#this ask is veeeeeery old

[stychu-stych]

Nari in a leather jacket, that's hot, could we get moreeee??

[banana-dwight]

1. 15. 16

1. Does Dwight have siblings or family members in his age group? Wich one is he the closest?

"No I am an only child. I don't have a strong relation to family and don't know if I have any half siblings or any other in my age group."

15. Is Dwight preoccupied with money or material possession? Why or why not?

Dwight would love to have money. With money he would be more free and do what he wishes.

He is like this since he never had a good job with good money. He never had enough to do what he likes. He thinks that money buys him freedom.

At the fog he is obsesst with coins. But only to buy himself some snacks and a drink during a trial.

16. Wich does Dwight idealize most: happyness or success?

Dwight just wants to be finally happy.... is that to much to ask for, wonders Dwight often.

[nemo-in-wonderland]

Ngl I am kinda living for the idea of Jacob getting *increasingly* frustrated because no matter what he does, he cannot, for the life of his, get Dorothea to sign THE contract that would bind her to him for all eternity (homeboy completely lost his head for her, and I love that for him).

Like, homegirl is devoted to Lathander and whatnot, and her faith is STRONG (though, she is not as zealous as Shadowheart, that's for sure), but she would be willing to give him a chance IF HE WASN'T THAT PESTERING.

Like, ngl, if Raphael can be a bit of a brat, Jacob's own brattiness is multiplied tenfold, and I hc that it's caused by the fact that Mephistopheles sired him later in life - much earlier than Zaynab and Karim, but definitely much later than Raphael (fucking hell, I made Jacob the middle child).

So, I imagine him just travelling down in Cania one day, just stomping in his father's laboratory and asking him HOW did he manage to get Aranea to sign his contract and be with him in Cania.

To which, I can see Mephistopheles give him a long look (veeeeeery long look, because he is weighting if sending that son of his out with a kick in his butt for interrupting in his experiments or just answer him with a roast of his own).

But I can see his heart mellowing a bit for the "romantic woes" of his son (damn Aranea for softening his heart and having him invested in his children's romantic life like a telenovela), so I can see him reply to him something along these lines:

"Son, Aranea signed her contract with me because she came willingly to me."

IT'S THIS WHAT YOU TELL YOURSELF, MEPHISTO????

BUT NEVERMIND THIS IS ACTUALLY ONLY HALF-TRUE, AND HE SWEATED LIKE A DOG BECAUSE ARANEA WOULDN'T GIVE IN.

But still, Jacob kinda got the message, and would reduce his pestering a good 5%, which was a great improvement since, much like dear old dad Mephistopheles, Jacob as well suffers from the same codependency needs lolol

OK, NOW THAT I BLURTED OUT EVERYTHING, LEMME GO GRAB A COFFEE, AND LET ME MARINATE THIS IDEA BECAUSE I AM DIGGING IT.

and honestly, this has opened up my brain gates to develop Zaynab and Karim as well.

I just love how sometimes one single character can be the catalyst to a whole waterfall of new ideas.

[plumadot]

You are an amazing artist… and so I’m afraid I must interrogate you for your secrets.

If you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been doing art? How are you so amazing at it? Specifically, your scrumptious lines, your harmonious color palettes, the fan-freaking-tastic anatomy (hands fr), and overall ability to create drawings with the consistency of a marshmallow /pos

Please, would you share a secret/advice with us? 🙏

(Alsoyoursupercoolandamazing<33)

oh goodness gfdjkgjkfd now i'm sweating

i've been doing art... i'd say "seriously" since i was like. 12-ish. and since i'm 230 that's quite a long time-- ,,,ok no i'm actually 30 but that's still a long time. i've had periods where i didn't draw very much, but those have been really short. i definitely consider drawing to be my "thing", regardless of whether i'm good at it or not :')

ok so now you're just being a sweetheart kfjdkglfgfd i talked a little bit about drawing hands in an ask i posted just now but really jgfdkjgkfd it's all just a veeeeeery slow process. you don't want to know what my old art looks like. and that's a good thing because that means i've improved :D or at least in my own eyes i've improved. and i think that's most important :D

i don't think i have any secrets. i just enjoy it. i draw the best things when i'm having fun :D i'm a person who's reaaaaaally prone to stress and i'm also very result-oriented, so enjoying the drawing process is actually what takes me the most energy. but when it works it works :') and other artists and followers and random people i meet online or irl just being so supportive helps so much. which is why i try to be like that as well. kindness and positivity and passion will always make for more and better art

idk if any of this helps. but i believe in you!!! i reaaaally hope you can enjoy art and make cool things you want to make. your art will always be good because it's your own unique take. no one else has what you've got

[pinkrose05]

the one, the only, Bladie !!

Bingo, bingo, bingo, bingo, aaaaand bingo! Yippee, a chance to be completely ordinary about Ren for the bazillionth time!!

Hoooooo boy, where do I even begin? The levels of brainrot (bladerot. brenrot. lmfao) this man has wrought upon me are indescribable. So much so, in fact, that I can only explain one aspect of why he's so cool.

He's a wet kitten. He's a sad old gramps. He's a petty bastard. He's a deranged war criminal. He's so full of tangled thoughts and emotions and yet so hollow, so hellbent on his goals and yet so lost at the same time. Dead and alive in equally extreme measure.

...Schrödinger's Blade, huh?

Yeah.

As frustrating as the fluctuation in his personality is sometimes (get a grip, writers, goddammit), I think there's something to appreciate in that. It's great food for thought when you look into why each side of him came to be, especially if you start asking "but what if?" and go down the rabbit hole of puzzling out how certain people and events affected him, and what would happen if those things changed!

Basically, there are many, many facets to explore if you stop and think about Ren for more than two minutes, and that's really neat imo. He's like the perfect candidate to get put into Situations too, and is just very fun to tinker with on and off! It's a shame most of the fandom doesn't even bother to think of him as his own character, and it sucks that canon fucks him over pretty much every single time he appears, but he's still my specialist little guy!!

I love him a veeeeeery average amount, as is very clear and obvious.

[wisecrackingeric-2]

((Redoing this cuz TUMBLR FLAGGED IT DAMNIT))

20 Questions for Fic Authors !!

Thank you S O SOSOSOSOOSSOSO MUCH @sunhatllama & @courtofparrots for tagging me!!!!! :DDD

1. How many works do you have??

36!!

2. What is your AO3 word count??

202,659!!!!!!!!! God fucking damn!!!!!!!!!!!!!

3. What fandoms do you write for??

Just Resident Evil!! :D

4. What are your top 5 fics by Kudos??

1. All You Have To Do Is Ask

2. Your Drunk Words Are Sober Thoughts

3. Leon (Finally) Gets Top Surgery

4. Anemoia

And Love Me Like There’s No Tomorrow in that order!!

5. Do you respond to comments??

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES EVEN IF IT TAKES ME FOREVER I ADORE COMMENTS THEY KEEP ME GOING

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending??

OOOOOUGHH this is hard because I am ALLERGIC to writing angst BXBDHENSJ I don’t know why I just struggle to do it!!!! I always feel too bad for the characters!!!!! But if I HAD to pick I’d proooobably say It Was Only Yesterday for @aquarelacosmica because old age is sad I guess BXNENNEDJ

7. What is the fic you wrote with the happiest ending??

Literally all of them HDBEHENDJJ happy endings are guaranteed with all my fics but if I had to chose my favourites, they’d be, in no particular order;

1. Marido

2. Matteo

3. Beautiful Boy

4. New Years

5. I’ll Help You Pray

And 6. Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy!!

8. Do you get hate on fics??

Not so far thank god!! I’ve definitely received WEIRD or overbearing comments but no hate!

9. Do you write smut??

My only NS f W fic is Feeling Loved, and it’s more a piece on Luis’ chronic pain and self esteem after RE4 than it is smut I’d say!! It’s very near and dear to my heart <3

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest crossover you’ve written??

I’ve never WRITTEN a crossover HOWEVER I have PLENTY of AU’s in my art tag!!! I’d love to write my Warriors Serennedy AU out someday though!

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen??

Nope!!

12. Have you ever had a fic translated??

I’ve actually been asked by somebody before if they could translate my fic one time!!! I don’t remember which it was, but I had to politely decline since I didn’t know the language and wouldn’t be able to crowd control the response, but they were super duper polite and kind about it!!!!

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before??

I’ve never co-written a fic per se but I’ve definitely had my friends bounce ideas between me and help me with proofreading!!!!! Ily guys <<<<333

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

leans on the suspiciously serennedy-shaped box standing in my room Why do you wanna know?

15. What’s a WIP you’d wanna finish but doubt you ever will??

I have quite a handful that I’ve started but unfortunately lost the momentum for and can’t find it again.

Writing is a lot like art for me- if inspiration strikes I have to do it THEN AND THERE or else I’ll lose the groove for the kind of style/inspo I wanted to do it in, and unfortunately I had to give up quite a few fanfic projects this year to focus on art and also mainly cuz the beginning of this year has been VEEEEEERY tough and I always prioritise my art over writing unfortunately!!

