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pandastern · 7 years ago

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Getting into trouble - Solavellan

I’d like to point out that English is not my native tounge and if there are mistakes, feel free to edit them?

Pairing: solavellan

Summery: After a long day Inquisitor Lavellan decides to take a break and seeks out Solas in the rotunda.

Ciia'ana sighed deeply as she slipped out of the war room. This day was so not going the was she’d hoped. Meetings with nobles and ambassadors, several briefings from josephine and more war talk with Cullen, Cassandra and Leliana. She needed a break.

The past couple days had been hell. The schedule hadn’t changed in the least and additional to that came that her own thoughts, doubts and fears and worries just wouldn’t let her sleep.

The Inquisitor had not dared to look into a mirror today, knowing full well that the dark circles under her eyes made her face look hollow. Mythal’s mercy.

Hoping to find at least a little peace and quiet she dragged her exhausted body past all the chatting people in the main hall, managing smiles and handshakes and a few respectful chitchats before closing the door that lead to the rotunda behind her.

As the heavy door fell into place she leaned against the old but still solid wood and closed her eyes. Ciia'ana took a deep breath. Finally….

Slowly she stepped into the circular room. The walls of the rotunda were decorated with beautiful murals of their past victories all displayed in beautiful and vibrant colours, all handpainted by a single man.

Her mouth curved into a loving smile as she saw him standing in front of a still empty wall, paintbrush in hand. Apparently he had started to put down their most recent escapade. The siege of adamant. A terribly sad battle….and even though the Inquisition had come out of it victorious….She didn’t feel like she was truly victorious in this. Too many lives were lost to call it anything but a tragedy.

Quietly she walked over to the Apostate so deep in thoughts and wrapped her arms around his waist from behind burying her face in his back right between his shoulder blades. Ciia'ana inhaled his scent deeply. He smelled like paint and plaster, like books and …solas. instantly the tension seemed to seep out of her body.

“Vhenan”,he said with his smooth, melodic voice “is there something you need, ma lath?”

Ciia'ana let out a tired humm and snuggled closer. There were tons of things she needed. Especially of him. Half of them naked and reserved for quiet quarters, however right now she hoped to just be held and maybe get some rest…preferably with solas keeping her company.

Solas let out a sigh and put aside his paint and brushes before turning in her embrace and pulling her close to his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her slim body.

Smiling she snuggled closer and wrapped her arms around him again. She could feel his heart beating under her ear. His embrace was strong and warm..and everything she ever wanted. If she could just stay here��right here in his arms..

His soft laugh rumbled in his chest. A comfortable shiver ran over her skin. She loved his voice. Loved his laugh even more. So smooth and warm…So cultivated.

“Long day?”, he asked gently.

She nodded.

“If I have to politely converse with any noble or look at the war table again today I might just open a rift and throw myself in”, she muttered against his chest.

She earned another laugh from him

“Now that would be a shame…”, he said and he took her chin between index finger and thumb, raising it just slightly to make her look at him.

His stormy grey eyes peered into hers and she just felt herself getting lost in them. This man…This impossible man. She never thought she’d be able to love someone so fiercely and yet whenever she looked at him she felt like falling all over again.

His lips, full and soft and so full of sensual promises, curved up to a mischievous smile, his thumb brushed over her lower lip.

Ciia'ana had to swallow down the urge to just grab him and kiss him, taste him-

“I could offer you refuge”, he said in a nonchalant tone, “however, there is a price”

He was playing with her. She smirked.

“Oh? And what exactly would that cost me?”, she played along and tilting her head slightly to the side while pressing herself a little loser to his chest. Her heart was fluttering in her ribcage and she was sure he must have felt it.

The bright grey of his beautiful eyes darkened with something she couldn’t help but describe as hunger and for one short moment he looked like a wolf peering down on a halla.

She reached up and brushed her fingers against his cheek. “Solas?”

As if deep in thoughts his eyes trailed to her lips. She noticed that he was slightly chewing on his own lower lip, contemplation in his gaze mingling with the hunger from before.

“I…”, he whispered and trailed off.

Ciia'ana chuckled softly and stood on her tiptoes to brush her lips softly against his. He grew rigid under her fingers as she spread the hand, that wasn’t still cupping his cheek, on his chest.

“This is a price I shall gladly pay”, she purred, “kiss me then, ma vhenan”

Again he smiled and the sheer beauty of it took her breath.

