#post vm

[pikelansource]

so mod jables has a few things to say about *art book spoilers*

pikelan divorce.

i feel like i'm issuing a statement lol, but i've been chatting with a few different people about it and this is the pikelan blog, so i guess why not.

so first of all-- this blog has not been super active this past year because of real life things, normal fandom interest drift, and like with all stories that are over, not much new fandom material. so right away i want to say a canonical divorce does not kill my interest in pikelan, and i'll continue to reblog things as i feel or as they come up.

second-- a pikelan divorce doesn't really bother me or upset me much at all. other people may be in other places with this, and thats fine.

i, personally, simply don't care very much for marriage, or see it as a necessary goal for a happily ever after. similarly, i don't think divorce undoes bonds of affection or negates a previous romantic story arc. i also am just prone to enjoying relationship pairings that go through a lot of complicated phases--something that drew me to pikelan in the first pace.

so as far as i've seen pike and scanlan have two children, have an amicable divorce, and remain very close friends and sometimes lovers.

for me, that's acceptable. i might even like it. i like interesting journeys more than i like perfect storybook endings.

what i don't like about all this is cr fans who never liked pikelan, or never liked scanlan, taking this as opportunity to say its proof of something-- as though this means pike and scanlan never meant anything to each other in the first place or that they were never in love. that is simply untrue.

i still love stories about their relationship even if they don't die married to each other. and it doesn't change the story and relationship they already had.

so like fyi, that's the state of the blog from mod jabletown's pov for right now.

[pikelansource]

[image ID: A tumblr messanger conversation between @jabletown and @tameila​ prompted by a link to a twitter post by twitter user @kajbergs that reads “had a bad day so made a lute out of an acorn.” There are two pictures attached to the tweet of a hand holding a tiny replica of a lute, including a neck and frets and 3 strings, approximately thumb sized, with an acorn lying in the background. The text conversation is based on these pictures. 

tameila: the concept of Scanlan, with his woodcarving skills, making himself a tiny little lute.....

jabletown: This is a perfect bored retired Scanlan prompt. He turns into a weird craft dad. Enchants a tiny band made out of acorn and walnut shells.

tameila: Arts and crafts dad!!!

jabletown: Kaylie and Pike forcibly make him take gigs again.

tameila: “I love you so much, babe, but... Please get out of the house sometimes.” /end ID]

~~~~

I would love to think of a series on the retirement problems of our gnomes, but for now lets imagine what embarrassing hobbies they get into.

[pikelansource]

Can I just propose

The most popular thing Scanlan ever creating becomes not even any of his tales of Vox Machina but a collection of fake fairy tales he started making up for Vex and Percy's kids, and the children of the air ashari, and eventually Pike and Scanlan's kids.

It takes decades but his tal'dorei gnome tales, Scanlan's Fables, become a standard children's book found in most homes. It's a strange arc, from renouned rake and traveling bard to retired adventurer and kids lit author, but it gets him decades of fans who grow up with his fables, and for years meets wide-eyed adults who claim to be his biggest fan, and how they pass down copies of this book to their children.

When he is nearly 300 he says something about how strange it is how long his tales have lasted. People barely know the name Vox Machina anymore and the writing isn't any good--he's gotten much better in the last 200 years but Pike says no you were always a good writer, even before the book.

And scanlan firmly thinks of himself, especially then, not as a writer but a composer. A maker up of songs. He creates but songs and rhymes that are intangible, interpretive. He just made up stories for the kids and then wrote them down. That never made him a writer.

But Pike goes to a worn and nondescript history book on their mantle and takes out a rattling piece of parchment folded between the cover and the printer's page. And the paper is old and she unfolds it gently and the ink is faded badly, Scanlan can hardly see his own handwriting from centuries before.

And he blinks when he picks up on some of the phrasing and he's like you still have this??

Pike says of course. It's not just a hastily written will at a bleak time of their lives-- it's a lifetime of devotion, for each of them.

And while she loves his other stories, and knows why the kids like his fables, his in case of death letter to Pike is as prized to her as her holy symbol of Seranrae. He wrote it, and it changed her life.

And that's the story of how Scanlan becomes a writer.

[pikelansource]

Pike and Wilhand knew before it happened that Wilhand was going to die soon, so Pike made sure to talk to him about her fears and worries and what she wanted to do and if he was okay with what she suggested. Wilhand was just happy for her, and told her to take the house as her own, and ask Scanlan to marry him. He wouldnt be around for the wedding in person, but he knew he'd be able to watch from Sarenrae's shores. Its the reason that she asked scanlan to marry her after Wilhand died. Wilhand was never left out of Pike's life for something so important. 

[pikelansource]

Pike finds out one night when Scanlan is extremely drunk that he has the same accent as Kaylie but he always hid it because he thought he'd be made fun of when he was younger and just never stopped until Kaylie made him be completely truthful with her. It's very strong, stronger slightly then Kaylie's, and Pike loves it a lot. She loves it more the next time Kaylie comes to visit from school and hears both of them talk to each other and Scanlan doesn't hide it from her anymore. 

[pikelansource]

Pike and scanlan have a baby, but to their surprise it isn't a normal gnome. Because both of them have been chosen by the gods, their child was born an assimar, though still gnomeish in size and shape. A gnome assimar, which is just as likely as percy and vex having a tiefling because of percys demons. Pike and Scanlan might potentially have more than one gnome assimar child, if their lucky.

[pikelansource]

Scanlan being the chosen of Ioun wasn't something Pike or Scanlan thought much about when they retired together. They didn't think it was dangerous at all, until Scanlan was nearly killed by a follower of Vecna who wanted to harm Ioun farther by killing the person she'd directly given power to, who had a hand in taking away their god. After that they both, along with Grog, decided to go on a quest to get rid of whatever remained of Vecna's people, with Pike worried the whole time for Scanlan, and also maybe fighting some chained oblivion followers who also had it out for Scanlan because of Ioun. Pike really hates it, but she has to make sure Scanlan lives and isn't constantly in danger anymore, especially because the followers have no problems attacking her or Grog either. 

[pikelansource]

Something I don't see often in hurt/comfort fics is scanlan being the one badly hurt and in need of comfort and care. So I'd love to see Scanlan actually hurt more than he usually is, maybe could also be the flu if not injured, and Pike taking care of him like he always does for her every time. Like he's badly hurt and bleeding at home after some random cult person attacked them and its after and Pike does her best to make sure he feels better. Just a prompt asking for more whump fic where scanlan is actually badly injured or sick for once.