#something not very good happened in dnd last night!!!

[al-norton]

Uh oh

[varjopeura]

.

[inkskinned]

it is the first snow today. i think we should all have off work, even though it didn't stick. i think there should be 4 national holidays, one for each season. happy first snow, go home and make cookies. for spring it can be the first crocus. for summer the first lightning bug. for autumn, the first golden leaf. go home, kiss your dog, feed your cat (who is absolutely already-fed but somehow still starving.)

i think we should all take more showers together, but i mean that in the soft way. i mean it like taking a nap. two years ago i had 5 adult friends in my queen bed, all of us laying across each other, head over belly over thigh over hand. any time one of us would giggle, it would ripple over each of us, like pulling on a spiderweb. kim actually needed to nap and didn't get to sleep and i am still sorry for it even though this is one of my most precious memories.

i think we should all wash each other's hair, i mean. i walk my dog and i watch someone put up twinkle lights around their front porch. alex and i just moved, and i love the neighborhood. already so many of our new neighbors have stopped by to say hello. the nice lady downstairs also collects plants, like me. she gave us her number on a pink post-it note. i am trying to decide whether to make her cookies or brownies.

i am going through a very hard time. something bad happened this weekend that i do not wish to discuss. it is hanging over me. i think of the green ribbon, and the woman who had her throat cut. it feels like that sometimes, inside of my body. like i am walking and talking despite being half-corpsed. like i am hanging on by a ribbon, standing on some kind of cusp. i keep saying - at least it wasn't worse. we are so lucky it wasn't worse. the idea is river-rock smooth now, all the edges worried off.

in this very dark night - the sun sets by 3 now - people don't need to, but they try anyway. they paint the missing light into things. i have an embarrassing number of missed calls and texts, but i feel the love from them nevertheless - hey. if you need something, i'm here. i will bring you food/puzzles/anything. i got you.

i think we should all have a big group chat where we do errands with strangers. this week i got lost in a home depot, which is wild because i'm a lesbian and we are actually hatched in a lowe's lumber section. there were two other women in the whole store. we ended up shopping together, at first by accident (we all needed things in the same aisle), and then because, well, why not. one of the ladies was taller than me, so she pulled down the screws i needed. i am agile and have the personality of a raccoon, so they sent me after anything below 3 feet. we talked about holiday plans and never learned each other's names, but did learn all the drama about each other's families.

i am making you cupcakes, because i have so much affection i want to pour it into batter. you ask me if i am eating enough per meal. i wrap your gift twice, trying to do it prettily. i get excited to give it to you, just because i hope you'll be excited too.

my parents drive an hour just to see the new apartment and to do the parent thing; standing in the kitchen saying things like "oh you'll get so much use from this dishwasher" and "well, you could paint that" and "when your mother and i moved it was uphill both ways and in a snowstorm and of course your brother was an infant." my mother brought me a plant for housewarming. i always say i love you before she leaves.

i play dnd on tuesdays still, after all these years. we all keep that night free. at one point, between grad school and marriage and all of it, we had to have a serious discussion about how to keep it running. we will keep going, we decided eventually. just to see each other, even if we don't play - you are all important to me. sebastian is not prone to affection but last night he stole my usual sign off - i love you all, be good, he said. he was laughing.

i don't love the winter, actually. i like snow in theory, but i grew up in the north, and am too-familiar with the season of "mud and sludge". i don't like being cold. but i do love something kind of soft and rare: every year around this time, people remember oh yes. you and i are human together. and i have love to spare.

it is the first snow, and something in my heart is finally warm again. i have spent what felt like the last 18 months just going-through-the-motions. it has felt blank and immediate, like i would never actually feel again. that sounds extremely trite and stupid - but that is the boring and familiar experience of depression. life just washes up against your windows, and you watch it happening. you see things that should be lovely and affecting, and it just whispers too-thin. i was desperately uncreative. uninterested in my hobbies. unimpressed by my writing. i told my therapist, often, i don't know how to find hope again.

almost sheepishly, something strange and lovely is burning in my chest. i keep not-looking at it, worried it will scamper back into the shadows again. it is skittish and wild, but it is so warm i want to sink my hands into its fur and feel it breathing. i love-hate it: if it's real, it can hurt me when it leaves again. but i am icarus-born, sun-lover and poet: i can't help myself. despite my best intentions, i am falling in love with life again.

i am planning to make cookies for my friends. alex and i are going to go christmas tree shopping. we picked out matching dish towels last night, and they have little mushrooms on them.

i love you. it does come back. yes, even after a long time. even for you. i promise. keep trying. you will wake up and it will be a day you can smile about.

write me when you get there. we will take the day off of work, and i will wash your hair, and we will both be laughing.

[somethingvicked]

Forget me (not) pt 1

An Eddie Munson story.

Warnings: female reader, angst, reader injured, Eddie being an idiot, memory loss.

Eddie wasn’t stupid. He knew that the relationship between him and Chrissy wouldn’t last forever. They were two very different people that wanted different things in life.

Chrissy wanted to graduate with high honors and go to college and then get married and have a white picket fence life with children and a dog.

Eddie was on his third try to graduate high school and he had no clue what he was going to do with his life after that. He had his band but he didn’t think they would ever make it out of the garage era, playing at a bar for only five drunks every week.

But Chrissy was really pretty, and unlike every other popular person, she was also sweet and not ashamed to be seen with him. Why not have a good time while it lasted?

He had to admit, he hadn’t paid as much attention to his best friend, Y/N since he and Chrissy started dating, after that first time Chrissy bought weed from him and they started joking and having fun.

Eddie reckoned that it was okay. He had known and spent time with Y/N most of his life – it couldn’t be that bad if he spent a couple of weeks or months with Chrissy.

Did he notice that Y/N was hurt when he turned down her suggestions of movie nights, going out for a burger or planning the next campaign? Yes.

But he figured it was alright. It wouldn’t last forever.

For him and Y/N there would be more time. For him and Chrissy, it was limited.

You wanted to be happy for Eddie when he and Chrissy started dating. And in a way you were. That Chrissy, such a popular and smart girl saw Eddie as he really was, rather than what everyone thought him to be. She didn’t judge him.

But you would be lying if you didn’t say you were jealous.

You had been in love with Eddie since middle school, when he and his band played at that talent show.

You two hadn’t become friends until high school, though, when you came over and asked if you could join Hellfire club.

Up until then you had mostly hung out with the band nerds and Robin, because your parents really wanted you to learn some kind of instrument.

You had tried to play the violin but you hated it, so when you quit you felt like you needed a new hobby and with Eddie running the DnD club, it was a given.

You had never told Eddie how much you loved him, though. He didn’t feel the same way, you knew that. You were just his best friend.

There had been other girls that he had hooked up with but it never lasted. Not like this.

And when he kept blowing you off you wondered if you were about to lose him forever?

That’s what led you to going over to his place one time when Chrissy had cheer practice. You knew Eddie rarely came to cheer practice because he didn’t like the way the jocks yelled at Chrissy, calling her a traitor and a devil’s tramp and whatnot.

Eddie opened the door himself, in sweatpants and an old Dio shirt, hair all tousled. You suspected he’d been relaxing with a joint.

”Y/N! Sweetheart, what are you doing here?” Eddie wondered, smiling at you.

The nickname felt like a knife to the heart. Even more when he asked what you were doing at his place, as if you coming over had become some strange event all of a sudden.

And to be fair, lately it had.

”I need to talk to you,” you replied. ”Are you going to let me in, or should we talk here on the porch?”

You hadn’t meant to sound so snappy but you were nervous and his reaction to you didn’t help.

Eddie’s grin disappeared and he stepped aside so you could come through the door, a frown now on his face.

”What’s wrong?” he wondered as you two walked into his room.

You sighed, your arms wrapped around yourself, trying to keep yourself together, if not mentally, at least physically.

Eddie started to look worried, clearly thinking you were about to say something horrible had happened.

You sighed.

”Eddie... I... I miss you.”

Eddie seemed surprised. ”You miss me? That’s what we need to talk about? We see each other all the time, sweetheart!”

”Do we?” you challenged. ”The only one you seem to hang out with these days is Chrissy. I... I get it that you and her... but it feels like we’re not even friends anymore!”

Eddie smiled. ”Of course we’re still friends, Y/N. But me and Chrissy... it’s going so well and she’s so sweet. You know how it is, in the beginning, when you’ve just started dating right?”

You shook your head. ”No. I don’t,” you said, looking down on your feet.

Eddie’s face fell. ”Well, maybe if you got out there and tried dating someone and have a little fun you would know. Why don’t you try it? You might be surprised.”

”There’s no one else I want,” you mumbled and Eddie rolled his eyes.

”Look, Y/N, Chrissy is my girlfriend now, and girlfriends... well, I’m sorry but they should come first, shouldn’t they?”

”We’ve been best friends for years, you’ve known Chrissy for what? Two months? I’m not saying you can’t have a girlfriend, I just...”

”Wait, wait...” Eddie said, frowning,”what do you mean there’s no one else you want?”

You blushed. ”Nothing, it was nothing.”

”So you do have feelings for someone? Why don’t you try asking them out?”

You felt your frustration throb inside your head and groaned. ”That won’t work.”

”Why not?”

”Because it’s you, you idiot!” you screamed, tears rising in your eyes.

Eddie stared at you like you had grown a second head. ”Me?”

”Yes! I... I’ve been in love with you ever since middle school, Eddie...”

”Since middle school?!”

”Yes.”

For a moment there was nothing but silence between you two, except an occasional sniffle from you.

”Why are you telling me this now?” Eddie said, his voice monotone.

”I... I didn’t mean to, I just... I miss you so much and I feel really hurt that you can just... quit me, like I mean nothing! Even if you don’t feel the same...”

”You’re damn right I don’t feel the same!” Eddie exclaimed. ”Why the hell are you telling me this now, when I’m already dating someone? If you wanted to spend more time with me, that’s the last thing you should have done! Now you’ve ruined everything!”

You gasped. ”What?”

”Yeah! How do you think Chrissy will feel about this? I definitely can’t hang out with you now, knowing you have feelings for me. She’s going to freak out.”

He was worried about how Chrissy would react?

”Well... then I suppose it will end here,” you whispered, your voice broken. ”You know me, Eddie, you know I would���ve never cross any boundaries if you weren’t okay with it. But clearly I didn’t mean as much to you as I thought. What was I – a distraction until something better came along?”

Eddie’s eyes widened. ”Of course not! I only meant... Chrissy is my girlfriend! She won’t be happy that I hang out with someone that has feelings for me. Would you if the roles were reversed?”

”I think you made it quite clear that that would never happen,” you said, wiping your eyes. ”It doesn’t matter. I can’t help my feelings and you can’t help yours. But... I need some distance, Eddie. I guess that works out good for you, protecting Chrissy’s feelings.”

Now Eddie was starting to look worried again. It was clear that even though he didn’t feel the same about you as you did him, he hadn’t expected that it might end your friendship.

”You want to punish me for not being in love with you? I can’t control something like that.”

You immediately got angry. ”Is that what you think of me? No! But you said it yourself – you can’t hang out with me now because you know I have feelings for you. And you pick Chrissy,” you told him, not being able to hold back the bitterness in your voice.

”It’s not about picking! You’re still my best friend, but Chrissy...”

”I can’t just forget that I’m in love with you,” you told him with a roll of your eyes. ”However much I wish I could.”

”Yeah, I wish you could too,” Eddie said, realizing too late how cruel he sounded. ”I wish this conversation never happened. What good did it do that you told me this?”

