#it's why i never started the questline because i knew i had to do this shit at some point

[wp100]

tried to solo the blood infusion quest for shadowmourne but im terribad and running out of time because i have to go to bed. and too tired for this shit

[thefirstknife]

Hi! I was wondering if you could explain the lore surrounding Saint and how he says he looked up to us? That whole time fuckery always confused me + the Vex apparently made him a tomb? What was that about? I really just have no idea what happened in Season of Dawn

Yes!

So, we should start with Osiris being exiled from the City (some time around the Twilight Gap, unclear when exactly, but vaguely at that time). Osiris packed his stuff and left to go do his research in peace; he went to Mercury for the Infinite Forest.

This upset Saint a lot and he decided to go after him. He even left a letter for him which destroys me every time:

Ship's Final Log: Osiris. I hope whatever you find in this place is worth it. My recommendation to install you as Vanguard Commander was not a gesture to stroke your ego. It was an order to stay and help the City achieve all that it could. An order you refused to follow. News of my demise will no doubt reach you late. I can already see your response—the guilt that will follow, however fleeting. I thought you had changed after Six Fronts; that seeing your people on the brink of destruction and spared from death would be reward enough to stay. To fight. I'll fight in your stead one last time.

However, note the following at the end:

To my inspiration. Your final gift to me I now send back to you. It will be good to see you again.

This was very bizarre at the time because there was no context to this. While we knew some little bits and pieces of Saint's story before, it wasn't until Curse of Osiris that we got the proper introduction.

Fast forward, Saint entered the Forest after Osiris and got lost in there. He wandered a lot, fought the Vex, eventually got them so upset that the Vex put all of their resources into constructing a special Vex Mind that was capable of draining Saint's Light. When they succeeded, Saint died in the Forest. The Vex were so impressed that they came to respect him enough to make a tomb for him in the Forest:

Finding this tomb was a quest in Curse of Osiris: links to the full questline. When we got to the tomb, we took information from Saint's body and used it to forge his gun: Perfect Paradox. The lore on it is also very peculiar, addressing someone that Saint looked up to. Again, we could only speculate at the time because we didn't have the whole story, but it appeared there was some sort of weird shenanigans here that potentially involved us, the player. Important:

All I have left is this weapon. The Cryptarchs say you crafted it yourself, built it out of scraps and Light and sheer will, inside the Infinite Forge.

We did indeed do that. But how can Saint know that and why is he addressing us? We've never met him; he disappeared into the Forest long before we existed.

It would take 3 years for this to be resolved, in Season of Dawn. In Season of Dawn, Osiris revealed that following our discovery of Saint's tomb, he went to work on creating the Sundial. The sole purpose of the Sundial would be to essentially allow entry into Saint's personal timeline and past, to find him in the right moment, and save him from certain death. Osiris tried to do this himself and failed. For some reason, he could not find the right Saint in the right moment. He begrudgingly gave up and put the Sundial away.

When it was discovered by the Psions and used for their nefarious purposes, Osiris told us about this briefly and let us give it a shot to try and find Saint. He advised against it and deemed it "an impossible task." However, unknown to him (and us), we were the link needed to make this possible.

We went in there and we found the right Saint in the right moment. We found him desperately fighting against the Eliksni on Mercury in his personal past, during the Dark Age. We met up with him and helped him win. After that, we talked to him. Saint seemed super defeated and hopeless, but Ghost then told him about the future where people are safe and showed him a projection of the City from the future. We also gave him the Perfect Paradox. Our Ghost pulled our weapon that we made and gave it to Saint.

The Shotgun you crafted in the Infinite Forge is reacting to the Sundial! An onboard transponder is broadcasting coordinates: a path through the Sundial, crossing two time periods. The prophecy blueprint you used to create the Perfect Paradox must have included this broadcast.

This was the link between us and Saint that allowed us to use the Sundial to save him in a way Osiris could not. The gun is a bootstrap paradox: it exists "out of nowhere" basically. We give it to Saint in his past and we pick it up from his body in the future and then we take it back to the past and give it to him. Saint had information needed to craft it because we gave him the gun, but we only gave him the gun because he had it in the first place.

Saint takes the weapon and we leave him in his personal timeline, but to him, at the time, we're a hero who saved him and showed him a future where the City thrives and people are safe. He kept that hope with him and considered us someone who inspired him to do better and to fight. He could never explain who we were, because for everyone else we did not exist yet: Saint only met us because we showed up from the future to meet him.

We end up going back to the Sundial to find Saint again in the right time when he's found by the Vex Mind designed to drain his Light. Only this time he doesn't fight alone and we save him, essentially changing the course of time. Saint doesn't die; we save him and he's able to stay in the Forest until we can open it from the outside years later in the present day.

Saint never forgot about us and how we saved him and gave him the shotgun. He spent his life with us as an inspiration; someone who appeared out of nowhere and promised him that one day the City will be safe and people protected. It kept him going, even when nobody really understood what he was talking about. Osiris also mentions this when we finish the quest:

In his youth, he talked often about the Guardian who inspired him. I should have guessed it would be you.

Osiris I promise that it's okay that you couldn't guess that Saint was talking about a Guardian time travelling from the future.

I definitely recommend checking out both quests for this whole thing, they're really cool, especially the ones from Dawn because they're more expansive and also Saint is alive there. But the setup from Curse of Osiris is really neat because they heavily hinted at Saint coming back since then. Both the exotic ship and the shotgun itself have lore that clearly reference Saint having already met us, a plotline that we waited 3 years to resolve.

Hopefully that makes a bit more sense!

[blackberry-sage-tea]

Something I have not really seen anyone else talking about is how Veilguard vastly and very noticeably overinflates its quest count.

Like, in most games, you would consider something labeled a "quest" to have a beginning, middle, and end, right? "Here is the problem, go solve it with some gameplay, here's the outcome". They don't have to all be long but it's usually like, a complete narrative thread. Sometimes you'll get followup quests, but those are again going to have their own beginning, middle, and end. They will feel complete. You don't label something as a quest unless it has at least a little bit of substance to it.

Veilguard...has a different design philosophy.

Buying presents for your companions where they will give a one word response in thanks? Those are quests. There's a quest where you visit the Black Emporium--that's it. That's all you do, you go to a location. Need to have a single conversation with your companion to get information about something? How about we make that a quest! Have to get some crucial info about characters that are featuring in a companion's questline? We'll make that cutscene an entire quest by itself rather than putting it in one of the quests it's relevant to. Have to put together another team meeting to discuss your quarterly budget? Quest! Need to talk to Solas after a main story moment? Those are usually labeled as their own quests.

Early on you go to Arlathan to investigate the ritual site to verify Solas' claims about the gods escaping, and after a brief conversation with the Veil Jumpers there you go on to a new location to recruit Bellara. Once you get back to the Veil Jumpers you head out to D'Meta's crossing and witness what the gods have done, seeing with your own eyes the danger Solas warned you of. From there you return to the ritual site at last to find the dagger that he was using, wrapping up your main purpose in heading out in the first place. Same quest, right? Wrong! Four quests! There is no point at which one properly finishes before the other begins, but these are listed as four separate quests!

It's like some executive had a specific quest quota they wanted the developers to hit and the developers knew they'd never be able to make enough content to meet it so they just chopped up every main and companion quest piecemeal, even though this means the pacing and momentum of the game frequently comes to a complete standstill as you stop and start quests over and over. Bellara trying to talk her brother out of doing evil things for Anaris and then just walking away when it seemingly doesn't work rather than doing anything to actually stop him is solely because it has to be its own quest rather than part of her questline's finale. "Why don't we take care of X right no--" Because we need to pad out the runtime of this game. We need the characters to drag their feet on absolutely everything, we need to have the same conversations about the same things over and over again because otherwise you'll notice that this game's content could have been condensed into 40 hours instead of 80.

I'm not saying that previous Dragon Age games never had fluff quests or padding but the scale at which Veilguard does it is frankly unreal.

[reslari]

Alright, gonna take a stab at making sense of Certain SOTE things, because like it or not, this is the lore we have, so we gotta figure out what pieces fit where.

Assumption: Miquella speaking of the "vow" in plural, and the item from Freyja's questline pretty well contextualize that it was a mutual agreement. Miquella proposed it, Radahn agreed initially.

Lore Question: Why did Radahn agree in the first place?

Hypothesis: What we know about Radahn is characterized by a love of battle, an admiration of Godfrey and Radagon, and an allegience to the Golden Order. He is a quintessential warrior character - a warlord, even. Yet, there is more nuance to that: An affinity for gravity magic implies a sharp mind so he is not all brawn and no brain, and going to the lengths he went to preserve Leonard implies a nurturing side.

I think the former points are why he would agree to be consort, and the latter are why Miquella asked in the first place, and I think that schism brought up conflict.

If Miquella was poised to be the God-Heir Apparent of the Lands Between, then by becoming his Consort, Radahn would be poised to end up just like the two men he admired most in the world: The Elden Lord. Why wouldn't someone want that sort of position of honor? More than that, it seems like he was asked - he didn't even need to pursue such a goal - so saying a "yes" was fairly easy. No mind control required.

In Radahn, Miquella saw that nurturing side; things that likely reminded him of Radagon. Considering Miquella had a good relationship with Radagon, at least for some time, and Radagon was Miquella's frame of reference for what a "king" should be, it's sort of natural that the places where Radahn and Radagon overlap would catch the younger Miquella's attention. Even if it was partially because Radagon was also Radahn's father.

Now, it seems like this promise was made in secret. If many people knew about it, then I doubt Freyja would've had to go searching so hard for it, and it probably would've come up way more often in lore. An arranged marriage between demigods (and with an Empyrean) would be kind of a big deal; it would be the talk of Leyndell. Yet, it would also probably threaten Queen Marika, and what her vengeful self would do if she caught wind that Miquella was going through the preliminary steps to become a god would be Bad, so not mentioning it to anyone is honestly probably for the best, actually.

What's a little secret between brothers?

Lore Question 2: Why did Radahn back out?

I have a few thoughts for this:

1) Miquella does not age or mature. Because he is kept in a sort of youthful, unchanging stasis, maybe it started to look like he would never really "grow into" becoming a god. It was a non-starter because he could never actually mature into anything than the child he was. If your god doesn't become a god, then you don't become Elden Lord, and that was all a waste of time. (Radahn holding the stars back also likely contributed to the stagnation, but he wasn't going to give that up.)

2) Miquella abandoned the Golden Order. We know Radahn's campaign against the stars was done partially on orders from the Golden Order. We know he was a loyalist. Miquella abandoning it meant that when he became a god, it wasn't because he was going to be the heir of the Golden Order, nor was he going to make Golden Order 2.0: he was going to make his own thing, and that wasn't appealing to Radahn, who just wanted to live within the Golden Order.

3) Miquella wanted to build a "kind world" or a "kinder world". A world in which everyone is forced to get along isn't one in which a career soldier can thrive: No conflict, no war. No chance for honor and glory on the battlefield. Radahn can't live up to Radagon's legend, let alone Godfrey's, if there isn't anything for him to battle. And maybe, in that obsolescence, he'd be cast out, the same as Godfrey. He probably doesn't want to be THAT much like Godfrey - he wants to live the good parts of the legend, not the bad.

So yeah, I can see those, and maybe other reasons I'm not thinking of coalescing together and painting a picture for why Radahn didn't actually want to go through with it. Radahn is, of course, well within his rights to say actually, this isn't going to get me what I want, so I'm not going to do it.

Yet Miquella, a young prodigy with an underdeveloped prefrontal cortex didn't want to let him go so easily. Miquella, who famously has not actually fixed anything ever in his own life, decided he wanted to try to fix this.

Instead, Radahn walked out.

Miquella must have felt devastated, desperate, heartbroken. You PROMISED, Radahn! You promised!!

Lore Question: So what was the Battle of Aeonia?

Let me preface this: Malenia is the Blade of Miquella. I don't think enough people read enough low fantasy to take this seriously: When someone is the "blade" of someone else, they are calling themselves a tool. An object. A thing to be used to enact their masters' will. They sublimate their own feelings, opinions, and wants, in service to another. The only agency they have - and sometimes even that is questionable - is in whether they choose to serve someone. To that end: It does not actually matter if Malenia was mind controlled by Miquella. She would have been oath and honor-bound to enact his will, no matter what she thought of it. No matter how dangerous it was for her. No matter what she had to do.

Now, death in the Lands Between seems to work in one of two ways: Death where the souls and bodies are just recycled through the Erdtree and spit back out, and Destined Death, which is a one-and-done sort of deal. The former means the person is salvagable and will resurrect eventually, the other puts them beyond the reach of the Erdtree and any known systems at all. This relates to one reason Godwyn was never actually a viable option: but put a pin in that, and I'll come back to it.

But the resurrection form of death isn't really called death in the Lands Between. At least, it's not associated with that much gravitas. In Dark Souls, the humans do a similar thing: Since they're functionally immortal, they can, for instance, turn a wedding ceremony into a ritual sacrifice. Y'know, the whole Anri thing.

So killing Radahn isn't that serious of a thing, as long as Destined Death isn't involved. He'll be back. I don't know if it was the original intention to kill him, but I don't actually think it was. I think that came later.

Maybe by being defeated in combat, he would start to take Miquella seriously. Or maybe Miquella did want the chance to get the mind control hooks into him, but that seems too straightforward for a FromSoft game. I want to explore the former option:

Except Malenia, who is an extension of Miquella's will REGARDLESS of any paranormal influence Miquella might have had on her, was unable to beat Radahn. She was unable to get him to back down, submit, and/or actually uphold his part of the vow. So she cast aside her pride (quite literally, I love you Millicent), and gave into her own god's power. She is under orders; Miquella wanted Radahn, and she will deliver him in whatever form she can. If he dies, then his soul can be pulled out of the Erdtree, no harm, no foul.

This SHOULD have killed Radahn, but, again, not a Destined Death-death, so he would come back. And, having been killed (and thus defeated), could be told he was honor-bound to uphold his end of the vow upon his revival. Maybe with some newfound respect: Miquella is enough to become a god. He has the love of his men, a powerful blade, and a will to become the ruler he was born to be. If he still refused, well, Miquella still has that compulsion to him. He can still force it.

But Radahn's great rune saved him. Or, to be most precise, it cursed him to a fate worse than death. His rune is burning, after all, trying to stave off the rot. So instead of a... messy but functional death, he has to suffer a slow, painful degradation of his mind and body that leaves him naught but a howling animal in the dunes. Very much alive, and very much too incoherent to uphold any kind of vow.

Now this seems to be happening at about the same time that Miquella decides to put himself in the womb of the Haligtree. He seems, with this, to be trying to mature into an adult. This makes the plan simple: Prove to Radahn that he is going to be a mighty god, AND age himself to show that he is capable of growing up into a god.

Yet with the battle concluded, Miquella has failed yet again. And with Malenia out of commission, he has nothing and nobody to try to further Plan B. The leftover Cleanrot Knights can't beat Radahn, the Haligtree soldiers can't beat Radahn, Radahn's own men can't beat Radahn, he's just this ridiculously powerful being that's basically now untouchable. Until the Tarnished comes along, but that's in the future; there's no way for Miquella to know when or even if Marika's going to call the Tarnished back.

So Miquella needs another plan. Or at least to enact a backup plan. Enter, an Omen with a thirst for power, and a desire to build his own dynasty - a castaway yearning for love and acceptance for who - and what - he is. Who made contact with an outer god, but since he was not an Empyrean, could not be the vessel for it. He just needs a little... push. To turn that ambition into obsession.

Sorry, Mohg, but the Empyreans are playing on another field entirely. What's one cast-away son no one knows existed otherwise? Minor sacrifices must be made, as the doubts in Miquella's heart begin to fester, and push him in increasingly desperate directions. He's running out of options.

He just needs to become God, and he can fix all of this, he says, with the simplistic resolve of a child playing with dolls. All the world's problems are so easy to solve, he just needs the power to do it.

Lore Question: So why not Godwyn?

Hypothesis: This isn't even subtext, this is just plain obvious from the game. Maybe in an earlier iteration of the story it might be possible, but as soon as they wrote Godwyn into being the Prince of Death, it was over.

First of all: The statues in the Haligtree being Godwyn are based on entirely speculation. It's a popular fan theory, but only that. There are no references to them in items, nothing internally or externally in the game to tell you what they are. FromSoft put them in the game, and giggled softly as they made the "zippering shut" motion over their lips.

