#i still hate drawing paladin armor but

[klance-daydreams]

some vldsona art i made for my friends on insta :D

[browsing-and-anon-asking]

Ughgfhfiebdjdh YAY!!!! I really love how these all turned out!!

Paladin Danse

The man the myth the cake

My plan was to make him less curvy and he came out MORE

I hate drawing power armor and I love him in the bomber jackets so... he's in a bomber jacket

I made the scar on his eyebrow more visible

If you look close his pupils are slightly yellow... wonder what that's about 👀👀

I fattened him up a little! Think he deserves to be kinda fat

Switched orange uniform to black uniform bc it looks better

He's kinda smug about being in the BoS genuinely feel so bad when he gets exiled(fuck you maxson, you're hot but fuck you)

No idea who that is still

Hai Deacon!!!!(if you get that ref I love you)

I wanted to make him more androgynous looking since he's constantly getting cosmetic surgery done, and his whole thing is 'never show your real self'

Painted his nails because I said so

Backpack has a whole fashion show kit in there and yet it's as light as a feather

Injured arm bc IN MY GAME HES SO STUPID OH MY GOD

This fucking idiot changes his look as he running at gunners who are SHOOT AT HIM BTW AND TAKES UP ALL MY DAMN STIMPACK OH MY GOD

I still love him tho so....

I also made him a blonde, if you can't tell by the eyebrows and little hairs on his chin

And yes.... I made the top of his head a lil sun burnt...

G....Gage 🤤🤤🤤

Okay. Okay. Yes. I do... have favoritism to Preston, Gage and MacCready idk if you could tell with how much more I did for their designs than others...

Where to begin. Made upper body bigger bc I'm sure he was doing most of the cleaning in Culter's room, and probably helped carry supplies for the power armor.

Also make the tank top shrink, so you can see... his... uhm.

Hairier man is a better man

Took away one belt bc that's the dumbest shit ever why does he have two

Darker the chains for the bags and kinda pushed them up a tiny bit

Dirty...

Made eye scar slightly seen.

Gave body scars

Did pretty work to his eyes, did you see 👀

Oh my days, I really am super chill about him, btw. I'm so chill and cool about him...

THANKS EVERYONE!!! WILL POST THE POLL IN AN HOUR!!!

[thetallowman]

Alright. I need to ramble out a monologue about Hanno of Arwad, and how's he actually really interesting, thematically. (To finally cross him off the list of characters I have Thoughts about, if nothing else.)

When Hanno first shows up in Guide, it seems all but assured that he's going to end up an antagonist. He's in a band with the Bard (who has something bigger going on, even if the larger details aren't yet clear), he's got Chekhov's Training Montage as a backstory superpower (similar to the what William got in Arcadia), and his unique gimmick is flipping a coin (exclusively a villain move in other media). He seems set up to be be Cat's new heroic rival, and Black theorizes his Aspects were designed to counter her. Even their mottos clash: "I do not judge," vs. "Justifications only matter to the just."

Textually, Hanno seems like a threat because he's working for a Choir of angels, the same creatures that doomed William and tried to flip Cat. And this is a fair assumption - the Choir of Judgement (not Justice, notably) are a bunch of monsters that call tails on every coin flip in the series and are explicitly willing to kill the majority of the continent. It's easy to see Hanno in the role of headsman for a corrupt authority.

Meta-textually, Hanno resembles a certain other type of character often found in other media - the asshole paladin. It's a common archetype in villain-oriented stories, serving as an easy reversal of the normal dynamic while still allowing the protagonists to be reactive, since paladins are known for going out and finding evil to stab, rather than waiting it to come to them. (Notably, in these stories the shiny exterior usually hides a core of hate or stupidity; a holier-than-thou enemy is significantly less satisfying to defeat if they actually are holier than thou.) William seems to fit into this role - and the Exiled Prince definitely does, with his pomp and sanctimony and enchanted armor - but Hanno doesn't, and I think that's why he ends up being such an interesting character. Partially it's a matter of humility - Hanno's whole origin story revolves around the fallibility of mortal judgement, particularly his own - but there's a smaller-scale thing as well.

Specifically, I think Hanno's Two Face imitation is in direct conversation with DnD's Detect Evil and similar abilities. It's basically the same thing - point to somebody and ask your god if you should kill them - and it has basically the same problems. It's simultaneously an arbitrary excuse for murder, the ultimate appeal to (divine, unaccountable) authority, and an easy metaphor for any number of injustices. There are significant problems with a system where you can chop someone's head off on the grounds of "Voices said so, just trust me." (Note that the two characters Hanno clashes most with, Anaxares and Cordelia, both uphold the sanctity of mortal law.)

What makes Hanno different isn't when or how he flips the coin - but when he doesn't. He never flips the coin for anyone he isn't already intending to kill. His bandmates, inconvenient rulers, even an ex-villain like the Repentant Magister - none of them are put to the test. He uses it not as a means of discovering and slaying the guilty, but as a safeguard against accidentally slaying the innocent. He's ultimately still choosing what actions need to be stopped, and who to refer on for Judgement. And it's this baseline, when the Choir goes silent and the finale draws near, that allows him to come full circle and choose to do his best, even if his best is imperfect.

And I think that's really cool.

[dusty-pistol]

I see these glarin issues in Fallout 4 so much, and I wanna talk about it a little.

In the old Fallout games, we had characters who were canonically queer. Just one example is Arcade Gannon from Fallout New Vegas. You could only romance him if you played as a male character. He's canonically gay. There's other canonically queer characters and characters with canon sexualities, but he's the first to come to mind.

Yet in Fallout 4, you can romance whoever you want, and nobody has any canonical sexualties. Play as a woman or man, and you can still romance whatever (romance available characters) you want. Paladin Danse, Cait, Piper, MacCready, literally most of the companions you can find. Aside from Nick, Codsworth, Ada, and a few others who aren't available.

"If you can romance any of em, then wouldn't that make them Pansexual/Bisexual/etc automatically?" No. It makes them a feature for the player to feel more connected to the characters. They're tailor-made for YOU. To be whatever YOU want them to be. Takin away from any individuality they might've had. Which upsets me cuz I love the characters that do have individuality.

As a guy who gets emotionally attached to fictional characters, this kinda draws me away from the appeal to the characters.

It also ties into Fallout 4's main problem of caterin to the player's wants and fear of impactful decisions.

Piss off Preston and go join the raiders? He'll still follow your orders. Help the BOS at Mass Fusion? You can still go back to the Institute. Fallout 4 is so scared of havin the player's actions actually have meanin. You can literally join every faction at the exact same time, and you'll still have to wait until later in the storyline to make them mad enough to kick you out and declare you an enemy.

Meanwhile, in the old Fallout games, if you so much as wore one faction's armor and walk into another's territory, they'd shoot you on sight. I miss that about the old games. Not sayin I hate Fallout 4 or anythin. It's still a great game and I play it all the time in my free time. I just don't like these particular aspects about it.

Sorry for complainin, I just wanted to share my opinion. Thanks for readin if ya did!

[deconstructthesoup]

Y'know what, screw the "voice designs get unlocked when you unlock the voices," I love all these ladies and I'm gonna talk about them.

So!

Apprentice is basically dressed like a cute wizard girl you'd see in an anime or video game---big hat, comfy cloak, frilly skirt, thigh-high boots, and an equally frilly button-up. It's her first day at wizard school, she's starry-eyed and ready to learn, but she's still incredibly naive. She's also got a wand, because how else are you going to learn how to cast spells?

By contrast, Curious is more of a "cozy librarian" type girl---big comfy sweater, big comfy skirt, glasses on a chain. She doesn't have multiple heads or arms or anything like the Stranger does, even though she's a Stranger equivalent, but her features are... floating is the best term I can use to describe it. She's confused, she wants to know more, she's gained through moments where questioning things leads to mixed results---our girl's a bit scattered, and that's okay.

Charming is styled more like your typical Halloween witch---big black hat, black dress, belt stocked with potions, and a badass magic staff. She's still got catlike features, because she wouldn't be herself without them, and... yeah, no, Charming's design is pretty standard, all things considered. She's a devious little magical catgirl.

Warrior is a full-on lady knight. She's fully dressed like your typical paladin---gorgeously designed armor, a billowing cape, and an enormous fuck-you sword. And while she definitely has a bit of an ego, this woman is very much your classic knight devoted to a cause. All of the Voices secretly have a thing for her. Especially Researcher.

Restless is styled in a Victorian fashion---fancy updo, corset, heavy skirts, puffy sleeves---and she looks every bit as ghostly as her canon counterpart. She's someone who can't handle stagnation, and just wants the freedom to be impulsive and crazy... hence, why she looks like the tortured heroine of a gothic novel.

Doll also has a Victorian aesthetic, but it's more akin to, well, a spooky doll---frilly black dress, pigtails, the whole nine yards. I also imagine her, weirdly enough, holding a doll, just so she can have something to squeeze when things get really freaky. She's got Jane Doe vibes.

Humbled is bound in chains like Prisoner is in canon, but she's dressed in rags instead of a princess dress. Her whole thing is that she's been beaten down and made to believe that she's lesser, and her design kind of reflects what it feels like to be at rock bottom and being kicked when you're down---even though she is much smarter than she believes herself to be. (And yes, I am drawing from insecurities based on having been a neurodivergent kid with strict and exacting teachers, what of it?)

Hateful is still a large devil girl, but she's visibly unwell (bags under her eyes, sunken features, regularly coughs up blood), she's dressed in a hospital gown, and there's still IVs in her arms that aren't attached to anything but are nigh-on impossible to remove. I've considered renaming her Voice of the Patient, except she's... well, the opposite of patient. She's essentially meant to be someone who is sick and is getting worse by the minute, but keeps on fighting anyway because she doesn't know how to do anything else.

