#etain amell

[queen-scribbles]

Music Tag Game

Stealing this from @vorchagirl bc it looks fun! (also y'all know I'm addicted to making my OCs playlists) 😁😁😁 Not tagging anyone since I stole it, but if you wanna steal it from me in turn feel free.

---

List 2 songs or a playlist that represent your OCs or characters who you love

Lisa Shepard (actual playlist) Romances: Kaidan Alenko Art by naarisz

Song 1: Blood on My Name//The Brothers Bright Song 2: Masquerade//Lindsey Stirling

Cam Ryder Romances: Liam Kosta  Art by starsandskies

Song 1: Down in Flames//Icon for Hire Song 2: Somebody to You//The Vamps

Trinne Amell (actual playlist) Romances: (lmao) Alistair Theirin and/or Harvey Cousland* depending on the canon /cough Art by emedeme(12 years old and it's still one of my faves)

Song 1: Name Storms After//Nate Smith Song 2: Dance In the Graveyards//Delta Rae

Vikkari Damson Romances: Arueshale or Etain Torren depending on the canon :3 Art by lupotterdraws/the-upper-shelf (I couldn't decided 😅)

Song 1: Orpheus//Sarah Bareilles Song 2: Dragonfly Keeper//PHILDEL

[aithne]

Old Roads: Inquisition

So that ask from @darkspawntaxcollectors that I answered last night has really gotten me thinking about Old Roads and what I would have written had I decided to extend the series through the Inquisition timeframe. It would absolutely been a book-length fic that I 100% do not have time to write, so!  Here you all go: an outline of what might  have been called Faithless Convocations.

Taking Cullen’s place as Commander of the Inquisition would likely have been Matias, the Templar who was sent to Kirkwall after the breaking of Kinloch Hold’s Harrowing Chamber. He’s a Templar, he’s Fereldan, he has leadership experience, and he has had quite a bit of character development in the form of Shit That Happened in Kirkwall. He’s a darker personality than Cullen, less stodgy and more temperamental, and his personal character arc over Inquisition involves kicking lyrium and also dealing with the issues that taking lyrium was allowing him to cover up and ignore.

Leliana spends less time as Left Hand of the Divine in this version, but she still does become the Hand a couple of years before the Conclave. She brings her partner Amity with her to Haven and then Skyhold. Amity is Tevene and a mage, though she never participated in the power structure of Tevinter since she was part of a now-defunct intelligence organization named the Daughters of Dumat.

I’d skip over the first part of Inquisition except for establishing that the Inquisitor is Reshlyth Lavellan, a Dalish mage who is very not cool with being called the Herald of Andraste. Pretty much everything there proceeds according to the game’s story beats…

…right up until Etain Hawke leads Reshlyth to a cave in Crestwood to meet his Warden friend, who turns out to be none other than Kathil Amell, Etain’s cousin and Hero of Ferelden.  Reshlyth also gets to meet Cullen, Zevran, and the three kids--as well as Anders, who’s Etain’s partner and has been staying with the Amell family while Etain was at Skyhold. Kathil happens to be immune to the false Calling because it doesn’t register over the constant screaming of the shadow of Urthemiel in her head. Anders is immune because of Justice.

Someone eventually asks Leliana about this, and she admits that she was actually in contact with the Hero of Ferelden. When asked why she didn’t originally ask for her help, she says, “Because Kathil Amell’s method of solving a problem is to create ten worse problems to take its place.”

Kathil and Cullen help find out what’s going on with the Wardens, while Zevran, Anders, and the rest find somewhere quiet and out of the way to stay for the moment.  Kathil, in classic Kathil fashion, is very fucking angry with both the Wardens and the people manipulating them. She insists on going to Adamant Fortress with the Inquisition, and Cullen insists on going with her, because he knows damn well what happens when he lets Kathil out of his sight.

Here Lies the Abyss proceeds as usual right up until Adamant proves not structurally up to Clarel’s last spell hitting a damaged walkway and dumps Reshlyth, Cassandra, Varric, Iron Bull, Etain, Kathil, Cullen, and a badly wounded Clarel off of it, prompting Reshlyth to open a rift into the Fade to catch them. (I like Clarel, so she gets to survive.)

As usual, Kathil becomes Urthemiel the moment she hits the Fade. Fortunately, Kathil has been finally working with the Old God’s shadow instead of against her, so while it’s extremely unsettling to have a dragon with them, disaster does not immediately ensue. They patch up Clarel as well as they can (Etain has some healing magic but more importantly he’s gotten some medical training from Anders), figure out something for a litter for her, and head out to find Nightmare.

Everyone has so many questions here, and Cullen is just like “look, if we survive, you can ask, but right now we need to focus.”

Nightmare taunts everyone, but once it realizes that the Thrice-Bound is in its realm and Moros is likely not far behind (and might be able to use her to invade if she feels like), it starts to panic. Justinia shows up, bringing Reshlyth’s memories with her, and the realm itself starts to fight, warping and shifting and screaming at them.  There’s a lot of [cool shit happens here] going on. Possibly a couple of disasters.

Once they find Nightmare and kill its lieutenants, Nightmare focuses on Kathil and Reshlyth, because both of them represent opportunities to get out of the Fade. Kathil is like, “you all go ahead, I’ll catch up” and Cullen panics, because fuck if he’s going to have this happen again. Kathil, with a massive effort, becomes herself for a couple of minutes, they have a quiet conversation, Kathil hands him something, and then Urthemiel folds out around her again and Cullen is like, “Let’s go.”

[cool shit with Kathil happens here. Maybe Moros does show up? Maybe Nightmare and Kathil already know each other?]

