#their relationship is strained at best

[memray]

a dad and his weird son doodle

i just wanted to figure out some stuff with making them actually look related and settled on legolas having his dad’s nose, skin tone and eye colour (and judgemental look)

[moonpaw]

I love unhinged women

[penofwildfire]

Guys I made another dragon OC, they're the youngest of Egalt and Rontu's children and don't talk to their parents anymore

[drkcatt]

(jingling keys in front of you) oooo dami and vaya in the ar-caean gear oo ooo butch and bear crafter solidarity oooo

[simcardiac-arrested]

IM SURE YOUVE ALREADY EXPLAINED IT SOMEWHERE but.. may i ask about the story in bitter choco decoration. I like those guys :)

you’d be surprised but i apparently have never talked about these particular ocs’ story in detail on this particular tumblr blog. so i shall do just that…. i tried to summarize but it got kind of long oops, as it always does when i talk about my mentally ill ass ocs

so! as u might already know the guys in the video are rikki and william, and the animatic happens from rikki’s pov. rikki is basically the golden child of the family—smart, well-behaved, always keeping her parents satisfied, etc etc. generally she is put under a lot of pressure a lot of the time. and then her family decides to get an insurance child so to speak—just in case rikki fails in life—but they don’t want to go through the trouble of raising another one, so they decide to adopt.

that’s where william comes in, baby! now he is decidedly Not the golden child. he is the problem child. parents thought they could reform him—well, not much to show for that. but him and rikki surprisingly get along, even though they’re opposites. william actually gets someone who cares about him for once and wants him to be okay, and rikki gets someone who wants her to be more bold, stand up to others and consider what she herself wants instead of people-pleasing. he even gets her to make snide jokes and cut her hair. they’re best friends, it’s nice. for a while.

but, none of it is perfect. you know how rikki always seems to be smiling even though she’s clearly not having a good time? and you know all those red eyes that appear pretty much everytime william’s on screen? rikki has so many layers of masks that william never really feels like he actually knows her. and william, even though he mostly wants rikki to do her own thing, can still kind of be selfish and controlling (because he’s a teenager, and traumatized, and scared of losing his best friend, but it doesn’t change the fact that rikki feels the same pressure from him as she feels from their parents).

so this all culminates when they’re in high school and rikki buries herself in work—she wants to secure a good education and a good job so that she can actually get them both out of this shitty abusive household. for the first time in her whole life, she has a Goal that she personally has chosen. she now has someone to work hard for. but she also ends up spending a lot less time with that someone because of her studying, and it eats at william and eats and eats until—it turns out rikki’s hard work has actually paid off. she’s gotten a scholarship, and she can leave for a good university and she’s finally achieved something that she herself has wanted to do and not anyone else. for both of them. for her brother.

except her brother doesn’t react with support, like usual. he’s not cheering her on now that she’s fulfilled her dream and beyond. he just looks betrayed. because they’re best friends. they promised to be there for each other, to get out of this hellhole house together. how could she leave him behind? how is he supposed to make it without her, who is he going to have on his side? william loves her and wants her to be happy but he doesn’t want her to leave.

so in turn—because rikki is a) an avoidant little bitch who would rather masterfully evade conflict than try to have an opinion and b) doesn’t want her brother to hate her forever and not speak to her ever again—in turn, rikki, as always, as second nature, lies. i mean, it’s her dream, it’s something she’s been working towards for years, but she’ll stay. she’ll leave it behind. it makes perfect logical sense to her—best of both worlds: she doesn’t spend the last summer at home with her brother resenting her, and she still gets to actually go to university. it is basically flawless.

all up until, you know, the day comes where she actually has to move out and go to university. and william inevitably finds out that she lied to him. and they fight. it’s not good. it’s not happy. they end up separating on really bad terms, and not talking for the next 7 years because william runs away from home pretty much soon after rikki leaves (it’s not shown in the animatic but he does go MIA, rikki visits home once on holiday to find that her brother is just Gone, no one knows where he is, her parents couldnt give less of a shit, not great all around!!!) then rikki ends up graduating and looking for an easy first job, just to kind of set her foot in Job World.

unfortunately, it is also the exact same easy, convenient job that her brother ends up picking. hoo, boy. long time no see.

[ganymede-g]

new god of war oc just dropped

hafnar is týr’s kid, but he’s nothing like him. he absolutely sucks at being diplomatic, can be pretty tone deaf, and has no problem beating people up. an overall well-adapted individual if i do say so myself!!

