#I guess it also works for mourn watch rook

[ar-ghilas-vir-banal]

@fenharel-babe this is your fault. You left some tags and… time for me to live up to the gut-wrench of my name, I guess.

Memory was cruel.

His was sharp, acutely efficient at recalling the most minute details, from a scent on the breath of an Elvhen noble to the pauses between words meant to convey emphasis.

He could remember the first time he saw her. Laid flat on a sour straw pallet, drenched in sweat, the green glare of his Mark on her palm. Solas hadn’t focused much on her face then; he’d noted the Dalish markings of Mythal and that was enough of a reason not to examine the woman’s features for too long.

Would that he had. Would that he had simply stopped and allowed each and every single moment of their time together stretch for as long as they possibly could. There was always something drawing his attention. Always the next event, or mission. Always a bit of research.

And there was the matter of the Inquisitor’s own duties. She had been cast headlong into a den of vipers and she was at war from all sides, besieged and harried, fighting for not only her people and the world… but herself. Her personhood.

Her true self.

“I feel safe with you, my Solas,” she’d said once.

He could remember smiling at being called hers. He wanted to be. He longed to rise in the morning, warmed by her body and spirit, to live days at her side performing only simple tasks of the home together. It was the dream he liked best, even if it increasingly cut away at his heart; dreams with no chance of coming true were often jagged, weighty things.

Solas had also taken pride in the fact that out of all of their companions, he was the one in which she sought refuge and respite. He was the calm for her storm. There were times when he felt that his heart could soar for her, on the wind of her success and triumph…

Now, Solas felt as if his chest contained a fractured shard of obsidian. It sliced away at him with each breath, each push of blood through his lyrium-formed veins.

She lay still. As still as she had in Haven. The arm he’d severed some years back rested at her side. Her hair, longer with time, fanned out behind her head. Her face was serene and soft as driven snow. Not a crease, not a flaw; the blood from the wound in the center of her body had been cleaned away.

She could have been one of his paintings.

Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain were no more. Rook and the surviving Veilguard core team were quiet now, mourning their own dead. Morrigan was… somewhere. The various groups Rook had allied with were working on the wounded, fighting. Trying.

He hadn’t even been able to fight for her. She had been gone when he’d reached her. Face slack. Eyes wide open. She’d looked so small. Abandoned. Alone.

The Nevarran professor, Volkarion, Solas recalled numbly, had helped him bear up the Inquisitor. He was a slender man, graying of hair. But with kind eyes and an even kinder heart. He’d not made Solas speak while he made a place for them. Emmrich had even been so good as to find something to place under her head, and covered her with his own cloak.

It had been hours since it was all over. Solas hadn’t moved. He’d sat beside her, clasping her hand, watching her face. Pleading. Pleading with whatever gods there had ever been, in dreams or in the waking world, pleading with his own magic, with any Spirit that might hear him…

Elgar’nan had stabbed her with a blight tendril. He’d laughed, sensing Solas’ shock upon seeing her. Connecting the dots, as Sera once said.

Something in the mere recollection of their old Inquisition partner broke loose a final barrier within him, and Solas leaned on the table where Emmrich had laid his love, and wept.

He touched her arm, her shoulder, her face. Whispered her name. She had only wanted him to love her. And he had been too bent on his own internal morality that he’d refused both of them what they truly desired. Over and over he had pushed her away, but she had never stopped following him.

Solas had heard her calling out to Rook in the battle, Elven flying from her tongue, strong and swift. She’d moved with a grace befitting Andruil, quick and agile. Determined. She’d run to him, intent on freeing him from a huge arm of Blight. And she’d succeeded... Her life was the price for his freedom.

“Vhenan,” Solas begged. “I stopped, I- I will not… please. Please.” She, of course, did not answer. All Solas could do was hold her dead hand, kiss her dead lips, and hate every fiber of his being for bringing her to this fate.

It was exactly what he had done. He might as well have plunged the Fang into her heart, as well as Varric’s. He’d never deserved a second of her time. He’d never earned the gentle touches, the embraces round his back that made him want to melt… the kisses. The precious touches of her hands.

“She got your letter.”

Solas shuddered, unable to lift his head from her. But the knowledge seemed to claw its way through him, a demon born of grief. She’d come because of him. Why had she loved him? What in him had she been so… why? Why couldn’t she have loved one of the others? Blackwall… Thom? Or the General? Bull… they would have been good to her.

“For what it’s worth… she wouldn’t have been anywhere else. She spoke of you so… she never gave up. You proved her right. Stopping…”

“I killed her… I-“

Rook drew near, boots scuffing the ground. Their hand rested on his back. “… I’m so sorry, Solas. She deserved that future she wanted… she dreamed of being with you, you know? You were happiness to her… even just… the thought of you.”

“I wish she’d never loved me,” Solas whispered, cradling her face in his hands. He’d never held her with abandon before, placing his hands exactly where he wanted. Where she wished. He could never.

“Solas… I’m sorry but… I have an idea.”

Solas didn’t immediately look up. But he sighed, heavy, exhausted… he hoped he was dying. He hoped it would all just stop. Drawing back, he kept the Inquisitor’s hand, brushing his lips to her knuckles. Her fingers.

“Please leave me alone,” he asked in a gray, lifeless voice.

“It is just that… the Veil needs a source of power. To remain effective, a life must supply it.”

“Please…”

“You’re not hearing me, Solas. If your life could sustain the Veil… it could sustain her. I am a necromancer. Her spirit is here, with you. It will always be, until you release it. Stop for a moment… feel for her.”

Rook’s hand withdrew, giving Solas space. He lifted his head a bit, letting his eyes close. Tears fell across his cheeks, down his neck. His mind was so very tired, battered. He wished to stop… to cease.

“Vhenan?”

All at once, there she was. Warm. The light. He couldn’t see her but… she was there. As if his use of the name, her name, had given her just enough tether to let him see her.

“What must I do?” Solas half-sobbed, opening eyes that pled with the Professor, and then with Rook, who clasped his shoulder. Steadying him.

“Shed your blood, for the Veil and for her, let… let them mix.”

“Dorian.” How long the Wizard had been there, Solas didn’t know. But the man looked every bit as wrecked as Solas felt. They looked at each other across the broken down courtyard, matching haunted stare for haunted stare.

“I’m here for her, Solas. This wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for you… but she wants… wanted you. You fail, at least you’re protecting the world she loved. The world she died for.” Then Dorian’s face darkened, hardening. “And you will protect it.”

Solas swallowed, nodding once. There weren’t any words to speak.

Rook slipped something into Solas’ hand. The dagger. “Here… best hurry.”

He’d never done anything so easily in his long life as draw the blade over his hand. It stung, but he turned toward the glowing rift behind them, and slung the cupped handful of his own blood at it. It pulsed as if receiving it. Then Solas gingerly pulled open the Inquisitor’s tunic and laid the flat of his cut palm over the wound near her heart.

“Please,” he whispered, bending close to her, gathering her up to his chest. “Vhenan, please.”

But she just slumped there, her head nestled into the hollow of his shoulder. Not a stir of breath. Not a twitch.

Dorian stepped forward but Emmrich held up a warning hand. “The bond must be made. Give it a moment.”

Rook fidgeted, rocking side to side worriedly.

Only the necromancer watched with a serene understanding. And then… a slow smile.

“Mm… what… Solas? Solas…”

He wept. He’d broken before Mythal, as she released him. He’d shed tears so often in the Fade that Spite had remarked that he smelled of them… as well as in the Lighthouse. But never like this. Solas collapsed, knees buckling under him. He pressed his face into the Inquisitor’s lap, clutching her to him, unable to do anything else.

“I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry-“

“Solas! Solas, Vhenan, Vhenan.”

She was crooning at him, her voice was divine, she was alive, she was alive!! Her hand smoothed over his neck, the back of his hand and shoulders. Then she made him look at her, and she smiled…

“Ar lath ma,” she said, tears brimming in her eyes. “I knew you could save us. I knew you could.”

He surged up into her arms, lifting her, shivering under her kiss at his forehead and temple, and then, miracle of miracles, Solas kissed her. It was a tearful, graceless thing full of trembling lips and hands that clutched at the other too tightly.

And it was perfect.

How Solas allowed her to leave his arms, he couldn’t ever know. She didn’t let go of him, though; she gave him her prosthetic hand to close his around.

Dorian wept but kissed his best friend’s forehead. “Take your wolf on home, now.”

Rook and Emmrich gave her encouraging smiles.

She tugged at his hand, giving him a wide, unrepentant smile. “Vhenan. Ir ghilana.” So he allowed her to lead him. Up the steps. Across the platform.

“Hamin.”

“Solas. Garas.”

He drew her close, close enough to see the flecks of green dance in her eyes. Her alive, vibrant, empowered eyes. “Ar ghilas vir banal… .” She was bound to him, to his life force… but the thought of her suffering his own fate. There would be a time where he may find atonement… but peace… no. Not if she remained. But she should remain.

