#skimmer racing with rox

[i-mybrunettelady]

Life moves on

Summary: Life’s a lot like climbing. You have to just keep going. But as Braham can attest, not always alone. Sometimes your mate comes with you. Content warnings: None Rating: General Spoilers: Vague spoilers for LWS4 Author’s note: As is by this point an annual tradition, I write a lil something for one of my fave seasonal events in the game. This time around, it’s Sanne and Braham.

When Sanne suggested they go to the Labyrinthine Cliffs, Braham knew what he was getting into. They weren’t going for the sights, nor the beach, nor the wide expanse of clear sea water. No, they’re going so his mate could throw herself off high cliff edges on griffons so she can fly with her birds. 

He’s since learned to accept it for what it is. He knows the Spirits will keep her safe; they owe him as much at the very least. And her, too. A part of him stops whenever he sees her head disappear, but comes back to itself when he hears her laughter from somewhere down below, loud and boisterous. And it makes him smile. Because it always does. 

Because it means his sacrifice was worth it.

Thus, they’re the highest cliff they could find in Labyrinthine Cliffs, the birds flying over their heads. The fresh sea air tickles at their hair, there’s sounds of life and joy everywhere and the roar of people as they look for little satchels of loot. Braham studies them as much as he’s able to from his position. 

“You’re gonna lose the race,” Sanne reminds him and he snaps his head forward. A ray of sunlight obscurs the most of her freckles, but sheds light on the wide, grinning corner of lips and the long, golden braids on the side of her head. The rest of her hair falls on her back and reaches past her hips, and it sways in the breeze. She looks so at ease there, radiant, the exposed skin of her body strong and taut and ready for action. 

“Oh no,” Braham laughs and climbs up. Gemma gives a screech of disapproval from somewhere above. “You’re not winning this one, Bjornsdottir. You won last time. It’s time you tasted some dust.” 

“In your dreams, Eirson!” she shouts back, trying to maintain her advance. And then, just for the hell of it, she starts humming a song she knows he absolutely abhors. Braham frowns. Not even Aisanne, the famed skaald from Hoelbrak, can make that particular tune good. 

It’s apparently the three seconds she needs to get a few steps ahead of him and the song abruptly stops. Smart, Braham thinks with not a lot of annoyance. Boy, her raven, flies over Braham’s face and gives him a quick look. In the last few months, he’s starting to have a communication of sorts with her birds. 

Yes, yes, I know Raven’s happy and proud. You’re a good bird, though. 

Boy makes a noise and flaps his wings. Their loyalty - his, Soar’s and Gemma’s - reminds him a lot of Garm. These days, it doesn’t hurt to think of Eir as much. Garm’s there to try and chase the lingering, unanswered questions away. There are other, painful thoughts, but Eir feels more like a healing scar than an open wound.

Life moves on, after all. Doesn’t wait for anyone. It didn’t wait for Nyra after Maguuma. It didn’t wait for Taimi after Joko almost killed her. It didn’t wait for Rox when her warband died. It didn’t wait for Sanne when her uncle died. Instead, they all just climb on - a flash of yellow up ahead, pale hairs of Sanne’s leg - and like his friends, like his mate, he climbs on too. 

Sanne wins by a small margin, though. She wipes the sweat of her forehead and places her hands on her hips as Gemma elegantly flies down on her shoulder. “Who’s eating dust now, Eirson?” she asks proudly. Boy and Soar settle by her feet, keeping close. 

“Two to one for you,” Braham declares. “Oh, I’m gonna get you for this. I was having very deep thoughts and that stopped me from winning. Next time, no deep thoughts, only victory.”

“The festival’s just begun,” she replies. There’s a joyful gleam in her eye. “And there are skimmer races. Don’t give a fuck about other contenders if you’re competing. We’re keeping a score, Braham. Do you really want to tell Garm I beat you here?” 

“Garm has seen me in much worse states, admittedly,” he says slowly, “but I do want to lay the wreath of victory at his feet.” His voice turns quieter, softer, then. “I don’t think he’ll mind whoever wins, Sanne. We’re all together in this.” 

Gemma hoots. Sanne takes a deep breath and strokes her beak. “Possessive little bird,” she says, but there’s nothing but fondness in her voice. “We’re a family, yeah. All six of us. And my parents. And aunts and uncles. And my cousins. Family.”