 As if he wanted to twist the dagger in your heart even more. You inhaled sharply but didn’t reply.

You made a silent wish when you turned around and walked out of the door of his trailer.

I wish I could forget everything about you, Eddie Munson. It would make it so much easier.  

You immediately drove to Family Video, knowing that both Robin and Steve was working today. As you walked inside Robin’s eyes widened at the sight of your red-rimmed eyes.

”Y/N! What happened?” she wondered as she grabbed your arm and pulled you behind the counter.

You told her and Steve everything, knowing you could trust them.

Robin pulled you in for a hug and Steve muttered something about kicking Eddie’s ass, which made you laugh.

”Steve, don’t be silly. I mean... he’s right. He can’t help how he’s feeling. He likes Chrissy, he doesn’t like me like that. I can accept that – no one can control their feelings. It’s the way he’s acted toward me until now. I guess I can understand why he wouldn’t want to hang out with me knowing I’m in love with him, because it would make it awkward for Chrissy.

”Maybe. But he was still insenstive toward you,” Steve said, shaking his head. ”Nothing should get in the way of friendship.”

”Yes. But... I can’t deny that he has a point. I would probably be uncomfortable if the roles were reversed, like he said,” you admitted.

Steve still thought Eddie had been a jerk to you. Especially since Eddie had told Steve that he knew that this thing with Chrissy might only last until she left for college. That Eddie was willing to throw away a friendship for something that was just temporary... that was such a mean thing to do.

”I’m just going to go home, lick my wounds and...”

”... have lots of chocolate!” Robin interrupted. ”Take whatever you need, on the house. You want me to come over after I’m done here?”

”No, thank you, I want to be alone. But I’d love some chocolate and slasher movies. Then I can watch someone else get fucked up instead of me,” you half-joked.

Less than ten minutes later you left Family Video, stocked with ice cream, chocolate bars and a couple of movies in your arms that you put into the backseat, before starting your car and driving towards home.

You thought once again about Eddie. You knew your feelings for him wouldn’t disappear – it wasn’t like you hadn’t tried that before.

Maybe you two would never be the same again. And you would have to live with that pain, while he cozied up to Chrissy. The girl that hadn’t said ’iota’ when her ex boyfriend tormented Eddie, tormented you and the rest of the gang.

You were so deep in your thoughts that you didn’t see the little girl cross the road until it was almost too late.

With a yelp you sharply turned the wheel, just noticing the blue little blossoms she was dropping onto the road before a large tree appeared in front of you.

As a large crash rumbled into your ears, the windowshield turning into a web of cracks and your head hitting the steering wheel with a force that made it feel like your skull exploded, you swore you could hear a small little voice chiming ”he loves me, he loves me not.”

Was it the little girl?

Then everything went black.

Eddie was still at home, waiting for Chrissy to call him after practice, thinking about what had happened with Y/N.

That she’d had feelings for him, so long. How could he not have noticed? The two of them were best friends after all!

When he remembered how her face had fallen and how she told him that she would keep a distance... it made his heart ache. Y/N had been a constant in his life for so many years. It was hard to imagine a life without her.

But Chrissy was his girlfriend now. A girlfriend had to come first! Right?

A girlfriend he hadn’t even bother planning a future with because he knew there wasn’t one...

He tried to imagine his life without Chrissy. If he had to be honest with himself… it didn’t feel quite as sad as he thought it would – because  it wouldn’t make much of a difference from how he had lived until now.

Then he tried to imagine a life without Y/N.

That. That hurt. It felt like someone had punched him in the ribs.

That’s when the phone rang. And it wasn’t Chrissy.

Eddie stormed into the hospital, seeing the children, Steve, Robin, Nancy and Jonathan in the waiting room.

”How is she?” he breathed out.

”What are you doing here? Won’t your girlfriend feel ’awkward’?” Steve couldn’t help but ask.

Eddie froze in his steps, staring at Steve.

Robin patted Steve’s arm. ”Not now, Steve,” she said, glancing over to the younger teenagers.

Dustin, whom had been the one to call Eddie, looked up at him. ”A little girl walked out into the road and Y/N swerved to avoid hitting her, but she ended up crashing into a tree instead.”

”And?” Eddie wondered, breathing fast as he imagined Y/N’s car crashing into a tree, how scared she must have been.

”We don’t know. She’s hit head pretty badly on the steering wheel and has some cuts from the glass. She was unconscious when they brought her in with the ambulance,” Dustin continued. ”We don’t know if she got any other injuries, right now we’re just... waiting.”

Eddie nodded and sat down. Steve was pacing back and forth in the waiting room and when he was beside Eddie, turning around for the fifteenth time he spat: ”You sure you want to wait here with us? What about Chrissy? Don’t want to keep her waiting, right?”

Eddie glared at Steve. ”Y/N’s my best friend, of course I want to be here.”

”Really?” Steve questioned, tapping his chin. ”Your best friend? No, that doesn’t sound right. Not when Y/N herself told me that you picked Chrissy over her and that she had, ’ruined everything’.”

Eddie paled, realizing that Steve knew what had happened. What he had done. ”That’s... I didn’t mean... ”

”Enough, you two,” Dustin said, but with the way he looked at Eddie, Eddie once again felt like someone had punched him in the ribs. ”Y/N is going to want all of us here when she wakes up. We’re here for her, so quit your dick measuring contest!”

Both Eddie and Steve’s eyes widened as they stared at Dustin cursing them out before it got quiet again.

Eddie didn’t fail to notice though, that while the others spoke among each other, no one spoke to him.

It felt like they had been waiting for years when Y/N’s mother finally came out into the waiting room to talk to them all.

”Y/N... she’s most likely going to be fine. The seat belt broke a couple of ribs as well as the force of the crash, which punctured a lung, but they have repaired it now. She’s also gotten a pretty hard knock to the head when she hit the tree. I know you’re all eager to see her, and I understand that, but she’s very tired from them repairing the lung and pain medication. She needs to rest. But I will tell her you are all thinking about her.”

The others sighed, but nodded and got up. Robin gave Y/N’s mother a hug and Nancy spoke kindly to her, telling her especially what she wanted Y/N  to know.

Eddie seemed to be the only one that noticed something was off. He knew Y/N’s mother well and he could tell that she was holding something back. So he pretended like he was going to the vending machine to get a snack when the others trooped out.

Then he stayed in the waiting room, until finally, an hour later, Y/N’s mother went outside again, seemingly going to get a cup of coffee.

Then Eddie quickly snuck into Y/N’s room.

The first he felt was relief. She was lying back against the pillow, the whole right side of her face purple and blue from the hit and an oxygen tube in her nose, probably to help the injured lung. A few cuts on her forehead but not deep enough that she’d needed stitches.

She was even awake, looking out the window with tired eyes. He had been terrified she’d been in a coma.

”Y/N!” Eddie exclaimed and saw how she jerked, grimacing from the pain, which made him feel bad for scaring her, and then she turned her gaze towards him. ”Sweetheart! I’m so sorry... when I heard... you can’t imagine how that...”

Y/N’s eyes widened and she shied away as if she was afraid of him and Eddie frowned, taking a step closer, ”Y/N, what’s wrong? Are you angry with me? I understand that, but...” Y/N looked into his eyes, asking in a monotone voice: ”I’m sorry... do... do I know you?”

Eddie frowned, not understanding. For a moment he thought Y/N was joking with him, but the expression in her eyes... confusion, fear... not a hint of recollection.

He heard the door open behind him and Y/N’s mother gasp. ”Eddie! I told you...”

Y/N’s mother hurried over to Y/N’s bed, taking her hand. ”I’m sorry, dear. This... this is Eddie,” she told Y/N, her voice calm as if she was comforting a scared child.

”Do I know him?” Y/N wondered, voice small and trembling. “I… I don’t… remember?”

That’s when Eddie understood.

The hit to Y/N’s head had affected her memory. She didn’t know who he was.

taglist: @ali-r3n @animechick555 @h-ness1944 @eddie-is-a-god

@rainybloo28 @megatronmunson @quinnyficsy @jenniquinn @melodymunson

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[dreamwatch]

There Goes My Hero

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest

Day #12 - Prompt: Ow! | Word Count: 999 | Rating: T | CW: language, canon typical violence, fat shaming, mention of blood, injuries, mention of past bullying | POV: Matt | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Angst, hurt/comfort, violence, fighting,

This was the very first thing I wrote for CCFest back in April!

****

Matt’s not a fighter. He’s not brave. 

He spent years skulking around the halls of Hawkins High, desperately trying to make himself smaller, to make himself invisible. Until Eddie came along and told them it was all bullshit anyway. Until Eddie came along, bigger and bolder than everyone else, a huge willow tree for them all to take shelter under.

Fighting to him, to all of them he thinks, is learning to take a slap and then walking it off. Saying ’it’s fine, it doesn’t even hurt’ as you wipe the blood from under your nose. Not biting back when they call you a fat fuck.

Fighting to him is just taking it.

And that’s mortifying, honestly, fucking pathetic, but he just wanted to keep his head down, play his music and DnD, and be left alone.

So he doesn’t know where it came from, so suddenly, although maybe that’s a lie. Like saying it doesn’t hurt when your face stings, and you’re standing in the hallway, humiliated. If he digs deep, really thinks hard about it, then it’s probably years of pent-up anger. Of having his shit stolen from his locker, of seeing his friends getting picked on and not having the guts to do a fucking thing about it other than watch and hope you’re not next. So yeah, blind, impotent rage, right? The kind that makes good people go off in the world and do bad things. 

This was his bad thing.

He hopes the other guy is okay, mostly because he doesn’t want to go to jail. He hasn’t seen Eddie since they got brought in to the ER, and he really hopes he’s okay. His face looked a mess. 

This was the eighth show on their little midwestern tour. They put it together themselves, all piled into the van, and Jeff’s station wagon (they’d laughed when he bought it, but it was a genius idea in retrospect), and just took off for a few shows over the summer. Nothing big. No real agenda other than to play and get the fuck out of Hawkins.

It would be understating it to say that Hawkins had done a number on Eddie. They still have no idea what happened. Eddie told them he got bit by dogs which just made them angry, honestly, because the stench coming off that bullshit was stifling. What they do know for sure is that he nearly died. That whatever happened left him hollowed out, physically and mentally. That it broke something in their friend, which broke something in them.

Watching Eddie recover was hard. They were all sure the band was over but in some fucked up, twisted, alternate-dimension weirdness, Steve Harrington got Eddie to play again. 

Steve. 

Harrington. 

What the fuck?

And fuck knows what he did, or said, or bribed Eddie with, but it worked. He picked up the guitar again, trading lead for rhythm with Jeff while he built up his strength and coordination, but for all that he was frustrated the light came back on. Eddie was back.

Matt wasn’t letting anyone take him away again.

It only took one show at The Hideout to know they were never going to play there again. Eddie was a curiosity now, something to be gawped at. Someone thought it would be hilarious to throw a cheerleader’s pom pom onto the stage, and it sent Eddie into a spiral. He holed up in the bathroom and wouldn’t let anyone in until Steve showed up and alikazam! the door opens. They were in there for an hour. Eddie was red-eyed and a little dazed afterwards and that was the last night they ever played in Hawkins. 

They’re in Des Moines when it happens. The show was great, objectively fucking awesome. There must have been a couple of hundred people in there, and the manager wanted them back, people asked for tapes. It couldn’t have gone any better.

So of course it went to shit.

