#limwen

[criticalrolo]

if you listen closely you can hear a greek chorus singing “I won’t say I’m in love” while Limwen falls for Cassiopeia at the speed of light

Cass belongs to @stormslesbian and Limwen is mine :)

[eziocauthon89]

A New Star

I might have written up a little thing for @criticalrolo‘s and @stormslesbian‘s recent Limwen/Cassiopeia angst... Enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Limwen leaned against the balcony railing with a heavy sigh. Another day, another universe. At least the transition to this one had been fairly clean, no being dropped into the middle of a bar brawl, or the edge of an active volcano. This time, she’d just appeared in a small alleyway beside a market, without even any witnesses, which was a nice change.

After subtly asking around a bit, she managed to get the lay of the land; no major political or military upheaval, thankfully, and no fierce terrors actively stalking the lands. Maybe this time, she could actually take a break.

She started with finding a good inn, where she could rest for a couple days. She’d even managed to get a room with a decent view, overlooking the market and the mountains beyond the city walls. It still wasn’t that long ago that she’d lost....

Unbidden, her eyes turned skyward. The sun was just finishing its fall below the horizon, and the stars were starting to wink into existence. The was the first new world in a while that she’d seen without Cassiopeia. The very thought tugged at her heart, but she didn’t give in to the tears that tried to form in her eyes.

She stood there for a time, letting the sun complete its journey and watching the stars brighten. She was just about to go back inside, and on to her much-wanted sleep, when she saw it.

A new star.

For whatever reason, by and large, the star locations didn’t vary from universe to universe. They were some of the few things that remained constant in Limwen’s transient life. She’d taken the time to remember their positions, sometimes tracking the changes from one world to the next. This one was entirely new.

This one hung low, near the southern horizon, and twinkled fiercely, almost as if trying to attract the attention of someone below. Of course, Limwen knew it was just the effect of the atmosphere on the light from the far-away star, but still, something about it made her pause and look closer.

It flashed in bright pinks and blues and purples, seeming eager, almost manic. Something about it struck a familiar chord in Limwen, who peered harder at it.

Suddenly, it struck her, and she couldn’t help but gasp. “Cass?” She uttered in a breath, barely loud enough for even herself to hear.

The star’s flickering calmed, slowing into a more even pace, now casually shifting between shades. Almost as though it had heard her.

Limwen suddenly found she couldn’t see the star anymore, as her eyes brimmed over with tears. She stayed there on the balcony until she could see the star again, then darted inside, shifting the bed until she could lay in it and peer out the balcony door, and see her star as she drifted off to sleep.

[sparksfromthefire]

What's the most ridiculous yet on-brand ways your OCs could die?

oh YES

Caliope: most on brand would be finding a trap in an ancient ruin and not being able to figure out what it does so she triggers it to find out and fucking,,, DIES

Odette: MOST on brand would be getting struck by lighting AGAIN and dying AGAIN and having God punt her back to life AGAIN

Thalia: Probably something born out of complete inexperience... like I love her but she hasn’t been doing this Adventurer thing for very long what if she Eldritch Blasts in the wrong direction and takes herself out??? IT WOULD HAPPEN

Kier: Trying to fucking,, punch a dragon to death with her BARE FISTS. Or a wizard. Or a possessed evil dragonborn warlord. Instead of getting some distance like a rational human being (am I speaking from experience?? MAYBE)

Limwen: Almost certainly she will severely miscalculate the distance between two points she’s trying to teleport between and will end up plummeting off a cliff a la Wiley Coyote

Esiael: any death for my sad angel boy would be just Tragic instead of ridiculous but I think he would probably try to do something Noble and end up just Dying instead lajksdfhs

Sutir: He’s a legend and he would go out guns blazing trying to steal a castle by himself while noblemen are still LIVING THERE he’s POWERFUL and he WILL face God and walk backwards into hell if he can’t have his own big ass castle

Penny and Lazuli can’t die because they’re too cool but if the closest it would be would be together, penny turning into a fire elemental and burning down Lazuli’s house in the swamp and then taking down the entire rest of the everglades on a whim, with lazuli cheering her on before they both realize what the fuck just happened

[criticalrolo]

7 and 21 for Thalia and Limwen? :)

7. If your OC could pick a different name, title, or pseudonym for themself, what would they pick? Why? Have they ever been given an alternate name/title, and how do they feel about it?