She then raises a hand and whispers something to the wind. Within minutes, a large griffon with dark feathers and a saddle flies to their rock, announcing its arrival in a loud yell. She gently places Gemma down with Boy and Soar and climbs on the griffon, petting its neck. 

She then turns to Braham, smiles softly, and says, “See you down, Eirson. I gotta take the children out for a flight.” Then she’s down and for a moment, his heart skips a beat. He then sees the flag of her golden hair out against the sunlight, in rapid descent and a whirlwind of air and laughter, and three bird-like forms trailing after her in formation. 

Life moves on, no matter what.  

#gw2 #inspo birb has come to town #aisanne bjornsdottir #braham eirsson #branne #gw2 norn #my writing #festival of the four winds #guild wars 2 #canon x oc #hehe love my norn kids #first time writing braham i think so be kind to me pls

[ascalonianpicnic]

Has anet ever considered I just want a living season dedicated to spending time with the team? Spa day turned murder mystery with Jory. A day in town with Kas, watching street performers, shopping, trying all the food. Helping Kas and Jory plan and pull off a wedding for an entire episode? I'd be down. Helping Taimi, but also making her take a break to play some video games and just hang out and relax. Digging in dirt for bugs with Gorrik! Fly over Tyria with Caithe and Aurene! The commander and Canach commit petty crimes

Lws6 the commander spends time with their family please

#socks talks #an entire episode of feeding cute animals with braham #skimmer racing with rox #wedding! wedding! wedding! give me one anet! #really tho the Most Important is bug hunting with Gorrik #i need that and i need it to be replayable anet

[mystery-salad]

Reposting this since legit somehow Zero of the tags or bolding carried through holy shit

30 questions: GW2 edition I was tagged by @where-is-caithe and @just-eyris-things

This can be done in many different ways: get asks by your followers, pick some questions for yourself, answer the whole damn thing at once, etc! You can draw, write (to explain in details or not) or just post screenshots! If you miss one it’s totally okay, whether it’s by lack of answer or time. Have fun!

1. Favorite living world season?

As much as some of the fights feel really badly balanced, I enjoy LS2 for the close knit new family feel. The whole little group is still figuring their dynamics out and finding their independence, and it’s a real good found family sorta feel as you Go Through A Lot.

2. Favorite expansion?

Heart of Thorns holds a special place in my heart (lol) just for being the first new story since I’d started playing. It’s got many flaws looking back, but nothing has actually hit me harder since. Maybe because anet overuses the punch of tragedy and death an I’m numb to their attempt to low blow us after several years *shrugs*

3. Favorite soundtrack?

The music in Caledon forest was my first step into gw2, and it will forever hold the top spot for me, alongside the original character select screen music.

4. First profession you played?

Ranger! Still one of my absolute favorites.

5. First race you played?

Sylvari, go figure

6. Favorite Destiny’s Edge character?

It’s a tough choice for me! Eir and Caithe rank highest though due to their unconventional character arcs for women. They’ve both got a lot of nuance and challenges and I respect that.

7. Favorite Dragon’s Watch character?

Again gotta pick two, Braham and Rox have a unique feel too and are amazing foils to each other’s characters. I’d like to see more of them together again.

8. Favorite Elder Dragon?

I love the potential held in Bubbles. Deep sea dragon, whose awakening scared even the krait off? Give me those deep sea horrors.

9. Best boss fight (story)?

I honestly really love the final fight against Zhaitan. It really managed to encapsulate the feeling of fighting a larger than life powerful enemy with an army at your back. No big fight since for me has had the same grandeur to it. We did a lot of fighting dragons in “smaller” ways or with “smaller” teams that just feel more...compact, ya know? I want that grandeur back.

10. Best boss fight (fractal)?

Jade maw is fucking wild! And it’s not the boss of its fractal but the giant living statue.

11. Best boss fight (raid)?

Never been in one, would love to one day when I’m in a guild who does them when I’m awake...

12. PvE or PvP or RP?

PvE by far, and RP is fun when you can find the right people.

13. Favorite canon couple?

In one map, there’s a seraph soldier and a bandit having a secret date. They’re so fucking extra and sappy and unnecessary and I love fining them and reading their cheesy star-crossed dialogue.

