valorant-reverie

[valorant-reverie]

Inspired by the gorgeous animatic by @i-bez-togo-toshno which you can find here!

“Indulge me, doll.”

Fred Astaire proclaims his adoration of Ginger Rogers on the radio. They had been to see the film that this song featured in only a few weeks prior, Arthur enjoying the new music he had never heard before whilst John took in all of the choreography and drama in uncharacteristically silent awe.

They had been simply relaxing in Noel’s apartment, sharing whiskey and a companionable quiet as the radio played, when Arthur heard Noel get up from his seat.

He’s looking at us expectantly, Arthur. His hand is still outstretched.

“You… want to dance?”

Noel laughs. “Well, is there any other reason I’d be standing here like a lost lemon?”

That coaxes a similar sound of amusement from Arthur, and he rises hesitantly, feeling Noel take both his hand and presumably John’s as they stand. The moment they touch, Arthur feels some of the nerves shed away. John seems equally unsure however - Arthur can feel the tension at the strange boundary of sensation in his left arm, that gradual loss of sensation where possession of one bled into another at around the elbow.

“I always have had two left feet,” he admits, unusually shy, “so I do apologise if I step on your toes. At least John takes half the blame now.”

“Nah, that’s alright. Ain’t like this is the Savoy. Just the three of us.”

A happy rumble of acknowledgement from John at that; he is always so pleased any time Noel addresses him, even with the regularity that it happens, and Arthur is touched by it in turn every time.

Noel pulls on his hand. “You mind if we get a little closer, actually? That is the name of the song after all. Cheek to Cheek.”

By way of reply, Arthur steps closer as asked, with John’s guidance preventing him from bodily colliding with Noel in the process. It is no small joy, the way Noel immediately releases Arthur’s right hand to cradle his lower back in his arm, at the same time lifting John’s to lead the two of them in an easy slow circle of the room, more relaxed than a ballroom glide.

“See? This is fine,” Noel murmurs, close to Arthur’s ear, “and you’ve both got good rhythm, you know.”

“So have you.”

“Well, I have to try my best when I’ve got two dance partners to worry about.”

He doesn’t have to worry, John insists, and Arthur relays it for him, I’ve never… Or at least, I don’t think I’ve ever danced like this. With anyone.

Noel laughs. “That’s even more pressure! I have to set the bar, make sure neither of you wanna dance with someone else next time.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” Arthur insists quietly, the words murmured intimately in the small space between, and John hums his agreement as the hand he has claimed tightens around Noel’s.

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Got silly

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moment of silence for our fallen king..

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My brain for the last week:

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unreliable narrator

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guess just started s4 of penumbrapodcast!!!

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thank your local trans girl for being alive right now

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all i want is the best for u ☘︎

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My favorite sex position is any of them. I’m just glad to be involved

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What if we gave universal healthcare to everyone who wanted it and everyone else who didn't can just keep getting scammed by these companies for some reason

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knight strip tease. is that anything

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so, i was just casually hanging out with @lighthouseshepard 's brain and then these two guys appeared and started making out in front of me?? so weird man

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“Are you decent?” Morally? Absolutely not. Decent like do I have pants on? Also no

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when i was a kid i got a 90% on my kindergarten "what are your favorite things?" test because for the question "what is your favorite animal?" i wrote down "puma" and it got marked wrong because my teacher said a puma isnt even an animal its a kind of shoe

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oh you think your life is hard? try being a gay rat living in france who hates your dad and just wants to cook

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I love both games but it genuinely wounds me that dragon age inquisition is considered a better written game than dragon age 2 in wider gaming circles.  

da2 does SO many interesting things, from its very deliberately paced and solid three act structure, its arc as a tragedy, its use of the frame narrative and the metatextual implications of a stated unreliable narrator – all the questions surrounding how much of what we’re playing is the actual truth or where the narrative is distorted by the storyteller: varric extrapolating from what he does know in situations where he wasn’t present, like the romances, or even him openly admitting that he’s taking liberties because it makes for a better story, you can sometimes deduce he’s protecting someone b/c he’s basically talking to a templar cop lol, every so often he doesn’t actually know what happened but doesn’t believe cassandra will buy that – or simply out of love, like giving hawke that talk with leandra at the end of the dlc even if she’s dead, because hawke deserves the closure and this is the only way varric knows how to give it to them. it’s a story about stories, and you’re playing as hawke but really you’re playing from varric’s perspective; his stories for making sense of the world. the city and people he loves and, as becomes increasingly clear as you play, his grief at what’s happened to them. it’s a character study of a guy you get to know through his stories in ways he probably wouldn’t let you in person. gameplay wise we have no choice but to engage in what he presents to us as if it’s truth, even when it’s obviously not. and on top of all that it takes the themes of unreliable narrators and how history gets written from all the dragon age games and fucking RUNS with it and it’s just so gooooooooood and interesting I want to cry.       

and like… don’t get me wrong, I have played a truly unconscionable number of hours of da:i, and it has great individual character moments and a lot of wonderful stuff. but overall, structurally, it’s just a fucking mess lol