#i love this sad pathetic elf teen

[ikeofeyes]

I love how the last two episodes have been: Local elf experiences the consequences of his actions

[baldurs-writers-3]

Hidden Gems 1: A Baldur's Gate 3 Fanfiction Rec List

This week, we have Hidden Gems! Check under the cut for 17 fics that haven’t gotten nearly enough love, and as always, comment and kudos if you like them!

sating appetites by mallowspace (1599, Mature) Content Notes: None Pairings: Gale/Tav

Tav forces Gale to beg for a magical artifact.

Reccer says: this is so mean and cruel, i just love pleading desperate gale so much

A Word by Irken (4915, Teen) Content Notes: Hurt/Comfort Pairings: The Emperor/Illithid Tav

This is a one-shot about the Emperor giving a fresh illithid Tav get used to their new biology and methods of communication.

Reccer says: It's short and sweet and thoughtful and fluffy enough to cheer me up after a bad day :) and the author's descriptions of mind flayer communication are so evocative!

Notes from the Ceremorphosis Unit by narla_hotep (11942, General) Content Notes: Body Horror Pairings: N/A

A series of letters, memos, and other documents translated from Qualith tablets found in Oryndoll; the largest illithid colony in the Underdark. In the Ceremorphosis Unit, they transform prisoners and thralls into new mind flayers to serve the colony's Elder Brain and further the Grand Design. But even in this cruel and alien culture, there is still typical workplace drama and passive-aggression...

Reccer says: I love fics that explore the world of BG3 in some way, and this is a great (and often humorous) look at the world of the illithid hiveminds. Fun read!

You know what they say about monsters by Snailpals (25770, Explicit) Content Notes: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Pairings: Astarion/Dark Urge

Some durges are more put together than others at the start of tadpole times. Echo is a durge that is very much /not/ together, not even remembering what race they are! Astarion slowly falls head over heels for someone even more pathetic than he is. How could he not?!

Reccer says: Two sad wet cats fall in love

Crisis of Faith by The_Dancing_Walrus (4152, Explicit) Content Notes: Cult Pairings: Shadowheart & Astarion

There's a new God of Murder, and Shadowheart can't remember who it is she wants to kill.

Reccer says: a lovely, vicious exploration of Shadowheart fighting past and through and beyond Shar's worship, with some help from a fanged God of Murder

A Night Ashore by Tynithia (3981, Teen) Content Notes: N/A Pairings: Balduran/Tav, The Emperor/Tav

Before Balduran became a legend, a dragon rider, and the founder of Baldur's Gate, he was a ship's Captain. When his ship takes shelter at a seaside village near Illusk, Balduran wakes from a vivid dream about a beautiful elf, or was it a dream?

Reccer says: This is the start of multiple unique stories by the author. I loved the idea of an elf!Tav who knew Balduran before he became a Mind Flayer and I was not disappointed! The author touches on Balduran's life as a sailor before the events of BG3.

On Waxen Wings We Soar, In Spite of Inevitable Ends by Pokimoko (15613, Teen) Content Notes: Terminal Injury, Suicidal Ideation Pairings: Astarion & Karlach

Karlach's engine is about to go - but not quite yet. She's got time enough for a road trip, and maybe a companion on this last adventure.

Reccer says: utterly gorgeous and heartbreaking exploration of a terminal Karlach, directionless Astarion, and the inherent question of who do you want to be when the curtains close.

Strange Highways by NoCryptoGrapher (28939, Mature) Content Notes: None Pairings: Cazador / female OC, Cazador & male OCs, Cazador&Petras, Cazador&Astarion

Cazador gets Isekai'd to 1980s and ends up joining a heavy metal band.

Reccer says: Hilarious, addictive and tight plotted. Couldn't stop reading. Loved the soundtrack too.

a decade starved by ballofbitter (4906, Mature) Content Notes: nope Pairings: Karlach/Tav

Karlach and Eos have some good cuddle time, talking about Karlach's dream for the future. Tinged with sadness as well, at this point, Karlach has just recently been told she will die if she doesn't return to Avernus. BUT SHE CAN CUDDLE NOW SO THATS GOOD.

Reccer says: Tails! Both Karlach and Eos feel like real characters, they both are explored a bit, in under 5k words! One doesn't feel just like a prop for the other. ALSO TAILS.

What You Made Me by Denesmera (20176, Explicit) Content Notes: None Pairings: Astarion/Tav

Six months since the defeat of Elderbrain, Maeve is at a crossroads in her life.