They’d barely opened the back of the van to load up before some six-foot giant grabbed Eddie by the collar and punched him so hard in the face that blood sprayed from his nose, landing on Gareth beside him. There was a moment of complete silence, where it felt like the world just stopped or his vision had just whited out. And then—

He’s never punched anyone before, is the thing. He didn’t know there were ways you’re supposed to hold your hand, your thumb, and even if he did he’s not sure he would have done it anyway. What he does know, now at least, is that he has a mean fucking right hook. Jeff was trying to push the giant off Eddie, and Gareth was standing there with Eddie’s blood on the side of his face, shocked to shit to be fair to him, so the asshole didn’t get a second to register Matt approaching, hitting him square in the jaw and onto his ass.

And he doesn’t know what happened after that really, just that he was kicking him, boot slamming into the soft side of the man on the floor, over and over until it was Eddie, face like an abattoir floor, that pulled him off.

He mulls it over while he waits for an X-Ray. There’s definitely something broken, he can feel the grinding when he moves his hand and it hurts like a motherfucker. They still had a few shows to go. He ruined the tour with one punch. 

Jeff opens the curtain and sits next to him on the bed.

“How’s the hand?”

“Fucked. How’s Eddie’s nose?”

“Fucked.”

They sit in silence, shoulder-to-shoulder, self-declared best friends forever. 

“I can’t believe someone recognised him out here,” Jeff mutters, maybe to himself, Matt can’t be sure.

They don’t say it, but they’re both thinking it; Hawkins is going to follow Eddie everwhere. Follow them everywhere. And they can’t keep fighting their way out of things every time it catches up with them.

[memento-morri-writes]

Rook's Horrible, Very Bad, No-Good Day

(Aka, just one part of Rook's first Horrible, Very Bad, No-Good Weekend. (he's had two of those.))

I posted a small portion of this yesterday, but I'm just so obsessed with this scene, and I figured it's time I shared a slightly more complete version of it so you guys have a little bit more context. There's actually a lot more because a whole 'nother very intense conversation happened after this one, but that's for anther time. Enjoy getting stabbed in the heart several times in quick succession! pov: Rook wordcount: 1.7k character(s): The Liars [Rook (D&D), Sigmar (NPC)] canon status: canon session rewrite trigger warnings: mentions of death, suicidal behavior, and self-harm; implied self-sacrifice. (yk, usual Rook stuff.) summary: Rook wakes up after collapsing in the middle of a tavern. His mentor, Sigmar, interrogates him about the circumstances leading to his collapse. Note: I can only take credit for some of this, since the dialogue is as close to a direct transcript of the dnd session as I could manage. You can thank my amazing DM for all of Sigmar's gut punches here.

Rook comes to consciousness slowly, his mind fuzzy from sleep. He slowly opens his eyes, blinking them several times before he registers a wood-beamed ceiling. Where is he? He raises his head ever-so-slightly, looking around. The room comes into focus, semi-familiar. This is his room at the tavern. He has no memory of going to bed. The last thing he remembers is entering the tavern after the fight, and then…

Footsteps draw his attention away from that mystery. “Rook, you’re awake!” Sigmar rushes over to Rook’s bedside, relief clearly visible on his face. “You were out for twelve hours.” Seeing the question forming on Rook’s face he adds, “You fainted last night. It was… concerning to say the least.”

Rook slowly sits up as Sigmar continues talking. “What happened to you? I knew things were rough for you after we talked on the way here but the way you looked last night… you’re lucky to be alive.”

“I wasn’t.” The words are off his tongue and out of his mouth before Rook can process what he’s saying. “I wasn’t, yesterday.”

Sigmar peers closer at Rook, concern mounting on his face. “You weren’t what,  Rook.”

Again, he speaks without thinking. “Alive. I wasn’t alive yesterday.”

The color drains from Sigmar’s face. “What do you mean? What do you mean you weren’t alive yesterday?” 

Rook is taken aback by the forcefulness in Sigmar’s voice. Why does he sound so worried? Slowly, parsing out the words to keep from stumbling over them, he says, “Wolf sent an assassin after me. She succeeded.”

Sigmar’s brow furrows and his voice get louder. “Why didn’t you tell me?” When Rook doesn’t respond he adds, “Who saved you?”

“Aki. At least, I think it was him. I woke up and he was next to me.”

A flash of surprise crosses Sigmar’s face before vanishing, obscured by a new wave of concern. “What caused this? You looked terrible last night.” There’s a thread of something that sounds vaguely like fear in Sigmar’s voice as he says it, which catches Rook by surprise.

Rook takes a long moment to think. He can’t tell Sigmar the truth, at least not the whole truth. He’d tell the rest of the party immediately, and they’d all be in danger again. Rook settles on a partial truth. 

“I haven’t been sleeping.” He thinks hard, trying to remember the details. “I don’t think I’ve slept more than a couple of hours in the past two weeks.”

Sigmar’s jaw drops. “With that little sleep, you’re lucky to be alive.” He looks at Rook closely, inspecting his face. Rook shifts uncomfortably under his gaze. “What has been keeping you from sleeping?”

Again Rook pauses, taking a moment to consider his answer. “I don’t know. I can’t fall asleep and when I do I wake up again shortly after.”

Sigmar narrows his eyes. “I’ve told you: you and I are the same. We’re both liars. So don’t lie to me.”

An answer pops into Rook’s head and he puts conviction behind it, laying on false hesitation as if he’s revealing a big secret. “It’s Captain Wolf. Ever since I ran into her again, I haven’t been able to sleep. I keep having nightmares. About her.”

Sigmar stares at Rook for a long moment before seeming to accept the answer. A sense of relief floods Rook’s body. His secret is safe, for now. 

“Why are you doing this?” Sigmar asks, breaking the silence.

Rook blinks at him, uncomprehending. “Doing what? Coming to Torsek?”

Sigmar nods. “You’ve been pushing yourself to your limits, throwing your life on the line over and over again. Why? You’re endangering yourself, you’ve even died,”  Rook could have sworn he heard Sigmar’s voice waver on that word. “But you keep doing it. What could possibly be worth that?”

An answer leaps to Rook’s lips. “Because they need me.” It comes out quietly, but seems deafening in the empty room.

Sigmar leans back slightly, eyes widening in surprise. He looks Rook up and down, as if he’s reevaluating him. 

Without thinking, Rook adds, “You’re one of them.”

Sigmar, who has opened his mouth to speak, closes it again. He regards Rook for a long time. Eventually he says, “Your motivations may be more noble than mine, but at heart we act for the same reasons. I know you have not felt the care of a parent the same way I did…” He trails off momentarily, then continues, “But you are desperate for love all the same. I do everything in hopes of someday committing an act that will make the world love me. You, you act in hopes that the Vanguard will love you.” He looks Rook directly in the eyes, face serious. “You’re a fool.”

Rook says nothing, unable to summon up any kind of response to that statement. Sigmar continues, “The Vanguard does nothing but show you love, try to help you. They attempt to show you their love over, and over again. But you refuse to accept it.”

The words hit Rook like a slap, and he opens his mouth to retort, but Sigmar pushes ahead. “Instead of accepting their love, you throw yourself recklessly into danger, putting your life on the line again and again. You’re killing yourself, Rook.”

Rook’s eyes blaze with anger. He isn’t killing himself at all. He doesn’t want to die, far from it. He fights viciously for his life in every battle. He snaps back, “I’m not killing myself.”

Sigmar’s reply is swift and painful, like a bullet from his gun. “You might as well be.”

Rook finds himself speechless. What the hell is Sigmar talking about? He crosses his arms and turns away, refusing to meet the other man’s gaze.

A long silence stretches between them. Sigmar finally breaks it by saying, “I’ll help you. I just need to know that you’re telling me the truth.” His voice is surprisingly gentle, much softer than the whip-like tone from a moment earlier. 

Rook looks up at him. “I am telling the truth.” 

Sigmar frowns. “Rook, I told you, don’t lie to me.”

“I’m not!”

“You are. I know your tells.”

Arms still firmly crossed, Rook keeps his gaze fixed on the floor. He won’t – can’t – tell Sigmar the truth. 

Sigmar seems to realize that Rook plans to stay silent, and sighs. “I can start listing off my theories. My ideas as to what’s keeping you from sleeping.”

Rook says nothing, still looking at the floor. His eyes follow the grain of the wood as it meanders through the planks.

“Did Maka do this to you?”

Before he can stop himself, Rook’s head whips upwards, mouth falling open in shock. “What? No!” 

Sigmar merely nods, and Rook is hit with a sudden feeling that he may have just played right into Sigmar’s trap. Rook turns away again, trying to find the same grain on the same plank he had been before Sigmar had spoken.

“I’ve felt the same symptoms as you are now, but lesser, once before. Do you still bear Furicifer’s curse?”

A chill runs down Rook’s spine. He forces his voice to stay steady and calm as he says “Furicifer was banished. He’s gone.”

Sigmar is silent for a long moment, and Rook’s heart begins to race. Surely Sigmar will believe that. It’s not far off from the truth.

When Sigmar speaks, it almost knocks the air from Rook’s lungs. “I told you not to lie to me.” His voice is deadly serious, simmering with anger. As he begins to speak again, it grows in intensity, though still quiet. “What in the gods’ names were you thinking? We need to get rid of him.”

Rook interrupts him, voice firm. “I can’t. If I lose this curse, Furicifer is free to return to the material plane.”

Sigmar shakes his head. “We’ll find a better demonologist. Someone stronger than this Dr. Zayeed.”

Without thinking, Rook blurts out, “You promised you’d help me!”

Sigmar immediately falls silent, looking at him. His face is a mixture of sadness, concern, and something else that Rook can’t quite read. He stares at Rook until Rook grows uncomfortable, looking away. “I have two options here. I can enable you, help you continue to hide this from the rest of the party. Or I can tell them. Let them try and talk some sense into you.”

“I can’t.”

“What are you talking about? Of course you can. Tell the party and-”

“I can’t.” Rook’s voice shakes, but his tone is determined. 

“Why not?” Sigmar snaps back.

“It was them or me.” The words are out too fast, and Rook regrets them the minute they’re out. But he looks up, meeting Sigmar’s gaze. He says again, softer, but more steady, “It was them or me.”

A long silence passes, and Rook eventually looks away. He stares at the ground for  a long, long time, before he sees something enter his field of vision. Sigmar’s hand, holding one of the pills he’d made. Rook looks up at him, surprised. “Take it.” Slowly, Rook reaches out and grabs the pill. 

He swallows it quickly, downing it before the taste can manifest on his tongue. Energy floods his body. Though he feels miles better than the day before, he hadn’t realized how much exhaustion still lingered in his body. 

Sigmar grabs a pouch, presumably holding the other pills in it, and holds it out to him. Rook reaches for it, but Sigmar pulls it back. “I’ll help you on one condition.” Rook stares at him, but says nothing. “If your condition worsens again, I’m telling the party. And if you’re in your right mind, you’ll be telling them too.”

Rook’s shoulder slump in defeat. He needs the medicine desperately. He looks down at the floor again as he says, barely louder than a whisper, “Fine.”

Sigmar places the pouch in his hand and turns towards the door. “The rest of the party will want to see you.” 

As he reaches the door, hand on the knob, Rook speaks. “Thank you.” The words are quiet, but genuine, tinged by the weight of Rook’s desperation. Sigmar’s hand hesitates on the doorknob, but he doesn’t reply or turn back before he opens the door. As he walks off down the hall, Rook can hear him calling out to the party, “Rook’s awake.”

