#//intended for inquisition timeline

[anderwhohn]

Haven is just as much of a shithole as she remembers, if lacking the cultists, ritual sacrifices, and dragons from ten years ago. She hates the Frostbacks - hates the cold, the ice, and the snow. While she's never got to spend much time in her mother's homeland of Antiva, she is certainly more suited for it than she is here in the mountains.

"Braska," she curses as an icy wind cuts through the village. The simple coat and leathers she's been given, while of clearly skilled craftsmanship, lack the enchantments of her usual gear that provided extra warmth in these chilly conditions. "I should have stayed in Antiva..."

Looking toward the direction of the ruins that once were the Temple of Sacred Ashes, she breathes a weary sigh as she seems to study the Breach for what must be the hundredth time since learning of its formation. She had already been hailed for having been the one to discover the Urn in the first place, leading to Arl Eamon's recovery during the Blight, and now, with all of this...

"Andraste's flaming knickers, what is it with this Blighted mountain?"

[ssinnerplazahotel]

WC:7k

Warning: 18+, age gap, smut, fluff, yandere elvis, it’s the 50s/60s, painful-difficult-devastating-life-changing-extraordinary love

Pairing: elvis x black reader

Disclaimer: full of inaccuracies, inaccurate timeline, inaccurate depictions of Graceland, historically inaccurate themes and items

Note/: this is part four of a five part series and was intended for black readers but written with no physical descriptions——all reader’s welcomed

“Hello?”

“I’m looking for the girl you were with earlier.”

“Who the hell is this?”

“Put her on the phone.”

“…Hello?”

“Birdie?”

“E?”

“What the hell are you doing in Seattle?”

“Oh my…How did you get this number?”

“How do you always manage to show up in the damndest of places?”

“Well…I-I’m…” You were genuinely at a loss for words.

“How’d you get caught up with a vulture like Don Siegel?” He was seething. You hadn’t heard his voice in over three years, you weren’t used to its intensity. “Wh-What~ I mean Jesus Christ, the man’s married.”

“I d-didn’t know~”

“Oh, yes the fuck you did.” His voice was heavier, fuller and dripping with something new…something different that you couldn’t quite pinpoint. “My heart sank when I saw you with that man. How do you end up in these situations?”

“Can you hold on a minute?” You still heard him fuming when you took the phone from your ear. “Baby? I have to take a call in the other room. Don’t pick up the phone.”

“Huh?”

“Don’t pick up the phone.”

“Yeah…”

You scurried to the other room as fast as you could and dropped onto the sofa—he was still going when you picked up the other phone.

“—I don’t know how you find new ways to~”

“Elvis?” He wouldn’t stop, and you almost didn’t want him to. Something about it was exhilarating. “Come on, I can’t…bunny, please. Listen for a second, just listen.”

He fell silent then, finally taking a breath.

“I can’t believe it’s really you, E.”

“Oh, now you know how it feels, huh?”

You laughed. “How do you know Don?”

“Honey, how the hell do you know him?”

“We just fool around sometimes~”

“Oh, please spare me~”

“You asked.”

“What happened? You got so good at playing tricks that you’re on to higher circles now?”

“‘Higher circles,’” You repeated incredulously. “Don fucks the same as any other man~”

“Birdie!”

“What?”

“I don’t want to hear it. Alright?”

“How are you, baby? Are you okay?”

He sighed. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“How’s your girl?”

“It’s getting harder to keep in touch.”

“Why’s that?”

“I’m busy.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

He didn’t want to talk about it. “I worked on a project with Don—it went straight to the gutter.”

“What’s that mean?”

“It bombed in box office.”

“Well, if I had known I would’ve gone to see it a million times.”

“You really had no idea we worked together?”

“We don’t do a whole lot of talking.”

He clicked his tongue and groaned in annoyance.

“What a coincidence,” You continued. “I’ll have to tell Don how we know each other.”

“Whenever you have a free moment to talk,” He said sarcastically.

“I’ll just tell him while he’s going down on me, he’s usually a great listener then.”

“I can’t stand you.” You laughed and he was silent for a moment. “What’s he call you?”

You were practically squirming in your seat. “Do you really want to know?”

“I don’t think I can handle the mystery.”

“…I let him call me Sugar.”

“He thinks that’s your name?”

“He’s not as inquisitive as you, believe it or not.”

“Does he pay you?”

“No, E. It’s not like that. W-We…Well, we’re in love.”

“You love him?”

“I do.”

There was silence on the other end and for a moment you worried he was going to hang up.

“You aren’t gonna hang up on me, are you?”

“…No, I just…I don’t know.”

“You sound upset.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing you say those words.“

You felt the tension disappear as you laughed. “You’re too easy, bunny.”

“Are you serious?” He asked, fuming again.

“I told you two seconds ago that we just fool around sometimes,” You said. “Did you forget that already?”

“So what—do you love him?”

“Of course not,” You responded. “You need to stop believing everything I say.”

“I can’t tell what’s true and what’s not.”

“So don’t believe any of it.”

He scoffed and you imagined him shaking his head in disbelief. You liked that he was still so easy to rile up.

“I want you to come see me while I’m here.”

You weren’t shocked by the request. “How long are you here?”

“Just through the fifteenth.”

You hummed thoughtfully. “I can try to~”

“Get something to write down the address.”

“…Just a second.” You took the phone from your ear and, for a moment, you contemplated hanging up. If it had been anyone else, you would’ve. But it was Elvis. You brought the phone back to your ear. “Alright go ahead.”

“You didn’t get anything to write with.”

“Can you see me through this thing?”

“No, I just don’t trust you~”

“What’s the address?”

“1902, Second Avenue.”

“The Doric?”

“You know these things of the top of your head?”

“The…yeah, the Doric New Washington?”

“Tell them your name’s ‘Birdie’ at the front desk and they’ll send you up.”

“I don’t know when I’ll~”

“I want to see you tonight.”

He hung up the phone after that. After recovering from your shock, you stood to go back into the bedroom.

“Who was that?”

“Elvis.”

“Oh…oh?”

“I gotta get going, Don.”

“In the middle of the night?”

“You’re asleep anyway.”

“…Will I see you again?”

“I’m sure you will, baby—every night in your dreams.”

He laughed but made no further attempt at conversation as you quickly dressed and left the room.

You cleaned up as best you could in the bathroom—trying to disguise the wrinkles in your dress was useless. You left the suite and went to find the elevator. You got to the front desk and rang the bell.

“Can I help you?”

“Sorry to bother you again,” You said, only slightly embarrassed. “Someone is supposed to be expecting me.”

“And you are?”

“Birdie.”

The woman scanned the list, skipping past the name ‘Sugar’ to find ‘Birdie’ in fresh ink.

You smiled when she met your eyes. “That’s me.”

She handed over the key with an edge of distaste. “14th floor.”

After hiding out in the hall for an hour or so, you finally made your way to his room. You felt an eerie sense of calm as you approached the door. You thought you’d be more anxious seeing him again.

“Who is it?” He called when you knocked.

“Take a wild guess.” You were shocked by the velocity in which the door opened.

“You fucking—“ You screamed when he picked you up, struggling against him for a moment.

“What are you doing?” You laughed.

“I called Don back,” He said as he drug you into the room and shut the door. “I didn’t know it took an hour and a half to get up three floors.”

“Put me down,” You squealed. “You crazy old~”

“You better not finish that~”

“Let me go so I can see you.” You stumbled back a few steps to look at him. “Yeah, that’s you. Still the same bunny I remember.”

“It’s only been about three damn years.”

“Has it really? I didn’t even notice.”

His eyes narrowed. “…Yes you did.”

You smiled. “Why are you in Seattle?”

He shrugged dismissively. “Another thing.”

“Good thing?”

“Yeah. A lot people want it.”

“You look good.”

“You look like you’ve already had a long night.”

You tried to laugh but your smile faltered. “Ouch.”

“Take a shower.”

“…You have this new way of telling and not asking, I’ve noticed.”

“I don’t have time.”

You crossed your arms. “I don’t like it.”

“Will you please go take a shower so that I can get a chance with you before you disappear?”

“Elvis.”

“What?” He seemed unbothered by your expression. “I’m sure you’ve got a million more tricks to get through before the end of the night. I don’t want to waste your time.”

“You’re being rude.”

“I’m just playing the game.”

“I don’t play the games you’re used to anymore.”

“What are you doing with Don then?”

“The same things you do with the girls you bring back to your room every night. Are you spinning tricks on them? I mean, I know you are, but do you call it that?”

He shrugged dismissively. “Then I guess we’re the same.”

“I guess so.”

“…Will you go take a shower?”

“Why? Are you worried you’ll taste him on me?”

His jaw twitched. “I can smell him from here.”

“You don’t like that?”

“I can’t fucking stand that.”

“Sorry…I’ll go wash him away.”

You wanted to believe that he was the same. Although the years had gone by torturously—it had been such a short amount of time. When you looked at him, he was the same. Bold, glamorous and soft enough around the edges to pull you in without raising any suspicion about his razor sharp charisma. But there was something else there now. It was darker and it genuinely made you want to know if he was okay.

“What are you waiting for?”

“Nothing, I-I didn’t…I thought we could talk.”

“About what?”

You nodded in agreement—unsure of what else you were supposed to do.

You went into the bathroom and showered in a rush. If he didn’t have time, neither did you. When you got back into the bedroom, you had expected him to be there waiting for you. He seemed so desperate to get the night over with before. However, you found him in the main room of the suite still fully dressed. He sat back on the sofa, staring up at the ceiling with a blank expression.

“Are you ready?” You asked, securing your towel under your arms.

“Yeah.” He turned his head and his eyes raked over your body before he motioned for you. “You can leave the towel there.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

You sighed. “I’m not gonna stay and let you treat me like shit. There’s not that much kindness in the world, let alone in my heart.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“What are you gonna do?”

He stared silently.

“Say something.”

“What do you want me to say?”

“I don’t want you to say anything, I want you to be nice.” If it had been any other situation you’d be more intentional about hiding the hurt in your voice.

“Why should I be nice?” His lips twitched in a suppressed smile. “Do you deserve it?”

Now you were silent and tight-jawed.

“I think I deserve one good night after all the nights I spent worrying about you after you left out of nowhere.” He waited a long time to continue—probably because he knew you had nothing to say. “Leave the towel there.”

You took a breath, contemplating for a moment before letting the material fall where you stood. You could’ve left. You wanted to leave, but you worried he’d let you go—just like he had let you go before. You worried that if you walked away it wouldn’t be three years.

It’d be forever.

He watched you the entire time you walked over, no doubt analyzing every detail of your appearance. When you reached him, he motioned for you to kneel and despite every fiber of your being screaming in protest—you did.

You focused on your hands in your lap instead of his eyes. You didn’t want to see that look in his eyes that you saw in every other man’s eyes.

You heard him shift before you felt him take your face in his hands. He tilted your head back and you finally met his gaze.

You waited but he didn’t do anything. He smiled. A gentle smile that seemed too out of place for the moment. “I love you.”

You wanted to cry but you hoped he couldn’t tell. “It doesn’t feel like it.”

He leaned forward then and kissed your forehead. He was silent again when he stood and you turned to watch him walk over and pick up the towel.

“Come on,” He said, holding it up for you to walk into.

You frowned. “What kind of game are you playing?”

“Can you just listen?” You didn’t move. “I’ll treat you nice, birdie. I promise.”

You stood and he wrapped you in the towel before leading you back into the bedroom.

“I’ll give you something to wear for the night,” He said, gesturing to the bed for you to sit.

You frowned but sat as he went into the suitcase by the closet and retrieved a worn shirt for you to sleep in.

“What?” He asked when you looked up at him. “Not your style?”

“…What’s happening?” You truly had no idea.

He turned to the mirror on the wall to adjust—admire—his hair. “We’re just having a good time, baby. Don’t worry.”

You refrained from complaining and slipped the shirt on. “Is this something you’re into?”

“What?”

“I mean…why do you want to fuck me in your ugly shirt?”

He laughed and checked you out in his shirt. “I think you’re cute.”

Cute? No one ever called you cute. “Are you okay? I’m genuinely asking.”

“Yeah, why?” You stared in disbelief as he crawled onto the bed and fell onto his back in a huff. “Where were you staying before Don picked you up?”

“He flew me out for the weekend but…I-I’ll probably head home after this.”

“Home?” He seemed surprised to hear that. “Where’s that?”

“If I tell you, are you gonna stalk me?”

“No. I don’t even believe you.”

You shifted in his direction, but he stopped you from straddling him and instead made you settle for his arm over your waist as you laid facing each other.

“Where was it again?” He reiterated, continuing his line of questioning

You sighed reluctantly. “Chicago.”

“Really?”

“Mhm…”

“Why there?”

“It's up and coming.”

“I’m sure you like it.”

“Why?”

“You like anything that’s up and coming.”

There was a glimmer of humor in his eyes but you pretended not to notice the innuendo. “It’s okay if I stay to myself.”