Reccer says: I enjoy how the story focuses on growth, indecision, and hidden desire between the two main characters along with an entire plot. The story plays on the aftermath of decisions that were made during the game and the writer did a great job at exploring the 'now what'. The writing and dialogue has this beauty and flow to it that must not be missed. Worth a read! A hidden gem!

a story better than the real thing by not_whelmed_yet (1100, General) Content Notes: N/A Pairings: N/A

Wyll is alone in the woods, in the wilderness, and the heroes of his youth spoke only of victory so maybe he can convince himself of it, too.

Reccer says: a wonderful character study of Wyll as the Blade of Frontiers - creating a storybook persona so he can try and distract himself from the miserable realities of his current situation. very sad. very fascinating.

Hero of the Hour by Aeona (7779, Explicit) Content Notes: None Pairings: Karlach / Wyll

It's Wyll's birthday. He tries to make it about everyone else. Karlach won't let it be about anyone but him.

Reccer says: this is so precious and pours so much love into their interaction

The Contract by This_One_Bites (3899, General) Content Notes: No Archive Warnings Apply Pairings: Astarion & Mizora (Baldur's Gate)

Post game story where Astarion is in the Underdark taking care of the spawn while Tav has to deal with some other things and Mizora comes along and makes an offer he can't refuse.

Reccer says: The tension in this was amazing. The author went through all of Astarion's fears, wants and needs and wrapped them all into a perfect contract. The ending just left me wanting to pull my hair out! It might be one of the best stories I ever read and I can't believe it doesn't have more hits!

Under the Sussur Tree by bravelikealady (3160, Teen) Content Notes: None Pairings: Wyll / Gale

The Wizard of Waterdeep and the Blade of Frontiers find themselves rendered merely Gale Dekarios and Wyll Ravengard under the neutralizing affects of the Sussur tree. Without the bite of the Weave or the call of Mystra, Gale finds something fighting for space with the orb in his chest.

Reccer says: this is so romantic and soft and poignant, beautifully written!

Deep Haven: An Archive of Historical Records by Our very own Professor_Rye (3676, General) Content Notes: N/A Pairings: N/A

Centuries after The Absolute Crisis, a historian works tirelessly to hunt down and gather any and all documents relating to Deep Haven, The Under Gate, and The Shade Way that connects them. Or: How the Tad-fools and friends help a little under 7000 vampire spawn start a new life

Reccer says: Gap filler and world building documents are always fun to me, but this fic takes it to a new level with a custom work skin: scrolls, letters, and all manner of documents help craft an immersive look at what the characters might've gotten up to post-quest in BG3. :)

In Time by Fartastic durge (27784, Explicit) Content Notes: Graphic depictions of violence Pairings: Astarion/Tav, Astarion & Gale

Taking place 19 years after the original events of Fated, Astarion finds himself in a place that could be close to acceptance of the events that transpired that day when they defeated the Netherbrain. In the hopes of finding his happy ending, he takes one last chance to seek answers to lingering questions that prevent him from moving on entirely when Gale suggests a trip to Candlekeep.

Reccer says: I binge read this once I started it! It's a follow on to a previous work, but easy to get the gist if you haven't read that. Love the relationship between Astarion and Gale, and the Tav complications! Sinister with a dark humour.

And two recs for: Cutlass Tavern by Tynithia (33395, Explicit) Content Notes: None Pairings: Balduran/Ansur, Balduran/Tav

Balduran and Ansur's relationship was already on the rocks when Balduran makes it worse by spending the night with someone else.

Reccer #1 says: I enjoyed how the writer created an original story from two characters who only had a letter and one scene together in the entire game. Their original characters were woven in so easily into their story, I went to the Forgotten Realms wiki to see if they were real characters. I also enjoyed the point of view chapters from each of the characters, it really gave the story more insight to how each were thinking. It's a great emotional roller coaster and worth a read. I laughed, cried, and rooted for all the characters - a hidden gem indeed! Reccer #2 says: Like with many long established relationships, there are ups and downs, no matter how much you love each other. Balduran and Ansur were no exception, especially when one is an elf and the other is a dragon.The story is told from the perspective of the three main characters Balduran, Ansur, and Ellandra (Tav/OC) with Gaius Dekarios (Gale’s great-grandfather/OC) in a supporting role. Really enjoyed this glimpse into Balduran's past life and loves. A great read with lots of angst, laughs, romance, battles and sea tales around the past lives of the characters.

