fereldan-commander

[fereldan-commander]

"Warden hopefuls must display their merit in battle and wit. There are a few standard questions and battle exercises I often use to weed those who wish to be Grey Wardens from those who are destined for it. But...the majority of individuals who actually don the blue and grey are hand-picked in advance." Duncan's lips twitched and his cheeks lifted, gently. "I've heard of your talents with a sword, Alistair. There are one or two others here in whom I am mildly curious, but I must come clean. It is you I intended to approach today, if you did not seek me first."

Earthen eyes bore calmly into the blues of the dimpled, fresh-faced youth across from him. Maric's features were all too visible.

His mother's...somewhat less-so. But Duncan knew them well enough to pick them out from the royal line's domineering genes.

"Your Revered Mother is reluctant to let you go. She must be very fond of you. Are you equally fond of your place here in the Order?"

A Choice - [Duncan & Alistair]

#a choice #donotswoop

[fereldan-commander]

Michael Grant Terry / Eugene Byrd / Pej Vahdat

#fc #LMFAO #when wardens look like slobs #nbd

[fereldan-commander]

#fc #wendal is honorary alistair ok #donotswoop

[fereldan-commander]

Unannounced, the enormous lord had flattened himself to the earth at Duncan's feet. The sight, strangely enough, nearly stirre a laugh from the warden's chest, but out of respect for the task of hand he managed both to swallow it and to fold himself first onto his knees, then onto the ground at Bryce's side.

An esteemed member of Ferelden's senate lay beside him, elbows-down in the leaves and dirt with bugs, chipmunks, a former thief from Val Royeaux and other such pests. Espresso eyes followed the other man's rolling and shifting, watching the way his hips lifted with that adjusted knee.

There, Bryce had whispered.

Yes, thought Duncan.  'There' is just fine.

Laughter no longer threatened to pass his lips. Instead, Duncan swallowed a different scale of sounds.

The sharp clap of riflefire spreading out through the woods brought his attention from Bryce's hips, though, and he flicked his eyes up just in time to see the buck fall. By the time he looked back, the older man had spryly returned to his feet and was swiping his hands over himself--

The warden focused his gaze on a twig on the ground in front of himself and pushed first to his hands and knees, and then to his feet, swatting at the bits of Heartwood that wished to carry itself with him as well, following Bryce to the deer while wholeheartedly refusing to look at the man.

An annoyingly difficult imposition, given how much space the fellow took up.

"Is it a good one?" he asked, feeling a little stupid for his question but holding his posture squarely as though he didn't. "The deer, I mean. Or will dinner require another?"

Plying the Trade :: [ for Bryce ]

#plying the trade #heartwoodandsacrifice #t bryce #wow duncan you really are eighteen aren't you #ffs #well not that I can blame you tho #I mean #bryce #yep

[fereldan-commander]

#fc #omg he looks really really young in this picture #qt #I don't know why bc this isn't that old #sometimes he just looks airbrushed #WHAT IS HIS FACE WHY IT IS SO UNFFGFJFSLDFJ

[fereldan-commander]

Of course she knew his intentions.

Duncan's expression outwardly did not validate her assumptions entirely, but he did give her a wry, understanding smile before saying, obviously, "I have no idea what you are alluding to."

He squeezed her hand and returned the seriousness of her gaze with his own. "But you may rest assured that I do not judge people by the records of others. Printed histories of deeds and crimes can be misleading. Such things may provide a frame, but only the words of those closest to them and observed behaviour can fill what is between those boarders."

A calloused right hand patted the back of her left.

"Your accounts of him, and the happiness I see in you, speak volumes beyond what literal volumes can."

Old Ghosts - [Elissa and Duncan]

#old ghosts #elissaromildecousland

[fereldan-commander]

#fc #this is his #run that by me again face

[fereldan-commander]

Shoot at her, shithead. I dare you.

