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guardian-instincts-bad · 8 months

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okay none of this is new information but as usual i am thinking about gorrik and arenanet just. really never considered the timeline of his life and the implications of that at all, huh

like, okay, for eod you needed him to have a relationship to ankka and you needed ankka to have connections to the aetherblades, so you threw them both in thaumanova, fine

except. thaumanova. which blew up in 1324.

and no, we don't have a canon age for gorrik. but we know taimi's age, that she was friends with blish, and that blish is older than gorrik

now. taimi didn't know that the brothers had joined the inquest. which means either they'd kept it a secret from her, or more likely, it happened after they lost touch

taimi was born in 1313, meaning that the absolute oldest she could have been when she last saw them, is ten

now sure, taimi skipped a couple years, she's a prodigy even among asura - but age really matters when you're in single digits. for blish to be a friend, rather than a mentor, he can't be much older than maybe four years above her? i'd put that as the reasonable upper limit, they could be closer

(i'd also honestly guess that gorrik is a bit younger than taimi, given a) how much he looks up to blish, and b) that taimi prior to s4 only thought of him as blish's weird little brother, they weren't friends. and again, at that young, age matters - if you're 7, your friend is 10, and his little brother is 8 or 9, your first connection to him is probably not "oh, the little brother", because he's not little to you)

but assuming im wrong on all of that, just going back to our facts, that puts gorrik at the most about 2-3 years older than taimi

which means that the age we're looking at, for joining the inquest, thaumanova, all the stuff with ankka... he was somewhere between 9 and 13. could be even younger but im giving him the benefit of the doubt

gorrik says he never thought about ankka romantically and i believe him, but if there was ever anything there from her side, it was definitely a kiddie's first crush kinda thing, like oh we are a boy and a girl who are best friends clearly this is what romance means

because both of them were so fucking young

god knows spending her teenage years in the aetherblades was not great for ankka's everything, and by the time we find gorrik and blish in bug in the system, they've been working for the inquest for at least 8 years

that's almost half his life, at that point. working for an organisation that the thaumanova fractal and rata primus make incredibly clear does not value the lives of its workers in any way at all - they'll feed you to their latest experiment just for standing there, and gorrik wasn't just keeping his head down and going along with it, gorrik was actively sabotaging their research when he morally disagreed with it

(and this isn't even getting into why they joined the inquest in the first place, which i will bet anything i own on being because of blish's illness and needing the technology to save him)

and to their credit, i do think this comes across in bug in the system! because if you go back to early gorrik, first half of s4, having played through the rest of the story? the difference is shocking, like he is so distrusting and snide and defensive as hell of his brother, he talks like he expects you to attack him or blish at any moment

but then they never do anything with that ever again, and like, i love all the new gorrik content, genuinely i do, but arenanet there are layers to this character that you have entirely forgotten about, and god i wish we had a story that actually explored that

#my friends have heard me give this rant so many times already but tumblr hasn't!#so i need to post it bc it is driving me insane again #asura trio forever in my heart #also i've joked a lot about how funny it is that rama is literally the only npc in the gyala story who's not an engineer #rama also the only person in this mine (bar the commander) who isn't jade brotherhood former jade brotherhood or former inquest #even funnier when my commander is a former aetherblade #like hi rama sorry you are the only person here who can take the moral high ground ever #this is the demon mine of We've All Done Some Shit Okay Get Over It XD #gw2 #gorrik #ankka #taimi #blish

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i-mybrunettelady · 1 year

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Ivre d'un rêve heroïque et brutal

Summary: Commander is trying to recover from her last fight with her latest enemy. Unfortunately, it’s not a smooth sailing. Content warnings: Mild blood and mentions of injury. Spoilers: Heavy spoilers for What Lies Beneath (LWS6) Title taken from José-Maria de Heredia’s sonnet, Les Conquérants.

It’s the first time she’s slept for the entirety of the night in days. Nyra’s well familiar with the blurred edges of working on interrupted, bad, or straight up absent sleep; this morning snapped into sharp focus that hasn’t left her since.

That’s all thanks to Trahearne, his calming presence and the spell he’d devised years ago to combat this very problem. With a frustrated sigh, she admits to herself she couldn’t have done it herself. Allies are a good thing after all, she jokes inwardly, though it fails to produce more than passing, brief amusement. These days, few things can.

It’s been seven days since their encounter with the demon in the mine. Not nearly enough time to recover from merciless claws digging into her regrets and barely healed wounds, not nearly enough time to stop the terrified shake of her hands in the morning. At first, she woke in cold sweat and with trembling shoulders, wiping away tears beading in her eyes still. She could feel Rama and Yao’s sympathetic grimaces and her first instinct was to throw them in their faces. Who the fuck are they to question her strength?

Thankfully, Nyra isn’t a slave to her instincts and she reminds herself that they both mean well and that they’re friends. Rama’s hand on her shoulder suddenly feels comforting, a far cry from the initial anger she felt bubbling inside her. Oftentimes, she leans into him, lets out a sad, exhausted groan and he wraps his hands around her. It only lasts for a minute or so, but she already feels steadier on her feet.

Then Trahearne comes, vivacious green in the sea of jade (too vivacious for a necromancer, she thinks; another one of those brief, passing jokes she keeps telling herself) and joins her on her bedroll. His lips are soft on her forehead, his fingers gentle when they rub up and down her arm. That steadies her too. Sharply, she thinks when will Oni decide to fuck with that regret as well.

It’s only a matter of time, really. And she has to be prepared.

“I’ll help heal injuries here,” she tells Trahearne one night, curled beside him on the bedroll. She looks at her hands. “If I think too hard about things, I’m almost half-sure the demon will have more ammo to use against me. I need something to keep myself occupied.”

His remaining eye squints slightly. “But you won’t overwork yourself, yes?”

“I can try,” Nyra replies quietly. Her breakdown in Eye of the North is still too fresh to forget. “I can’t promise I won’t slip into it by accident. My head feels so heavy I don’t trust myself not to do it.”

“I can watch you,” he proposes, reaching out to hold her hand. “Make sure you’re as good as you can reasonably be for Gorrik’s idea.” He considers. “I’m not sure I like it, Lyss. I know what it feels like and to see you go through it–”

She laughs bitterly. “What other option do we have? If I have to play a sacrificial lamb, I will. Gods know I’ve done so more than once. Gods also know it’s brutal every time but if there were any other alternative, we’d have pursued it already!” She closes her eyes and exhales. “I don’t like it any more than you do, Trahearne. It’s gonna suck so bad, but someone has to do it. When my torture draws the damn thing out, just hit it until it’s dead.”

“Lyss,” he repeats and pulls her close. “I just don’t want to see you in pain.”

“I didn’t sign up to be who I am now to live a comfortable life,” she says. “If I wanted that, I would’ve been just another noblewoman from Divinity’s Reach. Me, just another noblewoman? Gods forbid.”

Trahearne purses his lips. “Just take care of yourself, please.”

