#it’s also fun to imagine how wol carries everything

[98tonyo]

I’m a side quest girlie

[lem-argentum]

it took me until dt to change rudy's hairstyle, but i ACTUALLY think he would've cut it back in post-stb when he became a reaper. the trope of "character cuts hair to feel more in control of their life" is cliché but REAL. and also the visual of him cutting it with his scythe is fun

[amoebaforce]

How do you think the scions (of your choosing) would react to a wol confessing that they came from a shard long since rejoined with the source? They were there to witness the final days of their world and joined the scions to keep their home from suffering a similar fate.

congratulations, anon! you just became a primary source!

this was tons of fun, thanks for the request. enjoy :)

characters featured: Y'shtola Rhul, Urianger Augerelt, Thancred Waters, Alphinaud + Alisaie Leveilleur tags: fluff mostly, gn!WoL, light Shadowbringers + Endwalker spoilers

Y’shtola

After the initial shock, she’s ecstatic. Y’shtola has been searching for a way to travel between Shards without disbonding souls, opening unstable rifts, or getting lost in the space between worlds. She’ll grill the WoL for hours on how exactly they managed to travel to the Source in one piece.

Was it a mechanism? A magical process? A religious rite, even? She needs to know, because if she can recreate it, she might be able to see Runar again.

She also wants to hear everything the Warrior remembers about their Shard and its history. She’s interested in the cultures, the history, the geography… All of it.

What was it like there? What were the major powers, the social problems, the structure of their society? How did the Ascians meddle in its affairs? What manner of cataclysm destroyed it? Was the WoL a hero there, too? Y’shtola is taking notes faster than her mind can process the answers.

She’s not entirely heartless, of course. Y’shtola can’t imagine having to live through the end of two worlds — three, if they count the aftermath of the First’s flood — and still having the strength to carry on. If anything, she’s even more amazed by the WoL’s resilience.

Urianger

Almost as intrigued as Y’shtola, but his interest is more centrally focused. Urianger wants to know what the WoL experienced on the Shard — their childhood, their schooling, the stories they heard at bedtime, and the circumstances that led to their departure. 

As the Warrior obliges him, Urianger listens raptly. There are so many differences between the Source and the WoL’s homeworld, but somehow there are even more similarities. It’s amazing to him that a place can be so foreign and yet so familiar.

He’s also struck by their desire to prevent the Source’s destruction (and the other Shards’, too). Urianger’s mind naturally draws a parallel to Arbert and the Warriors of Darkness. Their goals were the reverse of the WoL’s, but comparable nonetheless.

Urianger also wonders if there might even be others walking the Source with similar origins. After all, if the people of the WoL’s Shard learned of the Source and figured out how to transport someone there, it’s theoretically possible that denizens of other Shards did the same. 

Perhaps he and the Warrior should make some time to investigate this possibility.

Thancred

Thancred is utterly, genuinely stunned by this revelation. He had never even considered the idea that his friend was not of this world. But now that he’s processed the information, it does make a little more sense.

The WoL has always been way stronger than they should’ve been… And being from another world would definitely explain that. But how did they get here? Maybe Hydaelyn had something to do with it, he thinks. She took Minfilia to the First to stop the Flood of Light, so it’s possible She could have brought the Warrior here, too. 

Thancred is also curious about their past, but he is careful not to bombard them with questions. He’s hyper-aware that the WoL lost everything when they came to the Source, and he knows those memories might be painful.

One thing he can’t help but ask about is the Shard’s cuisine. What sort of meats did you eat? Or was everyone a vegetarian? Was there wine? Were there even grapes? 

If there are any foods the Warrior misses but can’t find on the Source (a crop that doesn’t grow here, or a fish from an impossible ocean), he’ll search for the closest possible equivalent and surprise them with it. 

Alphinaud

He’s extremely curious about the WoL’s Shard, especially its science and history, but Alphinaud doesn’t want it to feel like an interview. He prefers to ask an open-ended question and let the Warrior ramble. 

He’d happily listen to them talk about their home for hours. When they describe the landscapes they grew up in, he closes his eyes, as if he, too, is trying to recall their memory from the recesses of his mind.

At one point, he fetches his art supplies and encourages the WoL to draw what they’re describing. Even if they say they’ve no talent for it, Alphinaud insists. Soon, there are dozens of parchment sheets littering the table between them, depicting all manner of animals, plants, places, and people from the WoL’s past.

Alphinaud asks questions about each one and takes every answer to heart. He wonders how hard it was for the WoL to keep this a secret all this time, especially after the Ascians revealed themselves on the Source. 

He knows why they did it, of course. Who would have believed them? Especially before they learned the truth of the Sundering and the reflections… Alphinaud himself might have doubted them. But right now, he is just thankful the WoL trusts him enough to confide in him. 

Alisaie

Alisaie’s reaction to the Warrior’s confession is something along the lines of: “WHAT!? WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL ME BEFORE?”  

She cycles through a few emotions before settling on “awed”. Watching their world be consumed, only to somehow travel across the stars and start their life over on the Source, entirely in the hopes that they’d be able to prevent another rejoining… Well, there’s certainly a reason people call them a hero, isn’t there?

Alisaie wants to know about their Shard’s mages, mostly because she’s curious if their world had red mages, but also because she’s interested in its understanding of aetherology and magic. 

Depending on the WoL’s old jobs, they might have a few tips she can implement into her fighting, or some information that can help her develop better, sturdier familiars.

She’d never pry, but if the WoL opens up to her, she asks about their friends, their family, and the comrades who helped them get to the Source. Alisaie knows it must kill the WoL to know they’re gone, but saying their names and telling their stories means their memory lives on — in the Warrior’s heart, and now in Alisaie’s, too.