#The Sound of my June in 2024 | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

felassan · 7 months ago

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June 14th 2024 Developer Q&A (from the official BioWare Discord) - Complete transcript

Under a cut due to length.

Update: This post has now been updated into a word-for-word transcript.

[Link to video recording of Q&A] | [Link to equivalent post for second Q&A (August 30th)] | [Link to video recording for second Q&A]

Update: This post has now been updated into a word-for-word transcript.

If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here. This blog post is linked in the description under the video. ( ˶´ ᵕ `˶ )

Corinne Busche, John Epler, Matt Rhodes and Community Manager Katey were the devs that were there.

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Katey: Hello!

John: Hello.

Katey: Beautiful, your mic sounds beautiful. How's everybody doing?

John: Excellent. I, just as a headsup, I have some folks doing some service, in the next room so, if I, if you hear background noise, that's what that is.

Katey: No worries at all. Well I hope that everybody who's been waiting in here is really excited, because I'm super excited. I'm Katey. I'm the Community Manager. If you don't already know, you can usually see my name at the top of this Discord server. But I'm joined here with some awesome guests that I'll let introduce themselves. Let's start with Corinne.

Corinne: Can you hear me okay?

John: Yep.

Katey: Yep, we can hear you beautifully.

Corinne: Great, perfect. I'm Corinne Busche, Game Director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

John: Awesome. I'm John Epler, Creative Director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard.

Corinne: John!

John: Hello.

Katey: And then we've also got Matt Rhodes, who may be struggling to find the unmute button which is at the bottom left.

Corinne: Our, our resident artist-poet, Matt Rhodes.

Katey: I could unmute him, actually, I don't know if I can unmute him, but if he needs help, he can message me on the side.

John: The joys of being a giant nerd is I spend a lot of time on Discord anyway, so.

Corinne: Well there you go, right?

Katey: Fair enough. Alright, well, we have a ton of questions to answer. We probably won't be able to get to all of them today. You all have sent in so many really really great answers, sorry, questions for us to answer. And if we don't get to them today, we're hoping to be able to do things like this in the future. So without further ado, I'll get started. First question's a bit of a soft ball, I feel. If you could belong to any of the main factions shown in the game, which would you choose?

Corinne: I mean, listen Katey, you say softball, but like, this is hard! I’m gonna cheat, and I’m gonna give you two. So for fashion, the Antivan Crows, all day long. Their threads, you’re gonna love it. For vibes, though, like the ones that capture my vibe, Mourn Watch. Gimme those necromancers.

John: Those are good answers. I have, I have one for fashion, and also for, just general faction I’d like to be a part of. Veil Jumpers. Who doesn’t like a nice walk in the forest, y’know? Even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies, but yeah.

Katey: I love that. I know that Matt has a few technical issues – oh, he’s unmuted. There we go. Or maybe not. That’s okay, I think we can move on.

John: The Fade has taken Matt.

Corinne: That’s right, that’s right.

Katey: Yes. One quick thing, if you check your settings, the cog-wheel in the bottom left, make sure that your voice, like, your audio is all good. If you’re still hearing the music, feel free to maybe, force-quit Discord and rejoin by just joining the stage directly. And mute the music before you come in. Okay. I can move on to the next question for now. I’ve seen, so this question was from Acra. I’ve seen a lot of talk about only having two companions in your party instead of three for this game. What is the reasoning behind this and will we still get the same companion conversations and banter as seen in the previous Dragon Age games?

Corinne: Ooh, this is such a good question. Thankyou, whoever submitted this one. Yeah, I’ll guess I’ll start and then I’ll turn it over to John Epler. So, first of all, as you saw in the gameplay reveal, this is a much more intimate experience. We’ve pulled the camera in. For those that aren’t aware, the reason why is we want you to feel like you actually are in this world, right? Like, you’re walking these city streets of Minrathous, you’re looking up, seeing the buildings all around you, you’re a part of this place. So it’s much more intimate, and we believe as the narrative unfolds this creates a lot more immersion. Now, how that relates to companions is in doing this, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found, with this perspective, having two companions, really allows them more visibility and presence. We’ve talked about the incredible depth and focus we’ve put on fleshing out these companions, they’re very fully-realized. So here, you really get to see them more clearly, you get to see them shine. When you see Lace Harding jump into the air and unleash a volley of arrows, you can only really get that because of that more intimate view. So I love the spotlight that’s been put on them. But, I think, in addition to the banter, one of the things that people are wondering about is, okay, but what about gameplay? So again, this has come about from our testing, working with the internal team, also our lovely Council of players. We just found that when you’re playing in the combat system, when you’re planning your strategies, two really felt like the right number to manage. So keep in mind, Rook has a lot of different types of actions, Abilities, individual attacks that are more fully fleshed-out than ever before. Timing and positioning matter a lot. So this really felt like the right balance to have. The number of inputs and actions we’re asking you as a player to take, including directing your companions, is higher than ever before. And I will also say, I engage with the companions, like I actively control what they’re doing more than I ever have before in any of the other three games. But John, I’ll toss it over to you for the banter. That’s kind of like the, we got a two-for-one there.

John: Yeah, yeah.

Corinne: I think that’s a, a great question.

John: So - it’s a great question, yeah. I mean honestly, I don’t think you could actually stop the writers from writing banter. I will say for myself, it’s, it’s one of the more light but fun things to do. You get to write little stories, little arcs between different characters. And I mean, The Veilguard is no different. Banter is still absolutely core part of it. You know, we’ve got global banter, you know, the general stuff that you get in all spaces, as well as mission-specific stuff. But, yeah, it’s definitely still a big thing. I think it’s, if anything it’s the most we’ve, we’ve ever done for pairings of companions. Beyond that we’ve also made sure, and I mean I’ve been on Dragon Age for a while, and I know there’s been issues, you know, things like, okay, well I don’t wanna miss this banter. So we’ve even added stuff like some interruptible and resumable banter as well, just to make sure that, because again, it’s a core part of the experience. Everyone loves hearing these companions talk to each other, everyone loves hearing these little stories and relationships develop over the course of the game and, as mentioned before, companions are the heart of this experience and banter is a big part of that, so, you still have it, it’s, if anything, like I said, you could not stop the writers from doing it even if we tried, so.

Corinne: That’s right, that’s right. Well, John, you know, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field do I get less interaction between, that, like do I get to see my companions interacting in a broader group more often.

John: Oh -

Corinne: And, the way you’ll gather them around the kitchen table, there’s just so many of those moments where they’re all interacting with each other.

John: Well, I think –

Corinne: Those are some of my favorite parts.

John: Yeah, and I think, yeah, and actually that’s a, a good call, because I think the other side of it is, we’re not talking too much about your home or anything, but, we also want to make sure that they feel like they have a relationships and a life outside of just, the times you take a certain pair of companions out on the field. So we made sure that, they have those interactions there as well.

Katey: Love that. Let’s see. Um, Matt, are we, are we all set, are we good? Yes? No? Okay. I can continue and we can come back to some of your questions. Alright. So that, I loved the answers to those. How customizable is the backstory of Rook? Will we get to determine their past in the Character Creator? And that was asked by Briar.

John: Yeah, so. Absolutely. So, one of, each, Rook has six different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each of them is tied to one of the major factions in The Veilguard and each one sets out who Rook was before they recruited, were recruited by Varric, and. Well that sets out the broad events. As you go through the game, as you’re gonna have conversations, either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define, not just what those events were, but what they meant to you, what was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook, because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience. And taking Rook, giving them, again, giving them background to ground them in the world but then letting you decide what that means and what that says about you is also a big part of it, so. And again, there are six different factions in this game, two which, anyone who’s played Dragon Age for a while will remember. You’ve got the Grey Wardens. You’ve got the Antivan Crows. We also have, in addition to that, we have four new ones, because we’re in northern Thedas. We have the Veil Jumpers. We have the Mourn Watch. We have the Shadow Dragons, and we have the Lords of Fortune, so. Again, a lot of different options, a lot of different background, and a lot of opportunities to really define what your, who your Rook was, and who they are now, so.

Katey: Amazing. Will crafting return? If yes, has it been improved over the system in Inquisition? Asked by Some Dude.

Matt: Testing.

Katey: Oh hey Matt!

Corinne: “Some Dude”, is that, I’m gonna assume “Some Dude” is a username. Great question.

Katey: Yes.

Corinne: Welcome Matt, the lovely Matt Rhodes.

Matt: Testing, testing.

Corinne: Welcome, welcome, hello. Alright, so, will crafting return? You can absolutely improve and customize your gear, yes, that is a big part of RPG progression, so yes you can improve and customize it. I will say, though, it’s different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory, so I, I’m gonna be a little bit cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that that’ll be an important part of the narrative.

Katey: So mysterious.

Corinne: Oooh!

Katey: Matt, I’m gonna actually go back to our first question so that you can answer, so everyone knows.

Matt: Thank you.

Katey: What faction, what faction you would choose if you could choose one for yourself?

Matt: Absolutely, oh, for me it’s definitely the Lords of Fortune. I’ve had a chance to try out a bunch of them, but I think I’ve finally settled on them. And it’s largely just because pirate-barbarian is just such a great combination of elements, so. Treasure-hunting plus beaches and palm trees and all that stuff, it’s a, it’s a really good mix, so that’s kinda my default.

Katey: I think I’m with you there, for sure. How about this one - this one was definitely asked probably amongst the most in Discord. Axolotl asks, can we kiss or romance Manfred the skeleton?

Matt: Uh, I, I would say, not that skeleton, but we’re not saying no skeletons.

Katey: I love that answer.

Corinne: This is my favorite answer so far.

Katey: Alright, so I’m gonna get back on track here. Alright. What, what were some of the development considerations that you had to take into account to ensure that this new game flows and functions with prior games, and Dragon Age Keep, if Keep is being utilized?

Corinne: Ooh, that’s a good one too. So, first of all, I would, I would point everyone to, we did an interview with IGN that goes into some of the details there, so, like, if you want a deeper dive on it, check out that article. But just to summarize, we have taken a different approach on how you import your decisions this time around. It’s now actually been fully-integrated into the Character Creator, and kinda serves a dual purpose, to be honest. I, I playfully, it’s not called this in-game, but I playfully think of it as ‘Last Time On Dragon Age’.

