#and why it was tomorrow came

[mossy-thing]

Last six sentences

Thank you @lordgrimwing for tagging me! I technically cheated on this because it's only 4 sentences, but these are the first of chapter 5 of And why it was tomorrow came (and with his grey hand led us back), and I didn't want to add the last two of chapter 4.

In which we learn that Elrond, had he been born in this time, would have loved Shifting Subliminals.

After a few months of only normal dreams and, rarely, dreamless nights, Elrond grew a little concerned that maybe he had somehow forgotten the way to the Cottage altogether. Elros had pointedly stopped talking to him about it as well, but if his twin never dreamed of it anymore, he did not share any concern with him.

Elrond, meanwhile, realized how much he depended on his dreams of Valinor as a respite from day to day life. It took only a few weeks of dull days spent on horseback and in abandoned houses, hiding from orcs and nearly dying from eating black strawberries, reciting poems to Maedhros, who no longer seemed to care whether they made mistakes or not and listening to Maglor's quiet weeping late at night after his brother had refused to eat dinner once again, for Elrond to spend the few minutes before he fell asleep furiously repeating the words I’ll awake at the Cottage, I’ll awake at the Cottage in his mind, over and over again, until Elros sleepily slapped him in the face and grumbled that he should be quiet.

And I am adding...

@spiritofwhitefire @tathrin @tanoraqui @the-second-visitor @thescrapwitch @babybat98

[xxplastic-cubexx]

throws these at you

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

MDZS Equineswap AU part 1: Bro we are horses. It’s okay to cry around me, we are best friends. Bro we are kissing.

[girl side of the swap]

[auriidae]

goofy hermit doodles!! because uhh why not!!

[moonkhao]

hi.

[lumi-cherries]

eichi booba

that is all

EICHI BOOBA [applause]

[alongtidesoflight]

so here's my honest thoughts on dragon age: the veilguard, after ~40 hours of playing. i finished the main quest after having finished all companion quests and major faction quests. just to clear up what content i saw, i played as an elven transmasc rook who is a member of the lords of fortune. he romanced lucanis (although after finishing the game i'm now leaning towards taash). i don't know what's happening in playthroughs that have a different race, gender identity, romance or faction going on.

full spoilers ahead, i mean it. don't read further if you want to avoid them. i don't want complaining about it in my asks.

oh and also, if you're worried because of a few negative reviews online i can comfort you by saying don't give a fuck about a certain big name youtuber who is very much tied to bethesda franchises giving this a negative review. i'll explain why.

i'm starting off with the things i liked

the game looks really pretty. i was worried it wouldn't feel like thedas anymore (with them trying to "focus on northern thedas only" i thought they'd make a clear cut in environmental design. they do and they don't. it's complicated. i'll elaborate on it when talking about the negative stuff). anyway it does. minrathous feels like kirkwall. treviso enchanted me like the winter palace did. the hossberg wetlands reminded me of the hinterlands and a couple other inquisition maps. arlathan looked like... arlathan. the crossroads were different, but familiar. overall i like the way it looks and feels. it's thedas, with a twist. it's a good one, and gives everything a solid but unique feel.

combat is top tier. if you're a hardcore dragon age player you WILL miss the tactical aspect of it for a bit, but i promise you, once you're used to the way the combat works, you will be lapping that shit up. and once you get to ability combos you'll mourn the control you used to have over your companions in battle a bit less

the MAIN quest and its story. i expected worse, way worse. and for a while the game even had me tricked (harr harr you'll get it in a second) it is Really That Much Worse. but holy shit was it good. i walked away satisfied ngl.

your choices have SOLID weight. there's consequences, good AND bad. i got minrathous blighted, ruled over by venatori, and the leader of the shadow dragons ultimately died because of my decisions. i made those at the beginning and throughout the game. he died at the end. DAVRIN died because i didn't expect what i was saying to have that much weight. i thought i was in the clear. he had hero status. well turns out, your choices can still get your companions killed even if you do everything right. i fucking love him. he shouldn't have made that sacrifice just because i told him to do everything it takes once.

the inquisitor, morrigan and dorian being there, surprisingly. there's also negatives to this though, see below.