“That’s good, birdie. I’m happy for you.”

You were confused but you had a feeling he wanted you to be. You didn’t want to give him the satisfaction of saying anything.

“Will you stay tonight?”

“Why?” You wondered. “You don’t want anything to do with me.”

“Not true.”

“Then what is happening right now? Why don’t you want me?”

“This is how I want you.” He shrugged. “This is more important to me than fucking every waking minute of our every encounter.”

“Laying here losing brain cells is more important to you?”

“Getting to know you is more important to me, yes.”

You didn’t know what he was up to, but you felt like there was some kind of method behind all this. It felt all too intentional.

“What do you want me to do? Lay here until you fall asleep?” You asked, turning onto your back and crossing your arms. “I can lay here until you fall asleep. Easy.”

He snuggled closer and kept his arm over your torso. “The whole time, or until I fall asleep?”

“What do you want?”

“The whole time.”

“Easy.”

He seemed satisfied. “What do you do now, honey?”

“Nothing.”

“You bought a house off nothing?”

“I had savings.”

“I want the address before you go.”

“What? No. Why?”

“So I can send you things.”

“No…I’ll leave my number if you want.”

He sighed—unsatisfied.

“What’re you doing tomorrow?” You asked in the wake of his silence. He was happy that you were engaging in the conversation.

“Working.”

“That’s nice.”

“Will you stay with me for a few days? You can hang out with the guys while I’m on set and at night we could do our own thing.”

“I don’t know if I can.”

Silence.

“Don’t be mad at me.”

“Why can’t you stay?”

“Because~”

“You don’t want to?”

“I can’t.”

“I don’t understand why you insist on keeping this space between us like it matters anymore~”

“It matters to me.”

“You don’t know how to let anyone love you.”

“Sorry, I don’t have much practice.”

“I’m trying to show you.”

You laughed.

“I’m serious.”

“What do you want?”

“Stay and play house with me for a couple days. After that I’ll send you back to Chicago.”

Now you were silent.

“I’ve played your game for the last six years. You can’t play mine for a couple days?”

That changed things—that made it feel less like a commitment and more like a challenge.

“There’s that mischief in your eyes again,” Elvis said.

“You think you can top my game?”

“I’ve had some practice in the last few years.”

You enjoyed his confidence—he was so sure of himself.

“What do you say?”

“Game on.”

*

This is what he needed you to see.

He wanted you to see how much the world and the people around him desired him—his attention, his praise, his approval. He needed you to see that, while you ran away from his affection, others craved it. And for so many hours of your life you were forced to soak it all in.

Set tours, studio tours, special guest seating, special guest accommodations that no one needed or asked for. He must’ve told them you were the Queen of fucking England.

Every second you were away from him, you absolutely wanted to die—but you didn’t let it show.

The last thing you needed after a miserable day of pretending to give a shit about Seattle was to be swarmed by frenzied fans, yet there you were. He didn’t even try to avoid them. He walked right into the line of fire and struck up a conversation.

When he finally pulled himself away from the crowd you expected to be ushered the rest of the way to the car. However, he slipped his arm around your waist and went for a kiss. If it hadn’t been the first time his lips touched yours in the last three years you would have pushed him away.

Your first kiss in three years and he made sure there were a million people watching.

And to say the least, he didn’t look one bit surprised at the uproar of chaos erupting behind you. He actually smiled when you were finally behind the safety of the car door.

“You think that was funny?”

“It wasn’t too bad~”

“Kissing me in front of all those people, what were you thinking?”

He shrugged. “I was thinking that I wanted to kiss you so I did.”

You scoffed and looked out the window.

“I’m sorry, mama, I didn’t think you’d be upset.” He closed the space between you and put his arm around you. “When I see you, everything else fades away and it’s just us.”

“You should know by now that sweet lines don’t work on me.”

“They work on something.”

You pretended to not understand.

“You gotta be purring from all this excitement.” His voice was like gravel when he muttered those words. He watched you tense with a satisfied grin.

“What are you gonna do about it?” You regretted the question; it sounded less like an invitation in your head. “Actually, don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Don’t do anything about it.”

“Oh, I wasn’t going to.”

You raised an eyebrow.

“I’m not gonna fuck you in the back seat of my car.”

“I bet you’d change your mind if I…got you going first.” You placed a hand between his thighs. “Unless you’re too much of a big, Hollywood star to get your dick sucked in the backseat of your fancy car.”

“Stop.”

“Why? Can’t handle it?”

He cupped your chin in his hand and kissed the corner of your mouth. “Just be here with me, okay? Relax.”

You didn’t protest when he pulled you further into his side and sat back in his seat. “Did you go on any of the tours I set up for you?”

You shift into a more comfortable position and settled in as well. “Yeah, they were really nice.”

“I’m glad you got a chance to go.”

You didn’t know what to say. You never knew what to say.

“What’s wrong?” He must’ve noticed your panic.

“N-Nothing.”

“When we get to the hotel I’m gonna send you up first. I have to hang back and talk to some people.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll only be a few minutes.”

A few hours. He’d only be a few hours. You didn’t know what could possibly have been taking him so long. At some point you attempted to escape the silence, only to discover the floor being blocked off.

“I’m sorry, miss, I can’t let you by.”

“Excuse me?”

“The floor’s already been secured. That means nobody in and nobody out for the rest of the night.”

“W-Well…if you just let me go, I won’t come back.”

“I’m afraid I can’t.”

“So, what—I’m trapped here?”

“The floor opens in the morning.”

“Un-fucking-believable.” You stormed back down the hall and into the room—throwing your purse down without caring about the contents splaying out onto the floor. You sat down on the bed in a huff, looking around the room. It was a bit mundane for Elvis. That’s when you knew that it wasn’t his room.

It was yours.

You went back into the hall to talk to the guards. “Which one of these is the Royal?”

“Last one on the end.”

You didn’t waste another minute before going over. You could hear the music from a few paces away and when you knocked, the door opened to a party. You were floored.

“Lottie?” Red asked in shock.

“Surprised to see me?” You forced a smile.

“What are you doing in Seattle? H-How’d you get past security?”

“I’m real good with people, Red. When they try to say ‘no’ it just comes out as ‘yes.’”

He flushed. “I-I’m sure Elvis would be thrilled to see you.”

“Is he here?”

“Yeah, I’ll go tell him you’re~”

“No. I want to surprise him.”

Red nodded. “He’s somewhere over there.”

You headed in the opposite direction—you weren’t looking for him anymore.

*

“Hey, baby, you okay?”

The man looked up upon hearing your voice but he looked around for who you were speaking to instead of responding.

“You.”

“Me?” He asked.

“Yeah, you,” You chuckled.

“O-Oh…yeah, I’m alright.”

“What’s your name?”

“…Joel.”

“It’s nice to meet you Joel.”

“Y-You too.”

You followed his gaze for a moment to where Elvis was sitting. “Why do you keep looking over there?”

“I-I thought you were Elvis’ girl.”

“‘Elvis’ girl’, ugh, don’t you hate the sound of that?”

He laughed, shifting towards you despite his nervous demeanor.

“How do you know Elvis?”

“Jerry’s my cousin.”

“Jerry?”

“Yeah.”

“Jerry’s your cousin?” You looked at him. “I don’t see it.”

“How do you know him?”

“It’s a long story,” You said dismissively. “I rather hear more about you.”

“T-There’s…there’s not much t-to hear.”

You pouted. “No interesting stories to tell?”

He shook his head.

“Do you want an interesting story to tell?”

“I-I…I don’t—I mean, I s-shouldn’t.”

“You shouldn’t?”

“No, you’re…y-you’re E’s girl.”

“Did we have this conversation already, or am I getting deja vu?”

“…You’re funny.”

“I’m funnier when I’m sitting down.” You didn’t wait for a response as you took his hand and led him with you—only doubling back for the rest of his drink when you noticed him leaving it. “You’re gonna want to finish this.”

You found a spot on the sofa that was pushed against the back wall. It was a bit cramped but you didn’t mind as much as Joel.

“Do you mind?” You asked, shifting towards him and resting your legs in his lap.

“O-Oh~”

“So, what do you, Joel?”

“Uhm…I used to sell cars with my dad.”

You pretended to care. "Then what happened?”

“He wanted me to go on the road with Jerry.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, stumbling over his words for a moment when you grabbed his wrist and lead his straw to your lips. “H-He said…he said, uhm, that h-he wanted me to know what it was like to be on my own.”

“You aren’t really on your own here, are you?”

“I don’t know…it seems like it sometimes.”

“I can see that.”

“How d-did you say you knew Elvis again?”

“Oh, I didn’t.”

He nodded. “I-I saw you earlier…t-together, so, w-we all thought~”

“You know what happens when you assume, Joel.”

“Yeah, but…”

“We’re just talking, baby.” You offered a reassuring smile. “There’s no harm in that.”

“Okay.”

“Are you having a good time?”

“Yeah.”

“If you could be doing anything else in the world what would you be doing?”

“I-I don’t know, why?”

You shrugged. “Aren’t you going to ask me?”

He swallowed. “What would you be doing?”

“…I think you know what I’m going to say.”

You couldn’t tell if the sweat on his forehead formed instantaneously or if it had already been there. You couldn’t help but enjoy the expression on his face. You weren’t sure what the emotions were, but you reveled in the conflict.

“Hey, Jo, man let me talk to you,” Jerry appeared suddenly, his voice cutting through your conversation and even starling you a bit.

“Y-Yeah?” Joel stood hurriedly, moving your legs in his rush to get up.

“Hi, Jer-bear,” You said. “I was just talking to Joel and he said he’s your cousin."

“He is my cousin.”

“He’s too cute to be your cousin.” You smiled at the way his face flushed. “And he’s sweet, unlike you.”

“E’s looking for you.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, go find out.”

“I don’t like the way you said that.” You stood with a sigh. “Tell the guards to let me out of this hell hole.”

“I can’t do that.”

“What, are we all trapped here?”

“No, you’re free to go back to your room.”

“See, Joel,” You said looking at him. “You could never be this much of an asshole.”

“I-I’m gonna g-go,” He stammered before escaping.

“He wants you to go to him,” Jerry said. “I’m just the messenger, alright, so…”

“‘Alright, so,’ what?”

“So don’t call me an asshole.”

“Only an asshole can do whatever that asshole says, Jerry,” You said. “It’s not my fault the shoe fits.”

“Do I have to tell him you aren’t coming?”

“You don’t have to do anything. You’re your own man.”

He looked annoyed. “I’m just doing my job.”

“So am I.”

He frowned but you didn’t explain before turning on your heel and walking away.

You caught Joel’s eye again on your way out of the room but he quickly avoided your gaze. You tried not to laugh as you left the suite.

“I’m not even going to try with you bunnies again,” You called to the guard at the end of hallway. You noticed that only one stood in the place of the two before. “I’ll just go rot in my cell for the rest of the night. Until you let me go. How fucking stupid is that?”

“Sorry, lady.”

“Fuck you. You can’t tell a person they can’t leave on their own free will.”

“Everyone knew the floor was closing at midnight.”

“No one told me.”

“…sorry?”

You rolled your eyes and stopped to unlock your room door. “Do you know Elvis? D-Did you meet him?”

“Yeah,” The guard seemed through with you.

“What’d you think?”

“I don’t know, he’s a good guy.”

“Wrong,” You said. “He’s not a good person. He’s actually an asshole.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, and he leaves girls alone for hours waiting for him and then he never actually shows up.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, then he makes sure not to tell the girl that she can’t leave after midnight. So she sits there until it’s too late and now she’s just a sitting fucking duck waiting around for the sun.”

“…sorry about that.”

“I think you should let me go.”

“Lady~”

“Vivian.”

“I'm sorry, Vivian, I’m just doing my job.”

“This really has nothing to do with your job.” You had left the door and started making your way towards him. “I’m really good about keeping secrets. I wouldn’t tell a soul it was you that let me by.”

“My partner’s gonna be back any minute.”

“Then let’s hurry.”

He laughed. “You should go to your room and sleep the night off.”

“I would its just that…”

“What?”

“I get real sick when I’m alone.”

“Sick how?”

“Sometimes…I think I’ll die.” You stopped in front of him and met his eyes. “It’s not good for me. That’s why you ought to let me by.”

“I can’t.”

“Well it’s either that or spending the night with me.”

“Birdie.”

You practically jumped a foot off the ground upon hearing his voice booming with such anger.

“Elvis, don’t~”

“What the fuck are you doing, huh?”

“Leave him alone~”

“You, shut up and get in the room,” He snapped, ushering you back that way. “You—you’re fucking fired, get out of my sight.”

“He didn’t do anything wrong~”

“Go.”

You released a stunned gasp when he grabbed your arm and drug you the rest of the way into the room. “What is the matter with you?”

“Me? What the hell is the matter with you?”

You weren’t sure how to respond to his anger when you were so upset yourself.

