#thanks tabris for helping me

[ddisco]

dreams

adventure time / twin peaks: the return / omori / yume nikki / homestuck / twin peaks / night in the woods / paprika / gravity falls / eraserhead

[aevari]

My art summary for 2024!

I am genuinely quite pleased with my progress this year! I've branched out into painted portraits, drawing more couples and can see some confidence and growth in my inking and my anatomy! This year I got to draw more fanart and create some new OCs which was such a creative treat - I'm so happy!!! 🥰 Rogue Trader was my first introduction into the w40k universe and I got obsessed with its rich lore. Created Lucinda von Valancius and fell in love with her and Heinrix's story. Replayed the Dragon Age series in anticipation for Veilguard to create a canon timeline. It was the first time playing Origins and it became my favorite of the series and games of all time to me. Milana Tabris has been awarded blorbo of the year because I love her (and Zevran) SO fucking much. Honorable mentions to Armas de Riva, my catboy 😼 and his romance with Lucanis (and Spite), my sweetheart Juleic Trevelyan who unexpectedly captivated me w/ how his romance blossomed with Dorian 💞, and to Beau Hawke who is the messiest gal stuck in a tragic narrative despite her good intentions. 💔

I also met some amazing pals/mutuals in both of these fandoms and I'm so glad to have met you all!!! <3 Also a big, big thank you to all of you who hangout and follow me (whether for my art or whatever vibes I bring to your dash). To those who like to see me ramble about my ocs I LOVE you. To those who support my art, leave nice comments/tags, reblog/like my work or help spread my commission posts when I open my comms you guys are AMAZING - thank you! And a super big special thank you to all the folks who have commissioned me this year!!! Especially my regulars - I am so, so delighted every time I get to draw for you! The love and support in my creative endeavors mean the world to me. I say it every year, almost every few months too, but I do mean it. I'm so grateful <3 2024 art goals I had in 2023 and plans for 2025 below:

Rebranded art handle. ✅

Touch 2022 wips I wanted to go back on. ❌

Balance from commission art with more personal art. ✅

Going into next year I STILL want to touch my 2022 backlogs lol and some 2023/2024 wips I have sitting in my folder. make my first enamel pin whosaidthat. Also I'd love to explore doing LIGHTING!!!! Overlay/multiply/etc etc save me... I've done some old pieces in the past I was so proud of and I can't figure out how to replicate that technique lmao. This is also the first time I can take on commission work as a leisurely thing than a necessity for bills (FOR NOW. LIFE FINDS A WAY.) so it'll be a refreshing take to get back into it in early 2025 :) Thanks again, as always, for sticking around!

2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | template

[inquisimer]

How about “ why is it so difficult for you to believe that you deserve to be protected? " for Tabris/Zevran

ty for the prompt Jacs!! some angst for @dadrunkwriting

wc: 602

-

Ariya sat on the floor of Valendrian's painfully empty apartment, determinedly failing to wrap a bandage around her dominant hand. Her off hand was dexterous enough with a dagger--it shouldn't be any harder to tie off a bandage. But it slipped through her fingers anyway, and a frustrated sigh through her gritted teeth.

The door creaked open, briefly shattering the suffocation of her self-imposed solitude. When it thudded shut, Zevran's fingers had replaced hers and deftly cinched the bandage around her knuckles. Ariya looked away as the heat of shame flooded her face.

"I just about had it," she muttered.

Zevran brushed a kiss over his handiwork, then tipped her face back toward his with a knuckle on her chin.

"I know," he said simply, allowing her that lie. "But you know I would not see your suffering extended if I could end it a moment sooner."

"That's better than I deserve." Ariya made to pull her hand from his, but Zevran tightened his grip and frowned.

"It's not."

Ariya sighed. Not this again. "We should--"

"There is an entire community out there that has their lives thanks to you."

"And just as many who don't!" Ariya snapped. She gestured angrily around Valendrian's cabin. "Our hahren is gone, along with Maker knows how many others. Taken, killed, enslaved--because I didn't get here sooner. I don't even know who's missing, because it gives me an excuse to be a coward who can't look at their families and apologize."

She yanked her hand away from Zevran and began packing away the medicine kit with harsh, jerky movements. He, of all people, was in no place to fight her on this. "I just--we need to go. Eamon is waiting."

"He can wait a moment longer." Zevran caught her by the shoulders, hands still warm from the sun outside. It seeped through the fabric gabs in her leathers as he slid them up to cup her face. "Why should the pain they suffered at the fault of another mean that you do not deserve help? It was not your doing."

"Wasn't it? I could have come here first. I should have come here first," Ariya bit out, "shem politics be damned. How many more could I have saved--"

Her voice broke and the tension that held her stiff fled with it; she let Zevran crush her against his chest.

"Not enough to satisfy you, I think," he murmured.

That was true, of course. Ariya pulled away from his gentle comforts, wiping at the corners of her eyes.

"And now I'm going to leave again. Walk away to deal with more noble shem problems when the people who need me are here." She clenched her uninjured fist. "How many more will suffer--how many more will die--because of that?"

She slung the med pack over her shoulder, just another weight atop the responsibilities she'd acquired over the past year. They bowed her back, and yet what choice did she have? The world, and time, and the Blight pressed on.

Zevran tailed her to the door, putting a hand on the latch before she could open it.

"That might weigh heavy on your heart," he said quietly, "but you should not punish yourself for failing to bear a burden you could not have known about."

