#ronan is being haunted

[iammistressofmyfate]

I am so close to finishing Haunted!AU...someone send me some encouragement to just finish the damn thing lmao

[wodania]

// no spoilers in tags please :)

the brothers Lynch, more like the brothers FREAK

+ adam and gansey

[invisibleanonymousmonsters]

chapter xxiv – gust & flame

Eris Vanserra x Reader

Eris Vanserra has been a prisoner in his own home since the day he was born. He has done what he had to in order to survive and protect the few he loves. And he is playing the long game. Waiting, waiting, and waiting for the right time to make his move, to usurp his wicked father and become High Lord of Autumn Court. But things become even more complicated when a human girl drops into his life. Perhaps Eris can wait no longer to take his throne.

Word Count:  4,000+

masterlist

Cassian continued swaying Y/N around after her confession. He could tell she was panicking, and knew she didn’t want to have a breakdown here and now. So, he distracted her, twirling her unnecessarily around until she was laughing and telling him to cut it out through her giggles. 

“We miss you in the Night Court,” Cassian said through a smile, but along with sad eyes she could not miss. 

“I miss it, too.” However, there was more to say and he caught it. 

“But?” He urged. 

“But Autumn feels like…” Y/N dared not finish. 

“Like home?” Cassian offered gently. 

She shook her head. “The Mortal Lands are my home, Cassian.” 

He sighed. “Sometimes homes change, Y/N.” 

Then the Illyrians gaze settled on someone over her shoulder. 

She turned to see Helion Spell-Cleaver politely standing near them with his hands clasped behind his back. 

The High Lord stood tall. His wide and muscular torso was on display from the drapery of his white and gold robes. And his onyx hair was more voluminous and shiny than any woman’s she’d ever seen. In it was his gold, halo crown and band that proved his power and position. He was a beautiful male, that was indisputable. 

“High Lord Helion,” Cassian bowed his head in greeting. Though he was not his High Lord, he was still above him in power. 

Helion nodded to the General, then bowed to Y/N as if she were Lady of Autumn. “I was hoping for a dance with the female of the night.” 

Y/N expected to look at Cassian and find a warning glare on his face. But he seemed only amused. Perhaps she didn’t know Helion as well as she realized and misjudged his intentions at the High Lord meeting where she was interrogated. Perhaps this was actually the male that Leonora had secretly loved for so long. 

A small growl came from the floor. Y/N looked down to see Ronan giving another warning growl to Helion as he stood between him and Y/N. 

She couldn’t help but giggle at her tiny and brave fox. “Ronan, relax.”

The fox turned to look up at her and stopped growling immediately. 

“Go to Eris,” she commanded him softly. 

The fox whimpered as he hesitated, before eventually trotting over to Eris on the other side of the room. He plopped his butt down at the High Lord’s feet, but protectively watched her, prepared to come to her defense if she should need him. 

Y/N stepped away from her friend and toward the High Lord carefully.

“Behave, Helion,” Cassian warned playfully, but quietly enough that only the three of them would catch it. “Though I would enjoy watching Eris take you on if you do not.” 

A new song started and Helion guided them around the floor. 

“Is this a game of some sort?” Y/N asked him with clear suspicion. 

“I assure you it is not, Lady Y/N.” Helion smiled down at her. “I fear we got off on the wrong foot. But I see now that I judged you too harshly.” 

“You fae are distrusting creatures,” she teased darkly as they continued to spin. 

He chuckled. “A life if immortality makes us weary of new beings, especially ones who are as subtly powerful as you are.” 

Y/N frowned at that. Not knowing the true strength of her new power was unsettling to her and it haunted her most nights. 

Helion’s voice lowered and his mouth moved closer to her ear as he said, “Between the two of us, I must confess that my interrogation came from a selfish place.”

Then Y/N caught his gaze flicker to Leonora for hardly a second. If she had blinked, she would’ve missed it. 

“I only wanted to make sure the people of Autumn Court were not in danger,” Helion lied quietly. 

“Why do you not go to her?” Y/N whispered. 

“It is my shame.”

Her eyes squinted in confusion. 

“You have not been in Prythian long, Y/N. And you were lucky to only know Beron for the last moments of his existence.” His eyes glazed over as his mind raced through the past of his immortal life. “You do not know the torture she endured. And through it all, I stood back and let it happen. I should have saved her. I should have killed Beron myself.” 

“But you are High Lord of Day, it would have started a war. And you would have lost so many lives of your Court.” 

Helion’s amber eyes darkened almost to a brown. “What good is power if it cannot be used to protect the ones we love?” 

Y/N didn’t know how to answer that. She was not familiar with having the powers that he possessed. But she had now been around enough High Lords to recognize that such strength did not come without its consequences. 

“I do not deserve her forgiveness or love,” Helion finished. “You do not know what it is like to see the female you love lose the light from her eyes, all while being treated like nothing more than a breeder.” 

Y/N allowed herself to watch Leonora for a moment, who spoke to various courtiers of Autumn, with a polite smile on her lips. 

“Do not underestimate how much light you could bring back to her eyes,” she muttered. “I do not think she believes there is anything to forgive. I think she only worries, after all this time, that there might not be a second chance for you both.” 

Helion gave her a grateful grin. “You have given me hope for Autumn, Y/N. Perhaps you could visit Day Court soon with your mate, and together we could repair the gap between our two courts.” 

Y/N couldn’t meet his gaze as she answered, “I have not accepted the bond…"

Perhaps she shouldn’t be sharing such information to another High Lord. She didn’t know why she confessed it so quickly and easily. 

Helion’s brow furrowed. “And do you not plan to do so?” 

Y/N looked around, trying to buy herself time on her response. 

“Forgive me,” he quickly added. "It is none of my concern.” 

Then, as if trying to change the subject, Helion locked eyes on Nesta, who pretended to be annoyed with Cassian’s obvious and heavy flirting. Everyone knew they were claimed mates, so Y/N didn’t know why she tortured him in such a way. 

“Though, before tonight ends, I should once again attempt to convince those two in joining one of my parties…” 

Y/N rolled her eyes. “Yes, I’ve heard all about your bedroom habits. Which seems like a strange way to reconcile with your lost lover…”

To her surprise, Helion looked guilty from her call out. “It is much easier to forget about lost love and a broken heart when you preoccupy yourself with endless lust.”

“I will confess,” Y/N began with a mischievous smile. “Us Valkyries are desperate to pet one of your Pegasus. Nesta has threatened to proposition both her and her mate to do so. Though I do not recommend taking her up on the offer if you care for Leonora as you say.”

Helion smiled as he found Nesta, Gwyn, and Emerie gossiping and giggling in a corner with empty glasses of wine. 

The High Lord of Day stepped away from Y/N and bowed his head slightly to her. “It has been an honor, Lady Y/N.” 

Then Y/N was alone on the dance floor. And she quickly made her escape before another male could ask her to dance.

There were two giant doors open to the gardens outside. Suddenly, fresh air seemed like the best thing for her. 

Y/N took in the garden before her. Across the pond, the autumn trees glowed with the yellowish faelight floating amongst the branches. To her left, was a fountain surrounded by the red and orange fallen leaves of the court. To her right, was a stone and metal temple that stepped directly into the pond – and Y/N made her way to that. 

The wind brushed around her, giving her a delicate touch to her cheek. 

Y/N gave a small smile at the companionship. 

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

The voice behind her made Y/N jump. “You frightened me.” 

The male was tall and spindly. He did not have the powerful muscle that Eris, or any of her male fae friends, possessed. 

