#listen it's rough

[theluckywizard]

In the Shattering of Things, Ch. 66: Insolence

Summary: In the lead up to the peace talks at Halamshiral, Rose must navigate her strained, unresolved relationship with Cullen and settle into her role as leader as the consequences of her choices dog her and pressure to succeed mounts.

Fic Summary: Lady Rose Trevelyan's idle, aristocratic life blinks out in a haze of irrelevance when the breach destroys the Conclave. She may be soft and coddled when she joins the Inquisition, but there's a fierceness inside her she's yet to fully recognize. Armed with only a few relevant skills and the mark that makes her a legend, she is thrust onto a path delivering hope where it’s long been scorched away and finds comfort in the grumpy, handsome stick in the mud charged with her protection and training. As she stumbles her way across southern Thedas, she begins to realize she's tangled at the center of machinations she barely understands, and she's not alone in that. Enter Hawke.

Excerpt under the cut 👇

“Fifty-one royals? Leliana, please tell me that number is in error,” says Cullen, practically choking as he looks over the budget for the affair. We’d been circulating the paper, and though I’m only starting to grasp the scale of the debt we’ve accrued in repairing Skyhold and rebuilding our army, Leliana’s sum is astonishing.

“They’re well worth the money.”

“Five times the fee of the other two combined? Surely this money could be better spent. I could buy a dozen ballistas for that amount.”

“If you can root out an assassin and collect vital secrets at an Orlesian ball with ballistas, you may have an argument.”

“It’s outrageous.” Cullen has been surly since he walked in the door, his brow gathered in a permanent frown. He’s in a dark enough mood that I have no desire to look at him, but professional courtesy requires it. And by his pained glances in my direction, he’s making the same agonizing effort.

Leliana counters. “We’re not just buying the services of spies in the kitchen and the guard. It’s not cheap to secure the work of those who can finagle access to the ball and the talks proper. The man I’ve hired is bringing along his retired partner. They’re unmatched. Nor will they provoke suspicion. They belong at the ball more readily than any of us.”

“And who might these assets be?” Cullen asks. “Andraste’s mercy.”

“Bards. Actors. Fidencio Frye and his associate, Gaubert L’Incroyable.”

“Fidencio Frye?” breathes Josephine, her hand alighting on her breast like the name awakened her very soul. 

“I thought you’d be excited, Josie,” notes Leliana.

“What do we need to know about them?” I ask.

Josie answers in a rush of unfettered enthusiasm. “Fidencio’s performances are inspired. Breathtaking. I last saw him in Sévigny —I’ve seen that probably three times with different casts and no one brought such tortured authenticity to the role. No one.” I’m familiar with the play but not the actor himself.

“Profoundly useful,” remarks Cullen drily.

“It is actually,” argues Leliana. “Such capable acting is part and parcel to bard work. They’ll be eyes and ears in places we can’t quite access. There’s no magnet for secrets quite like celebrity. People will be itching to flaunt their knowledge to them. To ingratiate themselves. We need them.”

“It is thrilling, no?” says Josephine, glancing at me.

“I suppose this is what you have in mind for Hawke as well?” I ask, still avoiding Cullen’s scowling eyes. “I don’t see a line item for him.”

“Hawke is— something different,” says Leliana. Certainly an understatement. “He’s no bard. He’s got a useful set of talents though. We need distractions and a way to move information around the party undetected. Josie and I think he’s the man for the job.”

“And you’ve already asked him?” 

DAFF CREW TAG LIST

“Not yet. He and I— well. Let’s just say that I think you’ll be more persuasive than any of us, Rose,” says Leliana. It’s such a pointed remark that I glance at her twice. When her eyebrow twitches and the corner of her mouth turns I become certain that she knows. Maker, it’s Leliana . Perhaps she’s known all along.

Tagging @monocytogenes for allowing me to borrow her excellent bards Fidencio and Gaubert! You can read their stories here!

Read the rest here!