Thalia: So Thalia and the rest of her party recently got promoted to honorary members of a city council, and tbh I think that she might get rid of the “honorary councilor” title if she could because she’s not really interested in tying herself to one city while she’s still on a Mission to recover her parents. I don’t know if she’d ever change her name though! It’s something she has from her original childhood home on Endelia and one of the few links she has to her birth mom (no matter how much she says she doesn’t care that Naomi left she’s lying a little bit haha). It’s something that ties her to her family which is really important to her.

Limwen: Limwen has a similar situation where her name was basically all she was able to take from home before getting Lost In The Universe. If she was picking a different name I think she’d be big into plant/nature based names, so maybe something like Alder or Birch. 

21. If they could steal one major piece of art with no consequences, what would it be and why? Bonus: how would they pull off the heist?

Thalia: Oh she would VIBE!! With klimt art for sure. If you’ve never seen his stuff in person im kajldfadsj theyre SO beautiful and the gold and platinum and silver in the paint he uses literally makes the paintings SPARKLE they are SO COOL anyway if she could pick one I think she’d like Judith and the Head of Holofernes (which is incidentally the cover of the notebook i use to take notes for the campaign alkjdfkaslkfda)

Limwen: I think that Limwen would really like the impressionist era and the really lovely landscape art that it produced! I think she would really get into Monet and all his water lilies paintings, and if she could have one specifically I think she’d go with Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies

[criticalrolo]

the more things change - Daemon AU for Cassiopeia and Limwen

Fletcher is the one who spots them for the first time. He’s always been a bit more perceptive than she is, and once he’d settled into his little sparrow form, he’d taken a liking to darting into the air to do a quick scan of the area before perching on her shoulder to whisper in her ear about all the lovely things he’d seen so they could go off exploring together.

They’ve made their way into some sort of bazaar, a fantastically busy marketplace full of bright lights and colorful tapestries that dazzles both of them. The moon is shining over head while the torches and strings of magical lights held in little glass balls bathe the area in a warm yellow orange glow. Cass cranes her head around, taking in the sights and sounds of people haggling and bartering around her. Even the stall owners’ daemons are getting in on the action. Cass is delighted to see a brightly-dressed tiefling and his hedgehog daemon both animatedly trying to convince an elf woman with a silver and blue butterfly resting on her finger to buy a set of ornate kitchen knives.

A few feet above her head, Fletcher is darting back and forth between the strings of lights. He can get farther away from her than most people would be able to stand, which Cass chalks up to both of their insatiable curiosity. A little bit of uncomfortable stretching was nothing compared to the rush they both felt at getting to see something completely new. Still, a few people give her nervous glances as she walks by. One human’s little mouse daemon actually squeaks and hides in the hood of their human’s cloak for a moment before making the connection between her and the small brown bird swooping through the sky. Cass gives them a bright smile, aiming to reassure them, before hurrying on.

It’s a bit of a surprise when she feels Fletcher settle on the top of her head a few minutes later. He looked like he’d been having so much fun flitting around. Cass picks him up gently and rubs the top of his fluffy brown head with a finger, feeling the familiar tingle down her own spine when she touches him.

“Hey, what happened?” she asks. “You looked like you were enjoying yourself up there.”

“You’ll never guess what I saw over on the other side of those stalls,” Fletcher says, fluffing up his feathers enthusiastically. “I’ve never seen someone with a daemon like that before.”

Cass raises her eyebrows. “What are you talking about? Is it really big or pretty or…?”

Fletcher tilts his head to the side. “I don’t want to spoil the surprise, Cass. But you have to come check this out.” He lifts his wings and takes off into the air again, this time mostly circling around her head as he guides her through the crowd towards the other side of the marketplace. Cass jostles a few people who grumble at her as she passes by. She’s careful to avoid both toes and tails while scooting between wooden shelves and canvas walls until she pops out on the other side, scanning the street for whatever Fletcher said he saw.