The Inquisitor shook her head and smiled. There was nothing but pride and love in her face. It made Solas want to bow down to her. “Tel’banal ar ama. Vir shiral malasa… bellanaris.”

She kissed him. Short and gentle. It took his very breath. And then she tugged at him again. “Garas.” When the rift sealed behind them, neither looked back.

[wild-magic-oops]

Davrin's dates being about going out in the forest are extra cute with a Shadow Dragon Rook bc Davrin saw Minrathous having 2.5 trees total and concluded that yes, Rook does in fact need to touch grass and relax

[felassan]

Some thoughts on this article from Game Informer [source]. ^^

Teia and Viago as the 'face' of the Crows/the Crow 'agents', pretty please..? 🥺 👉👈 And I hope maybe Strife and Irelin can be the same but for the Veil Jumpers..? :D

Customizing qunari Rook's horn type and material reminds me of Taash's gem-horn design

Which faction do you think has the coolest casual threads? in my mind's eye [wild speculation] it's a toss up between Mourn Watch and Antivan Crows :D

What do sword and shield warriors 'hip-fire' with?

What is a "night blade" :D

Faction selection/backstory (while not playable) determining who Rook was before, how they met Varric, and why they travel with him reminds me of the different origins in DA:O and how each possible HoF crossed paths with and was recruited by Duncan in a different way.. 🥺

Factions and groups in the world working together to save it.. it felt like there were hints of this in Tevinter Nights. In that book, we saw different groups and factions from across Thedas working with the Inquisition, with varying degrees of cooperation, on being concerned about Solas. Yet other groups were also interested in keeping tabs on him. now we see the same kinda thing in DA:TV with different groups being involved in saving the world from the Evil Gods.

"'You help them, they help you now" but first they all have serious problems you need to solve' has echoes of how in DA:O, the HoF solved a problem for each major group (Dalish elves/werewolves, Circle Tower/templars, Orzammar etc) before they would obey the Grey Warden treaties and agree to help fight the darkspawn for the final battle

Do you think that some of the voices in the Thedas Calls teaser trailer were some of the 'faces' of the factions? For example, the Antivan Crow woman speaker as the face of the Crows, and the Nicholas Boulton-sounding Warden man speaker as the face of the Grey Wardens?

Each spec being tied to a faction explains the faction symbols being on the specializations, as here. From this, we can see that the faction each spec is tied to is as follows:

Mage: Death Caller - Mourn Watch Evoker - Shadow Dragons Spellblade - Antivan Crows Rogue: Duelist - Antivan Crows Veil Ranger - Veil Jumper Saboteur - Lords of Fortune Warrior: Champion - Grey Wardens Reaper - Mourn Watch Slayer - Lords of Fortune

The Mirror of Transformation returns. Do you think that means Rook will also be able to go to the Black Emporium, like Hawke in DAII and Inquisitor in DA:I? Will Xenon the Antiquarian also return? ^^ Maybe not though, since it's said the Mirror is in The Lighthouse

I'm not sure about "If you find yourself unhappy with your lineage or your class, you can change them using the Mirror of Transformation". It was previously reported that "You can change your character’s physical appearance at any time during the game, but not their class or backstory" [source] [prev post mentioning it]. I guess one article is incorrect, but am not sure which. or maybe this aspect of the game changed in development. ^^ UPDATE: please see here re: an update/clarification from Game Informer on this. it reads:

"Editor's Note: This article previously stated players can change their physical appearance, class, lineage, and identity using the Mirror of Transformation. That is incorrect as class, lineage, and identity are locked after you first select those. The article has been updated to reflect that, and Game Informer apologizes for any confusion this mistake may have caused."

What do you think is the problem[s] faced by each faction that we have to solve? :D We got some hints about this already. For example, for the Crows, something "is amiss" in Antiva and they're trying to uncover the source. The Qunari have also invaded Antiva. For the Wardens, they just recently discovered one of Ghil's underground monster labs and learned there are 11 more (Tevinter Nights), and ominous tremors of unknown cause have been creating disturbances in the Anderfels lately. The Lords of Fortune have lost dominion over the coasts of Rivain and dragons are laying waste to their ships. The Shadow Dragons probably have the Venatori, who are still around and up to mad shit, to contend with. Arlathan Forest is currently all timewarped, reality-fragmented, awash with darkspawn and corruption etc. For the Mourn Watch.. maybe the Veil rips and weakening has caused more premature possessions of corpses and demons possessing corpses and wreaking havoc in the Necropolis, or the Nevarran politics stuff? In TN Dorian also mentions learning from a Mortalitasi mage that there are things "past the Veil of our world, neither demon nor spirit". maybe they're having problems with those things?

[source]

[aymayzing]

I have made a Mourn Watcher Rook and then came up with a few quick ideas for some buddies of his down in the Necropolis. And of course I ended up thinking too much about them so here's a post with some info on them

Sotiris 'Rook' Ingellvar

Mourn Watch's crypt baby

hoped to be a mage, ended up a Warrior Reaper

sweetest kindest guy you'll ever meet but also the beefiest and he's like 7 ft tall; also socially awkward. it's not his fault, he spent his youth playing with skeletons

got in so much shit over the War of the Banners he got pretty much banished from the country for a while only to end up leading the effort to save the world??? apparently???

magic and history nerd

ends up snatching THE professor Emmrich Volkarin (no one is fully certain how he managed that, not even Sotiris himself)

Hannes

my original Rook but they ended up demoted to supporting cast, they'd be too powerful as Rook (sorry Hannes...)

street urchin who kept breaking into the Necropolis to steal from the graves and hang out with the undead so much that the Mourn Watch decided it'd make more sense to just take them in

constanly on thin ice with the higher ups but much adored by the spirits

aims to be seen as the silly goofy one of the group but has the best people skills so everyone comes to them for advice. or when they need a lock picked

Mirka Kanarek

archivist poached by the Mourn Watch from the City Hall (the City Hall is still angry) to deal with the bureaucratic backlog in the Grand Necropolis

convinced she has the best job in the world

does no field work, she's a corporate girlie with skeleton assisstants

probably the most normal and well-adjusted from the group

surface dwarf whose family is newly arrived from Orzammar and is still kind of confused and put out by all the dead bodies. they're very supportive of her career though

Visna Lievenkroft

the only member of this crew with a normal career path (read: once her influential rich noble family realized she was a mage, they paid off everyone they could to get her into a program with the Mourn Watch)

she truly loves her work and wishes to remain with the Watch

she is aware she got into the Necropolis due to nepotism and corruption so she works extremely hard to prove herself

has long held romantic feelings for Sotiris but by the time she managed to fess up, he was already dating Emmrich. who actually used to be her teacher. double whammy, I guess. sorry Visna :(

Alvilda Anaxas

yes, from the Anaxas family - the Duke of Cumberland is her uncle

think of her as Sotiris' reverse Hezenkoss - if Emmrich and Johanna started off as friends and academic partners to end up enemies, Alvilda and Sotiris spent the first years of their relationship competing academically and despising each other, only to grow to appreciate each other's skills and eventually become close friends

also got into a lot of trouble over the War of the Banners but Sotiris covered for her; she's still not allowed to work on her own projects which annoys her endlessly, especially as Sotiris is fully reinstated and fighting undead dragons in long forgotten crypts or some other nonsense

[lightan117]

Mourn Watch Headcannons 2

I had to make more now that I've finished the game....

As a reminder - this is based on the character that I've used, but I've mostly tried to keep Rook's gender natural.

Mourn Watch in general:

Students 100% ship Myrna and Vorgoth together. They also have little betting pools on which professors sleep with whom. Many students also end up as couples that eventually lead to the next generation.

Speaking of students - the students are the entire gossip pool of the Necropolis. The teachers get their information from the students.

Nevarran beetles are 100% pets (think Scarabs). Mourn Watchers will try to have different colors and species. Golden beetles are rare, but green ones are common.

More on the Grand Necropolis is Hogwarts - first-year students ALWAYS get lost, and search parties always stand by the first few months to find the ones who are. Spirits who are restless might "lure" people away and just peace out when they are well and truly lost (Vorgoth is never happy when this time rolls around)

If students get in trouble, their punishments are to deal with the gentry and clean their tombs. Ever want to hear a spirit complain about how students are not cleaning their tomb correctly? No, didn't think so.

Everyone knows that Markus Pentaghast is dead or undead. It may not be confirmed, but low-key, everyone knows that man is not really "alive." Emmrich confirms it with Lucanis, but we all know Mourn Watchers just know in general just by reading the news. The king was poisoned again? Of course, it didn't work—the man is already dead, guys. Take a hint.

They love to throw any type of fancy party to one-up each other. If someone is having a fight, they don't brawl - they throw the biggest party to show off.