Ariya's smile was brittle. She knew what he meant--but knowing, and accepting it, feeling it in her heart...those were separate things.

It was her injured fist that she clenched this time, around the strap of the med pack. The broken skin pulled painfully around her knuckles and her guilty conscience.

"Let's go," she said.

[squirrelno2]

I've been Officially Enabled thanks @what-point-is-there have a dragon age weirdo

the one, the only, the original blorbo whose fault it is that i got super into dragon age, Evura Tabris! I've made a lot of wardens (and finished the game for almost none of them shhh) but Evura is the one I would consider my "canon".

She's the kind of person where all the looting you do in rpgs is canon, because she sees no point in wasting things just because the person who had them before is dead (i mean. she's also a thief. living, dead, she'll take from anybody if she thinks they can afford to be taken from), but she's also generally very kind. So long as you don't give her a reason to kill you, like, you know, the city elf origin story where you get kidnapped by a noble on your wedding day and have to fight your way out. She kind of slaughtered everyone there, because everyone seemed to treat this behaviour as perfectly normal. when I say she's kind, I don't mean she particularly cares about killing or not killing people, I mean she gives to beggars and frees people in prison. To some people, this may seem contradictory but to Evura if there are different rules for the powerful and everyone else when it comes to laws, there should be different rules for how she treats them, too.

This also extends to her level of trust in people. Authority figures, especially humans, earn a range of reactions from mild distaste to (again) outright murder, depending on whether they earn it. Duncan received a wary respect because he was polite and respectful with elves in her alienage in spite of being human; Alistair got a wary trust out of necessity and his own self-effacing personality. She places much more and quicker trust in people like Morrigan and Sten, because those are people very clearly and visibly on the outside of society. Even when Evura doesn't trust a person, or thinks they're making a series of stupid decisions, she tends to build fondness for them rapidly so long as they don't do anything too shady. Every new person who doesn't treat her like shit for being an elf is someone she can ply with endless questions about their life and culture, and the world beyond the alienage she grew up in; that genuine interest in other people's lives combined with her stubborn insistence on everyone getting along "so help me or I will stab you" mean most people who work with her end up at least with a begrudging respect for her. More often, they're charmed by her whether they want to be or not (except of course for those authority figures she doesn't like. they pretty uniformly despise her and she likes it that way.)

She ends up romancing Alistair - I almost went for Leliana, but Leliana says some things about elves that fall under the "well-meaning but super gross" category and Evura was immediately turned off forever. They're still friends, but Evura was not about to spend her newly shortened life trying to romance someone who was going to need to Work Through Some Things about her. She didn't expect to care for Alistair beyond work buddies at all, seeing in him mostly a hapless human with a sense of humour that complemented her own, but the way he treated her as he realised/admitted his own affections made her feel like she could let down her walls. They came to rely on each other a lot, and Alistair is the only person in the group who Evura tells her stories to, instead of just asking for his.

The other person she's closest to (in a group full of misfits that she is absolutely enamoured of, let's be clear) is Zevran, who functions in her life as a brother figure. They're both elves who want more of a connection to Dalish culture than they have, in their own ways, and they feel comfortable joking around together and knowing that the other would listen if they ever felt the need to open up (this does mean. they very rarely open up to each other. somehow they still know more about each other than anybody else? it's all in bits and pieces and jokes.)

also Evura definitely talks Alistair into doing the ritual with Morrigan so they both survive, does not want Alistair to be king (because he doesn't, and no matter how much she'd prefer him in charge to someone she barely knows who betrayed her she also knows Anora is capable, and what Alistair wants is more important to her anyway), and her entire thing when she goes chasing after Morrigan is "hey we could just help you raise that kid!" - she is so pissed to hear that Alistair got to meet Keiran in Inquisition without her. She spends the rest of her life trying to figure out ways to cheat the Blight in her and Alistair in between making politically controversial choices that piss off the leadership of the Wardens because she does not at all believe they should stay apart from regular politics. She saved the damn world and you can bet she will leverage that to fight for elf rights and mage rights and anti-slavery work and so on and so forth. All causes are Evura's causes and she'll kick your ass if you tell her to ignore injustice no matter how many times you've been to Weisshaupt

[heniareth]

24, 12 and 6! If it's ok to pick more than one :) If not, feel free to choose what you like best!

Hello hello how are youuuu!!! Long time no talk!!! 🤩🤩🤩🤩 Thank you for the ask, I'll get right to it ^^ I'm gonna answer for my Dragon Age OCs if that's okay

OC most likely to...

6. to lose their keys repeatedly

Ciar Ainsley! They are a Dragon Age Origins OC, intended to function as a possible human commoner origin. As to why Ciar is the most likely one to lose their keys repeatedly... well, see for yourself with this snippet set at the beginning of the Redcliffe quest:

The chantry door flew open with a loud bang. Several of the townspeople flinched and jumped up. Someone screamed. The chaos died down, however, when the figure in the doorway immediately stepped back.

"Sorry, sorry!" they called out. The voice was clearly apologetic, but even so held a note that almost sounded like laughter. "So sorry, didn't mean to startle you all. Anybody want to help me with these ducks?"

"Goodfellow Ainsley," bann Teagan said quickly. "A moment, if you please?"

"Oh!" Ainsley looked at their hands. "Sorry. I just... I had to wade through mud. I'll wash my hands. So sorry, my lord!"

