#naoise meta

[themournwatcher]

Okay so I meant to go to bed 2 hours ago. But the Zevran/Naoise dynamic post-Fade has possessed me mind and soul and so i HAD to write a little short thing about it. This is very rough around the edges and the POV is inconsistent as I’m trying to dig into how they might see each other, so be aware of that.

Current thoughts is that seeing Zevran’s hellish torment in the fade is the first opportunity for them to have a deeper discussion or really ANY discussion at all following Zevran’s recruitment, and so therefore Zev doesn’t know about Naoise’s noble background and vice versa ❤️ read below the cut!

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“Zevran,” Naoise called out to the assassin as he walked by, blocking the light of the nearby campfire. “Have you a moment to spare? I should like to speak with you.”

“For you, Naoise? I can give you the whole night,” Zevran purred as he took a few steps back to meet Naoise’s gaze directly. The warden was lounging as comfortably as he could on the broken log, and his hands were kept busy with polishing his daggers. “What is so important that you could not wait to speak with me in the morning?”

Naoise ran the polishing cloth across the length of the blade with a practiced grace; the daggers, a pair of Highever heirlooms, were perfectly balanced even after all they had been through. He sighed and raised his head. “I merely wished to inquire as to your well-being. What happened in the Fade…?”

“What happened in the Fade?” Zevran said through a laugh. “What about it? As I said, I was abruptly woken up from a perfectly pleasant dream about luscious wood nymphs. How dreadful.”

“That’s not how I remember it,” Naoise said with a tilt of his head. “I was there, after all. We are not particularly close—“ an understatement, given one’s recent assassination attempt, “—but if you should ever wish to talk about it…”

“Precisely!” Zevran exclaimed, with such enthusiasm that Naoise sat up straight. “You were there, and thus why I recalled the dream having much to do with wood nymphs. Perhaps I should have referred to you as something more strapping?” His words, his deflection, hung in the air between them. For a second, he worried that he had overstepped; perhaps he had misjudged the warden’s open-mindedness.

Then, Naoise laughed; not loudly or overlong, and no scandalized blush dusted his cheeks, but Zevran considered it a victory nonetheless. Naoise rarely seemed to laugh, instead standing grim-faced and with his arms crossed even when trading witty quips with the others. That Zevran could elicit a real smile out of him was no small feat, even if Naoise was quick to conceal it. His smile might be stifled, but a levity had returned to his grey eyes.

“Do not think I have not noticed that you avoided giving me an answer,” Naoise said, and he almost winced at hearing himself echo his late mother’s words. Standing up to retire for the night, he added, “Be that as it may, I shall not push the subject. I would not wish to wake up with a knife in my throat for any untoward questions.”

“Oh, hardly,” Zevran said. “I assure you, my dear Warden, that I would not be so foolish as to slay the very man who has offered me pardon! The prince of my dreams, dare I say.”

Just as Naoise turned away from the fire, he paused, and then glanced back at Zevran; there was an intensity to the furrow of his brow and the way the light of the fire reflected in his eyes that wasn’t there before. “Prince?”

“Yes?” Zevran asked. “Have *I* said something untoward? You speak with a noble bearing, after all.”

Naoise looked as though he had something more to say, but instead shook his head with a wistful smile. “Pay it no heed. I must bid you a good night, Zevran.” With that, Zevran watched as the warden retired to his tent, his loyal Mabari at his heels following a stretch and a toothy yawn.

FIN

[swiftscion]

✢⁎. INHERITED TRAITS.

A meta focused on the parts of Larcei that she shares with her parents, and those that are uniquely hers.

Ayra:

Hair & eye color

Body type. Follows her streamlined and lithe muscle development

Isaachian culture

Facial structure. Is cited as being similarly beautiful to her mother

Weapons & items

Minor Odo holy blood

Keen eyesight & fast reflexes. In reference to Nihil, the ability to avoid critical hits--interpreted as hits to vitals

Astra. More specifically, the ability for descendants of Od to enter the super-speed "Astra State"

Speed. In reference to Pursuit. While not technically an inherited skill, both start in the myrmidon class, which happens to be a similarity

Defiance. Neither women are known to take shit lying down

Naoise:

Stubborn loyalty, especially to house Chalphy. Larcei was similarly born into a kind of "knighthood"

Protection of the weak. Like Naoise, Larcei wills to stand up for those who cannot stand for themselves

Combat style. In reference to Critical, Larcei will often aim for massive hits on enemy weak points, trying to fell someone bigger than her in a single strike

Relentlessness. In reference to Charge, Larcei continues fighting until her target is eradicated. Doesn't believe in training rounds or second chances--something that extends to a long-term mindset with regards to the Loptyr Sect

Strength. Based on str growths Larcei is closer to Naoise in her ability to hit things hard

Hair texture. Soft and thin, but plentiful strands lend to pronounced bangs and a full head of hair

Voice. Larcei has high tones and nasally speech in the same way Naoise does. The way they differentiate is only in tone and pronunciation

Both:

Sword skills

Dedication to cause & repaying debts

Protective lover. Like both her parents, Larcei makes it her mission to keep someone safe when they are special to her

Early bird. Used to have to get up at the crack of dawn to check if she and the others in Tirnanog have been found out

Bound by honor. All three follow a strict moral code in combat, even if Larcei expresses some of it via an open disdain for ranged attackers

Meat enjoyer

Neither:

Strong reaction to romance & flowers. Both stem from following a Iucharba recruitment route and unpaired ending, wherein she saw Iuchar mistake talking to his brother to mean he lost her affection, and got himself killed by charging straight for her army