Katey: I love that.

Corinne: Right? Now, when I talk about its dual purpose, it’s been ten years since the last Dragon Age game released, so it serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing you to re-make those decisions that are critical to you. The thing I love about it is, it’s very highly visual, it uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic, so it’s actually really visual and playful experience as you go through it. It is very much important to us that it’s built into the client, though. You can play this game entirely offline. No connection. You don’t have to link to your EA accounts, like that’s been a really big request. So, the refresher plus make those decisions in-client, I think we’re all pretty happy about that. I don’t wanna spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import, like, look, y’all don’t want the spoilers, but I will say, it’s been a really interesting creative intersection for us, because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure. You’re in northern Thedas, these locations that you’ve literally never been to before. So that affects some of what will matter and what we’re not using this time around, as far as decisions. But obviously there’s some very, very clear connections to existing characters. It’s no secret that the Inquisitor, our dear Inky, is gonna show up, so, that’s, that’s a factor.

Katey: Peachy asks, will this next game be an open-world game, or is it just contained to Tevinter?

John: Yeah, that’s a great question. So, you are in northern Thedas, but the game only begins in Minrathous, it doesn’t stay there. I’m, I think one of the most exciting things for me, honestly, and again, to Corinne’s earlier point about spoilers, I don’t wanna get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to, and work with the art team, work with the narrative, work with the design team to build out these locations that we’ve talked about. Places that characters have referred to as where they’ve come from, places that characters, obviously, in previous games, have hailed from, has been absolutely exciting. So, it’s, you do start in Tevinter, you do start in Minrathous, but again, that’s not the entire game by any stretch. So yeah.

Corinne: Yeah, and the first half of it is, is it an open-world game? We’ve gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated –

John: Mhm.

Corinne: - intense narratives. So, this is a hand-crafted experience, it’s mission-based. Now, these locations can open up. You can go back, solve mysteries, do some really great side-content. Not fetch-quests, not grind-quests, some really great side content.

John: Mhm.

Corinne: But, I wanna be clear. It’s, it’s a really curated, hand-crafted experience.

John: And just to, just to bounce off of that very quickly. The most important thing for us, to what Corinne was saying about hand-crafted, obviously we’ve talked about how, you know, narrative, story, characters, are the most, are critical to us, and this has allowed us to build these experiences in a way that emphasize that, extremely long, while still, again, tying into the story threads and the story beats, so.

Katey: Awesome. TastefulToxel wants to know - will the companions have unique specializations like Dragon Age II, or will it be the same ones we will have access to as the player in like DA: Origins, or Inquisition?

Corinne: Oh, cool. Hey TastefulToxel. Yeah, so, cool question. I think the best way for me to describe this is that, yes, our companions will have Abilities that are truly unique to them. But also, the companions do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue, and warrior. Like, for instance, you might be surprised to hear, because she has a bow, but Bellara is, in fact, a mage, and I, I love that. So, some of the Abilities, the bulk of the Abilities of the companions are based on their own unique personality. Like, Neve is the only mage that is an Ice Mage, so you get distinct Abilities for her. But, because she’s a mage, she does have access to Abilities that all the mages share, like Time Slow. So we really like the balance there. It’s like a good mix of representing their archetype, their class, and also their distinct specialization or personality, whatever you wanna call it.

John: Yeah, actually, I would actually say the word ‘personality’ is a really great one because that’s, again, each of these characters exists, each of these characters have a history, have a story of how they became who they were, and part of that was finding that intersection between narrative and gameplay, and making sure that, again, we, we serve the needs of gameplay but also allow these characters to breathe and exist as their own people, not just in conversation, but out of conversations, as well.

Corinne: I would also say as part of that core mage kit, healing spells are there, so any of your mages, you wanna make ‘em a healer, do that.

Katey: Lunasoul Darkmoon asks, will The Veilguard have tactical combat still?

Corinne: Ooh, such a good one, such a good one. Okay. Yes! Combat gets quite tactical, like, obviously this is an evolution of the combat system, and I talked about immersion, wanting you, to put you in the world, like you’re actually living and existing in it, but it is very tactical. And, I will say, we have a robust difficulty system. The tactics are increasingly important the higher difficulty level you go. So like, look, if you’re showing up for a highly tactical experience, I would crank that difficulty level in particular. But I wanna make clear, I’m, super, I wanna make sure I’m super clear in my answer. You saw the gameplay reveal. Our pause-time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets, both in and out of combat, there’s a reason for that. As the game progresses, and you didn’t see this in that opening hour of the game, but it’ll display strategic information on the enemies, so like, what are their vulnerabilities, what are their elemental weaknesses, their enhancements, what are they resistant to? So your type of Abilities, learning into elemental gameplay, matters a lot. I’d also say, this is a long answer, it’s such a good question – tactical decision-making also takes the form, I would say this is front and center, of coordinating your Ability usage between Rook and your companions to create synergies, or really devastating – we call them – detonation combos. So, let me give you a couple of examples, because it can be a little hard to visualize, so hopefully this helps. So one of the tactics that I personally enjoy in my own builds, I just recently played as a Veil Ranger, I love it, it’s one of my favorites. If I’m fighting Fade-touched enemies in Arlathan, I like to use Bellara’s Galvanized Tear to pull enemies together, it’s like a gravity well. You then Slow Time with Neve and, Slow Time affects the world around you, but it does not affect you, so you clump them up, you Slow Time, and then with Rook, I come in and do, like a devastating AOE or damage over time spell or Ability, and it’s even better if it’s a lightning-based Ability, because the Fade-touched in Arlathan are vulnerable to that. So there’s so many layers of coordination and strategy and tactics. Now we did talk about the devastating, like, detonation combos, honestly, that’s probably one of my favorite features, because that’s when you’re really leaning into explicit teamwork between your companions and Rook, or, the companions together. So when I, when I build out my team and I’m going into a mission, I try to ensure that I have at least a couple of possible synergies, detonation combo synergies within my team. Might be between Harding and Neve, or it might be between Neve and me, or it might be both. So here, I would go into battle, I’d pause time, open the Ability Wheel, get information on the enemy, and the Wheel will actually tell me that there is a synergy combo, you might have seen a screenshot that says “combo available”. It will remind you of those synergies between companions. You can queue both of those Abilities up at the same time, go, close out of the pause-time menu, they’ll both execute, both Abilities will happen, then the detonation AOE happens, applies debuffs to all the enemies in a radius of it, it’s so satisfying, it’s so satisfying, I can’t wait for y’all to see it. But the interesting thing is that too is a tactical choice. I’m choosing to use my companions to do that, and that means, in that moment, I’m not using them to heal me, or to give me that defense bonus, or to knock an enemy off a ledge, so it’s about the opportunity cost. I, I could spend the rest of the session talking about this, I, apologies for being long-winded, but this is just one of my favorite parts of, of the game.

Katey: That was a great answer. Can you choose Rook’s pronouns? If yes, being, is being non-binary an option? And also, how detailed is Character Creation?

Corinne: Hell yeah you can select your pronouns! Absolutely. You can actually select both your pronouns and your gender, because those are related concepts, but they’re not actually the exact same thing, so. It’s really cool. Yeah, you can be non-binary. We have they/them, she/her, he/him. Yes, emphatic yes. How detailed is the Character Creator? Oh my goodness, y’all. Like. Very! I don’t wanna give away too much just yet, but it’s very, very deep. It has been revealed, it’s out there in a couple of articles, about the focus on hair, the focus on skin-tones that are done respectfully, full-body customization, hell yeah, we love to see it. But we’re, we’re gonna, we’re gonna come back, we’re gonna show you a lot more on Character Creator, but we wanna make sure we have the time and space to, to do that.

Katey: Will there be a Photo Mode in-game?

Corinne: So that is something we’re actively looking into. We know there’s a tonne of interest, so stay tuned on that one. But we are very much looking into it.

Matt: I can add to that, is a feature that is, that, we like, we like the idea of, and, and, it’s not just player-facing but internally, it’s a really helpful thing for us as we’re, as we’re building things out to have that so it’s, it’s, we’ll let ya know.

Corinne: Yes, yeah, absolutely. We, we are as geeked on that possibility as you all are.

Katey: A lot of people were asking about Abilities. This one is from Clemmy. Abilities, I don’t think I saw this answered yet, but are we going to be limited in how many Abilities we can pick from the Wheel?

Corinne: Ah! Yes, yes, yes. So, Ability Wheel does have a capacity. You have to choose which three Abilities you wanna bring for Rook, which three for one of your companions, and which three for another companion. And what I, what I like about this is there is, kind of, an emergent gameplay depending on who you and your companions are coming into the mission with. Now the reason for that is, it actually creates really interesting balance of strategizing, having to do that strategy about your kit, your combat kit, before the mission. And then the tactical decisions once you’re in the field in combat, deciding what to do. But, I do wanna clear one thing up, because, while there are three Ability slots for Rook, there’s so much more than that. Other actions that you can perform directly from the Wheel include, you’ll have an Ultimate Ability, associated with your class or your specialization, so there’s variance there. There’s a type of items that you’ll get that function like Abilities, they’re typically like buffs and enhancements in form of Runes. So you’ll control that for Rook and/or the team from the Wheel. You may have also seen that you can direct which targets your companions will focus on, but what you might not know is that a lot of the companion gear really synergizes with that directing your companions. When you issue those commands, that too will proc based on the gear they have equipped. Really interesting and strategic effects. They can be more Ability-like, more, like, procced effects, there’s just so much from the Wheel, that once you get in and see everything working together, becomes more and more apparent.

Katey: We have another question from TastefulToxel which is, will Fireball and Cone of Cold be back as skills, or as spells in Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Corinne: Ohh, I love, all these combat questions, really good. So Fireball and Cone of Cold aren’t specifically back, however, their successors are. Frost Nova and Meteor. So these serve the exact same combat role and function as those other Abilities. I would also say, it gives ‘em quite the glow-up, so. Meteor in particular, like, so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well-placed Meteor, it’s really wonderful.

Katey: What accessibility features are available? I would love to know if there’s an arachnophobia mode. Will there be mod support?

