• "Such a lovely picture. Meet my most important treasures... I keep this picture in my safe-deposit box. It's my most favourite picture.
The one on the far left is me, obviously. Ciara's the one next to me. The gentle, healin', fergivin' priestess. I dunno a lot of words, but I could look through a whole dictionary and not find one what expresses how much I love her. Next to her is Saigo. Every bit my son, though we ain't even related. Kind, brave, strong, polite... His parents were involved in a plot to kill me. I wanna say that takin' care of him was some final insult to 'em, but... Movin' on, Celeste. I met her out on the battlefield in some godforsaken jungle. Also, really funny, her mom tried to kill me, too. An' my squad. What's not funny is that I tore Caelis's intestines out and strangled her to death with 'em. Then it got horrible when Celeste came runnin' out a minute or so later lookin' fer her. She's really shy, doesn't trust anyone (I don't blame her). I didn't really trust her, either. She is the child of an enemy, and I killed her mom. I fully expected to wake up with a knife in my ribs. And she's a bird in a pride o' cats, I half expected to wake up with a feather in between my teeth an' gentle sobbin' from somewhere inside me. But she's still my daughter, an' ya daren't lay a finger on her, or I swear, I will bend you into shapes hitherto unknown to geometric theory. You will know what it is like to be able to see the back of your own head from inside your large intestine... ...and, in the back, we have Ishlandur. This is the one who's helped me look out fer my family over the years. I wanna say that it was just 'cos he was the entity that sets my axe on fire. But I think he was the drivin' force behind me. If I got angry or hurt enough, I'd suddenly feel a bit disconnected. I'd watch myself turn into a snarlin' massacre. I asked Ish, but he says he wasn't responsible. ...so, yeah. This is my family. The entire world could be on fire, and I'd be okay so long as these guys were here...
I... I got a confession: I also keep some other things in that box. A bottle o' scotch, an' a pistol with only one bullet in the chamber. When ev'rythin' in my world is as dark as it could possibly get, I open that box, empty the bottle, then pick up the picture. Just rememberin' who it is I've been put on the planet to serve is generally enough to pull me back from the brink. This picture's only a couple o' days old, but it's already saved my life. I resigned from the military yesterday. An' by "resigned", I mean they tried to have me an' my family killed for sympathisin' with dragons. We're okay, though Saigo took a shot to the arm, an' Ci took one to the chest (the girl is blessed, I know). I don't wanna make a long story longer, but I managed to steal a state-o'-the art gunship while my loyal soldiers retrieved our personal effects. As soon as we were past the border of the country, I had to sit down with this picture in my hand... I had my bottle, loaded the gun, put it to my head... An' all I could see was their disappointed faces. Ciara's eyes were red and gaunt, Saigo was starin' blank, and Celeste was hidin' in the corner, tearin' things off the walls. I dunno what Ish would do, he's seen past masters of his off 'emselves before. But I can't put 'em through that... The one thing I never been in my life is selfish, an' this would make me out into the worst kinda person. I'd be throwin' away my treasures. I get hurt an' disappointed a lot, but my world would end if I did the same thing to them.
Ciara was with me last night. I didn't tell her what I was so close to doin'. We're all a little flustered. Things happened that I don't wanna discuss, but it's put a whole lotta things back in perspective. I dunno what's gonna happen now. I look at Ciara, an' she looks back at me with that wry little smirk an' those fathomless eyes. Suddenly, I'm not so scared no more..."

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This picture was an internal commission from AngelQueenofChaos to FroxMagis. I thought I'd mirror it because it does include my character. I've been meaning to do a "family portrait" picture for years, but just got horrendously lazy. I'm glad someone with actual talent decided to do it instead.

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Picture ©  AngelQueenofChaos
Noxedwin Olgovitch Tepes ©  Nox13last
Ciara 'Tiny' Annetta-Tepes ©  FroxMagis
Sir Saigo Miokoro Tepes ©  FroxMagis
Celeste Winters-Tepes ©  Nox13last
Ishlandur ©  Nox13last