#longpost ;;

[felassan]

Notes from the June 14th 2024 Developer Q&A, from the official BioWare Discord

Under a cut due to length.

Please note that these notes are mostly not directly-transcribed quotes! It was a live session, so these were quickly-written cliff notes produced at pace. So if anything sounds weird or slightly off, it's almost certainly because of that and not because of anything a dev said. Corinne Busche, John Epler, Matt Rhodes and Community Manager Katey were the devs that were there.

Update: I have done another pass of this post to tidy up typos, grammar etc. :>

Update 2: If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here. This blog post is linked in the description under the video. ( ˶´ ᵕ `˶ ) Also, I have done another pass of this post while listening back to the video, to tweak a few things and fill in a few lil gaps that there was. :>

----

The session began. The first question was on which of the factions in the game the devs would like to belong to. The Antivan Crows have great fashion - Corinne said that we are going to love their threads. Corinne loves both them and the Mourn Watch. She said she would go with the Crows for fashion reasons, and her vibes-based answer is the Mourn Watch.

John's answer was the Veil Jumpers (for fashion + vibes both). “Who doesn’t like a walk in the forest, you know, even if that forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies?”

Arlathan Forest is filled with horrifying monsters and terrifying anomalies.

The faction Matt would choose is the Lords of Fortune because "pirate-barbarian is just such a great combination of elements"; he likes that they are related to treasure-hunting, beaches, palm trees and everything like that. "It's a really good mix."

This game is a much more intimate experience, and in this regard the camera has been pulled in. The reason why is that the devs want us to feel like we actually are in this world, like we're walking these city streets of Minrathous, looking up, seeing the buildings all around you - "you're a part of this place". They believe that as the narrative unfolds, this creates a lot more immersion.

Since the question was about there being two companions, Corinne continued, "Now, how this relates to companions, we went back and forth on it a lot, but we actually found, with this perspective," having two companions really allows the companions to each have more visibility and presence. The companions are fully-realized, we will really see them shine. They did testing with their internal team and the Council of players as well [the Community Council] and found that when you’re playing in the combat system, when you’re planning strategies, two really felt like the right number to manage. Rook has a lot of different types of actions, abilities and individual attacks available to them as the PC - more than ever before - and the number of inputs we need to take when telling Rook and the companions what to do is also higher than ever before. Timing and position matter a lot in this game. With those things in mind, two companions in the field felt like the right balance.

Banter is still absolutely a core part of and big thing in DA:TV. There is global banter (the general stuff that we will get in all spaces) as well as mission-specific banter. If anything, this game has the most banter that they have ever done in terms of pairings of companions. They have added some interruptible and resumable banter too this time. John said, “You could not stop the writers from [writing banter] even if you tried”. Writing is one of the more light, fun things for the writers to do. They get to write little stories and arcs between different companions, and DA:TV is no different.

Corinne added: "John, listening to you speak, one thing that comes to mind, maybe people are wondering, with two companions in the field, do I get less interaction between them? Like, do I get to see my companions interacting in a broader group more often? And, the way you'll gather them around the kitchen table, there's just so many of those moments where they're all interacting with each other, those are some of my favorite parts."

They wanted to make sure that the companions had a life and relationships of their own outside of the times when we take them out into the field. "So we made sure that they had those interactions there as well."

They were asked about the customizability of Rook's backstory. Rook has 6 different backgrounds that you can choose from. Each of them is tied to one of the major factions in DA:TV. "Each one sets up who Rook was before they were recruited by Varric. Well that sets out the broad events. As you go through the game, as you have conversations, either with members of your faction, other characters, you can define not just what those events were but what they meant to you. What was your motivation, what was the kind of person you are as you build up Rook. Because again, we wanna make sure that roleplaying is at the heart of this experience, and taking Rook, giving them background to ground them in the world and then letting you decide what that means, what that says about you, is also a big part of it." "A lot of opportunities to really define who your Rook was and who they are now, so."

Q. Will crafting return? A. We can improve and customize our gear, that is a big part of RPG progression. "I will say though, it is different this time around, and it does get into spoiler territory so I'm gonna be a little bit cagey about it, but there might be a mysterious entity that assists you with that, that will be an important part of the narrative."

Emmrich’s skeleton Manfred is not "kissable" or romanceable, however, they added - “not that skeleton, but we’re not saying no skeletons”.

They have taken a different approach on how we import our decisions into the game this time around. This is now fully integrated into the character creator. The devs believe that this serves a dual purpose. Corinne said that she playfully thinks of it as ‘last time on Dragon Age’, though it isn't actually called this in the game. She noted that it has been ten years since the last Dragon Age game was released, so this aspect serves as a refresher on critical events as well as allowing us to remake those decisions that are critical to us. The system for doing this is very highly visual and uses the familiar tarot card aesthetic. "It’s a very visual and playful experience as you go through it." It was very important to them that this system was built into the client, so that you can play this game entirely offline. No online connection is required, no linking to EA accounts is required – this was a big fan request. Corinne added, “I don’t want to spoil anything by revealing what decisions you can import, but I will say that this [thinking about the decision import system and what decisions to include] has been a really interesting creative intersection for us, because on the one hand, this is a whole new adventure”. In this game we are in northern Thedas, in locations we have not been to before. This naturally affects "some of what will matter and what decisions they're not using this time around, as far as decisions. But obviously there are some very, very clear connections to existing characters." “It’s no secret that the Inquisitor is going to show up, so that’s a factor”.

The game only begins in Minrathous, it doesn’t stay there. “I don’t want to get into too much spoiler detail, but getting to go to and work with the art, narrative and design teams, to build out these locations that we've talked about", places in this game where characters in previous games came from and referred to in previous games has been really exciting for the dev team. We do start in Tevinter, but Minrathous is not the entire game by any stretch. "We've gone back to what we believe delivers the best, most curated, intense narratives." There is side content in the game, the locations can open up and we can go back and "solve mysteries" and things, but these are not fetch quests and they are not "grind content". The game is a very hand-crafted, mission-based, curated experience. The side content is really great. "The most important thing for us [on that], obviously we've talked about how narrative, story, characters are the most critical to us, and this has allowed us to build these experiences in a way that emphasizes that extremely well, tying into the story threads and the story beats."

