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Jar (Our Greatest Enemy)

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shadowzel nation rise up!!!

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Dragon Age Olympics (part 2) No easy out, you have to choose.

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Obligatory Zevran's son Rook- high cheekbones and all

He is NOT a crow. Wait, wait, hear me out. The origin of Mourn Watch Rook is that they are an orphaned baby that was found on an expedition.

Background from Origins: My canon warden was a Lady Cousland who was 100% the perfect aristocrat who wanted to marry well and establish power. She utilized her femininity and polite demure as a weapon and was absolutely fake as hell while puppeting people around. She molded our good boy Alistair into a king and had him eating out of her hand because she wanted to be queen. Zevran, Morrigan, and Leliana saw right through her. Morrigan became her sister, Leliana her trusted confidant, and Zevran became her secret lover.

After she became queen, he stayed on as her bodyguard. Alistair didn't suspect a thing. However, when Lady Cousland got pregnant, she was sure it would be Zevran's and no one could know about the child. So, she used going to find a cure for the wardens as an excuse and roamed around with Zevran for a year to have the baby and find a place for him.

Why Mourn Watch?

It's perfect. Super isolated, far from home, with nearly 100% chance that no one will ever find him, hear about him, recognize him, start rumors about him, or anything. He can live somewhere safe where he can learn and find his own passions and duty without ever causing any problems from the true heir. Maybe he won't get to live as a noble, but it's a huge step up from childhood Zevran had, and comparatively there would be a lot less discrimination to deal with. They wouldn't have to worry about his wellbeing.

In Veilguard- Morrigan recognizes him immediately, takes an eluvian to the palace, looks the Queen in the eyes and says, "Did you forget to tell me something important, dear sister?"

Morrigan ends up promising to assist him, and Zevran sneaks out to get a peak, but he doesn't dare speak to his son because there would just be too many questions that he wouldn't have the heart to answer.

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The dark urge and young lady Orin

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i want to live (all origins)

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No Discourse, no easy out. Time for the Dragon Age Olympics.

(Part 1)

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Maybe I'm being delusional here, but I'm in my second playthrough and I'm starting to think Lucanis is actually flirtier with a gruff Rook.

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astarion is cheating

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Easy steps that could have improved the Lucanis Romance

Pacing:

Make the cake scene the first romance scene. He cooks little treats for everyone anyway. It would be a good friendly scene that gives a chance to build the relationship. We could see that Lucanis cares and is paying attention to what Rook likes, give Rook another chance to flirt, and let us see that small uncertain smile to make it clear Lucanis is interested but hesitant. Maybe a companion makes a comment about how much more effort he put into Rook's dessert than theirs. Lucanis quickly escapes the room with Spite telling him to turn around and offer to hand feed Rook. Spite is a menace.

Make the wall scene the commitment scene, but don't break Lucanis's character. He isn't good at romance, he has no experience with it, he wants it so badly and has read romance novels, but he shouldn't be confident and suave about seduction. Not after what happened with Viago. Instead, have a talk about why Lucanis has been distant and hesitant, allow Rook to reassure him, then let Lucanis so, so happily give in.

In the cafe scene, let us really talk about Spite's place in the relationship and learn more about how they are actually doing. Particularly, how they affect one another.

Let us kiss and chat to our L1 whenever we are at the lighthouse. Let us ask about their lives, factions, etc. Maybe Lucanis can invite us to the book club!

Additional Scenes I wanted:

Romantic gondola scene! After we escape the Crow party let us have a moonlit gondola scene!

Cooking together for the team. Flirty flour fight included. If Rook ends up on the counter all the better.

Varric warning us to be careful with him and comparing him to Anders. Yes, I know the truth, yes I am in denial. Real or not I want it. Continue the tradition!

More of Viago's reaction about a Rook de Riva and Lucanis being a thing. We could see him find out about it and then maybe in a banter Lucanis could mention having been threatened. Maybe Lucanis could even talk about the irony of the fact that his first crush was a de Riva and now his first love is a different de Riva. Rook actually chimes in: "I would have appreciated the dagger." "I'll get you an even better one next time we are in Treviso."

Caterina finding out- especially for a de Riva Rook. Caterina demanding they have dinner together.

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Jinbao takes a wife (Official novel) part 5

I found this in my drafts. It was the last chapter I read before the translation got pulled and honestly it was so bad I was going to give up on the book anyway...so I guess for those who are curious about the story I'll post it anyway, but yeah I'm out. (ch 19)

-So, Siming finally told Jinbao about his true identity and found out about the brain damage from the fever. He is really happy that there is a real reason he was forgotten, but he still wants Jinbao to remember.

-Jinbao is having some vague memories, but he can't tell what is real or not. Either way, he still doesn't like Siming. He thinks he's attractive, but he doesn't want to be with him.

-Siming takes advantage of Jibao not being very smart and says things like "You are months older than me, so you took advantage and made me believe men could marry men. You begged to be in my bed and said we would be married. I'm gay because of you! I won't have children because of you! Now you have to take responsibility!"

-Jinbao genuinely feels guilty about this, but he doesn't want to be with him still. He is only going to obey to protect Xiaobao.