Hidden Gems are any fics with less than 150 kudos! We want to uplift authors in our community, and sometimes all a fic needs is that little push. The above fanfic recommendations were pulled from our community for this weekly event. Have any questions about what this is? Check out the FAQ! Next week, we’ll be coming in with our first instance of a recurring theme, with Extraplanar Travel!

From the House of Hope to the Astral Prism, this theme has range! So tune in next week!

[anelephant]

when i first listened to fantasy high and Gilear showed up in the first episode, i assumed that Fig (being a rebellious mean teen) would just bully him and that would be there dynamic. especially because i think a lot of teens in that situation would have a hard time not blaming or taking out their anger on him for not being their bio dad. and Fig is this badass rule-breaking rockstar, and Gilear is just this sad elf man that can't do anything right, it was totally set up for her to hate him.

but then seeing Fig just be so, so nice to him, always trying to help him and get his life in a better place is just SO sweet, it's literally amazing. she treats her awesome demon dad with just as much respect as her sad pathetic dad, and she knows it's not either of their fault for what her mom did. and now she has two dads she loves very much, so that's a big win for her!

anyway, i love Fig and i love Gilear, great characters :)

[geniejackman]

Harry Potter: What the Movies Got Right

Because the movies get a lot of shit for the ways that they differ from the books, here is a way too overly-detailed list of moments from the Harry Potter films which IN MY OPINION improve upon the source material.

Sorcerer’s Stone:

The Norbert Storyline: Cutting out the whole midnight hand-off of Norbert to Charlie’s friends story-line was a good move. It slowed down the plot in the book, and come on, how were Charlie’s friends able to sneak into Hogwarts in the first place? There are literally entire chapters of people trying to figure out ways around the schools security.

 Chamber of Secrets:

Nothing to add, the book and movie are almost entirely one and the same (Sure wish they’d followed through with this on some of the other movies. Lookin at you Half-Blood Prince).

-ONE THING THOUGH; at the end when Harry tricks Lucius Malfoy into freeing Dobby and you can hear him start to cast ‘Avada Kedavra’ at Harry. It’s a small and HILARIOUS addition. Like, really Lucius? The killing curse? At this little twelve-year-old, right in front of Dumbledore’s office, in broad day-light, over literally nothing? I heard somewhere that this was because Jason Isaacs thought he should say some spell but nothing was scripted, and Avada Kedavra was the only one he could think of. But it’s just really funny to think about Lucius legit about to murder a kid in public over losing his house-elf.

 Prisoner of Azkaban:

-Aunt Marge’s Big Mistake: I love that Marge blows up and floats out of the house, rather than just bouncing off the walls like in the book. Hysterical!

-Lupin scenes: Lupin talking about how Lilly “was there for me at a time when no one else was” and how she had a gift for finding beauty in people “even and most importantly when that person could not see it in themselves”… just… fucking David Thewlis man. Actually, all the Harry & Lupin conversations in the movie have this sweet parental energy that was mostly there in the books, it just feels so much more potent here thanks do Dan & David’s incredible chemistry.

-Harry’s Patronus Lessons: the powerful memory that finally gets him to cast the spell is thinking about his parents talking with him. Kind of an understated change from the books, but it helps to underscore that the memory doesn’t need to be big or even all that happy, just emotionally poignant.

 -“WHY DON’T YOU RUN ALONG AND PLAY WITH YOUR CHEMISTY SET?!?!?!?”

-Snape protects the kids: Even though Snape was being a dick the entire time in the Shrieking Shack, he still acts as a HUMAN FUCKING SHIELD between the kids and Wolf Lupin and even takes a blow to the chest while protecting them. Book Snape was unconscious the whole time. Also, Movie Snape is so much more sympathetic than Book Snape, fight me. More on this down the line.

 Goblet of Fire:

-Really scraping the bottom of the barrel here, because there ain’t much.

-David Tenant is fun as hell as Barty Crouch Jr: I mean, there isn’t much fleshed out motivation in the character in the movie besides being bat-shit-fucking-crazy, but hey, it’s fun to watch! Also, I love the added detail (which I believe was improvised by Tenant) of Jr’s lip twitch and how this gives him away when he’s pretending to be Moody in front of Crouch Sr.  

-Cedric’s bravery: It’s a very small thing, but in the book when Cedric and Harry realize something’s off in the graveyard, they don’t really react much, or even say anything. When Harry’s scar stars burning, my man Cedric has enough presence of mind to draw his wand, ask Harry what’s wrong, takes a defensive stance, and shouts “Who are you? What do you want?” bravely to an approaching Pettigrew. Guy spends his last few moments being an absolute champ. Hollywood did you wrong Robert Pat.

