#yeah his connection to the inquisitor

[sunflowerhazel]

I've seen a couple of people both here and on twitter be upset that it looks like a solavellan world state is the default, based on a female lavellan with no vallaslin being the default Inquisitor. It really looks like solavellan and how much energy is being put into their story is pretty contentious amongst the fandom right now so I just wanted to remind everyone that even though a female lavellan might be the default for the Inquisitor, you can always change that!

Remember when BG3 first came out and people were super excited to create their characters as well as the dream guardian, even though none of us knew who the dream guardian would be yet? You know how when you boot up a new game the "default" race/class is an elven barbarian? You know how you almost always change that immediately????

The same way that we all changed the default origins character and the default dream guardian design to fit whatever we wanted, new Dragon Age fans that have never played the game before will most likely change the Inquisitor's design based on whatever they want. Also "elf" comes first alphabetically when your options are "elf, dwarf, human, qunari"

But all that being said, I don't necessarily think it's a bad thing that a solavellan Inquisitor is the default. If that's not what you want, totally fine! Go wild! Make your Inquisitor a hot qunari woman who's married to Sera! Make it so your Inquisitor hates the egg man's guts!!! However, for new fans who might just be picking up Dragon Age for the first time and don't want to go through the trouble of making an Inq. (and therefore choose the default option,) making it so your character's advisor is in love with one of the main antagonists of the game can be a really interesting story. That's all.

And once again "elf" comes first alphabetically anyways so like of course the "default" would be an elf I just think it's really not that deep

[chernychnyi]

i usually like my dragon age love interests to contrast my characters somehow and yet the desire to romance emmrich as a fellow academic... would it be weird if he peer reviewed my papers before. would it be unprofessional

[aerynwrites]

Mixed Signals

Solas x reader/inquisitor

A/N: the Poll has spoken! y'all chose option 2 (I love that btw) so you shall receive. Some backstory - for whatever reason and despite having all the approval requirements and everything, my game bugged and I did NOT get the solas balcony romance scene and I'm MAD!!! idk what the scene was even supposed to be other than a kiss but yeah. here's this lol. this is also my first ever DAI pic so I apologize if things seem OOC. Hope you all enjoy!

Word Count: 1.4k

Warnings: Hurt/comfort, very slight angst, fluff, kisses, petting? lost of kissing.

 “I’ve disturbed you enough for the evening.”

Solas’ parting words ring in your head endlessly since he left your chambers yesterday. They had stunned you, making your brows furrow as his demeanor seemed to change. You were sure, so sure he was going to take a step forward in your relationship. Even though you’d both agreed to take the risk, the tension had never waned, as if one wrong move would destroy the fragile relationship you’ve built. 

When he left…you thought it had finally shattered. That not acting on the energy crackling in the air, Solas was - effectively - giving you a final verdict. 

That was until today, when you went to visit him, after hours spent in the war room. Cassandra wanted you to speak with him about his knowledge on the elven artifacts you’ve been finding throughout the region. 

You walked in, finding him sitting in his chair, thumbing through a worn leather book. 

“Solas -”

“Yes, vhenan?” 

You nearly choke on air, hiding it behind a small cough. The term of endearment was not one used lightly, especially not by Solas. Your heart was thrumming in your chest, eyes wide as Solas finally looked up from the withered pages at your silence. 

He raises a brow at you, closing the book on his thumb to keep his place. “Did you need to speak with me?” he asks, again. 

Your mind runs at breakneck speed, yet you’re still unable to comprehend his words, still stuck on his initial greeting. 

Vhenan…

Solas stands then, setting his book down before taking a few steps to stand before you, settling a gentle hand on your arm. 

“Vhenan…are you alright?” he asks, voice soft, concern glittering in his gaze.

Finally your eyes connect with his own, and it feels as if the breath is stolen from you once more. That memory from the fade playing over and over in your mind. But you quickly shake it off, breaking his gaze and looking at the wall over his shoulder. 

“Yes, I…” you trail off, voice small, unsure. “I seem to have forgotten what I came for. Forgive me.” 

You turn without another word, hurrying from his presence with a greater haste than when you arrived, leaving a baffled Solas in your wake. 

That had been hours ago, the sun having long set, yet sleep evades you as you lay in your too large bed in your too large chambers. You are more confused now than when he left you on your balcony just a day ago. He had a chance, a chance to speak with you about…well about whatever this was. You had expected as much when he asked to speak to you alone, in your chambers no less. Yet…he didn’t take it. And now, he’s calling you endearments you’d always dreamed of hearing from his lips, whispered against your skin…

With a frustrated huff you sit up in bed, tossing the covers aside. You are going to find answers, you have to talk to him. 

Quickly lighting a candle, you reach for the robe hanging on the post of your bed, pulling it over your shoulders before reaching for the candle once more. You make your way across the room, the chill of the stone floor sinking into the soles of your feet as you pad towards the door. 

Pulling the door open, you have to stop the shout that bubbles up in your chest as you’re met with the very person you were searching for. Solas stands on the threshold of your chambers, hand raised to knock, and the tips of his ears just the slightest tinge of red at having been caught. 

“Solas-” “I’m sorry to interrupt.”

You both speak at the same time before falling silent, waiting for the other to speak. 

“I was just-” “I need to speak with you”

By now your own cheeks are burning, as silence envelops you once more. 

“Well, this isn’t going to work.” you finally say, heart fluttering at the smile your words elicit from the elf in front of you.

“Conversation will not get far that way, no,” Solas concedes. 

You step aside, gesturing him in, a command he silently obeys. 

Neither of you speak for a moment, and you take the opportunity to light a few more candles around the room, noticing only briefly that Solas seems…nervous. 

“Vhenan-”

“Why do you call me that?” you interrupt, setting the last candle down on your bedside table. 

This question seems to perplex the man, his brows furrowing as confusion settles on his features. 

“Vhenan,” you repeat the term, “Why do you call me that?”

“Do you not like the term? I just assumed it was appropriate-”

“Why?” you interrupt again, all your confusion and inner turmoil and insecurities coming to the surface now that you're alone with him. “I didn’t think…I know you were hesitant about this relationship. I know you think it’s a risk. But you…you left, Solas.”

You can tell he wants to speak, but he stays silent, encouraging you to continue in his own peculiar way. 

“On the balcony,” you clarify. “I thought…you asked to speak with me and I thought-” you cut yourself off, clenching the fabric of your robe in your hands as you struggle to verbalize your thoughts without sounding like an idiot. 

“I thought there was more to  say, there was more you were going to say. About us. But then…you said that you respected me deeply but then you just left! As if you are some burden I wanted gone, or as if you aren’t worthy of my time, but I- I want this Solas. With you. I want you, and I thought you wanted me, and if you don’t that is fine. But you can’t keep sending these clashing signals-”

You don’t  even notice him approach, not until his lips meet your own, cool hands cradling your face as he pulls you deeper into the kiss. A kiss you eagerly return, hands dropping your robe to instead fist into the fabric of his tunic, pulling him impossibly closer, wishing you could pull him into your very being. 

You stumble blindly as Solas urges you backwards, your knees hitting the edge of the bed, Solas following you down to the feather mattress, catching his weight on his forearms. 

He never breaks the kiss, his lips molding against yours as fire runs through your veins, burning brighter than the summer sun. His hands, calloused from years of wielding his staff, slide beneath your robe and ruck up your night shirt in search of the soft skin beneath. 

You both only separate for desperate gasps of air before Solas is devouring you once more, teeth nipping at your lip before you feel his tongue slide along the seam of your lips. You clutch him tighter as he sighs into you at your willing acceptance, exploring your mouth with his own before he finally breaks away from you, nuzzling against your jaw as he presses feather light kisses there and down your neck. 

“I want you,” he breathes, hands clutching at your waist. “I crave you. And it terrifies me.” he admits. 

You take a moment to gather your thoughts, the thoughts that were scattered leagues apart from one another by his kisses, by his hands roaming over your skin. 

“You…you can be afraid and still do it,” you tell him. 

Solas chuckles then, an almost inaudible sound against your collar bone. 

“What do you think I’m doing?”

You smile, sliding your hands up to cup his jaw, urging him up to look at you, heart stuttering a the look in his eyes. 

“I thought…”

He shakes his head, turning to place a kiss on your palm. 

“I have not stopped thinking about our kiss in the fade,” he admits. “I’m sorry if my actions betrayed otherwise.” 

 “Will you stay?” you ask.

Solas smiles down at you before capturing you in another breathtaking kiss. 

“Nothing would please me more.”

Solas lifts himself from you, helping you beneath the covers before moving to extinguish the lights around the room. When the last one is blown out, you only know he joins you when the bed dips at your side, the covers lifting as he slides in beside you. 

