#i love sumutnyerl so so much

[rustyelias]

I feel like we all moved on from how much of a badass Sumutnyerl is

[just-an-enby-lemon]

I'm taking a small break from RQG episode related posting because so much happened in the last couple of episodes.

- The drug that causes the person to have their happiest dreams!! And Hamid's being to have good moment where everyone he loves is happy and well (no, you're crying).

- In a small tangent, the sadest part of Wilde being an unoficial party member is that as an NPC we have a lot more of blank spaces for him and it makes me unwell.

- Hamid's surviving because of Azu's Prayer (wich is not really how it goes but in my head I'm reading the scene as Azu asking for Afrodite to protect the party but also specifically Hamid because they are besties and sibblings and I love them)

- WILDE DYING! And the resseruction!! Zolf just trying his best to keep everyone he loves alive, to heal his friends. Him having the spell ready and not even considering anything else. Him just obliterating the monster after because how dare it?

- RIP Sumutnyerl barely knew her. Cared as much as Tesla's death.

- RIP Augusta. I'll always miss an edgy failgirl (also I recently discovered that the irl Augusta likely had an affair with Byron so thanks Alex for making her hate her brother instead of loving him waaaaaay to much).

- Ava is not dead! You go girl.

- Zolf hugging Wilde!! Love them.

- Azu hugging Hamid and telling him how he almost died and how glad she is he didn't, a thing that didn't happen but I pretend it did cause they should hug even more and Hamid needed that.

- Cel going "holy shit Zolf is a badass" was funny and I just want to mention Cel. They just have the best reactions to things. In a more serius note love how Cel is the one that knows how to deal with Ava because they might not be the more charismatic nor wise but they had a long life and went thro a lot and I think of everyone there they are the one that can best undestand and relate to her and that's how they bond and I just think Cel should add Ada to their list of adopted inventors/lab buddies with Sassra and Jasper.

So yeah. Just soo many feelings packed in like 2 episodes? It drove me insane and I'm processing it.

[miscreantahead]

Ask game for Rqg

❤️

❤Favorite character

Zolf Smith!!! BIG honorable mentions to Sasha and Hamid though.

👿Least favorite character

Barrett for sure, dishonorable mention to Shoin.

💐Comfort character

Hmmm I'm still not totally clear as to what a comfort character is vs. like a favorite character, but I must have some idea because I'm inclined to pick Hamid for this one. Idfk he's just a little guy, he's been here the whole time, growing and changing, he's problematic but trying his very best, and he's too cute. He screams comfort.

While I'm at it with the over-answering, Oscar Wilde. I like that even when he's being a pain in the ass on purpose he's quite clearly just a good guy if you read even slightly between the lines. Trusted him with my life ever since the anti-bertie article, and he only got better and better. I want him to have nice things forever and let's face it he got the nicest thing (Zolf) so I'm tearing up right now just thinking about it.

I think answering this question actually kind of helped me figure out what the difference between a favorite and a comfort character is, and why I didn't feel right picking Zolf here. Zolf stresses me out but it's fun.

😍Character you have the biggest crush on:

Z o l f, the crush is massive and a problem on a daily basis. Idk man I'm in love with him, it ouches.

🤝Character you relate to the most

Harrison Campbell. I just wanna write books and please keep Bertrand Macguffingham far, far away from me.

🔥Character you think is overrated

Going to go with Apophis. I don't absolutely despise him but I'm not a fan and he gets so much lore, screen time, and badass moments, which is fine, I won't say they're not cool but I might be shouting "booo" while it's happening at the same time.

🧨Character you love to hate

Oh Bertie easily he's hilariously the fucking worst but I'm so glad he exists.

🙈Character you always forget exists

This is a character flaw of mine but I constantly forget about Ed. Even though I adore Ed there were multiple times when people mentioned an Ed or Edward and I was like who the fuck are we talking about for a second before I was like RIGHT THE HIMBO PALADIN AGAIN.

🐰Favorite non-human character

Considering most of them are non-human I'm going to cheat and instead pick my favorite human character which is Sasha. I still miss her since rome, love how she was acrobatics-sexual, love her relationship with gargoyles and general awkwardness. She changed so much over time but was great from start to finish, and I can't stress how happy I am that she got to live a full and at least somewhat peaceful life.

❤️‍🩹Character who deserved better

Sumutnyerl's abrupt death so far from home in such miserable circumstances and the way the timing made it impossible for anyone around to have time to mourn mildly devastated me (thank you Skraak). Not to mention the way Tesla took advantage of their relationship and the guilt she must've felt and how that didn't get explored beyond one night she was miserable and resetless and the next day she was dead. Super brutal when life and death for the NPC's is controlled by cold chaotic dice rolls (and whether or not a player character is in love with you 😉).

[glassandmarigolds]

wait, was sumutnyerl casting “share language” on herself every day she was in london or did she know english or does she just learn rly quick ???

[shofics]

Chapter 26! In which Wilde cleans up, and Zolf gets a lesson. 

[thebloker]

Relistening to rqg w/ my coworker and we were very in sync yesterday

[ollieofthebeholder]

For We Are Afar With the Dawning: A RQG Fic

Also on AO3. Contains spoilers for Episode 207.

Augusta is floating. Both literally and metaphorically.