The door shut again, and once more it did so loudly. Bann Teagan stared at it with unmitigated surprise. So did everybody else; nobody made a sound. Only Morrigan let out a little scoff.

They are chaotic 😌😌😌

12. to sing when they think they are alone

Marelas Lavellan! He has a lovely singing voice, rich and warm (if not deep). However, outside of stipulated rituals and other ceremonial occasions, he doesn't sing in front of people. He was incredibly anxious as a younger man and this is a holdover from that time. If he tries to sing in front of people just for fun, there is a chance his voice might just lock up and he won't be able to get a sound out. When he's alone, he enjoys singing very much, and I imagine Dalish day to day life to be full of singing and handiwork that invites singing to help pass the time.

24. to drag the other's to the dance floor

Astala Tabris. She loves herself a good dance, and she loves dancing with people. It's fun, they're all more or less in sync, she can move around to the music without thinking about any of the many things that make life hard, and just enjoy herself. And she wants to share that with the people around her, especially those she cares about. So, want to dance? She can teach you the steps ^^

(Ask game is here)

[rosella-writes]

and here's the thing, I was looking at the prompt list and I was like but what if. what if I also sent one for Loghain & Tabris uwu

❛ you’re not getting rid of me that easily.❜

>:] thank you beloved. For @dadrunkwriting

Rating: T Words: 617

~~~

The Warden was naught but a girl, but she carried a familiar sense of indignant rage — it did not help matters that she still wore her hair in two braids, pinned at the nape of her neck, as the ladies in Denerim did. The rage — and the blonde wisps of hair coming free of her plaits — was as familiar to Loghain as the back of his own hand. 

But he blinked, and the remembrance of his own daughter was gone. 

Rosalie Tabris still paced before the fire. She had not removed the armour she’d met Riordan in, and it was stained with an echo of blood in its seams from her encounter with Loghain’s second in command. Loghain doubted that the rusty red would ever come out. 

“You heard the man,” Loghain grumbled. He turned his gaze towards the hilt of his sword, and picked at the leather wrapping it until it swung from his hip. “He plans to take the fall, but if he fails —”

“He won’t fail,” Rosalie snapped. 

“If he fails,” Loghain repeated, and he heard the same tone in his voice as he’d used in conference with Cailan, “we must be prepared. It must be one of us. Better that I make the final blow, if I am to be any further use to Ferelden.”

The fire crackled on the grate. Rosalie’s pacing resumed, and her boots clicked on the stones. “I could leave you at the gate. Guard my retreat, prevent them from following and cutting us off. That’s how your mind works, right? You’ve got it full of military strategies and —”

“No,” Loghain sighed. 

Rosalie halted in her tracks and glared at him through lividly gold elfin eyes that reflected the fire near her feet. “You’ll do as I say.”

He felt a sad smile crease his craggy face. “You will not be rid of me so easily.”

Rosalie’s jaw tightened. Her ears flicked back, one at a time, with the force of her anger.

“We will remain at one another’s backs,” he insisted. “I am surprised at you. You should know better than to give me a chance to repeat the same tactic I used at Ostagar.”

Her expression did not change, but the droop of her ears still betrayed her. “I had hoped,” she finally grumbled, “that you would, in fact, quit this particular field. It would be utter folly to kill off all Fereldan Wardens in one fell swoop.”

Loghain shook his head tiredly — his braids brushed his shoulders with the motion. He closed the distance between himself and the Warden with a few loping strides, then took up her hand with awkward hesitance. She turned that hand into a fist between his palms, but she did not jerk it away. 

“Against all odds,” he muttered, “I have grown fond of you. You are a better friend than I ever thought to find, and all despite the harm I have done to you and your family. Let me give you this.”

Rosalie’s glare was scorching, but her eyes were no longer hard mirrors of flame. They instead were oddly glossy and wet as they stared up at him from beneath furrowed brows. He gave her hand a quick shake of emphasis as he went on. 

“Think of your bard. Think of the flowers you have yet to give her. Think of the songs she has yet to sing to you. I would not deprive you of them, not when I have so little life of my own worth living.”

Rosalie finally lowered her gaze and clenched her eyes shut — two tracks of tears fell down her cheeks, cutting through the dust upon them like rivulets of melting snow.

[shivunin]

In the Quiet Dark

Zevran/Arianwen Tabris | 1,633 Words | M | CW: Mild/implied sexual content

I originally started writing this to go with this piece I commissioned from pinayelf (thank you again!) but I did not finish it in time to post them together. It may be a little late, but here they are in all their messy, sharp glory c:

Zevran sat on the other side of the campfire from Arianwen. 

She knew this without looking, just as she had known approximately where he was all day. It had been a traveling day, uneventful, and they’d made their way through the Brecilian’s outskirts with little trouble. This annoyed her almost as much as her new awareness of Zevran did, for she would have dearly loved the distraction of a fight.

Instead, she…itched. 

Nowhere in particular. Under her skin, perhaps; she did not know. She knew only that she had gone a very long time untouched and uncaring and now she could feel every inch of her skin where he was presently not in contact with it. There had been some barrier, perhaps, some veneer that had kept her from noticing such things. Now, she could not stop feeling the precise distance between them. Every scuff of his boots grated against her skin, every laugh felt pressed directly into her eardrums, and whenever she caught his eyes—

“Are you alright?” Alistair murmured next to her. Tabris dropped her fork, grimacing, and set the plate aside. It clattered in indignation against a loose rock and fell silent sooner than she would have liked. 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You’ve been scraping your fork against the plate there for minutes on end. Just thought I’d—don’t give me that look! I’m only asking.”

