

Being Dragonborn, being a Hero of Destiny, it comes with its own chains and burdens that Yera does not want anyone to carry. Yet even with all this future destiny stuff she had, she failed in spectacular ways (she thinks) in several situations.

There is nothing to save in her. Her duty is to save others. She can adorn herself in fine armor and golds, and good friends and peers. But despite all these beautiful trappings and coverings, Yera feels a deep turmoil in her that convinces her she cannot be saved.

Do they have a found family?

She does!

Lydia is her best friend and confidant. Anything Yera thinks and desires, Lydia has a 90% chance of guessing it right.

The Thieves Guild is a big ol' found family of the most unusual sorts. Sure, they're criminals and thieves, and honor is a loose idea among themselves only. But hey, they supported Yera when Mercer's betrayal was revealed. They keep supporting her after it was revealed she was Dragonborn and needs their services for a lot of her work.

They respect Yera as a Guild Master, and also her role in Skyrim's destiny. She has their best interests in mind, and in return they give their best to her.

The Thieves Guild Trust Fund is also an excellent way to pay for a lot of strange and unusual needs as Dragonborn.

Do they have any self-destructive habits?

Oh. Oh this is a good bad one.

Yera has a clear case of savior complex; more so she feels an overwhelming guilt to make up for not taking up her role in destiny sooner. So she takes any and all tasks giving to her, mostly. Nothing incredibly inane or purposely demeaning. But she'll go into that cave to rescue a family heirloom. She'll clear out that bandit encampment no one else has been able to. She'll fight that dragon solo if she needs to.

When Yera starts something, she does not stop.

For anything.

Not her own health, not for sleep, barely for food and water.

"Only I could do it, and why would I put it off?" would be her response.

A lot of her self-destructive habits are layered from trauma back at home, when she was unable to help defend against the Thalmor when they started taking over Valenwood. She knows she alone could not have saved her whole city, but the guilt lives in her mind.

When she came to Skyrim and did not start her destiny, people and towns were wiped off the map and she holds these as personal sins against herself.

She needs Lydia there to remind her to sleep, to eat, that another day of rest will not hurt the people. Yera has gotten better with her support network around her, but it's incredibly easy for her to fall back into these tendencies. Especially since her increasingly more draconic traits start bleeding into things: more stamina, more energy, more durability.

Yera is a master of burning herself out and not realizing it until her muscles and mind finally peter out and force her to collapse.

[elcorhamletlive]

i’ve seen so much gorgeous art of a “holy shit you’re alive” hug that would be so incredible and amazing but now i can’t stop thinking about stony scenes for A4

they see each other for the first time and there’s. like. no hug. they just stop and FREEZE and stare at each other for what it feels like a lifetime and then one or both of them kind of lift a hand or reach forward for ONE SECOND but they Can’t Do It and they just BREATHE staring fixedly at each other until tony turns around and you can SEE IT, like all over their faces and bodies how much they want to touch but they Can’t...........

they hug later in the movie after such a scene and it’s like this incredibly slow awkward hug, like think nebula and gamora hugging in guardians 2 except with ten times more tension, they’re both so hesitant, so nervous, not even sure they’re allowed to do that so they give each other plenty of time to back out of it and then suddenly they’re there, they’re touching, hugging, and for one second one of them (or even better BOTH) closes their eyes

a scene before tony goes back to earth where steve is just like. sitting somewhere contemplating the pain of his existence. and maybe natasha or thor sits next to him to attempt to get him to talk and he’s just like... casually holding the flip phone in one hand, just touching it, and if it’s natasha she just gets that sad knowing look on her face that says she’s seen him doing that so many times before

or EVEN BETTER a scene where tony is already on earth and they’ve reached a middle ground and are slightly more comfortable around each other, working together, and something happens and for some reason steve pulls out the flip phone - like, casually, looking for something else in his belt or whatever - and tony just gets that Moment of realising steve’s been carrying it around too, and maybe he comments it in some way and steve just Looks Away and shrugs and he’s like “I said I’d be there if you needed me” and tony just looks at him so intensely, rdj’s eyes basically spelling out an entire sonnet of unspoken feelings and thoughts as he goes “...yeah you did.”

idk if they’re even gonna talk about the accords or siberia specifically but if they do i think it’s gonna start out as this really tired talk, like none of the furious fights they usually have in fics but something way more melancholic, and since they’re both adults neither of them grovels at the other’s feet, but they Talk and somewhere during the talk tony kind of loses it and accuses steve of not caring - not about the accords or the team or whatever the fuck else but about him, like you never trusted me, never thought of me as a friend, i cared so much and you never did, and then steve just............ breaks. like he’s been keeping it together for the entire movie after watching everyone die because that’s what he does, he bottles everything inside because that’s what everyone else needs him to do, and that’s like the breaking point because how can tony even think that, how could this happen, and then he just..... doesn’t break down sobbing or crying or anything but he takes off his helmet/hood (because we know he will wear the uniform again at some point, and because he needs to look at tony as Steve Rogers and not as Cap, he needs to try, needs him to understand) and LOOKS at tony and his eyes are red and his voice is choked up and then idk what he says, he can say he’s sorry or he can ask if that’s what tony really thinks or whatever, and tony is just STARTLED because how, how is that happening, why is steve rogers that upset because of him, Does Not Compute, and then again idk what happens - maybe tony apologises too, maybe they both agree it doesn’t even matter anymore -, but there’s this one moment where they just look at each other and steve lets tony see a glimpse of how broken he really is, how much their fight destroyed him too, and tony Gets It and the sight of steve so hurt is painful and he does the reaching-forward-to-touch-but-not-really-managing-to thing again, and then idk something interrupts them

