#so they just barely missed each other

[shivunin]

WIP Wednesday

Thank you for the tags @greypetrel and @demandthedoodles! It might be misleading to call this part of a WIP because upon editing I fear I may have to cut this bit. But it's too funny to toss into the void and it doesn't fit with anything else I'm working on at the moment, so here's part of a letter exchange between Varric and Fenris post-HLTA.

A series of letters passed between Skyhold, a dead drop on the border between Tevinter and the Free Marches, and northeastern Ferelden: 

28 Kingsway, 9:41 Dragon

Fenris, 

Hawke is fine. 

That’s how she wanted me to open this letter, so there: Hawke is fine. In my personal, expert opinion, I think it’s bullshit. She has that look about her—the one she had after Leandra died. You know the one I mean. 

I’ll let her tell you herself, because you’ll never believe me if I try to explain. I wouldn’t believe myself, to be honest. Her trip down the mountain keeps getting delayed, but officially she’s headed to Weisshaupt. She said you’d know what she meant by it. 

Don’t bother asking me why I’m the one writing to you and not her. I asked her the same thing and she wouldn't give me a straight answer. 

As for the Inquisition: I wouldn’t bother. Sort of get the feeling there’s too many folks here you’d rather avoid. The whole “castle on a hill” thing makes this place hard to sneak away from, I can tell you that from experience. We have good people here. They’ll figure this whole thing out. 

She refuses to stick around. Said she has a promise to keep, and she wouldn’t take any coin no matter how much they offered her. Between you and me, I tried to talk her into taking it—they’re good for it, and she might as well get something in exchange for everything else, but you know Hawke. She got that look in her eyes and said she’d have the loan of a horse and nothing else. Wasn’t really sure what else I could do. 

Just—take care of her, would you? 

Your friend, 

Varric

10 Harvestmere, 9:41 Dragon

Varric, 

You are mistaken. Where is she?

—F

15 Harvestmere, 9:41 Dragon

Fenris, 

You know everything I know. Would it kill you to sign your letters properly, by the way? You have no idea how many of these things I send and receive in a day. 

She left, is all I know. Didn’t want to be too specific for reasons I’m sure she’ll explain for herself.  I’m not keeping anything from you. She said what she said and she hasn’t written to tell me otherwise. I don’t know what to tell you, Broody. Maybe go where she sent you and wait. 

Listen, I’m set to go out on a set of missions in the next few days. They’ll pass on any messages, but I might not be able to answer right away.

Your friend, 

—Varric 

18 Harvestmere, 9:41 Dragon

Varric, 

Hawke was not there. Nobody was there. Where have they put her? If you cannot give me a straight answer, I will ask you in person. 

—Fenris

And finally, an undated and unfinished letter tucked inside a writing case in a Hinterlands encampment:

Broody, 

I can’t tell you anything you didn’t read in the first letter. 

Hawke left Skyhold in one piece. If I use the Inquisition’s agents to track her down, then they’ll know where she is. She explicitly asked me not to do that. So I’m not sure what you want me

The letter ends in a large, angled splotch of spilled ink.

(Originally, this was followed by a scene where Fenris is shaking Varric by the lapels. Despite being very funny, it didn't quite fit right, either. Alas. Someday.)

Tagging (no pressure as always, lmk if you don't want to be tagged, etc.): @daggerbean @dungeons-and-dragon-age @brother-genitivi @ndostairlyrium @idolsgf @gvnseylike @palipunk

[gods-perfect-idiots]

something something blood-soaked hands cradling your face something something

anyway here's the post btw

[bixels]

What did/do you like about Pharah?

Uh, gameplay-wise, I really love characters in shooters who rely on three-dimensional movement techs. Chaining together hover and jump to stay in the air for as long as possible and keep momentum is so satisfying, and picking enemies off from the sky made me feel like a bird of prey. I was a good Pharah main.

Story-wise, there unfortunately isn't much to canonically go off because Pharah is so underutilized and neglected. Her personality's pretty boilerplate "heroic hero" (she's literally inspired by Captain America).

But it's the crumbs/bits and pieces that I really latched onto. Pharah's a confirmed lesbian; her short story with Baptiste implies she harbors a crush on Mercy (fucking thank you.). She's biracial Egyptian/First Nations. She has major mommy issues, having grown up both admiring and resenting Ana. She's the bridge between Old Overwatch, inspired by the idealized heroes who surrounded her childhood, and New Overwatch. She's one of the only inter-generational characters in the cast; someone whose experiences span the gap, which is why I seriously believe Pharah would make a great main character.

There isn't much to go off of, though; she's a very uncomplicated character (she's a soldier for a private military corporation, lol.). But that just means she's a blank slate character, so I've seen fanfic writers run wild and create some really interesting takes on her. My favorite interpretation of her's a dense, herbo gym-bro type (a lot of her liens are about work outs, exercising, and playing sports) who's easily excitable under her seemingly self-serious, armored visage. We see how she tends to gloat and hype herself up when she's on a streak too, so Pharah definitely has a competitive and boastful side under her more professional and militant performance.

Now Mercy? Mercy is a real complex character.

[sunnymainecoon]

Horror's silly I guess..... idk sometimes I just want him to slam people idk

Sighs the man's a little angy don't judge him... Jesus he's ugly

[rcmclachlan]

Trademark: Top-tier Bucktommy writer + generally Cool + getting Buck pregnant

Thank you + thank you + thank you!

[cable-salamdr]

Wolfcat is sooooo funky to me esp now that it’s confirmed that Sora and Jordana were in school together and drifted apart. I don’t really see them as toxic yuri anymore and more as Jordana somewhat-joining the ninja and they are both confused as fuck about one another. Just exhausted from life and scared of AND for the other person. They have so many issues to fix between each other and themselves, and if it takes them like 10 years to actually get together then I am completely okay with that. No more toxic yuri only weary yuri now.