Hatred of the Empire & magic. Larcei does not yet know the whole truth behind the Loptyr Sect, and even if she did, she would be too enraged by their treatment of innocent people to grant them any pardon. The experiences she witnessed and were nearly part of (thanks Shannan) in her childhood are entirely her own, and have shaped her somewhat-spiteful worldview

Short fuse. Refer to the above

Secret sweet tooth

Impulsiveness. Thinks things through considerably less than either of her parents

Low stamina. Partly due to her nature, partly due to being on the run and up at arms at an early age. Had to condense a lot of her training instead of learning how to last the long haul in combat

Alcohol tolerance. Is lightweight and gets doubled over by this sort of thing. Semi-related to her low stamina

Personal Astra form. While somewhat reminiscent of Ayra's, Larcei was taught by Shannan, and mimics his style while incorporating some aspects of her own. She has also learned to apply it in other creative ways in TOA canon

Height. No one knows where she got the short gene. Maybe Scathach stole a few inches

Country slang. Wasn't raised in House Isaach's court or a knightly order, and talks & acts more like a commoner. Most people (in universe, and ooc) don't even know she's technically a princess

Desperation. In reference to Adept, which she learns upon promotion. Biting back against oppression has taught her to fight every battle like it's her last

[wyldblunt]

*sits down on ur porch like a cat* best to worst singer for main plot gang and for the floaters... best to worst gamer ( if they would have access to games ofc)?

PUTS OUT A CAN OF TUNA FOR U thank u these are so cute...

best to worst singers:

alan: absolutely angelic. gorgeous. is there nothing he can't do. and he very much enjoys it, especially as a like, vigil bonding thing -- it's good for morale!!

glyn: actually has a really beautiful baritone voice but only alan has ever heard him sing (and all he knows are like. ancient orrian funeral ballads, so,)

merrit: touched on this a little in the last ask but. MAYBE there's a voice in there, but if there is we are never going to find it, because they Do Not Fucking Want To

lorelei: lorelei being last is a little contentious between my wife and i. i'm saying bad as in they cannot hit any notes or carry a tune at all. marina says "but it's about how cute they are!! it doesn't matter!!" so basically: tons of enthusiasm, unfortunate execution

best to worst gamers:

naoise: completely insane hyper-technical fighting game champion. that kind of shit where people are like, counting (and making decisions based on) specific individual animation frames or whatever. (also, this is only barely on topic but i got reminded anyway: on the subject of modern au stuff marina and i DO have a modern/mundane au where naoise is a personal attention asmr youtuber who makes CRAZY bank on patreon. now i am folding "pro gamer" into that as well)

gann: me: "what's the story with gann's gaming" marina: "[after a brief pause] ...he's just GOOD." fast, quick reflexes, learns super quickly and has good strategy when a game needs it, and also it's cute to think that he gets into it bc naoise is into it

benji: benji would fucking love video games. benji waits all year for super adventure box and then goes into a week long funk when it's over. benji would be deeply addicted to some kind of mmo if she had access to them

bowyn: okay bowyn is a special case here. i am putting them middle of the pack not bc they would actually be good at video games but bc they would rule the gw trading post with an iron fist. they would WRITE THE BOOK on tp flipping or whatever the hell it is people do. gold farming, minmaxing, finding any way to get obscenely video game rich: bowyn is on it

roddar: like gann, fast and tricky! but he's just having fun, he doesn't care enough to like. Git Gud. what the fuck is a build. what the fuck is meta. who cares!!!

maelduin: very into stuff like civilization and other strategy games, but would probably do very poorly at anything else. if there's any kind of real time fighting or expectations for high controller input it's over for them

rhys: you cannot get him to play a video game.

cadair: me: "i feel like.... cadair would try, but........" marina: "he's just not good." he's just not good. he's just not good, gamers

[sendme-2hell]

Ranking the books I read in 2022 by how much I liked them

20. The Power - Naomi Alderman

I really really hated this book. I think somewhere else I already talked about how much I hated it. The truth is that the concept is good. And I do agree that if women gained power over men that they would create power structures similar to what women currently experience under men. But the absence of any sort of queer/trans exploration seemed really glaring--especially from the author who gave us Disobedience. I felt it just wasn’t nuanced enough for me. 

19. Yerba Buena - Nina Lacour

Okay I really liked this book! I think there needs to be more coming of age books about lesbians in their 20’s-30’s and that's exactly what this book was. It was a bittersweet book about two women finding each other and themselves, but I didn’t quite latch onto it. 

18. The Oleander Sword - Tasha Suri 

I don’t have anything to say except I really liked the second installment in this series and I can’t wait for the next one! More enemies to lovers where they are still kinda enemies. 

17. The Echo Wife - Sarah Gailey

I liked the idea of this and almost all of the execution. It’s what would happen if a woman found out how to make clones that had the same personality as their source. Then her husband makes a clone of her. As you can imagine, it’s more about trauma and domestic abuse than cloning. Which works. 

16. The Glass Hotel - Emily St. John Mandel 

I love the Emily St. John Mandel Connected Universe. Even though I didn’t find these characters as compelling as some of her other works, one thing really stuck with me. In this book she speaks of the wealthy as living in their own country. Because they are so rich, wherever they go they are having similar experiences with similar people. They have more in common with rich people from other countries than poor people from their own. When characters lose wealth they are demoted to the country of the poor. 

15. Exciting Times - Naoise Dolan

Some people don’t like this book but I was having a good time. Sadly it’s hard not to make the Sally Rooney comparisons since it’s about a really self aware Irish woman noticing a lot about capitalism. But tbh I eat that shit up. Like Conversations with Friends, she is choosing between the idealized perfect woman love interest and the male love interest who will probably never love her. I don’t think it’s a hard decision but these women seem to really have a problem choosing. 