Mentally, she’s floating on a peachy-pink cloud of euphoria and warmth and happiness and contentment. It’s an absolutely perfect day, the kind of day she never gets to experience anymore. The sky is a clear blue dotted with puffy white clouds, the sun bright enough to illuminate the scene but not so bright to hurt the eyes, and it’s pleasantly warm without being oppressively hot. The gentle, cooling breeze brings with it the faint scents of something floral; Augusta’s never been all that great with scents per se, but she thinks it might be roses or something.

Physically, she’s in a rowboat in the middle of a glassy lake, lying on her back with her arms folded contentedly over her chest and her head resting on a lap that seems to mostly comprise of white illusion. Augusta herself is wearing a loose-fitting lawn shirt and a pair of trousers, her feet bare. A pair of oars rest in the locks on either side, but nobody is using them.

“You know, Gus, I think you’re going to have a curly crop when this grows out a bit.” Delicate fingers run through Augusta’s delightfully short hair. “You’re going to look quite rakish.”

“Just so you don’t try to get me to wear one of those dreadful outfits you were talking about that boy wearing in your book.” Augusta smiles. “Really, Lou, where’d you come up with that? Nobody actually dresses like that.”

Louisa laughs. “I wanted it to be really clear that there was no way Jo would ever fall in love with him. Why would she love someone who dresses like that?”

“You should have given one of the girls who came to the Christmas play a name,” Augusta says. “And a personality. And a reason to come back.”

“Are you suggesting I should have put you in the book after all? I thought you didn’t like publicity, O Best Beloved.”

“I don’t like being tied to my brother. Being tied to you is different.” Augusta punctuates this by reaching up and twirling a strand of Louisa’s dark hair around a finger.

Louisa swats her hand away, but she’s laughing again. “Are you going to row us back to shore at any point? Mary and Emma should be here soon. Your Sasha was going to take the carriage and go get them.”

“She’s not my Sasha,” Augusta protests.

“She could be, if you asked, I’m sure. You know we’re all just yours for the asking.”

“Oh, stop it. That’s not how this works.”

“You can’t tell me the idea doesn’t appeal to you,” Louisa says relentlessly. “Having your own personal harem of beautiful and brilliant women. Mary for those delightful scientific discussions and Emmuska for solving puzzles and mysteries and Sasha for going on daring adventures and robbing tombs with and me for...well, when you want to be lazy and bored, I suppose.”

“Louisa May Alcott.” Augusta sits up and takes both of Louisa’s hands in hers. “You have no idea how happy I am. Right here. With you. I don’t need anyone else. Don’t get me wrong, I adore Sasha and Mary and Emmuska and I love having them around...and you’re right, Sasha’s so much fun to go poking around places we aren’t wanted with. But if none of them were here, I’d be happy just the same. Maybe more so. Being with you?” She brings Louisa’s hands up and kisses them tenderly. “This is perfect.”

Louisa blushes beautifully, but there’s a mischievous twinkle in her eyes. “You’re just saying that because you don’t want to row back to shore.”

Augusta laughs. “You wound me. Right here.” She places one hand over her heart.

She’s joking, but suddenly, it feels like Louisa—or someone—has wounded her. There’s a sudden, sharp, stabbing pain in her heart, and the last thing she sees is Louisa’s sparkling eyes and sweet smile before the world goes white.

It resolves after a moment. Now instead of sitting in a boat, Augusta is sitting on a rock in a clearing in a verdant  forest. Looking up, she can see the night sky and the stars, so many stars, more than she’s ever seen, and the sweep of the Milky Way looks almost green. The moon shines down on the clearing and illuminates her.

Augusta looks down at herself. She’s wearing more practical clothes now—boots, trousers, tunic, leather jacket—actually, it’s a lot like what Sasha Rackett wore when Augusta first met her, nearly two years ago now, except newer and neater. Across her lap is a well-made crossbow.

A big beast swoops overhead, one Augusta can’t identify (she grew up in a city and the only kind of hunting really considered proper for young ladies of her station was foxhunting). A moment later, there’s a rustle in the undergrowth, and a figure pops out into the clearing, a short figure with outsize ears and a drawn bow.

“Wotcher,” the figure says. “Seen a big beastie go by here?”

“It went that way,” Augusta says, pointing the direction she saw the beast fly. “What is it?”

The hunter—she presumes—shrugs. “Dunno. Still haven’t figured it out. Haven’t caught it yet. Maybe once I do, I’ll know. For now I just call it The Beast.”

He doesn’t seem particularly put out by this. He has a hunt, and what exactly he’s hunting doesn’t seem to matter much; he’ll find the answers when he finds the beast. It’s something Augusta feels an odd kinship towards. “How long have you been hunting it?”

The hunter shrugs again. “Dunno. What year is it?”

Augusta tells him. The hunter draws in a breath, then nods. “Well, then...two thousand years, give or take a couple hundred.”

“Ah.” Augusta looks around her. “We’re dead, then.”

“Probably, yeah. Well, I know I am. You probably are too. What were you doing?”

Augusta thinks for a moment. “Dreaming.”

The hunter snorts. “Not the best way to go out.”

“It’s not like I chose to go out that way. I’d rather have gone down fighting.”  Augusta sighs. “At least it was a pleasant dream, though.”

