#elveny rambles

[elveny]

Listen, it’s the last day of the year. It doesn’t matter anymore. And yes, it’s arbitrary and technically just another day but still. You get to decide to start anew tomorrow. And there’s magic in your decisions.

You get to start anew tomorrow.

[kunstpause-archive]

I just love these two so much. In every universe, but especially in this one.

Adriene and Cassia have such a wonderful relationship with each other. That had it’s difficulties growing up, partly because of their parents and party bc of outward influences, but never because of them. And they have this thing where they are in certain parts incredibly similar, especially on an emotional level. The both have the tendency to take on everything themselves, to feel they are responsible and should shoulder stuff on their own. They also have the same tendency to blame themselves for things that aren’t their fault. And they are both quite adept at lying to themselves.

But on the other hand they are super different in so many regards. Adriene is more of a physical fighter (of course largely informed by her lack of aether and her difficulties using the bit that she has) and is much more trained while Cassia gets out of breath if they are in a stressful situation. She, in turn, relies heavily on magic doing the heavy lifting for her, even though she not completely unfit. But she is softer, physically. Adriene is much more ready to throw down with someone while Cassia prefers to talk (or, if we are very honest, sleep) herself out of situations. But both are usually equally as successful with their methods - and they have this short moment when they find each other again at the start of ARR, after having been separated for almost five years (since the calamity hit) where they are both afraid that the other one might judge them for their life choices. Which is completely baseless fear and there is so much relief when they realise that they can approach things very differently but still be entirely supportive of the way the other person chooses to act. 

And they are both fiercely protective of each other. Adriene has been much more groomed into the protector role, having to look out for her siblings from a young age, to a point where she sometimes feels that protecting others might be all she is good for. But Cassia is no less protective of her sister in her own way. And struggles with the feeling of inadequacy every now and then because people around her keep insisting of being protective of her when all she wants is to be responsible for her self. And in Eorzea she gets to be (and kinda has to be) that so much earlier than in Thedas which allows her to grow into a quite different version of herself.

And with current headcanons Shadowbringers is going to test their bond to the absolute limits and will leave them both having to re-learn a lot of things they took for granted about themselves and each other and in the end it will only make them stronger together but the way there is seriously exciting.

I have zero spoons for doing a lot of writing at the moment, but I genuinely can’t wait till the spoons are back and we get to start on this.

[curiousthimble]

WIP Wednesday

I was tagged by @kunstpause and @cartadwarfwithaheartofgold to share my wips- thank you loves!

SO. I have been toiling away at The Dress- which, if you follow me on insta, you'll have seen all the stories I ramble in about it. Well...it's finished. Couple things before you go clicking through the cut:

1. Itty Bitty Betty doesn't have a bust. And I rarely use her because she's so small and it isn't worth it to me to pad one on her.

2. This is not the real color. The real color is a lovely deep cranberry that my phone WILL NOT capture. I hate it, but the hat behind the dress is closer in color than what you can see here.

3. I forgot to pin her arms on in my excitement.

Tagging (with no obligation of course) @musetta3, @elveny, @dalish-rogue, @wardenari, @ammocharis, @queen-kass-the-writer, and @curiousartemis

[maudus1]

13 Songs

Thanks for tagging me @musetta3 and @queen-kass-the-writer!

Rules: List 13 songs you’ve been listening to lately.

        My music tastes are pretty set in stone because, and this is news to no one, I’m old. :p So while I enjoy a wide variety of genres, I tend to listen to the same shit over and over unless my mood dictates a switch. These are all from my default driving playlist, ‘cause I listen to music most often in the car. Anyway, gonna include Spotify links so y’all can check ‘em out if you want.

1. Bad Company - Bad Company

2. Ramble On - Led Zeppelin

3. Night Moves - Bob Seger

4. Renegade - Styx

5. Fortunate Son - Creedence Clearwater Revival

6. Long Train Runnin’ - The Doobie Brothers

7. Slow Ride - Foghat

8. Tush - ZZ Top

9. Simple Man - Lynyrd Skynyrd 

10. Black Dog - Led Zeppelin 

11. All Along the Watchtower - Jimi Hendrix

12. Rock of Ages - Def Leppard

13. Hold on Loosely - 38 Special

Tagging @charlatron @jacklyn-flynn @kemvee @kita-lavellan @noire-pandora @silvanils @followingthewolf @storybookhawke @visceralcoma @snippetsrus @midnightprelude @rachelleofalltrades @zuendwinkel @elveny @kunstpause @wardenari @deathvalleyqueen @cornfedcryptid and anyone else who wants to share! 