The popular theory of it being Godwyn mostly comes from the fact that Miquella refers positively to Godwyn, and was even willing to go to great lengths to help him out. This is the best theory we had at the time, but that's as solid as it gets. But if "Miquella speaks of the person in high regard" is the only basis for what the statues are, then we might as well say the statues are just as likely to be Radagon, protecting and loving his children. Someone on twitter even posited that it was Ranni, the raised arm and robe "shielding" her younger Empyrean siblings from the horrors of being an Empyrean in the first place, since she knows well how awful it is.

Now that we have the DLC, those statues could very easily now be Radahn. Not as Radahn is, but the ideal Radahn that Miquella saw and made a vow with.

No one but FromSoft knows what they were meant to represent; but what they are not is unambiguously Godwyn.

So remember the discussion about death vs. Destined Death? We know when Ranni perpetrated the Night of the Black Knives, she killed her body, and Godwyn's soul. That means both of those things are Dead-dead. Temporal incursion dead. Basically, so far out of reach of resurrection that it's impossible, so they functionally might as well not exist. But it was just her BODY, and Godwyn's SOUL.

Her soul lives.

And so does Godwyn's body.

Godwyn is functionally a tumor. I believe the Japanese descriptions of the Prince of Death's cyst and pustule both make direct references to cancer, in fact. Cancer is cell growth with damaged DNA that no longer has a termination peptide in it, and no limit to replication anymore. Immortal cells, basically, that rapidly reproduce. Fall down a wiki hole sometime about how cancer metastasises, and it will give you the creepiest, uncanny feeling that cancer actually has a will of its own.

But even without knowing the weird ways cancer can grow and spread, just knowing that it does spread explains a lot about Godwyn, and the Deathroot, and even why it would show up somewhere like Farum Azula. Because you only need a little bit of the cancer cells to "break away" or... be transported... from one place to another in order for a second tumor to start to grow. All that's needed afterward is a source of vitality. Since the broken-away tumor also has the DNA of the original tumor, as well, it is. Well. The same being. A clone at worst, but literally a shucked-off part of the body that keeps living, and is still its root being at the same time it is separate from it.

Kinda like Trina and Radagon, now that I think about it.

Still, every time you see the giant clam-face, every time you see the deathroots, those are all Godwyn. So Godwyn's body is not just the giant, unmoving merman thing in Deeproot Depths, it is functionally in every corner of the Lands Between, and a few places outside it. And it's still growing, still living, still replicating.

Now, try to put Radahn's soul into that.

Where would you even begin?

More than that, could you do it? Since Godwyn's body is still alive? And if you did... what's to say that it wouldn't just be Radahn in a giant, immobile fish body, genetically glued into the roots of the Erdtree, and spreading everywhere else? How could he be a King, how could he be a warrior if he's immobile, and buried?

Miquella wants a functional king. If he's modeling it off what he knows, then Radagon was able to mingle among the people, to fight wars, to be present in the lives of the court. He wouldn't get that with Godwyn's body, even if it was as simple as sticking a new soul in a still-living body that spans the entirety of the Lands Between, which I sincerely doubt it is.

No, Godwyn was never an option.

But a more normal dead body? One whose soul has only recently fled? That was otherwise whole and hale? That could be useful.

"What are you doing? This is not right," says St. Trina inside Miquella's head. She's starting to get annoying. Doesn't she understand he just needs to get this one thing done?

Oh, and look at that.

The Tarnished have returned.

Conclusion: I like it. I think it's kind of funny, actually. It's not what I was expecting - I do agree that at least like. One. Item in the base game could have legitimately alluded to some connection here, because I absolutely can see how this feels like a sucker punch to people who had two years to set their lore assumptions in stone. But as it's presented in the DLC... it's fine. I can make sense of it. It's sufficiently doomed and tragic: Miquella didn't become the god he could have, he became the god Radahn wanted. And becoming god at all required a sacrifice that removed all the reasons he would've been a good god to begin with.

My biggest qualm with the ending is this: I think if you get your heart stolen by Miquella, it should trigger an ending. Thus, most players will probably get the "bad end" where you end up a subordinate of Miquella's reign, forcing them to use either the Great Rune he cast aside, or to just not get grabbed to get the "good" ending. Please, FromSoft, it was a perfect opportunity!!!

Now this doesn't account for absolutely everything, and maybe an item will be discovered somewhere in the DLC that bucks all of it, but this makes the most sense to me, and based on some other readings, it seems to align with other people. Miquella is far from a perfectly innocent being in all of this, but he's not some purely evil mastermind either. He's a kid, trying to fix a deeply broken world like he's playing with dolls, without the capability of regard for how real lives are affected in a nuanced way.

Just trust him! He'll become a god, and- and all of this will be better!

("No," whispers Saint Trina, sleepily, where she was cast off. Now, where Miquella cannot hear her. "No, godhood will be your prison.")

[sallowsunshine]

SORRY you probably have gotten a lot of quidditch related requests now but I got one more for ya

Hufflepuff x Sebastian

After the seb quest, they don’t turn him in ofc and he starts playing quidditch to take his mind off things but is still standoffish to the reader because he thinks it’d be better for her if she(or they) just forgot about him. Well she gets a chance to get his attention again when the hufflepuff quidditch team begs her to replace their seeker that got hurt? After hearing about her fifth year feats and she can’t say no to her housemates. No one knows about it until she steps onto the pitch in the hufflepuff - slytherin match and causes an uproar

Don't Push Me Away (Sebastian Sallow x Reader)

Thank you for this!! I love this so much. Okay, this is mostly in Sebastian’s POV. also major spoilers for his questline.

Sebastian Sallow had lost control of his life. He’d lost his oldest friend, and his own twin sister, and he had nothing to show for it. It would have been all worth it if he had cured Anne, but she was no better. Knowing it was Rookwood all along did bring him a sense of piece, knowing he was gone.

The summer before his 6th year was spent in isolation at his family home in Feldcroft. Anne didn’t wish to see him, and Sebastian didn’t know where she was staying. Ominis could barely stand to be around him, he would only send him the occasional owl with updates on Anne. He knew time heals all wounds, but he was afraid these were scars that would never fade. 

As for you, your summer was spent off on some other adventure, some other quest, some other ancient magic business. Yet you still took the time to send an occasional letter asking how Sebastian was doing. He was surprised to know you still wished to converse with him, seeing as everyone else had given up on him. Yet he never could send an owl back. He’d read and reread your letters, then sit down to reply, but he could never get the thoughts in his head out onto parchment. 

The more time Sebastian spent alone, the more he realized what a horrible friend he’d been to you. You were there, every step of the way, defending his actions to Ominis, convincing him to give Sebastian one more chance, and then another chance, and then another. 

First, he shifted the blame to the Goblins and Rookwood. Then he shifted the blame to Ominis, for not supporting him. Finally he looked at himself. He always thought the Dark Arts were hidden potential. He didn’t understand the fear behind the unforgivables. “How could a curse that could save your life be unforgivable?” he had once said. Now that he was on the other side of things, he knew why the Dark Arts were avoided. No one talked about the corruption the Dark Arts created. The hold it took on one’s mind was powerful. It was obsessive and invasive, and Sebastian no longer wanted any part of it. Yes, the Unforgiveable spells could save your life, but the aftermath would destroy it. 

After that realization, he didn’t deserve to hear from you. He couldn’t bare it. So he ignored any other letters from you. He wouldn’t even open them. It seemed anyone he involved himself with always ended up hurt, or worse, so he decided the best course of action was to free you of him. 

With how busy your summer seemed to be, he was sure you’d forget all about him and move on, but your letters never ceased. Sebastian tucked them away, leaving your concerns for him to be silenced.

After that, Sebastian finds tasks to occupy his mind. He takes to cleaning the house, clearing out Soloman Sallow’s belongings. He saves anything he might need or can sell, but the rest he gives to other villages in Feldcroft. He’s been avoiding Anne’s room, the feelings too painful to bare, but once he’s gone through everything else in the house, he finally cleans her room. Ominis had recently sent an owl, asking him to separate some of her things to be picked up at a later date. He opens her closet and pulls some clothing out. Something catches and he reaches to move it out of the way. It’s a wooden handle, and he pulls it out to reveal Anne’s secondhand broom. 

-

The school year finally crawls around. Sebastian is used to summers speeding by, dreading the start of classes again, but this year it is the reverse. He has yet to reach out to you once, and he knows you’ll give him an earful. He hates himself for this, but he needs to be cold towards you. He doesn’t ever want to hurt anyone again, and he’ll spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to Omins, Anne, and you. Even if it means ignoring you. You’d eventually take the hint and leave him alone- and be better off for it. 

Classes have yet to start and Slytherin captain Imelda Reyes is already talking about Quidditch team auditions in the Slytherin Common Room. After finding Anne’s broom, he had taken up flying and exploring the greater Feldcroft area. He’d never really been interested in sports, but flying provided a most welcome distraction. Before he thinks better of it, he’s approached  Imelda.

“Imelda, I’d like to try out for the team this year.” Sebastian chokes out, a bit intimated by the Chaser.

“You?” She laughs. “Very funny, Sallow. Don’t waste my time.”

“Imelda, I’m serious. I’d like to play this year- or even just practice.”

“Seriously? Well, we did lose one of our Beaters. Although you’d need to bulk up for sure-”

He tunes out the rest of her ramblings about how he could better himself. He doesn’t know why he asked to try out. He just wants something to focus on. Something new, that doesn’t involve spells, or exploring catacombs, or- well, the list could go on and on. He wants something to focus on that won’t remind him of you.

-

Hogwarts hasn’t changed one bit over the summer. You’re happy to be back, happy to be able to stay in one place. The whole summer you were running around, tying up loose ends with Professor Fig’s leftover research on ancient magic. Ranrok was gone, but he had many allies out there that you spent the summer tracking down. You had just finished unloading your trunk and were ready to head down to the Great Hall for the Sorting Ceremony. You had yet to see Ominis or Natty, and were eager to greet them.  As for Sebastian, you weren’t sure where you stood with him.  He hadn’t responded to a single one of your owls this summer, and you would have thought something had happened to him, had Ominis not told you he too had been conversing with Sebastian. Except Sebastian actually responded to to his letters.

-

Sebastian was officially avoiding you. Every time you saw him in the halls, he’d duck away. Everytime you sent him an owl asking to meet in the Undercroft, you’d wait around for hours, and he’d never show. You didn’t want to ask Ominis about it because you knew they were still sorting out their own problems. He wouldn’t sit with you in class. You had no other conclusion to reach except that he no longer wanted to be your friend. 

In a rush of frustration, you grab your broom, hoping the rush of fresh air would help calm you down.

You soar above the grounds, with no particular destination in mind. You’re surprised to find yourself at the Quidditch Pitch, where yellow and black robes cover the field. You land and walk in, excited to see your fellow Hufflepuffs’ Quidditch practice. Last year, Professor Black had cancelled the Quidditch season, so you were very much looking forward to it this year.

A couple students are hitting a ball a bit smaller than a Bludger back and forth with bats. Others are doing laps around the Pitch on their brooms. And lastly, Chasers are weaving back and forth, passing a Quaffle between them, and then attempting to score on a Keeper. 

“Name and position you’re trying out for!” A Hufflepuff shouts at you, a clipboard covering their face.

“Oi! I know you! You helped save the world last year! With Professor Fig. My condolences by the way. I don’t think we’ve officially met. My name’s Henriette Toro, but feel free to call me Henri!” 

“Oh, thanks, but I’m not here to try out, I just wanted to watch.”

“Nonsense! You totally should- oh, I know! You should try out for Seeker! Our starter is injured and no one else seems to want to try out,” Henri glances over the clipboard.

“I’m not sure I even know all the rules-”

“Listen, you’ve got time! We play our first match in three weeks, and we can’t play without a Seeker. We’re playing against Slytherin, an unlikely match we’d win anyways. You’re practically Hogwarts loyalty. You playing for us is more for show. As long as you look like you’re trying, no one will bat an eye.”

“Well-” you hesitate. 

“Listen, I know you know how to fly. I’ve heard Imelda grumbling about how you beat her time trials. Being a Seeker is all about speed. And good eyesight. I am begging you, please. Even if we lose that match, showing up with you on our team might make us the talk of the whole school.”

“Fine. Fine. I’ll do it.” you give in, maybe wishing you hadn’t wondered over here on today of all days.

“Lovely! I will work with you privately throughout the weeks to get you ready. Don’t tell anyone though. I want to see the look on Imelda’s face when you walk out on to the pitch on game day.” Henri smiles mischieveously.

-

Sebastian loves the distraction Quidditch has provided him. He’s also surprised to find that he’s getting along with Imelda a lot more than he used to. Sort of. She’s been pushing the team extra hard this last week, staying out until it was too dark to see the balls, and making the team eat together in the Great Hall so she can monitor what they ate.

“As you all know, we play Hufflepuff tomorrow. I’m ending practice early today so we can all get a goodnight’s sleep.” Imelda is giving her pregame speech. 

Early? Sebastian thinks, looking at the last bit of sun sinking over the horizon. 

“-so I’m not sure who their Seeker will be. I’ve no doubt Toro is waiting to announce it, thinking it’ll bother me. Well, she is wrong!” 

Sebastian tunes out the rest of Imelda’s speech, a bit nervous about the match. He wonders if you’ll be there to watch it, no doubt supporting your own house. He’s managed to avoid you for the first month of school by some miracle. Either that, or you must have taken the hint.

A wave of sorrow washes over him. Thinking about you makes him miss your friendship more than anything. He longs to talk with you, ask you how you’ve been, make sure you’re doing okay. But he reminds himself why he must avoid you. You’re better off without him. He knows if he keeps pushing you away, you’ll eventually give up. 

-

Rain has been pouring down all morning, with no signs of stopping for the match, Your heart is racing a mile a minute. You didn’t realize Sebastian had made Slytherin’s team.Out on the field, you’ll be forced to interact with Sebastian. You learned that he’s a Beater, one of his position descriptions being, stop the Seeker from getting the Snitch as all costs.  It’s game day and you’ve got the hood of your Quidditch robe over your head, keeping low so no one will recognize you, per Henri’s instructions. The team is lined up at the entrance to the pitch to make their flying introduction. Slytherin have gone it first, the audience cheering and clapping. 

-

Sebastian finishes the introduction lap with his team, the adrenaline from seeing such a big crowd giving him an unfamiliar thrill deep inside. He settles next to Imelda in the air. Imelda’s got her eyes trained on the entrance, waiting for the Hufflepuff’s self-deemed ace of a Seeker. 

The team enters, all flying in syncronization. In the back, is the new player, holding their hood over their face, keeping low and close to their broom. The team circles around once, the two beaters breaking off and doing some loops. They make their way to the center, the Seeker flying up to their starting position. Only then, they pull their hood back, revealing their face to the crowd. 

Sebastian practically gasps with the rest of the crowd. The Hufflepuff side erupts into cheers. “No bloody way.” Imelda breathes out.

No bloody way is right. Sebastian thinks.

-

Everyone instantly recognizes the face of the Hero of Hogwarts. Sebastian just sees you. He’s a little peeved, mostly because all his work in avoiding you is now in vain. The game has started and he has yet to take his eyes off you. You’re floating pretty high above everyone else, your eyes scanning every inch of the pitch.

It takes narrowly avoiding a Bludger to the head to knock Sebastian back into reality. He focuses back on the game, a bit surprised at how dirty Hufflepuff is playing. Their two Beaters have got Imelda pinned between them, forcing her towards a wall and then releasing her last minute. She’s too quick though, and narrowly avoids crashing into the barrier. 

-

Henri was right. Using you as their Seeker had the exact effect the team had been hoping for. Imelda was off her game, and the crowd was in an uproar. The rain has slowed to a light sprinkle and you were hovering above everyone, trying to spot the Golden Snitch. Honestly, in this weather, it felt useless.

Just then, a blur catched your eye and you turn in time to see a Bludger heading straight for you. You have no time to move, but someone zips up between you and the Bludger, smacking it away from you. To your surprise, it’s not a Hufflepuff Beater, but instead, it’s Sebastian.

“Sebastian!” you call out. He zooms away before you can stop him. You pull forward to chase after him. “Sebastian, wait, please.”

You’re the faster flyer, so you catch up to him easily. “Sebastian!” you call out one last time. “You’ve been avoiding me! Aren’t you tired of pushing everyone away?” you provoke him, hoping it’ll get him to at least face you. It works.

He slows and turns to you. “I’m not really sure this is the place nor the time to talk.” He yells so you can hear him through the rain and the noise of the crowd.

“How else was I supposed to get your attention?” you laugh.

He returns your smile, “And oh boy, did you! Let’s finish this game before Imelda takes my own bat and beats me with it.”