-Siming pushes and tells him that he must tell Xiaobao "I am serving him willingly and I have to take responsibility" or he will tell the whole world how Jinbao ruined him.

I miss TV series sibao.

-There is some tragic backstory with a longevity stone and blood worms which normally would be really interesting, but it is really hard to care about Siming when he is threatening Jinbao with the ghost of his dead father to make Jinbao swear to care more about him than he does about Xiaobao.

-Siming is shockingly really beloved by his shixiong and shifu. Apparently, he is very kind and gentle with them but we have never seen him like that even as a child and not to Jinbao at all, so it feels really out of nowhere. He basically has a night meal with his shixiong, ignoring Jinbao and making him sit with another servant, then the minute they are alone again he's manipulating and coercing him into sex again.

-There was a pretty cool fight scene. Siming & his enemies have a lot of interesting tricks and Jinbao gets to show off his skills a bit.

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Who loves Rook: Spite or Lucanis

I've been seeing a lot of discourse about this, and I just want to add my thoughts.

I might be totally wrong about this, but here we go. When Spite was put into Lucanis, he was still Determination. The fact that he changed throughout the torture, forced insertion, and imprisonment suggests to me that they have been put into a speedrun of a similar situation to Anders and Justice/Vengeance where they have started to meld. (As Anders put it, you wouldn't know where one begins and the other ends). Just like Anders and Vengeance, Lucanis and Spite can have separate consciousnesses and even disagree about things, but their core values have started to influence one another and become a part of one another- heightening certain aspects.

I think this melding is why we see some dialogues where Rook tells Lucanis that he sounds like Spite and similarly it's also the reason for the shared attraction- which I fully believe is coming originally from Lucanis.

I'll be honest my first time through I romanced Lucanis and was very disappointed. I didn't even see him and Neve ever flirt (she only ever encouraged us!) But still, it seemed to go from 0 to 60 with him. Now, I am on my second playthrough and I only just met him, but I am starting to see some really subtle looks and dialogues that suggest that Lucanis wasn't lying later when he said he was attracted to Rook from the beginning, but was afraid to really pursue anything or even acknowledge the possibility of being with them. With his fear of trusting people, ptsd from the prison, failed history in romance, and his new situation with Spite that he still hadn't worked out yet, he never thought anything would or could ever come of his feelings. We know Lucanis loves romance stories and likely longs for one of his own, but in such a situation it must have seemed truly impossible and terrifying to let someone else in. Especially someone you really care for and are starting to trust. So, he pushed it all down. Rook flirts? Maybe a small smile, but then quickly lock it all up with everything else he can't handle. Focus on work. Don't think about Spite, or Rook, or anything difficult.

However, if the melding has already happened as I suspect, then the feelings Spite is expressing are shared with (and likely sourced from) Lucanis, he's just better at expressing it directly- which makes sense for a spirit that was once Determination. When you first talk to Lucanis after the rescue, the thing Spite says about Rook changes accordingly to your tone, but to me the responses still sound like they come from Lucanis and are then echoed in Spite: "He doesn't want to hurt us." Even the "He's more fun than you" is something Lucanis seems to think about himself as he is fully aware that much of his life has not been his own and believes "all he knows is death."

Leading back to the main point, Lucanis's trust and interest in Rook would be heightened by Spite the way Anders' anger towards the templars was heightened. Even though they are finally free from the prison, their is a sense of constant suffering from still feeling trapped by fear, regret, and pain- Spite feels that suffering too. The elements of determination are still within him the same way justice is another side to vengeance. Both spite and vengeance are the results of failing to achieve their goals of Justice and Determination. Spite sees Rook as a way to free them from pain and restraint, a glowing and beautiful key to the prison door, and he is determined to do what needs to be done to solve the problem. That's why he doesn't hesitate. He has no fear. He wants to talk to Rook. He wants Rook to come in and free them.

After Rook has freed them, they become a source of comfort and safety, once they encourage Lucanis and Spite to find a way to cohabit comfortably, the two continue to meld, and the need to protect Rook, to love Rook, to keep them, is very deeply shared. Now, IF Spite was somehow removed or even somehow restored (Both of which I think are impossible) that would likely change. Determination outside of Lucanis would likely become more like Compassion. He would likely forget the horrors he experienced to return to his original purpose.

So, that leaves some final questions, particularly one Hawke helpfully asked Anders- Is Spite an unwilling party in the threesome?

That's up to everyone's own morality. While both Spite and Lucanis didn't have a choice to become like this, it is the situation they are in and the way they have to find a way to accept and live with because there really doesn't seem to be any real way to change it. Through their time together, Lucanis and Spite have influenced each other and grown into something new. Part of that is Spite also loving Rook. In that way, for those who are feeling (rightfully) underwhelmed by Lucanis's romance, Spite can almost be seen as a symbolic expression of Lucanis's love.

All that being said, I think there were some small things they could have done to make the romance more satisfying over all...but I'll save that for another post.

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I love them both. My wifes.

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Alright, created a concept for Dragon Spawn with size comparison with Astarion 😅 Didn't find much information about vampiric dragons in DnD sources, sooo... came up with this good boy ✍️🥲

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Took a long time to complete my first run, so it's only right to celebrate it by doing an equally long piece of the companions 🫶