14. Favorite fanon/self made couple?

With another player, my favorite currently is Matthias with @ascalonianpicnic‘s Aildyn. The two have a very good dynamic.

Solo, I really love my new commander, Kai, with Caithe. I’ve built up a back-an forth for the two that I’m a lot more compelled by than I thought I’d be! I’m excited to share more on these two.

15. Favorite quote?

“sneaky mode engaged”

16. Most emotional cinematic?

The end of Heart of Thorns. A victory, a tragedy, and a clear sign that it’s set off another disaster just by you winning. There’s so many layers to that *boom*

17. Favorite VA?

I’m so bad at naming VAs but whoever voiced the asura female MC knows what she’s about

18. Post a fun screenshot!

Still love this one~

19. Post a landscape screenshot!

20. Most used mount(s)?

I spend most time on raptor still, followed by griffon!

21. Favorite mount skin (for every mount you have)?

Raptor: crested plainsrunner

Springer: kourna jackrabbit

Skimmer: river mothwing

Jackal: lucent sands

Griffon: clouded corvus

Roller Beetle: deep desert scarab

Warclaw: vigilant saberclaw

Skyscale: axejaw skyscale

22. Favorite weapon?

Longbow is my favorite kind of weapon, I like it on every single class that uses it. Favorite overall weapon? Idk man too many to pick from at this point.

23. Favorite gear set?

I’m always a sucker for the sunspear armors

24. Favorite title?

Killer Queen

25. Something you worked really hard to get?

Astralarias is my only legendary so far and it’s pretty rad. Really like Mawdrey too.

26. Favorite GW2 Youtuber / GW2 related video?

Daelin Dwin

27. Most used miniature?

Mini Quail!!! The feather bouncing on the head is an adorable little feature.

28. Most used novelty?

Embiggening tonic!

29. Number of achievments points?

Little over 18,000 now

30. Something you’d love to see in GW2?

Norns getting the same revamp humans got on african american faces and hairs since they’re also based on humans :) Where is it anet? Where’s the fairness? And asura and charr both have some afro-inspired hairs that need better textures now. When anet.

I tag anyone who hasn’t done this yet! Idk who has or hasn’t been tagged in these couple of weeks, but if you haven’t done this yet I’d love to see it via tag 💕

#ask memes

[xaeneron]

On A Bug in the System

I have been (and continue to be) stupidly busy, so sometime I’ll post something, I swear.  I’m sorry, I’m not dead ;-; (I think).

I did spend some time on the new release, and overall I enjoyed it quite a bit.  Sandswept Isles are beautiful and have a bunch of new things to take a look at and tidbits to find, which is super neat.  I think I find it actually more engaging than Domain of Istan, which I kind of floated through on nostalgia and then never came back to after Palawadan farming became a thing.  I had a lot of fun with the story, and breaking the story (completely on accident).  

As usual, bullet points beneath the cut :>

On General Updates:

The new branded mounts are so pretty.  Still tempted to buy them.  But I also have a lot of other mount skins ;-;

The Claw of the Khan-Ur is a pretty legit dagger.  Besides the fact that I’m just not generally a fan of the shape, it’s detailed, it’s clean, it’s not overly flashy, but it’s still distinct - definitely things I dig about (legendary) weapons.  I know some people think it’s boring, but I like it.  Unfortunately I probably won’t make it since I have the Incinerator :V

The fractal instability shuffle is...interesting.  I think it’s a neat concept and could mix up fractals week by week.  I’m glad that they’re monitoring it and seeing if things work well, but some of these combinations look downright silly.  Like add-heavy fights with toxic trails, last laugh, and afflicted.  Eew.

Chubby health bars :3

On Sandswept Isles:

I actually really like Sandswept Isles a lot.  The first view of Rata Primus during the story was legit, and the zone itself feels...I’m not sure, interesting, distinct.  There’s a lot of different things going on, and the divide between the Olmakhan lands and the shitshow of Rata Primus is an interesting way to present the zone.  I like it quite a bit, although I wish there were just one more waypoint.

I never get tired of exploring a zone for the first time.  We were running around shouting about suspicious bushes and falling off cliffs.  Exploring fresh new maps and finding all the little nooks and crannies will always be one of my favorite pastimes.

