#a world with you

[johaerys-writes]

A World With You | E | Dorian Pavus/Trevelyan

Ch. 60: A Last Dance

Read on AO3 | Read from the beginning

Dorian followed Cassandra as she ran, pushing shocked nobles out of the way without mercy. The Seeker’s jaw was set in a harsh line, her impressive muscles all tense beneath her uniform. She had her eyes fixed ahead of her with deadly purpose. 

“We can’t let Florianne get away,” she told all of them, only a little breathless from having run across the entire ballroom and along the length of the vestibule towards the palace gardens. “She either surrenders and comes peacefully, or she doesn’t leave the palace grounds at all. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Iron Bull said, hefting his heavy axe. None of them had had any time to change out of their uniforms in their haste to find the Duchess; they had only barely managed to grab their weapons and make a run for it. Sera beside Dorian clicked her tongue, her features twisting in a fierce grimace. 

“Will turning her legs into bloody pincushions work?” she growled. "'Cause that's what I'm planning to do."

“I doubt she’ll surrender without a fight,” Solas chimed in. The elf had spent most of the night hidden away in the corners of the ballroom, watching the proceedings from a distance and sipping on chilled wine, no doubt cataloguing everything for later use. Solas was always much more observant than anyone gave him credit. “Neither she, nor the assassins that will surely come to her aid.”

Cassandra grunted her assent, and tightly gripped the hilt of her sword.  

The air in the palace gardens was a touch less stifling than before when they finally reached them, their boots ringing against the smooth, patterned marble. A hint of movement ahead of them alerted them to the presence of Florianne; she was standing on top of the marble railing overlooking the yard and the impressive fountain, balanced at its edge like a cat. In the mere moments that had passed since they all quit the ballroom, she had managed to change out of her frumpy and voluminous skirts and into a much more flexible leather ensemble which fit her form snuggly and made her blend into the background of the night. She was wearing a mask, much like the harlequins she had employed to wreak havoc in the palace, and an arrow was already nocked in her bow, pointed at them. 

“Where is your leader?” she asked. “Is he not going to do us the honour? Please inform him that I am sorely disappointed. I was so looking forward to a last dance.” 

“Please don’t flatter yourself, Duchess. The Inquisitor has other business to attend to,” Dorian replied with a sickly sweet smile. “Believe it or not, you are actually second or third on his list of priorities. You will have to contend with us.” 

Florianne’s lip twitched in disgust. She recovered quickly, her gaze sweeping over them in utter contempt.

“Look at you,” she said, the words dripping with sarcasm. “At all of you. What a perfect picture of defeat you present! You thought you stole the moment of my triumph, just as you stole the Freemen army from Gordian, yes? And now you've chased a defenceless woman into the garden. Are you proud of yourselves?”

“Defenceless?” Dorian scoffed. “Please. You’re as defenceless as a viper in a prickly pear bush.”

Cassandra tensed beside him, taking a step forward. “We have the palace. Surrender, Your Grace. You don’t have to die today.”

“Surrender? Now? Oh, you poor deluded thing. The night is still young. All I need is to keep you here long enough until your Inquisitor comes for you. And then, I'll kill him too.”

“Oh, it takes a lot more than a couple arrows to kill him,” Dorian agreed. “He’s quite the resilient fellow, you see.” 

“We'll see about that,” Florianne said as she disappeared in a cloud of smoke. 

Cassandra’s sword was out of its scabbard before Florianne’s smoke bomb had touched the ground. “Find Florianne. Hurry!”

“You got it!" Iron Bull said as he grasped his axe handle with both hands and jumped over the railing. He landed on his feet with a tremendous roar, laughing as he swung at the Venatori guard that was hiding in the bushes. 

“She's up on the wall!” Cassandra yelled, cutting down the Venatori that jumped before her. “Don’t let her out of your sight!” 

“Leaving so soon, Your Grace?” Dorian asked with a high-pitched laugh. He tapped the end of his staff on the ground, and the crystal on top of it shone brilliantly in the night. Magical energy flowed through him, sweet and fiery and pure, exhilarating him; he gathered his focus and visualised a rune of merciless fire, which quickly materialised where Florianne was perched precariously upon the wall. “Now, is that any way to treat your guests?”

The rune erupted in flames as soon as Florianne moved; she lost her balance and fell down into the gardens with a shriek, landing amidst some bushes. Solas was quick to take advantage of the opportunity; he summoned frost, chilling the Duchess and slowing her movements. 

But the effect didn’t last for long. Whatever her armour and weapons were made of, these were no ordinary items: she tapped an embroidered patch on her sleeve with her hand, and the ice soon melted and cleared off her. She flashed them both a rueful grin before she disappeared back in the shadows, shooting a few poisoned arrows in their directions for good measure.

