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felassan · 3 years

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Some DA trivia and dev commentary from Twitter

There’s a lot of different tweets, so I’m just pasting and linking to the source rather than screencapping them all or making several different posts or something. Post under cut for length.

User: Was dragon age 2 your favourite in the franchise?

David Gaider: DA2 was the project where my writing team was firing on all cylinders, and they wrote like the wind- because they had to! Second draft? Pfft. Plot reviews? Pfft. I was so proud of what we all accomplished in such a brief time. I didn't think it was possible. [source] DA2 is, however, also where the goal posts kept moving. Things kept getting cut, even while we worked. I had to write that dialogue where Orsino turned even if you sided with him, because his boss battle had been cut and there was no time to fix the plot. A real WTF moment. >:( [source]

Mike Rousseau: I remember bugging that! And then being told it wasn't a bug, and being so confused. Doing QA for DA2 was an experience. Trial by fire. [source]

DG: So I think it's safe to say DA2 is my favorite entry in the DA franchise and also the sort of thing I never want to live through ever again. Mixed feelings galore. [source]

User: (I personally blame whoever it was for ruining most romance arcs in other games for me; they don't live up to Fenris's romance storyline)

DG: I wrote Fenris, so uh - me, I guess? Or maybe his cinematic designer, who put in the puppy dog eyes. [source]

User: If DA2 had just been an expansion, do you think it would have been better received? There was a lot of great stuff in there, and I think my initial dislike of it was because of the zone reuse. If it hadn't needed to be a full game, would that issue not have arisen?

DG: Hard to say. It was either going to be an over-scoped expansion or an under-scoped sequel. If it had stayed an expansion, it might never have received the resources/push it DID get. [source]

User: I'd love to visit the universe where you had an extra year or so to work on it. You did a very good job as it stands, but it definitely had rough edges. Not just the writing team either. The whole game had hit and miss moments, that just a little more dev time could have fixed.

DG: On one hand, DA2 existed to fill a hole in the release schedule. More time was never in the cards. DA2 was originally planned as an expansion! On the other, if we had more time, would we have started doing that thing where we second guess/iterate ourselves into mediocrity? [shrug emoji] [source]

Jennifer Hepler: This is what I love about DA2. Personally, I greatly prefer something that's rough and raw and sincere to something that's had all the soul polished out of it. Extra time would have helped for art and levels, but it would have lost something too. [source]

DG: Right? I think we could have used some time for peer reviews (and fewer cuts), but I think the rawness of the writing lent a certain spark that we usually polished out. [source]

JH: Definitely. I think the structure (more character-driven) and the tightness of the timeframe let each individual writer's voice really come through. Polish can be very homogenizing. [source]

DG: I should add I'm not, by any means, against iteration. Some iteration is good and necessary. The problem that BioWare often had is that we never knew when to stop. Like a goldfish, we would fill the space given to us by constantly re-iterating on things that were "good enough". [source]

Patrick Weekes: I appreciate your incredibly diplomatic use of the past tense on "had". :D [source]

User: DA2 was my gateway into the series and I’m so happy it is. I love the game the way that it is. It’s one of my favorites of all time. But I am also aware of everything that was said here. If it were remastered, do you think it would change?

DG: I'd be surprised if it was ever remastered. If it was, do you really think they'd change things? Do remasters do that? No idea. [source]

User: Both sides got undercut as I recall. Didn't that whole sequence also end with the mage leader embracing blood magic? It was very much "a plague on both your houses" moment, at least for me.

DG: Yep. Orsino was supposed to have his own version of Meredith's end battle, which only happened if you sided with the templars. That got cut, but the team still wanted to use the model we'd made for him. So... that happened. [source]

DG: I would personally say that DA2 is a fantastic game hidden under a mountain of compromises, cut corners, and tight deadlines. If you can see past all that, you'll see a fantastic game. I don't doubt, however, that it's very difficult for most to do that. [source]

PW: I love DAI with all my selfish "I worked on this" heart, but DA2's follower arcs and relationships are probably my favorite in the series. [source]

User: As I've expressed many times, I love the game, especially it's writing and characters but, for me, the most impressive aspect of it, in consideration of it's lack of time for drafts and revisions, is the 2nd act with Arishok. What amazingly complex character and fantastic duel

User: Just played it again and I have to agree. Though he is bound by the harsher tenants of the Qun, he makes valid points about free marcher society. Though it is obvious that he and Hawke will come to blows eventually, the tension builds gradually and understandably

DG: Luke did such a fantastic job with the Arishok I found myself sometimes wishing the Qunari plot had just been THE plot. [source]

User: What do you think would have changed, story wise, if you had more time for DA2?

DG: I would have taken out that thing where Meredith gets the idol. It was forced on me because she needed to be "super-powered" with red lyrium for her final battle. Being "crazy", however, robbed her side of the mage/templar argument of any legitimacy. I hated hated hated that. [source]

User: I deeply lament that there wasn't/couldn't be some sort of DA2 equivalent of Throne of Bhaal's Ascension mod.

DG: I'd have done it, if DA2 had allowed for anything but the most rudimentary of modding. ;) [source]

User: I mean, and I think I understand where you were trying, but how much legitimacy did the Templars and her as top Templar have after they're keeping the mages locked up against their will in the old slave quarters? Feel free to not reply.

DG: I think it's the kind of discussion which requires nuance, and which discussions on the Internet are not prone to. [source]

User: Was a compromise that the quest lines don’t branch? It felt like it was supposed to be that way but then you end up in the same place later regardless of what you pick. Like I hoodwinked the templars so good to help the apostates escape but in Act II they were caught anyway.

DG: I remember us having a lot more branching in the initial planning yes. Most of this got trimmed out in the first or second wave of cuts, in an effort to not cut the plots altogether. [source]

DG: "If you could Zack Snyder DA2, what would you change?" Wow. I'm willing to bet Mark or Mike (or anyone else on the team) would give very different answers than me, but it's enough to give a sober man pause, because that was THE Project of Multiple Regrets. [source] I mean, it's the most hypothetical of hypotheticals. It's never gonna happen. I wouldn't be surprised if EA considered DA2 its embarrassing red-headed stepchild. We'd also need to ignore that in many ways DA2 was as good as it was bad BECAUSE of how it was made. But that aside? [source] First, either restore the progressive changes to Kirkwall we'd planned over the passing of in-game years or reduce the time between acts to months instead of years... which, in hindsight, probably should have been done as soon as the progressive stuff was cut. [source] I'm sure you're like "get rid of repeated levels!" ...but I don't care about that. All I wanted was for Kirkwall to feel like a bigger city. Way more crowded. More alive! Fewer blood mages. [source] I'd want to restore the plot where a mage Hawke came THIS close to becoming an abomination. An entire story spent trapped in one's own head while trapped on the edge of possession. Why? Because Hawke is the only mage who apparently never struggles with this. It was a hard cut. [source]

User: I would LOVE to hear more details about this! I don’t suppose there’s any chance of a short story?

DG: I don't even remember the details of the story, sorry. There was a fight, and you caught the bad guy and then realized none of it was real and woke up idk [source]

DG: I'd want to restore all those alternate lines we cut, meaning people forget they'd met you. Or that they knew you were a mage. Or, oh god, that maybe they'd romanced you in DAO. So much carnage. [source] I'd want to restore the Act 3 plots we cut only because they were worked on too late, but which would have made the buildup to the mage/templar clash less sudden. Though I don't remember what they were, now. Some never got beyond being index cards posted on the wall. [grimace emoji] [source] As I mentioned elsewhere, I'd want to restore Orsino's end battle so he wouldn't need to turn on you even if you sided with him. And I'd want an end fight with the templars that didn't require Meredith to have red lyrium and go full Tetsuo. [source] Heck, maybe an end decision where you sided with neither the mages nor the templars. Because it certainly ended up feeling like you could brand both sides as batshit pretty legitimately, no? That was never planned, tho. No idea how to make that feel like an actual path atm. [source] Maybe an option to go "umm, Anders... what are you DOING?" 👀 [source] And, of course, a Varric romance, because Mary took that "slimy car salesman" character we'd planned and did the impossible with him. I can feel Mary glaring at me for even suggesting this, tho. [source] Lastly, the original expanded opening to the game which allowed you to spend time with Bethany and Carver BEFORE the darkspawn attacked. And, um, that's about it off the top of my head. Zack Snyder, WHAT PANDORA'S BOX HAVE YOU OPENED. [source] Shit, I remembered two more things: 1) Restore the "Varric exaggerates the heck out of the story" at the beginning of every Act, until Cassandra calls him on it. Yes, that was a thing. 2) Make DA: Exodus. Yes, I am still bitter. [source] God damn it, I meant "Make DA: Exalted March". The DA2 expansion, NOT Exodus since that was DA2's original name and makes no sense. Because the expansion ended with Varric dying, and that will always be on my "things left undone" list. [source]

User: Whaaaat?

DG: Well, you know that scene in Wrath of Khan where Spock goes into the dilithium chamber because he's a Vulcan? Well, imagine that but with Varric and red lyrium and because he's a dwarf. ;) [source]

John Epler: I distinctly remember referencing the bit from MGS4 where you crawl through the microwave corridor in the split screen, while cinematic battle rages on the other half. [source]

DG: It would have been glorious, John. Glorious. [source]

JE: I don't think I've ever been so certain what a shot should look like as I did Hawke coming in and finding Varric in the broken throne, just like when he was telling Cassandra his story. [source]

DG: It would have come full circle! Auggghh, it still kills me. [source]

User: Lord, you folks are a little too good at this.

JE: The true secret behind videogame narrative is knowing how to make yourself seem a lot more clever than you actually are. [source] 'Oh, we TOTALLY planned that.' [source]

User: Ok, this thread [the DA2 regrets thread, which is the big chunks above] but Inquisition.

DG: My regrets about Inquisition are, more or less, the normal kind. Nothing so dramatic, I'm afraid. [source]

User: You can keep your Varric romance, I want a Flemeth romance goddamnit!

DG: I would allow for one flirt option, and then a recording of Kate Mulgrew laughing for three minutes straight. [source]

User: I had a hypothesis about the repetitive caves in DA2. They're repetitive because it's Varric telling the story and he didn't consider them important. They're like sets in a play. (Okay, I really suspect it was a time/money/resources thing but I like my fake explanation better.)

DG: Hang a lampshade on it, maybe? Cassandra: "But that's the exact cave you were in last time?" Varric: "Whatever. They all look the same, I'm not THAT kind of dwarf. Can we move on?" [source]

User: that makes sense, hypothetically to make Varric romanceable and keep his arc—that had to happen for the main plot—I imagine you would have to make double the content (or more)? which would've been a tall order given the time/budget constraints the game was under

DG: Right. When it comes to "romance arc" vs. "follower story arc", we generally only had time to do one or the other. Never both. Romancing Varric would have meant not getting the story of his that you did. [source]

Mary Kirby: The one exaggeration I really, REALLY wanted, that we never got to do was Varric narrating his own death scene with Hawke weeping over him, then cutting to Cassandra's pissed off glaring at him. [source]

DG: Haha! The one I wanted was Varric's plot where he takes on the baddies single-handedly, sliding across the floor like Jet Lee, action movie-style, until finally Cassandra gets irritated and he has to admit Hawke & the rest of the party showed up to help. [source]

MK: We did that one! (He didn't do any Jet Lee moves, though.) Jepler gave him letterboxing to get The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly showdown vibes while he shot a ton of mooks single-handed. [source]

DG: Wow. Shows how much I remember. [source]

JE: I found it! I remember seeing this sequence as my treat for doing a bunch of much more challenging work. It was fun to see how far I could push our limited library of animations. [link] [source]

DG: Heh awesome. I could have sworn it was cut, honestly. I think I was even in that meeting. [source]

User: no disrespect but that’s surprising and rich of Mary “Hard in Hightown” Kirby to think DA2 shouldn’t have had a Varric romance when she wrote an entire book of Varric’s self-insert character pining over his Hawke insert character… HIH is the reason we had VHawke Summer 2018

DG: I can't *really* speak for Mary, or how she feels about it now compared to back then. I only know how she felt about it back then, and I'm not sure it was as much the concept of the romance but that Varric's entire story would be bent to "romance arc" ...a very different thing. [source]

JH: I remember pushing to have the first DLC start with Hawke having an option to ask Varric, "Did you tell Cassandra about us?" and if you picked it, Varric would answer, "Of course not, baby. I told her you were sleeping with X..." and then proceed as if you had had a full romance. [source]

DG: I still wonder how that would have gone over. x) [source]

JE: Okay, one more DA2 thing. Putting together the cinematics for this scene was a blast. [link] [source]

MK: These lines are my greatest legacy. I want "Make sure the world knows I died... at Chateau Haine!" inscribed on my tombstone. [source]

JE: I was so glad no one said 'no' to the crane shot. [source]

MK: It needs that crane shot. It's the perfect icing on that cake made from solid cheese. [source]

DG: The designers were all "we need more combat" and I think we were all "I think you underestimate just HOW interesting we can make this dinner party". [source]

JE: And finally. I think @SherylChee wrote the one-liner. I think we had a collection of like, 20. [link] [source]

Sheryl Chee: Yeah! Something like that! I remember submitted a whole bunch and Frank said you only needed one. Wish I'd kept the other fifteen. [source]

JE: A random chooser where, each time through the scene, you get a different one-liner. [source]

JE: DA2 is the project I'm the proudest of. I also absolutely get that it didn't land for a lot of people. But I don't think it's inaccurate to say that, in a lot of ways, DA2 defined my career. [source] Everyone spent a year working at their maximum ability. I was a fresh cinematic designer and was given all of Varric's content, as well as the Act 1 Finale mission. It was a lot for someone who had been doing the Cinematics thing for literally 6 months. [source] There's some stuff in there I can't look at without wincing. And there's some stuff I'm genuinely proud of. Not to mention, it was my introduction to most of the writing team. Several of whom I'm still working with today! Albeit in a different capacity [source] Also, weirdly, one of my most enduring memories of Dragon Age 2 is how much Bad Company 2 we'd play at lunch. It was a LOT. [source] Every game I've worked on has a game I played attached to it. ME2 is Borderlands. DA2 is Bad Company 2. DAI is DayZ. I, hmm. There's a progression there. I don't know how I feel about it. [source]

User: Is DA4 going to be tarkov then?

JE: I've kind of churned out of Tarkov for now. Probably Hunt Showdown, at least right now. [source]

User: I think people also don't take nuance into consideration -- like I FULLY acknowledge the flaws in my favorite games and will openly criticize them, but that doesn't mean they're not my favorite games anymore??? You can like and thing and still be critical of it.

JE: A lot of my favourite shit is deeply flawed! I acknowledge it and I think it's interesting to dissect the flaws. [source]

User: I still wish Justice was an actual character in DA2 rather than a plot point.

DG: There was a moment during DAI where we *almost* put in you running into Justice with the Grey Wardens, and he's all "Kirkwall? I never went to Kirkwall" [source]

User: Does that imply that Justice was shoehorned in to DA2?