I’m proud of myself for finishing (I’m Just A) Sweet Transvestite though- that one was made through blood sweat and tears :,)

16. What are your writing strengths?

UHHHH NO CLUE!!! I’ve been TOLD it’s how I characterise my characters and how I write dialog, but I think the easiest thing for ME is describing scenes so I dunno!!

17. What are your writing weaknesses??

Can saying ‘everything’ count HFNEHENDJ I’m more of an artist than a writer!! But I think the thing I struggle with the most is stretching out important emotional beats. And also commas.

18. Thoughts on writing dialog in another language??

I do it all the time for Luis so Hell Yeah!!! Thank you Wilfreeeeeeeddd for helpiiiinnngg <<<33

19. First fandom you wrote for??

Also Resident Evil!! Serennedy has a violent chokehold on me

20. Favourite fic you’ve written??

(I’m Just A) Sweet Transvestite !! I am S O proud of myself for finishing it man!!!!! I went through HELL and back writing it and I made something that means a lot to me!!!!!!

Tagging @blveherb , @geddy-leesbian , @leonsbunny , @hamartia-grander , @ugetelynx , @theprestigegirly @mooseonahunt and anyone else who wants to join!! :DD

[solaceinabandonment]

😔, 3️⃣, 🤑, 😰 for coffincest! (Sorry idk anything about that game ^^;)

- @nsfwitchy

Coffincest (and more recently gravecest) is the fan name for the pairing of Ashley Graves and Andrew Graves from The Coffin of Andy and Leyley. They are a 22/20 year old pair of siblings who are confined to their apartment and left to starve, and also have a veeeeeery toxic and codependent relationship. While there is no explicit incest in the game, there is enough subtext that we have multiple pages on ao3 now lol.

😔 - Any sexual fantasies/kinks they’re ashamed of?

Andrew is ashamed of the entire relationship, at least initially, Ashley could not give less of a fuck if she tried. She loves bringing it up to fuck with him, because it means he'll be extra needy towards her later, and she craves all his attention.

3️⃣ - Pick 2 characters to join them in a threeway, and explain why you picked these two.

I feel like both of them are way too violently jealous to ever let anyone else that close, However, I could see them fucking in front of someone just to see their reaction. Popular targets for this are just anyone who makes the mistake of hitting on either of the siblings, or their Mom, because frankly she's the community hate sink. The bitch. (She knows what she did)

🤑 - Would they hire a sex worker? Would they do sex work themselves?

So I think there was a teaser on one of the developer updates where Ashley finds a billboard with a bunch of numbers on like "call xxx for a good time" and she jokingly suggests putting her own number up to make some money. Andrew shoots it down immediately and offers some good reasons not to.

Thinking about it, probably not. Again, they are murderously protective/possessive of each other. If they did do anything like that it would absolutely be a trap and you definitely would die lol!

😰 - Is there anything sexual that they find upsetting?

For Ashley, degradation. She cares way too much about what Andrew thinks of her, he calls her anything even remotely mean and she might actually cry.

For Andrew? Okay, so you remember how they are literally starving during the game? I feel like Andrew would feel a deep burning wrath every time he sees Ashley's emaciated body. Just the sight of what the world has done to his beloved little sister makes him want to do unholy things to the people that caused it.

@nsfwitchy sorry it took so long to get to this, I've been busy and didn't realize I could just copy paste the questions from the original ask lol, but here you go.

[bluberimufim]

hi, happy blorbo blursday!! tell me about your blorbo’s hobby. what is it? is there some bigger story about how they got invested in it? is there any particular reason why they love it so much?

Happy (veeeeeery late) blorbo blursday!!

It was only after sitting down to answer this ask that I realized how ridiculous this answer sounds.

So. The main character of "Black and White", Darius, reeeeeeally wants to be a stage magician. But his job is being a tailor's assistant (this is 1909 btw, I don't think I ever mentioned that), so magic is his hobby. He does little shows in bars and cafés around town. He's really good at card tricks.

But then, he gets hired by Diedrich and becomes a magician's assistant (poor boy can't improve his job title). But he often still does some sweing stuff, particularly embroidery and knitting, because he still kinda likes it and he got that first job for a reason. So yeah. His hobby is his old job, and the hobby he had at that old job is now his job.

A man of many (two) talents, I guess.

[zeroducks-2]

I'm back to ask about your wips again 👀 What's Clipped about? Oh oh and Omegaverse Royal AU with Rastim 💕

So the Omegaverse Royal AU is this one, but where it says "Rastim" it's actually a spin-off (or maybe I should say a parallel story? IDK that's what a spin-off is after all, but I wrote everything together and then separated the bits) about what's happening with Tim. I mention in that post that Ra's shows up because he wants a piece of the cake, and in this case the cake involves the Drake estates which 14 yo Tim is set to inherit when he's old enough. Case in point, he's too young for a recognized union of any kind. He presented as an Omega just a few months prior to these events, but by law he's not old enough for an official mating or to inherit anything. Also, King Alexander is not happy with the Al Ghuls coming over and going like "ah yes haha this is mine actually", "oh sure I will take this other one instead". All of this is however not going to stop Ra's from getting what he wants :)

"Clipped" instead is a veeeeeery old WIP. It's the very first DC darkfic I've ever written! I probably posted a couple of snippets here and there but never the entire thing because it's on hiatus, and who knows if I'll ever finish it. I wrote it after reading Future State (more than a year ago), and it's in fact a Future State inspired situation where vigilantes are outlawed so severely that some get executed publicly, some kept locked away for experiments on their meta-genes if they have any, and in general it's not a good situation especially since the Bats and Birds have had their identities revealed to the press. They're forced to live separated and in constant hiding, all linked through Oracle (which is not a single person at this point but a "vigilante-friendly group" lead by Babs) while they try not to get caught by authorities for who knows what.

In this picture, Deathstroke became some sort of vigilante hunter. He's allowed to be free and do whatever he wants (and his kids have some degree of immunity as well, or anyway they're relatively safe), but in exchange he hunts down, captures and "deals" with rogue metas and "former heroes". Which means that some get sent to governamental facilities to be brainwashed rehabilitated, some get publicly executed as mentioned, and some just... "disappear". It took Slade literal years, but finally he got his hands on a good chunk of the flock of birds (Damian, Dick, Tim and Jason). The thing is. Slade is a mental sadistic creep in this one, and before he does anything even remotely helpful, he's going to break the kids to little pieces and then rearrange them as he sees fit.

The story features (or anyway should feature) Dark!Sladin in almost all its shapes. It was really fun to explore how the kids deal with the situation, because Tim took the months of torture of his life and eventually decided to try and follow the rules to limit the damage, Jason instead had a mental breakdown and decided that he'd going to get himself killed again (not going to be easy to make Slade slip though). Damian doesn't grasp the gravity of the situation, and Dick is just desperate to do literally anything to help the others. But again, I'm not surem I will ever even publish it. I might end up posting it incomplete just cuz.

[card-queen]

WIP List (Tag Game!)

Thank you for the tag, @the-down-upside-finch

RULES: post the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous. Let people send you an ask with the title that most intrigues them, and then post a little snippet or tell them something about it! and then tag as many people as you have WIPs.

Okay... I'm only doing the writing folders for all these because if I included all the art folders, we'd be here for a veeeeeery long time. Feel free to ask about anything or ask to see art from any of these projects. Okay! Let's get to it!

Memories of Aether (strategy game / fantasy-suspense novel)

You're only getting what's in the Final Draft folder, but know that there is 1st Draft from 2020 with 40 files, 2nd Draft from 2021 with 29 files, and 3rd Draft from 2022 with 35 files.

