#miladydewintcr

[lottiesnotebook]

For the Rook storytime prompts-- have you done #17 yet? (Also I hope you feel better soon!! 💕)

Thank you so much for the prompt! It has predictably cheered me up enough to stop feeling sorry for myself and write again (and also to do some very cursory research because Cara's main hobby is not something I've ever done!)

From Rook Storytime Prompts (previously 6, 15, 18) - Rook teaching someone else a skill (inspired by this) (I haven't written Lucanis before, so wish me luck! Also this turned out mildly angstier than I'd planned but that is what happens every time.)

"Come on, don't you trust me?" Cara gazed up at Lucanis with pleading amber eyes, which was an interesting perspective from which to see her, given that she usually towered at least a head above him. Now, however, she stood on the deck of a fragile-looking skiff, and he stood on the pier, which had seemed the strategically safer position until she'd turned that gaze upon him.

Mierda, but she was impossible to refuse when she looked at him (or anyone else) like that, and unfortunately, she knew it.

"It is not you I distrust, querida, so much as the vessel you have chosen."

The waves off the coast of Rivain caused the deck to heave and tilt with every movement, for all Cara's claims that it was 'perfect weather for sailing'.

It had been perfect weather the last time too, when the Venatori had brought his ship down and dragged him into their vaulted halls beneath the waves.

"The Justice?" She raised a brow. "She's solid, I promise you. Way less flimsy than those gondolas you Trevisons love so much."

"Gondolas are fit for their purpose, and a canal is not an ocean."

"Neither is the Rialto Bay." She took his hand in hers, running her thumb across his knuckles in a way that should not make a trained assassin blush. "Come on, darling, I thought you wanted to see me sail."

He had said that, he recalled, in the warm embrace of the Lighthouse's kitchen, Cara looking down at him with the firelight caught in her eyes, her restless, reckless energy for once dissipated and content to sit at his side. She'd been talking, soft and dreamy, about how she'd learned to sail as a girl, and it had captured some romantic part of his imagination - the salt sea-wind caught in her dark hair, her strong arms winding ropes and hauling sails, Cara in her element as she so seldom seemed in these uncertain, desperate times.

He had not, in the moment, drawn a line between her love of the sea and his own most recent sea voyage, a line his mind was drawing all too clearly now. How easy it would be for an enemy mage to snatch up such a vessel in an unfavourable wind or crush it with some great wave. Bad enough to risk himself in such a way, but Rook?

No! Spite snapped, from over his shoulder. Nobody takes our Rook! No sea, no god, no Venatori!

His hand twitched with Spite's desire to seize her wrist and haul her back onto solid ground.

"I did. I do," he corrected. There were few situations in which he would not want to see whatever Cara Hawke-Laidir had to show him. "Just... perhaps from a more steady vantage point than the deck will allow."

Her eyes glittered with mischief, "You're not scared, are you?"

"Never scared!" Spite retorted, through his mouth, and threw them both aboard before Lucanis could stop them. The deck, predictably, pitched and rolled beneath their feet, and Lucanis, ill-prepared for the leap Spite had thrown them into, would have stumbled if not for her grip on his hand.

"Of course you're not," she retorted, with an eyeroll, pressing a careless kiss to their cheek, and a second for Lucanis, with scrupulous fairness, then, with rare softness: "but it's alright if you are. The sea is a harsh and unstabbable mistress, even to those of us who didn't spend a few years beneath her waves."

He swallowed, feeling suddenly exposed beneath her honey-bright gaze. "I am not- such a thing is unbefitting a Crow."

"Of course," she agreed, lightly, "but if a- if anyone happened to be a little scared, I wouldn't force them aboard. Unless they were into that," she added, with a malicious grin that made Spite cheer and Lucanis flustered. "I just- thought it might help. You'll probably have to travel by ship again eventually, and this way you'll be- safe. You know I wouldn't let anything happen to you, right?"

"I know." He had little faith in anything these days, but for the girl with golden eyes who'd dragged him from the Ossuary and told him he was still alive. He forced a smile, tried to match her bright, teasing tone: "But what if my fear is for you? I've seen enough of you in Treviso to know you cannot swim."

She batted her eyelashes at him. "Then it's just as well you're here to rescue me, right?"

"Always."

She grinned at him. "So, we'll start with the raising the sail..."