She touches her chest, out of habit, and has a moment of panic when she can’t find what she’s looking for. Frantically, she scrambles at her neck until she finds the fine chain, then pulls it out and breathes a sigh of relief when the heavy silver locket lands in her palm. Just to be sure, she pops it open, and Louisa’s eyes stare back at her.

Augusta smiles back at the picture, then looks up to see the hunter staring at her inscrutably. She coughs and closes the locket. “Sorry. Just...checking.”

The hunter reaches into his own clothing and pulls out a photograph, but doesn’t show it to her—which startles Augusta, as she didn’t think photographs were that old—before putting it back. “It’s important to hold onto these things. Until you find them. Everything dies, after all.”

“That...probably shouldn’t be comforting, and yet…” Augusta takes a deep breath. “Everything does die, doesn’t it? I don’t know that this is exactly her idea of paradise, though.” Then again, she hadn’t realized it was hers, either.

The hunter shrugs. “Probably not theirs, either. But they all connect. I’ve got a camp set up.” He gestures off to one side. “Check in there every few...decades, maybe. Just to see if they’re there yet. It’ll be nice to have a home to come back to, someday, but for now...there’s the hunt.”

Augusta considers that as she tucks the locket back into her shirt, then looks down at the crossbow on her lap. “I’ve never really hunted in forests before, but I’m not bad at hunting in general.”

“I’d be willing to teach you some tactics. If you’re interested. Just until we both find what we’re looking for.”

Augusta stands up, shoulders the crossbow, and holds out her other hand. “My friends call me Gus.”

The hunter grins, red eyes sparkling, as he accepts her handshake. “Grizzop.”

~*~*~*~

Sumutnyerl soars, buoyed up by a thermal, then banks to one side and swoops low, skimming over the grass. This is their favorite form; they love to fly, and it’s a perfect day for it.

Beside them, another eagle tacks and swoops playfully, then sheers off. Sumutnyerl beats her wings to gain a bit of altitude and follows. For a moment, they race one another straight up into the air. Then the other eagle dips backwards into a loop. Sumutnyerl screeches in delight and goes into a spiraling dive, weaving around the other.

They continue this sky-dance for several minutes before the other leads up to the branches of a tree; Sumutnyerl follows and lands on a branch, then transforms back. They’re already laughing with delight. “I never get tired of that.”

“Nor should you.” Oblaitko smiles warmly, their eyes soft and kind. “The day one grows accustomed to the gifts that have been given is the day one ceases to live and begins to only exist.”

“I mean doing it with you.” Sumutnyerl looks out over the rolling meadow. “I would that we could do this forever.”

“We can,” Oblaitko answers. “Our duties are...light. And not incompatible. We needn’t go back to the town at all. You can attend to the Garden, I to the River, and we can spend the rest of our time here.”

Sumutnyerl considers. The idea is...not unwelcome. She feels an utter sense of peace here, with Oblaitko by their side. More than that, they feel like herself, like an individual and not just part of a collective.

“I would like that,” they say at last. “Very much.”

Oblaitko tucks a strand of Sumutnyerl’s hair behind their ear. “As would I.”

“A bargain, then.”

“A bargain,” Oblaitko agrees. “We can ask permission in the morning, but I hardly think the Council will object. It will save resources, after all.”

Sumutnyerl sighs and leans their head on Oblaitko’s shoulder. They place their arm around her shoulders and pull them close, one hand idly resting over their heart.

For just a second, Sumutnyerl wonders if Oblaitko is concealing a blade, because they suddenly feel a sharp, stabbing pain in their chest. They look up in shock, but there’s nothing on Oblaitko’s face to indicate they’re doing anything...and then the world goes white.

When Sumutnyerl’s vision clears, they are no longer in the branches of a tree, but somewhere else, somewhere far too familiar. Awareness settles on Sumutnyerl’s shoulders as they look around the Garden of Yerlick, but not as it is in life—currently or under ordinary circumstances. The flowers bloom as they past, trees put out their hands like old friends, and the spirits of the dead are instantly visible, smiling and calling to them.

Ah. This again.

“Sumutnyerl?”

Sumutnyerl turns and smiles again. Oblaitko stands before them once more, not in the same form as a moment ago—no longer young, their hair white, their back bent with age and the weight of their position—but their eyes are the same warm, kind brown they have always been .Right now, they are wide with shock and not a little sorrow.

“Hello, my dear friend,” Sumutnyerl says.

“Sumutnyerl,” Oblaitko says again. “Why...how are you here? Like this? You—you mustn’t. It isn’t your time.”

“Perhaps not,” Sumutnyerl agrees. They touch their heart, where the phantom pain is fading fast. “I—I believe I may have been stabbed in my sleep.” Like Nik, they think, with a mingling of regret and anger.

“You will be given another chance.” Oblaitko states this quite calmly, as if it is a given fact rather than an opinion...or a hope. “The Garden needs you. Our people need you.”

“Perhaps I shall be given the offer,” Sumutnyerl replies. “And...perhaps I will accept. But...well. There is much that has happened. Perhaps if I am not needed...perhaps if my last great task has been fulfilled after all…” They hold out their hands. “Would you allow me to stay?”

Oblaitko takes Sumutnyerl’s hands, and stares into their eyes, and no other words are necessary.

