#[ and Anders handed it to her on a silver platter ]

[idolbound]

Anders kinnies on twitter in the year 2024 not understanding that while yes, Meredith had previously written to Val Royeaux to ask about invoking the Right of Annulment, the request was rejected.

In the throes of her paranoia being made worse with the addition of the red lyrium idol fashioned into a sword, she was getting desperate and looking to search the Gallows for blood mages as a reason to invoke the Right.

However, Meredith did not invoke the Right until after Anders blew up the Chantry.

During the argument with Orsino, it was clear that he was not going to allow Meredith to search the tower. And, much like the start of Act 3 in Hightown, he wanted to call upon Grand Cleric Elthina to settle their disagreement because he KNEW that Elthina was the only person who could control Meredith (and kept her on a proverbially short leash). To this, Meredith immediately raises her voice and says "You will NOT bring her Grace into this!" which CLEARLY implies she knows Elthina would put a stop to her actions then and there, which is the opposite of what Meredith wants to do.

So, with Anders' interjection in this scene and blowing the Chantry up:

Meredith (who was running Kirkwall as a Templar police state under martial law) had to respond to the crime in and of itself;

Elthina was dead, and therefore, the person who could have stopped her from invoking the Right of Annulment was no longer able to do so; and,

She was already at the peak of her paranoia, and this made her not seek justice on Anders himself (who had immunity from templar prosecution as a Grey Warden), but upon the innocent mages of the Circle.

So, she initiated the Right of Annulment as a response to the destruction and lives lost, and the Circle mages paid for Anders' actions (and depending on Hawke's choice, his own life could pay for it too).

It is not difficult to understand that Anders' actions - however morally justified he may have been - acted as the catalyst to the genocide of the Kirkwall Circle.

People will say "it would've happened anyway" but to be frank, if Anders did not blow up the Chantry and had Elthina been involved, she would've shut Meredith down again as someone who didn't want to get involved in taking sides but wanted to maintain the peace AND the desires of the Grand Cathedral in Val Royeaux. Alternatively, Hawke - Champion of Kirkwall - has enough influence at this point to influence Meredith and Orsino both as a popular (political) figure among Kirkwall's citizens and nobility. (it's why Meredith was reluctant to crown them Champion to begin with - it gave them power that she wanted for herself!).

I realize a lot of DA fans are not looking at these moments in-depth, but acting as if Anders is entirely justified in giving Meredith the fuel she needed to kill all the innocent mages is a bit ignorant and tbqh, misunderstanding this situation for what it is.

[greypetrel]

*barges in with 20 lemon cakes on a silver platter - they're on top of each other and it's clearly not safe. Also there's a guy on a market stall just outside yelling "ma'am your lemons"* HELLO THERE! For the character headcanons thingie: Winnie (bella de nonna) "something your muse could never forgive", "the thing(s) your muse thinks about before falling asleep", and "what items can be found in your muse’s pockets?" Also! Raina (because she needs aaalll the love and nonna doesn't give her enough): "talk about your muse’s accent", "habits and mannerisms", and "how your muse responds to unconditional love"

🍋🍋🍋

*Approaches the cake drooling* I LIMONI SIGNORA!

Ooooh these are interesting, thank you!! Let's see...

And I should really draw Raina more, shouldn't I.

Tis the prompt list

Winnie

Something she could not forgive: Ok, this got me thinking, she's not really the grudgy type...

*camera moves to Shahra launching darts to a picture of Queen Victoria*

What she really won't be able to forgive, was using people without their consents. She'll get to realise for real the real extent of Shahra and Darcy's little arrangement with the Fairy Queen and how much it chains the both of them in... 1914. And even more so in 1917, and in the later years. And that's probably how Queen Mab will go from having a Druidess in town that she can't touch (Faes and Druids are like fire and ice) but is pretty harmless and "ignorable" to having a Druidess in town who knows one or two things more and actively hates her.

Also, she will need A LOT of time to realise this feeling, and it will always be complicated to her, but I don't think she will really be able to forgive grandpa for preventing her to learn her power just because she's a girl.

She can see where it comes from and she sincerely loves grandpa Quick, he's her inspiration and she is walking his footsteps willingly out of admiration. But, he also did her damage. A lot of good because she would never have met Shahra and Darcy but... Spoiler.

Things she thinks of before falling asleep: What to do tomorrow, she'll make neat lists in her head about tomorrow's schedule, dividing it into hours and times. She's methodical! And since Druid magic relies entirely on memory, she has many, many generation of exceptional memory genes to make it so she doesn't need to write many things down to remember them.

What items can be found in your muse’s pockets?: A pair of scissors (Victorian/Edwardian pockets were pretty big!), a small handbook describing plants, house keys, a handkerchief, a couple of stones with runer Darcy carved in for her, for good luck and protection, a pack of matches because Shahra always forgets (she can manipulate and expand existing fire, she can't create it from nothing), some bobby pins just in case, a plume that Reginald lost and is nice to touch, a tin with mints.

Raina

Talk about your muse’s accent: ... Not anything posh, for sure, something that really betrays that she comes from the country, but you can't really say anything because dagger on your throat.

