Im Trying To Focus On The Positives. Can You Do That With Me? He Whispered.

“I’m trying to focus on the positives. Can you do that with me?” he whispered.

Seraphina grabbed the sides of Gale’s robes, pulling him closer. His other hand rubbed small circles on her arm, grounding her to this moment with him. He lowered his head as she rose to her toes, their foreheads resting against each other. She closed her eyes and they stood, breathing each other in. As friends do.

“Yes. I can focus on the positives,” she whispered.

Excerpt from Chapter 10 of Like Real People Do, my fic about my Tav/DnD character, Seraphina, and her love stories with Gale and Astarion

Revising parts of Seraphina's design as I figure out my art style but man, art is becoming fun again. depression will really rob of you of everything, but I'm taking parts back.

also can you tell I didn't give a fuck about drawing that design on Gale's collar 😭

graphic design is my passion.

See also, "We're in a drought; conserve water!" Meanwhile, bottled water companies and golf courses for rich folk empty the aquifers.

Like Real People Do, Chapter 10

Gale Dekarios x Named! Tav x Astarion Ancunín

Chapter Synopsis: A familiar face reappears in the Shadow-cursed Lands and Seraphina has a long overdue discussion.

Chapter One. Chapter Two. Chapter Three. Chapter Four. Chapter Four and a Half. Chapter Five. Chapter Six. Chapter Seven. Chapter Eight. Chapter Nine. Chapter Nine and a Half.

Read on ao3.

Word Count: 4.8k

Notes: Ooof okay so this was one was getting pretty long and had to be split into two chapters, so Chapter 11 will be coming pretty soon. I really appreciate the support this fic has gotten so far :) Thank you to the folks that have been reading about my lil lucky sorcerer.

Learn more about my Tav, Seraphina.

"I had a thought, dear However scary About that night The bugs and the dirt Why were you digging? What did you bury Before those hands pulled me From the earth?"

Chapter Ten: What Did You Bury?

Seraphina wanted to create a storm.

Before, it was often her way of quelling her hottest of rages. A concentrated storm over the water or over a small patch of land. It soothed her to harness the power of a hurricane, the steady flow of immense power, all of it bending to her will. It helped her feel in control and ‘in control’ was what Seraphina desperately needed to feel in this moment. 

The aged wizard in front of her wasn’t responsible for the source of her anger, but his arrival and the dreadful message he had to deliver were making Seraphina spiral into despair. In the journey so far, there had been no luck finding a solution for the viciously hungry orb inside of Gale and now there was one presenting itself, but it was no cure. This solution was not one that gave Gale more time, freedom, or his life back. It promised only destruction and oblivion.

“And to you,” the wizard said, turning to Seraphina. He seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if he could feel the wrath radiating from her. “I commit into care Gale himself. I count on you to shepherd him well on this strangest of journeys.”

She had a million things she wanted to say. She wished desperately that she had some modicum of control or power to be able to heal Gale and she was close to cursing the gods. As much as the anger sat with her, so too did the feeling of submission. This wasn’t Elminster’s request. It wasn’t him asking Gale to sacrifice himself to destroy the Absolute. It was not a demand from a foe that they could strike down. It was from Mystra. This was a divine command.

What would she want Gale to say if Tymora had given her such a ghastly quest?

“We’ll find another way,” Seraphina responded.

“Or some other fortune altogether,” Gale murmured.

An eerie quiet hung over the camp as the elder wizard left. Seraphina stuck by Gale’s side, the two silently preparing dinner. They both kneeled at a tree stump next to the hearth, slicing vegetables, as a broth gently boiled over the campfire. Seraphina was praying in her mind, over and over, waiting for Gale to speak.

I have faith in our path and in our own luck. By your light and grace, Smiling Lady, we will find another way. A blessing of your luck will save Gale’s life.

“I’d have hoped to introduce you to Elminster in less dire circumstances, but those are hard to come by these days,” Gale said, finally breaking the silence.

Seraphina halted cutting a potato and looked up at him. He was staring at the carrots he was dicing. She gulped, going back to her task.

“He didn’t seem much a friend, showing up and demanding you kill yourself,” she said coolly. “It’s not a demand he wanted to make of me. As Mystra’s Chosen, he had no choice but to deliver her message, however much it pained him to do so,” Gale replied, turning and dropping the carrots into the pot.