Arianwen stopped glaring at him and glared at the fire instead, which was a poor replacement for looking across it at Zevran. 

All sorts of people lay together all the time and still the world went on turning. It was nothing; ought to be nothing important. She certainly shouldn’t feel any different than she had when she’d woken up yesterday. Wen ran sharp nails over her forearm, but it made little difference; this wasn’t that sort of itch. 

“Ugh,” she said, slinging her leg over the other side of the log and walking away without any more farewell than that. She didn’t have the words; had left them all behind in Zevran’s tent the night before, it would seem. 

Her own tent was dark and cool, a welcome contrast to the fire outside. When the flap of fabric fell closed behind her, Wen pulled the tie loose from her braid and combed the plait to loose waves with harsh fingers. Disarming took some time, her knife belt set less neatly in its place than usual, the knives in her boots cast aside with an equal lack of care. Her armor fell into a dark corner readily enough when she was done. She retrieved her final dagger from it the moment before it thudded against the bottom of her tent. Wen tucked the scabbard into her waistband and loosened the ties of her tunic, as if doing so would help her breathe more easily. 

She had just cleared her plate, but she was hungry. She needed to run, to climb, to fight. She wanted blood, the thrill of battle, wanted to bite into—

“Warden?’ 

Wen hissed between her teeth before she could stop herself, the exhale of relief whistling and sharp instead of the soft thing she supposed it ought to be. 

“You seemed as if you may want company,” Zevran said, his voice low. “Do you?”

“Yes,” she said, short and clipped. 

Firelight painted her tent with fingers of gold and red when he ducked inside, but when the fabric fell again the two of them were left in near-complete darkness. 

Touch me, she thought, and leave. Her hands flexed until they ached, then curled into fists at her sides. 

“Why did you come?” she asked him. 

The words felt almost detached from her, for they were nowhere near the things she wanted to say instead. 

A pause. She could almost feel him weighing his answer.

“Because,” he said at last, the words very slow, “I wanted to.”

She didn’t see him move, but she felt his callused fingertips when they trailed along her forearm. For a moment, she thought she might cry out at even so little contact. All day, she had been thinking of this and now—it was like an itch. She had been scratching at the absence of him all day and now she had finally dug her nails in deep enough to find relief, but too deeply for it not to hurt a little.

Arianwen pressed her hand over his, deepening the contact and stopping the gentle motion at once. 

“Then stay,” she said. 

When she breathed in, the air was sharp and too much. She wanted; she wanted far more than was safe. Knowing that she could have this almost made it worse—because who was she, to want to be touched? Who was she, that she couldn’t stand knowing she’d already forgotten the way his bare skin felt under her hands, the precise texture of his hair—who was she? She did not know. 

A stranger, she thought. 

“If you’d like,” she finished, because even now she would not say please, and he laughed somewhere before her in the dark. 

“Yes, I think I would,” Zevran said. When he touched her hair, he was gentler with it than she’d been, the touch a caress instead of a rebuke.

“I have never seen it loose before,” he murmured. 

His breath skimmed her cheek–too close. Not close enough. 

“You still haven’t.”

“I did for a moment—in the light,” he told her. Wen let go of his other hand and he found her jaw with it instead. His palms were warm and rough and perfect. She vowed never to tell him so and pressed her cheek against his hand instead.

“How lovely you are, mi vida,” he went on. 

His lips pressed against her ear, moving so slightly that she almost didn’t feel it at all. Wen reached between them and found the leather tie in his own hair. It came loose with little effort, but the tug it took to free his braids seemed somehow momentous. She had half-undressed him last night, but she had been too distracted then to think of doing this. It felt…intimate, somehow, as Zevran seeing her hair unbound had felt intimate. 

“More,” she said, and he laughed again. 

When he answered her, he murmured directly into her ear. 

“More flattery? I am sure that I can think of a few such things to say, my dearest Warden, but I did not think you were the t—”

“No,” she said, impatient. When she turned them both and tripped him onto her bedroll, he fell so easily that he must have done so on purpose. Arianwen did not care. She cared only that she could finally feel him pressed against her at last. A relief, though it was relief that did not lessen the need at all. 

“More,” she told him again, and caught his laughter on her tongue when she pressed her mouth to his. Zevran felt just as good as she remembered—better, perhaps, because she had already begun to doubt her own memory. He moved with her whenever she shifted, tilting his head when she angled hers, tucking his fingers beneath her collar when her fingers trailed across his cheekbone. 

“Impatient,” he murmured when she abandoned his mouth in favor of his neck, his voice low and breathless. Wen grunted in response and nipped at the warm skin there. His pulse thrummed against her mouth, frantic as her own heartbeat and twice as precious. She traced the skin with her tongue when she was finished, soothing the small hurt she’d set against his skin.

“Perhaps I am impatient, too,” he said. She did not know how he had grown so skilled at kissing her in the dark when he had only a night’s practice at it. She hovered on a dagger’s edge, much as she had the night before; unlike the night before, she knew she would not run from this. When it was almost too much to bear, she twisted a lock of his hair between her fingers and found herself anchored again. 

Zevran’s hand slipped lower, lower down her back. The knife she’d tucked behind her shifted slightly. 

“You should be more careful,” he said between kisses. “Leaving your blades where anybody can find them. Someone dangerous could take it, yes?”

