#plot plot plot

[himluv]

In the Dark

Chapter 41 of Say My Name (Say it Twice) is here! Read it below, or over on AO3.

After an intense and blissful night, the team head out to Arlathan Crater.

Lucanis blinked, and for a moment the persistent dark confused him. He was warm, practically floating in a sea of comfortable heat, and the fragrance of soap mingled with sweat and a new scent – warm and a little acidic. 

Sexxxxxxx, Spite hissed.

Memories of the night before flashed through his mind. Rook, topless, his hands on her chest. Rook, in his bed, writhing while he touched her. Rook, crying out his name as her body clenched around his fingers. 

So, that hadn’t been a dream. It was real, as real Embria was now, lying fast asleep in his arms. His forehead was pressed against the back of her neck, his nose burrowed between her shoulder blades. She was so warm, her skin so soft against his that he had to struggle against the urge to run his hands all over her. To wake her up and do it all over again. But, he needed to let her sleep. 

He had a feeling she was going to need it. 

Lucanis climbed off the cot, lit a couple of candles, and dressed in the mostly dark pantry. His shirt and waistcoat were rumpled, but they would do for the time being. He also gathered up Embria’s clothes and stacked them neatly beside the bed. He doubted she would wake before he returned, but… just in case. 

Then he stepped out into the dining hall and started a fresh batch of coffee. He could tell by how rested he felt that it was morning. Spite let him sleep most nights these days, particularly after time spent with Rook. But, they’d had a relatively early evening, so he wasn’t sure if anyone else in the Lighthouse was up yet. 

He stared at the percolator as the coffee brewed, his mind wandering over last night’s events. True to her word, Embria hadn’t pushed. She’d let him set the pace and gladly met him where he was comfortable. They might be going slow, but they were making the most of it. 

At least, he thought they were. He hoped she felt the same. 

Behind him, the dining hall door opened. He glanced over his shoulder to see a disheveled and tired-looking Bellara enter the room. She approached the hutch and raised a brow at him as she reached for her tin of tea. 

“Long night?” She asked. Her tone made it clear she had some guesses as to how his evening had gone. Very inappropriate and potentially accurate guesses. 

He snorted. “You’re one to talk.”

She frowned. “Yeah,” she said. “I couldn’t sleep much.”

He watched her as she filled her kettle and set it on the stove to boil. “Everything all right?”

“Oh, you know.” She shrugged. “My gods have teamed up with a racist cult to snatch up my people to use in a massive blood magic ritual so they can take over the world.”

Lucanis grimaced. “Right. That.”

She sighed. “Sorry, Lucanis.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. That was careless of me.”

She gave him a little smile. Then frowned with worry. “How’s Rook holding up?”

He shrugged. “She was on edge last night,” he said. He looked into his cup and tried to control his blush. “She’s still sleeping.”

Bellara nodded, still watching her kettle, and then his words reached her. Her head turned so fast to look at him, her mouth open. “Wait,” she said. 

The heat in his cheeks increased and he had to look away from her. 

She hurried over to him, practically skipping in her excitement. “Lucanis!” She hissed, mindful this time of Rook asleep beyond the wall behind them. “Tell me. Everything!”

He scowled. “No.”

“Okay, okay. Fine,” she said. “You don’t have to tell me everything. But, like… something?” She gave him big, sad eyes and wobbled her lower lip at him. “Please? Harding won’t tell me anything about her and Taash and the last time I tried to ask Neve about Davrin she almost encased me in ice.”

He gave her a pained look. “Why don’t you ask Rook?”

She pouted at him. “I have!”

“And?” He poured himself a cup of coffee and took that first, blissful sip.

“She said no, because you’re a private person, or whatever.”

He chuckled. “And there you have it.”

She tilted her head back in frustration. “Ugh! You’re the worst!”

He hid his smile behind his coffee cup. “Have you asked Emmrich about Strife, yet?”

Bellara turned wide eyes on him. “What?!”

Lucanis grinned. “Or, better yet, ask Strife about Emmrich.”

