#flint de riva

[lunastarhawk]

Another fine example of Veilguard lining up three handsome men all in a row for me.

[justiceforanders]

A Fine Selection

Part of the "Wings and Blades" Lucanis x Rook Stories

Pairing: Lucanis x Rook (she/her)

Rating: T

Words: 1.5k

Available on Ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/61423204

Summary: Lucanis and Rook go grocery shopping. Rook proves that Lucanis isn't the only one who notices what people like.

A Fine Selection is a story written for @ orange-capybara (X), as part of my "Wings and Blades" series exploring the romance between Lucanis and different Rooks.

Treviso was a city full of contrasts; there were sun-dappled canals that cradled half-collapsing gondolas and twisting streets that led to cloistered little courtyards, and there were areas alive with the hum of life – vendors calling out their wares, the chatter of passing crowds, the scent of spices and fresh produce lingering in the air. It was alive, chaotic in its rhythm, and yet… Peaceful.

As peaceful as anything could be when one was not actively trying to outwit fate and kill gods.

Neela de Riva weaved effortlessly through the chaos of the market, her short bob brushing against her jaw as she ducked under an awning, eyes sharp as flint. Behind her, Lucanis Dellamorte strolled through the crowd like he had all the time in the world. Despite the wind tugging at his coat and the scent of rain creeping in, Lucanis managed to look completely at ease, one gloved hand resting lightly on the hilt of his dagger. Neela didn’t even have to look to know he was smirking.

“You’re walking very casually for someone who almost got us killed two streets back,” she called over her shoulder.

Lucanis tilted his head as if considering this, his steps landing as quietly as a cat’s. “I find that panic ruins the aesthetic.”

Neela bit back a grin, though her lip still twitched. “And what aesthetic would that be, Lucanis? Disheveled menace?”

Lucanis’ voice dipped to a mockingly grave tone. “Dangerously charming. Broodingly handsome. Mysterious and…”

“…Deeply irritating?” Neela supplied, ducking around a corner into a narrow alley. She could hear his chuckle, low and rough, as he followed.

“Careful, Neela. Keep teasing me like that, and I might think you enjoy my company.”

“Enjoy? No,” she shot back, pausing just long enough to glance at him. “Tolerate, at best.”

Their eyes caught for half a second too long. Lucanis’ smirk softened, the teasing lines around his eyes easing into something more intent. Maker’s breath, that stare. Her sharp focus was softened by amusement as Lucanis stopped to inspect peaches for the third time that day.

“Are you hoping they’ll look better under a different angle of the sun?”

Lucanis gave a long-suffering sigh, rolling a peach between his fingers like he was testing its weight for balance. “These are Orlesian peaches, imported. I won’t settle for anything less than perfection.”

“Orlesian peaches,” she mocked, falling into a dramatic drawl. “Oh yes, we mustn’t forget the peaches. How could we possibly fight off the Antaam without perfectly ripened stone fruit?”

Lucanis didn’t look up from his examination. “Would you prefer I leave you to gnaw on dried meat?”

“Dried meat doesn’t judge me.”

“That’s because dried meat doesn’t care, Neela.”

She grinned, sharp and delighted, and bumped her shoulder lightly against his as they walked. “Well, I suppose that’s why I keep you around, then. The food and the judgment. You’re a generous man.”

Lucanis shot her a look, but the corners of his mouth were twitching upward. Neela thought it suited him – the almost-smile that never quite reached its full potential, but that softened him all the same. He could be many things – calculating, deadly with the flick of a wrist – but here, in the golden light of a mid-morning market, he was quiet. Content.

He paused at the next stall, inspecting wheels of cheese with a critical eye. The woman behind the table, all freckles and a quick, cutting wit, quickly began listing her finest products.

“I want something for grating,” Lucanis said, and then, more thoughtfully, “and something softer – sweet, for pairing with fruit.”