They all glided harmlessly off the barrier Solas summoned around them. 

Dorian side stepped to avoid the incoming attack of a Harlequin, and then toasted his assailant on the spot. He had no interest in keeping the Florianne alive for even a moment longer, not matter how valuable a captive she might be. Someone as crafty as she was was dangerous to keep around; besides, whoever was willing to give the keys to an entire country over to Corypheus deserved every bit of the pain and disaster that was coming their way. 

Read the rest on AO3!

[mysteriouseggsbenedict]

I love Matilda because it's a story about a child who sees injustice around her and gets mad about it and questions why things aren't fair, and instead of the ending being that she learns how the world works and that life isn't fair, she catapults one of the adults who abused her out of a building with her mind

[inkskinned]

please i love you i'm begging you bring back suspension of disbelief bring back trusting the audience like. i cannot handle any more dialogue that sounds like a legal document. "hello, i am here to talk to you about the incident from a few minutes ago, because i feel you might be unwell, and i am invested in your personal wellbeing." "thank you, i am unwell because the incident was hurtful to me due to my childhood, which was bad." I CANT!!!!

do you know how many people are mad that authors use "growled" as a word for "said"? it's just poetics! they do not literally mean "growled," it's just a common replacement for "said with force but in a low tone." it's normal! do you hear me!! help me i love you please let me out of here!!!

[girldraki]

[itsbansheebitch]

Briana Boston faces terrorism charges and CEOs are getting free therapy

Briana Boston is a 42 year old mother of three from Florida who is under house arrest for expressing her frustration at her insurance (which she PAYS for) who denied her claim. She owns ZERO guns and doesn't have a criminal record.

She was originally held in prison for $100,000 bail. They have not dropped the charges and she is under house arrest even after widespread backlash.

They are trying to charge her with terrorism. They want her to spend 15 years in prison.

They are calling her a Luigi Mangione copycat. As if she killed someone. She made a indirect, not at all credible threat.

Meanwhile...

I want every woman who has ever faced threats online, stalking, etc to bring this Briana Boston up at every opportunity. Every time you were told by police that there was nothing they could do, know that they not only CAN do something, but they WILL do something, just not for you.

[glfry]

Hi guys

[sniperct]

[problemnyatic]

the steven universe hate is insane bc people are (or at least were) more upset that fictional war criminals got fictional hugs than they recognize that it singlehandedly advanced queer rep in children's media by lightyears and then straight up ate heavy retaliation for the nerve.

It does have real flaws that are worth discussing, but it also put their male protagonist in dresses and skirts and played it straight and even empowering, they aired a lesbian wedding on television, it was a genuinely queer, genuinely diverse piece of media through and through. It did a lot of real good for the real world.

But also the fictional characters caused fictional harm to other fictional characters, and didn't get an onscreen firing squad sentence. So, you know, it's basically ontologically evil in real life.

[lazylittledragon]

can't believe we're all adults being forced into the club penguin level of censorship in 2024

[beaft]

it is legit bizarre to me how hard video game creators and film directors and showrunners try to pretend that fat people don't exist. can you think of the last time you saw a fat person in a lead role? god forbid a fat woman? i can walk down the street or go into a shop or restaurant and see fat people everywhere but then i switch on the tv and suddenly it's like a glimpse into an alternate universe where no one has a bmi over 24. insidious and weird

[pangur-and-grim]

one thing that took me embarrassingly long to learn is "sometimes when people say things, they will not be true."

I used to tell people about this revelation and they'd be like yeah.....duh.....but like, why wouldn't my base assumption be that you're communicating to me in a straightforward manner. anyway, I get scammed a lot.

[johaerys-writes]

A World With You | Dorian Pavus/ Trevelyan | E | Ch. 57: Secret Memories

Read on AO3 | Read from the beginning

Whatever was going on in the Royal Wing was very, very wrong.

Tristan could tell the moment the key clicked in the lock and he set foot in the dimly lit hallway. His skin prickled, and a deep unease settled within him. There was an eerie sort of silence that permeated the space, yet the deeper they ventured into the dark halls, he thought he could catch faint whispers, just at the edge of hearing.

“The Veil… is thin here,” Tristan murmured. The Mark buzzed restlessly beneath his glove.

“Oh, goody,” Sera said with a roll of her eyes. “Where the heck is it not?”

“I’d be surprised if it wasn’t, frankly,” Dorian said. “There are so many horrors around here, both in and out of the Fade— and I can’t quite decide who’s better dressed.”

“Somebody, help me!”