Prepared still has a lot of animalistic features in her design, though she looks less like a prowling beast and more like someone who's well on their way to becoming one---basically, werewolf vibes. She's kind of meant to be a contrast to the Inventor's more industrial style, representing a natural force that's apprehensive towards all the metal and gears and is hell-bent on proving that he doesn't have an advantage. She has the instincts of an animal, and she can guide us through... hopefully.

And last but not least, Rebel is the most modern out of everyone else---baggy pants, combat boots, chain wallets, leather jacket, the whole shebang. If the Substitute is the teacher who has no idea what he's doing, then Rebel is the student who's slacking off, cutting class, and has no other motivation other than to be a thorn in authority's side. In my opinion, the Razor is the only one who really breaks away from all the fantasy vibes of all the other vessels, and I think that should carry over into her voice equivalent.

[localfanbaselurker]

First time watching Voltron: Legendary Defender and documenting my thoughts

This is Season 4

S1-2 | S3 | S5 | S6 | S7 | S8 |

———————————————————————

<this one is going to be shorter, as I have only recently finished this season, and the grief is still fresh (lol), so the thoughts are only just starting to simmer. strap your asses in>

Pre-Season 4 Thoughts

-> Keith joining the blades is going to be a huge plot device, I feel

-> PLEASE for the love of CHRIST let that poor little girl find her brother and father. If they are dead dreamworks better be ready to catch these hands

->I’ve heard people claim this is the “last good season”, but i stay strong 💪 and will watch till the end

->wouldn’t the paladin switch not make sense now? Cus shiro is back as the black paladin and it makes no sense for Lance to be red like it originally had? If anything, he should’ve gone back to blue, and Allura to red, because Allura is very accepting/encouraging of shiro’s role as leader. I guess they didn’t wanna do it all over again. But I digress 🤷‍♀️

->im gonna miss my Pookie (🤍❤️🤍)

Post-S4

->do they do this every two seasons?? Have an epic battle where they have a big preparation and say it’ll 100% end the war but it doesn’t and something crazy happens after they win and it sets up the next season??

->FUCK YEAH PIDGE GOT HER BROTHER BACK IM SCREAMING CRYING THROWING UP 💪💪🔥🔥‼️‼️‼️🙏🙏🙏🙇‍♀️🙇‍♀️

->^genuinely cried so hard during this scene. would’ve cried more if I wasn’t recovering from the initial shock.

->^cried during this one too, but it was happy tears. I could actually just do a whole reaction post to this episode alone. (if you want me to js say so in the rbs/replies)

->the callback to s1! “color-coded of course, because what are we? animals?” AHHH! I’m going insane I love these siblings sooooo much

->okay I’ll stop gushing over them now

->^only valid reaction to meeting Allura. Homegirl is beauty incarnate

->I LIED. im not sorry im never shutting up about them. SHE SHOWS HIM AROUND THE CASTLE AND TELLS HIM EVERYTHING AND EVERY DETAIL AND SHES SO EXCITED CUS SHE JUST GOT HER BRO BACK AND IS JUST RAMBLING ABOUT HER NEW HOME AND ALL THE COOL STUFF SHES BEEN DOING AND HES JUST LISTENING AND IS SUPER EXCITED WITH HER AND ITS SOOOO AMAZING AND ADORABLE AND I COULD DIE

->AND THEN HE TELLS HER HOW THEIR DAD WOULD BE SO PROUD IM DYING IM LITERALLY DEAD STOP.

->AND AND AND THEY WERE ALL WORKING TOGETHER W HUNK TO MAKE THE GALRA TRACKER THING AND THEY WERE BEING SO COOL WITH EACH OTHER AND BEING NERDS TOGETHER AND AND AND AJEUWNDUWJEBEURBDGWUDKAODHD

->okay. ive calmed down. i am normal and can be trusted to simply watch a show.

->^Get his ass, Zarkon. I needed his smug ass to be humbled so bad. Only time I will agree w Zarkon fr.

->i do NOT like Lotor. Can you guys tell already??

->THE SCENE WHERE THEY TRIED TO GET MILKSHAKES AND WERE SHOCKED TO FIND OUT THAT YOU NEED TO MILK A COW STOP.✋ 😭. My high-score on the giggle-meter went up by 300%

->bro I SWEAR shiro looks different. there’s just something about him. the hair gets a pass cus how good of a haircut can you give yourself in space, yk? but that nose scar is definitely a different shade #notmyrodrickshiro

->THE VOLTRON SHOW.

->^Just. That entire episode. It’s getting a whole post actually I need to yap about it.

->^her armor is colored in a way which makes it look both pink and red while making it look like a trick of the light in a way to symbolize that she is acting as keith yet while being a paladin herself and that being unknown in the public eye and showing how they have to cover that up, any suspicion being thrown as a trick of the light. Oh vld animators ily 🫶

->on another note tho why do they always draw lance and shiro to have 30 pounds of ass. what.

->loved when those lesbians decided to take down lotor. Queen shit 💋 we stan 🙇‍♀️🙏

->Lotor is so stupid and pathetic and annoyingly smug and sus and admiral-zhao-y and I hate him but he’s SOOO FREAKING HOT and I can’t hate him completely because he’s so attractive but that just makes me wanna hate him more. He’s a walking red flag but the flag is heart-shaped and honestly idk what to do w that.

->^WHAT. stop. honestly that’s the real reason he was banned from the empire my ass would not want that fucking FREAK within a 30 light year radius of me either

-> while s3 was the klance season, s4 is apparently the allurance season, they have a lot of sweet moments. (granted all started by lance but still, you can almost see allura swooning)

->^pookie. what are you doing… pookie.. no. stop. i don’t like where this is going…

->^POOKIE NO. STOP. ✋ STOP. SAY SIKE RN.

->^oh thank fuck for Lotor.

->^^wait what. why Lotor.

->^^^heartbreaking: worst person you know doesn’t something good for once.

->he definitely wants something out of this. I don’t trust him.

These are thoughts I’ve had compiled for some time now. I will continue to post my thoughts on the tag “laura’s first vld”

I finished this season on 06/30/24. I am on S5E3 as of today (07/06/24)

[catboy-outlaw]

I really need to get back to drawing because these sketches of my and my besties DnD characters have just been sitting in my drafts for idk how long

Like this is probably one of the best drawings I have ever made and Im not even done with it??? Like I've done our human paladin a disservice by not even drawing her armor. And my tabaxi druid? bro looks so naked right now and is missing his left arm (also is it obivous I used to be a warrior cats kid? I still kind of am a warrior cats kid actually)

And dont even get me startet on the fact that I still need to figure out how to draw my boyfriends characters.

I've tried to draw him so many times and every time I just start to hate the drawing even more.

[abuddyforeveryseason]

It's the boys as D&D people. I'm not too happy with this drawing, but I worked hard on the character figures, so, here are them in detail:

This is Joe as a Human Paladin. There's some Saint Seiya style flair on his armor. His weapon of choice is a mace (or a Morning Star), because he won't use a sword. I know Clerics are the ones who aren't supposed to use swords, but I figured it'd make a better fit for him.

Besides, swords are boring.

Paul as a Tiefling Wizard. Self-explanatory.

Our favorite character Buddy as an Elven Ranger. Since I'd play a Ranger, and Buddy's my favorite character (and also your favorite character), he's gotta be a ranger too. Besides, I like the pointy ears coming out of his hair.

Lao as a Human Barbarian. As a no-nonsense guy, he'll play a no-nonsense character type. And the gameplay's usually pretty straightforward as well.

You know, Dungeons&Dragons fascinates me. I've only played it a handful of times, a lifetime ago, and never really enjoyed it.

The gameplay and the foundational notion of the game make no sense to me - A really complicated game with no winners or losers? If the goal of the game is just to have fun, why are there so many cheats and secrets? How can it be challenging if the DM gets to pick whatever he wants to put as obstacles? Why are the characters' skills dependent on dice rolls?

And it feels weird that a player controls a single character. It's a weird, obtuse rule that the player can do whatever he wants with the character, even if the needs of the party are something else. I get that it's a pretty obvious idea, but, during the game itself, all I can think is What The Hell Are We Doing? - why do I need to wait for the healer to choose to heal me if we all know that's the right choice? So the player can say the words? Or worse, so he can troll the party and refuse to, and everyone else has to accept it?

The world of the game is also really unpleasant to be in. Classes, Races and Alignments reduce characters to walking job applications, and they lose all uniqueness since they can be replaced by someone else with the same class, or even a similar build better suited for the adventure. Wouldn't it be fun if Aragorn died after a bad roll against an Orc, and was replaced by another ranger?

Not to mention the combinations can end up being really convoluted and make no sense. And it reduces each playing character to its usefulness to the game, which isn't too much fun.

So, yeah, I don't like D&D. In fact, you could even say I hate D&D. And that's not a word I use a lot. I mean, I hate a lot of stuff, but I don't talk about that too often.

But, since I hate it so much, I love stuff that's parodying, mocking, insulting or criticising tabletop RPGs. And even though a lot of those parodies come from a place of love, I still enjoy them, in a way I'd never enjoy playing the game.

It's a really weird thing. For a while there, I wondered if I should keep enjoying those parodies, or if in a weird way, they're not meant for me, so there's something wrong with me still reading or watching that sort of stuff.

But, well, life's too short. I'm old enough now to realize some stuff. That it's okay to watch the movie even if you haven't read the book. That refusing to listen to music that's not cool is the lamest thing you can do. That it's okay to stop reading a comic halfway through if you don't like it. And, that it's okay to see a show about people enjoying something you'll never enjoy.

Besides, I read a lot of Captain Tsubasa as a kid, and it's not like I'd ever set foot in a soccer field.

