#abevellan

[galadrieljones]

Riptide

❤️ masterpost ❤️

Dragon Age | Solavellan | Abevellan | Amerivellan | Mature ❤️

A fic in three parts, one for each of her major relationships post-Inquisition: Sene Lavellan's journey over the past ten years, beginning in the year after Solas leaves Skyhold and ending just prior to the events of Veilguard.

Chapters will be published every couple of days ***on AO3,*** as well as linked here.

Part I: Abelas

Chapter 1: You're Welcome (9/23/24)

Chapter 2: Inertia (9/25)

Chapter 3: The New World (9/27)

Chapter 4: Digging (9/29)

Chapter 5: Lighthouse (10/1)

Chapter 6: Paper Flowers (10/3)

Chapter 7: The Storm Coast (10/5)

Part II: Ameridan

Chapter 8: Inquisition Folklore (10/7)

Chapter 9: Last Call (10/9)

Chapter 10: Fireflies, Marshes (10/11) - NSFW

Chapter 11: Dragon Slayer (10/13)

Chapter 12: Winter's Bone (10/15)

Chapter 13: Unlocked Doors (10/17)

Chapter 14: The Dragon, the Redhead, and the Wolf (10/20)

Chapter 15: Who Are You Now? (10/22)

Chapter 16: Goodnight, Halamshiral. (10/24)

Part III: Fen'Harel

Chapter 17: What the Dread Wolf Takes (10/26)

Chapter 18: Valor (10/28)

***Chapter 19: Haven (10/30)***

SPOTIFY PLAYLIST

All chapters are completed, for now. I will likely continue this story in the future, but first, we need to see what happens next. Thank you for reading ❤️

[fiadhaisteach]

On This Day

(previous TIRTWs & TIRTW Key/Legend)

Things I’ve Read This Week* - 2021.10.16

New Stories

Trio AU, even afraid, we build our home by apfelgranate (@notenoughdragons) & bluebeholder (@wanderingnork) - {Solas/F!Adaar/F!Adaar} - 4,635 words - complete

Salt, Flesh, Heat by hes5thlazarus (@5lazarus) - Solas/Iron Bull - 2,105 words - complete

BTV Artober 2021 by raven4138 (@drag-on-age) - Solas/F!Lavellan - 5,343 words - WIP

The Sound of Steel on Stone, ⚜️In the Wolf’s Shadow, ⚜️Lost Elf by lavellan22 - Solas/F!Lavellan - 8,922 words - 1st work complete, last work & series WIP

Rereads

In Another World by fenkyuubi (@fenkyuubi) - Solas/F!Lavellan - 81,513 words - complete

The Dread Wolf’s Heart, ⚜️The Dread Wolf’s Heart, ️⚜️Sanctuary, ️⚜️Subtle by Feynite (@feynites) - Solas/F!Lavellan - 186,784 words - complete

All the Time Before Us by bluebeholder (@wanderingnork) & art by apfelgranate (@notenoughdragons) - {Solas/F!Adaar/F!Adaar} - 6,911 - complete

The Sound of Steel on Stone, The Fresco by lavellan22 - Solas/F!Lavellan - 1,948 words - complete

Tumblr (re)Reads

What happens to Dog if the Warden dies fighting the Archdemon? prompt by @blue-eyed-jenna - Falon the mabari & friends

Subscription Updates

Lingrean Rosal'sule'din, The Future Is Not Yet Set In Stone by angelslaugh (@skyerie) - Dorian & F!Lavellan, F!Lavellan/F!Warden, past?Solas/F!Lavellan (Ch. 63-65)

Wicked Things, What a Wicked Game to Play by Cracking Lamb (@crackinglamb) - Solas/MGiT (Ch. 51-52)

Unwritten by UnrealRomance - Solas/MGiT (Ch. 226-227)

Emerald Eyes Amidst Golden Vows - Bound Brighter by Elysia45 (@emerald-amidst-gold) - Solas/M!Lavellan (Ch. 13)

The Well by SerialChillr (@serial-chillr) - Abelas/F!Lavellan (Ch. 5)

Love, Delivered by beaubashley (@beaubartley) - Solas/F!Lavellan (Ch. 8)

Scars of Light by Kallypso (@kallypsowrites) - The Darkling|Kirigan/Alina (Ch. 55-56)

beware the forest at night, when there are miles left to go, the forest is dark and deep and i’ve seen you here before by victoriousscarf (@victoriousscarf) - Solas/M!Lavellan (Ch. 171-172)

Vena Eolas: The Journey of an Elvhen Spirit, Sule Tael Tasalal - Until We Meet Again by faerieavalon (@faerieavalon) - {Solas/OFC, Felassan/OFC} (Ch. 69)

She’s Lived a Good Life by Kinako - MCiT (Ch. 20)

Dreams, In Waking Dreams by AParisianShakespearean (@a-shakespearean-in-paris) - Cullen/F!Trevelyan (Ch. 88)

Into the Cosmos, Into the Chaos by Pakhet (@shiver-the-tiefling) - {MGiT~MBiT, Solas/MGiT, Solas~MBiT} (Ch. 82)

Til It Squeaks: A Modern Girl’s Take on Thedas, Twist Some More by CrackingLamb (@crackinglamb) - Solas/MGiT (Ch. 33)

The DA Alternate Universe Chronicles, Vir'vhen'an by RogueLioness (@roguelioness) - Solas/F!Lavellan (Ch. 3)

✔️ All the Time Before Us by bluebeholder (@wanderingnork) & art by apfelgranate (@notenoughdragons) - {Solas/F!Adaar/F!Adaar} (Ch. 2), complete

Bloodied & Broken World State, Bloodied and Broken, Rogasha'ghi'lan (The Brave Guide) by youworeblue (@dreadfutures) - Solas/F!Lavellan (Ch. 13)

lover, your back is bruised from what you carry, In the face of your light by noverture (@noverturemusings) - Solas/M!Lavellan, past Dirthamen/M!Lavellan (Ch. 101)

Just Like Fire by CrackingLamb (@crackinglamb) - Solas/F!Lavellan (Ch. 16)

Echoes Across Time by JLHall (@jlhallares) - Solas/MGiT (Ch. 235)

Shameless With a Side of Egg and Noodles by Cease_Sphire (@csphire​) - Varric/MGiT (the slowest of burns), also Solas/MGiT, M!Hawke/MGiT (Ch. 8-9)

The Guardian by HumblePeasant (@mogwaei) - Solas/OFC, Dorian/M!Lavellan (Ch. 149)

Coiling Time by Enceladus (EspressoComfort) (@espressocomfort) - Solas/MGiT (Ch. 28)

» side note - multiple chapters may mean multiple updates; or might just be me refreshing my memory, reorienting myself in the story, or rereading some for fun.