~*~*~*~

Hamid knows, on some level, that he’s dreaming, if only because Zolf isn’t really one for parties. That doesn’t stop him from being happy, though. Hamid’s sleep for the past few months has been dreamless at best, teeming with nightmares more commonly, and occasionally non-existent at worst. A part of him has started to believe he’ll never have beautiful dreams again, so the fact that this is a good dream means he’s going to enjoy it for all it’s worth.

And the others all look happy, too. Aziza sings beautifully, her eyes sparkling and face expressive, and her husband gazes on her with a proud, adoring smile. Saleh, his wife, and Hamid’s mother are listening to Oscar tell some story, gesturing dramatically with his drink, his other hand being occupied holding Zolf’s. Zolf has a faint smile on his face as he listens to a story he’s probably heard a hundred times—hell, it’s probably one he was there for, those are Oscar’s favorite stories after all—but that he never gets tired of hearing Oscar tell. Hamid’s father looks more relaxed and content than Hamid has seen him...well, ever since he started paying attention anyway, deep in conversation with Saira and Apophis. Azu, wearing the gown she and Hamid designed together for the opening of the so-called Bow Bar, is making a valiant effort at letting Ismail teach her one of the fancy dances he’s learned, while Ishaq enthusiastically does the same with Cel. Skraak and Grizzop have become fast friends, which Hamid isn’t surprised by, and he wonders what they’re talking about and if he’s going to have to help Zolf clean it up later.

Hamid dances. He loves to dance, almost as much as he loves to fly, and he doesn’t really mind that he doesn’t have a partner at the moment. As he spins, putting in one of the fanciest twirls he knows, he catches Sasha’s eye across the room and grins; she grins back and shoots him a double thumbs-up.

Hamid starts in Sasha’s direction. She’s so good on her feet, he thinks, she’ll be really good at dancing, and she’ll love it. Aziza’s just wrapping up the song she’s currently working on, and Hamid’s pretty sure she’s going to go into the aria from Act I of Carmen, which was her first leading role and one she’s quite proud of. Hamid knows with absolute certainty that Sasha will kill it at a tango.

Before he gets to her, he passes his mother and gets a kiss on the cheek. Saleh gives him a friendly poke in the chest as he passes, which actually hurts a lot more than Hamid is expecting, but he tries to laugh it off, especially as Saleh is laughing, too.

Zolf turns to face him. Letting go of Oscar’s hand, he reaches over and touches Hamid’s forehead with one thumb. He’s still smiling a little, and the look in his eyes is one he hasn’t given Hamid in a long time—not since the beach south of Calais, after they survived the storm sailing from Dover. It warms Hamid all the way to his toes.

“It won’t end this way,” he says, and while he sounds like he’s talking at an ordinary volume, Hamid somehow gets the feeling that nobody can hear Zolf’s words but him. “I won’t let it. Your heart’s too big to be destroyed by something like this.”

Hamid feels simultaneously stronger than he has in ages and like something’s being sucked out of his lungs. His wings unfurl from his back before he completely registers that the music is gone.

He blinks. Someone is holding him—it feels like Cel—and it’s dark. The memory of the lights dimming and then going out comes to him...and they’d been heading to the lab, he remembers, because of the tunnel, but what—?

Zolf’s voice comes from not very far in front of him. “Get in in the door, and get safe.”

Hamid blinks again. That’s an order, they’re in the field—he promised he would follow Zolf’s orders in the field, so even if he doesn’t know exactly what’s going on, he’s going to do what he’s just been told and he can ask questions once they’re all safe. Surely Zolf will be right behind him.

He takes in a breath to acknowledge his instructions—and sucks in a lungful of sweet-smelling gas. Instantly, he drops unconscious back into Cel’s arms.

He blinks and he’s at the party again. Zolf is still standing in front of him, smiling as he turns back to the conversation—did he leave for a minute? No, surely not, Hamid’s been here the whole time, he thinks fuzzily.

The song wraps up on a triumphant sting, and there’s a smattering of polite applause, and then just as Hamid suspected, the music starts up and it’s “L’amour est un oiseau rebelle” from Carmen. He hurries over to Sasha and holds out a hand. “Sasha, come on, you’ll love this!” he cries.

Laughing, Sasha takes his hand and lets him pull her onto the ballroom floor. She’s a natural at the tango. Hamid would never have dared ask anyone else to do this dance with him; it’s a fiery dance of passion, usually, but this is Sasha and she’s just his favorite sister, as far as he’s concerned, even if she’s not his sister by blood. There’s no romance behind what they’re doing here, no heat. They’re just two kids having fun, really, laughing and taking increasingly flamboyant chances with the flashier moves.

He ends the dance by dipping her, somehow, despite the fact that she’s two feet taller than he is, but they’re both flushed and laughing and having a great time. It doesn’t even matter that they overbalance and fall onto the dance floor. Nobody’s really watching them anyway, which is just the way Hamid wants it right now. He doesn’t have to be the center of attention all the time. Not even most of the time.

“I like your wings,” Sasha says, poking one of them, and when did they come out? Hamid genuinely can’t remember. “This ‘cause you’re a Meritocrat?”

“I’m descended from a dragon,” Hamid corrects her. “I’m not a Meritocrat.”

