#Detective Hawke

[theluckywizard]

In the Shattering of Things, Ch. 70: Chasing Shadows

Summary: Rose continues to uncover the chaos behind the scenes at the Winter Palace and alerts her advisors to her discoveries.

Fic Summary: Lady Rose Trevelyan's idle, aristocratic life blinks out in a haze of irrelevance when the breach destroys the Conclave. She may be soft and coddled when she joins the Inquisition, but there's a fierceness inside her she's yet to fully recognize. Armed with only a few relevant skills and the mark that makes her a legend, she is thrust onto a path delivering hope where it’s long been scorched away and finds comfort in the grumpy, handsome stick in the mud charged with her protection and training. As she stumbles her way across southern Thedas, she begins to realize she's tangled at the center of machinations she barely understands, and she's not alone in that. Enter Hawke.

Excerpt below the cut 👇

“We found more evidence of foul play— a lot more. Which may or may not be related to the Tevinters.”

“Then perhaps we should warn the empress now,” he says, leaning to peer through the door back into the ballroom.

“Aside from Josephine skinning us alive for being too obvious, Celene’s advisor Morrigan said she’d be by her side,” I explain.

“Did her advisor even make it that far?” he asks.

“I’m not sure.”

“We should check,” he insists and moves to stride back inside. 

I catch Cullen by his hand before he draws too much attention looking eagle eyed and overly alert at someone else’s party.

“Not like that,” I scold him. “Here— give me your arm. We have to act casual.”

“Andraste have mercy,” he mutters, rubbing a hand over his face in frustration. “What does that even mean?” 

Apparently he used up all his patience for playing it cool earlier. He holds out his elbow stiffly. I tuck my hand into it.

“Smile,” I instruct. I pretend to delight in my surroundings before glancing at him. “Act like you’re having a good time.”

Cullen stares at me blankly, addled by how far outside his skill my directive falls.

“Well— just, try not to look so antsy,” I say. “Talk to me.”

“About what?”

“Explain to me— the finer points of our latest siege capabilities.”

Cullen’s gold embroidered epaulets fall an inch. “The ballistas or the mangonels?”

I grumble softly, waffling my head around in frustration. “Take your pick.”

We move back into the ballroom and Cullen begins explaining the rationale behind our array of mangonels and the benefits of single projectiles versus scattershot. I nod and smile, and snatch us two glasses of punch from a passing tray, offering one to Cullen.

“I’m not drinking tonight,” he argues, baffled once again.

My eyes do a somersault. “It’s for show. Just— pretend to take a sip.”

Apparently incapable of pretending to drink, Cullen dribbles a splotch of punch on his uniform. He curses under his breath and I stifle an unruly laugh.

“At least it’s red,” I note in a whisper. “I see part of Celene’s dress around that corner. Keep going. Mangonels.”

Cullen continues, discussing a few options for setting payloads ablaze and which are the most cost effective. Celene comes fully into view, clearly in discussion with someone I can’t yet see.

“She’s talking to someone— don’t look.”

“I’m not,” he protests. Cullen cranes his head and looks.

I poke him sharply. “Tell me about the tar.”

He scowls at me momentarily before continuing. “The tar pits of Edgehall are rather close, fortunately. Geologists believe—”

Morrigan’s raven black and wine-colored form appears from around the corner as she emerges to sweep her eyes over the room. A young heavily armored man stands vigilant beyond Celene. Morrigan nods to me subtly.

“She’s there. Along with Celene’s champion I believe,” I remark, allowing the breath I’d been partially holding to leave me fully.

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DAFF Tag List:

@warpedlegacy | @rakshadow | @rosella-writes | @effelants | @bluewren | @breninarthur | @ar-lath-ma-cully | @dreadfutures | @ir0n-angel | @inquisimer | @crackinglamb | @nirikeehan | @oxygenforthewicked | @about2dance | @exalted-dawn-drabbles | @melisusthewee | @blarrghe | @agentkatie | @delicatefade | @leggywillow

[kingoftheu]

[romancemedia]

The Most Romantic Anime Scenes of 2023

[jojolily]

Idk why I keep seeing folks on ao3 talking about the boys and going “idk what possessed me to write this”- bitch they did.

Charles and Edwin are out here setting off every alarm in the afterlife so that you can write about their gayass unlife.

[kwistowee]

JON BERNTHAL as DET. JOE TEAGUE | MOB CITY (2013)

[hawkzeyes]

I’m so normal about this I promise 🥹😭

Preview Green Arrow #1 (2023-)

[abodeofhunter]

Here's the first batch ready to go!

