#merrills blood soup | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

faux-fires · 2 years ago

Text

(Not a) Drabble-a-day#7

DING DING i made it a whole week! I don’t want a medal but I would like a pony

because i have decided to just go all-in on being shameless and self-indulgent today’s drabble features my boy leo hawke. all you need to know is he’s a red!hawke and i love him, he’s terrible at using words and he calls his dog fang like a fucking edgelord.

anyway here’s wonderwall (not a drabble) day#7, prompt “fear”. it’s over 3k words long. this is just who i am now, mom!

The thing about Leo Hawke was, he was violent. He was surly. He was as blunt as a rock through a window. He punched a rock monster possessed by a demon in the - face? - in the Deep Roads and it certainly was the most Hawke thing Anders had ever seen.

Anders didn't mind. He'd never claimed to be perfect. But Anders wasn't sure he could agree with their other friends that he was particularly angry.

Oh, it looked like it, hanging out in the Hanged Man's common room, watching the bar fight go on around you because someone had tried to touch Isabela - Isabela! As though she couldn't handle herself! - and Hawke had bounced their face off the bar. It probably felt like it when you were pinned under those ferocious golden eyes, Hawke looming over you, all muscles and grim purpose. Or if you cracked a joke about the wrong topic (Fereldans, the war, darkspawn, sisters). And Maker knew Carver certainly was wrathful, even if, compared to his brother, it felt something like being menaced by a lapdog.

But Anders knew rage. Leaving aside his own... indiscretions, the faint echo of meat under his fingers and Rolan screaming in terror, he'd once watched Command Tabris scale an ogre using her two swords as climbing spikes and then sink her teeth into its throat, a vision both incredible and incredibly disturbing.

Hawke didn't have that. Anders would be the first to acknowledge - privately - that he spent too much of his time watching Hawke, but he just didn't see rage where Hawke's other friends apparently did. He was curt. He was honest. He wasn't very good at talking, and when he decided violence was the answer it was performed with breathtaking efficiency... but he wasn't angry like Kallian was angry.

Varric squinted at him every time he said this, usually after their weekly round of Wicked Grace. "Blondie," he'd say, eyes twinkling over the top of his huge cigar, "Hawke's fond of you. Have you considered you might be biased?" And every time Anders would flush, because Hawke was gorgeous, with broad shoulders and those incredible golden eyes, cool and bright like a wolf. And he was nice to Merrill, who was cute enough, he supposed, if you were into elves.

He hadn't come to Kirkwall looking for wolf's eyes and a furrowed brow. He told himself that sometimes of a night, when the tension in his belly got too much, became an ache, a burn, and he had to roll over in his lonely little cot and surreptitiously try to take himself in hand. He'd come to help at the Gallows - Karl at first and now that that was impossible their kin in all but blood. He'd taken a spirit into himself and it hadn't been enough but it couldn't be for nothing, either. And Hawke liked Merrill, probably. Hell, maybe Isabela, who was a catch and had actually made him smile at least once, something Anders hadn't yet managed. Or possibly even Fenris; Anders spitefully told himself he could think of no other reason to keep the elf around.

But he couldn't ignore the way Hawke came to the clinic when he had downtime. He'd slip in silently, usually in the late afternoon, his slobbering mabari at his heels; and he'd pass away the hours sitting quietly at the back, winding rolls of bandages or stirring the thin soup Anders always had bubbling away in the corner or scrubbing cots or even stitching sheets with absolutely no change of expression, and when Anders asked why would just shrug and say, "No jobs going on. Don't want to be stuck at home. Gamlen's a cunt," before clamming back up.

Anders didn't push him on it. Maybe he should, but why break his own heart? Leo never said anything, and Anders never caught him looking, so maybe he just liked being around other Fereldans. Maker knew his clinic was full of them. And it was nice to have company that didn't want him to examine its disfiguring genital herpes. Someone who was helpful, who could be counted on to hold down a patient for a complicated procedure, or bounce out one determined to cause mayhem, or even shadow Anders when he had to make deliveries despite Kirkwall seeming to consist of 10% genuine citizens and 90% armed thugs engaged in vicious turf wars.

Like now. He hated deliveries to Hightown; the thugs and the guards were all one and the same, both equally likely to eject him forcefully from the area, but Hawke was friendly with the guard-captain (somehow) and so he was allowed to pass with little more than a dirty look. The moonlight sent long fingers along the polished marble tiles of the market; the air was perfumed with jasmine and the smell of the flowers on the vines delicately scaling the sides of the manor houses.

The mabari - Fang, if he recalled correctly - was trotting at his left without a care in the world, its tongue lolling gormlessly from its huge jaws; Hawke was on his right, one thumb hooked in the leather strap holding his staff-spear to his back. Anders had asked him to accompany him with a long, rambling and awkward speech about feeling more secure with company, and his only comment had been, "Fine," and now Anders was trying not to wonder if maybe he talked more for Merrill, because if he started down that path he knew the bitterness would spiral, but maybe Hawke didn't know how bad an idea the blood magic was, and maybe Anders owed it to him to explain? They passed a pair of patrolling guardsmen, who nodded at them, but Anders barely noticed. Hawke had to know Merrill was bad news, but would interfering really pass the act of a good friend? What if -

Hawke's hand abruptly seized his elbow, and Anders glanced up at him sharply, startled out of his spiral. Leo's mouth was tight, his eyes glinting warily in the grey light. He was looking back the way they'd come, and now Anders could hear it, the footsteps of the guards - but Aveline knew Hawke, he came in and out of her office -

Belatedly he recalled the gang of pretenders in guard uniforms said to haunt Hightown at night and groaned inwardly. Of course. He turned his own head to the side, trying to gauge distance, but he could see only shadow. Fang had stopped his gormless gawping and was keeping closer to their side, his hackles up, his great head swiveling backward every few seconds. A quick glance around revealed they were coming up to the northern quarter, not too far from Fenris' squat, or the De Launcets; the street had widened to a thoroughfare surrounded by delicately piping columns and overhanging roofs, and just as Anders noticed this, more shapes stepped out ahead of them, slipping from behind the columns like shadows.

"Andraste's knickerweasels," he grumbled, drawing to a stop. Leo hesitated besides him, his face expressionless but his eyes darting from intruder to intruder, wary; Fang was snarling now, a low, rumbling noise, hackles firmly up. He had planted himself between Anders and the nearest shadow and was facing it head-on, a solid mass of muscle and fur. Anders sighed, shoved his package of cock ointment into Hawke's hands, and pushed past him; it was hard, Hawke's body rigid and unmoving. "We don't have anything worth stealing," he said. "I'm the Darktown healer, perhaps you've heard of me? All I've got is three copper. You can have them if you like."

The shapes came closer and became men and women, armoured head to toe in silver and orange. All of them were wearing helmets. None of them seemed to be in a hurry to step up and really take charge of this robbery, so Anders unhooked his coin purse, jangled it sarcastically so they could hear how pitifully quiet the noise was, and tossed it onto the fancy marble tiles ahead of them. The nearest figure bent, picked it up, and balanced it on his palm before pocketing it. After a moment of hesitation, Hawke unhooked his and threw it in the same direction. It sounded weightier, but not by much.

"Can we go?" Anders asked, as a different figure picked up Hawke's purse. "We've given you everything we have, unless you want my special salve for crotch-rot."

The figures glanced at each other, then the one that had grabbed Hawke's purse, evidently choosing to fill the slot of leader, said, "No."

Anders turned to face them fully. "Why not?"

"Liar." She drew her sword slowly from her scabbard and pointed it carefully at Hawke. "We know you, Dog Lord. We heard you struck it big in the Deep Roads."

Hawke narrowed his eyes, and Anders said, "And you think he's, what, carrying a wheelbarrow of loot in his pockets?" He laughed, although it sounded thin even to his own ears. "Even if he did, it takes time to convert ancient dwarf treasures to actual, real money. And he'd be a fool to carry it around with him. We've given you what we have; let us go."

"No," she said again, simply. "Captain Qerth says we don't get to eat unless we bring home something worth a damn." She nodded over their shoulder, at one of her fellows. "Separate them. Then we'll find out if they're being truthful."

Anders sighed irritably as someone grabbed his wrist from behind and yanked him back a few steps from Hawke. "Fuck you," Hawke snapped, and then reared back as someone tried to grab him from behind, "Get your fucking hands off me! Leave him alone! Don't fucking touch him!" Fang barked and darted forward, snapping futilely at the legs of his would-be muggers, and they moved in an awkward circle.

"I'd let us go," Anders said, and spun in his assailant's grip; he channeled a pulse of ice magic through that skin contact.

The man holding his wrist dropped it in a heartbeat, his eyes widening through his visor slit. "Robe!" The effect was instantaneous; the pair that had been trying to grapple Hawke immediately backed away, drawing their swords, as did the others hanging back. Fang slunk closer to his master, still snarling, and Anders shook his wrist disdainfully.

"I'm not powerless," he told the leader, and deliberately called the ice back to his hand, holding it up to his eye level so they could all see the blue glow. "You don't want this. We've given you what we've got. Let us go on our way."

She seemed frozen for a second, her eyes flicking between him and Hawke, her sword still outdrawn and Hawke's coin purse still clutched in her free hand. Anders lifted his hand higher, and watched the way her gaze followed it before flicking - up - and behind -

He turned, so the arrow took him in the belly, instead of the spine. The impact was honestly more startling than anything else; one moment he was standing there, holding aloft his icy hand, and the next - sitting on the floor, feeling like he'd been butted in the abdomen by a determined goat, except there was a feathered shaft in front of him, comically out of place, and when he touched it, there was something wet and red at the base. Hawke screamed wordlessly beside him, a rough, violent noise that seemed utterly out of place in the stillness. He glanced up at the roof that had been behind them, saw the figure crouching low there, the bow in its grasp. "Oh," he said, brow wrinkling as it calmly and unhurriedly drew another arrow from the quiver on its back, "But I'm a healer," and then the world bucked.

At first he thought he was passing out. But no, when the ground finished rippling he was still there, sitting in the middle of a swanky part of Hightown with an arrow sticking out of his gut like phallic symbolism, which was good, because he'd been shot by quite a lot of arrows in the Wardens and he'd hate to think he was starting to lose his tolerance. It was starting to hurt, though, so he leaned forward, placing his palms on the ground and pushing himself back up to his feet with only a little bit of wobbling, and turned around. Fang was barking and cavorting on the spot, spittle flying absolutely everywhere. The gang of thieves - all of them, archer included - were...

... lying in a heap against the far wall, groaning and twitching. Every now and then one of them would make a small, pitiful movement, like they were trying to escape, but it was like there was some invisible force pinning them there, preventing them from leaving, and Anders didn't think that was just a simile because he could see the Fade surging around Hawke, who was standing there, both feet firmly planted on the ground, hands outstretched, teeth gritted.

Anders had heard about force magic before. He'd known, abstractly, that it was a specialty in the Gallows, and that Hawke's father had been a Gallows mage. He'd never seen a mage use it before, not like this. One of the gang, flailing desperately to escape the confines of the force of the spell, managed to get her arm free, but Hawke's eyes narrowed and he pushed his hand out and Anders could tell by the way the Fade heaved around him what was going to happen even before her arm shattered, crushed by the sheer weight of the magic Hawke was using, and it was terrifying and terrible and an awful thing to do but it was also -

Magnificent.

Anders swallowed. The arrow in his gut was starting to hurt more and more; he looked down and realised his hands were shaking. He stepped closer, touched Hawke's shoulder, and he meant to say, let's get out of here, but when Hawke's gaze snapped to him he found he couldn't speak in the face of Hawke's expression, the bared teeth, the unholy light in those wonderful wolf's eyes, and it wouldn't have mattered even if he had because Hawke's eyes swept down his body to the arrow and his face hardened into something fierce and cold right before Anders, and the Fade was shivering around him again, responding to Hawke's wild and untrained talents, and then the air smelled like ozone and Anders realised Hawke was summoning lightning, and not a small amount of it either.