 Order of the Pheonix:

-The DA training sequences: They’re wonderful and full of teen-whimsiness and the score makes me happy. Seriously, go listen to the ‘Dumbledore’s Army’ track, it’ll make your day! https://youtu.be/fZane0CwAGg

Harry’s cheesy one liner which somehow still manages to be great: “Every great wizard has started out as nothing more than what we are now, students. If they can do it, why not us?”

-Neville’s Character growth: “We’re gonna make them proud Neville. That’s a promise.” Man, I really wish there had been scenes of Harry and Neville talking about their families in the books. There’s so much that they share in terms of past traumas. I like that they bring it up in the film, even if it’s a very quick scene.  

-Fred and George: It’s been said before, but the scene with Fred and George comforting a young student who’s had the Umbridge hand-slicing treatment is UNPRECEDENTED and I LOVE it. This helps show them as more than just loveable jokesters.

-“Neville Longbottom is it? How’s mum and dad” “Better, now that they’re about to be avenged!” FOUR FOR YOU NEVILLE LONBOTTOM, YOU GO NEVILLE LONGBOTTOM!

-Possession: I’m gonna be honest, this movie is my next-to-least-favorite of the adaptations. I’d be prepared to write it off as a bad movie altogether if it weren’t for the way they decide to end with the Ministry battle: In the book, Voldemort finishes dueling Dumbledore and starts possessing Harry, who tells Dumbledore to kill him. Possessed Harry says: “Kill me Dumbledore, death is nothing compared to this. Kill me. And I’ll see Sirius again.” This moment is really quick, and it’s not really made clear until the next book that Harry’s love and grief in this moment is what drove Voldemort out. In the movie, the scene gets more time and attention and shows Voldemort possessing Harry, forcing him to remember his worst memories of losing people he loves. For anyone who’s ever suffered from depression or anxiety, the way these horrible memories overwhelm Harry is shockingly familiar. But then, Ron, Hermione and the others come running in. The sight of them makes Harry remember all of the best moments with his friends: “You’re the weak one. And you’ll never know love, or friendship. And I feel sorry for you.” HOLY HELL. All the tears. Just all of them. I fuckin love this moment. Congrats Possession scene, you single-handedly saved this movie for me.

Half-Blood Prince:

Oooooh boy. Full disclosure, I kind of hate this movie. It’s just… it’s not ABOUT anything. Like, SO much was changed in Order of the Pheonix to make it tonally different from the book, AND YET: Sirius’s line in the OOTP film about how “we all have light and dark inside of us” is so cliched and not from the book at all, but it PAYS OFF and shapes the theme of the movie at the end when Dumbledore reinforces “It’s not how you are alike. It’s how you are not.” So yeah, not really from the book, but it’s at least trying to have a theme. HBP the movie is a mess. Instead of having a central theme, the main idea for the movie appears to be: “stuff is happening”.

-Despite this, there were one or two instances of “stuff is happening” which the film added that built positively on the book. One of those is, hear me out, the Burrow attack. HBP the book is pretty void of any action until the very end, and this addition (nonsensical as it is. Did they ever explain how the Death Eaters were able to break through the Ministry’s protective charms to get to the Burrow?) gives us some pretty cool visuals and some much needed tension. Too bad it’s totally meaningless as we see in the first few minutes of Deathly Hallows Part 1 that the Weasley’s have completely rebuilt the Burrow. Cause, ya know, magic.

-Draco on the Hogwarts Express: “Hogwarts. What a pathetic excuse for a school. I think I’d pitch myself off the Astronomy Tower if I thought I had to come back for another year.” HA! Oh the irony.

In general, the characterization of Draco is so much more engaging here than in the book. The fact that the movies are less exclusively only what Harry thinks and sees gives us opportunities to see more into other characters perspectives. Draco’s experiments in the Room of Requirement really add a lot to the characters emotional struggle. And boy howdy does Tom act the HELL out of the bathroom cry scene. Really makes you wish they’d followed through on that redemption arc in DH part 2 (more on that later).

-Last but not least; Slughorn and the Lilly fishbowl. HOLY SHIT is this scene powerful. Not only is it an incredibly touching story, but we get to see the parental and emotional aspects of Slughorn’s ‘collecting’ of promising students over the years. And the sadness of Slughorn’s unfinished sentence; “the day the bowl was empty… was the day that your mother….” Just, damn. I both love and hate this moment, because it adds something positive to HBP and that makes me mad because I guess I can’t totally hate it now.

