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modkatisbacc · 6 months ago

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Character Info for the WoW x Ninjago AU!!!

Cole: Half-Human Half-Dwarf. (Yes it's because Dwarves... Earth...and also because of Magni, and me comparing DR!Cole to Magni Every time I turn around) Lou is human, Lilly is a Dwarf (Aaaand maybe a bit more than that) He is a Shaman, joined the Earthen Ring pretty young, since they realized "Oh hey this is Lilly's son!" Therazane took one look at him after Lilly died and said "Yep, gotta watch this one." (The Elemental Lords are A Tiny Bit Different in this AU, but not too different.) Sent by Therazane back up to Azeroth (He found his way into Deepholm when he ran away from home.) to train under Wu. Cole also has a Earth Elemental that just pops up whenever it wants to. Mostly just keeps an eye on him and makes sure he's alive. Said Earth Elemental normally hangs around Lou, as Therazane doesn't believe he can protect himself. He is 15 in the beginning of this story, and The Oldest (TM) until he isn't.

Kai: Kultiran Human Fire Mage/Warrior Multiclass A Blacksmith, up until the day his sister was taken by a roaming band of Scourge *A squad that is detatched from the others, and operates under Different Orders, not controlled by the Lich King* on the command of Garmadon, the Earth Warder. After this, he becomes desperate to get Nya back, which Ragnaros takes advantage of. Ragnaros, knowing that Kai may not respond positively seeing a fire elemental just showing up randomly, sends a bounty hunter after him, with strict instructions, in which 'don't let him know what you are, and don't hurt him, I NEED him.' the Bounty Hunter was unprepared for Kai trying to attack him on sight. When Kai arrives in the Firelands, extremely confused, yet mostly unharmed, Ragnaros spins a tale against Neptulon, as he knows that he is the one who has his sister, Nya. Ragnaros also hangs information about their parents over Kai's head, and how they betrayed Azeroth, leading to Kai's Early resentment over the two. He is soon sent to Wu, he is sent to Wu because Ragnaros knows he will not harm him, and he wants Kai to become more powerful- and Wudormu can do just that. He is 14 in the beginning.

Jay: A Human boy who lived peacefully in the Sea of Sand *Also known as Tanaris* with his parents until Al'Akir noticed his presence. Al'Akir took great interest in his blooming connection with lightning. Jay is a Shaman/Monk/Rogue Multiclass *The only Shaman move he really has is Lightning itself, and he uses it in the other two classes moves.* When Al'Akir noticed that Jay wasn't really willing to just up and leave his parents alone in the middle of the desert. He wasn't really worried about their safety, per say, as he knew from a young age that the Bronze were keeping an eye on them from their home that was east of them, he was just content on staying with his parents. Seeing this, Al'Akir sent his minions to kidnap Ed and Edna, trapping them in Uldum. With Jay willing to do anything to make sure his parents are safe, he agrees to do whatever Al'Akir wants him to do. He sends him to Wu as a spy, much like Kai, as he knows he is gathering the other elemental champions. He doesn't want to mess up and get his parents killed, so he's a LOT more standoffish and awkward in the beginning than in canon (dont worry though the Real Jay will shine in soon!) He is the youngest of the four, being 13 when the story begins.

Zane: He is a ????????? Neptulon wasn't very sure what he was when he found Zane. Zane is a Frost Mage/Rogue Multiclass. Neptulon could sense he had a great ice power within him, and he looked *Very* Human, but something was off with him, like someone was hiding something- from everyone including Zane. Zane was wandering around in Northrend, helping protect villages from the scourge. One day, the Lich King himself *Not Arthas in this AU* shows up in a battle- and Zane, worried that he will attack the civilans, goes after him alone. Now of course he couldn't take him on, especially by himself. He ends up getting thrown off a cliff into the ocean. A Water Elemental finds Zane, who is very hurt, though confused on why he had not drowned yet. When he wakes up, he is in Vash'jr, in Neptulon's domain. After he recovers, Neptulon gives him a choice on whether to go back to Northrend, or to follow him. Zane, feeling a strange connection to the elementals decides to stay. He makes quick friends with Nya as well. He is sent to Wu for training, and is 14(????) when the story begins.

Nya: When the Scourge kidnapped her, she was quickly rescued by a few water elementals. Thankfully, the Scourge group weren't trained very well and took no time to run off. Nya is a Frost Mage/Warrior Multiclass. She follows the elementals back to Vash'jr, wanting to learn more about Why she was kidnapped, and why they saved her. Neptulon decides to train her against naga and teaches her more about controlling water straight away, though since it requires her to Go With The Flow, she tends to stick with being a Samarai of sorts. She is sent to Wu, but does not make it there at first. She finds a thread on Garmadon and the Scourge and she takes off to learn Why she was taken. Neptulon allowed her to find her own way, knowing it will take her back to Wu anyway. She is 13 in the start.

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captainqster · 1 year ago

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LFRP - Roster

BOYS BELOW

Ilya Rehw-Jord > visit his blog for his personal page and gposes

Summary:

An exiled Rava from Golmore. Ilya is in his mid-twenties and currently resides in Gridania. After ten years of an abusive relationship with his Wood-Warder master culminated in the murder of Ilya's secret Hyuran lover, he fled Golmore, barely escaping with his life after a violent altercation. He was given sanctuary and traditional medicinal care in a small village where he spent months recovering. Thus indebted, he embarked on a series of favors to repay the time, resources, and space given to him. The last of these favors, which involved travelling to Eorzea to mutilate an upstart businessman who'd swindled a Kugane merchant, at last landed him in the Shroud. His travelling companion encouraged Ilya to register himself as an adventurer and build a new life for himself in Eorzea. He's been there since, isolating himself as he copes with the guilt and shame of his former life.

Notable Traits: avoidant, curious, proud, teasing, tactless, protective, conversationally direct, morally grey

Notable Habits/Skills: archery, knife-fighting, tracking, general survival skills, whittling, wandering, avoiding his responsibilities

Solis pyr Nola > visit his blog for his personal page and gposes

Summary:

The only son of a prominent pureblooded Garlean family and now a defector. His childhood consisted of integrating and learning to manipulate high society while perfecting every extra-curricular deemed strategic by his parents. He lived his privileged young life buying into the empire's propaganda, attended college for political science and economics, then enlisted in the military to be stationed in Doma. The inhumane treatment of Domans witnessed there shook Solis, but he spent several months in cowardly silence until family ties elevated him to the position of optio. Taking advantage of this new position, Solis began to relentlessly file reports of the war crimes his fellows committed. His naivety and whistle-blowing eventually resulted in being dragged from his bed and beaten until he instinctively retaliated by shooting one of his aggressors through the face. Fleeing in the tumultuous aftermath, he landed in Ishgard where he strives to hide his identity and become someone he can be proud of.

Notable Traits: well-mannered, organized, bad at lying, conversational, confident, bossy, hot-headed, eager to learn, easily embarrassed

Notable Habits/Skills: boxing, piano, piloting, marksmanship, finances, social manipulation

Lidell Locke > visit his blog for his personal page and gposes

Summary:

Another exiled Rava from Golmore, his forest name was Ari Djt-Dvre. He lived the typical male lifestyle for more than a century, excelling under his Wood-Warder master's tutelage until he achieved mastery and struck out on his own. He was a devout follower of the Green Word and sired several daughters by the same woman from his birth village. He would often watch them from a distance and leave small gifts for his lover and children. His birth village, being small and near the edge of Golmore territory, was ransacked and torched by a Garlean force. Ari's only obtainable vengeance was to track a straggling Garlean survivor over the course of days, where he strung the man up, skinned him alive and left him to the jungle's mercy. Exiling himself afterwards, he adopted a city name, Lidell, and travelled to Dalmasca where he joined the resistance. His hair-trigger temper and bloodthirst eventually had him forcibly discharged from resistance forces. Now he roams, taking on mercenary work as he tries and fails to find some peace from the unrelenting grief and anger.

Notable Traits: contemplative, genuine, honest, combative, aggressive, weary, lost, temperamental

Notable Habits/Skills: lancer, archery, general survival skills, hunting, herbal medicine, celestial navigation

OOC:

Hello, I'm Dom, I'm located in the southwestern United States. I prefer long-term, multi-para rp, most likely on Discord for organizational purposes. I'm happy to meet up in game sometimes but I don't typically rp there.

I enjoy dark content BUT I do enjoy wholesome things. I'm also very open to OOC chat so feel free to hit me with a million questions and ideas. Message me here, I can provide my discord name for chat/planning!

Please check the individual blogs linked in the above character summaries for rp status.

#ffxiv #ffxiv rp #rp #oc #ilya rehw-jord #solis pyr nola #lidell locke

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butterflydm · 2 years ago

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wot reread: towers of midnight (chapter 8-13)

spoilers for towers of midnight

1. Hmm, we open this Mat chapter with him pondering over the (still-sealed) letter that Verin left him and admiring the beauty of the female tavernkeeper (quickly slapping a “but I’m married” bandaid over his admiration). Strike two.

2. I genuinely am very curious about what notes might have been left behind about Mat (and Mat’s marriage) because... from Sanderson’s other writing, this doesn’t feel like an idea he would have necessarily come up with on his own? He admits that he’s a bit of a prude and his main go-to ‘romance’ route in his own books is “wow this arranged marriage is working out surprisingly well!”. So I’m really curious if post-marriage horndog!Mat was noted somewhere in the stuff Jordan left behind. And I’m keeping track of the moments because I want to see how much of a pattern it ends up being over the course of the ~post-marriage~ books.

I am also going to keep track of whether or not Mat notes any specific qualities about ~absent wifey~ that he likes and, if he does, if those qualities are things that we’ve witnessed her actually showing at any point.

3. Also, just to note: while Mat is trying to remind himself that he’s married, his ~wife~ is engaging in hostile combat actions against his friends, and will be enslaving forty Aes Sedai and killing an additional unknown number of Aes Sedai, Warders, and people who live and work in Tar Valon. But, you know, it’s her empire that’s his enemy, not her.

(that line really is... the sad thing is that line is actually great out of context but, wow, it makes absolutely ZERO sense in terms of Mat’s actual relationship with ~Fortuona~. It’s such a bonkers delusional line for Mat to have said at any point during their relationship as it exists in the books. It really does feel like Jordan thought up that line first and then never got around to actually writing a relationship that could live up to its sentiment but jammed it in anyway because he couldn’t let it go even though it didn’t fit with the relationship as-written. But leaving it in really makes Mat come across as extremely reality-denying in terms of his relationship. And, hey, maybe that was what Jordan was going for, idk)

4. Verin is betting here that Mat’s curiosity is stronger than his desire to stay away from Aes Sedai plans, but she doesn’t know that the narrative has spent the last few books beating his curiosity and critical thinking out of him and turning his irrational dislike of Aes Sedai up to bizarrely high levels so that he’s willing to make out with a slaver. Verin should have just ALSO shared the info in the letter with Egwene when she was with her, but it was Verin’s turn to hold the Idiot Ball of Making The Plot Happen, so she did not (honestly, either Mat reading the letter or Verin telling Egwene the contents of the letter would also have saved us a bunch of time in the story).