*TIRTW & can recommend (previous weeks & TIRTW Key/Legend)

[gala-art]

Abelas makes Sene paper cranes in the evenings. They fly around the tent, and they get tangled in her hair. They are beautiful, and they make her laugh, and this makes them both happy.

But sometimes, outside, where the world is mean, and the light is too bright, she gets lost. Solas made butterflies, not paper cranes. Where is the line between nature and the thing you wish you could love? Sene asks herself that, sometimes.

[ma-revas-an]

Asha’belasan

If you look closely, you can see that I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing.

[fortheloveofsolas]

Lavellan: “Why won’t you come home with me????”

[kestrelsansjesses]

Even if Abelas’ immortality vanished once he rejoined the waking world, he would outlive Maiwe. She has a mayfly’s life in comparison to him, brief and fleeting and gone too quickly so that he’s left alone just when he thought he had found something so concrete and real. 

:) :) :) 

[galadrieljones]

Riptide (Chapter 1)

❤️ Dragon Age | Sene Lavellan/Abelas | masterpost ❤️ AO3 ❤️

Chapter 1: You're Welcome

Almost a year after Solas's disappearance from Skyhold, Sene runs into Abelas while investigating a threat in the Frostback Basin.

"Oh dear," said Dorian. "Sene. Did you feel that?"

They were camped out at the mouth of the Frostback Basin. Sene Lavellan, lying on her back in the cool grass, was staring up at the stars, which blinked down like violent little fireflies. Something lovely about them, she thought, and how they swarmed the canopy. It was springtime. Dorian picked up her left hand, gave it a good one-over. She turned to watch.

"What's the matter?" she said.

"Your hand is flickering," said Dorian. "It's kicking off the Veil like bacon grease. Don't tell me there's a rift nearby."

Sene sat straight up, spring-loaded. She hadn't noticed before, but he was right. There were little green sparks emitting from her finger tips, and now she could feel it. It wasn't hot or cold or pain. Just weird. "Shit," she said, making a fist. "Why?"

Dorian glanced around. It was late. He had an odd feeling. "I don't know."

Iron Bull and Thom Rainier were out there in the weeds, stomping around, checking the perimeter for hostiles. There is something going on down there, with the Avaar, the Commander had said, back at Skyhold. He sent them to investigate, on behalf of the Inquisition, and here they were.

"I didn't used to be so scared of this thing," said Sene, staring at her hand, shaking it out like it was on fire. "I was at first, but—" She bit her tongue, literally, until it hurt. She lowered her voice so the memories wouldn't hear her. "This sucks."

"It's all right," said Dorian, setting the oil lamp between them so that he could get a better look. "We'll figure it out. There may be a rift. Or perhaps it's just, I don't know, the altitude."

"We're in a basin," said Sene. "You're supposed to be a genius, Dorian."

"I am a genius."

"Can't you just, I don't know, knock on the Veil or something? Have it tell you what's going on?"

"I may be a genius, Inquisitor, but I am not Solas. I can sense the Veil. I can even do things to it. I cannot, however, commune with the Veil."

She crossed her arms and looked down at her threadbare boots. They were heavy and worn to shreds. She hadn't had a replacement made in months. Dagna had offered several times to stitch her new ones before she left, but Sene would not accept. She just didn't feel right. "I know. I'm sorry. I'm just...stressed."

"Try not to be." He gave her back her hand, and she put her gloves on. "Still no word from Solas I assume. Nothing, not even a dream?"

Sene shrugged. "I have felt him from time to time, while asleep, but he never gets close. It only lasts for a moment, like a breeze."

"Leliana seems to have zero leads," said Dorian. He took out a little handkerchief from his pocket, began to polish the great, blue gemstone at the helm of his staff. "I've pressed her, believe me."

"It doesn't matter," said Sene. "If he doesn't want to be found, then he won't be."

"Have you thought of all the possibilities?" said Dorian.

"What do you mean?"

"Sene, what if he's—"

"He's not dead," she said. She pressed her palms to the earth. It was cold and wet. There was a fat earthworm.

"How can you be sure?" said Dorian. "When was the last time you felt him on the breeze?"

"I don't know," she said. "But I think I would know if he died."

"Well, then we'll find him," said Dorian. "I'll help you."

"Thanks," said Sene. She tried her best to smile, but it was hard. She didn't like talking about Solas. It made her itch. Then they heard a snap, somewhere in the foliage to the north. They both got to their feet. They had camped in a clearing, an orchard that seemed to have been scrubbed in the previous years by a fire. Only a few trees remained. Apples, maybe. Or pears.

"Amatus, is that you?" called Dorian.

"Yeah, it's me," said Bull. He and Thom came out of the darkness and into the advancing moonlight. The setting was strange, almost romantic, thought Sene, in a decaying sort of way. It was the kind of place that Solas would have liked, full of remnants from another time, spirits cropping up where old trees had died. It would have made him playful, acting stupid. Sene could imagine him here, smirking and making his butterflies, his little magics, which he would conjure up just to dazzle her. They'd get caught in her hair.

"Are we good?" said Sene.

"All good," said Thom, heaving his ax from one shoulder to the other. "I have to say, Inquisitor, it would be nice if Sera were here. She's better at perimeter security than anyone I know. Bloody sneaky, that elf."

