#the campaign was fun i loved the story but the players were awful i hope to never see some of them again | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

seyaryminamoto · 2 years ago

Text

Leap of Faith: Sokkla Saturdays 2022

Day 5: College AU

On FF.net//On AO3

A/N:

And now... a lighter and much more comedy-oriented entry for today. I really hope you guys enjoy it, I had so much fun writing this one!

"Look, I get where you're coming from, I do… but every time we try to recruit more people, no one wants to join us!"

"But that doesn't mean we can't ask again, Zuko. We should give it a try!"

"Well, be my guest, but I don't think there's much point to it. The three of us can pull off another campaign just fine together, can't we?"

Aang sighed: Zuko's stubbornness could have its perks in certain circumstances, but sometimes it grated on his nerves instead, no matter how patient he tried to be with his friend. He glanced at Sokka, who sat with arms crossed on the couch. Their party's dungeon master stroked his stubble, raising an eyebrow slowly before saying:

"There's a rather important proverb that we must abide by, in these situations…" Sokka stated. Zuko scoffed.

"Proverbs? Who'd you think you are, my uncle Iroh?"

"Do tell, do tell!" Aang said, excitedly. Sokka cleared his throat before making his big, insightful revelation.

"The more, the merrier!"

Zuko groaned, and Aang laughed while clapping approvingly. Sokka chuckled: Zuko's despair always amused him, even if Sokka suspected that the grumpiest among the three of them would win at this particular argument, in the end.

Sokka had met Aang and Zuko in college. At first, they were brought together by their career choices, then their bond tightened over their love for tabletop games: so far, they had played through four short adventures in which Sokka had served as dungeon master. Aang and Zuko would build up powerful characters who eventually prevailed against the forces of evil Sokka controlled… and it was fun. Their grasp on their games strengthened every time, and Sokka had so many stories in mind to tell in the future…

But Aang wasn't wrong to believe it would be more fun to tell them with more players in their party.

Just so, Zuko had a point as well: all their attempts to invite other people to join their Dungeons and Dragons sessions went to waste without fail.

Typically, their games were held in the house Sokka and Zuko had been roommates in for well over half their college careers – by now, however, Zuko's relationship with Suki had advanced enough that he spent more time at her place than at Sokka's. Sokka certainly didn't look forward to finding another roommate once Zuko inevitably moved out, but he'd have to look for one anyway… which was a problem to worry about on some other day. Right now, all he needed to think about was who to recruit for their next, full campaign… one he hoped would be a much longer campaign than the ones they'd done so far. He had so many ideas for it, ideas he hoped Aang and Zuko would enjoy, but it would be so much better if more people joined them…

"Well, I'm not going to make a public post on social media to call for new players," Zuko growled, shooting down Aang's latest idea, one he had put forward while Sokka wasn't paying attention. "That sounds awful."

"Then we should just ask people we know! Why not, right?" Aang said, glancing at Sokka. "We could ask Katara…"

"She always says she can't trust me as her DM," Sokka admitted, with an awkward smile. "She thinks I'm going to kill her character on the very first action sequence just to be a shithead of a brother…"

"Well, then, swear you won't do that and she'll join in!" Aang pouted. "Come on, and there's others who could join too…!"

"Well, I don't know if…" Zuko grunted, but his words were cut off abruptly when the doorbell rang.

He frowned before rising to his feet. The living room of the small house wasn't far away from the front door, allowing both Aang and Sokka to see glance in that direction as Zuko pulled the door open… and he groaned immediately at the sight of the woman standing right outside.

"What are you doing here?" he blurted out at once. Sokka glanced as best he could, only making out a few details past Zuko's silhouette… enough details to bring him to suspect the identity of this visitor even before hearing her teasing voice.

"Well, now, my parents raised me to greet people properly before asking questions… especially asking them so harshly. How uncivilized of you, Zuzu."

"Oh, please," Zuko huffed, stepping aside and allowing Azula to march into the house, a devious smirk upon her face.

Sokka's heart jolted lightly at the sight of her: he was an idiot, of course, for having any manner of crush on his roommate's sister. It was a strange trope he wasn't sure he should be trying to live out, but curses, she was pretty. She was clever and devious, and the way she teased Zuko never failed to make Sokka laugh. His lips instinctively curved into a smile as he waved like a fool in her direction.

"Ah, see? Sokka's much wiser than you," Azula smirked, nodding in Sokka's direction.

"Good to see you," Sokka grinned – happy tingles in his stomach urged him to talk to her more, to make the most of any opportunity to spend time with her…

"Hi, Azula!" Aang smiled too, waving at her, and Azula sighed happily.

"Ah, thank you. You all prove my point marvelously," she said, turning towards Zuko with her mischievous grin.

"They're not your brothers, and they don't realize you're only here because you want something," Zuko grumbled, glaring at her… and then allowing his eyes to drift down to the laptop bag she carried with her. "You broke your computer again?"

"I… did nothing. The updates are at fault here," Azula said, raising a finger pointedly in Zuko's direction.

"And now I have to backtrack them for you, as usual," Zuko huffed, shaking his head. "Well, I don't have my stuff here, if it's too serious I won't be able to fix it right now."

"Heh. I did go to Suki's place first, seeing as you've basically moved there, but she told me you were here," Azula said, with a shrug. "And I wasn't about to pretend that I could leave my laptop at your apartment without personally requesting that you fixed it, you were bound to ignore it if I wasn't there needling you about it the whole time, so…"

"You do realize me specializing in computer science doesn't mean I'm your go-to IT guy, don't you?" Zuko grunted. Azula huffed, shaking her head.

"You're my brother, and you picked your career as you pleased. How is it my fault that you wanted to be an IT guy?"

"I'm not an IT guy!" Zuko squealed, as Azula sank in the couch, right next to Sokka. He tried not to react, but yet again, his idiot heart fluttered over her closeness.

"If you were studying to be a mechanic, I'd come to you for car trouble," Azula continued, nonchalantly. "If you were studying to be a doctor, I'd ask you about every single potentially alarming health sign I find, if I found any. Therefore…"

"That's just…! Ugh, at the very least pay me for my efforts!" Zuko huffed. Azula gasped, affronted.

"That's… you've gone too far. You'd charge me for your services? Me, your own sister?" Azula said, dramatically. Zuko groaned, his hands on his head while he heard Aang and Sokka chuckling at Azula's wicked teasing. "Oh, but you're so cruel…"

"Okay, now, not to brag but I've beaten your brother at grades every semester," Sokka smiled, folding his arms over his chest. "If you really need that fixed, I can do it for you."

Azula blinked blankly, turning her head towards him with undisguised delight… and Sokka saw the spark of mischief in her beautiful golden eyes well before she spoke anew.

"Why… such a generous offer," she said, showing him what she no doubt believed was an angelical smile – the deviousness was nowhere near gone, however. "I couldn't possibly impose on you, though…! How much should I pay you for fixing it?"

"Oh, so you would pay Sokka but not me?!" Zuko squealed: Sokka covered his face with his hands as Azula smiled brightly, her latest stunt to irk her brother achieving the expected effect. "You're just…! Ugh!"

"You're my brother. Different rules apply there," Azula said, smirking. Sokka chuckled, shaking his head.

"I'm not charging you, Azula, so different rules don't have to apply at all," Sokka said. Azula's teasing intent dwindled then, as she eyed him with curiosity.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "I have no idea how tricky this is…"

"Rolling back an update isn't a big deal, I can do it right away. I'll do that and throw in a few security checks too to make sure things are running smoothly," Sokka offered. Azula smiled and shrugged.

"Well… be my guest, if you're serious. Thank you," she said. Sokka grinned proudly, hoping he wasn't blushing like the idiot he felt he was…

"Wait, so you're going to focus on that now?" Zuko huffed. "We were talking about the campaign, it's the whole reason why I dropped by…"

"We can take a break for now," Aang said, with a shrug. "And we can use the break to brainstorm ideas for how to get new players to join us!"

"Campaign? Players?" Azula repeated, eyeing Aang and Zuko with a dismissive sneer. "Oh, goodness. Another of your, uh, Rooms and Roaches game, I suppose…"

"Dungeons and Dragons! Seriously, could you be more of a textbook annoying younger sister?" Zuko groaned, dropping on his seat as Azula smirked deviously, shaking her head.

"Ah, he just makes it too easy, doesn't he?" Azula said, nudging Sokka gently with her elbow. "I imagine your sister torments you as often as I torment Zuko and you don't whine about it half as much, do you?"

"Oh, yeah. I've accepted my fate as her favorite source of entertainment," Sokka admitted. "Though Katara's very easy to annoy right back, you know? We get even sometimes. Zuko, though…"

"Anything I say can and will be used against me," Zuko growled, glaring at Azula, who smiled brightly at him.

"You know your fundamental rights, at the very least. Good on you," Azula said, nodding sagely. "Anyway, I had no idea the three of you were playing Prisons and Penguins. Did Zuko scare away the rest of your team's players with his temper, or…?"

"The right term is 'party', and no. It's always been just the three of us," Zuko said, bluntly. Azula hummed.

"Aang and I thought we should get more people on board, but Zuko says it's not going to work… and after hearing you call Dungeons and Dragons literally anything other than Dungeons and Dragons, I can't say that I'm surprised by his refusal to look for more players anymore," Sokka smiled. Azula offered him a devious grin of her own.

"Well, you see, if Zuko could explain reasonably how the game works, perhaps I would be interested in it. But every single time I asked him, he started talking about stats or whatever number of sides a functioning dice can have, and how 'the dice tell the story', which happens to be a concept I still can't pretend to understand… he makes it sound as entertaining and appealing as a visit to the dentist, in short."

"I… that's not true!" Zuko huffed, though his cheeks lit up – he had definitely tried to teach Suki how to play, only for his girlfriend to decide to stick with her favorite videogames instead. While he knew Azula made a sport of making fun of him, perhaps she wasn't entirely off-base with that assessment…

"Well, then, maybe Aang and I can do better," Sokka chuckled. "It's a roleplaying game, Azula."

Her eyebrows rode surprisingly high upon hearing those words. She stared at Sokka with a slowly growing grin, and Sokka blinked blankly.

"What?" he said. She bit her lip before leaning closer, covering her mouth as she spoke into his ear.

"Roleplaying, as in… sexual stuff?"

Sokka nearly jumped out of his seat upon hearing that: his cheeks lit up fully, much as Azula blushed as well while laughing at his reaction. Sokka's jaw dropped, he gasped, and then he shook his head quickly.

"N-no. No. Absolutely not. RPGs… have you never heard of them? Really?" Sokka asked, still flustered as Azula laughed against the backrest of her couch. "You… you're trolling me too. Just like you troll your brother all the time. You're a menace… a wonderful menace, but a menace anyway."

"The look on your face…!" Azula chuckled, covering her face with her hands as Aang and Zuko reached their own conclusions regarding what Azula had just whispered into Sokka's ear.

"Well… romance can be a thing in Dungeons and Dragons?" Aang clarified, with an awkward smile. "If that's what you meant…"

"Azula, seriously…" Zuko grimaced, shaking his head as he rose back to his feet. "I suppose I take it as a victory that you're choosing to mess with someone other than me for once…"

"Don't worry, you'll do something silly for me to ridicule any moment now. I'll just be patient until you do," Azula smiled. Zuko sighed.

"Well, then, at least hold back the ridiculing until I finish ordering pizza. Or else I'm not asking for pepperoni just to annoy you," Zuko huffed, pulling up his phone. Azula gasped.

"You wouldn't dare!" she said, dramatically. Sokka, beside her, yelped as well.

"Seriously, don't you dare!" he said, far more seriously than Azula had.

"Make sure mine's got none…" Aang, the sole vegetarian in the house, smiled awkwardly.

As Zuko busied himself with picking a delivery option, with Aang glancing over his shoulder to make him choose his favorite pizza restaurant, Sokka took it upon himself to begin patching up Azula's laptop – he sighed at the blue screen error that greeted him moments after powering up the computer, but he took to repairing the software quickly with the expertise he had developed over three years of studies. And as he worked, unless he had to ask any questions about the computer, Sokka explained more about Dungeons and Dragons to a surprisingly receptive Azula.

"… So, basically I'm the Dungeon Master, I come up with the story, the non-playable characters, the setting, all that stuff. The rules can be the ones established by the original game, or you can come up with a few new ones depending on whatever you feel like doing," Sokka said. "Basically, Dungeons and Dragons' system is more of a means to tell a story, you see? The idea that the dice tell the story isn't completely wrong, but without further context it probably sounds pretty weird…"

"Zuko never bothered providing any context, but I think I understand better now," Azula said. "You, the so-called Dungeon Master, build an adventure, you help your players build their characters too, then you have to be ready to either improvise with whatever their choices are, or plan so extensively to be prepared for anything they choose to do…? It seems a rather complicated way to play a game, frankly. Almost sounds like the Dungeon Master doesn't have as much fun as everyone else does."

"Oh, don't worry, that's not the case at all. Not once you get to the fun stuff of being the DM," Sokka chuckled: the computer booted up again, and this time, everything flowed perfectly. "Alright! It's running now."

"Ah, so quickly, too. Zuko would've kept me waiting for three days," Azula sighed, shaking her head.

"You're his sister, that's his revenge for all your teasing," Sokka said. Azula groaned.

"I know, but he's just so easy to annoy…" she sighed, before smiling at him again. "Thank you for your work, though. As for what Aang said before, though… romance is allowed in these games too? Is that how broad their scope is, truly?"

"Oh, yeah. Some people even livestream their games, get huge fanbases, their fans fall in love with their characters and with the relationships between those characters…" Sokka explained, with an awkward smile. "I mean, sure, it's a little crazy to roleplay being in love with a friend, I imagine, but if you're doing it right, I'm sure it can be lots of fun."

"Huh. Has Aang ever fallen in love with Zuko, then?" Azula asked, amused. Sokka snorted.

"Well, no. Though I had to play Aang's wife in one of our first campaigns," Sokka chuckled. "But that's what I get for being the DM, always got to play every other character in our D&D world. Anyway, I think as long as the players and DM are in agreement about romance, it's doable."

"Hmm… if so, I don't see why it's so hard for you to get Suki to play with you, Zuko," Azula said, raising her voice so her brother, finished placing his order, would hear her.

"Say what?" Zuko raised an eyebrow.

"Sokka says romance is a thing. Tell her that, and that you're at risk of being romanced by Aang… might make her jealous enough to join in just to make sure she keeps you to herself," Azula smirked. Zuko scoffed.

"We're not teenagers, she doesn't think Aang's going to steal me away," Zuko huffed. Aang chuckled.

"The characters are the ones who tell the story, though. If you happen to build a character that my character finds appealing…" Aang said, wiggling his eyebrows teasingly: Zuko scoffed in disgust.

"Maybe mine won't find yours appealing, then," he said. Aang whimpered, a hand on his chest.

"Unrequited love? Oh, no! Whatever shall I do?"

"Are you three in league today to pick on me or something?" Zuko huffed, glaring at his two friends and his sister, who laughed at his irate reaction.

"Oh, lighten up, Zuzu," Azula chuckled, shaking her head. "Anyway, I think you really ought to try recruiting Suki. She likes videogames, I bet she'd enjoy this if she gets the hang of it eventually. If she's too difficult to coax into it, though… hmm. Maybe not Aang, then. Maybe you should invite Mai to join in, too."

"No. I… no!" Zuko whimpered, cheeks flushing. "You're not getting my ex entangled in this just to amuse yourself, damn it!"

"Well, it would be amusing, but I'm not just trying to tease you," Azula chuckled. "Seriously, the way Sokka puts it, he wants to tell a big story, right? The more…"

"The merrier! That's what I said!" Sokka exclaimed, beaming. Azula smiled at his reaction too.

"For that matter, instead of pushing other people to join in, maybe you should consider doing it yourself," Zuko huffed. "How about it, Azula? Want to play a game of Jails and J-… J-…"

"Jellyfish," Azula supplied, helpfully, and Zuko huffed in irritation at her response. "What? Perfectly valid animal…"

"It sounds like you have a set for every possible synonym and word you can use for this joke of yours…" Sokka smirked. Azula blinked blankly, a hand on her chest as she acted utterly shocked by his apparent accusation.

"What, innocent old me, coming up with a whole reservoir of names for Chambers and Chameleons? Vaults and Voles? Oubliettes and Owls?"

Sokka couldn't hold back the laughter anymore. Azula smiled with undisguised satisfaction as Zuko rolled his eyes at her.

"Anyway… sure," she said, with a shrug. "I will require some thorough coaching so I won't mess up, as well as a copy of this rulebook and whatnot, but…"

"Wait, what?" Zuko's dismissiveness froze… transformed now into sheer terror. Azula blinked blankly, gazing at him questioningly.

"What? You just said I should join in, and I said I'm perfectly happy to attempt it," Azula said. Zuko's face paled. "Oh? Is this not the outcome you were looking for?"

"Well… maybe Zuko wasn't, but Aang and I? Absolutely!" Sokka grinned, turning towards her in amazement. "Welcome to the party!"

"Heh. Sounds even more fun when you say it that way," Azula grinned in a rather devious way at Sokka. Zuko winced. "Have something to say now, Zuzu?"

Zuko's jaw had dropped in sheer horror: it was one thing for Azula to visit once in a while over computer trouble. It was a very different one for her to do so on a weekly basis for a Dungeons and Dragons campaign… especially with his two friends basically enabling her constantly, laughing at her jokes and encouraging her to poke fun at him left and right.

He couldn't refuse her now, though: she was bound to show up every week even if he did, and Sokka and Aang would welcome her without a hitch. No… what he needed was backup. Strength in numbers. More people to help him keep her in check…

Which was exactly what he hadn't wanted to do, but damn, Azula left him no choice.

"I… will convince Suki," Zuko grimaced. Aang gasped happily. "Sokka… get Katara too. And someone should get Toph. Maybe Jet…"

"I'll tell Mai and Ty Lee, then," Azula grinned. Zuko grimaced but sighed: at this point, he'd gladly endure the awkwardness of being around Mai if it meant Azula might have someone else to bicker with at some point or another.

"See? That's better payback for computer repairs than money," Sokka chuckled, smiling brightly at Azula. "You convinced him all on your own! I'll finally get the big party I was looking for…"

"You needn't mention it, though… I do need that rulebook, don't I?" Azula asked. Sokka chuckled.

"We'll get you one. You might need help with setting up your character, but I can give you a hand, maybe on videocall if that's easier for you than coming here," Sokka said. Azula huffed.

"It's not that hard, my own house is barely a few blocks away," Azula said. "Technically, I would have been staying in the same place as my brother if only Zuzu hadn't been so adamant about finding a roommate so he could have an excuse to stop living with his wicked sister…"

"Well, he's bound to move out sooner than later. He barely comes here anymore," Sokka said, with a shrug. "Anyway, if you'd rather drop by, that's fine by me. No idea if you have a lot of work to do for your classes, so…"

"My semester shouldn't be that heavy. I'll be able to spare a couple of evenings to come here, be it for building characters or whatever you need," Azula said. "Just let me know when you're available and I'll swing by."

"Awesome," Sokka smiled – he wasn't stupidly misunderstanding this as a date of some sort, was he? No one had dates over Dungeons and Dragons… but that she'd be willing to visit even if Zuko was absent was a surprisingly agreeable sign. One that, of course, didn't have to mean anything, but he'd always welcome spending more time with Azula and her delightfully devious wit.

After comparing schedules – both, it seemed, were rather oriented towards planning their schedules to the utmost detail, something rather convenient for people who would play Dungeons and Dragons –, they chose to hold their character-building session four days later. Azula asked many questions about the game that night, while also reiterating her gratitude towards Sokka after he finished all checkups of her computer, confirming it was functional and that it would stay that way – at least, until future updates crashed it. Her numerous queries about Dungeons and Dragons were hilarious, especially the ones she blurted out carelessly while they ate, and Zuko groaned in despair at every devious concept Azula ran by Aang and Sokka, who seemed to find her ideas hilarious instead of painful.

By the next day, the four of them contacted the rest of their potential party and confirmed that their player group would increase in size considerably. Jet even offered to bring his younger brother, a faithful Dungeons and Dragons enthusiast who, while still in high school, was as experienced a player as Aang, Sokka and Zuko were. The kid in question agreed to help his brother with building his character sheet, and Sokka took care of helping Katara and Azula while Aang handled Mai, Ty Lee and Toph. Zuko's sole assignment was Suki, who still hardly understood the point or how to play the game, but she agreed to join it if just for her boyfriend's peace of mind.

As much as preparing a big campaign was the greatest highlight of his career as a Dungeon Master, Sokka looked forward to building Azula's character more than anything else. He welcomed her in his house, offering her refreshments, making the most of the opportunity to talk about their respective careers – it was rather amusing that Azula's demeanor changed so starkly once Zuko wasn't around, for while she snuck in a few barbs here and there to tease him, it was nothing compared to how she acted when her brother was present. Her attention was on Sokka constantly, even helping him in the kitchen when she noticed he was struggling with their dinner, and they ate together while exchanging ideas on the very first character Azula had ever created for a tabletop roleplaying game:

"So… I've decided I shall be a tiefling," Azula declared, with a proud grin. Sokka bit his lip and shrugged.

"They're a pretty popular choice for players… unpopular in-world, though. You're sure?" he asked. Azula nodded sagely, and Sokka smiled. "Alright, then. You'll get some intelligence and charisma bonus which, I suppose, is quite fitting…"

"Is it, now?" Azula smirked. Sokka chuckled.

"Not going to pretend you're not smarter than everyone in any room you're in, are you?"

"Well… I mean, I'd love to say that, but you're in this room too and that makes it rather difficult to sustain such a claim," Azula said. Sokka blinked blankly and glanced at her in perplexity. "What? You're not going to pretend someone as competent as you, with such an ability to grasp this crazy game and build an entire, massive narrative the way you seemingly have, isn't basically a genius, are you?"

"I'm not…!" Sokka snorted, cheeks flushing as he shook his head. "No, no, no. I'm not a genius at all, Azula, I… I mean, it's flattering that you'd say so, but I'm not."

"Suit yourself…" Azula said, smirking as she focused on her character sheet, as well as the many notes she'd made about her plans, some of which she had already discussed with Sokka and discarded. "I've thought about it a lot… and the Draconic Bloodline Sorcerer sounds perfect for my character. Do you agree?"

"For someone who thrives in mocking the 'dragon' in Dungeons and Dragons, you sure seem to be a fan of them," Sokka smirked. Azula chuckled.

"Oh, that's just what my contract as a younger sibling entails, nothing more. I've always liked dragons. I've even wanted a tattoo of one, but I suppose maybe in the future…" she said, offhandedly. Sokka blinked blankly as Azula smirked at him. "What? Think it wouldn't suit me?"

"Might suit you too well, I'd say," Sokka smiled awkwardly. "Where…? Uh, where were we?"

No, he was not about to ask her where she wanted the tattoo, damn it. He had to focus.

"I'm a sorcerer," Azula repeated, smiling. "As for my personal storyline…"

They continued to discuss the details of her character, whom she named Fyrelith Krylla, the female tiefling who traveled the world on a quest to find a purpose in her life as an outsider to society. Once their main work was done, though, Azula continued asking questions about the campaign and, most of all, about Sokka's work as the Dungeon Master. He was surprised that she'd be so intrigued by it, but she wasn't secretive as to why:

"It's just… odd to me that it sounds like the Dungeon Master is the one who puts the most work into it while the rest of the players have lots of fun navigating the storyline you'd be creating," Azula said, raising her eyebrows. "Have you never wished to be a player instead?"