He did not apologize for scaring her, nor did he look even slightly guilty for it. 

“May I ask your name?” Y/N continued, looking around them and noting that it was just the two of them outside. 

“Muiris,” was all he provided as he took steps toward her. 

“Nice to meet you, Muiris. I am Y/N.”

“I know who you are,” he answered back too quickly and harshly. 

Y/N blinked at the rudeness. 

He stepped past her and looked at the large pond before them, hands clasped behind his back. “This particular garden was built centuries ago. So long ago, in fact, that most in this Court were not even alive to remember a time before it existed.” 

Y/N got the feeling he didn’t care if she responded or not. So she remained quiet. 

He turned to look her up and down. “But you wouldn’t know anything about that, seeing as you are not of fae blood,” he snipped. 

She openly glared at him now.

This male was clearly no friend, Autumn courtier or not. 

“How did you do it?” He hissed suddenly. 

“Do what?” But her instincts were telling her to take a step back and get away from him. 

He only moved closer. “Those of us whom still have our wits about us know your game. You have bewitched Eris Vanserra, convinced him to kill his own father. And you will kill him next. I have known witches in my time, and good they are not. Your kind is only capable of evil. And I will not stand by and watch Autumn fall into your clutches.”

Before Y/N could even wrap her mind around his words, the male unsheathed a dagger from some hidden place on his body. 

She was quick though, shooting to the side and unsheathing her own knife strapped to her thigh. 

But before she could even raise it in defense, an arrow flew from behind her and hit her attacker squarely in the wrist that held his weapon. 

Y/N whipped around to see a Autumn guard had released the arrow, and he was now calling out orders and warnings to his comrades.  

Though Muiris had cried out in pain and dropped the dagger, he wasn’t weak enough to abandon his mission. 

But as he lunged for her once again, a gust of wind hit him so hard that he was flown backward into the pond. 

Y/N blinked and she was surrounded by nearly twenty Autumn soldiers who circled her protectively. 

A whip of fire burst out of nowhere and dragged Muiris out of the water by his ankle, scraping his body across the harsh stone steps. 

Y/N turned to see Eris slowly walking toward the male.

While his composure was calm, she could only see the fire and rage in his gaze and posture.

A whimper came from below her. Ronan had found her and was pawing at her legs in distress. 

Without thinking, Y/N bent to pick him up. She held him as if he was her anchor. And in return, the fox kit licked her face repeatedly. 

“I always knew you were a fool, Muiris,” Eris growled. Then he bent to pick up the dagger he’d dropped. It was then that Y/N realized it was made of iron – a witch’s ultimate weakness. “But your stupidity has reached a new low.” 

With a snap of his finger, Muiris was shot onto his feet by an invisible power. And flames erupted at his feet, climbing up his body. The male screamed in agony, but he was inflicting pain, not death. Eris was keeping him alive…for now.

“The witch has cast spells on you, High Lord!”

Eris lashed out to grip the males throat, his hand looking more like a demon's talons than human. “Is that so?” He hissed, his tone alone belittling such an accusation. 

Muiris gasped for breath. “I only…tried to do what is…best for Autumn Court.” 

“I am what is best for Autumn Court,” Eris growled as his grip tightened around Muiris' throat. “And she is what is best for me.” 

Y/N then realized they had an audience. Cassian, Rhysand, and Feyre rushed outside to see what was going on. 

Muiris found Y/N’s eyes through the crowd. “She will…ruin us.” 

Eris moved his face centimeters away from Muiris.

The High Lord's flames did not burn him like they did his victim, only dancing around his skin like they belonged to his body. 

“She will save us all,” Eris whispered, but somehow Y/N could hear it clearly from where she stood. 

“You are going to die now,” Eris added. But Muiris didn’t react until he added, “And you should know that everyone you brought with you tonight will die with you.” 

The males eyes widened in panic. “B-But my son…my son…he was not a part of this!”

“I do not trust such a defense, especially one from your mouth. However, if it is true, then his punishment will simply be his relation to you. An attack on my mate is an attack on this court, and I will counter accordingly.” 

Eris turned to look at her. And for half a second, the fire in his gaze blew out. 

Then he looked at the soldiers who surrounded his mate. “Escort Y/N back to her chambers.” 

She opened her mouth to argue, but she knew better than to challenge Eris so publicly. And then she realized she had no idea what to even say, because there was not a single part of her that wished to spare this male’s life.

So she let the small army escort her back inside. 

Rhysand, Cassian, and Feyre all shared looks with her as she left. 

The other High Lords and guests from there courts began winnowing their exits. 

You should go, Y/N spoke to both Feyre’s and Rhysand’s minds. I am safe here. But Eris will not rest until his wrath is released. 

He is only protecting you, Rhysand defended Eris surprisingly. I would do the same for my mate. And his eyes flickered to Feyre’s. 

You say the word and we will bring you right back to Night Court, Feyre answered back softly. 

But the nobles and courtiers of Autumn remained standing. They watched with disgust – not at Eris’ reckoning, but at Muiris’ actions. Clearly, they did not stand with his beliefs toward their new High Lord and his mate. 

Y/N had been escorted back inside. 

Half a dozen fae were on their knees with fiery cages keeping them from moving: Muiris’ companions. Eris’ smoke hounds had already been dispatched, guarding each of them as an extra precaution. They growled menacingly with their tales pointed in the air. Not even Y/N’s presence distracted them from their task. 

It wasn’t until Y/N was in the hallway that she heard the screams and the sound of fire burning flesh. 

She knew Eris burned them slowly. 

–��–🍁–🍁–

Y/N paced in front of the fireplace in her bedchambers. 

There would be no sleep for her tonight. No one told her the Forest House was on lock down, but she heard the running in the hallways and the shouting of orders. 

Y/N wanted to go to Eris, but she also didn’t want to get in the way. 

If there was one pattern Y/N couldn’t ignore, it was that her endangerment caused Eris to go absolutely feral. She wondered if it it was terrible how little it scared her. The way he protected her so fiercely and without hesitation…it only lit a fire in Y/N’s body. No one – not even her coven – had defended her in such a way. Perhaps his manor of doing so would scream danger to others, but to Y/N…it only screamed love. 

There was a knock on her door. 

But Y/N’s heart didn’t jump in anxiety, unsure of who it could be. 

Ronan awoke from his slumber near the giant fireplace to growl at the door and beat her to it.

But she immediately knew it was Eris, and she rushed to throw it open. 

“Y/N,” Eris breathed. 

She looked around and realized that all of the guards who had escorted her safely back to her chambers earlier had stayed and stood guard outside. 

But that meant the two of them had an audience. 

Without thinking, Y/N pulled the collar of his red, velvet tunic from the event that he had yet to take off. Even his armor was still in place. 

Eris slammed the door behind him. “I had to secure the Forest House and hunt down any remnants of Muiris’ following.” The words rushed out as if he needed an excuse for keeping her waiting. 

Then he grasped her shoulders and frantically looked over her body. She only wore her nightgown now, but could not care less about the propriety of her attire in his presence. 

“My soldiers promised me you were unharmed,” Eris practically gasped. “But I…I had to be sure for myself.” 

Y/N grasped his face gently. “Eris, I am fine,” she reassured him in a soft voice. “He did not even get a chance to touch me.” 

He nodded, his heart finally calming from seeing for himself that his mate was fine. “Then I will return to my rooms.”

But they both knew he wanted to do nothing of the sorts. 

