#shianni zev best cousins ever

[vigilskeep]

Zev-Tabris is a cliche, but I love it anyway because Cyrion Tabris is the best dad, and him welcoming Zev to the family wholeheartedly as a son-in-law gives me life.

tabris family: [hugs zevran]

zevran: what is this?

tabris family: affection

zevran: disgusting. do it again

[sadghostdyke]

im writing an all-origins-survive dragon age fix it and here are the character bios!!

Damian Cousland- a sword-shield warrior who falls for Zevran. He doesn't understand a lot of what the others have gone through (Zev's experience as a slave, Adrian's poor experiences with humans, Kit's distaste for stupid shems, Miri and Lyanna's experience with templars, Naya's instinctive self-devaluing, Alistair's experience in the Chantry and his child abuse) but he still makes an effort to understand and learns a lot over the course of the story. He's very flustered by Zevran at first but makes a concerted effort to help him when things get rough. Post-DAO, he and Zevran go and take out the Crows and wear cool matching outfits doing it (it's mostly for Zevran's dramatic flair, because Damian would never do that on his own, but for the love of his life? of course). They settle down in Antiva, though they take a brief trip to the Free Marches to see the Amells and give them news of their second cousin. They help save baby Crows and adopt them. (Currently they have three kids, all Crow escapees.)

Adrian Tabris- a dual wielding rogue who finds himself in love with Alistair. He was named for his mother Adaia, and Cyrion often finds himself looking at his son and wanting to weep because he can see his mother in him. Adrian was sexually assaulted by humans when he was around fourteen. When he saw what was going to happen to Shianni, he leapt to her defense, wanting to save someone in the way he wasn't able to. He & Alistair love each other very much. Others would be upset to be only the King's consort, but Adrian is delighted that he can help the alienage with Alistair. He and Anora do most of the ruling, and they respect each other quite a bit- after all, Adrian is the one who introduced her to Shianni :) 

Kitranelle Mahariel- an archery-based rogue, Kit found herself falling for the mysterious Morrigan who also grew up away from humans and therefore has a more disdainful view of them. She has the vallaslin of Elgar'nan, and received it right before Tamlen died :( She used to be in a polyamorous relationship with Tamlen and Merrill that fell apart when Tamlen was taken, and she swore not to leave her heart unguarded again. She told herself that her relationship with Morrigan was just flirting, just kissing, just sex, until... it wasn't. Kit has quite a bit of trauma regarding humans, who took her father and killed her mother, and she's not prone to trust. The only one she ever particularly liked was Duncan, and he wasn't that kind at first either. She becomes a lot more open to humans during the Blight, and she's especially close to Lyanna. She did the Dark Ritual with Morrigan. Post-DAO, she tracks down Morrigan with the help of a hunter from the Brecilian forest (Ariane) and a circle mage friend of Lyanna and Miri's (Finn) and escapes with Morrigan and Kieran, who she spends the next decade raising alongside her wife.

Lyanna Amell- a Mage (obviously) focused on the entropic school and the Spirit school. She's been in love with Miri Surana since she was old enough to understand the concept. Their relationship is modeled a little bit off Steve/Bucky (aka the 'hoe don't do it' meme) and Lyanna is Bucky in this scenario, constantly apologizing for Miri being loud and quicktempered and just. All that. She wasn't aware that Cullen had a crush on Miri, because she didn't WANT to believe, because she didn't know Cullen had a crush on both of them. (Cullen likes Lyanna because she's a Good Mage, and she's so Kind and Sweet and he thinks she would actually like him back (lol she's a lesbian so no). His... infatuation with Miri is much more "i'm going to break her" and it's pretty obvious when you're looking for it.) She was best friends with Jowan, and Miri was best friends with Anders. She has a bad back from a punishment she received as a child when she hadn't learned how to be Quiet like a good mage (that incident is part of what led her to become really focused on being Good Enough). It never healed right, and she needs poultices to get through the day during the Fifth Blight with all the combat. Post-DAO, she becomes the Warden-Commanders of Amaranthine alongside Naya Brosca and Miri Surana. Post-DAA, she and Miri get married and run from the Chantry, sending Velanna and Sigrun letters as they go.

Miri Surana- a mage focused on the Primal school and the Creation school. She was stolen from the Dalish as a child, and the templars found her when she was playing with ink and with paint marks on her face in the shape of vallaslin (she wanted to have the marks of June because her parts were both craftspeople). She’s always wondered whether she’d be able to get them done someday, after learning of how they found her, and she decided to glamour vallaslin on her face (she wouldn't make it permanent because she was afraid she’d get it wrong and then she’d be rejected if she ever met a Dalish) in honor of her heritage. She couldn’t do it in public because she’d get punished for it, but she did it TONS in private. Anders was her best friend (they fooled around once, but Miri told him she was a lesbian immediately after and Anders was like am I that bad? lol) Speaking of punishment, Miri got punished for a LOT, because she never shut up. She has a broken ankle that healed wrong and so she needs her staff to walk sometimes. She was sexually assaulted by a templar and at one point entered an ill-advised poorly-conceived relationship with Cullen under the wraps before ending it when he got Weird and he's been murder-lusting after her ever since. Lyanna did not know about this, she just thought Miri was having sex with a templar. It's ... fucked up. She became one of the Warden-Commanders of Amaranthine with Lyanna (who, by the way, is the love of her life and that which grounds her.)