“I can’t believe you’re the one screaming right now,” You responded. “You left me here all night!”

“I told you that I had to talk to some people~”

“All night? It’s like you didn’t even consider the fact that you said you’d…” You noticed a certain expression on his face that made you stop. His disappearance tonight was intentional. You laughed humorously as you realized the situation you had unknowingly walked into.

He was going to leave you there all night to see if you’d stick around until the next day.

“What?” He wondered. He wanted you to confirm that you knew exactly what was going on

“Did you make your point?”

He shrugged. “Do you feel like shit?”

You wanted to cry. “Yep.”

“Then I guess I made my point.”

“I want to leave.”

“You can’t.”

“…Then you leave.”

“I will if you really want me to.”

“I really want you to.”

“Okay.”

You were shocked when he turned around and started toward the door.

“I want you to know,” You started, waiting for him to face you to continue. “I’ve never set out to intentionally hurt you. Ever. That’s not what I do, and it’s not something I tolerate from anyone—not even you. So…I hope you’re happy knowing that if you never see me again after tonight, it’s your fault.”

“Is that all?”

You forced down the yell that had threatened to erupt from your throat and you let your words die on your tongue. “…Good night, Elvis.”

“Will you be here tomorrow?”

“Only if I’m cold and stiff.”

That seemed to make his movements falter but he ultimately kept walking. “I guess I’ll see you in a few years then.”

“Don’t count on it.”

You weren’t shocked to find Jerry knocking on your door the next afternoon—doing his usual clean up.

“Can’t you just stay until the end of filming?”

“Why should he get whatever he wants?”

“When he gets whatever he wants, our lives are easier.”

“Jerry, I think you mean ‘when he gets whatever he wants, we all get whatever we want.’”

“All I know is that last week he didn’t even want to show up and this week he’s gotten there early everyday. I haven’t seen him this enthusiastic about anything in years and I honestly think you’re the reason.”

“I’ve only been here two miserable days.”

“I’m telling you, he’s different. He’s happier when you’re around, I noticed it back then too.”

“Well I’m not. It’s like fucking torture to me.”

“Because you’re not trying to meet him where he’s at.”

“That’s all I’ve been doing. He’s the one with zero regard for anyone’s feelings.”

“He’s been in love with you for six years and you’ve never seen him the same way. He did more than respect your feelings when you told him you were a whore~”

“I don’t think you even want to go there, Jerry.”

“He’s told me what you used to do for Ron~”

“Don’t.”

“I’m not judging you, it’s the honest to god truth. He’s protecting himself just like you have been all these years.”

“By treating me like shit?”

“By keeping you at arms length where you belong.”

*

You told Jerry that you’d stay but you didn’t hear from Elvis again until that night. He showed up so late that night you had already convinced yourself that he wasn’t coming and had resorted to crying your eyes out thinking he was officially done with you.

“Why’d you stay?” He spoke as soon as he entered, his voice booming in the silent room. He let the door swing shut behind himself and plopped down on the edge of the bed.

“I talked to Jerry.”

“You did?” He was shocked at the sight of your tears. “Hey…y-you’re crying. Since when do you cry?”

“Baby, I…Elvis,” You tried to force a steady tone as you sat up to speak. “I’m sorry.”

“Stop.” He shifted to face you. “I c-can’t believe you’re crying. How much did you drink?”

“I’m not drunk. I didn’t even go to the party.”

“Why?”

“It doesn’t matter, look, I…I don’t want you to think that I showed up here to hurt you. W-When I found out that Don was going to your party I-I thought that it meant something. I thought we could see each other again and I could make up for the way I left before.”

“Why?”

“Because, ever since everything happened with Ron, I’ve been trying to be different. I’m trying to be a better person.”

“…If I’m just a step on your path to becoming a better person then honestly~”

“That’s not~”

“No, I’m really glad you’re going on this journey of self discovery and everything but I don’t see how it involves me.”

“It involves you.”

“How?”

“Because I…I-I guess I love you.”

He pursed his lips. “You guess?”

“I know I do a-and I couldn’t live thinking you hated me for the way I left.”

“I do hate you for the way you left.”

“I know, and I’m sorry.”

“If I forgive you will you disappear?”

“…Not if you don’t want me to.”

“Do you love me? Or is it a trick?”

“I’ve loved you since that night in Ohio.”

“You’re lying.”

“Do you really think I’d still be here if I were lying?”

“Then what’s been the point of this whole thing? The past six years? Do you get off on being miserable?”

“I’ve never…” You wanted to disappear.

“Uh-uh, don’t do that,” He snapped. “Don’t start fixing shit up in your head~”

“I’m not~”

“You look like you’re already a million miles away so you might as well go.”

“I’m here, Elvis, I’m right here.”

“Where do you want to be?”

“I want to be here with you. That’s why I’m here.”

“I’m sorry if I’m having a hard time believing you, Vivian—or is it Lottie, or Des, fucking Treasure and every goddamn thing else besides your actual name~”

“You know my name.”

“That’s not the point! The point is that you’re a liar, all you do is lie.”

“I’m trying to stop. It’s all I’ve known for the last thirteen years, I can’t break it that easily.”

“What am I supposed to do with that?”

“You’re supposed to trust that I’m doing everything I can to be transparent with you. About everything.”

“Where are you from?”

“…N-North Carolina~”

“Lie.”

“I swear.”

“How’d you end up in Memphis?”

“That’s a question for my mama, Elvis. I don’t know.”

His jaw clenched and he shook his head.

“I’m telling you the truth,” You said. “Y-You can ask me anything. I-I mean…I’m trying, bunny, I really am.”

“How old are you really?”

“Oh, come on~”

“You said anything.”

“Don’t be a dick.”

“Do you really have a house in Chicago?”

“It’s a duplex.”

“And you’re there regularly?”

“As regularly as I can be.”

“What’d Jerry say to make you stay?”

“Nothing specific. He just made me feel like a piece of shit for being who I am…so pretty much the same thing you did, I guess.”

“You just can’t handle being called out on your bullshit.”

“You call it bullshit, I call it staying alive and sane.”

“You think you’ll go insane and die if you fall in love?”

“I’m already halfway there.”

Elvis chuckled and moved to sit next to you against the bed’s wooden headboard. “I want you to love me, birdie.”

“I do.”

“Then let it happen.”

“What if…I don’t know, what if you hurt me?” You tried to laugh but you were serious. “How do I know you aren’t going to keep punishing me?”

“I don’t want to punish you. I-I don’t want to trick you into loving me, I just want you to do it.”

“I do.”

“Say it.”

“What?”

“Just come out and say ‘Elvis, I love you. I want to be with you.’” You laughed. “I’m serious, let’s hear it.”

“Elvis, I love you. I want to be with you,” You repeated.

“I love you too, see?” He seemed content as he put his arm around your shoulders and pulled you into his side. He reached up to dry your remaining tears with the pad of his thumb. “You can be a good girl. You’re a sweet girl, I know you are.”

“Only for you.”

“I like that.” He kissed you gently, moving his lips slowly against yours. “Tell me you’re my girl.”

“You’re pushing it.”

He laughed. “Please?”

“I’m your girl, E.” You couldn’t make out his expression but you felt his breath catch as he kissed you again. “Do you like that?”

“Yes,” He whispered. “Fuck, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that.”

He convinced you to let him take you home to Chicago. You protested at first but gave in eventually. Mostly because he stopped believing you had a place.

“Go ahead. Call it a piece of shit.”

“No, it’s…it’s got good bones, I can tell.” He looked around. “At least it’s real.”

“A real piece of shit.”

He walked further into the house and you watched him closely. “How do you keep up with it?”

“I don’t think you want to know.”

“…I thought you said you were done with those games.”

“I am, it’s not that,” You said. “Ron helps out a lot, that's all.”

He looked confused. “You’re letting him pay your bills?”

“For now, until~”

“Why would you want any connection to him at all?”

“I don’t. But he said it was the least he could do after everything that happened.”

“He just wants control.”

“My mother asked him to, that’s the only reason he’s doing it.”

“What does he get out of it?”

“I don’t know, we don’t even talk directly—only through my mom.”

He shook his head. “You made it seem like you were doing better when you’re really in the exact same situation as the last time I saw you.”

“I am doing better.”

“How?”

“I don’t know…I feel better.”

“You don’t feel safe.”

“I never have.”

“Do you understand why I have an issue with that?”

“What do you want me to do? I didn’t know you were going to make me feel bad~”

“Don’t start weaponizing everything I say like you always do~”

“You make me feel bad for the way my life is, E. I’m not weaponizing anything, alright, it’s the way I feel.”

“That’s not what I’m trying to do, I’m trying to tell you that there’s another way.”

The phone rang and you hesitated to answer.

“Pick it up.”

“No.” He moved to get it and you stopped him. “Okay, fine.”

He stood back as you answered the call, listening intently.

“Hello?” You avoided his eyes. “Hey, Arnie, how are you?”

You heard Elvis scoff.

“…No, I…I would, baby, but I don’t think I can make it to the airport tonight. I just got home from a long weekend.”

Elvis seemed to not be interested in the conversation anymore and opted for wandering down the hall.

“I’ll make it up to you, okay? Don’t be mad at me…okay…you too. Bye.” You ended the call but left the phone off the hook. “Bunny?”

“Who the hell is Arnie?”

“I met him in New York. He’s a director.”

“Men just call and offer to fly you out places?”

“He likes when I come to his parties. He thinks it makes them more attractive.”

“He thinks you’ll be an easy target for his customers—I meant guests, sorry.”

“I don’t screw whatever walks like a duck, E, give me a break.”

“How many people have you screwed? Not even in your life, just in past three years.”

“You know just what to ask a lady.”

“You said I could ask anything.”

“If I’m being honest…four? Yeah, only four.”

“Including me or not?”

“Not.”

“Who were they?”

“I told you the number, do I really have to tell you who it was?”

“No, but I’ll assume and make an ass out of the both of us.”

“…You can’t really be upset, it was before I knew I’d see you again.”

That detail seemed to make him feel better. “Four people, huh?”

“Turns out I have a lot of friends. You’d be surprised how many of these guys just need someone to talk to.”

“You lead a lot of people on is what you’re saying.”

“It’s more fun playing the long game.”

“Which is why we’ve been doing this for six years?”

“I was hoping you’d get tired of me but you’re helpless.”

“I don’t give up when I really want something.”

“I’ve noticed.”

He sighed and looked around. “I want you to find a new place. Somewhere Ron can’t control you.”

“I was going to as soon as I saved up enough.”

“If you’re gonna let him pay your way you might as well let me do it.”

“Ron owes me.”

“Yeah, well don’t you owe me a little peace of mind after everything you’ve put me through?”

“I don’t even talk to him unless something out of the ordinary happens.”

“I’m not asking you to move in with me.”

“Then what are you asking?”

“I don’t know…I just want you out of here. I got a place up in California, you can stay there.”

“I’m starting to see what you mean when you say that I don’t listen to myself when I talk.“

“I think you living in Ron’s duplex is more insane than you living in my house.”

“I can’t just pick up and move to California.”

“You also can’t just decide to use logic whenever you feel like it. You’ve picked up and moved to a million different places since I’ve known you.”

“I like it here.”

“If you like it here you’ll love it there.”

You glanced off.

“Tell me what’s really stopping you.”

“It seems like we’d be spending a lot more time together if I did that.”

“Hopefully.”

“…I have this funny feeling you won’t like me as much once you get to know me.”

“We can take it as slow as you want, birdie. I’m not gonna be there every day. You’ll have all the space to do…whatever you want, I mean—y-you’re your own person, so…if you want to have people over, you can have them over—I-I don’t care.”

“Are you giving me permission to throw crazy parties at your house?”

“I’m just letting you know that I’m not trying to impede on your, I guess…y-your business.”

“Will you take the offer?”

“I’ll feel like I’m taking advantage~”

“I know you, birdie, come on.” He waved dismissively. “I want you to say yes so we can get a flight before the end of the night. I can’t stand the thought of sleeping under Ron’s roof.”

You laughed. “He’s never even stepped foot in this place.”

“Say yes, please,” He said, letting his voice drop. “I want to be able to sleep at night knowing that you’re safe.”

The phone rang within the moments that it was on the hook and Elvis picked it up with an aggravated sigh.

“What?” He stopped you when you tried to take the phone. “She doesn’t live here anymore.”

“Elvis!” You were stunned when he hung the phone up and dialed the number to the airport.

“It’s true.” He shrugged and began conducting business. “…Yeah, Elvis Presley.”

You rolled your eyes when he held the phone up to your ear so that you could hear the overexcited reaction from the airport receptionist.

