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#Friend is constantly done with Mages bullshit
shinysoroka · 4 months
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Strap in for what my brain decided to cook up at 2:00 am.
In a High Fantasy land, dependent on magic for absolutely everything, Tony Stark suffers an accident that leaves his heart severely damaged. The Mages Guild, who he has a long-standing feud with, decide to teach him a lesson and refuse to help. Tony says, fuck it, synthesizes a new element, builds himself a mechanical heart, uses the element to power it and manages to cheat death.
News of this travels and people realize "Well, shit! Maybe there's something to this whole Engineering thing. Maybe we don't need Mages." And so, Tony starts getting attention and his tiny workshop grows to a business for people who cannot afford magic or don't want to depend on the Mages Guild. Everything is great until his mechanical heart starts malfunctioning. He soon starts to fear that if he cannot fix it, not only will he die, but the people will lose faith in his creations, which would place the world back into the iron grip of the mages.
In the middle of all this turmoil he gets a request from a noble from up north. He has heard of this electricity thing and he wants his castle to have it, instead of relying on Mages to come over and refresh the light spells. So Tony travels all the way to a dreary castle atop a mountain that is permanently wreathed in storms. Locals keep away and warn him not to go there. They say it is cursed. They also say that the servants who work there tend to go missing.
Tony obviously goes, "bullshit, curses aren't real". But sure enough, when he arrives he finds the castle is empty, except for a bunch of servants. The housekeeper leads him to an engineering wing where everything he requested is set up. She warns him to never leave the wing and sets off.
At first he shrugs and sets off to work. But after a while, he starts getting suspicious. Why isn't he allowed to leave? If the noble and his family don't live here, why are there servants running around? Why do they seem so frightened? And why is the weather constantly awful?
Eventually, he makes friends with the maid who brings him his meals and she reveals a terrible secret. The servants are here to tend to the family's monstrous son. Terribly deformed, mad and violent, he roams the castle, searching for his next victim. No servant can ever cross his path, for if they do, they will be slaughtered.
Now, Tony is suddenly not so brave. But eventually, curiosity gets the best of him. Against everyone's advice, he leaves the wing and tries to look for the son, which proves to be oddly difficult. For a bloodthirsty monster, he sure seems to be avoiding him and doing everything to hide. Tony perseveres until, after a clever trap, they find themselves face to face.
It is not a monster he finds, but a regular man. Blue eyes, blond hair, ridiculously handsome. A face that is hard to forget. If anything, he has seen that face before.
It finally dawns on him that he is staring at Thor Odinson, the crown prince.
Or rather, the former crown prince.
The same one who was famously beheaded in a public execution ten years ago, after murdering a visiting princess from a neighboring kingdom.
The same one who is now blinking in confusion, as if he is expecting Tony to drop dead or vanish. Of which he does neither.
At first Tony just flees. But soon after, Thor knocks on his door, asking to talk to him. After all, he already saw his face. The damage is done. So Tony opens the door and they get to talking.
In the following months, they grow closer as the generator Tony is working on takes shape. He finds out that the Thor was born with the power to channel lightning and command storms. When the king found out, he tried to get him to repress that power. For years it seemed to work, until one day he lost control and accidentally killed Aele, a Jotun princess who he was friends with. Her father, Laufey, mad with grief demanded Thor’s execution or there would be war. But Odin could not bring himself to kill his firstborn so he disguised a different criminal as Thor. Then, he locked Thor away in this castle to prevent him from hurting more people. That is why the servants can’t ever look at him. That’s why there is a spell that instantly kills anyone who does.
Clearly, there is something in Tony's mechanical heart that has interfered with the spell. Or at least that is his theory.
It has been ten years since that beheading. Odin is long dead. The prince's younger brother, Loki, is the new king. And Thor is still locked away from the world, in a castle that is constantly under a storm that reflects his emotions. So Tony thinks to himself, what if repressing those powers only made everything worse. What if they could be controlled and challenged? After all, there is a perfectly functional generator right here. And so, Thor lays his hand upon the machine, and suddenly, it works!
Soon enough, the castle has electricity, which Tony now understands, was a question of practicality. The more Mages come around to refresh the spells, the higher the chances of one of them running into Thor. But now that everything is ready, Tony convinces Thor to run away, get to the palace and try to talk to Loki. Perhaps, after ten years, things have cooled down, and there is a chance to explain what happened. After all, nobody knew about Thor’s powers except Odin. If he gets the chance to explain and atone for Aele’s death in another way, his powers could even lead the kingdom into a new age.
So with Tony’s help, Thor flees his castle prison. They both have a bunch of adventures until they reach the palace. When they finally manage to talk to Loki, he is surprised but receptive to their message. At least at first, until he betrays them and orders their execution. But not before, Tony discovers that Loki was behind Aele’s death. He once eavesdropped on a conversation between Odin and Thor, where he found out about Thor’s powers, as well as the need to keep them secret. He also realized that this is why his dad was paying more attention to his older brother. Consumed with jealousy and believing Thor to be dangerous, he waited for Aele to visit, snuck into her room and enchanted her favorite ring with an electricity spell that emulated Thor’s powers. Then, when Thor and Aele were alone, he activated the spell and killed her. Since Thor was convinced it was his fault and even confessed, there was no investigation and the ring went unexamined. Until Tony finds it and blows the lid of the conspiracy wide open.