The wind picked up. The cloud appeared before them, waist high, and Anders could feel a buzzing in the back of his teeth. He'd never been a very good primal mage; fire and ice had generally worked better for him before Justice, before he could tear his way out of problems, and he'd seen Hawke cast the occasional bolt but it had nothing on this, this cloud that grew and grew under Hawke's direction while the would-be thieves groaned and shuddered on the floor, voices rising as they realised something was happening. He could smell the acrid scent of their animal fear, and part of him thought, they deserve this, they tried to hurt us, they shot me, show them why mages are feared -

But he wasn't that far gone. He put his right hand on Hawke's wrist and said, "Let's go, Hawke."

And Leo looked at him, and Anders could see it now, the expression that the others believed was rage. His teeth were bared; his nostrils flared. His eyes were so wide he could see their whites. He was breathing heavily, like a horse after a long gallop, and his muscles were shaking under Anders' hand, and Anders knew that face, because he'd seen it so many times himself. He'd pulled it so many times himself. Leo snarled, "Don't touch me," and there were sparks crackling between his teeth; the thunderstorm he was bringing into the world had grown large enough to spit tongues of lightning across the tiles. The muggers were wearing such wonderfully conductive full plate.

Anders swallowed, but he didn't look away. Instead he said, "I need help to get the arrow out," and tightened his grip on Hawke's arm, and dragged his hand down - with difficulty, Hawke's muscles were locked, his arm rigid with tension - to press Hawke's hand against the arrow-shaft thrusting through his stomach. Hawke blanched. His eyes flicked back to the muggers and then at Anders. His pupils were so small. Anders lifted his left hand from where it had been hovering over the arrow and slid it over Hawke's wrist to join his right, pushing his thumbs into Hawke's pulse point, and he had no idea what his face looked like but he stared Hawke deep in his beautiful, panicked eyes and said, "Please, Leo," and watched the way Hawke's face collapsed.

The thunderstorm winked out of existence. Whatever pressure had been holding those pretend guardsmen dissipated like it had never been there. Leo shakily looped his free arm around Anders' shoulders; Anders let himself lean forward, forehead pressing against his broad chest, hands still wrapped around his wrist, and murmured, "Make sure they go."

Hawke's eyes flicked back to their assailants as if he'd just remembered they existed. "Fuck off,", he snarled, and Anders kept his face pressed against Leo's chest until the last of the footsteps vanished. Hawke was shivering lightly, and Anders knew, now, that it wasn't anger. It had never been anger. "Anders," Leo said, "What do - what can I do? What do you need?" His voice was anguished, and Anders' heart ached for this man, this frightened, fierce man. All this time they'd thought of Hawke as iron, but he was a man, a mage man, in Kirkwall, and Anders knew better than anyone how lonely and terrifying that could be.

"I'm going to break the arrow and pull it out," he said, "... Just keep me upright while I heal myself."

Hawke's arms tightened around him, but it honestly wasn't that complicated. Anders had been a Grey Warden, and he was possessed; one arrow was nothing. He'd been stabbed through the chest with a whole sword and ripped Rolan into pieces right after. The bottom half of the shaft clattered to the ground a moment later, followed by the arrowhead once he'd gotten an arm around his back to pull it the rest of the way through. His fingers were slick with blood by the time he healed his kidney and what felt like his intestine, but he stuck a hand inside his coat and wiped it off against his chest rather than on Hawke. Hawke, who was shaking minutely, and Anders felt such a wave of sympathy and affection it left him quite breathless.

He hesitantly curled an arm around them and set his palm on the small of Leo's back, in something like an embrace, and Hawke made the smallest of noises and clung to him even tighter, and Anders didn't know what to do or say. In the clinic when he thought about Leo he'd thought about his huge biceps or his cool gold eyes; he'd pictured Hawke laying into his enemies, ripping apart silverite. He hadn't pictured that heartbreakingly familiar expression, or counted on that intense surge of compassion within himself. He pressed his face into Leo's chest, feeling the lightning-reverberations of his heart and against his cheekbone, and said, so softly he barely heard himself, "I'm alright, Leo. I'm fine. It's alright."

Leo drew in a shuddering breath. "I should have... I should have killed them all. Fuckers could be squealing to the guard about us."

"Maybe," said Anders. He reached up and placed his hands flat on Leo's stomach, felt the tension there. "I doubt it. They'd have to explain why they were wearing fake uniforms first. We'll move soon," he promised. "But until then... I'm fine. You're fine. Breathe with me," and he let his chest rise and fall a few times, exaggerated, the way he'd watched Oghren bring Kallian back to herself after she went too deep into her rages. He felt Hawke's chest hitch, but after a moment he began to move, copying Anders, and eventually his heartbeat began to gentle.

For a moment they stood there, together on that Hightown street under the soft light of an indifferent moon, curled into each other in something that was so close to an embrace it could have featured in one of Anders' nightly fantasies. Anders knew it never would. He felt like he understood Hawke more now than at any point since they'd met, like tonight he'd been handed a compass and a map and knew how to find his way around Hawke's inhospitable landscape, and it felt - special. Important. He felt another pulse of warmth for the man whom he'd once witnessed punch a rock monster possessed by a demon in the face, a kind of boundless affection for this wonderful, scarred human being, who stirred soup in his clinic and always kept Anders where he could see him.

Leo sniffed and let him go too soon, but he didn't shrug Anders' hands off his chest. He looked remorseful in the face of Anders' sympathy, and Anders couldn't keep from lightly rubbing his thumbs back and forth along the leather of his jerkin even as Hawke avoided eye contact, rubbing at the back of his neck with his free hand. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah." Leo flushed - difficult to see in this grey light, but Anders knew him.

"We can go back to Lowtown, if you like. I'm sure your mother would be pleased to see you," he said, and when Leo glanced at him self-consciously said, "Or we can go to Darktown if you want. There's room in the clinic. Anything you want.

"Darktown," said Leo immediately, "I like your clinic. It's yours."

"Oh," said Anders, dumbly, and then smiled as the words sunk in. It occurred to him with a pang that now he'd had this taste of Hawke - this well-guarded sweetness, this uncertainty, this glimpse of the man he was past all the snapping and snarling and surliness - it was going to be harder to face his lonely little cot tonight, but it was only a little pang. He hadn't expected anything else, after all. That he had this much was a gift. Leo must have seen something on his face, because he hunched his shoulders, mumbled something else.

"What was that?"

"I, uh. I dropped your cock-rot cream," said Hawke, guiltily. "When the bastards jumped me." Defensive. "I think they took it with them when they ran off. Sorry." Sheepish.

"Huh," Anders said. His mouth twitched, despite himself; he covered his mouth with his hand. Leo's eyes flicked to his and hung there, as though surprised at what they found, and Anders grinned wider. "Sorry," he said, "Just picturing their faces when they limp back to base and - hah - show their boss their prize. I drew diagrams for the user. They were - detailed," and he was chuckling despite himself, and Leo's eyes widened with comprehension, and then - and then the corner of his mouth twisted slowly upward.

He was smiling.

It was hesitant and shy and it was the first time Anders had seen Hawke smile for him, and Anders realised, like a sledgehammer to the gut, that he wanted to see it again. He wanted to hear Hawke laugh. He wanted to see him happy, and it was like the world dropped out under his feet but also like everything made total sense. He stooped forward instead and buried his face in Hawke's chest, because Maker, they hadn't known each other for very long, and he didn't think he could control his face, because he loved Leo Hawke.

Fuck.

Leo didn't ask him any questions; he slipped his arms around Anders' shoulders and held on with arms that were no longer shaking, and Anders closed his eyes tight and thought, one day. But not this day.

Hawke didn't need a lover, not right now. He was a mage alone in Kirkwall, and Anders knew all about that fear and that sadness and that aching kind of loneliness only apostasy could bring. He needed a friend, and Anders didn't mind being his, and if nothing ever came from it he would be glad enough for that. After all, he was the only one of Hawke's friends who had recognized the rage for what it really was. Take that, Merrill, he thought.

He'd never claimed to be perfect.

if you want more leo you can find him starring in fluffy romcom Bound (feat: severed heads) and swinging post-series Through a Forest Wilderness (feat: romantic war crimes) on ao3.

#reikah writes recklessly #drabble a day #anders #handers #leo hawke #some writers: anders isn't actually jealous and is capable of having positive relationships with hawke's other LIs!#me: anders is a petty bitch at every conceivable moment im love him

36 notes · View notes

mourn-and-watch · 5 months ago

Note

4. What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

i'll try to stick to major choices and stuff relevant for my little guys. SO

dao: keeris mahariel, romanced alistair who stayed with the wardens; anora is the queen of ferelden, bhelen is the king of orzammar, the anvil was destroyed, the werewolf curse was lifted & the circle was saved. avernus is doing his weird blood magic somewhere, the architect was killed and amaranthine was burned. she's presumably still alive and kicking for the dark ritual reasons

da2: garrett hawke, romanced anders, sided with mages; carver is all grown up and doing serious grey warden business, arishok is dead and isabela got reinstated as a bestie, clan sabrae is alive, merrill kept her mirror, anders is also alive. it's hard to tell if he's kicking but that will do

things get a little complicated with dai because i have two inquisitors with the same worldstate previous games-wise (i wanted to make another warden & hawke for my girl yerrith but. it's been 4 years and i still haven't. i mean it's still not too late and i gotta finish that aeducan playthrough. but for now it is what it is) and i still haven't decided who is going into datv soup first. anyway.

dai 1.0: mahanon lavellan, romanced dorian; recruited mages, sacrificed alistair, the wardens joined the inquisition, celene and briala rule together, morrigan drank from the well. leliana is the divine, inquisition became a peacekeeping organization, solas is getting redeemed against his own will because mahanon is such a good soul

dai 2.0: yerrith lavellan, romanced solas; recruited mages, sacrificed hawke, the wardens were exiled, briala rules through gaspard, yerrith drank from the well herself. leliana is the divine, inquisition was disbanded, solas is getting redeemed this time for all the wrong reasons

probably gotta go with mahanon even though i really would like to see the consequences of solavellan situationship firsthand but he's just so special like that. he's just a little guy but my rook is so about to have an unreasonable beef with him and the idea of it is so funny to me i simply can't resist

the veilguard hype q&a

#love that i have two protagonists in a game with the smallest roleplay range #the power of headcanons everyone #dragon age #dragon age the veilguard #ask tag

5 notes · View notes

exhausted-archivist · 1 year ago

Text

Cookbook Sample Preview...

I'm perfectly normal about this, totally calm. But I noticed on Sunday that the Dragon Age official cookbook had a preview/sample that it didn't have last time I checked. To summarize, it shows the Table of Contents and 7 new preview recipes along with 2 from an earlier sample release. It's basically previews the whole first section "Starters and Refreshments".

I will be putting things under cuts in case people don't wanna see things. From now on and after its release, the tag I will be using for the cookbook if you want to block is #tastes of thedas or #da: tot

I will also be silently combusting inside as I try not to let the excitement amp me up too much. I expect to fail this mission lol. (Spoiler I did fail and have been making my excitement everyone's problem.)

So, the cookbook sample. Amazon had a scrolling preview that wasn't as nice as the spreads so I made them into spreads like we got with the previous six recipes. You can see them here in this post.

But the following is the full spread of the sample from the cookbook. It gives us the cover, the two title pages, the table of contents, an introduction of a new character/narrator, the table of contents for the Starters and Refreshers section, and the 9 recipes within that section.

Beneath the images, I have transcribed the lore blurbs of the recipe as well as give an image description, but I didn't type out the recipes. That's for a later post (Also because it doesn't fit on this post. I hit the limit, sorry.) For a similar reason, I'm not adding my commentary to any of the recipes.