[lilyimmsim]

just finished 'all the light we cannot see' and am sobbing. the way this book was written was the most beautiful thing i have read. anthony doerr's writing style conveyed the utter desperation felt when anguished and overwhelmed so perfectly, and the beauty of life despite it all even better. (spoilers ahead) the way life continues on after werner's death, how the world keeps spinning is just so incredible. it could have easily become one of those love-at-first-sight (or first-hear lol) books where the protagonist's story ends when their loved one dies, but it didn't. i loved how the povs changed, and how the timelines were sliced up and shoved back together so we are constantly gasping and excited and apprehensive. it tied so perfectly together; the radio that saved werner and jutta throughout their foster care was also what saved etienne, kept him from going mad; how marie-laure cannot see and how werner loves to listen; how the stone was there for all of this and yet played the side character with just a few lines - but how they changed marie, von rumpel, daniel's lives so much.

it's mentioned so little, during marie-laure's povs, that she cannot see. her povs are so bright, inquisitive, full of life. i cannot remember reading about how much she wished she could see, or about how because she is disabled she must sit back and let the germans take her. no, she was resourceful and fought back; she played the radio, she snuck to the ocean, she was ready with a knife for von rumpel. werner and marie-laure's lives are so intricately connected despite meeting, properly, once.

werner, werner oh werner. maybe my favourite character, i'm not sure, they all had such depth to them. but werner has so much potential. and he was so cowardly, and he should have helped frederick, and i cried when he killed the little girl with her mum, and he was so entranced by marie-laure, and he should have listened and written to jutta, and volkheimer loved him like a little brother, and he died but the world kept going,,, he was so brilliant and the parallels between marie-laure and him are too much for me. he saw such evil and did nothing about it. so much of his povs, especially at the start of the book, are about what he can see - the batteries, the wires, the problems.. he sees frederick struggling; he sees it all yet does so little. and yet when it comes down to seeing past the physical, into what werner is doing for the germans, into seeing the ethical ramifications for his actions, he chooses to turn his gaze.

they are the realest characters i have read and have opened my eyes (pun intended) about what life is, where to find beauty in this world amongst all the wreckage of other civilisations, amongst broken people and hurting creatures, amongst things beyond physical. it all ties together so beautiful and just ughh

[exhausted-archivist]

Cassandra Pentaghast Timeline

A summarized and organized timeline of Cassandra's life. Summarizing the major points of Dawn of the Seeker; such as naming characters and such key events.

Warning in advance about some spoilers for Absolution as I quote a couple lines in the notes section.

9:04 Dragon

Cassandra is born in a carriage halfway between Cumberland and Val Chevin. She was raised in her family estate in Nevarra City until 9:10 Dragon.

9:10 Dragon

Lord Matthias and Lady Tigana, Cassandra and Anthony's parents, are executed by King Markus Pentaghast for taking the wrong side during the second attempt to overthrow the king. Cassandra and Anthony were spared from execution thanks to their uncle, their father's brother, Vestalus who was a senior member of the Mortalitasi who vouched for them and took them as his wards.

Cassandra and Anthony were moved to the Grand Necropolis in Nevarra.

9:12 Dragon

Vestalus was promoted to prelate of the Mortalitasi and overseer of the Grand Necropolis. This left Cassandra and Anthony by themselves more often, leaving them in isolation save for Nomi in the Chantry where Cassandra devoted her time.

Anthony and Cassandra started training in swordsmanship with asperations to becoming dragon hunters.

9:16 Dragon

Cassandra, at the age of 12*, witnesses her brother Anthony; a renowned dragon hunter, get beheaded at the hands of blood mages.

Cassandra begs to join the Templar Order when faced with a lack of justice for Anthony. Her uncle instead sends her to the Seekers of Truth.

She begins her training at the Seeker fortress of Montsimmard as an apprentice to Seeker Byron, a senior member. He focused on her religious education rather than her martial education.

9:19 Dragon

At the age of 15, Cassandra is the youngest Seeker to go through her vigil since the Storm Age. Her vigil takes place in a remote castle located within the Blasted Hills of Northern Orlais and lasts for two weeks.

9:22 Dragon

The following are the events of Dawn of the Seeker that take place. This is the briefest of summaries.

Cassandra and a group of Seekers attack a group of blood mages who abducted Avexis, an elven mage from the White Spire who has the ability to control beasts. The blood mages use a ritual to extend that power to controlling dragons. Byron, Cassandra's mentor and father figure, reveals to Cassandra a conspiracy within the Chantry as he is leaving the fortress with Cassandra and Avexis.

The three are attacked by blood mages, in wich Byrion dies and Avexis is kidnapped again. Cassandra is branded a traitor. Regalyan, a friend of Byrion and the contact they were to take Avexis to, is captured by Cassandra under the suspicion he is a blood mage. The pair is then captured by Templars and eventually make their escape. Cassandra's goal is to clear her name and discover proof of the conspiracy.

The conspiracy is that Knight-Commander Martel and Grand Cleric of Orlais, Callista, are working with the blood mages who intend to attack the 10 year gathering at the Grand Cathedral. Grand Cleric Callista and Knight-Commander Martel intend to unleash dragons on the Divine and gathered Grand Clerics during the ceremony so that Callista may become Divine as the last remaining Grand Cleric.

The conspiracy is thwarted by Cassandra, Regalyan, the Circle Mages, and additional Seekers. Cassandra kills two dragons and a high dragon. Saving the Divine.

As a reward for their actions, Cassandra is made the Right hand of the Divine and declared Hero of Orlais.

After the ceremony, Divine Beatrix III speaks with Cassandra about how the attack on the Gathering was only the beginning. Insisting that the Chantry must prepare for the coming storm before placing the holy writ into her hands. The writ that grants the Right and Left Hands of the Divine the authority to restore the Inquisition.

9:34 Dragon

Divine Beatrix III dies and Divine Justinia V is elected. Upon election, Divine Justinia V made a bit to retain Cassandra as her right hand. Pitching to Cassandra the multiple aspects of reform of the Chantry she wanted to do. Which Cassandra met with intrigue and accepted the role once more.

Leliana sent Cassandra a letter that speaks of her observations and how she welcomes the opportunity to work with Cassandra.

9:39 Dragon

Cassandra writes a letter to the now Lord Seeker Lucius, declaring she will not be joining the Seekers and will continue to work with the Divine.

There is an error with this as the Mage-Templar War didn't start until late autumn or winter of 9:40 Dragon. Seeker Lucius doesn't take over for Seeker Lambert until after the events of Asunder where Lambert is killed by Cole at the end of the book a few months later. Leaving the date of this letter to be 9:40 or 9:41.

9:40 Dragon

Cassandra interrogates Varric following the outbreak of the Mage-Templar War.

9:41 Dragon

Cassandra brings Varric and Cullen to Haven with Leliana, they both miss the chance to join the Divine at the beginning of the Conclave as they were delayed.

The Breach opens up and Cassandra leads soldiers into the valley to look for survivors. Her soldiers find the player character (PC Herald/Inquisitor) and the events of Inquisition begin.

Cassandra advocates with Leliana to approach the rebel mages for support with closing the Breach. If the player goes to Redcliffe and sees the situation, Cassandra's opinion will change to supporting the Templars.

Cassandra is investigating the disappearance of her fellow Seekers, her theory is they are prisoners of Corypheus.

Evidence is found that Samson/Calpernia sold the Seekers to the Order of Fiery Promise after finding out that the Seekers are resistant to red lyrium.

When Cassandra investigates the castle of Caer Oswin after tracking the Seekers there, she discovers that her apprentice Daniel, has been implanted with a demon and fed red lyrium. At this point, she discovers that it was Lord Seeker Lucius wh sold the Seekers to the Promisers and has been operating there the whole time. Cassandra then confronts Lucius and kills him in battle.

Procuring the Book of Secrets from the Lord Seeker, Cassandra learns the truth about the vigil. That Seekers were made tranquil and that it was only reversed once they were touched by a Spirit of Faith. This is what granted them their abilities and restored their minds. A fact she learns all Lord/Lady Seekers have known up until this point, and that Lord Seeker Lambert actively hid from the Divine.

Cassandra considers finding the scattered Seekers, reading the Book of Secrets with them, so there are no more secrets between them and establishing a new charter. She also wishes if there is a way to refine the process of reversing Tranquility on mages without the dangers that come with them being overcome by their emotions. The PC character will determine whether she actually does reform the Seekers and investigate the rite further.

If Divine:

Cassandra is said to enact reforms for a new Templar Order and Circle of Magi. She rebuilds the Seekers of truth and rededicates them to protecting the innocent, if the player encourages her. Her attempts of reform are controversial despite her popularity though are generally seen as successful efforts to stabilize peace.

If Not Divine:

She takes the position of advisor on the Divine's council, giving advice on important matters to Divine Victoria. Depending on if the Divine is Leliana or Vivienne dictates how long she stays. If the Divine is Leliana, she stays and works well with her as Cassandra holds respect for Leliana. If Vivienne is Divine, Cassandra eventually leaves disgusted, feeling that Vivienne is perverting the Chant of Light's intent.

9:42-9:44 Dragon

If Cassandra is Divine, she is working on efforts to clean up red lyrium and stating that it is going well.

If Cassandra is not Divine, and she is encouraged to rebuild the Seekers; a month before she returns to Orlais for Trespasser she is in the Hunterhorn Mountains tracking down Seeker Emery and finding leads on other Seekers in Rivian.

If Cassandra is not Divine and wasn't encouraged to rebuild the Seekers; she is in the port of Antiva City and completing a survey and establishes that there are no further signs of Fade energy or demons since the Inquisitor closed a rift there in the Spring. She confirms the Inquisition mages deem the Veil stable in the region. Cassandra also confirms that at this point, all rifts have finally been sealed.

Unclear

At some point, Cassandra aided a reaver named Nyree in defeating her first dragon. By doing so Nyree completed her Rite of Passage.

At some point prior to Cassandra's interrogation of Varric, the Seekers investigated the Vimmark Mountains that housed Corypheus and were turned away by the Grey Wardens and were told that everyone who had been in the prison were dead. Unclear if Cassandra was part of this investigation.

At some point in 9:41 during the Inquisition, Cassandra orders Sidony to return to Nevarra City and stop a Mortalitasi plot that is seeking to assassinate a member of the very unstable line of succession.

It is unclear when this occurred, as Absolution happens after Trespasser and that is about all that is established.** Cassandra and Leliana dispatch Fairbanks and Hira to steal an artifact from the Tevinter Imperium, the Circulum Infinitus.

Notes:

* Cassandra tells Sera that she was trained as a Seeker since she was 6. This is in conflict with a letter from Cassandra's uncle to the Seekers stating she was "even at the tender age of twelve, is too old to begin training with the Seekers". This is reinforced though dialogue the PC can have with her where she establishes she was training with the Seekers at a far older age than most recruits, and was able to do so because of her status.

** The Interview establishes this (emphasis by me)

"Despite its relative proximity to Dreadwolf, though, Absolution intentionally doesn’t try to use its time establishing any real sort of canon for players to latch onto. Some characters from the prior games show up for a spell, and events are broadly mentioned, but Epler (who also serves as Dreadwolf’s creative director) admitted that it was important to avoid setting a definitive canon." He acknowledged it as a “tricky balancing act,” in part because BioWare making its own canon runs the risk of conflicting with the canon players make on their own, and the studio’s word being potentially declared definitive gospel is the last thing anyone wanted. Similarly, there was a desire to make sure Absolution stood on its own, explicit ties to the games or no. “There’s all these elements that make up Thedas and what’s going on,” said Epler. “We were fine with leaving space for these stories to exist and feed into a larger world as a whole.”

Up until the Dragon Age cookbook, there was no establishment of the BioWare canon or the game default. Which are at times two separate things, but do overlap in areas. But the difference between the two is for another conversation.

Additionally some lines in Absolution are about all we have in regards to the fact it definitely happens after Trespasser.

"Before the Inquisition ended, we learned the Tevinter Chantry was in possession of an artefact. The Circulum Infinitus." ep1. , 7:50ish

"Rezaren is dead. I have the Circulum. It's over, if you want it to be. You were right, Hira. Tevinter is an evil place, and I know what it feels like for that hate and that fear to infect you, but... you can't let it. Help me take the Circulum to what's left of the Inqusition and we can try again, free from everything." ep.6, 21:40ish

Source:

World of Thedas Vol. 1 p. 143 World of Thedas Vol. 2 p. 220-223 Dragon Age: Inquisition Dialogue Dragon Age: Dawn of the Seeker Dragon Age: Redemption Interview with Absolution showrunner Mairighread Scott and EP John Epler by io9

Codex:

Cassandra Pentaghast Cassandra and the Last Few Years

[thedinanshiral]

Meet my Inquisitor(s)

While i wait for a release date, editions details, just anything really..i decided to talk about my beloved Lavellan(s).

I did this really fun thing where i just took what Thedas had to offer and played with it, so i made Lavellan twins and made them both the Inquisitor but in different timelines.

First there's Gallia Lavellan, First of her clan, sent to spy on the Conclave who becomes the Inquisitor, romances Solas, becomes best friends with Dorian, and decides to disband the Inquisition after the Exalted Council to save the love of her life.