"I couldn't get ahold of her in time," said Sene. "She's somewhere with the Jennies."

"We'll be fine," said Dorian. "Let's all just get some sleep. I'll take first watch."

"No, I will," said Sene. She got up and dusted herself off. She picked up her bow, trying to feel like a new woman. She was done feeling like a child. That was bullshit. It had been a year since Solas left. It was still somehow raw, but at this point, she had learned to manage. She was the leader of a major war time organization. She had her own fucking military, and she'd defeated a god. She was pretty young, but the least she could do was deal with her break-up. "I'm the Inquisitor," she went on. "You boys...go to bed."

Bull chuckled. He nudged her slightly in the ribs. "Okay, mom."

It amused her. Maybe it was all bullshit, but at least she still had her friends. She was safe. "You know what I mean," she said. "I'll come back in a few hours."

***

They all went into their tents, which were patchwork but durable leather, sent to them on a small caravan earlier that day, on behalf of Scout Harding. She was inland, awaiting their arrival in the morning. Sene took a walk. She wasn't tired. She fidgeted with her gloves, tried to stop obsessing over hear hand. Ever since Dorian had pointed it out, she was anxious. It had not acted up like this before, and she was starting to wonder if this had something to do with Solas being gone. If he'd used to have some sort of effect on its balance, or he knew how to tighten loose bolts or something in the magic. Like a puzzle piece shoved out of place, it needed to be shoved back. Or that's how it felt, the best way she could think to describe it.

Outside the orchard, the woods were thick, and she couldn't see for shit beyond the moonlight that filtered through the trees. She understood now, what Thom meant about wanting Sera. There were too many hiding places. You needed somebody who understood this sort of business. Sene was better than most, but her expertise was more attuned to animals. She was a huntress, and so of course, she immediately began to search for the high ground. She found a plateau, hanging out over the thicket, which was scalable, and so she started to climb. It would be a good look-out spot, she thought. She'd be able to see the whole orchard from up there, with a particular view of the tents.

The climb was not difficult. Once she got to the top, she flung her bow over the ledge and got her feet up. Then she stood and took inventory of the view below. All was clear. The Frostback Basin had a haunted sort of beauty about it. Everything seemed foreign. The sky was pink at the horizon, the aurora floating and swirling as milky fire. It reminded her of nothing that she knew, or that she could understand. It looked like magic. In the distance, she could hear the sounds of weird birds and animals. Mating or hunting, she couldn't really tell. The plateau felt alive, and as she was searching around to find something to lean on, she suddenly sensed the vague notion of being watched. Though she figured it was probably just the creatures of the wilds, she picked up her bow anyway. There were trees behind her. The plateau didn't seem large enough to hold enemies. The feeling though, it was getting big, like a clear vibration in the Veil. Solas had taught her to sense the vibrations early on, a skill that she was good at, because she was an elf, and because the anchor held some connection there deep in its nervous system, and it helped her detect enemies before they detected her. It could also help her sense Solas. He was so strange, and unique. She had been with him for so long, and she had loved him so hard, but she never really understood him, what he was made of. He seemed like an ordinary elf, and yet, she was certain: he was made of something else.

As she gazed into the trees, past the grip of her bow, she suddenly heard footsteps behind her. She swung around, thinking perhaps she'd been followed. Dorian, or Bull. They were nosy. They loved her, and they worried about her, and it would be so like them to follow her up here. But she didn't see them. They weren't there. Instead, she saw somebody else. Somebody she knew, but whom it took her a moment to place.

She lowered her bow. "Abelas?" she said.

He was there. It was him. The large, stern elf from the Temple of the Mythal, the man who had used to protect the Well of Sorrows. He had a large staff, which was strapped to his back by some sort of magical harness. He held his hands where she could see them, like a half-surrender. His hair was long and blond, knotted off at the back of his head. and his eyes were a brilliant green, and he was so starkly handsome beneath the of weight of his vallaslin, the effect it had on her was almost alien. He was not of this world, and she knew right away that the magical vibrations she had felt on that plateau were coming from him.

"Inquisitor," he said, taking one step toward her. "What are you doing here?"

Read the rest @ AO3 ❤️

[galadrieljones]

I would love “first snow” for Lavellan + Abelas (maybe the first snow in a long time for abelas? 🥺)

Thank you so much!! This prompt spoke to me. This is Sene Lavellan x Abelas, probably some months before the Exalted Council when they were at their happiest. Also maybe worth noting that I don’t picture Abelas much like he appears in game. My face claim for Abelas is pretty much Chris Hemsworth in Thor lol.

A Festive Sort of Place

Sene never brought Abelas back to her clan, but she got close. They camped in Highever once, never made it across the Waking Sea.

“I have never seen this part of Thedas in winter,” he said to her. They were on a cliff on a mountain overlooking the rapturous waters below. The sky was gray and sharp like metal. He had his hair knotted off his face, his eyes soft. 

“Solas used to make it snow,” said Sene. 

Abelas looked at her. She was tall, but he was much taller. Her red hair was wild in the advancing storm. “You have never mentioned him,” he said. “Never till now. Why?”

She held Abelas around his waist and put her head against his heartbeat. He was warm and good. He sometimes told her stories of his homeland which was not Arlathan, but near Arlathan. A big colony of farms on what had now become the Boeric Ocean. They called it the Backwater. He said the sand there was full of magic, and that this was the only way he knew to explain it. It was full of magic, so pure, that it blended right in with the soil. As Mythal had used to say, when she walked its verdant plains: The farms of the Backwater, they were so ferocious. They grow right up to the lip of the sea.

“It’s not about Solas.” Sene shrugged as she looked at the sky, which swirled in anger and reprieve. She loved the winter. She loved its bones. “I just thought it was something to say, because it’s true. He used to make it snow, on the rooftops of Haven, before I was the Inquisitor. Though it was hard for him. He really had to try, which was fun, considering.”