Naya Brosca: a casteless dwarf, dual wielding rogue, who ended up working for the Carta. She did it for her sister and her mother. Naya copes for her low self-esteem using humor, and her life really sucks. She has a complicated relationship with the Stone as a religion and hates the Ancestors. She fell for Leliana, who introduced her to Andrastianism, which broadened Naya's faith- Naya still believes in the Stone, but she also believes in the Maker. Her mother is a drunk and Naya was verbally and physically abused as a child. She tried her best to protect Rica, who in turn protected Naya from becoming a noble-hunter, which was her worst nightmare. Naya is a dual-wielding rogue but mostly she focuses on lock-picking and theft, because hey, gotta survive, amiright boys? She and Vyrim have a rivalry going on because Vyrim is an Heir, stone-blessed, and Naya is a Casteless, and they originally have it out for one another. Eventually they learn to trust each other, but there's always some level of apprehension between them because of their upbringings. Naya becomes a Warden-Commander post-Blight.

Vyrim Aeducan- greatsword-wielding warrior, the middle child of Endrin Aeducan, a very schmoozy kind of person, who got the Assembly in their pocket but never anticipated Bhelen's betrayal. They loved their brother Trian but were closer to Bhelen and believed him when he said "oh yeah, he'll kill you (and me, too)" because they grew up trying to protect their brother. That.... backfired. Vyrim is the oldest of the group at around forty, so they don't get into a relationship with anyone because UH excuse you, you're all BABIES compared to them. They have the dwarf tattoo that has dots around the eyes? i love it. They are prejudiced against the Casteless but learn Not to be after confronted with the reality of what happens against Casteless in Orzammar. They returned to the Grey Wardens and stayed there... for a time.

Those are my DAO ocs! i love them!

[aly-the-writer]

OC Interview Meme

Tagged by @hoehoehoelt. Pretty sure everyone I can think of has already been tagged so going to open it up to whoever wants to do this. :) This one is for my Tabris Warden, Van.

Van Tabris

1.      What is your name?

Van, but you can call me whatever you like. ;)

2.      What is your real name?

Evander Tabris, but really, no one calls me Evander. Except my Father, the Queen, Chantry Mothers, and Nate when he’s annoyed – which is frequently but besides the point.

3.      Do you know why you were called that?

I don’t know. Mom liked stories about heroes, I guess. My twin sister was named ‘Serena’. ‘Serena and Evander’ sound rather like the sort of stuffy names that legendary heroes would get saddled with, don’t they?

4.      Are you single or taken?

Happy to be taken. :D

5.      Have any powers or abilities?

Nope. None. Really, I am the most boring Warden you’ll ever meet.

6.      Stop being a Mary Sue.

HEY! Take your casual sexism out of here. There is nothing wrong with ladies who are powerful without having to bend over backwards to make themselves palatable for some snuffling shem asshat who has nothing better to do with his pathetic life than rain on other people’s fun. Nothing wrong with writers who use characters to express aspects of themselves so *rude hand gestures*

7.      What’s your eye color?

Hazel. Or gray. Or hazel. Or gray. Or hazel. Someone can never remember which one it is so it is in constant flux. Isn’t that beautiful?

8.      How about your hair color?

Ooooh, that one’s easy! I’m a red head. Kinda blond-red but still.

9.      Have you any family members?

Mhmm. There’s Dad and Shianni and Soris and Se………..I, uh, sorry. Serena isn’t around anymore. I also have a cousin that the Templars took away to the circle, Alim.

10.   Oh? What about pets?

I didn’t have any until Lute. Lute’s my Mabari. :D

Unfortunately, the traitorous hound found a proper Ferelden to adore instead. My own dog betrayed me for a Howe, can you believe that? Lute took one look at Nathaniel Howe and decided to love him more than me. D:

He also likes Sigrun better than me but I’m pretty sure that’s mostly about bribery.

11.   That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like.

The Blight, brood mothers, Rendon Howe, the Archdemon, Darkspawn, the Architect, the Blights, the Taint….uh…there’s a theme, but let’s not linger on the unpleasant. Come on, there’s got to be something more interesting you want to ask me about.

12.   Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

I’m a bard. :D I can play something for you – or I would – but someone stole my instruments. >:| Apparently it’s depressing and creepy when the Warden Commander wanders around the walls in the middle of the night playing sad music on panpipes.

13.   Ever hurt anyone before?

Yeah. Not that I enjoyed it but I grew up in the alienage. I was a Red Jenny for a while before I became a Warden and I was a thief way before I became a Jenny.

14.   Ever…killed anyone before?

Pretty sure that last question answered that, but, yeah, of course.

15.   What kind of animal are you?

Oooh, that’s easy. I’m obviously a magnificent songbird! Hear my sing! La-lah-la-la~~

16.   Name your worst habits.

Pffft, I don’t have anything terrible. But to prevent any of the Vigil’s residents from giving a list thirty pages long I will admit that I, uh, flirt under pressure. Usually at inappropriate times. I flirted with the Mother not fifteen minutes after I had used nearly the exact same line on the Architect.

17.   Do you look up to anyone at all?

Not really. I liked the story of Garahel but I never planned to be a Warden so I never really looked up to him either.

18.   Straight, gay or bisexual?

Those are the only choices? You’re missing a whole range of people there! I mean, I’m bi, but still!

19.   Do you go to school?

I mean, I studied a bit at the Chantry when I was a kid. That’s where I learned to read and write. I had a nice voice and was fascinated with the instruments. Mother Boann thought that having me learn how to play would keep me out of trouble – and it did mostly, I certainly got into less of it than Serena, just not entirely.

I stopped going after the idea that I should go to Orlais and study at the Conservatory was proposed. Someone had to look out for Rena and Soris and Shi and make sure that Denerim didn’t chew them up too badly. It was kind of stupid of me to think me sticking around would be enough to protect them, looking back on all that happened.

