#alternate captions i considered:

[shepscapades]

[Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3] [Part 4] [PART 5] [Part 6] [Part 7] [Don’t Let it Reach the Heart]

you dropped your crown king

[This comic is part of my dbhc au, following the chaos and panic that ensues after Doc and Xisuma try to get Etho back online at the start of s9 after a very rough s8 finale that leaves him a little. broken. It's set to the vibes of Joywave's Destruction!]

[vampiricbisexuality]

i’m the best chef ever acrually gordan ramsey could never

[starrysharks]

pearly in my OOTD (yes i'm emo IRL feel free to unfollow)

[peachphernalia]

he is really some sort of fucking bug .

original below cut

[symphony-calamity]

Jonny Sims pitching literally anything he's written

[camels-pen]

down and down and down we go

[johnnyutah]

[guy who is obviously going through a breakup] can you take me to the thrift store i’m normal and can be trusted at the thrift store

[catgirlkirigiri]

I told you it wouldn’t just be satosugu next time I posted jjk furries. This time there are even more gay people :)

[rovermcfly]

my transformation is complete

[majorluz]

Red/Blu Pyro Headcanons!!

To see my lil doodle featuring what I personally believe Pyro looks like under the mask go here pls!!

Red Pyro

Pyro doesn't really try to be mysterious. He just likes the anonyminity and is a little self conscious about her looks. The other mercs are skeeved out by him bc they've NEVER seen her face and have never seen him shower or use the latrine at night. That's bc she's Scary Good at moving around without being detected while unencumbered.

The first person he ever showed her face to is Engie, because he never questioned her motives or showed any fear while interacting with him and treated her like a trusted comrade, with all the friendly back-slaps and fistbumps that came with it. Of course, it was spurred by a conversation where Pyro was teasing Engineer about being scared of him while getting in his personal space, but when Engie reiterated, "No, son, I ain't scared," that's when the mask was peeled off and Dell was met with a yellowed grin and two haggard but gentle brown eyes. "How about now," Pyro signed with her free hand.

Binds with gauze sometimes to aid with the body dysmorphia and the "running-around-in-the-blistering-desert-wearing-an-asbestos-lined-suit" situation but started doing it less and less because Medic threatened to slice off his tits if she kept binding that tight. He's running out of salve and painkillers. Stop making his job harder.

Pyro is very vocal when wearing the mask but when he's not, she's selectively mute and speaks almost exclusively in SL aside from small grunts and vocalizations that are too specific to emulate with signing. (Audible frustration/sarcasam, sobbing, laughter)

Pyroland is less of a "delusion" and more like an inappropriately-timed daydream. Pyro knows what his job is and she is damn good at it, but an active battlefield doesn't really give you any time for escapist fantasies soooooo why not combine the two? it's not healthy or viable long-term but nobody's gonna intervene if the other team's good n crispy right?

Sweaty. All the time. Doesn't matter the time of day or the temperature outside. She smells like sweat, his hugs are slightly damp, and her skin sticks with the person he's touching. This is actually a very pleasant experience.

Uses novelty weapons like the Gas Passer and the Thermal Thruster because they're just so damn FUN. Favorite taunt is Gas Blast, you can probably tell why.

Blu Pyro

He's not nearly as vocal, not even while wearing the mask, she communicates almost exculsively in SL. His demeanor is a lot more docile and shy in social situations, but is arguably even more spine-chilling in combat because she doesn't always laugh maniacally when roasting the opposing team, but rather tilts his head in curious, almost childlike fascination.

The other Blu mercs are a little less scared of him than the Red team are of their Pyro because of her gentler nature, but it's still freaky to wake up in the middle of the night for a glass of water only to be met with your Pyro standing in the hallway in his full gear, staring, unmoving, at a wall...

Is also Very Sweaty but instead of smelling and feeling like a warm sweaty body he feels clammy and ill. Nobody's fond of bunking with her because it feels like sleeping next to a corpse. which is double unfortunate because he's a cuddle bug

He LOVES drawing. She'd dip her fingers in blood and draw on concrete if he had no other viable surface. Blu HQ's walls are COVERED in Pyro doodles. some of them drawn in blood The subjects of her drawings usually consist of her coworkers, houses on fire, Ms. Pauling, houses on fire, cats wearing silly hats, did I mention houses on fire? One time, he drew the entire base in flames, so her drawing materials were confiscated for a week. Which ended in the base being set on fire because he had nothing constructive to do.

Absolutely devoted to the stock Flame Thrower. When questioned about it, Pyro signs matter-of-factly, "Fire makes bad things disappear."

She gets injured. A lot. Like, a lot a lot. Not enough for a respawn, but he has shown up at the Medic's office with a butterfly knife stuck firmly in the back of her skull, a fire axe stuck in his spine, and her leg blown off from a rocket. It's become sort of a game among the others to bet on how he'll end up mangled on the battlefield. Their Medic doesn't find it very funny.

Very clingy and protective of the mercs she thinks are the 'smartest' like Engie, Spy, Medic, etc. He seems to value intelligence very highly due to her own perceived lack of it.

[laureli-amadeus-music]

presave "something profound." here. buy it on bandcamp here

out friday

How much does it take to please the troll under the bridge? ‘Cause I’ve got my reasons. They’re just not reason enough for him, when it’s all water. He looked at me and I forgot from whence I came. Calling from the deep that there’s no other way. ‘Cause if I’m me, and they don’t want it; if I’m me, there’s no one else to blame. And if I spare the void something profound, the one for me will surely come around. Or maybe I’m just kickin’ at the dust, etchin’ out somebody I can love who loves me back. For what it’s worth, you didn’t try to twist the knife. I oughta skip the melodrama for the night. I’m afraid of what I’m feeling when you’re on my mind. I… I… And if I spare the void something profound, the one for me will surely come around. Or maybe I’m still kickin’ at the dust, etching out somebody I can love.

