"Optimism does not come easily to me. I must confess that learning of all the defectors from Garlemald initially filled me with suspicion and distrust. Nero has won my approval, for now. As they say: alea iacta est. He certainly cannot return home, not after how deeply he has changed."
Thus do I exhort thee to spare no effort to keep thy loved ones safe.
It didn't take him long to find her, but once he did he wasn't quite sure what to say. He had never seen her look so smallācurled in on herself, quiet sobs just barely audible over the din of the camp.
He was thankful she didn't try to seek solitude, the last thing they needed was for her to disappear, again. Instead she had sat herself beneath the window of the room her sister currently occupied in their makeshift infirmary.
It made his heart ache with understanding.
He approached, kneeling down in front of her, and though she flinched at the touch of his hand, she didn't pull away. But she didn't look up at him or acknowledge his presence, either.
"I know what you are feeling, truly I do. The helplessness, the guilt, the pain of hurting someone you love and swore to protect. But Robyn, it wasn't you. We all know it wasn't you, that you would never hurt any of us."
She didn't react, but he knew she was listening.
"And now that we know what to look for, he won't be able to trick us again. Y'shtola knows the color of your spirit, and I dare say the rest of us know you well enough to see through the mask as well."
"I wasn't fast enough," her voice was low and rough, but he was still glad to hear it.
"It was by their design! They never intended for you to stop him, and still you did! You kept him from doing far more harm."
"No, you don't understand. I wasn't fast enough because I stopped to help." She looked up at him with pain in her eyes. "There were people in the city fighting against magitek, they begged me for help. I tried. I tried but they all died anyways, and I was caught in the explosionā¦"
He was stunned into silence at the implications of her words.
"Everything Zenos has done has been to get my attention. All the destruction, all the death just to draw me here. And when I didn't give him what he wanted he attacked you. Using your trust in me as a weapon, using my love against me. No matter what I do, no matter how much I try to help and try to protect, I only make it worse."
She looked away, slumping like it took what little strength she had left.
"Zenos was tearing things apart long before he ever met you, and this place was designed to be a powder keg back before you were even born. The only thing that has changed with your presence is that we actually have a chance to stop him!"
He knew he didn't have the answers she needed nor the words to rouse her spirit, but if he could just get her movingā¦just get her back in the fight, the distraction might be enough, for now. In this they were both the same.
"Fandaniel made it clear that time was of the essence, and so we are planning an assault on the tower. All in, whatever it takes to stop them. We will be lost without you leading the charge."
"You would still fight beside me, even now?" She looked up, watching his reaction. His conviction.
"Surely by now you know, I will always stand by your side to face whatever comes our way. We have been through far too much for some maniac's stunt to break my trust in you. And there is no doubt in my mind that every one of the Scions feels the same way."
Tears started filling her eyes again, but this time she reached out and took his hand, squeezing it like a lifeline.
"And if I may be so bold, I don't think anything could break Osk's trust in you either. Though, perhaps a bit of explanation about what happened may be in order."
She snorted at that, and wiped the tears from her face. "Let us make sure she is safe first, then I will tell her everything."
Even cowering behind my curtain, I know the suffering of the powerful. I have watched my siblings driven mad by loss.
She pushed through the door and immediately a wave of warmth hit her, followed by the tangy smell of blood and healing magics.
Her eyes immediately locked on Osk, her head resting in Alisaie's lap.
She's alive. She'll be OK. She's alive.
There was movement. Elio putting himself between her and Osk, staring her down and ready to strike.
Good. She needs protection, and I can't be trusted.
"Robyn?" Osk lifted her head to look at her, only to be immediately scolded by A-Ruhn-Senna for moving. "Robyn, are you alright?"