“Good. But the wings are cool anyway. Do they work?”

“Oh! Yes. Want to see?” Hamid gets to his feet and manages—somehow—to pull Sasha up too. “I can cast fly on you and we can—”

“No,” Sasha interrupts, surprising him. She pulls him into a tight hug, and, oh, Sasha gives the best hugs. Hamid’s always suspected she would, but she’s always been iffy about being touched. If his wings hadn’t already popped out with joy—apparently—they would be bursting out now. He hugs her back just as tightly as she lifts him off the ground with the force of her embrace..

“Don’t you give up, Hamid,” she says in his ear. “Don’t you do it. There’s no dream so good it’s worth losing the whole world for. You get back out there and you fight to make the world this good. Because this right here? This is worth fighting for.”

Just a little of the euphoria peels back from the edges of Hamid’s mind, and he clings to Sasha a little tighter. “I don’t want to lose you again.”

“’M always with you, mate. Just like you were always with me. We’ll meet again. But right now, you’ve got to go save the world for me.” Sasha pulls back enough to smile at him, and her eyes are wet. “Make it a good one.”

Hamid’s eyes snap open.

~*~*~*~

If you had asked Oscar even a year ago, he would never have described this as the most perfect moment of his life. He would have said that the most perfect moment he could imagine is a gala celebrating the opening of his greatest work, a play that will be talked about through the ages and mean his name lives on long after he does, resplendent in his finest clothes, a rapt audience listening to him declaim his opinions—finally being the center of attention for art instead of admin.

But no. He enjoyed that, yes, and he’s looking forward to reading the description of it in the newspapers. But the truly perfect moment is this one. Just a simple, quiet family breakfast the morning after.

Azu is at more or less the opposite side of the round kitchen table they’re using instead of the formal dining table, nursing a hangover bigger than she is; she’s got a glass of tomato juice and a cup of strong black coffee and isn’t really talking to anyone. Cel is scribbling on a piece of paper and muttering under their breath, probably trying to improve or refine the special effects they and the kobolds designed and built for the production. Zolf presides over the stove as usual, his beard done up in one of the intricate braids he only does when he’s in an especially good mood and his shirtsleeves rolled up to expose his forearms. Sasha stands a little way down the counter, beaming as she slices and chops meat and vegetables for him; she’s the only one Zolf allows to help him in the kitchen, and even then only on special occasions. Hamid sits to Oscar’s left, a pile of newspapers between them, his pre-breakfast snack actually half-forgotten at his elbow.

“The reviews look really good, Oscar,” he says, sounding almost as delighted as Oscar feels as he hands over the Times, folded back to the Arts page. “All the criticisms I’ve seen so far have been about the acting, not the play itself.”

“I told you to cast Barnes in the lead instead,” Zolf calls from the stove.

“Not my call, darling. I’m not the casting director.” Oscar reads the article Hamid is handing him, a broad smile blooming across his face as he reads. Hamid’s right, the reviews are glowing, and this is from a critic who’s notoriously hard to please. A particular phrase about halfway down the column catches his eye: Wilde’s masterful words and turn of phrase makes even Johnson’s leaden performance turn to the purest gold.

Turning a few pages on, Oscar opens the society page and is delighted to see that most of it has been given over to a description of the party celebrating the opening. There are even a couple of pictures accompanying the article, and Oscar very carefully folds the paper back so that one of them is more fully visible—Oscar at the center, smiling broadly and holding a drink in one hand, his other arm draped around Zolf’s shoulders, the others arrayed around him looking pleased and proud.

“Have you thought about your next project?” Cel asks, looking up from their notes.

Oscar shakes his head before Cel can launch into an elaboration of the question. “No, not yet. I think I’ll take some time to see how this one does first. It may have opened well, but that doesn’t mean it will end well.” He sighs, a bit dramatically but not entirely put-0n. “Things so rarely do.”

“Things rarely stay good the whole time they’re happening, but that doesn’t mean they won’t end well,” Azu points out. “We got here, didn’t we?”

“And you’ve earned it,” Hamid adds encouragingly. “Happy endings feel a lot better when you have to work for them.”

“Cheers to that.” Sasha tosses her knife into the air; it flips four times and then returns to her hand without her even looking at it, and she goes back to her chopping.

“Have a bit of faith, Wilde,” Zolf chides him.

Oscar smiles fondly at his dwarf as he sets aside the paper. Azu’s faith in Aphrodite is a certainty you can cut your teeth on, but Zolf’s faith in Hope is nearly contagious. Like their happy ending, Zolf has worked for his faith, he’s earned it, and it’s never betrayed him. It’s the only reason any of them are still here, really. It’s the anchor that kept Cel from spiraling with guilt, it’s the keel that steadied Azu when she doubted herself (not her god, never her god), it’s the beacon that led Sasha back to them. And it’s the only reason Oscar and Hamid are still alive, albeit with matching scars—

Wait. Where did that come from?

Shaking his head slightly, Oscar pushes away from the table and passes behind Zolf, touching him first on the shoulder, then the cheek. “I have plenty of faith, dearest. In you if nothing else.”

“Get away from my workspace,” Zolf grumbles, though without any heat.

