#I have permission I swear

[herohikara-wol]

FFXIV Write 2k23 - Day 10

Pick Your Own (Meetings) - Dravanian AU, y'all are just stuck with it now.

Reymanaud had four fearsome brothers and three terrifying sisters. The whole time he’d been in the room, they hadn’t left him alone, not for an instant. One was always beside him and keeping a keen eye out as if guarding their small brother with their life. They’d laugh at jokes, flirt when flirted with, and even dance with others as the night went on. However one was always there to keep an eye on them, and Haurchefant had a lot of time to notice this through the window he was stuck watching the party through.

He didn’t even know why he bothered watching, these parties had been a bitter sore spot for him since childhood and watching from the outside only made his anger grow. Haurchefant wasn’t allowed to attend parties alongside his siblings. His egg had been given to his father, the last gift his late mother gave to her secret love. Edmont had kept him safe from an angry wife, even in the egg. She’d told him to smash it, he’d argued that all children are precious. It had been the final rift in their marriage born of status instead of love.

Which meant the countess hated him, she hated him for having his mother’s downy soft feathery wings instead of the proper scaled ones like his brother. She hated his soft silvery hair, the same color as his mother’s, and her mother’s before her, and her mother’s before her, all the way up to a clutch laid by Hracevelgr after the devouring of his beloved Shiva. Most of all, she hated him for having his father’s charming smile. She couldn’t look at him without being reminded of her failed marriage- so she did everything in her power to never have to see him.

Once upon a time he’d been barred from a party at the manor, and he’d met Francel. The pair became unlikely friends and had experimented with each other in the way young Dravanians did when trying to figure out the difference between fondness, mating, and love. This time, he met Reymanaud, and an odd mixture of jealousy and heartbreak hit him. Rey was a small thing, but he took up more space by sheer personality alone. He filled the room when he walked into it, chipper and bright and gentle and soft. So unlike most other Dzemael boys, because just by looking at him, anyone with eyes could tell he was adopted.

Which was the sticking point. Adopted. This small fluffy eared boy four summers his junior was adopted into a noble family without a single question. He was no Greystone, not like Haurchefant was. He was a Dzemael, and no one questioned why there was a rabbit amongst dragons. Between the noble cruel knight Percival and the high inquisitor Charibert, no one dared accuse Reymanaud of not belonging in the family. So why was he allowed to attend parties and functions like the rest of his brothers, and Haurchefant was left out in the garden, watching through the window?

His eyes made contact with the dark haired viera and he ducked down to hide, lest his stepmother catch him again, but the damage had been done. Soon enough the door opened, and that too small, too fragile young boy stepped out. “Hello? It’s cold outside, don’t you want to come in?” He shut the door behind him, making it clear he’d been allowed away from the watchful eye of his siblings. Or he was just that good at sneaking away from them.

“I’m not allowed. The lady of the house doesn’t want me to attend.” Hopefully that would be enough for the small boy, he’d turn and leave following proper decorum like any good noble child and that would be the end of it.

“Well that’s bloody stupid. Come on then, if she gets mad at you, I’ll tell her I invited you in as my guest.” That wasn’t how things were done, or how this conversation should have gone at all.

“You can’t invite someone into someone else’s house, my lord.” Clearly he was too young to understand, or he didn’t have a proper education on the matters. Supposedly Charibert was from a commoner’s background, maybe that was why their son didn’t know what hospitality rules were.

The small boy thought for a moment, ears drooping as he tapped his foot on the ground. His face scrunched up until his smile grew wide and wicked and his eyes lit up like crystals before a fire. “I can’t, but my parents can say they brought you as a playmate for me. To distract me when I get bored so my brothers can mingle and find mates and settle down without having to babysit me the whole night. How good are you at lying? I’m awful at it, but if you claim we met before tonight and you’re good at convincing people, maybe we can sell it.”

“How can an Inquistor’s son be shite at lying?” The words tumbled out before he had a chance to tell Reymanaud how terrible this plan actually was.

“Halone help me, I’m too honest for my own good, it’s a curse I tell you. They named me after a bloody saint and now I can’t lie, it’s so bad even Father pities me and his job is exposing lies!”

Haurchefant found himself snickering a bit despite his earlier anger. “You really think your parents would allow it?”

“I know at least one of my dads would publicly shame the countess for locking someone from her own house out in the cold. Maybe both, at the same time, but one would be more subtle about it.” He offered his hand to Haurchefant, and reflexively, Haurchefant took it. “Just act like you belong, and follow my lead.”

Just like that, Reymanaud’s protective detail of siblings became his own. 

Not one questioned where their little brother had gone, or why he came back with the count’s bastard son. They simply hovered around the pair like nothing had changed. Florine brought them both drinks and a plate of food from a table, claiming she’d grabbed too much to eat herself and figured they’d do it for her. Francel found him after a short while and even danced with first Rey, then himself, then Dacien. Then he found himself dancing with Rey and for just one night, the world made some sort of sense. He’d have no regrets the morning after, no matter how angry his stepmother was. Tonight he had finally figured out what he’d spent all that time looking through the window for.

A place to belong.

[felassan]

remember that wild Dragon Age theme park ride (Dragon Age: Flight of the Wardens), originally located in Dubai until it randomly turned up years later (now also oddly-rebranded as "[Not Dragon Age We Swears It]: The Guardian") in, of all places, Skegness England? well, I had to satisfy my curiosity and obsession with obscure pieces of Dragon Age media & archival thereof. and so - actually quite some time ago now - I finally got around to going on a pilgrimage there (which was this whole, like.. heinous harrowing in and of itself, that I will not go into), and I rode it

and to my surprise the original Dragon Age in-ride movie is still part of the ride experience! - complete with references to darkspawn, a Pride demon, dragons, green "rifts", Discount Anders (a Grey Warden[?] mage called 'Eldron'), Discount Yavanna (a Witch of the Wilds called 'Alexia') and Dragon Age: Inquisition soundtrack music. there is also now a new pre-ride movie which replaces the old Dragon Age pre-ride movie as part of the ride's rebranding, and i simply ?¿?

there are also still quite a lot of identifiable Dragon Age props in the fantasy-themed queue-area of the ride (so these must have been part of the whole purchase between parks), including multiple iconic Inquisitor helmets, Grey Warden shields, a Dragon Age dragon (now with DA-dragon identifiable horns.. sawn off??), and several Dragon Age banners, including the Inquisition hairy eyeball, the templar symbol and the Circle symbol. here's some pictures.