Corinne: Oh my goodness, arachnophobia. I am wicked afraid of spiders too, my partner always laughs at me. I’m just terrified of them. That said, that’s one we’re going to save for a little bit closer to launch before we’ll go into full details about accessibility features. But I do wanna assure you, we’ve spent a lot of time thinking about this topic so you can play the game in a way that really works for you. I’m, I’m excited to share that with you when the time is right.

Katey: So this one is from a username named Cookie. How long is the time-skip from Inquisition to The Veilguard? I know we’ll probably get more info on this, but I’m so curious.

John: Yeah, so, anyone who’s paid attention to Dragon Age, and I can say as somebody who’s been on Dragon Age since Origins, timelines are always a little iffy. They change, and they morph over development as we see how long events taking. But, for The Veilguard, we were actually pretty consistent from the start. It’s been about ten years since the events of Trespasser. As you may or may not have noticed, Varric’s become a little bit of a silver fox. I know, I’ve heard, seen, I’ve seen a lot of comments on that on social media, but, yeah, ten years. Solas’ ritual is taken time to set up and you’re kinda coming in at the end of that hunt, so.

Katey: Siddy is asking the hardest-hitting question which is, is Solas still bald?

Matt: Yeah. I mean, if you’ve watched the gameplay thing, we can all confirm, yes, Solas is still bald, Solas is still Solas. We’ve, we’ve, I really, I really like how Solas has turned out this time around. I will say, here’s a comment on this specific question that’s gonna sound like a non-sequitur, but, once you get a chance to play it a little bit more, maybe you’ll see it. In Thedas, ancient elves, they go bald when they’re like millennia old, so. Solas wasn’t always bald. So if you were to end up, end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past, things might be a little different. You’ll have –

John: - Now, now that said, I’m sure some of you are wondering what happened to Solas’ wig from Tevinter Nights. I’m sure he still has it somewhere, so.

Katey: He’s just taking care of it elsewhere.

John: He’s just taking care, it’s, it’s his most important possession.

Corinne: The Pride there, huh?

Katey: I have another one for Matt. This is, will we be able to, will we be able to change companions’ appearances and outfits, or are they fixed, similar to Dragon Age II?

Matt: Yeah we, Dragon Age II was, we loved how the followers turned out in that but it was, it was sad given, given our constraints that we had to keep them with just one, one basic outfit. So we really tried to make some space for them this time around. So they’re, they still have, kind’ve iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of appearances that you can, that you can find for them. Some, some are just cool, but then there are some that are tied directly to their, to their narrative and just kinda what’s happening in their life.

Katey: Another one for ya, which is, will we be seeing or visiting Kal-Sharok? It’s, and, Tyrant says that they’ve been obsessed with it forever.

Matt: Yeah, me too. I, I will say, what’s, what’s been really cool, so in previous games, we’ve kind’ve alluded to this before. It was a lot of fun to hint at the locations that were off the map, the mysterious places that you weren’t gonna go, you weren’t going. And so you could just bring in some props or some characters, a piece of art, things like that, and you know, even Tevinter was only vaguely hinted at and then we would just add drips and bits and pieces, so that stuff was really fun. In The Veilguard, we’re actually getting to visit, most, like a whole lot of those locations that had only been hinted at for real, so you actually do run around Tevinter and a bunch of the other locations that we’ve revealed. But this also means, like, we’re not completely filling out the map, and so that there are actually new things that we can start hinting at, that we can start drip-feeding, and so, it’s, it’s kind’ve fun. I’d say, yeah, for what we can show of Kal-Sharok, and, and other locations, it’s just, there’s, there’s more to do.

Katey: Awesome. MrFightmonster118 asks, will the dialogue wheel slash options be similar to Inquisition and Mass Effect: Andromeda in the sense that it’s more tone-based?

John: Yeah, so, we have a number of different types of wheels in our game. All the dialogue wheels are based off the same principle. Anyone who’s played a Dragon Age game remembers what they look like. In Dragon Age: The Veilguard we have tone wheels which are, you know, again, roleplaying your character, picking consistent tone. We also have emotion wheels where you can pick specific emotional reactions. And choice wheels which are, I don’t have a strong emotional or tone tie here but I do want to make a choice based on what I do. Investigates obviously return as well, but. We do want players to understand as much as possible what it is they’re going to be picking, and understand, and again, choice and consequence is fun, we wanna make sure the choice is clear, even if, again, one of the best parts about consequence is making sure that’s not entirely clear, so.

Katey: How extensive are Rook’s decision trees for dialogue going to be with the companions and also with NPCs throughout the game?

John: Huge. I mean, again, it’s a Dragon Age game, we wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose both your roleplaying but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold, so, I mean, again, it’s a Dragon Age game, we wanna make sure that we also react to decisions you’ve made, so. For example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you’re gonna have a different perspective on events than someone who’s not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options, sometimes that’s going to mean entirely deep dialogue trees, as well as based off decisions you’ve made throughout the game so, again, making sure that the game feels like it’s noticing what you’re doing is a huge part of how we’ve written out the dialogue wheel, or dialogue trees, in this game.

Corinne: Blueberry has a question for Corinne. It was mentioned that there will be, that we will be able to romance who we like. Does that mean that all companions are romanceable by all player characters regardless of race or gender, as it has been in the past?

Corinne: Yeah, yeah. So, we have talked about this in some of the interviews, I’ve seen a few articles about it, so I’d recommend everyone check out those articles. But let me just give you a quick overview. Each of the seven companions have full romance arcs and they are romanceable by all genders, absolutely. But something that’s really important to, to us on the team, so I wanna make sure that we clarify and just double-down on, that doesn’t mean playersexual. And if anyone’s unaware of what we mean by that, it doesn’t mean that they can form or twist their identities to who you the player are, like they, they won’t suddenly have a preference for men or women based on what you’re playing, right? Instead, they have their own fully fleshed-out identities, they are true and authentic to that. So in this game, they are all pansexual, with their own histories of romance. Sometimes you’ll hear about preferences, or things of that nature. And what I really love is, if you don’t pursue a romance with them, they’ll actually build their own romances with each other. So, in one of the interviews I talked about Lace Harding and Taash getting together. I give that example because honestly, it’s one of my favorites. I’m gonna put a question back to the community, though. I’ve heard we’re going with “Laash” for that ship-name? You tell me, like, what is that ship-name?

Katey: That one just rolls off the tongue, I feel like that works. This next question is from FallenArtesia. What are the markings on the faces of the elven Warden and Veil hopper?

Matt: So there’s a, quite a few, probably, I think, easily more than we’ve done before, tattoos from various, various cultures. We’re bringing the vallaslin back, of course. But there’s, yeah, ton of different options, especially when we’re, again, going into all these new regions. Each, each area has its own kind’ve visual language for that. But yeah, we are bringing the vallaslin back and then a couple of the characters have them, but we’ve kind’ve customized them a little bit, they’re a bit more specific to their personality.

Katey: And this is a question for all of you. What are you, what are you as a developer most proud of about the game, and what are you most excited for players to experience when it’s out?

John: Ooh, that’s a good question.

Corinne: Isn’t it?

John: Corinne, you wanna go first?

Corinne: Yeah, sure. Gosh. So I suspect for most of us, myself included, it is really gonna be the depth and authenticity of the companions, journeying along with them on their arcs, learning about their hardships, what they care about, being by their side, that, that authenticity is just so good. They all feel like my dear friends. But, I have to say, the closest runner-up for me, has to be the Character Creator, has to be. That Character Creator, the makeup options, the range of sliders. I’m a qunari fan, so even just the, the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great-looking hair. Character Creator has to be my, my, like very close runner up.

Matt: Oh yeah. For me, I would say, as far as, what, what I can say I’m most proud of on this one, the, I can speak for the art team. We worked incredibly hard to make the story more visible than ever. Games are a visual medium, but, you know, it’s, sometimes it’s easier to do things in text format or written in a Codex somewhere or alluded to off-screen. But we really leaned in to trying to make sure that every design, prop, character, environment, the VFX we’re choosing, everything, all, all these choices, were putting the story on-screen so that you can really see it unfold. And I think, having worked on all of the Dragon Age games, I would say Veilguard represents one of the best attempts at that we’ve made yet.

John: I’m gonna cheat, because I’m going last and I get to do that when I go last, and kinda combine both Corinne’s and Matt’s answer. Honestly, the companions are, for me, the absolute highlight of, just, being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways. These are the deepest companion arcs we’ve ever done. Not just on Dragon Age, but at BioWare in general. Each, each companion has their own story arc, you can go through decisions you can make, they really do take center-stage, and I think, as you play through with them you see the care and love that the team has put into each and every one. I mean there’s, there’s moments in each arc that make you cry, make you angry, make you excited and, and the way that they integrate into the story as a whole is just, for me, something that’s been really fun. Finding ways to bring these characters together, finding ways to make this, this narrative, this story of, you know, you need to put together a team and stop the end of the world, it’s just been absolutely exciting and thrilling. And again, you see the team’s love in every single piece of it. As for what I’m most excited? For me, I’ve been, I mean Dragon Age has been part of my career, part of my life for literally the last decade and a half. I’ve worked on it since Origins and there’s something about The Veilguard that feels like a amazing mix of, novelty but also familiarity. It’s like coming home in a way that I think is going to be very exciting for people who are existing Dragon Age players, but there’s also so much here that’s just new and exciting for people, new players and old players alike. And going to parts of the word, seeing things we’ve never seen before, and just getting to take this amazing world, this amazing series and expand on it and build on it in ways that have just been, honestly, an absolute thrill, the best part of my career. And I’ve been in games for seventeen years now, this has been the absolute highlight for me, so. That’s what I’m excited about.

Corinne: John, that was, that was such a good answer, and I just, I just wanna “yes, and -” that. It, I so completely agree with you. There’ve been times in the companion arcs where even, knowing exactly what’s going to happen, we work on the game, with some of these decisions, I, I’ve had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh and go “oh my god, what am I gonna do here?” Yeah, the depth of them is wonderful. And, I do wanna say, I, I’d be, I wanna put this out there, when we talked about as a developer, what are we most proud of, can we just give a big shout-out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. This team has poured their heart and soul into this.

John: Absolutely.

