#thoughts are brosca/leliana

[ustalav]

see I’ve been thinking about doing an “oops all lesbians” da playthrough for like a year now……. And I wanna achievement hunt the games LMAO so I should just goooo for it bc the leliana romance is one of the origins achievements I need lolll

[merrils]

having thoughts for my 2nd worldstate for da ...... warrior reaver tabris, red blood mage hawke and dual wielding cadash... Thinking Thoughts

[trulycertain]

Tradition

2.5k, f!Brosca/Alistair, Origins era. Featuring my Nat Brosca from some of my other stories, but it stands on its own and there have been some little characterisation changes over the years. Discussions of sex work and dwarf caste jerkishness within. AO3 link

Nat tries, "So I was thinking… what Leliana and Zevran were talking about, with the sisters." It's just easier to ask Alistair. Leliana's had to put up with enough of Zev's poking. And what can she say, it's this weird habit that formed right from Ostagar - Hey, big chatty human, tell me about weird human shit, and he always seemed happy to explain, like he was surprised to be asked. Surprised someone thought he knew anything, which always seems strange to her, because he clearly knows a bunch. So now she has a giant friend to ask about human stuff. Not much else to do sometimes, on the road.

"Mm-hmm." Alistair looks at her sidelong.

"Is that a human Chantry thing? Why do they care so much if you…?" She makes a tiny little hip-thrust movement.

He blinks and tries not to stare at that, and his ears have gone pink. Hard to see if you're squinting up at him through the sunlight, but definitely there. "Well, they're meant to be pledged to the Maker. Almost a kind of marriage. It stops you getting distracted by… baser matters." He raises a brow, voice turning wry. "So they say. But I've heard bored brothers."

"So they're only meant to screw the Maker?"

"That is…" He rubs at his forehead, voice wavering the way it does when he can't decide if he's horrified or about to crack up. "That is not how I'd put it. There's no, uh…" He still hesitates, like a Chantry sister might jump out of a bush and smack his knuckles just for saying screwing. "It's not a physical thing. Well, some scholars said maybe it was with Andraste, but we were always taught that was A Very Bad Theory and no-one should dare to suggest she actually enjoyed being the Maker's bride. Stoic pious misery all the way." He nods, stern and overly solemn, and oh, definitely about to crack up.

"Yeah, this is a human thing," she says, confused. "Not that you could get married to the Stone - it'd be like getting married to this." She gives a helpful stamp of the ground. "Or to your entire history. But the Shapers are allowed to knock boots like anyone else."

"Huh," he says. "Now I'm trying not to think about a bunch of old, beardy, very serious dwarves doing… things."

They stare off at the road ahead, both of them clearly fighting mental images and hoping for some convenient darkspawn. When none of the buggers come, the silence settles, broken only by the odd clank of armour and the quiet panting that says Bark's trotting next to her. The Blight hasn't hit here yet, not truly; birds still sing above them. Nat tries not to think how weird it is. The singing, and the being that high up. And trees. Trees are still a little hard to understand.

Initiates, Leliana said. She said she was one before she was a lay sister. And there were vows. And templars… Huh. She tries not to sneak Alistair a curious look, and finds the silence is hitting a different note. One with a wait in it. So she does what she'd do with Leske.

"You were in the Chantry, right? Have you never…?" Letting her hands take over, she makes a go on, you get the rest kind of motion.

He shoots the sky a look with a resigned kind of humour, mouth twitching. Yeah, he knew this was coming.

"Never…?" he prods, and hey, she hasn't pissed him off, at least. "Never what? Had a good pair of shoes?"

"You know what I mean," she nudges.

He goes on, with the kind of innocence that says the asshole's enjoying this, "I'm not sure I do. Have I never seen a basilisk? Ate jellied ham? Licked a lamppost in winter?"

Somehow, despite herself, now she's a little embarrassed too. Which was exactly what he was aiming for. Despite the fact that it's not the kind of question she'd normally blink twice at - but this isn't Dust Town, and he's looking at her amusedly. She says, "You're gonna be you about this, huh? I guess I deserve that." She gives him a contrite half-grin.

"Oh," he says, cheerful enough he looks like he's gonna start whistling, "I absolutely am." He shoots her a look - curious, and just the slightest bit nervous. "Tell me: have you ever licked a lamppost in winter?"

She waits him out, amused. "We didn't really, uh, have winter in Orzammar. We had a whole lot of lava flow. Kept everything warm."

He snorts. "Of course. Forgot I was talking to a dwarf there." At her raised eyebrow, he says, "Sometimes it feels like you've been here forever. It's… hard to imagine the surface without you."

She smiles at that; can't help herself. And then she checks her shoe and says, "Haven't done the other thing, either."

His eyebrows look like they're gonna shoot off his forehead, maybe make their own little encampment. "You haven't? Huh."

She wonders about that moment, but not too hard, until he starts a few minutes later, when they've taken a seat on a fallen tree: "Now, feel free to punch me for this…"

She raises an eyebrow, and waits.

"Is it wrong that I'm… surprised? That you haven't, well."

"Sex?"

"Mm. I mean, you flirt all the time…"

She looks at him straight-on now - wary, gone a little cold round the edges.

"No, that's not what I…" He pinches the bridge of his nose. "Not what I meant! Not like that. I just mean - you can even keep up with Zevran. You talk like you know so much. You're… you're good at talking about these things. Without mumbling at your shoes. Unlike the other one of us here." She's heard the wary way he talks to, about, Zev. She was waiting for the look down his nose - she may be short, but it's sure as the Stone not necessary - but he sounds… admiring, under the confusion. Though sometimes he sounds like that about Zev's exploits, too.

She sighs. "Flirting's one thing. Follow-through's another. Flirting greases the wheels, makes people like you. Makes them laugh when they need it." (And at the half-smile he throws her way, she knows he gets exactly what she means.) "Look, where I grew up, a lot of sex happened. A lot. Not much else to do, sometimes. But a big amount of it was business, not pleasure." He blinks at that, and suddenly she remembers: shit, raised in a monastery. "I…" No, no, shit, raised in a monastery. She likes the way he looks at her. He's never going to understand. And then she'll lose the respect she's really not used to having from tall fuckers with royal blood. "Never mind."

"Nat." He puts out a hand like he's thinking of touching her shoulder, and then thinks better of it and tries to sneak it back to his side, like it never came out. He's getting that little line between his brows, the one that means he's damn worried. "I'd… I'd like to know. Please."