Warm hands seek you out once more, lips fumbling in the dark until you kiss one last time, this one seeming to promise more than words ever could. 

Neither of you speak again. Not until you both settle, Solas’ body pressing into you from behind as his arms snake around your waist, legs tangling with your own. Not until you’re already in the dregs of slumber and you hear him call to you one last time.

“vhen’an’ara.”

[crossdressingdeath]

DAI does that with a lot of things. Morrigan gets to claim to be a Elven expert, even though you know that is far from the truth if you've played Origins where she didn't know shit. Cullen gets final say in his dialogue options despite you knowing that he's lying. Grey Wardens gets shit on and the Inquisitor can wildly overstep.

DAI has this weird mix of a) expecting you to have read all the books/comics so that they don't have to explain anything and b) assuming that you haven't played the previous games so they can try to rewrite what happened.

Yeah, the required reading for DAI was ridiculous. WEaWH is always the big one because most of the others you can get by without it (even Cole's backstory isn't necessary to appreciate and understand the character, and enough of it comes up in-game to get by), but knowing what Celene and Gaspard did is kind of fucking important, Bioware. And then even when Celene purging the alienage comes up it's used as a mark against Briala for being in a relationship with her at the time even though if I'm understanding the excerpts I've seen of TME Briala breaks it off as a direct result of the purge and (as Dorian rightly points out) that'd be more Celene's scandal than Briala's anyway. Like, they try to make Celene purging the alienage into Briala's crime because she was sleeping with the empress at the time and that's just... ugh. But it's like, I would argue that it would be fair and honestly best practice to assume that people playing the third game in a series have played the first two games? DA has an overarching narrative even if the connections aren't particularly close, if someone wants to start partway through they can but the writing should expect people to be familiar with the games' stories. Maybe have some codex entries summarizing the previous games or a little intro cutscene, but... I don't know, I'm worried about the fact that apparently DAV doesn't need you to have played the first three games when literally all the setup for it is in DAI. Expecting people to have played all the games in a narrative-driven RPG series and not to have jumped in partway through is fair! Expecting people to have read five supplementary novels and two coffee table lore books to understand the plot is ridiculous. At least Tevinter Nights and The Missing so far seem to only be relevant to DAV in that they show some glimpses of what's been going on between games and give us a point of reference for some of the new characters...

The thing that gets me with DAI is that the game really wants you to side with the Templars whether it makes sense or not. Like... let's take the choice between mages and Templars as an example. The game wants you to side with the Templars. It really does, it tries its best to dissuade the player from siding with the mages if you go that route (Cullen's little "Oh... it's so dangerous... we shouldn't do it..." routine is notable when compared to Leliana and Josie, both of whom favour the mages, being very professional about you picking the Templars), it does its utmost to claim that the rebellion was unwarranted when it absolutely was not, the rebels are constantly framed as weak or mean or evil or stupid while the Templars were just misled (by... a guy who told them he'd let them murder all the mages and left out the "in service to Corypheus" bit, they still joined his little walkout to murder people, but the game doesn't get into that), it even lets you switch quests well past what should've been the point of no return if you're on the mage route (WHY CAN YOU SWITCH AFTER LEARNING THERE'S A FUCKING MAGISTER IN FERELDEN TRYING TO ENSLAVE A BUNCH OF MAGES, BIOWARE, WHY THE FUCK IS THAT AN OPTION) whereas with the Templars you can't even learn what your advisors' plan for getting you in alive is until you're locked in. And I'm not going to lie, CotJ is legitimately the better quest. I did it once to see and god damn it is quality, I don't dislike IHW but... yeah CotJ is definitely stronger.

But then you actually look at the story and... why the fuck would you side with the Templars? They left the Chantry because the Divine told them not to murder people. That's explicit, people tell you that repeatedly. They're making excuses for it, but there's always an acknowledgement that... yep, that's why the Templars left, they wanted to kill people and were mad about being told no. Leliana (the most familiar face among the advisors and given Cassandra's previous appearance was threatening Varric and Cullen's was playing yes man to Meredith for nine years and only changing sides once she became a threat to him/because not doing so would mean fighting Hawke Leliana's the one people are most likely to want to side with) is pro-mage and dismisses Cullen's claims that the Templars could help close the Breach as speculation. Which... it is. This situation is completely unprecedented, no one knows what's going to happen. But given mages are incredibly powerful and Templars are repeatedly portrayed as mostly useless in any sort of real danger that doesn't involve children or indoctrinated Circle mages (it is not a coincidence that the only people locked in the tower in Broken Circle who survive with their minds and bodies intact without the demons actively choosing to let them live for funsies are mages; the only Templar who's alive and unpossessed is Cullen, and the demons very obviously could've killed him at any time and just chose not to because they were having fun toying with him) I'm gonna say the mages are a safer bet. Also because... they invited Quiz. That could be a trap, but you know what's definitely a trap? Walking into a fortress full of heavily-armed mage killers who openly want you dead. Meeting with the Templars is really, really stupid (especially if you're a mage) and you don't even learn the plan for getting you inside unharmed until you actually select the quest. Also that plan is basically just "if there are witnesses with societal power the Templars can't murder you unprovoked" because reminder: the Templars are the absolute worst. Why would you ever want these people around. And then if you meet with the mages first like "Well I'll figure it out once I've heard what they have to say, I don't have to commit if I do things this way so I might as well" you learn that there's a Tevinter magister serving an evil Tevinter cult just chilling in Redcliffe and why the fuck would you go to the Templars at that point this needs to be dealt with. The game wants you to side with the Templars but it gives you no reason to do so, I really wonder sometimes if the writers weren't talking to each other at all.

[broodwolf221]

triple checks it's the right blog this time...

so I'm having a p shitty week and I'm gonna cope by talking abt my meta for solas, mostly in terms of his personality and behavior. I have a LOT of meta abt his past and nature and future but that's... another post, lmao

some of his key and/or most interesting characteristics:

kind

selfish

reserved

arrogant

empathetic

detached

now, let's dig into these

kind: he clearly and consistently wants people to be happy or to alleviate their suffering. he's glad the inquisition helps refugees, he's glad (dialogue, not approval iirc) when you take the time to find the apostate supply caches in the hinterlands, he makes a point of connecting with every single companion, even ones who regularly degrade him. and in trespasser, he goes to extreme lengths to keep southern thedas from falling to the qun, because he wants the people - those he knows and those he doesn't - to be happy and at relative peace.

this is one of the most remarkable things he does imo, bc if he'd just let the situation develop, he'd have an absolutely clear path to achieving his goals. yes, he'd need to get the anchor another way, but that's hardly impossible. what matters is that by stopping the war, he gives the inquisition/inquisitor clearance to pursue him without distraction, while also arguably giving the qunari the ability to focus on strengthening the veil, bc i cant imagine the viddasala and her people were the only ones of all qunari to have/know of that goal

selfish: if romancing lavellan, he understands one aspect of his selfishness, because it's a relationship he should have shut down HARD. but his feelings are real... and he selfishly gives in to them, even knowing he'll break their heart. he does try to pull away, he does eventually break up with lavellan, but by then the damage is done. even the offer to remove their vallaslin is selfish in its way - he's trying to give them a piece of the truth, but instead delivers a cruelty and leaves them whether they accept or deny his offer.

but he's selfish in another important way, too: he's convinced of his own perspective. he thinks bc he literally knows more (which, yeah, tbf he does), that his pov holds more weight. he's willing to change the world bc of his guilt about it ofc, but also bc he's - selfishly, self-centered - convinced that he's RIGHT to do so. he's not traditionally selfish - in many ways he's selfless, overwhelmingly willing to sacrifice all his own chances at happiness and peace in order to restore the world - but his selfishness (which ties in with his arrogance) is shown in his self-conviction.

he makes excuses, but honestly? he could have told the inquisitor who and what he was. he could have done that! he could ask for help reconnecting the fade with the waking world. dreadwolf could be about the inquisition gathering together myriad experts and looking for ways to do it that aren't destructive. but he's so assured that his path is the right one, the only one.

and it's... a complicated selfishness, too, because part of it is that he feels like he deserves to be punished. he thinks he needs to walk this path alone not bc the inquisitor is incapable, but because 1) He Knows What's Right, and 2) He Deserves To Suffer (to alleviate his guilt about his "sins" - which is selfish in a complicated and roundabout way)

reserved: the superficial aspect of this is obvious: he's lying about his identity. but he's also reserved as part of his core character - according to him, he used to be reckless, quick to fight. I think his reserve is something he grew into, a willingness to play the long game, an understanding that information given can never be taken away. it leads to other things - a hesitance to trust, for example - but it's just a part of him now. I think even if he found someone to be 100% open with, he'd STILL be reserved by nature

arrogant: my man is an arrogant ass, no denying it. ofc he knows so much more about history than those around him, but he's also so willing to fight about it, to condescend, to trivialize. when he realizes he has a genuinely receptive audience his tone changes, so I think a lot of this stems from defensiveness and a deep familiarity with needing to justify his every expressed opinion, but... he's still an ass. his conversation with a dalish inquisitor at haven? yikes.

