How did your rook deal with the inner demons quest with going into lucanis head?
Like where they fascinated? Terrified of touching something and lucanis having a break down? Was it another Tuesday? Idk I had to ask
lol thanks for asking! I think externally Rook was trying to focus on helping Lucanis, but internally they were freaking out on multiple levels.
Their thoughts probably sound like one long run-on sentence: "How does Spite even manage to DO this? How frequently is Lucanis shutting down emotionally like this? What am I about to see in this man's mind? What does Spite think I can DO exactly?"
Ultimately they end up ignoring their thoughts and treat his mind like they treat nerves medically. Following what's 'loudest' to the source of the pain.
I think my Rook probably had a harder time with Lucanis' conjuring of Illario than in game since Rook didn't want Lucanis to dismiss his cousin entirely since the two of them were so close. Definitely less, "You don't owe Illario a second thought..." and more "You've barely spoken to him and it's been over a year. We need to have a chat with the real Illario. We'll figure this out."
Post quest, Rook definitely wanted to ask Spite about it more, but also knew Lucanis didn't like being thought of as an experiment. So they dropped it. (They were absolutely yapping to Emmrich about it though.)
who: Brody Weston with Rachel Berry
what: Brody tries to correct a mistake he’s already made a hundred times.
He wasn’t really sure how long he’d been sitting on the steps in front of her apartment. He could remember dozens of summer days spent there with a shared bowl of ice cream, autumn nights with coffee and cider, the occasional winter afternoon when the sun was high and almost warm. But tonight, waiting on her, he couldn’t count the hours. If he counted them, he’d go crazy. He’d wonder where she was, if she was coming home, if she’d even care that he was there now when he hadn’t been able to be there earlier.
Brody had tried, really he had. He’d even made it to coat check, one step away from being out the door before Stacey caught him, her arm on his elbow as she spun in around. “Brody, you remember our head of publishing, don’t you?” Of course he did; and because he did, that meant the resulting conversation was that much longer. Question after question about his first book, his play, what he was working on now, how about those sales numbers, looking at a bonus check if he’d consider a few remarks for newer books by their new authors... on and on and on until it was too late to even hope he’d get to meet up with Rachel.
It was an important night for her, an award she’d dreamed about the way he dreamed about his first book, and he hadn’t found a way to be there. He’d wanted to go, had been invited, but there were some things he could blow off and other he couldn’t. This fundraiser was definitely not something he could skip and truthfully... he hadn’t tried that hard. He told himself it was because there was no use, he couldn’t get out of this event, but he knew in his gut it was more than that.
He was acting out again, the way he had before when he’d felt Rachel dismissed him as easily as she might have the phone bill. They were reconnecting, he knew they were, and he wasn’t so naive that he believed that was all the needed to move forward together, but after spending all night on the phone with her and listening to her purr and whine his name, he really thought they were making some kind of headway. He’d wanted to sit down with her, talk about it, discuss what it meant. He’d tell her that he did miss her, he wanted to be with her again, but they needed to be cautious.
She’d essentially said the same thing, but over text it just felt cold and distant.
So he buried himself in his writing and when he had to crawl out of his place to this event... missing Rachel’s award was the last thing in his mind.
Except as soon as she texted him, excitement pouring through the message, he regretted it immediately. He needed to be there. Wanting to be there was one thing, but he needed to be there. If he was going to prove to her that things could be different this time - because he knew that’s what she was looking for - he should have made more of an effort. She’d even thrown him a second chance by inviting him to drinks, and he’d missed that as well.
He had to be better this time. Different, active.
So he picked up her favorite wine and headed to her place, his tie loose around his neck, and he parked himself on the steps. He knew there was a chance she wouldn’t even come home, but he’d wait anyway. Just sit and stare at his phone, write in his drafts, and hold onto that bottle of wine in case she showed up.
He heard her coming a block away, and he didn’t even need to see them to know she wasn’t alone. Nathan was with her, arm around her waist. Both of them less than sober, and Brody figured he’d end up hiding the bottle he’d picked up from her; no more drinks tonight, though he certainly felt he needed one to drown the painful twist in his stomach as Rachel kissed Nathan’s cheek, her giggle something Brody had heard a thousand times coming home late a night to fall into bed with her.
“Brody!” she shouted, her smile bright and wide as she launched herself from Nathan to him. A hard something knocked into the back of his head, Rachel apologizing instantly before pulling her hand back, a trophy gleaming in her hand even in the dim streetlights. “Look! Look what I did!”
“This is great, Rachel,” he smiled, listening to Nathan describe how they had to practically pick her up out of her seat to get her to go onstage to accept it. “I’m proud of you.”
“I’m proud of me!” she insisted, hugging him again and even though the edge of her award was digging into his neck, he didn’t want her to let go. “You missed drinks, but you’re here. Why are you here?”
“I didn’t want to miss your entire night,” he mumbled, starting to feel out of place with Nathan still standing there, looking wistfully at the front door. “But you have company already so-”
“No, it’s fine,” Nathan said even before Rachel could protest. “I was just making sure she got home okay.”
“Nathan-”
“Brody, it’s fine,” he shrugged and Brody probably should have felt bad, but with Rachel nuzzling into his neck, it was hard to focus on feeling anything but that.
She was still drunk, and in the morning she might decide not to forgive him. But the fact that she wasn’t exactly angry at the moment, that she seemed genuinely excited to have him there even at the tail end of the night, even after he’d missed everything...