[lasaraconor]

[stingrachelmha]

More of my lecture doodles. I can’t remember the last Toshi was supposed to be fem or not lmaoooo

[princesssukuna]

It's happening..

list of anime character:

Nanami (jjk)

Zoro (one piece)

Yami (black clover)

Aizawa (mha)

Higuruma (jjk)

Endeavor (mha)

Gojo (jjk)

Geto (jjk)

Sabo (one piece)

Mirko (mha)

Tsukauchi (mha)

Obi (fire force)

Sukuna & Real Form (jjk)

Reiner (AOT)

Uzui Tengen (demon slayer)

Connie (AOT)

Aizen (Bleach)

Kishibe (csm)

Hawks (mha)

Dabi (mha)

Law (One piece)

Doflamingo (one piece)

Luffy (one pice)

Rengoku (demon slayer)

Robin (one piece)

Nami (One Piece)

Ino (jjk)

Let me know if there are themes you'll like to see!

I WILL NOT WRITE

scat, no underage, non con, incest.

I will be cross posting here on tumblr and ao3.

[hey-there-22]

Have you ever completely misinterpreted a scene and only found out what It really ment weeks later through a random post? Yeah... So...

You know that scene in DBDA where they go inside Jenny's butcher shop for the first time and Edwin is fascinated by the glowing neon sign, right? Ok, so my vet-student-stupid-ass thought he was looking at the regions of the cow's body like “oh, yeah, useful knowledge, wow, so interesting aha, aha” BUT NO, TURNS OUT HE IS JUST A BEATIFUL, EASILY-IMPRESSED EDWARDIAN MOTH.

Like, this you, honey?

THIS YOU?

((bonus))

[theluckywizard]

Unrequited Hawke/Aveline, a few to combine (or not) as you wish: spooky fall bingo, 'heavy fog'; whumptober, 'it's all for nothing'; whumptober, 'hunting or hunted'

Hiiiii thank you, Ammy! For @dadrunkwriting I had a wonderful time writing a little glimpse into my Hawke's history here!

Pairing: Garrett Hawke x Aveline (unrequited) WC: 860 Content Warning: Dead body Tone: Angst

They stood over a cold body, Aveline and Hawke. The investigation had already gobbled hours of sleep as he postulated late into the night and chased leads across Lowtown. And here in this forgotten corner of the docks, in this forgotten alley, Hawke felt the force of failure grinding at his soul.

Aveline surmised by their limp tissue and the blackened blood on the pavement stones that they’d been murdered yesterday. It couldn’t have been by the Templars, not in an official capacity anyway. But Meredith had been sending mercenaries after those she felt posed a serious threat. Hawke was often one of those people. But this mage was different. A sudden legend on the lips of the harried masses of Lowtown and Hightown alike. An alleged mortalitasi.

“We should hurry,” said Aveline, her tone even though the words suggested nerves. “That fog won’t be our friend in another fifteen minutes.”

He searched the apostate’s body, gingerly lifting pocket flaps and the drape of her robe in search of anything useful but she’d already been picked clean by scavenging urchins and the woman’s staff was nowhere to be seen. It could have just as easily been an unlucky encounter with a desperate someone as it could have been the more unscrupulous templars that Hawke knew sullied the ranks. 

What he wouldn’t reveal to Aveline is that he and her have been searching for her on entirely separate missions. He’d been hired by the apostate herself to track the threats against her as she searched for her younger brother, an escape of the Gallows. Aveline was merely answering Meredith’s open call to secure the streets.

“I suppose the Knight-Commander won’t complain,” said Aveline.

Her indifference smarted inside him. The woman hardly deserved such hardened apathy, far from her home in Nevarra in search of her last remaining family.

“Ah Kirkwall. Where murder is a Maker sent convenience,” retorted Hawke. 

Aveline flicked him a fraught glance that managed to be sisterly, judgmental and rueful all at once. He felt the hopelessness of the years spent pining for her at the deepest levels. Her nigh intractable marriage to the law had severed any possibility of love ages ago but he scrambled to hold onto any remaining thread that connected them. His brow was heavy with regret, layers upon layers of it. 

“Let me guess,” said Aveline. “You haven’t been working for the Order.”

Hawke sighed, scratching a hand in his hair.

“You’re really playing both sides still?” she scolded him. “Maker, Hawke. Look around. You’re going to end up on the wrong side of Meredith at this pace.”

“The mage hired me. Felt like someone was hunting her. Not the Templars though… something worse.”

“As a body guard?”