20.   Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day?

I always intended to marry a nice woman and start a family the way my father wanted me to. He wanted grandchildren, and I didn’t see anything wrong with that ideal – just wanted to pick my own wife. But then I became a Warden.

During the Blight I gave up on that dream…and then…I survived. I have a son, but I have never met him. I’m not even sure I can rightfully call him my son in these circumstances….

*shakes himself; laughs softly* I do intend to marry though – Delilah has been getting more and more plain in her hints that we need to set the actual date.

There’s an ongoing debate over whether we should have the state wedding the Queen wants me to as ‘Hero of Ferelden’ – a title, which, by the way, is entirely ridiculous, all I did was stab an overgrown lizard with a temper, that doesn’t make me a hero – or have something small here at the Vigil.

21.   Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

Of course. Just look at me.

22.   What are you most afraid of?

What are you, the Aegis? To answer your question, I fear losing those I care about. It’s not a very unique fear, but I’ve failed my loved ones too many times, and I have lost too many of them.

23.   What do you usually wear?

*grin* Well, everyone loves a man in uniform.

24.   Do you love someone?

Oh, uh. *laughs* Yes. Yes, I do.

25.   What class are you? (Socioeconomic)

I was born in the alienage and now I rule a rather wealthy arling. So I think the best class for me is ‘confused’.

26.   How many friends do you have?

*laughs* Oh, I have lots of friends. It’s good to have Friends to watch your back, you know. Little f and big F.

27.   What are your thoughts on pie?

Tasty. Also I need some now. I wonder if I can beg the cook into making some today?

28.   Favorite drink?

Anything that won’t kill me is fine. I’m really not that picky.

29.   What’s your favorite place?

My bed. It’s warm and fluffy and the most dangerous thing in there is a sleep deprived Nate. And he’s way more bark than bite.

30.   Are you interested in someone?

I should hope so. Nate – Nathaniel Howe – and I are engaged.

31.   What’s your bra cup size and/or how big is your willy?

Wouldn’t you like to know?

32.   Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

Definitely lakes. Actually more like ponds, small ponds. Ponds are nice. I don’t care what Nate says waves are not fun.

33.   What’s your type?

*laughing* No need to choose just one to enjoy when all of them are wonderful. Oh Maker, I sound like Zev. I’m engaged to Nate though so I guess ‘brooding human with a bitter sense of humor’?

34.   Any fetishes?

Oh, plenty.

35.   Top or bottom? Dominant or submissive?

Both? And depends on my partner?

36.   Camping or indoors?

Indoors. Andraste help me if I ever have to camp again – and I will, but I would really rather not. I love having a castle. It’s wonderful and warm and there’s no threat of a bear coming into camp and knocking it over and eating my leg off.

37.   Are you wanting the interview to end?

What? Not really. I love talking about myself. Well actually I just love talking, the topic very rarely matters. I’m terribly vain, you see, and in love with the sound of my own voice.

38.   Now it’s over!

Does this mean I have to go back to being Arl and actually doing my job? Because I don’t want to – wait, where are you going? Come back!

[october-rosehip]

OC Interview Meme- Ceilidh

I was tagged by @mocha-writes, who has tagged some of the usual suspects so I will tag... @madamsnark and @icylook, in case you need a timewaster.

I’m convinced all my art sucks lately so have a dollmaker Ceilidh. You can play with it here... http://www.rinmarugames.com/playgame.php?game_link=mega-fantasy-avatar-creator

1. What is your name?

“Ceilidh Tabris. It is pronounced KAY-leeh.”

2. What is your real name?

“Hero of Ferelden, Arlessa of Amaranthine, Warden Commander, Maestra Arainai? Pick one.”

3. Do you know why you were called that?

“Assorted reasons.”

4. Are you single or taken?

“Taken.”

5. Have any abilities or powers?

“All sorts. I can sew, I know how to cook, I'm decent at poisons... Ohhh you mean ways of kicking ass.” By her smile you can tell she knew that, and is messing with you. “I'm very good at stabbing things very fast, I get really mean when I'm angry, and I have a good relationship with the fade for a 'normal'. I drank Avernus' weird crap, too, so there's that.”

6. Stop being a Mary Sue.

“Unlike certain cuddly mages a universe or two away from me, I'm quite sure that term doesn't apply to me.”

7. What’s your eye color?

“They're green. Most people tell me they're my best feature.”

8. How about your hair color?

“Dark brown. Can't you tell? I have enough of it.” She tosses her mass of curls around, several loops of braid almost failing to keep them from escaping and frizzing out in all directions.

9. Have you any family members?

“Yeah! My family's huge. My dad, Soris, Shianni, all our adopted Crowlets; Zev's family now, and we have a daughter. Also, we found a cousin in Kirkwall. At least, we're pretty sure. He could be my brother, as similar as we look, but we don't have access to his records. But seriously, our noses, eyes, and eyebrows clearly grew on the same tree.”

10. Oh? What about pets?

“I still have my dog, and I keep a butterfly garden wherever I go. And, I mean, I have a sword with an undead dragon in it? Is that a pet?”

11. That’s cool I guess, now tell me about something you don’t like.

“Damn right, it’s cool. Anyway, I don't like politics, but I'm doomed to be involved in them, forever. I also don't like Chantry people looking sideways at my kid.”

12. Do you have any hobbies/activities you like doing?

“I love to read. I have those butterflies. Zev taught me to draw a little bit. We also have a slightly more personal hobby.”

13. Ever hurt anyone before?

“Of course. Often with much enthusiasm.”

14. Ever… killed anyone before?

“Did you notice that civil war we just had?”

