#aisteach

No sense of self-preservation if it means making new discoveries in their field

hey let’s go into the spooky haunted looking house

no, what, it looks fine!! 

Really, first instinct when facing an angry spirit is to interview it (”ok they’re trying to kill us now but maybe we can help!!”)

Sleeps in bizarre places in the Priory Archives

“Is that artifact radiating a dangerous amount of energy?? Im going to touch it”

Has smooched a demon and will continue to smooch the demon 

Horrible fashion sense, wardrobe consists of essentially sheets and drab drape-y thing and their Priory uniform.

Pretty much radiates an aura that weakens the barriers between Tyria and the Mists- also can be hell on certain tech & equipment 

Dogged levels of kindness

Aisteach craned their head up to look at Sluagh, cherry red eyes meeting the demon’s own muted crimson. “There were books in New Krytan in the Realm of Torment?” there was a bit of wonder in the sylvari’s voice, genuine curiosity over how the modern Tyrian way of communication found its way into another realm.

“NO SUCH OBJECTS IN THE GLOOM” It was fortunate that the winds outside the single-person Priory tent were howling so ferociously, Aisteach was running out of deflections for when they were asked who they were talking to.

“Ah, of course,” Aisteach lowered their head, gaze lingering on the paragraph Sluagh had shoulder-read and scoffed at (”IMP-SIGNS ARE OBVIOUS, YET THEY WERE CAUGHT UNAWARE.”) “You’ve been in Tyria for a while, you must have picked it up well before we met.”

“INCORRECT,” Sluagh snorted “READING SKILLS WERE ACQUIRED BECAUSE-” the demon faltered midsentence , all seven eyelids twitching. The words were on Sluagh’s tongue- but understanding why they were there. Perplexity winded through the demon’s expression like cracks on shattering glass.

 Sluagh turned and sulked out of the tent into the screaming Shiverpeak winds, every horn on their head and shoulder flush with their body, Aisteach could barely get out a “wait” before Sluagh disappeared. The sylvari could only sigh and chew on the barky and frayed edge of their bottom lip. Sluagh was doing this a lot lately. 

Throwing something at Aisteach had a tendency to wake the sylvari up and this time was no different. They scrambled around on their place on the ground trying to take in what was happening in their still hazy perception. A blanket. A blanket where it wasn’t before.

 That’s right, after Sluagh has slunk off unexpectedly, Aisteach had reabsorbed themselves into the book, predictably falling asleep on the cold tent floor than their own cot. And now the cot’s knit woolen blanket was tossed haphazardly upon them, presumably by the demon that had somehow silently re-entered and now had the pillow stuffed in their claws with an inconceivable startled look upon their face. 

“Slaugh?” 

“Wasn’t you.” Their voice was more of a hushed, deep growl than the usual booming and they seemed to have a hard time looking the sylvari in the face. “Was Aisteach but... leaving wasn’t because of Aisteach” They clicked their fangs in frustration before coming forward and tapping a free claw at the book lying near to Aisteach. 

“Always looking at this. Symbols, scrawlings, Aisteach knew it so-” They faltered again, backing away a bit.

A sleepy smile began to pull at the edge of Aisteach’s mouth and they held their hands up to call for pause. “You curious about what I was reading.”

“Correct.” Sluagh relaxed, their relief evident even in their often inscrutable body language. They held out the pillow to Aisteach before glancing at the cot, as if unsure as to where this “sleeping” activity should take place.

“It’s fine-” Sleep was already beginning to creep up on the sylvari again, and sleeping on the floor was hardly a new experience. “Not much reason to get up now just to-” the pillow was then abruptly shoved underneath their head, and Sluagh sat beside them with a grunt, evidently pleased with their handiwork. 

 “So,” sleep was settling on them like a fogbank but questions buzzed at the sylvari’s head like gnats, “is there any type of book you prefer reading?” Aisteach doubted any Priory scholar had ever discovered the favorite genre of torment-born demons.

“Thales-Shaman’s ‘journal’ is amusing”

Taisce either came from via the Mists or saw a vision of Tyria (depending on which is more canon) where Everything Was Much More Terrible and they've made it their Wyld Hunt to stop certain events from happening or at least minimize the damage. So she acts as a shadowy chessmaster that funds her goals by pilfering artifacts (how they ran into Thales/Ais initially) to sell or use. Sometimes they also sell off their master chef abilities when they needs a cover. Kind of character that uses 2198402 cute emojis in chat.

Noor is essentially Taisce's bodygaurd because the sylvari realizes sometimes you need to hit stuff REALLY hard. Noor was formerly doing mercenary work for a jerklord asura to pay off the debt for her golem arm prosthetic until Taisce payed it all in full and offered her a job with better benefits and travel opportunities. And it wasn't like Noor was ready to go back to DR because 1. enemies in the Seraph and 2. she has a huge reluctance to go back to her family. Taisce and Noor are the two in my "canon" that took down Scarlet through Taisce's engineer skills and Noor's stomping skills.

Thales and Aisteach are the two Priory contacts that got roped into it because they were not in the good graces of Priory leadership- Thales more than Ais just because Thales breaks things trying to show off and Ais tend to get both lost in a thought and lost in a ruin. So Taisce kind of waves a bunch of shiny artifacts that would put them in the good graces of the Priory and they're just "ok." Ais is also really good if you need basic medical care, someone to calm down an angry spirit, or a hug. Thales is a really good distraction.

Sluagh Gruama was a torment demon summoned by some Flame Legion shamans (it didn't work out to well seeing as Arda was there and one of said shamans was the cause of her warband's demise. She let Sluagh go to destroy the shamans and now Sluagh runs around in one of the shaman's pants.) They follow the group around since Ais was the first being who responded to them with mutual curiosity and not "do my bidding" or "screaming" and that was !!??????AMUSING!!! to Sluagh. They follow Ais around most, butt heads with Noor and is mystified by the fleshling has a notflesh arm, and Taice keeps them from eating her machines by using a little spray bottle. Eats magic/emotions so standard investigation method is to stick it in their mouth. 

Current mutual goal: find way to stop asshole plant elder dragon. So they're like the background manipulators while Mist Busters is more frontline.