Mourn Watch Rook:

Mourn Watch Rook, when traveling to Treviso, will always look to see if there is anything that they can bring back for Myrna and Vorgoth (Big sister and brother energy). Def will try and get Vorgoth and Viago together to talk about paintings.

There is a scene where Harding mentions Rooks' speech not being as proper unless they are talking to a fellow mourn watcher—THIS IS ON PURPOSE, NO ONE CAN KNOW THAT THEY ARE VERY PROPER IN SPEECH! They worked really hard that first year with Varric to be "normal." They can switch back and forth really easily.

Minrathous is the place they dislike the most due to their view on spirits and power. Feels bad for those in Dock Town - hate everyone up top. Politics are almost the same but not as bad I feel.

Would pester Emmrich (in the best way) about what they missed in Nevarra and any lessons he could teach them. Lessons from one of the top professors in the Mourn Watch? Why the fuck not?! They can also nerd out together about all things undead.

Assan and Manfred are the favorites of the whole group

Rook has beetles in their room - fight me - everyone knows and thinks its weird when they show up at the lighthouse with a glass case full of beetles. Spite thinks they're cool.

(End of Game) Mourn Watch Rook and dating:

If Mourn Watch Rook is dating Lucanis, they would have a hard time once everything is...normal I guess? I'm sure the Mourn Watch would give the nobility the middle finger if they protest Rook coming back to Nevarra (they would be welcomed back with open arms - Rook just made them fucking famous). Their role, they take seriously, but they would find some common ground to meet in the middle. I could see that the Mourn Watch would allow Rook to work out of Treviso but have to make trips home for rites/reports/gossip. Rook is the only exception tho, everyone is shit out of luck until Rook decides to put forward change. Lucanis and Rook do end up getting married and having a bunch of kids (adoption or by natural).

If Mourn Watch Rook is dating Emmrich, they would move back to Nevarra to live together. Rook would be allowed back into the Mourn Watch cuz why the fuck not...

(Spoilers!)If Emmrich became a Litch - I would feel things would be difficult due that the man is undead and would outlive them (there is no going around that topic; it will be rough). There will be arguments and such, but after about, I would say, a year, things will die down into a routine. The topic of marriage might come up and there might be one. (Lots of convos about what happens when Rook does die). Emmrich might try to stay teaching students and opening up conversations with Litchs still having relationships with the living as per his relationship with Rook being an example. An uphill battle if you choose this route.

(Spoilers!) If Emmrich did NOT become a Litch - this route might be a tid difficult but not as much as if Emmrich is a litch. Since he's human with Manfred (Manny as I call him) you two are in your perfect little bubble that no one can pop. Emmirch would go back to teaching and Rook could do whatever they want. They could teach if they wanted, become an instructor, or even help Myrna. Emmrich does have fears of his death still but Rook would be there to help him along with Manny. When the time comes, Rook would not be left alone.

[bettydice]

I have finished Veilguard. A bunch of thoughts under the cut!

The Companions: Loved all of them and all the banter and their interactions. I thought the companion quests were fantastic and there was a lot of content there and I enjoyed it all. Voice acting was fantastic and some line deliveries made me tear up. And while it was honestly nice to have everyone get along well and be respectful with each other, I did miss some... bite and conflict. Like you get all those delicious conversations with Solas and questioning of motives and I wanted more of that sort of thing. Also I'd die for Assan and Manfred. The Environments: This is definitely one of the strongest parts of the game for me. Everything is gorgeous and I loved just walking around, exploring. I thought they found a great balance of streamlined and exploration! Puzzles were at a difficulty that I can still enjoy (thus very simple, I'm sure other people are annoyed by that) and it made exploring satisfying and relaxing instead of a chore. And I loved seeing changes in the environments after certain events or NPCs moving into places that I'd cleared. I rarely fast travelled because I loved walking through the Crossroads so much.

Rook: Overall, I enjoyed Rook. I chose Erika Ishii's voice for my first playthrough and thought it was fantastic. Also loved every Mourn Watch dialogue option. However... Rook has a loooot of auto dialogue and the dialogue options feel quite limited, so I'm worried about replays and being able to make different Rooks actually feel different. Also hate to say this, but Rook could smile a little less in cutscenes... I also don't think you can play a Rook that antagonizes any companions or is just plain shit at conflict resolution.

Combat: Even though I never felt like I fully mastered it, I enjoyed it. And especially after recently replaying all the other games - the dragon fights were so much cooler (though as a mage, they were also 80% running around screaming). I didn't miss being able to control my companions, except for taking screenshots. Romance: I romanced Bellara and I love her, she is my beautiful wife. I do wish there'd been more romance specific content, especially because you get to see soo much of your companions getting together and being together and you're just there like... what about me? Spare romance banter for Rook pls? I didn't even get a romance specific greeting! Though ultimately, I'm really happy with the romance and the ending added some welcome drama, because Bellara was the one that got abducted by the blight/Elgarnan and yesss! The drama! The fade statues guilt trip! She's so smart and fierce when she returns! And the last scene was super sweet. <3

Story: Overall I'd say... Yay? Loved all the Lore drops and actual answers. Thought the side quests were well done and interesting. Another shout out to the companion quests! All in all, I'm satisfied with the ending, I think. HOWEVER! You can feel the Things We Didn't Import all over the game. There were so many moments where I was like, okay they COULD have mentioned xyz here easily, but no, they have to go out of their way to be vague or not let you talk to this character much. I don't need actual cameos (Isabela you deserve better) but there's so many missed opportunities for simple mentions or codex entries and it's such a shame. Because this IS the culmination of the story and why can't we see that reflected in little moments, so that we can truly feel the depth of the story once more? But I do love the Codex! There's so much good stuff in there! I might even go back and read all the Codex entries I haven't yet. Oh, why do we see no Elves working for Solas? Did he manage to get his entire spy network killed before the game? Classic Solas. Music: Soundtrack was fine, better than I expected tbh though a few scenes had some really awkward whimsical music that made me go ?????????? The Varric thing is dumb. The 'twist' only works because I guess nobody ever mentioned his death ever again. I hate sacrificing character development or People Behaving Normally for twists.

Why is the Inquisitor still wearing FUCKING PYJAMAS. Really wish there was an option to dye armour. The decision between Minrathous and Treviso is a cool concept and loved (though hated) seeing the fallout but what.... Rook and their two buddies are the only thing standing between a city and complete ruin???? I do not think so.

That's all for now.

[insertsomthinawesome]

Hi! Do you have any TWST friendship headcanons about the dormheads? They are definetely a chaotic friend group!

Also love your art! It's so pretty!!

OH ABSOLUTELY. First of all, Thank you so much!! THat makes me so happy to hear ;;v;; ONTO SHENANIGANS: A LOT if not pretty much all of this falls into non-canon-compliant territory, and I'm only partway through Book 5 so I could either totally guess soimething or completely mess something up, but here are my braincells

Vil and Leona: I LOVE these two. I think they have some of the most fantastic worstie to bestie potential. And in a weird way??? I think Vil is the kind of person Leona needs? Like, Vil can be a little too harsh, and in my personal opinion too much of a perfectionist (Not for the character tho, just if he was a real person xD As a character trait its 10/10 good writing) but the fact that he refuses to stop seeing the potential in Leona??? Thats something that I really think Leona NEEDS. People who are like "What are you talking about? You have the possibility to be so much if you just tried." Like that last part is harsh yeah, but I think Vil really has this... he has this Rook-like ability to believe in the potential of other people in a way that isn't actually as cynical as it comes across. If he learned to work more with Leona than against him, I actually think the two of them would have such a strong power duo potential.

Leona needs to see Vil for the Roses rather than the Thorns. He needs to see more of what Vil is SAYING, where he's coming from rather than just the words themselves. I think if Leona really comprehended how much Vil believed in him, like, ACTUALLY believed in him, i think he would be genuinely moved, genuinely shook and full of wonder that somebody saw so much potential in him, as so much more than being a failure or a freak.

However I think if they actually became friends Epel might have to take a week off for mourning because he could no longer go to Leona to escape the wrath of Vil xD

Idia and Malleus: Okay so starsending started me on this one, I think they would actually really vibe. Idia is an introverted Loner, he has a hard time with high energy people who make a lot of noise. Mallues CAN be a lot, but honestly he tends to... not be. Its more like the A Lot follows him. ei when he interacts with Yuu and essentially just ends up being a nerd. The specific image i've had in my head, is i feel like Idia could play animal crossing with Malleus watching him, and the two of them could vibe for H O U R S. Malleus would make the occasional comment or go on the occasional tangent, but he seems less like he needs people to engage with him sometimes, and sometimes just like he needs people to listen. And Idia isn't actually that bad at engaging with people!! He's got internet friends (lilia lol) which means he does know something about sustaining relationships and talking to people I also think that Malleus would probably find Idia's way of talking fascinating SLDFKJSDLGJSLDJG. As long as he wasn't mocked for not understanding, he'd probably find it downright interesting to listen to Idia explain internet memes from 2010 and talk about the history of Loss. I also think that Idia could really be a safe and quiet spot for malleus when things are hard. I feel like part of Malleus's frustrations, and why we see him run away from Sebek and Silver, despite both of them being family he obviously loves, is that, with the exception of Lilia, Both of them make a BIG DEAL out of things. Silver tends to be quieter and less explosive, but they both do. Sometimes I think Malleus just wants to be alone to process, or not be pestered or questioned. I think Idia could potentially be that safe and quiet spot where he's ready to listen, but not necessarily interested in making a big deal about it. If they became better friends he might not even ask, just offer quiet empathy.