5. More of weird fey creature Mat here, who acts like he is bound by his Oaths in a bizarre metaphysical way, instead of him just reluctantly keeping his word because he’s a good man. Like... you haven’t sworn on the Oath Rod, Mat. If whatever Verin is telling you to do actually goes against your morals just... break your word. You were willing to do it when it came to the Seanchan Oaths, because an oath under duress is not binding, and you seemed to be aware of that back during WH. The whole “you must follow your oaths to the letter even if they lead you into immoral acts” belief is NOT honorable. But this ties back into the way that Jordan had Mat acting with Tuon in CoT & KoD -- the logic of going “because she’s ~my wife~ (by Seanchan law), I am ~legally/morally obligated~ to support and protect her, no matter what evil deeds she may choose to commit and no matter how much she might be hurting other people”.

So now keeping his promises is about Mat operating by Fey Rules of Literally Obeying His Word, rather than keeping his promises because he’s a good person despite his protests. Because a good man wouldn’t support and protect a slaver, so Jordan had to throw away the part of Mat that was a good man in order for Mat x Tuon to ‘work’. But then (this ties back to horndog!Mat), it also leads to it feeling like Mat doesn’t cheat on Tuon right now only because it might break his Mystical Fey Creature Oaths rather than him actually feeling any personal inclination towards being a faithful husband.

6. At the start of this chapter, Mat thought to himself that he wouldn’t give Melli his ~best smile~ on account of him being a married man and... well, guess what he does only two pages later? Yep, gives her his best smile that he personally believes melts women’s hearts. Two pages! Also, he thinks that he’s Not Allowed to stare at her lips (because he’s married) even as he’s calculating the precise fullness of said lips that he’s Definitely Not staring at, lol.

7. Mat notices a pretty serving girl and tips her a coin for her smile. For, um. For Thom’s sake. lol. Strike three. Technically, Mat is already out, but I will continue to count strikes.

8. lol, the bouncer at the tavern, Berg, is as dubious about Mat’s future faithfulness to ~his slaver wife~ as I am. Berg gives Mat a suspicious look despite that fact that Mat. This is hilarious. Mat SAT HIM DOWN and talked to him about how he wouldn’t be wooing away the woman that Berg is in a relationship with because Mat is MARRIED NOW. lol, no wonder the man is so suspicious of him! That just sends so many alarm bells ringing. Portrait of a Man In Denial over how unhappy he is about being married.

9. Strike four, Mat notices the golden hair, nice eyes, and full bosom of one of the women he’s gambling with at the next tavern, and tries to convince himself that he doesn’t actually find full breasts incredibly attractive anymore (he noticed Melli’s “ample bosom” only a handful of pages ago so... um, yeah, that’s a boldfaced lie to himself. Sanderson might mention breasts less often than Jordan does but when he does mention them, it’s been in Mat PoV so far). We’re several pages into Mat’s PoV at this point and we’ve mostly focused on him doing his best to pretend he feels no regret over being married and Not Being Allowed to notice all the women that he’s noticing for, um, Talmanes and Thom. He also tries to give his fellow gambler one of his heart-fluttering smiles (that he said at the start of the chapter he wouldn’t give out anymore on account of being ~a married man~) and tries to pretend that he isn’t disappointed when she doesn’t react.

10. Anyway, the plot important thing that happens here is that Mat finds out that the gholam is in Caemlyn (people found with their throats ripped out). That finally draws him out of his depressed-over-being-married funk.

11. We learn that he’s sent a letter to Elayne and gotten no reply and he’s actually QUITE worked up over it, and over the fact that Elayne has never so much as kissed him on the cheek to thank him for saving her life. And it’s an interesting change that his internal objection here doesn’t end up being “but of course I wouldn’t want Elayne to kiss me because I’m a married man” but is instead “I don’t want royalty to kiss me” which sends him down a spiral of thinking about how he’s trapped into the Seanchan nobility now. Hmm. Interesting. Anyway, that’s strike five.

12. Mat does bring up three positive qualities of Tuon here (that aren’t related to whether or not he’s capable of being attracted to her: as we’ve just been witnessing, Mat is capable of being attracted to the majority of female characters in the books, so physical attraction is fairly irrelevant here):

a. good at stones: verified true

b. keen of wit: no textual evidence that this is true

c. ‘good for talking to’: negative textual evidence that this is true; most of Mat’s conversations with her in CoT & KoD seemed to end up in frustration or unpleasantness (he even mentions here that she’s frustrating ‘most of the time’), with him thinking on at least one occasion late in KoD about how he hates that she treats him like he��s her property

So... we’re at 33% Verified True on Mat’s accuracy scale of Tuon’s Good Qualities, 33% Just Lying To Himself, and 33% is a question mark.

(though I would argue Tuon’s lack of insight or critical thinking in her own PoV chapters argues against her being ~keen of wit~, unless Mat just means she’s good at puns or something, which is also not in evidence. I suspect this is more of an Informed Attribute, where the author(s) hope that just repeating over and over that Tuon has a keen wit will make people believe she does even if she never does anything to prove it).

13. Mat feels guilt over leaving Tylin tied up for the gholam to kill back in Ebou Dar. Tylin’s relationship to Mat really does feel like it’s married so tightly to Tuon’s relationship with Mat, a transfer of ~ownership~ in a horrible gross way. Tylin’s abuse of Mat is what kept him in the situation he was in when he met Tuon, and Tylin’s abuse of Mat really does feel like it foreshadows the way that Tuon treats Mat as well, which is definitely a Bad Omen for his future.

14. Awww, for all that Mat was negatively thinking about royalty earlier, he thinks here about how the right Queen is now on the throne of Andor (with the emphasis Mat’s!).

15. Strike six. Mat sees a stately older woman in the inn where Thom is performing and thinks about how he’ll keep her in mind for later. Hastily adding ~for his men~ onto his thoughts. He tells Thom about the gholam and they leave for Mat’s camp.

16. Mat thinks with frustration about how Bayle Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin no longer have any affection for him (it’s because you’re married to a slaver and they have rejected the empire; hope this helps). We also get a reminder about the holes in his memory (foggy patches from when he picked up the dagger in Shadar Logoth until when he was healed of it in TDR).

17. Mat comes across as pretty desperate for validation & affection here (specifically from people that he already knows and respects). That’s really standing out to me -- he thought about it a lot in the last book too, about how much he wanted Joline, Teslyn, & Edesina to be grateful to him for saving their lives. He thinks the same here about Elayne, and about Doman and Leilwin née Egeanin. And he doesn’t want to think about how his own actions (being abrasive towards Elayne & co; picking the slavers over the slaves) might have made people turn away from him or think less of him. Save someone once, and it shouldn’t matter how you behave in the future, right? (wrong) It’s also interesting how the clear loyalty of his soldiers doesn’t scratch that itch for him at all. Maybe because he attributes that to the memories in his head and his luck rather than himself as a person?

18. When Mat claims to Thom that he’s a good judge of character, he gets a very doubtful raised eyebrow back. Thom’s relationship with Mat in the last few books has been... honestly, somewhat weird. I almost wonder... we haven’t gotten any Thom PoV for quite a long time, I don’t think, so I wonder if Thom is just masking his actual feelings about Mat because he knows that he needs Mat in order to rescue Moiraine. Because, for the most part, Thom has just avoided Having Opinions about the mess that is Mat’s life and choices, despite the fact that Thom is (supposedly) fond enough of an Aes Sedai that he’s desperate to rescue her from captivity, and also deeply fond of Elayne and friends with Juilin. Is Thom playing Mat the way that Mat was playing the Tairen nobles at the start of TSR? Letting himself appear to be a non-critical buddy because there’s something that he wants out of Mat? I will have to keep an eye out to see if Thom shows any affection towards/inclination to hang out with Mat AFTER Moiraine gets rescued and he doesn’t need Mat anymore. Thom is, after all, one of the best players of Daes Dae’mar in the series, we are told.

19. Mat talks to Teslyn here, internally noting that she has lost most of the “nervous skittishness” that she’d picked up when she was enslaved as damane. He likes Teslyn, he thinks, but he does not trust her. Despite Teslyn never doing a single thing to breach his trust, unlike SOME people that I could name. Ah! There are rumors in Caemlyn about the Seanchan assult on the White Tower but (just like he dismissed Tuon’s threats back in CoT/KoD), Mat has dismissed those rumors as just “stories of raken drifting up from the south” (I wonder if I should be keeping track of all of the “Mat Forces Himself Into Willful Denial Over Tuon/the Seanchan’s Evil Choices” moments). Teslyn and the others are planning to leave now to go join the reunited White Tower (which is what most of the rumors talk about).

20. Hmm, Teslyn thanks Mat here for helping her escape the Seanchan but then she talks with him about the importance of maintaining “illusions with yourself”. I actually did wonder, when I was doing my reread of CoT & KoD, if Teslyn’s patience with Mat, even when he was being a complete asshole, was due to her seeing how much he was lying to himself to try to make himself accept his fate. I think I may have been right on that. And she gives him an escape route, if he looks for it in the future -- that if he ever decides to seek out the White Tower, he has a friend there willing to help him. Considering that she knows that he’s married to a slaver (one who actively tried to re-enslave her personally), that is a HUGE offer. A way out of his trap with the Seanchan -- protection at the White Tower. And Mat, who has been desperate for validation since the start of TGS is now “feeling as unsettled as if someone had kicked his legs out from under him”. Teslyn has also, in this one conversation, shown him more kindness than Tuon has shown in their entire relationship. So... Mat has at least one place to run to now, if he runs away from ~Fortuona~ post-canon. Teslyn has seen the worst of him and extends him this offer anyway, so he knows that she won’t turn him away if he comes to her for help. This conversation is SO good. Mat is thrown so off-balance by Teslyn’s kindness and genuine care for him.