“As my Lady commands”

And then he kissed her. Slow at first, gently, his lips moving so painfully patient,tasting her, teasing her.

Ciia'ana sighed against his lips and wrapped her arms around his neck, trying to get closer to him, her whole body aching for his touch.

His long fingers trailed over her sides and hips, sending sensual shivers down her spine before firmly grabbing her ass giving her cheeks a good squeeze. Her stomach dropped and her lower abdomen turned into molten lava. She gasped and they broke their kiss.

Slightly panting she looked up at him. “Solas..”, she whispered in a pleading voice She ached for more, for him, his touch and his warm skin.

The elf closed his eyes still slightly breathless. “We shouldn’t. ..”,he murmured

But before he could continue she leaned in and nibbled on his jaw. She felt the muscles of his jaw tense up.

“You always say that…and yet you always leave me breathless after that”, she whispered and smiled at him.

She proceeded to nip and nibble on his neck, feeling him grow restless and rigid under her hands.

“Ar lath ma, vhenan”, she purred before biting down at the one spot on his throat she knew he was very sensetive at.

His breath hitched and for a split second he went so motionless that she almost feared she’d done something wrong. Then suddenly he grabbed her harder by her rear and hoisted her up and placed her on his desk.

She laughed but was quickly silenced by his kiss. This time however, he wasn’t slow and patient.

He came like a storm, powerful and passionate his lips and tounge claiming her, burning her until she melted against him like butter.

One of his fingers crept under her tunic and brushed against the skin of her abdomen sending a jolt of pleasure through her. She couldn’t quite surpress the quiet moan. The soft sound brought a wolfish grin on his lips.

Ciia'ana smiled and leaned into him, offering up her neck for her lover. Solas chuckled and the sound went like elictricity through the hot core between her legs.

She reached out for him, pulled him closer to her until she could feel his ragged breath on the skin of her neck. She closed her eyes, waiting for his lips on her heated skin-

A thumping impact on the apostates head made him flinch painfully. A book had fallen on top of his head interrupting her little…Session. Or had it been thrown?

“ It’s so nice to see that you two are having so much…fun”, a deep voice dripping with sarcasm sounded from the upper level of the rotunda “however, this scandalous behavior should be best moved into a room where you are not making the rest of the hard working Inquisition very uncomfortable.”

Dorian. Ciia'ana felt her cheeks flush. She had totally forgotten that they had not been completely alone and everyone on the upper levels had a perfect view on the couple.

Solas let out some very grumpy sounding elven phrases she didn’t quite understand because he had spoken them very fast but she could judge by his look that it was nothing complimentary for the tevinter mage.

She couldn’t help but laugh and bury her red face in the crook of his neck.

“Once again you got me into trouble, Vhenan”, solas sighed deeply

“Ir abelas”, she giggled.

“You’re not sorry in the least”, he huffed but pressed a kiss on the top of her head before grabbing the book dorian had thrown at his head

“Now excuse me, I shall have a friendly discussion with the Tevinter mage”, he grumbled

Ciia'ana laughed “Be nice, solas”, she chuckled

He gave her a moking bow and dissapeared up the stairs towards the library.

She sighed in contentment. It was impossible to think she could ever love any man as much as Solas.

Shaking her head gently she hopped off the desk and made her way back towards the tavern. Maybe Sera was up to some friendly roof time or pranks.

#solavellan #solavellan hell #solasmance #solas #lavellan #dragon age inquisition #dragon age : inquisition #solas×inquisitor #fanfic #fluff

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oncethrown · 8 years ago

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So... at some point between The Mortal Instruments and the Dark Artifices, homophobia dissapeared from Shadowhunter Culture.

Even though homophobia in Shadowhunter society was an important part of the Mortal Instruments series, there is no reason it had to continue in the Dark Artifices. That’s not what I’m saying. However, making that change to the world without actually writing anything to create that change, brings out some really wierd mindsets and predjudices in Cassandra Clare’s writing.

Let’s start at the beginning- Shadowhunter Society in the Mortal Instruments was explicitly homophobic

-Izzy tells Clary that there are no gay Shadowhunters when Clary asks if Alec is gay -Alec suffers a lot of shame and fear and self-loating and self-harm over being gay -People seeing Alec and Magnus kiss in the Accords Hall express disgust -Alec has to explain to Jace that, yeah, he’s heartbroken that Magnus gets kidnapped -Alec and Jace have an extended conversation about how homophobic Robert is, and how hurt Alec is that Robert can’t accept him. - The ‘million little paper cuts speech -Aline realizes she’s gay because Alec- the only gay shadowhunter- exists -Aline and Helen’s marriage has to take place after the Clave decides that it can be legal and allowable, which means it was illegal before.