[paper-mario-wiki]

this video made me laugh, and i wanted to post it on tumblr with some kind of caption, so here's the caption:

i think it's interesting how transient ownership over things has become in "meme" and content creation spheres. im thinking now about this video in particular. im thinking about how i downloaded it off of a tweet reacting to another post. they probably downloaded it from someone else, who got it from someone else, who got it from someone who decided to put a simple edit on a youtube video to have it speed up gradually as it progresses. that youtube video, before that, was made by someone who used this character someone else made-- a character whose identity is ubiquitous enough for it to be expected that the audience just know who they are and what they're from. along the way, as this piece of digital textile has been passed around, ripped from its original tapestry and defaced again and again to fit the intent of the current owner's message, there's been no credit given to any additive measures that brought this post into being, nor is much expected. there is a noticeable difference in meme spaces where the same level of "credit the artist" is not necessarily expected for these edits which i would consider natural descendants of the animutations of the early oughts (through the youtube poop genus, of course). i find it fascinating that these-- speaking objectively-- complex and abstract messages that take measurable effort to learn how to create, are taken for granted. they simply exist as tokens within a human ecosystem, like seashells or coins. these things just float from person to person, and everybody has just sorta grown to expect it because there's so many of them being made every single day, and so many of them are being more and more blatantly derivative. including this! this post is incredibly derivative! it's derivative of all those people who hadn't been credited because they didn't credit each other, and likely wouldn't be terribly cross with me that i didn't go out of my way to credit them. i think that's fascinating.

alternative caption:

logging into a business meeting but i forgot to turn off my vtuber software

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

Maybe I’m dumb but isit true that Rielle was classmates with the octatrio?

It's sort of implied but not outright said. Or, rather, that's a conclusion many fans (myself included) have drawn based on the wording in book 3. (The phrasing is similar in Japanese; I'm just showing English screenshots because that's what the majority of my readers will understand!)

In 3-11, Azul describes the photograph with Prince Rielle in it as one that "[commemorates] a visit to the museum". In 3-27, Deuce reads the caption for this photo: “A visit from Prince Rielle and his schoolmates.” (Ignore the fact that EN has written Rielle’s name two different ways lol)

Then in 3-35, Ruggie says the picture is a "group photo of an elementary school class". Floyd says that it's "a picture from our school field trip" and points out himself, Jade, and Azul in it.

Technically, it could be that their class happened to visit the museum the same day that the young Prince Rielle was there too. If that's the case, then why is Rielle pictured with some random elementary school's class? Maybe he wanted to be nice and engage with his people, but I'm not so sure this would be allowed for any royal to do on a whim (I imagine his guards or attendants might stop him; no way was he there alone and unattended).

It could also be said that maybe Rielle went to the same school as the Octatrio and in the same year but a different class since Deuce says the pic was of Rielle and his schoolmates, not classmates. Additionally, Floyd says it was a school trip they went on, meaning other classes from their school may have also tagged along. However, it has been made clear that the picture in question is of Azul and the Leech brothers’ class. Why would someone not in the same class as them be in that photo? Rielle must be in the same class then, right?

This line of thinking is what has led many to conclude that Azul, Jade, Floyd, and Rielle were in the same elementary school class.

If you consider the backgrounds of the Octatrio, the "Rielle is in their class" headcanon could make sense. They all come from reasonably well-off families (Tweel mob family theory + Azul's stepdad lawyer and his mom who runs the most popular restaurant in the entire Coral Sea), so it's possible that their parents could afford to send them to some prestigious school where other children of wealthy families (royals included) study.

I hope that helps! Let me know if you have any alternate interpretations for these lines.

[felassan]

Thoughts on the DA:TV Companion Concept Art:

General

I love that we saw these and I think the art is beautiful!! it's so cool seeing different versions of a character, different ideas for a character, and how things translated from concept arts into the character models in the game. I can't waaait to look through the rest of The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, with a fine-toothed comb!!

each character has iconic color palettes and iconic shapes and stuff :)

I feel like there is a lot to examine in these pictures, even with the spoilery text redacted!! 🔍🔍

I'm so extremely curious about what the redacted text says. 👁️

It looks like the geometric patterns drawn behind the characters are slightly different each time?

In the ones where multiple different outfits are shown for the character, do you suppose that these are only discarded concept ideas, or are some similar to some of the alternate outfits for the companions that we can find or upgrade for them in the game?

in some of the pages, there appears to be additional parts of the page blanked out/redacted rather than just the paragraph of text. I wonder if there are small text captions or even additional small drawings in those spaces that also needed to be redacted for spoiler reasons 👁️

In some of the sections below I just described what part of the art I was referring to, in others I popped in images because I was finding it hard to describe what I meant ^^

Also, the associated tweet mentions the BioWare Gear Store-exclusive variant of the artbook. The link in it just takes you to the general Gear Store website landing page at the moment. At the moment, the BioWare Gear Store variant of the artbook is out of stock (it went out of stock really quickly after release). However, CM Violet mentioned in the Discord that "We are planning on another printing [of the Gear Store variant of the art book], but no date yet! I'm sure we'll announce it when we have more news!" [source: the official BioWare Discord]

Bellara

Bellara's page is the only one I think with no name. did her name have to be redacted too bc of a spoilery reason?

I LOVE Bellara's pages. she's just so 🥺 (clenching my fist). some aspects of the design of Bellara's clothes remind me of butterflies or butterfly wings.