Concepts

# So you want to help... Primer: Part One Primer: Part Two

Graphics

! The Needs Tree Logo Drafting Logo Drafting4 UI Study UX Drafts - Dialogue Boxes 1 UX Drafts - Dialogue Boxes 2 UX Drafts - Dialogue Boxes 3

Writing

! Memories of Aether World Guide & Story Bibke Book 1. Plotting Out Framework Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1 Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.2 Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.3 Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.4 Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.5, Chapter 0 Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.5, Chapter 1 ver. A Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.5, Chapter 1 ver. B Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.5, Chapter 2 Book 1. Shadow Elements v.1.5, Chapter 3 Compendium: Characters Compendium: Conlangs, Az̨irrah̨ Compendium: Conlangs, Caṕāre Compendium: Conlangs, Kujû Info: Accents & Dialects Info: Calendar Conversion Info: Cheat Sheet Info: Fantasy Names Info: Old Plotting Out Framework Memes: Character Chart Stuff Memes: Character Portraits Memes: Goofy Memes Memes: Songs & Lyrics Notebook: Writing Notes Splatsheet: Chapter Breakdown Splatsheet: Character Intro & Scene Breakdown Splatsheet: Snippets Splatsheet: Spy Tropes & Ideas

Outside of Folders

Basics: Athyrian Calendar Basics: Country Rundown Basics: Runes & the Ancient World Compendium: Conlangs, Az̨irrah̨ Compendium: Conlangs, Caṕāre Compendium: Conlangs, Kujû Compendium: Countries of Athyria Compendium: Religions of Athyria Misc: Rosters Misc: Special Revivals Misc: Stressors Notebook: Travel Notes Splatsheet: Battle Tactics Splatsheet: Character Building Blocks Splatsheet: Loose Thoughts & Chapter Names Splatsheet: Story-building Vibe Check: Music Choices

Accessories to Murder (detective game)

! The Smackdown Draft ! Character Guide Character Intro Guide City Planning Drawing up ideas Food Stuffs Forging Names Game Flow Overview Gameplay Basics General Guide Mystery Crafting 101 Name Directory Name Reworking Sheet Plot Sheet Plotting Guide -- Act 1 -- Plotting Guide -- Act 2 -- Plotting Guide: Chapter 1 Programming Bits Rough Story Reworking Smackdown Draft The Nitty-Gritty Sheet Working out details

Sun & Moon Stories (fantasy role-playing game)

Character Profiles

! Profile Skeleton ! Abe, Chinzan Appleby, Fiona Areo, Vaika Ballard, Corina Bates, Basil Berg, Carl Bikken, Conif Bon, Tai-Len Buree, Kit Carver, Grant Chao, Fang-Lei Chess, Finian Choei, Rand Chuca, Totti Clavenci, Cicero Clay, Ashna Clay, Khalin Cole, Benedict Corrigan, Leif Crane, Maynard Dagget, Lin de Castro, Paris de Franco, Redd de Luca, Ariette Din, Roha Eizik, Hali Fowlton Frost, Renato Gold, Benny Gold, Jamie Gold, Leo Greenfield, Dwain Greenfield, Sarienna Greenfield, Winnifred Greeves, Lu Grimm, Jasmine Harding, Garrick Harper, Ivy Hibiki, Noel Jewels Kashir, Tika Kawa, Kaishu Kazeya, Shinji Kench, Tamas Koth, Alix Kudo, Kendall Kumu, Nanata Laurence, Bacary Lew, Alfin Lune, Kitsacorn Lyre, Savannah Maira, Mito Marquis, Alessio Mei, Sou-Lan Mirai, Kiku Nikolai Parsons, Nick Perisias Perkins, Fancy Piraa, Jijuna Powers, Emerald Powers, Max Pratt, Percy Reed, Han Reed, Rai Riccard, Bello Rose, Syrol Saint, Juliet Salmon, Austin Sarkaya Shen, Aki Skafton Song, Joh Song, Sunni Spears, Grover St. John, Cynthia St. John, Gregory Stirling, Eloise Taiba Taien, Shao Tale, Penelope Tallow, Cat Trakul Tresid Treuge, Jorgen Triki Trogo Trubins Turner, Ingrid Umnus, Numbers Westbrook, Finus Wilden, Rhys Winward, Perdi Withrow, Odessa Worsham, Felicia Wynne, Minta Yano, Kana Yano, Shun Zesshou, Donda

Demo-Lu's Side

Lu Time Misc. Scrapbook

Demo-Rai's Side

! Checklist Rai's Story

Meme Team

Character Development {Gem} Character Development {Prim} Character Dining Character Flaws Character Quoting: Prim Character Typing: Gem Character: Basic Breakdowns Character: Relations (Prim) Character: Subjects Character: Talents/Rankings Characters as Vines Cuties & Beauties Death Quotes FEH 40 Dialogue FEH Nicknames Personality Meme Sun & Moon Heroes {Gem} Sun & Moon Heroes {Prim} Sun & Moon Tea Party Guide THE GROUPS? OH GOOD! The Timeline Top 5s - Gem Top 5s - Prim Weapons & Affinity

Support Conversations

! Potential Pairings ! Ariette & Cynthia Corina & Felicia Fang-Lei & Alfin Fang-Lei & Tika Fowlton & Conif Sarienna & Redd Shun & Kana Shun & Lin Syrol & Benny Tamas & Leif

Outside of Folders

An Introduction Appearance Check Appearance & Designs Battle Dialogue Character Bio Fun Fighting Schools How I Imagine They Talk Info: Food Info: Full Cast Info: Locations Info: Materials Info: Monsters Info: Party Skills Info: Strongholds Info: World-Building Outfit Check Side Story Ideas Splatsheet Story: Rai's Side Story: Side-Quests Tactics Styles Tournament Tiers Untitled Document Weapons & Affinities {Prim}

The Case Files of Quincy & Dance (timeloop mystery game)

Basics & Game Loop Character Costuming Character Sheet Default Timeline Old Project: Synchronise Design Doc Plotting Things Out Plotting Things Out: Detailed Puzzle Dependency Chart Synergy/Synchonicity The Highcombe Manor Mystery Design Doc The Mystery Rundown The Time Line Used Dialogue Traits

War on the Streets (a game of some description)

! Ages ! Characters ! Timeline Crossover Info Dump Intro Profile - Angellus Profile - Anna Castillo Profile - Benito Nardiello Profile - Breaker Profile - Carl Stokes Profile - David Castillo Profile - Elizabeth Craft Profile - Federica Nardiello Profile - Frank Roman Profile - Giuliano Nardiello Profile - Harry York Profile - Harvey Rosamond Profile - Jeff Peterson Profile - John Paul Craft Profile - Justice French Profile - Katrina Weiss Profile - Lloyd Carter jr Profile - Mackie Sharpe Profile - Malcolm Storey Profile - Nina Dean Profile - Oscar Bell Profile - Persephone Blue Profile - Ray York Profile - Rocco Nardiello Profile - Stan Maxwell Profile - Sylvia Carr Profile - Tatiana Sokolova Profile - Tuesday French Profile - Verity Maxwell Profile - Wyatt Pym Profile - Xavier Fabri Profile - Yari Byrde Skeleton War on the Streets

...

...

...phew

I managed to bump it up to 5 projects by throwing in the timeloop game and my old War on the Streets project, so that means 5 tags.

@raichana @reneethegreatandpowerful @merwetketet @noisette-tornade @cool-mint

[ministerscrewtape]

The Edge Crusher.

A link to my Webcomic, if ya interested. https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/daemon-x-core/list?title_no=763233

EDGE CRUSHER “War is eternal, the curse is eternal, and the rage is boiling over. The Cyclonic Hellfire twisted, birthed fiendish unions of flesh and steel when it lit the skies on fire. The air in our lungs singed as the toxic and overwhelming fury of a thousand suns ripped us and reformed us. When we awoke, our eyes surveyed a world so alien and foreign to us. The Chapter Master of the tempestuous Flesh, a particularly brutal marauding Cultic Warband of Gore Knights, has set upon a small village in the unforgiving tundra of Heaven’s Curse. The meager walls and fortification will be found to be left wanting as they stand no chance against the thundering might of the Haruspex and their great lance wielding Masters. With a guttural roar from his horn, they announce their intentions of slaughter. The sound was unmistakable, like the world around one collapsing in a violent harmonious rhythm. Something was wrong? In a split second, the Chapter Master had realized his folly, such hubris, such hunger. It had dampened his mind, his reasoning, his foresight. He was so starved for flesh and blood, the thought didn’t enter his mind, why was the settlement so lightly guarded? The answer, came fast and clear. The gates of the settlement swung open, as a thunderous war horn cried out to match the Gore Knights. The Edge of their assault was Crushed. By whom? By the defenders of the old faith, the old believers, the Edgecrushers. They took it upon themselves to protect the children of the lamb, as they could yet prosper and be saved. We the people of the Rus owe much to then, the furious angels of God. They asked not for anything from us, only that we upheld the traditions of our ancestors, the worship of the messiah, the observations of his teachings and that of his apostles. To uphold the holy truth.” [Solomon]: that’s all veeeeeery interesting and all, but again, how much are you selling it for? *Solomon takes his hands out of his pocket and flung a purse of gold coins at the old hermit* [Hermit]: this isn’t for sale. [Solomon]: hmmmm? Well, can I at least make a copy of it? I’ll pay you triple? Or we’ll whatever you need just tell me and it will be done! [Hermit]: I’m not interested in your coin sir. Yet if you are so insistent, I will allow you to make a copy of the manuscript, but it must be done under our supervision, and furthermore… you will only have till the sun raises to accomplish the task. [Solomon]: deal! <FUCK!>

[laaskrin]

Veeeeeery old drawing of Resan and her first husband Indra.

He was the Morag Tong member sent to kill Feruren Oran but Resan had already killed him when he got there (for personal reasons), so he asked her to join the Tong since he recognised her potential.

The anatomy is whack, but it’s like, 3 years old so hopefully i’ve improved since then.

[white-queen-lacus]

Shinkane questions! pre-relationship: 4, 5; general: 3, 7; love: 1, 3, 13; domestic life: 2, 6, 11

Awww, how many lovely questions!! Thank you!!