21. *sigh* I really wish that Mat were caring more about Nalesean and the Redarms being murdered by the gholam than about Tylin’s murder. I do understand why -- because Mat feels responsible for her death in a way that he doesn’t for Nalesean’s -- but... ugh, kinda sucks that his guilt over Tylin’s death is now the biggest part of how he feels about Tylin, given how much misery and pain she caused Mat when she was alive. Not necessarily... incorrect, in terms of how people’s brains can work in this sort of situation, but it does suck. Anyway, Mat is now the prime object of the gholam’s attention, having been sent to personally murder him (likely by Moridin, I would assume?). Teslyn saves his life during this fight btw, using the Power to pull him back before the gholam can kill him (she can do this because he took his medallion off to fight it). Five people were successfully killed by the gholam in this attack before it runs away (it has been ordered to try to avoid too much attention).

23. Oddly, Tuon is one of the people that the gholam threatens to kill. Honestly, I feel like it would have been smarter for the Shadow to court the Seanchan/Tuon instead of going against them, since ~Fortuona~ is already so hostile to Aes Sedai. But the Shadow cannot always make smart moves, I guess. The gholam doesn’t threaten to kill Olver but does threaten Tuon, Thom, and Noal. Given that it apparently got its information from a Redarm that it killed a few days ago or from observing Mat’s camp, you’d think that Olver would be on the list either way (and it really makes no sense that Tuon would be on the list? She hasn’t been traveling with Mat for at least a month at this point).

I suspect that the general reader is supposed to care that Tuon is under risk of assassination? But it’s baffling to me as to WHY I should care when she literally JUST had her people assault the White Tower, kidnapping and enslaving forty women and most likely also killing more people than that in total. The narrative has never given me a good reason why I should care about whether or not Tuon gets assassinated besides “vague marriage prophecy bs”. The narrative has never shown that Tuon is actually a better candidate for empress for the Westlands Seanchan than some other random High Blood would be, as long as they aren’t a Darkfriend like Suroth; it just wants us to assume that she is. Her behavior has been just as horrible as any other High Blood’s. Why should I believe she’s a better choice as empress than the next High Blood down in rank? We have never been given a reason.

Now, if Tuon had had even a single ounce of positive character development during the circus storyline, then this would be an entirely different ballgame! But she not only didn’t, she has actively doubled-down on her fear and hatred of ‘marath’damane’.

So, yeah... why on earth should I be invested in Mat wanting to save her life? The narrative never gives me a reason to believe she’s capable of becoming a worthy leader of people. She’s petty, arrogant, and cruel. Basically, a younger version of Elaida with even more power and less self-awareness than Elaida ever had.

24. Note that I do not consider Mat acknowledging Joline as pretty to be a strike against his marriage because it’s not him noticing with any kind of intent that he then tries to pretend doesn’t exist -- he genuinely does not find her an appealing temptation at this point, due to their personal history (though said negative history is pretty much entirely Mat’s fault #JolineDeservedBetter).

25. Ah, Perrin and the others have arrived by the statue that Rand told Nynaeve about back in TGS, so I’m guessing that Tam will be leaving soon to go get nearly killed by his son. Anyway, Perrin and Galad meet here face to face and agree to have their armies fight each other. So... that’s going... well?

26. ELAYNE! <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3

27. Trying to figure out a way to get the Andoran nobles to actually unite before the Last Battle rather than squabbling for power, Elayne decides that it’s time to claim the Sun Throne. Hmm, I do feel like Sanderson’s more casual style of narration is more pronounced here with Elayne than it’s been with the other characters. All off a sudden, it just feels like the narration is in a hurry, almost more like an outline than prose.

28. Ah, we learn that the reason that Elayne never responded to Mat’s first letter is that she never received it. Her secretary, Master Norry, dismissed Mat as just another leader of a mercenary band, which is why he was granted a space outside the city but no audience with Elayne. He does give her Mat’s second letter, telling her that the captain of this mercenary band is being particularly persistent. Elayne is keeping all these mercenary bands around because they will likely be needed for the Last Battle because, unlike Perrin, SHE isn’t a FOOL.

29. Reading the letter (which does have a lot of misspellings, etc in it, but Mat also mentions that he was planning on rewriting it to be pretty if Thom would have stopped laughing at him) gives Elayne ALL the emotions as she realizes that Mat and Thom (and maybe Olver) are alive and have escaped from Ebou Dar. Mat mentions here that he thinks Elayne’s ass is pretty but also that he barely looked because he knows that she would have kicked his ass and also he’s married w/e, which I feel like should count as strike seven even though it’s Elayne again, because Mat has an emotional attachment to Elayne that he doesn’t have to the more random women that he’s Noticing all over the place, but I’ll only count it as an additional tenth of the point and say he’s at strike six-point-one. Birgitte, upon reading the letter, mentions that Mat also has a nice ass, so I guess she was Looking in Ebou Dar.

Confirmed nice butts:

Elayne & Mat (here in ToM)

Aviendha & Rand (in TFoH)

Probably Min too, I guess

Mat being so worked up over Elayne not responding to his first letter actually makes me wonder if he deliberately put in things into this second letter to try to make her react, if only to fuss at him or tell him off -- telling her she has a nice ass, telling her that he’s married. Because he assumes that she did read his first letter and actively chose not to meet with him.

30. Elayne tells Norry to arrange a meeting with Mat immediately and to tell him to make sure to bring Thom as well. She also begins to think about how Mat and the Band could potentially be useful for bringing Cairhien to her. We get some more insight into her reasoning here as well -- after Rand dies, Andor is one of the biggest potential targets for the Seanchan empire to the south, and they cannot afford for it to merely be part of ~the Dragon’s Empire~ that will potentially fall into chaos after his death. She needs to do strong nation-building NOW, before the Last Battle, to try to make sure it will survive after the Last Battle. “The woman in her cringed to think of planning for Rand’s death, but the Queen could not be so squeamish.” She notes that, as far away from Rand as she currently is, all she ever feels from him these days is a cold anger. Don’t worry, Elayne. Min was literally right there with him and that’s all she ever seemed to be able to sense too.

But this is actually very similar to how Rand wanted to make sure that Arad Doman chose its own king to avoid falling into chaos after his death in the Last Battle, so Elayne and Rand manage to be on the same wavelength even if they are still cruelly separated by the narrative. This is one of the things that @markantonys and I strongly agree on: that a big part of the reason Elayne and Rand are separated for so long is because Elayne is the one person who could have helped Rand with his rulership struggles as an trained leader who understands the issues and understands that you NEED to be ruthless sometimes (but also understands when not to be ruthless).

31. With Elayne, we were still pre-epiphany but when we jump to Min’s PoV, it is decidedly post, as she can feel warmth in the bond and not just Rand’s cold anger.

32. “Alanna didn’t often reveal her intimate connection to the Dragon Reborn.” lol, except for all the Wise Ones, in order to wiggle out of punishments. And all the Aes Sedai, to try to establish precedence. Except for that. Anyway, she’s disappeared from her rooms in the Stone of Tear.

33. When Cadsuane and Min point out that Cadsuane cares that Alanna is missing because she’s a ~tool~ to use on Rand, Nynaeve says that Alanna is “no more helpful” to Cadsuane than Min. So... she tells Cadsuane everything and obeys her frequently? Why is the narrative trying to pretend that Min isn’t constantly helping out Cadsuane? It literally just happened again at the end of TGS! She’s been obediently telling all her viewings to Cadsuane for her to dissect! Nynaeve was IN THE ROOM when this was happening! Or is this meant to reflect Nynaeve’s own distorted view of Min?

34. oh, lol, when Min reacts to Rand arriving in the bond, her Maiden ‘guards’ promptly abandon her and race off to find Rand. So, I guess the Min-Maiden relationship is still... not great, lol.

35. Rand shows up and I really dislike that all of this new!Rand is filtered through outside PoVs. It makes it hard for me to emotionally relate with zen!Rand because I can’t see his interior world. This is also a place where the timeline fuzziness kinda hits the worst, because we’re going right from cold!Rand in Elayne’s bond to warm!Rand in Min’s bond. Moving Rand’s epiphany further back in this set of books would help with that. Min actually panics for a moment, upon seeing Rand, because his eyes look older and he doesn’t seem familiar. “Had the Rand she loved been stolen away, replaced by some ancient force of a man she could never know or understand?” Hmm.

And then he smiles and she does recognize him -- responding to her panic in the bond, maybe?

36. I will, uh, note that Rand did not go directly to Min when he arrived in Tear. Just gonna quietly note that down. He waited for her to find him.

37. He talks to Rhuarc (and the assembled Aiel, including the Maidens) and tells them that he knows that he has toh to them and that he is prepared to meet it. And Rand finally seems to have his relationship with the Maidens back (with Min still baffled at the interactions between Rand and the Aiel).

38. It actually seems clear here (even filtered through Min) that Rand is still somewhat of a boiling pot, though the wound has been lanced. But now he really FEELS the pain over Lan heading towards Tarwin’s Gap, when before he was able to numb most of his emotions through the general ice-cold/molten-hot anger that he was constantly repressing with the flame & void. Now he’s feeling again and that can be... difficult. But he’s still rush-rush-rush and talking about potentially dying soon. So it’s clear that there’s complicated stuff going on in his head and we are TRAPPED in Min’s PoV and only get hints of it second-hand through the bond! But he does promise Nynaeve that he will send Lan help.

39. Rand gives Min the mission to find out why Callandor is key to the prophecies. lol, sure, whatever. I guess we have to give Min ~something important~ to do because she doesn’t actually have a plot purpose and hasn’t had one in quite a long while. Hey, if it means she’s actually doing something and not just surgically-attaching herself to Rand at all times, then I guess it’s worth it.

40. Anyway, Rand tells Cadsuane that she succeeded by failing, lol.

41. Min bashing on the nobles for not having a purpose when she only has a job because her boyfriend gave her one, lol.

42. Anyway, Rand lines up the nobles and susses out that Weiramon and Anaiyella are Darkfriends. If I recall correctly, I’d guessed on Weiramon back during my initial read of TPoD (way back when it was first published) so it was very vindicating for me when he was finally called out as a DF lol. I remember feeling vindicated, anyway, lol. Anaiyella was one I could have gone either way on, but it makes sense for Weiramon to have an accomplice. I... don’t mind Rand’s Darkfriend-vision because, yeah, let’s move the plot along, lol. I just, again, wish that it had been pushed towards the end of this book instead. But the talent itself kinda goes along with the other stuff Rand has been saying about how he’s a bright beacon for the Shadow now and cannot avoid TDO’s eyes.

Instead of killing Weiramon and Anaiyella, he sends them off to bring a message to the Shadow that they will no longer be able to hide among his allies.

43. There’s a great moment with Rand and his dad, though I kinda roll my eyes at Min needing a ~very special~ formal introduction to Tam (who she already knows at this point because he’s been hanging around Tear for three days).

