#did i make a cousland intending to romance alistair

[full---ofstarlight]

I fancy many things. I fancy things that are beautiful and things that are strong. I fancy things that are dangerous and exciting. Would you be offended if I said I fancied you?

--

Zevran is one of the few people who can crack through Celeste’s ice queen resting bitch face and get a smile -- maybe she acts annoyed, but she secretly loves it 

lovely commission from @chaaistheanswer of Celeste and Zevran!! 

[harrycollins]

I replaying origins and I'm going to be vanilla as fuck and romance Alistair this time. As a Cousland, and marry the little guy. To piss off the old da fans who would always shit on fem Cousland for no good reason. I almost always play a dwarf lady and romance my wife Leliana but one must change their diet every once in a while no? Guess I'll also won't get Loghain this time around. Oh well, it's fun to play in many ways anyway.

to be honest Queen Cousland isn't my fave ending but I once played as one and enjoyed it... I think they hate Fem Cousland just because she is the only one able to marry King Alistair lol.

I never did Leliana's romance fully... My Leliana romancer was Tabris and I intended to make the ultimate sacrifice for full angst I need to complete that playthrough one day.

[infiniteanalemma]

So, this is about Dragon Age, which means it's a long essay of a post. The question was which companion was my favorite.

Okay, so first of all, asking me to pick only one favorite? In a BioWare game? Cruel. 😞 How can I pick just one across three games and multiple dlcs? Impossible. I'm too indecisive for that.

Instead, I'll do one per game, which is still hard. Long post ahead. You've been warned.

Origins first, as God intended. If I have to pick only one (*sob*), it has to be Sten. Don't get me wrong, I love Alistair and he was my canon Cousland's romance. But as the player, Sten's my guy. I love a strong, silent type who'll talk philosophy with me, so what can I say? Maybe we don't always agree on everything, but that's half the fun of a philosophical debate. It was through talking with him and hearing his thoughts that I started to be interested in the qunari, which wound up causing me pain in DA2, but I don't regret it. Plus, my dude likes art -- truly a man of culture and taste.

It was a little bittersweet at the epilogue, knowing he would return to Par Vollen. Despite the Warden becoming his kadan, if he ever did see any of them again, it would probably be in war. However, they had a mutual respect and the hope that any war would be pushed back beyond their lifetimes.

Honorable mention goes to Nathaniel Howe in Awakening. Although the Warden killed his father, in the end even he could agree that his dad had it coming. Despite the shortness of the story, he actually had a fairly nuanced character arc. It felt especially satisfying to me to have him and my Cousland become friends. Something something, healing of old wounds, something something, found family.

DA2 is probably the hardest for me to pick just one. I loved them all, and all for different reasons. It comes down to a three-way battle between Varric, Fenris and Carver. But, since only one can win, it has to be Fenris. Sorry, sometimes I am just a basic bitch.

The thing I really appreciated, especially in Fenris's rivalmance, was the exploration of trauma and coping. My canon Hawke is a mage, and their relationship really showed how two people can hit each other's vulnerabilities and trauma, but still love and care for each other. It really shone a light on Fenris's character flaws, but also showed him grappling with them. That's how real-life trauma works. It wasn't an immediate "love conquers all" situation. It was a deeply wounded person lashing out and hurting someone they care about (and who cares about them) because that person inadvertently stepped on their trauma. Fenris winds up being very cruel to Hawke at times, which he later regrets, but it was a dysfunctional coping mechanism that he has to unlearn. And that takes time. He screws up, regrets, and tries to do better. Not just once, but many, many times. That's real.

Really, that's the thing that makes him win out for me over Varric. I love Varric, but no matter what happens, he's still Hawke's bestie. They never really have any serious conflict. While that's great for Hawke, it also means we never really get to see Varric's flaws and insecurities in action or have him overcome them. This makes sense, as Varric is the one telling the story -- a story that isn't about him, but it also slightly flattens his character. Carver (and Bethany), on the other hand, never really gets the screen-time to build up their relationships in the same way. I love them both to pieces, but there's so much with them that we never get to see. Really, I wish we could have gone more in-depth with everyone, but I guess that's what fanfic is for.

Inquisition is another game where I could write an essay on every character and, once again, I'mma be a basic bitch. Solas, Solas, Solas, my beloved egg, my problematic fave. Like with Sten, I enjoyed the philosophical bent to his conversations with the Inquisitor. Also, as my canon Inquisitor was a Trevelyan mage who gained his respect, I enjoyed the meta knowledge of how much their friendship was tearing Solas apart.

I liked that, once you know what he is, you can literally see the anguish he experiences as the story goes on as he grapples between what he personally wants and what he has to do to achieve his goals. I find it a satisfying thought-experiment to try to delve into a character's mindset and understand their motivations, and Solas is an interesting character for that. It's a fascinating window into his character to realize that his pride is such that he can't give up on his goals, because to do that would render all he's done and sacrificed to be in vain, and he can't allow that. He's doing it all "for the People", so he can't allow himself to "be selfish" enough to stop, so he condemns himself and tells himself it's noble to martyr himself this way. He's fascinating to me, and I want to pick his brain and study him like a bug.

Second honorable mention goes to Cullen, who is technically a companion, if only briefly. I know Curly is divisive within the fandom*, but I feel like that speaks to the complexity of his character. Personally, I'm glad he's not the unproblematic, idealized love interest. Perfect people in fiction are boring, anyway. Granted, the fans have to fill in a lot of places where BioWare could've handled things better. That said, I do think you can love someone and also be critical of their actions. I think you can care about someone, want them to grow and overcome their traumas and indoctrination, while also pointing out that they've said and done things that were really messed up. Even someone who wants to change can still have subconscious, problematic views that they don't even realize are still affecting them. I wish BioWare had leaned farther into that aspect, actually, instead of trying to smooth things over and make him less problematic.

*I do kind of find it funny that the range of opinions on him go from "I love him sm" to "he's terrible" to "he's the most boring, generic white guy of all." The Dragon Age fandom is ... definitely something.

[theatrevelyan]

31 Days of Dragon Age

Day 1 - Introduce your Hero of Ferelden

So, I told you I was gonna do it and here we are!

This is gonna be long so if you're interested in reading me going off the rails over pixels, please follow me into the depths of madness after the cut!

Like many in the fandom, I have done multiple runs of the game, all with different origins and class combinations and different characters so I have a few HoF that grew on me but none like my main girl, Astra Cousland.

She wasn't my first run, not by a long shot, but she's still my favourite and my canon world state and whenever I play origins (which is never lately, damn you DAO not working on modern PCs!) I usually go back to her now.

I don't have a good pic of her, but I'll give you one from the eraly game and one of how she looks like in DAI's cc (I can't wait to make her again in DAV cc)

She's a kind-hearted but pragmatic warrior who has nerves and convinctions of steel. Think of a classic paladin basically, but one that is willing to compromise to get the job done. Of course she has lines she'd never cross, like slavery or blood magic but, hey, if they have to do a bit of a dark ritual to save the day without anyone dying, she'll do it.