Q. Will the companions have unique specializations? A. The "companions will have abilities that are truly unique to them, but also, they do fall into the archetypes of mage, rogue and warrior. For instance, because she has a bow, you might be surprised to hear that Bellara is in fact a mage, and I love that”. The bulk of the companions’ abilities are based on their own unique 'personality'. For example, Neve is the only mage that is an Ice Mage, so she has related abilities that are distinct to her, but because she is a mage she does have access to abilities that all of the mages share, like Time Slow. The devs are really happy with this balance, a good mix of representing their archtype, their class, and also their distinct "specialization or personality, whatever you wanna call it." “Each of these characters exists, each of these characters have a history, has a story of how they became who they were. Part of that was finding the intersection between narrative and gameplay”. They want to serve the needs of gameplay but also allow the characters to breathe as their own people both in conversations and out of conversation.

Healing spells return, and these are a part of the 'core mage kit'. "Your mages, you wanna make them a healer? Do that."

Q. Will DA:TV still have tactical combat? A. Yes, combat gets quite tactical. The combat system is an evolution of the previous combat system. The game has a robust difficulty system. Tactics are of increasing importance the higher up you go in the difficulty system. If you want a higher tactics experience, crank up the difficulty in particular. “I want to make sure I am super clear in my answer. Our pause-time tactical mode is not overhead. It stays close to Rook. It does allow you to cycle between targets both in and out of combat, there is a reason for that”. As the game progresses (we didn't see this in the gameplay reveal demo), it will display strategic information about enemies, such as what enhancements they have, what are they resistant to, what are their vulnerabilities, what are their elemental weaknesses. Our type of abilities, leaning into elemental gameplay, matters a lot. Also, tactical decision making also takes the form of coordinating abilities between Rook and the companions to create synergies or devastating (what they call) “detonation combos”. An example of this is that Bellara has an ability that is like a gravity well called Galvanized Tear. This pulls enemies together. You could use this to draw enemies in to one place. Then, Neve has a Slow Time ability. This affects the world around you but does not affect you. So you clump enemies up and then slow time. Then you could come in as Rook to do something like a devastating Area of Effect or Damage over Time spell or ability on the enemies that have been gathered up and slowed/frozen in place. The devs said that it is good to try and ensure that you have a few possible detonation combo synergies amongst your team that you choose to bring out into the field - so there is tactical gameplay while in combat, but also an element of pre-combat strategizing as you decide who to take. Also, the Wheel will tell you when there is a synergy combo available, remind you of those synergies between companions. You can queue both of those abilities up at the same time and when you pause out of the pause-time menu, they will both execute.

The enemies in Arlathan are “Fade-touched”, and they are vulnerable to lightning abilities.

Veil Ranger, one of the three rogue specializations, is one of Corinne’s favorites.

In CC, Rook’s pronouns can be chosen. You can select both pronouns AND gender, as as Corinne noted, these are related concepts, but actually not exactly the same thing. Rook can be non-binary. The pronouns available are she/her, they/them, and he/him. The Character Creator is very detailed and very deep. The team focused a lot on doing good hair and doing hair and skin tones respectfully. There is full body customization. They are going to show us a lot more on CC in the future, but at a time when they have the time and space to do so. The devs were asked about whether there will be a Photo Mode being in the game. They said that this is something that they are actively looking into. They know that there is a ton of interest in this. It is a feature that they like the idea of even just internally, as it is helpful for them to have this internally when they are building things out. They said that they will let us know about this when they can. "We are as geeked on that possibility as you all are."

On abilities: The Ability Wheel does have a capacity (as in number of abilities available on it). You have to choose which three abilities you want to bring for Rook, and what three for each of our two companions respectively. This creates emergent gameplay - you have to do that strategizing, building the combat kits before you go on a mission. The devs noted that while there are three ability slots for Rook, there is so much more than that on the Wheel. The Wheel has other things on it that we can perform directly from it. For example, on the Wheel Rook gets an "ultimate ability" that is associated with their class or their specialization. There is also a type of item we will get that will function like abilities, typically like buffs and enhancements, in the form of runes. These will be controlled for Rook and our companions from the Wheel.

We can choose what enemies our companions will target. Also, a lot of the companion gear really synergizes with that directing your companions. When you issue commands, that too will prock [sp?] based on the gear that they have equipped. "There is just so much from the Wheel, that once you get in and see everything working together, it becomes more and more apparent."

Fireball and Cone of Cold do not specifically return as spells in this game, but their successors do: Meteor and Frost Nova. These two abilities serve the exact same combat role and function as the previous two, only "with quite the glow-up", especially Meteor. It is “so satisfying nuking a group of darkspawn with a well-placed Meteor”.

On Accessibility features: They have spent a lot of time thinking about this topic so that we can play the game in a way that really works for us. They will go into this in more detail closer to launch when the time is right.

On the timeskip: John said “Anyone who's paid attention to Dragon Age, timelines are always a little iffy. They change and morph over development as we see how long events take. But for DA:TV we were actually pretty consistent since the start". It has been about ten years since the events of Trespasser transpired. "As you may have noticed, Varric has become a little bit of a silver fox." Solas’ Ritual has taken time to set up, and we are coming in at the end of that hunt [in the start of the game.]

They confirmed that Solas is still bald. Matt: “Solas is still Solas. I really like how Solas has turned out this time around."

In Thedas, ancient elves go bald when they’re like "millennia" old. So, Solas was not always bald. "So if you were to end up seeing what Solas looked like in the past, things might be a little different." What happened to Solas' wig from Tevinter Nights? John: "I'm sure he still has it somewhere. He's just taking care of it elsewhere, it's his most important possession."

On companions' appearances and outfits: The companions still have iconic color palettes and things like that, but they do have a wider range of appearances that we can find from them that they can have this time around (compare with Dragon Age II, where they always had the same armor and we could not choose how it looked). Some of the DA:TV companions' are just cool, but then there are some that are tied directly to their narrative and just kind've what's happening in their life. (In DAII, due to constraints, they had to keep the companions with just one basic outfit, and this was sad.)

Q. Will we see or go to Kal-Sharok? "I've been obsessed with it forever." A. Matt: "Yeah, me too. I will say, what's been really cool, so in previous games, we've kind've alluded to this before, it was a lot of fun to kind've hint at the locations that were off the map, the mysterious places that you weren't going, and so you could just kind've bring in some props, or some characters, a piece of art, things like that, you know, even Tevinter was only vaguely hinted at, and we would just add drips and bits and pieces. So that stuff was really fun. In DA:TV, we're actually getting to visit, like a whole lot of those locations that had only been hinted at for real, so you actually do run around Tevinter and a bunch of the other locations that we've revealed. But, this also means, like we're not completely throwing out the map, and so that there are actually new things that we can start hinting at, that we can start drip-feeding, and so, it's kinda fun. I'd say, yeah, for what we can show of Kal-Sharok, and other locations, there's more to do."

