mvrcar

[mvrcar]

@coldjustness liked this for a starter!

The dim light of the lamp on the desk illuminates the piece of paper where he’s scribbled down a reply to Bellara’s letter. Arlathan is no longer struggling with ancient magical artefacts, but that doesn’t mean that its problems are over. In fact, it seems like very few problems are over since the gods fell. And between the Shadow Dragons and the members of the Veilguard, Felix feels like he’s barely stopping.

With a sigh, he puts his pen down and checks for any missing piece of information. Everything seems to be in place. Everything seems to be holding up. He glances at the marks on the desk. Tiny symbols of the Shadows that a previous owner drew on it before it became his. The thought makes him smile. His. Maybe theirs would be a more appropriate term, considering that Neve is the one who spends most time working in their study.

A light noise, metallic and familiar makes his head tilt to the side. Almost as if he evoked her with thought alone. Felix doesn’t turn. Doesn’t need to. He can sense her presence even before the prosthesis hits the wooden floor of their home. That makes him smile too.

“Checking to see if I’m making myself too comfortable? Don’t worry, detective. This is still your desk. I just borrow it when you’re not around.”

[mvrcar]

@ab5olution liked this for a starter!

No matter what is happening in Dock Town, how many tragedies, farces and fights happen just outside its doors, The Cobbled Swan is always alive with the music of life and laughter. It fascinates Felix. Intrigues him, too. For all the time he’s spent down there, the duality of the lower city still manages to take him off guard. A refreshing thing.

Unfortunately, he isn’t there to be surprised, nor to enjoy Minrathous’ night life. The Maker knows how much he misses doing that.

There’s a table, not too far in the back, hidden enough to be private and exposed enough to not look suspicious. Just the type of thing he’d expect from someone who has spent the last few years dealing with the most dangerous spies in Thedas. Felix knows he should be impressed— and he is, for more reasons than one, but when he sits down before the Inquisitor, all he sees is a tired person. It feels like a mirror of sorts. Will he carry himself like that, when all that is over? Will he ever see the end of it?

He bows his head and cracks a smile that he hopes is charming enough to hide him. “Harding told me you wanted to see me, Inquisitor Lavellan. All is well, I hope?”

[mvrcar]

SO, what if I said… starter call? Like this for a thread! If you are a multi, please specify muse.

[mvrcar]

HI! Another festival came up, so I had to prepare for that, but the season is over, so back I am. Catching up with starters and replies tomorrow. Sorry about the absence!

[mvrcar]

SO, what if I said… starter call? Like this for a thread! If you are a multi, please specify muse.

[mvrcar]

SO, what if I said… starter call? Like this for a thread! If you are a multi, please specify muse.

[mvrcar]

I LIVED

[mvrcar]

sometimes the moral of the story really is just "you cannot go back and what happened to you is going to be with you for the rest of your life. but it's still going to be okay" huh

[mvrcar]

Hiatus warning!

Not that I ever needed one, but Comicon is coming up where I live, so i’m gonna be there 24/7 this week. Will try to be active on discord, but dash action will be scarcer than usual, folks! x

[mvrcar]

PROMPTS FROM THE MANDALORIAN - "THE MARSHAL" *  assorted dialogue, adjust as necessary

enjoy the fights.

i know you're good at killing.

i figure only one of us is walking out of here.

maybe i pegged you wrong.

who are you?

where did you get the armor?

hand it over.

i'm sure you call the shots where you come from, but around here, i'm the one who tells folks what to do.

take it off. or i will.

we gonna do this in front of the kid?

right here, then?

do you gamble?

i'm prepared to pay you for the information.

i'm not leaving my fate up to chance.

thank you for coming to me.

give it to me now, or i will peel it off your corpse.

i thought you said you weren't a gambler.

all right, stop! stop! i'll tell you where he is!

you must promise that you won't kill me!

i promise that you will not die by my hand.

my information is good, i tell you.

you can't leave me like this. cut me down!

that wasn't part of the deal.

this little thing had me worried sick.

you know he doesn't like droids.

may as well let them have at it.

you don't understand what it was like.

i've got an idea.

