#(not her though. she will always be a de riva. LMAO)

[collegeoflore]

making the guy who didn’t want to be first talon into first talon is certainly a choice. i think caterina believes he will rise to the occasion but i’m inclined to believe it may be magpie pulling the strings for the foreseeable future (bad for everyone involved) (fun for magpie)

[dragonagegayz]

Reflection Ruesday

@alystrin03 tagged me in this and I am excited to try @becausedragonage trend! (Wonderful, Wonderful name for it btw, I love it)

Rules: Go through your writing, art, gifs, etc. that you started but never finished and find something you love. Brush it up a bit if you want and share it. Tame and use the tag Reflection Ruesday

And I will be tagging @whispersleo, @adhd-riddled-crow and @mortal-ethos because yall are the ones I interact with and tag the most lmao (I am so sorry)

So this was a smut I was working with a little while ago that I didn't go back to because I got distracted by a different smut prompt lol but IDK if I'll finish it. It's not smut per say though, just the build up to it (so sorry, I'm failing my smut monarch duties) But I like writing Bas and Lucanis a lot, I just think they're neat and I think I did a good job at the little bit of action I wrote

Being First Talon came with a lot of responsibility. Lucanis hand’t been surprised about that necessarily, he had seen his grandmother work at it for so many years and watched as the job molded her into the women she became. (Not ina good way, something he didn’t want to happen to himself) There was so much politicking and leading, organizing and fielding that took up most of the Crow’s time. Sometimes, he almost wished that Caterina had picked Illario to take the job over him but only on those nights where he found himself tot be drowning in work. Thankfully Rook was always there to drag him back up, with arms tight around his shoulders and a kiss to the forehead, with a quiet hum in his ear as reassurance that he wasn’t truly alone.

Then, there were the assassination attempts too, of course.

Lucanis wasn’t nessicialry surprised bu them, it usually happened with the changing of a Talon, not to mention the changing of the First Talon. Add saving the world to the pile and the target on his back only got bigger and bigger. Since returning to Treviso a month ago, there had already been 17 attempts (that they knew of) with 3 of those getting far too close for comfort. If it hadn’t been for Rook De Riva, they could have been much worse than just some close encounters.

The qunari, who was usually at the First Talon’s side, had managed to thwart those three tried on the shorter man’s life with relative ease. During. the 2nd one, the mage hadn’t even stood from his chair as he froze the intruder before throwing them from the window they had crawled through with just a flick of his wrist. Even Lucanis hadn’t realized what had happened until he heard ice shatter below followed by a loud sharp cry. The mage walked over to him, placed a kiss to his cheek before he closed the window and returned to his desk as if nothing had happened. When the other Crows had brought the would be assassin’s corpse up for inspection, the taller man hadn’t even looked up from his paperwork to confirm it was them.

While the attempts were concerning, nothing bad had happened…

Yet, at least.

And that’s what has been on the Crow’s mind as he and Rook walked around the marketplace, hand in hand. The smaller assassin was the one who had recommended it too, waiting to get out of his overtly stuffy office, to get away from the numbers starting to stir an ache in his head. Of course, the large qunari agreed to come with, seemingly in need of his own break from letters and missicves that always seemed to follow him around now. He once commented on how the tow of them never seemed to get a moment of peace and Lucanis couldn’t help but to agree. However, the two knew that’s what came with their lives of being assassins but damn if it wasn’t taxing.

Such as with the paranoia the Crow felt as his eyes darted every which way as the two stood by a stall where the mage was buying something. Was the women in the corner looking at them a little too ling? Was the shop owner talking a little too slow? Had there always been Crow patrols at this time? Were there always this many guards posted around the marketplace? How many people were walking around the markets? Was it a normal amount of this time? Was that man in the far stall muttering to himself a little too aggressively? Why were his eyes trained on them the way they were? How long had he been watching them? When was-

“You are overthinking, kadan,”

The deep, thick accent of his lover snapped the assassin from his spiraling thoughts as he looked over to his lover who had a bag in hand and was reaching out for his with the other. LUcanis was quick to thread their fingers together, finding comfort in the warm, large hand of the qunari. He let out a sigh as the two started to walk again, looking to the ground in embarrassment. “I cannot help it,” He semi-whispered under his breath, knowing the mage could still hear him despite the sounds of the market around them. “After so many tries on my life, a man is bound to become a little paranoid,” He heard the other give a hum as he felt the hand around his give a squeeze. “Naturally, I simply wish you would let me keep those worries so you may ease a little. This job is already much stress on you,” Rook reasoned in his rumbling tone, said calmly and reasonably the way he always spoke when they had disagreements. It drove the First Talon a little crazy, how calm he always managed to stay in their conflict, the little times they had them. “You shouldn’t have my life hanging on your shoulders, that’s not fair,” The shorter man pointed out, stepping closer to the qunari to allow another couple to pass by which Rook took the opportunity to place a kiss on his head. “You are my kadan, of course, I cup your life in my hands,” He said back, casually as if those words didn’t cause the smaller assassin’s heart to thump hard against his chest. A blush feathered along his cheeks as he buried his face into the arm of the mage, mumbling how he’d get the man back for that which got him a laugh in response.