I actually intended her to be a clear foil for Loghain. They both have a sharp mind and are willing to get their hands dirty for their people but, unlike Loghain, she's aware that that mindset can lead her astray and is afraid of becoming a new Howe or Loghain and tries her best to not fall in the pit of hatred and vengence, especially since she wants to bring justice to her dead family members.

She romanced Alistair, because of course she did, and they rule Ferelden together, him being the heart and her the head of the country. She takes her duty as a grey warden siriously of course, but she still feel like Ferelden comes first on her list of duties and while she doesn't enjoy the power and restriction of the crown she thinks they both ave the best interests of Ferelden at heart, rather than the power the throne grants like Anora does, that's why she decided that they would be a good choice for King and Queen. To be fair to Anora, she thinks she did a good job as Cailan's Queen but she doesn't trust her enough to let her keep all that power after what her dad did. Besides, she loves Alistair and she doesn't want to have to force him into a political marriage nor to have him carry all the burden on his own so she becomes his queen, both for Ferelden and for him.

She's good friends with all the rest of the party as well, especially Morrigan, surprisingly enough. She just has the charisma of a born leader and everyone tends to flock to her.

I have another million things to say about her, like how much she loves her mabari, Tempest, or how she hates sweets. How she's fierce and unyielding in battle yet soft and caring with family and friends. How she's so unlady-like for a high noble yet savy enough to know how to win over the Landsmeet.

Astra is my girl with a good heart and head that life has hardened in a firce warrior and I love her.

[allisondraste]

1 & 2 for Temperance, please!

Heyy thank you for the asks!  These are fun ones for Temperance because the conception of the story is a little... unusual. 

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

The idea for Temperance actually came about after the events of a story I wrote for Alistair and Lucia, because I have them break up after the events of Origins.  Luce heads off to Amaranthine to do her thing, Alistair stays in Denerim to help with the Aftermath of the Blight.  Because I wasn’t satisfied with *that* angst, I decided that I wanted to have a further complication by inserting a rival love interest for Alistair, and thus Liss was born.  Originally, I intended on Liss being an incredibly annoying, unlikeable person, but I had a friend recommend that she would be much more compelling if she was likeable, and so I made her into this beautiful, kind, strong, intelligent (if messy) person.  So, when I ended up breaking her heart by having Alistair still be in love with Lucia, I felt bad and I wanted to fix it.  Nathaniel was *right there*, and I realized that a Cousland/Nathaniel pair was perfect fodder for a childhood-friends-to-lovers slowburn romance that spans across almost 2 decades.  I wrote it in the non-linear fashion that I did because I thought it was a good way to capture both the formation of their relationship, exploring the history with their families, and illustrating all of their growing pains, while also being able to capture their relationship as they come back together and realize the romantic feelings that they’ve had for a long long time.  It’s kind of hard to believe that all of this came out of me getting overly attached to an OC that I intended to be a throw-away.  

2: What scene did you first put down?

Following off of the last question, the first scene I wrote was actually their reunion in Denerim when Nathaniel accompanies Lucia as she goes to make up with Alistair, because it was written as an epilogue in that fic.  It changed a lot between the two stories, but it was the first vivid scene I had written out. 

Send me asks about my fics!

[laurelsofhighever]

The Falcon and the Rose Ch. 56 - A Long Day Later

Chapter Rating: Mature Relationships: Alistair/Female Cousland Additional Tags: Alternate Universe, Fereldan Civil War - No Blight, Romance, Angst, Action/Adventure, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Mutual Pining, Cousland Feels, Hurt/Comfort, Idiots In Love

Also read on AO3 First chapter

---

Twenty-sixth day of Firstfall, 9:32 Dragon

Rosslyn stirred from sleep, rising from unconsciousness with the faint impression that something had roused her. Yet all was quiet. The world remained dark behind her closed eyelids, frigid beyond the cocoon of warmth that the blankets wrapped around her body, and it lacked any appeal that might entice her curiosity. It must not be important. She shifted, intending to find the tipping point back into oblivion, and became aware of a heaviness in her limbs, an ache in her muscles that spoke of exertion and made her even less eager to move. A tiny moue of sound escaped her lips as she exhaled, and in response came a wordless mumble against her hair, the tightening of an arm across her waist as the solid presence behind her pressed closer along her back. Remembering, she smiled and fumbled for Alistair’s hand. The murmur against her skin grew into a path of lazy, half-formed kisses along her shoulder as her fingers threaded with his, a leg nudged between and folded around hers as she leaned into the touch.

“G’morning…” he rumbled, the low, sleep-scratched pitch of his voice raising gooseflesh along her spine.

She stretched. “S’not morning yet.”

“Shall I leave you be, then?” he teased, and chuckled as she made a disgruntled noise and followed the retreat of his hands, seeking the lost warmth, until he relented and tangled around her again like a briar. For a long moment they lay together, suspended between waking and sleep, breathing together and content to have their limbs belong to each other.  

“How are you feeling?”

She hummed when her slow mind processed that she hadn’t dreamed the question, reached backward to wind her fingers across the back of his neck. “Good. What about you?”

“You wore me out, woman,” he answered, with another laugh and a slow flex of hips that pointedly suggested otherwise.

A slink of heat knotted itself in her belly, anticipation that brought a sly smile to her lips. “It doesn’t feel that way. Maybe –”

Someone knocked on the door.

“Your Ladyship?”

Rosslyn tensed. “It’s Morrence.”

“Don’t answer,” he breathed, running fingertips over her waist.  

She shook her head with huffed laugh, calling the command to light the glowstone, and picked herself from their tangle of limbs. As she sat up, she secured the covers under her arms to keep them in place, as if a bared chest would be her biggest problem if her captain chose to break in and found Ferelden’s Crown Prince in her bed. Cold air seeped across her exposed skin, held at bay where his hand still circled her waist. In the harsh light cast by the lyrium enchantment, he stretched against the pillows, all bleary eyes and mussed hair, and her stomach fluttered as she tracked the darker line of fuzz down his chest, trying to remember when he had removed his shirt again.

She had slept with him. He had stayed. The bashfulness that had been entirely absent the night before squirmed in her gut, the heat in her cheeks blooming into a furnace under the tender smile curving his mouth, until the feeling became too much and she had to tear her gaze away.

She cleared her throat. “What is it, captain?”

“You said you were to be woken at dawn, Your Ladyship,” came the reply through the door. “Clara came to me worried when you didn’t answer.”

The covers shifted, the mattress dipped behind her, but she tried to not be distracted.

“That’s alright,” she called out. “What’s the state of the company?”

“Being roused now.” Morrence paused. “Clara tried the door, she said it was locked.”

“Yes, I –”

Light fingers brushed her hair away from her shoulder, then began a slow, appreciative trail down the length of her back.

“Make her go away,” Alistair complained, muffled as he pressed his mouth to the skin just below her ear.

Her eyes slipped closed. “Uhm…”

“Should I stop?”

It took all her concentration to shake her head.

“Your Ladyship?”

“I locked it,” she managed.

“Why?”

“Is it my door or not?” she snapped, and pinched the bridge of her nose. Carrying on a half-shouted conversation through a door struck her as entirely undignified, but the floor would be cold and the rasp of Alistair’s unshaved chin continued to be a distraction along her neck, and all in all, she really didn’t want to move.

