#nevecanis

[lesbianwyllravengard]

I don't go to dragon age but this is them to me

[wardensantoineandevka]

from the end of Something's Coming, at the grove

[postcardsfromheapside]

Lol, friends if you weren't there for the Astarion discourse, I am so happy for you.

People were most often upset over the idea of being poly with Halsin, because they wanted and did project onto Astarion that he is unable to say no to Tav for fear of losing them (not only is he perfectly genuine about having an open relationship, but by Act 3 he is fully capable of saying no, even if he's just being a silly shit about something and doesn't actually mean it). The conversations about how “I would never cheat on him!” (ethical non-monogamy is not cheating) bleeding into “he doesn't actually like sex!” (not really relevant to the ENM, and certainly something we can discuss, but seems like you're upset at the idea HE might want another partner) were ridiculous and turned dramatic.

On a spawnstarion route, there's also a dialogue route in the graveyard scene I think where you can discuss the possibility of things changing (implying your relationship) and he expresses he's no longer scared by the possibility. He would probably be sad if it did, but he no longer feels dependent on anyone, so he's no longer scared of what life has to hold. Y'all when I tell you I saw people lose their minds over this - they didn't want to think about Astarion independent and not needing them, not needing their blood, not needing their magical genitalia, their “love” to make him feel whole. I saw so many posts about how they can never not romance him because how can they leave him lonely, despite the fact that his unromanced spawn conversations in the epilogue is one of the most healing and powerful sequences I've ever been through. He literally fixes himself. He makes himself happy, despite having severe limitations on his living experience. He becomes a *hero*. All on his own. And they can't stand it.

Astarion is the perfect vehicle for folks to lay the fantasy of a codependent relationship over, just as Lucanis is the perfect fantasy for them to “fix” an actually very nice guy who arrives with a “bad boy twin” with whom they can pretend to have a threesome.

I'm not against people working their fantasies or issues out through video games at all, I only get irritated when those things become externalized in the form of racism, misogyny, queerphobia, etc, which we see a lot in how people express their feelings about other characters, or how they frequently pattern their feelings onto the VA's.

If you feel the need to hide a pixel man away from a pixel woman, when both are programmed not to get together if you lock in the relationship with either one, at that point you actually need to get help. But more generally, feeling jealous because someone you are interested in has a life and friends and even crushes outside of “you” is something you should talk about with a qualified professional.

[sorcerly]

ok but what if neve and lucanis get together during datv, break up because they're both working through their damage on top of having a fuck ton of new stressful responsibilities, and don't see each other for a year, two, five?

they try to write messages to each other, but - they're both important people. they just don't have time. they might share stories once in a while through the post, sure, but any important things they have to say to each other... it's difficult to write it all down properly, in ink on paper like that. most attempts perish as crumpled parchment thrown into a fireplace.

there's a stretch of many months, maybe even a full year, when they don't hear from each other at all. until SOME twist of intrigue brings them elbow-to-elbow in the shit again.

I think for Lucanis it's a surprise, that he can feel some glimmer of ease again when he's around Neve (she was always the one who could make him feel safe, comfortable). The time since the veilguard has been nothing but the stress of carrying on the Dellamorte name and answering to Caterina's expectations and trying, trying so hard, to be who he needs to be as First Talon - putting his head down and slogging through all the parts of the job that he hates, dreads, never wanted in the first place.

I think for Neve it's a bit of a shock, because she actually does not recognize him immediately. and it's not because he's changed his appearance - he still wears his hair in that neat mullet (though now with some gray in the black), dresses smartly in crow leathers, keeps his beard trimmed. truly the way he carries himself hasn't changed that much either (he's always been guarded, careful). but his face. his eyes.

Neve remembered relishing every unguarded glance she caught from him. those eyes that shone so brightly in the light of the kitchen candles when they were both up at ungodly hours. even though he had seen so much pain and misery and death, Lucanis' eyes showed his heart; still soft. open. welcoming. easy. dark and warm like shadows cast by firelight.

when she sees him for the first time in years, those eyes are cold. hard. closed off. even though he slept so little at the lighthouse, Neve can't help but feel that she has never seen him look so, so, so tired.

and i think it likely doesn't take long for Neve, greatest detective in Thedas, to see the way he interacts with the other Talons, with Teia and Viago, with Caterina - and put together exactly what's been going on. And I think she'd stop at NOTHING to try and fix what she sees as a terrible mistake made by the veilguard, including her. they aren't to blame, of course not, how could they have known? but even so - when the veilguard ended, Lucanis was left to the snakes and the dogs.

so maybe she makes a pact with Teia and Viago, who had almost given up on Lucanis when Neve showed up again. maybe she finds a surprising ally in Illario, who has always known what First Talon would mean for Lucanis. maybe she calls on Davrin, Rook, anyone else from the team who might be able to help. one things for sure tho. Neve and Caterina fucking hate each other.

and then neve and lucanis kiss

[thedissonantverses]

“Feeling bad or jealous about Neve and Lucanis is not shameful or stupid. It’s honestly a very bad play mechanic to let the player feel bad this way. It feels strange and forced like the other romances never feel(like Harding/Taash and Emmrich/Strife) and they continue if you start a romance that shouldn’t be like this. I love Lucanis and I love Neve but I can never take them together anywhere because I think it’s awful. It’s definitely something they should have programmed differently.”