She takes a breath, and tries to think of a good way to explain. There isn't one. "So, I told you I used to beat the shit out of people for money." (He winces at that blunt summary of it the way he always does, but… then he waits for the rest. And somehow you're still here, looking at me like that, she doesn't add.) "That was just getting by. There are ways to actually move up in the world, if you're low-caste - to become a person. So, marriage in a higher-caste is one. Or… bearing some higher-caste's kid. Or just having that higher-caste on side, as in, if they take you as a lover."

Frowning, he says slowly, "For status. Right. Like… courtesans, I guess."

"Or concubines." She rests her cheek on her hand. "Yeah. My big sister was one of those."

"She…? For…? Oh."

She can't meet his eye; call her a coward. Weird to be having this conversation in a meadow with a bunch of cute little daisies. "It was her way out, right? Get laid by some high-caster, get knocked up. We had an, uh, benefactor."

He's looking at her with a slow, slightly pained realisation, and reassessment in his eyes. Shit, that was never what she wanted. Here it is.

"He tried to tell me I'd be better off that way, like Rica. Said I was" - she shrugs, doubting he'll understand; surfacers don't seem much interested in dwarves, or what dwarves want - "nowhere near my sister, but I'd be good enough. In the right light. With a lot of makeup. If Rica wasn't available."

"That's… Nat…" Now it's all pain, and confusion. Of course he doesn't get it. Or he doesn't get why Beraht would say that. Which… that's almost too scary to contemplate, someone looking at her and seeing more than not-Rica. Easier, safer, to figure he's just freaked out by all the sex and poor people. Less room for disappointment.

"I told him to go fuck a nug and nearly broke his damn nose. Leske pulled me off him. Probably saved my damn life. I reasoned our, uh, benefactor out of it in the end. He said hey, you're ugly but you're good with your fists, and a sword. No-one'll want to deal with you in their bed, anyway. Might as well make yourself useful to me some other way."

Alistair makes a disgusted noise under his breath - no, not disgusted, furious. There's steel in his eyes, now, the type he tries so hard to hide. At her, or…? No, she knows him better than that. She doesn't know what to make of it. And then he seems to catch the question in her eyes - his face clears as if he doesn't want to frighten her (as if she's that easily scared). He's back to his normal kind of flatness when he says, "He sounds just charming."

"Yeah, he sure was." She swallows, and tries not to fidget on her half of the log. "Listen… my sword saved me. All I saw, sex was just power, and not always yours. It was a job. It never seemed like it was for fun."

His voice is quiet. "Or, you know, for… love?"

She blinks at him. Oh. Yeah. "Or that, I guess. I mean, sometimes that's what the high-casters say it is. That they fell in love with some pliable Duster and wanted to 'save them.' To make them a dwarf, not just some stain on a rock. But that's not what I've seen."

His gaze is on the clouds, and his voice is soft. "Funny, isn't it? I've never done it because there wasn't much of it about, and for you, there was too much." She snorts, and at that, he seems to come back to himself. "You've never… I mean… You've never wanted to?"

"To screw a fifth-son lord or some princeling?"

He flinches, and tries badly to hide it.

"Shit, that's not what I meant. I promise, I…"

He rubs at his forehead, and says with a wan sort of smile, "I know. Now who's talking themselves into circles?" He looks at her, eyes clearer now. "That's… genuinely not how you think of me, is it? It's like you forgot for a moment there." He stares at her in something almost like awe.

She shrugs, sheepishly. "Human politics are tricky. Hard to keep track of. My salroka who's the other Warden and who smashed his shield into an ogre's nose, that's easier."

He gives her a sidelong grin. "I've heard you about how things work down in Orzammar. I know that's not true. But… thank you." His eyes are so earnest they're hard to look at.

She stares up at the sky instead, and relents. "Your earlier question… I've never wanted it the way I got it offered. Maybe if the right person came along. Someone who wouldn't treat me like a piece of roast nug." She squints at him. "Still can't believe you're a virgin, though."

His ears are going pink again. "Oh, great. There I thought I'd avoided the mockery about that."

"No, I mean…" She waves her hand vaguely at him. "You had a few months on the road, with Duncan and the others. You're a damn Grey Warden. When we're not getting hunted down like traitors. And funny, and built like you're made of stone-brick, and you're handsome, right? Why aren't the human women jumping on that?"

He gives her an odd look - surprised, curious. "You think I'm handsome?" There's a smile sneaking onto his face.

Her tongue feels clumsy, suddenly. Was that not - did he not know? "In a human kinda way. It's pretty obvious. You're polite, sure, and you were raised in some human abbey, but… like I said. You've had offers too, right?"

His ears are pretty much glowing like lava now. It's kind of amazing. "Honestly? I was raised to take that kind of thing seriously. And it stuck. It's not that I… I wanted it to be with someone I cared about. For it to be…" He swallows.

"Special?" she finishes.

"That." He squints into the forest, like he's ashamed. "Right, you can start laughing with Zevran now…"

She puts her hand on his arm. "Hey. I get it."

He looks back to her, and exhales, eyes dark and appraising. "Yes. I think maybe you do. I… Thank you. For telling me. About your sister, and about why I was wrong in… what I'd assumed. And for trusting me. I think I understand. As much as some surface human can, anyhow."

She'd expected him shrinking away from a companionable touch now he knew she was a filthy Duster who had no idea how to court, or what normal human interactions were, not… that. She stares at him a second. "Sure," she says, after too long.

He looks like he's weighing his options, and then he says carefully, "Nat?"

"Uh-huh."

"You don't need the right lighting, or the makeup, or… anything. You really don't."

Yeah, now she's well and truly staring at him.

"In a, dwarf kind of way," he offers, with a hint of his old wryness.

"Huh," she manages.

He laughs, a little nervously. "So, who wants to talk about darkspawn guts some more?"

"I, uh, sure," she manages, but she's still feeling a little like she got hit round the head with a pommel. He thinks -? "What happens if one throws up on you?"

He laughs, caught in between horror and a screwed-up kind of delight that sounds like it's a Grey Warden thing. "What, do you think people have got the darkspawn drunk?"

Shrugging, she tries to find her old rhythm. "Couldn't hurt to ask."

"Oh, now I need to see that…"

[dragon-age-fame]

Edit: I want to thank you guys for the interest. She is 14 pages in now. Low key might skip work today to write. Keep up the good work. I answer some of your questions and replies uwusl

Hwy guys.