he's also regularly convinced that his interpretations are the correct ones. like wrt my recent post about the mages after Faded For Her, I have to assume that he thinks the inquisitor sparing them demonstrates disdain for the inherent value of spirits and their sentience, even if the real reason is a lot more complicated. he jumps to conclusions and states them like facts and it takes a lot for him to begin to deconstruct them

empathetic: this ties in with his kindness ofc, but its worth a unique mention. he is incredibly empathetic. he cares about what happens to people, to spirits, even to your enemies in a way - he talks with bull about how he doesn't like to relish his victories in combat because the people he kills could have been something else, someone else. he cares about wolves (I WONDER WHY... but also like, him being fen'harel doesn't mean he HAS to care about wolves, but he does, bc he cares about animals, too), he cares about the farmers being attacked by wolves, he cares about the refugees, he's understanding towards speaker anais and the cult that grew up around the rifts... he not only cares, he understands where people are coming from, regardless of who they are or how they behave

detached: this one lessens somewhat over the course of the game, but he's deeply, fundamentally detached to the world he woke up in and the people who inhabit it. its a little ironic when u look at his kindness and empathy, but it doesn't negate his detachment. i tend to think of him as seeing everything through a fog, feeling like he's not really there at least as much as he feels like everyone else is not really there.

not joking or exaggerating, he must have such terrible trouble with disassociation/derealization. ive seen people bring up excellent points wrt this that i dont feel a need to rehash, but suffice to say: while he still cares, everything he experiences is at a remove. this stems from shock, trauma, guilt, fear, and profound culture shock.

[antianakin]

I think what makes Ahsoka's sudden power surge frustrating is that we don't really see her "earn" it besides her slow power increase in TCW, where we see her train, practice, and learn from past mistakes. In Rebels without any prior showing she's able to go toe to toe with multiple force sensitives etc. Then in Ahsoka she's able to do all this without any hint she could before. It could have worked if we saw her in other media like rebels trying to do this to limited success hinting that later success meaning she practiced. A powerful character works, but since these are specific skills with in-universe being rare/difficult to use we need to see her learning since she's too established a character to just have it as a natural skill.

Best example I can think of rn (sorry tired and Rebels is one of my faves) is Ezra's connection ability, even though he picks it up extremely quickly we still see him struggle in the beginning. But things like his increased agility make sense with his backstory so we don't need to see him practice jumping.

So the thing with Ezra’s animal connection ability is that it’s done very specifically to showcase some things about Ezra’s CHARACTER. He picks it up quickly because he ends up using it via anger the first time successfully as I recall, highlighting some of that struggle we see him going through across most of the show, but he figures out how to LET GO and so from then on he tends to do pretty well in animal connection because it sort-of represents his connection to the Force itself. This is Ezra at his most pure, his most balanced. EVERY TIME after that first episode, Ezra’s connection to animals is where he seems the most calm and centered. Think the way he responds to the purrgils right from the start, or his connections to the loth cats and loth wolves later on and how innately they seem to be drawn to him. Ezra’s Force abilities tell us something about his character. (On a sidenote, this is why I was somewhat disappointed in the lack of newer Force abilities for him after TEN YEARS in a new galaxy on his own, it doesn’t feel like Ezra’s had to change or grow at all as a result of that time which seems both unrealistic and really boring.)

Ahsoka being able to do more and more things in TCW is intended to showcase how advanced she is and that time is passing so yeah, she's learning new skills, etc. Ezra gets some of that in Rebels, too, without us needing to see the training happen on screen. But very rarely are her skills utilized to showcase something about Ahsoka's character or her connection to the Force in the way Ezra's animal connection ability is.

I will say that if you watch the shows in chronological order as they are NOW, then Ahsoka in TCW season 7 is capable of besting Maul on her own, so her going up against two Inquisitors in Rebels doesn't seem SO far-fetched. She's portrayed as REALLY skilled in combat throughout TCW, so that honestly doesn't totally annoy me so much as the fact that Kanan and Ezra are completely knocked on their asses by the same two Inquisitors. And that's what makes it feel a little like an attempt to just make Ahsoka look like the coolest. By beating Kanan and Ezra TOGETHER, the Inquisitors are made to look pretty dangerous and powerful, so Ahsoka defeating them makes her look EXPONENTIALLY powerful. If Kanan and Ezra had been holding their own but just not quite able to take them out and then Ahsoka shows up and adds to their numbers and so now the Inquisitors are done for, that might've been a little better. Ahsoka doesn't look quite so powerful, but Kanan and Ezra don't look like such wimps either. I don't mind Ahsoka being powerful in combat on her own, I just have an issue with Ahsoka constantly being compared to other Jedi as supremely more powerful, presumably just because she was Anakin's Padawan.

And that leads us to the Ahsoka show where Ahsoka suddenly has psychometry. That's not even something you can TRAIN as far as the lore for it goes, you either have it or you don't. And Ahsoka has pretty clearly NEVER HAD IT BEFORE given the amount of times that skill would've come in handy in all of the situations we've seen her in. And it's not like they didn't have a way to show what psychometry was on TCW, we see Quinlan use it in his one episode. Ahsoka never does anything at all like that, so it seems unlikely that she was intended to have the skill and just... never uses it. If they wanted us to know she had it, we'd have seen it. In TCW and in Rebels. What she does in the Ahsoka show is never CALLED psychometry, but what she does with the map to figure out what happened to Sabine is so so clearly psychometry it's not even funny. At this point I must assume the reason for giving her this skill out of the fucking blue is just to move the plot forward and to make Ahsoka seem like a wise old sage, or a messiah of sorts. They could've EASILY let Jacen be the psychometric one, he's basically a blank slate in terms of his Force abilities. But nope. Had to be Ahsoka so she could have yet ANOTHER Force skill to make her seem cooler.

I dunno, I get that they're effectively turning her into a goddess of light reborn sort of thing at this point which I hate just for how boring and annoying it is, but if she's supposed to be a goddess of light reborn then sure, whatever, give her random skills out of the blue, maybe the more she starts turning into a goddess the more powers she gets or some bullshit like that.

The one thing I will give to the Ahsoka show is that they allowed Baylan to be BETTER than her. At least temporarily. I'm sure she'll end up beating him later in season 2 or something, but he gets to explicitly tell her she'll NEVER BEAT HIM and he's RIGHT. This is the first time in a VERY LONG TIME that Ahsoka's been up against someone she legitimately just cannot beat. The only other one has been, like, Anakin himself during Rebels. So I did appreciate that they finally showcased another Jedi character who is just legitimately better than Ahsoka in combat. I wish there'd been more of an emphasis on WHY that was, why Baylan is so powerful/strong in comparison. If it's just that he's the only other character she's been up against who was likely a full Knight or even a Master by the time Order 66 came around while Ahsoka only got a few years into her apprenticeship and so OF COURSE he's better than her, that would've been really cool to explore. Ahsoka never FINISHED HER TRAINING, that would've been an INSANELY interesting thing to really dig into and it should've been a NECESSARY thing to dig into before she took on a Padawan she didn't need to train. Unlike Kanan and Ezra, Sabine is not someone who's already showing signs of Force sensitivity that she needs to be able to hone and there are absolutely other options for Sabine if she wants to train (we're pretending the stupid worldbuilding-breaking "everybody is Force sensitive" bullshit is real for the sake of this argument). Sabine could've gone to Luke if she was that desperate. Ahsoka should've been forced to figure HERSELF out before she took on a Padawan and having to recognize that a full blown Knight/Master is easily able to best her could've been a very interesting start to that particular revelation.

Ah well. Wasted potential across the board, I guess, that should've been the Ahsoka show's logline.

[theheraldsrest]

“Companions React to Inquisitor hiding their newest injuries”

Hahahaha. So many feels. Also, don't worry if some stuff might move. Ficing things.

-Lord Lex

Cullen

-It would take this man forever to notice. Not out of negligence but he tries to mind his own business. The first time he sees it, possibly a time when you drop the enchantment, he’s startled and asks how it’s happened before apologizing for intruding on the matter. If you tell him the truth, he’ll be outraged and ask if you’d like him to do something about it.

Josephine

-Pays a little more attention than Cullen but still tries to respect your privacy. She knows something’s up, whether it be flinching or turning your face in an unusual fashion. When her concern grows, she tries to bring it up as delicately as possible. If you show her, she’s horrified and tells you how sorry she is and how she’ll do anything in her power to reprimand the person.

