All the love in this heart is for you, is for you forever // All I am, every part, is for you, is for you forever
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Finishing out my @emedeme comms with my tiefling girl and her mongrel man, who looks exactly the right amount of besotted, thank you eme for my life 🥰🥰🥰
Words her aunt had whispered in her ear as a child, words she internalized before she even learned to read. Words she desperately needed to be true. Because that was the only way she had any hope.
Demonspawn, deathborn, ill omen. Words that had followed her her whole life. As they did most tieflings, but for Malyse there was an extra bite.
There is good in everyone.
The only sliver of redemption for a babe who had torn free of her mother's womb, who would always have that victim on her soul no matter how she lived the rest of her life. She'd been born with figurative and literal blood on her hands just by nature of her sire, and the suspicions of her nature dogged every step.
So she clung to her aunt's words. There's good in everyone. Some chose to ignore it, bury it, murder it stone dead. But some embraced it, nourished it, lived by it. Long after being separated from her aunt, Malyse chose to be the latter. The words' echo drove her to be kind, to give others a chance. A beggar offered to share her meager food, trust and kindness extended to the disreputable.
No matter how the mantra was tested, she clung to it. She had to.
If there was none for them, what hope did she have?
3, 22, 24 for a Watcher and somebody else you want to talk about? :D
Let's go with the OG Watcher Babe (Tavi) and Malyse
3. What's a secret passion of theirs?
Tavi's secret passion--and this is something I ficc'ed absolute aaaagggeesss ago--is flower language. Her mom worked as a florist, and Tavi thought it was a cool new realm of insults. xD
Lyse loves bird watching. She's spent enough time out in the wilderness she can recognize a bunch off a corner-of-her-eye glance, even the ones that aren't bright colors. She'll spend hours sitting in the woods watching a bird build a nest, she can tell you without hesitation whether something is native to the area, an she has such a bleeding heart for things with feathers it's unreal.
22. Do they have a best friend? If so who is it?
Yep, Tavi's is Edér. (I almost picked a different Watcher specifically bc I feel like hers is the most obvious answer to this question xD) Kana is like her brother, she's really close with Sagani, but Edér is her ride or die bestie. They've had each others' back--and saved each others' necks--tiems beyond counting, she not only nudged him into dating his now-wife, she was the sole witness at their Eothasian wedding(before the more socially acceptable Barathian one), he dragged her out of her ruined castle and chased his god halfway around the world for her, I think the only bond her life that's more unbreakable is how much she loves Aloth. xD
Lyse's best friend is Ember. They're both very sweet and forgiving despite how unkind life has been to them, they've both found goodness in unexpected places and people, and I think they'd bond really closely over that.
24. What's their favorite (non-sexual) place to be kissed?
Tavi's is her temple, because the intimacy of it means she let you get that close to her. Which means she trusts you. So the very action is a reminder that she does have people she can trust in her life.
Malyse loves back of the hand kisses because it makes her feels special and noble and respected. Between how long she's been basically gutter trash and wanting to use whatever influence she has to help others, that's a heady feeling.
Some Malyse backstory with a small side of early Act 3 developing Lyse/Lann bc she has a doozy of a past and he's a very good listener. :3 [2.6 k words]
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The woman who stepped into the throne room was far more unassuming than most petitioners. She looked neither absurdly rich nor deperately poor; her cloak and gown were both muddy green-brown, simple but good quality in both fabric and stitchwork. Hardly the sort to raise eyebrows, or warrant more ceremony than a polite "what aid do you seek?" from Irabeth.
Which made Malyse stiffening as the woman spoke all the more noticeable.
"No aid," the visitor said, lowering her hood to reveal half-tamed strawberry blonde curls and eyes as grey as the sky. "I wanted to visit a friend."
Malyse shot to her feet so fast she knocked over the chair and almost winded herself against the edge of the map-strewn tale. "Sadie?!"
A sad smile from the visitor. "Hello, Lyse."
Emotion at the familiar voice after years apart had tears pricking her eyes. Her hands clenched the edge of the table. "What're you...?"
"I have something I thought you 'd want to hear." Sadie stood straight and clasped her hands at her waist. "Officially, as wife to the magistrate of Mornbend in the River Kingdoms, it is my pleasure to inform you; they caught her."
