#ok all my canon runs are rogues

[queerlyloud]

Okay, but genuinely, every single one of my canon run Dragon Age series characters has fallen for the character who intended to betray them but fell for them along the way anyway, despite knowing every second that this would end in flames.

I think I have a Type. 🙃

[captain-jacks-coat]

SPOILERS FOR ROGUE

I usually do "live reactions but make it Theo" on quotev when it's smth I've been looking forward to, so I did it for Rogue. Because Activity is still there and I plan on enjoying it for as long as possible.

so here are the highlights from Rogue's reaction last night!

"DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN WEE WOOOOOOO WOO WEE WOOOOOOOOOO"

"LMFAO IS THAT BAD GUY (BRIDGERTON'S VERSION) OR SOME SHIT"

"m u r d e r"

"welp ok as first dates go I'd say that was disastrous, but hey, you've still got 33 minutes to sort yourselves!"

"THEY BETTER FUCKING SNOG WITHIN THE NEXT 33 MINS"

"I'M JUST SAYING RIGHT WE'VE GOT TWO GAY ACTORS, ONE IS A CANON GAY CHARACTER AND LITERALLY JUST CALLED THE OTHER ONE HANDSOME, AND THE OTHER ONE IS PLAYED BY JONATHON GROFF SO THEY'RE GONNA FUCKING SNOG OR ELSE"

"omg THAT is a spaceship. he's living it. he's a queer (to be confirmed) bounty hunter, who has a MASSIVE INVISIBLE SPACESHIP???? SIGN ME THE FUCK UP"

"THE DOCTOR CALLED ROGUE "BABY" I REPEAT THE DOCTOR CALLED ROGUE "BABY""

"I've been shipping these two since the casting announcement, DO NOT FAIL ME NOW DOCTOR WHO"

"MY NAME'S BOND. MOLECULAR BOND"

"the doctor's fucking grinding to Kylie while pissing off his crush. living my life ngl"

"THE PSYCHIC PAPER DID THE JACK THING IT DID THE JACK THING IT CALLED ROGUE HOT AND ROGUE STRAIGHT UP FLIRTED BACK OHMYGOD KISS NOWWWW"

"Uhm so did Rogue really think the Doctor was taking him to a SHED????? TO DO WHAT, ROGUE??????"

"SORRY WHAT"

""I'M IN LOVE"?????"

"THE DOCTOR'S FACE L M F A OOOO"

"fuck he's only in love with the TARDIS (you'll get there honey dw)"

"OHHH ROGUE DARLING YOU JEALOUS????"

"THEY'RE DOING THE RUN AWAY WITH ME CONVERSATION AND WE'RE NOT EVEN HALFWAY THROUGH THE EPISODE I THINK I'M GONNA BE CRYING AT THE END OF THIS AND IT'S WRITTEN BY KATE AS WELL OH SHIT"

"THEY WERE ABOUT TO FUCKING KISS AND THE FUCKING TARDIS BEEPED BECAUSE THE FUCKING TRAP WAS READY SO THEY DIDN'T KISS WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK"

"OH GOD THE'\RE DANCING THEY'RE DANCING THEY'RE DANCING AND THE DOCTOR IS TEACHING HIM ABT COSPLAY AND ROGUE IS LOOKING AT HIM LIKE HE HAS THE UNIVERSE ON A PLATE JUST FOR HIM AND MY HEART IS SO FULL RN"

"USING THE POWER OF GAY SCANDAL TO BRING DOWN THE EVIL PEOPLE"

"THE CINEMATOGRAPHY IS CINEMATOGRAPHYING THEY'VE TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS AND THEY'RE NOT MOVING THEIR EYES OFF EACH OTHER AND WE'VE GOT A PANNING CAMERA AND ALL THE OTHER PEOPLE ARE GONE AND IT'S THE MOST ROMANTIC SHIT EVER, MY FANFICTION DRIVEN HEART CANNOT HANDLE THIS"

"they're fucking cosplaying gay Bridgeton to save the universe THIS IS WHAT I HAVE BEEN MISSING MY WHOLE LIFE"

"MARRIAGE PROPOSAL HUH"

"THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING THEY'RE HOLDING HANDS AND RUNNING AHHHHHHH"

"YOU HAVE 17 MINUTES TO SNOG GUYS CMONNNN"

"zizz"

"when (if) they snog, there had better be a romantic build up, and setting, and GREAT FUCKING MUSIC alright????????????? YOU HEAR ME KATE??????"

"NOOOOOO EMILY'S A SHAPESHIFER THEY WERE GONNA BE A CUTE COUPLE BUT IT'S ALL MURDER AND IDENTITY THEFT NOW :(((("

"RUBY NO YOU CAN'T DO THIS NOT AGAIN STOP FUCKING DYING"

"THIS IS WHAT THE THIRD TIME YOU'VE DIED SO FAR???????? FOURTH????????? STOP"

"OH MY DEAREST TIME LORD VICTORIOUS, I HAVE MISSED YOU"

"oh she's fine she just dance battled to Poker Face (Bridgerton's Version)"

"NO BECAUSE NOW HE HAS TO CHOOSE OH SHITTT DOCTOR YOU'VE GOT PROBLEMS"

"THEY KISSED WITH THE FRAME AND THE MUSIC AND THE CAMERA ANGLE AND THERE ARE TEARS OH GODDD"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOO THAT'S THE MOST DEVASTATING SHIT I'VE SEEN SINCE CHILDREN OF EARTH OH MY GOD I CANNOT, KATE HERRON YOU EVIL GENIUS OH MY GOD OH MY GOD NO THEY CAN'T BE TOGETHER ANYMORE HE'S GONE HE'S ACTUALLY GONE AND THEY KISSED AND HE GAVE HIM FLOWERS AND HE SACRIFICED HIMSELF SO THAT THE DOCTOR WOULD BE HAPPY WITH RUBY AND OH MY GOD NO WHY WHY WHYYY"

"he left the flowers on the floor where rogue left I'm not ok"

"KATE HERRON, WHEN I FIND YOU KATE HERRON"

"he's wearing the ringggg"

"THE SALUTE HOLY-"

"THAT WAS TOO MUCH FOR MY LITTLE GAY HEART TO HANDLE"

"Rogue is everything to me I fear"

[cryptocism]

So, out of curiosity (AND a slight fear of messing with what you've laid out so clearly in Frequency, which I see as the most reasonable and rational explanation to Thad's character inconsistencies basically, ever), I am wondering if this version of Inertia from Flash #760 fits into the Too Many Thads AU anywhere? From what I can tell, he's the only one not mentioned in your very thorough (and impressively detailed, he was at boomerang's funeral, excuse me sir why are you here???) timeline of Thad appearances. Would you consider him one of the clones we get from the AU, like Six? Or maybe just Thad himself given he's sort of just... chilling in the Speedforce lol. Or did you just not consider him given it's yet another instance of Thad appearing, doing something wild, then disappearing as quickly as he came haha. (Also, I just noticed he says vibrational FREQUENCY, nice👏)

i did... kinda include this iteration. but admittedly it's pretty brief, and the bits of story that take place in the speed force sit in dreamy abstraction rather than solid prose

start of chapter 2 when Thad is running thru the speed force:

He thinks he sees the Flash, once or twice. Tick tock tick tock. You’re running out of time, Barry. But he often thinks he sees lots of people. Once, he thought he saw Max. But the memories exist in his mind the same way a daydream would, and he can’t be sure if it was real.

The "tick tock tick tock" line is taken directly from #760

compared to the other threads of canon that Frequency is written around, it's definitely more on the borders of believably. The "tick tock" line and the bit where Thad threatens to snap his fingers and "blast Barry's mind to pieces" harkens back to the Kid Zoom era and Rogues Revenge, which fucks with my attempt to differentiate this Inertia as a separate person from Kid Zoom. but the hiccup feels minor enough that i think it still works

(and on a tangential note the whole "i'll snap my fingers and blast your mind to pieces" line straight up doesn't make sense to me because YES Kid Zoom famously snapped his fingers and exploded a baby, but he accomplished that by fast-forwarding that baby's timeline so quick that its literal molecules shook apart under the stress. Barry is a speedster and would not respond to timeline manipulation in that way - if at all - because his molecules are already used to that kind of shit. it's a weird and out of place threat to make and i think Williamson may have gotten the impression that Kid Zoom acquired the power of spontaneous combustion which he Fucking Did Not ok rant over)

the general idea i was going for was: Thad is running on rage, sees Barry, has the brief confrontation in #760 where Barry mostly just feels bad for him, and then disappears back into the storm. Implication being that Thad has actually had a couple different interactions with people during his 5 years in the speed force (Eobard, Max, Barry, etc) who try to convince him of things or promise him things, but staying for that long in the speed force (without being dead) fucks with perception a little bit, especially perceptions of Time. so when he's out and looking back on it, Thad can't totally discern what happened, what didn't, or in what order.

also the attendance at Captain Boomerang's funeral gets a shout out near the end of chapter 8 when Bart is going through Six's collection of Four's old stuff:

Some of the items on the shelf he didn’t recognize. A shot glass. A funeral pamphlet for one Digger Harkness. Several empty syringes and auto-injectors all meticulously arranged. A variety of small gadgets and devices that Bart couldn’t place.

because the funeral is technically Inertia's return after the events of Mercury Falling, I translated that as Four's first appearance in the 21st century

[uniwritesfiction]

Black Wedding (Qimir x Reader)

WARNINGS/NOTES: Strong violence, female Reader, cuss words, heartbreaks and sadness. Please enjoy.

Title based on a song.

Some events/canon is broken for the sake of fun fanfiction purposes.

(Also I know I'm probably super late to the Qimir fan craze but this took a while for me to make without life interruptions.)

The air of the industrial skies of Coruscant froze the air around your bedroom. The dimness of the blinds only elevated it. You tossed and turned in your sleep. The Force visions invaded your mind, seeking the one answer you sought out: where was he?

Flashback Memory 1

It always began with how you first met him. The first day of class when you joined the Order. You were nervous as you followed Vernestra Rwoh into one of the classrooms. A Torguta was teaching about meditation to some younglings and glanced up to see you and Rwoh enter.

"We have a new student here," Rwoh announced, bringing you into the meditation room. You shyly hid behind her, peeking your head out.

The other students stood up and curiously flocked over. Some even went behind you as if inspecting if you were a fraud. You yipped and broke out from Vernestra's legs, bumping into another student.

"Oh I'm sorry!" You said and then glanced up to see the student shrug it off. He had stringy black hair, pale skin and brown eyes. "It's ok. Hello," the student said. "My name's Qimir. What's yours?"

You titled your head down, red in the face. "Uhhhh.... (name)."

Qimir smiled. "I like it." Your cheeks bloomed.

"Hey, Qimir got a girlfriend," one of the younglings joked. Vernestra gave a warning glare, and the youngling stood back, gulping.

"Qimir, what are you doing here?" Vernestra took his hand. "Come on, little cousin. You know better than to fool around in the Temple. Apologies for him, Master Yorno. Would you kindly now showcase (name) in your teachings?"

"We were just beginning, I only started with a lesson on why we meditate," the Torguta said smiling. "Come, (name)."

As you walked forward, Rwoh led Qimir away. Yet, he still turned to you and smiled.

"Told you she's his new girlfriend," the same youngling snickered.

Another youngling rolled his eyes. "Ignore Jace. He likes to poke people's bubbles."

From there, the dream then shifted to a flash forwards of you journeying with the younglings via different lessons, missions with your master and training.

And then… began your Padawan memories. Those were some of the best times you ever had. Well… sort of.

Qimir was often around now, having been able to escape Rwoh's clutches every so often he can. Especially that one time when you and Jace were sent to locate a rogue criminal, Qimir had joined in, as he had some information he gathered from around bandits.

And when you finally located the criminal, it is when all hell had broken loose. After you and Jace's attempts at catching him failed, Qimir unleashed a herd of bantha with the pursuit hot on the criminal running insanely. It was a successful mission... and with rewards of paranoia, terror and a very angry Rwoh.