She takes accents pretty quickly, tho, so in a year since coming to Kirkwall, she'll have a mixture of local accent -mainly from Downtown- and her own which would be hard to locate.

Habits and mannerisms: She hates to stay in the house locked, so during the day she'll be out and about if nothing forces her in (Anders threatening to tie her to the bed if she thinks of crossing the door after a particularly rough battle, mainly). She can't stay still for much, so if she has nothing to do with her hands, she'll start to fidget or bump her foot pretty annoyingly. She's more restless the more she's stressed, which is a pretty good indicator for other people. She isn't loud, will prefer cutting, witty remarks to boisterous ones, but she always, always laughs loudly when she's really amused. Will not turn down food if you offer her, will tell you that if food falls down, you have 10 seconds before it get dirty, before it's perfectly eatable.

You know the episode in friends with Rachel and Joey eating the cake that didn't touch the floor? That's her and Anders.

She likes to sing, but is awful and tone-deaf. It won't stop her, when she's happy or feels like the mood needs to be kept up, she'll start singing. In Act 3, she and Merrill will make it a mission to modify every single sea shanty they can think of to fit Isabela when she leaves the house. None of them can keep a note, none of them will harmonise with the other.

Leandra tried to make a respectable girl out of her, with FAILING results. But the thing that stuck was... Knitting. It's not something Raina will EVER disclose to anyone, but she can knit. It helps her staying concentrated and moving her fingers in a repetitive pattern. She's pretty quick at it, too!

How your muse responds to unconditional love: Asking if you ate too much sugar this morning, perchance. Laughing about it and shrugging it off, saying that unconditional love is for sappy poets and Varric's smutty novels. Melting down and starting to cry if she's shown that yes, it is unconditional.

[artbyblastweave]

Thinking about Kaiser and Golem

I really enjoy the background characterization present for the Anders family; the narrative never centers E88 as the main antagonists, but there was clearly an enormous amount of thought put into what was happening behind closed doors.

Most recently I honed in on interesting parallels between Max and Theo. Everything I’m about to say is, like, a longform version of the phrase “cycle of abuse,” but one really interesting thing is that neither of them actually buy into the white supremacy stuff; Max embraces it because it’s a convenient way to hold power, and Theo, to the extent he goes along with it at all, does so because he’s an out-of-shape teenager surrounded by deranged hair trigger white supremacists who’d kill him for fun if it wouldn’t potentially annoy their supervillain boss. Max and Theo, as well as Max’s sister Iron Rain, all got Shaker powers, whereas Allfather, the guy who got the ball rolling on the whole Nazi supergroup thing, had a Blaster expression of Kaiser’s power. Allfather implicitly triggered in order to win a fight; all of his direct descendants triggered with powers that reflect how they navigate the terrifying, unsafe environment Allfather created for his family.

Breaking that down a little further- Iron Rain, Allfather’s attack dog and true-believer in the Nazi Stuff, gets a power very, very close to that of her fathers, letting her adhere to him and his organization while still reflecting the ambient danger of her life circumstances. Kaiser gets a pure shaker power that turns his immediate line of sight into an extremely dangerous space for anyone who gets too close; expertly deployed barbs and spikes that emerge at varying speeds, harrassing and wearing you down, making you constantly on guard because the next one could come from anywhere. If I had to guess I’d say that his trigger was related to a sense that his normal, mundane manipulation wasn’t enough to keep him afloat as a powerless person under Allfather. Theo, meanwhile, gets a power that’s an expression of his own self-image problems and fear of abandonment; a gigantic manifestation of the hand he reached out to purity with when she was abandoning him, a power that recreates his body (with all his self-image issues) at a massive scale for everyone to see.

Like, all of their powers are, fundamentally, survival mechanisms, reflecting how their feel about their family situation and how each of them would like it to develop or, in Theo’s case, his conflicted feelings about how it’s developing, the tension between knowing that the only people who’ve demonstrated any care for him are evil and the fact that they still do care for him, in their fucked up way. Theo’s power is sort of inseparable from the exit strategy from his upbringing that he was handed on a silver platter; Kaiser’s is inseparable from the fact that he was never the kind of person who’d use such an exit strategy if he were given one, because the problem for him wasn’t that there was a bullshit deranged ideological hierarchy run by an abusive maniac, it’s that he himself had no power within it.

[daphneblakess]

books i read in 2022: victories greater than death by charlie jane anders

“So the mantle of Captain Argentian didn’t get handed to you on a silver platter,” Rachael says. “That just means you’ll have to work harder to claim it. Whatever made her great, it’s still inside you. And you know, it’s not like having someone else’s memories of being heroic would make you a hero. Being a hero is all about the choices you make, here and now.”