Y/N quickly grabbed his hands. “Stay,” she muttered. “Please.” 

Then, in an attempt to stop things from going too sobering, she added, “This was your room once, after all.” 

Eris smirked. “Aye, and there is nothing but your scent here now.” 

“I shall never truly understand the keen senses of the fae. You are far too open about how much you smell," she teased in return.

Eris fully smiled now. “Trust me when I say, your scent is nothing but delectable.” 

Y/N’s face felt hot, even from such a strange compliment. 

Ronan, annoyed that his sleep was interrupted, had relaxed once he realized it was Y/N’s mate at the door. He trotted back to curl into a ball again next to the crackling fire. 

“Do you need help taking this off?” Y/N asked Eris, gesturing to his armor. 

He brushed off the offer almost immediately, “I can manage.” 

But Y/N ignored him, stepping toward him and beginning to unbuckle the heavy metal on his torso. 

“Relax,” Y/N whispered into his ears as she stood behind him, noting how tense his shoulders were as she helped him. 

The sound and feeling of her breath caused a rush to go down Eris’ spine. 

Eventually, all of his armor and his cloak were politely collected into somewhat of a pile against the wall, leaving Eris in only his velvet arming coat.

Y/N glanced down at her state of undress and then quirked an eyebrow. “Now that will not be comfortable sleeping in.” 

Eris narrowed his eyes and tried to hide his smirk as he took the last of his clothes off, leaving him only in black braise, briefs and no shirt. 

Like every other time Eris’ chest was exposed, Y/N couldn’t help but stare. 

There were scars across his skin, and Y/N wondered how many of them were from battle and how many of them were by the hand of his abusive father. 

Without realizing it, Y/N’s fingers began tracing some of them. 

“They healed long ago,” he explained softly, as if trying to comfort her.

Her only response was to grab his hand and slowly lead him to her bed. 

Though the situation would appear to be leading to a certain intimacy, there was no promise of such an act. Eris didn’t want to ask that of her and risk scaring her away. No, all he wanted right now was to hold her in his arms and prove that his mate really was safe. 

Y/N slipped under the covers of the bed first and pulled him in with her. But she stayed close, ignoring the other half of the bed behind her. 

Carefully, she placed her head on his chest, her ear sitting right over his heart. Her left arm draped over his muscular torso. 

The two of them just lay there for quite some time, only feeling each other and hearing the rustling of the trees outside with their dry, autumn leaves. 

“Does my wrath frighten you?” Eris finally said so quietly that it felt like it came from a ghost within the room. 

Y/N didn’t move from her place on his chest. 

“Perhaps it should…” she eventually sighed, as her eyes drifted off. “But you have never scared me, Eris.” 

“You are right: perhaps you should be frightened of me.” He takes in a shaky breath as his eyes stare up at the ceiling. “I am merciful. And that was what I promised myself I would be if I were to ever usurp my father, and live to rule Autumn.” 

Then his gaze turned to look down at her.

She lifted her head in response.

“But I will become the villain when you are threatened. I will sacrifice what little good I have left in me to destroy any who dare hurt you, Y/N.” 

This is the part where he expected her to run, to confess that he had gone too far and his words instilled fear in her finally. 

Instead, Y/N reached up and caressed his cheek. “Then… let us hope it does not come to that.”

Quiet enveloped them once again. 

Eris rubbed his hand up and down Y/N’s bicep. 

Finally, she had the courage to ask what had truly haunted her from tonight’s events. “Does it not bother you…that there are those who think I have brought evil and deception to your court?” 

“Why should I? If they truly cared for Autumn, they would have rebelled against Beron long ago. They are only attempting to test their new High Lord, to find my weakness and see how pliant they can make me.” 

“But perhaps I do make you weak…” Y/N whispered so softly he almost didn’t hear it. 

“That is far from the truth.” Eris’ voice was strong and now too loud for the quiet room. 

And with it, his emotions made the flames of the all the candles in the room spike in height and glow. 

“Before you arrived this evening, I was… struggling,” he admitted. “I can command an army to win any battle, gain my troops unmovable loyalty, and oversee this court to exceptional change. But making my people…like me.” He paused. “I had never considered that would be an obstacle during all my years of seeking to become High Lord.” 

Y/N let him continue.

“Nearly all of Hewn City despises both Rhysand and Feyre," Eris added harshly. "Yet they do not let such opinions hinder them. What does it matter to be liked by such horrid beings?” 

She couldn’t help but smirk. “We are not them, though. And both of them came to rule Night Court in much different manner than you.” 

They both knew she was right. Losing a father and High Lord from horrors of war was far different than killing one’s father and usurping him. And Feyre…Feyre was fae. Though by magic and not birth, she would still grow more and more like those she protected in her court. 

“It seems unfair to compare ourselves to them. We are…different.” Then her eyes dazed off as she noted that Eris most likely hoped that their love affair would blossom into something similar than those two now have. “I ask that you do not do it again.” 

--------

OK OK OK. I am so fucking sorry that I was MIA for so fucking long. My life is....crazy. I'm currently trying to find a new job and I am also working on other personal projects. So I simply have not had the time nor the energy to write.

But please, please, please write a book report for this chapter. I think it will get me to keep in the creative space to write more chapters of this quickly.

[alyrasturnz]

ronan being your favorite song on red is so real! like yes im sure we want a ronan fic

RONAN {{ chris sturniolo }}

summary — when a sickness, like a relentless storm, ravages the heart of a family, it leaves chris and y/n adrift in an ocean of sorrow and confusion. the once vibrant home, filled with laughter and warmth, now echoes with the haunting silence of absence. each corner of the house holds memories that sting like open wounds, reminders of a life that slipped through their fingers like sand

— angst.

warnings :: mentions of death

dad!chris who keeps a collection of his son’s favorite toys on his desk, each one a reminder of the adventures they shared.

dad!chris who hears his son’s laughter in the rustling leaves, a sound that brings both comfort and heartache.

dad!chris holds onto his son’s last drawing, a crayon masterpiece of their family, now framed and cherished.

dad!chris who sometimes sits in his son’s room, talking to him as if he’s still there, sharing stories of the day.

dad!chris who keeps his son’s baseball glove in the car, a symbol of the games they played and the dreams they had.

dad!chris who believes that his son’s spirit is in every sunrise, a new beginning that brings a sense of peace and hope.

dad!chris who feels a deep connection to the ocean, the waves a reminder of the ebb and flow of life, carrying his son’s memory with each tide.

dad!chris who holds onto the belief that love transcends time and space, a bond that will never be broken, even by death.

dad!chris who forces matt to drive by the park where they used to play, the swings still moving as if his spirit is there, enjoying one more ride.

dad!chris who whispers to the wind, asking it to carry his love to him, wherever he may be, hoping he feels his presence.

dad!chris who sometimes wakes up from dreams where he’s still there, his laughter echoing in the morning light, only to find an empty room.

dad!chris who whispers bedtime stories to the stars, believing that somewhere, he’s listening and smiling back.