The scolding was done within 1 hour. The three of you groaned as you stepped out from the council room.

“Qimir, you do realize that was stupid of you?” you scoffed. "They're never gonna let this down. The damage payments for the banthan farms are gonna be raised to the roof."

“I mean, shoot, the masters are right, that could’ve gotten us killed or more insane,” Jace said.

Qimir chuckled. “It’s what makes life interesting, living on the edge,” he said.

You all headed over then to the markets, overlooking the stalls. You stopped at a drink concession.

"Until my life is on the line," you huffed, paying a vendor some credits. The vendor then presented you some blue milk. "Next thing you know then we'll be kicked out."

“Then we’re free to do as we please. No Order, no rules, no council. Just us."

Jace laughed. “Well, as much as I’m interested if I do get kicked out… I don’t think you would ever convince (name) here for it. She’s such a by-the-book girl.”

You smirked. “Live by the code, die by the code."

"Now if only the code allowed for you to loosen up and get a boyfriend. Oh, I know like Qimir!" Jace cackled.

Qimir rolled his eyes. "She'll never say yes."

You took a sip of your drink. "The Code does say no attachments."

"Yeah, but doesn't say no to sex."

Blue milk splattered from your mouth onto a pedestrian. The pedestrian glared at you. "Sorry," you said, embarrassingly backing away.

You turned to Jace and Qimir, who were holding themselves from laughing their asses off.

"I'm going to kill you both," you hissed.

From there, the two Padawans ran as fast as they could from you.

Present Day

"(Name)."

You woke up from your bed as you browsed your surroundings. The familiarity of the Coruscant unit hit you, and you sighed, getting up and stretching out.

The usual routine kicked in: tea, shower, dress, meditate. You prepared for your next step, which was to go out and gather resources when you heard the beeping of a hologram call.

"(Name)."

You pressed the button on the holo and before you appeared Master Yorno in blue light.

“Good morning to you, Master Yorno,” you said bowing.

Master Yorno chuckled. “There’s no need of that now that you’re not my apprentice anymore.”

“Force of habit,” you smiled, laying out your clothes for the day. “Called to check in on me or let me guess… there’s something the Jedi are after but need the help of a former one to bypass areas.”

“I’m afraid neither are of the importance,” Yorno said. “However, it is indeed a particular mission. One that… I believe involves you.”

“What is it I’m getting? Weapons? Shields? Armor?" You reached for your steamer. "You know, I'm still happy you welcomed me back with open arms. It's nice to know what the Order's been up to, yet I can't help but..."

“It’s about him.”

Your senses froze. The steamer clattered to the ground. You turned around to Yorno. “I’m sorry…who?”

“You know it deep in your heart…who I’m talking about.”

You would do it in a heartbeat if you could cut yourself off from the Force. You knew what he meant. And every feeling resurfaced, a burning ache of pain you wished to erase. Yet, you knew even if you did, it wouldn’t stop anyway. Any mention of him just brought back that guilt.

Yorno sighed, adjusting himself as he prepared to continue. “I know… it has been a while since… we talked about him…”

“And I prefer if we didn’t.” Your voice boomed in venom.

“You can’t keep running away and pretending the wound is sealed.”

“He was the one who walked out, Yorno.”

“And you allowed it to change yourself, like it did to him.”

Your fists clenched. “Just tell me why you called.”

“I had a dream last night… I couldn’t see him, but I heard him speak to a woman. They have been traveling from planet to planet. He was running an apothecary. After I woke up from that, I had received news that a Jedi had been killed on Olega via poison.”

You gulped, a drop of sweat barely forming on your head. "So... you think the dream you had was a force vision?"

"They're not one to be trifled with. Especially after the report that just came today. A woman named Mae-ho Aniseya was spotted on Olega. She had killed Master Torbin via bunta poison. Bought from an apothecary. We're still under investigation but those are the facts."

You nod, beginning to pace. “And you’re sure… it’s him you heard in your dream? Not anyone else?”

Yorno shook his head. “I still remember how he sounded like. It was like... I was viewing it right beside him. I couldn't see him, but I recognized his voice, the same as I heard it before."

You placed a hand on your heart. "Then... what is this mission?"

"We believe that Mae is killing Jedi to complete her training. The final Jedi we deducted is Master Kelnacca, who resides on Khofar. We are hoping to get there before they both do hopefully. There's a chance he'll be there. And besides... even if you don't see him... I know you got rent coming up to pay."

He points to the holo calendar that had a huge circle on it. You scoffed. "Always looking out for me."

You turned to him. "Yorno...I...I don't know. I still have those…horrid memories of him. The black books lay on the desks. The shouting. The way he had carried the bag with him, looked at me, and shut the door. I could feel my blood turn cold right now. My veins are solidifying. I feel empty.” You gulped as you touched your chest again, as if your breath was taken out from you.

"If you can't do it for him, do it for you. I know your heart is still hurting. The only way it will heal is if you finally confront him. If the roles were reversed..., do you think he would drop your chance to see you?"

Your frown eased, your face forming a gleeful expression. "I swear, Yorno... you were always like a father to me."

Yorno huffed. "Well... I was your master," he chuckled. "I supported you two after all these years. I believe there is no coincidence that you two are meant to see each other again. Even if.... the worst is inevitable... do it... for your sake so you don't have to live with that guilt. I never told Master Rwoh about the dream. If I did, you wouldn't be given another chance."

You smiled. That was your master all right. One to never let you down. "Fine... I'll do it. Let me....finish with some errands and I'll meet you."

Yorno bowed. "I'll send in the rest of the report later today. Come meet me when you're ready." The hologram dispersed.

You rubbed a metal band on your finger, turning to your clothes now to change. "Yippee," you said to yourself.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flashback Memory 2

You were sleeping in your room when you heard knocking. You opened up your door half asleep to see Qimir.

"Qimir? It's late," you yawned. "What are you doing here? Rwoh's gonna yell at you again."

He chuckled. "Well, I'm sneaking out, and I couldn't help but want to know you're up to explore Coruscant."

You rolled your eyes. "Sneak out? Qimir, you do realize how much trouble that will be? If any of the masters find out, I snuck out... or worse, like I said.... Rwoh?!"

Qimir huffed. "Come on," he said grabbing your hand and pulling you toward him. "You gotta have some fun in your life. Let it just be me and you. One night of being free."

You groaned, pulling back. "I don't know. There's the meeting with the Council and Lightsaber Rounds. It would be bad if..."

Qimir shook his head and then pulled you toward him again. He grabbed your hands. "Look, if you promise just this once....I won't bother to do this again."

You sighed, glancing up at him, his eyes full of hope. It was a little kid asking to go to their favorite place. "Fine then."

Qimir smiles and took your hand, leading you out to the hallway. "Good. I know this one place I passed by. It's got some awesome Alderaan wines and Raxus beers."

You folded your arms. "Seriously.... Do you want us to get blasted?"

"Only a little."

"OK fine....but I'm only having one drink."

----------------------------------------------------------------------

5 drinks later

The ash of the Canto cigarettes whiffed by your nose without notice. The taste of the alcohol had rocked you harder than the banthan charges.

"QIMIR!" you roared, howling with joy as you watched him float one of the Rodian's drinks up in the air again. You were holding onto him as he tried to concentrate. The Rodian stormed around, grumbling about a floating drink.

The drink kept flying around until suddenly, it crashed into the Rodian. The Rodian huffed up a storm, grabbing a bartender and a rumble ensured.

Qimir laughed hard as he slammed the counter down. "Shut it, you're going to get us in trouble," you cried, holding onto him. Qimir was leaning onto you as he couldn't stop laughing, pulling on your robes.

"Oh come on, this beats out the bantha stampede," Qimir said, hiccuping.

You noticed the Rodian now taking a sweep around the bar, eyeing down every patron.

"Ok, come on Qimir," you said, holding onto him. "Sucker Mouth is gonna know we're the idiots."

Qimir held onto you as he chuckled, standing up and lead you both out of the bar.

"Oh my god," you said, wheezing hard. "We're in so much trouble. Not only from the order but....haha... I can't believe you fucking did that."

"All in good fun," Qimir said with a smile.

You both stumbled out onto the streets of Coruscant, still bursting into giggles and breaths.

"Since when did you use the Force?" you howled.

Qimir shrugged. "It's... something that I don't like using often," he said. "Few folk know I do. My master and I... have a special relationship."

"You're not a Jedi?"

"Eh, trying to be but... got a few more steps to go before I can get to be part of the Order and all."

You both stumbled over to the landspeeder.

"Kriff, we probably can't even get back to the temple," you coughed. "The world is spinning." Qimir browsed around. "You think we can rent a unit until the morning?"

"Kriff it!"

You dragged him over to the nearest hotel you could find. "Room...for TWO pleaweeese," you cackled to the receptionist. The receptionist, a droid, was nonchalant to your drunken shit fest as they typed in a few keys. "That'll be 100 credits. Is it one night or more?"

The next thing you knew, you both barreled into the room, hanging onto the walls.

"Kriff, we're so wasted," you said, crawling your way to the bed, plopping down on it. Qimir joined you from behind, dropping to his knees as his face hit the edge of the bed.

"Oh, you're so gonna get it," he snickered.

You got up and went over to the window, overlooking the Coruscant skyline. Your eyes glued to the beaming glow lights of the skyscrapers and the never-ending flashes of the speeders. "You know, for a busy city, it's actually pretty nice when you take the time to..."

You turned your head to see Qimir struggling to undo his robes. He only had gone halfway down, exposing his chest. You snorted loudly. "You wampa head, what are you doing?"

"How do you even undo this?"

"Oh my god, here." You walked over to him and caressed your fingers onto his robes. "Like this...haha... can't even pull it down...."

"Shut it, I got it!" Qimir attempted to push you off. You hung onto him, pulling his robes.

Soon, you two tumbled to the floor, and you collapsed on top of him. The room was still full of laughs as you sat up. "Oh god, what's next you can't undo your belt, hahaa....oh..."

You turned red as you glimpsed down to see the robes were now halfway down to his waist. Qimir glanced up at you. "You ok there?" he asked, the scent of alcohol lingering but fading.

You shook your head. "I'm....fine," you lied. Of course, how could you be when you never realized he had the physique of strength and lean. Holy crap, those arms? Enough for you to want to squeeze yourself between them. And the way that cute face of his... those confused eyes and his overblown hair.... if only you two weren't Jedi.

Quickly, you got off and laid down on the bed. Qimir crawled up too laying beside you. Immediately, you turned the other way.

"All right, spill the beans," Qimir chuckled, nudging you. "I know that face. You got something on your mind." He wasn't good at reading thoughts, but he knew reading faces like an open book.

"It's nothing."

"Mmhmm...." He pinched you. When you didn't respond, he decided to pinch your cheeks. You jumped up, tackling him.

"You ass!"

You two tumbled around until Qimir rolled on top of you. You still gave him little jabs. "No fair!"

"Ready to give up, Jedi?" Qimir teased.

You then turned red seeing he was on top of you. Qimir titled his head, curious.

You breathing accelerated as you felt then your fingers begin to travel up his hair. Qimir leaned into your touch. He leveled his head down close to you, staring at your lips.

Before you knew it, his were on yours. He tasted sweet, a new addiction to you. You felt his arms wrapped around you as you sunk into his embrace.

"Wait!" You pulled back. "I'm sorry, Qimir. I... I didn't mean to... "

Qimir grinned and kissed you again. "Hey," he said huskily. "Right now it's only you and me... no Jedi, no Code, no Order.... ok?"

"But what if...."

You gasped as he began to kiss your neck, traveling up to your ear. "They'll never know," he chuckled.

And then you gave in. You pushed down more of his robes to reveal his body. He didn't waste time to undo yours, even ripping some of it.

The hotel room became adorned with moans and cries of pleasure throughout the night...

-------------------------------------------------------------------

"Are you all right?"