speaking of companions dying and the inquisitor playing a bigger role: the final quest feels like me2's suicide mission. i was blown away by it and the fact that i got to see the results of all my efforts playing out in front of me.

bioware are NOT trying to redeem solas. they love him as a character yes, but i wasn't forced to see any good in him. he betrays you. he fucked my rook over twice. he fucked him over right back, for good this time (the veil wasn't torn down, i anchored it by binding him to it, he's doomed to uphold it). but solas really lives up to his name as the trickster elven god. rip to all the people who grew really attached to him over the years.

varric died. if you like him that's probably as hard reading it as it was watching it. varric died and the game lies about it until the very end. when the realisation hits, it hurts. but in the very best way.

the amount of care they put into gender expression and trans identities this time around. (i'll add onto this with negative points as well too).

rook feels very much ingrained in the world of thedas. he doesn't ask questions that expose the player to lore through dialogue as if he's stepped foot into thedas for the first time. those conversations feel very solid and good. i hope other faction players got as much joy out of this as i did.

and the things i didn't like and boy there's a lot unfortunately

the music. let's just get that out of the way holy shit. it doesn't feel like it belongs in this universe. it gets so incredibly sci-fi-y at times you'd think it's taken straight from mass effect andromeda. there's not a single song unique to veilguard that i really enjoyed. it broke my immersion, real bad. hearing a busker play the tavern songs from inquisition on a lute right after i killed some venatori with wobbly bass songs playing in the background is just odd. weird tonal shift. don't like it. it's made for people who like flashy light-weight cinema.

tevinter nights is required reading. the podcasts are required listening exercises. the game is so fast paced, especially at the start, that there's no time to introduce you to characters and how much weight their names carry in-game. i would not have known who half these people are if i hadn't skimmed over tevinter nights. i'd care even less about them than i already did. there is no time to get properly attached to them. people will act as if you're talking to a legend personified and you'll be thinking man goddamn which chapter of tevinter night were they in again and what did they do???

there's a weird mismatch with the animations. you'll have beautifully fluid ones, like emmrich casting spells. and then you'll have rook's face animating in the most unnatural manner that's sorta reminiscent of mass effect andromeda's "my face is tired" addison, when their emotions SHOULD be landing with the player rn instead.

i'm not vibing with the art style. sometimes it works. most of the time it doesn't. at points i felt like i was watching tangled.

that also brings me to some of the dialogue. same issue. i am watching frozen. i am watching tangled. someone on the writer's team really likes the adorkable trope. bellara is its victim.

for all the talk about identity, bioware sure doesn't like theirs. the grey warden armor got a redesign again and it just makes them look like a generic army. i hate it lol

in general, i don't like the armor design. the wardrobe/appearances system is fine, but it's just not helping if all the armors are just... kinda bland or downight bad looking? and don't get me started on the lords of fortune armor. that is orientalism personified.

the world states should have been carried over, full stop. i know they said they didn't because they want to separate what happens in the north from what happens in the south, which... i could have lived with that. but the inquisitor sends you letters that keep you up to date on... the south of thedas. you learn that there's a blight again, that people are standing strong but it's difficult, denerim's fallen, the rulers are taking care of it, orlais is fighting and they're successful for a while, etc etc. what's good bioware. i thought we don't care about the south this time around. why are you feeding me so much boring generic information. if you're not gonna show any of it and just write letters, then carrying the world state over should not have been an issue. i have a game dev background. those few lines of code would not have broken your budget or pushed your engine's limits. fuck right off.

this gripe of mine carries over to all the cameos. as a lord of fortune you have to deal with isabela a lot. it's fun. i missed her. you get to go drinking with her and taash and bellara! also my hawke romanced her. she's not mentioned once. they had the opportunity to put a sentence or two about her in there with not a lot of effort, trust me.

when varric dies, all she has is a single line about it. for gold, for fortune, for varric. she only says it if you interact with her on your way to the final push. that's not mandatory.

morrigan is there. kieran isn't. the old god soul that mythal and then solas absorbed? who cares at this point, the gods are dead now and solas is locked away for eternity. i suppose? why is morrigan there. she feels unneeded. i wish they'd just left her down south, at least that way i wouldn't have had to witness her god awful redesign.