14. We do What We do in the Dark - Michelle Hart

This was another coming of age book about a female college student having an affair with a married female professor. I felt bad for her but also I’m sorry it is kinda sexy. That is absolutely not the point of the book though. 

13. The Vegetarian - Han Kang

One woman decides to be vegetarian and you will not BELIEVE the chaos this causes. I really liked the writing style. 

12. Disobedience - Naomi Alderman 

Unlike The Power, I loved this book. As a Jewish (but not close to how Jewish these characters are) queer woman, I loved this book about Jewish queer women. It was incredibly nuanced, and I was interested in how it explored religion and community and did not give a simple answer. Literally nothing will ever hit harder than women who are foils to one another. One woman is more open about her sexuality and has moved away from her stifling community but she isn’t happy either due to the crushing loneliness of modern capitalism, but the other woman while having community is not being honest about her sexuality and is dealing with oppressive sexism. But now where was the spitting scene from the movie?

11. Sea of Tranquility - Emily St John Mandel

I love time travel. I love meta media. This book was awesome. ESJM writes about her own experiences as the author of a famous pandemic book living during an actual pandemic, but also it takes place far in the future and there is time travel. Five stars. 

10. They Never Learn - Layne Fargo 

Is this book as much of a literary achievement as some of the books I’ve ranked lower on this list? Absolutely not. But it does have a queer woman murdering rapists and getting a happy ending. Incredibly cathartic 10/10. 

9. Fire & Blood - GRRM

I’m sorry this should not be ranked so high. Especially since I learned GRRM was pressured by HBO to work on this instead of winds of winter in time for HOTD to come out. But honestly I really liked it. I am a real sucker for seeing large family history and lineage and that’s exactly what this is. Also I love a good unreliable narrator! It adds this other layer to reading, where you can see the biases and societal norms influencing the writing. I find the sense of ambiguity quite powerful where you know multiple answers could be true, but also when the narrator is so unreliable you can imagine quite literally anything. I choose to imagine Visenya and Sharra of the Vale were lovers, Alys and Tyanna were lovers (and something really complicated went down), and that Rhaenyra and Alicent had a toxic age gap relationship. No one can stop me! 

8. Our Wives Under the Sea- Julia Armfield

This was a really creepy book about a woman whose wife goes to sea to research something and comes back changed. It reminds me of that part from The Doll House by CMM where she speaks about how the idea of possession is comforting because it implies it is not the person you love who has changed and is hurting you, but something else inhabiting their body. I love a book that uses sci-fi concepts to explore relationships. 

7. Nona the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir

I truly think this is the book that closest captures what it is like to be a child. I love Nona with all my heart. Can’t wait to see what happens to these crazy kids in Alecto. 

6. Everyone in this room will someday be dead - Emily R Austin

This book is funny and captures what it feels like to have anxiety in a scarily accurate way. It made me feel a lot of things. 

5. The Rehearsal - Eleanor Catton 

There is something so fascinating about media that explores the toxic relationship between competitive young artists (musicians and actors especially) and their mentors. The other book that comes to mind is Trust Exercise. Like that book, The Rehearsal has unreliable narrators and a peculiar structure. It is a little more raw and experimental; you can tell this is Catton’s first work. Yet I found it so powerful and thought provoking. 

4. Klara and the sun - Kazuo Ishiguro

I read this in a day but I can’t stop thinking about it. Just one of those books about AI and personhood and what if we could create a realistic person from AI? What about personality replication? But what was most interesting to me was how Klara created a religion out of what gave her life -- the sun. Also every time I see the M3gan trailer I think of this book.

3. Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters

What an interesting book about gender, family, queerness, motherhood, etc…

2. Conjure Women - Afia Atakora

Another book I will think about for the rest of my life. It explores the life of three women (two black one white) living in the South before and after slavery is abolished. It explores a sort of intersectionality and is nuanced but not forgiving of the white woman. It also has a really interesting magical realism aspect which can be read as literal or metaphorical.

1. No one belongs here more than you - Miranda July

A short story collection that is incredibly weird yet so powerful. I am most drawn to authors who let their characters be as strange as humans are. Characters who have not-often-expressed thoughts are sometimes the most relatable because I personally am not going around narrating my life like a cliche standard romance novel and I don’t think most people are! I think most people are out here thinking the weirdest least-logical thoughts out there. And that’s great! I think what ties the stories in this collection together is that the narrators of each story are suffering from either extreme loneliness or trauma, and this leads them to act from a sort of logic that a “normal” person might not understand. But the reader can understand it. You can feel their loneliness radiating from the page and see it dictating their actions, and suddenly it makes sense. As we live through a pandemic, I truly relate to the extreme lengths these characters go through just to feel any sort of human connection.

[tainbocuailnge]

Your Twitter post made me wonder: on who do you have more stories/theories/anything, Naoise or Moth?

granblue lore isn’t anywhere on the level of competing with how deep fate lore is if only because fate has 15 years of repeating the same themes in different ways to fall back on for drawing connections, so the maximum size of your conspiracy board for any given granblue character is effectively guaranteed to be much smaller than for any given fate character of equal relevance. fate goes much harder on the internal cohesiveness of its narrative patterns too so you can make much more far out theories based on how themes are repeated and still have a good chance at being right as proven by shit like how one of my meta talking friends accurately predicted galahad’s design and approximate character years before fgo even released. granblue didn’t have lore until a few years in but fate was only ever a vessel for the deepest lore

i’m kind of dancing around the answer here but it’s moth by nature of moth being from a series that just facilitates theoryposting about it way more than naoise

[conchobarmacnessa]

Cent, can you meta a bit about what Conch is like when he cares about something? I imagine he's a fiercely protective type, but I'm curious.