But in a different timeline the Keeper of their clan decided not to endanger their First and only other mage and sent a hunter instead, and that hunter was the First's twin brother, Adrienn. The events unfold as they were meant to and Adrienn becomes Inquisitor, romances Dorian, becomes friends with almost everyone and also disbands the Inquisition to save his friend from himself.

Now, they both have a life outside of the events of the game when the other is Inquisitor.

When Gallia is Inquisitor her clan survives the attack in Wycome, but life in the dalish clan always felt too small to her brother Adrienn and soon after, inspired by their close encounter with annhilation, he decided to go out and see the world, to live his life to the fullest. His journey took him many places but he ended up settling in Rivain for a while where he decided to join the Lords of Fortune and try to make a name for himself.

When Adrienn is Inquisitor a few unfortunate choices at the war table end in the destruction of Clan Lavellan, with very few survivors eventually rescued and taken in by Adrienn. His sister was fortunately away at the time making deals with another clan in the region. With what little remained of their people under Adrienn's protection and having learned what he shared with her of certain revelations about their people she decided to go on a journey of her own, to find more of their true but lost history. This journey takes her north, to Arlathan Forest, where eventually she joins the Veil Jumpers to explore the ancient elvhen ruins and uncover all their secrets.

At some point along the way both twins in their respective timelines changed their names and identity to both protect their sibling and themselves; what the Inquisition's enemies could do with the knwoledge that the Inquisitor had a twin, or how their personal life choices could affect the other's reputation was something neither wanted to find out.

And so time passed until Solas was finally located, and a new group of brave people was formed to stop him, the Veilguard. While the Inquisition was no more, the connections and reputation the Inquisitor amassed throughout the Inquisition years and beyond was considerable, and so when Varric and Scout Harding went on to search for people Solas wouldn't know, the Inquisitor had at least one person to recommend for the task: their twin.

I designed them based on Abelas, i wanted them to be somewhat closer to what ancient elves looked like (as far as we knew back then) and he was the only reference. Both have the Mythal vallaslin mainly because it's my favourite but Adrienn has the full version while Gallia has a partial one. As Inquisitor however she gets it erased by Solas once she learns vallaslin are slave markings. Her commitment to knowledge, truth and their true heritage is one of the things that make her her, no matter what path she ends up taking.

If it's possible to romance Solas as Rook in a worldstate where Solavellan never happened, i intend to make use of the twins' alternate timelines so former Inquisitor Adrienn asks his sister "Rook" join the Veilguard ..where she'll meet Solas, and the inevitability of their fate manifests once again, as this would be another world.

They're both good and just, but Gallia is definitely the scholarly type and certainly more polite, but not so warm after certain events in her life. Meanwhile Adrienn is definitly more chatty, on occassions shameless, one could argue more fun to be around and more inclined toward earthly pleasures. Being twins and looking alike didn't mean they had the same upbringing; once Gallia's magic manifested they were led through very different paths, with Adrienn learning to hunt and track, being told his duty was to provide for the clan and protect it, as he spent most of his time amongst their people, while Gallia had to spend hers in lectures from their Keeper, reading scrolls and books, learning how to control her magic, oftentimes in solitude mastering her powers and discipline, and with the weight of their clan's leadership on her shoulders from too early an age, the voice of their Keeper always echoing in her mind, "you will become Keeper one day, you must be ready".

As is the case for many of us, i'm quite attached to my Inquisitor. Gallia is my canon Inquisitor, she's about 37 or 38 years old by now, and she let her hair grow longer than ever and often wears braided to the side. I hope the new CC in The Veilguard allows for something like that.

[twistedchatterbox]

Prolouge1

no summary. tags. no beta we overblot like men, choose your own adventure, confusion, the reader is not Yuu, canon divergence, canon divergent timeline, vague as fog descriptions, not x reader ft. [more about the characters'; coming soon] Masterlist for this fic || [Prologue part 1] - [part 2] - [part ?] No word count || The Menu || *bonus Author's note at the end

An unconscious, seemingly pained stranger on campus grounds was surely not what a group of students expected to encounter today.

They were confused and unsure until one of them raised a hand to gather attention ; "Pardon me," The polite but firm boy began, looking around to make eye contact with various people, "-but i believe we should take this person to the infirmary before we talk about anything."

"So you don't even intend to find where they might've come from?" Questioned another figure, his tone was blunt: direct and inquisitive yet non-hostile, pushing for a genuine answer rather than jabbing for a taunt.

Someone else interjected before the boy could answer; however, they seemed to be on the same page- which he was thankful for.

This voice was calm, belonging to a person who was absurdly tall in comparison to some others who were nearby. "They might be able to tell us their story when they're awake, but i doubt they'll be in good condition if we don't bring them to be treated."

To his left was a figure of nearly identical height who leaned down to pick you up, doing so with ease; setting the plan into motion.

So, a few of the other hooded students nodded in silent agreement, unsure of how to deal with the mysterious entrance of this wounded stranger.

A few glances and ushered sentences akin to "Does anyone know this person?" were exchanged, making some of them confused and others skeptical when it seemed that no one knew you.

One of the upperclassmen joined them on the way temporarily, asking who you were; a frown briefly strained on his features when they told him they didn't know. -Yet, it was gone nearly as fast, followed by the upperclassman saying he'd look through campus and see if he could find anything about you online.

Placing you on the bed, the one who carried you with ease put his hands back in the pockets of his pants; relaxed posture, leaning lightly to the back as he tensed and un-tensed his muscles in place with a sigh of relief.

"..Does anyone even know this minnow's name?" his voice slurred as quiet as can be, as if to not wake you up, eyeing every single student in the nurses' office as they all stilled- aside from one other figure.

Silence devoured the room.

Watching carefully with an interrogative gaze, the tall, unbothered student leaned his back to hit the wall, one foot further out while the other remained steady, closer to the wall.

Soon, someone spoke up - "No. I don't think we do." Replied a careful voice with a skeptical tone, following with a "Do you?" ; directing it at the one who looked all-too-comfortable in this weird situation.

"Nah." Said student shrugged back in return, "- don't recognize 'em."

To the left of this lax figure was someone else that stood nearly the same height as him when standing up, except he now sat on one of the chairs of the infirmary.

"it might be wise to check the student files and see if anything matches," offered the more formal voice, receiving silent approval.

it continued on like that, for a while, back and forth of questioning and wondering- without any satisfactory answers, or any at all.

Eventually, the group checked on the clock, then explaining everything when the nurse arrived, time blurring into a confusing fog- until the silence was cut through with a noise of strain.

...

...Your head hurt like hell- your entire body hurt like hell: it burned in your blood and forced itself out of your system via an involuntary hiss of pain.

it stirred you up with a jolt as it traveled all over your body with a speed you cursed in the back of your mind.

And then followed the storm when you registered the feeling of a bed beneath you, alongside voices of other people.

You dared not to open your eyes, not yet.

Because there was just one problem, a massive one -

you not only couldn't recognize the air within these walls, nor the voices of the ones above you, that was not troublesome enough.

- you couldn't recollect your own name.

The Author's note is bellow "read more"

A/N: Why hello there, loyal customer! if you're looking for answers, here are some for questions i image you might have; 1. Yes, the group of students are described vaguely for a reason! (but if you can still guess them correctly then i will be proud of myself for the characterization www) 2. Yes, the reader will be impacted by your input*, it'll be most noticeable once we have gotten the prologue out of the way ^^ (Your choices, which characters you gear towards, what you say, how you handle situations etc*) 3. No, i don't intend to ship the reader with anyone. This story in particular won't be focused on the romance; if chemistry naturally happens? We'll see. 4. Yes, there will be some 'fanon' additions, such as me(Rubia Leech) 5. i intend for the reader to be human, other than that? i'm as clueless as you (that's a lie, but you'll be fine)

-and good grief i feel rusty as hell.

Anyhow, to best push this fic forward, send me asks ! ( @jade-s-nymph ), Reblog! Comment! This literally is an interactive fic, so if you want to see more of it.. well, y'know what to do, yeah? wwww

[patrickdiomedes]

Dragon Age/Cosmere crossover notes

First off, the Veil/Realmatics. In a Cosmere version of Thedas, I think that the Veil would be created by a sort of massive fabrial that affects all of Thedas. (Fabrial meaning any sort of magical device in the cosmere, not just the kind from Roshar)

So those elven artifacts from Inquisition? They were, in fact, used to strengthen the Veil. Also, Solas had help from the Shard Invention when designing the Veil System.

The Veil’s purpose is to keep the Evanuris, the Old Gods, and the Blight imprisoned, and to weaken them if they do get free.

The Prison has several parts.

The Black City, AKA Ancient Thedas’s Area 51. The Ancient Elves and Dwarves built it as a prison/storage facility for a whole bunch of nasty shit. It was already set up to contain stuff, so Solas yanked it into the Cognitive Realm and used it to imprison the Evanuris and as much of the Blight as he could. 

The Veil: some sort of disruptive interference that makes it much more difficult (but not impossible) to transition between the Realms. Normally, when you get enough investiture in one place, it creates a perpendicularity. The Veil disrupts this by siphoning little bits of Investiture whenever there's too much, preventing a Perpendicularity from forming and using that Investiture to maintain itself and keep the Evanuris imprisoned.

Solas tearing down the Veil wouldn’t lead to a full on merging of the Physical and Cognitive realms, but it would suddenly free up a whole lot of Investiture. Much like if the icecaps suddenly melted in our world, that wouldn’t go well for everyone currently living on thedas, but it’s not going to completely destroy the world.

The Blight is a combination of fainlife that the Old Gods brought to Thedas from Yolen and a particularly aggressive strain of Aether. There is a link to the dead/lobotomized titans, which is where most of the Blight’s actual Investiture comes from.

There's a quote I remember from a Q&A or something that described fain life as a competing ecology to non-fain life on Yolen, and I think that might be a good place to start from, the Blight being a competing ecology to normal thedas that has been twisted somehow.

The Titans I'm thinking of making some of Adonalsium's early creations, predating humanity on Yolen. They were an attempt to create something that could shape the land, like Adonalsium but on a smaller scale.

Thinking about it further, if I go with this origin for the Titans, then it helps me set up the whole Titan/Elf war thing. I think the very first Elves worked with the Titans to craft themselves bodies. With how big the titans were, it probably didn't take too much Lyrium to make bodies for the elves, and as long as things in the Cosmere were working as intended, the Titans were never in danger of running out of Lyrium.

And then 16 (or possibly 17) assholes had to go and shatter Adonalsium. Suddenly the Titans aren't quite working right. But the elves still want more lyrium. So they go to war with the Titans, eventually killing them.

Don’t see the need to change too much about spirits/spren, though the ones on Thedas can change their ‘aspect’ in ways that others (like Rosharan spren) can’t.

The Old Gods wouldn’t be just the Evanuris’s dragon weapons/phylacteries in this version of things, but rather dragons from Yolen.

Actually, maybe the Elves (and Titans) warred against the Old Gods first, and the leaders of that war got the idea to craft themselves new bodies, taking Dragon shape. So they needed a lot of Lyrium for this new shape. And that’s what led to the Titan War.

Tentative Timeline:

Adonalsium creates the Titans on Thedas, creates spren/spirits all over the cosmere, and creates Humans on Yolen

Titans create Dwarves, basing them on the human template that Adonalsium imprinted in their minds. The first Dwarves had access to some Invested Arts, mainly stuff like Stoneshaping and Microkinesis.

Some spirits on Thedas grow curious about the physical world, work with Titans to create bodies for themselves, based on the Dwarves

Relative peace for a few milennia as the Elves and the Titans work to shape Thedas.

Shattering of Adonalsium

A group of Dragons (the Old Gods), fleeing the Shattering, settle on Thedas and go to war with the Elves, Dwarves, and Titans

The war with the Old Gods reaches a stalemate, and some of the leaders of the Elves decide to try to take forms mimicking the Old Gods, to achieve greater power and break the stalemate. This is when they find out that the Titans aren’t producing Lyrium at the same rate/the Lyrium isn’t working quite the same way anymore.

The Titanomachy is a quick, brutal conflict, because the Evanuris know that they can’t afford to fight on two fronts for long. They ‘lobotomize’ (make Tranquil) several Titans, so that their bodies will still produce lyrium. The rest of the titans flee/go dormant.

With their new supply of Lyrium, the Evanuris figure out how to craft new draconic bodies, complete with the shapeshifting inherent to Yolish dragons. They defeat and imprison the Old Gods deep in the earth, in a prison made from the body of one of the Titans.

The Evanuris, led by Elgar’nan, begin a more brutal expansion across the world. Scarcity of Lyrium/access to it is what leads to a schism between the Evanuris and those who will later be called The Forgotten Ones.

War between the Evanuris and the Forgotten Ones

The conclusion of this war is around when the Evanuris started to think of themselves as gods, and they decide to try experimenting with the Blight, which was originally less malignant/more controllable. These experiments quickly got out of hand, and the Blight was getting out of control.