I'm hoping to generate some interest for my current project with my bestie. We are writing a dragon age fanfic. Instead of one origin surviving, Duncan recruited all of them.

It will have romance, adventure, friendship, politics, betrayal and hope.

Our goal is to keep it true to the story to lore as possible.. hope to eventually write through all 3 games. (Possibly dreadwolf too depending on how that turns out)

The romance list is F. Maharel x Zevran, F. Tabris x Leliana, M. Adecan x Morrigan, F. Cousland x Alistair.

Surana and Brosca will be announced later.

How it will work is we are splitting the chapters. She writes one half. I write the other. We have different writing styles so I hope this will be a fun and relatively unique project.

Bestie says she will be more.motivated to write if people are interested. So I am hoping to show her to get her on the ball.

Please feel free to comment with any thoughts, comments, questions or ideas.

[dragonologist-phd]

For the character meme - I would love to hear your thoughts on my girl Morrigan!

aaah thank you! love talking about morrigan <3

How I feel about this character

ha in case it isn't obvious i love her! there's so much going on with her character, and her base arc is one i love: a young woman leaving a harsh, abusive environment who's intent on focusing only on herself, who finds friendship and acceptance and something worth fighting for beyond mere survival. it's a really good journey!

she's also smart and snappish and mean and awkward, and is just such an endearingly messy character. she's also a woman written in the 2000's, which means there's a lot of unintentional mess in her character that i can repurpose for my own ends (autistic wlw morrigan forever)

All the people I ship romantically with this character

obviously there's my Brosca, Darvis- i love Morrigan with a Brosca, there's so many parallels that stir up my feelings for them. their background are vastly different in terms of setting, yet there's so much they have in common. with Darvis in particular, i love the way they both approach their relationship determined to not have any feelings or get attached at all...and then that plan fails spectacularly

for canon characters, i really like Zevran/Morrigan- again, i love the trope of people determined to have a no-strings attached affair and then falling hard for each other, and they would pull that off so well

i'm also fond of Leliana/Morrigan, but specifically in DAI. in DAO they don't quite mesh...but meeting up years later, when the world is about to end again? when Leliana's idealism has been hardened by all that she's lost, and Morrigan's survival-at-all-costs attitude has been softened by her love for Keiran? there's a lot of good potential there

My non-romantic OTP for this character

Zevran again- i just feel like there's a lot they get about each other. they've both been brought up with a very cynical, transactional worldview; their banters when asking each other about a romanced warden are basically paralleled. i like the idea of them growing beyond that worldview together through their friendship!

her friendship with a non-romanced warden is also very sweet- it's very tender and vulnerable in a way you don't often get to see with platonic companions in these games, especially in those moments at the end of the game

My unpopular opinion about this character

she's so awkward and trying so hard to hide it. i think she scripts every conversation before it happens so that she can appear as cool and aloof as possible. i think she practiced that entrance in the korcari wilds like 5 times before the wardens showed up. i think her grimoire contains cheat notes on how to navigate conversations and reminders of one-liners that she comes up with in the middle of the night.

i don't know if any of this is unpopular, but it's an aspect of her character i wholeheartedly believe in that i don't see talked about much

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon.

this is kinda vague but i wish her canon romance were written...better. it's amazing in my head, but then i play the game and there are certain lines the warden can say that should be erased from existence. she deserves better!

give me a character

[illusivesoul]

A Letter of the Divine

Summary: A letter found in the office of Divine Victoria shortly after her disappearance. Relationship: Leliana/Female Brosca Words: 671 Read on AO3 Lots of angst ahead lol

.

The following letter was found amongst the few possessions left behind by Divine Victoria following her sudden disappearance. Due to the nature of the letter, its existence shall not be revealed to the general public for the foreseeable future. In the unlikely event of a movement developing to support the Divine or if the Inquisition tries to make a political move, the contents of this letter, after being made even more unpalatable to the common people, shall be revealed and distributed as far and wide as we are able.

Serena Brosca

My Queen of Stone

You warned me about how going down this route would only bring me pain, and I ignored you, for even as much as you made my heart beam with joy from every smile you gave me, I couldn't let you dictate what my faith commanded me to do, just as I couldn't dictate what you did with yours.

I wish I had stayed at your side to help you handle the treacherous waters of Orzammar's politics, politics that you shook to the core by becoming a Paragon and allowing the casteless into your House. House Brosca. How proud I was for you when it happened. How blind I was to not see the dread and pain you felt when hearing those words. "I got my house by standing on top the corpses of my people, Leliana. A House for the Casteless earned by drenching my hands in their blood". But how could you not enjoy the power? How could you not see you had the world at your feet? How very naïve of me.

I've kept count of the time passed since we last wrote to each other. I've tracked every second since I last saw your face, since I last saw your lips curving into a smile when I sang for you. How much I have longed for the feeling of your hands of mine, your breasts on my back, your mouth on my skin, our bodies joined in perfect harmony as they sang promises to each other that my excess of pride and the pride you lacked never let us have. I held the world in my hands whenever I held you in them, and I let you go. To serve the faith, to serve the Maker. Well, Justinia is dead, the Maker laughs at me and all the grieving people in this broken word as always. Some god he turned out to be. At least your Paragons are there for you to feel and touch, the solid stone more real than my endless prayers to the dark. Thought that I had what it took to set things right. The blank slate. And in the end all I did was drown myself in a sea of blood and a world of lies, and Thedas quakes in chaos, the Chantry and the faith more broken by my actions than by anything Corypheus or Tevinter ever did. At long last I finally understand the meaning of your words. I also got my own House by drenching my hands in blood.

I've been drinking so much as of late, giving way to base desires to try to find something to make me feel alive, something to make me forget of all the damage I've done and keep doing... and every time I always end up thinking of you.

Perhaps my absent Maker or your Paragons will let us see each other again one day, and maybe then will you be able to forgive me for all I did and for how much I failed you, but life has taught me better than to hope for the impossible. I just hope that wherever you are, that you have found the peace, happiness and love you deserve and that I tried but failed to give you. I now dream of the cliff of my dreams, and I hear the rocks and waves of distant lands calling my name. One last song remains to be sung.

Forever yours, Your Leli

[vigilskept]

okay I'm curious about ppls answer to this one, which canon character hates your Inquisitor in dai?