[fidgetspringer-art]

✧ The Ardal stars ✧

[sunmoontruth-stiles]

I need a completely rewritten teen wolf series with Derek Hale as the main character. I think it would heal me.

[the-cookie-of-doom]

My entire day is just. Studying child development. And I don't like it (it's complicated) but it's making me really want to write a kid!fic?

Look, watching that one episode of Ingredients Did Something To Me, okay??

After some youthful indiscretions when he's a teenager, Kim get's a girl pregnant. Korn finds out and makes the problem go away. Kim might not find out at all, until years later, when the girl - now a woman - presents him with a toddler and tells him it's his. And Kim is shocked to hell, but if nothing else, he's loyal to his family, and holy shit this child is his family.

Or maybe Korn deals with the problem in a different way. He's not averse to raising bodyguards, Kim says as much himself. He could easily take care of the mother (either paying her off, attic-wifing her, or killing her), with the intention of raising his grandson to be the next heir after Kinn. He knows the chances of getting a child out of Kinn are slim to none. Now he won't have to worry about that. He has a grandchild that he can raise in his own image, in secret.

This is going to get long so I'm going to continue under a cut

However it happens, Kim eventually finds out, and like hell he's going to let anyone keep him from his child. It will take him a while to get used to the idea, to lean into fatherhood, but he's not going to let his own father raise his child to be a killer. Kim sees a chance to break his generational trauma and he takes it with both hands and runs.

Kim has no idea how to be a father. He didn't have a good role model. He know show he's raised, and he knows he won't be the same, so he just. Tries to do the opposite of whatever he went through as a kid. (He's probably the overly-permissive type, but that won't be a problem until later.)

Kim also doesn't have time to be a father. He's in his last year of university, he has a career to manage. Korn of course offers to help - with Kinn running the family now, he can play the part of doting grandpa, but Kim refuses. Hires a nanny (maybe the one that took care of him as a child, the only one he trusts with his own) to help him figure this all out.

The official story, as far as WiK goes, to protect his clean image, is that the toddler is his baby brother. WiK is seen as the sweet, doting older brother when they're seen in public together (which he tries to make sure isn't often, but he's not going to raise his kid in a box, fuck that). It melts the hearts of all his fans, and no one knows he was a teen parent, a terrible role model, someone to scorn.

At some point in their interactions, Kim lets it slip that he has two brothers, and Chay is confused. He knows about the toddler, but Kim mentioned two older brothers? So doesn't that mean he has three?

Eventually Kim introduces Chay to his kid, and Chay isn't stupid. He was raised by his own brother, he knows what that looks like, and it's not what he sees now. His suspicions are confirmed the first time Kim lets him into his apartment. He tries to hide all of the baby things, but Chay snoops a little bit. Finds a child's room behind a door that should have been locked. He confronts Kim, very gently, with the truth. He doesn't judge. He sad that Kim feels the need to hide, even from him, but he understands.

He also thinks the image of Kim with his son is so much cuter than the idea of him with a baby brother.

Kim lets himself be a little reckless, lets Chay spend more time with him and his son, and it hurts how easily Chay takes to him. Like they're a little family of their own. But it's not real.

The first time Kim lets - no, specifically asks - Chay to babysit, because he has no one else, his nanny is sick, and there's no one else he trusts with his son (which is a shock for both of them on it's own), leads to a dramatic shift in their relationship. Kim can't keep pretending this is just a friendship of convenience. He trusts Chay, maybe more than he should, but he can't deny it.

It's going to make the breakup so much harder, because his son is old enough to love Chay, to miss him, to ask where he is when he stops coming over, and Kim doesn't have a good enough answer. Is barely holding himself together, without the added pain of consoling his heartbroken child, crying for Chay to come home while Kim has to keep himself from doing the same.

TBH, the kid is probably how they reconcile. Next time SomethingTM happens and Kim doesn't have anyone to watch him, his first instinct is to call Chay. But he's not allowed to do that anymore. So he drops the boy off with Uncle Tankhun (and is barely able to make him leave that horrible house with his child inside, but Khun is fierce, he'll protect him) and at some point Chay comes to see Khun, and finds him playing with the kid who missed Chay so much, and he knows he should leave, but when he tries the kid cries until he throws up (it's gross, but it's also sweet, but it's also so, so heartbreaking) and Chay just. Can't. Kim might hate him for it, but he can't break that little baby's heart all over again.