Leliana

-More or less one of the first to notice but won’t bring it up. It’s your business, she will not intrude on it. Now if you do bring it up and/or show her, she will be livid. The thought of you getting hurt because of some noble snob and she had not been told goes against her job. You can bet she will find a way to make that noble’s life a living hell and that he begs for death. Yeah, she’s a little ticked.

Vivienne

-Do not, whatever you do, tell her it’s new. If she gets even a whiff that you have an untreated injury that you’re hiding with magic, she’s going to give you a lecture. If it’s new? Oh she’s going to be on a man hunt. Will demand to know who hurt you so that she can repay the favor. The Ice Queen will not hesitate, bitch.

Varric

-He knows. He just does. He knows how to hide secrets well but he can also tell when others are hiding something. But he’ll respect your choice…unless it’s something that is harming you/has harmed you. Then he’s gonna oh-so-subtley and very gently tell Cassandra to check on you. What? He’s not a touchy-feely person but he’ll make sure his friends are good, healthy, and not badly injured.

Cole

-Cole knows it’s there and may or may not know the reason behind it. But he knows it hurts, so you’ll usually find things that make you happy suddenly pop up almost out of thin air. Will even leave solvents or herbs that can help with injuries becuase you flinch from it. Doesn’t mean to but he will point it out if some pain starts to settle in or someone sees you flinch.

Solas

-Oh? Illusionary magic? Whatever for? Solas can recognize it a mile away and yet won’t bother you about it unless it starts to become worrisome. Will pull you away from others and try to ask you if it’s something he can assist with. If you do allow him to help, he’ll either help try to heal it or help you to better hide it. It’s your choice after all.

Cassandra

-Remember the last post that said she’d be livid? Yeah, this is worse. Worse for the person who caused it, not you. She’ll respect your space but will try to make sure it’s not cuasing you any pain. Josephine does tell you that someone who seems to have a connection to the Pentaghasts had been seen threatening the nobleman. Cassandra will not confirm nor deny anything.

The Iron Bull

-Once more, believes people should show their scars with pride. But will respect you wanting to keep it hidden. Of course, he can tell when a scar is recent. And there’s a reason he’s known (or was known) as one of the best damn spies. He’ll find the noble and do whatever he thinks will fit for what the noble did. The punishment should match the crime, after all.

Dorian

-He knows due to his years of study with the different types of magic. Plus, traces of magic just so happened to suddenly appear around your face after that stiff night at that party? He can connect the dots. His first question is would you like some help with trying to heal it. His next question is how do you want like your noble served? Burned, fried, or frozen?

Sera

-People think Sera is stupid or oblivious. On the contrary, she’s observant when she wants to be. And she can see something is up with your face. Unlike the others, though, she’ll question and get into your business. If you tell her what happened, she’ll nod say ok and walk away. Which is very worrying. Until you find out someone had filled up said noble’s house with bees. It’s a big house.

Blackwall

-Forgive him, he tries to mind his business. Also doesn’t notice things immediately. If you let it slip, he’ll feel stupid that he hadn’t noticed and ask if you need to talk about it or if you need anything to soothe the pain. Another person who, if you tell him what had happened, will be outraged and promise you that the noble will get their comuppance. Don’t worry about him talking to Sera later about how many bees she needs, it’s a different matter. Definitely.

[etoiline]

burble

(read with tags and characters on AO3 instead)

Cal winces as he sits down at the table on the Mantis, Greez’s hands pushing him gently but firmly into the seat. “You shouldn’t be walking around after all those stunts you just pulled,” the Latero says.

After getting my ass handed to me by an Inquisitor, Cal thinks. He doesn’t say it aloud; it’s too embarrassing. He wants to pull the hood of his sodden poncho up and hide from his rescuers. They’re being too nice to him, a failure of a Jedi. He can’t even hide properly. He reaches up to grab the hood—

The motion jars his ribs, throbbing after his chance encounter with the side of the barge. He can’t help his gasp, and he lowers his arms to the table with a thump. He breathes through it—he’s had worse injuries when his sweat-slick gloves failed him while scrapping a Venator—tries to remember his creche-breaths, wants to release the pain into the Force but the thought of touching that broken connection makes his head ache—

and his stomach growls. Loudly. Cal lowers his head into his arms—carefully, mindful of his ribs—feeling betrayed by his own body. Some hero he is, injured and so hungry. His last rotation had been too long on too few credits, his belly already empty before he started trying to take on Inquisitors and jumping off exploding trains. Another burble from his stomach, and Cal curls into the table, his cheeks warm. He thinks about the credits he would have earned if he and Prauf had been able to finish the job, if Cal hadn’t acted on his stupid, stupid instinct and tried to save his friend with the Force. Prauf would still be dead but—

He cages the sob before it can escape. It’ll hurt his ribs too much. Just his ribs.

There’s a clatter off to the side, but Cal can’t be bothered to look. If these folks wanted to kill him they could have just...not rescued him. That Inquisitor’s red blade would have done the trick easily enough.

Cal shivers under his wet poncho. That’s the only reason he’s cold, he tells himself.

A thump near his outstretched glove has Cal raising his head. The cloud of steam bathes his face in welcome warmth, and he inhales, breaking off as his ribs protest. For a moment all he can do is stare at the bowl of stew, until the view distorts as his eyes well with tears. The bowl is more food than he’s had in all of the last standard week, right there in front of him.

Then he looks at Greez, standing next to the table, an uncertain look on his wide face. “Is this all for me?” Cal says, and Greez looks at him, his mouth shaping a moue, then he looks over the table at the sitting area, where Cal knows Cere is.

Greez pats his shoulder with one hand and puts a spork in Cal’s palm with another. “Yeah, kid, it’s all for you.” Cal pulls the bowl toward himself and spears a hunk of meat. “Thank you,” he whispers, and takes a bite.

[sparrowsabre7]

Whitesunset

Owen Lars held his hand up to his eyes to shield against the blinding light of the twin suns. On the horizon, plumes of dust and sand heralded the approach of a speeder of some kind, still some way off. The size and speed of the plume's excitation indicated this was not Luke's landspeeder or some local swoop gang, most likely a larger transport. Only one group of people had the money to afford transports of that size round here.

"The Empire are coming. What the hell has Kenobi done now." He muttered, half to himself. We knew that Inquisitor wouldn't be the end of it. Luke's important, eventually someone would connect the dots. I thought that protocol droid an R2 unit looked familiar.

"Those were Anakin's droids weren't they?" Came Beru's voice from behind him. Owen started, wondering if his wife could read his thoughts.

"I think so. I didn't want to believe it, there must be millions of protocol droids, there's bound to be some that have similar names but... this Kenobi business."

Beru smiled wanly. "It's what he was meant for."

"I just wanted... I wanted him to be safe. I thought if I kept him here he could be but... Oh Beru. Our boy. What's going to happen to him." Owen suddenly felt incredibly heavy, his legs trembled and he slumped back against the dome of the homestead. Beru placed a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently. Owen placed his own over it and suddenly felt a wave of calm wash over him. Beru had always had that effect on him, sometimes, privately he joked that maybe she was a jedi in disguise, to which she always rolled her eyes and replied: I don't know jedi, I just know you.

"Luke's not needed us for a long time, Owen. He's ready for more. He has his father's spirit and his mother's kindness, he was always meant for more than this."

Owen blinked back a few tears and sniffed, roughly wiping his face with his free hand.

"I know... I just hoped he wouldn't have to."

Beru gave her husband's shoulder another squeeze, before switching her grip to take his hand and help him back to his feet.

"We can still do what we've always done, we can protect our son." Finding his feet again, Owen gave his arms an encouraging shake, as if trying to throw off the encroaching fear, gave another deep sniff and set his jaw.

"You're right, let's get prepared."

---

The transport arrived half an hour later. Around a dozen white armour-clad Stormtrooper disembarked, all armed with E-11 blasters and stun rods at their waists, and one - a sergeant as denoted by his white pauldron - with a larger DLT-19 rifle.

Owen rose the stairs out of the homestead almost casually, affecting a welcoming, almost nonchalant air.

"Hello, officers, everything alright?"

"We're searching for two droids, we understood they were sold to you. Hand them over."

"Why, is there a problem?"

"The droids are stolen imperial property and we require them returned."

"Stolen!? Oh blast it, I paid good money for those in good faith. I tell you, if I see those Jawas again-"

"You won't." The trooper interrupted bluntly.

Owen stared at the cold emotionless 'face' of the stormtrooper as he let the implication sink in.

Owen swallowed, trying to mask his fear and steadfastly keeping his trembling hands in his pockets.