OOOOH thats a good one.

i’ll answer for sander & sindri since their beef with other characters is a bit more personal whereas my other inquisitors mostly clash with others over differences of opinion (lifelong apostate semra adaar does NOT do well with the pro templar/chantry crowd)

sander trevelyan: leliana

immediately clocks that he’s a fraud

he plays up the humble servant of andraste thing constantly and it makes her eye start twitching

the reality isn’t any better btw: he's a typical layabout youngest son with all the usual blind spots and then some

the trevelyan family ‘tragedy’ of having their eldest son and only daughter turn out to be mages... did not help things in that household

anyway, all this is made MUCH worse by the fact that josie initially likes him

seeing him flirting with her probably makes leliana wish she could get away with quietly assassinating him on more than one occasion

fortunately for everyone he fumbles josie big time 👍

this lowers the risk of stabbing, but that’s about as much as their relationship improves

it’s not for a while, not until things are properly settled but she does leave the inquisition once it’s clear he’s staying on as the head of it

this inquisition is worse off without her, but she is definitely better off without it!

sindri (brosca) cadash: rica, kalah, vivienne

some context: this is an alternate worldstate where they manage to escape to the surface with leske

the bad news: harrowmont gets crowned… and things have been much worse for the broscas ever since

this au basically came out of a 'is there a way for sindri brosca to see themself as a person' thought experiment

bc in da:o they fundamentally see themselves as a thing

a tool, in a best case scenario

they volunteer to go under branka's hammer on the anvil of the void to become be a better tool, for both orzammar and for the wardens

ANYWAY. the result of this thought experiment was yes, it can get better. but only if it first gets worse

in this case that means disappearing deeper into their work for the carta for a decade...

... then getting got by the fen’harel orb and forced into an entirely different identity even more detached from who they are

it does help to break them out of the cycle of depersonalisation, but in the meantime....

their family relationships have been made incredibly fraught by their escape to the surface

it was always bad with their mother, but their relationship with rica also begins to fray over time

financial dependence/cultural issues around being a surfacer (or have surface ties)/feelings of abandonment/etc...

it's just Not possible to untangle any of that when communication is going in the form of short letters accompanying one way deliveries of money

which go without reply…. until more money is needed

its Not Good. but it won't stay this way forever

the hate from vivienne though is entirely warranted. sindri just constantly assumes the worst of her in a way that's fueled by their own baggage

woman trapped by her circumstances seeks the patronage of a nobleman to find security by leveraging his position... hmm. why might this particular dynamic be setting them off?

why might they wish this relative stranger ill when they see this all pay off for her?

who knows. definitely not sindri who is by now an expert at NOT engaging in any self reflection

this does start to change!!

being inquisitor forces sindri to deal with a lot of the issues they’ve been actively repressing for a decade & with that comes changes in perspective too

it may just be too little too late for them & vivienne though

they will reach a point where they're no longer openly antagonistic, but i don't know if it ever improves further than that

[bumblewarden]

brosca leaves zevran and her kinda-sorta girlfriend alone for not ten seconds before he starts flirting with her!

Zevran: How long were you in that cloister, my dear woman? Leliana: Just over two years. Why do you ask? Zevran: And... and all the brothers and sisters there, they had taken vows? Leliana: Most of them, yes. Zevran: For two years you had no contact with anyone but men and women who... who are promised to some uncaring god? Leliana: What are you getting at? Zevran: Didn't you... didn't you desire companionship, during those two years? Two years! The very thought makes me weak. Leliana: My time in the cloister was a time of contemplation. I occupied myself with thoughts of the Maker, and other... worthy pursuits. Leliana: But like I said, most of the brothers and sisters had taken vows. Not all of them. Some were just affirmed, like me. Zevran: A-ha! That is not so bad then. Leliana: Nothing happened, Zevran. It would not be right to engage in that behavior in a house devoted to the Maker. Zevran: Why? The Maker made us who we are. He made our urges; He gave us these parts. You think He made them for looks?

[winchesternova-k]

31 Days of Dragon Age - Day 1

introduce your hero of ferelden

this is havella brosca (she/her). she’s my first warden and part of my ‘canon’ worldstate.

[picrews by djarn. 1 + 2]

basics:

chaotic good

autistic

lesbian

duel-wielding warrior (axe & dagger). champion & templar training

andrastian convert, with traditional dwarven religious beliefs [i won’t get into this too much bc idk how to explain it in a way that doesn’t sound overly complicated but she believes equally in the stone and the maker]

the eldest brosca sibling

romanced leliana

key choices:

redcliffe saved, connor & isolde alive. ashes preserved.

circle mages protected.

bhelen rules orzammar, sided with caridin, anvil destroyed.

made peace with the elves and werewolves.

anora rules alone / alistair remained a warden.

morrigan’s ritual performed.

mainly she’s just trying to be the best person she can be. she really wants to make up for the things she did while she was working for the carta. she tries very hard to be kind, and leave every situation more positive for everyone involved. she’s spent most of her life looking out for rica, without anyone to trust except leske. the surface is a big adjustment, but it’s mostly good, and she has a lot more people to trust (and a dog!)

companions:

dog - that dog is her best friend and her baby. he competes for blanket space with schmooples.

alistair - alistair is the first friend she has who never has any ulterior motives for being friends. she enjoys joking with him, and ostagar makes them feel very close. after what happens with leske, she appreciates the easiness of their friendship all the more. alistair is the closest friend she’s ever had aside from leliana and leske, and more over he’s family. she never has to question whether he’s looking out for her, and vice versa.

morrigan - havella’s relationship with morrigan is complicated. they respect each other deeply, but they disagree a lot, and it takes a long time for them to become friends. morrigan thinks she’s too soft, and havella thinks she would understand why she cares about people so much if she spent more time with them. regardless, they’re surprisingly loyal to each other. despite having very little exposure to magic before coming to the surface (and then being battered over the head by the chantry’s teachings about it), havella doesn’t fear morrigan for being a mage or an apostate. she knows morrigan could harm her with her magic, but she also knows that she could harm morrigan with her blades. the fact that they don’t is what’s important. they eventually come to see each other as family. havella had never thought that she would ever feel the same type of bond she has with rica with anyone else, and she’s pleasantly surprised when she finds differently. the also bond over their shitty mothers.

