#I can imagine lucanis leans on spite a lot

[deputyrook]

I think that when Rook is trapped in the fade prison, Spite’s Spirit of Determination side really starts to shine through.

Lucanis is desperate, and over time he becomes increasingly plagued with the doubt and fear that Rook is lost to them forever.

But Spite is so singleminded, so unwavering in his focus- “No. NO! We will find Rook! We will bring Rook home to us.” - it’s Spite that keeps him from falling to despair completely.

[sky-fire-forever]

happy friday! how about Spite/Rook for "I've had a lot of dreams about you lately"?

Thank you for the prompt! I had a lot of fun with this one!

For @dadrunkwriting - Dragon Age: The Veilguard Spoilers

My Rook in this is Voltah de Riva, who uses they/them pronouns.

It’s early in the morning when Voltah tiptoes into the kitchen to prepare themself some coffee — late enough that everyone else has probably gone to bed and early enough that even the earliest risers won’t be up yet. Voltah expects to be entirely alone as they brew themself a pot and sit nearby to wait for it to be ready. 

They’ve been having strange dreams lately, not that most of their dreams could be considered normal. No matter if they're having conversations with Solas or remembering their initiation into the Crows or imagining fighting the elven gods with their pants down, their dreams often venture into territory that most would consider strange and unusual. 

Their most recent dreams have been strange in a different way, however. They're not about drowning or dying or losing everyone they hold dear. No, these dreams are a bit spicier in nature. 

It makes sense, all things considered. Lucanis and them have been dancing around each other for months now and while they've solidified their relationship, they've barely so much as kissed or held hands. It's a chaste romance, with lots of flirting and supporting one another, but very little else.

And Voltah is fine with that! Really, they are! But they're an elf with certain desires and it only makes sense for their sleeping mind to wander, to conjure up dreams of their lover in more compromising positions than they've actually experienced with him.

The problem is that their dreams haven't been limited to just Lucanis. 

The water for the coffee has just begun to simmer when a figure creeps out of the shadows. 

“Smells like guilt and heat!” If the tone of voice and words spoken aren't enough to reveal who exactly the speaker is, the purple of his eyes are. 

Voltah does their best not to jump in surprise, their training allowing them to suppress the urge enough to act natural as they turn towards their spirit friend. 

“Good morning, Spite. What're you doing up so early?” They raise an eyebrow at him.

Spite grins. “Lucanis sleeps. My time to play!”

“As long as you make sure the body gets some rest. Can't have either of you fighting while exhausted,” they remind him. 

Spite scowls. “Sleep is boring! Rather play.” 

“Sleep isn't always boring.” Voltah turns away from him so they can pour the water over the coffee grounds, watching the water seep through the filter. “Dreams can be pretty interesting.” 

Their comment just reminds them of their most recent dreams and they feel their face heat up. The phantom feeling of calloused fingers gripping their hips makes their skin tingle, so they try to banish the memories away. They shouldn't be thinking about those dreams, especially not with Spite actually standing before them. 

“Don't dream,” Spite says and Voltah can hear the pout in his voice. “Just watch Lucanis dream. Boring!” 

Voltah laughs. “What does Lucanis dream about anyway?” They turn back to Spite and lean against the table, their blush fading. 

“Boring things.” Spite makes a face like the very memory of Lucanis’ dreams disgusts him. He pauses, looking considerate for a moment. “And Rook.”

Voltah raises an eyebrow. “Am I not included in boring things?” They ask, their voice light and teasing despite the burst of feeling that flows through them at the knowledge of Lucanis dreaming about them. 

“No.” Spite shakes his head. “Rook is. Interesting. Rook is good to dream about.”

Voltah smiles and moves to fill their cup with the freshly brewed coffee. “Y'know, you're not too bad to dream about yourself.”

Why did they say that?

Their face warms again and they're glad their back is to the spirit so he can't see how they wince at their own words. They can practically hear the way he stops and ponders what they just said.

“Rook dreams of me?” 

“Uh, sometimes,” they admit, swirling their coffee. They pause, staring at the dark liquid. Too dark, they need to add a shit ton of cream still. They hate the bitterness of black coffee. “Actually, I've had a lot of dreams about you lately.”

They risk a glance back at Spite, who is watching them like a hawk, something curious and almost predatory in his gaze. 

“What dreams?” He demands.

