#A Little bit of magic to end the world

[gracebethartacc]

This is just my trope TM

og

[victorluvsalice]

Merry Christmas Ace!

@ace-of-tales You asked for Aziraphale and Crowley from Good Omens visiting Secundus, as you thought Aziraphale in particular would like all the inventions there...and then I mentioned him getting a taste of the March Hare's tarts, and you were like "YES THAT." XD So here that is! Hope you like!

--

“Oh, these – these are absolutely amazing! Crowley, you have to try some!”

Alice did her best to stifle a laugh as she watched one half of the newest pair at the tea table go to absolute town on the March Hare’s tarts. “I take it you’re pleased with the vittles on offer?” she commented, leaning on her elbow.

“I think it’s safe to say this is now his favorite part of our trip here,” Crowley replied, grinning at his partner over an untouched cup of tea. “Always been a bit weak for good food, haven’t you?”

Aziraphale shot him a playfully-scolding look. “It’s your fault,” he declared once his mouth was empty. “You’re the one who introduced me to it.”

“Yessss,” Crowley said, smirking back. “Best bit of temptation I ever did.”

Aziraphale chuckled. “I won’t argue with that.” He grinned over at the March Hare. “Genuinely, these are absolutely fantastic. I thought Jane Austen’s tarts were delectable, but these – ! Oh, you can simply taste the love.”

“I make every batch with as much love – and strawberries – as I can fit in them,” March said, beaming back and bouncing in his chair. “Delighted to hear they pass muster! Though not mustard. That’d be horrible.”

“It would,” Victor agreed with a little laugh.

“Oh, indeed – but instead, now you can tell everyone who comes by that your tarts are truly heavenly,” Richard added, giving March a nudge and a theatrical wink.

“Oh, I’m sure they’re much better than that,” Crowley said, picking up a tart and examining it. “You lot are a lot more – creative than Heaven or Hell. Part of the reason Aziraphale and I were so keen on sticking around on Earth – that and avoiding all the nonsense Upstairs and Down. Humans make some fascinating things, when they put their minds to it.”

“I’m a hare,” March pointed out, pulling up his ears for emphasis.

“I think he’s using ‘human’ to mean sapient creatures as a whole,” Alice said, patting his head. “After all, it doesn’t sound like they have anything like you, Dormy, or Cheshire where they come from.”

“Not that I’ve seen – our world is quite sadly lacking in intelligent animals with stupendous baking skills,” Aziraphale confirmed. “I don’t believe we have anyone quite like your ‘Touched’ either, which is a shame. Some of the inventions you have around here are fantastic – that clock tower, for instance, with the giant bird coming out of it on the hour. Most amusing!”

“Oh, Cuckoo Ben? That nearly scared the life out of me when I first heard it go off,” Victor admitted, grinning. “But it is funny, once you get used to it.”

“Me, I liked that motorized bicycle we saw the other day,” Crowley said, with a sharp-toothed grin. “The one that fellow was bragging could outrun any horse. Reminded me of the Bentley, the way he was zipping around. I could something like that while we’re in the city. Get us places a lot faster than that carriage we rented.”

“I’m – I’m rather content with the speed at which our horses move,” Aziraphale said, grinning nervously. “And that demonstration did end with the inventor going straight into a wall. I had to, ah, assist slightly in making sure he didn’t end up in the morgue.”

“I noticed – though I don’t know if you really had to,” Crowley pointed out. “Based on what we’ve heard, these folks could have just shocked him back again.” He frowned, turning his tart over in his hands. “Which – does feel like it should be causing more of a fuss on both our ends. Hell doesn’t like a sinner escaping.”

“And Heaven would be rather cross about the population going down,” Aziraphale agreed. “But I don’t know much about the local theology.”

“We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves,” Richard told them. “The recently undeceased don’t tend to remember much about their time on the other side. What little we’ve gotten out of them makes it sound like everybody gets chucked into a waiting room first.”

“Mmm – meaning the local versions of Heaven and Hell might have already compensated for our propensity for bring people back to life by not letting anyone in until they’re sure they’re dead,” Alice added.

“Maybe,” Crowley shrugged, and took an experimental bite of tart. “Not like I’m going to – oh.”

He stopped, blinking behind his sunglasses. “Oh wow,” he continued, sounding lightly stunned. “This is good.”