DG: Nah, it was an in-joke where we thought it'd be fun to suggest that "Justice" was simply some demon that tricked Anders in DA2. Wooo those tricky demons! We didn't do it, though. [source]

User: [about templars] except, I don't think it had very much legitimacy to begin with. keep in mind, we interact with other characters with the same argument. The one that comes to mind is Cullen, a sane templar in power. The templar's side of the argument is inherently flawed.

DG: I don't doubt that many people agree with you, and yet people can and do argue on behalf of the templars as well. My place isn't to pick a side, but to provide evidence that players can interpret for themselves [source]

User: Can you shed some light for us on how DA was able to do multiple same-sex romance options for different genders but the Mass Effect team treated them like the plague? What process existed for your team that just wasn't their for the other tentpole franchise?

DG: Different people making the decisions, almost different cultures. I don't know what it's like now, but for many years the Mass Effect team and the Dragon Age team were almost like two different studios working within the same building. [source]

User: It truly boggles the mind. Kudos for doing demonstrably better on consistent queer representation than the ME teams. Y'all never needed us to make petitions to try to get the studio's attention and ask them to do better by us. That's the fight we're once again embroiled in now.

DG: Honestly, I don't feel like tut-tutting the Mass Effect team. They did their part, and if they were a bit later to the show than the DA team they certainly did more than almost every other game out there -- and willingly. [source]

Updates begin here

User: So what was the reason for naming Dragon age 2 "Dragon age II" and not using a subtitle?

DG: As I recall, that was purely a publisher decision. I think they wanted to avoid the impression it was an expansion. [source]

User: Is there no chance of ever remaking DA2 under better circumstances? -Somehow remove the repetitiveness of gameplay by making changes and updating the tech and adding much more to the storyline. It could almost be a new very exciting game.

DG: I'd say there's zero chance of that. Let's keep our hopes up for the next DA title instead. [source]

User: I am a little confused here, help me out here please! How exactly was the cut boss battle with Orsino supposed to work out? How it would've kept him from turning against the player?

DG: It means that, if you sided with the templars, the entire boss bottle at the end would have been against Orsino and the mages. No fight against Meredith. The end decision would have been more divergent. [source]

User: I do remember that one of the reasons going around for that, was that resources were going to the transition to Frostbite. I'm still not fully sold on that having been a good choice. I felt that more time should have been given for that transition considering it was made for FPSs

DG: We didn't transition to Frostbite until DAI. Given our time frame for DA2, I don't think we *could* have transitioned to a new engine. [source]

User: Since your talking about the what could have been for DA2. Could you say what your script was for Anthem? Cause I remember reading that you wrote the plot on that game.

DG: I created a setting for Anthem and scripted out a plot - but, as I understand it, almost none of that ended up being used. So it's a bit pointless to talk about what I'd planned, as that'd be for some completely different type of game. [source]

User: [in reference to the exchange above where DG said “Being "crazy", however, robbed her side of the mage/templar argument of any legitimacy. I hated hated hated that.” re: Meredith] except, I don't think it had very much legitimacy to begin with. keep in mind, we interact with other characters with the same argument. The one that comes to mind is Cullen, a sane templar in power. The templar's side of the argument is inherently flawed.

If I missed a tweet, got the wrong source link or included a tweet twice, feel free to let me know and I’ll correct.

Edit / Update: Post update 22nd April

#dragon age #bioware #video games #fenris #the Fenaissance #long post #longpost #cassandra pentaghast #my lady paladin #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #mass effect

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protect-him · 3 years

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Welcome! For DADW [Holds the other’s hand when they think the other won’t notice]

Thank you!! I had to try to think of something good for this one, hopefully you like it! It made me warm and happy to write ^^

for @dadrunkwriting

Noise.

Crowds.

People. Elves, dwarves, qunari, humans, a writhing mass.

If I held his hand now he would notice.

Anders could sense Fenris’s hand near his, swinging gently at his side, each delicate finger perfectly curled as they walked, occasionally tensing when a shoulder would brush against his.

Anders raised his arm to avoid hitting a dwarf who was hurrying past him, hands full of a large helping of nachos. When he looked back to Fenris, the elf was tugging out his hair tie and pulling it back again. His arms were beautiful...those lovely green eyes, his—Anders looked away. He’d thought he would feel bolder in this crowd of people. How hard could it be? Walking along side by side, both focused on keeping up with Hawke and Aveline just ahead of them, shouldn’t it be easy for Anders to reach over and grab Fenris’s hand? Apparently it wasn’t.

It was too obvious.

Or was it?

They stopped moving, caught in a frozen stream of bodies. They were in line for one of the big rides now. Hawke hopped up onto the railing, waving desperately at Isabela, only just visible over the crowd with her dark curls. She pushed through the line to join them.

“I brought us all drinks,” Isabela said, climbing over the barrier, shuffling and giggling as Hawke steadies her, her hands full with the bottles.

“What did you bring us, lovely?” Hawke relieved her of two bottles.

“Just water, dearest, we don’t want to be tossing our stomachs out on the ride! The drinks are at home, and we’ll have those later.”

Garrett passed the bottles over to Anders and Fenris. They’d been unusually quiet.

“Everything alright?” Aveline asked them, turning a sharp eye on the pair.

“Sure,” they both replied in the same breath.

Isabela said something to Hawke and they both giggled.

“There isn’t much point talking with these crowds anyway,” Anders said, shrugging. Fenris had his water open and was taking a long drink. The way his throat moved as he swallowed. Anders quickly opened his bottle as well.

The line moved slowly, but fast enough that Anders still had some water left.

Before long, they were climbing onto the roller coaster platform. Hawke and Isabela jumped for the seats at the front of the ride. Fenris was up ahead of Anders, and he followed Fenris to a spot up near the front as well. Fenris looked back when he felt Anders behind him.

“You don’t mind, do you?” Anders asked.

In answer, Fenris slid over to the further seat, allowing Anders to sit next to him. Anders pulled on the buckle as Fenris did. Their hands brushed between them as they clicked the belts into place. Anders handed Fenris his water bottle and Fenris set it on the opposite side of the ride with his own.

“Have you been on this one before?” Anders asked.

“This is my first time to this park,” Fenris said. He glanced ahead at where the track disappeared around the building.

“This is probably my favorite ride,” Anders said. “You get a great view, but not much time to enjoy it!” Fenris’s smile was nervous as the car lurched forward.

This is it, Anders thought. If he couldn’t do it now, he never could.

He kept his hands on the stiff restraint that came down in front of them to keep them from flying off the ride. They climbed the track. The air was still cool with morning crispness, the sky was an aching blue as they rode up into it. There were birds in the bushes beside the track, dropping behind them, but Anders barely heard them.

The first carts crested the top of the hill and everyone on the ride went quiet, holding their breath in anticipation. Anders waited as the first cart went over. And then the second. Fenris was watching, eager and also terrified. Anders reached over and grabbed his hand. Maybe he won’t notice. Then they crested the top and the ride truly began, flying down, around the turns and twists, turning upside down once briefly. And the whole time Anders clung to Fenris’s hand. He screamed and grinned with the thrill of it. And saw Fenris smiling beside him. But all he could think of was the rush and the warmth of the hand in his.

As quickly as it started, it was over. And they were chugging into place on the platform where the ride began.

Anders loosened his grip on Fenris’s hand, shyly hoping that maybe Fenris wouldn’t notice.

Fenris looked at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Uh, did you like it?”

“The ride? Or you holding my hand when you thought I wouldn’t notice?”

“Er—”

“Because I liked both. And I wish you’d done it sooner.”

“Fen—”

Fenris climbed out of the ride, picking up their waters. He handed Anders his, and then took his hand again. Anders flushed pink and Fenris grinned.

“We don’t want the others to leave us behind,” Fenris said, leading Anders towards the exit. Isabela winked at Anders when she saw their hands linked. He gave a shaky smile and nearly tripped over his own feet as they went down the steps to meet the others.

“Should we go again?” Hawke asked, “or do you two want one where you can sneak a kiss?”

“I do not think we shall be kissing,” Fenris said. “I would enjoy going on this ride again, though.”

“We’ll leave the kissing for tonight, dearest,” Isabela said, pressing up against Hawke. A crowd of young elves and qunari ran past them, crowding into the line for the ride.

“Let’s walk around a bit, and come back later,” Aveline observed. She wasn’t particularly eager to wait in the long line again. She was also riding solo until Donnic arrived later in the morning.

“Nothing too romantic, yet, until Donnic gets here, got it,” Hawke said. “Log ride it is!”

Not really particular about which ride they went on next, the group followed their fearless leader. But now Anders didn’t have to imagine how Fenris’s hand would feel in his. It was warm and firm, occasionally squeezing his so that he’d look over into those green eyes.

“Took you long enough,” Fenris said, and Anders was just barely able to hear him over the noise of the crowds.

“What can I say, I couldn’t tell if you would let me,” Anders said. “You might have punched me!”

“Well, feel free to do it again anytime you like,” Fenris said. And then they were crowding into the line for the next ride and Anders could only blush and grin. Fenris still held onto him, and he’d never had a ride that could make his heart race quite like it did right now.

#dadwc tag #my writing #fenders #fanfiction #fairfaxleasee #dadwc fills

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lvllns · 4 years

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23 for Fenris and Penelope? 💖

in relief

After everything, he is not sure if it’s his place to call her foolish, not anymore, but Fenris does not think that will stop him when this fight is over and she is out of danger.

The Arishok circles her, eyes narrow and chest heaving for breath. Penelope nocks another arrow, storm grey eyes wide and wild. Fenris can see her bow shaking, the arrow twitching against the string and her hand. Next to him, Sebastian swears under his breath. Out of them all he would know best what unsteady hands would do to the flight of an arrow.

With a bellow, the Arishok charges.

Without a sound, Penelope looses her arrow.

It flies true, somehow. Embeds itself deep in the throat of the Qunari, and he slams to his knees. Hands clutch at his throat, clawing and grasping at the wooden shaft, but he collapses. Eyes rolling back as he dies choking on his own blood.

There is a moment, one second, of absolute silence before noise floods the room. Nobles yelling. Qunari heading for the door. Varric is saying something but Fenris is not sure what because he is gone.

He means to walk to her. He does. Instead, he phases across the hall. A blur of shining blue and flickering lyrium and then he is in front of her. Penelope is leaning against a pillar gasping for air. Her hair clings to her face, matted with sweat and blood and gore. Her gaze lifts from the ground to his face and she smiles wide enough to crinkle the corners of her eyes.

There is no thinking about what he does next.

Fenris kisses her.

Well, he presses his nose to the top of her head and kisses her hair.

He clutches her shoulders. Pulls and tugs until her bow clatters to the ground and her nose brushes the side of his neck. Her arms wrap around his waist, fingers grasping at his armor. Unsteady breaths against his skin. Warm gusts of air.

She is alive.

He drops his mouth. Kisses her temple before resting his cheek against her own. It is slick with sweat and blood. He holds her tighter.

“You are foolish,” he says. “Foolish, stubborn, and self-sacrificing.”

She smiles. He can feel the muscles in her face shift. “I feel as though we’ve had this conversation before.”

“We will no doubt have it again at some point, of that I am certain.”

He exhales slowly. Heavy, thick. Weighted. And then he knocks their foreheads together. Pushes against her as hard as he dares. It must not be close enough because she leans into him until the pressure hurts but neither of them move. The line they walk is thin, fine, something ever changing as Fenris figures out what he is comfortable with. Penelope told him, when they talked right after...everything, that she was here for him. Willing to wait and go at his speed. He had dismissed it at the time, written it off. But months later...Hawke is tactile with all of them and it has been so easy to slip right back to where they were before.

Careful of his sharp gauntlets, he cups her face. She sighs. Something delicate and tender in the scant space between them.

“How badly are you hurt?” His voice breaks over the last few words. He clears his throat.

She makes a soft sound at the back of her throat. “Not terribly. A quick heal from Anders and I should be okay.” She lifts her head. Their noses bump together. Fenris blinks, and Penelope takes a tiny step back, just enough so she can look down at her battered body. His hands do not leave her face. “I don’t think much of this blood is mine anyway.”

“You would be a terrible assassin if it was.”

Hawke snorts, head lifting so their eyes meet, and then she begins to laugh in earnest. Fenris smiles. It has been quite some time since she last laughed like that, and while he doubts it’s all because of what he said, something warms deep in his chest knowing he played a part.

He drops his hands to his side. Looks behind him and finds their entire gaggle of friends watching with various levels of interest. He scratches at his jaw. “We should—”

“Fenris,” Penelope says, voice soft. He looks at her, head tilting. “Thank you.”

The ground beneath his feet tilts a little. “For what?”

She shrugs. “Being here. Having faith in me. Everything.” A soft snort, her eyes roll. “Take your pick really.” He opens his mouth but clicks it shut when she raises her hand. “Are you okay?”

The tips of his gauntlets prick into his palms as his fists curl. “Nellie, you have just fought the Arishok in single combat, you are bleeding, and I saw you take at least one hit to the head, yet you are asking me if I’m okay?”

“Well when you put it like that,” she mumbles, cheeks flushing.

He wants to tell her he’s fine, more than fine because she is alive and breathing and somehow does not hate him. But he doesn’t get the chance. She rocks up on her toes and brushes her lips against his cheek. His body leans into the feeling. Chases the sweet press of her mouth against his skin as she steps out of his reach.

“Healing and then home?”

Fenris chuckles. “Knowing you Hawke?” One dark brow lifts. “It will be healing and then bandits.”

Penelope laughs again. Shoves his shoulder playfully before scooping up her bow and nudging him back toward their friends. He follows like he always does. A moth drawn to the brightest flame he has ever seen.

#caiti.txt #ask tag #fenhawke #c: penelope hawke #fenris x penelope #long post #throws almost 1k of soft fenhawke at y'all #hey so this got a Little out of hand lmao #anon i love you #i need......to write more for them ugh i love them so much #Anonymous #writing tag

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gayrett-hawke · 3 years

Text

Getting to Know Hawke

Basics

Name: Garrett Hawke

Age at the start of their game: 27 (born 30 Firstfall, 9:03 Dragon)

Gender: Male

Sexual orientation: Gay

Race: Human

Class: Mage

Height: 6'4"

Weight: 227 lbs

Eyes: Brown

Hair color/texture: Black; Wavy (not that you can tell with how short it normally is)

Skin tone: Ivory

Do they tan or freckle?: He definitely tans, and he gets some freckles too, but they're so faint, it's hardly noticeable

Any distinctive physical characteristics?: Other than being a big, beefy boy with a fabulous beard? Just some scars here and there, most notably the one across his nose that he usually covers with war paint

Personality

Personality type: ESFP-T

Optimist, pessimist, or realist?: Realist

Best traits:

Charming

Friendly

Outgoing

Compassionate

Loyal

Worst flaws:

Self-Deprecating

Foolhardy

Soft-Hearted

Audacious

Evasive

Tropes that apply to them:

All-Loving Hero

Almighty Janitor

Aloof Big Brother

Badass Unintentional

Because Destiny Says So

Benevolent Boss

Beware the Silly Ones

Big Brother Instinct

Bullying a Dragon

The Caretaker

Casual Danger Dialogue

The Charmer

Cosmic Plaything

Deadpan Snarker

The Dutiful Son

Failure Hero

Fight Magnet

Friend to All Children

Heroic Self-Deprecation

Hurting Hero

It's All My Fault

Let's Get Dangerous!