Everyone except Kathil tumbles out of the Fade and the rift seals.  They deal with the immediate situation at Adamant (including getting Clarel off to the Inquisition’s healers) and then Cullen grabs Reshlyth and Etain and goes “we’re gonna get Kathil out now. I need some insulated gloves and can you do a small rift, Reshlyth?

Reshlyth opens a little rift and Cullen and Etain call Kathil/Urthemiel to it with whatever it was that Kathil gave Cullen, and Cullen reaches into the Fade and grabs her.  Turns out that Kathil and Cullen were prepared for this.

Everyone heads back to Skyhold. Kathil is in not-great shape and needs some time to recover, so she convalesces at Skyhold and gets to know the members of the Inquisition. Meeting Matias again is…awkward, to say the least, but Kathil and Dorian are immediately sympatico. She twigs to Blackwall not being a Warden, and is very, very uneasy about Solas. Reuniting with Dagna is definitely a good thing, since they hadn’t seen each other since Kathil crashed at Dagna’s place for a few weeks while she was out of her head post-Blight.

Reshlyth more or less turns around and heads out to the Winter Palace, and comes back with (of all people!) Morrigan and her kid in tow. Kathil is like, “You know what? Let’s get Zev and the kids here. Anders, too. Skyhold’s safe enough for a little bit.” Etain agrees to put off heading for Weisshaupt for a couple of months, since it’s the dead of winter and they’re just gonna get stuck in the snow somewhere anyway.

At this point, plot ceases for a bit and we get to just live in Skyhold with these characters for probably 50k words.  Reshlyth recruited the mages, and between them, Dagna, Dorian, Kathil, Etain, Amity, and Morrigan, there is a tremendous amount of magical research going on. Vivienne even gets in on the fun.  Zevran more or less becomes everyone’s therapist. The builders working on Skyhold start making breakthroughs in material science as they rediscover elven building techniques and start applying them with modern methods.

Solas is initially extremely put out and angry around Anders/Justice/Vengeance, but eventually calms down and agrees to help them. Between him and Zevran, Anders and Justice start to actually heal some of the trauma that they’ve been through. Etain keeps putting the trip to Weisshaupt off because he’s actually enjoying himself for once and this is the first time Anders seems to be actually getting better since pre-Chantry explosion.

Clarel recovers, in large part due to Anders basically taking over her care.  She and her magical ability will never be the same, though, and it’s somewhat obvious that even if she wasn’t hearing the false Calling, her true Calling is almost upon her. She and Kathil kind of become friends, and she does become friends with Morrigan.

At some point, someone figures out that the dude who blew up Kirkwall’s Chantry is being harbored in Skyhold, despite them taking care to not actually call him Anders. Reshlyth and Josephine have to do a lot of very fancy footwork to make that chill out enough that they don’t have an Exalted March show up on their doorstep. Reshlyth, personally, has zero problems with Anders except for the fact that for whatever reason, he’s still Andrastian.

Reshlyth and Kathil have a bunch of conversations. They discover they’re distantly related, which is fairly awkward because, well, Kathil is from Fereldan nobility and Reshlyth is Dalish soooooo that was extremely unlikely to have been a consensual relationship.

All of the kids, Cole, and the various Amell family dogs run around in a pack. There are Shenanigans.

Cassandra gets to know Kathil and forgives Leliana for not mentioning that she knew where she was, because the Hero of Ferelden is not nearly as awesome as she had made her out to be in her head. In fact, she’s kinda scary. She likes Cullen and Zev a lot, though, and thinks it’s very romantic that the three of them are together.

Arbor Wilds happens offscreen, kicking off a series of decisions – is the Amell family going to stay for the fight against Corypheus? Are Etain and Anders ever going to leave for Weisshaupt? The major change that everything in the story has been building to is that Morrigan does not seek out Flemeth, instead allying with Kathil to learn the form of a dragon.  Flemeth doesn’t get possession of the Old God soul in the same way (I would need to figure out if she still gets it, or if Branwen (who is Morrigan’s kid’s name in Old Roads) keeps it).

[cool shit happens here]

In the end, to align with the established Old Roads timeline, the Amell family takes off again.  They show up again briefly for Trespasser, mostly because I’m interested in what Teagan and Kathil have to say to one another after all these years.  Kathil doesn’t live long after Trespasser—she dies sometime between 9:48 and 9:51 Dragon—but I am fairly convinced that Cullen and Zevran help with the search for Solas, and her daughter Cerys is helping run some kind of rebellion by the time she’s in her early 20s.

I actually wish I had the time and energy to write this.  This is about a 200k word commitment, sooooo it is unlikely to happen.

[mothaus]