When it comes to matters that Conchobar cares about, he’s unrelentingly passionate. One good example is the fact that he had saved literature and preserved poetry by sheltering composers in his house in spite of the grave offense they’ve committed. He’s a lover of poetry and writing, so much that he actively supports talented composers. It didn’t matter if he had to go to war for it. It had been worth it for Conchobar mac Nessa.

He can become fiercely protective of people he genuinely cares for, I won’t even deny it. Even then, it all depends on circumstances. While how he protected Deirdre came off as undeniably toxic and disgusting, in the end it is because of him that she had been given a better fate. It’s because of Conchobar that Deirdre had come to learn and be knowledgeable in peace, and even live without her life being threatened, until she ran away of course.

Nothing can make how he treated Deirdre better. He had his reasons. He killed the sons of Usnech because they betrayed him. He lied to Fergus because killing the sons of Usnech was only proper. They were traitors to the crown after all. Conchobar was always pressured by Cathbad to follow the customs. The only time he made a decision for himself and argued with Cathbad is keeping Deirdre alive when Cathbad was so prepared to kill her.

Conchobar ‘loved’ Deirdre to the point wherein he waited for almost two decades for her to learn how to love him in return. That after she ran off with Naoise, had his kids and gave herself to someone who was once loyal to his name, he was more than willing to accept Deirdre still and forget what she had done.

Like... tbh. Conch is only ever this problematic at a few number of people. Because around his Knights and his family (outside of Nessa), he’s actually??? A good man to have around. He’s a good brother to Deichtine and Findchoem. There’s a reason why his approval is so important to Cu Chulainn and Conall Cernach. The Knights of the Red Branch loved him for his virtues and his refusal to not go the extra mile for the sake of Ulster.

He knows how to value something and someone in a way that’s normal. However, when circumstances are just so different he reverts back to his old shell and suddenly he’s the same monster you see under your bed, or the one starting at you from the ceiling.

[murasaki-murasame]

It took a bit longer than I expected for the flash gala to start, but I’ve finally done my first spark in GBF.

I’ll go over what I got out of it [from what I remember, lol] under the cut, plus some of the stuff I got from other recent summons.

Before I get into my spark haul, I did like 120 or so summons on the S-Lucio banner, mainly because I really wanted him and I wasn’t sure if I was gonna even stick with the game so I just threw all the summons I had at it, and from that I got S-Lucio, S-Sandalphon, Amira [her OG version, not her summer version that was on rate-up, lmao], Grimnir, Melliore and Sahli Lao, probably at least one other SSR I forgot about, and some random summons, including Summer Satyr. Even though it was probably a bad idea to pull on a banner like that when I wasn’t able to spark, I got the main thing I wanted from it, so I’m happy. I also wasn’t even fully aware that S-Sandalphon was on rate-up for that banner so it was a bit of a surprise to get him too, but he’s also another unit I really wanted. And obviously Grimnir was just a really great pull in general, lol.

After that we had the whole free daily tenfold event, the treasure rush campaign, and a couple of PG tickets, and out of that I got SSR Aliza [free tenfold], Arulumaya [PG ticket], Ilsa [PG ticket], Colossus [treasure rush], Illnott [treasure rush], Wind Naoise [treasure rush], a dupe G-Eugen [free tenfold], and a dupe Uriel [treasure rush]. Plus lots of random materials from the treasure rush. I don’t think I got any crystals [or draw tickets] out of it aside from the guaranteed 30k, though. Anyway this was a pretty nice haul, since it really helped flesh out my flame and wind teams more. Mainly my flame team, which was in dire need of more SSRs. But getting Wind Naoise was nice as well, since he’s basically an alternative to Yurius, so he goes really well with Grimnir and Andira [who I already had from my roulette anniversary draws], and that’s basically the meta wind team as far as I’m aware.

Also around here I finally got around to joining a crew, and the SSR ticket from the final pinboard missions got me Water Yodarha, who I think is gonna be extremely helpful for farming, since I didn’t really have a good plain damage nuker before him.

And then I decided to spark on this flash gala, which got me Summer Jessica, Summer Teena, Summer Silva, Wind Yuisis, Marquiares, SSR Stan and Aliza, Anne, SR Nezahualpilli [I’ve gotten lots of other new R/SR units recently too, but at least he’s noteworthy for being a good skin for my SSR version of him, lol], Yurius [lmao at me getting actual Yurius like a week after getting not-Yurius], two copies of Summer Yggy, Lucifer, Morrigna, Hector, and a couple other new SSR summons. Then I sparked Lucio, who’s basically been my spark target since day one.

I’m not too interested in most of the random units I pulled along the way to getting Lucio, but it’s really nice to have Yurius, even if he maybe doesn’t have as much value to me now that I also have Wind Naoise. Oh well. I’m at least happy I also got most of three new summer units from this banner. I wish I had have also gotten Summer Mimlemel, but I’m probably not even at the point where she’d benefit me a lot gameplay-wise. But I at least got all the other ones from this banner [aside from Summer Alexiel who I already had from anniversary roulette summons].

Also some of the other notable SSRs I already had before all this were S-Alexiel, Andira, Percival, G-Rein, Lily, Pholia, Izmir, Nezahualpilli, Mellisabelle, G-Eugen, Baal, Earth De la Fille, Light De la Fille, G-Vira, S-Heles, Light Ferry, G-Ferry, Kou, Olivia, and Vaseraga. And some of my notable summons were Agni, Freyr, Raphael, Uriel, Medusa, Nacht, Tsukuyomi, Kaguya, and Summer Rose Queen. So at the moment I definitely feel like wind, earth, and to an extent fire are probably my strongest teams, lol. My light team really needed a boost, which is part of why Lucio was my spark target, so it’s nice to have both him and also the Lucifer summon.