[natsclnt]

it’s time for my review of ‘caution never won a war’. since you seemed to like it im making it a weekly thing. 

spoilers from dynasty season three episode two under the cut.

i never liked culhane all that much (maybe in season one) because i was always under the impression he thought he was better than the carringtons, and now i hate him even more. sure, he should hate blake bc he put him to jail, but culhane did some pretty shitty things too, jeopardize his relationship to fallon and she actually continued to help him even after they broke up. the one thing i have hopes for is that he and kirby are over. i mean, they had very little chemistry and it was always like she was trying way too hard.

kirby’s annoying again and i hate it. i really warmed up to her after her and fallon burried the hatched and shes just being a brat.

i dont get what was the point of this whole hotel-discovery thing? i mean... i love sammy and i love that he got more screentime (his scenes with fallon are everything!!!!) but seriously WHAT IS THE POINT. 

also, sam and anders are the iconic duo fight me on this.

i never really gave a shit about blake, but he’s acting like a child this episode. no wonder everyone hate rich people because this ep he was just a spoiled child who had everything handed to him on a silver platter with a flute of champagne

i am liking cristal more and more, i mean, sure, i cant help but imagine how ana would act in the scenes, but i loved cristal this episode, glad they tied the knot, but i always wanted them to use this song for whenever fallon and liam get married so this kinda makes me sad...

still don’t know how i feel about domique

BTW im dying to know what went wrong with adam swapping the bodies!!!

but i do know how i feel about laura - HATE her so much!!! i mean, she always acted like a child, but this is just getting ridiculous. rather than somehow accepting that fallon and liam are in love, she keeps acting like a crazy person. 

i am glad that liam is remembering things - i think it will take him a few more episodes (like, hell remember in the midseason finale). i hope that they’ll continue to show us those flashback scenes.

i keep waiting for fallon to break down and it keeps disappointing me. i mean, she kind of looks like shes cracking but well... remember how sad she was when he rejected her, and now he can’t even remember her and despite being lovely flat out told her to give him so space, and she’s still pretty chill. i love fallon and i want her to have all the good things but this kind of feels ridiculous ?????

i dont know what to say... i was disappointed by this episode. the falliam scenes were cute, but idk, the writing seems almost half-assed, the characters are all so childish and acting ridiculous. i am obviously not gonna stop watching, i hope this is just one of those slightly worse episodes and everything will be back to normal by next week. 

i am dying to hear what you thought of the episode!!!!

[typhonserpent]

You Showed Me, Chapter 3

Fandom: Dragon Age 2 Rating: Explicit Genre: Romance/Omegaverse Pairing: Fenris/Anders Summary: Omegaverse AU. Fenris has a secret that nobody else knows. When he has to travel to Orlais to help Hawke and her new friend Tallis steal a priceless jewel, his secret becomes harder to hide. When Anders discovers what Fenris is hiding, what he does with the knowledge is not what Fenris expected.

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The space beside the bed was already cold by the time Fenris opened his eyes. Anders was seated at the little round table off to the side of the room. It was draped in a red tablecloth. The silver platter atop it bore a half loaf of bread, butter, a pot of tea, and a silver bowl piled high with fruit. Anders was in his feathered coat, hair already tied back, picking at a pile of grapes beside him.

"The servants dropped this off, if you're hungry." He said.

Fenris reached for the pack beside the bed, silently grateful that he'd chosen the side farthest from the table. Grabbing the bottle of cologne was an innocent enough action, he decided, and he was not going to approach Anders with his early morning stink.

He was rubbing it onto his neck when Anders spoke up, "Massage oil? You know your neck probably wouldn't be so sore if you didn't sleep in your armor."

"I do not recall asking your advice, mage."

Fenris seated himself opposite Anders and plucked an apple from the fruit bowl. Eating it felt like swallowing mud. He only made three bites before he absently set it on the plate and set to work fidgeting. The silence was broken when there was a knock at the door, and Hawke's voice muffled from the other side, "Alright, boys, put your clothes on. Everyone's already downstairs."

Anders rose right away and made for the door. He stopped halfway, asking, "Aren't you coming?"

"I will in a moment."

The mage left without any further prodding. Fenris used the chance to retrieve a pinch of herbs from his bag, then headed downstairs.

There was already a crowd gathering beneath the lions, an antsy mix of Orlesian and Ferelden nobility, distinguishable only by whether or not one elected to wear a mask.

Even armor couldn't bar Duke Prosper from looking as regal as possible. He was easiest to pick from the crowd, his helmet freshly polished with a wide, fluffy feather perched atop. He was every bit the noble huntsman, and Fenris found his assumption true when a man in a cream mask and a black cap spoke up.

"Andraste's tears, Prosper, when is this going to get started?" He asked.

The duke turned with a flourish, the golden buckles on his jacket glimmering in the pale morning sunlight. "Presently!" He announced, then turned to address the crowd, "All right, everyone. You all know the tradition, yes?"

He was ridiculously styled. Red silk sashes over his shoulder and along his waist, a golden pendant of an intricate crest, leather gloves that squeaked with every movement of his fingers. He waved his hands as he spoke, which might have been annoying if Fenris weren't busy staring at the way he'd styled his beard. It was meticulously pulled into two stiff spikes jutting out from his chin. It moved up and down when he spoke.

"The first to find and slay a wyvern wins the honors at the celebration! And bragging rights, of course. Good luck to you all!" The Duke made a dismissive wave. The crowd moved at a snail's pace. Most of the fancier-dressed people were commanding small bands of sell swords. A few others simply crouched down with one another to go over plans.

