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thorfemmes · 2 years

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I knocking again with request! It just popped in my head as iron clothes 🤣 if its ok. Eddie with his S/O and the hellfire boys. They didnt know eddie had a lover at school and they overheard him being mean to them, alarmingly threatening and the boys are no way eddie is intimidating and scary looking but he isnt actually that.. maybe they had to intervene and its a misunderstanding and its revealed s/o is a theater kid ask for help running lines something like that? I read somewhere that they used a theater room for hellfire and with his reputation someone mustve backed him up or vouch for him to use the facilities right?😉 Sorry did that made sense? Its practically 1 am here 🤣 thanks! Its kinda hilarious to me that whole scenario.

I love you, thank you for all the requests! This one was right up my alley since one of my majors is in theatre. I hope you enjoy!<3

BTW the play used in this drabble is Ubu Roi by Alfred Jarry. It's wild.

Eddie was a very theatrical person. Not just in his hyperactive gestures and storytelling abilities, but actually theatric. What the Hellfire boys thought was Eddie's free period was actually an advanced acting/play literacy class. He was secretly the teacher's favorite, how else would he have gotten permission to use the drama room and props for his DND campaigns?

Having climbed his way up through the intermediate and advanced classes, he got to know you pretty well. As excellent actor and a very outspoken and opinionated play lover, the two of you bonded quickly over your flair for the dramatic.

The boys didn't know about Eddie's theatre class, and in turn really didn't know about the close relationship the two of you cherished. So when they came across the two of you violently yelling at each other, they were concerned to say the least.

"Shit!" Eddie yelled.

"Oh it's fine, what a pig you are". You scoffed angrily at him.

The boys looked on in curiosity, but also worried as they'd never seen Eddie so angry at someone they didn't know.

"Watch out, I don't kill you, " Eddie continued.

"It isn’t me you ought to kill, it’s someone else".

"Now by my green candle, I don’t understand!"

The Hellfire boys watch you go back and forth with this utter violent gibberish.

"Now by my green candle, shit!" Eddie monologued. "Madam, certainly yes, I’m content. I could be content with less. After all, I’m Captain of Dragoons, Privy Councillor to King Wenceslas, Knight of the Red Eagle of Poland, and formerly King of Aragon. What more do you want?"

They continued to spy on you from around the corner until you spoke a worrisome line.

"What prevents you from slaughtering the whole family and putting yourself in their place?"

Gareth cut in at this point. "Woah, what the fuck is going on here? Is everything okay?"

Eddie visibly blanched knowing he'd been caught.

"Oh, hi! You must be one of Eddie's friends!" You said sweetly breaking character. You stuck your hand out. "I'm Y/N!"

"Gareth, this is Jeff, Dustin, and Mike," He introduced each boy down the line. "So what exactly is going on here?

You looked to Eddie for guidance, not knowing how he wanted to go about this.

"So my merry men, I've been hiding something from you. My free periods have actually been dedicated to an acting and play analysis class. Y/N here is my scene partner". You nudged him softly. "And my romantic partner. We were just rehearsing this absolute garbage play for our next assignment. Nothing violent is happening, promise".

"It's not garbage! It's absurdist and a precursor to Dadaism, which is one of your favorite movements in theatre history!'

"Daddyism?" Dustin spoke up confused.

"Dadaism, or Dada for short," You corrected him gently. "It's a movement that emphasized the process of collective trauma after World War I. It really tried to expand the boundaries on what theatre-".

Eddie just looked at you with what might as well have been hearts in eyes. The boys of course had no idea what you were talking about, but seeing Eddie's enamored stares was enough for them to keep their mouths shut.

"I think Eddie really likes it because at first glance it seems absurd and whimsical and just straight funny, but when you dive deeper into analysis you can really see the trauma buried within the subtext".

"Right you are, pretty girl". Eddie wrapped his arms around your shoulder. "Now, any other questions or can we get back to rehearsing?"

"We're definitely discussing this later, but we'll leave you to it. Have fun kids," Dustin said with a wave.

With the boys gone Eddie turned and quickly laid a few kisses to your face. Kiss, kiss, kiss until he landed on your lips.

"C’mon superstar, we've gotta keep rehearsing for next period".

#eddie munson x reader #eddie munson #eddie munson x you #eddie munson x y/n #eddie munson x plus size reader #stranger things fic #stranger things #writing #ask

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sasslett · 1 year

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Find The Words

I got tagged by @ainyan, this is a fun one! The rules are to find each of the assigned words in your writing and share the passage they're found in. My given words were survive, machine, enchant and oblivious! Surprisingly tricky.

Survive

"I have an idea, if you would allow," Alisaie piped up, casting a glance aside to Varrus before continuing. "I'm afraid it's not very good as ideas go - it's exceedingly reckless, in fact, and you may well come to despise me for ever having suggested it. Assuming we survive, that is."

Whatever she was getting at, Varrus wasn't sure he wanted any part in it - yet, somehow, he knew whatever she suggested would hinge on him regardless.

She looked at her companions as she added, "The question is… do you trust me?"

Varrus let out a sigh. "I trust you to follow your heart and do what's best, regardless of if it's actually a good or sane idea."

Machine

"A dragon of the first brood…" Varrus murmured in wonder. "A sister to Hraesvelgr and Nidhogg… Let us pray that she isn't as bloodthirsty as her fallen brother."

The two dragoons, accompanied by their tiny dragon friend, cautiously made their way forward, past several empty devices Jess only assumed had been used to conduct countless horrors upon the dragons.

And then they saw it - a massive machine, towering over everything near it, with a fully-grown, great wyrm held inside.

"Is it…?"

"Who cometh to this forsaken place and disturbeth my solitude?"

Well, that answered her question. The dragon was indeed alive - and Jess truly wished it hadn't been. Not for any reasons relating to being a dragoon, but, rather, because she couldn't even begin to imagine the agony of sitting, forgotten, for over five thousand years, yet somehow being kept alive. And the sorrow emitting from the dragon's voice was nearly enough to overwhelm her.

Enchant (er... penchant, as I didn't have a single instance of enchant in my entire 508k words)

"Then what are you waiting for?" Alphinaud asked, likely not intending to sound as rude as he came off.

"The wherewithal to do it," Krile replied. "The fact is, my abilities aren't quite up to the task. Not in themselves, anyway. If I had Master Matoya's Crystal Eye, on the other hand…"

"Then let us call on her forthwith," the Miqo'te began walking towards the bridge out of town, not even waiting for a response. "I think it best that you explain your plan to her in person."

The group followed - all except Alphinaud, at least.

"Oh, who am I kidding," the boy slumped his shoulders, "it will be fortunate if she does not mistake me for my sister again."

"It'll be ok," Varrus gave the boy a pat on the head. "She just means to say that you're very pretty."

"Yes…" Jess muttered. "It does seem as though she has a penchant for young Elezen men…"

The man gave a snort, knowing exactly what she was referring to. Though why she'd sound jealous of Matoya, of all people… With a shake of his head, he hurried after Krile and Y'shtola, and the group traveled to Matoya's cave - without being assaulted by frog wizards this time.

Matoya didn't even look at them before giving a sigh. "Is that trouble I smell, or did you forget to wipe your boots on the way in?"

Oblivious

But forget how she felt - what about Varrus? It was his homeland, after all - he, who had suffered at the hands… claws?... of Nidhogg, and under the lies of the Holy See. She pulled her head back to look at him, finding him staring down at her with those beautiful golden eyes of his. And, like always, she was struck by just how handsome he was, even while panting for breath from their recent fight, his deep purple hair stuck to his face with sweat, dirt and blood smeared across his skin… Maybe there was something wrong with her, but somehow, all of that just made him even more attractive…

"We did it," he whispered, the feeling of his breath on her skin sending shivers down her spine. Slowly, as she'd dreamed about so, so often, he closed his eyes and began lowering his lips to meet hers…

"...Is it over, then?"

Only for the two to be rudely interrupted less than an ilm before their lips would touch, as Estinien came wandering into the chamber, completely oblivious to the moment he'd just ruined.

Hastily, Varrus set Jess down on her feet and stepped back, clearing his throat as he turned to his cousin. Jess, meanwhile, shot the other Azure Dragoon a glare, though it didn't seem as though he'd noticed.

#tagged #sassbox #my writing #thanks this was fun!!!

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tovaicas · 10 months

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ok some drk!rouvastre thoughts before I do pagl'than:

fray manifests first during hw in azys lla, but rouvastre is so good at emotional repression they don't actually show up for real until shb. the equivalent of drk 30-50 happens during the msq for shb (fray's bloodthirst mixes with the lightwarden thing so it's really hard to tell who's who). for important context, right after beating thordan and zephirin to death (not jokes) rouvastre had an Alberic Moment:tm: and looked directly into nidhogg's soul, saw how similar they were, and was nearly subsumed by it (tl;dr: if it wasn't for midgardsormr, nidhogg's host would've been them). it really shook them.

fray doesn't manifest during stb bc rouvastre still has middy and drahm korr (the ex-horde wyvern lending them drg juice) as emotional support dragon therapists lingering in his brain. it's the fact that a) middy is gone now by shb and b) they don't have a wyvern who can feel every single thought and emotion that crosses her brain to talk to in norvrandt bc g'raha can't bring her over that means for the first time in an extremely long time they're alone, and at that point he still doesn't feel like confiding in the scions is an option so she's extremely lonely and fray springs outta nowhere to fill the gap.

as a result, fray doesn't exactly look like fray; while they're still the hallucination of the wol's repressed anger, fray for rouvastre is that plus the lingering threads of nidhogg's influence that still remain plus all of their hangups about being a weapon first for ishgard and then the scions. fray looks like some weird fucked up corrupted dragoon to them and is more of a sinister, lingering shadow that's Always There:tm: who gets angrier outta worry the more they're ignored rather than the mentor angle drk quests take. as everything goes on tho they take the self-acceptance and love angle fray normally takes and like normal they really want rouvastre to be a less passive player in their own life.

the merchant scene is them losing it on lue reeq. at some point they lose it on the scions outta stress and only stop once they realize they're terrifying the twins and ryne. fray tries to take control of the meat suit in the middle of the crystarium once they've had enough of the self-destructive lightwarden stuff that's killing the both of them.

fray almost shatters as the light corruption advances and rouvastre loses their sense of self, so like. they had a point.