[morroodle]

I've been busy

So I don't normally do commissions but recently my dad came to me and asked very nicely if I would draw his dnd character and I foolishly agreed. This took ages and I never want to draw armor or dragonborn and I'm still allergic to shading but it's done.

His name is Belbor and he's a dragonborn paladin in full platemail armor. His weapon is a holy avenger halberd and his holy symbol is a falcon.

Now all that's left is to give him to my dad and actually figure out a solid price. I was thinking around $50? This took a while and was hard (especially the armor god I fucking hate drawing armor) but im not sure, as I said I don't normally do commissions so I have no idea how to price them. When I told my dad the estimated price he looked at me with horror because this buffoon (affectionate) appearantly had no idea how much commissions normally cost. Anyway give me your thoughts on price if you want, back to my regularly scheduled ninjago bullshit soon.

[cagemasterfantasy]

Oathbreaker Ranking (My personal favorite Paladin subclass)

Guide:

1=useless

2=often useful

3=sometimes useful

4=perfect

Level 3 Hellish Rebuke and Inflict Wounds 3 Hellish Rebuke is fantastic for a Defender who spends a lot of time drawing fire and deals more damage as Divine Smite for the same spell slot, provided that the target fails the save compare 2d8 from Divine Smite to 2d10 for Hellish Rebuke. Inflict Wounds will almost never see use because your weapon plus Divine Smite with the same spell slot will do as much or more damage.

Level 5 Crown of Madness and Darkness 1 Crown of Madness is difficult to use because it consumes your Action and only does anything if your target is adjacent to something which you want the target to attack at the beginning of their turn and Darkness isn’t very helpful since you can’t see inside the area even with Darkvision.

Level 9 Animate Dead and Bestow Curse 3 Animate Dead is always nice to have and Bestow Curse has several excellent options. Consider combining the two by cursing your foe to give them disadvantage on Strength checks and saves then have your undead pets grapple them and shove them to the ground.

Level 13 Blight and Confusion 2 Blight is decent single-target damage especially against plants but your spell save DC won’t match a full spellcaster and by this level the damage may feel underwhelming. Divine Smite does 5d8 damage for the same spell slot compared to Blight’s 8d8 and Divine Smite can be doubled on a critical hit and doesn’t allow a save for half. I have never liked Confusion because it’s so unpredictable even though it is an AoE.

Level 17 Contagion and Dominate Person 4 Contagion is great but complicated and relies on your hitting with a spell attack first Slimy Doom will essentially end an encounter especially if you can apply a damage over time effect to keep them perpetually stunned. Dominate Person is a powerful way to temporarily gain an extra party member but your save DC may not be high enough to make it reliable.

Control Undead 3 Save-or-suck an undead creature for up to 24 hours. Turn powerful undead into slaves. They must obey your commands they don’t get additional saves and they can’t break the effect by any means specified in the feature. Undead aren’t every creature so this is technically situational but they’re still a very common creature type in many games. If you’re worried about the creature’s behavior at the end of the duration and you think it might pass a save to renew the effect you can command the creature to destroy itself right before the duration expires. But given enough time you can restrain the creature while you rest then you and your allies could hit the creature with effects which penalize saving throws like Bane Mind Spike or Cutting Words then you can re-use Control Undead to reset the duration.

Dreadful Aspect 4 Considerably better than the Turn Whatever abilities other oaths get since it affects everything. This is similar in many ways to the spell Fear but Dreadful Aspect is a sphere rather than a cone and creatures only get more saves if they move away from you. Conveniently Dreadful Aspect doesn’t make foes run away so they might be content to stay within 30 feet of you and struggle along in hopes that the fear will wear off.

Aura of Hate 4 Not terribly helpful in an adventuring party unless you’ve got plenty of Undead minions but even if it only applies to you you can get a bunch of extra damage on your melee weapon attacks. Between Strength and Charisma you can easily add +7 damage at this level and with the right Ability Score Increases you can raise that to +10 total. If you’re using this with a bunch of Animate Dead minions the best option is Skeletons. Unlike Zombies Skeletons are proficient with weapons including Shortswords which allows for Dual Wielding to get double the bonus out of the Aura. You’ll likely have to supply your Skeletons Squires with their weapons though. Skeletons can also wear armor so if you can really spare the money Scale Mail would boost them all up to 16 AC.

Supernatural Resistance 4 permanent Stoneskin. This makes you very difficult to kill especially in games with no magic items. However in games where magic items are common or where the world is dominated by spellcasters this might be completely useless.

Dread Lord 4 lots of damage a good use for your Bonus Action and it makes it hard for enemies to see. Be sure that you have Darkvision so that you’re not a victim of your own effect and strongly consider using Dreadful Aspect for the ongoing damage.

Final Ranking 4 sometimes difficult to bring into many adventuring parties but Oathbreaker has a lot of excellent options including an AOE fear effect and options for animating and controlling undead creatures. Oathbreakers must be evil which can be a problem but in a non-good party that likes to do things like summoning fiends or command undead Oathbreaker can be a powerful asset on the party’s front line

[aradiiaa]

I would have loved to see Pidge/Katie when I was little and seeing @bext-k with her in the Women’s Day interview still makes me really happy ♥

[Commission info] [Art usage/repost rules]

[sparrowsingsstories]

The Hope and Avery Show

For @kyngsnake and his Avery, interacting with my Hope and @alder-berry Sean & Kae (and my Selena).

Because these five would be Danse's worst nightmare or maybe his best squad or probably both. Off-screen is the last member - Deacon, aka Keith, who joined the BOS with Hope to infiltrate and hates being on the Prydwen.

Only 841 words but I'm throwing most of it under a cut to save you.

It was a pretty typical evening on the Prydwen, if such things as typical evenings existed in the far flung future of the Commonwealth. Hope figured typical anything had flown out the window the moment her pod spat her out, still thawing, onto the cold concrete. It had been months ago, but she still liked to ponder it. The fact that only two people had made it out of Vault 111, that she had ended up in some military outfit, that she was currently sitting with her feet dangling thousands of feet above the relic of the Boston Airport…

A body landed next to her and she glanced over, unsurprised to see Avery, Knight Avery, her partner in crime. Well, one of her partners in crime. Her squad seemed to be made-up of people destined to stand out because of ability and because they seemed to draw trouble like dirt to a toddler.

“Avery,” she murmured.

“Hope.”

“Where’s Danse?”

“Yelling at Keith.”

Hope grinned. “Keith,” was Deacon, and he had infiltrated the BOS with her. She found it hilarious that he had to be Keith, considering that was how he had first introduced himself to her. He wasn’t a bad soldier, per se, but his mouth ran off at the least provocation. And Paladin Danse was just one big provocation to Deacon.

“Well, it’ll keep them occupied for a bit. And then Keith won’t see me sitting on the edge and pass out again.”

Avery shot her a look. “One of these days he’s going to fall off and then where will we be?”

“In a vertibird going after him?”

Avery chuckled, kicking his feet a bit as his shoulders shook. Hope grinned at his amusement. Granted, Deacon was deeply afraid of heights, and she did make him come up here all the time, but he was the one who had said he was good with joining with her. Not her fault they were stationed on the BOS’ version of a floating citadel.

The wind began to kick up as a vertibird came in to dock. It blew past the Prydwen, buzzing the landing deck and making several Lancer-Initiates shake their fists in anger. Next to her, Avery gave a heartfelt groan. Only one Lancer made anybody make that noise, Sean Kennedy.

Sure enough, a shiny vertibird sporting several non-regulation modifications docked with the Prydwen. The bird was painted a glossy black and had the Brotherhood of Steel in stylized script across the bridge of the nose. Emblazoned on the side of the bird was a pin-up of a man wearing skimpy knight under armor, posing like the Nuka Cola girl riding a mini-gun, and with mini nukes for tits. Sean Kennedy’s bird. The vertibird powered down and Sean slid out of the bird and stretched. 

“Another successful flight,” He bragged, wincing as a petite woman with a cap of black hair climbed out behind him and slapped the back of his head. “Ow!”

“You dumbass. We’re all going to be in trouble because of you,” Selena, the other Lancer, grumbled.

“He’s less of a dumbass and more of a smartass,” a woman in Knight under armor said, getting out behind Selena.

“I don’t know, Kae, look at his face. Has dumbass written all over it,” Selena said.

“Hi Sean,” Hope yelled, waving and grinning as Sean waved back.

“Hey Cupcake. Hiya, Handsome. What’s a good lookin man like you doin on a beat-up piece of shit like this?” Sean asked, leering a little at Avery.

“Enjoying the view,” Avery said, waggling his eyebrows at Sean.

“Wanna…see my bird?” Sean was sauntering over to them, hips swaying temptingly.

“Maybe later, big boy,” Avery said. “Especially if Keith ends up fainting and falling off.”

“You need a rescue, I’m your man,” Sean said, tipping an imaginary hat at both of them. “Where is your sidekick, Cupcake?”

“Getting reamed by Danse.”

“Isn’t that Avery’s job?” Selena asked, pinching Sean’s cheek as she walked past them.

Hope snickered as Avery seemed to stare off into the distance with a look of sheer, unadulterated lust. Selena snorted.

“I was wrong. You’re the dumbass,” she said to Avery, who turned his nose up at the commentary.

“Come on, sweet thing. We can sit out here or we can go shower,” Kae said, giving Selena a significant look.

“Right. Before your brother tries to join us again.”

“Last one has to do the laundry,” Kae said, shoving past Sean, who tottered close to the edge and caught himself on Hope. “Sorry, Sean!” she yelled, trying to get through the door inside before Selena could.

Hope watched as Sean chased after them, shoving both of them out of the way and tearing off into the Prydwen. From inside came angry Danse noises. Deacon slowly peeked through the door, saw Hope with her legs dangling over the edge of the Prydwen, paled, and slammed the door shut.

Hope glanced at Avery, who just shrugged at her.