dorian at least feels as if he belongs in this story. the shadow dragons are a crucial part to protecting minrathous. he's also weirdly underutilised. isabela and morrigan had more lines than him in my playthrough.

on the topic of romance: bro that was underwhelming. no, genuinely. you know when romance picked up a bit? after the point of no return. i heard maybe two lines of companion banter about it before that. maybe i missed something which i honestly doubt, but romance did not play much of a role in lucanis's storyline. i saved his grandmother as he wished me to (and if you read tevinter nights you know she was rather abusive and their relationship not the healthiest) and told him to focus on his family. a reunified family my rook wasn't even introduced to as a partner at the end of all that.

really, do not buy this game if you're only in it for the romances. others might be better, lucanis's basically gave me nothing. except for an outing (the second coffee date i had with him, it was getting repetitive) all of it played out once i committed to the final quest. the sex scene was a fade to black. annoyingly right after davrin died. if you're looking for well paced and good spice, pick up something else. the sweet talk and the final goodbye were nice though.

for all the good the ever-presence of gender identity does, it is brought up in such a disruptive manner too. it doesn't even play out naturally if you CHOOSE the lines that are meant to be said. hearing the words trans and non-binary in this setting doesn't feel right, and i'm saying this as a trans guy. i think it could have been handled more gracefully. the amount of times my rook went "i'm a MAN" as if he's about to start drumming on his chest and roaring any second now got super nerve-grating. "i'm so glad you're into me... the me who is trans. remember?" just. tell me one trans person who'd talk like that to a person they've grown close with and are trying to romance. this game doesn't handle sexuality well, so all this hey my body might not look like the way you're expecting it to look talk amounts to nothing anyway. i feel about this the way i feel about krem: this is partial exposition to trans experiences... packaged up for cis consumption. the ONLY exception to that is interacting with taash. holy shit was all of that heartwarming and bro did it feel good and natural to talk to them about theirs and rook's gender.

rivain and nevarra are new locations added by veilguard. they're also incredibly underwhelming, small and constricted maps. rivain is a coastline with a few ruins. the hall of valor is a partial ruin nestled into a cave on a beach, with a fighting pit. isabela is there in her skimpy outfit commentating your pit fights. that's it. i'm sorry if you were looking for a bustling pirate cove or whatever. you're not gonna get it. the nevarran crypts btw are a long ass dungeon crawl. that's it.

speaking of maps. i thought people were being dramatic when they said you're gonna be fighting the same enemies on them again and again. i thought they were figure of speeching it. they're not. you WILL fight the same amount of enemies. in the same spot. every time you reload the map. best to stay on a map and clear out the enemies and do as much questing on that map as you can before leaving, because you WILL have to do it all over again once you return.

the three choices i made for my inquisitor didn't matter lol she didn't have to face solas and therefore couldn't stop him at any cost as she had sworn (maybe because my rook tricked solas into binding himself to the veil, there was also an option to fight him. would she have stepped in? who knows). blackwall wasn't mentioned. and either her using a small amount of her forces in the final fight was the reason the civilians of minrathous fared so well..... or it just didn't matter. ultimately i think she had very little impact on anything

[mysecretwindowuniverse]

1x6 | Spirit of the Goat

The way that Oswald absolutely revels in the drama of this reveal

This moment should also be noted for being the first time Ed saw - and quite possibly heard of - Oswald. And it was love at first sight

[mbat]

this was an idea i had last year that i found in my files and decided to revive. woe, angst be upon ye

[raydaviespilled]

I just came

[skunkes]

the bad: i have been raised without much warmth from my parents in childhood, but also pressured to conform to familial authority, doubt myself always, and value familial connections above all else (<- failed at this, and feel guilt about it.)

but also in experiencing this i have been so isolated from the entire rest of the world and others, that it will be nearly impossible to create my own "family" -> find safety and comfort in anybody else once my family is Gone. despite dis i find it really difficult to break away from the familiar, disobey and disappoint, because, well, why are my wishes more important than anybody else's. why would I cause upset and distress in anybody, and exert so much effort into my doubt filled half decisions, for my meaningless little Wishes. being away would also mean less time with these people who I'll never see again once they're gone. being raised this way is definitely paying off for those who did so.

the good: yaaaay adjacent inspiration for writing talon lore

[mossy-thing]

I posted the second chapter! Read it here or on ao3.