15. What kind of animal are you?

“I don't do nice things to people who call me an animal. Just so you know.”

16. Name your worst habits.

“Other than fucking shit up for asshole humans? I... might have a bit of an issue with alcohol.”

17. Do you look up to anyone at all?

“All kinds of people. I didn't do any of it on my own, you know?”

18. Gay, straight, or bisexual?

“Bisexual is the best word, I think.”

19. Do you go to school?

“Aw, you probably think you're funny.”

20. Do you ever want to marry and have kids one day?

“I've done that. Though, I guess 'married' might be stretching matters, but like fuck I'm going to do that shit again.”

21. Do you have any fanboys/fangirls?

“I do, and it's weird.”

22. What are you most afraid of?

“Well, let's see... plenty of things. The world is scary. But I will tell you that I am NEVER going on my Calling and tradition can fuck itself.”

23. What do you usually wear?

“Ideally? Light linen or silk tunics and pants. Dalish leathers sometimes. Platemail more often than I want.”

24. Do you love someone?

“Very much.”

25. When was the last time you wet yourself?

“Other than when I was a baby? The beatdown I took on the way to Fort Drakon might have caused that. It's hard to tell. I don't remember it very well, but I was bloody, smelly, and concussed by the time I got there. That’s how humans deal with surrenders, for you.”

26. Well, it’s not over yet!

“What isn't, my life? Are you saying my time in human prisons isn't over? Because if that's the case, I should warn you that we're less alone than you think.”

27. What class are you? (High class, middle class, low class)

“Are you fucking serious? Oh, hah, you are. Well, I have several titles and a ton of money but I have no idea what half those forks are for, and my ears are pointy. Too many people in Denerim remember me as an assistant tailor, and in Antiva, it's complicated. I bought a house of assassins to save on the bloodshed, but that makes me technically a Crow, and most Crows were slaves. Yeah... it's weird.”

28. How many friends do you have?

“So many. Lots of people are decent if you just listen to them.

29. What are your thoughts on pie?

“Pie is useful. You can turn anything into pie. My favorite involves cheese and vegetables.”

30. Favourite drink?

“I like brown ale and I like chicory. Zev makes fun of me for both, but mostly because he likes to make me pretend-angry.”

31. What’s your favourite place?

“Hmmm... the beach, I think. Also, the roof. I like fresh air and I like people not knowing who I am, right away.”

32. Are you interested in someone?

“In what way?”

33. What’s your bra cup size and/or how big is your willy?

“All right, look, underclothing sizes are complete trash, and if you want something to fit, you have to have it made. I can help you with that. But if you want to know how big my tits are, they range from smallish to medium depending on if I've had enough to eat, lately. Being a Warden is hard on the grocery budget.”

34. Would you rather swim in the lake or the ocean?

“Ocean! The ocean is awesome.”

35. What’s your type?

“I like someone kind, and funny, and not too far above me.”

36. Any fetishes?

“Oh, tons. I'll try anything once.”

37. Seme or uke? Top or Bottom? Dominant or Submissive?

“I don't take orders well, that's for damn sure.”

38. Camping or indoors?

“I love camping. It was so strange moving back into a building after the blight. That said, I'm sure everyone I know is glad Zev and I have walls, now.”

39. Are you wanting the interview to end?

“Are you trying to see how far you can push me? Is that why you're asking? Silly you.”

40. Now it’s over!

“Hah! I win!”

[bumblewarden]

Ooo thank you for indulging me 👀👀👀👀

I feel you on wanting to find a way to include a living Adaia in the story. She can have such a large impact on the story despite being dead before the game even begins, and she's just surrounded by so many questions. But some pains are too great to remove from canon 😔

It does make sense that Astala would still be a warrior. Sometimes, the best approach is a direct approach, and i love to see Adaia doing her best to try to provide her with a martial education that fits with her strengths. Your Adaia has a past as a pirate, so i'm if she digs around, she could find someone willing to teach her. Hell, she may not even have to leave the alienage for that if she's lucky

The idea of Astala running over rooftops is particularly fun. Now she can have parkour date nights with Zev. If only he knew about Assassin's Creed. He would make so many jokes about it on those dates

And Shianni receiving rogue training just feels so right. I can't find where to see her coded class and the de facto default seems to be warrior, but she's already an archer. Nudge her a bit more towards stealth, and she'd really flourish

Astala really deserves a chance to meet her maternal family. There's gotta be at least one aunt or uncle or cousin with a similar temperament! She should get to feel that connection and belonging. Cyrion's got to know where she came from. I'm sure he could set her in the right direction if she ever decided to pursue this

Plus that drawing of Astala and her ol' ma is too cute! Hate to be the poor soul that went and gone after the wrong elves today! It's a fun irony how the shield brings the focus on Adaia in this drawing because you know as soon as that scuffle begins, she'll become as invisible as a breeze, and Astala will be all you see. Throws our unfortunate fool off their rhythm, you see, lol

And i had to scuttle to my computer before clicking reblog because what you said here reminded me so much of Oghren's lines for teaching the berserker specialization. There's only so much in a given character's control over what they'll excel in

As for your question about Novhen:

Adaia died late enough in his timeline that combatwise little would change. The most profound effects really would be just a little more training and a lot less trauma

Even if he did lose her as young as Astala did in her canon, i think he would still end up a rogue. Like you said, it's about personalities, and he's got an indirect one. He doesn't like to get messy, but he sure does like to obfuscate

Maybe he'd be a little more proficient in dual wielding than before, but he'd still be a rogue with a preference for archery. And actually, i think if he did lose her that young, we would circle back to being better with DW again. It's a funny little horseshoe

