#this time it's how they've both been fucked up by mages and kind of... don't really give a shit. and especially don't think they give a shit

[transmasc-tabris]

.

[physicsfox7]

You sly dog, you got me monologuing!

Why not?

So I've gotten back into FFXIV pretty hard since I tried it last year. A few friends really pushed me, and I'm enjoying it. Good story, good music. The combat still feels a little bit wonky, but I'm an old school FF player and this is my first MMORPG.

The best times are when my friends aren't busy and they can run dungeons with me, or we explore areas they've seen 100 times and as I explore this new place they tell me about it's history and memories they have of it.

The game is mindblowingly gorgeous. Every time I revisit Gridania and sneak back to my favorite perch at The Hawthorne Hut, I am entranced by the leaves flowing in the wind, the rain falling on a roof, or the ridiculous amount of stars shining in the night sky.

(I know, anyone who's played already knows this, sue me; I am sprout.)

A couple of weeks ago we ran the Alexander raids together, and it was an absolute joy to watch experts play and simultaneously nurture their adopted sprout. Yesterday we visited Ivalice, and I was able to fall in love with the FFT soundtrack all over again and see old friends.

The community has been extremely kind. When my friends are busy, or trying to find some peace for themselves (or hitting the new expansion hard!) and I am left to my own devices, I have come across almost universal support. New job class and running a dungeon for the first time? They'll give you tips, let you run at your own pace, and when you screw up? They pick you up, dust you off, and encourage you to try again.

An unintentional side effect of immersing myself in another FF universe is RP. And no, not ERP. Although that exists, I have not had an opportunity to explore it. (I'm 100x more shy in a video game than on Tumblr, go figure)

We go to a quiet bar, torment ourselves with exotic food that we don't get to eat and drinks that sound terrifying or delectable. Sometimes both. And we talk. We talk to each other, as our characters. Intricate backstories that span a whole game and four expansions, almost 1000 primary quests. These folks have spent years perfecting their characters story.

Now, I had no concept of how in depth this was when I walked into that bar. A simple question about where you're from can spawn conversations that run for hours, with everyone having an opinion on the country you're from. Just don't be Garlean. My first night, I was asked what I do for a living. I said adventurer, because that's a fairly typical answer. I was immediately swept under their wing, to be given tips on how to clear Copperbell more efficiently, what weapon I should be carrying, where to find the cheapest gear that will protect you and look good.

My god, the clothes in this game. Hundreds of articles for each portion of the body. There's a whole website dedicated to picking out the perfect outfit for your gunslinger or white mage.

The best trick? Have loving friends who send you the really sick Converse/Vans, despite your protests. When you push them for why? Because I wanted them. (For reference, decent boots run 30k gil on the market board, the Converse/Vans run 750k because the materials are hard to come by. Needless to say, I have run the last 28 levels wearing orange sneakers, and I look fucking good doing it.

So back to the RP, the original point of this post. Last week, I was sitting in the bar talking about places I wanted to visit (in character, I have already been there for the quests). Mor Dhona was mentioned, as it's the site of on of the most pivotal moments in the story: The Calamity.

When it was recommended to me, my character pulled out a worn leather journal and wrote it down. An innocuous but important detail, to make the immersion feel deeper. The journal was passed around, returned to me, and eventually put away. Not even a physical thing, it spurned a long conversation about the adventurer's life, and the trials they undergo.

Then, my brain said something to me a couple of days ago. What if the journal was real? Tangible, physical, something detailing my characters adventures as that happen, stuffed with "drawings" (my character can draw, I cannot. At all. I have an ink jet printer and an app that converts jpegs into very convincing sketches) and souvenirs from his adventure's?

Sounds a bit silly, but it would be an easy way for me to track the details of conversations, and giving me a little arts and crafts project, as a treat.

So I did it. I bought a (frankly overpriced) leather journal with a compass rose sewn onto the cover with black thread. Beautiful sturdy leather and crisp cream pages.

Then I set about bringing it half way to destroyed. A leather journal carried in the field, through the rain and rivers, into combat, through the snow and up mountains does not stay immaculate for long. My character has had the journal for about 4 months, so I needed to beat it up and give myself a head start. Scuff the leather, soften the edges, curl the whole thing so it never sits flat. Drip a little bit of sealing wax on the cover, put small punctures into the back and knicks out of the corners.

The pages? Some got the tea treatment, to try to age them. No dice, this damn modern paper is resistant to stains. Water stains are forthcoming, but I am an impatient being and already started writing in it. Then a revelation came to me.