There are a number of different types of dialogue wheel in the game. All of the dialogue wheels are based off the same principle. In DA:TV, there are "tone wheels" (roleplaying your character and picking a consistent tone), "emotional wheels" (where you can pick specific emotional reactions), and "choice wheels" (which are, 'I don't have a strong emotional or tone tie here, but I do want to make a choice based on what I do'. The "Investigate" option also returns. They want players to understand as much as possible about what it is they are going to be picking on the wheel. "And understand, and again, choice and consequence is fun, we wanna make sure the choice is clear, even if, again, one of the best parts about consequence is making sure that's not entirely clear."

Q. How extensive are Rook's decision trees for companions and NPCs throughout the game going to be? A. "Huge. It's a Dragon Age game. We wanna make sure you have choices, we wanna make sure you can choose your roleplaying but also choose outcomes of conversations, choose how events unfold. We wanna make sure that we also react to decisions you've made. So, for example, you may be talking to a follower who is an elf, and if you yourself are an elf, obviously you're gonna have a different perspective on events than someone who is not an elf. Sometimes that means different conversation options. Sometimes that's going to mean entirely deep dialogue trees. As well as based off decisions you've made throughout the game, so. Again, making sure that the game feels like the it's noticing what you're doing is a huge part of how we've written out the dialogue trees in this game."

Each of the seven companions have full romance arcs and they are all romanceable by all genders. This does not mean that they are playersexual, and this fact is important to the team. The companions don't conform or twist their identities to who we as the player are, and they don’t suddenly have a preference for men or woman based on what we are playing. Instead, they have their own fully fleshed-out identities which they are true and authentic to. They are all pansexual in this game. They have their own histories of romance, and sometimes we will hear about their preferences and things of that nature from them. If you don’t romance them, they will actually build their own romances with each other. Taash and Lace is one of Corinne’s favorite companion relationships. She says that she has heard that the shipname in the community for this is "Laash". (Corinne pronounced "Taash" like "Tosh" or "Tawsh").

Q. What are the markings on the faces of Davrin and Bellara? A. "There are quite a few, easily more than we've done before I think, tattoos from various cultures. We're bringing the vallaslin back of course. There are a ton of different options, especially when we're going into all of these new regions. Each region has its own kinda visual language for that. But yeah, we are bringing the vallaslin back, and then a couple of the characters have them, but we've kinda customized them a little bit, they're a bit more specific to their personality."

"The depth and authenticity of the companions, journeying along with them on their arcs, learning about their hardships, what they care about, being by their side." Corinne said "they all feel like my dear friends".

Corinne's favorite thing other than the companions is the CC. "That CC, the makeup options, the range of sliders... I'm a qunari fan, so even just the way you customize the horns and combine that with the really great looking hair".

The art team worked very hard to make the story more visible around you in the game than ever. They really leaned into trying to make sure that every design, prop, characters, environment, VFX, that all these choices were putting the story on-screen. They wanted to put the story on the screen so that we can really see it all unfold. Matt, who has worked on all of the Dragon Age games, said that DA:TV represents one of the best attempts they have ever made at doing this.

This game contains "the deepest companion arcs" that they have ever done - not just in a Dragon Age game, but in a BioWare game in general. "Being able to work across all the disciplines, building characters who look and sound and behave in very specific and characterful ways." Each companion has their own story arc you can go through, decisions you can make. "They really do take center stage. As you play through them, you see the care and love that the team has put into each one."

There are moments in each companion arc that will make you cry, angry, excited.

John loves the way that the companion arcs integrate into the story as a whole. "Finding ways to bring these characters together. Finding ways to make this narrative, this story of, you need to put together a team and stop the end of the world, has just been absolutely exciting and thrilling, and again, you see the team's love in every single piece of it.”

DA:TV has been the highlight of John’s 17 year career in games. It has been part of his career and life for "literally the last decade and a half". He has worked on it since DA:O. "There's something about DA:TV that feels like an amazing mix of novelty but also familiarity, it's like coming home in a way that is going to be very exciting for people who are existing Dragon Age players. There's also so much here that's new and exciting for people, new players and old alike. Going to the parts of the world, seeing things we've never seen before, and just getting to take this amazing world and series and expand on it, and build on it in ways that, have just been honestly an absolute thrill."

There have been times in the companion arcs where, even knowing exactly what was going to happen, with some of these decisions, Corinne had to set down the controller, let out a heavy sigh and go, "oh my god, what am I going to do here?"

Corinne: “Can we just give a big shout out to the dev team? I am so proud of them. This team has poured their heart and soul into this. To anyone from BioWare who is listening in, thank you so much. Y'all are just the best”. John: "Absolutely. Here here."

Q. Why does Varric have dark hair now? A. Matt: "He has been adventuring for a while now." His hair is actually more gray than black, but he's been in very dark scenes so far. We will see him in more contexts.

The Inquisitor appears in the game in the flesh. The devs know how attached we all are to the Inquisitors and they have seen our love for our OCs. The Inquisitor can be customized, "include some of our new customization options". “Yeah, they’re gonna show up and they’re gonna be your Inquisitor.” John: “The story of Solas and the story of the Inquisitor obviously, are tied, they're tied together as much as any story, so it would have been strange for us not to bring them in for this one. They're gonna be a part of this story, so."

Right now, the team's focus is entirely on the quality of the game as it is so important at this stage – they are all-in, with all of their attention on finishing the game and on the quality of the game and the promise on it. They are 100% focused on making this being the most complete game that they can make it.

There are no microtransactions. There will be no battle-passes. You do not have to connect online to play. They want to make this "the most complete singleplayer game that they possibly can".

Armor transmog exists in the game. "Hell yeah." Corinne said that she is the kind of player that believes "fashion is the real end game". She said that there is a transmog system, and that it is sick.

Q. Are any of the characters explicitly ace, or on the ace spectrum? A. Corinne shared that she is gray-ace. “I will say though, that none of our companions this time around are explicitly ace. When we look at the characters, their motivations, who they are, we always assess, 'is this the right time?' This time it wasn’t. But what I will say for everyone on the ace spectrum out there, I would love to represent an ace relationship, some time in the future when it feels like the most authentic fit for a companion, when we can do it best."

Q. Can mage Rook do blood magic? A. “This gets a little spoiler-y, so let me just say, Rook has some pretty good reasons to avoid blood magic. Rook is not gonna wanna be interested in that. But I will say, the mage skill tree is packed with all kinds of spells, traits, and perks to give you a ton of flexibility in your magic."