We all know what happens next. There’s a big confrontation, Tony almost dies, but Thor manages to restart his heart with his powers. Loki’s plan is revealed but once Jotunheim learns the truth, Thor is faced with the same demand as Odin, to execute Aele’s killer. Since Laufey passed away as well, the person making the demand is her brother, but Thor managed to get the sentence reduced to life imprisonment in exchange of sharing their new technology with Jotunheim. After all, Jotunheim could also probably use an alternative to zealously controlled magic. It could also use something to block it, with Tony’s synthesized element is perfect for. And now, with Thor’s powers, the new technology can be powered by clean energy that comes from nature itself, is infinitely renewable and will last forever.
And so, the day is saved, the Mages Guild’s grip on the Nine Realms is broken, our heroes lead the way into a new future and hopefully, hopefully, when this is pitched to an editor, nobody will narrow their eyes and go “heeeey, is this just your favorite MCU bits with the serial numbers filed off?”
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ladymischievous · 10 months
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Preview of Chapter 5 of ‘A Twist of Fate’
Good news! I am writing again, if a bit slowly. Regardless, I am officially back on my bullshit and I hope you folks will enjoy. Things aren’t done and it’s going to take a while before they are, but it’s chugging along. You may even be in store for 2 new chapters instead of just one. But I’m not going to delve into that too much right now.
‘A Twist of Fate’ can be found here on AO3. If you enjoy silly Warcraft AU’s, sassy mages, and magical towers then you just might enjoy this fanfic.
-o-Excerpt Starts Here-o-
Khadgar wasn’t sure when he felt like life in the library felt as natural as breathing. He had slipped into a comfortable routine before realizing it. Tidying, organizing, and helping tower denizens find the books they needed. It reminded him of the work he’d do back in Dalaran, if a bit more enjoyable.
Khadgar had been gradually meeting more of the people who lived there. Barnes was a frequent visitor, a playwright and manager of a theater troupe. He and Medivh were apparently good friends. Khadgar kept his thoughts on the magus to himself. Another was a highelf with long, blue hair, who introduced himself as ‘Netherspite’. If that wasn’t the name of a villain straight out of some of the books housed in the Tower’s library, Khadgar didn’t know what was. Attumen, the tower’s top huntsman, was also a regular, who was looking for ‘books that his horse would enjoy’. Khadgar couldn’t help but ask if he meant his horse could read. But Attumen corrected him, saying that he’d read stories to them.
These were only a few of the visitors to the library Khadgar had met. Most praised his work on the library, something that made a small feeling of pride swell in the boy’s chest. In Dalaran, his services were expected and praise was minimal. It surprised Khadgar just how much he quietly savored every compliment, as if starved. 
It had left him wondering about his life back ‘home’, for lack of a better word. Dalaran was Khadgar’s ‘home’ by definition, but at times it barely felt like it. Karazhan’s Tower felt oddly natural, time and days blurring together. Khadgar had only been there for a short time, yet it almost felt like he’d been there for years. Almost like he was being slowly absorbed and melded into its little world.
Khadgar knew his time here was limited. What surprised him was that part of him felt sad about it. He had no reason. He was just as unwanted here as he was in Dalaran. As he worked on reshelving books and organizing, he couldn’t help but think about why he felt that way.
Fear was part of it. He had failed in his mission and he didn’t know what to expect on his return. An orphan like himself didn’t have resources or money. Another part of it had to be the sense of independence he gained during his travels to Stormwind and his short time in the Tower. He wasn’t constantly watched as he was in Dalaran. Nor given tedious assignments or busywork for the faculty. He had this job in the tower, but he was going to be compensated for it instead of being used as free labor.
“My tower could use a spy…”
Bits and pieces of the night before would play in Khadgar’s mind. It almost felt like it was all just a strange dream now. Seeing Medivh’s younger, more kind self, who was a far cry from the poisonous man he was today. Seeing a glimmer of that kindness in that offer, it was tempting, and part of Khadgar regretted turning him down.
“Skunk boy!”
Khadgar jumped at the sudden voice behind him. He dropped the books that he had been shelving. He whipped around to face whoever called him that stupid name and found nothing. His gaze was dragged down when he felt something tugging at his pant leg. There, standing on the stone floor, was a familiar, larger-than-normal raven.
“Skunk. Boy.” it announced, looking awfully proud of themselves.
Khadgar felt his face heat up as he swung out a leg to kick the bird away. However, it was too fast and fluttered off to perch atop one of the bookshelves.
“Get down from there!” Khadgar called out to it, as if it could understand him. “Get out of the library!”
The raven paid no heed to Khadgar’s command. Instead it took notice of a plate of food that sat on a nearby table. Khadgar followed the bird’s gaze to his own lunch and made a mad dash towards it just as the raven took to the air. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as the two raced for the food. Khadgar was never the overly athletic type, but years of getting into trouble had given him the chance to master sprinting. Usually for attempts at a quick escape, mostly from an angry teacher. Somehow, some way, he had managed to reach the table in time.
Khadgar whipped around, pointed, and called out: “HA! I beat you--”
The raven couldn’t slow down in time and crashed into Khadgar. The mageling landed on the floor with a cackling, squirming mass of feathers. The stupid bird was actually laughing, as if it were having fun in the chaos it caused. Khadgar was on his side, glaring at the raven as it was lying on its belly, legs stretched out behind itself, its feathery tail wagging.
“Ahh, ha, ha, ha, ha!” The raven warbled out a strange laugh that was almost human sounding except for the strange cadence. “Hullo! Hullo!”
“Uh, h-hi…?” Khadgar said, not fully understanding just why he even bothered answering a bird. There was something about the way it looked at him that felt like it expected an answer. “How did you get in here?”