Corinne: Anyone from BioWare who’s listening in, thank you so much, y’all are just the best.

John: Hear, hear.

Katey: I absolutely love that. I knew that question was going to have some of my best, some of my favorite answers, and it delivered, so thank you three. This one’s a fun one. Why does Varric have dark hair now? I feel like John mentioned this a little bit earlier, but.

John: Just for [inaudible].

Matt: He’s been, he’s been adventuring for a while now. His hair is, is more gray, but he’s been in very dark scenes so far, so. We’ll see him in some more contexts.

Katey: In this question, we actually took from Tumblr, because there were a few really good ones in our ask box. Will the Inquisitor be appearing in the flesh, or are we just choosing their major Dragon Age: Inquisition decisions?

Corinne: Alright! Yeah, yes! They will. The Inky does appear. We know how attached y’all are to the Inquisitor, I’ve seen the love for your OC. Yes, the Inquisitor shows up. Now, we, we’d already confirmed that in a few places, so, let me just say, you can also customize them, includes some of our new customization options, yeah, they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.

John: And I think, I think beyond that, I mean, the story of Solas and the story of the Inquisitor, obviously are tied, they’re tied together as much as any story, so. It would have been strange for us not to bring them in for this one. They have, they’re gonna be a part of the story, so.

Katey: Will there be any planned DLC? Just curious, as I always love the DLCs. Oh, and transmog armor. This one came from Lavell.

Corinne: Oh, heck yeah, good question. So, right now, our focus is entirely on the quality of the game. Like, it’s so important at this stage for us to be all-in, all attention on, just, finishing this game and delivering on the quality, the promise of it. So honestly, like, that’s all I can really say about it. We’re 100% focused on this being the most complete game we can make it. I will say, kind’ve related to that though, and I just wanna underscore this, I wanna emphasize it. There’s not gonna be any microtransactions, there’s not gonna be any battle passes, you don’t have to connect online, our focus is making this the most complete singleplayer game we possibly can. Now, this was kind’ve a two-for question, I love when we do that. Will there be transmog? Hell yeah. I’m the kind’ve player that, that believes fashion is the real end-game. Yeah, there’s a transmog system, absolutely, it’s sick.

Katey: And then this next question is from Scott. I was asking if any of the characters will be explicitly asexual, or on the ace spectrum?

Corinne: So good. Such a good question. So, look, I’m just, I’m gonna be really forthcoming with y’all and a little bit vulnerable here. I’m ace, I’m a gray-ace, I don’t mind sharing that, I’m kind’ve public with it. I will say though, that none of our companions this time around are explicitly ace. When we look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always assess, like is, is this the right time? This time it wasn’t. But what I will say for everyone on the ace spectrum out there, I would love to represent an ace relationship sometime in the future when it feels like the most authentic fit for a companion, when we can do it best. Oh, and I do see some questions, you know, some questions, what do we mean by ace? Asexuality. We often refer to it as the ace spectrum.

Katey: Can mage Rook do blood magic? Will blood magic be a skill tree separate from regular magic?

Corinne: Okay. Um, this gets a little spoilery, so let me just say, Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna want to be interested in that. But I will say, the mage skill tree is packed with all kinds of spells, traits and perks to give you a ton of flexibility in your magic. Gonna go off-script just a little bit, because –

John: Oh no.

Corinne: I’ve seen, like, can you tell us about the specializations for mage? I’m not gonna tell you the deets, but there is a necromancer one, there is an elemental one, and there is one that’s actually more of like a combat mage, it’s my favorite.

Katey: Can we name the griffon? We also have a griffon emoji now in this Discord server.

John: Excellent. So, someone on your, in your party, again, spoilers, may have already named the griffon, but, don’t worry, Assan is a very good boy, so.

Corinne: All these griffon emojis are, y’all are killing me.

Katey: Yeah, I love that, griffons in the chat. Let's see. Will we have a camp/home/headquarters that we’ll be able to customize?

Matt: Well this time around, in Inquisition you had Skyhold. In this case you have a headquarters called the Lighthouse. More to be seen on that. But, it’s, it, narratively it, it serves kind’ve a different purpose but also the same purpose. As far as customization goes, there are elements of it that change over time, and some things that you can adjust. I, I don’t know how much we’re really going into that at the moment.

Katey: This one is –

Matt: But yeah, I would say, it’s like, there’s some, it, one thing I like about it is it definitely does start to feel very much like a home over time.

Katey: Sorry for almost cutting you off there Matt. We have another very hard-hitting question, if I'm, if I do say so myself.

John: I love this one.

Katey: We need to - Same. We need to know, does pasta and noodles exist in Thedas? Thank you.

Matt: Well, and I’ll take it as a chance just to geek out about worldbuilding, because, again, we’re, The Veilguard for us is a really kinda dream opportunity to go to places that we’ve only ever heard reference to, or we’ve seen hints at. And so, in going through the worldbuilding process and trying to, trying to build these places out, not just as neat things from the IP but also as, you know, if you’ve, if you've read about this stuff, if you’ve been following along, you’ve got your own version of it in your head. You’ve imagined what it might be like, you’re, and probably hoping for something spectacular. And our brains are always far better at creating this stuff than any game developer, any artist, or anyone can really do justice to, so you really have to swing for the fences to make something very satisfying and exciting. You know, is, that can be everything as big as architecture and landscape and biomes and ecosystems, but it does get into things like art and culture, costume design, and also food, and this time around we did, you know, that was one of the many things that we, that we did, looking to, just to try to catch the character and the feel of a place to make it feel believable and lived in, so. That’s my really long answer for, yeah, I’m sure, I've, at least one place does have pasta.

Katey: I loved that. This next question is from Spectre Karro. Are we getting a mabari?

John: Ooh, that’s a good question. I will say, you’re spending most of the game in the north of Thedas. Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing up there, so. In this particular instance, no, you will not get a mabari, sadly.

Katey: Honestly, I should’ve pulled this one up to where we answered the first question about the griffon, but, can we pet the griffon?

Matt: You, I’m really sorry to have to be the one to tell you – nah, I’m kidding, yes you can. But it’s not even just petting the griffon. I’ve, this isn’t a spoiler, I think you can actually, I’ve actually hugged the griffon, so, that feels like, even there, a step up. Yeah.

John: There’s lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon.

Corinne: Can we see, can we see Assan in chat if we wanna see him in the Lighthouse hanging out?

Katey: Assan in chat everybody.

Corinne: Assan in chat, alright!

Katey: I love it.

Corinne: Okay, y’all this was so important to the team too. Like, this is the team’s like, just such huge support for this feature, so props to them.

Katey: This one is from Coriander. Will we get to see any of the Character Creator before the game releases?

Corinne: Yes, yes you will. We’ve got a, you’ve probably seen, we’re laying out a roadmap for, you know, what we’re gonna show and when we’re gonna talk about, so, yes you will see it as we get a little bit closer to launch.

Katey: And then we’ve got this question which is, will we be able to play as a qunari, dwarf, elf, or human?

Corinne: Hell yeah, hell yeah you will. All four, and all four have that full-body customization. I already talked a little bit about, I mean listen, I’ve always loved the qunari. I will say in Dragon Age: Inquisition it was hard to get a good-looking qunari hairstyle, so yes you can play as them, you can customize them, the horn options are rad, the hair options are rad. And also, I guess related to this, your lineage gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options, so that’s a really lovely aspect of choosing your lineage as well.

John: Yeah, I would, so to actually just to bounce off that, to an earlier question about backgrounds, each lineage, there, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose there are some specifics call-outs to, for example, if it’s the Mourn Watch, the Mourn Watch being a faction from Nevarra of mages, you play as a dwarf, obviously your experience in that faction is going to be different than, say, a human or an elf, so. There are also specific call-outs tailored to those combinations and, with again, giving, the intention of giving each lineage their own little flavor as to how they're, they fit into that faction as a whole.

Katey: Okay, John, I’ve got a question from someone named Joe for you. Where is Barkspawn and is he okay?

John: That’s a Great question. Barkspawn is safely gnawing on a bone next to a fireplace somewhere in Ferelden, don’t worry, he’s fine. You may question, ask yourself, but John, it’s been so long, in which I say, mabari live exactly as long as they need to.

Corinne: Getting into the deep-cut questions now.

John: Deep-cut questions, yeah.

Katey: Yeah. We are really speedin’ through these. Let’s see. Will Rook have a set of default name?

John: Yeah so, Rook’s last name is defined based on their faction, again, we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also, there’s a, that’s a name generator that can give you a selection of first names. Obviously if you want to make your own first name, that’s definitely something we support as well. If you’re somebody who maybe has a little bit more difficulty coming up with a name, so for example you name every single character “Bob” because that’s the only name you can think of, we also give that opportunity for that generation, so.

Katey: I definitely always have trouble coming up with what I wanna name my characters, so that’s great. This next question is, when will the voice acting cast be announced?

John: So, we worked with a lot of very talented actors on this one. I am super excited to talk about the voice acting cast. We’ll be talking a bit more over the summer, we’re not quite ready to announce names yet.

Katey: And I think we have a similar answer to this next question, which was, will there be a Collector’s Edition? When can I pre-order?

John: Yeah, same answer, we have, we’ll talk more about the different editions of the game soon.

Katey: Are there any special musical guests writing the sound-track? Will tavern songs return.

Corinne: Oh my goodness, yeah. There are tavern songs. And huge credit to the audio team and performance teams because they’re pretty great. There’s one in a little tavern in Minrathous called The Swan, and the song you hear there might just, it might be, it’s up there, it might just be my favorite of the tavern songs.

Katey: Let’s see, are there any – ope, I have just asked that one. What are the required PC specs?

John: Much like the other two, we will have more information on required PC specs soon.

Katey: Saph from the Discord server noticed that two, Dragon Age II’s main theme from the soundtrack brought back much of the iconic thematic material of Origins’ main theme, but I heard less of it in Inquisition’s. Can we expect The Veilguard’s main theme to recall more or less of that original thematic material than Inquisition?