I don't have a spot to slot myste yet but he's Everything he is normally; the guilt, the self-hatred, the survivor's guilt. he's more obviously resentful and angry at rouvastre.

unfortunately bc I've messed about with it so much it means that sid and rielle aren't canon for them (probably), but we can pretend in our hearts.

#spoilers #major spoilers #oc: rouvastre #saint.txt

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repl1c4nt · 2 months

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ffxvi desperately tries to grapple with its identity as a final fantasy game while also trying to be something the series has never been before (m rated game of thronesesque dark fantasy) and honestly i think that internal conflict really is what kills the game most because it is at its best when it sheds its expectations as a final fantasy title and becomes its own thing with gripping political drama and high stakes in a less world-ending way. ultima kills just about all intrigue the story builds up which is especially disappointing because Annabella worked incredibly well as the games primary antagonist.. her and olivier were fumbled severely imo you cant get any cooler than THE! dion lesage having an actual unspoken war with a 10 yo

there was no reason (in my opinion!!!!!!!!!) to bring ultima into the mix and change the stakes so rapidly and drastically. wow this man is being manipulated by his evil cousin fucking wife into dragging the entire continent into a pointless war all while theres disloyalty stirring among the knights dragoon led by his OWN son but its all just ultima. like ok whatever but annabella would have made a vastly more interesting antagonist liek :P but of course it has a long history of intergalatic threats (usually god adjacent) that Should be the antagonists because its what final fantasy is. stakes larger than life, epic battles and flashy effects, i know i keep comparing ffxvi to heavensward, and i generally dont do that when criticizing games but i feel like its warrented for this: how thordan functions as an antagonist and final boss vs ultima

i think the most obvious difference is thordan is there and apparent since the beginning however ultima serves roughly the same purpose as lahabrea the background scheming ever-present force manipulating the game however lahabrea is merely a conduit by which thordan achieves his goal of being the god-king and not the surprise twist antagonist there to shed every character of their interesting appeal. barnabas suffers the most from this being easily the most interesting man here (i struggle to really say id like to see more of barnabas given what we do see of him is.............Well)but no matter what glimpses of his psyche we do get the allure is non existent because hes not a character in any meaningful way hes Just an extra limb to ultima who ultimately serves no narrative purpose besides saying cryptic things and be a boss fight (admittedly his fight is good. maybe the most ive struggled in the game which i mean as a compliment that dps check was brutal barely made it through by the skin of my neck spamming max potions when i could and relying solely on lb haha) where lahabrea acts as the mysterious force pushing the plot along hes only relegated to a dungeon boss as opposed to a trial because narratively it isnt lahabrea who wants this its thordan. its by his own hands that his god king form is achieved he feels like an actual character... barnabas is there to serve vague exposition that only goes barely explained by the end of 16

olivier and annabellas roles as antagonists feel more complete and thought out than the actual main 'villain' which is really disappointing, because any intrigue built by the conflict in Sanbreque is dashed when dion was simply wrong and olivier was ultima the whole time ooooooh

joshuas entire sideplot is relegated to following ultima similar to cloud but with none of the intrigue because we dont know Anything about ultima. hes only introduced to the plot as some vague concept joshua has an unexplained connection to (btw we still dk how/why joshua 'trapped' ultima in his heart/soul/whatever becos. none of it is elaborated on. i tried too i was hoping for an ff7og type hidden revelation if i did jotes side quests too but no....... i looked yall i tried i did

not to mention how joshua survivng kind of killed clives arc for me.. L3+R3 to accept the truth was kind of badass as fuck... too bad it doesnt matter and theres no truth for clive to accept joshua was never dead. clives arcs are perpetually meaningless. internal conflict about this power hes been given that could change the world for the better.. or worse and he could (and has) hurt/killed the ones he loves.. well doesnt matter joshua is alive and ifrit has caused no real harm to people who matter..

i remember talking to my irl, they were going off about fe3h about how the trailers built up political intrigue and expectation that was dashed when it all turned out to be villains behind the curtain manipulating everything with no foreshadowing and yeah... yeah

ultima was so poorly handled to me, nothing about his buildup felt coherent to me and all it did was serve to distract me from what i was genuinely enjoying (dominant political dramas) i really dislike it all.. god i wish there was more, theres a dlc coming out about leviathan, you might have honestly forgotten about leviathan because it was a single line of dialogue with no explanation build up or payoff. if you want to know why joshua namedropped leviathan and then moved on like it never existed pay square enix extra money and hopefully this wont be utter bullshit too lol.

#me talkies

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none-ofthisnonsense · 3 months

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Merlin S4E1, "The Darkest Hour: Part One"

Okay so old lady trailing a cart across a desolate expanse.

LEON!!! GUYS IT'S LEON!!

Morgana??? Still not used to her being so powerful.

Elyan and Leon better not be dead.

Moraguse is alive??

New intro!!

Oh so a celebration of some sort is going on at the castle.

That cook does not seem pleasant.

Pffft the chicken and the knights

PURPLE SHIRT??

It must be nice for Merlin not to have to hide his magic in front of someone that's not Gaius.

Morgause does Not look well. (She looks like a weird Gaius.)

So Uther still hasn't recovered. I like Gwen's dress.

So another year has passed.

Who is that dark person in the background? I don't like him. Okay actually who the fuck is she? And why does Arthur listen to him so much?? HIS UNCLE?? I don't trust him. Is this another someone-sent-to-kill-Arthur situation?

They pronounced Samhain correctly! Truly, the selective accuracies and inaccuracies in this show astound me.

Morgana pronounces spells way more fluently than Merlin, in that they don't sound as chopped.

Is Merlin slowing down time again?

Who the fuck is that woman? So both Merlin and Morgana can see her. That's great. To have a veil open to the dead.

Okay so Arthur is Merlin's destiny, and Merlin is Morgana's destiny.

Merlin is Not OK and I don't like that. (This liveblog is unusually verbose because I'm on my computer for once.)

Damn, Arthur has grown since last time.

Gwaine never changes huh

CHICKEN!

So Merlin's magic doesn't work. Great. It's not like he's the most powerful sorcerer to have ever lived.

So they're attacking Camelot! Great!

Arthur admitting he's sacred… Now I am too.

I'm having Mordred flashbacks.

A life for a life… The Isle of the Blessed really is associated with that idea huh

OH GREAT HE'S IN LEAGUE WITH MORGANA. JUST WHAT CAMELOT NEEDED. ANOTHER TRAITOR.

Okay Gwen and Arthur are cute.

Arthur don't give power to that snake

I love Merlin/Gaius hugs.

Gwen you're breaking Lance's heart. But also, he's a good man and would do it anyway.

Just once in my life I want to wear chain mail.

Oh this isn't a good omen. (Why are two snakes on the sigils?) Does Morgana think Dragoon the Great is Emrys??

…where's Merlin? And where's Lancelot?

I'm not sure having no torch is the best thing.

The screaming is giving me a headache.

I know Arthur and Merlin won't die but I'm still scared for them.

MERLIN WTF

#merlin #bbc merlin #merlin s4 #merlin s4e1 #the darkest hour #the darkest hour part one

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nikkeisimmer · 2 years

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The Chikamori Selfacy

Chapter Thirteen - “Intensive Studies”

(Excerpt)

**********************************

Mid-December Break

University was out and Christmas was around the corner. River, Bebe, Michelle and Samantha all went into holiday cooking mode and banned the men from the kitchen. From what Haruo could tell there was a lot of giggling and laughing ensued. Of course the men were dragooned into getting cooking supplies. List after list was shoved into their hands along with a verbal shove out the door into the wintry environment that was Vancouver, BC.

Haruo looked at his list: Eggnog, flour, sugar, maraschino cherries…

A shivering Kosuke looked at his cousin, “Haruo? Where we go? Shopping list?”

Haruo nodded. “Sounds like we’re headed to Safeway.”

“Ah. Soooo cold.”

“OK, man, get in the car, Ain’t no way I’m walking up Macdonald Street in this!” Haruo muttered as he looked up at the descending flakes. There was going to be at least a foot of accumulation on the ground by tomorrow. He’d had the foresight to put snow-tires on his car a week before they were slated to get their first snowfall so he was covered as far as he knew.

The first half year of his studies had come to an interesting conclusion. He’d found he was smarter than he’d realized. His father was encouraging of his studies and the games were going well. But he knew that the degree was just a piece of paper. He had a path he wanted to head on and that was the end-goal of the four year academic pursuit he was putting himself through.

The drive up to Safeway on Macdonald and Broadway was quick enough. The Safeway had underground parking for its customers so that they could maximize the floorspace up above. It was either that or go to Costco.

And that was somewhere on Grandview Highway a couple blocks west of Boundary. Considering just how far he’d have to go in order to get there; he’d might as well save himself the gas, the time and the aggravation of other drivers and just go to the Safeway four blocks up. He might not be able to save himself money on the food, but well better that than having to negotiate hard-packed snow with the consistency and stopping capacity of a sheet of ice. Driving in the wet West Coast snow wasn’t for the faint of heart and 4-wheel skating wasn’t something he really wanted to do.

Going into a retail store a week before Snowflake day (Christmas) was not a very smart thing to do either as Haruo and Kosuke found out.

“Oh…so crowded…”

“Yeah, I don’t think we’re getting out of here anytime soon” Haruo said laconically as he gazed at the lines for the checkout (in the 90s there was no self-checkout, you had two choices, you either shut your hole and waited patiently in line for your turn to pay while the cashier rung you up or you came back at a later time when the lineup wasn’t so long. You could also go without too). Haruo and Kosuke, seeing as they were on an errand run for their significant others had no other choice but to stand in line, having to listen to other shoppers belly-ache and whine about how long the lineup was going to take and how slow the checkout clerk was going just so they could get back out into the wintry weather thus enabling them to carp about the weather for that time of year.