Ah, well. If I do my best to ignore Min, lol, I really liked that scene.

I really do wish that we’d had even a tiny bit of Rand PoV, though. It’s very frustrating only seeing him through other people’s eyes.

I feel like this has gotten long enough (I spent... a lot of time talking about Mat, as I’d suspected that I might, lol) so I will end this post here.

#wot reread #towers of midnight #wot #wheel of time #wot book spoilers #wot spoilers #mat cauthon #little bit of elayne and rand and perrin

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lidell-locke · 8 months ago

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LFRP - Lidell Locke [PAUSED 6/19/24]

I feel I'm at capacity with RP at this time, so I'm currently paused on taking new rp partners. However if you want to do some casual OOC screaming/OC talk don't hesitate to reach out!

General:

Name: Lidell Locke, formerly Ari Djt-Dvre

Age: ~120

Race: Rava Viera

Hair: Sandy blond

Eyes: Moss-green

Height: 186cm // 6'1"

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Bisexual

Physique: Muscled, sturdy

Marital Status: Shipped with @ravandfriendsxiv's Ravnur

Particulars

Skills: Lancer, archery, chain whip, guerilla warfare, hunting, herbal medicine, celestial navigation, survival skills

Hobbies: Origami, herbalism

Employment: Mercenary for hire

Religion: The Green Word

Permanent Debuffs: Partial deafness on his right from exposure to gunfire and shell explosions

Traits

Extroverted / In Between / Introverted

Disorganized / In Between / Organized

Close Minded / In Between / Open Minded

Calm / In Between / Anxious

Disagreeable / In Between / Agreeable

Cautious / In Between / Reckless

Patient / In Between / Impatient

Outspoken / In Between / Reserved

Leader / In Between / Follower

Empathetic / In Between / Apathetic

Optimistic / In Between / Pessimistic

Traditional / In Between / Modern

Hard-working / In Between / Lazy

Cultured / In Between / Uncultured

Loyal / In Between / Disloyal

Faithful / In Between / Unfaithful

Summary:

An exiled Rava from Golmore, his forest name was Ari Djt-Dvre. He lived the typical male lifestyle for more than a century, excelling under his Wood-Warder master's tutelage until he achieved mastery and struck out on his own. He was a devout follower of the Green Word and sired several daughters by the same woman from his birth village. He would often watch them from a distance and leave small gifts for his lover and children. His birth village, being small and near the edge of Golmore territory, was ransacked and torched by a Garlean force. Ari's only obtainable vengeance was to track a straggling Garlean survivor over the course of days, where he strung the man up, skinned him alive and left him to the jungle's mercy. Exiling himself afterwards, he adopted a city name, Lidell, and travelled to Dalmasca where he joined the resistance. His hair-trigger temper and bloodthirst eventually had him forcibly discharged from resistance forces. Now he roams, taking on mercenary work as he tries and fails to find some peace from the unrelenting grief and anger.

Hooks:

Dalmasca: If you have a history with Dalmasca or were even in the resistance, you might just know him - or rumors of him. Lidell spent some time backing the resistance before being forcibly discharged for his unquenchable bloodthirst and inhumane, even torturous treatment of the Garlean opposition.

Garlean Game: After the loss of his lover and children, Lidell has a hair-trigger response to any Garlean he comes across. He's a persistent hunter and won't differentiate civilian from soldier. If you're looking for an enemy feel free to get in his path, or become an unlikely friend who can sway his outlook and consuming anger.

Mercenary Work: Lidell can be found just about anywhere and hired for just about anything. Need a bodyguard or an extra hand in some shady work of your own? Or someone to point you in the right direction and help you get where you need to go? He's your man, but don't expect unwavering loyalty. He'll turn and bare his teeth the second he finds your motives personally unsatisfying.

A Soft Spot: Lidell ultimately has a soft heart for those who might be considered defenseless, or at least anyone weaker than those who would target them. Far from being passive, he won't hesitate to step in and defend someone he feels deserves it.

Birds of a Feather: If you're Vieran, Lidell would be plenty pleased to meet another of his race. While his exile was self-inflicted, he longs for his home and culture.

OOC:

Hello, I'm Dom, I'm located in the southwestern United States. I prefer long-term, multi-para rp, mostly on Discord for organizational purposes. I'm happy to meet up in game sometimes but I don't typically rp there.

#ffxiv #ffxiv rp #lfrp #lidell

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sjofn-lofnsdottr · 1 year ago

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53: Has your OC had to unlearn any cultural or societal messages about love and relationships as they have got older? Was this difficult for them?

(Your choice of which OC!)

I already have some rambling about Dusk unlearning a societal message here, and I think the only other character of mine that this applies to is Old Man Bjalla.

Obviously, viera society handles love and relationships a lot differently from most of Eorzea. The closest to them are Seekers, I think, but even that is a pretty wide gap. The whole 'the men live in the wilderness and only come back when it's babymaking/grabbing spare jacks time' thing is just ... very unique, let's say. It's implied that viera are just fine with the idea of not seeing loved ones for years, and it certainly seems like relationships are never really formalized or labeled, at least not between men and women.

So! Initially Bjalla felt like outsiders were all clingy as fuck.

Basically as a wood-warder, he had to learn to be okay with distance, and I am positive people would've thought he was weird for getting so restless when he didn't have an apprentice to teach. He got lonely without anyone, and that would be even worse if the reason he didn't have an apprentice was because they'd managed to get themselves killed. He left the woods eventually because the losses became too much for him to bear ... and now everyone wanted to be in his face, always, all the time, and he felt like he had no room to breathe!

This isn't just romantically speaking, of course! ANY sort of relationship was requiring way more face to face interaction than he was used to having with non-apprentices, and he screwed up a lot those first years he was stumbling along, figuring it out.

People still think he's a bit aloof, and he still doesn't need nearly as frequent contact with those he cares about as Eorzeans might expect him to have. But he's used to being around people, all the time, now. And he actually likes it. Usually. He does occasionally go on solo trips to somewhere remote to just be feral for a little bit.

Thanks for the ask!

#ask and i will answer #bjalla

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akhenvs3000f24 · 5 months ago

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Unit 01 Blog Post

My personal relationship with nature began with many childhood experiences at my family's cottage on Newboro Lake. When I was young my sister and I would spend our summers there almost entirely cut off from technology. We'd often go fishing and wading in the water, capturing little creatures like salamanders and crawfish. Over the many summer months I've spent there, it has become a place of calmness and reflection where I’m immersed in nature. I have countless fond memories of learning about wildlife and nature from my Dad there, who is very knowledgeable about local plants and animals in the area. These experiences are what made me love spending time outside, and are why I seek out nature as an escape from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Overall, nature is where I find peace where I otherwise can't in an urban setting.

My relationship with nature has evolved over the years, and now as an adult, having chosen to study Biological Science with a minor in Zoology, my understanding and knowledge about nature has grown a lot. Taking courses about ecology, evolution, wildlife, and the natural world in general has expanded my appreciation and understanding of the world around me. I truly believe that my education at the University of Guelph has made me appreciate some of my favourite spots in nature even more than I could before. I was lucky to be able to travel to Vancouver Island this summer with my two housemates, and it was an unforgettable trip with lots of hiking and exploring tide pools. We found lots of little marine creatures tucked amongst the rocks along the shore, and having taken some invertebrate zoology courses made it much more exciting to encounter animals out in the wild that I had studied in class! We also visited Cathedral Grove (an old growth forest) and we were all amazed at the size of the trees, some of which were up to 800 years old!

When thinking about being given a "sense of place" as described in our textbook, I was reminded of a guided tour I did once while travelling in London. My family and I were visiting the Tower of London, and we were taken on a tour by a special guide called a Yeoman Warder. He walked us through this historical site and we heard really interesting stories about the people who once lived there. We learned much more than we ever would’ve by looking around on our own. After that tour, because of what I had learned, I felt a more meaningful and special connection to that place than I would have without that interpreter.

In the context of nature, someone who has given me a sense of place would be my father. My cottage on Newboro Lake is a very special place where I feel most connected with nature, and that can be accredited to my father. At every opportunity he taught my sister and I about the animals, plants and natural life around us. We learned from him to treat wildlife with respect and care, and to appreciate what nature can offer. Much of the natural history and knowledge that was shared with me definitely gave me a sense of place, a sense of wonder, and a deeper personal connection with nature.

Looking at the many experiences that have enriched my relationship with nature, it is often as a result of knowledge and information being shared. Whether it be a course I am taking at the University of Guelph, or my father telling me what species of fish or bird we caught a glimpse at — all of those shared nuggets of information have contributed to my appreciation and close relationship with nature.

I have included some pictures to accompany my post — one is of a cool starfish I found in some tide pools while travelling in Vancouver this summer. I also included a picture of my housemates and I at Cathedral grove showing the size of the huge trees! Lastly I also included some photos at my cottage, one of which is of my father and I fishing when I was young.

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apocalypticavolition · 2 years ago

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Let's (re)Read The Eye of the World! Chapter 8: A Place of Safety

Hello and welcome to another chapter of an incredibly long reread of The Wheel of Time, complete with spoilers. For example, the last book's title is "A Memory of Light". Spoilers! Run away! Or just block the tags. You know, whatever makes you happy. Or miserable, if that's what you're into. I won't judge until your back is turned.

This chapter icon is of Moiraine's staff, and it's used in chapters that are about her. As this is the chapter where she heals Tam, it's a lot clearer what it means than the last chapter icon was!

While he was still coming through the door Rand’s eyes went to his father—his father no matter what anyone said.

It's really very nice that Rand refuses to see Tam as anything other than his father, even when he does stop living in denial. This was a bit before the trend of stories that really went out of their way to normalize the concept; in fantasy in particular there was a lot more, "Oh thank fuck these assholes aren't my real family, my real family are magical royalty and I never have to look back".

“I do not like that man. There is something about him I don’t trust. I did not see a hair of him last night.”\ “He was there,” Bran said, watching Moiraine uncertainly. “He must have been. His cloak did not get singed in front of the fireplace.”

The fact that Lan is mistaken about Thom's whereabouts is high praise to the gleeman, though Lan is kinda right to be suspicious between Thom's immediately ducking out of the inn when they show up and also his whole backstory.

Her eyes traveled slowly from Tam’s feet to his head, but Rand had the prickly feeling that she was looking beyond him in some fashion.

Rand also has a prickly feeling because one of the gender asymmetries in channeling is that men can tell when women have embraced the source, even if they can't see what they're up to with it.

“That is a fine weapon you wear. Is there by chance a heron on the blade, as well?”