[pikapeppa]

Brilliant Pika, Would you be willing to share any advice on writing Cole’s little rambles?

Hello darling friend, I’m honoured by this ask! Cole is a tough cookie, but I will do my best to explain how I write him!

Pikapeppa writes: Cole from Dragon Age: Inquisition

A little context for those who don’t know: I LOVE COLE A LOT and I’ve written a few pieces from Cole’s POV; there was a short two-chapter Colemance, and two pieces in first-person POV where Cole is reflecting on Solavellan (here and here).  Cole also features prominently in my ongoing WIP, Lovers In A Dangerous Time (i.e. FenHawke and the Inquisition). 

I’ll break this down into two parts: what Cole says, and how Cole says it.

What Cole says: the content of his rambles

Cole is a spirit of compassion. In his own words, “Helping makes me who I am. I help the hurting. That is what I do, all I do.” His rambles expose the hurts or trauma of the person he is focused on, and are intended to untangle and assuage their pain. He often says things that people don’t want to hear, but need to hear. Because of this, the incidents that Cole mentions are often things that the person wouldn’t want others to hear, since those hurts are very personal.

I purposely say that he intends to lessen people’s pain; despite his best intents, Cole does not always get it right. A good example of this is his dialogue with Iron Bull if Iron Bull sacrifices the Chargers. As well-meaning as Cole is, sometimes his words accidentally do more harm than good. 

It is also important to mention that Cole doesn’t hear every person’s every thought. At one point when speaking to the Inquisitor, he states that “I don’t hear everyone. They have to need me. Pain, fear, sadness, guilt, anger, hurt: things I can fix.” That being said, everyone feels those thing at some point or another, and even happy memories are often tinged with some sadness or pain. A good example of this is when Cole talks to Cassandra about blueberry pastries — a preference of hers that is closely linked to her sharing them with her late brother Anthony.

I like to think of Cole as an antenna picking up memories that contain pain, sadness, or guilt, and that he conveys those memories/thoughts in the format that he picks them up — that is, in a manner that reflects both the clarity and the vagueness of memory. If we consider the way that memories work, they are not clear linear narratives. They are not perfect detailed recordings of the things we see or do.  Memories are often fractured or vague, especially if they’re old. Even the clearest memories are not very lengthy, and some elements of the memory might be very clear — a smell, a flavour, a sensation, a specific mental ‘snapshot’ — while everything else in the memory is rather blurred. The content of Cole’s rambles reflects this fractured, clear-but-unclear nature of memories. 

Thus, in terms of content, Cole’s rambles often start off by exposing the person’s pain by giving us a vague or fractured glimpse into their memories. He then goes on to say something comforting that (hopefully!) assuages the person’s sadness/anger/guilt associated with that memory. 

How Cole says it: Cole’s speech patterns

When writing Cole’s rambles, there are a few key characteristics of his speech patterns to keep in mind:

Alliteration

Direct quotes from people’s thoughts

Vague and indirect references

Alliteration:

Alliteration is when you string together a number of words with the same consonant sound for stylistic purposes. This is what gives Cole’s speech part of its poetic quality. 

An example from when he talks to Sera: “The sky wants to say something. It's trying, tempting, words in the wind, whistling, wandering, wasted.”

Direct quotes: 

Cole sometimes speaks the exact words of the person he’s focused on. An example from when he’s talking to Blackwall: “‘Mockingbird, mockingbird.’ Too many voices in the carriage. Maker, they're young. If I tell my men to stop, they'll know it was all a lie.”

Vague and indirect references: 

Cole often speaks without explaining who or what exactly he is talking about. His speech can often be phrased such that if you know who or what he’s referring to, it’s perfectly obvious, but if you don’t know who/what he’s referring to, it’s a complete enigma. But just because we don’t understand him, it doesn’t mean he doesn’t make sense. In Cole’s words to Vivienne, “I can say what I mean without you understanding.” 