* Primary Muses

** Secondary Muses

*** Muses to mess with a friend

**** Every once in a while

A Plague Tale

Hugo De Rune**

His rats**

A Song of Ice and Fire

Argella Baratheon(OC)**

Argella Durrandon**

Elyarra Stark(OC)**

Lyanna Stark**

Appleseed

Deunan Knute*

Castlevania

Lisa Tepes/Lisa of Lupu**

Cyperpunk 2077

Misty Olszewski**

Demento/Haunting Ground

Hewie*

Detective Comics/DC

Big Barda**

Barbara 'Batgirl/Oracle' Gordon**

Hawkgirl *Primarily from Justice League animated*

Martha Kent*

Deus Ex

Eliza Cassan**

Devil May Cry

Kyrie From Devil May Cry 4*

Dragon Age Series

Amalia 'Lia' Cousland, AU not a warden**

Aveline Vallen from DA II*

Disa Aeducan, Warden/HoF**

Kahlan Amell, Warden/HoF**

Lanarill Surana, Warden/HoF**

Lyna Mahariel, Warden/HoF** 

Wynne*

Mabari*

F.E.A.R. series

Alma Wade**

Final Fantasy

Ashelia B'nargin Dalmasca From FFXII**

Jihl Nabaat from FFXIII*

Vivi from Final Fantasy IX*

Full Metal Alchemist

Riza Hawkeye*

Gojira/Godzilla

Mothra*

Ghost In The Shell

Kusanagi ‘The Major’ Motoko**

Halo

Ethel Bette ( OC )**

Holly Tanaka*

Linda-058* @ohfiveeight

Kelly-087**

Sarah Palmer*

Veronica Dare**

League of Legends

Caitlyn Kiramman**

Mass Effect

ARIA T'LOAK*

MATRIARCH BENEZIA**

Hannah Shepard**

Karin Chakwas*

JUSTICAR SAMARA**

Tali'Zorah nar Rayya (Later Admiral Tali'Zorah vas Normandy)**

Urdnot 'Eve' Bakara*

Metal Gear Solid

Laughing Octopus**

Olga Gurlukovich**

Paramedic**

Screaming Mantis*

Sniper Wolf*

Sunny Gurlukovich**

Mobile Suit Gundam

Christina Mackenzie from War in The Pocket**

Emma Sheen from Zeta*

Marida Cruz/Ple Twelve from Unicorn*

Pacific Rim

Sasha Kaidonovskya*

Resident Evil:

Dakota (oc tyrant dog)*

Excella Gionne**

Jill Valentine****

Kathy Burton**

Karena ‘Lupo’ Lesproux*

Michaela 'Bertha' Schneider **

Malèna Gionne (OC)*

Polly Burton**

Rebecca Chambers*

Silent Hill

Cynthia Velasquez***

Eileen Galvin**

Mary Shepherd-Sunderland**

Soul Caliber:

Isabella ‘Ivy’ Valentine***

StarCraft

November 'Nova' Terra**

Sarah Kerrigan*

Star Trek

Alexandria 'Alex' Munroe*

Beverly Crusher**

Kathryn Janeway*

Star Wars

Aunt Beru Whitesun-Lars*

Bastila Shan *

Darth Revan/Tru Mothma*

Etaine Skirata (OC)*

Kal Skirata**

Leia Organa-Solo**

Lord Mirdalan/Mird’ika*

Rav Bralor*

Shae Vizla**

Shmi Skywalker-Lars**

Tenel Ka Djo*

Tom Clancy's The Division

Triple A ( OC Medic )

Trigun

Milly Thompson*

Xena: Warrior Princess:

Xena*

Fandomless OC

Aria Wiltz*

Betsy Anne Kleves*

Sully**

Gracie**

Rip**

Richard**

Isabel**

Stella**

[storybook-lili]

First-Name Basis Romance:

When the LIs started referring to my OCs by their forename.

Alistair: I feel like Alistair tried to be friendly and close with most of his fellow Wardens, so he called her Etain when they first met. He probably doesn’t even remember Etain’s surname, tbh.

Anders: He referred to Tara as simply ‘Hawke’ for most of Act 1 until they reach the Deep Roads. Once they spent more time together and grow closer, he started referring to her as ‘Tara’.

Solas: Simply referred to Kallen as ‘Lavellan’ in the beginning, then ‘Inquisitor’ or ‘lethallin’ after they arrived at Skyhold. He first called her by her forename during their dream sequence, but it’s not until their second romance scene when he started calling her Kallen (sometimes ‘Kallen-vhenan’) on a regular basis, and only when the two were alone.

Garrus: Bastard probably doesn’t even realize she even has a first name  Obviously he referred to her only by ‘Commander’ or ‘Shepard’ during ME1. In ME2, he sometimes would call her ‘Shep’ whenever there was any good-natured ribbing between them. He begins calling her Alaia once he actually learns her forename when they have their first night together.

Vetra: Tried to keep it professional and keep it as ‘Pathfinder’ or ‘Ryder’, but Chloe is just so friendly and chill that she started calling her by her forename fairly quickly.

June: Obviously called her Saga as soon as she woke up, since it was the only thing she could remember. After she reveals she’s the youngest child of the Peg’asi royal family, he stopped calling her Saga for a long time, simply referring to her as ‘Princess’. Fortunately he goes back to calling her Saga after they have a long talk.

Vasco: Vasco didn’t call Dana by her forename for a long while, initially referring her simply as ‘madam’ or ‘De Sardet’. Even when she allowed him to call her Dana, he said he’d stick with ‘De Sardet’, with the excuse that he’s “just used to it”. It wasn’t until their first proper romance conversation, when she admitted that she hoped to sail with him again, that he called her Dana for the first time.

[lilium-snow]

Tag yourself, I’m somewhere between Kallen and Tara.

So what we’ve learned from this rage meter is that the angrier you are, the shorter your hair gets.

[voidslantern]

Oh no I've been looking at my old drawings of my first properly developed Warden Etain Amell and I've this stupid idea now to recreate her in the game again. I doubt I'd play her, since her story is a thing of the past to me, but I wonder how I'd see her again. She doesn't fit into any of my worldstates so I'd just... Have a look at her origin story and headcanon she'd run away with Jowan and while he busied himself with schooling Connor she'd kept apostating the hell out of Ferelden.

[freckled-lili]

I like to imagine Alistair teaching Etain how to ride a horse. 

"But Lili, there are no horses in Origins!"

That is not the point!