“I’ll be ready to ride in an hour,” she said finally. “See to it everyone is ready.”

“Aye, Your Ladyship.”

She listened for the creak of the floorboards as her captain turned away, and when she was sure of safety, twisted to capture her lover’s face so she could kiss him and vent some of the frustration he had been building in her so deliberately. A giggle escaped as an arm snaked around her waist to draw her back under the covers. Alistair, as her lover – it felt unfamiliar still, but she liked the sound if it, liked more the way his mouth slanted over hers, the way he touched her as if amazed by every inch of her.

“An hour isn’t much time,” he pouted, turning his attention along her jaw.

“It’s –” A scrape of teeth over the sensitive spot he knew too well already. She tugged on his hair to make him pause, smirking. “It’s plenty for you to sneak back to –”

“Your Ladyship?”

Her gaze snapped to the door. “Y–yes?”

There was a pause, and she imagined Morrence running her tongue over her teeth. When she did speak, the words held a deliberate air of nonchalance. “His Highness’ valet mentioned he wasn’t in his room this morning,”  

“Uh… What do you mean?”  

Next to her, Alistair bit his lips together, burying his head against her shoulder to stifle his laughter. She poked him in the ribs. He nipped her collarbone in retaliation.

“He said he found Cuno sleeping on Prince Alistair’s bed, but it didn’t look like His Highness had been there himself.” Morrence paused again, far too casually.  “Should I raise an alarm?”

“That won’t –” Rosslyn tried, and realised she should appear at least a little concerned about the supposed disappearance of a member of the royal family. “His Highness has probably gone for a walk to clear his head before we leave. If he doesn’t turn up by the time we’re ready to go, we’ll call a search, but I see no need to worry yet.”

“That’s so callous,” he chided in her ear, grinning. “Anything could’ve happened to me, I could be freezing to death for all you know and you’re all tucked up and warm…”

“She’ll hear you,” she hissed, cheeks flaming, with another light prod to his side.

“She already knows I’m here,” he pointed out, but settled next to her with an apologetic brush of lips along her cheek nonetheless.

“Where is Cuno?” she asked her captain.

“I convinced him to the kennel for breakfast,” Morrence replied.

“That’s good, I’ll collect him before I leave. That will be all.”

“Aye, Your Ladyship.”

This time, she held her breath until the corridor outside fell utterly silent, and let it out in a rush of air as she shielded her eyes with the back of her arm. Already, Alistair was sliding limpet-like into the thin space between her body and the covers, half around her and half on top of her, propped on his elbows as if out of worry for pressing her too closely.  

He hummed as her touch feathered blindly over the back of his neck. “I thought she’d never leave.”  

“Don’t smirk.”

“What makes you think I’m smirking?” he asked.

“I can hear it in your voice,” she replied, though she pulled her arm away to check, just in case.

“Even if I am, why shouldn’t I?” his smirk widened. “I’m in bed with the woman I love, and who told me only a few short hours ago that she loves me, too. Oh, and she’s very naked,” he added, with a sly glance downward.

“Those are all things that can change if you’re going to be so glib,” she retorted.

He laughed and leaned closer. “I get it, I get it – You talk too much, Alistair, get to the kissing already.”

She rolled her eyes, but pulled him down all the same. “If you’re offering…”

“For you?” he asked as their lips met. “Always.”

She might never tire of his mouth. He moved languidly, unhurried, letting his hands wander, and the sounds she took from him, the little gasps and moans as she explored in turn, fired through her blood and settled deliciously between her legs. Blunt nails skimmed her side so that she arched upwards, clung harder, squirmed against the hot weight of his erection pressed between them. One of those same hands found its way behind her knee and helped guide it over his waist, coaxing her to follow him so they lay, side by side and face to face, somehow more intimate that before.

“I wish we could stay here all day.” He leaned towards the corner of her mouth, and paused. “What is it?”

She dropped her gaze to her hands, watching the shape of her fingers in the glow of the light as they carded through the hair on his chest. A reply lay on her tongue, but the taste of it grew ashen as the ever-insidious shade of the future rose to break the careless peace that had settled over them.  

“When we reach Highever, we won’t be called away,” she said at last. “At least not for a few days.”

His nose nudged against hers, drawing her gaze. “You’ll have to give me a tour.”

“I don’t know how much of it will be left,” she admitted, as her mind turned to memories – the view from Harrowhill, the demon in the Fade wearing her father’s image as if it were nothing more than a mask in a mummer’s play. “I don’t know if I’d even recognise it.”

“We can rebuild it,” he replied. “This war won’t last forever.”

“And you’ll be needed in Denerim.”

“Oh, Rosslyn – that wouldn’t matter if… if you needed me in Highever.” When she still refused to look at him, he sighed and wriggled closer, his hand splayed warm against her back. “You don’t have to do this alone.”

Her breath faltered. Even in the artificial light, conviction shone in his eyes, bright enough that she lost herself wondering how he found it so easy to burn away her doubts, how loneliness lost its grip in his arms.

“I…”

“Yeeeeeeees?”

Her grin spread like certainty across her face. “If – well. If you’re going to stay, you’ll have to have a room.”

“Really?” he asked, with a sly quirk of his brow. “I think I already know which one I want.”

“You haven’t even seen any of them yet,” she reminded him with a playful tug on his fingers.

“But surely yours is the nicest?”

She gasped. “Rogue! And where, pray tell, am I supposed to sleep if you take my bed?”

She saw the pounce an instant before his arms twined around her waist. Laughing, she let herself be pulled onto his chest, until she straddled him, braced on her arms bare inches from his face with their hearts beating erratic rhythms against each other. Her hair got caught between them, but he helped her tidy it away, twisting it over her shoulders so her skin wouldn’t chill where the covers had fallen to the small of her back.  

“You’ll sleep right next to me, my love,” he purred, as his hands trailed a lazy path to the base of her spine. “Every day, if I have my way. Especially with a view this good.”

“You like this position, do you?” she asked.

“Mmmhm.”

“Good,” she answered, leaning down to hide her blush in a kiss. “Because so do I.”

--

The sun still had yet to peek over horizon when Rosslyn gathered in the stableyard with Leliana and the troop of soldiers hand-picked for the assault on Highever, her breath fogging in the freezing air and the horrid taste of the tea lingering on her tongue. She had added enough honey to turn it from bitter to sickly, but she wouldn’t call it an improvement.  

Only a lone blackbird called. Most of the camp had yet to stir, and wouldn’t move for a few days yet, but whatever stillness they might have enjoyed for the time being was ruined by Lasan, who had realised he was being left behind and decided to make his dissatisfaction known by kicking his stall door to splinters. His bugling did little to agitate the horses they were taking, who dozed under their rugs while the riders stamped their feet and blew warm air into their gloved hands to try and fend off the cold. Satina’s bright disk still hung in the sky, its pinkish glow a rival to the dawn. If they didn’t get going soon, they would waste what few hours of daylight they could use.

At the end of the line, Leliana straightened. “Here he is.”