get its attention.

you still have that detonator?

what's the plan?

what are you gonna do?

wish me luck.

maybe we can work something out.

they might be open to some fresh ideas.

it's not to scale.

it's a whole lot bigger than i guessed.

might be time to rethink our arrangement.

that's more like it.

where are they getting the reinforcements?

i hope someday our paths will cross again.

you know what that means?

we've heard the stories.

this one's got a problem.

looks like it remembers me.

how much do you want for it?

just kidding. but not really.

can i help you?

we don't get many visitors in these parts.

you want to tell me what's going on?

i'm here on business. i need your help.

can you tell me where it used to be?

you know this is no place for a child.

wherever i go, he goes.

you can't just get help anymore.

you still have that speeder bike?

what am i supposed to do with this?

you drink it.

lower your voice.

you're agitating them.

how do we kill it?

what brings you here?

why don't you join me for a drink?

[mvrcar]

Got home, got a huge chapter done, I’m 4 away from the end and there’s Comicon next week

[mvrcar]

Of course, Felix wasn’t silly enough to presume he could hide something from Neve. Nor he wanted to. There was no point in trying, anyway. He had always been an expert in deceit; putting up a cheery façade and a sarcastic persona had, in his experience, always managed to discourage most people from digging deeper. Of course, Neve Gallus wasn’t most people.

But whilst it made no sense for Felix to hide, there was also the fact that he did not wish to. Neve was a friend. He liked her, probably more than he should’ve, too. More than it was wise. More than she suspected, of that he was fairly more sure. He didn’t wish to hide parts of him from her. No matter how tempting. It would drive her away, but what could he do? She’d find out in any case. Better to be honest instead.

Plus, despite coming from a thoroughly different upbringing, Neve had never been judgemental of Felix. At least not that he knew. She’d never been anything but polite with him. Nice, even. Laughing at his jokes, occasionally snorting and rolling her eyes at his worst ones, but never looking at him like he was different. He thought he was gonna miss that, if they both dug deeper into his past, but, again, it wasn’t like he could stop what was coming.

The seriousness in her response made Felix look up. He blinked at her, then pressed his lips into a thin line. She had reacted exactly how he thought he would, so there was no disappointment on his part. No surprise. There wasn’t much to joke about, no cheery side, no funny retort available. No easy way out. Or Felix would’ve taken it for sure. So he sighs and tries to offer her a smile, even though it feels more like a grimace to his own lips.

He could see it in her eyes, in the way she moved, that she had some type of conflict going on inside of her. It made Felix feel guilty. Was it because of him? Did he always have to make things worse? To mess things up? Why couldn’t he just be normal, for once? Offer help like anyone would in his shoes? Of course the thought made him feel nauseous. Meeting up with his family, having to bear the thought of being looked at with shame and disappointment for not being what they wanted him to be… a costly price to be paid, for sure.

Trouble. Neve speaks so fast it almost takes him off guard. Trouble, she says. Her worry softens him, despite everything. She wants to spare him that, but she can’t. Felix knows she can’t. She looks away, and he doesn’t chase her eyes. He will respect her space, naturally.

And Felix considered it. He really did. Considered how much better it would be for him to stay away from all of that. From judgemental gazes and whispered nonsense. But he also considered how his sister’s help could actually make a difference. How it could change something. And suddenly his troubles become so much smaller compared to the lives of everyone who was born and raised in Dock Town. Felix suddenly feels like a hypocrite. A fraud. A spoiled kid unwilling to face discomfort for the greater good. He stepped closer to Neve. “No,” he said, one hand going to her shoulder. “No, it’s alright.”

Of course he’s not naive enough to believe he could make all the difference in the world, but Neve loved Dock Town. And Felix wanted to do what was right. He wanted to help, in any way. So when she mentions Elek again, he smiles. “I’m sure he has useful informations, but I want to help too. I don’t want you to handle all this alone. You don’t have to. I’ll send a message to my sister. Arrange a meeting. It’s not a problem, I promise.”