“Want to get beers later?” Hope asked.

“Yeah. Let’s not tell them.”

“Deal.”

[persephone-plasmids]

Debriefing

Deacon and Sole fanfic.

[AO3]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4]

Debriefing

Deacon and Sole walked in complete  silence through the abandoned Nuka-World park. Not because they were worried they’d attract the attention of ferals, but because neither of them seemed to be mature enough to address the incredible kiss they’d both just shared. Of course, nearly having Sole kill him when she got poisoned by HalluciGen and meeting a super dramatic Ghoul named Oswald had also distracted them. But Deacon was fairly certain the kiss was the real reason for the silent treatment he was currently getting.

I shouldn’t have done it, Deacon thought to himself. Although even as he thought this, his mind replayed the sensation of Sole’s lips against his and he felt his cheeks flush.

Sole was walking ever-so-slightly ahead of him, her hips swaying back and forth in a way that Deacon tried to ignore.

Right. He needed to fix this. To get things back to normal.

“Hey Charmer, did I ever tell you about the time I went undercover as Magnolia for an entire week?”

Sole slowed her pace a bit so that Deacon could fall in step beside her. “Go on,” she said, raising an eyebrow with an amused look in her eye.

“I did the whole shebang. Donned the red dress, wore a black wig, sang all the songs.”

“Flirted with the patrons?” She asked.

“That was my favorite part,” Deacon said. “You wouldn't believe how many free drinks I got that week. It’s amazing what people will do for a pretty face.”

A smile tugged at the corner of Sole’s lips, but the action just brought Deacon’s attention right back to the very area he was trying to forget.

He cleared his throat nervously before continuing. “I'll tell you, though. I’m not a fan of shaving my legs. I could never quite get that little area behind my knee.”

At this, Sole snorted, trying to suppress her laugh and failing miserably. “How do you even come up with these ridiculous lies?”

She still wasn’t looking at him, but he preferred it that way. If she wasn’t looking at him, then they weren’t in danger of suddenly kissing each other.

“Who says that’s a lie?” Deacon asked, his voice easily slipping back into its smooth unconcerned cadence.

“Literally anyone who’s ever met you,” she said, looking down at the ground as they walked. “I can read you most of the time. But I’m finding it harder and harder these days.”

“Oh?” Deacon asked.

He wanted to know what she’d meant by that, but he never did get his answer. Instead, he heard the familiar clomp, clomp, clomp of power armor approaching them. Deacon rolled his eyes at the Paladin’s lack of subtlety and Sole moved a bit further away from Deacon.

The motion would have been almost imperceptible to anyone but him. But it still gave him complicated feelings. Was he hurt that she didn’t want to be seen being this familiar with him? Or did it give him hope that she was feeling that same connection to him, even if she was trying to ignore it.

“Soldier,” Danse said, nodding to Sole before turning to Deacon. “Liar.”

“Ouch,” Deacon said, placing a hand over his heart and stumbling back a few paces dramatically. “Shots fired, Paladin. Right out the gate too.”

“Told you everyone knows you’re a liar,” Sole said under her breath, grinning as she looked at Danse.

MacCready appeared suddenly beside Danse, out of breath and wiping blood from his hands. “There’s a serious Bloodworm infestation here. I think we should get out of Dry Rock Gulch. It’s not worth the effort.”

“That’s just as well,” Sole said. “The Synth isn’t in Nuka-World. They’ve already made it out of The Commonwealth.”

“Is that so?” Danse asked. “Outstanding!”

“Bingo!” Deacon shouted.

Everyone stopped and turned to look at him in confusion.

“Danse said ‘outstanding’. That’s the last square I needed on my boy scout bingo card.”

No one said anything. Instead, Sole’s cheeks immediately flushed a dark shade of scarlet as her eyes grew as wide as saucers. She stared at Deacon in horror and had she not immediately looked away from him again, he would have thought there was a Deathclaw behind him.

Danse cleared his throat uncomfortably before Sole began loudly speaking. “So, I think we’re all done here. The Synth is safe and we’re all alive. Let’s head out.”

Sole’s voice sounded unnatural. And the way Danse turned away from Deacon with a stronger look of annoyance on his face than normal, told him that something was wrong.

As Sole and Danse began walking away, Mac sidled up beside Deacon and said in a low voice, “Not really your color, is it?” Before snickering and joining Sole and the tin can.

Deacon brought his hand up to his lips. When he pulled them away, he could see that they were stained with Sole’s red lipstick.

“Perfect,” he groaned.

--------

Things back at Railroad HQ had been normal when Sole and Deacon returned to report to Desdamona. Painfully normal. The kind of normal you got when you were trying too hard to make things seem normal. Sole was still avoiding eye contact with Deacon, but when she thought he wasn’t looking, he’d catch her staring.

Again, his sunglasses proved beneficial for more than just his Railroad missions.

“Thank you both for your continued efforts on behalf of The Railroad,” Desdemona said, after they’d given her the news concerning the Synth in Nuka-World. “Charmer, you’re getting much more efficient in your debriefings.”

“Charmer can debrief me any time,” Deacon said, giving her finger guns as Sole just shook her head in exasperation.

“Deacon, do I need to refresh your memory on the no fraternization rule?” Desdamona asked.

“Oh come on, that was funny,” Deacon insisted.

“Deacon?” Desdamona was still waiting for him to answer.

“No Des. I’ll do my best to shield your ears from my incredible wit. But just know you’ll be missing out.”

“I think I’ll survive,” Des said shortly. “You’re both dismissed.”

And with that, the imposing woman walked away.

“Sheesh, tough crowd,” Deacon said, pulling on the collar of his white shirt for effect as he smiled over at Sole.

“I mean… she is right though,” Sole said, looking down at her hands instead of at Deacon. “We probably shouldn’t joke about stuff like that.”

“Are you… we joke about that kind of stuff all the time,” Deacon said incredulously. “I mean… if it makes you uncomfortable of course I’ll stop. I just… thought that was sort of our thing.”

Deacon could feel his cheeks heating up as he desperately tried to save the situation. If Sole was uncomfortable with their joking, it was news to him. She was usually the one to start the innuendos. But he didn’t want to make her uncomfortable.

The kiss may have tarnished their friendship a bit, mostly because it made it impossible for Deacon to keep lying to himself about his feelings. But he didn’t want it to completely ruin what they already had.

“I just… don’t want people to talk,” Sole said simply, still looking down at her hands.

“Yeah, of course, Boss. Whatever you say,” Deacon answered, rubbing the back of his neck before trying to assume a nonchalant posture. “Just trying to keep things light. I’ll resort to the old failsafes instead. You know… the nuclear apocalypse… the hopelessness of our existence… Danse’s extensive grooming routine.”

Sole almost smiled at this last bit. He could tell from the way her jaw tensed. But instead of smiling she just nodded. “Thanks, Deeks.”

Without another word, Sole gave Deacon a curt smile, turned on her heel, and walked away, leaving him totally and utterly confused about where they stood.

Idiot, he thought. Did I seriously think I could kiss Sole without things getting weird? Do I really want to throw away my closest friendship just because I… what? Feel something for her? Big deal. I feel something for Fancy Lad Snack Cakes and I’m not making moves on them.

Deacon refrained from letting out the gigantic sigh that had settled in his chest, not wanting to draw attention to himself. Instead, he ducked into the escape tunnel and out the back door into the small underground room just beyond the main section of Railroad HQ.

Pulling out a cigarette, Deacon nearly jumped out of his skin when Sole lit a match beside him.

“Geez! Are you kidding me?” Deacon whisper-shouted at her, jumping back against the wall and hitting his head in the process.

He dropped his unlit cigarette to the ground and rubbed the back of his head where it had made contact with the bricks.

“I thought you were always aware of your surroundings.”

“And I thought you were a baby Deathclaw about to drag me off to mommy like a bleeding morbid trophy,” he said, still whisper-shouting. “Why are you back here, Sole?”

“I needed some alone time,” she said, her face slightly amused as she watched him come down from his scare. “And then you just followed right behind me.”

“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Deacon said. “I didn’t even see you come back here. Trust me, I don’t go around looking for humiliation more than once a day.”

“Excuse me?” Sole asked, her eyes narrowing at his words.

Deacon swallowed, realizing he was being too honest again. He didn’t want her to know he was hurt. Hell, he didn’t even want her to know he had actual feelings for her.

“I mean… I have gone looking for humiliation in the past,” he began, trying to think up a lie funny enough to distract Sole from his honesty. “Like this one time--.”

“Deacon, stop,” Sole said, shaking her head. “Sorry, I just… I can’t do this.”

“Yep, no problem,” Deacon said automatically, without really knowing what she was talking about specifically.

Odds were, he probably didn’t want to know. He’d made a point of detaching himself from the people around him. It was a necessity in The Railroad. But it had also been crucial for his survival after Barbara. Sole broke down that resolve and made him feel out of control in a way that he both loved and hated.

Sole turned to leave but stopped herself and instead faced Deacon once more, looking at the ground with a deep sigh.

“I’m just going to say it, okay?” she began, now looking up to meet his eyes before frowning. “Geez, Deeks, will you please take those sunglasses off so I can actually see you?”

Panic.

He needed his sunglasses. Otherwise Sole might find out just what a terrible bluffer he actually was.

“You know what? Never mind. This might actually be easier if I can’t see you.”

Her words were doing nothing to comfort him and he was desperately trying to quell the mild panic attack that was rising in his chest. “Sole, if I’m dying, you really need to just rip off the bandaid and tell me.”

He grinned at her, but they both knew it was a facade to mask his panic.

“I appreciate you telling me about Barbara. That took a lot of trust to open up to me about her.”

Well this wasn’t looking good.

“And I felt instantly connected to you because of it. We… we both knew what it was like to experience loss.” Sole frowned but pushed through it. “And honestly, after everything with Nate, I didn’t think I’d ever… feel anything for someone again.”