She laughed. “I don’t want to get stabbed!”

“You think I won’t stab you?” He did his best to sound hurt. 

She snorted at him. “I know you won’t.”

He sighed. “Fair.”

The kettle whistled, and Bellara bounded over to it to start brewing her tea. A moment later, the dining hall doors opened, and Davrin stepped through them. 

“Hey, you two,” he said. “Have either of you seen Rook?”

Lucanis took a sip of his coffee. “She’s sleeping. Why?”

Davrin blinked at him and then grinned. “About damn time!”

“Mierda.” He rolled his eyes. “Must everyone on this team have an opinion on my love life?”

Bellara grinned at him. “It’s how we show we care.”

Davrin shrugged. “I mean, good for you, I guess. But I was mostly rooting for Rook to finally land her quarry.”

Lucanis frowned in disgust. “I am not prey.”

He pointed at Lucanis. “And that’s how you know it was a good hunt. You never saw her coming.”

Bellara tilted her head back and forth. “Pretty sure he did last night,” she murmured into her tea cup. 

Lucanis choked on his coffee while Davrin guffawed. 

“Mierda! Can we please talk about anything else?” He glared at each of them, and while Davrin was still laughing, Bellara at least had the decency to look contrite. 

“Right,” Davrin said once he got his laughter under control. “I was looking for Rook because Strife and Irelin are here.”

“Already?”

“Word must have got across Arlathan fast,” Bellara said. 

Lucanis sighed, then turned to pour Rook’s cup of coffee. “Can you two keep them busy for a little while?”

“You got it,” Bellara said. “I have some questions for Strife and Emmrich, after all.”

“What kind of questions?” Davrin asked as he and Bellara headed toward the courtyard, and Lucanis returned to the pantry. 

To his surprise, Rook had actually slept through all the commotion only a wall away. He was beginning to suspect she was a deep sleeper, a trait he’d never had even before the Ossuary. Even before House Velardo’s coup attempt. His mother had joked that even as an infant Lucanis had been the most vigilant member of their family. 

“Embria.” He put a hand to her shoulder, gently shook when she didn’t wake. 

She moaned, eyelids fluttering as she frowned. “Why are you up?”

He chuckled. “Because it’s morning.”

“So?”

“I brought you coffee,” he said, his voice lilting to entice her.

She cracked an eye open at him. “What else?”

Lucanis blinked. “A kiss?”

Embria hummed as she considered his offer. “Two kisses and it’s a deal.”

He shook his head, but couldn’t help his smile as he ducked down to kiss her. Twice. Then he handed over the coffee as she sat up, careful to keep the blankets wrapped around her chest. 

“So,” she said once she’d had a few sips of coffee. “Last night…”

He tilted his head at her, suddenly worried that something was wrong after all. “What about it?”

“How are you feeling about it?” She asked. “Any concerns or questions or… regrets?”

“Regrets?” He tilted her chin up to look at him. “Rook, it took all my strength not to wake you for another round this morning.”

She chuckled at that, relief loosening her spine and shoulders. “Okay,” she nodded. “Good.”

“What about you?” He asked. “Are you having any regrets?”

“No, Lucanis. Not at all.” She shook her head. “In fact, I’m not opposed to that round two if you’re still up for it.” She grinned at him, a little bashful, but earnest. 

He groaned. She would be the death of him, and now he had even more reason to dislike Strife. “There’s no time,” he said. He winced as he glanced at her. “Strife and Irelin are here.”

She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “Wow,” she said. “That was fast.”

He nodded. “Bellara and Davrin are with them now. They should buy you enough time to get ready.”

Embria drank her coffee, her eyes far away as she no doubt thought about the day ahead. Finally, she nodded and took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. “Okay,” she said. She stood, letting the blankets fall away to reveal her bare skin once again. Lucanis watched as she dressed, unwilling to lose a moment of the sight of her mostly naked in his room.

 Finally, she hauled on her overcoat and turned to face him. “Let’s do this.”