[^this image is taken from the video linked below]

I also captured the new pre-ride movie, and you can see it along with the Dragon Age in-ride movie here ⬇️. and so now, with this epilogue to the.. most odyssey of all time, more than two years after the first message about the ride was ever sent to Ghil Dirthalen, this adventure in obscurity and the strange fever-dream meta story of the Dragon Age: Flight of the Wardens era in Dragon Age history is finally complete.

Ghil Dirthalen: The Guardian??? {Overview. - Spoilers All}

[video source & link: Ghil Dirthalen, posted here w/ permission]

some further notes, thoughts and commentary under the cut -

there's a few seconds missing from this capture of the in-ride movie. for the sake of the curious and completion: in them, you're still in the fort and you see lots of 'Wardens' walking and milling around.

a camera in the ride takes two photos of the riders during the ride, which are displayed on a screen on the way out. you can choose to buy these from the Fantasy Island merchandise store. you know those photos of people on log flume rides? it's like those, only of the four riders in a row in the seats. the photos have Fantasy Island branding on them and fire along the bottom, then in two corners there's a bit of a dragon's head and that's about it. the ride photo is the only Guardian-specific merch available at the park.

some of the queue area props appear to be from random other places. like there was a barrel which had something like "1850 distillery" written on it, which is obviously temporally/thematically and universe-ly out of place (not that that's at all unreasonable given the rest of the rideworld lore, there's totally a way it could have gotten there easily hh, see below), and I guess it's a spare or leftover prop from a Western-themed ride or something? others were generic sword'n'sorcery fantasy props (some of these are from the ride's previous life in Dubai though). there are also some pretty random props, like a dead stuffed roe deer's head on the wall and a.. comically large spoon.

there's music playing in the queue area, but it's not DA music, it's generic ye olde fantasy world music.

some folks there mistakenly thought that the long themed lead-up (it was pretty darn long) queue area with the props was the entrance to or start of something completely different, like a haunted house or maze type thing, or was the ride 'experience' in and of itself.

the ride attendant gives you the option of watching the new pre-ride movie or not. I guess they get sick of putting it on and listening to it 9000 times a day (valid), and also cutting it out reduces queue times as it's about five minutes long. it's screened in a little enclosed room at the end of the queue area. you go in and sit down, they show it to you, then you go through another door to the chair machine.

the in-ride movie is blurry and poor quality. I heard someone else who rode it say that it was so blurry that they had no idea what was going on hhh

Now about the new pre-ride movie. first of all, here's the transcript.

Pre-ride movie transcript "Welcome, my friends, to the gates of our kingdom, and the start of your adventure. I know your journey has been a long and arduous climb to get here, but we are grateful that you are the ones that have stepped forward to help us in our quest. I should probably start at the beginning. My name is King Aethelswyth [sp?] and I am the ruler of Elvia [sp?] - at least, what's left of it. You see, six months ago, our world was invaded by giant demons and creatures from another dimension, which now plunder our lands, and continue to destroy our kingdom piece by piece. They came, through a time-rift, from another world, leaving much destruction in their wake. Ever since they came, our people have defended as best they are able, but, we were once a peaceful race, and sadly no match for the giant demons and dragons. Luckily, a few days ago, help arrived. They came through the rift, human in form but with incredible powers, and the ability to not only fly but transform into dragon-like creatures. That's where you all come in. You see, not only have they brought hope to our lands, but also gifted us with technology, the likes of which we have never seen before. This communication device for example - it enables us to talk to each other from great distances without being in the same room. And there is something else, and the reason why you are here. They provided us with plans to create our own machine, which as we speak is being prepared for your mission. I should explain. The machine, although made of metal and advanced technologies we can't even begin to understand, requires biological matter to function; a very specific amount of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen and calcium, all of which you are made from my friends. Once you are connected to the machine, you will be lifted into the portal and instantly dropped into the outer world. You'll be able to fight alongside the guardians and help close the rift once and for all. I won't lie. The mission will be dangerous, but with your help, we can defeat the giant demons, close the rift and save the kingdom. Hahahaha! [dragon roars] Ah, do not be afraid! This is Mia [sp?], one of the dragon guardians. She will help you on your quest and guide you to the rift. There it will be up to you to find a way to close it. My friends, it is almost time for you to enter the machine, and become the guardians! [inaudible] a safe journey. Save Elvia, become the heroes you're destined to be! The gates will open momentarily, as soon as the machine is ready for you. Good luck my friends, and I'll see you on the other side!"

in the linked video, the start of the new pre-ride movie isn't included in full at normal speed as it seemed to be a compilation of whatever random fantasy-themed stock footage the video creator could find, stitched together. but again for the curious and the sake of completion: it starts out panning randomly around SPACE, like at the solar system and of planets and at the Milky Way. for a sec I wondered if it was made up of random old Mass Effect assets. then it shows dragons (FROM SPACE) invading an Earth-like planet where I suppose the Ferelden-y kindgom (formerly called "Noathen", now called "Elvia" or something) setting in the rideworld is now supposed to be set. these invading dragons invade either from space or.. another dimension?? or maybe from the future or both?? [see below], entering through a big green rift. (and they still have the green coloring for the rifts and call it/them "rifts" like in DA, which was honestly so funny to me for some reason). the whole panning in from space start to the movie reminded me a lot of the Easter eggs in the DA and ME games that, while they're just Easter eggs for fun and I don't subscribe to this theory myself (as DA is its own great, self-contained thing), could light-heartedly imply that the planet with Thedas on it is a planet in the MEverse (like the krogan head in the Winter Palace in DAI or the ogre in that ME dlc).

