#OC: Antonio de Riva

[annoyed-galaxy]

Fun little headcanons for my trans Rook:

Lucanis eventually just starts preparing Antonio's HRTea (my trans roommates have informed me that fantasy HRT can be just special herbal tea) every week. Like, coming home after doing whatever, Lucanis already has his tea prepared and maybe even with a nice snack since Antonio has said how awful the tea tastes, but he has to take it. Eventually, Lucanis finds a way to make it taste good. He starts experimenting, wondering if he can find a way to apply the herbs to ciccolata calda. He can't really test whether or not it tastes good without failing to surprise Antonio.

So he might ask around, ask for some advice, until maybe meeting one trans person that gives an explanation on what they do. Lucanis takes the advice, prepares Antonio's tea, and manages to surprise the man when he takes his usually bitter and gross tea and finds that it tastes so good!

Then Antonio will lament that even though the HRTea helps, he will never grow such beautiful facial hair like Viago or Lucanis. When Lucanis asks why, Antonio just points at his ears.

Elves can't grow facial hair. Sad day.

[heylavellan]

Antonio de Riva

Maker, I don't remember when they started popping up. Five, six years ago? First it was just one qunari on the gondolas, lovely fella named Riccardo. Had this broken horn. Everyone wanted to be on Riccardo's gondola. They hired another qunari. And suddenly most of the gondoliers were qunari. Those qunari gondoliers were the best thing that happened to Treviso. Fucking Antaam. - Overheard in Treviso Market

˚∘⊰⋆ about ⋆⊱∘˚

age: mid thirties

pronouns: they/them

class: spellblade

beliefs: none

strengths: adaptable, good listener, loyal

weaknesses: stubborn, distractable, hoarder

the crows: House de Riva plucked them off the streets after they were caught stealing food. One of the first qunari Crows, they stood out. During those early years, they stuck it out for the food and shelter. When Viago joined, things got a lot easier. The bastard prince and the qunari were inseparable, allegedly even lovers.

After a complicated contract to become a fully fledged Crow, Antonio abandoned they cover in Antiva City and returned to Treviso where Viago helped them take over the gondola business and in turn they helped him become Talon. The Crows -- Viago -- gave them everything. And for them, they are the perfect weapon.

˚∘⊰⋆ the veilguard ⋆⊱∘˚

Bellara: "She brings such joy to my life. I hope she continues to find her own."

Davrin: "He isn't the same warden that l first met. He seems happier with Assan and reconnecting with his uncle. He deserves a chance to exist unburdened for a while."

Emmrich: "His perspective on death is fascinating, and his interaction with spirits is incredible. I'm sorry he didn't become a lich, but he seems so happy with Strife and Manfred."

Harding: "I loved her. I wish I told her that more. She changed things for the dwarven people, and I couldn't save her."

Lucanis: "He doesn't see it, but he makes every day better. I love him, I love his diablillo. He is my angel."

Neve: "She had every right to be mad when I chose Treviso over Minrathous. I can only hope I proved myself her friend and supporter."

Taash: "I see so much of myself in them. Finding peace with the Qun, finding yourself. Then living. I'm glad I could be there for them."

Varric: "He trusted Solas was capable of good. I wish he got to see the mission through to the end."

˚∘⊰⋆ outside the veilguard ⋆⊱∘˚

Viago: "Asshole. He really expected me to hide away while the others got to take contracts? Poisoned the letter I got in Tevinter once I left with Varric. But if anyone hurt him..."

Teia: "She's one of the few people who can piss off Viago more than me, and I really admire that about her. Also, she doesn't poison the dinners she buys me."

Elwyn Lavellan: "Weird guy. I think that's what I like about him. Not afraid to be different."

The Viper: "He was blighted because of me, and yet he kept fighting for Minrathous. I'd do the same for Treviso."

Solas: "He is impossible. He is complicated. I despise what he did to me, how he hurt Lucanis. But he was friends to Lavellan, to Pavus, to Varric."

˚∘⊰⋆ relevant works ⋆⊱∘˚

sous chef - pretending to be normal is a luxury the lighthouse affords them.

