#this was originally a request for Fjord and Jester | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

kmackatie · 3 years

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Originally asked by @jamieylnn on this post: "84, 102, or 119 for the intimacy prompts with Shadowgast". I got around to another one of them. It's less fluff and a bit more angsty, but this is where my brain went with it.

Thanks again to @mllekurtz for taking my spaghetti-thrown-at-a-wall mess and helping turn it into an actual coherent meal. <3

request a prompt here

84 - sky watching Shadowgast, post canon established relationship, canon compliant, 2108 words, cw: brief fatalistic thoughts

Caleb stepped onto the roof, hands tucked into the pockets of his linen pants, feet bare and hair untied. He found Essek in the middle of it, lying on his back and hovering a few inches off the ground, one hand held up as he seemed to map something in the stars above.

He paused, letting his eyes adjust to the darkness, taking in the sight of moonlight against Essek’s skin. The shifting, gentle light was like a caress, catching on the smattering of freckles across Essek’s cheeks, the traces of silver still lined around his eyes, and glinted off the jewellery delicately clasped to his ears. He had come out here sometime while Caleb was bathing, the bedroom empty and the open window the only indication that he hadn’t teleported away completely.

They were in Emon, Caleb visiting Allura under the pretence of collaboration in magical education when really it was an excuse for Essek to spend some time investigating some interesting dunamantic pulls he had discovered in the jungles to the south of the capital. It had been three weeks of exploring, discovering, and relaxing in the way that Essek and Caleb do, days filled with academic pursuits while taking advantage of the fact that Essek didn’t have to hide, could just be Essek. They had their Tower, though it wasn’t used much, each more content to take the time to enjoy the open air and sky above them.

But, like all things, it had to come to an end. They lingered as much as they could, on the journey back to Emon. Had slowed down the pace, spending more time in the Tower than exploring outside of it, until they couldn’t justify the delay any further and Essek teleported them back to the house they had rented.

Essek’s easy smile had become strained during their dinner, as Caleb spoke of his students and the plans he had been toying with for the next semester, answers taking longer to come when Caleb would ask for his opinion. He could recognise the signs, having seen them before, but he knew that Essek would only talk about it when he was ready to.

He stepped forward, feet scuffing intentionally against the loose dirt and pebbles. One of Essek’s ears twitched, the only indication that he had heard Caleb’s arrival. Essek continued to stare up at the sky, hand pausing in its tracing before he pulled it back. His violet eyes were shining in the low light, the stars reflected back, an endless void that Caleb could lose himself in if he looked too long.

Pausing, Caleb debated for a long moment before he eased himself down onto the ground next to Essek, groaning slightly as his muscles protested the movement. He envied Essek’s ability to hover, the rough ground was not kind on his ageing body, but it was one trick he had never quite got the hang of every time Essek had tried to teach it to him.

He stared at the skyline of Emon, Allura’s tower in the distance, a beacon on the edge of the Cloudtop district, the few lights still lit up in the houses around them. It was still, quiet, and every bit of his focus was on monitoring the small movements of the drow next to him. The stuttering rise and fall of Essek’s chest, breath ragged and uneven, hand flicking through somatic gestures and arcane runes as if by habit, all while his eyes stared at the sky above, unblinking.

It was a long moment before Essek blinked and broke the silence, his voice rough and low.

“I miss the sky. This one… this one is different. It’s not Rosohna’s sky. I did not think— I should not miss it.”

“It is not that different—”

“Except it is,” Essek cut in, voice sharp. “Rosohna’s… it isn’t a perfect match for what would be in the sky above Wildemount. It’s based off the Bright Queen’s memory of what it once was, over thousands of years ago. The sky has changed since then.”

“I wasn’t aware of that,” Caleb admitted, drawing one knee up to his chest and wrapping an arm around it, eyes still focused on Essek’s face.

“No. You had no reason to be. You weren’t there for that long… and you had more pressing concerns.”

“Fjord never did see that ceremony.”

Essek laughed hollowly. “No, he did not.”

They fell back into silence, and there was a tension there now that wasn’t there earlier. A wariness to the way Essek’s shoulders hunched ever so slightly, as if he had to brace himself for whatever was said next.

And Caleb didn’t want to ask it, didn’t want to bring it up, but he knew that if he didn’t, then this would fester and he couldn’t bear anything being a reason for Essek to stay away.

“Do you regret it?” He saw Essek flinch, a barely perceptible motion that he would have missed, hadn’t he been looking for it. He clarified, “Not… not taking it. I mean— well. Us, the Nein. We threw your plans into disarray and Jester… and me. You would not be here if not for us, you wouldn’t have had suspicion placed on you.”

“There would have been suspicion on me eventually.”

“And Shadowhand Thelyss would have had a plan for that,” he pointed out with a rueful chuckle. “Or at least, the glimmer that we saw of Shadowhand Thelyss would have, and if he was anything like Bren, well… plans upon plans.”

There was a long beat before Essek replied.

“I would not change any step that I took that led me to you—”

“I don’t doubt you on that, meine Liebe, but—”

“I don’t say that for you,” Essek snapped, holding a finger up between them while his eyes didn’t move from the sky. “Just… just let me finish.”

Caleb merely nodded, biting his lip at his instinct to respond.

“I don’t say that for you. I say it because sometimes I need to remind myself of what I have gained. I don’t… it’s not regret. Or rather, I did not know quite how much it would bite. I did not anticipate the… the vastness of it, of displacement.”

Caleb got the sense that Essek wasn’t finished, so he said nothing, just waited and watched, hands itching to reach out, to comfort and hold.

“I miss home. Not… I know I have one with you. My towers, my laboratory. I did not expect to miss it quite so much. The eternal night, the easy access… this hiding. I hate it. I hate it.”

Essek scrubbed a hand across his eyes, and Caleb’s heart ached. He knew what it was like to not be able to return to a place that he wanted to, a weight that nobody who hadn’t experienced loss understood. He lifted a hand towards Essek, but before his fingers could connect Essek flinched back, turning away from Caleb.

“Essek, Liebling.”

“No— don’t,” Essek gasped, curling in on himself. He hunched over, still somehow hovering a few inches off the floor, shoulders raised. “Don’t give me your sympathy. I bought this bed and now I have to live in it.”

Caleb could not help the way his heart clenched at that, the fondness for the jumbled saying seeping through his own pain, his own realisation that this had been brewing for far longer than he had realised. He should have seen it. Should have realised that all the times Essek snapped recently weren’t just due to the exhaustion of being in the sun, that when Essek chose to trance before Caleb had fallen asleep he did so to avoid conversation, that the times he had tracked him down to the ninth floor, the moment of vacant expression before a smile kicked in was more than just troubling thoughts. Caleb had to swallow around the lump that had formed in his own throat. There was a sudden hollowness in his stomach as he realised how much the situation was affecting Essek.

It took a moment to realise the hollow gasping sound wasn’t coming from him, that despite the swirling storm of his own emotions, his shoulders weren’t shaking and he wasn’t falling apart.

Essek was.

Essek, who had tried to hide his worries from Caleb. Essek, who had to be coaxed to state what he needed and wanted on a good day. Essek, who could command and demand his way into any room but would barely make eye contact when he truly cared about the opinion of whoever he was talking to.

This was exactly why he hadn’t said anything, why he didn’t show it. He was as bad as Caleb in his determination to carry his own burdens.

But there was something Caleb had learned, that he had an advantage on Essek in learning, and that was that burdens were immensely easier to carry when shared.

Shoving away his own guilt, carefully, ever so carefully, Caleb inched forward and placed a hand on Essek’s back. He felt Essek tense under his hand, but this time he didn’t move away. Swallowing, Caleb took that as encouragement and shifted again, hand moving across Essek’s back until his arm was wrapped around Essek’s shoulders.

“Essek.”

Essek gasped, letting out a heartbreaking sob before leaning the tiniest bit into Caleb’s grasp.

Caleb just waited. Not demanding, and not expecting, just hoping that Essek would take the comfort offered.

Slowly, Essek turned to Caleb, fraction by fraction he shifted until his shoulder was against Caleb’s chest, his forehead tucked against Caleb, and he was sobbing into Caleb’s shirt. Caleb held him, hand moving in gentle, soothing circles on his back as he murmured in Zemnian, nonsense phrases and observations about everything he loved about Essek.

When he judged that Essek may have calmed, when the sobs became sniffles and Essek stopped clutching Caleb’s clothing like he would drown without the lifeline, Caleb leaned down and pressed a kiss into Essek’s soft curls.

He gently ran a thumb under each eye, drawing away what dampness he could as shining violet eyes blinked up at him.

“I’m so—”

“Shh, Liebling, it’s okay. There is nothing to apologise for.”

Essek’s eyes closed, as he let out a shuddering breath.

“It is okay to mourn what you had, Essek. It is okay to acknowledge what you have lost, even while you acknowledge what you have gained. One doesn’t cancel out the other. Looking back… it is not a bad thing.” He was saying it as much for Essek as he was for himself. They had always been similar, had always understood each other in a way that no one else did. It could be a crutch, could be their downfall, but instead it led to a partnership that was equal, that felt so right, like it was always meant to be. He wanted to be that support for Essek, the way Essek always was for him. “When we visited Blumenthal, and I said goodbye, you stood with me. In the T-Dock even, you would have helped me, without question. You have ever since, even when all I wanted to do was rewrite time so I could step back and do it all again.”

“It is not the same.” There was little conviction in Essek’s tone, it was barely a protest.

“No, it isn’t. But what I am saying is that it is okay to have dark days, to have days where it is all too much. That is why I am here. To remind you that you can do this, Essek. That it is worth it, that you are strong enough to get through it. And on the days where you aren’t, where you need quiet and to escape, I will be here to hold you.”

