Ooo love the devil’s bastard au
In one of your precious posts you mentioned Charlie and Nicaise meeting in heaven and getting to bond. How do you think a meeting like that would go?
They wouldn't know who the other was at first. It's an act of fate (me) that brings them together. I've seen a few different people say that the winners in Heaven don't remember their lives on Earth, but I haven't heard this until recently, and even if Vivienne did say it, I'm hesitant to take Word of God as the absolute truth until it's actually shown in the show proper. Things change in the writing process, you know?
That said, I like the idea so I'm going with it.
As a winner, Nicaise also has some deer-like traits. Her heavenly outfit is all creams and golds, she's got soft doe ears and white speckles across her cheeks, shoulders and arms, as well as a pair of cream-colored wings. Even with the deer traits though, Charlie doesn't make the immediate connection. She's a dark-skinned Creole woman who speaks with a distinct accent from Alastor's, so there's a bit of a disconnect in Charlie's mind.
They probably run into one another while Emily is showing Charlie around, perhaps at the zoo. The winners haven't been informed that they're hosting a guest from Hell because the heavenborn angels don't want to cause a panic or anything, but it becomes clear within a few minutes of conversation that Charlie's different from everyone else in Heaven. How amazed she is by the simplest things. Her sheer awe at the koala. The smell of brimstone that clings to her.
Now, Nicaise knows there's something... off about Heaven. She's known it since she first arrived and she felt like something important had been stolen from her. She just can't put together what that something was. Over the decades, the heavenborn angels have tried to placate her, reassuring that there is nothing missing from her life and that Heaven has everything she'll ever want or need. She calls bullshit. But, realizing she's not going to get anywhere butting heads, she opts to go the more subtle route, seeking out like minded winners and bringing them together. Together, she and her allies have been trying to figure out what the heavenborn are keeping from them, what they lost, but they've hit a lot of walls. Sera is too difficult to approach, and not easy to trick, Emily is just as in the dark as they are, and Adam... Well, Nicaise knows how to deal with repulsive men. But Sera realized pretty quickly what Nicaise was doing and forbid Adam from speaking to her or her cohorts, so that line of investigation was cut short.
Needless to say, Nicaise is thrilled to meet people from outside of Heaven.
She probes Charlie for information and Charlie is plenty happy to talk to someone from Heaven who doesn't seem politely disgusted by her lineage. (Something about Charlie's description of her father strikes a chord in Nicaise. She can't quite solidify the thought.) Emily is surprisingly open to the topic of conversation as well; Sera's never told her any of these things!
Nicaise knows that she must have had a life and a family back on Earth, but it's not until Charlie starts talking about souls passing to Heaven or Hell that she really understands what this means. For just a moment, the veil lifts from her memories. And then they're gone again, like a dream. Charlie, on the other hand, is more than a little peeved that Heaven is actually preventing winners from remembering their own lives. Yes, some of the memories may be painful, but these are their lives! The souls have a right to them, regardless of how painful they were! It's her first hint that Heaven might not be as idyllic as it seems.
Unfortunately, Charlie's meeting with Heaven's higher ups means they don't have as much time together as they would like, nor will they have any way to contact one another once Charlie returns to Hell. But she's left a lasting impact on Nicaise and has an ally in her and Emily both. Emily tells Nicaise everything that happened in the meeting, including the revelation of the exterminations. Nicaise passes this on to her group, who pass it on to more people who pass it on to even more people.
Soon winners all over Heaven are questioning and Sera is panicking. Things get worse for her when Sir Pentious shows up in her office. If she's going to maintain order over Heaven, she needs to find the people responsible for spreading disorder, and get rid of them. Fast.
35 notes
·
View notes
You want some fluff? Here's some fluff! The Cullen x Lavellan slow burn relationship continues! As the Inquisition prepares for Empress Celene's ball and peace negotiations, Cullen and Ellana are getting closer. This little piece shows four moments in Skyhold:
1: Ellana POV
2: Cullen POV
3: Sera POV
4: Poor Inquisition soldiers POV
Read it here in AO3 (only for registered users)
or under the cut because I have no secrets.
Moments in Skyhold
words: 1 351. SFW! Rating: Teen. Or maybe G.
1
Inquisitor Ellana Lavellan, with her palms on the War Table, leaned over the floor plans spread all over it. Commander Cullen was walking around the table and paused just behind her. Ellana’s brows lifted, sensing his proximity.
“Since we still have not identified the assassin, we need to have our people near every exit,” Cullen said and leaned past her to point at the floor plan of the Winter palace. His armoured chest pressed against her bare shoulder as he leaned in. Behind them, away from the eyes of the two other advisors, his hand touched the small of her back gently.
Suddenly Ellana’s senses were filled with him. His scent was intoxicating - leather, pine trees, and a faint masculine musk, his very own natural scent. It made her knees buckle, but luckily she was already firmly leaning against the table. Concentrate, you silly goose, she told herself, and tried really hard not to inhale his scent so deeply it would look weird. But he was right there . She kept her face toward the map, but her eyes followed the line of his jaw. The shadow of the rough stubble reached his throat, and she watched how his Adam's apple bobbed as he spoke.
“These doors here, here and here, as well as the large windows to the garden need to be under constant watch,” Cullen pointed at three different spots on the map right next to her. The fur mantle tickled the skin of Ellana’s bare forearms. She stared at the map without seeing, just sensing the timbre of his warm voice in her ribcage, as the Commander continued: “We can’t predict when or from where the assassin will strike.”