And it’s explicitly homophobic for kind of no reason that is logical within the text

-Shadowhunters have no official religion according to the text, so there’s no doctrine or god forbidding homosexuality, as is typical in the real world

-Shadowhunter society is ancient and worldwide while also being super insular. It’s growing seperate from the mundane culture entirely, and encompasses a ton of regional cultures and time periods that wouldn’t have had the same concept of “gay” that Alec is experiencing in the Mortal Instruments.

-Men and women are equal as warriors, so there shouldn’t be the same type of misogyny in Shadowhunter culture that fuels homophobia in mundane culture

-The parabatai bond- A bond that is between marriage and brotherhood, and often experienced between members of the same sex is paramount in the culture. (Caveat- the fact that parabatais are often members of the same sex and that there is a curse on parabatais who fall in love could have been written as a reason that Shadowhunters society is homophobic... except for the fact that this parabatai love curse thing only crops up in the Dark Artifices, and Alec is in love with Jace for a couple books)

But in the Dark Artifices:

(For the record I’m like 2/3rds of the way through Lord of Shadows)

There is no homophobia amongst any of the Shadowhunters at all, but also no indication that there ever used to be.

-Having an adopted warlock grandchild cured Robert and Maryse of homophobia (and racism maybe?)

-Alec is suddenly a goldenboy of the Clave. They are begging him to take over and Institute, and they *give* him the London Institute after he spends a day there. He’s also an important part of a political apparatus that works with downworlders and the Clave.

-Jia Penhallow becomes Consul, and her daughter being the second official gay Shadowhunter ever does not matter. Robert Lightwood becomes Inquisitor without Alec’s sexuality being an issue either.

-Mark Blackthorn, who was taken by the Wild Hunt when he was like fifteen, comes back and is caught a couple times by his family and several goody-two shoe, non-family member Shadowhunters with his male Seelie lover, Kieran, and no one ever reacts to the fact that this lover is male, even though when Mark was taken during the Dark War, his having a boyfriend would have been An Issue (like it was for Alec, Aline and Helen)

Even when all of the Blackthorns and Kieran (and Alec and Magnus) wind up as the guests of an old woman who is described as so old fashioned that she still wears Edwardian clothes, that old woman hates having a Seelie in her house, but never reacts to how many of the people suddenly in her Institute are not heterosexual.

-Even the villains, who are literal nazis who want to register, intern, and mass murder downworlders, are not homophobic.

Isn’t that good? What is the problem?

The Mortal Instruments series ended with the conclusion of the Dark War, where Sebastian Morgenstern turned a bunch of Shadowhunters into evil monsters with the help of the Seelie Queen. It was basically a Shadowhunter genocide, and the Shadowhunters blame the Seelies for it. Thus, they’ve imposed something called “The Cold Peace” on the Seelies, which is an obvious analogue to the Treaty of Versaille at the end of World War I, which punished Germany so harshly that it made World War II more or less inevitable. The terms of the treaty deny the Seelies council representation, and strip Seelies of all the civil rights downworlders have gained over the last few centuries.

The villains of Lord of Shadows are a group of Shadowhunters who are consistently, loudly, anti-downworlder. They want all downworlders to submit to a registry, and the leader of this villain group- Zara Dearborn- explicitly wants this registry to lead to the interment and genocide of downworlders. This is another obvious real world analogue.

And only like 5 years have passed between the end of the Mortal Instruments and the beginning of the Dark Artifices.

It would have been really easy to explain this sudden social turn-around in way that made the ongoing story more cohesive, said something about our world, or at least reinforced that the core issue of all of these books should be “Even with Friends and Relatives there, You Still Can’t Trust the Clave”

-The positive option- A lot of Shadowhunters died in the Dark War. They need to rebuild their ranks (and are doing it by using the mortal cup on mundanes) and there are orphans everywhere. Homophobia disappearing from society could really easily have been a result of the Clave changing the official policy to “Marry who ever you want, but please pick up your three orphans and two surly-formerly-mundane-teenagers on your way back to your brand new Institute”

-The deeply cynical option- In the new culture of enhanced blatant racism, agressive oppression, and actual existential threats to being a Shadowunter, being a Shadowhunter became more important than anything else. As long as you are *NOT A DOWNWORLDER* you fit into the approved Clave profile and gain benefits from it. Like how neo-nazi groups in the US are recruiting white gay men now, because whiteness and maleness are more important than sexuality as they seek to oppress non-whites and non-men. Or how people in Germany did nothing to help jewish neighbors because they stood to gain socially and economically from the government’s anti-jewish policies.

