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franzis-frantic-thoughts:evieebun125:009 | Dragon nap [ID: A digital, fully-coloured drawing of char

franzis-frantic-thoughts:

evieebun125:

009 | Dragon nap

[ID: A digital, fully-coloured drawing of characters Skraak and Hamid Saleh Haroun al-Tahan from the AP podcast Rusty Quill Gaming taking a nap together. They are set against a plain dove grey background. Hamid is a brown-skinned halfling with fluffy, dark brown hair, pointy ears, brassy scales on his face and hands, and a tan-coloured dragon-like tail. He is wearing a cream-coloured shirt with dark green sleeve garters and cuffs which have golden embroidery. He is also wearing a dark green cravat and trousers. Skraak is a lizard-like kobold with red and tan-coloured scales. They are wearing spiked leather armour and have their arms around Hamid’s waist, resting front-to-front on his chest. Skraak’s tail is wrapped around one of Hamid’s thighs. /end ID]

@rq-described


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[ID: All PCs from RQG (Azu, Bertie, Sasha, Cel, Zolf, Hamid, and Grizzop) along with Skraak and Wilde posing in one big group. Everyone has a smile on their face except Bertie, who is looking to the side distractedly. Azu, Wilde, and Bertie are in the back row. Azu and Bertie are holding a big sign strung between them that says “Thank you RQG”. Next to the sign on opposite sides are Sasha and Cel. On the bottom row is Zolf, Hamid, Grizzop, and Skraak. End ID.]

Please click on the image I promise its not that blurry!

I don’t even know where to begin with this. RQG ended about a week ago and I’m still thinking about the Finale. I only started listening in May but this podcast brought me so much comfort and joy throughout the summer and into my first year at university. I genuinely cried when it ended and I’m gonna miss it so much! I’m so glad I got a chance to listen while it aired and to meet so many fun characters on the way c:

 ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl ENDGAME ☄️  to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole worl

ENDGAME☄️

 to a line erased, to friends coming together, to my favorite campaign in the whole world. THANK YOU!

 i just needed to complete the set i made last year with a piece for the ending, regardless of how long it took. and what it took were a bunch of sketches, a handful of different proposals, and weeks of work spread out through months. i love the end result and how different this one is from the rest -turns out i’ve learned a lot and was much more certain about how i wanted to go about this one in comparison to the others, what with opting for a composition where no one in the party was at the center, with going just ham with the outfits, with taking my time with every detail and not skimping on the background, etc. i do think it’s very sweet how wanting to avoid anyone being a central character here was something i realized very early on that i wanted to work with, and, meanwhile, in all previous three pieces it just happened naturally… i like to think it speaks of how the campaign and the team worked. i love them so much. i’m so happy i got to draw wilde and skraak like this, seeing the full party in this style and scene is just so so great. i wanted something epic and i think it worked, this went through a lot of tweaks and i’m very glad the final piece is so nice. i just love rqg so much.

 here’s some close-ups of the characters and patterns!

[cel// azu//hamid//zolf//sasha//bertie | wilde | skraak | grizzop//blue, green, black//red, purple//gold, ochre//pink]

 and here’s a twitter thread with all the preliminary sketches! 

 i made this poster in honor of the story ending, and have one more planned in honor of the podcast itself. here’s to hoping it turns out just as good

 also, do check the previous three pieces! they’re still super cute and complete this crazy timeline!

 ID under the cut, it’s a long one!