Seraphina took a deep breath as she handed him the potatoes, her hands trembling. Words couldn’t quite make their way from her brain to her lips. She kept sending them back up to be revised, trying to grasp at the feelings she needed to articulate.

“For Mystra to have sent him…the severity of her bidding could not be clearer. Or weigh more heavily on me,” Gale continued. “Time seems so infinite when you are young…a month is an age, a year is a lifetime. It is a strange feeling, to realize how little of it one might have left.”

Seraphina froze as she dropped in the onions and stared at him bewilderment while he only met her with a rather calm expression. “You’re seriously considering what Elminster said?” she asked.

“Of course – he offered the clearest solution to our problem. All I have to do is find the right place and time, close my eyes, and let go. Then the slate will be clean, wrongs will be righted, the Absolute will be gone…and I along with it,” Gale said matter-of-factly.

Seraphina huffed a nervous laugh. “There’s surely another way. You don’t have to go through with this. There isn’t only one path.”

“If there was another, I’m sure the goddess of magic and the greatest wizard who ever lived would have identified it, but alas…only one solution is offered.”

“Your goddess offers only one solution. I think that you are far too eager to believe her,” Seraphina replied. “Is she always so demanding?”

“I doubt she’s asked many of her followers to blow themselves up. That’s a fate she’s bequeathed exclusively to me. She wouldn’t ask such a thing if it weren’t our only means of survival. However much she’s annoyed at me.”

“Please stop insisting that your death is our only way to destroy this plot. It’s not. I refuse to believe it.”

“Seraphina, the truth is, I was living on borrowed time already. Consuming those items would only have kept the orb sated for so long. If anything, I feel more at peace than I have in months. At least now I know my death will have purpose. It won’t be a distant ‘bang’ in the footnotes of history.”

“You’re not blowing yourself up, Gale. I won’t let you,” Seraphina declared as she stood. Gale rose and stood in front of her. She looked down at her feet.

“Let’s save such certainty for the moment such a decision is upon us. You may feel differently, once we know what we’re truly up against. But all that remains ahead of us for now. The Heart of the Absolute must be discovered before I can stop its beating.”

She rubbed her sweaty hands on her pants.

“I can’t believe you’re talking like this,” she uttered.

“Let’s be optimists, eh?” Gale put his hand on Seraphina’s shoulder. His hand moved from her shoulder to the nape of her neck, his fingers gathering in her hair. Softly, as if she were made of glass, he made her head tilt back, her orange eyes filled with tears as she took in his face. He was close enough that she could see the flames of the fire flickering in his deep brown eyes. Pink dusted across his cheeks as a gentle smile graced his lips.

“I’m trying to focus on the positives. Can you do that with me?” he whispered.

Seraphina grabbed the sides of Gale’s robes, pulling him closer. His other hand rubbed small circles on her arm, grounding her to this moment with him. He lowered his head as she rose to her toes, their foreheads resting against each other. She closed her eyes and they stood, breathing each other in. As friends do.

Slowly, Seraphina blocked out everything else. The bubbling of the cauldron. The taunting between Astarion and Wyll as they played lanceboard. The sharp clangs of Lae’zel and Karlach sparring. Soft chatter from Halsin and Shadowheart and the grinding sounds of their mortar and pestle sets as they created potions. 

All of it vanished until all that remained was the sound of her and Gale’s synchronized, deep breaths, and the overwhelming certainty that she was falling in love with a man that was determined to die. It hit her that this was truly the closest they had gotten physically in the time they’d known each other. They were close to crossing the line and permanently changing the rhythm of the careful tango they’d been dancing for weeks. And then she heard the melodic, boisterous laugh of a pale elf. Astarion’s smile entered her mind’s eye and her heart tore in two. She urged the image to leave, suppressed the thought of the inevitable choice she would have to make, and thought only of Gale, her friend, the incredible man that deserved to live. That deserved to believe on his own that he deserved to live.

We have defied death before. We can defy these odds too, she thought.

“Yes. I can focus on the positives,” she whispered.

Seraphina allowed optimism and trust in luck to guide her through the night. She laughed and joked over dinner. She challenged Karlach and Wyll to some Talis games with drinking penalties. She allowed her spirit to feel immense joy because she was positive that Gale was not going to die. Not at her hands or at Mystra’s command.

x x x

“Flagra!” Seraphina shouted.