It also would have been easy and logical and potentially worthwhile story-wise to keep homophobia as a problem, and use is as a way to explore other issues within the culture of hatred that the Dark Artifices explores

- So many Shadowhunters died in the Dark War that the Shadowhunters are desperate to swell their ranks. Everyone needs to have as many babies as possible. The Clave declares their couple years of leniency on non-straight sexualities a lull in judgement, dissolves marriages, criminalizes the Birth Control Rune, and starts veering toward a forced reproduction type of society, Handmaid’s Tale Style.

-Homophobia becomes part of the anti-downworld campaigns. In the books it’s said somewhere that all Seelies are bisexual, and all the downworlder cultures are pretty open about sexuality. It would have been really easy for the books to show the Clave making non-heterosexuality analogous with being a non-shadowhunter, because it made you too much like a Seelie, and for Shadowhunters who had come out during the last five years punished, exiled, or encouraged to “come to their senses”. This also would have cast homophobia as a political tool rather than a “moral position” like we usually see, which I think would have been illuminating for the target audience of these books.

But Even If You Can’t Write Good and Don’t Want to Deal With That it’s Worth Noting-

Homophobia being a major, systemic issue that simply evaporates from life and culture in less than five years, makes several of the things going on in the series seem weird under a little more scrutiny.

1. Why bother with the homophobia in the Mortal Instruments at all?

If it’s going to disappear without explanation or real consequences… why bother? Alec’s storyline in the Mortal Instruments could have been dramatic enough if he just had a crush on Jace, and it was never clear if Jace reciprocated, and then ouch, Jace asks Alec to be his parabatai, so Alec knows it’s hopeless, since parabatai can never be lovers. Then this Clary girl comes in and screws everything up! Then there’s this warlock that Alec can’t stop thinking about! But! Good Shadowhunter Boys DO NOT DATE DOWNWORLDERS!

The books always come back to this race dynamic, so why not start there and stay there? Plus then you are exploring the main theme of the series, and wrapping all the plot points around it, instead of spending so many scenes listening to Alec’s slut-shaming and biphobia.

2. Kit and Livvy and Ty

So… again, I’m only 2/3 through Lord of Shadows, maybe this question gets answered before the end, but Lord of Shadows is a book about pining. And all of the language Kit uses to describe Ty sounds like the same language all the other pining characters use about the focuses of their affection. And it’s very similar to the language Kit uses to describe looking at Livvy, who he is eager to kiss early on in the book.

And Kit is 15. He’s got the puberty going on.

If there is no homophobia in the world anymore, and Kit has plenty of examples of gay and bisexual men in relationships around him, it doesn’t make a lot of sense that internalized homophobia would still be a thing either. They all look up to Mark Blackthorn and everyone is in awe of Alec and Magnus.

So… that means that Kit can look at Livvy and feel attraction to her and know he feels attraction to her, but doesn’t seem to think of his attraction to Ty in the same terms at all, even though they seem to be closer than Kit and Livvy are… which makes it seem like the resistance to be attracted to Ty is about Ty having autism.

3. Alec Vs. Aline and Helen

Alec becomes the golden boy, but Aline and Helen become banished women. They are shipped out to, essentially, Siberia. They are not allowed to come back, even to visit. Helen, who is in a stable marriage and is old enough to run an Institute, and who is married to the daughter of the Consul, is forbidden from raising her six younger siblings, leaving the job to 12 year old Julian Blackthorn (even though Helen thinks that a much older, but just as male relative is rising the children).

In the text, the reason for Helen’s unfair treatment is, explicitly, because she is half Seelie… but Mark gets to live at the LA Institute. He is caught with his boyfriend a couple of times. When they run off to the London Institute Mark and Kieran are there together, without the excuse of being sort of protected by being in the LA Institute, and by the Blackthorn reputation for thwarting the Clave. There’s no reason in the text why the elderly woman who runs the Institute (until the second that Alec Lightwood shows up and the Clave gives it to him) would think the Clave would allow a full blooded Seelie and a half blooded Seelie to be housed in an Institute, but she lets it go.