“I can try,” she repeats and means it. She can try. Has to, even.

So here she is, in the mining camp’s healing corner in Gyala Delve, spreading pale blue light on an open injury on a woman’s arm. It’s an ugly one, obviously painful, and Nyra’s not the best of the best at healing, not by a long shot, but she can make these people feel better. She knows her way around poultices, salves and stitches. She knows healing magic, Dwayna’s blessing. In a twisted way, the metallic tang of blood is comforting, familiar. It’s a residue of battle and she gets to wipe it off, but the scent remains.

Battle never leaves you, after all. She knows as much.

The injured woman groans when Nyra guides her magic to stitch the flesh shut. Guardian healing can, in truth, feel a little invasive. Despite the supposedly unsettling way her eyes look, Nyra never breaks eye contact when she guides her down and whispers in a soft tone, “Rest now. It’ll feel better in a bit. And do try to not strain that arm much for the next few days, yeah?”

“Yes, Commander,” the woman intones, exhausted but still horribly formal. Nyra pushes sweaty hair from her forehead and smiles slightly. She knows it doesn’t look very convincing - people think she’s angry half the time, for fuck’s sake - but she tries anyway.

Dying light of day reflects, rickety, in the reflection of the water bowl where she washes her hands. For a brief moment, Nyra observes the way blood sticks to the scars on her hands and knuckles, bright red against faintly scorched skin. Once, she would’ve shivered in discomfort over running her fingertips over it, but now it’s a part of her.

There’s so much blood on her hands. The thought comes uninvited, sneaky little shit. Nyra vividly remembers Apatia’s blood on her hands when she killed her ten years ago. Trahearne’s sap, when she ran through him with Caladbolg, seven years ago. What had Almorra said? That she hasn’t changed, that all she does is kill and corrupt? Nyra turns sharply to the injured woman. Her arm is still red, but mostly fine.

If she wasn’t careful, she could’ve killed her.

Nyra’s never washed her hands faster in her life. She leaves wet handprints on the wooden table as she leans over it, watching her own wide eyes in the bloodied surface of the water, trying to catch her breath. In and out. In and out.

Hands hover over her arms. She knows Trahearne’s presence like the palm of her hand, a heavy blanket against her shivering body. “Are you alright?” he asks, hushed. Nyra shakes her head and grips the table tightly.

“I think I need to take a break,” she says. Before, she would’ve pushed herself, powered through the panic; now she needs every bit of that strength she can muster. One battle, a failure at that, doesn’t mean the end of a war. She must strategise, try to outmaneuver that fucking creature.

She feels her breathing even out. Trahearne’s holding her arms in a comforting grip, but it’s the tactical approach that makes her think straight once more. She’s a soldier, after all; why not use what’s at her disposal as such? Still, her hands are shaking and she still feels like a giant, human-shaped, raw wound.

“Do you want to get something to eat?” Trahearne lets go of her arms to hold her hand. “Some tea?”

“Tea would be nice,” she replies, holding onto the way he rubs her fingers like a lifeline. “Very, very nice.”

He leans over to softly kiss her on the lips. “We’ll get one cup of tea for the lady, then,” he whispers.

She’ll outmaneuver the enemy however she must, one cup of tea at the time.

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houseofpinkboombox · 8 months

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I don't understand why folks hate Braham so much when Gorrik Mr join up with war criminals and show zero remorse. And Logan is right there.

I was on Logan's team too, dead ass. I thought it was super tragic that Logan and Jemma couldn't be together. And that there was very clear love from both of them. Largely because of Jemma's role as Queen. She give a dude who she just liked as a friend a psychic link to her? Be so fucking for real rn.

"Jemma's gonna do what she's gonna do so I'm gonna do the same" Logan says to you after Jemma claims they're just friends, this is BTW right after Jemma candidly tells you, that she's not free to act on any of her feeling that her role and duty keep her from the freedom that the commander has. That she envies your freedom.

Logan works well as pack marshal. And I feel like they needed him in that role. But if they wanted to they could have ripped our hearts out with it and not made Logan into a sad simp incel dude.

Having Kasmer turn into Jemma to do an impression of her to Logan who is mad that he can't be with her, is so many levels of fucked. And shits in Logan and Kasmer, who is supposed to be able to read people super well. So wouldn't she like know that Jemma feels largely trapped in her role? Kas doesn't seem the type to mock folks anyways.

And Logan having shit to say about my sweet angel baby girl Aurene? First of all the only person that gets a fucking pass for that is Canach. Because he had just had Mordremoth his fucking head. Logan has been on thin fucking ice for a while with me.

Him talking about "hey Rylok come check out my beach house!" And Rylok is like bro I'm fucking married. Go get you a wife. The fuck.

Anyways fuck that simp.

#guild wars 2 #logan thackeray

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hawkepockets · 7 months

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tarakk’s SOMEWHAT expanded intro post 👇

L: Tarakk with goggles on. R: Hawkk & Tarakk.

Tarakk (he/him)

Pepa’s bf, Ankka & Gorrik’s old mentor, harb. Co-created with @antariies.

🕷️ Tarakk is an accomplished toxinologist—not to be confused with a toxicologist, who studies & treats the affects of poisons on the body; he studies the chemical makeup & biological production of venoms, and synthesizes his own. His favorite specimen is, controversially, a Risen spider. (Though he’s always wanted to meet a Canthan blossom spinner!)

🕷️ Formerly a Synergetics professor, and the college’s arachnology lab sponsor. Gorrik had a campus job there, and quickly became Tarakk’s mentee & favorite student. He knew Gorrik was alone except for Blish, and when Gorrik dropped out to join the Inquest, Tarakk also resigned and went with him, hoping he could protect his protege from the Inquest’s ugliness.

🕷️ Tarakk got his own toxinology lab, two brilliant assistants (Gorrik & Ankka), and near infinite resources. Life was good until his Inquest overseer passed along a commission order from “B” (Scarlet), for a toxin that was both injectable & aersolizable, and would cause rapid, painful death in all 5 major races. Tarakk was excited by the challenge, but hesitant—who would need this? Why would anyone want it to exist?

🕷️ Tarakk sabotaged the project, synthesizing a toxin that did what B wanted, but would only cause living death symptoms in its victims, putting them to sleep and suppressing vital signs & life force. Ankka, afraid his tampering would get her and Gorrik executed along with him, reported him to their overseer.

🕷️ The Bioweapons Department overseer was a brutal company man by the name of Hawkk (@antariies). Far from wanting to see Tarakk fail, Hawkk was more than a little bit in love with the enthusiastic & long-eared older asura. (Tarakk had been totally open to a relationship and flirted openly with Hawkk, but Hawkk’s devotion to Inquest krewe policy kept him from even indulging in fantasies about fraternization with underlings! Mostly.) This made Tarakk’s betrayal of the Inquest sting twice as venomously. Hawkk wasn’t just frustrated that the product was defective, or terrified of telling “B” the deal was off. He was inflamed by hurt.