[feathered-mushrooms]

Scott Summers ahead Cannons

he is my favorite loser boy

Due to growing up on it, Scott tends to throw himself into the danger room whenever he feels an emotion more than fine. He does not know a limit, which his led to “Scott patrol”. Oh Scott hasn’t left the danger room for five hours? Rouge it’s your turn, I pulled him out last time. 

Scott can’t handle to much down time, or being bored. He constantly feels like there is something he should be doing, and therefore will constantly find something to do. 

Charles has done a number on him. He is the reason Scott is so high strung, why failure isn’t just a lesson to learn from but an entire judgement of his character, why he can’t just breathe. He needs to be the leader and the man everyone can count on, he needs to be everything Charles wants him to be. 

This is not a healthy way of thinking. 

Scott has a special interest in planes. It started when he was young and then had a pause after the plane crash that killed his parents. However he picked it up again and now can tell you the difference between a commercial flight and a jet. He also knows how to pilot seven different types of aircraft and even got official license for each.

He is Bi.

It took him frighteningly long to figure this out. 

Scott has issues with social skills(projecting). He can speak sarcasm just fine and makes many jokes in that medium. However he has a hard time figuring out people are being sarcastic, especially if the joke is around him. 

He would wear a dress. Not in public, but if Jean offered he would try one of her dresses on in the safety of a bed room. He would like it. 

Game nights were originally hidden from Scott who(due to the professors absurdly high expectations) does not handle losing well. He loves to point out the rules and technicality’s, and will not play Uno with any variations. He’s not a sore loser par say, it just gets depressing for everyone watching. 

When he was young he kept only one pair of ruby glasses and one visor. As he has aged(and been influenced by Emma) he know has a collection of ruby glasses in all types and styles. 

Star Wars is his comfort show/movie/universe

Pretty equal on cats and dogs but leans towards dogs. 

His chances of being a toddler dad had been pretty ruined but he thinks it would be nice to raise a kid alongside a dog. Maybe a golden retriever. 

He does not mind cats though. 

He often feels weird in his place as a parent. Nathan is his kid but some much time has been lost that Scott can’t help but yearn for the mile stones that were missed and lost to time. He misses everything he was promised as a father. The same is true for Rachel although it is a little weirder. Yes she is his, but from a future that will never happen. He often feels guilty because in the end he has two great kids, but he wishes he could raise a kid in a normal sense. 

He just wants to be a father. 

When he was their step father, Scott showed the Cuckoos Star Wars. He keeps checking in on them, even after he and Emma are no longer together. 

Scott’s type is a person who will be mean to him, and could probably kill him, but have a soft spot.

Even if that soft spot is very hidden. 

He can make a really good grilled cheese. There was a week in his teens were there was low x-men activities and not a lot to do in the mansion so he dedicated his days to perfecting the grilled cheese. He makes it anytime he thinks someone needs some comfort. 

He’s eyes are brown under the visor. 

Never played DnD but very interested in it. Researched it a whole lot and has watched a lot of play throughs. Has even mentioned it to the rest of the squad and most were down to try. However it was forgotten due to the next world ending event. Scott still thinks about it and the character he made. 

He is doing his best but often over exerts himself which leads to sick days. On these days he is forced to cuddle up in a blanket and watches either the Star Wars orignal movies or one of the shows. Most times someone will be designated to sit with him so he doesn’t try and get up and do work. 

On these days Logan often takes the job. 

That all for now!

[danganphobia]

thinkign about laishuro but in a college au setting. mini fic kinda incoming im having brainworms.

toshiro keeps to himself and doesn't really talk to many people (but i like to think he's already good friends with kabru because they share some of the same classes together) but he shares this one class with this incredibly talkative guy that the professor absolutely despises named laios that always makes the class fucking bust out laughing. laios is the class clown but he's popular because he's just that guy that kinda knows everybody. and he sits next to toshiro and often asks him about assignments or to copy his notes because he didn't get to read all the slides on time. meanwhile toshiro's just like ok whatever (doesnt think anything of it)

since kabru already knows laios by default toshiro kinda gets roped into his whole friend group of different majors but i like to imagine they're all good friends because they're in the DnD club and toshiro's initiated like Immediately against his will. every now and then the club hangs out after classes and it's actually really Obvious that laios likes toshiro. he's like going out of his way to make sure the newbie is "comfortable" and other than kabru it's laios who toshiro ends up talking to the most. laios is sitting next to him the whole night, leaning in when toshiro needs to say something because it's super loud at the restaurant and everyone's like Lmao this is so painful.

kabru the instigator is like "guys let's add toshiro to the group chat" and he's making eyes at farlyn and marcille and chilchuck, who's just like fucking facepalming because they're horrible at being subtle, and it's laios who's like "OH YEAH TOTALLY, toshiro what's your number?????" so toshiro gives his number and he's added to the DnD group chat but really it was just a ploy for laios and toshiro to start texting each other. it works bc laios texts toshiro individually and says "hey its laios from bio i got ur number from the dnd gc i hope it's okay lol" i can see this fucking happening when kabru and toshiro are hanging out and kabru's like "bitch i FUCKING KNEW IT!!" and toshiro's like "of course i know it's him. why does he have to say that. he's very odd." kabru's just Staring at him like my dear friend laios likes you. toshiro's confused because ????? the thordens talk to like everybody on campus i think he's just friendly. and kabru says there's at least 20 other people in your class that he could ask for notes and assignments yet he always asks you. he's always asking all their friends where toshiro is when he's not around. he's like the first to look for toshiro when he walks into a room that laios KNOWS toshiro is in. he's always excited to see you to come club meetings. he texts you like every other day. he's even asked you to hang out, alone??? many times??? like how people ask each other on dates????

toshiro telling kabru its just to work on assignments together. and kabru brings up laios walking him all the way back to their dorm and giving him a hug, and toshiro can agree that's a bit Strange but it's "not even a big deal" until he's wide awake in bed at night thinking of the last time laios hugged him after walking him home and he's red in the face like FUCK. THERE'S SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME.

anyways toshiro unable to handle the fact that what he has, as kabru calls it, is a Crush(TM) and refuses to believe it so he begins avoiding laios until it becomes a big thing. laios is genuinely upset and thinks he did something wrong. so he tracks toshiro down to ask him about it and he's rambling on about being an idiot and thinking he did something to make toshiro uncomfortable, toshiro doesn't rlly know what to do bc all his feelings the past few weeks have been piling up and is about to explode and he just. grabs laios and kisses him square on the lips.

a minute passes and they stare at each other. and laios is just like. Wat. toshiro's internally freaking out. and when he opens his mouth and says "laios-" laios cuts him off and very shyly asks, "can you... uh, can you do that again?"

toshiro just feels himself relax. laughs. and laios laughs. and toshiro kisses him again.

anyways i need fanart of this so bad bye

[oneatlatime]

The Blind Bandit

I had honestly forgotten that the Gaang were trying to find an earthbending teacher, so the 'previously on' segment was actually useful instead of spoilery.

Nobody's face is having a good time.

Look at this sweetheart. You go ahead and treat yourself honey. You've single-handedly escorted a pair of earth-shatteringly overpowered tweens around the world for months; the least you deserve is a shopping trip.

"You kids like earthbending?" Has the same energy as "wanna buy a sun dial?" from that animated Hercules movie.

This guy is one of those strip mall karate types.

I take back everything I ever said about Zuko's season 1 haircut. This guy has a dust bunny poop on his head.

Momo's bag now.

My absolute favourite girl power: incredible violence!

The acoustics at this earth rumble place must be great. I don't see any microphones.

"That's what I paid for." Sokka is a simple creature at heart. Likes food and violence.

Something very strange about this guy's face. I think his mouth moves but his eyes don't.

So apparently earthbending gets you mad air.

Oh! I get it. This is a WWE parody. Somebody on the writing team did their homework too. Don't ask me how I know, but this is a very accurate parody.

Sokka thinks listening to big muscles is a very good idea actually.

And here's the heel. Complete with russian accent. And oddly homoerotic anthem. And cowardice when challenged! Yep, total heel.

I LOLed at the zamboni badgermoles and hockey organ.

She's like two feet tall!

I'm. in love.

I could watch little girls beat up grown men all day.

Earthbending sonar?

Omigod it predicts. She can see moves before they happen.

Well it's a good thing Bumi said to look for someone who Waited and Listened rather than Watched.

"I don't really want to fight you. I want to talk to you." Says the guy who just volunteered, in front of a full stadium, to FIGHT her. Time and place, Aang.

Get back on the ground you flighty airbender. She sees with that ground. No fair.

This is about the face I made when Aang pulled that move. Does this boy think at all? I love him, but what part of stealing her well-earned title is supposed to convince her to talk to him?

You messed up.

I love sartorially inclined Sokka. It's a tiny an innocuous little trait, but it rounds out his character so well.

I get to watch two different girls terrorise idiots this episode. I am blessed.

So I'm guessing the two idiots at the earthbending academy are doing that excercise where kung fu people stick their hands in sand (I've seen videos of it) but it really looked like they were in the 'beat back the dough' phase of making bread.

In this universe of plot-convenient clothing blindness, how do Dumb and Dumber recognise Aang as the one who beat the Blind Bandit?

I think the voice actor for the dumb kid with actual hair did a bunch of voices in season 1. The soldier who gives Aang Bato's map comes to mind.

Have I said recently how much I love Sokka and Katara?

These wrestling guys keep switching between first and third person. Too many rocks to the head.

This could be a board for a murder mystery board game. Or a map for a DND dungeon.

It's her hair. I thought the Blind Bandit had a cap type thing with a little brim for her costume, but it's just a pile of her hair? Like a beehive?

A lesson in character writing: if you want to make someone look super dumb, have them earnestly believe in the credentials and authenticity of a guy you have previously set up as a borderline con artist. Lookin at you, Blind Bandit's dad.

"Basic forms and breathing exercises only." That line is just so funny. And they're all so stupid. She snapped like half a dozen spines last night and this guy is preaching breathing exercises.

Wow! I hate her dad!

I hate him more!

Sokka going ham on some rice rather than listen to the idiots. Good priorities.

This passive aggressive fight between the girl and Aang at the dinner table is so fun.

Looking for somewhere to store your meal after you've face planted into it? Try the top of your head!

I need to get a hold of some of those magic napkins. Wiped up a whole multicourse meal in like 5 seconds.

That is indeed the appropriate reaction to this pint sized badass. Glad Aang is learning. (Also this episode needs more Appa. The last couple have been sadly bereft.)

Called it. Earthdending sonar. Or is it more like echolocation? No! Whiskers!

How does this pint sized badass - who if I am understanding correctly, is not known to exist outside the walls of her house - have more emotional intelligence than the entirety of the Gaang put together?

So much for the guards in the garden. They'd actually be useful now.

Sokka. Priorities. Although given how many times Aang has escaped custody/kidnapping he's probably ok to take a minute to fangirl over an autograph.

These idiot parents don't know their daughter at all. That chafes.

"I'm not smiling." I LOLed at that too. Perfect delivery.

Hippo man having a snack before he gets down to business. No wonder he's missing teeth.

All this blind and tiny and helpless and fragile talk is really making me hope someone smacks the crap out of the dad. What an awful thing to say, nevermind saying it where your daughter can hear.

SMACKDOWN INCOMING

This is gonna be good.

If this girl does join the Gaang the writers are going to have to nerf her in every major conflict. She's too powerful. I bet she could take on the firelord now.

And that's why you don't announce sneak attacks.

So remember how Sokka was absolutely losing his shit over the Boulder? That's me right now.

She waits. All these idiots are losing because they're getting impatient and attacking first. Which means that, to her senses, they're telegraphing their moves. That is so cool. And so is this visual.