Now I just have to hope that I can actually get anything out of the upcoming earth GW, which will also be my first one since starting the game. My earth team feels pretty good, but probably more suited for long battles, not OTK stuff. So GW might be a bit of a nightmare, especially since my earth grid isn’t super developed, lol.

Anyway, I guess now I’m just gonna start hoarding for my second spark, which will probably be for the New Years banner, and go toward either the new Ox zodiac, or a legfest grand unit like Cain, Noa, or Rackam.

[kaitlynabdou]

The Unseelie Prince, Book One of The Hawthorn Throne Series, is now available for pre-order, and released in LESS THAN ONE WEEK!!

Celebrate my birthday (November 15th!) with me and go check it out! You can pre-order the e-book today, or order the paperback edition on November 15th, and get the e-book automatically FOR FREE!

The Unseelie Prince is a short novella, but just the beginning of a long series of novellas that follow Noah Reid and the court of the Daoine Sìth! Each book will contain new revelations, thick with political subterfuge and scandal. Not only that, but it also contains breathtaking illustrations inside, by the incredibly talented artist, Felix Avenier! (link contains NSFW material)

The Folk have never shied away from taking what they want. Legends speak of Faeries stealing people from their beds, swapping infants with changelings, and impregnating women they find beautiful. You should never trust them, though they cannot lie. Eat their food, and you may never see home again.

Noah Reid has spent his life seeking normalcy after a turbulent childhood with a superstitious mother who refused to answer questions about the father he never knew and instead attempted to impress upon him a real fear of Faeries.

Despite his mother’s best efforts, Noah finds himself ripped from the life he knows and thrust into a palace of nightmares. Here, he must face the persistent attention of the Regent and discover the shocking truth his mother took to her grave.

Fàilte air ais, a Naoise. Welcome home…

Order it on amazon.com! Also check out my Goodreads page!!

The Unseelie Prince – Available for Pre-Order The Unseelie Prince, Book One of The Hawthorn Throne Series, is now available for pre-order, and released in LESS THAN ONE WEEK!!

[themournwatcher]

I’m chewing on so many thoughts for Naoise. One of my mutuals informed me that Eleanor Cousland has the sexiest backstory ever and intentionally kept it from her children so we don’t even get to KNOW in game that Cousland has a pirate grandpa and that Eleanor once pushed Bryce from a cliff because he mistook her for the help.

Naoise might not have grown up knowing this his mother “might have dallied as a battle maiden once”, and not the fact that she sailed up and down the Storm Coast to prohibit the feasibility of moving Orlesian soldiers into Ferelden, but he CERTAINLY resembles her in his looks and in his mannerisms that I think people who know her history do a double-take when they cross paths with him.

Eleanor and Bryce’s son? The youngest? The one who rarely left Highever and who reportedly is Eleanor’s spitting image in facade and spirit? Well, I do think I shall get right out of your way now, Ser…

Naoise is cunning and clever and wily, and everyone who says he doesn’t have any diplomacy or tact is wrong; he does, and he gets his way quite a lot, but he’s unafraid to ruffle feathers to do it. He’s not APPEASING, is the difference Arl Howe makes when he remarks on how fierce Bryce’s boy has become.

Naoise is the spoiled second child, quick to brattiness and indignation, and his stubbornness means that he refuses to yield when he doesn’t get his way—but is that such a bad thing, when you can read people like a book with a few quick quips? Sure, he might be annoying to travel with and hearing him bemoan the loss of his house can be tiresome (if sympathetic, as the grief is fresh), but it’s that same rigidity that pushes him on. If he desires his vengeance, he will receive it.

[themournwatcher]

I should’ve gone to bed 3 hours ago, but instead I wrote another Zevran and Naoise shortfic (1.9k words) to flesh out their dynamic.

Naoise goes missing, Zevran finds out about Arl Howe, slight bonding ensues. Very rough fic and more of an exploration of themes and character dynamics. LMK what y’all think 👍 read below the cut

————————————————————————

A footstep and the rustling of leaves stirred Zevran from his sleep. He sat up in his tent, rubbing the exhaustion out of his eyes. He yawned; normally, movement in the forest wouldn’t jolt him from a dead sleep, but something was different this time. He quickly threw on his clothes, and staggered out of his tent as he pulled on his boots. He reached back to grab one of his daggers and strap it to his hip before taking a survey of the camp.

Nothing was immediately out of place. All seemed quiet, and everyone was asleep in their tents. He could see the fire near Morrigan’s remote tent growing dim. The pit that the rest of the party had circled around was still sparking, spitting embers upward. It had been stoked recently. Zevran spun in a circle, trying to place the discontent in his gut. Something wasn’t right. He took a few steps closer to the fire, sighing as he peered into it. He could even hear Alistair’s snoring from his tent a few feet over. Usually it was the dog that rumbled loud enough to shake the earth.

Zevran’s head snapped up. He couldn’t hear the dog. Naoise’s mutt was always making noise, be it snoring or barking or snuffling about. Zevran, twisting around, realized that Naoise was nowhere to be seen, either. The warden was supposed to be keeping watch, and now neither he nor his mabari could be located. He picked up the pace and circled the camp, reluctant to call out yet. Perhaps they had gone off to investigate something alone, but that seemed unlikely and dangerous. He was about to relent and start shouting for Naoise when he saw a shadow lurking at the edge of the camp. Upon closer inspection, it was Coinn; the loyal hound sat still in the cloying shadows, staring off into the distant forest.