"Oh? Heh, I've done it and it's not as fun for me, honestly," Sokka laughed. "I mean, I'm not going to pretend I'm the greatest storyteller there was or so, but I love seeing the way people react to the twists and turns a story can take. I love improvising when things don't go as I planned… and honestly? My dice rolls are way better when I'm a DM. Or maybe I don't mind much when I roll poorly as a DM? Unless it's a big character, you know, by then it's unnerving to get lots of natural ones in a row, or so…"

"Well, then… I suppose I must ask you to forgive me for being judgmental, but this sounds like you're a bit of a control freak," Azula smirked. Sokka blinked blankly. "Not that it's too outrageous if you're one, I am one myself, but…"

"I wouldn't… say it's a matter of control, no," Sokka chuckled.

"Then you're just a self-sacrificial guy who wants his friends to have fun and doesn't care if he has to be the bad guy in order to help them do so?" Azula asked, her elbows on the table. She leaned in slightly, as if studying Sokka's true motives… and his heart raced far faster than it should have because of it. "It's very noble if that's how it is… but it feels unfair, too."

"Unfair because… what, you think I never win?" Sokka asked, amused, leaning slightly as well. Azula shrugged. "Zuko does say you're terribly ambitious and try to win at every game…"

"Suki's utterly frustrating in Mario Kart. I've probably only beaten her twice at it for as long as she's been dating Zuko," Azula said, an eyebrow twitching as Sokka chuckled at her confession. "But that's neither here nor there…"

"No, I'm sure it's not," Sokka said. Azula scoffed, though she smiled at his response.

"I'm just saying… it's very noble, but I wonder if I'm overthinking things," she said: her eyes wouldn't leave his, as if defying him, and Sokka refused to back down from the challenge she was offering him. "You deserve to live out your own epic story yourself, I'd say, rather than always building them for other people. Perhaps you're particularly good at that, but… aren't you curious about what might happen if you were a player instead?"

"I…" Sokka blinked blankly. Azula raised her eyebrows: she was trying to get at something that was absolutely going over his head… and that was her fault entirely.

She was so close. He was so close to her. The table was too big suddenly, no matter if they were that close indeed… he could push himself up slightly, lean in fully, catch her by surprise with a kiss, but would it even surprise her? The way she looked at him now, it was as though that was exactly what she wanted him to…

The sound of keys in the front door caused Sokka to gasp and jump to his feet, as if he had been caught by his mother or a schoolteacher doing something out of bounds. Oh, he was an idiot. A total idiot. His heart was racing and it wouldn't calm down – he hadn't really been about to kiss Azula, had he? And he hadn't just blown his first and only chance to do so, had he…?

"Guess it's Zuko?" Azula said as she pulled back too: Sokka's chest almost collapsed upon itself as he heard the front door swinging open.

"Sorry for barging in without warning," Zuko's voice echoed in the house, and Azula grimaced. Sokka smiled awkwardly as he stepped out of the kitchen: Zuko had a rucksack with him, and Sokka raised an eyebrow at the sight of it. "No, she didn't kick me out: she's spending a couple of days at her parents' place, and…"

"And you need someone to cook for you or else you'll order takeout for every meal?" Sokka asked, curtly. Zuko scoffed.

"I mean, if you don't want to cook enough for two…!"

"Three, actually," Azula announced: Zuko's face paled upon hearing her voice. Azula rose to her feet, stepping past the kitchen's threshold and smirking deviously at her brother. "How rude of you to interrupt us, Zuzu."

"I-interrupt… what?" Zuko said. Sokka's face flushed again and Zuko's paled just as much. "Sokka. Sokka. I don't… I don't want to be the Ross to your Chandler. So please tell me this isn't…"

"We were building her character for the campaign. That's all," Sokka said, with a dry grin, a hand on his face as Azula laughed deviously at her brother's utter horror.

"Azula!" Zuko roared, and she couldn't seem to stop laughing as she wrapped an arm around her stomach, bending over forward at his wild reaction.

Sokka couldn't help but smile as he watched her, no matter how flustered he was by her insinuation – it genuinely made him think he hadn't misread things at all before. Oh, he liked her a lot, and she was smart enough to realize it, Sokka guessed… he'd have to talk things over with Zuko if it looked like dating Azula was an actual possibility in his future. Zuko was bound to reject the notion completely, Sokka guessed… but Sokka couldn't help but be delighted by the sight of Azula's genuine laughter. She was beautiful when she smirked, of course… but her honest smiles were the best of them all.

Zuko wound up eating from the leftovers from their meal while Azula gathered her things, keeping all information about her character secret from her brother for the time being. Zuko seemed genuinely shocked that Azula would be taking the campaign so seriously, but he still eyed her warily constantly, until Sokka accompanied her to the front door while Zuko remained in the kitchen, eating to his heart's content.

"Is this it, then?" Azula asked, smiling at him as they stood at the front door. Sokka's heart was back to racing wildly just upon being alone with her. "I mean… I don't have to do anything else in preparation for the campaign?"

"Oh, uh, not really. I'll be painting the minis next week, but…"

"The… what?" Azula blinked blankly. Sokka smiled shyly.

"The stuff that makes us nerdier still, I guess. We make figures of our characters in Dungeons and Dragons, see? They help us keep up with what's going on during battle sequences. As the Dungeon Master, I place the minis on the maps where the fights are happening, that way I know how far anyone can move, the range of attacks and so on…"

"Ah… and you'll be painting my character?" Azula asked, amused. Sokka smiled.

"Everyone's characters, actually?" he said. "I'll ask for occasional input, send pictures to each of you of what it's looking like and what colors to pick, but…"

"Pictures? And how do I know you won't mess up Fyrelith by, I don't know, giving her a huge wart somewhere?" Azula asked. Sokka laughed, covering his face with his hands. "No, no, no. I can't trust you with this. You're too dangerous with all this power, Dungeon Master…"

"What are you saying? That you'll come by to help me?" Sokka chuckled.

Azula grinned.

Sokka's heart raced even faster.

He returned to the kitchen with wide eyes after Azula took off. Zuko continued eating, though he noticed Sokka's daze as his roommate sank in an empty seat. He bumped Sokka's knee with his own, grunting as though to make Sokka speak his mind.

"Zuko…" Sokka blinked blankly.

"The heck is the matter with you? Did she say something that drained all your happiness, or something?" Zuko asked. Sokka swallowed hard.

"I swear… there's nothing going on between me and your sister," he said. Zuko frowned. "But… would you kill me if I told you that I wish something was?"

Zuko stayed silent for a moment. He set down his fork after a moment. His face twisted slowly into a grimace… and then he dropped his head heavily on the table.

"My best friend and my sister…?"

The quote, spoken in an unusually soft, shrill voice for Zuko's standards, actually brought a burst of laughter from Sokka. He covered his face with his hands while Zuko groaned in frustration over the apparent, inevitable match that was bound to happen between Azula and Sokka…

A match that had another chance of cementing itself the next weekend: Azula was ready to exert her artistic chops and prove herself capable of painting minis along with Sokka. It was, without a doubt, the nerdiest thing she'd done, but she enjoyed herself thoroughly with it while Sokka's dumb, stupid heart continued to pound faster… she didn't really like him. She was just having fun, right? And that was great! He wanted her to have fun. But she couldn't possibly fancy him on any level, not necessarily because he thought himself lacking in appeal in any way… no, it was simply too lucky. He wasn't that lucky, was he? Unrequited love was typical, expected… he couldn't possibly have bottled up a crush on her since their very first encounter, when she had visited Zuko on campus once, only to discover years later that perhaps she felt the same way about him…

"Hmm… who's this?" Azula said, eyeing one of the characters she was painting with disapproving eyes. Sokka chuckled. "It looks like a plain, boring human…"

"That's Jet's character, actually. I won't go into details, though. You really shouldn't be here, you're getting spoiled, to a fault…" Sokka smirked. Azula raised her eyebrows.

"Really? Does this mean I, by some chance, am your favorite player already?" Azula asked. Sokka snorted. "It's quite alright to have some biases, I'd say. Better, even. As long as it means you favor me, of course, favor someone else and I'll decry it as utterly unfair…"

"Of course you would," Sokka chuckled, shaking his head. "You're the one who asked to be here, you said you couldn't stand letting me and my clumsy computer nerd hands handle your character, so…"

"Oh, I didn't say anything about your hands. They're not clumsy, I'm sure," Azula said. "As a computer nerd, I'm sure you have to work with some very… delicate parts, don't you?"

Her wording might not have been odd if it weren't for the inflection of her voice upon speaking them. Sokka didn't respond, eyeing her again as she smirked deviously.

"You… are really a menace," Sokka chuckled, and Azula laughed too. "Honestly…"

"Computer parts, of course! Goodness, Sokka, really… everything is an innuendo with you," she said, shaking her head. Sokka raised his eyebrows.

"Right. It's me. Of course it's me," he said, face red as Azula laughed again.

"Fine, fine, I'll stop if you're uncomfortable…"

"I'm… not that uncomfortable. But I admit it's kind of surprising that you'd poke fun at me with this sort of stuff," Sokka said. "I suppose Zuko will be grateful if you decide I'm your new target for teasing…"

"Oh, he'll never get out of being tormented by me. Sibling contract, remember? Lasts forever," Azula said, smirking. "But you're… fun to tease, in your own way, for sure. Still, it's just… I'm afraid my character is the prettiest of the bunch, you know?"

"Probably," Sokka admitted. Azula smirked at him.

"See? Of course she is. No wonder she's your favorite…"

"Yes, no wonder," Sokka chuckled: he'd do best to focus on the next figurine he had to work on, or else he'd never get anything done if he solely paid attention to Azula.

"Whereas the rest of them look lame," Azula sighed, shaking her head. "How could I possibly romance any of them?"

"Oh? That's the problem?" Sokka asked, amused. Azula nodded, feigning genuine consternation as she closed her eyes. "You might like their personalities, though…"

"Say that I don't…" Azula said, eyeing Sokka warily. "I suppose I'm just trying to set the record straight here… you play lots of NPCs, right? Non-playable characters?"

"I do," Sokka blinked blankly.

"Romance… isn't restricted to player characters, is it?" Azula asked, with a slowly growing grin.

Sokka's heart jolted. Azula raised her eyebrows, waiting for an answer as Sokka seemed to forget how to speak altogether. His lips parted, but no words came out as Azula chuckled, tilting her head to the side slightly.

"Oh, my: your blue eyes are flashing some weird code… it's a blue screen of death! Damn it. I guess I might need that USB stick to fix you, don't I? Where did you put it, I wonder…?"

"N-n-no need. I'm… here. Somehow. I think," Sokka swallowed hard. Azula chuckled, biting her lip as she eyed him questioningly.

"You played Aang's wife once, you said? Is it that much worse to come up with a character I could romance?" she asked. "A way prettier one than this lot, too…"

"Heh. I mean… I could, but, uh… probably not right away?" Sokka said, with an awkward smile. "I mean, I do have the whole campaign planned and all, so… might be better to save it for when we're close to the end, heh. T-that way… Fyrelith could even have a happy ending with someone. Right? Could be… that's the purpose she wants in life? Well, if we end up playing things and it feels right, of course…"

"Hmm," Azula said, frowning. "It's a little strange to plan the ending, though. I mean, you could, but I shouldn't be involved in preparing for that… no matter how much of a DM's pet I may be, right?"

"Uh, right," Sokka said, cheeks flushed as she pointed out he was being terribly unprofessional, quite accurately too. "You should roleplay, that's the point, heh. Just… roleplay with whatever feels right for your character."

"Whatever feels right?" Azula repeated. Sokka nodded promptly. "And… what about you? Would you set any boundaries, as a DM? You really should…"

"Well, if someone ever went out of line I'd definitely try to reel them back in," Sokka said. Azula hummed. "I don't think anything like that has ever happened… but I guess with so many new players, things might be different. Still… I think if anything makes me too uncomfortable I'd just say it, yeah."

"Hmm. I suppose that's how it is," Azula said, with a slow smile. "Well, then… I think my questions have been answered now. Fyrelith might be lucky, or perhaps not so much… we'll see depending on if you can come up with NPCs up to her standards, of course."

"That's not a lot of pressure, no…" Sokka chuckled, focusing on working on the minis once more now: his heart was still racing, but he felt slightly better now that Azula's curiosity appeared to be sated.

He really wasn't crazy for thinking there was a strange kind of energy between them, was he? It was an attraction he wasn't sure he had experienced in such a way ever before. Zuko nearly had a meltdown over the concept of Sokka and Azula dating, it was true, but he seemed to be over it by now – that was, as long as texting him links to the 'MY BEST FRIEND AND MY SISTER?' scene from Friends every two days meant he was over it – and his opposition to the concept appeared to be mostly over the realization that Azula would be the most obnoxious girlfriend to Sokka solely to make her brother uncomfortable… but that didn't mean this was a certain thing. Sokka liked her… he really did and he wasn't going to pretend otherwise. Sometimes, he couldn't help but imagine she felt the same way… but did she? Her satisfied smirk as she worked on Jet's character suggested she was up to something… and Sokka couldn't help but want to learn exactly what it was.

He didn't on that day, of course: before they could get too comfortable, before they could even hope to discuss whatever was going on between them, the doorbell rang and Sokka had to open the door to his sister, who was bringing a food parcel their parents had left her with… and upon finding Azula and Sokka were deep in the process of perfecting the minis, Katara rushed in to join them, delighted by the chance to work on her character as well. Thus, once again, their privacy was no more… but judging by Azula's pleasant mood that afternoon, she was genuinely unbothered by that. She and Katara had plenty of conversations about their expectations from the campaign, and Sokka laughed at their assumptions while clearing up his sister's questions and fielding off Azula's relentless, clever teasing.

By then, Sokka only had a few more preparations left before the campaign could begin, and he handled them as quickly as possible: the whole party agreed upon a regular schedule, and they would attempt to make their encounters a weekly appointment, if possible. Once Sokka was done with his final tweaks to the story, as well as with building the maps he expected he'd need, at least for the initial adventures, he texted the group chat to inform them of the date on which their campaign would begin, and he received full approval from everyone.

Thus, on the appointed day, Sokka's biggest campaign as a Dungeon Master was finally ready to begin.

Some introductions were in order, as several members of the group hadn't met before: Jet's little brother was adamant about being called The Duke, and he was entirely into his roleplaying from the moment he arrived. His character was a dwarven noble called Dain, an artificer with magical aptitudes. His brother, Jet, chose the most straightforward and simple character, a human fighter, only to irritate his brother by how utterly basic he was – and to top it off, he called the character Jet, too. Toph, on her part, chose to play as a male half-orc barbarian called Stout, and she warned everyone that she'd go all out with this game, seeing as it was finally a game where being blind wasn't much of a detriment, for she had Braille dice and she would be able to feel her rolls directly. Katara had chosen to be an elven wizard called Ilyrana, Ty Lee was a monk Air Genasi whom she had named, Aerya, Mai was a rogue aasimar with the name Andril, while Suki had chosen to be a gnome ranger called Selwyn. Aang's halfling druid was called Anrin, and Zuko had picked the name Ixuus for his dragonborn warlock.

Once everyone sat at the long table with their respective gear fully ready, the game finally began. Sokka weaved his storytelling wonders upon the group gradually, hoping to ease the process of introduction into the game for those who had never played Dungeons and Dragons before. He encouraged them to interact among themselves, Zuko and Aang helped him in teaching the others how to roleplay by example, though they hadn't needed to do so for the Duke, the only other experienced player at the table.

While things started slow, they picked up speed quickly: a set of missions gone wrong had caused all their characters, mercenaries attempting to make a living, to converge at a suspicious tavern that all leads had pointed them towards. A perfectly innocent innkeeper had provided them with no further information, though, as well as no means through which to investigate the inn's room where the suspicions were leading them.

"This guy's not going to crack easily, huh?" Jet said, raising an eyebrow.

"Not if we keep rolling so poorly," Aang groaned, glaring at the natural one on his dice tray.

"How about we just go upstairs, bust the door open and get this over with?" Toph growled, in-character, and the others shut her down immediately. "What? It'd make it way easier! Aren't we a bunch of scary mercenaries or whatever?"

"That doesn't mean we have to pick fights everywhere we go," Katara said, with a dry grin. "We could, uh, sneak in from the window, maybe? I don't know, I suppose Andril and Aerya might be able to do that…"

"What we require…" Azula cut in, her voice ringing with authority and a sultriness that Sokka shouldn't have found as appealing as he did… "Is a distraction, is it not?"

"A distraction?" Zuko replied. "Uh… okay? We're listening."

"If I can distract the innkeeper, you lot can, perhaps, find a spare key and head upstairs. Find whatever leads you can while I ensure the innkeeper is properly occupied…" Azula said, with a shrug. "And that way we'll finally make some progress."

"I think that sounds reasonable," The Duke said, firmly. "Let's listen to the tiefling, though I warn all of you, tieflings can be tricky, but…"

"Oh, please. What would I have to gain from tricking any of you?" Azula said, rolling her eyes. "I'm only in this for… uh, well, that's my business, isn't it?"

"That doesn't make you any more trustworthy, you know?" The Duke hissed. "But… we could use your abilities. So… do your best, tiefling."

"I have a name," Azula said. "But… to be entirely fair, I can't pretend I'd care if you use it. Anyway…"

She turned towards Sokka, smiling deviously. He chuckled and shrugged.

"You walk up to the innkeeper," Sokka said. Azula nodded.

"What does he look like?"

"Oh, uh… human, about mid-thirties? Dark hair, tan skin, not too bulky but not weak either, his duties at the inn keep him in alright shape," Sokka reasoned. Azula hummed.

"Good sir… may I ask for your name?" she smiled. Sokka slipped into character immediately and smiled.

"I'm Goldric, my lady. May I help you?" he said. Azula's smile widened.

"Oh, you may indeed," she said. Sokka raised an eyebrow.

"Is there, um, a drink I could bring you, or…?"

"Perhaps instead of bringing a drink here, you could, uh… bring me into your cellar instead? I have a good eye for the best wine vintages, you see," Azula said, with a wicked smile. "Perhaps we could even… share a bottle in private, if you would be so inclined?"

The whole table fell silent as Azula smirked at Sokka. He blinked once, then twice… then he cleared his throat, hoping not to blush too profusely.

"Okay, then… roll a d20 for persuasion?" Sokka blinked blankly – he had thought the innkeeper might have been a family man, with young children… but if that roll was too high, he'd scrap that notion immediately. Azula didn't need him to cause unnecessary drama for her character on the first time she had taken the initiative in the campaign, so…

Azula picked out the dice of twenty sides from her set, and she rolled into her dice tray. Aang, sitting beside her, gasped when the dice stopped…

"Natural twenty?!"

Sokka's jaw dropped. The entire table broke out in laughter as Azula stretched her arms out in a most arrogant gesture, clapping her hands as if to say her job was complete. Sokka, still shocked, blinked himself out of his amazement and smiled at Azula.

"Well, then. Heh. Okay," he said, swallowing hard before getting into character. "O-oh, uh… sure! That sounds lovely. I… gladly. Come, come. This way…"

"How very generous of you. I assure you, you shall be rewarded with sufficient generosity as well," Azula smirked. Sokka broke out of character with laughter as he shook his head.

"Congratulations: you seduced the innkeeper."

Azula raised a fist in the air in proud celebration while the others laughed at her unexpected solution for their predicament. Sokka chuckled too as he continued the story: the group took to rummaging through the innkeeper's things, found a master key and opened the door to their suspect's room. The man they were looking for was there… but not in good shape: a Shadow was sucking the life out of him, it seemed, and the party had to attempt to save the man in order to learn what his true purpose and intent were.

"Okay, so… roll for initiative! Roll your d20s and add your dexterity modifier," Sokka smiled. Azula frowned.

"Uh… this is to determine the order of combat, is it?" she asked. Sokka nodded. "I see."

"It is, so… why aren't you rolling?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow as the others began announcing their initiative numbers. Sokka ignored them, though, as Azula smirked at him.

"Because I'm not in combat, am I?"

"You… wait, what?" Sokka smiled awkwardly.

"A natural twenty means… a critical success, doesn't it?" Azula said, arms folded over her chest. "If I was that successful at persuading and seducing that guy… well, it's pretty obvious I'm going to be busy for at least the next, uh, fifteen minutes, give or take."

"Azula…?" Zuko blinked blankly, staring at her from across the table. Beside him, Suki snorted in amusement.

"You're actually fucking the innkeeper while the rest of us are in the middle of a fight?" she asked.

Azula's response was a perfectly shameless shrug: the whole room rang with laughter as she smirked proudly at an utterly flustered Sokka. His face probably had never been as red… for he had never allowed himself to picture, not truly, the notion of himself and Azula engaging in any manner of sexual activity. Nope. And he wasn't about to start thinking about it now. He wasn't going to. He wouldn't…

Oh, well. Why deny it? He'd pictured it now, and it was more than enough to send his brain into overdrive.

The combat scene was difficult to focus on, especially with the relentless teasing of the rest of the players, asking Azula to make performance rolls to find out just how well things were going for her and the innkeeper. Sokka told her not to bother – she still tried, scoring a 17 and a 15 on the first rounds, and Sokka's flustered face spoke for itself regarding what a successful result that was. Still, the battle against the Shadow resulted in victory for the party, Azula apparently was quite satisfied with her cellar adventures with the innkeeper, and their first session ended in utter triumph for the whole party.

"I know it caught you by surprise, but it was my very first idea on how to resolve the situation," Azula laughed that night as Sokka walked her to her car, parked right outside his house. "Did I go too far?"

"Well… I don't know. Depends on how you went about fucking the innkeeper, I suppose," Sokka said, with an awkward smile. Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"More like how he went about fucking me, I suppose, but…"

"Don't play coy now: your tiefling's got to be some sort of incredible dominatrix, accept the truth already," Sokka said, and Azula's laughter seemed to ring across the neighborhood at his accusations.

"Fine, then, fine," she smiled, pulling her car's door open. "You're sure it's okay, though?"

"It is," Sokka nodded, smiling at her. "I'll put my foot down if I change my mind, alright?"

"Sounds about right. I'll play nice if you do. And I'll keep playing naughty in the meantime," Azula smirked, winking at him before slipping into the driver's seat.

Sokka swallowed hard, struggling to suppress the shudder of delight that had rushed through his body over her words and gesture. Maybe he shouldn't be so thrilled about their next session merely for the sake of seeing Azula again, of being the target of her wicked teasing, as he had been today, but he couldn't quite help but look forward to it for that reason all the same…

On the next week, Sokka prepared himself as best he could for a wholly different adventure: the party's investigations into the previous session's events resulted in a journey that took them out of the city and into the wild forests beyond it. Sokka had a few plans for what they'd find… but first off, he wanted to cause some chaos by featuring a few surprise combat encounters along the way. The first ones weren't all that tricky to handle, but then he released his grand threat upon the party…

"Everyone: roll initiative!" Sokka declared, setting the large orc's mini on the map he'd prepared as everyone gaped at him in horror.