Oscar smirks and moves down the counter towards the cutting board, ostentatiously reaching for one of the ingredients waiting to be added to whatever Zolf is preparing. Sasha jabs playfully at his chest to make him back off.

She’s too good at what she does to accidentally stab someone when she’s only pretending to, and she wouldn’t stab him, especially not with Zolf’s good tomato knife; she has too much respect for both Zolf and blades to do that. And yet, pain suddenly erupts in Oscar’s heart, as though she’s driven a blade far bigger than the serrated one she’s holding into his chest. He inhales sharply, and the world goes white.

For just a moment, it resolves itself into his flat in Paris from when he was in university, or something similar anyway, but then it swirls into a pink mist. He feels something solid holding onto him, something anchoring him firmly in reality, and warmth floods his entire being. He feels safe and protected and cherished, and it gives him strength.

His eyes open, and he finds himself lying more or less on his back. Zolf kneels next to him, one hand tenderly cradling his jaw, the other pressed to his heart, which hurts like anything.

“Wh—huh—?” Oscar tries to sit up, his mind scrambling to fit this dark and rather crowded antechamber or wherever it is they are in with the light and airy kitchen-slash-breakfast nook he remembers from just a few...moments ago? What’s going on?

Zolf’s face is pale, his blue eyes intent, and there’s a trickle of blood near his hairline that worries Oscar in a vague and distant way. But he doesn’t have time to ask about it before Zolf looks into Oscar’s eyes and says in a voice that crackles faintly with an emotion he can’t place, “Get the others out, and get safe.”

Before Oscar can question it, or protest, or even figure out what it is they’re supposed to be safe from, Zolf half-shoves, half-throws him through a door that’s barely open wide enough for him to get through. He slides a few feet until he’s able to at least drag himself on his hands and feet a little further into the room. Someone runs past him and takes hold of the door, but doesn’t close it.

Oscar blinks hard, shaking his head to clear it. There’s a sweet smell in the air and he almost sniffs at it, almost tries to see what it is, but then his eyes fall on the crumpled figure not far from where he is and it acts like a dash of cold water across his brain. Hamid. Hamid is flopped in a pitiful heap, his new wings draped across the floor, his eyes closed.

He was dreaming. Oscar realizes that in the same moment that he takes in Hamid’s unconscious (oh, gods, please let him only be unconscious, Oscar cannot have failed him a second time) form and the sounds of something that is definitely not making breakfast in the other room. He pushes himself to a standing position and looks around the room. It doesn’t take long to spot the tunnel Hamid spoke of, at the back of the lab. That must be both out and safe.

“Tell the others to follow us,” he calls over his shoulder to the person he now recognizes as Ada, hurrying over to Hamid’s side and hefting him into his arms. The wings make it awkward, but Hamid sort of nestles into Oscar’s arms. Thank the gods, he’s alive.

Oscar runs. He heads down the tunnel, the light fading behind him, but he can’t spare a hand to cast any sort of spell to help him, so he just gets as far as he can. There’s just enough light left for him to see the gate before he runs headlong into it, and he checks, then looks over his shoulder. The others will be coming any moment now, he tells himself. They just have to wait a moment.

He sets Hamid down on the ground and looks him over quickly. He looks...fine, really. A bit disheveled, but fine. Then Oscar notices the bloodied tear in his shirt. Underneath the rend is a scar so new its edges are still shiny, directly over Hamid’s warm and generous heart.

It doesn’t take a genius to guess what happened. And, touching his own chest briefly, Oscar feels the same thing.

He checks Hamid over quickly, and even though he’s a bit rattled, he realizes that the sweet smell he noticed earlier is probably what knocked Hamid out; other than that, he looks fine. Oscar sniffs the air experimentally. It’s a bit fresher down here, so he should be able to…

“Hamid,” he says urgently, shaking the halfling, then slapping his face as gently as possible. “Wake up!”

Hamid’s eyes snap open. There’s a moment of disorientation before his eyes clear. “Oscar?” he says, his voice a bit higher-pitched than normal as he sits up. “What’s—what happened?”

Oscar still has no idea, actually, except for one absolute certainty so strong he sensed it even in his dreams, maybe even before it happened. “Zolf saved us.”

The confusion on Hamid’s face melts into fierce determination. “Then let’s go return the favor.”

[lenaellsi]

3, 20, 28 and 29? :3

@makesometime :))))

3. favorite special

HONEY HEIST!! i relisten like. weekly. space pals and jason statham's big vacation are my next faves :) i tend to like the funny specials best, i love hearing the cast crack each other up.

20. favorite reveal

sumutnyerl interacting with the seed at the ursan council meeting is such a great Big Break moment, and all the revelations that follow in the garden (the three bulbs, etc.) are so satisfying. learning that the original seed was in the simulacrum part the party left behind in the prologue was PAINFUL.

sasha as founder of the harlequins also got an IRL shout from me the first time around.