 Deathly Hallows Part 1

-Opening montage with Hermione Obliviating her parents. In the book, Hermione tells the boys about how she did this in order to make them see how much she’s already sacrificed to their cause. But damn. SEEING it really makes it even more devastating.

-Hedwig’s Death. Damn, just typing those words hurt my heart. I really liked that Harry lets her fly free at the beginning, only to have her come back during the sky battle to save Harry. It’s sad in the book having her die in her cage, but they really amped up the cry factor for the movie by having her sacrifice herself.

-“Hey losers! He isn’t here.” Goddamnit, Neville just keeps wracking up those ‘Biggest Badass’ and ‘Best Character Growth’ points. It’s great foreshadowing for what’s to come with his hero moment in the Final Battle.

-Harry and Hermione’s dance. I know some people have called this scene unnecessary and awkward, but here me out. The dancing itself is, in my opinion, EXACTLY how awkward fools like Harry and Hermione would dance, and the moments where they slowly change from depressed and dead-eyed to light-hearted and goofy, it shows you that despite all the hardships they’ve gone through, they’re just kids. A little awkward, a little uncertain, but still able to enjoy the small things in life. Also, the little moment where they linger for a moment all serious after the dance always played to me like “hey, you know how Ron just stormed out after accusing us of having a thing? Maybe there’s a possibility that we actually do… nah.” It’s a nice little moment.

-Scabier’s creeper moments with Hermione. That scene in the forest when she’s put up the enchantments so they can’t see her, but he can smell her. It’s a great acting moment between Emma and the dude playing Scabier (even if this should have been Greyback).

-Draco at Malfoy Manor. Small but touching scene; when Draco is brought in to make sure the Death Eaters have caught Harry, he does the same thing in the book where he claims he “can’t be sure”. In the book, Draco says this while refusing to look Harry in the eye. In the movie, he looks Harry dead in the face and looks scared to death while asking “What’s wrong with his face?” Just… the concern and fear dripping off of him is DELICIOUS. (AGAIN WITH THE REDEMPTION ARC!!! THE POTENTIAL WAS THERE WARNER BROTHERS!!!!!)

-Hermione Tortured. Not really all that much was changed for this scene, but Bellatrix carving ‘mudblood’ into Hermione’s arm and the way it evoked Holocaust concentration camp victims was a stroke of genius.

-Dobby at Malfoy Manor. Way to give this ‘lil dude a moment to shine! Specifically; “of course I can, I’m an elf!” “Dobby never meant to kill anyone. Dobby only meant to mame or seriously injure!” And then… the death scene. I love that in the movie, Dobby gets a longer farewell. “Such a beautiful place… to be with friends. Dobby is happy to be with his friend. Harry Potter.” UGH! At least give me some warning before you rip my heart out.

 Deathly Hallows Part 2

-Snape vs. McGonagall; I’m torn, because I love the scene in the book where Harry defends McGonagall against the Carrows leading into the scene where she confronts Snape, but I also really love this big dramatic scene in the Great Hall with the “How dare you stand where he stood?” and McGonagall dueling Snape. Alan’s expression as Maggie steps up is PRICELESS.

-Harry and Malfoy in the Room or Requirement; “Why didn’t you tell her? Bellatrix? You knew it was me.” Yeah Warner Brothers, why didn’t he tell her? Gonna maybe follow through with this redemption-arc you seem to be building up? No?? OKAY THEN!!!

-Snape’s death scene. Changing the setting was a stroke of genius. This scene is wonderfully done and we all know it.

-The Prince’s Tale. Okay, I feel like I’m going to take some flak for this. At first, I wasn’t thrilled with how much was cut out of Snape’s flashbacks concerning his friendship with Lilly and their falling out. But when you really think about it, they cut out all of the really gross stuff. For instance, it’s never implied that he enjoys bullying people for fun, he doesn’t call her a mudblood, he isn’t shown being toxic towards Lilly and jealous of James, never has the moment where he asks Voldemort to kill Harry & James and leave Lilly for him, and in general is WAY less problematic than in the books. This might be an instance of a ‘less is more’ win in favor of the film. I know, I’m as shocked as you are.