“No more running, Sebastian. It’s time to accept help. And friendship.” You point to the Hufflepuff crest on your uniform. 

—--

I am fully aware I am lazy at finishing fics. Henri Toro belongs to cadencesroundglasses (not sure if you'd want to be tagged) thanks for letting me use your lovely Hufflepuff!

[manyothermusingsofmine]

Masquerade of Units || Chapter 3/5

Prev: Chapter 2 Start: Chapter 1 Fandom: Xmen

Warnings: None

Wordcount: 2506

Summary: Hey you know what solves the questline sooner? When two of the three party members start arguing about stuff until the third one is questioning his life choices -------------------------

The three of them stared at the guy at the door, with Gambit leaning back with an annoyed groan. Seemed like tonight was the night of running into people he didn’t necessarily want to run into in the first place. But at least this one shouldn’t be too difficult to deal with as he lightly elbow pushed Miranda forward by a smidge.

“You go distract him.”

“Wh- wait, hold up a minute, why me?!” she asked in a high, annoyed whisper, “you’re the one with the charm gift here, not me.” “I haven’t had any luck with my supposed charm all evening,” he replied back in an equal hiss of a whisper, “besides, not even my charm is going to work on an actual straight guy, Miranda!”

“Who’s married, by the way,” Forge dryly remarked in a soft tone as he was behind both of them listening to the argument unfold, “with two kids.”

“Two?” Gambit asked, as both of the other mutants turned to Forge while he casually dropped this bit of knowledge into their lap.

“Yup, second one on the way from what I’ve heard through the grapevine.”

“…. Huh.”

Forge tried to keep his face unmoving as Miranda almost dramatically turned to Gambit, green eyes spewing fire and oh, if only they actually could.

“You knew he was married and you still want me to go over there and flirt with him?!” the tone of her whisper sharp and almost venomous as her ire seeped through in every word she hissed through her teeth.

“I said nothing about flirting, don’t be putting words I never said in my mouth!” his tone was just as sharp if not more so than hers, not appreciating it in the slightest that she implied he wanted her to start messing about in someone’s marriage, “just distract him, there’s other ways to do that than sweettalking someone!” “Then why don’t you do it?!”

“Because luck has been abandoning me all evening!”

Forge just looked back and forth to whomever was speaking, a sigh coming from what seemed to be the deepest pit of his soul as these two were having an argument on who had to talk to the guy at the door, rolling his eyes and wishing he had brought popcorn along to watch the debate. What finally stopped the whispered bickering between the two was when the actual lights started flickering, all three looking up at the light fixtures as Gambit grumbled that that was a great secondary problem that decided to make itself known if it wasn’t a mere fluke of the gods getting equally annoyed at their squabbling. Miranda on the other hand zoned out for a moment, her mind concocting a plan with the sudden flickering of the light as she looked at the guy.

“… Then I hope he’s superstitious,” she muttered, taking off her gloves and immediately without a word handing them over to Gambit, who just stared at her in an attempt to figure out what the hell she meant by that. She took out her ruby earrings, wanting to hand them over to Gambit as well when her hand suddenly halted above his in a moment of hesitation as she rolled her eyes to him.

“I want those back. They cost me a pretty penny.”

The absolute death glare she got in response would have been funny had she not been serious, and had Remy not taken genuine offense at the implication that he would steal from a friend as his red eyes were now the ones ablaze with anger

“Skill issue.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up.”

“I don’t want your damn rubies; I can get my own for whatever purpose I need, thank you very much.”

“Oh, sure, because you gave that zircon you quote unquote found to Shadow out of the mere goodness of your heart, huh?”

“Miranda,” he growled, eyes flashing pink in a warning that she was seriously pushing his buttons right about now, to which Forge reacted by actually stepping in before these two decided to turn on each other like two rabid dogs fighting over the same bone

“Will you two knock it off?! Seriously, having to listen to you argue like a set of school children is making me want to be a part of this less and less by the minute, so get a move on; we have more important things to worry about than this childish argument between the two of you!” Miranda dropped the earrings on top of the gloves, vanishing from sight as soon as they hit the fabric with the only thing still showing being the sparkles of her dress in the light. She had no intent of being graceful about this anymore, walking over with an annoyed growl coming out of her that she could easily use for the plan she had been trying to set into motion. It was enough to startle the man with the dark curls and green spotted skin away from his leaning against the door enough that with a simple approach and a hard push with her hip she shoved him further away. She threw the door to maintenance open, easily spotting a light switch that she angrily and rapidly pushed on and off to make the lights down the hallway flicker. 

Deep brown eyes looked on in increasing concern and a faint sense of horror as all he saw was light reflecting off shining particles before an almost poltergeist scenario played out in front of him

“Uh, that’s-“

His sentence interrupted by the loud slam of the door being forcefully thrown shut on it’s own with no one nearby, the frog mutant instinctively leaped up and back from the noise, temporarily sticking to a window near the base of the stairs before sliding down and leaping up again as the door was throw back open with the same angry vibe coming off from the force

“… something I’m not dealing with on my own,” he concluded to himself, hopping off in big jumps down the hall back to the ballroom to find one of his friends. Miranda didn’t care if he brought the whole party, flicking back into view herself while leaning on the wall near the door with her arms crossed over her chest as Gambit and Forge approached.

“…. Subtle,” Gambit remarked, dropping her belongings into the hand she held out to him as soon as he got close enough, “see, no need for flirting with a married man. Thanks, by the way, for thinking that’s what I wanted you to do, like I’m some sort of homewreckin’ heartbreaker.”

“Now who’s putting words into someone’s mouth?”

“I seem to be learning from the best, here.”

“Stop,” Forge bit at the both of them as Miranda inhaled to start the argument back up again, deciding that if they still didn’t want to play nice with each other, he was going to take reign on this operation if they had any hope of actually finishing what they set out to do, “You, you stay by this door and let us know if anything happens. There’s a unit to your left, over there; if that starts working we should be in the clear. And you-”

He turned to Gambit, clearly and absolutely fed up with their arguing and stabbing at each other that he had decided the best course of action was to physically separate them for the time being

“Come with me,” it was a firm request he didn’t give an opt out option to, his gaze firmly on the other mutant, “I need your help with this AC.”

“N-“

“Do not argue with me,” and the almost parental tone of his voice finally seemed to shut both of them up despite Gambit having a need to always have the last word in a conversation, “come with me. Now.”

Gambit groaned, but obeyed the command regardless, with Miranda silently mocking him and the situation as they left, despite still fuming internally at the whole thing. She just listened as their footsteps went further away down the hall to what she hoped was whatever controlled the AC units, so when they fixed it the whole night would be fine and she didn’t have to deal with either of them for the rest of the damn evening. The boiling rage in her stomach seemed to cool and settle, and with it her heart sank a little. Her mind took over, overthinking the situation while guilt started swirling in her chest over the things she had said. Remy was right, she was implying things about him she had no right to put on him. She shut her eyes to try and ban the tension head ache that started to emerge, only to open them and look directly in brown eyes so dark they were near pitch black. She let out a mangled, soft yelp at the sudden presence of someone way too close in her personal space like that. The silver haired man tilted his head like a curious dog, looking her up and down and immediately laughing when her invisibility flicked on- there was little point in hiding from someone who knew where she was already, and he placed two arms on each side of her with a speed she had no hope of ever matching, trapping her in.

“No you don’t, hi, mind telling me why you’re scaring the living daylights out of my friend, hm?”

“When you’re done sulking, will you give me that miniature wrench over there?” Gambit huffed at the request, but grabbed the tool and handed it over to Forge.

“Dunno, by how this evening is going, someone’s brother is going to accuse Gambit of stealin’ that off him.”

“Remy, will you stop?”

“She started it by implying I wanted her to flirt with a married man and that I would steal from my friends, like I don’t have enough on my plate without her accusations. I gave her back the stupid earrings, what do you want?!”

“For you to breathe, and cool your temper for a minute. Fine, she started it, you’re right, is that what you want to hear? You did little to deescalate the situation back there, or anything to explain what you actually wanted from her.”

“Oh so the logic there is that because I don’t tell her what kind of distraction I need we’re just all going to assume I want her to jump Tolansky’s bones, or what?! Grand. Really making me feel appreciated right about now, when I’m trying to save this evening for her sake.”

“Are you? Because to me, it’s starting to sound like you’re doing what she did to you; putting words in our mouths. I certainly didn’t expect that to be your intent, but neither her, me or you possess telepathy. Unless both of you start talking about what the plan actually is, without taking stabs at each other over things the other has no control over, the two of you will never form an actual good, functioning team, now will you?” “She wouldn’t be here if I didn’t convince her to go, which means she would miss out on an evening with Nightcrawler; insulting me, accusing me of shit I didn’t do is her way of repaying that?”

“Oh, and what a night it’s been; Nightcrawler amongst many boiling alive in a mansion that forgot that machinery like this need maintenance that they haven’t bothered to hire the staff for apparently, and Gambit meddling in the business of his friends because he’d rather set those two up then deal with his own business, causing him to cold shoulder ignore the woman making heart eyes at him as soon as he appears on the scene. Am I missing anything, or is that an accurate enough summary?” The call out hit him hard and raw, as Gambit crossed his arms with a scowl and leaned back on the nearest flat surface. Yes, Forge was missing something, the part where Miranda implied he was going around wrecking the relationships of others for the hell of it or for quick gain. As if he wasn’t in the middle of trying to tie off the loose ends between the residue remaining of how he had felt about Rogue, while simultaneously trying to make sense of the absolute overpowering wave of emotions and feelings Shadow shook loose in him by merely looking at him.

… Which she couldn’t actually know about, and for what it was worth Miranda had kept her word about not telling anyone about seeing him and Shadow kiss. Sure, bringing up the zircon was a stupid stab; but giving someone a gift was something he could still play off and come back from in a way he couldn’t if she ran her mouth about that kiss instead. Tension left his shoulders as he could at the very least not blame her for the bind he found himself in; Miranda had nothing to do with the struggle he felt between two women he did genuinely care a lot for.

“Why did you bring me here, Forge? You don’t actually need Gambit to help you with any mechanical know how.”

“I brought you here to stop you and the lady from actually tearing each other’s throats out back there. You’re both bullheaded and enjoy pressing the buttons of the other too much to walk away when things get too real, so I figured if you two weren’t going to separate yourselves I would step in and make you; before someone said something they couldn’t take back or turned it physical; I saw that warning flare in your eyes, Gambit. You two genuinely fight like siblings, so I figured I would treat you as a pair to give both of you some time to mull it over, away from each other. Speaking of,” Forge leaned back, looking on one of his widgets to check the time, “that should have given us just about enough time.”

“For what, the AC to be fixed?”

“For Todd to get back up.”

“…. Wait, what?”

Forge rolled his head to Gambit, a neutral expression on his face as he sat down by the machinery he almost had running again, waiting for a minute to see if the situation dawned upon Gambit by himself.

“As far as Todd is concerned, he got attacked by a Victorian ghost haunting this place. You know as well as I do that he went to go grab a friend to come help him check it out. Fast,” and as soon as he emphasized that last word, Gambit turned his eyes to the ceiling in a groan as if his soul wanted to escape and in turn haunt the mansion they were in. “Merde. He’s bringing Maximoff.”

“Yup, and if her claim of you having the better talking skills holds any water, then she isn’t talking herself out of that one.”

“… I’m going back.” “Good choice, my friend.”

[seigephoenix]

Kinktober 2024: Marking

I'll warn you now, this one ends a little frustratingly. Only because it's tying into another prompt for later in the month!

Ship: Aurelia Tullius/Farkas Content Warning: biting, leaving marks, frustration, sass because it's Aurelia, my own headcanons regarding magic in Skyrim, my headcanon regarding Winterhold's College questline Length: 3.5k

Aurelia heavily sighed as she trudged through the snow going towards Winterhold.  Winter was not something Aurelia ever thought she’d grow to like but at least she was used to it more now than when she’d first landed in Skyrim.  Winterhold and Windhelm were two cities that always felt so bitter cold to her, but at least Windhelm she did her best to avoid.  After the whole war with Ulfric and the whole killing him to end it thing, Aurelia didn’t like stepping foot in the city.  That and the racism.  She’d heard one of the Nords call a dark elf names and her foot magically found its way onto the guy’s ass and he took a header into a snowbank.  The guards would start rubbing their temples if she showed her face in Windhelm because she never left without getting into at least one fistfight.

Windhelm and Winterhold were also two places none of her friends visited with her.  Sylvana claimed they didn’t have any good marks so the thieves’ guild rarely bothered, though with Windhelm it had been more about avoiding Ulfric’s ire than anything else.  Nyx didn’t avoid Winterhold, but she disliked the citizens in Windhelm being a dark elf.  Unless they got a contract in either city, Nyx didn’t bother with them either.  Roscar didn’t go with her either but she knew why he didn’t go to Winterhold.  Magic and the Companions didn’t go together that well, she thought he’d stab her the first time she’d used Restoration magic on him.

“Aurelia!” Aurelia waved as she approached the college and smiled warmly as she spotted Faralda standing at the gate.  Aurelia had taken over at Archmage after the magical oops that was the Eye of Magnus debacle.  Aurelia had never explained to the College what had truly happened down in the Midden with the Augur.  She and the Augur thought it best to explain it as he had faded from existence than let them worry.  She still wasn’t quite sure how the Augur had discovered Ancano plotting to absorb what the Augur was.  Aurelia worried that her possessing this amount of mana would make everyone hate her and would put a target on her back.  Well, a bigger target anyway.  So she kept it quiet that she had been the one to absorb everything the Augur was.  At least he allowed his consciousness to fade away as well so she didn’t have a passenger in her head.  Though, Aurelia had been curious if he and Meridia would have had conversations in her head.

“I got that note from Tolfdir.  Is everything alright?” Aurelia asked as Faralda shook her head.  “I assumed it was bad.  Where can I find him?”  Faralda told her to look in the office and Aurelia set off over the arched bridges.  She waved to the students as she passed and paused outside of Tolfdir’s office.  She heard a deep, angry voice inside and she pushed open the door when she heard a panicked shout from Tolfdir.  Her hand was already moving and threw the paralyzing spell out at the intruder without thought.

“My lady, thank you for your assistance,” Tolfdir said as he released a shaky breath.  Aurelia turned to study the visitor and her eyes widened.  “Do you recognize our guest?”

“I do…” Aurelia snapped her fingers and the spell faded away.  “But you’re supposed to be dead.”  She turned and studied Skjor.  She remembered the grief that ran through Roscar and Farkas when Aela notified them about Skjor’s death.  “Did someone reanimate you?”  She waved her hand using the spell to detect any undead in the vicinity, but Skjor did not ping her mana.  “Odd…”  She knew that only powerful magic would be able to do bring someone back from the dead, usually of the divine sort.  “Tolfdir, I’m going to bring our guest to my quarters.  Make sure we’re not disturbed alright?”

“Are you certain?” Aurelia nodded.  “It is as you say Archmage.  I will ensure no one bothers you.  Ring for us if you require assistance.”

“Thank you.” Aurelia smiled at him before turning to Skjor and jerking her head towards the door.  “I’ve got to hear this story.  Come on.”  Skjor followed her quietly and his eyes darted around at any movement.  She sensed the unease in him and glanced over her shoulder as they walked towards her quarters.  “Don’t make me use a calming spell on you.  They are children.”

“Children infested with magic,” Skjor growled and she sent him a withering glance over her shoulder that quieted him down.  Soon they headed up the steps to her quarters and she shut the door behind him.  She didn’t feel threatened by the man, but it made her curious about why he’d made a reappearance.

“Who brought you back?” Aurelia asked quietly and Skjor clenched his fists.  She saw the way his eyes glared at them and knew how helpless it made you feel to not know.

“I don’t know.  That’s why I came here.  I hoped one of the mages here could tell me,” he answered curtly.  Aurelia grasped her chin and studied him.  “I did not dare go back to Jorrvaskr.  I do not know if my return would be welcome…”

“Once we figure out how this happened to you, I’m sure it will be.” Skjor agreed with her assessment of the situation.  They both knew the Companions would be highly skeptical of his return given it could only happen through magical means.  “This is odd though.  I don’t sense any Restoration or Necromancy magic on you.”  Aurelia scratched the side of her head as she studied Skjor.

“Restoration.  That’s healing?” She nodded.  “Necromancy?”

“Not a school that’s widely accepted and we do have tight restrictions on it here.  But it’s the school of magic for raising the dead.  Though usually that’s as mindless slaves.  Typically, I don’t see that school doing this.  Not without a specific purpose in mind.” Aurelia sighed and wondered if the library would have more information.  She’d never heard of this kind of thing, most mages that possessed the kind of power required would have an agenda of sorts.