Let me see…

PRE-RELATIONSHIP

4. Who felt romantic feelings first?

Akane. Definitely. All season one and their movie are Akane’s feelings for Kougami-driven. Kougami is a slow-burning type, in my opinion.

5. Did either of them try to resist their feelings?

Again, Akane. Do you remember when Kagari asked her if she was in love? Or when in Mandatory Happiness, the male MC asked the same? Luckily after First Inspector, it seems that she’s able to be slightly more open towards Kougami.

GENERAL

3. What was their first kiss like?

Ooooh, to answer this question, I truly believe that something shocking should happen for the two of them to kiss. Something able to suddenly destroy all the boundaries and the walls between them. Something like Akane being in mortal danger before Kougami’s eyes, making him realizing for good that he cannot lose her… and kissing her desperately once he realizes that she’s fine. *season one, ep. 22 alike, to say* And Akane, shocked by his sudden kiss, her face still in his hands, looking at his shocked and handsome face too, giving him her sweetest smile, reassuring him, before keeping on fighting again together.

7. Who takes the lead in social situations?

Both. Kougami can be a lone wolf, we know, but he can be self-assured, so if/when they are together, they both can take the lead. Also, Kougami is secretly proud of how much confident and self-assured Akane has become during the years, even though she still keeps her original kindness and grace.

LOVE

1. Who said “I love you” first?

Akane, I guess. She’s been longing for too much… and Kougami is too private to openly say it. He’s the one who’s better at acting than speaking. But hearing those words from Akane’s lips… well, it makes his heart skipping a beat.

3. Who uses cheesy pick-up lines?

Nobody, actually. They’re adults and they went through too much to flirt like this. But Akane would be amused to know that once there was somebody who used to call him “Piyogami-san”.

13. Who remembers the little things?

Kougami, definitely. He’s a good observer and details are fundamental in their job, but while Akane has a plain view, Kougami is the one who remembers little things better.

DOMESTIC LIFE

2. What’s the wedding like? Who attends?

A simple, almost traditional ceremony, full of love, emotion, devotion, and commitment. Their families and a few friends attend. I can see Akane wearing a simple and gracious white dress, small flowers in her hair, and a pair of white pearls. Kougami, hair slightly combed behind (like in a handsome fanart I saw days ago) waiting for her in his black tuxedo, with Gino as his best man. And their families, Tomoyo-san, Akane’s parents, Shion, Yayoi, Mika, Sugo and… I would love to see Saiga-sensei greet them.

6. Who worries the most?

Kougami. He’s genetically fitted to worry about Akane’s survival and well-being. Akane is having trouble with knives or fire? No worry, Kougami’s already taking care of it. Obviously, Akane loves seeing him so protective, but she sometimes needs to remember him that he shouldn't worry this much, because there’s that wrinkle between his eyebrows that...~ *I can hear Akane’s laughter and Kou’s grumbling*

11. Who likes to dance?

Akane. Since she’s younger and she had a definitely happier childhood than Kougami, I can see Akane dancing sometimes, while listening to her favorite music, during her spare time. Surprisingly, one day Kougami came home with a veeeeeery very old vinyl disc and the two of them end up dancing Sinatra together~ To your imagination what happens next~

Thank you for asking, it was amazing to have the chance to write about Shinkane!! Have a nice day!!

[agent-cupcake]

So happy you but up the headcanons! All of them are gems and I love them so much. Rereading the Dimitri and Felix rivalry hc made me want to ask for claude and yuri rivalry, but dark of course because both of these boys are sane and logical and would move on if they both caught feelings for you and weren't attached to you by a dark obession lol.

Sorry, I know you asked for love rivalry but I simply could not help myself and got a little carried away with seeing the so-called rivalry to his inevitable conclusion :3c

~Not that it’s probably necessary, but I had to consider the timeline for this. A rivalry between them wouldn’t fit in the events of the game because of Claude’s ambition, but he leaves the country in most endings. My solutions would be to have Claude split his time between Fódlan and Almyra as a politically active prince such as in his solo ending or to propose that Yuri would spend a lot of time in Almyra. Reasons for this could be that he went in aid of his good friend and military commander Balthus (Yuri would make for an awfully good royally sanctioned spy) or that he’s abusing the newfound system of open-market international trade for his criminal enterprise. Either way, Claude is powerful Almyran royalty and Yuri is a shady figure of the underworld. Not too unlike a story I’ve written, but this is separate from that. None of this really matters, ultimately, but whatever I like to think of how this would work out.

~Both men are powerful and ambitious. Both of them are emotionally isolated despite (or because of) their positions. They’re friends, or at least on friendly terms so there’d be a lot of overlap in social circles. And, really, they are quite similar so it’s plausible that they’d go for the same type.  

~I’ve since changed my stance on reasons why Claude might develop a fixation on someone. He is concerned with the intrinsic value of a person. He values the thoughts, feelings, and especially the perception of people he is close with. Claude is also a loner, a fundamentally lonesome person who wishes to be seen and loved on his own merits despite the guard he puts up and the social games he plays. Not to say I entirely retcon my previous opinion, but I focused too hard on the idea that he would need to dehumanize you by zeroing in on utilitarian usefulness rather than be driven to darker feelings by his fear of being alone and need to find a connection.

~This all goes for Yuri too, although it’s easier for me to imagine Yuri getting his authentic feelings twisted up and dark. Yuri’s circumstances were somewhat similar to Claude’s, except that he was shown genuine affection by his mother and the old man. Therefore, he knows what it is to lose that. He learned early on what it is to have people die because of him, to shoulder the burden of guilt that comes with such profound loss. Yuri’s scarred by a brutal, painful upbringing where “love” was a commodity to be traded in for favors (even by his mother) and genuine, honest relationships became nearly impossible to comprehend. If he met you and developed those true, affectionate feelings, if he found a so-called light in the darkness, maybe it’d make sense that he’d do everything he could to keep it from losing it.

~Their similarities in this instance would work out for this scenario. Somebody useful to them, somebody authentic enough to appeal to their deeply ingrained sense of loneliness, somebody clever or interesting or fun… There’s a lot of reasons they could develop unhealthy feelings for you born out of an innocently platonic friendship.

~And it would have to be platonic on both counts. Yuri and Claude are too self-aware for them to make a move if you made a choice early on. Or, I don’t think it’d become as big of a production because they wouldn’t have emotionally invested so much in you. Leading them both on unintentionally just by having a normal human friendship is kinda sad but also kinda funny.

~They’d know that you were close with the other. Of course they would. Maybe it would hurt, but neither would express that feeling to you. Claude would ask pointed (but not direct) questions about your feelings and dazzle you with grand overtures. Yuri would work the seductive and sweet angle, trying to win your heart the old fashioned way. But, you know, with more uncomfortable subtext and innuendo.   

~Something that has not changed is my opinion that Claude would be obsessive about his darker feelings. Not on a consistent, all the time basis, but more like a hobby. A puzzle he couldn’t solve, an itch he couldn’t quite scratch. He’d search for all of the pieces of you in the hopes that the final picture would allow him to understand his increasingly dangerous feelings. Claude’s not stupid, he’s really self aware. Enough to feel guilt, enough to recognize that what he’s doing isn’t right, and enough to justify himself out of the responsibility of doing amoral things for the right reasons.

~Yuri, on the other hand, wouldn’t be so… aggressive about it. He’d want you to come to him, to return to him again and again to prove to himself that what he feels isn’t wrong, to ingratiate himself into your life in a way that validated everything he felt for you and put you on more equal footing. He’d internalize everything a lot more, feel a lot of guilt about the intensity of his feelings, but he’d find ways to keep you close. Or, for you to keep him close.

~Don’t get me wrong, though, you wouldn’t get so much of a glimpse of this weaker, more vulnerable Yuri. He’d go the opposite direction of his guilt or doubt, wearing an impenetrable smiling, sarcastic, playful mask. My main point is that I see him as being more emotionally wrecked by having these dark feelings due to his self hatred. I also think Yuri would be more generally sensitive to unhealthy romance dynamics, especially if it became physical at all. 

~In an interestingly twisted way, Yuri hypocritically recognizing Claude’s behavior as being dangerous would encourage him to be more proactive about his own feelings and feel less guilty about doing so. Being the protective type rather than the obsessive really just fits Yuri so much better, although I see it as one ultimately leading to the other.

~It’s not about winning. They’d be competing, clearly battling against each other for you in a way that would not only be creepily objectifying, but also emotionally strenuous, but they’d keep on insisting that it wouldn’t be about winning. They’d just want you to be happy, to be safe. They both would just want what’s best for you. And what is best for you? Just ask them.

~Claude’s argument: Yuri’s lifestyle is dangerous. He’s a good guy, Claude really does trust him, buuuuut he’s not exactly the type of man you’d be safe with, you know?

~Yuri’s argument: Claude’s not treating you right. He’s obviously manipulating you, how could you possibly miss that? You deserve better, don’t you agree?