“What did I tell you?” Aziraphale chuckled. “Congratulations Mr. Hare – you’ve won over the agents of both Heaven and Hell with your cookery.”

“Excellent – though it does feel like those should cancel each other out,” March noted, rubbing his chin. “Guess we won’t know until I die, though! And get past the waiting room.”

“Which hopefully won’t be for a long, long time,” Alice said, patting his head. “Anyway – is there anything else you two wanted to see while you’re visiting?

“Well...” Aziraphale grinned. “I did hear something about a restaurant where the food literally rains down from the sky...”

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

At The Feet Of The Sun

book 2 in a slow paced high fantasy duology*

the right hand of the emperor (who is off searching for an heir) struggles with what to do after passing on his responsibilities and also discovering various pieces of information that are mindblowing to him, personally,

after adventure is thrust upon him, he travels to find His Radiancy and they go on some otherworldly adventures while growing closer and figuring out the nature of their friendship

(*there’s extra novellas & i think another book coming? duology adjacent, currently,)

[noahtally-famous]

not me popping back on here with a post after months of semi-inactivity (uni is being a bitch) just to reiterate how much i love writing the pahkitew island cast.

aside from sammy and amy (obviously), literally everyone else can be shipped with one another and it'd make sense to some degree, like it takes skill to create a group of people so inherently shippable (platonically and/or romantically) and ofc the writers didn't know it they just shoved a bunch of random ppl together and dusted their hands off on it but fr tho 😭

(yeah im planning out my leonave 'stranger things inspired' au, and the gears are turning, and i forgot just how much i love writing for this dumbass group)

(i swear im working on the next chapter of a guide to surviving the apocalypse too)

[cookinguptales]

Thank you so much for the tarot reading you did for me a little while back 💜 i'm sorry it's taken me so long to say that! i do rather think you have prophetic gifts, by the way- it was spookily accurate and helped me a lot 🔮

No problem! I'm glad it was helpful to you!

I do tend to get at least one message like this every time I do a tarot night for my followers, and like... you are totally entitled to that belief! What do I know about psychic phenomena and prophecy anyway? lmao. Maybe I am psychic.

But personally, I believe that tarot has a high likelihood of speaking to us no matter what, if just because the archetypal nature of the cards means that they're dealing with problems that we all struggle with. We all have self-doubt, we all have complicated relationships with money, we all crave love of some kind. We all have trauma in our past and we all want to believe that this time, things could be okay.

One of the reasons I like tarot cards is because they are inanimate objects that we imbue with meaning. They were just playing cards, y'know? We're the ones that gave them power over us, and we did that by filling them with our own stories. We placed a mirror in those cards, and while mirrors can be used for scrying, they can also just be used to take a good hard look at ourselves.

If I say "oh, you've had money troubles in the past," who doesn't that apply to? Maybe I'm thinking about me, when we were homeless for a while when I was a kid. Maybe someone else is thinking about the money they lost to gambling last week. Maybe someone else, someone wildly wealthy, is thinking about a stock market crash that brought their five mansions down to two. Maybe a final person has just never had quite enough to make ends meet. God knows that describes a lot of people.

I like tarot because we can all look at the same spread and see something different. I see a story to tell to the best of my ability, and that's how I do readings. But for the people getting those readings, they're often looking into little mirrors and seeing how they reflect their own personal experiences.

Because, you know, we all see different things in the same mirror! That's how tarot works, I think. Maybe some people are a little better at reading things in that mirror and interpreting what they see there, but we all see something new and different and deeply, deeply personal when we look at those cards.

Love that for us.

[majorshatterandhare]

I’m thinking about how the Mechs use energy, because they do things and live and therefore they *must* use energy, that’s how physics (and biology) work.

I had the idea that they are always absolutely frigid to the touch because they suck in heat from the environment like an endothermic chemical reaction.

[down-with-the-mafia]

mu was a child with too much power surrounded by some of the most violent and shitty adults like of course she turned out the way she did

[patheticbatman]

Part Three

I'm very proud of these dolls, and I'm also leaving them at my parents' house, so I did a little photoshoot with some books as background so I can have nice pictures of them.

This is the third post, so check out the first for more info!

First up is Vanellope with Museum of Thieves, by Liam Tanner. It’s about a young girl who lives in a 1800s/early 1900s esque city that has extremely oppressive “protective” laws around children (they’re literally chained all the time, for one). Then she ‘steals herself’ and finds a wonderful and dark refuge in the Museum of Thieves. I feel like this would really appeal to Vanellope, as a chaotic and free spirited girl herself.

