#<- me and davrin both

[rookamell]

You know that stage of a situationship where you're down to do blood magic for them with only the barest amount of hesitation even though neither of you have flirted out loud once and you brush bloody hair out of their face while they're unconscious after you just barely stopped them from killing their cousin

[vaguely-concerned]

the contrast in lucanis' early game responses to bellara and davrin are sooo funny and also quietly devastating. the vibe is like

BELLARA: heey so... how are you feeling lucanis? generally, I mean. or specifically, if you'd rather talk about something in particular! well, you usually don't, so no worries if not, you know, no pressure, only if you'd think it'd maybe, I don't know, help! I know it doesn't always. but ah, um... are you -- alright? (in the pantry. we should probably stop asking you about this but are you sure you're alright in there? it's where the parsnips live. and you now, too, I suppose! just... you and the onions. and a demon. sorry, didn't mean to remind you! you see I'm only asking because um for a second there I thought the dark circles under your eyes were actually bruises and it jumpscared me a bit)

LUCANIS (tired but soft): I'm fine, Bellara. Really. Don't worry about me.

VS.

DAVRIN: So hey lucanis. just out of interest. what the fuck is your damage anyway. why are you like this

LUCANIS (at his most 'orders one black coffee and drives away' and also honest): Well you see Davrin since you're asking: I am in hell. Also go fuck yourself.

[flowersforthemachines]

fun fact: everyone has unique poses for the Crossroads boat rides :)

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

Not to focus overly on my Rookanis feels, but I love the dialogue cutscene where Lucanis and Davrin are drinking together, sharing stories, and invite Rook to sit with them, for so many reasons.

I mean, I love the dialogue cutscene in general and both the guys in it. The mood is great. The dialogue is just so damn funny. It's a friendly dick measuring contest between our favourite boys. After the initial antagonism and tension, they've become friends. There are bizarre lore drops. The stories are entertaining and frankly wtf? A big writhing ball of angry nugs? Created through blood magic? The stuff of nightmares! I wish I could see Lucanis deal with that. I wish I could see Davrin figure out the big heap of tentacles. I love the way the guys are just a little tipsy in a cute way. Lucanis talks a little too loud in comparison with what we're used to. Davrin is starting to have trouble articulating. The "Of course we're getting along. We're PROFESSIONALS," as Lucanis raises his cup a little towards Davrin always cracks me up. Also, Lucanis, are you drinking wine from a coffee cup? The way they both invite Rook to stay and participate. The prospect of slightly drunk cooking and snacking and sharing stories. All in all, it's a beautiful scene that makes me smile every time.

But let me also yap about Lucanis for a moment. (Of course you will let me. It's not like you can stop me. No one can stop me. Not even me.) I want to focus on how Lucanis interacts with Rook in this scene.

It's obvious he's let himself relax a little. He's a bit intoxicated. Clearly he's having fun. He smiles easily and flutters his eyelashes at Rook. When you choose the dialogue option that mentions ruining Solas' ritual, Lucanis insists that Rook tells the story. "[Neve and Harding] don't tell it the way you would," he says, encouraging Rook to talk about something, from what he says, he seems to have already heard, because he wants to hear them tell it.

Then he decides he'll cook something while they chat, but he emphasizes that he will only do so "if Rook's staying," nudging them further. It couldn't be more clear that he wants them there and that he enjoys their company.

I feel like I don't see enough people feral about it, because come on, he's so sweet in this scene. He obviously wants Rook around and their presence makes him happy.

And, yeah, I know this scene also happens with "just" friendly Rook. The thing is, I don't give a fuck. I don't think it diminishes the interaction in any way. The context matters. It's sweet with friendly Rook and even sweeter when they're more. Also, I played Lucanis' romance first, and I did not know that. What I saw in this scene during that first playthrough was the man absolutely delighted by Rook's company, repeatedly and enthusiastically asking them to stay and spend time with him, and it made my day. Still does.

When I keep babbling about how much I love Lucanis' romance, it's not just about all the hearts I get to click to see where they lead or the beautiful post-Tearstone love scene, it's also interactions like this where you see how much he wants Rook to be there, all the more or less subtle signs of affection (and yes, also friendship, because that goes hand in hand) that happen throughout the whole game.

[cute-ellyna]

Davrin and Our Love Will Transcend Universes. 😚

Thanks anon for requesting Davrin <3 Honestly, this was kinda challenging, but maybe it's just Davrin's fault and my need to give him justice. As you can see, I'm sticking to this "pop" style, it just works too well with these palettes. Yay!

You can see the whole palette challenge here :)

[tinygameralec]

The magnificent @redheadsramblings gave me permission to write and post this little follow-up to their wonderful shortfic here.

---

There's a long beat of silence as the group takes in the bizarre vision of a drunk Emmrich Volkarin lying on the floor. What, the tension says, the absolute fuck?