He let her go, then, and his smile widens slightly. Involving the Shadows was a good idea, naturally, but when she speaks of sacrifice, Felix has to suppress a wince. He takes a deep breath and shrugs. “It’s for the greater good,” he responds, then runs his head through his hair. “And some sacrifice, some… trouble can be a good thing. For Dock Town.”

she had an ear for ghosts — she read the silence between syllables like a psalm stitched in wounds. the stammering laugh, the glance that skittered from reflections, the way joy felt borrowed. over the years, she had become a cartographer of the insinuated, mapping shame & sorrow in the slope of shoulders, in the flick of an eye too quick to linger.

she didn’t need fire to understand the burn — she simply read the ashes left behind by someone else’s affair with flame. people, more often than not, reflected the ugliest truths in the moments they believed they were surreptitious. or perhaps she exuded a kind of gentleness that made them forget to hide.

that thought was laughable — enough to make her snort, if she weren’t in present company.

it wasn’t that she was vitriolic & bilious. though life had done its utmost to make her feel that way, even as she drank willingly from the cup it offered — steeped with dolour petals, amaroidal as regret & twice as old. over time, her heart had become a frostbitten field, where nothing grew as it once had. only memory clung to the air like distant harvest smoke — the echo of what once bloomed there.

she supposed that made her like the winter sun — all light, no warmth. there was no spring left in her, only niveous days & the familiar, age-old ache of things frozen too long.

“ unfortunately, ” she spoke without jest, though stars knew she wished she could summon humor from the truth felix laid bare. she always took care in how she spoke — but it was rarely enough, not when she saw the way his jaw tensed. years of living hadn't taught her how to kill her curiosity where it hurt. she had never quite learned how to strangle her questions into silence, especially not when they were for docktown — for the people who deserved more than the world offered.

remorse stirred at the edge of her lips — soft, lugubrious, like old fruit left too long in the sun. she had unearthed something he’d rather let rot beneath the soil as she clawed at it with aching, desperate fingers, all for the sake of peace in a place where peace was scarce. her muscles, once tensed with purpose, began to ease — no longer eager to extract something that might leave him withered.

“ if it’s too much trouble — ” she didn’t even breathe, as if afraid that drawing air would make the guilt fester faster. it left her heart gangrenous, black & slow, worming through ventricles, staining chambers with slithering ache. her gaze slid from felix, anchoring instead to the path ahead.

she couldn’t ask him to bleed for something she could hunt herself. she should let him choose — it would do her corrading, ichor-stained heart no good to watch another sacrifice what he did not have to give. “ i can find the information through other channels. ”

felix was one of many. that didn’t make him replaceable — & it didn't mean his help wasn’t useful to her. she simply couldn’t afford what it might cost. “ let’s … see what elek has to say first. before we commit you to anything. ”

there are some people in this world who, regrettably & achingly, insist upon doing what must be done — no matter the personal toll. her smile turned, languid & soft at the edges, refusing to let venom settle in her corners. for all she had done, for all she was willing to do — placing others in discomfort was never her goal. “ the shadow dragons have people in different corners of power. you don’t have to be the one who makes the sacrifice. there are others in our ranks who can give less than what it might cost you & still get us what we need. ”

[mvrcar]

Good evening I wrote all day and managed to get six pages done. Feels like this book is finishing me and not the other way around…

[mvrcar]

Maybe, just maybe, Felix isn’t quite ready to voice assumptions yet. Neve makes it look easy, but the dry sound of her laughter is enough to tell him that some ideas should remain behind sealed lips.

Then she speaks, and it becomes a certainty. He spent years away from home, but still struggles to understand certain dynamics. Power, ambition, they all work the same. Especially where he comes from, but Dock Town has a different set of rules. Keeping up isn’t always simple, but he’s never lacked for determination. Staying back, listening, none of it comes easily or natural, but Felix has figured out the hard way that where there’s a lesson to be learned, it’s better to be quiet and pay attention instead of fighting it. So he simply nods at her words, humming softly.