Wen nudged his nose with hers, searching in the dark for what little she could see of his face. The faint light flashed in his eyes, there and gone in a heartbeat. 

“But not you,” she said. 

After a moment, he squeezed her hip. His hand slid away from the knife, tracing the length of her spine instead.

“Not me, no,” he agreed. She could feel his voice now as much as she had felt him not touching her earlier. She wanted his words and wanted them to stop in equal measure, but silence was the easy choice. It had always been kinder to her. 

Wen leaned forward to kiss him again. If she shut her eyes very tightly, she could feel his body wherever it touched hers, could focus more completely on his hair wrapped around her fingers, on his fingernails where they dragged lightly against the base of her skull. 

If she had left them open, she might have seen the way he looked at her all the while—might have known that he watched her as intently as she had not watched him before. 

In fact—she did not think of her dagger at all.

But this was not something she was ready to see. Instead, she squeezed her eyes shut as tight as they could go.

Zevran rolled her onto her back several minutes later, the motion as natural and obvious as the moon rising somewhere outside her tent. When he set her dagger to the side, Arianwen neither lifted it from the blanket nor drew it from its sheath. 

[fiharri]

Happy Friday! For DADWC, how about "I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate." for Anders and your Warden?

Oooh yes… Going to use Fiharri for this — a Tabris rogue who uses she/her.

The Blight comes for everyone. Every warden, that is. Fiharri can feel it growing in her veins as the years go by, as it becomes harder and harder to hide from Morrigan. Morrigan wants to fix it. She doesn't know how — even with Kieran at her side, she doesn't understand it. Can't understand the way Fiharri wakes in the night hearing the call from below the Earth. Come down, down, down.

Anders has been AWOL since Kirkwall. She knows this. She's been technically AWOL since the end of the business with the Architect. Fiharri doesn't want to be pulled into politics, she wants a quiet life with her wife and son and to not constantly hear the echoing song of the Deep Roads.

Anders was one of her best students. But she's always been a shit teacher. She found him between camps of mages, pulling a cloak around to hide his face. She knows he feels it too. It's been nearly ten years since he took the oath.

"Andraste's tits, Fiharri?"

"It's good to see you, Anders." She smiles at him.

"The world must be ending if you're smiling like that." The haggard mage pulls her into a warm hug, and she can feel how skinny he is. At least in Circle life he had three square meals a day. She regrets that she is part of why he ended up the way he is. He would've left the Circle anyways, she knows.

"Only for us grey wardens," she responds and tugs a few of her curls from her face.

"It's about the Blight, then."

"The real one is over, thank the gods." She never swears by the Maker, not deliberately, but by a more vague set of gods. The elven gods? She wasn't even sure she believed in them when she was with her Dalish family. "But yes."

"There's a lot going on. More than the Blight. This is bigger than you or me."

"Anders." Fiharri looks him in the eye. "I wouldn't ask if I wasn't desperate."

"It's because you were infected before Joining, isn't it?"

Fiharri has suspected the same thing for some time now. Those months of pulsing grey veins hidden behind sleeves and what little face powder they could get. She was marked for death long before Duncan showed his face.

"I need your help. You're the only person I know who's a healer, a warden, and who I trust."

"It's not like I've got the cure for the Blight in my pack. If I had it, you'd be first on my list, honest."

"I'm asking you to come with me. There are parts of the Deep Roads that haven't been explored…out in the Wilds."

Anders stares into space for a few moments, and he says, "I don't know."

"That's okay." Fiharri wishes it didn't feel so bitter to say, even if she means it. "But we're both stuck with this. I need an answer before I go."

"I'll give you one. You can stay as long as you like."

"No I can't, but I'll stay for a bit anyways."

When Fiharri steps out of Anders' tent, he can see the lines of Blight peeking over the edge of her armor. He wonders if he has the same.

[nadas-dirthalen]

Hey friend! Can’t wait to play veilguard 💕 I have my Rook all planned out. She’s going to be very spicy and romancing the pants off a sexy Crow.

All of my DA characters have started off sassy and end up softened by the world, as opposed to hardened. My warden, for example was a spoiled, pampered noble who lost everything but learned what she was really made of over the course of her adventures. Seeing people suffering, feeling the powerlessness at her inability to help everyone she comes across, it makes her kinder. Because while she cannot solve the world’s problems, she does not need to add to the misery by being cruel.

Also turns out all she ever wanted was to be loved for the imperfect, sassy brat she is. And she finds that with Alistair.

At least she has so far, haven’t finished the game yet but my god Leliana and Z are really fighting Ali for her attention 😹

Already planning separate play throughs for them both!

Hiiii, new friend!! I'm so happy to see someone also excited for Veilguard! I'm also fairly certain on the Lucanismance - but I honestly think I will be romancing every companion at LEAST once, which is a first in RPGs for me! I've never genuinely wanted to romance every single one before!

Oh, that's so cool! I've always been interested to hear more about the Cousland origin. But my Tabris went through a lot of the same - except she started very against helping anyone else in the world, due to her origins as an elf, and found worth in her companions that persuaded her to step up to the role of leader of the party (and savior of the world, but, yknow, lol). I try and let one singular word guide my characters' choices when I myself don't know what they would chose, and my Tabris' word was freedom. It's what guided her choices in the Landsmeet (which made me cry lol) and also at the end of the game (which made me cry even more!)