A Fourth Type of Person - exes to lovers au. make them worse :))

[xenons-auxiliary-depths]

Dtawing Challenge

So I decided to do something pretty crazy and do a project based around the concept of the Pan-American highway. It'll involve my OC Josephine journeying up from the (well one of them, at least) southern terminus all the way up to the north of Alaska. I've also planned it such that it will be done within 100 drawings exactly. There will be a surreal twist to this, and a friend (or two) may join her along the way.

Here is the full list of locations in order (also I like funny names):

CHILE

Quellon

Puerto Montt

Los Angeles

Concepción

Santiago

Valparaiso

Viña Del Mar

Antofagasta

Iquique

PERU

Tacna

Lake Titicaca

Cusco

Machu Picchu

Nazca

Lima

Piura

ECUADOR

Machala

Guayaquil

Manta

Quito

Middle of the World City

Tulcan

COLOMBIA

Pasto

Cali

Bogotá

Medellín

Turbo

PANAMA

Darién Gap

Yaviza

Bayano Lake

Panama City

Panama Canal

Santiago de Veraguas

David

COSTA RICA

Paso Canoas

Uvita

Cartago

San José

Peñas Blancas

NICARAGUA

Rivas

Jinotepe

Managua

Esteli

El Espino

HONDURAS

San Marcos de Colon

Choluteca

Tegucigalpa

San Lorenzo

El Amatillo

EL SALVADOR

San Miguel

San Salvador

Santa Ana

GUATEMALA

San Cristobal

Jutiapa

Cuilapa

Guatemala City

Quetzaltenango

La Mesilla

MEXICO

Comitán

San Cristobal de las Casas

Tuxtla Gutiérrez

Salina Cruz

Oaxaca

Tehuacán

Puebla

Mexico City

Tampico

Ciudad Victoria

Monterrey

Nuevo Laredo

UNITED STATES (CONTIGUOUS)

Bigfoot

San Antonio

El Paso

Truth or Consequences/Elephant Butte

Albuquerque

Santa Fe

Colorado Springs

Denver

Cheyenne

Billings

Helena

Great Falls

Sweet Grass

CANADA

Lethbridge

Calgary

Red Deer

Edmonton

Dawson Creek

Fort St. John

Muncho Lake

Whitehorse

Destruction Bay

Canada-Alaska Border

UNITED STATES (ALASKA)

Northway Junction

Delta Junction

Fairbanks

E. L. Patton Yukon River Bridge

Coldfoot

Prudhoe Bay

[annoyed-galaxy]

More Rookanis headcanons featuring my lightning boy

I feel like, at first, Lucanis would be deeply unsettled by Rook's magic, but over the course of their time together, Lucanis begins to appreciate it. Antonio being a Crow is one thing, being a Crow mage is another. Lucanis is honestly impressed how well Antonio is able to weave his magic into the typical Crow dagger movements. And of course, Antonio's power is nothing to scoff at.

Being a mage, Antonio can sense Spite most of the time. However, because his magic affinity is not spirit magic, he can't actually hear Spite like Emmrich can. But, he can still feel Spite whenever the demon is prancing around Lucanis or whenever he's trying to push towards the front. It becomes a good thing later on in their relationship because Antonio can manage both Lucanis and Spite, knowing when to give Spite some time.

[annoyed-galaxy]

More specific headcanons for my Rook and Lucanis/Spite

My Rook loves wings. He loves the various types of wings of different winged creature from birds to dragons. He likes feathers and scales and wishes he could have his own. He spends time sketching the wing structure of the various crows and ravens around the city during his Crow training. He has tattoos of wings on his arms and face. He had the ashes of his sister carved into his back in the shape of wings.

He just loves wings.

It's part of the reason he was so happy to be taken in by the Crows with the whole wing motif.

So imagine when he meets Lucanis and sees the wings out of this man. As a mage, Antonio clocks it immediately that Lucanis is possessed, can sense the demon. But he can sense the dissonance between demon and host. Something's not completely right.

Later learning that Spite is the one controlling the wings, there's a point in their relationship where Antonio cracks and asks to draw Spite's wings. Both Lucanis and Spite are surprised, but give in anyways (because how could they so no to their adorable boyfriend). So, they go to the meditation room and Lucanis sits on the floor and Spite spreads his wings. Lucanis watches the fish in the aquarium while listening to the quiet sounds of pencil on paper.

