#quelarie

[lottiesnotebook]

Hi! You might remember me from ao3, just wanted to pop in here to compliment you again for your writing!

Then I saw your Rook as Anders/Justice and Rhiannon’s daughter and naturally I’m in love with the concept!! The idea that Anders blew up the chantry and wanted to sacrifice himself so their daughter would get to live free as a mage? He and Rhiannon falling out (and then hopefully getting back together?) Wow your mind.

Would you feel like sharing a little more about their story and how Cara was born?

Quelarie! Of course I remember you from your comments, every single one of them has been delightful and I have treasured them. Thank you so much for coming over here and asking about Cara (my Horrible Nepo Baby Rook)

@adainesjacket and I are currently working on the fic that covers Cara’s origins and what's going on with her parents during Inquisition, but the basics are:

1. Anders and Rhiannon have an ill-advised one-time hookup while they are lost in the Deep Roads and assume they are going to die. Justice does Not approve at this point, and disapproves far more when...

Three months later, Rhiannon shows up at the clinic and announces that she's having a baby whether they want to be involved or not. She's lost her father and both her siblings, and she's taking a shot at rebuilding her family while she has it. Anders is panicked but eager to be involved, Justice is Very concerned that this is a huge and terrible distraction from Mage Rights, but comes around pretty much as soon as Cara is born, because what is Justice for if not to protect the innocent?

Once Justice come around on Cara, it's much easier for him to also admit to being attached to Rhiannon, and they move into the Amell house a few months after Cara is born and make things official. It was meant to be a quiet wedding, but Cara screamed all the way through it.

Due to growing up during the better parts of DA2 to be a Hawke, Cara experiences her fair share of The Horrors of the Plot, but unlike either of her parents, grows up as the Amell granddaughter Leandra always hoped for, and is exactly as spoilt as the niece of a group of adventurers could possibly be, and indulged to ridiculous levels by all her parents.

Cara is also a mage, and a pretty powerful one as the literal child of a spirit, and when rumours of this reach Meredith's ears, she has no qualms about threatening her as a means of controlling her parents. This, in this universe, is what tips the balance for Justice and Anders to fall over into Vengeance, and to blow up the Chantry to give Meredith bigger problems than threatening their daughter.

Rhiannon could probably have coped with the terrorism, and maybe even forgiven the lying, but she cannot forgive the fathers of her child asking them to kill them, or the danger they've put Cara in. She spares their lives, tells them to clean up the mess they've made, and flees with Cara on Isabela's ship rather than with them.

Cara has... many complicated feelings about all of this by the time she and her fathers meet again.

The most fun thing about the Caraverse is that I can convince myself it is entirely canon because why on earth would Varric mention the Half Abomination Baby to the Seeker of Truth?

As for whether Rhiannon gets back together with Justice and Anders... that is actually a key plot point of the fic we are working on! (Much to Cara's disgust)

[adainesjacket]

Hi there! :)

Saw your list of OCs and I’m fascinated by the Trevelyan twins (I just love tragic siblings dynamic in media).

I don’t have a specific prompt in mind, but would love to read something about them, perhaps as teenagers, before being separated?

Only if you feel like it, of course!

Thanks!!

Thank you so much for asking! This got a bit long, haha, but hopefully it's interesting. I've sketched out a Trevelyan family tree for you first and then written a little something.

I gave my Trevelyans a Korean-inspired* background, because when I was creating Seong I said "I want to make the hottest man it is possible to create in the Inquisition character creator" and my wife looked at the result and said "so you made Daniel Henney. That's Daniel Henney from The Wheel of Time." Which meant I had suceeded (I love him so much), and I thought I'd lean into that.

(* I am not Korean and always open to concrit/corrections!)

Seong's parents are Jong-Su Trevelyan (Free Marcher noble) & Armelle Trevelyan (working-class Orlesian). Jong-Su had a previous marriage which was very unhappy, and after she died he met Armelle by chance on an import/export trip and fell hopelessly in love, despite the class and age difference. They married scandalously quickly and the children of his first marriage never quite forgave him for it. He's basically living the Mr de Winter life - no-one knows/believes how unhappy he was in his first marriage, and now he's finally found someone who deeply cares for him and makes him happy, all anyone can talk about is his first wife and how badly he must have treated her.

