the-font-bandit

[the-font-bandit]

"But if we live... Ferelden. Cottage. QUIET. At least for a while."

(dear reader- they did, in fact, live.)

(bonus lucky pose I grabbed a screenshot of and used for ref under the cut)

[the-font-bandit]

DATV Companion Week - Lace Harding - Day 1

Trying something different this time, I'd like to keep the "letters from Lace" format for the whole week. I also wanted to see if I can make it to match both prompts on each day. Will I succeed? The jury is still out.

Prompts for Harding Appreciation week hosted by @datvcompanionweeks are:

Ferelden | Traveling

Dear Ma,

I know what you’ll think “Where did Maker take that daughter of mine this time?” and I honestly don’t yet have an answer for you. Varric is swearing up and down that he’s got a solid lead this time, one that we just need to follow up on. You know how he is when he sets his mind to something. 

Last time he said that we’ve chased in circles for weeks, but at least it was in Ferelden and I made it back home for the Summerday. I am not sure if we’ll be so lucky this time, but I try to stay positive. You always say I start worrying too soon about my sprouts not coming up soon enough. You’re usually right too, so I will do my best to listen to your advice even if I can’t hear you.

 We’re getting ready to get on ship to Kirkwall–Varric insists he needs to check up on Aveline–then we will go further North. I’m a bit scared. I’ve never been this far from home. But I can worry about it when we get there. For now I bought as much cheese as I could. You know a piece of home on the road. I’m sure that Aveline will appreciate it too, I think she’s missing Ferelden even if she wouldn’t leave the city behind. 

Love, Lace

[the-font-bandit]

A Word With Friends | June 16

Tagged by @officialnostradamus and @woundedsoul12!

Rules: Use the challenge word to write a sentence or scene and then tag a few friends.

This week's word is:

Assiduously

Showing great care, attention, and effort : marked by careful unremitting attention or persistent application Constantly; ceaselessly.

My entry below, a bit of drabble for Carina de Riva training to become a Crow - this may make it into my AO3 series for her, possibly expanded.

"Too slow, too loud," the reed flashed pain across her calves, not enough to break skin, but enough to sting. Heir stood at the edge of the parapet, arms folded. Carina had been late, and her approach had been seen. Again. She had one more chance tonight before it was a failure. Before she failed. She didn't know if she would get another night to try.

Carina gritted her teeth and jumped down to begin her climb yet again. Her muscles screamed, but nobody chasing her across the rooftops was going to care. There would be time for pain later, now only her assignment remained. Reach the top, don't get caught. Don't take too long.

Fast. Quiet. Balanced.

Viago had been clear that he didn't have time to waste on specialized training for fledglings who could not master the basics of Crow work. Poisons, daggers, and magic were deadly tools in the right hands, but Carina needed to prove that hers were steady enough to wield them or they would be taken away. Unlike most fledglings, her injuries the night she joined the house meant she had the luxury of recovery before starting her trials, but that grace had expired.

She had not been idle in that time, no matter the taunts from the other fledglings who felt she had it easy. Each day and night, she dedicated all of her spare time to gaining strength, agility, timing, and honing her senses. Running the wall. Crossing the roof. Delivering the blade. Assiduous attention to detail in every aspect of the tasks she was given to master. Precise, measured, deliberate, leaving nothing unexamined.

Unexamined.

House de Riva's fledgling practice wall had been carefully crafted with various handholds, false ledges, dangerous points, and plain crumbling architecture to simulate difficult conditions in most circumstances. Heir reconfigured it on no fixed schedule, knowing that the occupants of buildings the Crows infiltrated very rarely posted notices when they installed traps or had water damage alter their windowsills.

This was no practice wall, it was the exterior of one of Salle's lesser Chantry buildings, with a middling view of the river and a proximity to the tanners guild that made the air around it less than pleasant. The lattice work running up the walls on the eastern side of the building was constructed nearly the same, but it favored trailing and vining plants with pleasant scents. When they bloomed, the people inside could pretend that they weren't worshiping down the street from literal pools of piss and shit.

Pressing lightly at the structure, Carina smiled to herself. Unlike the pernicious ivy festooning most of Salle's overgrown architecture, these plants had not driven their roots all that far into the mortar and stone. They hadn't bound the work to the wall in a steady embrace. It was stable enough to climb, but to anyone with eyes, it would be obvious that someone was using it as a ladder unless they were very deliberate. Very careful.

Maybe that could be the point.

Carina pulled a sleek canteen from an internal pocket, opened the stopper, and hung it gently a few feet up the lattice. She smeared a bit of paste along the rim of the bottle from a container at her waist, and stepped back into the shadows nearby to wait. It didn't take long.

_______________________________________

Silence and the sounds of the city wrapped around the Chantry, rocking in time with the press of woodwork and vines.

"You are still too loud," Heir walked to the edge, reed in hand as the wooden slats at the top gently swayed to an erratic rhythm.

"No," Carina whispered behind Heir, gently plucking the reed from their hand and jumping back in a smooth motion. She had no doubt her trainer could have pursued, but they did not, choosing to turn slowly to face where she landed.

"You made the target," it was a statement of fact, and Carina nodded in acknowledgement, lifting a green-painted dagger to prove she had hit the painted dummy at the other end of the roof. "Your tasks grow harder tomorrow. You know the way home."

Several heartbeats measured out as Heir waited again.