[queen-scribbles]

2022 Writer Summary

Okay, here we go.  Not necessarily my favorite or best piece(s) for each month, might be I tried something new, or I’m just really proud of a bit of dialogue, or feel it’s good rep for how I write a character/pairing

· January ·

"I couldn’t sleep” prompt ∙ Dragon Age∙ Harvey Cousland/Trinne Amell

“You could go get some sleep,” [Trinne] offered, then cleared her throat, flicking a nearby dandelion and watching the winged seeds dance off into the darkness.  “This one was a doozy, I don’t think I’ll be gettin’ more myself any time soon.”

Harvey shook his head. “I’m doing alright.” And I’m not leaving you alone. “It’s only another hour or so, I’ll be fine.”

This, too, had become a familiar dance over the past several months.

This smile reached her eyes and felt like an accomplishment. “Alright, Cousland, your loss.”

·February·

Unbidden ∙SWtOR ∙ Endrali Jade/Arcann Tirall

The unbidden warmth sprang back to life in his chest as he reshaped the alloy so it all matched the pieces he’d thought were too small before. It had a purpose now, beyond giving him something to do or proving the echo of his father wrong. It was for her.

“Few things are completely lost causes,” Endrali’s voice wove through his thoughts and Arcann almost smiled to himself, the golden alloy warming in his hand.

·March·

Old Habits ∙ KotOR II ∙ Evony Xara/Bao-Dur

Evony crossed her arms, concern squeezing her heart at the sight.  “You’re supposed to be resting.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” Bao-Dur said quietly, voice hoarse and as death-warmed-over as the rest of him looked. (She tried not to dwell on how near the truth that was.) He glanced down at the tools spread out on the workbench. “And you know what they say about old habits.”

Evony mustered a small smile as she nodded. “I’m glad old friends are another thing that die hard.”

·April· 

(gets two bc I cannot pick between them 😅)

Favoritism · Wrath of the Righteous ∙ Etain Torren/Vikkari Damson

Sunrise arrived in full as [Etain] spoke, golden beams filtering through the trees to catch the swirling remnants of mist behind her and Vikkari would have sworn he actually saw angel’s wings. He blinked and started to dismiss it as getting caught up in the moment, before he saw her shadow, cast long and bold on the grass.

It had wings, too. [...] They were breath-taking, almost dazzling even as a suggestion made of dew and shadow. Subtle but beautiful, an aura of care and command. Awe-inspiring.

A perfect match, in his opinion, for the woman they graced.

Unbowed ∙ SWtOR ∙ Endrali Jade/Arcann Tirall

It was all he could do to keep his breathing even as her fingers ghosted over his scarred cheek, her thumb smoothing away the cut on his lip as if it never existed.

“Better?” she asked, withdrawing her hand.

You make a great many things better. “Thank you, Commander.” It came out hoarse and Arcann cleared his throat as he turned to look for his lightsaber, finally raising his hand to call it to him. It was as good a distraction as any.

May

For the Record ∙ Greedfall∙ Vesper de Sardet/Kurt

Kurt let her grab his wrist and steer him over to a boulder, sat without prompting so she could get a better look.  “It’s really not that bad–”

“Says the man who can’t see it, and stitched up his own bullet wound,” she said, nudging his hat out of the way.

“That was a graze.” His voice was rife with amusement on the familiar rebuttal. He slid the hat off and sat it off to the side with his sword.

“My point,” Vesper said, pausing to catch his eye, “is that your scale for ‘not that bad’ skews quite a bit from the norm. For the record.”

The corners of Kurt’s mouth pulled up in a small smile and he tipped his head in concession of that much, at least. “And you, Sweet Excellency, worry too much. For the record.”

·June·

a helping hand ∙ KotOR ∙ Kenna Tasman/Carth Onasi

“All teasing aside, thanks for your help, Carth. This would’ve been a lot harder on my own.” Near-impossible, [Kenna] acknowledged to herself, and she didn’t just mean dealing with her shoulder.

He gave her a crooked smile, the same one that had accompanied the words don’t get yourself in a twist over it, gorgeous and shrugged. “I’m sure you’ll return the favor many times over.”

“Planning to get yourself beat up a lot, Onasi?” she asked dryly as she sat on the edge of her bed. Now that her shoulder didn’t hurt so much, she really wanted a nap.

“Only if I have you around to save my butt,” he shot back.

·July·

(another twofer)

Of Warden & Pariahs ch 45 ∙ Dragon Age ∙ Trinne Amell & Harvey Cousland

Trinne was too short on sleep, too angry to play at civility. “Which he was only able to do b’cause you thought you deserved better than any other family with a mage child,” she ground out, “and tried to keep it a secret. And have apparently decided that makes everything his fault; Connor couldn't have done anything, even unintentionally, and you had good reasons, which makes you blameless. It’s not your fault, you didn’t mean for it to happen. So it had to be all Jowan’s doing and you tortured him for something that wasn’t his fault!” Ironically, the only part of this mess that wasn’t. Her fingers dug into her arms for a modicum of self-control. “In case it’s relevant in the future, arlessa, torturing a mage is a good way to wind up with an abomination, rather than whatever you were aimin’ to get from them. You’re lucky he’s tougher than he looks!”

Black Ale Chase ∙ SWtOR ∙ Eisza Merik/Bloodworthy*

“Looks like we both lost that one,” Bloodworthy commented, nodding across the table. She followed the gesture to her tipped-over shot glass, still rocking from her rush setting it down.

“I wouldn’t call it losing,” she said as she returned to her seat. “But at least it makes us even.” She winked at him.