Hawke strode up to the Duke, looking every bit as though she owned the place, and came in direct contact with a muscular wall. He had a face made out of angles, with Chasind tribal tattoos along his eyes and forehead that only served to make his whole face cast even more shadows. His hair was woven into corn rows and pulled back into a pony tail. A two handed battleaxe was strapped to his back. The huge, broad-shouldered body guard crossed his arms, jaw tightening.

She forced a grin, "Lovely day for a hunt, don't you agree? Very outdoorsy."

The Duke came up behind the man, and this formerly immobile mountain turned his head to listen as the Duke said, "Ah, the Champion of Kirkwall!” And then, turning to the bodyguard, stressed with a point of his finger, “These are honored guests."

The body guard uncrossed his arms and gave one final glare at Hawke before walking away, taking a natural place behind Duke Prosper.

Hawke walked up to the duke, who chuckled, "Please excuse Cahir. A polite body guard is a contradiction in terms, or so I am told."

"A Chasind?" Hawke asked, eyebrows perked, "Here?"

"Ah, yes. You are Ferelden, aren't you? You would know of his people."

"I know of darkspawn, too, but I generally don't let them breathe on me."

"Oh, he breathes on all the guests." The Duke waved his hand dismissively, "Think of it as a rite of passage!"

The way the Duke's eyes wandered to Tallis made Fenris' skin crawl. There was a spark behind his eyes that spoke a mix of emotions. Danarius used to get the same look in his eyes. He was an alpha assessing a threat, determining whether it was better to fuck it or kill it.

"And who is this lovely specimen?" He asked.

Regardless of her size, Tallis squared her shoulders and spoke like a blushing noble, "You flatter me, Your Grace."

The same gaze passed over Anders and Fenris, and the elf squared his shoulders and jaw in defense.

"And I see you brought assistance," The Duke continued, "Already armed and armored. Wonderful!"

Finally, his gaze turned back to Hawke, and the domineering aura faded from his eyes. Whether it was through a sense of kinship or ease, Fenris couldn't tell.

"I must say, your presence is a surprise." Prosper said to her, "When we spoke at the banquet you seemed ... uninterested when I mentioned our hunt."

She responded without missing a beat, "It's a favorite pastime of mine to find things and kill them, actually."

Prosper threw back his head with a hearty laugh, "So I hear! At any rate, I won't keep you from the hunt! Wouldn't want you to fall behind the others, yes?"

"The sooner we get to the celebration, the happier I'll be."

There couldn't have been more truth to Hawke's words.

"Oh I quite agree!" Prosper exclaimed, "The festivities cannot come soon enough. Good luck to you, my lady. Remember: fortune favors the bold."

Prosper turned on a heel and left them. There was a strip leading uphill where the foliage had been trampled into a suitable path for travel through the woods. Hawke was leading the party up that path when a Ferelden man stopped them with a motion of his hand. He wore chainmail-and-leather armor with a blue jerkin layered over it, silver vines and vines sewn into the fabric. Salt-and-pepper hair was pulled back, revealing a map of lines and crow's feet on his face, made even paler by his light blue eyes.

"You've come a long way to join our duke, serah." The man said, "You'll pardon me for saying that you do not seem like a hunter. A word of caution, since you are new to this: wyverns spit venom. Their victims suffer terrible pain before they die."

Hawke cocked an eyebrow at him, "Since people hunt these creatures successfully, I imagine there's a trick to learn."

"There are many tricks. It is best not to face the beast head-on. Flank them. Blind them, if you can."

Fenris stopped listening to the two Fereldens. Hawke seemed to have a knack for talking to her own countrymen. He was rolling the herbs around with his tongue, finding they'd already taken on the texture of sand. Hopefully they'd last him until the end of the hunt.

He knew Hawke was done when the man finally gave her a bow, which she returned. "May the Maker's luck grace your hunt. Be careful, serah." The man said.

Fenris was especially sensitive to the smells in the woods. Damp earth and moss, rotting foliage, he picked up the scent of rot as they passed a brush that no doubt held the remains of some predators dinner. The smell of blood didn't strike him as odd until they came upon a field soaked in it.

"Wow." Hawke whistled, "Would that be prey or from a wyvern itself?"

Tallis shrugged, "I've heard they fight for dominance. Can't be gentle."

"Maybe we can use some to draw out rivals."

Fenris sniffed, unable to shake the sense of deja vu that had overcome him the second he was in the clearing. He'd smelled this blood before, though he'd never encountered a wyvern. It reminded him of when Hawke had dragged them to the Bone Pit.

"I don't think that's wyvern blood." Fenris said, right before they heard a hellish lizard screech.

The largest dragonling was leading the flock, bellies low to the ground as they scurried down the worn pathway, eyes on the party. Fenris drew his sword and immediately lit his markings.