in the pre-ride movie, the kingdom of "Elvia" might have actually been called "Albion", which is the earliest-known name for the island of Britain. (it was hard to make out exactly what the king was saying there) the new pre-ride movie seems like it was made in England and ofc thats a common fantasy setting, so I could see it, especially since the king character's name was something like Aethylswyth, which sounded very "Old English". for me personally, if it was "Albion", it adds fuel to the fire of Caitie's cracktheory/"trying to make this fit"-headcanon for the ride story/lore (see Caitie's original video on the ride's previous life for this), that it's set somewhere obscure and backwatery in Ferelden, which is kinda England- or Britain-inspired. (dont take these thoughts or other thoughts in this post about the lore/canon etc too srsly pls hh, it's just crack for fun and I know tis just an off-brand themepark ride)

on the whole the new pre-ride movie is pretty random. there's a giant in it, but it doesn't look like a DAI giant. (is it his big spoon??) it shows a fortress in part of it which looks a bit like Skyhold if you squint, with the long bridge approaching it as the entrance. at one point one of the dragons that pops up is a dragon designed more in the style of a dragon as they are sometimes depicted in, for example, Chinese mythology and folklore. the "communication device" the king described had me rolling, it's exactly like a Dragon Age Skype Crystal or a working set of eluvians from Thedas.. I wondered if the video creator was inspired some by DAI promo images and took cues from the Inquisitor's green hand/the Anchor, since the king has a green glowing thing on (or in?) his chest. and when the king started listing the elements humans are made of, I was reminded of Fullmetal Alchemist.

also, "through a time rift".. I mean technically Dorian's involvement in DAI DOES show green space-time magic right? Where is this other dimension? ofc I know it's not literally Dragon Age, but it's funny to think about and to try and make it "fit" skhskdhfjhe. is it the Fade? the Void? from somewhere in-between like Tevinter Nights implies exists? or is it the dimension which has Thedas's mundane world itself in it - like maybe the dragons are invading this poor guy's kingdom dimension from Thedas? if so what tf is going on in Thedas?? did Solas' explosion at the Conclave ripple through spacetime and rip holes in the fabrics of other worlds as well - like is Solas out here accidentally causing interdimensional Space Dragon invasions? like, theoretically.. the new pre-ride move does reference the in-ride movie, and in turn the in-ride movie is still Dragon Age (!), so technically the new pre-ride movie IS.. kind of.. weirdly.. canon.

((the pre-ride movie references an "outerworld", implying that even in THAT dimension there's an outer world and an inner world, definitely more than one at least. and back on the dimensions thing, I'm not clear - are the dragons coming from Thedas dimension? or are they coming to Thedas dimension? "they came through the rift, human in form but with powers, the ability to fly [that's Eldron] and the ability to transform into dragon-like creatures [that's Alexia]" implies that the dimension on the other side of the rift - if the helpers came through the same rift as the invading dragons - is Thedas, because that's Eldron and Alexia from the Dragon Age in-ride movie being referred to, and Noathen where they're from is in Thedas somewhere. so some Thedosians have travelled to another world to save it?? Dragons are escaping out of Thedas? but.. from space? but also - the narration is telling us that Eldron and Alexia and the other Guardians brought with them from where they came from, as a gift, incredible advanced technology that the people of Elvia have never seen before. he then gives the example of "this communication device" which could be read meta-ly as meaning the television screen, and of plans to build a machine made of metal and advanced technology (meaning the ride machine you go sit on, which is a themepark machine irl obviously and in the 'world' of the ride, some kind of flying machine). so like.. are Eldron and Alexia from Future Thedas (think Avatar Aang/Korra, when by Korra's time there's like lots more machinery and a more modern feel), a Thedas which has advanced complex machines like idk, AEROPLANES? is that what they mean by "time-rift"? because they specifically did say "time". is that to try and explain the modern machinery? does that mean the invading dragons also came from the future, not just from space or another dimension? the other option: Eldron and Alexia came from alternate universe Thedas, which has more modern technology in it. but Thedosians Time-Travelling From The Future And Also Space And Another Dimension is so funny to me so lets go with that. my headcanon is that on the way to Elvia they also timetravelled through a Westernthemed time period and thats why theres a recent-modern period whisky barrel)).

in the ride's previous life, the explanatory hook was that Eldron made you a special harness or saddle thing with which to ride a dragon, which was what the ride machine was simulating. however now, the hook to explain the machine is that it's a gift of advanced technology powered by carbon, hydrogen, organic matter (Big Oil lmao?) etc. (I enjoyed that this explanatory hook got wackier between eras of the ride's life, much like the whole meta story of this piece of media itself. it was already weird because riding dragons isn't really part of DA. though I don't understand meta-ly speaking this convoluted explanation for the machine. dragon-riding isn't an identifiable or key part of the Dragon Age franchise, so they could have kept the idea that you're sitting on a dragon's back and flying around on that in instead of having this wacky explanation about a flying machine gifted from magical strangers from Back To The Future and it would have been fine. I love it though bc its so absurd)

And Tiny Dragon Alexia from the original ride experience is kinda referenced (unintentionally?) when the king introduces the dragon "Guardian" "Mia", as when she comes on-screen her size or scaling looks small/kinda off, so maybe Tiny Dragon lives on. so now we have Tiny Dragon Alexia, Tiny Dragon Mia, and Tiny Dragon queue prop. it's a Tiny Dragon Conference.

