Swampland
Westwatch Patch, Auric Basin.
1328 AE.
In the Heart of Maguuma, down twisting paths and deep crevices, where the light of the sun would struggle to reach even if the overgrowth above was destroyed, seven entities pretended to exist on the world they had assumedly abandoned.
“Should we… stop them?” One said, at last.
The ‘them’ in particular was currently assessing a particularly toxic corpse, left preserved by the toxic fumes pervading the corrupted jungle. The look in their eyes was hungry, in more ways than one – The need to know and experience the world warred with their common sense, which was hovering dangerously at an all-time low.
“No, no, I want to see what happens,” Lyss said, peering intently. Beside her, Ilya was staring, transfixed. Even the most wondrous of illusions couldn’t hold a candle to the sight playing out before them.
The Commander pulled out a sword. The calculating gaze that often scoured the battlefield, assessing the flow of battle and the minutiae of tactics, were laser-focused on the sorry excuse for a boar. The boar, unable to defend itself on account of being dead, continued to lie there, motionless.
“I would like to say, for the record,” Kormir said mildly, “That I have no idea what’s going to happen.”
Grenth smiled.
It was not a particularly comforting smile.
The Commander cut a slice out. The toxic fumes wavered a sickly green in the air, drifting languidly, menacingly, out of the little alcove. Ten meters away, a patch of grass withered and died.
Dwayna made a strangled noise, arm outstretched as if to stop them. Beside her, Melandru sat serenely on a particularly large mushroom, watching the situation play out. She pat Dwayna on the shoulder, and if anyone could have seen them, they might have mistaken it for caring. The other gods knew better. Melandru was vicious when she wanted to be.
The other gods also knew better than to acknowledge Balthazar, whose spiritual form flickered and sparked like a light refusing to catch, or a lightbulb refusing illumination.
“I would love to know what’s going through their mind,” Lyss breathed.
“I doubt anything is going through it,” Grenth drawled.
Kormir raised a hand. “I can confirm that.”
“Kormir can confirm that.”
“Kormir can also speak for themselves,” Kormir said.
“Kormir can, but should Kormir?” Ilya said, eyes dancing.
“Kormir hates all of you,” Kormir said, because she did.
“Kormir’s just going to have to deal.”
Melandru nodded sagely. Dwayna absently gathered the sage and blessed it, casting it off to Queensdale.
The Commander raised the meat and held it, and for the first time, doubt flashed upon their face.
“Maybe they won’t do it after all-“
The Commander ate it.
Dwayna broke down. Melandru gave her metaphysical shoulder another metaphorical pat, and sat back to watch the show. Lyss and Ilya gave twin squeals of glee and awe. Kormir laughed at the sight, delighted at having seen something she couldn’t predict. Grenth grinned, a grin with far too many teeth and far too much hunger.
Balthazar was beginning to smoke.
Dwayna sobbed. “They are an idiot.”
The idiot continued to chow down.
They weren’t looking amazing, but they sure were trying their best.
Grenth hummed. “This is actually rather impressive. Resisting death for so long.”
Melandru sighed. “Please don’t kill the wayward Commander.”
“Their death will be their own fault, I promise.” He grinned wickedly. “Hell of a way to go though.”
“They’re so stupid,” Ilya breathed. “I forgot how much I loved humans.”
They were all studiously ignoring the rising flames surrounding the God of War.
Thirty seconds stretched on, simultaneously feeling longer than an eternity and passing in a blink of an eye. Dwayna resigned herself to their fate, and went to lean against Melandru; then quickly thought better of it, and leaned on Kormir instead. Ilya was standing behind the poor soul, shouting “Chug! Chug! Chug!”, not that the poor soul in question could hear it. Grenth snapped his fingers, and eyeshades appeared on six of the seven gods, the first blatant acknowledgement of Balthazar’s seething hatred.