Kalim and Leona: -Spoilers for Leona's Union bday card, since it hasn't released in English yet- OH BOY.... THESE TWO. First of all!!! ANother relationship that I think could do a lot of good for Leona??? Kalim doesn't really need him for anything, but he's a well of low expectation positivity, somebody who I can see dragging Leona out to do things, or even just, once in a while so honestly state the worth he sees in Leona that it causes Leona to stutter and pause. Like, Leona's union bday card mentioning that he'd have Kalim with him on a deserted Island cause people would come ot rescue Kalim....... O U CH??????? There's a running Narrative that Kalim doesn't really see the value in himself, and this would be another person (like Azul) who would contradict that. Leona sees a more cynical version of his value, but its still value all the same. And Leona likes to gripe and groan, but he's adopted like, half the characters who are younger than him, I don't think he's immune to Kalim Al-Asim at ALL. It doesn't help that Leona is already a Tsunderely doting uncle, I can see Kalim triggering the Uncle-Instincts in him sometimes... or a lot. The loud and upbeat disposition Similar to Cheka's wouldn't help. Specifically, because I've thought about these two being friends before, I've always loved this idea of a post book 4 sequence where Kalim like, kind wanders into the greenhouse to find somewhere to cry privately, but he runs into leona napping. Leona doesn't really want to deal with Kalim, so while he's blubbering through his explanation he's just like "Fine you can chill here as long as you're quiet" Kalim accepts... but Leona has beastman hearing, so even what might be considered reasonably quiet is loud to him, and he eventually caves and asks whats up. Just to get Kalim to shut up eventually. I think maybe I had a conclusion or an idea for what advice leona would give kalim, but I don't remember it at the moment, but yeah just. Them :) I think their dynamic could be really interesting.

Malleus and Leona: So ya'll who saw my whumptobers already know I have some bad braincells for these two clowns. I think they are jealous of each other, because they think the other has what they want, they think that they see the other squandering the gifts they've been given, being fools and idiots who don't appreciate what they have. Leona craves being accepted, having the crown, having the power to fix what he sees that is wrong, to actually have and impact in people's lives, to matter and to fit in. Malleus craves normality, he craves to be one of the masses, just another man among many, he doesn't wish for power, and he cares little for the catastrophic effect he can have on other people, he just wants to be invited. He just wants to be included. Leona sees Malleus as having the power to do what matters. Malleus sees Leona as having the gift of Normality and camaraderie. Ultimately they're both miserable where they're at (though not entirely. Leona loves his squad, Malleus loves his family, both of them have things they'd never dare give up.) and they think if they just had what the other had, they would achieve the things they deserve and desire. I think both of them would have to sort through a LOT of emotions if it ever clicked for them just how similar they are. They're of course seeing each other through rose colored glasses. Leona is not an everyman, he's feared by his own family, Malleus is not all powerful, he cannot stop the tick of death. Leona is persecuted for being "less than" his brother, Malleus is held so far above everybody else he can't be reached. This would take some time for both of them to process, but I think once they did there would be a chance for them to become good allies, and potentially even really good friends. THose are my main braincells!! I honestly think that making any of the dorm leaders interact is fantastic food for thought and relationship building. I would love to think over what it'd be like to grow a friendship between Azul and Riddle, or Vil and Malleus. Leona and Azul would be INCREDIBLE and fascinating!!! Like man, there's so much to work with in TWST. I realized this might be a little to the left of your question ^^;; Haha, If you were asking about more like, I guess lighearted headcanons, I'm not sure I have any yet!! But I'm sure with time I totally could :) Writing or playing with TWST characters intimidated me for a bit there, since the quality of the writing of the game was SO GOOD I felt there was no way I could do it justice. Now I feel a lot less intimidated, so i feel like I'm more likely to dig my hands into shenanigans and thoughts.

[mercurialmalcontent]

Spoiler-free DA:TV Review

tl;dr -- I thought it was fantastic.

When I found out we were really for real getting a new Dragon Age game, I was interested but not excited. It had been ten years since DAI released and I'd made my peace with us never getting another one years ago, so my reaction was oh, that's cool, maybe I'll get it on sale later. As release came closer and I saw more about the game I got more interested, enough so that when I suddenly had some spare cash I decided I'd get it on release after all.

I ended up barely able to put it down for two solid weeks.

The Dragon Age writing team wove together all the many, many story threads they spun out over the previous three games into one glorious tapestry. None of the story felt like it came out of nowhere or any sort of gotchya, but that it was carefully and expertly crafted into what unfolded before my eyes.

The story is also focused in a way that Origins and DAI were not. No more meandering aimlessly around a map or ultimately pointless fetch quests; every sidequest ties into the story and has direct results… as do your decisions. There will be things that come back to haunt you, because all hard decisions have consequences, after all.

The rest is under a cut for length.

On a character level, for once I didn't feel like any of the companions were extraenous. They're all integral in their areas of expertise and, as far as I could tell in one lengthy playthrough, all have a lot of reactivity to one another (and apparently other non-companion NPCs). It's worth switching your party up regularly and going back to base after every quest to see who's chatting with who and who has new things to say to you. I'm absolutely certain I missed a ton of stuff because I'd get so caught up in questing and exploring and didn't return to base often in early game.

For the player character, Rook is less of a blank slate than the Inquisitor or HoF, but more of one than Hawke. They very much have a base personality suited to someone who can build trust and lead a team, but you have a lot of flexibility in how to express that. Mimir, for example, I played as largely stoic and decisive with a few places he was pushed into a snarling rage, but when he independently acted a little goofy and awkward after building up some trust with his team, it still made sense -- after all, how is he going to build trust if he can't unclench once in a while? I played into that in his more vulnerable moments and it worked really well for me.

I was also delighted that his background came into play far, far more frequently than I could have guessed. I chose Mourn Watch because it sounded interesting, but I had my doubts about how tied into the story it would really be. However, I got quite a few Mourn Watch-specific responses and a TON of dialogue whenever anything to do with their domain came up. Mimir was able to talk shop extensively with the Mourn Watch companion and it felt like they understood each other on a deeper level, especially coming from a culture considered weird and creepy by most of Thedas. (Some players may still find Nevarran customs weird and creepy, but personally I thought they handled death in an interesting and respectful way.)

Rook's race also plays a part in how they participate in conversations. Mimir is an elf, and while I got the occassional elf-specific option, he would often indepedently speak from an elvish perspective in relevant conversations. I really enjoyed him feeling like a part of the world without me having to make it happen.

As far as the moment-to-moment gameplay goes, I had a great time. Maps were fun to traverse, with multiple levels and full of (relatively simple but still satisfying) puzzles to get to hidden areas and secret chests. There are some jumping puzzles, but they're pretty forgiving (if you almost-but-don't-quite make a jump, Rook will grab on and haul themself up) and there's no fall damage; any fall that would have killed you just respawns you where you jumped. Maybe this takes the 'stakes' out for some people, but I'm glad they cut out the annoyance.

The combat is fast and fun, if a little frantic once the game starts throwing five to ten enemies at you at once. (I recommend playing with a controller if you can.) I went straight Adventurer (normal) difficulty and only had to use a revive a handful of times, but there's a lot of customization so you can tweak things to get gameplay you prefer. (There's also a wealth of other accessibility options too; the fixed point always on screen saved me from constant motion sickness.) If you don't want to change difficulties but still struggle, check your build; you can redo your point allocation for free any time outside of combat. I started having a hard time with my scattershot choices at around level 20, but when I refunded my points and went straight for a specialization before branching out, I was suddenly hitting a lot harder.

While I do have my nitpicks, they're pretty inconsequential. I only have two real gripes -- one is that it's not entirely clear when you're going to a one-time-only map. Unfortunately these maps are also littered with treasure and codex entries that you'll miss forever if you skip them. Being on an ostensibly time-sensitive mission but knowing you're going to miss a bunch of stuff if you don't explore is a buzzkill.

The other is more petty but still really annoyed me, and that's that enemies can block your attacks even when you're standing directly behind them. I thought maybe I was reading the screen wrong until J watched me play a bit and asked, "Uh, why was he able to block you from behind??" Good question! I grumbled "This doesn't happen in Elden Ring" far too often.