I know the “Surprise! Tricked by Joko!” bounty mechanic was a thing in Istan, but we never really got around to bounty training Istan because we all kind of got tired of the zone in about a week.  That being said, it’s a stupid mechanic as currently implemented.  If it still spawned the bounty or immediately put it back up on the board instead of resetting its respawn timer, or spawned the awakened during the bounty or something, that would be a lot more interesting.  As it is it just makes us not want to do bounties because it’s depressingly common how often it happens.

I don’t think that lowering the spawn rate of these is the solution, Anet. :V

The specimen chamber meta event is easily farmable, very quick, and very easy.  I find that I like it quite a bit for whatever reason, and the champs (at least for now) are more funny than they are annoying.  I also appreciate that things aren’t scaled to hell like they have been in the past.

This was kind of what killed Istan for me honestly.  Palawadan farm is long, annoying, and completely dominates the zone.  I was never a fan of it, and despite the nostalgia goggles I had for Istan, it kind of ruined the zone for me.

The special action key boost skill on the skimmer race is really entertaining.  I want it back.

The bag collection with Efi was super sweet.  I really enjoyed Efi and the cultural aspects, and that the collection wasn’t supremely bugged.

I need to know more about Zohaqan and Rakis pls.

IG-6417 is ridiculous. xD

Bugged event is bugged. I want to get rid of these recordings taking up a bag of my inventory pls ;-;

On A Bug in the System:

I enjoyed sneaking in the first instance.  Although doing it with friends just makes it broken easy.

No for real. Although people got stuck accidentally and then things went south and it was quite funny.

I really like the Olmakhan.  It’s interesting to see a completely different set of charr from the legions, and listening to Rox interact with them (including being completely aghast at the idea of raising children instead of using fahrars) was an interesting contrast.

We bugged the golem fight at the end of A Kindness Repaid quite hard - the elder’s bubble stayed up, and the golem didn’t lose stacks, so we just...hit it for a very long time and thought the fight was exceedingly boring. 

Also when everyone was mourning said elder, we were confused because he was standing upright still in casting position.

Thank you Anet for not making doing the hearts mandatory for the main story.  Although I did them all anyway before finishing :V

I hate the special ley-lines in one of the labs. REEEEE stop sending me into walls

RIP Lonai.

I do love that these heroes from GW1 keep popping up.  It’s a nice touch for people who do remember their names.

The surprise teleports to DR and Frostgorge and Mount Maelstrom were pretty silly, but pretty amusing.

THAT AWKWARD TALK WITH BRAHAM. Boi. Boi pls. 

We managed to hear male sylvari, male charr, and female human, and I’m still a huge fan of the male sylvari delivery of “Oh thank the Pale Mother.” It was beautifully sassy and relieved and precisely the tone Ive would have. 

I do like that Braham is seeing some character development here (and to a lesser extent Rox). This release had him facing the greater consequences of fighting Elder Dragons, and seeing the impact of things outside of just that.  He’s still an angry brat, but he’s learning more about the world around him and understanding that he’s not seeing the whole picture.  There’s also the whole fact that it’s kind of problematic for him to not be able to kill Jormag since Taimi and the PC sent it back into hibernation, but ayyyy

Ive is still mad at him though.  More tired of him than anything, but Ive is tired of everyone these days and takes shit from no one.

I feel like we’re being set up to ship Taimi x Blish.  Blish is adorable so I don’t really have complaints, but gee that was blatant, Anet.

I am quite interested in Taimi’s progression.  I do want to see how she deals with all this pressure, and how she’s going to work moving forward.

Also those FMA feels with Gorrik and Blish.  If a golem or something named Nina shows up I’m done.

S C A R A B  P L A G U E.  I’m interested that this is the direction they’ve chosen to go in, but if Joko wants to kill everyone and resurrect them as his undead minions around the world, I guess the Scarab Plague is a pretty efficient way to do it.

I think he might still be a bit salty over being left in the Domain of the Lost.

No, no praise Joko.

#guild wars 2 #gw2 #a bug in the system #living world season 4 #living world season 4 spoilers #even though it's been a couple weeks #xD #hi friends #just babbling again #don't mind me #I'll post sketches someday #;-; #busy busy #S C A R A B P L A G U E