One of the three mage specializations is "a necromancer one". Another was described as “an elemental one”. The third was described as being more like "a combat mage".

Davrin has already named the young griffon "Assan". "Assan is a very good boy." [Assan emojis flood the chat]

In Dragon Age: Inquisition, we had Skyhold. In this game our headquarters is called The Lighthouse. There will be more to be seen on this later. Narratively it serves kind of a different purpose to Skyhold and also the same purpose. The Lighthouse has elements that will change over time, and there are some things about it that we can adjust. “It definitely does start to feel very much like home over time”.

Q. Do pasta and noodles exist in Thedas? A. Matt replied by geeking out about worldbuilding. “DA:TV for us is a real dream opportunity to go places that we've only ever heard references to or seen hints at. And so, going through the worldbuilding process and trying to build these places out, not just as neat things from the IP, but also, if you've read about the stuff, if you've been following along, you've got your own version of it in your head, you've imagined what it might be like, and probably hoping for something spectacular, and our brains are always far better at creating this stuff than any game developer or any artist can really do justice to. So you really have to swing for the fences to make something very satisfying and exciting. That can be everything as big as architecture, landscape, biomes, ecosystems, but it does get into things like art, culture, costume design, and also food, and this time around we did, that was one of the many things that we did look into just to try and catch the character and the feel of a place, to make it feel believable and lived in. So, that's my really long answer for, yeah, I'm sure, at least one place does have pasta."

Mabari are not nearly as big of a thing in the north of Thedas as they are in the south. Sadly, in DA:TV we will not get a mabari (but to be fair, we have a griffon!!) And he can be PETTED! “I have actually hugged the griffon”. There is lots of opportunities to interact with the griffon. "Can we see Assan in chat if we wanna see him in The Lighthouse hanging out?" [Assan emojis flood the chat] "This was so important to the team, too, this is the team's, like, just huge support for this feature, so props to them."

We will get to see the Character Creator before launch. "They are laying out a roadmap for what we are going to show and when we are gonna talk about it. So, yes, you will see it, as we get a little bit closer to launch."

In CC, the body customization can be done for humans, elves, dwarves and qunari. Qunari hair options and horn options are rad. They acknowledged that it was hard to have nice-looking hair for qunari in DA:I.

"Related to this, your Lineage (human/elf/dwarf/qunari) gives you a lot of really unique dialogue options, so that's a really lovely aspect of choosing your lineage as well." "Each lineage, depending on the lineage you choose and the background you choose, there are some specific call outs to. For example, if it's the Mourn Watch, them being a faction from Nevarra of mages, obviously your experience as a dwarf there is going to be different than say a human or an elf, so, there are also specific callouts tailored to those combinations with again, the intention of giving each lineage their own little flavor as to how they fit into that faction as a whole."

Barkspawn/Dog is safely gnawing on a bone somewhere next to a fireplace in Ferelden! Don't worry, he is fine. Mabari live exactly as long as you need them to.

"Rook's last name is defined based on their faction, again, we wanted to tie that into your backstory, but also, there's a name generator that can give you a selection of first names. Obviously if you want to make your own first name, that's definitely something we support as well." But if you always struggle during CC and name all your characters like 'Bob' or something, you're gonna be okay thanks to the name generator.

The Voice Actor cast are very talented. They devs are super excited to talk about them more over the summer. They are not quite ready to announce their names yet.

Q. Will there be a Collector’s Edition? A. They will talk more about the different editions of the game that will be available soon.

Q. Will tavern songs return? A. There are tavern songs in the game, and they are pretty great. They said huge props to the audio and performance teams that made these.

There is a little tavern in Minrathous called The Swan. The song that you hear there is great, and is probably Corinne's favorite.

More information on the required PC specs will come soon.

They are not quite ready yet to talk in specifics about the music. But in broad-strokes the process of creating the music is always the same: working with the composer, figuring out what the themes are, working out what kinds of elements they want to keep, working out what specific elements they want to tie to specific characters. It is a really in-depth and collaborative process. The team have great audio and music people. They want to make sure that the music feels like a cohesive part of the game experience.

On the narrative themes of the game: “What you start with [when setting out to create/write a game] and where you end up aren’t always necessarily the same. Sometimes you start writing out a theme, you realize actually it's more interesting if we attack it from this angle or maybe if you twist it a bit." This has been true for all of the DA games. “For DA:TV, one of the biggest themes has been how regret shaped peoples' lives, how people deal with their regrets, how people maybe move past their regrets.” Each of the characters, the stories as a whole, have elements of this tied throughout. They really wanted to have this thematic cohesiveness to the game's story.

The world reacts to Rook’s lineage and backstory. There are unique dialogues or conversation options based on backstory and lineage.

There are glorious, fantastic dwarf beards. "I don't know what magic the character art team did with the beards", but they feel/look like how beards should.

"If you go against a companion’s wishes or make decisions that they don’t like, you can piss them off, they might not agree with you and they will take some time away. That said, this is the biggest threat to Thedas we've ever seen, so they, they're always gonna be willing to show up to defend Thedas, but yeah, you can piss them off and they'll leave for a minute. As it relates to them showing up to defend Thedas, well yeah, they will, unless..." John: "No spoilers Corinne."

“The things that we have enjoyed, the things that shaped us, show up in these characters”. "I don't think that any characters have what I would describe as, this [thing] was a direct reference."

Q. Why is Harding a companion? A. John: “It was impossible not to see the love that people had [in the Dragon Age: Inquisition era] for our murderous girl-next-door dwarf. She has always been a fan favorite. But I think beyond that, it's something that Harding's writer wanted to explore, there was more story to tell there, more perspective. And beyond that, Harding obviously has a strong connection to Solas, Varric and the events of the past ten years. I wouldn't say that it's always been, but I'd say that Harding's one of the first ones that we settled on, that this is a character that we want. And her writer had a story that they wanted to tell with her so, it just made sense." Matt: “It's not a huge part of her character but, she tends to be one of the people that have the most insight into Solas, who he was." John: "It also provides you with that little bit of perspective. Who was Solas, what kind of character was he? Using characters to provide windows onto the world is one of my favorite things.”