Living Emotional Crutch

Magic Knight

Magnetic Hero

Modest Royalty

Must Make Amends

Nay-Theist

Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!

Non-Idle Rich

Obfuscating Stupidity

One-Man Army

Properly Paranoid

Rage Breaking Point

Reluctant Warrior

Right Man in the Wrong Place

Royals Who Actually Do Something

Sad Clown

Seen It All

The Snark Knight

Warrior Therapist

You Are Better Than You Think You Are

Are there any songs that particularly suit them?:

Forever Young by Youth Group

Don't Stop Me Now by Queen

Warriors by Imagine Dragons

Smile by Nat King Cole

For You I Will by Tata Young

If yes, would they agree with your selections?: Yeah, probably, but he might prefer I leave out the 4th one

Preferences

Favorite color: Red

Favorite animal: DRAGONS!

Taste in clothing: Casual. Anything that's comfortable, sturdy, and at least somewhat decent-looking

How do they feel about mage rights?: Would like some, thank you

How do they feel about the other races of Thedas?: As long as the personality is decent, he gets along with them. Also, Qunari are big and strong, and he admires them from an aesthetic point of view

Are they religious?: Not especially, but he technically was raised Andrastian

If they were to find themselves in a modern AU

Favorite food: Burgers

Drink order: Dark and Stormy, Old-Fashioned, or Whiskey Sour

What would they wear for a night out?: An obnoxiously-tight black t-shirt, a red flannel with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of jeans, and some black Doc Martens

Song(s) that would be sure to get them on the dance floor:

Take on Me by a-ha

Tubthumping by Chumbawamba

All Star by Smash Mouth

Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65

Ma Ya Hi (Dragostea Din Tei) by Dan Balan and Lucas Prata

What Is Love by Haddaway

Careless Whisper by George Michael

Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley

YMCA by Village People

Rasputin by Boney M

U Can't Touch This by MC Hammer

Let's Get It On by Marvin Gaye

September by Earth, Wind, and Fire

College major: Kinesiology or Paleontology, maybe

Ideal date: Amusement Park

Favorite movie and/or film genre: Shrek 2; Comedy

Family/Friends/Love Life

Relationship with their parents: Garrett was very close to Malcolm. As the firstborn and a fellow mage, he had plenty of time to bond with his father and follow in his footsteps. His relationship with Leandra wasn't as solid, though. He always wanted to make her proud, but she put a lot on him after his father died, and he mostly just accepted that she needed someone to take her pain out on

Siblings (outside of canon): Surprising or no, Hawke really loves Carver. He's not great at being serious and all that, but he does actually care and would do anything for his younger brother. He also realizes how much Carver has had to deal with and is willing to be an emotional punching bag whenever he needs it. His relationship with Bethany was a lot better, since they spent a lot of time learning magic together, and she was more willing to let loose than Carver. She was his rock, and the rest of the family's too, and her loss affected him deeply

Best friend(s): Varric, Isabella, Anders (initially), and Inquisitor Adaar (if she is able to exist in the RP)

Companion(s) they get along best with: Fenris, Isabella, Varric, Merrill, and Anders (initially)

Companion(s) they get along worst with: Carver (one-sided), Sebastian, and Anders (eventually)

Companion(s) from other games in the series you wish they could meet, and why: Alistair back when he was a Grey Warden, just because of the sheer amount of goofy himbo energy they both have

Age of sexual debut: Probably around 16 or 17 (but please don't be creepy about it; mun is ace and is only basing this age on what they heard about from their peers in high school)

Romanced: Fenris (RPs will not go beyond flirting with anyone he met after this man who stole his heart)

Relationship status as of the end of Inquisition: Partners

Are there any songs that particularly suit their romance?:

All On Me by Devin Dawson (with altered gender terms)

Did I Mention by Jeff Lewis and Mitchell Hope (again, altering gendered vocabulary)

Arms by Christina Perri

Latch by Sam Smith

What are they like as a romantic partner?: Snarky and playful, but ultimately putty in his partner's hands. He's a bit of a hopeless romantic and will turn his whole life upside down to please the one he loves. Also prone to grand romantic gestures and spontaneous displays of affection

Do they enjoy cuddling?: Absolutely!

Do they want children?: Not particularly

Do they (now or eventually) have children?: No

Skills

Can they cook?: A bit

Can they sing/play an instrument?: Sing? Sure. Play an instrument? No

Are they a good dancer? If not, do they do it anyway?: He can be, but it's much more fun to goof off and entertain the people around him

Do they have any creative hobbies?: Not really

Any martial training beyond their main weapon?: Malcolm trained him in swordfighting before his magic kicked in

Languages spoken: The common tongue and a bit of Tevene he picked up from Fenris

Any other unique skills they'd like us to know about?: He's pretty talented at drinking, but anything else he'd like you to know probably wouldn't be appropriate to repeat

Template

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fairfaxleasee · 3 years

Note

For DADWC: "You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!" for anyone you like!

For @dadrunkwriting

Sorry, had to change the quote again for the story I wanted to go with:

CW: Body horror references, cannibalism references, Hawke is generally over shit

If she were being entirely honest, this ‘Morrigan’ person was by far Lyta Adaar’s least favorite temporary resident of Skyhold (or at least the woman had better be a temporary resident, her constant negging was starting to strain even Lyta’s patience). Unfortunately, the Orlesians insisted she come and ‘help’ (although Lyta was starting to suspect that might have just been a way to get rid of her) so Lyta didn’t feel like she could kick her out of the castle. At least yet. She was just trying to ignore the woman as best she could. Unfortunately, Morrigan had caught her while she was picking some herbs in the Skyhold garden and was currently talking at her.

“As I was saying, Inquisitor, if you’re ever interested in learning some more... uncommon uses for plants, I would happily assist. I know some people in Skyhold,” Morrigan turned her head to glare at Cassia Hawke, who was minding her own business across the courtyard and appeared to be going over some maps with Cullen and Loghain Mac Tir, “fancy themselves ‘experts’ in it, however I can guarantee you no woefully mundane ex-Viscount knows as much as a properly trained mage.”

Lyta caught some movement out of the corner of her eye. She looked up and saw that Hawke, Cullen, and Loghain had stopped looking at the maps. Loghain was leaning away from the table slightly looking at Hawke, who was bent over it with enough tension in her frame that Lyta could see her shoulder blades pressed together through her leather armor. For his part, Cullen was waiving frantically at Lyta, which was the movement she saw. Once their eyes met, Cullen swiped one hand in front of his throat then pointed to an area across the garden where Lyta could just see Varric peaking over the wall that separated it from the walkway.

Morrigan didn’t seem to care that Lyta’s attention was elsewhere as she continued as though nothing had happened (although Lyta had a suspicion that even if Morrigan had noticed something happened, she wouldn’t care). “I can guarantee you, Inquisitor, I am a very good friend to have. Unlike some, I'm not going to be abandoned at Skyhold. I have the talents to help you do great things, if you let me.”

“Lyta, get out of there!” Lyta doubted anyone else heard Cullen’s whispered warning over the sound of Hawke slamming her palms on the table in front of her.

Lyta decided Cullen probably knew what he was talking about so as soon as Morrigan’s back was turned she got up and went to watch whatever bloodbath this was going to be with Varric. Being a Qunari, she wouldn’t be able to hide as easily as he could, but it was better than being totally out in the open.

She made it to cover just in time to see Hawke round on Morrigan and stalk over with her head twisted slightly as she let out an eerily chipper chuckle and started in on the apostate, “Listen bitch, you may be talented at toadying up but it's kinda like widespread slaughter, one of those things that it's fundamentally impossible to be good at.”

Morrigan leaned away from Hawke in cool distain, “Well, you would be one to speak of widespread slaughter.”

Hawke snorted and shook her head, “Nice to see your perspective is actually as narrow as it seems.”

“To speak of narrow perspectives so. You were so overwhelmed by the office of Viscount you and your elven bedwarmer wouldn't have to flee the Marches.”

Lyta wasn’t sure how, particularly given that Hawke wasn’t a mage, but she was positive the temperature in the courtyard dropped about twenty degrees to be a better match for Hawke’s icy tone and frozen eyes. “First thing, if you want your fucking tongue to stay in one piece and where it is I'd better not hear you talking about Fenris that way again. People really underestimate what a versatile cut of meat the tongue is and as you so astutely point out I am on the run. Second thing, the rodents may be of unusual size in the fire swamp, but they're nowhere near as big as they are in Orlais. Nor do they pretend to be anything else.”

Morrigan either didn’t notice or didn’t care about the force of Hawke’s ire, “Do make up your mind, am I a toad or a rodent?”

"And here I thought you needed to be witty to survive in the Game. You're a fucking shape-shifter bitch! You're every lowly parasitic pest anyone is ever forced to endure. And seriously, any time you want to play one of my games, let me know.” She ran her eyes over Morrigan appraisingly. “Lots of other cuts of meat I can use.”

“I certainly hope you don’t think you’re impressing anyone with this display.”

“Aww, not all of us need to turn tricks to get permission to stay.”

“Well, maybe if you had you wouldn’t have been run out of every home you’ve ever known!”

“Given that you’re here, I don’t see that as being a recipe for success.”

“I hope you’re paying attention, Reaper.” Lyta turned towards Varric at his whisper, “You just watched someone fall prey to one of the classic blunders. The most well known of which is, of course, ‘Never get involved in a sea war against Qunari,’ but only slightly less well-known is ‘Never insult Elf if Jigsaw’s around to hear it.’ Actually, she just fell into two classic blunders, ‘Never poke at Jigsaw when she’s twitchy’ is I think fourth on the list.”

“I’ll... keep that in mind.”

Lyta glanced back at the verbal grudge match taking place in the courtyard. Leliana had come down at some point and was, for some incomprehensible reason, trying to intervene.

“I think you should calm down, Champion,” Varric, Loghain, Cullen, and Lyta all winced at Leliana’s choice of words. For her part Lyta had thought Leliana was smarter than that. “Take some time, try to understand what Morrigan is saying. There is no reason why we cannot all be friends.”

Hawke threw her head back and her hollow, empty laughter cut through the courtyard. Lyta looked down to make sure it hadn’t somehow cut her.

“Oh, but there is every reason we can’t all be friends. I don’t want to be her friend.” Hawke snapped her gaze to Leliana. “Or yours. But neither of you have friends, do you? It’s all tools, followers, worshippers, stepping-stones, accessories on your bloody path to power and glory. Oh, but I forget; it’s okay for you to do it, because the maker wants you to, and with your perfect sense of right and wrong, you know exactly what the maker wants.”

Leliana straightened a bit, “You think you see so much, don’t you, Champion? Well do you ever look at yourself? See what you’ve done? The suffering you’ve caused? What do you see when you look at yourself?”

“So much more than you do. But that’s a bit of a truism, isn’t it? That light of righteousness you’re just smart enough to be terrified to step even a bit away from is just so blinding, isn’t it?”

Lyta turned to whisper to Varric, “Same classic blunder?”

“Same classic blunder, Reaper.”

Lyta pursed her lips, she wasn’t sure why, possibly because it was something to focus on that wasn’t what was going on in the courtyard, but she decided to finally ask Varric, “Why do you call me that anyway? It doesn’t really fit you know.”

“Reaper, you’re a giant Qunari woman with a huge scythe, you look like a Reaper. And maybe you should take a page from Jigsaw’s book and consider leaning into it more, you have to be just a bit intimidating, you’re the Inquisitor. If I went around calling you something cute like ‘fawn’ nobody would take you seriously. ‘Course maybe don’t lean into it quite as far as Jigsaw did.”

“If you want her to stop, why don’t you start calling her something cute like fawn?”

“Well, ‘fawn’ would never work for Jigsaw, but maybe...” Varric stood and shouted at Hawke, “Say, Jigsaw? What would you think about me calling you ‘Kitty’ instead?”

“...what?” Hawke didn’t look enthusiastic about the idea.

“I... uh, never mind. And I just remembered I’m on a deadline so I’ll see you later Jigsaw.”

“And that, Inquisitor,” Loghain had gathered up the maps and walked over to Lyta while she was distracted, “Would be an example of the third most famous classic blunder - do not draw attention to yourself if you’re around Cassia and she’s on-edge.”

Lyta looked up at the Warden in confusion, “She’s what, thirty five? How are so many of these ‘classic’ blunders about her?”

“I’d suggest asking your advisors, but people who end up on the wrong end of Cassia don’t tend to enjoy re-living the experience.”

“Well then how many of the classic blunders are about her?” Lyta asked.

“Both more and fewer than you’d imagine.”

Cullen entered the conversation, “Here’s a question for you, Loghain - You couldn't have just left her in Gwaren?”

Loghain shook his head and muttered, “What is it with out-of-their-depths ex-Templars and that question...” He continued at full volume, “I didn’t leave her in Gwaren for the same reason you didn’t want to leave her wherever she was. There are a lot of people who are good, and she’s very good, but when it comes to ripping opponents to shreds there’s no one better.”

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lunchador · 3 years

Note

ok but!!! what happened!!! im screaming!!! you finished the game but there are no details!!! friend i need details!!! who sided with who!!!! im just!!! so excited about ur playthru and i need any and all details about how u feel about anders rn especially!!! i think there was less different paths because funding but i still would like to Know

SO!! MUCH!! HAPPENED!!

It was funny, cuz, y’know, in comparison to DA:O where the END OF THE WORLD is hanging above your head at all times, I felt the pacing was considerably more relaxed in 2. And in retrospect, it definitely was building up in ways you weren’t quite piecing together (Or am I dumb? That’s usually the case) as you aren’t even sure why you have the derogatory title from cassandras mouth of Champion. Champion, of fuckin what? I do chores for people.

So like most of the game feels like you’re chilling. Talk to some people, do some small quests, learn some lore.

Then like, the qunari attack happened. Which, I assume happens regardless, correct? Man that statue of me looks douchey as hell. Flaming sword?

ANDERS CAN SUCK SHIT. That fucker lied to me? and made everything OH SO MUCH FUKIN WORSE. Oh boohoo I want to rid justice, distract her so I can MURDER PEOPLE ACTUALLY INSTEAD?? Like, MAN, I really like him on paper, healer of the needy, activist, cat lover. But he is so warped in his thinking and self hate. Also I know I joked about this somewhere but our second conversation ever (first one being when I met him) he gives me a big speech about how he could see us together but how he’s so bad he’s a monster boohoo so i need to stay away from him romantically and I’m standing there like.......yeah ok man.