Deacon had to stop this conversation. He’d made her uncomfortable. And he hated himself for that.

“You don’t need to say anything else, Boss. I got it loud and clear,” Deacon said.

But Sole wasn’t letting him off the hook that easily.

“I don’t think you do,” Sole said. “I get that you flirt. It’s what you do. And it was always fine with me but… I can’t keep putting myself out there just to find out that this whole thing is a big joke to you. I’m not like that. It… it hurts too much.”

Deacon’s heart twisted inside of him. Had he misunderstood this situation completely? There was no way. Because as much as he’d dreamed about Sole reciprocating his feelings, he never thought it would actually happen.

Deacon had been a bigot back in his youth. Someone had died. He’d been a violent man. Sure he’d changed, but there was no way someone as good as Sole would be able to look completely past that. She may say his past wasn’t important, but she was just being polite. That’s who Sole was.

There was no way she could ever truly forgive him. He knew that. And he didn’t think he’d deserve that kind of forgiveness even if she did offer it.

“I respect you too much to break up our team, because we really do work well together… I just need the flirting to stop,” Sole said, looking down at her hands again as she twisted them together. “I want… I want you, Deacon. And it’s fine that I can’t have you. Really. I can learn to live with that. I’m a big girl. But… I’m not good at differentiating your joking with what’s real. I never have been. You know that.”

Deacon was staring at Sole now with the most shocked expression he’d ever worn.

She was saying that she had feelings for him. Wasn’t she?

Of course, he could just ask her for clarification, but that went against every instinct inside of him that was screaming at him to make a joke.

He realized a bit too late that he had been staring at her in silence for quite a while. She looked up at him uncomfortably with a wince. “So… are we good?” she asked. “Even though… you know… I just told you I have a crush on you like some five-year-old on the playground?”

There it was. The confirmation.

Deacon’s mouth might have actually dropped open in shock. He wasn’t sure.

“Okay, well… this has been sufficiently awkward. But I said what I needed to say. So…” she gave him a soft awkward slug on the shoulder. “Good talk, Sport.”

She instantly shook her head in embarrassment at her own words.

“Yeah, I’m going to leave now,” she mumbled, ducking her head down and turning to walk away.

“Wait, hold up just a minute,” Deacon said, finally regaining control of his brain. At least partially.

Sole turned around slowly and reluctantly.

“I swear if you make fun of me for this, Deeks, I will fill your pillowcase with cayenne pepper while you sleep.”

“Whoa,” he said, raising his hands up in surrender. “That escalated way faster than it probably should have.”

Deacon reached down and hesitantly took Sole’s hand in his own.

“I just… are you actually saying you have feelings for me?” Deacon asked.

Sole’s cheeks flushed at his straightforward words. Deacon was never straightforward. Except for the time he’d told Sole about Barbara.

“Seriously, Deacon? You’re going to make me say it again?”

“You feel things for me?” Deacon repeated, trying to rephrase his question so that there was no confusion. He wasn’t doing a great job. “Not like the way Danse has feelings for his power armor, right?”

“I mean, I’ve seen the way he looks at his power armor. So, maybe,” Sole said, that ghost of a smile returning to her lips. “Seriously, can I go now? I don’t know that I’ve ever felt this humiliated. This is worse than the dream where I show up to school naked.”

Deacon’s eyes grew wide behind his sunglasses at this statement. “Okay, well I’d definitely like to hear more about that in a minute,” Deacon began. “But I just… I feel like I need to be absolutely certain. You, the perfect, beautiful, compassionate, smart, brave, sexy, savior of The Commonwealth, have romantic feelings towards a former-bigot, current-man-child, broken, immature, and hopelessly lost human?”

Realization seemed to dawn on Sole in that moment. At his words she could see the insecurity dripping off of him, cleverly disguised by jokes and a devil-may-care attitude.

He felt the shift between them. Felt the way she squeezed his hand with confidence now, knowing that his flirting wasn’t a joke. That his casual contact wasn’t all that casual.

“Well… the jury’s still out on whether or not you’re a human or a synth,” she whispered with a grin. “I still haven’t tried your recall code on you.”

With that, Sole pressed her lips to Deacon’s. He hadn’t kissed Sole many times, so he didn’t have much to compare it to, but this kiss definitely felt different. Her hesitation was gone. Her lips were confident as they moved over his, and he smiled at her touch.

“Can we go back to that whole, dream business you were talking about a second ago?” Deacon asked, but Sole instantly silenced him with another kiss, which he was just fine with.

Her hands roamed slowly up his chest, as if she were taking her time to enjoy the moment. Goosebumps erupted all over his skin at her touch.

As she gently bit his bottom lip, something he definitely hadn’t expected from her, he couldn’t stop himself from being too aware of their surroundings. He wanted to melt into the kiss. He wanted to thoroughly enjoy this moment. There weren’t any more questions between them. They both understood each other finally.

But they were also in Railroad HQ. Anti-fraternization Zone Number 1. They may have been in the escape tunnel, but agents regularly used it as an overflow for the headquarters.

“Hey,” Deacon said, pulling away from Sole regretfully. Confusion lined her features. “So… I want this. You have absolutely no idea how much,” he began. “But… we’re not really in the best place for… grown up bonding time.”

Sole smiled up at him. “Doesn’t that sort of make it more exciting?” she asked.

What? Where had this Sole come from?

Not waiting for his response, she kissed him again, harder this time. He tried to exercise restraint.

He failed.

Instead, he pushed Sole up against the wall, parting her lips with his tongue and pressing his body against hers. Every fiber of his being burned to be even closer to her, but even with this bold new Sole that stood before him, he knew she wasn’t that type. She’d want to take things somewhat slow. And he was fine with that.

Besides, after years of being completely touch-starved, any contact was like a revelation for Deacon.

His hands found her waist, softly kneading the smooth skin there as his mouth moved against hers. She made a little noise that encouraged him further, prompting him to trail his kisses down to her collarbone instead.

She grabbed his hair in a slightly painful manner, but he didn’t mind. Instead, he focused on the very important work he was doing on her neck while her hands pulled him more firmly against her.

“Deeks,” she said breathlessly, though he hardly heard her. His lips were too preoccupied with just how perfect her neck seemed to be. How had he not noticed before? “Dea-con,” she said again, still just as breathless.

This time he heard her. And he loved the way his name sounded when she was the one saying it. The way her breath hitched at the end of the first syllable when he’d nipped at her neck. That desperate quality to her voice.

“Mmm?” he mumbled, now slowly moving his lips back towards hers.

“You…” but her words were cut off by another kiss. “Said we should be careful here?” she finally managed, between kisses. “About Des?”

This was more like the reserved Sole he knew. But he was enjoying himself too much. He was finally kissing her. Really kissing her. Not just for fun. Not as part of a ruse for a mission. Not in some psychotic funhouse where he wasn’t sure if she really wanted to or if it was just some weird trick of the drugs in Kiddie Kingdom.

Being able to touch someone after so long was like an oasis in a desert. And she saw him. Really saw him. That was normally the last thing he wanted from someone. But it was all he wanted with Sole.

“Screw it,” Sole said between another kiss before she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him harder against her body, shuddering as they crashed together.

“I already told you, I left a backup in the escape tunnel,” Tinker Tom said from somewhere near the room’s entrance. “Now if y’all would give me two seconds, I could actually go get it.”

Sole instantly broke the kiss, looking wide-eyed at Deacon in a panic. He pressed a finger against her lips and grabbed her hand. Without a word, Deacon pulled her towards the exit at the far end of the room. It would lead them out into the cool night air of The Commonwealth.

As he held her hand and pulled her behind him, he couldn’t stop the embarrassing little smile that broke across his face. He heard Sole giggle behind him and it only added to the pure unadulterated joy that was beginning to permeate his very being.

She saw him. She saw all of him. And she still wanted him.

------

Note: This fic makes me seem like I don’t like Danse. I actually love him! I just like to make fun of him :)

Also, if you enjoy my writing, I’m an author IRL. I’ve got 13 published books, but my favorite is Parrish. You should check it out if you like ghosts and love stories between weirdos.

[lobotomy-maybe-bestie]

15 for the RQG asks?

15. so i could talk about apophis again but since i literally never shut up abt them i don't think it counts as something i haven't shared before. so here's a few headcanons about grizzop, artemis and her church that i wrote out in a rant some time ago:

grizzop so firmly and fundamentally believes in Artemis and Artemisian law that it just bleeds into every single part of his life. when going to rome he buys holy symbols of artemis for everyone except azu bc he knows enough about religion to know it'd be slightly offensive but everyone else- immediatly artemis.

the way he lights an arrow with holy fire just to issue a warning to some poor civilians who he knows he can't kill because they're not evil they're just incompetent. he just draws on that bond so easily even when he's in fucking rome. like it just works for him and he notices it's difficult but fuck if he cares. his god is THERE for him just literally all the time and grizzop himself is SUCH a ride or die person.

he's essentially got somewhat the same connection to his church that zolf had- they saved his life, welcomed him in, gave him something to hold onto. but while zolf and poseidon really do not get on- not even only because of trauma, more because zolf fundamentally does not do "follow these vague laws and instructions" and rather just does what he thinks is best- grizzop and artemis really fit together like a house on fire.

because if you think about it, for any other god, grizzop would be a TERRIBLE paladin. he's not interested in rituals, would hate spending all his time in one temple doing basic stuff, don't get me started on stuff like meditation. he would immediatly blaspheme against literally every other god because what they want and what their churches are doing isn't USEFUL. it isn't strictly efficient and pragmatic. that's where you would lose him. he needs a solid reason for anything to be and artemis and her church act the same way. everything has a use. nothing is for show, nothing is just for worship.