[ID: a digital, full-color illustration for the endgame of erasing the line. it is drawn with medium-thin lines and is heavily stylized, in a way that all figures are broken down into sharp, strong-shaped segments with bold colors and filled in with intricate patterns. the characters’ poses and features are accordingly angular, and it’s made so everyone’s faces are turned into sharp profiles from the camera.
   the scene is of the lolomg standing battle-ready on the roof of the houses of parliament, with big ben behind them. on the frontmost layer is a low, triangle-shaped rooftop over with the party stands, three to one side and three to the other. behind them is another layer of walls and roofs from the building, with big ben at the center, and the furthermost layer corresponds to the sky. the scene is put together so nobody in the team stands at the center, and that space is instead occupied by the clock tower standing tall in the near background. the roofs are blue with a checkered pattern, the walls a faded yellow, and the windows dark. there are cracks, stains and blue bushes with small flowers all across the visible building, which is symmetrical and made from two mirrored halves.
   to our left, from bottom to top, are skraak, wilde, and azu, all facing left. in the same manner, to our right are zolf, cel, and hamid, all facing right. skraak is standing closer to the leftmost edge of the roof, with wilde a little further up behind him, and a twelve-foot tall azu behind them both. on the other side, zolf is closest to the triangular rooftop with his glaive upright just at the tip of it. behind him but closer to the right border is cel, and flying just behind and a little above them, is hamid.
   to start on the left half, skraak is half-crouched menacingly with an angry snarl on his face. his figure is the only one made up mostly of curves, so from the tip of his snout to his knee he his curled over like a sideways U. his tail follows that direction further and curls a little towards the bottom, with a sharp, curved blade attached to the side end of it, looking a bit like half of an axe. only his frontmost arm is visible, holding the dagger of stalking with the blade back and curving upwards, his elbow high up. his left leg is taking a step forward while the right balances him out from behind. he’s colored bright red and has patches of lighter and darker scales in his legs, tail, arms and face. he has a tight, short-sleeved, black upper-body armor that ends when it reaches the belts by his waist. the armor has a streak of silver scales across his chest and a section of red spiral patterns going down his abdomen. he has gray gloves and light-brown bracers around the wrist and bicep, along with matching shin-guards. he has a long snout, many fangs, narrowed yellow eyes and two sets of yellow horns, the first shorter than the next. his neck frill begins above his eye like a furrowed eyebrow and extends back, ending below his jaw in a scaly patch. the webs of it are yellow and every other one has a mosaic-like scale pattern. his striped horns, the spikes along his tail and his claws are also yellow.
   behind him, wilde is also giving a step forward with his left leg and the right bends behind him. he’s pale, tall and skinny, and his stance is such that his back is towards us, with his right arm bent and the hand obscured by his hip, and his left arm is held up just above his head with the sparkle of a spell around his outstretched index finger. unlike skraak, he merely has narrowed, focused eyes and a slight frown. he has eyebags that look like running eyeliner, in short vertical streaks running down. his hair is long and brown, falling behind him, and it has two broad streaks of white down the side, with spiral patterns all throughout them. his robes of the resplendent thespian have a first layer of deep red long sleeves with silver frilly ends; then poofy, pink short sleeves, and then a glimmering two-tailed coat, the ends of which whip towards our left. the short sleeves have alternating rows of a slim, white curling pattern over pale pink, and of pale pink flowers over hot pink. the body of the coat has stripes of yellow, lilac and purple, and wherever they meet there are dark magenta lines with small white diamond shapes on them. there are tiny sparkles on the stripes of color. we can see the inside of the two tails and they’re red as the long sleeves, alternating between vertical rows of red spirals and flowery, swirling yellow patterns. he has poofy, short magenta shorts with stripes of purple and lines of pale pink. he has white leggings and ankle-high red boots, high heeled and with white spats.
   towering above him is azu, who yells angrily to our left, holding her right hand high as if she was ordering whatever is coming off-screen to stop. her left hand is holding her great axe steady across her shoulders, so her outstretched arm follows in the direction of the handle of it. she stands with her body facing towards the center of the illustration, left leg bent near the cusp of the roof, supporting her weight as she leans in on it, leaving her right leg outstretched and following on the leaning. her broad form is clad in a glimmering pink breastplate, with a big, sparkling pink heart in the center, surrounded by pale pink and silver feathers in the manner of short wings. the edges of the layered breastplate have thin swirling designs each following on the borders of it, and when the breastplate ends below her ribs, there is another two layers of feathers by the side, and below them comes a tasset colored in pale yellow, with patterns of swirls and leaves on it. there are two layers of shoulder pauldrons, with the topmost one sharing that same yellow color scheme and patterns, and the one below it following in the pink of the breastplate. the shirt underneath her armor has wide, poofy short-sleeves that resemble wilde’s, pale pink with thin-lined chains of lowercase, cursive “e” shapes. her skin is dark brown, her shaved hair is darker and covered in spiral patterns. she has a small cut on her visible eyebrow, the same running dark lines as wilde under her eye, and from this side we can see her non-broken tusk where she indignantly opens her mouth. her lower lip is painted hot pink, like her nails. she has arm-guards with spiral patterns in pinks and purples, followed by fingerless pink armor on her hands. her great axe is a wide, hot pink blade with thin, white curling patterns across the edges of it. from beneath her amor comes a long, two-layered pink battle skirt that whips in the wind towards the leftmost border of the drawing, the tips of it disappearing off-screen. the first layer is a warmer pink, the one below it is a colder purple. both layers alternate between one plait being just color, and the next being covered in spiral and floral patterns. visible on her supporting leg are pale yellow pants, and knee-high dark pink greaves. they have three hearts along the middle, a marble-patterned spike-like cover by the knee, and then a layer beneath covers the boots with the same pink and purple patterns from the arm guards. with her in the back, her lower half is slightly obscured in a blue haze; skraak reaches up to about the knee of her right leg, and wilde is just below the heart on her breastplate.