There was a buzz to combat that always overcame him. Time ceased to exist, his other senses turned off in favor of only the necessary ones. Sight was needed only to know the moment when he had to knock his blade into the dragonling's chest. Hearing alerted him to the soft stomps behind him so he could swivel around and strike at the one sneaking up on him. He wasn't sure at what point he wound up swallowing the herbs under his tongue, nor how much dragonling blood managed to splatter on him. He was not thinking of anything other than defense and attack when the juvenile wyvern shouldered its way into the fray.

Broad shoulders and thick muscles set this lizard apart from its distant cousins. Fenris and the dragonlings turned in unison, and Fenris charged for the wyvern before Hawke could shout, "Wait, Fenris!"

The wyvern flared, hissed, and sprayed a stream of bile onto its attackers. Fenris closed his eyes as it sprayed against his face and shoulder, already knowing where his sword was going to land. He thrust his sword into the wyvern's shoulder, muscle bulk and scaly coat sending the blade sliding off to the side with barely a scratch on it. A handful of dragonlings thrashed behind Fenris, while the rest swarmed the wyvern like ants to a corpse. Fenris didn't see where they went before he collapsed, his head swimming.

He felt the cooling sensation familiar with Anders casting a healing spell. It took care of the scratches and blisters from the battle, but did nothing for the knotting in his stomach nor the fatigue that seeped into his lungs. Just breathing suddenly took a lot of effort.

Anders knelt next to him. He knew him by scent - that stupid enticing scent he had to sleep next to the past two nights. Bony fingers pressed into his forehead. He felt the wash of another spell, a familiar scan Anders did to diagnose.

Hawke and Tallis came up behind them just as Anders concluded, "He's poisoned."

Anders had a sort of focused trance that overcame him when he started healing. With the diagnosis, he immediately removed the water skin from his belt and soaked a handkerchief in it.

"That hunter said something about a treatment." Hawke said.

"Andraste's mantle, drakevein, and winterberry." Tallis added, "I saw some drakevein and andraste's mantle growing along the west half of the hunting grounds. Winterberry shouldn't be too hard to find, either."

Anders was delicately rolling Fenris onto his back while he said, "I can brew it if you hurry, every second counts."

They didn't need any more coaching. In seconds, Fenris and Anders were alone in the clearing. "Fenris if you can hear me, I need to get as much of the venom off you as possible."

Fenris groaned an incoherent response.

Anders wiped at his eyes and mouth first, deep strokes of wet terrycloth that made Fenris scrunch his face. He cleaned his cheeks, chin, and as Anders started to clean his neck a primal instinct made Fenris reach up and swipe feebly at Anders' hand. The venom had drained so much of his strength that he couldn't fight it when Anders shrugged off his hand and chided, "Quit it, I'm almost done."

The mage leaned in closer, and Fenris flinched as the cloth passed over the tattoos on his neck. Anders cleaned there, and along the base at either side of Fenris' neck. In a single horrifying second, Anders steady breathing turned into inhaling from his nose, then a sniff, and a confused furrow of his brow. Another deep inhale.

Shit.

"Fenris ... are you in heat?" The mage breathed.

Anders looked up, eyes wide, and blurted, "You're an omega?"

Adrenaline and panic gave Fenris the strength to raise his arm and push Anders away, though the mage didn't budge an inch from where he was kneeling over Fenris. "Don't." Fenris whispered.

Emotion behind Anders' eyes snapped into place, and he blinked until he was focused again. "Knickerweasels." He muttered, setting a hand over Fenris' forehead, "You're burning up."

Anders removed his coat, and covered Fenris in it. Uncorking a potion, he held Fenris' head up with one hand while he poured the potion into his mouth. It went down bitter and did nothing for his nausea, but he felt some of the chills in his body lift when it took effect.

Anders remained blessedly silent until footsteps hailed Hawke and Tallis' return. Anders immediately stood, meeting them halfway across the clearing. "Don't come close." He said, "I ... can't be certain I cleaned up all the venom. Can't risk you two getting sick as well."

Hawke cocked an eyebrow at him while she handed over a bundle of herbs. "Is he going to be alright?"

"Should be, but I'm going to take him back to the room after this. The fever's taking a lot out of him. Will you two be alright on your own?"

Tallis scoffed, setting her hands on either hip, "It's just a wyvern and a bunch of dragonlings, what's the worst that could happen?"

"I think we'll be fine." Hawke added, "That hunter mentioned it wasn't uncommon for the hunt to last a few days. We might not even get to a wyvern by night fall."

They said their goodbyes, and he returned to Fenris. He tore apart the herbs and stuffed them into the empty potion bottle, then added the last of his water. A quick fire spell had the water inside steaming, and in a few seconds a potion began to brew. Propping Fenris' head up with one hand, he poured the potion into his mouth.

The relief was immediate. The potion hit his stomach and spread out like ripples. Warmth spread, to his fingertips, and with it the ache was gone, and he opened his eyes to see Anders bent over him. Blonde hair falling about his face, wrinkled on his furrowed forehead.

"Mage ..."

"It's okay. I sent them away."

Anders was already working a hand under his arm, hoisting Fenris up. The more Fenris breathed, the more his grip on the situation returned to him. He was sapped, but his eyes were focused and he could move without pain.

He got to his feet with Anders' help. "Grab your sword, we'll head back to the room."