John: So we’re not, we’re not quite ready to talk about music yet in specifics, but in broad strokes I can say the process for us is always the same. Working with the composer, working, figuring out themes, figuring out what kinds of elements we want to keep, tying specific elements to, maybe specific characters. It’s a really in-depth process and a really collaborative process. We have some fantastic audio people on our team that have done an amazing work, amazing job, working with composers, and, with the team as a whole to make sure that, again, we said earlier about cohesiveness. Making sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the experience.

Katey: And this one, I see is also for John, but I think anyone can answer this. When writing the overall story of this game, what themes did you want to have as the prominent focus?

John: I mean again, it’s interesting, so it’s interesting, because when we were writing these games, and this has been true on every Dragon Age I’ve been part of, what you start with and where you end up aren’t always necessarily the same. Sometimes you start writing out a theme, you realize actually it’s more interesting if we attack from this angle, or maybe if we twist it a little bit. I will say for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, from the beginning one of the biggest themes has been regret. How regret’s shaped peoples’ lives, how people deal with their regrets, how people maybe move past their regrets and, each of the characters, you know, the stories as a whole, have elements of this tied throughout. We really wanted to have that thematic, that cohesiveness to the game’s story and the game’s writing so.

Katey: And I know that, you know, we’ve, we've kind’ve already answered this a few times, but can we play as dwarves and does the world react to your race and backstory? Probably be good to just directly answer that one.

John: Yes you can play as a dwarf. Yes the world does react to your race and backstory. And, again, you’ll have unique dialogues or unique conversation options based on that, on that backstory and as well as that race.

Corinne: I’ll give you a little nugget here, because I saw it scrolling through real quickly. Do you have beards, like. So when I think about can I play as dwarves I think about, do we have glorious fantastic beards? Hell yeah, we do.

John: Yeah, I can say, as somebody who plays a lot of games with character creator, the beards on, I don’t know what magic the character art team did for the beards, but they feel like a beard should feel like, it’s great. They look awesome.

Corinne: Just saw somebody say “it’s beard time”, I love it. It’s beard time!

Katey: Will our heroes and companions leave us if we go against their wishes?

Corinne: Oh my good – do y’all just love pain? Do you want us to make you cry? If you go against their wishes, if you make decisions they don’t like, I will tell you, you can piss them off, you can, they might not agree with you and they, they will take some time away. That said, this is the biggest threat to Thedas we’ve ever seen, so they’re, they are always gonna be willing to show up to defend Thedas but, yeah, you can piss them off and they’ll leave for a minute. As it relates to them showing up to defend Thedas, well yeah, they will, unless…

John: No spoilers Corinne!

Corinne: Aughhh, I’ll leave it there, I’ll leave it there.

John: No spoilers.

Corinne: Okay, alright, alright. But they want it!

John: Yep.

Matt: Don’t try to stop me, Smee!

Katey: This one’s a fun one about some inspirations for the game. Dracanmo would like to know if any songs, books, movies or anything have had inspired any of the writing for the characters?

John: I mean, honestly, the thing about art is, art is always a synthesis of your own experiences both in the real world but also the art you consume, the art you pay attention to. I don’t think that any characters have what I would describe as, this character was a direct reference or direct inspiration but, I mean, yeah, they’re all inspired by the things that we do, the things, both, again, in the real world, and also in the media we consume. And you’re gonna see elements of characters that, yeah, the things that we’ve enjoyed, the things that’ve shaped us, show up in these characters. I think, for me, it’s, it comes down to, and I, I, writing is a deeply, can be a deeply personal experience, so even if you don’t intend for it to be the case, things, parts of you are going to show up in your character, I think that’s true for all the characters in The Veilguard. And, you know, sometimes it’s, exploring, exploring the, y’know, things that, about yourself that you may like or may not like, and it’s also about exploring things about characters that you like or don’t like, so. That’s kinda my long-winded way of saying yes, it’s impossible to not have that happen when you’re creating art. But I wouldn’t say that there’s one where you can say, oh this is this character, this is this character.

Katey: What was the thinking process behind making Harding a companion this time around? Was she always going to be one or did it evolve into one because she was such a lovable character?

John: Ohh, yeah. So Harding, I mean. When we released Inquisition, it was impossible not to see the love that people had for our murderous girl next door dwarf. She’s always been a fan favorite obviously, but I think beyond that, it’s something that there, that Harding’s writer wanted to explore. There was more of a story to tell there, more perspective, and beyond that, Harding obviously has a strong connection to Solas, and to the, to Varric, and to the events of the past ten years, so. I wouldn’t say it’s always been, but I’d say Harding’s probably one of the first ones we settled on as like, yes, this is a character we want and the writer had a story that they wanted to tell with her, so, it just made sense.

Matt: You know, I think actually, to piggyback on that, that’s something I hadn’t really even thought about that much, but, and it’s not a huge part of her character, but, she tends to be one of the people that have the most insight into he was.

John: Yeah, that’s exactly it, that’s exactly, and yeah, that’s a great way of looking at it too. It also provides you with a little bit of that, that perspective. For players who’ve been around, you know, who played with previous Dragon Age games, but also for new ones, who was Solas? What kind of character was, was he?

Matt: Yeah.

John: Yeah, it’s a great, it’s a great, using characters to provide windows onto the world is honestly one of my favorite things.

Matt: And, and when I say was, I just mean, in Inquisition.

John: Yes, that’s, that’s exactly it, yes. Thank you for correcting that.

Matt: Yeah.

Katey: And what approach are you taking to quest and world design in The Veilguard?

John: I think for us it just comes down to relevance and narrative heft. We want to make sure that each quest provides either a perspective on the world or perspective on the characters, or feels immediately and obviously relevant to what you’re, what you’re doing here. You’re here to save the world and, again, at the end of the day, one of the things that we heard, we heard loud and clear, was some feedback about how relevant, or in this, in our case, not relevant, previous quests have felt, so for Veilguard, we really wanted to make sure that these quests felt like something that you, somebody faced with the end of the world would believe was necessary and important. So, again, there’s quests of all sorts and sizes, but all of them share that same feeling of, this is the kind of thing that The Veilguard would do. This is the kind’ve thing that my hero would do, especially faced with the end of the world.

Corinne: Yeah, that’s, that’s really good John. That’s so right. I would just, again, double-down on how hand-crafted all the quests are, and whether, whether you’re doing, like, the main story, or you’re journeying with your companions, or you’re out exploring and you encounter a mystery. Everything’s handcrafted, intentional. We spent a lot of time listening to what y’all said, and of course everyone has slightly different tastes, but, you know, you’re not gonna be gathering shards in the Hinterlands. Everything is built with intention, and, you know, a dev there lovingly handcrafting the experience.

Katey: Are there any locations in the game that can only be accessed by making specific story choices?

John: So I don’t wanna get too much into spoilers here because this does start getting into spoiler detail, but I will say that locations can fundamentally change based on decisions you make. Some of the parts of the world that you go to, you can have, the decision, the choices you make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop, so, yeah, and again, don’t wanna too many into, into story spoilers, but, your decisions do impact how the world shows up.

Katey: And will we be able to control our companions in combat through tactical mode, or if the PC, or player character, gets KO’d, like in previous games?

Corinne: Right, so. If Rook gets KO’d, your player character gets knocked out, this time around it is time to re-load your save, or better yet, the companions have really interesting progression, you can spec them out to be able to revive you, but that’s, that’s if you’ve invested in their own progression and what they can do. And that said, I, I mentioned this earlier but I, I personally spend more time in the nature of this combat system when everything comes together, interacting and directing the companions than I have in any of the other games, so, like, like that, that interactivity between them, once you play it you’ll see how, just engaged the team is.

Katey: A user named It’s Sarah said, my real most important Dragon Age question is, will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentameter?

John: You know, I was, I actually spent a little bit of time trying to figure out if I wanted to answer this question in iambic pentameter and then I very quickly gave up. Massive kudos to Patrick who, who always writes Solas so well. Again, Solas is a returning character, it’s the same Solas you know and love, or hate, depending on who you are. Same writer, so, I think, this has been, the answer is, well of, yeah, it’s Solas.

Katey: Will our decision of who in particular was left behind in the Fade be important?

John: So, while that decision does not show up, that – sorry, let me, restart. Not for The Veilguard. That decision doesn’t show up here. Now, that said, that doesn’t mean that’s that’s not a decision that will ever be important in the future, so. Again, not for this one, though.

Matt: I’m glad to hear you say that, John, because one of my favorite stories was Bob getting stuck in the web in reboot and it just feels like -

John: That’s a, that’s a deep cut!

Corinne: Very, that’s a deep cut.

John: Holy smokes.

Corinne: My goodness.

John: The sound of my childhood.

Katey: Will we have mounts again? If so, any hints to what types we’ll have?

Matt: So no, no, mounts, excuse me. Mounts were, they were, they addressed a need in Inquisition that we don’t have in Veilguard, and you’ll see why, when you get to play.

Katey: LightningStar asks, how is the side quest design? Will they be mostly story-based, or will there be a lot of radiant quests or resources or Power, like in Inquisition?

John: We talked about it a little bit earlier, but, no, they are all hand-crafted and story-focused. Again, narrative, the companions, not just the companions but the characters in the world as a whole are so much at the core of The Veilguard that, anything other than hand-crafted quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building.

Corinne: Yeah. And maybe, we can clarify as well, because, like Power was such a divisive mechanic in Inquisition. There’s no mechanic like that that blocks your progression until you fill a bar, right, like that’s just not a thing in this. You have the autonomy to engage in these, these quests as you like. There’s no, like, y'know, grind-out gates before you can progress.

John: That’s right, yeah. Again, we wanna make sure that, again, that doing this content feels as natural and part of the logical flow of the story as possible.

Katey: So, it looks like we only have time for three more questions, so I’m going to get through those. With this next one, is from someone named Jason. Will there be a similar system to the War Table missions?

Corinne: Ooh, interesting. So, we haven’t talked much about the player’s base, the Lighthouse. And we’re gonna save that for a beat, but what I will say is that the Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, it has its own unique purposes and functions this time. So that’s an area that we’ll, we’ll leave for you when we talk more about the Lighthouse, and then when you have a chance to hop in, you’ll be able to see what those unique purposes and functions are.

Katey: If there is dual-wield for warriors, will it rely on dexterity or strength?