The bow requires too much training and generational knowledge to pull off without a teacher, so too young and he wouldn't have enough groundwork to teach himself archery. But also Adaia would want him to be well-rounded and daggers are much easier to conceal and move around with, so if she never died before the game, she's going to push him more to develop that skill once he has better grounding in the other one. Also also, their ancestral blade is a dar'misu, and it's central to their (DW) fighting style which she'd very much like him to be more comfortable with

In canon, he does feel a bit like he's failing her there, but even if he's not skilled enough to use the style in a fight, he can at least practice the motions outside of one to keep them alive. If he takes it slow, it's a good exercise on low pain days

But the real impact would be her continued presence on the story and Novhen's need for her approval being much more within reach. With Valendrian, she would resist Duncan's recruitment efforts until it was their only option. They may be old allies, but that is her only child he's trying to recruit, thank you very much. I also see her joining in on the break-in. She has to keep her family safe, and leaving Novhen and Soris to rescue the others alone won't fly with her around

She'd also come back around later in the game to be found sneaking out of the alienage and could inform Novhen of the circumstances around the lockdown early (but probably before the Tevinter mages arrive). She would also have to be one in quarantine rather than Cyrion because otherwise she would already be tearing down their doors. Also, it's more poetic within the narrative for him to need to save the one who taught him how to fight in the first place

Astala is a warrior, but i think you've mentioned your Adaia being a rogue, yes?

In a happier au where Adaia never died, do you think Astala would've still ended up a warrior in the end, or would the rogue training eventually work out for her if she didn't lose her teacher so young? Or of course the middle ground of ambush berserker is always on the table

Ah, a question for the ages. I’m still tempted sometimes to have Adaia come back to life (or be revealed to never have been dead) in my story, but her death is so imapctful, I don’t know if that would cheapen it. But I wish she was there. Thank you for the question!! This is very fun to contemplate >:)

I don’t think Astala would ever have become a rogue, no. She might’ve acquired more finesse, might’ve been better at stealthing or lying or made a habit out of running over rooftops, but she would’ve stayed a warrior. A better one, probably, but that goes without saying. She doesn’t lack dexterity by any means. It’s a personality thing (it also doesn’t help that she’s tall and lanky and will be lugging around a significant amount of body mass once the Joining and the three meals a day really kick in). She doesn’t like dancing around conflicts, and instead would much rather hit them head-on if there’s something to be hit. If not, then it’s verbal sparring, and there she follows the same principle.

In game, rogues rely as much on their dexterity as on their cunning to get the job done. I imagine cunning is a mix of being good at observing the fight and able to respond and adapt to it quickly. Astala is not good at that; she is much more comfortable when she gets to dictate the rhythm of the fight, when she can back somebody into a corner or knock them off their feet with a well-aimed blow. Having control over the fight in this way makes her feel safer than being on the defensive, and she doesn’t quite realize that there’s a third option which is to answer your opponent’s hits in such a way that you turn their actions against them. She’d struggle if she ever tried to do judo. She’d have much more fun in boxing.

I think my Adaia was kind of hoping Astala would get more into the rogue stuff later on, although I do think that, had Adaia survived, she’d have been more than happy with Astala being her warrior self and also might’ve found a very interested student in Shianni. So it would’ve been fine. Things as they are, it did bug little Astala that she and her mom were different in this (and, since she had no aunts or uncles around who might’ve had a temperament similar to hers, she often wondered why she was so different). It was fine enough until Adaia disappeared. After that, everything that made her different from her mom was terrible because she missed her, while everything that made her like her mom was scary because it meant she’d end up like her too.

So yeah. Astala would’ve stayed a warrior. Adaia would’ve managed to teach her to fight smarter, that much is certain. But apart from that, I think Adaia would also have found somebody who actually knew how to wield, idk, a sword and a shield and sent Astala to train with them. That way Astala could’ve shield bashed everybody to her heart’s content (in my first playthrough Astala’s proto-version actually did use a sword and shield).

Also, now you’ve made me think about the incredible duo that older Adaia and grown Astala would’ve been. Excuse me for just one second.

[ID: A black and white drawing of two elven women. The taller and younger woman is standing behind the older and smaller. She is looking angrily at the viewer and drawing a sword from her back with her right hand. In her left she holds a shield. The smaller and older woman is calmly pulling her sleeves up and holds a long knife in her left hand.]

(Someone's getting shanked!! :D)

Also, I'm thinking, what would Novhen's life have been like with Adaia around? Apart from a substantial lack of trauma, that is U_U'

[ladyofsnark]

@kelzen

Kallian and Alistair were having one of their arguments again and it had descended into them throwing scraps of their armor at each other as improvised weaponry. Petty insults accompanied.

“You don’t wear shoes! Even the mabari would wear shoes if he could! It’d be adorable!” The future king (Andraste help them all) nearly clipped his friend with his spaulder, but the throw ultimately went wide.

The warhound snorted.

“Oh, but he is right,” Leliana said conversationally. “It would be adorable.”

“Well, your hair is dumb!” Kallian snapped and she mimicked the hair in question by sticking her fingers up in front of her forehead. She poked out her tongue for good measure. Then she kicked her bracer at the young prince.

There was Morrigan’s distinct chuckle of amusement from somewhere in the dark, but it was quickly stifled.

Tensions had been slowly rising all over the camp, even between the two best friends who usually settled their petty squabbles with a quick game of sword, staff, shield, and then got on with business. But returning from Haven and seeing to Eamon’s recovery had them both so close to the edge the others were actually getting along better to compensate.