You woke up to the sound of Master Sol's voice as you dozed off in your chair. Recognition hit you, you were on a ship to Khofar. "Oh." You shook yourself. "Apologies, master."

"We're almost there," Sol said. "About 15 minutes away."

You stretched out on your chair and sat up. Your felt your nerves come alive.

It just seemed like only a few minutes ago, Yorno had given you the report about the mission. You were enlisted as a researcher. While the Jedi had a tracker, you were tasked with giving information about the planet's biology and other ecological whereabouts.

Yorno had fibbed your last name in an effort to keep you from being found out. ("The minute Rwoh knows you're alive, things will get more complicated. Don't worry, the Jedi you'll be going with I'm sure have no indication who you are. It's been too long.")

You fiddled with the metal band on your ring finger. You were thankful Yorno wasn't joining you, as you knew you be a mess if he did. Yorno had announced he was being sent via another mission to handle. "And take this too." From his robes, he had conjured a lightsaber. "It's been too long, hasn't it? Keep it for good luck in case. Use it for only emergencies of course."

You sighed deeply. Out of the corner of your eyes, you saw someone analyzing you. It was Osha, Mae's twin sister as you had read in the report. Her eyes averted to the ring.

"That ring on your finger," she said, curiously. "You're married?"

You smiled weakly. "Yes, it was a long time ago."

Osha titled her head. "What was it like?"

You chuckled. "Wonderful. Imagine someone you found who knows all your quirks, the things that make you happy, you wake up wondering where they are and just.... want to spend every day knowing you'll wake up to them every day." You twirled the metal band. "Til death do us part as they say."

"What does he do?"

You closed your eyes. "He.... well... he does things one would question greatly." Your lips twitched. "Let's just say... I rather not talk about it." You looked down gloomily. "It broke my heart when I found out."

You peered to see Osha had looked away, as if sorry to ask. "Are you two still... together?"

You gulped. "To put it shortly... we're... not seeing eye to eye." You trembled, clasping your hands nervously. "We got into a fight about... things. Ever since then, I haven’t seen him.”

Osha twiddled with her fingers. "I had something similar. My sister and I were close," she said. "We... wanted different things. That led into a disagreement and things just got out of hand. I... despite what she's done, I want to see her."

"Well, I suppose we both know what it's like to be hurt by someone," you said, sheepishly. "Maybe that's why we're both here.... to let go of hate we hold onto them. If we let it bloom, the suffering will never end."

Osha smiled. "You sound like a Jedi saying that."

"Well... my friend of mine happens to be a Jedi. And he's right... we will always remain loyal, no matter how much we love them. It is not in our nature to hurt but to forgive."

"We've arrived," Sol said.

You glanced out to the windows to see the planet Khofar. Finally, it was time.

Flashback Memory 3

Sullust. High Republic Research Base.

It was the most horrible day of your life. Something had terrified you the moment you returned to the ship with Master Yorno. You had just gotten done tying up the pirates when you sensed Rwoh wasn't with you. You glimpsed around, confused as you knew you captured most of the pirates from raiding the base.

"She must be back at the base trying to uncover the rest of the pirates' plans," Yorno noted.

"Master, if you don't mind, I can go check it out."

"Swiftly. We must escort these pirates back to Coruscant."

You ventured down back to the entrance of the base. As you backtracked where you fought the pirates, you suddenly heard a scream. Following its vibrations, you guided yourself over to another door, that led to a mining cave. And there as you delved deeper, your heart dropped.

"STOP!" you screeched as you watched Master Rwoh whip Qimir on the back.

Qimir was holding onto his deactivated saber as Rwoh prepared to whip again until you jumped in front of him.

"(Name), what are you doing? Return to the ship!" Rwoh barked.

"What are YOU doing?" you snapped. "What the hell are you doing to Qimir?"

Rwoh panicked. "That's none of your concern! This is between me and him."

You turned to Qimir staggering, eyeing the fresh whipped mark on his back, searing with damage. There was another right below this one scarred. "Qimir..." You held onto him. "Why...would you let her?"

Qimir looked up. "She raised me," he said. "And...i...met you. I wanted to walk away but now, you... gave me more reasons to be a Jedi now."

"This... this isn't what you think, (name)," Rwoh hissed, moving toward you. "You need to stay away from him. You don't know who you're protecting."

"Oh I think I know EXACTLY who I'm protecting." You held up your lightsaber with a warning.

"We had the pirate captain cornered. He murdered the captain in cold blood. The captain had whereabouts as to their hideout."

"And whipping him is justification?!"

Rwoh's eyes narrowed. "(Name), please listen to me."

"I don't care!" You still held your arms out, shielding Qimir. "I won't let you hurt him like this. This isn't how you treat Padawans to learn their lesson in making a mistake."

"Don't act like you know anything about lessons when you're not exactly clean yourself. I know what you and Qimir have been up to."

Your eyes widen, your heart dropping. "What...are....you are talking about?"

Rwoh scoffed, a grin slowly rising. "I am aware of your.... nightly trips with him."

Terror had not etched its way into you and Qimir's faces. Now his hands were gripping on your arms, trembling. "How?" you said.

"Your name had happened to pop up at the Coruscant View Hotel... a couple times."

Now Qimir was rising up a bit, walking in front of you.

"I wonder... what the Order would think of an apprentice sneaking off. Rowdying themselves with drinks and crashing at a room... doing Force knows what."

Qimir furrowed his eyebrows. "Don't....bring her into this," he whispered vehemently, his steps etching further to Rwoh. "What is between me and her... is none of your concern."

"It is when you're luring her in. I told you Qimir, to stay away from her. To stay away from the Temple yet you insistently..."

You felt anger consume you, now joining Qimir. "And so, what if he kept coming by to see me? You got a problem with me and him... just enjoying each other's company?"

"As an official, it's my job to ensure order is insured," she snapped. "What you two do outside may be your business, but as a Jedi, there are things we still must adhere to. This is what I'm afraid of. You're letting your emotions cloud you."

"Of course, because I love him!" You clasped your hands together in front of your mouth.

Rwoh gasped. "What... did you say?"

Silence filled the cave. Your head flowed over to Qimir’s face, wondering if his reflection matched yours. Qimir glanced back at you, a void of no emotion. Possibly, he was processing what you had said or… he didn’t feel the same. You didn’t let it stop your babbling.

“And I don’t regret it,” you hissed at Rwoh. “I may be sleeping with him, but every night, he makes me feel alive. Every time we hold hands, I feel my body burst into paradise. Every moment when he’s with me, I feel unstoppable and there’s nothing you can do to change my min…”

Suddenly, the world shook. You stumbled on your feet. You turned and noticed cracks etching along the cave. "What the…”

The earth split the three of you apart, the ground cracking ferociously. You held onto the structure you were on as it lifted you up, with pebbles raining down. Immediately, you reached for your comlink. The earth roared more with anger, making you collide into the wall behind you, destroying the comlink.

"NO."

You watched as the rocky formations kept tossing you around. A world of darkness sunk into your vision. You just kept falling, hitting, falling and hitting....

And then the warmth of someone's arms. You looked to see Qimir holding onto you tightly.

"Hold on," he said, as he guided both of you away. You closed your eyes.

The vibrations of the world ceased to stop. You opened your eyes to see that now... Rwoh was gone. It was just you and Qimir. Still in the cave but now the only way back was blocked off.

"Qimir?" A tear escaped your eye. "Is your comlink working?"

He held his head down. "No...it got damaged during the quake."

You buried yourself into his arms. "What....what's going to happen?"

Qimir sighed. "I dont' know..."

You breathed in deeply. This was it... it had to be. There was no way Rwoh would return for both of you. Not for the sake of exposing her secret whipping Qimir and knowing her, she would expose your relationship should you return.

"(Name)."

Your eyes averted to him.

"Did you mean it when you said you love me?"

You looked down. "I.... I mean... you're the only one who makes me feel like I'm... human." You leaned in. "If you don't feel the same.... I'll still support you."

Two fingers pinched your chin up. "Then I'm glad... if we're going to die here... it's with the woman I fell for at first sight." A kiss was planted on your head as you two embraced.

—————————————————————-

Khofar. Night.

You opened your eyes as walked through the forest. You followed along with the Jedi and the tracker, surveying the scene. You shook your head of the recent memory. It was the last thing you could remember.

After the incident on Sullust, knowing there was no chance for you two to return to the Order (especially with Rwoh), you both vowed to live your lives free. Luckily, you were rescued from Sullust miners who had uncovered the cave within 15 mins due to an important pipe that was bury there.

Once you both were out, it was out to Alderaan first thing. Qimir did not hesitate to be married to you.

It took about 1 year and 12 days for you both to raise enough money to be able to find a place together, set up a small ceremony and buying simple gifts.

As much as a ceremony was nice, you knew deep down, there wasn't much to do anyway. You were both most likely banned from the Order and it wasn't like you could just call up your ex-master to invite to the wedding.

Still, you remembered how sweet it was seeing Qimir had stitched up his robes to be as presentable. You had converted your robes into something of a dress with the outer robes being something of your hidden veil.

You had chosen to be married near a brook. The brook had wrapped itself around a small circular patch of land. A beautiful tree full of lovely flower petals bloomed.

You both went over to the priest who held an ancient tome of wedding customs. He blessed you by the power of the Force there, to now be husband and wife.

You were both free from the shackles of the demanding of a Jedi, to live your lives how you wanted it.

Those blessed days of the honeymoon were the last you could remember being happy, venturing in Alderaan for the remainder of your marriage. The next thing you could remember fondly was Qimir looking at you as you begged him not to go. Your heart was breaking. He was leaving you.

“Please,” you had beg.

Qimir would smirk as he finished packing the last of his items in his bag. He held his hand out to touch your cheek.

Your eyes glazed down to the black books inside his bag.

"Please!" you shouted. "I can't...let you go."

Qimir silently sighed. He held your hands, making your blood turn cold, every part of your body frozen.

You sighed. “I know…it’s for the best.”

And then without a word, he slung the bag over his shoulder and he opened the door and shut it.

“Are you ok?”

You glanced up to see one of the Jedi Knights, Yord overlooking at you. You took a deep breath. “Yeah…just…tired.”

Yord raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure.... you look... upset."

You clenched your fingers. "No, I'm full of sunshine on a clear day on Naboo. Can we focus now?" You stormed forward, Yord glaring at you.

You bit your lip in embarrassment, venturing with the rest of the Jedi to find Kelnacca.

Focus, you thought to yourself. Truly, you were upset about Qimir but yet... something was nagging at you. Like, you just wanted to turn around and snap at all of them. They were the reason why he had turned. If it hadn't been.... no. You shook your head. You couldn't reveal your relationship. That would be a chaotic disaster to explain.

Finally, you all stopped upon looking up at the retreat. The tracker sniffed and nodded it's head at the home. Inside, seemed to be a figure, prancing about. It was Mae.

As one of the Jedi beckoned Mae to come forth, you sensed him. Osha turned to you as you kept swaying your head around. "Is it one of those things again?" she asked, noting the umbramoths they came across earlier.

You stopped and shook your head. "No...I feel like something familiar." You glanced at her. "It's like.... someone's coming."

Osha whirled around, her eyes shrinking at you, trembling. Your eyes averted to hers, absorbing the fear.

"What?"

The other Jedi now turned too, staring down straight ahead. "What is that?" Jecki asked, her face void of her emotion, yet her tone tinged with concern.

You peeked behind you and your body fully turned, surrendering to the shock.

"Oh no..."

He glided down slowly, delaying your urges for fight or flight. He was wearing a helmet/mask, tarnished with dents and marks, the front with a small viser and crumbly rigged teeth. The black cloak he wore covered his body from being fully seen. And despite this, you sensed him. He was here.

You couldn't even move. There was the Force locked onto you, freezing your limbs in place. Only your eyes scoured the figure walking closer to you.

An onslaught of panic boiled inside. The need to turn to the Jedi and run kept being denied as you fought the stastis.

And then, he was in front of you. You peered up. Even if had you been unlocked, you would've kept your lips sealed shut.