I am an absolutely massive fan of FFVIII. Obsessed with it. I know the names of every song in the OST and where each song is used, I have the Lionheart necklace and ring, I have beaten Omega on multiple occasions for fun. Anyone who knows me know I am an FFVIII nerd, and I ain't sorry.

So when I was designing my character last year, the face has scar options. Well, what better choice than Squall's scar? I'll have some of that I said.

Well, my character is from a small, relatively peaceful fishing village. Where the hell did he get that ridiculous scar?! The first job he took, of course! But alas, he was carrying his journal with him when he was injured, and it seems it soaked up quite a bit of blood. Some recommended beet juice. I tried raspberry tea, cherry juice, pomegranate concentrate. Nothing. Oddly, the tea dyed the test page blue.

What time of the year is it? Halloween of course! So we buy some fake blood and I'll be damned if it doesn't look like the real thing. It stains the pages, and the rough parts of the leather.

Now, just 4 or 5 days later, it has a leaf from Gridania from the day my character arrived there, drawings of the aetheryte station, some of the people he's met along the way and some of the more impressive geographic features (the ones that coincidentally took my breath away), and even a Triple Triad card. There are plans to visit the Sea of Clouds and meet the Vanu Vanu, so we'll be tucking a feather into the pages. So many other things await.

This has become a (probably for you, dear reader, painfully) long post about my current autistic obsession. I am particularly proud of this journal. While I was inspired by another persons comment, the execution was all mine. So, having gotten to the bottom of this essay, either by scrolling or reading, I have but one question: Do you wanna see the journal?

edit: it will literally only take one person saying yes.

[summer-of-bones]

❓FAQ❓

❓Summer of Bones? Papyly? Sansgust? What??? Summer of Bones is the name for the combined events of Papyly and Sansgust, so all the information can be found in a single place instead of having to check out different accounts. Papyly is a Papyrus-centric event taking place in July, where participants choose a prompt from a bingo card to write for. The more they write, the more tickets they can earn, which they'll be able to exchange for a chance to win a prize. Sansgust is basically the same event as Papyly, but centered around Sans and taking place in August. Check out our About page here! 👉😎💀😎

❓What kind of prompts are there? We have 100 prompts in total and there is enough variation that all the participants should find one they'll enjoy writing for. Some are fluffy, other naughty, and we also have angsty ones. Popular tropes, a single word, detailed or very broad, we can assure you that you will get inspired!!!

❓Which ships are allowed? What if I'm not interested in any ship? For Papyly: Papcest, Papyrus/Reader, Papyrus/OC, solo Papyrus, or Papyrus' platonic relationship with his friends. The focus of the fic should be Papyrus. For Sansgust: Sanscest, Sans/Reader, Sans/OC, solo Sans, or Sans' platonic relationship with his friends. The focus of the fic should be Sans. AU versions of Papyrus and Sans are more than welcome!!

❓So no fontcest? No Sansby? Papgore? There are other events and ship weeks dedicated to or that allow other popular ships (fontcest, Papby, Sanster, etc…), and we would like this event to focus on showing love to the allowed ships mentioned above, so not this time, no!

❓If the event is 18+, does that mean that I must write NSFW content? Absolutely not! The event is 18+ because we mods aren't comfortable hosting an event with minors present, but that doesn't mean that we don't enjoy gen or SFW fics! So you can write SFW, NSFW, or even dark and fucked up fics during the event! Whatever the rating you choose to write for, just remember to tag everything accordingly!

❓I'm not good with words and I don't write, can I still join the event? Unfortunately, the discord server will only be open to participants at this time, but feel free to follow our accounts to get updates and see reblogs of the participants' works! We also have 2 dedicated AO3 collections for both Papyly and Sansgust, so you will be able to easily find the fics written for the event, as well as past entries!

❓What do you mean by 'bingo card'? On top of earning tickets by simply writing a fic according to the prompt they've chosen, participants will also get a bonus ticket each time a row or a column on the bingo card (where all the prompts are written) gets completed! So this is a collaborative effort to complete the whole bingo card!

❓How do tickets works? Each time you write and post a fic that fits the prompt you've chosen, you will earn tickets. The number of tickets you get depends on how many words you wrote. These tickets will be used in a raffle at the end of the event (see below). You can also get bonus tickets, but shh!! Those are secret!🔑

❓Raffle??? At the end of the event, the mods will calculate how many tickets each participant has earned, and then participants will be asked how they want to distribute their ticket into several 'pots'. There is one pot for every contributor who will offer a prize. Once all the tickets are distributed to all the pots, we will stimply hold a normal raffle with a wheel of fortune for each pot. Participants cannot win several prizes, so we will ask any participant whose name has been drawn multiple times to pick which prize they want. We will then pick another winner for the unchosen pot.