and like I just have so many questions. in her original video on the ride, Ghil Dirthalen wondered at length where in Ferelden/Thedas Noathen could be. where is Elvia? why does the pov of the pre-ride movie proceed downstairs into the room where the king is - like why does the king have his throne in a basement? is he in an underground bunker for safety because of the Space Dragon invasion? why does he say we "climbed" up when we have just gone down into his dungeon? why is the tiny dragon introduced as "Mia" when the tiny dragon witch lady in the in-ride movie is called "Alexia"? does the king's green glowing chest thing work like the Anchor - does he have a chest Anchor.. a Chanchor? where did they get Discount Gandalf from the queue area and why is he exactly like the Ghil Dirthalen Stock Theatre Wizards in her original video? why did they change the kingdom's name from "Noathen" to "Elvia" in the pre-ride movie when "Noathen" was already non-existent in Dragon Age lore? why did they scrub Dragon Age from or avoid Dragon Age in the pre-ride movie but leave the whole Dragon Age in-ride movie intact? are the "Guardians" Discount Grey Wardens? is the king's whole schpeel secretly an evil plot so he that can use our bodies for like necromancy-alchemy? why does the ride run on your flesh and are we about to be sacrificed in a blood magic ritual? do we end up like the husks in Mass Effect after our organic forms are broken down into compounds to fuel the King of Elvia's flying anti-dragon defense tank? is the actor of the king a park staffer who is into larping, or someone's fun nerd uncle who likes DnD? does Caitie not in fact agree that I am very handsome and smart, indeed the World's Most Interesting Guy? 😤 why go to the trouble of sawing off the dragon's DA-dragon horns when the in-ride movie is still Dragon Age?? why are the dragons invading from space anyway like what do they want??? how can I obtain the king actor guy's autograph? where are EA's lawyers? and why is there a giant spoon?

[berrystumpytail]

[themisterhip]

"Oc x Genos" Comission!✨

Requested by Anon.

[somerandomdudelmao]

I get a bunch of comments and asks with the same question, so I feel like I should clarify this thing for new people

As long as you leave credits, you can make redraws/edits/dubs/pfp/wallpapers/fanfics with my art and concepts.

Yes, if you made your art based on mine, you can post it wherever you want. I don't mind at all:)

[leucoratia]

Kraz, royal healer

Kraz (Razzy if they like you(but they like everyone)(except Jerry)) is a human (?) mage who voluntarily exiled themselves to the underground to follow monsterkind during the war. They are later appointed royal healer by the king and queen and has devoted themselves to the betterment of monster society ever since. They are the only human the royal scientist ever tolerated (although would you call sharing lab coats and beds tolerating or...something else?)

Information

-Species : mage (half monster, half human)

-Age : older than the barrier. As long as they will to live, it appears that a mage cannot age.

-Gender : apparently born a female, although it is unclear how sexual dimorphism develops in mages. Kraz does not specifically care.

-Soul : Green

-Height : 1.99m (6'5)

-Hair colour : Black (somehow iridescent ?)

-Eye colour : deep dark brown. Their sclera is grey as well.

-Build : sickly thin, actually skin and bones. They never eat much of anything, claiming that they do not need a lot of food. It worries people quite a lot, especially Toriel, but they have been like this for hundreds of years so... at least they're not dead ? Still, they scare the kids.

-Personnality : a sweet, calming presence. They exude an aura which makes anyone around them feel at peace. Although they are quite akward and generally anxious, they smile easily and brightly. Kraz is very friendly, caring, and kind to a fault. has quite an outdated manner of speech. A jokester. Always does their best to please people around them. Deeply devoted. Probably has some sort of attention deficit. Easily fascinated. Suffers from chronic bird behaviour (will bring you trinkets??).

-Likes : gardening, playing the piano, cooking, puzzles, collecting shiny trinkets, science, herbal medicine, cultivating bacteria, gift giving, late 1800's fashion, dark spaces, funny socks, Gaster.

-Dislikes : loud noises (especially clamoring crowds), being watched, sudden movements, bright reflective surfaces, small enclosed spaces, bitter foods.

Backstory

Kraz was born to a human mother and a monster father during the war, as mages often are. Abandoned by their mother, who could not endure the shame of their birth, they were taken under their father’s wing and raised amongst a small monster village. Early on, they manifested an extremely intense green soul and spectacular magical power, even for a mage. Although unequipped and unprepared to nurture such potential, the monsters in Kraz's community did their best to encourage the toddler's magical prowess, such as having them heal cuts and bruises, or speed up a few carrots' growth. But as war progressed, human armies swept through monster territory and eventually raided the child's village, pillaging and slaughtering everyone in their path. In these times mages were rare, being the product of monster-human relationships, but extremely sought after by humanity, who could only manifest minor magic potential. Stumbling upon the young Kraz and recognising in their physiology the traits of a "hybrid", human soldiers immediately identified them as a mage and took them away to be raised amongst humans. Their father, if he ever survived the attack, never stopped looking for his little bird until his dust settled on the ground. And so Kraz was raised in human war camps and settlements, amongst soldiers and other mages. Being so young, they only ever had vague memories of their time amongst monsters and soon put them to rest. As they grew, their healing powers grew with them, and it was soon clear to the commanders that Kraz may as well be the most spectacular healer that they had ever known, capable of rising men at death's door back on their feet and ready to fight in mere minutes. Suffice to say, as one of their greatest asset, they were sent from battlefield to battlefield, from division to division in order to rise the almost dead and reinforce the dwindling human forces. But they had a fault. Kraz, at their heart, was kind. Compassionate. Caring. And oh so, so young still, no more than fifteen. And the pain, the suffering inflicted by and to monsters broke their soul into pieces. See, despite all the propaganda, they could never quite bring themselves to hate monsters. Hate half of themselves. And so in the midst of the battle's confusion, in secret, they would slip a hand or a green bullet towards a bleeding frog here. A dusting lion there. They wished they could just run to them and pour their whole magic into the wounded, but the human soldiers watched them. Always. But eventually, as war was nearing its end, temptation was too great. They could take it no more. And so during a bloody battle, they slipped away from the soldiers surrounding them and ran to a fallen monster, who was already dusting away. A skeleton. The young mage fell to their knees, reaching for the monster's broken face with magic already at their fingertips and reassurances spilling from their lip, and poured everything they had left as the soldier tried to struggle and speak. He barely was able to call to them, in a language they didn't know, his bones just starting to reform, but fate is oh so cruel. Kraz could only slip their guard's attention for so long, and just as life started to flicker back in the man's face, they were torn off his bloodied body and promptly covered in his dust, their work undone by the fall of a sword. As the soldiers dragged the teen away, they could only claw down at the dusty floor to rack up the dust, and a nametag. Dingbats.

