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dalish-farther-roam · 5 years

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Tavern Training

A little down-time stuff for Amon “The Weary” during his house arrest, after a very difficult talk with one of the NPCs from his backstory. Posted here at the urging of @colonelcupquake @frenchy-and-the-sea @villnis @phoenix-failing @themilokin @urdnotgrunt @kelseyofcake

“Ok, now you’re just making things up, what purpose can this possibly serve?” Val said, as she entered the crowded tavern downstairs of the Lesan Inn. She and Tara stood side by side, Val’s hands on her hips, Tara’s arms crossed, watching Amon and Rona.

Those two were balancing in the middle of the floor, on one foot with the other leg stretched out directly in front, their supporting leg bent to a ninety degree angle and their arms held in front and, in Amon’s case, his tail wrapped around his torso.

“Balance is the point. Balance within and without.” Amon said.

“And why is Rona doing this? I thought you were learning pole-fighting, yeah?”

“Amon needs to meditate and I wanted to keep him company… somehow… it became this.” Rona said, her voice taught against the strain in her muscles. Sweat was forming on both their brows and the tavern patrons were starting to take bets as to who would fail first.

“There’s a sort of game- sort of training we can do next, but this always came first. The Masters said it was to establish balance but we novices always thought it was just to tire us out first.”

“Then why are you doing it if you don’t even think it helps?” Asked Tara.

“For Balance” he said. “Depending on where we were, sometimes we’d be balancing over burning embers, or on loose rock or ice or at the edge of a windy cliff, but that’s harder to do in a tavern.”

“For which I thank the gods!” Called the Innkeeper, which sent laughs rippling around the watching crowd.

“Right, well we’re going to go do some shopping for potions and the like – do you all want anything?” Asked Val.

“Health potions?” Said Rona.

“Better tasting trail rations?” Said Amon.

“No such thing,” Said Val, “but I’ll see what we can do.”

When the rest of the party returned to the Inn, they found Rona standing before a large boulder that she or Amon must have rolled in from outside. It was slightly large than Rona herself was. As they stepped inside, Amon spun around, whirling his booted foot into the boulder, which cracked, sending smaller pieces scattered around the room.

There was a collective “oooh!” from the crowd, and Sarula watched as money changed hands. “What are you doing now?” they said as Rona cursed and Amon pulled his arms into his body, gathering the scattered pieces of earth into a solid boulder again.

“Ok, ready? You take it now.” He said, and Rona dropped into a low stance, her feet spread wide, arms half outstretched, concentrating on the boulder. As she did so the others could see the boulder begin to shrink, the earth groaning, Rona’s face scrunching with effort.

This time Amon stepped forward and slammed a steel-knuckled fist straight into it. The boulder wobbled but didn’t move or break. He punched again, and again. Small pieces were beginning to fly off, cracks forming. He rose a leg straight into the air and brought his heel down like an axe atop the boulder as Rona’s body suddenly slumped, and the rock shattered into pieces.

“If I find rocks on my floor, I’m charging you extra!” The Inkeep called now, but with a smile on his face as he filled tankards for the gathered crowd. Apparently Amon and Rona’s training had become somewhat of a spectator sport.

“We’re training.” Rona said.

“You’re connection to the elements is undeniable, and the power you wield it with is overwhelming” Amon said to her, “but there is another power within the elements, and within you and the air, the gods and the planes. You cannot simply wield it like a god and overwhelm your enemies, or the environment, because it is in them too.”

“That old lady really got to you, huh?” Said Tara.

“She echoed what I’d heard often.” He said. “Ianry understands, that’s how fire feels, right? Almost like another heartbeat?”

Ianry shrugged. “I guess, I don’t know what life is like without feeling that so how would I know?”

Amon flicked his tail at him.

Rona looked up at Amon. “I know that, I can feel it too but I don’t know what you mean by not wielding it like power. I learned to call in such a way that the wilds answer, but its also almost like alchemy – you call to a seed to sprout a vine, you call to the water in the soil and the air to make a tidal wave, you call to the little pieces of rock in a boulder, and it all condenses together.”

Amon looked at her quizzically. “So that’s how you do it? That’s fascinating. I get that, to walk over walls I just kind of focus on the earth under my feet, and the air around me and sandwich myself between them, but it is already there. I hadn’t really thought of it like a science though.”

“Yeah, what you’re talking about sounds more like Ianry’s magic.” Rona said, frowning.