"Oh yeah? What happened?"

"...Tuskens."

Owen caught the lie for what it was; while he was all too familiar with the danger the Tuskens posed, they rarely attacked anything as large and well armoured as a Sandcrawler, especially not for the kind of junk inside that they had no use for. What Tusken needs a protocol droid, or a treadwell?

"Ah, well I'm afraid I can't help much, I got careless in my old age, 'fraid I must've knocked off the restraining bolt while cleaning them up, when I got up this morning they were gone."

The silence was icy in the burning midday Suns.

"Show me."

Owen hoped the stormtrooper couldn't see well enough through the black lenses to make out the rivulets of sweat beading down his forehead.

"Sure, right this way." He replied, beckoning the trooper to follow him.

The officer remained immobile for a moment before turning to the troops behind him.

"You three, circle the area, see if you can find any tracks. You two wait with the transport. The rest of you, spread out and check the vaporators and out buildings."

Only once the other troopers silently began to move as ordered did the sergeant deign to follow Owen.

Owen and the sergeant ducked down into the workshop. The stormtrooper pointed to a row of small rectagular objects lined against the wall.

"What use does a moisture farmer have for explosives?"

"They're mining charges, low-yield, we used them to clear rockfalls that block the road if we need to travel the Jundland Wastes."

Satisfied that this was the truth, the sergeant jerked his head in the general direction of the workstation.

"Where were the droids kept?"

Owen hastily pointed to the restraining bolt he'd found earlier after Luke had been gone rather too long for his vague story about taking the droids to get things done before he started work to be viable.

"Just here, there's the restraining bolt you see, clean knocked it off I feel like a fool."

"Then where's the other?"

Owen froze.

"Excuse me?"

"The other bolt, for the second droid."

"Oh... well, I think the first droid took that off."

"...The first droid... took the other droid's bolt?" He let the sentence hang limply in the air. Owen was beginning to find it hard to breathe.

"Yeah, well... you know, these older droids get a bit kooky. Start forming attachments to one another..."

"Who else lives here?"

The pivot in questioning threw him completely.

"No one!" he shot back, a little too quickly. Stupid, Lars! Think before you speak!

"Then where's your Landspeeder? You're telling me the two of you get by with that dusty old speeder bike in the back and the busted T-16? The Empire will not be played for fools." The sergeant's voice was no longer monotonous and robotically calm, it was rising in volume and temper with each word.

Beru came through the doorway, holding a tray of drinks.

"Any refreshments for you and your men officer, you must be thirsty" she said, a warm smile on her face.

The sergeant snapped round, as if spring-loaded "Not now!" He turned back to Owen with almost as much speed "You know something, that much is painfully clear. We have been more than generous with our patience, but we can be more... persuasive... if necessary." He let the word hang in the air.

Owen steadied himself and said quietly but firmly "I think it's time you gentlemen left."

With a mock resigned sigh, the sergeant responded "I tried to be nice!" in a practiced motion he unclipped a stun rod from his pack and activated it.

"So did I" A blaster shot rang out in the homestead. Owen started, as a large smoking wound appeared in the chest of the man in front of him. Turning around he saw Beru, still holding the drinks tray, now scorched from the heat of the blaster she had concealed underneath.

Beru met his gaze, a steely expression set on her jaw but a fire burning in her eyes. She discarded the tray and removed one of the concealed rifles from the wall panels to toss to Owen.

"No going back now. This is it. We can't stop them but we can damn sure slow them down to give Luke time to find Ben, he's his only hope now." With a mixture of shock and pride Owen powered up the rifle and took up position in the doorway. Beru gathered the sergeant's DLT-19, slinging it over her shoulder and slung the stun rod holster round her waist before moving to the doorway.

"It's clear, you take up position ahead to cover me."

Owen moved out and took up a covering location nearby, Beru followed after a brief delay, rushing into the courtyard and hiding behind the alcove next to the main doorway, tucking something into her robes. In response to Owen's bemused expression she merely said "Plan B".

As expected two troops put on alert by the blast came down the stairway in to the main area. As the second passed, Beru slammed the stun rod into the gap in his plastoid armour at the back of the knee with her left hand and with her right fired three shots into the back of the first trooper. The first clattered to the ground instantly while the second howled in pain, body spasming from the physical pain of the blow as much as the electrostatic charge frying his body. Beru smashed the butt of the DLT-19 onto his head and the wailing stopped.

Three more troopers popped their head over the ground level rim of the courtyard overlook preparing to avenge their fallen comrades, but Owen was ready. He fired off a barrage of shots, mostly to scare them away from the edge, but a couple struck true, snuffing out another imperial invader.

"Move towards the front, we can try and get them in a bottleneck!" Owen half-whispered. Beru nodded, moving forward towards the stairs. As she stepped forward, blaster fire rained down through the passage, singing her shoulder as she flung herself back against the wall just in time, grimacing from the wound. From the top of the stairs there was the muffled, vocoded sound of the troopers talking through their helmets.

"Didja get 'em?"

"Not sure, better be safe: flush 'em out." A distant beeping followed by a few clunks echoed through the courtyard as a thermal detonator rolled into view. Owen, eyes wide, without a second thought sprinted towards it and kicked as hard as he could. Through sheer luck, or the ferocity of the kick it sailed back up the stairs to cries of consternation. The Larses dove behind the nearest cover just before a dampened explosion rang out from the homestead, followed by disparate cries of injury. Owen, smiled grimly; probably didn't kill any of them, but bound to have shaken them up a bit and maybe cleared a path to escape. Maybe they could find Luke, maybe it would all be OK, maybe they- Two blasts rang out from behind them and he felt a searing pain in his left thigh and lower right side. Blast it old fool, left yourself wide open, got cocky.

"Owen!" Beru cried out, swinging the DLT-19 up and returning fire at ground floor level. The troopers ducked back behind cover, giving her just enough time to close the distance to her husband and put his arm round her. "Here, use the rifle as crutch, take my pistol." Owen, wincing from the pain looked at his wife as she handed him the blasters and took his rifle in exchange and saw something in her eyes he'd only ever seen once before, when Luke had gone missing pursued by that Inquisitor: "fear". Forcing a smile through gritted teeth he said "Don't you fret about me, Beru. Us Larses are tough as old boots." Beru smiled in response to the lie and helped him towards the stairs, bracing the rifle against her hip to keep it trained on the ground level overlook. Three troops popped up again, only two popped back down again in time. Owen gave a dry laugh, Luke was always boasting he could bullseye womp rats in the T-16; Owen may have been the one who taught him to fly, but it was his Aunt who taught him to shoot. Making slow progress up the stairs Beru chanced a look at her husband. His breathing was heavier and becoming more ragged and the dark patch on his side seemed to be growing. A noise ahead. Too late Beru looked up to see the butt of an E-11 come thrusting towards her she held up her hands to protect her head, and the butt smashed into her arm and overbalanced her, knocking her back down the stairs, followed by a blaster bolt through her shoulder.

"Beru!" Owen yelled after her, but before he could bring the pistol to bear on the trooper, he found himself also tumbling down the stairs following a swift kick to the chest by a plastoid boot.

Lying in the dirt and ash, at the foot of the stairs Beru looked over to her husband. Breathing heavily, body shaking with the effort, he dragged himself towards her and took hold of her hand and gripped it with his remaining strength.

Beru looked into the eyes of her husband and thought about Luke. The tiny baby placed into her arms nearly 20 years ago. The toddler, taking his awkward first steps on the sands of Tatooine. The young boy racing his T-16 around the homestead and later through Beggar's Canyon. Finally the young man she had seen this morning as he left the farm said goodbye to her, neither realising it would be the last time they would say it.

"Before...he left... did you tell him. Tell him we...". Beru squeezed Owen's hand tightly. "He knows." Owen seemed to relax, as if in relief and Beru knew he was gone. Her own eyes fluttered as she drifted out of consciousness.

---

"Luke!" Luke's blonde head whipped round, startled by his Aunt's sudden call. He should have known she'd be up already, she was always up early to get a start on breakfast. He grinned sheepishly and tried not to look guilty. "Aunt Beru! I was just going to take care of a few things before I got started today." He said in a tone he hoped sounded casual.

"Oh really?" She replied, putting her hands on her hips in mock disapproval. "You wouldn't be sneaking off to do something reckless now would you?"

Luke panicked internally, he sometimes wondered if Beru could read minds. "Like what?"

"Like going to secretly put in an application to the Academy" she said in a stage whisper with an amused expression.

Luke half-laughed in relief "Oh, no, nothing like that, I just wanted to take the droids out for a test run before starting work proper."

Beru walked over to him, smiling, and smoothed out his tunic "All right, I'm just teasing." she paused her fussing "Although... if you were, it wouldn't be the worst thing...". Luke was stunned.