The vendor started pulling samples, chatting him up with the ease of someone who knew how to get a coin purse to loosen. Neela, meanwhile, stood a step behind and to the side, watching Lucanis argue about whether one particular cheese was too soft.

“Do you know what I like about you?” Neela asked suddenly, loudly enough to be heard over the bustle.

Lucanis glanced at her from over his shoulder, brows arching, faintly suspicious. “What’s that?”

“You’re so passionate about the smallest things. Cheese. Peaches. Fine wines.” She grinned. “I’ve never seen a man argue so fervently with a stranger about dairy.”

The vendor looked up at her with a bark of laughter. Lucanis, nonplussed, turned back to his selection and muttered, “Someone has to look after you all. No one wants to admit they care about good food until it’s gone.”

Neela’s expression softened. Just a fraction.

The woman behind the stall handed over two wrapped parcels of cheese, and Lucanis exchanged an obnoxious amount of gold coins for the goods. “Tell me I’m wrong,” he challenged over his shoulder as they moved away.

“Oh, I wouldn’t dare,” Neela replied. “The passion is inspiring, really.”

He sighed, shaking his head as he adjusted the pack slung across his shoulder. “You’re impossible.”

Neela smirked, hands on her hips. “What? I’m serious! I love the passion. Let’s see what’s on that list.”

She darted forward, snatching the folded list from his hand before he could react. He blinked, dumbfounded, as she unfolded the note and began reading aloud.

“Fresh eggs. Smoked trout – for Neve, of course – oh, how kind of you.” She glanced at him, voice lilting with playful teasing. “Carrots. Walnuts. Two good reds and a port. You even noted that you wanted Orlesian peaches!”

Lucanis swiped for the list, but she danced back a step, holding it just out of reach.

“And chocolate!” Neela’s eyes brightened as she looked back at him, the teasing melting into something softer. “You thought of me.”

He crossed his arms, blushing faintly. “I thought of everyone.”

“No, no, Lucanis, don’t ruin the moment. Let me pretend you’re just fond of me.”

He didn’t reply, and that was the trouble of it – the look he gave her, unreadable and heavy. The tension between them snapped tight as a wire, as if they were suddenly teetering on the edge of something neither of them knew how to name.

Neela cleared her throat, folding the list neatly and pressing it back into his hand. “It’s a good list,” she said lightly.

Lucanis glanced down at it, fingers curling around the folded parchment. His voice was quiet when he said, “Someone has to make sure you feel cared for.”

Neela opened her mouth to reply – likely to say something flippant, something to break the weight of the moment – but she didn’t. She closed it, watching him instead, eyes lingering on the sloped line of his shoulders. Lucanis carried too much weight, for all that he tried to mask it with a devil’s grin and deft hands.

He turned away, continuing down the market lane, and Neela fell into step behind him.

“Stay here,” she said abruptly after a moment, touching his arm to still him.

Lucanis frowned, but she was already gone, slipping into the crowd like shadow into shade.

-----

She found him minutes later, exactly where she’d left him, inspecting smoked fish with his usual critical eye.

“Did you wander off to judge me behind my back?” Lucanis asked without looking up.

“Give me some credit,” Neela replied. “Here.”

Lucanis turned as she extended a long, wrapped parcel toward him. “What’s this?”

“Something you didn’t have on the list.”

He accepted it cautiously, unwrapping the brown paper to reveal the glint of polished steel. A wyvern dagger – exquisite in make, with a curling hilt shaped like a wyvern’s head and an emerald set into the pommel.

Lucanis stared down at it, uncharacteristically quiet. “Where did you…?”

“Doesn’t matter.” Neela crossed her arms, leaning one hip against the edge of a stall. “I saw it and thought of you. That’s all.”

His fingers traced the etching along the blade, lingering at the wyvern’s head where the neck curled back into the guard.

“I…” He stopped, words catching somewhere in his throat.

“It’s just a knife, Lucanis,” Neela said softly. “Don’t get emotional on me.”