The heirloom silverite dagger in Duncan’s hand was in the air the moment the gunshot rang, and lodged itself in Mutton Chops’s left thigh. No sooner had he thrown the dagger had Duncan drawn his sidearm, aimed it up at one of the snipers on the second floor and squeezed an easy body shot off, hitting the man square in the chest. He’d expected to stagger him, but apparently snipers in Darktown were unaccustomed to bothering with kevlar and the bullet blew clean threw.

Fortunately, the effect was still the same. His body folded forward off the second floor and down on top of the man they’d gone to meet, whose thigh injury caused him to crumble beneath the weight of a larger man’s body atop him trapping him there.

Duncan then allowed his own bad leg to fold beneath him, bringing himself to the floor easily and rolling to the side behind a structural pillar, glancing over toward Elissa, trying to see if she was all right.

The Gem of Keroshek - [Elissa and Duncan]

#the gem of keroshek #elissaromildecousland #t elissa

[fereldan-commander]

A low chuckle broke free from the back of the Warden-Commander's throat. "There are some who might say you've just sealed your own fate--for a nap, at least, asking me to regale you with Warden history." His smile was warm and welcoming however as he leaned forward in his seat and knit the black leather of his gloved fingers together upon the table in front of him. "It is the duty of the Grey Wardens to protect all of Thedas from darkspawn and the Blights they cause. Our order, once regarded very highly, has admittedly dwindled in popularity over the last few centuries as we have yet to see another Blight. Many believe we won't have another."

Leanly muscled shoulders lifted and fell. "For the here and now, the tainted are still an issue, and as we accept funds from all nations and organizations, we are able to research the Taint and its effects in search of a cure, and develop anti-Darkspawn gear and weapons to help deal with raids and outbreaks as they appear.

"As for the popularity of the Wardens in Ferelden, it is actually the opposite of what you understand. The Grey Wardens were exiled from our fair homeland between the Fourth and Fifth blights due to a political coup and subsequent war between Dishonored Warden-Commander Sophia Dryden and the royal army of King Arland. But two ages later, I traveled from Val Royeaux under Orlesian Warden-Commander Genevieve Frederic in an investigation, and...I won't bore you with the details of such endeavors now, but the aftermath saw King Maric's gratitude to the Wardens and his invitation that we return, with myself instated first as Warden-Lieutenant, and then shortly thereafter as the new Warden-Commander."

He smiled patiently at Alistair, not at all certain of the young man had soaked the information in or nodded off midway through. He was Maric's son, after all, which likely meant that his mind tended to latch onto some things with great enthusiasm while leaving others unprocessed unintentionally.

A Choice - [Duncan & Alistair]

#a choice #donotswoop

[fereldan-commander]

The residual ache that had been hanging to Duncan's heart like dust settled in the fibers of a wool coat aired for use after far too long stuffed out of sight shook loose into the air, dispersing at the last of Elissa's words.

Suddenly the pain she felt at the thought of Bryce mattered little, for the moment. Because there, plain as the rolling laws that led to the Wood, was happiness.

She looked almost sheepish for it. Nervous. But it was there and it was strong and undeniable.

The old Warden's lips twitched forward, then drew back in a slow, warm smile broad enough to show teeth before his lips pressed together again though as they did he only beamed more.

Life where there was so much death.  Gain where there had been crippling losses.  Resilience and recovery and reunion.

The Heartwood will endure.

Duncan swallowed and blinked once to mitigate the friendly burn that was quietly overwhelming his throat and eyes.

"I cannot imagine why anyone would not wish to marry you, Missy, but. He took her hand again and clasped it in both of his own. "Congratulations. I am...very happy to see you so. I would love to meet him some time, if I could? Or is it someone I know?"