Left: the angle of this one reminds me of her party icon art. Center: this one shows a different design concept for her vallaslin. in this one she also has different earrings. in the full version of this drawing, it looks like she is holding some kind of tool in her hand (makes sense considering her Tinker ability), while in her other hand it's a piece of cloth, reminding me of the way mechanics are sometimes drawn holding rags during their work. her posture in the full version of this drawing is like 'You can fit sooo many triangles inside this bad boy [the giant elf head artifact/sculpture]'. hhh. Right: can anyone make out what the text above her bag says? ^^ btw, this bag design is so cute. edit: thankyou to @squidaped-oyt who mentioned in the replies of this post that this looks like it says "Foldable map"! more on that here.

HELLO??, this ancient elven sculpture/artifact thing is extremely 👀. the scale of it compared to Bellara is massive. there are beams of light coming from its eyes and the triangle set in its forehead. the triangular parts are a now-familiar aspect of ancient elven magic-tech and artifacts. the nose bridge reminds me of the design of elven nose bridges circa Dragon Age II - only he has a pointed part on his in addition. the bald head we're all familiar with from ancient elven statues, in-world murals/wall paintings etc. is it just me, or are the teeth also pointy? I wonder what this thing is.. was it just decorative (a head of a giant statue)? (this kind of thing in this Veil Jumper/Arlathan Forest concept art comes to mind). was it an art piece representative of a particular Evanuris or one of their chosen? or did it have some kind of actual function - maybe it was part of a giant protective automaton kinda thing? what this head really reminds me of is Codex Entry: Vir Dirthara: Signs of Victory -

The pages of this book—memory?—describe a monument made in a single afternoon by a thousand-thousand toiling servants swarming over a lump of fallen stone as large as a collapsed mountain. By the end of the day, the stern figure of Elgar'nan stares down into a valley, carved out from the foothills of the rock. The slaves have disappeared. Light radiates from the eidolon's narrowed eyes and its open, snarling mouth. "Hail Elgar'nan, first among the gods! Mark his victory eternal!"

Could this be [part of] one of those sorts of monuments/eidolons? It sure looks like it's snarling through its open mouth. And it has narrowed eyes and light is radiating from them.

The other things it reminds me of are: 1. the ancient elven sentinels (the magic-bot kind, not the Abelas and crew in Temple of Mythal kind), two. like maybe it's a giant one of these. 2. these big ancient elven hands and the Dead Hand landmark (see Trivia section) in DA:I, which is found in the Dales and contains an elven shrine and is not far from Ghilan'nain’s Grove.

Horace Medford wrote of that landmark,

"The great stone hand was something of a mystery. One assumes it is a piece broken off from a larger whole. If so, judging by the size of that one hand, I imagine the entire sculpture to be... well, large enough to require the use of obscenities to describe it. Thus I have only one question: where is the rest of the statue? It is difficult to imagine how something so large could go missing."

like maybe the head from Bellara's concept is the giant head to a similar kind of pair of giant hands (of either type).

(^ post which discusses these both here)

Left: the way this bracelet thing is worn gives it the impression of a watch, which is cool and fits her machinist/inventor kinda vibe/aesthetic :) Center: the cloth, a bit dirty from active use (what a thoughtful touch), tucked into her belt :) Right: I love the eyepiece/monocle look!! It's giving Artificer, it's giving gadgets. does anyone else think Bellara and Dagna would get on super well? 💜

These are all super interesting and I love that they were thinking about the different parts of Bellara's kit and belongings like this. in the top row, it looks like the book on the left is the closed version of the book on the right. Bellara's book full of research notes :D what I wouldn't give to browse through it!! I love how she's filled it with different bookmarks, it gives you an insight into her mind and the way it works. on the front is one of those ancient elven golden faces (like on Solas' armor's knees in Trespasser, on the Sentinels in the Temple of Mythal, on the ancient elven Deluxe edition of DA:TV armors, etc). inside, it looks like she has pressed a flower, which is so lovely. on the right-hand page, I'm really curious about the drawings there. what is it of? a map, a diagram? it reminds me a bit of the map of Arlathan Forest in the Veil Jumper issue of Dragon Age: The Missing (and it would make sense for her to have a map, Arlathan Forest is changeable lately). and if you squint, maybe that's an 'X marks the spot'? also extremely curious is the drawing on the left-hand side of the page:

Who is this depicting? the figure's headshape/headpiece/mask reminds me a lot of the Evanuris headshapes. and the general vibe of the drawing reminds me of the ancient elven Evanuris mosaics (example). Sylaise-y? but maybe it's not an Evanuris and it's more like a figure from Bellara's past? the way the flower is pressed on this page makes it look tender, like memory. or if it was an Evanuris, it makes it look like an offering or token. perhaps Bellara's vallaslin correspond to Sylaise or whichever member it is. there was a time before the gods came back the way they did in DA:TV.

It's also really cool to get a look at the fold-out material thing. do you think she usually carries this rolled up at her belt or in her bag? it looks like somewhere where she stores various kinds of ancient elven triangle fragments, or maybe it's even some kind of strange map. A map of a bunch of different reality-fragmented Veil Bubbles or something would look really strange no doubt, not like a normal map.. edit: more on that here.

Davrin

It's neat to see different hairstyle versions of Davrin! the shape of the blue sword reminds me just a lil of Starfang, which is really nice. and we saw Davrin with a griffon-wing shield like there is in these concepts in the character reveal trailer.

Comparisons of the various vallaslin designs he has in his concept arts to the final one in the game. (in some of the concepts, his vallaslin look a bit bluer, which reminds me of his tarot-style art from the party selection screen). though, in the right-most version, it looks more kind of like a circlet, a Samara Mass Effect-type situation instead :)

This on his heel is totally a spur. makes sense, for a Warden that may one day be a griffon-rider like the Grey Wardens of old :') (at least in the sense of visual language, like "spur - riding - horse - griffon").