Neve looks away then, but Felix keeps his eyes on her. A lesson to be learned. He shares what he knows, that he can do, and leaves the thinking to her. At least for now. It’s concerning to think soporati might be allying with mages, but Felix can understand the reason behind it. It goes deeper than simple need for protection or hunger for power. It’s not about revenge, either. It’s the belonging. Fooling themselves into thinking they can erase the lines crossed in blood into the flesh that was the Empire. That all it takes is to back the right mage, and they sure will see past the fact that people born with no magic in their veins are disposable in Tevinter. Surely this time… Felix sighs and looks away. “They can risk anything if the mages they’re supporting make them feel like people,” he explains, brow furrowed. “That’s what makes them dangerous.”

When Neve speaks of the danger red lyrium, a bitter smile appears on Felix’s lips. He still keeps his gaze away from her. “Can’t build a cult with promises of magical power? Try using a damn glowing stone,” he spits out with a scoff. “We need to figure out who’s leading. And I’m willing to bet there’s at least one soporati making decisions. Nothing gains trust like fake equality.”

Felix can’t pretend he knows what’s going on in Neve’s brain, but his own concerns threaten to pull him under. Minrathous exploiting the desperate isn’t exactly news, but that’s extremely concerning, and it can get worse. He just hates not knowing how.

His head snaps up when Neve finally comments on his connections. He knows it’s just a matter of time before his past catches up, before his last name takes everything over. She knows who he is, naturally, and while they’ve never spoken about it, he suspects she’s heard more of him than he’s comfortable sharing. His reputation is not something he can erase, but he hopes he can write between the lines here and there. Still, Felix can’t help but feel his body tense. “No, you’re right. It isn’t.”

Her sudden turn makes Felix blink and flinch slightly. He blinks. Elek he remembers, of course. From the papers and the whispers. He’s a thread, so maybe his earlier assumption, as far off as it was, did turn out to be helpful. “Elek the thread? How charming.”

Needless to say, where she goes he’ll follow. If Dock Town is in trouble, he wants to help. Her dark eyes find his, but Felix just isn’t fast enough to hide the clench of his jaw at her question. She’s right to ask, and he knows the answer, but his throat still aches at the thought. “Not really. I could speak to my sister, but…” he sighs and turns to look ahead. “Sorry, no ‘but’. I’ll speak to my sister if you think it’ll help. She’s engaged to a powerful necromancer from Nevarra, Caspar Anaxas. Think you can work with that?”

Does he like the idea? Maker, of course not. His sister has always been kinder to him than the others, but if he meets with her, his father will know. His brother, too. And soon the rest of Hightown. But Dock Town will be safer for it, that must mean something.

neve huffs a small laugh, drier than amused at his suggestion. “ a rival syndicate ? maybe. ” the idea alone feels risible. elek wouldn’t stand for that — & neither would she. the threads weren’t perfect neighbors, but they were leagues better than the kind of people who would traffic in red lyrium, who saw power as a thing to bleed others for. she imagines their ambitions are just as corrupt as the substance they’re using. “ but if they’re dealing in red lyrium, they’re not aiming for alleys & bribes. i don’t think this is a turf war. ”

& only a fool would pit themselves against both the shadow dragons & the threads. dock town was protected — bruised & battered maybe, but watched over by more than just one pair of eyes. the same could not be said for the positions beyond their small, forgotten corner of the city — where titles mattered more than lives.

she crossed her arms, dark eyes narrowing as she turns her head away, pensive. the thought leaves a bitter taste clinging to her tongue. if people thought her coffee tasted poor — & she had, more than once, heard it compared to sewer water — then this would sour the mouth ten times over. “ they might not be mages, sure, but that’s exactly what makes them useful. more plausible deniability. they can move coin, close doors, stir rumors in the ears that matter. & the templars — well. ”

tevinter would grind to a halt without the soporati. not all of them bent knee to the venatori, or worse — but some did. & when they did, things shifted. not by degrees, but by fault lines. “ we both know what red lyrium does to them. makes them desperately loyal. or worse — monsters. any one of them could be a piece on someone’s board. ”

her nose wrinkles, skin creasing as disdain blooms across her face, deepening the finely aged lines that marked her. none of it sat well. she shakes her head, as though casting off the stones that have lodged themselves in the turning gears of her thoughts, still grinding, still searching. why now ? why stir things up when the venatori had already lost footing in minrathous ? the question hums behind her teeth — sharp, insistent. & she has a creeping suspicion she already knows the answer.