Lucanis looked up, meeting her gaze, and there was a shadow of something in his eyes – something she wasn’t prepared to see. Gratitude. Vulnerability. Affection.

“It’s the least I could do,” she added, shrugging like it didn’t matter, blushing because it did. “For everything you do for us. For… Taking care of everyone. Someone has to remind you that you’re cared for, too.”

The corner of his mouth twitched, as though he meant to smile and couldn’t quite get there. “Neela…”

“Don’t ruin it,” she said quickly, holding up a hand. “I’ve already been sentimental once today. That’s more than enough.”

Lucanis exhaled a laugh – soft and breathless – and carefully rewrapped the dagger before tucking it into his belt. “You’re truly impossible.”

“And you’re truly welcome.”

They stood there for a beat longer than necessary, looking at each other as though one wrong move might shatter the fragile stillness between them. Then Lucanis straightened, patting the edge of his pack.

“We still need eggs,” he said.

“Orlesian eggs, I presume,” Neela replied, falling into step beside him.

He smiled. “Only the best.”

They walked back into the market together, shoulders brushing. It was a quiet sort of peace – imperfect, fleeting – but peace all the same.

[basingstokemercury]

Came up with an interesting idea for a Horizon Walker ranger (as if I don't already have enough ranger characters)

Vance de la Rivas' clan lived in an area of high extraplanar activity, which meant opportunities for cultural and material exchange but also came with its dangers.

The clan's leader, her older brother Flint, saw it as his people's duty to protect others in the region when these visitors were less than benevolent. Vance and her sisters, cousins, and aunts (and also brothers and uncles) became known as the people to turn to whenever locals were in need, as skilled fighters and generous neighbours.

Until fighting off a githyanki raid got Flint killed, and the de la Rivas rapidly fell apart without his skill as a leader. Self- and other-oriented blame split relationships, clan members sank into despair or found it too painful to stay, and Vance herself was too shattered to fill her brother's place.

Eventually, she was left alone, even the sister she was closest to unable to face living in the place that had killed her brother.

Grieving, having failed as a leader and with little chance of continuing to fill her clan's role in society, Vance arrived at a desperate idea.

During the clan's research into other planes, Flint had come across multiverse theory - not the tame inner and outer planes that definitely existed, but the idea of alternate universes. Worlds like our own, populated by versions of ourselves whose stories went just a bit differently.

Even academics gave it little credence, but to Vance the memory was a sudden flash of hope.

She already knew a lot about planar travel, after all. Maybe, if she travelled enough, if she searched hard enough, she could find one of those other realities. A world where Flint was alive, and could return to unite his family...

Of course, a quest on that scale leaves a lot of room for adventures along the way. And Vance still follows the de la Rivas principles - fight for those who can't, help where you can, don't lose sight of the bigger picture.

(Credit for inspiration here goes to throwing out ideas for something unrelated, a few weeks ago)

[mrnicholas]

Favorite character meme

Tagged by the incomparable @lordlionwolf    Post 10 of your favorite characters from 10 different fandoms in no particular order, and tag 10 people.  (It’s almost 4am and I can’t think of people when I’m sleepy so...nop.I can barely think of fandoms right now.)

1. Garrus Vakarian, Mass Effect 2. Varric Tethras, Dragon Age 3. Cid Highwind, Final Fantasy 4. Gimli, Lord of the Rings 5. James Flint, Black Sails 6. Oenomaus, Spartacus 7. Raul De La Riva, Galerias Velvet 8. Lagertha, Vikings 9. Ellis, Left 4 Dead 10. Wolverine, Marvel

[lunastarhawk]

I do enjoy when the game lines up three handsome men on my screen for me, all intense like.

[lunastarhawk]

Haven't even got past Act 1 and already found the only transmog this man will ever use.

[lunastarhawk]

"I had to find you. If anything happened to you... I can't even think about it."

"You should go. It's better I stay here than risk losing you."