dad!chris who keeps his son's room exactly the same, a shrine to the memories they shared, unable to let go of the past that holds his heart together

dad!chris who finds himself talking to his son's favorite stuffed animal at night, whispering stories and secrets as if his boy is still there to listen

dad!chris who volunteers at the children's hospital, hoping to bring a smile to other kids' faces, even as it breaks his heart a little more each time

dad!chris who wears his son's favorite baseball cap everywhere, feeling a sense of closeness and comfort from the fabric that once touched his boy's head

dad!chris who spends hours in the garage working on the old bike they never finished fixing together, each turn of the wrench a bittersweet reminder of their unfinished plans

dad!chris who plants a garden in the backyard, filled with his son's favorite flowers, finding solace in the growth and life that continues despite the loss

dad!chris who keeps a journal of all the things he wishes he could tell his son, the pages filled with love, regret, and the hopes he still holds onto

dad!chris who struggles with the silence in the house, often turning on his son's favorite music just to feel his presence a little more vividly

dad!chris who finds small, hidden notes his son left behind, each one a treasure that brings both tears and a fleeting smile

dad!chris who, despite the pain, holds onto the belief that his son is watching over him, guiding him through the darkness with a love that never fades

[clotpolesonly]

thinking about Declan and the moth again

it HAUNTS ME that the moth is one of the few times that Declan seems to lose his self-awareness completely. like, yeah, he's the ultimate king of repression, but he's usually very conscious of what he's repressing and the fact that he's repressing it. he knows his issues.

he knows that he forces down his emotions in an unhealthy way so that he can be the adult in the room at far too young an age. he knows he can't form healthy relationships because of a lifetime of danger and insecurity. he knows he dehumanized his mother as a means to cope with their batshit family situation. he knows he's competing with his father's ghost for a place in Ronan's life. he knows he resents Matthew for being the primary factor in his parentification and loss of opportunity in life. he knows he loves his father no matter how much he tries to convince himself to hate him. he knows he feels trapped in the life he's leading, doesn't see a way out, and likely wouldn't take it if he did because it would be at the expense of his brothers.

all of these things, Declan acknowledges openly, either to himself in narration or out loud to others. he may delude himself about how well he's coping with his issues, but he has no illusions about what his issues ARE.

except for the fucking moth.

it's such a perfect, on-the-nose symbol that it almost strains credulity for Declan not to acknowledge it as such, and yet not once does he ever look at the moth and feel the way he did about the black string art exhibit that made him recognize how trapped he felt in his life. "how the moth had beaten against the walls for those first few days, until it had learned it could not escape."

the learned helplessness of it - there's no point fighting to get free, just lie down and accept that this is your life. know what you're allowed to do, and have, and be. know what you're not. a creature of his father's making, confined by his father's hand.

and not even something as eye-catching as a butterfly, no, but a quieter subtler moth with eyes like glittering purple-black marbles that will never get to live a life because Niall made it so.

and the symbolic parallel of the display case and the townhouse. the rigid real world structures that Declan himself requested, because they made him feel more secure than being surrounded by dreams, and that his father provided in a well-meaning but ultimately short-sighted attempt to accommodate him. things that Declan only recognizes much later as the cages that they were.

Declan now regrets demanding his dad make the display case by hand, and when he puts himself through Ronan's bad-feeling security system at the end of the series, the memory it hits him with is inheriting the sterile alexandria townhouse that was exactly what he'd claimed to want.

these are symbols of Declan's complicity, in a manner of speaking, in the whole tragic mess that was his upbringing. at some point, quite early on, Declan's oppression became a joint effort, something that he participated in (because a complete lack of control in the situation would have felt worse). it reminds me of Declan struggling to remember which of them first decided to lie to Matthew about what he was, whether that was his dad's idea or if he'd done that of his own volition, just following pattern.

did dad trap him, or did he build the walls himself? or was it both?

but, for once, none of this is acknowledged by Declan in the text. this artistically-minded chronic overthinker carries the moth around with him - one of the two dreams he will never sell, alongside the gift from Ronan - and he stays so uncritically sentimental about it that he releases it on his wedding day with happy/nostalgic tears in his eyes, and it just boggles my mind.

this is the man who looked at a bunch of string and had the immediate revelation that he was utterly miserable and trapped in a spiderweb of a life precariously balanced on a knife's edge where one wrong move could get him and everyone he loved killed, but he looks at a direct, uncomplicated, one-to-one representation of himself and somehow does not recognize that it is not something to think of fondly. that, yes, it may be a symbol of his father's love for him, but it's not good.

[romantichopelessly]

invitation to speak more about the secret good td3 in your head, if you so desire!

Ok so I sat on this ask for DAYS because I wanted to have some cohesive, great answer, but the thing about The Dreamer Trilogy that haunts me is that I can never come up with good concrete thoughts about how to fix the issues I have with it, which is why I reference the “secret good td3 in my head” because it can never fully leave my head in any real way. That being said here’s a list of some elements I would change to make my secret good td3, in no particular order.

The visionaries don’t exist. Liliana, Persifal, etc. are just psychics that keep getting visions of the end, and die for reasons other than their power. Explaining what Visionaries are and subsequently over explaining the magic system of td3 is part of what made the trilogy so confusing and ruined a lot of the magic that the TRC universe already had for me. We don’t need concrete explanations, and psychics can still fill this role. The changing age and exploding added nothing?? to the narrative?? that I can think of?? We can even keep the age gap for Carliana if we want to, just make Liliana an older psychic like Maura/Persephone/Calla. It will even add to the excellent Carmen-Mr. Gray parallels.

Lean more into the themes of the age group. TRC is a coming of age story. It’s about being 17/18. It’s about learning your inner self and getting others to see the true you. TD3 should be more about being 19/20/21. To me, TD3 at its peak is like Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 6. Which is uniquely about the horror of being in your early 20s, losing support systems, having to learn to be a full self-reliant person, grappling with what your parents did to you, and the crushing loneliness of not being around Your People anymore. TD3 has all of these themes, but I really think they need to be fleshed out more, and given proper conclusion that isn’t just “yippee everything is fine now!”

Greywaren is longer. I think almost everyone agrees that Greywaren, as a book was just too short to wrap up all the plot lines set up, and does almost none of them justice. That book needed a whole rewrite. In theory, I’m completely fine with how it opens—Ronan being in a dream coma was foreshadowed from CDTH, and is an idea that I’d actually thought of as interesting before even reading the book. Other elements of this book like Declan’s rampage, Matthew going rogue, etc are great directions for the characters, I’d just want to rework them. I could make solo posts about any of these.

The Pynch breakup either doesn’t happen, or is set up further in advance and lasts longer. Personally, I lean towards the latter. Adam and Ronan’s conflict is set up from the very beginning of CDTH, or even from Opal (Adam warring between wanting to stay with Ronan and needing to follow through with his lifelong plans, and being frustrated that Ronan never asks for anything from Adam (specifically, to stay) ((side note: perhaps Adam’s insecurity here about Ronan respecting his boundaries so thoroughly stems from both having a family that never would respect his wishes, and Gansey (Adam’s model of love, Adam’s model of everything) having to learn not to ask things like that of Adam. What does it mean that Ronan never even tries?)) AND Ronan dealing with the crushing loneliness of being left and dealing with the consequences of having a long distance bf who is more successful than him). So they needed to have an argument about this. It’s also just in character that these two would not be perfect communicators. So. My idea: In CDTH we get no Adam POVs, just Ronan’s side of the story. We see, rather than Ronan just getting upset over one missed text, that Adam begins to pull away after the murder crab incident. We the audience don’t know why, other than Ronan’s unreliable narration and insecurity. So when Adam doesn’t respond to that one text at a vital fraught time, Ronan does what he does best, shuts down, pulls away and self destructs. Then MI rolls around and we start getting Adam POVs. We learn that after the murder crabs, Adam was throwing himself into trying to fix the nightwash situation for Ronan (Adam is not in contact with Declan here, unfortunately). After visiting for Ronan’s birthday and seeing the Lace, Adam starts to have dreams/premonitions about the end of the world (no visionaries in this universe, just psychics who are/were close to dreamers getting the visions!!). So he obviously sets out to fix this alone too. He calls his best approximations to contacts in this underground world that aren’t Declan. Henry and Mr. Gray. (+ maybe also Maura & Calla) ((Also don’t worry Henry doesn’t leave the Sarchengsey trip, just advises Adam on where to start)). Now that Adam has lost contact with Ronan (he was busy and missed the message and Ronan went off the grid like in canon), he goes full throttle into trying to solve everything while managing being his perfect Harvard persona (this gets him close to a breakdown, very reminiscent to Dream Thieves). Perhaps we get to see Adam and Declan working together to acquire sweet metals and understand the underworld of magic together. He and Ronan fight the one time they get to talk over the phone, Adam because he is truly scared Ronan will be the one to end the world, Ronan because he feels like this is another person perceiving him as a failure and wanting to control/baby him (+ he hates Adam hanging with Mr Gray and Declan of all people). By the time Greywaren starts, Adam is wrung out and hurting and Ronan is dead to the world, so yeah. He doesn’t think he can spend emotional energy playing safeguard to his boyfriend’s coma corpse. And then by the end of the book they have an actual argument/discussion no “they didn’t need words” cop out.