“ it’s scaffolding, ” she says finally. “ built to prop someone up — or tear someone else down. if you recognize some of those names, that can’t be good. ” & it isn’t a judgment of felix’s character — but a warning of what is to come, one that doesn’t bode well. something she dreads more than she’s willing to admit aloud. now is not the time for lamentation. not when time is ticking. not when every second on the street invites eyes & ears she doesn’t trust.

she pivots sharply on her heel. “ we go see elek, of course. even if this isn’t a crime syndicate, they’re moving like one. & that alone is enough to draw attention from the ones who ‘protect’ these streets. ”

afterwards, they’ll need to speak to ashur & tarquin. that would be an entertaining conversation. her gaze flicks toward felix as they walk. “ you have any connections uptown ? ” it’s a long shot — but every lead counts. & she’s not above pulling thread after thread until something unravels in their favor.

[mvrcar]

“What… uh, what kind of fuckery? And who hires you, in general?” Felix tries his best not to sound weirded out, life in the Fade has gotten him used to all sorts of strange things, but every day it feels like there’s a new, weirder one behind the corner. Seems he found today’s.

Still, he’s more than happy to have Kar around if it means she can help him take care of those sentinels faster. The Crossroads are filled with them, and they slow him down awfully.

As he explains himself, his own words sound insane, so he squares his shoulders and stands his ground. Crazy as he may seem, he needs her to believe his story. And he can see it in her eyes that, surprisingly enough, she does.

Felix smiles at the girl, he’s not going to explain the whole thing to a stranger, but he can try to dig deeper into the whole thing without making a mess. “Well,” he starts, moving between the dead sentinels. “It’s the elven gods. They’re trying to take over the Crossroads. They’re free from their prison, and if they manage to get this place, they will be no match for me and my team.”

"Yes, hired. I fix up fuckery in the Fade. Among other things."

Handling, creating or destroying magical and not so magical relics, consulting on matters regarding a wide breadth of of topics from machinery to magic, and on some rare occasions-- children's parties. Of course that was something else entirely but still equated to her skillset. Then again, Kar was one of those people who always seemed to find their own luck and fortune wherever they went.

At Rook's explanation, Kar took a breath and scanned his face through her colored lenses. Red brows knitted into an expression of concern. The claim was both ridiculous and yet-- made some sense. Who else could cause such upheaval in both realms?

She sighed, deep and long. And very tired.

"While we find a way out of this mess," Kar finally said, the cavalier expression sobering ever so slightly. "Tell me everything."

[mvrcar]

*closed eyes clenched fists* maintain hope maintain hope maintain hope maintain hope

[mvrcar]

felix is not from dock town. he's learned to call it home, feels more accepted there than he has all his life uptown, but he isn't stupid enough to believe the people from there see him as one of them. he helps the shadow dragons, tries to keep them safe, to make their lives a little bit easier, because he himself knows how hard it is to fight a system that was created to keep people down with no chance to even dream of something better.

minrathous feeds on hope. and dock town is the perfect source.

so when he sees neve's work, her devotion to her home, it makes his heart warm, but it also reminds him that she's one of them. he's not. and if things were ever to end up badly, they'd all forget the good he's done and he'd return to be a spoiled brat that uptown didn't want.

but that's not the case. not yet, at least. dock town is inviting them to dance to its own music, and felix doesn't mind. he'd follow neve anyway, just to see where she leads him. see what made her stand out to varric. he's seen her in action plenty of times before, but it doesn't happen always that he's alone with her for a case. he makes a mental note to report everything to bellara, as she might want to know the details, then smiles warmly at her words. her self awareness is quite endearing. "of course." she turns, then, with no warning, and felix follows. not a step missed.

his attempt at flirting falls flat, which is new. he has never needed to struggle to charm a girl, but what's even more surprising is that he doesn't mind. he has never been one to quit, anyway. she moves through the alleys, he chases. no problem. "that's a shame. let's hope we run into a cat, then," he shoots back, a smile still curving his lips.