"But Uncle Owen.."

"Your uncle just wants to protect you, but he knows you're meant for greater things, helping people, like Biggs." She said Biggs with an extra emphasis and a pointed look. Luke for the second time in under a minute wondered if she could read his thoughts, if she somehow knew what Biggs had told him about defecting from the Academy to join the Rebellion. Her gaze softened as she released her hold on his tunic.

"Your grandmother used to say that the biggest problem in the universe was that no one helps each other. I think that's what you were meant to do."

Luke was now practically speechless. He cleared his throat.

"You... you and Uncle Owen never talk about her. Or my parents." Beru avoided his gaze and smiled sadly.

'Well... maybe that was a mistake. We were selfish, sparing ourselves some painful memories but denying you your own past..."

Luke was starting to become concerned.

"Aunt Beru, is everything alright?"

That seemed to shake her from her reminiscence.

"Yes dear, I'm sorry, forgive an old woman for feeling a little wistful this morning. You run along now, just remember that..." she gave his arm a squeeze for emphasis "we are proud of you, and wherever your path takes you, you'll do great things."

Luke blushed, feeling a little bashful in the face of the compliment "How do you know?"

Beru grasped him by the shoulders and stared deep into his eyes, fixing him with a warm smile.

"Because you're our son."

---

One of the remaining troopers swaggered over to the pair of bodies. "Not so tough now." He ordered the others to sweep the workshop. "Why fight that hard if they're not hiding something there? Take a closer look." He heard a rasping noise from the woman, he nudged her with his foot. Still alive? Not for long, she'd bleed out soon like the man. She seemed to be saying something, he leaned in closer. Sounded like 'look'... did she hear what he said about the workshop? Standing back up he called out "Find anything?"

"It's strange, sir, they seem to have hooked up something to the T-16 engine, can't tell what it is." Idiots... these new recruits were getting dumber and dumber, coming in from offworld, no field experience - only he and the sergeant had been on Tatooine for more than a cycle. "What does it *look* like..." he lazily rolled the woman onto her back.

"Just these square sorta blocks."

His helmet betrayed nothing of his underlying expression, if it had it would have been a mask of horror. He was suddenly very aware what was strapped to the T-16, as the same item was strapped under the woman's robes as well, along with a small remote in her hand. The woman breathed her last word which he finally heard clearly "...Luke." *click*

---

The relief officer gave a deep sigh of distaste bordering on disgust. Honestly, what a karking shambles. A dozen stormtroopers taken out by two pathetic farmers in the Bantha-end of nowhere... The recovery team had been called after there had been no response from the survey crew. They had assumed communications malfunction, they had not expected to find the entire crew dead from blaster fire and explosives. A cursory look told them that the farmers had rigged a rudimentary bomb by stacking mining charges to the engine of a T-16. One of the bodies seemed to have had a charge strapped to them as well. Fools. No common sense to check the bodies to ensure their targets were dead. The officers nostrils flared under his helmet, he hated this rotten dustbucket.

"Gather our dead and get the incinerator crew in here. Leave no trace that the farmers fought back, the situation is too embarrassing to contemplate." He would fabricate a story to pass on to the regional governor. No sense letting them know the truth, plus the ashes of the homestead would stand as a warning to anyone else feeling... rebellious tendencies. But he was not worried about reprisals, they were nobodies. No one would miss them round here.

---

Luke Skywalker stood ashen faced looking at the burning husk of what had once been his home. His aunt and uncle lay in a smouldering heap outside the door. All this death, all because of those droids. Those blasted droids.

Luke felt a sudden swell of anger overriding his guilt and grief. He ran his thumb over the laser sword he'd recently acquired from Old Ben Kenobi. His father's apparently, what had Ben called it? A lightsaber... He could take this saber and use it to dole out revenge on the nearest Imperial outpost. He could avenge his father, his aunt, his uncle in one fell swoop, all the death brought to him by this cursed Empire. Blast Old Ben, blast that Princess, why should he stick his neck out for them, all they'd brought him was trouble. But then... who *would* help Ben? Who else was there?

As if in response, his Aunt's words floated back into his mind. "Your grandmother used to say that the biggest problem in the universe was that no one helps each other." He exhaled deeply, removing his hand from the saber, feeling as if a wave of ice cold water was washing over him. When he thought he wasn't listening his uncle had once joked that his Aunt had that effect on people because she was a Jedi in disguise, but Luke knew the truth. She just knew her family.

She was right, he was meant to do this, he was meant to help people. He would stop the Empire, but not for revenge, but because it was right. Luke took his last look at the homestead before hopping into his Landspeeder. Pushing the ignition switch and taking the controls in his hands he settled himself. Luke would help Obi-wan Kenobi, he was his only hope.

[powwidge]

rant about ochette and temenos and their (negative) parallels

all below the cut for endgame spoilers and everything!!!! just me talking to myself n tryna arrange my thoughts on Temenos, Ochette, and hwo they relate and are in a very contrasting position which is also kind of all in one big messed up parallel. I'm sorry; this has gotten very long! i tried my best keeping it short

okay so we all can agree that starting with Temenos' route is probably the most satisfying since it starts with a fight against Vide, right? yeha so i have some things to say about that in relation to Ochette and the entire theme of the game to begin with

Something clearly links Ochette and Temenos togehter, namely Roi. the implication that the dark entity of Ochette's chapter 1 is Roi si well... more than just clear, I'd argue. and ok listen: this entire thing MAY be me overanalyzing stuff. so u now get the

disclaimer: i am a literature student. i am taught to overanalyze everyhting and it's my RIGTH to! so bear with me. i have very elaborate thoughts on Ochette and Temenos and how they reflect each other in a very contrastign way.

Roi: right with the beginning of Ochette's route and Temenos' chapter 3 (it was his ch3 i beleive, right?) we get Roi and a direct parallel between their stories. the thing is just - Temenos' knew Roi while alive. Ochette knew him while sort of dead and then completely dead. and that remains the single connecting dot/parallel where this is the case. everything else is things being dead for temenos and things being alive for ochette

Ochette has an entire support system which grows as she travels; she has Juvah, her parents implied to be alive in a banter, Akala/Mahina; she gains more friends in Pom, Acta the Smol, Glacis, Tera, that other lady whose name i forgot i'm really sorry, and with her help, even the hateful Cohazeh becomes soft towards them all and the entire village makes friends with the Beasting Village.

now for temenos, we have EVERYTHIGN in contrast. he loses everythign as he travels; first Roi, the pontifex, later on crick (sorry for the mention guys). he loses literally everyone he loves, be it platonic or familial or romantic or whatever; and the enemy to him? the sacred guard? yeah he low key destroys that thing for a while. and while that's still GOOD, i can't beleive it weighs lightly on him especialyl since stormhail is in a rather tense situation with the gaurd and the mei clan as hinted by loads of npcs. everythign good that happens to ochette happens to him, but in the exactly contrasting way.

on to trust: i think i don't need to say much here; ochette is ever-trusting, but learns to actively distrust some peopel on her journey, learning about the lies of people (especially humans), while the exact opposite happens to temenos: temenos learns to trust people. not just the travelers but also crick. the issue? it's at least implied, or u can read into it, that he does trust mindt; and he gets betrayed once more. whereas Ochette, even at the very end, still trusts people. she trusts the hunter trying to kill Glacis regardlessly, she trusts Juvah, she even trusts Lajackal/mahamowl and tries making friends with them. she trusts something that wants to kill her, while temenos nearly gets killed by someone he trusted

flame/belief: i quite like the difference of faith u have in those two; temenos, an inquisitor, who still doubts the flame's existence, who doubts the gods' existence because that's just waht he does - linked to his trust issues once more, obviously. even though he's one meant to have an unshakable belief, yet he's quite the shady guy, and while his intentions may be good, he doesn't always condcut things the correct way. well. looks at his path action. yeah. hmm! okay temmy! go off! on the other side, there's ochette - far away from any kind of institutionally organized religion, and the only traveller directly meeting "the flame", which saves her life, proving its existence once and for all when that's somethign temenos has forever doubted

i don't really WANT to go as far as to say ochette died, but she did NEARLY die. as the only one out of the cast of her story, meanwhile, temenos is the only one ALIVE out of the cast of his story (minor characters like orth aside, same goes for some of Ochette's side characters, btu i'm talking mainly here akjfghkd)

i feel like saying that any character of the 8 travelers is more or less important than the others would be wrong; however, i do believe that if we're talking characters that the story build on, Temenos' and Ochette are high up there. we have parallels inside of the traveller of someone who nearly succumbs to darkness and someone who looks forward to the dawn, no matter what. temenos' route starting with Vide, in my opinion, is a great hint at him being sth akin to a "main character", story-telling wise - i like to personally make a distinction between main cahracters and protagonists. e.g. in OT1, the travelers are the protags, while graham (and perhaps kit, too) is the main character, who the story actively centers around.