After, both Tankhun and the kid demand regular visits. (Khun knows exactly what he's doing. Yeah he loves his nephew, the kid is in that excited dress-up stage and lets Khun treat him like a little doll, but he also thinks Kim is an idiot and needs to start talking to Chay again, and if this is what happens, then so be it).

Little kiddo excited tells Chay about anything and everything, and then does the same to Kim, telling him about his day, all the fun things he did with Uncle Khun and Uncle Chay, and. It hurts. Kim was not at all prepared for how much it hurts.

It continues this way for a while, with the kid an unintentional carrier pigeon between Kim and Chay, sharing aspects of their lives to each other. They never cross paths because Chay always makes sure he's not there when Kim drops him off or picks him up.

Until one day he is. Kim was late (his latest mission was particularly bloody, he had to take extra time to get himself cleaned up and put back together, he won't let his son be exposed to this part of his life) and his son is inconsolable. Chay is trying his best. Just got him to sleep in his lap when Kim finally drags himself, looking fierce until his eyes fall on his son in the arms of the man he loves, and he softens, and Chay sees it, and. They really need to talk.

But kiddo is still sleeping, and Kim doesn't want to wake him up just yet, so he just. Sits down. Looking at him because he can't look at Chay, and Chay tells him how worried kiddo was (doesn't say how worried he was, too), and how he's been fussy all night. Kim lets it slip how much kiddo missed Chay/looks forward to seeing him now (doesn't say how much he missed Chay, and always hopes for a glimpse of him, always disappointed when he isn't there)

They have a lot to work through, but it's impossible to fight with the kiddo sleeping in Chay's lap, so they're forced to be adults about it. Talking quietly, with Kim admitting to things he never thought he'd be able to say out loud. Does say how much he missed Chay, and how he never should have left Chay alone, and how he never should have let Chay think he never loved him, because he did, so much he saw a future with Chay that scared him, and he ran, because he couldn't bear it if Chay left him first, better to break his own heart

Chay forgives him. They don't get together immediately because forgiveness isn't the same as acceptance, and they still have things they need to work through. But he stops avoiding Kim, and sometimes Kim calls him instead of Khun when he needs an impromptu baby sitter, and slowly, that little family that Kim never let himself dream about starts to take form in front of his eyes, and he wonders how he could have ever let himself run away from this.

[loosethreadsofyoursoul]

ain’t no way some people are saying henry is the world’s worst father when he literally had all of shawn’s hand turkeys, from up to and including the previous year, framed and hung up in his house

[prettyflyshyguy]

Highkey obsessed with Infamous now I've been watching a few hours worth of a playthrough. Its a strictly good-karma one (so far) and Oh My God.

The attention and consideration for the selfish voice inside ones head. The choice to be good. The frustration of being seen as a monster, or something evil, despite how hard you try to do the right thing. Mob mentality. Unfair judgement. The want to be good because its good to be good, not because you want the attention (though it's nice to feel recognised). Manipulation! Frustration! Conflict!!!! Fear.

Oh it's good its really. Really. Good.

[zappedbyzabka]

Daniel and Billy both want the pretty blond sensei to themselves on Saturday—but did not communicate that so now they’re fighting over the phone about it (because Daniel is not the biggest fan of his twin) with Johnny as a “moderator”.

[dudeshusband]

anyway. i was thinking about earlier, being one of few people in town to treat dude with genuine kindness when he's homeless and drunk. i'd just want to be someone he could trust. i'd never treat him like less than a person, like some of the townsfolk did.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

As much fun as I'm having doing my alternative run of DA2, one thing I really miss about my mage Hawke is his friendship with Merrill.

Those two are best friends and he's 100% supportive in her goals toward the eluvian. Ed has the humorous/charming personality, too, which bounces off super well with Merrill. He doesn't think any less of her for her usage of blood magic; if anything he's impressed by her level of strength and willpower. He's so ready to defend her from the other companions and the clan, and he's absolutely out here attempting to matchmake her and Carver....at least he is in my heart because the game won't let me, it's fine, I'm not bitter about it or anything-

But then my warrior Hawke? She has the diplomatic personality with quite a bit of direct/aggressive thrown in there and she ends up having the same attitude as that one party banter Aveline and Merrill have: "Merrill, you're clearly talented and meant for great things, but you're stupid," and that's so difficult for me to lean into. I'm trying to play Aris differently so she ends up being so condescending to Merrill, like she's trying to gently tell her to give up on the eluvian but it doesn't come off well.