he's quick to sober up as soon as she begings to explain, though. some of her logic he understands, can follow too, as he's heard similar conversations in the shadow dragons' hideout, but neve adds clever assumption to what he already knows. and felix sighs. "a network? do you think someone is trying to take a feather out of the threads' book? build another crime syndicate?"

he recognised some names too. uptown scum. rich but not particularly influential. "there are legati like my father on that list too, but none of them are mages. could they be handling the politics while the templars and the others put in the muscles?" felix likes to consider himself intelligent. it has taken him some time, so he does take pride in whats between his ears. making assumption with neve gallus standing beside him is risky, but he stands his ground.

she continues, and felix nods and licks his lips, eyes flicking to the roof before them just to be sure no one's following them. when neve is done, his gaze returns to her, and a small smile forms on his lips. "of course you do. who are we meeting, detective?"

better him than her, she thinks.

she could never lift a hand against the people of dock town. they were hers to protect — unequivocally, without hesitation, without question. if he were to ask her whether she’d let him face down a mob from her home alone, she’d throw him into the fire without flinching. she’d turn on her heel & pretend she’d never known his name. that loyalty was to the people who had been dealt a cruel hand & still managed to carve out lives amidst the salt-rusted iron & sea-stained stones.

he’d simply have to bite the bullet & swallow the truth that her home would always come first.

& that had nothing to do with personal feelings. those were easy enough to stow away, which she tucked neatly into a drawer inside her chest, to be locked & forgotten, left to gather dust. she did like him, though. he was good company. funny, even, which was a rare thing in their line of work. he had a knack for breaking the tension at just the right time, like a breath of air pulled before the undertow dragged you under. & she was no stranger to drowning in her own thoughts.

at least he listened. that, too, was a rare thing — his willingness to follow & observe. she recognized balance in his disposition, glimpsed only in these moments between steps & tasks. odd, having someone beside her. she was used to solving things alone, bleary-eyed & bruised, scribbling notes long into the night with purple crescents blooming under her eyes. she never had anything to prove to anyone else. but to herself ? everything.

“ well, i wouldn’t get hired for this kind of work if i wasn’t good at it, ” she remarked dryly over her shoulder, a matter-of-fact quip rather than bragging. her gaze flicked back to the path ahead. they needed a shortcut. she cut sharply to the right, uphill, without warning — knowing instinctively that he’d follow without needing an explanation.

her eyes flicked toward him briefly, her focus returning to the path. “ the cats, ” she replied, without missing a beat. not unkind, just … brisk. his attempt at charm hadn’t gone unnoticed — just unacknowledged. it was endearing, but not quite enough to catch her. she was always running, after all.

“ if it’s red lyrium, we’re not talking about petty smuggling. ” she didn’t like to speak before she had something solid to go on. “ this isn’t some low-level street deal. ”

her fingers tapped idly against her thigh with her contemplations — a habit born of restless nights & insatiable need to know. “ my guess ? someone’s trying to build a network. the names aren’t random — i recognize a few. brokers, smugglers … former templars. the kind of people who know how to move dangerous things without anyone noticing. ”

it wasn’t much, but it was enough to give her direction. enough to start pulling the right threads.

“ if these names are tied together, ” she continued, “ this could be the start of some groundwork for political destabilization. ”

red lyrium wasn’t something you moved casually. its corruptive nature, its volatility — only the desperate or the dangerously bold dared to traffic it. “ you don’t deal in red lyrium unless you’ve got nothing left to lose … or you’re trying to make a statement. ”

her lips pressed into a grim line. she didn’t want to voice the next part, but she did.

“ someone might be laying the groundwork to remove the archon. ” her voice lowered slightly, though the street was empty save for the two of them. “ the magisterium can vote in a new one if the old guard dies without naming a successor. no heir. no plan. just a neat little void, ready for someone to fill. ”

she tapped a finger against her temple. “ i think someone’s hedging their bets to capitalize on the fragile state minrathous is in. ” leaning back, she tilted her head to the side. “ so, we figure out whose hands its traveled through & i know just the person to ask. ”