“You! Dog,” Zevran hissed. Coinn looked back at him silently. “Come here,” he urged. When the hound didn’t move, he tried all sorts of tricks; clicking his tongue and patting his knee, everything he had seen Naoise do before, but nothing worked. Coinn didn’t budge, and eventually looked forward into the darkness once again.

“You know, I didn’t think the dog was supposed to be keeping watch,” he huffed. Forgoing etiquette for concern, Zevran turned to march towards the Warden’s tent. For all his japes, Zevran knew that Naoise would never have gone to bed without rousing Alistair for his shift. Naoise always took the first shift. When Zevran had asked why, he was merely informed that Naoise liked to know that everyone else was safely abed before going to sleep himself.

He threw open the flaps to Naoise’s tent, finding exactly what he’d feared: nothing. The warden was gone, his bedroll empty. A quick glance told Zevran that he intended to return; his arms and armor were gone, but personal effects such as journals and other clothes remained. He backed out and let the tent fall closed behind him, cursing as he paced around the camp. After a moment’s deliberation, he poked his head into Alistair’s tent.

“Alistair!” He hissed, loudly enough that the other man stirred immediately. “Come out here.”

Zevran was pacing around the campfire when Alistair finally stumbled out of his tent, his shirt inside out. He refrained from commenting, and instead waited for the other warden to finish yawning.

“What is it?” Alistair asked. “I thought you were taking the third watch. Why didn’t Naoise wake me up?”

“He’s gone,” Zevran snapped. “Can you sense any darkspawn?”

“What?” Alistair was clearly awake now. “What do you mean he’s gone? Do you mean Naoise just left? Where did he go?”

“If only I had thought of such evocative questions, Alistair. Are there darkspawn nearby or not?”

Alistair scowled. Zevran almost regretted his sharp tone, but he couldn’t explain the dread building in his chest. He knew that Grey Wardens could sense darkspawn—he wasn’t sure how—but he knew that Alistair was better at it than Naoise. Naoise could only catch on a few seconds before they were set upon, not a few minutes.

“No,” Alistair eventually said. “At least not as far as I can tell. I don’t think Naoise would go running off against darkspawn alone. It would be pretty stupid of him.”

Zevran scoffed. “Obviously. But his dog is just sitting there, staring into the woods,” he said, gesturing to the hound. “And his tent is empty; bow and all. He has to be somewhere. Is there anywhere else he could be?”

As soon as he asked the question, he knew that Alistair knew. The bastard was incapable of keeping a straight face, and this expression was one of dawning recognition, tinged with guilt. “I might know,” Alistair admitted. “Do you remember those knights whose path we crossed on the road earlier?”

Zevran nodded; Naoise had insisted that everyone keep their head down and move demurely, drawing no attention to themselves beneath their cloaks. The rain helped to obscure their identities, but even Zevran could tell that Naoise was tense and on edge.

Alistair bit on the inside of his cheek. “I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t think he’d actually try to do anything about it, really—“

“Alistair! Spit it out!”

“Okay, okay!” He said, putting a hand out. “The knights, their shields and banners… I remember now. The red bear; they were Arl Howe’s men.”

Zevran blinked. “The man who hired me for Loghain?”

Alistair nodded. “Yes, the man who— wait, what? I thought you said that Loghain hired you!”

“Technicalities,” he said. “Loghain was the one who paid the Crows, yes, but it was this Arl Howe who found me and orchestrated the whole, you know, assassination attempt.”

“So you don’t get it,” said Alistair. “Arl Howe and his family used to be close with Teyrn Cousland; Naoise’s family. It was Howe’s treachery that led to their slaughter, and the theft of Highever; he was the one who murdered Naoise’s family.”

Zevran went still. Left unsaid, but plainly written on Alistair’s face, was the fact that Arl Howe was, in some way, responsible for Naoise becoming a Grey Warden. A fact that, as Zevran had learned, Naoise greatly resented, despite his diplomatic efforts at concealing it. “So you think that he has gone after these knights.”

“I didn’t think he’d be so stupid as to try,” Alistair sighed. “Look, let me wake up the others and we’ll go after him—“

“No,” Zevran cut him off. “Let me go alone. If all of us come, he might be emboldened to think we are aiding him, and then we shall have a massacre on our hands. I will go bring him back.”

“Are you sure?” Alistair raised an eyebrow. Zevran knew that his concern wasn’t for him; it was for letting Zevran out of his sight, or for trusting him alone with Naoise.

“You don’t have any other options,” he said. “We will be back before sunrise. You needn’t worry your sleepy warden head about it.”

—-

Zevran might have appreciated the stillness with which Naoise held his bow taut, or the strength exuding from his muscular shoulders, if he weren’t about to fire upon a camp of knights in a vain, reckless quest. He came to a stop but a few feet away.

“What are you doing here?” Naoise asked quietly. He didn’t look away from the camp below.

“Oh, you know me,” Zevran laughed. “I can’t resist the opportunity to sneak away with a handsome man and meet him for a tryst in the woods. The better question is, what are you doing here? Do you plan to join us?”

“You should go back to camp, Zevran.”

Zevran’s smile faded, but he forced it back up. “You know I cannot do that, my dear warden. Not without you to lead the way! I would be hopelessly lost were it not for your keen eye.” The Crows only recruited elves for their greater eyesight. Even in the dark, he could make out the blond tresses curling around Naoise’s face, the clench of his jaw, the pursing of his lips. “Naoise. You cannot fight them all.”

“I can die trying,” he spat. “I can make them pay. Then I can be with my family once again. That is all I have wanted; I should have died there in Highever with them all.”

Zevran noticed the waver in his voice, in his arm. He reached out and put a hand on Naoise’s shoulder. Slowly, he lowered the bow. “Come on,” he pleaded. “Let us go.”