“You allow that to happen?” Skjor snapped with ice dripping from every word and Aurelia straightened.

“Best to allow it here under supervision than in some corner of the country where anything can happen.  At least here if there are any mistakes, we can curtail any fallout from it.”  Skjor snapped his mouth shut and huffed at her.

“I see the wisdom in your words.  What are you going to do about my situation?” Aurelia rolled her eyes as she turned towards her bookshelf in the room.  “Books?”

“Books that have been written by the archmages before me and beyond.  As your Harbinger possesses the wisdom passed down from the ones before him.”  Skjor raised his eyebrow.

“What do you know about our Harbinger?”  Aurelia winced as she realized Skjor wouldn’t know.

“Roscar is your Harbinger.  Kodlak was killed during a raid by the Silver Hand.  I was in Whiterun when it happened.”  Skjor sat down in the chair to let her words sink in.

“Kodlak?  The others?”

“Are fine.  Kodlak and a few new recruits were the only casualties.  I did what I could to help heal the wounds left behind by the fight.”  Skjor glanced down at his fist before looking back at her.

“Did they avenge him?”

“Considering vengeance began the entire thing?”  Skjor glared at her and she scoffed before returning to her search.  “Yes.  From my understanding it was Aela and Roscar that went to avenge him.  Vilkas and Farkas went as backup.  I was ordered to remain neutral.  As if I hadn’t already guessed what your damn secret was by that point.”  Aurelia waved dismissively over her shoulder and Skjor pulled back his lips in a snarl.  Aurelia rolled her eyes as she heard him growling behind her.

“Oh piss off.  You aren’t that secretive with it.  I know all about lycanthropy anyway.  I may have lived in the capital city, but I went on assignments to the smaller villages surrounded Cyrodil.  One such village had a werebear invasion.  So the army made us learn everything we could about lycanthropes.  Plus, Roscar isn’t the most…  Subtle of people.” Aurelia huffed as Skjor sat back down.  She grabbed a book off the shelf and opened it.  She flipped through the pages but nothing could tell her what kind of magic would bring someone back to life like that outside of a god’s intervention.

“I don’t think Hircine has that much power…”  Aurelia sighed as she was stumped.  Skjor crossed his arms and glared at her but she ignored him.  They’d never gotten along, ever since the first time she set foot in Jorrvaskr.  “This is going to annoy me until I figure it out.”

“You’re useless then.”  Aurelia snapped around to look at him and Skjor took a step back at the look in her eyes and the snap of frost crackling in the air.

“Don’t you ever call me that again or I’ll leave you on your own,” she hissed at him which shocked him.  “I’ll see what the library has about this.  Stay here like a good doggy.”  He bared his teeth at her but she merely flipped him off before she headed down the stairs to the library.  There had to be something that could tell her what it was.  If only she could convene with the Augur, but that wasn’t plausible anymore.

“Bringing something back from the dead that isn’t mindless?” Aurelia nodded as she spoke with Colette about the matter.  “I do know of one spell.  It’s a master level Restoration spell, but the spell only works on the recently dead.”

“Recently?” Aurelia asked.

“I believe if it is beyond seven days dead, then the spell will not work as it should.  It will resemble a necromancy spell and the target of the spell will become a mindless zombie shambling around,” she explained and Aurelia nodded.  “This seems like the type.  Search for Restoration magic deep within the soul.”

“If he���ll let me,” Aurelia said and sighed deeply before going back up to her quarters.  She saw Skjor looking at the books there.  “I spoke with some of the other teachers here.  One mentioned there is a spell that can bring someone back from the dead.  I have to look into your soul to see if that is what happened.”

“No.” Aurelia grumbled at his immediate answer.

“Do you want the Companions to trust you again?  Aela trusts me, and so she’d trust my word.  But I can’t give that word until I’m sure.” Aurelia told him and crossed her arms as he glared at her.  They locked equally irritated gazes with each other before Skjor huffed and reluctantly agreed.  She placed her hand over his armor and closed her eyes as she concentrated her mana on looking for that spell.

“Huh, so someone did use that spell on you.” Aurelia backed up a step when she felt the warm glow in his soul.  “That’s lucky for you.  Restoration spells don’t have any nasty side effects.  Your soul and mind are yours clear and free.”  Skjor looked down at his hands in amazement.  “Heading back to Jorrvaskr now?”

“Yes.  I want to see my family again,” he replied and Aurelia agreed to accompany him.  “I do not need an escort Dragonborn.”

“And I’m so sure your return will be well met.” He narrowed his eyes at her but reluctantly admitted she had a point.  They traveled to Whiterun together.

Jorrvaskr

“Want me to go in first?” Aurelia asked as Skjor glared down at her.  “What?  I’m just asking.  Be my guest.”  She waved her hand towards the door and Skjor was amazed someone could make a gesture look sarcastic.  He opened the door, letting it slam in her face in a petty victory.  Especially when it closed on her calling him a name.

“Skjor?” Aela asked as they all froze in the middle of the fistfight.  “What?  You’re.  You’re dead!” Aela drew her sword and Skjor held his hands up defensively.  Vilkas and Roscar joined her side with their swords drawn.

“Wait, wait!” Aurelia shoved inside the hall and stumbled just a bit before righting herself.  She hurried over and waved her hands frantically as if trying to ward the blades off.

“Aurie, did you know?” Aela asked and Aurelia heard the hurt in her voice.

“Not until recently.”  Roscar lowered his sword when it didn’t seem like Aurelia was on her guard.  If she, the most paranoid woman in all of Tamriel, wasn’t on her guard then he admitted there was more at play than he could see.

“I went to the College after waking up at the base of a Hircine shrine.  I was in the wilderness near Windhelm.” Skjor told them as Aurelia stood in front of him.  Farkas joined them and he froze seeing the sight in front of him.  He’d traveled back from Solitude, annoyed that Aurelia had been called away.  They had unfinished business.  “I had hopes the mages there would be able to help me.”

“You didn’t know Aurie was a member…”  Skjor glared down at Aurelia who met his glare defiantly.

“You haven’t told them you’re the bloody Archmage of the College of Winterhold?” Aurelia huffed as the Companions stared at her in silent shock.  She crossed her arms and glared at Skjor.

“Don’t try to deflect using me, you overgrown hairball.”  Aela sputtered and clapped a hand over her mouth at the insult so casually thrown out.  Aurelia accepted their gifts easily so Aela would accept hers just as easily.  Though it took a lot of discipline to not burst into laughter at the insult Aurelia threw at Skjor’s head.  “That’s beside the point.  We did, in fact, help him figure out what happened.”

“How?  How did this happen?  Is there truly magic out there like this?” Aurelia nodded at Vilkas’s question.  Farkas watched it all silently trying to absorb the fact that the woman he loved was the head of a mage guild.

“This is the Restoration school of magic,” Aurelia explained as she waved towards Skjor.  “There’s no nasty side effects or hidden switches implanted in the soul that can be flipped by a spell caster.”  Skjor’s eyes widened and he stared at her.  “What is that look for?  I explained necromancy to you already.”

“You failed to mention there could be magic afoot that can be ‘turned on’ by a spellcaster,” he growled at her and she stuck her tongue out at him.  Farkas bristled at the way Skjor was glaring at Aurelia.  A protective need rose in him and he found himself reaching for her and pulling her back against his chest.  One arm crossed over her chest and he glared at Skjor over her head.  “Farkas?”

Aela burst out into laughter at the display and Vilkas heaved a sigh.  Roscar just shook his head as Aurelia demanded release.  “Lemme go!” Aurelia shook her fist towards Farkas’s chin.  His arm merely tightened in response and she tilted her head back to glare at him.  “I’m not done explaining shit!”

“Aurie, you said you figured out what happened?” Aela asked as she redirected the conversation before it dissolved into further chaos.  Aurelia snapped back to attention and nodded.

“Yes.  It’s a master level Restoration spell and it has to be used within seven days of the person’s death for it to work.”  Aela gasped as she looked at Skjor and then at Aurelia.  “The soul comes back to life.  The body takes a bit longer, especially if there were grievous injuries.”

“Still, are you sure?”

“Yeah.  I know how you would react so I made absolute sure.  My magic touched Skjor’s soul.  It’s clear of any sinister magic.  All I felt was the Restoration’s light.”  Aela reached for Skjor’s hand and Aurelia smiled as he was welcomed back.  “Well, that’s over and done with.”  She grabbed her hips and glared up at Farkas.  “Let me go.”

“No.”

“Still!?  Farkas, I swear by the Nine.”  Aurelia didn’t get to finish her threat as Farkas merely picked her up and tucked her under his arm.  Her lips parted in surprise before she screeched at him to let her go.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of seeing Farkas just manhandling the Dragonborn,” Vilkas said as he watched his brother leave the hall with the seething woman under his arm like a burlap sack.

“If she really wanted out, she’d get out.” Roscar agreed with Aela’s assessment.

“I’d rather not think about that if you don’t mind,” Vilkas groaned and Aela laughed.  Skjor just looked confused and Roscar turned grabbing him in a headlock.

“You’ve missed quite a bit since you’ve been gone.”  They headed down to the Harbinger’s quarters to break out the drink and catch up.

Breezehome

“Farkas…” Aurelia practically growled his name as she struggled to get out, except moving a mountain would be easier than getting Farkas to let her go.  He pushed open the door to her home and kicked it closed behind him.  She protested the entire way up to her small bedroom.

“You talk too much.”  He dropped her onto the bed and pinned her down before she could roll away.

“So you’ve said, numerous times.” Aurelia sneered and he studied her face.  His hands began tugging at the straps and snaps holding her armor together and she squirmed under him.  His body reacted and she paused before looking down between them and back up to his face.  “Really!?”  He didn’t bother answering him, instead he dropped her gauntlets on the floor beside the bed.

Aurelia was stunned when he managed to get her chestplate off her torso without moving.  Her head fell back when his hands grabbed her breasts, squeezing gently through her shirt.  His lips trailed over her exposed neck savoring the way her body trembled beneath his.  She was tough as hell, a warrior through and through, but she melted when his lips touched her.  His teeth skimmed over the side of her neck before clamping down over her pulse point.

The flash of pain had her back bowing.  Aurelia’s lips parted on a keening moan when his tongue soothed the sting.  His fingers flexed against her waist with the sound.  His hands tugged until her shirt joined her armor and his lips trailed a line of kisses over the freckles on her shoulders.  Aurelia sucked in a breath when his teeth sank into her shoulder.  The razor sharp pain cut through the warm haze swallowing her mind, but it only made the ache more intense.  She ached to feel him inside of her, stretching and filling her until all she could think about was him.

Farkas moved down over the gentle slope of her breast.  His teeth tugged at the hard nipple earning a moan from her that had him rock hard.  He trailed his lips over her breast until his teeth bit the soft underside.  Aurelia’s fingers dug into his hair, freezing him in place when his tongue soothed the sting.  He tasted the coppery tang on her skin and his fingers squeezed her hips.  Her head fell back before any protest left her lips when he growled.

Aurelia covered her lips with the back of her arm at the way that sound went straight to her pussy.  Her body clenched desperately wanting his cock to fill her, but instead he just wanted to toy with her like always.  “Farkas, please.”  The words came out jumbled and muffled thanks to her arm, but he ignored her anyway.  His teeth sank into the soft skin of her stomach and she thought she’d come just from that.

His hands eased her thighs apart and she froze when his mouth hovered over her throbbing body.  She tightened her hold on his hair when his teeth sank into the inside of her thigh.  His tongue flattened against the wound and had heat spiraling in her body.  She was on the edge and just one little push was all she needed.  She tried begging but nothing was working.  Farkas settled his lips against the inside of her thigh, just above that first bite wound.  His arm snaked around her and she shuddered at the sight of him.

They both paused as the door opened downstairs.  Farkas looked towards the door as Aurelia struggled to get her leg free from him.  Reality settled like a bucket of cold water over her, and she knew she did not want to get caught naked by whoever was downstairs.  “Let me go!” Aurelia hissed as Farkas merely tightened his grip on her leg.  “Farkas!”  Aurelia grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around her body as the stairs creaked under the weight of whoever was inside her home.

“Farkas.”  They both looked over at the door at the quiet voice.

“Don’t you fucking dare come into my room Bonebreaker.  I’ll end your line with you if you try it,” Aurelia snapped as Roscar stopped at the top of the stairs.  Farkas dropped her leg and moved until he was off the bed and out of the room.  Worry settled deep into her gut.  “Roscar?”

She froze when Farkas brought him into the room and he had blood soaking his side.  She saw the bleak expression on his face and she moved without thought to heal his wound.

[akaviri-dovah]

Do tell me all about your Mary Sue OC *rests chin on hands*

ahhhhh first of all I gotta say I'm so flattered that you followed me >w< I've been a fan of your art and writing for your while but that's another story for another day-

anyways about the character herself... I have A LOT to share, and the post editor doesn't like me so I apologise for taking so long on this, and thank you for your patience. I am going to start by saying that right from the start, before she even had a name, I thought her already dangerously close to being a mary sue due to her original purpose... shipping with one of my favourite canon characters.

this is Rumeranwen Malathelaere (or simply Rume), a 6'8 greatsword wielding high elf templar and my main character for ESO. though I haven't had much time to play the game I know enough to weave a story in my head about her, her love interest, and the forces threatening to tear them apart.

long ramble under the cut about her story, and all things about it I am worrying about making her a mary sue. spoilers abound. I'd like to hear opinions about this, also.

as is in the nature of all Elder Scrolls protagonists, it is in her hands that the fate of the world is placed. and not just once, either! though I plan to have multiple characters in my game and story, she is the one who takes the role of Vestige, completing the main quest as well as her alliance's questline, alongside the major DLC's.

Rume is a wonderful girl, for the most part: passionate, boisterous and energetic, righteous, and fearless (or at least claiming to be - there are some exceptions!). a true enjoyer of all the wonders Tamriel and its various peoples have to offer - see all the places, try all the food, pet all the creatures. but she is far from perfect: naive (especially after soul removal), stubborn, and a bit too impulsive for her own good, often learning things the hard way. not to mention that her engagement with other races puts her at odds with most of her fellow Altmer.

seems like quite a decent personality for the saviour of Tamriel, time and time again. but how did she get swept up into it all? why choose her (especially since she can put up quite the fight against any potential captors) to sacrifice and kick off the Planemeld, condemning her to an eternity of torment in Coldharbour?

simple, because she was the lover of Vanus Galerion. brought together by a certain Daedric Prince's playing matchmaker in an attempt to alleviate the Great Mage's troubled mind, and stayed that way for many years prior to the events of ESO. but sadly, it does not last, because Mannimarco (who in my and many others' interpretation is Vanus ex, who nevertheless wants him back) finds out and threatens them both. and so they separate for the time being, with Vanus going to confront Mannimarco alone and Rume left to wander Tamriel "as if she never knew him like she did" . but the Worm Cult's forces find her anyway, and proceed to capture her and drag her to Manni's lair, where he personally sacrifices her to Molag Bal.

but unlike so many others sacrificed in the same way, she returned to Nirn as if alive again due to her love for life itself being so deep and boundless, acting as an aedric force protecting her. but without a soul, she has no memory of her experiences from her previous mortal life. she does find Vanus again, much to his shock as he was given visions of her death. and especially since this Rume - though looking and sounding exactly the same as the Rume he knew and loved - does not recognise him at all.

things will get better for them, though. Rume will know him again, and realise her love for him even before she regains her soul. and their bond stays ever strong for the years to come - even though she travels far and wide, he is never far from her mind. and once her adventuring ends, and they retreat to a hidden estate to live out the rest of their lives in peace, she will be remembered by the people of all provinces for eras to come by myriad titles, with one of the most notable being "the Warrior Bride of the Great Mage."

if only it were so. for Mannimarco was not done with them yet, and was doubly furious for this perceived enemy of his to have escaped her fate, beat his ass, and stole his lover once again. and so came the fateful battle between Vanus's army of warriors and mages and Mannimarco's forces of death and darkness.

A thousand good and evil perished then, history confirms. Among, alas, Vanus Galerion, he who showed the way, It seemed once that Mannimarco had truly died that day.

from the book Mannimarco, King of Worms. this is canon.