The guiding bolt flew from her fingertips, eviscerating the shadow being in front of her. She hastily waved her torch, searching for more. The Shadow-cursed Lands was giving their party quite the welcoming. 

The cold, menacing environment of the shadows had everyone on edge – expect for Shadowheart, who was quite at home in the darkness. Their anticipation was quickly justified when, while mid-conversation with a group of Harpers they crossed paths with, the shadows attacked.

Wyll, with one torch in hand, used his other to blast a shadow off the nearby cliffside. Astarion’s arrows eliminated two of the beings. Karlach and Lae’zel were a blur of swinging blades as they huddled close to the light from Shadowheart’s spirit guardians. Seraphina stumbled backwards, bumping into Gale. The two carefully shuffled back-to-back as their heads pivoted, checking for more enemies.

“I hope I can trust you to watch my back,” Gale said with a laugh as he launched an ice knife at an approaching shadow.

“Always,” Seraphina winked as she cast a few magic missiles. She turned to see Gale staring at her. He smiled at her as he seemed to come back to himself and their present predicament, turning to throw a chromatic orb of fire. Her breath caught in her lungs as she watched Gale become illuminated by the flames, his rugged features and blazing eyes making her face hot. 

A group of shadows closed in on Karlach, Lae’zel, and Shadowheart. Seraphina quickly ran over. 

“Ardē!” Seraphina yelled. 

As quickly as the fireball left her hand, she felt the surge and her bones began to shrink. She yelped again, only for it come out as a meow. Frantically, Seraphina looked around to see that Lae’zel and Karlach had both been turned into dogs while Shadowheart was also a cat.

“Your leader is a wild mage?” Harper Lassandra commented, swinging her torch at a shadow. Shadowheart meowed as she ran to hide under Wyll’s feet. Karlach and Lae’zel barked incessantly, Lae’zel taking a swipe at Seraphina. Seraphina hissed in response.

“Gods, Seraphina, right now?” Astarion shouted, exasperated. 

“Just hit them out of it for bloody sake!” Wyll retorted.

Gale sprinted over, a pained expression on his face as he raised his quarterstaff. “Forgive me for this,” he said, swinging at her. 

She let out a squeak as the staff hit her back, the polymorph effect ending and sending her back to her natural form. As Seraphina stood, it seemed the dust was settling. Harper Lassandra marked the location of a ‘safe place’ on their map and the Harpers hurried on while the party trailed after them.

Gale slowed his gait, keeping pace with Seraphina, and he turned to her with a heated gaze that made Seraphina’s knees weak. His eyes seemed to glow, even in the gloom that surrounded them.

“It’s quite thrilling, to fight off such grim creatures as this region throws at us. Especially being at your side,” Gale said breathlessly. “I once read a book that explained in some detail the effect a brush with danger has on one’s desire for…other forms of stimulation. Have you ever read anything on that subject?”

Seraphina grinned. What a sweet, silly man. She became more smitten with him each day.

“Read it? I could’ve written the thing,” she laughed.

“I believe you,” Gale continued. “You never look so beautiful as at the end of a stirring battle, your cheeks flushed, gaze bright…you’re quite irresistible.” 

She wanted him with such fervor that her swirling thoughts would make a servant of Loviatar blush.

“I wish I had said it to you first. You look so…dominant and confident when you’re using the Weave to strike someone or something down,” she murmured seductively. Gale chuckled as he blushed.

“Perhaps it’s just the thrill of our near undead experience talking. But standing at your side through such darkness and disrepair, it only makes me want you more.”

Seraphina halted in her tracks and Gale stopped too. She walked closer to him, Gale’s half-lidded eyes staring at her lips. She looked out of the corner of her eye to see that the group had continued walking.

“And what are two people who want each other so desperately supposed to do with all their pent-up emotions?” she whispered. Gale carefully leaned forward, and their noses brushed, the brief contact igniting more arousal in her. He suddenly squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, slowly straightening his back as he took a step away.

“This is neither the time nor place to indulge such feelings, Seraphina. We must be patient and push all such thoughts aside. For now,” Gale sighed. “Let’s get to this ‘safe haven’ so that our…passion doesn’t lead to our untimely demise at the hands of the shadows. Lead the way.”