“Hiiiii~!” The raven said, its voice raised a couple of octaves. “Hiiiiiii~! Up! Up!”
With a bit of effort, Khadgar pushed himself up into a seated position on the floor. He looked upwards, seeing balconies, stairways, and passages above them that led upwards. It was then that he realized that he couldn’t see the ceiling. It all faded away, melting into shadows above.
“You came from up there?” Khadgar asked. He couldn’t help but think of Medivh’s study. “Are you his pet or something…?”
The raven didn’t answer, instead it rewarded Khadgar with a floofing up of its feathers, a small croaking noise, and another tail wag.
“Well, you can’t stay here, I don’t need you messing up things…” Khadgar said as he forced himself to get up. He then did a double take when he realized the raven had moved.
Khadgar stared at the empty space for a short moment before turning to look at the table. There, standing by his lunch, tail wagging like a puppy, was the raven. It didn’t attack his food, thankfully, but the look it gave him was very clear.
“Gwuah!” the bird noised. It was eyeing one of the pieces of fruit in Khadgar’s lunch.
Khadgar figured he should have been a little thankful that the raven hadn’t moved in to ravage his food. He gave a small sigh before picking up a piece of fruit, tearing off a small bit of it, and tossed it into the distance. “Okay, have at it then…”
The raven darted to the edge of the table, hopped down, and bolted for the piece of fruit on foot.
“Wha…?” Khadgar’s jaw fell slack as he watched. “AT LEAST FLY, YOU ASSHOLE!”
And that was the beginning of a rather odd relationship. -End of Excerpt-
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bellsofblueficlets · 17 days
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These Lines Blurring
"There is one core rule to this magic we practice, my little apprentice," the words played through his head, again, again, again. He doesn't try to push them away anymore, but refuses to let them distract him.
"...What is it?" Words, echoed by the memory of a voice he didn't even recognize as his own anymore.
Gyre's mouth tightens into a thin line. The conversation had been repeating in his memory more often lately. At least he hadn't been having more dreams of his lost friend. He couldn't bear losing him over and over again, night after night-
With the tips of his claws, he traces the broken lines of magic carefully across his dust's chest. Soot no longer even needed to remove his hoodie for this part, their frequent sparring matches having left the thing in such tatters that it was more like the suggestion of clothing at this point than actual clothes. Claws of impossible sharpness, left gently brushing fraying threads aside...
"A binding must never be done on a person, against the will of the one being bound." He remembered the gravity to the old mage's words, and even now, he felt the weight behind them. How long ago had it been? They felt so fresh, and an ageless lifetime behind, all in one. "To do so is an unforgivable act. And one of great evil."
He couldn't have known how first hand he'd learn the truth of those words. Couldn't have known the nightmares that would gradually become more frequent, reliving the demon's tortures as they began supplanting his own painful memories more and more often. He'd seen the faces of only a handful of 'masters' so far- None, so far, being Rantrum's. Thankfully.
"So, only evil mages do it." The words sounded so confident in his memory, still secure in the certainty that things could ever be that simple.
The pause that followed his question though, he remembers it well, along with the pained look that had crossed his mage's face. "...No."
For an instant, just an instant, suspicion had risen in the nightmare's chest... but no. Not him, he'd assured himself. Never his Rantrum. He wouldn't. He must just be misunderstanding. "But you said-?"
"I said that the act is evil," The mage had denied, interrupting his surprised apprentice firmly. "Not that only evil people do it."
"...There are many evil acts in life, my little apprentice," Rantrum had continued quietly, "And one thing that I fear is inevitable, is learning just how many are done by people who are themselves generally good."
"Then... why do evil things?"
Why. Why. The one question that haunted him still. Would he ever learn the answer? Did he even really want to? Wouldn't it be easier, holding onto the memory of the eccentric old mage he'd known, with warm smiles and gentle hands, and that air of absurdity- which, the more he learned, became less absurd with every day.
"Because life is complicated," Had been his only answer.
Gyre had been left squinting up at him dubiously, he remembered it still so well. "That just sounds like an excuse."
He fully expecting denial, or some snippet of supposed wisdom from the mage disguised in riddle upon riddle. He already suspected that half of said 'wisdom' was bullshit, and constantly prodded to find inconsistencies, to find holes- Rantrum encouraged it, even-
Which was why the simple, subdued, answer of, "It is," From the mage had caught him so off guard. And just maybe, why the words still echoed so deeply.
There. One more broken point that needed repair. He draws the bit of remaining hoodie that still covered the place aside, and using his own corruption, drew a simple sigil on the dust bitty's skin.
Soot shuddered softly, breath catching as Gyre's magic traced almost immediately behind his touch, most of the corruption burning away... But traces of something else was behind, deep and cold, that seemed to soak into his skin, before vanishing.
Gyre felt the waves of revulsion, wrongness, and fear, that accompanied the intrusion of mingled magics into his body. He felt the stubbornness of his dusty as well, as the other rode it through the unwelcome sensations without protest, dutifully letting his nightmare continue.
...He can't help but wonder in some distant part of his mind if this kind of loyalty and duty was something common to dust bitties, or if it's only his.
So far, mapping the breaks and weak points in Soot's magic was the extent of what he'd done, marking each as he found it, to make it easier to keep an eye on in the future. At first, finding them had only gotten easier with time, but the more time passed, the fewer new breaks he'd found. That was a good thing...