Chapter 1; chapter 3

And why it was Tomorrow came (and with his grey hand led us back)

Chapter 2

Important tags: off screen violence, children in dangerous situations, kidnap fam, murder of orcs (probably. Just don't think too hard on it), implied food rationing

Summary: In which Elrond wakes up, Elros is a little gremlin horder, and I have far too much fun writing their bickering until I remember what my plot was supposed to be.

“What’s going on,” Elrond slurred as he was pulled into a sitting position, still half in the dream, half feeling the sand between his toes, but in a matter of seconds, it was gone. It was loud outside, he realized suddenly, and frowned as he wondered why it hadn’t woken him.

“Get up.”

Maedhros had already moved on to his brother on the other side of the narrow room to shake him before Elrond even had the chance to open his eyes properly, but glancing at him now confirmed that he was wearing his armor. He had been confused, but now he was alarmed, throwing the threadbare blanket back. He felt the cold floor beneath his bare feet before he realized he was standing. “Are we under attack?” 

He reached for his dagger under the pillow, holding onto it tightly just as he had wished he could have in the dream as the noise he could hear fell into place. Shouting. Marching. It was still a bit away, but he was sure that whoever they were, they would reach their little tower soon. Had a light alarmed them of their presence? He hoped they were only orcs.

“Yes. Put on your shoes, and a coat. There’s no time for anything else.”

When Elrond and Elros had been younger, Elrond remembered numbly while stepping into his shoes, they had sometimes wondered what it would be like to be attacked by other elves. To be stolen back, and brought to some distant kinsmen, who would raise them far away from battles and wars, dragons and kinslayers. They had told each other stories without uttering a single word, staring into the other’s eyes under a shared blanket. Elros was reaching out to him now, like that, as soon as he woke up, and for a moment, Elrond saw Maedhros’ grim eyes in place of the clasp of the cloak he was struggling to close with one hand.

Maedhros left the room. He was probably standing in front of the door, his sword drawn, guarding the children his brother was so fond of until they were ready to be hidden away safely. Maglor would be outside, then, preparing himself to fight. Elrond hoped whatever little place Maedhros would find to lock them in until danger had passed would be soundproof enough that Maglors singing wouldn’t be ringing in his ears for days like it had done in their last shelter. 

Elros took his hand when he had fastened his own cloak, and they knocked at the door. Maedhros opened it and left without throwing even a glance their way. They followed him, taking three steps for one of his. 

At least he isn’t throwing us over his shoulders anymore, Elros thought, shooting him a tired smile, and Elrond smiled back. Luckily, they had grown big enough some time ago that Maedhros had the excuse not to carry them anymore. He didn’t like touching them, nearly anyone, really, Elrond knew, and he and his twin didn’t either. It brought back uncomfortable memories that neither of them could quite recall anymore. 

“In there,” Maedhros huffed, shoved them into a closet and shut the door. For a moment, they could hear him pulling things across the floor to barricade the door with, then, after shoving twice at whatever he had used to lock them in and everything else out, the sound of his footsteps grew quieter, and eventually disappeared entirely. Outside, the noise drew closer. 

They sat together in the dark, holding hands and barely daring to breathe. 

Do you want bread? Elros eventually asked through ósanwe, just before the first tell tale clanging of metal on metal rang from outside their little hiding place, and Elrond startled. 

Where did you get bread?

It’s old. He thought his twin might be smiling, and he anxiously listened to the rustle of fabric as Elros presumably pulled a bundle from a pocket in his coat, not letting go of his hand. Do you remember the group of Avari we passed a while ago? The ones who kept trying to sell us stuff?

Elrond blinked. But that was a month ago! You spent money on bread and then didn’t tell anyone because you were keeping it in your coat for a whole month? Maedhros would kill him, if he found out. Or, well, he would not speak to him for a very long time. Well, speak to him less.

You kept complaining you were hungry last time!