It only took the span of a breath for the meaning to hit her. Emotion overwhelmed questions like "how did you find me?"--relief, satisfaction, a fresh wave of a grief long buried. She gripped the table harder, made her voice work for a word. "And?"
There was matching satisfaction in the tilt of Sadie's head, vindication in the set of her jaw. "Justice has been served. The truth..." her expression softened. "The truth is known."
Malyse blinked away tears as the words sank in. The truth is known. She needed... Justice served. This was... she couldn't be here right now. Couldn't carry on as normal with this news.
She nodded sharply as she pushed away from the table and headed for the door. "Court adjourned. See to her needs," she managed, tail swishing in agitation as she bolted, Fortune loyally at her heels.
---
It took nearly an hour for someone to find her.
Of course it was Lann.
She wasn't in the frame of mind to dwell on why that made part of her... giddy.
"Did I really hide that well, or were you dawdling on purpose?" she asked with a sniffle and smile at the sound of his footsteps.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean, Commander," he said, tone glib innocence around a mouthful of the apple he was eating. "You know your way around woods well enough to get really lost if you wanted."
Malyse laughed shakily and patted the ground next to her. "I guess ev'ryone's wondering about... that?" She waved one hand back toward Drezen's citadel, the other buried, as it had been, in Fortune's thick grey-brown fur. The dog's head hadn't left its rest on her lap, either.
"You may have sparked some curiosity," Lann drawled, taking the unspoken invitation.
"That why you're here?" She sniffled and scrubbed at the dried tears tracks on her cheeks.
"If you feel like sharing." He shrugged, took another bite of the apple. "Gods know I have things you couldn't drag out of me with a siege catapult. I... mostly wanted to make sure you didn't get jumped by a balor and swallowed whole or something, sitting out here alone."
Malyse giggled and found a genuine smile. "Sweet of you." Her fingers curled in Fortune's coat. He'd shared painful bits with her, she could return the favor. She took a slow, deep breath and huffed it out, hoping it would keep her voice a little steadier.
"I've spent a lot of my life wandering before I came here." She dragged the toe of her boot through the dirt. "You know how hard it is for tieflings, yeah? No one trusts us, everything bad is our fault, all that. A lot like how Kenabres talks about the mongrels. Well. In my travels, I found someone who did trust me. Four years ago-- no, five now, gods-- in the River Kingdoms. A blacksmith, named Devon Thrushcall."
Sweet Pharasma, just saying his name hurt.
"Fortune was his dog. I came looking for work, she liked me, so Devon took the chance of trusting me. Let me work for him, sleep in the forge house." Her tail flicked. "It wasn't really an apprenticeship; I was more errand girl and assistant than learning his trade, though I did pick up some things from proximity.
"Once I proved myself and it became clear I'd be staying longer, he set up a nicer room for me in the forge. He offered the spare room in the house, but I wanted... distance, privacy for both of us, and to keep people from thinking certain things about him." A sad laugh shook out of her. "The longer we were friends, the more he tried to get me to sleep in the house. I think he felt guilty; like he was treating me like a servant or something. The house was nicer, and he swore up, down, and sideways he didn't care what people thought..." she shifted, curling in on herself. "I dunno, maybe if I'd taken him up on it, things would've... been different."
Lann held out a second apple when she paused.
Malyse took with a head-bob of thanks, but only turned it in her hand, staring at the shiny skin as she continued. "I loved working with him. Having a roof over my head, food, friends? Someone who trusted me? I met his sister and her husband--the magistrate, got to know them too. It... It was..." her voice cracked, "...the closest I'd had to a family since I was ten."
Lann winced. "That was--and you being here--makes me think there's not a happy ending."
She shook her head, letting the orange-red hair fall loose to hide her face. "Maybe a year and a half after I started working there, Devon got robbed. With where Mornbend is located, they get a lot of itinerant types. Gangs, smugglers, people on the run, anyone who wants to travel fast without using the main road."