So leaving aside the blatant fuckery on the nby/female pairing and the m/m pairing(let me guess why the same sex relationship didn’t feel as “forced” to you.) this is such a childish, immature complaint. I swear I don’t go looking for this shit hahaha. I’m truly baffled.

It is shameful. You’re allowed to feel jealousy but I am begging you to get over the pixel lady banging your fake boyfriend lmao. I didn’t get jealous of Harding and Taash and they flirt just as much you absolute children. I’m glad the video game made you feel bad actually. You apparently need the practice.

Grow. Up.

[the-djinn-inside]

i looked back and went "awwww!" out loud.

[dragonageandyap]

BROKE: hating nevecanis bc you're jealous of a fictional woman stealing your fictional man

WOKE: hating nevecanis because nevellara is BY FAR the superior ship

[therookandthecrow]

I say this as a chronic Lucanis-mancer, but hating Neve Gallus and wishing terrible things on her because she gets with Lucanis if you don't is unhinged behavior. It makes me want to ship Lucaneve/Nevecanis more out of pure spite for the Neve hatred I've seen. To me, Nevecanis and Rookanis are just as valid ships as one another.

[bharv]

Neve and Lucanis are compelling to me (even though I am also extremely compelled by her and Rana) because of some banter you get if you take them out a lot which is…

She personally bankrolls and organises aid to Treviso in act 2.

We know that Neve doesn’t have a great deal of personal wealth, even though she could. She prices jobs accordingly, sometimes doesn’t charge at all. She wears clothes that are made for deception not style, and only ever dresses to the needs of the upper society to pass when she needs to. All the money and connections she does accrue are used to better her home, because she loves Dock Town more than anything.

Lucanis also loves his home. He loves his city at the cost of even caring about himself on a basic level.

So it is a tremendous act for Neve to leverage her connections and what coin she has to get people over to Treviso to physically try and rebuild. And Lucanis is audibly touched by it.

And as an acts of service lover that shit is romantic as hell to me.

People focus a lot on Lucanis fancying Neve but Neve is the one who does something so incredibly profound. And you could miss it, because neither makes a big deal of it.

[mllekurtz]

Lucanis/Neve || 3.4k words || complete || rated T || no warnings apply

They’re both so unused to tenderness; and yet they’re determined to offer it, and most of all to accept it.

(Or: slow dancing in the kitchen with your significant something.)

[ofcrowsanddragons]

Just sitting here playing with my Neve & Lucanis & Rook dolls in different combinations.

Meanwhile there are fires and stuff out there, IDK.

[eta-volantis]

There has been quite a lot of conversations (and discourse but we're ignoring that) around whether Neve/Lucanis ship was well done/well implemented/etc. and I think my conclusion is yes. It is, in fact, a good ship. The problem isn't them.

What I suspect happened is that Neve/Lucanis ship was the intention, but what came later than city choice is the romance blocker. As we have now found, the previous intention is that both Lucanis and Neve is meant to have hardened romance routes through existing (and fully rendered and voiced) game files. I can't remember the source, but there was also dev talks around city choice being a late addition and from the fact that Lucanis hardened romance has cutscenes I'd say the blocker came even later. I'd be surprised if they rendered and voiced them and have them in game if the block was the original intention. And what I also suspect is that when Neve/Lucanis ship was written, Rook and Neve like every other companion/NPC ship were very much on equal grounds of reconciliation if the relationship were to continued to be pursued. Neither are better for him, they were simply different people that can forge a relationship with him in different ways.