“No, well. Only the first night or two. But after those nights were quiet it was just to see what I could find out when I put my ear to the ground. And it looks like my ears weren’t sharp enough.”

“Hawke,” she scolded him. “How could you be so foolish?” It was always the same with Aveline. Oh there’d be jokes about it, but the sisterly reproof was a given. He hoped for years that he’d break it but at this point he could only accept the punchline that it had become.

“I can take care of myself,” he answered. “I know you can. But it’ll be a little bit harder when the Templars decide to take you in. Aiding and abetting apostates can be waved off well enough, but a necromancer?”

“Well it’s not like she went around raising all the dead!” he argued.

“But some of the dead is all right? Maker, Hawke,” she said.

Hawke regarded Aveline, the freckles that dusted her cheeks, the deceptively darling sweep of her nose. He searched for the spark that had flickered and glowed inside him for so many years when he looked at her. Their bond had been forged in blood and trial, the narrow escape from Ferelden. The honorable end she gave her first love that he bore witness to. He’d thought it had all meant something, but now his hopes had settled into quiet embers.

“She just wanted to find her brother. He escaped the Gallows two months back—”

“I don’t understand you sometimes,” she muttered, shaking out a sheet and drawing it over the body.

“Likewise,” he answered in a soft, bitter snort.

It had all been for nothing, all those years hoping she’d know him deeply.  Truthfully he wondered if she had the capacity. He chased true justice wherever it lay, inside or outside the confines of the law. Perhaps she’d always hoped to school him, to pull him out of chaos and into order. Perhaps that’s why she kept him close.

Hawke silently made a note to find the lad she’d been looking for and help him get back to Nevarra. It was the least he could do.

The arriving fog stuck against his skin and shrouded all the miserable ambiguities of Kirkwall. The body between him and Aveline was a cold reminder of everything that separated them. Of how wrong he’d been.

And Maker, he hated being wrong.

[honeyteastar]

Chiikawa Conan assessment of doodles

[romancemedia]

Anime Romances + A Kiss on the Hand

[professoruber]

Flamebird Analysis: The odd treatment of Bette Kane and her history/experience

Batwoman (2011-2016) #1

Okay so first of all, Kate; rude much?

Second of all... was Flamebird's costume really that impractical? Especaially when compared to Kate's costume.

While admittedly Flamebird's original costume was not exactly the height of practicality...

(Although she still seemed quite capable of holding her own in it)

Beast Boy (2000) #2

However she later does in fact get a more practical outfit which she also kickass ass in.

Beast Boy (2000) #4

And we do know that its Flamebird's second (more practical-looking costume) which Kate burns, as Bette ends up suiting up in her aforementioned spare after Kate fires her...

Batwoman (2011-2016) #3

While I am admittedly not an expert on combat outfits; Flamebird's second costume to me seems like it walks a good line between aesthetic and practicality. It has plenty of flair and style to it, but also appears quite flexible and overall not really too drastically different from Kate's Batwoman costume in this regard (rather hypocritical of Kate to say "you need a uniform" while she wears a long wig for no apparent reason apart from style).

If anything...

The "uniform" which Kate gives Bette kinda strikes me as being less practical for the situation compared to the Flamebird costume which she burned. Like Bette's mask seems to be just a piece of fabric tied around her face, which certainly feels like it should be looser and not be as sleek and flexible as the Flamebird costume.

Building off this, from what I've seen and looked over so far, the treatment of Bette kinda feels like it has a weird... juxtaposition at times between what's getting told and what's being shown, I guess.

Like on one hand...

It's shown by both Bette's comments here and the existence of her old Flamebird costumes that she has been experience vigilante for sometime. Longer than Kate I think, if I'm understanding the timeline all correctly.

There seems to be this odd case of both having Kate and the narrative treat Bette as an inexperienced rookie... while also having Bette and the narrative establish Bette as having been a Teen Titan, who has fought Deathstroke and presumably has years of experience.

Even Kate's codename for Bette indicates a rookie status...

However despite the references to Bette's past career and capabilities, and Bette's protests of being more capable than Kate gives her credit for, and Kate also immediately feeling quite shitty at how harsh she was when firing Bette...

The narrative still, from what I understand, kinda vindicates Kate entirely by having Bette get brutalised to the point of falling into a coma immediately after she defies Kate by heading out as Flamebird after getting fired... so I guess Kate was right? I don't know.

Like I said, I just find all of this quite of a weird portrayal. I've been curious about Bette lately on account of her being the original Batgirl (or rather, Bat-Girl), which is a very iconic mantle to the general "Bat-Mythos" even if Bette herself is far less remembered.