“You were lucky then,” said Abelas. “I’m not sure Solas was really ever much good with weather, despite his power. That was always Mythal’s domain.”

“So he told me,” said Sene. The air was getting crisp and bitter. She closed her eyes, breathed him. He wore a heavy fur coat, and so did she, both cut from the bears of the Dales. “Anyway. What do you think? Of the snow.”

He held out his hand as the snow began to fall, finally, from the freezing sky. He had not seen it snow, really snow, in thousands of years. It did not snow in the Arbor Wilds, where it was always hot, and the colorful birds roosted all year long. The cold felt new. The cold felt different. “It’s lovely,” he said. That’s all he said.

They stood and watched the weather until they could not take it anymore. Then they hiked back down to the city and found a tavern, a festive sort of place full of gregarious miners and the sounds of the bards and the bartenders who fed them mead from giant flasks. 

As they sat together at the bar, talking and laughing and listening to the bards as they sang old fashioned songs, Sene wondered why it had felt okay to talk about Solas for the first time in almost two years.

Perhaps I am simply done with him, she wondered as Abelas smiled in his lazy way and put the hair behind her ear. They drank their mead. Perhaps this is the end.

***

@dadrunkwriting

[fortheloveofsolas]

I’ve seen other people use Abevellan, which is completely fine. To me, Abellan has a nice ring to it. (But I’m bias aren’t I? 😏)

Does Lavellan/Abelas have a ship name? Is it Abellan? 🤔

[galadrieljones]

Same anon as last night--if you're done with this old fic of yours that's obviously fine and ignore me! but another q: in the various post-trespasser AUs ft Abelas and Ameridan, where is Solas? Does he know? What's he doing? Does he keep tabs on Sene? Does he regret his choices? Is he successfully finding a way to tear down the veil? Is he doing it for Mythal?

Hello, anon! I'm so sorry I missed this.

I haven't planned out these fics in-depth, but part of that is because I don't know where Solas is. They're based on a "canon" universe, so in all honesty, I'm sort of waiting for DA4! I don't know exactly what Solas is *doing* at this time; however, the following things are safe to say about his closeness to Sene:

Solas does keep tabs on Sene after DAI. He is extremely jealous of Abelas, even though he knows he has no right to be, and he would bring this up during their confrontation at the end of Trespasser. He would see Sene's relationship with Abelas as fulfilling all the things he has ever wanted for himself and for her: physical and emotional closeness, and an escape from the expectations of power and back to the freedoms of the natural world. After Sene breaks up with Abelas, I picture Solas approaching Abelas, as a friend, but Abelas wanting nothing to do with him. This harms Solas deeply, as in my universe, they were very close friends when they lived with Mythal.

Solas is taken by surprised when Ameridan returns. He is not sure how it worked, and he could not predict it or explain it. This threatens him a little bit, but more than anything, he is intrigued. Ameridan working with Sene causes him to question a great deal, as he is convinced that Ameridan must have a very strong, ancient magic to be able to resurrect the way that he did. Solas thinks of him as a kind of modern day evanuris and he's not sure how to deal with that. Of course, Ameridan has no ambitions beyond fulfilling his personal needs and desires. He has no want to influence the world, but I think that this would change when he learns who Solas is. He might have stories about Fen'Harel from Telana, who was a Dreamer, and might have met Solas in the Fade. Ameridan might meet Solas's mother at some point and admire her deeply. He and Sene would want to be separate from the struggles and strains of war, but inevitably, they would get sucked in.

Ameridan has major hang-ups about self-sacrifice as it ofc cost him so much. He would not want Sene to ruin her life or her youth simply trying to stop Solas. He would try to convince her to leave the problem for someone else to solve. Maybe he's wrong or right, but ultimately he just wants her NOT to blame herself so much when it comes to Solas and his plans. Sene has never been power-hungry or ambitious. Being with Ameridan allows her a quiet life, and even to move back to her farm, which Ameridan, who is basically "old order" Dalish, would love a great deal (and ofc Sene's clan would love him).

Thanks, anon for giving me the chance to think and write about these characters again!!

[galadrieljones]

Headcanon! Lavellan got a lot of panic attacks Solas would always comfort her through when she first joined the inquisition, and they lessened over time. After he left, she learned to hide she still gets them time to time from everyone else because she knows she has to fulfill the role of leader Thedas needs her to be. She begins getting them a lot again post-Trespasser because of losing her arm, etc., and Solas comforts her through the Fade without her knowledge.

This somehow became a Sene and Abelas thing. Very lightly sort of NSFW. :sobs:

Here we have “canon” Sene Lavellan: Solas left. Trespasser happened. it’s all true. Everything’s terrible. Thank you, @lavilsa, for the lovely prompt. I’m sorry it kind of got away from me.

Digging

Her big red hair was like a nest that night, in the Fade. Itwas a hot halo. Sene’s hair had become an angry place. He had lived there oncewhen it had been butterflies.

“You left,”she said to him. It was all she said those days. They were standing under a huge, tall tree next to the Fade ocean. It was dark. The sky was a purple enemy. He’d been holding her hand, and at first, she’d let him, but now, she yanked it away. “Are youcoming back?”

He said nothing. He was a desperate man. “Sene.”

“Why did yousummon me here,” she said. “Just to piss on your territory, as usual?”

“No.”

He wasstaring at the space between them, huge and tall and wound. He had called outto her, because he had felt her anger across ten thousand metaphysical seas. Itscared him. But she didn’t want his comfort. He had ruined this. She wanted to get outof that dream so bad, she got down on her hands and knees, and she started digging in the wet Fade soil. She thought if she kept digging, she’d digher way right to the center of the boiling earth and come out the other side. Wherever that was, it was better than here.

“Sene,” he said. “Please, wait.”

“I’m not listening,” she said, dirtin her fingernails. “I’m digging. See?”

She was sick of holding hands. Gasping for her breath, she began to panic. She was digging, digging anyway. Digging for dear life. Then.

Awake. Her heart was a wild animal inher chest. She opened her eyes to a hot, dark world, and she was not alone.

