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

Comments

[angeloftruth]

"Wanting to ask me questions is one thing. This--" He gestures between them, eyebrow raised "--is quite another."

[seasoflight]

That, however, gives Felih pause. Some warmth rises to his cheeks, but he shuts his eyes to think.

"You said you hadn't been touched in decades," he responds slowly, his ears slowly drooping. "...I cannot imagine what you must be experiencing. But to me- to be alone, without this warmth- without another's embrace... it would be so bitterly, painfully lonely."

He lets out a slow, deep sigh, the mirth gone as he looks aside, refusing to meet the man's gaze now.

"...call me a fool all you like. But it seems that is something I could not wish on even my worst enemy, as it turns out," he murmurs, a wry smile on his lips.

[angeloftruth]

Oh.

Damn, sometimes Felih makes it hard to ignore who he once was.

But he'll never admit it. Emet-Selch merely frowns, studying the Warrior. "If this is pity for the enemy, I may have to adjust my assessment of you."

[seasoflight]

"Not pity, not quite..." he hums so very softly, more melody following as he tries to order his thoughts.

Felih still doesn't dare to look up at him.

"You of all folk should've noticed by now," he adds quietly. "I- I can't sit still. Not when- not when there are wounds to be tended, illnesses to be treated, things to be fixed and repaired, hearts to be comforted, people to be helped."

"I don't know," he finally mutters. "It's as I said. To feel that loneliness would be agony, to me. Just as being stripped of my voice, of song, of any part of me. And- well. You insist you're not lying, and you insist you intend to be on peaceful terms with us for now, and so- so..."

He bows his head.

"...it's not the same as yours, I know. But I know what it's like to be alone."

[angeloftruth]

A pause.

"You're right," he finally admits. "You don't know what it's like. You can't, not as you are. And yet you insist on...affection? Towards a likely enemy?"

[seasoflight]

That earns the Ascian another short laugh, though weak.

"Even I get tired of fighting all the time, you know," he says softly. "I'll be dead one day, one way or another. What's the point of spending what precious little time I have on conflict- on wounding folk- when I don't have to? I'd rather help. What's the point in making my life one that brings more harm, than help? What's the point of drowning myself in hatred and anger and war- when I could just take respite in the brief moments of peace afforded to me?"

"Scorn me all you like," Felih murmurs, "but if my enemy would lay down their arms for a day, I would not deny them that moment of peace, too. At the end of it all, we're just two people trying to get through another day."

"...even you must get tired, musn't you?"

[angeloftruth]

...perhaps Felih is more than just a--

No. No that way lies pain.

Emet sighs and relaxes at long last, giving in to Felih's odd ways. "I am exhausted. But, as they say, no rest for the wicked."

[seasoflight]

Felih manages a weak smile, but moves back in, head resting against the man's shoulder now, as he shuts his eyes and just holds him. It still surprises him that the man feels warm. Of course he does, he's in a living body, after all- but Felih has grown too accustomed to the idea of Ascians simply being spirits of darkness, cold and ethereal.

"Yes," he murmurs, "so they say. I'm exhausted, too."

[angeloftruth]

There's nothing Emet-Selch can say to that. He can imagine how exhausting it must be, playing the hero to a bunch of fragmented souls who in ten years time will have forgotten all about him, to say nothing of taking in all that Light.

Instead he just lets Felih lie, mind swirling.

[seasoflight]

Felih purrs quietly as he rests there, curled up in his lap. It's only as he finds himself drifting to sleep that he realizes, faintly, in the back of his mind...

This feels familiar, somehow.

He does the most stupid, reckless thing he could ever imagine himself doing, and fell asleep in the Ascian's lap, breaths slow and deep and soft, body relaxed and warm against his. He should not feel at ease, here. He should be on highest alert, sleeping lightly as he always does, uncomfortable with being out in the open amid wild creatures and an enemy against him, and yet...

...well, mayhaps he is too exhausted, after all. Something tells him he'll wake up alright.