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I’ve gotten sucked into the Love and Deepspace world and Dr. Zayne is the main culprit. Tell me that some else sees him as a modern AU version of Sesshomaru.

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Rumble Feature pt. 2

Follow up to this, because Y'ALL ARE SO RIGHT.

Shoutout to my cat, this is just him at 4:30 am every morning.

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What if mage!Rook had a choice to become a vessel for Mythal’s retribution? What if coffee dates turn into double dates between Lucanis and Rook and Spite and Mythal? What if Spite and Retribution start healing but instead of simply reverting to Determination and Benevolence they become something more?

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Lucanis “It’s not enough.”

Rook “it is and you are.”

These are the most meaningful quotes from the romance lock in scene. Everyone complains that he just made Rook dessert. But this scene shows that Rook UNDERSTANDS Lucanis. (The player may not and that’s fine.) They see his attempt to make the meal for Rook. He is cooking everyone a nice meal as a thanks for the help with my tragic life but he makes Rook a dessert to match their favorite drink. He is trying to point out that Rook is special, that they all helped but it’s really Rook that he feel the need to thank and apologize to “for everything.”

And Rook, who knows his mind and sees straight through him gets it. They call him out and make him put words to the gesture. He tries and laments that the pastry, his words aren’t enough for them. But Rook disagrees. It’s not kisses or love declarations but that’s okay. The gesture is enough for Rook. Lucanis, as he is, is enough for Rook. They don’t push him for more, they don’t need more than Lucanis is willing to give.

For me, this is just a beautiful scene and a beautiful romance. Lucanis has learned about romance from books and he can’t seem to do it right. He tried for the suave wall kiss but couldn’t go through with it. He tried making them dessert but couldn’t bring himself to profess it. And Rook is just going with the flow, letting him set the pace and taking the pressure off of him to try and meet the crazy standards of what romance is that is set by others. I love it so much.

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Okay so, I’ve always assumed that Crow training included some kind of seduction training. To prove that you could get someone at their most vulnerable and defenseless.

And when Illario takes to the lessons like a duck to water, seducing any mark he is tasked to and flaunting it in front of Lucanis. While Lucanis is likely floundering, he’s awkward, doesn’t pick up cues, goes too hard when he would play coy and shying away at the last moment.

Then there is Caterina and her disapproval, the punishments for failing a task. The lectures and the lessons. I imagine she would hire courtesans outside of the crows to instruct her grandson because if the crows knew it would bring shame on her house. And she lets him know it each and every time he fails.

So I imagine that Lucanis thinks that something is wrong with himself, something is broken. And maybe it isn’t until he sees Viago’s affinity for poison that he compensates for his lack of passion with ruthless assassinations. He proves to Caterina that he does not need to seduce his way to a mark. That he can kill faster than Illario can get into a mark’s pants.

Maybe he kills a courtesan that goes too far in trying to ignite Lucanis’ passion and the message is sent to Caterina loud and clear that he will not play the game the way Illario does.

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On Lucanis' parents and Spites involvement in fun stuff

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here is hoping that images won't be compressed to hell. scar/mark showcase because why not.

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So I just realized that I have never finished Dragon Age Inquisition. I restarted the game just before Veilguard came out and I was like “wow I remember none of this”. Well, I just got to fight the red templars after Emprise du Lion and realized that this is the furthest I’ve ever gotten in the game. I forget why I stopped playing, likely extreme frustration but, I do remember years later trying to finish it. Opening the save file and realizing I didn’t remember any of the game mechanics and story and barely remembered the characters. I was going to try and finish it and just had no idea where to begin so I deleted the save file.

This is the only ME and DA game that I’ve never finished. I’m sort of enjoying the story. I hate how tied it is to the chantry. Even though the Inquisition was formed without the blessing of the Chantry it is still so preachy. But I love the romance with Cullen, he needs a hug so badly and I forgot how adorably flustered he gets.