I'll be playing the game again at least a couple more times; I'm really interested in seeing how the story feels from the perspective of other races and factions, and I always have a good time in taking a closer look at how the story falls into place once I know how it plays out.

[ammyramblings]

I have questions so please read at least some of this if you’re played Shadow Dragon, Veil Jumpers, Lords of Fortune or Mourn Watch!

Some Early Game thoughts on different factions:

I have played so far as Antivan Crow Rook and Grey Warden Rook and am now running a Shadow Dragon Rook.

It’s clear from my content that Antivan Crow Rook has been my favourite so far however some thoughts about why this may be below:

Grey Warden and Shadow Dragon Rook both have more times they can say something (roughly 7hrs in so far) that relates to their faction however everything else around it feels kind of flat. In my Shadow run specifically.

For example the Shadow Dragons start off strong but then kinda of lose it when Neve starts explaining everything about the SD like Vipers name and what the catacombs are used for to SD Rook. Earlier on in gameplay Rook will make some comments that Neve usually makes regarding how the stalls might have spells on in Minrathous; it’s a nice touch but it also shows me that it could have been easily explained that Dock Town isn’t their neighbourhood (this is specifically used in the beginning with Harding and Varric so could have easily been done again) or they could have been less familiar with Tarquin and Viper both options which would have sold me more on the immersive portion of the background than what we got.

We have a high number of conversations with Neve about how we’ve never worked directly together like why couldn’t that be true for the others? This is also mentioned in the crows storyline when Crow Rook would make a comment regarding always wanting to meet Lucanis so we know it can be done and doesn’t have to be a big thing.

Now admittedly this all probably isn’t helped by my playing warrior class which has to be my least favourite class so far BUT that said it’s not like comments that don’t make sense aren’t said in other classes. E.G Viper saying he’ll light the lights for Rook because it needs a mage when they visit the wall of light even though my Rook at the time is also a mage.

I guess my main gripe so far is it’s one of the first big missions of the game and unlike in the crows or warden ones where plenty of commentary is tailored to their background or specifically there to explain away them not knowing things that we as the player might think they should, this dialogue is word for word as if I wasn’t even playing as a Shadow so it’s kinda making the whole thing fall flat for me right now.

I’m torn because I want to do this run to see the options I don’t plan on taking now I’ve found the bits I really like to play with and my favourite characters etc but half the draw for me was seeing how the Shadows react to a Rook they know like Antoine and Evka do to Grey Warden Rook or Viago and Teia to Crow Rook.

Question to follow up for people who have played Shadow Rook - does this get better?

Because right now I’m kinda only putting time in to it to see that stuff and how a dwarf Rook reacts to Hardings stuff and honestly I could do that in a faction I feel more at home in if it’s all going to be like this. It also doesn’t give me super amounts of hope for trying out the other factions I haven’t yet I.e Veil Jumpers, Lords of Fortune and Mourn Watch. So people who have played these or Shadow Rook is it worth it? Or should I just go back to my little crow and customise the difficulty?

[lavenderprose]

First dump of answers from this ask meme I was tagged to answer by @emmg. I'll be answering about my main Emmrichmancer Rook, Sigrid. If you'd like a particular question answered before I cycle through to it drop me an ask. :)

🌻 How old is your Rook? How do they feel about celebrating their birthday? What gift has meant the most to them?

Sigrid (Who we'll call Sigrid here and NOWHERE ELSE because she doesn't go by Sigrid and basically never has) is thirty-two years young. She's typically mistaken as being in her mid-twenties. Elves seem to, in general, age a little differently from humans. Also, lack of UV rays in the Necropolis probably keeps people looking pretty good, skin-wise, even at some advanced ages. See: Emmrich, Myrna. Johanna not so much but I think Johanna's been lying about her age for so long that nobody actually knows how old she is. Emmrich's 'Your're two years younger than me!' is just an educated guess and one I believe is a wild underestimation. NOBODY knows how old Johanna is.

Sigrid likes her birthday just fine! Did she have a small mental breakdown when she turned thirty? Oh yeah. But she likes her birthday and she likes cake and she's got a particular weakness for feeling special and recognized, so of course she enjoys her birthday. Emmrich makes a big deal about her birthday when it comes around and she tries to be modest but they both know she LIVES for that shit. She came from my brain so of course she's a massive Leo, even if Thedas doesn't have those.

Favorite present is probably the three golden bangles Emmrich gave her on the aforementioned birthday. She loves them. Didn't want to wear them at first, for fear of damage, but it's grave gold and that's just what you DO with grave gold.

🪻 What is the most painful injury your Rook has received? How has it affected them once it healed/scarred?

This is one that I haven't given much thought to. In one of the fics I'm working on, she's given birth, but that's literally only one of them and not canonical to Sigrid as a whole. I think she's broken her ankle. That one was hard for her--she likes to be able to get up and go. Even with pretty rapid magical healing she was off her feet for awhile.

🌹 What’s the first genuine fight Rook got in with their love interest about? How was it resolved?

Oh definitely the whole lich thing. Sigrid doesn't fuck with liches. She's aware of them as a concept and has made her peace with them being an important part of the cultural memory of the Mourn Watch and Nevarra in general but as for Emmrich becoming one? No go. I don't think that one truly gets resolved until the Manfred situation you see in the game, and even after that it's a sore spot for Sigrid. She holds onto some resentment and part of her wonders if Emmrich regrets not becoming a lich/choosing her and their family. He convinces her otherwise eventually, but it takes awhile. This is also a major theme in a fic I'm working on.

[thevagueambition]

Finished veilguard today

I have a variety of things that frustrate me a bit with it. Overall I'd say it's a good game, but not a good rpg (is it an rpg? the definition of that genre seems ever more nebulous) and the writing is often subpar

Not really any spoilers, just critical rambling about the writing

Anyway I can accept it for what it is, but what still frustrates me even when I do is how black and white everything except Solas is (and even then...)

It's all been sanitised. That The Gamers(tm) are saying something similar doesn't make it less true (and we do not mean the same thing when we say it, lol)

This applies most especially to the factions and the companions. I guess the Wardens are allowed a little more nuance, but the Antivan Crows and Lords of Fortune are really glaring examples of the game going out of its way to tell us that these are The Good Guys and have never done anything dubious lol

Also extremely weird to have so much of the game set in Tevinter yet we barely see hide nor tail of any slaves. Origins and DA2 are both fairly class conscious in how the world is written and Tevinter has the most explicit classes in Thedas next to Orzammar and then it's just... barely ever brought up, lol. Fenris wouldn't trust the Shadow Dragons! 😂

With the companions, all of them are nice people who have no contentious opions or dark secrets or whatever. I guess Emmerich might be the exception with how contentious Mourn Watch practises are to non-Nevarrans. But idk, in the other games it feels like you have to work to get people to trust you and open up to you and that makes it feel rewarding, yk? High Approval with Morrigan at the end of DAO feels so special exactly because of how stand-offish she is at first. In DAV most of the companions start acting like Rook's friends very quickly

Anyway I think it's the thing where like ultimately a new entry in a franchise that is different from former ones doesn't overwrite those former ones. DAO remains one of the best RPGs ever made and DA2 remains a wonderful, innovative little accident that no big studio would make on purpose and no small studio would have the resources to make

[thessalian]

Thess vs Playthrough Planning

Look, I am exceptionally weird about some things, and currently my "being weird about things" falls into the Veilguard space because it's about the only space I have for anything at the moment that isn't "work", because it's been like six weeks of overtime and the spoons are gone. Though tomorrow I do have to christen my new casserole dish with creamy lemon chicken and asparagus pasta.

Anyway, while picking your race is a nice thing, especially when there's any kind of reactivity to it, what I'm really loving is being able to choose faction. Mostly because ... well, Inquisition. They forgot that picking an origin in Dragon Age wasn't so much about picking just a race to play, but a big chunk of your character background. All three races in Origins had at least two choices of origin; elves got three. (Dwarves had Noble and Commoner, humans had Noble or Mage, elves had City, Dalish, or Mage.) But in Inquisition, your background was 100% locked to your race ... and then frankly barely (if ever) mentioned again. You picked human? You're a noble. You picked elf? You're Dalish. You pick qunari? Well ... grey area because if you did have a qunari that wasn't vashoth, it's highly unlikely that they'd see becoming the Herald of Andraste as "following a demand of the Qun", given how Bull's companion quest went down. Kind of the same with dwarf, but only because you probably don't need more than one Varric anyway, I guess? Anyway, point is that in Origins you could pick where you came from; Inquisition had it foisted on you as a part of your race.

Now, there are a few things about character creation that I wish Veilguard had done better (for instance, getting a little tired of starting in medias res; I would have loved to have a prologue like we had in Origins and actually being able to do the thing that Varric recruited Rook for in the first place), but being able to pick your faction separate from your race was one thing I think they did right. Now, some are apparently more reactive than others throughout the game, but on the whole, it was nice to be able to pick exactly what you wanted to do and didn't race-restrict any of them. I intend to make use of that.

