ghostfire

[ghostfire]

Yes daddy! Take me now. There is no one else here

(I do not take credit for this. It was found on Pinterest with no credit)

[ghostfire]

🩷🩷🩷 The unbelievably adorable inspiration for: https://ghostfire.tumblr.com/post/729896509066346496/i-saw-this-neil-newbon-cameo-and-my-brain-made-the 🩷🩷🩷

Well since TikTok is officially banned I’ve decided to upload the ‘dadstarion’ cameo on here. I had this privated on TikTok for over a year since people decided they wanted to harass me over this. The video is a bit longer than the original to provide more context. First, my husband bought this cameo for my birthday. Second, he was talking about our daughter who was a baby at the time. I thought what he said was cute and decided to share it at that time. I’m glad it’s brought some joy to people and no I don’t regret uploading it.

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emmrich and anders are the same age send tweet

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Astarion and Ottilenne's first daughter, Amilenne. (Lightly edited because I absolutely need her little horns.)

Dadstarion Picrew Game!

Use this picrew to show me your Dadstarion babies!

Here's baby Alethaine - daughter of Astarion and Tiriel Thanks @tragedybunny

Tagging @not-so-lost-after-all @elora-the-slutty-songstress @valeprati @themadlu

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Thank you so much @brain-rot-central and @nyx-knox 💕 🌸 Tagging: @miniminx @lou-at-night @freshofftheturniptruck @stormyjane7 @dickbaggins @realleaf @worldseer @kirixiar @mouldering-casket @olivedrop I love seeing you pop up on my dash every time. 🌸

positivity train!

if you see this or are tagged in it, tag a couple of your favorite mutuals/blogs and let them know you appreciate seeing them on your dash!

@h0neysugarfree @blueberrylovv @bequiteanddriveeeeeee @cherri-bomb-bomb @eg0mechan1c @fatrexicisback

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Overall, I'm incredibly glad that the "did they, didn't they" is left to headcanon, even if I did retroactively lose my mind over the rumors that the Jaal sex scene from Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I played and who I romanced years before I did my Solavellan run at Inquisition, was basically Solas's, repurposed. Jaal was the highlight of that game, and that scene was the hottest Bioware romance climax I've encountered so far. (And even if it's entirely untrue, it fits so well that I have no problem imagining it.) I'm digressing a bit, however. I do hc that they had sex. I think they danced around it for quite some time - that there were months of increasingly desperate glances, and kisses, and lingering touches in the rotunda quickly broken off whenever either of them caught a glimpse of someone approaching the railing above.

I don't hc Solas as a virgin or even on the demi- spectrum, but I don't think he's been physical with anyone for a very long time (certainly not since he last woke from Uthenera), and I imagine the Inquisitor is the first person he's been in love with in a pure and deep way. My Inquisitor, for her part, is not completely inexperienced, but the entire situation she finds herself in - her first time spending any significant period away from her clan, amongst humans and dwarves and qunari, let alone trying to navigate everything from tangled political intrigue to near-constant and literal fighting for her life - has her desperately craving connection with someone who sees beyond the masks she's suddenly forced to wear. She's been grateful for his help when she was most vulnerable, appreciative of his thoughtfulness and guidance as an advisor, and finally, deeply in love. Mixing these together is a potent brew that neither can help but swallow down.

I think that the timespan of their sexual encounters was maddeningly brief, but intense, and that the act itself was partially responsible for Solas breaking the whole thing off. He's so happy when he is called upon for his wisdom, but I imagine sex in the context of his relationship with the Inquisitor brings him even more than happiness. It's both the closest he's felt to being a spirit since he took on an elven form and the most healing and at peace with his own body he has ever experienced. The relationship starts with a kiss in the Fade - even if the Inquisitor initiates the kiss, it's still on his turf - and ends with him acknowledging that she is the only thing that's made him grateful to have a body, so that he could know her. It's exactly this - the stirrings of peace, the longing to fall into it and drown his old self - that frightens him the most.

Could he reach the whiplash-fast breaking point at Crestwood without that physical experience? I do think he could, but it adds a layer of angst and quiet panic on his side that feels right to me. Could the Inquisitor remain devoted to a promise for a decade without that physical experience? Again, I think she could, but I feel that her seeing him in such a state, at his most naked physically, emotionally, mentally, and getting a hint of his joy when they did lie together, is a powerful memory that she holds close to her heart through all those years.

I know a lot of people are really partial to the idea that Solas and Inky never slept together, but I’m always going to headcanon they did. There is something so, so important to me about the way he insists that what they had was real, that he did not ‘take her’ as the Dread Wolf, that he did not use her as part of his agenda, that he wanted to stay with her as Solas, that he gave her every part of himself that he could give, including that.