Even Morrigan and Wynne were peacefully seated together tending to the party’s stock of poultices and had not exchanged a cross word all night.

“Maker, your betrothed should be grateful the Wardens recruited you first! He doesn’t know what sort of hell he’s missing!”

Kallian saw red. In truth, it was her fault because she had lied so she wouldn’t have to go into depth about the reality of what she had actually done, but Alistair’s ignorance pissed her off regardless. So, rationally, she reached for an even sharper sword to cut back with. “At least my father wanted me!”

Sten, despite his size, and Zevran, despite having spent the argument taking shots with Oghren, were the quickest to react and pull the pair off each other before either could really do damage.

*

It had been a pretty innocent question.

“So, who’s Shianni?”

But Kallian was knee-deep in dragon goo and was pretty sure she had lost a braid to that last little one, so she wasn’t in the mood. “It doesn’t matter.”

“Seemed to matter a whole lot to the guardian... and you were crying--”

“I wasn’t crying! Just shut up, Alistair! I don’t go around pouring my problems in everyone else’s laps! That’s your job!”

So the fight was pretty distinctly her fault. Kallian knew that.

She knew it before she caught Zevran’s eye in their tent and even he was giving her a vaguely Wynne-like look of disapproval.

“Stop that.”

His brows lifted. “What? Stop what? I am doing nothing, dearest. I am admiring the graceful, dancer’s form of my lover. Can I not do that?”

“What did my ass do so wrong that you’re pinching your eyebrows at it in such consternation?”

“I do not know?” He waggled his brows. “Perhaps we should employ some corporal incentive until it reveals its secrets?”

Kallian had taken a seat beside him and casually reached out to pinch one of his nipples in reprimand for being difficult.

It didn’t have the effect she was going for. The assassin caught her hand and gave her fingertips a careful bite in return as he grinned at her. “So? You want to start?”

“Zev--”

“I mean, with me. We have already thoroughly punished Alistair tonight and earlier today and yesterday too. I imagine he will need rest before he is up for anymore games.” A pointed look. “Mi amore...”

Kallian let out a huge sigh. “I’ve been a bitch, haven’t I?”

“Dearest, you are beautiful, graceful, and deadly. It will take... considerable forces to remove me from your side.” Zevran pinched his fingers together and gave her a frank look. “But a bitch too. A little one.” He watched her for a moment and then shuffled closer; close enough to take one of her hands and press it to his chest. “My Warden, if this brings out such emotions... perhaps, tell me first. Practice your words with me before you go and accidentally cut out our sweet fool’s heart with your razor tongue, yes?”

Kallian couldn’t help it and laughed a little, but the corner of her eyes were already wet. She stared at the assassin beside her for a moment and then leaned down to kiss him gently. He tipped his chin up to accept the tender affection and raised a hand to tuck a stray piece of hair behind her ear as she pulled away.

“There isn’t any privacy in the Alienage, but when we had secrets Shianni and I told each other. We were cousins and sisters and best friends and... everything.” She sucked in a breath. “It meant a lot because we were troublemakers too and the other elves were scared. Shianni spoke out when we were mistreated and I... acted out. I made sure the Alienage got what it needed to live.”

Zevran’s lips split wide into a grin. “I wondered how you came to be such a cunning little thief.”

She smiled back. “My mother taught me everything. How to fight, how to get by... it’s why the Wardens wanted her.” She shrugged. “Duncan told me that he tried to recruit her before I was born, but that our Hahren asked him not to. It wasn’t a time of crisis so he refrained. Then, I guess, he had been keeping tabs on our family and that’s how he heard about me.” One of her fists clenched around the fur she had pulled over her lap. “The Hahren rescheduled my wedding to discourage Duncan from interfering.”

Her assassin stroked her knuckles in a tender attempt to cool her blood, but he was frowning too. “That... hardly sounds fair.”

“It isn’t. But the Alienage is just... afraid. All the time. Of everything. And the outside world scares them the most. And if you aren’t afraid, they’ll be afraid for you and they’ll lock you up until you learn better.” She let out hard, frustrated breath and brought his hand up to kiss it and press his palm to her cheek. When she was calm again, she went on. “I lied. Duncan didn’t just... recruit me. I don’t know what he was going to do. Maybe he was going to walk away again or maybe he wouldn’t have let my marriage stop him. It doesn’t matter. Something else happened...”

She told him then of the arl’s son stomping drunk into the Alienage and Shianni’s defiance and then the wedding and the women being rounded up like cattle. She pointed out the small scar that one of Vaughan’s rings had left on her cheek bone when he had knocked her out for spitting on him.

Then Soris’ arrival at the most exactly perfect moment and the look of true abject fear in the guards’ eyes when they realized then how utterly damned they were.

“I don’t exactly savor my kills as you do, my love,” Kallian said as she reached over to push some of Zevran’s hair off his brow. “But that day I enjoyed all of them. Especially killing Vaughan.”

The assassin pushed himself upright from his lounging sprawl before her and kissed her with a fierceness she hadn’t anticipated, but she returned all the same. He pressed his forehead to hers after he opened his eyes. There was a dark, predatory look in them that she had come to be quite familiar with. “As was your right,” he hissed. “Do not ever tell yourself otherwise.”

She smiled and kissed him again, lightly. “Nelaros came with Soris,” she went on. “That was his name--my betrothed.” She thumbed at Zevran’s cheek. “I don’t think he had ever so much as hunted a squirrel let alone fought off a trained guard and still Soris said it was his idea to come. I hated the idea of getting married so much that I wasn’t even that nice to him and he...” She looked down at her lap again. “Soris and I got there too late. The guards had already overwhelmed him.”