Armelle is a sweet, hardworking woman from an Orlesian family that might once have been noble but fell to poverty years ago. She's well aware that she looks like a golddigger (she's much younger than Jong-Su) but genuinely adores her husband and doesn't take shit about it. They have two children - our Trevelyan twins, Seong and Viola. (Viola is the only Trevelyan child with a European name, as she took Armelle's mother's - her grandmere's - name when she came out. Viola's given name was Eun. Her parents are totally cool with it.)

Seong and Viola's half-siblings are a mixed bunch. The oldest (Hana) is openly antagonistic towards them and their mother, and is probably the person Seong dislikes most in the world. The youngest, Hak-Kun, is more sympathetic, and did at least visit the twins when they were children and occasionally sent gifts.

Children from Jong-Su's first marriage:

Hana (married a wealthy Orlesian merchant and settled down)

Bora (married a Lord of Fortune, always travelling)

Min-Ho (died of blight as a young man)

Chul (Chantry servant)

Hak-Kun (unmarried, chevalier)

Ficlets under the cut!

This is a snippet from an Inquisition playthrough fic I'm working on with @lottiesnotebook , where Seong runs into one of his half-siblings at the Winter Palace:

“I know I have not been the most... attentive of older brothers,” Hak-Kun began, looking almost as if he’d rehearsed this speech in his mind. “None of us have been. We were angry, at first, for Father remarrying as suddenly as he did, and by the time we were no longer angry... you and Viola were almost grown, and had no need of us. It was easy to blame it on the difference in our ages at first, but when the news reached me that you were with the Inquisition, and she was... gone, I felt so ashamed. I have two half-siblings, one of whom is one of the great leaders of our age, and I knew nothing of either of you.” 

Seong took a moment to absorb this. In some ways, he'd wanted to hear it for a long time. He just wished it wasn't coming so late. "I hoped you would reach out," he admitted eventually. "I don't care about the others. But I always thought you liked us - or tolerated us, at least. You were even kind to amma. Hana used to make her cry." His lip curled as he remembered it, his vengeful older sister, and the cold brother who used to try and convince their father that Viola belonged in a Circle. 

And here is a little ficlet just for you about the Trevelyan twins, pre-separation! They're fifteen here, and Viola is taken by the Templars when she's seventeen. (Viola hasn't come out a trans woman yet, so I use her given name here.)

"Where is your brother? I wanted you both here before the service, and now I find he didn't show up at all."

Seong froze, guilty, at the threshold of the kitchen door. His father, grey and regal and uncompromising, stared him down like a hawk.

"Seong?" Seong asked, fidgeting with the hem of his brother's borrowed jacket. "He's… um…"

Jong-Su Trevelyan sighed. "Eun, you don't have to lie for him. Tell me the truth, now, there's a good boy."

Seong slumped into a chair, the picture of contrition. "Sorry, papa. He's at the market. With the travelling players."

Their father rolled his eyes and let out a growl. "Of course he is. Oh, when I get my hands on that boy…"

"Don't be too harsh on him?" Seong asked hopefully. "I'm sure he didn't mean to miss the service. You know he loves to sing in the choir," he added, feeling a little bitter at having missed the opportunity, as Eun wasn't a member. But Eun never snuck out, never asked for anything, and it was, Seong reminded himself, the least he could do in return for all the times he'd done it himself.

"We will have words," his father said finally. "He's getting too old to play the fool like this."

I'm fifteen, Seong thought mutinously, but smiled demurely at their father. "He may have returned already. I'll go check our rooms."

"Good boy." His father patted his cheek as he left.

He found not Eun upstairs, but Armelle, his mother, straightening the corners of his bedspread despite the fact they had a maid for that job. He kissed her on the cheek as he passed, but instead of returning the gesture she straightened up and looked at him with an unimpressed expression.

"Sweet boy," she said, eyebrows raised. "Did I hear you tell your father that Seong was at the market?"

"I did," Seong said, squirming internally. "He - he shouldn't be too late home?"