Also… Helen can’t raise her half siblings, but the Shadowhunter social climate in Lord of Shadows is also very anti-warlock, and Alec and Magnus are able to adopt two children, one of whom is a Shadowhunter. Not only that, but Alec and the Shadowhunter child have a language barrier, and Magnus and the Shadowhunter child do not.

So… it’s not really about the lack of homophobia in the work of the Dark Artifices, it seems to be Cassandra Clare wanting as few women as possible in her story, and especially getting away with saying she has lesbian characters, without having to give them any lines or screen time. There’s a scene in the London Institute about 2/3rds of the way through where there are five gay or bisexual men in a room together (6 if you count Ty, but at the point I’m at in the book it’s not entirely clear if he returns Kit’s affection)... but Aline who is a lesbian and Helen who, considering the Seelie thing, is probably bisexual, but the text never even bothers to tell us, have no line and have to live at the ends of the earth in a horrible ice hut full of pickled fish.

#homophobia #lord of shadows #cassandra clare #meta #shadowhunters #dark artifices

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veinereastath · 4 years ago

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WIP DAY

I got tagged by wonderful @fadedjacket, thank you <3 Tagging @minilev @xbaebsae @starsandskies @dieguzguz @p0lkadotdotdot @refinedstorage and y’all I have only random writing WIPs so enjoy (or not) some Dragon Age whatevers, since I got motivated to invest myself more in my OC from that universe.

[...] Dorian, of course, noticed how Inquisitor’s eyes wander to the flickers of ethereal, purple flame that were dancing around his fingertips. He, however, pretended to be unaware of her not-so-subtle interest and played with his magic some more, allowing it to come in more intricate shapes, illuminating the dim library with its glow.

Finally, however, he grew tired of pretending to be blind - the flame dissapeared, and yellow eyes of a Tevinter altus wandered to those of a woman sitting on the other side of the table. “So.” He started, lifting his eyebrows slightly, the tiny smirk playing on the corner of his mouth. Vessa, to her credit, at least tried to act confused, blinking rapidly a few times. “... So?” Dorian sighed. “Oh, please. After those few weeks I’ve spent with you in here you must have noticed that, along with my outstanding looks and sharp mind, comes also the power of observation and flawless analysis. So. When do we start?” Inquisitor sat silent for a few moments, still pretending to have no idea what was his point. However, she quickly gave up and abandoned the eye contact, refocusing on the pages of the book in front of her. “Never, Dorian. Don’t push this matter further.” “You genuinely seem to have no idea at all what king of insane potential runs in your blood. And you’re just throwing it away like it was nothing. You know how many magisters back home would die for this kind of power?” “Bravo, my friend. You just pinpointed the exact reason why I won’t try learning magic. Not a tiniest bit of it.” She, of course, knew he wouldn’t let the topic die. And she was right. Dorian sighed theatrically, though despite his good humour she knew he wasn’t really joking right now. He stayed silent for a while, watching her with a mix of playfulness as well as a very deep understanding. “You won’t be like him, Vess.” He spoke once more, slowly, clearly not wanting to irritate her. She, however, just looked defeated. “How can you know? I can’t possibly know to what extent I can control my own mind. If he can manipulate the Grey goddamn Wardens, why wouldn’t he be able to do the very same thing with me, when we literally share blood? And even if it won’t happen, you know what they say. ‘The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.’” She licked her fingers and moved on to the next page of the book, even though she didn’t really read a single word in the previous one. “And I want to be the apple that have fallen as far as possible.” “You share blood, that is true.” Dorian slowly nodded. “However, our last time travel trip made it seem clear that you were born before Magisters entered the Black City. And I sincerely doubt that the corruption Corypheus carries now would somehow pass on to you afterwards.” “We can doubt, but we can’t be sure.” She leaned back in a chair and turned her head to look at the window. “We already know I’m immune to the Blight, which, however helpful, is quite concerning, since I’m not a Warden. And if my my father sacrificing the blood of thousand of elves and breaching the Fade created an anomaly strong enough to literally freeze me in time and randomly throw me in a forest over a thousand years later... I wouldn’t be so certain that I’m not tied to him on a deeper level I would like.” [...]

#I love writing dialogue even if I suck at it #Dragon Age #wip game

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