The issue becomes ... you all know how I have my whole bunch of names and general personality types that generally come up when I play CRPGs like this. There's the Mollys, and the closely related Mychaes. There's the Jessies. There's the Astrids. There's the recently added Jalliras, Srinas, and Addies. Hell, there could conceivably be Alisaies. The problem is ... what faction do I put them in?

Well, Srina's easy. Srina's an assassin. Thus, Srina's a Crow. Mychae's probably a Shadow Dragon. Astrid - Shadow Dragon or maybe Veil Jumper. Alisaie ... honestly, possibly Lords of Fortune. I kind of want to put Jallira in the Mourn Watch but her immediate deal is "member of a traditionally neutral order fighting the forces of darkness" so she's probably likely to be a Grey Warden. Which is also where Addie would go, so both my redheads have a home there. And Jessie ... either Wardens or Lords of Fortune. Which means I am missing a Mourn Watch. I'm going to have to dig deep into the old grab-bag of WoD characters for that one. I guess I could go with my old vampire, Solita Giovanni, but that was my one particularly unpleasant character and she does not fit in well with the "saving the world" vibe. I guess Nina Gordon - my old Dreamspeaker, who was by and large a speaker to the dead.

I admit to at least part of this being that I want to make my various characters as well as I can in the character creator and then see them in action. And also exploring the various romances. Like, Jallira'd go for Davrin because Jallira's first two incarnations had her demonstrating a preference for military men and Davrin's as close as we're gonna get. Srina ... thinking about it, she'd probably go for Harding, because as much as she will never admit it, she likes her cheerful redheads. Alisaie ... Taash. Mychae - Bellara, because she enjoys the excitable adventrous ones. I kind of want to have Astrid go for Emmrich because I just one time when seeing a relationship with the male mage goes her way. That leaves Neve. Jessie might get along well with Neve. We'll see.

That said, I need to get through the Lucanis-romancing Veil Jumper Molly!Rook playthrough first. I'mma see if I have some spoons for at least some of it. That would be nice.

[dreadfutures]

okay okay so making wild guesses about themes and stories based on the GLIMPSES I've seen but we'll see ofc, most of these are just the most bare bones of characters because I don't like planning out exactly who the rooks are before I know them (exception: halide and Ter but I think they work lol) and we also don't really know the companions yet REALLY but anyway

1st: self insert bodyguard warrior widow dwarf crow x neve (inq ixchel high approval Solas) - two women with very guarded hearts but softies underneath?

other ideas:

- halide human mourn watch mage x davrin (inq Salina Lavellan romance/redeem Solas took the well) - The Attitude Squad

- shadow dragon elf warrior x Lace Harding (also Salina Lavellan) - living up to a legacy/becoming your own person story?

- terinelan veil jumper mage x lucanis? maybe? (also inq Ixchel high approval Solas) - a story of vengeance and expectations?

- older qunari warden rogue x Emmrich - a story of death and old man yaoi (in honor of Ramesh lmao) (Solavellan inq but swore to stop him)

- human Lord of Fortune x Bellara - deciding what "value"/"treasure"/"glory"/"history"/"identity" means? (Solavellan removed vallaslin took the well redeem Solas)

- shadow dragon x taash - we'll see what their whole deal is ig

[imscissorbladez]

✨Let's talk about OCs!✨How would you describe your OC's personality/aesthetic? What's your favourite thing about them? Tell us a fun fact(s) about your OC or their creation!

❤️Send this to at least 3 people to spread some OC appreciation!❤️

I AM ON MY VEILGUARD BULLSHIT SO TODAY, WE’RE TALKING ABOUT ADELINE:

This is Adeline Ingellvar, elven rogue and local asshole in charge.

What is your OC’s personality/aesthetic?

Both Adeline and Vic, my current Rooks, stem from a fic I’m still working on in which Varric sends the CVs of prospective Rooks to the Inquisitor, Hawke and the Warden and lets them hash it out on which is the most suitable protagonist for the job. My Inquisitor, Miri, absolutely believes Vic to be the best choice, because she loves a disaster gay. Nora, my murderous City Elf Warden Rogue? Game recognises game. Adeline is an assassin for the Mourn Watch, because that’s what you call demonslayers for people who recognise spirits as both another side of the coin of humanity and worthy of respect. She was, as per Mourn Watch Rook lore, found in the catacombs as a child, but after what had clearly been a terrible accident involving fire. She has grown up to be a mean bitch with several extreme fears and her response to most issues is ‘I mean cool, if you manage to kill me first I guess.’ Her aesthetic is very much ‘goth if she was willing to try harder’, but right now just wears the clothes of a lot of dead people honestly. She is unclear when she actually signed up to the war. Emmrich is like her weird grandad that people keep thirsting over.

What’s your favourite thing about them?

I have taken everything about my North Eastern upbringing and put it into her because I maintain the difference in VA performances between British and American AFAB Rook is a literal comedy show. Adeline isn’t just willing to commit war crimes, she’s asking for forgiveness not permission, and even then, under her breath. Finishing Weisshaupt with her, Lucanis and Davrin was a literal comedy show, Lucanis was EXHAUSTED.

Tell us a fun fact about their creation?

I literally just told you this actually but I’m sharing with the class; I made them to be a Lucanismancer but that’s their bestie, honestly. Two awkward assassins. She is in fact a Davrin romancer, because that man’s single fatherhood has captivated her. This is also lowkey hilarious because somewhere across the world Nora Tabris is laughing her ass off at the level of rizz Wardens have towards assassins. Could be worse, she could’ve been a Crow. Again.

[tuwasduwillst]

I Finished Veilguard (Spoilers Version)

This is my spoilery Veilguard post! And also my screenshot dumping post, because I didn't want to have to worry about spoilers when I have an entire game worth of screenshots to share (I meant to make more posts while I was playing, but I wanted to finish before I had to go back to work, so I was on a time limit... and Firefox has been crashing my PC lately, so I had to keep it closed while I was playing u_u).

SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT

I have no idea where to even start.

Like I said in the other post, I really enjoyed the game. I've been waiting almost a decade for some of these plot threads to get resolved, or have literally anything done with them, and now it's over.

I played as a Mourn Watch elf, romancing Lucanis, with an Inquisitor that romanced Solas and vowed to save him.

And it was a great first playthrough! I loved my faction, I loved that I got to react to all of the elf stuff as an elf without any "What's Mythal?" moments*, and I absolutely loved what ended up happening with Solas and the Inquisitor in my playthrough. I expected nothing, maybe a throwaway line at most, but there was so much more than that.

(* speaking of this, it was funny to me how much elven Lavellan used while speaking to Solas. Making up for the past, I see. :P (Though she uses a fair amount in Trespasser as well, I suppose.))

The game was gorgeous, IMO, especially when it came to textures and lighting. I'm so glad a BioWare game finally has good hair, it's like a miracle.

I can't think of much I didn't enjoy, in the end, especially when thinking about the game as a whole. I do think it's too bad there's a forced sacrifice, I guess, but IMO that's necessary sometimes, unfortunately. I'm not sure how poorly everything could go because I got the "best" ending; I might experiment with it eventually, especially if it's needed for achievements.

I think the companion quests were pretty good, and I enjoyed the ones where you're just hanging out with a companion somewhere. Sometimes they got a little overwhelming? But that's probably because I was pushing myself to finish the game before I had to go back to work, at least partially.

Rook is a fun protagonist, IMO; a good balance between Hawke and the Inquisitor. I'm not sure how "same-y" Rooks will feel between playthroughs, but hopefully there's enough of a difference with tonal options that it doesn't feel like I'm playing the same character over and over again...?

My biggest criticism about Rook (and kind of the start of the game) is that I really wish they would have allowed players to play through The Incident that got them sent away from their factions for a while. It would've been a good intro to the factions and game mechanics, a good intro to Rook meeting Varric, and then you could've had a time skip to where the game starts now. It also would've provided the space for some of the roleplaying decisions you make in the meditation room in the Lighthouse, if they wanted.

That said! Rook grew on me very quickly, and I'm genuinely sad to leave them behind now. I would love at least one DLC or something, but I know that BioWare has said they've got everyone working on the next Mass Effect now... :( And I love Mass Effect, don't get me wrong! But I really love Dragon Age.

Like I said above, I don't know how poorly things can go in the ending, so maybe that complicates things too. The more variables you add, the more you have to account for when it comes to DLC, which means more time and money spent. The game coming out at all is a miracle, so hoping for more might just be greedy at this point. (Still going to hope, though...)

I read the comics and read through Tevinter Nights/the site's short stories, so I picked up on all of the cameo appearances. I think my favourites were Antoine and Evka (they made Antoine so cute), Teia, and Myrna, appearance-wise! I was happy to see Viago as well, but for some reason I imagined him being a little heavier?? So seeing him skinny was a bit of a shock to me haha.