❓Who's in charge of the event? At the moment we have a team of 5 mods, Cognito, LB and MsMK (who were already mods for the event last year), and Mage and Skelebunny, our 2 new additions. On top of the mod team, we have 3 Reading mods ('rods') who will help us read ALL the fics participants will come up with during the event: Anjel, Ryu and Tomato. Please do direct all your questions regarding the organization of the event to the regular mods and not the rods! Find more about our mods here! 👉🫶

❓When you say that you are going to ID check participants, what does that entail? Do we have to send an ID somewhere? I don't really want to show my face... ID checking participants means that a mod will look at an official, valid ID to check if the participant is indeed 18+. The ID can be a state identification card, passport, driver's license, etc... anything that shows a date of birth. Any other sensible information (face, name, address, etc...) can be blurred or hidden, and once the mod has checked your ID, you'll be allowed to delete the picture from the convo on discord. All ID checking will be done through DMs with a mod (don't be afraid to request to be ID checked by a specific mod that you are comfortable with!), NOT in the event's server.

🖋️This FAQ is subject to updates 🖋️

[raayllum]

AU concept: King Callum

The assassination was successful for whatever reason and both Harrow and Ezran have died. That leaves Callum as the next rightful heir. How does Callum grapple with his enormous loss and also the new weight of the crown placed on his shoulders that he was in no way expecting nor prepared for? How does Viren feel about this and what might he try and do? What’s Rayla up to (is she okay?)? Claudia? etc.

- food for thought. >:)

King or regent Callum is something I usually don't engage too much in bc it feels a lil bit too much like displacing Ezran (and he's our one dark skinned character of colour in the main cast - also i Love him too much that thinking of him being dead-dead hurts my heart) however:

It would depend on where the divergence happened. Has he already met Rayla and they've found the egg, and Ezran dies to Runaan on the battlements? (In which case I don't think much would change, i.e. Callum would still leave to bring the egg home but now it's particularly heavy because it's what Ez wanted - and he and Rayla would develop a much more like, jaded but still ride or die kind of bond? Basically S4-ish Callum but with extra layers of grief and probably more anger toward her initially because it's gotta go somewhere, and then guilt because he does like her and there are moments of happiness, etc etc)

But in a world where Ez never found the egg, two alternatives:

1) Ez dies and Callum assumes the throne as the surviving heir. Not discovering the egg means he has no reason to not trust Viren. Callum refuses to have a regent outright (the throne is all he has left of his family and he desperately wants to feel in control) but it doesn't keep Viren from whispering in his ear or from growing closer to Claudia, even as the two mages are more aware than ever that if Callum ever discovers they kept the Dragon Prince alive, he'll have their heads. Thus, Callum walks a razor's edge of being furious with Xadia, probably too cautious to launch anything full scale but maybe being willing to seriously encroach on the border and send in minimal troops, just to test things out, and become a brutal strategist child king.

He never entirely loses his good heart, of course - but he's far less trusting (ironically saving him from falling to Viren's influence entirely) and far less willing to listen to said heart (again, like S4 redux but with zero support system). I think Opeli would look after him, but he'd resent that too in a way, feeling like she's treating him like a child (which he is) but very much feels like he is not, after what he's been through

Assuming Rayla is here, I think it could go a similar route as @zuppizup's excellent fic "purgatory" of her being unknowingly imprisoned before being discovered, somehow, or escaping loosely on her own. It would certainly be a stilted alliance to begin with and a lot of lingering hurt / anger on both sides, but I do think eventually they'd come to work together in an odd sort of "almost no one else is as fucked up as we are" partnership that becomes more jovial and benevolent over time

2) Ez survives but being young and reeling from grief, Callum becomes regent in an effort to shield him. This leaves Callum with one strong pillar and still the possibility of the egg being discovered (as Ez is still familiar with the tunnels) even if past the point it was found in show. This means the role of king is probably split roughly 60% (Callum) - 40% (Ezran) between the brothers and they become their own team, even if Callum may be even more over protective with no way to ensure that people wouldn't come back for Ez. Hence why he insists on being king-regent in his brother's stead, probably, and Ez is tired and unsure enough to let him (without thinking through the full consequences, maybe). This could lead to a rift as they get older as Ezran wants to acquire more power but Callum continues to be over protective. This also means Viren has significantly less influence and is constantly tempered by Ez and Callum's influence on each other, leading to more frustration and perhaps more back handed attempts to get rid of the brothers. Perhaps an imprisoned Rayla (or an older Rayla who missed out on the first mission, and has been sent to finish the job years later as repayment) could enter the story as a surprising protector? And having to put up with Callum's sharp tongue after years of learning how to handle things diplomatically, perhaps being more back handed himself in terms of getting information, etc.

