#Carver x Merrill for blacklists

[hollyand-writes]

5 Questions (fic meme)

I was tagged all the way back in December 2019 by the lovely @kagetsukai – thanks so much! ❤️  Sorry that it’s taken me, um, 7 months to get around to doing this! I think at the time I was feeling a bit too low about my writing (and, frankly, fandom) back then to be able to answer any writing memes, but I’m back on my bullshit now so LET’S DO THIS! 💪🏾 

I tag whoever wants to do this! 😃 

Let’s talk about “A Chance Engagement”, my Regency AU Carver/Merrill multi-chaptered longfic! 

1) What was the idea that started the story?

Two things: The first thing was this post that made me wonder what Carver would look like marching around in tight Regency breeches, and that got me thinking of all kinds of scenarios where he’d be marching around in them (also please have my bad Photoshop art. Thanks @fragilespark for enabling me, haha!).

The second thing was that not long after, @lucyrne was one of the randomly-selected prizewinners for the @carvermerrill blog giveaway when it reached 250 followers (random fun fact: it now has 366 followers; not bad for a rare-pairing!) and she gave me the following prompt: 

...I think what I'd really love is a prompt that involves them dressing up for some reason. Like going to a ball and actually getting to enjoy it instead of thwarting assassinations or fighting dragons ... 

After I asked her if a Regency AU would be OK with her, she replied: 

I was thinking something canonverse, but if an AU inspired you go for it. 

And, um, three years later, here we are. (I’m so sorry your blog giveaway prize has taken this long, Lucyrne!) 

2) Did you make an outline? Did you stick to it?

Kind of? I mean, I’m following the plot of Pride & Prejudice (the novel version, and maybe sort of the 1995 BBC adaptation) for the most part, especially with the main pairing (Carver/Merrill) and one of the other side-pairings (the Wickham/Lydia equivalent), but there is another subplot going on with F!Hawke/Isabela (i.e. Marian Hawke) and their secret romance which is very loosely based on their Dragon Age 2 romance arc, although it won’t exactly follow that arc. 

I tend to make a very loose and subject-to-change outline for my longfic after pantsing a few paragraphs/pages to get some thoughts down and some scenes out of my head, but then I start to string things together by coming up with some sort of plot to include the scenes in, and that’s what I’ve done here. I’ve got a list of bullet points of plot points I need to cover overall, and then I drill down deeper into each chapter and what they will cover every batch of several chapters. I haven’t always stuck to those more detailed chapter-by-chapter outlines, but I have stuck to the overall plot outline. 

3) What’s the favourite part of your story?

A certain rejected proposal that happened in Chapter 41. I was laughing about that for at least a year before I was finally able to release the chapter – it was so hard sitting on that plot twist for so long!

4) Who is your favourite character and why?

Probably the Arishok. His sole purpose in the fic is to just turn up and ruin everything, LOL. I’ve also really enjoyed writing the De Launcets, as well – writing the bitchy sisters Babette and Fifi and their brother Emile with his shit chat-up lines has been great, they’re just my favourite disaster family and writing their meanness has been fun. 

5) Did anything happen that surprised you as you were writing? 

I was actually surprised that the de Launcet sisters ended up having as big a role as they did, and that there was so little of Emile. I was also surprised at just how long it would take me to get from one plot point to another, that getting from plot point A to plot point B in my rough outline would take several chapters and a bunch of exposition and worldbuilding in order to build and complete the path there. 

I am also surprised that I’m still going. I thought this would be done in like 15 chapters and 20,000 words?!? AHAHAHAHAHA I WAS SO WRONG but I’m also surprised that I’ve got a fic past the 60,000-word mark and that I haven’t flagged and that I’m still interested in writing and finishing it, even if I am slow! 

The other reason I’m surprised I’m still going is actually because trying to write in a Regency style of English is really, really, really hard for me, and I don’t always enjoy doing it, even though (paradoxically) I really enjoy writing this fic???? despite my feelings about the style I write it in??? I can’t really explain it. It kind of feels like I was meant to write this fic, somehow, and I think so far it’s the most “me” out of all multi-chaptered fics I’ve publicly released to AO3. 

The BIGGEST surprise I got, however, was that this longfic would be as loved as it was/is, and that I’d have so many lovely, awesome, wonderful people reaching out to tell me how much they love my fic and look forward to each update ❤️  Back when I started, I only had like 3 readers, and out of those, only Lucyrne was a regular commenter of mine – I remembered being disappointed at first, but then I thought “eh, this is the story I want to write, and I love diving into this world and this AU so I’m going to finish it even if Lucyrne ends up being my only reader”. So I stopped worrying about my lack of audience and just... carried on writing it, just for the sheer fun of writing it. 

I was genuinely not prepared at all for so many readers to discover my longfic somewhere around Chapters 9 to 15, and to come along for the ride with me. But I appreciate it and love you all. Thank you all so, so much. 😘❤️

[overthinkingfeathers]

4, 9, 26!