We see Davrin equipped with an additional dagger/shortsword like this in the warrior gameplay video, albeit not this specific one, if you go by the handles.

He maybe has some stubble here. ^^

In this version of Davrin, it looks like he has a staff. (though, he still has a sword here too). Is it a polearm kinda deal, or was there a time during development when Davrin was a mage? perhaps the elf in this concept art is a version of Davrin? that elf is wielding a staff to fight, and there are some similar aspects in the outfit designs, like the considerable collar.

interestingly, his staff here reminded me of the staff held by the elven figure on the front of the DA Vinyl art. 🤔

^ Looking at that staff-Davrin concept more generally, it's interesting that this version has more overtly Grey Wardenny-parts to his armor compared to his final look, like the griffon symbol on the chestplate and shoulder.

This Davrin holds out his arm, like a falconer. in Dalish culture, the hawk is a sacred animal of the Huntress Andruil.

And this Davrin straight up is a falconer. how cool!! due to image resolution I'm not sure if the darker parts on the raptor are parts of its plumage or accoutrements, but in falconry, the birds sometimes do wear these types of accoutrements. Falconer Davrin Concept reminds me of that one DA:I Dorian concept art where Dorian had a monkey haha. :D the attention to detail in Falconer Davrin is neat too, you can see that on the hawk-perch arm he has a thick extra cover on his arm, due to the sharpness of raptor talons and grip. I really love Falconer Davrin's griffon shoulderplate, and when looking at the more geometric diamond design of his vallaslin here, what struck me was its resemblance to the diamond geometric pattern behind him.

Harding

Harding is the only one on the concept art among the named characters there who is listed as her surname rather than her given name haha. she's just Harding just like Hawke is Hawke, that's just the way it is.

The flower and leaf pattern in the top left is cute, I wonder if it was inspiration for the flower and leaf stitching Harding has on the collar of her casual clothes in the game. In the concept art it looks like the kind of design that you might have on the leatherwork on the front cover of a beautiful leatherbound journal or something. :) In the central picture she's holding and appreciating a blue flower, which is so cute ♡ and which ties to what was said about her loving plants, raising plants, and nature. she has what looks like the Inquisition hairy eyeball symbol on her belt pouch as well as on her knee pads. (;;) the version of her to the left of that shows her with her hair down, in a more pony-tail like sort of style. on that version of her, you can see flower and leaf floral patterns curling up the bottom of her cape. (very pretty).

To the right of the central image, there's a big diagonal blank rectangle of content which has been removed, presumably due to spoiler reasons. Was this also text? It seems like a weird angle to have placed text at. Maybe it's a drawing of an object of some kind being hidden? A different version of her bow perhaps? (this is the case in a few of the companion concept arts btw.)

The tailored coat and pinstripe pants version of her is so cool. :D look at the tails on the back of her coat in that image. dapper. Harding formal wear? :D

of course, the two most !! images from Harding's one are these ones. copying over my thoughts from that post,

Presumably this is to do with Harding’s new magical stoney earthy powers. (In the second image, along with the bow, it looks like half her face, part of her neck and her arm itself is also stone/crystal). The glass-like shiny parts reminds me of quartz or something. :)

I do wonder if (if they are still things in the game) perhaps those two images or the stoney parts of them could also potentially have done with being redacted for spoiler reasons? how I wish the Harding image was higher resolution so we could take a closer look at stone-Harding..! somewhere off in the distance, Varric "haha, you'd be Harding in Hightown" Tethras is like "haha, Harding, you're hard/hardening" hhhh. 💀

In the image with her hood up, the blue veins on the bow remind me of blue lyrium veins. I also wonder, is she holding the stone/crystal bow with her stone/crystal arm, or is the bow simply growing from the arm? does the hard surface of her body when it's like this repel or take less damage owing to its hardness? is this something she might be able to do in gameplay later on as her story (and powers) progress?

it stands to reason that if you can turn other people/things to stone, as she did to some ghouls in the release date reveal trailer, you might also be able to extend this power to yourself. presumably this ability is tied to the Titans, the dwarves as their children, the Stone, maybe a restored (in Harding's case) connection to that, the way dwarves used to be. it also reminds me of how golems are created using live dwarves. Caridin said "It allowed me to forge a man of steel or stone, as flexible and clever as any soldier." 👀

Btw, speaking of Harding's magical powers, I wonder if Harding dreams at night now..?

Lucanis

it looks like there's a spot on Lucanis' page other than the text at the top that is blanked out/redacted. I wonder what it contained.

part of the geometric designs behind him reminds me of his eyes motif.

some of the alternate outfits for him look really like, majestic. in the one with the manbun, he has big poufy shoulder pieces and huge sleeves.

I wonder if any concept art of clean-shaven Lucanis exists anywhere? ^^ I'm really curious about what he looks like clean-shaven, or without a beard as he was in The Wigmaker Job.

I'm losing my mind at all the different concept ideas for Lucanis' hair, especially the one with the curled forelock and LUCANIS MANBUN omg. but I like his feathery mullet that he has in the game the best. :D

The design and coloring of his sword is just so COOL. The oil-like iridescence, purple-black, is like corvid feathers.

What a lovely sketch, lovely pencilwork. ◕‿◕ his eyebrow is slightly raised and you can see here again that his nose is slightly 'crooked' (perhaps he's broken it in the past?). I love this sort of feature sm in every character that has it.