“You won’t always be here, when you’re teaching and I’m off… wherever.”

“We can both teleport, distance and time are meaningless with the right determination.”

Essek half laughed and half hiccuped, an odd choked off noise that Caleb had never heard him make before. A grin started to grow across his face as Essek looked taken aback at the noise, and it was far too cute for Caleb to let it go.

He leaned forward and kissed Essek, chapped lips pressing gently against carefully looked after ones. Drawing back, Caleb presses a second kiss to the tip of Essek’s nose, another between his eyes, his forehead.

“I love you,” murmured Essek.

Caleb smiled, shifting carefully to lie back, adjusting and holding Essek to his chest as he went.

“Come. Tell me about the differences in the stars.”

#shadowgast #critical role #essek thelyss #caleb widogast #critical role fanfic #cr: fanfic #the mighty nein #my writing #ficlet #writing prompt #non-sexual intimacy prompts #jamielynn #katie replies #ask katie

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peach-the-owl · 3 years

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Welcome…

Child of the Nein (Mighty Nein & Child!Reader)

So I remember seeing a request for something like this a while ago but it disappeared (Tumblr being dumb probably had something to do with it 😑). If I remember it was basically how the Mighty Nein, and Lucien, react to their child getting an eye tattoo on them

Jester

It felt really weird to see Lucien, having been Molly before was awesome, he was kind and a lot of fun but Lucien was not kind or fun to you and this giant living city you chased him to didn’t make it any better. The walls, floors, just everything was gross and fleshy and creeped you out to no end, making you huddle closer to Jester for some comfort.

"Don’t worry (y/n), it’s going to be alright." She places a hand on your shoulder and gives you a sweet smile, but you could tell by her tone she was just trying to make you feel better and wasn’t fully convinced by her own words. Returning the smile you push forward through the halls of Aeor, a weird humming noise starting to buzz in your ear, coming from one of the walls.

"Do you hear that humming sound too?" You tugged Jester's coat as you ask, she gives you a confused look.

"I don’t hear any humming." She says, looking around with concern. You let a puff of air in annoyance, why where you the only one being tormented by the sound? You just wanted it to stop. The humming got louder, sounding more like screams, you look around seeing a wall with strange text on it shifting around, this was where the sound seemed to be coming from. You walk away from Jester towards the wall in almost a trance, being pulled towards it and staring at the odd text you had no way of reading. Without realizing, you raise your hand up and place it on the wall, a series of symbols and odd scribbles flash before your eyes until you feel yourself being yanked away from the wall making you gasp in shock as you’re thrust back into reality. "(Y/n)! (Y/n), are you okay?" Jester frantically asks starting to look you over.

"Ummm… I think so." You reply after a second to refocus yourself. Now seeing everyone staring down at you with wide eyes. "What’s wrong?"

"Eye. You have a red eye right here." Jester points to a spot on the side of her neck, close to the ear, showing you where a red eye tattoo had appeared. You quickly place a hand over the area, flinching away only to look back up at her, letting out a scared whine. She immediately picks you up and holds you close to her. "It'll be okay, don’t cry. We’ll figure this out." She hushes you, you nod hoping she’s right, wrapping your arms around her neck and take a few deep breaths to calm down before continuing forward.

Veth

Molly had always been a loud and proud individual, it was an infectious feeling at the time making you feel just a little more confident in your own skin too. Lucien, while still in his own way proud was not as morally boosting to you, you did not like him in the slightest. Now having chased him into the astral sea and to the giant moving city you were sure you were entering the endgame. Everything here was gross and moving, yet strangely you weren’t that creeped out over it, having spent a long time living with goblins you've seen your fair share of gross fleshy messes before. As you traverse the place you encountered these weird creatures with way too many eyes and mouths to be comfortable with, and having killed one of these things a series of symbols flashes in you mind before disappearing. You look around not noticing anything else out of the ordinary and run over to Veth who, when you drew closer, let’s out a small gasp making you tilt your head to the side confused.

"(Y/n), sweetie, I don’t want to alarm you… but look at your shoulder." You look at your right shoulder, seeing nothing, then look to the left one where through a tear in your coats fabric you see a red eye had appeared, you quickly place your hand over it.

"Am I dying?! Does this mean I’m dying?!" You ask in a small panic.

"Of course it doesn’t." Veth comforts, placing an arm around you and planting a small kiss on your head. "I mean just look at Caleb and Beau, they’re covered in red eyes and they’re still alive." She had a point there, you nod at this and continue to journey farther into the city with the rest of the Nein.

Caleb

It was weird to see Molly again, except he wasn’t Molly anymore. This Lucien guy was odd, you weren’t entirely sure what to make of him yet, for now he and the rest of the Tombtakers were traveling with you and, after some bumpy starts, sharing Caleb’s magic tower with you for the night. It was getting later in the evening but you wander the tower in search of Caleb, it’s been hard to get any sleep lately so he would tell you at least one bedtime story to help. During your search you pick up one of the servant cats that inhabit the tower, its legs dangle limply in your arms. Finally you spot him, he and Beau were looking over some book, Lucien was there too which confused you so you decide to approach slowly and cautiously. Getting close enough you could see the pages to the book they were looking through but weren’t able to fully read the words on the page, that is until they flipped to one covered in crazed scrawls and symbols all over it. Your eyes were locked on the page going over the different patterns, finding yourself unable to look away, the book's suddenly snapped shut and you shake your head back into reality. You had a feeling you probably weren’t supposed to see that, but the three didn’t seem to take notice of you as they conversed so you quickly sneak off and wait for Beau and Caleb to return.

Evening falls, you and the Nein were all huddled in one room as a safety precaution while you try to get some sleep, but the evening had other plans for you when you find yourself staring off in a dark void. All you could remember was after Caleb a came to join you again, you got your little bedtime story and went to sleep, yet now you were somewhere else entirely, wherever here was. A red light breaks through the darkness opening into a single large eye, you stare petrified until a feeling, a thought enters your head.

"Welcome…" Just a single word, floating around, echoing in your mind followed by images of symbols and scrawls similar to those from that book and a humming that slowly turns to screams growing louder and louder. The eye closes and you jolt awake, by the looks of it you weren’t the only one affected by this either.

"That’s rare." You hear Fjord say, unsure of what to make of the situation. Beau grabs her notebook and quickly starts writing something down as she does you see a red eye was now on the back of her left hand, something Caleb brings to her own attention. After some concerned looks between the two they both check for any eyes on Caleb, finding one on his right shoulder region. "Wait, why’d you wake up?" Fjord points attention over to you now.

"They weren’t with us when we examined the book." Caleb looks over at you and you shrink in on yourself a little. "(Y/n)?" He gives a concerned stare.

"I didn’t mean to." You say quietly, no one else says anything so you continue. "I was trying to find you, but then I saw you were busy with that weird book. I didn’t mean peek, but I couldn’t look away when you turned to that page with all those strange drawings on it. I’m sorry." You get teary eyed and sniffle, hearing Caleb sigh before pulling you closer to him.

"It’s alright kleiner, you meant well and we couldn’t have predicted this would happen." Caleb tries to calm you a little. "However, if you saw what we did then that would mean…" He trails off, only for Beau to fill in the rest.

"They have one as well." She points to where your pants had rolled up your leg a ways, revealing a single red eye on your right ankle. You hoped this wasn’t permanent and could get reversed somehow, little did you know this was only the beginning as the rest of the group begins to stir from all the commotion.

Caduceus

You were not a fan of this Lucien character, there was something unnatural to him that made your skin crawl and this giant living city you’d chased him to wasn’t helping the case. You knew a bit about the person who had inhabited their body from the rest of the Nein but since you never knew Molly personally you didn’t feel the same emotional distress as the others. The creatures that inhabited the city proved to make difficult obstacles, you squared off with a smaller one while the others dealt with several larger ones, you weren’t even sure what to make of this thing and defiantly didn’t want to over think about it either. When you manage to take the thing down it sends out a small burst as a last resort attack, but you didn’t notice any pain or damage to yourself, instead these strange symbols flash before your eyes. The designs were almost hypnotic but as much as you tried you could take your eyes away from them.

"…" There was a mumble of something but you couldn’t hear what. "…!" Same incoherent voice but a little louder, you wanted to see who was talking you really did but it felt like you were stuck in place. Something grabs ahold of you making you jump and ready to attack but then a wave clarity washes over you, the symbols disappear and you’re able to refocus again.

"What happened?" You look up at Caduceus confused, noticing you weren’t in the spot you’d been standing in originally. He doesn’t say anything right away, just takes you into his arms holding you close and lifts you up, going to follow the rest of the group.

"They did something to you," he finally says, you look at him worried. "Your eyes glazed over red and you started attacking us." This upset you deeply, you didn't mean to hurt anyone, you place your hands on your head and shrink into yourself a little, that’s when you see it. Now present on your right forearm was one of those red eye tattoos, you gasp and pull your arms away from yourself giving Caduceus the chance to see the eye. Tears start to fall from you, this was so wrong, you were a force working with nature but this was anything but natural. Caduceus soothingly rubs your back helping you calm down slightly.

"It'll be okay, we’ll find a way to fix this." He whispers to you, you nod as you take in slow deep breaths to help refocus yourself to the task at hand. It was like a part of you knew that in order to remove the eye, this city had to go down.

Fjord

This whole thing felt weird, confusing and frustrating to you. Things used to be so simple, now this Molly lookalike who called himself Lucien came along and everything felt like it was in disarray, it unfortunately couldn’t be helped and now you had to share Caleb’s tower with him and the rest of his group. You were chasing around one of the towers cats as a means of entertainment when you bump into someone and stumble to the ground, pushing yourself up and dusting yourself off you look up and see Caleb, Beau and Lucien staring at you.