They blush. “Oh, y'know. Dreams.” But Spite is stalking towards them like a lion after prey. They hold their coffee protectively against their chest as Spite slinks into their personal space. 

He inhales deeply. “Smells like lust.” 

Voltah's face burns. “Whoa, I never said–”

“Smells like shame.” Spite tilts his head and stares intently at them. “Why?”

“Why what?” 

“Why shame?” He steps closer and sniffs. 

Voltah can't believe they're having this conversation with a demon. “Well. It's embarrassing to be having those sorts of dreams about a–” They pause. “About a friend.”

“What dreams?” But Spite grins like he already knows. “Rook dreams. Of me.” He takes another step closer, until they're almost chest to chest. He puts his hands on the table on either side of Voltah's hips, caging them against the counter. 

Voltah swallows, their gaze darting to Spite's lips. “Yeah,” they admit. “I dream of you.” They summon their courage and place a hand against Spite's chest, setting their coffee aside with their free hand. “I dream about doing a lot of things with you.”

“Not Lucanis?”

“Lucanis too, don’t get me wrong. But also you.”

Spite growls and his hands move to grab at Voltah's hips. “Mine.”

“Maybe.” A smirk plays at the corner of Voltah's lips. 

Spite digs his nails into them. “Mine,” he repeats.

Voltah laughs. “If you want me to be yours, let's make some dreams come true.”

That's all the invitation Spite needs. 

[villainanders]

How do the veilguard companions feel about your blood mage took

ty for asking :3 so i would say they're all generally friends since that's kind of just how the game goes and I never felt compelled to contradict that in my mind but how they feel about the blood magic definitely varies

for background, my idea for val as a blood mage comes from origins - when zev (in haven I believe) comes across a blood ritual and comments that the crows would do rituals like this. val came into her magic very early (I think around 5 or 6) and was basically trained the crows her entire life to do highly dangerous, extremely brutal blood magic to eviscerate high priority targets (part of why she was eventually brought into house arainai's contract against zevran and daera despite being from different those. tho that didn't work out for her either)

that being said, i think it feels pretty normal to lucanis, despite his general distaste for blood magic. she's a crow doing a job, one she is highly specialized and trained in doing and he wouldn't second guess her methods anymore than she would second guess his (not to mention it's actively useful to have someone experienced in working with demons help him manage spite)

i think about val and emmrich a lot.. i didn't bring him in the party as much bc they had pretty similar builds (and val is mage romancing another mage so composition was just fucked sometimes) but he think he had the biggest effect on how she sees her magic in the game. since dav's necromancy is very much like blood magic, but I think working with emmrich made val start thinking of herself as a necromancer, and leaning into a magic and fighting style that was much more like the mourn watch than the crows (real thing that happened in game as I stopped using knife and orb as I leaned into the death caller build lmao). the idea of working with spirits and death as something positive and beneficial as opposed to just being another weapon for her contract holder was very comforting I think. since their rooms are next to each other I like to imagine val comes over to emmrich's a lot to poke and dead bodies and argue about if necromancy and blood magic are the same thing

neve is... complicated. she certainly doesn't LIKE that val is a blood mage, but i'd imagine that as a tevinter mage, neve probably has a slightly different definition of blood magic than a lot of other characters (based on what dorian says in inq). so the way val conducts herself in battle bothers her a lot less than val being highly defensive of working with demons, blood rituals, etc. buuut val has also distanced herself from those things since not working directly for the crows anymore and no longer having a direct contractual obligation to put herself in these very dangerous and bloody situations (also she knows neve hates it so she doesn't bring it up).

i also think neve also has some leeway for val bc she understands that like... val was a slave. she was literally bought by the crows as a child and raised to do exactly this as her purpose in life. it's a story neve has seen again and again in tevinter, even if for most of val's story she'll adamantly argue that her situation is different. so, it's messy but I think at least for now neve isn't ready to die on that hill

this post is so long now so I'll speedrun through the others. i don't think davrin is crazy about him but he and val get along so well for their shared pragmatism + the gray wardens have such an "ends justify the means" approach to blood magic I think that at least in the course fo the game he's like "fair enough!" I think taash hates it but also actively avoids thinking about it when it comes up bc it weirds them out. harding and bellara are similar though I actually feel like I can see the two of them earnestly trying to convince val to stop. it does not work but its nice that they tried anyway