Start the fic here 🏹

@warpedlegacy | @rakshadow | @rosella-writes | @effelants | @bluewren | @breninarthur | @ar-lath-ma-cully | @dreadfutures |

@ir0n-angel | @inquisimer | @crackinglamb | @nirikeehan | @oxygenforthewicked | @about2dance | @exalted-dawn-drabbles | @melisusthewee | @blarrghe | @agentkatie | @delicatefade

[bluenoisen]

plunged into the deep end

[syoddeye]

flashing john from the window while you make the bed. he’s outside in the middle of choring, and you assume he’s just gonna laugh and continue working. but you look up a moment later and see that the yard's empty. whatever he was doing, it's abandoned. you nearly jump out of your skin when the back door slams open. 

[carnivalcarriondiscarded]

some misc Barn & Wally doodles from the past week or so <3 i heart them

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Unsolved Mysteries.

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[humbuns]

they both are bullying natsume on purpose

[myrkulitescourge]

i'm surprised i haven't seen any text posts yet about the Unsubtle Differences between astarion’s tiefling party/high approval forest scene and the one you get after the goblin party.

there’s something so terribly interesting about how the conversation afterward plays out depending on which variation you pursue.

like, most people have seen the tiefling party version by now. astarion basking in the sunlight the morning after, playing off most of what tav says with relative ease, even when they ask about his scars and he tells them about cazador. his cadence is smooth and composed, his smile almost friendly, even though you know, as the viewer, he’s playing a game of manipulation at this point. the only real crack in his demeanor is if tav notices that cazador’s “poem” was written in infernal, which, understandably, startles him.

but recently i watched the goblin party version of this same scene, and everything reads so differently. unlike at the tiefling party, it’s still the middle of the night when astarion tries to leave, thinking tav is asleep—almost immediately after the act, in fact. when tav does speak to him, he’s visibly nervous, halting and stammering in the middle of lines delivered unflinchingly in the other version of the scene. he gestures broadly and fidgets more while talking, his smile comes and goes. there’s even some of his distinctive high pitched, fake laughter sprinkled throughout the exchange, almost identical to later scenes where he's very, very obviously uncomfortable (like if raphael mocks him and magics off astarion's shirt to show the party his scars in act 2, or when confronting the gur children in their cell in act 3, etc etc).

siding with the goblins represents something deeply familiar to astarion, a level of cruelty he's more than familiar with and embraces likely because cruelty and duplicity, to him, go hand-in-hand with the power and freedom he craves so badly—but he won't stay the night with this tav, even if he approves of their actions. no, in this case, he'll keep to what's familiar and attempt to leave them in the forest under the cover of the very same darkness he resents having been cast into by cazador. when he gets caught, it sets him on edge, and everything he says becomes such a blatant lie to save face that tav would have to be completely oblivious not to see through him, or maybe just not care enough to.

but if tav saves the refugees? challenges his worldview and comes out victorious? oh, he'll complain of the poor rewards for his trouble at the party and whine about it being boring, but he decides to stay with tav through the night while they're asleep and on past dawn. he takes a moment to enjoy the morning sunlight, returned to his life after two centuries without. the same is true if you have high enough approval that he asks before the party, in which case, you've almost certainly hit his biggest approval gains: trusting him and supporting his safety. maybe he doesn't trip over his words when he speaks because, well, maybe this is someone he doesn't have to worry about. someone who's already more than proven themselves a foolish, heroic sort with a bleeding heart or otherwise demonstrated that they're already in his corner. in other words, not a threat—at least not to him.

does any of this make sense. i wanna study this guy under a microscope.

[ohitslen]

Something other about his eyes

Bonus! Based on this quick thing I did this afternoon and the idea took a bit more shape and turned into that thing from above uEK

[leviadraws]

Another voice pushes into your head, like a bat out of hell

(text free version below cut)

[flamedork]

she's so 🥺💚

[wildflowercryptid]

it's all fun and games until your goofy ass kinnie jokes actually start to bring some interesting similarities to light.

[tamagoneko]

perfect for me 💕

[fox-moblin]

Once again, I come to you bearing silly sketches of @tashacee 's Hero's Aspect AU, this time inspired by the recent visit to Ordon Village. I say Wild gets to chill in some comfy clothes this time, even if there probably isn't much that would fit him as well as it does here. I think he must just miss normal clothing at this point...

[shevr]

whats down there

[voiddemon]

A second movie has hit the megamind fandom

[andr0nap-wf]

todays delusions :)