(Also I think the game on the books website still work, I played it at least a few years ago, which is great! Really reminds me of when I was young and the internet was more free)

Second is Sofia the First with my DP anthology (Happily Ever After Stories, author: I forgot to write that down) that I’ve had since I was at least 4 (Please excuse the sun damage). I seriously considered letting Kida have this one, because she actually had a story in here, but then I realized that I had a better one for her. But I feel like Sofia the first would probably love this. I think it has all the Disney Princesses up to Mulan (because this was published before The Princess and The Frog), plus Alice in Wonderland and Kida? But I don’t remember rn. For some reason I feel like the latest official DP in there is Jasmine. I’m not super familiar with Sofia or her related characters but I felt she should be included.

Third is Sofia’s sister Amber, with A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. I feel like she would read this, empathize heavily with Sarah, and unironically not realize she would be part of the problem. Or at least, the version of her from the beginning of Sofia’s tv show would bully Sarah. (Yes she’s a different type of doll than the others but she came free with some of the harder to find ones I ordered off of Ebay.)

Fourth is Elsa with My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I’m not sure mentally HealthIER (she still has a ways to go IMO) Elsa from the end of the second movie would read this. But I KNOW depressed Elsa would read this just to torture herself.

Fifth is Anna and Olaf with Frozen II Movie Theatre Storybook & Movie Projector by Marilyn Easton. I bought this before the movie came out, and sadly it did not contain much more info than the trailers gave us. But it’s still fun to have, and the stylization was pretty. The projector still works, though I need to clean the film. I used to have a bunch of these as a kid. Definitely had a Sleeping Beauty one. In any case, I feel like Anna would be delighted to see an illustrated version of her adventures, and once I thought of using this book, I couldn’t think up anything I’d want to use more as Anna’s background.

Sixth is Kristoff and Sven with It’s A Magical World, A Calvin and Hobbes Collection by Bill Watterson. I feel like Kristoff would enjoy the often dry humor, the lovely artwork, Calvin’s cuteness sometimes, and the relationship between Calvin and HIS animal friend, Hobbes. I actually have a bunch of these compilations but of course I picked the winter one for Kristoff lol. I know he isn’t a Dp but he came out in the same line and I like him anyhow.

Seventh is Elena of Avalon with Kamaisama Kiss (Kamisama Hajimemashita) by Julietta Suzuki. I don’t know a ton about Elena, but both she and Nanami had a sucky life for a while, and then were suddenly given a lot of power and magic, and silly hijinks ensued.

Eight is Moana and a pet chicken with Time Cat, by Lloyd Alexander. She probably doesn’t even know wha a cat IS, so I feel like from start to finish she would be enthralled with all the cultures and the main concept of Time Travel within the book.

Ninth is Raya with Dragon Bones, by Patricia Briggs. I think she’d pick it up, excited to read about Dragons, and then be so mystified with many of the concepts she wouldn’t be able to put it down. Coincidentally it also has a Dragon who can turn human and is pretty much the only one left. No it is not the human on the cover.

Last for this post is Namaari with Dragonworld, by many different people. It’s basically an art book with many different interpretations of Dragons. I think Namaari is the BIGGEST dragon nerd out of the characters in Raya’s movie, so this would definitely be right up her alley.

Part One

Part Two

Part Four

[soft-fox-neil]

Been reading All the young dudes for the first time ever over the last weeks...

And I just finished the last 400 pages today..

I'm heartbroken what the hell 😭

[florshedworf]

also fionna and cake’s ending and ppl’s reaction to it has made me realize how much people’s reactions can be skewed if the ending is sad and/or bittersweet

[jrueships]

Magic after running from one new authority figure to another so he can shed responsibility from his actions when his consequences catch him anyway: 🥺

[gracebethartacc]

Art from DMs I forgot to post so boom here’s LBOM au art (first one is a scene we gonna do, second was me visualizing an idea of wholes arc teehees) plus doodles of my friend @beetlebuggy01 s oc and also aau and then some traditional stuff thumbs up

[bitchfitch]

actually I've decided all those old ideas for them suck. Objectively the funniest possible answer to "who the fuck Are Conrí and Gwyn" is:

Gwyn is a proper nobody, but he's mostly happy living with his pet pixie frog, Jeremiah, and his roommate/best friend Human Jeremiah. who is a sorta eccentric older fellow. Tends to be very air headed and spends most of his time keeping to himself and quietly reading the old books he keeps up in their attic. He also does basically all the chores when Gwyn is at work so the dude could be a serial killer and Gwyn would still consider him the best roommate ever.

