#i don't want to get spoilery here but yes he makes me scream what an asshole

[docholligay]

Full review tomorrow or maybe Friday but

Short: I wanted to like this book more than I think I actually liked it (I kept checking my phone through the last quarter, which is unusual for me) and I need to think a bit on why. Horrible Garbage Traitor Petty Bitch Ouyang forever tho.

[khaleesiofalicante]

I just want you to know that I've been reading IALS and I'm so close to crying every chapter😭😭😭

Howww??? How do you manage to make this sad but beautiful but confusing but amazing???

I like that we are getting more clarity on what happened after he went to Paris and I feel we are close to getting the bigger picture but I might be wrong??

Ugh, I haven't put my thoughts down since like 9 chapters ago so this is a mess but, a little list of what I can remember right now:

I liked Mona, but after he complained about apologizing to AJ I was like "nope:)" bc like, if you can't apologize (and to a kid that was!) That was kinda like a red flag

Jaden. Ugh, I have many different feelings about him. He does loves the kids and David, but also some of the things he has done... Ahhh idk

I actually screamed at the part where David saw Max's pictures with Mallory (I HATE HER!!) and my mother got worried 😂

I love how everyone is a little fucked up in a different way here. I get frustrated by what Max did bc WTF?? I can understand how important that mission was for him, but also....dude??

I also start understanding David better but I also know it doesn't make a lot of his actions right

Can we talk about how Jackson is the MVP here??? Bc I think we should focus on that more

THE QUOTES OMG DON'T GET ME STARTED. I have tons of quotes I love and after this imma go make a collection of them😎

Rosewood having married people problems noo😭 I know that's how it is in real life, but I hate seeing them fight🥺

WHAT IS THE DAUGHTER'S NAME??? WHY IS IT SPOILERY???

The way we don't see a lot on David's POV in the present about his thoughts and feelings and you manage to say a lot and nothing... Wow

Say whatever you want, but I love the way David and Max raise their kids. Shit went down in many ways, but how they raise them and make sure they are safe, comfortable, happy, confident in themselves, make sure they know how proud they are, etc. That's just🥺🥺🥺

Alec wtf are you doing, love? But I also loñike he is straightforward

The difference between past and present- IT JUST MAKES EVERYTHING HURT MOREEE

Goodnight, Mon ange???? EXCUSE ME??? I READ THIS IN CLASS AND ALMLST CRIED AND MY FRIENDS THINK I'M CRAZY 😭 I AM NOT OVER IT!!

He dreamt of white lilies instead of roses!!!! The symbolism here ISTG- (not a fix can go by that we don't have flower symbolism and that's very sexy of you!)

Malec being grandparents. That's it. That's the tweet.

Ok, I thought this was going to be short... Huh. And I haven't even started on specific scenes but no one is stopping me ;)

I am loving the story while it rips my heart out💙

And I also maaay have planned a couple of moadboards

AH LOVE THIS AND LOVE YOU.

also yes the day i do not include flower symbolism in a fic is the day i die 🙃

Thank you for sharing this with me. Really. I needed this today.

AND DO NOT FUCK WITH ME ABT THEM MOODBOARDS.

[crackinglamb]

OTP Asks, fully knowing how you are with 'favorites' but indulge me anyway: #25, 26, 33, and 43. *bonk* 😘 and an extra 💖

I will indulge you, because I love you. *bonk* 😘 And I'll do these for both of my girls and Solas, since I need to get back into their respective headspaces.

This got super long, so I'll put it under a cut. Questions are from this list.

25 - Favorite canon moment of them? (oh, this ought to be fun, since neither of them are 'canon' romances)

Imogen

Honestly? Anytime they have each other's back in the field of battle. They are a Power Couple, and it shows. I mean...

(this shot is included in chapter 54 of WG)

...need I say more?

Lark

The nature of Lark's existence falls so far outside canon that it's tough to find in-game things that match her relationship with him. BUT! The soft tone he uses when he tells stories, and the soft tone she uses when she asks questions is arguably the best thing ever for both of them. They are disillusioned, bitter and Tired(tm) people, who are soft for no one...but each other.

26 - Least favorite canon moment of them?

*snort* Am I allowed to say that it's the fact that neither of them can canonically romance him?

Like, I get the whole aspect of his being Like That about other races. To him, humans are newcomers barely out of barbaric infancy in comparison to his own culture (regardless of how they end up mirroring each other; Tevinter conquest anyone?). And dwarva...well, I don't want to get spoilery. You get to claim beta's rights to know my thoughts on how Elvhenan affected the dwarves. (Solas, I love you and I'm sorry; you're a Boomer.)

But the level of Tragically Doomed Relationship is still incredibly high with both races, and I wish we were given an opportunity to explore it as part of our character arcs as players. I would love to know how the Crestwood breakup would have gone with a human or dwarf. Qunari too, for that matter. Would it still have been about duty or would he have found some other, equally as painful justification for it?