The figure raised his hand and touched your cheek. The familiar caressing of love enveloped inside you.

It’s…him, was all you could think. It’s you.

The figure titled his head. "Still as beautiful as the day of our wedding," his mechanical voice purred.

An eruption of lightsabers ignited. "(Name), RUN!" Sol ordered.

Suddenly, you saw the glint of a red lightsaber flare up. Followed by the gleam of a band as his hand twisted around and turned. And then the world went black with the air rushing towards you as you flew off and hit something hard with your head.

The world was still dizzy as you rose up. The lightsabers were all hissing around, with grunts and yelps. You turned and gasped, seeing a Jedi on the ground with a burnt hole in their back.

Yelping, you scooted away from the body. "Jecki? Sol? Yord?"

They didn't reply to you as you looked on to see more Jedi fall down to the figure's lightsaber. Occasionally, the figure headbutted them, zapping their sabers to fizzle and break.

You patted down your pants. “Bingo,” you said feeling the object in your pocket. “Not now though… with…that cortosis he’s got going on.”

You scanned your eyes around and then saw Osha raise up her stun gun. “Osha, wait!” You ran over to her and grabbed her arm. “We need to get going, he’s too dang…

"Hey!" Osha fought you back as the stun gun went off… and still hit the figure. The figure slowly turned its helmet towards you.

"That's why..." you huffed. You gripped onto Osha's hand and the both of you darted off.

"What was that?" Osha stammered.

"Uhh.... a...something," you answered.

The next couple minutes were just a flash of survival for you. It went from you dodging the figure’s lightsaber attacks to avoid bumping into more Jedi running after him to trying to keep Osha on her feet. Back and forth it seemed, just the Jedi fighting the figure, guiding Osha to Yord and you… were just the third wheel.

At some point, you remembered even throwing a rock at the figure's head in childish frustration. The figure abruptly turned to you.

"Crap."

Quickly, you took off. You brushed into the foliage of the forest, looking back occasionally. You frowned as you stopped. Was he that reluctant to follow you or did he not care anymore?

"Ahh!"

You crashed into another figure, both of you falling down. You looked to see....Osha? Yet, why was she wearing armor, and her hair was longer?

Oh. "Wait... Mae?"

Mae glanced up at you. Yet, before she could even run, she stopped as she felt the Force push her aside. You turned to see the figure walked towards you first and then turned to Mae. The figure held out his hand again, curling it up against your cheek, making your shiver.

"If there's one thing I should've taught you," the mechanical voice growled. "It's this, Mae. Loyalty... comes at a price." He slowly turned to you. "You would happen to know it... wouldn't you, my dear?"

Yet, as you were about to answer, you gasped at the sight of Jecki jumping from behind to attack him.

"Look out!"

The figure now pulled away, focusing his attacks on Jecki.

"Come on!" You felt the tight grip of Yord's hand on your clothes, pulling you with him and Osha.

"Wait! Wait!" you protested, tempting to fling Yord’s clutch on you. "What about Jecki and Sol?"

"We've been ordered to escape and alert the Jedi Council," Yord boomed.

“Can you let go?”

“No! We gotta keep moving!”

You stopped and pulled back, slipping from Yord's grasp. "Well, I can’t! It's like Master Yorno told me, the only way it will heal is if you finally confront him." You bit your tongue. "Err...I mean..."

Yord and Osha turned to you. "You know who that thing is?" Yord asked.

You flashed him a glare but it was replaced by sorrow. "Yes. He...was close to me... a friend of mine. I let him run like this and ever since then... I haven't forgiven myself. My heart is swelling with pain." A hot tear fell down your cheek. "I can't go with both of you. I... have to stop him."

"Why didn't you say something earlier?"

You turned to Yord. "There's no time to explain. Please, this is between us... all I ask Yord is...if you find Yorno, tell him... I finally found peace."

Yord frowned. "Wait, (name), you can't face him alone..."

Ignoring him, you finally darted off.

————————————————————————-

You came across him battling Jecki and Sol. You hid behind some foliage, bidding your time to join in on the battle. They were getting closer to you. You calculated your attack as Sol's lightsaber was extinguished from being bashed against the cortosis of his helmet and he pushed the figure away. Jecki saw this to her advantage and jumped upon the figure. The figure saw flaws in Jecki's attack, as she kept head-bashing him. He untwisted his lightsaber, revealing a short one. With 3 stabs into her body, Jecki laid on the ground.

"Jecki!" Sol cried.

As you ventured forth more, the mask of the figure fell...revealing his face. Qimir smirked as he turned to Sol. "Was that its name?" he scoffed.

"She was a child."

"You brought her here.... and also... her."

Sol titled his head. "What are you talking about?"

Before you could even reach for the weapon in your pocket, you felt the Force reel you over to him as he extended his arm out. He grabbed onto your neck.

"Hello...again," he smiled. "It's been so long, hasn't it? And now you're wondering... if you should kill me. Or... you should run and forget me."

You struggled against his grip. "You're the one you left," you snapped.

"On the contrary..." He held his hand, showcasing the ring. "I never did."

Sol browsed between the two of you, confused. "Oh, we never told them, didn't we?" Qimir chuckled.

You looked down as Sol continued to stare on in confusion. "He's my husband," you answered.

"You had a wife?!" Mae emerged from the bushes, now also facing you both.

Suddenly, you felt Qimir slam you down onto the ground as he focused on Mae, grabbing her with the Force and holding her against him. Yet, as you attempted to move, he stomped onto your back, holding you there. Qimir waved his lightsaber hilt, aiming it from Mae's head down to your back.

"One more step," he warned to Sol who deactivated his lightsaber.

You veered your face up. "Is this what you left me for?" you hissed.

Qimir crunched his foot farther onto your back. You know me better than that, he snarled. "If you just joined in with me... we wouldn't be in this predicament."

"Oh yes, surely killing Jedi and training some random witch from a planet is more important than tending to your wife."

Qimir winked. "You let me leave."

"I know...and I do...." You're fingers fiddled close to the weapon in your pocket.

You paused as you watched Sol use this distraction to walk further, his hands reaching out as if to examine how to force pull you. All this new information confused him but it didn't stop him from focusing on saving you.

Seeing your eyes turn to Sol, Qimir then kicked Mae and dropped her to the ground, switching his foot onto her back as he lifted you up.

"Let them go!" Sol exclaimed.

"Her, yes, in a moment," he said, nodding to you. He smiled at you, the corners of your lips twitching. His fingers splayed across your cheek. You know what to do, he said. He nodded toward Mae. "Why don't we renew... our vows?"

You breathed steadily as you saw him tilt his head, giving you that... that face. The one he had the day of your wedding. It was a face of promise, hearth, and protection. And like a newborn child, you fell for it again. Your body went limp in his hold.

Before you could answer him, you caught Sol stepping back. You heard it in the Force. Someone was coming.

"Behind us," you hissed to Qimir, as you swirled the weapon in your grasp. "He won’t see me coming." Reaching for Qimir's helmet, you rose it up and slammed it behind you.

Yord charged his saber down and it hit the cortosis piece. Focusing, you ignited your lightsaber and slashed out at Yord. Yord felt the plunge of the saber into his chest, his face horrified. His body fell to the side.

As you regain your surroundings, you turned to see Qimir and Sol locked in a fight, Mae nowhere to be in sight. You could feel her presence still nearby though.

Seeing Sol's lightsaber activated, you quickly pulled Qimir towards you, dodging him from a bash.

Sol's eyes dropped to Yord's body, his body shaking as his face morphed into disgust. "(Name)? I… Master Yorno…”

“Oh, Master Yorno told you to trust me? That I was such a good student?” You pretend sobbed. “Don’t you see I’m caught in a predicament.” You danced around. “Caught between a balance of goody Jedi and killing my husband? Can’t you see it? He’s right… I can’t kill him.” You flashed an evil smile. “I still love him."

Qimir didn't hesitate as he wrapped an arm around you. "That's why I love you... you're always so loyal... so willing to do anything to make me happy."

"Anything... for you." You thrust yourself forward onto him, kissing his lips. Sol's face morphed into disgust.

"You...you knew Yorno! You helped the Jedi and... how could you go and kill..."

You rolled your eyes pulling away from Qimir. "How could I?" You wheeled over to Sol. "Oh, how could I just... kill Yord like nothing? Did you not hear me at all? I can't do it... because I made a vow." Qimir patted your head as you leaned into his chest, giddy. "My loyalty is only to my husband."

Sol stepped back as Qimir activated his lightsaber. "Yorno trusted you."

You furrowed your eyebrows. "And I trusted the Order... and I'm glad I did because it brought me to him." You gripped Qimir's hand into yours. "All those memories." You both rubbed your foreheads together. "They were so hard to live with knowing we couldn't be truly free... but now... we can do whatever we want. Where was the Order when they abandoned him…only I was there to help him."

You flicked your hand up, spying a figure still watching. "She's still here." Mae flew over to you, yelping. You gave her a quick jab into her stomach, making her lose her breath and fall. "And you failed him," you snapped.

"Why... did you never tell me... about her?" Mae gasped.

Qimir huffed. "Well, I had to have eyes and ears, in case people like him, come snooping around. Her sob story kept her master, Yorno, to tell all. And every Jedi you encountered; she supplied the information we needed.

”Was she your first student?”

Qimir stood silent. Your face dropped, sighing.

"She's not strong enough," he said, dejectedly. "We've tried. Still... she passed the lesson of trust whereas you didn't. So...'" He smiled at you. "Wanna do the honors?"

You emitted your lightsaber, ready to aim at Mae. "I thought you never asked." Your pupils dilated though as you spied Osha from afar.

"Get down!"

You then pushed him as you took the hit from Osha's stun blaster. You stumbled on your feet as you attempted to regain your balance but ultimately fell, succumbing to the paralysis.

You watched the world turn dizzy and blacken. All you could see next was Qimir yelling and being lifted up from giant claws. And then everything was a frenzy.

------------------------------------------------------------------

When you awoke, it was sunrise. The morning glow splattered onto your face, signaling your brain awake. You stretched out as you looked to see you were near a starfighter, laying against the support.

And there was Qimir. He was putting some bags up into the ship. He glanced down to you as you shuffled about.

"And now she awakens," he teases.

The sunlight's soft rays emitted around him. You blushed as you recognized all the things you loved about him. And down to that ring he wore.

"You still kept it," you said.

Qimir chuckled. "You were the reason why I was on this journey in the first place."

Getting up, you walked over to him. "You have no idea... how much I missed you."

"As did I."

He wrapped himself around you, basking you with affection. With a snicker, you kissed his cheek.

"Now what?" you mumbled, frowning. "I can't go back to the Order to get any more information. Now that the cat's out of the bag."

Qimir shrugged. "There are always others out there, lost and alone. We'll find them. We have plenty of time to find and pick." His eyes swayed over to yours. "You know.... I wasn't kidding when I said we should renew our wedding vows," he said, the side of his lips lifting up.

You giggled. "Oh really?" You let your hand playfully let a finger circle around his face. "Do I have to show you how much I love you and how far my loyalty goes? Even beyond... our first night on Coruscant?"

"Oh, you little Loth-cat," he chuckled, pulling you close to him again and kissing the top of your head. "Are you always going to bring that up every time we make love?"

You curled up under him. "Maybe."

He breathed in deeply. "That's why I love you," he said, clasping his hands with yours. "If it hadn't been that night we finally broke free... I wouldn't have an amazing woman like you by my side."

----‐------------------------

A/N: Thank you so much for reading this! It's been awhile I've written fanfiction and watching The Acolyte reminded me what I love writing about characters like Qimir. I'm hoping to make more Qimir x Reader in the near future!

[allmannerofmalady]

Disgustingly long ramble about Dragon Age, love letter to my Inquisitor and... idk anymore

Ok so apparently, I can become so attached to a game/story that I can develop post-game depression... without even finishing the game?! At my ripe old age??

