#garrus in the backseat like YOU JUST RAN THAT GUY OVER??

[solesoldier]

no one ever talks about shepard just absolutely mowing guys down in the mako and i really think they should, that should've been the first red flag

[scottishvix]

Dream World Part 1: Arrivals

I’ll admit it - I can’t write one offs. This was never likely to be a one shot. It’s the first part of (hopefully only) four parts of my fictionalised, fleshed out dream I posted earlier in the week. It features (in no particular order) @thesecondsealwrites, @slothquisitor, @littlesnowarrow, @sarcasmfish, @trulycertain and me!

Thank you so much to all my lovely fellow writers who let me pester them for details about their routines and potential reactions. They were all brilliant, hilarious and so different. Thank you for helping me have the best fun I’ve had writing since I started my degree. You guys are the best.

1. Saibrarutherford

As usual, at 5pm Saibra was startled out of her focus by the Dark Solas theme blasting an alarm out of her phone – a tone chosen precisely for the for its attention-grabbing power. She pushed back her desk chair, rolling the kink out of her neck. She’d spent all afternoon typing up her handwritten client notes and catching up with her accounts, and her brain felt fried.

A quick whistle drew Mischief out from her hiding spot under the footstool and Bear followed more in hope than expectation as they made their way down to the kitchen. She was lucky, and today was one of the afternoons Mischief chose to swallow her pills without a fuss rather than poke them back out and attempt to hide them in her beard.

With another half hour before she needed to start on dinner she had time to set up a backup of her files and a have a quick check of Tumblr. By this time the American contingent would be up, having lunch, and might have posted some interesting things. Just as she was reaching the top of the stairs she was almost blinded by a brilliant flash of green light. Blinking her vision clear, she bounded up the last two steps to swing into the doorway of the study and stopped dead.

Standing looking stunned and dishevelled was Cullen Stanton Rutherford, Commander of the Inquisition.

“Mhac na galla,” she whispered slumping hard against the doorframe. She could feel Bear quivering behind her, but Mischief pushed past to sniff curiously at the stiff leather boot of the man who had somehow appeared in the middle of her office. He glanced briefly down at the small dog snuffling around his foot, before looking back up to Sai.

“Please don’t tell me he sent me somewhere they don’t speak Common?” he begged, eyes wide and worried.

“I speak English,” she answered quietly, “it just isn’t expressive enough for finding my favourite video game character in my study.” She crouched to give Bear a reassuring scratch behind the ears. “I’ve finally cracked, haven’t I? I was sure it would happen eventually. I’m crap at managing my stress levels. Am I going to find Garrus in the lounge? Or is the TARDIS going to appear in the garden?”

Cullen gave a half hearted little smile. “I don’t know what most of that meant, but I really am here. Wherever here is.” He glanced around the room in bewilderment, taking in the laptop, printer, shredder, even the desk lamp.

Mischief, with her unerring sense for dog people, was tired of being ignored and bounced up to plant her paws firmly on his calf. Sai watched warily as he bent to scratch under her chin. The little Schnauzer wouldn’t be able to interact with a figment of her mistress’s imagination, would she? Sai stood, and took a few faltering steps towards him. Cullen straightened and simply watched silently as she approached. She raised trembling fingers and traced them along the cold metal of his breastplate, up across the thick fur of his collar and then, ever so slowly, raised them to the solid, warm flesh of his cheek.

“How?”

2. Littlesnowarrow

It had been a good walk, Snow decided, as she climbed the stairs to her apartment. The sun had been out, Fionna had been relaxed. She always enjoyed their late afternoon walks when she had finished work for the day.

Just as she put her key in the lock, there was a flash of bright green light from under the apartment door. Snow froze for an instant until her mother began screaming. She wrenched her key round and burst through the door.

Snow barely took in her mother’s shrieking form, or that her stepfather was tumbling (still half asleep) from the bedroom. All her focus was on the wary-looking red-headed woman standing in her hallway.

“Leliana!” she shrieked, overlaying her mother’s terrified tone with her own delighted one. Dropping Fionna’s lead she leapt forward to embrace the confused bard. Then she pulled back, still holding Leliana’s arms. “Wait, you’re really here? Creators, you’re here! Wait, but you shouldn’t be here, you’re fictional. But you’re here. How? But this is amazing!”

“Snow, who is this?” her mama asked, still clearly nervous.

“Please,” Leliana, interrupted. “I don’t understand you. Do any of you speak Common?”

Snow took a deep breath. She hadn’t realised she’d been babbling away in Catalan, and her mother’s screaming had been in Spanish. Of course, Lily wouldn’t understand either of them. “Mama, Papa,” she replied to her mother in Spanish, “this is Leliana, from Dragon Age. She’s really nice, I promise.” Switching to English, she turned back to Leliana. “I speak… Common. I’m Snow, welcome to our home. Creators, how are you here?”

Leliana smiled her warm smile. “It’s a long story…”

3. Slothquisitor

Sloth ran a hand through her long blonde hair before reaching into her backseat for her bag. It had been a long week and there was still one more day before the weekend. And she really should try and do some grading this evening.

