#oc: Zara

[heliosynchronisity]

man u guys rly liked Zara haha, heres another doodle I did of her trying out an outfit idea, i planned on doing more but didnt get around to it.

wow not me posting this to the wrong blog at first, rip

[hiroshotreplica]

why does parallel canon seem so familiar?

[tag-of-light]

Long-distance Call and Playful Gossip

[lucin-kun]

The next generation of Elemental Masters

Disclaimer: I haven’t seen Crystalized and Dragons Rising yet

[sovhina]

Anotha one thank you for wip Wednesday just proof I’m working on the little floating heads for little character bios I promise I have ideas to go with my little heads I promise anyway eden is my version of a drow and zara is gonna be her gf one day and they don’t know it but they’re madly in love gay love wins oh yeah and Rome is there too

[dxwnfxll]

I love Fortnite

Needed to draw my ocs with Megalo Don

[neosquidbeak-askblog]

Hey Captain,do you think that scar us..Y'know,permanent?

[dorianpavus]

i was tagged by the lovely @alistairweekend to make some of my ocs in this picrew!! since i am drowning in ocs to choose from, i figured i would make dnd characters since that’s what she did <3

left to right, top to bottom:

archmage calypso fortuna, headmistress of the lotus conservatory, champion of corteria. devilsbane. all powerful magical philanthropist. worships the goddess of luck. closed off and hates being vulnerable but has a heart of gold. (divination wizard 19 / trickery cleric 1)

chloe d’amboise, insecure musical prodigy and student of the horizanos school for adventurers. born a tiefling to a human noble family under mysterious circumstances. kind of a fairy tale princess. hopeless romantic and hopelessly naive. (college of glamour bard)

ambrose, ambitious researcher and part time archaeologist. imprisoned in a strange world without stars, filled with ruins and mysterious ancient technology, he hunts down knowledge and craves answers. a drow astral elf seeking the secrets to the multiverse and kind of a twat about it. (knowledge domain cleric).

ophelia mordaunt, dhampir daughter of a drow necromancer and a vampire. if you ever wondered, “what if the briarwoods had a kid,” she might come close. monster hunter. haunted by her past. will she/won’t she kill her parents! stay tuned to find out. (oath of vengeance paladin)

tagging anyone who wants to do it. yeah, you. 🫵 feel free to tag me too, i love seeing ocs!! :’)

[six-improbable-things]

The Coin-Rolling Trick.

These are from the same vignette as the last snippets I posted. Fun fact: Rook does the same thing with the coin, and he learned it from watching Zara. (And spending a lot of time practicing. He lost a fair number of coins in the learning process, but now he can do it as effortlessly as she can. Just like her, he does it when he's stressed or nervous.)

I love taking this peek into Zara's head, because on the outside we (and Rook) never see her as anything less than perfectly composed. She's the captain, she can't panic. The whole crew looks up to her.

[transcript under the cut]

image one

Taking a coin out of her pocket, she rolled it across her knuckles, back and forth. It gave her hands something to do, and prevented the urge to bite her nails, something she hadn’t done in years. Ten minutes passed, then twenty. Zara began to pace as Rook’s breathing grew shakier and the color drained from his skin. Where the hells is Jay? she wondered. The room was so quiet that she could hear every tick of the small clock on her bedside table, and each one echoed in her head. How many ticks does he have left? She didn’t want to think about it.  She’d had crew members die before, of course. You don’t go as many years as a captain as she had and never lose a soul. But all the others who had died had died quickly, in combat. She’d mourned for all of them, even shed tears in private, but there was something different about watching the life drain out of a person right in front of your eyes.

image two

Pacing back and forth across her cabin floor, she rolled the coin back and forth over her knuckles again and again. The motion was easy, almost mindless, more muscle memory than real intent. The coin trick had been her favorite way to soothe her nerves for years now. She’d picked it up out of idle curiosity after watching a street performer dining in a tavern in Bon Largo, who had chatted with her for over an hour as she fretted about something mundane, never once dropping the coin from their fingers. The same performer had later tried to steal her coin purse and ended up with nothing but a new scar for their trouble, but Zara had learned two important things from the encounter: Not to trust a warm smile and a pretty face, and that keeping her hands moving kept her mind from dwelling too much on worrisome things.

[tag-of-light]

How it started:

(Then restarted:)

How it's going:

Hey... hey anyone with wolships or other FFXIV ships (since I know not everyone's characters are WoL).