   moving onto the right half, near the center is zolf. he’s down on one knee, left leg down and right leg up, body facing towards our left while his head turns right. his right hand is holding his flaming glaive upright, and on the left he’s holding one side of a pair of headphones to the ear we can’t see. these connect to babbage, whom he’s carrying on a backpack or case made of metal and glass. the brain floats in a green, bubbly liquid. zolf’s mouth is obscured by his single-plait beard and his mustache, so only his stern look is visible. his eyes are green and have the same dark lines running down the lower eyelid. his hair is short, white and pointy. there are spirals and concentric circles down the braid of his beard. the mantle of faith is light gray, with an embroidered yellow border and matching four-point stars across a darker stripe just above the edge of the cape. it drags down behind him and the inside of it folds in such a way that every other stripe has a design of golden suns with beaming rays, and the remaining ones are a paler yellow with floating laurels on them. his breatsplate is a light brown-gray, with a laurel pattern on the edges, and two more layers of armor running below it. the second curves with his belly and ends by his midriff; it has a sun design at the center, like the ones in the cape, right below a central dip in the breastplate, and then come rows of laurels and stripes. the last layer is a tasset covering the sides of his thighs, like azu’s, but his are simple and rounded and have the same beaming sun at their center. he’s wearing a chainmail and plain brown elbow-length gloves with arm guards, which have gray and gold curved stripes. his trousers are plain dark gray and his boots of levitation are white, high-heeled, and go up to his shins. they have gold embroidery in the form of little swirls by the tip and along the side, and both the heels and upper fold of the shoes are deep blue. his glaive reaches just below the clock face, the fire of it white, orange and yellow, with multiple spiral and striped designs on it.
   more to the center of the right half is cel. they’re starting to fly, just a feet or two above the roof, mid transformation, with an emptied potion on their right hand and a handful of bombs in the other. they have sprouted just one wing, still half closed and beginning to stretch to our right, while their right leg and left arm have turned into something clawed and fuzzy, brown-orange and with dotted lines and alternating tones in a pattern reminiscent of a sweater. their wing is also orange and appears fuzzy at the edges, bat-like with a black claw where it bends and dark red and brown, spotted sections on the webs. their head and body are facing to the right of the illustration, snarling at something off-camera with angry narrowed eyes and a mouthful of big fangs. they have the same dark marks under their eyes, pale skin, their nose has gone crooked from the transformation, and we can see their burnt ear. their hair is a gray blond, wild and vertical, slightly swept back. they have their green-lensed goggles on their forehead. they’re holding their right arm up, bending at the elbow so the empty potion bottle is pointing downwards, held by a hand in an elbow-length dark blue glove. their other arm passes over their chest and holds the three bombs in a dark-clawed hand just to the right of the potion. they’re a little hunched over in their flight, making their anger seem more feral, and their long, lanky leg curves downwards next to their other, transforming limb. their long, plain brown coat whips to the right behind them, like a fan, and the inside of it is filled with gray swirls. their shirt is visible where their coat is open by their chest, and it has small spirals filled in with light green and orange. there are two bandoliers crossed over their chest.
   just above them, by the height where the blade of zolf’s glaive begins, is hamid. he has taken off flying and is holding the rod of maximize with both hands, the head of it pointing back, diagonally downwards, along with his cape and wings. he’s flying diagonally upwards towards the right, looking on with a determined look on his face. his eyes are narrowed and bitter, brow furrowed low with the same dark lines. he has sharp eyeliner and bright red eyeshadow. his mouth is sternly closed but two fangs are poking out. he has stubble on his chin and his dark brown hair is slicked back, but there are sharp strands poking out in curved ends as they follow the direction of his scalp. he’s wearing a black button-up with rolled up sleeves, the sleeves of many garments up to his elbows. his skin is dark brown but there are a myriad of orange and yellow scales down the side of his face, just above his eyes, and on his nose. his arms are completely covered in them as well. his cravat is white and his waistcoat is dark red, with a yellow border and a grid-like design of diamonds and X shapes on it. his trousers are plain black, the shape of them going all the way down to his pointy dress shoes, and he isn’t wearing a suit jacket. like cel, he’s facing fully towards the right, flying with his left leg up and the right matching the direction of his speed, just like his cape as it trails behind him. the upper part of the cape is a dark magenta, with golden ends and spiral designs on the lower portion of it. the front of it reaches midway down his chest, and the back of it is long and it fans out in segments covered with concentric half-circles in lighter and darker purples. his left hand holds the lower end of the staff up, the shaft of it in line with his forearm and the whole of his right arm, holding the rod back. the shaft is black, and the head is gold, spiky and symetric, the shapes of it floating around one another and with one big red crystal in the center. following in the rod’s shaft, the shapes are like a spiky U containing the cristal, followed by a sort of wide M, with crescent shapes on either side of it. his one visible, draconic wing splays to the left behind him, and it’s a dark orange in color, sporting the same mosaic-like scales in the webs as those in his arms and on skraak’s frill.
   lastly, above in the center, guivres’ wings spread from behind the tip of big ben. they’re a glimmering gold, with blue vine-like patterns across most of the structure of them, and with a shinning mosaic of gold and blue scales on the webs. there are sharp spikes on the ends and bends of it. just above them, the sun shines down menacingly in an orange-blue dust-ridden sky, and blue petals storm around the party as if they were coming from her, unseen behind the tower half covered in blue, blooming bushes. end ID]