[daemurae]

Are you still taking prompts? If so here's mine: Aveline and Hawke or Zevran and the Warden, in any shape and form. Hope your affliction come to an end soon!

Thank you so much for the prompt, Aveline and Hawke are one of the most precious DA 2 brotp’s and ships and there are so little fics or really anything about them so I couldn’t resist writing them up, but Zevran is one of my absolute faves and I’ll definitely write something with him really soon. ♥

Word count: 1233Rating: KSummary: a ficlet about Hawke adorably trying her best to cheer up Aveline after she’s been feeling more stressed and busy with work lately

„You know, Varric turning you into a huge hero in hisstories isn’t helping your reputation…”

Hawke raised an eyebrow as she sunk deeper into her chairwith a confused crooked smile, „Isn’t that supposed to be a good thing? Peoplethinking I’m a hero?“

Aveline lifted her eyes from the small book resting on thetable of her office and crossed her arms, returning a tired smile, „Did you notread any of his stories? Varric’s heroes are hardly ever angelic sweethearts…“

„I tried warning him that turning me into a rebellious mage vigilantemight not help making what I do seem like a decent thing to everyone aroundhere…“

„That is an understatement if I ever heard one…“, Avelinescolded as gently as she could, „One third of my men worship you as a goldenhearted hero, one third find you suspicious and a traitor to Kirkwall and one thirdare just terrified of you…“

Hawke’s lips widened in an expression of utter innocence andconfusion but Aveline immediately shook her head, „That’s not a good thing…“

„But I’m doing good things, you know that, I’m protectingpeople, I-…„

„I do, but a lot of people in this town don't“, her head tilted,„I’m saying this as a friend, not a guard captain. We’ve been here for fouryears and your influence is growing without a doubt, but when you meddle intosome people’s affairs, things get dangerous. Just…“, another worried sigh, „Please,try to be careful sometimes…“

„Aveline, I brought us a bottle of wine to chat and hang ourlike proper friends, for the first time in ages, and you’re turning into alecture we’ve already had at least ten times…“

„That should be telling you something…“

„It’s telling me this job is making you more and moredistant from all of us.“

„It’s making me more concerned about all of you, if anything…Besides“, she picked up one of the metal cups in front of them and twirled itaround slightly, examining it with careful scrutiny, „You know I shouldn’tdrink while I’m technically still on my duty for an hour.“

Hawke shrugged with a sly smile, „Fenris basically supstitutedhis dinner meals with wine and he’s still the one getting rid of the mostnighttime bandits.“

The taller girl smirked, „Which is mighty convenient, sincehe’s been terrifying my guards to the core so it’s good that someone’s beendealing with Hightown’s bandits at night.“

„And doesn’t the thought of that make you want to have adrink?“

„You are incorrigible!“, she tried to stifle a chuckle.

„In all seriousness, Avie, we’ve been through hell this pastyear, we deserve to finally relax a bit… To hell with what the city’s noblesthink, to hell with it at least for tonight“, Hawke raised her cup and Avelineshook her head again, her smile mimicking the one from just moments before.

„What am I going to do with you… With all of you…“, andafter she released a heavy breath, she took a small sip from her cup, whichinstantly made Hawke do a small enthusiastic clap, her face beaming.

„See! Nothing bad happened!“

„Marian Hawke, you are not getting me drunk tonight. I maybe drinking, but you will not get me lying on the table, singing Fereldanhymns, stomachs contents all over my armor drunk tonight, that I guarantee… Isaw what you and Varric did to poor Anders last week and I am not that weak.“

This time, Hawke’s innocent smile showed just a hint ofcoyness at its edges, „That was similar to what Anders said at the Hanging Manthat evening and, after half an hour, he wasn’t even complaining! You both needto relax a bit.“

„Taking two days to recover from a nasty hangover and tofully clean vomit from my clothing does not constitute as relaxing, you know“,she raised a brow, amused.

„Alright,“ Hawke raised her arms in mock defeat, „Then I’llonly get you slightly drunk…“

Aveline’s palm met her forehead at that, but she laughednonetheless and Hawke joined in. It was incredibly refreshing to see her friendmore at ease like this. Ever since Aveline became the Knight Guard Captain,she’s been even more busy, stern and stressed than usual and Hawke wantednothing more than to bring a smile back to her friend’s worried face, at leastfor an hour over a few sips of wine every now and again.

Without a doubt, Aveline was the main protector of Hawke andthe others lately, and probably always, she was the voice of calmness, reasonand, when needed, judgement. She always took care of all of them like a worriedowner of an incredibly problematic and jumpy puppy litter, where each of thepuppies had either their own set of troublesome issues, issues amongst themselves,an occasional strong liking for violence and an unhealthy lifestyle or anythingsimilar. But sometimes, just sometimes, Aveline needed to let her crazy litterof lost pups cheer her up and take care of her in return, in their own annoyingbut – though she’d never admit it – endearing way.