🕷️ During the toxin’s final demonstration, Tarakk was “accidentally” locked inside the test chamber instead of his test subject, and despite Ankka & Gorrik’s frantic efforts neither the door release nor the poison ampule would respond. Tarakk was overdosed with his own formula, and went through days of coma, then sleep paralysis and bone-deep cold. It was Hawkk, of course, who hit the button, and he never forgave himself.

🕷️ When he recovered, Tarakk was slow moving, narcoleptic, and couldn’t shake off the chill. Strong emotions make him fall asleep, and he has attacks of aches, shivers, and fatigue. He can’t see his own life force, but to other necros & druids it appears dim. He’s forever at half HP. To cope with the symptoms, with Gorrik’s help, he built himself a backpiece with spiderlike metal limbs that helped him move around the lab and would lose hydraulic pressure and curl around him defensively if he fell asleep. He was even more absentminded, workaholic, and vague than he had been in Synergetics. He needed to reminded over and over and physically nudged to look up from his work, eat, and sleep (which he did under his desk) and became more of a lab mascot & liability than a mentor to Gorrik and Ankka.

🕷️ They packed him up with the lab equipment and brought him along to Thaumanova, and Gorrik later took him to Sandswept Isles.

🕷️ When the Inquest lab was self-destructing, Gorrik went back in a panic to find Tarakk and drag him along to safety. Despite DW’s reservations about what looked like a shameless veteran Inquest scientist, he was allowed to come along, and earned his place in the guild when he developed a new toxin, based on his research for “B,” that put plague scarab beetles into hibernation, allowing them to be removed from human victims and saving thousands of lives in Kourna.

🕷️ Tarakk is still not lucid or mobile 100% of the time, but Pepa will tell you he’s a genius of their time.

🕷️ The intersection of dad jokes & professor humor is catastrophic.

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #oc: tarakk #friend oc: hawkk #oc: pepa #ankka #gorrik #long post

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mistfallengw2 · 1 month

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TIME FOR MORE BARELY COHERENT RAMBLES

On the topic of Aurelia being "not a mother but weirdly motherly" towards others, I want to point out that in her mind that means making extra sure they're looking after themselves (food, sleep, being safe), that they know how to fight just in case, that they can ask her to help with anything, instinctively prioritizing their well-being during combat, and of course awkwardly hovering around them if she feels like they could need help (words are hard so that's the next best thing). That's a given with Adamas and he's the only one she's forward about it (calling him son and so on), but what makes it extra amusing to me is that she ended up with more "kids" than expected by consistently acting like that regardless of her being Commander-levels of busy. [under readmore because it got long oops]

- Aurene is as close to a daughter to her as an elder dragon can, to the point she and Adamas (and Tocchix by proxy) refer to each other as siblings. Aurelia has complex feelings about it due to external factors (mostly self-doubt and such), but surprisingly she's overall okay with it, at least in private.

- Tocchix is in the previously mentioned awkward spot of being her son's adoptive brother, and she genuinely cares for him beyond what's expected in regards to Adamas's wellbeing. On Tocchix's side, things are similar and he admires her a lot, and he quickly settled on considering her extended family, akin to Alyt (who he calls his aunt for simplicity).

- Markus was the first to help her after she tumbled out of the Mists, and he did so in spite of her being almost feral due to the trauma of it all. In turn that sparked lots of motherly and protective feelings towards that kid who has now grown up into a fine Lionguard, but it'd be weird for a charr to consider a human like a son, right? As for Markus, you could refer to Aurelia as his mother and he'd need a few long seconds to register what you said (to be fair, for a long time he did want her to stay at the farm and become his second mother).

- Taimi jokes a lot about her acting like a mother and fretting about her health because it's annoying to her, but she also likes seeing Aurelia being a softie in general. To Aurelia, that's just looking out for her like anyone should (you gotta make sure all soldiers can keep up, especially if younger or wounded), and seeing her grow up in spite of her difficulties made her particularly attached to the young prodigy. She likes listening to her ramble about stuff beyond her ability to comprehend.

- Braham is in a weird spot, because she doesn't want to be Eir's substitute, but she does feel like she has to take on the role to make amends for failing to save her. Braham obviously had a lot to unpack in the mommy issues department, and Aurelia was "okay" with letting him unleash his grievances on her (something something she feels like Adamas should have done that with her, so that feels deserved in her mind), though she did draw the line when he put himself in danger. Now that things are settled, the dynamic is healthier and he does genuinely consider her as the mother figure that is there when he needs it, and jokes about it are not uncommon (picked it up from Taimi).

- All of the above's partners get gradually included in the motherly treatment by extention. It's in the name after all, you know, children in-law. Still, it's often done to a more awkward degree, because she's more intentional with it. Maeveryl likes her so they don't mind (HoT was a rough time, but in hindsight they appreciated her being realistic about things), Deryn thinks she's awesome (and she's used to having additional parental figures anyway), Huki was a bit intimidated at first but now thinks it's a cute thing (and pushes Tocchix to be more forward with her), Fynn and Kai find it funny (mostly because they can poke fun at Markus for it), Gorrik is Gorrik (Aurelia did try to show interest in bugs one time, and now he eagerly prepares lectures in advance). - Ellara called her mommy once as a joke and she never recovered.

#Aurelia is basically that “batman orphan birds” pic. I still need to draw her like that #rambles #Aurelia Dragonwings

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kehideni · 6 months

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Lemme just rant a bit

Ok so i'm trying to think of positives for this update.

I like Ramses, but then immediatelly i am reminded of the pathetic shock value Arenanet attempted at.

First and foremost, we are surprised that friendly kryptis have just... free access to our mind now, courtesy of Peitha (fk you for that)

Second: all he does with it is "hint hint nudge nudge" that the Commander is special... urgh i mean, fine yeah i know, player character but kryptis all around have been repeating that for so much now they don't shut up about it. Either tell me what the FFFFAK you mean by "special" or forget about it. Say Commander is delicious and be done with it.

Third he asks us to go see something he senses... ok... it ends up being a civilian kryptis who was so insignificant all i remember is that it had Gorrik's voice. So i'll just refer to it as Gorriptid.

So we LITERALLY have like 2 sentences with Gorriptid, he gets to camp, we continue with mission to kill pathetic excuse of a patch-end-boss. Gorriptid ends up being there (how the FUCK i have no idea since we JUST left him at the safe camp), we don't get the chance to save him (not that i care) so basically we were introduced to Gorriptid for 10 minutes and then i'm supposed to mourn him? The game seems to believe so? I personally don't give a shit.

Apparently this was so that i can see the depravity of Eparch and his followers. ... yeah for that to work i'd need to have MOMENTS with kryptis to atleast begin to see them as "people of their own" and not as enemy minion number x+1

Peitha... Peitha peitha peitha....

thirst trap does not work on me so to me she is nothing, not a thing. I DON'T trust her, i understand the Commander does and that makes sense i guess, but only her introduction proved that. Trust takes more than a positive first introduction, atleast to me. I would have LOVED to have maybe a BIT more politics where Commander has to work with Peitha... you know ... to see kryptis as people and to maybe I COULD TRUST HER MORE!