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angryducktimemachine:

“Die Sonne scheint aus meinen Augen

Sie wird heut Nacht nicht untergehen

Und die Welt zählt laut bis 10”

- Sonne (Rammstein)

I did a big drawing y'all.

REALLY wanted to do something with Kobolds and Dragons and then I was like mhhh Skraak and then I went MHHHHH Guivres and here we are.

Some extras:

evieebun125: 016 | DanceI really wanted to draw hamid dancing and then skraak came along and well pa

evieebun125:

016 | Dance

I really wanted to draw hamid dancing and then skraak came along and well party time :)

[ ID: A digital drawing of Hamid Saleh Haroun Al-Tahan, Skraak,Draal, Tadyka, Kiko and Azu from Rusty quill gaming. They are dancing in pairs around a large bonfire at night.

Hamid is dancing with Skraak, he is a  Egyptian Halfling with short curly brown hair and brassy scales, He has a gold and pink chain earring in his left ear. He is wearing a green suit with a puffy beige shirt, he is wearing high heels accented with gold. Skraak is facing towards the fire, he is a red kobold with a beige undertone, his is wearing brown leather armor with a skirt.On the right side Draal is dancing with Tadyka, they are both red kobolds with beige undertones, they are wearing matching leather armor. On the left side Azu and Kiko are dancing, Azu is a Kenyan half orc with a shaved head, she has gold and pink Helix to Lobe chain earring in her ear and has on a pink dress. Kiko is a Japanese women with black hair, wearing a dark shirt and pants. End ID]


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After the snakobolds were such a hit, I was inspired to draw some more Skraak! Plus a bonus Hamid th

After the snakobolds were such a hit, I was inspired to draw some more Skraak! Plus a bonus Hamid thrown in there, as a reminder to myself that Hamid is actually taller than Skraak (which feels bizarre, but is true).

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[Image description: A variety of drawings of Skraak from Rusty Quill Gaming. The drawings have a pencil texture, and two are colored with a watercolor texture. Skraak is a snake-like kobold with red scales, visually based on an Indian cobra, with the characteristic “spectacle” spots on the back of his hood in lighter and darker shades of red. They also have a pair of long, slender black horns. The drawings show Skraak in a variety of poses, including from the front, from behind, and with the hood both raised and lowered. There is one where they are flying through the air with their hood spread as wing flaps which connect to their arms. In another, Skraak is holding a needle-like spear with large, sleepy eyes. In another drawing, he is speaking with Hamid, an Egyptian halfling man who is a bit taller than Skraak, who has little horns, scales on his face, and a lion-like tail. End image description.]