Either scenario would bring Callum's snake boi tendencies out in full though, I think 👀

There's a lot of ways it could go and these are just my first thoughts, but I hope you enjoyed 'em! I always love a good canon divergence

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

you said you're holding yourself from going into details of your quizes dealing with an arm loss. can you elaborate on it here? :)

yea!! thank you for enabling me hfkdlsfjdl <3

will preface this by saying i'm working off of the fact that this is a high fantasy setting where heavy injury etc is way more common and also this is dragon age so things don't Have To Make Perfect Sense lolol

but n e way!

Gonna start off with June cos the Actual Arm Loss has much less impact on her. It still needs a lot of getting used to and adjustment in how she goes about doing things, and she does have times where she gets frustrated with how difficult mundane things are now, or with how slow the progress is, or with needing so much help.

It's the magic-y part that has the biggest impact; the mark's been there for a good 3 years, and her body had gotten used to having it there, so it suddenly being gone, especially after expanding so drastically, kind of fucks up her magic balance and drains her both physically and mentally for a long time. She also hadn't realised how used she'd gotten to intuitively tapping into the anchor's powers until she couldn't do it anymore, so that took readjusting as well.

Otherwise it doesn't take a big toll on her mentally though; if anything, she is kind of relieved to have the arm (or rather the anchor) gone. It's caused an insane amount of pain especially towards the end, and truth be told she'd seriously considered having it removed more than once, so in a way this being how she got rid of the mark is kind of ironic. But what's done is done, and she'd rather tackle the challenge than dwell on it.

As for the prosthesis, the first one she gets and main one she uses is basically a substitute staff -- or rather wand lol. Dagna designed it early on because June is used to bare-handed casting (don't do that at home kids), so she'd instinctively try to channel mana to a hand that Is Not There Anymore which was uh. messy. So! Simple device that lets her channel magic safely and accurately :) They've developed it since then to be more versatile and sturdy, but overall it's still light and simple enough to be easily strapped on and off and to not immediately break when she accidentally tries to lean on it. She does learn to control her casting better also, but on missions it's a practical tool to have. She does have some other simple, utilitarian prostheses for when she really needs a 2nd "hand" to say, grab or hold something, but rarely ever uses them unless she really needs it (too much of a hassle to put on and off & too exhausting to use for long) Full mech arm is being workshopped! Tbh mostly for fun than for "i need this" purposes, but since the Inquisition is still standing they have the resources to do it, and because June and Dagna (and Dorian) are nerds who don't back down from a challenge, they Will do it. Lots of experimenting with levels of complexity, materials, runes, magic, and how to make all that work together, and how to make it work in theory if surgical procedures were involved (neither of them are medics tho so uh. the results are questionable fdkjfs)

ok wow that got a lot longer than anticipated lmaoo so Ari under the cut!

Ari Does Not take it as well oops. Mostly bc Trespasser & the aftermath of it is already So Much (June is much more distanced from all of it but to Ari it Matters. A Lot.) and dealing with the loss of his main hand/arm on top of that is just Too Much, so with everything piled together rehab does not go nearly as smoothly. Doesn't exactly help that things he'd usually do to wind down like cooking or hunting or taxidermy are, well, hard to do now, so the stress and frustration pents up a lot and he's just. not having a great time. Luckily he has a good support system though and he does get better, eventually.

At least for Ari the magic aspect isn't as much of an issue. I do hc that the anchor gives non-mages some magic adjacent abilities, and the strength of its influence is more than enough to mess up non-mages mana balance as well, but it's not nearly as severe as it would be if he were a mage and takes a lot less readjustment (long term anchor fucked-up-ness notwithstanding).