Still, it was nice to be coming back to her new house. That novelty wasn’t wearing off anytime soon. Mark would be home in a while and maybe they could snuggle on the couch with a movie while she worked.

As she closed the front door behind her, there was a sound. What the hell? Mark wouldn’t be home for over an hour yet and his car hadn’t been in the driveway. Glancing towards the source of the noise, she saw someone getting off her couch.

She screamed and whirled to run, smacking face first into the closed door. Lying stunned on the floor, she had to blink the stars from her eyes. As her vision cleared, a familiar figure bent over her. “Well, shit, Banshee, you okay?”

Sloth scrambled upright. Sitting with her back pressed against her front door, she stared at the short man standing in front of her clutching her copy of The Great Gatsby. Slowly, she took in the ponytail, the chunky silver jewellery and lingered for a moment on the copious chest hair. “Varric?”

The dwarf smiled. “Good, you have heard of me. Have I got a story for you…”

4. Thesecondsealwrites

Seal grinned at the dogs grudging her every bite of her lunch as she listened to the BH tell her about his morning. She felt good about the amount of writing she had done on her novel before lunch. After editing the second of the two old novels she was planning on self-publishing it was good to get back to actual writing. This time she wasn’t even experiencing the worry that she had forgotten how to write that she’d had when she had finished her edit of the first.

Practical as ever, when a flash of green light exploded in her kitchen, her first reaction was to check on the two frantically barking dogs. Looking up, she barely raised an eyebrow to see the rumpled and gawping Sera standing in her kitchen, plaidweave leggings clashing horribly with her kitchen walls.

“I’ll call you back,” she told her husband before hanging up on him. “Hello, Sera,” she told the elf. “Give me a minute and I’ll be right with you.” She dragged the dogs to their kennels and took a moment to calm them before returning to her kitchen.

It was the work of a moment to put the kettle on to boil and while she was waiting for the water to heat, she laid some cookies on a plate and took it over to the table. “Sit down and help yourself,” she ordered the uncharacteristically quiet rogue pulling mugs out the cupboard. “They’re chocolate chip.” Tea made, she sat herself down opposite Sera.

“I just have to call my husband back,” Seal told her guest, picking her cellphone back up. “He’ll be worried.”

The BH answered on her first ring. “Seal, what happened? Is everything okay?”

“We’re fine. Can you pick up some extra food on your way home tonight, Sera’s here.”

“Sera?” He sounded adorably confused. “The only Sera I can think of is the one from Dragon Age.”

“Yes, that Sera.” Seal was matter-of-fact.

“Seal, you know she’s not real, right?”

“Yes, I know she’s not real but she’s sitting at the kitchen table. I love you.” She turned to Sera. “Right, why don’t you tell me all about it?”

5. Sarcasmfish

Fish was looking forward to a stress relieving walk with Dog as she pulled up at home. Her students had been awful today. She’d slip onto Tumblr after that. Her phone had buzzed to tell her she had a chat message from Saibra just as she was leaving work, but Tumblr mobile was such garbage, she’d rather check it on her computer. The Scot always made allowances for the time difference anyway.

She dropped her bag in the hall, confused by the lack of welcome from Dog. He always brought her a toy when she came home, a comforting gesture after a long day. Meandering into the kitchen, her first instinct when she saw the man with his back to her splitting a Babybel with Dog was that Husband had come home early. Then she remembered that Husband had dark, not sandy, hair.

She shrieked and threw the only thing she had in her hand at him, her house keys. The man, whirled round as the keys hit him on one shoulder, a hurt look in his eyes.

“Ouch,” he complained mildly, rubbing at the shoulder. “That stings.”

Fish felt all the blood draining from her face as she took in Alistair Therin, standing in her kitchen, looking at her with his best kicked puppy expression. “Am I dying? Is this dying?”

Darkness encroached on her vision as she felt her legs buckle out from under her. Right before the darkness completely stole her awareness she heard a rather concerned and incredibly familiar, “Oh, dear.”

6. Trulycertain

Tru ducked in her front door and out of the rain as quickly as possible. Damned weather. It had been cautiously sunny when she had left for work that morning. Good thing she had worn a coat or she would have been soaked.

She had just shed the wet anorak and was hanging it up when there was a flash of green light behind her. Whirling, she yelped in surprise, “Oh, shit!”

Dorian Pavus simply looked down his nose at her undignified shout. His fine clothes were battered, and in no way suitable for the inclement British weather, but his hair and moustache were in impeccable condition. “Not quite the greeting I was expecting but I suppose it’s not usual to have a man as handsome as myself appear in your home unexpectedly.”

Tru approached warily, reaching out to give one muscled bicep and gentle poke. “Unexpected, yes. Are you really here or have I finally written to much fic?”

“Of course, I’m really here,” Dorian sniffed, then smiled. “I suppose an explanation is in order.”

“Yes, please,” Tru replied. The initial fright had worn off, and was gradually being replaced by amusement. Tumblr would never believe this. And she couldn’t wait to see her mum’s reaction.

“Very well. I don’t suppose you have any wine? Travelling between worlds is thirsty work.” This was going to be fun.