While Temenos' is the embodiment of shadow, esp with his closer relationship to Throné in the crossed paths, one who was originally meant to be a vessel for Vide and who def had one of the most tragic stories, Ochette is the embodiment of the flame, always looking forward despite any grievances she might have - again, related to castti in her crossed paths.

you get a character who, if he wasn't picked up by the pontifex, by roi, and crick, might have been part of the moonshade order otherwise - and a character who is so determinedly looking forward to the dawn that she would have never considered it.

my conclusion? I love temmy and ochette a ot and i cannot keep anythign i say short. anyways there's no conclsion these are just rants. if u read that then uh, congrats! u have witnessed my insanity! :)

[amaraudermind]

Yeah I'm on my Ezra bs again

I just. If the Jedi order had existed they all would've been sooo confused by this kid, he's just so naturally in tune with the force in so many ways and it's unreal, like.

It makes sense that no one knows/realizes it in canon where he is but also.i am losing my mind just wanting to be acknowledged that!!! He!! Is so OP!!

The Anakin parallels for his character can be tracked directly through the way they are both so incredibly powerful but for Anakin everyone knew that it was a given that he was this powerful guy and for Ezra it's just never discussed.

I mean Kanan wouldn't necessarily know the difference, both because it's been so long since he's been around other Jedi and because his experience is so limited, it makes sense that he doesn't really get just how big a deal it is. And then every other Jedi who meets Ezra doesn't meet him until he's been training for some time which inherently makes a difference in the perception of his abilities.

But like. The easiest tell in the show for how powerful and important Ezra is comes from those who wield the dark side. The grand inquisitor is initially planning to destroy master and Padawan both obviously that's his job. But he interacts with Ezra ONCE and then follows with trying to make Ezra join him. Not once. But Every Time They Battle.

The next inquisitors similarly want to take Ezra with them rather than kill him. And obviously we see how much Maul sees in him.

Even the Emperor sees more value in Ezra alive than destroyed. Ezra has endlessly caused more problems than most of the other rebels combined in some ways and yet every single dark side user would rather keep trying to convince him to join them than get it over with and take him out of the equation.

With the exception of Vader but I have much less coherent thoughts on that so I'll save that for later

But like. Hhhhh. Ezra's connection to the force consumes my brain. I don't know man.

[rexinasuperomnes]

Krem Week Day One: Anniversary

Rating: T (language) Warnings: No warnings apply Relationships: Cremisius Aclassi & The Iron Bull, slight The Iron Bull/Dorian Pavus, slight Cremisius Aclassi/Maryden Characters: Cremisius Aclassi, The Iron Bull, Cole Additional tags: Qun critical, Cole being Cole, the Demands of the Qun, the feelings stick

One whole year. When it happened, he hadn’t known what it meant. He was on an adjacent hilltop, neck-deep in ‘Vints when he heard the horn blast. Krem gave the hand signal to retreat as Dalish pushed the Venatori back with “arrows”. When the Chargers heard the boom and turned to see the smoke cloud rising just offshore, Krem felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up. The Chief had given the signal, but where was he? Even when they regrouped, Krem had the uneasy feeling that the Chief wasn’t all right.

Most of the others hadn’t kept track of the date - most of them didn’t know how much it meant to Bull. As usual, they were all gathered around behind the stairs in the Herald’s Rest, resting after their latest batch of jobs. Krem had thought that they’d be less busy after the Inquisitor beat the shit out of Corypheus, but with about half of the volunteer soldiers going home and the clean-up of … everywhere south of the Waking Sea, they actually had more work to do now. He didn’t mind. Bull seemed to do better when he had something to focus on and wasn’t just sitting in his feelings. Tonight, he was putting on his best fake-relaxed face. His movements were a little too precise, his laughter a little too loud. Dorian, sitting beside him as always, met Krem’s eyes and dipped his head to let him know he had noticed it, too.

Bull followed Dorian’s gaze and let just a little bit of the mask slip when his eyes met Krem’s. But then he put the smile back on and called for another round. Krem sighed and approached.

“C’mon, Chief, I wanna go over the shield maneuver I messed up in that last job.” Krem placed a hand on Bull’s shoulder.

“What, now? You tired of making eyes at the bard?” Bull teased.

Krem blushed slightly, but it wasn’t like Maryden didn’t know he was interested. She’d made her interest pretty clear, too. He did glance over and saw her watching them, but he had more important things to do right now than help her tune her lute. “Yeah, Bull, now. I’m gonna take the day off tomorrow, and I don’t want to wait too long.”

“Fine, fine.”

Bull followed Krem out to the training ring, but instead of his shield, Krem grabbed one of the training staves.

“You look like you need the feelings stick.” Krem tossed it in his hands, getting used to the weight.

Bull frowned. “I’m good, Krem.”

“Sir, with respect, that’s bullshit. I know what day it is, you know what day it is, and I can see you getting messed up about it. Feelings. Stick. Now.”

The Chief groaned, but stood across from his second. He held his arms slightly away from his torso and tensed his core. “All right, Krem. Hit me.”

Krem took his stance and swung at the Iron Bull’s stomach. When the staff connected, Bull grunted, but said nothing. After a beat, he nodded and Krem took another swing. In his peripheral vision, Krem saw Cole walk up from the tavern.

“Murmuring madness, waiting for the moment when you lose control. You can’t lose something they never let you have in the first place.” Krem shot a look at the weird man, but couldn’t say anything before he continued, “You took control that day. You saved them. Saved yourself. You’re the Iron Fucking Bull.” Hearing profanity in Cole’s voice made Krem chuckle, and Bull smiled slightly in response.

“Yeah, kid. Thanks.” Bull closed his eye for a moment and took a deep breath. Centering his weight again, he nodded at Krem. The Charger’s lieutenant took a solid swing that landed perfectly across Bull’s gut. He growled. “Fuck the Ben-Hassrath. Fuck the Qun.”

Krem felt his own anger rise in response. “They forced you to make that choice. Forced you to choose between us and them. Who fucking does that?”

“Fucking assholes, that’s who.” Whack!

“They hung you out to dry because you dared make friends outside the Qun! Fuck them!” Whack!

“Yeah, fuck them!” Whack!

Cole grabbed the end of the staff as Krem started to wind it back again. “You can stop hitting him now.” 

Krem nearly jumped in surprise - he had forgotten Cole was there. “Shit, Cole, sorry.” Both he and Bull were breathing heavily, and Krem was surprised to feel his eyes watering. Maybe Bull wasn’t the only one who needed the feelings stick tonight. He let the staff rest on the ground and leaned on it slightly.

Bull put his hand on the top of it. “Hey, Krem.”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

“Anytime, Chief.”

[transyurikatsuki]

update on inquisitor² ameridan: im deeply in love with this old man

i need to get him some beefier armor because he feels naked he loves his heavy ass mage armor. Poor Inquisitor Ameridan. Again. Lost his wife, best friends, and all his nice stuff.

he's having a lot of fun adjusting and learning what a shitshow the world around him is! he just learned about tranquil people and that went well (lie) and. ok well heres the part where i am just writing fanfic. he had to go ask both cassandra and solas about that and basically is having a bad time about it.

im DEEPLY enjoying thinking about his relationships with both cassandra and solas and I think thats gonna persist because he would, I think, both relate to and butt heads with both of them. like, walks up to solas to talk about tranquility and the BOTH of them being like *oh my god this is my fault*... absolutely fucking delicious. the shit that i am going to put these two old ass displaced elves. both feeling this regret and longing for an old elv(h)en civilization. the layers the parallels, its gonna be good.

And cassandra,,, im not sure what direction it is gonna go but hes tentatively trusting her right now. she seems like good stock and hes proud to see a seeker like this, but what he knows so far of the order scares him and he doesnt know her well enough to know her positions and its hard to look at her and see what his legacy has turned into. But he did make her super excited by being like what yeah I believe in the maker.

anyway lots of sadness and missing his friends hours. lots of madness about what the templars are doing right now- i think hes gonna end up allying with the templars just because he feels responsibility still and he wants to whip them into shape and bring them back into the fold- like he hated politics so much but he thought drakon was doing the right thing with the nevarran accords and thats like. their combined legacy was this meeting of the chantry and the inquisition and to see the state of it all today is woof. whereas i think he has way less connection to the concept of the circles- hes a maleficar/demon hunter despite being a mage so he i think might look there second and not really be into trusting them immediately.

