#blacknighted

smash or pass // @blacknighted ;;

ooc. Ruby is demisexual, and requires a lot of emotional intimacy before she finds herself physically attracted to someone -- this usually happening before she even realizes she's emotionally attracted to them in the first place, because she has a massive blind spot when it comes to her own positive feelings. Make no mistake, she frequently acknowledges that people are physically attractive, but often isn't attracted to them.

She also has many, many turn-offs (EG, Elric @melniibone summoning her to help get him out of a bind for example, when she was having a lovely time Being Alone, tyvm.)

Of the people who've sent things in, Halsin @natureswarden is probably the closest to her type, being intelligent, dutiful, and good with kids. However, they also bombed their first proper conversation so hard I don't know if she'll ever fully recover. I think Ruby would warm up to @gerudospiriit in time as well, seeing as Nabooru is fairly open and willing to deal with Ruby's initial abrasiveness and see that there's an actual person in there somewhere.

@laperlina is special. Adella is a wildcard, and while Ruby isn't normally interested in unpredictability, they've known each other long enough that she's gotten used to Adella's various moods enough to indulge her. At first, it was only a distant amusement, but Ruby's heart is never quite as stony as she'd like to think it is, and it's grown into something much deeper than that.

Flynn sighs.

He knows vaguely where he is - knows there's a mechanic shop on the corner where his aunt takes her car sometimes, and given the time of day meant most everything else was empty, he has to assume the person who's seen him fall of his skateboard is from there.

"I'm okay, I promise."

Fred, his service dog, sits by his side, having been leashed but not harnessed beside him, and his board has rolled off into the ether. He's not really thinking about that when his mind is on the stinging in his knees and the embarrassment of being seen when he'd thought everyone would have gone home by now.

one long, pointed ear twitches slightly, bright green eyes studying the warden before her keenly. is he truly asking her how he should be feeling? how is she to know? areina has adopted the this may as well happen outlook -- the green pattern on her left palm has made her life infinitely stranger, & to marvel at its strangeness has developed into a waste of time. at least marveling in the moment, that is. the have been many nights spent pacing in her quarters, attempting to comprehend what just happened.

to be judged is the witchers' lot. it is a caustic acid their guild has long numbed to the sear of, for to allow it a staying power serves them little. words wrought by contempt and its myriad counterparts have been spat like weapons by those who feel justified to wield them for countless years. they always will be.

this man, henry, with his sharp eyes and disparaging tongue, seems he may be no different.

"i have learned a great deal more than you will ever learn in your life," the witcher responds, and his voice is flat and dry as kindling. the look he levies henry is as hard and unyielding as stone, and even that feels like more than the man deserves. lazare stares without breaking his eyes from henry as he draws a whetstone along the honed edge of his steel sword, the grating hiss of it a statement of its own.

lazare will not give him the satisfaction of taking bait that is beneath him, for that's surely what it is.

" you make tall demands , mortal. " she was not in the business for this little affair. abraxos , her dear dragon companion sat lounging behind her. his movement and soft huffs suggested to her that there was little need for either of them to get pleasure from killing a mortal who is just happening upon their day. still , she hardly kept those alive who had seen her ironteeth retract. ironteeth witches killed humans . . . and they killed without reason. without remorse.

THEN HE COMES TO THE BED OF THE QUEEN / WHOM HE ADORES AND BEFORE WHOM HE KNEELS / HOLDING HER MORE DEAR THAN THE RELIC OF ANY SAINT— persephone & jindřich, for @blacknighted

the lord of the rings: the fellowship of the ring (2002), dir. peter jackson // "the lady of shalott," alfred, lord tennyson // letters to vera, vladimir nabokov // "one i love," jean ritchie // "talk," hozier // "count gismond—aix in provence," robert browning // "the guarded bower," arthur hughes // "a knock at the door," ethel cain // "new ceremony," dry the river // "la belle fleur sauvage," lord huron // "hellelil and hildebrand, the meeting on the turret stairs," frederic william burton // "23/08/2023," @eol4242 // "tam lin (child 39)", anais mitchell & jefferson hamer // "the siege at forli," the borgias season 2, ep. 7 // "triassic love song," paris paloma // the eternal smile: three stories, pär lagerkvist // letters to vera, vladimir nabokov // "the parting of lancelot and guinevere," julia margaret cameron // "francesca," hozier // lancelot: or, the knight of the cart, chrétien de troyes

bonus:

Being thrust into the role of Inquisitor was something she was struggling to get used to. Overnight she went from being no one to being some one. The sudden responsibility was dizzying. Despite being thrust into a position of leadership, she still felt like a prisoner.

What would happen to her once they closed the breach? Would she be pardoned for her perceived transgressions? Not to mention that because of what had happened, it was becoming public knowledge that selkies were, in fact, not just creatures of legend. That they were real. No one knew where the selkie island was, thank the gods...but Niamh couldn't help but worry that she had endangered her people.

One good thing, though, was that not everyone knew she was the Inquisitor. Her appearance was unassuming which meant if she hadn't formally been introduced or hadn't recruited them personally, no one expected her to be the "Herald of Andraste."

It's even easier now that she's donned a plain dress, forgoing her armor and gear. It makes watches the soldiers train easier, too, as they don't tend to notice her. Well. Perhaps they notice a pretty girl watching them swing swords and notch arrows. No matter how boring her clothes may be, there is no hiding the wild curls, dense freckles, or stormy eyes.

Her attention is mostly on one soldier in particular. A senior Grey Warden that Cassandra had mentioned at the war table earlier in the morning. Niamh doesn't know much about the Grey Wardens - there are none on her home island and as far as she knows, no selkie has ever joined the Wardens - so her curiosity was piqued.

He's handsome. Skilled with a sword, too, if how he wields it is any indication. Niamh knows nothing about sword handling, being a mage through and through, but she wonders if perhaps she should learn. It couldn't hurt. She wonders if he'd be willing to give her a few pointers.

That means she has to introduce herself, though.