i bet holy symbols of artemis are small multi-function tools, like the arrow tips are sharp enough to cut stuff with them, the moon bit is actually sculpted so it works as a rudimentary bowl and it's heatable. there's no set rules about rituals or prayers, you just do whatever whenever. meditation just means you take watch and that's it. the prayers are straightforward, you just state what you want and that's it. grizzop does it all the time, sometimes without realising. just tiny things. whenever he touches someone he cares about he just says "protect them" under his breath when they aren't paying attention. sometimes he adds "please" but you don't have to. you don't have to plead for anything with artemis, which is great cause grizzop would be very bad at it. he has pride and he is right in that. he whispers "thanks" when an arrow hits the target just right and that's all you need with artemis, really. when no one's looking grizzop nods or waves to the moon sometimes and it looks extremely silly but it's his little inside joke.

i think he's had dreams with artemis before and i think they're EXTREMELY lowkey. he just wakes up in the place where the artemis lot first found him, his first home completely devoid of life and as he scouts around he sees her and she just looks like some goblin from some other clutch in amsterdam. because i don't think gods always manifest as humans bc why would they and honestly, appearing as the same race as the person you're speaking to is just handy because it saves time and things aren't awkward and there's little to no height difference and also artemis appreciates a shortcut because nobody has time to pick out carefully which form to take. so i think she just looks like... some goblin. has a bow. leather armor. a headband with a changing moon on it but that's it in terms of, like, iconography.

and she's just there and asks what's up and if he's okay and then grizzop tells her either yeah, he's fine and he's done some stuff or he just tells her what's wrong, why he feels bad. and she doesn't like, say anything bad she either offers a solution (and she's still a fucking god she's wise and smart and amazing) or just says "yeah, okay, that sucks, but it's okay you'll work it out".

i feel like she'd be strict if you break any of the artemisian laws and i think if she yells at you you will know fear. like it's not dramatic and scenic she doesn't change or anything but i mean the way grizzop talks to people who he thinks have fucked up and need a yell at is already terrifying, now multiply that by the power of someone who is actually a fucking god.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Olaf, the Beserker build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Phroilan Gardner. Made for Riot Games.)

Olaf sounds like ProZD’s Archibald voice. Especially Olaf’s voice lines for using his Q it sounds exactly like ProZD’s “Huah! I think that enemy got the point!” Like I’m not crazy right? Please tell me I’m not the only one who hears this.

Anyways Olaf has been on my To Do List ever since I realized that I haven’t made a single champion whose name starts with the letter O. My desire to make Olaf was only further accentuated by the Sentinels of Light event, even if his inclusion in that event could best be summed up with...

But I won’t ignore Olaf just because the Sentinels of Light event was a flop. He’s still a compelling character that I have actually gotten some requests to make. After all: the dual-axe wielding Barbarian is an iconic image!

I mean, Olaf is probably just going to be 20 levels in Beserker Barbarian so I don’t know why you need me to make a build for that.

GOALS

C'mon, I won't hurt you - We’ll need ways to heal when we harm in the middle of combat.

Death by steel! - Swing axe, throw axe; unga bunga me play Olaf.

The might of Lokfar approaches - I didn’t manage to do so with Mundo but Olaf is going to need to have CC immunity.

RACE

Olaf is a human; feel free to pick a different race like Goliath or even Custom Lineage to justify him being Iceborn but Variant Human is still the best option. Increase your Strength by 1 as well as your Constitution, grab any skill proficiency of your choice as it honestly doesn’t matter much for Olaf (maybe you should’ve been Custom Lineage for Darkvision after all?), and the Primordial language because I’m sure you picked up on the language of the wild.

For your feat you have a choice: Dual Wielder will let you wield two d8 Battleaxes (instead of d6 Handaxes) and also increase your AC by 1 while dual-wielding, but the Fighting Initiate feat will let you grab Two-Weapon Fighting which will let you add your Strength modifier to your second axe’s swing. I persually opted for Dual Wielder as it gives you more benefits overall, and we’ll be getting ways to throw axes without having to hold onto them first.

ABILITY SCORES

15; STRENGTH - I mean, you’re a shirtless Barbarian running around with two axes. You thought this would be a DEX build?

14; CONSTITUTION - The reason you can’t die is because you’re so hardy. Sucks!

13; CHARISMA - Despite Riot’s great attempts at writing you as poorly as possible you do still have some sort of Charisma. Remember that Charisma is force of personality, not necessarily good looks or personal hygiene. Charisma is needed for Intimidation as well as multiclassing.

12; DEXTERITY - You need to be quick on your feet to run at your enemies with reckless abandon.

10; WISDOM - If you were wise you wouldn’t be trying to kill yourself.

8; INTELLIGENCE - You stopped caring about education the moment you were born. Battle is the only thing in your blood!

This build is also quite viable with Point Buy, going for a stat array like 15 / 12 / 14 / 8 / 8 / 14 if you want lower mental stats but higher combat stats.

BACKGROUND

The Uthgardt Tribe Member background from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide is basically the Outlander background but you actually belonged to Freljordian society once. Regardless you do get proficiency in Athletics as well as Survival (”Survival” as in finding food to eat, not as in keeping safe on the battlefield!), a musical instrument or artisan’s tool of your choice (choose whatever you fancy and make your own Olaf, as long as it’s something a warrior would do! I personally opted for Smith’s Tools to sharpen your axes), and a language of your choice (pick whatever language they spoke back in the villages.)

Your background Uthgardt Heritage is the Outlander’s Wanderer feature with extra steps: along with being able to find food and water you are also treated well by nomads and wanderers who have heard of your glorious battles!

(Artwork by Marie Magny and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - BARBARIAN 1

Starting off as a Barbarian because what else would we be? You get proficiency in two skills from the Barbarian list: Intimidation is an obvious must and Perception will help you find good fights to take!

As a Barbarian you get Unarmored Defense equal to your Dexterity plus your Constitution, which is currently a 13... Well Medium Armor is an option if you want to finally put on a shirt. And of course as a Barbarian you can Rage to deal more damage and resist incoming damage! You can’t cast spells while Raging, but that won’t matter, right? It’s not like I’m about to give you caster levels.

LEVEL 2 - FIGHTER 1

Quickly hopping over to Fighter to further your martial skills. You can grab a Fighting Style like Thrown Weapon Fighting to draw weapons in the same action you make to throw them, and also do +2 damage with thrown weapon attacks. See? Told you we’d be able to throw axes easily!

You also get Second Wind for some not-quite-Lifesteal to keep you in the fight to claim even more glory! Certainly not to stay alive.

LEVEL 3 - FIGHTER 2

Well another Fighter level for Action Surge is certainly worth it, as you can push yourself to destroy your foes!

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 3

But we need one more Fighter level to be able to get our axes back after we throw them. Eldritch Knights get Weapon Bond, allowing them to always keep two weapons on hand and never lose them. While bonded with a weapon you can’t be disarmed of them, and you can use a Bonus Action to recall a weapon if it’s not in your hands. My suggestion would be to bond to a Battleaxe and a Handaxe, so you can’t be disarmed of at least one of your main weapons and can also call your thrown axe back to throw it again!

You also get Spellcasting as an Eldritch Knight: You learn two cantrips from the Wizard list, and three spells as well. You may be thinking “wait; didn’t you dump Intelligence?” That is correct, but you don’t need Intelligence to cast Light to see with your dumb human eyes (I mean technically you need Intelligence if you want to cast Light on someone else but it’s probably easier just to light up your axe and throw it at them) or Prestidigitation, which is a better spell for creating bonfires than the actual Create Bonfire spell.

Your leveled spells have to be from either the Evocation or Abjuration schools, but thankfully Absorb Elements and Shield are both from the Abjuration school and also don’t need Intelligence. Protect yourself from damage to have a truly glorious death! Because it’s not like blocking attacks will keep you alive.

You can also learn one spell from any school and uhhhh... Pick your poison between Jump and Longstrider, to make it easier to chase your foes. Are there probably better spells? Yeah, but do they fit Olaf?

(Artwork by Xiao Guang Sun and West Studios. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 5 - PALADIN 1

Jumping over to Paladin for a few abilities, such as Divine Sense to find some things that will put up a good fight like Fiends, Undead, or... Celestials? I’m sure they hit hard! You can also find a good desecrated (or consecrated) battleground with this ability, as I’m sure there will be good enemies there! You only know of an enemy’s type however, not their name. And if they’re hiding from you this ability won’t make it any easier to find them.

You also get Lay on Hands, which is like lifesteal you can give to allies! You have a pool of hit points equal to your Paladin level times 5, and you can use it to either heal (at a rate of 1 point per hitpoint) or neutralize a poison or disease affecting a target. (5 Lay on Hands health to neutralize one poison or disease.) Dying to natural causes isn’t a glorious death, brother!

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 2

We’ll also need second level in Paladin to get a Fighting Style, but since Wizards of the Coast hates fun you can’t can’t take Two-Weapon Fighting, and since we’re running around in our birthday suit Defense also isn’t an option. The best official Fighting Style you can take is Blind Fighting (Blessed Warrior is okay too if you want Guidance I guess) but talk to your DM about potentially letting you take Two-Weapon Fighting? It’s not like it’s OP or anything (in all honesty it’s kinda shit.)

Paladins also get... more Spellcasting?! Disgusting! Well this spellcasting is based on your Charisma modifier instead of your Intelligence, which might be why we have it at a 14. But even so you can’t prepare that many spells: Divine Favor will let you empower all your attacks with more damage for some Vicious Strikes, Cure Wounds will again be acting as life-not-quite-steal, and Shield of Faith will let you or an ally absorb more blows, not that you want to live or anything. Also remember to check the Player’s Handbook to see how many spell slots you’d have after mixing two casters together.