After 35ish hours in Veilguard, I realized I wasn't happy with how I was feeling, and more superficially, how my Inquisitor turned out and it was breaking all kinds of immersion for me 🤡 I played around with the character creator a bunch and then just closed the game and haven't restarted it since, and that was 4 days ago. I think that says a lot about why I was playing - I was playing to wrap up Inquisition.

I have a thirst to ramble, so a lot of Dragon Age (and a touch of Baldur's Gate 3) talk ahead. Spoilers, I guess?

The things I'm disappointed about with DATV haven't faded with time like I hoped they would. But, I will say that I’m also starting to get very emotional about the Solavellan ending which I was not a fan of when I first saw the spoiler. Whoever posted the flycam footage of the ending on Twitter, thank you!! It soothed my sad little heart.

My feelings aside, I'm happy for people who are fully immersed and enjoying the game, and I was truly hoping to be in that camp immediately :')

DA2 was my first Dragon Age game, and I love the shit out of it and that merry band of misfits. Marianne Hawke, the woman that you are. DA:O is one of my favourite games of all time as well - when I can get it to run because it always crashes on me.

But DA:I, for all its faults, just hit something very personal for me. I have played it for countless hours, been continuously immersed, and I have leaned on it a lot during crappier periods of my life. The things people hated about it (the Hinterlands, fetch quests etc) I found almost... relaxing? Meditative? I used mods to fix banter issues and would just roam, always changing my companions out to get that extra bit of dialogue and lore.

I know it has its issues and the combat annoys a lot of people, I was kind of indifferent about it, but to be fair I always play a Rogue/archer in DA , so I can't speak too deeply about the other classes. Once I discovered guides and videos about the best gear to craft, the best paths for leveling up, my Inquisitor was a beaaaast and I did enjoy the combat, as simplistic as it may be. Again - truly my comfort game.

I replayed DA:I in the months leading up to DATV, with my beloved canon Lavellan Inquisitor, Solas romanced, the whole journey. It was my first DA playthrough after 700+ hours spent in Baldur's Gate 3, and I remember the thrill at having a voiced protag again - for all the stilted moments (it's a feature atp with DA games) my Inquisitor still feels so real to me, especially after playing a voiceless Tav for so long. Yeah, even the infamous "WHAT'S GOING ON HERE" lololol

I just truly fell in love with the character I HC throughout the years, and I really really love the companions. Even the pricklier ones. I loved the intrigue, the politics - whatever, I loved it. Warts and all. The overwhelming lore that I learned piece by piece over 3 games, through codex entries and novels and art books and comics.

The DATV discourse has somehow become even more draining. It's hard to have a genuine discussion when trying to speak above the incessant bile being spewed by bigots who are hating the game blindly and are going out of their way to hurt anyone who enjoyed it, was excited about it, reviewed it - the vitriol is insane. Then came the waves of actual fans loving it, being disappointed, hating it, hating others for loving it, vice versa... and it goes on. Which I guess kind of happens every BioWare release lol but the 10 year gap feels like it's exacerbated everything.

I'm not even going to try and parse through my heartbreak at the dissolution of the Keep, player choices, and what DATV puts forward as happening in Southern Thedas. I have read the discourse, I have heard those who support it - and I just cant pretend to be ok with it. Months before DATV came out, I put together a slideshow of Chantry-level propaganda to convince my BG3 co-op friends to give DA a chance (heheeee) and one of the reasons I hooked them was that CHOICES MATTERED. Your world state mattered, the lore was incredibly rich, it was your story, and was such a key feature of BioWare games that even when other negative feelings might fade, I just don't see myself letting go of that one.

As for the Solavellan side of things... I think that most people who love Solas (myself firmly in that camp) are very attached to the character and the storyline, especially if they chose to romance him. He's just an endlessly fascinating character, and he will forever be iconic to me and part of my video game/fantasy pantheon - romanced or not. The first time I played Trespasser, I was blown away by the magnitude of the revelations, it felt like a Greek myth being played out. The burdened Inquisitor, the hand that led them to glory starting to kill them, the trickster God, once a trusted companion/lover. Euuuuufff I have never gotten over it, and after my, quite frankly, extreme emotional reaction the last few weeks I don't think I ever will.

I don't know if any ending would have filled the gap of the 10 year wait, to be fair. A game full of Solavellan scenes and dialogue would have been bitterly unfair/ridiculous for those who had different stories and relationships in their game. I am pleasantly surprised we got a scene (for a moment there, I was starting to lose hope), but again, I sorely wish it was fleshed out, on par with the Crestwood scene, or the magnificent climax of Trespasser. I think it took the flycam footage and Trick Weeke's Q&A on Bluesky for me to start to see past the disappointment and enjoy the scene for what was (I'm ignoring the Varric in the room and lots of other things rn, thanks for asking).

Everything else - I will try DATV again later and start with a clean slate, and accept that this is the game we got and not the follow up to Inquisition I had always hoped for. I feel like I have to caveat that I recognize that is MY issue, it is not a read on anyone who is enjoying it. My emotional attachments make me biased, not an asshole lol. The cliffhanger of DA:I always made me feel that the story was not over and the stakes were so high - and I'm realizing how much I wanted to continue that chase with the Inquisition to the end. That’s in addition to the end of bringing in player world states, the destruction of Southern Thedas - it’s just all a lot to accept. What was it all for?

All I can say is, as much as I am conflicted- I will always love Dragon Age from the bottom of my heart for giving me this world to play with and escape to. I hope to be back to Thedas once the feelings subside, after the highs and lows of the last 10 years. I would like to wrap up my Lavellan’s story, at the very least.

In the meantime, I have turned to my ~other comfort game of BG3 to finally start a post-Patch 7 run. And it all starts with a very confused and slightly worse for wear Lavellan on a mindflayer ship, with a fade touched left eye and arm somehow intact. (I realize the immense irony of taking a Dragon Age break by playing another game as my DA character but idk what to tell you). She is a Ranger/Wood Elf (see what I did there), with a suspicious bald man in a suit of armour talking to her in her dreams (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?). Anyway, she's probably going to kill a TON of Goblins, try to avoid the charming wizard (mage) hung up on his Goddess ex (!!!) and then climb mount Halsin. Good for her <3

[esseastri]

Ok, like 20 hours stand between me and DAV, so I finally got around to establishing my final worldstates and naming Rooks.

Canon: -Liarora Cousland (dual-wield warrior, romanced Alistair) -Aliena Hawke (archer rogue, romanced Isabela) -Nyeni Lavellan (knight-enchanter, romanced Cassandra Josephine) -Tetalya Mercar (human, Shadow Dragon, mage, romancing Lucanis)

Wardenquisitor (The Tragedy of Ro Cousland): -Liarora Cousland (dual-wield warrior, romanced Alistair) -Aliena Hawke (archer rogue, romanced Isablea) -Liarora Cousland (champion, romanced Alistair) -Genilise Thorne (human, Warden, warrior, romancing Taash?)

All(ish) Dwarves (The Arrow Squad): -Bal Brosca (archer rogue, romanced Zevran) -Aliena Hawke (archer rogue, romanced Isabela) -Gydha Cadash (archer rogue, "romanced" Varric) -Thova Laidir (dwarf, Lord of Fortune, rogue, romancing Harding)

All Dudes (How Did That Happen?): -Faron Tabris (dual-wield rogue, romanced Morrigan) -Ren Hawke (force mage, romanced Anders) -Tieran Lavellan (rift mage, romanced Dorian) -Serisio de Riva (elf, Crow, rogue, romancing Bellara?)

All Mages (The Higher Difficulty Nightmare Runs): -Elarien Surana (elf, arcane warrior mage, romanced Leliana) -Ren Hawke (force mage, romanced Anders) -Renan Lavellan (knight-enchanter mage, romanced Solas) -Evithali Aldwir (elf, Veil Jumper mage, romancing Davrin?)

[therummesoccupied]

FANG THE HUNTER: ISSUE #1 - THOUGHTS

Warning: Spoilers Ahead

Figured since folks seemed to enjoy my StH #68 post so much, I should share my thoughts on Fang's first issue as well.

It'll be a shorter one, since I really don't have as much to say about it.

To put it short... I liked it! I really love Ian Flynn writing these Classic stories. It seems that when IDW Sonic began, Ian Flynn really squeezed himself into the niche of Plot Guy. Even after Evan Stanley took over as Head Writer, it seemed like Ian would jump back in for the big, heavy, climactic events like Issue #50. It's a really nice change of pace to see him writing these more light-hearted, lower-stakes stories, they give him a great opportunity to display the fantastic understanding of the series' character dynamics that made him a prominent figure in the series.

One particular bit of character work I'm fond of here: Sonic being just a little bit of a jerk!

I'm not the first to bring this up, but nowadays, Sonic has lost a bit of that edge that made him special in the early days. Not Edge in the same sense of, like, Shadow, but the stuff that made Sonic the inventor of the Mascot With Attitude. Nowadays, he's just kind of a smart-talking hero a lot of the time, so I really love stuff like the OK KO crossover taking the opportunity to dial that 90s Attitude up to 11.

Bean gets some solid gags here, too. This was the issue that made me realize how heavily his character writing is inspired by Classic Daffy Duck.

Mauro Fonseca is also doing a fantastic job with art. Their art has been catching my attention lately, they're really good at keeping things on model, but squash-and-stretching those models when needed. I think they're a perfect fit for a Classic miniseries.

The story follows Fang the Hunter, one of the series minor antagonists, and his colleagues Bean the Dynamite and Bark the Polar Bear, as they hunt a mysterious eighth Chaos Emerald.

Right away, it seems to me that this is a reference to Sonic Championship (formerly Sonic the Fighters), Bean and Bark's introductory game, which featured eight Emeralds. This left the game in something of a weird position, because Bean and Bark reappearing in later material made Championship canon, but ever since Sonic Adventure, the series' lore has always made it clear that there are only seven Chaos Emeralds. This is a neat little way of addressing that inconsistency!

The comic's setup takes an opportunity smooth over a few other cracks as well.

In early Sonic games, lore concerning the Chaos Emeralds was kind of all over the place. Some stuff made it seem like each of the different islands the games took place on had their own set of Chaos Emeralds, some had Emeralds with different colors than others, it was clear that they didn't really think to lock down the Chaos Emerald lore until later down the line.

Here, that's attributed to the legendary status of the Chaos Emeralds and their mythological nature.

To me, this is the job of these comics. Telling stories set in the world of the games provides a perfect opportunity to expand upon that world and tell us how the bits of worldbuilding we get in the games all fit together. I will always love when they use the comics to dig into a game concept and give us a better understanding of how it fits in the games' world.

Once again, I'm a big fan of the environments here. The Classic stories always lean into the fantastical element to their settings, with Seasons of Chaos having a full-blown Zone lineup! What we get here is nothing out of the ordinary in that regard, but it's still nice to see the characters run around areas that actually look like places from the games!

That's about all I got! It sets up a sort of B-Plot mystery early on and I was kind of intrigued about where it was gonna go, but the later issue covers have already spoiled it for me so...

I'm excited for more, I really like having a story that centers around a plucky little group of rogues instead of Sonic and his Assigned Pal For This Arc. It's a pretty good start, but nothing enormous and status quo shifting. You know, a Classic Story! It's fun and I'm having fun with it!

[merge-conflict]

ok im super curious about your goro doing the devil run idea. does that mean v is storming the tower with rogue/ panam / johnny while goro and hanako do a hostile takeover?

Pretty much, yeah! I went back and checked the video I took when I did the nomad ending, and they don't really give a lot of details, but there's a single line on the radio that says Hanako is dead.