Her fingers dug deeper into Fortune's coat. "One of those types got in Devon's house, tried to steal some things. He caught 'em in the act, and it turned into a scuffle. Which I heard from the forge house." Malyse swallowed hard. The dominoes of events from the worst day of her life were falling, memories burned in her brain, words coming faster. "I-I went running to see what was going on, made it just in time to see the thief stab him in the chest."
Lann grimaced but didn't say anything.
"I screamed, of course," Malyse said dully, staring at the apple, at her nails piercing the skin. "Lunged at them. It was dark, they were wearin' a cloak, I couldn't see anything about them aside from the fact they'd stabbed Devon. I didn't care. I just wanted to stop them, hold them up 'til someone else could get there...." she shook her head. "They were stronger than me, and they had a knife. One of... his." She gestured at the scars criss-crossing her face. "They... they cut me enough to drop me, then bolted. I couldn't follow; I was bleeding too much, I wanted to check on Devon, I..." A tear dripped on the apple, sliding around the width of it before plopping to the ground. "I couldn't do anything for him, of course. He was dead already."
I didn't get to say goodbye.
She took a shaky breath, deliberately piercing new spots in the apple skin with her nails. Very aware of Fortune's warmth pressing her hip, of Lann sitting quiet, just listening. "I don't remember after that. I must've passed out. But I do remember waking up." She could barely breathe, her chest was so tight. "With my face barely bandaged, sitting in a cell, the worst night of my life about to get worse."
That pulled a sound from Lann, a disbelieving noise in the back of his throat. "They thought you did it."
Malyse nodded. "Not Sadie or her husband. They knew I'd cut off my own arm before hurting Devon. But the rest of the townsfolk? The story writes itself; never trust a tiefling. No matter how nice you are or how openly you welcome them, no matter how long you think they're your friend, they'll stab you in the back and rob you blind."
"Lyse, you don't have--"
"No, I want to talk about it." Deep breath. "I need to talk about it. There was 'evidence', you see: the thief got in without breaking a window or picking a lock. They knew to feed Fortune drugged meat so she wouldn't be a problem. It spoke of knowledge and premeditation and fit so nicely with their biases about my kind. I couldn't even describe the alleged thief; not race, not male or female, nothing. It was just my word, and that didn't carry much weight outside a few people. Devon was... well-known and well-loved in town. Always had a smile, a joke, a helping hand. Their conviction to punish his murderer drowned out any protest on my behalf." She finally bit into the apple, a lump springing up in her throat as she chewed. "Attrin, Sadie's husband, refused to formally charge me without solid evidence. People went over him to the mayor. Sadie practically wore herself hoarse defending me, but all it did was cost her some friends."
'I can't believe she's defending that thing.'
"Ah, the court of public opinion," Lann muttered, chucking his apple core.
"It can be a vicious beast," Malyse agreed. "They were so set on their... version, I'm surprised I lived to see that cell."
Something dark flickered in his eyes, and he toyed with the string of clay beads tucked in his belt but didn't added commentary.
She arched a brow at the silence but continued, "After a week or so of it becoming increasingly clear I was doomed and we couldn't change that, Sadie snuck me out." Her hands flexed. "I didn't want to; worried she and Attrin would suffer for it. But she said she couldn't lose a sister as well as a brother, handed me a travel pack, and told me to run." She sniffed, swiped at her eyes with the heel of one hand. "I still don't know how she knew about that passage. I made it a day and a half before Fortune caught up with me, and she's barely let me out of her sight since. Guess she still likes me."
The dog shifted to rest her massive head on Malyse's knee as if in confirmation.
Malyse smiled and resumed scritches. "Good girl. I was worried when she caught up they'd use her to find me. Y'know, let her loose and see where she goes. But no one ever showed up, so I guess she just broke out for me. I wandered the River Kingdoms and Stolen Lands for a while longer; Varnhold, Cinderscrip, even a little in Pitax. Made my way to the fringes of Mendev, then further in. Spent the whole time wondering what happened to Sadie if they figured she let me out, crying that I didn't get to attend Devon's funeral, scared of seein' wanted flyers with my face on 'em. Not knowing was awful, but it's not like I could go back, you know? Not unless I wanted to be clapped in irons and waste Sadie's efforts." She fiddled with one of her bracelets; an interwoven knot made of scrap metal on a leather cord.