"Shit! I didn't think we'd get attacked by anything right before we got to the summit…" Katara winced, looking at Sokka in horror. "You're mean, Sokka! We're almost there, you said…!"

"Hey, it's the way the game works. Take it or leave it," Sokka smirked: everyone rolled, and everyone offered Sokka their respective initiative results as the battle against the terrifying orc began.

Of course, all was going well right until Azula's character stepped up to the orc Sokka had placed on the battlefield. The orc's turn came right after hers, he had already taken a few blows by the other players – ranged blows, mostly – and her choice to be in such proximity with the orc seemed a rather wild one to make…

"It's pretty unsafe to be in close quarters with this guy. He'll get an attack of opportunity…" Sokka pointed out, and Azula huffed, brushing through the rulebook.

"From what I understand, even if we leveled up to second level last week, I actually cannot use second-level spells yet?"

"Uh, you can't yet, no," Sokka said. Azula huffed, shaking her head.

"Well, that's too bad but I suppose Charm Person will do?"

Sokka's jaw dropped. The others let out a deep 'ooooh' while eyeing Sokka deviously, since that wasn't something he'd planned for at all. Azula smiled wickedly again, closing the book and shrugging.

"Mind making a wisdom saving throw for me, mighty orc?" she asked. Sokka huffed, shaking his head before rolling the dice.

"What's the DC?" he asked. Azula hummed before finding the right stat for Sokka to measure himself against.

"That would be a fourteen, yes," she said. The Duke, Aang and Zuko hummed at the surprisingly high number while at such a low level. "Indeed, my charisma is quite high. You're most unfortunate for that, my lovely orc."

"Well… the lovely orc has rolled a fifteen, so I'm afraid your spell didn't take hold," Sokka smiled. Azula gasped in horror as the table groaned.

"That's not fair," she said, huffing. Sokka shrugged. "And here I was thinking we could have so much fun…"

"Wait, what?" Jet snorted. "Again?"

"Are you slutshaming Fyrelith? Are you?" Azula asked, glaring at him playfully from over Aang's head. Jet cackled, covering his face with a hand as Ty Lee's jaw dropped.

"Azula! I didn't know you had this in you!" she said. Azula scoffed.

"Me? It's what Fyrelith wants, I'm only channeling what the character requires. Simple," Azula said, with a bright grin.

"Well, I'm afraid you're not going to bang an orc that's hellbent on trying to kill you for trespassing on his territory," Sokka said, with a sarcastic smile. Azula scoffed.

"I can still try again…"

"Don't waste all your spell slots on this nonsense!" Zuko squealed: Azula groaned, waving a dismissive hand at him. "Azula!"

The fight continued once her turn was over – and of course, Azula took damage from the orc once his turn arrived. He roared before delivering a sharp slap across her face: Azula dignified that with a whimper of pain… and then a devious smile.

"I see you like it rough, do you? How delightful…" she said, and the others laughed again as Sokka groaned, looking at her in disbelief.

"He attacked you! This is an unhealthy fixation you're developing with this guy!" Sokka said. "Don't try to bang people who hurt you, Azula!"

"Oh, now, I wouldn't! But Fyrelith is a whole other story, you see…"

"He's a hideous-looking orc! Look!" Sokka's voice cracked as he picked up the mini, showing it closely at Azula while the rest of the table roared with laughter. She tilted her head to the side, smirking and biting her lower lip.

"There's just this rugged handsomeness about him, though…"

"Holy crap, you're completely incorrigible," Sokka surrendered, setting the mini in place again as he smiled in disbelief at her. "I really hope you guys go to a temple soon. I feel like someone has to exorcize Fyrelith…"

"If only one of us were a cleric…" sighed The Duke, shooting a glare at his brother, who stuck a tongue out at him.

"Why should I be the cleric? You be the cleric…"

The sibling argument unfolded carelessly then as the fight carried forward: a full round was done, and the orc was not in the best of shapes once Azula's turn came around anew. Sokka shot her a wary look. She responded with a devious smirk. Sokka raised a menacing hand.

"Azula…"

"I… would like to persuade him," she said. Sokka's jaw dropped. "Regular, plain persuasion. No spells, or Zuzu won't let me live it down. So…"

"Right. Well, then. Go on and try!" Sokka said, with a disbelieving smirk. "Disadvantage, because you're talking to a dude who's bleeding pretty profusely after the rest of your party hacked away at him like nobody's business…"

"Disadvantage, then. I see," Azula nodded before breathing in and getting into character once again, eyeing Sokka luridly. "Please, now, we can resolve this in an agreeable way, can we not? A specimen as strong and sturdy as you… I'm sure I could heal your wounds from this fight and, I don't know, learn a thing or two about orc anatomy while we're at it?"

She wiggled her eyebrows and Sokka shot her a defiant glare. He gestured with his chin, and Azula picked up her twenty-sided dice: the first result was a fifteen… and the second, an eight.

"Well, then, disadvantage says you failed," Sokka smiled in relief… only for The Duke to hum, eyeing him questioningly.

"I'm not sure about that, you know? Because you probably should do an Insight check yourself," The Duke said. Sokka froze, glaring at one of the more experienced players at the table. "I mean, I don't know how smart you want to make this guy sound, but…"

"That's a good point. He doesn't sound all that smart to me," Aang laughed.

"This could work? You could actually seduce an orc with a roll as low as eight?" Mai asked, skeptical. Azula shrugged carelessly.

"I was about to accept my failure but if that sounds reasonable…" Azula said, smiling at Sokka again: his eyebrow twitched as he glared at Aang. "Oh, come on, it's an eight, isn't it? Hardly like you're bound to fail it."

"Well… the orc's wisdom modifier is minus two," Sokka revealed, and the whole table gasped in amazement. Azula blinked blankly, a slow smile spreading over her face. "And that's what affects insight. So… as long as I get ten or higher, sure, I'm fine, but… fuck."

He hadn't thought to do an insight check himself – it seemed to him that this orc could very well just be a violent asshole who was uninterested in a seductive tiefling. But it might be entertaining to roll against Azula's roll…

His d20 rolled in his dice tray before settling on a seven.

Sokka yelped. Azula gasped happily, even if she hadn't seen the number directly.

"Did it work?! Did it work?!" Ty Lee exclaimed: Sokka covered his face in his hands as a response…

And the entire table erupted in a spree of wild cheers. Azula laughed harder than anyone – she had assumed it wouldn't pay off, she seemed resigned to an adverse result… oh, but seeing her laugh that way was more than enough for Sokka. Even if it meant his orc was a smitten fool now, of course.

"U-uh, I, uh… What? What? You're, um… pretty," he said, roleplaying as the orc again. Azula laughed and nodded.

"Aren't I? That's wonderful of you to say. But now I'd very much like it if you would stop fighting my comrades?" Azula said, raising her eyebrows meaningfully. Sokka groaned.

"I… fight them. You're my snack for later," he decided, turning his focus on the others again: the whole table gasped at the way he had circumvented the situation, preventing a strange, diplomatic solution just when it seemed to be at hand.

"Wait, what?!" Suki gasped. "You can't just ignore her, she persuaded you!"

"She persuaded him of her value as a healer and as a snack, I suppose," Sokka smiled. "But you lot? You didn't persuade him of anything, he's not very bright, so he won't decide you're all harmless just because he thinks she is. See?"

"Let me at him, I'll tear that orc a new one…" Toph said, cracking her knuckles. "It's my turn after he's done with his, right? I'll finish him off…!"

"Wait… I have a bonus action, don't I?" Azula said, stopping Toph on her tracks.

"Sure…?" Sokka blinked blankly.

"I didn't really attack, so I'm not sure if this whole thing about offhand action is plausible?" Azula said. Sokka raised an eyebrow. "Can I bargain with you to make, uh, a manner of attack, I'd say?"

"A manner of attack?" Sokka asked. "What, you're going to smack the orc with your staff? Kind of a little too much if that's what you…"

"No, no, no… I'm going to flash him."

"You're…" Sokka started… then he froze on his tracks. His jaw dropped as the table fell utterly silent. Azula blinked blankly a few times, as if waiting for him to speak. "You're… going to flash him. Like… pull your corset open and…?"

"Exactly."

The table roared with laughter again at Sokka's utter perplexity. Azula shrugged, mimicking the potential action with one hand hovering by her chest.

"See, tugging the binding loose quickly isn't going to be that hard, then Fyrelith just has to push her chest out and…"

"Okay! That's a visual!" Sokka exclaimed, face red as he huffed, eyes wide in horror. Azula laughed, and even she was slightly flustered now.

"Too much for a bonus action? Damn. Guess Toph might have to finish him off, then," she chuckled.

"Azula… roll two d8s," Sokka sighed, shaking his head.

"Oh?" she asked.

"Yep. One for each breast," Sokka snorted: a gasp, and another spree of laughter overtook the table as Azula chuckled, rolling the two dice.

"What exactly is this roll supposed to even be?" Katara asked, eyeing her brother in utter confusion.

"If you must know… psychic damage," Sokka said, bluntly, and the others laughed again at his earnest answer. Azula chuckled.

"I wonder if you'd have picked a die with more sides if her rack was any bigger," Azula said. "I got a 12, by the way."

"Twelve?" Sokka asked, with a widening smirk as he eyed his creature's remaining ten hit points. "Azula… you did a great job! You killed a guy by flashing him!"

"What?!" Azula gasped, horrified as the others laughed and cheered her on. "B-but…no! I was trying to…!"

"You could definitely call it a killer rack now, I have to say…" Sokka smirked, as the others laughed even harder. "Nice move. Never knew it was a doable one, but hey! That was pretty damn clever of you. See how great roleplaying can be? You let the dice tell the story…!"

"Even if it results in death by tits," Toph smirked.

"Curses… this isn't over, DM," Azula hissed, raising a menacing finger in his direction. "One way or another… I will have my revenge."

"Well, be my guest and continue to attempt it," Sokka smirked, shaking his head. "You know, I thought your character was seeking a purpose in life…?"

"Apparently that purpose is banging every eligible individual in the realm," Mai said. Azula smiled deviously at her.

"Well, not every eligible one. As far as I can tell, you lot are single, ready to mingle and yet…"

She eyed everyone in the table with distaste and judgment, resulting in another spree of laughter by them all. She waved a hand dismissively in their direction as Jet, the more affronted of the group, cleared his throat.

"And what if I try to romance you?" he asked – Sokka scolded himself for feeling any manner of jealous pangs at the notion of Jet hitting on Azula, even if just her character. "I'm a human and, while my brother thinks that's the most boring thing in the world…"

"It is!"

"I'm perfectly handsome too," Jet grinned. "And, uh, I suppose technically my guy is still looking at your rack…"

"Oh, is he?" Sokka asked, raising an eyebrow. "Azula, roll another two d8…"

"Okay no! Okay, stop, I'm a decent guy! I'm not looking!" Jet squealed, as the table laughed again – it wasn't likely that he'd die over the result of that roll, but he wasn't willing to risk it.

"Ah, how unfortunate. How will I ever find anyone who can withstand looking at my chest without dying in the process?" Azula sighed dramatically, before nodding at Sokka. "And so, I tied up my corset again and my, uh, C-cups are properly hidden once more."

"Ah, and they're C-cups?" Katara asked, amused. Azula nodded sagely.

"You see, I'm theorizing that it'd be a d4 of psychic damage if it were an A-cup, a d6 if it's a B-cup so a d8 if it's a C-cup, I'm assuming, d10 for a D-cup, so…"

"Are you seriously coming up with homebrew rules for the psychic damage in terms of bra sizes?" Sokka asked, gawking at Azula in disbelief. She nodded sagely.

"Well, why not? The other girls might need to do this sometimes to get out of trouble, I'm just offering some helpful resources…"

"Yeah, you know what? I'm writing that down, definitely going to keep that damage chart handy for the future…" Suki declared, making notes of Azula's new ideas while Sokka struggled with his own laughter.

"This… is either the best campaign of all time or the worst. Still too soon to tell," he said. Azula chuckled, and Sokka was delighted to find her eyes seemed even sympathetic and slightly apologetic over the utter embarrassment she had subjected him to with her relentless teasing.

They talked matters over again afterwards, with Azula confessing she had worried that her latest idea was slightly too bold, but Sokka reassured her: this strange tug of war they were holding in the game was thoroughly entertaining for the two of them, as well as the rest of their friends.

So, after confirming yet again that no worrisome boundaries had been breached, their amusing clashing continued in the next sessions: every new character Sokka introduced was immediately a potential target for Azula's wicked ideas. Sometimes her checks succeeded, just as sometimes they failed: on occasion, Sokka would make up new, appealing characters on the fly just to mess with her whenever she was trying to have her way with another one, but sometimes Azula would improvise upon his choices, down to even having her character engage in a rather wild situation with a pair of elves, both too naïve to understand what she was up to as she dragged them into a private room. Her deviousness knew no boundaries, and the people at the table seemed to find her character's antics a grand highlight of each session: they'd even start placing their bets on which newly-introduced character Fyrelith might attempt to sleep with, while also even making their own attempts at bonding with each other as well as her character – Jet continued to attempt to flirt with her, and her deadpan responses caused everyone to roar with laughter as he continued to wonder what, exactly, was so unappealing about his human fighter.

It was a genuine miracle that their group managed to stick to their schedule almost flawlessly, and their campaign flowed quite successfully because of that. New friendships and bonds had been built between everyone, both within the story and outside it, and their genuine enjoyment of the campaign was palpable as their characters gained further strength, now having reached level seven and finally becoming a proper adventuring group, according to the more experienced players.

But something carried over from the first session until the fifteenth: Azula smirked in a telling way as soon as Sokka finished introducing a new character…

"Hey. Hey!" Sokka glared at her menacingly. "Careful where you tread, young lady!"

"What? I'm just thinking… a blacksmith? That's… interesting," Azula laughed as Sokka huffed, shaking his head.

"She's a married woman, damn it!" Sokka squeaked. "And besides… she's straight!"

"Oh, really? As if seeing a lady as hot as Fyrelith wouldn't cause her to question her sexuality at least a little bit…?" Azula said, smirking deviously at Sokka. He huffed. "Come on. Just let me roll for it. I swear I'll leave her alone if I fail."

"So… you're saying you don't mind that she's married?" Sokka asked. Azula shrugged.

"Well, I don't think Fyrelith would, no. She's terribly amoral, remember? Chaotic neutral," Azula grinned, with a careless shrug.

"If you become a homewrecker after this, you might actually be chaotic evil," Katara smirked. Azula rolled her eyes.

"Semantics…" she said, dismissively, and everyone at the table laughed. Sokka huffed, glaring at her meaningfully.

"You insist on giving it a shot?" he asked. Azula smirked.

"You do realize you're supposed to be the boss here? If you want to put your foot down and say this lady's days of experimentation are behind her, go for it. But if you think she'd be even slightly curious…"

Sokka held her gaze, and Azula's smirk didn't dwindle at all. He breathed deeply… before giving her his verdict:

"Roll for persuasion with disadvantage," he hissed. Azula laughed deviously.

"Oh, I don't know about this blacksmith but you, DM, have a soft spot for Fyrelith for sure…" Azula snickered, rolling two twenty-sided dice, as commanded…

Aang, beside her, gasped. Azula raised her eyebrows upon looking at the numbers on the pair of dice…

"What? What?!" Sokka whimpered. Azula smirked again, though there was a smidge of remorse as well.

"Natural twenty… and natural nineteen."

Sokka's eyes widened. His face paled. Azula couldn't muffle her laughter as the rest of the table broke out in laughter as well: Sokka groaned, shaking his head in horror before taking his own dice: he could do this, he could do this, if he rolled high enough he might counter her roll…

A nine, of course, wasn't going to be a high enough number to defeat her.

"Ugh. Fine. Fine. You win," Sokka groaned. Azula giggled wickedly.

"You could say I have a… weakness for strong arms. I'd never seen any quite so strong in a lady before, too," she said, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Mine are pretty strong, though!" Ty Lee exclaimed, beaming: Azula shot her a deadpan glare, like the ones she typically shot Jet. "I mean, I'm not saying I'm interested, but…"

"I… found a much better offer right here. A delightfully strong woman, right? Right?" Azula said, teasing Sokka into roleplaying. His tense smile spoke for itself.

"I… I must say, I don't really know what you mean…" he said, trying to sound as feminine as possible while everyone laughed. Azula chuckled, gazing at him with teasing affection.

"Now, now, don't be so modest… though if you'd truly like to know what I meant, dear, there's one rather interesting way of going about it," she said, biting her lip. "Mind introducing me to your… forge?"

"Uh… sure! You'd like to see it? Perfect!" Sokka grinned awkwardly before letting out a deep sigh. "And so, Fyrelith has gotten laid, officially, six times."

The table erupted in cheers as Azula cackled with deviousness, clapping as well at Sokka's declaration.

"Does that include the two elves?" asked Toph, smirking.

"Six times, seven partners. The distinction is worth pointing out, I suppose," Azula laughed. "Ah, it could be more, but you have been terribly stingy with some characters, Sokka. Like that wonderful orc. He might have been Fyrelith's soulmate and yet…"

"Fyrelith killed him herself, so don't guilt me about it," Sokka chuckled, shaking his head.

"Come to think of it, shouldn't you roll the damage against the blacksmith lady?" Mai smirked. "Probably against all the people who've seen your breasts by now, Fyrelith…"

"Oh, well, it's not a combat situation, so I don't think it'll be necessarily damaging then…" Sokka said. Azula let out a happy sigh.

"Ah, I did worry about that, but it's good to know that's your verdict, Sokka," she said.

"You should do some sort of performance check to make sure it doesn't do damage, though," chuckled The Duke. "I mean, the lady's never been with a female tiefling before, right?"

"So, you think… what, that a low roll would mean she'd faint as soon as I take off my clothes?" Azula scoffed. The Duke shrugged, and Sokka grinned.

"Hey! That's a good idea! Performance checks to find out how this tryst turned out!" he said. "Come on, Azula, it's a performance check…!"

"Well, I suppose at least performance works with the charisma modifier, better than athletics for someone like me…" Azula said, raising her eyebrows as she picked up her dice and rolled it… and she snorted, throwing her head back in amusement. "Why can't I roll this well for initiative calls? Got a sixteen, my charisma modifier is plus four, so…"

"Another twenty?" Sokka's eyebrow twitched. "Well… I got a fifteen here. So… ehem. You guys are just waiting for Fyrelith to be done with her business which, I suppose, means that you'll get all your equipment repairs for free since a performance check that high would get you that much of a discount…"

"Hell yeah!" The Duke laughed.

"Okay, Azula: you're banging the clerk of the potions shops next time," Zuko said, smirking. "I wouldn't be encouraging you to do this, normally, but…"

"Ah, finally accepting my life's choices, brother: thank you. I've always waited for this moment…" Azula responded, dramatically: even though he was usually quite irritated by Azula's antics, it seemed her primary focus on Sokka during these games had eased up Zuko's tension and irritable behavior at his sister.

"After about thirty minutes or so," Sokka continued. "You see Fyrelith is leaving the forge room, looking… eh, like she usually does. Meanwhile, the blacksmith is following her with lovestruck eyes and trembling hands…"

"Oh, no!" Katara snorted, covering her mouth with a hand as Azula's eyes widened. Sokka smiled deviously at Azula.

"Oh, my lady! T-that was incredible! Where did you learn such techniques? I… I am, uh, of course, talking about forging techniques, haha! Yes, yes, do not judge me, please…!" Sokka roleplayed, acting bashful and shameless all at once as the rest of the table broke into laughter while Azula, for once, dropped her face in her hand. "My lady, would you like to stay? For a day, maybe! The night! Surely you need a place to stay! My husband, oh, he'll be delighted to meet you as well…!"

"I… don't think so," Azula said, with a weak smile. "Goodness, if you're this thrilled about my performance, I sincerely doubt he's any good in bed himself…"

"Oh, he's not! But you, my lady…!" Sokka said, his voice as greedy as could be. Azula couldn't keep a straight face anymore as she closed her eyes in laughter. "I'm sure you could teach him so much if you stay and…!"

"We… have a journey to continue!" Zuko cut in, with a dry grin. Sokka scoffed at him. "I'm afraid we cannot stay any longer than we have."

"I can get you some food! Some drinks, too…!"

"Hell, yeah!" Toph roared.

"Toph!" the others rebuffed her, and she shrugged carelessly in their direction.

It was yet another victory for Azula, then, as the dice had favored her this time… but a week later, Sokka ensured to turn the tables. He knew Azula had boundaries of her own, there was no way that wouldn't be the case… and after leading the party into a large swamp, filled with festering corpses he introduced that day's main non-playable character…

"You come across a dark-haired, blue-eyed humanoid," Sokka said: Azula's knowing smile tickled him, as he knew what was going through her mind already… and he smirked before delivering the final blow that would freeze Azula on the spot. "He is eight-years-old."

A collective gasp by the entire party. Azula's smile dwindled at once. Sokka smirked at her, proudly.

"He is… a stable boy of some sort, going by the appearance of his filthy attire, but he may have gotten lost during his journey," he said "And just as it has happened with many people you've met, the child has been haunted by Shadows, pushed away from home. He's nervous, downcast… but he smiles at once when your group approaches."

Sokka cleared his throat, and he hitched his voice purposefully, for the sake of impressing further childishness into his upcoming act.

"G-good day…" he said, shyly. "Are you travelers? I… I'm lost. I don't know where I am, I don't know what happened, I…"

"Child," Katara said, offering Sokka a sympathetic smile. "Don't fret. We'll help you, for sure. Are you alone out here?"

"Uh-huh…" Sokka nodded, making his best impression of an innocent child. Azula grimaced, a hand on her face.

"Really? No friends, no family out here with you?" Ty Lee asked.

"How did you wind up here, then?" Suki said. Sokka shrugged.

"I… I don't know. T-these spooky things, t-they scared me and I just ran. And then I woke up… here," he said, glancing around himself warily. "P-please… I just want to go back to the farm…"

"The farm… owned by your parents?" Azula asked. Sokka's eyes narrowed.

"My parents died," he said, curtly, his voice no longer as emotional, though still as shrill. Azula's eyebrow twitched.

"How about… an older sibling?" Azula asked.

"I have no one," Sokka said, bluntly. "I'm alone. It's just little old me."

"Little… as in, how old are you?" Azula asked, swallowing hard. "J-just… to be sure. A human child, right? That's what you are…?"

"I'm a human child and I'm eight-years-old," Sokka repeated.

For the first time, Azula groaned and dropped heavily on the table in a sign of defeat: the entire group gasped in shock, as Sokka raised his head proudly.

"Fine! Fine! I get the picture! It's over!" Azula exclaimed, as everyone laughed at her surrender. "You win, I lose! I cannot seduce a character, or attempt to, on every single session! I accept your judgment!"

"I mean… you can certainly try next week, but not this time," Sokka chuckled, but Azula scoffed in his direction.

"Don't play innocent now. You knew exactly what you were setting me up for here… and I respect it. I accept it. I… will rethink my life choices. Fyrelith shall do the same. From here on out, I shall become the most reasonable, goal-oriented sorcerer you've met. Though… I have no idea what my goal is yet, but I suppose the immediate goal should be coming up with a greater goal, yes…"

"So, you're going to stop seducing everything we come across?" Suki smiled sadly. "I mean, everything eligible, I suppose…"

"I fear your days of entertainment over my conquests are now over," Azula said: the whole table groaned in disappointment, and as much as she seemed resolute about her decision, Azula couldn't help but laugh at their reaction.