wynne - wynne is the mother she never had. she is everything kalah never was to her. as morrigan speaks freely about being an apostate mage, wynne tells her about the circle and it’s hierarchy, and how the chantry’s teachings effect the mages there. havella finds the chantry and templars’ treatment of the mages to be too close to the way the casteless are treated in orzammar to really agree with wynne, but she enjoys listening to her regardless. they also discuss theology a fair amount. she enjoys having someone to give her advice, and to be truly well meaning about it. the closest she’d ever had before was beraht, and he was just telling her not to screw up a job. it doesn’t stop her from arguing when wynne encourages her to break up with leliana though.

zevran - she was surprised how quickly she trusted zevran, and how quickly they became friends. one day she was watching her back, waiting for him to try and kill her in her sleep, and the next she just… wasn’t anymore. it doesn’t take long for her to think that he is a version of who she could have become if she hadn’t had rica to watch out for. it’s not a negative judgment about either of them, but a recognition of how deeply miserable their former lives were for both of them.

leliana - leliana is covered in day 2

sten - they don’t always understand each other, but havella deeply respects sten. she admires his moral code and his adherence to it, even if her own differs. i’m return, he respects her greatly, and offers her counsel about leadership and strategy. when he first tells her how he’d ended up in the cage, she’s horrified, but it doesn’t take long for her to realise that he wasn’t in his right mind. she feels a deep kinship in his repentance and quest for redemption. she never thinks of him as a monster, even when the people in lothering tell her she should. too many people have said the same of her. she accepts his offer to travel with him to par vollen after the blight and brings leliana and zevran with her.

oghren - havella can’t stand him. she tries very hard to get along when they first meet; she’s naturally a fairly compassionate person and she has a lot of sympathy for his feelings about branka. but the more time passes and the more misogynistic he is towards her (and the other women in the party), and the creepier he is about her relationship with leliana, the less she likes him. time apart did improve things though and the relationship is decidedly less negative by awakening.

shale - havella enjoys joking with shale. she enjoys hearing whatever it can remember about its past and dwarven history, and she feels a certain kinship in some of their experiences, even if it doesn’t consider itself a dwarf anymore. she also enjoys helping it recover its memories (she likes helping people who need it, and feeling useful as a result). (i don’t have a lot about shale because i didn’t have any dlc until almost the end of the playthrough)

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

List of Sexualities for Current list of Dragon Age MCs:

For Freedom’s Design

Cian Mahariel: Bisexual. Does prefer men as a whole but is fairly equal in his interest. Romances Zevran, and has a threesome with Isabela.

Lorry Hawke: Bisexual. Goes for girls mostly due to her complicated feeling on motherhood and the scare of a child. Romances Isabela. Did have a minor crush on Fenris that went nowhere.

Mila Trevylan: Asexual but unaware. She’s interested in sex but only in a ‘this sounds interesting’ thing. Does enjoy it so she remains unaware. Romances Iron Bull after a brief flirtation with Blackwell she ends due to her uncomfortable with the idea of being with someone who sees her as the Herald of Andraste.

Good Men Need Rules

Folcher Aueducan: Bisexual but unaware. He’s always just looked at woman. Romances Leliana.

Archie Hawke: Demisexual. Struggled with ideas of attraction for most of his life. Romances Merrill who he loves dearly.

Lucas Cadash: Straight. Romances Cassandra.

Crashing Fantasies

Noamahn Tabris: Straight. He once tried with a guy but deemed it not for him. Romances Morrigan

Aine Hawke: Bisexual. Had a huge thing for Isabela but ends up with Anders. Is a himbo to the max.

Davhalla Lavellan: Pansexual. Had a thing for multiple members of the Inquisition, including Harding. Davhalla ends up with Solas in the end.

Those We Care For

Rosalind Amell: Gaaaaaaaaaay. She didn’t used to be but she developed into it. Romances Leliana.

Lilith Hawke: Bisexual. Has no preference. Gets with Anders.

Shok Adaar: Bisexual. Has a thing for Blackwall and Sera. I had two ways she went I’ve landed on her romancing Sera.

Mistakes Make us People

Thea Surana: Straight. Mostly. A pretty butch woman turns her head but it’s not common. Ends up with Alistair.

Teddy Hawke: Straight. Annoyed me since I wanted to romance Isabela but Teddy kept yelling straight. Romances Fenris then Anders.

Ophelia Trevylan: Straight. Never tried and never wanted to. Pretended to be to help a friend avoid and annoying admirer. Romances Blackwall.

With Bloody Hands

Muirin Cousland: No clue. Legit this girl is only into power. She does end up carings for Alistair in the end but she romances him for the power.

Willow Hawke: Straight. Romances Sebastian because she honestly liked him but it was a plus he’s a prince.

Gloria Trevylan: Straight. Was only into Iron Bull at first but romances Cullen for the power. Does actually come to love him.

Uneasy Rests the Laurels

Lochlan Hawke: Bisexual. Romances Zevran and married Anora. Ends up in an honest triad with them.

Simon Hawke: Gay. Very much. Romances Fenris.

Edmund Trevylan: Bisexual. Romances Dorian, and loves him very much.

Revolution is Never Kind

Runa Amell: Murder. And men. Very straight, romances Zevran.

Wyome Hawke: asexual but very into Anders and Justice. Has no positive or negative thoughts in sex.

Faith Sustains

Brynja Brosca: Gay. Has had sex with men for money but rates it a 0 each time. Romances Leliana.

Aisley Hawke: She is asexual and sex repulsed. Falls in love with Sebastian and they have a chaste marriage he supports and loves even when Prince because he is a good guy.

Charity Cadash: Bisexual. Also a trans woman who doesn’t talk about it much. Romances Josiephine.

To Be Kind

Caoimhe Tabris: Bisexual. Is into buff people though. Romances Alistair.

Ivy Hawke: Bisexual. Isn’t that focused on romance with everything. Romances Fenris.

Revas Lavellan: Pansexual. Has had casual relationships with all genders. Dabbled in gender non conforming and identity stuff. Not for her. Romances Solas.

Love Yourself

Riley Cousland: Straight. Has a lot of internal issues regarding beauty and self worth. Romances Zevran.

Ivy Hawke: Bisexual. In this world also has a lot of issues she’s working though. Romances Fenris still.

Harel Lavellan: Bisexual. I never really settled on a romance for her, she’s kind of always gravitated towards Josie though. So probably Josephine.