"Umm sorry, didn’t know I was interrupting something." You apologies and are about to turn and leave when you see the book in their hands. "What’s that and why’s it all in undercommon?"

"A book we’re trying to read, so if you’ll… wait you know this is undercommon?" Beau raises an eyebrow at you, you just nod. "And you can read it?"

"Kinda, I guess." You shrug and before you know it you’re now helping to decipher through the various journal entries, until you reach a page just full of scribbles and crazy drawings. You look over everything finding yourself being drawn in and unable to look away the longer you stared, in a flash the book's shut and Lucien's bidding you all a goodnight.

While everyone was readying themselves for sleep you wanted to stay up and keep first watch with Fjord, you didn’t realize you’d fallen asleep until you find yourself staring into nothingness. It almost felt like déjà vu, floating in a dark abyss only to be greeted by an eye staring you down, though this time it wasn’t a creep, mysterious sea leviathan staring at you but something else, completely unnatural. It didn’t really speak either but rather placed a feeling or thought that formed words in your head saying one thing.

"Welcome…" The word was echoed around, like it was bouncing off of nonexistent walls, then screams fill your ears as the eye closes and your brought back into the waking world. You look up at Fjord who in turn looks between you, Caleb and Beau, who also awoke possibly from the same thing.

"That’s… rare." He says with confusion and concern, you look around the room to see if anyone else had somehow woken up, seeing signs of the others slowly beginning to stir. There’s a sudden feathery touch on the back of your neck making you jump slightly, instinctually place a hand over it and whip back to look at Fjord again, who stares back in shock.

"What?" You tilt your head confused but look over to see Beau and Caleb having red eye tattoos on them, making it click in you head that you must’ve now had one too.

Beau

To say you didn’t like Lucien was an understatement, he was snarky and overall a jerk, sure Molly was similar in someways but at least he had done it all in good fun. Still your curiosity got the better of you what with that book he held onto, wondering what sort of secrets were hidden in those pages. You got your answer sooner then you thought when spending the evening in Caleb’s tower Beau, Caleb and yourself were approached by the tiefling. Well mostly they were you just so happened to be present as well, but you weren’t going to let this opportunity to gain new information slip by, the three of you working through deciphering the pages until you reach a page just covered in mad scrawls and odd symbols. The different patterns and marking gave off a hypnotic feel, finding yourself unable to look away until the book is snapped shut by Lucien. You feel a little dazed by the whole thing taking a second for yourself to refocus.

When evening finally come around everyone huddled together in one room away from the Tometakers for safety and to discuss what to do going forward. You couldn’t quite keep yourself awake as long as everyone else and end up passing out for the night only to open your eyes and stare into an endless, dark void. You look around yourself to see if you could… well see something, spotting a red glow cut through the darkness. The light grows larger, opening into a giant eye that felt as though it was looking everywhere all at once. It was like a link was formed between you and whatever this thing was as it sends a thought into your mind. Just one single word.

"Welcome…" It echos and repeats itself over and over like a buzzing hive, images of those symbols from the book flash before you and you now realize the buzzing wasn’t actually buzzing but screams. Before you can dwell on it too long the eye closes and you shot up, wide awake alongside Caleb and Beau.

"That’s rare." You hear Fjord mumble, but don’t pay much mind to him as you go and grab your notebook to write down what you’d seen, seemed like Beau had a similar idea since she was also frantically writing in her own notes. When you’re done you have a look at what you wrote, seeing mad scrawls and utter nonsense cover the page, when you look up Caleb had removed his shirt showing a red eye by his shoulder and Beau was alternating between staring at the back of her hand and looking over at you with concern. Catching onto the idea you check yourself for any red eyes, and who would’ve guessed when you lift your own shirt a little ways you see a single eye located on your abdomen, you now stare up at Beau with equal concern. Before anything else can be said the rest of the Nein start to stir.

Yasha

Meeting Lucien was like a heavy punch in the gut for both you and Yasha, he didn’t know or care much about you and he called Molly a fragment or imposter, which you didn’t believe to be true. Molly was nice, fun and he showed you how bright and beautiful the world could really be, Lucien felt like the complete opposite and yet their personality was so similar. By now you had chased him to the astral sea and into the creepy living city of Aeor, but you weren’t going to let the unnerving nature of this place deter you from wanting to save your friend, if there was anything for you to save. The weird monstrosity’s that roamed the place didn’t like your presents, having to fight them off to move forward, throughout all of this there was an odd humming sound that resonated in the back of your mind.

"What’s wrong?" Yasha asks concerned, seeing your face scrunch up.

"I keep hearing this humming sound and it won’t go away." You cross your arms in a huff, getting increasingly frustrated with the strange noise.

"I wish I could do something to help you, but I can’t find anything that could be making a humming sound." She says with a sighs, having a look around to try and pick up on anything herself. Continuing forward you try and ignore the sound but it only gets worse, now sounding more like screams growing louder and louder, it was giving you so much of a headache you cover your ears in a poor attempt to stop the sound. Symbols start flashing before your eyes, the screams still growing louder then silence, you take a second reopen your eyes seeing Yasha kneeling in front of you with worry. "Are you okay? You dropped to the ground so suddenly, I thought something attacked you." You just nod that you're okay and reach up for her to pick you up, she does so and you both gasp when you see one of those red eye tattoos had appeared on top of your right wrist. Yasha looks at you with concern, you stare back for a second before covering your wrist with your other hand and give a look of determination.

"We're gonna fix this and make everything better, won’t we?" You tried to sound as confident as possible but deep down you were scared, Yasha having noticed this also puts in a determined face, touching her forehead against yours.

"Of course we will."

Mø-lŸ Lucien

When you met up with the Nein again things were still tense, you being the sorta bridge between both parties to try and keep things from going too far south. It was a lot for one kid to handle but you certainly tried your best, now everyone was spending the night in Caleb’s magic tower, something else you missed out on the first time around. As much as you wanted to interact with the Nein and see how they were doing, Lucien was still very adamant on keeping you close to his side. As nice as it was to know a part of him still cared about you, something the Nein tried to question him on with little results, it could get a bit overbearing. Taking a moment you close your eyes, lean against a wall and slide down into a sitting position, you then feel something get placed in your lap as a second presents joins you. You open your eyes again to of course see Lucien had joined you then look down at the odd book he gave you.

"What’s this?" You ask staring at the book curiously.

"I feel I’ve been unfair with ya. Ye’ve well proven to have earned me trust so I figure it about time I share something with ya." Lucien brings you in closer to him and opens the book, which you can see is written in undercommon. "Are ye able to understand what this says?" He questions you.

"Hardly, I only know some basic words in undercommon." You say after you’ve examine the words on the page trying to decipher what it all said.

"That’s alright, this is really what I wanted to show ya anyways." He flips through several pages until he reaches one with odd designs and symbols on it. You suddenly feel memorized, unable to look away from the page, studying each design and crazy scrawling of words. He flips to another page similar to the first… then another… and another… finally he closes the book, breaking you from the little trance you were in. "I think that should be enough." He comments, a little ominously.

"Enough of what?" You look at him confused.

"Don’t worry yerself about it. It’s gettin' late anyway, best get some rest for tomorrow little one." You blink a few times, still very confused as to what all that was about but decide to just leave it for now and try and get some sleep…

You find yourself floating alone in this cold, dark, endless void, was this some sort of dream? You know you tried to fall asleep but now you were here, wherever here was. Through the void a thin crack forms, giving off a menacing red glow before opening into a large eye that seems to look at you, through you and around you all at once. You can only stare back unsure of what to do and a little scared, then a voice… no, a thought enters your head.

"Welcome…" It echos around your head, alongside a strange humming sound as you become linked to this thing. You were shaking, terrified of what this was and unsure of what it wanted, then another thought is placed and echoed into your head by this thing. "Do not fret… young one… we’ve been expecting you…" We? Expected? What was any of this supposed to mean? Symbols and markings similar to those from the book Lucien showed you flash before your eyes, the humming now sounding more like distant, desperate screams. The eye closes…

You jolt yourself awake, taking in deep breaths to calm yourself as best as possible, running your hands down your face to try and get a grip of whatever just happened. When you pull them away you notice a faint red glow on your left palm, rubbing a bit of sleep from your eyes you see a red eye tattoo staring back at you. You run your thumb over the mark and bring your hand in closer to your chest as you finally look up and around the dark room, (e/c) orbs landing on crimson ones staring back. You look down at your palm then back up at Lucien, through the dark you faintly see a smile creep onto his face as he raises his own palm with a similar eye on it.

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thingsmollymaukwouldwear · 3 years

Note

The Nein on a minecraft survival server:

Fjord: builder who dabbles in redstone but never utilises it in his base because his base is a big ol' ship he built in a warm ocean biome and water + redstone = no more redstone. His sword is enchanted to fuck and he specifically requested Caleb put depth strider on his boots and respiration on his helmet so he can better build his base up in the water without drowning (again)

Beau: mob resource gatherer. Against all advice, she fights barehanded. Which you'd think would never work but she's still managed to fight the ender dragon almost singlehandedly and only died 7 times in the process. Her base is a treehouse and she gets into it via vines rather than ladders. She hates having to wear armour but after dying 20 times to the dragon trying to do it completely armourless she gave in.

Caleb: Redstoner. The enchanter of the team, he's got a pretty great mob farm to keep his levels up, but he originally had an afk fish farm before they stopped working. His base is a really cool tower with a nether portal that lets him get to his industrial area where all his farms are.

Nott/Veth: Potion maker: Caleb helped her build a huge fuck-off autobrewer that's like. The size of multiple chunks. But she still has a manual setup in her base; a cozy little cottage in a forest biome.