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Hot take

Lucanis is a sub. With Rook he feels safe enough to go to sleep and talk think he doesn’t feel safe enough to give up control to the one that owns his heart and knows his mind?

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Sometimes twitter is good

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Listen if we don’t have Sebastian singing “kiss the girl” and eels flipping the gondola then I’m severely disappointed in this fandom.

does it say something about me if my first reaction after seeing the rookanis concept art of them in a gondola was “i need to write a fic where they fall off the gondola. they need to fall off.”

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on the one hand I think inner demons could stand to have a bit more romanced rook specific content, but on the other hand the underlying in-built implication that 'yours is the one true voice of comfort and safety in my inner world' is a sentiment and intimacy so way beyond the romantic or the platonic or any secret third thing you could care to name that it makes me lose my entire poor little mind a bit. it's so big and fundamental — near-existential — that in that exact moment at least the distinctions kind of seem irrelevant.

all the people lucanis' mind conjures up along the way are relationships he has that are unavoidably mixed and fraught in some ways even when they're also full of love (they are fraught BECAUSE they're full of love) — the good in them inseparable from things that hurt him at the same time. (it's about: the basic disorganized attachment patterns this poor guy is dragging around with him. careful with those, they're dellamorte heirlooms. what you love also inevitably hurts you and you won't be allowed to have one without the other, you have to surrender parts of your soul to hold on to what little you have left: this is the story up until now.) and the idea that rook isn't that to him — that beneath the fear of wanting them when romanced (which is more its own separate thing because within this psychology, actively wanting something and not just clinging on for dear life to even a meager status quo lest you lose it is in itself dangerous bordering on catastrophic), this is a relationship where there isn't resentment, or guilt, or shame, or dread, or rage, or self-hate, or any of the other emotions that keep him paralyzed, unable to move this way or that. no debts, nothing owed of yourself and your soul's substance except what you can freely and safely and happily give. love and freedom don't coexist — but, I mean, you're almost starting to make me think........... unless...👀👀👀. the unconditional and undramatic 'you are here and I am here with you, you can be exactly how you are right now with me and it's safe for us both even though you're afraid it won't be, I'm not going anywhere' acceptance rook shows him here that he returns to them in the big romance scene, when it's rook who needs it. the way he's just. standing there in the center of it all, like a child desperately helplessly waiting to be found, hiding in the place he hopes you'll know to look first. (rook does know. it's one of the first things they say in there.)

in short the most important room in his little mind palace for the romance is the very first room — the one where rook isn't. where, in fact, rook cannot be, because they disprove the entire structure of the place with their existence and presence in his life. with everyone else he's putting words in their mouths about what they think of him, and rook is the one who actually gets to come in to speak their own words to him — and have him listen. ('he'll listen to you, he always listens to you', 'your voice is a comfort'.) of course rook isn't present anywhere else in there — at the risk of stating the obvious to a tedious degree, they aren't one of the locks, they're bringing the key. in the very finest 'the messenger and the message' sort of way.

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Rook being a very physically touchy person and Lucanis avoiding touch at all costs from built up trauma from childhood, his work as a Crow, and the Ossuary. Them always asking for Lucanis' permission to touch him, and before Tearstone Island, they hug him and he still flinches but he holds them tight

As Rook is taken into the Regret prison and they see a vision of Lucanis' body on the ground, they scream his name out of concern and fear but all Lucanis hears is them screaming for him to help, and then they're gone. They're gone. He thinks they were screaming his name, begging him to save them and now they're gone.

Weeks into Rook being taken into the Regret prison and now a man who couldn't be touched without reflexively drawing a blade is craving the warmth of his partner who he thinks he'll never see again

Lucanis pulling Rook out of the prison, knowing it's them right away because of their hands. He missed their hands, he missed their touch, he missed their warmth, he missed them.