She couldn't take it. Osk shouldn't be concerned for her, not after what she didā¦what she let happen. She turned to go, to get away from the people she would rather die than hurt, and yet has hurt all the same.
you come across a familiar, cozy scene, domestic and calm as the adults at the table discuss their household expenses over the last bites of dinner. the atmosphere is immediately charged when a young boy, too long and tall and gangly in that way teenagers are, enters the room, curled in on himself and clutching his own arm, and quietly asks his parents if he could tell them something important. the nerves radiate off him as the parents realize whatever it is will likely change the courses of their lives.
you awaken to a less familiar sight, and it takes you several moments and a scan of the surrounding stonescape to identify your location as somewhere in the peaks of ala mhigo. it must be a place well-hidden, however, a small spring with a tinge of greenery not commonly seen in gyr abania's harsh climes. and there, a child, eagerly sharing the view and the experience with a certain blue-haired woman with a strange jewellike eye in her forehead. the brow creases around the third eye as she listens intently to the child's excited ramblings, her expression darkening as she sifts through the implications that he is too young to comprehend. there is a heartwrenching sense that she will never meet this boy again, even should she return years later to throw off the yoke that is the only life he has ever known.
his voice, snide and domineering and utterly convinced of its own importance, rings too loudly in your ears. his attention is centered directly on the woman his age in a frazzled state of distress that he is clearly wholly ignorant of. she slowly climbs to her feet and gathers her dress from the floor nearby, pressing it against herself to preserve the modesty she no longer believes she has any claim to, keeping her expression of regret and fury directed anywhere in the room but him. her voice is cold yet steady as she quietly states her intention to leave, and if he dares to touch or even look at her again, she will tear him to pieces. he raises his voice, shrieking and becoming unbalanced as he realizes her intentions, but nothing he says can dissuade her from lifting her head and walking as steadily as she can out of the room.
This memory smells like summer, like sun-warmed orange peel, like salt on sea breeze. Itās soft, cast in rose gold and sleepy blues.
Your mother is there; she is always there. She twirls on her toes while Papa plays his fiddle. She claps and sings and then you're spinning too, round and round to sailor's songs.
Youāre happy, you think.
This will last, you think
You were wrong.
A very happy birthday to dearly beloved @robynostornwyn! I hope you have a wonderful day full of happy things <3. I present to you an Echo vision Robyn might have upon meeting Gilly :3
More terrible still is the attrition wrought upon thy companions, as they are swept up in the storm of thine existence.
She woke up gasping.
Phantom pains from an explosion she wasn't in, from dragging a body that wasn't hers across the tundra, from screaming a throat raw.
She was too slow. Too late.
The scream of an unfamiliar voice rang in her ears as she watched Osk push Alisaie out of the way of her own blade. Blood sprayed across her white coat as she collapsed into Alisaie's arms.
"Robyn!"
Diving towards her own body. Giving all she had left just to push itāhim away from her family.
"Robyn, can you hear me?"
She blinked, the sound of Y'shtola's voice tugging her back to the present.
"It's alright, I've got you. Just breathe."
She tried to focus. Hands on her face, the cold wind biting her skin, the bright sunlight gleaming off the snow. It was all too much, and yet not enough.
"Feel your body, can you move your hands? Your fingers? Your toes?"
She closed her eyes to just feel as she balled her hands into fists, and rolled her ankles. The weight of her armor was a comfort in its familiarity, as was the feeling of Y'shtola's fingers in her hair.
"Breathe. Just breathe."
Squinting against the sunlight, she opened her eyes. Y'shtola was kneeling in front of her, and most of the Scions stood around them with worried looks on their faces.
"Osk?" Her tongue felt thick in her mouth.
"She is being looked after. Alisaie and Elio took her to the infirmary, where it is safe and warm."
Her eyes were drawn to the road behind them, where she could see her sword laying where it had fallen. Blood stained the blade and the snow.
"Osk is going to be alright, I promise."
She pulled away from Y'shtola as tears began to fill her eyes, and struggled to stand. "I'm sorry." She pushed away Alphinaud's steadying hand as she swayed on her feet. "I'm so sorry."
Once the world stopped spinning, she pushed through the crowd and took off towards the infirmary, their objections falling on deaf ears.
Two weeks til EU Fanfest and I gotta level with you guys...look EVERYONE knows Amaurot is THE favorite zone of Shadowbringers but which zone do you ACTUALLY find yourself hanging out in the most seven years later?
The Crystarium
Lakeland
Il Mheg
Amh Araeng
Kholusia
Eulmore
Rak'tika Greatwood
The Tempest
Amaurot
Voting ended on10h
Not which is your favorite. Which zone do you just find yourself going to the most or find yourself in on the daily or weekly?
amandla
pixelskylines
tangentwithtanner
kianamaiart
izzy806
snowghoul
origamiaround
germansingergirl
andulkaphoto