Another, slightly larger sip made Aveline grimace slightlyas it hit her throat in not quite a pleasant way, „Not that I’m a big alcoholconnoisseur, but I think I actually prefer ale…“

Hawke grinned, „Then I know what I’m bringing next time…“,she moved her palm against her cheek in a faux secretive manner, „But don’ttell Varric, once he hears you like ale, he’ll bring two barrels and request adrinking party in honor of Red showing a liking for one of life’s greatestpleasures after all.“

Aveline smirked through another sip before coughing out achuckle, „Ugh, I’ve told him to find a more creative name for me…“

„Oh, don’t worry, he’s already changed several for half ofus – five or so Red’s, Iron Girl’s and Warrior Princess’ later and you’ll beregretting not just letting him stick to ‘Red’.“

They both chimed out a laugh. „As long as he’s not writing anovel about me…“

„… yet“, Hawke intercepted and Aveline faked a shiver, „Perishthe thought! Do not give him any ideas!“

Hawke bit the inside of her cheek slyly, „I will not be asdishonest as to say I can make any promises on not doing that…“

Hawke dissolved back into laughter as Aveline’s jaw dropped,„I served that potential blackmailing device right to your hands, didn’t?“

Smugly, Hawke took a brief sip from her cup, „On a silverplatter, my dear Avie.“

Aveline quickly treated herself to another sip, another resultinggrimace and another giggle through it all, „Why do I stand you?“

The woman opposite her shrugged with an utterly angelicexpression, „Because I bring light and joy to your life?“

Aveline snorted, after finally finishing her cup with utmostbravery, „Well then it’s ironic that I spend half the time since I’ve met youthat the light of my life will also be the death of me.“

The other woman knocked her cup against the Captain’s andsmiled in a way that was actually sincere, as giddy as she still was, „I loveyou, too, Avie.“

Aveline sighed, shaking her head, but the warmth of herexpression mimicked that of Hawke’s, „Pour me another, light of my life… BeforeI change my mind.“

[dragon-of-dc]

With a warning of spoilers for Halo Wars 2, I would like to perhaps expand upon this theory (which I still cannot believe got just over a hundred notes) and offer this up:

Cortana and the Created hijacked the ring Anders is on.

And here’s why.

That ring shown at the end of Halo 5? This one:

We don’t know where that ring came from. We don’t know if it was one of the other six still floating in space, or if it was one that came from elsewhere, like, say the Ark. Because we also don’t know where Anders’ ring ended up. We weren’t shown anything at the end of Halo Wars 2 that showed it being near a planet. All we saw was Anders going up to the surface and being greeted by a Guardian:

And the activation of the Guardian in and of itself has to mean that Anders came out of slipspace in Created-controlled territory. There’s no other way, to my knowledge, for that Guardian to have been activated unless it was in proximity to the Created. This is because, as we saw in Halo 5, that all the activated Guardians were in Created-controlled space. The Ark, as it stands, was not effected by the Created, otherwise that Guardian on Anders’ ring would have popped up sooner.

Therefore, it stands to reason that Anders showed up in Created territory, which activated the Guardian, which potentially alerted the Created to the presence of a new ring. May I also add that we don’t know the time frame for Cortana’s acquirement of the ring. Granted, Halo Wars 2 took place in May of 2559, while Halo 5 was in October of 2558, we still haven’t been told what happened in between the end of H5 after Infinity took off and the time the Spirit of Fire arrived on the Ark. So, given that nothing’s been confirmed (as far as I am aware, please correct me if I’m wrong, because I very well may be) and that time gap is essentially a wild mass guessing game, it’s potentially possible that the ring shown at the end of H5 is the very same one that Anders built and took off on.

What we do know so far is this: Cortana, somehow, got her hands on a Halo. Anders, by building on on the Ark, also got her hands on a Halo and disappeared into slipspace with it. She later encountered a Guardian on that same ring.

What we don’t know: When or how Cortana go the ring, where Anders ended up, or what happened between the end of Halo 5 and Halo Wars 2.

What I’d also like to mention is that Anders doesn’t know why the ring came out of slipspace. She didn’t tell it do that, it just did it:

And immediately after, an elevator comes down and takes her up to the surface, where she is promptly greeted by a Guardian (see above) that was either already on the ring, but dormant until now.

On the other hand, it could also be Cortana’s Guardian, because we also don’t know where she went after Infinity took off, and she detected the ring in slipspace and somehow pulled it out. This would explain why the ring drops out of slipspace so suddenly and to Anders’ surprise. There is also the possibility that the Guardian was dormant, but somehow responding the the Created, I don’t know.

Either way, the Created are definitely involved. At this rate, I wouldn’t put it past Cortana to not hijack the ring, especially when it’s been just about handed to her on a silver platter. She’ll take full advantage of that.

Needless to say, Ellen Anders is not in a good position.

[gradiebby]

LIVE BLOGGING MY DRAGON AGE INQUISITION PLAY THROUGH (FOR THE MILLIONTH TIME) Doing The Threat Remains/Fuckery in the Hinterlands.

Hello Chantry.

Has Cassandra always walked with such swagger?

She concerned.

Don't bring up the egg.

You're not easy to come by lady.

You hold on to my sense of humor.

CULLEN.

JOSEPHINE AND HER ACCENT.

Her speaking elvish makes her sexier.

