#natureswarden

𝑹𝑼𝑩𝒀 𝑫𝑰𝑫𝑵'𝑻 𝑺𝑬𝑨𝑹𝑪𝑯 𝑭𝑶𝑹 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑭𝑰𝑹𝑺𝑻 𝑬𝑿𝑪𝑼𝑺𝑬 to escape the festivities, but she didn't wait much longer to slip off to the side of the firelight where she wouldn't be expected to dance or tell a daring, dramatized version of their foray into the goblin camp, or, worst of all, tell a joke. She ached down to her bones this late in the day, but knew it would only invite trouble if she bowed out completely.

Halsin felt like a safe target to spend least a little while with, if only because he'd already seen just how taciturn she was at the worst of times -- and, indeed, at the best -- while most of her little coterie were enjoying themselves and the company of others. "You're not going to join them?" she asked, then hesitated. "Forgive me if I ought to be using a title, of course. I was never schooled in Druid hierarchies."

Nan's tail swung slowly back and forth as she approached Halsin, hands clasped primly behind her back. She looked very nearly well-behaved, which was exactly why everyone should have started worrying five minutes ago. Well-behaved meant she had an idea. Well-behaved meant there was about to be trouble. "So, Halsin," she said, oh-so-casually. "Your arms are huge." (Regrettably bigger than hers, which was only a small bruise on her ego.) "You lift trees in your free time or something?"

It felt a bit odd to be scolding—if it could even be called that—Halsin of all people. Not only was he well beyond the young drow’s age, but he also seemed to be quite the responsible sort. Maybe it was her own fault for assuming he could be discrete… She should have known better after their attack on the goblin camp. Perhaps she should have told him to simply remain at camp if he could not wait for back up before exposing himself…but she was no leader, and it was hardly her place to make such demands of others.

A long, slow exhale escaped the woman’s nose as she closed her eyes. An attempt to fight off her irritation before she snapped at Halsin like she would Astarion or Karlach for getting a little over-eager. " I don’t need an apology, I need you to be safe. These lands are dangerous, as I am sure you know better than anyone, and the danger is centralized here in this very town. "

And again, it wasn’t her place to scold a man who clearly was far wiser than she could imagine. But it seemed like everyone had their moments of reckless irresponsibility. She couldn’t count the amount of times she ran into danger just because her sister was in trouble… " The others can manage searching Moonrise. If you want to explore the rest of this town for answers, then I’ll go with you. " She would never assume she was anywhere near as strong as an archdruid, but she knew how useful it was to have another pair of eyes.

Basil w/ Halsin @natureswarden

Note taking had been unusually difficult this afternoon. Basil had collected fistfuls of flowers, weeds, and mushrooms on their ascent into the mountains; scratching shorthand notes in her journal on how the flora changed with the elevation. Now, at camp, she catalogued her finds in quick sketches, observations, and her usual routine of testing. But frequently, with each thwack of axe to log, her eyes flicked up. Up to Halsin.

His ergonomics were impressive, every inch of his broad frame engaged in the swing; he sweated in the heat but he drove with such power it seemed easy. The sun caught in his chestnut hair and the shadow only emphasized the small twitch of muscle in arm, back, and shoulders. She caught herself staring. Thinking thoughts that a week ago she would have found utterly shameful and worth only of stuffing away. But there was a change working its way through Basil that for maybe the first time in her entire life, urged her to not look away. His attention turned to her, then with bare hands ripped apart the split log; Ink dripped from pen nib, marring her page.

"Don't think of it," she exclaimed, pushing away her journal to avoid ruining her notes. Basil remained seated and she twisted a strand of hair around her finger. "It's my fault for allowing my thoughts to wander. You were just a... good excuse."

If Halsin heard the attempt at flirting, she couldn't know. If she had Astarion's confidence she would try again, more blatantly, but Basil feared her inept hand.

But today, he was somehow nowhere to be found. Koa knew he was good at hiding, but they hadn't even started playing yet, so it was weird to her that he wouldn't show himself, especially since she had been looking forward to seeing him again after a long.

Goblins and camp arguments were nothing new to Eden. She’d spent a few years being dispatched by various people to deal with their goblin problems, and while she was very used to being a solo traveller, she’d very quickly gotten acclimatised to travelling with other people - and all of the madness and disagreements that came with that.

And she found, surprisingly, that she didn’t mind it at all. Even if they didn’t really know eachother and were mostly sticking together as a tactical advantage, it felt good to have people who could become friends. And if all else failed, she’d always have Sir Quacks-a-lot, who’d grown very attached to her in the few years they’d been together. Almost as long as she’d been a goblin hunter, if she had to guess.

Two of them were arguing now - Gale and Astarion, over the best way to kill a goblin, and the best way to rug-pull a goblin leader - which was, oddly enough, music to her ears. If they were arguing, they were still alive, and feeling lively enough to direct their grievances towards eachother.

So, on they continued, cornering a priestess named Gut (a bit of a strange name, Eden thought, but maybe goblins just liked that sort of name convention, given how many seemed to have similar names) and killing her quietly without fuss. An attractive Drow Paladin - Minthara, apparently - was next, knocked out while her cohorts were felled where they stood.

And then, the path to the goblins’ greatest prisoner. They held a number of captives in their cells, but only one they seemed to brag about: someone named Halsin, the First Druid of the Emerald Grove. The path was easy enough. Intimidate a few guards, persuade others, and beat others into submission. All par for the course. It had been working so far, and it worked here too. The path was clear, leading into a large room with - good gods above - more goblins, surrounding some Worg pens.