“Ise?” It was him, just Abelas. He was the only one who called her that. He was alarmed. She must have been talking again. In their tent,somewhere in the Emerald Graves, there was very little light.

“I’m sorry,”she said. She satstraight up, holding on tight to the implanted joke that was her new left hand.It itched constantly. “I’m sorry, Abelas.” She was sticky. She felt his big, hard hand on the back of her neck. It was a comfort, in its way. “I’m fine.”

“Are yousure?”

They looked at each other throughthe weird shadows of the tent. His eyes weresome kind of far away swamp place. Green, wet and warm and sad. She tried as hard as she could to soften up forhim that night, but it was no use. “I’m sure.”

He was an easy man at the end ofthe day. He nodded, letting her have her space.

The next morning, Sene and Abelas fuckedup six or seven demons at the crux of two rivers. These were gnarled creaturesand had been haunting a local alfalfa farm, killing the goats and the barn cats. This, forSene, was plain charity. It was how she got to sleep at night. They never acceptedpayment. They just traveled from problem to problem, fixing things where theycould.

They had been on thismerry-go-round for two months. Every time they hit a town or village, there wasa courier there, waiting for Sene, with a message from Sera or Josephine. Please come home, thenotes would say. Please just tell uswhere you are. Are you okay? Sene would always sign her name at the bottomand send it right back.

She wasn’theartless. She was just gone.

When the demons were dead,Abelas came over to help her to her feet. They were both sweating. The day wasa sweltering hot box, and there were trees on all sides. She picked a driedleaf from his collar and ground it into dust in her palm. He swatted a few bugs out of her hair. Her bow was inthe weeds.

“Good work,”he said.

“Where thefuck did they come from?” she said. “I thought the rifts were gone.”

He shookhis head. “I don’t know.”

“We have to find out,” she said.“There could be a cave nearby. An entrance to the Deep Roads.”

“Could be,” said Abelas. “You wantto hunt it now, or later?”

They stared at each other. She saidnothing, but he could feel the anger inside her, building into a familiar needthat would not go quietly. It was so big, her anger. It could eat entireworlds. It could kill. It could suck his heart from his chest and abandon it, weeping, to the sidewalk.

She took a deep breath. “What doyou want to do?” she said.

He said nothing. If she was leaving it to him, he knew what that meant. He tossed hisstaff and grabbed her by the hair and kissed her hard, felt her give beneath him. Theybacked into a tree. The birds sang overhead the whole time.

There were glimmers these days,when Sene thought she might be happy. In the middle of the night, the aftermathwith the grit still in her teeth and in her eyeballs. Abelas was a good man, a powerfulspecimen, a strong partner. He was her friend. He traveled easy. He listened to her, madeher paper cranes in the evenings that would fly around and get caught in herhair and make her laugh. She tried not to think ofit too hard as he undressed her that day in the Emerald Graves. That he was in love with her. He always had been. Because she really fucking wished she loved him, too.

Abelas was an ancient elf ofconsiderable power and an excellent mage. He was big and tough but he was softinside, made of puddles, and she liked that about him. Together, they were doing some good in this world,even if it was patchwork. Even if the Inquisition was dead. Even if it was,ultimately, fruitless.

He could really give her a run forher money though, that part was true. He was not the Wolf, but hewould do. It was the story of his life as he took her there, filled her need.Like digging. One day, he thought, if he tried hard enough, maybe he’d find her on the other side. Not so angry. Just a girl, like she’d used to be, smoking dope by the fire and laughing. Sene.

@thevikingwoman I apologize. ;_; for @dadrunkwriting

[galadrieljones]

Quarantine Reading List

tagged by @a-shakespearean-in-paris​ to share some of my fics, in case ppl are looking for some escape in the QZ. Thank you for the tag!! A good idea!!

The Last of Us

Aptly, I will start with a link to my small but growing collection of hopeful little fics for The Last of Us. I would like to add that if anyone has any prompts for The Last of Us that they’d like me to write, please send them to my inbox. I have been replaying the game lately, and am also starting to get excited for the sequel.

Red Dead Redemption 2

The Lily Farm - A big, romantic, canon divergent fix-it WIP, entering its final act. Ships are Arthur x Mary Beth and John x Abigail. This is a wholesale rewrite of Chapter 4 with a happy wedding plot, many crucial lives saved, redemptions achieved, and a daring escape for the van der Linde gang. Appearances by a couple of comedic Texas Rangers, Hamish Sinclair, Charlotte Balfour, and many OCs. If you’re looking for a happy, alternate ending to the otherwise sinking ship that is RDR2, with a good amount of romance, drama, and levity, you might find solace here.

That he may hold me by the hand - A quiet, pure romance for Arthur Morgan x Albert Mason. Not as “epic” or big as The Lily Farm, but much more focused on the two men and their relationship. A fix-it with canon divergent scenarios and ending. Also a WIP entering its final act

Yours, Sadie Adler - One-shot, ships Arthur Morgan x Sadie Adler. Post-canon, set during the epilogue. Sadie runs into John Marston, looks back on a secret relationship she had with Arthur in the months before his death. Sad, but an in-depth exploration of Sadie and her grief.

Dragon Age: Inquisition

The Dead Season - Solavellan. Completed! A big, canon divergent fix-it and wholesale rewrite of DAI, starting around Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. With Sene Lavellan and Solas’s relationship at the forefront, the story eventually opens into an exploration of Solas’s past, some Arlathan worldbuilding, and many many OCs, sub-plots, and smaller relationships that unfold. Happy ending.

Teen Wolf - A collection of short stories based around Solas’s life as a middle-class teenager living among the decadent decline of metropolitan Arlathan. Ship is Solas x Ghilan’nain, plus a big focus on Solas’s relationship with his mother.

Dragon Age Masterpost - A masterpost of my many little Solavellan, Abevellan, and Amerivellan pieces on tumblr. 

Last Call - A completed short chapter fic that revolves around a one-night stand between Sene Lavellan and Ameridan. Post-Trespasser, post-canon. Angst with a happy ending.

