radiantlightxx

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Little Revenant sketch while on vacation!

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Consuming the shadows, caught in the light. Blinded by hunger, fed to the night. Darling, you came to me like a dream in this endless Blight 🌅

A tarot card for Zevran — the Sun to Vanya’s Moon! 🥹

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Oh, to be kissed by the sun 🌅

Close up under the cut!

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you know what? fuck you (marries your leitmotifs together so that you might be redeemed by love)

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Bright as moonlight, soft as a sigh 🌙

A little romance tarot card for my Warden, Vanya 💫

Closeups and a teensy bit of rambling under the cut!

While the Moon tarot is often associated with deception, this card leans more into mystery, change, cycles, and illusion. Vanya is young here, a new Warden with the strength of the blight but few of the physical tells -- other than the shine in her eyes, mimicking the moonlight behind her.

I kind of envision this as her romance card and/or the way that Zevran sees her when he first starts to develop feelings for her; to him, she is beautiful, strong -- and a mystery. The uncertainty for him isn't just the blight that runs in her veins, but the freefall of falling in love, too. A path traveled with her is a step into the unknown, into the darkness. But it's one that he ultimately decides to take, knowing that he can find his way by moonlight.

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Throwing some WIPs at the wall bc I've been chewing on this card for a bit and I'm excited about it but it's not DONE YET

Hoping to finish her up this weekend! 🌕🌷

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Mother I crave Violence 🐈‍⬛☄️

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You know, I don't think as a fandom we explore what being a Dragoon WoL means the same way we do like, Dark Knight.

Because the Eye of Nidhogg resonants with the WoL when they met Estinien for the first time. The Eye that (iirc) only 'chooses' very specific kind of peoole for Azure Dragoon - If Estinien and to a lesser degree Alberic is anything to go by. Vengeful, angry people. People who have been hurt and are seeking revenge for it.

Personally, I'm of the headcannon that this is because Nidhogg (able to sense where his eye is and kinda feel things through it? Maybe even see through it) is trying to get those people worked up enough to possess them. Like with Estinien during the DRG 50 duty.

So what does it mean for a WoL who is also a Dragoon? Who has done that series of quests and had the Eye look at them and go:

"Ah yes. You. You too feel hatred and rage and pain enough that you could easily lose yourself over it. You want revenge for something, vengence. You want to make someone or something else hurt just as much as you do right now."

Idk I just think it's interesting and feel like I don't see it very much for WoL meta.

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My beloved

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Oh, fair and flighty love

My aerolite above

The only dove I see 💙🌿

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"I was in the middle before I knew I had begun." ❄️

This applies to both of them honestly, the fools. I think a lot about all the little off-screen interactions these two had in HW 😭 A lot of sparring and quiet moments spent in each other's company.

There's something about dragoon armor -- specifically designed to make others keep their distance, with all the spikes and bladed attachments -- and still trying to find ways to connect. These two are so bound up in duty and vengeance in HW, but I love the way their initial distrust blooms into understanding and respect and, eventually, love -- even if they're too afraid to act on the latter for a WHILE what with the fate of Ishgard hanging over their heads. Silly little guys.

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A short Heavensward-era comic about grief and guilt.

Major ⚠️heavensward spoilers⚠️ contained here.

Some notes:

Xel'ia had innate talent as a healer, but no formal training at the time of HW, so on page 2, you can see her trying (and failing) to heal. She also didn't pick up drk until after HW, and mainly did it as a way of coping with her grief and heartache.

The whole thing is inspired by a quote from Buffy (though I ended up changing it a little) and Dragonsong Reprise Ultimate!

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*with a dark and evil aura surrounding me* I'm shy

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"You killed them, didn't you? You killed them all?"

"Like dogs, Shianni."

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What more do you need to start an adventure than your spellbook, your space fish, and a can-do attitude?

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Zevran offers Alistair a word of advice

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Something that really stuck with me while I was playing Mass Effect 2, and that I feel was so important to understanding the relationship between Shepard and Garrus, whether you romance him or not, is that Garrus is your only companion from ME1 who never moved on.

You died. The crew watched you die. Assumedly they grieved you, there was a funeral service, there were tears and all five stages of grief. Things were rough, but eventually life took on a shade of normalcy again.

Kaiden/Ashley got reassigned and continued their work for the alliance. Liara fights tooth and nail to get your body to Cerberus, but then it’s out of her hands and she becomes an information broker. Tali goes back to the Floatilla, like she was always supposed to. Wrex becomes a clan leader. And yes, they’re all fundamentally changed by their time on the Normandy, but no one seems as stuck as Garrus Vakarian.

Because he doesn’t go back to the Citadel. He doesn’t join the Turian Hierarchy. He ships himself off to Omega, one of the most dangerous places he could be, and makes a life out of pissing off the most dangerous people there. It’s kind of a suicide mission, especially after what happened with Sidonis. He kind of figures he’s going to die doing this, but what else can he do?

There is no normalcy for Garrus in a world without Shepard, and I think that’s why he’s always immediately ready to come back to the Normandy. The Normandy, and Shepard, are home for Garrus and that’s why I think romancing him feels like the natural conclusion for so many femme Sheps, because Shepard feels that way too.

Of all the companions, no one needs Shepard to live more than Garrus, and no one needs Garrus more than Shepard. They’re perfectly matched, as lovers, as friends, as soldiers, as whatever they are in your universe and when you’re that perfectly matched with someone, you never quite feel whole without them.

No Shepard without Vakarian.