Seraphina nodded, pushing down her lust. They quickly picked up their pace and caught up with the others. She wasn’t going to let Gale brush this conversation off though.

x x x

Seraphina had hoped that she would be pinned beneath Gale tonight, but instead she was being held in place by magical vines, several fighters at the ready behind the druid threatening her life.

“Tymora, save me,” she whispered. 

“A pathetic deception – I know who you really worship, True Soul,” the druid, called Jaheira by the Harpers, spat. 

“Stop!” a small voice cried out. 

Mol, a tiefling child, appeared next to Jaheira. Seraphina sighed in relief, happiness filling her. The refugees were okay.

“What are you doing?” Mol yelled. “She’s the one who saved us!”

“She’s the one who protected the Emerald Grove?” Jaheira asked.

“Seraphina?” 

Seraphina felt her heart stop and any joy she felt vanished. The world was spinning incredibly quickly, or time had completely stopped. At that moment, she couldn’t tell what was happening, but she was certain that she wanted all of this to be a dream, some sick, forced hallucination from the Absolute. She looked past Jaheira and she prayed that she was wrong and that her ears had deceived her, but she knew what the reality was. He was here.

Behind Jaheira stood another Harper. An elf with ivory skin and bright blue eyes. His long, ash blonde hair was swept behind his pointed ears. His face hadn’t changed, except maybe that was a new scar on his jaw and his cheek was bruised. The elf was bulky and tall, his shoulders wide with his leather armor stretching over his muscular figure. A Tymoran pendant hung round his neck. He looked as shocked as she did. 

Seraphina would’ve preferred for the vines to put her out of her misery.

“You know this one, Vadan?” Jaheira said, turning to him. 

“Yes. Rather well. You can trust her,” Vadan stepped closer. Jaheira looked at him, back at Mol, who eagerly nodded, and she willed the vines away.

“Very well. Settle in, then come join me for a drink,” Jaheira instructed.

As everyone except Vadan and her party made themselves scarce, Seraphina remembered that she had thought on this moment for ages. What she would say to him. How she would say it. If she would say anything.

Vadan opened his arms and smiled meekly. “A hug for old times’ sake?” He asked.

Seraphina couldn’t move her feet. She knew her companions stood behind her, waiting to follow her lead. Astarion looked Vadan up and down with a scowl on his face. Gale looked back and forth between Seraphina and Vadan, barely concealing his apprehension and irritation.

Seraphina tried to keep her voice level. “Hello,” She stammered awkwardly. Vadan still had his arms open. 

“I think that we all just need a moment to rest after the chaos of the past few hours,” Gale interjected, stepping forward and placing a hand on the small of Seraphina’s back. 

“Oh, I can show you all – ” Vadan’s arms dropped.

“We’ll fetch you if we need anything,” Astarion interrupted, stepping in between him and Seraphina. 

Vadan looked at Seraphina, back to the wizard and the vampire, before his eyes returned to her. He nodded curtly and turned on his heels.

“Say the word and I’ll make that hunk’s handsome face unhandsome,” Karlach said.

“Darling, are you quite sure that Tymora is your goddess? It seems like she quite enjoys leaving you high and dry with a good dash of bad luck,” Astarion commented.

“Chk. You should’ve gutted him on sight,” Lae’zel huffed. 

“Tell me what you need, and I will see that it is done,” Gale murmured into her ear. 

Seraphina turned back and smiled brightly at her party.

“We’re finally somewhere safe. Why don’t we get a bottle of wine and cool our nerves?” she asked, dodging everyone’s remarks.

“Please. A glass would do wonders right about now,” Wyll said.

The group stumbled into Last Light Inn and huddled at a table while Seraphina acquired two bottles of spiced wine from the innkeeper. She glanced over and saw Vadan at a table on the other side of the room, playing a game of Three Dragon Ante with a few other Harpers. He looked up and their eyes met. He smiled nervously and she turned away, trying to focus on Gale’s lecture on shadow magic. Unfortunately, his words were not enough to drown out the fact that Vadan had stood up from his game and was now walking over to their table.

Seraphina took a huge gulp of wine as the distance between them lessened. As her heart pounded, she became convinced that it would burst. Astarion suddenly turned his eyes on her, an eyebrow raised.

Of course he knows, she thought. And then Vadan was standing before their table. Seraphina nearly laughed as she saw her companions glare at him.

“Seraphina, could I have a word?” Vadan asked.

“Can’t you see we’re busy?” Astarion snarled. 