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okay so i never actually ended up finishing the colors for this, but i still wanted to share my Snak

okay so i never actually ended up finishing the colors for this, but i still wanted to share my Snakobolds, aka my personal design/headcanon for the kobold crew from RQG. each of them is based on a different species of snake.

from left to right: draal, tadyka, skraak, sassraa, natun, meerk, and driaak

based on a western hognose snake, a ball python, an indian cobra, a blunthead tree snike, a green vince snake, a cornsnake, and a coral snake, respectively.

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[Image description: A half-colored drawing of seven kobolds from Rusty Quill gaming, with pencil and watercolor textures. All of them are based visually on snakes, but have arms and legs, and stand with an upright, digitigrade stance.

Draal is a short, stocky kobold with yellow scales and orange spots, based on the appearance of a Western hognose snake. They have a blunt, up-turned snout and forward-pointing horns. They have a nervous expression, and are wearing a loincloth or slitted skirt.

Tadyka is a tall, muscled kobold based on the appearance of a ball python. They are uncolored and have a somewhat irritated or angry expression. She short, stout, pointed horns, and is wearing a toga clasped on one shoulder.

Skraak is a medium-height kobold with dark red scales on his back and lighter, pinkish scales on his front. They are based on the appearance of an Indian cobra, and the eyespots on their hood are just visible. They have long, narrow horns pointing backward off their face. He is wearing a toga or tunic clasped at both shoulders with a belt around his waist. He has his arms crossed over his chest and an irritated expression.

Sassraa is a short, skinny kobold with an exceptionally large head, based on the appearance of a blunthead tree snake. She has pinkish scales, with darker scales on her back and lighter scales on her front. They have large, curling horns and very large eyes. She is wearing a dress or robe clasped under her armpits, with halter-style shoulder straps. She has a happy, interested expression on her face.

Natun is a tall, somewhat skinny kobold with red scales and a yellow underbelly. They are based on the appearance of a green vine snake. They have long, narrow, wavy horns and a very long, pointed snout. They are wearing a toga or wrap crossed over their front with a clasp, and a belt. They have a happy but mischievous expression, and are looking to their left towards Meerk.

Meerk is a medium-height kobold based on the appearance of a cornsnake. He is uncolored, and has one large pair of backward-curing horns and a smaller straight pair behind those. They are wearing a skirt or belted tunic, with the upper half of the tunic hanging around their waist. They are holding one hand up in a ‘why not?’ gesture.

Driaak is a medium-height, somewhat stocky kobold with black, red, and yellow stripes over their body, based on the appearance of a coral snake. They two pairs of short rounded horns and are wearing a tunic or toga clasped at both shoulders and belted at the waist. They have a long forked tongue poked out from between their lips and a somewhat worried expression.

End ID.]


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The final day of @the-line-is-erased:Free Day - Worldbuilding - Lost moments; unseen, forgotten or in a time that never was

I just think that Sasha and Skraak should’ve gotten to meet

Posting this early because I won’t be able to do much of anything tomorrow and I don’t trust tumblr to schedule this right

“You got it?”

“Of course I’ve got it. You’ve got yours?”

Skraak nodded. “Ready?”

“Three… Two… One…”

Just after the last number of the countdown, both Skraak and Sasha pulled out a wrapped package from behind their backs.

“Happy Gift Day!” They both exclaimed as they exchanged packages.

Sasha ran her fingers over the wrapping, while Skraak held their gift up to their ear as if listening for some clue that might reveal its identity before they pulled the paper off a moment later.

This had been a yearly tradition since the pair first met and Augusta provided their team with various equipment during their stay at The One that Got Away.  Neither had received much in the way of gifts before that, and the whole process in front of others always made them feel awkward.  While they would still participate in exchanges with the others during holidays and birthdays, they also started their own tradition, where there was no strangeness or unexpectedness, only a relaxing way to catch up on all of the gifts they should have been given earlier.

“You shouldn’t have!” Sasha cried, her eyes wide.  She had ripped open the paper to reveal a box, inside of which was a flamberge dagger.  The undulating blade radiated cold.

Skraak, meanwhile, tore open the wrapping with his teeth to find a plain black dagger.  A single dark gem was set into the hilt.

“I love it,” they whispered, dutifully examining it.

“It’s supposed to hurt more if you stab someone while you’re in the shadows,” Sasha explained.

“And yours can freeze people!  Or at least make them really cold.”

“I had one like this before, but it broke.  This is amazing.”  Sasha gave the dagger a few test thrusts and jabs.  “I need to rearrange my daggers; this one is going up front.”