Mythal tries to get the other Evanuris to chill the fuck out, and they kill her for it

Solas’s Rebellion, ending with the creation of the Veil.

Solas would’ve been one of the last spirits to take a physical body, before the Shattering. Started off as a spirit of Wisdom. He also would have been a Willshaper during his rebellion, having bonded with a Lightspren that somehow managed to leave Roshar. Unfortunately for him, the Recreance happened while he was asleep so when he wakes up in modern Thedas, he doesn’t have the balancing factor of his spren to help him out. He does bond with a Cryptic that has been hanging around, though.

Or possibly he went offworld after the Veil was created, and has spent the intervening couple millennia avoiding going home because he does not want to think about how badly everything went, and he picked the Cryptic up there.

The Maker as Andraste/The Chantry believe in him does not really exist. Some legends from pre-veil Thedas eventually became part of chantry doctrine, but there is no one being who shaped Thedas like they believe. Adonalsium was pretty hands off once the Planet itself was created.

Andraste was a Mage, and did have visions due to her closeness with spirits and occasional uncontrolled glimpses of the Spiritual Realm.

Ancient Elvhen beliefs; Similar to early Rosharan stuff involving Wind, Night, and Stone (Come back to this once Wind and Truth is out). Reverence for larger/deeper spirits that didn’t choose to become physical, seeing them as sort of like ancestors.

Forgotten Ones is really more a general term for anyone the Evanuris didn’t like, than an organized group. The Evanuris had a habit of doing a Damnatio Memoriae on those they defeated and wanted to punish.

[negative-speedforce]

Your OCs are playing Never Have I Ever! What's the "never have I ever" that someone else would use specifically to target them? (i.e. something super specific that's intended to only apply to them)

Siv: "Never have I ever come back from the dead three times."

Jay: "Never have I ever tried to make a meth lab in a high school chemistry closet."

Cassandra: "Never have I ever fucked my fiancee on Director Hawke's desk."

Hailey: "Never have I ever been bled ectoplasm."

Esme: "Never have I ever caused at least four people to go blind."

Arya: Never have I ever been hunted by the Spanish Inquisition."

Gina: "Never have I ever inadvertently caused a person to erase themself from the timeline."

Ember: "Never have I ever flung Eobard Thawne thirty feet in the air by manipulating the ground itself in order to protect my employee."

Cat: "Never have I ever doxxed the Queen of England."

Max: "Never have I ever crushed a billionaire under my heel."

Kyle: "Never have I ever been shot by the boyfriend of some woman I've never even met."

Eric: "Never have I ever had all my hair go white at once because I refused to use another person as a conduit for a spell."

Jacob: "Never have I ever mercy-killed my own brother."

Antonio: "Never have I ever been granted insanely powerful psychic powers by my dying sister."

Reggie: "Never have I ever trapped my friends in a D&D campaign by accident while learning to use illusion magic."

Ameerah: "Never have I ever used my empath abilities to cheat in the Academic Decathlon."

Rania: "Never have I ever burned a serial killer mad scientist's lab to the ground."

Meredith: "Never have I ever misused time travel to go back and prevent my glasses from breaking."

Director Hawke: "Never have I ever started a human trafficking ring."

Cory: "Never have I ever dropped a TV out a third story window."

Kelsie: "Never have I ever been mistaken for Poison Ivy."

Torryn: "Never have I ever survived my own assassination."

Onnie: "Never have I ever disintegrated an entire crime family, all while recovering from major surgery."

Pippa: "Never have I ever been struck by lightning in the bathtub."

Jessi: "Never have I successfully faked my own death and continued to have a successful music career by brainwashing everyone to think I'm dead with my hypnotic singing voice."

Hyun-Ki: "Never have I ever lost almost three years of my life to be an insane pop star's hypnotized publicity boyfriend."

Marie: "Never have I ever forcibly become the queen of a malevolent cybernetic hive mind."

Qiara: "Never have I ever done gender the literal weirdest way, as in my species doesn't really have gender but I do, so it's like you're trans but not kinda?"

Liah: "Never have I ever been casted for a movie and quit in order to become an engineer."

Soraya: "Never have I ever defied Starfleet orders and commandeered a ship to get home for Eid."

Laila: "Never have I ever fallen head-over-heels for an evil scientist who enjoys torturing people for fun."

Athena: "Never have I ever held a planet for ransom by implanting a bomb in their leader's chest while he was sleeping."

Reyna: "Never have I ever built a translation matrix to talk to my pet snake."

Thalia: "Never have I ever framed myself for murder."

Pyrrha: "Never have I ever hid from my doctor for three hours by somehow squeezing in under the hospital bed."

Samira: "Never have I ever been held hostage by someone born in the 1100's."

Aldrich: "Never have I ever graduated from Oxford in the class of 1832."

Sohelia: "Never have I ever wrestled two bears to the ground."

Victorie: "Never have I ever been kicked out of Canada by the British."

Matt: "Never have I ever dislocated my shoulder while running from a pair of diseased bears."

Dolores: "Never have I ever debated whether or not drinking expired blood was worth it."

Vanessa: "Never have I ever been mutated into a giant monster against my will."

Kayla: "Never have I ever moved in with an ex-assassin who I met while we were assigned to take out the same target."

Dori: "Never have I ever been stuck in the form of Ariana Grande for a week and a half."

Ellis: "Never have I ever punched an archangel in the face."

Gabi: "Never have I ever killed god."

[cewyll]

ALT DA:I VERSE — void and vessel, sheath and shear.

VERSE TYPE: open ( linked with @sanctamater ) VERSE TIMELINE: anywhere within the events of dragon age: inquisition and trespasser. if plotted, before and after this timeline are also workable!

TL;DR: elizabeth was raised in an isolated andrastian doomsday cult, intended to be a living nuke/messiah/world-ender. thanks to her mix of bloodlines and fade-related experiments done on her during childhood, her cocktail of powers is formidable: magic, capital D Dreaming, and the ability to interact with the veil and the fade — which is made stronger by the orb incident at the conclave.

this incident separates liz and amelia from the cult. in haven, they find each other again and start a new life away from comstock's power and control. once again, elizabeth finds herself becoming an idol. she is so tired.

detailed bio (lol) below.

this is gonna be an ongoing wip so i'm just gonna do a quick and dirty bullet point list for now.

in a secluded forest in the dales, scattered with abandoned orlesian estates, zachary comstock created a niche andrastian doomsday cult.

naturally, he wanted to create a baby messiah that would, at his bidding, fully end the world so that he could create a new one from its ashes. does NOT believe in magic, notably. he's like.... the anti-solas. lmao

anyway he marries amelia, an ex-bard who became a god-fearing woman, and "had a baby" "with her" (she had a lil tryst with booker, half-elven, a templar recruit passing through)

uh oh! baby is a mage! baby is a dreamer mage! baby is making friends with entities that want to be roommates in her brain!

after baby born, comstock recruits robert and rosalind lutece (mage-researchers who were exiled from tevinter for magic crimes) to help turn baby into a nuke.

amelia threatens to beat the shit out of rosalind if she doesn't help elizabeth not get eaten by a demon.

with the help of some cult-loyal former templars, they rework comstock house into a sort of... solitary circle tower? essentially doubling as a house for the family to live and a laboratory where elizabeth's abilities can be observed and analyzed as they grow.

AND BOY HOWDY, DO THEY GROW.

YOUTH, POWER, & THE SIPHON.

thanks to the absolute CLUSTERFUCK of the luteces' fade/veil experiments on baby liz, her magey magic, and her dreaming, elizabeth's power spikes exponentially when she hits puberty. this very nearly destroys not only her body and mind (abomination. yeehee) but the environment around them (tears).

this is a good sign. this means it's working. BUT it needs to be Handled.

underneath the house, the luteces build the siphon: some kind of... you know what i'm not gonna figure out how it works rn. but it's essentially a contraption(???) that suppresses her multidimensional fade/veil shit, stunts her dreaming abilities, and dulls her magic to normal-mage-people levels.

this allows comstock to have direct control of how much power elizabeth has! like any good dad should :)

as in infinite, the luteces regularly wipe elizabeth's memories of the experiments done on her, so she just thinks her power spiked and then dulled on its own for whatever reason. in general her memories of childhood are pretty foggy, though the one constant throughout is her bond with her mother, @sanctamater.

THE CONCLAVE.

oh boy i sure hope shit doesn't hit the fan!

elizabeth is sent to the conclave in an attempt for comstock and his cult to gain a foothold in general thedosian politics. she takes her mother amelia with her, but amelia waits in haven while the conclave happens.

shit hits the fan. liz suffers an orb incident.

interestingly, the new mark on her hand seems to interact directly with the powers she already possesses — this is something i wanna develop further but don't have the brain juice to think about right now. we'll table that for later.

liz and amelia are an inseparable unit thereafter. deprogramming them — especially amelia, who has been through A LOT — is going to take time. but i believe in them :)

shit will probably hit the fan again later when zachary finds them, but you know what? we don't gotta worry about that right now. right now, we're building an inquisition and cringing so hard when our mom makes sure we wear mittens before we go to emprise du lion.

and the rest is history (to be documented another time as threads happen)!

[scrapratsoldier]

MAIN VERSE | TIMELINE

34 BBY - Cal Kestis is born. 30 BBY - The Jedi take Cal Kestis (4 years old) as an Initiate. 22 BBY - The Clone Wars began. Jaro Tapal takes Cal Kestis (12 years old) as his Padawan learner. 19 BBY - Order 66. Cal Kestis (15 years old) crash lands on Bracca. He remains in hiding and works for the Scrapper's Guild. 14 BBY - The events of Jedi: Fallen Order. Cal Kestis (20 years old) is chased out of hiding by the Inquisition. He is rescued by Cere Junda and Greez Dritus, befriends Merrin, and destroys a holocron containing the names of Force-sensitive children. 12 BBY - The events of Jedi: Battle Scars (22 years old). TERRORIST 12 BBY - 09 BBY Cere, Cal, Merrin, and Greez all go their separate ways. Greez borrows Cal the Stinger Mantis, providing Cal and BD the means to continue taking the fight to the Empire. Cal runs missions for Saw Gererra, primarily with Bravo, Gabs, and the Klatooinian twins Koob and Lizz. During this time, Cal is single-mindedly focused on the cause and loses contact with his former allies, though your character could be among the others with whom he forges a relationship. SURVIVOR 09 BBY The events of Jedi: Survivor. Cal Kestis (25 years old) battles friends and foes for Tanalorr. Shortly after the job on Coruscant goes south, Bode coaxes Cal into an intimate relationship, initially as a means to get close to his mark, but ultimately getting closer than he intended, and they fall in love. Ever conflicted and fearing their time together is limited, Bode encourages Cal to grow his feelings for Merrin. While Merrin and Bode are not intimate, the two come to an agreement that the more support and love in Cal's life, the better. Cal struggles to reconcile his fear of attachment with this abundance. I PROMISE 09 BBY - BEYOND Reeling from the loss of Cere, Cordova, and Bode Akuna, Cal and his fellow survivors forge a path ahead. Cal grieves the loss of his first love (Bode Akuna) while he nourishes his new relationship with Merrin and navigates the demands of taking on a caretaker role for Bode's daughter, Kata. Cal and Merrin work to reconnect the broken network of the Hidden Path and establish a base of operations on Tanalorr.

[jakdaw-arts]

Info dump about your digimon OCs pls. 🥺

*chuckles nervously*

That’s a can of worms. Most of the digimon OCs I’ve got are connected with an AU story idea that’s been percolating for a Hot Minute. Main things of note about the universe are that there are no chosen children, no canon characters, the human-digimon partnerships are due to an online game that [reason pending] ended up slightly connected to the digital world, but the digital world has existed for as long as the real world. Humans in the digital world are converted to something closer to a digimon, and ones that die there are treated as digimon and get egg’d, losing their memories in the process unless backed up via a digivice. 

That is all to say that there is so much rattling around my brain about this world lmao. Anyway. There are so many ocs in this setting that i’m just gonna pick a few of em to info dump about.

Characters:

Rush

Keemon > Yaamon > Impmon > Wizarmon > Reapmon > Beelzemon. Self-indulgent reality hopper. Sometimes breaks things and/or makes things weird by yeeting themself into a reality. That noodley little impmon I drew recently. 

The purpose of Rush is usually to be a living macguffin. In this case, they jumped into this reality, splitting off a new timeline because of the Major Change of there being a person where before there hadn’t been. The rules of the digital world decided to be strict about the Weird Thing that invaded, converting Rush into data and having them solidify as an egg, sans memories. Memories slowly come back as they digivolve, they end up traveling with a group of humans with their digimon partners, shit goes down, eventually the day is saved, yadda yadda yadda.

Rush-with-memories is a fairly even-keeled individual, having bounced around realities and dealt with plenty of Situations. Rush-without-memories is an inquisitive creature with little regard for personal space and a whole lot of confusion, once they get past the just-vibing stage they were in as a keemon and yaamon. They have thumbs, an ability to set things on fire, and little regard for how squishable they are (they learn, and shortly after also learn how quickly they can skitter on all fours. thankfully, pretty fast). 