and since they’re time travelling maybe they end up in the 40s somehow and tony is talking to bruce/someone like ‘i know i know i can’t be seen, i will be discreet, nobody will ever know i’m here’ and then he turns around and there’s pre-serum!steve in all of his glory, kind of weirded out and charmed by this random gorgeous man that just showed up talking to himself, and they chat a little and steve thinks tony isjust some rich guy that got lost in brooklyn and asks him if he can... call his butler or something (pre-serum!steve’s thoughts: “...rich people have those, right?”), and tony is so shocked because that’s pre-serum steve, pre-war steve, steve who still has a living mom and a poor and rough but generally bearable life - it’s such a different steve from the one he knows, he looks so young, and then maybe before they part tony offers to idk give him some change (maybe steve’s drawing and tony offers to buy something of his), because honestly who the fuck cares about fucking up time and space, tony’s heart is really aching right now. and then steve immediately goes “no no sir there’s no need, really, please don’t bother” in that definite tone and tony’s expression softens a little because that’s the steve rogers he knows, stubborn and unable to ever ask for any help, steve who has no idea he’s going to die and wake up 70 years later to carry the burden of the world on his shoulders, and suddenly tony understands a little of steve’s breakdown, even after all that crap between them, and he now knows steve does care a fucking lot, and he has this sad but fond look on his face as he says goodbye and says “take care”, and steve smiles “you too”.

a scene where steve notices the new reactor and tony just casually goes “oh, oh yeah, it’s something i came up with recently” and maybe it’s just after a battle and steve just saw the bleeding edge armor for the first time so he just gets that holy shit you’re the most amazing thing i’ve ever seen how are you real look on his face and tony watches it and thinks for a moment and goes “...do you wanna see it?”. and steve’s eyes widen and he’s like “what?” and tony gets that nervous but eager look on his face and just pops the reactor off like it’s nothing (it’s everything and they both know it) like “yeah take a look it’s pretty cool right???” and maybe he starts quipping a bit because he’s nervous for reasons he doesn’t know (they both know) and steve just... holds it in his hands like it’s THE most precious thing he’s ever touched (because it is), and tony’s rambling to lighten up the moment but steve almost can’t breathe, can’t believe tony’s trusting him to touch the reactor again, and he just looks at him and goes “...it’s amazing” and tony stops mid-sentence and they just smile at each other for a moment

and then later when they get get the chance to talk they’re much softer and friendlier (because they finally got the chance to see, to understand), and they have a moment where they can talk and smile

maybe there’s a callback to their first fight in the helicarrier, maybe they wonder how it will be like if they manage to win and survive (it’s wishful thinking, they don’t have many chances, but they allow themselves to have this moment) and tony goes ‘well i guess i should retire but tbh we saw how great that went before, i mean what even am i without a suit right?” - like not bitterly, honestly playfully, recognizing himself as someone who will always Be Iron Man, not even thinking about steve’s words at this point - and steve just goes “...genius billionaire philanthropist...? what’s the last one?” and tony grins “playboy”, and steve’s like “that’s right, i always forget one” with that one Tony Smile he does

we know scott motherfucking lang is going to be the one who comes up with the time travel to save everyone and there’s that picture of him and tony and steve wearing the wrist devices, so if they travel back in time all three of them i want poor scott to be deeply uncomfortable because of the constant Tension and then when they have this softer moment he just. Gets Up To Leave immediately like he does in ant-man when hope and hank are sorting their shit out. steve and tony look at him because they suddenly remember he’s there and he’s just like “DON’T MIND ME please go on i’m gonna go make some tea” and when he gets out they both laugh

at the end i want them to die together and this can happen in so many ways like they can face thanos side by side, or they can hold down thanos’ army while carol fights him, or WHATEVER i just need them to fight together and they shouldn’t work together so well after being apart for so long but they do just like in the battle of new york, they just trust each other and know what the other’s gonna do and they kick some alien ass

and if they do die i hope ONE of them tries to sacrifice himself for the other, like tony tells steve to go back because we need you, Cap, or steve tells tony to save himself because EARTH CAN’T LOSE ITS GREATEST DEFENDER, and then when the one that stayed is fighting thanos/doing whatever he’s supposed to do to sacrifice his life the other one goes back and there’s the ECHO of That Moment that we all know - steve looks at him shocked but can’t hold back the relief of seeing him by his side (this time he doesn’t have to die alone), tony takes a sharp breath but can’t fight back a smile (this time he won’t fall through space alone), they respect each other’s choice, and thanos or whoever asks them how they’re planning to do this and steve immediately answers “together” and thanos like shakes his head sadly at their stupidity and says “you’ll lose” and tony’s not even looking at him. instead he looks at steve, smiles and goes “then we’ll do that together too”.