Contents

Introduction - 7

Starters & Refreshments

Eggs à la Val Foret - 11 Nevarran Blood Orange Salad - 13 Fried Young Giant Spider - 15 Stuffed Deep Mushrooms - 17 Rivaini Couscous Salad - 19 Crab Cakes from Kirkwall - 21 Fluffy Mackerel Pudding - 23 Snail & Watercress Salad - 25 Cave Beetles - 27

For the Road

Spiced Jerky - 31 Grey Warden Pastry Pockets - 33 Pickled Eggs - 35 Unidentified Meat - 37 Seheron Fish Pockets - 39 Crow Feed - 43 Black Lichen Bread - 45 Hearth Cakes - 47 Peasant Bread - 49

Soups & Stews

Merril's Blood Soup - 53 Fereldan Potato and Leek Soup - 55 The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew - 57 Fish Chowder - 59 Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup - 61 Lentil Soup - 63 Nettle Soup - 65 King Alistair's Lamb and Pea Soup - 67

Main Courses

Stuffed Cabbage - 71 Antivan Gnochi - 73 Antivan Paella - 75 Grilled Poussin - 77 Gurgut Roast with Lowlander Spices and Mushroom Sauce - 79 Nug Pancakes - 81 Fish in Salt Crust - 83 Roasted Wyvern - 85 Nug Bacon and Egg Pie - 87 Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie - 89 Cacio e Pepe - 91 Turnip and Mutton Pie - 93 Smoked Ham from the Anderfels - 95 Roasted Turkey with Sides - 97

Sides

Sera's Yummy Corn - 103 Stuffed Vine Leaves - 105 Honey Carrots - 107 Nevarran Flat Bread and Yogurt Dip - 109

Sweet Delights

Blancmange - 113 Poison Stings - 115 Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler - 117 Dwarven Plum Jam - 119 Sour Cherries in Cream - 121 Treviso Energy Balls - 123 Rice Pudding - 125 Goat Custard - 127

Baked Goods

Antivan Apple Grenade - 131 Found Cake - 133 Varric's Favorite Cinnamon Rolls - 135 Croissants - 137 Cherry Cupcakes - 139 Chocolate Cake - 141 Varric's Favorite Pastries - 143 Sugar Cake - 145 Lamprey Cake - 147 Tevinter Pumpkin Bread - 151

Drinks & Potions

Lichen Ale - 155 The Hissing Drake - 157 Hot Chocolate - 159 Antivan Sip-Sip - 161 Dragon Piss - 163 Rivaini Tea Blend - 165 The Golden Nug - 167 The Emerald Valley - 169 Chasind Sack Mead - 171

Conversion Charts - 173 About the Authors and Photographers - 174

Introduction

Dear Mum,

It's me, Devon! I'm all grown up now-- or, well, more grown up than before. You always said I was too much like a child for my own good, and given the number of times you caught me daydreaming about going off on some grand adventure instead of sweeping the floors, I will grudgingly admit that you probably - probably - had a point. But guess what? I finally went on an adventure! A big one! Just like the Hero of Ferelden!

Okay, well, maybe not exactly like the Hero of Ferelden. But I did travel across Thedas! From Ferelden to Orlais, to Rivain, and even Tevinter. Plus, everything in between. It was a long journey, Mum. Weeks and weeks on the road, with the occasional bandit or beast. You'd probably have hated it, but, by Andraste, I loved every second of it! The sights! The sounds! The food.

Oh yes, the food. The reason why I set out on this journey to begin with. I know that I wasn't particularly adept in the kitchen the last time we saw each other. And, yes, I do remember that I nearly set Castle Cousland aflame with my first attempt at a stew. But I am pleased to inform you that I have been practicing extensively, and I think that, if the position still existed, I could take up your mantle as the Cousland family's cook. Granted, I doubt I would be able to fill your shoes completely; no one could manage such an impossible task. But I like to tell myself that I still would be able to make you proud.

And that takes me back to this journey and the all-important question of why. Why did I spend the last year traveling from one end of Thedas to the other, sampling whatever local cuisine I could get my hands on, even dishes that were downright strange? You're probably thinking that it's because the Hero of Ferelden ate it at some point - yes, that's certainly part of it, though I'll have you know that I tracked down foods enjoyed by the Champion of Kirkwall and the Inquisitor as well! Not to mention all their companions. But the truth is, Mum, throughout all of this, you were right there with them at the forefront of my mind. Because when I thought of ways to honor you, I kept coming back to the most important lesson you taught me: Love through food.

Every time I left your kitchen with a warm, full belly, I felt your love for me. And though I can't do the same for you anymore, I can fill this book. I can stuff it full of different recipes, dishes you've probably never even heard of, and think of you with each new entry. Because, you see, Mum, underneath all that childlike excitement, the dreams of adventure and heroism, I'm still very much your child. And I always will be.

Thank you for everything, Mum. I can't wait to share this book and the lessons that inspired it with the rest of the world.

Love, Devon

Starters & Refreshments

Eggs à la Val Foret

Image Description: A pancake with ham and a sliced poached egg with paprika and herbs on top sit on a silver platter.

Recipe Blurb: Ah, yes. Tons of cream! Exactly what I've come to expect from Orlesian cuisine. Do I have any tips for creating the perfect poached egg? Well, ever since I heard that Solas's bald head was once likened to an egg, I simply try to make my eggs just as round and shiny! So far, it's worked wonderfully and never ceases to put a smile on my face.

Nevarran Blood Orange Salad

Image Description: A wooden bowl rests on a rock, it holds a colourful salad with blood orange slices resting on top.

Recipe Blurb: Although I knew that Divine Victoria left behind a life of wealth and privilege to join the Seekers of Truth, it wasn't until I was in Nevarra, seeing exactly what she'd given up, that I truly gained an appreciation for the path she'd chosen. The best way to describe my first glimpse of the gardens of Nevarra is that it was like seeing a painting come to life. For a long moment, I could only stand there, so dazzled by the richness and vibrancy of it all that I was half-convinced I was actually still napping in the carriage. Surely, there was no way such beauty could be found outside of a dream. And yet the beauty before me was very much real.

So, too, was the picturesque tableau that arrived later that day on a plate: perfectly cut slices of blood orange artfully arranged on a lush pillow of bitter greens. Was this a meal or a still life, I wondered. In truth, the answer was both. For Nevarrans, food is as much a feast for the eyes as for the mouth. But even if your arrangement isn't quite worthy of being displayed in a museum, this salad will sing a symphony on your tastebuds.

Fried Young Giant Spiders

Image Description: A metal bowl filled with salad greens and fried crab legs arranged on top. Plate sits on a wooden table with a metal item and a smoking pot in the background.

Recipe Blurb: Just as people on the surface raise cows and goats, the dwarves underground raise spiders. Yes, to eat. The legs are fried and served with a sauce, which, true to dwarven fashion, is made with some type of alcohol. The precise kind depends on the establishment where you're eating your spider legs. Unfortunately, I couldn't get an exact recipe from any of the chefs I spoke to. These sauces are apparently closely guarded secrets and have spurred many a nefarious plot to acquire them-the competiontion to be crowned Orzammar's Best Sauce is fierce. But I've been assured that lichen ale is generally not used.

I've therefore come up with my own recipe, based on the many varieties I sampled while in Orzammar. Given that sourcing the requisite spider legs above ground is not nearly so easy, and the demand for such exports is minimal, I've subsituted them with crab legs. It's not a perfect match, but it's close enough to satisfy me.

Stuffed Deep Mushrooms

Image Description: Three mushroom caps fulled with a green, cheesy blend topped with chives. Placed on a platter that looks like a cut of wood, red capped mushrooms with white spots in the right hand corner in the foreground.

Recipe Blurb: Though the mushrooms growing underground in caves and in many parts of the Deep Roads are all called "deep mushrooms," there is no singular variety. In fact, there are several! Some mushrooms are squat, with broad, flat caps, while others are long and spindly, reaching toward the sky like an old man's gnarled fingers. They also have a multitude of applications, used in the creation of everything from restorative potions to deadly poisons. But in Orzammar, mushrooms are farmed for eating!

I was able to sample some of these dwarven delicacies, prized for their unique flavor and intoxicating scent. After only a few bites, I was struck with inspiration. How delicious would one of these mushrooms be when stuffed with cheese and spinach? The answer is: very. Rest assured that I selected this particular variety of deep mushroom not only for its shape, which is ideal for holding the maximum amount of cheese (and spinach), but also for the fact that it does not carry the darkspawn taint. While certain dwarves will insist that a deep mushroom's proximity to lyrium and darkspawn can only improve its flavor, I am quite content to leave that particular question a mystery, especially where lyrium is concerned. Although I'm hardly and expert on the stuff, I can't help but think about Fenris and how much suffering he endured as a result of his lyrium-infused markings. It seems to me that, barring any natural resistance, lyrium and the body are two things that probably shouldn't mix.

Rivaini Couscous Salad

Image Description: A copper bowl filled with couscous, mixed with various veggies and a mint leaf on top. A letter with an amulet from Alistair in the bottom left corner - merch from the BioWare store.

Recipe Blurb: When I first encountered couscous, I mistakenly believed it to be a grain, like rice or the more familiar Fereldan barley. I was swiftly corrected. In fact, couscous is a sort of pasta, made with semolina flour and water, although it's far smaller than your typical Antivan pasta. Couscous has a very mild flavor on its own--maybe slightly nutty. But where it excels is in its ability to soak up surrounding flavors, making it a perfect base for any salad. I'd love to experiment further, but so far, this particular combination of red bell pepper and mint has proven to be incredibly pleasing.

Crab Cakes from Kirkwall

Image Description: A caste iron pan over a bed of coals and flames, filled with battered soft shelled crabs, red peppers, and lemon slices.

Recipe Blurb: I love it when recipes add a dash of whimsy into the mix. Food shoulf be fun. I, therefore, took it upon myself to put this into practice with a classic Kirkwall dish. After all, who hasn't looked at their crab cakes and wished they looked a little more like crabs? Okay, maybe I'm the only one who's thought this. But now that I've brought this possibility to your attention, I'm certain you're interested as well! Best of all, these extra-crabby crab cakes stay true to the original recipe's flavors, so nothig is lost--only gained!

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding

Image Description: Two red small bowls with baked masked potatoes and a slice of hard boiled egg on top sit on a net with a starfish in the background.

Recipe Blurb: Can it really be Feast Day without fluffy mackerel pudding? No! In fact, there's no dish I associate more strongly with the holiday than this unique combination of mackerel, onion, celery, and eggs. Granted, I've heard stories that, several decades ago, someone once attempted a diet consisting entirely of fluffy mackerel pudding. Now, that I certainly wouldn't recommend. It stops being Feast Day Fish if you eat it every day, no?

Snail & Watercress Salad

Image Description: A wooden bowl resting on a river rock, filled with a salad comprised of mixed greens, radishes, and cooked snails.

Recipe Blurb: When the Avvar can't get their hands on a gurgut or a wyvern, they turn their attention to smaller prey. Much smaller prey. Snails are found on many a hillside boulder, making them an abundant source of food for the Avvar. Now, while some would wrinkle their noses or cry out in disgust at the prospect of eating a snail, I am pleased to report that, when prepared correctly, the texture. and flavor are actually good! I could happily eat a plate full of snails dressed in butter and oil, but those still on the fence about a snail's place

Cave Beetles

Image Description: A carved bowl holding cooked whole prawns, lemon slices and herbs sit on a rock with fake beetles and a black rock with blue glowing lines in the background.

Recipe Blurb: You think that, after snails, I'd balk at beetles? Never! In fact, I greatly enjoyed this dwarven dish, which involves roasting cave beetles in their shells. However, I recognize that many may not have a palate that's nearly so adventurous. If that's the case, the cave beetles can be replaced with whole prawns while keeping the rest of the recipe the same. That being said, if you do enjoy the variation with prawns, I really recommend giving the cave beetles a try. They're quite similar in both texture and flavor. If you were to blindfold yourself, I doubt you could tell the difference!