Armelle tutted and reached out to tweak his ear. "You are not as good an actor as you think, Seong."

Seong collapsed back on the neatly tucked-in bedspread. "This is exhausting," he moaned to the ceiling. "I'm never making him do this again."

Armelle, chuckling, sat down next to him and stroked a lock of his hair (loose, in the style Eun preferred, compared to Seong's usual braids.) "Perhaps this was a good lesson for you then, mon cher."

"How did you know?" He demanded, sitting back up. "Father didn't notice for a second."

Armelle rolled her pretty blue eyes. "I carried you both in my womb for nine months. I can tell my boys apart. So where is your brother?"

"He's with a girl."

"You're serious?"

"Yes - don't tease, you know how shy he is." Seong sighed, falling back against his mother's side. "I'm going to be in so much trouble and I didn't even do anything."

"You're a good brother," Armelle said, kissing the top of his head. "And this punishment will serve for all the times we have failed to catch you."

*

"I hope it was worth it," Seong said mutinously as Eun gracefully climbed through the bedroom window. "I've got to muck out all the stables tomorrow."

"I'll help," Eun smiled. "I really, really appreciate it." He crossed the room lightly and slung off his satchel and Seong's coat. He looked… luminous, in the moonlight. Lighter and happier than he'd been in months.

"How was it, then? The alienage?"

"Wonderful," Eun sighed, falling back onto his own bed. "I wish I could have stayed longer. Fiovera taught me so much in just a few hours."

Seong couldn't help quirking an eyebrow. "Oh? So you were with a girl?"

"Stop it," Eun retorted, but he couldn't hide the blush that had risen to his cheeks. "She's nice, that's all." He played with the hem of his tunic for a moment, and seemed to be searching for the right words to say. "Did you know she wasn't always a girl?" He said eventually. His eyes didn't meet Seong's.

Seong yawned. "Like Bora's husband?"

"Yes, just - the other way around."

"Well," Seong said, vaguely nonplussed, "good for her. I have to sleep. I have chores tomorrow," he added, in distaste.

"Poor princeling," Eun teased. "I really do appreciate it, you know."

"Mm-hmmm."

"So, about next weekend…"

[renlored]

quelari is only ever mad or confused and i forgive her because she's hot

[bishopsbelova]

quelarie replied to your post: quelarie: About Sebastian/Jonathan true aspect: ...

Yes! The interesting part about him is that he was still human, and Valentine’s upbringing really affected his mind even more than the demon blood. They replaced all that and made him almost a demon, how is that not a major change?

I’m not sure if it’s gonna turn out that he’s actually a demon or if this is just a result of him actually being in the Fairchild Manor fire???? Since I’m fairly sure that was caused by demon fire??? at the hands of Valentine. But like if he is an actual demon because of his demon blood (which makes no sense - because Maia, Luke, Dot, Raphael, Meliron, Simon and Magnus, etc. aren’t demons in the show) then why was he a completely normal baby aside from his black eyes???? idk, trying to figure out why the writers do some of the things they do makes my brain hurt. I would say just wait and see but I don’t even know if I want to wait and see

[shipcestuous]

@quelarie replied to your post “Hi! Thank you for letting me find out Drifters (Gli Sfiorati), I'm...”

I totally believe that Belinda "unlocked" the drifter part in him, it feels like it when Mete's friend puts their notes next to each other. From what I could understand the concept of a "drifter" in the movie is that of someone who doesn't just pass through life, but that experiences things differently from other people and so their emotions show in their handwriting, making them impossible to categorize.

I’m so glad that that’s your interpretation too. Because I hadn’t really thought of what while watching the movie, but after reading that commentary from the actor who played Mete, I see how that could make sense. (That Belinda “unlocked” - great way to put it - Mete’s drifter side.) 

I really like what that says about how incest is portrayed in the movie. 

[aaron-stahp-tveit]

Les Misérables, 5 favourite characters :)

Ooh yay!1) Enjolras2) Grantaire3) Gavroche4) Eponine5) CombeferreThank you! :-)

[dgsafdmd]

Mmmh...merry christmas?

Thanks :P

Translation? Feliz Navidad!