And then Bellara is on her feet, getting everyone's attention with a sharp clap. "Alright! Taash, can you carry him? We need to get him to bed. Davrin, you and Assan are on Manfred distracting duty. Lucanis, Lace, can you clean up? Great, thanks."

Nobody thinks to argue. They've all just been reminded, very firmly, that Bellara has built her life around the Veil Jumpers and the long string of crises and chaos that is exploring Arlathan. Neve especially is thinking about how she normally works alone, and that they don't worry about her unless she hasn't turned up in a week.

Bellara is kind of scary.

Taash carefully picks the Professor up, and Davrin goes hunting for Manfred with Assan leading the way. Cleaning up happens. And Bellara leads the way to his rooms, and the bed just big enough for two if they like each other very much that hides behind his bookcases.

She knows that the Professor likes Rook very much indeed, and Rook likes him back just as fiercely. She saw Rook's face when Ghila'nain was talking about what she wanted to do to him. She's glad that the false god screamed when Lucanis killed her. She deserved more, just for threatening her friends. There wasn't enough punishment in all the world for what she'd done to the Wardens and D'Meta's Crossing.

"Weird," Taash says when they see where Emmrich sleeps, but it's not their normal tone. It's sad, and tired, and Bellara understands.

"Thanks, Taash," she says as they carefully lay him down on the mattress. The bed isn't huge, but it's comfortable, and he naturally gravitates into the dips in the mattress. It looks wrong without Rook cuddled up next to him.

"Yeah. I'll... go keep Manfred busy, I guess. He's not bad, for a weird little magic skeleton." Taash looks back in the doorway, opens their mouth. Then frowns and leaves, and Bellara wonders what she wanted to say.

"Sorry Professor." She carefully unpins his collar, eases his boots free, carefully undoes the buttons on his waistcoat. He wouldn't want any of them to see him like this, she thinks, but she hopes they've been friends for long enough that he'll forgive her.

He wakes as she shifts him to try and remove his sash, and looks at her with bleary, miserable eyes. He's not really conscious, she thinks, not with the amount of alcohol he put away earlier, but in that weird stage of awake-asleep that lies on the edge of it.

"Bel...?" he manages, and he sounds so miserable it hurts. "Why 'm I... Should be looking. Need to find Rook."

"Professor," she says, but he keeps mumbling. She can see him getting ready to launch himself out of bed and back into it, and she can't stand it. "Professor!"

He looks at her in surprise.

"Please," she continues, because if she pauses to think about what she's saying she'll lose it. "Please, get some sleep. We'll wake you if we make any progress, I promise. You know I keep my promises."

"...You do." He seems more lucid, but more tired. She hates it. "But I have to help them. I... I need to tell them I was wrong. I was stupid. I love them so much and I said such terrible things! I can't-"

"Stop!" She feels tears hammering behind her eyes, and forces them down. "Please... Professor. Emmrich." He gasps, and she realises she's almost never called him by name. She needs to fix that.

"Rest, please." She takes his hands in hers and squeezes firmly. One of his rings digs uncomfortable into her palm, but she doesn't let go. "You haven't slept since we lost them. And I'm scared. We're all scared. But we're not going to help them by hurting ourselves. They deserve our best, don't they?"

"They do." Emmrich lays his head down, eyes wet. His hands tremble in hers. "Stay with me until I sleep?"

"Of course."

[talonrook]

please enjoy this clip that i forgot to post where lleyth missed their jump and drowned & lucanis immediately jumped in after them and made me burst out laughing

[sternentreue]

Lucanis/Neve/Rook this, Lucanis/Davrin/Rook that but you know what y'all are really sleeping on? Davrin/Rook/Neve!

[beaulesbian]

so unfair i'm on my third playthrough and only for the first time i see a romance-only option added into a dialogue like this (that wasn't just between rook and their romanced companion)

[vaguely-concerned]

powerful mental image of lucanis expounding passionately about any given one of his limited but extremely deep areas of interest (the wyvern/knives/coffee/cooking/murder continuum of lucanis dellamorte special interests if you will) while rye lounges around and Beholds him with palpable twink boutta pounce energy

[mohntilyet]

speaking of veilguard kind of going nowhere. i am so mad over there being no in depth epilogue. at least tell me what happens to the factions that are being led/guided by people rook influenced !!!!!! all these companions have obvious obligations outside of the veilguard, and they're all dedicated to the lives they lived before they joined this team, so of course they would go back. what effect did bellara deciding to keep the archive have on the elves? neve decides to protect dock town by any means necessary, so what does that mean for a blighted minrathous? everything to do with harding and the titans ????!!!! and solas just accepts being trapped because he's been 'outplayed' DO NOT MAKE ME LAUGH!!!! somebody has got to tell me what happens after the world gets 'saved' because the south in chaos, minrathous almost destroyed and the last of the elven gods being dead is like. crazy. and the companions just commenting things i already know is really not cutting it for me

[neves-trouble]

Every Davrin and Harding interaction is so sad when you remember that they can't both make it to the end of the game

[lampost-in-winter]

Forgotten ecology

Rook finds Davrin carving wooden statuettes, which isn’t unusual. What surprises them is that he is looking at a book for reference. Davrin never needs reference: every nook and cranny of monster anatomy is etched into his brain, for good or ill.