And I especially love the idea of him always waiting for her to make the first move, that if she comes to him, seeks him out, asks for him, that it’s okay, because it’s what she wants, and what she wants is him, the him he wants desperately to stay with her as.

It’s just so 🥺

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Rolan, beloved wizard

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I don't care if you're neuron divergent and also 3 days old I need you to go to fucking War

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it actually takes 136 years to draw one line. so think about that next time you want to be mean to an artist

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Two Astarions?? A preview of my piece for @astarion-fanzine🩸 - It's a digital zine for charity, and preorders are now open! 🦇

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Rook stumbles upon a hidden bookshelf in the Lighthouse.

Rook: *running their fingers across the book spines* What’s this? Your evil plan repository?

Solas: Unimportant.

Rook: Oddly reticent. Let’s have a read.

Solas: NO!

Rook: Oh, that just makes me want to read it more.

Rook pulls a random book out and flips to a random page. The smile on their face drops. Their brow furrows.

Rook: Solas, literally the first sentence I read was: “My mouth descended upon her yearning flower.”

Solas: *coughs awkwardly and looks away*

Rook: Solas…Solas, is this your porn stash?

Solas: Erotica.

Rook: Nuance, listen—wait, this is your hand writing. D-did…did you write this?

Solas: …

Rook: *grabs another random book* You’re hand writing again. “Her masterful mouth and tongue worked my-“

Solas: You don’t have to read it out loud.

Several hours later…

Rook: * throwing books all over the place* It’s all fucking lewd’s!!! You wrote all this smut!

Solas: A mere thought experiment put to paper.

Rook: This is not a thought experiment, this is a horny dissertation! All about you and this Lavellan lady. Andraste’s Tits! Are you trying to get a PhD in Down Bad?!

Solas: Can we stop talking now?

Rook: Did you get this peer reviewed by Desire Demon’s or something? This shit’s smutty. I thought Varric was bad.

Sometime…

Lavellan: My name is Lavellan.

Rook, mouth agape, turns to the projection of Solas.

Solas: Not. A. Word.

Rook: *shaking Lavellan’s hand* Hi. I’ve read all about you.

A tear in the Fade appears. Solas reaches out and begins to strangle Rook.

I like to write Solas and Lavellan as equally unhinged.

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Uh, he'd take it pretty well I think.

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anyone who says emmrich would dislike astarion is so wrong like he is literally The Empathy Man

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Yet more Inquisition-era Solavellan. Spicier versions available on Patreon or bluesky.

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headcanon, subjectivity, and convincing the reader

hi! I got a wild hair to write a little essay today. here's that little essay. it's about fic writing and how our subjectivity about the source material becomes a conversation with the reader. LEZGO.

quick primer on common terms:

canon: objective, indisputable truth about the property based on what is portrayed on the page/screen. it is canon in BG3 that Astarion is a vampire spawn, it is canon that Wyll is the only son of Grand Duke Ravengard, it is canon that Lae'zel is a githyanki originating from Creché Ki'liir, etc.

headcanon: an individual's subjective interpretation of events and characters in the property based on context clues, hints, personal experience, vibes, etc.

fanon: a more widely accepted community headcanon that is not objectively supported by the property but is generally accepted as a popular interpretation of the source material.

word of god: interpretations considered truth by the creators of the property that may or may not be included in the source material itself. this includes devnotes, responses to fan questions, behind the scenes material, etc. there's much argument to be had about whether or not this is considered canon if it's not also represented in the source material itself.

okay? okay! now let's talk about transformative works (fanfiction and fanwork).

the first rule of transformative work is that there are no rules. okay? okay! to get that out of the way. which is why this is a post about subjective interpretation.

(obligatory blah blah blah obviously having basic writing skill and knowledge is helpful for communicating your ideas to the reader, we all know this)

but what makes a transformative work GOOD? what makes a reader pick up a fic, devour it, and then go "holy shit I can absolutely see how these characters in this scenario make sense. I BELIEVE in this story and this author's interpretation."?

that's where things get complicated. let's do a cut bc this is about to get lengthy!

when we become fans of a property, it's because we are the readers/viewers having a conversation with the source material. something about it caught us and spoke to us, then drove us to create more art based on it and using it as a framework. that's important.

as readers/viewers, we will always have our own subjective interpretation of the work. that interpretation is informed by the work's canon, but it's also informed by our personal experiences, feelings, and knowledge. that's where headcanons and subjectivity come in. it's why some people feel a character is "annoying" while others find them sympathetic.