When Rook gets back, Lucanis' touch is slow and soft, almost unbelieving. Weeks of stress and torture and pain and guilt and regret, and now they're here. Once they're finally together, he feels as though the world is in their arms and if killing a god is the only way to stay there, he will do what a Crow does best and fulfill this contract

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🤷🏽‍♀️ Neve and Lucanis are different characters with different wants, needs and fears. I didn’t know that Neve could be brought around and still romance her but, again that is a choice for her character.

For me, I like that the story has consequences. I like that I can’t just farm his bond and be damned the choices I’ve made in the game. Dragon Age has always had some type of choice that closes off a path for you. I mean in Inquisition and DA2 you had party members that you could push to leave the party and never return.

I’m sorry that your Shadow Dragon Rook chose to save their hometown. From an RP standpoint I understand the motivation. Lucanis does as well which is why he doesn’t leave the party and you can continue to build a friendship with him. But, he isn’t going to trust you enough or let you close enough to mend his heart.

This is amazing man that only has one friend, his cousin, who has betrayed him. He is always waiting for the moment you turn your back on him. If you don’t like it then maybe his romance isn’t for you and that is okay.

I’m so but, I’m so tired of hearing people complain that they are locked out of romancing Lucanis because they didn’t save his city. You left him to face a dragon ALONE. Lucanis does not trust anyone. He is used to people using him, betraying him, hurting him. He is not used to someone genuinely caring for him.

When you get him out of the Ossuary and express care and concern he starts letting his guard down. He sees how you treat everyone in the lighthouse and starts to thing MAYBE, maybe they care. Maybe he can trust you and let you in.

Lucanis is also a man that continually says that a crow never abandons a contract. Basically, your word is your bond. Then a dragon comes to destroy his home, he tells you that innocents are going to be blighted. And he runs to save them and fight for your city. Tell me that going to the other city isn’t a betrayal. Tell me that he didn’t look behind him a hundred times hoping to see you and curse himself for being stupid enough to hope every single time you weren’t there.

Soft, sad words after aren’t going to fix that you decided to leave him to face a dragon alone. Not when this man eventually would’ve fallen for you so deeply that he would try and stab a cloud for you. That he would kill an entire pantheon of Gods just to fall asleep in your arms. You can’t regain that kind of trust after abandoning him.

And for those upset that he is then in a romance with Neve. He wasn’t expecting her to come help his city. He knew that she would try to save hers. He also wasn’t falling for her before that. So there was no broken trust to work around after Treviso is blighted. There is just someone coming to help him pick up the pieces. And as Neve says their relationship is slow and cautious. They aren’t any steamier than that between Rook and Lucanis. However, Neve is a more aggressive flirt than Rook is. When they first meet Neve tells Lucanis he’s hot so it doesn’t surprise me that she is outwardly flirty with him.

Anyways, that’s my rant. I just chose to save Minrathis in my second playthrough to see the other storyline and I HATE it. I will never abandon my crow in another playthrough again. Seeing Lucanis sitting on that bench tore my heart out.

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It’s the consequence of the game and you are playing the hero. Sure the others went to help but, you were the one that drove off the dragon in the other city. The B team were not successful.

As for being a Shadow Dragon and choosing to save your own city, yeah, for RP it makes sense to save your city. But that doesn’t mean that it didn’t personally hurt Lucanis that you didn’t come to his rescue.

I’m so but, I’m so tired of hearing people complain that they are locked out of romancing Lucanis because they didn’t save his city. You left him to face a dragon ALONE. Lucanis does not trust anyone. He is used to people using him, betraying him, hurting him. He is not used to someone genuinely caring for him.

When you get him out of the Ossuary and express care and concern he starts letting his guard down. He sees how you treat everyone in the lighthouse and starts to thing MAYBE, maybe they care. Maybe he can trust you and let you in.

Lucanis is also a man that continually says that a crow never abandons a contract. Basically, your word is your bond. Then a dragon comes to destroy his home, he tells you that innocents are going to be blighted. And he runs to save them and fight for your city. Tell me that going to the other city isn’t a betrayal. Tell me that he didn’t look behind him a hundred times hoping to see you and curse himself for being stupid enough to hope every single time you weren’t there.