Talking about it had eased some of the anxiety so as they continued to talk, Lucanis found himself no longer having those bouncing thoughts and questions around his mind as the two kept their conversation casual, away from work. He really should have known better, especially with Rook’s tendency to keep at ease in the face of danger, a trait the Crow honestly hated.

They were going down a particularly crowed part of the markets, squished next to each others they attempted to pass all the people going the opposite way when Lucanis felt the other man’s arms wrap around him. He was confused at first, thinking the man was trying to give him this weird behind hug but he very quickly realized that was not the case, especially as there came a rukus form behind bu the qunari was blocking his view. “It seems you had reason to worry Amor,” The gruff voice of his lover whispered before the First Talon found himself picked up and nearly thrown forward by the larger man. He landed with grave, his training kicked in and spun on his heel to see the commotion going on. Much to his horror, there were three men on Rook, one with a knife lodged in the mage’s back and the other two attempting to get more knifes in where they could stick. For a big target they were doing a rather terrible job seeing as they could not get the other two knives in the man worth shit. The one clinging to his back let out a curse. “You aren’t going to stab him! Get the First Talon you morons!” How quick the two attackers turned to Lucanis once they realized, yes they defienely weren’t going to get a hit in on the large mage. Their knives were turned to maim and the assassin went to pull his own but he should have known there was no need.

Like a flash of lighting, Rook grabbed ahold of the two fools by the back of their collars before lifting them up and slamming them down to the ground. Their bones gave asharpo crack as they hit the ground which Lucanis gave an involentary wince at. HOw could he not, especially as he watched their legs give way in a directiopj they were not meant to go. Their cries were bad but nothing compared to the roar he heard his lover give and when he looked up, his heart sank to his stomach. The fool who was on his back had managed to grab ahold of the man’s long hair with one hand and hand the other covering his good left eye, seeminglingly digging his finger into it. There wasn’t much time to deliberate as the shorter man grabbed his own knife and jumped towards the to, careful to angle his knife so it would drive into the arm of the would be killer but not to hurt his lover in the process. A cry rang out from the man as he pulled his hand away from where he had been and Rook was able to use the man’s moment of pain to his advantage as he threw himself back, landing square on the idiot whos body gave a terrible crunch. At first Lucanis thought the grunt of pain the qunari gave was more out of habit than anything but realized that now, the knife that had been stuck in his back had only been lodge further.

Panic rose in his throat as he rushed to the mage. “Rook!” He hated how shakey his voice was, how broken it sounded. His love gave a groan in response. The First Talon watched as he opened his mouth to speak but instead began to cough violently as blood began to seep out of his mouth which only made the panic swimming in the shorter man’s head worse as he rushed to grab the qunari’s head. “Merida! Rook, what’s this?!” Again, his voice was so worried, it should have been embarrassing for a Crow, especially one of his caliber but what did he care? The qunari jolted up, shaking his head and reaching out to grab the assassin’s shaking hands. “I bit my tongue, that’s the blood. Do not worry,” He managed through fit out coughs and more blood seeping out of his lips. Lucanis must have had an unconvinced look on his face as the mage tried for a smile, squeezing the hands in his palms. “I am fine, nothing else happened,” The younger Crow’s brows furrowed as he went to walk around the large man, help to lift him up a little to see the damage from his wound.

“There’s a knife sticking out of your back,” He snapped.

Rook looked over his own shoulder and a genuine look of surprise over came him. “Oh, I suppose there is,”

[kindlyfeline]

oc tag game

i was tagged by @muqington + @flowersforthemachines and thank you so much im sooo honoured!! literally what is going on i feel to cRY 🥹

im gonna tag besties @trash-nerd @xhollowfaerie @dellamortte @fellamorte + @kai-dimir (no pressure though!!!)

oc: Maya de Riva

General

Name: Maya de Riva

Alias: Rook. 'My' but only Teia calls her that

Gender: cis woman

Age: 29

Place of Birth: Orlais

Spoken Languages: Common, some Antivan and a bit of Orlesian + Elvish

Sexual Orientation: bisexual

Occupation: Antivan Crow

Favorites

Color: deep, dark green

Entertainment: playing cards, annoying Viago, Treviso rooftop parkour

Pastime: reading, training, experimenting with "poisons" to try and make other exploding flasks/concoctions

Food: she's not a picky eater and will pretty much eat anything. just not like squash or gourds

Drink: she used to be happy with just water, but Lucanis got her into coffee Big Time

Have They…?