#dragon age #dragon age cookbook #da: tot #da: tastes of thedas #tastes of thedas #long post #I am so excited this is just so good so far #I almost have bingo #archi is yelling into the void #I see that it mentioned it taking a year to traverse Thedas and we will all ignore that. Thank you.#I have feelings and observations which is for another post lol

9 notes · View notes

pinayelf · 1 year ago

Note

I wanted to ask you when I saw the preview of the cookbook but life came and barreled into me. But do you have any thoughts on what Merrill's blood soup in the DA Cookbook would be like? I imagine they're making it a beet soup, but since we were talking about such soups way back 👀

I'm sorry I didn't see this earlier!!

I wonder if they're doing it like LITERALLY or like you said, something like beet soup because it's red.

If it's LITERAL I can picture it being something like diniguan!

It's technically stew made with pork blood, offal and meat, but you can cook it with more gravy or less gravy depending on your preference

I think the actual soup in the book may lean towards something like beet soup more lol but I can see the Dalish having a dish like this because it uses up all the parts of an animal (like a ram in this case)!

#i do think a lot abt what the dalish would eat dhdhd like what foods would be great to take along for travels #i can see this because besides also not wasting any part of the animal stews are really good for being able to feed large groups of people!

7 notes · View notes

erikacousland · 1 year ago

Text

Science is real magic, or magic is quick science…

One of my daily silly handcanon:

The Circle mages using alchemy create composite and synthetic materials and selling items that made from them in their shops like Wonders of Thedas. These items are expensive but convenient, loved by adventurers.

Consider they are using Kupilka bowls (KUPILKA 33?) in Taste of Thedas, I take it is a official canon now. :P

Merrill's Blood Soup, Fereldan Potato and Leek Soup from Dragon Age: The Official Cookbook: Taste of Thedas

#Dragon Age #KUPILKA #Random roaring

5 notes · View notes

mabaris · 7 months ago

Text

ok the wiki has the table of contents and it DOES have lamb and pea stew but it does NOT have cookies 😭

also i’m losing my mind at “merrill’s blood soup”

every so often i remember there is a dragon age cookbook and im so curious what is actually in there. everything i’ve seen feels like a huge reach (stuff that was never actually. in the games in the first place) and also the foods that i CAN think of that appear in the games (sera’s raisin cookies, Traditional Fereldan Lamb and Pea Stew) do not seem to be featured in the book

#it did not when i looked it up. immediately after the book came out. go figure lmao #also lmfao at ‘king alistair’s stew’ that is specifically meant to be peasant food!!!!#should have just called it. exactly what i did. imo #i know blood pudding and blood sausage are traditional english food but like #associating it with merrill. known blood mage. makes it sound like it’s her own #right????#mine

9 notes · View notes

aelin-world-walker · 4 years ago

Text

Some headcanons I have post-ACOSF

(don’t ask where this comes from i’m just aching because i finished rereading acosf and thinking headcanons is my coping mechanism)

(i wrote “some” in the title but they are like a million????)

(like now this is a master list of headcanons i have...)

BE AWARE OF ACOSF SPOILERS!!!

*Probably I’ll edit it pretty often because headcanons come whenever they like.

*i’ll probably add feysand headcanons in the future but not now because there’re A LOT out here but know I have some like feysand beign parents is too cute to ignore.

*sorry if there are some spelling errors, English is not my first language.

The cabin headcanons

(yes the cabin has its own subtitle)

Cassian takes Nesta to the cabin after their mating bond ceremony and then happens chapter 55 but Nesta adapted. There’s no soup but a biscuit.

When Nyx is a little older he starts participating in the snowball fight. Rhys, Cassian and Az let him win.

In one of her visits, Feyre paints her sisters and Nyx’s eyes beside the IC ones, because they are now part of the Court of Dreams (this one made me cry a little honestly)

Whenever one of the IC’s couples wants to take a break they go to the cabin. Sometimes Az goes too to play chaperone. Spoiler: it doesn’t work (especially NOT with Nessian) (this one made me laugh)

Nesta likes the cabin’s vibes to read, so she goes often. Sometimes Cassian joins her but he bores to death so he wouldn’t let her read (if you get what i mean)

I can imagine the IC visiting it, long nights bonding in front of a fire and playing board games. Rhys, Nesta and Azriel are so competitive that stay awake til one of them wins. (actually Rhys and Azriel competitive spirit over board games is canon) (i just imagine Nesta playing the courtier to win) (then she loses and is cranky for a day). Meanwhile, Mor and Cassian drink themselves silly, and Feyre and Elain play with Nyx. Amren just purrs sitting in Varian’s lap. (Amren as the house cat)

The girls decide to do their own snowball fight honestly i don’t know why this is not canon yet. One year they decide to do girls vs. boys. The girls win and the boys don’t want to play against them again.

Nyx and his cousins learning to fly in a summer vacation there. (yeah because nessian’s children are happening in the future and they are in some of my headcanons sorry)

Nesta, Gwyn and Emerie go there sometimes (not so often because they prefer staying with the House please never forget they are all friends) and go hiking.

When Nyx and Nessian’s children are older and misbehave their parents send them to the cabin. Then whoever of them didn’t got to be grounded slips alcohol to the ones inside. (Actually i can see them doing this??? Rhys and Mor did the same. Also I can see Nyx and his cousins having a relationship similar to Rhys and Mor’s and Aelin and Aedion’s)

Inner Circle couples and the sauna. Not gonna say anything else, but just know it’s hella weird there’re no scenes in there...

The House of Wind headcanons

(big house deserved its own headcanons)

Nesta installs a dance studio in there and whenever she can she goes and dance for hours.

Nesta, Gwyn, Emerie and the House start a monthly sleep-over in the private library. The House always conjures the miniature pegasus without being asked.

Can we talk about the fact that in the future the House of Wind will have a nursery???? because i have to talk about it. don’t know if i’ll be able to do so without crying but just- nessian’s babies nation

When Nessian’s children are born the House would conjure anything just to please them and will protect them at all costs. The House as a babysitter and mother-hen.

The House starts talking to Cassian and recommends him smut books. He reads them and find them pretty interesting. He also recommends the House books but as they are of warfare the House finds them boring.

When Cassian and Nesta fight the House would be angry with Cassian for some days and would serve his food cold.

The House of Wind is Nyx’s favorite place in the city. Cassian and Nesta even give him a room when he is older. He loves it for the same reason Rhys did: flying. He also likes asking the House ridiculous things -the House loves his petitions-

Azriel keeps his room of course, but playing the chaperone is useless now (it always was)

Mor befriends the house and together they plan jokes to Cassian.

Feyre loves going to the House because it reminds her that her sister is happy and will never be alone.

Nessian headcanons

(of course there are nessian’s headcanons)

While sleeping, Cassian is very restless while Nesta sleeps in a ball, but they make it work. Also, Cassian takes all the blankets so Nesta ends up beside him and his wings.

The two of them loves sleeping in. Cassian would never admit it because he would never hear the end of it from the ic. (i know he said in acomaf that daylight is precious but now that he has found his mate he has change a liiitle his opinion about that. like now wake up beside his love is more precious than anything!!!!!)

I think it’s not fair we didn’t got a smut scene in the bathtub.

And in Windhaven.

Aaaaand in the cabin.

When Nesta has a nightmare, Cassian would hug her and comfort her while remind her it was a dream, and now she got out, and is loved and cherished by a lot of people.

Nesta loves that Cassian strokes her head, more when her hair is down. (i really like that nesta prefers updo hairstyles tho)

Nesta sitting on Cassian’s lap. That’s all I need for a next book. (i also need more domestic scenes between them like the one in Winter Solstice when Nesta hangs their coats) (also i need to read nessian from another pov i want to know how they look like from outside their pov)

Nessian dancing into the darkest hours, losing themselves into the music and their embrace. (i need a slow dancing fanfic thx)

Nesta is still a little uncomfortable to venture into Velaris so she asks Cassian to fly her over the city whenever she needs to go out and doesnt want to tangle in the multitude.

Cassian reading an Illyrian report while Nesta reads a romance book. Domestic mates part one hundred.

Nesta loves flying (WHY THIS IS NOT CANON SARAH) (like i would have been awesome to read nesta liking flying after that scene with rhys in acowar)

I love that is canon they like chocolate cake idk just wanted to say that.

Nesta headcanons

(my daughter deserves them)

Every Starfall, Nesta would take the stairs down and up just to remind herself the way up is long but by the end she would find happiness.

She is really protective over the House. She wouldn’t let anyone spill anything or mess around.

She starts taking dancing lessons again, even though she doesn’t need them. It’s her favorite part of the week. I can imagine Gwyn joining her. Emerie prefers watching them and smirk while drinking tea.

She visits her father’s tomb more than her sisters, and tells him every aspect of her life because she didn’t do it when he was alive.

She doesn’t like the Court of Nightmares, but the Winter Solstice ball in there is one of her favorites events of the year.

She goes back to being a courtier/emmisary for the Night Court and loves tormenting the people she has to deal with. (just imagine Nesta in Vallahan, they would sign the treaty in a second)

She continues working in the Library because she is still healing and the Library is such a big part of that. She continues fighting with Merrill too (gwyn is please of that)

Also she starts practicing with Amren to use her powers, even if there is not a lot to master (tho i think she is still very powerful but let’s wait for the next book to confirm this)

ALSO Nesta as a mother: she gives her children a lot of love because she remembers how it is to have a cold mother and doesn’t want to repeat the story.

Nessian’s children headcanon

(tho i imagine they have at least a daughter so she is gonna appear a lot in my hc sorry)

I can imagine them having an unexpected pregnancy idk why they would be very happy tho (like chaolene’s) (not so soon after acosf, they would enjoy some free-of-babies-years)

Now I want a fanfic about nessian finding out they are pregnant please writers do it

Tho I can imagine its during training.

Nessian’s baby would sleep between them. Cassian loves that and even though Nesta says the contrary, privately she loves it too.

Nesta teaching their daughter to dance, while Cassian teaches her to fly. Together, they teach her to fight. Their daughter wants to be a Valkyrie like her mom and aunts.

Also Nesta reading her daughter to bed and then getting asleep. Cassian would find the two of them sleeping and would cover them with a quilt.

Their daughter loves to hear the stories about Nessian’s Blood Rites, and would ask everyone about them.

Their daughter is their number 1 fan im crying in softness

She also wants to hear the stories of her uncles and aunts even though some are sad, because she knows they are happy and together now.

I can see Nessian wanting another baby tbh but let’s stop in one until Sarah shows us the contrary.

But just imagine Nessian’s children + Nyx playing hide-and-seek on the House of the Wind and the House helping them hide.

Nessian’s daugther loves hearing Gwyn sing, and is particularly obsessed with Emerie because she sees herself in Emerie (like they are both Illyrians i’m crying nessian’s daughter doesnt understand why her aunt can’t fly).

She has spring allergies too.

81 notes · View notes

andrastesknickerweasel · 3 years ago

Text

Check out the Master Post to see what this wacky project is all about and get the cookbook to join in the fun!

It’s been grey and rainy here lately and I’ve been LOVING it! In celebration I decided to make creamy cozy Dalish Cauliflower Bacon Soup.