Rumeranwen Malathelaere was among that thousand. sort of, but not quite. for she was a Vestige, and could not be truly killed, unlike her mortal lover who was then taken as an undead thrall by the King of Worms. but knowing this, Mannimarco sent his subordinates to the nearest wayshrine to capture her upon her resurrection, and imprisoned her in a pit at the bottom of a dungeon complex hidden beneath a lonely part of Tamriel untouched by man, mer, or beast, forced to die and come back to life over and over and over again with no way to escape nor anyone to rescue her. all written records of her were destroyed and word-of-mouth stories of her twisted into unrecognisability by the Worm Cult; by the tail end of the Third Era, nobody knew such a person had ever existed.

but rumour has it, that there is still someone who not only knows about her, but is searching for her, even after all this time. for immortals never forget their friends.

TLDR - "chosen one" oc who saves the world on multiple occasions, manages to defy fate due to "the power of love", nice for the most part but goes through awful undeserved things, has important canon character/in universe historical figure as love interest, is treated as a character who really existed in-universe

hope you enjoyed, nonetheless. and special credits go out to @titanwolfackerman for major inspiration and help in creating this story. please do check them out.

[morihaus]

Aranea...

My first impression

I don't think I knew Aranea existed before I played Skyrim in like 2020 or 2021 or something, whenever I started being active on this blog. Given the fact I was kinda using the playthrough to develop Vivynne I'm sure my first response was LOL of course my Dunmeri immigrant bumbles her way into some stupid quest like this almost immediately after arriving in Skyrim, ON THE WAY to the College of Winterhold (my actual goal.) But oh well if a woman tells me to do something what am I to do but go on this stupid sidequest...

My impression now

Once I'd settled on continuing the tried and true tradition of pairing TES protags with random insignificant unromanceable NPCs, I began to put a LOT more thought into Aranea and her life. How kind of fucked it is to consider on a timeline, how she's two centuries old living on a frozen mountain top and virtually abandoned by her goddess as soon as she fulfills her purpose. it's really fucked up and I realized that Viv would think it's fucked up and there'd be interesting ideas to explore there... Aranea is an incredibly steadfast and faithful person to hold out for so long up there, and it's definitely tragic the extent to which she seems disposable in the grander scheme of Azura's prophecy. But then she doesn't really view it as tragic because she repaid Azura for her mercy in leading her followers away from the Red Year, played an important role in the retrieval of her artifact, and when all was said and done she found her Champion to be charming company. She very much has faith that Azura planned everything that was going to happen to her and knew just what she was doing. It might seem fucked up from one lens but she has her own thoughts about it... like i said interesting to write about

Favorite thing about that character

Um the thing I just described, her EXTREME belief in fate and all things coming to their proper conclusion in the end. I wrote a really really good piece for Tesfest22 (i think it was that year) where Aranea lays out her life as she views it and gives her side of the story on why she still venerates Azura even as she's been "abandoned"... she's very sentimental, i think this manifests in her relationship to dunmer communities in Skyrim as well, she and the other priests who used to live up there were like a lifeline for them, especially in Winterhold before the collapse.

Least favorite thing

Is there really enough about her to have a least favorite thing?? i guess it's too bad she can't be like, brought away from the horrid frigid mountaintop shrine after the end of the quest. you can have her as a companion but it's not like you can say "quit your job. move in with me"

Favorite line/scene

The ones at the end of the questline and after it are so :( "While you were in the Star, Azura gave me a vision. Her last, she said. I have never been without Azura's foresight since escaping Morrowind. I don't know what to do" "She said my part was over. That my fate had moved beyond the Twilight, and I was on my own. I will tend Azura's shrine when you do not need me. I still have my duties, but for the first time I feel… alone."

Favorite interaction that character has with another

In my beautiful world Viv takes her to the College of Winterhold and Savos chokes on a loaf of bread when he sees her because she knew him as a child growing up in pre-collapse Winterhold. I just think it would be funny to see your student walking around with like, a childhood mentor of yours

A character that I wish that character would interact with more

I'm just going to take this opportunity to say I once read a fic where she traveled all the way to Windhelm to provide religious services to the gray quarter there and that was so sweet and I definitely believe in this

Favorite picture

The other questions I had nothing for so here is a mod that changes Aranea to give her a more distinct appearance... I love the scarification sooo much this is just how she looks to me now (i prefer the version without all the ENB shader whozits on because they lighten her skin so much)

[christmastreebag]

The Horror of the Jizz Ghoul: A Fallout 4 Creepypasta

I have to admit something. I pirated Fallout 4, and have never officially bought the game. All of my time playing Fallout 4 has been on a cracked version. Normally, this hasn't changed much besides losing the benifits of the steam version of the game.

But recently, I decided to pick the game up again since I missed the Commonwealth. This playthrough I decided to try the Brotherhood of Steel questline, since I've never actually played it. I ran about the Commonwealth, punching a southward hole through the wasteland when I came about the police station. The Brotherhood was struggling to hold off some feral ghouls, so I helped out, but Danse acknowledged the smell of the ghoul, which isn't something I remembered but honestly its pretty cool attention to detail.

Danse and I headed out to get that thing he needed (I honestly always forget why we go there in the first place) but it was really interesting because the synths voicelines were different as well. They kept saying "Down the hall and to the left" and kept talking about a wall, which I don't even recall being a part of Fallout 4's plot. After the mission, I had to a quest for Rhys where basically I had to clear some ghouls out of a nearby subway. Pretty simple, reminded me of Fallout 3, which I put vastly more time into. When I got there, being the loot goblin I am, I started to loot everything, even the bathrooms. But strangely, there was a deep black puddle in the one on the left. It was so black that it was like something sucked all of the white of out it. I continued through the subway, and when killed one of the ghouls in the tunnel, I was horrified. Instead of bleeding blood like a normal person, this ghoul was bleeding SEMEN. I bolted out of there lest I be swallowed by the HYPER-REALISTIC JIZZ WAVE CHASING ME. As I climbed the stairs out of there I noticed "Vote for Clinton" signs on the walls, which weren't there before.

(a screenshot i took of the jizz ghoul)

As I stepped out into the light, I heard Dogmeat whimper as I realized that the air around us was filled with a thick cum vapor, resembling fog. It was either staying there or braving the sperm storm, and I chose the storm. Thankfully, the station was only a block away, and I could make it there with little difficulty. When I got there, I told Rhys that the ghouls were taken care of. He then said "Oh really? Great work. I think I'm gonna..... JIZZ YOU UP" Then something inside Rhys started to open him up in a cumsplosion and HILLARY CLINTON CAME OUT. She screamed and reached through the screen "I'M GONNA MAKE FALLOUT WOKE!" I knew that couldn't happen and before she grabbed me with her claws I reached for my gun under my desk and shot her in the face.

I now realize what happened. That copy of Fallout 4 I pirated was a hacked version made to be pro-Clinton propaganda for the 2016 presidential elections. I'm not sure if I ended the real Hillary's reign of terror but I do know that I'll never pirate Fallout 4 again.

[pangolinheart]

Tell me all the things that are cool about Rhiki.

Okay, so I've been sitting on this for a while because I couldn't immediately think of anything that made Rhiki cool. So I gave it a little bit of time, but in the end... I still wasn't able to think of anything. ^^; I guess I just don't see her as a very cool character, so it's also hard to imagine what other people would find cool about her. But! Since I can't really answer your original ask I will give you a few random facts, some behind-the scenes stuff, and a few fic ideas i'll almost certainly never write.

Some random facts - Rhiki likes climbing and being in high places. She just likes the view. She likes looking out over the world and seeing how big it is. - She's a terrible teacher. She does have a few skills, but it's difficult to impart them to others. She's surprisingly good at cooking, though she has very little in the way of formal training, and seems to just have an instinct for what flavors pair well, or what spices could enhance a dish, or what cooking method would result in the right taste and consistency. But if she's asked to explain how she knows these things, she really can't. (She hasn't really done much cooking since she became the WoL for a variety of reasons.) Dragooning is the same. She doesn't know how she does it, she just does it. Being asked to tutor Heustienne was a disaster. ("Uhhhhmmm what if you started the jump with your legs... like this? ... No that was worse actually. Don't do that again. Uhhhhh give me a second I'm sure I can-") - Rhiki likes teasing people, though she's careful not to be mean about it. Way back in ARR (before I knew anything about SHB lol) she would occasionally "slip up" and call Thancred "Dad." This was 100% intentional because she liked watching his facial expressions as he contemplated the fact she thought he was old enough to be her father. Any time he did something that annoyed her she would make a mental note to do it again at some random interval in the future. - She likes things that are cute, but her definition of cute is extremely broad. She thinks tonberries are cute. She thinks goobues are cute, she thinks demon bricks are cute (rhiki it's just a cube...)

Some behind-the-scenes facts - Earlier in the game, with her first haircut, her hair was actually purple and orange. But with the different highlight style of the pvp cut the contrast was way too stark. So I changed it to purple and light pink to try and keep with the general theme. I like to think it still has some orange pieces. I never thought of an in-universe explanation for why it changed. - I thought about changing part of Rhiki's appearance to commemorate merging with Ardbert, but I couldn't think of anything other than changing one of her eyes to be blue, which would kind of mess with the aesthetic. - (!drk questline spoilers!) I've discovered that when most people think of/write about/draw Esteem, they give them Fray's body. I understand why they continue to take this form after the level 50 quest in-game (because having one consistent character model is way easier for future cutscenes and the Living Shadow ability than trying to rig up a mirror version of the player character for those things) but when I picture Esteem, or Esteem interacting with Rhiki, I picture them as just another version of Rhiki, maybe wearing different armor (the Virtu Chaos set maybe?) - Related to the above, there are a few dream commissions that I'll probably never get because they would be expensive. One of them would be some sort of cathartic scene with Rhiki and Esteem. Another one I would love to get if money were no option is a character design commission for a Sin Eater/ Lightwarden version of Rhiki. (I just think a lot of the sin eater concepts are really cool and while I don't want any other major characters to turn into sin eaters... i kinda want to see what it would look like if they did!)

And here are a few fic ideas that I had but will probably never write for one reason or another - An shb AU where Rhiki does become a Lightwarden after absorbing Innocence, but because of (reasons) Esteem and Myste are kind of jettisoned out of Rhiki's soul before the full transformation takes place. They don't have much power on their own, but stick around to assist whoever comes to slay (save?) Rhiki. (I was thinking Sid and Rielle but I couldn't think of any way that didn't sound super hand-wavey to get them to the first.) Or, in Esteem's case, maybe watch one of the Scions get eaten as a consolation prize. I ended up giving up on this idea because there were so many things I didn't have an answer for (what characters would I use if I can't think of a way for characters from the Source to come from the first? Wouldn't anyone else who slew a lightwarden just become one, defeating the purpose? How would anyone without the blessing of light go about slaying a lightwarden? etc.) I also couldn't think of a satisfying ending to it. - A modern AU told through messages left on an answering machine. I never went anywhere with this one because I kind of knew how it was going to end, but I had no idea what to put between the beginning and the end lol. - Another AU based loosely on the concept of The Dragon Song Reprise (which I haven't actually played...) where Rhiki goes back in time to save Haurchefant and succeeds. But if Haurchefant never dies, Rhiki never becomes a Dark Knight, which she realizes a little too late. Which means Sid is on his own in protecting Rielle, which it's implied that he might not be able to do. So that sends Rhiki on a mad dash to save Sid and Rielle while also trying to avoid other unintended consequences of changing the past. Once again I had a handful of scenes for this one but no real substance and I had no idea what direction to take it in.

[primojade]

𝐅𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐂𝐈𝐄𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄.

𝐀𝐂𝐓 𝐈𝐈: 𝐀𝐔𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐔𝐍𝐀 𝐈𝐔𝐕𝐀𝐓. ( fortune favours the bold )

𝐒𝐂𝐄𝐍𝐄 𝐈.𝐈𝐈 : 𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐔𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐔𝐌 𝐏𝐄𝐓𝐈𝐓𝐈𝐎 𝐏𝐑𝐈𝐍𝐂𝐈𝐏𝐈𝐈

" fear not death for the hour of your doom is set and none may escape it. " - volunga saga, c.5

𝐒𝐄𝐑𝐈𝐄𝐒' 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | As a veteran AR60 player of Genshin Impact, you pride yourself as someone who knows the ins and outs of Teyvat, even studiously completing Spiral Abyss every reset, and having 100% exploration to some, if not all, of the released regions so far. Everything is fun and enjoyable, especially since Sumeru just recently debuted so you still have a lot to do!

All that ends though, when a mysterious passerby pushes you off the building of your university while playing Genshin. But instead of meeting your inevitable end, you find yourself waking up in the very world you were addicted to! 

It's supposed to be a fun dream, right? Something you could laugh at when you wake up? Right?! So, why is that you were back in AR1 with nothing but a dull blade in your inventory?!

…well, at least you still have those 700+ sunsettias and mints, Timmie's fowls…and surprisingly similar game mechanics you used to merely see on the screen before. But what should you do now? Flirt with the Genshin men??? Good lords...

"Welcome to Genshin Impact, Dreamer. Here, we can show you a happier ever after you've never had before…so, ready?"

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐔𝐌𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐘 | In which you somehow find yourself tangled in the start of a web of conspiracies and confusion as the threat of the crumple paper of fate led you to a strange path with two equally strange men.

𝐂𝐖 / 𝐓𝐖 | Cursing, possibly ooc Kaveh and Alhaitham, spoilers for Sumeru Archon Quest, let me know if I missed anything <3

𝐖𝐑𝐈𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 | This is a lot harder to write because I established a new plot lmao. And because of Kaveh and Alhaitham it was so hard to write them sjakahs. Also, this was supposed to be posted on Friday last night but I was so tired after a whole day doing god-knows-what outside so I wasn’t able to finish the chapter :( Reblogs and comments are appreciated!

masterlist | route 1: argumentum ad hominem | (alternate route) route 1.1: magister dixit

Apparently, today was simply not your day.

Even before you get the chance to leave the blasted scene you found yourself in, you got stuck in the House of Daena together with two potential suspects of book robbery, one is known for being an academia lunatic and one for being a perfectionist architect. Not that you knew that they would do it, of all people, but at this point, you just did not want to give a damn.

Anyway, flashback almost a week prior after your arrival in Teyvat and before all this crazy fiasco happened, it's not everyday that your rationality won over your desire to earn and farm primogems, you know. It's also a near impossible feat to abandon the quest that could potentially help you advance your AR and even more so in pretending that Cyno is not outside, talking to Tighnari over something you wisely choose not to listen to–lest you might incur more suspicions from the both of them.

Which, in fact, is the last thing you wanted to do.

So, ignoring the questline and the angry red mark of the Paimon Menu, you closed the tab and let yourself fall on the soft bed once again with a dejected sigh. You repeatedly told yourself that this decision was the best course of action and you will have no regrets in this route. Still, you didn’t know how many hours had passed since then–all you somehow perceived is falling asleep, being lulled by the hushed whispers of the people outside and the quiet stillness of the Avidya Forest you grew accustomed to in the past months from behind the screen of your device. 

All dreams would soon end. Your hippocampus reminded you, and you agreed. No matter how much this bittersweet reality you found yourself in looks so believable, you couldn’t be far from your own reality…right? 

There has to be a way to go back.

That aside, the past four days you spent in Tighnari’s care was far from not being nerve-wrecking, if you were being honest. The fennec therianthrope seems to like hovering around you a lot, fussing like a distressed mother when you do something that he thought would strain your body and passionately lecturing you about the pros of staying in bed while you rest as if you were a poorly disciplined child.

While you admit that he was a great caregiver and it was endearing seeing a former 2D character worries about you despite literally knowing nothing about you, Tighnari’s inevitable tendencies to get lost in his lectures and fussing made your resolve to go back home hardening even more. 

Though when the sixth day had passed, you were finally allowed a bit more freedom to roam around. During that time, Tighnari had introduced you to Collei, his student and a trainee forest ranger, and it takes you a lot—and really, a lot—not to bawl your eyes out when you see the green-haired girl. You remember when you used to see Collei in the Genshin manga, she was still so small back then! And now, she is all grown up, cheerful despite her life experiences…and even kind-hearted enough to offer to take you to a visit in Sumeru City along with the other forest rangers to fetch some supplies to stock before the start of the heavy rainy season.

It was also on the sixth day when you found a crumpled paper with the word ᛚᚨᛖᚡᚨᛏᛖᛁᚾᚾ written in all bolds and italics using bright green ink in the folds of your clothes. Although you were weirded out and freaked out why, how and who slipped it there, you decided you did not give a damn about it.

Well, that was until you found another crumpled piece of paper under your pillow when you decided to get dinner with Tighnari and Collei outside. This time, ᚷᛚᛖᛁᛈᚾᛁᚱ was written on it using the same bright green ink. 