The number of Dreamers/Dreams has to be reduced. It’s cool to say that dreams were always integrated into this world, but it creates so many plot holes it isn’t even funny. There is no way Niall could have passed off the Greywaren being a box that brings dreams to life if Dreamers were such a common occurrence. No secret can be kept that well, someone in the black market would have known, and thus Greenmantle/Mr. Gray/Laumonier/ect WOULD HAVE KNOWN !!!

Declan does not have all his character erased by suddenly loving his mommy and daddy. Seriously what the fuck was that. Declan suddenly deciding to forgive his father because actually Declan was secretly the favorite child first is INSANE. Especially after seeing that that changed because Niall and Mor WANTED TO KILL HIS BROTHER!!! The two tenants of Declan Lynch in TRC were protecting his remaining family and fucking hating that Ronan idolized Niall just because Niall loved him best. So why make Declan turn around and do the same??? Suddenly Niall wasn’t so bad because actually he let Declan be shoved into a car trunk during a shootout out of love. I hate this plot line. Family doesn’t have to be forgiven. Understood, that’s one thing. Forgiven?? Not always. Sick of it. The real takeaway from seeing those memories should have been closure to Declan’s arc of learning that dreams should be viewed as people completely.

I definitely have other points but I cannot think of them right now. And I want to post this so I will. But TD3, as you can see, makes me an insane person.

[adamprrishcycle]

also not that Ronan needs a particular reason to be insecure and jealous because those are char traits but I always felt like the specific jealousy he felt in cdth towards theoretical people Adam could meet at Harvard and towards the crying club, the idea of Adam meeting someone more polished/preppy, similarly academically minded to him etc. being something that haunted him, was influenced by his previous jealousy from observing how Adam reacted to those qualities in Gansey.

YES 😵‍💫 also shoutout to that quote where Ronan imagines Adam finding someone else after he’s dead

[miseria-fortes-viros]

could u explain more abt ronsey being whelk and Noah? i understand that whelk and gansey both wanted to get to the leyline but im unsure why ronan would be Noah other that they’re best friends

the foremost parallel between ronan and noah does exist within the whelk-gansey relationship; gansey is whelk so therefore ronan and noah occupy the same position as best friend/roommate. as we get more familiar with noah’s (or rather, czerny’s) character, we find out he was a troublemaker, owned a fast car that he adored, was the middle son. ronan birthed cabeswater; noah died in it. ronan is the protector; noah is the sacrifice. all four are haunted by deaths: noah and whelk, by noah’s, gansey, by his own, ronan, by his father’s.

on hallucinations:

on loyalty:

on ghosts:

noah did not simply end up with ronan and gansey. he chose them. they reminded him of what he lost.

[cheeeryos]

I’ve been thinking a lot about how good adam’s relationship to cabeswater is as a metaphor for healing and accepting love.

in the raven boys, adam is chafing under his father’s thumb. not just the abuse, but the way that he controls, shapes, or influences every part of adam’s life. adam hates not being able to make his own decisions or be his own person in the way that he wants:

this is why his sacrifice to cabeswater works so well - it’s deeply personal, and deeply hurtful. he truly believes that he is giving up his newly obtained autonomy. it’s not an accident that this happens mere hours after he leaves the trailer for good. in his mind, in that moment, he’s trading one tyrant for another.

in the dream thieves, our boy is struggling with the fallout. cabeswater is frightening him, playing tricks on him, it’s not far off to say that it’s tormenting him. in his narrative climax, persephone helps him to recalibrate and begin to untangle his father’s abuse from cabeswater’s brand of haunting:

this is the first step in understanding that not all ways of being beholden to someone are equal; that sacrificing part of yourself to something (or someone) doesn’t have to be the end of the world, and can actually be an incredibly worthy thing, if it’s done through love instead of hate.

in blue lily, lily blue, we see adam begin to make deliberate choices between them. in particular, we get the scene where he dissociates in front of his father. it’s likely he’d done this before, but this time there’s a clear manifestation of cabeswater as a protector. adam continues to draw parallels between the two:

he’s using persephone’s advice on controlling and managing cabeswater’s mental fuckery to reframe his father’s verbal abuse into something else that he doesn’t need to listen to or accept. and now that he’s drawn boundaries with cabeswater in that way, he invites it in as a physical protector against his father’s physical abuse:

in the raven king, when the demon corrupts cabeswater, it takes adam’s book one sacrifice and tries to turn him into the one thing he fears the most: his father. he’s struggled for the entire series against the cycle of violence, against what he thinks is his monster blood, his tendency towards anger, his worries that he’ll grow up to hurt anyone he loves. he's also fought so hard to carve out his own power and autonomy. all his fears come home to roost at once when his hands try to kill ronan:

but then, the way he gets himself free is by once again choosing to sacrifice to cabeswater:

just because there was a setback, doesn’t mean that all his hard work has been undone.

he just has to keep choosing love.

[iammistressofmyfate]

I can't believe that Uncanny is all out there in the world! Thanks to everyone who read it over the last 13 weeks!

It was a labor of love, truly, and something so different than what I usually write. It was so much fun.

I'm slowly toiling away at other projects, but I appreciate everyone who has stuck around since January(!!!!), reading this fic.

Psychic-Medium!Adam and Irish!Ronan are my favorites. Maybe I'll revisit with them some day!

[a-tiny-sloth]

in dream thieves, adam's mattress is specifically described as an ikea mattress, so now i need a fic where ronan and gansey take him to ikea (noah's probably there as well). it's right after trb, so adam is being all creepy and haunted by the magical forest he just sold his soul to, gansey is feeling all heartbroken and betrayed, ronan has just revealed he can take things out of his dreams and they're all freshly traumatised by seeing their latin teacher be trampled to death. they all have probably never been to ikea so they have that whole experience to take in. they eat shitty hotdogs and mispronounce swedish names and buy too many scented candles

(i am just gonna have to write this aren't i)

[juliasgoodusername]

Ley Lines Map for All the Gansey-core Girlies

Have you ever wished there was an interactive map that not only graphs the ley lines described in TRC, but also has layers full of possible spiritual points, arranged in loose categories and sloppily curated by sheer force of mental illness?? Okay baby here you go:

FAQ under the cut 😘

Was this necessary?