“Sort of, you can learn it though. It becomes more like… a relationship? Like when you look into someone’s eyes and you can feel what they feel, if only for a second.” He said.

Rona and Val inadvertently locked eyes. “I think… maybe I think I can understand that.” Rona said.

“Wait, so you’re like, having sexual tension with a rock?” Ianry said. “That’s not at all what I do.”

Amon ignored him and squared up with Rona again. “Ready?” She nodded. “Remember, it isn’t about answering power, its about a relationship – two parts of one energy seeking balance.”

They repeated the process until Rona was physically falling over when her rock was shattered.

“Ok, I think you all could use a break and a snack.” Val said, from the table where the rest of the party had been resting and watching.

“No! I think I figured something out!” Rona said through gritted teeth. She rose to her feet again and looked at Amon. “This is like fighting right?”

Amon nodded “It can be.”

“Ok, I think I’ve got it, lets go again!” She said, bracing herself before the boulder.

Amon swung is foot up again in another axe-kick – the kind his friends had seen shatter bones, and brought his steel-clad heel crashing down. But instead of a crunch or crack, there was a soft “ptch” as his foot landed it what had suddenly become a pillar of sand. He wrenched his foot out and spun around, swinging the back of his fist towards – nothing, as the pillar of sand collapsed onto the ground. Not losing his balance, he shifted into an open stance and swept his tail at the loose sand, which pulled together into a round boulder which rolled away before becoming vaguely cubical and shuddering to a halt.

Amon grinned ear to hear, gazing down at Rona who looked up at him with a fierce and wild expression. “It takes most of us at least a week to figure that one out. Now the real fun begins.”

For the next few hours the pair took turns using whatever strategy they could think of to protect the boulder the others attacks. Amon often hardened just the part of the boulder facing the blow, while Rona swiftly transformed the rock to avoid attacks. Both were fans of suddenly turning it into a sphere and letting it roll across the tavern floor while patrons gleefully lifted their chairs out of the way. Eventually they even split it into two large rocks and let their friends and random patrons take turns trying to shatter it. There was little either of them could do but dodge when Tara broke out her Crab Hammer, which routinely showered those in the “splash zone” with pebbles.

Only when Amon slipped on the puddle of sweat that had formed beneath them did the Innkeep insist the games end. Rona rolled out the boulders and Amon used rags to clean the sweat from the floor, too tired to use his ki magic.

“Well, my star pupil, I don’t know about you but I’m taking a long bath.” He said, slinging his tail around Rona’s shoulders as they headed upstairs.

“Ugh, me too. Do you feel better?” She said, tugging at the tuft of hair at the end of his tail to keep it out of her face.

He whipped his tail side to side and paused on the stairs for a moment. “Yes, things make more sense, I think.”

“You think? So I’m guessing more of this tomorrow?” She said, smiling at him over her shoulder.

He grinned back. “If you’re up for it – you’ve got a lot of work to do yourself.”

“MMmmmaybe” she said “Or maybe I’ll whip up a nice big lunch and just watch, I’m starving.”

Down in the tavern, Sarula was smiling up at their retreating bodies. “That doesn’t make any sense to me, but I’m glad they’re doing ok.” They said to the party.

“Monks relaxing looks exhausting.” Said Tara. “And messy.” She fished a small pebble out of her drink.

“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to turn in for the night.” Val said hurriedly, already halfway up the stairs.

“I’m not!” Said Ianry “You guys want to play cards or something?”

“Now that sounds more my speed!” Said Ievos, pulling up a chair next to Sarula. “What do you say?”

Sarula grinned. “Sure, now that its actually quiet enough to play.”

Upstairs, Amon was in his room alone, staring into the bright blade of the sword he called the Taiyang Jian, the “Sunlit Sword.” In his mind he weighed the teachings of his Order, echoed by Urgath. He saw the Planes in a constant dance of entropy, crashing into temporary balance before sending each other spinning off again into one another’s gravity. He saw his mother walking into the woods to find him, his sisters slung on each hip. He saw the yawning portal of water breaking loose of the mirror’s frame, his friends embroiled in battle against the Aboleth, and the shadows retreating from the swinging blade of light above the Black Dragon’s seal. He imagined Urgath’s hut in flames, the hate in the old captain’s eyes, recalled his own burning rage.

Which way would the balance fall? Would the world be ready? And who was leaning on the scale?