In this one his eyes are doing the glowing purple thing again. again he is not defeating the possessed/dead/abomination/-somethingelserelatedorsimilar-is-going-on with him allegations. this one has a hood in an Assassin's Creed sorta style and the general vibe is like a ninja. the shoulder pieces look feathery, and the cloak/coat looks like feathered wings or tailfeathers. this piece feels the most "The Demon of Vyrantium" in vibe hh 👁️ And are you guys seeing this?? Here it looks like has claws like Wolverine hh!! :D though he could simply also be holding multiple knives in between his fingers (of the sort you can see at his belt in another concept, I've put that one just below here to show them), or have a bladed gauntlet, etc.

This person coming at you in the night, no wonder the evil Venatori magisters are scared of him :)

Coffee, no doubt :) cool mug shape.

Bird design again on this leg-piece.

Left: a take on the now-iconic Antivan Crow bird-masks. really cool design. here it's giving Batman, it's giving masquerade ball. I really hope we see him wearing a Crow bird mask of this sort at some point during the game!! 🧎🕯️🧎 it's a big missed opportunity if not imo hh. Right: Lighthouse casual-wear, or something very close to it. his vibe in this art is also similar to his vibe in the Lighthouse group shot.

Veilguard symbol on his chest? some of the alternate outfits include a more Veilguardy purple to them, and this one reminds me of how the Veilguard symbol looks for Rook here for example.

Lastly, in this main one, his general shape is sooo triangular. :D and his face/expression here really captures this description of him from Tevinter Nights:

Lucanis stared ahead, focused and intense. He was the kind of man you couldn’t look away from—until he looked at you.

In this one I also get the sense of dark circles under his eyes, which is a trait that in fiction reminds me of coffee-drinkers. ^^

Emmrich

Both staffs in Emmrich's concept art are different to the one we see him with here, but the bigger one on the concept art is close to it.

In this concept it looks like Emmrich has a scar on his chin.

Left: without his jacket on, he looks so svelte. the gold parts on his boots/knees remind me of the gold headpieces fixed to walking dead in the Necropolis. they are also hexagonal in shape, which I've become convinced is part of Nevarra's visual design language (and therefore part of Nevarran architecture, fashion/culture etc. :D he has so many bracelets and rings. Center: he looks so happy here and in the one next to it! these versions of Emmrich seem to lean more to the purple side of his color palette. these ones have a sorta futuristic vibe. you can see some of the tools of his trade at his belt, and it's a different version of his staff. here the skull floats at the top of the staff and burns with green fire, rather than being fixed to the pole of the staff. Right: Emmrich with big hair! quiff-like, and it looks like a large part of it is white rather than gray.

in this alternate outfit he's wearing a work apron with tools of his trade on the front. he's holding a glass flask that is filled with green liquid and billowing green smoke. I wonder if Emmrich is skilled at alchemy? do you think he has a lab, or that his room in the Lighthouse might be filled with stuff like alembics?

Looking again at Emmrich's outfit in these arts - from the back, the back of his coat reminds me of depictions in art and tv/film of the blood eagle?? (if you are sensitive or squeamish to gore and things of that nature, please don't google that!). the lines on the back of his shoulders remind me of musculature. The repeating pieces down the center of the bottom part of his coat reminds me of a spine. and the back of his gold belt-piece from behind straight up looks like a pelvis. the skeleton and body imagery here is an amazing art direction/symbolism for him!! what a bigbrain idea. is that sort of detailing why the design of the front of his coat looks like someone's chest has been opened on an operating table?

also, the long coat reminds me of labcoats. :)

I wonder if the bracelets and things are a Nevarran cultural thing/common fashion in Nevarra, or more of just an Emmrich thing? ^^

lastly his expression in the one on the right is so gentle and kind.

Neve

There are two spots on Neve's page other than the text at the top that are blanked out/redacted. I wonder what they contained.

I love that they tried out differing concept/designs for the look of Neve's leg, and what looks like a stand for it as well. they're all really neat and you can see serpentine aspects in all of them. a person could also have more than one.

this image contains another great reference for Neve's wand-cane thing. here the orb in the middle looks like a big pearl, like from inside a mollusk. the ring around it is definitely evoking the body of a snake coiling.

The concept art contains a blond version of Neve. because of her ice powers, it reminds me a bit of Emma Frost (Marvel). look at that Neve's heeled boot, and the size of her hat!!

I prefer the Neve they decided to go with in the end. ♡♡ ^^

Taash

oh my goooood. breathing in and out rapidly into a paper bag. oh my godd. she looks sooo cool!! I'm posting the whole thing again here just bc omggg.

Most versions of Taash have the green crystal horn. her concept arts show versions with different skin colors. her eyes in some of them look green. I love all her different-version Lord of Fortune / Rivaini gold pieces. in the top-left hand version of her, her bigger shoulder-piece is really cool (the right-hand side one); it could at once be a piece of spiky dragon bone or a piece of a big spiky sea-shell (both ideas work perfectly for her character and background). I've said this before when talking about Taash's design, but I love the parrot-break design of one of her weapons. it's very piratey. in this page, we can see several different versions of the parrot-beak weapon. also, I love all her different facial expressions.

in the right-most Taash concept, the dragon tooth-like pointy bits on her gauntlets look like they're made out of gold, not tooth. her big piratey boots are so cool and they even have a gold coin on them! you can see the spike braided into the end of her ponytail, and in that drawing the dragonscale-looking parts of her iconic armor look even more scaley, owing to the way they graduate from a full covering of scales to a partial covering to not present (in a way that reminds of how on some fantasy arts of things like dragons, there can be softer/less protected areas of their hide with no or less scales, like towards their undersides):

The bottom-left most illustration looks like it might be her iconic armor, only seen from the back, which is good to have a reference of. the design of her sword scabbard is cool, it's like the segmented flat of a dragon or sea-serpent's tail. in that image it also looks like the eye of her parrot-weapon is matched by an eye on the scabbard. something about the designs of her sword and scabbard remind me of weapons like daos. from behind, it also looks like her gauntlets might have thicker armor on one-side, better protection for the upper side of her forearms. the fingers of her gauntlets also look taloned, in a way that reminds me of Fenris.