It doesn't even looked remotely similar to Teyvat's language, as what you've seen in passing when looking at the forest watcher's books on his study table. You have a vague idea what it means, but it was possible that it was one of their ancient languages, too. Since apparently, Alhaitham himself and any other scholars of his Darshan knows at least twenty languages, according to the lore.

But what the hell does it supposed to mean? It gives you the same level of anxiety when you are taking an exam in Foreign Languages. You started to question every motive, every reason why someone would send you, someone not even from this world, a crumpled paper with Earth's Runic inscriptions. Why would they send this to you? Who sent this to you? Do they even know you? A prank, maybe? What do they get from this? What do they want from you?

In any case, you don't want someone out there continuously bullying you, and you don’t have any lawyer here to sue them (unless you count on Yanfei, but that’s beside the point). So, as a last resort, you asked Tighnari if you could join the forest rangers going to Sumeru City because you planned to find your answers, and the possible prankster, in the House of Daena. Plus, you were really itching for a change in scenery!

So, yes, you won't get defeated by the Crumpled Papers of Fate before you could find a way back home!

"—oh, Collei…did I tell you how much I appreciate your existence? How could I cry in reverie for your benevolent acts? Just say the word, and I would do anything for you, you lovely human being."

Collei, probably used to your strange flare for dramatics, giggled in response and tugged your looped arms together. "I just think you need a change of scenery while recovering, and I know Master Tighnari's lectures could be too much sometimes, even if they come in good faith. Especially when you were recu…recu…um, what does he say again?"

"Recuperating?" You wrinkled your nose and Collei modded cheerfully. You can't really blame her for tripping over words, since most of the Genshin characters, especially those with super rich and scholarly background, used to speak formally and use deep words. The first time a curse slip passed your lips about two days ago, you remember seeing Tighnari's scandalous stare as if you offended his whole vocabulary.

It was also a fun way of teasing him. A small payback for all his lectures about flowers and taking care of yourself.

In any case, he begrudgingly allowed you to come see the Sumeru City along with the other forest rangers. It wasn't a long, arduous trek as you expected it to be, despite not using any Teleport Waypoints, maybe because the journey was an eye-opening one (especially when you saw chests and puzzles that you swore you already gotten before) and your group had tried your best from steering clear of any hilichurl or Eremite camps scattered around the forest.

After dropping you off at the Akademiya grounds, Collei and the other forest rangers told you that they will fetch you later after they're done restocking their supplies, you excitedly went inside, hoping to find some sort of lead or help in solving your crumpled paper predicament. 

Although Katayoun, the librarian, had adamantly asked for your credentials and permits before she let you borrow any books. Apparently, only students are allowed to have access here, but thankfully, Tighnari gave you a letter that he said would be enough for the librarian to let you inside, should you give it to her. 

“—what kind of book do you need, anyhow?” Katayoun finally relented.

“Uh, anything about Teyvat’s ancient language. The one with the alphabet similar to this one, if possible.”

The librarian peered into the two crumpled papers you presented to her, before shaking her head. “Most books about ancient language are strictly available only to students of Haravatat Darshan, and since your permit is from an alumni from Amurta, I apologise if I cannot comply with your request.” 

As she said with no room to complain, you had no choice but to pick other possible books to read that were available for you, stomping and frowning in defeat. But just as you sat on a chair in the farthest corner of the grandest library you ever saw in your life (it was even bigger than the one in-game!!), someone walked towards the seat across yours, waving his hand to you to get your attention.

"Hello! Do you mind if I sit here?" 

You felt as if you had a sudden epiphany, hearing a familiar voice that made your head snapped to him in surprise. You even almost knocked the pile of books you borrowed earlier when your eyes met a pair of sharp, mystic red irises and a tuft of fluffy-looking dirty blond hair. 

You resisted the urge to scream in both panic and excitement as you stiffly shook your head at him. IT'S KAVEH…?!

He coughed to gain your attention. "Ahem, I know it's very unbecoming for a gentleman such as myself but I couldn't help but to…overhear your conversation with our resident lovely librarian earlier. You were looking for books about ancient languages, correct?"

You blinked out of your reverie, slowly nodding at him. "Um, yes. I just need to find some references about…something. Unfortunately, I'm not a scholar from Haravatat to borrow the books I need."

His face lightened up, as if he, too, was hit by epiphany just like you. "Say, Mx…?"

"[Name]..."

"Mx. [Name], did you, perchance, recognise this?" Kaveh fished out something from his pocket and slid it across the table to you. Your eyes widened like saucers when you saw the familiar inscriptions of Runes written into three separate pieces of paper.

"The Crumpled Papers of Fate!" You hissed. "You have it, too?!"

"Yes!" He exclaimed in the same amount of enthusiasm as yours.

"But who the hell sent this?!" 

Kaveh shrugged his shoulders elegantly before resting his elbows on the table and leaning close to you. He playfully beckoned you to inch closer as if he's conspiring something with you. "That's what I want to know as well. All I realised is that the Crumpled Paper of Fate is some sort of code that gives us symbolism over something."

Your brows raised in curiosity. "Symbolism?" 

"It looks like you got two pieces. Though somehow, I got three." He tapped his gloveless finger on the table, the corner of his mouth turning downwards. "One in my pocket, the other was clipped together with my roommate's book in our living room, and the last was stuck in the door of my room. I even accidentally smack my head—"

"—which proves my point that your eyes are made of marbles if you didn't notice the door in your face."

Both you and Kaveh almost jumped from your seats when a deep voice spoke from behind you. Your jaw dropped when you caught sight of the Akademiya's Grand Scribe pulling the chair on your right side before getting himself comfortable on it, placing the books he held on his hands on the table with a soft thud.

WHAT IS ALHAITHAM DOING HERE THIS TIME?!

You were near hyperventilating near two handsome—and former 2D—dudes that was now glaring at each other. Well, more like Kaveh killing Alhaitham with his glares because the Scribe just leisurely opened his book and crossed his legs, seemingly adamant in ignoring his roommate.

And just like every playable character you met so far, and even the NPCs themselves, these two looked so human and real to someone from a game. The finer details from their designs and splash arts were more highlighted and even the contours in their faces are too detailed to be true.

Your eyes briefly glanced at the scribe's arm, and you inwardly whistled in amusement. Wow, those muscular arms could crush my skull. Lololol.

"Oi, Alhaitham! What in Teyvat are you doing here?" Kaveh asked in irritation, his former cool-ish aura vanishing in the instant.

He ignored Kaveh, his light turquoise eyes, highlighted with orange pupils, looked at you for a second and your breath hitched at its intensity. "...I overheard you two talking about the ancient scriptures and codes from the crumpled papers."

Your brows furrowed. "Huh…do you guys have something for eavesdropping or something?" 

He ignored you, too, and fished out three very familiar pieces of paper and slid it together with yours and Kaveh's. "....I suppose this is the reason why you want to borrow books of ancient languages, no? I will give you a hint. All of our papers are written in Runic inscriptions."

"Yeah, yeah, you the great scribe of the Akademiya from the Haravatat Darshan surely knows what it means." Kaveh said, sarcasm lacing his tone like a venom.

You grew more curious. "Where did you find yours?"

"Does it matter?"

You tried again. "And what does the Runic mean?" 

"Kaveh's Crumpled Paper of Fate means Ship, Blind, Light—which is rather suspicious, especially given that Kaveh found one of his papers in my book." Alhaitham said in a matter-of-fact tone, tapping his said book, that made Kaveh rolled his eyes in exasperation. 

"As a matter of fact, the only suspicious thing about that book," the architect scoffed. "...is that it's being held by a drama queen."

The last thing I remember, Kaveh's Vision is Dendro, not Pyro. Lol.

Alhaitham gave an unimpressed, humourless stare at his roommate's spiteful words and you tried suppressing your laughter, remembering Alhaitham's Oscar-like performance in the Archon Quest.

"Anyhow, back to the topic before someone rudely interrupted me. Mine was translated to Eye, Knowledge and Ravens." 

"But what does mine—"

You suddenly halted when a loud thump echoed across the library, and then there's screaming. Before you knew it, several Matra of the Akademiya flooded across the room, startling everyone who was inside.

"A book robbery took place in the library's restricted section. Everyone that stayed in the House of Daena between six in the morning until now, we are expecting your cooperation."

So, that's what happened to your supposedly peaceful morning. You were suddenly caught in the apparent book robbery in the restricted section, and you heard the General Mahamatra was going to interrogate every single person that the Matra caught.

This is not freaking good.

The prospect of meeting Cyno should be wonderful, right? BUT NO. You were on the receiving end of his job right now. And it's not even close to thrilling at all knowing the side of Cyno working that you honestly, do not wish to know.

Well, at least Kaveh and Alhaitham were with you right now. Though with the way they were bickering nonstop, you suddenly wished you could tell them to shut up.

"Theory number ten," Alhaitham muttered to himself; he was sitting so comfortably beside you as if they weren't on your way to the interrogation room. 

"You seriously reached theory ten with your nonsense?" Kaveh bited.

The scribe fished out a notebook from who-knows-where, looking for something. You tried to peek a little, but his muscular arms were in the way and it's embarrassing to inch closer when they didn't even bother introducing themselves to you. "It's possible that whoever sent this has the connection with the three of us—or at least, knows us to some extent. Perhaps wanting to measure our intelligence? For what?"

"Isn't that already obvious?" His roommate impatiently said. "[Name] got their Crumpled Paper of Fate in their own home, we got ours in your dorm, which by the way, only the two of us have access to. Whoever did this surely knew us pretty well."

"This is the reason why you didn't pass in anything other than your courses in Kshahrewar." Alhaitham said. "You always assume things."

"Excuse me, I'm not assuming. I am concluding!" He defended, apparently offended.

"Then don't jump into conclusions even if that's the only workout you do."

"Why you—"

As much as their banter was so amusing to watch, there are more pressing matters you had to know. "But that's impossible. I don't know anyone in this place aside from the Forest Rangers in the Avidya Forest, you know. It's nearly impossible that Tighnari and Collei would do this just to prank us. Though, I always had someone with me, so it's not possible that someone I don't know snuck into my room either…"

"You seem like you always have a witness with you?" Kaveh turned to you.

Alhaitham paused for a second. He blinked slowly, before a subtle smirk slowly pulled from the corner of his lips. "That's it."

"Huh?"

He stood up from his seat. "A witness." He vaguely replied before he went through the door faster than you could blink.

You and Kaveh stared at the door.

Then you two realised what Alhaitham just did.

"Oi, he just ran off without us!" Kaveh exclaimed in anger before tugging your hand to follow his roommate outside. "[Name], let's go before the Matra catches us!"

What in the world did you got yourself into?

Route 1.2.1: Stop Kaveh from escaping. You had a feeling that escaping isn't a good thing, especially since Cyno would probably hunt you down later. What's there to fear when you're innocent, no?

TAGLIST (open! Send a dm or ask to be added :3) | @xinii , @maehemthemisfit , @abvolat , @crazypriestess , @ghostsaysno , @kittence , @unabashedlyminiaturetyrant , @xiyanin , @toasterinabathtub , @sketcheeee , @fuoon , @luvwukong , @salty-salty , @rosebatsc , @inky8 , @thegeekact , @almighty-raiden-shogunate , @isuckat-avery-thing , @perhapsabitgirlypop , @2cuteforyourlies , @stxrgxzxr , @elsoleil , @tsukkinoyya , @mkaella , @celi-alika , @tiffthescales , @blurr3db3rry , @messyserver , @shadowmist0706 , @chin-chii , @observation-subject-753 , @clovers-anxiety , @shizunxie , @lleoll , @shoujishu , @uwu-panic , @forgotten-blues , @chaneylovesfangirling , @enma-reblogs , @cookielovingalien , @iruiji , @samarill , @definitionofsad , @spynerr , @bigcandlesmolbrain , @universal-rose , @feverish-dove , @inlovewithwaffles , @louise-rosita-leroux , @chocogi , @jar-03 , @swaggyb0ke ... (if ur username is bolded, it means i cant tagged u :(( maybe its in ur settings? Also lmk if i missed anyone cause im such an idiot sometimes shsh)

Route 1.2.2: Go with Kaveh to chase Alhaitham. If he escaped, you two would escape along with him! He's the grand scribe and Kaveh is an influential architect, they could get away with this mess with you…right?

[your-new-valentine]

ELDEN RING SPOILERS. LIKE. A LOT.

and theories :))) about rogier, D, and that who shall not be named (i hate her too much)