"She passed?" Viago met them at the edge, arms crossed. "How many others?"

"None. Some will pass tomorrow," Heir leaned down, and gently lifted a young black and white cat up over the edge where it sat, clearly exhausted. After a moment, the cat sauntered over to Viago, sniffed at his boots, bit his left foot as hard as she could and sat down. She didn't break through the leather, but it still throbbed. He ignored her.

"Assessment?"

"She lured the cat to climb, misdirection," Heir pointed to the cat now bathing herself. "Then climbed another route. The pipes, which are bladed. Far more difficult than the original climb."

"Faster," Viago gave a tight half smile. Few fledglings noticed what was wrong with this wall the first time they were brought here, and fewer still succeeded in reaching the target. The cat bit him again, and he looked to Heir with a grimace.

"She is hers now, she made a promise of fish. You will take her home," Heir said, and Viago could swear he heard the slightest tinge of amusement.

"A promise of fish? What in the Maker's name am I supposed to do with a cat?" Viago grumbled, looking down at a very severe set of green eyes which held his gaze unflinchingly until he picked her up slowly. The cat settled in, claws gripping his leathers tightly, but didn't struggle. "She promised you fish? Well, then she better make good on that. Crows always honor a contract."

+ Soft tagging @serensama, @the-font-bandit, @hightowerqueen, @strugglinggranola and anyone else who wants to give it a go! 💖

[the-font-bandit]

I’ve completed Dragon Age trilogy for the first time and felt like drawing some fanart

[the-font-bandit]

Harding Week Day 1 - Ferelden | Traveling For @datvcompanionweeks Harding Week as well as @thedissonantverses writing challenge weekend prompt "Momma once told me, 'you're already home where you feel loved.'" Have a rough little snippet from my WIP: Ferelden. Cottage. Quiet. ---

Shortly after exiting an Eluvian, Lace led Jericho, hand in hand, into the quiet Ferelden countryside. The effects of the Blight were receding, but some scars still remained. With a small sigh, Lace took in the scene. Her excitement at coming home — at showing Jericho her beloved homeland — faded into melancholy at the sight of the marred beauty.

Jericho squeezed her hand tightly. "I know it's hard to see, but it's going to get better. It's already improving. The Inquisitor said there are even places now where you can hardly tell… that are safe."

Lace nodded and attempted a small smile. "I know. I was just hoping you could have a better first impression. I did drag you here after all."

"I believe I promised you 'Ferelden. Cottage. Quiet.' Didn't I?" He laughed. "And you know I'll let you drag me anywhere." He looked at her with a fond expression, as if the current state of their surroundings didn't exist as long as she was standing there.

"Well, now I've dragged you all the way home. To meet my Ma. And have some quiet time." She looked up at him, her eyes shining. "I want you to feel at home here too."

"Lace, I already do, as long as you're here." Still hand in hand, they kept a steady pace to their destination.

"Aw…Jer. That's sweet." She nudged him playfully. "You know, my Ma told me a long time ago that 'you're already home where you feel loved.' What you said… it made me think of it. For me, that's always been Ferelden. But now, it's with you too. And actually having you here… there's something special about it." She blushed furiously, hoping Jericho wouldn't look over and see.

He was blushing as well, his stomach doing somersaults the way it did every time Lace reminded him how much he meant to her. That she felt as much love for him as he did for her. Quietly, he squeezed her hand again as they continued their journey to Redcliffe in comfortable silence.

[the-font-bandit]

oh, he fell asleep :')

[the-font-bandit]

don’t go for realism in your art if it frustrates you, get weird, get blocky, get wiggly, just try and draw what makes you happy, not something that meets a standard

[the-font-bandit]

Can't believe they put a slutty little hood on Viago's armor, and he didn't wear it even once...

[the-font-bandit]

oh it's been a year since i created my first Rook. She certainly gone through a few changes (and finally got a name) but she is still my special

[the-font-bandit]

one of the best things you can make a female character is really bad at interpersonal relationships

[the-font-bandit]

Love love love characters that present themselves as emotionally open social butterflies but the more you see of them the more obvious it is that they’re the most closed off fuckers in the story. Sure, they want to help you with your personal problems and messy emotions, but if you turn that shit back on them, they’ll shut down or deflect every time. Why are you sticking your nose in their business anyway? It’s not like it matters. They’re not a person, they’re just a role being played. They’re the guy who fixes things and saves people. Please ignore the man behind the mask, he’s fine. Everything’s fine.

[the-font-bandit]

This was supposed to be done for Viago week but I messed up and though that it was next week.

Anyway this ship has altered my brain chemistry and I need them doing a seductive tango because their ship name sounds like tango :D

[the-font-bandit]

I've been hit with the love beam for them today all day. They're so incredibly dear to me.

[the-font-bandit]

Actually making your selfinsert overpowered and friends with all your faves and a hybrid of the coolest species and in a relationship with your crush and the long lost sibling of the villain is called having fun and its cool as fuck

[the-font-bandit]

guys. i really like you. it's nice to be on this dashboard together

[the-font-bandit]

If all 4 of your canon LI had to break out all 4 of your PCs (like the Fort Drakon mission) would they be able to pull off a successful rescue mission or is there no way they’d work together?

[the-font-bandit]

Graveyard fog Emmrich Volkarin inspired drink, I really want to design Lucanis and Neve too :3