That voice. Melts. Me.

LELIANA BABY AGAIN

You've always been the spymaster babe, it's not a secret.

That's an impressive bunch of titles.

Ugh mages and templars argument. 🙄

Won't speak to us cause THEY SUCK but keep talking Josie baby.

Bitching about arguing while you're arguing Cullen makes you a hypocrite.

Herald of Andraste is quite the title, come over here Cullen and I'll show you how I feel about it.

Of course it isn't an option, Cass.

Ew. Please no Leliana, don't send me to the Hinterlands.

You're sending me to the Hinterlands.

You look for other opportunities, Cullen.

Ugh, I hate that I have to take the egg.

To the Hinterlands!!

SCOUT HARDING 😍❤️

Oh Varric, she's not Harding in Hightown.

Don't worry Harding, I'll find Horse Master Dennet 🐴 Just add another tick to my to do list.

Imma live in the Hinterlands.

Yes, yes it is interesting reading Varric that is why I clicked it. Also to accept the quest.

I still think Royal Elfroot should have a crown 👑

Fight the baddies.

Open the Crossroads.

Mother Giselle's accent is boss.

Ugh more Chantry talk. You'd think they'd go away after Anders blew them up 🤷🏼‍♀️

Convince them. You mean give them my neck to hang cause that's what the Chantry wants to do bro.

Go to Haven. Go to Leliana.

Bossy Cassandra says to find Corporal Vael.

But first claim this landmark: Saga of Tyrdda Bright Axe with a stab of my fancy ass flag.

This dude wants Ram Meat 🍖

This dude's son went MIA and now his wife can't breathe.

Spend 10 minutes hunting rams.

For all the hungry bellies.

Now I gotta find Vale. Maybe.

Found Him.

Lots of talk about cold and hungry people well I just gave your hunter dude ram meat.

Ask about the horse master, brownie points with Scout Harding.

This dude needs blankets.

Running around all random like.

Accidentally stumbled across the mage stronghold. Well that's taken care of.

Found the first blanket marker. Take my flag!

Not all dwarves like holes, hmm, Varric? 🤔

Rift count: 4.

Whoop enough power to leave.

Back to Haven!

Conversation with Cassandra as she literally destroys dummies 😍

Of course Imma flirt cause flirting is the way

A traitor or madwoman would've chopped my head off like Chancellor Dilehole wanted. Just saying.

I'm the Makers benefit.

WE END THEM 👏🏻👏🏻

She could slash me with her sword any damn day 🗡️

Cassandra Approval makes the world go round.

Do I even believe in the Maker? Hunny. I have pointy ears and facial tattoos.

Another Conversation!

Where am I from? To spin a story that Varric would approve of or be honest?

I went with honest cause I want her and her cheekbones to LIKE ME.

Gimme all that approval, Cassandra.

Uh oh fighting in front of the Chantry

Cullen to the rescue.

Use that angry Templar voice

Ewww Chancellor Dilehole 🙄

Begone Chantry Satan 👿

You are not the proper authority bro, I'll cut you.

As functional as any young family means EAT MY ENTIRE ASS.

The walls better be standing when I return Cullen or I'll never leave you in charge again.

JOSIE CUT SCENE

How does a town have an owner, hmm? Show me the town deed.

Now take that deed and shove it homie, we're staying.

Duel Cassandra and PERISH.

Josie's accent does things to me.

Might stay my ass, we're staying until this place burns down (spoilers 😂).

Lemme ask all the questions, lemme learn about you and your accent.

Tiny bow to the pretty lady and her accent.

Hitting up that creature table.

Your welcome Minaeve. ✅

TO VAL ROYEAUX

To see the Chantry people who want my head on a silver platter.

It's a terrible idea, Josie.

Yes please don't ignore the dangers, they want me dead. Listen to Leliana.

Haaa, Cullen agreed and Cassandra is going with me obviously.

City Mourning = Gasping at Me

Time to face the Chantry and Templars.

Silenced by your treachery, bitch, don't make me glowy hand you.

Why is it always the elf thing? So racist.

Templar punch 👊🏻

Beneath you in what way sir Templar?

Lord Seeker looks like a pasty ass demon.

You should be ashamed! You punched the Chantry chick, that's bad karma.

Came to make speeches means shuup bro.

You're not even a Templar. You're a Seeker.

March your pasty demon ass right into the garbage bin. 🗑️

Recruitment Timeeeee!

Belle first, take your shit and go to Haven.

Get that Cassandra Approval.

Mysterious Arrow = SERA who almost shot me in the foot. Work on your aim.

Scavenger hunt time to find the Sera clues.

I jumped off a balcony cause I forgot what level the last clue was on.

Gimme that invite to meet Viv.

Oh hello Grand Enchanter, what a surprise.

Fellow Mages my ass.

I only like you cause you created Alistar.

Back to Haven to return this quest.

Leliana always spying.

Abandoned their senses, more like banging a demon.

Make up your minds, buttheads.

Demon and Danger is the name of this game.

Leliana is worried about the Wardens, gimme the dets to go find Blackwall.

Mission Accomplished. 🎉