Here's your chance Dad. Are you going to mess it up?

"I love fighting. I love being an Earthbender. And I'm really really good at it." me:

I don't have words for how much I LOVE when little girls STAND UP for THEMSELVES and THEIR INTERESTS. This would have had me HOLLERING if I'd seen it as a kid. It was a message I needed to hear too.

Wow I want to kill her parents.

OH FUCK OFF

COME ON

You made my girl cry.

Get wrecked belt stealer. I LOLed at this too.

Sokka just beaned a blind girl on the head. Not a good look. I laughed though.

Fun fact: everyone in this picture is a piece of shit.

I haven't been this steamed since Zuko's dad burned half his face off.

Final Thoughts

IT WAS SO GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Seriously, this episode feels like it's movie quality. This show is usually excellent, but this feels like a cut above. I feel like I could sense the love the writers, animators, voice actors, everyone had for this episode. They had a good time making it and were enthusiastic about it. And there were lots of tiny background details in this episode too. I'm sure I missed quite a few. Oh No! I'll have to rewatch it!

New team member! That hasn't happened since Momo. Actually, no wonder the episode was so good. Introducing the first new team member in at least a season's worth of episodes is a delicate operation. I bet they were workshopping this episode since early in the first season.

And Toph! (thank you credits for how to spell that - I was really hoping it wasn't Toff). Be still my heart I love Toph. She may well take Sokka's spot as my favourite character. Strength of character, self-assurance, emotional intelligence, badassery, mastery of violence, what's not to love!!!

How did she get so emotionally intelligent and articulate if her parents have kept her caged her whole life? I don't know but I'm not complaining!

How did her parents get away with caging her for her whole life? I do know (money) and I am complaining. Very much so. And yet Toph can still find it within herself to have an honest conversation with them, including apologising for leaving said cage. I never would have had the maturity to do that in a similar situation. I would have gone the Katara explosive rage route.

A little girl who stands up for herself. Against HER PARENTS. I just. Do you know how amazing that is? Especially in a kids' show? I was ROBBED by not being able to see this show when I was Toph's age.

Does bending work like a muscle, in that you build up stamina? Because if so, then Toph is the strongest human earthbender in the world by default. If she's using it in place of seeing, then she's using it 100% of the time that she's awake, all day every day. By the time she was like 5 years old she'd probably used her bending more than the average earthbender does in their whole lifetime.

My one complaint is Toph's voice. Nothing wrong with it; this is a me thing. It fits her perfectly, but my ears do not play well with nasal voices, which hers is. I had to rewind quite a few times and resorted to subtitles by the end. Hopefully I'll get used to it like I did Zuko's.

Sokka! My soon to be demoted beloved! He shone in this episode. I love that he has fashion sense and is not afraid to show it. I'm thinking, what with how hung up he was on masculinity at the start of the show, that the water tribes have a different conception of masculinity: one that classes fashionability as a masculine or gender neutral trait. Even back in season one it didn't take much to get Sokka into the Kyoshi warrior uniform, and he's shockingly good at applying face paint symmetrically. Which I still cannot do with winged eyeliner.

Katara! Not headed for a career in diplomacy but so satisfying to watch. I would love to have a Katara in my pocket that I could unleash on people. And her and Sokka bouncing off each other this episode was great. Every one was at peak performance this episode, except Aang. Not at his brightest this episode.

Checking for typos before I post this and I realise I'd already forgotten that Toph is blind! Just like in the Northern Air Temple, this is how you do disability right: as just a part of who they are, rather than an entire personality. This show is so good.

In sum, Toph:

[anonym-potato]

Nein Again - 2x08 "The Gates of Zadash"

Last we left off, the gang completed their first proper dungeon delve with a little help from Exandria's Sexiest Man Alive 835. Spoilers ahoy!

I rate this Sam Riegel DnD Beyond ad a 2/10 I don't find these kinds of jokes particularly funny.

Oh my god I completely forgot this was when the Ronin announcement happened. Oh my god we all missed it again.

Ah Caleb you and your passive voice when upset

Liam's disappointed sigh when he reads the description for the wand is so funny.

I love Fjord's old man bone problems

And Nott and Fjord will never agree on anything again!

"Did I save your life?" Wow Fjord is very bad at this.

As a lover of magic item design in D&D I would like to introduce a new segment to the weekly post for my own amusement: WEIRD SHIT REPORT (name pending), where we report on the weird shit the party get their hands on (and then inevitably lose)

WEIRD SHIT REPORT: The gang has stolen found acquired a pair of Goggles of Night (Beau's new favorite accessory), a Ring of Water Walking (which Jester unsuccessfully offers to Caleb), a Wand of Smiles (which can only do good in Jester's hands), an Unnamed Magical Glaive (goes in the obligatory RPG 'sell at a vendor' pile because Yasha's back at camp), and the Glove of Scorching Ray (which Caleb reluctantly surrenders to Fjord)

The way Jester's relationship with The Traveler develops is so good, and I love how it starts here. Because she's just. So painfully lonely.

OH YEAH MAIL FRAUD. I support mail fraud. It's a Fun Crime.

Note to self; if my players steal something early on in my upcoming campaign, use it to foreshadow a Morally Ambiguous Crime Man

"We are...The Mighty Nein." YES YOU ARE

I wonder if Mr. Jim DeAngelo in Weehawken NJ has ever watched Critical Role.

Wait noooo where did the Starosta's Russian accent go

Ah yes the first recorded instance of Jester being so charming as to loop around to terrifying.

If you haven't listened to the Ruby of the Sea shanty on YouTube by rmorganslade you really should

I can't believe Caleb is so grumpy early on he tricked Beau into thinking he was a dad

Of course Molly is the one who dismisses the idea of a Birthday party

Oh yeah this is also the episode where Marisha injures herself sneezing!

Jester with the sledgehammer cracks me up

It's impressive how (relatively) intimidating the Syphilis Bandits are at first, and how quickly that gets killed.

The Nein really are Schrodinger's Polycule

You can hear Fjord's real accent come out when he says "Molly, I think they also need a bath."

Marisha's delivery on "Sorry. I caught one of 'em." Cracks me up every time.

Liam's like "Matt gave me a PTSD attack last episode it's allllllllll foreshadowing now babyyyyyy."

I love this gravesite as a little piece of environmental storytelling

Everyone in the tag is already losing their mind about the Zadash monorail and I plan to join them MATTHEW EXPLAIN

It's Pumat!

WEIRD SHIT ADDENDUM: At the Invulnerable Vagrant, Jester trades the Unnamed Magical Glaive for a pink Haversack of Holding

In Conclusion: I'm not even gonna attempt a joke, truly the first Episode of All Time.

[srdk]

Couldn’t stop this cardverse idea, so here’s a wip! I desperately wish hima sensei did a little more with the cardverse au… and I desperately wish there were more cardverse au fics!!!! (T-T) I’m no writer, but in my head it’s like:

Definitely giving medieval fantasy/renaissance/dnd where each suit of cards are a kingdom, and the land is magical and appoints its own court (made up of 13) on some massive super rare phenomenon where a huge, magic, glowing symbol looms above you (almost Project K style, if anyone’s watched that back in the day) and everyone has to make the trek to start their lives at their respective castles as soon as possible. Maybe titles are inherited, maybe it’s completely random, maybe it’s both. Does the new status have a similar effect as to being invited to live in Mt. Olympus and they gain immortality? idk

The Joker suit is kind odd, almost like a political/magical opposition to the ♥️♣️♦️♠️ system, and though Gil didn’t start the organization, he quickly became the head of it.

And I want telenovela level drama.

There’s a huge magical mystery surrounding what happened to the previous/golden generation of K/Q/J’s that went missing, and the magical ties to the land being unstable. Some kingdoms bounced back in months, some took years.

The heart kingdom took the longest to refill their court, and the they’re super stoked for Kiku and Ludwig to come in so that they can have a welcoming-festival (a political wedding) but it’s taking forever for the new Jack to be announced.

Cut to some heavily Venice inspired region of the heart kingdom, Feli and Romano live together and they’re scraping by with low wage jobs and are definitely not okay after Rome’s disappearance. Romano, however, is more of a risk taker when it comes to picking his gigs, and it’s definitely a point of tension at home. One morning, Romano wakes up and feels that something is off deep in his bones. The whole day he’s acting strange, and the soles of his feet tingles when he treads the ground. The flowers in the town are in full bloom—regardless of season. The people know that it’s the sign of a new designation for the court, and they are pumped. They’re planning and prepping, and their little town is going to throw a scrappy joyous party the next night for when the symbol does appear. Insert insecure Romano, who knows what this means and absolutely does NOT want the job, and may or may not be loosely involved in some business w the Joker community, and Gil offers him a potion that will erase his ties/magical signature to the land and takes it the night of the festival. Feli and Romano have a rare good day, things are going great, boom they run into some trouble related to Romano’s dabbling w the Joker group, confrontation, scuffle scuffle, some things that shouldn’t have been said are said, there’s a bonfire that goes slightly crazy and the town rushes to get it under control, boom the symbol is starting to appear and Romano downs the bottle. And there’s one last moment of eye contact between the brothers before Romano runs away, and Feli is caught in the town square w the huge J floating in the sky!

In the rather long absence of a king at the heart kingdom, Gilbert and a council of few others were handling things during the interim. Ludwig was raised by Gilbert at their family estate not too far from the castle, and became increasingly involved with assisting his brother in managing the kingdom and serves as like the Lieutenant General if Gilbert was the General. Gil starts digging into what happened with the predecessors because their kingdom is one of the last few who haven’t replenished their court. He digs too far and maybe bites off more than he can magically chew (he’s not very magical-tuned) and he acts odd every now and then, fighting migraines, eyes alert and searching for a source of that sudden low rumbling noise (it’s whatever energy that’s backing the Joker suit) a J mark appears on him in private, maybe while investigating somewhere far for materials, and he’s definitely OP now and has something adjacent to shared sentience w some wild ancient chaotic energy akin to the other four kingdoms. Kinda goes cuckoo! He comes home and Ludwig has been chosen as next king. Conflict of interest between them aside, Gil loves his brother, so he exerts a little bit of control over the cuckooness that demands “demolish everything and start from scratch for the greater good! and your brother!” and erases the memory of him from Lud’s head (his power is limited to touch?)

[chaoticbardlady99]

Lethal Woman (GN! Reader x Astarion)- Chapter One

Hello! This is my first fanfiction in a very long time so please be kind (I'm fragile)! I have played DND before, but I will be taking a few creative liberties. With the Deathbringer class, the ceremony for creating a Deathbringer is vague so I have based the ceremony on the Grey Warden ceremony (with creative liberties) in DA:O. Also with the mine (in background) think Markarth from Skyrim (Cidhna Mine). This is an Astarion x Reader based on my ongoing mental story that I am obsessed with and finally had to do something about it. I hope you enjoy!

Title is inspired by the song Dove Cameron sings. The picture of Astarion is is by @aristenfromwarsaw on Tumblr. Nightmask and Astarion’s tattoo are off the internet, the picture of Rowan is from my PlayStation lol!

Chapter Two

General INFOOOOOO:

Astarion x Gender Neutral! Reader. 

  The sex of the character is female so if I ever become brave enough to write smut, the smut will be male/female sex. Otherwise, the character will be going by They/Them pronouns. I will do my best to be consistent with this as I have not written a gender neutral character before! 