They want to make sure each quest provides a perspective on the world and the characters, and feels obviously and immediately relevant to what you are doing. "Narrative and narrative heft". We are trying to save the world. “We really wanted to make sure that these quests were something that you”, someone who is trying to save the world, would think is important or worthwhile to do when faced with the end of the world. Everything is hand-crafted and intentional. We aren’t going to be "gathering Shards in the Hinterlands"; everything is built with intention and a dev lovingly crafted the experience. They heard loud and clear previous feedback on this. There are quests of all sorts and sizes, but all of them share that kind of 'this is the kind of thing that The Veilguard would do', especially when faced with the end of the world. "We spent a lot of time listening to what y'all said."

Q. Are there any locations in the game that can only be accessed by making specific story choices? A. "This does start getting into spoiler detail. But I will say that" locations can fundamentally change based on decisions we make. For some of the parts of the world that we will go to, the choices that we make have an impact on how these spaces exist and develop. “Don't want to get to into story spoilers, but your decisions do impact how the world shows up”.

If Rook gets knocked out during combat, we will have to reload our saves unless we have invested in companions’ progression and what they can do (they can be specced out to be able to revive Rook, if you have invested in their progression and what they can do).

Q. “Will Solas still occasionally or dramatically speak in iambic pentamer?” John: “Massive kudos to Patrick who always writes Solas so well. Solas is a returning character, it’s the same Solas you know and love or hate depending on who you are, the same writer. So the answer is, yeah, it’s Solas”.

The decision of who was left behind in the Fade in Dragon Age: Inquisition does not show up in DA:TV. However, this does not mean that it will be a decision which will never be important in future. "Not for this one, though."

There are no mounts. “Mounts addressed a need in Inquisition that we don’t have in DA:TV. You’ll see why when you get to play”.

On sidequest design – they are all hand-crafted, all story-focused. “Narrative is so much at the core of DA:TV, and anything other than hand-crafted quests just felt like it would be a disservice to the game we were building”. There is no mechanic in DA:TV like Power in DA:I, there is no mechanic that blocks your progression until you fill a bar. “You have the autonomy to engage in these quests as you like, there is no 'grind-out gates' before you can progress”. “We want to make sure that doing this content feels as natural and part of the logical flow of the story as possible”. They acknowledged that Power was a divisive mechanic in DA:I.

Q. Are there War Table missions? A. “We haven’t talked much about the player’s base, The Lighthouse. We will save that for now. The Lighthouse, your headquarters so to speak, has its own unique purposes and functions this time. This is an area that we will leave for you when we talk more about The Lighthouse.”

Dual-wielding (they wanted to bring it back) is back as part of the rogue kit this time. Warriors are focused on mighty two-handed weapons which have a real heft to them when swung. (Warriors can also use sword and shield). The amount of hits rogues can get in in rapid succession is really satisfying – dual-wielding is the providence of rogues this time.

John: "The thing that keeps me sustained is just knowing that the game we are building is the right one, knowing the pieces are coming together." They mentioned “knowing just how much people care about this franchise, care about these games”. They are excited for when people can see the fantastic work the team has been doing, they think people will be excited when we get to see it. This game is huge. John gets pleasantly surprised on a daily basis even today and is always amazed by the awesome stuff the team has done, how good it looks etc. Sometimes he spends an hour late at night watching the work come in, watching the cutscenes come, watching the work coming together, it etc and is blown away by the work like 'holy smokes'. Corinne said “Speaking on behalf of the dev team, everyone is working so hard, putting so much passion and of themselves into it, this is a franchise the team really loves. Seeing everyone’s support, cheering us on, has meant a lot to the team, I want to say thank you to all of you.” They are working on a way for the Q&A to be immortalized somewhere for us so that the info does not disappear into the ether. "Stay tuned". John hopes this was the first of many of these opportunities to talk to us directly. He is really excited, and Corinne noted that how much Dragon Age means to us is wonderful. "It's wonderful to see you all excited and invested. Thank you again, truly."

Session ended.

[source: The dev BioWare Discord Q&A on June 14th]

Update: If you would like to listen to the Q&A for yourself in video format, or listen to it again, Ghil Dirthalen recorded it and has now uploaded a video of it here.

[dunmeshistash]

Extras compilation for anime only viewers

I decided to make a compilation of all extra comics and material that is safe to read and here is the first part of that. “By safe to read” I mean stuff that don’t have spoiler or is not too closely connected to stuff that will be shown in Season 2. That means most of it are more fun stuff featuring the characters, backstory for some minor character and small expansions on the backstories that already featured in season 1. Most of it was published after chapter 52 (season 1’s stopping point), but I made sure to check none of it is spoiler despite that.

This first part features the main gang.

There it is, all non spoiler extra material about the main characters I could find. Well, the ones with some narrative content, Kui makes too many random illustration for me to shuffle through, at least for now. Hopefully I didn’t miss anything. I hope it is interesting or useful for someone. Next it should be the other characters, hopefully it will be a bit easier.

[mediumgayitalian]

fic rec friday 19

hi!! welcome to fic rec friday. every week, i pick five fics i have bookmarked and rec them with a little review. check them out!

Falling For You (Literally) by peanutbutterapple

Will Solace was positively sure of two things. 1. He was unwaveringly devoted to his boyfriend of nearly a year, Nico di Angelo. 2. Of all the demigods at Camp Half-Blood, the Aphrodite kids were not to be toyed with.

love how theyre still working on their relationship in this one!! like they are clearly into each other and they know that but that is not Enough to sustain a relationship. cool commentary that relationships take work AND the work doesnt have to be hard/bad, there just needs to be effort. loved that.

2. I got a boy back home who's unlike any other by sunburst_city

“Ew,” Will says when he pulls away, licking his lips and grimacing at what Nico assumes is a mixture of stale sweat, dirt, and other things Nico would rather not think about. “You taste nasty.” “Excuse you. You try chasing down a rogue hellhound across a fucking bayou.”

this one was so cute!! it's a small thing but i love the dynamic where nico is such an Explorer you know. because it's very uniquely solangelo in terms of pjoverse!! they don't both want the same things. will is more of a homemaker and always has been. he's not a fighter and he doesn't want to be. he holds down the fort at home, he makes sure everyone is okay, he keeps people in line. whereas nico is right in the throes of the battle, in the middle of everything. they went on an adventure together and it was really hard for both of them. i like reading stuff where they have their own thing and they're very proud of each other for it.

3. fall asleep until it's only you and me by by sunburst_city

There is something frighteningly tangible about all her dreams involving Percy Jackson. 6 instances Annabeth dreams of Percy.