Beelzebumon - The Ratvatar (don’t call him that)

Demon Lord. Similar vibes to the Beelzemon in Digimon World: Next Order. Demon lords’ cores exist outside the realms of space/time, with physical avatars in each of the realities that can ‘respawn’ after a time if they are destroyed. The demon lords’ powers are split up among their avatars, so adding a new split makes them eeever so slightly weaker. Beelzebumon doesn’t care, the rest of the demon lords are displeased. The ripple that happened with the split let him wiggle out of the dark area so he spends most of his time taking in the sights and occasionally watching the shenanigans that a bunch of human children in the digital world are getting up to. Might give them a helping hand in passing, if only out of amusement of derailing the plans of the other demon lords.

He finds the fleeing-from-danger impmon, who is less afraid of him than whatever was chasing them. He lets them tag along for a bit, vaguely intrigued when they talk about the bits and pieces of memories they’re getting back. When they come across a little band of humans he herds the impmon towards them so he can go back to his preferred state of mostly-just observing. He’s the first one to figure out the little impmon is the reason reality got a little wibbly wobbly and made a new branch. 

Kai & Storm

Kai- Human that would very much like off this ride, please. (to be fair, all the humans want off this ride at some point) Storm- Kai’s partner, Puttimon > Cupimon > Patamon > Angemon. Just glad to be here.

Intended to be the primary pov duo. Sheltered religious kid figures themself out in the digital world whether they want to or not. Have I mentioned this bunch gets stuck in the digital world for years? Cuz that’s a whole Thing when they get out and they’ve all aged like five years in what seems to everyone else to be [exact time difference pending]. Kai takes a while to warm up to Storm, since they didn’t play the game nearly as much as most of the others that got dragged in, and *gestures at the whole impromptu long, dangerous camping trip.*

Storm just wants his human to be happy and safe. Once he’s able to maintain his angemon form for longer than the length of a battle he spends most of his time as that, since it’s big enough to pick Kai up and haul ass if something dangerous sneaks up on them. Which, due to the maneuverings of some grumpy demon lords that assume the humans appearing was the cause of the split, is a fairly common occurrence. 

Lawrence

Agunimon. Previously human, died in the digital world, came back as a digiegg. Regained most of his memories with time, most comfortable in his agunimon form (fairly human-shaped, has hands... useful things). Pretty fly for a dead guy. Ends up playing a bit of a guardian role for the human gaggle, leomon-adjacent but with less dying. He’s still a pretty vague idea, but I just think he’s neat. Big ol armored fire guy with horns, being used as an impromptu jungle gym for a bunch of kids and their tiny digi buddies. 

Otherwise there’s a gaggle of other human kids and their digimon partners, to fill out the “a bunch of kids who played this game at one point in time who happened to be close to/in contact with their computers and got yoinked to the digital world” requirement, most of whom are background characters. Plus some mature digimon that take some pity on the kids and help them out, and at least one more human-now-digimon that doesn’t much care to prod around for old memories and is quite happy with how she is now, thank-you-very-much.

I have... far less Actually Written Down than I'd like for this whole mess lmao

[vigilskeep]

ok i know u have not done your dai playthrough yet but!! why the josephine pfp? any josie opinions/thoughts from your genius brain??

short answer i’m a homosexual

long answer i like her a lot. as you say i haven’t played dai yet (well i played like the first 10-15 hours once) but i’ve seen a lot of content and watched a lot of videos and she is so inch resting to me... i love a clever diplomat archetype. i love antivan lore. i love Dramatic Sleeves. and not to get too invested in Thematic Questions but in a franchise so consistently about characters who have been forced into lives of violence, it’s super interesting to bring in a character who has stepped away from that. and ultimately has had the privilege of being able to step away from that, right? although, as an advisor and founding member of the inquisition it’s questionable whether she really has been able to do that or if her form of violence is just done with cleaner hands and at further distance. so to speak? i just think that’s compelling and not rlly something u get to play around with in your run of the mill companion for obvious reasons

i have a josiemancing inquisitor in my brain and he was actually my first dragon age character ever, unfortunately he does not go in minerva and keir’s timeline (this is me being picky abt storytelling; i want my worldstates varied up to explore as much as possible, he’s a circle mage, so he simply covers too much of the same ground as minerva) but i absolutely intend to play through other full worldstates and i will not rest until i have brought him to your dashboards because they are the cutest ever and my whole world

[multipleoccupancy]

Theo listened as Violet explained how Sloane had kidnapped her and why. He imagined her father was not all too pleased that he was the reason Sloane kept harassing her, taking her like he did. He smiled though as she proudly told him how she extinguished the flame creatures. "They ain't used to the likes of you," he praised her with a wink but did wonder just how long Sloane would last in her timeline when she crossed paths with him again.

He thought about what had happened and the dead lawmen, he supposed they had underestimated Sloane just like he had. While he knew he was dangerous from what Violet had said, Sloane could have easily decided to shoot him in the head instead of the shoulder. He understood all too well that man was very dangerous, more so after he had understood what it was Sloane had been intending to do with him!

"That man ain't to be messed around with," Theo agreed, "if he tries to take you again ain't no one gonna say you did wrong if you put him down. Aim for them knees," he encouraged, while he did think killing the Sloane of her timeline would be more beneficial, if he had family or friends to just bring him back then having him captured was far better than letting him come back for more revenge, free as a bird.

He still puzzled over the explanation of a movie but he was impressed all the same, letting out a low whistle at the idea and nodding away. "That sounds mighty interestin', all from your home too." Another baffling thing from her timeline but there was a real curiosity there too, he was also an inquisitive man. He nodded for her to add the potatoes and he went to pull some of the herbs from the shopping to try and add a little more flavour. "You are gonna have to explain it all to the others too, they are gonna be interested to hear about it all. It sounds a lott'a fun."

𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐎 & 𝐕𝐈𝐎𝐋𝐄𝐓 @multipleoccupancy

"He sure is a problem," she grimaced, "he's kidnapped me two times already, one time he even teamed up with Olaf. Tries to use me as bait, to lure my Pa into his traps. But twice he's tried, and twice I've thwarted his plans. Killed his little fire monsters with my inventions, and let me tell ya, he didn't like that one bit." She started cutting the potatoes in little cubes.

"He’s a few pickles short of a barrel, but he's deadly alright. I called the lawmen, the third time he tried to take me. But... He killed 'em and fled." Violet looked at the knife as it cut through the potatoes. The guilt was still fresh. She could still see the scene, clear in her mind as if it had happened yesterday. "I didn't know how to fight then. Next time he tries anythin' funny, I'll teach him a lesson he won't soon forget." Sloane was a big guy, but she'd killed him here. And even though he had been brought back to life by his wife since, now she knew she could fight him and win.

She followed Theo to the pan, but waited for his instructions before adding the potatoes. "Kinda like a theatre, yeah! Like a movin' photograph of the theatre, and you can watch it at home, no need to go to the theatre and all. The movies are captured with a camera, like a photograph, except this camera can capture movements." She didn't know if her explanations were very clear.

[atiredsalmon]

Red into Shadow

What is my Inquisitor doing after Trespasser? Nothing good! Connecting the timeline between Dragon Age Inquisition and The Veilguard.

___

“Lethalin. A word for you.” It was a whisper over the hiss of the tree branches swaying over head, and Fahleon was content to pretend he hadn’t heard it over the sound of the wind and Antra, the forest leopard that had taken fancy to the meals Fahleon hunted, who laid nearby. The voice could have been meant for anyone, though he wasn’t foolish enough to believe it as a certainty but he was tired enough to believe it as a truth. Few elves ventured this deep into the wilder forests of Orlais, yet just enough for him to keep his eyes closed and his arm folded across his middle as he laid in the grass. He couldn’t sense any of them nearby, and while he no longer had the talent to detect magic he had gained enough experience to know what it tasted like, and a mage’s metal tang coated his tongue as a spell popped besides him. 

Veil Jumper, is what the abomination was calling himself now. What the elves Fahleon had all but fallen into several weeks ago. They had come crashing through a Fade portal that was all too familiar to him while he had come limping out of a fight he was unaccustomed to losing, and while this location hadn’t been their intended target, they were happy enough to set up a camp nearby. They’d set his broken ankle and bound the gash on his shoulder and he’d hunted them enough supplies to last them since…until now, he supposed, however long that had been.

Time moved slowly in the Arlathan Forest. It was the land of the Old Ways, and it’s rumors and magics and ghosts gave it a name that many walked wide around. It made it a fine enough hiding place for some members of the Inquisition - namely, it’s leader - to heal after another job, but it’s rumors and magics and ghosts were still real. It helped to have someone with an eye for such things around. Which was why, despite his misgivings, he only rested soundly when the magister - newest Veil Jumper - was nearby. He may have trusted them, but Fahleon had learned over the years to hold little faith in strangers.

“Another one already,” Fahleon heard him say. There was the sound of paper tearing as Savill took the message for him. There was a low chuckle. “They sure are keeping you as busy as the Inquisition did, aren’t they?”

It was harder to ignore a jab than a message. Anger seemed to boil under his skin hotter and hotter lately, and he breathed in deep before sitting upright, blinking slowly against the harsh light that filtered through the massive leaves of the old trees. He grabbed the note Savill held out as he turned back to the newest artifact in his hands. Both eyes were narrowed at it, the eye patch flipped over to show the previously damaged one.  

Fahleon turned his own narrowed gaze to the letter. The scrawling penmanship was difficult to parse out despite the learning he’d done, but the red ink was hard to mistake. 

He ripped the letter to pieces. 

“Not a fan of Tevinter?” Fahleon caught the mage smiling as he continued to turn the artifact in his hands. “I could go with you, if you like. Myself, basking in my glory as a magister, and you in disguse as my s-“

Fahleon was halfway to his feet, a dagger pulled from his belt. He scowled as Savill didn’t even flinch at the sight of steel, instead simply lifting his shoulders in an apologetic shrug. “I was going to say special ambassador.” His left eye flashed lyrium blue before he winked. 

“I’m not going at all.”

Savill’s face fell. “If it’s because of-“

Fahleon quieted him with a sharp glare, and laid back down to let the sway of the treetops blow the heat of anger cool from his skin. He closed his eyes again a moment later, when the leaves danced too much like the elves had after he’d freed them from the most recent Tevinter slaver he’d cut down. They’d all thought themselves safe. They’d never have thought they wouldn’t make it back through the gates. It wasn’t his fault the Red Jenny’s had said when he wrote saying he needed a break, but it had been. He’d been too angry to see beyond the blood on his hands, too eager to leave the city to catch the signs. The ambush had rattled him. 

He blamed it on Tevinter itself. The country had rubbed him the wrong way. From the towers of Minranthous that floated high above the city proper, untouchable at its height and always casting a colorful glow on the city proper, to the hovels sandwiched between sandstone and marble mansions that were coated in layers of bright fabrics and shining embellishments it made his eyes burn and his skin itch. His senses were thrown into overdrive with the perfume and petals that cloyed his nose and mouth even as sweat and blood wafted underneath. Mage lights and magic orbs never let the city go dark, and yet the place was full of shadows and demons. 

One Dalish assassin could never hope to fix it. 

That was what he’d realized, when he’d fled after that mission. Fahleon had spent years hunting those who had wronged him. The bandit clans in the Hissing Wastes, the Venatori in Tevinter, and all the demons and Templars and thugs he ran into in between. There was always another. If it wasn’t elf hunters it was Darkspawn and if not them then an Elder One or someone else claiming to be an ancient god like Fen’harel attempting to take over the world.

Fahleon sat up slowly. At least he had experience in ridding the world of each. What was one more? He wasn’t entirely sure what to do with himself if he didn’t. 

He grabbed the artifact out of Savill’s hands, mouth quirking up at the cry of disappointment, and tossed it towards the watching leopard to play with before resting a hand on a mound of stones on the edge of the Veilguard’s keep. Ghilan’an would continue to watch over Ada while he was away again. If the Red Jenny’s hoped this job to be an easy one, then he’d be back before she even had time to miss him. 

Or, it was entirely possible their plans went awry. Again. 

Though, Fahleon supposed this plan seemed too well timed for it to be awry. 

The slavers had set up a camp of their own just at the outskirts of Artlathan Forest. As if they’d been waiting. 

Fahleon supposed that’s what the letter had mentioned, but at the words all too easily pointing towards Sera’s plan, he had been all too happy to ignore it. 

Disguses, she’d said. Shadows, she’d also said. Friend had been mentioned as well, at least, it had when Savill had recounted it to him as he guided him through the Veil-thin parts of the forest. Fahleon snorted. What sort of friend tied his hand behind your back and ripped the custom crossbow from its attachment on his elbow? One that had to have hated Sera just as much as he did in that moment. 