Horizon: Zero Dawn

Zero - Aloy x Nil. A wip longfic currently on a long hiatus. Slow burn focused around Aloy’s psychological development and Nil’s backstory, plus a lot of hurt/comfort, emotional support in a turbulent time, and friends to lovers stuff. PSA: I have been thinking of getting back to this story once I finish my RDR2 fics. 

***Link to my AO3***

***Link to my AO3 Bookmarks for fic recs***

tagging @bearly-tolerable​ @thevikingwoman​ @ellstersmash​ @pikapeppa​ @ma-sulevin​ @shallow-gravy​ @roguelioness​ @starsandskies​ @ladylike-foxes​ @idrelle-miocovani @lyrium-lovesong​ ^_^

[fiadhaisteach]

On This Day

(previous TIRTWs & TIRTW Key/Legend)

Things I’ve Read This Week* - 2020.10.03

New Stories

The Breach by Arista_Holmes (@kita-lavellan) - Solas/Female Lavellan - 497 words, complete

Rosa and Tal Stories, ⚜️Solas the Circle Mage, ⚜️Rosa Stands Tall, ⚜️Two-Hundred Arrows by Shilyn18 - Solas/Female Lavellan, Dorian/OMC - 909,905 words, WIP

Rereads

Til It Squeaks: A Modern Girl’s Take on Thedas, Twist by CrackingLamb (@crackinglamb) - Solas/MGIT - 111,990 words, WIP (one of my comfort rereads, you’ll see this a bunch)

pressure point by 17734 - Solas/Female Lavellan - 169,647 words, WIP (I can’t help it, every update, I end up rereading the whole thing)

Tumblr Reads

Revealing by @sillyleaf - Silvi Hale

Awkward by @mothergayselle - Solas/Female Lavellan

Named for Fire by @sillyleaf - Silvi Hale

28 from the kiss meme prompt by @rivainisomniari - Solas/Female Lavellan

Morning kisses that are exchanged before either person opens their eyes prompt by @5lazarus - Solas/Female Lavellan

Dreamer by @noire-pandora - Solas/Female Lavellan

Subscription Updates

nothing on my tongue by EllsterSMASH (@ellstersmash) - Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 5 & 20-24), complete

The Hunt by bubble_bones (@bubble-bones) - Fen'harel|Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 46)

Unwritten by UnrealRomance - (@unrealromance) - Solas/MGIT (Ch. 133-134)

the forest is dark and deep and i’ve seen you here before by victoriousscarf (@victoriousscarf) - Solas/Male Lavellan (Ch. 72-73)

Lines in the Sand, Lines that Shattered by RachielDen (@rachieldenrabi) - Solas/MGIT (Ch. 4)

Borderland Sorrows by SerialChillr (@serial-chillr) - Abelas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 27)

Ruins, Ruins - Prompts, etc. by luzial (@luzial) - Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 2 & 4)

Just Like Fire - Prompt Fills for La'vise Lavellan, Raindrops by CrackingLamb (@crackinglamb) - Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 1), complete, series sub

Sky Touched by Celtic_Lass (@thecelticlass) & AntlersandFangs (@thededfa) - OMC/Female Lavellan, MGIT (Ch. 19-20)

Lingrean Rosal'sule'din, It’s Not Lost Until You Give Up by angelslaugh (@skyerie) - Gaspard de Chalons & Female Lavellan, Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 153-157)

Til It Squeaks: A Modern Girl’s Take on Thedas, Twist by CrackingLamb (@crackinglamb) - Solas/MGIT (Ch. 57-58)

pressure point by 17734 - Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 22)

Shadowed Moon by Heartfelt_Memories (@evuna) - Fen'Harel|Solas/MGIT (Ch. 18)

Behind the Masks We Wear by AntlersandFangs (@thededfa) - MGIT, Iron Bull PoV (Ch. 7)

Vena Eolas: The Journey of an Elvhen Spirit, Sule Tael Tasalal - Until We Meet Again by faerieavalon (@faerieavalon) - Solas/OFC, Felassan/OFC (Ch. 62)

A Study in Scarlet by lecherysweet (@lecherysweet)- Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 17)

In the face of your light, In the face of your light by noverture (@noverturemusings) - Solas/Male Lavellan (Ch. 38)

Modern Circus AU, Soaring by bearlytolerable - Solas/Female Lavellan (Ch. 3)

» side note - multiple chapters may mean multiple updates; or might just be me refreshing my memory, reorienting myself in the story, or rereading some for fun. 😊

*TIRTW & can recommend

I do a quick search for author tumblrs (if they’re not posted on their fic, or AO3 profile); then assume they either don’t have one, or don’t want it linked to their fic, if it’s hard to find. So if you are a writer who has a tumblr they want linked to their rec, or know someone who is, just let me know and I’ll fix it.

[galadrieljones]

2, 3 & 7? for 7 - dragon age, but also is there specializations in RDR2? Is there way you like to play it?

Hey, thanks, friend! ^.^

2. An older fandom?

So I’m a little new to fandom in the contemporary sense. My first, I guess, “online” fandom was the boyband fandom probably sometime circa 1998. As you know, that was hardcore back then lol. I was maybe 13/14 when I was in this part of my life, and I read and shared some fanfiction, mostly for the boybands *NSync and the Backstreet Boys. @whosafraidofthebigbaddreadwolf and I have bonded on this level many times lol. I then took nearly a twenty-year hiatus from fandom until Solas broke my motherfuckin heart sometime in the year of our lord 2016.

3. Tell me about your favorite rare pairs.

Eeeeeh. Well right now it’s Arthur and Mary Beth from RDR2. Mary Beth is a super minor character and she doesn’t even have a quest dedicated to her in the game. But I just like them together lol. They’re both huge writing and art dorks, like me. 

In Dragon Age, I not-so-secretly ship the hell out of Lace Harding and Professor Kenrick. I also like a couple Abevellan ships out there. I like Ameridan/Lavellan and if anyone else ships that but me please let me know lol. Oh and also Cassandra and Varric. I love them. I want them to be in love lol.