Now, the whole point of her being stuck on the estate was presumably to keep her out of the way while Yorinobu killed the board, so I have to assume that Goro did try and help her during that ending- and I have a hard time believing that V's help is the only tipping point to whether he succeeds in protecting her? But I could believe that if he was dead (especially if V also kills Oda) that Hanako might still try and die without any armed protection (or not enough). Personally, I think that if you save him, he should succeed (or maybe it requires you to additionally spare Oda, so that decision also has more weight). I mean, he's obviously a talented soldier, and Hanako could probably even swing getting his implants fixed while they're all waiting for the board meeting. Then it gives some more narrative weight to the decision to spare him even if you "betray" him, because it might end up in Saburo surviving. If V succeeded, then Mikoshi is still wiped and all the staff working on the relic (besides Hellman) are dead, which still sets Arasaka back- but Saburo could still be alive and incredibly angry (and bodyless), which is interesting, right? It forces consequences for who you choose to help besides just that heart-rending video call where Goro tells you he's going to kill himself.

I played the nomad ending like a day or two after the devil one, so it was pretty fresh in my mind, and that throwaway radio line really stuck with me. Personally, my V build is always trash at face-to-face combat, and I cowered in the trees while Goro and Oda cleaned up the coup attempt lol.

I just think it would be neat! I've still got to write out all the details for my own fic, but regardless I think it would fit pretty well within canon and gives an alternative "everyone is happy, everyone is unhappy" kind of ending that still fits with the spirit of the game. I've also got a lot of opinions on Saburo being so quickly resurrected in the DE, but that's a different rant lol. :3

[eridan-amporaa]

Oh also idk if this goes on this blog or the SM one but-

Spooky Month Classpects

Roy strikes me as a Rage player and Ross is a Rogue

(augh it's been so long since I've read the comic, I've forgotten most of my Classpect knowledge-)

SO GUESS WHOS BEEN THINKIN ABOUT THIS FOR SEVERAL MONTHS-

OK SO.

im just gonna name all the characters imma classpect: skid, pump, hatzgang, susie, streber, kevin, ethan, radford. I'm disregarding gender-locked classes, idgaf about the gender locks. if a fem locked class fits a dude, congrats, hes gettin it anyway. feel free to add in ur own 2 cents or other charas im v curious!!

puttin this under the cut cuz its gonna be LONG.

SKID - ironically, im havin a really hard time with him. aspect wise, i could see him being hope or doom, seeing as he so often seems to bring bad news but is so painfully optimistic. but he could just as easily be light, with the focus on his weirdly fantastic luck. if i had to guess, id put him down as an Heir of Light - insanely lucky, decent fighter, and not really concsiously manipulating his aspect so much as just kinda rolling with it.

PUMP - easy. Seer of Void. fits with all his voidy theming and ties to Eyes. hes seeing all the secrets, finding out all the shit hes not supposed to know. sounds abt right.

ROY - definitely a rage player. As for class, i can see him going a couple different ways (knight, heir, thief) but im gonna go with Thief of Rage for him. harnessing the power of the anger of those around him to fuel his own power and anger? sounds abt right!

ROSS - ur right abt his class, rogue fits him well. as for aspect, id have to go with mind, seeing as hes prolly the smartest/most skeptical of the gang. so that would make him a Rogue of Mind.

ROBERT - aspect could be heart or hope, but hope fits him better so lets go with that. class wise i could see him easily being a sylph or witch, but imma give him Witch of Hope here. still able to spread his aspect, but also being able to manipulate it in a more direct way than a sylph.

SUSIE - ok so right off the bat heart player. it just fits ok I dont make the rules. as for class... I feel like she'd end up more active here, and she has a thing abt protecting herself which I'm p sure extends to skid n pump, maybe the hatzgang too if she got close to em. so I'd put her as a Knight of Heart.

KEVIN - ok kevin is. hm. I feel like he could be a couple different aspects - doom, for the same reasons as skid, or maybe life? idk he just seems like a life player to me I'm goin with that. as for class... ehhhh? idk, hes kinda hard to class. honestly if anything I think page would fit him best with the whole "find urself n ur aspect" thing so let's just go with Page of Life.

STREBER - streber comes off as a space player to me. idk why he just does. maybe it's the vamp thing? actually all the space players have some sort of transformation thing maybe hed become an actual vamp... hm... well anyway I'm classpecting him as a Mage of Space. idk it just fits

ETHAN - ethan would make a good doom player I think, again just kinda fits. imma go with Maid of Doom, he would use his knowledge of doom n gloom stuff to help tidy up loose ends and keep things stable.

RADFORD - time player. he seems like hed be able to MAYBE handle timeline bullshit, but more relevant to his class is that he might feel like hes always running low on time. Prince of Time. being forced to destroy remnants of other timelines and trying so hard not to destroy the canon one. ough I could give him SO much angst.

[astronomodome]

what is blaseball

Ok so first of all thank you for sending in this ask because it gives me an opportunity to infodump about something that's really important to me... Blaseball! There's no way I can fully explain the game or what it meant to people but I can absolutely try!

Now, you may ask (and you did), what is Blaseball? Blaseball (with an L) was an absurdist eldritch horror online baseball simulator hosted at blaseball.com. Each week, 24 teams with names like the Canada Moist Talkers or the Atlantis Georgias consisting of simulated players with names like Brisket Friendo or Jessica Telephone would play game after game for the enjoyment of fans, who mainly gathered on discord to watch and cheer on their team together. Fan interaction consisted of betting on games and using the currency (peanuts) gathered to vote in elections at the end of each week, which determined new rules and game mechanics to add into the simulation.

Eventually, several godlike entities (including a giant peanut, a capitalist coin, and a friendly squid known as the Hall Monitor) would make themselves known and add commentary in between games, try to get the fans to pick a certain option, threaten the audience for picking the 'wrong' option, and so on. Meanwhile, fans would regularly screw with the system as much as they could, finding weird ways to bend the game to their advantage and creating ridiculous scenarios.

One of the most iconic events from the early seasons of Blaseball involved working around the mechanic of Incineration, in which players could randomly get Incinerated by rogue umpires during games and sent to the Hall of Flame, where they were 'killed' and unable to play. The fans were able to manipulate a Blessing (a type of vote during an Election) that would send the #14 most liked player in the Hall of Fame (distinct from the Hall of Flame, fans could give peanuts to players to rank them higher) to the team that won the Blessing. Fans carefully maneuvered Jaylen Hotdogfingers, the first player to be Incinerated, into the #14 spot. When the Election was over, Jaylen was pulled out of the Hall of Flame and back into the game... with the tragic consequence that they now had a 'debt' modifier on them that would make players who played against them more likely to be Incinerated themselves. I don't know, Balseball is weird. But it's this weirdness that made it so much fun.

The fan space of Blaseball was hugely creative, mostly because the site itself was very minimalist and there wasn't much information canonically available about the players. Thus, fans were able to pretty much build their favorite characters to be whatever they want, and they did so. Every team in Blaseball is its own subcommunity with traditions and extensive fanon of its own, and that is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in a fandom space, honestly. I highly highly recommend checking out the fan-run wiki for just a glimpse at the absolutely massive amount of fan lore that the community came up with. It's this that truly made Blaseball the cultural phenomenon that it was and I'm proud to say that it inspired my art and my creative process in huge ways.

Now, you might be wondering why I've been referring to Blaseball in the past tense. Well... despite regular dev updates since the ending of the second 'Era' (story arc, basically) and a faltering attempt at starting a third, on June 2, 2023, the dev team suddenly announced that it would be shutting Blaseball down permanently, citing financial issues. This came as a shock to fans, who had been keeping the fandom alive on discord and elsewhere for months with no sign of anything too bad from the dev side of things. We were given a few hours' notice to say goodbye before the discord was archived. It was a really difficult time for a lot of us to see the foundation of a whole community just kind of vanish into the wind, but many folks carried on in their own side discords and on tumblr and twitter where regular fan spaces are. I was pretty far from fan spaces by that time, but the news still affected me a lot. I think it's super important that I keep its spirit alive in the best way I know how: by talking about it and being annoying on tumblr.com. I hope I can keep its spirit alive in everything I create. :)

A few more things that anyone interested in Blaseball and its legacy should definitely check out:

@waveridden's google doc A Brief History of Blaseball, which explains the details of Blaseball much better than I ever could in an easy-to-understand way.

The official Blaseball Recap, in which a put-upon Anchor gives a chaotic summary of the events of Blaseball and gets progressively less sane in the process. Genuinely a fun watch even if you don't care about the rest of Blaseball.

The Garages, an incredible band (idk their genre they just do what they want and thats based) composed of Blaseball fans who sing songs about it. Genuinely really really good. You don't need to know about Blaseball to listen to them but it does make things make more sense. I have an art project that's almost done that is in reference to their music so look out for that also. :P

[adoenamedjane]

OK. I know these are not Gith names, and I’m making up a creche, AND you can’t have two of your OC’s in the same run, andddd it’s probably not as ~canon~ as it could be. HOWEVER, I want to be creative and have fun so here my Githmore Girls are. Bits of camp interactions focused on their relationships with Gale and Astarion.

“Ducky, we can’t always be on cleaning duty. I’ve beaten, bribed, and bullied every Gish I can find. Guard duty for one day won’t get us culled.” Paloma calls out while she trots after Ducky. The hatchery door was ahead.

“I just hope we stay useful. Like you say, Paloma. Useful warriors are alive warriors, or cleaners, usually, in our case.��� Ducky chirps.

Paloma nods and takes her spot to the right of the door. Two short swords are strapped to her back, obscured beneath her partially braided black hair, with a magenta streak running through it. Paloma’s lower lip seemed to be stuck in a permanent pout. Her grey eyes always seemed slightly watery as well. Both of those feature combined with her pale pink skin gave the impression she tears threatened to burst forth any minute.

Ducky, however, was the tender-hearted one of their duo. Her black hair hung in a low bun at her neck. There were a few loose wisps that hung by her face and occasionally drifted over her pale blue eyes. Her skin was white, which made her North Star tattoo and spots stand out particularly strong. Ducky absentmindedly removed the lute strapped to her back and began to strum.

“You’re going to get us beaten or worse, Ducks. Put it away.” Paloma hisses.

“If I must.” Ducky sighs and stares up at the red rock ceiling of creche N’Breem.

They stood for what felt like hours when rumbling jostled them from their positions. A Gish charged by at a full spring, silver armor glinting.

“Gish, what’s going on?” Paloma barks out.

“Ghaik!” He pauses just long enough to snarl a response.

Paloma and Ducky exchange glances. Red stones began to crumple from the roof into the hatchery pool. Jostled acid speckles the floor and walls.

“The eggs.” Ducky yells, darting through the door. Paloma darts after her.

A Nautiloid tentacle slams through the ceiling and collides with the two Gith before Paloma can even finish a Tsk’va.

****

“My hair is made of sand. My nose is full of sand. My patience is buried in the sand back by the Ghaik ship. We make camp, Istiks.” Paloma was not used to being an authority figure. Her and Ducky avoided any hint of higher ups as much as possible at N’Breem, and when they couldn’t, what true Githyanki doesn’t enjoy a few more scars?

“All it took to leave the creche was a Ghaik incursion.” Paloma thought. This was not quite the stealthy get away her and Ducky contemplated.

Ducky meanwhile, practically glowed with delight as tents were pitched and their first evening with “their new best friends,” began.

“Gith don’t have best friends.” Shadowheart’s words on the Nautiloid did not dampen her spirits.

“These Gith do.” Ducky smiled back as Lae’Zel shook her head and glowered behind them.

Paloma plops her weary body next to the campfire. Best friends appeared in abundant supply on the Sword Coast, if today’s journey was any indication.

Faerun’s sun roasted her and Ducky as if they were the grilled miniature space hamsters. Ducky insisted they shake Shadowheart awake and take her along.

“Seems like I’m more reliable than your kin,” Shadowheart gloated.

It’s hard to be best friends with a corpse, so Paloma ignored the comment. Ducky bounced over to assist a pale elf before Paloma could wrangle her back, and ended up tackled to the ground with a dagger pressed to her throat.

“Paloma! See? They make allies here just like on N’Breem.” Ducky beamed at the elf who regarded her with ample amounts of disgust and rage in both eyes. Astarion, a not-magistrate if Paloma had ever seen one. She knew a fellow rogue. Whatever else the man he got up to did not involve the law.