[lottiesnotebook]

Hi! Hope everything is good 😊

From the kiss writing prompt, Rhiannon and Anders (of course), and number 17 …to distract.

Thanks!!

Aaaaa I'm sorry in advance for the Angst I'm subjecting you to! It was a cute prompt, I just love to put these two through the Horrors. (Also this song has been stuck in my head since you sent the prompt so I think it's fate?)

Anders/Rhiannon Hawke, kissing, angst, betrayal, Justice (quest)

@quelarie | @dadrunkwriting

in the latter days

It starts with asking her for little things, while she's out on the Wounded Coast and he's at home with the clinic or with Cara. Elfroot, or spindleweed, or salt crystals chipped from the walls of caves. She'll always seek it out for him, he learns, and seldom questions why he'd need it.

"You're the healer," she says, with a smile, and kisses him twice, once for himself, once for Justice. "I'm not one to question the doctor's orders."

He leans down to steal a third kiss, his hands shifting from her waist to her hips.

"Even if that order is 'stay in bed with me instead of stomping around the Coast getting injured?'" he teases, and she arcs a challenging brow at him.

"You're giving the orders now?"

He isn't, of course - he's running low on supplies for the clinic, though it cuts deep to send her into danger to save the lives of as-yet unknown strangers. It's easier, when it's to save the life of their daughter.

He doesn't tell her about the note from Meredith he finds nailed to the door of his clinic - a final warning, the threat he's been waiting for since Cara came screaming into the world. Instead, he invents a different threat, to a different child - some sickly Darktown urchin without Rhiannon's dark hair and vivid smile. The lie matters less when the cure will be the same.

"Drakestone and sela petrae," he tells her. "Do you think you can get both?"

She nods, her brow furrowed. "You've never needed either before."

"It's an experimental cure for chokedamp," he tells her. Chokedamp is caused by gas from the mines and privation, but it is also caused by the Chantry taking tithes from people more in need of charity. In a way, their plan is a cure for chokedamp, if a final one.

The hardest lie is the one that gets him into the Chantry - he says he needs to pray for the success of the cure, and her mouth - so sweet, so expressive, so easy to kiss - folds into a tight, suspicious line.

"Are you sure?" she says, delicately. "You haven't been in the Chantry since-"

Since Karl, and they both know it. The part of him that believed in the Grand Cleric's benevolence died when she let Templars use him as bait on ground that was meant to be holy.

He does not let her say it, though. He cannot let her see through him, or stop him. He cannot lay his head in her lap and beg her forgiveness, her knowing aid. Their daughter must be left with one innocent parent, when the smoke clears and the revolution begins.

Instead, he takes her face in his hands and kisses her until her mouth softens and surrenders beneath his, lips parting in the irresistible breathy gasp he's wanted to swallow since first he heard it. He kisses her with all the kisses they won't have when this is done, all the love he has left in his heart to give her, until she melts against him and her head holds no thought of Chantries or chokedamp.

He wonders if Maferath kissed Andraste like this, before he sent her to the pyre. He wonders if the betrayal is any gentler, if he's the one who'll burn for it.

[shipcestuous]

Hi! Thank you for letting me find out Drifters (Gli Sfiorati), I'm Italian and I didn't know it existed lol. I really enjoyed the movie, and later watched an interview in which the actor that plays Mete says that his character has always been someone very logic and rational, and his love/obsession for Belinda is the only true thing that he experiences, cause he can't quite comprehend it. Just thought it was a really cute observation :)

You are so welcome! I am so happy that you decided to check out that movie and ended up enjoying it. I was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it too, but I’m just glad I know about it now. (Thanks again to @go-fumanchu for the recommendation!)

I LOVE that commentary from the actor about Mete and Mete and Belinda’s relationship. That’s not something that I necessarily observed so it’s great to get that insight from him. I really like what that says about how he feels about Belinda because it’s like she fundamentally changed him. It can definitely be said that he’s never felt that way about anyone before. I even wonder if it was only his feelings for Belinda that made him a “drifter”. Also, that makes more sense of why he runs from it and from her so much. It isn’t only that the relationship is impossible, it’s also that it makes him feel out of control, like he doesn’t understand his own feelings. I love it! 

Thank you!