Corinne: Ah, okay, yeah, yeah. So we did wanna bring dual-wielding back. It is part of the rogue kit this time. So warriors are really focused on mighty two-handed weapons, can’t wait til you see, when you swing and connect with those weapons, there’s, there’s a real heft to it. And then of course sword and shield, so. We’re leaving the dual-wielding to the rogues, but you, you can see just, the amount of hits you can get in in rapid succession dual-wielding as a rogue is really satisfying.

Katey: And the last question that we’re able to get to today, is, what have been some of the challenges and advantages of working on a single, on a single game for so many years? How did you sustain the work in yourselves and the process?

John: That is a fantastic question. I will say for myself, I’ve often joked, and I don’t know how much of a joke it actually is, that when this game is out and I suddenly don’t have to keep all these pieces of game and lore and story and everything straight in my head, I’m suddenly gonna be able to speak Latin or something because there’s gonna be a ton of brainpower freed up. But for me it’s just, you know, it's, the thing that keeps me sustained is just knowing the game that we’re building is the right one. Knowing that the beats are coming together, and knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games, and how excited people are going to be when they get to see the fantastic work that the team has, has been doing. And that really is, I can say, I’ve been on this project since the start, and even today, I see things on a daily basis, I’m like holy – smokes, sorry, I almost swore, I can’t believe what the team is doing, I can’t believe the, how good this looks, I can’t believe. Because it’s a huge game. There’s pieces that I, I don’t see every piece of the game every day so, I get pleasantly surprised on a daily basis and that, I will say, you know, confession, sometimes if I’m having a particularly long day, I’ll spend about an hour late at night just watching cutscenes coming in, watching the work coming together and just, sitting back and being like, holy smokes, I cannot wait for someone who hasn’t seen this every day for so long as I have to experience this and just be blown away by the work, so.

Corinne: It's, it’s been very real, hasn’t it? And, and I will just say, speaking on behalf of the dev team, everyone’s working so hard, they’re putting so much passion, so much of themselves into it. Like this is a franchise they truly love, and seeing your support, cheering us on, it’s just meant a lot to them, so, let me just say thank you to all of you.

Katey: And I wanna say thank you to you three for taking the time to do this. I know that it matters a lot to the community to be able to, you know, get some time with you guys and, you know, make sure that some of their dying questions are, are answered, so thank you so much for taking the time out of your day to do this. For anyone who’s still listening I promise that I’m that I’m working on a way for these questions to be immortalized somewhere. Stay tuned for that so that you don’t have to worry about this, just, you know, disappearing into the ether. So, stay tuned, thank you all for your time. Anything else we wanna say before we jump off?

Matt: Thanks everyone.

John: Thank you. Yeah, I’m super excited to show more of this and, yeah, this is gonna be, hopefully this is the first of many of these opportunities to talk to you all directly. Again, it’s been a while, and getting to talk about this game has been absolutely exciting. I know for myself, as well for the rest of the team, so thank you all.

Corinne: Just thank you, it’s, the Dragon Age community, how much it means to you, how much it means to us, it’s just wonderful to see you all so invested and excited to come here and talk to us. Thank you again, truly.

Katey: We'll hopefully do something like this again soon. Okay, cool, have a great day everybody! Talk soon!

John: Bye y’all!

Matt: Bye.

[source: The dev BioWare Discord Q&A on June 14th]

Update: If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here.

#dragon age: the veilguard #dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #solas #feels #lgbtq #mj best of

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fandomgirlz01 · 7 months ago

Text

You Matter Most Pt. 2

Evan “Buck” Buckley X Reader

Imagine on my fandom Instagram?: No

Prompt or Request or Requested Prompt?: No

Style of Writing: Mini Series

Edited: Yes

Word count: 5,635

Post Date & Time: June 6th 2024 at 12:31 AM

Ko-fi

Masterlist

Warnings here

You can listen to the story be read out loud here.

Summary: {Based off of S6 E18 Pay it Forward} When a series of freeway accidents lead to a big catastrophe, Buck must worry for his team as he rushes to help them all before it only leads to an even bigger disaster. All while working on helping his team he worries mostly for his best friend who’s unconscious for most of it.

Buck’s Pov:

We watch the van as it shifts for a few minutes before it starts to wiggle out of its spot.

“Get back! Get back!” I yell out to everyone and soon everybody rushes to get out of the way.

Hen groans as me and Eddie quickly push her away. The van now starts to roll and it rolls a full 360 before landing on the ground, making dust fly up around all of us as we all duck for cover. When we are clear of anything hitting us, me, Eddie and Hen all stop to turn and look at it. The ambulance shifts around now that the van isn’t holding it up and it’s only held by the rope I had tied to it. We all helplessly watch as the back doors fly open and Chimney comes flying out. He quickly grabs onto the back of it and hangs there, trying not to let go.

“Chim!” Hen screams out in fear as she and Eddie take a step forward.

“Hey, Chim! Chim, hang on!” I quickly call out from behind Hen and Eddie as I race back to the wreckage.

“Hang on! Hang on, Chim,” I call out as I run through all the dust and cars.

I quickly climb back up to where he is and I can hear him groaning as I do. He continues to hold onto the back of the ambulance as I grab the rope beside him and quickly jump over to him.

“I got him. I got him,” I call out when I’m with him.

I grab onto him and together we both climb to the side and away from the ambulance. Slowly, I start to scale down with him as he continues to groan out in pain. Soon we make it to the bottom and we turn around when we hear more sirens from other trucks. Chimney and I both sigh out in relief at the sound.

“Dispatch. I’ve got firefighter Han, going back for firefighter Maysen now,” I use my radio to let Maddie know Chimney is okay.

“Copy that,” Maddie replies over the radio, making me and Chimney smile at each other.

“I got him! Come on!” I yell out as I pick him up and rush him over to the other paramedics.

“All right. Let us though,” the other paramedics call out as they meet us in the middle with a gurney that I set Chimney on.

“I think we’re gonna need a new gurney,” Chimney jokes as Hen comes up next to him.

We all laugh as Hen and the others quickly assess him and get his wound wrapped up. He turns to me and pushes my hand away.

“Go get her. I’ve got Hen. Firecracker needs her best friend. Go,” he tells me and I smile at the nickname all of us use for her.

“Okay,” I finally agree, nodding before quickly heading back for the rope again.

“Ravi, I’m going to need you to send down the band saw once I get to y/n. Can you do that?” I ask into my radio and pause as I continue to climb.

“Yeah. You got it. Just let me know when,” he replies over the radio.

I climb for a few more minutes before getting closer to the slab. I go to pull myself up onto it, but it shifts so I stop for a moment. Once it settles, I try again more carefully and finally I’m right next to y/n. I stay on my knees in hopes of not being too much weight and take in a deep breath at how bad it actually is. Once I’m more calm, I start to move the ruble away from her.

“Ok, Ravi, send the bandsaw down,” I command through my radio.

It takes a few minutes, but soon the bandsaw that’s connected to a rope is next to me. I quickly grab it and start to saw the rebar as close as I can to the cement underneath her.

“Hen, do I pull her off or do I keep her attached?” I ask through my radio.

“Is there a lot of blood?” she asks me back though the radio and I gulp before pressing down on the button again.

“There’s a fair amount,” I push out my words as my throat starts to feel tighter.

“Then yes, keep her connected. They’ll have to remove it at the hospital,” she replies through the radio again and I nod even though she can’t see me.

I quickly saw as fast as possible while trying to keep it away from her skin. It takes a good few minutes of sawing back and forth at the rebar, but soon it comes apart. I can’t help but be thankful that the rebar wasn’t incredibly thick. With one last sigh, I throw the saw aside before gently moving her to the best position that I can.

Next, I jump lightly off the slab while a couple other firefighters from the 256 come over. They take her from me as I carefully try to move her down by myself, cooing softly into her ear that I’m here with her and that she’ll be okay. After finally getting down, they place her on a gurney and I follow as they wheel her over next to Chimney.

“Hey. You got her. How’s she doing?” Chimney asks as he lolls his head to the side to look at her.

“I don’t know. She’s lost a lot of blood…” I inform him as I watch the other paramedics work on her and prepare her to be transferred.

“This is Sargent Athena Grant. To anyone on scene. I have captain Nash of the 118 and a civilian. We’re trapped in the container at the bottom of the collapse,” comes Athena’s voice over the radio and we all pause to listen.

“He’s pinned. We’re in need of an assist with extraction,” she continues to explain and Chimney sits up, ready to help.

“No, Chim. Chim, stay,” I tell him, pointing at him as I start to head over while Hen and Eddie push him back down.

Eddie, Hen and I rush over as I call out for Bobby. We quickly look around for any way in and I climb a bit to get a better idea of what needs to be done.

“Hen, the door is completely blocked by debris,” Eddie voices to us as he leans against the container.

“Dispatch? Dispatch, we’re gonna need heavy rescue on the lower level of the interchange. There’s no way we’re going to be able to move all this debris,” Hen speaks into her radio while Eddie tries pushing on the doors.

We keep looking for a way in, but keep finding none. I climb back down and we keep trying, but still nothing seems to work.

“118, be advised. Caltrans crew is on site, prepared to assist,” Maddie’s voice comes over the radio and we all stop to look around.

Soon the crane drives over and I quickly reach out for some chains that were brought over. I loop the chains though whatever I can before the crane hooks come down. Once they get closer, I reach up and grab onto the first one I can reach and click it onto the chains.

“Yeah. Okay, up, up, up! Go, go, go!” I yell out as I motion for the driver to go up.

He does it and soon the slab of concrete debris is moving. I’m the first to rush in as it falls to the ground behind me and I open the door to the container with Ravi’s help. We immediately find them and with the civilian's help, Eddie and I lift the biggest piece of concrete off of Bobby. Once it’s out of the way, Hen and a few others come in with the airbag. Eddie quickly takes it out of the bag and shoves it under before grabbing the pump. He then starts to air it up, making the concrete lift off of Bobby.

Once it’s high enough, we all move back and I grab Bobby’s hand. I quickly pull him out and a stretcher is waiting for him when I do.

“I’m going with y/n. Hen, you got him?” I ask her and she nods.

“Yeah. Yeah. Go with Firecracker. Me and Athena have Bobby and Chim,” she tells me and I quickly nod before running off.