I thought it was a bit weird sometimes to be making life decisions for the companions, but overall I was happy with my decisions. I was torn about the one for Emmrich, because my Rook could've gone either way... but eventually I went with the more emotional option rather than the straightforwardly intellectual one (my Rook is a compassionate, peppy, goth nerd (without the goth clothing options sob)).

I only felt bad about one decision I made... but I would have felt bad either way for that one, so... RIP me I guess. Well, actually, I felt bad about two decisions and both of them were ones I would've felt bad about either way haha (but one would've also locked me out of my Lucanis romance, which is obviously unacceptable).

The Lucanis romance was something that I loved, but definitely wished there was a little more to. Not enough to be upset about it, but... I feel like I'll definitely be glad it was my first romance once I do another playthrough, judging by comments I've heard. Even just one more scene between acknowledging that Rook was interested and them being together would've been fine, IMO! Or after them getting together but before the other stuff, I don't know.

In the end they're super cute together so I don't really care too much, it's just something that I noticed while playing. I'm definitely hoping there'll be fanfic to fill in some blanks... or I might have to actually write something myself (unlikely, but not impossible).

To be honest, there were some moments during Crow quests too where I thought Lucanis would speak up for sure and he just... didn't, so I'm not sure what's up with that, either. Bugged companion responses? Nothing written for some reason? Maybe he was half-asleep and Spite was bored. Who knows, I guess. (Again, though, overall I really enjoyed Lucanis and his romance.)

I loved the wing thing in his romance scene. Very cute.

Look at the cute smile on his face as he looks at Rook 😭Augh they're adorable, I just wish there was more... maybe I'll have to commission something. Probably them cuddling and drinking coffee or Lucanis napping on Rook's lap or something, idk. Something cute, more than likely. (If you know of any artists that might be interested and has comms open, let me know. >_>)

Getting sidetracked, oops...

I enjoyed all of the companions; if I had to pick a least favourite, it would probably be either Davrin or Taash. I enjoyed them both still! But the former has the problem of griffons being nearly his entire identity, and the latter has the problem of their... well, identity being nearly their entire identity. There's enough other stuff there that I don't dislike them, but in comparison to the others I just felt they weren't as interesting, personally.

I'm hoping that maybe their romances will add more to them...? But we'll see.

I swear I had more specific things to say, but I can't remember them at all, so I guess I'll end things here! I'm happy to answer any questions anyone might have, with spoilers or as spoiler-free as I can make it, and I guess now I've got to decide what to do next.

[welllpthisishappening]

A Biscuit in the Basket

Several weeks ago, I posted this, said something about how it was totally Blue Line!Killian Jones and then @shireness-says​ messaged me and it took on a life of its own. That life is now some AU of Blue Line??? Where Will and Belle adopt a kid and said kid is just...adored by everyone else on this roster. I waxed poetic about it a bit here and have already written another quick one shot about it here, so apparently this is a thing now.  

Or: Will Scarlet deserves to be the best dad in the NHL. 

Also tagging @optomisticgirl​ and @ohmightydevviepuu​ who were into this idea.

-----

Three games. 

Nine periods of hockey. 

One-hundred and eighty minutes. Plus mandatory TV timeouts. And cleaning the ice. So, more than those minutes, really, but Killian’s head throbbed and every muscle in his body felt like it was stretched too thin and knotted too tightly, all at the same time, an ache and a disappointment that lingered at the base of his spine and—

That was very melodramatic. 

Still, a three-game losing skid was….stupid. It was stupid and annoying and he couldn’t quite pinpoint when things had fallen off the rails, but it might have been right around the time that Will started punching that Cyrus guy behind the net. 

They hadn’t even been losing that badly yet.

There was no rhyme or reason to it. Just bad hockey and turnovers in the neutral zone and Killian had no idea how Will kept moving his right arm that quickly. Like a blur. An angry, fist-prone, blur of game misconducts and Arthur’s white-board smashing fury. 

“So, uh,” Robin said, dropping onto the bench in front of his locker, “that was something, huh?”

Phillip made a noise in the back of his throat, wide eyes and gritted teeth. “Should we be worried?”

“About Scarlet?”

“About, like, I don’t know—court-mandated anger management classes.”

“It wasn’t that bad,” Killian grumbled. He tugged his jersey off, tossing it towards the pile a few feet away and it didn’t really make it all the way in, but he figured that was just how the rest of the night was going to go and he wanted to go home. 

Robin clicked his tongue. “Are you kidding me, Cap?”

“It wasn’t. That was—“

“—As bad as its been. In years.”

“He’s fine,” Killian promised, but the lie tasted bitter on his tongue. He didn’t have to turn around to hear Robin’s eyebrows jump. “It’s just, you know…we’re all stressed out and playing like shit.”

“This is not your best work.”

“I’m not in the mood for motivational speeches, that’s why.”

“Is that because of your inability to stick handle tonight?”

“Hey, c’mon, I’m not—“

“—The one who got a misconduct,” Robin said softly, and that was fair. “And maybe we should be, Rook. I am because it’s—ok, so Scarlet’s always been kind of a goon when he had to be, but he’s not an idiot. He’ll probably have to talk to the league about that one punch.”

Killian hissed in a breath. Because part of him knew that Robin was right and part of him had already talked to Emma about that vaguely hollow look in Will’s eyes during the skid and he didn’t want to spend much time gossiping about possibility, but all of this felt like some kind of potential riptide and Cyrus had been bleeding when they pulled him off the ice. 

“Seriously, though, when could it have been worse than it was tonight?” Phillip asked, disbelief hanging off every letter. Killian’s shoulders sagged. 

He nearly hit his head on the front of his locker. 

That would have been a level of melodramatic he, simply, was not equipped to deal with. 

Three games. 

They were getting progressively worse at playing hockey, he was positive. 

Arthur had already cancelled practice. 

Something about no point and the tabs were going to have several metaphorical field days with that and—

The footsteps sounded like boulders. Impressive, since Will clearly hadn’t taken his skates off yet, but every step forward was heavy and even more angry and Robin kept trying to catch Killian’s eye. 

“Bad,” he muttered. 

Will threw his gloves. They flew across the half-empty locker room—Arthur presumably still dealing with that metaphorical field day or maybe even the league, every one of Killian’s thoughts getting progressively worse the longer he watched Will stalk forward. 

“At least he’s maintaining his balance,” Robin continued softly, and Killian glared at him. 

It didn’t do anything. 

And Will didn’t stop. 

“I can hear you, you know,” he snarled, another piece of equipment thrown like he was actually a professional baseball player. Phillip stood up straighter. As if that would make their inevitable intervention that much easier. 

Robin hummed. “Yuh huh and—“

“—Were you talking shit, Locksley?”

“Excuse me?”

“Shit,” Will repeated, spinning quickly enough that Killian was genuinely impressed with the physics of his knees. He didn’t know enough about physics. He never finished college. “Talking shit. About me and—“

“—Your game misconduct?” Phillip suggested.

“What the fuck is your problem, Rook?”

“Me? Is that supposed to be a joke? Where’ve you been, Scarlet? Talking to Arthur or getting ready for your disciplinary hearing?”

“Shut up.”

“Oh, scathing. You going to beat me up now, too?”

Will’s eyes narrowed, no more than slits and somehow even more threatening than he’d been on the ice, shoulders rolling until he was practically looming in front of Phillip. Who did not blink. In any other situation that would have been impressive. 

As it was, the whole thing was like balancing on those blades of Will’s skates, one false move leading to more blood and cuts and contusions and—

“Don’t talk to me right now,” Will growled. 

Robin laughed. Loudly. Uproariously. He threw his head back and wrapped an arm around his middle and Killian had to pinch the bridge of his nose so he didn’t do something drastic. 

Like punch all of them, at once. He did not have enough hands for that. 

And he still wanted to go home. 

Except. 

There was something. Something big. Something important. Just on the edge of Will’s voice and the slight tilt of his head, an emotion that wasn’t anger or disappointment, was something far deeper and vaguely familiar. 

Loss. 

Killian heard his lips pop when his jaw dropped. 

“What the hell is your problem?” Robin asked, laughter still clinging to his voice. “I just—we’ve been on skids before, right? Shit, Cap has never been good in the neutral zone and—“

“Thanks for that,” Killian mumbled. 

Robin swatted at his chest. “You’re ruining the flow of this. I’m serious, Scarlet. This is—you trucked that guy and for no reason. It was like…your sanity snapped or something.”

“Also not your best work,” Phillip murmured. Will’s eyes had not returned to the correct size. 

A muscle in his temple kept jumping. 

“There’s got to be a reason for it,” Robin shrugged, “because it doesn’t make sense for Scarlet to act like a Neanderthal on the ice when we could still win this game and—“

“Fuck the game,” Will shouted. He was out of breath. Impressive since he wasn’t skating or throwing things anymore, but every word sounded like a challenge, a gasping breath between syllables that made his chest heave and his eyes bug and Killian pressed his lips together tight enough that his teeth threatened to dig into both of them. 