It's a great life for Gwyn. He can relax and persue his passions in his free time in a quiet and lovely home. He has company when he wants it and peace when he doesn't. it's Perfect.

Until Gwyn gets forcibly Isekai-ed.

He wakes in (bulk standard magic land... Bustmala) on an alter surrounded by strangers. They tell him he's the reincarnation of some ancient sorcerer and it'll be his job to stop some horrid evil. Gwyn is not down for this. He doesn't know how time moves in relation to the two worlds and Human Jeremiah is out of town so if Gwyn doesn't get home soon his beloved Jeremiah will starve or his water will dry up.

What proceeds is the set up for your standard harem anime. There's the extremely accomplished sorceress who works for the king/queen, Exac'coso, She is being forced to teach this newcomer. She resents his existence and he agrees that she should, they start hatching their plan in secret almost as soon as they are alone in the room together.

The powerful general who immediately starts talking strategy, Powge. her words go just as far over his head as Exac'coso's did. It devastates her to find out the plan her predecessors had been working to put into place for generations is going to fail. They didn't have any other way to possibly contain the BBEG. While she still has hope it'll work out some how, it doesn't take long to get her on board. The sooner Gwyn is gone the sooner the higher-ups will let them all start investigating more options that might actually work. This is the first time she and Exac'coso are getting to work together and she's learning to not be quite as intimidated by such a well respected member of the court.

And finally a maid of no renown, Manoré. She's the glue that holds the team together. The only one of the three of them that has an excuse to go anywhere without a single person paying her any mind. It also helps that she's a pickpocket and clever in a way that compliments Powge's straight forward eyes on the prize mindset and Exac'coso's overthinking and over complicating. Plus it also gets her a chance to reverse pickpocket a few things off the ladies. She likes stealing but also always feels a little bad about it later if the person is nice. She doesn't need to be convinced to join their mission, she was listening in when the other two weren't thinking of her as having been there because she was just the help.

The four of them get everything set up and nearly succeed in their goal without much fuss. Until the overly loyal dog of a guard that is Conrí interupts. He had been the greatest hurdle as he had been assigned to watch over Gwyn at all times in case BBGE tried to get him before he was prepared to win that fight. He had refused to hear any of Gwyn's protests on this matter and insisted he Must be the sorcerer because otherwise, what hope did any of them have?

The spell was already started up. Both Gwyn and Conrí were transported back to Gwyn's world. They land in his backyard and Gwyn just books it to check on Jeremiah. only managing to out run Conrí bc of the narrow halls and low cielings giving the giant fucker a hard time. Jeremiah is completely fine and Gwyn could just about cry with relief. His water is still full so despite weeks having passed in the other world it seems only a few hours at most had passed in this one.

Now Conrí is the one who's the fish out of water. You thought this was a story about a normal dude in a magic world surrounded by hot chicks? Gotcha. It's about a big wolf man stuck in a normal world that's wholely incompatible with him. with a man he's done a great job at making hate him.

Worst of all, Weeks had passed in his home when only hours had here. How long did they have to get back before the final confrontation was had and lost without the prophecized sorcerer there to save everyone? how long until everything he had ever known or loved was gone? He had pups, would they think he abandoned them in the days leading up to their firey deaths? They had already lost their mother, he couldn't make them suffer That too.

Things are awkward those first few days. Conrí is already going stir crazy having to stay inside what is to him a very cramped little house. Driving them both mad with his constant worry and hopeless anger. He's furious with Gwyn even if it's not fair for him to be. If Gwyn had just Paid More Attention. If he had learned more from Exac'coso before running like a coward then Maybe they would have gotten home in time.

They had summoned Gwyn with 3 years of prep time to make sure he was ready for the fight. With how time had moved between their worlds, the math said a year in Bustmala was only a day here.

The fourth day comes. Conrí locks himself in the spare room and refuses to come out.

The fifth day Gwyn barely manages to get him to eat.

