#and caffeine

[norrisleclercf1]

nothing like drinking a Dr. Pepper because you forgot food for the 5 hour lecture because you knew the soda would stop your hunger

[hanafubukki]

Went on a late night (morning?) boba run and the colors reminded me of them 💞☀️✨🌙

(Made by the amazing @/arcdiris)

[kaviary-blog]

Pen sketches of my girls while I’m at work. Some are definitely better than others 😅😂

[danceswithdarkspawn]

Im curious, what originally inspired you to create your OC Ariel for Dragon Age?

Hi there and thanks for the ask.

Before I begin, I'd like to say that there is a subset of fandom (not just in Dragon Age, but generally) that would not consider Ariel an OC of any kind. A character that exists or is named in some way in the story, as all Dragon Age player-characters are, are not what they would consider original. Similarly, some might argue that player-characters tend to be self-inserts, and to some degree that may be true (Dragon Age is an RPG, after all) but that isn't always the case.

I think both of these arguments have merit. I do, however, consider player-characters as OCs because the interpretations of said characters vary by individual. Particularly with the Warden and Inquisitor, we were given a rough starting point (and even then, some forego that entirely) while the rest is ambiguous enough to be left to the player's imagination.

Ariel was originally thought up following a complete playthrough of Origins, in which I immediately went on to Inquisition. She started out as a simple idea: I wanted the Warden at Skyhold following Here Lies the Abyss, with the Wardens recruited into the Inquisition, and having been a victim of Corypheus' false Calling herself.

I was missing my Warden in Inquisition and didn't like that they were handwaved away and exploring "the lands beyond Thedas." The letter the HoF sends to Skyhold was generic (can't really fault Bioware for that) and didn't sound like her. The way I played this Warden in Origins was such that she would have been horrified at what the Order had done, and be aware enough that she could use the Inquisition's resources to her benefit.

TLDR: I had a "What If" idea and ran with it.

I suppose this technically answers the question, but there's a bit more and this is getting a bit long so more under the cut.

She was also initially meant to be somewhat secondary to another problem I had with Inquisition, which was that Leliana went through a lot and I didn't feel like it was properly explored. You could argue this is understandable given her position and history, that she'd be more walled off and guarded. This is why Griffonheart is from her POV. (Griffonheart my beloved absolute trashfire.) But specifically, this was a romanced Leliana and I wanted to explore the conflicts of that as well.

However, given the absolute mess that is Leliana's canon writing, I sometimes feel like it would have been better if Bioware had introduced another character in Leliana's place. But alas, the stage was set from Leliana's Song and DA2's Exiled Prince.

Anyway, from there Ariel became more in-depth with her inner conflicts and struggles. I started thinking about what she would be like given how I set her up for Griffonheart (which was started before Broken Bird). For example, her brother, Eran, initially existed only to justify Ariel's existence, because I wanted a very specific world state that is not possible due to gameplay/story limitations of Origins. I thought about the City Elf origin, how that might change with siblings both recruited by Duncan, and all the little things about a Tabris playthrough that I felt could be expanded on.

I started thinking about her life in the alienage, made mountains out of molehills of the alienage's arranged marriages (internalized homophobia), racism/classism between elves and humans, and how a running theme (in my opinion) across the Origin's companions is loss and mourning.

Eventually, I ended up with a flawed and traumatized elf.

[squirrel-fund]

Just wrote "two" three times in a row and now it doesn't look like a real word 😅

[goldensunset]

i’m so tired it’s not funny

[canyouseeme13]

I started work at 6:30am. We're hauling in light plants because we're going be here THAT long.

[alberta-sunrise]

Fun filled day of software training ahead of me… 😴

[mmoodd-jobutupaki]

Hello I am living 20ish hours on 1< hour of sleep, certain I am going off kilter (a little) . BUT ANYWAY, on the topic of sleep here's what the amount of sleep I sacrificed for you means

1 minute: FUCKING PATHETIC. I have sacrificed more for homework. You mean literally fucking nothing to me.

An hour: Okayy we're getting somewhere. Either I kinda care about you or I care about you even more and had to go to sleep, but definitely was willing to sacrifice more for you. You're either my friend or I love you.

A few hours: This is getting a little unrealistic. Either you're homework or social media. Or you're my absolute best friend in the whole world, we're talking like, top 5 people here. Or I'm at a concert, that has happened before.

Most of the night: Inhumane. You are a good book, or maybe a revolutionary edit idea I'm working on. I would NEVER give up that much time for any sentient being. Dream on, literally. Leave me to my own nightly activities.

An all nighter: No way. There's only one possible answer and it's that you are my significant other (or really best friend, that too).

[heirofnepeta]

Uuuuugggghhhhh I wanna art but my motor skills have gone to shit, I'm drow sy, and I am fucking starving+quite parched.

[sarasa-cat]

I am sick (not teh vid but extreme asthma from dickish neighbors bonfire using very foul wood that reeks like forest fire like how is this even legal in this Hickass backwards city. Oh rigth I answered my question fml.)

And pumped with so much chocolate and caffeine plus the doc prescribed Rx stuff I take for this which is also a stimulant (actually the 85% chocolate and strong coffee are also very strong Rx’es) my doctor btw has zero sympathy for ppl like me who believe in modern concepts of clean air despite her pretending to be so “liberal” and her literally thinkkng I am a backwards conservative from a backwards ppl I fuckjng shit u not I cannot stand these fuckers

And I don’t want to move my body but my brain is screaming bc it has so many things it wants to Do Right Now

I am thinking about how I should create a magical little escapist world like a ghibli movie only real and just become a solo video producer of a not entirely real world

Bc idk I am having strange thoughts today

Honestly I just want to live inside a library 📚 with cozy reading and writing spaces plus an art zone and serve tea and coffee to my pocket friends.

Ahhhh one of my cats who was sick is looking a bit better and full of self satisfaction sitting on the new window seat storage-bench I made the other week outta cheap but very sturdy IKEA parts based on recos from the ikea hackers online.

[i-want-to-be-spaghettified]

I am at my limit

[whisky-soul]

Finally off to see Hamilton tonight. Only delayed by two years! Please send me all your “staying awake” vibes.

[iamskk]

[bogleech]

Wouldn't it be entirely possible, even likely, that with all the silly weaknesses vampires and stuff were supposed to have, they'd also turn out to be weak to any number of things that have only been invented more recently? Like who's to say vampires aren't also repelled by the smell of play-doh or driven insane by MIDI music? We've invented so much shit in just the last century there'd be NO predicting this. For all we know they burn to ash if they look at Luigi.

[manyfandomsonelog]

What people don’t tell you about watching shows is that after you finish watching a show there’s no more show for you to watch. Think about that.