#viago and rook

[trialsofthedas]

SPOILERS FOR VEILGUARD —>

For those of you who have played and/or watched the scene that takes place after the dragon attack if you are a crow!rook who chose to save minrathous, you know this little line Viago throws at you?

“Because you always think of something. You always do. Except this time.”

Once again, I’m asking you guys to think about Lucanis having to tell Viago that rook is missing post-tearstone island. Because they don’t know where Rook is. They don’t even know if Rook is alive. All they know is they killed one of the gods, they did it, but the smoke cleared and solas is free but Rook is gone. and it’s WEEKS according to that Bellara romance scene.

Viago refuses to believe Rook is gone. Not Rook. Not the stubborn little idiot who had more lives than the feral street cats of treviso they so loved to pet. Not the little crow who spent years following Viago around with one hand always fisted in his cape until it was beat out of them to not show that kind of weakness. Not the little scrap of a being that succeeded for always being quick, but fell for their mouth that ran that much quicker. Not Rook, who he sent away to learn patience, to get them out of the hot seat and away from the other houses who wanted their head. Rook, who fought and won against gods and dragons and the blight. Not a crow who always completes their contract. Not Rook who was supposed to come home.

Not Rook. So Viago refuses to believe it. The first few days he clings so hard to the mantra. “Rook always thinks of something.” And they will come back and laugh and laugh and laugh at how worried Viago was and Viago will sigh and ring their neck and slip poison into their food to make sure they’ve been keeping up with their daily antivenoms— and Rook will be there.

But those days turn into a week, and then into two, and Viago hasn’t received any update from this so called ‘veilguard’ and all of the sudden “Rook always thinks of something.” is crumbling because what if this is the exception? this is the “except this time.” Because it is always until it’s not. and there is no time to truly mourn is there? there is still one god left to slay and very little time left to do it.

And Viago will fight. The loss of his… the loss to House de Riva is felt, but Viago is a professional. His wings are not clipped. ( his feathers are broken, hard shafts digging in and pulling blood from oozing cuts. they need clipped, groomed, removed. but his wings still work. they just hurt. ) He will finish this contract, in their name if nothing else.

But Viago let himself forget. “Rook always thinks of something.” And he let himself doubt and underestimate when he swore he would never be caught by those things again. but maybe this once, it’s okay. it’s okay because Rook stands in front of him, alive. Broken, but alive.

because a Crow always completes their contract, and a Rook will always come home to bother Viago.

Until they don’t

[rin-hanarin]

I love Viago, he's so funny for no reason.

[housederiva]

I’m in tears

Edit: the tears have increased

[thatwavephenomenon]

me: i sure hope the crows are not gonna be solely depicted in veilguard as a brave force who 'fight for all' when they are at their core a criminal organization who is known to buy children to indoctrinate them and turn them into assassins, by putting them in overcrowded warehouses and making them fight for scrapes in order not to starve, to later torture those who reach adulthood to finish their initiations and kill them anyways if they dare to try getting out

bioware: i cooka da pizza

[kabsey]

lucanis: i am stuck with a demon who is reckless, impulsive, and never listens to me

viago: (sighs) i know exactly what you mean

crow!rook: (wanders over) what are we talking about?

viago: you

[night-orchids]

[avernusreject]

Genuinely obsessed with the fact that Viago wrote crow Rook a letter after the Antaam incident and literally just addressed them as idiot. I love their dynamic so much

[sky--phantom]

I am loving them teasing each other about their Crow careers and Viago.

[proffbon]

Viago: Rook, last time you 'did things your way' you fucked up a major Crow operation. What went wrong this time?

Rook, trying to think of a way to tell about two blighted elven gods they accidentally released:

[trialsofthedas]

Lucanis, trying to sneak out after spending the night with Rook:

Viago, twirling a vial of poison: What are you doing here?

Lucanis: …I could ask you the same question.

Viago: I live here. This is my house.

Lucanis: I should probably ask you a different question.

[twifairy]

I'm gonna make a Rook that is so Viago Migraine Coded

[nightingaletrash]

Viago and Teia: *forever maintaining the balance of will-they-won't-they, always keeping the other Houses guessing if they're actually a united front or if it's all an alliance of convenience, meant to disrupt the confidence of their rivals and ensure their own strength* Lucanis and Rook: *declaring their undying love for each other within five feet of Morrigan, who has already proven to be a horrible gossip*

[sotc]

the dynamic between crow rook and viago is genuinely sooo funny. he's your boss. he's a bully. he calls you an idiot. he scolds and reprimands you in front of your coworkers and the other talons. he cheers you on by berating you while you're fighting for your life. absolute clownery in the house de riva. love it sooo much.

[xenogaby]

Viago and Teia are def planning Rook and Lucanis' marriage and Spite loves Rook in his own way.

I love them 😩

Thank you to Mary Kirby for feeding us!

[ammyramblings]

Maybe it’s the imaginary Crow Rook in me but I think it’s super sweet that when Crow Rook asks Lucanis

“What was it like training under the first talon?”

And he says “What was your own training like?”

And Rook replies “Torture”

Then Lucanis says “There you go.”

That it’s super super sweet that when Rook follows up with “and you don’t resent her for it?”

Lucanis says “not anymore” rather than being like do you resent Viago? It’s almost like he’s aware that’s a huge possibility and refuses to ask Rook to put her trauma out there like that in front of another member of the team.

[housederiva]

I’m still thinking about this tweet and more specifically what it means if Viago is giving away a Crow Rook. Viago de Riva, the only son of the king who chose to be a Crow over being banished and who holds a bit of resentment knowing that he could be ruling the country better than his father and that he has more power than he does

It was summed up beautifully here but I want to know how much of that lecture would entail what it means for a de Riva to marry into the Dellamorte's. As much as Lucanis and Rook love each other, that's not what the foundation of their wedding would be in the eyes of every other Crow. Lucanis is on a downward spiral to being the sole member of a failing house, he's not going to make it as the First Talon, nearly every other House will have a blade at his throat the second Catarina dies. It's not even a position he wants and it's not one Illario is qualified for

But Viago ticks off both those boxes and I'm thinking about the amount of responsibility/sway he and Teia have to the point Teia is the one planning Caterina's funeral and how they seem to be the Talons leading the resistance against the Antaam

I'm thinking about how Lucanis could essentially use the de Riva's as a shield willingly or otherwise. Because no one's going to target him if he has a well known alliance with de Riva because they have a well known alliance with Cantori. It would be a domino effect leading to another civil war within the Crows and the wedding - the act of Viago giving Rook, his protege, to Lucanis would be the clearest signal of that I can think of