...Except it meant he wouldn't be able to stall much longer. Soon, he'd need to start taking steps to actively repair the problem-
{Now, in fact,} The demon chimes in helpfully, a low purr in it's- well, not throat, though Gyre's hand briefly goes to his own, certain for an instant that he felt the phantom rumble there. {Took you long enough, though. Still, all you need to do now is reach in, grab all those neatly marked frayed bits, and see what happens when you give it a good pull! I mean, probably nothing good the first few times, but-}
The demon stops here, realizing that Gyre is ignoring it, and there's a moment of blessed silence, while this sinks in, before it speaks again. It's words are offered softly, but laced with venom. {You've been doing this more often- Tell me, do you really think it's a good idea to ignore the demon coiled around your soul?}
{...Keep doing it little drip, and you're going to regret it.}
Gyre's jaw tightens, and he straightens, rocking back to rest on his haunches. "Say something worth my time, then." The words are flat, cold. They sound... almost wrong to him. Was that even him? How much of him was still even him?
And what did it mean, if all of it was?
"You know by now that I'm not going to turn around and start tearing him apart to see what makes him tick," A mutter, his gaze tracing the magic he'd mapped so far. "And I'm not interested in being baited for your amusement."
He had a feeling that the demon was right about having mapped the last weak point though, and soon finds himself distracted, examining the markers he'd set. If there were no more, then-
The silence should have warned him. Instead, what 'warned' him was a sudden panic surging through him, and a sudden awareness of the demon's magic just reaching out like it was nothing, grabbing every marked point on every frayed bit of magic he'd traced-
How didn't matter, and maybe, in the demon's own twisted logic, that was the point. Before it could pull, Gyre seized it, and there was a sensation, like claws curling within claws, and water as it flowed through water, and-
Like it was the most natural thing in the world, he reached out himself, through the demon's magic, and... stopped it. It's grasp fell short, and Gyre just sat there, his hands curled into tight fists, and dark laughter echoing inside him. {Is that what it takes? Pathetic! How weak, ridiculous-!}
Gyre's hand opens, and again, without thought, his claws curl in the smallest way- And the laughter stops. In his mind's eyes, threads of rich blood red are coiled around his claws, leading straight from him, to the demon, and in that instant, they both hold it's magic.
"Do that again," There is a merciless ice to the words that drifts silently through his mind like falling frost, but there is no question whether the other hears him, "And I tear both our souls apart." In that instant? He'd never meant anything more.
He knows the demon can feel it. And right now? It's gone silent.
"...Have you ever bound someone like that?" How long ago? How long ago, those words? At the time, he'd been certain of the answer. At least, he'd wanted to be.
In retrospect, the answer had been inevitable. But, maybe he'd already known, even back then. "I have."
He'd climbed up... something. He can't remember what. Rantrum's vest? A stack of books? Funny, how the smaller details fade away. In the end, just a nightmare bitty, looking up with earnest eyelights, certain that his mage was better than that. If Rantrum had done that, then- "You- you had to have good reason, right?!"
A slow, acknowledging nod, and a gaze that he misses still. "I did, yes."
Here and now, the silence stretches. He'd overridden the demon's attempt, just like that, and now it was silent. The nightmare bitty breathes out, and his socket opens. It seemed he had just as much access to the demon's magic these days as it did. He wasn't sure whether it had already known this, but he doubted it had meant Gyre to find out. For now, he files it away-
Soot hasn't moved, waiting. He had to know. Had to have felt it. But no attack. No, he's unmoved. Not so much as-
...Oh. Gyre had asked him to stay still, hadnt he? He watched though, and oh, his eyes were madness, fury, violence- And yes, yes, he definitely knew. But despite all that, he'd never budged.
Stars. He needed to be careful with that one. He was the sort to walk right through the gates of hell, if his nightmare asked him.
Once, he'd started to relax a little, hearing his mage's answer. Reassured. It was the one he'd needed, so maybe he should have left it there, but he'd still wanted to hear the words from Rantrum, himself. "So... that means it wasn't evil, right? If you did it for a good reason?"
There had been a sigh, and a running of his fingers through wiry beard bristles, bowing his head a little, as if in contemplation of the question. Or, maybe, to not have to meet his bitty's eyelights.
"...No," He'd denied at that, a weight to the words that said he'd borne the burden of this for far too long. "It was still evil. Some would call it a necessary evil, but an evil act for the sake of a good outcome doesn't cease being evil."
"But," Gyre's arguments had been running out at this point, but he'd pressed on, if with far less certainty than before, "You- you had to do it... right?"
To this? Rantrum had just shaken his head.
An evil act. Gyre's soul feels heavy as a sense of realization settles within him. When it had come down to it, was what he'd done any different than what Rantrum had warned against?
At the time, the nightmare bitty had felt... a little lost, at his mage's answer. He hadn't had to do it. He had done it though, just the same. "But... it's better, that you did it?"
A sigh, as Rantrum had leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. He'd rubbed his hands, thinking for a few seconds. "That depends on better for whom." He decides at last, "And it changes nothing. There are times when the ends can simply never justify the means."
"Using an evil to prevent an evil remains an evil," This, a quiet, simple truth, as if there simply was no escaping this, "It is not absolved, nor justified."
The nightmare bitty took his time, taking care to ensure that each and every last frayed trace was exactly where it needed to be, before one by one, imfusing them with healing magic. It offered a support to a weaking framework that he knew couldn't be more than temporary, but it gave him time to find something better.
...Something that didn't entail poking and shoving blindly at his dusty's magic until something broke.
He remembered how confused he'd sounded, asking at last, "Then, why did you do it?"