~But in the same breath they’d both insist that if you didn’t want to be with them romantically, that would be fine. They both, truly and unselfishly, would just want you to be happy. Just want to stay close with you. Veeeeeery unselfishly. 

~Their interactions with each other would be amazingly fake and aloof. Making small talk and smiling all the while vying for your attention in a nearly juvenile tug-of-war. Still, I don’t think, even through all of this, that they’d dislike each other. It’s not about winning, right? It’s not a game, right?

~Okay, so, I know the whole thing with scenarios like this is an inability to face rejection, but if you were to chose Yuri over Claude or vice versa, that’s where it would end. Committing yourself to one of them still wouldn’t work out super well because that’s the nature of giving into such dark and unhealthy feelings, but it would no longer be a rivalry.

~Let me propose, then, that you would eventually reject both of them. At first, the whole thing would have been so fun and so nice. Getting all of this attention from two powerful and attractive guys would be exciting. You’d feel so lucky, they’re both charming and friendly and kind. But then things would have gotten more intense and there’s this weird love triangle that is incredibly trite and uncomfortable and you wouldn’t have wanted to hurt either of them so it’s better to just leave it, right?

~Yuri would be more likely to use his personal feelings as a tactic of manipulation, I think. Worse, he probably wouldn’t see it that way. He knows, he truly knows, how dangerous and terrible the world could be and he’d do anything to shield you from it and his feelings would reflect that. Granted, if he felt you weren’t getting it, I don’t think Yuri would exactly be above veiled threats or bludgeoning you with fear tactics and even a dash of shame for how you’d played with both their hearts.

~Claude would do his best to convince you that you didn’t actually want to go. You didn’t have to chose either of them, but you couldn’t leave, either. That was way too dramatic. Besides… wasn’t it a little selfish? This was where you were needed, he relied on you. He trusted you. Sure, Claude’s a visionary, but what does that vision matter if the one who he shares his dreams with is gone?

~Maybe that wouldn’t work, though. Long term, it probably wouldn’t. I mentioned before that they wouldn’t hate each other, so if it came down to actually losing you, why not work together?

~Love triangles are for chumps, invest in a horribly unhealthy three person dynamic with possible kidnap and very overt tones of mental and emotional manipulation.

~That would solve all the the problems, wouldn’t it? Why would you try and leave them after they made so many compromises for you? Really, would you be that ungrateful and callous? They would both care about you so much, love you, even. Yuri and Claude would be trying to make it work despite the fact that it came down to essentially a tie in this bizarre game, why couldn’t you do your part? Landing such attractive and powerful guys, having them lay their hearts at your feet, you’d have to be a really terrible and selfish person to reject that. Not that you’d be given a lot of choice, but the devils in the details and if you fought them on this, it probably wouldn’t end up very pretty for you.

~Not saying either of them would hurt you. Physically, I mean. Probably. 

~In some ways, the compromise would make the guilt easier for them to bear. The fact that they were also being forced to deal with something they wouldn’t necessarily want to would be a leveling ground for them to justify any of your unhappiness with the situation. Like, it was all an equal amount of compromise to make things work for all three of you. 

~Claude would know how much Yuri meant to you and feel like the fact that he hadn’t taken that away from you absolved him of a lot of the responsibility of the other things he’d taken from you. Plus, Claude’s a distracted guy who’d lose track of things sometimes, always getting caught up in whatever project he was working on at the time, so he’d know that you wouldn’t be lonely during those times.

~Yuri would see Claude as being, in many ways, a better person than him. More out of a horrible sense of self perception than fact. So Yuri could have his piece of you with the recognition that Claude was there to balance the worst parts of himself and make you happy in ways this dark, twisty version of Yuri might not think he could.

~I don’t think that either Yuri or Claude would ever truly get along because of how similar they are and the fact that they both kinda lost to the other but I also don’t think that would be a huge issue. Their verbal sparring would be entertaining, honestly. 

[orangepanic]

Author Self Interview

Tagged by: @flamehotman

Warning: Below includes links to some NSFW fics. They are clearly marked. Do not read them if you are underage or not into that.

Name:

Are you kidding, this is tumblr. You can call me Orange.

Fandoms:

Really just Legend of Korra, with some dips into ATLA from time to time.

Where do you post?

AO3 under orange_panic_archive. I have two fics cross-posted on ff.net but no one ever reads them (how anyone finds ANYTHING on there is beyond me) so I stopped bothering.

Most popular multi chapter fic:

Going by kudos, AWOL. It’s also my oldest fic, which makes sense. But I love it to death so I’m gonna pretend time isn’t a factor and that it’s the most popular because it’s great.

Most popular oneshot:

😳

Um… so I just checked, and it’s actually Never Have I Ever, which is more or less a smut fic where Iroh gives Asami a striptease in her office. Not sure what that says about me. Or you, readers.

Favorite story you've written so far:

This is like asking me which child is my favorite. I love them all in different ways. DON'T MAKE ME PICK BETWEEN MY BABIES!

In all seriousness, I'm always surprised when authors say they hate this fic or that fic of theirs. Maybe it's ego, but I genuinely like everything I've published.

Fic you were nervous to post:

Incendiaries, about the first time Asami and Iroh have sex, was the first NSFW fic I ever posted. I was veeeeeery nervous, and had never written anything like that before. Now that I’ve read more fanfics, it’s actually pretty tame. I was like oH No SEx oN ThE fLOor! like it was somehow scandalous.

How do you title your fics:

They kind of just come to me? I'm most proud of the ones with double meanings, like "Players," (they're asshole highschoolers and sports players and also actors) "Jump," (about learning ski jumps and about getting up the nerve to ask Asami out) but most are fairly literal - like there's no doubt what "Prince Iroh and the Purple Knight" or "Asami Sato and the Goblet of Fire" are about - or take a name or element from the story, like "The Lies We Tell Ourselves" is the book Asami is reading and "Blazing Sunsets" is the burlesque casino Bumi goes to.

How do you outline:

wut iz outline?

I go "I think this fic is about x" in my head and then start writing. Whatever happens, happens.

Complete:

Despite how I feel, most of my fics are completed. There’s a list in my pinned post. Smoke and Iroh Alone are almost done, too, which just leaves Firestorm and Starvation Paradise as big outstanding projects, with things like Lost Boys on a slightly slower burn. Now the trick is to not start five new projects before finishing any of my current ones.

Do you accept prompts:

Sure, though I can’t say anyone has sent me one. I’m picky though. I mostly write Irosami and have enough WIPs that I don’t want to get too distracted writing stuff I don’t care about. I'll write your Irosami prompt though, and I do love a good challenge.

Upcoming story you’re most excited to write about:

Ohhhhhh so I’m writing a ghost story for Halloween. Not saying anything else yet but I love it. Or at least the one and a half chapters I have.

Story you're excited to read:

There are four in-progress Irosami stories that I’m refreshing AO3 every five minutes to see if they update: Illicit Affairs and Summer Love by obsidian_irises, Your Lips and My Lips by @flamehotman, and Are You Alright, Sir? by @ljf613. I’m also waiting patiently for the end of Lucky Guess by @old-and-new-friends because pink-haired, motorcycle-riding, video-gamer veterinarian Iroh is DARLING and Mako needs to get his head out of his ass and kiss him.

Tagging: Most folks I know have been tagged so opening it up for anyone who wants to share!

[draven-imani]

Journal 6

Today was another long day. Another very long day. I don’t even know how to begin to express how much happened today.

We broke fate.

We did what we came to the Grey Garrison to do and according to a higher being we weren’t actually meant to have done that but we did anyways and it changed everything. It changed an entire timeline. We did that. I’m still processing that.

Let me start from the top.

We made for Old Kenabres first thing in the morning. We were given a number of supplies from Arashniaval for our strike force, while Horgus was using his own funds to supply the main troops. The Silver Legion and the units Commander Tirabade had been able to muster rode ahead and drew away the brunt of the demonic forces, leaving the Grey Garrison mostly unguarded. The Commander did not join the forces drawing distraction, however. She would be fighting alongside us to reclaim the shard of the Wardstone from Deskari’s hands. And she was not the only one. This morning the envoy the Commander sent down to speak with the First Descendants returned as well. And they came alongside forces from below ground lead by Lann, ready to join the fight against the demon scourge. Lann and a number of his rangers joined our strike team. Each of us paired up with a ranger, with the group deciding I should team up with Lann since I was the captain of this mission. I had no arguments there. Lann proved to be a very capable marksman. Even without cold iron arrows he managed to do some damage to some of the demons we faced, which is more than I could say for most people.

If we ever have a moment when we aren’t fighting for our lives for once, I wouldn’t mind having a chance to chat with him outside of life-threatening situations. Lann seems like a good guy. But apparently my life is going to be getting really busy really soon, so that’s probably not in the cards.

As we approached the grey garrison, we saw two sentries. We identified the twisted reanimated mockeries as vermleks, parasitic demons who puppeteer corpses of the dead. The victims in question were High Commander Hulrun, and the head of Nyserian Manor ironically enough. It would seem Lord Nyserian met with a terrible fate when he presented Commander Tirabade’s sword to the demons, in a bid to try to get safe passage and a position of power. We found proof later that this was their punishment for him not giving it to them sooner. Serves a coward and a traitor right, for the innocent blood on his hands.