The beginning of SoTo was so good, what the fk is this? Why wasn't it continued?! I'm legit starting to regret purchasing the expansion.

Patch-big-baddie's introduction was a few sentences and then we killed her. The fuck do i care that she was her cousin's mate (ew btw)

The earnable achivements... eeeeehhhh for all i saw i'm done with the story achivements already and the map achivements i did not have time to look at since i soon gotta go sleep, i work tomorrow morning.

Positives... other than a nice new character in Ramses- who isn't much yet as he was JUST introduced, and might i remind you Peitha's introduction was also phenomenal just the continuation of her is... shit.

Positives, what else positive can i think of?

The meta is good.

There's literally nothing else... there was a good new character and a meta. GG arenanet...

#guild wars 2 rant #i am not happy #not happy at all #guild wars 2

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wisp-enclosure · 1 month

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6, 7, 13 and 20 for the catrats! :D

6. Are they always on schedule or do they easily lose track of time?

Kudo is, as one would imagine for someone as high strung as he is, the punctual one of the two. It's almost as if he thinks being late would kill him (and given his past it might have been a possibility).

Lu though? Lmaoooo good luck. Time means nothing to Lu. She has to be reminded when to eat or else entire chunks of her day will be gone. She's been scolded by Kudo more than a couple of times about it. She can't help it, she's in the zone.

7. If asked to list a few fun facts about themself, what would they say?

Kudo will stammer a bit but be otherwise normal about it. He'll list his various intellectual accomplishments, some """fun""" facts ("I died once. That's interesting, I would imagine."), and very deftly dodge any reference to his lineage.

Lu has. Issues with her self image. Being a unique individual with wants and needs and dreams. So her facts are like, TECHNICALLY about herself but not. She'll talk about the specs of the things she's made which isn't really about herself.

13. Is there anyone they'd like to be closer to than they are?

Does each other count? Kudo, begrudgingly, would like to get closer to Gorrik, if only because he knows he and Taimi are a thing and as her pseudo brother/former guardian post-HoT he knows he will have to deal with that at some point. Gorrik can sometimes get under his skin sometimes, but it's mostly a Kudo's baggage thing because Gorrik doesn't like, shout from the rafters how much he hates the Inquest. Projection.

Lu meanwhile is cautiously curious about what Efram's got cooking up for Flame. Given that's where she was born and raised for a good chunk of her early childhood she's wary but...hopeful. He seems to have genuine intentions. And plus he's got a thing going on with her half-brother Gaius so. Somewhat of a similar situation that Kudo has with Gorrik.

20. Any song(s) that you feel represent your character best? (bonus: would *they* like this/these song(s)?)

Kudo's got a few songs I think represent him pretty good. The first is still feel. by half•alive. Recently I've been introduced to Explode! by Mother Mother and I think that fits pretty good too.

Lu's has been Silver Lining by Hurts for a pretty long time. Heavy In Your Arms by Florence And The Machine also but that's more "Lu and her feelings vis-a-vis Kudo" focused.

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drakeheart · 8 months

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Asura Appreciation Week

soto ate my attention span for a couple days. whoops. catchup time!

@asura-appreciation-corner

DAY THREE - Does your OC have a krewe?

nope! most of my asura don’t exactly occupy a normal space in their own society, instead taking to adventuring or simply being too much of an oddball to fit in a typical krewe. a few thoughts:

Havokk is off hanging with the charr, and is pretty bitter towards Rata Sum for his early life treatment, so he wouldn’t join a krewe even if it was an option for him. (he is a part of Amara’s unorthodox little warband, though. begrudgingly.)

Flikk has too much ego to do well in a krewe, so he usually runs solo. i imagine he’s occasionally teamed up with other inquest specialists for one-off jobs, and is probably absolutely insufferable to work with.

Lhuan (my revenant who i haven’t talked about yet lol) used to be a part of a krewe until he got sucked into the mists and lost most of his original memories. he’s still in cantha for now while i figure him out more.

DAY FOUR - Who's your favorite NPC asura? Why?

i love Gorrik as much as everyone else, but for a less obvious pick, i really like Arkk from the fractal storylines. his voice and premise are both fantastic, and i really enjoy his fight, even though i kinda suck at the CM version. anet needs to release his cool breather mask as a cosmetic reward immediately.

(sliiight soto spoiler, but Uenno is quickly becoming another fave.)

DAY FIVE - Do you admire any asura OCS from other people on Tumblr? Give them a shoutout!

gonna do a few, because there’s some damn good rats out here.

Cixxe (@full-of-skritt) - an absolute creacher. perfect shadow gremlin. i adore her so much it’s unreal. i’m putting her in my purse as we speak.

Tazel (@spiderfeathers) - one of the most unique asura designs i’ve seen. i love her entire aesthetic, it’s really neat to see an asura with a very natural theme that actually works so well. kudos!

Flikk (@commanderthalys) - heehee, same name. :P also an absolute cutie with a cool (and tragic) backstory that i can’t wait to see develop.

#no screenshots this time i got rifts to close #asura appreciation week #gw2 #asura #c: havokk #c: flikk #c: lhuan

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elder-dragon · 1 year

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[fic] it can only remain poisoned

Lucilaeh knows she shouldn't be doing this, knows she's just walking back into the danger.

But the haze calls to her, so she sneaks back into the depths in the dead of night.

***

2.6k words. On AO3.

What Lies Beneath made me completely unhinged.

Notes on AO3:

I should probably have waited for chapter 17 to come before writing this but I seriously needed to get this out of my system and I SWEAR I am Very Normal about MMORPG Guild Wars 2 Expansion End of Dragons Chapter 16 What Lies Beneath Final Instance Deep Trouble oughhhh

This fic has: Gavin from the White Stag personal story NPC, OC-specific Mordremoth-related trauma, and a little bit of my headcanons on thief/specter shadow magic.

Content notes: Canon-typical violence, emotional self-harm, emotional baggage, psychological horror (I..guess? I’m bad w/ genres), hallucinations

***

There's barely a moon in the blackened night sky when she finally sneaks back into the haze after a week of enduring the urge. She's been recovering, letting her brother fuss and worry about her while she figures out what to tell Logan and Rytlock and Aurene regarding this recent adventure, and Lucilaeh knows she shouldn't be doing this, knows she's just walking back into the danger. But she doesn't even know why she wants to go back in, after the terrors that had awaited their team. Would she find the demon again? Or something else? Surely there is something better calling to her, compelling her, like a Wyld Hunt's push and pull.

She's supposed to be waiting for Gorrik to get his experiment together, but things had their way of working out...right?

She doesn't believe that.