Difficulty: 3/5. Mostly I just made a mess. Cauliflower is so crumbly. Also the motor on my Antivan Crow Blender is officially broken so I had to bust out the emersion blender, or ‘boat motor’ as Emeril would say (Maker I’m so OLD, do any of you tumblr kids even know who Emeril is?). I only sprayed a little molten soup across the kitchen 😅

Ingredient cost/accessibility: 1/5. Pretty standard fair. I guess bacon can get a little pricey if you get the fancy stuff, which I did not XD Also full disclosure, I was kind of a filthy colonizer and added things to this recipe (I’m sorry Dalish elves!), but creamy vegetable soups are probably the thing I’ve made most in my lifetime due to them being all my mom was able to eat for a long time, so I feel I know what I’m talking about. I added about 1tsp of thyme, because it’s delicious, and a dash of tabasco. Trust me on the tabasco, I don’t even like spicy foods, but it just wakes up soups like this, it really doesn’t take much (like 1/8 tsp if you want to measure). Also this dish could easily be made vegetarian by omitting the bacon, sautéing the onion and garlic in olive oil and using vegetable stock. I’m sure it would be edible without the cream to make it vegan, but I can’t understand a life without dairy products, lactose intolerance or not XD

Taste: 5/5. No complaints here, just a tasty creamy cauliflower soup. The bacon adds a welcome salty bite.

Suggested pairing: Haha maybe a hearty sandwich?

Suggested pairing: Not really a romantic dish, but when I think cozy I think Merrill (the sweetest of blood mages <3), so I could see her making this on a rainy day, like her Keeper used to, and sharing it with the alienage.

#Dragon Age cooking club #DA cooking club #dalish #cauliflower bacon soup

9 notes · View notes

thejourneymaninn · 4 years ago

Text

First line game

Rules: List the first lines of your last 20 stories (if you have less than 20, just list them all!). See if there are any patterns. Choose your favourite opening line. Then tag 10 of your favourite authors!

I was tagged by @hollyand-writes Thank you <3

I have too many wips and no idea which ones I started first, so I’m just going to go with my last 20 stories on ao3 (warning: some opening lines/titles are not entirely sfw)

Truce or Date (fenders): “Do you ever wonder why we’re here?”

Healer’s choice (fenders): The door just barely still clung to one of its hinges, swaying on the breeze that carried the stench of smoke and sea into even the last tiny, hidden nook of Darktown.

Cumming Home (justanders): His feet made no sound on the green-tinted ground.

Lovers’ Day (fenders): The scent, an almost overwhelming sweetness, hit him the moment he opened the door, before he even had a chance to take in the sea of colour that spread out in front of him.

Shh! (fenders): Enough was enough.

Disturbance in the Gallows (fenders): “So, Fenris, what’s going on between you and Anders?”

Glowy Boys Special (aka fenders tumblr shorts): Water, dripping down his face, darkening his hair, catching in his coat.

Things we lost (fenhawke): Well, that sure is a lot of blood…

Fading into you (justfenders): The hum of the Fade was faint, distant, as though it was calling from behind a closed door.

Dear Justice (fenders): Fenris let the door fall shut behind him with a bang.

Until we are free (kanders): “Tell me about the world outside.”

Dates and Cakes (fenders): “Let me get this straight: you are a doctor who quit to run a cat shelter.”

Superstition (fenders): He managed to take exactly two steps before they had him surrounded, trapped between the wall of their grimy bodies and that of the Hanged Man.

Heatwave (fenders): The heat was merciless, pressing down on the city in a thick soup of stale air, stench, and humidity.

Ten times you kissed me (fenders): As it turned out, leaving them alone while she made off with Isabela and that slippery assassin wasn’t Hawke’s best idea…Granted, she never got tired of suggesting they spend more time together and “work out that avalanche of issues”, yet somehow Fenris doubted she’d expected them to follow her advice to “just have some fun” quite so literally.

And Pounce makes three (fenders): “Anders, are you coming to the staff party tomorrow?” Merrill called from across the room where she was busy losing a game of pool against Hawke and Isabela.

(W)hole lotta love (fenders): It was a lovely cock.

I spy… ruffled feathers and unlaced leathers (fenders): Fenris rolled his eyes for the – he had lost count of how many times it had been, but probably enough to cause serious brain damage if he didn’t stop right about now.

Setting Sail (fenhanders): Anders keeps fussing over him, pretending that everything’s alright.

Reckoning (fenhawke): There had been no warning.

I don’t really see any patterns, except for the word ‘door’ popping up quite a few times. I’m surprised that only a handful of them open on a line of dialogue, though. I would have expected that to be the case for at least half of them, but apparently I don’t do that nearly as often as I thought.

Most of my favourite authors have either done this already or are no longer on tumblr/in the fandom, so I’m tagging anyone who wants to do it (because what better way to find new favourite writers?)

#dragon age #fics #my fics #fenders #justfenders #kanders #fenhawke #first line game #random

18 notes · View notes

marianhaawke · 5 years ago

Text

...and they were quarantined! (WIP Whenever)

Chapter 2:

Isabela had, predictably, packed what seemed like her entire wardrobe into a duffel bag. Maker’s breath, Hawke thought, how many crop tops can one person possibly wear? Isabela was also currently rifling through their pantry while Fenris carried their bags upstairs from her car, the Siren’s Call. So named because of the noises it made when you got it past 60 miles per hour- which Isabela did frequently, and with much glee.

Merrill came in the door behind Fenris, protesting that she could help with the bags while coughing. Fenris just glowered, but Hawke could tell it was softer than his usual glower. He wasn’t a fan of the blood mage, it was true, but Merrill was nothing if not polite even while she was sick. Hawke, of course, lounged on the couch and watched him drop the bags onto their living room floor with a loud thump. Their mabari, Barkspawn, looked up at Merrill and Isabela curiously before returning to his nap.

“Don’t bother to get up and help,” Fenris said.

“Sarcasm, Fenris? I really am rubbing off on you,” Hawke said, flicking through Netflix shows. “Besides, I’m an invalid.”

“Hawke, how are you feeling?” Merrill asked with concern in her voice as she sat next to her on the couch.

“Never better, thanks for asking,” Hawke said. “How about you, are you doing okay? I heard your fever was getting better-“

Isabela barged in, holding a can from their pantry. “Creamed corn, Hawke? Really? You know this went bad about a year ago.” Hawke shrugged.

“I have all the cooking skills of my mother and none of her charm,” Hawke said. “We’re a takeout household, Isabela, you know that.”

Isabela disappeared back into the kitchen. Hawke, Fenris, and Merrill all sat in an uncomfortable silence.

“Merrill, would you, ah, like a beverage?” Hawke asked. “I’ve never really hosted before, I’m not sure what the proper protocol is.”

“I’d love some water if it’s not too much trouble,” Merrill said. “You should probably drink some too, Hawke, it helps with fevers.”

“You sound like Fenris,” Hawke said. “Fenris, would you be a dear and get us some water?”

He shot her a glare but got up and walked into the kitchen anyway. Hawke continued flicking through the options on Netflix, settling on a random sitcom, when Isabela breezed in and sat down next to Merrill, flinging an arm over the elf’s shoulders.

“Why were you looking through our kitchen anyway?” Hawke asked.

“Just curious,” Isabela said. “You can tell a lot about a person from their pantry, you know.”

“Really?” Merrill asked curiously. “Like what?”

“Like that Hawke spends more money on food for her mabari than herself.”

At hearing himself mentioned, the mabari perked his ears up before settling back down again.

“Only the best for the best,” Hawke said. Fenris walked back into the living room, carrying two glasses of water. “Isn’t that right, darling?”

“You two are just so adorable,” Isabela said. “I can see why Varric is writing about you two in his next story.”

Fenris gave Isabela a piercing glare- one of his finest, really. “The dwarf is doing what, exactly?”

“He let you read it?” protested Hawke. “He hasn’t let me touch it, yet.”

“Oh no,” Isabela said with a wicked smile, “I got ahold of his computer and emailed myself a copy. It’s quite… salacious, if you catch my meaning. I was hoping to get a live viewing while we’re here.” At this, she waggled her eyebrows in Fenris’ direction.

“Maker, I’m going to kill that dwarf,” Hawke said with a sigh. Before she could continue, she was cut off by a fit of hacking coughs. Fenris frowned.

“That’s it, you’re going back to bed,” he said. “Drink some water, too.”

As if on cue, Merrill started coughing too. Hawke groaned. “It’s like a hospital in here,” she said. “Fine, fine. You guys can watch whatever you want, just no porn. I’m gonna take a nap. Remind me to kill Varric when I wake up.” With that, she walked into the bedroom, followed by the mabari who seemed eager to jump in the bed with her.

As she drifted off, she could hear Merrill in the living room valiantly trying to make conversation with Fenris, who was less than interested.

Then all of a sudden she woke with a jolt. A hand was on her forehead. She opened her eyes and saw Anders standing over her wearing a mask, checking her temperature with the back of his hand. Anders and Merrill? Maker, I bet Fenris is having a great time right now, she thought.

Before she could say something, Anders cut her off. “Save the witty remark, Hawke. I’m only here on my break, so I have to be quick. How are you feeling?”

“Fantastic,” she said. “Best shape of my life.” Followed by another coughing fit. Anders removed his hand and looked at her intently.

“You need rest and lots of water,” he said. “Same goes for the two in your living room. I told Fenris already, but you three need to watch your temperatures. If it gets too high, or if you feel short of breath, come down to my clinic.” He went into their bathroom and washed his hands thoroughly. Hawke could see the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than usual. He must be pulling all-nighters, she thought, feeling slightly guilty for making so many jokes about the virus.

“Anders, do you need some food? You said you were on break, right?”

“Some food would be great,” he admitted, drying his hands. “I haven’t had time to eat anything all day.”

“Varric dropped off a container of chicken noodle soup earlier, you can have it if you want,” Hawke said. Fenris walked into the bedroom and nodded at Anders. Quite the gesture of civility, Hawke thought.

“Hawke, how are you feeling?” Fenris asked as Anders left to presumably finish off her chicken noodle soup. Ah, well.

“Not great,” Hawke admitted, coughing again. This was answered with a matching cough coming from the living room. So either Merrill or Isabela was awake, too. Fenris frowned and grabbed her hand.

“I’m surprised you haven’t gotten sick yet,” she said.

“I have rarely ever been sick,” he said. “Besides, someone needs to take care of you three.”

“Thank you for helping,” Hawke said in a low voice. “I know taking care of Isabela and Merrill can’t be your favorite thing.”

Fenris smiled. “No, but I would do it again for you, Hawke.” He lightly kissed her on the forehead and went back into the living room. Hawke smiled and burrowed in under the covers even more, leaning up against Barkspawn, who didn’t seem to mind. She drifted off again to the sound of coughing coming from the next room.

#dragon age #dragon age fanfiction #fenhawke #wip whenever

2 notes · View notes

felassan · 1 year ago

Text

Dragon Age: The Official Cookbook: Tastes of Thedas lore compilation / notes / thoughts [Part 1 of 2]

(Link to Part 2, in text form (pls copy-paste) as Tumblr won't let me add it as a normal link: https://felassan.tumblr.com/post/732826339350102016/dragon-age-the-official-cookbook-tastes-of)

Reference, info & general observations/ramble post ◕‿◕ (Post contents under a cut, in case anyone would rather not read cookbook spoilers. also due to post length)

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

If I have forgotten, misread or misunderstood something, please let me know.

This post is part 1 of 2, as it was getting rly long.