"So that woman is..."
"Sadie, mm-hm," Malyse finished the apple in a few large bites. "I'll hafta ask her how she an' Attrin dodged trouble for my escape. But what she said..." she swallowed the lump in her throat and threw the core as far as she could. "They caught the actual thief, the one who killed Devon. He finally has justice, and my innocence is proven, and I can't go back." For the first time since Lann sat next to her, she actually looked at him. "Even if I didn't have the Crusade and... all of you, I don't think I could set foot in that town again. Knowing people who smiled at me one day were ready to string me up for no proof of guilt beyond my heritage the next."
Lann nodded, still fiddling with the beads. "Never fun."
"I loved it there," she confessed softly. "I loved the town, I loved my work, I loved Devon and Sadie..." she bit her lip, the next confession one she'd never breathed to a soul. "I thought about asking to adopt their surname. I've never had one, never needed it." Because I took my mother out of the world on my way in, my uncle wouldn't give me theirs, the orphanage didn't care, street rat demonspawn don't need surnames... "I never got the courage to ask Devon how he'd feel about it." She rubbed the scrap knot pendent between her fingers. "But if I'd taken one it would have been theirs."
The silence stretched a long moment before Lann gently nudged her shoulder with his. "Sorry you lost that."
"Thanks," Malyse mumbled. Talking about it had helped. Spilling the story like loose beads to someone uninvolved. Even better that he understood. He understood the prejudice, having to leave somewhere that felt like home. She sighed and idly rubbed one of her horns. "S'ppose I should go back. Irabeth has to be stressed about me wandering outside the city walls." She smiled. "Even with such excellent backup."
"Aah," Lann scoffed, lizard side of his face toward her as he pushed to his feet. "While I'm perfectly happy for you to boss me around, I do think your friend would probably like to talk to you." He offered her a hand up. "Seeing as she came all this way."
"Probably," Malyse agreed, accepting the help. "It had been a few years" --a bit-back yelp as he hauled her up, the warmth of his skin under her grasp a distraction that had her grabbing his arm for balance-- "she prob'ly has a lot she wants to talk about," she finished in a mumble, their proximity much closer from her tripping.
She had things she wanted to ask as well. Who was it? How did you catch her? How did you find me?
Lann cleared his throat and shifted to create space once sure she was steady. "Far be it from me to stand in the way of catching up."
"Oh, you're not in the way of anything," she reassured him, giving his arm a light squeeze before stepping back. "And I do appreciate the listening ear."
He fell in step beside her as they headed back to the city, their hands almost-but-not-quite brushing. "Any time, boss."
---
It took her another hour to work up the courage to knock on Sadie's door. She wasn't sure why; the reality couldn't get more real or painful by learning details, Sadie had sought her out and was clearly happy to see her.
Still, her heart pounded and her tail twitched as she offered a crooked smile when the door opened. "Guess we have a lot of catching up to do?"
And the woman she loved like a sister gave a gentle laugh and pointed look at the halo of light flickering behind Malyse's horns before pulling her into the room. "Yes, I think that we do."
I did decide to play Malyse for a couple hours and was rewarded with several things.
A) best run through Iz I've ever had in five playthroughs. She'd given Galfrey the Lexicon, and done all Irabeth's crusader table quests, AND apparently Hulrun liked her enough, she saved EVERYTHING. Irabeth and Anevia stayed in Drezen, Galfrey was assaulting the MAnuscript vault, so it was a two for one saving her and that, and Hulrun kept the soldiers alive and Sword of Valor safe until she showed up. 10/10 PERFECTION you funky lil tiefling.
B) I rested in one of the world map areas afterwards and got Lann's Beads :D
(note the VERY CAREFUL omission of the word "dumb" on her end, LANN YOU POTATO(affectionate))
C) theeennnn we did the end of the dragon quest and, um.
ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAMAGE and that's not even the best bow you can get for him bc I hadn't finished The Last Resort(that came next) Breakdown under the cut but I did a fair bit of shrieking bc Lyse had done, like, 30-40 damage first but otherwise? This was it. She did a little piddly set up and then her boyfriend took down a black dragon in one shot. xD A+ team work, couple that slays together etc etc