Shadow magic comes easier than ever before here, as she ventures further and further into the depths. It hasn't been this easy since Primordus and Jormag, since before it nearly consumed her from within. Lucilaeh pulls at it, lets it enshroud her and take her presence away until she finds herself just walking past everything that would normally attack her. The haze makes the air thick, almost slimy. Even through her jade bot's filter, she can taste something harsher than oil and blood. It makes her want to retch as much as it did when they first came here, but even then, it had been enthralling, both repulsive and pleasing and she knows she can't stay away.

She stops in her tracks when the scent changes and she smells the sweet, clear air of Astorea. Not the same as when she was training freshly awakened Sylvari in the weeks after the engagement party, but older, cleaner, crisp. Like the first time she consciously took a deep breath before setting off on her first Hunt. As the edges of her vision darken just so, Lucilaeh feels once more like---like a---

"Sapling."

He's standing there amidst the cliffs of jade, the same as his last day on Tyria, armored in Nightmare Court livery and wearing that smile that had fooled her heart.

"Gavin," she breathes his name, and it's so foreign on her tongue that she steps back instead.

"Is that any way to greet your oldest friend?" asks the nightmare before her, spreading his arms in welcome. "After all the trouble you went to, to come save me? And such a naughty sapling you are, to sneak out in the dead of night where the menders can't catch you!"

She shouldn't engage. She can't. She has to go back. She's waiting for Gorrik. Her brother would worry. But his words aren't even right. She was never in Astorea long as a sapling. She walked away from that life and her brother as soon as she opened her eyes and felt the weight of the Dream on her shoulders and feet.

"I didn't come here for you," she tells him. "You betrayed me."

"No?" He quirks his brow at her and chuckles. "Why would you come here if not to see old friends again? Tell me, my dear sapling, aren't you here so you can see me outside your head?"

"You're wrong." And it's getting harder to remember why he's wrong. Why did she come here, if not to see him? Wasn't he right about that? But she does know. She does know what's wrong with his words and she's not going to let it go unsaid again. "You were never just an old friend to me."

Gavin pauses as if he'd never considered such a thing, as if he's thinking over her words. Did he know that this was the extent of what she could tell him on the matter? Lucilaeh had mourned him, had cursed him. She had spent long weeks turning over what she could have done instead for him, and that had only been because he had come so early in her life, before everything and everyone else that she would be responsible for and would never have time to mourn. She had decided back then: her love and pain for him could only ever be the same thing from then on.

He breaks the long silence with a sigh, but his smile grows, stretching ear to ear in a way it never did.

"I understand," he says, and gone is the friendly air, gone is the cunning kindness that always lingered in his eyes. "I was never just merely your friend. I am your dearest regret, the first of many you couldn't save. But you don't care about that, Commander."

"No---" She can't manage more than a whisper, not when it feels as if she's got an arrow in her side again.

"You came here because you want to be hurt, Commander." Gavin steps toward her, but her feet are frozen to the ground. He doesn't look like himself anymore. She's not sure in what way. "Deep down you're eager for something to fight. All these years, you've fought for a peace you never knew---and now that you have it, you're looking for a new monster to hunt because you're nothing without one."

"No...no, I---" Her voice cracks against the still air like a thundering Brandstorm, and it's this that startles her to alertness. Gorrik had explained the effects of the haze on her feelings last time, hadn't he, and that was why she isn't supposed to be here. She breathes in deep and lets the sharp scent of the haze startle the rest of her senses in turn. Lucilaeh squares her shoulders and straightens her back and gazes into the false Gavin's dark eyes and she thinks hard about her brother's firm voice as he warned her, after she had won her duel with Gavin their entire lifetime ago, to renounce their mother so that she would never be hurt by the Hunt again. She remembers balling her fists and squaring her shoulders too, back then, and telling him, she would never let the pain stop her from pursuing her purpose.

She has bled a thousand times for Tyria. She has died for her duty. This is no different.

"No, I know nothing but the fight," Lucilaeh tells the darkness around her, "but I also have known love of all kinds from the moment I awoke. That is how I know there is peace in this world, even if I may never have it for myself. And---I also know what I already told you: I know what you're doing."

Gavin's smile twists further, warps further in a way she's not sure her mind is comprehending. Shadows bleed from him, oozing outward and joining the darkness lapping at her vision.

"But Commander, there will still always be monsters of your own making," he says, "and may you always use your bloodshed to grow your garden."

"Stop." Lucilaeh rushes him, dagger out, and to the surprise of some small part of her he does nothing, instead opening his arms to her once more. She feels it when the dagger pushes into him and his arms wrap around her back, embracing her as if mocking her for what she never could have had.

"I will be remembered..." He trails off as he slumps into her arms, but she senses no life leaving him, only that continuous flowing and swarming of shadows.

She stands tall. Still as she can. Long lost feelings wash over her in waves, and she doesn't fight them this time, letting them pass through her. She imagines herself like Aurene for a moment. The Prismatic Commander of Confusing Emotions and Sad Memories.

No, Gavin. I will never join the Nightmare Court.

That's a pity. It grieves me greatly to turn predator into prey, Valiant---

"But you forgot me."

She startles as the corpse slumped against her speaks again, but this time it isn't Gavin's voice.

It's her brother's.

Lucilaeh looks down and finds Benedicuore gazing back up at her, exactly as he looked when she hunted him down in the heart of the Maguuma, features twisted by the dragon's corruption. He sneers as she leaps back, and he rises and rises to full height over her, towering over her in his corrupted body.

"How dare you," she hisses.

"Oh sister," he says, leaning down to look her in the eyes. "I should be the one to ask you that. You left me behind with my copies. Or maybe you did kill me. Do you even know if the one waiting for you on the surface was the real me?"

"He is," she tells him, and suddenly all the bravado she had worked up dissipates. She forged forth without it anyway. "He came back to me. Ben fought off the corruption when he heard my voice---"

"No, you'll never know." He starts to move, and she forces her feet to let her turn, if only to keep her eyes on him as he starts to circle her. "You turned your brother into yet another regret when you chose to save him. In the end, you forgot the real me because it was simply more convenient to let this copy take my place."

It's only when she tries to raise her dagger once more that she realizes she let go of it at some point, her hands shaking as she tries to do---anything at all. It was true. It was true. She hadn't tried with the other copies when they attacked her. She'd killed them because it was easier. Because fighting and killing was always easier. Because despite everything she claimed, she really did know so little of anything else.

"I'm sorry." Those wretched words wrench past her lips before she can stop herself, followed closely by a sob, then another and another until she is simply weeping as she stands there amidst the shadows and the jade. "I'm sorry. I never forgot. But he was the only one who listened...what more could I have done..."

She senses, rather than sees, the darkness enveloping her. It doesn't feel anything like her own shadow magic. It grasps her, swallowing her---

"No! Sister!"

She hears the shout through the haze but does not understand what it means until light floods her vision, chasing away the shadows and when she blinks, Ben is before her, holding up a hard light dome between the two of them and the demon.

"They're over here!" he yells and Lucilaeh coughs and sits up. She gasps for air, realizing all too suddenly she's been on the ground. Ben glances at her over his shoulder. "Stay, stay with me, sister."