After the brief moment Cullen leaned back leaving the Inquisitor feeling breathless. “But at least we can make sure we’re ready to act.” He continued to walk around the table with a few more steps, taking him a safer distance away from Ellana, who let out a breath she did not know she had been holding.
On the other side of the table Leliana and Josephine shared knowing and very amused glances.
2
The advisors, Cassandra and the Inquisitor had been going through ‘who’s who in the Winter Palace’ all evening to prepare for the upcoming Ball. All five of them were tired and exhausted. Cassandra and Inquisitor Lavellan had decided to drag the overworked advisors with them to the tavern to have dinner. “You are no use to anyone if you do not take care of yourself,” Cassandra had told especially Commander Cullen, who had attempted to get away and continue working alone in his office.
In the Herald’s Rest Cullen was flanked by Cassandra on his left side and Ellana on his right side. Facing them on the other side of the table sat Leliana and Josephine, who had changed the subject to dress fittings and speculating on what was going to be the recurring theme in the Orlesian gowns this time.
Cassandra commented dryly on questions about Nevarran fashion, Ellana wondered about the fascination with shoes, and Cullen sat trapped in the middle of it. At least he had a pint of ale in front of him and a plate of food coming soon. What made his temper very mild, however, was feeling how Ellana’s ankle wrapped around his under the table. After a while, the Inquisitor shifted, leaned her right elbow on the table and lowered her left hand onto her lap. No - onto his lap under the table. Cullen did his best to keep his face neutral as he felt her hand squeeze the top of his thigh and remain there until their food arrived.
3
Sera was climbing underneath the windows that opened to the Skyhold courtyard gardens. This evening she was on a mission. She had found a pair of absolutely ridiculous handcuffs that were lined with pink fur. She was going to get into Dorian’s room via the window, place them on his pillow with a mysterious and very naughty note. And then she would watch him tomorrow trying to figure out who dreamed of kinky stuff with him, and she would have so much fun.
Sera was good at not being seen, and being in places where nobody expected her to be. Commander Cullen and Inquisitor Lavellan sure did not expect anyone to be climbing where she was - it looked like the two of them expected to be in a spot where no one would see them. Unseen by them, Sera sat down on the narrow bit of roof underneath the windows, and watched.
The Inquisitor and the Commander walked with slow steps in the secluded corner of the gardens. The Commander said something, looking oddly smug to Sera’s eye. Whatever he said made her Inquisitorialness stop and laugh out loud. Sera couldn’t quite make out what they were talking about, but the bright laughter rang out through the gardens. Cullen turned back to face Lavellan, who looked at him from under her brow, bit her lower lip, and reached out to grab his belt with both hands. Sera was mortified to see how the Inquisitor pulled the man from his belt to her with an appallingly flirty look, brought her face very close to his, said something, and had the Commander kiss her.
As the two of them wrapped their arms around each other in the quiet corner of the gardens, Sera looked at the pink handcuffs she was carrying. She wondered what kind of a prank she could come up with for the pair exchanging bodily fluids below. What the Inquisitor saw in the uptight Commander, Sera didn’t know, but she had to admit the two seemed to be very enthusiastic about each other.
4
Two patrolling soldiers stood outside the Commander’s office. The door was closed, and the soldiers fidgeted anxiously. A messenger approached with hurried steps, holding a missive in her hand.
“Hold,” the taller one of the soldiers said to the messenger, gesturing to her to stop.
“I have a message for the Commander,” the messenger said and tried to walk past the soldiers.
“I advise you to wait,” the soldier said gruffly.
“Why? It’s from Scout Harding, I know the Commander has been expecting her report.”
The two soldiers looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
“The Inquisitor is in there,” the soldier said as if it would explain everything.
“And?”
“And when she went in there, she closed the door behind her.”
“And?” the messenger asked again, a little exasperated now.
“Trust me. The Commander gets a little tetchy if he’s interrupted with her,” the soldier’s tone was a little nervous.
“I don’t get it,” the messenger said, looking at them blankly.
“You’re new here?” the other soldier asked her then.
“I was recruited a month ago but I’ve been in training. I got the messenger post a week ago. I really need to get this message to the Commander, I don’t want to mess up this job.”
“You’d mess it up worse if you walked in there now,” the other soldier told her.
“Look, you’re new here, so I’ll spell it out to you, alright?” the taller soldier said, lowering his voice conspiratorially.
The messenger’s brow furrowed. “Alright?”
“The Inquisitor and the Commander are, um… involved ,” the soldier almost whispered.
“They’re in there making out like there’s no tomorrow,” the other one whispered. He pointed to a narrow window to the side, off the battlements, with a grimace.
The messenger slowly leaned over to peek in the window. Ah. Yes. The Inquisitor seemed to be sitting on the Commander’s desk, her legs around his waist and the Commander slightly leaning over her. The messenger quickly leaned back with a reddened face. She hadn’t seen any more than that, but thankfully both of them had been fully clothed.
“I see,” the messenger said, embarrassed that she had taken a look at someone else’s private moment.
“At least this time they’re behind closed doors and not grinding against the wall in the battlements,” the other soldier mumbled, and got elbowed by his comrade.
10 notes
·
View notes