-Malfoy’s Redemption: So this might be confusing for some folks since this wasn’t in the final cut, but here’s a link for what they originally had in mind for Draco’s redemption arc: https://youtu.be/hS5Z2YbyePg

I am SO MAD that this was left out of the final cut, since it’s so obviously built up in part 1. Also, it would have been a HUGE improvement on the source material since Draco effectively has NO character growth there. This moment, where he makes a huge stand by yelling “POTTER” (also, GREAT inverse from the way we’ve become accustomed to hearing Draco sneer at Harry by invoking his surname over the years), throws him the wand, and runs back to join the fray, is a great addition to the series. I really wish the filmmakers had stuck with this plan.

 Incredibly long ranting list over.

[fuckthetemplars]

Can you share about your ocs plz

i’m not sure if you’re prepared for the big ol’ can of worms you just opened, pal, but i’m throwing all of this under a cut because i have a lot to say

i hope the under the cut things work, but here we go:

Okay, so, first thing I’m gonna say is that if you pick an OC of mine at random, whether it’s a Dragon Age, Skyrim, or Original OC there is a 98% chance that that character is trans. I’m trans, all of my babies are trans.

I’m gonna talk about my four (4) Skyrim OC’s for now though, there’s

Akcha, an Orc who was raised by Falmer. (trans, bi af)

Tarenin, a half-Bosmer half-Orc. (trans, gay af, falls in love with any man who’s nice to him((me too)))

Lyrill, a Dunmer and an Asshole. (bi af)

Lichen, a Bosmer. (gayyy)

Let’s talk about Akcha first,

When Akcha was a baby his family was travelling when they stopped for the night in the ruins of an old Dwemer building. They were unaware that just a bit deeper in the ruin a camp of bandits were hiding out. The bandits killed his family and Falmer, drawn by the noise, killed the bandits. The leader of the tribe passed mercy on the crying child and Akcha was raised among their young as one of their own.

Years later when Akcha is in his late teens, he spends most his time exploring the underground ruins of the Dwemer buildings and during one of his little adventures he comes across a small camp. In this camp, as he creeps closer to investigate, is a lone elf, sleeping by the fire.

This elf is Lichen, who has always had a fascination in the Dwemer ever since his mother warned him to stay away from the ruin near their village. As soon as he was old enough to explore on his own he’d go as close as he dared, growing bolder as he grew older until soon enough he was spelunking around in caves and having to fight Dwemer automatons and Falmer alike. When he wakes up to a figure in Falmer armor poking around his things he damn near has a heart attack and they both instinctively try and Kill Each Other.

Luckily they don’t! Akcha’s helmet flies and Lichen is shocked to see an Orc where he expected the twisted, blinded face of a Falmer and Akcha is thrown off his rhythm when Lichen doesn’t go in for the killing blow. They struggle to communicate with each other at first but get across the message of ‘I don’t want to hurt you’ and that camp becomes a place for them to meet or leave little things for each other. However, Lichen is a member of the Thieves Guild starting from when he’s 19, and a few years after he and Akcha are an established couple Lichen confides in him that things are getting worrisome around Riften. Lichen feels like there’s a target on his back and fears he may have to leave the city until the Guild can figure out what’s going on, Akcha asks Lichen not to leave that night but he goes anyways and he doesn’t return.

Akcha speaks with his tribe and tells his father that he’s going to the surface. Lichen is in trouble and Akcha can’t sit idly by and wait for someone else to save him, he receives his father’s blessing and goes to the surface where, in correspondence with the Skyrim plot, he’s captured in the Imperial ambush and taken to Helgen. Neither of them are the Dragonborn though, just two more people caught up in everything that’s going on, and I have a few scenes that I really want to write for them. The first being a dramatic scene where Akcha goes off on Brynjolf because he went to the Guild for help finding Lichen and the Guild proves to be kind of useless there :/ But Bryn does try his best to help Akcha figure out what happened to Lichen.

But worry not, they will eventually be reunited and Lichen will, more or less, be okay!

Then there’s Lyrill, who I had originally wanted to be brought up in the Dawnguard by his parents, I had a sad backstory and everything planned, but now I’m thinking that he was indited into the Dark Brotherhood at a very young age, trained to be the perfect killing machine. He’s an archer and a very good shot, he doesn’t miss. He’s a very closed off person emotionally, the only emotions he lets anyone see are anger and irritation. His success rate for Dark Brotherhood contracts is 100%, he has never failed any job and always fulfills his contracts. Until he’s given one particular assignment, he goes to meet the contract and it’s an old Nord in Dawnstar. He wants one of the miners in town killed,

“He’s one of them filthy halfones and he’s making an ass of my miners. Brute can do twice the work they can in half the time, he’s making a fool of my men!” Lyrill accepts the contract and later that night he breaks into the ‘halfones’ home before he returns from the mine.