He winked back with a smile, and Eisza couldn’t fight the answering grin as she righted her glass to wait for a refill.

Mako was gonna freak that she’d missed this.

·August·

same as always ∙ Greedfall ∙ Vesper/Kurt

[Vesper] was studying his face like she saw something of his struggle. “I told you your support means the world to me.” Her hand slid higher on his arm. “I want to support you, too.”

Kurt took an unsteady breath, thoughts full of her dogged pursuit for the truth about what happened to Reiner, of them saving Wilhelm, her putting a bullet through Rolf’s head, full of righteous fury nearly the match of Kurt’s own. Of nighttime conversations held shoulder-to-shoulder in whispers as they watched their surroundings, of her quiet–poorly concealed–indignation at the presumptions people made of him.

“You do, Vesper,” he finally murmured, voice still hoarse and heart pounding in his chest. “More than you know.”

·September·

handholding prompt 45 ∙ Wayhaven Chronicles ∙ Janine Elder/Felix Hauville

“Hey, you asked what I wanted to do, babe,” Felix pointed out, amber eyes sparkling. “Maybe gloating that I have an awesome girlfriend is on the list.”

She couldn’t help herself. Janine pressed her forehead to his, her finger tracing light patterns against his back. “Does that come before opening presents…” Kissed him briefly, lightly. “Or after?”

Felix considered for a moment, hand sliding to the back of her neck. “How ‘bout both?” he murmured with a grin as he kissed her back more deeply.

·October·

The Long Burning Torch ch 6 ∙ Shepherds of Haven ∙ Xaeryn Shrike/Red Antiqua

“Do you… want to dance?”

[Xaeryn’s] better judgment, struggling to hold years of unspoken sentiment at bay, immediately insisted it was a bad idea. She would let slip something she shouldn’t, make things awkward, lose a friend. She’d been worried about the risk of this very scenario, remember?

She did remember. She’d also never managed to tell Red Antiqua no in her life and didn’t really want to start now. Not when he was looking at her like that; all boyish grin and twinkle in his eyes. She’d been right, she wasn’t strong enough. “Sure.”

·November· 

Every Minute ∙ Mass Effect ∙ Emily Shepard/Kaidan Alenko

“Emily.” Kaidan lifted his head from her shoulder and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I know my limits, sweetheart,” he murmured, squeezing her hand.

“And I know how far you used to push yourself past them,” she countered, squeezing back. “I don’t want you feeling like you have to do that-”

“I don’t,” Kaidan promised, cutting her off. “And I’m not. Trust me.” He leaned in and kissed her. “I’m not gonna let a little headache stop me from having dinner with my wife tonight.”

·December·

Tradition ∙ SWtOR ∙ Briyoni Nerai/Jonas Balkar & Vica Nerai/Theron Shan

The sweater was a darker red than the one for her sister, with black collar, hem, and cuffs. Snow-capped mountains and volcanic steam vents alternated in a pattern around the sleeves and waist, the upper portion of the chest dominated by a wampa with arms raised and a giant white pompom nose. The words ‘Hoth Stuff’ were embroidered over the steam vents to the right and left of the beast.

“Oh. My-” [Jonas’] shoulders shook trying to hold back the full force of warranted laughter. He only partially succeeded. “Briyoni, you know there’s no way in hell he’ll wear that, right? I don’t have that much blackmail material on him.”

“Vic batting her eyes and saying please might work,” Bry drawled.

*a note for Black Ale Chase, the pub dat on AO3 is n August, but both prompt fills that make it up are from July, and I am proud of my rarepair fic, so I’m counting it for July

[storybook-lili]

I’ve been re-reading Gail Carson Levine’s book Fairest for an assignment, which is set in the fictional kingdom of Ayortha, where music and singing is an important and key part of the kingdom’s culture. As such, it’s inspired me to make a post about my OC’s skills and experiences with music and singing.

Note: To better express Tara’s bigender identity, I will now be switching Tara’s pronouns every so often between she/her and he/him. I may make a post later on how I’m going to do this, but this is for anyone who are confused as to why Tara is now suddenly being referred here with masculine pronouns.

Etain Amell: She can’t sing. At all. Don’t ask her to sing, we beg you. If you value your hearing, you would avoid listening to her sing at all costs. Why use magic to defeat the darkpawn, when she could just wipe them all out with her singing? We don’t need Solas to destroy Thedas, Etain could do that just by singing. Please don’t ask her sing. P l e a s e.

She has absolutely no talent or knowledge in music, but to be fair, why would she? She’s lived in a Circle her almost her whole life, her time dedicated to her magical studies. Who has time to study something so trivial like music? She also tends to hate being in or near noisy areas, so she’s not a big fan of loud music. She does like listening to Leliana playing the lute once in a while, of course.

Tara Hawke: Everyone is always surprised when they first hear Tara’s singing, which is a beautiful, smoky alto. He’s able to express the emotions of a song very well, especially when the song is bitter or melancholic.

Leandra gave him some training when she realized he had a gift for singing, but otherwise he’s never been professionally trained in music. He can kind of read music sheets, but mostly just sings based on memory. Aside from singing, he can’t play any other musical instruments.

Kallen Lavellan: While she doesn’t have a grand or illustrious voice, Kallen’s singing is no less pleasant or comforting to listen to. Her singing voice is soft and silvery, and she’s able to sing fairly high if she puts enough effort into it. She prefers to sing in a group over solo, since she finds singing much more fun when in good company.

Her close friend, Iyo, had a far better singing voice, as well write her own music. Because Kallen always forgot the lyrics of a song, Iyo developed a unique style of singing for Kallen where the singer only had to sing the vowels of a song. It works well for Kallen, since she preferred singing with long vowels over consonants.