[kareenvorbarra]

started my third full DA:O playthrough fully intending to romance Leliana this time (my previous two wardens dated Alistair and Zevran), but THEN I thought about the parallels between Brosca and Zevran’s backstories and now I can’t stop thinking about their potential

[sulky-valkyrie]

Happy Friday! I gotta get an enemies to lovers prompt in here: "you snatch a knife from your enemy’s grip and throws it at the ground, then you grab your enemy by the collar, and crash your lips against theirs. they’re surprised, but responds immediately" - for whoever you think fits best!

Happy Friday, Niri! This all hit me in the shower about two hours ago and it doesn't fit the prompt exactly, but I think it fits the spirit? Anyway, happy DADWC and I hope you enjoy a really rarepair weirdness! 💜💜💜 for @dadrunkwriting

Blasted forest.  Blasted werewolves.  Blasted… talking bloody trees!  Carver stumped his way around the edge of the camp, wishing he hadn’t drawn the straw to take the middle watch.  Leave this shit to the elf, or one of the damned dwarves!  They can see in pitch black, and I’m just tripping over my c - feet.  Void take it, even Morrigan could do a better job if she turned into a bird or a cat or something.

He paused and looked back at the rest of the group sleeping around the fire.  The campsite they’d picked out was too small for tents, so everyone was in bedrolls tonight.  Brosca was in theirs. Leliana was in theirs too.  More power to them, he thought spitefully.  Zev was in his.  Carver’s was, of course, empty, and Oghren was snoring leaning against a tree.  But Alistair, Sten and Morrigan were missing.  Had they left before he got up?  If so, why hadn’t Wynne mentioned it?

And if they’d left after Carver was on watch, why didn’t they say let him know?  Also, how had he missed it?

Furthermore, why would the three of them go anywhere together?  Sten distrusted women and mages, Morrigan hated Alistair personally, and Alistair just wanted them to leave him and each other alone.

Without the jingle of his mail or the thud of his boots, the night was far more quiet than it had any right to be - further proof that something about the Brecilian Forest was unnatural.  As he frowned and tried to figure out what to do, a faint metallic noise drifted from beyond the trees.

Like a weapon sliding on a shield.  

Before he knew it, he was leaving the camp and following what could only be the sound of fighting.

Maker, they really decided to just all three try to kill each other, didn’t they?  What the void for?  Why here, why now?  As he crept through the forest, he tried to remember if anything had been off during the evening meal.  Morrigan had been asking Sten questions that left them both looking flustered and annoyed, but that wasn’t really new. One of them was always pissing off someone, either out of deliberate spite (Morrigan) or stubborn obstinance (Sten).  But what did that have to do with Alistair?

A river was somewhere to his left, wide enough that the tree cover let the moonlight through.  The reflection made everything look and feel like the Fade, and reminded him of the times Bethany had accidentally dragged him into her own dreams.  He’d asked Morrigan about that one night, and she’d rolled her eyes and scoffed that he’d heard too many sermons on the evils of apostasy.

A few nights later, when he was on first watch, she’d asked him why he wanted to know, and listened to him with an intensity in those captivating yellow eyes that bordered on feverish.  In a roundabout fashion, Carver found her company the easiest of everyone, except Brosca.  She was an apostate, and knew all about the dangers of Templars, even if her mother had been a bit more… direct in getting rid of them than theirs ever had been.

She was still a bitch after that, of course.  Never gave him the time of day, or treated him with anything but contempt, but it was comforting in its own odd way.  She didn’t like him on his own merits, not for anything Garrett or Bethany had done or not done, and Maker, that was refreshing.. 

Focus.  Maker knew what Morrigan was up to now, or what Sten and Alistair might be doing to her.  He sped up, still moving toward the sound of metal, until something large and furry hit his back.  There was no time or space to pull out his sword, but he got his belt knife out as he felt forward and stabbed up behind him.  

The bear bellowed - Andraste’s flaming asshole, I’m wrestling a bear, I’m going to die - and swatted him to the ground as it fell on top of him, knife still stuck in its shoulder.  What’s the thing?  Play dead and they’ll get bored?  Or is that wolves?  Or mountain cats?  I’m so dead.

Carver grabbed at the knife and slashed at its throat, determined to at least make it pay for its next meal, and the damn thing batted it away as he leaned over him with a low threatening growl before everything felt sideways and watery, then Morrigan was on top of him, bleeding from shoulder and throat, and hands covered in dirt and moss where they dug into his shirt.

Is there any way tonight can get any weirder?  “What the -”

She kissed him.

Apparently so.

[autisticlaezel]

4, 7, and 17 for the hype asks!

Thanks :D

4) What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

I have two that I'm considering using for my first playthrough. My primary one:

Warden: Narev Brosca (rogue). Zevran romancer who allied with the mages in broken circle. Let Jowan cure Connor with blood magic. Sided with the elves in Nature of the Beast. Put Bhelen on the throne of Orzammar. Put Alistair and Anora on the throne together and spared Loghain, who did the dark ritual

Champion: Aylin Hawke (mage). Primarily aggressive/blunt responses. Anders (alive and well) romancer. Didn't bring Carver into the deep roads with her. Befriended most of her party except for Carver (😭) and Aveline. Bartrand is alive. Varric didn't keep the idol. Sided with the mages in The Last Straw

Inquisitor: Emilia Trevelyan (mage). Romanced Josephine. Allied with the mages. Briala rules through Gaspard. Loghain left in the fade. Grey Wardens pardoned. Inquisitor drank from the Well of Sorrows. Disbanded the Inquisition. Leliana is Divine. Wants to redeem Solas

And my secondary one

Warden: Jocelyn Cousland (rogue). Romanced (and hardened) Leliana. Allied with the mages in Broken Circle for purely opportunistic reasons out of the kindness of her heart. Gets help from the circle to free Connor. Brokered peace in Nature of the Beast. Put Bhelen on the throne of Orzammar. Rules jointly with Alistair who did the dark ritual

Champion: Wren Hawke (rogue). Didn't romance anyone in game, but has a complicated Pining situation going on with Varric that takes them until Inquisition to unpack, and had a brief fling with Isabela. Primarily humorous/charming responses. Didn't bring Bethany to the Deep Roads. Befriended everyone. Bartrand is alive. Varric kept the idol. Sided with the mages in The Last Straw

Inquisitor: Oliver Trevelyan (rogue). Romanced Dorian. Allied with the mages. Celene continues to rule Orlais. Stroud left in the Fade. Grey Wardens exiled. Morrigan drank from the Well of Sorrows. Did not disband the Inquisition. Vivienne is Divine. Wants to stop Solas

7) Which character from previous games or other media are you most hoping will make an appearance in DAV?