Also if Carver was around, Aris would be the opposite of Ed, she'd look at the suggestion of her brother and Merrill getting together and be like, "No :) I don't think so :) I like Merrill, she's my friend :) but she's not right for Carver."

But I guess it makes sense; if you told him that Bethany would giggle and kick her feet and twirl her hair around Sebastian, Ed would've thrown him in the ocean as a warning. Meanwhile, Aris is like, "A handsome prince that could take my sister away from all of this? Wonderful, we just need to work on his incorrect views on mages, but that shouldn't be a problem :)"

Anyway I miss playing Hawke as the #1 Merrill stan.

[sealrock]

send STRAINED for a scene from my muse's past in which they interact with someone they have a difficult relationship with

ask meme

cw: discussions of death & religion

(ty for the ask @oneiroy!)

"D'you think She's listenin'?" A low voice came from her right. It was midafternoon, a time dedicated to meditation and spiritual nourishment, not childish whispering. Tauvane usually spends her rest period alone in the empty chapel, but the task to monitor the recovery of one poor soul her Sisters had saved fell squarely into her lap. Tauvane didn't falter in her prayers, however. She kept her head bowed, her eyes closed. The muted words flowed from her mouth like water from a spout. She knew the Halonian prayers better than anyone, for it had been ingrained in her mind since she was old enough to talk. "Ya have to wonder if the ice queen up above gives a fig about Her flock if all She does is plug Her ears."

Her eyebrow twitched, a sign of slight irritation. Tauvane rolled the rosary between her fingers, clasping the beads tighter. She heard a petulant sigh and shuffling, followed by a sharp wince. Tauvane let out an exasperated sigh before turning to face her fidgety companion. Pelleas scowled in discomfort as he massaged his lower back. Perhaps the stone pews were too uncomfortable for his battered body, but this was the first time Pelleas had been allowed outside his cell after five moons of confinement.

The spear of a fellow knight impaled his abdomen in the chaos of the ambush. Instead of wisecracking, Pelleas should thank the Fury for aiming the polearm slightly to the right so it would not sever his spine. Tauvane felt a slight twinge of pity for the man, nonetheless—slight.

"Come, you must return to your quarters for another healing session."

"Oh, joy, more manhandling," came a deadpanned response. Tauvane let the comment slide as she helped Pelleas into his wheelchair since he still couldn't walk a few fulms before growing exhausted. Tauvane noted how the muscles atrophied during his time bedridden, meaning he would have to rebuild strength in his legs to support his tall frame. Pelleas, usually cheeky enough to playfully fake aches and pains to get a rise out of his caretaker, was not up to it today. Exhaustion painted Pelleas' features and aged him considerably, his one good eye sunken and dark.

She wheeled him down cold, unassuming hallways and into the snow-covered cloister, making a note to go faster at risk of Pelleas catching sick. Tauvane made no effort to speak to her fellow Swordsisters who passed her by, for they would not turn their gazes to her and her charge. For all concerned, Pelleas was invisible, something to look past.

While not outright forbidden, it was rare for the Order of Saint Jehanne to take in male outsiders, but they wouldn't stay long. The vow of chastity was an unbreakable oath every Swordsister took to heart, but temptation lurked around every corner. To have a man housed underneath their roof for so long was a test sent from the Fury; would Her subjects endure this trial or be swayed by earthly cravings? Pelleas knew not the way of the Swordsisters, and he was as ignorant as a newborn. But even newborns need to be taught much like Tauvane had been.

The warmth from the fireplace kept away the chill from Pelleas' stone walls, his back exposed as he lay on his belly in bed. Tauvane's knowledge in conjury wouldn't be a cure-all, but it helped the man's pains during these long winter months. The tingle of aether weaving through Tauvane's hands set Pelleas' taut muscles underneath the ragged scar tissue at ease, and a sigh of relief broke the silence. Tauvane gave no outward reaction. She continued to provide aid as any good shepherd would do to their flock. But a flock of karakul can't speak.

"I can't stand the church."

Her fingers twitched. Tauvane lifted her gaze to rest on the back of Pelleas' blond head, his face obscured by his cool pillow. His words came out muffled, but the lingering contempt was plain.