I quickly run over to her ambulance and they let me hop in with them before heading to the hospital. I hold her hand the whole way and force myself not to cry until I know more about her condition. Once at the hospital, they quickly open the doors of the ambulance and start to push her out. Just as we get out, everyone else seems to arrive as well. They push her farther into the hospital and I keep hold of her hand as all the others get pushed in as well.

“We’ve got an abdominal puncture wound. Seems to have missed major organs,” Hen quickly explains about Chimney as they wheel him though first.

“Already pushed two milligrams of morphine,” she shouts out, pointing to Chimney as they continue in and she spins back around.

“This one’s got a couple of broken ribs, refused to take anything for the pain,” she explains about Eddie as she helps Athena walk him in.

“I’m fine!” Eddie groans out through clenched teeth before Hen turns back around.

“No. You’re not,” Hen sternly tells him before moving on to Cap as they roll him in next.

“Captain has a probable AC joint sprain, over a dozen lacerations and too many bone bruises to count. Aside from that, he’s in one piece,” Hen informs them as they continue to push Bobby though and she walks by his side.

“Gonna take more than a couple tons of asphalt and a semi to take Cap down,” I comment as I walk in right behind them with y/n.

“Thanks to you guys and LAPD’s finest,” Bobby tells us as he nods at Athena.

“Just another day on the job,” Athena tells him before he too gets rolled off.

“We’ve got another abdominal puncture wound, not really sure if it hit any organs. Had to leave the rebar in her side due to major blood loss and still unconscious,” Hen updates y/n’s nurses that had taken over from the paramedics right before they got to the doors.

I keep a hold on her hand, not ready to leave her side. The nurses come to a stop, making me look up at them.

“Sir. You’ll have to stay out here while she’s in surgery,” the paramedic tells me as he holds a hand up and my eyebrows furrow.

“I’m not leaving her,” I disagree, shaking my head as anger takes over.

“Sir. I promise we’ll take the best care of her, but you can’t come back into surgery with her,” he again tells me and I unintentionally let out a growl.

“I am not leaving her. I can’t…” I petulantly fight back and he sighs, pinching at his nose.

“Sir. You can’t. I’m sorry, but you have to stay here. Why don’t you get yourself checked out so you’ll be ok when she needs you?” he offers and I take a moment to think about it.

“Buck. Let them take her back. She’ll be okay,” A voice speaks up as they grab onto my shoulder and slightly pulls me back.

I turn to the voice and see Maddie giving me a sorrowful look. Before I even have time to say anything, my big sister is pulling me into a hug. I sigh and relax into the hug, gripping onto my sister's shirt.

“She’ll be okay, Buck. She’s strong, remember? She’s not leaving you yet,” Maddie softly tells me as she rubs my back and I nod.

“Why don’t you go get checked out and I’ll make sure you're the first to know if there’s any news?” she asks me and I hesitate, but agree.

“Good. Umm, excuse me, ma’am. Can you please have my brother checked out? He’s part of the 118,” Maddie explains as she stops a nurse that was walking past us.

“Sure. If you would just follow me this way, sir,” the nurse says and I again hesitate, but follow her when Maddie gives a nod.

“I’m going to find Chim. When you're done, come find me, alright?” she asks me and I nod at her before turning and following the nurse.

The nurse takes me back to a bed and has me sit down on it. She then proceeds to look me over and only takes a few minutes before smiling softly.

“Well, Mr. Buckley, you only seem to have a very moderate concussion and very little cuts along with some bruising. You should be okay, just have someone be with you just in case,” she tells me and I nod as she takes off her gloves.

“Am I good to go?” I ask her and she nods softly with a ’Hmm’.

Once she gives me the okay, I pull back the curtain and head back out to the waiting room. I walk through the two double doors I’d gone through and find Maddie sitting and talking with Athena.

Third Person Pov:

After getting Buck to agree to get checked out, Maddie can breathe just a little easier. In her head she checks him off, happy that one of the three people she was most scared for is okay. She watches as he disappears with the nurse before rushing off to find Chimney. It takes her a few minutes, but finally she finds him and rushes over to him.

“Chim,” she calls out to him as she comes up next to him on the stretcher.

“Hey,” he tells her as he takes his oxygen mask off when he sees her.

“Hi,” she tells him with tears in her eyes.

“Don’t worry. It’s worse than it looks,” he jokes with a chuckle.

“Oh,” he moans as he doubles over ever so slightly. “I’m fine,” he groans out after the wave of pain hits him and she rubs his shoulder.

“Good. ‘Cause you’re not getting out of marrying me that easy,” she jokes back with a small laugh, making him chuckle.

“Plus, I think we may have a new couple you’ll want to see when all of this is said and done,” Maddie comments and Chimney gives her a shocked yet hopeful look.

“Really?” he questions and Maddie nods.

“Ha. I called it! Hen owes me 50 bucks!” Chimney calls out before groaning in pain and Maddie laughs.

“You two bet on Buck and y/n?” she questions with a raised eyebrow.

“Well to be fair, we were just betting they’d be together by the end of this month, not that one would get hurt. But in all fairness, it worked out in my favor…” Chimney tells her as he bounces his eyebrows weakly and she laughs.

“Oh…” she comments as she finally really looks him over. “Honey…” she whispers out as he grabs onto her hand.

“I love you,” he tells her and she grins.

“Love you, too,” she parrots him with a nod and he smiles at her. He lets out a breath as he lays his head back and she squeezes his hand.

Maddie comes walking back though the waiting room with two coffees in hand just as Athena walks out one of the other members of the 118. Maddie rounds the chair and meets up with Athena in the middle.

“So that’s everyone?” Maddie asks as she holds one of the coffees out for her.

“Yep. All the 118ers have been released and sent home. Except for ours,” Athena informs her as they both take a seat.

“Doctors think they can release Bobby tonight, though. And you?” Athena explains before pointing at Maddie, who sighs.

“We have one more scan for Chim, if it’s clear, then tomorrow morning. You can guess how he took that news,” Maddie jokes even though she still worries for one more.

“Bobby tried to roll himself into the elevator when I wasn’t looking,” Athena jokingly tells her and Maddie laughs.

“You know they spend all of their time with the sick and injured, and yet…” Maddie starts trailing off at the end.

“They are the worst patients,” Athena finishes off for her.

“Still doesn’t seem real,” Maddie comments as she watches the news on the Tv in the corner.

“That it happened, or that anyone survived it?” Athena asks and the mood becomes more serious.

“Both,” Maddie tells her with a nod.

“And they all can’t wait to get back out there again,” Maddie says, trying to lighten the mood again.

“It takes a special kind of crazy to want to live this life,” Athena jokes right back, making Maddie laugh.

“Oh, by the way. Congratulations on your engagement,” Athena reverently tells her and Maddie smiles.

“Thanks,” Maddie says with a smile before they clink their coffee cups together.

“So, how’s y/n?” Athena asks after a minute of silence.

“She’s doing okay, out of surgery,” Maddie starts to explain after sighing and shaking her head as she fights tears.

“The rebar missed all vital organs thankfully. It did however rupture part of her large intestine as well as her small intestine. The nurse said y/n got lucky, that it pierced between the two almost perfectly, that’s why there was so much blood, but the doctor was able to fully repair any damage and she’s in the ICU now,” Maddie continues to explain but pauses a moment when she gets choked up.

“They are saying hopefully she’ll wake up tomorrow morning and if she does, she’ll be in a regular room,” Maddie finishes explaining and takes a big breath of air in as more tears come up.

“She’ll be okay. How’s Buck dealing with it all?” She asks, making Maddie chuckle.

“How do you think he is? He wouldn’t even let go of her hand to let them take her to surgery,” Maddie explains with a roll of her eyes.

“Sounds like Buck. Where is he now?” Athena asks as she looks around for him.

“I sent him to get checked out too. He’s going to come find me soon hopefully. I’m going to try and get him to go home, but I don’t know if he will,” Maddie explains and Athena gives her a knowing look.

“That’s going to be one tough mission,” she comments and Maddie nods just as Buck walks through the door.

Buck’s Pov:

I sigh and rub my face as I walk over to Athena and Maddie. I stop just before them and Maddie pats the seat next to her.

“So?” Maddie questions and I huff as I sit down next to my sister.

“I don’t know why you had me get checked out. I just have a moderate concussion along with a few cuts and bruises, which I figured,” I inform her and she shakes her head.

“It made you think about something other than worrying about y/n,” she tells me and Athena gives me a soft, sympathetic smile.

“We’re glad you're okay too, though. You never know what could have been, especially with what you went through today,” Athena explains and I sigh before agreeing.

“And the last few years… like electrocution, the engine falling on top of you… ya know only to list a few…” Maddie adds on with a roll of her eyes making Athena chuckle.

“She is right you have been through a lot the last few years,” athen adds in her two cents.

“Yeah. Yeah. I guess you're right. How’s y/n and Chim?” I ask Maddie and she sighs.

“She’s out of surgery and in the ICU to be watched over. If she wakes in the morning, she’ll go to a normal room for recovery,” Maddie explains as she rubs my shoulder.

“The doctor says she should be just fine. Just like I said she’d be. Chim gets to go home tomorrow morning maybe,” she continues and I go to get up, but she pulls me back down.

“Where are you going?” she asks me with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m going to be with her,” I remark in a matter of fact tone and she sighs.

“No. You're going home. You need rest. Plus there’s no visiting in the ICU right now,” she commands and I shake my head before groaning.

“No way in hell am I going home. I’ll stay right here,” I fight back and she gives me the same stern look that she’d give me and Y/n as kids growing up.

“Buck. I will be here the whole night. I promise I will call if something happens, okay? Just please go home and get some rest. Plus, don’t you need to check in on Kameron?” Maddie questions and my eyes widen.

“Shit. I forgot about Kameron. Yeah, I probably should, seeing as Connor probably hasn’t,” I groan out, rubbing at my face.

“So, go home. Shower. Rest up a bit and then come back in the morning,” Maddie softly appeals to me as she rubs my back.

“I can’t leave her though, Mads,” I speak with my voice trembling ever so slightly and my eyes filling up with tears.

“I know, but baby brother you need to think of yourself too. I promise I will call right away if anything happens, okay?” she practically begs me and I sigh, nodding slowly.