"Well, come on, I just wanted to tease you into not doing it all the time…" Sokka said, but Azula huffed in his direction.

"I can acknowledge it when I've been beaten. So… I accept this fate you've bestowed upon me. Rethinking my life, right now," she said, shaking her head. "Do not try to break my resolve, for it will be futile…"

"Oh, really?" Sokka smirked.

The fact that her resolve was, indeed, unbreakable, took Sokka by surprise on the next session: a couple of characters were introduced, and Azula made no move to hit on them or flirt with them at all.

"Oh, wow. Looks like she meant it," Aang blinked blankly as Azula behaved aloofly, shaking her head dismissively at everyone's confused stares.

"I feel like I'm being judged more harshly over not being promiscuous anymore than I ever was over my promiscuity," she pointed out, prompting some of the others to laugh. "Truly…"

"Well, we're worried about you, Fyrelith!" Katara laughed, in character once more. "Are you sure you're okay? That guy was okay-looking…"

"Oh, he was… but I have to be more responsible," Azula said, shaking her head. "In all this time I've sought a purpose… and meaningless, careless romps with random people felt like one, for a time. I fear I may need something greater, though."

"A real relationship!" Ty Lee suggested. Azula's eyebrow twitched.

"Not with any of you lot, I don't," she said, and as ever, everyone laughed at her rejection.

"Well, then, how about friendship?" Aang suggested, with a careless smile. "That can be its own kind of fulfillment… you'll see!"

Azula sighed, but she shrugged and complied: Sokka eyed her with a raised eyebrow, and she stared back challengingly. Did she mean he had to try harder to appeal to her? Was that what she was getting at?

But where nothing could scare her away before, now it seemed nothing interested her, instead. She started taking her character building far more seriously, interacting more with the other player characters, and while Sokka thought the direction she was taking her character in would be nice, she still constantly dropped hints that she hadn't found the fulfillment she sought yet. Multiple sessions went by, and nothing Sokka did got a rise out of her… but the way she eyed him sometimes thoroughly convinced him that she wanted him to try harder. Maybe he was wrong… but what if he wasn't?

The campaign carried on, and the other characters got away with having fun antics of their own, amusing storylines that had everyone at the table laughing often. Their characters continued to seek the true source of the Shadows plaguing the realm, ever hoping to put an end to the threat that constantly appeared to rise with further strength. Their team, too, grew stronger and wiser, enough to finally investigate deeply enough to track down their final foe… as well as to defy him in the opulent castle ruins in which he dwelled.

"I raise my staff and say: who are you? And why are you here?" Zuko growled.

Sokka closed his eyes, taking a deep breath before opening them again: he seemed to be fully in-character as the villainous entity they had been chasing for around half a year by now.

"Ixuus, the warlock," Sokka said, eyes drifting across the party members, one by one, in clockwise order starting with Zuko. "Selwyn, the ranger. Andril, the rogue. Ilyrana, the wizard. Stout, the barbarian. Dain, the artificer. Jet, the fighter. Aerya, the monk. Anrin, the druid. Fyrelith, the sorcerer. I see you have come to pay me a visit."

"We had something a little less friendly in mind," Jet said, with a smirk. "We don't know what you're trying to pull here, whoever you are… but the gig is up. We're here to take you down."

"Is that so?" Sokka said, his voice deep and menacing. "Just as you take down everything on your path, of course?"

"Hell, yeah!" Toph exclaimed, tossing a fist into the air.

Sokka sighed, shaking his head condescendingly. A few of the players eyed him skeptically as he relaxed on his chair, a strange air of authority and arrogance to him.

"You solely prove me correct in my choices. Every move you've made, every step forward into this violent world… made violent by your choices, not my own," Sokka said, a hint of mournfulness in his voice.

"Say what? You keep sending those Shadows to kill everything!" Suki scoffed.

"We've saved lots of people from them, you send them to kill us…" Katara said, shaking her head. "If anything, you're the one who's being violent! We were happy to be…!"

"Mercenaries. Murderers for hire," Sokka said, and the others froze. "You pretend to have morals, to fight for what's right and true… but what is right and true? It matters little to the likes of you, of course… to the likes of nature altogether. Of mortals, not solely your group of miscreants."

"Uh… I'm a little confused now," Aang said, smiling awkwardly at Sokka. "Are you trying to say that you hate us for being murderers? You hate… nature altogether?"

"When all began… the first speck of life was but a gift bestowed upon a world deemed beautiful, meant to be shared with others," Sokka sighed. "But as life thrived and grew, cruelty became the default choice by those whose hearts were conquered by greed, by hatred… by the need to covet more than they have earned. Satisfaction? It is beyond the likes of you… of all living, breathing beings across our world. It is not solely the sentient, for it's in the very instincts of all creatures in existence. The world is rotten. Life is rotten. It needs… to be purged."

"Well, I heard enough: let's wreck him!" Toph roared. Aang grimaced.

"But if we just fight him we'll prove him right, won't we? We should… go about it differently!" he said, nodding promptly. "Let's talk things over and convince him that life is worth fighting for."

"Uh, I don't think this was designed to be a situation where we can win through persuasion…" Zuko pointed out, and Aang pouted.

"It could be interesting if it were possible, though…" Azula said: the others eyed her skeptically. "What? I'm only saying, it's entirely possible to attempt it, though it probably will fail, but still…"

"Well, you're the one with the insanely high charisma stat… and a longer history of seduction than anyone else in this world, I presume," Mai smirked skeptically. "Hit on him. Maybe flash him, get that 2d8 damage…"

"You know, that's not a totally awful idea," Katara said, with a smile. "Technically, you were the one least inclined to pick fights because you preferred to sleep with everyone, so… how about it? You should totally talk this guy down!"

"I… am slightly out of practice," Azula said, raising her eyebrows and glancing at Sokka, who stared at her intently. "But I suppose it won't hurt to try?"

"I don't think I trust that guy… though I don't trust the tiefling much more than I trust him, honestly," The Duke said, with a grimace.

"She's pulled off some really incredible feats with her, uh, assets. I'm sure she can do something now," Jet grinned. "Go on, Fyrelith! Convince that guy that we don't just kill everything, we bed everything we can, too!"

"A respectable motto, yes," Azula agreed, nodding as the others laughed at Jet's words.

She breathed deeply then, turning towards Sokka. He stared her down defiantly, much as he had in the past.

"Well, I haven't done this in a while…" Azula said, biting her lip. "Yes, well, a few months, technically, but that's still a long time for me. At any rate… you have yet to answer our main question. Who are you?"

Sokka closed his eyes again, and he kept silent long enough to make them think he might not answer…

"I am Hessik. And I… am the mind from which this world first spawned."

Their jaws dropped. Everyone glanced among each other in confusion: a few non-playable clerics they'd met had mentioned Hessik's name here and there as some old entity, long-forgotten but recently rediscovered... even so, he had been revered as a deity, a god. An intangible, distant entity…

"This world… was my creation," he said. "And I have seen it grow corrupted with the cruelty in the hearts of all who cannot seem to stop reaching for more than they deserve. It is vile, it is vicious… and it is my wish to see it undone."

"Undone? You… intend to destroy this world, do you?" Azula asked. "And, perhaps, create a new one where such cruelty is needless? Yet… life is brittle, fragile. We cannot survive by doing nothing. By watching sunsets and sunrises, by breathing in flowers… for flowers, too, must drain water and nourishment from the earth. In doing so, they may overstep themselves, take more than they should, kill other flowers by stealing what the others need…"

"It is a flawed world, is it not?" Sokka said, bitterly. "I was young… I was foolish and I failed to predict an outcome that, after so many years, seems so obvious. But nothing will change for the better. There is nothing but cruelty and darkness awaiting… nothing but oblivion for the likes of your friends. But you…"

"Oh? What about me?" Azula blinked blankly: his eyes changed, softening slightly.

"You sought to resolve conflicts in unforeseen ways," he said. "I cannot say… that you sought to create life by doing so, no, certainly not… but you sought a higher purpose. Simple-minded mercenaries like your friends could never understand such a calling. You wanted more, did you not? So much more than traveling endlessly with buffoons who cannot appreciate your true qualities, your talents… your boundless wisdom."

"Boundless what? She flashed an orc!" Zuko squealed, as the rest of the table laughed at his intervention. Azula couldn't hold back a smile, though Sokka remained as serious as before. "That's wisdom?"

"Technically, it killed the orc, so…" Suki said, grabbing Zuko's hand reassuringly as he shook his head in disbelief.

"I… suppose my methods did not displease the creator of this world," Azula said, with a slow smirk. "However unethical as they may have been, at times."

"Unethical?" Sokka said, breathing deeply. "A young man in a tavern found his days monotonous and bleak… until you lured him into his cellar and provided him with a most delightful memory that sustains him to this day. An orc died… after you generously provided him, a creature with nothing but suffering and pain to sustain his existence, with the most beautiful vision he had ever seen: that of your bare breasts."

The fact that he managed to speak those words without breaking out into laughter certainly spoke well of his self-control: the rest of the table, of course, erupted in laughter at the surprising spin on Azula's choices.

"Two lonely elves had not known how to admit their affection for each other until you taught them how," Sokka continued. "As for the blacksmith… she enjoys a much more fulfilling life after you showed her the pleasures she had never experienced before. Her husband has learned from what she learned, too, and their marriage has improved vastly for it."

"Wow. See? Being promiscuous pays off!" Azula said at the rest of the table, who continued to laugh at the shocking outcome of the situation. She turned to Sokka again, a bright grin on her face. "Well, I had no idea I'd had such a positive impact on so many things, but I'm thrilled to learn as much…"

"What if he's lying?" The Duke asked.

"He's the creator of this world, so… one would think he has some level of omniscience?" asked Aang. "He knew all our names already, so…"

"I know more than enough. I know everything about everything… and in all the miserable years of being trapped within this world of my creation, a world I have sought to destroy so that I may finally set myself free by doing so, no one has ever impressed me in the way you have, Fyrelith Krylla."

"Wait… wait. Doesn't this mean that the persuasion idea actually might work?!" Suki gasped: the whole table stared at Sokka intently now, and he offered them a simple shrug in response.

"Holy shit," Zuko's eyes widened.

"Azula's going to bang a god!" Ty Lee laughed, clapping happily. "That's so wild!"

"I… might. But it depends on his willingness, of course," Azula said, smirking as she turned towards Sokka.

"Go on and convince me, why don't you?" Sokka smirked. Azula laughed and nodded.

"Well, then, Hessik, creator of this world… I have my own understanding of life and death, of cruelty and kindness, and I believe we may be better served by enlightening each other further in a more… private capacity. I cannot say for certain that I will be up to your standards… you are a deity, of course. But if this is our final attempt to resolve this matter without violence… then I give myself to you, creator. My body shall be yours to do with as you see fit."

"Fyrelith Krylla…" Sokka said, his voice deep and earnest. "Your body… is a generous offer. Perhaps I shall make, then, an offer of my own: the purpose you have sought, the unsatisfaction you have been ailed by all your life, will be quenched. I shall see to it."

Azula blinked blankly. She eyed Sokka skeptically for a moment, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Um… is this supposed to be some sort of mutual persuasion?" she asked. "Do I need to roll, or…?"

Sokka smiled before shaking his head. Everyone gasped as he spread his arms.

"Hessik… has always wanted to bang Fyrelith Krylla, so no persuasion roll was necessary," he announced: the entire table roared with cheers and laughter now as Azula threw her head back, covering her face with her hands. "And that's where tonight's session ends!"

"What?! Wait, no! You can't just leave it off there!" The Duke groaned, looking at Sokka hopelessly.

"He's right! How do we prepare for next week if we have no idea what's going to happen with them?" Toph asked, huffing.

"Well, you won't prepare much, I suppose," Sokka chuckled. "Let's just say, for the purposes of the game… the whole party gets a long rest now. Fyrelith and Hessik shall be alone for… I suppose, a day and a night in order to ensure she, too, gets a full rest, but…"

"Will she? I wonder if this horny god won't demand too much from her…" Azula sighed, shaking her head dramatically.

"He's a very generous god, he'll let her sleep sometimes. Sometimes," Sokka smirked. Azula chuckled, shaking her head – if she was flustered, she certainly was masking it perfectly through amusement.

Even if the rest of the party protested at first, it was getting late by then, and everyone had to go home. Laughter continued to spread in the group as everyone encouraged Azula to do her best and go all out with her performance once she slept with the dangerous deity they'd come across, and she thanked them for it every time. Little by little, the members of their group took off to their respective homes… yet Azula didn't get going as fast as everyone else. She lagged behind, staring at the minis on the table as Sokka began setting aside all his Dungeon Master tools.

"You have a mini of this god yet?" Azula asked. Sokka smiled and shrugged. "I'm just curious…"

"Want to know if he's Fyrelith's type?" Sokka asked. Azula chuckled. "Not sure what her type is, to be honest. I feel like she went for so many different kinds of characters so far that…"

"Ah, so you don't know for sure? And here I thought the creator god knew everything," Azula smirked. Sokka laughed, shaking his head. "I admit… I didn't see that twist coming. A rather interesting one, too. He's trapped, you said?"

"Oh, yes," Sokka nodded, sagely. "He was a being of seemingly boundless power… but loneliness took hold of him eventually. The idea of creating other living entities came to mind, so he decided to create a world with countless others, people, plants, animals, beasts… all so he could have all the companionship he craved. But the cruelty of mortal life got to him quickly… but he had spent too much of his power in creating this world and lacked the strength to change things. Thus, Hessik has spent hundreds, thousands of years amassing as much power as he can, all be it to become strong enough to break this world apart once more, and to create a new, better one in its stead."

"But then… the crux of the matter is loneliness?" Azula asked, raising her eyebrows. Sokka smiled and nodded.

"He is a loner, yes. The other deities exist in their own planes, he has no access to them, and they never truly knew of him… they were drawn to mortals, and they're enablers of the sins of mortals, you could say. They encourage them, even… so Hessik is not interested in befriending them," Sokka said, shaking his head. "Anyway… yep, he's lonely and fears no one will ever understand him, but…"

"But now he thinks Fyrelith might?" Azula asked, amused, stepping closer to him. Sokka chuckled, shrugging slightly.

"I admit, I had too much fun with your inappropriate antics at the beginning of the campaign. I don't know if I shut you down too hard when I did…" Sokka said. Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"Oh, please, it was hilarious, don't feel bad about it now," she smiled.

"Either way, it's not like I really wanted you to stop altogether. The whole struggle to see if any characters could resist you was pretty funny," Sokka admitted, smiling fondly at her.

"It was our own personal little war in the middle of the campaign, felt like," Azula said. "Though… I suppose this truly would be the final battle, if so. Is Fyrelith powerful enough to seduce a mighty god?"

"I suppose we'll find out… though we could find out right now," Sokka said. Azula raised her eyebrows. "I… I mean by rolling a performance check! We could very well just leave it for the next session, but I figured it'd be a good idea for me to start building the direction of things for the next session… it's probably going to be the end of the campaign, whether Hessik wins or loses, so…"

"So… you want us to roll a performance check," Azula smiled. "That was it."

"That… was it," Sokka swallowed hard, eyeing her with uncertainty. Azula bit her lip and nodded.

"Very well, then. Very well."

She stepped up to the table, where her dice tray remained untouched. She picked out her favorite twenty-sided dice, and then looked through Sokka's own dice to pick one of his, too: she handed him her own dice, and she took his for herself. Sokka smiled approvingly, stepping up to Azula's cleared dice tray, standing right beside her.

"I suppose you have endless charisma…" Azula said. Sokka chuckled.

"You almost have endless charisma yourself, with a plus six modifier by now…"

"Well, I suppose so," Azula smiled. "Either way… whatever the outcome of our battle may be, you were a worthy opponent and challenger. And if you would have me in your next campaign as well, I shall be delighted to sleep with you constantly through that one, too."

"I shall be even more delighted than you about it, I suspect," Sokka chuckled. Azula smirked proudly at him. "Alright then… moment of truth."

Azula nodded, preparing herself to roll: they stood right before each other, neither one looking at the tray, or the dice… only into each other's eyes.

"Three… two… one…" Sokka counted: Azula smiled as they released their dice at the same time.

Neither one broke the eye contact. Neither one looked at the dice to find out whether this dalliance between their characters had paid off or failed. Sokka swallowed hard, smiling slightly.

"We… should look," he said. Azula smiled and nodded.

"Then why don't you?" she asked.

"Because I'll be really disappointed if I rolled badly," he admitted: Azula laughed, shaking her head.

"Poor godly entity… he wishes to impress a perfectly ordinary woman that badly, does he?" she asked. Sokka huffed.

"Azula… you're beyond extraordinary."

That he hadn't even tried to mask things behind their characters didn't register with him, but by the expression on her face, it did with her: a spark of mischief, and yet of hope as well, lit up in her eyes…

Her hand reached up to fist his shirt: Sokka's hands fell upon her waist by sheer instinct before their lips crashed together in an impulsive, teased, long-awaited kiss.

Her arms locked around his neck, her body leaning fully into his: he didn't lose his grip on her, or his footing, recklessly allowing his hands to caress her flanks. His desperate need for her had only risen constantly, even if he had been perfectly willing not to obey it… but ever since this campaign's preparation had begun, he started to wonder if she was interested too. He had tried to convince himself that it was all in his head… but as he picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around his hips while continuing to kiss him deeply, moaning into each exchange, he was happy to let all his uncertainties fade into nothingness.

Azula didn't go home that night, much as Fyrelith would have spent the night with Hessik, in the campaign: it was easy to imagine that their characters could have had just as much fun as they did, that the feelings of loneliness and lack of purpose could have been swept away so quickly in the wake of so much shared pleasure, laughter and bliss. By morning, they climbed out of bed together and cleaned up, with Sokka handing Azula his bathrobe afterwards while he simply fastened a towel around his waist. She had to attend class later that day, so she would have the chance to enjoy his company at least for a couple more hours – and she intended to do just that.

But before they could eat, before they could reprise their nightly fun too, before they could have any genuine conversations regarding the direction of their relationship, the pair stepped up to the table, where Sokka's half-collected dungeon master's tools still sat… where Azula's dice tray still bore the results of the roll that had finally sent them into bed together.

"We… we really need to take a picture of that," Sokka laughed, running a hand over his loose hair. Azula covered her mouth with a hand, unable to muffle her own chuckles.

"Good thing we have a week left before the next session… because I have a few ideas," Azula said. Sokka raised his eyebrows. "I… think you might appreciate them. That is, as long as it's within the realm of reason in Dungeons and Dragons?"

"Well, if it's anything regarding what our characters did in bed… I'm sure it'll be fine," Sokka snickered. Azula smirked deviously. "But if you mean the direction things will take, going forward…?"

Azula nodded slowly, and Sokka bit his lip.

"I suppose you're not used to having any manner of… co-DM?" Azula asked, smiling slightly.

"I don't think that's exactly common," Sokka admitted, wrapping an arm around her waist. "But I admit, my curiosity has been stoked. What's your plan, huh?"

Azula smirked, hands caressing Sokka's chest again before she kissed him willfully anew. Once they parted, she conveyed her most devious ideas to her new lover.

"Okay… okay. We've been waiting all week… it's time to find out what happened," Aang said, biting his lip once everyone had taken their seats by the table.

"Let's hope the psychic damage was something else this time," Mai sighed, and Azula laughed as she shook her head.

Sokka cleared his throat, and everyone's attention fell to him. He felt rather nervous, of course, even slightly anxious… not so much about the game, but about the fact that nobody at this table had the slightest clue that he and Azula had been a little too enthusiastic about playing out the outcome of the night their characters had shared. Along with that, Azula had spent almost every night with Sokka since the last session, only failing to do so when she had a project to finish for a class, and on one day when Suki and Zuko dropped by for dinner with Sokka – he had asked her if she was ready to reveal their relationship then, but his devious girlfriend had decided that holding back until the next game would be far more impactful.

And so, he wondered what her plan would be. Perhaps she simply wanted to wait until the session was over… or she'd outright try to kiss him in the middle of the fight, taking everyone by surprise once she did.

But that wasn't what he should be focusing on right now. No… his true focus had to be the campaign, and the final battle was about to commence.

"As you recall, you have met Hessik, the god who created your world and now spreads chaos and catastrophes across it," Sokka said. "After claiming to be dismissive of violence and the way mortals seek to destroy each other for advancement and greed, Fyrelith, your party's sorcerer, tried to persuade and reach an understanding with Hessik. He took an interest in her… he had an interest in her all along, in fact. Thus, Fyrelith propositioned Hessik, and Hessik propositioned Fyrelith right back. This is where we left off…"

"And?!" The Duke huffed, eagerly. "Did you kill him in bed, Azula?!"

"Pfft. How uncivilized of you to say something like that," Azula said, shaking her head haughtily. Sokka laughed.

"The rest of you wait for one full day, getting proper rest after your latest, complicated adventures to reach Hessik's dwelling. If you wish to do anything before…"

"No, no, no, move forward now!" Zuko said, grimacing.

"Are you so eager because you're worried that he might have killed me? Ah, brother! So concerned for my fate… I'm truly touched," Azula sighed dramatically. Zuko scoffed.

"I'm not your brother in the game, and I just really want to get to finding out whatever the hell happened! You've kept us on edge for a week, Sokka!"

"And I will keep you there longer unless all of you agree that you don't want to prepare traps or plan ambushes or… anything, really. No preparations? None?" Sokka asked.

The others exchanged glances before smiling somewhat innocently at him.

"We would like to think that Fyrelith will succeed," Aang said, firmly.

"And that we can persuade Hessik not to destroy the world. I mean… technically, there's no amount of preparation that can help us kill a god, is there?" Katara asked.

Sokka blinked blankly before shrugging.

"Okay, then. Suit yourselves…"

"Wait, what does that mean?!"

"Sokka…!"

He laughed, and in the end, he gave the others time to plan strategic moves in case something failed: about thirty minutes later, all their impulsive plans were finished, and it was time to reveal the outcome of Hessik and Fyrelith's tryst.

"You see Fyrelith walking back to where you are… Hessik stands behind her," Sokka said. Azula cleared her throat.

"Worth mentioning… that Fyrelith's walking kind of funny," she said: the table split between groaning and laughing at her clarification. Sokka chuckled, shaking his head. "Come on, he's a god! Be realistic here, that she's still standing is quite an impressive feat already…"

"Let's just say Hessik is a very generous lover and ensured to boost your health with his powers if you needed it," Sokka chuckled. Azula smiled warmly at him.

"How very nice of him," she said. Sokka let out a deep breath before raising a hand in her direction.

"So… Fyrelith. What would you like to do?"

Azula breathed deeply, turning towards the rest of the party. They eyed her expectantly as she smiled slowly.

"Guys… I think I'm in love."

"WHAT?!"

Zuko's voice rose above the gasps and the snorts by the others as Azula giggled in a most foolish way while in character as Fyrelith. The others eyed Sokka warily as he shrugged in their direction.