"Traitor", they were deemed. "An error of nature", "a freak", they were called. But a valuable freak nonetheless. Their magical abilities were still wholly unmatched through all of the land. They were needed. And so Kraz was beaten down, corrected, whipped back into shape. Into following orders. Royals spoke of banishment. Of a barrier. And they needed mages.

Finally, monsters were defeated. They were to be sealed underground. Kraz and the other mages assembled, staring down at a beaten monsterkind, a sea of eyes and bleeding hearts crying out at them as they chanted the words.

They couldn't do it. They couldn't.

They ran to them.

As the barrier rose up, this child fell to their knees in front of Asgore and Toriel and begged them to let them stay. To right this wrong. To help. They did.

And so Kraz poured their heart out. It wasn't easy, getting monsters to accept human help, even though they shared some physical traits. They slaved away for nothing in return, growing crops magically in dead ground and never taking even a grain of wheat for themselves. Endlessly imbuing water with their energy to create remedies for everyone. Only accepting the bare minimum of food to stay alive, even though they felt as if they were tearing this food away from the hands of the needy. They tried so, so hard to repair humanity's sins. Clear their name in the eyes of monsters.

And eventually, it somewhat worked. Instead of frowns, they were faced with smiles. Children stopped crying when they saw the healer's incomplete beak and started to spare them a smile. The elderly stopped refusing treatment from them. And even though they still had to face a seemingly unclimbable wall as they began further studies in medicine, biology and microbiology, chemistry, agricultural sciences, magical studies, anything to broaden their knowledge and help, they made it. (No thanks to the shy, awkward, standoffish and straight up rude engineering-chemistry-physics student which whom the king and queen pushed Kraz to hang out with. They said that it would "help the both of you, you kids would work beautifully together". Not that the mage minded, as a matter of fact they quite enjoyed his presence and always did their best to be agreeable and overall lovely company; but the skeleton never quite seemed to get over his absolute loathing of humans. Oh well, no matter. They'll keep trying anyways.). Eventually they did succeed and ascended to the position of "tolerable fellow student who I regularly hang out with" in the eyes of their adversary. When Kraz got their first doctorate, in medicine, WingDings even cracked a smile. And as the two completed their studies, the now mage-doctor was promoted to "acceptable collaborator". A win for the ages!

Kraz finally moved out of the derelict place they were practicing medicine in since the war to a more acceptable place (which was, well, their newly furnished house, courtesy of the royal family for their friendship and as a congratulatory gift for their doctorate) and kept working as always. But with an official title to strengthen their position, and what some may call a reluctant friend, things seemed lighter. Monsters were flocking to their office, business (which was still free but their patients insisted on leaving little somethings) was booming, their ties to their fellow "collaborator " deepening, and the doctor became sincerely appreciated in their community. Maybe not in all monsterdom yet, memories of the war never quite fading, but it was progress. Things were going well.

But it seemed that fate had other plans.

One day, plague broke out. The illness decimated monster populations, entire families perishing from an unknown condition.

And Kraz, oh Kraz, tried everything. Every spell, every potion, every cure they could think of. Nothing worked. They asked for help to the other healers, consulted with other scientists, even asked the engineers if they could think of something, anything. Nothing worked. They could only watch as the malady swept through monsters, powerless to watch them die, just like they did during the war.

No. No.

They would not stand for it, they would not STAND FOR THIS !! They will find a cure. At any cost.

They locked themselves in their laboratory.

One day. Two days.

Three days.

Six days.

Eight days.

Their colleagues had tried banging on the door, shouting at them to come out, to go home, they would not answer. They called for the doctor’s friends, to no avail. Eventually, it was WingDings Gaster, the royal scientist himself, to be at their door threatening them to “kick their feathery ass if it’s the last thing he does” in order to get them to open the damn door.

No answer.

But the royal scientist was a stubborn man. And when words failed, he proceeded to take the door’s security system apart and barge into the lab, only to be taken aback by the stench. He covered his non-existent nose with a sleeve and bit back the urge to let last night’s dinner see the light of day again, ushering the doctor’s worried coworkers away. It reeked of illness. It reeked of plague. The skeleton, being the only one without lungs and hence immune to all airborne diseases, made his way through the mess of papers, vials and…patches of blood and hair…to the form bent over his friend’s table. Kraz was staring straight at him with their big, beady dark eyes which seemed to be glazed over. They looked even paler than they usually do, which is to say whiter than snow, and seemed so frail that they could snap at any moment. Their face was also swimming in what seemed to be bloodied spit, over a mountain of papers scribbled with words that made no sense. Suffice to say, they looked like death itself. They looked dead.

It was as if Gaster’s bones were made of ice. Barely thinking, he grabbed his friend’s limp body, by Asgore were they TALL, and zapped away somewhere safe. Somewhere clean. His place, apparently.

He cleaned Kraz. Changed them. Laid them in bed. Listened to their delirious babbles, relieved that at least they were alive. In a moment of clarity, the doctor pleaded him to retrieve some instruments from their lab and conduct a series of tests on samples of their blood, which he was urged to collect daily.

“I need to help them Dings. Please. Please, I beg of you, do this for them. Or else I would have done this for nothing. Please.”