[sapphorror]

Y'know... A lot of ZaDr fics have them either gradually drifting into a less contentious status quo or establishing a deeply bizarre multilayered dynamic that is nonetheless very consistent and beholden to its own rules—which works, to be clear, because slavish adherence to the rhythm of their endless 'game' is already their canon baseline.

WITH THAT BEING SAID. I think it would be very funny to depict a ZaDr dynamic in which they're like, on-again off-again nemeses. As they get older theyre gradually forced to acknowledge the true depth of their mutual attachment, but instead of actually improving themselves in any lasting way or compromising the conflicting elements into an ill-definable state of contentious codependence, they just start oscillating wildly between periods of obscenely clingy allyship and devotedly murderous enmity. There's never an in between. They'll dedicate all their energy to trying to horrifically torture each other to death, until one of them gets uncomfortably close to actually dying or an external crisis pushes them together or they just get bored—at which point, they become obnoxiously glued at the hip until one of them relapses into anxiety about their ambitions or an argument escalates past the the point of no return or they just get bored. And every time they both Really Mean It, They're Not Gonna Do This Anymore, before naturally going ahead and doing it again

[palossssssand]

Reconciliation

Old dome squadmates Trito and Kinoga get together at Trito’s place to catch up after years apart and a meeting by chance on the surface.

⚠️Warning for suggestive content below + implied chest trauma

After several weeks of chipping away at this, the comic is finally done! Very happy to have rendered a full 7 pages of oc stuff. Please give it a read!!

read the full 7 page comic on twitter! <-please do not click if you are a minor and view at your own discretion, this link contains explicit 18+ content. Thank you!

For the lore, includes stuff from splatoon Octo Expansion: Trito and Kinoga were a part of an octarian military squad living in the domes, Kinoga being their squad leader that many looked up to and admired. There were 6 of them who considered each other to be their closest friends. Upon hearing about the tests from Kamabo Co. and the allure of the Promised Land, Kinoga wished to seek it out in order to find a better life for their squadmates. A difficult decision, since it meant leaving them all behind, promising to come back and take them there.

Kinoga enters the metro trials and soon realizes that the Promised Land isn’t what they expected, their hope crumbling when they encounter one of their sanitized squadmates Agara, who followed suit to the metros soon after. Kinoga narrowly escapes, eventually making a break for the surface, carrying the shame of unwilling to return for their squadmates with them (it’s justified, of course, there might not be an easy way in, they might get caught again, Agara is gone)

Trito enters the Metro not too long after Kinoga does, wanting to catch up to them, and an accident that occurs in a test early on results in Trito’s near sanitization, giving him his scar. Terrified, and realizing what happens to his fellow octolings, Trito is unable to return to his squadmates, not wanting to break the news of their loved ones’ untimely fates. He hides away on the Metro until the events of OE happen and Agent 8 dismantles Kamabo, opening an opportunity to escape to the surface. Unwilling to face the possibilities of going back, Trito takes his chance to leave, starting a new life and feeling that it’s for the best if he doesn’t acknowledge it, though he missed his friends dearly.

Years later, Trito and Kinoga run into each other on the streets of Splatsville by chance, and the implications of them both being on the surface and alive hit them, having to carry the burden of leaving their loved ones behind and finding out the truth, knowing the other felt exactly the same, not knowing the fate of their squadmates and not wanting to think about the possibility of them being gone. They have a tearful reunion about it, and set up a meet later, to sit down and really talk, and get into a brief argument when the topic of returning to the domes comes up. Trito’s in disbelief that Kinoga never went back down to check on the rest of their squad, wanting them to have been a better person than him, who was too cowardly to do so. Eventually they do reconcile, and end up at Trito’s place to hook up, where the above comic takes place :]

[psalmsofpsychosis]

anyway no ship, and i mean NO SHIP, does quiet gravity between two bodies like darthfett.

[lyricalchrysanthemum]

One day I’m gonna drop the full list of characters I enjoy but just never mention it (Roark and Byron are two of these)

[anaalnathrakhs]

i feel it's so fucking stupid and ungrateful but it still hurts a little when someone gifts me something i just don't like. i don't know. i know it's dumb and inaccurate to astrain that much meaning to a simple gift, but it feels kinda like they don't know me. i guess it feels like people don't see me, like a reminder that the person i reflect and the person i feel like are incredibly different.

[cent-scratchnsniff]

doodle dump

[snixx]

life went forward and the world moved on but I never got over among us (2018)

[faaun]

i feel rly sad and conflicted abt one of my best friends on earth but idk who to ask for advice bc i usually would have consulted her in this situation lmao

[hellcatchvalley]

the way that if any bh member died now it wouldnt even be a "oh no im gonna miss them :(" feeling but more so a "man they didnt even really get a chance to finish anything" feeling is.

[orcelito]

Thinking again about my plans for Vash and Knives in ITNL

Which I can't really get into the specifics for How I'm going to do things w/o going into spoiler territory. But I Do have Vash & Knives tagged on the fic for a reason. I set up in the first chapter that Vash is determined to try to save Knives too.

Which. That choice, as well as the entire basis for all of this, depends so much on that final fight in trimax. The one that was literally a scene away from where ITNL Vash went back in time. His mentality just a hair's width away from that...

At the end of trimax, there was reconciliation, however brief and incomplete it was. In ITNL, my question to myself was How could I induce that again? Under different circumstances, How Else could we get there? And that is the long-game in ITNL.