Genuinely it was not. My investigations uncovered that Maggie Stiefvater does not really care about geography, nor does she remain consistent about the ley lines, so I can't even really say that it's book-accurate.

Example 1 - There are multiple understandings of ley lines. Some are circles, patterns, connect the dots, etc. but TRC goes with the definition of "perfectly straight" lines "that crisscross the globe" (The Raven Boys Chapter 2, Chapter 15). One of the big three lines connects Boston to St. Louis (The Raven Boys Chapter 22). And the main line also passes through Boston (see example #2)! But half of all the Pynch drama in Call Down the Hawk specifically blames Boston/Harvard for not being on the ley line. Hello?? It's on TWO of them!

Example 2 - Maggie makes it clear that the connection between D.C. and New York, which also connects to the UK and Pilot Mountain, is the main line that Glendower's squad traveled on (The Raven Boys Chapter 7, Chapter 22). The weird part is how after defining this line, all of Adam's ley line adventures place it directly along the Shenandoah National Park/Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Lily, Lily Blue Chapter 2 + many other quotes I don't feel like looking up). There's no way to connect the DC-Pilot Mt line to Shenandoah, but I can totally see how Maggie Stiefvater would think it connects when looking at a flat map.

So yeah. It doesn't really matter, but thanks to my research we can CONFIRM that it doesn't really matter. You're welcome.

So why did you make this?

For fun...it wasn't exactly worth it. But by sharing it with y'all, hopefully no one else will make the same mistake.

What about line #3?

The third line never has specific connection points in the books so I basically made it up :) but I narrowed it down to 2 candidates, with my chosen line based on Ronan's mention of the "Pando thing" in Greywaren's epilogue.

How did you decide on/find points?

Honestly it was a lot of vibes. You can read in the description of the map how I started from certain resources, like all the stuff in the books, and other people's Google maps. My big discovery was realizing that UNESCO World Heritage Sites covered a lot of territory between history and nature, but before that I was literally googling things like "strange places Kentucky" and pouring through articles. If a place seemed weird and magical, I added it.

Yes this took forever. Easily 3x as long as the 300 Fox Way floorplan, if not longer.

Is this map complete?

I had other ideas for things I should add to it but I got tired, so nah.

You've put down everything from urban legends to alien sightings, but why don't I see many hauntings on the map?

Blatant author bias; I firmly don't believe in famously haunted houses! The vast majority of "haunted" places operate as tourist attractions, so if I took them at their word I'd have to also log Disney World for being the most magical place on earth, wouldn't I? Also Re: I got tired.

Can I copy this map / add to it / use it for reference?

Please please please please

I found a typo

I bet you did! I'm not even proof reading this post bestie.

[forgottenronan]

Ciara & Ronan + kid

Name: Sláine

Gender: Female

General Appearance: A cloud of flaxen hair, a sunburnt face, and a ready smile are the primary take aways one has when given a glimpse of Sláine, and the sound of her laughter flung behind her as she rushes along the sandy beaches of her mother's domain and the deep forests of her father alike.

Personality: Sláine is a name meaning 'health,' or 'safety,' and in a word the embodiment of the very things her parents were fighting from the start to preserve. Yet, whatever there is in a name, preserving her own health and safety were hardly Sláine's greatest priorities. Taking after her parents, her priority remained being a revolutionary. Born shortly before her father's extremism wreaked havoc, Sláine is sometimes said to be the last shred of Ronan's joy made flesh -- and ripped away from him, sent away without her parents' names to grow up in relative safety in the fens, unaware of her origins, only learning of them many years later. Always laughing, scrambling up trees, splashing about upon the shores, Sláine was often characterized during her childhood as a streak of light, flashing one place before flying to the next: forever a blur of motion. Yet, as she grew, she proved to be more a child of her mother's strength than of her father's joy: proud and brave and capable and never, never shying from a task no matter how hard. After her father's early death, his body and severed head paraded through the streets of Stafford and struck upon a pike for all to see, it was his daughter who rose to take his place, face streaked with the ash from the bitter fires of war and tears, yet eyes bold and fierce, and took up the banner of revolution. Yet, Sláine did not follow in her father's footsteps entirely, preferring justice to cruelty and determination to malice. Alongside Siobhan Stafford, Sláine mounted the defenses at the cataclysmic Battle of Lorcan and repelled Roderick's jeering forces for six months till the siege was broken by soldiers from across the sea, ferried in upon Calleary warships. It is said that it was they two who turned the tide of that siege before the Calleary forces ever arrived, when many within the cavernous walls of Lorcan called for ruinous surrender, and kept the hopes and joy of the people inside alive even when there was scant to eat and less hope than that.

Special Talents: As the child of an impossible union, Sláine was more or less kept a secret for some time, her identity unknown, merely a flash of flaxen brains as she rushed through the remnants of the haunted fens. Raised amidst guerrilla warfare and uncertainty and born of parents increasingly unsure of each other's loaylties, she learned quickly to be resilient and to seize happiness wherever she might find it which is, perhaps, her greatest gift. She grew up a bit of a survivalist, and these skills are ingrained into her bones, yet so is her laughter and, from a child -- no doubt, they tease, under the same bloodline-induced influence as her Uncle Cillian and her Cousin Fiona -- Sláine has exhibited, always, a penchant for harmless pranks -- causing both laughter and annoyance to many around her.

Who they like better: Ciara

Who they take after more: Ronan (before...everything tho)

Personal Head canon: Sláine despises wearing shoes. Whether indoors or out, she prefers to put her feet to the path ahead: to run and feel the earth beneath her, the soft grass and the warm dirt alike. She laughs, when about this quirk, that she was born of earth and sea, and she means to indulge in both.

Face Claim: Saoirse Ronan

[jacqcrisis]

Re-playing the Cazador Palace and the end of Astarion's quest line reminded me of the bad end I had for him and Ronan.

Astarion ascends despite Ronan's protests, using one of the other companions to help him. From then on, there's a strain between him and Ronan, the affection and intimacy gone as the cleric seems to refuse to even address him and Astarion is angry he refused to help. Once the brain is defeated, Astarion, missing his love, stupidly feels brave enough to approach Ronan about becoming his spawn.

As they are alone and Astarion tries to sell his idea, something snaps in Ronan. Astarion finds himself divinely held, incapable of moving as Ronan glares him down silently in the same way he does any enemy that crosses his path, raising his mace and smoke billowing from his mouth. Astarion manages to escape the spell in time to avoid getting bashed in the head, pleading and begging Ronan see reason, what's gotten into him, what the hells happened, doesn't he love-

And he finds himself grabbed, physically this time, a fist around his arm tight enough it feels as though the bone may break. Ronan finally speaks to him, the first time in at least a week, telling him with every ounce of hatred and wrath Astarion knows the dragonborn to be capable of that the man he loved died with all the other people Astarion killed and as a cleric, it his duty to eradicate such a monster. Stunned and in disbelief, Astarion mists away at that just in time to avoid an onslaught of flames, gone into the night as his new ascended life already begins with an enemy gained.

It goes from there. Ronan is in constant pursuit of Astarion and the vampire can't rest for too long. His operation must always be moving, always secret as he never knows when his doors will be kicked in by a group of holy men and his spawn and undead and werewolves and pawns eradicated as he flees once more. If Ronan catches him or he gets to Ronan, it's a fight to the bloody end until one is forced to flee as with every ounce of power and control Astarion has scraped together as an ascended vampire, Ronan has matched him with his own vengeful devotion to his divine warpath.