To kill time and tune out the complaining, Haruo decided to ask his cousin how his classes had gone the first semester?

“Oh, so-so good. Class very very difficult. Homework, translate question from English to Japanese first then I answer question. Take twice time.”

“Ah, lots of practice”. Haruo teased his cousin.

“Lots of practice. Y’know. Samantha, she like talking English to me so she speak English all time.”

Haruo guffawed loud enough to cause a couple heads in line to turn. “I’ll believe that, when you’re not being distracted by other things. Not a lot of time to get homework done, eh?”

Kosuke exploded in fits of mirth, “oh, Haruo, you so bad.” Evidently Kosuke’s grasp of rudimentary English was well enough to capture the subtle raunchy jibe.

Trading jokes whiled away the time that it took in order for the lineup to get to them.

A retail job had to be one of the toughest jobs out there, especially during the holidays when nerves were frayed and patience was at an all time low. Many a time has a retail worker wanted nothing more than to tell the next rude customer that they could take their latest complaints, roll them up in a nice little ball and use them as a suppository, preferably as far up as they could uncomfortably place it. If the retail worker preferred, he or she would probably, by aid of rapid foot to rear cavity imparting of force, deposit it so far up the digestive system that they could quite possibly use said object for a tooth pick…the difficult way. Ah, but one could dream.

Coming back from the Canada Safeway was an exercise in trying to plow through snowdrifts a foot high. Traction provided by winter tires certainly helped matters. But was exacerbated by the city not plowing side streets. Trying to deal with maniacs trying their hand at speeding down snowy roads combined with ice and treacherous traction, it was risky to take Macdonald St. but preferably Stephens, not recently plowed.

Turning left onto his residential street, Haruo grinned. There was a spot open. Luckily no one had come along to swipe it. “Oh, look, we’re in luck, a place to park.” Surprisingly no parking vulture had taken his spot at their rental house while he and Kosuke were out.

Parking was a problem in the Kitsilano area. Because of the bar at 4th and Macdonald, one would usually find parking vultures hanging around picking off prime parking spots so they could go to the bar and drink themselves into juice-induced stupor. Considering that parking was an issue for residents, the bar was not well liked amongst neighbours of that area. Nothing was more irritating than to come back from errands to find your front of your house parking spot having been stolen by a barstool pigeon.

One could technically call a neighbourhood meeting and try to get one’s block converted to a resident’s only parking but that would only serve to make the bar-wights incensed and more liable to cause property damage. Frankly it would make more sense to make bar-owners have to have enough money to make adequate parking for their patrons. Essentially if you don’t have enough money to make underground parking for your patrons, then don’t open up a bar in a residential neighbourhood and leech parking from residents of the area. One would think that would be common sense but sense isn’t very common.

The other option was to disturb the police with endless complaints about the fact that their inability to do anything about the tavern-trolls taking your spot in front of your house was causing you to have to park your car sixteen blocks away and take the bus home, hoping yet again that you hadn’t annoyed the owner of the house you just parked in front of, because you couldn’t get a parking spot in front of your own.

Typical response was “Yes, sir, I’m sorry, but if the street is not designated resident’s parking, then the public is able to park there at any time. Sorry for the inconvenience. If you have an issue, take it up with the works department at City Hall. Hey, Jonesy…get me another Starbucks and a 50 pack of Timbits. Can’t get away from the desk here, eh.” ~click~. Translation “Tell it to someone who cares.”

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elellan-merlin · 2 years

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Ok, idk of anyone's already thought about this possible magic reveal, but yesterday I was rewatching ep 3x10, Queen of hearts, and a scene hit me just like the first time I watched it. At a certain point Merlin is disguised as Dragoon to save Gwen from death penalty for the love poultice hidden under Arthur's pillow (obv put there by Morgana), but he can't turn himself back to normal Merlin, so he has to flee from Arthur and the guards and in order to stop him Arthur throws a knife that catches Dragoon's sleeve so that Merlin has to pull it to escape. Later when Merlin is back to his younger self we see him hiding Dragoon's red vest behind his back while he's wearing a Blue shirt, which, I suppose, he must have kept under the vest for the whole time. Now, WHAT IF a piece of the vest and of Merlin's shirt were torn by Arthur's knife so that Arthur in retrieving his blade takes those pieces too and keeps them for no particular reason.... Until One day, while Merlin is serving him breakfast, he notices that Merlin's sleeves misses Just that little piece of fabric that came away with part of Dragoon's vest! He'd ask something like 'Merlin, what is this?', and Merlin would act all indifferent and Say 'I don't know what you're talking about' and he can't be convinced, so Arthur Waits until Merlin is asleep to compare the torn piece he has with Merlin's broken sleeve, and they fit perfectly but he can't explain how and from then he is tormented by doubt and tries to catch Merlin doing magic anyways that's basically It, welcome to my Ted talk

#thoughtsonmerlin #merlin bcc #arthur pendragon #merlin #merthur #bbc merlin #bbcm #merlin emrys #still not over it #i hope my english is understandable enough #clotpole #dollophead

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elfyourmother · 3 years

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Absolutely no one: …

Me: you ever think about how Estinien Wyrmblood was an innocent shepherd boy who lost absolutely everything in the Dragonsong War on one terrible day and became an angry and vengeful youth who dedicated his life to destroying Nidhogg and he trained obsessively to become arguably the deadliest Azure Dragoon since Prince Haldrath, Ishgard’s literal spear aimed at the heart of the Dravanian Horde, and still agreed to parley with the enemy and when he found out everything he had ever been taught was a lie turned that same spear against the church without hesitation and even though he was nearly consumed by Nidhogg he was saved thru the power of love and friendship and walked away from his position and dedicated his life to caring for dragonkind and finally made peace with his inner demons in the form of Nidhogg and became the first in 1000 years to fulfill the ancient legacy of the Dragoons as knights fighting alongside dragons to protect the world just as the First Brood did as a Scion of the Seventh Dawn

Somebody: …bitch u ok?

Me, sobbing: Alexa play Dragonsong

#estinien wyrmblood #listen I have feelings and you all have to cope with that #azure the grouch

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tavernfest · 3 years

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Round 3 Masterlist (May)

Thank you so much to everyone who participated this quarter! Round #3 is now officially CLOSED and a new round will be starting shortly; however, if you find yourself inspired to create something for this or any of our previous rounds, we will be accepting submissions indefinitely!

For more info on how to take part, check out our FAQ or send us an ask 🙂 In the meantime, you can find a list of this month’s Round #3 submissions below!

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Fanfiction

Title: The Wisdom of the Ages Creator: @tehfanglyfish Rating: Teen Length/Medium: 4200 Words Pairing(s): Merlin/Arthur Warning(s): No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary:

Saving Arthur while disguised as Dragoon the Great was all well and good until the king decided the old sorcerer deserved a reward. On the run from Arthur, Merlin finds sanctuary in an elderly women's social club. What was supposed to be a one-time visit becomes a regular part of Merlin's week, as he returns each Friday to discuss recipes, commiserate about aches and pains, and lament the state of his love life.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31025411

+ + +

Title: Will you be ok? Creator: @kickassfu Rating: Teen and Up Audiences Length/Medium: 2350 words Pairing(s): Merlin/Arthur Warning(s): No Archive Warnings Apply

Summary:

Sound bursts to life, as cars zoom by the street, as people go about their day, as animals do what they must, and so on and on and on. Cities are noisy, who knew.

“Who are you?” the question startles him, apparently having forgotten about Arthur completely.

He takes a moment to be sure his features are obscured before he turns around. Arthur is still on the floor, hands trembling, when Merlin answers him, “No one.”

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31244303

+ + +

Title: Of Mermen, Magic, and Marvelous Mistakes Creator: @oncefutureemrys Rating: Gen Length/Medium: 1602 words Pairing(s): Merlin/Arthur Warning(s): None

Summary:

So no, they had to look out for themselves. They had to. It was their only chance at survival. They had—

Arthur Pendragon walked into Camelot Cafe and Merlin’s heart just about plummeted to the ground.

So, he had a bit of a problem.

He may or may not be friends with the bumbling, awkward, nerdy Arthur. And he may or may not like his golden hair and his tanned skin and his luscious blue eyes that reminded him of the sea and—

So maybe Merlin has a bit of a crush on his friend Arthur.

But he couldn't act on it because he would have to explain that he was a merman who had magical abilities and that might not go so well.

Yeah, he was well and truly fucked.

OR:

Merlin, Gwaine, and Lancelot become mermen and...things happen.

Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/31662023

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If you have a moment, please remember to stop by and leave the creators some love! ❤︎

#bbc merlin #merlin #merthur #merlin fanfic #merthur fanfic #tavernfest #round: 3 #masterlist: round 3 #theme: superheroes and secret identities

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parviocula · 2 years

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After mike bring up the dragoon shits really makin me THINK.

GOD OK SO! I said this a while back but imma bring it up again because my mouth is huge and my brain meat is heavy.

idk if Mike will change anything because adam does abandon his “human” bodies after 2045 so idk if its trauma or if he’s just an old man by that point lmao. Imma go off 77 because its the most recent shit I got (mike drop the story PLEASE. TOMORROW? MAYBE... FRIDAY?)

“The Behavioral Inhibitor Program and its battery of psychoactive do, indeed, keep the cyborg from going cyberpsycho (in a conventional sense). Basically, anyone whose biopod is in its body will act like a robot, unimaginative and literal minded. The Borgs commanding officers says “do this” The Dragoon says “Yes,sir...” and does it”

If you know Smasher. If you’ve read ANYTHING on Smasher you would know he’s not the quiet type in ANY way. That’s why the 77 confused me so much because it’s hinted he was doing his own thing and havin a blast (drug ring, probably renting out the pods you see. And enjoying whatever the fuck he does) . It’s not until you see him for the first time he seems... Off... So Robotic? Check. Unimaginative? Check. Acts Literal Minded? Check.