I SHOULD HAVE KILLED HIM - I was legit SO mad he did that. Everything was bad as is, and he made it worse. If I hadn’t have helped in that quest would it still have happened? AUGH. Almost everyone wanted him dead but I still felt bad. Of the companions, I think i bonded with him and sebastian the least. I tried really hard to side with the mages, cuz, i’m a mage, i dont think magic is bad but bad people can have magic, and Meredith IS a dick and instigated it, BUT THERE IS SO FUCKING MUCH BLOOD MAGIC IN KIRKWALL, WHY.

AND FUCKIN SEBASTIAN - SO MAD - was like if you let him live i’m coming back with an army to attack. like...bro what happened to being a peaceful monk or whatever the shit? I thought I told you taking the crown wasn’t worth it if you don’t want it? fuckin jude law looking motherfucker. But i barely played with him and i figured anders healing would be useful for the end. so, i took anders with me. So now I guess I’m gonna hear in inquisition about this dude coming in to attack kirkwall later idk SIGH

So yeah, I tried to side with Orison. Then that bitch ass gave in to blood magic too and turned into that disgusting abomination. I HATE when you try to defend someone and they too turn into a jackass. Fuck you, man. And Meredith of course is off her rockers with red lyrium. I hate all of these people. I tried to save the decent mages where I could and that bit me in the ass with one of them at the end FUCK YOU, UNGRATEFUL.

A N Y W A Y S,

since I’m sooooooo good at these games (how am I so so so bad??) Hawke basically...lost everyone. I didn’t officially romance anyone. Though in the epilogue, it says everyone eventually splits from Hawke except Isabela. I figured she had a soft spot for me. I think I couldn’t fully romance her because I didn’t get her the boat? Idk. I didn’t like the romance system in this game. Like, yes it makes sense for story plot reasons but it’s terribly confusing for someone not in the know and I hated looking at guides because they had spoilers.

My mom got murdered by a serial killer blood mage, r.i.p. My sister is dead. I am SO surprised Carver sided with me in the end. I thought he was genuinely about to pick being a templar over me and fight. I TRIED TO BE SO NICE TO THAT FUCKER.

i’m surprised cullen sided with me too. the few interactions you have with him in origins and here he’s kind of a dick. and i know all that shit going on with his VA so i am not stoked for him in inquisition

I tried/failed to romance Fenris. Man, I got SO attached to him?? He tries so hard to be grumpy but you get under his skin. Every time he called me his friend or smiled I was like YES, YOU FUCKER, YOU LIKE ME. But being a mage is such a cockblock. FUCK. I’m definitely kissing him next time. But I can at least brag that I guess I did his companion quest correctly enough and he was maxed out cuz he didn’t leave me. He seemed begruding that he was gonna defend mages but he was gonna do it for ME. BFFs til the end.

how the fuck did fenris turn around and settle for compromise while anders was still pissy as hell? I guess anders just feels so much for others. also the whole tranquil shit was sooo fucked. Also I love they’ve known each other for 6 years and they’re still disgustingly snippy with each other - FIGHT!!!!

MERRIL TRIED TO CONFESS FEELINGS FOR ME. HOW? I kept pissing her off by not supporting the blood mage shit. I HAD TO PULL THE LIKE A SISTER LINE. MERRIL IM SO SORRRRRRYYYYYYYYYYYY. She’s so sweet, yet her quest was incredibly fucked up oh my god?? We had to kill the dalish group and I FELT AWFUL. WHY SO MUCH BLOOD MAGIC????????

I thought this game was going to end with assigning a new viscount. ANd I was like man that sucks, Sid isn’t the type for permanent responsibility like that but like, if it’ll get everyone to shut the fuck up ok. But...that wasn’t the ending. I hope that gets addressed in inquisition? I felt like that kinda got cliffhanger’d. Also I’m assuming Aveline had to run too being she was associated with me so the guard is probably in shambles too.

oh my god what about dominic? D:

anyway, I would die for varric, and while I understand the story reasons for not letting him be romancable, it still sucks cuz he pairs SO well with a snarky Hawke, sigh

but yeah there may have been less big decisions but there certainly were a lot of smaller ones I felt I fucked up. I’m just.......so good at that. I got so many people KILLED.

def some replay value in there!! I tried to do a lot more sidequests in this one than origins. so we will see how inquisition goes. It’s been super hyped to me and I’m told it’s pretty long

Its just crazy all the shit hawke got caught up in without even particularly trying. Like the warden is there because, yeah, they’re a grey warden, one of the few, but in 2 its just kinda like..............oops lmfao.

#dragon age

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5lazarus · 3 years

Note

Hurt / Comfort prompt list: 6 and/or 17, please!

so you and Verdi inspired an entire story! these prompts provoke catharsis, and I was thinking of DA characters who desperately need that emotional catharsis, so here we go. Might make more sense if you read these two first, but I think it stands alone. Basically, after escaping Kirkwall, Hawke and friends are stuck in a cave, waiting for a storm to pass. Now they have to figure out how to weather each other. I put it up on AO3, titled Catabasis.