"Because," Had come the answer, "No one else should have to." As if that might actually be answer enough. He'd stood then, offering his hand to his bitty.
Gyre had climbed onto it, eyelights still fixed on his mage, brow creased in a troubled expression. "I- I don't understand."
"A thing can be evil," His mage had told him, solemnly, "But still need to be done. And another soul should not have to bear the weight of that burden in my place."
"That... doesn't make sense," But even then there'd been a hesitation in the nightmare's voice that wasn't before, no longer sure himself if this was true.
"Perhaps not," Rantrum had admitted. Gyre vaguely remembered the sound of his biggie's foosteps as the other had carried him, soft leather on ancient stone. He'd always had such a light step, the nightmare remembered, for one so big. "But sometimes it's the only way to prevent an even greater evil."
With a soft sound, Gyre finished his self imposed task, and sat back to admire it. There. Soot would be okay, at least for a while. It was enough. It gave him time.
"That's... That's wrong." His own words rose up to haunt him, the memory now a lifetime gone, regardless of how much actual time had passed. "That has to be wrong."
Rantrum had muttered, "Exactly," under his breath, nodding solemnly.
"N- No, I mean..." That sense of confusion still felt so fresh to the nightmare bitty, but at the same time, hearing those same words again, now? He didn't know he'd still feel it. Not anymore. "There has to be another way, right? It can't... it can't-"
"...Then," Softly, "Maybe you will be the one to find it."
Had his mage had really once believed that? Gyre wished he could ask the old man, about that, about all of this, about everything. Who he really was, what he'd done- What he knew? Maybe what he'd really intended for his apprentice?
Because in the end, if the demon was telling the truth, then Rantrum had always intended to offer his soul up as a sacrifice... Whereas if Rantrum had been telling the truth, and actually been able to read the lines of fate, as claimed...
Then, he'd known this would happen. All of it.
...And he'd done nothing to stop it.
---
This was a new dream. Strange, for once, knowing it was a dream, even before it started. He was shapeless, confined, like before. The barrier hurt when he'd leaned against it, like before. But one, all important thing, was different.
He wasn't alone.
His 'guest' held up a book in front of him, pictures of vast oceans and wild creatures, painted in beautiful, horrible detail. Little could be seen of him beneath the hood that half obscured his face, but judging by that, and the hands all but lost in the sleeves covering him, patched and stitched a hundred times over, holding the book? Surely this was some nameless urchin who'd managed to sneak into the arch mage's fortress, and had the misfortune of wandering into the last place anyone should be.
Yet, the pull of his blood, that promise of binding, was unmistakable. This child was the same line that had enslaved it for more generations than it cared to remember. This specific child, in fact, grubby face, skinny frame, and hand me down clothes notwithstanding, was the arch mage's own son. Not the next in line to own him, no, it already knew that one, hateful bastard that he already was, but his son just the same.
"Is that one you?" Blue eyes, earnest and eager, peered over the book's frame as he jabbed at the picture of a kracken. "Bet that could be you! It's got a hundred arms, and a thousand teeth-!"
{It's not real,} The demon had muttered distastefully, though it's gaze devoured every line and detail just the same. {Just some idiot's drawing. Don't believe everything you read.}
"...Oh." The child had deflated, visibly, and turned the book to look at the picture again. "But, krackens are real, aren't they? Everybody says so..."
{Just because everybody says something doesn't make it true,} The demon muttered, poking at the barrier. It couldn't see the picture anymore... {But yes, kracken are real. They just don't look like that. Some idiot with a brush just decided to draw a picture, and say it was that.}
"Oh." Disappointment gone, curious child back. "Well, what do they look like, then?"
The demon had debated not answering, but for nearly two hundred years now it had sat in this spot, in this library, nothing to do but watch the motes of dust as they danced in those scant rays of light that managed to found their way through the heavy curtain- that, and prod at the painful barrier, reminding itself it could still feel something more than boredom, bitterness, and hate.
Archmage's son or not, it wanted the company, the questions. It wanted something, anything but the same, day after day after day...
{...They have arms, usually eight, all covering in tearing cups, with two long tentacles even longer than the rest. It's has a beak, right in the riddle of all of that, like-}
"Like an eagle?!" The child had leaned forward in his eagerness, his face now far too close to the painful wall.
{...Think more, snapping turtle.} It denied flatly, adding in a sharper tone, {And don't touch that!}
His eyes had widened big enough to promise that he'd at least seen a snapping turtle before, if not a kracken- But the demon's next words give him pause, and he looks confused. "How come?"
There was an innocence to the question, an earnest confusion, and for an instant, the demon felt something it hadn't in a long time- pity. This kid was in for some hard lessons, in this family. Though judging by the way he was dressed, despite his father's influence and power, there were at least a few that he was already learning.
{These walls are to keep me in,} The demon answered, not bothering to hide the bitterness in it's words, {And to make sure no one else tries to 'steal' me.}
Not that they could. It was bound to this family, this bloodline, and blood was one of the strongest bindings there was. For the demon to be bequeathed to someone else, it would need to be passed through a binding at least equally strong.
The boy hesitates, hearing this, and bites his lip, now watching the barrier uncertainly. "Does... It hurt you?"
{...Yes.}
This clearly wasn't the answer the archmage's son had wanted to hear, but he drew back just the same, now visibly unhappy.
{...What?} Finding itself annoyed at the child's shift in mood, it's voice grew gravelly, agitated. {Why are you acting like that?}
The child had shifted, Gyre remembers through the dream, and breathed out, hard, lifting his eyes back to the demon. He wasn't close to tears exactly, but he was very, very upset. "I don't like that it hurts you," He muttered, as if this was explanation enough. "It's not fair. You've barely got any room in there, and you're probably all squished up too, just so you don't touch it- and it hurts you."