Rosslyn turned to follow her gaze to the door of the keep, where Alistair tripped down the stairs still trying to fit his helmet over the padded cap that would help keep him warm as well as distribute the helmet’s weight evenly over his head. He was in splintmail, as she was. It would make for an uncomfortable ride, but the Westmoreland breed used by the relay messengers were too lithe to carry riders in heavy armour, and their plan relied on avoiding recognition.

“It’s good of you to join us at last, Your Highness,” she said in clipped tones as he puffed to a halt beside her.

He blushed deeply enough as he took his horse’s reins from her that it made a beacon of them even in the low light. Fortunately, she was able to hide the colour growing in her own cheeks behind her scarf as she turned and led the way towards the gate. The guards who hauled open the doors for them saluted as they walked through, but nobody else marked their passing.  

“We have a lot of ground to cover, and not much time to do it,” she told them as she checked her horse next to the mounting block that had been left for them. “We’ll walk to warm the horses up but if we’re to make the checkpoints the rest of the day will be spent at canter. I understand this won’t be easy for all of you, but speed is key, and the king is counting on us. There’ll be plenty of time to nurse your backsides once we’re out at sea.”

There were nods and a few low chuckles as she gathered the reins and vaulted up, then guided her horse aside to fix the girth strap and adjust her stirrups. The volunteers she had taken from the infantry had all been schooled in horsemanship during the camp at Aeylesbide, and had been given the quietest mounts, but still she watched with a critical eye as each of them clambered into their saddles with only the barest shade of grace and turned their mounts to the road.

They left the blankets over the horses’ quarters as they started off, following the dim line of the road west so that the rising sun cast long shadows in front of them, and set a blaze on the surrounding hills where it struck through the trees to bare clearings of winter bracken. A small herd of deer led by a grey doe paused on the path ahead of them, curious, before vanishing once more ghostlike into the brush, and once, a fennec barked, but aside from the growing chorus of birds in the hedgerows, the steady clop of hooves encompassed the only sound in the world. Despite the brisk pace she set, Rosslyn let herself enjoy the peace, the fleeting break from duty, watching as colourful gangs of finches darted among the bare, berry-laden branches of a nearby rowan.

There had been many mornings like this when she was growing up, camping and following loggers’ trails through Highever’s ancient countryside – and many more that had dawned wet and cold and miserable, and weren’t half so fond to remember. Her father had insisted. Adamant that a ruler should be intimately familiar with their domain, should know how to work with the land and not against it, he had taken both his children into the wilds and made a play of hide and seek through the trees, teaching them about game and mushrooms and the best place to find shelter. And she would never forget the black night in deep Harvestmere when she was ten years old, when he had poked the embers of their campfire and woven a story about his upbringing as an exile in his own country, caught between the desire to keep his people safe and the knowledge that every day he fought for their freedom they only suffered more. He had wanted them prepared to face the same tough choices.

She shook the memory and called a halt to prepare the horses for the run. If their blankets were left as they were, the animals might overheat, or spook when the material flapped in the wind, so each saddle had a strap attached to the cantle that allowed the rug to be folded up and stored like a bedroll, and it was far easier to use if the horse was standing still. Alistair was having trouble twisting around far enough to secure his in place, so she nudged her own mount over to him and casually batted his hand away.

“Thanks,” he said as she fastened the buckle for him. His hand brushed her shoulder to steady her as she straightened again.

She glanced to the others still securing their horses. “It’s a beautiful morning, don’t you think?”  

“Almost worth getting out of bed,” he agreed, smirking, and even though his voice was low enough not to carry, she had to look away. Her horse’s tail swished.

“How are you coping so far?”

He shrugged. “My feet are frozen, but that’s all. I’m sure I’ll have some fascinating bruises later, though. The pace you set, If I can walk after I get off, it’ll be a miracle.”

She shot him a chiding look. “You know you could’ve stayed behind if you –”

Someone snickered behind her. She caught the words ‘hard ride’ and nothing more, but the audience of guilty looks when she whirled to face the perpetrator told her everything she needed to know about the rest of the sentence.

“Do you have something to say, soldier?” she demanded.

The man avoided her gaze. “No, Your Ladyship. It wasn’t –”

“In that case, I’d suggest you keep your mouth closed in case one of the horses decides to shit in it,” she snapped. “If I didn’t need every body I can get for this mission, I’d send you back to Deerswall in disgrace to gossip with the rest of the washerfolk. As it is, you’re taking middle watch every night until this is over. Am I understood?”

“Yes, Your Ladyship,” he answered, still with his gaze on his horse’s withers.

She waited a moment longer to make sure her point had properly struck, determined not to be embarrassed even though she could hardly be surprised at the flavour of the comment. Soldiers, after all, were worse than servants for rumours. Alistair tried to catch her eye as she ordered them back onto the road, but every moment was precious; discipline had to be maintained. She couldn’t regret the night they spent together, the sighs and touches that still ran hot in her blood so many hours later, but her authority required a distance already drawn in by the necessities of their mission, and she couldn’t afford for it to slip further.

--

They travelled quickly. At the waystation they reached just after midday, they paused only long enough to relieve themselves and change to fresh horses, without even a break for food. Instead, they took hard rations straight from the saddlebags as their new mounts warmed up and ran for the rest of the afternoon until the quick winter fall of night made it too dangerous to go any faster than a walk.

Rothsbridge came into sight a few hours after sunset, its lights sparking like jewels nestled in black velvet. As the bottleneck for trade coming from the Waking Sea into the central Bannorn, it had grown wealthy in the decades of peace since Maric became king, and had outgrown its defensive walls years before, spilling wealthy streets of well-appointed villas into the surrounding countryside like apples from an overturned sack. The mayor still liked to keep up appearances, however, and so the gatehouse had stayed, complete with a burly porter who saw the party coming and halted them with a raised lantern.

“Who goes there?” he called, muffled through a thick, knitted scarf.

“Soldiers, in service to His Majesty King Cailan,” Maddow replied at the front. He kicked his horse forward and offered him a writ bearing the royal seal. “You are to let us pass and complete our business here.”  

The man squinted at the parchment, frowning as his mouth laboriously formed the outline of each word, then looked up to pass a leery eye over the rest of them. Wary of being recognised, Rosslyn and Alistair hung at the back, but their layers of splintmail and fur hid them well, and they garnered no comment from the gatekeeper.  

When he was finally satisfied, he handed back the document and shuffled away to unlock the gate. “Sorry to keep ye, lads. Canna be too careful these days.” he coughed. “If yer looking fer a place, Crow’s Head’ll have stabling room, and a good hot meal fer ye an’ all.”

“Thank you, serrah,” Maddow replied as he replaced the writ in the message satchel. “We’ll take your recommendation.”

“It’s on’t left after Silver Street – big sign,” the gatekeeper supplied. He waved them through with his lantern and quickly fell behind them, lost behind the first of Rothsbridge’s tightly-packed rows of terraces.

The Crow’s Head inn lurched into view a few moments later, under a sign of a painted black bird’s head on a pale blue field. It presented a narrow front to the main street, stone foundations with timbered walls on the upper floors, warm light glowing through the swirled windowpanes, and carved rosettes of painted flowers on the lintel of the front door. A sign for stabling pointed down the alleyway next to it.