Zevran kissed her cheek and then her hair. “Of course he came. He was probably smitten the second he looked at you. I know the feeling very well.”

Kallian couldn’t help the very wet laugh she let out. “When we properly introduced ourselves, I was sitting on your chest with a knife pressed to your neck.”

“You see? How could I have ever resisted?” He gave her a lopsided grin and then reached over and slid his hands under her knees and pulled her close to sit between his legs. Hers were sprawled on either side of him as he wiped gently at her eyes to dry the tears glistening on her lashes. “Now, you will tell me how this bastard arl’s son died. Did he beg? He seems to me the type who would beg.”

“No. He was worse,” she replied. “He realized right away how much blood Soris and I were covered in and he tried to buy me. He wanted me to leave Shianni and the other girls there. For forty sovereigns.” She twisted Zevran’s braid around her fingers and then met his eyes again. “He was a pig and he squealed like one when I gutted him.”

Zevran smile was quite satisfied and he kissed her again with the same fierceness as before. “Very good,” he said. “But what of your girls?”

Kallian’s expression softened and then crumbled and she looked away. “The others were fine, but I found Shianni in another room. She was alive, but they hd tied her to a bedpost like an animal and her clothes were...” She gestured and chewed her lips. “I wasn’t fast enough to really save her either.”

Her lover made a quiet tutting sound beside her ear as he pressed his face into her hair. “No? And this Shianni of yours? You will return to your Alienage and find her curled in a corner mad with despair then?”

“What? No!” Kallian curled her nose. “That’s not like her at all! In fact, when we were on our way back, she was the one... she took the bow I had stolen. She led with Soris so that I could make sure no one was following us...”

Her words slowed as she let her own realization sink in.

Shianni had never just given into anything. They had come from the same stock, after all.

Zevran dragged his hands over her legs and tipped his head to look her in the eye again. “Perhaps it is time to listen to what that reflection was trying to tell you,” he said. “And, perhaps, not take it out so much on our Alistair’s hide? He’s too soft for such treatment.”

“I... you’re right. Maker, I should go talk to him.”

Kallian was gathering herself to stand, but her lover easily grabbed her around the waist and tipped her over onto their bed of furs. He pinned her there.

“What nonsense is this?” he demanded. “You get me flustered telling me of your gloriously, bloody beginnings that would put even me as a fledgling to shame and intend to leave me here to my own devices? How cruel, my Warden.”

Kallian was laughing and, rather feebly, trying to fend him off. “Shouldn’t I worry that that turned you on?” she asked as he mouthed at her neck.

“Hm? But think of it like this...” Zevran leaned over her, an elbow carefully poised on either side of her so they were face to face and he could play his fingers through her hair as he spoke. “Other men--lesser men--might be put off by a woman so fierce she would cut through a castle of guards to reach her goal. How dull their lives and bedrooms must be.” His eyes searched hers and a tender look overcame them. It was not often that he allowed himself to express such vulnerability and Kallian felt a knot in her throat. “But I wonder when you’ll realize I was never worthy of this place beside you, my Warden. Not that first night and not now.”

“Hey...” She twisted her fingers in his hair to keep him from retreating and forced him close enough to kiss him. When they parted and were still close enough to breathe one another’s breath, she continued: “I didn’t get to make my own choices in the Alienage, but I’m a Warden now and I choose this with you. Every night. Do you understand me?”

He sucked in a ragged breath, like she had just hit him, and kissed her again with none of the careful finesse that she knew him for, but a raw, thoughtless passion that pressed her firmly back into the furs. She shivered and arched her back as his mouth dropped along her jaw and then back to her neck.

“Alistair’s apology can wait,��� he hissed out as he was guiding her head back and pulling her shift off her shoulder to drag his teeth over the skin there. “I can’t.”

Kallian suddenly, really, couldn’t either.

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

a short scene post-Redcliffe, pre-Battle of Denerim. Catalina Tabris finally comes to conflict with Morrigan over an issue; ironically, not over the “I need to sleep with your boyfriend as part of a magic ritual” issue.

A day’s walk to Denerim remains when they stop late into the night. They will be awakened early in the morning and so no one speaks or wastes time pitching a tent. Morrigan has moved her bedroll away from the rest of them, as she always does, when the dog sticks his head into her pack and pulls out a satchel of herbs, and with a bark, soft muffled by the herbs but also presumably out of courtesy so as to not disturb anyone else. Morrigan stops him before he gets far. It seems a halfhearted teasing of her now, and he slinks away toward Alistair’s bedroll, and she turns back to her own to see Catalina sitting crosslegged on it. “Hey,” she says, fiddling with her necklace, still not meeting Morrigan’s eyes.

They have not really spoken since Redcliffe.

“Your warden strength will only do you so much good without sleep,” Morrigan says. Catalina’s elven eyes in the dark glow like some beast of the wilds, fixed impassively on Morrigan.

“You don’t gotta leave,” Catalina says.

Morrigan hoped they would not have this conversation. Against her better judgment, she sits, lowering herself to equal ground. “I am here now, am I not? I am not leaving.”

Catalina snorts. “Not now y'ain’t. But soon as we crack the archdemon’s skull, poof, you turn into a crow and wing off and then you’re a giant spider hiding with all the other giant spiders and your kid grows up sleeping in cobweb hammocks and doesn’t know that his mama’s human.” She looks at her hands. “If it’s not some kinda monster worse'n a giant spider.”

“It will be a child,” Morrigan says, “as any other.” She thinks. Mostly.

“Will it be like Wynne?” Catalina asks. “Like - thing in her head? Like that? ‘Cept it’s a sodding Old God and not a nice spirit.”