She can also play the ocarina, having been given her late-grandmother’s old one when she was little. She’ll sometimes separate herself from her clan or party and just play by a river, pond, or the sea. She’s probably a better ocarina player than singer.

Alaia Shepard: Her singing is only slightly better than her dancing, but that’s not much of a compliment. It’s not terrible, but it’s not great either. She’s never expressed interest in singing or music, so she possesses no musical talents or knowledge whatsoever.

Chloe Ryder: She has a perfectly nice singing voice, having a typical indie-girl style of singing. Singers like Amanda Palmer and Alanis Morissette had a big influence in the kind of music Chloe likes to listen to and play.

She’s self-taught in the guitar, and brought her acoustic guitar with her to the Andromeda Galaxy. She’s by not means a perfect guitarist, but she still enjoys playing and prefers playing her guitar over singing.

Also, have this funny comic of Chloe performing for Vetra I did a few years ago, lol.

Saga Peg’asi: ‘Beautiful’ doesn’t even come close to describing Saga’s singing. She has an alluring, almost ethereal singing voice that captures anyone within earshot. At the palace, Nerissa would refer to her as the ‘sirena of the stars’, while the crew of the Andromeda Six sometimes refer to her as the ‘space siren’. She likes to sing sea shanties when it's her turn to clean the ship, although sometimes she has to be scolded by Calderon to get back on track.

Along with singing, Saga is trained to play other musical instruments, but her favourite instruments are the harp, lyre, and kutiyapi. She had an especially beautiful harp back the palace that she loved to play, which she misses dearly. While she can’t have a harp on the Andromeda Six, she was able to obtain a small lyre that she’ll play in her room.

While Saga disliked most of her tutoring, she always looked forward to her music lessons. At the palace, she spent more time in the music room than anywhere else and would either sing and play instruments there, or sing on the balcony of her bedroom to herself. Sadly, no one but Nerissa showed interest or pride over Saga’s musical talents, but Saga was content with just performing for Nerissa. Nerissa would often request Saga to sing her favourite, “The Cost of the Crown”.

Music not only brought her joy, but she could express her feelings more clearly in her singing than any other way. It’s tied so tightly to her identity, that she feels she wouldn’t be herself without it. When she lost her memory after being rescued by the A6 crew, her songs were the first memories to resurface, and she would sing them to herself while exploring the ship.

Dana De Sardet: Her singing is fine, but it’s not one of her finest traits. Her singing can be best described as “technically competent”, but lacks real emotion or style. She was taught some basic music lessons when she was a child, but she’s always been more interested in science and medicine than art and music.

While she has no real love for singing or playing music herself, she enjoys listening to Constantin play or sing. Whether he’s actually musically talented is a matter of opinion, but she likes how enthusiastic and immersed he gets when performing, and always stops what she’s doing when he does.

[storybook-lili]

Eh, I’m bored, so I thought I’d write about which of my OCs has had previous experience with romance and sex before meeting their main LI.

The Ones Who Never:

Etain Amell: Etain is asexual and mostly sex-repulsed, so she’s never felt any sexual attraction for anyone. But even if that weren’t the case, Etain would never have engaged in that sort of activity, or gotten herself involved with anyone at the Circle. She’s heard of the kind of trouble her fellow apprentices and mages have gotten into for fooling around with each other, and she doesn’t want to share the same fate. She knows full well that romances in the Circle can never end happily, so she wants to spare herself that pain. Her entire life up until she becomes a Grey Warden has been dedicated to avoiding the eye of the templars and keeping herself safe.

Tara Hawke: Tara is demisexual, so she’s never had any sexual attraction for others either. Because her family was always on the run from the templars, she’s always had trouble opening up and making friends with others. Since her father’s death, she’s been focused on keeping her family safe and never had time to make friends, let alone develop romantic feelings for anyone. She’s also surprisingly insecure about her looks and personality, feeling like she isn’t pretty, charming, or sweet enough to ever catch someone’s eye or heart.

Chloe Ryder: While she’s known to playfully flirt and flatter other women, Chloe is very much an “I want my first kiss/night to be with ‘the one’” kind of girl. She’s a romantic who wants her first kiss/night to be special and beautiful, with someone that she knows she has a deep connection with. She’d rather wait forever for the perfect moment for her first kiss, than just have it suddenly happen during something mundane and routine.

She was in love with one human girl named Vasilisa Mikhailov back in the Milky Way, but she wasn’t attracted to other women, which crushed Chloe’s heart. Since then, she always waited to learn whether or not her crush was attracted to women before considering making the moves on them.

Saga Peg’asi: Since she was never allowed to leave the palace and was always kept hidden from the public, Saga never had the opportunity to find love. She was also too shy and insecure to ever consider having a one-night stand or anything like that. She knew full well that she would eventually be arranged into a political marriage to some nobleman she never met, and the thought terrified her. She dreaded the thought of having to spend the rest of her life in an unhappy marriage, and perhaps eventually becoming like her mother: growing distant from the world, eventually locking herself away in her room, quickly forgotten by everyone. Perhaps that’s why she always had a fondness for tragic romances, both in the books she read and the song she sung - for a romance that ended in death seemed so much more appealing, than living with a stranger.

Despite this pessimistic outlook, she developed feelings for her bodyguard, Vexx Serif. He was just so charming and thoughtful towards her, the only friend she had, and would sneak her out of the palace at the risk of getting in trouble, just so she could see the world outside. She never acted on these feelings though, worried that the two would eventually be caught and Vexx would be punished. She locked her feelings deep inside her heart, promising herself to never let it out. Hearing him admit that he was only using her to help Jes Zovack’s plan to overthrow and murder her family broke her heart.