Rosslyn dismounted. “Hobbs, see to it the horses bedded down while His Highness and I ask about rooms.”

“Aye, Your Ladyship.”

“Meet us in the taproom when you’re finished.”

She handed off her reins and stepped out of the road, and with Alistair following at her heels, pushed open the door into the inn’s welcoming interior. Paintings of river boats dotted the walls between lengths of signal flags hung like bunting, lending a festive air to the array of mismatched chairs and scrubbed, beerstained tables. A stuffed raven eyes them from its perch above the bar and several patrons glanced at them as they passed, but either their weapons discouraged attention or strangers were common, and they went unchallenged.

“Is this about what happened earlier?” Alistair asked as they picked their way between tables.

“We should have been more discreet,” she said, and stopped. Her hand reached for his arm. “Don’t think for an instant that I regret it – any of it – but until this is over, maybe a little distance would be best.”

He sucked in his cheeks, disappointment clear, but nodded, robbed of a response as the innkeeper put away the glasses he had been cleaning and rapped broad knuckles on the bar.

“What’ll it be, sers?”

“We’re a party of fifteen, with horses,” Rosslyn answered. “The keeper at the north gate recommended this place. We need dinner and rooms for tonight – we don’t mind sharing.”

The innkeeper scratched at his beard in a pondering sort of way. “I got two dorms, twelve beds each, int’ attic. Not got anyone in ‘em. Men and women to be separate, mind.”

“That’ll be fine.”

“Breakfast int’ morning?”

She shook her head. “We’ll be leaving early.”

With a grunt, he retreated around a stand of ale casks to call for someone to go and air out the dorm rooms, before disappearing into a back room that smelled of herbs and savoury roasting meat. While they waited for him to come back, Alistair leaned his elbows on the bar and heaved a long, put-upon sigh.

“This distance thing means not even kissing, doesn’t it?”

She sighed too, and bumped her elbow lightly against his side. “I’m sure you’ll survive.”

“I’m not. I’ll waste away, I tell you, and then when I die of not being kissed you’ll miss me very much.”

“Maaaaybe. Why don’t you save them all up and give them to me when we reach –” She bit her tongue to hold in the slip. “– when we get where we’re going?”  

“There’ll be a lot of them,” he warned.

“I can manage that.”

“And if you don’t mind,” he added, leaning closer until his face hovered barely an inch away from hers, “they won’t all be on your mouth.”

He was grinning, tempting her to ignore her own words and sway just that little bit forward to stop all the space between them, but it was a game two could play, even if her only lessons in allurement had come from trying not to watch Oriana flirt with Fergus. She licked her lips, drew the bottom one between her teeth, watching him all the time until with an easy breath out, she leaned away.

“Don’t lose count,” she advised, and folded her hands primly on the edge of the bar.

“Did – you –”

“That’ll be ten silvers,” the innkeeper interrupted, wiping his hands on a cloth as he came whistling back from the kitchen. “Of and find a seat, I’ll bring food out when all’s settled. Beds’ll be ready in a mo’.”

“Thank you, serrah.”

With a nod, the man ambled off to see to one of regulars, leaving the two of them alone once more. As soon as nobody was looking, Alistair so leaned close his lips brushed the shell of her ear.

“Just so you know, that’s five already. I’m going to be merciless.”

[kauriart]

2017-2019 Writing Review

Tagged by @elveny​ and @kittimau​ <3

Am gonna do this a little differently, because I was too upset with my writing in both 2017 & 2018 to talk about where I ended up at the end of the year, and frankly 2019 isn’t that different, but I want to be kinder to myself and let myself celebrate what I HAVE written, instead of always focusing on what I didn’t.

Total A03 word count

188,821 with just a TON of writing that I haven’t published yet.

Any finished stories?

The Captain (Cullen x Isabela) is a very porny fic featuring one of my all-time fave rare-pairs. I managed to post the final 2 chapters after realizing that this wasn’t a stand-alone one-shot like I’d first planned, and am overall pretty floored with how it ended up.

What’s your own favorite story of the year?

Sunshine in the Dark (Alistair x Bethany) which has been a really lovely story to dig into, but also a challenge because A.) teeny tiny fucking ship and B.) I’d never written much from either character C.) the chapters are much longer than I usually write D.) no one is fucking yet so as a smut writer I don’t know what to do with myself.

Do you have any writing goals for the new year?

I want to get focused on how I attack writing. I want to actively write 3 stories simultaneously: Letters from Orlais, another multi chapter fic, and a one-shot; and focus on posting vs writing. I actually did manage to get through a chunk of my story queue in the last couple of years, but here’s what’s left of things that aren’t WIPs on AO3:

Cullen x f!Trevelyan (Dog Park AU) |  Warden x Morrigan x Alistair | Bull x Dorian | m!Lavellan x Bull  | Cullen x Carver | Tabris x Zevran x Isabela | Anders x m!Hawke x Fenris

Did you take any writing risks this year?

My mini-nsfw headcanons series was a big departure for me. They’re written in second person, which is literally no one’s favorite voice to read, and they’re tiny little character studies that take me forever to do. They’ve been pretty successful on tumblr –– which I’m super grateful for –– but they’r still not very satisfying to me compared to posting a full fic, and overall I felt like they derailed my focus.

Most popular story of the year?

Cullen: Intimacy (NSFW Cullen x f!Trev) It’s my most popular one-shot ever. A look at Cullen’s relationship with an explicitly plus-sized Trevelyan. It was rather intimidating to write, but that make its reception that much more rewarding. And my eternal thanks to @stregatadallostregatto​ for her encouragement of that fic.

Story of mine most under-appreciated by the universe, in my opinion:

Cullen: Through the Ages It’s my first, and only, non-romance / gen fic, so it has a much lower readership than some of my other stuff, but similar reception in terms of comments. But I can only track easily on AO3, and my audience is muuuuuch smaller there than on tumblr so “under appreciated” is a little hard to track.

Story with the single sexiest moment:

Checkmate (Cullen x Dorian) Because I am a fan of awkward, passionate blow-jobs and it turns out this pair delivers.

“Holy crap, that’s wrong, even for you!” story:

Merill’s mini-nsfw headcanon. My dudes, there is fisting, and I did not intend for there to be fisting. But then I wrote:

Merrill’s hands are small, and graceful, and covered with scars so thin and fine in places, that they can only be felt when you drag them across your lips.

And then I went goddamn this is going to be about fisting, isn’t it? And lo, it was.

Story that was the most fun to write:

The Knight Lieutenant (Cullen & Meredith) I spent so much time pondering Meredith, and her impact on Cullen’s life, and his relationship to her, and how deep and complex Cullen’s ties to the order were, that I got to just wallow in the meta and headcanons which is pretty fun.

Hardest story to write:

Good Boy, Good Bye (Alistair x f!Cousland) Inspired by the death of my doggo - so it’s SAAAAAAAD, because it’s basically just Alistair’s reaction to Barkspawn’s death.