28. favorite emotional moment

I'm not going to have many creative answers here--the one that immediately comes to mind is that there's a moment in 174 when zolf's voice cracks as he's talking to azu about carrying on until they're sure they can keep everyone who survived the crash safe, and it's. A Lot. some others: the sasha letter from 156, sasha's breakdown after the squizard attacks them at aziza's funeral, grizzop whispering 'good luck' after the rest of the party has left for rome in damascus, and azu's convo with aphrodite in the wake of 174. we all talk about alex's craft but every single one of the cast are criminals and i respect it so much

29. which of alex's insufferable characters is your favorite

i mean. does wilde count? you've seen my blog XD

not counting wilde my beloved, carter really snuck up on me in 177, as I think he did for a lot of people. I still think his afterlife situation and his convo with azu was one of my fave bits of alex storytelling in the campaign--him telling azu 'no one's ever happy to see me' is always just. *chef's kiss* tragic

there's also einstein, though again i don't know if he counts as insufferable so much anymore. his moment of connection with azu in rome is lovely <3 azu really has a knack for bringing out the best in everyone, even alex's least helpful NPCs

from the specials--shmerr and apocrypha ponzie are Very Good.

[lobotomy-maybe-bestie]

eppy sode thoughts!

1. EINSTEIN MY BELOVED!!! gosh einstein and cel talking gives me so much serotonin, those two techno-/magic-/alchemy-babbling to each other and complimenting each other's style is just everything i needed

2. i'm legit a bit surprised that hamid knows about grizzop commissioning the killswitch because i remember VERY clearly getting agitated bc grizzop didn't tell them before they went into the portal? maybe wilde told them? i honestly can't remember if grizzop told wilde about the killswitch but i assume he must have? then wilde having shared that knowledge is appropriate ofc

3. i love azu being all "SILENCE, FOOLS" when ada is presenting

4. NOOO wilde and sumutnyerl ;_; i mean i know logistically it would've been a pain in the ass for alex to keep them around but STILL! i LOVE them! they deserve to have cool battle moments as well! (on the other hand i already want to write a wilde, sumutnyerl and einstein camping fanfic soooo...)

[realdavidward]

hey there tessa 🧡 i hope youre having an amazing day!! and for the rqg ask: 3, 7 and (what a surprise) 20!!

3: favourite running joke, in or out of character?

hmm i do love "but we respect his craft"... but then you've got The Marbles... but then there's also x is my burlesque name,,, oh god pumPHOLE..,.,

7: what is something you do not at all think will happen in the finale, but is just fun to daydream about?

everyone in the party stabs guivres at once :)) including wilde and skraak ofc :)) then azu and kiko have a beautiful reunion and zolf and wilde have a nice calm moment together and nothing else bad happens to anyone in the party ever :DDD

20: what will you take from erasing the line?

loaded question hm. i think i will take love from this show. the love between sasha and grizzop, the love between hamid and the twins, the love between cel and their husband, the love between sumutnyerl and the garden, the love within the london rangers (we're still working on the name) and the lolomg and the 18 month crew and the harlequins and the love in this fandom. i love you all so much.

[rustyelias]

Sumutnyerl my beloved <3

[makesometime]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Rusty Quill Gaming (Podcast) Rating: General Audiences Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Oscar Wilde & Sumutnyerl, Zolf Smith/Oscar Wilde Characters: Oscar Wilde (Rusty Quill Gaming), Sumutnyerl (Rusty Quill Gaming), Albert Einstein (Rusty Quill Gaming) Additional Tags: Episode Tag, Episode: e196 A Brief Catchup (Rusty Quill Gaming), Developing Friendships, Relationship Discussions, Idiots in Love, (Zoscar is very background but the point of the fic so I tagged it) Summary:

By the time he turns around, Sumutnyerl is looking at him, a faint smile playing at their lips. Curious. He allows his feet to carry him over to sit beside her and turns his gaze to them when she clucks her tongue.

“You’re worried.” They say, quiet and slow as is their wont.

“Of course.” He replies. “I would much rather be with them.”

[consultingjedi]

rqg long answer ask: 1, 2, 9, 12, 15

... [cracks knuckles] alright, you asked. this is gonna be long. thank you for asking and bearing with me :*

> 1. RQG characters are now the characters in another podcast you love. Whose places do they take, and how does this change the narrative?

I don't actually listen to that many podcasts but i'm gonna try this with the juno steel storyline on the penumbra podcast. zolf is juno, the agent of law enforcement who slowly is broken by it and breaks away from it; wilde is our charismatic thief, in a world where maybe he ended up indebted to the harlequins and doing some... less than well-thought-out shit. sasha, i think, would make an interesting rita, except she's more like an informant than an aide. alternatively, she could be vespa (assassin indebted to barret, i guess, in this universe? jives with some of the undead-revived storyline as wel). hamid, azu, cel, and zop i think all come in with the space found (crime) family arc.

they're all incredibly different characters from the main tpp ones, i think the story would be very different. the character dynamics would also be very, very different. there would be similar amounts of captain!azu sitting everyone down to politely yell at them to just fucking talk already.

> 2. What’s your biggest ‘I would’ve played that so differently’ moment, and how would things have panned out if they’d done it your way?

you know, i've never thought about that... i guess the biggest moment that comes to mind right now is the paris catacombs and going in completely unprepared. i'd've argued with my party (assuming i was playing someone with sense, which, usually i tend to). the thing is that it's such a character moment for them, like a lot of things are. hamid is inexperienced, sasha's a daredevil, zolf... "everything is a risk we might as well do this" yeah okay uhuh sure. but all these forces of personality combine to lead to moderate paris peril.

if they'd gone in prepared, i don't think zolf would've lost the leg, though sasha might've still died if the otyugh/gibbering eye had gotten the other party members. that would have had knock-on effects with a slower breakdown of his relationship with poseidon. hamid might not have... learned as much, about consequences? also you know like. been significantly less traumatized and felt less guilty about zolf. it would have been, honestly, probably less interesting listening.