"Ben, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she chokes out through damned tears she can't stop. "I left you, I left you behind so many times---I---are you...are you real?"

"A-as real as I've ever been," he answers sharply. Shadows slam against his shield, pushing down toward them both. He was never much of a fighter himself. "This, erm, doesn't seem like the best time for this, but you really, you really ought to know I've never once begrudged you for choosing your duty over me---"

Words she's never dared to dream of hearing, never quite knew she wanted to hear. She clings to them as she crawls to her dagger, laying just a step away from Ben. Lucilaeh musters up her strength despite its constant fleeing from her, and digs deeper into herself as she takes back her dagger and grasps it tight with both hands. It was fool of her not to bring her scepter, so this would have to do.

"W-where are they---I can't...much longer---" Ben hisses as the darkness presses him down to his knees, the shield just barely covering them both now.

The air around them has thickened to the point she can barely breathe, but she breathes, challenging the shadows that dare bear down upon them. The dagger's hilt digs into her palm as she takes a precious moment to concentrate and listen.

The demon isn't allowed to be stealthier than her. She won't allow it. She points the dagger in the direction of the demon, draws in a breath, and starts to siphon the shadows. She hears a growl, but little other noise, just her's and Ben's ragged breathing and the hum of his forge and the dome. But she's hurting the creature, she's sure of that. The shadows envelop her again, this time mingling with her magic and it's more than she's ever tried to draw in before and there's what she guesses must be the foreign magic Gorrik had mentioned, something woven into these shadows that stings and scorches her enough to draw out a cry of pain from her.

"Stay with me...!"

She doesn't hear Ben this time. She's too busy holding onto the shadows she's gathered from the creature and fighting through the pain. She grits her teeth and grips her dagger tighter, tighter, until she feels that pain in her hand instead over the magic, and then---

"Thanks for sharing," she whispers, as she lets the shadow magic wash over her and Ben both. Swiftly, she finds strength coming back to her limbs, hears Ben's breathing even out as well. Slower, she rises to her feet, properly shrouded in darkness, careful to shield Ben without giving him any of the foreign magic.

"It's weakened!" Someone shouts from beyond, followed by a cacophony of gunfire.

All at once, the darkness recedes.

It's not much brighter, with the natural tenebrosity of the cave, but finally her vision clears completely. Somehow, she's managed to wander all the way down to the shore of a jade pool. How had she not noticed the sickly green glow earlier?

Movement catches her eye. The creature is fleeing from them through the cavern ahead, back down to the leyline once more. Ben tugs on her arm.

"We should go," he says.

She nods, holstering her dagger and reaching for his hand. Lucilaeh's entire body aches, but the scar in her side protests the loudest with every movement as they start the trek back up.

"How did you find me?"

"I heard you leaving," answers Ben quietly. "I-I woke up Gorrik, then followed you. It seemed as if you couldn't hear me at all, then you just...disappeared."

"Ah."

They might have talked about something else, perhaps about the words of doubt she had expressed to him, if they did not quickly run into Gorrik with Rama and Yao and Finn in tow: their saviors from above, at the moment she weakened the creature.

Lucilaeh says little as they make the rest of the way up, only half listening to their concerns, both the ones stated out loud and the ones cloaked in ridicule and sarcasm. She knows it should be shame on her sleeve, for sneaking away like this, for endangering them all again, but now that they're leaving the depths once more, she feels only an icy detachment settling over her.

She ignores the whisper as she steps out onto the warming soil of the surface, where pale morning light reaches down past the outpost and the cave entrance toward her, caressing her. She ignores the whisper as she fends off the others' fussing and the commotion across the camp over her and makes a beeline for her tent. She ignores the whisper as she takes off her mask and drops into her bedroll, but she hears it once more just as she plunges into a welcoming blackness: the twisted voice of her brother, as inviting as it's repulsive, as kind as it's cruel, as warped by Mordremoth's touch as it's that of the liberated one carefully laying down next to her, and it's calling to her from somewhere deep within the haze, somewhere she hasn't gone, somewhere she wants to go, and it whispers like a long lost part of herself: I'll be here where you left me when you need to poison yourself once more.

#gw2 fanfic #end of dragons #what lies beneath #lucilaeh #benedicuore #my writing #hello pls enjoy my self-indulgent fic #my struggles with new post editor aaaa

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commander-gloryforge · 1 year

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ASTRIDS MOUNTS!!!

here are all of Astrids canon (named) mounts at the time of IBS!

Her first mount, Scratch the Raptor! He's a very goofy little guy and basically more of a dog? He was gifted to her when she first arrived in Elona and saved that village from the forged. He was one of the weaker Raptors, not as fast as the others, but he certainly is a very loving companion to Astrid! Scratch got injured a lot during the course of PoF, he's a VERY brave Raptor that tends to disobey Astrids orders at times. She may think a distance is too far to jump for him, but he'll just go "fuck it" and try anyways. And he does succeed most of the time, though he strains his body a lot.

Frostwing the Griffon! Astrid raised her from the egg. She started out as an Owl Giffron Hatchling Mini that I bought from a heart vendor in Bitterfrost... Frostwing was basically among the eggs that Astrid rescued during LWS3, and as soon as she hatched she'd start following Astrid around! She'd get herself into a few dangerous situations following Astrid into all those fights, even out of Bitterfrost. She even followed her onto the pact airship to Elona, where she'd eventually go missing/run off by herself. Only after The Departing, Frostwing would show up again, a LOT bigger, though still not fully grown. And at the very end of PoF, she had grown enough for Astrid to ride her! Turns out she also kind of consumed plenty of magic on Astrids adventures, which made her bigger and stronger as well!

PETEY! WE ALL KNOW AND LOVE HIM! After Gorrik and Astrid grew him together and he was ready for action, the two actually also decided to tune him a bit more while they were at it. Since both of them are (at that time) holosmiths, theyengineered around a little and found a way to utilize the Holoforge to make that bug even FASTER! Of course this is much more safe than the Holoforge Astrid uses to fight, and there is no need to worry about overheating and damaging himself!

The newest addition to her team! Stardrop the Skyscale was also raised from the egg! She's VERY attached to Astrid. And she's VERY strong. And she VERY much likes to jump at Astrid and push her around. Startdrop is Astrids "main" mount of sorts? Scratch can finally retire now! She also gets along quite well with Frostwing. They might aswell be girlfriends idk.

#astrid gloryforge #dios ocs #gw2 #guild wars 2

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icebrooding · 8 months

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OK. Act 1, part 3 (as far as I got before my partner needed to pass out and we're doing story together SO-)

The whole opener of this was. Top goddamn tier, honestly LMFAO.

Rytlock being Kind Of A Boomer with his new phone was funny asf, also Gorrik, please don't??? Bully cats??? Braham pls set up ur phone smfh.

IM SAD I DIDNT GET TO SEE MY BIG SIS THO. BETRAYED.