I'm so glad you'll be doing multiple Origins runs! It is TRULY a great game, and in my opinion an excellent thing to be doing right before Veilguard, because I feel like so much of Origins' core story (not our specific choices, but the premise) is going to be super relevant in Veilguard.

Thanks for reaching out!!! Lemme know when you finish Origins, I'm curious about your thoughts! <3

[cloverlings]

I imagine having an Absol can be quite interesting, I've heard that they have sixth sense for danger and a desire to help. Is there any truth to that? If so, has it been an issue in any way? Has Tabris dragged you off on an unwilling adventure or two, for example?

@preschool-teacher-silas

Hello ! Thank you for the ask : )

It is very true That they can sense danger, and Tabris loves to help me and others ... It hasn't really been an issue in recent memory , But there have been a few times while hiking, she would try to lead me off the trail, usually because she sensed a young Starly had fallen out of its nest, or a tree that was on the trail was going to fall (which I found out afterward after trying to take the trail back). She does absolutely love helping so often when I Am cooking I will let her sit next to me and Watch, like she is "helping" me. She does help remind me of things because I am Very forgetful , and of course alerts me when a bad Storm might be coming through. Having an Absol is Very interesting but I love Tabris very much!!

[risingsh0t]

for the initial asks: f or e?

hehe thank you shell!! 💖

faye chapel: star trek. she's a xenobiologist and the younger sister of canon character, christine. always feels like she's in her successful sister's shadow and that's caused a huge rift between them... made even larger by the fact that faye decided to join the discovery crew when they permanently jumped ~900 years into the future. she struggles with coming to terms with her decision.

fitz: he was literally born like 2 days ago LMAO, so still a wip! dbd again <3 an android historian from the future. he's on the run from his creator, but ends up in the realm thanks to him.

elodie tabris: my dao warden. she's fiesty, she's full of guilt. everyone in the party helps her better comes to terms with who she is and what she's fighting for. and ofc she survives. she gets a happy ending with zev, so help me god.

estella hawthorne: my captain from the outer worlds. she's very charming, but also very goofy. she was previously a hacker, so it's still pretty new for her to be a leader and the Face of something. but she discovers she's kinda good at it.

[quitefair]

2, 3, 9, 16 for dragon age asks

Thank you Shy! 2 answered here!

3. Do you usually play as a warrior, mage, or rogue? Which class are you planning to try first this time around? Which subclass?

I've got a full set with the first three games; my Warden Tabris is a two-handed warrior, my Hawke is a mage and my Inquisitor is a rogue archer.

My Rook, who I've only recently pulled out of a dusty corner shelf, was always a mage. An ice-mage in particular, but looking at the skill trees and revising her backstory a little, it looks like she'll probably be dabbling in necromancy. Unless I can get her to be a pure ice queen.

Although I have been obsessed with what I now know are the Veil Jumpers and their fancy fuckin Rift-magic bows. These ones:

Who knows. I may make yet another Qunari Archer with Fade Magic. I have a type and I can't help it.

9. Which romance, if any, do you plan to pursue first?

In all honesty, despite the fact that I am so fucking AWOOGA over Taash, I'm probably going to go in blind and see what happens. I'm focusing more on who my Rook is going to be first, rather than fashion a character just to romance somebody.

That's what I did with Tashak, she wasn't even supposed to romance anybody, and I played my first full run with no romance. But then, she accidentally triggered the Josephine romance and I had to reject her.

Both me and Tashak after that were like. Oh. Ouch. That hurt. Why did that hurt.

(And then I realised later that yeah. There's something there.)

Anyway, Rohaan is going to focus on her job first before looking at who she's going to smooch. A career-oriented woman, that one.

16. What’s one crack theory you subscribe to (yours or someone else’s)?

Sandal Feddic is either a powerful spirit, or a god. But more importantly, he is autistic. :)

[secret-third-thing]

Get to know me game!

Thanks for the tag @born-to-riot, @sunshinebingo, @acourtofladydeath, @ofduskanddreams, @eudaimonia83, and @leafsandstarlight!!!

Top three ships: ....okay im going to be completely honest here... I do not consider myself much of a shipper. YES I KNOW. I enjoy reading the romance, but nothing really has a chokehold on me the way it does others in fandom. I respect ships, I write ships, but nothing really *speaks* to me at the moment. But if you're going to FORCE my hand - Zevran x Tabris (Dragon Age), Dorian x Iron Bull (Dragon Age)... and then?? um I am a fan of OC fics in general so I read all sorts of Character x OC stuff.

Favorite color: emerald green, navy blue, mulled wine (yes i know it's more than one)

Last song: King by Florence & The Machine

Last book: *stares straight into the camera* The Earl I Ruined by Scarlett Peckham. I'm trying to read some historical romances to help with one of my fics.

Last movie: A Haunting in Venice. It was just okay, but I had a lot of fun watching it.

Currently watching: All the Nancy Drew game play throughs by Gab Smolders.

Current obsession: Eris Vanserra? I guess? Mostly my own fic, if I'm being honest.

Currently working on: Blood in the Wine Chapter Five (and a handful of other things, but that's the tab I have open)

Country you want to visit: South Korea

____________

I am certain some of you have already been tagged, but that's okay. Also no pressure to actually do this.

@andrigyn, @bubybubsters, @thelovelymadone, @skrubadub

[anneapocalypse]

January Writing (+ a little Wednesday WIP)

Word Count: 6250

Thanks to getting sick this month, I did not get as much done this month as I'd hoped, but all things considered, I'm not unhappy with what I did get. I did some work on Harsh Light early in the month, wrote various FFXIV snippets throughout, and as February approaches, I have been writing a bit of Dragon Age again! This is the first week I've been back to my writing routine in earnest, but I'm feeling very energized and ready to do more.