The sixth he offers to bring Conrí a book so at least he could enjoy some reading while he wallowed. Conrí doesn't want anything that mentions earth or anything about it. All Gwyn has is non fiction. Human Jeremiah likes fantasy though. So maybe they could raid his library? Gwyn promises Human Jeremiah is cool and if he isn't Gwyn will pay him back for the book if he's not ok letting Conrí read it. Conrí reluctantly agrees.

They go up to Jeremiah's attic room and Conrí grabs a book at random from the shelves. They're all the sort that are bound in leather to look fancy and old despite being fairly new so he has to flick through a few pages to actually get a feeling for the type of book it is. Gwyn watches his brow furrow and realizes he might not be able to read english. but then Conrí is flicking to the table of contents and then to a specific story.

Conrí throws the book through the window and collapses onto the bed with his head in his hands. He already regrets having thrown that book. It was the same collection of short stories his kids had on their bedside table. He'd read it to them hundreds of times.

"Funny how the world can find a way to beat you when you're already dead. Right house, wrong man."

He doesn't respond when Gwyn asks for clarification but Gwyn doesn't really need it. It was more the shock of the realization that had wanted the confirmation than any cognizant part of his mind. Gwyn wishes he hadn't turned down Human Jeremiah's offers to let him read one of his books. Maybe he would have realized the truth when they still had time to act on it then.

He pulls out a few books, opens and sets them aside until he has the one he wants. A magic grimoire that had a spell and set of sigil work he recognized from Exac'coso sending him home. He was barely at the point of learning to read the most basic of basics from her and this... This was something she had spent an entire day preparing for and studying and even then made sure he knew there was a nonzero chance she fucked it up and sent him way back in time or dropped him from a few stories up.

"I... I can try to learn more."

"What's the point in that? To let me see my home in ruins? To see if I can find their bodies in the rubble? Just put me down and move on."

"Human Jeremiah will be home eventually... He could teach me. Or send you home himself."

"And still there would not be a point."

"We were wrong. about how time passed. There's this, uh, this denotes a time I think? If you remember what the date was we can go back to the same day we left on. I think."

"I will unscrew your head from your neck if you are givinge false hope."

"I don't think I am."

[notebooks-and-laptops]

Why Fenris could Never Cameo in Dragon Age: The Veilguard

In the run up to Dragon age: The Veilguard, I was almost certain that Fenris would be our main legacy character from previous games. Not only has he been central in the comics released between DAI and DATV, he is an escaped Tevinter slave who's plot revolved around magisters, magic and the structural prejudices surrounding elves in Thedas. Not only that, but he's canonically in Tevinter killing slavers currently so he's geographically in the right place for us to meet him.

About halfway through the game though, it was clear to me: Fenris could never cameo in The Veilguard. Because he'd break it.

How the Veilguard treats Thedas is...odd to me, to say the least. I will be writing another post about how much I adored the expanded big lore in this game (the titans, ancient elves were spirits, where the blight came from etc.) and yet while these large lore expansions worked for me, the actual culture of modern Thedas is entirely softened, its sharp edges filed down until it's a sanitised fantasy world devoid of what made the franchise so vibrant and compelling in the first place.

So let's start with Fenris and slavery. In all three games, the reality of slavery is pushing at the corners of the world. In DAO Loghain allows Tevinter Magisters to enslave elves in order to raise money for his war effort. In DA2 Fenris is fighting to be free from slavers who will not leave him be, let alone the reminders that the city was built by slaves which are everywhere. In DAI one of the two possible mini-bosses is Calpurnia who was a slave, and characters such as Gatt and Dorian both show us how much slavery is tied into Tevinters culture and success.

But DATV the first game actually set in Tevinter where we get to see the famed Minrathous...it's like the game purposefully wants to avoid the issue. I can feel it tilting the camera away to not allow me to see. Slavery is mentioned, but never talked about in depth or as a specifically ELVEN problem in Tevinter. This might have been done to be less problematic, it feels ignored.

We are in DOCK TOWN. We are at the DOCKS. You would think that slaves from all over Thedas who are being smuggled and bought by various groups would be everywhere. You would think that the injustice in dock town would be partly built on the back of ships we've seen in the comics crammed with elves in chains. This is the world Dragon age set up for us. And yet...nothing. zilch. A tiny easily skippable side quest where we free a couple of venatori slaves, but only one of whom is an elf.