Then, cause Antonio is a mage, he reaches out and touches the wings. It's the strangest feeling ever. The wings are both physical and not. He couldn't pluck a phantom feather out if he wanted to, but he can feel the wispiness of the wings between his fingers. Lucanis finds out very quickly that the wings, while in this weird metaphysical state, are still very much connected to his body and he can feel them. Spite can too and it's extremely weird for Spite because that part of him has never been touched before, especially not with as much care and grace as Antonio does.

Antonio is fascinated by the properties of Spite's wings and, while Antonio has never been a smart and technical mage, he still writes down some theories he has about the wings, something to bring up to the smarter mages -- Bellara and Emmrich -- later on.

Of course, there's also a point where Lucanis takes Taash's advice and he and Spite take Antonio out on a fly. It's the best thing ever. Antonio is completely amazed and exhilarated at flying something he's always wanted to do. He's also in the arms of a very handsome man so how can he possibly complain?

There's just something about Lucanis and Spite's wings that fascinate Antonio and he always gets excited seeing them pop out. Spite feels happy, to say the least, that he's appreciated in this way. It's a very different feeling than the time in the Ossurary.

[annoyed-galaxy]

Look I forgot they said Lucanis was a short king, but I didn't realize how short. Nor did I realize that he was as short as MY short king. So now we just have two short king crows

[annoyed-galaxy]

Started a Nightmare playthrough with Antonio. Since I know the pacing of the game now, I'm going to try and get more banter since I actually didn't get a lot of the funny banter I've been seeing going around. That and I need to get the last two achievements to complete the game.

But I also now have the Otis photomode mod so I can take many cool fun pictures in cutscenes and shit which I definitely plan to do. So enjoy just a couple of cool shots here plus an amazing Varric eye roll.

[annoyed-galaxy]

Literally kissing Bioware for the hair physics. I am honestly so amazed and impressed with the hair physics. Sometimes, it gets a little wonky, but for the most part, they're so good. They just add so much LIFE to the characters. I really can't explain it. I fucking love it

Also my Rook is so fucking pretty look at him, I love him

[annoyed-galaxy]

Just a funny little tidbit about my Rook.

He may be a mage, but compared to the other mages in the Veilguard, Rook is literally the dumbest of them all. He knows nothing about his magic actually works, about the ebb and flow of the Fade, and all the technical shit that Bellara and Emmrich love throwing around.

He just knows that he shoot lightning out of his body and somehow, can control it. He just goes with the flow. Literally. He makes using magic look like the easiest thing in the world, but if you were to sit down and ask him how he's doing literally any of it, he would shrug and just say "Fuck if I know."

It took a bit for the Crows to be able to help him actually control his magic because he just couldn't understand any of the technical jargon they were throwing his way. At least not until Viago and Teia suggested maybe they just let him try stuff out until he was able to figure out how his magic was supposed to flow into his assassin skills.

Eventually, it came around and now he's incredibly powerful with his magic. Lightning is his specialty, but he still doesn't quite know how he does it. His magic is still chaotic given its affinity, but he can still control bits of it. His magical incident of a spell backfiring and causing the nerves in a good chunk of his body to fry, leaves him very resistant to lightning damage (hence the scar on his face). Most of the time, he can't feel anything in his right hand unless he's using lightning magic that sometimes shocks the nerves into a temporary state of liveliness. There are parts in his arm where he can't feel anything at all, but then other parts that are extremely sensitive. The nerves in his right ear are super sensitive making his right ear very sensitive to anything really, more so than it would already be as an elf (yes, Lucanis abuses this information).

Rook can stand in front of a lightning dragon, get hit full force with the lightning breath, and manage to shrug most of it off before taking that power and throwing it back at the dragon.

He can use lightning to practically flash across the battlefield, unexpectedly in his opponent's face. He can kill the nerves in someone's body, rendering parts of them useless if he wanted to. He's an extremely powerful mage, with the training of a Crow behind him.

But still, he has no fucking idea how he does this shit.

Much to Bellara and Emmrich's disappointment, he is never able to answer their infinite questions. However, everyone can agree that Rook is extremely talented and are impressed with his skills.

Neve does ask at one point how he deals with demons as a mage and he says that was the one training he wasn't allowed to ignore even with all the technical jargon. She doesn't disbelieve that he could handle himself against a demon, merely curious.