Lan is of course very miffed that someone's already given his soon to be protege a sword, because that was going to be his thing.

“Strange thing for a sheepherder to buy.” Rand spared a sidelong look for Lan. For a stranger to wonder about the sword was prying. For a Warder to do it. . . .

It's still prying, Rand. But at the same time, Lan is doing something so few people in this series do and actually giving Rand information. It's terse, but straightforward, though sadly it's not too useful because Tam's backstory is pretty irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. I almost wonder if Tam was supposed to be a bigger part of the series going forward, or if all the mysteries of his past were just Jordan being loathe to throw away his ideas for an older, singular Dragon character.

A question of his own popped into his head then, one he did not want to ask, one he needed an answer to.

And Rand communicates, a little more obliquely but still, in turn! He freely provides information about the Fade to Lan because of his desperate desire to be re-adopted, or just because Lan has shown himself to be trustworthy. Maybe both. Shame Moiraine takes forever to realize how easy Rand is to handle by just being straightforward.

Had I known when I left Tar Valon that I would find Trollocs and Myrddraal here, I would have brought half a dozen of them, a dozen, if I had to drag them by the scruffs of their necks.

While obviously Rand and to a lesser but noticable extent the Wondergirls blow the expected power scale out of the water, I am going to try and pay attention to how the regulars scale with basic Shadowspawn, in no small part because both the conclusions of the book and the first season are irksome in just how pathetic they make the enemy forces seem comppared to our heroes.

(Also please someone write a fic where Moiraine finds this out early and does indeed drag a dozen Aes Sedai after her. Any dozen. Hilarity will ensue.)

“Carrion eaters.” Lan’s mouth twisted in distaste. “The Dark One’s minions often find spies among creatures that feed on death. Ravens and crows, mainly. Rats, in the cities, sometimes.”

So, as a corvid lover, what frustrates me about this particular association is that carrion eaters and rot and all the other "bad" stuff is exactly the sort of behavior that a fully cyclical system needs to be able to keep popping up the parts we humans actually enjoy. It doesn't seem fair that they'd end up being closer to evil when they're just as important a part of the system.

On the other hand, I can already hear people arguing that the Shadow serves the same moral purpose so I am just gonna hafta deal with it, huh?

Trolloc weapons are made at forges in the valley called Thakan’dar, on the very slopes of Shayol Ghul itself. Some of them take a taint from that place, a stain of evil in the metal.

Since people propose that the Two Rivers is radioactive, why not Thakan'dar? It's not elemental evil, it's polonium poisoning!

So few remain, the Amyrlin Seat almost did not allow me to take this one. It is well for Emond’s Field, and for your father, that she did give her permission.

I'm really more surprised that Siuan had the slightest difficulty in saying no, under the circumstances. Like, who could possibly have better reason for taking an angreal than the woman hunting the DR? Seal that shit to the flame and move on, Siuan.

Also, AoL folk really loved making angreal and sa'angreal in the shape of people, huh? Is that just what survived, is there a design reason, or was that just the art they were into at the time?

Fades are Trolloc spawn, throwbacks almost to the human stock the Dreadlords used to make the Trollocs.

Is it odd to anyone else that this particular detail survived? I suppose it too is a little wrong (Aginor made the Trollocs, not a collective of Dreadlords), which means this chapter has two new counterexamples of magic things being wrong (the other being Fade height), so I guess my earlier claim was nonsense, but anyway.

Point is, knowing where Trollocs come from is one of the least important parts of actually dealing with them or Fades, so it doesn't seem like information that would survive the Breaking, let alone the Trolloc Wars.

Halfmen have the Dark One’s own luck.

If you're curious as to why and how the Dark One is lucky, it's because as the personification of entropy his desired outcome is the most likely one on the table.

Lan’s head jerked up; his eyes were blue stones. “You talked to a Trolloc?”

Lan is surprised because Trollocs can't speak, but Rand can understand their tongue because he has a bit of Morid- wait no, wrong franchise and wronger sequence of events.

Still though, Lan's reaction here is how I feel about the whole exchange in hindsight. Again, Trollocs are not conversationalists.

Lan’s face softened slightly, if rock could be said to soften.

Lan is very, very excited that he and Moiraine are going to be kidnapping Rand soon, now that their target is a Trolloc killer.

There are far fewer of us now. Some talents are all but gone, and many that remain seem weaker.

The White Tower is so decayed as an institution that Moiraine doesn't even know how much she's underselling the crisis, and she's actually pretty knowledgeable. Shit's not just all but gone, quite a few things are vanished entirely.

“Anything. As long as it does not hurt the village, or my friends.”

Too late for that, Rand. You said anything before and didn't have any conditionals. Now take this knife and go ritually sacrifice Perrin before he gets married.

“Did you know,” Lan said suddenly, “that some homes were not attacked?”

Again, Moiraine just tries to tell Rand what to do while it's Lan who actually gives him reasons to behave. Right now it's of course because everyone's exhausted and no one's communicating efffectively as a result but later this disconnect will become more and more of a problem.

“My age?” Rand’s voice shook, and he did not care. “Light! Mat. What about Perrin?” “Alive and well,” Moiraine assured him, “if a trifle sooty.”

Sadly, his sisters are now in a bizarre superposition wherein they're both alive and yet have never been born at all, and they probably won't make it to another Bel Tine.

“I told you I asked questions. And I also said young men of a certain age. You and your two friends are within weeks of one another. It was you three the Myrddraal sought, and none others.”

Since those other boys - and so far as we know, no one else - did see the Fade, I would guess that Fain gave a general guesstimate into ages but didn't care to be that accurate because he's a dick (or wasn't told). The Fades, being smarter or more informed, were able to suss out who was who.

I could send to Tar Valon for some of my sisters; they might have time to make the journey before we need them. The Myrddraal knows I am here, too, and it probably will not attack—not openly, at least—lacking reinforcements, more Myrddraal and more Trollocs.

Sadly, Moiraine is quite mistaken. Since they're traveling through the Ways, the Shadow forces will be able to overwhelm her far faster than word would even get to Tar Valon. Hell, they'd be doomed before word got to Whitebridge. If they stay, things go to shit very quickly.

A journey all the way to Tar Valon was almost beyond thinking. A journey to a place where he would be surrounded by Aes Sedai.

Sadly, for Rand this would not be a place of safety (Moiraine makes a title drop!). Even if the Red Ajah didn't just lobotomize him, even if the Black Ajah didn't kidnap him and toss him into the Ways overnight, he'd still be part of sixteen different political schemes in about as many minutes. Every time Moiraine tries to make a Big Plan about Rand, it's the sort of thing that would be disastrous if it ever actually happened.

“How long will my father sleep?” he asked at last. “I . . . I have to tell him. He shouldn’t just wake and find me gone.” He thought he heard Lan give a sigh of relief.

Lan's just like, "Oh good, we got him."

She did not press hard, but it was an iron grip that held him as surely as a forked stick held a snake.

Probably not any kind of Compulsion, probably just mundane manipulation.

“You just leave me to worry about that. She and I had a long talk. And keep your voice down. If you wake Tam, you’ll have to answer to me and Moiraine Sedai.”

This is extremely Southern, but not in a "I'm going to call out Jordan for not understanding his experiences aren't universal" way. Just in a good-spirited and hilarious way.

Abell Cauthon’s house flared up—odd that; it’s nearly in the middle of the village.

al'Vere is so close to noticing that something's up that I wonder if he put two and two together once Moiraine ran off with all the boys whose homes were attacked. Or did Egwene's leaving too muddle the issue for him? Probably that; probably another reason the Pattern needed her to leave, to confuse any other villagers who would be smart enough to notice the pattern and potentially muddle things up.

Tam was his father, and nobody could tell him what to say or not say to his father. He just had to stay awake until Tam woke up. He just had to. . . .

Another ironic ending, though this one immediately clear to even the first-time reader. Jordan really liked them, I guess. But on the plus side, Rand is finally ready to pack, so we are going to be taking leave of Emond's Field here soon; just as soon as our boy wakes up. Til then, sleep tight. Don't let the Trollocs bite!

#let's read #wheel of time #wot #robert jordan #wheel of time spoilers #wot spoilers #the eye of the world #rand al'thor #moiraine damodred #lan al'mandragoran #thom merrilin

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sky-fire-forever · 6 months ago

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In the interest of variety, have some hurt. “So, what’s the prognosis, Doc? Am I gonna live?” for Warden and Anders. Warders? Anden? Wardanders?

Thanks for the prompt!

My Warden in this is Eluvia Amell, who uses she/her pronouns.

The darkspawn crawling beneath the Keep weren’t supposed to be a cause for alarm. Eluvia has killed hundreds of darkspawn at this point, had killed the archdemon itself. A few darkspawn are no match for her, surely. Surely, she has nothing to worry about when it comes to the filthy creatures she’s grown used to dealing with by now.

Except the ogre was stronger than she expected and she’s gotten to be a little too cocky and sure of herself. She’d been laughing at one of Anders’ stupid jokes when a large hand smashed into her, sending her across the room and into the wall. She heard something inside of her crack and then everything went dark.

She awakes with Anders hovering over her, his expression pained and face pale. “You’re alive! Thank the Maker!” There’s no hint of sarcasm or teasing in his voice now, which is unusual for him. He just sounds genuinely grateful as he pulls Eluvia into a tight embrace that hurts more than it comforts.

“Course I’m alive,” she says as she gently pushes him away. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You were hurt quite badly,” Nathaniel says from somewhere off to her right. “Even after we killed the ogre, you weren’t moving.” There’s deep concern in his tone.

Eluvia looks around at her companions, at the worry etched into their faces. “You don’t need to worry about me. It takes more than a darkspawn to kill me.”

“You very nearly died,” Justice says bluntly. “Anders exhausted himself to save you. Without him, that darkspawn would have killed you.”

Eluvia blinks, trying to wrap her head around the idea. A darkspawn had nearly taken her out despite everything she’s been through, after everything she’s survived. The thought is unsettling, chilling even. She hates it.

But Anders had saved her. Had guided her back to the land of the living even when it exhausted him. She can see the toll it took on him now that she’s awake of it: his pale skin and clammy hands where he grips hers with ferocity.

“Well, what’s the prognosis, doc?” She asks, keeping her tone light. “Am I going to live?”

“I nearly lost you,” is all Anders says in response. His eyes are wide and full of fear. “Your heart– it nearly stopped once. I thought–” But he doesn’t say what he thought, instead just gripping Eluvia’s hands tighter.

Eluvia pulls him into an embrace despite the pain. “It’s alright,” she assures him, trying to ignore the eyes of their other companions upon her. “I’m right here. I’m alive thanks to you.” She takes one of Anders’ hands and places it over her heart. “See?”