#Amon #Amon Imkai #rona greenbottle #Val #Valtish Ankhara #Tara #Ianry #Sarula #sunday dnd #The Pile of Idiots #Fortune's Favor #my writing #other people's OCs #dnd #d&d #dungeons and dragons #monks

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frenchy-and-the-sea · 5 years

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love!!

Eeee, thank you! for your troubles, have some very unpolished ValRona.

“I, um, think you owe me a drink first, then,” she said, and gestured towards the bar. Val stifled a chuckle as she pushed herself back from the table.

“Oh very well,” she said with a dramatic sigh, like the thought actually bothered her. Like Rona ever bothered her. “Foulest temptress. What’ll you have, then?”

Smothering her obvious relief, Rona wrenched herself around to study the sign dangling above the bar. The curls gathered at the back of her head swished violently as she did, and it was all Val could do not to burst out laughing. She could hardly remember the last time laughter came so easily, for so little of a reason, without drink and bawdy jokes at someone else’s expense to bolster it along. A consequence of fondness, she thought, and warmed with her smile.

Eventually, Rona turned back around, her curls swishing wildly again. The blush on her face had dimmed to an unassuming pink, one that could have just as easily been passed off as the result of the steadily warming room.

“Surprise me,” she said with a grin and a wink, conjuring up a coin that she pushed across the table. This time, Val did not smother her laugh.

“Dangerous sentiment there, love,” she teased, then stepped around the table and pressed back into the thick of the crowd. The coin, she left pointedly on the table.

#frenchy replies #my writing #oc crap #d&d #pile of idiots #for context: this was their second date #after they cleared up that disastrous conversation with ianry LMAO

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shinqua · 3 years

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"Ta-dah!" - Rest in piece little furbaby, but a man's gotta eat. Just in case you were wondering what Ianry was aiming at a couple of posts ago, this was it. Much to Sirrols relief, Ianry proves that when it comes to archery, he's the expert. And of course, he's very proud of that and not afraid to show it 😎 So uhh... I reached 1k...?! What??? Pretty crazy and pretty damn cool, thank you all so much! I'll properly celebrate the occasion in my next post (for aesthetic reasons) which is gonna be an artist support! Look forward to friday guys 👀🌝 #art #artgram #artist #artistsoninstagram #artistsofinstagram #smallartist #artwork #artistsupport #artistoninstagram #artofinstagram #instaart #instaartist #drawingoftheday #characterdesign #characterart #originalcharacter #originalcharacterart #originalart #oc #digitaldrawing #digitalart #digitalillustration #digitalpainting #comicart #graphicnovel #mangaart #yourtruism #shinquaart #shinqua https://www.instagram.com/p/COLM-eMBiu-/?igshid=zjbhr0kmv5lv

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starlightsylph · 6 years

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♧ ay

Yooooooooooooooooo

You’re my: Hella cool D&D and Sylvari/Elf friend!

How I met you: Oh geez, years ago Tumblr recc’ed your blog to me,basically right after Dragon Age Inquisition came out, I think? Usually Iignore its recommendations, but you seemed really cool and also loved gw2, so Istarted following you and you’ve been stuck with me ever since. >:D

Why I follow you: I love seeing the art you make, and learning aboutall your various OC’s! Also I guess because you’re a totally rad dudewho I enjoy hearing from and seeing what cool new thing you’ve recentlydiscovered. (I was so fucking excited that you had gotten into TAZ/DnD, I’m noteven gonna lie)

Your blog is: A delightful collection of really gorgeous gifsets, thebest screaming about OC’s, and quality original art!

Your URL is: Undergrowth, right? I know you mentioned it the otherday, but my memory is a bit fuzzy >

Your icon is: Pidge!!!! She’s such a delight.

A random fact I know about you: Hmmmm.... I know that when you firststarted playing Inquisition, you weren’t expecting to want to romance Cullen!And yet here you are. B)

General opinion: Honestly, even though we can go for a while withouttalking, I really do consider you a dear friend. I’m bad at being comforting,and I know I have a bad habit of just kind of running out of words and beingunable to properly have a conversation, but I want you to know that I do careabout you, and if you ever want someone to vent to without any judgement,someone to just listen to what you want to say, feel free to just hit me up ifyou want to.

A random thought I have: Oh my god could you imagine the shenanigansthat would ensue if Ianry and Vrinne met? They would get along like a house onfire! Fire-loving sorcerers are the best sorcerers.

#ask meme #I was going to post this last night but my internet died in new and interesting ways #villnis

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trashwizards · 5 months

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Out of all your characters (from games or otherwise), which one do you think is the most like you? In what ways? Was it intentional, or was it an accident you only noticed after the fact?