She was as lovely as he'd imagined with the sea wind in her hair and the sun gilding her skin, and the taste of salt on her lips was almost enough to make him forget the horrors the ocean held in her depths.

[adainesjacket]

Hi!!! For the Rook questions-- 3 & 13?

3. How long does it take for them to officially get together? Did any of the other Lighthouse members have any suspicions beforehand?

Rafe is down bad from the get go and kind of thinks they're dating before they officially are, having grown up in the Circle where you can't do PDA anyway and everything kind of relies on vibes and secret midnight trysts. They don't have time for trysts and it's never midnight in the Fade, but the vibes are fully there, so he assumes that's fine and acts accordingly. No-one is suspicious, for this reason. Davrin doesn't know they're dating until they actually start dating, (after Weisshaupt). Because he's normal. Everyone in the lighthouse is quietly relieved that he's 'finally' making a fuss of his boyfriend in public.

Mora and Emmrich take a little longer because of Emmrich's classic paranoia, but it's official from the start. Mora doesn't have time for maybes. Emmrich likes to court people properly, and a public declaration of intention is all part of that. Also, Manfred spills the beans to absolutely everyone he meets.

13. What song(s) do you associate with them?

I love assigning songs! I love playlists! Here's a few:

For Rafe/Davrin:

'c'mon baby, cry' (orville peck) / 'acolyte' (slaughter beach, dog) / 'papa was a rodeo' (the magnetic fields)

For Mora/Emmrich:

'down bad' (taylor swift) / 'francesca' (hozier) / 'on board' (alana henderson, joshua burnside)

[dadrunkwriting]

DWC Europe: Head count

Tagged Writers,

Please reply to or reblog this post (with a message, not just tags) by 5pm UK Time if you would like to participate tonight! 

Writing will ONLY be reblogged if posted after 5pm UK Time on Fridays!!

Friendly DWC admins: We have an FAQ here, you can also contact any of us with any questions. The admin for Team Europe tonight is @pinkfadespirit / @highwayphantoms

Changing blog name: If your blog name has changed, please message an admin so we can tag you correctly.

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Joining DWC: If you want to join DWC, please contact any admin. We are here to help. Anyone can join DWC. There are zero barriers to entry. If you have more questions, you can also check out our FAQ!

Discord writer chat: DA Drunk Writing chat is on Discord! If you are a DWC writer (active or inactive) and would like to join our chat, please just let one of the admins know, and we will send you a link.

Thank you! <3

@barbex

@pinkfadespirit

@hollyand-writes

@lesetoilesfous

@monsterthalia

@rusted-pipe-of-wisdom

@vonuberwald

@antivancastle

@dismalzelenka

@celemee

@cathyfowl

@spicywarl0ck

@doomhippie

@cuillere

@emilesmuseassembly  

@silvanils

@breninarthur

@liza011 

@only-slightly-terrified

@perlen-gold

@streganicha

@blarrghe

@teine-mallaichte

@kirkwallguy

@lasatfat

@lyntergalactic

@lordgoretash

@miladydewintcr

@vigilskept

@heylavellan

@lottiesnotebook

@adainesjacket

@rookgallustroublesomehousehimbo

[lasatfat]

First line challenge.

Rules: post the first line of your wip, the first line you worked on today, or any other “first line!”

I was tagged by @ruiningsalads. Nothing exciting, just a prompt fill for DADWC.

It’s official: the Fallow Mire is the worst place Kali has ever been to, perhaps even including Future Redcliffe.

Tagging the usual suspects, @cryptidglitter and @findswoman. I think @carnalapples got tagged already? But just in case. And let's add @heylavellan and @miladydewintcr for variety. As always, anyone else who is interested in participating can consider this a tag from me as well.