None of our Tevinter characters seem to have been influenced by their culture even a little bit when it comes to how they view elves; there is no moment when Neve fucks up and says something prejudiced, no moment when Bellara or Davrin are distrustful of her for being a Tevinter mage.

The same goes for Zevran; a character who epitomised the issues with the crows. The crows have consistently been characterised as very morally dubious assassins who kill for the highest bidder and who buy children on the slave market and torture them as they grow in order to assure that they reach maturity able to withstand torture without giving away a client's name. Zevran is very explicit about the fact that if you fail a contract your life is forefit.

Nobody responds particularly to you if you're an elf. Nobody trusts rook less for it in Tevinter. Nobody treats Rook any differently. Even DAI had better mechanics for this; with nobles in Orlais less likely to trust you as an elf.

Considering one of the main plot points of this game and what makes Solas sympathetic is the fact that he was fighting against the slavery of ancient elves...you'd think the game might want to mirror that in modern Thedas. It might want to show us how characters fighting to end slavery in Tevinter are similar to Solas and how the society Solas fought against was similar to the one that characters we love such as Fenris have fought against in modern Thedas. Maybe we'd want to explore how in a world of slavery like this, how could the answer NOT be to tear it all down? Maybe we should have that option at the end of the game so it really can chose whether we agree with Solas and his plans or not.

Adding Fenris to this game would entirely break the game because Fenris refuses to allow you to look away from this horror. He is a sympathetic character who had to learn to trust mages again because of course he didn't trust them. Of course he didn't. Fenris wouldn't allow the camera to shift focus because he's literally covered in the lyrium scars that show how slaves are used as experiments in Tevinter. Fenris WOULD question Neve on how she feels about elves and slaves. Fenris WOULD have things to say about Lucanis and the crows (let alone the fact Lucanis is an abomonation). So he could never be in this game; he'd drop a bomb on it's carefully constructed blinders to the very society its supposed to be set in.

And yet, in DATV, the crows are presented as...a found family of misfits and orphans? The politician who opposes the crows having absolute power in Antiva is framed as a comically evil idiot who doesn't understand that the crows are ontologically good. Yet...they're NOT. Crows in this game act more like a secret rebel group than an assassin organisation. We see no crow taking contracts with the VERY RICH venatori magisters despite being hired killers. We see crows just refuse to kill people despite having a contract because 'its crueler to leave them alive'. The crows don't feel like the crows here, they feel like a softened version of a cool assassin group who are cool because they wear black and purple.

Our pirate group are also sanitised; the Lords of Fortune are good pirates who only steal treasure that's not culturally significant. Theyve clearly read the modern critiques of the British Museum and have decided to explicitly stop anyone levelling similar critiques at them. There is no faction of the Lords of Fortune who aren't like this, no internal arguments about it. Everyone just. Agrees. And is able to accurately tell what a cultural artifact is vs. what treasure that you can have yourself is. Rather than showing us why a pirate stealing cultural artifacts might be bad (like in da2 where such a situation literally causes a coup and a war) it just tells us it's bad. But also pirates are cool so we still want them in our world.

This issue seaps into Thedas and drains it of any of the interesting complexity and ability to SAY anything that this franchise had before this game. It becomes a game about telling and not showing rather than the other way around. The games have ALWAYS asked questions about oppressive structural systems and their interplay with society, religion and culture and how these things can affect even the most well meaning character. Dragon age at its best IS a game about society and how society functions both for and against it's characters and what happens to societies built on cruelty and indifference. The best bad guys dragon age has given us are those who are bad because they embody these systems or have been shaped by them. Our main characters have had to wrestle with questions surrounding how to exist in these systems, fight against them, learn and grow.

Yet every group you come across in DATV is sanitised and cleaned up to the point of being as non problematic as humanly possible. None of our cast of characters have to wrestle with where they came from or the world that shaped them. None of them have to confront their own biases. They start the game perfectly non-problematic and end it that way too.

And this just...isn't what Dragon Age has been in the past. It isn't why I love the franchise. The whole game just felt, in a way, hollow. And this was a CHOICE and it is why the legacy characters are few and far between. Too many dragon age characters are just too...angry and complex for this game. You can feel them pulling their punches on this one. I have to imagine they did this because they didn't want to be criticised or have too much controversy? But I think it honestly goes far too much in the other direction and just makes it bland.