But I still think the best course of action for your spell slots is to use them for Divine Smite! Throw caution and magic to the wind to make a Reckless Swing that does extra Radiant damage (depending on the level of the spell slot used.) The Smite deals 2d8 of damage for a first level slot, and an additional d8 of damage for every slot above first. (The simple way to remember this is that you roll a number of d8s equal to the spell slot used plus one.) If the enemy is a Fiend or Undead the damage increases by a d8! The maximum level spell slot you can use for this is a 4th level slot (for 5d8 damage, or 6d8 against a Fiend or Undead), but I doubt we’ll get spell slots that big.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 3

We may as well take a third level in Paladin for a Sacred Oath, and you swore an Oath of Glory in battle! Along with Guiding Bolt and Heroism being added to your spell list (as if you can cast spells lmao) you get two Channel Divinity options: Peerless Athlete turns you into... well, a Peerless Athlete with advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks. You can also carry, push, drag, and lift twice as much weight as normal, and to top it off the distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 feet. This boost lasts for 10 minutes which should be more than enough to give it your all in battle!

Alternatively for some more not-quite-lifesteal Inspiring Smite can be activated after you Smite to give yourself or nearby allies within 30 feet temporary hitpoints. The total number of temporary hit points gained by this ability equals 2d8 + your Paladin level, and you can distribute them amongst yourself and your allies however you wish. Technically the most gameplay-accurate way to split the Temp HP would be to take it all yourself but being helpful has its benefits. A battle is truly glorious if fought alongside an army of companions!

You also get Divine Health, because Glory doesn’t die on sick days!

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 4

It’s about time to take that 4th Paladin level to finally get an Ability Score Improvement: +2 to Strength for stronger axe swings is an obvious choice!

You can also prepare another spell like Bless, which will make it easier for you and your allies to smite your foes and survive their blows! Wait, what was that about surviving?

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - PALADIN 5

Since it’s so close we may as well take the 5th level of Paladin so you can finally make an Extra Attack. That means you have two attacks normally and a third attack with your Bonus Action thanks to Two-Weapon Fighting!

You can also prepare second level Paladin spells now, and the Oath of Glory gives you Enhance Ability and Magic Weapon as spells you can cast. Believe it or not these are actually useful, even with your low spellcasting modifier!

LEVEL 10 - PALADIN 6

The 6th level of Paladin is honestly too good to pass up: even though Aura of Protection is only adding +2 to all your saving throws (since your Charisma is kinda uhhh... not good?) that’s still +2 to all your saves, as well as the saves of your allies within 10 feet. That’s like, two whole Rings of Protection!

Speaking of rings: Warding Bond was added to the Paladin spell list thanks to Tasha’s and it’ll let you take damage for your allies to die in their place! As long as you don’t mind wearing some platnium rings in your beard, at least.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 7

What we’re really here for is the 7th level of Glory Paladin. Aura of Alacrity will increase the speed of you and your allies within 5 feet (not 10, because Wizards of the Coast are weird) by 10 feet, so you can charge at your foes with the might of Ragnarok!

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 8

But we may as well take the 8th level of Paladin for another Ability Score Improvement: cap off your Strength for the deadliest strikes possible.

You can also prepare another spell but it would be wise to wait for...

(Artwork by JoJo So. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 9

9th level Paladins can prepare third level spells like Crusader’s Mantle to give all your nearby allies the Divine Favor buff to rush into battle with you! But the main reason we’re dipping this deep into Paladin is for the two spells from the Oath of Glory: Protection from Energy perhaps isn’t all that fitting, but Haste is insanely useful and powerful. More attacks, more speed, more... armor? Well, it’s no matter. More glorious battle!

LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 10

10th level Paladins won’t be swayed by magic swaying their hearts! Aura of Courage will let you (and your allies within 10 feet) laugh in the face of death as you gain immunity to the Frightened condition!

You can also prepare another spell like Aura of Vitality: you can use it to heal yourself but healing your allies will lead to a far more glorious story to tell of your death.

LEVEL 15 - PALADIN 11

I promise that we’ll go back to Barbarian levels soon but 11th level Paladins get a huge boost to their damage output thanks to Improved Divine Smite. This ability affects all your attacks (not just your Smites despite the name) to give them an extra d8 of Radiant damage. This has obvious synergy with your choice to swing two axes since your Two-Weapon Fighting attack will also get that extra d8 of damage!

LEVEL 16 - PALADIN 12

Okay but let’s quickly grab the 12th level of Paladin first. You can either increase your Constitution for more health and AC, or your Charisma for better saving throws and spellcasting. I personally opted for Charisma but if you value health and AC then Constitution is good too!

Oh and yeah you can prepare more spells, but there aren’t really that many other third level spells I want.

(Artwork by Alvin Lee. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 17 - PALADIN 13

That’s because 13th level Paladins finally get 4th spells which most importantly means Freedom of Movement! There you go you finally have Ragnarok’s CC immunity! You also get Compulsion which sure would be a good spell if you had any Charisma to actually cast it.

But you can also prepare more spells like Aura of Purity so you and your allies can shrug off whatever your foes might throw at you to stop you from reaching them, or Death Ward which you ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT USE ON YOURSELF.

LEVEL 18 - PALADIN 14

Okay but the 14th level of Paladin gives you Cleansing Touch, letting you cleanse spells without spell slots to cast Freedom of Movement. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses at the end of a Long Rest.

You could also perhaps prepare another spell like... Aid? I don’t know really by this point the magic is secondary. We’ll be going back to Barbarian soon anyways.

LEVEL 19 - PALADIN 15

But 15th level Glory Paladins get Glorious Defense, and we can’t pass that up! When you or another creature you can see (technically an enemy if you so desire!) within 10 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to grant a bonus to the target’s AC against that attack equal to your Charisma modifier. If the attack misses you can make one weapon attack against the attacker as part of this reaction, provided the attacker is within your weapon’s range. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all uses at the end of a Long Rest.

LEVEL 20 - PALADIN 16

But since it’s so close one final level in Paladin would be good for one final ASI: again more Constitution means more health and AC, but more Charisma will boost all your Paladin abilities!

Speaking of Paladin abilities you can prepare one more spell before we start taking more Barbarian levels... honestly you can pick your poison as it won’t matter much when your Raging!

...Wait.

WHY NO BARBARIAN LEVELS?

There’s a lot of things that I can’t do as a Barbarian. The most notable option that would be restricted if I went pure Barbarian would be Freedom of Movement, and while crowd control is somewhat rare in D&D being able to ignore it is far more important to Olaf as a character.

There’s also no Barbarian that has lifesteal besides Path of the Beast, and the only Barbarian that can throw its axe easily is Path of Wild Magic. Obviously neither of these fit Olaf.

Ultimately Paladin gave us more of Olaf’s abilities. The only ability that Barbarians have which fit Olaf other than Unarmored Defense and I guess Unarmored Movement would be Feral Instinct. But even the Barbarian subclasses don’t fit Olaf with the only ones which make any sense being maybe Totem Warrior? (Despite Olaf’s title Berserker wouldn’t fit him well, mostly because Berserker is a bad subclass.) But we miss out on so many of Olaf’s actual abilities by making him a Barbarian.

tl;dr Barbarians can’t do magic and Olaf has a ton of abilities that can only be recreated in D&D with magic

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Urge to kill rising... - Two-Weapon Fighting really doesn’t get the respect it deserves by the D&D community. You wouldn’t be able to get three attacks as a level 11 Paladin in any other way, meaning that you can truly capitalize on Improved Divine Smite. Not to mention the general increased DPS of 3 attacks and 3 chances to Smite!

Faster to battle! - It was not my intention but Glory Paladins are surprisingly good team players with a variety of spells and abilities that can keep your team alive and increase their strength in battle.

Obliteration! - You’re fairly hard to kill... oops. But between decently high health, spells to defend yourself, and damn high saving throws no matter how you increase your Charisma you’ll be quite a challenge to eventually take down! Sure your AC might suck... we should probably talk about that.

CONS

The worth of a man can be measured by the length of his beard, and the girth of his belt buckle - Hey remember that one Barbarian level I took pretty much entirely so you could have Unarmored Defense? Yeah honestly it’s gimping you hard, to the point that even Mage Armor would give you more AC. Honestly playing this build as Fighter 4 / Paladin 16 would be far better as you’d get one more ASI at the cost of actually having to wear armor. Hell going full Paladin 20 would give you the Living Legend capstone which is crazy strong, and while the loss of Action Surge would hurt you can grab the Thrown Weapon Fighting Style with a feat. (Or just take Two-Weapon Fighting style with your Variant Human Feat and run around with Hand Axes.)

If you’re really dead-set on going unarmored beg your DM for a Barrier Tattoo: either a Rare one (you’ll still need 14 DEX for something something legally-not-Medium Armor) or a Very Rare one (so you don’t even have to worry about Dexterity.) You can even go the Tahm Kench route and grab Eldritch Adept for Disguise Self to look unarmored if it’s really that important to you.

Well that was a pretty long con to say “Barbarian Olaf bad.” What else is there?

Chop chop! - Who would’ve guessed that dumping both mental stats would make you a dummy? While Aura of Protection saves you to some extent the party won’t be turning to you for any History checks.

Finally, some fun! - You have a rather silly amount of spells relative to your spell slots, and a good number of them are Concentration as well. Throwing all your slots to the wind to Divine Smite with reckless abandon sounds fun but managing both your Concentration and your spell slots will take some effort.

But your choice to go in without armor is just a self-handicap after all: you really want to die, and prove yourself in death! Fight the toughest fights and take down the strongest foes until you finally prove your prophecy wrong and fall before the blade of the mightiest foe! But perhaps you should instead sit down and have a muffin, and think about why you truly want to die die die.

(Artwork made for Riot Games.)

