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Somewhere in Antiva 🌅

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THOUGHTS

Lucanis matters as a character/companion because he’s written for the quiet ones. The Ace ones who rarely get represented in games. The ones who flinch from touch, feeling unworthy of love or care. The ones who didn’t get to be saved from their abuse. The ones who were always strong because they had no other choice. And now, he’s soft because someone like Rook showed him he could be. Someone showed up for him, maybe no one ever showed up for you the way Rook does for all the companions. And that's why games are so important because they can be healing for the player, Lucanis was that for me. Am I completely patched up? No. I don't think I'll ever be, but every time I show up for him, as Rook, it fixes something, it helps me, helping him.

And I will be forever grateful to BioWare for giving me this 💗

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Davrin: Hey, Cole. You seen my spare whittler? Small blade, carved hilt, I had it yesterday.

Cole: Yes. I borrowed it.

Davrin: You-- what? Why?

Cole: The spoon was sad. It wanted to be smaller.

Davrin: The spoon-- Cole, did you carve my spoon into… a smaller spoon?

Cole: No. Into two smaller spoons. Now they aren’t lonely.

Davrin: (sighs) Can you at least ask next time?

Cole: I did. The spoon said yes.

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so my first veilguard playthrough i picked coffee as Rook's favorite drink because 1) i do like coffee and 2) i'm an agreeable bitch, but picking tea or hot chocolate is soooo much better and for two completely different reasons like— TEA: lucanis ACTIVELY is like "EUUGHH" when you choose this which is SO funny. like we BARELY know each other and he's basically like: "alright you ill-bred tasteless freak, i'll get you some boring ass herb water."

and THEN this makes his unique gift of an antivan tea set all the more amusing because instead of it just, not making sense, its like "HERE'S A FANCY ANTIVAN TEA SET BITCH" and he's like "for me?" and we're like "YEAH it's for you. EDUCATE YOURSELF. 😎🍵"

and then its so SO much sweeter when he actually makes you a whole dinner and dessert based around a drink that he probably spent the whole game researching???? my heart.......my sweet acts-of-service-ass boyfriend.......i love him

HOT CHOCOLATE: first off i love rook as a hot choccie ass bitch. but also its so sweet when he's like "oh yeah, I really liked that as a kid actually" and then later in a banter with emmrich when you learn that lucanis basically learned to cook solely because he really fucking loved churros and wanted to learn how to make them????? UHGHhhhhh......my heaort........and then he makes them for us, probably the first silly little recipe he ever mastered..........ouuuuuugghhh...........

send help i'm experiencing emotions about a beverages and a fake man

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Ah Felassan...

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Crow in repose 💜

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Antivan Crow

I'm so happy I got to draw him again! This time the very kind @ gnieszka_tattoo commissioned me for a series of DA portraits, here's the first one out of 4. Thank you so much again for the chance, nothing beats the fun of drawing commissions related to your current fixations! 🖤

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The alternative to Davrin pranking Lucanis with elf bullshit is, of course, Davrin being 100% honest and a naturally suspicious Lucanis not believing him.

Imagine the two of them tracking a group of enemies in low light. As they sneak up on them, Davrin lifts his hand to shield his eyes.

“What are you doing?” Lucanis hisses.

“They’ve got torches,” Davrin hisses back. “The light will reflect in my eyes and give away our position.”

“What? That’s ridiculous.”

“Elves have the same eye shine as some animals. You didn’t know?”

“No. I am not falling for this.”

“It’s the truth!”

“Do you really think I’m so gullible?”

“Fine,” Davrin says and drops his hand.

A shout comes from below. “They’re here! I can see their eyes!”

And Davrin shoots Lucanis a very unimpressed look with his shining eyes.

“Okay, okay!” Lucanis says as they draw their weapons. “I believe you.”

Davrin bashes the first enemy with his shield and cuts down another. “You owe me a bottle of brandy for this!”

“Yes, fine.”

“The good kind!”

“Mierda! I said fine!”

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It is very apt that Lucanis is the one to kill Ghilan'nain. After all, the Ossuary was originally a temple built in her honour, its cells and cages full of test subjects back then too.

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having ocs is so fucked .... i miss them so bad but im the guy who has to create new content. but im sleepy

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Why’s this man so fine 🫦

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We’re in the end game now

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Obsessed with this smile I caught 😭🫶🏻 btw this is when he’s talking about coffee 😂

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Chapter 6: What Fills a Cup

The next chapter of The Once-Fallen House is up now on AO3.

The Crow rolls his eyes. “Is there somewhere to get a decent cup of coffee around here?” “Would you kill for one?” Taliesin ribs him, grinning.  “Por la sangre del Hacedor,” he grumbles under his breath.  “Oh!” Bellara interjects, bouncing up onto her toes. “We could try that coffee ice that Lace was talking about! With the whipped cream and the toffee sauce-” “So you just want sugar?” Neve laughs.  Floundering, the tinkerer stammers, “No. I mean, maybe…it sounds nice, the way she describes it. There's still coffee in it, right? Oooh, do you think they have a caramel sauce? Or some of that pumpkin flavor like in those pastries we tried?!” Taliesin makes a face, her accusatory gaze flicking between the Veil Jumper and the detective. “You had pastries. Without me?” “Oh, Rook,” Bellara gushes. “They were these little fried dough balls with a cream filling that tasted like pumpkin-” “Fried dough?” Tali repeats. “Like a hearth cake?” Bellara shakes her head. “No, no! Not as dense. These were fluffy like little clouds! And they melt on your tongue!”  “Well, shit,” she grouses. “I wanna eat a fluffy pumpkin cloud.”

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quick-ish pieces based on the crow's outfit concept art

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today i’m thinking about how the despair demons tend to single rook out and how the first time this is recognized is after the treviso/minrathous decision

like, listen. i know it’s probably just a game mechanic thing. but it’s interesting to me that every despair demon in the game does this—single rook out. and how you encounter a lot more despair demons the worse the situation gets. and every single time, without fail, rook is their primary target.

like. the potential juiciness of it all. rook who carries regrets and despair hidden behind a smile that no one can see behind until the regret prison. rook who has to keep up a brave face as the leader so that the team doesn’t collapse because someone has to make a decision.

the narrative juiciness of regret…despair…someone sedate me