Show me your "How it started // How it's going" can be gpose, art, writing. I just want to know about your ffxiv ships. Can be OCxOC, OCxNPC, Polyships, multiships, or anything else I didn't account for.

[hiroshotreplica]

do you ever just see one of your friends succumb to mind control again and all you can think about is how you could stop it this time? fun moment!

[morrigan-sims]

The World

upright: achievement, sense of belonging reversed: lack of closure, emptiness

So, Zara finally got a tarot card, just in time for her official introduction in the campaign in a few weeks. It's wild to think that she's existed as a character for almost 1.5 years now, and that Rook still hasn't met her. (I mean, for him, it's been 3 years since he last saw her, so...)

The World card is super fitting for Zara, and I'm honestly shocked it took me this long to figure out what card to use for her?? Now that I look at it, there's not really any other card that fits for her.

The upright meanings (achievement, completion, sense of belonging, fulfillment, etc.) are all very fitting for her role in Rook's life prior to his (first) kidnapping by Wolf. The Tide Breaker was the first place Rook ever felt at home, and Zara was the first person to make him feel like his existence mattered, that he wasn't the good-for-nothing bastard his father always said he was.

The reversed meanings (lack of closure, feeling incomplete, emptiness) are fitting for her absence from Rook's life. He never got a chance to even say goodbye to her before he was captured, and that lack of closure has haunted him for years.

I don't know anything about her backstory (to be revealed soon), but the DM told me, after I picked the card, that it's super fitting to her backstory, too.

Some fun little tidbits of symbolism because I'm proud of them:

She's the mayor of a port city and a former sea captain. Of course she has maps of the continents/oceans around.

I placed her in the center of the map because she was the center of Rook's world for the six years he sailed with her.

On her left are things that symbolize her past (a spyglass, and scales to represent Wolf), and on her right are things related to her present (a ledger and a bag of coins).

The contrast between the worn-down walls and rug and the fancy desk is a nod to how Xen (the city she controls) looks lovely until you get to look a little closer, and then the flaws start to become more apparent.

[memento-morri-writes]

whumpril day one: hug - "reunion"

I'm going to be doing a few scattered prompts for @whumpril this year. I'm not sure how many I'll actually get done (so far I have three written), but hey, some is better than none!! I'm trying to train myself to write a little more regularly. pov: Rook wordcount: 2.2k character(s): Rook & Zara (D&D) canon status: canon, session expansion trigger warnings: discussion of kidnapping, past torture and healed injuries. summary: Rook reunites with his former captain, Zara, after not seeing her for 3 years. In their conversation, she learns some disturbing details about what's happened to him since she last saw him.

Rook hesitated, his hand on the doorknob. His mind was racing, his heart beating faster than it had in weeks as he thought about what was waiting for him inside the room. Zara. How would she react to seeing him again? Would she even want to see him again? Taking a deep breath, he wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and opened the door. 

As he stepped inside and closed the door, his eyes immediately locked onto the woman seated at the desk in the center of the room. She looked almost exactly the way she did in his memories, though with maybe a few more lines on her face. She was dressed more formally than normal, but he supposed that was fitting for her station as mayor. 

As he took a stuttering step forwards she looked up from the desk and gasped, her hand flying to her mouth as she leapt to her feet. Trying, and failing, to keep his voice from shaking, he said “Hello, Captain.”

Mouth still open in surprise, she replied “Well, hello yourself.” The reality of what she was seeing seemed to hit her as she rounded the desk. “Rook, is that really you?”

He nodded. “It’s me.”

Zara ran towards him, stopping just short of touching him, and said “What did she do to you?”

Rook’s heart stuttered and he had to brush his fingers together to confirm Sigmar’s ring was still in place. Could she possibly see through its illusion? But then he remembered what Lanny had said. She knew where you were. His throat clenched and he choked out “Two years.”

A wave of grief swept across Zara’s face as she said “I’m so, so sorry.”

Rook shook his head vigorously. “It’s not your fault.”

Zara ignored him. “It is my fault. I failed you. As your captain, it’s my responsibility to keep you safe, and I failed you.” Rook wanted to say something, to reassure her, but she pushed on. “She sent me letters, told me all the terrible things she was doing to you. I… I let you down.”

Those words hit Rook with the force of a dozen cannonballs. Lanny had said that Zara knew Wolf had him, but knowing that Zara had been aware of what Wolf was doing to him… somehow that was more painful than any wound Wolf had ever inflicted. He barely managed to force his next words out around the lump in his throat. “Where were you?” And why didn’t you come?