My feelings about Hulrun are more complicated. He was a powerful crusader. He should have been able to stand up against the demons as a symbol of strength against the tide of evil. Instead he was felled and turned into a mockery. So I found what they did despicable and I wanted to put him to rest. But I also never found him to be the height of what we could stand for. He was no Irabeth Tirabade. At one time he was a paranoid man who brought out the worst in our people for many years. He led the witch hunts, which may have been a little before my time, but the effects of which still echo down. I…deeply fear what would happen if anyone found out about the mark I keep under wraps.

Whether he truly become better or simply had others who advised him to tone it down, I will likely never know now. And quite frankly it doesn’t matter, as he is dead and we have more pressing matters than the past to contend with.

Speaking of that accursed mark, it was bleeding a stream of blood worse than ever before, and burning like someone had taken a hot iron to it. I couldn’t help but flinch, and the others couldn’t help but notice the bandages that were already stained red before we had even entered battle. I…promised to explain later. And I suppose I will have to, if it’s going to cause so much blood that I cannot hide it around so many demons. I will have to find a new method. Perhaps a bracer of some kind…

Hiskaria asked ‘you too’ when I started rubbing at my arm initially, and showed me a mark on her back. It was not anything near the same as the festering mark on my wrist. She had some sort of large glowing spiral birthmark on her back. Although there was one thing in common I found: both appeared the day our families died. Hers was reacting here as well, which was apparently abnormal. Hers had something to do with the Riftwardens—which now that I think about it she’d kept buddying up to Arashniaval frequently, going to him to comfort him when he thought the Riftwardens died despite just meeting him, and he’d reacted to her in surprise when we’d first met her.

For now, however, we needed to focus on the mission as hand. There were two demon sentries. If we took them out fast, we might not alert the entire temple of our presence right away. Luna did her usual thing, going invisible and sneaking up on one, getting a good swing in on it, although not enough to destroy its host. Commander Tirabade charged in behind her, stabbing it, and Melody joined her.

Hiskaria and I focused on the other. Radiance was more insistent than ever that these demons be cleansed—the bodies of the faithful needed to be freed and put to rest properly.

These creatures took a beating and still remained standing, sending wave after wave of negative energy through us with mass inflict wounds. The Commander cut down the one who was possessing Hulrun—trying to be respectful of the dead, although once Luna got started insulting him for the witch hunts it was hard for any of us to not agree with her points that the man was kind of an ass. Still, the demon was dead and I’d at least follow Radiance’s request to lay his body to rest later, even he deserved that much.

The other demon devoured its host, but was then skewered through on Melody’s glaive, leaving the courtyard outside the temple silent.

Then Melody looked up. She told us in a hushed voice that she saw her goddess’ songbird. But also a twisted being who looked like a humanoid woman with a clawed locust’s arm. An oracle of Deskari. And probably a powerful one at that if her body was twisted in such a manner.

This would be no easy task. But we needed to get to the wardstone and destroy it, to keep it from being used as a weapon and turning our own symbol of protection against our unsuspecting men and women on the front lines. Whether it would be easy or not didn’t matter.

Luna slipped ahead of us, practically vanishing as she pulled her hood over her head and she seemed to become one with the shadows with her mastery of stealth. I focused on Iomedae’s blessings, using her mastery of the warrior’s ways to try to keep up with my swift footed companion.

A fight had already broken out by the time I arrived. Luna had snuck up behind a tiefling cultist and liberated his head from his shoulders. The rest had tried to swarm her, but she was not an easy woman to harm in such a way. Lann shot an arrow into the fray, catching the attention of one of the tieflings and drawing him out of the room to me, which I swiftly cut down. The rest were taken care of by Hiskaria’s arrows and Luna and Melody’s blades.

Now that we were inside of the temple, Radiance’s energy was feeling more insistent than usual. They told me that this was once a temple to Iomedae, and it should be cleansed and returned to its former glory. I got the sense that they meant immediately, not after we got rid of the demons. At first as I cleared the demons I argued with Radiance, telling the sword that I needed them to be patient—if we tried to cleanse the temple before we got rid of all the demons, the demons would just desecrate it again.

What made me change my mind was the room with the arms.

I am not going to describe the room with the arms. Just know that…the demons and their cultists made some very visceral and disgusting idols in mockery of our holy places.

I was ambushed by several cultists of Deskari in that room. Which was a veeeeeery good way to get some very recently acquired bad feelings out of my system. With some help from the others, we cleared out the three cultists who thought they would be adding me to their sick idol. Sick bastards.

Then Melody opened a door. And got a bomb right in the face.

Because alchemists suck like that.

Luna went in with her axe, but the man had a spell on that made hitting him difficult, he shifted around the attacks, our visuals on him were blurred and difficult to see correctly. Hiskaria got a bright idea, and cast magic missile on him.

I liked that idea, and produced a wand of magic missile we’d been given by Arashniaval, and did the same. Between the two of us and Luna, we beat away at the alchemist. He used a smoke bomb to try to hide from the missiles. Hiskaria got in closer, drew fire from him, and was able to give me enough of an idea of where he was that I could get up in his face and cast it once more. Which was all we needed.

From there we only had one way to go. Which was behind a locked door Luna was having difficulty opening. We decided to work together to smash through it. With Luna taking point, we threw everything we had into it, and finally managed to burst the door.

Straight into a room with a tiefling and three dretches.

It wasn’t actually that difficult. Luna ran past the dretches and took on the tiefling. Commander Tirabade and Melody took on the dretch nearest the door, which I used the Commander’s shield for cover to slip in and attack the one next to her, Radiance giving me a particularly spectacular moment killing the dretch in a single swing. The final dretch tried to flee, but Luna took a swing at it as it did, then ran after it and ended it before it could try to warn anyone on the second floor.

We were a little bruised, but not so much that we felt like we needed to sound the retreat yet.

Radiance was even more insistent, and I was feeling a bit twitchy after the aforementioned room as well. I requested some time to clear out the bottom floor before we continued on. The others agreed, as it would give them some time to check for anything of value on the bodies they may have missed.

So, I got to work. First clearing out the…aforementioned room. Doing burial rites for the desecrated bodies and for Hulrun while I was at it. Then I cleaned the prayer room. Which had an interesting engraving in celestial, although I cannot read the language. I recalled that Gabrielle could as an aasimar, although I didn’t want to make assumptions given how different Luna is—so I asked if anyone in our group could speak the language. As fortune would have it, Luna did speak celestial, and was willing to help, despite needing to kneel before the alter to see the engraving properly. She would not tell me what it said, instead, she went over to a glowing outline of a doorway we’d noticed in the other room, and spoke the words, “Let us inherit thine arms, Iomedae.” The doorway swung open. Inside was an amazing armory. Cold iron weapons of all kinds, an enchanted longsword, sturdy shields, and a gorgeous breastplate with Iomedae’s holy symbol emblazoned across it. I feel speed is what we needed more than heavy armor at the moment, or I would have gladly donned it.

I also may have hesitated because I think it looked like that sort of think Auriel would have liked. I feel like I remember him mentioning he intended to get something similar to this at some point. Or maybe that’s just me projecting. I don’t know.

Anyways.

After that was done we cleaned up the museum, in which we found an adamantine morningstar of all things. Would have been useful for that door earlier. We gave it to Luna. Adamantine with her strength will be useful I’m certain.

With everything cleaned up and Radiance a bit quieter, we decided to head up to the second floor.

The second floor was almost blood bath. I…kind of don’t remember a lot of the fight that happened here. It was a blur, and I went down a few times. A lot of times. They really had it out for me. For obvious reasons, I was the only Iomedaen in the room. And possibly because of the accursed mark on my arm, who knows? What I do know is, we got upstairs. Melody got besieged on all sides, and the moment one of the tiefling cultists died, we heard the voice of the oracle. And she summoned a swarm of locusts from the tiefling’s body, which attacked Melody on his death, badly injurying her with negative energy. I ended up running in and putting myself in between her and some of the other enemies with the intention of drawing some attention away from her. Which worked. Unfortunately it worked a little too well. I got swarmed by tieflings and Deskari cultists, and when Melody or Heskaria killed one the oracle would cause the locust swarms to pull the life from me. I went in and out of consciousness more than a few times here. I was lucky the Commander was here. She and Hiskaria kept me alive. Between Commander Tirabade’s lay on hand’s and Hiskaria’s wand of cure moderate wounds she’d picked up somewhere along the way. I definitely owed her one. I guess as her ‘acting captain’ I’m putting in a few good words for her for sure at this point.

When the swarm of enemies died down, we began looking around a bit more. We found a room with a bowl of water and—viscera—with zombies milling about. We took care of them with literally no issue. Radiance once again began insisting on immediately consecrating the room, and I once again told them that we needed to wait until we knew there was nothing nastier on this floor after what we’d just dealt with, if the oracle could reach out through her followers up here. Radiance didn’t like that answer, but conceded that it was my choice either way. Good. Maybe Luna was onto something with putting my foot down with them.