7. Favorite specialization? Why?

In general I like to be an archer who also makes traps and/or crafts explosives. I like subterfuge. In Dragon Age, Sene is an artificer who just sort of hangs back amidst a minefield of elemental bombs so no one can get close to her. She’ll scatter them all over the battle field to defend her mages, too. In HZD, I play Aloy in a similar manner. I tend to surround her with traps so nothing can even get close. That is how I killed the Thunderjaw in that final Cauldron. It’s like a cage match with a terrifying, massive, very aggressive and dangerous machine. You can’t range it to death with your arrows in a cage match. So I spend like ten minutes planting traps and trip wires all over the damn place before I set it free, and then I hide, and it steps in all the traps like a giant idiot and by the time it gets to Aloy, it’s weakened enough that she can take it down with a couple well-placed arrows. I do the same shit in Tomb Raider. Hide in the tree tops, use smoke grenades to confuse, take them all down while they’re coughing and freaking out like idiots. I also like mechanics where I can trick enemies into killing each other. You can do that in HZD and also Tomb Raider with fancy poisons and technologies. 

In RDR2, it’s kind of a straight up shooter. There’s not much role playing in terms of how you approach battle. But even still, my Arthur tends to favor explosives lol. He will dynamite everyone. Well-placed dynamite takes out several enemies at once and confuses the rest, which he can then sharpshoot when they’re not paying attention. I’m kind of a pyromaniac lol. I like explosions. I like fire. >:)

Fandom Asks

[galadrieljones]

O, Q & R for the fanfic ask my dear ♥🌹

Hey, my love! ^.^

O: How do you begin a story–with the plot, or the characters?

Usually I begin a story with like, just a sentence that I think of off-hand, or maybe a scene, or an image that I really want to fulfill. This is more true for all the original fiction I’ve written. Like I’ll just envision a pregnant girl riding her bike to a video store and then I’ll write that and kind of build from there, exploring and inventing as I go. With fanfiction, it began with a character–Sene Lavellan, and her sadness, and then that became something else once TDS really got going. Chapter to chapter, I usually begin wherever I feel like it lol. Like, I just go straight to the scene I want to write, and if I need to move things around later, then so be it.

Q: Do you have any discarded scenes/storylines/projects?

Lots! In and out of fandom. I have many many stories and like, books and a million projects that are just in drawers somewhere and will never see the light of day. I have written a LOT of fiction and tbh the majority of it is scrap. It’s all necessary, but it’s done for. For TDS, I’m currently sort of writing out my alternate ending in little pieces, using peoples’ prompts for post-Trespasser headcanons. That ending included Solas actually leaving, and Sene having kind of a long term, very serious affair with Abelas, and then the whole thing sort of just becomes Abevellan. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I was just telling @thevikingwoman about this, like how I actually couldn’t make this ending play out in TDS, because there’s no way Sene would ever really forgive Solas, and she probably actually grows to truly love and need Abelas. So even if she and Solas tried to make it work after he came back, she would end up leaving him, and going back to Abelas. It is beautifully sad then, because Solas ends up alone in the world he’s created and vowed to protect. ;_;

Regardless of the ending, Solas’s backstory was always the same–including the stuff with his mother, so I think he still would have chosen to repair rather than destroy the Veil. My Solas is just more open to love than canon Solas. He knows how to be loved, and this makes it difficult for him to discard the present, where there are actually people who love him (even if he can’t have Sene, and she sort of just ends up being his transitional guide out of one life and into another).

R: Are there any writers (fanfic or otherwise) you consider an influence?

See here!

Fanfic Ask Meme

[ma-revas-an]

And yes, the armor does come off

(More complete version of Compassion returned - 1.6 k words)

The call of sea birds was absent, so was the soothing ocean breeze, yet warm stone surrounded her. How'd she get here? No, had that been a dream? She cast a hand about her, it wasn't heated stone, it was angular... Metal? She sighed curling closer to the warmth. Her hand slid over a familiar curve, a hip, a narrow waist. Her eyes flew open, a gilded armored arm wound around her, pulling her close, trapping her. She lay frozen against Abelas. Looking up full of fear only to find he was still asleep, she breathed a shaky sigh of relief.

Extricating herself would not be easy. Slowly, agonizingly she slid from his grip inch by inch, keeping a careful watch on his face, listening for any change in his measured breaths. It was embarrassing enough to know she had done it, he didn't need to know of her nightly wandering as well. Their bedrolls had mysteriously been getting closer as time dragged on in her oasis. She had assumed it a tactic, and resolutely ignored it- now she wasn't so sure. She finally slipped free, thankful he wore his armor while he slept. If he hadn't, if her bare skin had met his- then there would have been no way to hide what she'd done. She scurried back the short distance to her bedroll, waiting for the panic in her chest to calm. It was still dark, with luck she could get back to sleep and not raise any questions.

"His hurt sings the same. Lost. Feeling falling freeing. Captive yet captivating, you should let him in."

She stilled. No. This was the last thing she needed.

"Need, never knowing why. It hurts because it helps. He cares for you. I didn't see it before. It fits, far away yet firm in his chest. A small light lilting laughing her smile makes it worth waking another day."

She turned to hush the spirit. "Compassion no, please you'll wake him." Compassion only spoke louder, "He wants to be woken. Cries carried echoing empty. No one will answer. Dreaming dead and gone, dark deft shapes rending reeling he is- Trapped, a nightmare."

OH. She scrambled back to where Abelas lay, roughly shaking the man, shouting his name. "Abelas- Abelas wake up!" The sentinel scowled but did not stir, "Oh for fuck’s sake-" She reached out and touched his face barehanded.

His eyes flew open at once. And a split second later he had grabbed and rolled her, pinning her against the ground even as his conjured dagger appeared at her throat.