Anders nods, taking gasps of air like a man drowned. It’s clear that this has shaken him up terribly. Eluvia holds him through it until he calms himself, his face buried in her neck and his hands clenched in her robes.

#dennis writes #oc: eluvia amell #dragon age #warden x anders #anders x warden #da drunk writing circle #daa

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woltourney · 2 years ago

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ROUND 4 / SIDE A / POLL 2

Chuchu Chura (@spaceace144) v. Galvin Foixewesfv (@elizabethrobertajones)

Chuchu Chura:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Chuchu Chura (she/they)

q. What is your WoL's species? a. Lalafell

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. PLD, WHM, RDM, DNC, and most importantly, FSH

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. Adamantoise

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. This is Chuchu! She's a mute lala who became my reason for living when I started playing during covid. When I made her I want to make the least intimidating tank, so I made the smallest (yes she is min height), pinkest tank I could! She doesn't really have a lot of lore that I've come up with, but she's definitely lawful good, loves adventuring with her wolf pup, capybara, and Nigel her chocobo, and adores fishing.

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. :^) *waves* *lalafell dances* *dotes* *giggles*

q. Anything else you wanna add? a. She's just brought me so much joy over the past few years and if someone else can get a little joy from seeing her in this tournament, then that's enough for me. Of course I hope she still does well! I've spent hours in gpose getting pictures of her to be my wallpapers, I've gotten commissions of her, I'm even trying to crochet an amigurumi of her. I just love her so much! Good luck, Chuchu!!!

Galvin Foixewesfv:

q. What is your WoL name and pronouns? a. Galvin Foixewesfv

q. What is your WoL's species? a. viera

q. What is your WoL's class? Or classes? a. Black Mage, Summoner, Reaper

q. What data centre/server are you on, if you want people to find you? a. Goblin (have been in alliance roulette with other Galvins this is very important)

q. Tell us a bit about your WoL! a. A forest prince, eighth child with seven sisters, Galvin felt spare and at odds with his family as he became fascinated with dark magic after early encounters with voidsent that left him confused about their true monstrous nature. As he grew up and realised he was a rare son and due a life as a roaming forest warder and trophy husband, he felt too nerdy and bad at climbing trees for one and too gay for the other. After less than a year training with the other men of the forest and sensing they were growing sick of his poor aim with a bow and weedy lance arm, he slipped away in the night, travelled by boat to Limsa, and devoted himself to learning the forbidden maths of true magic. Drawn by the calling of the Echo, he joined the Scions on a whim despite having been warned by his eldest sister he was extremely susceptible to falling prey to a cult some day, and it was with much relief he realised they were not evil so his next letter home would not be met with a furious rescue party of dozens of furious armed viera storming the Waking Sands. He then picked up thaumaturgy and found one of his true loves. The other was teasing Urianger from across the Waking Sands, and flustering the shy elezen. Somehow, this has turned into a loving and stable relationship, mostly because they make up each other's deficits in a perfect puzzle piece joining and not because they are much alike, book learning aside. Though clumsy, brash and frequently knocked down, his determination to not be anything he once dreaded about his fate and to carve his idiosyncratic path, his raw stubborness got him through every trial thrown at the WoL. Barely. The only rules: always take them on as black mage and never give in and take the easy path (ooc: hit the 'very easy' button the trial is begging me to do by take 8) His witchcraft and void lore honed, he stumbled into the art of the reaper, and formed a pact with the voidsent he had felt himself bound to since youth, a keening sad creature that aimlessly wandered and wailed; these cries having once pierced his heart, he found it easy to reach out and make the connection once more, and binding the voidsent to his purpose, it found direction and he found a combat art that he excelled at - provided you allow that it's really the voidsent doing all the work lifting that heavy scythe, and Galvin is merely casting the spells. Having surmounted the main story, he retired immediately to the island farm, and spends his time pulling turnips and lazing about, often with Urianger at his side, and it is important to say, for Galvin, achieving doing nothing at all is in itself the most incredible achievement for a lifelong avoider of - well, everything - who crawled and moaned and complained and fussed so hard to get there.

q. Why should YOU win? (Answer IC!) a. I have never, ever won anything in my life, and I think I should be allowed just one. Please.

q. Anything else you wanna add? a. =:{)> moustache bnuuy

#💎 shout #💎 round four

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fan-of-many-stories · 2 years ago

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Went off about Viera lore in a discord, thought it might amuse others/help us figure out a culture with how little we have in the game:

The Viis say they aren't very fecund (which I had to look up it means they have trouble reproducing). Males only get to come home to mate. A lot of people hc that's it's a big event for a village, but if they already have trouble making kits then they'd want to spread it out for more chances. Men probably come home one at a time.

Okay, then how do they know it's time to come home? I know lots of people argue about whether Miqo'te have heats, but it actually would make sense for Viera men to have some sort of reproductive cycle that tells them to come home. That also accounts for the variance in time, men come home every 3–5 years instead of a regular interval because of differences in their cycles. That *also* could be why men are sent away from the village —maybe they get really dangerously aggressive with other males, so to make sure they survive they live alone. Except to train other males, right? Okay, so maybe it's an instinct triggered by competition, not inherent aggression. A male staying out of the village with a young boy he's teaching can't kill him bc his cycle came back. Ergo, competition for women probably triggers the aggression. No women nearby, and two men will be fine.

There's other reasons men don't return to the village when they have a charge, of course. The other reason they go home is to collect any new boys for training. If they're training to be solitary, you're going to want that to be 1:1. If you already have a charge, you can't get a new one, but it would be irresponsible to leave the boy in the village. So you don't get to go home. The boy can't go, either, if his cycle hits before he's finished training. A boy who is not yet a Wood-warder can't train another boy. This is a good opportunity for the mentor to teach about how to recognize the signs and what to do when you go home.

Ok I hit character limit but I'm still going.

How do we know a boy will hit their cycle while still in training? We know that it takes many seasons to train a Wood-warder. Many is loose, but to people who live so long that has to be on the larger end. If we're basing Golmore on the Amazon rainforest (which I am) they only have two seasons a year, dry and rainy, making this even longer. I hc that most men finish training around 30, and that Auvo was an exception to that even though he didn't finish. (30-13)x2=34 I think that qualifies as 'many'.

What does training even include? How do they measure mastery? Here I think there's some leeway, and even possibly a split for the different tribes. I focused on Rava bc that's what's relevant to Auvo. The Rava place a strong importance on having all of the twelve element/realm names present at all times in the jungle. Oftentimes you see reflections on things desired in the world and things desired in the self in religions, so I designed a series of tests based around the names. Finishing all of them and going home for the first time marks you a master. You always start with the one that matches your name, and it will be a harder version than normal. It's not uncommon for tests to kill (we know most boys do not survive training, that fits with this). Why is going home a requirement for mastery? Because the Wood-warders need to be able to tell how many of each name exist. When they go home for their first cycle as an adult, they leave something (probably a crystal device of some sort) at their home village that tells their home they're still alive. A second is sent to Golmarr, the capital, so they can monitor the names in the whole Jungle.

Why is Golmarr the capital? Because it sounds like Golmore. Clearly, the Viera don't call it Golmore, because we know Viera means 'Children of the Wood'. Viera and Golmore are nowhere near each other etymologically, so that's probably not their word. It's not close to Rava either.

More coming

Therefore, when people outside the forest asked where Viera came from, most of them answered 'Golmarr', which eventually turned into *Golmore*. Why didn't they answer with the Jungle's name? We know from the men that names are important to their culture. The name of the Wood, or word for it, is possibly sacred and they don't want it in outsider's mouths. Viera community and religion is closed, outsiders are strictly prohibited. The lore books state that just about every race has adopted Common, I don't think Viera have. They wouldn't have a reason, they don't interact outside their borders unless absolutely necessary. It's why Auvo struggled so much with not having the Echo, he didn't know the language.

That's...as far as I can stretch a single line of logic, but I have more connected bits. Like how a village functions, Golmarr's role in government, courting rituals, etc.

And this was in response to someone asking about when men come home:

Ok so! There's wiggle room, but here's how I break it down:

First, a male gets intensely uncomfortable with how unsafe the jungle is. Normally something they're used to, but the discomfort builds to fear that will drive them to seek the safety of home. They'll also start loading up on proteins in preparation for the next step. Actually arriving at the village, they'll go see the chief who will direct them to one of the houses set aside for this purpose. Every village must have at least two, for the slim chance that more than one male comes home at the same time. Bigger villages might have more. This phase lasts two days.

Second, the actual process. My ace brain refuses to look too deep into this, but since they have to get through any woman trying to have a kit, I don't imagine they get much rest. I imagine this part lasts three days.

Last, every man is given two days in the village to recover. These days are very important. If you spent time with him in the previous three, it's customary to at least visit during the next two. It's when he gets to see his mother again, sisters if he has them, friends. He gets to know the village through an adult perspective, and it would be the time to start falling in love. It's his time to *be* loved, and he must be. The men *must* know they are loved, because it is what motivates them to fight when they are alone. A man who feels rejected by his village is more likely to leave the forest altogether.

#viera #viera lore #male viera #ffxiv #ffxiv viera

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talesfromthegameff14 · 1 year ago

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Fire and Stone - Arrosez

Writing Music: Everything Changes in Time by Madds Buckley

The snow fell on the Shroud, covering up the worn paths of the village. In the summer the paths were the main markers that the place existed, buildings worked cunningly into the trees and foliage as to remain easily hidden from casual observation. In the fall the paths became harder to see as some of the village buildings became easier to see, tucked up against trunks and built into the tree branches far above the forest floor. There were exceptions of course, the plume of smoke rising from the forge in the center of the craftsman’s circle a prime example of that.

It made Rose feel less alone as they wiggled out of Ren’s bedroom window to pull theirself up onto the sod roof that hid his home from view no matter the season. The air was colder than they expected, but it didn’t stop them from climbing up the nearby tree. They went as high as they dared, far higher than most would deem safe, but they knew that the tree wouldn’t drop them. Not one would in this place, it was theirs after all. Balanced on a precariously skinny branch. Rose leaned against the trunk and closed their eyes. Where are you Blaise?

The candles surrounding the outcast Bois de Coeur were snuffed out with a growl of frustration. It should have worked! It was Weitnacht! Blaise knew that Renard always celebrated the holiday in his sentimental way. Cinoix always fussed about it, upset that his Grandson wasn’t more interested in... There was a crash as a candle and holder were thrown against the wall in pure frustration. Pointless! It had all been for nothing! And it was all Renard’s and his damnable twin’s fault. If they had just had the grace to stay dead like they should have then none of this would happen. But oh no, they had to come back and Renard had to go running back to them like a besotted fool. And now the Duramen was dead and he hadn’t been picked as her replacement and when he fixed that oversight the ungrateful wretches called him on it and... It was all so wrong now.