“Because Dragoons are so straightforward thinking, they are given very SPECIFIC orders with carefully laid out parameters. They are easy to trick, so truly sensitive work is still left to more human operatives. A common mission would be to send a Dragoon into a sector which has been cleared of friendly forces and have it kill anyone it finds, then return.”

Is this not a literal sense of his boss fight? Kill V.. Return.. Head of security? He’s literally Yorinobus fucking dog, muzzled and collared.

Mike says he loves to eat. He never once stated it was before or after his change. So why take it away? Pawel says NOTHING is unintentional!

It’s like a harness or some shit (no offense if this is his style but my boi)

“Those Soldiers who have been the “minds” of Dragoons are not comfortable with the experience, likening it to being in a dream ( or a nightmare)”

I don’t like this. bless his heart (or brain now IG) . The mans trapped in whatever the fuck he gots goin on. FREE HIM!!!!!

ALSO They come with a brain chip recording thing.... So who knows. We may get to relive Adams moments!

#txt #adam smasher #fuck this cyborg look what you've done to me

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hiimsociallyawkward · 3 years

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the wicked day

hey guys. i'm back with my random and annoying merlin thoughts. i should be studying for my bio quiz, but yk- i don't want to :,) love you @lady-ofmagic-andstars✨enjoy✨

literally every time i'm going watching i'm going to comment on john hurt that says young man instead of young boy

it's so subtle but wow. thanks i didn't need to be hurt so early on in the episode

i know i know i'm basically a child but this is so exciting

merlin is so cute

aw no not arthur being pouty abt his big birthday

I LOVE THE 'i heard that' thing so much. i love it i love it

off topic, but i love knife throwing. i've always thought that if i had to choose a weapon that's not a gun, i'd choose knifes. swords? maces? crossbows? sure. but knives?? that's where it's really at

i love arthur not wanting to overburden their citizens

ok uther? i hate him

but here? i love him

he's a good dad here. remembering arthur's birthday? that's so sweet. uther in season 4 is the only time i semi like him

AW ARTHUR AND UTHER AT DINNER

i love them

off topic but i like that arthur is wearing his 'every day' clothes, jacket and a tunic under his cape. that's it. the knights are all wearing his garb but arthur is just wearing his 'regular clothes'

hehe gwen being nervous about arthur being on the wheel is so sweet

idk why but i always get nervous at that last knife.

like of COURSe i know he's not going to get hit but it's scary.

the 'not wearing any trousers' thing omg. bbc really decided to do that

i wish we had more of this parental dynamic of arthur and uther

dam alright arthur. being out of it but still being in it enough to see the guy in the reflection? i stan

SKLFJASLDFJA uther fighting to protect arthur

literally me through his whole scene going 'oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez' on repeat.

so off topic but i kind of like the hairstyle they have for most of the guys in this show?? idk is that weird

oh jeez oh jeez oh jeez uther dying

like, i HATe him. i've been waiting for this since season 1 but this scene makes me sad

ok i don't remember the last episode of merlin so i forget what arthur says when he's dying in merlin's arms??

it's something like 'hold me' right? i feel like that has the same energy as 'stay with me' so while i can't exactly say this is sort of parallel, it's sort of parallel?

i mean, ok 1. dying in someone else's arms. 2. dying in the arms of someone you love? romantically, platonically, familial? doesn't matter. both uther and arthur died in the arms of someone they loved. 3. i'm just gonna say 'hold me' and 'stay with me' have the SAME energy, so if no one has called semi-parallels, i'm calling semi-parallels

bradley's single tear

stfu agarvaine. i'm serious. legit everytime he shows up i wanna pow pow pow him

legit. agaravaine needs to get away from morgana.

DO NOT GRAB HER ARM MISTER. LET GO OF HER

I DON'T CARE THAT YOU'RE SECRETLY IN LOVE WITH HER. LET GO OF HER RN

i've said it once and i'll say it again, i love gwen

not to romanticize death or anything but i like candle light vigils.

ok maybe slightly symbolic but probably not? ok actually i think it is, not to toot my own horn but this is also just really straightforward too.

arthur wearing 'street garb' and his 'knight stuff' sort of differentiates between 'arthur' and 'prince arthur'. the scene where merlin and arthur are looking over the vigil and merlin's talking about how there's nothing that can be done, and arthur mentions using magic, i may be off about this but i feel like he's speaking more from prince arthur rather than arthur, uther is my father.

like of course arthur's hurting, everyone knows he's hurting. but idk. i feel like he feels like he's not ready to be king. he needs more time, and he can't be king yet. so therefore, prince arthur is talking about needing to save their king.

gaius and merlin are both right here. idk what else to say.

wow merlin 'you can't stop me' love that

jeez 'maybe this is my chance to change that' little do you know what's happening soon merlin.

oh shoot.

arthur asking merlin if he would use magic to save his father? i'm just thinking back to merlin crying, but not crying over balinor because he couldn't tell arthur, and merlin having to mourn his father in secret. vs. arthur, asking merlin for advice. sharing all his worries and insecurities with gwen. begging gaius to do something more for his father. this just makes me so sad

arthur TRUSTING merlin. with everything. taking merlin's opinion on things and aw

this is dumb but tbh i really like merlin's outfit. like tbh i think i dress in the same sort of style, just ✨modern✨ sadly, no neckerchief for me but i do have a necklace that says 'heather' despite my name being 'ashley'. ily conan gray

ugh. arthur calling merlin a coward but also calling him brave?? you need to pick a side arthur

LMAO ARTHUR STOP THINKING ABOUT WATCHING MERLIN PEE

bruh arthur breaking the vase. it's so dumb but merlin referring to the vase over and over actually makes me chuckle

ok merlin going 'you have come to kill me?' reminds me of another show but i can't remember but i thought i'd put it out here anyways

oh shoot i just realized/remember that uther got stabbed on arthur's birthday. hell of a gift am i right 😭

hehe arthur 'sweeping' with the broom. silly goose

dragoon sounds so vulnerable asking for the right to use magic freely

i love you arthur. this scene, i'm like YES. arthur i love him

i love the saying 'my word'. like, i don't want people to promise me anything anymore. i want them to give me their word.

HAHA THIS IS SO DUMB. MERLIN SAYING 'QUESTIONS. SO MANY QUESTIONS'. I LITERALLY SAY IT WITH THE SHOW EVERY TIME. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME

aw arthur just sitting there with the cup and trying not to break it HAHA he's so sweet. slightly scared after that vase yk what i mean

ok i don't like morgana and everything but that necklace? that's a stroke of genius. yes girl. make up the plan as you go along

frick you agarvaine. do not scare gwen you PERV

jeez agarvainewas SO rude putting that necklace onto uther. like yes, ik you don't like him but STILL. that's just rude

i'm going to start calling people toads now

hehe arthur closing his door and merlin being right there. it's not necessarily a trope but it totally is and i love it

ah yes. merlin and the tavern. i feel like it's been referred to before but it's still funny.

ok ik arthur carrying merlin is there for kicks for the kids but i laughed anyways

apparently i have the humor of a 10 year old

this is really dumb but the scene with arthur and the two guards. i'm just thinking 'how tall are these guards'. ofc ik that the staging/perception could be doing something that might be making arthur look shorter, but my first reaction was 'bradley is 6' just how tall are these guards??'

merlin's speech about magic makes me sad

aw 'i hope, one day, that you'll see me in a different light'

dragoon has the same effect on arthur as merlin does

uther waking up 😭

AW. UTHER'S LITTLE SIGH AND THEN 'ARTHUR' BREAK MY HEART COVEY. BREAK IT A THOUSAND TIMES.

they're both so happy. this makes me so sad now. oh jeez. oh jeez. oh jeez

oh jeez oh jeez merlin's expression. AW merlin gave arthur his word. oh jeez this is very stressful and i'm only watching this

ok obviously. merlin doesn't want to see arthur in pain. but ALSO this was merlin's chance to change things once and for all. and now uther is dead. #no liam just payne

arthur's face post crying. skf;aldjfa;ldk AW

frick you agarvaine. literally die. i can't wait for merlin to kill you

i think this scene is pretty. the light on the left and the dark on the right? ok actually, i'm going to be making an off base comparison now because that's all i do.

i'm remembering this post i saw on here and it was like, arthur uther and morgana in the throne room. in order of the way they sit in the throne room, first it's arthur, uther, and then morgana

well. the really dumb and off base comparison here is the 'light' goodness of arthur and the 'dark' evil of morgana being mirrored in the picture above.

'light', bravery, doing what's right- being on the left. 'dark', evil, power on the right- and arthur in the middle of it, king

like i said, it's a dumb off base comparison, but at least the picture is pretty

oh jeez this scene

my heart breaks for both of them

merlin not being able to form a sentence at first.

😭😭😭😭 arthur please. you're breaking everyone's heart right now

you already knew i had to include this scene

arthur walking in there all alone

oh jeez he's all alone

dumb parallel number 2. arthur walking into the throne room with uther, father and son. merlin and gaius closing the door for arthur- pseudo father and pseudo son.