Like June he also never gets a full on mech arm, and doesn't intend to. Ari isn't as close with Dagna and not as keen on experimenting, or has the time or brain space to invest in fancy gadgets, but he makes good use of utility tools to help him for things like keeping a clipboard steady or holding reigns, but especially for archery. The first solution was the mounted crossbow like in the epilogue slides, which.. works. It's not elegant and not always practical, but it does its job well enough and he does make sure to keep in practice with it. Later he gets a prosthesis with which he can draw a proper bow; with entirely different techniques he has to get used to, but he greatly prefers it. Takes a long time before he becomes proficient with archery again, but he's glad he doesn't have to give it up. Helps that at this point it is mostly recreational since he does way less field work over the years post Trespasser, which makes the limitations to speed and draw weight much less of an issue.

[booksandchainmail]

thoughts on the final? arc of Katalepsis

(this includes spoilers for the patreon advance chapters, specifically up to 24.2)

One: the setting change is an excellent idea. A big problem with any kind of long form horror is that eventually the fear wears off, and I think this is amplified in cosmic horror. There's only so long you can keep describing things as unknowable and indescribable and Wrong before it gets banal. But this final arc is neatly avoiding that by, after a few chapters to get across the weird, switching to a mostly metaphorical? pocket dimension? setting, where the horror can come from the twisted mundane.

And of course it has particular satisfying kind of full circle feeling: just as at the beginning of the story Heather is trapped, alone and restricted, surrounded by people sweetly, earnestly telling her to just behave and do what they say and not trust herself, and it's all in her best interest. Effective horror! And very satisfying to see how, even as she has to play along, she can do so without losing herself or compromising what she knows.

Two: I really like the character work going on for the rest of the cast. It's fucked up and disturbing to read, but very crunchy to think about. The way that in this world, everyone shows up as a mockery of themself.

The Caterpillars and Knights are easy, since they're pretty simple beings. It's spelled out in the text that the Caterpillars are explorers, but here trapped in a terrarium. And the Knights, built to be protectors, have been placed as prison guards

Twil has been... tamed is the word coming to mind. Cut down, placed in this pretty, preppy, meek upperclass respectability, robbed of all her roughness, and emotion, and aggressiveness, and confidence. This is a Twil who does not have a wolf inside her, who didn't grow up knowing she was faster and stronger than everyone around and utterly unharmable.

Evee is, I want to say, made a victim and only that. She's stuck back where she was as a teenager, her wounds still raw and bleeding, mobility aids removed, denied the safety and time that let herself heal, but also stripped from the drive (and Raine's help) that let her survive, just trapped with no escape from the woman who was killing her piece by piece.

And thinking ahead to the ones we haven't seen yet:

My first thought for Raine was to made conforming, but that's pretty much what's going on with Twil, so it would be redundant. Apart from that, I have two angles: one is Raine as she was before meeting Evee, aimless and drifting, no sense of purpose or meaning in her own life, on the outskirts of society. The other would be to pull from Raine's lack of an internal moral compass, her talent for and enjoyment of violence. Raine without having found people to structure herself around could be very, very dangerous, and either way (or both combined) I think this might lean into that. The caveat here is that if this asylum is trying less to shape them all in a way that is realistic but twisted, and more just to make them harmless, this would have to go differently.

Zheng, I think the obvious approach is to return her to being a zombie, just a corpse puppeted by a mage's will.

Lozzie, I think it will just mimic what her brother and uncle wanted to do to her. Treated like a child who can't make her own decisions, shoved into conformity... they've definitely taken her poncho.

Praem, I don't know entirely. Maybe she'll be one of the nurses, twisting her care into control?

Sevens is tricky, because I don't know if even this world can trap her. But if it can, I think it might have forced her into a single mask, which would be an utter unmaking of who she is. Alternately, if it's willing to give her more power, I could see her being made the puppetmaster of this place, with all her power and craft turned to a new type of story...

[nyaagolor]

i'd love to hear your thoughts on bandee&zan and/or dameta&meta for the duo bingo! 👀

Ohhhh man let's go. As usual I'm putting the images above the cut and the text below bc I don't wanna clog the dash

Zandee on the left, Dametameta on the right

So these guys perfectly encapsulate the two reasons I like a pairing-- 1. They have great chemistry and a really sweet dynamic, having the right personalities to help each other with what they need while still maintaining healthy boundaries, they'd be stable and pleasant and would reciprocally make each other better people by being together 2. It would be soooo fucking funny

