#wildtenacity

“I loathe traveling to Orlais,” she declared, unprovoked, to Nicolas. “Rather, I should say, I loathe the whole nation in its entirety.” This declaration was nothing new.  Katherine had said just as much countless times before.  In fact, every time that they were bidden to cross over into the Orlesian Empire, she made quite certain that everyone within her immediate vicinity was aware of her distaste. 

The worst part about the complaints is that the show is based on the novels, not the games.

((I need to read these books, but I still think the shittiest thing is listening to people I know IRL tell me “Triss just doesn’t have the right look! I’m not racist, but...”

Cassandra didn’t jog to catch up with the bulk of the wedding party (that would be undignified), but she did increase her pace, to try to come up alongside the flashily-dressed gnome. Her heart was still racing, to be sure, but the ceremony had assuaged that some, and as she glanced at her family, she couldn’t help but smile. Still, as she looked back at Scanlan, she raised an eyebrow.

every time he closed his eyes, he could feel the tightening of the rope around his neck. he could hear christine crying and pleading. and when he slept, the phantom was there. the phantom was always there. as was the rope that squeezed and squeezed until his vision went dark and his lungs screamed for air. until his heart slowly stopped beating. and he could hear christine crying, hear the phantom sing and laugh.

he looked at her but it took him a minute to see her as she was, and not how she had been that night. “i’m fine.” if he said it enough, maybe he’d believe it. “i’m not all that tired. you should go on up. i’ll come to bed later.”

Their most frightening ghost was glaring at her through Raoul’s grieving eyes when he looked up at her.

No, her Raoul was far from fine.

She gently touches his hair and sits on the arm of his chair. “It’s easier to sleep when you’re with me,” she says quietly in an attempt to coax him into bed with her. Maybe it would be feeble, maybe it wouldn’t be, but she couldn’t leave him alone when he looked so haunted.

@wildtenacity

"I mean it, Vex'ahlia! I'm not leaving without my boots!" He scowled at her, eyes narrowed. "You're the Lady of Whitestone - you can afford to get new boots. Please just give me mine back. Unless you never want to see your armor, coin purse, or weapons again..." Vax gave her a mischievous eyebrow waggle.

It was a dubious thing, to be knocking on the door of a bride and groom after a wedding ceremony, but Cassandra figured that it was early enough in the night that there was at least a fifty percent chance they would be able to receive her. In any case, she could always relieve the tray she was holding of two pieces of cake and two glasses of non-drugged red wine (she’d asked Lady Kima to check, and the paladin had thankfully obliged, seeming to have seen something in Cassandra’s expression despite her best efforts) and then go somewhere to eat her own share in solitude. But Cassandra had realized she wanted to spend at least a moment with her family before going to bed; her dreams would most likely be troubled enough as it was. A reminder that she wasn’t alone again -- would be something to be grateful for.

After a moment, Percy opened the door, his eyebrows raising in surprise. Cassandra raised the tray as an excuse before he could say anything. “May I come in? I... thought this might be appreciated.”

“Yes, do that,” he said, opening the door for her to pass through and closing it behind her. Cassandra carefully set the tray on the bed, before glancing over at the cradle beside it. Vesper was still sleeping, and one of her little hands opened and closed on empty air. Cassandra smiled softly before looking back at her brother and sister-in-law -- official twice over now -- and tucking a piece of brown-and-white streaked hair back into her updo. She felt a little shaky still, but did her best to push that away.

Even the heavy curtains of Castle Whitestone couldn’t fully muffle the summer sunlight, and Percy shifted, screwing his eyes against the morning until flopping over to face Vex’s side of the bed, his eyes blinking open slowly. He’d slept hard and, mercy of mercies, he’d even managed to get away without dreaming, and so it took him a few moments to register that Vex, in fact, was not lying in bed next to him.

Percy bolted upright then, covers tangling around his legs as he scrabbled for his spectacles on the nightstand and shoved them onto his face. It must be relatively late in the morning, then, if Vex was already up and gone, and he probably should’ve been awake a few hours ago --