'he'll never know who i really am'

i want to do a DEH post soon but jeez. the line that hits hardest for me in DEH is 'i never let them see the worst of me. cause what if everyone saw? what if everyone knew? would they like what they saw? or would they hate it too? and jeez that's all i can think about when i think about merlin and his secrets

again. no liam, just payne

asldkfja;sldkfjas dlf merlin waiting for arthur

i have so many feelings

i love the show of affections for his father. you already know that uther wasn't affectionate when arthur was growing up, but still. forehead kiss? i love it

I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO FEEL THAT YOU WERE ALONE. i hate this and love this so much. i'm not saying merlin is completely selfless, because merlin wants magic to be leagalized and arthur is the way to do that. but omg merlin not wanting for arthur to feel like he's alone breaks me

first, merlin being physically alone while waiting for arthur. arthur was technically alone too, but he was with his father

but also, merlin being alone in the sense of his magic. no one knows except for gaius. lancelot knew and then they killed him. merlin is so alone when it comes to his magic, and morgana's enchantment only pushes merlin into his 'magic shell' more. arthur thinks magic is pure evil, and merlin is made of magic. what does that mean would think of arthur. this hurts me so much i'm so sad

friend 😭

arthur asking if he's hungry and them getting breakfast together

ok this sound track

pendragon red. i actually stan

gwen wearing a purple dress?? color symbolism?? nah i'm over thinking

ASIFA;SDLFJAD HE'S KING OF CAMELOT

IT'S LIKE I WANT TO CRY BECAUSE I'M SO PROUD RIGHT NOW.

oh jeez oh jeez.

and merlin saying 'long live the king' at the end of the episode?

chills

Anyways! I’ll be back next week to rant more about aithusa so I’ll see you then! thanks I love you bye

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koalas-koalas-everywhere · 4 years

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Where did the idea that Merlin is bad at healing magic come from?

Ok, that was a clickbaity title, I know where it came from: that scene in the Crystal Cave where he can’t heal Arthur’s wound. Possibly, also his struggle to heal him from the poisoned arrow in The Coming of Arthur Part 1. However, although I understand 1) the desire to nerf him at least a bit and 2) the delicious irony of someone as good as Merlin and who would like to be gentle as much as he does being crap at healing magic but good at combat, I don’t think this is very accurate.

I mean, this belief is the farthest thing from baseless. I mentioned TCC, and I can’t explain why he’d be unable to heal Arthur other than lack of skill (beyond theorizing that the magic of the Cave was impeding him because he was supposed, destined, if you will, to ask for Taliesin’s help and agree to look at the crystal in exchange, which admittedly doesn’t have much support from canon, or Merlin’s general lack of magical ability that caused him, for example to make a rose instead of a strawberry for Freya, although that was in the previous season). Then there’s TCoA, although that one’s a bit... complicated, for reasons I’l talk about in a minute, and, last but not least, there’s the Hollow Queen, where Merlin tries to heal himself but he can’t. Besides that, there are some instances when he didn’t try to heal people so we can extrapolate that he was unable, like when Mordred is hurt in The Beginning of the End, when Will and Freya are dying in The Moment of Truth and The Lady of the Lake* or when Arthur passes out in The Last Dragonlord.

The one from TCoA is complicated, because as I said before, he struggles, and by the time the scene cuts off it seems like he failed, but when Arthur wakes up, he only seems to have problems with the wound itself, not the poison, and doesn’t feel the pain until he walks on it. Then, without a hint of the fever he had before, he walks all the way to Camelot, a day or more, until he can’t go on anymore, but Merlin tells Gaius the spell didn’t work, BUT then Gaius says the wound’s infected, not poisoned, which would be explained by the whole traipsing about with a wounded leg and no treatment, so... I’m not sure what to make of it.

Then in THQ, there were the ameliorating circumstances of being... you know... dying from poison. It’s more a matter of power than healing skills (when he tries, his eyes flicker like cheap old lightbulbs when he tries to do magic). But we’ll count it.

So that makes it 5 times he would have liked to heal someone with magic but couldn’t due to what we can assume is a lack of skill (I’m not counting Mordred because I don’t think he’d dare to use magic in that case, since Morgana seemed to want to be involved and kept up to date in his treatment, proved by how she watched as he did it without magic), two of which are dubious because he seems to be at least partially successful or because there were extenuating circumstances.

Then there’s times where there were people to heal but the circumstances were... peculiar.

One was his father in The Last Dragonlord. He dies much more quickly than Will, not to mention Freya, which suggests an even worse wound than the one the woman who grew up with Druids, notable healers, said was too deep to heal. Merlin says he could save him, but Balinor cuts him off so he could give his last words, presumably because he, a man we also know possesses some healing skills, knew it was pointless. I really have to wonder if there was anything any ordinary sorcerer could have done (I mean, not to victim-blame, but I didn’t see Balinor trying to heal himself), that even Merlin himself pre-The Diamond of the Day could have done, so I’m reluctant to draw conclusions about his healing abilities from this.**

While he heals Gwen in With All My Heart, technically he does it not through any healing magic but by taking her to the Cauldron of Arianrhod and summoning the Triple Goddess, so it doesn’t help measure his skills either.

Additionally, (and here’s where I start to answer one of the most important questions in this post, which has remained unsaid until now, but which has underlined every single line to the moment: “what the fuck are you ranting about you big dumdum if all you’re going to do is agree that Merlin’s bad at healing?!” It’s about the refutation) there’s his healing of Morgana in TCC. This one’s also weird, because he does heal her, but he needed Kilgarrah’s help to do it. It’s possible that he only gave Merlin the spell, like he did with Sigan, but he has a strange sound effect in his voice when he casts it, so it could also be that he had some extra guidance from Kilgarrah to help him along, such as a power boost or an instinctual understanding of how to perform the spell. Like the last one, then, I don’t think this example gives us any reliable information on his healing skills.

But! It does start us off on the next part of this discussion, which is the times Merlin has successfully healed someone.

The earliest example of this is The Mark of Nimueh, where he heals Gwen’s father, Tom. He just sneaks in, puts a poultice under his pillow, casts the spell, sneaks out, and done! Man awake in seconds, cured by morning. Of course, success isn’t as interesting as failure (might be the reason why they continued this particular storyline by having Gwen accused of sorcery instead of just letting her live), but two things stand out about this healing. The first is that Merlin used a poultice for it, which will come up again later, so make a note of that. The second is that this happens before TCC, so it’s unlikely that Merlin just took that failure to heart and tried to improve.

But, TCC is the next time since then that he makes an attempt at healing magic, which, whew, talk about a time gap! That’s two seasons, and at least 2 1/2 years! Make a note of this, too. The time after that is, at least, in the same season - TCoA, in which we’ve settled that Merlin seems to have partial success with Arthur’s wound. (“Yes, you’ve already said this before!” Just go with it.)

Next, there’s The Wicked Day. We know that he did the spell right because everything went to shit. Once more, he used aids for the spell, a potion and incense form sage.

The very next episode, Aithusa, without a clear idea of what they’ve been given, only that they’ve passed out and have difficulty breathing (he might have figured out what it was from the smell of the poultice that he found in the stew), he manages to save all four knights and Arthur from poisoning, this time only with an enchantment.

Then he heals Gwen’s leg in The Hunter’s Heart. Once again, only a spell. Funnily enough, it’s the same wound he tried to heal in TCC, only in a different place.

Last but not least is the poison Gwen uses on Arthur in A Lesson in Vengeance. By the time Merlin has an opportunity to treat him, he’s moments away from death - Gaius says his heart’s nearly stopped, and Merlin himself doubts he has the power to heal him. No potions or herbs, although it’s interesting to note that he does motions similar to chest compressions.

So, to keep tally: his success rate when dealing with poisons and drugs is 100%, and it’s the same for times when he got to use aids such as potions and poultices. It also applies to all healing attempts not subject to extenuating circumstances (magical interference such as the Lamia’s spell or the blade being forged in a dragon’s breath, and when Merlin had to heal himself while he was dying) from TWD forward.

We can see him improve from TCC (season 3) to ALiV (season 5) - he actually makes significant improvement from TCC to TCoA, and from there to TWD and Aithusa. It seems like he learned from his experience in TCC and decided to make up for his lack of natural talent at healing magic by studying. And here’s where it gets really funny. Because we’ve established that there was a time, long before TCC, where he healed someone successfully, and that was Tom, in TMoN. If you’ll remember, around that time Merlin was much more likely to fail the first few (hundred) times he tried a spell, like the one to make that dog statue real and the one to enchant a weapon to fight the griffin. So, way back then, Merlin went, made a poultice, cast a spell and succeeded on his first try, when before (and after) that he’d have difficulties with new spells.

It... actually looks like he had a natural talent for healing magic.

Okay, hang on! you might say. You spent the first half of this fucking novel talking about his healing goofs, don’t come at me with this bullshit now! you might say.

And here’s where you should pull out those notes I asked you to make. Because between TMoN and TCC there’s a world of difference.

To start off, in the first one he had preparation. He’d been able to look for and study an appropriate spell in his book shortly beforehand and, most importantly, he had a poultice. He’s had a perfect success rate when using those. Look at Dragoon - I’ve talked before about how hilarious it is that Merlin struggles to turn off a spell most have trouble achieving, let alone keeping up. In that first ep, Queen of Hearts, Merlin prepares a whole ass ritual to age up,*** but later needs a potion to go back to his own age. On the other hand, every time after that he just casts the spell and he has no trouble undoing it. While it’s conjecture, it’s a pretty solid theory to say that potions and the like, as I’ve been foreshadowing, function as aids when casting spells. They can be necessary, but sometimes they just give the sorcerer a boost. It follows, then, that any spell cast without them will be weaker, such as, say, the one in TCC.

But! He doesn’t use potions for almost any of the other times, either!

Well, that’s kind of tied into my next point: time.

As we’ve established, almost three years go by between TMoN and TCC, and Merlin doesn’t try to heal anyone in that time. He does, however develop his magic in other ways. By The Moment of Truth he can summon a tornado! By Le Morte D’Arthur he can cast the spell he so struggled over in Lancelot! He can summon a shield that can withstand dragon fire! Went against a Sidhe and a Pixie! He- okay, he got better at combat magic. You might see where I’m going with this.

But right then, he needed to heal Arthur! He’d done it before! But... he’d gone rusty.