"I mean, he's just so good in bed. Like, you have no idea how good!" Azula sighed happily, running a hand over her hair. "The places he took me… I'd never thought that was possible! So, well…"

"Fyrelith… Fyrelith," Zuko growled, eyeing her warily. "That's all fine and good… but you're saying he was as happy with you as you were with him? T-that… he's satisfied and thinks mortal lives aren't that despicable because you, well…"

"Because she's great in bed!" Jet announced. Azula laughed and shrugged, glancing at Sokka.

"Well, I don't know. What do you have to say about my prowess, Hessik?"

Sokka hummed, eyeing her with narrow eyes.

"She… is the most unique, special being this world has ever created. Perhaps the cruelty and horrors of this world were not without value, if they were necessary for her existence."

A happy gasp spread in the group as Azula smiled warmly at him: she reached out to clasp Sokka's hand, and he didn't reject her touch at all. They exchanged a tender gaze, their smiles as dreamy as could be…

"And that's why I shall keep her with me, once I destroy everything else."

Sokka's conclusion startled everyone. Their jaws dropped. All their excitement faded when the unexpected revelation hit them at once.

"Woah… woah. What's that supposed to mean?!" Zuko huffed.

"I mean, we are getting a fight, aren't we?" Toph smirked. "That's enough for me!"

"But… wait a minute. Wait a second," Katara said, staring at Azula pointedly: she was still holding hands with Sokka. "If you're going to destroy the world anyhow, just, not her… does that mean…?"

"Well, you see…" Sokka sighed, gazing at Azula with heartfelt affection. Azula let out a soft laugh. "We've had a whole day to discuss matters, and to reach a conclusion. Multiple conclusions, in a sense, but still…"

"Ew," Zuko grimaced. Azula laughed and shrugged.

"He is just… quite persuasive," Azula admitted. "And I mean, he has a point, so…"

"What?! He doesn't have a point!" Aang gasped, horrified. "Azula…!"

"But he does, though! He wanted to make a much kinder world than what turned out to be the case, he's terribly lonely and he needs a companion, I'm perfectly willing, and…"

"And this means we're all going to die?!" exclaimed Ty Lee. Azula raised a hand.

"All of you, yes. Not me, though," she said. Their jaws dropped until the Duke slammed a fist on the table.

"I said not to trust the tiefling since the first session…!"

"Fyrelith, please be reasonable!" Katara said.

"You're just going to stand aside while he destroys us?!" Suki asked. Azula blinked blankly.

"Well… no," Azula said, with a shrug. "I'm going to help him."

Another group gasp shook the room: the betrayal took them by surprise to such an extent that Sokka couldn't even hold back a cackle of evil laughter, one that didn't suit his character all that well, but that he indulged in all the same.

"You two… how the hell is this happening?!" Zuko huffed, glaring at them. "And I mean, out of character: what the hell was your preparation session for this evening supposed to be? I thought you'd sort out…!"

"Well, we did sort out what happened during our happy day together, evidently," Azula chuckled. "But you see…"

Sokka swallowed hard as he pulled up his smartphone: he sent a message to their group chat, and everyone opened the picture attached to it…

Two natural twenties, one in Sokka's dice, one in Azula's.

"What's… what's this roll?" asked Suki, with an awkward smile.

"Performance check, of course. If his roll had been any lower, Fyrelith would have definitely required another persuasion roll on his part in order to join him in his quest…" Azula said, with a dramatic sigh. "And if hers had been any lower, he would have decided against recruiting her permanently. As it happens…"

"This outcome is simply the mandate of the dice," Sokka smiled, with a shrug as everyone gaped at them in horror. "I know, it's shocking even for me, but…"

"Oh, you pair of assholes," Zuko said, shaking his head and cracking his knuckles. "Well, fine, then! We'll kill the both of you, and we'll save the world!"

"Yeah!"

A chorus of cheers and agreement rang in the room as the party took to planning their strategy to defeat Azula and Sokka. Those two only laughed, chatting amicably and quietly while holding hands only for another moment before focusing fully on the battle…

A battle of which the outcome was nothing like what Zuko had hoped it would be.

"For the next campaign…" Sokka announced, five hours later, as everyone sat in utter shock, frozen at the table. "I advise that someone plays a cleric."

Azula snorted and laughed, covering her face with her hands at the horrified faces of their friends. They weren't quite tearful, but they certainly were affronted by the multitude of minis on the board… minis that had been tilted down every time one of them was out of combat. The first to fall was Mai. The second, Jet. The Duke had followed, and then Zuko. Katara, Suki and Aang had fallen to an area-of-effect spell, and Toph had been the very last one left, but even with her barbarian strength and endurance, she failed to counter the godly resistances and legendary actions of Hessik, paired with the remarkable power of Fyrelith, the sorceress who took flight with her brand-new draconic wings, too.

"You frigging… you TPK'd us. You did," Zuko said, with a dangerous smile.

"What does that mean?" Katara said, her voice small.

"Total Party Kill," The Duke and Aang recited together. Suki dropped her head in her hands, Ty Lee's jaw dropped, Mai grimaced, Jet scratched the back of his neck awkwardly and Sokka sighed happily.

"Well, then! That was great. The world shall be torn apart, rebuilt into something different…"

Cries of protest immediately took off after his announcement as everyone took to lashing out at him for the outcome of the game – frankly, had the dice been any less favorable, it could have been a victory for the party, but luck was not on their side, much as Azula wasn't.

"Calm down, calm down," Sokka chuckled, wiping tears of laughter from his eyes. "We can do another campaign, you can even reuse the characters and we'll have other adventures this time. Oh, I'm sorry it ended up as badly as it did, but it was kind of hilarious…"

"You're a shithead, that's what you are," Toph growled. "I was having a blast! And I'm not going to play a cleric! Katara, you do it!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Oh, unreal. They never learn, do they?" Azula said, smiling at Sokka. "Perhaps I should be the DM next time, and you should be the team cleric so they stop being so ridiculous…"

"Wait, what? No! You'd be a sadistic DM, way worse than Sokka!" Zuko huffed, shaking his head. "Not a chance, Azula!"

"Well, he doesn't have a point and yet he kind of does," Sokka said, smiling at Azula. "You've always been telling me I ought to try being a player, and while I wouldn't mind playing with you as the DM…"

"Would be more fun for us to romance each other as players next time? Hmm… yes, that is a good point," she said, nodding as Sokka smiled, face flushing slightly at her not-so-subtle declaration.

"Romance each other? What, you'll do this madness again?" Zuko growled, grimacing. "You won't get away with playing some god-like character in a proper campaign, Sokka, you hear me?"

"He doesn't have to do that to capture my future character's interest," Azula stated, proudly. "In fact? We should play an already-married couple. That would be unusual."

"Oh? Bold, but… heh. That's an interesting thought," Sokka chuckled: everyone else at the table eyed them with confusion by then.

"Wait, but… why?" Aang asked, with an awkward smile as he drank some water. "Isn't the fun of in-game romance to… play out the romance?"

"Oh, no. Performance rolls to find out if the sex was good or terrible is where the real fun is at," Azula declared, and Aang nearly snorted his drink through his nose. "Good thing it's not up to dice in real life, isn't it?"

"Heh, yeah, it sure… isn't," Katara said, as Azula's words sank in. As the strangeness in her behavior with Sokka also sank in.

Azula smiled proudly at Sokka, who eyed her with a blush and a much shyer grin. The rest of the group at the table gauged the situation slowly, gradually, until…

"You fucks were actually boning in real life too, weren't you?"

Toph's blunt declaration actually got a reaction from them in the form of a spree of guilty laughter: shy in Sokka's case, much bolder and open in Azula's. The Duke blushed, covering his mouth with a hand while Jet groaned, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Guess I had no chance after all, did I?" he said, with a sad smile.

"You actually got away with it?" Mai blurted out, staring at Azula judgmentally. "Well, good for you. Spent ages pining over him and…"

"Mai!" Azula huffed.

"Wait, ages?! You too?!" Sokka gasped, happily. "You didn't tell me that!"

"Oh, she sure did!" Ty Lee confirmed, with giggles. "I mean, I'm still mad that my character died, but oh my gosh, I'm so glad! You two are finally a thing! Yes!"

"Well, Sokka's not going to DM next time for sure! He's just going to keep favoring her because she got into his pants!" Toph huffed, shaking her head dismissively.

"I'm not that biased…! Well, okay, maybe I am," Sokka admitted, with a guilty smile.

"Katara?" Aang asked, smiling awkward at the frozen young woman. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… speechless. I might… stop being speechless eventually. But for now, I'm just… speechless," was her eloquent response, to which everyone laughed too.

"Well, way to go, Azula. I suppose, if all of us had to die, at least it was for a good cause," Suki smiled at her sister-in-law, who smiled and nodded in gratitude for her words.

Naturally, though, Zuko was the last one to react. He had further warning than most everyone at the table, he had already been confronted by the possibility before, and yet he stared at Sokka and Azula, eyes wide before saying:

"My best friend and my sister?"

The whole table erupted in laughter yet again, and if any hard feelings remained after the full party kill from earlier, they seemed to have been swept away in the wake of the revelation of the relationship between Azula and Sokka. The whole group still had much to talk about, much to laugh about, and those two, in particular, had lots of things to discuss regarding their relationship still… and also regarding their next campaign: as he was experienced enough with the game, Aang offered to be the next Dungeon Master. Sokka continued to question his own ability to be a good player, but just one glance at Azula and her devious but heartwarming smiles encouraged him to go forward and live out his own story in the flesh, rather than solely building one for the others: whether in a campaign of Dungeons and Dragons, or in real life, Sokka was ready to indulge in wild, fun adventures beyond his reckoning, adventures he'd be delighted to share with the woman he had fallen in love with.

A/N:

Shoutout to PurplePlatypusBear21 for brainstorming this one with me like... a year ago or however long it was, haha! Thank you so much for encouraging me to write this wild comedy D&D ride!

#sokkla #sokka #azula #sokkla saturdays 2022 #sokklasaturdays #d&d AU #modern AU #this might just be the funniest nonsense I ever wrote #Sokka the DM #Azula the trouble player #she has no chill and is going so hard for what she actually wants #she doesn't know the meaning of subtlety #and they have a whole crowd witnessing her blatant flirting #too much fun #(minor Zuki in this one too)

22 notes · View notes

eponymous-rose · 4 years ago

Text

Talks Machina Highlights - Critical Role C2E131 (March 30, 2021)

Tonight’s guests are Liam O’Brien and Sam Riegel!

Brian points out that a lot of Caleb’s greatest fears have come to pass. Liam: “It’s funny, because he’d kind of believed for a while that those things weren’t going to happen. After a while, he got complacent.” He notes that it was extra wild because everything with Trent popped up again in the midst of that complacency. And how did it feel to be defiant toward Trent? “I think Trent successfully made Caleb question if Caleb really was in control“ at the dinner party. “I feel like anything that I do is part of his plans for me, or is that just gaslighting? I’m legitimately scared of that dude.” Sam: “Of Matt?” Liam: “Sure.” He highlights the disconnect between knowing that the M9 is mechanically powerful and could possibly defeat Trent in a dice-and-stats battle, versus fearing him in a story sense and being convinced he can do almost anything.

Sam, on Luc’s death: “That was brutal, man. Matt Mercer is a-- he hates children! Clearly. He actively sought to kill a child in the campaign in as brutal a way as possible. He hates children and wants them dead. Canon. No, but to RP, that was horrible.” He highlights that so much of Veth’s arc has been about trying to get back to her family. “We had to choose something and we thought we were making the right choice. It was all Veth’s fault, and it was pretty rotten. My heart was beating pretty fast, and I certainly didn’t want to have my son die live on the stream. I don’t know what Veth would have done. That’s the end, that’s over. It’s almost worse than when your own character would die. This is something that would also kill Veth.” After the episode was over: “just shaken. I also didn’t know what to do next! That felt like a turning-point moment for my character, weirdly so close to what we assume to be the end arc of this campaign. I texted Matt later that night and was like, that’s it, Veth’s out, I’m tapping out.”

There’s an interlude in which Sam discovers a new dream to record an episode of this show from his Peloton. Dani informs him that she will not be inviting him back.

On Astrid, Liam: “I literally don’t know what she’s doing. I know that she’s dangerous, she always was ambitious, and there’s not been a moment where Caleb let his guard down with her. He’s not trying to reestablish what they had. He cares for the both of them, for Astrid and Eodwulf. He thinks about it a lot, still. He can’t tell how much she buys into everything that she experienced and is now living as a full-grown adult. He suspects that she’s bought in and is not going to change things, because she believes in the system, as much as he’d like to peel her away. He does believe that they want what’s best for the Empire, and stopping whatever wants to come vomiting out of a hole in the frozen north is good for everyone. And they’re powerful. They’re not trustworthy, obviously. But there’s enough at stake to make it worth it. He could imagine a situation where they fight each other to the death.” He was convinced Astrid was going to stop them when they left the tower and was really shocked when she held back. Sam: “Not me! I’ve trusted Astrid since day one. She’s the greatest! I sent a letter to her, she’s very nice, I think you guys would be a nice couple. I believe every word she says.”

On having to decide on Veth deciding to go off and save the world after Luc’s death. “Like I said, I was ready to be done. And then I decided somewhere in there that that’s not very D&D. So I thought I’d leave it up to somebody else, so I asked Caduceus to decide for me, essentially. She knows she’s putting her other family in danger if she doesn’t go. It’s an impossible choice, you know?” Liam: “I love watching you grapple with it, because you’re a lovely father and love your kids.”

On the Sanatorium, Sam: “That was brutal, man. Matt lulls you into a sense of complacency. We’d forgotten that Caleb was a stone-cold killer! It had been a while since he went on a murder spree. Still got it!” Liam: “I never meant for this character to be perfect sunshine.” Brian: “You don’t say.” Liam: “He’s very not-perfect, and I think in his brain, he was going in with the impression that they needed to get in and get out as soon as possible. The place is crawling with people with magic ability, and I didn’t have faith that we wouldn’t be sussed out or something wasn’t going to blow an illusion.” Everything was about getting out of there as fast as possible.

Did the conversation with Yeza help with Veth’s decision? “First of all, every conversation with Yeza is a beautiful one. Every time she talks to Yeza, it makes her feel good. In some ways, she’s gotten to the point now where she knows Yeza’s going to be supportive, she knows he’s going to allow her to do what she wants, but maybe that’s too much. Maybe she needs to not listen to him, basically, and be like, no, you need to be selfish now, dude, you need to say ‘come home, I’m sick of you leaving’. At a certain point, being supportive can turn into being enabling.”

Cosplay of the Week: Jester in the snow! (liljerbear47, photography by kairiceleste on Instagram)

On Trent’s motivations for chasing Caleb: “I really don’t know. The simplest explanation is to just hammer down the nail that’s sticking up. It has crossed his mind that all high-level wizards are in danger of their own ambition and egos, so it’s occurred to him that Trent might have the same kind of ideas that Halas had in the past, and maybe Caleb was always meant to be another body to jump into. Maybe in some sick, disgusting, twisted way, he wants him to be his successor. I am thinking of the next campaign, without getting too deep in, trying to do something that is much more ride-along. Caleb is very, very specific, and I thought long and hard about all the different pieces on the chessboard for him. For campaign three, I’m looking forward to seeing what happens.”

Dani: “Do I need to be keeping lore on your fucking ads?”

On the cursed dagger: “It was a tricky one, because in campaign one, one of the characters was under the influence of a cursed weapon, but it interacted with him and he knew what it was and what it did. And it affected his gameplay as a character. For me, Veth didn’t know what it was, ever. I as a player knew what it was doing, but Veth didn’t know at all. So it was kind of like my dirty, dark secret for many months. I knew this thing was coming perilously close to killing me, but my character didn’t know enough to bring it up to her friends. Nobody ever asked! So I was like, well, I guess this thing’s just going to kill me one day, and it’s kind of going to be a surprise.” Liam: “Sam, you love danger and self-destruction so much, you might as well be Mollymauk.”

On the fight in Yasha’s sequence, Sam: “You gotta put a character in your storm giant creature. It was so fun! It was so great of Matt to involve us in this encounter. It would’ve been fun just to watch, because Matt would have made it amazing and Ashley was sweating bullets, which is always fun to watch.” Sam notes he felt guilty, but Liam was going for the kill. Liam: “Matt’s gotta be careful about giving me that kind of story beat. I do not fucking care, I just fucking flip, I’m like, well, I’m going to destroy you, and I have no qualms about it. It’s too much fun!”

The Beau/Yasha tower date was in part inspired by not being able to give gifts as easily this last year. “This thing that we do together is a gift, but I love finding these moments, like the book for Jester and the tower for Yasha and for Beau. I really just wanted to give both of them a little magic for a night. I wanted them to leave this-- we’re trying to be as entertaining as possible, but shit is having an effect on all of us too, and I wanted them to have an escape, a great place to escape to.”

Fan Art of the Week: an amazing group shot, plus Marion, Yeza, and Luc! (vocaz on Twitter)

On choosing Essek over Trent, Liam: “It would have been so interesting and awful and great! Essek and Astrid and Eodwulf are everything that Bren used to be attracted to that are terrible for him. Essek, hopefully he can with time find a way out of the hole that he dug himself into, but it was only two months ago where he was found out and his ambitions came crashing down around him. Long-term, I have high hopes for him, but I think it’s going to be hard.” In contrast, Astrid and Eodwulf are still “deep in the shit. It would have been really hard to navigate, but fun to play at the table. We made the right choice with what we went with. Essek’s just getting started, and Caleb doesn’t trust him entirely, because he was burned so hard not too long ago. He’s still more trustworthy than the other three. So it’s the better choice. While Caleb has all these ties on the other side, they’re really fucking dangerous. So if you have to choose, you choose Essek. But fuck that die.” Sam: “Veth, much like Sam Riegel, makes instant decisions about whether to trust someone or not and sticks to it forever. Astrid, 100% trust. Eodwulf, 100% distrust. Essek, completely distrust. I still don’t think he’s a good guy. Ikithon? Trust. 100%. Because you know where he’s coming forward, you know what he wants. I still want him dead, but I trust him.”

On Veth’s post-adventuring plans: “Veth is probably still too in it right now to think about what comes next. I, Sam Riegel, have a good idea of what I want Veth to do post-campaign.” Brian: “Maybe you shouldn’t tell us. Save it for the show!” Sam: “All she knows is she can’t do this anymore. It’s very unhealthy to be battle-wounded every other day. It’s fun for a while, but college has to end at some point, and she’s gotta go home.”

On Frumpkin changing appearance and returning to the Feywild: “I don’t know what I’m going to do, but the way it feels now for Caleb is that he feels too enmeshed in everything that has happened, and too much good has happened, and too much needs to happened, that that really narcissistic, selfish goal has the risk of harming everything else, which is more important. And that’s how he looks at it now. So he’s gearing towards letting everything from the beginning of the campaign, and where he started, go, and trying to figure out what use he’s going to be now and what he’s going to do if they’re not all dead. If Matt throws that shit down, I don’t know what I will do, I think about it a lot. But turning Frumpkin white and saying you’re free either way is him preparing to let go of everything he’s been holding on to for a really long time. He’s addicted to that idea that he can fix himself, and we’ll see if that hard choice gets presented, what he might do. But where he stands now, he doesn’t think that’s going to be reality, and he sees a way that he can be of use that he never really anticipated before, so he’s slowly shifting gears towards living with the pain he was trying to remove.”

On the last request scene and confidence heading into Aeor, Sam: “I feel like that’s a good request. I think all of us realized that if we die, that probably bodes badly for the world. I feel like all of us are at a point now as characters and as friends, that the first order of business would be to take care of everybody else’s shit, although we probably have different ideas of how to do that.” Liam: “I want the Empire to be healed, Caleb has all these memories of his parents and what they wanted for the world, and he wants that too. It’s clearly not in place now, the system needs to be broken and replaced. That could be a part of Caleb’s sunset. I don’t want Caleb to die, so maybe he can work on that after. As everything starts to shake out and we start heading towards our destiny, Caleb’s just free-floating. He’s not even going after the same thing he started for. So he’s looking at Veth’s family, and Luc specifically, and seeing that’s me, that’s a little boy in the Empire.”

#critical role #critical role spoilers #talks machina #talks machina spoilers #long text post

551 notes · View notes

lovelivingmydreams · 2 years ago

Text

Blazing song

Prinxiety week day 3 D&D This is my personal favorite of this week. Hope you all like it too!!!

Roman was very excited. It was Friday night and today a new campaign would start. This was Roman’s third campaign with Thomas and Emile under the flamboyant guidance of their DM Remy. They were setting up in Thomas’ basement while waiting for Remy to join them. They’d had their session zero at Roman’s place last week. This week, they’d really get started. Last time their characters had arrived in the village and crossed paths when a farmer called out for help because their sheep had gotten loose and they’d joined forces to find them and bring them back. Fought off a few monsters that wanted to eat them and had formed the first beginnings of friendship. Roman was excited to see where this adventure would take them. He’d put a lot of thought in his character and Remy had seemed interested too. Remy was a great DM and always took their characters into consideration within his story telling. So this was bound to be interesting. Roman was hoping to be challenged in his roleplaying. He had been playing firmly within his comfort zone in the past. This time he was trying to challenge himself a little.

“The party has arrived!” Remy announced as he skipped down the stairs. “The party has been here,” Thomas pointed out, making Emile giggle. “Aw, boohoo. I needed to prep a surprise. So we better get started so we can get to the good stuff. Tommy, love the snack spread. I'm lucky with players who get the assignment,” Remy said as he put down his bag and set himself up behind his DM screen. He grabbed a hand full of chips and nuts and glanced at his notes. Roman and the other two sat down. Thomas and Emile on one side of the table, Emile being closest to Remy because he always sat right next to his not so secret crush. Roman sat by himself on the other side.

“Alrighty,” Remy said, rubbing his hands before setting the scene. “So you are heading to the local tavern to spend some of the coin the farmer paid you on a few drinks, a meal, and a bed for the night. Suddenly, you hear a commotion up ahead. There is shouting and people are jumping out of the way. From the small crowd of people you see a figure emerge, followed by people in what you recognize to be guard uniforms…” on boy. That sounded like a test for his level 3 redemption paladin and for his own impulsive tendencies.

“Virgil, come down and tell them what they see wont you baby bro?” Remy called. Roman stiffened as he looked up to the stairs where he now saw Remy’s brother descend, emerging from the shadows he’d been hiding in. “I’m only an hour younger than you Rem,” the soft but rough voice pointed out. “Still younger. Now sit your ass down and help set the scene!” Remy demanded. Roman could swear they were all holding their breath. Virgil was his brother’s opposite. Remy was a party animal, a people person. Virgil had no friends. No one he talked to other than his brother. He was a loner and seemed opposed to the idea of changing that status. Roman knew that Thomas and Emile had tried. The only reason Roman knew about him was because he was Remy’s brother and he’d seen him whenever he visited Remy for a session or just to hang out away from their fans at school. That and they had a few classes together over the years, but even there he was so quiet and distant, he wouldn’t have noticed him if he hadn’t recognized him. For some reason the teachers didn’t even push him to answer in class most of the time. And now, he was here, in Roman’s haven of make belief… What if he told everyone… No. Remy wouldn’t have brought him here if he thought he’d ruin the fun of it. But why was he here?