Jester: Builder. Her base is a really cute little birch-dominant cottage with haybales for the roof located in a flower fields biome. All her builds are really cute and pretty and she's got every tameable animal that she can get her leetle bloo hands on.

Molly: Builder. Not a single of his builds is understated, it's all incredibly gaudy and Extra™, making good use of the really brightly coloured concrete. He doesn't understand redstone and he doesn't want to; he's way too pretty to worry about that shit.

Caduceus: Potion maker and terraformer. He doesn't really Have his own base, so he lives with Jester. He's got his own little corner of the server with a bunch of beehives with a tiny hut where he can chill when things get Too Much.

Yasha: Terraformer. Her base is in a flower forest, and it's a humble little cottage starter house. She's got a big beautiful garden that she made for her wife.

You’ve heard of thingsmollymaukwouldwear, now get ready for thingsmollymaukwouldbuild

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cankarmawrite · 3 years

Text

Undercover AU - Planning

So far, Beau had considered her mission a success.

She’d been laying low in a Milan safe-house after completing a covert information recovery mission. There had been some brief firefight after tripping an alarm she hadn’t noticed before, but Beau made it out of the diplomat’s villa with the information she was tasked with retrieving and her life. That was all she could really ask for at the end of the day, and for now, it was enough.

After downloading the information from the small device- a Jester Lavorre original- she began the tedious process of encrypting the data with her personal cipher. About 45 minutes into her encryption, a small notification flashed in the corner of her screen. Something had set off one of the various motion detectors around the safe-house. Her fingers stilled on the keyboard and pulled up the camera feeds for the property. Something- or someone- moved just at the edges of the back patio camera’s field of view.

Her senses immediately when on high alert, hand reaching for the pistol strapped to the bottom of the desk where she sat. Beau was certain she hadn’t been followed all the way here, and none of her fellow agents were supposed to approach because she’d activated the signal that meant it was in use. This had to be someone else.

Beau completed the familiar process of checking her gun over. The weight of the metal and roughness of the grip comforted her as she crouched and approached one of the windows from the side. Even with the wooden blinds drawn shut, there was still a thin area between each slat where she could peer out at the world safely.

When she was sure nothing was there, Beau exhaled a slow breath and began to move to the next window, flicking the kitchen lights on as she went to draw attention away from the direction she was moving. She thought about checking the camera feeds again, but was stopped by a slow, patterned knock at the front door.

It wasn’t a pattern used by the CIA, but somehow it was still familiar to her. As she approached the front door, gun held aloft and steady, Beau clicked the safety off and rolled her shoulders to relax them. She always pulled her shots when her body got too tense in the heat of the moment.

She must’ve taken long enough to answer the intruder’s knocking because the pattern was repeated again, this time a little more forcefully. Something clicked in her brain the second time she heard the pattern, a distant fuzzy memory from her chaotic Amsterdam mission three years ago.

“It can’t be…”

The whisper escaped before she could think to hold it back. Her usually steady hands shook as she undid multiple locks on the front door before throwing it open without care or caution.

Holy fuck, it is her.

“Beau…I finally found you.”

That’s all Yasha had the energy to say before she collapsed in a bloodied heap on Beau’s doorstep, the various weapons hidden across her body clanking loudly as her body hit the stone tile floor.

“Yash!”

Beau immediately rushed to the injured woman’s side, taking a moment to look over the state her former...friend was in.

Yasha looked like she’d been through hell and back. Dark bruises and various scrapes were covering the pale expanse of skin exposed by the black tank top she wore. Beau noticed wetness pooling at her knee and grunted as she flipped Yasha on her side to see what was producing all this blood.

There was a deep bullet wound in Yasha’s lower back bleeding steadily, which made her think the other woman had removed the projectile some time ago and hadn’t stopped to patch herself up. The bullet wound wasn’t what caught Beau’s attention though.

With an uneasy feeling rising in her stomach, Beau began bunching Yasha’s shirt up to expose more of her back, and more of what Beau thought she’d seen.

Scars. Tons of them crisscrossing Yasha’s back in a jagged patchwork of raised pink skin and faded white lines. Most of them were new, which brought tears to her eyes. What had Yasha been through in the years since she’d left Beau alone in a hotel room in Paris with nothing but a hastily scribbled note on her pillow?

Beau shook herself from her memories and rose to fetch the medical kit from the bathroom, her blood-covered hands fumbling with supplies as she grabbed anything she could think of to help save Yasha.

After a few minutes of cleaning and packing the few deepest wounds, Beau sat back on her heels and looked over her handy work. She’d stitched a few things up the best she could, but her sutures were nowhere near as good as what Caduceus would have done. The neatness of stitches aside, she was fairly sure Yasha would survive the night.

Beau didn’t sleep that whole night.

---

That happened days ago. She’d returned to the US with a very nervous Yasha by her side, bringing the woman into the CIA with her where the former Angel of Irons Operative had announced her intentions to defect and requested asylum. The Directors of the CIA had flat out refused to help. They didn't even grant Yasha asylum, simply their assurance that no action would be taken against her by the CIA while she was on American soil. Beau was obviously upset by this and, after verbally berating the Directors, had received a suspension of her field privileges.

Beau took two days of leave to make sure Yasha was safe and being looked after by trusted friends. When she returned, it was like watching a storm cloud tear through the office. She scowled and snapped at friendly faces, disobeyed simple orders, and told off the Directors...again.

Now Dairon was watching Beau in the training room as she sparred with some newer agents, though spar was a generous word in this case. The senior agent could tell Beau was taking her anger at the Directors out on the younger agents she was supposed to be mentoring. They’d decided to step in and allow Beau to work some frustration out, but hadn’t been ready for the fury behind Beau’s strikes. She was sloppier than normal, had let in a few hits that normally would have been easy blocks, things that concerned Dairon immensely.

“Do you remember the oath you took?”

Beau does, of course, but she doesn’t give Dairon any indication that she’s heard them. After gritting her teeth, Beau's fists fly forwards in a quick series of jabs aimed at some of the trigger points Dairon drilled into her head early on, though the blows are easily deflected by the seasoned fighter.

"You're acting like a love-sick teen."

She wants to throw a punch at Dairon for that comment, but she doesn’t. Instead, she lifts her chin defiantly and swipes at her nose with a single taped hand. Crimson immediately spreads across the white material wrapped there. Dairon shakes their head and deflects more sloppy hooks and uppercuts.

“You’re being reckless. You’re better than this Beauregard.”

This time Beau crouches and feints a sweep of Dairon’s legs- which her mentor falls for- before launching herself up at Dairon with a quick one-two combo that catches them in their solar plexus and across the jaw.

Her fist is pulled back to strike again when Dairon dives at Beau’s knees and sends them both tumbling to the mat below. The younger agent squirms underneath, attempting to break Dairon’s pin with a variety of techniques. When learned techniques fail, Beau resorts to just blindly trying to land a hit. One flailing limb strikes Dairon where a bullet recently passed through and they hiss in pain before moving to pin Beau’s fists by her head.

“Enough Beauregard! Enough...”

The agent above her was breathing heavily from the exertion of the fight. They still hadn’t been officially cleared by medical staff for training, but Dairon felt a personal responsibility for Beau's well-being and that meant making sure their young friend didn't make any rash decisions.

Beau finally gives in with a shout of frustration and lets her head fall back against the mat. Her usually bright blue gaze is dark with frustration and heavy with tears that refuse to fall.

"I have to do something Dai...I can't stay silent knowing what I do about the Angel of Irons."

Darion sighed as they stood, grimacing in pain as they offered a hand to Beau. “Please don’t throw your career...your life away for some trivial-”

The younger woman ignored Dairon's offered hand and instead executed a kip-up that would have made her mentor proud any other day. Beau was so familiar with the physics of the move and the strength of her own body that it hardly took any conscious thought. Beau was in Dairon's face the moment their feet hit the mat again, blue eyes blazing with a determination the older agent hadn't seen in a while.

“You don’t get to decide what’s trivial to me Dairon. I’m going to do the right thing, even if the agency won’t support me.“

Dairon’s eyes hold an expression of quiet regret and something that might be fear, but Beau doesn’t stay long enough to psychoanalyze. She hears her former mentor call after her once, but Beau doesn't spare a glance back.

The sound of the metal doors slamming shut behind Beauregard's retreating form echoes in Dairon’s mind for months.

---

“Beau, are you sure about this? You know we support you one hundred percent, but this could be suicide if we aren’t prepared.”

The woman in question turned to Fjord with a sigh, he was one of the people she’d known longest in this business. A talented former Navy Seal who’d left the service after one of his teammates sold information to the enemy and helped lead an attack on the base where his teammates slept. Fjord’s mentor, Vandren, had been killed during the raid on their compound, and Fjord had nearly lost his own life as well.

“Then we’ll be prepared Fjord, we can’t sit here and do nothing. The CIA flat out refused to help even though Yasha was requesting asylum.” She frowned and took a steadying breath, now was not the time to lose her temper...again.

“I won’t reveal everything I know about the Angel of Irons, that’s Yasha’s story to tell, but I will tell you that I will still try to do this, even if none of you come.”

The half-orc frowned at that and laid a friendly hand on Beau’s tense shoulder, “You are not going alone, Beau. I believe you...I just don’t want this to be a repeat of Am-”

“Yeah yeah yeah, Amsterdam. That wasn’t totally my fault-”

“The car in the canal Beau.”

“Hey! There was no one in the other car and I paid for the damages myself.” She huffed, brushing Fjord’s hand off her shoulder as she moved back towards the center of the room where planning was already in progress.

Another set of hands settled on Beau’s shoulders as she took a seat in a folding chair by the blueprints that were already covered in scribble and symbols from various people. This time they were blue and smelled faintly of burnt wiring and gunpowder.