Biggest disappointment:

Happy Endings (m!Hawke x Orsino) I had to rush to finish the fic as part of an exchange I was doing and was pretty brutally disappointed with what I had posted. I did a pretty major edit that next week, and ended up being satisfied with the final product –– despite the lack of porn, alas –– but the initial failure still stuck with me.

Biggest surprise:

Cole (NSFW headcanon) because I kinda shocked myself by wanting to make Cole smut my #2 entry into my mini NSFW headcanon series, because it’s Cole and who the hell writes Cole smut?!

[greensconnor]

i’m asking about your dragon age characters

molly i would KILL for u im ur personal hitman now

anyway i said my city now because the entire bioware writing team sucks shit xoxo and i’m so much smarter than all of them but also fully incapable of having a normal amount of ocs for anything (see: the time i made 20 rwby ocs in less than two weeks) so i have. five worldstates here r some assorted thoughts

uhhh so the worldstates r as follows

eira mahariel (two-handed berserk/champ spec), rhett hawke (two-handed berserk spec), alas lavellan (mage knight enchanter spec), romanced alistair/fenris/dorian respectively

shiv tabris (dual wield duelist/assassin spec), radella “rads” hawke (mage spirit healer spec), kat adaar (two-handed reaver spec), romanced morrigan/isabela/cassandra respectively because im a pc gamer and i think i should be able to date whatever video game woman i like because im infinitely better than cishet men

this world state said yeah i respect mens rights. mens rights to shut the fuck up

twins bronson (sword/shield reaver spec) & bryant cousland (archer ranger spec), carmine hawke (archer assassin spec), syracuse trevelyan (dual wield tempest spec), romanced zevran/anora/josephine/bull. if ur wondering how that works my city now and the warden, hawke and the inquisitor should all meet and so they do because i Said So

riva amell (mage arcane warrior/battlemage spec), graham “gray” hawke (mage force spec), hellathen “hela” lavellan (archer assassin spec); romanced cullen/anders and later blackwall because hawke only likes men who will break his heart. hela doesn’t have a romance because she’s literally 20. who let her lead the inquisition (me it was me). also it should be noted the version of cullen i have in my head only vaguely resembles actual cullen because i write better than dragon age writers ever could and i gave him an Actual Cohesive Narrative and he gets bullied relentlessly for being scrawnier than his mage boyfriend

malien “mal” surana (mage spirit healer/keeper spec), jules hawke (sword/shield reaver spec), ash adaar (mage rift spec), romanced leliana/merrill/krem because i should have been able to kiss krem and its a Crime that i am not allowed to

knight enchanter is a Very op specialization and by Very op i mean it makes a mage with their built-in low constitution stats able to solo the biggest baddest dragon in the game on nightmare mode in under five minutes so like. alas lavellan fist fights dragons for fun send tweet

i think lavellans should be able to hit ppl with bricks for all the shit they endure. thus solas gets pranked by mahariel and alas by which i mean they just tip buckets of water onto him from the rookery

kat might be my only competent inquisitor but she did also try to knock out the right hand of the divine and attempt to gap even tho there’s fucky magic burning up her hand so does she have a brain cell? you decide

also its fantasy land and i do what i want so kat has blue/gold sectoral heterochromia

gray “mage rights” hawke is best friends with fenris which surprises literally everyone. their friendship started because they got into a fist fight and then they were like okay i respect u now. hawke is like hey fenris give me ur sword i have a fun trick to show u [uses his sword as a foci to zap carver in the ass with lightning]

i am Always thinking abt like how cullen could have been one man anti-chantry propaganda machine if he hadn’t so blatantly been shoehorned into every game past origins so anyway bioware forgot about a wholeass moon i can write what i like. [holds up cullen by the scruff of his stupid armor] not only are you bisexual you are also a bottom

i also Hate the whole uwu mage haters get fixed by romancing a mage

unlocked secret dialogue option where my inquisitors verbally cuss out dorian’s dad instead of whatever sympathetic narrative the writers were going for cuz its bullshit.

riva is a showoff and a Menace about being as good as he is because he unabashedly loves being a mage and hes like oooh look at me im sexy i dont need to use my hands to cast magic because i’m just that good ;)) and you know what. hes right.

gray, on the other hand, does Not want to be mage. he wants to be a druffalo farmer and retire in the hinterlands and be left the fuck alone. unfortunately he is gay and has one brain cell and terrible, terrible taste in men. ribbed relentlessly for this by riva (altho does he have room to talk hes been hung up on cullen since he was like 13)

shiv is trans n kieran is the result of doing the dark ritual with her wife and he looks a Lot like shiv (dark skin pointed ears, shock-white hair) and morrigan always just Assumed she dyed it or did something magic with it so seeing their kid come out like that was a WEIRD time for her

leliana almost Murdered by cassandra in worldstate 5 because the warden is Actually There The Whole Time, but its been 10 years, mal’s cut off all her hair and gotten full facial tattoos and she’s like “no one will know its me its fine” and she’s right. she gets away with it. only cullen like, Knows, because he knew her before the blight but he doesnt have a death wish n he like. will Not piss her off

shes dalish by birth n she was stolen from her clan by templars and thus is vehemently anti-circle and anti-chantry in general

uhhh the vallaslin (elf face tattoos) of my 4 dalish characters are:

eira = ghilan’nain (chose em cuz shes rlly interested in the navigation aspect of the goddess)

alas = falon’din (god of the dead n he picked them because he’s Also the god of fortune and alas is like tee hee fun but also he can and will kill u if u fuck with him so yk its fitting)

hela = june (god of the craft bc she likes to Make things but june is also the god who taught the elves 2 hunt and hela is. a hunter.)

mal = elgar’nan (allfather/god of vengeance bc. she is Vengeful. she is Angry. but yk fucking with shem politics and fucking their divine is like. mal may have little a retribution. as a treat.) yes she has the full half-face solid colour tattoo she does NOT fuck around.

bronson and bryant r not genetically identical but they Look similar enough 2 anyone who doesn’t know them well enough 2 play spot the distance. anora and bronson think this is a super fun game to play, especially when nobles realize they’ve swapped out the king but they’re too nervous to say anything

eira mahariel has two hands. one is for holding hands with alistair and the other is for throttling elven gods, apparently. she’s killed one before so solas she’s coming for your bitch ass next. watch urself.

speaking of eira and alistair are married thru dalish tradition and humans don’t recognize it n alistair loves 2 re-propose to her with random things. he’ll just pick up like. a bit of cheese and be like “marry me ;)” and she’s like GASP but whatever will the chantry say!!!! all of their friends r sick of them

“vhenan if you love me bring me a sword” “you think i could do better than a sword made out of space rock?” “:)”

eira is my youngest hero at 18 at the start of her game and kat is my oldest at 32 at the start of her game.

none of my hawkes are under six foot. rhett is the tallest (6′8″) and rads is the shortest (6′2″).

syracuse trevelyan would have been the Perfect inquisitor if he were not a pretty boy himbo and a gay bastard who does Most Things just to spite his parents.