Lucanis hated everything about this. From their clothes to Neve’s disguise, to the magic so thick in the air his eyes burned. But, what he hated most was how well Rook played her part – keeping close to Neve, a deferent tilt to her chin, and how she avoided eye contact with everyone, even him.

These Venatori scum barely even let their gaze grace over her. Even worse were the few who did look at her. Whose gaze lingered and assessed her as if eyeing a cut of meat hanging in a merchant’s stall. 

Kill. Them, Spite seethed. Kill. Them. ALL!

Lucanis took comfort in the fact that, once they’d saved the Dalish, there’d be a trail of Venatori corpses in their wake. 

Ahead of them, a crowd of cultists had gathered to peer down into a ruin. A terrible, inhuman sound pierced the air. A cry of immense pain, desperate and keening. 

Rook’s head snapped up. “Halla,” she said. She glanced at him and then Neve. “What are they doing to the halla?”

Neve’s frown promised it was something bad, even for blood mages. 

Still, Embria moved forward, peering between shoulders to get a line of sight to the ritual. Lucanis followed her, unwilling to let her out of arm’s reach with so many cultists around. Though, he knew to touch her here with anything even resembling kindness would be blood in the water to these sharks. 

“We don’t have to watch,” Neve murmured. Her voice was tight, unnerved by the torture playing out before them.

The halla floated in the center of the ruin, blood swirling around it in a sadistic echo of the water that swirled through the air in Arlathan Forest. The deer bleated and moaned as its body warped and crumpled under the force of the mages’ power. It was a familiar scene. Zara and Calivan had mutilated many bodies in an effort to release their demons. But this helpless beast, the symbol of the Dalish, being tortured solely for the entertainment of the Venatori?

This was a whole new kind of vile. 

Embria’s body shuddered and thrummed a hair’s breadth in front of his as she watched. It took all of his control not to touch her, to try not to soothe her. Finally, she turned her face away. Her eyes were closed, but she hadn’t been able to keep her tears from falling. 

Lucanis did not look away. He watched, even as his guts churned and his blood roared like waves in his ears. He paid witness to the horror – one he knew so, so well – until the poor halla exploded in a spray of blood and gore. Then he put his mouth to Rook’s ear. 

“We will kill them all,” he whispered. “They will pay, one way or another.”

She looked at him and he watched as the horror hardened to fury in her eyes. She nodded once, then glanced at Neve. “Let’s go.”

Rook was not much of a planner, but what little plan they did have went to shit the moment Elgar’nan and his archdemon showed up. The self-proclaimed god had sensed them, had found their minds in the crowd and tried to ensorcel them all. It was only thanks to Bellara and Neve’s quick thinking that they’d managed to break free. 

So, now the plan was changing on the fly. Luckily, Lucanis was used to jobs going sideways – not one of his contracts with Illario had ever gone to plan. 

“So, what’s the plan?” Neve asked. 

“Uh,” Rook said as they scurried through the ruins, trying to avoid the Venatori hunting them.

“Rook!” Neve said. 

“I’m working on it!”

“Work faster!” He shouted as he parried a ball of energy from a mage that had appeared in the hall behind them. 

“Right!” Lightning erupted from Rook’s orb – arced around the ruin between several Venatori. “Same plan,” she said. “Save the Dalish, then get everyone out of here.”

“That’s not a plan, Rook,” he said. 

“More like goals,” Neve added as she summoned a blizzard down on their enemies. 

“At least they’re good goals!” Rook parried another blast of magic, only to have a Venatori executioner appear behind her. 

Spite launched them toward her, just in time to catch a sickle on his dagger. Rook took advantage of his aid and slashed at the Venatori before spinning away in a magical burst of feathers and knives. The cultist fell to her magic and his blades, the last of this wave of enemies. 

Mierda, protecting Rook was turning into his most difficult contract yet. 

“Thanks, Lucanis,” she panted as she jogged over to him. 

“Thank Spite,” he said. 

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and grinned. “Thanks, Spite!”