Okay now let's talk about the concept in the center at the top! this version has longer horns and more spikes in her ponytail, in fact the ponytail here looks like a dragon tail as a result. it reminds me of Flemeth's dragony hair from Dragon Age II onwards. this version also looks like she may have blue-ish facial tattoos, or it could be vitaar. it also looks like she may have a second, smaller set of horns. in this version, the red ropes are cyan-blue instead, and she not only has the spikes/teeth on her gauntlets, but also on her boots (knee 'pad' and the heel, like spurs). in this version, her swords are dragon wing-shaped, which is pretty metal. I can't tell if the triangular piece that hangs down in the center is from the front piece of her clothing or the back piece, but it gives the impression of a dragon tail.

Lastly, the concept in the center at the bottom: here her boots remind me a lot of Dragon Age II Isabela, who is of course, also a piratey type of character from Rivain. the giant axe here is cool, the shape of its blade also evokes the shape of a dragon wing and it looks like the handle might be made of bone. the way she's carrying the axe here reminds me a bit of how Iron Bull carries his weapon in this art piece. the teal and gold color scheme of this piece reminds me of the gold and blue/green of some Ancient Egyptian things, and round her neck it looks like she is wearing a torc.

[flowerandblood]

Don't make me laugh (Oneshot)

Brother, Lover, Son Alternative Universe

[ Aemond • Targaryen x Baratheon! • fem!reader ]

[ description: Aemond doesn't consider Borros Baratheon's eldest son or youngest daughter to be his friends, much less his adoptive siblings, yet somehow, whenever something happens, they torment him first. As if they couldn't leave him alone. Comedy and short scenes from Aemond's quiet life in Storm's End with Royce and Lady Baratheon. ]

[ warnings: none, maybe some angst + just cringe and giggling + Aemond being horny for his girl, I put reaction gifs with captions for each of the characters between the scenes just for your fun ]

This oneshot is an alternate reality from The Impossible Choice Series where, according to Aemond’s words in Chapter 49, he is sent to Storm’s End by his father when he is still just a child. It shows what would happen and how it would affect Aemond and Lady Baratheon, what his relationship with Borros, Royce and her other sisters would be like. This chapter stands apart from the main story and is a big, long “what if”. 

Brother, Lover, Son AU Masterlist

My other works: Main Masterlist

____

"Let's see how well you know me, little sister." Royce muttered, his younger sister shifting next to him in her chair, curious. Royce loved card games. Usually when Aemond was bored and just didn't feel like reading he would join them.

They would meet in Royce's commons, because it was the safest space where no one disturbed them.

Usually he didn't have to take part in the games themselves, he could just be an observer and commentator. This suited him because he didn't risk humiliation and didn't feel he was socialising with them.

Royce split the cards half between himself and his youngest sister and explained that they would be answering each other's questions written on the pieces of paper which were to test their knowledge of each other.

Aemond was nominated as the person to write down the results on the sheet and he accepted this role without much objection.

Royce pulled out the first card and grunted, leaning comfortably against the back of his chair, his sister plucked one grape and put it quickly in her mouth, their figures illuminated by the warm light of the fire burning beside them in the fireplace.

They agreed that whoever answered correctly first six questions would win.

"What's my favourite colour?" He asked, and she made big eyes and swallowed loudly what she had just eaten.

"…do you have a favourite colour? You don't even know it yourself!" She said frustrated seeing his confusion, he scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"You don't have a favourite colour." She said with confidence, taking another grape into her mouth with a loud crunch.

Royce nodded at him that, in fact, that was probably the real answer, so he drew a single line next to her name.

This time it was she who took the card in her hand and swallowed loudly before beginning to read.

"What do I like to do most in my free time?" She read raising an eyebrow, looking at him with amusement.

"To annoy me. Next. You can write down a point for me." Said Royce pointing with his chin to his card. He smirked and drew a line next to his name.

"What, no, stop it, it's not fair!" She squealed heartbroken, lowering her hands in disapproval, he and Royce tried not to laugh.

"Be quiet. What time do I get up?" He asked lowly, and she snarled.

"Much too late. Next." She said with a smile of satisfaction, reaching for another card, Aemond nodded his head acknowledging that she was right and drew a line next to her name.

"Cross it out, it's not true! You two are hopeless. Well, never mind." He waved his hand acknowledging that he didn't have the strength to argue seeing their faces full of mockery.

"My favourite word or phrase." She read out loud and he mused, scratching his chin.

"Don't tell my father." He said and they both burst into laughter, looking at each other with amusement, she pressed her lips together and furrowed her brow, sighing heavily.

"You two are awful." She mumbled, offended.

"Yes, yes, very awful. Next. Are you writing this down or not?" He scolded him, and he reminded himself that he was supposed to be writing down the results, too involved in their exchange of words.

Royce sighed heavily, looking at the next card.

"What do I dislike most?"

His sister looked at him uncertainly and pressed her lips together, clearly having no idea herself what the answer to that question might be.

"Difficult words." She finally said with a mischievous grin on her face and giggled. Royce looked at him, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Did you hear that? She's insolent. Have you ever met such an ill-mannered young lady?" He asked with a sneer, Aemond shook his head, sighing, expressing his disapproval.

"No. I'm shocked to discover it myself."

______

Royce:

Lady Baratheon:

Aemond:

_____

Knock knock.