There were two Worgs, quite beautiful creatures, definitely in themselves worth the trip down - and then. Oh, and then.

Held in one of the cages, a broken door dividing it from the Worgs, was what appeared to be a large brown bear. Eden’s eyes widened when she saw it - this was her first time seeing a bear in person, rather than just hearing about one, and it was beautiful. There was a sadness in its eyes, it looked lonely and confused, but it was a gorgeous beast all the same. There was a bit of blood on its fur, too. Had the goblins hurt it?

Briefly, behind her, Astarion muttered something about how he’d seen a Druid assume bear form back at the Grove, and that if there was a bear held in the same place as Halsin supposedly was, then by all logic the bear would be Halsin, but Eden wasn’t really listening. She moved to intervene with the kids throwing rocks at the poor thing, then turned towards it and tilted her head.

Her ears twitched, hooves making a soft noise in the blood as she stepped in place a few times, horns spattered red with the ongoing conquest, and she moved to check the door for any locks she could possibly pick. She’d proved surprisingly good at lockpicking so far, despite her brutish strength. Sometimes a gentle hand worked wonders.

Sir Quacks-a-lot, who’d followed her throughout the entire camp and helped blind several goblins foolish enough to try petting him, suddenly started quacking loudly, incessantly, with no end in sight - running around in circles near the exit, getting the goblins to run after him, allowing the party to gather near the bear’s prison without interference. Being a menace certainly had its perks, Eden thought, suppressing a smile.

“This feels like a stupid question, but can you understand me?” she asked the bear, keeping a careful distance between them despite the door and her curiosity. “Have you seen any of them use any sort of key? I might be able to find it and get you out.”

One of the hardest adjustments, however, has been the allowance to speak her mind. Though the threat of punishment had rarely stopped her, it now leaves her body wrought with more tension than ever before - waiting for blows she'd once had no choice but to take. It's a more difficult anxiety to bear, somehow, when they never actually land.

So though she brings no ill news, Keiko's fingers still clamp white-knuckled around the rumpled, rancid letter in her grasp. The very same letter that had sat heavy at the bottom of her bag ever since the day she'd picked it off of Priestess Gut's corpse. Halsin had wanted to help her. Help them all. Drow, hobgoblin, and goblins alike; ones already known to be a more certain threat to them than the githyanki creche they face down now is.

Why?

There's only one way to find out.

❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you? ☠ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you? @natureswarden

☠️ What does someone have to do for an instant unfollow from you?

I’ve sat here trying to answer this one for so long. Lack of communication, definitely. I appreciate people who are willing to come to me and tell me things that I’ve done that could have upset them, instead of being pissy at me or pretending everything is okay and then it all blowing up. I’m just at a point where like… I want to know these things and communication is very important to me, and so by not being willing to it just creates this space that is uncomfortable for me to try and navigate.

❥ Has someone ever ruined an FC or character for you?

My own oc Kháos funnily enough was nearly ruined for me. Now, the thing about Kháos is that he is Nym-yraen’s Overwatch verse that was made because Blair (love them they’re a real one) invited me to an Overwatch server after they wanted to interact with Nym with Reaper / Gabe and we had spoken about it several times and they invited me to a server that was chill at the time of the invite. When I submitted Kháos I made it as clear as possible that he is a bit of a dick (my problematic king) and he struggles to form attachments because instead of the dark urge, he was experimented on, made into a biological weapon and has spent most of his life in a cell of some form, may it be before his happenings with Talon and during. I made this VERY clear in both his submission and generally talking to him. Dude was a fucking menace man; even to the person I was most excited about him interacting with. I found his original sheet so here’s the personality attached just to show how clear I made this.

People were very receptive to him in the beginning, and most of the conversations he was having he was… blunt and yes he would start shit sometimes because they don’t teach socialization 101. And then things derailed. Suddenly whenever he joined comms people would jump on him for just the same way that he had been typing, and would start things with him. At first it was funny, until it wasn’t. Now I love writing an asshole; I love writing people who have something wrong with them and ain’t easy to make friends with. This was not that as it was very… focused on both Kháos and Reaper all the time, and around this time their involvement with each other became a bit more obvious. Something else that happened was that I had plotted something with the mun writing Vendetta, in which the original doctor who experimented on him was located and brought to Talon, reintroducing his programming. The plan was to inform Gabe of this which happened and use that in order to kick into gear the plot point of Reaper breaking Kháos out from Talon as they struck a deal. Guard dog for his freedom + info talon had on himself. The mod writing Doomfist saw the thought from 1007 (Kháos’ subject number) asked what was happening and I explained. And they, with permission at the time, inserted themselves into the break out plot. Understandably they got busy which wouldn’t have been a problem but they were responding to everyone else and hadn’t told me or Blair directly that they were still interested. This went on for about a month. I was still using Kháos in comms with “permission” (I asked if it would be chill so I wasn’t stuck) but his big plot point, a turning point for his character was neglected.

Later on it becomes obvious to both me and Blair that the catalyst for this was the fact that someone had approached them about a potential ship with Reaper, and when Kháos’ involvement with Gabe became more obvious was when the reception shifted. Everyone in that clique started and I was getting frustrated because at first they enjoyed him and then would jump on his dick because he’s an “asshole” and doesn’t make friends easily. I don’t expect everyone to like my characters, or every character to get along. But when it’s a constant thing that he just has to type a message and a war breaks out, it becomes exhausting to deal with. Especially when he isn’t starting shit. Anyways this is the shortened down version of it all. I could talk all fucking day about this dude and actually had to rewrite this ask because it was so long lmao.