Tarenin walks home that night, back and shoulders aching and doing his best to ignore the insults hurled at him from the drunk Nords aboard the ship anchored at the dock. It’s a common occurrence and he has to dodge a few bottles tossed his way, the only thing he has to look forward to is the promise of reading a letter delivered by a courier earlier that day from his mother.

He enters his home and sits to read the letter, only to discover it’s his mother breaking the news of his favorite aunt’s death, she was murdered by vampires; the Dawnguard delivered her remains to the stronghold. Within the privacy of his own home Tarenin cries and mourns her. In the midst of his tears he’s startled by a loud thud behind him and a voice saying,

“Well, you’re a pathetic sight.” Lyrill, revealing himself from where he had been hiding in the rafters. Lyrill leaves Dawnstar that night and reports back to the Brotherhood that he’s failed his first contract.

Tarenin, shaken from their meeting and now knowing that someone in Dawnstar was willing to pay to have him murdered, leaves the city. He travels to Winterhold where he studies at the college and a few months after his enrollment he goes to the Arcanium to speak with Urag and is shocked to see a familiar face speaking with the librarian.

Lyrill had tracked him down, he wanted Tarenin’s assistance with a job.

“I won’t help you kill anyone.”

“We won’t be killing anyone-well, maybe a few people, but that isn’t the job. How do you feel about vampires?” Tarenin accepts the job, a guilty bitterness in his heart towards vampires, and after that he decides to remain with Lyrill. They continue to travel together, eventually joining the Dawnguard themselves, and Lyrill learns how to care for someone beside himself and how to open up to someone else.

This was way longer than I expected it to be, I’m so sorry, I get easily carried away, but I hope you like hearing about my babes! Also I really hope the ‘read more’ link worked because oof I would hate to have to scroll past all this rip

[hencethebravery]

“The Swan-Jones Christmas Special,” a CS Writers’ Hub Secret Santa gift for @justanotherwannabeclassic! Merry Christmas, Shea! May the holiday season warm ur heart and bring good things to u and yours. xo

When you’re living your “Happily Ever After,” there’s no reason you can’t start enjoying the holidays. A happily married, post-S6 holiday extravaganza.

+ The first Christmas after she bears the official title of being someone’s “wife,” (which, when in the hell did that happen) Emma Swan-Jones decides that she is no longer obligated to be such a Grinch.

In her worn, imaginary copy of The Sad Orphan’s Handbook for Fairytale Saviors with Wretched and Otherwise Tragic Backstories, celebrating the holidays is one of those things that naive, mistakenly happy people do because they don’t know any better. Because they would rather be happy and dumb than smart and depressed (and obviously lacking a basic understanding of the evils of American capitalism). Up until only a few years ago, the holiday season had been nothing more than a way to convince people with no money to spend all of their money. An excuse for people who don’t get along (and usually with good reason) to be forced into the same room with one another, drinking away their disagreements and ignoring the inevitable truth of their lives: that nothing matters and the holiday season is an illusory, peppermint-flavored garbage festival.

The first Christmas after she bears the official title of being someone’s “wife,” (which, when in the hell did that happen) Emma Swan-Jones decides that she is no longer obligated to be such a Grinch.

“I’m sorry, a what?”

“A ‘Grinch,’ Killian, my God.”

No more, she thought stubbornly, trying and failing not to grin at the sight of Main Street all lit up and festive on the first of December. Nevermind the fact that Christmas was still, like, 3 weeks away, and putting up decorations this early and playing Christmas music non-freaking-stop at Granny’s is unbelievably annoying, and—this was gonna be a little bit harder than she thought.

After they watched the original, 1960s version of How the Grinch Stole Christmas, and Killian had a somewhat clearer idea of what Emma might have meant when she said that she no longer felt compelled to be a “Grinch,” he was still somewhat befuddled by the expression. Which was still just as charming as ever, but sometimes she wished she didn’t have to crack open her heart quite so much.

“Are you suggesting that your heart is of an unusual size, love? Because I hate to tell you this, but I have seen it.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me,” she says on a huff, pressing a hand against her sternum as if looking for the beat of the thing. “So?” he asks again, giving her a playful nudge, “What does it mean to not be a ‘Grinch,’ as you say?”

Sometimes she feels herself becoming quite sick at the prospect of having to share yet another one of her pitiful childhood memories (wondering if he hasn’t grown a bit sick of hearing it yet), but in order to really explain to him the whole, “embracing the holiday season” thing, he does kind of need the context.