I can't imagine what I say here will be unique, but it is the basis for a LOT of my other thoughts on this game so I wanted to get it out of the way first. The softened Thedas and characters make this game by far the weakest in the franchise.

[kateschi]

the katsuki bakugou effect

synopsis: where your husband, katsuki, has a way of calming your daughter like no one else can.

pairing: timeskip!bakugou katsuki x f!reader

katsuki’s ability to calm your daughter is nothing short of magical.

it doesn’t matter how fussy or inconsolable she gets; the moment he holds her, everything changes.

her tiny fists are no longer clenched in frustration, her loud cries slowly taper off, and her little body relaxes in his arms. his presence soothes her in a way no one else’s can.

you’ve lost count of how many times you’ve been at the end of your rope, trying everything you can think of to calm her.

you’ve rocked her gently, hummed her favorite lullaby, even tried a little soft talking, but nothing works.

when your baby’s tears start to escalate, and her little body trembles in distress, you find yourself on the edge of exhaustion.

but then katsuki walks in.

he steps over to you, and with a quick kiss to the top of your head, scoops her from your arms, then instantly, the tension in the room lifts.

his rough hands gently cradle her, and he murmurs something too quiet for you to catch.

you can’t help but watch in awe as she goes from wailing to calm in just a few seconds, her little face nuzzling against his chest. it’s like a switch flips, and you swear you can see her sigh in relief.

it’s always the same. as soon as katsuki’s around, she settles. she looks at him with a calmness that’s impossible to ignore, her tiny lips pouting slightly as she stares up at him.

her little hands grasp weakly at his shirt, her body relaxing into his hold as if everything is suddenly right with the world. and katsuki just holds her, always.

“you’re a softie,” you tease one day as you watch him rock her back and forth.

katsuki shoots you a glare, but it’s softened by the sight of your daughter curled peacefully in his arms. “shut up,” he mutters, but there’s no real heat behind it. and you can’t help but smile.

you cross the room, leaning in to plant a kiss on his cheek. he stiffens for a moment, but the warmth in his eyes tells you everything you need to know.

“I’m serious,” you say. “you’re the softest guy I know.”

he lets out a gruff chuckle, his scowl deepening, though it's clear he's enjoying your attention as he places a gentle kiss on your forehead.

a few weeks later, you’re all at a class 1-a reunion, gathered at the old dorms. the atmosphere is lively, with the familiar banter of your old classmates filling the air.

midoriya’s sitting on the couch, holding your daughter carefully in his arms, cooing softly at her as the rest of the group laughs and talks around them.

but suddenly, the peaceful mood shifts. your girl begins to fidget in midoriya’s arms, her little face scrunching up in that all-too-familiar way before the whimpers start.

a soft cry escapes her lips, and then it builds, escalating into the full-blown wail you know so well. midoriya looks startled, glancing around as if searching for some way to calm her.

“uh, uh, it’s okay,” midoriya says, trying to gently rock her in his arms. “it’s okay, sweetheart."

but your baby’s cries only seem to grow louder, her face turning red as her hands flail helplessly. you glance at katsuki, already knowing what’s coming next.

without a word, katsuki stands up from his seat, the others giving him a bit of space as he walks over.

his eyes lock on your daughter, and there’s something about his gaze that makes everything else fade into the background. he’s not rushing, not frantic.

he just calmly steps in, his arms outstretched.

midoriya silently hands the little girl over. as soon as katsuki has her, everything shifts. he holds her against his chest, and his rough hand gently pats her back.

his thumb brushes against her little arm, his voice soft. “it’s me,” he murmurs, his tone low and steady. “it’s okay.”

your little girl hiccups, her cries fading almost immediately, and then she stops. her lips jut out in a pout, still a little upset, but no longer in distress.

she stares up at him, her wide eyes searching his face as if recognizing him. and then, she settles into the crook of his arm, her tiny hands grasping weakly at the fabric of his shirt.

the room is silent for a moment, everyone watching in awe as your girl rests peacefully in katsuki’s arms. he doesn’t even seem to notice the attention.

his focus is entirely on her, his expression softening as she calms.

you smile to yourself, watching him from the sidelines. even after all this time, katsuki never ceases to surprise you with how much he’s grown, how much he’s learned.

you remember when he first found out he was going to be a father, and how nervous he’d been (though he would never admit that).

but now, here he is, effortlessly calming your daughter.