“She said she’d kill you if I came to get you. Or if I hired anyone to get you. You’re standing here because I stopped sailing.” 

He stared at her, his mind tossed like a ship in a storm. Zara looked him up and down. She reached out a hand but pulled it back. “You look good,” she said, clearly forcing a smile. 

He forced down the lump in his throat and said, “You have my friends to thank for that.”

Zara narrowed her eyes, and his stomach sank. “You are okay, right?”

He looked away, unable to meet her gaze. He twisted the ring on his finger again and again. 

She took a step closer. Her eyes bored into him, as though stripping away the illusion. “Rook… Are you hurt? Ill?” 

The concern in her voice nearly knocked the air from his lungs. His chest constricted. It would be so easy to lie. He had the ring. But when he opened his mouth, he couldn’t force the words out. With one final twist, he pulled the ring from his finger.

He could only imagine how he looked: every inch of body cut or bruised, his skin pale and dull, dark shadows under his eyes. 

Zara reeled backwards. “Liar,” she hissed. She sounded furious.

Rook jerked back, away from her. He heard Sigmar’s voice echoing in his head. You and I are both liars. 

There was immediate regret on Zara’s face as her voice pulled him back to the present. “I’m so sorry. I- She wouldn’t have gone after you if I hadn’t-” 

He held up a hand, interrupting her before she could finish. Looking her in the eyes he spoke, forcing his voice to stay at least somewhat steady. “No. That’s not true. Not anymore.” He swallowed, trying not to choke on the lump in his throat. “Not after I set her ship on fire.” 

Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “You…”

He nodded. “She loved that ship.” The words drifted out of his mouth. He hardly heard them. All of his attention was on Zara’s face, trying to read her emotions. The anger from a moment earlier was gone, replaced with shock and grief. She looked heartbroken, and Rook’s own heart ached. He’d never seen her look so hurt, so raw. 

It was only for an instant, though. She took a breath and composed herself slightly, shock melting into concern. “She does… But what do you mean you set her ship on fire?”

Uncertain where to begin explaining the events of the months since his escape, he began to ramble. “Well, it was when I escaped her. Escaped the first time, I mean.” He immediately realized what he had said and clamped his mouth shut. 

“W-what do you mean ‘the first time’?” Zara’s voice trembled, sounding utterly unlike the confident, brave captain he knew. 

Rook started at her blankly, uncertain where to begin. There was so much to tell, and much of it he didn’t think he could say aloud. Not yet, anyways. “Well…” he began, slowly. “I told you I was with her for two years. At the end of that time, the ship was docked in Bon Largo. Most of the crew was ashore, leaving only a skeleton crew to load supplies. I’d been waiting for an opening for weeks, months. I don’t know how long. So when I heard the crew talking about shore leave, I knew it was my chance. Maybe my only chance.”

He paused, trying to set his memories in order. The escape wavered between being branded into his mind and a hazy blur. “Once I made it to the deck, I could have jumped overboard and swam. No one would have been the wiser. But…” he looked down at the sword sheathed at his side, “I couldn’t bring myself to leave without your rapier.” 

Zara spoke, voice barely louder than a whisper. “I can’t believe you still have it.” Beneath the disbelief, there was a note of pride in her voice. His heart swelled and he nodded.

“The thought of leaving it there, with her… I couldn’t stand it. So I broke into her cabin and stole it.” He sighed. “But that cost me. When I came back on deck, someone had noticed I was missing and sounded the alarm. I killed a member of her crew and made for the gangplank, but they were blocking the way.”

He fell silent for a moment, remembering the chaos of the moment. The crew yelling, running towards him. The panic clouding his mind, the thought that he might have lost his chance. And the knowledge that if Wolf learned of his escape attempt, she would make death seem like a mercy.

“So, what did you do?” Zara’s voice was soft, prompting but not demanding. 

Rook shook his head slightly. “They’d been loading supplies onto the ship. There were a bunch of barrels. Lamp oil and cooking oil. I knocked one over and threw a lantern on it. The whole deck burst into flames. The fire was between them and me, and they knew that if they valued their lives, they couldn’t let the ship burn.” 

He paused. He’d never considered what happened to the crew who was on board when he escaped. He doubted they had lived long after Wolf returned. The thought didn’t disturb him. They’d made their choice when they joined her crew. “I jumped overboard and swam to the docks. Hid under one for hours, until I was sure it was safe to leave.” It had been cold and miserable, and the saltwater had stung his wounds, but the fear of being recaptured had kept him alive, clinging to the barnacle-crusted wood even when he thought his limbs would give out.