[heylavellan]

2024 writing round up

saw @inquisimer doing this, so thought i'd jump in as well. i like stats (i study it!) so i thought it would be fun to see what i did this year, especially since i picked up writing again about in august! if you feel comfortable sharing your stats, feel free to jump in. thought i'd also tag a few people (lemme know if you wanna be untagged!!): @lasatfat, @miladydewintcr, @shouldaspunastory, and @rookfeathers

words published: 47,643

additional words written: 45,616

total words: 93,259

fandoms: oops all dragon age!! mostly inquisition, veilguard, and origins, but there was a smattering of awakening and the books (aka various authors)

highest kudos: this actually surprised me! it's a tie at 39 for both of my viperquin/tashur fics! My Personal Andraste and Business as Usual. Very thankful to the Viperquin brainrot community on Tumblr for being so supportive!! ;u;

highest hit oneshot: also Business as Usual! my rookanis fic, sous chef was a close second by 10 hits.

new things I tried: mostly getting into fic writing again! i started up in august after a two year hiatus from fan writing in general. i published my first smut, took part in gift exchanges, and tried an epistolary.

fic I spent the most time on: Two of Your Finest Vints for @dapolyshipping. two and a half months trying to figure out how dorikrembull worked in a way that felt genuine. it's established qpr krem bullee figuring out that they both want dorian. krem falls in love and bull slots in just right :')

favorite thing I wrote: it's really silly, but Pigeon Proofing. writing with shale's voice is so fucking fun, and the prompt i got for this one had me shitting myself with laughter. also, wynne and shale have a delightful friendship.

honourable mention to frocks, frills, and thrills, a fun 4+1 things fic written as a part of @black-emporium-exchange. i had fun researching the dresses and avoiding writing my masters thesis. also is the reason that LettersandCoffee and i have been designated to be friends by the universe!

favorite thing(s) I read: so so many! here's a selection below:

Wingin It by @lioncubofboone. Dorian/Cullen/Krem. Krem plays wingman for Dorian/Cullen but misses the fact that he is sorely in love with them :')

All Hail West Thedas by @blarrghe. Dorian/Adaar/Bull. When I say you need to consider gay cowboys, you need to consider gay cowboys!!

Excised by jtph. Couldn't find their tumblr, so I've linked their YouTube. Dorian/Anders, past!Handers, FenHawke. Modern AU where Anders is a brain trauma patient at the hospital Dorian works at and they spend more and more time together.

If You Want by romanticiding. Couldn't find socials. Alistair/m!Cousland. Bros help each other come, right?

Teagan's Chance by @cherieofthedragons. Teagan/f!Cousland. Meriana never wanted anyone during the Fifth Blight, but she wants Teagan :')

writing goals for 2025: finish "As the World Falls Down," a post DA:O zevwarden fic where alistair made the final sacrifice. publish at least one work per month. and do another gift exchange! they're fun

new works: 27

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highest hit oneshot:

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fic I spent the least time on:

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favorite thing(s) I read:

writing goals for 2025:

new works:

[thorinoakenbutt]

I was tagged by @miladydewintcr to make some OCs in this cute lil picrew here! Tysm!! I loved seeing your DA OCs as well!!

So in my main world state, I have:

Risa Aeducan - the cutest little berserker to ever get banished from Orzammar. She's duty-driven and pragmatic but ultimately tries to do what's 'right' - though what is right is sometimes subjective.

Catelyn Hawke - She's such a mess. Chaotic bisexual archetype to a T and matches both Anders and Justice's freak.

Gwydion 'Revas' Lavellan - Doomed by the narrative™️ and reluctant shem-liker extraordinaire. He'd like to retire but plot and his sense of duty say no.

Also have a bonus Caspar Ingellvar since I'm finally beginning to nail down what I'd like him to look like!

I'll tag @nicolajpg, @drowninyoursorrowandfears, @grandpasauce, and @zenruu though no pressure!!

[midmorninggrey]

Tagged by @saladruiner and then @dungeons-and-dragon-age to make some OCs in this Picrew. Thanks!!

Featuring Gillian Hawke, Celeste Trevelyan (post-DAI), Warden Antonia, and Arden Trevelyan.

Tagging (with absolutely zero pressure) @carnalapples @theaceofdragons @contreparry @miladydewintcr and anyone else who might want to play dress-up with their OCs!

Self-Indulgent OC Trivia under the cut

Gill would love Picrews, ok? She doted on her dolls when she was little. As a teenager, she claimed she'd given them all away, but she really kept them hidden beneath her bed, and some nights she would take them out and play with them again. Then one day Carver found them and cut off all their hair. Gill never forgave him.

She also fought the Arishok one-on-one in her stocking feet. This is because she had to shuck off her high heeled boots right before the duel (Gill has never loved a practical shoe.)

Celeste is a picky eater. Cheese sandwiches and pumpkin pie (just the custard not the crust!!) are her main food groups.