6. “I can’t breathe.” Isabela says, “Can you all fucking chill? I can’t breathe with this shit.” She throws her cards down. “Anyway, I win.” She pulls at her necklace anxiously. Everyone is on edge. Hawke bites back a response. Arguing with Isabela is never worth it, somehow she always wins, just out of pure intransigence. “We’re playing Go Fish,” Varric says, “not Wicked Grace. Don’t get ahead of yourself, Rivaini. You haven’t won shit.” Hawke is surprised at his vehemence. “Don’t give me that look, Hawke. You know how much I hate caves.” He drops another card. “So we’ve literally blown up our lives. Blondie’s in a fucking coma. Aveline’s finally lost her job, and I’ve wasted all the money I spent bribing the guards to keep the only woman with principles on payroll. Which, in light of the whole city being burned down and invaded by our favorite choir boy, doesn’t seem the worst of my losses. We’re all pissed off. So? What are we going to do about it?” “We could talk,” Hawke says petulantly, sitting down cross legged. Varric hands them a few random cards. Hawke blinks at them. They aren’t quite sure if they are playing Go Fish, or Wicked Grace, or some unholy game Isabela and Varric have concocted just to mess with Bethany. They’ve done that before, made up a card game and rules on the fly. “What’s there to talk about?” Isabela says. She puts two cards down. “Hit me.” Varric slaps her hand and moves one of the cards sideways. They are definitely making up the rules as they go along. “We’re all pissed off. We’re on the run. Again. And I’ve lost my ship. Yet again. But what does it matter? Just pieces.” “What’s that?” Hawke asks. “Qunari philosophy. My mother was viddathari, you know this.” Isabela puts down another card. “It doesn’t matter. I don’t like the Qun, that’s obvious. But it has its moments.” Merrill slinks out of the shadows and curls around Hawke. They put their arm around her and plant a kiss at the edge of her hairline, right above her ear. Merrill shivers, in a good way. Isabela smirks at them. “Anyway, it’s just--none of this shit matters, in the end. You just have to keep moving. Let the waves take you where they will. So Kirkwall’s behind us. Well, at least we know where we’re going. When the rain clears up, we’ll head to Wycombe. I’ve got some friends in the Rivaini merchant community there. We have options. Llomerryn isn’t that awful. Rainy, but smells better than Lowtown, at least. And we’re different about magic, about--well--elves. We won’t be turned away from taverns anymore, I’ll tell you that. If you want to stay with me.” They all fall quiet at that. Hawke wants everyone to stay together, but to what end? What’s the point where they’re falling apart like this? Take them out of the Hanged Man, without a common enemy, and immediately they are all at each other’s throats. Hawke catches Bethany’s eye. They want to try, but they are tired of trying and failing. They stay silent. Fenris says, “The Qunari don’t like magic, and you’re a fool to think Rivain can stay neutral when Tevinter inevitably drags Orlais into their war. And you’re a fool to think the Chantry won’t try to punish the Circles, for what Kirkwall did. You remember what Leliana said. The mages are stuck in a war for their own survival. We will find peace nowhere.” “Always a ray of sunshine,” Varric remarks. He throws his hand into the air, and the cards rain down like confetti. Merrill giggles. He says the unthinkable: “What if we split up?” “Don’t say that,” Hawke says immediately. “We stay together.” They cannot lose them and Kirkwall both. They’ve lost Carver and Leandra and Lothering, that awful mansion, their uncle and cousin too. Kirkwall will never welcome its champion home, not with Starkhaven’s army occupying it, not with the Divine’s Seekers crawling through Darktown tunnels for any hint of rebellion. Hawke has lost their home. They cannot lost their friends too. Bethany and Merrill are not enough. They look helplessly at Isabela, who smiles sadly. Isabela, who has never had much at all: she puts a stop to that though. Isabela fans her cards out in front of her lap. She taps a queen, then looks at Hawke. “We’ll have to keep running, for a long time. Especially if the Divine is after us.” She does not need to say it: I will follow you. She came back even after the Arishok killed the Viscount. She will not abandon them now. Hawke smiles, heartened. They know where they will go, now: Wycombe, then Llomerryn, and onward. “How much further ‘til Wycombe?” they ask. “Fenris? You’ve clearly been there before. What are our next steps?” Fenris says, “We don’t move on until Anders can move. It would be safer to split, but I am reluctant to risk missing a rendezvous.” There it is again, unspoken: I followed you from Kirkwall, and Anders too, and I will not leave me now. Do not leave me now. Fenris takes Anders’ hand into his own and his face twists. Hawke shifts, uncomfortable. Everyone has their tragedy, but it is harder to synthesize and react when the stage itself has been removed. Kirkwall is gone. What is the next act? Varric says testily, “We can’t live on the run forever.” Bethany snorts. They have, from the Marches where their parents met, to Denerim and the Hinterlands back out to Lothering, across the Waking Sea and Kirkwall again. The Hawke siblings can. Varric, though, hates moving. He is as solid as the Stone that birthed him, though he would never admit it. Kirkwall is their home, but for Varric, it is part of him. Hawke feels guilty. They cannot ask him to leave. They cannot ask him to go. Bethany, though, is irritated. “We can. I can. I don’t like it, but it’s better than letting the templars make me Tranquil.” She picks up the cards they have put out and shuffles them anxiously, fans them out, then shuffles them again. “We all have had to run, Varric. All of us except you.” Varric is taken aback. “What’s that supposed to mean, Sunshine?” His tone is less testy and more surprised. Bethany gets bitter, Hawke knows that better than all of them except maybe Anders, but she tends to keep that anger to herself. Merrill murmurs, “Oh, don’t start.” “Maybe I should,” Bethany says. “Maybe we need to be honest about what the next week is going to look like.” She turns around. “Aveline! Come back here. We all need to talk.” Isabela says, “I think you and I define ‘need’ differently, sweetling. Is there really anything more that needs to be said?” Aveline stalks over. She stares at Fenris warily, but pushes herself between Merrill and Varric. It’s weird to see her without her armor, her hair unkempt, and tired. Even after they buried Wesley, Aveline kept herself clean. “What?” she says. “What now?” Bethany says, “We need to decide now if we’re going to split up.” “No,” Hawke says immediately. “Hawke,” Aveline starts, but Hawke’s heart is pounding in their chest, and they feel like their sister has punched them in the stomach. They cannot think to lose them all. Merrill and Bethany aren’t enough, not after fleeing Kirkwall. They need more. They want their friends around them like a bulwark against the storm. The rain picks up outside, thunder shaking the woods, and Hawke feels momentarily reassured. They cannot split up just yet. “Ma vhenan,” Merrill says, “calm down. We’re here, right now.” Hawke looks at her. She looks so weary, so deeply sad. She left Clan Sabrae behind, or they left her, and who knows what they will face, with Sebastian occupying the city? Andrastians don’t like the Dalish, however hands-off and kind Sebastian’s missionary approach is. “Bethany, go on.” Bethany’s eyes flick to Hawke, then to Varric, and then to Avelien. Staring at Aveline, Bethany says, “We’re three mages, two elves, a dwarf, a pirate, and the Champion of Kirkwall. Aveline, you’re the only one of us who can move relatively...unmolested. And together we stick out. When we’d have to pack up, we were able to pass because we were a family, and Andrastian, and Mother was always good at talking to guards and templars. But everyone knows who the Champion is. Everyone knows they travel with a Dalish elf and the apostate who set the mages alight.” Hawke says, “When did you become a poet? Is that what they teach you in the Circle? And here I thought it was just blood magic.” Bethany scowls. “You know I’m right. Stop deflecting. You always do that, since Father died. I wish you wouldn’t. You can’t laugh this off this time. Our house has been destroyed. Our parents are dead. And there’s a warrant for your head, and mine too. And I don’t think that dragon lady is going to save us this time.” Hawke pushes Merrill off and stands up abruptly. “Then what do you suggest, Bethany?” they snap. “I got us out of Lothering, I got us into Kirkwall, I got us fucking out! With the help of a few miracles. So what do you think? Can you conjure something up?” “Hawke, sit down,” Aveline says. “Oh, come off it, Aveline,” Hawke says, exasperated. “You had your tantrum earlier, it’s my turn now.” They laugh at the sour face Aveline pulls. It is all utterly ridiculous, and they rejoice viciously as they make it all worse. “Stop joking? We’re a bad joke. A pirate, two apostates, and the Champion of Kirkwall get stuck in a cave. Got a punchline?” Aveline pulls herself up, and Hawke laughs again. “What? What are you going to do? Hit me? I thought you delegated that to your subordinates. Anybody know what happened to those elves who killed that guard who raped their sister? Aveline? Any guesses?” They step closer, staring right up in Aveline’s face. “Come on, it’s a helluva punchline!” And then Anders croaks, “Enough.” He paws at the collar of his robe. “I can’t breathe.” Fenris hurriedly unbuttons it for him, and Anders smiles at him. Fenris caresses the edge of his jaw, and Anders grabs his arm to level himself upright. Hawke deflates, relieved that he has woken up, and that it is him staring sternly at the lot of them, not Justice. Perhaps they can make it through this after all. “Well,” Aveline says, smiling despite herself. “The revolutionary himself. And not possessed. For once.” Anders grimaces, and gestures. Bethany gets up and pours him a glass of water. He downs it and clears his throat. “Din’mean to interrupt a good screaming match. But.” He rubs at his chest, over his heart, where the templar raised his Smite. “Hi?” He smiles awkwardly. None of them have planned this far. None of this saw this coming, except, perhaps, Anders--and Hawke knows for a fact he was hoping he was going to die in the battle, that fucking fool. Hawke swallows hard, tears springing to the edge of their eyes. These fucking fools: they all thought they were going to die before they got this far, didn’t they? “Don’t be cute,” Hawke says, voice breaking. “I’m mad at you. You were going to fucking let them kill you, you asshole.” They wipe at their eyes, cursing themselves. Bethany is looking at them in shock. Hawke musters a smile, casts about for a joke. “None of us planned this far, did we? None of us thought we were going to survive what Kirkwall was going to throw at us. But we did. And I for one think it’s more a miracle than that dragon dropping out of the sky to save us from the Blight. That we made it out alive. So let’s not throw that away. I don’t want us to separate.” They look at them all, their friends. “You lot are all I have left. All I want. And I don’t want to leave you behind.” Isabela bites her lip anxiously. “Aw, Hawke! And here I was going to sell you all to the Blind Men.” “Shut up and stop ruining the moment, Isabela,” Aveline says wearily. “Can we salvage this?” Varric offers, “Group hug?” Fenris says flatly, “No.” 17. “Hey, don’t do that, you’ll hurt yourself.” With that, the tension dissolves, and Hawke begins to laugh. They throw themself down next to Fenris and pull him into a hug, messing his hair. “Gimme a hug!” they say. “I deserve it, I saved your sorry ass.” Fenris says, “Ugh.” He scowls but does not pull away. Aveline huffs and moves to Varric. Hawke can feel Varric glaring at them. They purposefully turn away from the two of them, grinning a tad maniacally at their other friends. The fissures are obvious. Hawke thinks, maybe it’s like the Fade, and they’ll go away if I don’t look at them. Merrill gets up and begins moving around the shelter, pulling together a meal. Bethany follows. Isabela creeps closer to Hawke, Fenris, and Anders, watching the others fondly. “Damn, Anders,” Isabela says. “I didn’t think you were going to be there when you woke up.” Anders winces. “I wasn’t so sure either,” he says quietly. Fenris tightens his grasp on his hand. Hawke worries that he is hurting him. They aren’t quite sure about the two of them, though they had almost felt themself falling off the precipice into love with both men. They have that intensity, that fervor, that adoration that feels akin to worship--but Merrill’s love is calm like the surf lapping at the shore at low tide, and Hawke is not yet another ship to wreck in the storm. Anders and Fenris seem tender, anyway--desperate, but tender. Hawke says, “So. Still alive then?” It comes out more sour than they intend. “Despite your best efforts.” Anders looks guilty. “I didn’t want to die,” he claims. Fenris looks away sharply, hair hiding his face. Anders bites his lip. “It wasn’t--well, I made it. You got me through. The wardens always said I’d go out with a bang.” Hawke starts to laugh, which is better than crying. “Wait until they hear about what you did in Kirkwall!” “Which was not a suicide attempt,” Fenris says meditatively. “So you say.” “It wasn’t. Fenris, you know it wasn’t.” “I do not want to discuss your propensity to self-destruction right now,” Fenris says, voice strained. “But we will.” Anders looks irritated. “It’s not self-destruction, it was basic self-preservation and you know I had no other option--” “Maybe I should leave you two alone,” Hawke suggests. “Somehow. Because we’re stuck in this cave until the rain lets out. And it’s the sort of situation where we need to rappel down, so we’d need to do it together.” “No,” Fenris says. “Hawke, back me up in this.” Hawke really does not want to get involved in this, but they have never been able to tell their friends when to learn some emotional continence. They sigh. “You let us know you were planning something. You told me we needed to prepare to flee. You did not tell me you were planning to blow up the Chantry!” Hawke shrugs. “To be fair, it was a little obvious, with the sela petrae.” Fenris gives them a dirty look. Hawke spreads out their hands. “What? Come on. Sela petrae, drakestones, all those dark murmurings in the sewers--I just thought it was more than a one-man show.” Anders smiles slightly. “Well, you know me. I like to hog the stage. I didn’t want to bring anyone down with me.” “Don’t I know it!” Isabela snorts. “And you were only three drinks in, too….” One day Hawke will have the bravery to ask exactly how the two met, and what they did. Today is not that day. They love their friends, truly, but they are so much, and today is too much, and they do not want to know. Fenris says, “I take exception to that.” He is very still. “‘Bring anyone down with you’--who do you think we are, then? Mere incidental acquaintances?” Isabela bumps Hawke’s shoulder. Hawke blinks. That means she wants them to make a joke. “Acquiantances to murder, you mean,” they try. “Uh. Accessories.” Isabela rolls her eyes. Everyone’s a critic, especially when your friend has tried to kill himself. Anger lights itself in the pit of their stomach. They swallow it, it isn’t productive, but testily, they say, “I helped you find the materials to make the bomb. You should have just told me, instead of trying to be a martyr. You’re my friend. I care about you. If we hadn’t done anything to stop Meredith, Bethany would’ve been made Tranquil too. I thought I made it obvious I supported you, we could’ve worked in tandem with the last of the Viscount’s family--it didn’t have to end like this. There could’ve been another way.” “No there couldn’t!” Anders stands up suddenly, eyes flashing blue. Merrill and Bethany turn around simultaneously from the mouth of the cave, and everyone’s attention is glued to him. Hawke notices Aveline’s hand drift to the handle of her sword, Varric fingers a bottle of knock-out powder he keeps at his waist, even Isabela already has a dagger in her hand. Anders wrestles Justice back. “There wasn’t,” he repeats. “I tried all other ways. Orsino too. Endlessly. When the Left Hand of the Divine came, I knew it was over. The Chantry would rather kill us than let us go. And I wasn’t going to sit down and let them brand me--” “I’m not disagreeing with that!” Hawke snaps. “I just--I’m your friend, Anders. We all are. I’ve known you for almost a decade. You did not have to do that alone. We’re just as implicated as you were ever going to be.” “Leliana used to be better,” Isabela says. “Before the Chantry got its claws in her again. But--we’re here now, aren’t we? Together?” She looks at them all pleadingly. “So do we have to fight? The decision was already made, why talk about it now?” Anders’ eyes flash again, but Fenris grabs his arm in a bruising grip, and Hawke winces. Isabela tends to agree with them, she hates anything that restricts herself and has enough empathy to hate prisons for other people--but Isabela hates conflict, and hates being trapped into defending a position. Anders and Fenris both need clear lines. Hawke puts their head in their hands, frustrated. Varric shakes his head angrily. “Because some of us didn’t want to be driven out of town,” he says. “Because some of us think killing a grand cleric is a fucking stupid way to try to convince people you’re not an evil abomination. Because some of us believe in using our words.” Hawke thinks, well that’s not where I wanted the conversation to go. They open their mouth to disagree, to defend, to protest, but Merrill gets there first. “Varric, please,” Merrill says. She is vibrating with tension. Hawke reaches for her, but Merrill brushes them off. “If it wasn’t going to be Anders, it was going to be me. Or Feynriel. My clan. That lyrium. Or even Hawke, you know Meredith was trying to push them out since they killed the Arishok. Varric, don’t do this. Please.” Varric’s face twists. Hawke is terrified again. He comes across as easy-going, but he disagrees with Anders on most things. Hawke had been afraid Varric and Aveline wouldn’t have fought with them against Meredith; both of them knew she was crazy, but neither of them like risks. They love Kirkwall and its structures, oppressive or not. But both of them are the reason why Hawke has made it thus far, from Lothering to a hole in the wall in the Free Marches, as it pours outside. Aveline got them to Kirkwall, Varric got them out of Lowtown. They’ve only made it this far because of them, and they don’t want to know how far they can go without them. “The pillow,” Varric says. “The fucking pillow.” He laughs shortly. “That’s what gets me, every time. You gave me it. And why? Because you didn’t want to deal with the fucking consequences. Your little revolution, your fucking lover, your clinic--you were ready to give it all away. Because you were done. You wanted your blaze of glory--and now we have to deal with it. Kirkwall, Kirkwall’s gone. The Hanged Man? Probably burnt to the ground. I know they went for your clinic. And Blighted Prince Charming’s seized all our assets and is tracking us like a bloodhound. Because you were pissed at the grand cleric. At the Chantry. So you decided to burn it all down, and leave us in the ashes.” Hawke says, slightly impressed, “Damn.” It is slightly better than what they were expecting, and at this point they are just relieved no one has hit anyone yet. Next to them Merrill relaxes slightly, and she slides her hand into theirs and squeezes it comfortingly. They are upset Anders prepared to die. They are upset he treated his revolution like suicide. They are so utterly relieved Varric is angry about that too, and not that he is still alive. Anders closes his eyes and sags visibly. He hugs himself, nails digging into his arms. Fenris says, “Don’t do that, you’re hurting yourself.” Anders gives him a wretched look. “Isn’t that all I do?” he murmurs. “No,” Varric says. “It isn’t, you asshole. You hang out with me, and that was a good choice. And I suppose Broody was a good idea too. How old are you know? Past the fucking age to know that when you hurt yourself, you hurt the people around you. Us. And I might not agree with you, I might really want to hit you right now--” “Varric,” Fenris says warningly, and Varric puts his hands up. “I didn’t say I was going to do it,” he says. Hawke shoots him an amused look: while Fenris is around, they finish silently. “But, anyway--I don’t actually want you to hurt. Else I wouldn’t have sunk so much cash into keeping the Carta off your back. Especially when you helped out with the strike. You owe me your fucking life. Live it.” Anders says, “I didn’t know you cared.” Varric says, “Fuck you. Hawke, I have terrible taste in friends.” “Don’t look at me,” Hawke says mildly. “I’m terrible too. I’m the one who went digging around in shit to get the explosives for him.” “So what now?” Isabela says. “Are we all good? Because the rain’s stopped, and we should get moving. Anders? You’re not going to blow yourself up? And Fenris, you’re not going to tear out Aveline’s throat? And Bethany--” “What?” Bethany calls from deep in the storeroom, where she is packing their bags with Aveline. “I’m staying out of this!” “You do that, carry on,” Isabela says. “Keep doing that.” They pack up, Fenris and Merrill fretting quietly over exactly how to write the apology in Elvhen and what wall on which to pin it up. Fenris speaks the dialect the clan whose storeroom they borrowed uses, but doesn’t know how to use their alphabet, and while Merrill knows the characters, she puzzles over the words. Hawke has managed to pick up over the years that Elvhen and its dialects are based on intent, and change according to the context. The two of them can’t seem to decide on how to convey the context of the situation, and disagree on what they are enmeshed in anyway. As the others bustle about packing, Varric walks to Hawke and gestures at the two arguing elves. “If I write about this,” he says, “I’m skipping over this part. Because I have completely lost the plot.” Hawke heaves their pack onto their back and whistles for their mabari to join them. “We’re all fucking pissed at each other, but we know that’ll pass. We’re not separating.” They smile. “We’re getting through this together, somehow.” Varric says, “I hope you’re right, Hawke. Because I’m not so sure anything is resolved.”

#ellie-effie #catabasis #prompt #hawke #da2 #varric #anders #fenris #merrill #bethany #aveline #isabela #dragon age #dragon age fanfic #fanfic

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scythe-hagmoved · 4 years

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Soft angst starters: “ I have to leave you behind. I’m sorry” for any combination of DA2 characters you think would work best for you!

Thank you for the prompt! Let’s go with some Merribela, set at the end of Act 2...

Hawke is going to live.

Merrill comes away from the room only after receiving the assurance from Anders. Sparing a sympathetic look for Hawke’s mabari, who is standing guard outside the room, and offering him a short, reassuring scratch behind the ears, she makes her way through the mansion, downstairs, past Varric and Sandal, to the entrance hall where Fenris waits. He’s tense, hands clenched at his sides, gauntlets digging into the bench on which he sits. He’s chosen the one by the doorway – as though he’s not even sure if he should be here at all. She relays the news from Anders and she sees some of the fear go out of him. Not all, but some. Merrill wonders if she should say more but she doesn’t have time. Fenris and Hawke do now, at least. Time to figure out whatever it is that keeps Fenris down here and not upstairs with her.

She barely tells him good night and Fenris barely notices anyway. Then she steps out into Hightown and the turmoil they’d left behind when they’d fled with Hawke, back to her estate. People still looking for lost family members, while the dead still litter the streets, Qunari and elves and humans alike. And all Merrill can do is just hope she’s not too late. She takes a breath and then runs.

She leaves Hightown, practically leaping down the many stairs that will take her to the poorer parts of the city, and when she gets to Lowtown, she still doesn’t stop. Even when the sign of the Hanged Man is looming over, she doesn’t pause, just shoves the door open and carries on all the way through, past the patrons, up the stairs at the back to the room that she hopes with everything she has in her will not yet be empty.

She’s panting when she throws the door open and nearly cries out in relief when the first thing her eyes meet is another pair of startled warm brown ones. Familiar ones. Merrill’s always been left at least a little bit breathless by the sight but in this case it’s sort of hard to tell the difference, what with all the running.

“Kitten,” Isabela says. “I should have known it was you.”

The next thing Merrill sees is the bag on the bed, packed and ready to go. Just as she’d known it would be. It doesn’t make it hurt any less though.

Merrill stands up straight and glares. “Don’t ‘Kitten’ me,” she says, startling herself even as the words come out of her mouth. But she finds she can’t stop. “Were you really just going to leave? Without saying anything?”

Again?

She thought Isabela had come back because she’d changed her mind. Because she wanted to make it right. But then, somewhere in the chaos between the keep and getting Hawke back to her estate, she’d disappeared once more.

“I thought it for the best.”

Merrill feels a lump in her throat. And, Creators, not now! She doesn’t want to cry, not when she has things she needs to say. “How is it best for you to go when your friends are here?”

I’m here! she wants to add, but can’t.

Isabela just looks at her with sadness in those beautiful eyes and it isn’t helping a bit with the not crying thing. Merrill sniffs.

“How is Hawke?” Isabela asks gently.

“Alive. And Anders says he’ll keep her that way.”

She sees the relief Isabela tries to hide and doesn’t understand why it has to be this way.

“You should come and see her.”

“Now that is a terrible idea.”

“It isn’t! Hawke might be angry for a little while, yes. But she won’t want you to leave... I don’t want you to leave.”

Those rich brown eyes meet hers and this time Isabela doesn’t try to stifle the regret in them. Merrill knows then that everything she’s been wanting to say, without quite being brave enough, must have come through somehow anyway. But it just isn’t enough. Isabela picks up her bag and slings it over one shoulder, then approaches Merrill where she lingers in the doorway, coming close enough that she can smell the spice of her perfume. She leans in and presses her full lips to Merrill’s cheek. For just a minute Merrill feels her warmth before she straightens up.

“For what it’s worth, I really am sorry, Merrill.”

She doesn’t quite look Merrill in the eye this time as she says it. But Merrill knows all the same that she doesn’t mean it in regards to Hawke, or what happened in the keep, or any of the rest of this disastrous night. Though Merrill can’t bring herself to doubt that’s also true. Isabela’s words are meant for her. And that’s why it hurts so much more.

Isabela slips past her, through the door, down the stairs and out into the chaos of the night, and Merrill can still feel the warmth on the cheek that she kissed just a moment ago.

Then all she feels is the slow trickle of tears that she can’t hold back a second longer.

(for the soft angst starters. feel free to send another!)