When the city choice and blocker was introduced, it causes a lot of problems with existing content that was not written with that in mind. Which is a lot, actually, Neve/Lucanis ship included. Quite a few things were probably rewritten and added, but many things were also missed because as much as people keep saying there are not enough choices, the effect around just what we have on the game narrative is vast in practice. Especially with Rook having 6 possible backgrounds that all affect in game dialogues quite massively, not even including racial and mage additional dialogues. It's why it feels so jarring on Shadow Dragons Rook choosing Minrathous and why parts of his route feels inconsistent. (Hearing Ivenci talk at Shadow Dragons Rook who saved Minrathous at the final Treviso quests almost actually made me laugh tbh guilt-tripping someone loyal and dedicated to their home by telling them how loyal and dedicated they themself are to their home and how dare Rook isn't loyal to Treviso is... something.) I think they had ideas and intentions around the blocker and it's not just something they added because [insert ridiculous reasons here]. Essentially, the emotional turmoil and conflict with Rook that comes out of that is actually an interesting idea to explore but because dev hell and time, it is likely left as it is, which is unfinished in terms of the dev's vision and what they want to do with it.

The Neve/Lucanis ship isn't bad and/or preferred. It's everything around it being changed without going through the rest with a fine tooth comb to iron out kinks like Shadow Dragons Rook having their background entirely ignored so many times when the city choice comes up despite the place they saved is their home and not just some random place that causes the issues. The writers didn't prefer Neve/Lucanis because when it was originally written, it is likely that Rook and Neve were on equal grounds. Stuff like this just goes to show how difficult choice based RPGs are to make imo, any changes that you think are small and little things that you may think are negligible can end up affecting things that are narratively important or player experience. And with EA constantly trying to gut Bioware and firing people mid-production while the studio is developing 2 new games for their biggest IPs, it's a miracle the game is as good as it is.

[postcardsfromheapside]

Lol. The newest anti-Nevecanis shit? He's too rich for her.

“he cares more about people getting paid where Bel and Neve care about helping people”

Come the fuck on. Not my boy who went out of his way to free slaves despite Illario's protestations. Not the guy who spent time in the kitchens with servants learning to cook when he could have been doing anything else with his downtime.

I admit, his comments about a contract negotiator are a little tone deaf considering who Neve and Bel usually work for, but that's a misunderstanding, not "He doesn't care.” Anyone else you'd be nodding along that yes, people do deserve to be paid. Stop treating him like Neve's fuckboi rich kid fling just because it bothers you that they flirt.

I guess I asked for this by whining that I hadn't seen anti-Lucanis shit.

[thedissonantverses]

So I heard people are jealous over Neve and Lucanis again or consider their relationship less valid than Rook and Lucanis. So I’m going to posit that Neve is actually the better partner for Lucanis than Rook during the course of the game. This isn’t just me talking shit either I really think this!

Just to clarify I have no problem with you if you ship Rookanis. But, I’ve mentioned this before, and I think a lot of people forget this, that Rook is everyone’s boss. They’re in a significant position of power over the companions, to the point they decide who lives or dies. You can destroy either Lucanis or Neve’s city and that makes the power imbalance immediate and even more dramatic. (Hence why you can’t romance Lucanis if you don’t save Treviso and this is absolutely the right call from the writers)

This is why the romances are a slow burn by the way.

More than that, Lucanis is deeply, deeply traumatized and this his first real relationship. While you can play Rook as inexperienced if you want, there’s still an imbalance of power no matter how you cut it. Starting a relationship on a dangerous mission where everyone can die, one where one of the people involved has no idea what they’re doing, is a terrible idea! Does it make the romance bad? No. Would it be kinda fucked up if this wasn’t fiction? Yes!

Neve is on equal footing with Lucanis where Rook isn’t. Neve is an intelligent, kind, brave, heroic woman who is willing to put her life on the line every day to help people in need. She is so kind to Lucanis and vice versa. His devotion for her is readily apparent. Their relationship is just as beautiful and they truly make each other happy at a time when they might lose everything.

Anyways you don’t have to knock Neve or Nevecanis to validate your ship. Neve is a bad ass and has every right to find happiness where she can. Lucanis deserves nice things too let them be happy.

[wardensantoineandevka]

for funsies, just because I was reminded about this bit I had in a Nevecanis WIP:

She leaned forward. Slowly. Casually. Maybe not entirely casual. Hard to be casual with this much blouse open. She watched his eyes. He held them to her face with a very conscious force. But, so many places he shouldn't look. Lucanis studiously kept his gaze locked to, she estimated, her nose. It was where her eyes and lips and everything at the bottom of his peripheral vision were not. "Neve, I..." She lifted her hand. He reflexively flicked his eyes toward the movement, then before he could help it, a couple steps of a wander. Just as quick, her finger came up under his chin to lift it again. "See anything interesting down there?" "No," he lied. Almost convincing. The fresh blush gave it away. "Oh, then I put on my lace for nothing."

[collecting-diamond-pieces]

I love Dorian/Bull, Tali/Garrus, Neve/Lucanis, Blackwall/Josie and Sera/Dagna. So I said it. These NPC romances made me love the games even more!