And they don't give up, not even Astarion. While Ronan wants him dead, wiped from this plane of existence, Astarion wants Ronan to be his. While he found everything he thought he wanted with his completion of the black mass, all the power, all the unending worship, all the status he could feasibly attain as a vampire, what Astarion finds in this new existence is a lack of connection.

At one point, he had friends and allies that wanted to know him for him and he had love and affection without parameters, a taste of the unconditional, of devotion to his being that developed naturally, genuinely, free of a want or a need for anything more of Astarion than himself. As he is now, this doesn't exist; all the spawn and thralls who serve and fawn over him only do so due to his powers making that love exist and all the other vampires who devote themselves to him only do so to keep his favor. Astarion finds this reality barren, empty of warmth as he looks at lover after lover he charmed in the eyes and finds nothing but his own face staring back him and he hates it.

So he obsesses over what he had with Ronan. Yearns for his neck and his subservience and his love that he cut himself off from with one bloody decision. Every time they meet again, as Ronan is attempting to cut him down, Astarion is trying everything in his power to make the cleric his, to seduce him back into his arms with either his teeth or his words, desperate to see Ronan look at him like he used to.

And Ronan always denies him. Every time, he denies him, dressed horn to toe in plate and deaf to the pleas spat at him in a voice that haunts him that he'd give anything to hear come from the person he used to have. So they fight and neither ever wins.

Over. And over. And over again.

[j-l-kepler]

Baldur's Gate 3 Tav Ask List

1, 19, 23, 52, 89, 90, 91, 104 xx

(@bladesandbhaalspawn)

OHOHOHOHO THANK YOU FOR THE ASK PROMPTS

I wasn’t sure which of my Tavs was being asked for, so I’m using Briar Lockren, my half-drow Gloomstalker Ranger since I haven’t posted much about her while the Twins have quite a few deets about them! Plus, these questions felt like they applied to her best (and you may get some deets on her Dark Urge companion as well…)

[ANSWERS BELOW THE CUT]

1. What is their backstory and why did you choose it?

Some OOC background about Briar, I didn't originally make her as a Tav. I made her months ago as a fake Companion Quest called The Weary Ranger. I made a full Companion Guide with fake screenshots as a creative exercise and got very attached to her. This is one of those screenshots:

Like with all of the REAL Companions, I based her backstory on exploring the theme of abuse. The other companions focus on different aspects of parental abuse, abuse of power structures, sexual exploitation, systemic exploitation, etc., so I decided to focus on abuse in romantic relationships and dealing with an abusive ex.

[CW for abusive partners, implied coercion and sexual abuse, violence, etc. - I'll also be brief with her backstory and try to be specific when necessary]

Briar was raised in Luskan by her single father in the Cult of Cyric. Her dad was a full drow while her mother was 3/4 drow. Basically, Briar's mom had an affair with a half wood elf and left Briar in her husband's care before eloping, so Briar's dad was never really keen on actually taking care of her. His hands-off approach mixed with the prejudice against her in the Cult made it tough for her to accept their teachings.

Her closest friend was a boy her age named Ronan Amberclaw (I think I called him "Rowan" elsewhere, my bad lol). He was the underachieving son of the sect's leader, so the pressure was ON. Ronan and Briar were basically inseparable growing up.

Skip ahead a few years to when they're in their late teens - Briar's basically left the cult while Ronan's decided to stay. They've been friends forever so Briar doesn't hold the cult thing against him (the start of her blinders). They enter a rose-tinted romantic relationship. Briar (a rogue at this point) is persuaded to help Ronan's activities because they're fighting Banite uprisings. Briar's able to justify her involvement because, to her, it's the lesser of two evils.

But as time goes on, Ronan begins to lie about his activities more and more, and becomes more and more possessive. He gaslights, belittles, coerces and controls her, and does so in ways she can justify to himself. She continues to enable his activities, turning her blinders on full.

This goes on for years, until one night Ronan does what he's basically been primed to do his entire life: murder his father and take over the cult. This gets him recognized by Cyric, and he becomes his Chosen. Briar can't exactly excuse that - nice, decent people don't get recognized by Cyric, that just doesn't happen. Ronan, in the blink of an eye, drops his pretenses and makes it very difficult for Briar to look past his intention. She bolts, but not before receiving a brand of Cyric on her arm. Ronan's cursed her.

What does this curse entail? Metaphysical levels of horrible luck, the kinds of bad luck that can leave a happy village smoldering. Ronan visits her in nightmares, wraiths haunt the edges of her vision, and life SUCKS. Making connections means people die. Settling down means people die. Briar's options are go back to Ronan, or wander around until she dies.

Ever the optimist despite everything, she takes up the mantle of a Ranger, inspired by stories of similar souls who have ovecome impossible odds (such as Drizzt). She vows to hunts the beasts she attracts. In her mind, she's being selfish since she doesn't want to return to Ronan, so she vows to be strong enough to make up for the harm she causes.

Three years later, while wandering around Cloakwood, she gets picked up by the Nautiloid and spat out about a tenday away from Baldur's Gate. The tadpole in her head cuts off the effects of Ronan's curse and his ability to spy in on her.

Mielekki's race that was long.

19. What's your Tav's personality like at the start of the game? Does it change as the game goes on?

At the start of the game, she's fresh off the heels of 3 years of nightmare-fueled insomnia, so she's pretty lethargic and spacey. She's so used to a life out of her control by this point that she's quite passive, but also emotional and observant. She carries herself with a quiet sensitivity, and is deceptively capable when she's actually lucid. Underneath it all is a deep self-hatred and a desire to be stronger. She's constantly ensuring she pays for her past passivity, believing her lot in life isn't the result of a vindictive asshole but rather some kind of divine judgment. It's easier than actually pinning blame on the person who's been hurting her all this time.

Though her moral values don't change much, her personality and outlook on life become a lot more outwardly optimistic quite quickly. She becomes louder and easy to fluster, she's receptive to conversation and far more courageous and outspoken (I don't have any specific art of that lol)

She's already a moral guide for the Dark Urge (after all, he's the main character of the save Briar's in), but she's much more ready for it. As she encourages him to fight his Urges and live for himself, she internalizes the lessons she teaches and has started learning to advocate for herself too.

Basically, she's learning the answer to "do all my friends secretly hate me or do I just need to go to bed" is "you just need to go to bed". Quality of life really does improve when you can get 8 hours of sleep instead of having to run on 2 hours a week because your evil ex boyfriend is haunting your dreams with evil God magic.

23. What's their opinion of Emerald Grove? Do they help the tieflings or side with the druids?

Aha see this is one of the questions I was like "oh this is MEANT for Briar".

Siding against the tieflings was never an option for Briar. She knows what it's like to have no place to turn to, and she would give anything for safety and comfort. However, Briar's also quite familiar with Druidic circles thanks to her time spent in Cloakwood. Hell, at that point in the playthrough, she was a Ranger-Druid multiclass of Mielikki (I changed that once I recruited the hireling Dyven since he's a cleric so I didn't need an extra healer anymore). She's run into nicer circles AND the Shadow Druids, so Kagha's dogma struck her as odd for a druid of Silvanus. Something didn't smell right. She and Durge investigated further and were able to liberate Kagha from the Shadow Druids AND stop the Rite of Thorns!

52. What does your Tav think of Dame Aylin?

Dame Aylin is everything Briar wants to be, and everything she is. Briar adores Dame Aylin for her strength and resilience. She wants to have her fury and is inspired to reflect on her own situation. It's thanks to that that Briar is able to start allowing herself to be angry about what Ronan's done to her.