His vision went violet as Spite took over. “Protect. Rook,” he said. “Kill. Them. ALL!”

She patted his cheek. “Or at least as many as we can along the way.”

Spite growled his disagreement, but released control back to Lucanis without protest. 

“Right,” Neve said, peering back at them from over her shoulder. “Not sure I’ll ever get used to that.” She raised a brow and tilted her head toward the end of the hall. “Shall we?”

Rook nodded, and they all took off into a new section of the ruin. 

“Mierda, how big is this place?”

“At its height, the Elven Empire spanned all of Thedas,” Rook said. “If this place belonged to the Evanuris in their heyday, it’ll be humongous.”

“They certainly weren’t keen on subtlety,” Neve said. 

Rook scowled. “Especially not Elgar’nan.”

Spite growled at the mention of the would-be god. “Tried to. STEAL. Lucanis!”

The elven god had certainly offered up pretty things when he’d spoken into Lucanis’s mind, but not one of them was worth the price. “I’d rather die,” Lucanis said. 

Rook gave him a sharp look. “Elgar’nan isn’t getting anyone today,” she said. “Come on.”

She led them through what looked like the courtyard of a ruined temple. It was suspiciously quiet, after all they’d battled to get there. 

“Be ready,” he said. 

They passed a platform, its tile cracked and overgrown, with a gleaming diamond-shaped construct at its center. Then they met with a gate. 

“Ugh!” Rook shoved against the metal, but it didn’t budge. “It’s locked!”

“Rook!” Harding called from the other side of the gate. 

“Harding? Are you okay? Where is everyone?”

“We’re all here,” Bellara called from further back. 

“Whole and hale,” Emmrich added. 

Lucanis watched Embria’s shoulders drop, and for a moment she seemed so relieved she looked unsteady on her feet. He reached for her, but she waved him off. 

“Can you guys get this gate open? We’re stuck!”

“Leave it to us,” Davrin said. 

“And if we can’t unlock it, maybe I can burn it down,” Taash said. 

“Let’s try the old-fashioned way first,” Harding said. “Sit tight, Rook. We’ll get you through in no time.”

Of course, it took substantially longer than that, all while wave after wave of Venatori tried to make the most of the fact that they were cornered. 

“Harding!” Rook shouted. “We can’t keep this up much longer!”

Spite disagreed. Lucanis felt the demon’s glee coursing through him, rapturous laughter threatening to bubble up with each cultist that fell beneath their blades. 

YES! He shouted. Yes, yes, YES!

“Almost there,” Harding called. 

Lucanis panted and glanced at Rook. She looked pale. She’d been slinging a lot of magic around and there was a gash in her leather overcoat.

She caught him looking and shook her head. “Already healed,” she said. 

“And your potions?”

She looked away. “I have a few left.”

“Rook.”

“It’s fine, Lucanis.” She put a hand on his arm. “We just need to–” she looked over her shoulder at the rest of the team “–GET THROUGH THIS GATE!”

“We’re working on it!” Taash yelled back. “Elven vashedan!”

Lucanis felt like he had finally caught his breath when the construct in the center of the platform came to life. 

“Look out,” Neve called.

Rook shoved Lucanis as she rolled away from him. They both narrowly missed being smashed by the machine’s massive mace. 

“Rook?”

“Fine,” she called. “Focus!”

She was right. If he wanted to protect her, he needed to keep his head in the fight. 

The construct was a trying enough opponent, but the endless tide of cultists made the fight truly daunting. Even Lucanis was beginning to tire, Spite’s glee wearing down into frustration. 

“Just a little more,” Rook called. Her voice was strained, maybe even pained. He couldn’t see her through the chaos of the battlefield. Snow and ice, lightning and fire, and the sickening iron tang of blood magic filled the air. His eyes itched and burned and a dull ache thumped at his temples. 

He spun at the construct, and a great explosion followed as his knives connected and reacted to Rook’s magic. The machine fell to the ground, finally still while electricity danced across its body. Neve slung ice daggers at the last remaining Venatori while Lucanis scanned the courtyard for Rook.