I had been tossing around the idea of working on A Hero Sleeps in Gwaren in February (I may not end up with anything ready to post for Femslash February, but I can at least work on some femslash!) and as January comes to an end I've found myself excited to get back into that fic, and to work on an established project in general, so I think that's what's happening.

Here's a little snippet from this week!

Context: While Teyrn Tabris and Briala were in Denerim getting married, her human vassals have attempted a coup, and Castle Gwaren is currently under seige. With the help of an already-organized elven resistance, our heroines must find a way back to the castle to take command and put down the coup.

The first hitch was that the wagon would be inspected upon entering the town. There was no way around this. Bribery was not an option; if the guards were humans in the service of the banns, there was a strong chance they would simply pocket the gold and turn the elves in anyway. The resistance had a handful of people on the inside—elven knights sworn to the nobles' service, hired by necessity, Talith had explained, as the population of Gwaren had shifted more and more toward elves. They were trusted, reluctantly, to wield the sword for their liege, but they would not be trusted to guard the gates during a coup against the elven ruler. Unless there were an unexpected change of guard rotation, perhaps due to sudden illness. Talith had visibly perked up, to Briala's amusement, at the mention of poisons. "What will you be using? Not deathroot, I assume." "Nay, too bitter, easily detected," Alys had replied, briskly taking down phials and jars from a high cabinet she had unlocked with a large steel key. "I prefer a strain of deep mushroom for such applications… a moderate solution, we don't want them dead immediately, just taken ill, which is going to arouse suspicion as it is, so our agents will be administering the poison at the last possible minute, and your timing will be narrow, as it's likely to be discovered quickly. Our scheduled guards will sit down to lunch, fall ill within the hour, and our people will step in to replace them, just long enough to get your wagon inside. As soon as the commander discovers them, their cover will be burned, so Farron's got someone to extract them… hopefully." She had removed several strips of dried mushroom gingerly with a pair of tongs, crushing them to a powder with her mortar and pestle, then looked up to regard Talith and Briala gravely. "That spends two of our agents, and there's a chance they may not make it out. So, with all due respect, my ladies, do make this one count." Talith had swallowed. "Thank you, Alys. This means everything to me." "To us as well, my lady. It's our future hangs in the balance here, and we'll do what we can to restore you as our rightful ruler. There will be casualties, and I know you won't spend those lives lightly." Her eyes had dropped to the floor. "Still, I know nearly every elf in the resistance by name… I'd be remiss if I didn't say it. I pray the Maker give you swift and decisive victory… for us, as well as for you."

[danceswithdarkspawn]

So, for the ask! Three fics I don't think you'd write without enabling... 😈

1) A next generation fic following Ariel and Leliana's children

2) A hanahaki fic ending in Major Character Death

3)A coffee shop AU for the characters of Broken Bird

Oh lord this took so long I apologize. Ask game here.

First, I want to thank you for the third option, because it provided my partner and me with some good entertainment while we tried to figure out who would be what and what everyone looked like. I might actually do this one eventually, even if it's just a short piece.

Also loved the hanahaki one, I could see myself doing that, and I definitely see myself needing to research the trope and flowers and…needless to say it's a little more than my brain can handle at the moment, but I love it.

So that leaves us with the next-gen fic, and I have finally landed on something. I actually really like how this turned out so I'm likely to revisit it at some point to make it a full Thing™

555 words of young adult Aveline being Done™ and then her bestie shows up.

Aveline watched her brother Cassius bound up the stairs to the upper level of the ballroom, violin in one hand and bowstring in the other. She rolled the stem of her glass between her fingers  as he took their mothers in one-armed embraces; Leliana first with much enthusiasm, and then Ariel with more restraint. Aveline chewed the inside of her lip as she read the words 'you did good' and 'I'm so proud of you' on their lips, and she sank as far into the wall as her gown allowed her. Which wasn't very far; it was insufferably uncomfortable to begin with. And her mask was uncomfortably hot on her face, and if she turned a certain way something poked into her temple or tugged at her hair and she hated masks.

She let out a long sigh and looked away from them, searching the gathering of stuffy masquerade-goers. The night had barely begun and she was already done. Half of the fucking attendance tried to speak with her, but she didn't care much for the empty small talk of Orlesian nobility. Mostly they were curious about her brother, or how her mothers were doing, or how this, that, and the other was. Only a few thought to ask about her, and that was only after a heavy dose of fawning over Cassius' playing. It wore on her nerves.

She drifted along the floor, back straight and chin up—just as her mother taught her—craning her neck to see past the horde of people watching the ballroom floor below. One of the onlookers broke away from the line of observers. A young man, tall, dark-skinned and raven-haired, briefly met Aveline's eyes as he turned from the crowd, but he stopped, did a doubletake, and paused amidst the floor. Then a smile broke across his face, and Aveline couldn't help the small smile that upturned her lips. She motioned with a nod. He lifted a hand in answer before disappearing into one of the many side halls.