He should be tucked into his bed back at Thistleburrow, sleeping off a pleasant evening of good food, drink, and company at Cinoix’s house with Renard on his arm. And now his Warder wouldn’t come to heel when called all cause of their bitch of a twin. Flames licked up around the broken glass shards and candle, leaving nothing but a faint scattering of ash from the wick behind. The mess disposed of, Blaise stood up and stalked out of the small cave he sanctified for spell work into the larger one he was living out of. Ignoring everything, he strode outside, turning sharply to climb up the hill to look out over the Shroud. He couldn’t say why he wanted to be outside in the chill morning air, maybe to clear his head of the failure? If so, why did he find himself clearing off a rock and sitting on it with his knees pulled up to his chest looking to the east, to home? Instinct had Rose turning to the west, pale eye gleaming as they looked across the bare tree tops of the Shroud. The occasional pine tree stood out against the snow, but most of the branches were like skeletal hands reaching towards the sky, beseeching the sun to come back and give them warmth. They couldn’t see their twin, but Rose knew where he was nonetheless. They could renounce ties of family with the man, but neither of them could undo the ties of birth except in the nothingness of death. It was a fact that Rose depended upon, drawing aether from the sleeping Shroud, trickles here and there as to not disturb the balance. Earth and water gifted what they could at the Bois de Coeur’s call before they turned their attention inwards. It was an easy path to follow. Ren slept below, tangled up in Blaise’s spell work. A touch along the vines of fire burnt, but not enough to dissuade Rose from the hunt. Along the line between Ren and Blaise they sent their awareness, shrouded in stone and sped on by the tide of the Star. A prickle ran up Blaise’s spine as he sat there, moodily staring in the direction of home. No, no longer home, they cast him out. Unwanted, unloved just like his father told him, not in words but by the utter indifference the man had for his son. It was only matched by his mother’s lack of care, both of her children inconvenient mouths to be fed, clothed and little more. Occasionally shown off to her peers whe... Blaise’s ruminations are interrupted, that prickle turning into a full blown wave of panic. He barely summoned up the fiery aether to protect himself from the initial force of Rose’s blow. Fire makes a poor shield though, particularly under the fury of love and water and stone. It fizzles out quickly, leaving the man vulnerable to the remainder of Rose’s attack. It drove into his core relentlessly, trying to wash him away in the tide of rage. Clinging to the trunk of the oak, Rose sank down to their ass on the slim branch, eyes wide and staring as they put everything they had into the attack. The force trickles away as the aether they gathered, and a bit more, is spent. It leaves them panting and shivering up against the tree, tears flowing freely down their cheeks.

By the Three, is it done? No, he lives.

Damnit!! A bell passes before either of the twins move from where they fell, Blaise slowly sitting back up and trying to wipe the dried blood off of his face from the nosebleed he gave himself trying to survive. A mad cackle broke the silence of the woods before Blaise started to mutter to himself, “You failed Rose, you always do. Poor excuse for a Bois de Coeur. You think you could kill me? Fool.” A grunt and he tried to stand, swaying for a moment before falling to his hands and knees, coughing up blood into the snow. He stared at it for a moment then Blaise started to crawl, making it back to his cave to collapse onto his bedroll to sleep.

It’s the constant fussing and pecks from a small blue bird that’s tucked up against Rose’s neck that finally gets them to move. Carefully, they half climb, half slide back down the tree. When they are almost to the bottom, Bloo flies off, down to another window of the house and makes another ruckus, pecking at the glass and screeching until something inside happens.

By the time Rose makes it to the roof of the house Gautier is waiting for them. He catches the exhausted Elezen and then picks them up with minimal effort to carry them silently into the house. He doesn’t bring them to Ren’s room, but to his own and sets them down on his bed. Rose looks around, pushing theirself up to one elbow. “This isn’t..”

“I’ll stay with him, you’re staying here.”, the man interjects, pulling back his hood to expose the horns that jut upwards from above his temples.

“But, I...”

“You’re in no shape to stop him if he tries to go. Why don’t you spend your breath telling me why you aren’t in shape instead of arguing with me.”

Rose huffs and thumps back on the bed, “I attacked Blaise.”

“Did you kill him?”

A long pause before they shake their head.

“Foolish and a wasted opportunity, you should have called for me. We could have done it together.”

Rose bristles slightly, “You couldn’t have helped, not like this.”

A doubtful noise comes from the Green Man, but he doesn’t argue further. “Did you gain anything from this at least?”

Indigent, Rose’s reply snapped back, “He’s hurt, badly.”

“And you're weakened.”

“I’ll recover faster than him.”

“Are you sure?”, the question paired with the lifting of a single, shaggy eyebrow.

“Yes! Damnit! I’m simply tired. I almost killed him. It will take him more than a few days to recover.”

Another grunt, clearly Gautier is not as convinced. “I’ll bring up food and tea.”

“Something for a migraine, please.”

A long suffering sigh and the man nods, “That too. Rest Arrosez, hopefully your right and I’m wrong.”

“I am.”, their reply growled and full of annoyance.

“We’ll see.”

Gautier leaves and Rose grabs the nearest thing, a pillow, and throws it at the door as hard as they can. It barely makes it half the distance before thumping uselessly on the ground. They stare at it for a moment before flopping back on the bed to curl up on their side and sob brokenly.

Failure...

#ffxiv rp #oc stories #arrosez #no gods no editing #just twin things

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dtyfp2 · 1 year ago

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Ubbe

evermore

https://www.tiktok.com/@random.editz_26/video/7212315038537813253 (How I imagine the fight described later)

You scream as you circle one of the warder statues, running wildly as you occasionally look back. Stepin was chasing you, half heartedly of course, but he remained right at your tail.

You run past some of the Aes Sedai who simply move out of your way, having already gotten used to your antics. They’d never admit it, but they enjoyed having a child around, it made the Tower seem more lively.

As you run, you trip over your own feet and fall to the ground, roughly scraping your knees and palms.

“Oh no, Viserra, are you alright?” Stepin asks as he quickly picks you up, he dusts off your dress but the blood is already seeping into the fabric. Of course, as if on cue, you burst into tears. He’s quick to scoop you up and run over to Kerene, who would undoubtedly be in her office.

Kerene hears you long before she sees you. She was already making her way out, wondering what was making you so hysterical when Stepin comes in with you.

“Kerene, quick, she scraped her knees,” Stepin urges as he places you on the table. He looks stressed, something Kerene would’ve laughed at if you weren’t wailing in front of her. With a tut, Kerene is quick to heal your scraps and the pain quickly eases.

“Viserra, what have I told you about being more careful? Stepin, you really should know better, you’re the adult, you know?” Kerene scolds as you wipe your tears with the back of your fists.

Stepin looks over at you, as if accusing you of getting him into trouble. When you smile, he smiles too. He glances next at Kerene who tries to act as if she doesn’t find the whole thing amusing.

“Alright, alright, you two, get out of here and let me finish my work,” she shakes her head, hiding her smile as she turns back around.

You jump off the table, slapping Stepin’s leg as you start running again, this time careful to hold the ends of your dress up so you could see your feet. You bore no mind to the blood that stained your dress, nor the blood smear on your cheek.

“You’re it again, Stepin!”

Aerys comes into the tent, a solemn expression on his face.

They’re ready to bury Kerene.

You get up and grab the candle he holds out for you. You lean into him, laying your head on his chest as he sighs deeply and cups your face, his thumb gently rubbing circles across your cheek. All the Aes Sedai felt Kerene’s death, but none more so then the Aes Sedai with warders, unable to imagine losing the closest connection they’ll ever have. Nothing was stronger than the bond between an Aes Sedai are her warder, not lovers, not parents and children, nothing.

He presses a kiss to the top of your head before following you outside. You stand beside Alanna as Stepin comes, carrying Kerene’s body in his arms. You blink away tears as he gently lays her into the ground. You can’t watch as he slips her serpent ring off her finger, as Moiraine quietly prays over her, as Stepin struggles to cover her face.

“May the last embrace of the mother welcome you home.”

“Lews, stop this madness!” you yell at your old friend. He had killed his entire family in his madness, his poor children and his beautiful wife, and now he was enacting even more devastation. Lews turns his attention to you, away from the family he was about to masacre with balefire. Unfortuntaly for them, one of the other female Aes Sedai try to shield him, but fails. He was the strongest channeler in his history, not even the power of 8 Aes Sedai could shield him, let alone one. Lews makes quick work of the unfortunate Aes Sedai, snapping her neck with flick of his wrist.

Ubbe fights alongside you. He cuts down an arrow meant for your back. You look back at him and he offers a nod, an assurance of his loyalty, that he’d continue fighting for as long as you needed him to. a promise to give his life for yours if needed. His golden pendent is pinned proudly to his chest, his sword shines with blood, his blue eyes that stare right into yours say everything that needs to be said. You continue fighting, catching a ball of fire before it can raze an entire field.

Fear courses through your veins, but you ignore it as you hold a male Aes Sedai, tainted with madness, in your grip. All on your own, you make quick work to gentle him before he can burn everything around him. You tell everyone to run, blocking an attack from another male. Ever since Lews tainted the male power, they’ve been destroying the entire world. You feared nothing would be left.

You feel your heart rip out of your chest, it almost burns you whole. Ubbe is behind you, an axe lodged into his head as he falls to the ground. Lews is there, an evil smirk on his face as wisps of the one power dance across his fingers. He killed Ubbe, and Ubbe died after jumping in front of a axe meant for you. You fall to your knees, crying craddling his face, trying to heal his wounds but he’s already gone. He died the second the axe made contact. It was painless, a heroic death, a death he happily ran toward as long as it meant you lived. Your bond was shattered, like glass that had been thrown against the wall. You take a look around you, at the chaos and death surrounding you. The world wouldn’t stand a chance against the men, no new era would be churned out by the wheel if no one survived long enough to see if through. Was this it? The wheel rendered useless, destroyed by the weight of its failures?

Power surges into you, more than you’ve ever channeled before. Your face burns but you don’t care. You should’ve burned out, but not even the wheel would deny you this.

“You can’t defeat me, sun summoner, I’m stronger than you. I’ve trained for years while you ran off,” Lews taunts. No, not Lews, you remind yourself. Lews was gone, he died the day he went against your advice and locked the dark one away. He was dead to you the second he killed Ubbe.