ok lets start this rant.

~~~~~~

so. the dagger. yknow. Ds' dagger. that fia gives us and that we are to give to D. which gets D killed (well, the one D). 100% D gave rogier this dagger and then sometime, maybe while he was dying and chilling w fia cuz shes deathbed companion AND THEY OBVIOUSLY SPILLED TEA W EACH OTHER, he gave it to her cuz he didnt wanna give it back to D himself???? or he used it as a token of affection/appreciation for fia just how D did for him???? i like the second theory better but also im gay for D and rogier.

but also. i have a brand new thought. we know rogier wanted peace for/with those who live in death. and fia is trying to raise godwyn from the dead (sorta) and having those who live in death, well, continue to live. in death. so maybe she like. convinced him she was on the same side as him? and also that she wasnt planning on killing D lmfao. but like. they 100% talked a lot while he was dying from deathblight. and hes mentioned like. 'if d knew how i felt about this, hed be mad lol' or something.

so like.

fia is literally D's enemy and vice versa. like they work on opposite sides. and rogier technically works on fia's side, tho not even close to being as extreme. hes just curious about the killing of godwyn's soul and, as he later finds out, ranni's body and comes to be sympathetic towards those who live in death. theyre forced to live, just as godwyn, and never truly die. he wants them to be able to live. but i dont think hes in as deep as fia is, whos willing to take down anyone whos trying to stop her from birthing godwyns child. WHICH BY THE WAY IS SO WEIRD AND GROSS. LIKE FIA WTF. I GET UR DESPERATE BUT THATS HORRIFIC.

BUT ANYWAY. shes probably a big fuckign manipulator and convinced rogier shes chill w him and his shit and then took advantage of that to get the dagger and kill D. and i wonder if??? only that dagger can kill D and his brother. but why wouldnt she just use it herself? why do we need to give it to D first???? and i wonder if rogier wrote us that letter because he could tell fia was up to something and wanted only us to know D's location? but why wouldnt he stop her from killing D 1 if he knew she wanted to kill the Ds????????

something also curious is that where rogier was inflicted with deathblight, that never pops up for us. no matter what we do, theres no bugs, no vines, no deathblight at all. i wonder? if fia sent one of those who live in death to cause it? or perhaps she was there and caused it herself? as a way to get to rogier who, as far as we know, is very close with D. maybe she found rogier had the dagger and since shes a deathbed companion, knew that if rogier was dying, she could get it and information from him.

because he tells us not to tamper with that body of godwyn. but we know where godwyn's true body and corpse is. was the one in stormveil perhaps made by fia or something as a way to lure rogier there and inflict him with deathblight? but how would she? and when would she do that? perhaps she used one of her champions? but she would only know them while they were on their deathbed. perhaps they were also pieces to the puzzle that is killing both Ds? idk. but this is a subject in elden ring i havent heard much debate about and im. SO curious as to how we got where we got with this questline. it gives us just enough info to be like 'ok yea we know what happened and why lol.' but not ENOUGH. yknow? yea.

[five-rivers]

Long Night in the Valley Chapter 13

The car didn’t seem more crowded, but it was. Spinner had the dubious honor and privilege of being in one of Mr. Compress’s marbles, along with the doctor. Midoriya Inko sat in his recently vacated seat.

She was, without a single doubt, the most dangerous person in the vehicle. Mostly because she was completely insane. She had spent the first few minutes of driving detailing how she could blow up the car with her quirk and making sure that they knew she’d do it if she thought she had to.

What would make her think she ‘had to’ was a mystery Tomura didn’t particularly want solved.

He could totally see what Sensei saw in her, and he didn’t like it. He wished he could go back to ignorance. This questline was insane. The whole game was going to wind up broken. Had he killed an essential NPC at some point?

Eyeballs were small objects. So were most organs.

Midoriya Inko was someone Tomura could respect.

Would Midoriya Izuku be like this, if Tomura had an actual conversation with him? Their conversation at the mall hadn’t exactly been… normal. Tomura could admit he’d been using his intimidation skill to move the conversation along. Of course, Midoriya had struck him as a two-dimensional All Might fanboy at that point. Limited dialogue options. Killed in the next encounter. A hidden miniboss, yes, but just a miniboss. Not terribly important to the main campaign. Forgotten by disc two.

Clearly, he’d been wrong.

Which he shouldn’t have had mixed feelings about, but definitely did.

“Dear,” said Midoriya Inko, making everyone in the car stiffen, “do you have eczema?”

“The what?” asked Tomura, his tone too subdued to be considered snapping, because he wasn’t about to snap at someone who had convincingly demonstrated her ability to crush his organs against the inside of his abdominal cavity.

“Oh!” said Toga. “I know this one, Mom! It’s a skin condition.”

Tomura pulled his hand away from where it had been scratching at his neck. “I don’t have a skin condition. It just itches sometimes.”

Midoriya Inko nodded. “Yes, that sounds like eczema, I—” She stopped, blinking. “Did you just call me ‘Mom?’”

“Yeah, is that okay? Izu-kun and I are dating, after all!”

“No, she isn’t!” shouted Twice, the car swerving a little. “She is not! Only in her dreams!”

“Ah,” said Midoriya Inko. “I see. Well, I don’t mind you calling me that, but I think you really need to ask Izuku before you say that you’re dating. Make sure you’re on the same page, dear.”

Toga pouted.

“Now, where was I? Eczema. Izuku used to have eczema, but he grew out of it, mostly. I still carry some cream with me. Do you want some?”

Would refusing be dangerous?

Was the cream secretly poison?

Was this a complex scheme to get under his skin?

“Oh, Izuku mutters like that, too,” said Midoriya Inko, happily. “You remind me quite a bit of when he was going through his antisocial phase, actually. It would be funny if it turned out that you were related, wouldn’t it? Quite a coincidence, hm? One I’ll have to talk to my husband about.” The last sentence was as hard as diamonds and as poisonous as cyanide.

Tomura once again decided that he regretted everything.

.

“This is terrible,” whispered Tsuyu for the fifth or sixth time.

“Tres mal,” agreed Aoyama.

“Is it bad that I can completely believe All Might wrote this?” asked Satou.

“Why would it be bad?” asked Shouji.

“Because it’s so… bad.”

“And yet,” said Yaoyorozu, “oddly compelling.”

“Why does he use so much English?” grumbled Mineta.

“What a mad banquet of darkness,” said Fumikage, who was, nevertheless, also reading the fanfic on his phone.

“But, like, it makes it pretty obvious that All Might thinks the world of Midoriya,” said Kaminari. “Do you think he knew that other people could read this?”

“I mean,” said Jiro. “He had to, right? It wasn’t like he was born in the nineteen hundreds.”

“I don’t know, sometimes you’ve got to wonder. Like… sometimes it’s as if he was grown in a lab to be the perfect hero, you know?”

“Kaminari, stop trying to be Todoroki, please,” said Fumikage. “You do not need to dip yourself into the darkness.”

“I’m just saying,” said Kaminari. “And it isn’t as if we don’t know that there are a bunch of mad scientist types that would do just that, plus the Hero Commission is psychotic—”

“That’s unkind to psychotic people,” said Fumikage, glowering. “You know, most psychotic people never hurt anyone. The incidence of villainy among people who experience psychosis isn’t significantly higher than among the general population.”

“Sorry, man, just a figure of speech.”

The bus slowly came to a stop outside UA’s gates.

“My switch isn’t working,” said Green Light as he repeatedly pressed a button on his dash. “I guess they’re still on lockdown. We’ll have to wait for Nezu to come let us in.”

“Still?” asked Midnight. “Midoriya isn’t even in the city anymore, as far as we know.”

“Not that he was ever a threat to the school,” mumbled Present Mic, his quirk making him loud enough to be heard regardless.

Fumikage, having finished the fanfic some time ago, looked out the window and spotted two people in suits loitering near the gate. “Yamada-sensei, Kayama-sensei, who are those people?”

Everyone rushed over to Fumikage’s side of the bus to look out the window, rocking the vehicle.

“Ohh,” said Present Mic. “Yeah. That makes sense. Those guys are with the commission. Yep. Good ol’ Nezu, keeping them out.”

“Wait,” said Jiro, “does this mean we’re stuck out here, too?”

“No, no,” said Present Mic. “He’ll have to let us in… But then they’ll come in, too.”

“Midoriya’s room,” said Fumikage. “They’ll want to search it.”

“Can we do something?” asked Kouda, timidly.

“Should we do anything?” asked Tsuyu, bluntly. “We don’t want to incriminate Midoriya even more by making it look like he’s hiding things.”

Fumikage turned to Kaminari. “Anything new from Principal Nezu?”

“Why are you looking at me?”

“You’re the one he emailed last time.”

“Hey, Fumikage,” said Jiro, “do you think you can fly over the wall? Maybe you can get a head start on… well, whatever, I guess.”

“I don’t think we should do anything suspicious while they’re watching,” reiterated Tsuyu.

“Yeah, plus we really revamped campus security. And this is Nezu we’re talking about.”

“The Rat God,” someone whispered, reverently.

(Was that Shouji?)

“Exactly, exactly,” said Present Mic. “So, everyone, just, please, calm down. Just sit back down, and we’ll ride the bus to the dorms. Like normal.”

“Yamada-sensei, nothing about this is normal,” said Tsuyu, flatly.

“Well,” said Present Mic, “yeaaaah, okay, you got me there, listeners.”

“Nezu’s coming up,” said Green Light. “Aw, he has Eri with him. They’re so short together.”

“Green Light,” crackled the radio in Nezu’s voice. “Did you forget that I have cameras and microphones installed on all our buses?”

“That’s how he knew I was the one putting together the compilation!” said Kaminari.

Fumikage peered out the window and furtively opened it, so they could hear what was going on. Eri was definitely there. She was also sporting the deepest, most dismal, aura of darkness Fumikage had ever laid eyes on. Luckily, it seemed to be aimed at the commission lackeys in the form of a smile and dead, dead eyes.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen!” said Nezu, cheerily. “I apologize for the long wait! As Lunch Rush indubitably told you, we had a small emergency.”

“We’ve been out here for hours. What kind of emergency could have kept you for hours under these circumstances?”

Eri’s smile grew both broader and deader. “Me,” she said. “I’m the emergenny.”

“Emergency,” corrected Nezu, gently.

“Emergency,” repeated Eri.

“I’m sorry?” said the shorter of the two investigators.

“I’m the emergency. I hada—” she paused, and her face pinched slightly in concentration. “I had an emergency, because, because, you’re being mean to Deku.”

“We—”

“You’re mean,” insisted Eri. “You’re bad guys. Deku is the good guy, because he saved me. Only bad guys are mean to good guys.”

“Excuse me, is this Chisaki Eri?”

Eri hissed.

“Perhaps I could ask you to refrain from using that family name. We’ve been trying to get past what her form did to her, you understand. Teach her morality.”

“I’ll bite you,” said Eri, malevolently.

“Self-defense, as well,” continued Nezu. “It’s very important for children to be able to feel safe and confident in themselves, don’t you think? And the recent news dealt a serious blow to that. You understand, then why I felt that it was more important to take care of my ward and other students than to greet you here. Especially given that you wished to interview Eri-chan as well.”

“I’ll bite you,” repeated Eri. “A lot.”

“We’ll… need a look at Midoriya’s room, first.”

“Way to go, Eri,” whispered Shinsou.

“Very well! You’ll have to come around to the front office to fill out some paperwork. We’ll need a physical copy of your badges, as well as a copy of your warrant, for our records…”

The gate opened, distracting Fumikage from whatever else Nezu had said. Green Light quickly drove through, making straight to the dorms. Fumikage snapped the window shut.

“So, uh,” said Kaminari. “What’re we going to do about Midoriya’s All Might shrine of a room?”

“Should we even do anything?” asked Jiro. “If stuff is disturbed, that’s going to be suspicious. I don’t want to get him into more trouble.”

“It’s a teenage boy’s bedroom,” said Mineta. “The stuff in there is already disturbed.”

“Mineta, I don’t know how to tell you this,” said Kaminari, “but your experiences are not universal.”

“None of you are disturbing Midoriya’s room at all,” said Midnight, standing. “You didn’t forget that we were here, did you? If you say yes, we’ll have to take some time to work on your situational awareness~”

.

Nemuri hadn’t quite known what to expect from the words ‘All Might shrine.’ In her experiences, the word ‘shrine’ could, especially when applied to a person’s hobby or area of interest, could cover a vast array of displays of varying intensity.

But Midoriya really went Plus Ultra on everything, didn’t he?

“Okay, kiddos,” said Midnight, “what would you say was the most incriminating thing in this room?”

She and Present Mic were the only ones actually in the room, but the students were gathered right outside the door.

“Notebooks.”

Midnight nodded. They’d get those first, then search for other places Midoriya may have put evidence of less-than-entirely-morally-upright behavior. Not that Midnight really expected to find any.

“Where does he keep them?” she asked.

“He has a shelf above his desk he usually keeps them on, kero.”

Midnight looked at the shelf above Midoriya’s desk.

It looked back at her.

This was because it was a void. As in, void of any notebooks. An abyss of sorts. Empty.

There were no notebooks in evidence.

“This will be a problem.”

.

“G-Gigantomachia?” asked Izuku, turning up the sweetness in his tone despite his nerves. And pain. Yep, there was a whole lot of pain, everywhere. Now that he was no longer actively running for his life, it felt like he’d pulled every muscle in his body.

“Yes, Little Lord?” asked Gigantomachia, happily.

He was like a giant dog. Izuku almost felt bad tricking him like this, but he reminded himself that Gigantomachia was a giant, evil dog. So.

“Will you do something for me?”

“Of course, Little Lord!”

“Well,” said Izuku, “you remember how I said that Shigaraki Tomura and I don’t get along?”

“Yes, Little Lord! My memory is very good!”

Izuku blinked. “Is that a—” He cut himself off with a shake of his head. Not the time. “Well, I think that it might be a good idea if, ah, we established that he can’t attack me anymore.”

Gigantomachia stood up, shaking the earth and almost sending Izuku tumbling down. “HE ATTACKED YOU?”

Maybe this would be easier than he thought. “Yeah. A couple times. I’m okay, though!” He waved his hands. “I just think that it might be a good idea if we established a, uh, a pecking order. Sort of.”

“I’M GOING TO PECK HIM TO DEATH.”

“Please do not actually kill him.”

“I’M GOING TO PECK HIM MOSTLY TO DEATH.”

“That’s the spirit,” said Izuku.

“I’LL SHOW HIM YOU’RE IN CHARGE. YOU’RE MUCH BETTER THAN HE IS. MUCH MORE LIKE LORD.”

Wow. That was… certainly a statement. That Izuku was going to try his best to forget forever.

“Right. So. If you see him, do that,” said Izuku, nodding.

“OF COURSE, LITTLE LORD.”

“And, this is just a reminder, but don’t go into towns.”

“I WILL REMEMBER!”

“Great,” said Izuku. “I’m going to go back in and, uh…” He couldn’t say ‘plot my escape with Toshinori.’ “Rest,” he settled on.

“Oh!” Gigantomachia crouched down, his voice suddenly whisper-soft. Assuming rocks could be described as whispering. “Sleep well, Little Lord!”

“Thanks,” said Izuku, beating a hasty retreat.

.

“Stop the car!”

“But you said-!”

“Just stop the car, Twice.”

There was a not-at-all hidden ‘or else’ in those words. Twice, once again, stopped the car.

“Oh, my,” said Midoriya Inko, leaning forward. “That man up there looks remarkably like the sitter Hisashi hired for Izuku.”

“Oh, god,” said Tomura, dragging his hands down the sides of his face in lieu of looking out the window. “We aren’t prepared for this level.”

Midoriya Inko suddenly disappeared. Tomura made a noise in the back of his throat that wasn’t at all a scream.

Mr. Compress raised his hands defensively. “I thought it best to marble her while she was distracted. We wouldn’t want her to get injured in ”

“Wow! Way to go, Mr. Compress!” said Toga, giving the other villain a hug. “Good thinking!”

“Yeah!” agreed Twice. “Now she can’t hurt us—But she sure can when you let her out!”

“Which is why I propose we bring her to Giran at the first feasible opportunity. Between him and the doctor, I’m sure they can make arrangements for her that we need not be involved in. And I will make sure we are all far, far away when I let her out.”

There was a series of sighs of relief.

“Good idea,” croaked Tomura. “But what are we going to do about—” He swore vehemently. “He’s seen us, he’s seen us we’ve got aggro! Reverse!”

.

“Is that Vlad-sensei’s car?”

“Unfortunately,” said Toshinori, “I think it is. Oh, dear, the man’s one to hold a grudge. I think I’ll have a new nemesis by the end of this.”

.

Today had been a very annoying day in general for Vlad King, but for some reason, his sense of annoyance suddenly doubled. This made his hands clench and thereby tear the piece of paper he was holding.

Scratch that. His sense of annoyance had tripled.

“Yagi,” he muttered, “I am going to sue you so much.”

“What was that?” asked Hound Dog, looking away from the video feed displaying Eri-chan scarring Hero Commission agents for life in her undeniably cute way.

“Nothing,” muttered Vlad.

.

All for One paused in his assault of the vault door. He couldn’t help but feel like someone somewhere had said something unusually aggravating.

Ah, well. He had other things to worry about.

.

“Ah,” said Toshinori as one of Gigantomachia’s fists tore off the bumper of the rapidly reversing car. “Hm,” he continued as Shigaraki climbed out on the hood, grinning. “I think we should go, now.”

Izuku nodded. They could only hope to get far away enough away for Gigantomachia to be unable to hunt them down.

If they ran into any other problems…

.

Dabi paused as he heard quite a lot of noise from up ahead and rolled his eyes, ignoring how the movement pulled at his staples. The idiots had already started fighting Gigantomachia. Well. He didn’t want any part of that.

He changed directions. Hanging out in the woods it was, then.

Eh. It was good for him. Fresh (cold) air. Sunshine (sort of). Readily available reminders of why he hated his father.

Nature was great. If only he could burn it all down without blowing cover.

.

“Oh, no,” said a hapless technician.

“What?” asked the commission supervisor who’d brough the sample to the lab. “What is it? Is he related to the Scourge of Kamino?”

“Well,” squeaked the woman, her mousy ears twitching. “Yes. But I ran him through a few other databases as well, and…” she trailed off. “Well… The number of cross references in the hero database is staggering, but, of course, if he’s related to them, and to the other, well…”

The commission supervisor grabbed the edge of her monitor and twisted it around to face him. She watched the blood drain from his face and refrained from calling him out on his rudeness.

“Why,” he asked, “didn’t they run the Scourge of Kamino’s DNA through these databases?”

“I guess they didn’t think it was necessary?”

“Excuse me,” he said, “I have to make a few calls.”

.

“You want us to attack the League of Villains now?” asked Hawks, frowning. “You’ve had me following them around for weeks, and you want us to go in now, with next to no preparation? We don’t even know if the rest of the League is with Dabi.”

What had they found out from Midoriya’s blood sample? Had it turned out the way Dabi had expected.

Was Midoriya Izuku the son of All for One?

“Alright, alright,” he said in response to his handler. He sighed deeply, leaning back to better look at the sky. “But even I’m going to need a couple hours to get everything together and start coordinating with other heroes. I’m—Sir, I really don’t think I’m going to be able to take them all on just with myself and my sidekicks. Midoriya probably isn’t with them to begin with—I’m not questioning you, sir. I just don’t understand our objective in attacking them now. Why are we rushing? It seems counterpro—Yes, sir.” The line beeped loudly as it disconnected.

Well. All this had been a monumental waste of time.

