#solas/varric

[blarfkey]

My next fic for @equalopportunitysolas week! This time I got to write for Varric/Solas for the first time. I've always been a bit intrigued by them and now I definitely want more. Hopefully Veilguard will have a lot of opportunity to explore their friendship/situationship lol.

Rating: PG

One nights insomnia leads Solas to find solace in the last person he expected.

Ever since he awoke from Uthenera, Solas has been plagued by constant reminders of the damage he has wrought, but none so worse than the Exalted Plains. Even the name leaves an acrid taste in his mouth, so horrifically ironic that even Dorian points out the hypocrisy and Cassandra stays mercifully quiet.

To see such remnants of his home scattered around veil thin battlefields and tombs and one small struggling Dalish tribe makes his stomach churn and sleep proves fitful and sometimes impossible.

One night, with his heart racing and the walls of his tent feels suffocating, he slips out to the fire, even though he has already completed his watch.

Only Varric remains, scribbling something in a small, leather bound journal close to the fire. He spares Solas a glance before returning to his work.

“Can’t sleep, Chuckles? I thought that was your specialty.”

“Every artist struggles with their craft,” Solas says dryly.

“Tell me about it,” Varric mutters.

He ignores Solas in favor of more scribbling and Solas grows curious, despite himself. Never has he had the inclination to actually read any of Varric’s crime serials or the romance that had so enchanted Cassandra. But Varric also never passed an opportunity to tease Solas or coax him into a ridiculous conversation or tell a story and this blatant avoidance is  . . .

Well Solas is not going to say insulting because Varric’s attention irritates him and he’s grateful that something else occupies the dwarf’s focus that isn’t a bald joke.

Yes.

Read more on AO3

[broodwoof]

Happy DADWC Friday!

How about "verisimilitude - the appearance of being true or real" from your rare words list, for Varric/Solas <3

oh this was so nice to write fr, thank you!. featuring a very dissociative solas, set years after trespasser but no spoilers for it

@dadrunkwriting

585 words

He sat at the dwarf’s desk, fingertips nervously tapping against the wood. It had been years since he had come here, since he had agreed to postpone - never abandon, but always postpone - his goals. He tried to find some truth in the grain of the wood. “I’ve never seen a man stare so hard at a desk,” Varric said from behind him, but Solas had heard him approach and did not startle. He just kept tracing the wood grain.

“This happened over time,” he said after a while. Varric hummed, leaning against him. Since he was seated, the other man was able to press their shoulders together. “The wood grew. It changed. When it was harvested, it was shaped, worked, sanded. It finally became this desk. It has been in your home longer than I have.” He tapped it again.

“Yeah, that’s all true.”

“Is it, though?” He felt as much as heard Varric’s sigh.

“One of those days, huh, Chuckles?” He shrugged, unable to deny it.

“To place my hand upon it, it feels real. It is solid. It is cool to the touch, but warms over time. Reactive.” He presses his palm flat against it, feeling Varric watching him but not turning to meet his eyes. “But there is nothing underneath. There is no resonance, no meaning, no memory.”

“No magic,” Varric finishes the thought for him. Solas just sighs.

“No magic,” he agrees.

“I mean... we’ve talked about this. A lot.” Varric sounds tired.

“I know we have,” he admits. Some days are harder than others.

“Come to bed with me. Dream, if you want. Sometimes that makes you feel better.” He smiles thinly at the other man’s suggestion - it was well-intentioned, certainly, but he knew it would not help, not tonight.

“And witness the exact thing I’m mourning? I think not.” He did finally turn to face Varric, though. He had let his hair grow longer. There was grey in it. Solas wondered, as he had wondered many times, how many of those strands were his fault. “I know. I know we have discussed it. You have twisted yourself into knots trying to prove it to me.” Varric kept searching his eyes and Solas let him. “I am sorry. It will pass.”

“Has it ever passed, Solas?”

Ah. Right to the heart of the matter, as always. He bent forward until their foreheads rested together, letting his eyes slip shut.

“No. But sometimes, briefly, I can forget.” He felt Varric’s exhale as a warmth against his face. “I know you want more.” He said it apologetically, faintly surprised when Varric’s hand settled on his shoulder.

“I want you to be happy. I’m not here trying to win an argument, Solas,” the use of his name was a mark of Varric’s sincerity. “I just want you to permit yourself this. I’m real. You’re real. The wood is real. Even magic’s real, whether or not it’s the way you remember it.”

Solas pulled back just enough to kiss him. Listening to Varric trying to convince him again just woke a horrible, gnawing guilt in him. The man had done nothing but try to save Solas from himself. As maddening as it was at times, it was also humbling and touching. He barely separated, lips brushing as he spoke: “no sleep. No dreams. But we should go to bed.” Varric’s laugh was warm and thick, his hand squeezing Solas’ shoulder.

It was one way to make things feel real, at least for a while.

[bioware]

we have fun here in Thedas

[wepepe-draws]

The Veilguard companions + Varric Tethras

The crew who took the picture:

(Yes, it’s prosthetic arm)

[dailydadoodles]

"I'll talk to him guys!!"

[justanotherflemethstan]

the scream I screamt

[haverdoodles]

don't you wish to see her again? your hawke?

— (solas, hawke & varric)

.

everyone thinks varric is going to die (me included unfortunately) and he's my favourite character so this is extremely upsetting. to cope i drew some awful varrichawke angst meoww (my soul is in the depths of agony)

[enormousgrapefruit]

do i, chuckles?

[skyholdscribe]

infinitely funny that solas is this powerful god that was worshipped for centuries albeit against his will and commanded spirits and legions of ancient elves in a rebellion

is the same solas who allowed himself to be bullied non stop by inquisition companions who had no idea what he was. imagine being revered for millennia and then suddenly sera is blowing raspberries anytime he speaks, varric’s calling him “chuckles” after his feared mantle of the dread wolf, being subjected to inappropriate spirit sex questions and the skyhold joke that he doesnt like tea, which he deliberately plays into purely for the sake of everyone’s amusement. he was completely content to be the butt of the joke.

the relief from being seen as a god-general of rebellion and lies to an unwashed apostate hobo ... being in the inquisition truly must’ve been the best year of his life

[treviso-nights]

forget elgar'nan and ghilan'nain. forget the blight. forget elven gods. when THE cassandra allegra portia calogera filomena pentaghast finds out that solas killed varric first instead of her, what happened at adamant will seem like child's play. veilguard, a fever dream. that yappy lil dwarf may have been the absolute bane of her existence but he was HER bane. god rest his soul

[beetlebabe]

They are gonna give peepaw such problems I can tell.

[burningblake]

"this is beyond your comprehension"

[blockmind]

Wikihow: How to Keep Dread Wolves Away From Veil Rituals

[atrioventricularvalves]

OSHA eat your heart out

[grimrevolution]

x

[diesvitae]

Day 01: Veilguard Starting my Veiltober challenge on twitter [x] with a meme. I won't be able to do big illustrations because I'm working on comms BUT I WANNA DO THIS SO MUCH