Zandee (disclaimer, in my interp they're the same age): WHERE DO I EVEN BEGIN. I think they are simply little guys ur honor. I read the star allies novel and got to that one scene where Bandee breaks down in tears because he's so upset about Hyness hurting her and said to myself "wow. I need them to be friends immediately". Also I think Bandee sees Zan, a super powerful spear user, and finds her really cool and impressive and wants to emulate her. Hero crush babeyyyyyy. From that novel interp I got the idea that Bandee, MK, and DDD would take a vested interest in the mages' recovery-- Bandee sees himself in them and their undying loyalty while MK and DDD sees them as similar to their own subordinates / crew and is mortified at how they've been treated because they would NEVER treat their underlings like that. The mages take a while to emotionally / mentally recover from said abuse and get to a stable state but the people of Popstar are friendly to them the entire time, those three especially. I think during that time and after, Bandee gets to know Zan in particular really well and gets over that initial crush as he learns who she really is. When he stops idolizing her and she's in a more stable mental state, that's when they really start to become close friends, and after a few years I think they start dating Bandee is one of those people that I see as a sort of emotional "rock" in the cast-- he's observant, sweet, and level-headed, and I think that once Zan goes through cult deprogramming and mellows out she ends up really geling well with that consistent, patient kind of person. Then they do romantic things like complimenting each other and drinking juice and tenderly teaching each other spear tricks. I simply think they are both very stable and very sweet. Also Zan teaches Bandee how to cyberbully people and he teaches her how to redirect her anger towards apple mashing and not yelling at preteens online

Dametameta: DMK beats the shit out of MK in Amazing Mirror and as MK is flying into his glass prison, cut down by the sword of his own doppelganger, he realizes he wants DMK carnally In all seriousness though I think they have hate make out sessions I think they are two complete and utter freaks and they mesh so poorly and so so well MK lives in a place where he really has to hold back in a lot of his fighting, and even when he doesn't he has to remain chivalrous and friendly. With DMK all pretense is out the damn window. When DMK and MK talk or fight or do anything, the only emotion they feel is the homoromanticism of boiling hot rage. DMK allows MK to be someone that he otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to let out, and the two of them through their hatred engage each other's darkest desires and deepest secrets in a way that no one else can. They hate each other, but they NEED to hate each other because that fulfills an emotional craving for them On the surface any "relationship" they have seems really brutal and physical, filled with hurling insults and fighting dirty and just overall absolutely despising each other, but at the core of it all is a really deep understanding of one another that doesn't necessarily need words. Their relationship is built on bringing out each other's worst, but it's also a way for them to mutually Deal with that worst part of themselves in a way that doesn't hurt the people around them. As nasty and vitriolic as their relationship can seem to others, they'll always come crawling back to each other (Also I think DMK making fun of MK and taunting him to make him all hot and bothered is the funniest thing in the damn world and I want to see them curse each other's firstborn)

[anemeraldknight]

About Duke Cadash, part 2

okay so I know that this is supposed to be like an ask thing from here! butI only have like 3 followers on here, I just finished my second playthrough of Inquisition and I really really wanna talk about my Inquisitor :’)) so we’re doing this

what is your inquisitor’s name & race? - Duke Cadash, surface dwarf

what is their sexual orientation? - bisexual <3

what do they look like? (add screenshots, drawings, descriptions!) - he's a freckly ginger and has bright blue eyes, a very well groomed beard (he at least tries to redo the braids every morning), undercut on on the left side of his head but otherwise longish hair, scarring underneath his right eye and between his brows; he's like muscular and thick at the same time, I don't know a good word for it? but yea :) he's prettyy

how did they feel about being called “the herald of andraste”? - he uses it to his advantage. he doesn't outright deny it to people he doesn't really trust, only those closest to him know his real stance on it. he just takes being called the Herald in stride, doesn't hate it but isn't the biggest fan either

what are their religious beliefs, if they have any? - believes in the Stone because his parents had been cast out from Orzammar and they passed on their beliefs to him as well. he's not super into it though, more like a casual believer.

what is their opinion on the mage/templar war? - supports the mages and even though he can get along with templars if necessary, he often calls them out for their prejudices and bullshit. he believes that the war was inevitable and kind of necessary as well because in his eyes big change usually comes by, sadly, using harsher tactics.

who is your inquisitor’s best friend? - he was suuper close with Blackwall in the beginning because their humor was pretty similar, he was one of the first people he recruited on his own, and they're both pretty close in terms of age as well. however, as Duke grew closer to Dorian, they became best friends instead (and then eventually lovers). I'd say his real best friend is either Cassandra or Solas? because even though he disagrees with both of them quite a lot, they still somehow manage to get on pretty well <33 and they both have been there from the very beginning of this entire journey!! so it makes sense :) also, Duke is suuuuuper loyal, so when he found out about Blackwall :)) he fucking flipped and completely shunned him and never again took him into his party.