Naoise turned, but bitterly wrenched away from Zevran and stormed off back into the woods. He followed hot on the warden’s trail, but it wasn’t until they were far enough away from the knights to be out of earshot that he realized that Naoise was crying. Soft weeping slowly turned to wailing sobs, and he threw his bow aside on the ground.

“I hate them!” Naoise declared. “I hate them all! I hate Howe! I should have slit all their throats! Stuck an arrow between their eyes!” Zevran didn’t know what to say, or what to do as Naoise sank to the ground. He stopped, merely watching as he cried.

“I hate them,” Naoise said again, trembling. The tears came faster than he could wipe them away. “I hate you,” he added venomously. “You should have let me kill them. You should let me die.”

“How nihilistic of you,” Zevran said. He furrowed his brows sympathetically. “What would that have accomplished? It would have been a waste of a talented life, and not a half-bad looking one, too.”

Naoise sniffled and glared at him. “So you shall take me back to camp, and then what? Wherever after this? Will you return to your assassinations and your dalliances? Morrigan to the wilds, Leliana to the Chantry; yes, yes, we shall all split ways, all go home. But not I, no,” he said bitterly, spitting away salty tears. “My home is gone now, because of him. I am going to die either way, Zevran, he won. I just… I … I do not wish to die alone.”

“I know,” Zevran lied. He, who had been so willing to let Naoise run him through the first day they met, didn’t understand the desire to die with someone. “I know that you do not, and so you shall not. I will not let you die alone, my dear warden.”

Naoise sniffed again. “You cannot promise that.”

“Nor can you declare that you shall die entirely alone,” Zevran said as he picked up the discarded bow. “We do not know what the future holds, no? So we can only continue as we are. Please, come back to the camp with me. Your time for vengeance will come. Have I… ever told you about Antiva?”

It took a moment of deliberation, but Naoise eventually dragged himself to his feet and began to walk. The rest of their trek was marked by periods of silence; uncomfortable, vulnerable, even as he spoke of his own home, and Zevran understood what Naoise must have felt watching him in the Fade. Like you might touch something too tender. When they returned, Naoise and his dog went straight to bed without another word to anyone, Alistair included.

The next morning, Zevran awoke to a bottle of fine brandy outside of his tent. There was a note tied to it, an apology scrawled in the fine calligraphy of someone well-learned.

I’m sorry, it read. I don’t hate you.

[themournwatcher]

re: a conversation I had with @demandthedoodles in the notes of another post

consider this for my naoise worldstate:

- naoise catches wind of howe’s presence or maybe that of his knights while on the road

- naoise consumed by a vengeful desire

- literally leaves in the middle of the night to go sate it even after everyone told him not to

- Zevran volunteers to go get him

- ????? Either naoise is stopped or Zevran walks in and has to help him survive it’s in the works

[themournwatcher]

okay so. i really was chewing on the idea of naoise NOT having a romantic interest in this playthrough. however i have been GNAWING on his dynamic with zevran... the two rogues... anyways i didn't decide to take a bite out of it until now because this specific dynamic is sending me??

zevran has been with this party for the whole of .5 minutes since they left redcliffe, and after deliberating, naoise decided to let Coinn the Mabari hang out at the spoiled princess while everyone else crossed the lake. morrigan declined to continue into the circle with them so the party is as follows:

naoise cousland (out of his depth with mages but generally fond of them, they did his top surgery once)

alistair (ex-templar but highly chantry critical)

wynne (milf)

and zevran who is ONLY there because naoise didn't trust him enough to let him out of his sight!! and yet... literally the first meaningful interaction they have is Naoise stumbling upon zevran being tortured by the crows in his fade dream!

and.. in true princely/noble fashion... Naoise: "I demand you let him go this minute!" Zevran: "Wait, what are you doing here...? You're not supposed to be... here..."

IDK IM CHEWING ON IT OKAY. gnawing on it. like a dog ig

[themournwatcher]

Cas, give us the Naoise lore. Gender thoughts, martial ability thoughts. How's he taking the whole dead family situation? The suddenly a warden situation? What does he make of Alistair's immediately shovelling all responsibility onto his shoulders? Who does he want to kill most between Morrigan and Alistair so far? Anything else you've got on your chest you want to share 😌

Naoise !!!

Gender Thoughts

Ohh boy, here we go. Lex knowing immediately that Naoise is written as a trans man despite me not giving any previous inclination… iconic, actually. you are correct i have lots of gender thoughts about him!

Naoise Cousland is beloved by his family, and especially by his parents. I believe wholeheartedly that he clued into the fact that he was trans at a young age and demanded to be seen as such, the way a spoiled second son would demand anything else. Sure, there was worried discussion between Eleanor and Bryce about how to handle the wider social ramifications--and what about heirs and marriage?--but ultimately they could not bring themselves to deny their son anything and so they helped him to comfortably transition. Doing it younger was smart; noble pages could begin training as early at 7, such as Fergus did, but Naoise did not show any knightly inclinations.

(edit: i meant to say smth here about mage top surgery in his teens. i think it's possible and i think the couslands could have realistically hidden that knowledge from others)

With that in mind, Naoise doesn't suffer from what we might consider "stereotypical" gender dysphoria, or at least in the way comparatively that Mahanon does. He passes, he's gendered correctly, he's widely regarded as a man by his family and his peers. Hell, Arl Howe offers him his daughter, Delilah, in marriage.

