I said I wasn't going to get started on the topic of Aveline ruining Carver's chances with the guard but I lied okay, it's Carver Hawke defense hours.
Here's the thing; it doesn't matter if you believe Carver was or wasn't fit for the guard. That's a different debate that I'll get to. What matters is Aveline's in no position to tell the guard not to accept his application. Why does she think that's her right to judge whether or not he's fit?
Carver should've had the chance to prove himself one way or another. If it turns out he's not a good fit, then let him fail. Let him learn from it.
"Oh but failure could mean lost lives-"
Aveline doesn't get to talk shit about failure and the people. Plenty have died on her watch yet she still believes she's a good guard and Guard-Captain.
"maybe Aveline's protecting him, Carver could die while on patrol-"
Carver could die working in the Bone Pit, or serving as a templar, or when he's running around with Hawke. Carver could trip and fall down a set of stairs and die. In fact, he can die in the Deep Roads, somewhere he wouldn't have to go if the Hawke's weren't desperate.
Either Carver fails as a guard, or more likely, he succeeds and proves himself worthy of it.
But let's be real, Carver probably kept getting rejected due to being a Fereldan with a past of smuggling/mercenary work and Aveline only reaffirmed the decision, either because they asked her what she thought or she stuck her nose in unprompted.
But what irritates me is that she admits to telling them not to accept his application, and then has the balls to call Carver too proud to take up a trade or find another line of work.
Carver tells her, "And who would take on a Fereldan apprentice? Maybe in another year I could work my way up to pissboy." He has a good point here. Aside from the guard, the only other place Carver could work and use his skillset is with the Templars. Or go back to mercenary/smuggling work.
And Aveline doesn't even have a real answer for him. No suggestions, no encouragement, nothing. Just "Fine, let's crawl down some holes. Good bloody luck for your sake."
Also, if you do the Mark of the Assassin DLC in Act 1-
Aveline: You should see if any of the noblemen are looking for new men-at-arms.
Carver: Are you trying to get rid of me?
Aveline: It's a role with some autonomy. A good fit with your training and... tendencies.
Carver: After serving King Cailan? You want me to suffer some poncy git who needs two servants to wipe his own ass? I'll find my own way, thanks.
Aveline: I wish you would.
You wish he would?? Aveline, he was trying to find his way into the guard, a position he'd make a good fit for, and you helped deny him of it because YOU didn't think he would be good enough, I just-
If I haven't made it clear yet, I firmly believe that Carver would've made a great guard. He wants to help people, to be a protector. He's loyal, and despite what Aveline claims, he can follow orders and take his duty seriously. We see him do incredibly well with the Grey Wardens, after all. If he were a guard, he wouldn't have to go down into the Deep Roads with Hawke, and I think he would've been okay with that! He's so hurt and bitter when you leave him behind because that effectively tells him, "I don't need you." Carver's spent the whole first act telling you he wants to go on the expedition aka that he wants to be needed.
But if he were a guard, he would be needed elsewhere. He'd be in training as a recruit. He'd look after Leandra while you go. He wouldn't be backed into a corner with no income and only the templars left as his chance at forging his own path and providing for his family.
He doesn't get that opportunity, though.
By the way, if he becomes a warden, you can get this banter:
Aveline: I'm glad you found a place with the Wardens.
Carver: Well, it's not the city guard, but it'll do.
Aveline: Carver... it wasn't the place for you.
Carver: No, it's all right. It is. It cost a lot, but I get it. I really was a bit of a tit those days, wasn't I?
Aveline: Well...
This banter makes me want to scream.
Aveline's just... she's so insistent that she's right. She's someone who will double down rather than entertain the idea that she's wrong and it's not just with Carver and the guard, it's with everything. The "my beef with Aveline" list gets longer and longer every time I replay da2, I swear.
Say what you will about Carver, whether you think he would've been a good fit or if Aveline's right and it wasn't for him, he was denied a chance and it cost him so much in the end. He either dies, or he joins the templars where he deals with Chantry's bullshit trying to brainwash him with "mages aren't people" and "magic is a cancer in this world", or he's infected with the blight and becomes a Grey Warden, forced to serve the rest of his life fighting darkspawn, tormented by voices and nightmares.