“Astarion, cool it,” Seraphina snapped. Astarion gawked at her, seeming both embarrassed and offended at her scolding. She didn’t expect it to come out of her mouth either. She stood, draining her goblet.

“Make it quick,” Seraphina said. She followed Vadan out to the docks, and he gestured for her to sit sat on a crate. They both settled down and Seraphina waited for him to speak first.

“It’s good to see you,” Vadan started. He looked her up and down and Seraphina suddenly became self-conscious about every aspect of her appearance. She probably smelled horrible, and her armor was covered in viscera. The last time he’d seen her, she was well-fed, bathing regularly, and donning comfortable, pretty attire that accentuated her curves. Though Vadan had seen her both ways and declared that he found her beautiful regardless of everything else.

“I wish I could say the same,” Seraphina replied flatly. “Though it is certainly a surprise. Last I heard, you had taken a Cormyrian wife.”

This was a partial lie. She and the party she’d been traveling with just before the nautiloid had settled for the evening outside of Evereska when a group of Harpers passed by their camp. A few of them were good companions of Vadan’s and, though they seemed reluctant to pass on the news, told her that Vadan had become swept up in a romance with the daughter or niece of a Cormyrean noble. 

Vadan laughed bitterly. “There was someone, briefly, but Faena and I weren’t a good match. Things ended quite bitterly.”

“Seems that keeps happening to you.”

“It’s hard to find a better match when you’ve already met the soul that completes yours. I told her that I needed to find you.” Vadan said wistfully. He looked at her so tenderly that Seraphina had to turn to count the number of planks beneath her feet. 

“How did you end up out here? And infected with a mind flayer tadpole?” Vadan asked.

“Am I to assume that you suddenly care about me now?” Seraphina asked. She looked up at him. She wanted him to see the rage in her eyes. 

“I’ve always cared for you, Seraphina, and you know that. I regret every morning that I’ve woken up without you as my wife,” Vadan replied. He reached out and cupped her cheek and she didn’t stop him. Seraphina wanted to nuzzle his hand and for him to kiss her cheeks and forehead and nose before he kissed her lips as he used to before, but she wasn’t going to give him more than this.

“Well, if you must know, they are my…friends. We were all abducted by a nautiloid ship. We’re heading to Moonrise Towers to finally purge ourselves of these things in our heads,” Seraphina replied. Vadan’s eyes widened in horror. His other hand went up to her face and Seraphina’s breath caught in her throat. His thumb rubbed her cheek.

“This never should’ve happened. Wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t…if things happened differently between us. I’m so sorry, my flower,” Vadan murmured. 

“You’re too close, Vadan,” Seraphina choked out. She snatched her face away from his touch. 

“You know that I didn’t want to leave you, Seraphina. I feared for my life and yours. I’ve thought of you every day, wished that you were waiting at home for me.”

Her lip curled in disgust as his choice of words. It wasn’t just his language, but the fact that he had always wanted a demure wife.

“You doubted the Smiling Lady and me,” she spat.

“Perhaps I just selfishly wanted you and I to stay alive so that we could live our life together. Perhaps I wanted my wife and I to grow old together,” he replied, an edge in his tone to match hers. He straightened up and shook his head, his voice softening. “But how I handled things was foolish. Tell me, is your trial over? Are you her Chosen yet? Last I heard, it wasn’t.”

“No, it’s not. But what do you mean by ‘last you heard’?”

“I…I was in Baldur’s Gate not too long ago. I went by your home. Your family wasn’t exactly happy to see me, but they told me that…that you had just come back from Avernus. I asked them about your magic, and they told me that you were still a wild mage. Turns out, I had just missed you by a few days.”

“And what business do you have going to my home?” she asked sharply.

Vadan’s eyebrows lifted as he smiled sadly.

“I wanted to see you, Sera. I told you – I left Faena because it was impossible to forget you. I couldn’t move on from the hurt I caused you,” he whispered. Seraphina scoffed and crossed her arms. He sighed.

“Which one of them has stolen your heart away, eh? It’s hard to tell between the pale fellow and the wizard. They both seem hellbent on taking my head,” Vadan chuckled. 

Both of them, Seraphina thought. She wanted to rub in Vadan’s face that she had two handsome men vying for her affections, but the truth was that she had no idea what to make of her situations with Gale and Astarion.