She swivels her head. Everything seems normal to her. Just people and their daemons, milling about, the scent of spices and perfume heady in the air, until she sees…

Her eyes widen. “Woah.”

Across the way from where Cass is half hidden in the shadow of a stall is a tall elven woman with long black hair and a sharp, angular face. When she turns her head to the side, Cass can see that it’s practically bisected by a scar that cuts through one cheek and down through her lip. She’s wearing a long grey cloak and has a bow and quiver of arrows strapped to her back, and she seems to be arguing with a merchant over something by the way she’s gesturing.

But by far, the most striking thing about her is the enormous orange tiger loping at her side, swiveling his striped head around and staring at passing customers with piercing green eyes. Most people do a double take at seeing such a large animal in a crowded marketplace, and a couple even jump aside when the tiger flashes his fangs at them.

“Holy shit,” Cass says.

Fletcher lands on her shoulder. “They’re getting as many stares as we usually do.”

“I wanna go talk to her,” Cass says, moving out of the shadow of the stall and heading towards the woman and her tiger.

“Cass – wait, what are you planning to say?”

“I’ll figure it out when I get there,” Cass says. She’s not sure what it is, but it feels important that she get over there right now. There’s something charged in the air, some kind of energy moving through the fabric of this plane of existence that tells her something’s coming and she has to know what it is.

The woman seems to finish up her argument, sliding a coin across the counter in exchange for a bundle of arrows that she stows away in her quiver immediately. Cass picks up her speed, trying to catch up as the woman and the tiger start to move away at a brisk pace.

Her eyes are locked on the woman, then, when the tiger perks his ears up. Over the crowd, because she’s so focused, she hears him say in a deep rumbling voice, “Limwen, I think –”

Cass sees the woman’s form blink and shift for a second, glitching unnaturally in the street. That energy she felt before is stronger now, gathering in waves around her and the elf. She shifts from speed walking to an all-out sprint, Fletcher twittering in confusion in her ear as she closes the distance between them.

The woman stops in the street, clutching one hand into her daemon’s fur, when Cass skids to a stop in front of her. She blinks in confusion, taking in Cass’s pink and purple form and the little brown bird nestled on her head, before the world twists around them both and she starts to disappear.

“Grab her!” Fletcher says, flapping his wings frantically.

Cass doesn’t know what’s come over him or where this strange energy is coming from, but she immediately sticks her hand out and grabs onto the woman’s wrist. The universe warps around her – around them both – in a strange way that glitters with unexplored energy and untapped potential, before twisting itself back into something recognizable and solid.

Cass and the woman fall to the grass covered ground, with light streaming through tree branches overhead to dapple them both in warm golden sunshine. For a second, they both just lay there, panting slightly as they readjust to the new surroundings. The woman, (Limwen, the daemon tiger called her,) stretches out her hand to bury it in her daemon’s thick orange fur.

“Revion…?” she murmurs. Her voice is hoarser than Cass had expected, like she doesn’t get the opportunity to use it all that much. The tiger purrs low in response and buries his head against her shoulder.

All of a sudden, it hits Cass exactly what just happened and she bolts upright. Fletcher flits up with her, nestling in against her cheek.

Limwen and Revion twist their heads to the side to look at her in one synchronized motion. It would be adorable if the twin silver and green stares didn’t feel like they were piercing all the way through to her core somehow.

“Who are you?” Limwen asks. She sits up as well, Revion pressing against her side protectively. “How did you… did you follow me here?”

“Oh my gosh!” Cass gasps in delight. She beams and grabs Limwen’s gloved hands with her own. “You’re just like me!”