During her time as the Herald, Cece had a bit of a crush on Krem. She's still a little embarrassed about it 10 years later.

Toni had not one, but two Mabari tattoos. (And yeah, she could make them both bark.)

Toni was also a pretty good seamstress. She had a pair of patchwork pants that she originally made when she was twelve and just kept mending and altering over the years. Arden was convinced they were held together by magic.

Because of Cece's taste for cheese sandwiches, Arden has learned to fry up a good one (even though he doesn't eat dairy himself.) They may have become a bit of a cult classic among the Inner Circle.

On a sentimental (and possibly drunken) whim, I think Dorian gave Arden a pair of turquoise earrings. He was appalled when Arden actually wore them and he couldn't convince him to switch to emeralds.

I also made Loran and Mags because I have no self control but I'm hiding them down here

[wildxtreasures]

WIP Folder Game

I was tagged by @miladydewintcr - this is a mess sorry!

rules: make a new post will the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

my fics are not all in the same place and there are some various dragon age, mass effect, a bridgerton (which i will never do lol), and a couple of hunger games on here. and some are oooolllldddddd.

Rook's Personal Mission

Treviso Market

Letters Between Lovers (Awakenings)

Long fic - Isola & Davrin

Blackwall left, Vi'era has feelings

Blackwall & Vi'era - the Emerald Graves

Alistair & Avenia (started- have not finished it yet)

bridgerton fanfiction?

*for love is the sun on your face

no, i am not afraid to disappear (started- planned for 3 chapters, unclear when i will continue lol)

shepard kidnapped

spy thriller

Cross the Sky For You (started- have not finished it yet, will i ever?)

Serenity becomes Shepard

Serenity gets her first Omni-Tool

Garrus & Shep learn about flowers

When baby Shep finds out she has biotic powers

Kaidan & Shep sads

Garrus finds The letters

Vega & Kasumi

ARIA & NYREEN BABY

I'm going to tag whoever is interested! I would love some other fic friends here on tumblr if anyone wants to chat <3

[ruiningsalads]

WIP folder tag game

I got tagged by @heylavellan and BOY is this gonna be interesting! I haven't looked at some of these things in literal years.

rules: make a new post will the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Alistair

All Protags

CP2077

depressing short story

Dream Story

Elfordshire

Ghost

Howe Cousland

Isaac

Madame Evie

MMO Story

Modern Story

Orc Story

Semeru

Time Travel

Vampire Trash

I don't know who all has done this...soooo @midmorninggrey @seigephoenix @rosella-writes @lasatfat @skinwalkingxana @miladydewintcr @carnalapples

feel free to partake or disregard :)

[teine-mallaichte]

I was tagged by @miladydewintcr and @perlen-gold so I best get on with it 🤣

rules: make a new post will the names of all the files in your WIP folder, regardless of how non-descriptive or ridiculous and tag as many people as you have WIPs. People send an ask with the title that most intrigues them, then you post a snippet or tell them something about it!

Oh I have so many WIPs... Ok let's go a fandom at a time:

One Peice:

Attachment types

It's not gay if it's at sea

We are all constructs of society

Dragon Age

Breaking Chains

We are more than how the world sees us

Permission to be free

Adrian in the fade

Crimson Gale

Fallout

Ghoul diary

Original characters/worlds (these are set in my Complex 27 universe)

C Block adventures

First Kill

On The Run - full version

Tagging: eugh I always feel so awkward tagging people 😅 so no pressure I'm sort of if tagging at random here... and if you see this and want to join just imagine I tagged you.

@desired-misery @vivispec @snakewrites-and-ink @kiastirling-fanfic

[lottiesnotebook]

Hi!!! For the Rook & partner questions--- 1 & 17?

Hi!! <3 These are fun questions to answer about Cara and Lucanis, so I'm going to stick with them for now despite not being very far into their romance at all.

Does your Rook fall for their partner at first sight? If not, what moment made your Rook realize they're in love with them?

Cara absolutely does not fall in love at first sight in the Ossuary, though she does think the wings are hot - she's got too much on her plate and also too many issues with romance thanks to her parents' city-destroying love. I feel like it hits her pretty late in the game when she has to think about what's going to happen if they stop the gods and she realises that she doesn't want to give up drinking hot chocolate at midnight and seeing him first thing every morning.