“No spirit is nice,” Morrigan corrects. “They are manifestations of attributes that can be corrupted or amoral as anything else may be.” It is something she has told Catalina before, answers to her endless inquiries about magic that she directed at Morrigan to avoid any taint of Chantry bias. It is something that Catalina has not quite grasped.

“Faith saved Wynne,” Catalina says. “Faith’s good.”

Her open-mindedness was something that Morrigan once appreciated, and still often does, but in times such as these she takes it too far into stubborn naivety. She bears the scars of human cruelty and continues to trust blindly. It is so frustrating and in some way admirable. If not for it, Alistair would never have accepted Morrigan, not when they first left Flemeth’s hut so long ago and not in Redcliffe so recently.

“As you insist,” Morrigan says. It is not a matter worth argument at this time. “If I were to guess, I would imagine that the Old Gods were much like powerful spirits, amoral and influenced by the will of those who believed in them.”

“And since it’s Tevinters who’re shit, Old Gods turned to shit too.”

“That is the idea,” Morrigan says.

They both sit there in silence. The rest of the camp is quiet. Morrigan does not know whether anyone is listening or not.

“But you still don’t gotta leave,” Catalina repeats. “You don’t… don’t gotta be like your mother, hide away from everyone.”

“And how much of what you do, how you have become, is like your mother?” Morrigan asks. Catalina’s eyes go wide and she turns her head away, looking down at her hands twisted together in her lap. “Could you so easily turn away from the path she set you upon? Is the person she raised you to be not who you are?”

“S'different. Nothing ‘bout being alone all my life but for my child.”

“And if I told you that is a life I am okay with living?”

“I ain’t okay with you living like that,” Catalina says, staring sharply up at Morrigan again. “You gonna tell me honestly? Really? After all this you want to go back to that life?”

“And what do you propose I do instead?” Morrigan snaps. This is a moment when she does not appreciate Catalina’s stubborn naivety. She should learn when to let go of people. Of Morrigan. “Do you truly think that this is the life that we - that you - shall continue to live after the blight? You do not think that Leliana will return to a cloister, Zevran to Antiva, Sten to Par Vollen, Wynne to her Circle? They shall not stay with you. Why can you not let me go as you will them?”

Catalina frowns. “Haven’t really talked about 'after,’ an’ they wouldn’t be talking 'live away from society an’ everyone and never see anyone again ever’ like y'are.”

“Society is full of Chantry influenced fools who would never be so accepting of anything I do as you are,” Morrigan says. “How do you -”

“Morri,” Catalina sighs.

Morrigan hates it - hates her, when she says her name like that. Morri, her name truncated like a child’s speech, in the same way that Catalina called her cousin in the alienage Anni rather than Shianni, the same way that everyone in the alienage called her Cata. It is the way that she says Zev and Lel, something so familiar and familial, far too affectionate for Morrigan to easily become used to. She wishes that she had not become used to it. She should have held her distance.

“How do you propose that I keep myself and the child safe from the Templars?” Morrigan asks, resuming the thought after too long of a hesitation. She can see that Catalina looks triumphant, like Morrigan’s silence was wavering resolve. “What would you have me do, live in Denerim and raise the king’s bastard child in the shadow of his palace, living as his secret mistress behind the throne in the same manner as you yourself plan to live?”

Catalina flinches. Morrigan swallows the small stab in her heart. If Catalina says, you know what, fuck you for that, bye, and walks away from this conversation, it will be so much easier. She will let Morrigan leave without protest if she hates her.

“Grey Warden mages can live free of Templars,” Catalina says. She does not remark further upon the jab, but she closes her eyes like she is still struggling with the sting of it. “I tell 'em you’re with me, with the wardens, and they leave you alone.”

“I will live in no one’s debt,” Morrigan says, raising her head higher, trying to glare down at Catalina as best she can. “I will ask no one to protect me.”

“Wouldn’t be a debt. We’d be even, if you save me and Alistair from the archdemon, and we keep the Templars away, it’d be fair, no one owes anything…” She looks at Morrigan with wide eyes, a plea. “You can’t live all on your own.”

“I can and I shall,” Morrigan says sternly. “And you shall not follow,” she repeats. “Ever.”

Catalina shakes her head. “Can’t promise that, Morri.”

You are a stubborn fool, Morrigan wants to say, but to criticize Catalina only makes her double down on whatever decision she has made. She does not let go. She will not, and judging by the look on her face through the dark, a kind of sadness that Morrigan has barely seen matched, there is no way for Morrigan to do as she must without breaking her friend’s heart.

“Don’t gotta be like this,” Catalina says, and Morrigan wonders if the first word that she has dropped from her sentence is you or it. You do not have to be this way or It does not have to be this way.

But either way - “This is how it has to be,” Morrigan says. Catalina shakes her head but does not lodge another verbal protest. She looks tired suddenly, so tired, and Morrigan does not want her to fall asleep right here. She would have to find and use Catalina’s bedroll instead of her own, and Catalina’s most likely smells of dog. She almost says, mostly because she is sure that it would get Catalina to concede, I am sorry, but she bites her tongue on the apology. She has never made one and she will not begin now. “Do not waste your energy fighting this battle that you cannot win. You must save it for the coming battles that we must win.”

Catalina snorts, blowing strands of hair out of her face, but she stands without another word and walks away. Morrigan watches her fade into the darkness. She will try again tomorrow, undoubtedly. She will force Morrigan to disappear without a goodbye as soon as the dust of the battle settles or else be trapped in more arguments such as this forever. Maybe that, to vanish without a word, will finally make Catalina hate Morrigan enough to let her go.