“man, you’re a real softie now, huh?” kirishima teases from across the room, a wide grin plastered on his face.

katsuki’s eyes narrow immediately, and he glares at his friend. “shut the hell up, red.”

but the teasing doesn’t stop there.

kaminari, who’s been silently watching the entire scene, leans forward with a smirk. “I can’t believe it…the ‘explosion hero’ is actually the baby whisperer now?”

katsuki frowns, and his glare remains trained on the two of them. but there’s a slight restraint in his movements—one that’s only noticeable to you.

he’s trying to stay calm, and it’s all because he doesn’t want to wake your little girl up. you can practically feel the tension in the air as his patience wears thin.

sero, naturally, chimes in with a smirk of his own. “I’ve gotta hand it to you, man. I never thought I’d see the day when you’d be ‘aww’ing over a baby like some mushy ball of fluff.”

katsuki’s mouth opens, ready to fire back, but then he glances down at your sleeping daughter, her little chest rising and falling peacefully, and he shuts it again.

for a split second, his fierce expression softens. he takes a deep breath, holding the baby a little tighter.

“you’re lucky she’s asleep, or I would've blasted your asses to oblivion,” he grumbles, but the threat is half-hearted.

kaminari lets out a nervous laugh. “jeez, man, alright, we get it.”

you can’t help but chuckle softly, leaning against the doorframe as you watch them. 

katsuki’s eyes narrow in warning, but despite his frown, there’s a warmth to his expression that doesn’t go unnoticed when he looks back at d/n.

it’s moments like these when the rest of the world seems to disappear, and it's just him, her, and the quiet calm they share.

sighing in resignation, he shifts slightly, walking over to you. you watch as he makes his way across the room, still cradling your daughter in his arms, her tiny hands gripping his shirt as she drifts into a deeper sleep.

you don’t say anything at first, but as he gets closer, you meet his gaze with a soft smile.

there’s no denying the softening effect he has when it’s just the two of you—well, the three of you, if you count the tiny bundle in his arms.

he leans into you as he steps to your side, his broad shoulders brushing against yours, and without a word, he tilts his head slightly toward you, seeking the quiet comfort of being beside you.

“I told them to shut up,” katsuki mutters, his voice lower now, quieter. his usual fiery energy is subdued, and he seems content to just be in your presence.

he exhales slowly, letting the weight of the situation fade away. you reach up and gently touch his arm, a soft laugh escaping you.

"she's lucky you’re her dad," you murmur, your eyes flickering down to where your daughter is curled against his chest. "you’re so patient with her."

katsuki scoffs lightly, rolling his eyes, but the smile tugging at his lips betrays his true feelings.

“I’m not some damn pushover,” he mutters, but there’s a softness in his tone that makes you want to kiss him.

and you do.

kofi — navigation — masterlist

do not copy, translate, or plagarize

[ambrosiagourmet]

I think one of the biggest tragedies of Laios & Falin and their relationship is how much his actions impact her life. But like. Specifically how much they WOULDN’T impact her life as much if they weren’t both stuck in such a shitty abusive situation.

This part of the Falin-tries-makeup daydream hour comic is what got me thinking about it again because truly it just... it seems like such a like an offhand comment that I'm sure Laios didn't mean to be cruel or anything. That's just like. A little kid not thinking about what they are saying. ESPECIALLY when the kid in question is Laios.

But man they depended on each other SO much as kids. Too much. It really feels like they didn't have any other source of positive reinforcement, or anyone else to share themselves with. So of course an offhand comment like that has a huge impact on Falin.

Or this little bit from one of the flashbacks:

This tears me apart. Do you think it tears him apart to think about? I think it does. I think Laios holds every small failure to care for Falin against himself.

And then there's the Bigger stuff. The way that him coping with his own trauma ended up impacting her.

Like his interest in monsters. Like him going to find a ghost, and accidentally revealing Falin's magic to the whole village in the process.

Like him needing to leave. And leaving her behind.

He shaped her life so much, and he carries so much guilt for it. And again, there should have been other people there to help. The same things that made Laios need to leave home are the things that made his leaving so hard on Falin. She ate alone after that. She shouldn't have had to eat alone just because Laios wasn't there.

She was 9 when he left for school, and he was 11.

Nine. And Laios feels like he failed her because he didn't stand by her through this better. As an eleven year old.

Both of these kids deserved so much better from the world.