It also boded ill for Midoriya. It sounded as if he’d become an even greater target than before, and considering that the commission had been labeling him a villain even before testing his DNA… Something bigger than being related to All for One must have come out. Something that had scared the commission. Something they would scrap their stealth- and intelligence-based plan for dealing with the League for. Something they wanted gone. Locked away with Midoriya.

Hawks couldn’t imagine what that could be. Maybe he was related to All Might? Or Endeavor? All Might wouldn’t be bad, he was never publicly in a relationship, but then he’d always been private about his personal life. But Endeavor… that’d be a scandal and a half.

But, if either of those were the case, why were they so sure he’d be with the League of Villains? It didn’t make sense. Unless… Unless Midoriya wasn’t the only one related to All for One.

At least they weren’t asking him to kill the kid. The mission was capture.

Which meant that Hawks had to come up with some way of letting an injured and probably exhausted teenager and a severely disabled old man escape without looking like he was letting them escape. Or looking like an incompetent idiot. Again. Because he wasn’t about to bring Midoriya in under circumstances this shady. Maybe before, when he thought it was just trumped-up kidnapping charges, but with this uncertainty…

Commission lackey or not, Hawks was still a hero. Sometimes that meant he put aside personal feelings for the good of society, and sometimes it meant that he ignored orders so a minor wouldn’t be indefinitely imprisoned at a commission black site.

Fun times.

He sighed and gathered in his feathers, angling down into a dive. Time to get to work.

.

Ochako kept seeing things out of the corners of her eye. Shadow in the shape of people, in the shape of children. Stains on the walls.

The hallways were scrupulously clean. Spotless. Empty. Brightly lit.

Todoroki had mentioned smelling smoke a few times and had started gagging for no reason once or twice. Iida kept twitching as if he had heard something. Aizawa appeared unaffected, but Ochako could see the way he gripped his capture weapon and the rigidness of his spine.

Izuku looked resigned.

“Did they really—” started Iida.

“Yes,” said Izuku. “Almost certainly.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Todoroki.

“You’re only getting fragments of Three’s memories, since she’s suppressing this,” said Izuku. “But…” He twitched, slightly. “It’s going to get worse the farther we go. The places she was in…” His voice was soft, sing-song, not quite entirely there.

“Izuku?”

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I’m focusing on something else outside.”

“Please tell me you aren’t fighting pro heroes again,” said Aizawa.

“No, I’m escaping from the League of Villains right now.”

“How?”

“Mm. Great question. I’ll tell you how it goes later, if it works.”

“That’s not what I—”

An ear-splitting, bone-chilling scream filled the air, making everyone flinch and clench. Something crackled overhead.

“Incident response team to hallway C. Code Blue.”

More screaming. This time, Ochako had a better idea of where it was coming from, and it seemed like everyone else, did, too.

They ran past classrooms that were alternately empty and full of shadow people, past soulless dormitory rooms stuffed with bunk beds, past cells and rooms Ochako didn’t even want to think about.

A pair of dark-skinned girls stood in the hallway, one holding a bloody hand to her throat, the other baring her teeth. The lights flickered. Dimmed.

The girls were gone by the time the lights came back on.

The hallway they were in was full of operating theaters, complete with lights over the door. Ochako felt sick.

But she was used to dealing with nausea. She took a deep breath and swallowed.

“What now?” she asked. The quaver in her voice was barely audible.

“Now…” Aizawa turned slowly in place. “We’re trying to find where they met Ryuji.”

“Two,” said Izuku, nodding.

“So, the most likely place for that…” He trailed off. “The most likely place for that is in the… residential areas.” He sounded disgusted with himself for referring to a prison with such bland terms.

“We passed something like that,” said Todoroki, quietly.

“Right,” said Aizawa. “Let’s go.”

.

The way back was much more… crowded. The memories were more tangible. Ochako quickly taught herself not to look in any of the rooms. Not that it helped much with what they saw in the halls themselves.

Izuku’s distraction only grew worse as they went further. He kept trying to follow, or sometimes fight, the memory ghosts.

“Sorry,” he mumbled. “Focusing on something else.”

“Just don’t die on us, problem child.”

“We’re doing okay,” said Izuku.

This was, of course, when the facility’s alarm went off.

“Intruder alert. Intruder alert. Intruder alert.”

.

Izuku couldn’t hear the sound of the fight between the League and Machia anymore. This meant that either the fighting had stopped, or they had moved out of earshot.

Despite the League having a car (Vlad-sensei’s car) Izuku doubted that the fight had gotten all that far away.

Next to him, Toshinori winced. Izuku looked at him with concern, but Toshinori waved it off.

Izuku took a shaky breath.

They just had to keep going.

.

Twice had, perhaps predictably, backed the car up into a ditch, where, despite the amount of pressure he put on the accelerator, it stayed. Stuck. Perhaps forever.

All members of the League of Villains that were not crazy enough to crawl onto the outside of a moving car to fight a homicidal giant climbed out. All members, meaning a single member. A single member, ironically, being Twice.

At least he hadn’t been going very fast when he ran into the ditch.

“Everyone okay? –Of course, they’re not! You were in a car crash, idiots!”

“Come help us fight!” ordered Shigaraki. “We were in the middle of something, you know, stupid level boss! Keep having to save scum I hate you aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Well, that wasn’t a good sign.

“Where’s Himiko?” he shouted.

“Over here, silly!” said the second Shigaraki, because, yeah. Twice had forgotten he hadn’t duplicated Shigaraki.

Man, he was dumb sometimes. It was great he had friends to help him with that!

He dove into the fight which, ever so slightly, ever so slowly, began to move away from the car.

.

Izuku’s head throbbed sharply, and he stumbled, Toshinori just managing to catch him before he faceplanted. Four and the other past users hissed at him from the back of his mind.

Someone’s coming. Hide.

They were in no condition for another fight.

Toshinori nodded sharply, and pulled Izuku aside, into some bushes. Izuku tried to breathe quietly but was painfully aware that both he and Toshinori were out of breath and raspy. Ragged. They’d been aiming for speed, not stealth, counting on the sounds of combat to cover them.

But if someone was out here—

Izuku smelled smoke. A branch snapped. He held his breath, despite the way his lungs longed for more oxygen. Had Dabi been in the car? Izuku hadn’t seen him. He hadn’t seen any blue fire. It wasn’t like Dabi to hold back.

A pair of black booted feet came into view.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

.

They found Two standing in a hallway, surrounded by the bodies of soldiers. A small horde of shadow children clung to his legs.

When he laid eyes on Izuku, he sighed.

“Does the world ever give you a break?” he asked.

“Not that I’ve noticed,” said Izuku.

[veloxaraptor]

Finally Finished Endwalker

Thoughts are below the cut. They WILL contain spoilers.

The most I can give this expansion is an OK. It wasn’t bad, it wasn’t great, it was OK.

There were a *lot* of pacing issues. At the start, it felt like we were ZOOMING through Sharlayan and Thavnair. But the moment we get to Garlemald it screeches to a slow crawl. Then picks up again once you get back to Thavnair for the 2nd time. And once you leave there, it’s a crawl again. A lot of bits felt as though they were used to artificially lengthen the play time and gave little to no substance otherwise. (Looking at you, Loporrits.)

I felt very disconnected from the story. I feel like they waited too long to hit with the emotional punches and that there was never any REAL sense of urgency, like you might fail, or as though you’d lose your companions for good. At the last zone, when all your companions began sacrificing themselves, it felt very ho-hum. (With the exception for me of G’raha and the twins.) Because you knew, even without knowing, that they were going to come back. They set it up blatantly for it. And I felt like summoning them back BEFORE the final boss kind of cheapened things a little.

Some scenes, like the one where Zenos takes over your body, felt very pointless. What was the point of it? Nothing came of it, he didn’t do anything, you get your body back and he never tries again. It certainly FELT like they were going somewhere with it and then pulled back at the last moment. 

There were some points where there could have been a more powerful impact, but they moved on too quickly for you to really absorb it or were ruined by bits of filler. 

The end boss felt very much like a rehash of Sephiroth from FF&, complete with, “Shall I give you Dis Pear?!” And while I could very much feel sympathy and even somewhat invested in some of the civilizations they brought into play, the whole, “We achieved what we set out to achieve, so now I just want to die” was pretty bleh. 

And Zenos popping up every 5 minutes with, “Fite me bro 1v1 irl” got old fast. (Tho I have to say riding his back as Shinryu was pretty kickass.)

That all being said, there were some things I felt were wonderfully executed. 

I thought all the new zones were absolutely beautiful and well mapped out. I wanted to roll my eyes at the inclusion of Ascians, Emet-Selch, and the world Unsundered, But the way it was included didn’t feel forced, felt more organic than some other parts, and it was a nice way to see what the world was like before the sundering. 

I liked that the prediction I had about Forchenault and the Forum was more or less spot on. And seeing him finally admit his plans, what they were for, and why he was doing it, was genuinely one of the more emotional parts for me.

The call backs to previous questlines--either MSQ or sidequests--and older characters that were no more than footnotes in my mind was a nice touch. Seeing a different side of Garlemald--the civilians and soldiers who were just doing their duty and trying to live their life as best they could and the only way they knew how. Seeing them finally admit that what they were wasn’t what they should have been. 

Vrtra was an amazing additon and I like seeing a Dragon in a different position that we’ve seen thus far. And seeing one with such a disposition that there truly feels like there’s no difference between them and men. 

I do believe that Ishikawa did the best she could with the pieces she’d been given. There were certainly choices made before she took over that should not have been. (Looking at you Zenos.) But she took them and made something of them that I don’t think other writers would have been able to do. And Soken, like always, is a musical genius.

I certainly don’t feel this expansion lives up to the hype, or its predecessor (Shadowbringers) but it wasn’t *bad*. I look forward to seeing what Ishikawa and the rest of the FFXIV team brings in the future. 

(Though for fuck sake, that epilogue. I just want to be DONE with Ascians, thank you very much.)

Also, please bear in mind that these are JUST my opinions. They’re not fact. They’re how *I* feel about the expansion. If you feel differently or enjoyed it more than I did, by no means are you wrong, or wrong for enjoying it so much. This is just my take and feelings on the matter.

[mrslittletall]

Time for my Ghost of Tsushima Review: Graphics To make it short, the game looks absolutely GORGEOUS. It goes with a realistic style. I didn’t had trouble with the character models, they looked good and unique and the facial expressions were well done. What got me, though, is the scenery. Tsushima is lush with nature and there were trees, flowers, pampas grass. You clearly could see what was a japanese settlement and what was a mongol camp, though I have to argue that they resuded a lot of assets for the buildings, like if you you knew one of them, you knew all of them, but that is nitpicking.  The water looked great, the fire effects looked great, the foxes were cute, the flowers were gorgeous. It was a joy to look at and I made some scenery screenshots which I all forgot to upload, oh well...  The last area was a bit duller though, because it was full of snow, but I like snow and we got footprints in the snow, so I was fine with it ^^ Sound/Music Sadly this game suffers from western Triple A problems... the music is generic and doesn’t stand out. I think I remember one song of the entire OST and that was in Yarikawa, when you unlock the Ghost Stance.  The music is generally played with japanese instruments which was a very nice touch though. It wasn’t there all the time also, leaving you room to listen to the atmosphere, which was nicely done. It never really was quiet in Tsushima, but it made me feel at ease. I am also amazed at the voice acting. The voice acting was really really good, though both me and my husband had one gripe with it... Ok, so I put them on english, but they are still talking japanese with each other, it’s just dubbed for our listening comfort, so why... why did so many VA’s speak with a fake japanese accent?! That didn’t make any sense at all!  It got even more hilarious when I read the names of the credits and Jin, one of the few who doesn’t sport a fake japanese accent was spoken by a japanese man! That was the only gripe I had with the voice acting though.  Gameplay  The game feels like a classic Open World game. I heard a lot of people got tired by it, but they probably have played like a hundred Open World titles already. I only played Breath of the Wild and Death Stranding (and Death Stranding is not a typical Open World title), so it felt all fresh and new enough for me. I am a person who really likes to see progress in games, so it always felt great for me when I found one of the locations in Tsushima that would give me some extra and make my Jin stronger. I loved the exploration part of the game.  The quests of the games? They were a bit generic, at least the optional quests. Lots of the same to do. The story quests were more interesting, for they sometimes forced a certain playstyle on you or gave you certain weapons to use. Like, sinking the ships with the hwacha was really cool and having to sneak out of the shogun’s castle was nerve wracking. I wasn’t bored with them though, for I liked the little stories behind the quests.  The combat was really fluid and played well, though the standoffs at Act 3 got ridiculously hard. I thought it was my problem, but I wasn’t the only one failing the standoffs in Act 3, the game really just made them super hard, apparently to encourage stealth? Yeah, but I don’t want to stealth the mongol patrols...  The boss battles in the game... they kinda felt like a dance. You had to find out what your opponent does and react accordingly and if you did it right, it felt like a beautiful rythm of a sword battle. I was pretty impressed by how fluid it felt when I didn’t mess up. The stealth mechanics were good. I hate stealth in games where you normally don’t do stealth, but here the stealth was a big part of the game. You had a lot of options for stealth, you could hide in grass or behind walls, you could assassinate the foes one by one, you could hide on a roof and shoot them with your bow, you get access to poison later in the game (shooting a brute with hallucination dart was always fun) and and and. It really hammers home that your character took up the practices of a shinobi to save his home.  The early game hell was pretty bad though... you start with not much of course, and that made me almost give up on the game because I did nothing but die... only when I found out that I can run up to archers and hit them with my sword instead of having an archer battle, I had fun again. Like, the game starts you out with low health and resolve and then gets you into missions with five archers shooting at you at once? You are dead before you could even aim!  Overall, I had fun with the gameplay.  Story/Characters Ok, that will be complicated, because I like the story and I dislike the story at the same time... But let’s talk about the characters first. I loved most of them, especially Jin, Yuna, Kenji and Norio. Every main character got their own questline which you could follow and it showed a lot about them, also that none of them a honourable hero or anything, but they all had their flaws and troubles... Especially Lady Masako’s quest made me thinking... for it was extreme that her family got slaughtered like that, but after hearing that she left her sister in an abusive marriage I couldn’t hate Lady Hana for it... she must have tremendously suffered and sadly all her negative energy got channeled at innocent people... Their stories went through the whole game and were a good thing to deepen them, because in the main story they felt a bit side lined in favour of Yuna’s and Jin’s friendship as well as the storyline about Ryuzo and the relationship between Jin and Shimura.  Ok, let’s talk about the story now.  The story is set on the 13th century of the island of Tsushima with the mongol invasion. Because the mongols fight not fair, the honourable Samurai lose the battle... almost all of them. Jito Shimura gets captured and Jin gets dragged away by thief Yuna who nurses him back to health. Of course he makes the decision to save Shimura, who is his uncle, but now he hasn’t an army in his back, he’s only one man. So Yuna teaches him the tactics of stealth and dirty fighting. More and more over the span of the game, Jin takes up the practices of a shinobi, with a lot of Ghost Weapons that get unlocked and a stealth based game play.  Jin, who has been raised as honourable samurai, has trouble with this and can’t accept his new role at first. He tells himself he stops doing it once the mongols are driven out, but...  A legend is getting spun. The Legend of the Ghost. I really like how this happens, for Jin does nothing supernatural to get the mongols down, he simply changes his tactics. But the people hear about it and they rumour and soon after they call him “The Ghost” and everything gets exxegerated a LOT. That is pretty much how legends must have started, so I loved this aspect.  And I loved how we see Jin’s inner struggle and how he thinks about the land first and his honour second and that there is a friendship with Yuna which never turns into romance, which is a plus as well. Act 2 was really epic and I loved the whole Yarikawa moment, when like everything screamed “For the Ghost”, that was POWERFUL. What I dislike is the story since the end of Act 2 and in the start of Act 3.   See, there’s Ryuzo. Ryuzo is Jin’s boyfriend childhood friend and he is a ronin. Jin asked him to join his forces, but Ryuzo betrays him and joins the mongols for his men hunger and the Khan did promise him food.  And during the second act, Ryuzo and his strawhat ronin act like secondary villains... and I was very much hoping for a redemption arc for Ryuzo, but instead the story lets Ryuzo pathetically cry for his life and Jin has to kill him. Um, what was that?! You missed a GREAT opportunity for a redemption arc here and it feels like you didn’t use the potential of Ryuzo at all...  And then Act 3 happened... see in Act 2 there is a mission where Jin gets poison and it is a powerful weapon, most players will probably use it. But there is a scene where Jin uses it without player control and his uncle is like “WTF Jin?”  The issue comes when we enter act 3 and now the mongols use the poison that Jin used on them... And the story turns into a “Oh Jin used poison, how horrible that is! Now the mongols have poison! Why did you use poison, Jin? You are clearly the villain now.” Which I am like... “No? What the fuck? This guy saved thousands of people because he decided that life was more imporant than honour and the narration wants to tell us that poison is bad? What?”  In the end, I liked that Lord Shimura came to help though and the ending tale... had some very powerful lines “You have no honour.” “And you are a slave to it.” Beautifully delivered those lines. My decision in the end was to let Lord Shimura leave, but not for the reason Jin had, for he said he wouldn’t kill family. My reason was the following: “Live! See the pain and suffering of your people and help them. Live with your shame and survive, because that is what Jin does. You don’t get an easy way out, old man.” Yeah, my reason was lot more spite...  Anyway, I wish the story in the later acts would have been better... it started so strong... Overall This isn’t a perfect game of course. But I had my fun with it and I wanted to explore the map and see the end of Jin’s story. Characters were adorable and fun, gameplay is smooth once early game hell is over. I would totally rec this game if you aren’t fatigued of open world titles.