He opened his eyes wondering what was going on and if he had misheard, night all around him. He figured it was just a dream, but flinched when someone knocked on his chamber door again.

"Brother. It's me. Please open." He heard her whisper and sighed heavily, thinking about what she wanted from him at this hour. He stood up and put his trousers on quickly, tucking his chemise into them and opened the door, looking at her with displeasure.

"Couldn't it have waited until morning?" He said lowly, impatiently, pretending he felt nothing at the sight of her in just her nightgown.

"It's about Royce. Quickly!"

They both stood in front of her brother, lying on the floor in the middle of the circular throne-like hall, babbling to himself, completely drunk, Aemond had never seen him like this before.

"What happened to him?" He asked quietly, crouching beside him, grabbing his arm, but he pulled away, mumbling something, curling up, apparently wanting to fall asleep in this place and position.

"He babbled something to the effect that he had just left for a while to go into town and someone must have added something to his wine. He woke up in the middle of a forest road with no money and so it's a miracle he somehow made it back." She whispered terrified and heartbroken. He sighed heavily, running his hand over his face.

"We have to get him out of here, father can't find out. I can't carry him alone!"

So they both made an attempt to drag his numb body up the stone stairs, putting his arms around their necks and embracing him, but his body seemed terribly heavy, his sudden, loud mumbling echoing throughout the fortress.

"Shut the fuck up! Imbecile." He growled low and she pressed her lips together, terrified, looking around and apparently praying in spirit that no one would hear them.

Somehow they managed to drag him into his chamber and throw him onto his bed, both of them panting loudly, all hot and sweaty.

Royce flopped onto his stomach and mumbled "I'm about to throw up" before flooding the entirety of his bedding with the contents of his stomach.

____

Royce:

Lady Baratheon:

Aemond:

_____

"I am organising another hunt in two days' time. It's supposed to be beautiful weather, but it won't last long, a maximum of three days, beautiful stags have been seen near our forests recently, I'm told." Said Lord Borros between one bite of roast and the other, he, his youngest daughter and Royce only nodded, accepting his words with calmness, knowing that, as always, he would want to take them with him.

"I want to go too, Father!" Floris called out, he and Royce exchanging knowing, apprehensive glances between them.

"Then so do I." Said Cassandra, and he sighed heavily, taking a sip of wine from his cup, already knowing that he would be dying on this trip.

Since Cassandra and Floris were going to travel, Maris and Ellyn couldn't be worse, so they rode in the large carriages behind their horses, not yet knowing what awaited them.

"I feel sorry for you. You're not likely to get any rest." Said Royce, and he only threw him a cold, discouraged look that said it all.

"My prince, I think my necklace has unfastened. Would you please take a look at it?" Floris asked walking up to him as he sat with Royce under one of the trees, drinking wine from the clusters. She crouched with her back to him, exposing her neck.

He looked away from her, staring ahead and took a deep sip again, weary.

"No."

Floris threw him a hurt, discouraged look and stood up, walking away with a quick step, offended.

"You don't have the soul of a romantic, brother." Royce sighed disapprovingly, taking another sip of wine.

"You don't say." He growled, glancing at the entire group of women standing by the carriages, waiting for the tents to be set up. "This is a fucking nightmare."

Their youngest sister ran up to them, already changed into her hunting attire, crouching beside them.

"What are you talking about?" She asked lightly, and Royce patted him on the shoulder looking into her eyes.

"Our brother is going to die today. Or he's going to kill someone. He hasn't decided yet."

_____

Royce:

Lady Baratheon:

Aemond:

_____

"I said already, no."

"Please, I beg you, just this once!" She mumbled, looking up at him with those big eyes, and he looked down at her impassively.

"No."

"Please, I'll pay you, I'll be your servant, please!" She whimpered running after him as he moved ahead down the corridor again, unwilling to let him alone, insisting he say something in Old Valryia's language.

He stopped, hearing her suggestion.

"You will bring me breakfast for a week, bowing and titling me properly." He said with a glint in his eye, and she pressed her lips together and swallowed loudly at her humiliation.

"Very well." She said softly and he furrowed his brow.

"Very well, what?" He asked impatiently, and she squirmed under her breath, unhappy, not liking to address him like that, driving him mad, calling him her brother all the time.

"Very well, my prince." She mumbled, and he smirked, looking at her with superiority.

"Ossēninna ao mēre tubis lo gaomā keligon jenigon nyke daor. (I will kill you one day if you don't stop annoying me)." He said lowly, and she blinked, tightening her lips, a blush of embarrassment on her cheeks.

"You just insulted me, didn't you?"

____

Lady Baratheon:

Aemond:

_____

"Where did you learn to shoot a bow so well, my lady?" Asked Erryk Selmy, the younger son of Lord Selmy, a vassal of the Baratheon family, who had travel with him to Storm's End so that his father and Lord Borros could come to an agreement over some woodland to which another lord was also claiming.

Royce and Aemond noticed that Erric had found a great liking for their younger sister and was constantly following her, and by the fact that she followed them everywhere, they were condemned to his presence.

"My father taught me." She replied lightly, not seeing his solicitations and efforts as an attempt at flirtation, thinking he was just curious. "And you, do you only practice hand-to-hand combat or do you also shoot with a bow?"

She asked, looking back at him, the young Lord Selmy straightened up, clearly wanting to grow in her eyes, and grunted quietly.

"I shoot a bow, but not as well as you, my lady." He said warmly, and she blushed in embarrassment, not expecting such words, lowering her gaze.

Aemond rolled his eyes, turning back, unable to look at it.

"I'm gonna throw up." He grunted to Royce, and he chuckled low, scratching his chin.