[corypheus pointing at syracuse’s visage in his crystal orb thingo] i want that twink obliterated

i love the companions from older games return thing i truly do so i make it a point for Every companion to return in inquisition so the gang rlly is all here because i am a Slutte for found family

i lie in my keep worldstates because i dont want to choose between hawke and alistair during here lies the abyss but i never make him king and every time i play inquisition and cole has the wicked grace line it makes me Scream. alistair baby im so sorry i did this to you but i didnt actually do this to you

yes this is my everyone lives au but like. all the time. i have never left hawke in the fade and i do not intend to.

fuck whatever nonsense about wardens not being able 2 have kids. by sheer divine power (me) anora and bryant have three daughters; eleanor, sabina & cecelia n both bronson and zevran make Excellent uncles because i think anora deserves good things because i’m tired of bioware being like women bad, actually,

so like most of the time i have the warden & hawke turning up after the move to skyhold n then staying on, with the exception of bryant, carmine & mal. mal is as mentioned previously just There the whole time with her girlfriend. bryant steps in as king of ferelden w/ interests in closing the big hole in the sky spewing demons in2 his kingdom yk. carmine shows up because she wants to help & she wants protection for bethany but she outright says she’d rather die than be inquisitor so cassandra is shit out of luck.

“CHANGE HER MIND VARRIC” “she once doubled down on insisting amaranth was a shade of blue because she didn’t want to admit to being wrong. no one’s changing her mind seeker”

alas is the middle child of eight and is thus very good with children and also bossing around people older than him. 2 of his older siblings come to the inquisition when stuff in wycome has been settled

i left ash with the basic canon background with Some variation (he grew up under the qun and left of his own free will when his magic was discovered n he realized he couldn’t take living as a saarebas

kat on the other hand was raised tal-vashoth and has bounced around basically all over thedas and leads her own merc company when the conclave blows up. she also speaks multiple languages. is there a language she doesn’t speak? probably not

just realized how long this got so im gonna like. stop my general rambling now but lmao yeah theres some basics. waves hands.

[whatsherfacewrites]

Dragon Age Questions

Tagged by @skyholdherbalist - Thanks!! (and HBD!)

01) favorite game of the series?

I like ‘em all for different reasons. DAO for the origins and the atmosphere and nostalgia, DA2 for the story and characters, and DAI for being pretty and big.

02) how did you discover Dragon Age?

I’d just gotten an xbox 360 and was tired of Skyrim. 

03) how many times you’ve played the games?

Listen, I’m terrible at finishing games. I’ve started both DAO and DA2 a couple times, but I always get stuck at some pivotal moment and wander away. My DA2 game is stalled right now at the end of Act 2 because my Hawke flirted her way into bed with Anders, fully intending to hit it and quit it, but then he was like, “You USED me!” and I felt so bad I shut the game off and haven’t been back since. True story.

DAI is the only one I’ve finished, and I did it twice. Lol.

04) favorite race to play as?

Human. I know. Basic.

05) favorite class?

Rogue, mage close second. I like mage Hawke best for story reasons, and force mage was pretty fun. Also, I miss the animation where you actually whack things with your staff in close quarters. Bring that back, Bioware.

06) do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time.

I tend to fall into the same rut unless I consciously set myself up to make different decisions, like playing a different gender or class.

07) go-to adventuring group?

DAO: Alistair, Morrigan, Wynne/Zev/Leli. DA2: Isabella, Fenris, Anders/Varric. DAI: Cass, Dorian+Bull or Sera+Blackwall.

08) which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

I made Owain as a joke for my second playthru, just to try something different. I literally called him Magebro for the first half of the game. But then he turned real, and now I’m 170,000 words deep in his fic, and I honestly don’t know how this happened.

09) favorite romance?

Cassssssss. Hah. But I also like Cullen a lot—he was my first DAI playthru and my gateway to fic. Alistair will always be special, too, as the first real game romance I played. In DA2, I’m partial to Fenris (I have a documented weakness for emo boys), but Isabella x f!Hawke was really fun, too.

10) have you read any of the comics/books?

Nope.

11) if you read them, which was your favorite book?

Meh.

12) favorite DLCs?

Trespasser is hard to top, but I liked Jaws of Hakkon, too. Frostback Basin is very pretty, the Avvar are interesting, and Ameridan’s story gives me feels.

13) things that annoy you?

Here’s one: I don’t like having to meta-game or look things up in RPGs, like I want my choices to be consequential and impact the story, but I want it to feel organic and make sense. I don’t want to see the levers. DA has a tendency to be kinda hamfisted with this. Like that one throwaway dialogue at the beginning of the game that locks you into hard-ass Leliana? Ooh, so edgy! Come on. For a game that’s all about story, there should be a little more nuance.

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

Whatevs.  

15) Templars or Mages?

16) if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

Same? I don’t think about it, but Hawke would drive Owain crazy.

17) what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

After my cats. Or a random person name, like Steve.

18) have you installed any mods?

Nope. Console.

19) did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

Yes. My Cousland was a ball of rage, and she jumped at the chance to do something after Highever, even if it got her killed.

20) Hawke’s personality?

Purple. All the sass, all the jokes. 

21) did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

Oh boy. I have Opinions about armor in games, and I’m the kind of player that will absolutely prioritize fashion over function if given a choice. But for some reason DAI armor grates my cheese. The textures lack substance to me, like everything is made of tissue paper and tin foil.

But I digress. No, I don’t make matching armor, but I do put certain characters in certain colors and materials. Dorian always gets white (or white and red) silk.

22) if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

For Owain, Redcliffe has put him off any fantasies about time travel. Not to say he doesn’t have regrets, but they’re part of him.

23) do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Not really. I do wish the Inquisitor was less of a blank slate. Especially for a character that’s older than like 20… You can’t live your life without some baggage, and it would have been nice to see more of that. This is why we fic.

24) are any of your character(s) based on someone?

They all reflect parts of me, I’m sure.

25) who did you leave in the Fade?

Hawke. It kills me, but I think it’s a fitting end for her arc, whether I want to believe she dies there or somehow busts her way out. If anyone’s gonna do that, it’s Hawke.

26) favorite mount?

I usually love mounts, but not in DAI. I’m here for the characters, and riding a horse is just too lonely.  I miss the banter.

[joiedecombat]

100 Days of Writing: the List

Since it seems there is some interest, why not? List of works (nominally) in progress, old unfinished fics, and Stuff I Want To Write below the cut. Feel free to ask about any of these.

Works (nominally) In Progress

Fanfic

"Reason or Rhyme" (Time Princess - Gotham Memoirs). The Vittorio expansion/fix-fic, because I will be forever disgruntled at how little romance content was actually included in the Mafia romance route.

Galactic Date Night Shenanigans aka "The one where everything is Balkar's fault." (SWTOR - Theron Shan/Jedi Knight). Theron "disaster spy" Shan is goaded into trying to take his wife out for a nice date for once, and it goes like every other plan these two have ever had anything to do with.

#3: [I] trusted [you] (SWTOR - Theron Shan / Jedi Knight). A post-Nathema prompt fic I swear I will finish one of these days.