The cry that pierced the unnatural and whisper-filled silence made Tristan jump, his blood running cold. They all sprinted towards where the cry came from, the door at the far end of the corridor. Tristan kicked open the door, only to see an elf crouched on the ground in an effort to avoid the assassin that was viciously attacking her.

“Please,” the girl cried, “save me!”

Tristan’s knives were out of their scabbards before the elf had finished her sentence. He slashed at the assassin’s wrist, rendering her grip on her dagger useless; then, he kicked her hard in the stomach, sending her plummeting out of the window.

“Are you alright?” He offered the girl his hand, who took it and gratefully let him haul her upright.

“I… I don’t think I’m hurt,” she panted, shaking all over. “Thank you. She would surely have killed me had you not shown up.”

“What happened to wanting to keep one of the assassins alive for questioning?” Dorian asked, hinging his staff over his back.

“Oh. That.” Tristan bit his lip. In his haste to save the girl, he hadn’t spared any thought to that. Not that it would have made much of a difference; he didn’t doubt this assassin would rather poison herself rather than speak to him, like her predecessor had.

But he did have one of Briala’s agents.

A few moments of questioning the elven girl didn’t yield much fruit. She didn’t know anything about why she was there, or what she had been sent there to do. One of Briala’s coded messages had led her to this place, but for what purpose, she could not say.

“I shouldn’t have trusted Briala,” she said, and by the way her voice trembled as she spat the words, it was plain to see that her leader’s betrayal weighed heavily on her. “I should never have come here.”

“How did you even get in here?” Tristan asked. “This wing is sealed.”

“There are secret passageways beneath the palace… many of them only known to Briala, and some members of the Royal family. Briala’s been watching the Grand Duke all night; no doubt she wanted me to search his sister’s room.”

Tristan and Dorian exchanged a meaningful glance. Perhaps Briala had reason to suspect Florianne as well— if it was truly Briala that had issued the order.

“I should have known this was a setup. The message said nothing of what I was supposed to find here, or that there might be assassins I’d need to look out for. She sent me here to die.” She took a deep, shaky breath, colour returning slowly to her cheeks. “I knew Briala. Before. When she was just Celene’s pet. Now she wants to play revolution— but I remember. Many of us do. She was sleeping with the Empress who burned our alienage.” She glanced timidly up at Tristan, hugging herself tightly. “If… if the Inquisition will protect me, I’ll tell you everything I know about our ‘Ambassador’. Everything.”

“Most Orlesians would think this is Celene’s scandal,” Cassandra murmured, crossing her arms before her chest. “Not Briala’s. I don’t see who a confession like this would benefit.”

Tristan pondered this a moment. He wasn’t convinced of Briala’s guilt just yet, from what the girl had said, but it never hurt to have options.

“Go to the ballroom,” he told her. “Find Commander Cullen. He’ll keep you safe.”

The elf nodded, relief evident on her features, then quietly padded away from them and out of the room. Tristan glanced around him after she was gone, at the room that had belonged to Grand Duchess Florianne since she was a child.

What could Briala be looking for here?

Celene’s former lover had nothing to gain from having one of her agents killed, by a Venatori no less. Unless she was working with them… but no. It didn’t make sense.  Why would they have killed a third of her people if she was one of theirs? That couldn’t be it. There was something else at play. There had to be.

“Perhaps Briala is suspicious of Florianne, and is looking for whatever she can use as leverage against her by searching her room,” Vivienne offered, when Tristan explained his thoughts to the team. “Or—and this is where things get interesting—Briala didn’t send the girl at all. Someone else did, someone who wanted to incriminate Briala and get her out of the picture. Briala’s coded messages aren’t as sophisticated as she’d like to think—a child could put two and two together and decrypt them.”

“Gaspard springs to mind. Or Celene. Or Florianne herself. Or— ugh, this is getting way too complicated. Find me one person in this whole damn palace that isn’t trying to kill or incriminate someone else.” Tristan turned around, striding out of the room. “We won’t find any answers standing here, that’s for sure. Let’s keep looking.”

Read the rest on Ao3!

[batcavescolony]

Katniss is such an unreliable narrator. She says "Then something unexpected happens. At least, I don't expect it because I don't think of District 12 as a place that cares about me" girl you deliver strawberries to the Mayor, you hunt and trade for the district, when you fell at Prim being chosen someone caught you, when you went to Prim people parted for you, when you volunteered EVERYONE stopped. Idk how to tell you but I think you're a pillar of the community.

[macrolit]

15?? More like 5.

[saulwexler]

how to explain to non-americans that the better call saul ads aren’t exaggerated for comedic effect they are super normie