“When I finally left the water, I was so tired I couldn’t even stand. I crawled under a tarp on the dock and passed out.” He’d awoken sore and shivering, skin nearly blue from cold, but he’d never felt more alive. “When I woke, I knew I couldn’t stay in Bon Largo. I stole some food and clothes, and just started walking. I didn’t really have a plan, I just needed to get away. I hitched rides with wagons when I could, but I was mostly too afraid of being found to ask for help.”

“Weeks later, I made it to the Black Desert. I was frightened, paranoid. I had decided to avoid the main roads, but I was hopelessly lost.” The reason for his paranoia had been extreme exhaustion from traveling by night and keeping watch during the day. But Zara already seemed sad enough without those details. “I stumbled across a portal and ended up in the Feywild.” He’d arrived exhausted, starving, and dehydrated after days of wandering in the desert. The Feywild’s lush green forests and clear streams had seemed like heaven, and at first he’d been certain he was hallucinating, driven mad by the desert. 

“I found my way to a clearing, and a waterfall that flowed up instead of down. There was food and water, so I made a camp there.” At first he’d gorged himself on wild berries and fruits. Once he had regained some strength, he started going after fish in the pool and small game in the woods. It was simple food, and he was a terrible cook, but after years in Wolf’s hold, it had seemed like a royal feast.

“I eventually started to explore a little further, and came across a town. Started doing mercenary work. That’s where I ran into the party.” A faint smile spread across his face. “They just… stumbled into my camp one day. Literally appeared out of thin air.” His smile grew as he remembered how they’d arrived, bickering and confused, but still willing to invite him into their fold.

“They helped me take on a job. We saved an archfey lady, and in return she gave me one of her tears.” He ran his thumb over the gem embedded in the rapier’s pommel. 

“It’s a beautiful addition,” Zara said. She seemed to have relaxed slightly, her grief-stricken expression softening as he talked about his friends. A sense of relief hit him as he realized she wasn’t mad about the rapier. He hadn’t realized it until now, but some part of him had worried she would be upset with him for changing it. But she just nodded for him to continue.

“I ended up returning to the material plane with them. Helped them on their adventures. They helped me. Kept me safe.” He swallowed. “Well, until Wolf got her hands on me again.” He saw Zara’s face darken and he hurriedly added, “It’s not their fault. They tried their best. I told one of them I’d end up dead or back in her hold… Turns out it was both.”

Zara’s eyes widened. “But… but you’re standing right here!” Her voice was almost pleading, like she was trying to reason with herself. 

He shook his head slightly. “My friends… They brought me back. A few times, actually.”

Her face fell, and Rook’s chest tightened again. “Don’t blame them. It’s my fault. I…” He suddenly found himself speechless, unable to explain what had transpired in the werebeast labs. After a long silence, he settled on saying, “I lost some people, and I couldn’t stand to be around the party. I ran off on my own, and Wolf found me.” Memories of the past month came flooding back to him, but he shoved them away. “They rescued me.”

For a long moment, she said nothing. His heart began to race, beating faster and faster as his breaths grew shorter. Then all of a sudden the air was knocked from his lungs as Zara lunged forwards, wrapping her arms around him. 

It was all he could do to stop himself from crying out in pain. Her tight embrace was agony where it touched the wounds on his back. He froze, not daring to move, lest it make the pain worse. His mind was racing. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had touched him outside of a fight. 

His instincts screamed that he was in danger, that any moment she was going to tackle him, stab him, or shove him somewhere small and dark. But he forced himself to focus on Zara. Her curly brown hair that brushed against his cheek. The stiff collar of her shirt. The rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

Slowly, so very slowly, the panic began to drain from his body. His arms, frozen out at his sides in shock, began to relax. Cautiously, awkwardly, he wrapped his arms around her. It felt odd, and completely unfamiliar, but not totally unpleasant. If not for the battered state of his body, he imagined it might even be enjoyable.

He had no idea how long they stood there, but eventually Zara pulled back. She planted her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. “That is never, ever going to happen again.”

[tag-of-light]

Setting out on a new adventure... ☀️ As Astra excitedly tells Dyne what she's learned about their destination, Zara and G'raha say their farewells. "Be safe, my love." ▸"I'll miss you."

[lucin-kun]

I want to ramble and draw about my ninjago oc's

I'm open for asks about them

[artvaris]

Raine for Zara H - thank you so much again for trusting me with him 🖤