Cassiopeia’s daemon: Fletcher (eurasian tree sparrow)

Limwen’s daemon: Revion (sumatran tiger)

[criticalrolo]

not to sound overly dramatic or slightly obsessive, but i've been thinking abt ur daemon au for ur ocs all day, do u have any more thoughts abt any of them (when and/or why they settled, how they felt, etc)

oh my god im about to go OFF 

first of all I’ve got a short story about Limwen and her sumatran tiger daemon Revion here :)  Not sure exactly when he settled for her, but I think that he really represented different things for her at different points at her life: at first he was a sign of ambition, but later on he was much more of a companion while she was very alone. They don’t talk a lot but she definitely holds him very close at night and I think eventually he almost serves as a warning before she glitches - he can give her a heads up right before it happens which makes it less jarring. Either way they are VERY close and don’t trust ANYONE more than each other.

Caliope’s kestrel is named Aegan, and he settled pretty early on, since she’s always been the same focused, brash, independent kind of person. I think that he settled right around 14 when she started secondary education and really DOVE into her studies and she kind of got a feel for what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. This was definitely an exciting moment for both of them and they were both pretty pleased with his form. Aegan is SO TALKATIVE, like he CANNOT shut up, and the two of them together will talk forever about anything and everything 

Thalia’s blue jay Itri settled when she first started hearing directions from her angelic guide, around when she was 12. Once Sariel saw that she was the shrewd kind of person who was bold enough to actually really be of use to a Solar angel, everything kind of fell into place at the same time for her. They took this moment VERY seriously and tried to use this as a “now we’re grown up enough to look out for ourselves” kind of time. They kind of relax more a bit later on, when they’re both more comfortable with themselves and they work together REALLY well as the most persuasive team of all time. These two get shit done

[criticalrolo]

5 and 40 for Thalia, Limwen, and Caliope? (:

5. Your oc has to make something for an art exhibition. What would they make? How terrible is it? Would they enjoy making it?

Thalia: Thalia probably would try to make some kind of hanging sculpture type of exhibition. Would it be good...? Probably not, art isn’t her forte. She’d probably be able to make a decent display with the right lighting, and she’d enjoy making it but probably wouldn’t be super happy with how it ended up differently from what she’d envisioned. 

Limwen: Limwen has no idea what different kinds of art entails, bless her heart. She would probably try to?? use a pottery wheel or something?? That would sound the most practical to her. It would definitely crack and look weird and she would almost certainly throw away whatever she made

Caliope: Caliope spends a decent amount of time making sketches of different artifacts/dig sites where she works, so she’d probably present a bunch of those without cleaning them up too much for Authenticity. I think she’d have a great time and since she’d be presenting both art and history, she’d definitely be down for the whole experience.

[criticalrolo]

almost, always (limwen x cassiopeia)

It’s very basic: four times Limwen really, really wanted to kiss Cass, and one time she finally did. 

(your move, @stormslesbian)

The thing is, glitching is never an easy process. Plane shifting is tiring enough, without it being an involuntary process that feels closer to being dragged through a hole than to jumping into space. As it is, when Limwen's feet hit the ground, it's with the full weight of the multiverse punting her around. There's an audible snap as the temporary portal seals itself shut behind her, and her knees buckle under the force of gravity aggressively reasserting itself. She falls on all fours, heaving in a gasp that feels like her first in ages. Wherever she is, it's relatively quiet, and the sudden sound of her panting breaths cracks through the silence. 

Silence, meaning that she is alone. Unlike a few moments before, when a small starry hand had been clutching at her own pale fingers, asking her what all this energy was, why was she phasing in and out of sight, Limwen what's happening – 

Limwen opens her eyes.

She's glitched to some sort of forest, surrounded by tall trees with black bark and creeping dark vines looping across their branches. What little she can make out of the sky from her hunched over position on the ground is as dark as pitch as well, with no visible moon or stars that could help her navigate. And, as she suspected, there is no softly glowing pink figure anywhere nearby, laughing at how she's ripped her leggings in her fall and reaching down to help her up.

Her next inhale catches in her throat, and the next as well. The heavy weight on her chest feels less like the familiar press of new gravity and more like a hand that has reached between her ribs to squeeze her lungs closed. 