Dishes by type

Starters & Refreshments: Eggs à la Val Foret, Nevarran Blood Orange Salad, Fried Young Giant Spiders, Stuffed Deep Mushrooms, Rivaini Couscous Salad, Crab Cakes from Kirkwall, Fluffy Mackerel Pudding, Snail & Watercress Salad, Cave Beetles

For the Road: Spiced Jerky, Grey Warden Pastry Pockets, Pickled Eggs, Unidentified Meat, Seheron Fish Pockets, Fereldan Hearty Scones, Crow Feed, Black Lichen Bread, Hearth Cakes, Peasant Bread

Soups & Stews: Merrill's Blood Soup, Fereldan Potato and Leek Soup, The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew, Fish Chowder, Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup, Lentil Soup, Nettle Soup, King Alistair's Lamb and Pea Stew

Main Courses: Stuffed Cabbage, Antivan Gnocchi, Antivan Paella, Grilled Poussin, Gurgut Roast with Lowlander Spices and Mushroom Sauce, Nug Pancakes, Fish in Salt Crust, Roasted Wyvern, Nug Bacon and Egg Pie, Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie, Cacio e Pepe, Turnip and Mutton Pie, Smoked Ham from the Anderfels, Roasted Turkey with Sides

Sides: Sera's Yummy Corn, Stuffed Vine Leaves, Honey Carrots, Nevarran Flat Bread and Yogurt Dip

Sweet Delights: Blancmange, Poison Stings, Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler, Dwarven Plum Jam, Sour Cherries in Cream, Treviso Energy Balls, Rice Pudding, Goat Custard

Baked Goods: Antivan Apple Grenade, Found Cake, Varric's Favorite Cinnamon Rolls, Croissants, Cherry Cupcakes, Chocolate Cake, Varric's Favorite Pastries, Sugar Cake, Lamprey Cake, Tevinter Pumpkin Bread

Drinks & Potions: Lichen Ale, The Hissing Drake, Hot Chocolate, Antivan Sip-Sip, Dragon Piss, Rivaini Tea Blend, The Golden Nug, The Emerald Valley, Chasind Sack Mead

Notes: These dish 'categories' are from the book contents pages, which can be viewed here.

Dishes by place / culture of origin (DA Cookbook-specific list)

Ferelden: Pickled Eggs, Fereldan Hearty Scones, Fereldan Potato and Leek Soup, Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup, King Alistair's Lamb and Pea Stew, Nug Bacon and Egg Pie, Turnip and Mutton Pie, Chocolate Cake

Kirkwall: Crab Cakes from Kirkwall, The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew, Roasted Turkey with Sides

Orlais: Eggs à la Val Foret, Grey Warden Pastry Pockets, Honey Carrots, Blancmange, Sour Cherries in Cream, Croissants

Tevinter: Unidentified Meat, Stuffed Vine Leaves, Cherry Cupcakes, Tevinter Pumpkin Bread

Antiva: Crow Feed, Fish Chowder, Antivan Gnocchi, Antivan Paella, Cacio e Pepe, Treviso Energy Balls, Antivan Apple Grenade, Antivan Sip-Sip

Nevarra: Nevarran Blood Orange Salad, Nevarran Flat Bread and Yogurt Dip

Rivain: Rivaini Couscous Salad, Goat Custard, Rivaini Tea Blend

Seheron: Seheron Fish Pockets

Starkhaven: Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie, Roasted Turkey with Sides

Free Marches: Roasted Turkey with Sides

Anderfels: Smoked Ham from the Anderfels

Avvar: Snail & Watercress Salad, Stuffed Cabbage, Gurgut Roast with Lowlander Spices and Mushroom Sauce, Fish in Salt Crust, Roasted Wyvern

Chasind: Grilled Poussin, Chasind Sack Mead

Dalish: Spiced Jerky, Hearth Cakes, Peasant Bread, Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler

City Elf: Peasant Bread, Lentil Soup

Orzammar / dwarven: Fried Young Giant Spiders, Stuffed Deep Mushrooms, Cave Beetles, Nug Pancakes, Dwarven Plum Jam, Lichen Ale, Black Lichen Bread

Unspecified (DA Cookbook-specific list): Fluffy Mackerel Pudding, Merrill's Blood Soup, Nettle Soup, Sera's Yummy Corn, Poison Stings, Rice Pudding, Found Cake, Varric's Favorite Cinnamon Rolls, Varric's Favorite Pastries, Sugar Cake, Lamprey Cake, The Hissing Drake, Hot Chocolate, Dragon Piss, The Golden Nug, The Emerald Valley

Notes: Fluffy Mackerel Pudding seems to be Fereldan as it's found in DA:O in this Codex entry at the Arl of Redcliffe's Estate in Denerim. Snail & Watercress Salad isn't traditional Avvar cuisine; though snails are standard Avvar fare, this salad which has them in conjunction with other ingredients is Devon's take on snails that they made for their Avvar hosts. The given Spiced Jerky recipe is Dalish, but the book notes that preserved foods like it play an important role in many different Thedosian cultures. Grey Warden Pastry Pockets are a variation on a tough Grey Warden pastry which incorporates the far more delicate Orlesian puff pastry, that was championed by newer Warden recruits from Orlais. Unidentified Meat is usually served with Nevarran Flat Bread. Black Lichen Bread doesn't explicitly say but is clearly dwarven, as it references "underground" versus the "surface" and the dwarf Garin in Orzammar mentions it in DA:O. Peasant Bread is both Dalish and City Elf. Merrill's Blood Soup could be Dalish in origin as it's a recipe of Merrill's. Devon's Lentil Soup recipe has classic Tevinter flavors in it. Roasted Turkey with Sides is found throughout the Free Marches. Sera's Yummy Corn could be Fereldan in origin as it's a recipe of Sera's. Poison Stings is likely Tevinter as Dorian is fond of it. Rice Pudding could be Antivan or Rivaini as in Thedas you don't see much rice outside of Antiva or Rivain, or perhaps Tevinter or Qunari as it was a dish made by Krem, Iron Bull and the Chargers. Found Cake could be Fereldan as it's based on Dog's Found Cake in DA:O. Sugar Cake was purchased from a surface dwarf merchant and is based on Sugar Cake from DA:O (Feraldan dish? Dwarven?). Lamprey Cake was Devon's pickled lamprey-inspired cake, with pickled lamprey itself being a "singular" (implied: odd) favorite of an Orlesian noble. The Hissing Drake, The Golden Nug and The Emerald Valley are drinks served at the Gilded Horn in Orlais. The Emerald Valley's place of origin isn't given in the book, but we know from this Codex that it includes a spirit that is Orlesian, having been made in Lydes. Going by Iron Bull's dialogue with Varric, hot chocolate/cocoa is not from the south and is rare there. Dragon Piss could be Fereldan as it's based on Dragon Piss which is found in Ferelden.

Alphabetical ingredients / 'foodstuffs and drinks which exist in Thedas' list (DA Cookbook-specific list)

Notes: These ingredients are derived from the dish names and the lore blurbs (which appear to be in-world), not the recipes and associated ingredients lists themselves (which appear to be our world/irl-based). Also, this is a sort of scrappy list with mixed singular/plurals, some repeating stuff (e.g. I know pork, bacon, pig and ham is all "pig"), some non-specific stuff e.g. "herbs", and some stuff that is more 'a combo food' than 'a single ingredient' e.g. "dough", but just go with it ok hh, it's just meant to be a quick 'n' dirty reference list as a resource not a perfect culinary thing:

“Bitter greens”, Ale, Almonds, Antivan pasta, Antivan wine, Apples, Apple blossoms, Apricots, Assorted “forest fruits”, Ayesleigh gulabi goat (a breed of goat from which some goat’s milk is derived), Bacon, Bark, Bark bread, Barley, Beetroot, Biscuits, Black cherries, Black lichen, Blended teas, Blood oranges, Brandy, Bread, Buns, Butter (halla and other types), Cabbage, Carrot, Cave beetles, Celery, Chasind Wildwine, Cheese, Cheese sauce, Cherries, Chicken, Chickpeas, Chocolate, Chocolate cream cake, Cinnamon, Cocoa, Cocoa powder, Corn (yellow and non-yellow varieties), Couscous, Cows, Crab, Cranberry, Cream, Croutons, Currants, Custard (many variations), Cuttlefish, Dark bread, Deep mushrooms (several varieties), Dough, Dracolisk? (in one ‘sus meat’ recipe Devon wondered if it could be this), Dried fruit, Dry cheese, Eggs, Egg-white foam (for drinks, due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), Fereldan ale, Fereldan barley, Figs, Fish, Flat bread, Flour, Flowers (over 70 different types of herbs and flowers used for food & drink exist), Giant spiders, Giant? (in one ‘sus meat’ recipe Devon wondered if it could be this), Gnocchi, Goat’s milk, Goats, Grains, Grapes, Grease, Gurguts, Halla butter, Ham, Harts, Herbs (over 70 different herbs and flowers used for food & drink exist), Hirol’s Lava Burst (due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), Honey, Hot peppers, Jams & preserves, Jasmine flowers, Jerky, Lamb, Lamprey, Leeks, Lemon, Lemon juice, Lemon verbena, Lentils, Lichen (underground and surface varieties), Lichen ale, Licorice root, Llomerryn red, Llomerryn rum (due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), Lurkers, Mackerel, Mango, Marshmallow (presumably meaning both the marshmallow plant and marshmallows, the confectionary that was originally made from the marshmallow plant. The form given in the cookbook is Orlesian guimauves, which accompany Iron Bull’s hot chocolate. “Guimauve” is French for marshmallow), Mead, Milk, Mincemeat, Mint, Mushroom, Mussels, Mutton, Nettle, Noodles, Nug, Nug bacon, Nuggets (nug-gets), Nutmeg (due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), Nuts, Oats, Oil, Olives, Onion, Orange, Orange peel, Oregano, Pasta, Pastry, Peas, Peanut butter, Peanuts, Pepper (as in black pepper etc), Peppermint, Pickled things, Pickled vegetables, Pie, Pig, Plums, Pomegranate, Pork, Potatoes, Poussin, Prawns, Puff pastry, Pumpkin, Quillback (in one ‘sus meat’ recipe Devon wondered if it could be this, and in DA:I some NPCs mention it), Rabbit, Raisins, Rams, Raspberries, Red bell peppers, Red grapes, Rhubarb, Rice, Rolls, Royal elfroot (due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), Rum (due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), Saffron, Salt, Semolina flour, Sheep, Shrimp, Smoked meats, Snails, Sour ale, Sour cherries, Spices, Spinach, Spirits (as in alcohol), Strawberries, Sugar, Tea, Toasted bread, Tomatoes, Truffles, Turkey, Turnip, Tzatziki sauce, Vine leaves, Waffles, Water, Watercress, West Hill brandy, Wheat, Whipped cream, Whiskey (due to the The Gilded Horn’s Drink List codex), White chocolate, White frosting, White Seleny wine, White wine, Wildflowers, Wine, Wraps (soft), Wyverns, Yogurt

'See also' / 'did you know':

Eggs à la Val Foret

Fried Young Giant Spiders: previously made an appearance in the DA tabletop. The player party arrives at Chanra Thaig and sees "Bonfires built inside steel drums provide warm and heat for the dwarves huddled around them, cooking deepstalkers, what looks like the legs of giant spiders, and small rodent-like animals on spits". The dwarves have "fuel, water, and domesticated spiders and nugs in deeper chambers for food".

Fluffy Mackerel Pudding

Snail and Watercress Salad

Cave beetle previously made an appearance in the DA tabletop. They're described as "scavengers and carrion eaters", "black" and "hard-shelled". They're also known as "rock beetles" and are "little more than a nuisance on its own. Dwarves are even known to roast and eat them out of the shells".

Pickled Eggs (from "The Whole Nug" in World of Thedas)

Seheron Fish Pockets: Iron Bull has dialogue where he says "I remember one guy, he made these things - fish wrapped in thin bread". He was talking of a street food vendor in Seheron who had been forced by Tevinter spies to poison his food. Fittingly, in the cookbook Devon narrates that they learned this recipe from a Charger.

Black Lichen Bread: Garin from DA:O had an incident a few years back where he cut himself and some raw lyrium dust got into his blood. Since then it's been hard for him to concentrate and he's forgetful. He mentions bread that's made by using lichen (I think he mentioned that his lunch was a slice of lichen bread). interestingly, like lyrium, the cookbook lore blurb for Black Lichen Bread contains reference to how black lichen is toxic.