"Does that include me, Ser Pelleas? I am but a cog in the greater design."

A mirthless snort came as a response.

"You're a cog, yeah. But not a well-oiled one."

"Why is that?"

Tauvane's neutral response elicited Pelleas to twist onto his back to stare at her. His green eye burned with resentment.

"Look at me, look at yourself. We risk our lives day in and day out for the blasted church filled with sniveling whoresons, fighting this war with no end. We are cogs in a machine, but there's no one operating the machinery. But that's besides the point I'm tryna make: why doesn't Halone send down Her bloody spears and kill the raving lot of snakes already? Why should I have to do all the hard work?"

Tauvane pinched her brows together; she didn't like the tone of voice Pelleas took. He would usually incite Tauvane with innocuous statements of blasphemy that would lead to ecclesiastical debate, but Tauvane never realized Pelleas held such resentment in his heart.

"I suggest you keep your voice down ere any judgment come upon you," she earned a scoff, "but to answer your question: yes, Halone could end the war with one fell swoop. But you and I, as Her congregation, are Her earthly soldiers tasked with preserving the land, and we must continue to show Her our unbending loyalty and spirit to fight. To suffer is to be closer to the Fury, and for you to suggest indolence is inaccurate and borderline heretical. We cannot rely on Halone to solve all of what ails us, for we would not be able to grow. You must have faith in Her, as She does you."

Tauvane's response was automatic and well-rehearsed, but it sounded halfhearted in her ears. Pelleas said nothing, but he didn't seem happy with the answer. Tauvane sighed and licked the dryness off her lips, sitting at the soldier's bedside for what felt like hours, the crackling fire acting like a ticking timepiece.

"I know it's difficult to grasp for someone lapsed in his faith, and you have indeed suffered great loss in your life to warrant your frustrations, but She loves even all wayward souls under Her domain. Volume eleven of the Seventy-two Articles of Halonic Polity says: 'Of the Fury's love all men will receive, and by the balance of Her spear will all be set free.'"

"Is that what you truly believe?"

Her response came a few seconds late, "Of course."

Pelleas worked himself into a sitting position, his good eye meeting Tauvane's steely gaze. He leaned in towards Tauvane's hidden ear, the scent reminiscent of petrichor filling her nose, and whispered:

"Don't kid yourself."

Tauvane recoiled, "Excuse me?"

"Admit it. You're just as bitter as I am. We're supposed to be Halone's children, but look at us: a filthy Brumerat with no future and a sinful halfling. She abandoned us. We got no seat at Her table. I know that line all too well, it's been smacked into me head since I was a child scrounging for food after me folks froze. We're all equal under Halone, yet the wolves at Her gates dressed in fine silks and gold keep me away. For people like me in the Brume, Halone couldn't give a rat's arse about us. If suffering is close to godliness, the whole of the Brume would be saints. If I spent my whole life in solitude like you, constantly praying, singing, and whipping myself, would that earn me a ticket into the Halls? Would I be good enough then?"

It was Tauvane's turn to say nothing. Her gaze wavered—she couldn't bear to look at Pelleas' intense expression any longer.

"You could say I've lapsed in my faith, but I have a hell of a good reason to. You didn't have to watch your parents hopelessly pray for safety in a blizzard, only to wake up the next morning and find them frozen stiff in each other's arms, or spend the rest of your life praying for relief only to be ignored. And what did the holy bitch do to stop it? Absolutely nothing. I spent half of my years screaming for a reason why She couldn't extend Her grace unto me, I have done nothing wrong to be forsaken. You never had to struggle like I did, you've been kept safe and secure in your castle walls here all your life. A privileged life in the bosom of the Fury. So forgive me if my faith calls for the sacrifice of what little I have left, but you don't know me. I'm not a mindless karakul being led off the ledge by the holy book like the rest of you. Call me a heretic if that makes you feel better."

Pelleas was calm as he spoke, but Tauvane could feel the undercurrent of rage in him, evident in how his shoulders hunched over and the low growl in his voice. She dropped her eyes down to her lap and picked at her cuticles in shame. Pelleas was right; she didn't know him at all... But it goes both ways.