That being said--he does suffer from internalizing Ferelden's societal (and toxic) ideas of masculinity. He mimicked what he saw as a noble's second son… (caveat: it seems that being gay is somewhat acceptable [or at least not frowned upon] in Ferelden but given what we see of Krem in Inquisition, I'm extrapolating/hc'ing what being trans in noble society might look like) … being accused of effeminate behavior/being trans/etc would likely bring him to challenge said person to a fight to restore honor. He wants to go off and fight, and says as much during the origin, despite the fact that his parents see him as more readily inclined to take over the teyrnship. Does he take it as a slight against his martial abilities? A jab that he would be more readily accepted as a homemaker? Probably not, but the thoughts linger… he's mostly soothed by them insisting that they cannot risk "both heirs", which assures him that their feelings haven't changed.

Martial Thoughts

Naoise isn't a great warrior like Fergus is, ready to charge the front lines or shield his brothers from the blows. Naoise is analytical, slender, and works best from a distance. Trained in archery, he tends to linger back and pin/compromise as many opponents as possible while his fellows charge. If the line breaks or they need help, he's dual-wielding daggers with speed and elegance… I suppose his mother did teach him SOME of her swashbuckling ways. There's a swagger to how he moves that isn't typical of knights… maybe something more maritime?

Grief + Warden

Naoise, admittedly, isn't coping well with the loss of his entire family. Not only does Dairren die (y'know, the son of Lady Landra who he managed to convince to go to bed with him that night), but so did his innocent sister-in-law and baby nephew, the household, his dad, his mum, Ser Gilmore, etc. He's screaming, crying, throwing up the whole way to Ostagar. He only manages to get it together by the time they're climbing up the steps to meet with King Cailan----and then he's told he won't be able to see Fergus until after the battle. Fine, that's fine. He didn't want to give Fergus the horrible news yet anyway.

Then the battle at Ostagar goes to shit; King Cailan can't make good on his promise for justice, Loghain has branded him a traitor, and Fergus is likely dead. The grief starts anew, but this time with purpose. While Alistair is grieving Duncan, Naoise doesn't grieve at all, he's PLOTTING. He is plotting how going to Redcliffe can help him achieve his greater goal--stopping the Blight is secondary. Avenging his family comes first.

To that end, he thinks little of the Grey Wardens. Duncan strong-armed him into the position by manipulating his dying father. If that wasn't a cunning, manipulative, political move, he doesn't know what is. Fine, he'll just have to be smarter, wittier, more cunning. One step ahead of everyone, including his own order. He's not grieving them after Ostagar, he's reassessing how his position as one of the only Wardens left can be used as a means to his own ends.

Alistair + Morrigan

Traveling with these two (plus his mabari and his eagle!) has quickly shown Naoise, the spoiled second-born son used to getting his own way, just how ANNOYING it is to have siblings. They're bickering all the time, he's bickering with them, none of them can agree on anything, the dog is barking, etc etc. It gets to the point where he whips out the "WELL MY WHOLE FAMILY WAS MURDERED. I DIDN'T ASK TO BE HERE" more than once and it gets them to shut up. He sympathizes with Alistair's grief and Morrigan's reluctance but it all GRATES on him.

By the time he gets comfortable enough to be bratty back, they all want to kill each other. I don't think I could tell you which one wants blood more.

[themournwatcher]

cannot stop thinking about what @amatres pointed out. of course naoise doesn’t want to be alone. he’s never been alone. he’s always had Eleanor, or Bryce, or Fergus, or his sister-in-law, or his nephew, or Ser Gilmore—there is always SOMEONE at Highever there for him.

of course he’s afraid. of course he can’t muster up the conviction to loose that arrow. Of course of course of course. He’s never faced such an emotionally charged situation alone before. He’s always had someone to lend an ear. I need to sit down I need to sit down oh god. He is just so… lonely. Of course he tries to slot himself in with the others like a sibling, he’s desperate for anything that reminds him of home. the home he lost. the family that’s gone. Oh my god. Oh god

[themournwatcher]

you know how after redcliffe if you don’t save both Connor and Isolde, there’s a cutscene where you see archers setting fire to the boats/corpses of those being put to rest on Lake Calenhad?

I’ve decided that Naoise took it upon himself to see through his decision to sacrifice Isolde til the end; he was the one who agreed to let her die. He was the one who allowed the ritual. He was the one who chose to save her son instead of her.

He has to be the one to nock that arrow and pull it back. He bought this bow. He bought Connor’s life in blood. He’s letting it go and the flaming arrow is singing before it lights the boat of the arl’s wife. Maybe he knew the sacrifice she was making for her son. Maybe, as it burns, it is his way of saying goodbye to his own mother.

[themournwatcher]

Does Naoise have any fears??

Such a loaded question. I think if you had asked him before the fall of Highever, he would’ve laughed it off. What would he, second son of the teyrn and teyrna Cousland, have to fear? He might give a half-assed answer, such as spiders or the dark, or something semi-serious, like how he once saw a knight get tossed by his horse and his ribs broken in the aftermath, and ever since he’s been wary about horses.

But all of his worst fears came to fruition the night that Arl Howe infiltrated his home and murdered his family. His lover murdered in his bedroom doorway. His sister-in-law and nephew slain while they slept. His loyal knight and dear friend sacrificing himself to stave off their foes at the gate. The household servants scattered on the floor; the guards beaten bloody; the fire consuming the keep; his father bleeding out on the larder floor. His mother staying behind to buy him time. Being strong-armed into the service of the Grey Wardens. His brother being (presumed) lost in the Korcari Wilds after Ostagar.

In the end, it’s just him, and his dog, and the one loyal eagle who flew to his side rather than take to the sky or be burned alive when the keep fell. (Coinn is the name of the dog, and the eagle he named Griffon the night of their flight, a nod to the Grey Wardens, if an ironic one. They’re all dead and gone, after all).

I don’t know what Naoise fears now. What does he have to lose anymore?