"The boy's in love. What can you do. It must be those big eyes of hers." He said amused. He pressed his lips together impatiently and snorted.

"Lord Erric, wouldn't you like to face me? It's a shame to waste such an opportunity." He said with a smile that did not reach his eye as he walked over to the table on which all sorts of weapons were lined.

He reached for his favourite sword, light and handy, and turned it easily several times in his hand, glancing at the boy's terrified face.

He was shorter and certainly more inexperienced, looking at him with big eyes.

The youngest daughter of Lord Borros looked at him, frowning her eyebrows, her lips uttered silently the words he understood perfectly.

'Don't you dare.'

He grinned even wider, stepping closer to them.

"Come, do not be afraid. I won't hurt you." He said with amusement, a wide grin on his lips.

Lord Selmy approached the table with an uncertain step, swallowing loudly, not knowing what to do, Lady Baratheon looked at him furiously, gestured with her finger to the ground, her lips conveyed another message to him.

'Stop it.'

He smiled sweetly at her, leaning on the hilt of his sword as if it was the happiest day of his life.

He watched her lips form words again, her hands clenched into fists.

'I will kill you.'

_____

Royce:

Lady Baratheon:

Aemond:

_____

"I understand that since I'm here, we're going to walk into town at night to have some good beer." Said Royce, patting him on the shoulder, on the exact same evening he, his betrothed and their family arrived in King's Landing to be with them at their upcoming nuptials.

"What?" He asked in disbelief, his betrothed hopping up in her chair, grabbing his arm with her hand.

"Yes, please! Do you remember the time we slipped out of Storm's End and got lost in the woods?" She asked amused, Royce laughed out loud at her memory, and he pressed his lips together.

"Unfortunately yes." He muttered lowly, turning his head away impatiently. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

Royce sighed heavily and rolled his eyes.

"Gods, why do you always have to whine so much? After all, if the three of us go out, at night, disguised, what's going to happen to us? I mean, surely we're not going out to do anything wrong? Yes or no?" He asked reaching out his hand in front of him, he felt his future wife's hand tighten on his.

"Please. Please, let's go as a threesome, there's no telling if we'll ever have this opportunity again." She said pleadingly, lifting his hand and placing a warm kiss on it.

He looked at her out of the corner of his eye and swallowed hard, struggling with himself not to throw himself at her not caring anymore that Royce was with them, he hadn't seen her in a week and was dying of desire.

He sighed heavily, tightening his lips.

"So be it."

He instructed them where to wait for him and they met at night in one of the underground passages he had found as a child, all three of them wearing long cloaks with hoods on their heads. He grasped his betrothed's hand and instructed her not to let him go for a moment, which she did eagerly, entwining their fingers.

He felt butterflies in his stomach and wondered if they left Royce for a while so he could fuck her in some dark side street would anything bad happen.

However, he decided that he couldn't be so irresponsible, after all, someone might see them.

They circled around the town simply looking around, with crowds of people all around them and lit bonfires, theatrical performances as well as food and drink stalls. Royce drank his longed-for beer, but said it wasn't as tasty as he had hoped and preferred wine.

At this point, Aemond was already starting to become slowly concerned that someone would notice their disappearance after all, and insisted that they had already returned to the keep, feeling that he was now responsible for them.

On their way back, Royce almost fell over some man lying on the ground who, at his kick, flopped to the side, his hood falling off his head, revealing his white hair.

"Oh fuck. Isn't that your brother?" Royce asked simultaneously horrified and amused, his betrothed looking at him concerned.

"Shall we help him?" She asked quietly, stroking the skin of his hand with her thumb.

"No." He muttered, turning away, dragging her behind him. "Let him lie there."

______

Royce:

Lady Baratheon:

Aemond:

_____

Okay, I had a blast writing this and I love that I was able to curate all the gifs for them from Michael Scott from The Office!! It was hilarious!!! I hope it will make you smile at least a little bit, we need it in the fandom, and I encourage you to read this series, because I love it and it's probably one of my favorites that I've written. 💐💐💐

____

Aemond Taglist:

(bold means I couldn't tag you)

@its-actually-minicika @notnormalthings-blog @nikstrange @zenka69 @bellaisasleep @k-y-r-a-1 @g-cf2020 @melsunshine @opheliaas-stuff @chainsawsangel @iiamthehybrid @tinykryptonitewerewolf @namoreno @malfoytargaryen @qyburnsghost @aemondsdelight @persephonerinyes @fan-goddess @sweethoneyblossom1 @watercolorskyy

[anistarrose]

Friendly but firm reminder that neither image descriptions nor audio/video transcripts should be in weird fonts, colors, or small text. With audio transcripts, it's presumably obvious why readability makes or breaks a caption, and with image descriptions, I genuinely understand the source of the misconceptions, but not all people who use IDs use screen readers. Some use large text instead, and weird fonts mess with that.

This is text that I personally have to squint to read more than a few words of, because the font has such a low weight.

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Having to read text like this might be difficult for some people, or possible but eyestrain-inducing for others.

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Here, the font is fine, but the colors are too low-contrast to be read on lots of tumblr themes.

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And this is just way too small to be a useful accessibility feature for anyone who reads image descriptions directly, as well as anyone who reads transcripts.

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For people using desktop who can't read some of this text, XKit Rewritten's AccessKit provides options to disable special colors and fonts (not to mention a nice alt text display option). But to my knowledge, there's no workaround for mobile users. That's why it's critical to include captions that are accessible themselves!

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I do this often, and have never had anyone get mad about it — only the occasional sincere question as to why. Addressing misconceptions from well-intentioned users — and trust me, I used to have misconceptions too — is the best way to make Tumblr (or any other comparable website) more accessible, one or two posts at a time.

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