Will exhaled sharply, gaze flying anywhere that wasn’t the three people standing in front of them. 

It was a bit, Killian thought, like a flat tire. 

Not fast. 

Not slow. 

Just…inevitable. 

Will’s whole body sagged, knees bending awkwardly underneath him and he didn’t fall so much as he collapsed into Killian, arms around sweaty equipment and a head falling forward and—

Will Scarlet cried. 

The sobs racked his body, shoulders shaking with the force of them as his hands hung limply on either side of Killian. He gasped for air, like he’d just skated forty-seven blue lines at the start of the preseason, digging his forehead into Killian’s collarbone and it didn’t end. It felt like it lasted forever, an odd familiarity to it that made Killian’s chest clench and his stomach jump. 

Robin didn’t blink. 

Phillip’s brows furrowed, confusion in the pinch there. 

Killian understood. 

Loss. And regret. And mourning something that hadn’t ever happened. 

Will sniffled, another quick inhale and even more shuddering exhale, leaning back so he could drag the heel of his hand across his cheek. It didn’t seem to help much, just angry red streaks on his skin and blood-stained eyes and—

“Shit,” Will breathed. “That’s…I’m—“

“What happened?” Killian asked, careful to keep his voice soft and without any sense of accusation. 

He knew it didn’t work when Will’s lips twitched. 

“That obvious, huh?”

“I’m big on context clues.”

Will barked out a laugh, no humor in the sound, and his tongue flashed between his lips more than once before he answered. “I, uh—you think that guy is concussed?”

“Absolutely, yeah.”

“Damn.”

“Why?”

“Why is he concussed? I punched him.”

“Several dozen times. That’s not what I meant.”

Will took a deep breath, another swipe of his hands and fingers that pressed almost too had into the side of his jaw. “It’s—shouldn’t you be going home?”

Robin rolled his eyes.

Phillip didn’t move. 

And Killian didn’t pull his gaze away from Will, half-lifted eyebrows and his tongue pressing to the inside of his cheek. Will sighed. “Don’t give me that face,” he grumbled through a few more sniffles. ‘I’m not your kid, you can’t ground me. There are not actually any kids involved in this and—“

He cut himself off. Abruptly. Suddenly. And the last piece of the puzzle dropped into horribly depressing place. 

It was an exceptionally ugly picture. 

Will dropped onto the floor. 

Cross-legged. 

Like he couldn’t bring himself to even walk to his locker. 

And Killian was only a little worried about the location of Will’s skates.

“We found out a couple days ago. It’s—I mean, you know, there are other options, I guess…just not the one we’ve been trying and—“ His head fell to his hands, another round of tears and unsteady breaths. None of them said anything. “I just,” Will whispered, “fuck, I’m so jealous, Cap. Of you and Em, and Locksley and Gina and it’s—Belle would be such a good mom and I can’t—“

Silence. 

Goddamn deafening, fucking silence. 

Killian’s mouth felt very dry. 

His right knee cracked when he crouched down, Will’s jaw clenching when he curled a hand around his shoulder. 

“Those kids are so good,” Will continued, “and everything you guys do and I’m not—

“—They think you are the world, you know that, right?”

“Yeah, yeah, but…”

“I know.”

Will sighed. “We’ve been talking about it for years. After the Olympics and it was…God, like this thought that kept gnawing at the back of my brain. Could have beens, and possibility and I love those kids.”

“I know,” Killian said, and it was a frustratingly cynical conversation. 

“And we kept talking. Planning and thinking and the idea grew and it’s just been—this maybe kind of thing that never happened, but would and now it’s…not.”

Killian didn’t say anything. Couldn’t. Knew there were no words, no promises or guarantees that would make any of it better, erase the loss of that something that hadn’t ever happened. 

And Scarlet hadn’t tried to do it for him.

So, cyclical. Or, whatever. 

“I’m totally going to get suspended,” Will muttered. “That was—I wasn’t even thinking. It was, like, some bullshit out of body experience and—you really think that guy is concussed?”

Killian nodded. 

“Shit.” He ran a ragged hand across his face, rubbing his knuckles against his forehead. “We’re going to try some other stuff. The doctor gave us a whole list of options, but I’m—“

“—Pissed,” Phillip finished. 

“Thanks, Rook.”

Will’s eyes flitted up towards Killian, still silent, still ignoring the questionable pain in his right thigh when he stayed crouched halfway towards the floor. And neither one of them said anything else, but Will’s mouth quirked up again and Killian flipped his hand up. 

Will took it. 

And there was a meeting with the league offices, phone calls to that Cyrus guy and apologies made, both public and private, and Arthur made several pointed threats to the entire locker room about fixing this shit before the Rangers won their next two games. 

So, it went. More games and more wins, more losses and a few fights because that was the game and the life and—

Will asked Robin and Killian on a Saturday. 

He stared at his feet the whole time. 

“Just, you know—it doesn’t have to be that long. A couple paragraphs. Promises that I’m—well, mentally fit an physically fit and—“

“—Physically fit?” Robin balked. “That can’t possibly be right.”

“You’re a beacon of support you know that?”

Killian chuckled, dropping further into the corner of the couch he was sitting in with a kid draped across his chest. Will groaned. “I’ll make sure to point out how much you can deadlift, for sure, Scarlet.”

“I’m going to ask other people,” Will promised. 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure you are. When do you need this by?”

“Weeks from now. So I’ve got plenty of time to find better character witnesses.”

Killian saluted. 

And he wasn’t ever entirely sure that Will didn’t ask other people, but he had a very strong suspicion that other people just started sending letters, character witnesses and guarantees that Will and Belle should be able to adopt a kid, and Ariel was personally offended that she hadn’t gotten the initial request. 

“I named my kid after you, Scarlet!”

“Just like…his middle name.”

“And is this confirmation of that?” Killian quipped. 

Ariel glared at him. “Shut up, Cap. I want to wax poetic about Scarlet’s father-like tendencies.”

“I mean, maybe don’t use the phrase wax poetic in your letter.”

She stuck her tongue out. 

And it didn’t end with Ariel. 

The letters kept coming. In droves. Killian didn’t use that word out loud. Emma wrote one. Regina wrote one. It was four pages long. Anna hand-delivered hers to the Garden and Elsa’s had an addendum from Liam that Will spent at least twenty-six minutes mocking from a corner booth in the restaurant. 

Jefferson wrote one. Phillip wrote one that came with additions from Aurora, her curly writing even more obvious when it was in a different color ink. Ruby sent a video. Matt typed his. They were practicing typing at school. Peggy’s was mostly, just a sheet of paper covered in stickers and sparkles, but Killian saw Will fold it carefully and stick it in his back pocket. 

Mary Margaret’s letter had the added bonus of cookies, which they all ate in the restaurant, and David offered to talk to the judge in person. 

“In uniform, if that’ll make a difference,” he added. 

Belle blinked. “I’m not sure it will, but—“

“—Well, whatever’ll help.”

She nodded slowly, like she couldn’t quite process those words, but those words became some kind of theme at some point and whatever’ll help wound up downtown with two different, hand-written letters from Mr. and Mrs. Vanklad. 

Bell gasped when she saw them. 

Will’s eyes glossed over. 

It kept going. For weeks and months and there were lawyers and hearings and Arthur’s letter also arrived with the promise that if anyone outside of this team finds out I did this, I will beat you with several thousand whiteboards, got it?

“Got it,” Will grinned. “Thanks, Arthur.”

“Shut up, Scarlet.”

Killian never knew if the judge did see all the letters or read all the promises, but he was positive every letter was filed away in that apartment on the East Side and that kid got her very first stick two days after she arrived in the same apartment. 

“Thanks, Cap, this is really helpful,” Will groused, already looking a little exhausted in the corner of his living room. 

Killian hummed, an arm around Emma’s waist and her head on his shoulder. “Payment in kind, huh?”

“And let us know if we can help with anything else,” Emma aded. “We’ve got—just so many hockey sticks.”

Will scoffed. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll make sure to request more equipment when we need it, ok?”

“Got to start practicing that wrister early.”

“Ah, she’s going to be a defender, Swan,” Killian objected lightly. Will grinned. “Keeping the tradition alive or whatever.

“The whatever really seals it.”

Will’s laugh didn’t shake out of him, far to aware of the baby sleeping on his chest, but it rumbled slightly and the baby stirred just a bit and—“Do not bring anymore sticks here,” he muttered. “Thanks for setting ridiculous parental examples, get out of my apartment.”

Killian kissed Emma’s hair. “Sure, thing Scarlet, but seriously—“

“—If I need a babysitter, you two will be the first on the list.”

“I’m holding you to that.”

Will beamed. 

“Deal, Cap.”