Honest to God. Yes, this is conjecture. No, I don’t have any proof other than what fits with canon. No, I don’t think it was intentional on the writers’ part.But in my mind and in my heart this is what happened. He was originally good or rather decent at healing magic, but after not using it and instead doing other kinds of magic for so long, during what were technically**** formative years for him as a sorcerer, that he actually lost the hang of it. To be fair, though, he makes up for it pretty quickly.

I didn’t think this through to the end before I wrote it, when I started I thought I’d just conclude there were more examples of Merlin being good at healing magic and that would be it, but putting it all together I’ve found a probably unintended pattern of Merlin having a natural talent for healing, but being forced to neglect it for the sake of combat magic. In conclusion, I’m sad.

*Scenes which I just watched to make this post and now I’m crying fucking hell what I do for stupid meta.

**I don’t apply the same logic to Freya because the length of time that must have passed between the scene in the tunnels and her death by the lake, not to mention the amount of jarring that she must have gone through in the trip, makes me think that there probably was a window of possibility there that they just didn’t have the resources to take advantage of. And. I mean. The strawberry scene. I’m just more likely to believe Merlin still had a way to go, magic-wise, but it’s also because of this that I’m not convinced that this is about him being bad at healing, specifically, as much as not being that skilled in magic overall.

*** I also rewatched the scene where he does it and ho-ho-ho-holy shit, his excitement at his idea is adorable.

****Because he was born with magic, he learned ways to use it way before going to Camelot, but this was a new stage of his studies that consisted f different things learned and different ways to learn them and different ways to apply them.

#Merlin BBC #Merlin #am I metaing yet?#I said in conclusion I am sad your honor

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thegreatpikminzx789 · 4 years

Text

Beyond the Stars - Etrian Odyssey V - Chapter 12

Wattpad|Ao3

Summary: With a goal set for today, the guild enters the labyrinth to fulfill their jobs. But things start shaking up slowly but surely, regardless of how much the white haired harbinger wished to progress with ease.

Previous Chapter|Next Chapter (Not available yet)

A/N: Life sure likes to throw things in my general direction. I had to remind myself that I don’t always have to do long chapters because I had little idea on where to take the story from chapter 11. I’m clearly gonna plan out Chapter 13 to like, 16 or 17, and see if that’s a better strategy than doing it whenever I feel like it. Also I apologize if the constant mentions of Drayce and the Angelward guild feels a bit annoying. Doesn’t help that my brain loves wanting to experiment, and yet I know the story must progress, so I’m kind of having to stop myself from those thoughts until it’s appropriate.

Mentions of Drayce and the Angelward Guild(c) @theshatteredrose

The Lux Guild, having 10 members to their name, entered back into the labyrinth with determination and goals set for the day. It was still a brand new day, so the earlier they are able to knock out the grind for money and the sketching of the second floor, the faster they may be able to catch up to Byron's guild.

The white haired Harbinger stopped for a moment as she looked at a stone pillar, before getting everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone. May I point out something of interest?"

"What is it, Hilda?" Keiko instantly replied, turning to face Hilda before approaching her, her sights set on the stone pillar she pointed to. The others slowly but surely took notice and headed back to see what the commotion was about.

Once everyone was gathered, Hilda pointed to a set of crystals. Three of the crystals were glowing, as if indicating that they were active. And they seemed to be set up to indicate the number of floors, judging by the sets of two crystals, with a label describing what floor they lead to.

"These are Stair Jumps," Hilda began. "though I hear some people refer to them as Warp Crystals. They keep track of a guild's progress through the labyrinth, allowing them to warp to certain floors, though they require finding crystals near the stairs' entrance and exit."

Quite interesting, Korey thought to himself. Such convenience means that they don't have to constantly run up and down the entire labyrinth and waste energy on trying to reach where they need to be. Would also be helpful to remember in the event of anything serious happening in the labyrinth.

"Why in the world are there 30 floors, though?! That's quite a lot...!" Demetria exclaimed, questioning why there was that much of the Yggdrasil to explore.

The white haired Harbinger lets out a sigh and a shrug to the Therian Rover. "Beats me... but we're merely starting out on our journey to the top. We still got a long way to go..."

Hilda approached the pillar and gazed at a particular set of crystals, tracing a finger around the crystals. "...Especially if..." Was all that Korey could gather from Hilda's mumbling to herself.

"...Hilda? Are you ok?" The brown haired fencer couldn't help but ask. Hearing her name, Hilda looked at Korey before walking away from the pillar.

"Y-Yes, I'm fine." She reassured him. "Just... wanted to look at the crystals up close... That's all."

Korey seemed to be slightly satisfied with the answer, though he more than likely will have to ask her about that at some other time. No need to idly waste away the time with little details for now... "Is Hilda a fan of crystals?" Ion inquired, slightly changing the subject.

"Well, they look pretty to look at...." Hilda began, soon stopping herself before she got way off topic. "A-Anyways, as we climb the Yggdrasil, best keep a lookout for the Stair Jump crystals."

With that short detour done, everone nodded their head at Hilda's suggestion, all agreeing to do their best to keep an eye out for the crystals. "Then we best be off to do our jobs for the day. Good luck investigating the rest of the second floor!" Charon proclaimed, as he rushed ahead, almost leaving his group behind.

"H-Hey, wait up, Charon!" Keiko declared, running past her twin sister to give chase to the Harbinger, followed by Demetria and Beta. Kyo chuckled at the headstart Charon had, before she and Altum followed shortly.

As for Korey and his group, they decided to walk to the second floor, since they weren't in any rush to reach the top of Yggdrasil. They still had to remain on guard in case a Rabid Acorn or any other enemy attempted to take advantage of them for an ambush. Korey took to the front alongside Hilda, Amare took the west side of the formation, Ion took the back, and Bortos took the east side.

They reached the stairs relatively easy, and they took a turn to the right instead of the left that led them to saving Altum and Amare the day before. Hilda took the lead, since this floor was the only other major floor that she had mapped out previously in Byron's guild, leaving Korey to look around with the others in case something may try to catch them off guard.

................................................

Even though Korey could hear Ion and Bortos discussing things behind him, he couldn't help but ponder what other types of monsters they will encounter inside the labyrinth. Chances are, they aren't gonna be that easier than the monsters they'll face here on the first stratum.

Not to mention, any potential mercenaries or bandits that might try any means nessecary to obtain the treasures the Yggdrasil contains. Though they were able to save Charon and Ion from their fates... He couldn't bear to imagine being late to save any of them.

His mother always did say that even during her time as an explorer, there were people that she regretably, couldn't save in time. There were small bits of doubt, trailing across his mind... If they did arrive too late, would they have lost valuable information regarding the Aeterna? Would many others fall if they were too late to stop whatever monster or-

"Aaah!"

"Huh-?" A scream instandly snapped Korey out of his drifting thoughts. Someone clearly was in danger...

With urgency, Hilda quickly placed away the mapping materials and the group rushed ahead to where they head the scream. As they turned another corner, they were able to spot a small girl with pink hair, seemingly cornered by a tall woman with long black hair, pointing what seemed to be a cannon at her.

"There's no escape for you now! And you will tell me where to find them, this instant!" The woman barked, already losing her patience with the girl before her.

The pink haired girl gulped with fear running down her spine. "I-I don't have much aside from those items... I don't even know what you're talking about...!" She attempted to retort, only for the cannon to be aimed much closer to her face, gasping and backing even closer to the tree behind her.

Hilda wanted to rush in and save that girl she was familiar with, but with how that Dragoon woman was pointing the cannon, one declaration could lead to her being held hostage; or worse... Korey glanced back, seeing the troubled look on Hilda's face. "That girl... is she a friend of yours, Hilda?" He asked in a not so loud voice, probably guessing at most.

"Y-Yes. She's someone I met previously with..." Hilda responded, hesitance radiating from her reply when she nearly mentioned Byron's guild name. "Well, what we do?" Ion whispered, voicing his concern as well.

This was about the first he has ever encountered a situation like this. Although, he did spot something no one else had caught on, after looking at the situation before him. It was clear that the girl was cornered and the Dragoon had her full attention on her... Perhaps...

"Bortos, you still have some Blind Gases, right?"

Bortos looked up to Korey when he called his name, scrambling a bit through his bag and picking up a Blind Gas from it. "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?" The Brouni asked in return.

Korey looked grabbed one of the blind gas bottles and glanced back at the Dragoon woman. "It's quite risky, but we're gonna do an impromptu rescue mission." He replied, prompting a surprised gasp from Hilda.

Despite wanting to protest on how badly that idea is, there was little choice on how to approach this without things going terribly bad. But perhaps things can go right, for once... it would all depend on the Dragoon woman's reaction. Korey motioned for them to hide behind the trees, as he began to sneak, hoping he wouldn't catch the attention of the people in front of him.

"You have until the count of ten to tell me where to find at least one of them, or else... And don't think that summoning your wraith buddies will scare me!" The black haired woman declared, as Hilda felt her heart sank a little upon hearing the threat. And yet, she wanted to help out desperately...

Hilda approached closer, but in the shade of the trees, hoping they'll still provide some cover for her while as she kept an eye on Korey. Once he was near enough, he stood straight up and shouted, throwing the blind gas bottle towards the black haired woman. She turned around just long enough for him to quickly spot an eye patch on her left eye, before the bottle made impact with her face and made her flinch from the impact.

"What the-?!" The Dragoon growled, attempting to swat away the blind gas. At that signal, everyone else made their move; including Hilda, who rushed straight away towards the pink haired girl, standing in front of her in order to protect her.

"H-Hilda...?!" The small girl gasped in surprise, seeing the Harbinger look back to her.

"We'll take care of this, Lili," Hilda reassured her. "Just take cover for now!"

Feeling that she can trust her on her word, Lili grabbed her coffins and ran behind a few trees and bushes. Seeing her run off to safety, Hilda glanced back at the Dragoon, who had looked back to where Lili originally stood.

"What the- where'd she go?!" The woman questioned, as Hilda brought out her scythe, making the Dragoon step back a bit, before seeing Ion, Amare, and Bortos surround her on all sides. The tides seemed to have quickly changed, and she did NOT like that at all.