(And then she lies face down on her Mage Fainting Couch for 2 hours because she only meant to give him and Spite marriage counselling and this is Not how that was meant to go.)

17. What is your Rook's favorite thing about their partner? What is the partner's favorite thing about Rook?

I think that Cara is her mother's daughter (her mother being an Justice/Anders-romancing Rhiannon Hawke) in that the things she finds most endearing about Lucanis are the things that draw him and Spite the closest together - his determination, his refusal to give up under impossible circumstances, his resilience, even if he sees those things as the reasons he became an abomination. She admires them both because she genuinely thinks that he should appreciate them rather than seeing them as flaws, and because they are strengths she really comes to rely on - as a Horrible Nepo Baby, she doesn't necessarily have a massive inner well of self-motivated determination and resilience, but she does have a lot of spite in her own heart and she is making productive use of it. Also, they are both a little bit inhuman, and she's drawn to that.

As for what Lucanis appreciates about Cara, who is generally Horrible... I think he falls in love first with the fact that she leaves a door open for him as an abomination without even questioning it, even if he finds her blase attitude to Spite a little alarming. She has both hope and experiential evidence that his life can still be worth living, and that gives him enough leeway to keep going long enough to believe in himself.

I also think she was the first person to actually smile at him immediately after the Ossuary, and he can never quite forget that.

[lottiesnotebook]

Hi!!!! Happy Friday <3 I'm going to be a little bit evil this week and suggest "you’re a weapon, and weapons don’t weep." for Rheyah?

A LITTLE bit evil? What did my sweet baby Rheyah ever do to deserve this? Jk this is just her Standard Inquisition Experience,and you could not have picked a more Rheyah quote to kick it off...

Rheyah Adaar & the Valo-Kas, character study, angst

@dadrunkwriting

my bloody sword to swing

Rheyah Adaar is barely twenty years old at the Divine Conclave, the oldest of her siblings, the first to follow in her parents' footsteps, the only mage of the Valo Kas. She is barely twenty years old when she wakes in a prison cell, the sole survivor of the explosion that killed half her family and, incidentally, Divine Justinia V. The latter seems almost an afterthought to her, compared to the black hole of loss that obscures everything else, and when the human women threaten her, she can only stare at them blankly, mutely, crushed by the enormity of her loss. It is as if the sun has gone out, and they are accusing her of trampling their flowers. She has no words for this, in Qunlat or in Trade Tongue, so she says nothing. It feels like the perfect nightmare, like every nightmare she has ever had rolled into one. Her family is gone. Her family is gone, and she is in chains, in a prison cell, and soon the Arvaarad will come and-

The Arvaarad do not come, even the bas' more merciful equivalent - Templars, she reminds herself, Templars, they are called. Her lips are not sewn shut, at least, not in the most literal sense. There are other, subtler ways to silence her. Even when she wakes in Haven, when the people bow to her and call her Lady, call her Herald, she knows exactly the distance between her pedestal and her prison cell. It is not a long drop, but the fall will kill her eventually nonetheless. She cannot afford the tumble.

She does her best to be what they see in her - the smiling, tragic painted saint, the image of the woman captured in stained glass in the Chantry. She knew nothing of Andraste before she woke in Haven, but she must be her quickest study, her most ardent convert. It is all very well to say no, not I, the Prophet would not choose one so ill-suited - that is the kind of thing they want to hear from her, the words that paint her as a naive girl plucked from the snow with a power she does not understand. They do not like to be reminded of her differences, these bas - her towering height, her strength, the magic that flares to life from her fingers. They are in awe of her, but she cannot afford to frighten them.

Perhaps, if she were human, if she were one of the finely-dressed 'nobles' Josephine speaks of, she could afford to be weak as well as innocent, to be fragile and delicate and in need of protecting. A human girl could afford to lean more heavily on her advisors, to show confusion or fear or the aching, bitter loneliness that has dogged her steps since she lost her Kith. A Qunari, though, or a woman they call Qunari, at least? An ox-woman is the furthest thing from fragile these people can imagine, and so they are content to heap burden after burden onto her shaking shoulders, and know that she will not crumble.

She cannot afford to crumble, is the thing. A weak mage, an emotional mage, is an open door to every terrible thing that the Fade holds, and whether or not she'd give in is irrelevant - the power they've given her is too precarious to place in the hands of someone they suspect will cave in to possession. She cannot tell them I am tired, I am grieving, I am afraid, because they will hear I am weak, I am desperate, I am a danger you cannot afford, in a world so full of danger already.