“No worries guys. I’ll probably die by the end of the session and you won’t have to worry about me messing everything up,” Virgil muttered as he put down a character sheet, a dice tray and a few bags of dice. He was prepared at least. But Roman wasn’t sure how he felt about him sitting right next to him, eyes focused on his sheet and nowhere else. He had no read on this guy. There were plenty of rumors about him though. None that had any proof behind them. But Roman couldn’t help but wonder if they were based in some measure of truth. “I’m just here because Remy forced me,” he added. “Bitch you need to get out of the house every once in a while. You’ll thank me later. Now get started!” Remy commanded. Virgil took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay… So. Running towards you is a violet Tiefling with lavender hair in a braid that would probably go well past the shoulder when at rest. The horns are like an antelope’s, though the right one seems to shimmer in the light. They’ve got a white blouse, dark brown leather pants and comfortable shoes, along with a long sleaved, patched up cloak. Also there’s a knapsack and a lute and as they turns their gaze from their pursuers to look ahead of them you see they have silver eyes… Was that okay?” Virgil asked. If Roman was honest, that was a really interesting description. He already wanted to know about the shine on the right horn and from his description he could guess that this Tiefling was a bard. Which was not what he’d expected from the emo loner. Quite the opposite.

“That’s excellent V. Now ahead of you, among the citizens, you see this party of three that seems out of place. A half orc who is walking around in a sleeveless tunic showing off firm arms with a few nasty looking scars. A half elf, kinda scrawny looking, blond strands framing a pale face, ice blue eyes speak of a sharp mind and the books they carry support that observation. And a fire genasi, black skin contrasting against what seem to be red glowing fissures, fiery eyes and flowing red hair. The genasi is dressed in well-crafted armor with doves carved along his collarbones and a red cloak draped over his shoulders. They have definitely seen you. What do you do?” Remy pointed at each of them as he described their characters and for some reason Virgil shot him a glare when he was done before sighing and speaking up. “Well I’m probably about to change course until I see the doves. The guards are closing in on me and I know I’m probably not going to be able to get away from them in a town this small. So I sprint for them and call out to the armored one.” Virgil turned his body slightly towards Roman and though he still didn’t seem capable of looking at him he did speak to him. “Help! Please! I’m innocent!” It was funny. Virgil’s voice was still quiet, but he did sound urgent and scared. “And then I try to dodge to stand behind him. Hoping the guards will at least pause their chase out of respect for a holy person,” he mutters.

Remy nodded. “Domonique do you let him seek refuge behind you?” Roman thought on that a moment. “Well, I’m probably surprised, and I haven’t seen him do anything harmful yet. Of course I’ll let him seek my protection. Awaiting more details on the situation.” The rest of the group nodded. “Um I step in closer to Dominique, trying to be supportive,” Thomas offers. “Oh and seeing my old buddy and my new buddy are going to protect the little purple devil, I make myself look extra big and cross my arms like super intimidating,” Emile said, trying to sound though making the rest of them laugh… Or well. Virgil just gave a little smile, but that wasn’t something Roman could remember ever seeing him doing. Scowling and avoidant was his usual look. “I um… I’d probably hold onto his cloak as I glance past him,” Virgil added, sounding embarrassed and uncertain, making it almost a question.

“Awesome. So the guards slow their approach and see you three seemingly protecting their suspect. ‘That demon there is a thief! Hand him over so we can bring him to justice,’ the bigger one demands,” Remy tells them looking around to see who’d react. “I tried to tell you I didn’t steal anything! They just think I did it because I was in the same street and I’m a Tiefling. I offered to let them search me but they said I’d probably gotten rid of it already. They have no proof! Please you gotta belief me,” Virgil rambled, doing a pretty good job at roleplaying. “Okay I hold out my arm to shield him more and address the guards. And I say: ‘Do you have any proof of wrongdoings other than his lineage?’” Remy nodded. “Okay, are you fired up?” he asked. “Maybe a little,” Roman allowed. Presumed guilt would upset his character. “Okay so your fissures glow a bit brighter and your hair starts to spark a little. Roll an intimidation check for me to see if they’ll cool down,” Remy instructed. “Can I assist, since I’m big and strong and all that?” Emile asked. “I’ll allow it,” Remy nodded. “Okay… Nice, that’s a natural 18,” he was pretty sure the DC wouldn’t be too high for this. “That’s really nice. The bigger guard lowers his weapon and takes a step back, looking real embarrassed. Um, well.” Roman saw an opportunity and jumped on it. “So you accused the first semi suspicious individual you saw and didn’t bother to consider alternatives?” He stated, letting his voice betray a tiny bit of temper rising. “Now… Well… I suppose?” Remy replied making his voice small and a bit scared. “Well, how about we keep an eye on this one, while you go do your job rather than half-assing it? If you find concrete proof that you were right we’ll give you back your suspect with a formal apology and an IOU. But until then, I don’t want to hear a single accusation. Understood?” He was feeling pretty happy with this. Previous characters of his would probably have been more suspicious of this Tiefling character, but that was not the kind of guy he was playing right now. “Nice one. Okay so the guards look a bit put off but they start to leave. They are glaring at the Tiefling behind you, but for now, coast seems clear.”

Roman nodded satisfied. “Okay so I’m going to turn to our new friend. ‘Well that was a serious pickle you found yourself in. My name is Dominique he/him. These are my new companions, Bantu and Varian both also he/him. May we know your name and pronouns?’” he asked, going for charming, but a little disapproving on the first part. Virgil glanced at Remy who must’ve given him some kind of encouragement because he actually looked at Roman this time. “Um, yeah. Sorry about that. Call me Chant…. They/them, please,” he said, clearly nervous about using different pronouns in game. Aw… That was kind of adorable really. Had there been a sweet bean hiding in that rough bolster this whole time? Was this just something Virgil chose for this character or was he trying out the pronouns because he was on a journey? Roman didn’t know if the emo was part of the alphabet mafia. But as a member of their school’s queer community he should try to reach out to him to offer him a support system. Was that why Remy brought his little bro in? “Pleasure to meet you. How about we get to the tavern, and you can tell us what happened in more detail. Maybe we can help clear your name. I would love to believe that one warning will make the guards rethink their judgements, but helping them out might save us all some time,” he suggested. Virgil nodded. “Um… Sure, thank you again… Uh, let me buy you three a drink. It’s the least I can do,” he offered. “Oh, I like them. Can we keep them?” Emile suggested in his gruff character voice. “They’re not a stray pup, Bantu, old friend. They might have other places they need to be,” Thomas said weightily.

Virgil let a soft laugh escape him that time. Just something very brief. But it intrigued Roman. Maybe, if he got Virgil to feel comfortable, he’d see more of this hidden side of his and be able to figure out how he felt about it. There was already a sense of protectiveness at the knowledge that he might have a baby queer on his hands who needed some help finding his identity. Their party headed for the tavern where they first introduced themselves more properly. “I seek to travel the lands and spread the light of my lady Sarenrae to the farthest reaches of the world,” Roman informed Virgil. “I am chasing a dream,” Thomas tells them, Roman gets a sense that he is picking his words with care. “Can I, um… Insight check?” Virgil asked nervously. “Go ahead,” Remy smirked. “Okay. Oh that’s good. Natural 20,” Virgil said. “Good. What are you looking for?” Remy asks. “Well…” Virgil turns to Thomas. “I want to look for signs that Varian like… mistrusts me or something. Like, do I think he’ll get rid of me at the first opportunity or something?” Ow. That might be a bit more insight in Virgil’s state of mind than Roman was prepared to get. Sure it could just be something his character would do. But it felt a bit too real. Roman could tell that Thomas and Emile caught up on that too, but none of them said anything about it. “Varian is very neutral about Chant. He isn’t going to put his life in their hands right away, but he doesn’t assume they’re up to something either,” Thomas offered. Virgil nodded to himself.

“I’m just here to keep my buddy safe while he travels. Nothing special,” Emile explains with a shrug. “Nothing ‘just’ about it. That sounds like a great reason to hit the open road,” Virgil argued. “Oh gosh. Bantu is blushing you guys. His grey skin darkening just a bit around the cheekbones,” Emile giggled. “I agree with Chant here. A very noble and selfless calling if I ever heard one,” Roman added. Emile turned to Thomas. “They aren’t wrong my friend. You have a noble heart. I consider myself lucky to be considered your friend and I pity the fool who makes you an enemy.” Emile buried his head into his arms, making everyone, yes everyone, laugh. “Alright. It seems we are tormenting our muscle man. What about you though? Are you local or on a journey as well?” Roman asked Virgil. “Oh, um. I’m a good bit away from home. I finished my education and figured I should perform all over and stuff. Maybe, hopefully, make it so people might think better of people like me,” Virgil’s voice trailed off as he explained this. “Can I take a closer look at their right horn?” Roman asked Remy. “Roll me a… A perception check.” Roman nodded and rolled the die. “We are doing good tonight. That’s a dirty 18,” Roman announced. “Okay. You see that the shine comes from what seems to be a silver coating of some sort. It looks very pretty.” Roman nodded with a frown. That meant that at some point at the very least, this Chant person had the coin to spend on something like this. The question was why did he do it? “Well now we simply must clear your name,” Roman announced.

“Virgil a perception check if you will?” Remy announced. “Oh, um… Dirty 13?” Virgil was very quick with his calculations Roman noticed. He hadn’t asked even once what modifier he needed to use… Maybe he was a seasoned player? “You really know your way around the dice,” he noted. Virgil ducked his head. “Thanks,” he muttered. “Would you believe that until a week ago he’d never even seen a D20? We made a deal at the start of summer that he’d try one social activity every month. I helped him built his character, we did a session zero together and now he’s here playing like a pro,” Remy grinned. “Shut up. I just didn’t want to ruin the start of their campaign,” Had he really spent the first week of his summer studying up on D&D, just so they wouldn’t be slowed down by a new player? “Virgil, that is very sweet of you. But we would’ve happily helped you out. If you are uncertain about anything, just let me know okay?” Thomas offered. “Yeah, you should’ve seen us stumble our way through our first campaign. We were lucky Remy sort of knew what he was doing,” Emile added. Roman nodded his agreement. “Uh, thanks I guess. But like I said. I’ll probably die in the first few sessions or something. So don’t worry about it,” Virgil shrugged. Remy was grinned like the Cheshire cat. He obviously hadn’t missed the fact that Virgil had gone from one session to maybe a few already. And Roman found himself being glad for that as well. If things worked out over the summer they’d have at least 8 sessions together. Meaning 8 chances of several hours to figure out what this hidden side to Virgil was and if he wanted to approach him as a friend when school started up again.

“What about Chant’s perception check?” Roman asked wanting to get back on track. “Ah right. Well, it was more for funsies. There’s something moving around in your cloak,” Remy tells his brother. “Oh, um I jump up and take it off, looking for what it might be,” Virgil says, looking confused. “Okay, a snow white weasel skitters across the floor and runs up Varian’s leg all the way to his shoulders where it drapes itself in a comfortable position,” Remy tells the group. Thomas chuckles awkwardly before falling into his in control, formal character. “‘Well, now is as good a time as any to introduce you to Scamp. My familiar.’ Scamp kinda looks up at everyone before getting comfy again as though he is going to take a nap.” Aw! A familiar! That’s adorable! Roman loved familiars. They were essentially party pets that couldn’t really die or get hurt. “Why was Scamp in my coat?” Virgil demanded, for the first time raising his voice a little, though still keeping it kind of quiet. “Searching you. I figured that way any doubts of you misleading us could be put to rest before they even come up. You already mentioned you were willing.’ Did Scamp find anything?” Thomas asked. “Roll investigation for Scamp,” Remy tells him. “14,” “Not even an inside pocket on that cloak to stash a bit of coin,” Remy states.

Virgil huffs. “Chant sits back down, scowling. ‘I made that cloak specifically so no one could accuse me of anything while travelling. Didn’t do me any good I guess.’” “Dominique lays a hand on Chant’s shoulder. ‘You shouldn’t have to do that. Don’t worry, we’ll clear your name. Tell us what happened and we’ll make it so those guards have to apologize to you,’” Roman vowed letting his voice get a little rougher to the end. Virgil smiled at him and explained the situation to them. It seemed very obvious that the guards had not even been trying. That became more apparent when they heard from the townsfolk that there had been a series of objects going missing over the past few weeks. Odds were they would find all stolen goods with whoever had truly stolen the medallion Chant was accused of swiping.

Through some excellent detective work from Thomas, gotta love that high intelligence score, and some good thinking on Virgil’s part. They found a kleptomaniac creep in the woods. Dominique tried to reason with the man, of course, but he was very rude and just attacked them with some dark magic when he offered to return the items and see if they could get the town to go easy on them. Virgil did great in his first battle. Roman was impressed. His fighting style was a bit risky though. He might not have been kidding when he said he wasn’t planning on making his character survive the first session after all. Chant fought like a melee fighter rather than a support class. And considering he pulled off a sneak attack, Roman figured that Virgil had started as a multiclass Bard/rogue. Ambitious. Roman hadn’t gone for a multiclass yet. But this meant that while they were all at their 3rd level of their chosen class. Virgil was only a level two at one of his two chosen classes. Considering Chant performed a song of rest for them, Roman would say they were a level 2 bard and a level 1 rogue. He’d played a bard last campaign, he remembered most of the stuff he’d learned about the class. Maybe next time he’d go for the mysterious rogue.

The guards arrived and found the downed enemy with all the stolen goods. They cleared Chant’s name and did apologize. That is when Virgil surprised them all in a pleasant way. “It’s alright. In fact, once you clean up this mess, come to the Happy Hog. I’ll be performing there tonight.” Roman was very happy for his character to hear that. If Chant had indeed fallen in battle or turned out to be a bad egg, it would have been a heavy blow. This however. This would make him feel good about the path he’d chosen. Virgil’s description of Chant’s performance was exhilarating. Filled with acrobatics and song and dance. When he finally took his final bow he was showered with praise and handed quite some coin.

“Chant drops himself on the seat next to Dominique. ‘That was a day! Listen the tavernkeep told me I could get two rooms for the night after that performance. If two of you are okay with rooming, they are all yours.’” Oh no. “Dominique grabs Chant by the shoulder. ‘There is no you guys. There is an us. We’ll all divide the rooms and share the cost of any extra rooms we might need. You are stuck with us now you charming fiend.’” Virgil laughs at the nickname. And rolls a die. He nods and gestures something at Remy who gives him a go ahead gesture. “Chant is a bit surprised by this. ‘You sure you want someone like me on your team? I don’t know if you noticed, but I tend to draw the wrong kind of attention.’” Roman looked at Emile and Thomas. Virgil was giving them an out. He had no intention of letting him bail on them quite so easily. And he had a feeling his friends didn’t want to send Virgil away either. “Nooooo!!! Varian! They’re going to stay right?” Emile pleaded with Thomas, dramatically draping himself over the latter’s shoulders. “Bantu, crushing me,” Thomas wheezed. “Oops, sorry.” Virgil tried his best to contain his laughter. “No matter. Though I share the sentiment of my party members. You are a good ally in battle and a pleasant companion outside of it. If you want, we’ll be more than happy to add you to the party.” Roman was impressed with Thomas’ roleplaying. A subdued character was so opposed to how he knew his friend.

“Hmmm… Okay. I suppose it’s probably for the better,” Virgil allowed as he turned to Roman with a smirk. “Chant raises his hand, showing he’s been holding something for a bit now. ‘Someone has to keep an eye on me. Who knows what kind of fiendish trickery I might get up to otherwise.’ He is playing with a silver chain that holds a little bronze figure at the end.” Roman gasps dramatically as he realized what Virgil snatched without his knowledge. “Hand that back right now!” he demanded. Virgil chuckled. “‘Of course. I was just having some fun,’” Virgil promised as he mimicked tossing something at Roman. “‘Can’t promise I won’t do it again though. You are way too easy a target and I gotta keep my skills sharp. You understand don’t you firecracker?’” Oh he was trying to provoke him. Roman played out a flustered speechlessness making everyone giggle. “To those who are still looking at you Dominique your face is glowing red as if magma is getting closer to the surface,” Remy informed him teasingly. “And with a new friendship forged, an ally gained, you get ready for the night. The rooms you were provided each have two beds. How do you divide them up?” their DM asks. “Oh me and Varian are rooming right? I wanna stay with my buddy,” Emile announced. “Sounds good to me. That way hot shot over can keep an eye on me.” Roman quirked a brow at Virgil. He’d clearly gotten more comfortable with the roleplay over the past two hours. And Chant had gotten increasingly less timid around the party.

“Where is that timid Tiefling from but a few hours ago?” he demanded though he allowed a smirk to let him know that only Dominique was at a loss of how to handle this sass. “Look man, I just really didn’t want to be put in a cage. Be glad. This means that I’ve decided that you guys won’t let me go to jail if you can help it,” Virgil explained. That made Roman’s backstory sense go off. It might just be a common sense. But maybe it was a hint to something more complex. Virgil had shown he understood the game. “Whatever. Sure I’ll share a room with you. Someone has to keep an eye on you,” he said teasingly, a little smirk on his face. Virgil was clearly glad to see that Roman’s character could to more than just get flustered. “So long as you don’t set the room on fire we’ll get along fine,” Chant taunted. “Well… You’d feel right at home if I did,” Roman quipped back, before clasping his hand in front of his mouth. “I am… So sorry. That was probably very insensitive of me,” he rambled. “Hey, no its… Its okay. You didn’t hurt my feelings. We’d joke about it back at home all the time,” he said reassuringly, still in character. “That does not give me the right to… Never mind. I am glad I did not insult you… Shall we turn in for the night. I wish to hit the road early tomorrow, see where it takes us next,” he offered. He was secretly very excited to see the glances exchanged between Virgil, Thomas and Emile. “Okay. Good night,” Virgil told the others a bit awkwardly. “Good dreams. Right Varian?” Emile said. “Let us hope so,” Thomas nodded.

“Alright, you all enter your rooms. Is there something you want to do before you let sleep take you?” They all shook their heads. They were genuinely tired. “Okay. So you get ready and with some questions about your new allies and hopes for the future playing in the back of your head we end today’s session. Awesome job guys. Virgil that was disappointing. Didn’t even get close to fulfilling your promise,” Remy grinned. “Well, there’s always next time,” Virgil shrugged as they all got up and started cleaning up. “Don’t you dare die before I know all the juicy details of your backstory. You got me hooked already,” Roman declared. “Well… I guess I’m kinda curious what you guys are all about too,” Virgil allowed. They discussed the session and speculated on where they could go next. “Hey Virgil,” Roman said as he zipped up his backpack. Thomas and Emile had gone upstairs already and Remy had just told his brother that they should get going. But Roman had something to say to this unlikely new friend, because he had decided that he wanted to try and be friends with him. “Um sure. I’ll see you at the car Remy,” Virgil told the high energy contender to the drama queen crown. “Sure. Be good you two,” Remy said casually as he disappeared through the door.

“I hate him so much,” Virgil muttered before turning to Roman, suddenly shy again. “Did I do something wrong? I didn’t mean any of the teasing. I just… Thought it might be funny to have someone challenge your paladin a little… But if you hate it I can…” Roman raised his hand to stop Virgil’s rant. “No, I loved the session. But I wanted to ask something a bit more irl… Though it is related to a character choice. Virgil… Are you um… Are you curious about the LGBTQIA+ community?” Virgil stiffened, panic clear. “You don’t need to answer. It’s just. If you are… The Q is for Queer and Questioning. So even if you aren’t sure, so long as you are at least an ally,” Roman dug in his backpack for one of the flyers he always carried with him. “There is a place you can go. We’ll welcome you there, no questions, no pressure. You can ask your questions and read some queer friendly literature.” Virgil accepted the flyer. “I didn’t know you were…” he muttered. “I’m not out at school beyond the community there and even the pride club has members who think I’m just an ally helping out to support my brother. Remy and the others know. My family knows. Remus wants to tell his bff/so. I don’t know where they are in their on again of again thing. But he doesn’t cause I honestly don’t like or trust them. My fans would likely not take well to me being as gay as a rainbow unicorn.” Virgil chuckled. “Fans?” “The people who hang around me but would likely drop me if I actually relied on them,” Roman shrugged. “Remy has them too.” Virgil nodded. “Yeah. I noticed,” he muttered, looking at the flyer. “So… When… I mean. If I wanted to check it out. I’d need a guide or something I guess… Someone there I already know…” Virgil was blushing and didn’t seem to know where to look. “I would be honored to be your knight in rainbow armor guiding and defending you on this journey to your truth,” he promised. “Cool… Chant is still going to be a nightmare for Dominique to deal with though.” Roman let out a loud, careless laugh, kind of relieved for the joke. “I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said. With that, they headed upstairs. Eager to return to the game table next week.

@moonlightshow00 @naturallyunstablegamer @m-i-r-p @meowthefluffy @frida0043 @angelic-cali @selenechris @theblackveilinreverse @prinxiety-week-2022

#sanders sides #ts sides #virgil sanders #roman sanders #ts remy #ts emile #prinxiety #prinxiety week #long post #food mention #tw food

14 notes · View notes

demifiendrsa · 3 years ago

Video

youtube

Halo Infinite | Multiplayer Reveal Trailer - A New Generation

It’ll launch for Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC in Holiday 2021. It will also be available via Xbox Game Pass for Console, PC, and Cloud.

Logo

Key visual

Screenshots

Latest details via Xbox Wire

Hey there everyone! I hope you enjoyed your first look at Halo Infinite multiplayer. I’m sure you have a lot of questions, so I wanted to provide more info here, as well as encourage you to check out our deep dive over on Halo Waypoint. We also have a new video from our Multiplayer team coming out tomorrow and an upcoming breakdown of our Multiplayer Trailer this Thursday on Xbox Game Showcase: Extended with Associate Creative Director Tom French, Multiplayer Designer Alex Bean, and Lead Sandbox Designer Quinn DelHoyo. But for now, let’s talk a bit more about where the team has been, where we’re going and what we’re working on between now and launch.

When I joined the team in the Fall of 2020, I threw myself into the game, playing through the campaign and joining in multiplayer playtests. The first thing that struck me about Halo Infinite is how, in so many ways, it’s the realization of the vision we had for Halo 20 years ago when we were making the original games. That feeling of awe and wonder, the freedom to explore an expansive alien world and discover its secrets, all coming to life. Finally, the technology has caught up with the vision, and that’s hugely exciting for everyone at 343.

We also huddled up as a team and identified key areas of focus that we felt were important to finish the game strong and deliver an experience our fans are going to love. Since that time, we’ve been focusing hard on the elements that make Halo uniquely fun, while polishing and optimizing the game in preparation for launch on Xbox and PC. We’re not done yet, but we’re getting close. We can’t wait for you to finally play for yourselves.

Even though launch is a huge moment, it’s just the beginning of Halo Infinite’s Great Journey (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). A major focus for our team is the content we’ll deliver after the game has shipped, and work has already started on our first year of content — and beyond. You saw some examples of that effort in our Multiplayer Trailer, with tons of Spartan customization options that will be part of our very first season, “Heroes of Reach,” including a super-sweet Yoroi Spartan. And in case you were wondering, the Yoroi armor is free and you can unlock it just by playing events in Season 1.