#now I’m looking at the category ‘soft angst’ and wondering if I should have let it get this sad #Really tried not to overthink it and just approach it as writing practice #so I hope none of this seems too out of character #merribela #writing prompts

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dragonswithjetpacks · 3 years

Text

So I’ve been thinking a lot about my canon PT’s and how to prepare for my next Dragon Age adventure in a few years.

It really just sucks I don’t have all my past playthroughs.

What I do have is my OG PT, which is just my first PT of my kick ass ladies. Like Beatrice, Kendra, and Aeva. But as far as story line goes, I don’t really really consider it canon. What I do consider canon is Kamren, Devyn, and then Aeva.Or Faryn, Kendra, then Claira.

So I’ve been trying to rearrange some stuff to kind of get the PT’s I want. I’ll have to redo Aeva and Claira both, sadly. Because one, I messed up Aeva’s playthrough. Tried to swing it when I wrote the character, but now it just feels wrong. And two, I loaded the wrong world state for Claira. Luckily, I have their faces all picked out. And I also have mods all sorted so it won’t be difficult. Just not looking forward to the Hinterlands again. I’ll just zip through on easy mode or something.

ANYWAY... the point I’m making is that I have finally given up. I haven’t romanced Zevran in such a long time. And the more I think about Kamren, the more I want to romance Zev. SO BAD. I WANT LELIANA TOO. But I might just make a nice little mage for her or something. I just feel so bad.

I also have three characters in mind I’m excited about. Sullivan, a warrior Hawke who becomes smitten with an elven mage. And unnamed elf mage. And an unnamed archer qunari. I’m also half tempted to make another mage hawke just because MAN THAT CLASS IS FUN. And it also gives me an excuse to get next to Fenris again.

I just have a lot going on for a girl who wants to play more video games.

#kay has spoken #dragon age things

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the-rebel-archivist · 4 years

Text

Unpublished

This is certifiably the most ridiculous thing I have ever written, please enjoy my crazed ramblings. I’m not convinced that I didn’t write this in a fever dream.

You won’t find this story in the Tale of the Champion!

Prompt: Green. Taste.

Damn eyes, never looking quite where you wanted them to, she mused to herself as she woke up, blinking a few times and rubbing vigorously at them to try to clear them. It seemed to work and the forms around her began to come into focus. She was lying on a… rock? Or a fallen tree, maybe? The crick in her neck from sleeping at an awkward angle was already vicious. In the distance she could see a shape that looked remarkably Anders-like, all feathery and golden, so at least she wasn’t out here alone.

She was freezing her tits off. Why was she so cold, anyway? Upon looking down and patting at her clothing she realized that her mental figure of speech was, in fact, quite literal, her tits rather exposed to the elements and chilled by the morning air. The rest of her seemed to be too. Whoops. What in Andraste’s everloving ass had happened?

Someone had stuffed cotton into her mouth. They must have, from how ridiculously dry it was. She licked her lips to try to restore some moisture to very little effect, instead only succeeding in leaving a woody taste on her tongue. Wood and something else that she couldn’t identify. She might have been disturbed had that not been an experience that wasn’t particularly uncommon for her.

It all was starting to come back to her now, as she sat up and glanced toward the still propped up on a stone ledge in what she now recalled was once a Tal-Vashoth camp. The still had been full yesterday, and she was fairly certain that they hadn’t simply poured it out onto the ground. She never had been one to let perfectly serviceable alcohol go to waste, and at least now she’d satisfied her curiosity with regard to Qunari maraas-lok. The headache it left seemed as though it would need nursing for the next two days but that was neither here nor there.

She ran her hand through her hair and was sure that she must look like some wild thing, the short black strands standing on end and the rest of her naked as the day she was born. Breathing out heavily, she got up from her makeshift bed and shut her eyes for a moment to stop the camp from spinning. She spotted her pants in a bush and yanked them on with some vigour. It wasn’t that she was ashamed of her own nakedness; oh no, that was something she barely thought about; the concern was more practical as the small ants that lived in the hills along the Wounded Coast had been nipping at her something fierce despite the chill in the air. A shirt was nearby, most likely hers as well, but she didn’t much care if it wasn’t and threw it over her head. Maybe one day she’d find her boots again.

Thus attired, she poked at the figure she’d now confirmed was Anders, who muttered something nonsensical about Andraste and mages in his sleep.

A flash of memory hit her and she chuckled. Right. Andraste and mages.

The magisters hurt Andraste, that’s why she was afraid of magic, but it wasn’t magic itself! How many times do I have to repeat it?” Anders kicked at the limp body in front of him, urging it to pay attention. “Are you even listening? You see Hawke?” he said, motioning towards the figure in the grass. “The Templars will never listen to us. This one won’t even look at me. I can’t convince them with reason.”

“Needs more pizazz,” she remembered saying flippantly in response as she sat on the ground in front of him, “There’s no flair to it, no drama. Turn it up a notch! Where’s the humour?”

In her memory she was holding something up on a stick in her hand, burning it with flames from her other hand. But what was it?

She looked around the camp and noticed the corpse of a dead Tal-Vashoth in the grass nearby. Next to it lay a second corpse, this one half skinned and completely charred, with bite marks in it - a possum. Well that explained the stomach gurgles bubbling up inside her. Explained the gamey taste left in her mouth that she hadn’t been able to place before too. She probably should have been more disturbed by that discovery than she was.

Near the ashes of what looked like it had once been a bonfire sat Varric, propped up against a log. He was showing far more cleavage than usual, his shirt pulled open and exposing the quite frankly ridiculous amount of hair on his chest and snoring gently. She hadn’t realized that he snored, but then again he’d always somehow managed not to fall asleep around her. Didn’t usually drink around her either, though he generally had a drink in his hand; she’d noticed and he knew she knew, but they’d never spoken of it. Well, it seemed as though the dwarf’s resolve had fallen by the wayside. She supposed that she could be rather persuasive when she set her mind to it.

Lying beside him, her head on the dwarf’s shoulder, was Merrill, covered in dirt and seeming rather worse for wear. Her small hand was directly on Varric’s chest, a clump of his hair clutched between her fingers. Hawke poked at the elf with her boot and she loosened her grasp, rubbing the blonde fuzz and giving it a gentle pat.

“Oh, you’re a pretty possum, aren’t you?” Merrill mumbled, half asleep, before opening her eyes. After blinking a couple times she sprang up straight and looked up at her, her already enormous green eyes even wider.

“Hawke? What’s going on?” she asked in confusion, clambering awkwardly upward from the ground in an attempt to get on her feet. “Did we have licorice? All I can taste is licorice.”

Hawke bent down and lent her a hand to help her up, giving a little pat of her own to Varric’s chest hair. She’d always wondered how it felt and was satisfied to learn that it was as soft as she’d imagined. Some men oiled their beards, perhaps Varric did the same on his… lower beard.

Poor Merrill was looking rather green around the gills and had thin scratches covering much of her face. She stood unsteadily in front of her, but she stood, which was more than could be said for the others at this point.

“Well, you seem to have lost a fight with a wolverine-” she paused as Merrill staggered away from her, “... And you’re vomiting into a bush. Is my company that offensive?”

“Oh no, Hawke!” she exclaimed upon her return, wiping her mouth. “I’m just a tiny bit under the weather this morning.”

“That’s probably an understatement. Come on, let’s get the others up and head home.”

Remembrance flashed across the elf’s face when she touched her cheeks and felt the scrapes crisscrossing over it. “I think I tried to adopt a possum?”

“Well, I’m afraid there won’t be any adopting today, it seems as though I may have rained down vengeance upon the creature.” Hawke said as she motioned toward the burnt and impaled rodent near where Anders was starting to stir.

“Oh, the poor little thing!” Merrill said mournfully. “What an awful fate for it.”

Beside them Varric had finally awoken and was rubbing at his jaw thoughtfully, a muffled “Shit,” the only identifiable word. What more was there to say anyway? She got him up on his feet and could tell that he probably had the same splitting headache that she did though he was trying his hardest to look as though he was perfectly fine.

Across the camp Anders was holding his head and staring off into space until his reflections were interrupted by a hand ruffling the hair that had escaped from its tie.

“Time to go, love, you can reflect on past lapses of judgement from home.”

“If I survive the journey,” he grumbled as she helped him to his feet. He was going to be grumpy the rest of the day, she was absolutely sure of it, and she could feel a latent anger rising from him that seemed more Justice-y than Anders-y. She might be able to stave any unpleasantness off if she whisked the man into bed and let him sleep it off.

She took one last glance around the camp before they headed out, feeling like something was missing besides her footwear. Or someone?

“Didn’t we bring Fenris along? Where has that man gone?”

A hunt followed as they searched for their missing elf - and clothing, in Hawke’s case - that was called off when Merrill triumphantly called that she had found him, stating that he was, “In a bit of a jam.”

A jam was putting it lightly, she thought in between peals of laughter when she saw the predicament Fenris found himself in. Her raucous laughing woke him as he slept with his head on his arm beside a large tree, a tree that his hand appeared to be stuck in the middle of. He looked around, bewildered, and tried to stand until he was pulled to the ground by the imprisoned appendage. The anger and frustration on his face only served to make Hawke double over, clutching her stomach as she tried to catch her breath in between cackles.

Blue lyrium glowed, illuminating the elf as he did his thing with the spikes and freed himself. She recognized that the glare he gave her upon getting up was really quite fearsome but it was a look that Hawke completely ignored as she clapped him on the shoulder and walked past him, picking up her boots gleefully from the bush that they appeared to have been kicked into with reckless abandon.

Looking solemnly at each of the miserable members of the party Fenris said the only thing that possibly could be said in such a situation: “We will never speak of this again.”

“I wouldn’t write it down even if I could remember half of it,” Varric said in agreement as they all shook on the matter.

#dragon age fanfiction #hawke #femhawke #teryn hawke #varric tethras #anders #merrill #fenris #drunken adventures!#anders x hawke #da2

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felassan · 3 years

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Thoughts on Dark Fortress #1

(This post is under a cut due to spoilers.)

NB, my thoughts on the first pages that came out in the preview are collected here [spoilers at link], so I won’t repeat myself.

Okay here we go :D I’ve posted up my fav panels but always want a space where I can burble at length.. (I’m late in posting this bc recently for the last few days I’ve been obsessing over politics in my country as it’s the run-up to election time.. I haven’t read anyone elses’ thoughts on it either so I could be behind on prevailing speculation or whats known or something) The preview pages ended at the panel when Aaron says “Vaea is right”, so that’s where I’m beginning.

I can’t put my finger on why but I really like the “don’t tell me I’ve had too much to drink” panel showing a Tevinter street. It’s a neat blend of “Tevinter is advanced relative to much of the rest of known Thedas, but also ominous, but also a place where people live and go about their lives, and also not going too heavy on the cyberpunk angle”. I dig the composition ‘leading’ the eye up the street and the consistency with the recently-seen DA4 materials that have red lighting in Tevinter buildings, similar building shapes etc. ig I’m pretty obsessed with the idea of the DA4 PC & party walking up streets like these.

I wonder how Aaron felt witnessing Tractus’ drunken scenes in the pub :(

Tractus’ attitude towards the barman here shows the influence and power Magisters wield in Tevinter, and the fear of them common among the mundane populace

digging the Tevinter-y motifs & design of the bartop, bar shelving etc. it feels like thought went into it

I’d watch a spinoff show or read a story where Marius and Ser Aaron have to team up in order to achieve something

Vaea is so badass and agile! I appreciate that the shot of her up high was tasteful and didn’t like, weirdly contort her body, have a weird leering angle or emphasize things in that way comic art often does for women at moments like these

so in Tevinter, lamps give off red light (seen in the bar scene). are the windowpanes themselves also red?

good thinking Vaea grabbing the staff. great sense of snappiness and motion in this panel. her landing reminds me of squirrels doing the superhero pose landing actually :)

tfw you and a dog burst out of a wardrobe

Tractus recognizing Fenris, it seems - did they encounter each other when Tractus was young, or does he just know of him (distinctive markings and all that)? if the former, I have a feeling we might get a flashback scene to that time in a future issue

cutting to look at Francesca when Tractus talks about Fenris murdering his father is GENIUS. look at the sadness on her face here; “you murdered your father” is exactly what she’s been telling herself and struggling with all this time

nice to see staff-less magic in action

Tractus seems to have drawn power from the red orb set in his staff. he reaches out to it and it responds by glowing and the staff moving, but he wasn’t doing a Jedi ‘use my Jedi powers to make my thrown lightsaber [staff] return to my hand’, as you might expect, he was instead charging up and drawing magical energy/power from it [the orb], as seen by the red light in his hand in the next panel. this reinforces my earlier wonderings that the red orb is notable and that there’s some connection between it and his red eyes. later in the panel when he’s trying to cast on the floor his eyes seem lit up (altho it could just be lighting & dramatic effect)

I wonder if Fenris thinks of Anders and Justice when Tractus says “justice”. There was once a mage in Fenris’ life who was really focused on justice..

the combat scenes are beautifully drawn, thought out and colored

Fenris’ lines here are really metal, badass and impactful. I could hear Gideon Emery’s voice in my head as I read these bits - the word choice of “hounded” helps with that I think, it immediately recalls Fenris talking with anger about how Hadriana denied his meals and hounded his sleep. they nail how Fenris speaks, the pattern and words he tends to use, etc

PHASING POWERS in action!! this is very cool to see, this ability of his didn’t get touched on much at all in DA2 outside of combat or a few scenes

I enjoy the contrast between the red and blue glows

Fenris is understandably merciless

“Perhaps if you had it carved into you” feels like foreshadowing for the ‘red wraith’

:( the reminder that the very thing Fenris struggles with feelings of hate and fear towards is carved into his skin for the rest of time and always will be

Vaea is brave to step in, standing up for what she believes is right and also re-centering focus on the critical mission at hand

;___; Autumn helping keep Tractus on the ground. she is such a good girl. she Help

“You’re lucky the mabari is here” - having Fenris in a dark light here relative to the rest of the panel is nicely symbolic

oh shit!! some plot advancement in terms of the ongoing story of the wider world. The Antaam have now reached Neromenian!! the invasion is progressing further and further into Tevinter. how far will it have come by the time of DA4? will there be an active war front not far from Minrathous? I appreciate the comics from this team a lot, here and there they push forward the ‘story of Thedas’ not just the story of the comic’s focus. also, I like that the Qunari soldiers here aren’t clones of one another but all look different. different hairstyles, sizes/bodies, clothes

love how our group work together, everyone has a strength and a role to play, the teamwork, the delegation, they’re like a DA basegame party or a D&D party

the way Fenris’ hand and arm glow in this sequence has been drawn/colored is smart - calling to mind the image of blue veins running through someone’s arm or below the skin on the backs of their hands