Seraphina hadn’t answered yet, so Vadan kept going. “It’s not my business. But I want you to know that I’ve missed you. You’re not a mind flayer yet, so I take that as a good sign. If we survive all this, I…I hope that we find time to talk.”

“What is there to discuss? All that you’re interested in talking about so far is your own pain. You know nothing of the pain, embarrassment, and anguish I faced. You lied to me that morning instead of facing me and declaring the truth.”

“Tell me what I must do to make up for what I did, and I will follow through. Tell me, so that I can make you my wife when we cure you and leave this cursed land.”

She stared at him. For a moment, all she could hear was the muffled sounds of the Inn and the sloshing of the waves.

“You’re serious?” she breathed.

“We will get this tadpole out of you. If Tymora doesn’t think that saving a city from the Hells was worthy enough, then forget the trial. And then, we can get that townhouse we always talked about near Heapside Strand.”

Her heart thumped wildly against her chest. They had discussed the life they wanted together ceaselessly. Their home would partially operate as a Harper safehouse, Vadan continuing to travel and work as a spy while Seraphina worked at The Lady’s Hall in the Upper City. When the time was right, they would grow their family. 

Her stomach flipped. That kind of calm wasn’t in the cards for her. She wasn’t even sure that it was what she wanted. She honestly hadn’t given much thought to what she wanted for her life after her trial was over. Vadan came along and painted their future in his vision, and it seemed pretty enough, but it still wasn’t a future she chose. Then the cryptic warnings from Gale crept into her mind. She wouldn’t exactly be able to choose what kind of life she wanted after becoming Tymora’s Chosen.

“I can see through you, you know,” she replied. He blinked at her in confusion.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re a coward who couldn’t handle his wife surpassing him.”

Vadan recoiled.

“What in the Hells would make you think that?”

“You aspire to be a High Harper. You want to go off on your adventures and come home to a wife who doesn’t leave the city because she knows her place,” Seraphina snapped.

“I only wanted to protect you. You shouldn’t have ended up in Avernus or in the middle of this shadow curse. Is it so unreasonable that I would’ve liked for my wife to be kept from danger?” Vadan barked.

Seraphina’s blood boiled beneath her skin as she clenched her fists.

“Danger is where I thrive. I thought you knew that. I thought you respected that.”

“Seraphina, if you wanted for anything else, I would not stop you. You’ve had your family and that damned temple in your ear for far too long. They’ve convinced you that your life is a worthy sacrifice in the pursuit of some so-called redemption,” Vadan replied. “You want to have children and a permanent place to come home to at the end of the day, and I promise you that day will never come when you walk as Tymora’s Chosen and must spend your life fighting a holy war against Beshaba. You don’t even know if your storm sorcery will be restored after this! You could be a wild mage forever.”

“Hellwhispers refuse to be shamed anymore. My family name will said with reverence in every Tymoran temple in Faerûn and – ” Seraphina started before suddenly stopping. She shook her head and jumped to her feet. “There is little purpose to another repeat of the same argument. There is no future between us, and I do not owe you my time.”

She moved to walk away, her eyes burning as she held back her tears, her feet itching to be as far away from Vadan as possible. 

“You do not need to be Tymora’s Chosen for that. You are a hero, Seraphina. You’ve already transformed the Hellwhisper reputation,” Vadan whispered. She halted in her tracks. She slowly turned to look at him.

“You deserve to be content. You deserve the future that you want. I may not have been worth giving up the honor of being our lady’s Chosen, but I hope that, one day, someone is. Or maybe there’s someone who makes the sacrifice of being a Chosen worth it. And, well, either way, Faerûn is deeply lucky to have you as a force of good,” Vadan smiled, but his lower lip wobbled.

“Vadan…” she whispered.

“Seraphina, darling.” Astarion.

He meandered over from the stairs and Seraphina’s legs carried her to meet him halfway. She wanted him to whisk her away from this hell. She wanted to flee as far as she could. But it didn’t matter how far she went or where – she couldn’t escape the nugget of truth in Vadan’s words. The truth that had been haunting her and that was becoming as inescapable as the shadows in this cursed land.

Gone Girl (2014) / Succession (2018-2023)

I wonder if there's even a way through this. Yeah, you know, I... I wonder if we might've run out of road. SUCCESSION 4.01 (2023) If you don't win tomorrow, I'll leave you. I'm serious. Does that help you? CHALLENGERS (2024)