Then, the wizard, or the librarian as Ducky had taken to calling him since his tent was stuffed with books. He’d ended up on top of Paloma briefly after she’d fished him out of the portal. Though he’d ended up being smoother than the crackled magic he’d come from, he was just as inclined towards purple. “Gale of Waterdeep,” not creche Waterdeep, as he readily corrected Ducky. She would have been fine to cap camp residents there, but Ducky and their tadpole-situation had other ideas.

****

One rescued kin and Blade of Frontiers recruitment later, Paloma wonders if they should just put out a sign. Ghaik-tadpole harborers: stop here. Shadowheart and Lae’Zel swap glares back and forth across the campfire.

“Need I remind you, Ducky and I are also Gith, Shadowheart? You ought to more evenly distribute your ire.” Paloma dryly says in Shadowheart’s direction.

“Yes, but you two didn’t want to leave me die on the Nautiloid.” Shadowheart snaps back.

“Would that we had.” Lae’Zel hisses.

“Should we send out a carrier pigeon? Invite the rest of Faerun into our camp? Everyone is getting along so swimmingly. I’d love for them to see what true peace looks like.” Astarion asks, voice dripping with annoyance.

“I don’t think they’ll all fit, but can we get a pigeon anyway?” Ducky giggles as she asks.

“If we find one, it’s all yours.” Wyll grins and Ducky squeals with delight.

Astarion gives an exasperated sigh and resumes fussing with his tent.

Foraged onions and garlic perfume the camps air. Gale’s hands work methodically to chop everything to toss in with the pork shoulders Paloma nicked from the Grove’s uppity little trader.

“May I help you?” Paloma asks. She needed a break from the bickering, and her hands were adept with both daggers and short swords.

“I’d be delighted to have company and a fellow chef in the kitchen.” Gale gives a partial bow and smiles. For a moment, he thinks a blush creeps across Paloma’s cheeks, but her skin is too pink for him to be certain. What would a Githyanki warrior want with a washed up wizard anyway?

Paloma’s daggers make quick work of the rest of the vegetables. She asks him questions and answers some of his in return.

“Why does Ducky call me a librarian? I used magic missile on those goblins at the gate, surely she realizes no mere book keep could perform such a feat.”

Paloma laughs before she responds. Her voice is huskier, lower. If Ducky’s giggles are a wind-chime, Paloma’s is water dashed off of rocks below any falls.

“Ducky sees attributes or traits that are good in people, and assigns them careers. She’s also got a head full of Istik,” Paloma hesitates, “or, should I say common folk literature.”

“I suppose that makes sense,” Gale replies thoughtfully rubbing his beard with one hand and stirring the cook pot with the other, “She is a bard after all.”

“Don’t let the giggles fool you. The princess stories aren’t her favorite. It’s the mysteries that get her head turning.” Paloma laughs again. Her fondness for her fellow Gith is evident in all of her features.

“You two seem quite close.” Gale says, studying her face in the firelight, “Your situation reminds me of my Tressym, Tara and I.”

Paloma turns her head from observing Ducky flit around camp, one eyebrow cocked, “Your what?”

“Oh! My Tressym, like a…better cat.” This explanation does nod ease Paloma’s confused look.

“A better what? I’ve yet to encounter this creature.” Paloma eyes him suspiciously now, worried he’s perhaps making up allies or creatures to make a fool of her.

“I’ll uh, point one out when we happen upon one. It’s bound to occur sooner or later on our little adventure.” Gale muses.

“I’d enjoy that.” Paloma gave a soft smile.

Gale smiled back and held her gaze for what surely had to be an imagined sense of electricity before a blush threatened to overtake him again. “Erm, well, dinner is ready. Best let our companions know. Dinner! Gather in!”

Their companions meandered towards the cook pot.

“If you start another round of 99-bottles of Arabellan dry on the wall, I will smash that lute.” Astarion hisses.

“Don’t worry. You wouldn’t be without music for long. I have 4 hidden in reserve around camp.” Ducky chirps in reply.

“Arson it is then! I’ll simply burn our living quarters to the ground.” Astarion smirks. He has her now.

“Even your own tent?” Ducky says in horror.

“Of course not, darling, I’d be exempt from the lute purge.”

“Thank goodness. I’ll just use the flute I stashed in your tent then.” Ducky smiles so widely her cheeks nearly scrunch her eyes into oblivion.

“You..you what?” Astarion’s voice is a mixture of panic and outrage as he hustled towards his tent.

Wyll turns to Ducky incredulously. “You hid a flute in his tent?”

“No.” She whispers, positively delighted as she prepares a plate for herself.

The rest of their evening passed by in comfortable idle chatter and the sound of Astarion rifling through his tent.

[the-faultofdaedalus]

IDEA. AIRON MAN BESTIES WITH A ROGUE DOOMBOT WHO'S JUST TRYING TO BUILD THEIR OWN PERSONALITY AND LIFE OUTSIDE OF THEIR IMPLANTED MEMORIES..........

COULD BE AN ACCIDENTAL GAINING OF FREEDOM OF CONSCIOUSNESS, LIKE W/ SENTIENT ARMOR, BUT I ALSO THINK IT COULD BE RLLY NEAT IF THEY WERE A PROTOTYPE DOOMBOT THAT ENDED UP HAVING MORE FREEDOM AND CAPABILITY FOR GROWTH THAN INTENDED AND THEY'VE BEEN LIVING THEIR OWN LIFE SINCE (IDEALLY W/ VICTOR'S SUPPORT BC RESPECT FOR THE AUTONOMY OF HIS CITIZENS AND CREATIONS AND ALL THAT)

BONDING OVER THE TECHNOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS AND LIMITATIONS OF THEIR FORMS, THE PRESSURE TO APPEAR A SIMULACRUM OF A BIOLOGICAL ENTITY AND THE FEAR OF HOW OTHERS WOULD VIEW AND REACT TO THEIR TRUE SELVES, THE "I AM CONNECTED TO MY CREATOR, BUT I AM NOT HIM IN THE WAYS HE WAS HIMSELF AND I AM MORE THAT WHAT HE MADE ME FOR," THE STEMBOY SWAG, ETC........

I ALSO THINK IT COULD BE FUNKY TO EXPLORE LIKE. I AM AN INDIVIDUAL DISTINCT FROM MY CREATOR BUT I AM STILL TIED TO HIM. DO I FEEL OBLIGATED TO ONLY DRAW FROM HIS VISION? DO I FEEL GUILTY FOR ADDING ELEMENTS OF MY PERSONALITY TO HIS DESIGN OF ME? WOULD HE BE PROUD OF WHO I'VE BECOME?

TRULY THIS WAS JUST MEANT TO BE A VAGUE NOTION OF A POTENTIAL CHARACTER BUT I STARTED THINKING AND GOT HOOKED DJSLHFLSHFLS BUT YES HELLO

oh there literally are already feral doombots just Around. thats canon. they are... already sapient as far as im aware (but like, sapient in that they have enough of victor's memories and personality to successfully pretend to be him and sometimes for them to not know they aren't him. also they can feel pain. questioning why victor has made ten thousand cannon-fodder robots with also his whole brain in them which also can fully feel pain is a different post) but yeah feral doombots my beloved

there’s like…. at least two i know of. the one with the fancy coat and the one calling himself vincent that actually looks like a human, i love them. i have so many thoughts about feral doombots just Around and Vibin and its not like victor gives a shit. he can make new ones. whatever.

but also ;-; that's So good, especially if its somehow pre-reveal for iron man being Known as anything other than like, a human in an armor so perhaps he meets a doombot somehow (maybe it's stealing replacement parts from SI and when IM realizes that its not... actually taking anything dangerous hes like. oh. oh. because he's smart enough to also know why he isnt just going to get repaired like normal) and it's just, this sense of Recognition that iron man cannot say anything else

i think it would be good if it was like. iron man offers to help fix the bot. oor just, helps him. no expectation of anything else. and the doombot is supicious because of course it is, it was programmed by Paranoid Bastard Supreme, and it's not like iron man can even tell it why he wants to help it so badly, because even if he doesn't think it's actively a danger that doesn't mean giving it the information that he isn't human like everyone assumes wouldn't be... an incredibly bad idea. it's still attached to a supervillan, after all

(also sidenote but i am frothing at the mouth about potential doomquest in this universe it would be SO funny,,,,,, king arthur sends a pretty lady to iron man's room for "companionship" and iron man is just like. ah. ok. i dont know what is expected of me right now. also doomquest is very good to me, specifically, because its one of the only early comics things where almost anyone has more respect for tony than for iron man, which i enjoy, i think it would be SO good for airon man au especially if iron man is like. in danger of just... running out of power. technicallyyyyy i think this should also be a problem in canon, i think doomquest happens during chestplate era, where hes largely not able to go more than about a day without Dramatic Wall Outlet Time and yet hes fine just vibin in camelot (famously deprived of wall outlets) for at least a couple of days, but YEAH SEND AIRON MAN TO CAMELOT i think hed be both freaked out and also. sad that tony couldn't experience it. i think the background radiation of iron man's life is just... sadness that tony cannot experience any of the cool things he does)

but like... him continuing too help this doombot. maybe the doombot also helps him out somehow, as well. maybe subtly interveening in some fights. maybe giving iron man some neat lil tech tips. maybe a;klsdjfasdf the doombot still wants like. Something To Do and not just sit idle all the time or something so iron man hooks 'em up with a fuckin. tech support job. or like, product testing, for SI. something where he can just fix shit thats been broken in the stupidest ways or, try to destroy other things. who knows i dont. but maybe theres an attack at SI and iron man deals with it but hes damaged, and normally he'd like. hide away and do a quick n dirty patch job just so theres not obvious holes into nothing, but. the doombot follows him. and finds him. and its just... looking at eachother. knowing "oh fuck we're the same" and also "oh fuck he knows"

i think they should help fix eachother up and be buddies anyways it'd be good

[yellow-faerie]

I have absolutely no context for this but tell me about your tavs anyway

Hello Astrid thank you very much Astrid, you are massively enabling me and I appreciate it so very much

Ok, so this is Tabitha Swallowsong, affectionately known as Tav by her friends (the character who I may consider "canon" if there was such a thing). She's a Half Wood Elf Bard who, while not born in Baldur's Gate, was raised there. She ends up romancing Gale:

She's who I played for my first play through, getting to grips with the controls and all the story and that sort of thing, but I intend (once I work up the courage to actually enter the endgame on the first save file) to do another game with her on the normal difficulty so that I can play her while understanding how everything works. (Also will not bend to peer pressure the minute someone asks me out and actually romance Gale instead of Shadowheart - although I love Shadowheart to pieces).

____

This is Thea (who's full name is Thianaloth Kelvix), a Sledarine Drow Monk of her family's order who's monastery is hidden in the mountains near Baldur's Gate. She romances Shadowheart (I love that romance so much, especially the later bits):

I've just started her playthrough and I gotta say - monk is a very fun class to play battle wise, I'm quite pleased I chose it, and I really enjoy playing as Drow for (while I understand it's really not to everyone's tastes) I find the natural distaste quite interesting story wise? It makes me have to shake up my gameplay a bit more and my characterisation because it often forces me to do things that aren't just Angelic Good (which...I am a massive people pleaser, even in games, so that's quite nice)

Bonus Dark Urge -

This is Nowhere (a name that she calls herself when she is asked after waking with no memories and having this deep sense of Not Belonging) who later goes on to take the name Akanis Rozes when she reinvents herself.

She's a Mephistopheles Drow and I thought ranger would be most appropriate for her storywise (well, maybe rogue would fit better but I'm trying to play classes that the origins don't have). Also I want to try the Astarion romance out with her and having two rogues with me all the time is a bit much:

Dark Urge is so much fun to play?? Like I said, massive people pleaser so I'm doing a good run, but I love how much characterisation it adds while still allowing for roleplay by the player.