> 9. [Choose a character] is now in a different RPG system of your choice. What are their equivalent class and abilities, in your opinion?

fffff there are so many systems i haven't played, and like. 3 that i have, not counting your homebrew. i don't think i can do this one justice without sitting down with a player's handbook on whatever system i'd put em in.

> 12. If RQG were to be a TV show, which one NPC would you want Alex to voice and why?

controversial answer? einstein. i fucking love his einstein voice. i think others could do a good wilde, gragg, barret, sumutnyerl, skraak... but the squeaky ad-libbed brain-turned-off einstein lines? nah, those would have to be alex. second choice would be gragg, though, because he does it unedited and that terrifies and confuses me. 10/10 would watch on tv.

> 15. What’s a headcanon you think about all the time but feel you’ve never had an opportunity to share?

i think you underestimate how often i yeet (mostly angsty) headcanons into discord lmao. hmm, here's one i haven't explicitly written out, though: i think that sasha believes that grizzop's affection for her, and acceptance of her as a packmate/teammate, is conditional. i have a whole writeup somewhere about how she can compare how he acts towards her, versus how he acts towards carter (and, a bit, saleh junior and hamid) in the cairo arc. but carter and sasha as foils in terms of how grizzop treats them... sasha sees herself as very similar to carter. grizzop doesn't.

along another axis, sasha sees herself as a tool; grizzop tries to challenge this view, but i don't think he really gets through to her in the (short ;;) time they have.

whether it's because sasha knows at some point she'll do something that breaks grizzop's moral code (the moral code he holds most of the party to) or because she sees herself as a tool, one that often gets thrown out when no longer useful... yeah. those two had a lot to work through in terms of communication and (un)conditional love/affection/friendship.

... i have a lot of complex feelings about sasha & zop.

RQG ask game!

[lobotomy-maybe-bestie]

asdfgahskgalwukgszoahakgslsjksgaoh ALEX!!!!

many thoughts so here's the first one:

sumutnyerl said something interesting when hamid asked them if they knew that the seed could do something like this. she said that the ursans always knew the garden and by definition their seeds were powerful, and that maybe this was achieved by the corruption of the squizzards and their energy. but we don't have any evidence the squizzards actually tampered with the seeds tesla had, only that they knew about them as a part of the simulacrum. however, we DO know that one of the seeds- the one from tesla's notebook- has been taken into the realm where the squizzards come from. how fucking TERRIBLE would it be if that was the party's fault as well?!

i respect alex's craft SO much, the idea of throwing a bunch of people into the world KNOWING they will be kind and try to help and engineering it so that in that helping, they doom the world even more without realising it. it's such a terrible thing and i LOVE it

[lobotomy-maybe-bestie]

14 for rqg! and 10 for Sasha :D

14. Top five songs you would add to an RQG playlist:

Ohhh this was difficult! There are 59 songs in my RQG playlist how can I choose only five! But:

-Cotton - The Mountain Goats

This song for me is representative of the first few rqg episodes, like the prologue and everything leading up to zolf's arrest in dover. It's about each of these characters throwing some of their past away (for Zolf it's the ship accident, for Sasha it's Other London and for Hamid it's getting kicked out of university). I did a whole seperate post with lyrics once, actually. Anyway Sasha's verse is "This song is for the soil/ that's toxic clear down to the bedrock/ where no thing of consequence can grow/ drop your seeds there, let them go" keep that in mind for further down the list.

-See Her Out (That's Just Life) - Francis and the Lights

It's a VERY Mr. Ceiling song. There's nothing to say about, I just love it. (Fun fact I set my alarm as "But that's just life/ I lived it twice" bc it will be funny if I ever experience a time loop)

-The Times They Are A-Changin' - Simon & Garfunkel (yes i like the cover better than the original)

This song would, in a musical version of RQG, be the interlude song after the time travel, to update the audience on everything that's happened in the 18 months. First verse is Zolf, second is Wilde, third is Einstein, fourth is Apophis, fifth is Sumutnyerl.

-Ashes - The Longest Johns

Just a sad little song about loss and friendship that almost makes me cry when I hear it. First verse is about Hamid, second about Grizzop, third about Zolf, fourth about Sasha, fifth about Azu and sixth just about their situation in general ("What will we do when the world it is ending/ And time it is halted for friend and for foe/ Try to hold onto the time as it passes/ I'll tend to the flame, you can worship the ashes"). Also btw Sasha's verse includes "Bury some seeds and expect some strong branches" which is a nice and unexpected inversion of her verse in Cotton. (Also also I wrote a whole fic to this song once)

-London Calling - The Clash

Just has to be the song for the endgame. Not much else to say about it.

10. A song that makes you feel angsty about Sasha:

So many of them lol

-Steal Smoked Fish - The Mountain Goats

What can I say except "God bless all petty thieves with tins of oysters up their sleeves". Just Sasha in Other London and then with the party and just... man ;_; I care her so much.