Commander being just so extremely bored like 'hi yeah idk what to do w/ myself in the aftermath of 10 years of nonstop Shenanigans PLEASEGIVE ME SOMETHING TO DO'

The stealth mission. Kaushue is Whispers so that bit was Especially Good, esp cause I've always made him kind of clumsy. You finally did a stealth, my son. You did it. Dad's proud.

Then we get isekaid to Dark Souls. 'What's wrong little guy, can't walk at a reasonable pace?' Cue me running to that rift, turning my camera, then letting out a shriek irl as I see the stealth LoS marker fall onto my character and I die.

Commander fan club.

Archipelago is very pretty, I like the whole 'huh what if we made a bunch of fucked up bad futures!' vibe going on. Fractal shenanigans are great.

I was yelling at Kaushue to stop keeping it to himself when he has voices in his head because this is like what, the fourth? fifth??? time this has happened to him. Then he actually did decide to talk about it and make me not want to smack his little catboy head.

That's where I'm at about now. My brain is jumbled.

Trailer Comm is still extremely cute asf.

#text #soto spoilers

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sylvaridreams · 7 months

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CRACKS KNUCKLES. YOUR TURN. SQUARE UP FOR THE LOVE INTEREST ASK.

15 for peitha and stick with me here freestyle it... also 8. itll be funny i promise.

14 and 7 for rama :)

2 for Auruim

AAAAUCK YOU GOT ME... commander love interest ask game :)

Peitha 15. What's the commander's favorite quality in them?

Alba likes how effortlessly Peitha can take control away from him... sounds awful but it's something he needs, for someone to take the reigns away from him. and to be shoved around a bit and bitten. sexually. :)

also he thinks she's honest and open with him, which ehhhhh mostly. he likes having her in his head overall; even being in the same realm she still drops in on his mind all the time and just pokes around. Wayfinder over here talking to himself and giggling because his head demon said something funny.

8. What does Aurene think about them, and vice versa?

If Aurene were around she'd be looking at Peitha with one part "what the fuck Alba seriously" two parts "if you hurt him I'll make you regret coming to this realm" and three parts "....................what do demons taste like" In turn, Peitha would be mildly impressed, respectful that this is an elder dragon, and also wondering.... what does dragon taste like. JUST TWO GIRLS KILLING AND EATING EACH OTHER GRRR GRRRRRRR LET ME EAT HER FOR MY GIRLDINNER kind of vibe. and then they both shake hands/claws politely and smile and move on.

Rama 14. What is their favorite quality in the commander?

Alba can commit to a bit, but he also knows when to stop. Funny but relatively understanding of boundaries. More than that though Rama likes that he's kind of easy to trick; at some point Rama convinces him it's illegal for him to drink because of the legal drinking age in Cantha being 18 "for everyone, even sylvari." Fun and easy prank to pull on guy who ruined your job for you,(even though it's for the better,) never stops being funny.

7. What kind of dumb rumors pop up/would pop up about the relationship?

There'd be talk that Alba "stole" Rama from Min as a politically motivated move. A Tyrian, attempting to weaken MinSec by compromising the Minister's personal life, etc. Nevermind that all three parties involved can deny this being true. Funnily enough like, there's nothing romantic between him and Alba; they care about one another and they're good close friends but it's overall just a FWB situation... which coincided timing-wise with a loss of interest in Min. Just poor timing overall.

Auruim 2. How does the rest of Dragon's Watch feel about the relationship?

Vehement disapproval, for the most part. Most of Dragon's Watch knew Auruim for a short time before the breach of Maguuma, and they can remember what he was like then and see the contrast between who he is now. He's managed to butt heads pretty severely with all of them at some point since. I think Meisi and Bourbon are the only two Dragon's Watch members who genuinely like Auruim and make an effort to be around him or include him in anything without prompting.

Jory and Kas tried for a while, but Auruim's gotten mean with both of them, and neither appreciate that. I think Jory would be kind of catty and coldly rejecting around Auruim; Kas would be more likely to try to play nice and smooth things over, but later they'd both go home and kind of shake their heads about Alba and him. Like what IS the Commander doing...

Taimi is strongly opposed to Alba letting his guard down around Auru -- she spent a lot of time in the lab while Auruim and the other two mordrem were being "reformed" and saw a lot of his more vicious side come out back then, and it's cast her perception of him in a pretty permanently negative light. Gorrik avoids Auruim, full stop, after his initial meeting went south quickly. ("So back when you were mordrem, did you ever try to tame a chak?" As it turns out, not the thing to ask the guy who's really violent and sensitive and lashes out about being mordrem/not mordrem.)

Braham thinks he's a nuisance who needs to learn a few lessons. Rytlock thinks he's a nuisance and an overgrown cub who needs to learn a few lessons. 🤝 Neither think the Commander should waste his time, and both think nothing good is going to come of it. I think they're both kind of recalling Icebrood Saga from their own perspectives and waiting for something similar to go down with Auruim. Braham also still sees him as mordrem, which puts him at odds right from the start. Rytlock has an easier time seeing that he's at least ~reformed~ a little bit, however you want to measure it.

Caithe can recall Auruim well; she introduced him to Alba years ago, and she's mostly sad that he's become so angry and so violently emotional. She's admittedly tried to talk to Alba about not getting involved with Auruim romantically, or just not getting too close--some part of her worried that Auru will try to lead Alba down a path that Faolain tried to lead her down. At the time I don't think anything like that was even on the table between the two of them, and it was peacefully brushed off as nothing to worry about. With time, later on, Caithe is able to recognize that Auruim IS nothing to worry about after all; he's a sapling that's been forced to overgrow himself and change shape, but he's never emotionally matured past the phase he was at when he was blighted. She tries to be supportive.

Meisi (correct me if I'm wrong, Sage) is... weary of how Auruim acts sometimes, but I think he also kind of gets it; Auruim went through a lot of horrifying trauma: being blighted, then living on the other side of the warzone for years, then being forced to revert back to sylvari-hood very slowly, at an agonizing pace. He's able to see the sapling that he and Alba took under their wings in the Vigil, one of his old friends from before Everything, and he's also able to recognize what Auruim needs-- which is mostly freedom from societal expectations, which is why Meisi tends to take Auruim on fieldtrips that get him away from people to let him run around, tire himself out, and calm down. Supportive to a pretty good degree, but he's also able to play the stern older authority figure who puts his foot down and tells Auruim to behave himself, IF it's strictly necessary.

Bourbon thinks he's a good kid, but Bourbon also just has a hard time seeing the bad in people anymore. (Commander who killed your best friend? Nah son, free friend.) He got to see a side of Auruim that not everyone is privy to when Mawdrey was trying to kill them both, so HE thinks they've bonded. Supportive of whatever he and Alba are up to.