Eventually, the unthinkable happened. They got better, the little colour their cheeks normally had returned. As soon as the healer could walk again, they were out of their friend’s house and back in their lab (ignoring everyone’s admonishments). Barely a week later, there was a cure for the seemingly incurable plague.

Monsterkind was saved.

And everything was truly fine. Kraz was promoted to Royal Doctor (a fact they endlessly teased Gaster with, because Now you can’t boss me around anymore mister science man), was granted a whole department in the Hotland labs, and was now revered though the kingdom! Their promotion to head doctor was also accompanied by another, to the exclusive rank of “beloved special stupid idiot who gave themselves the plague” in the soul of a certain someone. They weren’t going to live that one down anytime soon. But well, when the royal scientist’s coworkers noticed that his lunch was packed daily in the common room fridge with “Do not forget nourishment today dear, I will see you tonight at our usual, -A stupid idiot “stuck to it, let’s say that the air in the Core labs was decidedly more pleasant. And Alphys, a young intern that the Doctor befriended during one of their numerous visits to their collaborator-friend-lover(?),  could barely contain her gushing to anyone that might listen.

Yes. Times were good.

Until a human fell.

[boinky-spoinky]

I gotten a early birthday gift today when I was about to go to bed and got the last minute notification from @cupiidzbow 😭😭😭😭😭😭

TYSM FREDDIE DOING AN ART TRADE WITH ME WITH MY (fictional) BOYFRIENDS I LOVE IT SO MUCH I JUST WANNA CRY 😭😭😭😭😭🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽🫶🏽

It’s crazy that I’m 18 now 🏃🏽💨

‼️PROSHIPPERS / COMSHIPPERS DNI, YALL ARE DISGUSTING AND QUESTIONABLE‼️

[unicornsaures]

okay eeeerrrrr band camp crying chronicals part two!

[thedragonagelesbian]

@hexblooddruid replied to your post “hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i realized i could read cyrus'...”:

Hooting and hollering

​i just think..................................... even post-anders breakup and after finally repairing his relationships with merrill, fenris, and isabela re: the arulin'holm and night terrors respectively, cyrus spends the rest of act 2 in a much more fragile state than he wants to let on, made immeasurably worse by all that remains* and then culminating in another breakdown after the arishok fight/being named the champion of kirkwall

so at any point in that period, sebastian's act 2 questioning beliefs, his insistence that he's returning to the chantry, his clear discomfort and even fear at the prospect of leaving to retake starkhaven-- all of it is going to hit cyrus hard.

because on the one hand, there's the guilt over feeling like he has, in elthina's words, been goading sebastian, pressuring him down a path that is more about his own feelings about his family and what he would do in their honor rather than sebastian's own wants.

and on the other, especially if it comes between all that remains and the end of the act, that path offers such a powerful, tantalizing, sinfully selfish way out for him. because it's not too late yet, and he hasn't been named champion yet he's just become enmeshed in the city's biggest conflict in years but he could still leave, right? it's not too late to walk away from this city that has and will continue to take everything from him, if only he had a good, noble reason to, and sebastian could give him that.

except it is too late, it's always been too late, and for the same reason that sebastian won't abandon the chantry, cyrus won't abandon kirkwall, and they're both duty-bound and trapped, but for one desperate moment, when cyrus kneels before sebastian and kisses his knuckles and when sebastian feels all the desire that he's tried to erase through his vows and his prayers roiling hot in his stomach and when cyrus whispers say the word and i'm yours...

maybe, just maybe, in that instant, things could've turned out different.

*not the point of this post but it just occurred to me while writing it: how fucked up would it be to put varric's act 2 personal quests (family matter + a story being told) after all that remains................ not only for the shared familial hauntings, or for cyrus' insisting on (and maybe even being a little bit bitter about) being able to save bartrand where he couldn't save leandra, but for varric to escalate his tall tales and myth making as his own weird, strained, implicit way of trying to comfort cyrus. to prove that he's not a failure or a disappointment. that's all history is: the best tales. the ones that last. might as well be mine. might as well be his stories of cyrus being the hero that he wants to be. right. right. that's what cyrus wants right..............................

[puppyboycy]

Bad news folks: local puppy boy rumored to be in heat cant touch his drippy boy cunt right this second

[sunsoak]

I’m starting to think that nothing is as serious as people try to scare you into thinking it is

[synthshenanigans]

How are you going to include songs from the before in the instrumental polls? As far as I know there aren’t official instrumentals for his older albums. Or has someone made isolated versions of those?

Yeaaa CJ stated in the QnA about how all the instrumentals on the Covered in Discontent & the before. albums are just gone cos there was no reason to keep em at the time.

Like I said in the first poll, there was just some songs that don't have an isolated track to listen to, so you'd just have to listen to the song itself & focus on the instruments rather than the lyrics.

Not the greatest thing I know, but! Those songs have really good music & it didn't feel fair to not have em in it, just cos CJ never woulda known how many people would've wanted those down the line. [since like, 50-80% of his fans came from after the before was already finished]

All this is rlly just to say; bros original stuff are really good & deserve more love lol.

[that-was-anticlimactic]

all fluttering and dancing in the breeze

🍃written for @nobamaki-bigbang🍃

“Great! Okay, so I’m assuming we all know how to play baseball, right?” Maki asked.

Everyone was nodding, and Nobara was about to scoff and say duh, was about to proudly announce that she was actually a fantastic baseball player. But…

But then she glanced at Maki—sweet, gorgeous, Maki with a determined fire blazing in her eyes—and she had an idea. A terrible, devious, but quite possibly genius idea.

“Um, actually,” she spoke up, much louder than necessary, “actually, I, uh… I don’t know how to play baseball.” She fluttered her eyelids and smiled shyly, grabbing a strand of her hair and twirling it around her fingers as if she were the epitome of innocence.