“What do you have there?”

“You mean the book? I took it from Isseya’s lair, she must’ve gotten it from Ghilan’nain. Sorry I didn’t mention it.” He lets go of the piece he’s been carving—it looks like some kind of snake covered in feathers—and brings the book closer to Rook.

The tome hums with magic as Davrin passes the pages. Although Rook can’t interpret the text, written in ancient Elven, it is evident that it is a bestiary: each page depicts a variety of creatures Rook’s never seen before, all of them either aglow with foreign beauty or haunted by terrifying strangeness. The pictures move on the page like figures from a shadow play, portraying the different walks of the herbivores, the attack movements of predators, and the complex flight of four-winged and six-winged birds.

There is some flora depicted, as well. A two-page spread is entirely dedicated to the reproductive cycle of a translucent flower with iridescent blue filaments, which relied on wisps as its sole pollinators.

It is gorgeous. It is also concerning.

“Do you think Ghilan’nain created all of these?”

“Nah, I don’t think so. Look,” Davrin points at a stamp in the shape of a halla at the beginning of one of the pages. “I’d say only the ones with her mark are her creation. Everything else… maybe someone, or something, else made them. Or maybe they were there already when the first elves gave themselves bodies.”

“Wow,” Rook mutters, “Do you think we might still find one of these things out there?”

The elf shakes his head.

“Not likely. It looks like all the wildlife in this bestiary was specially adapted to live in a world with spirits and much more magic than our own. In many ways, their life cycles depended on it, so most of them couldn’t possibly exist as they were in our world.”

“Damn. That’s… tough.”

“Yeah. Could be the reason why Ghilan’nain kept a specific record of them.”

Rook feels a hole in their stomach, the shape left by a loss that’s not even their own, as well as the dread at the idea of life being able to just disappear, the terror of the frailty of existence. And whatever Davrin is feeling, it doesn’t look like it differs much.

“It’s kinda… weird, to think that all of these animals can simply be gone without a trace,” Rook says, “The magic and technology from ancient elven times at least left something behind, even if it’s just debris.”

“They might’ve left something,” Davrin muses, “Some of these creatures could’ve adapted to the world post-Veil and changed into something we might recognize. Like this one,” he picks up the feathered snake he’d been carving. “She could be the grandmother of modern snakes.”

Rook chuckles. “Wouldn’t that be something?”

“Mmm. I’ve also been thinking about it the other way around.” The warden takes a moment to gather his thoughts. Rook notes that they really like his thinking face, so solemn. “If these couldn’t survive in our world, it’s also possible that many of our own animals and plants would not be able to adapt to life without the Veil. Perhaps they wouldn’t die in the initial blast, but the change in their way of life would slowly end them.”

“See, another reason to stop Solas: what if the fall of the Veil destroys cocoa trees? I wouldn’t survive it,” Rook counters with a playful smile, and it gets a laugh out of Davrin.

“Jokes aside… it makes you think, you know? That when Solas talks about bringing back the old world, it doesn’t just mean restoring the ancient elves: it means to change the very core of how life works. And I know that all things end, and that these creatures had their time, but…” Davrin looks towards the cozy, feathered bun that is Assan sleeping by the fireplace. The unlikely survivor of two extinction events, as they now start to understand. “Who decides which form of life is more worthy of existence?”

Rook tries to think of something wise and soothing and motivating to say, but it doesn’t come to them. They’re not a philosopher: they’re just one of the alive things in this world trying to make it to the next day.

“So… drinks?” they offer, instead.

Davrin smiles. “Sure. And, hey, pick one,” he says, pointing at the carvings of ancient creatures he has been working on. “My treat.”

Rook observes the three statuettes that Davrin has finished so far: there’s the feathered snake, a unicorn with a horn as long as its whole head, and a bird with wings made of flames. They take the unicorn. They will put it up in their room later, because it’s from Davrin and it’s beautiful, and they will hope that this melancholy feeling they get from looking at it will recede. In time.

[cheaploafs]

woe wips i forgot about be upon ye

[sun-marie]

Is this a Minrathous Route specific scene? I've played this game like 3 1/2 times now and never seen it before 👀

[rookamell]

Quick quesh (<- cool slang for question) does Davrin ever blaspheme? Can I make him say 'Creators' in a fic? Would that be accurate for him or should I give him other swearwords? He just doesnt really strike me as a swear word guy. Lucanis and Illario both say 'fuck' Illario swears like its his day job and Lucanis is more deliberate with it but idk about Davrin. He feels like a blasphemer but he's not very religious. 'Creators' feels right but is there a consensus/ideas/headcanons people have? Does he use elven swear words? Do I have to look up what those are? Maybe that's what I'll do for him