(Feel free to delete if it feels too personal 🙈)

been thinking about this foooor a while, mostly because I knew the answer immediately but I had to let it sit for a bit in case I was wrong. turns out I wasn't wrong lol imagine that haha

anyway it's Ianry. for those who don't know (I've been active on this blog for maybe a year and don't have a lot of followers from my old one afaik), Ianry Eirselvin was one of the first D&D characters I ever made in 2017 and he's been a permanent fixture in my brain ever since. he's a high elf and a draconic sorcerer born into a family of wizards, his parents are neglectful and emotionally abusive, and he's a giant-ass nerd with 182.4 hyperfixations running laps in his brain at any given point in time.

so the way I make OCs, usually they all end up with something from me, so while it's not really intentional I definitely do lean into it so it's not quite unintentional either? it just kinda happens and I let it, with glee. I'm a huge roleplayer and I've played a lot of D&D so it's easier if my character can at least in part be played by instinct, it makes improv easier.

but back to Ianry. I'm not gonna go like super into it because that would be too personal, but emotionally and idk, historically? he ended up very similar to me. he's a perfectionist who just can't crack it which makes him anxious and stressed 24/7, he has RSD and struggles with connections to other people for a variety of reasons, and I didn't intend for this to happen or even realise it for a long time but I for sure used the whole "sorcerer in a family of wizards" as an outlet for how I feel being the only visibly/openly queer person in my family. Ianry never finishes anything (because of the perfectionism) and doesn't think he's good enough for anything or anyone, but he's also a narcissist (I'm allowed to use this word trust me) who doesn't understand why people don't love him, because honestly they should. also, like me, he has a very terse, strained relationship with his family, though the details are different (he's an affair baby with middle child syndrome, I'm the first draft that didn't come out quite right, for example). I could go on honestly but I think I made my point xD

#ask #my ocs

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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I’ve had this idea for ages but never had the energy to do anything about it until today... Hairstyle swap! Rona with Ianry’s usual hairstyle, Tara with Amon’s usual hairstyle, Cav with Tara’s, Bren with Sarula’s, Ianry with Bren’s, Sarula’s with Cav’s, Amon with Val’s and Val with Rona’s!

#(tara's wearing a wig lol)#arting tag #pile of idiots #friend ocs #oc: ianry

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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"Well, I think anyone using this stone would know the voice of their Matriarch."

#(I can't remember the exact quote but frenchy suggested that caption so I trust that it's mostly correct!)#dnd: *kicks my art block in the teeth*#this took me 7 hrs and I didn't hate it for a SECOND it's great #arting tag #friend ocs #pile of idiots #oc: ianry #I'LL TYPE OUT CONTEXT FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS IT

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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I saw a phone screencap on twitter and it made me think of Ianry and Bren immediately so I did this real quick and I’m gonna bug you all with it

#pile of idiots #au tag #oc: ianry #arting tag

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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Rona had Healing Spirit prepped for last week’s idiot session thank god, because Ianry kept going down and she basically just camped the spirit on top of him xD It took the shape of Rona’s pet plant dog and gave Ianry tons of healing face licks, it was really cute :3

#arting tag #pile of idiots #Ianry went down three times on sunday lmao #oc: ianry #I don't love this but it was supposed to just be a stupid doodle anyway

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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IANRY HAS A NEW FRIEND

#pile of idiots #arting tag #oc: ianry #I'M SO EXCITED #!!!!!!!!#(finally starting to get my arting groove back akjehdkjdhkdjh)

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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Ianry rolled a crit on drunkenly making out with people at a party once, so he’s canonically a really, really good kisser now. So much so that @themilokin‘s Titian apparently came back for seconds during said party...... :)

#friend ocs #oc: ianry #oc kiss week #ockiss19 #pile of idiots #dnd shenanigans #(Ianry's outfit is the result of a deal he made with Sarula lmao)#arting tag #(I can barely draw kissing as is so sloppy makeouts are a bit outside of my everything but eh)

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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ianry d1!!

#ask stuff #art stuff #oc: ianry #arting tag #urdnotgrunt #ask

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villnis-archive · 5 years

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So several months ago @frenchy-and-the-sea and I agreed on an art trade and for some reason I kept really struggling with my half, but I finally finished it and it’s here! :D You can (and should!) read her half of the trade here!