[or: nobara pretends that she doesn't know how to play baseball so she can spend time/flirt with maki]

🍃11,157 words | nobamaki🍃

🍃art on tumblr here & here🍃

🍃art on twitter here & here🍃

[arrowpunk]

no I just wanted to show you that trads who aren't homophobic exist.

the fact you are married at all is already a tradition. :)

the fact you seem to have passion for treating your wife with the upmost respect and love is something all spouses do healthily regardless.

if you didn't care about any traditions why bother being married at all? why live together? why care?

I'd love to know genuinely how you think you being lesbian makes your relationship totally different from someone else in love? honestly?

Ok so once again confused as to why you’ve decided to make this a whole Thing, unless you’re looking for validation or something which I’ve already said I’m not gonna give you. I’m not trying to be rude, I’m doing my best here to take what you’re saying/asking in good faith, and I’d like to ask you to do the same for my response here. I’m not trying to be mean, though I’m sure an amount of it is gonna come off that way regardless, because I’m not gonna police my tone here. 

Damn there’s so much for me to go into here I don’t even know where to start. 

So like in your first ask you referred to yourself as a “catholic trad wife” that already tells me pretty thoroughly that we are incredibly different people and that our respective relationships couldn’t be more different. 

I am not speaking from a place of ignorance about Christianity or Catholicism. As a matter of fact, my wife’s maid of honor at our wedding is Catholic. And we were both raised Christian. We were married in a church, actually, the church paid for our wedding. Contrary to what you seem to think I have no hatred for Christians or Christianity, or Catholics or Catholicism. I don’t personally consider myself a Christian anymore but my wife still does, and we do actually attend church pretty regularly (we like the sense of community that regularly attending a decent church brings, our last church before we moved to where we are now was genuinely the only reason I wasn’t homeless for a year). 

I know it’s possible for someone to be a Christian and not be homophobic, I know it’s possible for someone to be both Queer and a Christian. But I don’t know you, and you don’t know me, I have no way of knowing what your personal definition of homophobia is. I have no way to tell whether you’re actually affirming of queer love and queer relationships and queer sex, or if you’re ‘Side B’ or ‘Side Y’ or whatever the fuck the middle of the line, trying their hardest to be centrist of all things when it comes to this topic, Christians are calling themselves these days. All I know is that you’re a “Catholic Trad Wife” who claims she isn’t homophobic. You’re on anon so I’m apparently just supposed to take your word on this. Which is kind of weird. I mean literally why the fuck should I, some random queer on the internet, give a shit about whether or not some random internet stranger that I do not interact with is homophobic? It’s a weird thing to show up in someone’s inbox and just say these things. Like do you want a pat on the head? Validation for being ‘one of the good ones’? I’m not gonna give you that. I do not know you. (Ok I’m actually like pretty sure I know who sent me this, but like I do not know you personally, and the time I spent looking at your blog and seeing the people you interact with frequently on here does not give me hope that you’re actually ‘not homophobic’ but I’m not gonna put you publicly on blast like that)

“If you didn't care about any traditions, why bother being married at all? Why live together? Why care?” -Okay see this right here makes it a lot harder for me to take any of this as said in good faith. I’m still going to. But it’s wild to me that you might’ve actually genuinely asked me this. Because I fucking love my wife and enjoy being around her???? And because there are legal protections that come with a marriage license???? Ma’am what the fuck kind of question is ‘Why care?’. Genuinely. What the fuck. Like it feels like I should insert that ‘I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care about other people’ meme here. So like my wife and I love each other very much and we don’t need a marriage license to know that, like the strength of our love and care for each other didn’t change one iota after we said ‘I do’. BUT that marriage license is still really fucking important, there’s a reason queer people fought so fucking hard for the right to be married legally. There’s protections that come from being legally married that you just don’t get without that special piece of paper. And those protections are Really Fucking Important. Some of the big ones we, personally, were concerned about were hospital visitation rights, and legal guardianship. My wife is disabled, my wife’s mother has a history of being incredibly controlling. If she found out we were queer she wouldn’t have wanted my wife to be able to see me anymore. Now, the fact that we are married, and that we have moved many states away across the country from her family, mean that if her mom finds out about us, she likely will not be able to successfully get a conservatorship over my wife. I do not have legal guardianship over my wife, and I don’t want to, she’s an adult, she’s her own person and I should absolutely not have any legal control over her, that’d be really fucked up, but we also want to be absolutely certain nobody else is able to get any legal control over her. My wife is disabled, and I am her primary carer. If she was hospitalized for some reason, and we were not legally married, I might not be able to visit her in the hospital because I wouldn’t be legally considered family. That is a legitimate Safety Risk especially given that I want my wife to be able to get medical care and her mother doesn’t(Her mother is an anti-vaxxer who doesn’t trust doctors and put my wife through years of medical neglect in favor of ‘just praying harder’).

I have nothing against ‘traditions’ in general. What I take issue with is the culture surrounding ‘Trad Marriage’ the term ‘Trad Wife’ is a really loaded term, which heavily implies a Complementarian marriage wherein the husband is head over the wife. The whole “Umbrella of Submission” thing, the relationship hierarchy which goes ‘God -> Husband -> Wife -> Children’. I grew up in evangelicalism. I know what the fuck I’m talking about when I get pissed off about evangelical Christianity/conservative Christianity/what have you. You don’t get to performatively tell me ‘well not ALL Christians-’. I was a Christian, I grew up deep in Christianity, I have read the Bible front to back and back again. I went to a Christian University for a time. I still regularly attend church. I have yet to encounter any Complementarian marriage that is actually healthy, where the husband actually fully respects his wife as a fully autonomous human being who gets to have rights and opinions outside of him. I get that you think your relationship is healthy! I get that you think your husband loves you! I don’t know you- I don’t know your husband- I don’t know the ins and outs of your relationship so I cannot speak on the health of your personal marriage. 