The demon had stared at the child as though he'd started speaking in tongues. {So? Why do you care?}
At this, the child had full stopped, but didn't answer. He pulled the book of pictures close to his chest, and looked down at the table for several quiet seconds. "Because, it's mean." He whispers, a new tremble in his voice. "I don't like when people are mean. I don't like when they hurt each other. I don't like it when they hurt you."
"I like visiting you," The book thuds softly to the table as he lets it go, and those earnest blue eyes are watching it. Almost... Almost familar. Like something from another lifetime. "You listen to me, and you don't tell me to go away, and you're not all mean like... like..." He never actually says like who though, just sniffling, and wiping his nose on his sleeve. "I don't like... I don't like it hurting you."
To the demon's credit, it considered, briefly, not saying what he said next. Considered briefly the trouble this earnest eager child would get into if he did as the demon suggested. It considered not saying anything-
But it did. {You could do something about it, you know.} It's tone was... different now. Like despite what the child had claimed, it had barely been noticed him before, but now? Now the young mage to be had his full attention.
"I... can?" The child seemed unsure. "But, I don't think my dad will listen if I-"
{Of course he won't. But you could do it yourself.}
For an instant, it seemed like the boy may have stopped breathing, and he is definitely a few shades paler. But a moment later, he's leaning closer just the same, and whispers, "How do I make it stop?"
Something like a chill spread through the demon at the words, and it was rendered silent for several long seconds. He was listening. He even wanted to help. His father would be furious, if he found out...
So they'd just have to make sure he didn't. {I can teach you how,} It had promised, shifting closer to the glass. It tried to hide the eagerness in it's voice, but, it had been so, so long, since it had last tasted hope. {But first, we have to make a bargain. Just a little one. That's how it works.}
Technically it wasn't, but the archmage's son didn't know this, and mulled this over fir several seconds, even reaching out, just once, and almost touching the glass, before faltering, and withdrawing again. Finally, asking,"What... kind of deal?"
{The kind where we both get something we want,} It promised/lied, watching him intently, {But before we make a deal, there's something else we need to do.}
"...What's that?"
{Introduce ourselves, obviously!} It would be smiling if it could. A name, give it a name, and it would have a handhold, if only a little one. Seeing his doubt, it added helpfully, {I'll even go first, okay?} At the child's nod, it starts to offer something, anything...
But it falters, meeting the gaze of that earnest, hopeful child, and instead, after a moment, it only offers the truth. {Kháry.} The demon introduces itself, {My name is... was... Kháry.} Is, was. Was, is.
Either way, it didn't matter, it had offered the truth. Though when it looked at the archmage's son, it was suddenly strangely certain that the child had known all along.
{...Your turn, then,} Kháry had pressed, just the same, making sure the young mage hadn't forgotten his part of it.
The child looked around the room slowly, even the locked doorway, as if to make certain no one had snuck in when he wasn't watching, before leaning close to the demon again, and whispering, "I'd tell you my name," very familiar blue eyes meeting the demon's gaze...
Not. Not the demon's, no. His. Gyre was looking into the eyes of his mage once more, held gently in his hands as the once again old man watched him, with sadness, with trust.
"But you already know it," He finished softly, "Don't you?"
"I do," He assures the memory of his mage, quietly, "I know you, Rantrum." The worst cruelty of lucid dreams, he'd learned, was knowing they had to end.
"...I always will."
---
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bazzybelle · 3 years
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Magical Equality Within The World of Mages
I’ve been thinking a lot since I finished reading Any Way The Wind Blows, and there are SO many things that I still need to process. I took my time with reading it, I’ve listened to the audiobook and I plan on re-reading it several times, once I move into my new house and have THAT stress done and over with. I cannot wait to re-read it on my back porch with some iced tea and a notebook to annotate and comment on pretty much everything that gave me feelings.
But for now, there is one massive issue that I want to address, and it plays into the plot for all three books.
Warning for those who have not read Any Way The Wind Blows, this post contains spoilers, so proceed with caution. I am tagging this appropriately, but adding an extra warning just in case.
Huge thanks to @carryonsimoncarryonbaz for reading this over and making sure I didn't sound like a rambling mess.
The World of Mages is an incredibly toxic place! This is especially true for anyone who isn’t a magical powerhouse, or stupid rich.
I’m going to not focus on the obvious socio-economic bullshit, because I’m not familiar enough with the British class system to properly comment on it. But if anyone wants to add onto this with a whole meta like that, please do so!
Instead, I’m going to focus on magic use and how detrimental it can be to grow up in this world if you aren’t one of the few who are blessed with the RIGHT kind of magic (I say right kind of magic for a reason, and I’m going to come back to that). I want to focus my attention on three characters (two of whom were drawn into Smith-Richard’s fake promises, and one who was just fed up with it all): Martin Bunce, Daphne Grimm, and Agatha Wellbelove.
1) Martin Bunce: We first hear about Martin Bunce in Carry On. He’s Penny’s dad, a renowned scholar and is leading a team researching the effects of the Insidious Humdrum. He’s a highly respected individual, in his own right. Penny adores him, she only speaks his praises, and I get the feeling she gets along better with Martin, then she does with Mitali. When Penny needs help with Shep’s curse, she trusts her dad to help her after her mother flat out refuses.