“Beauuu...Fjord is just being a party-pooper. I already have some super cool things in the workshop, aaaand Veth and I still haven’t found a system in the world that can keep us out so this will be easy-peasy.” Jester chattered happily away in Beau’s ear as she used those magical thumbs to massage all of the tension from her shoulders.

After a few minutes of listening to Jester talk about the latest system updates she installed to help this operation run more smoothly, how her mother was doing, and what kinds of cereal she'd bought to stock the safehouse, Beau patted one of Jester's hands twice to signal that she was okay now.

"Thanks, Jessie."

"Oh! Caddy said that Yasha was patched up all nicely before he left. She's been sleeping for a while so you should go check on her." This statement was accompanied by a very heavy-handed wink from Jester, which of course drew an exaggerated eye-roll from Beau.

"I'm going, I'm going."

Jester's devious snickers followed Beau as she headed upstairs to check on Yasha, wholly unaware of the small post-it note on her back that said, "Kiss me."

#undercover au #spy au #beauyasha #beauregard lionett #yasha nydoorin #jester lavorre #fjord stone #caduceus clay #expositor dairon #cia #critical role fanart #writing stuff #critical role writing

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chaos-burst · 3 years

Note

i saw u were still taking requests so 43 or 48 for fjorclay :00 can u tell I love their height difference

43. A kiss pressed to the top of the head. 48. One person has to bend down in order to kiss their partner, who is standing on their tip-toes to reach their partner’s.

[ID: a gif of the two male protagonists from the animated movie El Dorado nodding each other and saying “Both? Both? Both. Both is good”. End ID]

Fjord isn’t exactly sure how it happened.

And at this point he’s definitely too afraid to ask.

The first time it happened was directly after Fjord almost died and Caduceus pulled the yellow stone out of his body. Fjord remembers the pain and the rain dripping into his armor and then a soft press of lips onto the top of his head.

He was so distracted he almost missed it. Later, when he lay in bed he was sure that he imagined it. But it keeps happening.

A soft kiss on the cheek. Another one on the top of his head. A kiss on his goddamn hand that makes him do an embarrassing kind of wheezing noise about which Beau laughs for over an hour every time she looks at him.

Fjord could swear that Caduceus sits closer to him, too. And touches him more. Like a brush of fingers to get a strand of hair out of Fjord’s face. Or a gentle touch on his arm, asking if he needs healing.

Fjord is at the same time very good and very bad with people.

Talking to people is no problem at all.

Reading and understanding people? Definitely his least favorite thing.

He’s not sure what prompted all this, but the kisses and the touching and the closeness keep happening.

It’s not like Fjord minds, per se. In fact, he very much enjoys all of this, but it does make having a crush on your fellow follower of the Wildmother a little difficult.

Every kiss feels like a very pleasant punch in the stomach. He can’t even make fun of Beau anymore when she turns into a stammering mess whenever Yasha looks at her sideways. But at least Beau doesn’t have to deal with Yasha pressing soft kisses on top of her head.

It feels nice, though. Protective and soft at the same time.

At some point Fjord can’t take it anymore.

“Hey, Beau”, he says one night while they’re taking first watch.

“What’s up?”

“So, um. About Caduceus”, he starts and Beau snorts and grins and punches his arm.

“Yeah, good job, man.”

Fjord stares at her. He doesn’t know what exactly he did a good job at, but somehow he feels like everyone knows something that he doesn’t, so he doesn’t ask what he originally wanted to ask.

“Thanks”, he says, without knowing what he’s thanking Beau for.

It all comes crashing down in Eiselcross as the big Goliath lady in the meat shop starts hitting on Caduceus and Fjord feels like taking one of the meat hooks from the ceiling and making some shashlik out of this woman.

Caduceus smiles as pleasantly oblivious as always and then.

“Oh, thanks, this is so nice, but I--uh. I already have a boyfriend.”

And he turns around and gestures at Fjord.

The meat lady looks at him as if she considers whether or not half-orc meat is tasty enough to sell. Yasha looks at Fjord with a confused look on her face that tells him that at the very least he isn’t the only person who doesn’t understand what’s going on.

Maybe Caduceus is doing this to get out of the whole situation. Then he remembers how Beau said ‘Good job, man.’.

Um.

“What?”

Now everyone is staring at him. Including Caduceus. Which.

Fjord thinks that something very terrible is happening right now and he doesn’t understand what exactly it is.

“Wait. What? You’re boyfriends?”, Yasha asks.

“No”, Fjord says at the same time Caduceus says “Yes”.

There is a very awkward silence until the meat lady says “You could’ve just said no, you know.” and Fjord decides that he should better leave this whole situation and maybe go bury himself in the snow.

He knows that he can only hide for so long, but Fjord isn’t exactly the best at dealing with feelings so he takes a long walk through the snow to clear his head. But of course Caduceus finds him.

“So, uh. I wanted to apologize for that whole thing back there. I talked to Jester and maybe, uh. Maybe I misunderstood some things and that usually doesn’t happen to me. But I want to apologize for making you uncomfortable. That was not my intention.”

Fjord looks at him. It doesn’t take a talent to read people to see that Caduceus looks sad and very apologetic. His heart feels like it’s going to burst out of his ribcage at any second.

“No, I--uh. I guess I didn’t realize...”--that you felt the same way about me.

“I read you wrong, and that is entirely on me, so don’t worry about it happening again”, Caduceus says, raises his hands in a gesture of surrender and does a sort of half bow.

Wow. Fjord really fucked this up spectacularly.

“You didn’t”, he finally manages to get out and his own voice sounds foreign to his ears.

“Didn’t what?”, Caduceus asks and stands up straight again. He still looks sad. Fjord hates it when Caduceus is sad.

“Didn’t read me wrong”, he answers and takes three steps through the snow, grabs Caduceus by the front of his coat and pulls him down to kiss him straight on the mouth. If he stands on tiptoes because Caduceus is just so damn huge then no one has to know about it.

When he pulls away to search Caduceus’ face for discomfort or lingering sadness, Caduceus raises his hand and touches the corner of his mouth.

“Oh”, he says and a soft smile spreads across his face that has Fjord’s insides do a whole dance routine. “Wow, that was nice.”

“Yeah”, Fjord rasps.

“Can we do that again?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

“And does that mean that we are, in fact, boyfriends now?”, Caduceus asks, seemingly concerned that he misunderstood the situation. Fjord feels his cheeks heat up.

“Yeah, I--uh. Yeah. It does.”

#fjordclay #fjorduceus #critical role #critfic #fanfiction #fjord #caduceus clay #screeching into the void #text #cheesy tropes while at work is the only thing that will save me this november i guess #love me some person a thinks they're dating and person b doesnt get it

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brenbrennn · 1 year

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𝘞𝘪𝘱 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘯 𝘶𝘱𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵!!

Hi hello! This is gonna be part of a request I’m doing that has been sitting in my inbox. One of them that I’ve been spending a lot of my time on. Though the headcannons list will have more characters included.

Thankfully , I have been getting more things under control with deadlines. So I’ll be starting to post things I have planned and fixing up a couple other parts of my account. Wish me luck yall that nothing else annoying comes up. On to the work in progress!! ➜

⇢ ˗ˏˋ ᴄᴀʟᴇʙ ᴡɪᴅᴏɢᴀꜱᴛ ࿐ྂ ･ That night originally was so peaceful , staring out at the moon lit sky with some of your other friends. Though as you conversed , you never expected to have everything get turned upside down. It was all so fast , not being able to call for the others happily asleep tore you apart. ･ Trying to fight off your captors was a struggle , you thinking the four of you could easily get away. But no , you overstepped and it ended in the bunch of you getting taken away. Not without some battering in the process. ･ You didnt know where you were , trying so hard to break free from the manacles that trapped you. Never stopping to find a way out. Your fighting senses were not very much welcomed by your captors. They picked right through you and your friends. ･ Sadly you got dealt the short end of the stick with Yasha. Spending a majority of your time being captured , getting your absolute shit rocked. All of it was a blur , only remembering the beating that came to you. ･ The coldness of the stone under you welcomed you into sleep. Staying unconscious with Yasha as well due to the Shepherds. If you WERE conscious , you would have known of the entrance of your friend plus a couple newbies coming in to save you and the others. ･ After they dealt with everything , and were able to open up Jester and Fjords cell they found you and Yasha’s. The others decided to have a search around the Iron Shepherd’s base , Caleb decided to sit that out. Instead staying behind with the “out like a light” you and Yasha. ･ Seeing you , so hurt and bruised sent something through him. With how much he’s known you (I imagine the same as much as he’s known Nott) , it sent a feeling of urgency through him. It wasn't like he was scared shitless before , but that made him feel that pit plummet, ･Laying there as the others went to go search around , he couldn't stop looking over at you. Those embers grew more and more , becoming a fire in his chest. What was this? , he hadn't really felt it in a while. What was this urgency? You were another one of his companions , why was he feeling all warm on the inside? ･Just like with Astrid and Eadwolf before , that fire enclosed in his torso blazed to high heaven. This stood out to him , and the repeating's of “no no no no…” trailed along in his avoidant mind. He could bare to rid you with the burden of him being in-love with you. A lot had happen in only a couple days , which led him to lie to himself. ･He halted his flooding in paranoia to a stop. Taking a breath in , he can think about this later and let it tare him apart. Now he just has to wait for the others to come back. He went on to clear his mind , rattling on now to the unconscious Yasha next to him. It could all be solved with time.

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thatcrazychalupa · 3 years

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Chapter 1

Fjord had many surnames: Stone, Tusktooth, Swiftblade, Sea demon, and a few more colorful unflattering ones. He was born in the Dwendalian Empire, his first memories being a slightly run down but functional orphanage. Life was hard there, but not unduly cruel. However, he was not allowed to stay long as the Empire began a crusade against any they deemed heathenistic enough not to be welcome in their Empire.