A bit frantically, Limwen staggers up from her knees, reaching out to the nearest black tree to steady herself. The rough bark scratches at her palm, and she knows vertigo is to be expected after being forced across the universe in the blink of an eye, but that doesn't explain the dizzy feeling building behind her eyes or the way her throat constricts at how she can't hear a single living thing nearby, or how she should have known better when she thought she'd found someone who she could count on to stay - 

There's another snapping noise, and although she's never glitched twice in a row so quickly, Limwen instinctively braces herself for the familiar pull and tug of the universe tossing her away. 

The feeling never comes. Instead, there's a nearby thump and the sound of twigs snapping under approaching footsteps. 

"Wow, Limwen, you should have told me you were going to jump so we could travel together!"

Cass shakes off the residual energy from her own planeshift and beams at Limwen, who doesn't realize her jaw is slack with surprise and relief. 

"I... didn't realize it was going to happen," Limwen mumbles, her voice rough with adrenaline. "I should have told you, I don't really get a say in the matter." Her hands are shaking as she runs them through her long dark hair.

Cass's face twists into an expression of surprise touched with sadness. "Oh, I hadn't realized. That doesn't sound very fun. Explains why it took me a second to find you though. " She turns her vivid starry eyes to look around at the forest they've both landed in. "Where are we anyway?"

The second Cass glances away, Limwen is seized by the insane desire to reach out and kiss her out of sheer relief that she somehow hasn't been left alone. 

She doesn't do that. Instead, she just says, "I'm not sure. I don't get to decide where I land either."

Cass smiles softly, and holds out a hand towards her. "Want to find out together?"

Limwen takes the hand.

--

"You," Limwen says, pushing Cass to sit down on a flat rock covered in lime green lichen, "have no sense of self preservation whatsoever. Are you still pressing down on that like I told you to?"

Cass grimaces, her normally cheerful glow dimmed to practically nothing as she holds the wad of fabric down over her freely bleeding shoulder. "I didn't think he would react like that! He seemed like such a nice man and those glass sculptures he was selling were so beautiful."

Limwen lets out a sigh, glancing back towards the town walls that the two of them had just been chased from. If she squints, she can just make out the front gates, but it doesn't seem like their pursuers felt the need to follow them further than the city limits. "They were lovely, I suppose. But that doesn't mean you should just grab one of them."

Cass looks at her with an expression so miserable Limwen almost flinches. "It wasn't like I was going to steal it or anything! I just wanted a closer look at the details."

Her voice is earnest, but tight with suppressed pain as Limwen reaches out to peel away the cloth that she'd hurriedly tried to wrap Cass's shoulder in when the shop owner had snapped and lunged at her with a knife. "We're going to have to be more careful for as long as we're here. People are... touchier than expected. Also, this cut looks like it's going to need stitches."

Cass's eyes go wide, the faint starlight that always dances in her irises flaring for a moment. "I've never had stitches before. Do they hurt?"

The rough satchel Limwen always carries is full to the brim with the food she'd haggled for earlier, and it takes her a moment to dig out the medicinal kit. She kneels down next to Cass and tugs her shirt sleeve aside to give herself more room to work. "It can sting a bit. Hold still so I don't mess up."

Before she can think too much about what she's doing, Limwen threads the needle, gently positions Cass's arm, and pierces through the skin to begin sewing her up. The high pitched whine that Cass quickly cuts off feels like a needle piercing into her own heart, but she firmly buries that feeling. Limwen has given herself plenty of stitches before, and knows how to move efficiently for the least amount of pain. She narrows her eyes and focuses on getting Cass patched back together.

When she pulls the last stitch into place, there's just the barest trace of moisture building in Cass's eyes. Limwen cuts off the thread and is seized by the insane desire to lean forward and... kiss it better? She shakes her head and settles back, brow furrowed. Cass doesn't say anything, just sucks in a slightly shaky breath, so she asks, "Hey, are you okay?"

Cass hesitates, and then reaches forward with her good arm to pull Limwen into a hug. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to..."

"Not your fault, Cass. That guy was an asshole. If you want, I'll go back in there and stab him right back." Cass lets out a slightly watery laugh, but shakes her head and squeezes Limwen a bit tighter. 