WHAT IF ANNABETH HAD GOOD THINGS HAPPEN TO HER HUH. WHAT THEN. WHAT FUCKIN THEN. WHAT IF SHE HAD A GODDAMN MOMENT OF PEACE IN HER LIFE ACTUALLY

4. Overhead by cabeswaters

Will and Cecil really need a new phone and Nico is weak for boys with freckles. (Or, Will overhears a conversation he wasn't meant to and for once it's not a bad thing.)

overheard is the best trope of all time idc. truly elite. there is nothing more romantic than discovering your beloved talks and talks and talks about how much they love you to others!! it is flattening!!

5. Watch Me While I walk Away by @buoyantsaturn

“Actually, I’m taking over the route - Connor, nice to meet you,” the driver said, before going through the usual sign here, first name, last initial spiel. “Thank you very much, and I’ll see you around!” 

oh being that whipped is EMBBARRASSINGG truly i get him. mitchell u are so real. and will is correct it is just like legally blonde how LUCKY

thank you for joining me this friday!! happy reading!!

[tryinghuman]

gracelis w travis is SO cute??? she wouldve been a great mom to the lil lizard boi 8(

[thankstothe]

dont reward that with food!

[sabrebash]

I have to draw a lot of gold and metal for my work, but wasn't happy with any of the metal tutorials i could find around. I prefer really specific instruction, so after some research i put together what i think works as a generalist's guide/tutorial. Not perfectly accurate, but i hope it's helpful!

[kyra45]

Scammer pretending to be in Palestine v2

This post has been remade with better info! Please go to this one:

Got an ask from someone claiming to be in Palestine needing mutual aid? Unfortunately there is a scammer going around and it’s likely the ask you got sent is the same one being sent by multiple accounts who target users interacting with Palestine posts. These blogs use the text/images off a real fundraiser and then post it here pretending to be the person it’s made for. Their accounts are usually only a few days old and they don’t interact beyond the ask/follow. Lately they might make the link to their PayPal account in different colors or claim their GoFundMe is pending so you will assume the real one is theirs. They don’t have any GoFundMe’s set up. They steal from them. If you need proof of something being stolen, searching the text of their post in a search engine should pull up the source. If you know how to report PayPal accounts, please report those used by the scammers.

(Moved to new list)

Below is a growing list of fake/stolen names used across the accounts:

Nour Samar | maryline lucy | Fred Odhiambo | Jeff Owino | Valentine Nakuti | Conslata Obwanga | JACINTA SITATI | David Okoth | Martín Mutugi | Daudi Likuyani | William Ngonyo | Fred Agy | George Ochieng | BONFACE ODHIAMBO | Sila Keli | John Chacha | benson komen | Alvin Omondi | Jacinta Sitati | Daudi Likuyani | Noah Keter | Faith Joram | Rawan AbuMahady (any PayPal’s using this name are scammers who have stolen it off a real GoFundMe. The real person does not have a PayPal account that they post on tumblr.) | Asnet Wangila | Remmy Cheptau

Keep in mind this post isn’t saying all accounts asking for mutual aid in Palestine are scams. Rather, this post is meant to bring awareness of a scammer stealing money from those who really need it by pretending to be a person in Palestine. To report scams, use this:

Report -> Something else -> Illegal uses or Content -> Phishing

[kringle-c]

"It's only-"

[whysosiriushuh]

Sirius: Which one of you was going to tell me that tea tastes different if you put it in hot water

Lily,*slowly puts her book down *: Y-You were putting it in cold water....

Sirius: ....

Remus: Padfoot? Answer the question. Sirius!

Sirius: Yeah I thought for like 5 years that people just put it in hot water to speed up the tea-ification process. Didn't realize there was an actual reason.

Everyone: ....

Sirius: You think I have the patience to boil water?

Regulus: You don't have the patience to microwave water for 3 minutes????

James,*grabbing him*: Why are you. putting it in the microwave to boil it?!

Regulus: Do you think I have the patience to boil water on the stove?!

Remus: Fuck Regulus you too!!??!!

James: It takes less than a minute!

Marlene: IS YOUR STOVE TOP POWERED BY THE FUCKING SUN?????

James: HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE YOU TO BOIL A CUP OF WATER ON THE STOVE!??!

Remus: Like 7 minutes!

James: Just stick the mug on top of the stove on medium heat and it boils in like 2 minutes less than that and you use a saucepan.

Pandora *taking notes*: Everyone in this room is so creative :)

Dorcas*turning to Remus*: So no one in your house uses a fucking kettle!?

Remus: Its right there near the stove!!

Sirius: Wait a second... that's used to make tea??

Regulus: You told me it was there for aesthetic!!!!!!

James: So its not???

[adragonofthings]

Scam blogs (and how to spot them)

Unfortunately, scams do exist on tumblr. That is why it’s key to always try to search around when someone’s sent you a request for mutual aid. Not every account is trying to scam you and for the most part there is legitimate blogs who need your help. Sadly there are also scammers who pretend to be needing mutual aid as well so here is a simple guide to figuring out scams.

How old is the account? The pinned post usually is a good way to tell if the account contacting you is new or old. If you scroll the posts, you should see if they were made around the same time as the account.

How many posts are on the account? Most blogs will have more than just a few posts here and there. After all, a well used blog has thousands of posts for you to look at.

Are there more original posts? Usually someone needing help will have multiple posts of their own instead of a single post that’s pinned. They will also post updates regularly regarding their situation and answer asks clarifying details when necessary.

What does the link on the pinned post say? If it’s a linktree claiming to be a GoFundMe link, that’s something to be suspicious of because it’s likely not. If the link is an actual GoFundMe link that isn’t a linktree link then that usually means the account is legitimate and may have shared posts verifying who they are if you scroll a little.

Is the ask being mass sent to users? While this is done by legitimate accounts too, it’s unfortunately also commonly done by scammers. If you search the ask you got you may find it was sent to multiple accounts across several months and from several different senders with no changes to the overall text itself. Even the formatting errors are not fixed.

Are there any warnings out for the username? Try searching the senders username to see if anyone’s made a post claiming the account is a scam. There should at least be one post about them. If not, it’s likely that they are too new to have been reported yet.

Are you a well known account? How likely is it someone would find you without searching specific tags or posts for users to contact? Think about it. How often does someone send you asks for money that is a relatively new account with only a few reblogs and only one original post? If it’s almost daily, then you should be wary of the asks.

What do you find if you search part of the pinned post in your preferred search engine? If a fundraiser pops up using the same text and doesn’t mention using another mutual aid method, it’s highly likely the blog sending you the ask is impersonating a real person who needs support.