Trigger Warnings: mentions of Death, mentions of blood, mentions of torture, mentions of physical abuse, mentions of emotional abuse (not a lot)

Name: Rowan (I don’t care for Tav so I chose another Gender Neutral name)

Race: Half Drow Elf, red eyes, black hair, draconic sorcerer parents

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Sexual Orientation: Bisexual

Class: Rogue

Subclass:Night Mask Deathbringer

Background: You are a Night Mask Deathbringer hailing from the Underbelly of Westgate. You spent the first 5 years of your life living happily in a grove with your sorcerer mother and your mercenary father- until a group of Ravenger’s killed your father, lit your town on fire, and sold all the women and children to a mine outside of Westgate. You remained working in that mine in poor conditions with your mother until you were 9. Your mother hatched an escape plan, but she became ill and you had to escape on your own. You live on the streets scavenging for food and fighting off attackers until you are 13 years old. Dahlia, the leader of the Assassin’s in the Night Mask Guild was scavenging for someone to drink from when she came across you. Dahlia watches you- a scrappy, skinny, feeble little thing fight off three older boys as they attempt to steal your food and your tent. Dahlia intervenes when the boys manage to overthrow you- draining them completely and leaving them to die.. She offers you a warm bed and a promise that you will never be hungry. That you will become the scariest thing in the darkness. After devoting 5 years to the Night Masks, you were deemed appropriate to become an A class assassin by going through a painful rite to become a Deathbringer- not quite undead, but not entirely alive either. As a pseudo vampire, you have become a powerful assassin despite your general disdain for tasteless killing. The money is good, you have a roof over your head, and your belly is always full- who wouldn’t become a little morally flexible? While taking care of a contract in Baldur’s Gate, a strange ship comes flying towards you…...

Chapter 1: Rowan (you!)

   Your head is throbbing when the smell of fresh grass hits your nose. Jolting upright with a start, you wince and press your hands against your eyes- desperately trying to get the black spots to fade away. 

What in the hells happened?

 You rub your eyes and slowly blink your way back into focus. You smell the stench of burning and look around to try to identify the source. 

  You survey the landscape and find that you are in the woods next to a stream with a precarious light shining brightly behind a large rock. Turning your head again, you see dark smoke coming up from somewhere beyond the trees. 

Suddenly, the events of the last 24 hours begin to replay in your head.

   The Nautiloid. La’Zeal. Shadowheart. Oh gods they are going to kill each other if I don’t find them quickly.

    You had met the two women on the Nautiloid when that thing put a disgusting, worm in your head. In response to your contempt, the worm wiggles behind your eye to make it’s presence known. 

   Despite how well you had fought together, the other two women had made it very clear that they had no intention of “bonding in the name of womanhood” as Dahlia would say as she whipped you for insubordination. It was hardly bonding- unless you count thick leather and your bareskin. 

   Slowly you get to your feet and test out your balance. Solid. All is well and there isn’t a single scratch on you. A sigh of relief leaves your mouth. Patting yourself down, you find that your daggers are still intact and your two hidden blades are not broken. Testing them, you watch as they slide smoothly out of your wrist guards and follow the curve of your index fingers. You smirk.

      Excellent, now time to make sure the glowing rock won’t kill me.

     You creep along the forest floor, barely making a peep as you approach the rock. You hear the sound of a woman groaning. You reach for your daggers as you go around the rock, brandishing your weapons- only to see a Tiefling woman on GODS DAMN FIRE! 

       She offers you a tense smile.

 “That looks incredibly uncomfortable,” you say awkwardly. You wince at how scratchy your voice sounds. You were never really one for “friends” and preferred to rely on yourself. You were less likely to suffer from heartache and Dahlia had been less likely to beat you that way. She once found you and your crush, Tessa, making out in an alleyway. Tessa was a warlock in training at a local guild and you had quickly been consumed by your love for her at the age of 13.

“Becoming attached is a weakness. Falling in love is a weakness. You will do no such things girl. You are a divine monster in the making. You are not made for love, only death and servitude.”

Once you had been deemed a Deathbringer, she never tortured you again and you never attempted to get close to anyone out of fear that the beatings would start up again. You would obey and you would serve- that kept you safe. And Tessa? Well, Dahlia killed her.

 “Oh this?” the Tiefling says with a heavy breath, “I have never felt better.”

   The fire begins to settle around the Tiefling. She stares back at you with investigative eyes- your weapon already sheathed, your eyes giving away your weariness. 

   The Tieflings eyes glow with recognition, “Well fuck me! It’s you! From the Nautiloid. Pleaseeeee tell me I found you before those so called ‘Paladins’ of Tyr did.” 

 She looks at you with desperation and nerves. You pretend to think about it, trying to assess the Tiefling’s posture and disposition. She appears to be friendly and open like a puppy- not what you would expect from someone who was just literally on fire and is now looking at you like they are on the verge of a panic attack.

  You shrug, “Fortunately for you, I have no idea what you are talking about.”

 The Tieflings beams at you with a happiness you never thought was possible in your presence. 

“We really shouldn’t spend too much time here. These so called paladins-”

The Tiefling is interrupted by the worm screaming visions into your heads. You see her on the front lines of the Blood War- scorching rage erupting from her being, but a sense of melancholy underneath. The mantra I will be free chanting in your head. 

  You feel your own vision come screeching into your head as she dives into your brain. You try to resist and control what she sees to the best of your ability, but she sees it. The ceremony that turned you into what you are. The way your body felt when Orbhak drank your blood. The radiating pain in your muscles as you try to keep yourself alive- resisting the urge to scream while your muscles cramp. The way he allowed your blood to drip slowly into your mouth from his wrist- your body aching to survive.

  She feels the way your new found power bursts through you- painful and like ice, your body numb. Then nothing.

   “What in the hells was that!?” 

      She matches your weary eyes with curiosity. You shrug, “I think it’s the tadpole,” you pause to fling your arms around to paint the worm (?) when she looks at you with confusion,  “The- Mindflayer? put it in our heads.”

You say it with a finality that even shocks you. You have a tadpole. In your head!

She stares at you with wide, unblinking eyes before she curses out loud.

    After further conversation, she tells you that her name is Karlach and she asks you to assist her in killing the people after her. You decide to help her kill the supposed “Paladins of Tyr” in exchange for assistance in finding Shadowheart and La’Zeal. The sooner the unwanted visitor is dealt with, the sooner you can go back to solitude and safety. There is safety in numbers after all.

       ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

    You are setting up camp with Karlach as she vibrantly retells the day’s earlier events.

 “And your eyes!” She exclaims, looking at you in wonder, “A single change of color and you had that man PISSING himself in fear!”

     Karlach cackles as you give her a wide, appreciative smile. You never felt like your ability was something that others would find acceptable or in this case, admirable. The praise itself was uncomfortable, but your soul aches to bask in it- to feel something other than loathing. After the battle, Karlach had basically begged you to explain what you are and how you became so “magestic” as she put it. Despite your better instincts, you trust her and find that you actually enjoy her company. She takes your whole “not quite alive” thing very well.

Karlach is intelligent and quick. Her smile is infectious as she preached her love for being free from Avernus as they set up camp.

 You smile to yourself sadly, “I guess I haven’t ever actually used my vampiric stare on myself so I have no idea what you are talking about.”

   She stares at you and leans forward across the log, “Your eyes, they go from being bright like the earth to red like blood.”

 Ah. you thought, begrudgingly, my inner murderer is showing.

  Embarrassingly enough, you never looked so you didn’t know. You didn’t really care to look either- the hype wearing off after the first 6 months before you learned to use your stare.  5 and a half years later and you feel apathetic towards your condition. You often wonder if you could have been powerful without the whole “immortal, spooky semi-vampire thing”. 

    You push that thought aside as Karlach continues to highlight both of your best moments in combat. You chime in occasionally, finding your voice and your charisma deep within you- unaware of the individuals watching your camp.

[starsthoughtsonthings]

"Warning" before the actual content: I do like to write, but I tend to only write one side of an interaction (I rp on another blog on here). - As I'm writing this down, I need to add, I feel like my writing is very very bad and un-emotional. Sorry. I've been writing for a long time - like I said, rp usually - but apparently that doesn't make me any good at it. I still needed to try writing something for them, because I love this character and I just have to try. I feel like I'm in no way capable of capturing any of the characters well, outside of my own Tav that is. I still wanted to try writing something because I need to somehow manage to express my love for this game more. I also know very little about DnD and its world and I just read through a few random search-engine-results on elven trance, which is all I'm basing this on.

This is supposed to take place while Kori (my Tav) and Astarion are in a relationship, and somewhere after the confession of his "nice, simple plan" still before the confession. I had this written for after the confession originally, but now I decided it works better to happen before the confession even comes, so I did a few minor changes and now it doesn't refer to the confession at all.

It has been another exhausting day. Nothing new, really, when there were so many urgent problems to deal with - both personal for anyone of the group, or more general like the cult and the Absolute - but even if it was common that the days ended with a lot of exhaustion, it didn't make it any easier. As usual, everyone sat together and chatted a little about the day as the group shared food and some drinks, often accompanied by bickering or teasing between everyone - all in all a very nice little routine for the end of each day of this adventure. Soon enough, it was getting late, and everyone retreated into their tents to rest in one form or another. Or, well, almost everyone did.

Kori had a feeling that someone was - again - not ready or willing to rest yet - perhaps only not yet, perhaps not at all, she hadn't been able to tell these last days because at some point she did need to close her eyes and rest to be ready for another day of adventuring, herself, and surely he was more than capable to just pretend to be fine even without any rest at all - but she didn't want to just watch him and wonder if he rested at all, tonight. For a little while longer, she stayed in her tent and watched him from here. Astarion was reading, as usual, some of these last nights she spotted him drinking or tending to his clothes or weapons, all perfectly normal activities of course, but it never looked like something he did to get more into the mindset for trancing. It always looked, felt, like he was actively trying to avoid taking any form of proper rest.

Having watched for long enough from within her tent, Kori got back up from her bedroll and walked over to the camp's vampire. He noticed her approach, of course, and the grin he offered her made her realize that perhaps her constant looking over towards him for multiple nights hadn't quite been as stealthily as she had thought she had been.

"Finally decided that staring isn't enough anymore, darling?", he greeted, and immediately, Kori felt a little blush creep to her cheeks.

"It's not like that." Which somehow sounded like an excuse no matter how honest she meant it. "... Maybe it is, but, that's, not the point. I'm just..." She paused for a moment to make a better sentence for her concerns. "You're delaying your rest again, aren't you?"

"You're an elf too. You know we don't need to lie down as much as the others do," he responded matter-of-fact-ly, but for once, Kori didn't buy that as all there was to it.

"I know. But... I've seen you awake all the time. I don't see you rest at all, no matter how I time my rest."

"Maybe I just happen to trance shorter than you need to, and do it at the same time as you."

Kori leaned in closer, focusing on his eyes, trying to be able to determine... something. Perhaps whether he was exhausted or not, whether he was saying the truth, or if he had any rest - trance or sleep - at all during the last few days, or perhaps even during their whole adventure.

Apparently she had been looking for too long - again - because a chuckle brought her focus back out of his eyes. "Enjoying the view?" Flustered, Kori didn't immediately have anything ready to answer, and Astarion chuckled again. "If my battle prowess is what you're worried about, rest assured that I'm strong and clear enough to face any of our little battles."

"It's not how good you do in battle that worries me." Which, she had to admit, if he was actually running on days (or more) without at least some form of rest, he was surprisingly good at doing his part in the fights the group ran into despite it. As long as she didn't go all out willing to exhaust her magic quickly, he was easily doing at least double the amount of damage to their enemies that she did. "I'm worried about you. Not resting at all is not good for you."