“Okay, but the MOMENT something happens, I am called…” I sternly tell her and she nods admittedly.

“The very moment,” she promises me and I sigh, nodding.

“Okay. I’ll go home then,” I agree, making Athena and Maddie give each other triumphant looks.

“Okay. Try and get some form of rest,” she commands me as I stand up.

“I’ll try, but no guarantees,” I promise her and she smiles, nodding softly.

“All I ask is that you try, okay?” she asks me as she gets up too.

“Okay…” I agree before she’s pulling me into a hug.

I close my eyes and grip onto my sister a little harder, letting the comfort take over. She rubs at the back of my head and I hold back tears at the thought that she’s not the only one that does that. She pulls away and I open my eyes to look at her. She gives me a soft smile of encouragement before squeezing my arm.

“She’ll be okay, baby brother. You just have to believe it,” she promises me and I nod, not trusting my voice at the moment.

“Maybe by then Bobby will be released,” Athena comments and I just nod, unable to get any words out.

“Buck. You’ve been through so much, so has she. She’s not going to let this be what takes her out. I just know it,” Maddie encourages me and I sigh, nodding as I wipe at my face quickly.

“Okay. Ready to go?” Athena asks and I hesitate again, but slowly agree.

Athena nods solemnly, then nods to Maddie before we both turn and start to walk towards the doors. We quietly walk to her patrol car and she unlocks it. Both of us get in and she starts the car up.

“Do you want me to take you to get your car in the morning?” she asks me as she starts driving and I pause a moment to think about it.

“If it’s not too much trouble, yeah,” I agree and she smiles softly at me.

“It’s never too much trouble for you, Buck,” she tells me in a soft tone and I weakly smile.

“Thank you, Athena. Really,” I speak in a reverent tone and she nods.

She continues to drive for a little while longer before pulling up at my apartment complex. She parks the car and turns to me.

“You take care of yourself, okay. I know you’re worried for our girl, but I know she’s strong. She’ll be awake before you know it,” Athena sympathizes with me as she reaches over and squeezes my arm.

“I promise. Plus, I’ll probably have Kameron nitpicking all over me the second I walk through the door. I’ll be good,” I inform her and she smiles softly.

“That’s all we ask, Buck. I’ll call you in the morning when I’m on my way to come get you,” she explains and I nod softly at her before getting out of the car.

After closing her car door, I walk up to the entrance of the complex before going inside. Once I’m in, I walk over to the elevator and press my floor’s botton. As I wait for the elevator, I lean against the wall and let out a sigh while frustratedly rubbing at my face. The elevator finally starts to go up and I let out another puff of air as it feels like a forever ride.

Finally the elevator comes to a stop and the doors slowly open. I let out one more huff at the thought that just this morning, she was walking these halls with me. I slowly walk down the hall, almost dragging my feet to my apartment, pull out my keys and unlock the door. The door clicks open and I turn the knob until I can push it open.

The lights are still on when I walk in, making me confused so I walk a little farther in. Kameron sits on the couch watching some TV with a jar of peanut butter. She slowly turns to look at me and drops her spoon.

“Oh my goodness, Buck. I saw the news. Is everyone doing okay?” she asks me and I pause before shaking my head.

“Almost everyone is fine. Y/n’s the only one that got injured badly,” I tell her and she frowns, getting up to come over to me.

“I’m sorry. I know you want to be with her,” she tells me as she pulls me into a hug.

“I’ll see her in the morning. For now I’m nursing a concussion, so you’ll be in charge of keeping me up,” I tell her and she smiles softly as she nods.

“Of course. I can do that. Hold that thought, I gotta go pee,” she informs me before rushing off and I chuckle, shaking my head.

I sit down on the couch and immediately my mood falls again when I see the picture of us that sits on my coffee table. I gulp and pick it up, remembering the memory for a small moment before Kameron walks back out.

“She’ll be okay, Buck. I’ve only known her for a year at most, but I know she’s strong,” Kameron comforts me and I sigh, nodding as I put the picture back.

“It’s only been a few hours, but I miss her so much, Kam,” I cry out and she smiles sympathetically before sitting down next to me.

“I know, honey. I know,” she sweetly tells me as she pulls me into a hug and strokes my head lovingly.

“You’ll be a great mom, Kam. I’m glad I could help you guys have that,” I tell her and she giggles lightly.

“You really think so?” she asks me and I pull back, nodding.

“Look how you just comforted me. I know so, Kam,” I promise her and she smiles softly at me.

“Well thank you, Buck. That makes me feel a lot less scared,” she informs me and I smile softly at her.

“Of course, Kam. I can’t wait to watch your little family grow,” I again promise her and she swats at me.

“Enough you big ol’ sap! I’m hormonal, you’ll make me cry,” she tells me and I chuckle.

“Okay… okay… I’m done. I swear,” I tell her as I throw my hands up in surrender and lean back into the couch.

“Let’s just watch some TV, yeah?” she asks as she picks up the remote and I just nod at her.

It’s now been a few hours since I got home and so far I’ve done laundry, watched some mindless TV with Kameron, and done a little bit of cleaning. I even do some of y/n’s laundry for her, knowing how much she’d need clean clothes when she gets out of the hospital. Maddie texted a little while after I put the last load of laundry in. She informed me she took Chim home, but that she’s back at the hospital with y/n. Now I stand at the counter, doing some dishes as Kameron goes to the bathroom for the fourth time.

“Uh, hey, you… you doing okay?” I ask as I turn around from putting one of y/n’s cups into the cupboard as she comes out of the bathroom.

“That’s the fourth time you’ve gone in the last hour,” I observe as she stops at the bottom of the stairs.

“Well, I have a whole human leaning on my bladder,” she snarkily replies as she rubs her belly.

“So the struggle is real,” she finishes with a sigh as she turns back to the living room and I turn back to another dish as she continues to the living room.

“Ow?” she says after she lets out a hiss and stops where she’s at, grabbing onto the stairs with one hand as she holds her stomach with the other.

“Uh… what… what was that?” I ask her in concern, stopping what I’m doing to look over at her.

“Um, I don’t know…” she trails off before trying to start walking again.

“Ow, ow, ow, ow…” she repeats over and over as she doubles over.

“Uh… was it… was it a contraction?” I ask her as I jog lightly over to her.

“Uh, I think so,” she informs me as she doubles over again and I put my hand on her back.

“Um, I don’t know. I— I felt something earlier, but it didn’t feel like this, you know?” she explains as I lead her over to the couch.

“It wasn’t that stro— oh, my God!” she continues before doubling over halfway to the couch as she screams out in pain.

“Uh, okay, why don’t we have you sit down?” I calmly ask her as I point at the couch.

“I’m gonna call your doctor—” I start to say but she cuts me off.

“I’m in labor,” she informs me in a matter of fact tone and I reach out for her.

“You—you don’t know that,” I say just as I hear the sound of liquid trickling.

“My water just broke,” she says in realization and she stands straight again.

“Something’s wrong. This is too early. This is too early,” she starts to panic and I quickly reach out for her again.

“Um, okay, it is early, yes, but it’s— it’s not too early,” I rush to calm her as I hold onto her hands.

“Let's sit you down, okay?” I calmly ask her and she nods, giving a small ‘okay’ of her own as I lead her the rest of the way to the couch.

“Let’s focus on our breathing,” I gently command as she sits.

“Okay… in…” I tell her before breathing with her and soon she starts to groan in pain.

“You got it, you’re a pro,” I try to coach her though, but her groans only intensify.

“Come on, it's okay. Let’s— let’s lay down,” I lightly command again as I grab her shoulders and guide her into a laying down position.

“Go on, I got ya. Nice and easy. Nice and easy,” I tell her calmly as I lift her legs for her and guide them onto the couch as she gives a head nod as well as a small ‘okay’.

“Okay, just keep that breathing going. In. There you go. You're doing great. Just breathe,” I continue to coach her for a few minutes and she seems somewhat calmer.

“Uh, you know, I’m gonna call the paramedics. Just in case. Okay?” I inform her as I pull my phone out and quickly dial 911.

“Uh, you’re doing good. You’re doing great. Don’t panic,” I try to keep her calm and possibly myself from freaking out as I put the phone up to my ear.

“911, how can I help you?” One of the dispatchers pick up the phone.

“I’m at 574 Grand Street. I have a woman in premature labor; it’s coming on fast,” I pause as the woman asks me some information while Kameron groans out in more pain.

“Close. Minutes,” I inform her as she types up the information.

“Uh, hey, hey, just stay calm, paramedics are on their way,” I tell Kameron as I quickly move the phone away from my mouth so I can try and calm her.

“I’m gonna grab some towels and hot water. Just in case. You’re doing great,” I encourage her one last time before rushing to the bathroom and starting to grab the towels.

“Buck!!!” she calls out for me and I rush a little quicker.

“Hurry up,” she groans out in pain as she lays back on the couch again and I open the door so the paramedics can come right in.

“Yeah. I’ll be right there,” I tell her before I rush around the kitchen for all the supplies I need.

“Hello?” A voice calls out and I hear a light knock on the door as I finish filling a bowl full of warm water.

“Wow, that was fast. She’s- she’s on the couch,” I call out over my shoulder as I keep my attention on the water.

“Who?” The voice calls out again, making me turn to look at the door to see Natalia, the girl I’ve been going out on dates with for a while.

I silently curse to myself, remembering we had agreed to talk before all of the events today. I stop the water and turn around to her.

“Natalia… uh, hi…” I say awkwardly, pausing for a moment.

“Buck!!!” Kameron shouts out and I quickly snap back into action.

“What- what is happening?” Natalia asks and I quickly grab all the towels and the bowl.

“I— I need your help. Come on. This way,” I inform her quickly as I rush over to Kameron and she follows me.

As we quickly walk over, my mind races a mile a minute as I try to place all of my energy on Kameron. I try to keep back the thought of just wishing y/n were here right now and how I’m going to have to have a talk with Natalia, but it’s really hard to just focus. I don’t want to hurt Natalia, but after today I realized y/n is the one for me. How do I tell Natalia that? Soon, though, I’m pulled out of my thoughts and back into rush mode when Kameron yells out for me again.

To Be Continued…

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