Does the mutual aid post make sense? Some scammers don’t know how medicine works and may list some that don’t work like claimed. They’ll just use whatever sounds ‘right’ without further research. Someone who needs medication will always know what their medicine does they don’t guess because they’ll usually have a doctors paper they go by.

If you have properly recognized a scammer and have fully been able to confirm that their a scammer with enough evidence, please report scam accounts and alert anyone whose shared the scam post.

[o-craven-canto]

Euphorbia euphoria

Was sent this by a friend:

which is a reference to this:

namely, the fact that the wild mustard Brassica oleracea, once domesticated, produced a bewildering variety of vegetables by selecting each cultivar for a different part (cabbages from terminal buds, Brussels ssprouts from lateral buds, broccoli and cauliflower from flower buds, kale from leaves, and so on), all of them still being technically part of the same species, Brassica oleracea var. whatever.

Now, as far as I know, nobody has bred B. oleracea into a tree. But there is, not quite a single species, but a genus, that has gotten pretty close to that kind of internal morphological diversity:

Behold Euphorbia, the genus of spurges, counting over 2000 species (that nevertheless are often capable of interbreeding) scattered throughout all continents:

Euphorbia dendroides (Mediterranean)

The poinsettia, Euphorbia pulcherrima (Central America)

Euphorbia actinoclada (East Africa)|, one of the many cactus-like species (cacti proper are all American species except one, so if you see a cactus-like plant in an African or Asian deserts, odds are it's actually a kind of euphorbia)

Euphorbia trigona (Central Africa)

Euphorbia myrsinites (Southeast Europe)

Euphorbia obesa (South Africa)

Euphorbia ferox (South Africa)

Euphorbia ampliphylla (East Africa) (source)

Euphorbia aphylla (Canary Islands)

Euphorbia helioscopia (Eurasia and Africa)

And so on, and so on...

[felassan]

Snippets 🐺💜

There is faction-themed gear to wear, like if you chose Grey Warden as a background, there is GW gear. [source: The Discord]

"As a faction, the Inquisition doesn't really feature prominently in the story - your appearance options are more reflective of the factions and styles you'll encounter in The Veilguard." [source: The Discord]

body sliders + "a triangle for gradients of body types" [source]

"The team heard us loud and clear on hair styles". Frostbite engine updates served them well. Hair moves with your body and reacts to the wind [source]

For pronouns and gender selections, everything you select is used in the game and in cutscenes [source]

After the bar fight, the choices on how to engage with Varric are "a 'I had you on my side' or 'It went okay, but it worked out' or a haughty answer" [source]

Each companion has a loyalty mission to cement their commitment to you as a leader [source]

Accessibility-type features include full subtitles with or without character names, and directional lines that can be turned on to indicate the direction of incoming projectiles and their timing [source]

"The dev team was very clear that they learned a lot from Inquisition, and that the game would be far more focused. Gone are the busy work tasks, with a greater emphasis on making each interaction memorable" [source]

We'll see more tactical gameplay in the near future [source]

[dunmeshistash]

Okay I think I'm ready to write the second part of this post about Milsiril

To make it easier for me I'll just divide this into her relationship with Kabru, Mithrun and Helki (her ex-canary prisoner teammate)

First about Kabru

This is an extra from the daydream hour 5. The caption says "Something like this might as well have happened" so its probably not canon but could be. I honestly think his reaction to Milsiril visiting and being overbearing says a lot about the type of relantionship they have. This is the fakest bitch in the whole of dungeon meshi, he never says what he trully thinks unless there's an advantage to doing so, he's a people pleaser that does and says anything to make people like/trust him. And yet he immediatly converts into "Mooooooom you're embarassing meeeeee" when he sees it's Milsiril.

This translation used "Mom" but as I understand the original he uses the more formal version so I think it would be closer to "Mother" but still he acknowleges her as his Mother, and he acts like her kid in every interaction we see between them.

I really don't understand where the idea that he learned to be fake from being "forced" to be her adoptive son comes from.

(Continuing under a cut)

The other interaction we see between them is the Kabru extra from the Adventurer's Bible

Kabru comes to her with a deep fear he clearly has had even before she adopted him, he trusted her with this fear and she did not disappoint him, she comforted him and then gave him the information he needed to believe what she was saying

I'd also like to point out in no moment she discouraged him from calling his his bio-mom "Mom". He also says she taught her children everything they asked

I doubt this would only be true for him, it also mirrors something she said in the manga

"You can go ahead and learn all you want about something else." I believe it when Kabru says she made every effort to answer her children's questions. I think this is also the way she expresses the love she has for them. Plus I love the thought bubble with Kabru mirroring what he learned from her. I also love this daydream hour, she sacrifices her own comfort to do something for Kabru.

Milsiril isn't a perfect mother tho, besides the fact she is overprotective she comes from a very different culture from her children. I like to call her Kabru's white mom cause I think that would be the real world equivalent. This extra is the one I think the most about showing this context perfectly

Kabru wants to share Utaya sweets but looks at his mom looking gloomy/rejected so he talks about fruitcake instead. This very rude for Milsiril to do since she's kinda trying to overwrite his actual cultural background, but I think its done more as a "I want you to like the things I like" rather than something nefarious, and once again Kabru doesn't hide at all his distaste for it, he does the bare minimum to please his mom since she's being dramatic but he doesn't lie to her, he shows how displeased he is about fruitcake, something he refuses to do when eating the harpy omelette that is way worse, because he must make a good impression for Laios. Kabru is honest with his overbearing white mom once again.

Now a little about Rin, from Kabru's context, this is her extra in the Adventurer's Bible

(look at Helki he's such a gremlin i love him) anyway, Rin has a trauma about elves, they really mistreated her so she hates them, but when they notice she isn't thriving they go to Milsiril for help (Helki specifically I'll talk more about him next). I think this indicates she really has a better understanding of short lived kids, her kids are thriving differently from the ones the other elves try to care for. I'd also like to remember she lives secluded from other elves so while Kabru probably had lots of interactions with elves during his life, most of it was probably spent with Milsiril and her other adoptive kids. She also asks Kabru if he would do this to help Rin, he isn't being forced or anything, I also think it's good that Milsiril knows she cant take in any more kids, this to me shows she's worried about the quality of life her kids have. That is all to say, Rin is the one with elf trauma, not Kabru, because Kabru had Milsiril to shelter him from them.

