shadowbringers

[parser]

shadowbringers

beneath the stars It's been a week since our newest expansion officially launched! And, I know, I know... some of you already have a lot of feelings that you need to air out. But canon updating in your games is a struggle! And so is finding PSL partners! Luckily, that's what we're here for. This is a post for you to play out all the Shadowbringers-related content you might be dying to write. Behind-the-scenes nonsense? Between-the-scenes angst? It's all welcome here! 1. Toplevel your character. Include any details you might think are relevant. Or don't. As always, we're not the cops. 2. Reply to other people's top levels! 3. Have fun! ⚔ Please clearly mark all spoilers in your thread subject lines. Clearly indicate whatever spoiler preferences you may have. We're only a week into the expansion, officially, and there's no shame if you're not far in it or haven't started it yet. ⚔ You are welcome to play characters who are new to Shadowbringers. However, please try to avoid topleveling with icons and descriptions that convey major plot-related spoilers. If you aren't certain about a character's playability, feel free to PM parser.

TEMPLATE CODED BY valoirs

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[firstdarkness]

[it isn't exactly that he didn't expect questions to turn his way at some point—aster can carry a conversation well enough, is in tune enough with all his companions to ask the right questions at the right moments—but ardbert still startles. when you were a hero, aster had said. were. what's another few years of deprecation after he spent a hundred years aimlessly roaming the norvandt, languishing in self-pity?

still, aster has never stricken ardbert as the type to ask cruel questions for sadistic reasons. it's that knowledge that has ardbert pensive instead of anguished.]

I was angry, of course. My friends and I—we all slew ourselves, that our souls might reach the Source. Even that was a final resort. We reasoned that if by some chance, our efforts could spare even a few souls in the First... Perhaps all that we've done would not have been for naught.

[he gives a little shrug. he's had a long time to compartmentalize his feelings. not that it had entirely worked, but the eternity he feels like he's spent walking has at least given him some semblance of blasé poise.]

Not that it matters, when all we did was usher in the end of the world all the faster. I don't suppose it was like that for you. It's one thing to fail to save everyone. And another, to know you are the direct catalyst to the greatest threat in your world.

[meteorum]

[being his usual brusque self, never one for too much talk, aster doesn't quite pick up on the fact that it's his question that was too cruel — as far as he's concerned, a hundred years is a hundred years, and he'd be surprised if his own legacy lasted a hundred years.

heroes die, and aster knows that well. if they don't die on the battlefield, they die in times of peace, when no one cares enough to remember them anymore.

that's not ardbert's problem, though, and aster looks pensive for a moment before he sits on the edge of one of his logs, looking as though whatever he planned to say has gotten stuck in his throat. he looks down, blue gaze falling into his lap, and then he looks up at ardbert again.]

...No, it wasn't like that for me. But you... you didn't do anything wrong, Ardbert. You worked with the outcomes and the choices you were given.

[he's not sure if this helps at all, really. maybe this will only make ardbert all the more angry — a resentful ghost spitting curses in aster's ear. but he's prepared to accept that outcome.]

Given the same circumstances, I might have wound up the same way.

[firstdarkness]

But you didn't.

[it isn't bitterness in his voice, just a sort of weary acceptance. ardbert's spent enough time with aster to wind up doing far too much thinking for his own good, mulling over aster's choices in comparison to his own. logically, there's some degree of luck in how things have turned out, but it's hard not to shake the feeling that if he had done anything different at all, there could have been a ripple effect that changed everything.

wishful thinking.]

You've a point though. [the smile that touches his lips isn't as grim as it could be.] I tried to do what I could. And I'm still here, despite it all, so perhaps I still have some use.

If anything, it's good you didn't. Of all people to wind up over here in the First, I'm glad it was you. [his gaze shifts, making a sweep over the nearby farmlands.] Even if we can't save everyone... We have to do what we can.

[meteorum]

I agree.

[his voice is soft. maybe ardbert hasn't quite heard what he was trying to say; maybe that's his own fault, but in any case, a hundred years of misery isn't going to be wiped clean in a day. it's the sort of thing you have to tackle one chip at a time.

so saying, aster rises to his feet, dusting splinters and stray pieces of wood from his thighs; then he stretches, arching his back like a cat though he's standing. when he's finished, he rolls his neck this way and that, surveying the landscape for passing beasts and sin eaters.]

Now, then... best of us to find that cart. A hammer and some nails, too, maybe. Those fences aren't going to mend themselves, huh?