"Forgive me for overstepping my bounds, I mean no offense. However, I must make it clear that I am not privileged. Yes, I am a halfling, but I am as much of a sinner to the Fury as anyone else. I was not blessed with a warm and happy home—far from it. My earliest memories are of the confines of my mother's living quarters amongst the servants of my father's house... his lawful wedded wife couldn't bear my presence. I wasn't wanted, I'm a karakul with no shepherd. I was born in the sin of my mother and shaped by my father's iniquity. Contrary to what you may think, I have no place anywhere, not even within the Order."

Pelleas straightened his posture and narrowed his eye, watching Tauvane coolly unpeel the layers of her troubled past like one would do an artichoke. The whole while, Tauvane kept her eyes on the miniature painting of Saint Jehanne hung on the back wall, her patron's humility reflected in the faded watercolors. She detached herself from the current conversation as to not show emotion, she was speaking as is Pelleas wasn't just a few ilms beside her.

"I was like you once. I prayed until my knees bled for salvation, I beat myself raw with reeds for confirmation that She loved me. The church teaches us that Halone loves Her people, so surely She would have boundless adoration for a helpless innocent who did not ask to be born, not if no one else would grant me the feeling of attachment. I have no friends here, they all believe me damned. I prayed for Halone to answer my calls and tell me that I was not a sinner, I have suffered many times for Her. But because of my wretchedness, I would have to endure a thousand hardships before She'll take notice." Tauvane gave a wry smile. 

"As said in volume forty-one, the Parable of the Lost Karakul: "'Which of you men, if you had one hundred karakul, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends, his family, and his neighbors, saying; 'Lo, rejoice with me, for I have found my karakul which was lost!' I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.'" I read that passage every night before I went to sleep as a girl. I saw myself as that lost karakul, and Halone as the good shepherd who carried me home. I awaited the day where She would extend Her hand and wrest me from my suffering... that day hasn't come yet."

Tauvane drew in a deep breath, "My devotion to Halone is absolute, I was raised by the Order to honor Her. But my relationship with Her is strained, like a daughter towards her mother. Is it because of my birth that She refuses me? Does life not yet born pass Her keen judgment? For all my life, I have been told of my sin, about how much I need to repent. The price is a hefty sum, and I have already paid half of my life to the balance owed. But how much is enough?"

Silence hung over them for seconds, minutes, hours. The air felt thick, the walls closer than usual. Tauvane felt like she was being buried alive. In truth, only a few minutes passed. Tauvane returned to her senses to find Pelleas propped against the headboard of his bed, arms crossed with a serious countenance. She blinked once, then twice.

"My apologies, I fear I got too ahead of myself. What I said to you is confidential—do not say a word of this to anyone."

The dour look was soon replaced with a playful smirk stretching across his lips, "I would not think it, my fair lady."

Tauvane felt the irritation rise in her throat. She started to say something but quickly clamped her mouth shut. All she could do was shake her head at the snicker she received.

"Enough idle talk. The hour grows late, and I must return to my duties."

"Leaving so soon?" Pelleas pouted, "We were just beginning to bond over our shared disgust for organized religion."

"I'll bring you your supper in a moment. Good day, Ser Pelleas."

Tauvane ignored his last comment in favor of leaving the room, her stride unbroken as she closed the heavy door behind her. In that short moment in the emptiness of the hallway, she allowed herself to double over as it felt like the air had been forced out of her chest. The words that fell out of her mouth began to sink in.

I didn't mean any of that. O 'lone, the almighty heritor of ice, please forgive your humble servant, nothing I said was true.

Tauvane repeated that like a mantra. Why did she do that? To let herself grow so vulnerable to an outsider, a man with loose morals, it settled like a rock in her stomach. Pelleas' soul may not be saved in his final hours, but Tauvane would not be easily swayed.

She let Pelleas know her weak points, and he exploited them to his advantage to spread heretical ideals. Yes. That's the story she'll tell to the Reverend Mother if word gets out about their conversation. Tauvane let go of the doubt in her heart a long time ago through ardent prayer, she's above that now. She knows the Fury would not lead her astray; She loves even a poor sinner like Tauvane unconditionally.

She does.

She doesn't.

Tauvane shook her head as if to rid herself of the niggling worm in the back of her head, a worm that tells only lies. She'll have to show penance for her lack of faith later, a proper mea culpa. The scabbed scars on her back began to itch in protest, but she ignored it.

[helmetjellyfish]

while i’m here, the fact that they’ve started bringing up this detail again in recent chapters feels a bit foreboding