I guess one thing I find especially strange is how this is from the first issues of Batwoman 2011... meaning that this was right at the start of the whole New 52 Reboot stuff and so they could've presumably just retconned Bette's experience to make her an actual rookie sidekick instead of this weird half-measure where they both establish her past experience as canon while also otherwise ignoring it.

There's other stuff which I could go over; such as Bette's coma, her stint as Hawkfire, her enrolling in West Point... all of which probably has room for more detailed specific analysis by someone more familiar with both Bette and also the Batwoman comics (I've only fairly recently started looking into this stuff out of curiosity as I work my way through learning more comic history).

So I'll skip to a more recent appearance by Bette in 2017...

Detective Comics (1937—Present) #967

This whole exchange feels once again like Kate ignoring Bette's history, experience and capabilities. Especially the whole "pass second year in the top 99th percentile of your class and maybe I'll put in a good word with you to Batman" thing. No one else needed be top of their class at West Point, or attend West Point at all, to be a superhero. And it just seems strange to have Bette getting forced down that specific road.

Like; going by publication history, Bette was considered part of the original Teen Titans team due to debuting in the 1960s-1970s period. In fact she joined the team before the likes of Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire and Cyborg (at least in terms of publication anyway).

While I'm not entirely certain how her current age placement in the roster, they did still at least establish her as being a Teen Titan who fought Deathstroke and so presumably in the same generation as Nightwing (even if possibly a bit younger) and other core members. The from what I understand the Titans are currently considered senior and experienced enough to be the current "top team" of the hero scene in canon.

So all together this adds up to, as I keep saying, a strange contrast between Bette's stated/implied history and how she gets treated by the narrative.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Last year Bette did make a return as Flamebird (not Hawkfire). Which could mean one of two things...

Kate finally acknowledged Bette as ready/worthy/experienced enough to go out on her own

Bette went screw it and decided she didn't need Bette's permission

Honestly kinda hopping the later cause it brings to mind a bit of the Beast Boy comic which I quite liked...

Beast Boy (2000) #3

Better gets a very stern reprimand from Nightwing (some she admires), and is told she's not cut out for this world and quits. This comes after she's spent most of her appearance in this run being kinda a comedic relief in the form of her repeated failures to bail Beast Boy outta jail (since she's never posted bail before and didn't know how)

But after this..?

Beast Boy (2000) #4

She comes back, with a new (more practical-looking, as I discussed before) costume and beats up several bad guys to help out Gar (who in turn really appreciates her arrival and assistance).

Batwoman (2011) #3

Making this post I've noticed an interesting similarity and contrast between Beast Boy and Batwoman comics in regards to Bette. Both times, Bette gets very sternly reprimanded and told she's not cut out to be a hero and ordered not to be one by someone she admires/values the opinion of.

Both times she defies them and goes out anyway, putting on the same costume both times in fact.

But while the Beast Boy comic portrays her as competent and capable, even having her involvement appreciated by Gar...

Meanwhile in Batwoman?

Batwoman (2011-2016) #4

Bette's defiance almost immediately ends with her horribly injured, and in turn accidentally helps the DEO work out Batwoman's identity.

Two events regarding the same character which that character reacts to in a similar manner but one ends with her vindicated and the other... very much not.

DC's Legion of Bloom (2023) #1

Moving back to Bette's recent appearance in DC's Legion of Bloom. West Point is 4-years in total, and when we last saw Bette she was on her second year at the latest. So with the nature of comic book time, I find it unlikely she'd already graduated.

Her return to Flamebird could also have something to do with Infinite Frontier (I don't fully understand how it works, but apparently everything's canon now again sort of?) re-canonising Bette's competence? That sounds like kinda an amusing thought tbh; multiverse shenanigans happen and Bette wakes up one morning feeling suddenly competent again. Good for her.

Anyway I hope this is a good sign for Bette's character. Even if she's unlikely to be a major player, would still be nice for her appearance to at least depict her as capable. Plus as I said, comic book time means if she does actually stick to West Point, then she'd unlikely to be graduating (and get allowed to be a vigilante) anytime soon. So at that point you might as well just let her go be rich and play tennis since its not like that's a route to her actually doing anything.

Bette seems pretty neat from what I've seen of her, so I wish her the best. Even if Legion of Bloom continues the running joke of her trying and failing to recreate Titans West.

[kwistowee]

JON BERNTHAL as DET. JOE TEAGUE | MOB CITY (2013)