Fenris has surely picked up Fereldan sayings from Hawke.. stop .. my heart ;__;

the Fenris/Autumn exchange

this is so intense.. why do I get the feeling that Fenris has used this sort of torture technique before in his hunting and extermination of Danarius’ adult children campaign and/or his hunting of slavers as the BW with Shirallas campaign. it feels like he has done this sort of thing before in the time post-Kirkwall. I like that they didn’t hold back with a bit of gore here and there in this issue (phasing a hand and then solidifying it inside someone’s body, the Qunari attack portion in the street etc), while at the same time not being excessive with it.

this miniseries so far has good pacing, things moving along nicely and not being too slow or meandering

it’s smart having Tractus’ explanation of how to get in stay off-screen to the reader while we follow Francesca calling the alarm. It means we get to find out as we watch them infiltrate

omg those puncture wounds from his talons

when Fenris is about to kill Tractus after he tells him what he wanted to know, I’m strongly reminded of how he promised to let Hadriana go then killed her anyway, regardless of player choice. he has his ruthless streak and it feels like a callback. and before, when he was standing over Tractus when he was on the floor, echoes that scene in A Bitter Pill when he stands over Hadriana on the ground, who also reached for her staff

Tractus pale with bloodloss and fear

lmao @ Fran and Autumn’s faces when they walk in on this scene

Fenris listening to Vaea is nicely consistent with his character too imo - there are times in DA2 when Hawke can be like “Fenris no don’t do the Thing” and he doesn’t do the Thing

I have missed the way Fenris’ nose bridge crinkles when he’s angry

I wonder what the consequences of leaving Tractus alive will be. [tv announcer voice] FIND OUT NEXT TIME ON DARK FORTRESS

so the ritual will only take minutes to complete huh 👀

wow Neromenian has truly fallen, reeducation of the people of Tevinter continues as in Three Trees to Midnight in TN

explaining that they are speaking in Qunlat is a nice immersive touch and shows attention to detail of the lore of the world

bobbly-shoulders Qunari, Legolas hair Qunari, septum piercing Qunari, bobbly-brow Qunari, undercut Qunari. I wonder if the shoulder and brow protrusions are aspects we’ll see in the Qunaris’ latest design in DA4?

poor Tractus can’t catch a break lol. it has Not been Tractus’ day

Karasten: an infantry field commander

bit of Tevinter lampshading, lil fourth wall break with “This land and its obsession with magic. There is always a forbidden ritual with them” hhhhhh

Ringwraith on a horse moment at the end there

strong ending, can’t wait for next month weww.. 👀

#dragon age #bioware #dark fortress spoilers #dark fortress spoiler #spoilers #spoiler #fenris #the Fenaissance #dragon age: dark fortress spoilers #dragon age: dark fortress spoiler #video games #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #gore cw #blood cw

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wolffyluna · 5 years

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Storybook Pirates - F!Hawke/Isabela

@kawuli: Something with f!Hawke/Isabela or f!Hawke/Isabela/Merrill?

“I will write something short, it’s just for a prompt-fic” I said to myself, as I ended up writing 1.8k words in the space of a morning.

F!Hawke/Isabela, largely canon compliant.

(And I am still taking prompts, if people are interested!)

***

Hawke grew up on tales of pirates. Tales of dashing rogues, battling wind and waves and worse ne’er-do-wells. People who were just bad enough that they got to do the fun things, but good enough that you could rely on them to race across the waters to go save king and country and their one true lady love.

She grew up running along the shores of Lake Calenhad, brandishing a stick as a cutlass, and saving Bethany from the Dread Tax Customs Officer Carver. (None of them were quite sure what a customs officer was, other than, presumably, the natural enemy of the pirate.)

They took turns, as pirate and captive and customs officer, but Marian was the eldest. She got to strong arm her way into being the pirate more than her fair share of times.

If Lothering was on the coast, she might have felt different about pirates, felt about them more the way she felt about highwayman. But she grew up on the shores of a lake. The sea, and the dangers of being boarded, and having all your goods taken, and the question of whether you would starve, were just as fictional as pirates to her.

And then she grew older, and maybe most would have grown out of the tales of pirates—but when she grew older and magic sparked from her fingers—running away across the waves where no one knew who she was and no one was in a position to care, being just bad enough to do the fun things, but good enough to still be a hero, and not a bomb with a slow burning fuse to abomination-hood—Well, that had appeal.

***

She ran away across the waves, to a town that didn’t know who she was, and at the time, wasn’t quite in a position to care—It wasn’t as fun as it was in the stories. Because this was real life, and in real life you have to grieve the people who die, and you can’t be assured of your victory because you are the ‘good guy’, can’t be sure you were the ‘good guy’. But she made the best of it. She would be the dashing apostate that was here to help, so she could get enough money to go and be a pirate of the Deep Roads.

(“They’re roads,” Varric pointed out. “If you’re anything, you’re a tomb robber, or a highwayman, not a pirate.”

Hawke was aware of this, but still had her instinctive dictate of highwaymen. “Tomb robber just does not quite have the same ring to it.”

Varric held out his hands, and smiled. “It all depends on how you say it, Hawke.”)

***

She went to the Hanged Man, and met Isabela. Helped her out, offered her a cut of any jobs she helped her with, hung out getting far too sloshed on far too terrible liquor.

Isabela was a pirate, a real one—and one just like in the stories. Okay, so her jokes would never get told in a children’s pirate story. But she was cocky and brave and sure of herself and gave witty one liners as she ran people through. She swayed as she walked, compensating for the yaw of the ship that wasn’t under her feet, even on land. She joked and drank and was incorrigibly greedy—but she was good hearted on some level.

She was a story book pirate, and even if Hawke was older now—you still always had that pull to childhood stories, that nostalgia for things that never happened. All that was different is she could turn to the starry eyes of ‘you’re my hero’ into the starry eyes of ‘you’re beautiful—want to have your way with me?’

(Isabela laughed. “You know it’s not that easy to get into my pants?”

“Really? What if I said I’d been looking forward to a chance to be debauched by a pirate queen?”

Isabela tapped a finger under Hawke’s chin. “I’d say I’d been looking for a chance for an apostate to have their way with me—”

“But that ship has unfortunately already sailed?”

She smiled. “Similar ships. But this specific ship?” She put her hands on Hawke’s hips, pulled her close. Her breath smelled of cheap whiskey distilled badly, and, somehow, the salt of the sea. (Hawke guess that must be her imagination.) “I’d be more than happy to board.”

Hawke grinned. “I thought you said you weren’t that easy.”

“’Beautiful’ is a dime a dozen. But ‘pirate queen’? That’s rare. Can’t let that opportunity go by.” She kissed Hawke, hard and all pressure, nearly pushing her over.

Hawke managed to extricate herself for one second to breath, and say “Aye-aye, my captain.”)

***

Isabela was not a story book pirate. Isabela told a story—and Hawke felt embarrassed that she hadn’t spotted it. Hadn’t taken the thought that this was too good to be true to it’s logical conclusion—that it wasn’t.

She knew Varric span tales. He said as much.

But because Isabela did not say it outright, and the stories were about herself, and Hawke wanted to believe in heroic pirate queens—she missed it.

She freed the slaves in her hold, and that was good—but she dumped them on the coast, no supplies, no by-your-leave, no nothing. And she may not have had a lot of choice, but it stuck in Hawke’s craw. But that could be put aside as life not being a simple as stories, people not being able to pick the perfect option.

And stealing to Tome of Koslun. Okay, so pirates stole things, Hawke was aware of that. But it got her crew killed, and dumped a bunch of angry Qunari of Kirkwall’s heads—but still reasonable. She was imperfect but she tried and Hawke would take ‘tried.’ And she had lied about it—but no real pirate was Owen the Honourable. Real pirates lied, and Hawke knew that.

But running off with the one thing that would make the Qunari peacefully go away? To save her own skin (assuming Castillon was honourable and wouldn’t kill her anyway, assuming Hawke wouldn’t be able to save her from Castillon)? It was still reasonable. That was the frustrating thing. It was the sensible if self-centred—but she still believed in the greedy, seemingly self centred person, running forth to save the day, because that’s ‘just what anyone would do.’

But no, Isabela ran.

(And okay, Hawke had given it to her, and said it was hers, but she’d hoped she could talk her around, explain that surely if they could fight their way through that, Castillon would be no trouble—

But Isabela ‘didn’t want to cause any trouble.’ The bitch.)

And now half of Kirkwall was on fire.

***

Her judgement of Isabela may have been a bit premature, Hawke would admit, as Isabela strode through the double doors, tome under her arm. “I believe I can help.”

And striding over a prone Sten was also a very nice touch.

So, Isabela:1, Arishok:0, because Hawke was more than happy to let bygones be bygones, and trading people for the safety of a city was wrong.

“When a pirate was more willing to be the bigger person than you are, that’s not looking good for you,” Hawke said, staring up at the Arishok in an attempt to be intimidating.

“Thievery must be punished. If you are willing to stand you life in for this woman—”

Hawke took her staff off her back, cool flame leaping over its end at her touch. “I am.”

The Arishok nodded. “Then we duel.”

Hawke was a good fighter. Being able to set people on fire from a distance did give her a, maybe unfair, advantage in that situation.

But burly Qunari with axes were very much not her forte. The Arishok had evidently fought mages before, knew how to get in their faces and not give them the room to cast. Every spell was risk of getting smote by that tree-cutter—and she had misjudged too many times already. She rolled back, healed herself, stopped the bleeding—and felt her connection to the Fade weaken. Not much, but enough to know she wouldn’t be able to heal herself for the next ten minutes. She went to raise herself up off the floor--

The Arishok ran over.

No time for standing. Hawke raised her staff, trying to will fire into the world, try and get him burning and rolling on the floor and her having room.

The fire grew weakly, piecemeal, like trying to light a forest fire with a candle—it would happen, but would it be soon enough?

The Arishok gained on her, and the flame was so, so small.

Something flew at the Arishok. Metal, shiny, landing in his back. A dagger.

Isabela’s dagger.

It was a weak stab, barely holding into his flesh.

But moving light objects was easier than conjuring fire, she could do it in her sleep (and she had, occaisionally, done just that, and accidentally made a thankfully empty chamberpot fly around the room). She released the fire spell, with an embarrassingly small puff of smoke, and pulled the dagger towards her.

The Arishok was strong, but her was made of flesh. He was made of flesh, with most of his important bits stuck in his chest.

The dagger inched through him, and he raised his arms, aiming to hit her while was casting—and then the dagger flew right through him.

It caught Hawke on her hand, cutting her knuckles, but honestly she didn’t care. A slice out of her knuckles was better than being sliced in half. The Arishok fell forward, and landed on her.

The Qunari, as one, turned and left.

“Uh, hey? A little help, here?”

Aveline and Fenris ran over, and helped roll the Arishok off her.

Isabela leaned on a pillar, and watched from the sidelines.

***

The official line was that Hawke had duelled the Arishok, using daggers, and stabbed him. The Champion of Kirkwall was most definitely not an apostate, what are you talking about, they are a good honest stabby bastard, just like you and me.

The line from Varric was that Hawke was apparently capable of summoning knives out of thin air.

The rest of them, that were in the room, knew what had happened.

Hawke may have landed the final blow, but Isabela had killed the Arishok.

And saved Hawke.

And indirectly saved Kirkwall.

Which made up pretty well for endangering it in the first place.

***

Hawke bought a drink from the bar, and toted it over to Isabela. It was whiskey—but the good stuff. Old, sensibly distilled, from Fereldan. Tasted of peat, but apparently some people liked that.

She placed it on the table in front of Isabela. “Here you go.”

Isabela picked it up, and sniffed it. “The good stuff? For poor old me? You shouldn’t have.”

Hawke leaned on the table nonchalantly. “Only the best for my favourite pirate queen.”

Isabela smiled, and took a sip.

Hawke spoke quietly, so that only Isabela could hear, and even the most determined eavesdroppers couldn’t. “And thanks for the help back there.”

“Only the best for my favourite rogueish apostate.”

#premium original content #dragon age #isabela #hawke #F!hawke/isabela #hawkebela #my fic #wolffy writes fic

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free-the-mages · 5 years

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Dragon Age questions

!!!!!!!!!!! i was tagged by the lovely @bitchesofostwick (thank you so much!!!) and i’m not tagging anyone because i’m late to this (sorry, i didn’t do it immediately when i saw it and in my usual fashion i forgot for a few days. >_>) so i know basically everyone i would tag has already been tagged. but anyway, let’s get on with it!!

p.s. this’ll be long because i ramble. ❤️

01) favorite game of the series? i’d say inquisition, probably. i rather like the character creator and the open-world feel of it. i like the gameplay of it too. it also gets bonus points because it’s the only game i know how to mod even a little, which makes me happy because i can get characters that are 100% unique to me. :]

02) how did you discover Dragon Age? Shit, nearly a decade ago i remember finding this disc for a game called Dragon Age: Origins lying around one day. it was my brother’s and i can’t remember where he said he got it, but anyway it was damaged and wouldn’t play anyway. i didn’t give a rat’s ass about it tbh. my thoughts of it went no further. it wasn’t until about three years later that my brother bought it for the 360 and i saw him play a bit and then learned that there was a character creator and I FUCKING LIVED (AND STILL DO) for games with character creators. so my happy ass started playing!!!! (that was the very first version of my Tabris, Lark!) shortly after that i purchased it for PC and the rest is history!

03) how many times you’ve played the games? I’ve completed Origins only once. I’ve started a few playthroughs, but i’ve never gotten very far. :/ oh, and i also completed Awakening once. i’ve completed DA2 i believe twice. Again, i’ve started multiple playthroughs, just never finished them all. and basically the same for Inquisition, tbh. i’ve done one playthrough without Trespasser and one with. OR i might have just loaded up the finished save and played Trespasser when i bought it. xD in any case i’ve played each game through at least once.

04) favorite race to play as? i don’t really see it as favorites? in Inquisition i’ve technically created a couple characters for each race (except a dwarf. haven’t gotten around to making a dwarf quizzy yet) but most of them are just “throwaway” characters that i make to romance people because i want to try all the romances but i can’t make every character i create into like, a character character, that exists fully in my head and outside the game. so any characters you hear about from me are ones that have really stuck out to me in one way or another. anyway the only warden i ever made that mattered any was Lark, who is of course an elf. i like them all tbh! i was rather excited about being able to play a badass qunari chick, though! (even though my first character was a human. go figure.)

05) favorite class? mage!!!!! when first played Origins i made Lark a warrior. idk for sure why, but i think it was because i didn’t want a character in the Circle. i wanted a city elf. idk why i picked warrior over rogue though. my first Hawke was a warrior. again, idk why. my second Hawke was a mage, and I. FELL. IN. LOVE. i loved the fighting animations, i loved the spells, i just…. i loved. when i finally was able to play DAI (which was a few years after it was released) my first character was a mage. again, i loved it. however, when i went back to DAO at one point and tried being a mage i was not a fan of it. i didn’t like the way it played. BUT OVERALL my favorite is definitely mage. :]

06) do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time? the same. it might be sad and pitiful, but in-game decisions give me real-world feelings and anxiety so i just make the decisions that stay in my comfort zone. :] sometimes i’m brave and try different things, but for the most part i make the same decisions.