Being half orc in blood, and showing that side visibly in his appearance, Fjord was forced to flee the orphanage and the empire when he was ten years of age. He found refuge on the seas, the captain of the ship "Hellwinds" allowing him to join the crew. For the next ten years he had been a sailor. During that time, the crusade in the Empire ended but the prejudice did not. Fjord soon found his allegiance siding with the Xhorasian Dynasty, especially when the prejudice turned to war with his new found home.

Long, bitter, harsh years followed; the war dealt heavy blows on both sides of the conflict with neither looking to become a victory anytime soon. Fjord led a group of warriors in the last two years that had made a name for themselves both in the Dynasty and the Empire. Somehow they picked up the name Mighty Nine from some one with a strange accent, and it had simply stuck. They were a mixed number of people from both sides of the conflict, all banding together with the common goal of ending the bloodshed.

Fjord, the half-orc warlock, had been elected as leader (generally just in public as the group was close enough to call each other family) and was viewed as Xhorasian in origin. He was still dealing with problems regarding his patron, yet the war had proven distraction enough in recent times. Mollymauk and Yasha were also viewed as Xhorasian in origin. Mollymauk was a Tiefling, vibrantly purple and ostentatious in dress, and a Bloodhunter by trade. Yasha was a fallen Aisimar barbarian, her size, milky skin and black hair enough cause for most any of the Empire to dismiss her.

Caduceus and Jester were considered neutral in the conflict, both from regions uninvolved in the fighting. As a Firbolg, Caduceus was better accepted on the Empire side despite his white pallor and bright pink hair. Meanwhile, Jester as a short blue Tiefling was better accepted by the Dynasty. As the clerics of the group, that had made it easier for them to gain trust of the others when they had initially joined.

Nott was a goblin, hated by both sides but her skills as a Rogue made navigating that minefield of danger possible.

Lastly, their one member from the Empire, Beauregard. A human expositor from the Cobalt Soul, the monk had been an invaluable asset during the last few weeks preceding the peace talks. While the Cobalt Soul was part of the empire and supported it, they had their own agenda that, thankfully, involved an end to the bloodshed.

The group now resided in a keep that was situated close to the main pass that connected the Dynasty and the Empire. As a mix of both sides, they were the front line for assuring peace and keeping any thoughts of invasion far from becoming reality.

Apparently, however, King Dwendal thought their numbers skewed too far in favor of the Dynasty. Thus, the group had gathered in what had been a war room but was now called a conference room instead.Fjord laid the message out on the tabletop, tapping it once as he announced the contents without preamble. It was the easiest way to get the rather chaotic group’s attention. "As a sign of their commitment to the peace, the Empire is giving us one of their Archmages."

There was a sharp outcry of 'what' and 'why' and Fjord held up a hand to still any arguments as he continued. "Her majesty did mention this as a possibility." He reminded them, speaking of the Bright Queen. "Most of us are from the Dynasty, it’s not so strange they want another representative of the Empire."

"But an archmage? Fjord, you have to admit, that is a little suspicious." Nott argued.

"Our group isn’t just a figurehead." Caduceus reminded the goblin. "We guard the pass and the villages around it. We show that both sides can fight together, not just against each other. It makes sense someone with battle capabilities would join our number."

"Better someone who can fight than some political liability we have to look after at all times." Fjord agreed, attention turning to Beau as the monk shook her head and leaned forward to speak.

"Unless things have changed dramatically in the last year since I've been away, mages aren’t well respected in the Empire and they don’t have much political power. There are a couple at the top, in charge of the assembly, that do. But the rest..." Beauregard shrugged.

"That could have easily changed. The last few months of fighting involved a lot of mages on their side." Molly reminded them. "Some of them leading the charge."

"Because they were running out of soldiers, same as us." Nott interjected.

"Exactly." Beau took up again, giving a brief nod of agreement. "Otherwise I doubt King Dwendal would have let them lead in the last few battles like they did."

"Okay, we don’t have to worry about this mage being sent for political reasons then." Fjord commented, trying to corral the discussion to stay on topic. "Much as I would love to trust it's for the continued peace and nothing more, there’s still the possibility he's a spy, here as a strategic way for the Empire to get some advantage before restarting the war."

Their group had worked hard to help bring about this ceasefire, Fjord did not want their hard work undone by one bloodthirsty Empire Archmage.

"You always say the best way to get to know someone is in battle, why don’t we do that?" Jester asked, breaking Fjord from his thoughts.

"That might not be the best idea." Caduceus negated. "The peace is too new and fragile. Even practice combat might be taken the wrong way."

"And accidents do happen. I don’t trust them not to make that claim if someone were hurt or killed during the spar." Nott agreed, also concerned with the possibility of war reigniting. Lack of political power or not, the Empire mages were fierce and ruthless in battle, as Nott has witnessed firsthand more than once.

"There’s been rumours of a pack of dire wolves over near the Gandre Forest. Killing sheep, pets, small children. Anything of a size that gets close." Molly offered. "I'm sure we'll get a request soon, that could be our test run?"

Fjord's gaze drifted over to Nott. The best thing about their group was that, while he was technically the leader, they were all close enough that they all viewed each other as equals. Each person had their own strengths and weakness, and they respected each other for that.

The goblin nodded. "I'll verify if it's true and get a location. Or find something else if it is not."

"Thank you." Fjord said, then leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

"Fjord, don't worry." Yasha spoke up, leaning forward with a concerned expression. "If this mage causes any problems, we can just kill him"

Fjord huffed a short laugh. Yasha's brand of humor (and he hoped it was a joke, though many times only Molly was ever truly sure when she was joking) was always unexpected. "Let's try and avoid that, but thanks."

"I'm sure killing is unnecessary." Molly offered, the Tiefling’s fangs showing through his wide grin. "I'm sure Beauregard would be more than willing to straighten this mage out on who gives the orders here."

Surprisingly to both Fjord and Molly, Beau neither agreed nor laughed, just frowned deeper with an irate grunt.

Fjord sat up again, remembering that the Cobalt Soul and the Cerberus Assembly, where the entirety of the Empire mages were trained, were not on good terms. "Beau, you gonna be okay with this?"

Beau met his gaze and nodded slowly. "Yeah. Personally, I haven’t had much interaction with the Assembly. Bunch of stuck up pricks run the place. So long as we aren’t saddled with one of those assholes, I'll manage. If the point is starting the war again, makes sense they'd pick a freaking mage..." she growled.

Fjord wasn’t entirely convinced of her anger. There was a hint of doubt, a held back judgement for whoever the newest member of the group might be. Fjord took that as a good sign that, hopefully, this wouldn't be too much like throwing gunpowder on a blaze.

He took in a breath as he laid out the final tidbit of information. "They'll be here in one week. Master Trent Ikithon is escorting the Archmage here. The letter doesn't give a name but does mention he had seen battle during the fighting."

"It’s this other guy, not Trent, that's staying, right?" Beau asked.