Melody was standing near a door looking a bit spooked, and as I approached she quietly told me something was on the other side talking in her mind. She described it, and I reasoned out that it was a Schir demon due to the sound of gnawing on metal she heard. We decided to let Luna go in first, as it was probably prepared but to my knowledge they couldn’t see those who were invisible. So she downed another potion and slipped inside, getting a good stab at him before he could react. Unfortunately, he proved a bit more damaging than expected, and we heard Luna calling for someone to help her out. I was planning to join her, since demon slaying is kind of my specialty. But then something else burst from the door behind me. A strange chimera creature. Not a demon, but an evil intelligent beast working with them. A peryton. The creature bared its fanged in something between a smile and a snarl as it greeted me, before lashing out, knocking me against the wall and dashing any hope of me going to Luna’s aid.

Fortunately, both Melody and Commander Tirabade were able to help Luna, while Hiskaria put some arrows into the creature attacking me. The Commander apparently killed the demon, then Luna charged out of the room and with a single swing of her axe beheaded the peryton.

The rest of the floor was so easily cleared out I legitimately don’t even remember what the creatures in the last room were. Some kind of insect or spider that caused darkness, but Luna was able to cast light due to her aasimar bloodline and dispel it. I blocked the doorway to protect Melody and let Hiskaria and Melody take shots at them until I was hurting too badly to continue that tactic, then stepped aside for Luna the clean up the rest.

After that was done, Luna began going through some papers that she had seen the cultists looking over before. I began clearing out the room the zombies had been in that Radiance had reacted to. And the others began checking the other rooms for anything that might be useful or important.

After I cleared and purified the water in the bowl it became immediately obvious that it was a scrying dish, as it activated on its own. It had two things to show me. First, was Leto and Commander Spriggans. They were in the middle of the demon hordes, separated from their unit. They were fighting valiantly, and they didn’t look worse for the wear at the moment. But with their positioning, I knew if I called the retreat now, they might get left behind. They might end up stuck behind enemy lines. Or worse, overwhelmed and killed.

Before I had time to process that, a second vision was granted. This one a bit closer to where we were. It was of the oracle, upstairs. She was panicking. Pacing, muttering to herself “fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck”, terrified of how quickly we were tearing through her forces, of how quickly we were making our way to her and undoing all her work. The angle of the scry then panned out, showing me the room outside, allowing me to see the fiendish minotaur guarding the door to her chambers. It gave me a good idea of what we were going to be facing when we went up there. It was a tiny room to be dealing with such a large creature, not much room to maneuver. Not much room to get Luna into a flanking position.

But more importantly, we’d been planning to call the retreat after this floor. Because we were all exhausted. We were low on magic. We were low on healing. We were hurting. But if we did that, we were going to put Leto and Commander Spriggans in danger.

I had to make a call. Retreat. Put the mission and the people in front of me first and risk Leto. Or push forward, risk everything so I could try to bring everyone back safe. Assuming I didn’t get everyone killed doing so.

I was paralyzed with indecision.

The others were talking about various things they’d found. A list of traitors here and elsewhere, which was useful. Some other things I honestly was too distracted at the time to really process. Then Luna started talking about how we ought to head out if we were going to call the retreat and get back to Defender’s heart, since we were getting tired. Melody and Hiskaria agreed.

I stopped them. I told them to wait. I explained I’d seen something in the scrying room, and I explained what I’d seen and why it was a problem for retreating. But also why not retreating was a problem.

Luna said she didn’t give a damn, and said on the count of three everyone raise their hand who voted to keep going. All three of them did.

I—was speechless. I am not so proud as to think they did not understand how much of a risk they were taking pushing forward. They knew how much they were risking, and what they were doing, to keep Leto safe. A man they’ve barely even met once, but who they knew was important to me.

I owe them. More than I can begin to repay. But I am going to start, as best I can.

After I finished cleansing the second floor, we made our plan for how to deal with the third. We knew that the oracle was not at her best. We also knew how the minotaur’s room was laid out. We decided to use this to our advantage. There wasn’t much room to maneuver—not even enough for us to bring our ranger companions along, we had them watch our backs and stay on the second floor—but there was just enough to possibly get Luna in behind him if we played our cards right.

Luna drank another invisibility potion, and crept ahead of us. We waited for half a minute, then followed, with Melody in the lead. The plan was for her to lure the beast forward, as she was the only one with a weapon that could reach as far as the minotaur’s. She would stand in the stairwell and taunt the beast until it charged her, then Luna would step behind it and attack the moment its back was no longer to the door.

The plan worked. It worked exactly like we’d planned. Except for one problem. I didn’t see it for myself, I was still in the stairwell. But I heard about it afterwards. When the beast began to lumber forward, Luna stepped in to attack. She landed a devastating blow, drawing her axe up from the bottom of its spine to its neck. The creature stopped, and swung around, and its own axe swung into Luna. The fiendish creature put a smite into the blow, and its full strength behind it. With a single swing, Luna crumpled. I didn’t see the attack, but I saw the end result. There was blood everywhere.

Commander Tirabade charged in, and ended the beast’s life in a single final stroke, Luna having nearly ended it with her single blow. This left the room clear for Hiskaria to run in and use her wand to heal Luna back to her feet, and Melody to finish getting her back up. By the time I reached her, she looked good as new, if not a little shaken or perhaps just displeased that her blow hadn’t killed the beast outright. There was blood splattered across everything.

I really owe Luna after all this is over, with how close that was.

Then Luna suggested we do that again for the next room. We went to argue. I wondered if maybe she’d taken some head trauma on top of the axe wound. But she pointed out that technically the plan worked fine—she’d just gotten unlucky with the minotaur’s axe. She was pretty sure the same wouldn’t happen a second time with this panicky oracle. And this time we’d all be right outside the door.

I hated to admit it, but the plan had worked pretty well. And getting Luna in the room and flanking the oracle would be the best way to ensure she went down quickly. So we all agreed. Luna drank another potion and vanished, then we opened the door.

The oracle laughed manically when she saw us, her eyes wild and desperate. She was a twisted disgusting thing, her form warped into some sort of half-elf/locust combination by Deskari’s magic. I wouldn’t have even recognized her as a fellow half-elf myself if Luna hadn’t said something earlier when one of us was describing her. I am glad that the taint that this mark on my arm has left on me has done no such thing, I much prefer my face and arm as they are thank you.

The oracle—whose name I felt no particular urge to memorize, my apologies, I think it would have galled her to know she wasn’t that important—warned us to stay back. She asked where Luna was, to which Melody claimed that she’d been killed by the minotaur. One look at the bloodied room seemed to be enough to convince her of the truth of that, as she laughed in our faces at our folly. She motioned, and two portals appeared. What appeared to be two babau demons appeared, with Leto and Commander Spriggans held hostage. She warned that she would have them killed if we didn’t retreat and let her finish her work.

I…admit to not thinking straight here. I froze. Obviously, I knew we couldn’t just throw down our arms, not when so many lives were at stake with the wardstone right there. But I also wasn’t about to throw my brother and commander to the wolves.

Thankfully, Melody was much more clear-sighted than I. She ran forward, and attacked one of the supposed demons. The illusion around them flickered and vanished, revealing the truth underneath. Two constructs, which had created the illusory demons—and the illusions of Leto and Commander Spriggans, who were not there at all.

I was incensed at the trickery. I realized then that the desecrated scrying chamber had very likely been to look for someone one of us cared about to use against us, and she had chosen Leto. This kind of construct could only be used with an illusion preprogrammed into it—which meant they knew what to put in ahead of time, and someone elsewhere had put it in and sent it over. The constructs had the holy symbol of Sivanah emblazoned on them, so it seemed someone within their church was responsible. According to Luna, it was Lady Salzala. I’m inclined to believe her. Apparently, the mummified locust with the book she stole the day we met was addressed to her as well, so a lot of things keep pointing back in her direction. Commander Tirabade said she left with a contingent of her men on ‘business’ after the attack, so it would appear she fled the scene.

Unfortunately, her name was not amongst the ones in the documents Luna found naming traitors, so we lack any further evidence, although the Commander is going to look into it further.

With the bluff called, we attacked. Luna appeared as she swung her axe at the twisted locust oracle. Both Luna and the oracle looked surprised for a moment, I didn’t catch what either said, but then the oracle used a spell to teleport across the room.

While Melody and I focused on her and Luna dealt with the constructs that had flanked her, Hiskaria had a different idea in mind. She swung around, avoiding the fight entirely, and pulled out the rod of cancellation we’d been given to destroy the Wardstone. We were here to do a job, and she was going to make sure it got done, one way or another.