She thinks of running - more than once, she thinks of running - but where would she go? Home is the remains of the Valo-Kas, across the Amaranthine in a land where the sun still shines and her younger siblings play in the courtyard of an old fort beneath an orange tree. Home is a thousand miles away, and wherever she goes, they will know her, and call her Herald or heretic or murderer, and when she gets there… If she knows anything about the bas at all, they will not be content to let their prophet slip from their hands. They will come for her, to kill her or to use her, and either way, it will endanger her family and the fragile home they've built, and she cannot allow that. She cannot, after she's lost so many of them.

So instead, she waits, and paints a smile on her lips until it freezes there, and buries Rheyah beneath Herald and Inquisitor and Adaar. She is the shield between the world and the Valo-Kas, the sword the Inquisition wields against Corypheus. She is Adaar, fire-hearted, fire-thrower. There is no space for Rheyah, for light through clouds, for Kith-warmth and hope in darkness in the woman they have made of her. She is a weapon, now, and weapons do not weep.

[lottiesnotebook]

2024 Writing Roundup!

So in retrospect this is a WILD thing to post on NYE, but thank you to @miladydewintcr for tagging me by proxy! I can't take full credit for a lot of these words, as I cowrite all my Dragon Age fic with @adainesjacket, so this is kind of a collective wordcount for both of us...

words posted: 75,300

additional words written: 228,259 (Mostly on The Kick Inside, which is now 135,000 words long and STILL NOT DONE DX)

grand total of words: 303,559

fandoms: Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dimension 20 (A Court of Fae and Flowers), Grishaverse (so actually my most varied year in terms of fandom so far!)

highest kudos: what stays and what fades away, with an unbelievable 363 kudos??? I still can't believe that my little Grishaverse fic I intended to be 3 chapters long ended up being my most-read fic ever. I technically started this last year, but due to Life Happening, I didn't get round to finishing it until April this year.

Anyway, I'm really proud of this particular canon rewrite of the Shadow and Bone trilogy focussing on childhood friends Genya and Nikolai, and I'm crossing my fingers that this year, I'll get the Wedding Sequel finished and posted to celebrate it as it deserves...

highest hit oneshot: I have not really gone in for oneshots this year, so the season of possible miracles wins this category by default with 206 hits - my Dimension 20 Exchange gift for @justiceforprincecorrick. It ended up running a little later than I wanted it to, but I reread it as preparation for this year's exchange, and I think it holds up as a cute, winter-themed Cinderella AU for Binx and Andhera from Dimension 20's A Court of Fae and Flowers.

new things I tried: Dragon Age fic, writing outlines, and writing fight (and smut) scenes that should be posted in the new year!

fic I spent the most time on: The Kick Inside, or my Dragon Age Origins Rapunzel AU, as it was originally titled in my heart, has been a labour of love since August, and I've finally started posting it weekly. Please give it a read if you enjoy Dragon Age at all - it's an alternate universe where a pregnant Warden recruit provides Morrigan with an alternative to the Dark Ritual, and the ripples this causes in the world.

fic I spent the least time on: merry solstice (please don't call), cowritten with my beautiful wife @adainesjacket, at least proportionally - the Dragon Age 2 Justice/Anders/Hawke Christmas RomCom AU that nobody asked for but people have been very kind about! We wrote this in a single month and it came out so perfect that I just want to write it all over again.

favorite thing I wrote: The Kick Inside is still my beautiful, terrible baby and I am actively afraid of not finishing it because it's been eating my brain for five months.

favorite thing(s) I read:

Top of the list has got to be the His Delicious Materials series by @elodieunderglass, the best Dungeon Meshi/Delicious in Dungeon fics and possibly the best fics I've ever read. I squeak audibly whenever they update, and read them aloud whenever given the opportunity. The narrative voices range from Tamsyn Muir (Nona the Ninth) to Terry Pratchett, and they are truly a joy to read if you enjoy fantasy worldbuilding, Daemon AUs, or simply to feel Joy and Hope in this Cruel, Dark World.