But on the other hand, Briar sees the exhaustion too. Just like Aylin, she's tired of having to fight against those who would see her victimized. She wants rest, peace, tranquility.

She wishes to be as strong as Aylin, and she wishes for the day neither of them have to be.

ACT 3 SPECULATION TIME

So this playthrough's only reached Act 3 recently, so the rest is speculation or how I think the playthrough ought to go based on what I know and how the characters have worked out thus far! OBVIOUSLY, SPOILERS FOR ACT 3 AHEAD

89. Does your Tav side with the Emperor or do they free Orpheus? Do they become Illithid to use the Nether Stones or does one of their companions do it? Do they give the Nether Stones to the Emperor/Orpheus?

The team already doesn't really trust Emps. Seeing as their whole arcs are about defying the odds and breaking free of their shackles, Durge, Briar & Dyven aren't exactly keen on Emps' strategy involing keeping Orpheus sedated and under his control to be exploited. How convenient that freeing Orpheus just... isn't an option. Hm. Interesting.

Since this is a no-Companion run (that is, the main 6), there won't be any companions to turn Illithid. I can't see Durge letting Briar throw away her future to become illithid, and I can't see Briar letting Durge do the same so.... sorry, Orpheus.

As for the Nether Stones, that's a bit of a blindspot for me. I can't imagine they'd give them to the Emperor if Emps isn't keen on cooperation.

90. Do they betray the Emperor/Orpheus/their companions for the Absolute?

ABSOLUTE-LY NOT. That's not even a question for her. Any ideations she has on the idea are on the same level as "What if I murdered my terrible boss" - she's not seriously entertaining the temptation. That kind of power just isn't worth it to her. Not after she's seen what power does to decent people (note: I don't think Ronan was ever really a decent person, but her perspective is a bit different from mine in this regard).

101. Did your Tav recruit Minsc? What's their opinion of him?

I wanna circle back to #91 in just a sec.

The Weary Ranger is a HUGE fan of the Beloved Ranger. Though she's more obviously inspired by stories of Drizzt, Minsc's exploits have always enchanted her. Actually meeting him is a dream come true. His blunt, optimistic and straightforward approach to every situation is exactly the kind of influence she needs. After all, her other mentors up until then have been a bunch of morally-conflicted dadfailure-coded sad sacks (and Halsin), so having someone who can cut through the bullshit and do good for the sake of it is refreshing!

91. Does your Tav get a happily ever after?

I think she will. Considering the relationship between Cyric and a certain skeletal freak at camp, I can absolutely see her curse becoming a non-issue after the story proper.

I think she and Durge will go their separate ways on good terms, and I think she'll follow Halsin. She'll settle into a home for the first time in forever with someone who she loves and is loved by.

I don't know if she'll stay there or if she'll get up and explore the Sword Coast on her own terms someday. She's not particularly maternal, nor do I know if she ever will be. But she's young with a whole life ahead of her to decide what she wants - and the room to do so on her own terms.

The scars of her past won't go away. Her brand will be gone, but the twisting remnants of her curse mark will stay tattooed to her skin. Her nightmares will be mundane and they might never go away. She will grieve the boy she fell in love with and think about him every time she stares up at the same stars they used to give stupid names to as kids. Someday, she’ll let him go, and every day until and after that will be a struggle.

But I assure you: she will be happy.

ANYWAY Thank You For These Awesome Ask Prompts!!

I had lotsa fun with this~ Briar is a character who is very near-and-dear to my heart. Not only is she a remake of my first D&D character, she was extremely cathartic to write while dealing with a pretty severe low point in my life.

ALSO SORRY IF THIS WAS WAY TOO LONG AND ALSO NOT THE CHARACTER YOU WANTED TO LEARN ABOUT LMAO

[excelynch]

are you the king, mirror, ghost, magician or dreamer?

(write the letter of the answer you chose on a paper, at the end you will have the result of each letter)

1 - are you a poet, king or soldier?

a) poet

b) soldier

c) king

2 - choose a part of the song meet me in the woods by lord huron.

a) "I took a little journey to the unknown and I've come back changed I can feel it in my bones"

b) "I have seen what the darkness does. say goodbye to who I was"

c) "meet me in the woods tonight"

d) "I fucked with forces that our eyes can't see, now the darkness got a hold on me"

e) "show me yours and I'll show you mine"

3 - choose one of my opinions about trc that MAYBE you don't agree.

a) the dreamer trilogy has a slightly more interesting story.

b) the raven king ending sucks. like what is that DEMON?

c) adam and ronan were a little quick (but they're perfect anyway, maybe because it was so sudden, i wasn't expecting ronan lynch's secret)

d) declan was right most of the time, he just wanted to take care of what was left of the family.

e) noah deserved at least a decent goodbye.

4 - pick a random thing that was mentioned in the books

a) the pig

b) squash 1, squash 2, squash 3...

c) adam parrish's worn clothes.

d) lampshade dress (or ronan's lack of interest.

e) blue's pink pocket knife.

5 - you woke up at 03:49 am and you feel happy but you don't remember what you dreamed about. later, as the day goes by, you reflect. what did you dream about?

a) I don't remember exactly, just one person in front of me, they says my name and then they hugs me and I feel loved and then aliens take us to a distant planet and I turn out to be that person is a little girl who stole a lego of mine when i was a kid and we started battling for the hand of the cockroach queen.

b) I woke up happy that I finally got some sleep, but dreaming? it's something I'm still trying to remember how to do.

c) I can't remember what I dreamed about.

d) me in front of a mirror and in that mirror I saw myself as a kid. they told me in a calm voice "you can grow up now"

e) a house with all the ghosts that haunt me, they say they can move on now. I'm alone in the house, there's nothing left, but that emptiness doesn't bother me. I like the silence after so much noise.

6 - choose a quote from the books

a) "he threw me out the window"

b) "excelsior"

c) "maybe i dreamt you"

d) "safe as life"

e) "i am being perfectly fucking civil"

7 - ok, without judging the inside of the books, just choose by the cover.

a) the dream thieves

b) the raven king

c) the raven boys

d) blue lily, lily blue

e) call down the hawk / mister impossible /greywaren

8 - which of Ronan's dreams do you most identify with?

a) adam's perfect teeth (i know, i know)

b) matthew, the golden boy who just wants to be a normal boy

c) the other ronan who was born to die

d) forests and more forests

e) a hoverboard that will save everyone in the end

9 - if gansey is the king, blue is the mirror, ronan is the dreamer, noah is the ghost and adam is the magician so henry is...?

a) the one that's left (maybe you didn't care enough to give him a meaning)

b) madonna's number one fan

c) the bee

d) the son

e) the master

10 - if someone came and told you that you were going to die in a year, how would you react?

a) "no shit, sherlock! now say something new"

b) I would accept my fate and live normally. "After all, we're all going to die, I'm just going to die sooner"

c) I would do what I was always afraid to do.

d) "I've been dead for seven years"

e) I would do anything to change my destiny.

...

if you chose king add a point for ronan. if you chose poet add a point for noah and gansey. and if you chose soldier add a point for adam and blue.

now just add which letter you got the most and tell me in the comments the result :)

a = ronan

b = noah

c = gansey

d = adam

e = blue

I hope that you enjoyed and sorry for any mistakes, I'm learning english :)

I was thinking of doing a "which brother lynch are you" and one about the marauders, what do you think?