What I can say is that I know it’s a heterosexual relationship. You said yourself you are a catholic trad wife. “I'd love to know genuinely how you think you being lesbian makes your relationship totally different from someone else in love? Honestly?” I didn’t say it was totally different from ‘someone else in love’ I said “if you are a fundie or conservative christian or evangelical or what have you#and you see my posts about my wife and enjoy them#I NEED YOU TO KNOW THAT THIS IS ABOUT QUEER SAPPHIC GAY GAY HOMOSEXUAL GAY LOVE#I have gay sex with my gay wife I am the homosexual lifestyle incarnate#I am a queer liberal leftest punk etc#my love for my wife is as queer as it gets#you need to know these things#there is nothing straight about this#anyways thank you for coming to my ted talk or whatever#pls do not repurpose my posts about my love for my wife for your trad fundie evangelical marriage it is NOT the same even a little#thank you” So I feel like it’s pretty damn clear here that I’m placing the divide here between my love for my wife, and trad/fundie/evangelical marriage. Because yeah, they aren’t even remotely similar, and since you said you genuinely wanted to know why I think that I’ll give you a whole list of reasons (I’m generalizing here about cishet white Christian/Catholic ‘traditional’ marriages). 

My wife and I are on equal footing in this relationship. Neither of us is in charge of the other one. There isn’t a designated person who ‘gets the final say’ in everything that we might disagree on. We don’t have fights, we always approach conflict as the two of us together vs. the problem at hand. There is no “head of the household” here and there absolutely doesn’t need to be. 

Now I’m making the bold assumption here that both you and your husband are heterosexual, cisgender, and white. But if I’m right- it was never illegal for you two to get married. You don’t have to worry that your right to exist is ever going to be a topic of debate in your church, in your family, in your friend groups, in the country you live in as a whole. You don’t have to worry that your right to get married might be revoked at some point. There are not any significant societal/cultural barriers in place that would stop or make it more difficult for you and your husband to get married. 

You don’t have to hide your marriage from your parents or your in-laws out of fear of your personal safety. You don’t have to worry that if your family found out about your relationship you might be disowned or disinherited. You don’t have to worry that if your family found out about your marriage your parents might no longer let you talk to your younger siblings. You don’t have to worry about whether or not your brother would physically harm you or your husband, if he found out about your marriage. You didn’t have to take all of these factors into account and then decide that it’s all worth the risk anyway because you love your partner just too damn much not to. 

You don’t have to be constantly aware while existing as a couple in public spaces that there are people who are disgusted by the fact that you even EXIST. You don’t have to worry about the possibility of corrective rape. You don’t have to worry that you might be attacked because you decided to exist in the vicinity of someone who doesn’t think you should. You don’t have to worry that someone might straight up try to kill you because of who you’ve chosen to marry.

You didn’t have to pack up your entire life and move across the country, just to be sure that if your partner’s parents found out about your relationship, that members of their church wouldn’t show up at your door and shoot you. You didn’t have to sit through an entire sermon at that church, pretending you and your partner weren’t a couple, because your family was visiting and they couldn’t know you went to a church that was okay with the existence of queer people. And sit through the entire sermon about how f*gs will never see the light of heaven, while the man at the pulpit made direct eye contact with you Every. Single. Time. He brought up queer people. As if to let you know he knew what you were. You didn’t have to meticulously plan out where you would stop for gas on your 20+ hour long road trip to make sure none of those places would be somewhere with a higher likelihood that you and your partner would get hate-crimed. Two weeks after your wedding. 

You don’t have to worry that your sexuality might get you fired from your job or make it more difficult to get a job in general. 

You don’t have to know that you cannot ever safely spend any holidays with your parents because they live in a place that is so incredibly hostile to queer people.

You haven’t had to deal with friends trying to be so so teeth-grindingly polite as they let you know that they really just can’t agree with your personal choices and think that what you’re doing is sinful when they find out you’ve become affirming and decided to get married. They still love you though! They just really feel the need to make sure you know that they don’t approve of your life choices and think that you’re sinning- solely based on the gender of your partner. Of course they can’t stop you from doing anything, but they feel it’s only right to let you know they disapprove. It doesn’t matter that your relationship is healthier than most cishet relationships you know, all that matters is that they think it’s sinful. Even if it’s not hurting anyone. 

So I’m saying it’s different because the very foundations of our relationships are different. The risk factors of our relationships are different. Of course ‘Love is Love’ but there is something transgressive and subversive about queer love that just isn’t there in cishet white Christian/Catholic trad marriages. My wife and I are married and love each other deeply and devotedly in spite of all of these many many genuine dangers and obstacles. I’m not trying to say that you and your husband don’t love each other. I’m not trying to say you and your husband wouldn’t ‘risk it all’ for each other if you had to, that you wouldn’t also overcome the same obstacles my wife and I have faced, but you haven’t had to, you obviously haven’t even had to consider it if you’re genuinely asking me these things. I’m not trying to say that my love for my wife is somehow ‘better’ than whatever is going on in your marriage. But it is inherently different. I’m not saying it’s totally and completely separate and different. Apples and Oranges are both still fruits, but they’re not the same. And I hope you can understand why I, a very very queer human being, who has suffered much abuse at the hands of the church, would prefer if my posts about how much I love my wife weren't co-opted by cishet Christians to meme about their own relationships. 

I’m not trying to be mean or rude. But I do genuinely hope you can understand how you speak from a place of privilege and that what you’ve said is, at best, in poor taste. 

[yeetlegay]

Happy 69 days since Chapter 10 update 🥰🎉🎉🎉

Oh wow well this reply is like a week late but…NICE 😏

[conduiitz]

Oooh alternate wardrobe pls! Post-apocalyptic AU anyone? 👀 👀 (You can just post a page of your comic, too 😘)

Did you say post-apocalyptic AU that's turned into a comic about superpowers, swords, friendship and survival? Sure thing! :D