“Harding?” She called. There, on the ground. She was on her hands and knees, panting. 

Lucanis ran to her, Spite’s wings flapping to speed them across the courtyard. “Rook?” He asked, falling to his knees before her. 

“I’m okay,” she said. “Catching my breath.” She looked up and gave him a shaky smile.

“Mierda, woman,” he said. He took her hand and hauled her up onto her feet. Then the gate finally screeched open behind them. 

Rook’s head fell back and she let out an exhausted laugh. “Thank. Fuck.”

Neve snorted at that. “Let’s go,” she said. “Before more Venatori show up.”

“More?!” Rook asked. 

Lucanis growled. “There are always more.”

“Like rats,” Neve said.

“Or roaches.”

“Crush. Them!” Spite added. “Kill. Them!”

Rook patted his chest. “You’re doing a great job of it so far,” she said. 

Spite preened at the praise, and Lucanis took over again before the demon could purr in front of all of their friends. 

Rook turned to face the rest of the team. “Good job, you guys.”

Harding winced. “Sorry it took so long.”

Taash loomed behind her, arms crossed. “Vashedan.”

Rook looked around, meeting the gaze of each of their friends. “We saw a section of the temple blocked off by the Venatori,” she said. “I think it’s where they’re keeping the Dalish.”

Bellara frowned. “That might explain the strange magical energy up ahead.” She gave Rook a worried look. “And lots of it.”

Rook nodded. “Sounds like our ritual site,” she said. “Bellara, you and the others find Strife.” She glanced at Neve, and then Lucanis. “We’ll keep going and see if we can’t free our people.”

Bellara and Davrin both looked like they wanted to argue. Lucanis didn’t disagree with them. It was their people in danger. But, he didn’t think he could handle letting Rook walk into this fight without him. 

He was glad she wouldn’t make him try. 

The team split up, and Neve and Lucanis followed Rook into the temple proper. Even rundown and abandoned, the temple was impressive – fountains lined with glittering tiles, tall, arched ceilings, and statues of wolves everywhere. 

“Well, look who it is,” Neve drawled. 

Lucanis glared at her. 

She raised a brow. “What? Just stating the obvious.” She gestured around the room. “He has quite the presence.”

“Which means this temple is old,” Rook said. “From before he separated from Mythal and the other Evanuris.”

“Why is Elgar’nan holding his ritual here?”

Lucanis snorted at that. “These gods are petty,” he said. “He’s taunting Solas.”

Rook frowned. “Sounds about right.” She glanced around, her gaze wary. “Keep an eye out,” she said. “It’s too quiet in here.”

Lucanis rubbed at one eye, the itching and burning sensation worsening as they passed through a doorway at the back of the room and into a hall cloaked with grey mist.

Wrong, Spite hissed. 

“Rook,” he said, stopping beside a long-dry fountain. “We don’t like this.” He glared at the mist. Was it… whispering? “Bellara was right, there’s a lot of magic here.”

“Too. Much.”

She slid her hand into his. “Are you all right?”

He nodded and blinked. “My eyes are burning,” he said. 

“Be ready,” she said to Neve. 

“Always,” she replied. 

Embria gave him a fragile smile and squeezed his hand. Then she released him and stepped into the mist, Neve and Lucanis following her into the dark. 

[fae-bun]

A very rough sketch of an idea that I have for Kousagi. I imagined her to be a wanderer, not really tied to power. Her favorite places to wander are the abandoned ruins of Elysian, it beckons her constantly but she never really questions why...

[theanoninyourinbox]

Earth pony Ivypool?

Local 1/4 zony teen is

terrified

the local towns are besieged by umbrum infected ponies, she just got CURED of being one of them, her father Birch Branch just turned into a monster and ran off into the woods, her sister Mourning Dove is maybe possessed?!? By some ghostly magic spirit thing claiming Dove is going to be an ALICORN!?! Mayor Flaming Comet claims everything is under control but it's NOT!!!