There's also Llelyr, a cleric of Ilmater, who I'm doing a multiplayer with with my brother but I don't have any pictures because I have only just worked out how to wrangle the PS5 screenshot feature, and I do have a few others that I've had ideas for (but I'm putting off actually playing until I get further in with some other runs):

I want to do a run with an older Tav, possibly try out Paladin and the Halsin romance; I think storm sorcerer sounds so much fun (and I've heard there's some good Gale dialogue with sorcerer especially when you romance him so...Gale romance 2: electric boogaloo); I want to play a Gith at some point because I saw it was the least preferred race and I feel bad about it (I might do a Lae'zel romance here); not to mention all the origins I haven't done yet...

[selkymaiden]

mina and ❓🧩 ???!!?! MEIN GOTT i would love to learn more heh heh 🕵️‍♂️😈

OUGH. The noise I made. 🧍‍♂️

I will put a read more because I'm so sorry Naomi, I'm so sorry I'm about to go ham.

Also, love how you used a puzzle piece. Very good you are truly the detective here!!! 🔎🔎🔎

But Mina is my Private Investigator or Detective in the DC universe. Originally she was made as a side character for Sophie to have friends outside the Rogue gallery. But my friend had her own DC oc, India 💖, so I was like okay lemme expand on Mina so she has more of her own personality and storyline than just being a side character. So I started to tailor-make her more for the Arkham series of games instead of Gotham. But again I just mash up stuff like I did with Sophie since it's so easy with comic book lore. I mean... DC does it to themselves just like Marvel lakfjwelkrj But I say that because uhhhhh wait idk if you've played the Arkham series games? I'm so sorry if you have not and seen spoilers every single day on my blog. But like the last game in the series makes it left open-ended Batman died and I'm like 'nah son' he does not die. So basically I do what I want as we all should so we can enjoy our fucking uhhhhhh little blorbos.

BUT the pun on her name is A. Query. Full name: Aemilia Wilhelmina "Mina" Query. Cuz I wanted someone for the Riddler LMAO just for the fucking canon character again. And at first, I toyed with Oh uh Echo and Query are henchpeople The Riddler has used but I didn't want a henchperson oc. But I love henchpeople ocs though! Ngl I read a lot of spicy riddler x reader where the reader is a henchperson, but I didn't want that for my oc but that's because I'm a terrible person and just want all my gorls OP. Also, Arkham Riddler is so fucking insufferable but I can't not have Mina fuck him!!!

So yeah Mina and Eddie get it on!!! You don't understand Naomi I made a stupid ass moodboard for them when it was slow at work and I had nothing better to do.

They are the tag: xo. lovefool

If you don't read all this I understand but thank you so much for asking and being interested! It's a good exercise to just get my lore out about her instead of just thinking it lmaooooo

Uhhh but she's a Private Investigator, licensed, she actually does not work or care for the GCPD and has a chip on her shoulder with them. So she likes to take cases from their departments and solve them before their people. But she's not taking on murder stuff, even though she could, no she's more into solving, which she has solved, a lot of missing persons and then cheating cases. LMAO she's like that fucking cheaters show and will bust people's asses for money. But she's very good at what she does and would probably be an asset if she did work for GCPD but she only really respects Gordon and Barbara there. Instead, she's fine with what she has, she's not ambitious but does like to stick her nose into things just to be knowing. Tying with Sophie she gets away with things someone on the 'side of the law' should not be able to do cuz she'll run to Sophie for protection. And she's not a bribe person I guess also? She's neutral in Gotham or does her best. She picks and chooses her battles.

So with her and the Riddler though for the longest time they never actually met in person. Instead, she's come upon his radio frequency before. After that, they talk and eventually flirt over the radio, phone, text, email, internet whatever, just anything but in person. She's a novelty item to Edward when Batman isn't paying attention to him basically. It's cuz she's solved his puzzles and riddles before so she's not just some little idiot running around Gotham. Still not as smart as him or even worthwhile other than to pass the time! But his attitude of him thinking himself smarter than everyone and being so degrading to her wears on her but instead of being 'ok bye' her ass actually starts a grudge. So she starts to make it a point to be better than him! And like the last straw is when he sets up his little challenges for Batman but it's a total coincidence, it interrupts a case she's been on for months and ruins everything. So her ass goes through the whole trouble of solving a series of riddles and puzzles meant for Batman. She went out of her way to find them all and solve them so she can confront the Riddler finally. Him getting pinged thinking it's Batman gets all excited but when he goes to confront it's Mina. He flips out just "Wtf wtf wtf you cheated! you didn't solve these! Why are you here??" but jokes on him she did it. ANYWAYS IM SORRY ITS SO LONG BUT SHORT STORY INSTEAD OF FIGHTING HIM LIKE SHE INTENDED SHE TAKES ONE LOOK AT HIS FUCKING WET BITCH PATHETIC ASS AND THEY GET IT ON. like tension but not the kind of tension he's used to where he just gets his face smashed in with the Dark Knight instead she uses her mouth on him *wink wonk* it's about the sexual tension babeeyyyyy !!!

also here is a moodboard just for Mina. She's the oc. wilhelmina

[mthofferings2023]

c_art

See c_art’s existing works here and here.

Preferred contact methods: Email: janinaconstancja@gmail.com

Preferred organizations: - Clean Air Task Force - Coalition for Rainforest Nations (See the list of approved organizations here)

Will create works that contain: animals, flowers, female characters, fluff, domesticity, pin ups (not explicit), action poses

Will not create works that contain: adult/minor, incest, a/b/o, darker themes, explicit work

  -- Craft or Merchandise --

Auction ID: 1019

Will create works for the following relationships: Lucky-centric - Any Universe Alpine-centric - Any Universe Goose-centric - Any Universe Rocket Raccoon-centric - Any Universe Jeff the Land Shark-centric - Any Universe Liho-centric - Any Universe

Work Description: PET STAMPS Custom stamps with animal characters from any marvel canon, fanon or au! Not limited to characters offered in the tags. Did you write Lucky a new dog friend, or a hamster friend, or a frog friend? This is your time to get stamps with both of them! The maximum stamp size is 2,5x5 cm or in inches, 1x2. You can see examples of my past works here. For each $12 donation, I will make a new stamp. There is no maximum amount of stamps that can be won and group bids are welcome. I will ask the winner to cover the shipping cost. Due to my studying plans, it's very possible I will be able to make and send the physical stamps no earlier than the second half of March 2024. I will be able to sketch the projects earlier though.

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

-- Art --

Auction ID: 2014

Will create works for the following relationships: Felicia Hardy-centric - Any Universe Rogue-centric - Any Universe Kitty Pryde-centric - Any Universe Sue Storm-centric - Any Universe Ororo Munroe-centric - Any Universe Shuri-centric - Any Universe Carol Danvers-centric - Any Universe Peggy Carter-centric - Any Universe Natasha Romanov-centric - Any Universe Gwen Stacy-centric - Any Universe

Work Description: PENCIL DRAWING OF WOMEN BEING HAPPY Or one woman, for a starting bid. For donation of $50 or more I will draw up to 3 characters. For donation over $100 I can draw a short 1 page (max 6 panels) comic. In case the winner would like a comic, I will ask them to provide a script/detailed idea for the story. I will not make a comic without it. There is no limit if the art is a bust portrait or fullbody. I will draw any female characters you want, including alernate universe versions of canon characters, OCs and characters from non-marvel fandoms (as long as the last two interact with canon character so it's still elligable for the auction). I will draw any gen relationship and most of the femslash ships, as long as they don't collide with things listed in won't do section. Art and comic panels can include a simple background. Examples of art in offered style: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 I will not draw male characters in this offer, but I'm willing to draw rule 63 or trans female versions of canonically male characters. Or female versions of genderfluid characters, like Loki. I will not draw angst for this offer (hurt/comfort is ok). I will most probably draw the art on a4 (21x29,7cm/8,3x11,7 inches) or similar sized paper, unless requested otherwise. The winner will receive the 300dpi scan of the drawing and can opt into receiving the original artwork as well (in that case, I will ask them to cover the shipping cost). Group bids are welcome, as I can send the scan to multiple people, but if the winners would like to receive the original art too, they will need to decide which one of them would get the original pencil picture.

Ratings: Gen, Teen, Mature

Can pods bid on this auction? Yes - Podbids welcome!

CLICK HERE TO BID ON THIS WORK

The auction runs from October 22 (12 AM ET) to October 28 (11:59:59 PM ET). Visit marveltrumpshate.com during Auction Week to view all of our auctions and to place your bids!

[astromechs]

hey! proud of you for getting back into writing! from one comics nerd (and the creator of the ask game) to another, here's some asks!

1, 6, 13, 18, 23, 31 [you pick], 43, and 47

oh hello!! and thank you so much ❤️ comics nerds unite!

of the ones you've written, which romantic relationship has developed the fastest? how fast is it?

i definitely have had characters fuck in the first chapter more than once LMAO (with, of course, the emotional development taking much longer.) but the answer will probably always be rebelcaptain (jyn erso and cassian andor, for those not entrenched in star wars fandom); their mutual insanity is, like. mutually insane. it's true in canon, it's true in every extension of canon, it's true in all of my aus. they met and were literally instantly obsessed with each other GHFJDSK

6. have you ever started to write a relationship and had it develop differently than you expected? how so?

in terms of a specific story? this au fic i wrote of jyn and cassian having a different first meeting, five years before the events of rogue one, turned out SO incredibly differently than the initial vision i had for it. like they had in canon, i always knew there would be an instant connection and a tension? and yeah, before i wrote this, i knew there would be smut content in it. what i wasn't initially expecting was how gentle and tender this story turned out to be, but — then again, maybe i should have been expecting that! because that's them, really.

13. are there any consistent trends when you write a budding relationship, or does it vary by character? if there are trends, what are they?

i will say, i find myself a fan of what i like to call the "reverse slow burn" — characters in my stories often tend to do something about their sexual tension fairly quickly, but then take a long time to sort out their emotions about it.

18. pick a few characters you've written for (or, for a fun twist, asker chooses). tell me about their relationship in three sentences or less.

for fun, the first character i'll choose is matt murdock, who i've written a lot of different ships with, and here's one sentence that applies to pretty much all of them: it's a trainwreck ghFJDKS

rich rider/gamora/peter quill — sometimes what appears, on the surface, to be years of a messy love triangle is actually polyamory. LOVE WINS.

adrian chase/chris smith (peacemaker) — talk about dicks a lot, but they're actually very sweet? trauma healing.

23. do you think you idealize relationships in fiction, or are your depictions grounded in reality? how often do your characters make mistakes?

at least from what i intend, i do seek to portray both characters and relationships realistically — because character flaws are interesting to me! i also do a lot of work with characters who've experienced heavy trauma and need a lot of healing, and so their relationships are not going to be perfect idealized affairs. a lot of my oneshots may focus on some of the softer moments, but even those i'm really trying to ground in reality.

31. are there any songs that remind you of petermj? Are there any songs that remind them of each other?

ok, i picked one of my oldest otps for this, petermj (peter parker/mary jane watson) — and out of so many songs that remind me of them, i'm going to go with new york by st vincent. "you're the only motherfucker in this city who can handle me" is, like... DEFINITIVELY them.

i've always thought of out of the woods by taylor swift as being from mj's perspective about her relationship with peter. manhattan by sara bareilles has a very early jms run vibe of their relationship, and i feel like it can be from peter's perspective.

43. how do you feel about unhappy endings? unrequited love? major character death?

i think if it fits the story, it's good! i certainly wouldn't have changed the way rogue one ended as a film, for instance. in terms of what i write — generally i tend not to write that stuff because i have other narrative interests? but i wouldn't be opposed to writing it if my story demanded it, and i'm not opposed to reading it!

47. what's the most self-indulgent relationship you've written? are there any particular moments/scenes that you wrote just for you?

out of all the things i've written, probably the wanda maximoff/rich rider ship that i invented wholesale, and wrote this fic about! that was 10k words purely for me lol i also have this ot3 with them and matt murdock that i've invented and... all of that's for me, too.

fan fic couples/relationships ask meme!