She also wrote a little something to go with this drawing (I guess we kinda caught each other in a bit of a creative boost circle for a little while) that she wanted me to post along with this, so you can (and should!) read that below! :D

There was always so much time on watches.

It hadn’t used to bother Val. Time was a resource that came and went with the weather on a ship, on the road - sometimes there could never be enough of it, sometimes it came in long, painful stretches that required all of her arts to fill. She had plenty of them, of course; more now, with her newly found introduction to lute-playing and her two very patient teachers. Tonight, though, her fingers found no purchase on the strings, no comfort in the rhythmic back and forth of an oiled cloth along a blade. Instead, she found herself sitting numbly by the fire and staring into the surrounding dark, watching the flickering shadows cast off by the fire and trying not to let her thoughts go running off with them.

Not that it stopped them. Not that she didn’t look out into that dark and see the gaps that her mind could not fill between the words of the book in her pack; not that she didn’t imagine lilies and lips on her cheek, and the pressing, pining need for further; not that everything on the horizon still looked like empty funeral grounds sometimes, like ships on fire, like….

“Hey.”

She nearly leapt clear out of her skin at the sound of the voice a few feet away, only just managing to root herself to the earth with a claw digging in.

“Hi,” she ground out after a moment, the words slow through her clenched teeth. Ianry stopped halfway through his stroll around the fire and raised an eyebrow.

“You alright?” he asked slowly. Val snorted.

“Fine, if you account for the fact that my heart is now trying to get out of my chest with a hammer.” She sighed and took a deep breath, releasing her grip on the dirt. “What are you doing awake?”

“I’m always awake,” said Ianry, shrugging. He set himself carefully beside the fire and leaned forward, wiggling a few fingers and coaxing the flames higher. “Elf, remember?”

Val huffed. “Care to explain why I’m stuck on dawn watch anyway, then?”

“Very simple.” He wiggled his finger again, and the whole fire blazed a brief, scalding blue. “It’s boring. I don’t wanna sit here doing nothing for six hours either.”

Fair enough, Val thought. Tonight, she hardly wanted to do it for three.

“What were you doing, anyway?” Ianry’s voice called her attention back to where he was absently tossing handfuls of tinder into the flames. “I mean, I did walk right up behind you without you noticing so...”

“So I clearly wasn’t watching, right? Yeah.” Val sighed and sank back onto her hands, stealing a glance up at the sky. Overhead, the navigator’s star winked back. “Dunno. Just thinking, I guess.”

There was silence for a long moment, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ianry fix her with a narrow, searching look. She turned her head, pretending not to have seen it. She knew that expression, after all - the one that tried to suss out all the reasons for a thousand yard stare, for silence. A sharp, bitter part of her wanted to snap at him to keep his eyes and his thoughts and his thousand burning questions as far away from her as possible. She didn’t have the words tonight, and didn’t he understand? Didn’t he realize that she had no good, respectable answers for yawning terror that had torn open in her gut the moment she had realized that her life had a goal now? Had plans? Had wants and needs and a future, things that would have to carve whole parts of her away when they were inevitably taken, things that she could not hide behind a shield? Didn’t he know how much she would lose?

There was suddenly another shift on her right, somewhere beside the fire.

“Do you want a braid again?”

Val frowned, turning slowly back towards where Ianry was eyeing her over. He still had the particular look that said he had eighteen other questions scalding his mind - the same look he conjured whenever a particularly intense problem presented itself to him - but he just tipped his head and gestured towards her again.

“I mean, it doesn’t have to be a braid. You just said you liked it last time, and I think it’s the one thing you’d be the least likely to ruin when you’re, you know, out slaying sea monsters or whatever...”

He shrugged, and glanced sidelong, and Val felt the dark well of terror in her chest close up, just slightly. Ianry could be thick as steel and impulsive as a drunkard turned loose on the world at times, but he had some sense about the sorts of things that found people on a silent night’s watch. He’d dealt with them plenty, she thought, with a soft tightening of her heart. She’d asked him to let her help, when he’d let her see the worst of it.

At least she could let him try returning the favor.

Pushing back upright, she dragged her dirty hands across the thighs of her trousers and shrugged. “If you’d like.”

It was hardly an answer - hardly thankful, at that - but Ianry didn’t seem to notice. He leapt to his feet in an instant, wandering over to her side of the fire as she scooted further away from the heat of it and put her back to him. The dirt crunching behind her was the only warning she got before fingers pushed into the tangle of hair gathered at the crown of her head and began sorting through the mess of it. She heard Ianry grunt, and managed a chuckle.