For example: “Voice ringing with fullness from both worlds, guiding me to the shining places. He calls himself Pride.” When you play Inquisition for the first time, you have no idea who this refers to. When you’re playing a second time, it’s obvious that it’s Solas, and the two worlds he’s referring to are the ‘real world’ and the Fade. 

How the hell do I put all of this together and write him?

Tip #1: Repeatedly listen to and/or read all of Cole’s dialogue. I often find that with any character, just listening to the rhythm and cadence of their voice and speech helps let me imitate it. So it’s often a good idea to just read/listen to his dialogue prior to writing him. 

Tip #2: Clearly state the meaning you want Cole to convey, and then ‘dress it up’ to make it indirect. I think of this like working backwards: you know the ‘endpoint’ or the conclusion to the ramble, so you have to work backward to the intriguing beginning. 

As an example, in Lovers In A Dangerous Time (my Fenris the Inquisitor fic), I wanted Cole to ramble about Morrigan and Old God Baby Kieran at one point. My endpoint was this: Morrigan loves Kieran, despite never expecting or meaning to love him as much as she does. Having this in mind, I wanted to make Cole’s ramble indirect and vague, with some alliteration and poetic quality, and with enough hints in it for it to be obvious who it was about if you were told the subject of the ramble.

“It whispers, waiting, keeping him company. Where it starts and he ends, she doesn’t know, but she loves him all the same. [...] She never thought she would be good at this. He grew on her, in her, grows over her: taller and wiser and more ineffable every day. But he’ll always be her little man.”

The first sentence has two examples of alliteration; the second sentence is indirectly referring to the fact that Kieran has an Old God soul that he was born with and that he is tied to very deeply since he was born with it. There’s some more alliteration/repetition with the “grew on her, in her, over her”, which adds some poetic Cole flavour, and then the ‘little man’ reference is a direct quote from Morrigan, who calls Kieran her little man the first time the Inquisitor meets him. In terms of content, I admittedly don’t know Morrigan super-well since I haven’t played DA:O, but I imagine there is some guilt about the utilitarian purpose for his conception, and also some very complex negative feelings about her Flemeth that are tangled in her own love for Kieran, so that’s what I was keeping in mind when writing this ramble. 

Another example, also from Lovers In A Dangerous Time: this is Cole talking to Fenris about Varania. 

******************************

 “Red hair like the blood that almost stained her hands. She lives in a place that’s not her home, toiling as a tailor like she told you before. [...] She is jealous still. But if you had been wiped away, if you were made not you, she would be not her. She would be a monster.”

Fenris frowned. “Jealous? Of what?”

“You were everything she wanted to be,” Cole said. “Mired in magic, loved, seen. You were free. [...] You gave her a chance. You didn’t kill her.”

“That wasn’t my… Hawke and Varric stopped me,” he said distractedly. “I would have…” He trailed off and ran a hand through his hair.

“You would have been sad afterwards,” Cole said softly. “You gave her a chance to not be a monster.”

***********************

I started off with a flash of an image: Varania’s red hair. There are some indirect references to the idea that she is not in Tevinter (her home) anymore, since I headcanon that she doesn’t or can’t return to Tevinter after the incident in the Hanged Man. And finally, Cole addresses Fenris’s complex feelings of anger and uncertainty and wistfulness with regards to his estranged sister, and he attempts to assuage those feelings by assuring Fenris that he did a good thing by not killing her, and by trying to give some insight into why Varania sold him out. 

A final note: remember that Cole does not always speak in this poetic, indirect manner. He often has conversations with normal, non-poetic sentences, even if he still tends to be vague or to launch into topics without giving any context. A lot of his (PRECIOUS) banter with Varric is excellent for displaying this. 

I hope this has been helpful — honestly, I feel like I’m not entirely capturing everything about Cole’s uniquely poetic rambles, so I’m going to call on my fellow Cole-writing experts @elveny and @faerieavalon here:  do you guys have any further insights on how to write Cole?