When it comes to gameplay, our goal is to deliver a multiplayer experience that honors classic Halo combat while also offering new players the support needed to jump in and have a great time. To that end, we’re introducing the Spartan Academy and Spartan Commander Laurette who will help players familiarize themselves with maps, weapons, and equipment. We’re also introducing bot matches so players new and old can warm up before they hit the battlefield. We’ve got more in store for bots and Academy content over time that we look forward to rolling out as the game evolves.

And that gets at heart of our other focus, making Halo Infinite a game that will grow over time with the community. It’s incredibly important that all of you are partners in this journey, and we’re dedicated to listening to your feedback and continuing to improve the game over time. As we try new things and take risks, we’ll listen closely to the community to understand what players love and what we need to reexamine as we go forward. For the first time in franchise history, we’re getting a chance to really dig in and deliver new experiences for our players. Some things you might expect, like new maps and modes. But we might just have a few more surprises up our sleeves that you’ll see in the months following our launch this year.

What gets me the most excited about this journey we’re starting together is the fact that multiplayer is free to play, and how that gives us the opportunity to build the biggest Halo community ever. Also, with cross play and cross-platform progression, there are almost no barriers to enjoying the game with friends, regardless of where they play. It feels extra special to be able to grow the community and bring it together in this way.

Over the past several months, we’ve been taking fans behind the scenes with our Inside Infinite blog series, introducing faces from around the studio and telling stories behind how the game is made. This past year has been filled with challenges as well as successes for all of us. But we’re going to keep having open, candid conversations with our community, and keep you all in the loop on our progress as we make our most ambitious Halo game yet.

I also want to encourage everyone to head over to Halo Insider and sign up if you haven’t done so yet. We’ll be conducting technical previews this summer and signing up gives you a shot to be one of the first people to play the game, provide feedback and help ensure we have the best launch possible. We’ll have more details on the preview program soon, but for now, please sign up! We’re really excited for people outside the studio to play the game.

Lastly, while today is largely a celebration of Halo Infinite’s multiplayer experience, I’d be remiss if I didn’t also speak to those tantalizing bits of the campaign we shared during the showcase. We are continuing the story of the Master Chief and Cortana from Halo 5, but also telling a story that’s welcoming for new players. Cortana’s fate is one of the Infinite campaign’s big mysteries, and early in the story, you will meet a new UNSC AI, “the Weapon”, that was created to help stop Cortana. Together with the Pilot, the Master Chief, and the Weapon begin an epic adventure to explore Zeta Halo, defeat the Banished forces who control the ring, and unravel even more mysteries along the way.

#Halo Infinite #Halo #343 Industries #Xbox Game Studios #video game #Xbox Series #Xbox Series X #Xbox Series S #Xbox One #PC #Steam #Microsoft Store #E3 #E3 2021 #long post

13 notes · View notes

dmsden · 4 years ago

Text

Before the Before - Starting a campaign before session zero

Hullo, Gentle Readers. If you’re running a campaign, then I’ll bet your campaign has histories, legends, and stories that happened before your player characters showed up and started mucking the place up, hmm? Well, what if your players were also the ones who helped create those stories?

But I’m getting ahead of myself. This week’s Question from a Denizen comes to us from an Anonymous readers, who asks, “Any tips for running a one shot as an intro to a campaign world as a more dynamic beginning before session zero? So [the players] can experience the world with premade characters so they experience the world before making their own?”

Okay, I love this idea. I remember advice from, I believe, the 4th edition DM’s Guide suggesting doing scenes in your campaign that cut away to other characters rather than the PCs, having the PCs play pre-statted characters. This would serve the cinematic equivalent of cutting away to another scene that the players know nothing about, but that they might hear about later.

For example, maybe the PCs are given the stat blocks of soldiers. They’re stationed on the wall of a castle in the frozen north. Suddenly, a shadow blocks out the sun, and several of them are suddenly and brutally killed as they’re frozen solid in moments. The others can only get their minds to take in so much. Something huge and winged flying overhead...a terrible reptilian stench...dread filling their hearts with horror...a screeching roar that makes them flee, blindly. And one by one, each one is killed in terrible ways...snatched up and dropped from a great height...ripped apart by dagger-like teeth...hit by a tail that sends them crashing into a stone tower...flung off of the wall by the hurricane-like winds of its awful wings...and in the end, there is a terrible silence as it wings away. You could play out this horrible attack to demonstrate the power of an adult white dragon that the PCs are going to encounter soon. After all, to a group of adventurers, a dragon is a formidable challenge, but, to a group of ordinary soldiers, a dragon is death in the wing.

I actually think you could do this at various intervals throughout the campaign. Perhaps to introduce major villains, or to reveal something that happened in history. Imagine a campaign set around recovering five mystical orbs. At various times, the PCs could be involved in historical scenes that show the power of the orbs, the negatives around having them around, the monsters that stole them, etc.

I play Lord of the Rings Online, and it actually does this very well. In order to show famous scenes from the books or from history, the game will sometimes have someone telling you a story, and then you stop playing your character for a while and get cast as a historical figure, perhaps to see Frodo and Sam and Gollum at Mount Doom, or to be a dwarf in Moria when the Balrog is released, or a similar event. Rather than have an NPC give a “block of text” type download to the PCs, having them play out the events could take things in some fun directions and make them care more about what’s happening.

Now, our Anonymous original poster specifically suggested doing this before Session Zero of their campaign to give people a chance to see something of the world before making a decision. I think this would be challenging, because you want to make sure they see what makes your world unique and to help them to make decisions about what they want to play. You would have to craft something very compelling, with characters to help inspire them. But I think it could potentially be a great exercise. I almost worry that they’ll enjoy the characters they’re playing and just want to keep playing them. Which could also be a perfectly acceptable way to keep playing.

I hope this gives you some ideas for using this interesting narrative tool. I think it could be very fun to do with the right players and a good story to play.

99 notes · View notes

basalt-dnd · 5 years ago

Text

Achievement Masterpost

Last updated on September 21st, 2019. Let’s hope tumblr doesn’t screw up all the links. You may have to scroll down to see the ones that are in large posts. As of now, there are 59 achievements! How many does your party have? (54 if you exclude my NPCs and the real life stuff)

The Originals

Level Achievements - Reach the specified level (1,5,10,15,20)

“Anyone have diamonds?” - Have a player character die

“I mean, it could be worse.” - Get TPK’ed

“I’m a bit disappointed.” - Seduce the enemy

“Don’t seduce it, this time.” - Kill a dragon

“Skeletal Middle Finger.” - Kill a lich

Addition 1: Feeling lucky?

“Lady luck must hate you” - Have terrible rolls

“Another nat 20?” - Have amazing rolls

Addition 2: Money and Morals

Money Achievements - Reach the specified amount of gp (0,1k,10k,100k)

“Pacifist in Training” - Deal no damage during a fight

“Explorers or Missionaries?” -Convert an NPC (religiously)

Addition 3: Quote Potential

“You either die a hero” - Sacrifice yourself

“Or become the villain” - Become evil

Addition 4: Movie Quotes I Guess

“I’ll call you squishy” - Adopt a creature

“It’s just a flesh wound” - Lose a limb

Addition 5: Originals, Redux

“Welcome, newcomer!” - Play your first game of D&D

“Time flies and we’re pilots” - Play a campaign for a year or more

“Think of it as a new start” - Finish a campaign

“With great power...” - DM for the first time

“Panic! at the Tavern” - Go carousing

Addition 6: Miscellaneous Fun

“Who wants to be the virgin sacrifice?” - Start a cult

“Let’s do ‘get help’“ - Use a party member as a weapon

“It’s aliveeee!” - Resurrect a PC

“One hell of a redemption arc” - Change alignment to ‘Good’

“Let’s... not roleplay that” - Have a ‘fade to black’

Addition 7: Lots of Requests!

“I spy, with my little eye” - Kill a beholder

“Less than meets the eye” - Mistake a gas spore for a beholder

“CR 30? No problem” - Defeat a tarrasque

Wish Achievements - Two achievements related to the “Wish” spell

“Have we met, before?” - Meet an NPC from a previous campaign

“Things are getting stranger” - Encounter a mindflayer

Addition 8: Requests, 2!

“For better or worse” - Change an NPCs alignment (or have a hand in it)

“Et tu, Brute?” - Be betrayed

“Sweet words, forked tongue” - Become a traitor

Addition 9: Requests, 3!

“Like kicking a hornet’s nest” - Make an enemy of a god

“Friends in high places” - Befriend a god

Addition 10: Requests, 4!

“Oh, we fucked up” - You know what you did

“Look! You caused Armageddon!” - Kill a god

“Stop! You violated the law!” - Upset the town guard

“How do you know that?” - Meet a Nothic

“Death can’t even catch up” - Pull off the impossible (for ridiculous stunts)

Addition 11: Weird Events, Abound!

“A fairytale love story?” - Have an NPC fall in love with a PC

“I’m majoring in clownery” - Fail to solve an easy puzzle

“What were you expecting?” - End a session early because of wild events

“Oh, that was my evil twin” - Succeed on a ridiculous deception check

“Contingency Planner” - Have a plan in case of weird crap

“Winging it like an eagle” - Improvise a session without anyone noticing

OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS

Real Life Stuff

“Basalt’s Gratitude” - Support Basalt on Ko-Fi

“Aw shucks, you’ve done it” - Have Basalt get sappy

“It’s Pride Time, Babey!” - Pride 2019

Basalt’s NPCs

“Portal safety, folks!” - Meet Havic Graceland

“May I interest you in...?” - Meet Geoff

#fake achievements #achievement #achievements #dnd achievements #basalt achievements #masterpost #achievement masterpost #dnd #long post

665 notes · View notes

crystalelemental · 4 years ago

Note

If you would have to rank every pokemon generation, in what order would you put them?

Oh man, that’s easy.

Gen 4 is the best one, with Platinum standing at the very top. I really like the mythology, and how legendary Pokemon all feel super significant. I like the balance of the games, and how difficult gym leaders can be in Platinum, while never making it a matter of it being hard to keep up in terms of level. And HGSS are fantastic remakes in their own right, so like...it’s the best generation.

Gen 5 is next. I actually think I like Black/White 1 more than 2. I like the idea of the region having a lot of new Pokemon, but that’s all you get the main campaign. I think that’s way better than modern gens giving like 50 actually new Pokemon, pretending regional variants are important, and mostly filling the region with old faces.

Gen 3 is next. I’m torn between Emerald or FRLG at the top. I play FRLG more often, but Emerald’s a really great third game overall, so they’re both winners. I like the open feeling of exploration, and that there’s basically no plot. It’s probably the best generation for a pure gameplay experience, because it lacks the flaws of earlier generations, but hadn’t shifted into frequent, lengthy scenes as a focus yet. Also I think Gen 3 had the best roster of new Pokemon. There are so many winners.

Gen 2 gets the next slot, but I am willing to admit that’s mostly nostalgia. Crystal reigns above the other two. Crystal is the best third game in a generation. You got all the legends of the region in one, it took away one of the roaming Pokemon as a new scene, added a ton of new Pokemon you can get early on, and...honestly I just have the best memories for Gen 2 stuff. I’d also say that, for just the main game, stat experience was better than EVs. One issue of the remakes of the first two gens is that the original gens were based on stat experience, so you could beat Red with like level 60 Pokemon no problem because of how much higher your stats could be. Without that system, the remakes do demand a bit more grinding to keep pace, which is a mild problem. Plus, EVs can be unwiedly, and you can train stats that you wind up never using in later generations.

Gen 7. Despite ragging on modern gens really hard, I do like Gen 7 as a story. And that’s pretty much what does it. I don’t particularly love the new Pokemon, and certain evolutions drive me absolutely insane (why does Morelull become an alien baby in a diaper? Why is Toucannon the final form of the adorable Pikipek?). The boss battles also suck. 2v1 is a stupid idea to artificially create difficulty; Gens 3-5 did it so much better. The Z-moves are stupid and have no real place here at all. They’re the most trivial thing ever for the main game. Also, USUM does drag it down super hard. God those games were a ruination.

Gen 1. Despite being incredibly dated, buggy, and kind of a disaster, I have a hard time hating on Gen 1. Sometimes it’s nice to go back, and just not worry at all about natures, or gender of Pokemon, or anything. It’s the purest experience, in that there’s nothing but the Pokemon and their moves. Granted, it’s obnoxious that nothing learn anything ever, and because of how a counter to each gym is placed right near that gym it’s pretty much a solved game, but it’s not so bad.

Gen 6. The first generation I’d say I dislike. Your friends are the worst. The new roster was pathetically small, and it started that awful trend. Despite having the best gimmick of modern gens with Mega Evolution, it didn’t show up until post-game, except for the Gen 1 starters and Lucario. It was by far the biggest culprit of Gen 1 pandering, offered almost nothing novel despite having some great designs in the new Pokemon, and made zero use of its new gimmick for the actual game and instead expected people to focus on it for post-game, which doesn’t exist and is just “Get into competitive,” which was made minimally easier. I don’t like this game. At all.

Gen 8. But god I hate Gen 8. Now, I do admit, the characters are not that bad. I also admit that Dynamax is the best integrated mechanical gimmick for any of the modern games. It actually matters. Though Gigantamax is a fucking joke. But honestly? It’s boring. Forced EXP Share means the game’s over in like 10 hours of play with no resistance. The game gives wild Pokemon at your same level so you never have to invest anything to keep up. The main game’s levels scale like shit, right up until the League, where they start rapidly inflating. The Wild Area is a complete disaster, being open but completely empty, and having the myriad Pokemon you can find be completely randomized in like 12 different ways, with no player control. Daily events are locked in hard, and you’re forced to save before everything, so soft resetting for something you want is outright impossible without mechanical exploitation on the level of manipulating the system’s sense of time. The aesthetic of the region is awful, I hate the fact that everything is based in corporate sports jerseys, or the gross-looking counter-culture that is Team Yell, who’s a pathetic rip-off of Team Skull. Honestly, that’s my biggest issue with characters here too. Hop is just Hau but less interesting, with a hint of Bianca’s uncertainty about what he wants to do sprinkled in but for dumber reasons. Hop sucks. He’s a few traits from different rivals throughout the series but done worse. Gen 8 is the first time I would say that a Pokemon game is outright unfun to play. I’ve tried three times. The first time was kinda boring, so I tried a second time hoping it would feel different. It didn’t, but after a while I decided to try with Pokemon I liked from the region, but couldn’t make it past the first three gyms. Gen 8 sucks, it’s absolutely the worst of the bunch. Because as much as Gen 1 can feel painfully dated, and as much as Gen 6 can be obnoxious with its cast, at least they can still be fun to play. Gen 8 has never once felt fun to play, which is the biggest condemnation of it I can imagine. More than any graphical issue or complaint levied against it, the fact that it’s just not fun is way, way worse.

6 notes · View notes

killscreencinema · 4 years ago

Text

Doom Eternal (PS4)

youtube

Rip n’ tear!

5 stars.

End of review.

Nah, just kidding, but that does more or less summarize my feelings on Doom Eternal, the sequel to the masterpiece soft reboot of Doom that came out in 2016, other wise known as Doom 2016. On a side note, who would have thought “Doom 2016″ would have ended up being an omen of the following four year? Weird.

Anyway, speaking of Hell on Earth, Doom Eternal’s plot revolves around an all-out demonic invasion of Earth, with humanity’s only hope being the DoomSlayer (aka, the Doomguy). A lot has changed since he last thwarted Hell’s efforts on Mars, such as the DoomSlayer’s swanky new mothership known as the Fortress of Doom. Where did he get it? That information is probably provided in the loads of codex pages you find throughout the game that fill in the gaps in the lore.

Which brings me to my first problem with the game - too much story getting in the way of my ripping n’ tearing. I know, I could skip the cutscenes, but that ain’t really the point. Part of Doom 2016′s charm was its middle finger to story intensive gameplay and obnoxiously extensive game lore. What minimal story there was in the game was carried out organically during gameplay, similar to Half Life 2. Nothing ever felt like a cut scene or a complete interruption of the game. Also, the story pretty simple - you are a legendary badass who has been resurrected to save Mars, and by proxy the Earth, from the forces of Hell.

Doom Eternal tries to expand on the lore by giving Doomguy a backstory, involving him belonging to a race of demi-gods known as “Sentinels” who have stood in opposition to Hell throughout the ages. That’s pretty lame, as the appeal of THE DOOMSLAYER to me is that he’s just a regular dude who is so good as slaying demons at will, they’ve built a mythology around him as an unstoppable killing machine and the only being demons fear. That’s enough for me - I don’t need him to be part of a lineage of “Slayers” or some shit like that. YOU’RE OVERTHINKING THINGS BETHESDA!

I won’t lie though - there were some cutscenes I enjoyed, such as any time Doomguy interacts with other humans, who all scurry out of his way in fear or are just paralyzed in awe.

Another issue I have with the game is THERE’S TOO MANY WAYS TO KILL THINGS! I know, it’s an odd complaint, but bear with me here. So you have 8 standard weapons, but each weapon, except the Super Shotgun and the BFG, have two mods each that fundamentally changes them into new weapons essentially. So counting the mods, and the chainsaw, you have 21 weapons to choose from! That’s... a lot of goddamn weapons. I envision Doomguy comically approaching a demon fight, both hands full of so many weapons they clatter to the ground as he tries to pick the best one for the fight. Then there are the frag grenades, the ice grenades, the flame thrower, the “Blood Punch”, and eventually the one-hit-kill sword. All this results in me either pushing the wrong button for what I want (”Ah shit, I meant select the sword, but I accidentally switched my frag grenades to ice grenades!”) or getting pounded by projectiles in slow motion as I go through my weapons and try to figure out the best one for this particular encounter.

Oh shit, and then there are the Runes, which give you different abilities while equipped AND you can upgrade the Praetor suit. Oh, and you can upgrade your stats by finding crystals along the way. It’s just too much, and a little overwhelming to juggle at first. I just wanna shoot things, Doom Eternal!

Well, fortunately the game has plenty of that and then some. The combat is just as intense and frenetic as Doom 2016, with “glory kills” still in full effect and a nice variety of demons to maul. There’s nothing quite as satisfying as the visceral thrill of tearing a Cacao demon to pieces. Doom Eternal can also be extremely challenging, especially if you dare to venture into the harder difficulty settings. I tried playing through it on “Ultra-Violence” (the Doom equivalent of “Hard”) and got my ass humbled back into “Hurt Me Plenty” (aka “normal”) pretty quickly.

While Doom Eternal might be a little too bloated, like a Mancubator on a Golden Corral binge, it’s still, at its core, every bit as fun as its predecessor. The graphics are amazing, especially the lovingly crafted, ultra detailed level designs. There were many instances, in between battles of course, that I would just stand there and take in the environments. So if you loved Doom 2016, and current events make you wanna tear things to pieces, preferably virtual things, then Doom Eternal is a solid playthrough.

UPDATE

Since posting this review, I have gone on to play the online “Battlemode”. Normally, I don’t care for online multiplayer games. Playing games have always been a solo activity for me - a way to take a break from people. Also, playing online games seems frustrating in that you almost always start with a huge difficulty curve as you often play against people who LIVE AND BREATH the game 24/7, and therefor, have the uncanny knack to destroy you utterly and immediately before you have a chance to move, much less “get gud”.

Anyway, I started playing Battlemode solely to pop the PS4 trophies associated with it so that I can Platinum the game. I must admit, now that I’ve taken the “PS Plus plunge”, I’m curious to check out other online games people seem to be nuts about like Rocket League (which honestly looks fun as hell, I must admit) and Overwatch. So I figured it was only fair to edit my review to include my impressions of Doom Eternal’s online mode, which is thus..

My usual gripes about online death match difficulty curves aside, “Battlemode” is incredibly lopsided with its premise of 2 player demons versus one player Slayer. Not only are the odds stacked against you as the Slayer, but the demons also have the ability to summon minions to pester you, make your loot disappear (thereby making health replenishment a pain in the ass), and they respawn if you don’t kill them both within 20 seconds. As the Slayer, when you are up against two players who are extremely good as demons, the round can be over in seconds, which is infuriating and not remotely fun.

Meanwhile, playing as a demon is much easier for all the reason listed above, despite some demons handling better than others. The only difficulty is that the Slayer is inherently faster and more agile than any demon you can choose, which is the only real advantage a Slayer has. None of this would be a problem if you could just knock out the trophies as a demon, even though it’s a bit of an irritating grind, except one trophy REQUIRES you to be the Slayer - the Weapons Expert trophy, wherein you must kill player demons with each of the 8 weapons at your disposal, including the BFG, which you only have the option of using should you survive to Round 4 (which odds are you won’t). It’s an incredibly frustrating task, but I got lucky and found a lobby where the player demons were either exceptionally bad or were away from their controller a lot. So I was able to knock out this trophy at my convenience then, but only after several incredibly frustrating failed attempts.

The only other trophy where being the Slayer is ideal is the “Blood Bath” trophy, where you must kill 200 opponents. This goes by a lot quicker as the Slayer if you can manage to consistently kill both player demons every round in every match, but you’ll be lucky to kill even one. However, even then, that can work to your advantage because when they respawn, you can kill them again and rack up another point towards the trophy. Trying to pop this trophy as a demon is less of a headache, but still sucks because it’s too slow and possible your demon ally will get the deathblow, thereby stealing your point.

So the point of all this is to say I hate Battlemode. I hate it with a burning passion not unlike the fires of Hell. I wish the online feature of this game could have just been a good ol’ fashion Death Match. It’s also bullshit that the game even has trophies you can’t pop unless you play online, because what if you’re a late comer and nobody is playing Battlemode anymore? Does that mean you just can’t Platinum Doom Eternal? It’s also mild extortion in that it forces you to pay for PS Plus if you don’t already have it.

So there you have it:

Doom Eternal solo campaign = good

Doom Eternal Battlemode = bad

Happy slaying!

#doom #doom eternal #bethesda #id software #fps #sony #ps4 #playstation 4 #the doom slayer #first person shooter

2 notes · View notes

pixelgrotto · 4 years ago

Photo

Underdark slogging

Last month myself and a group of other folks finished the Dungeons & Dragons campaign Out of the Abyss after about 18 months of playing nearly every week. Jinkies. This wasn’t the lengthiest campaign I’d ever participated in or run, but it was the one where we met most frequently, since all of my other long-running tabletop RPG games are either monthly or bi-weekly.

On that note, I’d love to be able to say that it was nearly two years of weekly thrills, but I can’t quite do that. There was actually a lot of slog in this experience, and I had an internal debate a few times on whether or not I’d stick it out. (More on that later.) At the end of the day, I stuck around, and now I can look back and say that the overall experience was worth it. But I’ve also taken some time to ponder about what I didn’t necessarily like, and I think there were a couple of issues at work - the first being that I found Out of the Abyss, as an adventure module, to be grueling.

Out of the Abyss is described by D&D writer Chris Perkins in the intro as heavily inspired by Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, where the player characters are constantly bouncing from one strange encounter in the Underdark to the next. That sounds interesting on paper, but in reality the adventure begins with the players captured by drow and stuck in a prison camp, and once you escape you’re constantly on the run without much of a chance to catch your breath. You hop from one dungeon crawl to the next, only occasionally stopping in Underdark cities like Gracklstugh or Sloobludop, and there’s not really any downtime. And then the demon lords break free, Demogorgon shows up and starts inflicting madness on everyone, and off you go running from the big bads once more. Eventually your party eludes the drow and demons chasing them and returns to the surface world, where it seems like the campaign should come to a natural end, but after a few months, Bruenor Battlehammer tasks everyone to return to the horrors of the Underdark to take care of the demonic invasion.