The oracle cried out, but it was too late. Hiskaria pushed past whatever last defenses the final piece of the wardstone may have had, and it shattered in a blinding flash. Shards rained down around us like meteors in miniature. They ripped the oracle and her constructs to shreds, but miraculously the rest of us were untouched—whenever they came near us, they redirected, whooshing around as if we had our own little gravity field and then being thrown in another direction.

Then everything went white. Me, Luna, Melody, and Hiskaria found ourselves in this place alone, Commander Tirabade was nowhere to be seen. Radiance floated before us, pulsing with energy, their blade face down. They spoke, and as they did we began to see visions of what they spoke of. Visions of things past. Of how the Wardstone came to be. Of Commander Tirabade and Stauton Vhagn…apparently former friends, before his betrayal. Of the Stormlord’s first attack on the Wardstone, and then Stauton’s betrayal and escape from the city. And then the most recent attack on the stone, the one that shattered it and brought us together. The attack that killed Trendalor—we know for certain now that the city’s defender is dead, his body stolen away by demons. And then we saw various demons guarding the stone, each powerful entity growing bored with their post and handing it off to one below them, until finally it fell to the oracle, who paced the room fearfully, knowing what would happen to her should she fail at our hands.

Then we saw what was supposed to happen next. The fate that we avoided. The time that was meant to come to pass, but didn’t. Arelu Vorlesh stepped from a portal with a purple crystal in hand, and began corrupting the Wardstone. And she succeeded. Dark tendrils spread through the land, they infected the crusaders through their connection to the divine within the Wardstone, and it twisted and warped them all into half-fiend monstrosities under Deskari’s power. Deskari’s army grew into a force all that more unstoppable, bolstered by our own men whose lives and souls were ripped away all at once.

Then the vision shattered, and we saw what had happened when we shattered the Wardstone instead. A great wave of golden energy swept across the land, destroying countless demons in its wake. Not obliterating their forces, unfortunately—more will come crawling from the Worldwound in the days to come, but it’s still a mighty blow that should buy us some time to regroup after what they did to Kenabres. A nice bit of divine retribution for those who have died.

Radiance spoke to us again. Or, the Spirit of the Hall of Heroes. I couldn’t quite tell if this was the exact same being as the one who spoke to me through the blade. I do recall Radiance referring to themself as the Spirit of the Hall of Heroes before, so likely the same? Radiance is less of a mouthful and easier to write, though. Maybe just ‘The Spirit’ for now, to avoid confusion, because I still had a version of Radiance to use in what was to come as well.

The Spirit drew a glowing blade of light from what had appeared to be Radiance’s blade, and pointed it at us. They told us to show them that we were worthy of the power to defy fate itself. Then they took the form of a man wielding a polearm and the form of a crystalline phoenix formed before them. And flames erupted around us.

Hiskaria did what she does best and peppered him with arrows. I patched myself up with some quick healing and tried to come in for an attack, but their form shifted again, this time into a tiefling man with a large hexagonal shield and he blocked my blow. However since I was harrying them, Luna was about to come around behind him and get a blow of her own off with her axe. Their form shifted to a human woman with a similar axe in an attempt to block, but Luna’s attack managed to get through. Then the spirit’s form shattered. They reformed their crystalline body farther in the white void—now an elven woman with a bow, and began shooting off rapid deadly arrow shots at us that made Hiskaria’s already deadly aim look like a child’s shooting.

We went with the same tactic as before, with Hiskaria shooting from afar, Melody charging in with her glaive, myself healing and sweeping in to flank with Luna, and finally Luna dealing a crippling blow to the crystalline Spirit. The being’s form shattered, underneath was a second form, somewhat like an elven man in appearance, although still made of crystal, holding a staff with twisting gears, the only part of them not crystalline. They tapped the staff, and everything was tugged backwards, returned to how it had been when the fight had first begun. The Spirit sheathed their blade. They asked each of us in turn what we were fighting for, and in turn each of us gave our personal answer.

For me…the answer’s always been the same. I want to protect people. To defend those who are less powerful from the demons, be it with a shield or at the end of a blade.

The Spirit acknowledged us as worthy of the power that had fallen into our laps—and as such they were going to return us to that moment in time, and, as he put it, ‘allow you the power you were nearly denied’.

I found myself back in the moment when the Wardstone was exploding. Shards were flying everywhere. This time, however, a piece hit me, square in the chest. Unlike the oracle and her constructs, it didn’t tear me apart. Instead, an energy flowed through every part of my being, all at once. Through my body, my blood, and my very soul. The other three experienced the same.

We didn’t have time to talk about it, or to wonder at it. As the explosion died down, a portal opened before us. One we’d already seen once before, in a vision, mere moments ago. What felt like mere moments ago, in that white void. Out stepped Arelu Vorlesh, one of Deskari’s generals, in the flesh. She was holding that same purple crystal that she’d had in the vision. She commented on the fact that we’d destroyed the Wardstone that she’d intended to use—but that its power lived on within us, and she would just have to corrupt us instead. Then she activated the crystal. There was a terrible sensation, like something cold and oily trying to take hold of my soul. Commander Tirabade charged Vorlesh, but she cast a spell that began to suffocate her, and she went unconscious in moments. Apparently it was meant to hit all of us, but the Wardstone’s power had protected us. Unfortunately its power was not protecting us from the purple crystal’s power, and we were frozen to the spot. I…was certain we were done for.

Then a blue hand reached out through Vorlesh’s portal. A light from Radiance’s crystal streaked out through her and into that being’s hand. Something was cast, and Arelu Vorlesh was left badly injured, and we were freed. Vorlesh fled. We didn’t ever get a good look at the other being.

Radiance has been silent since.

I can’t say for certain. But I think Auriel saved us. Some piece of his soul. Some version of him. I don’t know. It’s the only explanation I have. That light was in Radiance because of Auriel’s soul, so if it went to that being, it had to have been. Somehow. I know that’s weirdly optimistic of me. I’m not the sort to cling to thinking people spontaneously come back from the dead, especially people whose souls shatter on death. But—I mean Auriel was literally the Chosen One. If anyone was going to come back, right?

Anyways, Radiance doesn’t talk to me anymore. Or can’t, more likely, just like the whole ‘can’t choose Irabeth over you’ thing. But they haven’t flayed my hands, either. I think the whole ‘breaking fate’ thing means I’m able to bend the rules on the whole chosen one thing. Or maybe having a little divine power from the wardstone’s what did it. Who knows. I’m glad. If I’m honest, I’ve gotten a little attached. As much as they’ve gotten on my nerves and the whole ‘flay you alive’ thing pissed me off, I’m actually kind of sad that I can’t hear them now. For one thing, it was the last little connection to Auriel we had. I have no idea if they can hear me or if they’re in some kind of hibernation now. I’ve still been talking to them a bit. Like a crazy person, yeah, yeah.

Anyways, it wasn’t over with Vorlesh leaving. She decided to leave a parting gift. A whole swarm of babau demons. Real ones, not a bunch of illusions over constructs. Babaus are quite a bit stronger than the dretches and vermleks we’d been fighting. Under any other circumstances, we’d have definitely been overwhelmed and killed by a swarm of eight of them.

Instead, they couldn’t even touch us. I mean it, there wasn’t a scratch on us when we left. We completely overpowered these demons that should have easily outclassed us. The wardstone’s powers completely suffused our every action, everything we did seemed to be at the most perfect it could be. I cannot begin to describe to you how it feels to completely annihilate demons that should be such fearsome foes without risking going into territory that may start sounding like It’s bordering blasphemy, so I think I’ll reel it back a bit.

Afterwards, we healed the Commander, and began making our way back to Defender’s Heart. On the way, Hiskaria told us that apparently the very supportive voice in her head was apparently her goddess, Cassandalee. I’d never heard of her before, but Melody had. She was apparently more of a Numerian goddess, one of love, redemption, artifice, and good. Strange that she hadn’t gotten bigger in the 300 years she’s been around if redemption’s in her portfolio since there’s been a big need for that all things considered, since Valoria didn’t pick that up from Sarenrae. But I suppose since her main followers are apparently androids maybe she wasn’t really able to spread much outside her home base, so to speak.

Then the others decided to start hounding me as we walked back. I thought it would be about my arm, considering that seemed like the most pressing thing to ask about. But no. Apparently Luna and Melody had gotten it into their heads that Leto and I are an item. Really! I tried vehemently to correct them, that they really had the wrong idea, that we grew up together and I think of him more like a brother, but for whatever reason they still seem really unconvinced. Maybe if I send them Leto’s way he can talk some sense into them. No. He’ll probably just get them more wound up and release them back on me for the laughs. I tried to get Hiskaria to try to talk some sense into them, but she said since Cassandalee is a goddess of love she felt like it was now her sworn duty to not get in the way of this kind of talk. So now I have a Shelynite and Hiskaria to deal with about this kind of thing. Great!

Anyways. With the demons destroyed by the shockwave, there was no reason to worry about Leto and Commander Spriggans’ safety anymore. I’ll tell Leto about these shenanigans some other day. Tonight, I’m too exhausted to even think about going down there and drinking. Sleep. Sleep sounds good.