This... fuckn... scene. Straight in the Feels.

[lunastarhawk]

Posted without context. Why do they all look so disgusted, wrong answers only.

[lunastarhawk]

Lucanis' love language is service via food. Of course.

So basically as all Flint's apparently-too-subtle hints were rebuffed, either because Lucanis was oblivious or deliberately deflecting, Flint's experience of the romance up to this point went like...

"Hey. Hey hi I like you :) "

"Nice clouds of doom you've got there, mind if I... oh. Oh okay, maybe next time."

"I still like you btw :) "

"You made my favourite dessert! You like me! And with my favourite drink! You really like me! :D "

"Wait. Did you make dessert just for me?"

"I still don't know how to apologise for... everything. And you..."

"You made dessert! Just for me!"

Dorks. I love them.

[lunastarhawk]

"Colleague" uh-huh sure babe whatever you say.

[lunastarhawk]

"I do. I know exactly how to feel."

Steering away from my Inquisitor obsession, not to forget my beloved Rook, Flint, and his blossoming romance with Lucanis...

I have many thoughts and Feelings about this whole scene tbh. Which I will hide under the cut so this post isn't too long.

The thing is, Flint is usually a sarcastic shit. Usually, he would have gone with the "You don't get rid of me that easily" dialogue option. But now, you see, he's tired, and he's afraid, and he can't hide behind humour and sarcasm anymore. He's vulnerable, but Lucanis is there with him and for him, and he can open up to him, admit that he needs him.

And it shows Lucanis' growth too because up until now, he's rebuffed many of Flint's efforts, either through being entirely oblivious to them while wrapped up in his own problems, or deflecting because he couldn't allow himself to feel, to accept affection. But Flint was always there for him, patient and understanding, and now he knows how to feel, and he can, and he does. The knowing is as important as the feeling itself. The affirmation that he won't leave, not ever.

It shows, too, the acceptance of Spite, and the bond that they have cultivated towards each other with Flint's help.

It's about them growing within themselves and towards each other, in different ways.

"I'm here, I'm here, I'll wait for you," becomes "Please be here with me."

"I want you but I'm afraid to want you, please wait for me," becomes "I'm ready, I'm here with you."

And I think that's beautiful.

[lunastarhawk]

"Not even gods can keep me away from you."

Hot, horny and wholesome, these two have it all.

[lunastarhawk]

This is the moment Lucanis knew. He's caught Feelings.

"What can I do to show this man I like him? ...Aha! ☝️ I will make him his favourite dessert."

[lunastarhawk]

"Break apart my perfectly gathered clouds of doom."

Might be one of my favourite lines uttered by any character ever.

Quite possibly the steamiest possible scene despite nothing actually happening. No one does sexual tension quite like Lucanis Dellamorte.

[lunastarhawk]

When I say I've been totally fine and normal about the fact that my beloved Inquisitor, Favian, was not only present, but was instrumental in the ending to Veilguard, to Solas' redemption, that it was the conclusion to his story perhaps even more so than Rook's, what I mean is I've been scratching and biting and tearing up the walls to my enclosure deliriously feral about it.

Shout out to the creator of the Inquisitor's Outfit Retextures mod, there is a special place in heaven for you. My man deserves better than the grey PJs.

Now he deserves a nap and Dorian cuddles.

Seeing my boys together was very special to me. Kudos to Flint for fighting the entirety of the four hour slog of the final Act with his tits out because I forgot to transmog him into something more appropriate for a warrior fighting hoards of darkspawn and an elven god.

Hey what if I wrote a fanfic of Veilguard that alternated Flint and Favian's POVs and imagines what Fav was doing behind the scenes based on the codexes, haha what kind of madlad would do that, that would be insane haha... unless... unless...

[lunastarhawk]

Fooled around with photo mode to get some cool action shots of Flint mid-takedown...

Unfortunately I cannot be trusted with photo mode on a hot man with tight leather clothing.