Helki

This will be short and sweet since there's barely anything about Helki, he's her prisioner companion from her time in the canaries, but he was pardoned after Utaya, it says so in the Canarie's Structure page in the new adventurer's guide but I cant really find it translated again... so here's google's machine translation (I remember it saying "Retired and pardoned as a reward after Utaya", something like that)

so officially he isn't a prisoner anymore, but I think he still works as a canary, even so he and Milsiril seem quite close, he is the one to go talk to her about Rin, He is there when she's training Kabru (both laughing at Kabru and then participating). I saw people theorizing she stays close to him because he is also someone who she can feel superior to, but I don't believe it at all, he's STILL in contact with her even after they have nothing to with each other, I think they really have a friendship, and there's no point where it seems like she feels like she's better than him or that he's less than her, people seem to interpret Milsiril and her relationships in the worst possible ways every time and I don't understand why.

This segways into Mithrun

I've also seen people assuming she only got close to Mithrun because now he needs her and has no power over her, once again with the theory that Milsiril surrounds herself with people she can feel superior to. But once again, Milsiril had a change of perspective about Mithrun after seeing his Dungeon

Rather than she feeling superior to him I think rather she realized he was just like her. (And I think she's friends with Helki for a similar reason, it's probably easier to see him as an equal than other nobles)

I've also seen this part used as proof of that. "He said that you've got suspicious ulterior motives and that I shouldn't listen to you" as if that's true, but this is past Mithrun, the one that didn't trust anyone and thought ill of all his teammates, ofc he doesn't believe someone would help him without an ulterior motive. This doesn't prove much about her real motivations.

Also before she showed up, Mithrun was being cared for by servants hired by his brother, he isn't someone helpless she has power over, he is still a member of an important Noble family that has a caring brother providing for him, he can do without Milsiril, he had done without her for 20 years before Utaya happened and she quit the Canaries.

This is all to say I think Milsiril is just a white(elf) adoptive mom doing her best, I don't see much of anything nefarious about her or her motivations, she is flawed as all the dunmeshi characters are, she isn't a perfect mom, she isn't an evil mom, she's just a person.

Elves in general also see short lived species as "children" so I imagine this makes her "You'll always be my baby" attitude way worse, she really treats pre-teen/teen Kabru like he's a toddler sometimes. But she also respected him enough to go all out in training him. I think they're a family with everything that entails.

PS: I didn't get much into Interracial adoption since this is something that happens irl too and I don't know much about all the issues that entails, but in the end, in this case, it seems like a net positive for the kids she adopts considering all we see about how she raised Kabru.

[mediumgayitalian]

“You ever pray we’re wrong?”

Nico lets his next step sound against the smoothed pebbles, dismissed the shadows he hovered on. Will doesn’t turn to face him, but one of his shoulders slumps, stretched-out camp shirt neckline hanging around his collarbones, in acknowledgment. Nico crouches down, inspecting the pebbles until he finds one suitable — flat, almost disc-like, a little bigger than his thumbnail, smooth as shaved skin.

“‘Bout what?”

It skips when he launches it, on the tail of Will’s, one, two, three times before sinking. Will’s goes much longer, as does his next. And his next. Sink.

“About the —

Sink.

— afterlife.”

He doesn’t look as he scoops up another handful, eyes glued to the setting sun. His pebbles are all the wrong shape, but he launches them, one at a time, one at a time, one at a time; each of them skips.

“About the world —

Sink.

— down there.”

Sink.

“Underworld.”

“I don’t understand.”

“You ever hope we just —

Sink.

— dreamed it up?”

Sink.

One, two, four, sixteen. Sink.

Sink.

“The whole thing. Gods and Judgement and Punishment. Hellfire.”

Sink.

One. Twothreefourfivesix. Seven. Sink.

Sink.

“Like the Mist. An illusion to keep us compliant.”

Sink.

One. Two. Ten. Twenty. Sink.

Sink.

“It isn’t,” Nico says, as gently as he can. He runs his thumb over the edge of a pebble, tracing its ridge. A rough broken corner slices along the pad of his thumbprint, and he jumps, breathing a curse, sliding the irony salt into his mouth. “Do you wish it was?”

“I hope it is.”

The blood is long since gone. Nico hooks his nail over his bottom teeth, tongue twisting at the lingering saltiness, and watches him, eyes hooded; the set to his shoulders, his spine; his sand-covered feet and soaked pants rolled to his calves. Lee’s shirt, worn thin, hanging off his shoulders, still; four camp necklaces on his throat, heavy with beads, one wrapped three times around his wrist. Hair, wilder than usual, knotted, matted, whipping in the wind, thick with sand, curling around his eyes.

“Why?”

“I hope we’re wrong and it’s Mist and it’s softer. And it’s —

Sink.

— nothing. Quiet.”

Sink.

“Why?” Nico repeats.

Sink.

“Because I’ve —

Sink.

— because I’m going to Hell, Nico.”

Sink.

One.

Sink.

One.

Sink.

One.

Sink.

Sink.

Sink.

“I’m going to —

Sink.

— Hell, and I’m scared.”

Sink.

“You’re a hero,” Nico says, quiet, and the pebbles in his fist are loud, are grating, and the bitter in Will’s laugh is stronger even than the lingering taste on his tongue, and louder, and brighter, bright, brighter, like the Sun, like the stars, like the brand new moon, and it sears, and it aches, and Nico looks away. And Will laughs, and keeps laughing, and launches his pebbles into the lake, all of them at once, and they hit the water like spit, and spatter, and they sink, and Nico hears them hit the floor, hears them ricochet through, down, descend.

“I hear the injured screaming and choose which ones die,” Will says, sink,

sink,

sink,

sink,

sink, “and I hear them curse me, as they die, and I am going to rot in Hell.”

Sink.

Sink.

Sink.

“You are a hero,” Nico says. His hands shake and he folds his thumb into his fists. “You are a hero. You’ll go to Elysium.”

Will smiles at him. “Okay, Nico.”

Sink.

“I’ve — judged, you know. Before. Good things way heavy. Good things weigh heavy.”

Sink.

“Okay.”

“You’re not cursed, Will.”

He sits, or he drops, on the rocky shore, bones against stone, and he stares, at the lake, at the Sun, at the Sun, at the Sun, and he waits, and he glows, and he burns.

“The gods aren’t fair,” he says. Quiet.

Sink.

[batneko]

had an idea for Bowser pulling a Megamind and disguising himself as a human, and accidentally learning a lot more about how people see him.

I guess this is a superhero AU too? IDK. I want to do one of those but I don't have any solid ideas for it yet.

[thankstothe]

this show rewires you fundamentally in 60 seconds and then just goes on to have more seasons. audacity