#wehhhhhhhh karlach <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[blackjackkent]

Oh man, there's a lot here in the graveyard. Karlach's parents are buried here and she asked Hector if they could stop and say hi.

Of course Hector beelined for it. <3 This was an incredibly sweet little moment and as usual, her VA and facial animation are making me cry.

"Here lies Pluck and Caerlack Cliffgate. My parents. Hi mum. Hi dad."

"Sorry I haven't visited. I've been... away. But I'm back now! And I brought friends."

She and Hector exchanged a cute little glance here.

"I miss you so much. But I'm happy. And getting up to some really important shit."

"Maybe you can see for yourselves. I don't know."

"You're with me here, anyway. Taters."

Hector has just been listening to this and watching her with a gentle smile on his face. "Taters?" he asks softly, when she seems to have run out of words.

She laughs, just a little shakily. "Meant 'I love you' in the Cliffgate household. I can't even remember how it started anymore. Lost family lore."

(A/N: What an incredibly sweet, detailed little character note, holy shit.)

"There was a lot of silly nonsense in our house." Her gaze is distant, drifting through memories long gone. "My mates used to say we had our own personal language. I guess I'm the last remaining speaker." Her smile flickers slightly.

He reaches out and takes her hand, feeling his heart twist a little in his chest. For not the first time nor the last, he is struck by how brutally unfair her lot has been, to be pulled from a loving family and a life she was happy in, and instead thrust into the torment of the Hells with no possibility of escape. To have lost both her past and her future to the greed of Gortash and the cruelty of Zariel.

Deep at the back of his mind, so deep that he barely even acknowledges it himself - he is a little jealous, too, of the kindness and warmth and love she describes in her childhood, something that for all his contentment at the monastery, was never truly part of his life. But he is also deeply grateful that she had it - that it molded her into the kind woman that he loves, molded her so strongly that the Hells couldn't beat it out of her.

"Mum used to say there was no such thing as death," Karlach goes on thoughtfully. "That there was only change. Dad thought that was a load of woo. That gone meant gone, unless you'd struck a deal with one of the gods. Said he had better things to do in life than beg favors off immortals."

She draws a heavy breath, absently interlacing her fingers with his. "I'm not sure what I believe."

He is quiet for a few moments, thinking. He is, of course, trained in the dogma of the Selunites and could speak quite knowledgeably on the workings of the gods - at least such as it was taught to him - but he doesn't think she really wants a lecture on the City of Judgment and its uncertain outcomes right now.

She is thinking ahead to her own impending mortality. She wants comfort, something that is hopeful, and his voice giving it to her.

"Your mum was right," he says softly. "Our bodies become soil, water, air. We don't die, we just change..."

To his relief, he sees her expression relax slightly.

"Nice thought, isn't it?" she murmurs. "This grass could be my mum's hair. The air in my lungs might be my dad telling me 'taters.'" She smiles, leans her shoulder against his gently. "I like that."

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<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 I love Karlach so much, you guys.

The game didn't give me the opportunity, unfortunately, but Hector absolutely starts saying 'Taters' to her in place of 'I love you' sometimes. Not all the time, but just here and there, so she's not the last carrier of the tradition, and so she knows he's listening and will remember - both her and her parents.

Once again including the recording of this scene here because Karlach's VA and facial animations are really half of what make her scenes so affecting.