Passed University: she completed her Crow training. (scraped by, if you ask Viago)

Had Sex: ye

Had Sex in Public: ...ye 👀

Gotten Tattoos: yeah! she has vallaslin and many others across her body. one on her left arm kinda looks like a topographical map and i like to pretend it's of Orlais

Gotten Piercings: i hc her with a septum or some kind of nose piercing and a bunch of ear piercings on both ears

Gotten Scars: her whole body is littered with scars (Crow training), but the most prominent one is across her right cheek and i still haven't decided how she got it lmao

Had a Broken Heart: yes. both from romantic love and not.

Been in Love: she loved a girl with fiery hair called Ruby once, but she died a long time ago and those feelings were never soul-ensnaring. not like how she feels with Lucanis 🥰

Are They…?

A cuddler: YESSS [vasquez from aliens voice] any time any where man. you wanna be little spoon? she's good with that. wanna spoon her? gotcha. wanna be protected with face in boobs? she's holding your head and stroking ur hair (Lucanis and Spite's fave 😏)

Scared easily: not at all bro she takes that shit like a champ !

Jealous easily: not really. especially if trust has been established

Trustworthy: ABSOLUTELY you could trust her with any secret ever and she will always have your back

Family

Siblings: none

Parents: her father died when her clan was attacked and burned, but her mother is still alive and living in Treviso. her name is Lorina.

Children: does she have any? no. would she have any? possibly.

Pets: never had any but i like to think she and Lucanis would get at least one cat post Veilguard

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General

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Gender:

Age:

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Spoken Languages:

Sexual Orientation:

Occupation:

Favorites

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Entertainment:

Pastime:

Food:

Drink:

Books:

Have They…

Passed University:

Had Sex:

Had Sex in Public:

Gotten Tattoos:

Gotten Piercings:

Gotten Scars:

Had a Broken Heart:

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Are They…

A cuddler:

Scared easily:

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[ccrystalfox]

Reflection...Wednesday?

Rules: Go through your writing, art, gifs, etc. that you started but never finished and find something you love. Brush it up a bit if you want and share it. Tag me and use the tag Reflection Ruesday

I was tagged by @nyx-de-riva and I am giving full permission for anyone that sees this to share something they're proud of (and tag me! Let's be friends!)

(I'm so sorry this took me like 84 years - I was in an entirely different country to my laptop lol)

“She called you amatus, Illario,”  Aria says. “Why did she call you amatus?” “It doesn’t matter,” he snaps back. “She’s dead.” She scrambles after him. “Did you fuck her?” Illario doesn’t stop – doesn’t even turn. “Answer me!” Her dagger goes hurtling past his ear and embeds itself in the doorframe. “You missed,” he says, ignoring the demand. “If I meant to hit you, I would have.” His shoulders slump. He stops in his tracks, and then turns towards her. “I did what I had to do.” “And what would possibly require you to sleep with her?” “Aria.” His voice, his entire body, is tense. “My entire fucking family is gone. All I have left is a demon controlling the shell of my cousin. House Dellamorte needs strength, protection, and the Venatori provide that. That’s all it ever was.” He turns away again without waiting for a response, and strides out into the night air. Aria follows, still, taking a moment to retrieve her dagger and tuck it back into its sheath. They walk in silence – for every step he takes, she has to take two. Illario’s hands are balled into fists at his sides, and she can feel anger rolling off him in waves. “Was that what I was to you?” she says eventually. “A bit of fun? Some kind of alliance? A human shield?” “No.” “Then what?” “You,” he replies, “ are a complication.” He climbs over a wall and drops down to the canal path on the other side. She follows, even though it feels like her heart might claw its way up through her throat and out of her mouth. Eventually, he disappears into the shadows beneath a bridge, and she spots a gondola floating lazily in the water. “Illario, stop.” “What?” he snarls back, grinding to a halt. “What do you want from me now?” He’s angry, yes, but there’s something else in his eyes when he turns back and finds her closer than he expected. Sadness. Fear. Desperation. “I would have done whatever it took to protect you,” she blurts out, trying to fight the tremble in her voice. “I’m only one crow, and maybe not even one of the best, but—” Illario surges forwards, and she meets the wall with a thump that knocks the air from her lungs. And then his lips are on hers, fingers tangling in her hair. Maker, every muscle is as tight as a bowstring as it presses against her, and he kisses her with the desperation of a drowning man fighting for air. “No,” he breathes, between kisses. “You are everything.”