She breathed slowly, shallowly fighting against the weight on her chest. Worried any sudden movement would change their stalemate. The dagger vanished and she breathed a hindered sigh of relief. Though, not truly in relief- He did, after all, somehow manage to sleep in his armor, the weight of it and him dug into her uncomfortably. Yet the gears in his mind seemed to have stalled. "Abelas?" At the use of his name he remembered himself, quickly freeing her, an apology on his lips as he sat up. Unsettled as she lay there, Abelas stood and wandered off into the dark towards the stream.

"Will he be alright?"

"Yes."

"What did you mean by it fits? He... cares?"

She received no answer, catching a glimpse of the spirit flitting off after Abelas.  She sighed, knowing Compassion was far better equipped to help the man, a deep yawn left her.  Barely registering that she was still in Abelas’ bedroll, she curled up, snuggling in deeper as sleep wound its grasp in her.  There was something… calming about the scent that lingered.  She would have to think about that… later.

 He sat absently by the meandering stream, the calm of it in sharp contrast to the swift turmoil of his thoughts. He had expected the nightmare, but not that she would wake him, nor that he'd attack her for it. It was-

"Unsettling but unharmed, unknowing she... woke me." A warm hand fell to his shoulder, a long sigh left him. "Compassion."

"Yes."

"Is she... alright?"

"Soft, silent, stern yet safe. He smells good, why does he always smell so good?" Compassion tilted his head, "Yes, she worries, wonders, yet- waking next to you didn't hurt."

His brow furrowed as he attempted to parse the spirit's cryptic speech. "She..."

"Oh no, not now- can't let him find out. Curled close to him, lingering longing, so much like the sun warmed stones."

A soft breath left him... "Oh."

The spirit nodded ardently, "Yes, that helps."

He couldn't disagree, "I... Yes, it does. What are you doing here?" He shook his head knowing the spirit's likely answer. "Helping?"

A brilliant smile lit Compassion's face. "Helping."

The spirit flitted about him, muttering, as he wandered back to camp. He stopped short at the sight before him. Compassion positively glowed in the dim morning light when his eyes fell upon her tucked into his bedroll, a small smile on her face. It tugged at him, it was such a small thing- yet it affected him much more than he would have thought.

"You should brush her hair sometime, don't ask, she'll say no- just go for it and she won't stop you. Oh, and offer to spar with her, she worries she's getting rusty... Wait, that can't be right, can people rust? Armor can rust, but that comes off- but she doesn't think yours does- always armored, protector pausing when he looks my way, sorrow yet so silent. How does he do it? How does he endure?"

He chuckled quietly as the spirit babbled excitedly on and on about the things that would ostensibly help, wondering how accurate they were. He imagined brushing her hair without permission would end with another stalemate and a dagger- only the roles switched.

"-Oh, he has to let her go. Poisoned perilous parry the grasping claws, a small scratch sinking deeper, dangerous. It calls my name when I think of him, words wounding foreign in my mouth. It's getting worse." Compassion held his gaze, searchingly. "He's not ready. Fighting fears forgotten, he wakes alone longing- the tighter he grasps the further she falls. He needs to know it wasn't a mistake, destroyed, dealt the hand of death- corpses were his gift to her, it should have been a caress, compassion not a command. Weeping, welts wound his soul- he's... changing. I must go. He needs my help."

Abelas nodded and the spirit turned back to face him, "And she's going to need yours."

 He stood there for a long time after the spirit left, hoping compassion wouldn't bring the wolf's wrath down upon them. If anyone grasped the gravity of the situation it was compassion. Quietly he undid the clasps of his breastplate, divesting himself of the weighted shield. Stripping down to the light leggings he wore under the metal. Piling the pieces next to her bedroll, he felt curiously light. Lighter than when he stripped down to bathe at the house. He grabbed a loose shirt from his pack, pulling it over his head before he climbed into her bedroll, wondering how embarrassed she would be at the trade. Though he hadn't anticipated what falling asleep enveloped in her scent would do to him.

This time he dreamed of her.

 She woke slowly, wondering when compassion would pounce to helpfully-unhelpfully suggest all sorts of uncomfortable things. Yet... As seconds turned to minutes with just the sounds of cooking... Oh cooking. She propped herself up on her elbows blinking blearily at Abelas... He was... Curiously… startlingly undressed. A pair of tight woven leggings and a loose linen shirt- the sleeves rolled up past his elbows... He was barefoot, no shiny metal no walls... It was strange- And, it appeared the spirit was no longer here. "So it does come off? I was starting to think it was permanent."

He chuckled quietly, "Yes, it does come off." He glanced at her over his shoulder, "Sleep well?"

Her brows scrunched at his goading tone, wondering... "Oh." Shit. She looked down at the bedroll she was in, then over to hers, then back to Abelas. She was expecting smugness- yet, nothing even close made its home in his eyes. She felt, vulnerable... As if his choice to drop his walls had leveled hers as well. His eyes lingered a moment on her growing blush before he mercifully turned back towards breakfast. She quietly climbed out of his blanket, not even sure why it mattered to her so much. They were both technically his-

She edged around to her pack, pulling out her last pair of leggings as well as dragging half the contents of the bag with them. She cursed quietly, drawing attention to herself was the last thing she wanted at the moment as she hastily pulled them on. If he was going to be dressed like that... Then she might as well wear pants.

She shoved her things haphazardly back into their heap in her bag, tentatively looking up to see Abelas watching her curiously. "...What?"

"Nothing."

She scowled at his back as he turned around, pulling a face.

"What did compassion want?"

She could practically hear the smirk in his voice, "to help."

She palmed her face, the two of them were going to be the end of her. "And did he? What did he say...?"

"He did. And yes, the armor does come off."

He glanced back at her again as she stood mortified... They had pulled that idea from her thoughts. If the spirit had told him that, then what else?

 They ate in a peaceful silence. And it was strange. Without his armor... They could be just two elves, no duties, no orders, no empire. Just two people sharing a meal, it was... It was something she had sorely missed.

She couldn't help but glance at him every few moments. He was... Different. Lighter somehow.