Original

super secret short story/novella project - Okay it's not that super secret, but it is something I'm mostly keeping under my hat for now as I work on it because of reasons, and is actually (inconveniently, for 100 Days of Writing purposes) the main thing I've been working on lately. I expect to be able to say more about it later. Maybe even within the 100 days! We'll see.

southern gothic urban fantasy procedural romance - Faerie Animal Control Warden meets FBI Elf during investigation of a suspicious death out in the kudzu. A little bit of Bright, a bit Mushi-Shi, a drop of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Stuff I Want to Write

Distinct from works in progress in that I have not actually gotten past the planning stage on any of these - if that. A few of these have been rattling around in concept for long enough to have gone through several distinct evolutions without ever getting any writing done on them. Still, hope springs eternal and ideas are never wasted.

Fanfic

the rival bands AU / the rock opera playlist fic (Sailor Moon - Makoto Kino/Nephrite). Currently exists entirely as an incomplete playlist.

space opera Pride and Prejudice retelling - exactly what it sounds like on the tin. Do y'all know I have yet to encounter a futuristic/space AU? Surely there's one out there somewhere, but I have yet to see it. If you know of one, for the love of God don't tell me.

"Ten of Swords" - (Archer EMIYA/Minako Arisato). fate/stay night + Persona 3 Portable crossover what's even wrong with my brain.

Original

the Regency fae story - a Regency-era fantasy in which a lot of the needlessly complicated and restrictive social rules followed by the upper classes are actually an attempt at defending against the Fair Folk. Sort of Pride and Prejudice vs Changeling: the Lost vs Labyrinth. Could turn into a whole Pride and Prejudice retelling, I guess?

drinking games - fantasy imperial court intrigues involving a romance between a court poison taster and a master spy/assassin.

untitled - East/southeast Asian-inspired Beauty and the Beast retelling in which the Beast is a mountain god whose appearance is based on a tiger. I'm probably too white to write this.

untitled - Private investigator hired to investigate local bad-boy-made-good for insurance fraud, turns out it was actually an ill-advised teenage deal with the devil coming due. Might fit in with that other southern gothic urban fantasy idea, I am not sure.

the ciphered letter - This one started off as a combination of a Mage: the Awakening campaign and a really, really weird spam email I got one time. Orphan gets mysterious ciphered letter, meets snarky Welsh mage, awakens to magic and maybe almost gets made a human sacrifice to an eldritch abomination.

Forfeit - Regency/Victorian-esque fantasy involving reincarnation, a race of immortals, and a half-immortal teaming up with a mortal who sacrificed his future reincarnations for pseudo-immortality to uncover and stop the sinister secrets that power a colonizing empire. It makes more sense in my head... probably?

untitled - Slow burn enemies to lovers between the world-conquering emperor and the rebel leader who's opposing him, over the course of a time loop. AKA Lord of Heroes Kartis/Monarch with the serials filed off. Or I guess I could just write Lord of Heroes fanfic?

low fantasy Magnificent Seven Samurai - Farming village scrapes together a group of starving mercs to protect them from marauders, drama ensues. That's it, that's the whole idea.

Unfinished Fics

Distinct from works in progress in that these are all old enough I can no longer claim I intend to finish them. Some of them I may come back to, especially the few that had substantial progress made before they fell by the wayside. Most will probably be left abandoned, either because I have lost interest in continuing to work on them or I have just plain forgotten what I was planning to do with them.

dreameater - A very old, loosely Forgotten Realms-inspired concept involving an aging half-elf, his fully elven partner, and a mysterious magical threat that's devouring people's dreams.

"Fortune Favors the Brave" (Baccano! - Luck Gandor/Eve Genoard). The Luck/Eve shipping fic.

"Intermezzo" (Blood+ City of Nightwalkers). Follow-up fic to an obscure manga prequel/side story for the vampire anime Blood+, involving Hagi and the Hong Kong cop who semi-adopted him that one time.

"The Art of Losing Everything" (Dragon Age: Origins - Alistair Theirin/f!Cousland). An Alistair/f!Warden fic with themes of loss, duty, and sacrifice.

"In Pieces" (Dragon Age II - Fenris/f!Hawke). A terrible horrible no good very bad AU where Hawke actually turned Fenris over to Danarius and then came back to try to fix her mistake, which I can never finish because I can't make that initial decision make internal sense no matter how hard I try.

"Pas de Deux" (Final Fantasy VIII - Squall Leonhart/Rinoa Heartilly). Exploration of how Squall and Rinoa's relationship could develop after the events of the game.

"With Good Intentions" (Final Fantasy VIII - Squall Leonhart/Rinoa Heartilly). An AU in which Rinoa discovers that technically you can change the past, it's just that if Squall has an actual decent childhood the world ends. Way too ambitious for me to ever actually finish, probably, but I can't quite give up on the idea.

"I've Loved These Days" (Gundam SEED - Mu la Flaga/Murrue Ramius). One of several partly-written Gundam SEED fics kicking around in my files.

"The Last Night of the World" (Gundam SEED - Mu la Flaga/Murrue Ramius). Another Gundam SEED fic, one that began as a prompt in ye olde LiveJournal days. "I've Loved These Days" might have been a prototype, though they don't appear to have any text in common. Could in theory still get finished, maybe.

Valentine's ghosts (Gundam SEED Destiny - Andrew Waltfeld/Murrue Ramius). I'm just saying, Andy/Murrue would have been so much more interesting than the whole Neo thing in Destiny.

"Lion Passant" (Kingdom Hearts). Something something Leon as a failed Keyblade Bearer. The Kingdom Hearts franchise has rewritten its own lore at least three times since I originally had the idea, I can't imagine I'll ever continue it now.

"Vigil" (KotOR - Carth Onasi/f!Revan). Carth/Revan retrospective somewhere around the tomb of Naga Sadow on Korriban.

"Semper Fidelis" (KotOR/KotOR II - Carth Onasi/f!Revan). Post-Sith Lords Carth/Revan resolution fic.

"Clarity" (KotOR II). Atton Rand backstory study from the POV of that one nameless Jedi.

"A Simple Game of Cards" (KotOR II - Atton Rand/Jedi Exile). Spoilers: it is never a simple game of cards. Turns out someone already did it with more or less the same twist I had in mind.

the besieged base fic (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). A fic rendition of the "Besieged Base" mission from the first Mass Effect.

"Get Up, Jonah" (Mass Effect). I woke up thinking about Turkish drummers. Didn't take long; I don't know much about Turkish drummers. Virmire, before the other shoe drops.

"Long Night" (Mass Effect). Ashley on Virmire.

"My Heart Dances" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). Liara POV of Shepard/Kaidan.

"No Way Out" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). Heading up the Citadel during the ME1 endgame.

"Right Here, Right Now" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). An ME1 epilogue / pre-ME2 sort of fic.

"While the Night is Still Young" (Mass Effect - f!Shepard/Kaidan Alenko). Shepard/Kaidan en route to Ilos.

Apparently I had approximately a million little Mass Effect shortfic ideas I never finished and in some cases never started. Apparently they're all for the first game. (I think there was a Thane idea or two for ME2 that I just never started on at all. RIP.)

"To Absent Friends" (Tiger and Bunny). Sad, sad futurefic of an elderly Pao-Lin reflecting on the deaths of all the other heroes over the years.