Soft, sad words after aren’t going to fix that you decided to leave him to face a dragon alone. Not when this man eventually would’ve fallen for you so deeply that he would try and stab a cloud for you. That he would kill an entire pantheon of Gods just to fall asleep in your arms. You can’t regain that kind of trust after abandoning him.

And for those upset that he is then in a romance with Neve. He wasn’t expecting her to come help his city. He knew that she would try to save hers. He also wasn’t falling for her before that. So there was no broken trust to work around after Treviso is blighted. There is just someone coming to help him pick up the pieces. And as Neve says their relationship is slow and cautious. They aren’t any steamier than that between Rook and Lucanis. However, Neve is a more aggressive flirt than Rook is. When they first meet Neve tells Lucanis he’s hot so it doesn’t surprise me that she is outwardly flirty with him.

Anyways, that’s my rant. I just chose to save Minrathis in my second playthrough to see the other storyline and I HATE it. I will never abandon my crow in another playthrough again. Seeing Lucanis sitting on that bench tore my heart out.

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I’m so but, I’m so tired of hearing people complain that they are locked out of romancing Lucanis because they didn’t save his city. You left him to face a dragon ALONE. Lucanis does not trust anyone. He is used to people using him, betraying him, hurting him. He is not used to someone genuinely caring for him.

When you get him out of the Ossuary and express care and concern he starts letting his guard down. He sees how you treat everyone in the lighthouse and starts to thing MAYBE, maybe they care. Maybe he can trust you and let you in.

Lucanis is also a man that continually says that a crow never abandons a contract. Basically, your word is your bond. Then a dragon comes to destroy his home, he tells you that innocents are going to be blighted. And he runs to save them and fight for your city. Tell me that going to the other city isn’t a betrayal. Tell me that he didn’t look behind him a hundred times hoping to see you and curse himself for being stupid enough to hope every single time you weren’t there.

Soft, sad words after aren’t going to fix that you decided to leave him to face a dragon alone. Not when this man eventually would’ve fallen for you so deeply that he would try and stab a cloud for you. That he would kill an entire pantheon of Gods just to fall asleep in your arms. You can’t regain that kind of trust after abandoning him.

And for those upset that he is then in a romance with Neve. He wasn’t expecting her to come help his city. He knew that she would try to save hers. He also wasn’t falling for her before that. So there was no broken trust to work around after Treviso is blighted. There is just someone coming to help him pick up the pieces. And as Neve says their relationship is slow and cautious. They aren’t any steamier than that between Rook and Lucanis. However, Neve is a more aggressive flirt than Rook is. When they first meet Neve tells Lucanis he’s hot so it doesn’t surprise me that she is outwardly flirty with him.

Anyways, that’s my rant. I just chose to save Minrathis in my second playthrough to see the other storyline and I HATE it. I will never abandon my crow in another playthrough again. Seeing Lucanis sitting on that bench tore my heart out.

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Am I the only one that didn’t enjoy Dragon Age Inquisition?

I feel like I wasn’t alone in both enjoying Inquisition when it first came out and now people just have nostalgia memory. The game is a slog to get through and the story is beyond preachy. Don’t get me wrong, I got through it, I’m trying to get through it again because I accidentally overwrote my game file.

The Cullen romance is as satisfying as I remember, I’d flirted with him as a mage since DA:O and love that I can finally romance him. It’s even more enjoyable that I feel like my DA:O character helped pave the path for him to be the man he is now and be open to a relationship with a mage.

And I enjoy the friendships with Dorian, Ironbull and Varric. Though, I miss how Varric was in DA 2, losing his brother changed him and I wish it was explored more in DA:I outside of the missions on the board.

But the story and game itself? I keep asking myself “am I done yet?”