"Alright lady with eyepatch!" Ion began with confidence in his voice. "Thieving no good! Give up the bag now!"

The black haired woman glanced down at the small bag she held in her free hand, before glancing back at the Celestrian male, her grip tightening around the bag. She made just a quick glance at Amare before her attention was on her, almost as if she recognized her. And that was worrying to the Necromancer.

"You're..." She began, shaking her head as if to discard the thought in her head. "I don't have time for this... I have to find the Eternal Treasures, and I'm not letting some extra funds get away from me!"

Korey couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at what the Dragoon said. "Eternal Treasures...?" He asked, now that the thought entered his mind.

And from the look on the Dragoon's face, seems like she knew that he didn't have a single idea on what she was talking about. "What lady mean by that?" Ion questioned, having not heard such a thing in his life.

"Forget it. Not like a random guild like you would have a chance of finding out about them." The Dragoon then took out an Araidne Thread, grasping it firmly in her hand. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be taking my leave now."

"Wait, stop...!" Korey rushed at the Dragoon in an attempt to stop her, but she vanished quickly before he could reach her. "Eye-patch lady gone..." Ion groaned, a little sad that they were unable to stop her before she left.

As impromptu as it was, they weren't able to stop her getting away with whatever was inside the bag... Hilda turned to face the bushes, seeing Lili approach the group now that the Dragoon threatening her was gone. She placed away her scythe and walked towards the tiny Necromancer.

"Lili, who was that woman? What did she want with you?" The harbinger inquired, wanting to know who that woman was.

"She never told me her name... Sorry Hilda." Lili apologized, scratching off one question, even if it would be some time until they would encounter each other again. That black haired woman, although dressed like a Dragoon, had a personality that felt befitting of a bandit than a Dragoon.

Sighing with relief, she hugged Lili, who returned the hug briefly as Hilda stood up. "It's fine, Lili. I'm relieved that she didn't hurt you." Hilda couldn't have been more thankful for the impromptu rescue, though she despised the thought of her friend dying all because of a mistep in Korey's plan.

Seeing Hilda smile, Lili glanced over at the four other people placing their weapons away before looking back to the Harbinger. "So hey, you got yourself into a new guild, huh?" Lili asked, as the harbinger nodded in response.

"Is little girl ok? Not hurt anywhere?" Ion spoke up, as he and the others walked towards Hilda and Lili. "Mmhm. No thanks to your quick arrival." Although Lili seemed to be happy for their rescue, there seemed to be some doubt on Korey's face.

"Sorry we couldn't get the bag that was stolen..." The fencer apologized, as Lili glanced at him, surprised that he's apologizing for something being stolen.

Even after apologizing to her, Lili didn't seemed that bothered by it. "Don't worry about it; nothing too special was taken in that bag. I could always get more Medicas and Theracias from Syrik." She reassured him, praying a situation like that doesn't happen again. Not like he could ever let that one down for the rest of the day... "Oh, I suppose it's only fair if I introduce myself. My name's Lili!" The small pink haired Necromancer introduced herself.

"Pleasure to meet Lili. Me Ion. Former Mercenary turned guild member." Ion introduced himself, to which Amare, Korey, and Bortos soon introduced themselves afterward. along with their guild name.

"Once again, thanks for coming to my rescue, Lux Guild. I'll be sure to repay that kindness someday." Lili hummed, smiling at her rescuers. "But I better head back to Iorys. Good luck with climbing Yggdrasil!"

With farewells from everyone, Lili grabbed her coffins and headed back towards the stairs. Hilda couldn't help but notice that Amare had been gazing at the floor, seemingly lost in thought. "Something bothering you, Amare?" Bortos asked, seeing Amare snapping back to reality, glancing at the Brouni before seeing everyone else's concerned looks.

"Something that black haired woman bothers me..." Amare began. "What could she have meant by 'Eternal Treasures'?"

It certainly threw the group off, especially considering they haven't even heard of them before, much less even know what they are. Were they weapons? Armor? Mystical relics with untold power?

As ambiguous as that title is, there was no way they were going to find any info about it right away... And Korey knew that for a fact. "Do you think Ramus is aware of the Eternal Treasures?" He further prompted the discussion.

"Hm... Whose to say?" Hilda pondered. "For all we know, he could be just as in the dark about these treasures, much like the treasures from the Legendary War." She added.

Regardless of their pondering, idle discussion wasn't going to get them anywhere. Especially glancing at Ion, who seemed like he was about to lose his mind over this whole ordeal. Couldn't blame him, really.

"Well, let's table this discussion for now." Bortos declared, seeing that nobody else had anything else to add. "We should probably tell the others about this too. I don't want to leave them in the dark about this if we are to search for these Eternal Treasures later down the road."

Perhaps it was for the best that they discussed it at a later time. Maybe the news of more treasure to discover might be in Drayce's interest... At least, that's what Korey thinks the others might say. Though they haven't known each other long enough, it was a bit too early to start relying on another guild for assistance for something the world may not even know about. Plus, he didn't want to bother the Angelward Guild if they were already in the middle of a search for another treasure.

For now, it was in Korey's best interest to keep the news about the Eternal Treasures to his guildmates and Ramus. He didn't want to involve anyone who was rather unforunate to catch wind of the treasures' existence. The fencer looked up towards the sky, checking to see if they still had plenty of daytime to try and map out the floor.

"Well Korey, what's the plan?" Hilda inquired in response to him looking up at the sky. He smiled at Hilda, seeming to already know the plan.

"For now, we'll map out the rest of the second floor, then see if we can make some progress on the third floor," Korey began, making sure his guild was paying full attention. "Then we'll regroup with the others and talk to Ramus about the Eternal Treasures."

Hilda seemed to smile at the plan, showing her silent approval. She didn't want to waste time going back and forth so far, so to think that she might make several more steps beyond the stopping point that Byron replaced her made her rather excited.

With the encouragement she needed, she brought out the map and made her way onward, with Korey, Ion, Bortos, and Amare soon followed behind. Korey could only hope that everyone else down on the first floor were doing just fine. Considering what that Dragoon woman uttered, getting sleep tonight was going to be rather tough.

As the five of them proceeded onward, Bortos and Ion winced upon seeing a large catepillar-like monster, just simply wandering around. "H-Huge catepillar scary...!" Ion gulped, fearing that yelling would attract its attention.

Though much to the Celestrian's surprise, the insect monster continued to wander, oblivious to the yell seconds prior. Hilda and Amare were unfazed by the sight of the creature, from what Korey could gaze just looking at the two of them. "It's a good thing those Toxipede FOE's really love to wander around, else we'd have a situatuon on our hands." Hilda sighed, seeming to have feared that Ion's exclamation upon seeing it would attract its attention.

The linear path the Toxipede took seemed rather easy to bypass, as long as they were cautious not to accidentially bump into it when they aren't looking. Still, just seeing an FOE for himself, Korey could tell that even he wouldn't want to mess with them for the bestiary quite yet. Had they gathered everyone else up, maybe they could take on one, but that would also require a ton of co-ordination, and that would be nearly disasterous if all of them fell in battle...

"Well lookie here, the ex-girlfriend is attempting to make progress."

Hilda gasps, seeing Byron approach the group. She glared at him like a Wild Dog staring at its next meal, and Korey had to wonder why the Harbinger was here. Ion huffed and crossed his arms upon seeing the Harbinger, still ticked at him for trying to kill Charon.

"What are you doing here?" Hilda growled, gritting her teeth in annoyance. "Oh, nothing much in particular," The black spikey-haired Harbinger began, gazing at the group in front of him.

Clearly him dancing around her question only seemed to enrage Hilda some more. "You see, after our little clash yesterday, me and the crew decided to repay Lydia and Revlis' help last battle with some well deserved punishment~" Byron explained, grinning excitedly at the thought of a punishment.

Several gasps were heard from the guild before him, which was just the reaction the Harbinger wanted. "What did you do?!" Hilda questioned, starting to feel riled up.

Byron laughed manicially, before taking a deep breath to answer the white haired Harbinger's question. "Just gave them scratches and wounds my dear," He began. "Nothing too deadly, just enough to let them know that they'll have to listen to MY orders, or else they'll crawl slowly towards their own deaths!"

"You're insane...!" Korey growled, starting to be frustrated at Byron as well. "How are you not fired from being a guild leader?!" Bortos questioned, flabbergasted how this man hadn't been disbanded from his own guild.

"Because who doesn't love some chaos being spread amongst the labyrinth?" Byron chuckled, picking up a rock. "Now, why don't you be good fella's and get acquainted with that FOE?!"

"Byron, no-!"

Hilda attempted to stop Byron from throwing the rock, but the Harbinger was too quick for her, seeing the rock hit the Toxipede on the back of the head, looking back to see the guild before them. Thinking they were the ones who caught its attention, it lets out a screech.

"So long, losers! See you never! The labyrinth beyond the third floor is OURS for the taking!" Byron yelled as he made his escape, as Ion attempted to chase after him, only to be stopped by Amare.

"Let him go, Ion." The Celestrian Necromancer insisted. "B-But Amare-!" Ion began rebutting.

"No buts, Ion! We gotta get to that third floor entrance before Byron does!" Hilda exclaimed, grabbing Korey's hand as she led the charge to run from the aggroed Toxipede. Bortos soon followed, and the two Celestrians rushed quickly behind them, shortly followed by the FOE beginning its pursuit of the guild.

That Byron is so going to regret this...

#Etrian Odyssey #etrianodyssey #eov #etrian odyssey v #etrianodysseyv #writing #Beyond The Stars #etrianodysseyvbeyondthemyth

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geirskogull · 4 years

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Steel Reign - Chapter 3 - Dial A Summoner

Danica calls up a good friend who probably wont react badly to “oh yeah i might be a primal now”

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Rating: M

Count: 2.1 K

Rain. Rain was a regular occurrence in the Shroud. Caolan Haustefort should know that. Caolan Haustefort liked to consider himself a smart man, and things such as the local weather patterns should be within his constant purview of “things he was aware of.”