who is their rival? - uhhh among the companions? I don't think he really has one...

who is their love interest, if they chose one? do you ship them with anyone else/non-romanceable options? - DORIAN!! <333

warrior, rogue, or mage? - rogue, archer

how do they feel about the dalish? - he feels for them and wants to support them and work together as much as possible. he can see that a lot of them seem arrogant and standoffish on the outside, but he gets why that is, so he just lets them be and tries to work with it.

how do they feel about the qun? - he does not like the qun, to him it seems like a cult. he can also see many similarities between it and the chantry so.

how do they feel about the chantry? - he doesn't like the chantry BUT he does not shun them out loud because he knows that having them support him makes him look good to those who believe in Andraste and such, but also he doesn't wanna take away hope from those who find it in him during such a difficult time (even though he doesn't believe he's chosen in any way)

which demon is most frightening to them? - definitely the nightmare. Duke doesn’t get rattled very easily but that whole thing managed to get underneath his skin. plus! he’s incredibly scared of spiders and the nightmare created to many of them to freak him out, so the entire fade thingy was very hard on my poor Master Cadash :((

did they choose the qun or the chargers in iron bull’s personal quest? why? - the chargers. he didn’t trust the whole thing from the beginning and basically went along with it because he wanted to support the Iron Bull and because he could feel that something fishy was going on. also, even before the whole thing Duke got along with Krem really well, because he has this habit of taking younger people under his wing (exhibit A: Cole) so that’s also what kinda happened with Krem. ALSO! another thing is that Duke id very much against sacrificing lives in order to get something, so even if he hadn’t cared about any of the chargers personally, it would’ve just went against everything he stood for.

when are they the happiest? - when he's exploring the wilderness with his party, probably picking elfroot or iron lol

how do they feel about the mark/the anchor? - it doesn’t really cause him very much pain so he sees it mostly as something  that’s just there and helps him deal with this whole mess.

upon first meeting cole, were they afraid of him? - not really? he could tell that he was different but Thedas is full of so much surreal and nonsensical shit that this kid who acts a bit outside of the established rules of the society didn't really faze him. when he first met Cole during the attack on Haven, his first reaction was that “why is this young kid out here??? get him to safety!!!!” but yknow in a way where he could still see that Cole was perfectly capable of pulling his own weight, Duke just worries.

did they use the templars or the mages to close the breach? - mages

what was their court approval like at the winter palace? did they have any fun at all? - the only things that Duke liked during the whole charade was seeing Josephine and Leliana enjoying the whole thing AND getting to dance with Dorian. he got 100 court approval but he hated that everybody kept shitting on him for being a dwarf etc. also dealing with Gaspard, Celene, and Breala was frecking frustrating.

someone is encroaching on their love interest. how do they respond? - idk how to answer this. he knows that Dorian can handle himself but if the situation requires his help then he will get supper angry and protective

what is their favourite weapon? - Duke’s Bayard!! :D this really great bow that he got made

are there any creatures in the wild that they refuse to/are reluctant to kill? why? - nugs because to him they look like a rabbit and an old wrinkly man merged into one. so yea, no. he also doesn’t like killing dragons. the only proper dragon he and his party ever killed was the big one in the hinterlands but Duke didn't feel right about it afterwards so he never went after another again

what is their opinion on blood magic? would they ever use it, if given the chance? - to him blood magic is just a type of magic really but I don't think he'd use it if he were able to

what is their favourite place within playable regions? - interestingly, the hinterlands. it's because he grew up in fereldan is used to that kind of nature

did they feel suspicious of dorian upon first meeting him, because of his tevinter heritage? - a bit, yes, but it quickly faded

as a whole, how do they feel about tevinter + the imperium? - he hates the whole slavery business that they've got going on over there but Dorian manages to convince him that the imperium could be changed so he has hope for it. he doesn't blindly hate every vint he meets.

did they encourage cullen to continue taking lyrium, or to stop? for what reasons? - to stop because even though he’s not very close to Cullen and he has his issues with him, he didn't want him to be dependent of lyrium in order to work to the best of his abilities. because Cullen is in charge of such a huge part of the Inquisition, he needs him to be dependable

does it bother them to sleep in tents when on the road with the inquisition? - nope! Duke loves tracking and yknow finding and looking for stuff out in the wilds so he’s used to that sort of thing since he grew up in a naturey place. he had to spend a lot of nights in similar situations while he was part of the Carta too

are they an optimist, a pessimist, or neutral? - i guess something between an optimist and a neutral? I guess you could call him an optimistic realist. he rarely veers towards pessimism

if varric wrote a book about your inquisitor, how would they feel about that? - he would actively encourage it because it would be fucking hilarious to read

do they get along with vivienne? - nope, he doesn’t even recruit her.