Fjord nodded confirmation and Beauregard leaned back in her chair with a muttered 'good'. The monk didn’t look too interested in sharing if she had any concerns, so Fjord let her be. There were enough preparations to make without antagonizing the monk.

~~~

Caleb Widogast was not what one would call an imposing figure.

His hair was a dirty red, disheveled most of the time even when he made an attempt at making some order out of its chaos. Perhaps the chaos was within his own mind, thus the reason for his continued failure in such regard. His clothing was deceptively ornate, though if one were a purveyor of such it could easily be recognized as subpar material.

The Cerberus Assembly had wanted to display their wealth and power, yet fine linens were not wasted on war dogs such himself. Mages were to be of use, not to decorate the court. It made little sense to robe the mage in lavish clothing when he was simply to be of use in combat. Of course, some had argued that a gift must be properly adorned, and as such a middle ground had been reached.

Whether this truly had been the events that led to his current delivery to the Mighty Nine, Caleb did not know. He was not privy to the discussion and subsequent decision, nor was he informed of the following discussion of logistics. He could only surmise what had occurred given his current circumstance.

Three days he had been traveling with his Master, Trent Ikithon, with still two more days left in the journey.

He did wonder about those he was being delivered to. He did have some inkling of who they were, the Mighty Nine were famous within the empire. Caleb was unsure if their name was meant to be the common nine or the Zemnian word, something he pondered during the journey, given the number of individuals in the group was only currently seven. Even should they feel the need to include his name among their number, it would not add up.

Whether they would view him as worth such, he was unsure.Most of them were from Xhorhas, so Caleb had little idea what to expect of them. He had no frame of reference for how the Dynasty viewed mages, nor where he would fall on the social ladder. His excursions into Xhorhas had been for battle purposes only and he'd had no permission to explore the culture. The Nine had, apparently, accepted the offer of himself, though Caleb knew this was no accurate measure of their intent.

Whatever his standing with them, he did not presume it would be very high, especially given the human monk, expositor Beauregard, that was a part of the group. To say the Cobalt Soul did not like the Cerberus Assembly, nor the mages it produced, was an understatement. While Caleb had only experienced this prejudice through cold looks and avoidance, he often heard of less subtle actions from Master Ikithon. He had begun to have doubts as to the validity of all of the information Trent imparted to him, yet had no other frame of reference to the truth.

From the information that had come his way regarding Beauregard, the woman was a formidable force. Opinionated and headstrong some had described her. Caleb had little doubt her views would not be hidden, and had likely been spread to the others. He hoped that would not be the case. It was... difficult living and obeying Master Ikithon who's actions and instructions were (so the man oft claimed) for Caleb's own good. He did not look forward to trying to please those who held his very existence against him.

Conjecture did little good and often led his mind down a dark path he would rather not follow. He was to follow the orders of his 'new masters' as Master Ikithon had so in-delicately put it. Trent had not been pleased to have his prized pupil taken from him, though he had been quick to devise a way to turn the situation to his advantage. Above obeying the group, Caleb had a separate set of instructions from his Master. Trent was not a man to lay out all his plans, so currently Caleb knew only that he was to gain the trust of these people, prove his loyalty however possible, and wait.

Easy enough, as he would have done so in any case. Obedience and loyalty were key to survival. Should the group be displeased with him, he would be returned to the Empire, to Trent, and his failure would not go unpunished. The thought made his heartbeat quicken in his chest, Caleb sneaking a quick glance at his master, paranoid that Trent would somehow see the weakness inside of him.

The other man, however, remained seating with his gaze cast outside of the carriage. His gaze was sharp, calculating, and Caleb knew he was not idle during this long trip to the keep. Whatever his Master planned; Caleb was sure to learn his part in it in due time.

Caleb turned his gaze out the small window as well, letting his eyes roam over the open terrain as they moved steadily closer to where he would be staying for the indefinite future.

#critical role #ao3 fanfic #fanfic #angst fanfic #completed #mollymauk x caleb

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eloquent-vowel · 3 years

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Masterlist

Masterlist of all my posts!

Fictober2020:

01/10: “No, Come back.” Original Work. - Short stories from Mo.

02/10: “Sometimes you can even see.” -Haikyuu!!. Yamaguchi x Tsukishima- the haunting of Tsukishima Kei

03/10: “I’m not doing that again” - Haikyuu!!. Yamaguchi x Tsukishima

04/10: “That’s the easy part” Critical role- Veth x Yeza - Caught between two families

05/10: “Give me a minute, or an hour!” Critical Role. Fjord x Jester- Wedding Jitters.

06/10: “I told you so” Critical role. Percy x Vex- Lessons in Archery

07/10: “Back up!” Haikyuu!! Cop!Daichi x Criminal!Suga - Sapphire Ring

08/10: “Just say it” The Witcher, Geralt x non-human! Jaskier- Discovery

10/10: “All I ever wanted.” Haikyuu!!. Iwa x Oikawa - He’s enchanting when he practises

11/10: “I never wanted anything else.” Critical role. Yasha- I never wanted anything else.

#043- Bucky x Original Female Character

Description: She was raised in Hydra, trained to be the most powerful soldier, built to be the only threat to the Winter Soldier in case they ever needed to contain the Asset. The one thing they did not account for was the two of them making a connection and for #043 to wish to find her own identity.

Masterlist

Oneshots and Requests

Bucky x reader:

Hurt/comfort: Reader is from the red room, panics and Bucky comforts her

Telepathic! Reader X Bucky, They/them, gender neutral

Prompt lists

50 random prompts

30 Autumn Prompts

#Masterlist #eloquent-vowel #Eloquent-vowel's masterlist #fanfic #fic #haikyuu!!#critical role #the witcher #writing

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nicodranas · 4 years

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Ouran High School Host Club AU, Because Travis, Taliesin, and Laura were all in it and again quarantine is frying my brain

Fjord is the hapless scholarship student who wanders into the clubroom and is imediately tricked into joining by Mollymauk. Everyone tries to find him a "type" to play before they reilize he's just naturally charming.

Mollymauk is the leader of the club and the most flamboyant over the top flirt anyone has ever met. Hes the one that comes up with their themes and schemes. Hes also the one who dispences with the "girls only" client tradition.

Beau is Mollymauks rival within the club, as they both want to be playing the Prince role. She's more of a brash and tactless prince type, but the girls eat it up.

Jester is the Cute type who is the most popular host after the tied Molly and Beau. Her adorable tricksy antics could steal the heart of near anyone (including her clubmates).

Caleb is the Cool type who is actually quite invisible outside of the club but is quite the charmer when he takes off his glasses and gets into character. Hes also a scholarship student, though there are rumors he used to be at the exclusive Soltryce Academy.

Yasha is the Strong and Stoic type and has a small but passionate following of regulars who enjoy the prospect of being manhandled and theorize about what sort of tragic past she might have.

Nott is a regular at the club who originally comes to talk exclusively to Caleb, but with the help of Jester and the rest of the group she breaks down her walls and it turns out she really just wanted some friends.

Caduceus kind of just shows up one day not reilizing what he's wandered into. Once the group reilizes he's a really good cook they swear him in as a member. Surprisingly enough people do request his company, he makes a lot of people cry (in a good way).

#critical role #the mighty nein #pc #au #ouran high school host club #jester #caleb widogast #nott the brave #beauregard #fjord #mollymauk #yasha

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moderndaybard · 4 years

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CRInktober 2020 Day #18

Tea: Comings and Goings

(Fic for @crinktober’s 2020 prompt list)

-----

It is not your average child who waits quietly but nonetheless eagerly for the day they are deemed ‘old enough’ to join in the near-ritual of family tea, but even in this most unusual of families, Caduceus was not an average child.

Calliope and Colton were still difficult to wrangle into sitting still for even a few moments. But as soon as Constance placed the cup in her then-youngest’s hands, the young firbolg closed his eyes and breathed in the fragrant steam, a contended smile spreading across his face that looked almost comical on one so young.

(Of all the Clay siblings, Caduceus was the one most suited for quiet contemplation—in a way, she supposed, it made sense.)

-------

“Mother?”

Constance looked up from her packing at her third child’s voice to, see him lingering in the doorway. “What is it, sweetie?” Like the rest of the family, he’d seemed to accept the necessity of this quest and taken her coming departure in stride, but maybe there were doubts or thoughts he’d only express in private.

“I know that you and Corrin have to leave today, but I was wondering if I could make you a cup of tea before you go?”

Constance heard her sister come up behind her, but didn’t even have to look to know the answer. “That would be wonderful, Caduceus. And you’ll join us, of course.”

-------

Calliope said nothing as she watched her younger brother pour three mugs of tea; Cornelius closed his eyes and took a deep breath—probably trying to identify the family of origin. “You’ll keep an eye on them, won’t you?”

Caduceus looked to her, probably trying to spot the joke or the prank in her words, but there wasn’t any. Like his offer of this time, this pause, before they set out, the coming journey and its purpose felt too solemn for such games. This was a time for being more honest and direct.

“Of course I will,” he answered at last, passing each their mug. “All of them.” (The living and the dead.)

-------

By the time Colton and Clarabelle felt the call to venture out, the tradition was well and truly established, and the remaining three Clay’s sat on the temple steps, sharing one last pot of tea.

“You sure you’ll be alright on your own, Caduceus?”

Caduceus pulled a face—even among his siblings, no one got to him quite like Colton did—before turning deliberately to Clarabelle. “I’m counting on you to keep that one out of trouble.”

“You got it!” Clarabelle beamed up at him from the lower step, then stuck her tongue out at Colton. “So you better do what I say. Caduceus said so!”

Colton spluttered, nearly dropping his steaming cup. “What the—he did not—anyway, this is my quest, so you have to do what I say!”

“Your quest?” Clarabelle nearly screeched. “The Wildmother didn’t say that: we’ve all had signs!”

Caduceus held up his hands, forestalling a potentially hours-long argument. “You’ll have plenty of time to discuss Her leading when you’re on the road. For now, let’s not let the tea get cold…”

-------

He may have been the only one left (‘family tea’ was now simply ‘daily tea’), but still he clung to the routines and rituals fervently, and especially the tea (it grounded him, clamed him on even the worst and the hardest days.)

Days to weeks to months to years, and some days it was hard to remember a time before solitary teas.

But one day there was a clamor and a commotion in the graveyard, and Caduceus emerged, cup in hand, to see a goblin, two humans, a dwarf, and an unfamiliar firbolg on more-or-less his doorstep. His expression may not have changed much, but it took him a moment to throw off the shock, defaulting to his easiest form of hospitality, save for one slight difficulty…

“Huh. I think I only have three more cups. Hold on…”

-------

The Mighty Nein may not have had any sort of ‘daily tea’ ritual, but the others were always glad for a cup when he made some, and even came to request he make a pot after particularly trying adventures and other momentous occasions. Caduceus couldn’t remember which of them requested this one before he even suggested it—certainly they’d all been thinking of it, at least a little, in between their individual plans and arrangements.

And so they all sat, bags at their feet, and drank tea together one last time. (“Only it’s totally not the last time, you guys. I mean, we’re all going to be traveling to see each other all the time ‘cause we’re a super-tight family now; so we’ll definitely all have tea together again—real soon, I’ll bet,” Jester pointed out. “So technically, it’s not the last.”)

Caduceus had worked (and worked alone) in a graveyard for too long to assume that was necessarily true, but he kept his thoughts to himself—

—He knew very well by now what you did and didn’t say when saying ‘goodbye’.

-------

It was…strange, in a way, coming back to the Blooming Grove after so long away, to find it healthy and hearty again instead of the waning, sickly place he’d left. Strange, too, to come back to his family waiting for him, when the temple had been empty, solitary, for so long.