Even after all they had already shared, it still seemed to surprise him when she said that she cared - or worried, in this case - about him. For just a moment he was as if frozen from hearing it, and then he laughed, because of course he was going to play it down. "You're sweet, but you don't have to worry about me. You're already doing enough to keep me strong and well - or is that why you've come over?"

It wasn't really the reason Kori had approached him, of course, but she also did not mind giving some of her blood when it helped someone important to her be strong. "Well, no, but, of course, you can feed on me tonight," he didn't directly ask to, of course, but she still understood. "But that's not it. Getting enough blood can't be enough alone." It didn't seem like he was willing to admit to it just because she'd ask again and again, so Kori decided to go a more direct route, as much as she'd rather not say it as directly. "In trance, we relive memories. I can't help but think, you're avoiding rest because the memories it brings you back into won't be pleasant ones." She didn't add more, not wanting - likely not needing - to point out what exactly non-pleasant memories she assumed it would bring to him everytime, and Astarion was silent for some moments too. "Just tell me honestly that you actually are resting, and I won't keep bugging you."

There was still no answer, not immediately at least. He glanced away, a few times it seemed as if he was going to say something but then didn't, until he sighed. "You're right. Of course I avoid going back to that every single night." Then, quickly, came the usual reassuring, the facade of everything being good. "I'm fine, really. Don't worry so much, my dear."

They were silently standing there for a few moments, until Kori spoke up once more. "If trancing isn't something you want to do... have you considered trying to sleep instead?"

"Sleep?" Astarion laughed, assuming it a joke until he realized Kori wasn't laughing along. "You're serious? Sleeping, like the others do, being completely unaware and vulnerable for so many hours?"

"Yes," she nodded. "I like sleeping. I prefer it over trance, even. It's fascinating what strange and unusual things you can see or experience while doing it! It often doesn't make sense, but it's very wonderful and refreshing."

He seemed curious, although clearly also very much doubting sleep was anything of a good idea. "Things like what?"

"One time, I was flying through the sky freely. No limitations, no obstacles or anything that pulled me back down, I could just fly among the birds and brush the clouds," Kori remembered with a smile - it was one of her favourite dreams she had ever had. "Another time, I was in a land made entirely of sweets. The rivers were honey, the ground was made of cake, and it looked beautiful, too. I got myself to be part of stories I've read, too, almost as if they were existing as more than fiction within my mind for the night." She would probably be able to think about more examples, too, but figured these would be enough to name for a basic idea.

"And you actually enjoy that nonsense?"

He didn't sound exactly interested in trying it, but Kori wasn't going to stop trying yet. "Yes. It really is nice. It's like, briefly getting to experience something completely different, like a different life or something impossible even." After a brief pause, she added: "It wouldn't hurt if you tried it, yourself."

"And leave myself an easy target for the whole night? No, thank you."

"You know there is always someone keeping watch over our camp." Kori glanced over to the corner where the watch usually was sitting, right now it seemed it was Lae'zel's turn.

"Oh, yes, because she totally would have noticed if, for example, one of our group snuck over to another to kill them, sitting all the way over there."

"She would have. It's not like someone keeping watch doesn't notice when we move within camp, it's a matter of privacy that they only act if something's off." At least, that was how Kori understood watch to work like. It wouldn't make sense for the one holding the watch to come over to listen in on anyone that wanted to chat during nighttime.

Now Astarion, too, briefly looked over to where Lae'zel was sitting for a moment, then shook his head. "It's not good enough, darling," he answered eventually, and it almost sounded like he was sad or disappointed that this was the end to entertaining the idea of sleep. "You have too big of a heart and trust everyone, of course you wouldn't mind knocking yourself out and being defenseless for hours during the night. I, however, would rather not risk to suddenly wake with a blade to my throat."

Of course, it made sense that he wasn't willing to try something that carries such a risk. With the kind of life he had, before this whole adventure, it's very understandable that he would refuse to take any risk like that. But if he also wasn't doing trance because it brought him back to that life... "How about if I keep watch over you while you sleep?" Kori suggested after a moment of thinking about it. "Right here, right next to you, to make sure nothing happens?" He clearly trusted her deeply, that much was clear from the talks they had before, so this was worth suggesting.

Astarion seemed stunned by that suggestion, briefly. "I'm not going to send you tired and exhausted into the next day just because you insist I try sleeping."

"I can always just trance instead. Stay aware of my surroundings, and so still be able to keep watch over you," she suggested quickly.

Somehow, her attempt at convincing him to give it a try did enough to make him consider it, she could tell from the way he looked at her. Maybe he was also just so exhausted that he would be willing to try even as ridiculous an option as sleep might seem to him, that was possible too. He seemed to ponder something for a few moments, almost not wanting to speak up again, until he did. "How would it even work? I lie down, and... then what?"

Since she had done it so often already, sleep didn't really feel like something one would need a how-to for, to Kori. But his question about it sounded honest, and she realized that not everyone might have it come as easily as she was used to. "Then... nothing, really. You let your thoughts drift, you try to think of nice things and to get calmer. And eventually, sleep will come."

It didn't look like that explanation helped much, but Astarion sighed. "Very well," he relented. "I will try to sleep, since you are so insistent." He laid down in his tent and closed his eyes, while Kori sat on a cushion nearby.

A few minutes passed, perhaps half an hour or so even. Kori kept her focus on Astarion, and she could see the point when he started to relax, likely started trying to let go of his thoughts and find sleep.

He didn't yet look like he was sleeping, though, and after a while, he grimaced before he suddenly sat upright again. "It won't work," he said almost immediately, and Kori frowned at his words. "I can't just 'think of nice things'. I don't do that." He spoke maybe a hint faster than usual, a sign that his thoughts hadn't been going down a good route.

For a little bit, both were silent, Astarion probably expecting Kori to give up and leave him to it, while Kori was thinking about how to make it easier for him to find sleep. "We should lie down together," she said after a moment, only after having said it realizing how it might have sounded, and quickly getting flustered to the flirty smirk she got in return.

"That eager to bed me again?" He asked teasingly, and Kori coughed to try to shake some of the flustered-ness, then did her best to sound serious even while still blushing furiously.

"No, not like that! I mean, of course I enjoyed it, i-it was amazing," and now she was blushing even harder if that was still possible, "but, I mean, just lying down together. Intimately, perhaps, but not like that."

"A rather novel idea," he commented with a little smirk, but shifted to make some space, inviting Kori to join him.

She moved in to lie next to him on his bed, and the two of them just lay next to each other for a little bit. Still flustered, Kori spoke up after a few moments. "It'll be of more use if we're closer, I think." Of course that wasn't said without her blush increasing again, but she assumed just lying next to him wasn't going to make a difference in his thoughts. It needed to be more than that.

Grinning, Astarion rolled onto his side to look at her. "And you're sure you're not hoping for something else here?"

"Y-yes, I am sure." Incredibly flustered and very much enjoying being so close to him, yes, but Kori wasn't doing this with any other intention than to help him find some rest. She reached out for his hand, hesitating before taking it as if to silently ask if he was alright with it, then moving it towards herself and resting it together with her own hand on her chest, so he could feel her heartbeat. Hopefully, this would be as calming of a thing as she hoped, and not doing the opposite and perhaps alluring his hunger too much.

She looked over to him, trying to figure out if she was as helping as she was trying to be. His breath caught for a moment, and he returned her look for a few moments in silence, before shifting closer to her. Perhaps it was her body warmth that he wanted, perhaps the intimacy, or maybe it was just about being so close to a beating heart. But whatever exactly it was, it did seem to work, Kori could tell from his breathing that he was starting to relax.

"Now close your eyes. Try to sleep," she hummed softly, trying to keep her voice down to not pull him out of the calmness again. He did close his eyes, and Kori barely dared to keep breathing to not disturb him. After a few moments, Astarion let out a long sigh, and to Kori, it felt like he was finally letting go of a big tension, a big waryness, that he had been holding onto for... perhaps for all of his vampire-existence.

He visibly relaxed more after that, and as the minutes passed, Kori smiled at Astarion next to her, seemingly finally able to rest again for once in who knows how long. "... Thank you, darling," he muttered in a half-asleep-voice, and Kori's smile widened as his breathing calmed down.

Now all that was left for her to do was silently pray that he would find some good dreams, like he deserved. And of course trance eventually to make sure she was ready for the next day, but that was an afterthought, for now.

It was that night that he finally took a rest again.

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

Notes:

Yes, there it is. As I said above, I don't think my writing is very good, so I'm surprised if you even came until here.

I don't know much about the DnD world or anything, but a few search results told me that elves' trance is mostly them reliving their memories, mostly focused on the more emotional ones, and I couldn't shake the thought of what his most emotional memories would be. Certainly not the few little adventures or battles the group did.

And before that I already decided that Kori prefer sleep over trance, and, what can I say, this was the only logical consequence to have as a situation. I wish I could write fluffier, more emotional, more touchy, but I guess it's just not how my writing style is. I don't know.

Yes, I know, somewhere in the dialogue I had her offer him to feed on her, and then I didn't actually write it happen before sleep. It just didn't fit in there, I don't know. Assume they just both forgot about it and will do it after sleep, or something, idk.

I also am aware that this whole thing doesn't really fit with, how at the end of each day, we see our companions, including Astarion, sleeping or trancing. But I had this idea, and I had to make it.

I'm also not a native english person, so if there's anything that isn't quite how one would commonly word it, that's probably because I simply don't know how it's usually said. I'd appreciate tips on things that sound too, I don't know, "unnatural" or whatever, but of course don't be mean or anything.

If it isn't obvious, I made Astarion's dialogue red, and Kori's dialogue green. Both based on their eye colors, I suppose.

I will try to not blabber as much as I did in this one before starting the actual text, but this is my first writing on here and I am just someone that tends to overexplain or try to justify myself or something. Like right now. Okay, I'm shutting myself up now.

Now with pictures! I really wanted to start adding pictures to my writings now that we have photomode, and this writing-piece is the first one where I did it. Some blabber about the pictures here:

In the first pic, Astarion is actually edited in from another screenshot I took, because as soon as I open photomode, the "props" aka in this case the book disappears. So I took a screenshot of his reading outside of the photomode - not quite the same angle or light, probably, but I think it's not too noticeable - and cut him out of that to put him into this, over his photomode-self instead. I'm also aware that there's greenery visible in Kori's tent if you look close enough - I didn't pick the best position for her tent I think, and thus grass and stuff is still coming through into her tent. I edited a few bits away, but didn't bother with all of it. Just imagine the grass and stuff wouldn't be in there.

I don't know if when leaning in to look at his eyes closer, she would have her hands behind her like that, but it was the best photomode pose I had available for it. I'm also not sure, maybe I should have moved them still closer, yeah the more I look at it the more I think I absolutely should have moved them a good bit closer to another for this, but well, that's thoughts I have now and I'm not gonna re-do the posing in photomode to change it. Maybe I will at some point, but for now it'll stay in as it is.

Trying to get the third pic done was driving me crazy. Turns out with the available movement in photomode, it's not possible (or at least I didn't manage to figure out how) to position them into his tent. Well. So I went what I did with Astarion reading up in the first pic too - I positioned them the way I wanted them somewhere else (on a green floor thanks to that wonderful "backgrounds" mod), cut them out from there and pasted them into an empty screenshot of his tent, with some fixing for what parts would be hidden from sight by the tent and stuff. I would have liked their hands on her chest to be the other way around - Kori would gently take his hand and place it on her chest, and have her hand on his then, not the way this looks. But it's the closest I could get to the pose I wanted, and I really wanted to get pictures for this one.