Thanks again for this ask, my love! I hope it helps! xoxoxo

[captainderyn]

Six Sentence Sunday

Thank you for the tag @elveny​ and @anchanted-one​! I wasn’t going to join because I didn’t have anything but then ah the inspiration bug hit xD

Excerpt from an upcoming Check, Please! fic

--

A blank document was a college student's worst nightmare. 

No, it was the worst nightmare of any student; for any assignment. A deadline looming, the timer counting down, and a cursor bouncing up and down on a blank, white, document. 

Well, it wasn’t wholly blank, Bitty had the cover page for his final thesis written out. It was more progress than he had made in the past few months all combined, not counting the period where he had sat down and written out almost the entirety of his outline while waiting for the kitchen timer to go off. 

                  Changing Methods in Southern Baking After World War II

                                                     Eric Bittle

                        A Thesis in the Field of American Studies

                For the Degree of Bachelors of Liberal Arts in Food Culture

                                            Samwell University

                                                  May 2017

According to Jack he had already written 2,400 words in a text-to-text tirade spurred on by his boyfriend, but it was one thing to ramble off, furiously texting from his bed, and quite another to take those words and emojis and translate them into something he could graduate with.

 Staring at his laptop, tapping his fingers lightly enough on the keys to avoid typing any letter, his mind was simply blank. In another window, staring at him mockingly, he had the texts he had sent Jack on a word document.

[greyias]

Tagged by @rinskiroo

Copy and paste the last sentence you wrote and then tag as many people as there are words in that line.

Stupid, I know — never said I was good at this sort of thing.

It actually took me a while to find what the actual last sentence I wrote was, since I’ve been writing everything completely out of order. Let’s see, that’s... 13 words... (I guess I’m lucky it wasn’t one of the long rambly sentences!)

(Feel free to ignore if you’re not in the mood): @mjaydesw @aearyn @menollywanderer @wrathetc @elveny @fer8girl @soulventure91 @andveryginger @heymichigeeks @salaciouscrumpet @inyri @for-the-flail @brietopia

[elveny]

So today, I dug a grave and buried my cat, and then I spent the rest of the day gaming instead of doing anything I *should* have done.

I mean, I'm grieving, so I know I should give myself some grace but. It super sucks to know I'm allowed to take time to process (or just disengage with reality for a while) and STILL feel guilty. Like. WTF brain.

[elveny]

Maybe I’ll throw out my version of how Veilguard should have been. Or at least how it siehe been in MY canon.

[elveny]

I don’t know how many asks with “please give me money” I got these last weeks, so I’m disabling asks for now.

[elveny]

I am so *extremely* tired of fandom drama and callouts and LINK TO THE GDOC "look at our private conversations" and "can you believe".

[elveny]

Your tags about why you follow me!!

😭😭😭

❤️❤️❤️

I love you so much.

[elveny]

2024 Tumblr Top 10

1. 766 notes - Jan 10 2024

So, Freunde der Sonne, mal kurz Tacheles. Dass AfD Nazis sind ist ja nun indiskutabel und nicht hinterfragbar, dass sie sich mit...

2. 277 notes - Mar 26 2024

3. 230 notes - Feb 22 2024

4. 168 notes - Jun 18 2024

Ngl, “ancient elves turn bald” is the stupidest newest lore shit that I’ll immediately ignore I ever heard.

5. 67 notes - Sep 27 2024

6. 63 notes - Nov 20 2024

What to Do Before Trump Takes Office in January

7. 63 notes - Nov 2 2024

8. 62 notes - Jun 21 2024

SOLAS DOES NOT WANT TO DESTROY THE WORLD!!

9. 58 notes - Jun 11 2024

10. 55 notes - Feb 17 2024

Created by TumblrTop10

[elveny]

You know maybe you should try this. It might fix you.

I just had crackers and cheese and wine for dinner and boy let me tell you

[kunstpause-archive]

184.875 words are currently in the “done” category of @elveny and my current story. The entire second part is done.

There is still some stuff to go but I am feeling very accomplished right now.

[kunstpause-archive]

elveny replied to your post “I am actually bored by this game?!? what is happening?”

wait what? who are you and what have you done to my friend?

Not playing! Watching the particular match I was watching. It was... generic and not the fun I anticipated.