ANYWAY. i love him so much. i am going crazy. And fwiw he is keeping it secret who he is, for now. There's too many crazy things going on already and he's like "maybe I can just skirt by being the main hunter/doer of things right now and they won't make me do political things by declaring me Inquisitor again... 🥲" <3333 I LOVE THIS OLD MAN

[sith-obikin]

SECOND BATCH AUTHOR REVEALS ❤️‍🔥

• A song to keep us warm by nakintups (sputnikan)

Dyad AU.

Obi-Wan Kenobi was renounced by Qui-Gon Jinn after the battle on Naboo and had chosen to leave the Order.

Anakin gets to be Qui-Gon's new padawan instead.

Years later, Obi-Wan resurfaces again, on the battle of Geonosis, as a Sith Lord.

Shortly after that Anakin begins to have visions of him, the Force somehow connecting them and Anakin is forced to confront the man who might have been his older brother his friend but now turned his enemy.

DW: Sort of Reylo Force connection vibes, with Anakin being angry and guarded, while Obi-Wan is curious and calm. Maybe they slowly learning about each other.

DNW: Major Character Death, Unhappy Ending, Anidala (could be in passing but ultimately obikin is the soulmate endgame)

• 'eat your young' by DeanSWade

Sith Lord Kenobi and his acolyte Skywalker have a grueling training session.

DW: sexual tension, sweaty bodies, bloody sparring relationship might be established or not.

DNW: go crazy! no limits

• i'll help you fall down with me by zombiekatherine

Rako Hardeen Arc (or a similar style mission), but rather than faking his death, Obi-Wan fakes a fall to the Dark Side for the mission. In his distress, Anakin falls (for real) and follows after his Master to find and rejoin with him.

DWs: Angst, Established relationship for obikin, Dubcon or noncon when Vaderkin finds out Obi-Wan was faking his fall

DNWs: piss, scat, vomit, mpreg, heavy pet play, major character death

• I would burn the stars to protect you by Himilce

Whump with sith Obi-Wan + jedi anakin.

They haven't known each other for long but actually long enough for them both to develop feelings to each other despite their differences. The context on how they meet is up to you. It can be because of a mission the council assigned to Anakin, but yeah you decide.

One day Anakin gets seriously injured by one of Lord Kenobi's inquisitors. Obi-Wan goes feral and fully in protective boyfriend mode (The guilty inquisitor is immediately killed of course).

DW: The more angsty and whumpie the better!, Blood loss injury

DNW: major character's death (it can be temporary tho), smut

• Disintegration by CourtesyTrefflin

ROTS AU where Obi-Wan Falls instead of Anakin

• flesh amnesiac by innominatta (acrylicsalt)

Reverse AU + AU where (suitless) Vader and Anakin are twins

Master Anakin and Padawan Obi-Wan are on a mission when they get separated (either by accident or evil plans, your choice) and Vader finds Obi-Wan. Obi-Wan thinks that Vader is Anakin and Vader has no issues with playing along with it when Obi-Wan starts to come on to him.

Bonus points if Anakin finds out that Vader fucked Obi-Wan somehow and gets really jealous/possessive.

Your choice if Obi-Wan ever finds out.

DW: Established relationship between Anakin & Obi-Wan, dub/non con due to identity issues, "thank god you're alive" sex, Vader being rougher in sex than Obi-Wan is used to, jealous/possessive!Anakin

• i've done dark things (in these shadows) by apagetorn

Obi-Wan as a Sith apprentice of Dooku and is Dooku's chosen heir but seeing as Dooku is just from a part from an external branch from the Bane line of Sith, his line of Sith Lordship isn't well liked or favored by either the wide known Sith Empire or Sidious himself (the current Sith emperor).

Because of this, Dooku cautions his apprentice to hide his talent so others will not know their plan to overthrow Palpatine, so they can usurp the throne and establish Obi-Wan as the new Emperor.

Palpatine's chosen is Anakin and the moment Anakin and Obi-Wan meet, Anakin knew he wanted Obi-Wan for himself, cue dangerous flirting game and Obi-Wan trying to navigate having both Anakin and Palpatine's attention on his back.

DW: Bottom Obi-Wan Kenobi, Top Anakin Skywalker, Kinks of all kinds, Gore, dead Dove, it doesn't matter, anything goes.

DNW: Top Obi-Wan Kenobi, Bottom Anakin Skywalker, Major Character Death (Only Anakin and Obi-Wan, if others, it's fine idc)

[v-arbellanaris]

Re the power struggle between the Grey Wardens and the Chantry. You can also snatch Anders right from the templars grasp and it's possible that a big reason why he's left alone in DA2 is because he's a Grey Warden. Anders hardly makes his actions in DA2 a secret. He is loudly rebelling, yet the templars leave him alone.

That's why the whole Warden arc in DAI makes no sense. The Chantry and kingdoms of Thedas have no authority over the Wardens, but an upstart order who is effectively nothing but a branch of the Chantry does?

YES! i started writing the post abt the wardens in the middle of collating more info about it but i was so gobsmacked at how much there was just pre-ostagar that i wrote the post before getting to the rest of the series and then the post blew up LMAO

i think part of anders not getting snatched up by templars when he's in the party with you is just nonsense mechanics stuff (they should've had a quest like they did in dao -- tho i think that quest was deleted lmao -- where if you try hand morrigan over to the templars, she leaves the party permanently, or even like in lothering where they can ask that templar what he'd do with an apostate and he susses out that you and morrigan are mages and goes "ive got bigger problems than apostates atm") BUT there is dialogue & quest stuff confirming that the templars raid darktown fairly often looking for him outside of whenever he comes on quests with you, so i dont think he was untouched because he was a warden.

if anything, i think him being a circle mage seemed to be more important than him being a warden since the chantry explicitly sends templars after him while he's with the wardens. to repeat: the chantry sends templars to hunt down warden mages, which is fucking illegal. wardens exist outside of the jurisdiction of the chantry! they have no right to drag warden mages into the circle, even if the warden mage was originally an apostate OR if they were a circle mage. AND justinia was canonically looking for the warden to become inquisitor before she sent cassandra looking for hawke -- the implications for a surana/amell are pretty horrifying.

i hated HLTA for so many reasons, but mostly, i hated it because it justified the inquisition taking action against the wardens, as if they had a right to it. "we're going to stop the wardens from summoning demons to fight the darkspawn and kill the archdemons" and that's a bad thing because Summoning Demons Is Bad, as if blood magic isn't the most effective thing against darkspawn (which! considering the implications of red lyrium being magic repelling is so fascinating. does being a grey warden mean some of your connection to the fade is messed up???). as if wanting to end the blights is bad -- we have solas calling the wardens ignorant and stupid as if the wardens killing archdemons and fighting darkspawn isn't the only thing that has saved the world every time a blight has erupted. and it pisses me off that no real reason is ever given for WHY it's a bad idea, we're just supposed to take it at face value that because solas, an elven god who definitely knows more than we do just trust bioware ok, says its a bad idea, it's a bad idea. the warden's plan is a bad thing because Someone Else Will Use The Demons To Take Over The World and Only The Wardens Could Ever Summon This Many Demons as if kirkwall doesn't have shades popping up outside of the hanged man every other day. corypheus was literally in kirkwall???

it would've been something if corypheus was using the wardens to get the location of the archdemons. wouldn't it tie into his crisis of faith and the sense of danger so much more? he's gone looking for his gods but raising them is definitely going to cause a double blight. but why bother raising the stakes or creating any level of danger for corypheus, right? that's not the point of the game :)

and yeah, the inquisition 100% has no authority or leg to stand on to engage with the wardens or even to kick them out of orlais. yet the quest -- and most of the game -- is framed in such a way that these actions seem justified. in general, this quest was a clumsy way to end a conflict that's been building over the course of the entire franchise -- which can be said about any of the longstanding conflicts addressed in dai tbh.

[ryssabrin]

this maybe makes me petty lol but i really have zero interest in a nonlavellan based pairing for solas. like i could maaaybe see something interesting if it were like pre-veil fen'harel solas who has something going on with one of the evanuris or a fellow rebel or something but as for the solas we meet in dai, no other possible pairing has anywhere near the amount of meat to it than a dalish elf inquisitor.

it makes sense that the only person he could possibly even entertain opening up to to that level is another elf. there's a shared history and culture and personal connection. and the inquisitor has a lot of parallels with solas that he can relate to. additionally i don't really see why a non-dalish inquisitor would be interested in solas lol. part of his appeal is what he knows about elven history and lore. like why would an andrastian human or dwarf or whoever care? and you lose that very juicy extra layer of falling for your people's greatest villain if you're not en elf. so like yeah i guess you could make it work? but i really don't see how it could be as compelling as pairing him with a dalish elf personally.