I do headcanon at some point, after a fight, the team are shocked and worried as fuck once they see an arrow in Rook's hand. They're flabbergasted that he didn't even realize because he doesn't feel the pain. Emmrich of course heals his hand while everyone asks him how the hell did he not notice an ARROW in his HAND.

Then there's the lightning wings. He can't fly, but sometimes his magic needs to escape in other ways and that's why sometimes he'll sprout the appearance of "lightning bone wings" since the energy is just escaping from his body. He can control these tendrils and uses them in tandem with his fighting, as daggers almost. He is a flightless bird, but deadly bird nonetheless.

I just have lots of thoughts about him and this is just one of them. Probably drift on to talking about his Crow life and title and his calling sign.

[annoyed-galaxy]

Just sharing some pics of my lightning boy Antonio. Just now got all the companions and he's not doing well after... Certain things. But he's managing.

[annoyed-galaxy]

So I'm going to be playing Antonio again, doing a Nightmare run this time. But also with mods installed. I didn't like the limited selection of eye colors we had in the game, but thanks to the work of modders, I got vibrant eye colors.

So here's Antonio in his full glory. I wanted his eyes to be a brighter green with a purple center, which I couldn't achieve vanilla. Plus, when I made the center of his eye white previously, it kinda just washed out all of his green. So now he actually has his green eyes and purple in the center for his lightning magic. Now that I know the pacing of the game and when cutscenes happen...Lots of pictures will come...

[annoyed-galaxy]

Hey so remember when I said I might actually post that snippet? Well, wish me luck because here's the beginning of what I hope will be a long fic of my Rook's journey before and during Veilguard.

We'll see if the writing demon sticks around with me long enough...

Thank you @nightingaletrash for inspiring me and helping me get to work. Poking your brain for your writing process has helped a lot

[annoyed-galaxy]

the emperor and the hierophant for the rook asks please!

The Emperor: What does Rook's leadership style look like?

Antonio is kinda "fuck it, we ball" type of guy. He's real shit at planning ahead of time, but when push comes to shove, no one leads better than him. He's quite good at handling "oh shit" situations. There's a reason why his magic manifested as lightning since it's almost controlled chaos. He tries to make sure his team is doing okay, checking in on everyone and ensuring them they can do anything they put their minds to.

But, all of that comes at a cost. He doesn't think about the consequences until the choice has already been made. He puts others ahead of himself because he's so set on making sure everyone gets out alive that he disregards himself. He will throw himself into the line of fire if it means saving someone. And he takes a lot of those things really hard. He struggles a lot keeping emotions in check and juggling leading a team while being the strong face they need takes a toll on his mental health. With the Veil as fragile as it is during Veilguard, he struggles a lot with demons, having to constantly push them away so he doesn't get possessed. Only once his friends realize he's digging himself a big hole do they hurry to help him.

The Hierophant: Is Rook religious? How do they feel about the religious organizations that impact their life the most?

Antonio is very much not religious because the main religion is hostile against him on two fronts. Antonio is an elf and a mage. So, of course he kinda looks down on the Chantry. Growing up after being freed from slavery, he was scared that if his magic actually manifested, he would be taken by the Templar. Luckily, his magic manifested once he was part of the Crows and he proved a useful enough asset that they didn't turn him over. Antonio loves his magic and is fascinated by it, so the fact that the Chantry demonizes it makes him averse to it. He doesn't really care if the Maker is real or not. If He is, then He can judge him when the time comes.

Then, there's the fact he's an elf. He's had his fair share of racism and nothing makes him bristle more than being called "rabbit" or "knife-ear". It takes him a while to love his elven heritage, but eventually he becomes proud to be an elf and shame the Chantry for thinking he's lesser just because he has pointed ears. He learned about the elven gods in history books, but didn't start following them. He likes to look at religion from a historical perspective and see how it was used to take control of things. Hypothetical Makers or Evanuris don't really concern him as much. That is until the Evanuris do actually show and he learns the truth about their world. He doesn't immediately become faithful, but he does question a lot of things about the world afterwards.

[annoyed-galaxy]

maybe it doesn't fit Viago's character with how the parental role fits in, but hey he has to begrudgingly accept it cause that's how we roll and im tired

[annoyed-galaxy]

we continue despite the horrors of the mind

[annoyed-galaxy]

A short chapter comparatively speaking because I'm getting my ass beat with anxiety lol