33 - How do their personalities compliment each other?

Imogen

Imogen is clever, intelligent (those being two different things), curious and confident. All of these combined into being absolutely irresistible to a trickster god. She understands his motivations in a way no one else in the Inquisition does. And he understands her sense of displacement and overwhelming exhaustion at having to be a reluctant leader. They can be themselves together, no facades, no lies, no hiding the ugly parts. She gives him the space he needs to work through stuff on his own, and isn't afraid to call him out on his bullshit when he needs that too. They are very similar in the ways that matter.

That said, Imogen hasn't lost her childlike wonder. She's able to bring that to the fore for him when he's overcome with his own guilt. They have both lived through the cataclysmic loss of their previous lives. But she still finds joy and beauty in the present. She drags him - yes, kicking and screaming - into building something new, rather than focusing on what came before.

The fact that she knows exactly who he is doesn't hurt. He was initially intrigued by her foreknowledge, then a little bit frightened at just How Much she knew, then comforted by the fact that someone in this chaotic world got him on a level that no one aside from Cole does. Besides, the sex is amazing.

Lark

In much the same way as Varric, albeit from a slightly different angle, Lark challenges Solas. She gives as good as she gets when he's on his soapbox about spirits, lost empires and just...humans in general. She doesn't want to be here any more than he does. They have something of a rogue's pact between them. Get the job done, then move on.

Of course, it gets complicated as soon as emotions get involved. Unlike Imogen, Lark doesn't know he's the Dread Wolf. Not yet anyway. But she understands having to make tough choices. It's not so much that she's particularly forgiving, because she really isn't, but that she truly knows that desperation leads to the road to hell lined with good intentions. And deals with the devil only cost your soul.

The pair of them have more in common than they think, and more than mere shared languages and mourning the lost things. Lark is also rather tricksterish. She loves a good con. She's adept at hiding in plain sight. She's scholarly. She's got a temper. too. They are very much the 'I'm either going to kiss you or kill you' kind of couple.

I haven't quite decided what that means for them, post-Trespasser. I have a feeling she'll never stop trying to convince him to do things differently. And she'll never give up on trying to preserve his better moral self (which is saying something considering her own).

43 - How do they say ‘I love you’ without actually saying it? Ex “Have you drank any water today?”

Imogen

She lets him in, no reservations, no using him to enhance her own power or status, no judgments. When he needs space, she gives it. When he needs to be held, she holds him. She thinks of him, including him in her planning stages, making him better armor and weapons, making sure he has what he needs. She indulges his sweet tooth and doesn't poke fun at his toddler's palette. She imagines after several millennia of uthenera, food has a lot of Unpleasant Sensory Experience for him.

He, in turn, takes care of her. He makes sure she eats and rests and gets out of her head from time to time. One might call it a soft dom approach, although there's very little of that dynamic between them. Well, okay, there's more than a little if we're going to be honest. But it comes from a place of devotion and not obligation, perceived or otherwise.

Their love is also expressed in the little things that aren't so little. Touches of assurance after battle, moments of trust in tense situations and constant support.

Lark

Lark listens. Solas has spent much of his life being disregarded, but not by her. She might not always agree with what he says, but she allows him to say it and she weighs it instead of brushing him off. She's highly observant, and a lot of their relationship seems invisible because they often do things unspoken. She keeps track of his mural supplies and orders refills before he needs to ask. She notices the trend of books he asks for in his research and finds sources he might not have thought of.

She accepts him as he is.

He gives her freedom. It's the greatest gift he can give to anyone. She is free to do as she likes without fear of reprisal from him. He does not own her time or affection, and he knows it. He doesn't judge her previous life as a smuggler and assassin. In his time he has been both himself.

He also collects things she might find interesting and leaves them where she'll see them. He welcomes her son into his life as part of her with no resentment or difficulty. In a way he sees Fedric as a gift to himself too; it's been too long since he had a hand in shaping the spirit of a child. And there is nothing quite like watching the potential of a child grow.

He accepts her as she is.

Bonus round: Lark and Garrett Hawke

Just for this question because at the heart of this complicated FWB/unspoken polycule is love.

Lark was immediately drawn to Hawke as another someone who took on a mantle of responsibility with reluctance and got their heart broken for it. Up to and including the inability to ever go back to what they were before. She gives him a soft place to land and asks no questions he doesn't want to answer. She knows their arrangement is not permanent and holds no resentment for that. But neither does she treat it with less respect than it's owed, because they do care for each other, very deeply. But not all relationships are meant to last, and they're both aware of it. It doesn't make the present any less precious.

Hawke gives her steadiness, in a way he can't give himself. He's someone outside of her circle of advisors and companions and the politics of her position. He's always there for her to unload on, either in words or actions. He puts no demands on her. He brings lightness to an otherwise very dark time of her life.

Losing him nearly destroys her, much more than she thought was possible.

I mean...what? Nah, it's fine, they're fine. Promise. 😇