A minute passed. Then another. The Commander no longer looked like they were struggling, and gazed at the preserved corpse as if it were a particularly interesting puzzle.
“Holy shit,” Melandru’s voice rumbled, speaking up for the first time. “They actually did it.”
Balthazar exploded.
---
Two years later.
“You DARE to DEFY the DIVINE?!” Balthazar roared, swinging at them wildly. His movements were sharp, wrathful, and the Commander wondered, not for the first time, if they were in over their head fighting a god.
Still, they persevered. “You will not harm Aurene-!”
“No.” Balthazar cut them off, both literally and metaphorically. Their sword shattered in their hand, and they cursed, drawing another to parry the mad god’s next attack. “I’m talking about you, you damned mortal, they who would defy the rules of nature and consume that which is tainted beyond belief.“
“What are you talking about?!”
“I AM TALKING ABOUT THE HOG.”
“The- the what? What does that have to do with this?!”
“Your Injury Is Personal To Me.” Balthazar intoned.
The Commander could only stare, slack-jawed, at the deity.
Then Aurene came soaring in, and suddenly they had a lot more pressing issues to worry about.
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Did Roger basically claim that Jim's book was written for money? Or did I dream that? He was quite derogatory about it IIRC.
You didn't dream that. It's a Spanish interview from like 2011 where the interviewer asked if Jim and Barbara were going to be in the film, which was back in production hell at that time. Roger said Barbara was a bad influence, and while Jim was a good man, what Roger didn't like was that Jim wrote the book with a member of the press and, "They did it for the money" (and then people tried to act like Roger was using the gender neutral "they", as if that was a common thing in English over a decade ago, and it's non-existent in Spanish, the language the article was written in lmao).
And everyone just glossed over it or justified it, because no one likes to think Roger is capable of ever doing something wrong in this weird ass fandom. But I don't care anymore lol so I'll briefly say what I said back then: 1.) Jim was not a writer and it's understandable why he'd need a ghostwriter to help organize his thoughts, and indeed, Queen books that did not have some professional help are often difficult to read. 2.) It was likely a lot easier to get the book published with the help of a professional journalist. 3.) That journalist actually wrote a preface to the book after Jim died which, to my recollection, was perfectly respectable. 4.) Sooo how was Jim supposed to tell his story without professional publication, and how would money not be involved in that? Publishers require money be made, that's how the world works. 5.) There was nothing actually scandalous in the book, which Roger would've known if he'd read it.
Now onto the Roger stuff which people don't want to hear: It's so disrespectful to assume the worst intentions of your dead best friend's widower like that, and remember that by that point, Jim was dead too and couldn't defend himself anymore, so getting in a little dig like that is just shitty. Why do it? Why look at a man who you just said was good and assume malice for.......writing a book? I remember people being like, "Well that's because Roger hates the press!" Yeah, as if Jim didn't also deal with the press tearing the man he loved apart. It's just such a knee-jerk, immature thing to be like "idc, fuck the press!" in response to someone in that situation. Jim telling his story and not letting himself be erased from the narrative was more important than Roger's feelings about the press (and it's not like Roger has literally ever talked about the homophobia involved in the press' treatment of Freddie, anyway, so maybe he could be quiet and let the gay man publish his "I love my husband" book). It's also sad to think of Jim thanking Roger in the acknowledgments of the book (Jim thanked sooo many people) and then decades later, Roger was like, "Nah, he just wanted money" (and as if that isn't the most common, bad faith accusation thrown at Jim for writing the book...). Jim really got such little respect after Freddie died, it's truly a shame.
It's also such a bad look for Roger to have trashed Jim's book and his intentions while praising Ratty's book, which is filled with bigotry against women, gay people, and trans people, and I know damn well that's a big reason why a lot of Roger simps die on the hill of defending that book, because god forbid their fave do something shitty. Give me a break. It was completely unnecessary to make a public dig at Jim after he died and it's unempathetic at best to have that take on the book.
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