Straight to questions that are going to get me in trouble with mutuals! I like it.

4. Do you have a NoTP in your fandom? Are they a popular OTP?

I guess it depends on how you define NoTP. If it’s ‘under absolutely no circumstance will I read/look at this content,’ then I can’t think of any off hand. I reserve the right to take that back if anything horrific comes across my dashboard, but so far, nothing’s hit that mark yet.  

If it’s ‘I’ll only really look at it for a mutual’ then, uh, things are about to get awkward in here, because Templar!Carver x Merrill. Active templar (who had more info than most joining and still made that choice - and I’ve read great meta on how it might have been the best choice he had at the time, but even still) with a blood mage? In Kirkwall, a city where a blood mage’s options upon being caught are Tranquility or death? Ehhhhh. I get that for shipping purposes it’s easier to have Templar!Carver, because honestly, half the times he shows up as a Warden make no sense (the Wardens have great timing, obviously), and it’s hard to ship two characters who are almost never in the same place, but templar/mage pairings are always difficult at best for me. Recent templar in a city with the harshest Circle/active blood mage in that same city just doesn’t work for me. But they’re a rarepair, so it’s not a common thing to see regardless. 

If it’s ‘I hate 99.9% of the content for this pairing and thus don’t even bother with it (except for mutuals),’ Fenders. They have such an understandably tense relationship in canon. It can work in total AU settings, but for anything approaching canon, I have to see some evidence of how they got to that point - growing compassion and understanding, lessening animosity, moves towards begrudging friendship, tension over misunderstandings and backwards steps that come with any enemies to anything nicer than enemies. Instead, most of what I saw back in the days I bothered was usually ‘everything is canon compliant except now they’re cute and flirty.’ I dislike it strongly. While I do wish they had developed a better relationship over the years in canon, and I think some of the choices made there were nonsense (specifically the deal with the demon/give Fenris back), their initial hate makes so much sense for both of them, and I feel like it does both characters wrong to pretend like they should have immediately become besties. I don’t know how popular that ship actually is. It seems pretty popular, but I also have multiple mutuals who ship it, and I think a good quarter of my ‘recommended for you’ section devoted to it most of the time, so I could just be getting more exposure to it than most. 

9. Most disliked character(s)? Why?

For whatever reason, I read this question in terms of characters you’re supposed to like - companions, basically. And honestly, if we’re just going by companions, Oghren. I wanted to like him. His story was interesting, and I was sympathetic to his position (lost his wife, lost his standing, eventually gave up his home to try to redeem himself). But 95% of the time, his conversations were isn’t his excessive drinking hilarious and/or bodily function jokes and/or repeated sexual innuendos towards every female companion, and all of those things are major turn offs for me. 

If we’re talking all characters across the Dragon Age franchise, it’s a toss up between Corypheus and Elthina. Corypheus because he had such potential - original Fade walking magister, around since before the Blights were a thing, able to find these broken and downtrodden people and make them into great leaders, even the fact that he’s being secretly manipulated by someone else - and they basically didn’t utilize him well. He’s your standard destroy the universe so I can rule it villain. He must have done so much careful planning throughout, but it all disappears by the end, and he reverts to just destroy things mode. His final fight was a snooze. It was disappointing. 

Elthina, on the other hand, is brilliantly written, because she’s disguising her power plays as incompetence so well that almost everyone falls for it, at least at first. ‘Oh I couldn’t possibly help the mages,’ she says, when she’s literally the only person in the city who can officially step in between Meredith’s increasing intolerance and everything else. ‘I guess it’s just the Maker’s will.’ Deliberate incompetence is like fingernails under my skin for me; deliberate incompetence that hurts people in the name of political self preservation is so much worse. 

26. Most shippable character?

For me, it’s Isabela, and probably not for the reason everyone would assume. She’s easy going and friendly, and she breaks down so many walls with people. She has insightful conversations with almost everyone - half of them are covered with jokes and flirting, but she’s smart, and she knows people. She obviously builds trust with pretty much everyone she likes; Merrill adores her, Fenris is willing to have a relationship with her (3 years later than Hawke and proclaimed just physical, yes, but presumably the marks still hurt and he still has trouble with his memories; that takes trust), both of the Hawke twins have good relationships with her, etc, etc. Even with people she disagrees with, she can still have insightful conversations with them (see, for example, Anders and the justice is like a bar brawl conversation). In the long run, she can get almost anyone to open up to her. It’s a rare thing. 

And I just want her to find love so much, and I feel like she can have the ‘love isn’t always something you can prevent’ (aka you’re worthy of love, and you’re a good person in the end) conversation with someone other than Hawke, so it’s entirely doable. My ultimate OTP with her is with Merrill, but I think she could have a good relationship with a lot of people.

[therealmnemo]

Oh, a pinned post??

About Mnemo. I’m in my 30s, living in a state that went 70% red in this last election (gag) and live with my wife and our 3 cats, Persephone, Circe, and Pandora.