Zevran, but only if he isn't whitewashed. Maevaris. Sten

17) Are you interesting in all the lore and speculation or do you focus more on the games and stories themselves?

A mix, I think? Lore and speculation is a lot of fun, but I don't always have the brainpower for it, so I simply focus on the games/stories/my own oc thoughts instead fondkdndmd

[perilegs]

i keep thinking about my first ever dragon age character, asphodel brosca. (it was my first rpg experience so i didn't understand a lot of stuff so i missed leliana and made an unhardened alistair king while romancing him 💀), i feel like i should replay her story now that i know more. she deserves it. also she would've romanced leliana had she not been literally the only person i didn't speak to in lothering. idk i never fleshed her out or anything but i feel sad about not giving her story any proper thought or anything even though it's been years

[nelkenbabe]

WIP: Late Night Counsel

After months of Cullen working on his personal growth, Warden Everett Amell passes through Skyhold. As unbidden memories resurface, Cullen struggles to marry the things he wants with the man he wants to be.

Part of Ivy & Twine content: mentions of Broken Circle, m!Amell x Cullen, hurt/ comfort, friendship jealous, muliti-warden-verse, BPD! Inquisitor

Cullen was pacing up and down the room, from the balcony to the stairway and back, leaving heavy boot tracks in the plush carpet. Amaryll watched him from her bed, back against the railing, knees tucked in and arms placed on top of them.

He’d been walking for minutes now without uttering a word, arms crossed behind his back but leaning forward as if he meant to gain speed. He was upset, it was easy to tell, and she had anticipated some emotional turmoil on his part as soon as Leliana had told her who Warden Brosca’s companion was. She didn’t know which form she thought it would take. Rage, shame, confusion? This was something else.

Eventually, Cullen slowed. And when he came to a halt, he looked at her.

“I went to the tavern. With… with Warden Amell. He’d asked to meet, to talk. I went.”

She held his gaze, searching his face for the question she needed to ask. 

“What did you expect from the conversation?” Amaryll asked cautiously.

He exhaled, low and deep, tilting his chin upward. 

“Some form of resolution, perhaps? Absolution? I was… unkind when he returned to Kinloch, after Warden Brosca saved the Circle. I couldn’t-”

He choked on his words. Ones he thought with such intensity that veins bulged on his temples, but he couldn’t pass them over his lips. His face turned downwards, and he opened his eyes to look at his friend with a pleading desperation. Willing her to understand something he couldn't say out loud.

Amaryll moved her legs to slide forward to the edge of the bed. Careful now.

“Did he try to hurt you?” she asked slowly.

Cullen shook his head.

“Maker, no. We talked. Just… talked. And then after-”

A deep, open-mouthed breath. 

“What happened?” Amaryll asked, keeping her voice soft, low.

“There isn’t- I mean-”

She waited.

“I knew him. Everett. In Kinloch, he was one of my charges. We rarely spoke, maybe just that one time, before he was recruited to the Grey Wardens. But he would look at me, and I would look back, and then one night…”

A pit opened where Amaryll’s stomach should have been. Gooseflesh crawled up her arms and legs as she commanded herself to not show any sign of dread.

“I caught him in the library as I was making rounds. I escorted him back to his assignment, nothing happened. Nothing happened. We spoke, and I didn’t even report him after, even though I should have. But I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Something about him-”

“What was it?” 

Confusion and deep agony danced in Cullen’s amber eyes, and for an instant, she recognized a part of herself in it. But it couldn’t be.

“After the Circle fell,” Cullen continued, his voice now much less frantic, somewhat dull, “as I was… kept, while my friends were being slaughtered. The demon who held me wore many faces to try and break me. Everett… Everett’s was one of them.”

It couldn’t be.

Amaryll forgot to breathe. 

An understanding overcame her of what it must’ve meant for Cullen to see the Warden’s face here, in Skyhold, where he had been safe. Away from Kinloch Hold, away from Kirkwall, working steadily to improve himself and his fear of mages. Only to be confronted with one of a handful of people who were there when that fear was buried in his core by strangers’ hands.

And understanding of what it must’ve taken Cullen to agree to meet Everett one on one.

But was that all?

She almost asked, almost couldn’t stop herself. What kind of demon was it, Cullen?

The pit inside her grew and threatened to swallow her heart.

“You said he returned to the Circle.”

“To buy lyrium potions and ingredients. I couldn’t look at him.”

He choked again, hesitated, and again there was this expression. Shame?

“I knew he hadn’t been there, knew the demon was not him, but I couldn’t… I couldn’t-”

She hated seeing him like this, rattled to his core. It might not have been fair, but at this moment she also hated Warden Amell for putting him in this state. He couldn't have without hurting Cullen, if not physically, then otherwise.

“I understand. What is it you wanted to do?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know. I- I wanted to disappear. To never see him again. But now…”

“Did you end up telling him? What you just told me?”

“He knew from Warden Brosca, I believe. He asked me how I was, back then when he came by. I walked away. I don’t know what I would have done otherwise. Struck him down, maybe. Hurt myself. Or tried to… to kill him. Instead I left.”

“And now?”

“We talked,” he repeated. “We talked about everything. The night I walked him back to his quarters. Everything. He said he understood my coldness towards him. Didn’t fault me. He said…”

The words faded out. Too private and delicate to be divulged. But Amaryll knew, felt in her bones that this was why the Commander had beaten against her door in the middle of the night, breathless, chased.

Amaryll waited, waited patiently, though she pressed her fingertips into her thigh as if she meant to crush it.

“He… he kissed me,” Cullen confessed, shrinking in his armor as the weight of the news rolled off of him. “Outside of the tavern. I didn’t resist. He… he propositioned me.”

His voice trailed off. Pink flecks were appearing on Cullen’s neck, crawling up his jowls, his cheeks, his nose. He pressed his gloved hand to his cheek as if to contain the flush where it was.

It couldn’t be. But it was.

The pit had her heart, and now it was moving to her throat.

“You liked him,” Amaryll said, before it could take her tongue as well. That’s why the demon took his face. What kind of demon was it, Cullen? “You still do.”