“I can’t wait to test it out.”  Skraak beamed.

“What do you say we go find some trouble?”

“What about the others?”

“Hey, this is ourGift Day,” Sasha rebuked.  “And if we want to test our fancy new Gift daggers out on baddies, we are allowed to.  Those are the rules.  The rules that we made when we made Gift Day.”

“Sounds good to me! And I’ve got all my other daggers from our last Gift Days.”

Sasha patted her jacket.  “I do too. I love that little one you got me last year.”

Skraak led the way out of the room, careful not to alert any of their other friends that they were sneaking out without them.  Not that either they or Sasha needed to worry – no one would ever notice them unless they wanted to be noticed.

Once they were safely out of earshot, Skraak asked, “Do you think we ought to gift something other than daggers?  I thought about something else this year, but a dagger just seems right, you know?”

“A dagger is the perfect gift,” Sasha replied.  “I know we’re both still getting used to the whole gifting thing, but I’m pretty sure everyone would be happy to get a dagger.  At least, I know I am.  Daggers are well good.  Can’t go wrong.”

“Hey, Sasha?”

“Hm?”

“I really like Gift Day.”

Sasha smiled.  “Me too.”

“Think we can do it more than once a year?”

“It’s our tradition, we can do what we want.  Though we might start running out of daggers to gift.”

With a sigh, Skraak said, “So many daggers, so little time.”

Day 9 of @the-line-is-erased:The Vengeance and Northern Wastes - Mortality - The things we’ve lost and the things we’ve found.

Skraak struggles with Meerk’s choice to stay dead

Skraak grabbed another cup of the warm drink they’d been served – he didn’t know exactly what it was – and then retreated from the rest of the group.  They were exuberant and loud, and he just needed a little space.

They found a small place to sit and think, not drinking the beverage but letting its heat seep through their scales.

“Hey, little buddy?”

With a heavy exhale, Skraak looked up at Cel, poking their head around the corner of the bunks.

“Hi, Cel.  Is everything alright?” They replied.

“I mean, I don’t know. I saw you slip out and I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”  They paused for a moment, then quickly added, “And if you’re not okay, or even if you are, and you want to be alone, I’ll go, just say the word.  But if you do want company, I’m here for you.”

For a moment, Skraak hesitated, then sighed.  “I miss Meerk.”

“Oh.”  Cel took a seat next to them, careful to leave enough space between them so they weren’t smothering them.  “I miss him too.  I know it’s not the same; you knew him way longer than I did, and you went through the same horrible things at Shoin’s, but…”

Skraak nodded.  He fiddled with the cup in his hands and looked into the steam instead of facing Cel.  “It’s hard.  I saw him there, in that ritual thing.  They were happy!  And it was so loud.”  They smiled as they remembered Meerk’s joy in the cacophony.  “And of course I’m glad that you were able to bring Sassraa back, and that the other two are back too.  But… I still feel… I still wish…”

“You wish Meerk had come back too.”

“Yeah.  And I feel like it’s my fault he didn’t.  If someone else had gone in after them, maybe they’d be here.”  He shook his head.  “Which is selfish.  He’s happy.  And safe.  That’s what matters.”

“Doesn’t mean you can’t miss him.”

“And when everyone else is so happy, it drowns out our mourning.  Not that that’s bad, it’s just… hard to be around all the time. Do you think…”  He paused, then set down his mug on a nearby end table. “Can I have a hug?”

“Of course!”

Skraak fell into Cel’s open arms, and they squeezed them tight as their tears poured forth.  The pair sat like that for a good long while, holding each other close and rocking back and forth in a gentle, relaxing pattern.

“Thank you,” Skraak croaked as he pulled away and wiped his face.

Cel put a hand on their shoulder and gave a sympathetic smile.  “Do you want some company?  Maybe tell me some stories about Meerk?  Or we can just sit in silence.”

“Yeah, that would…” He trailed off, then shook his head. “No, you should go back to the others.  Enjoy the festivities.  Besides, I’m sure you have more flirting to do with Barnes.”

Instead of leaving, Cel scooched back and settled in beside Skraak, giving no indication of going anywhere.

“I can flirt later. Right now, I’m here for you.”

Skraak smiled up at them. “Thank you.  Thank you for being here.”

“You’re welcome.  After all, that’s what friends are for.”

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