I’ve been hovering around tumblr for a few years. I kind of first dropped into the Supernatural fandom, quickly learned a lesson about posting hate in a tag, and decided that wasn’t for me. Got really into Dragon Age after playing DAI, but dove into the fandom after playing DA2.  Most of my mutuals and friends I’ve made are in this fandom and I’m really glad most are still around.  I’m very much about having a good time in this sandbox and making a space where others can have as much fun. I’m a weirdo who loves mermaids and likes to enable other artists and writers to just have a blast and make the weirdest, horniest things. 

I’ve been the mod of @teamblueandangry​, ran a few events centered on Anders and Fenris and their ships. I’m multishipping trash. 

I briefly had a blog for Dragon Age Weird Shit, which is the name of the Discord I started to encourage writers and artists to do really strange things. That Discord is still around and I’m open to having people join again. Once we get the rules sorted out again. 

I’m a big fan of fandom positivity, I’m to the point that I don’t feel the need to talk about what I hate anymore... unless it’s the Chantry... or Elthina... or assholes in fandom that decide they need to be the authority on meta or what is deemed acceptable. The blacklist and block button are your friends. 

Welp, if you’re interested in anything I’ve written, I’ve put links under the cut. If you want anything specific to my meanderings, my tag is mnemospeaks. If you want to scroll my writing, it’s mnemowrites. If you like spotify playlists, mnemomixtapes. i think my podfics are still under mnemorecords, and I might get back to those one day. My wife and I were also writing an original piece based on Urban Shadows that is on my ao3 as well, called Orchid. 

Anywho, I’m so happy to still see people really active here in the DA2 fandom and hope to make a lot of new friends and mutuals!

I write mostly around Dragon Age 2 and the characters involved. My biggest ships revolve around any combo of Hawke, Anders, and Fenris. Basically, anyway I can express how much I love those three characters. I have some Isabela x Hawke and Carver x Merrill down below, and some Karl x Anders too. I take prompts any time, which fall under the Kirkwall Friend Fiction Collection on Ao3. Prompts for kid fluff end up in the Glow Dads collection. You’ll find all my fics sorted below first by ship, then series, then drabble collections. 

Tumblr Only

The Truth May Vary . M . Incomplete

Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke

[Part One][Part Two][Part Three]

On Ao3 as therealmnemo

Anders x Fenris

I Have Promises to Keep, and Miles to Go Before I Sleep . M . Complete

I Need A Hero . T . Complete

Left Behind .  M . Complete

The Layover .  M . Incomplete

Anders x f!Hawke

I Still Hope . T. Complete

In Search of Andraste’s Blessing . E . Complete

Missing Bedtime Stories . T . Complete

We’ll Hold Each Other Soon . M . Complete

Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke

Flight, Sundered . M . Incomplete

Infinity in Pieces . T . Complete

Rogues Tie the Best Knots . E . Complete

Taking Bets .  M . Complete

The First and (Hopefully, Not Last) Time . E . Complete

When They Knew . T . Complete

Anders x Fenris x m!Hawke

Santa Hawke . E . Complete

Fenris x f!Hawke

Facing Demons .  NR . Complete

Morning Intrusions .  M . Complete

Poker Face .  M . Complete

Very Subtle, Hawke . T . Complete

Isabela x f!Hawke

Alone on Satinalia . T . Complete

Carver x Merrill

His Hands Shake . T. Complete

General

Critics Be Damned . M . Complete

The Healer of Darktown . T . Complete

Series

Fenris, Hawke, and their Little Bird. 

(Fenris x M!Hawke)

A Surprise in the Snow . T. Complete

She’s Not Made of Glass . T. Complete

Turnabout is Fair Play . T. Complete

Happy Endings . T. Complete

Happy Birthday, Beth . T. Complete

You Better Start Swimming or You’ll Sink Like a Stone.

Mermaid AU and all Side Stories. (Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke, Karl Thekla x Anders)

Dawn . T. Complete  

Dusk . M . Complete

The River Always Finds the Sea . M . Incomplete

Daylight Fading . M . Incomplete

Looking for Group Collection

MMO AU and all Side Stories and Prompts. (Anders x Fenris x f!Hawke)

Looking for Group: A Modern Kirkwall Story . M . Incomplete

The Best-Laid Plans . M . Complete

Date Night . M . Complete

Streaming for Three . E . Complete

GlowDads Prompt Collection

(Anders x Fenris x Genesis Hawke)

When Mama Isn’t Home . G . Complete

Lutes and Flower Crowns . T . Complete

Drabble Collections

I am a Question to the World . Complete . G - M . Multiple Ships

My collection of drabbles for Anders Week 2016 hosted by teamblueandangry. Link to the fanmix.

You Could Be Happy . Incomplete . G-M . Multiple Ships

My collection of drabbles for Fenris Week 2016 hosted by teamblueandangry.

FenHanders Week 2017 QotD Drabbles Incomplete . M . f!FenHanders

My collection of drabbles for the QotDs for FenHanders Week hosted by teamblueandangry.