I will never not be bitter about this.
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Okay, okay. I've seen several very anti-Threshold-Day takes floating around in the last year and I'm kinda getting sick of it.
Regardless of how you feel about Threshold as an episode - be that the quality of the ep, the storyline, the themes, whatever - Threshold Day isn't really about Threshold itself. I mean, yes, it is a day celebrating that episode, but the actual point of Threshold Day is community. It's a day where people band together to make memes and tell jokes and overall have fun. It's a day where you send random salamanders to your friends and go "omg tommy p???" It's a day where you appreciate the cool art and fics people make and leave encouraging comments. It's a day for Fun. Everyone gets to be in on a giant inside joke and enjoy that feeling. Everyone gets to commit to the bit. Not to sound all "here's the real meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown," but, in a very serious and literal sense, that's what Threshold Day is really about. Community.
And it's okay not to enjoy the episode! It's okay not to want to participate in the fun! Seriously, it's OKAY. You don't have to join in! But when you sit there and go "I cannot fathom how all these people like this episode and they're all wrong to be making memes and celebrating" you're missing the point and you start to ruin the very harmless fun everyone else is having. You are not on a moral high-ground for not enjoying a meme or a dumb internet holiday. You are *especially* not on a moral high-ground when you try to make other people feel bad for enjoying something that, again, is so incredibly harmless and ultimately about having fun as a community.
Again: it is fine to not enjoy Threshold. But I see so many posts throughout the year where people seem to be flaunting the fact that they are not like everyone else and hate the episode, the holiday, whatever. I see people talking about how much they wish Threshold Day would go away and it's really, really not cool. Your horse is not higher than mine for not being down to clown with your mutuals, your friends, about a silly Star Trek episode.
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Lmao more about Grover aging at a rate of 0.4 instead of directly by half (12/28 = 0.4285). This is also assuming that Grover is only aging physically slower, but his mental/emotional capacity ages chronologically and with experience.
But anyway Grover has to get a fake ID to go to bars with Percy. When Percy turns 21, they realize ah shit Grover looks 16ish once they pull up to the club and immediately get turned away. Grover does have an official ID with his actual birthdate. In the past as a Keeper for Percy, Bianca and Nico, he also had a fake ID with an adjusted birthdate for whatever age he was supposed to be. He doesn't have either of those IDs anymore (he had to get a new one for B&N because Percy's would've put him at 14 and he needed to be put into 12 year old Bianca's class), so it's not like he handed over the fake one.
But the bouncer gives him a once-over and is just, "yeah no". They try to argue but the bouncer is like "if you wanna fight on this, I'm gonna keep your ID and call the police" so they give up (or rather Grover makes Percy give up because he got that look in his eyes and getting arrested on his birthday is not a birthday gift Grover wants to give).
In the end, they skulk around to some minimart and grab one of each alcoholic bottle with a weird name or label that they can find, are grateful the cashier doesn't seem to care that Grover looks 16 and barely even looks over his ID when he flashes it. Then they huff it back to Percy's apartment and taste test each drink on the floor of Percy's bedroom, because the whole point of going to the bar was to taste something that wasn't cheap beer stolen by the Hermes cabin.
Grover has a wildly fantastic tolerance for alcohol and Percy discovers that he is a lightweight.
The next time they try to go to a bar, Grover is sporting a temporary glamour from the Aphrodite cabin to make him look older. About half way through, they ring up Annabeth to make her do the math on how old Grover would have to be to actually look 21, and then the math on how long that would take because neither of them can subtract double digit numbers. Percy rediscovers he is a lightweight and, when the glamour finally starts to wear off, has to be carried back to his apartment by Grover, which makes for a ridiculous image of what appears to be a disabled 15 year old carrying around a grown man who won't stop talking about how much he loves his friends, including said disabled 15 year old.
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