Without Lews, maybe the female Aes Sedai stood a chance at defeating the others. Perhaps humanity would survive into a new era. But you didn’t care if it did, the world could burn for all you cared, nothing mattered with him by your side.

Lews own power begins to encircle him, readying for an attack against you. You look down at Ubbe, anger replaces the fear as light surrounds you.

“You’ll pay for what you did to him.”

Not for what he’s done to the world, not for tainting Saidin, not for killing his children, not for killing his wife, not for the countless others. Ubbe. You would make him pay for what he did to Ubbe. The only man you’d ever loved.

With a heave of exertion, you throw an attack against Lews and he throws his at you. When the two most powerful channelers of the era collide, it kills them both.

To memorialize their death, dragonmount erupts from the ground.

“Viserra,” Aerys whispers, gently grabbing your arm to shake you from your daze. Tears stream down your face as you turn around, taking erratic breaths, the excruciating pain of a severed bond still weighing on your soul. Your nails dig into Aerys’s arm, surely it must hurt but he doesn’t say anything. One hand rubs your back as one of your hands cover your mouth.

“What did you see?” He asks quietly. You shake your head, unable to get the words out. You wouldn’t want to say it anyway, it was too horrible to repeat.

Kerene’s funeral was wrapping up anyway, some of the Aes Sedai were leaving to offer Stepin some privacy in his final moments with her. Aerys wraps his arm around you and quietly leads you away from the group. You don’t even remember walking away, only the pain you felt in your chest.

#the wheel of time #the wheel of time imagines #the wheel of time oc #twot #wheel of time #wot #ubbe #wheel of time oc #ubbe imagines

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iviarellereads · 1 year ago

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Wheel of Time full series spoiler thoughts on EOTW 9-13

A probably semi-regular weekly bonus to my reread blog, since sometimes you realize things on reread that just make you need to yell in a full spoiler space. (Check out my project explainers here and here)

Seeing Shayol Ghul, where Lews Therin's Hundred Companions struck, and then Dragonmount and Tar Valon and the White Tower itself, whose shadow Rand will be trying to escape until book 13… what a dream sequence. And Ishy throughout, demanding Rand SERVE HIM. Well, given some of his outfits in the show, I think he's served plenty.

He slept with the sword digging into his side, giving him a sore spot on his ribs. Sweetie, I'm sorry, but you don't know what a sore spot on your side could begin to mean yet. I swear, the foreshadowing in this series.

Let's just take a minute to swim in Ba'alzamon and Beelzebub. The latter, of course, being a name that was taken from a god of a conquered religion, and turned into a demon prince's name, but often mistaken for the Christian Devil. RJ was telling us as early as chapter 9 that this isn't actually The Guy, it's just The Guy's lieutenant, if you know the name enough to look it up past your first assumption.

And, hinting at the Warder bond between Eldrene and Aemon, the consequences of it, and the parallel to Egwene's finale. (Yes I know RJ planned for her to live and raise Gawyn's child with Galad, shhh, the end she got was better for her arc and this parallel even if it fucked over the White Tower reformation, it's fine.)

I really do have complicated feelings about the Manetheren speech. I think it was SO much better handled in the show, honestly. They still have their song, even if they don't know what it means anymore, just like us cultural Christians who celebrate Christmas and all, but barely understand the references in the old carols, and they're only a few hundred years on. It's a more relatable balance than the complete loss of the book version. And, the parallels between Eldrene and Egwene are nothing to sniff at, but only the TV show gave my girl her due foreshadowing, because they had the ending to work toward.

Baby's First Weaving, keeping Bela up with the other horses. "His skin prickled, and his bones felt as if they were freezing, ready to split open." I know most people who have read the series a few times already know it, but in case we have any first-rereaders, hi, yes, this is when he channels, and then the channeling sickness fevers start sometime around Baerlon and culminate on the road to Caemlyn when he channels again with the lightning.

Lan making reference to Hightower with "I believe he might sell his mother to Trollocs for stew meat if the price was right." The fact that Asmodean threw his mother to the Fades on his way into the Dark hoping for immortality to develop his music. Do you think Lan knew it really happened once, or is it one of those figures of speech that gets passed down in the world?

And, the extraordinarily shoehorned Egg as Amyrlin Seat mention. RJ really did have his characters just… say what was going to happen, so much. Only, the statement implies that you need to be strong to be Amyrlin, but you really don't: it's political and personal strength you need, not the Power, even if the White Tower isn't very well equipped to tell the difference all the time.

Do you think Perrin insisted the farmhouse was no different than the ones back home, because his eyes were starting to change? We don't get any indication they go yellow until they split up, but who's to say what order things happen in. I like the idea that the journey's beginning starts them all along their paths.

Colander, the bowl that is not a bowl. I mean, Callandor, of course, what did you think I meant? 😉 The Karaethon Cycle and all that spins out from it... gosh. We've got so much fun ahead of us, don't we?

#wheel of time #wot #the wheel of time #twot #wot book spoilers #wheel of time full series spoilers #wot full series spoilers

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witchofthescions · 2 years ago

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There was only so much that Lalah could teach Lenar of the sage's art, and she was well aware of this fact. Loifa, however, seemed to have a knack for it that went beyond Guildivain's twisted tinkering, and so she suggested that he take over instructing Lenar. Thus, the two set out into the Dravanian wilderness to help a couple of Midnight Dew's wayward hunters who had bitten off more than they could chew. Because what better way to learn than by doing?

As the newly revived hunter headed back to civilization, thanking them profusely for the second chance Loifa had granted him, the Viera fell quiet.

"You know," he said, "I used to dream about the future I knew I'd never see."

"Hm?" Lenar turned towards him.

"About overcoming my illness and protecting the forest as a Wood-warder, as is the duty of Viera men. I wanted to repay my people for not giving up on me. My tribe and my master." He paused ever so briefly, hands balling into fists. "I allowed myself to hope when I went with Guildivain... until the dream died once and for all in his laboratory. Alongside those who were sacrificed in the pursuit of his twisted ambition. For the 'betterment of mankind,' that depraved fiend took everything from me."

Lenar remained silent, but he regarded Loifa with a sympathetic look.

"Since then, I have been bent upon revenge. Save that, there was no purpose for my sage's power." Loifa finally lifted his head and looked right at Lenar. "But since meeting you and Lalah, I feel as though I'm beginning to understand why this soul crystal was given to me. The hope that all might live to know a better tomorrow. There is a warmth and comfort in that... and a purpose."

"He sounds just like you, Lenar!" Lily chirped next to his ear.

"Hm? What do you mean by that?" Loifa asked, shooting the fairy a curious look.

Lenar let out a breath, smiling a little despite himself as he collected his thoughts. "I have mentioned before that I am from the neighboring land of Ishgard, yes? How much do you know of its history?"

"Precious little," Loifa admitted. "I had no interest in the outside world when I was a Wood-warder, and no opportunity to learn once I was in Guildivain's custody."

"In brief, then: for a thousand years, Ishgard and the dragons of Dravania were at war. The particulars can wait for another time, but suffice to say that the war was still ongoing when I was born." Lenar paused, pressing a hand to his chest before continuing. "I... have never had a stomach for war, or violence in general. Despite being the son of a rather accomplished knight, I had no interest in joining the fight. Not out of cowardice exactly, but out of... for lack of a better word, grief."

"Grief?" Loifa repeated.

"Grief. Grief for the lives of all those I had lost, for those whom I'd never known and would never have the chance to. Grief for all the generations that had lived and died without ever knowing peace." He sighed, voice growing quiet. "Grief for myself and the awful fate I had been born into."

"...You, too, believed yourself not long for this world, didn't you?" Loifa said, his own voice quiet.

"I did." Lily sat on his shoulder and gently patted his cheek as a gesture of support. "I do not mean to make light of your own situation, of course. Dying a slow death due to illness is nowhere near the same as dying in combat."

"But the looming specter of your own mortality would have looked the same."

Lenar chuckled dryly. "'Tis one way of putting it." He distractedly twirled his cane between his fingers. "But, of course, in a war there is precious little room for one who does not wish to join the fight. And I was far too frightened of dying to contemplate any other course of action. So, one day, I took up a tome of magic my father had procured and fled my homeland. I claimed at the time that it was to find a way to stop the war. It was not entirely a lie."

"But it wasn't entirely the truth, either."

Lenar's silence was all the affirmation he needed. After a moment, he continued. "I wandered Eorzea, getting into various adventures that allowed me to cross paths with two people who have become my dearest friends. And it was while traveling with them that I came across Lily's stone."

"What stone?"

Lenar produced the Scholar's soul stone, holding it out for Loifa to inspect. Lily rose from Lenar's shoulder and did a little spin, before pointing excitedly at it.

"My stone! My stone!"

"Specifically, it is a soul stone containing the memories and skills of countless Nymian scholars. I chanced across it on a mission—well, technically the stone was part of said mission's goals. I was accompanying a marauder who was looking into the ancient art himself, specifically Nym's warfare tactics." Lenar's fist closed around the stone in his hand, and he brought it to his chest. "The moment I first held the stone, when I heard the whispers of ancient healing techniques... It was as if everything suddenly fell into place."

Loifa's eyes widened. Lily beamed at Loifa.

"I doubt I will ever truly feel comfortable with violence. But in the healing arts I found comfort... and purpose. With this power, I can change people's lives, hopefully for the better. I can protect those dear to me, and ensure that others live to see another day." "To protect those dear to me..." Loifa repeated, softly. He held up his own sage crystal, examining the well-worn surface. "Come what may, I vow to protect those dear to me. For that purpose, and no other, will I use my power." His hand closed around the stone. "This I swear upon the crystal."

He lifted his head and looked to Lenar, determination writ across his face. "That being said, soon we must confront Guildivain. If we're to triumph, we must trust each other with our lives. Are you prepared to trust yours to me?"

Lenar smiled back. "Of course. Are you willing to do the same?"

"I am. So see to it you keep up."

Lenar laughed. "I shall do the best a fool can."

Loifa's ears drooped a bit in embarrassment. "You're still sore about that? I didn't realize you were so sensitive..."

"I kid, I kid," Lenar quickly reassured him. "You are not the first to call me out for foolishly taking things at face value when I should not have."

"Still, I'm sorry all the same." Loifa huffed. "I believe that's enough training for one day, anyway. Let's head back to Idyllshire. Hopefully Lalah's allies have made progress."

"One can only hope."

#the unending journey (drabbles)#bloody sunset (patch 4.1-4.3)#((finally got around to writing this aslkfehalsdhfe))#((just One More Quest in this chain :>))

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