“I know the Enchanted Forest,” trying desperately not to cringe when those words pass her lips, “didn’t really ‘celebrate’ in the same way this world seems to—”

“I don’t know,” he interrupts thoughtfully, “we had the odd celebration from time to time. I know I certainly stopped caring once I was at sea, but, it was known to happen.”

She’s not going to argue with him, and he is probably right, but she knows that there’s absolutely no way that the celebrations in magical, fairytale place were ever anywhere near as over-the-top as this world’s. For one thing, no constant, looping holiday music from every speaker in existence. No holiday-themed food and drink and movies and television—no constant, living reminders of the fact that the holidays are a special time for family and friends and some people don’t have any of those.

“I wanted it,” she begrudgingly admits, “at first.”

At a younger age, before she realized that it was folly to want such things. She desperately wanted the music, and the shopping, and the baking of the cookies. She wanted the nicely wrapped presents under the tree, and the large, obnoxious family dinners. And in retrospect, of fucking course she wanted those things. What small child, awash in the light and warmth of the holiday, wouldn’t want those things?

There was of course, the rather unfortunate truth, that Emma Swan had not been placed in the ideal situation for achieving optimal holiday bliss.

“Most of the homes I was in,” she explains, to the aggrieved look on her husband’s face, “didn’t really care. Or didn’t have the money to.”

She has incredibly vivid memories of asking for things—nothing extravagant or complicated, but just, ya know, basic. Can I get a coloring book for Christmas? Can we bake some cookies today? Can we go get a tree? And to all of these questions, at any point in time before her pre-teen years, the answers were almost always disappointing, tinted with anger, or downright cruel. A lot of them often followed the, “Do you think you’re special?” theme, as if an orphaned nobody would have the gall to suggest that she be treated like any other kid in her class.

“Well,” Killian says after a pause in her recollections, trying and failing to avoid touching his wife, when all he wants to do is wrap her in his arms and never let her leave the house, “that settles that, then.”

She looks back at him with a question in her expression, the small frown fighting to stay in place despite the fact that she has suddenly found herself locked in an almost painful hug. Not that this sort of thing hasn’t happened before.

“Christmas, Swan. You shall never want for a proper holiday celebration again. I swear it.”

“This isn’t Buckingham Palace, ya know,” she replies sardonically, again, trying to keep from laughing and pathetically losing this game they always seem to be playing, “we can just bake cookies or something, you don’t need to embark on a noble quest to defend my honor or something equally stupid.”

“You know very well I have no idea what that means, darling,” a large, absurd smile, and a wet, warm kiss on her cheek, “but defending your honor will always be one of my very highest priorities.”

Killian Jones spends the next few years making certain that every single one of their Christmases post-wedding is practically over-laden with holiday cheer. One year, that same year she had made her enthusiastic pledge to fully and unequivocally embrace all the holiday flim-flam, she had returned home from the station to find an unreal number of lights decorating nearly every inch of their property. From the understated, white twinkle lights to the large, retro-looking bulbs in shades of various primary colors—their entire house was practically a fire hazard; hung in the usual places, lining the rooftop, wrapped around the bannister, and even lined along the walls of their bedroom (for “mood”).

He also started pushing out more cookies than the Keebler Elf, which she pretended to be upset about until he caught her stuffing them in her face in the middle of the night. He experiments with a number of sizes, flavors, and colors, shopping them around to friends and family members, trying to discover the perfect combinations. The snickerdoodles are Emma’s favorite, especially when he “accidentally” drops in more cinnamon than the recipe had called for (which drives him a bit “batty,” but it’s worth it).

And before she knows it, these small, silly, typically Killian Jones-type things become something like… tradition? Swan-Jones family traditions. There are lights every year, no matter how busy they seem to get (with her parents, or Henry, or some other magical bullshit), and they watch the same movies every Christmas Eve (How the Grinch Stole Christmas, of course). And when the unexpected finally happens, and she’s only just begun to show a bit round middle, there’s always a small plate of cookies set aside for her cravings in the middle of the night.

“Ah,” he says quietly, a warm hand resting between her breasts and swollen belly, a heart beating in tandem with hers (both of them), “Just as I thought.”

“What’s that?” she asks sleepily, with the barest comprehension of whatever romantic nonsense he’s spewing at this particular moment. “Your heart, darling,” and she opens her eyes just wide enough to see his face aglow with the warm light of their tree, “just about three sizes too big.”