Old Ghosts - [Elissa and Duncan]

#old ghosts #elissaromildecousland

[fereldan-commander]

Y E P

elissaromildecousland replied to your audio post

(O U C H)

#elissaromildecousland #yepyepyepyep #N O P E #but yep

[fereldan-commander]

#dyce #duncan sountrack

[fereldan-commander]

"I don't know that the woodsy things would thank me." The retort was formed by smirking lips. "If the woodsy things include the stag whose life we have set out to take, I can hardly imagine it grateful that you have an extra means by which to dispatch it." When Cousland drew even with him again, the warden smirked, and began to tread forward toward the indicated glen, his hands briefly sliding to his own hips and the small of his back to adjust his belt and trousers, pulling the jacket of his uniform up enough to do so before allowing it all to settle in its intended manner.

A difficult balance--comfortably high enough that his belt did not dig into his hips, and yet low enough that his sore backside was not agitated by the pressing confines of his trousers.

"In case you hadn't guessed, the answer is yes. I am still given to hunting if you would still take me there, my lord."

Plying the Trade :: [ for Bryce ]

#plying the trade #YEAH THAT LINE JUST HAPPENED #COULDNT HELP IT #he wants to do your woodsy thing bryce btw #I'm js #OOP #OOPS #SRY NOT SRY #SLKFJSDF #ok why am I still awake #I had to dyce before sleep but now */passes out* kbye

[fereldan-commander]

Hold me closer one more time.

Say that you love me in your last goodbye.

Please forgive me for my sins.

Yes, I swam dirty waters,

But you pushed me in.

I've seen your face under every sky,

Over every border and on every line.

You know my heart more than I do.

We were the greatest, me and you.

#duncan soundtrack #dyce #heartwoodandsacrifice

[fereldan-commander]

Duncan lingered at the edge of the firelight. Though Bryce was no longer telling him to go away, he still looked...unwell. Wolfe hoped--desperately wished--that it was an unflattering, cruel play of shadow on his features, but then, Bryce would be sixty now, wouldn't he? And if he'd been living in the deep roads, tainting and maddening himself on the flesh of Darkspawn....

The Warden quickly turned away, ignoring the strange, foreign ache in his leg and staring at the various items on a shelf nearby, obviously collected over time and with no true sense save for that many of them appeared to be shiny or intresting in shape or texture.

What was worse? Death? Or this?

Wolfe tasted the burn of the bile he felt in the back of his throat as he turned to face the ghost of his greatest regret again, and with a shuddering breath stepped toward him.

It couldn't be Bryce. It wasn't. And so he need not be afraid. It was impossible to imagine the woodsman not only there and living but so gaunt and withered. The word "healthy" may well have been Bryce's given name, for he had inherited the immune system of a bull shark rather that of the mere stag that was the Cousland sigil.

One limping step nearer, however, and the truth of Bryce's visage became all the more undeniable. Duncan swallowed a sob, refusing to allow the man to hear it.

Shelve your emotions and take your chance. Do not fail him again.

Duncan drew a chestful of sharp, acrid air through his nose as though it were an elixir of strength, stepped forward stony-faced despite his own wet eyes until he was near enough to touch the man, and began to examine him. "Have you eaten the Darkspawn?"

Where All Roads Lead || [Feynriel & Duncan]

#where all roads lead #sandintheireyes

[fereldan-commander]

#duncan supports the troops #BIG SHOCK #fc

[fereldan-commander]

“Yes, it would make me worry...but I could also help you investigate it. It isn’t as though I’m useless,” he replied, a soft frown forming behind his whiskey glass as he took another sip.

By every rung in the golden gates, she had become her father.

Duncan remained silent at the news that Fergus had not yet been attacked. It was unsurprising. Were he to hazard a guess as to why, it would be a combination of both of what Elissa had posited--that he was Warden-Commander, thus making what would have only been a passing target more inconvenient than he was worth.

If the pursuer was who the former Commander suspected, then yes. He wanted Elissa.

And it was Duncan’s job to ensure that he did not get her.

A game smirk took his lips at that and he lifted his glass toward her. “I am. Hopefully I will not prove too much of a burden in our endeavors.” He demonstratively tapped his cane on the floor.

The Gem of Keroshek - [Elissa and Duncan]

#the gem of keroshek #elissaromildecousland