Cullen moved back one step, then another. Leaned his hip against the chaise, let his hand drop back to the side as the blush subsided.

“I don’t know,” he replied, voice thoughtful, even. “I never considered, not in seriousness… It wouldn’t be… appropriate. Given our history.”

Amaryll breathed. She breathed through her nostrils, keeping her face neutral and her lips firmly shut.

This wasn’t about her. She had no business feeling like something was being torn from her. Another connection capped. Another friend lost. No business having the urge to claw her chest raw and open to let the seething feelings out. As if a friend couldn’t care for more than one person at a time. She knew this. She had always known this. And yet she couldn’t help the slick, visceral fear in her belly. Ugly, ugly woman. Horrible person. A bad friend.

“Warden Amell hasn’t been your charge in over ten years,” she reminded Cullen, softly, gently. If her voice was shaking, he didn’t notice it. “If this were a person from Kirkwall, somebody who had never lived outside of the Circle, then I would caution against it. But he has gone out into the world and made a name for himself outside of Circle restrictions, same as you. However the balance might have been, it is for him to decide if it is different now. And if it really is, if he wants you, and you want him-” Her voice faltered, but only a little. “-then maybe you can allow yourself this. Without guilt. Without shame.” 

She paused as a thought resurfaced. A slender, biting woman in Skyhold’s garden.

“Except… what about Morrigan? Aren’t they together anymore?”

The blush on the Commander’s cheeks returned.

“It appears they have… an arrangement,” he said stiffly. “While they’re apart.”

In spite of herself, Amaryll grinned and leaned back.

“Oh really? That’s delightful. And very convenient for you.”

She hadn’t thought it possible, but Cullen’s face turned even redder.

“I didn’t say I would-” he exclaimed loudly, only to realize that she was teasing him. He breathed in, out. “I didn’t say I would take him up on his proposition.”

The smile on Amaryll’s face faded. Her expression settled back to attentive neutrality. She watched intently as Cullen walked towards the bed, pulling off his heavy gloves, and took a seat next to her.

“I wouldn’t know…”

“What to do with yourself?”

He hesitated.

“That but also the implications. Of being… with a man.”

Amaryll exhaled lowly, in lieu of a sigh. 

“What would it make you,” she asked, “aside from somebody who enjoyed an old flame’s company for a night? Would it make you anything different than what you were yesterday?”

Cullen didn’t respond, only continued staring at the carpet. It hadn’t been the right thing to say. If she’d still had two hands, she would have folded them in her lap. Instead, Amaryll scooted closer to Cullen, leaning her upper arm to his.

“There is a saying among some Dalish clans,” she prompted airily. “When happiness beckons, we crawl. When pain beckons, we run. ”

“That is… a terrible saying. You’re making that up.”

She snorted. How well he’d gotten to know her.

“I am, but it illustrates a point. Sometimes people have an easier time torturing themselves over something that could make them happy, rather than just accept the thing itself, do you know what I mean? You can sit here all night dissecting the way you see yourself. What you thought you were in the past, what you are now, what you will be tomorrow. Or you can simply be. Make the decision you want, regardless of how it may look for others. I promise there will be people around you to support you no matter what. I, for one.”

Cullen lifted his head to meet her eyes, putting one elbow on his thigh and rubbing his nape ferociously.

“I see your point.” He paused, thinking. “Thank you.”

She nodded lightly.

“And if it is pointers you need, I can put you through to Dorian. I’m sure he would be utterly enraptured. And very helpful.”

“Don’t you dare- I could never-” he exclaimed, shooting straight up into a stand while Amaryll cackled. 

“Peace, now. This will stay between you and I unless you tell me otherwise.”

Cullen’s shoulders dropped, his expression eased. For a moment, they only looked at each other, warmly, until Cullen flexed his fingers.

“Thank you, Lavellan. Amaryll.”

She smiled back at him, heart full.

“I told you, you’re welcome here anytime. Thank you for thinking of me. Trusting me. I appreciate it.”

Cullen nodded, then flexed his fingers once more. 

“Good night,” he said abruptly, cutting through the awkwardness, before moving to leave.

He was almost down the stairs before Amaryll’s gaze fell upon the gloves he’d tossed by the foot of the bed. She scrambled to grab them, jumped towards the other end of the bed, and leaned over the railing.

“Cullen!” she called. “You forgot these!”

He halted, looking up at her. Contemplating.

“I’ll pick them up next time I’m here.”

A warmth spread through her chest, like milk and honey on her tongue. He’ll come back.

He’ll come back.

[illusivesoul]

OTP Questions

Was tagged by @alyssalenko to answer these 3 otp questions. Thank you :) I'll tag @elellan @imakemywings @mxkelsifer @judithmactir @vulpixelates @slothssassin @breadedsinner and @morganaseren Only if you feel like doing this, of course. .

1. How did they first meet?:

2. Were they immediately interested / attracted, or did that come later?:

3. What did they think of each other at first?:

.

Serena Brosca and Leliana

1. How did they first meet?: At the tavern in Lothering. They didnt had the best first impressions of each other, especially after Leliana asked Serena to show mercy to the defeated soldiers of Loghain but Serena killed them anyway.

2. Were they immediately interested / attracted, or did that come later?: Serena wasn't too fond of most humans at that time, and didnt find any of them, including Leliana, particularly special. Leli was intrigued by Serena's tattoos, scars and jewelry, but she wasn't attracted to her at that point. They both became interested in each other much later on.

3. What did they think of each other at first?: Serena had a very negative opinion on humans for much of her first months in the surface. She had never had any interest in coming to the surface, so being forced out of Orzammar and having to now interact and live among humans was something she didn't like at all. When she met Leliana, she thought she was as strange and weird as all the other humans she had met, and actually didn't let her join in the tavern. She already had enough having to endure Alistair and Morrigan, and didn't want more weird humans along. It was only after meeting Leliana again and her insisting she could be of use, that Serena finally gave in and let her join, but she didn't want to have much to do with her at first. Leliana was shocked and surprised that the warden, and by proxy, the person that represented the hope against the darkness she had seen in her dream, was a dwarf. After joining up, she found Serena to be rude and abrasive and closed off, but she suspected there was more to her under that rough exterior, and despite judging her at first, she decided not to push her. Over time, they both slowly started to open up to each other, and Leliana became a sort of "tour guide" for Serena, explaining her things about the surface, and that's how they started to get close.