The Ones Who Have:

Kallen Lavellan: Kallen was previously married to her childhood friend, Talfryn. Talfryn was a few years younger than her, and he become very attached to her when they first met and he saw her sketches and doodles. She didn’t develop for him feelings until their early teens, but she waited until they were both adults before confessing her feelings and beginning their romance proper. The two would often sneak off into the woods at night to be alone together, going for long walks, sitting by the river and watching the stars, or making love in the bushes where no one could find them.

Kallen and Talfryn married two years later, and had a happy life together until Talfryn met his tragic end during the expedition that killed everyone except Kallen. His death hit Kallen hard, blaming herself for the death of her clanmates, friends, and husband, and for a long time felt she didn’t deserve to find love again.

Alaia Shepard: After the attack on Mindoir and the death of her family, Alaia spent most of her teens being angry at the world, and she blew off steam in two ways: getting into fights, or fooling around in bed with whoever she thought was kind of hot. As she grew older and calmed down, she stopped engaging in such activities and focused her attention on her training and her missions.

She started developing feelings for Kaidan, but didn’t think it was the right time to flirt and begin a relationship while trying to hunt down Saren. After he sacrificed himself on Virmire, Alaia regretted not being more honest about her feelings when he was alive, and vowed to never let her mission stop her from finding love again.

Dana De Sardet: Although Dana is considered the more responsible and level-headed child compared to Constantin, Dana’s no stranger to sex with both men and women. While not one to fool around with just anyone she meets, she’s has had a few lovers or friends-with-benefits over the years. They never grew into anything serious, but she remains good friends with her previous partners. It was one of the few times where Constantin had to save her ass from trouble whenever she had someone in her bed at the palace, since she didn’t want her mother or uncle to find out and potentially create a scandal.

Like Saga, Dana dreaded the day where she would be confronted with the man that held the contract to their marriage. It would no doubt be some nobleman she barely knew, but her uncle paired her up with for his own political gain. Her mother knew how she felt, and would have plenty of excuses at the ready so that Dana could avoid meeting up with some potential suitor. She knows that arranged marriages aren’t all miserable, and even sometimes lead to love (as what happened with her mother), but for Dana it’s more about not having a choice in the matter. So much of her life has been decided and directed for her, and all she wants it to be allowed to choose for herself who she wants to spend the rest of her life with.

[storybook-lili]

(Man, I'm on a roll this month with developing and talking about my OCs, lol)

Since I’m a fan of Life is Strange: True Colors, I was thinking about what emotional auras my OCs would be most associated with. Soooo, here we go!

Content warning: post contains themes and discussions of paranoia, the feeling of being watched, depression, feelings of worthlessness, self-hatred, PTSD, and survivors guilt.

Etain Amell: Fear

Fear has been a part of Etain for her entire life. Fear has become as much as a powerful part of identity as her desire to serve and protect the helpless. She’s afraid of the templars arresting her, afraid of statues that stand too still and watch her from a far. She’s afraid how her words might be misinterpreted, or used against her by those who wish her harm. She’s afraid of her companions of one day betraying her, afraid of Alistair’s growing affections and her own feelings for him. She’s afraid of others becoming afraid of her. She’s afraid of becoming the monster that the templars always expected her to be.

Tara Hawke: Sadness

After the loss of her father, her home, and her brother, Tara became very depressed, only getting worse after losing Bethany to the Wardens and the murder of her mother. She feels she failed to keep her promise to her father that she keep the family safe. She grows to hate the title the Champion of Kirkwall, because in her eyes, she doesn’t deserve the title. The qunari still attacked the city despite her effort to appease them, she couldn’t stop the templars and mages from fighting, and she couldn’t keep her little found family together after everything was over. Everything she’s done just felt completely pointless, and she feels like she accomplished nothing. While her face looks angry and her voice sounds bitter, deep down she’s simply tired and sad.

Kallen Lavellan: Sadness/Joy

After the expedition that killed her clanmates, Kallen developed severe PTSD and survivor’s guilt. She blamed herself for their deaths, wishing she never touched the artifact that led to the Keeper’s First getting possessed by a rage demon and slaughtering her clan. She knew that several of her clanmates blamed their deaths on her as well, feeling hated and isolated by everyone around her, reenforcing her self-hatred. With the support of her parents and the Keeper, the wounds of her heart healed over time.

But then the blast at the Conclave happened, and found herself once again the only survivor of a terrible accident. Not only did it reopen the scars of her past, but she it gave her new scars on top of them. In the beginning, she is visibly depressed, never talking to anyone, and locking herself away in her hut. She initially just blindly went along with what her advisors asked of her, feeling numb and indifferent to everything that happened around her.

And yet, despite all these things, she becomes so radiant and vibrant when she’s filled with joy. When she feels the support and love of her friends and companions, reminded of her culture and heritage, or when she’s passionately engaged with the things that she loves, she is beaming with joy and light. Her smile is the most beautiful sight the world, and her laughter infects everyone around her. While she has many wounds that haven’t properly healed and bad days that bring her down, she still manages to bring strength to those around her with her love and joy for life.

Alaia Shepard: Anger

They say there are five stages of grief. Since the attack of Mindoir, Alaia has been stuck in the anger stage for almost her whole life. While survivor’s guilt made Kallen depressed, Alaia’s guilt filled her with anger, even rage. It was much stronger in her teens and early twenties, where she would often get into fights and easily became irritated or angry when someone said the wrong thing. Her training helped control her emotions somewhat, but she still has a tendency to snap at those who try to get her to talk about Mindoir or Akuze.