(And strangest of all was the feeling of empty space around him where they had just been. Wherever the coming years would take them—and bring them back to each other again and again and again—they weren’t here now, and he hadn’t yet adjusted to that.)

He was where he was supposed to be, and where he wanted to be, but a part of him was already homesick, even for their wandering lifestyle.

Caduceus met his mother’s eyes, saw understanding in her gentle smile, and let her lead him inside to a warm kitchen and a familiar table. He sat almost mechanically, still unsure of the words to express his current state, but knowing Constance wouldn’t push him.

She handed him a cup of tea, and he closed his eyes, breathing in the scent and relaxing, even into the confusion of the moment.

-------

So much time later, years turned to decades and more, a much-older firbolg sat alone in the graveyard, surrounded by his friends. They—and he—had come and gone again until all were gone (but him) and had come here, one last time. He was honored that each of the others had chosen the Blooming Grove as their resting place, and there was no responsibility the dutiful firbolg took such care with as the nurturing of these seven plots.

(Now, again, he had a daily ‘family tea time’, but most days, he only needed a single cup.)

They’d been good lives, Caduceus reflected as he sat and sipped. Good and full and beautiful and (miraculously, somehow) long ones, each for their kind. There was some sadness here, of course, but no regrets, and in that he’d found a peace, and, eventually, even happiness.

He took another sip, mouth quirking into a smile at the taste. There’d been countless debates among the Clay family about whether or not teas from different graves and even families ought to be mingled into different blends, but while each of these was something he would (and sometimes did) enjoy on their own, there was something to the way the saltiness of Fjord’s, the sweetness of Jester’s, the bold kick of Beau’s, the surprisingly gentle notes of Yasha’s, the smokiness and darkness that gave way to light flavors of Caleb’s, the brightness of Veth’s, and the ever-changing nature of Molly’s Lucien’s Molly’s all blended into a varied but cohesive flavor that he simply couldn’t resist.

“This is nice…”

-----

(Also on AO3, with my other ficlets—including last year’s)

#crinktober #crinktober 2020 #crinktober day 18 #critical role inktober #cr fanart #critical role fanart #critical role #crit role #critter #caduceus clay #my post #daily writing #writing challenge

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peach-the-owl · 3 years

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Hi! Hope you are having a great month! If possible can I make a request with a Godling (Godlings from The Witcher) Reader who travel with the Mighty Nein. How would having such a 'powerful' being (child-like) effect their relationship. Also, just as a guilty pleasure how would Lucien react to them-knowing their 'other' self raised/cared for them?

Since there isn’t much seen about godlings a few things will probably be a little more on the headcanon-y side of what I think they’re capable of. Hope you all enjoy regardless 😁

Godlings

Mighty Nein & Godling!Reader

Jester

Her childlike nature was what originally drew your attention to her, enjoying the little pranks she’d pull on unsuspecting folks you watched from a distance at first but drew in curiouser by the day. You were first discovered by the archfey that lingered near her who also liked to stay hidden, making a few rude comments when he practically shoved you into the open for her to see. When you got to know her better, you and Jester spent a lot of time singing songs together or causing absolute chaos, although you certainly were no follower to the "Traveler" and didn’t plan on it anytime soon. You were her new secret friend, always hiding yourself when another member of her party would come along. When you grew comfortable enough you finally decided you would join your friend on her adventures, much to Jester's delight. Everyone else was surprised by your sudden presence in the group, little was known to them about godlings aside from normally living in burrows, you argued that you were just a bird of a different feather.

Nott/Veth

The goblin reeked of an old crone's curse, you making that statement very clear when you hobble out of your burrow, scaring a few people in the group which you appropriately laughed at. At first they thought you could help break the curse on Nott, and while you did have means of breaking curses, this one in particular was cleverly crafted making it near impossible to break aside from the crone who placed it. You agreed to help them locate the witch seeing as you had nothing better to do and they promised food. Nott found you to be quite adorable with those big eyes and tended to be very motherly around you, now you could argue that you were much older then her but you weren’t going to pass up on this kind of free affection. When the curse was lifted you still decided to stick around wanting to see what all this trouble had been about. Newly freed from her curse, Veth still acted as a motherly figure towards you as she had before, and honestly you rather liked it sticking with her and blessing that good life be given to her family.

Caleb

Godlings were secretive and shy by nature yet kind and helpful so long as you gain their trust or you’ve peaked their interest, and Caleb was a very interesting man to you being almost as secretive as you were. When you made your presence known he was shocked to see such a rare being of once presumable myth approach him, but he also didn’t want to lose an opportunity to learn about your kind in more detail. You made a deal, you'd come along with him and he'd get to know everything he wanted about your kind so long as you got to learn more about him and play with the friendly little kitty he had with him. You were a lot more mature then Caleb expected hearing how godlings normally enjoy mischief and merriment, you told him you did like doing all those things but that didn’t mean you couldn’t be serious too. He learned more about you just by watching you interact with everything around you over you simply telling him different facts about yourself, and grew to really appreciate you more because of it. You grew appreciation and learned a lot about him through his interactions too, the stories he told did help some for context on certain things but you much preferred this visual over verbal learning.

Caduceus

You'd been a guardian for the Clay family and their home for generations, providing protection and care where you could, being given food and tools for your burrow as thanks by them. They were respectable folk, caring for the nature of the woods as much as you did. When the strange blight started plaguing your wooded home you did everything in your power to help push it back, but there was something unnatural about it that even you couldn’t hold it off forever. It got so bad that it overtook your burrow, forcing you out, thankfully the Clays were happy to house you, so while most of them left in search of a cure you stayed back with Caduceus still doing what you could to try taming or at least keeping back the plague. When adventurers came along you acted on the defence at first, being calmed by Caduceus to get a better grip of the situation. They were all surprised to see such a rare and normally secretive being like yourself be so comfortable and open once you'd dropped the defensive act, even more so when you asked if you could join them on their travels. Your home needed help, but it certainly wasn’t going to get any if you just sat there and did nothing, you managed to slow the growth of the strange blight hoping it’ll grant enough time for you to locate the cure you needed.

Fjord

Godlings were known to live in more wooded or boggy areas so finding one living by the sea was a rarer sight then your kind themselves were. You liked the sounds of the waves they were calming and you had many pretty seashells to do with as you wished. When you first met Fjord it was because he mistook your sandy burrow as an animals den, boy was he wrong and the reaction he had when you popped out scaring the daylights out of him was priceless. You smelled great opportunity for mischief from this, popping out of nowhere to scare the poor half-orc when he least expected it until one time when you had you realized the ship you snuck onto to scare him was now sailing across the sea, meaning you were now stuck here. Sure you knew how to swim but you had limits to yourself and would never be able to find your way back to shore. With less places to hide you were almost forced to interact with the crew, which Fjord learned made you rather uncomfortable but since you didn’t mind his presence he decided to pull you off to the side and have a privet conversation. Through this conversation you learned a little more about Fjord and started to grow respect for the guy, promising to stop scaring him so much, but not completely give up on it much to his dismay.

Beau

The Cobalt Soul had research on all sorts of creatures and different species that lived throughout all of Exandria, one of the few things they had little to no information on however were the rare and elusive creatures called godlings. They were beings said to have great power but were usual docile unless provoked, they were so rare some thought them to be only creatures of myth. Beau herself used to think nothing much of them until they were assigned to investigate a home that was "haunted" where she met you. Seeing your big bright eyes and pale blue skin was enough for her to see that you were in fact no myth but the real deal. Itching to get more information and payment for ridding the house of its "ghost" problem Beau was determined to befriend you, problem was she could be a bit aggressive and you were a bit more shy then she’d like. However with enough time and patients she was eventually able to lure you out and convince you to leave the home, promising if you came with her she’d be all the protection you’d need. You still didn’t fully trust her but you liked her confident attitude and her more childish side when she was willing to show it.

Yasha

Big, tough and silent, to you the woman was very intimidating, but she was picking the flowers all wrong so you’d have to suck it up and confront her about it. You march your way over to her and freeze when she turns to look at you, she looked confused by your appearance perhaps she didn’t know what you were but what did that matter right now. You start to scold her over her flower picking and to your surprise she apologizes, offering you one as a sorry, you puff out your cheeks and decline telling her that it was sloppily picked, and if she really wanted to say sorry she’d need to learn how to pluck flowers properly next time. To make sure she wouldn’t ruin the poor flowers again you show her the proper procedure to plucking them, when you were done she offered you a daisy, this one having been picked properly you accept and watch as she leaves. You lived life as normal only to one day see the same woman had returned she looked saddened as she plucked up some flowers, you carefully make your way over seeing she was using the technique you taught her. You sit in front of her and just watch until she finally notices you, you first saw recognition for in her eyes, guess she remembered you, but past that you could see pain, like she’d just lost someone important to her. Now that you thought about it she had a similar look to herself when you first met but this was different, it was recent. You pluck up and offer her a forget-me-not which she slowly takes from you and stores away into a little book, the two of you sit there in a silence of understanding before she eventually leaves again, you never even knew her name.

Molly

He discovered you on accident when the circus set up their show tent right over your burrow and you relentlessly caused problems for them. He felt bad for ruining your home so he asked if you’d like to come run away with the circus instead. You were hesitant at first, but his childish nature was oddly alluring and you’d fit right in with all the other crazy colourful characters so you figured why not. He didn’t quite know what you were and he didn’t really care, the two of you enjoying yourselves and causing mischief wherever you went. When the circus disbanded you were saddened because this was now the second home you lost although this group of adventurers were quite the delight in and of themselves. Still all good things come to an end, and losing Molly was the last straw, not only did these Iron Shepherds take away your friend but they kidnapped innocents and one of them actually ate children. All this infuriated you, and once those who had been enslaved were free people saw just how terrifyingly powerful an angered godling could be when the Sour Nest was reduced to nothing but rubble in the blink of an eye.

Bonus:

Lucien

He was almost jealous that the imposter inhabiting his body at the time had befriended such a powerful and mysterious creature. Knowledge on your kind was almost nonexistent, even the Somnovem had little information, this furthered Lucien’s curiosity and uncertainty. He knew his limits but not yours and from what he’d heard this group you were with talk about you could turn from docile to very dangerous if pushed the wrong way. This could spell bad news for his plans if what they said was true, but could also be a useful asset if on his side. Now all he had to do was figure out how to regain your favour…

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