And Ivy doesn't know WHAT her talent is, but she screams to the moon for help

and a princess, one who knows what it's like to be the overlooked sister, answers

[flywolfwriting]

I think my beta and I need therapy

[ask-the-royal-absol]

There’s a discolored rock on the left here. I wonder if this is the switch?

*As the hidden doors swing open, you feel the faintest breeze coming from the other side. It all seems familiar to when you first came down here. Destino takes a step back, their face filled with anger and betrayal..*

*You notice Destino pause.

“You know those dreams of yours are just silly. There’s no way you’d be able to get to the surface. You must stop thinking about it as a possibility. We would have sent our people up there by now if it was possible.”

“Stop these childish games. You are next in line to rule and you want to pretend to go to the surface? What a stupid idea. Only foolish Pokémon would dream of trying to go up there. You don’t want to be a foolish Pokémon, do you?”

“My child, you must end this foolishness. The surface is filled with fairy types, the cruelest Pokémon of them all. They would kill you if you ever found a way up there. End these ridiculous dreams before I have to silence you myself.”

The echoes of what their parents said to them bounce around in their head. Always being told that their dream of going up there was ridiculous. Always being told it was impossible. Always being told it was a stupid dream for stupid Pokémon. They doubted what everyone was saying about a tunnel to the surface being true. They doubted that their parents would actually lie to them.

But…

Right in front of Destino was the very thing that they claimed to be impossible. A tunnel. A tunnel that goes to the surface. The tunnel they said they would use to bring their subjects up there. What logical reason would their parents have to lie to them? The evidence was clear. It was right there in front of them.

It was all too much.

So very much.

Destino couldn’t take it. All these lies. All of this responsibility that fell onto them. Why did it have to be them? Why? That was so much effort. Perhaps they could just forget they ever saw anything and continue lying to themselves? Claim they had no idea what anyone was talking about and continue to live their life, relaxing in the throne they would eventually claim for themselves.

But they couldn’t do that. They had to do what needed to be done. Go to the surface and save the world. Finally believe what everyone was saying. Destino hated this.*

Destino: I guess it’s time to head to the one Pokémon who I know can help me out with a disguise for heading up there.

*Will you follow Destino to this mysterious Pokémon?*

[bittersweet-in-boston]

Chapter 4 of con artist Stucky is up! Only one more to go…

[nondelphic]

sometimes the best writing advice is "just let it be bad." revolutionary. terrifying. but it works.

[beaft]

it is legit bizarre to me how hard video game creators and film directors and showrunners try to pretend that fat people don't exist. can you think of the last time you saw a fat person in a lead role? god forbid a fat woman? i can walk down the street or go into a shop or restaurant and see fat people everywhere but then i switch on the tv and suddenly it's like a glimpse into an alternate universe where no one has a bmi over 24. insidious and weird

[asteroidtroglodyte]

[tis-the-boards-season]

I just saw a theatre almost entirely full of men very audibly gasp and/or moan at the site of a shirtless Hugh Jackman and let me tell you it was a religious experience

[selineabanto]

hear me outs but they're drunk and silly

[rae-butter]

Honestly, I love it when characters relapse. When someone who’s gotten over their anger issues falls into a situation so out of their depth they fall back on their old habits. When someone who’s learned to open up becomes a recluse again in order to cope with something outside their control.

There’s just something so horrible, so toxic, about watching a character grow and then slip back into their old selves in order to cope, bc you know they still care, that they’re the same inside, but watching them hurt so hard they don’t know what else to do brings a sense of catharsis.

[mychemicalbrromance]

Guys ive been reading peak

[bethanythebogwitch]

Some writers: *meticulously plan out every plot point and the tone and meanings before they start writing*

Me:

[reverieblondie]

How am I going to get any of that mouth watering TENSTION! without plot? Yes my fic is 10k words one shot, but they are struggling to fall in love before they bonk and I'm not apologizing!

The truth of it 🤣