And then Canach is their third, lol. (Or Auruim is his and Alba's third? whatever.) In terms of his thoughts on just Alba and Auru, he's disapproving of how Auruim acts a lot of the time, and makes that clear to him as appropriate. He's the one to send Auruim on his quest to go through Alba's memories in the jungle and the desert, to help him build empathy with Alba, because he doesn't like the way Auruim treats him early on. He's also, in general, the type to step up and pull Auruim aside and correct other behavior. (Alba will too; they try to fill in one another's gaps there.) He loves Auruim; they weren't CLOSE or even very familiar beyond maybe vague recognition before Alba brought Auruim back from the lab, but Alba filled him in on a lot over the years, and he knew the old Auruim from those types of conversations. He cares about Auru and wants him to be okay and feel loved. 🫶he also thinks Alba lets him get away with a lot. He's really worried post-SotO when Auruim vanishes too. :( It's hard to have to assume two people you love deeply are dead.

#auruim #lorepositing #aurualba #peithalba #ramalba #asks answered

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ratasum · 1 year

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So yeah now that I threw that post up and immediately fell asleep again, some more thoughts because the further we get into Gorrik's recordings, the more upsetting this is getting for Qirri.

So one of the key points with Qirri being present is she is not, and has never been, the commander. She was barely sixteen when Zhaitan fell and everyone basically agreed that they were not going to hand the reins to this sassy lost child. But she stuck around regardless- or more importantly, came back after she met Taimi and the two started immediately brainstorming together.

That's how the Dragonwatch Krewe started, after the Dragon Watch Guild was formed.

Qirri has been the krewe chief since about that time, even when they were a tiny krewe of three. Most of her involvement has been in that capacity, since she had greater mobility than Taimi, and though her own chronic illness made it risky, she could still get to places Taimi couldn't alongside the commanders at the time (Vezz, Rissia, Garrus, and Oaklinna for Zhaitan and Mordy, then Vezz, Rissia, and Garrus through Kralk, and just Garrus after that).

This mobility means she's been present for a variety of different things, and saw a lot of what the commander(s) saw. And again, she was pretty young through all this. She's just only recently turned 26, her birthday falling just before WLB.

Hell, she only got involved in EoD because Gorrik was potentially getting in over his head, and she looks out for her krewe.

But all this rambling comes down to her having been in the trenches. She's seen what her sister and Vezz and Garrus and Oaklinna went through... she went through some of that herself.

That manifested, of course, in her own set of hallucinations when she went into the lower caverns with Garrus.

At present, she's "canonically" researching the haze with Gorrik (hence the rewritten logs- she's been with him during that). But the further they get into their research, and as her own health is beginning to degrade again, she's less and less certain of the solution to the problem.

But at the same time... who else? She can't do it. Garrus wouldn't let her, and though she won't tell him, her health wouldn't let her even if she could go it alone.

Vezz would not survive it, and she wouldn't put her sister through losing him a second time, potentially permanently.

And Oaklinna has never been okay since Trahearne's death.

She understands far too well that Garrus is the one person, the only person, this plan will work for. And though Gorrik promised her, and she promised Garrus, that it'll be his decision in the end? Deep down, she knows full well there is only one choice. And just like before, she's determined to go with him, even at the risk of her own health. Because he can't go alone. Because he might need her.

Qirri's fatal flaws are her determination and her loyalty.

I'm quite certain at this point that WLB is going to be her last adventure. I don't think she's going to die (I'm pretty sure y'all would murder me if I tried anyway)... but I do think after all of this, her role is going to be exclusively to remain with Taimi and the rest of the Dragonwatch Krewe for whatever comes next. Her days in the field are just about done.

And she really hopes Garrus's will be too. For Agaue's sake, and his sake, and her own sake.

#bunny rambles #qirri tinkerfirst #friend character #garrus firstblood #wlb spoilers #post eod spoilers #we still haven't decided who from the guild will take over as commander when/if Garrus steps down #jokingly thought of suggesting Zanthe with Ympp traveling with him #or Deshauna with Eshara #we'll see when we get to that point

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brightwingedbat · 1 year

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GW2 EoD What Lies Beneath spoilers -

Some thoughts for more of my story writing.

Since my story plays out slightly differently in headcanon (Commander Nastazya is always accompanied by her mate Marcus) I have some very terrible ideas to do for my story of them when fighting the Oni.

The first hallucination appears as Forgal for Naz, and Tybalt for Marcus. They both brush it off pretty well.

The second is Eir for Nastazya, but for Marcus it gets really strange. Rather than Eir, it's Nastazya for him. The actual one vanishes from his sight, instead this one is blaming him for abandoning her when he chased after Rytlock in the Mists, and for letting her die when Balthazar ambushed them.

Once the two are out of it, Marcus comments at Naz, but doesn't push it further. She didn't hear him during the hallucination anyway. Especially as the both of them are too busy reeling from the Haze-inflicted guilt.

The last one, Nastazya gets Almorra. But Marcus, he stops hearing Kalla in his head. Replaced by Mallyx the Unyielding's voice. His current great fear is losing himself to Mallyx like he almost did when fighting Void. He panics, so harshly. Repeatedly telling Mallyx to get out of his head, even though truthfully he's still invoked to Kalla. Even when he's trying to summon Kalla's warband spirits he sees them as demons.

By the time the hallucination is out, Nastazya is blacking out, Marcus is holding on by a thread. Rama ordering for them to get out but Marcus is fearfully telling them to stay away cause Mallyx is in his head, it takes Kalla putting all her voice into his head to snap him out of it. Then he sees Nastazya, and all his fear shifts into a desperate need to help her get out of here.

When they all escape, and Nastazya finally wakes back up, Marcus is tearfully kneeling beside her with his paw gripping tightly on hers. Needless to say, he's awash with relief. Gorrik doesn't even get the chance to ask if she's fine before Marcus does.

After all that's done and they have nothing to do but wait, they'll be going back to their Lion's Arch home. But Naz is gonna start catastrophising after being unusually still and quiet for a while, the Haze affected her badly.

She starts actually believing some of the twisted words, especially the 'You'll be the end of the charr. Killing and corrupting, it's what you were born to do.' One of the first harshest moments for her was having to kill her branded mother, and that also got half of her original warband either killed or branded. She's still never fully recovered from this, the guilt has always been there, but buried.

It takes all of Marcus' care, along with some voice raising to get her to calm down, there is gonna be crying from the both of them.

"We'll get through this, Naz... We always do, always have done..."

"...Why does it always have to be us, why is it always me?"

"I don't know... But what I do know is despite everything, we're still here. I'm still here, and I always will be here for you. Alright? You got that?"

"...I got it. I got it. ...Burn me, I don't want to go back there. I don't want Taimi and Gorrik to rip these... wounds back open."

"I know, I know. I don't either. I wish I had an answer to all this, I wish I did. Whatever happens after all this, I'll do anything to make things better for you, whatever it takes."

"I'll hold you to that, so you better not leave me. Don't you dare ever leave me."

"I promise, I'll stay by you, no matter what."

"...Those are the same words you told me when you returned from the Mists all those years ago."

"And I still mean them just as much as I did then. Always."

#gw2 #guild wars 2 #gw2 spoilers #eod spoilers #What Lies Beneath #Nastazya Ragewelder #Marcus Furyclash #storytime

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