There is no way that thing is still edible. He almost felt like laughing, but the sound died before the thought of it could be wholly formed when a sharp wail rang from outside. They held their breath, until Elros thought, I don’t think that was an elf, and Elrond nodded. He swallowed. 

We could just keep it in our mouths for a really long time, Elros thought, bringing them back to their conversation. Let the spit make it soft and stuff. 

You are so gross. 

You’re gross! 

Elrond smiled. I got my dagger, he told Elros. If you want to share it. 

Elros carefully pushed a very solid shape into his free hand, and Elrond tried to look at it. It was so dark he could hardly see anything, but what he did see looked very much like a stone, and felt about the same. He knocked it against the floor of their cramped closet, and it made a noise that was loud enough that they held their breaths, listening for any threat that might have made it inside, past the two Fëanorians, a threat that might be alarmed of their presence. 

But they heard nothing but the clashing of swords and the screaming of curses. 

What did you do that for, Elros shot at him, in the very same moment Elrond thought, And you are really sure this is not just a stone you found?

Elros huffed. Why don’t you try it, if you’re so convinced you’ll break your teeth on it? I swear, I do one nice thing for you… 

Elrond ignored his brother’s mumbling and awkwardly moved his legs to make room to work on the ground, placed his dagger on the bread-stone and started dragging it carefully across its surface. It made an uncomfortably loud sound.

I dreamt of the Cottage, he thought, suddenly remembering it, and added, before Maedhros woke us. 

Was that girl with the red twintails there? Elros asked without missing a heartbeat. Because I did ask you to throw a stone at her if you saw her when I wasn’t there – 

I didn’t exactly make it all the way to the cottage. Elrond chose to ignore the feud his twin had with a Nandorian child, something that had started because of a doll in a tree and worked itself up into a small war his twin kept trying to involve him in. I got… held up at the beach.

Held up? Elros repeated, a confused tone to his thought. By what? 

Elrond frowned. You know how there are others there too? The ones who don’t see us?

Elros grinned. Yes. Do you remember that time we spelled out Ulmo’s wrath lies upon ye in the sand and scared those Vanyar half to death? 

Elrond frowned. You mean, that time you scared those Vanyar half to death. I didn’t do anything.

That’s because you’re boring! Elros shuffled in the dark and adjusted his hold on Elrond’s hand, pulling him closer. How’s the bread coming along? I’m hungry.

And I am working on it. He was already half way through the once-soft piece of bread, but stopped his steady sawing for a moment to think. One of the elves there saw me. 

It was quiet for a while. Elrond continued sawing away at the bread and Elros was staring at him in mute confusion. Even the battle outside had seemed to have halted its bloodthirsty fury, as if the entire world had pecked up their ears, was leaning in, listening. Elrond found he did not like that idea at all. 

Elros made a little sound, a hesitant “Huh,” before thinking, carefully, That is very odd. 

The noise outside resumed and Elrond put the knife aside to try and break the bread the rest of the way over his knee.

He failed. 

What did she look like?

I didn’t say they were a woman.

Elros was quiet. 

Elros?

Just a hunch. 

It almost seemed like he wanted to add something, but then a high tone finally shook the foundations of the tower, haunting and terribly loud, and in the attempt to shield it out and stop the sudden urge to levitate that had come over their bodies, they both forgot their conversation entirely. They were sitting in silence again when a very relieved Maglor opened the door and pulled them into his arms. After he let them go after a long while, a cut on his arm had closed entirely, not even leaving a scar behind, but he did not seem to notice.

They did not get to try the bread that night, but at least it was cut now.

[choiyeonjuns]

#SoobinTheEpitomeOfLove ♡ HAPPY BIRTHDAY SOOBIN (insp.)

[thelien-art]

Hi I just want to say that I absolutely adore your Caranthir thank u very much for ur contributions have a lovely day <3

Hi, I just wanted to say you just made sure my day was very lovely!! Waking up to this was everything♡♡♡

Have a lil Moryo!

[simgerale]

this is the only pic i managed to take but i spent hours yesterday building the royal stables (^:

[nudibutch]

i was finally able to have the house to myself for a bit today... brought all my dirty dishes out of my room and was able to tidy up a little bit without feeling weird