are they afraid of anything specifically? - spiders

what was their reaction to the destruction of haven?

how do they feel about “the game”? - a bunch of nugcrap

are they especially protective of certain inquisition members, even those capable of defending themselves? - even though he knows that all three of them can take care of themselves and he trusts them to do so, he still worries about them the most. Cole, Krem , and scout Harding.

do they like their skyhold pajamas? - he hates the pajamas. but the outfits that he usually wears look superrr fly so he doesn’t mind those one bit

are there any insults they find to be especially offensive? (i.e. “knife ear”/”rabbit” for elves, “oxmen” for qunari, ect.) - I am not sure what insults a dwarf would get in terms of specific words. the fact that people keep making comments about the Inquisitor surprisingly being a dwarf does annoy him though

if varric gave them a nickname, what would it be? - either cherry because of his red hair OR the Archduke :P

do they enjoy being the inquisitor? - yes!! at the beginning, he's more wary of it, which of course makes sense, but even then he's just ready to take on the role of the leader because no one else will do it and he does have the mark so it makes sense for him to do it. as time moves on he grows to really like it! he makes a great leader and he knows it.

[bardicious]

Witcher Season 2 Spoilers

Onto more points.

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Main idea: I love this show and I realized I love Jaskier, but I also love everyone else. Random points and big points down below.

Ciri is downright adorable and witty, and it's been fun getting to see her outside of her run from Cintra. She continues to be traumatized and it's really fucked up how so many people come to fear her (what's kind of pissing me off about Triss because Ciri really doesn't need anymore of this shit - I'm not sure if Triss has a change of heart later but meh - I also get her feelings, but again, Ciri really doesn't deserve all this shit.)

Also Ciri's powers are siiiiiiick!

Yennefer, I love her, by far one of the most compelling characters. I honestly wish she had way more time with Jaskier and Ciri. Her interaction with Geralt was lovely, but not nearly in how I enjoyed her interact with the other two. And by the next season I hope she properly becomes Ciri's mother! :D

Geralt is Geralt. I like him, but I like him more as Ciri's dad, so glad he's not actively trying to run away from his feelings.

JASKIER, I JUST ADORE HIM, OKAY. Not nearly enough scenes for him, but it's understandable. Also the whump was kind of lacking if I'm being honest. But I enjoyed the implications of it. Genuinely wanted him to get beat up more. LMAO. (Hoping my fic writing peeps will have my back - it's okay if not... unless?)

Jaskier's SONGS. JUST OMFG. HIS SONGS.

That moment when Yennefer realized he was in trouble. 😭😭😭🥺🥺 THEY'RE FRIENDS.

I WISH JASKIER AND LAMBERT GOT A CHANCE TO TALK BUT YOU KNOW BLAME FIC WRITERS FOR THAT ONE. Also feel like fic writers got Lambert's personality spot on. 🤷‍♀️

I am probably going to be shipping Jaskier with Yennefer or Lambert, because a. both are hot b. I enjoy both of their personalities c. I want Jaskier to be with a proper badass d. I've never been a gereskier shipper really - probably just cause I'm not too into henry cavill? looks wise, I mean)

And uuuuuh, unfortunately Eskel is completely off the table, cause show Eskel felt.... meh.

Dara makes a come back this season which is great! And I'm so glad that the elves are siding with Ciri??? Literally the only people I am sympathetic towards. I know they've done bad too in some cases, but literally out of fear and constant abuse soooo....

Nilfguard, the Northern Kingdoms, and the Mage Brotherhood can go to hell.

Anyway! These were my ramblings. I imagine you've gotten nothing useful from this. Literally just gushing nonsensically. Main points of both my reviews, costume department did bad bad! Writing department had different choices than I'm sure the ole Witcher fandom won't like (Eskel change - which fair), but I honestly don't know or follow the other stuff so I really don't care, lmao. And so little whump for the bard! Which is bad! More whump next season! 😡(Glad that only the bad guys really got f*cked in certain cases, or people I don't know well)

PS. Lets not forget Jaskier's poor lute. And Roach. May they both rest in peace.