(there is a MUCH BROADER conversation to be had about how social pressures and oppression also factor into this subject, but that's not my intended goal with THIS essay, so I will acknowledge the fact that a person's internalized biases also inform their perception of the material and move on).

so, we all develop our own personal headcanons about a work. it's inevitable. sometimes those headcanons are based in canon, sometimes they're based on our own experience. where they come from doesn't matter -- they are yours and they belong to you, and they will inform whatever work you create.

now comes the part where we begin a conversation with the reader.

when you're writing fic, one of your many jobs is helping the reader to understand your perspective. this is very challenging! you're essentially creating a written argument for why the characters and elements in your story are unfolding the way that they do, but you're doing so via the vehicle of creative writing. you're depending on narrative structure, dialogue, characterization, setting, plot, tropes, themes, metaphors, etc. to make your "argument."

if you've ever heard people say a character "felt flat" or that an action didn't make sense or that a fic subject is OOC (out of character), that comes from the writer failing to provide a convincing enough argument for the story they're trying to tell. (note: I use the word "fail," but I don't mean it in the sense that the project was a failure. art is never time wasted. but as with most things, it may take time to get to a place where we have the skills to tell the story we want to tell.)

so: how the hell do we work on an issue like that?

a few ways.

first and foremost, at its core, a transformative work should be in conversation with the canon of its source material. that DOES NOT MEAN that canon should be treated as a Bible and ultimate authority (people rewrite canon well all the time), but it does mean a writer needs to consider what worked about the canon to be able to apply it to their own interpretation.

if you found a character compelling in the original property, you need to understand what exactly it was about that character that made them so compelling. it isn't just how they physically look or their signature catchphrase. what about the source material drew you to them, made you empathize, turned you on, etc.?

if a particular relationship made you absolutely feral, WHAT IS IT about that dynamic that caught and kept your attention? what makes them WORK?

THAT is what the conversation with the source material is about. it's about understanding why you were moved in the first place. it's distilling the subjects down to their essence so you can put them in a different scenario without losing the core of who they are.

now you need to understand where your HEADCANON comes from.

(you will notice a running theme here that in order to properly tell a story, you have to understand the story yourself!)

our own subjective interpretation of a work is informed by the knowledge we have (I have a degree in reading and analyzing and writing creatively, it's something I literally went to school for), our personal experiences (Astarion speaks to people with a history of sexual abuse and trauma, imagine that), and emotions that rise organically when we interact with the source material, either unexpectedly (whoa I did NOT expect that to turn me on) or with understanding (animal death always makes me cry because it's upsetting to see something that doesn't understand what's happening go through that and/or I remember when I lost my own animal companion).

so! you have a headcanon that Shadowheart and Nocturne were lovers. this isn't something verified by canon, but it is a scenario that makes sense given the information we have -- they were very close, they have a secret place together surrounded by the flowers Shadowheart calls her favorite, they know intimate details about one another's lives, and their history of standing up for one another and caring about each other is clear.

how do you convince a reader that this is a viable scenario?

first, converse with the canon. all the framework is there for a potential romantic relationship. their respective personalities work together. now, determine why you enjoy this headcanon. is it the intimacy, the loyalty, the kindness? is it the hints from canon that they were important to one another? is it that they have chemistry you find interesting and appealing?

this is the argument you must make to the reader. this scenario is plausible because of canon, character, and context. now you need to build on it and add your own perspective in order to convince the reader to see it as you do.

this particular example is a pretty easy thoroughline, but the same principle can be applied to more varied scenarios. modern AU? okay, how would that change the way these characters interact with the world without losing what makes them, them? pirate AU? okay, which characters would make the most sense to fit certain roles in that scenario given their existing personalities?

there's a common refrain in my writing circles that goes: "do what you want forever." we tend to use it in a flip way to mean that this is play and creativity and you can literally do whatever you want, but the deeper message is, "you can make anything believable with the right approach."

and the "right" approach is about maintaining a conversation between yourself, the source material, your headcanons, and the story you're trying to tell. it's about bringing all those things together in a way that will convince a reader to believe it.

it's a balance, and it's one that isn't universal. no matter what we do, subjectivity means that some people will not agree with our interpretation. that's okay. not every story is for every person. what matters is that you're writing YOUR story for the readers who want to engage with it.

so, at the end of the day: do what you want forever, and do it well :)

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Dadstarion commission for Elysia! Always a pleasure to paint such wholesome scenes, and I wholeheartedly believe Astarion can be the best husband and father ❤️

I'm open for commissions!

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