Hearth Cakes (from "The Whole Nug" in World of Thedas)

Peasant Bread: appears in The Masked Empire. in the Dalish camp, Dalish cooks prepared a midday meal, which was served along with peasant bread. "It was almost equal parts wheat, salt, and grease, and in lean winters, it was sometimes the only thing that could put meat on a peasant's bones." Michel watches an old elven woman drizzle honey across a piece and remembers his City Elven mother putting a bit of sugar she had stolen from the tavern she worked in on his piece of bread. The cookbook lore blurb for Peasant Bread says it is eaten by Dalish elves and City elves alike in Orlais, with the recipe being "very straightforward, calling for wheat, salt, and grease in nearly equal parts". Also, in The Last Court, Seraultine (Orlesian) peasants are described as eating bread at mealtimes

The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew: in a DAII loading screen, it says that the tavern's feature dish is a stew made from a different mystery meat every morning

Fish Chowder: in DA:O Zevran says "Can you smell that? Like rotting flesh. Just like back in Antiva City. Now if only you could find me a prostitute or two, a bowl of fish chowder and a corrupt politician, I'd really feel like I was home!"

Sweet and Sour Cabbage Soup (the cookbook lore blurb mentions the Orlesian troupe of actors from the show Wilkshire Downs. in this codex they are mentioned along with "cabbage stew")

King Alistair's Lamb and Pea Stew: Alistair and Leliana have this dialogue in DA:O about this dish (Ctrl-F "pea stew").

Antivan Gnocchi: In Tevinter Nights (Eight Little Talons), the Crow leaders eat gnocchi with dinner

Gurgut Roast with Lowlander Spices and Mushroom Sauce

Nug Pancakes, two

Fish in Salt Crust

Roasted Wyvern. Also Isabela has dialogue in Mark of the Assassin where she says "I hope I'm not expected to eat roast wyvern after this." The lore blurb in the cookbook for this dish also references this Codex

Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie (from "The Whole Nug" in World of Thedas)

Cacio e Pepe: First mentioned in Tevinter Nights (The Wigmaker Job). Illario complains "This isn't Cacio e Pepe" while making a show of tapping his dagger against a plate of leftovers. Lucanis replies "You ordered an Antivan dish in Tevinter. What did you expect?", to which Illario quips "Something edible".

Turnip and Mutton Pie

Smoked Ham from the Anderfels: a servant in Mark of the Assassin offers Hawke and Tallis "smoked ham from the Anderfels. They say it tastes of despair". Tallis replies "Wait, does it really? How can ham taste of despair? Why would anyone eat it if it did?". The servant explains "That's what the importer said. They all talk like that" apparently. This dish is also mentioned in DA:I. After WEWH Dorian says "I hope you tried the ham they were serving, by the way. Tastes of despair. Fascinating". The cookbook lore blurb asserts that contrary to rumors and what the importers say, this ham does not, in fact, taste of despair. Also, see The Jade Ham (tumblr won't let me add it as a proper link: https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/The_Jade_Ham), as the cookbook lore blurb references this item and its description

Roasted Turkey with Sides: Roast turkey previously made an appearance in the DA tabletop. Lady Sennova hosts a gala/party in Orlais, which players infiltrate/attend and at which food and drink is served. "The Game is about appearances as much as it is about outright treachery, so a dead rat discovered in the roast turkey could serve as a crueler twist of the knife than an actual twisting of the knife". The cookbook lore blurb references the comic Knight Errant, which involves Sebastian's birthday dinner party

Sera's Yummy Corn (from "The Whole Nug" in World of Thedas)

Dwarven Plum Jam: in DA:O a Diamond Quarter noble dwarf says something like "I will die without my favorite plum jam from the surface!" The cookbook lore blurb references the fact that in Orzammar, jam from the surface, especially jams made from plums, are in especially high demand and cost exorbitant prices

Rice Pudding: in DA:I Krem mentions a time when he, Iron Bull and the Chargers defended a village from fifty bandits. Afterwards the villagers paid them for their services in bags of rice. He says that they made rice pudding after that. The cookbook lore blurb references this story of Krem's

(new text block because the previous text block hit a character limit hh)

Antivan Apple Grenade: the cookbook lore blurb references Antivan Fire Grenades (two), which spread sticky fire. maybe it's my brain conjuring up sticky toffee/toffee apples, but I wanna say that this dish would not only be hot but also sticky :)

Found Cake

Varric's Favorite Cinnamon Rolls: in DAII Sandal says that Orana smells of cinnamon rolls, which was interesting to me as DAII is the game where Varric is introduced and his first (and greatest) batch of cinnamon roll friends, the Kirkwall Crew, are featured in

Croissants: Calix and Vaea eat something which arguably look like croissants in the comic Dragon Age: Deception, in an inn in Tevinter.

Cherry Cupcakes: the cookbook lore blurb says these are served by servants on stilts at the Tevinter theature. in the comic Dragon Age: Magekiller, Marius is depicted serving an array of treats and snacks to a Tevinter elite at the Tevinter theatre while on stilts. some of the cupcakes on his tray bear somewhat of a resemblance to the cupcakes in this recipe.

Sugar Cake

Pickled Lamprey: the cookbook lore blurb is referencing the book Last Flight, where Norbert de la Haine and his unfortunate fondness for pickled lampreys is mentioned.

Lichen Ale

The Hissing Drake. the cookbook lore blurb mentions the Gilded Horn

Hot Chocolate: Iron Bull discusses his penchant for this drink with Varric. "How do you guys live without this stuff?" he says. Varric replies "I don't see what the deal is, honestly, but different tastes..." / "Now I just need some hot milk and some of those Orlesian guimauves to put in it" / "Hey, what you do with this 'cocoa' is up to you. I don't need to hear about it"

Antivan Sip-Sip

Dragon Piss, two

Rivaini Tea Blend: In Masked Empire Celene drinks a Rivaini blend of tea containing cinnamon, ginger and cloves, sweetened with honey. the cookbook lore blurb references Celene drinking Rivaini Tea Blend throughout the day to combat headaches, but this tea blend consists of peppermint, lemon verbena, oregano and licorice root. Rivaini tea also crops up here.

The Golden Nug, two

The Emerald Valley

Chasind Sack Mead

Characters mentioned or alluded to in the cookbook

Devon (new character, writer and narrator of the book), Merrill, Alistair, Sera, Varric, Solas, Cassandra, Fenris, Cullen, Sten, Iron Bull, Bull's Chargers, Krem, Nan (possibly, if she is Devon's mother), Norah (possibly, as the waitress at The Hanged Man), Zevran, Morrigan, the Hero of Ferelden, the Inquisitor, Josephine, Paragon Varen, Leliana, Schmooples, the Hero of Ferelden's mabari, Sebastian, Cole, Vivienne, Dorian, Anders, Loghain, Bethany, Hawke, the Couslands, Bodahn Feddic (possibly, as the Sugar Cake item in DA:O is sold by him and Devon narrates that they purchased one from a surface dwarf merchant who said that the Hero of Ferelden purchased some for their companions), Norbert de la Haine, Isabela, Celene, Briala, Gaspard

"Cookbook canon" (notes about the particular worldstate/universe that Devon wrote the cookbook in)

The cookbook was written at some point after the appointment of Divine Victoria, placing it at at least one month after the DA:I base game concludes (at least one month after the defeat of Corypheus). The narrator, Devon, has met and spoken to at least some of the companions & related prominent NPCs, including Varric and Krem. Devon visited Haven.

The HoF was a Cousland. The HoF caught Schmooples for Leliana. Loghain survived DA:O and DA:I, as he's referred to in the present-tense at the time the cookbook is written. Alistair is King of Ferelden. The HoF may have been a lady who romanced Alistair (if you argue that the inclusion of Alistair's love letter to the Warden & the necklace from this merch item as a prop in the photo for Rivaini Couscous Salad as indicator. interesting that the photo where this item is prominently displayed is for the Couscous of all things. back in the day I remember folks calling Cousland "Couscous" hhh).

Hawke was a warrior or rogue and Carver died in the prologue. Hawke was probably Diplomatic. Hawke did not romance Sebastian (in the cookbook he is Prince, and Sebastian reclaims his title as Prince by DA:I unless romanced, in which case he's the Chantry advisor in Starkhaven).

The "worst of [Cullen's] lyrium withdrawals" are mentioned so it could be that the Inquisitor advised Cullen to stop taking lyrium. Cassandra Pentaghast is the Divine. Celene is the Empress of Orlais - possibly ruling "alone" or possibly in the Celene-Gaspard-Briala "work together option", going by "Given how messy Orlesian politics are wont to be, with chevalier cousins vying for the throne and elven handmaids turned both spymaster and lover".

Also, this might be just me and my assumptions or reading of it, but of the companion characters referenced in the book (see section above, Characters mentioned or alluded to in the cookbook), such as Cole, Sera, Merrill, Fenris etc, I feel like it's safe to assume that in this worldstate they were all recruited by the relevant PCs are alive and well (including the Chargers).

Merch items & similar that appear as props or edits in photos

Alistair romance bundle (necklace and letter in Rivaini Couscous Salad. the necklace appears again in Goat Custard. the box can be seen in The Golden Nug)

Grey Warden pendant that shows the griffon heraldry (not sure if this is from the Gear Store or somewhere like Etsy. Grey Warden Pastry Pockets). this reappears in Sugar Cake

Solas Jawbone Necklace (Pickled Eggs. hhhh. unlike in Eggs à la Val Foret the blurb here doesn't mention Solas, but he's repped here anyway by the necklace hanging in the background hh)

Cullen's Lucky Coin (The Hanged Man's Mystery Meat Stew, Stuffed Vine Leaves, Antivan Sip-Sip)

In Nug Pancakes this red Inquisition banner with the handprint is in the background (seems to be from game files/in-game props). the red Inquisition banner appears again in Chasind Sack Mead

In Nug Bacon and Egg Pie, there is a nug in the background, presumably looking on in horror as their spouse has been transformed into a pie

In Turnip and Mutton Pie is a necklace that looks like the one Varric wears

Templar Banner (Roasted Turkey with Sides)

Inquisitor's iconic helmet replica (Roasted Turkey with Sides. hhh, this reminds me of the ones that are props in the queue area for the Dragon Age-not Dragon Age-ride)

In the background of Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler a nug is peeking out

Antivan Apple Grenade contains a map of Westeros hhh. You can see the Three Sisters, the Neck and the Bite

A physical version of this Thedas map appears at various points e.g. Chasind Sack Mead

DA:I advisors coin set (Tevinter Pumpkin Bread) - for some reason Tumblr won't allow me to add the link to this one as an actual link, but you can find it here: gear.bioware.com/en-eu/products/dragon-age-three-advisors-coin-set

A green orb that I would guess is meant to be reminiscent of the ones Solas has you use during Measuring the Veil (Tevinter Pumpkin Bread)

Inquisition symbol pendant (not sure if this is from the Gear Store or somewhere like Etsy)

(You can get 20% off in the BioWare Gear Store until November 6th using my latest discount code BWCUISINE. After that date check back here for a new code. alternatively, you can use my >tracking link<.)

Some random thoughts

Shoutout to the photo for Starkhaven Fish and Egg Pie. It looks a lot like the illustration in World of Thedas of this dish! you can see that they really took it into consideration when creating this dish/image.

I feel like you can also sense the inspiration in general vibe/feel in Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler from Dalish Deep Forest Comfort in WoT.

The black and gold theme colors of the cover remind me of when DA:D branding was black and gold.