In other words, Out of the Abyss is one of those D&D campaigns that railroads the players while pretending not to. You’ve gotta run through the Underdark at the speed of light without much time to smell the subterranean mushrooms, and later you gotta go back in. The second half of the campaign is, in fact, a series of fetch quests that the players are once again forced into to arrange a spell that gets the demon lords to fight against each other until there’s only one standing, and the final one will always inevitably be Demogorgon, at least if you’re running this adventure as written.

There’s nothing technically wrong with all of this, since half of D&D 5e’s official modules are railroads that try very hard to convince you otherwise. But Out of the Abyss is specifically a railroad that leans very hard on the travel rules of the game, and frankly...it’s no secret that the travel mechanics in 5e aren’t great. Almost every game that I’ve been in (including the ones that I’ve run) either ignored or hacked 5e’s methods of tracking water/food, making survival checks and looking up setbacks on random encounter tables because generally speaking, that stuff’s the least fun bit of D&D. (If you want a good travel hack for 5e, look up Adventures in Middle-Earth.) Out of the Abyss, unfortunately, really wants you to use these rules for much of the campaign to emphasize the fact that characters are on the run in a bizarre underworld realm.

You’d think that a ranger in the party, especially a ranger specialized in traversing the Underdark, might fix these issues. And this leads me to the other qualm I had with my Out of the Abyss game...I played just such a character, a Gloom Stalker (later re-rolled him into a Deep Stalker via the revised ranger rules) whose favorite enemy was fiends, no less, and despite all of his abilities designed for hiding in the dark, finding more food when foraging and hunting down demons...none of this really made things better. Two years ago, I didn’t buy into all those claims floating around the internet that rangers in fifth edition are a poorly designed class, but whoo boy, I do now. They depend just so heavily on very specialized tracking abilities that a DM has to emphasize over the course of a game in order to make you feel as if your character is special and contributing, and once our DM became aware of my skillset, he would generally just be like, “thanks to your ranger friend, you safely make it to the next area quickly.” Which sounds empowering in theory (and did remove a lot of the boring bookkeeping) but in reality, I couldn’t help but feel like my character was sort of a patch to fix a segment of the game that was naturally dull. And that’s not even getting into the fact that rangers in combat aren’t as great as fighters, nor as versatile as any other spellcasting class.

So why’d I stick with the campaign for nearly two years, then? Well, I think it took a while for these feelings to solidify in my head, and once they were there, we were already pretty deep into the Underdark and I wanted to see how events played out. Also, though I haven’t touched upon them much in this post, there were some real highs during our adventure, like the time we befriended a gelatinous cube, stuck rope ladders in him and used him as a floatation device to escape a flooding torture chamber. Then there were all the quirky NPC friends that ended up dying over the course of our Underdark romp to the point where it became a running joke. (”What NPCs shall we murder today?!”) The only issue was that the slog began outweighing those highs for me, especially once the campaign moved online due to COVID and we lost some of the dynamism and magic that comes from playing D&D in-person.

Honestly, I also resisted these feelings for a while, because I figured that lots of folks struggle to find a long-running D&D game to participate in. Part of me felt like I needed to enjoy this one and make the most of my experience. But for a variety of reasons, it ended up being a 3 out of 5 campaign; or perhaps 3.5 at times. And you know, we should normalize talking about this, because if you look at tabletop RPG message boards and Discords, you’ll see a lot of people chatting about amazing campaigns or god-awful campaigns. What folks don’t talk too much about is a phenomena that is probably more common than the two opposing ends of that spectrum - and I’m referring to the decent campaign. The one where the story has some alright twists and turns, but not everything is to your liking, or maybe the group and DM doesn’t gel with you 100% of the time. The one where you kinda don’t realize this until you’re a few weeks in, and then choose to endure hoping that you’ll hit another high point, or because you feel attached to your character. The one where you complete, feel glad that you had the experience, but then look back on with fairly critical eyes, as I’m doing now.

After finishing Out of the Abyss, I’ve had to gently bow out from the group that I played with, partially due to the fact that my schedule has become way too packed in recent months and also because I didn’t feel like continuing into higher level content. (We ended at level 15, which is more than enough, since high level 5e is generally too bonkers for me.) I certainly appreciate the journey my ranger went through, but now I’m also ready for him to retire in peace. Not every D&D campaign goes on forever, and sometimes you realize after a period of lengthy playing that maybe you’re just having an okay time...and that it’s also okay to feel that way.

#pixel grotto #musings #tabletop gaming #dungeons & dragons #d&d #out of the abyss

1 note · View note

seriouslyhooked · 6 years ago

Text

Scoring Your Love (Part 10/?)

Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six,Part Seven, Part Eight. Story also on FF here and AO3 here. Banner by the wonderful @timetravelandfairytales

Modern AU where Killian is a world famous soccer star who has hit rock bottom and been sentenced to the place where ‘football’ legends go to die – America. While here he crosses paths with Emma, an up and coming musician and film scorer who challenges everything he thought he knew and makes him want more than the game he’s always loved. Will be filled with fluff for days, and eventually rated M.

A/N: Hello again, friends! So as promised we finally get to the M rating in this chapter, but we also get another important check in before then. I mean come on, you didn’t think I was just going to forget about Liam, did you? Well he’ll make an appearance of sorts in this chapter, and though we’ll end in my usual fluffy place, we’re sowing some seeds of intrigue for later. Hope you all enjoy and thanks so much for reading!

In all his years playing in the professional leagues, Killian had managed the intensity and the strange schedules of a sportsman’s life better than most of his fellow teammates.

To be sure there were some more destructive habits he had formed, drinking a bit too much, surrounding himself with the kind of people who were interested just in the fame and the fortune, but on the whole he hadn’t fallen victim to the same bad moods that most other men did. Leaving home for so long and being apart from family took a toll on anybody, but Killian had never felt he was leaving too much behind. Since it was only ever Liam who he had as a given in his life, and since his brother was also his manager and as such was on the road with him more often than not, Killian didn’t feel the weight of separation.

Now, however, things were changing. One might argue it was because he was on the American circuit and his new games weren’t in enthralling places like Paris or Milan, but in small suburbs outside cities he’d never thought to see. Yet Killian knew that the real reason for the change was simpler than that. The problem was home – or rather Los Angeles – had a certain person in residence who did not get to come on these trips with him, and the more he got to know Emma Swan, the harder it was to take these jaunts out on the road for the sake of a game. It was likely crazy to feel this way, but Killian wouldn’t lie to himself. He missed Emma when he was gone, and finally he understood all that regret other more settled teammates had been feeling all these years.

It was of great comfort to him then that tonight he was back at his place in LA once more. Minutes ago he’d said goodbye to Tiny down stairs and now Killian was filled with anticipation and a need to get things going. He could do with a shower straight away, and food would probably be a good thing this time of night when he’d had none so far, but any unpacking could wait until morning. Right now Killian was hoping to speed things up as much as he could to get to Emma. He pulled out his phone and started to craft a text seeing if she was still up. It wasn’t too late yet, and he knew from their conversations this morning that she didn’t have any early morning commitments tomorrow, but he’d hate to call and disturb her if her plans had changed. Unfortunately just as he was about to press send on the text, a call came in disrupting him. A picture of his brother and Liam’s name appeared on the screen and Killian groaned at the interruption, but decided to answer in the hopes of conducting a speedy conversation.

“Liam, I’m sorry I haven’t checked in the past few days, but I’m actually just -,”

“You’re not seriously blowing me off are you, Killian?” his brother asked from where he was half a world away, and though to others it might sound a bit standoffish, Killian could sense his brother was actually in good humor. He could envision the smirk Liam had going there across the pond, and he was glad things had started to calm between them since Killian was first shipped off to the states. “It’s been a whole week at this point.”

“Aye, it’s bad form to be dodging my manager, I know,” Killian agreed.

“Ha! Your manager – I’m your brother first Killian, as you well know. Question is, what’s got you so busy. You’re ‘on a roll’ as they say over there. Stats are looking good and there’s still a buzz about you over here. But are the States so entirely exhausting that you can’t call your family?”

“Not quite,” Killian said with a smile of his own as he looked about his apartment figuring he could kill two birds with one stone. He could straighten up a bit on the off chance Emma could come here later and also touch base with his brother.

“So what is it then?” Liam asked and Killian hesitated, not because he had any shame over his relationship with Emma. On the contrary, he was thrilled that the two of them were progressing as they were. Instead his worry came from Liam’s potential reaction, and that worry was proved of merit when Liam spoke again. “Oh for fuck’s sake, tell me it’s not some woman.”

“Liam -,” Killian wanted to immediately correct his brother’s resentfulness and assure him Emma was different and unlike anyone he’d known before, but he didn’t have the chance with Liam fully blowing up at the realization.

“God, I knew this ‘new leaf’ was too good to be true! Here I am campaigning for you, working my arse off to get your image back where it needs to be for a proper team return, and you’re shagging some random American woman and throwing it all away!”

“I’m not throwing anything away. And she’s not just some woman,” Killian growled back, his hand balling into a fist and his body tightening in anger at his brother’s harsh iterations.

“Oh I bet. If you’ve glommed on to her she’s bound to be a total disaster,” Liam said haughtily. “Let me guess: she’s a great lay right? But with her sexual abilities there’s always some kind of rubbish. My bet its either a fully-stunted personality or some sort of fucked up gold-digging ambitions. Am I right?”

“No you aren’t bloody right, and I’m telling you Liam if you don’t stop talking about Emma that way you will regret it.”

“Oh Emma is it?”

“Aye, Emma,” Killian said, releasing a breath and trying to be the bigger person here. He could admit that he had made bad choices in the past, and the fall out of those choices had made Liam’s life and job no doubt more complicated. Rationally Killian knew that he was the one the burden fell on to be the bigger person, but it was difficult when his elder brother was giving in to such theatrics. They both knew Killian hadn’t been in the habit of sleeping with every eligible lady in the whole United Kingdom, that was all a part of his unearned reputation, but hashing that point out in this moment would do nothing. What needed to be said was of an entirely different nature. “I hadn’t planned to get into this just now, I was hoping to introduce the two of you when you came in a few months so you could see that she’s different. She’s everything.”

“Everything? Christ, Killian, she’s just a woman!”

“No, she’s the woman, brother,” Killian said aggressively, and then it dawned on him – this wasn’t worth his time. If Liam was coming at this with such combative, head-strong energy he was never going to listen. As such they were just moving towards a larger fight, a bigger blow out with more hurt along the way. It would be better to shut it down now and deal with the fall out later, at least that way the whole night might not be ruined and he might yet get to see Emma. “You know what, let’s just call and end to this. It’s been a long day, and I’m not interested in whatever judgment you’ve got rattling around in your brain right now. You don’t know Emma, Liam. You don’t know us together. Hell you don’t even really know me anymore. So let’s just say I’ll call you in a week, or better yet you can email me any business particulars and I’ll see you when I see you.”

Killian ended the call before Liam could respond and turned his phone on the ‘do not disturb’ setting. Was it rude? Yes, but it felt warranted under the circumstances. He didn’t need that kind of negativity in his life, and when his brother felt a little more compassionate and a little more interested in trusting Killian’s judgment they’d speak again. For now, Killian returned once more to the text he was about to send Emma only to hear a knock at the door. Now who could that be this time of night?

“Can I help you?” Killian asked as he opened the door to his apartment. A young man with a bike stood before him and the kid nodded, handing Killian a package and a tablet for a signature.

“Delivery for Jones.”

“Right. Thanks, mate,” Killian said as he accepted. He shut the door behind him and examined the parcel. He knew he hadn’t ordered anything but when he saw the return address he grinned. It was from Emma. But what could it be?

Opening it up Killian discovered it was of all things a cassette tape and an accompanying player. Thank God she’d thought to include that last part because he certainly didn’t have one, but before he could listen he had to search for a note. He found a short one attached and read it as quick as he could.

‘This song wouldn’t exist without us.’

Killian felt his pulse quickening as he maneuvered the tape out of its holder and into the player, his conversation with his brother all but forgotten. It was a Walkman style set up, something straight out of the 90s but the fun of the nostalgia was undeniable. He was already in the best mood possible by the time he had the headphones on, but then he pressed play on the tape and he was awed into something else.

The music that came through the device and into his ears was unexpected but brilliant. It moved him in a way he truly hadn’t seen coming. This was no mixtape of throwback songs, this was something new, something bold, and something truly remarkable. Killian was certain it was one of Emma’s own compositions, and he stood there surrounded by the essence of her music trying to fathom how one person could have such talent. Too soon the song came to an end, but just as Killian was about to hit rewind to play it again Emma’s voice flittered through the air giving the name of the song, ‘Ready for You,’ and the intended scene it should go with on the series she was working on with Tiana.

Another realization dawned at that part, not just from the title, but from the purpose of the song as well. He’d been speaking with Emma on and off all week about the orchestrations she needed to work on, and one of them was the theme for one of the show’s heroines and her love interest. According to Emma the two characters (neither of which were played by Ruby) were ‘endgame,’ and he was now sworn to secrecy because no one knew of that except for Emma and Tiana. So to have Emma saying that it was their relationship that sparked this kind of music with this intended meaning… well it was just about the clearest way he could think for Emma to show him that she was in fact ready for the next step between them.

Understanding now what Emma’s intention must have been Killian moved swiftly, abandoning his original plans and throwing on his leather jacket once more. He grabbed his phone, debating as he walked to the doorway whether or not he should call Emma on the way. Such debate was not actually needed, however, because when he opened the door again he very nearly ran into the woman he was trying to get to in such a haste.

“Emma,” he declared, shocked that she would be here but so bloody grateful he couldn’t find the words.

“Hey. I was hoping you were back by now, and I got the delivery receipt for the package, but I didn’t think you would have plans already,” Emma said as she took in his appearance that was ready for departure. “I shouldn’t have assumed. I’ll just -,”

Not wanting Emma to doubt even for a moment that he was thrilled she had come, Killian pulled her to him and kissed her out there in the hallway. He felt her wariness slip away the instant their lips met and through some sort of coordination he couldn’t actively control he maneuvered them both inside of his apartment. Words weren’t needed as he got them inside and pushed Emma against the now closed door, his body fueled by the feel of hers beneath him and the way she held on to him like she loathed the very thought of being parted. There was no space between them, no end to the passion in sight, but Killian wanted one last affirmation before they took this final plunge.

“Stay with me tonight, love,” he whispered as his mouth remained just inches from hers. He watched her eyes open, the jade color now darkened from the exchange they’d just had but they lit with the smile she shared at his request.

“I thought you’d never ask.”

With her approval Killian locked the door and now the decision wasn’t one of how far to go but just exactly how to play it. He’d fantasized about this almost since their first meeting, concocted at least a hundred scenarios in his head and imagined each corner of this apartment as having some kind of potential, but the first time he was truly with Emma, Killian knew it had to be in bed. That wasn’t to say they were in any kind of rush though, and the build up, of which he was planning quite a lot, could happen anywhere she damn well pleased.

Emma, meanwhile, had no problem indicating what she wanted. She was unwilling to break away from him, kissing him surely as she had been, both of their hands roaming, leaving trails that inspired more hunger along the way. It was as if they were famished for the connection and too long denied the promise of this part of their chemistry. In no time at all Emma had managed to rid Killian of his jacket and most of the buttons on his shirt while also leading them to the living room. She was making good time, trying to tear away the layers that separated them until they were all gone, but it seemed it wasn’t fast enough, as Emma looked at him and let out a frustrated sigh of air.

“Something wrong, Swan?” Killian asked with a grin, knowing full well there was nothing the world over that could possibly be calculated as amiss when he and Emma were like this. No, her frustration was all of a sexual nature, and he watched as his words, rough from the need he had for her, washed over her skin and sent a shiver through her.

“This is taking too long,” she said with what might have been considered a pout and Killian chuckled as they moved in through the kitchen and come up against the counter. Then he surprised her by spinning her in his embrace and coming right up behind her, his hands clasped on her waist to pull her back.

Killian pushed her blonde hair over her shoulder, his lips trailing down from her ear lobe and lower, finding a spot at her neck he’d noticed that she was sensitive at before. He took slow, torturous care of riling her up in a way that had her wanting all the more, his hands moving across the delicate dress that clung to her figure. He knew in his heart she’d worn this for him, in the hopes of pushing things further tonight, and he had no more ability to resist. This scrap of red silk was beautiful, but it couldn’t compare to the woman underneath and Killian was ready to reveal his prize. He unzipped it with just enough patience to tease them both and then he let the garment fall as he pushed the straps off her bared shoulders.

“We have all night, Emma,” he assured her as his fingertips traced her now mostly naked flesh. “And far longer too, as you well know.”

Killian watched the harsh swallow that came at his words, but Emma wasn’t running from his actions or his words. Instead she turned back around in his arms and took control back once more, pulling him in for another needy kiss that he caved into immediately. So much for slowing this down, Killian thought to himself. Now Emma was even more set on finding release, and he was right there with her.

“I know we have time,” Emma said when they came up for air again and her eyes locked on his, her hand trailing down to the button of his slacks, grazing down his bare chest and abs in the process and making his already undeniable ache to have her grow. “And trust me, I’m happy for it. But we’ve already waited so long… I don’t think I can stand to wait anymore. I need you, Killian. I need you now.”

What more was there to say? When the woman he loved made her wants and wishes known it was Killian’s job to see to it that he did everything he could to procure them for her. It was in no way a hardship given how much he wanted her as well, and besides, they could have the slow and steady seduction he’d anticipated later. Far, far later after he’d wrung out every last drop of passion from her tonight.

They hurried back to his room, both of them of the same mind this time and now words weren’t needed any more. Their remaining clothes were stripped away, and by the time they’d hit the bed they were both beyond rational planning or design. This was pure instinct, and all Killian could think was that he had to make her come, had to satisfy every last desire his Swan could have. He knew he was on his way to accomplishing that as he moved above her, his lips tracing down her body past the tender peaks of her breasts, over the gentle swell of her stomach, and down to the space between her thighs that had been driving him mad for weeks.

“Killian.”

Emma said his name not in warning or in censure but as a sigh of need. His eyes flicked back up to hers and he saw the nearly wild appearance that had settled in them. Lust had consumed her, and Killian had known as much without even looking. Every sound, every movement that came from Emma told him exactly what she wanted, and he was nothing if not persistent when it came to reading the signs. Because of this he knew that even as she pleaded for him to sate her desire immediately, she actually wanted just a touch more anticipation. He bit lightly at her inner thigh, feeling her jump and then shake underneath the soothing of his tongue after. He did the same thing to the other side, moving closer to her sex, and only after a few more heartbeats did he give in, tasting her on his tongue as she let herself go to the sensations.

It was an out of body experience to know he was giving Emma so much all at once. Nothing could compare to it, and he didn’t even think to try and draw connections. This was already so much more than a simple shag; it was intimacy designed with meaning and with purpose. Every flick of his tongue, every suck, every kiss, was all done in the name of seeing Emma reach heaven itself, but when she finally fell into the ecstasy she was seeking it was Killian who was flush with fulfillment. It became clear that this was rapidly becoming an addiction, and as he kissed his way back up her body and came above her, looking at the pink that had crept into her cheeks and the satisfaction that swam about her gaze, Killian realized there would be no coming back from Emma Swan. This woman had run away with his heart completely and he was fundamentally changed from knowing and loving her.

Their tender moment was short lived however, for Emma had sacrificed none of her energy in finding her enjoyment. Indeed she surprised him, switching their positions and undertaking a perusal of her own that left him reeling. Damn she was a siren, a bloody minx who was hell bent on riling him to a state that would be unforgiveable, but how could he blamed when she had her mouth on him? It was sublime and indescribable, but when he was just at the edge of falling apart himself he stopped her and took back the reins once more. The time for waiting was over. All he could think about was filling her, sheathing himself inside her and never turning back.

“Fuck,” he grunted to himself as he paused just before taking what they both wanted.

“That’s kind of the idea,” Emma said with a laugh that turned into a slight moan from her still lingering desire. “What’s the hold up here, Jones?”

“I left the condoms on the counter. Just a minute, love.” He moved to get them but Emma held tighter and shook her head.

“You don’t have to. I’m on the pill.”

Holy shit, he didn’t know what to say to that and his hard length jerked at the words. The thought of being with Emma without a barrier was enough to drive him mad. If things were already blindingly glorious between them, what indescribable ecstasy would be procured from taking her bare?

“Are you sure, Emma? I’m clean of course. Just had my physicals with the new team doctors, and I’ve never actually gone without…”

“Me either,” Emma replied softly as her hand came to brush some of his hair from his forehead. “But I want to. With you.”

Since that want was of a fully mutual variety Killian offered no rebuttal, only giving in and taking what they both were craving so desperately. The moment he filled her was too fantastic to put to words, and he could have stayed there forever if Emma hadn’t begged him to move. The rhythm they set was perfection itself, crafted from a bond needed between two people that couldn’t ever be contrived. It made the claims of stories and fairytales, the ones about soul mates and perfect matches seem a little more realistic, for surely this could never be this way with another. This love he felt for Emma was cosmic, causing a shift Killian swore he could feel down to his bones, but when it came to an end and they both cried out in relief, it was the aftermath that truly took his breath away.

Holding onto Emma and having her in his arms cuddled beside him was a luxury he knew she rarely bestowed on others. Emma was guarded, cautious, and careful with her heart. She had been wary at the start, and with good reason, but as weeks went on Emma admitted that getting close to people always scared her. Truth be told Killian had often felt the same way. Love was a means of getting hurt, a fanciful notion that distracted from the game and never worked out in the end, but his old cynical notions of love no longer held water. For in this moment there was no way to deny what was between them. Tonight both Emma and Killian had shed the last pieces of doubt and of caution, and now they were truly in this together.

“So that was…” Emma paused as her fingers traced over his chest and a smile bloomed upon her lips. “Definitely worth waiting for.”

“On that we most certainly agree, love,” Killian said happily, seeing the call of sleep washing over Emma and feeling a similar tug into slumber himself.

“And I’m waking you up in a few hours for more,” she joked with a yawn. “You promised, no more waiting.”

“Aye, Swan. No more waiting. Not any more.”

He pressed a final kiss to the crown of her head, and a few moments later, as sleep finally claimed them both, Killian fell asleep smiling, knowing that life held so much promise now that he had Emma. And no matter what came next, and no matter where their paths might lead, Killian would do whatever it took to keep them like this – happy, connected, and together – for now and for always.

Post-Note: So there we have it. Another chapter come and gone and we find our couple just about in the happiest spot they can be. Rest assured this story, like all my stories so far, intends to give CS truly happy situations, and while there will be some bumps in the road ahead, it’s smooth sailing for the time being. Anyway I thank you all so much for reading, commenting, and messaging me! Your enthusiasm has been wonderful and I love hearing your thoughts. Hope you have a great rest of your weekend and thanks for being fabulous!

#captain swan #captain swan fic #captain swan ff #cs fic #cs ff #cs fluff #cs au #cs mc #emma swan #killian jones #the whole storybrooke gang #liam jones #scoring your love au #Scoring Your Love #scoring 10 #ouat soccer fic #cs soccer fic #soccer star killian #musician!Emma

36 notes · View notes