I gotta smooth out that transition from angry to horny a bit more lmao... gotta make Aria work for it

BUT ALSO, a bonus bit I haven't connected up yet:

“I need her gone,” he says. “I need her touch burned from my skin.” He kisses her neck, then, open mouthed and sloppy and desperate. “I thought of you the whole time.” The night air is warm – it always is – but he shivers in her arms. His hips roll against hers almost involuntarily, seeking friction, comfort.

[telanana]

At first I wanted to keep my Rook's background pretty much the same as what's given in-game and then.... well...... I started reading codexes and things went about how they always go when the codexes start coming out lmao

Anyway, here's Florencia "Rook" de Riva, Viago's niece from one of his older exiled siblings. I'm still ironing out the details, but basically? Viago's extra strict with her because 1) he doesn't want anyone accusing him of playing favorites with blood relatives and 2) even though she's very, very far-removed from the line of succession, people expect even bastard children and grandchildren of royalty to be a cut above the rest.

Florencia, however, is absolutely not about any of that royalty shit. She's not interested in politics or being in a major leadership role (lol. lmao, even.) and her entire combat style is basically to smash it dead. Not the grace and finesse expected of a Crow, y'know? So, she's basically a perpetual disappointment as far as Crow leadership is concerned, especially Viago.

Then there's the whole thing with the Antaam. At that point, Viago's pretty much given up on making a true Crow out of her and sends her off with Varric to stop Solas. He calls it a contract mainly to keep her from being formally exiled like his siblings, just in case she needs to come home for some reason, but as far as he's concerned, this is a move to get her to explore other options besides being a Crow.

Being sent away was honestly a blow to her. Like, she knew she wasn't great at being a Crow and that Viago had really high expectations of her, but she really thought of the rest of the Crows as family. And now her family's kicked her out for doing what she thought was right at the time. She eventually opens up to Varric and Harding about it while they're on the road and Harding mentions something about rooks, birds that look a lot like crows but tend to stick together in flocks instead of being mostly solitary, which is where she picks up the nickname, "Rook."

And that's about all I've got lol. I have no idea if I'll ever actually write fic of her or maybe even bust out my tablet and start drawing again, but I wanted to share what I do have just bc I feel like it really fits nicely with the canon background without going too far off track, y'know?

[jaderavenarts]

5, 39, 49 for both please <3

Thank you for the ask!! 🥰

5. What was life like for Rook before joining the Veilguard?

Aster de Riva: As someone who was a street orphan when their magic started to manifest, being recruited by the Crows gave them training, stability, and a family,* seeing them as sorts of heroes, whether or not that's a particularly healthy view to have about the Crows. They're prone to heroics and will sometimes break Crow conduct to do so, much to the leadership's frustration, which is partly why they end up with lower level contracts. They're also pretty social but never had much luck in the romance department.

Adaia Laidir (aka my Warden/Zevran daughter Rook lol): Growing up with her parents and their stories drew her towards a life of adventure, but also an inclination to avoid city life and a change of surname that won't allude to her famous/infamous parents. Maybe it was stories about her pirate aunt that led her to the Lords of Fortune, where she could go exploring, treasure hunting, help with escorting researchers, and maybe sometimes let corrupt nobles slip into a trap. Oops.

39. What is their room at The Lighthouse like?

Aster: They decorate their room with a mix of elven cultural items (trying to connect to their heritage), Crow memorabilia (their present home), and art with bird motifs. Though they might keep things simple while on a job, they like to have lots of comforts like an excessive amount of pillows and blankets around if they can.

Adaia: She keeps a lot of trinkets from her adventures and loves landscape art. She's used to being on the move though, both from her childhood and with the Lords, so her room is easy to pack up and go.

49. What will always make them laugh?

Aster: Puns and cheesy jokes for sure.* But they laugh pretty easily, and are also the sort to use humor to hide fear/insecurities.

Adaia: She's a fan of wild stories with unexpected twists.

--

(Full list of questions)

References to NPCs and companion banter below:

For the * on 5: specifically, they see Viago as an older brother figure

For the * on 49: much to Lucanis's dismay lmao