#ardyn vrylan

[guidingbolts]

you know i always knew ardyn being kind of gullible and her desire to help people would get her in trouble but. you know. i didn’t see the whole kidnapped thing coming.

[guidingbolts]

ardyn: literally one of the two people put in charge of keeping the princess prone to kidnapping attempts from being kidnapped

ardyn: gets kidnapped herself

[guidingbolts]

3 + bryony, 15 + ardyn, 27 + journey

bryony + 3. hopes

bryony doesn’t consider the things she hopes for to be asking very much.

she hopes she can give back to the world, make it a better place.

she hopes she can make up for all of her mistakes, all of the pain she’s caused.

she hopes she isn’t too much of a burden to anyone anymore.

she hopes she won’t always feel like this, yearning for something she doesn’t deserve, something she squandered her chances with.

she hopes that someday she’ll feel wanted again.

still, she doesn’t see much point in bothering anyone with her troubles. she hopes, but if it’s meant to be it will happen.

ardyn + 15. hands

shaune’s hands are one of the first things she remembers, a constant through her childhood.

her sister, older and somehow quieter than even her, taking her hand in the crowd as their family walks through a crowded city.

shaune taking her hands and pulling her into a dance as their mother plays music, the two of them swaying on clumsy feet together as their parents watch them.

shaune holding her hand as they lower their parents’ bodies into the ground.

both of them older now, ardyn taking shaune’s hand and helping her move through unfamiliar places; her sister is smart and knows how to move now, even without her eyes, but there’s a comfort to being together.

ardyn, desperately trying to hold onto shaune’s hands and passing through them in the vision she shows the gatekeeper to the city of whispers– her truth– as she promises this fake sister that she will find her again, no matter the cost, no matter how much longer it takes.

journey + 27. sleep

it’s not the same sleeping on land.

where others would find the constant sway of the ship as it sails disturbing even at rest, would find the ambient noises of the ocean, the ship, and the crew distracting, she finds it to be a comfort. familiar. a hazy feeling of moving forward, even when at rest.

on land, it’s too– it’s too solid. she’s antsy enough when awake, shifting on her feet, pacing, constantly moving even a bit to keep herself from going crazy (she wonders if that’s something her new acquaintances have picked up on yet). but trying to sleep on land? it’s unbearable. she’s truly, completely still. unmoving, stuck in place with nowhere to go. no progress made, just stasis.

and then there’s the dreams; dreams of salt water on the breeze as it sweeps through her hair, of the wistful call of somewhere else– anywhere else– just waiting for her. of the sea’s ebb and flow, constantly pushing her along a path only it truly knows.

(and then there’s thunder and the brief moment where she feels her heart stop beating; a flash of red against the darkness as the sounds all around consume her, chew her up and spit her out, her hand stretched outwards as she desperately hopes for someone to grab back.)

but those are normal, at least for her. nothing she isn’t perfectly equipped to deal with. she knows what those are, knows why they’re there.

and there’s the other dream. the one she had the night everyone had them. not a nightmare, exactly. it was something… ominous. eerie, like the calm before a storm.

that? that she’s not sure how to deal with.

[guidingbolts]

since we’re all sad about ardyn, here’s one of my favorite songs for her, which is also a song on her playlist with avi for... reasons

It's like an old rhyme Your father's a liar while my father's lying down In a hole in the earth there And I'm scared I'll forget him I'm still haunted by those open wounds I won't express them truly to you You have buried childish qualities Friend make sense of me, friend make sense of me I have many destructive qualities Friend make sense of me, friend make sense of me I have so much hurt inside me Friend make sense of me, friend make sense of me I have so much hurt inside me Friend make sense of me, friend make sense of me Friend, friend, friend, friend

[guidingbolts]

apache tears, emerald, galena, jasper, and sapphire for Ardyn & Elowen

apache tears: a sadness headcanon

ardyn is always sad, which is understandable when you’ve been ripped from your home and everybody you know is dead and gone and the world you knew forever changed. ardyn sees her sadness as an inconvenience to others.

elowen doesn’t like feeling sad. whenever she feels sad, she becomes angry. anger is easier to process for her than sadness– when she’s sad, she’s helpless.

emerald: how my muse tells someone they love them without words

ardyn gives gifts, usually of the handmade kind.

elowen becomes fiercely protective.

galena: what it’s like to be in a relationship with my muse

ardyn’s very protective, but she also isn’t afraid to call her partner out for dumb shit they do.

elowen is, again, fiercely protective with extreme loyalty. she’s prone to grand gestures.

jasper: what my muse would be like as a parent

ardyn would be very kind and protective as a parent but also stern, because she wants what’s best for them. she’d spend a lot of time trying to be there for her kids the way she missed out on after her parents died.

elowen… i honestly can’t see as a parent. she’s more like a cool aunt.

sapphire: if everyone my muse knew was hanging off a cliff and they could only choose three to save, the rest certainly dying, who they would choose

fuck uhhhhhhhhhhhh

ardyn would save gwen, xilli, and avi, which makes me fell AWFUL because there are only four party members and one of them she LOVES but is not on here because gwen, an npc, has to be saved. gwen has done too much to help ardyn.

elowen would save ayla, kelsey, and a [redacted] person from her past she still carries a bit of a torch for despite all that’s happened.