While Martin is respected in the community, he isn’t a magical powerhouse. In fact, he isn’t very powerful at all. Baz makes a cheeky little comment about how he must have come from mundanity with a name like “Bunce”, and he doesn’t teach any magical classes at Watford, he focuses mainly on Linguistics.
Professor Bunce is one of the people taken in by Smith-Richard’s message, and I’m kind of glad he is. It shows that Smith-Richard’s message can reach anyone, even someone as scholarly and learned as Martin. Martin Bunce is intelligent, loving, devoted, and the apple of his family’s eye. But, when push comes to shove, all that does not matter because in the end, he isn’t as magically powerful as his wife and kids. How many times has Martin been compared to his wife? How many times has he been compared to his kids? What was it like going to Watford and having to hear about how you barely scraped by in the magical classes? His whole family is obsessed with magic, his daughter's best friend is the Most Powerful Mage. Martin is constantly surrounded by people making comments about power and magic and being strong enough as a magician.
That stuff stays with you... So when you see someone performing magic that can pull you to your full potential, of COURSE you grab onto it and hope that it’s a real thing.
Something interesting to note here; Towards the end of AWTWB, Martin casts a drinking spell, and Baz makes a comment about anyone who could cast that spell in quick succession doesn’t need a power-up. Now, was Martin truly not powerful, or did he just not have the right type of magic? Could he have been a better magician if he was able to find the right situations where his magic responded better? If he was allowed to learn in a way where his magic could have reached its full potential, without the use of a horrible curse?
I have a teaching background, and I’ve worked with a lot of kids in Inclusive Education. I’ve had to differentiate practically all of my lesson plans so that all the kids in my classroom would understand the lesson and be able to reach the goals outlined for them. Admittedly, it’s been a while since I’ve taught, but I look at stuff like this in the World of Mages and my teaching ear perks up.
2) Agatha Wellbelove: Another person who comes to mind, especially with not having the right kind of magic is Agatha Wellbelove. Agatha does not see herself as a very strong magician. She tells Simon that magic for her is like holding a muscle. Pair that up with a mother who is OBSESSED with magic and power and who’s got the most power, and which magical matches will bring about powerful children, and you get someone who becomes resentful of the whole effing thing! I’m not even going to touch the whole “dating the Chosen One” thing because that’s a whole other can of worms.
When we first meet Agatha, she’s already fed up with magic, and wants nothing to do with it, and I can’t say I blame her. She spends all of Wayward Son running away from magic, and meandering through life, being still so unsure of herself and of her place in the world. She calls herself a poor excuse for a magician, yet she manages to save both herself and Penny from the NowNext by summoning fire! That’s a huge flipping deal! Not everyone can do that, yet Agatha is able to summon the power inside herself to do so! Imagine the wonderful magic she could have done if she was taught in a way that spoke to her.
In AWTWB, she is the ONLY person who is able to get through to the Goats. Her magic seems to be connected to nature (if I had to guess). The Dryad, all the way back in Carry On, tells Simon that she and the others find Agatha “peaceful”. That’s her magic. Agatha was able to come full circle by finding peace with the magic she has. She was able to find a place for it. What’s sad is that she felt the need to run away and not want to have it in her life anymore. Her magic is beautiful, yet not enough.
3) Daphne Grimm: So, this is the character that stood out to me the most. Daphne is the reason I even wanted to write this commentary. Those of you who know me, know that I adore this character. Partly because, I’m obsessed with the idea that Baz has people looking out for him and who care about him.
Anyway, Ms. Daphne Grimm is the apple of my eye essentially. I love her, I adore her, and she is treated SO UNFAIRLY by the World of Mages.
What do we know about Daphne? She is Baz’s stepmum, and has four kids with Malcolm. From the first book, there are snarky little comments about Daphne’s lack or power and magic. Baz himself makes a shitty comment about how Daphne’s “blood is as thin as gruel”, even though Daphne goes out of her way to make sure he’s got food sent to his room. She’s extra careful in making sure Baz feels safe in his own home. She suggests to Malcolm that Baz should see a therapist for everything he’s been through, making her the ONLY parent who not only acknowledges her child’s trauma, but tries to do something about it!
She is a GOOD mom!
Ok, we know that Baz wears a ton of masks of indifference in Carry On, and he softens up tremendously in Wayward Son, calling her lovely while teaching him to drive a car.
We learn a lot about Daphne in Any Way The Wind Blows. Namely that Fiona has some pretty nasty opinions about her. (That comment about her kids not being legitimate, and that she’s as “thick headed as she is thin blooded”. Now, imagine you’re Daphne, and the widower of the Great Natasha Pitch asks to marry you. That’s already some MASSIVE shoes to fill. You accept, and you do the best you can, taking care of his son and being a positive presence in his life, meanwhile going to all these posh functions where EVERYONE talks about power and magic. Then to have the sister of your husband’s first wife make snarky comments about your level of power and magic.
That stuff sticks with you.
Daphne doesn’t want her kids going to Watford, the ONLY magical school in the UK (as far as we know). She wants her children to succeed and be known for everything they are capable of doing, instead of being ridiculed for all the ways they’ll come up short. According to Baz, the only reason Daphne graduated from Watford was because she was smart enough to pass every exam (yet, Fiona still makes snarky comments about her intelligence).
Daphne is well aware of how painful it can be to live in the World of Mages and not be a powerhouse magician. Like Martin, she takes matters into her own hands and seeks out a way to make herself more powerful.