“Regretting your decision already, are you?” she asked. Ianry grumbled something she couldn’t understand. “Don’t get mad. I’ll be impressed if you can do anything with it at all, in that state.”

“It’s not that bad,” Ianry said, in plain Common this time. “I used to do Hilla’s back at school. Her hair was kinda like yours, and she got it tangled with a bunch of weird magic stuff all the time.”

The sniff of disdain in his voice coaxed another chuckle out of her, stronger this time. “I’ve never heard you say ‘weird magic stuff’ with quite that kind of frustration, Ianry. You’re sure you’re alright?”

“Wizards,” he sneered, so dramatically that Val accidentally tugged his captive hands forward as she buckled into a laugh.

“So you were rather fond of her, then,” she said when she’d been forcefully righted again, squinting through the pained tears needling her eyes. Ianry just snorted, and separated another few curls from the mass.

“I mean, yeah. She was my girlfriend.” His fingers suddenly paused, hesitating. “I mean, that’s how you feel about Rona, right?

A pleasant knot suddenly curled against the curve of Val’s stomach at the name, and she laughed, softer this time. “Yes, Ianry. I’m, ah, rather fond too.”

She felt him nod. “Good,” he said, with a decisiveness that made her snicker. There was another long pause as his hands combed through another length of hair. “And how’s, uh….how’s that going?”

“Ahh,” Val hummed, “I think I see what this is now. Offering to have me sit still for an hour so I’m a captive audience to all of your questions, eh?”

Ianry huffed. “Oh, sure, go ahead and think the worst of me. I guess we’ll just sit in silence for the next two hours while I do this -”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic. It’s been going fine.” She chuckled again as Ianry mumbled a few choice - and wholly theatrical - curses under his breath. Then she felt the sound catch painfully in her throat; the ache had flared in her gut again, clawing for attention.

She let her gaze drop to the dirt, one claw twisting anxiously in the fabric of her trousers.

“It’s a bit...frightening though, isn’t it?”

Ianry hummed, his hands never stopping. “What is?”

She swallowed. “Fondness. What it does to you. What it can -”

Good sense cut her off before the word made it out properly, but the slowing of the fingers in her hair told her well enough that Ianry hadn’t needed it. Val felt her breath stick to the inside of her ribs, pounding very faintly with her heartbeat. Stupid, she told herself. Stupid to bring it up, stupid to worry, stupid to say it out loud, in front of -

“Well, yeah,” Ianry said after a moment, the fingers in her hair beginning to work again. “But, I mean...what're you gonna do? Just stop feeling it?”

There was another shift - a casual, one-shouldered shrug this time - and then Ianry’s hands moved and a thick mass of hair suddenly tumbled forward over her eyes.

She didn’t flinch, didn’t say anything; just sat there, temporarily blind, her mind whirling slowly around the words. There was something like sense in them, behind all of his shrugging. Ridding herself of fondness, snuffing it out like some sagging tallow candle just because she was afraid that something else might get to it first… she didn't deserve that. Her friends didn’t deserve that. Rona, most of all, didn't deserve that.

If nothing else, Val thought, she could hold on a little harder if it meant doing right by her.

After a moment, the blindfold of hair vanished, and Val could clearly see across the length of the entire clearing, unfettered by darkness now and glowing in the soupy grey light of the coming dawn. She leaned forward and propped her elbows on her knees, folding both hands into her lap like a dutiful school child.

“You know,” she said quietly, “you might just be right about that.”

Ianry snorted, and Val very politely pretended not to hear the relief in it. “Of course I'm right,” he said. “I'm always right! People should always listen to me, all the time.”

She scraped together enough of her wherewithal to chuckle, thin but genuine at last, and Ianry made a big show of grumbling something under his breath that she could tell he didn't mean. Then he paused, and Val felt him lean forward over her shoulder.

In fact,” he said, in a conspiratorial whisper that she could tell her was forcing through a grin, “you know what else I'm right about? The way to try and kiss someone shorter than you. I know you probably haven't practiced much since you and Rona are moving slower than honey in an icebox, but trust me; it takes practice and expert advice, which I happen to have -”

Val groaned, trying her marked best to hide her face and the laugh threatening at the back of her throat.

It was going to be a very long sunrise.

#arting tag #oc: ianry #friend ocs #friend fic #pile of idiots #stuff for me #<3333

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