He didn’t believe any of the slavers marching the caravan of elves was their contact. Two humans led the procession in leathers. Two more were on horseback riding behind the line to surround a large cart, whips as thick as the rope binding their charges’ arms together and linking their ankles. The first time Fahleon had let himself be caught he resisted and nearly got them all killed when he stabbed the slaver in the throat. Now, he ducked his head and tugged feebly away, only wincing when it earned him a kick to the back of his knees. He let himself stumble forward a step as he glanced at his captures. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the glint of metal. These humans were not unaccustomed to this job. 

Perhaps a disguise would have been useful. One that matched the guards’ uniforms, as, after three days of marching he found himself fitting in too well with the rest of the elves. His ankle ached, hot under his pants. His tie had come loose at some point during the previous night and now his hair was tangled and matted where it stuck to his cheeks and neck layered with dust and sweat. He cursed Sara’s name between raspy pants and cursed the Red Jenny’s between growls at the slavers. He wouldn’t ask for just a break when he finished the job; he’d demand full retirement.

After the three days, his curses turned towards Minrathous.  

Only several weeks had passed since he last walked beneath the shadow of it’s floating elites and yet the city seemed to have gotten worse. It’s stink clogged his nose and it’s mud-trodden side streets weighed down his feet. Shadows clung to every corner - servants and slaves huddled around merchant stalls and guards glued to their posts. Perhaps it was worse because he wasn’t wandering the cleaner, vibrant main streets. This time the line of elves were pushed and prodded down alleyways and backroads until Fahleon’s tracking experience failed him and he lost all sense of direction. It wasn’t from where he was concerned about, however, but where to. The scent of rotting fish and the harsh slap of wind was enough direction for now. 

They were shepherded to the ports- to the first ship out to sea before any bystander bothered to ask a question other than who the caravan was or what they were doing with a string of bound elves. Fahleon grit his teeth. There wasn’t much time for Sara’s friend to show their face before he made good on the promise to kill the slavers himself. 

They shuffled past several boats before a whistle caught their attention and stopped their march. Caught Fahleon’s attention. It sent a bolt down his spin, strong enough to stun him in place and he only stumbled forward when the rope wrapped around his ankle dragged him along with the slow steps of the elf in front of him. Fahleon tried his best to act slow while scanning the dockworkers crawling across the vessels. 

The whistle had been one of his to call Ada. Only someone in the Inquisition would know how it went. 

Only a friend. 

Though he didn’t recognize this particular friend. 

She was tall and stood straighter than the plain clothes she dressed in said she should, and, when she approached the line of elves her gaze flicked to him, first, and the guards second. Fahleon narrowed his eyes. She didn’t wear any red, but neither was he. Disguises, he remembered the letter saying. He watched her shadow cross the dock, growing smaller as she passed. The shape of a staff poked from the sharp angle of her shoulder and flinched out of habit as her arm grazed his. A mage in Tevinter was a magister no matter the rank, and for a moment he wondered if he was mistaken, again, before he clenched his fist to keep the rope she’d cut from slipping off his wrist. 

A friend indeed, then, as much as it made his blood boil. At least he had the ability to do something about it now.  

The woman had gathered half the guards towards her to go over whatever business they were about to traded for. Fahleon gathered at least half the elves toward him and tugged at their bonds until the other half of the guards stomped over to investigate. The first one received a punch in the throat. The second a knife in the side when Fahleon pulled a dagger from the first one’s belt. What few elves were still bound were freed with several swift cuts from the dagger and Fahleon snarled at them to run as the guards engaged with the woman caught sight of their unbound limbs.  

Fahleon had never liked horses and the smack he gave the pair was stronger than necessary to spook them off, but he could at least appreciate their ability to create a distraction. While the remaining guards jumped out of the way of the fleeing animals, Fahleon jumped into the cart and dug through the piles of tossed belongings. Sacks filled with provisions tumbled over the side and spare clothing was thrown at the nearing guards as another distraction. Frowning hard, he kicked at the pile to overturn the mess. His crossbow peeked out from under a layer of sleeping rugs.  

The first bolt went through the hand of the nearest guard when he grabbed a hold of the side of the cart, braced to jump in and join Fahleon inside it. Fahleon had never thought much of the thrum the barrel until now. The brief numbness that shook up to his shoulder was almost as pleasant as the human’s scream as he leapt back with his mangled hand pressed to his chest.

“Wait-“ Fahleon had a second bolt pointed at the woman and she lifted her hands. One guard was on the ground besides her feet, curled up to clutch a knee. Fahleon’s eyes narrowed. “The Shadow Dragons are here to free the slaves, not kill the slavers.”

His eyes narrowed further and he yanked the cord of the crossbow to ready the next bolt. He’d never heard of a Shadow Dragon before and he hadn’t heard her mention the Red Jenny’s. That made it the second job Fahleon messed up, but he could end it with better results this time. How she knew to find him didn’t matter. How she knew his code didn’t matter, either. All that mattered was leaving, alive, to throw his resignation into Sera’s face and finding a new damned land to live on. By himself. Away from all these cursed events. 

“Please, my name is Ne-“

Fahleon let the bolt fly but it missed, taking a chunk out of the road rather than a chunk of the woman’s leg. Pain blossomed across Fahleon’s back that the kickback from the crossbow couldn’t numb and when Fahleon whirled around to face the attacker he was pushed off the cart. He landed heavily to the ground, knocking his head into the flattened stone. 

The fourth guard jumped off and landed on his feet next to him. 

Fahleon hated this job. 

The woman ran up next to the guard, arms in the air, and Fahleon didn’t see what she did next as his vision went dark. 

When he came too, he decided he really hated this job. 

His head ached as he struggled to his feet, and his chest ached when he stumbled forward into a series of metal bars. His hands lifted to wrap around them, and blinking the remaining stars out of his eyes didn’t lighten the darkness around him. He smelled old hay and rat urine. 

A cell. 

The nostalgia made his head hurt worse, as did turning sharply when footsteps scuffing against the ground made him startle. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know where else to take you after. You won’t be here long.”

Fahleon split his lips in a snarl. He had been right all along not to trust the woman from the docks. It had seemed he’d learned too late. At least she hadn’t broken any of his bones and, if he remembered the fight correctly, all the elves had escaped before she’d dragged him down here. 

“What do you want?” 

“For you to meet someone.”

There was no Inquisitor to bribe or Inquisition to threaten. There was no Anchor to abuse. Other than revenge for the caravan, Fahleon had little idea what use his capture would be. Amusement for the Venatori? It must have been funny, he thought, to see him locked in a cell after the days spend with the slaves, exhausted and hungry, and now coated in dirt and blood. For a moment he felt a laugh burn his chest at the idea of it all being a trap. He truly couldn’t trust a single person, if this had been the plan all along. To string him along on a fake job to have him jump through the hoops of a rescue to end up down here, at the hands of someone else. Again. 

Fahleon backed a step away from the bars as he heard another set of footsteps echo down the hall. A growl spilled from between his bared teeth. His prosthetic hadn’t been taken from him this time, and though he couldn’t feel the weight of the bolts it used, the end was still sharp enough to use as a weapon and he held his arm out in front of him. 

Magic flowed over him before he saw the mage. 

Familiar magic. It sparked under his skin and sizzled across his wounds. It made Fahleon want to scream. 

“Fahleon? What happened to you,” Dorian asked. 

[viiisenyas]

didn't you say something about amell and val being together at one point?

hahaha yep i did.

[awindylife-writes]

This Time Around (Chapter 5)

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, (here), Chapter 6, Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10 (ongoing)

Relationship: third Doctor x reader, Sarah Jane Smith x reader (platonic)

Summary: The Doctor encounters the night nurse and Sarah is very, very patient.

Warnings: none

Author's notes: l'm quite pleased with how this one turned out. Let me know what you think.

The concepts of bond-mates and visible personal timelines belong to @inthisformiambadwolf.

~

"Excuse me, sir, but, what are you doing here?"

If asked, the Doctor would wholeheartedly deny it, but he cringed under the night nurse's inquisitive stare. He had honestly forgotten there were any other people around.

Nurse Ada Carter, if he remembered correctly from the few times a mission had landed anyone on the Brigadier's personal team in the sick bay, was a sturdy woman in her fifties with a pointy nose, round jaw and many averted deaths under her belt.

"You know very well that the infirmary is out of bounds outside of visiting hours," she sternly reminded him, "unless you are a family member and have a permission from the Brigadier. Would you mind explaining what you were doing in there?" She cocked her head with her lips pressed into a thin line, making the wrinkles around her mouth stand out.

"Er, well," the Doctor offered a tight-lipped smile as he rubbed his neck, "earlier today my friend Miss Smith told Doctor Richards that we don't know anything about your patient, but that isn't true. l'm her primary contact and l can assure you she'll confirm it when she wakes up. I intend to stay with her until she does, l'm just fetching her things." There, he'd managed to squeeze your incredible relationship into three sentences without mentioning he didn't even know your name.

He didn't know your name. The thought pierced him like a dagger and his breath hitched as he braced the ache.

"Well, that is hard to believe," the Doctor forced his mind to focus on the nurse's smooth voice again, "but if you are her family, there are quite a few things to go over first; her name, birth date and home address for a sta-"

"Look, madam," the Doctor really didn't have the patience for this, "neither of us exists in your Central Intelligence Records, so you couldn't check what l'd tell you even if you wanted to, and l can't prove it either. I can't explain how or why right now, but l care about her a great deal and I don't want her to be alone. She's been through a lot and l'd like to stay with her until she wakes up, will you please let me?"

He needed to see Sarah and get back to you as soon as possible. He'd just found you, he'd just found you and every second he had to be away from you stretched into prickling infinity.

Nurse Carter gave him another one of her piercing stares that pinned him to the spot. After a moment or two of examining him, she finally sighed, "Alright. You can stay with her tonight, and tommorow you can sort this out with Doctor Richards."

A relieved breath left the Doctor as he smiled gratefully. "Thank you." They couldn't stop him from staying even if they tried, but he would prefer to not cause a ruckus before you even woke up.

"I just need to speak with my friend," he gestured toward the door, "l've left her waiting for far too long."

Nurse Carter nodded, not exactly thrilled with him, and the Doctor happily slipped away.

~

"There you are." Sarah-Jane was just about to go looking for that tall idiot of a Time Lord when he finally stepped through the damn door. But at the dreamy look on the Doctor's face, her frustration turned into curiousity.

There was an absentminded smile on his lips and his shoulders were slack like the weight he'd been bracing against had been lifted. His quiet joy radiated from him in an overwhelming wave, it lit up the drab hallway and made her want to smile too like it was a holiday. His delight was impossible to escape and there was a kind of wonder too, as if he couldn't quite believe it himself. His spirit was soaring somewhere high and free.

Sarah remembered the way you had smiled at the Doctor before you collapsed, with bliss so similar it made her think. She knew you couldn't have woken up that quickly, so how could he have...

"What happened?" she murmured, feeling softer in the face of the Doctor's relief, and he blinked.

"Sorry?"

"You look..." She cocked her head and simply peered at him for a moment, then settled on, "different." She couldn't explain it, really, couldn't name that power that set his face alight, he was just... He looked more content than she'd ever seen him, settled, like he'd stopped holding his breath.

"Do l?" he murmured as a smirk curved his lips. He looked quite pleased with himself when he nodded, "Yes, I suppose l do."

Sarah's eyes narrowed as she stepped towards him. "What happened? What did you find out?"

The Doctor inhaled, "Well, now l know for certain that l do know our mystery guest and that she's from my future, but I think it'd be better to wait with the rest of it."

She opened her mouth to object but he quickly went on, "l'm not sure of quite a few details myself, my dear, and l'm afraid l'd only confuse you if l tried to explain everything now. We'll both have to wait until she wakes up."

She examined him carefully and tried to put the puzzle together despite the missing pieces. "She's important," she murmured, more to herself than anyone else.

The Doctor nodded anyway. "She is."

After a few moments, Sarah decided pushing him wasn't worth it. There was no reason to think he wasn't telling the truth and he would have to explain eventually. "Alright," she nodded. "Will you be staying then?"

"Er, yes, but could l ask a favour of you?"

She cocked her head and he went on, "Could you tell the Brigadier about her injuries? I know you were probably about to head home, but if you could stop by..."

Sarah took a deep breath and shrugged, "I suppose."

"Good. Thank you, my dear," the Doctor smiled brightly and she nodded in turn.

Then a small laugh escaped her, "Well, this day certainly did not go as l expected," and she shook her head, "There's never a dull moment with you."

"True," he admitted as he rubbed his neck, "but this time l'm positively sure l had nothing to do with it." Then his eyes turned distant and dim and he looked away. "Not yet, at least."

Sarah chuckled, not even trying to understand. "Good night then, Doctor, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Good night," he nodded with a half-smile and Sarah headed down the hall.

After grabbing your cardboard box and the checkers board from the bench, the Doctor started his way back to you.