07) go-to adventuring group? Disclaimer: if applicable, i take my LI everywhere i go. :] i honestly try to take a variety of people because i want a balanced team as much as possible. i’m also a very casual player, so i don’t use the tactical camera or like, the behavior patterns or anything. i leave everything default. so i try to mix and match and come up with a team that i feel best compliments my character’s class/abilities or whatever, without me having to babysit them or really do any work in regards to that. that AND i like to hear the different banters tbh. when i’m picking my team sometimes i’ll stop and think, “omg, what is [character] and [character]’s relationship really like??? i never take them together so i don’t know!!” so i’ll expand my horizons and take groups of companions that i don’t normally take together. that being said, I LOVE ALL THE COMPANIONS ALL THE TIME SO I DON’T PLAY FAVORITES. :]

08) which of your characters did you put the most thought into? Probably Sydnie, because she was the first game character that really developed into an OC. the first one i really wanted to try writing for. my first Inquisitor. :] she was the first (game) character that, as i was playing, i really sat and thought, “what would this living being with a soul do when presented with this situation?” instead of just clicking whatever. xD anyway, ideas just came flying at me when i thought about her. overall i feel like she’s very underdeveloped still as far as character’s go, but i love her and i’ve been thinking a lot more about her lately. i’d really love to finish writing something for her eventually. xD

09) favorite romance? oh man, idk. tbh i’ve not finished all of the romances so a part of me wants to be like, “i can’t really answer this tbh”. Lark romanced Alistair, and it was cute and i love them. (i’ve toyed with the idea of writing some stuff for them and it’d be so cute if i could actually get my ass into gear.) i really liked Fenris’s romance (and DA2 was the only game that i played through more than one companion’s romance.) and Cullen is the only one i’ve completed a romance for in DAI, though i played most of Josie’s and i’m love. :] honestly i really do feel like there really isn’t an answer from me for this one. sorry! D:

10) have you read any of the comics/books? nope. i was thinking of maybe getting The Masked Empire but i haven’t fully decided yet. i unfortunately don’t read books much these days. (i’d rather be on my comp playing games or arting or maybe reading fic!!)

11) if you read them, which was your favorite book? n/a

12) favorite DLCs? i am so fucking ambivalent wtf. seriously, people. i’m coming to learn that there are few things i have an actual feelings on either way. -___- Trespasser is the only big DLC i own and i fucking hate it. it’s great and all but i kind of cried at the end so whatever. :] but honestly i really really like the Spoils of the Qunari DLC!!!!! the antaam-saar!!!!!! (i think i spelled it right idk i’m too lazy to check please forgive me) and the mount!!!!! good stuff. i own (i think) all of the DLC for DA2 and i like them all well enough. i also own all for DAO and i like them well enough. i’ve only ever played the DAO in-game DLC as well as Awakening (meaning no Leli’s Song, no Witch Hunt, etc.) i just never got around to it. anyway, really. not really playing favorites here either. xD

13) things that annoy you. not much tbh. i suppose it’s annoying that sometimes in some games i’m sitting here like, “okay, why did my character just say these words? that wasn’t what the words that i clicked on said. ?????????”

14) Orlais or Ferelden? Ferelden! because it’s more rustic and i like that. :3 also mabaris.

15) templars or mages? mages. though i do believe there’s an argument to be had about the treatment of both groups at the hands of the chantry. but still mages. :]

16) if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one? obviously i intend to have and OC HOF, champion, and inquisitor all in one universe. i’ve had a hard time trying to figure out which characters i want to be canon and which aren’t. i’ve also toyed with the idea of having multiple world states that act as their own individual canons, but that’s a lot of work and like… lazy. :] for a while i just figured Lark was my canon warden no canon Hawke thus far and Sydnie my canon Inquisitor. but idk.

17) what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc) UMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM………………….. one of the mabaris in the first two games was named Charlemagne (i think my Hawke’s dogs are always Charlemagne) and i think Lark’s dog was… omg hold on i have it documented somewhere. *a few minutes later* Shawshank! Lark’s dog’s name is Shawshank.

18) have you installed any mods? yes because i’m garbage that is privileged enough to be a computer gamer and can install mods. i also really like having mods and making mods so yes. yes i install mods. :]

19) did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden? not particularly, though she didn’t mind having to leave the alienage. she’d be dead or worse if she’d stayed and also she would have attempted to run away long before shit hit the fan if she didn’t have her family to think about. she still cared for her family and she did feel some sadness over leaving them, but it was like her soul made a sigh of relief and a weight was lifted. she was truly happy to leave. becoming a Grey Warden was sort of like a not completely unpleasant side effect.

20) hawke’s personality? i don’t really have a Hawke atm but I generally tend to play blue Hawkes.

21) did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition? no and they should all thank the maker because every fucking one of ‘em would be in plaidweave and that’s that on that.

22) if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change? ugh this is too much thinking for me. why are there so many questions?!??!?!!? anyway idk. i think Sydnie would change the way she let herself react to a really bad thing that happened in the circle. because she reacted the way she did, it completely changed who she was and it takes her a long time to get herself back. sorry it’s vague but that’s just how these things go sometimes. :] Lark doesn’t really live in the past, if that makes sense? she doesn’t dwell on things enough to regret. why change the past when you can own this day???? as a certain cheeky lesbian elf apparently says maybe. :3

23) do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon? kind of, but mostly small things, and generally only things that pertain directly to my character. also i like to switch things up when it comes to romances. :] i try to take the basics of the in-game romance arc and tailor it a bit more to what i envision. or just what i want. ;D so i guess that could maybe be considered off canon, though i don’t really see the romances as canon anyway.

24) are any of your character(s) based on someone? no. not intentionally, anyway. it would take me way too long to explain my thought processes when it comes to creating characters (and this bitch is already long enough at this point) so i won’t go into details. :] so basically no, i don’t ever really set out to base characters on people. maybe subconsciously it happens? idk.

25) who did you leave in the Fade? my first playthrough was the default world state so i sacrificed Stroud because of course i did. with the custom world state i have now i sacrificed Hawke. D: because you know i’m not sacrificing Alistair!!!! especially not after he said the stuff about Lark and them being together AND I COULDN’T TAKE THAT AWAY. also it wasn’t like it was MY Hawke, because i don’t have an actual OC Hawke it was quite easy to sacrifice her because i had no real attachment to her. anyway don’t fucking ask me who i’ll sacrifice when i finally get around to actually deciding on my canons and their world state because I DON’T KNOW AND I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT IT. thank you. :]

26) favorite mount? i don’t use mounts much actually. i like hearing banter. that being said, i really like the way the qunari horse looks. i also like the harts and i don’t care what anyone else says i love their nails-on-chalkboard screech. fight me if you must but i said what i said. :]

THANKS SO MUCH TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS I APPRECIATE YOU LETTING ME WASTE YOUR TIME!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

#i don't remember my tags for things like this #oc memes #?#i think that's the tag #or....#oc meme #maybe #idkkkk #i give up #i used a lot of energy just answering these questions so #yeah #:]

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oatmealaddiction · 6 years

Text

We’re on a Boat

The sun hung low on the horizon, warm and round as a Summerday peach. Watching it balance itself on the tips of the waves calmed Fenris a little. He’d been on edge since he boarded Isabela’s boat, disliking the ways the salt-worn boards creaked under his feet, and the constant rolling sensation in his stomach. From day one it’d been impossible to scrub the salt off his skin, and the boat itself stank of bird shit and brine. The stench alone was enough to make him gag, but he’d made up his mind on the first day not to give Isabela the pleasure of watching him be seasick. She’d never let him live it down if he threw up on her deck. It had been a struggle with some definite close calls.

Evenings like this though, where the waves had calmed and the haze from the sun dulled and a gentle sea breeze cooled the humid hair a little...this was good. Isabela didn’t seem to agree though. She’d been pacing in circles on the deck for almost an hour, talking loudly and more rapidly than she did when she was actually relaxed. “...Get itchy when the winds go still like this, ugh my skin is just crawling.”

“There’s wind,” said Fenris. “Not the hurricane forces usually propelling us around out here, but wind.”

“Not enough to get this ship going anywhere. I can see the sharks circling.” “Stop calling this thing a ship,” said Fenris. “It’s a dinghy with a sail.” “Don’t say that, you’ll hurt her confidence!” Isabela replied, feigning offense. She leaned over and patted the side of the boat. “Shh, don’t listen to him, you’re perfect.”

Given the chaos they’d left Kirkwall in, Isabela never had secured a true boat, but with the old gang scattered to the wind she was no longer content to be landbound. She’d won an old fishing vessel in a rigged hand of Wicked Grace, and Fenris had scared off the losing party. Now they were somewhere on the Waking Sea, skirting the ends of the coastland and headed toward the Amaranthine, looking for slaver ships to commandeer.

The voyage had been infinitely less enjoyable than Isabela had boasted, due in no small part to what had been left behind in Kirkwall. There was so much they wouldn’t say, couldn’t allow themselves to think about; Anders, the Chantry, Hawke. Rather than escaping these troubles, they seemed to instead hover on the top of the water, blinking at them with their reflections. Isabela made her thousandth lap of the deck, before groaning and falling flat on her back, pouting up at the sky. “Blighted fucking winds. Be faster if I just got out and pushed.”

Fenris let out a long belabored sigh as he tore himself away from the beautiful view. “Where are you eager to get to anyway? We stocked up on supplies a day or so ago.” “Fenris, Fenris, Fenris…” Isabela tsked, “It’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. And this leg of the journey is unbearably dull.”

“Would you prefer it if a sea beast tried to eat us right now?” Fenris asked sarcastically. He knocked his fist against the wooden railing as he did so, just in case he was inviting some sort of weird unnatural calamity. Wouldn’t be the first time.

“Something,” Isabela sighed. “I didn’t realize how spoiled for adventure we were with…” she cut herself off, then rolled over onto her belly and grinned up at Fenris. “Let’s do something fun,” she said.

“I’m still nursing rope burns and splinters from the last time we had fun,” Fenris said, his libido stirring in spite of himself. He pushed down the desire to slip out of his trousers and go lie down with Bela on the deck, and instead tried to broach the actual problem they were dealing with. “Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. “About what?” Isabela said. “Look if you’re that worried about splinters I’ll let you top this time—” “About Kirkwall,” said Fenris. “You miss them too, don’t you?” Isabela went silent, and for a moment the only sound was the dull crashing of the waves. “Ha!” Isabela laughed. “Miss them,” she rolled over again, scoffing despite the fact she couldn’t hold his gaze. “You make friends, you leave friends, you move on. Granted I’ve never had a friendship break up on account of one of them turning into an abomination and blasting a chantry open, but it’s all life…” her voice grew softer, more wistful. “What matters is that you don’t trap yourself in the past, that you keep looking forward. You should know that better than any of us.”

Ouch. Fenris frowned, disliking Isabela’s subtle implication that Kirkwall had any relation at all to his former life in Tevinter.

“Still, nine years,” he said. “That’s a long time though.” “I guess,” said Isabela.

“Longer than I’ve known any of my other friends,” he said. “If I had any before Hawke and Varric, and you.”

Isabela jumped up. “All right, you know what. No, I don’t want to talk about this.”

Fenris shrugged. “Fair enough,” he said.

“Well, good then,” said Isabela. “Good,” he responded.

“Fine!” she snapped, and marched over to the other side of the boat, beginning the work of lighting the few glass lanterns that lit the deck at night.

She was thinking about what had happened now, he knew that at least.

Satisfied he’d pissed off his one and only shipmate, Fenris turned back to the view. The sun had submerged some, now a dome rather than a sphere. The color had paled from a warm orange to a cool pink, shooting streaks across the sky. Fenris wasn’t a novice to the ocean. He’d sailed with Danarius from Minrathous to the Seheron countless times. He spent hours on the docks, listening to Qunari sailors talk different kinds of slipknots and the best price for fish, watching ship after ship dock, each carrying some new sordid soul to Tevinter. He’d always been so focused on those occasions, always so intent to learn something new, desperate for any small escape from the hell that was his life in those days. Now, perhaps for the first time in his life, there was no urgency or desperation. He was free, without even Hawke to guide him. It was terrifying. He wondered what she’d make of this sunset. He could see her clear as day in his head, standing precariously close to the edge of a cliff on the wounded coast, her hair a black flag against the sky, her blue-eyes focused out on the horizon, her lips in that eternal half-smile that wasn’t the least bit happy. She was so soft in the light, so different than usual...

“She’d love this…” he mumbled to himself.

“What’d you say?” Isabela asked, seemingly forgetting she’d been pouting.

“Hawke,” he clarified. “She’d love this view, wouldn’t she?” Isabela didn’t respond, so Fenris kept talking. “Remember how she’d just stop walking sometimes on the coast to take in the view. It wasn’t even good.”

Isabela snorted. “Well she’s Ferelden. You ever been to Lothering? Everything there looks like ass. Anders used to get like that too, all starry-eyed when we’d get close to the ocean.”

“Did he?” Fenris said, his expression souring somewhat. “Oh yeah,” said Isabela. “All that time in the Deep Roads, could you blame him. I mean the ocean trumps anything else you’ll find in Thedas…Both of them would get these big wide-eyed expressions—” she put her hands out, trying to describe it, and the unadulterated love in her eyes broke through, and it wasn’t for the ocean. It was oddly sincere. Isabela sighed, her arms going slack. “Look, of course I miss them Fenris. But I’m no good with nostalgia. It messes with you, you know?”

“No,” said Fenris. “I don’t.” Nostalgia was utterly alien to him. There’d been nothing in his life to feel nostalgic for until now.

“You get caught up in old memories and feelings and it makes everything else around you dull,” Isabela sighs. “Food loses its taste, the sea loses its salt, and you get sick. Not here Fenris, not on my ship.” “Boat.”

“Whatever,” Isabela snapped.

The sun was only a sliver on the horizon now, just a small white line. It bobbed for a moment and then sunk below the waves. Isabela leaned on the railing, her arms crossed. The tips of her fingers just barely brushed against Fenris’s bicep. He scooted over slightly, allowing her to hold on. “I wish…” she sighed. “Me too,” he agreed.

The first signs of stars began to emerge in the sky, barely visible as the sky darkened. Isabela took a breath. “All right, come on.” She smacked him on the ass roughly and pulled him over to the deck’s fish-hatch. “Let’s get dinner cooking. We have fish, fish, and fish, and…I think maybe one crab?” “Fish sounds good.”

“It does, doesn’t it?”

She laughed and shoved him, and the two passed the night in good humor, licking the meat off skinny sharp bones, and tracing constellations, Isabela taking pleasure in inventing new dirty ones. The wind picked up, and the nostalgia passed.

#Dragon Age #Dragon Age 2 #DA2 #Isabela #Fenris #Fenris x Isabela #Drabble #It's a bit more than 400 words

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