I'm not sure if this whole scene wouldn't perhaps take place in one of the other camps instead, but, well.

[cerealmonster15]

SILVER DND UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!!

Laurel runs out to talk to Adrian who's swimming in the beach calming himself down. He's definitely feeling a lot better by the time she gets out there, so they're able to just sit and give each other reassurances and talk about the water a little. She tells him that they ordered breakfast whenever he's ready and goes back inside 😌

Laurel tells everyone that Adrian's doing good, and Silver Tries Very Hare Not To Sprint Out The Door To Talk To Him Immediately, and fails, so he sprints out the door to talk to him immediately LOL

He runs up to him and calls to him, but Adrian is calm and able to be a lot more emotionally mature about everything, so he starts talking before Silver gets a chance to Apologize Nonstop Endlessly. He tells Silver that he's fine, Adrian’s not mad at him or anything, and that he didn't deserve to have that much dumped on him in the first place anyway

Silver brushes him aside, saying he still shouldn't have told Maeve eveything like he did. He's really upset that he did something that made Adrian so overwhelmed, so he Very Guiltily asks if they went into the relationship too quickly since he doesn't understand Adrian or how to help him, asks if he thinks that Silver is a bad fit for him, and if they should stop 😔😭😭

Adrian is really taken aback but THANKFULLY reassures him that he thinks Silver is a perfect fit for him ;; and says that he doesn't understand himself either and that he wants to be more like Silver and be honest with everyone about what happened, so that maybe he can start to be more honest with himself, and understand himself more ;; ;; ;; AND THEY HUG TOO 😭

They talk for a while more & Silver asks Adrian to be really clear about what he does and doesn't want Silver to do so that he hopefully won't make a similar mistake in the future. Adrian also says he wants to tell the rest of the party about his history eventually, but he Does Not have the energy for it after everything that morning lol

Silver falls asleep after all the adrenaline and stress leaves his system and Adrian plays with his hair and cuddles him in the water before forcing himself to wake Silver up so they can go inside and finally leave the beach house with everyone (we thought we would be done with Lilia's beach house two sessions ago LOL)

ANYWAY there is a minor issue for them to figure out when they get back to school BECAUSE every morning at 5am Maeve has been waking Silver up to go work out together before class, but with the mechanics for Silver's unique magic in our campaign, he cannot be woken up by anything other than magic kisses while he is using his unique magic. And he will be using his unique magic to go into Adrian's dream every night, so he CANNOT be woken up before 9am (Maeve is NOT kissing him lol)

^ Maeve figures that out after very aggressively trying to wake up Silver, failing, barging into Adrian and Beryl's room to wake up Adrian with no explanation, and then returning to wake up Silver (who woke up when Adrian woke up, then immediately fell back asleep in the middle of getting ready lol)

Maeve is not doing all that every single morning, so they work it out at lunch that Maeve and Silver can work out for a while after school instead & then Adrian can stop by when they are done to give Silver a smooch so he has an hour of for sure being awake to do his homework 😌 YAY

ANYWAY moving on. Adrian has another lesson in persuasion prepared for Silver. Last one was about logos vs pathos vs ethos, and this one is about manipulation tactics 😌 he goes over a bunch of common manipulation tactics and then gives a bunch of examples and asks Silver to figure out which one they are

Silver does not roll that much better than he did last time hkfgdduttuddut he got like 4 nat ones last time or something and this time he kept rolling 2s, but he has minus 1 to intelligence, so they were also 1s LOL

He tries to answer logos for the first one. Forgets all the terms he was taught and answers with "silent victim" instead of silent treatment/victim blaming LOL. One of the examples was "I'm not talking to you unless you do what I say" and he very confidently answers that it is gaslighting because they said they are not talking but they ARE talking. Another one was like "I didn't say anything to them" (when they did say something) and the answer was lying but Silver said "it's emotional manipulation because they are Lying and that's emotional"

At some point he just says he cannot remember what any of the terms were and what they meant, so Adrian gives him a sheet with all the definitions written down to use & after everything was over Adrian asked if he still had any questions. He grabbed a highlighter and highlighted all the terms and said he doesn't understand any of them. Adrian points to the definitions under all of them and Silver responds by also highlighting all the definitions 😭😭😭

We ended session after the persuasion lesson. Adrian is fighting for his fucking LIFE out here LOL

silver is so me in a crisis i feel u girl JKLFDSJKLFJSDKLFJSKLDJFKSL the guilt is indescribable hang in there bestie...

sniffs.... they wanna find a middle ground... growing with each other waughh..

god their little assembly line of figuring out the most efficient way to help silver Be Awake through all the mechanics and tasks jwhfelkjfj godspeed kids

skjdjkldfjsdkd silver and his Lying Little Bitch Studyguide 😭😭😭 free my boy hes not meant for such a life skjflkljdlgh GODSPEED ADRIAN U NEED ALL THE LUCK YOU CAN GET...

[lokisivy]

Look what you made me do - Eddie Munson

(Part 4)

Warnings: cursing, Henderson reader.

Since yesterday night, Eddie hasn't talked to you, and you guys shared some classes he was being cold you are starting to regret last night. you went to talk to Robin during lunch. Just a quick chat before you head to your tables.

"You actually had sex with him?" Robin said, surprised.

"Yes, I did, Robin, and he hasn't said anything since, and I'm sure that he wasn't having a bad time," you said sadness laced in your tone.

I was more angry than sad he was the one who wanted me to say yes to it why is it like that whatever fucked up shit he has going on he needs to fix it because I won't be a way for him to escape whatever shit he is going through he is making me play the role of the fool.

"Men are horrible, but whatever happens, don't show weakness to him, act like you dont care, he is trying to get to you." she instructed you. you nod. "I have to go to my band," she says "Okay see you later."

While you had your conversation with Robin Eddie and his club, it had their own discussion about you.

...

Eddie's POV

"Honestly, Eddie, why didn't you kick her out yet I know she is good at DnD, but we have Mike and Dustin now," Gareth said.

"Yeah It is like you gone soft for her ever since she joined." Jeff agreed with Gareth.

My blood boiled I've had this stupid feeling of making Y/N since the day I met her. Yesterday was just making me crave more she is mine but I have a reputation of being unsympathetic and the fact that my club members have noticed then I need to take it down

"I haven't gone soft she isn't even that hot for me to fuck around with" I lied. I enjoyed last night very much, but Ill ruin the dark, scary image I built throughout the years with everyone. If I become soft towards you, people will start swinging at him like they used to hell even his friends have noticed already.

"Now shut up she is coming with her brother." Eddie silenced them

during lunch, you felt very unwelcomed it's like everyone was trying to kick you out slowly. You never felt that in the past year, but now it's different. Eddie never meant what he said to the guys at the table. god, he couldn't even stop thinking about the other night he never liked someone enough to get scared like that. His childhood taught him never to show emotion, so he never did he thinks that hiding it makes life easier, but it is not his not doing anyone a favour.

...

"If you have something to say to me, Eddie says it to my face," you said, throwing your tiny action figure on the board, standing up, leaning on the table towards eddie. he has been throwing indirect insults the entire game at you.

"You address me as Kas in the game Lady Silverhand." He yells

"Suck my dick, Munson."

"You would love that wouldn't you," he smirks

"Fuck you Eddie you want to tell me something or coward away?" You said impling about the other night.

"I have nothing to tell you y/n you're just a random chick who can't even play properly. Maybe you should join something suitable more for your gender." He said venomously, laughing

everyone was looking at you Dustin was shocked he looked at you with pity. your brother who looked up to you pitted you.

"And you're just a drug junky who has been repeating senior year for the past 2 years" you scoffed.

"Get out! " he yelled.

"Good I am done playing your stupid little games." You take off your hellfire shirt and throw it at him, leaving flipping them off. You had a sports bra on that covered up a lot.

you left the room to go to the gym. Most clubs and practices happen after school. Eddie was never rude to you, and now he kicked you out of hellfire just after you both had sex.

You had sought revenge. You had a plan in mind. You knew what would happen if you did not act on it

I enter the gym, interpreting the cheerleaders. "Chrissy can speak to you alone," you called out for Chrissy.

she aproched you leading you outside the gymnaism "is everything okay?" she asked.

"i wanna be a cheerleader."

"WHAT!!!" She said surprised

"I know, but Chrisy, you're the cap, and i am done with hellfire. I'm so tired of Eddie Munson. i just want to join Cheer again." You pled.

Chrisy and I go way back she helped me join during sophomore year, but it was exhausting, so when Dustin asked me to join Hellfire, I left now I'm doing it for revenge Eddie will get more attention now that you left or got kicked out... Rumours will start the basketball team will give him hell. The world moves on, another day another drama, But not for me, not for me, all I think about is karma.

"ï don't know y/n i need to know if you're serious," She said

"I am very serious cheer looks better on college applications than fucking Eddie's Cult." I said venomously.

"I'm only gonna say yes because you, my friend, since childhood, but Y/N, I can't help you if fuck it up again."

"Oh my god, thank you so much Chrisy you won't regret it, I promise." I said happily

"Now go put on your outfit. we still have 3 hours of practice." She said, leading me to the changing room handing me my outfit again.

I put it on and look in the mirror. I look so pretty.

Oh Eddie, look what you made me do...

[iamthecomet]

-strolls in holding a bag of sweet feed-

Hi, it has been a minute (feels like that's the theme here with me popping in anymore lol) figured I would drop in and give a little update and see how you're doin'~

I finished reading 'Salem's Lot; Loved it.

I read it in-between customers at work, and only then, because it kept me consistent and gave me something to do during my downtime other than attempt the crossword or draw things on the backs of envelopes.

I also took up a new hobby; I've been making silly bracelets.

All in all, I've just been trying to be more present in my day to day life.

My friends and I have been holding a weekly game night online, and then an irl one every so often so we can play board games, and recently I started sitting in on my friends' dnd campaign and taking notes for the one DM as a reference tool, and occasionally appearing as a candle selling NPC.

Generally speaking, I don't know if I'm doing better than I was before, the last two-three years have been a lot, but I'm trying to get myself back into a more productive mindset at the very least.

I also may or may not have started taking, uhh... "special gummies" to help with my anxiety, because, whoo boy.

That's been a bit of an adventure, too, but it's nice to have something that helps me calm down.

So how goes it in your neck of the woods?

I saw the stuff about the tour and all of that coming up.

-there are now a lot of deer grazing in your inbox-

1 I've missed you I'm so glad to see 4you here again. I love your updates ♥. 2. Glad you loved Salem's Lot. I read it a million years ago but I really enjoyed it and have always thought I should re-read it someday. 3. I am OBSESSED with your bracelets, excuse me!?!? THE WORMS ONE (all of them but that one in particular)???? 4. I love that you're trying to be more present, and have been doing fun things with your friends! Game nights are the best, digital or otherwise. And candle selling NPC sounds like a dream job, where do I apply? 5. Are the gummies helping? What kind of adventure has it been? Inquiring minds want to know! 6. It's good-ish over here. Life is fucking hard, dude. But we persist. It's been a rough few months, but I am still here and still moving forward. It's a roller coaster for sure. But it's one I'm glad I'm on--even when things are shitty. Work is busy (huge, really cool, things happening with the library soon!) but also good--I'm so lucky to have a job I actually like. 7. Yes, Ghost tour. Stressful ticket buying. Now I just have to twiddle my thumbs until next July. Thank you for ALL THE NEW PETS LOVE YOUUUUU. *starts putting leashes and cute little hats on the deer*