Recipe pages I have posted that you can view in full: Spiced Jerky, Dalish Forest Fruit Cobbler, Hearth Cakes, Merrill's Blood Soup, Lentil Soup, Peasant Bread, Dragon Piss

Recipe and other pages that were already available to view in full from the official preview pages: intro page, intro page 2, intro page 3, Contents page 1, Contents page 2, intro page 4, Devon's letter, intro page 5, Starters & Refreshments section intro page, Eggs à la Val Foret, Fried Young Giant Spiders, Fereldan Hearty Scones, Nug Pancakes, Roasted Turkey with Sides, Varric's Favorite Cinnamon Rolls, Nevarran Blood Orange Salad recipe (pic), Stuffed Deep Mushrooms recipe (pic), Rivaini Couscous Salad recipe (pic), Crab Cakes from Kirkwall recipe (pic), Fluffy Mackerel Pudding recipe (pic), Snail & Watercress Salad recipe (pic), Cave Beetles

Source of the above information: Dragon Age The Official Cookbook - Tastes of Thedas

If you’re not able to get the book, and there’s a recipe or two in the Contents that you’d like to see/read, let me know and I’ll show you (❁´◡`❁)

Link to Part 2, in text form (pls copy-paste) as Tumblr won't let me add it as a normal link: https://felassan.tumblr.com/post/732826339350102016/dragon-age-the-official-cookbook-tastes-of

A post you may also be interested in: Food and drink lore compilation from Dragon Age: The Last Court

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

40 notes · View notes

fanfoolishness · 6 years ago

Text

the space between (Hawke x Varric)

(Written for @rosycheeked as part of the Hightown Funk Hawke x Varric challenge. They requested to see how Hawke and Varric’s relationship changes during the time between DA2 and DAI.)

***

After the Chantry, Kirkwall's changed in many ways. Despite the rubble in the streets and the chaos in the city, the greatest change for Varric is the absence of a single person.

***

For the first several weeks after the Chantry -- that was how people started referring to it, before and after the Chantry shattered -- Varric couldn’t get the smell out of his nose.

Kirkwall had never been a place known for its genteel bouquet, that was true. Too much the smell of docks and fish work, not to mention the particular sewer stink of chokedamp rising up from Darktown. Still, though, somehow it had all mixed together with the occasional clear breeze or blooming olive tree to come up with something that had always meant home to him.

Now the city stank of sela petrae and drakestone, of blood and mortar, of bodies rotting in the summer air before they could be burned. It didn’t matter if he stood in Hightown or on the narrow quays, he still got it, strong and thick: the smell of desperation.

Varric frowned, kicking aside a chunk of loose tile from some rich person’s estate. This building had survived just fine, aside from sandstone dust dirtying the windows. One quarter over, though, and Bartrand’s home had had its windows blown clear out. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to it.

He raised his head as he entered one of Hightown’s squares, his feet carrying him on this path through force of habit. Carefully, he allowed himself a look at the familiar red banners of the Hawke estate. Bodahn and Orana still kept the manor, and Sandal with them. There were no Hawkes in the Hawke estate, though. Not anymore.

Varric made sure Bodahn and Orana were paid just the same regardless; it was one of the few things they’d managed to talk about before she left. Funny. Fleeing for her life, and all she could do was think about other people.

He’d almost headed to Hawke’s the morning after, barely able to walk after the battle through the city, even with Anders’ healing. Who else would he talk about this shit with but Hawke? He’d gotten all the way through the Lowtown market and up the mezzanine terrace streets before he remembered that Hawke was gone.

His mouth thinned into a bitter line, his stomach twisting as he remembered. She’d been beautiful the day it happened, ever as always, raven hair plastered with sweat to her forehead beneath her red hood. The Champion of Kirkwall was bloodied, bruised, but she was alive, and that much was enough. He’d thought maybe they could get things back the way they used to be, with Meredith and Orsino gone, the fight finished. Stupid of him, honestly.

They’d been sitting on broken stones, weakly laughing in exhaustion and catching their breath, when they saw her. The Chantry messenger had cut a pitiful figure, pale with big eyes and her hands trembling on the decree. The way she spoke Hawke’s name had jangled in the looming silence of the gallows.

“We’ll run,” said Hawke, voice ragged.

“We?” Varric had asked.

“Anders can’t stay either, not after this.” Blondie’s face was pallid, looking more dead than alive, his eyes shuttered. Hawke shot him a desperate look, then turned to Varric. “But you -- you’ll be fine, Varric, and Kirkwall will need you and Aveline --”

Varric shook his head, willing himself to come out of his reverie. He didn’t want to think of what had come next. How Varric had nearly begged Hawke to stay, tears in his eyes, in hers. Varric didn’t want to remember the feeling of his arms around her, nor the way it felt when she shakily pulled away.

He shoved his hands in his pockets and hurried through Hightown, careful to keep his head down as he passed Hawke’s empty estate. No sense winding himself up to miss her even more than usual.

Varric swallowed, wrinkling his nose. Powdered drakestone again, the scent biting and mineral. He wove through piles of rubble, brushing shoulders with Lowtown workers struggling to clear the ash-cloaked avenue, and made his way onwards. Aveline wanted to talk, and with Hawke and Anders gone, and Fenris hunting slavers, and Isabela seeking a new ship, company was in short supply. Without Hawke, who were they to each other?

He climbed the stairs to the Viscount’s Way, trying to find something positive about the situation.

He cracked a grin he didn’t feel. At least the air in the guards’ quarters would smell a little cleaner.

***

Hawke sat in a grimy inn in Hercinia, resolutely stirring her spoon through a weak soup of seaweed, a few bay shrimp, and not much else. It wasn’t much of a breakfast, but it was the only thing the small inn had on offer. She dropped her small hard roll into the soup and spooned the thin broth over it, then took a bite of squishy bread and broth. It was something, at least.

She missed Orana’s pleasant “Good morning” and the Tevene-style pastries she would bake specially once a week, rich with spicy cinnamon. She missed her own chair and table, and not this rickety table seating ten surly fisherfolk. She missed her hard-won home. She missed Kirkwall.

A fisherwoman with broad shoulders bumped into her as she sat down, and Hawke’s soup bowl jittered, spilling lukewarm broth onto the wooden table. “D’you think adding wood to it would improve the flavor?” Hawke asked.

The woman looked at her in staid disbelief, blinking slowly. “What?”

Hawke swallowed, abashed, and returned to her rickety bowl. “Never mind,” she muttered, quietly enough that the woman didn’t hear. “I take it folk here aren’t morning people.”

For a moment she smiled despite herself, Varric coming to mind. Of all her friends, he was the one who was most decidedly not a morning person. Memories of him emerging blearily from a tent on the Wounded Coast, hair wildly mussed, cursing a blue storm, made her stifle a chuckle. How she missed him!

She indulged herself, imaging him beside her, making snide comments about the shitty breakfast and the crap decor and how it felt like he was right at home in the Hanged Man. If only things had been different. Maker’s breath, it’d be good to have him here….

But she looked around the inn, and saw the chairs were all the same height, far too low for a dwarf to sit in and still see above the table. Hercinia was almost entirely a human town, no alienage to speak of and few merchant dwarves, and Hawke frowned into her bowl of soup. If Varric tried to join her on the long wooden bench, the table would hit at his nose height, which struck her as unfair and demeaning. It wasn’t a good place for a dwarf.

It wasn’t a good place for her, either, if she was honest, but what would be the point of thinking like that?

Hawke brushed at her eyes, wiping them with the pad of her thumb. She wished she could write home, let the others know she was all right, but not yet. Not until she left the Marches. Antiva, maybe, or Rivain; they might be better places for a fugitive.

Her eyes stung, and she wiped at them again. “I don’t even like shrimp,” she said to nobody in particular.

The fisherwoman turned to her, weather-chapped face wrinkled in confusion. “Well, you don’t have to eat them,” she said.

“I --” Hawke blinked up at the taller woman, frowning. “Well, I know that,” she said resignedly. She looked back down at her soup, and stabbed her sodden roll until it disintegrated, bits of soaked bread floating in the thin oily broth and bumping into small overdone shrimp. She lifted the bowl to her mouth and slurped down the whole sorry thing, feeling sick.

She’d never thought she would miss the Hanged Man’s creamy fish chowder. She tried to smile at the ludicrousness of the thought, and made a mental note to tell Varric the next time she saw him.

There will be a next time, she told herself sternly. There has to be.

The alternative could go fuck itself.

***

Varric settled in to his desk, a mug of ale at his elbow and pen and ink at hand. He sighed, rubbing his chin, exhausted from the day’s efforts.

Kirkwall was slowly, slowly coming out of its fugue. No one had heard from Hawke or Anders since it happened, and the Chantry messengers had slowly disappeared, empty-handed. The city began to recover in their absence.

Hard work helped, but coin seemed to help more for what it could do: namely, inspire said hard work. Kirkwallers were a practical people, and everything had its price, even the things that would benefit them all. The city had its own funds, but more and more often, Varric found himself dipping into his accounts to renovate properties here, pay workers bonuses there. He tried to tell himself it was simply good business sense, but he suspected that if he looked closely enough, he might find something almost like civic pride lurking deep within him, and that was entirely too disconcerting a concept to handle.

So he let Aveline boss him around when it made sense (and argued for days when it didn’t), and he helped Merrill help the elves in the alienage, and he paid out for things that helped people. Everyone needed a hobby, right?

Writing’s supposed to be your hobby, he reminded himself. He took a drink of ale, grimacing.

He blinked at the stack of sealed letters piled up before him. He’d been so busy the past few weeks he’d barely been keeping up on his correspondence. The only things he’d been writing down were additions to the notes he’d kept over the past several years, memories sleek and stylized. There was a story there, in Hawke’s easy grin, her pale blue eyes, her whirling blades. All he had to do was shift things, embellish, lead the narrative on the path it was meant to follow. Maybe it’d get published yet.

Varric kept some parts of Hawke’s story to himself, though. There were things that would never make a final draft. How her eyes sparkled after a wicked joke. The scent of the perfume she wore sometimes around town, a buttery vanilla that cut through the Kirkwall fug. The way she cried on his shoulder after her mother died. How badly he missed her.

Little things like that.

Varric nudged away the sheaths of parchment holding Hawke’s tale, taking a deep breath. No, he really needed to get to his letters. The last time he ignored more than a few missives from the Merchant’s Guild, he’d woken up to friendly steel at his neck, and he was getting too old for that shit.

As he suspected, the first few letters were from the Guild. He jotted off quick replies to each query, heartened by the rapid progress he was making. He paused, though, on a thin letter in grey vellum. He recognized the seal -- the false seal. It looked official, but belonged to no known House when subjected to close examination.

Bianca.

He touched the seal with his fingertips, tracing its familiar pattern. He hadn’t read the last few letters from her. Kept them, just in case, but hadn’t read them.

He’d written her, months and months ago now -- it felt a lifetime -- that he couldn’t be there any longer. Not the way she needed him, not the way she wanted him. Hard to carry on with all that cloak-and-dagger when you were in love with somebody else.

He took another drink of ale. Of course, he’d failed to mention to Bianca that Hawke had no idea about said feelings. A small detail, that, and one he’d resigned himself to. It was fine. He was fine.

At least, he was fine before the Chantry.

He pushed aside Bianca’s letter, and moved onto the next. Three more letters from the Guild, three more tidy replies. He was pleased to be getting through them so quickly.

Varric hesitated on a particularly thick letter of yellow parchment. He didn’t recognize the seal, nor the penmanship. He wafted up the scent of the letter in case of concealed poison, but didn’t catch any bitter tang that would have indicated a problem. Curiously he cracked the seal.

Dear Varric, it’s me, your favorite human. (Hawke, obviously.) Sorry for the disguised handwriting on the address. Did I fool you? It was rather fun trying to falsify my handwriting. I’m sure I’ll do better at it next time. I’ve missed you so, did you realize--

Varric laughed out loud, a laugh that grew jagged at the end, a little too close to a different emotion. He clapped his hand over his mouth, grinning at the letter and blinking rapidly. “Shit, Hawke,” he said to the empty room. “It’s good to see you.”

He settled down to read over her letter, exhaustion and ale and Guild business forgotten, and imagined her there beside him. The space between them, the countless leagues and unvoiced hurts, suddenly shrank to the small distance between his eyes and her words.

That? He could work with that.

#hawke x varric #varric x hawke #dragon age 2 #dragon age: inquisition #hightown funk

62 notes · View notes