[galvus]

prompt: aberrant • words: 2,093 • era: shadowbringers patch content • [ masterpost ] straying from the right or normal way. “You aren't very talkative.” Irony written into her features with a heavy hand, Bianca stared into Xeven's face mere inches away from her own as she mended the wound in his shoulder — gunfire, Garlean, heavy enough to tear open the tough leather of his robes on either side of his bicep. The golden ember of his uncovered eye glinted curiously in Bozja's cloud-blotted sunlight. Her lips thinned into a line. Rather than replying in an instant, she bowed her head forward to get a better look at the freshly healed wound. The blood on his fur was still wet, but the blow he'd taken and the pierced muscle were good as new. “You can't be serious,” she murmured. “Serious,” Xeven said, along with a quiet offering of, “and curious. Your friend—” “— is endlessly charming.” “— never shuts up.”

Bianca's nostrils flared in a quiet cough of a laugh. Unlatching her canteen from her belt, she dampened the hem of her skirt with a little of the water and used the white fabric to wipe away the blood around his wound. “One of us has to,” she said simply, growing quiet again as she cleansed the skin, as she handed Xeven the canteen to drink from, as the adrenaline in her blood faded and she felt the world slow all around her. “Jadeite had as much to say as I do, so... it has to be Halvar who keeps spirits high.” Xeven gave a shake of his heavy head. “You were a diplomat.” He flicked a clawed finger against the brim of her hat. “You must have something to say.” She paused, her hand resting on the broad curve of his shoulder. “I hope that I can keep healing all of you,” Bianca said after a long lapse of surprisingly comfortable silence. “I would rather do this for years than ever have to bury any of you.” The hrothgar stared at her. His golden eye narrowed, but then, softened. She looked away, unable to maintain such revealing eye contact. “How is that for talking?” —  Bozja existed in shades of brown. It was oft-trampled dirt turned to mud by the weighty, unforgiving rains. It was wind-weathered buildings tanned by dust and debris. It was low-hanging clouds made of the smoke of war strewn against faded copper skies, so different from the blue and white Gridanian backdrop she knew better than any other. It was red blood drying on green leather that turned into a color that was barely prettier than rust. But that was during the day. At night, Bozja was black velvet and crystalline stars and dancing orange fires. At night, the sound of stories and song colored the air in every hue imaginable, not just browns and grays and drying reds. And Isolde's voice rose above them all, as clear as a bell and suited for a stage rather than a battlefield. The songs were unfamiliar to Bianca, but she understood the heart beneath the lyrics and the frantic twang of Isolde's bowstrings. She felt the joining of hope and loss, like interlocking fingers. The Bozjan bard collapsed onto the ground beside Bianca, her long blonde hair twisted into twin braids that danced with every toss of her head when her legs couldn't. “Do you sing?” Isolde's thin brows rose as the corners of her mouth twisted into a cheeky smile. “I've got a wager with Stanik that you can.” Bianca curled her tired hands around her cup. She hated answering questions about herself. Nothing she said ever felt genuine. Nothing she said ever felt true. She was blood and bones and magic... and little else. “Do you really have a wager?” Isolde's shoulders bowed forward as she pulled  her bow onto her lap and began loosening the strings. She pursed her lips, then relaxed them, her expression taking a turn towards the thoughtful. Then, with what was left of the breath in her lungs, she heaved a heavy sigh. “Nah, there's no wager, but I've been wondering...” One of the strings popped loose, and her finger curled inside of the gentle coil at the end. Every movement she made was both elegant and energetic. She belonged somewhere else, like so many members of the Bozjan resistance. “Does the Warrior of Light know how to carry a tune?” Bianca blinked at her for a moment before ducking her head, peering into the half-full cup cradled between her palms. “I'm... not sure.” The words felt genuine. And disappointing.  — The heat of buffeted flames still ached. They did not burn, but the searing heat of a barely diverted fireball burned her nostrils. It soaked the blouse she wore beneath her armored coat with sweat. It forced her to curl in on herself and closer to the paladin who had launched himself towards her the moment Sartauvoir pivoted his attention in her direction. His resolve manifested itself in a full-bellied shout as he rooted himself into the muddy ground and forced the magicked ball of flame in the opposite direction with every bit of strength in his massive body. A pure, holy light pierced the rain of fire that followed. “Are you hurt?” Stanik asked, his hurried words raining down upon her like a balm. “Is there anything else I can do for you?” Only on two shaky hands could she count the number of times someone had asked that of her. Two hands, ten fingers... twenty-eight years. “I... I-I'm okay.” Bianca gathered herself up and turned, drawing the staff she'd held flush to her chest down to her side with a flare of her own light. She pulled her shoulders back and stared across the scorched field into the lined face of Sartauvoir quo Soranus, shadowed as it was by the wide brim of his hat. “I'm sorry that you—” Stanik huffed through his broad nose before setting off in the direction of the mage with a rousing, “No apologies!” Her lips parted to respond, but he was already gone, his sword and shield in-hand and his attention turned fully towards the enemy. Drawing in a deep breath, her hand curled into a white-knuckled grip around the length of her staff. “No apologies,” she echoed, in a voice that held such confidence that she barely recognized it as her own.  — Burns were easier to heal than frostbite, but the screams of the burning were more harrowing than the sharp gasps that accompanied a snap of cold. They echoed into the ceiling, shrill as glass shattering and heart-breaking. The soldiers were trained to fight through their suffering, but there was only so much you could do to separate yourself from the pain when your armor was melting. Looming above what remained of the Bozjan resistance, the twisted form of Trinity Avowed spun elegantly as it blasted another torrent of flames down onto the battlefield. Heat was nigh impossible to weather in such a magnitude, but weather it they did. Sweat poured down Bianca's face from her hairline, whorls of ash-blonde hair sticking to her cheeks as she whipped around to find another body to heal, another person to save. Shortly after, the room was flooded with a dense fog as the amalgamation of three spread an icy wind in every direction. A young miqo'te woman to Bianca's right swayed on her feet before collapsing, her limbs rigid and her lance keeping her somewhat aloft. Even gravity could not drag the determined woman all the way down to the floor. She gripped the shaft of her polearm as she struggled to stand, her head hanging low and her shoulders stiff with visible discomfort. White magics swirled around the woman, lifting her from the ground with a rush of comforting warmth. Without missing a beat, she rejoined the fight, even as the amalgamation lifted Xeven's staff in one of its many arms. Bianca panted, the labored breath tearing at her throat as much as the chill. You aren't very talkative. At the helm of the battle, Halvar slammed the flat of his hand into the join of Trinity Avowed's leg, forcing a crack in its armor that glowed a fearful shade of molten gold. He reared his head back to bark orders meant for the ranged fighters on his flank to prepare for another volley of flame. And then, without missing a moment, his massive frame twisted sharply downward before twisting into a deadly spin and a flurry of kicks that might have downed some other foe. And Bianca... Bianca was quiet, even as her mind raced to keep up with those around her, even as weariness threatened distraction, even as what remained of her power began to wane. Bianca was quiet, even as her head filled itself with thoughts and memories and pain that was sharp and fresh and bloody. Twin auri dancers spun in time with each other, their chakrams thrown at precise points on Trinity Avowed's back. Repeated blows to the poorly joined arms left two of them hanging onto the creature's torso on precious few wires before even those were cut. And the bow fell to the ground. I've been wondering... Does the Warrior of Light know how to carry a tune? Bianca bit back a sob. “Not now,” she murmured to herself, the words lost to the ever-building cacophony of combat that rose from every side of her. A surge of power curled at her fingertips, growing with every blow that landed against the creature, the twisted being born of men and women who had become something greater with time. Friends. “Not now. Not now. Not now.” Loss sought to be nothing more than another hand dragging her down, but she refused to be shackled, not when the destruction of this creature meant release for Xeven, for Isolde, for Stanik. The heels of her feet left the ground first, followed by the armored toes of her boots. As she rose into the air, her body whirled around to face the enemy before them. She brought her staff to bear, holding it aloft as a crown of light exploded outwards in every direction. Trinity Avowed hefted its shield to protect what was left of its battered torso. The few arms that remained intact rose at its back, threatening those who stood behind. Including Halvar, and Jadeite, and Kasumi and Minato. Including Bajsaljen and Marsak and countless other resistance fighters. Including Bianca. But before the creature's blow could land, the air crackled with a power unlike her own, unlike any she'd ever experienced until crossing paths with Fordola. The tiled floors cracked and fell away as massive pylons of stone rose in a line broad enough to nearly cut the room in half. Jadeite stood at the very center, his hulking form standing straight for once as he thrust his greataxe into the air. Trinity Avowed's arms crashed against the stone, unable to break anything but themselves against the barrier. The scream of twisting metal ended with another rising to take its place —  this one inhumanly guttural and belonging to the viera who shielded them all. Jadeite's eyes glowed an unnatural red on a field of ink, leaving a swath of that same scarlet as he leapt forward onto the first of the pylons. The stone crumbled beneath his crushing weight, rubble falling away like rain as he heaved himself forward in a second jump. He crashed into Trinity Avowed, the momentum of his body dragging the broken creature to the ground. For a moment, everything was quiet, but then, as victory settled around them, the Bozjan resistance and those who stood with them realized that the next rain of fire would not come. The next glacial wind would never shatter another sword or blacken another limb. There was more fighting left to come, but for a moment... Relief sounded like tears, tears and determined footsteps. Bianca lingered in the room, standing among broken tiles and stone mountains and the contorted body of what had been. She opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. “No apologies,” she whispered to no one. The sentiment hung off of her lips, as unwilling to let go as the rest of her. Turning towards the hallway that led in the direction of what she hoped would be their final fight together, Bianca drew in a deep breath, her pointed chin tilting upwards and her hands curling around her staff. There were no apologies, but there were goodbyes. The time to say them would be later, once all of this was over.