I've also really enjoyed Something Lonesome and Wild, by passing_lives, a BG3 fic my wife recommended when I started writing The Kick Inside that's provided a key inspiration in terms of the hazards of Adventuring While Pregnant. This is an Astarion/Gale fic and it managed to charm me despite not particularly vibing with either of the boys when I started playing, so now, in my heart, this fic is happening in the background of my playthrough while my disaster of a Dark Urge commits atrocities. Beautifully written and incredibly compelling, give it a look!

Finally, in terms of Dragon Age fic, I haven't played Veilguard so I have to be careful about what I read, but I've been slowly making my way through:

Will-O'-The-Wisp, by lovenug, an Emmrich/Rook fic from Mannfred's perspective (perfect, as I love a non-human narrator)

where the heart is by ghostbunny and PhantomsLost, a truly delightful Hawke/Anders Stardew Valley AU, which I did not realise I needed until I started reading it this Christmas

writing goals for 2025: Finishing The Kick Inside! Also, ideally, finishing that Ketterdam Wedding Sequel and Daughter Phoenix Rise (a Dragon Age 2/Inquisition take I don't think anyone has done before...)

new works: Just the four listed here, plus a few snippets that are going up in the new year... :3

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[lottiesnotebook]

Hi!!! It's so nice to see you over here, happy Friday!!! 💕 For Rhiannon (my beloved), maybe The Star tarot card prompts?

@miladydewintcr, as my favourite commenter, you get the first fic of my 30th birthday! if anyone ever deserved a break, it's Ms Rhiannon Hawke, so here's a little canon snippet of respite for her:

@dadrunkwriting

the star: renewal, hope, rest; “I feel at peace.” possible AUs/settings/ideas: star-gazing, lazy days, cuddling, spirit au

Justice/Hawke/(Anders but he's asleep), fluff

don't you dream impossible dreams?

Their consciousnesses do not follow a regular cycle of sleeping and waking, but Justice finds himself floating to the surface of their body most often when Anders is in repose. This is less frequent than his body requires, and more frequent than either of them would prefer - Kirkwall is not a place where justice is frequently served, and too often, it feels like the very walls scream his name, demand his presence, his action. It is hard to permit their body to sleep, even knowing its necessity, even knowing the harm it will cause Anders in the long run, when they both know that there are people out there who do not rest as they do, in a soft featherbed, with a beautiful woman twined around them. It is paradoxical that they both feel less guilt sleeping on the thin, narrow cot at the clinic, where the clattering at night might be rats or thieves, than they feel in Rhiannon Hawke's bed, and yet, it is so - it seems unjust that such comfort, such luxury, should be reserved for them alone, but neither of them are quite willing to share the one selfish choice they've made in seven years with anyone but each other.

Tonight, though, when Justice wakes, she is not where she ought to be, a shadow curled into their arms, or wrapped around them like some kind of diminuitive dragon around her hoard of lovers. Her pillow is warm, still imprinted with the dent of her head, and there is no sign of violence in the room, but she is not present, though her scent lingers within the closed curtains of the bed. He knows he should ignore her absence, close his eyes and try to allow their exhausted body some much-needed respite, but her bed is not near so soft or so warm without her as it becomes in her presence, and besides… Justice shares a body, a mind, a purpose with Anders, but he and Rhiannon are joined only by thin, fragile threads of impossible, remarkable affection, and he so rarely gets the chance to remember this when the body is his to command.

He does not have to go far to find her - she's out on the balcony, up against the sky, the stars crowning her dark hair, and she is so lovely that nothing in this world or the Fade could compare to her in this moment. She is also, he notes, underdressed for the chill of the evening - a thin robe over the gauzy nothing she calls a nightgown.

"I must inform you that Anders will be most displeased if I allow you to catch your death," he says, coming up from behind to wrap his arms around her. She is compact and solid and deliciously warm against the chill of the air, the perfect, intoxicating drug to all the senses he will never quite grow accustomed to.

She tilts her head up, brushes her lips to his jaw. "Lucky I have you to keep me warm, then, isn't it?"

His hands tighten instinctively on her waist, but her attempt at distraction does not fully sate his curiosity. "You are always the first to inform me that sleep is vital to your kind," he reminds her, "and yet I find you out here. Not sleeping."

She sighs, feigns a pout. "Must I always be held to my own advice? Isn't a girl allowed a little hypocracy?"

"You know that is inimical to my nature."