Aveline followed after him, albeit at a much more leisurely pace. She dropped her glass on a tray as a servant walked past her and discarded her mask in one of the many oversized vases decorating the place. She worked the front of her gown until it opened up a little, just enough so she could breathe without being indecent. The crowds dwindled to nothing the further she traversed the estate. Finally, she came upon a grand window, flung open with its curtains gently flowing in the breeze, and she knew she found what she was looking for. She bunched her skirts in her hands as she carefully picked her way out the window, out onto a balcony overlooking the estate's back garden. The summer air almost immediately overwhelmed her; hot and sticky and heavy and she huffed out a breath, smoothing her skirts back into place.

"Well, well—" Aveline turned at the honey-rich voice, finding that man emerging from the shadows. He, too, had discarded his mask, allowing the moonlight to run unimpeded over his soft features. His cocksure grin grew wider with each jaunty step he took. "Lady Tabris, I wasn't expecting to see you here."

Aveline sneered at him, taking off her snow-white gloves and throwing them at his chest. "Oh, spare me, Lord Montilyet."

[sketchyfletch]

20 Questions for Fic Writers

Tagged by @feralkwe (thank you!)

How many works do you have on AO3?

11. I also have various ones scattered on ff.net, as well as lost to time on livejournal and a graveyard on my googledrive. 

What’s your total AO3 word count?

77246. In terms of fic writing output, I’m one of those little pilot fish that hangs around friendly sharks. 

What fandoms do you write for?

Mostly Dragon Age and the Arcana mobile game. I want to write more Mass Effect and I’ve done a Yasmin/Thirteen Dr Who ficlet. I used to write a lot of stuff for Naruto in my teens. 

What are your top five fics by kudos?

A Little Tender Loving Care - Arcana. Smut. Giving Nadia a massage. 

A Little Stronger You Thought - Arcana. A sparring practice with Nadia gets a bit hot and sweaty. Not actually smut this time. 

Won’t You Cleanse My Soul - Arcana. And we’re back to Smut. The bathroom scene taken to a conclusion not in the game. 

Not So Clean - Mass Effect. Smut again! Shepard and Traynor share a shower. 

Alone At Last - Dr Who. After Ryan and Graham leave the TARDIS, Yasmin and Thirteen finally push past a barrier in their friendship. 

Do you respond to comments?

Yes. I didn’t used to, but I love giving energy back to the people who took the time to write. 

What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

Back in my ff.net days, Leliana grieving after losing the Warden to the Ultimate Sacrifice. It implies Leliana dying as well. The angiest one on AO3 is Let it All Out, with Hawke spilling her guts to Leliana over everything that’s happened since they last saw each other in Lothering.

What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

Probably Alone At Last. Most of my one shots have a happy ending but this in particular. 

Do you get hate on fics? 

I’ve been fortunate enough to avoid it, although I have had a couple of ‘helpful’ comments telling me what I should do with the characters next (which is a guaranteed way to make me go in the opposite direction, not least so the commenter can’t claim credit for the idea). 

Do you write smut?

Cough. See above. 

Do you write crossovers?

I sort of am between Dragon Age games as I like bringing characters from one game and putting them in the setting of another. I’ve also been picking at a ‘Shepard crash lands on the Wounded Coast’ fic which I’m not sure will ever see the light of day. 

Have you had a fic stolen?

Not as far as I know. 

Have you ever had a fic translated?

Nope. 

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

I’ve co-written a lot of storylines on forums, some of which have sprung out into me working on fics separately, but not collaborated on a fanfic before. 

What’s your all-time favourite ship?

That’s a tough one. I adore Isabela/F Hawke, and ship Leliana very specifically with my jabby Siali Tabris, but if I was to pick one it would be Korra/Asami. When the first season of Korra came out I made a post on tumblr commenting on the chemistry between the two and really liking the idea of them together, but stating that the network would never, ever let it happen. (Child of the mid-2000’s ‘bury your gays’ wars here.) Having it come true was huge from a cultural standpoint, and I remember sitting at the computer sobbing my eyes out at the finale. It was so important to me so for that reason, I think they’ll always been my OTP even if I never write a fic for them. 

Which now I want to. Dammit. 

What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will?

I really, really want to write more of Aliyah Hawke’s story. I love DA2 but Hawke as a protagonist never grabbed me by the brainstem in the way my Warden and Inquisitor did. I want to build her up some more. She has five chapters up on AO3 and I want to save her from the ashes. 

What are your writing strengths?

I’m told I’m good at distinctive character voices. I like to switch around POVs a lot during fics to give different perspectives on familiar scenes, and the way I write inner monologues is very specific to the character who is the focal point at that time. 

What are your writing weaknesses?

I’m not an especially funny writer. Some people have a real knack for turns of phrase that leave you rolling on the floor, and sadly I am not one of those people. 

Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I have done this a lot as Nicolette is either Orlesian or French depending on what world she’s inhabiting at the point I’m writing her, and in reference to her faceclaim also has Indian/Rivaini ancestry, so I’d sprinkle her speech with bits of whatever her mother tongue is. I’ve learned to be increasingly careful about this because a) a lot of free translation tools are absolute arse and b) context is very important. 

Favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I’m actually currently writing it. ‘I Cannot Fly, So Let Me Sing’ started as a joke of me taking my very pacifist wandering minstrel character who I have been playing for years and playing with the canon like a ball of yarn until I could justify making her Inquisitor. It has been great working her into the story and also trying to weave in other character POVs, but I am currently taking a bit of a break as I have two bridging/important infodump chapters to write before I can move onto the next bit and I am STUCK. 

Tagging @shenaniginstigations, @aithne and @zombolouge