She squeezes back.

--

"Have you seen how gorgeous these flowers are? I've never seen such a bright shade of orange in a plant like this!"

"I... wow, that's really..."

"And look -- when you hold it like this -- yeah, there you go, when you angle it just right they're reflective! You can see the sun setting in them."

"Very pretty, Cass."

"It looks like they're on fire, but in a good way. Don't you think?"

"Yes."

"Limwen, you're not even looking at the flowers, you're looking at me. You've got to angle your head just right..."

"...Yeah, of course, right."

--

The whole world is grey and faint, just bleary shadows that smudge and blur on the edges of Limwen's vision. She tries to blink, tries to clear her head, but every time she closes her eyelids everything seems to shift and spin in a way that makes everything pulse and throb horribly.

Was it the last glitch that had felt so awful, or was it the one before that? They'd been coming more frequently in the past couple of months. Limwen has a vague memory of being forced through a few jumps in a row and the sensation of the universe tearing her whole body apart at the seams, before slamming into solid ground at last and cracking her head against something rough and solid. After that, everything went hazy and dark, until she awoke with a fire lit under her skin and no way to make sense of anything around her. 

She works on forcing air in and out of her lungs. Even though she feels trapped inside her own skin, the sound of her wheezing seems to come from far away. There's an even more distant noise that sounds vaguely musical... or maybe it's someone speaking? It's too hard for her to tell, so she doesn't try to focus in.

What she does notice is the feeling of something cool being draped over where she assumes her forehead is. It feels so nice in comparison to the raging heat that threatens to burn her from the inside out that for a second she's able to make out a glimmer of pink and purple that stands out against all the grey. 

“Limwen? Are you awake?” the music says. The vague shape of a hand reaches out to press against her cheek. 

Limwen’s brain must really be boiling, because if she could have mustered the energy to move, she would have reached out to brush a kiss against the star dotted fingers on her face. For some reason, it feels important and like the thing she has to do. 

She doesn’t have the energy though, so she settles for a brief keening noise that was supposed to be words but definitely isn’t. 

The music sighs, and the thumb gently caresses her cheekbone. “That’s okay. I’ll keep a look out here, and you go back to sleep.”

She trusts the music, so she does. 

–

After glitching so deep underwater, Limwen had thought that surely this was when the universe finally got its act together and actually managed to kill her off. The shifting ocean floor had risen up like a living beast to swallow her down, growls rumbling deep through the water as it pulled at her, when a pink hand wrapped itself around her wrist, clutching her arm and dragging her away.

It’s with a desperate gasp that they both burst above the surface of the ocean, a hundred yards from the shore. Cass is still holding onto her tight enough to turn her knuckles white, panting and running her hands over whatever part of Limwen she can reach, checking for blood or injuries. After brushing so close to death and being convinced she’d never see Cass’s face again, Limwen can’t tear her gaze away from the way the sunlight bouncing off the water reflects off Cass’s beautiful star filled eyes. 

They’re both treading water and trying to catch their breath when Cass presses a hand against her cheek in such a tender manner that Limwen feels like her heart is breaking. “Are you okay? Did you get hurt?”

Limwen blames the oxygen deprivation for why she doesn’t think at all before leaning in and kissing Cass right there in the middle of the ocean. 

There’s a moment where Cass stiffens out of shock, and then the hand on Limwen’s face moves to the back of her neck to pull her in closer as Cass kisses her back. The water they’re both drenched in is salty, but underneath it Cass tastes like starlight. 

It’s hard to tread water without both hands though, and neither of them really have caught their breath yet, so they break apart after a few moments. Limwen stares at Cass with wide eyes, suddenly mortified that she might have done something wrong, when Cass grins and splashes her. 

“Limwen, you couldn’t have waited ten seconds until we were on dry land where we wouldn’t have to stop?” Cass laughs at Limwen’s stricken expression. “Come on. I’ll race you to shore!” She pushes away and starts to swim towards the beach.

There’s a light burning in Limwen’s chest as she blinks and watches Cass swim away. Then, with a small smile of her own, she hurries after her.