"I know," she agrees, and he can hear her smile in her voice before he can feel it against his lips: the sweet, mischievous upturn of her lips, the taste of her - burnt coffee and the roisin she smooths onto the bow of her lute. "I just couldn't sleep, forgive me?"

"If you tell me why." He smooths a curl of dark hair back from her face. If he could, he would smooth every woe, every trouble she has ever felt away with it- but he cannot. That is not his purpose, it is merely his desire. "Are you distressed? Unhappy?"

Perhaps the thought of sleeping next to an abomination scares her more than the thought of bedding one. He would not blame her if that were the case. They have seldom proven safe to love, even to each other.

She laughs, though, and shakes her head. "No, the opposite." Her smile fades, though, and she turns suddenly, uncharacteristically solemn. "I know this city's a shithole, and that a thousand terrible things happen every day, and that we don't stop nearly enough of them, but- would you think less of me, if I said I never thought I would feel like this?"

"Like-?" He does not know what he wants her to say. In love? Happy?

She tilts her head up to the stars, their soft, distant light falling across her face. "At peace," she says, softly. "After losing- everyone I thought I could lose, I still have you two. You're still here, watching over me, watching over all of us, and- the world can't be that terrible, when it still has this, right?"

He could tell her how wrong she is. He could tell her that even now, Orana sobs silently into her sheets from a nightmare she will never dare to speak of, that in the Gallows, an apprentice turns her face to the wall when she is told that she will never be Harrowed, that in Darktown, there are children who's lungs will never recover from chokedamp.

But in this moment, he does not say these things. He looks at her, in her too-thin robe and her crown of stars, and thinks: Were it in my power, I would bend the very fabric of the world to allow you all the peace it has taken from you. He cannot provide her with that. He cannot even add to it - peace and respite are not in his nature. But he can fold her into his arms, let it radiate from her through his bones, and say:

"The world cannot be so terrible, as long as you are in it."

[adainesjacket]

Hi!!!! Welcome 💕 (I am in love with your character moodboards btw??) For Marika & Blackwall, "I know I should stay away from you, but I can't." maybe?

thank you so much! i love making moodboards (and always happy to create them for other people's OCs!) this is shorter than i'd have liked, i'm running out of steam and i have to get up early tomorrow, but i hope you like it. i love writing marika. what a horrid girl. @miladydewintcr @dadrunkwriting

f!cadash/blackwall, 421 words, angst

"You shouldn't come down here," the prisoner says. "People will talk."

"And you're so concerned with my image," Marika scorns, dragging a crate over to sit in front of the bars. "That's why you left me naked and alone in a hayloft."

"Have you come to list my crimes?" Blackwall asks. "I thought we were doing that tomorrow. You'll get to sit in your big chair. You love your big chair."

"Throne," Marika corrects him.

He leans back, huffs through his nose. So it's like that, his face seems to say.

Yeah, she thinks viciously, it is fucking like that. Because you served me with such staunch loyalty and admiration, you made me a paragon, and then I found out it was all based on lies. She can't pardon him. The damage it would do to the Inquisition's reputation is immense. Josephine already has to deal with her being a socially awkward, misanthropic dwarf. She will not add to that with rumours of corruption. Of course the Inquisitor pardoned her lover, they'll all say. Of course it doesn't matter that he has children's blood on his hands, not to a thug like Cadash.

Marika didn't feel like a thug when she was with him, is the problem. Blackwall makes her feel… delicate. He calls her 'my lady' like she's Andraste Herself, and with him she could be, something golden and precious and holy.

"You should-"

"Don't fucking tell me what I should and shouldn't do," she snaps. "I should have left you in Val Royeaux. I should stay away from you, but I…" She is the most stubborn person she knows, and hates to admit when she can't do something, but. "I can't."

Their eyes meet, and for a moment all the shared guilt and anger melts away, and she is back in that hayloft, feeling so cherished she might burst with it. He reaches a hand through the bars and he takes it. Their sword-calloused palms are a perfect fit. They always were.

"If tomorrow is my last day in this world," he tells her, "I will spend it in the best possible way. Kneeling before you. My life in your hands. My heart in your keeping."

"Me in my big chair," she sniffs, horrified that there is suddenly a lump in her throat.

"You in your big chair," he chuckles. He brings her hand up to the bars, and presses a kiss to her knuckle. "My lady."

"My Warden." It's at that moment she finally knows what to do.

[dadrunkwriting]

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