Her anger and frustration deepen when she begins hunting Saren and stopping the incoming Reaper invasion. She’s angry about Council refusing to believe the threat of the Reapers, angry about being forced to work with Cerberus, the organization responsible for what happened on Akuze. She becomes especially angry and hurt after reuniting with her friend Ashley, only for her to accuse Alaia for betraying the Alliance and the galaxy by allying with Cerberus. By the time ME3 begins, Alaia’s feels exhausted by both the stress of the Reaper Invasion, and the anger inside her that just won’t stop burning.

Chloe Ryder: Joy

Chloe always seen shining with happiness and energy, cracking jokes and witty comebacks, and ready to go and see what her next adventure has in store for her. While she’s capable of being serious and has moments of doubt, she always bounces back and ready to face the world once again. Yes, she despaired about her mother’s “death”, felt angry about her father’s lies and bad decisions, and feared for Scott’s life and the fate of those who came to the Andromeda galaxy. Yet she still manages to stay strong and bright, smiling the whole time.

Saga Peg’asi: Sadness

Saga’s life was always spent alone, the only ones who showed any interest in her being Nerissa and Vexx. She felt nothing more like a pretty little doll, locked in a glass container to never be touched or held. Despite insisting that she was used to it now, she wished for a family filled with love and support, or to be free and live a life of adventure.  She was truly happy when Nerissa and Vexx spent time with her, for she finally felt like she was alive and loved.

Even when Saga lost her memory, she couldn’t help but feel this strange sadness inside of her, like it was carefully written into her heart. She would suddenly feel a loneliness so intense, that she would start to cry and couldn’t understand why. After regaining her memory, she was consumed with grief over the loss of her family, especially Nerissa, and Vexx’s betrayal. Even if the rest of her family never paid attention to her, she never wished for them to get hurt. Nerissa was the most important person in her life, and now she was gone forever, unable to help Saga during this most difficult time.

June’s cold and hurtful words after finding out she was a Peg’asi made her feel worse. While she understood his hatred for her family, she saw him as her knight in shining armour, and her initial time spent with him made her feel like she was in a fairy tale. The realization that he wouldn’t have cared if she had died along with her family hurt her deeply.

Dana De Sardet: Anger/Fear

It doesn’t start off this way, when she arrived on Tír Fradí. While still grieving over the loss of her mother, Dana was filled with curiosity, worry, and awe by her new responsibilities and the island’s beauty. She was given such a daunting task in being named legate of the Congregation, and finding the cure for the Malichor, and she worried if she would live up to the task. Yet she was filled with wonder over how colourful and clean the island was, and felt a renewed vigor whenever she set out into the wilds.

But then she’s told the truth about her origins: being the child of a native islander and a sea-born, taken by the Prince D’Orsay for his own political gain. Immediately afterwards, she discovers that her dear cousin is dying from the Malichor, just like her mother. The sudden news shatters her, and a darkness in her heart begins to grow. Her fear over losing Constantin turns her quest for a cure into an obsession, lying awake at night wondering where she should go and what she should try next. All that matters right now is saving Constantin, not matter the cost. She so scared of losing him, just like how she lost her mother.

She is angry about the lies that surrounded her life, the fate of her birth mother, how her life was shaped and controlled from the very beginning. She becomes frustrated and furious at the selfishness and cruelty of the other colonizers on the island, and starts making rash and violent decisions in her anger. She can’t even speak to Petrus after finding out he not only used her for his own political gain (just as her uncle had done), but also that he personally knew her birth mother. She’s so enraged, and that anger scares her. She has always been the composed and responsible one, but now she feels like she can’t control this anger and fear that’s absorbing her from the inside.

[storybook-lili]

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, bird symbolism is a tradition whenever I create video game OC. The only OC of mine I could never quite nail down for bird symbolism was my Warden, Etain Amell. Her placeholder bird was the griffin, but I never liked it because it’s not really a bird.

But today I think I might’ve finally found one for Etain??? I spent about 30 minutes or so looking, and I think I’ve to have Etain’s bird symbol be a wren.

Wren Symbolism (according to the majority of sites I bounced around in):

Active

Adroitness

Cleverness

Industrious

Ingenuity

Meticulous

Resourcefulness

Most of the sites mention how the wren is always busy at work, which I think suits Etain well. At the Circle, she was always busy either studying or practicing her magic. As a Warden, there’s always something she has to do or direct her attention to, and sometimes forget to just take a moment to relax. In turn, she’s always working hard, both with her studies and her duties as a Warden.

Other sites mention how people tend to underestimate the wren for their size and fragility, but are actually quite fierce and protective when enemies or strangers are near their nest. Etain is a bit short (5′4″, but still taller than Kallen, lol), and I think (especially in the beginning) people initially see her as just a weak and chubby 20-year-old who is too prim and proper. Only to realize too late that she’s a powerful and skilled mage.

Other sites mention how wrens are cheerful and lively ... which can’t really be said the same for Etain, who is usually usually pretty calm and stern. But hey, not all symbolism is on point! xD Besides, she can be pretty gleeful and energetic when she’s out playing in the snow, or experimenting with potions and poisons.

[storybook-lili]

Relationship Status:

❑ Married ❑ Single ✔ I’m a mage 

[storybook-lili]

[storybook-lili]

Now Alistair, this is a really nice and sweet moment between you two. Don’t fuck it up.

....

God damn it Alistair.

[storybook-lili]

...is this Solas?