But as his floppy wet beret could tell you, he very much was not.

Danica was lucky, he thought to himself, lucky he was bored enough trying to find a ship to sign on to in Limsa that he'd be willing to drop everything and come to this ass end of the forest to see how she was faring. A lie in two parts on his account, one he told himself in a vain attempt to keep the haughty aloof arcanist act in one piece. He was sure that was exactly the kind of person ships were looking for and Gods above he’d be their man.

Of course he’d also be the worried mother hen, rushing from one end of Eorzea to the other when one of his comrades muttered even a single worrying word.

Pushing open the swinging doors of Buscarron Druthers, the rush of warm dry air made him shudder, sending droplets of water all over any who were within spitting distance on the main door. His eyes scanned the crowd for the mop of black hair and slightly pointed ears of the woman whose shaky voiced link pearl call had dragged him there, and when his eyes came up empty his heart began pounding. The mask slipping and worry visually coloring his grey face, somehow losing what little color it did have. His long steps rushed him towards the tavern keeper, a strong looking gent whose name adorned the very place her ran.

“Need a drink, son? I’m sure I have something here that can warm your drenched bones” Buscarron asked, looking up at the Duskwight with a sympathetic look in his singular functional eye. Caolan shook his head no, sending another wave of splatters across the bar this time.

“Not now, though depending on what the person I’m supposed to meet here has to say, perhaps later.” He cracked a nervous smile, letting his eyes wander over the gathered crowds again, absently. Trying to maintain a calm that he was no longer capable of holding.

“Looking for the Dragoon in the corner perhaps?” Buscarron’s words drew caolans eyes and attention back towards him. The ‘keep motioned to a well hidden alcove with the glass he had been cleaning. Eyes following, he did not like what he saw.

Danica sat in the booth, eyes downcast, intent upon the small linkpearl and not at all at either the food or drink placed in front of her. She looked exhausted, almost half dead. “She’s been like that since she wandered in here during the worst of the storm. I had half the mind to offer the poor girl use of the backroom to rest, but something tells me she’d be too proud to accept the offer.”

“You don’t know the half of it.” He replied, he shook his head, a heavy sigh following. “Thank you.” He pushed himself off the bar, and with a slight bow of his head towards its keeper he turned towards Dee. His frown never truly leaving his face.

Buscarron’s eyes followed the leggy gent, he must have been whoever she called on that little red pearl earlier. Who she spoke to in rushed, hushed tones, far too low for him to make out anything she actually said to the folks on the other side. All he knew was that she looked scared, and alone, and his honor - and his memory of when she came bouncing through the door on order of the Lancer’s guild - had him flicking his eye back over there every once and awhile. Just make sure she was still upright and breathing.

“Dee?” Caolans voice was almost a whisper as he approached his friend, and yet she still nearly jumped from her skin when his words hit her ears. She paused just short of her spear, just recognizing him before her hands wrapped around its shaft. Danica Voss was jumpy.

This wasn’t good.

Voss was never jumpy. Ok that was a lie, Caolan chastised himself, her entire preferred form of combat revolved around jumping, but this was a different jumpy. A scary jumpy. A worrying jumpy. A jumpy that had him compressing himself to as small a size as he possibly could, which admittedly, even when he hunched over and scrunched up his shoulders wasn’t very small.

“Dee...” he let her name hang in the air as he slid into the booth, across from her. Trying to figure out, among his many grand social stratagem, which to employ to talk to a friend about something bothering her.

“Your food is getting cold.” Working around the problem before getting it, that would work yes? He thought to himself, gentle nudging the plate towards his friends. Even if it didn’t work, it would make her eat something, hopefully.

Voss flicked her eyes to the plate, as if noticing it for the first time. She opened her mouth, flicked her eyes towards Buscarron who simply waved, and then shook her head. The way her brows crinkled as she grimaced spoke a sharp spike of pain as she did so.

“....Not Hungry.” She eventually managed to whisper. “But thank you.” Her eyes flashed back towards the owner, who hard turned back to his own work for now. She silently cursed herself, how had she not heard him place it down? Odin, or the sword, or perhaps even just her own overactive mind painted her scenarios were such inattention would be fatal.

“Thirsty then?” Caolan asked, tilting his head, and comically letting his dripping beret fall with an audible splat. Danica blinked, startled and confused at the sound, but drawn away from her own mind if even for a second by the sheer strangeness of Haustefort without a hat. When she didn’t respond, he leaned in, his wet hair dripping upon the table. Gods he wished he had thought to bring an umbrella.

“Or perhaps you wish to tell me why you summoned me all the way from Limsa, where if you’d like to know I was very very close to actually signing on with a good crew for a spell, via linkpearl with just the words “We need to talk.” You know, the anxiety words. The no good very bad anxiety words.” He cracked a small smile, hoping his good natured jab at the heart of the problem would ease some answers out of the half elezen woman.

She swallowed hard, eyes still downcast when she answered.

“I need help.” Three simple words that did not tell any meat of the matter. He blinked, waiting for more words, fear growing in his heart as the seconds turned closer towards a minute. Slowly, she raised her hands to the table. They were bruised, bandaged things. Unsurprising considering her martial profession.

“Did you really summon me all this way just to heal some minor injuries?” He asked, giving an incredulous. He deeply doubted such a thing would be the case. Hells, he’d known her to forgo medical treatment when she really needed it, if it didn’t seem important at the time via her own special, Danica standards.

Then, he noticed the black metal hilt in her hands.

His mouth hung open, shock and awe stalling any words from leaving his mouth. He’d never thought he’d live to be in the presence of such a sword, well unless it was swinging down upon him to end his pitiful existence. Yet, here it was in Danica’s hand.

“You killed Odin?” He whispered, finally. Grasping at her wrist holding the hilt and shoving it back beneath the table. Scanning the bar for eyes turned their way, thankful that his whisper hadn’t actually been a scream.

“Yes.” She responded her hands shaking, “No.” She said quickly after. Her eyes finally leaving the sword to look into his grey ones. They were red, had she been crying? Or was she just tired.

“What do you mean?” He asked, leaning further across the table. The wood digging into his gut, he was almost crawling across it.

“I think it is the Primal.” She whispered, and he felt the his gut twist. “And... and who ever kills Odin becomes him the moment they touch the sword.”

Becomes the primal.

The words hit him like an imperial air raid. He dare not ask to confirm if she was saying what he thought she was saying. The look on her face was enough to tell him that any shadow of doubt in her own mind was long gone. He took a deep breath.

“What do you need me to do, Dee?” His voice was serious, thankfully not betraying the fear in his core. His friend, a primal. A primal among those who hunt primals. He was sure she was having those very same worried thoughts rushing through her mind, mayhap even faster. Of those she called friend turning their blade upon her, striking her down. Her name cursed, those close to her executed for fear of being tempered. He closed his eyes, swallowed hard, and spoke again.

“Anything you need of me, I will do.”

“I need you to be my friend right now.”

She responded, her voice shaky. Perhaps on the verge of tears. Reaching across the table, caolan grasped the hand that did not hold the cursed blade with both of his. A comforting shield, even if only in theory and less in practice.

Hells, the Arcanist Guild never prepared him for something like this.

“I’m...” She spoke, looking back towards the swirling wood grain of the table. “I’m telling you because your the only person my mind gave me that wouldn’t...” She couldn’t even bring herself to finish the sentence. He wondered how long she sat agonizing over those names before ringing him up. He was glad she did.

“I need you to help me understand this, help me figure out what exactly is going on. You know stuff about primals, about summoning! And your my friend and...” She shook her head, grimacing. If Odin was in there, was he talking to her? Was he making this easy, making this hard?

“I can do that, I’ll head back to Limsa and start spending my days scouring for everything I can get on the topic. And I’ll get us a linkpearl for just us. And I’ll... Have you told anyone else?” He asked, concern in his voice. “Who sent you out here anyway? Last I heard you were too busy punching people in Ul’dah for sport.”

Danica snorted, and Caolan smiled. Progress in this strange predicament they found themselves, that he had been dragged into.

“Urianger, we Scions were called on to try to put a permanent end to Odin. We thought we had a plan by fighting him in Urth’s font but...” She shook her head, giving a bitter chuckle. “Look how that turned out.”

“Urianger, that’s the guy with the hood right?” he asked, trying to remember everything he could about Danica’s fellow scions. He remembered little, mostly tidbits about the ones Zara and Bryce were also familiar with. There was Neran, the Paladin, then Aveline the Astrologian, and Y’sthola - he’d seen her around Limsa and...

He cursed his memory for not giving him more.

Danica gave an affirming nod. “The others were out dealing with other big problems, so it fell to me and now...”

“Do you trust Urianger as well?” Caolan asked, not allowing Danica to continue deep into the swirling abyss of fear that stood before her. She looked up and nodded.

“He’s done nothing to earn my distrust,”

“Then I think we should tell him as well.” Caolan announced, Danica merely shrugged.

Though her voice showed much more fear than her nonchalant movement did.

“I’d prefer to let as few people know about this condition as possible.” She whispered. Eyes darting around the room. None had eyes on her, but it didn’t stop her from worrying ears may be.

“Alright, don’t, but at least report in so they don’t come calling.” He amended his statement, and she sighed. He was right, so very right. If she didn’t report in people would come calling. When people come calling, they ask questions. And when people ask questions, they inevitably get answers. She swallowed hard and nodded.

“Come with me?”

She asked, though it was more of a plea. He sighed, shaking his wet head with a look of mock insult upon his face.

“Yet you request more! Ugh, fine.” He couldn’t stop a smile from creeping upon his face, or laughter from breaking his words

“But let’s at least wait till the rain stops,”

“Pray then we will return to the waking sands?”

#ffxiv #ff14 #Danica Voss #Odin #Chapter 3 #Steel Reign

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