It is heartbreaking to look at these three amazing, beloved characters, and think about the suffering they have had to endure by their peers. Both Daphne and Martin get frustrated when those around them question their choice to follow Smith-Richards, stating “you don’t know what it’s like”. Luckily for Daphne, Baz makes an effort to actually understand her, and doesn’t judge her. Even when Fiona mocks her, Baz defends his stepmum. When Daphne berates herself and compares herself to Natasha, Baz reflects on how Natasha would have killed him (something Daphne would NEVER do to any of her children).
We know that Watford did not allow magical creatures, or differently-abled magicians (I use this term for a reason) to study there until the Mage came around and allowed everyone into Watford. This was a great thing, because now, every magical child was given the opportunity to learn how to speak with magic.
However, it should not have stopped there. I spoke earlier on differentiation and on finding the right place for everyone’s magic. What if magicians like Martin, and Daphne, and Agatha are all powerful in their own right, and they just haven’t found their place where their magic fits? Instead of finding the right way to teach these magicians, they are left to struggle and ultimately resent their magic and the magic of the world around them.
Do I hear a social commentary on the state of standardized education? I can’t really comment on the British Educational System, nor the American one, as I am Canadian. What I can say, from my own experience in Canadian classrooms, is that for all the talk we do on making education inclusive, there is still a big push from higher ups for high grades and standardized testing. If any of my followers are British or American and care to share your two cents, feel free to do so. Let’s keep the conversation going!
I think this post might have gotten away from me. I think my point was to act as a defense for people like Daphne and Martin who found themselves fished into a scam all for the promise of feeling like they are enough in their world. I also wanted to defend people like Agatha, who did all she could to run away from all of it, only to find the place where she (and her magic) belonged.
I remember having this discussion on Discord, and one of the points that came up was that maybe The Greatest Threat to the World of Mages was this deeply ingrained prejudice over magicians with different sorts of magic. Magicians who need that extra bit of help to find their way.
We’ve seen in this series how these prejudices can threaten to split the World of Mages apart, and it looks like magicians like Penny, Baz, and Agatha are learning from these mistakes. Only time (and us fanfiction writers) will tell how they end up shaping their world for the future generations.
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allsortsoflicorice · 3 years
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I for Inquisitor
@greenjudy - I’ve done it, and here it is. 
1. Race:
Human.
2. Class/Specialization:
Rogue, archer
3. Your homeland?
Bearing in mind that I’ve only ever played DA:Inquisition, the Hinterlands in Ferelden, probably Redcliffe or the farms thereabouts
4. Your family?
My sons would be so embarrassed that their mother is drawing attention to herself. I’d fix them up with jobs in the Inquisition mostly so I could make sure they’re safe. One of them would work for Josephine as a junior diplomat and the other one would be a bard. 
5. Who were you before?
A single working mother, someone completely ordinary. My job would have to involve two things, teaching and travel, so I might have been a lecturer at a university, spending a lot of time out in the field at historical sites or archaeological digs. I learned archery to defend myself. The university sent me to the conclave at the Temple of Sacred Ashes for some coincidental reason, perhaps to fetch some obscure object of study, and because I never really know what’s going on I got lost while looking for the library and wandered into the room just as Corypheus was about to blast Justinia.
6. Would you be religious?
I’m very interested in religion as an object of study and a historical force. I tend to approve of religion as something which, overall, has done more good than harm. But I have no faith myself. 
7. Do you have a mabari?
Mabari, other dogs, cats, maybe a pet nug or two…. I’d probably draw the line at a cave spider. 
8. Your opinion on other races?
Racial stereotypes are lazy thinking, and race isn’t important, but it’s important to some people and for that reason needs to be taken into consideration. I can’t just go around telling elves or dwarves that their race doesn’t matter when it matters to them. But my Inquisitor doesn’t see race (or sexual orientation, or gender) as a character trait. I’m not going to be making assumptions about individuals based on their race. I’ll take the time to get to know who they really are. 
In my heart, though, I have a deep-rooted prejudice against Tevinter, and I’m always glad when we beat them in the football. 
 9. What would Varric’s nickname for you be?
Gracie (see below)
10. What would your tarot card look like?
I have no idea. Four of cups? 
11. Where would you hang out in Skyhold?
The garden (growing the seeds I’ve collected), the library, and the pub.  
12. What would you do for fun?
Wicked Grace. I’d tell people I’m very good at it, and they wouldn’t believe me, and then I’d clean them out. 
Hang out with the alchemist and learn about potions. 
I’d probably write a bodice ripping sword and sorcery novel with Varric. He’d write one chapter and I’d write the next. We’d keep putting Cassandra in it. 
13. What armor would you wear?
Something that’s light, easy to move in, highly protective against spells, and green. I’d always forget to upgrade it, and then get badly wounded in a fight. 
14. What would your room look like?
I’d move out of that huge room because it’s like a mausoleum and feels really remote (and I have vertigo, so I hate the balcony) and into a tent in the courtyard where I’d sleep in a hammock.  Or I might sleep in the loft over the stables. 
15. Who would be your friends at Skyhold?
Varric. He gets me. He’s fun to be with. He respects the fact that I don’t pry. 
Sera. I love her love of mischief. She has no time for pompous, self-important people’s bullshit. She makes me laugh. 
Cole. I never get tired of talking to him and trying to see the world through his eyes. 
Cassandra. If I’m going to get close to people I have to respect them, and there’s nobody I respect more than her. She’s so good. And so much fun to tease. 
Dagna. People who are really passionate and knowledgeable about what they do are so interesting. She’s another one I love talking to. 
The Iron Bull: My Inquisitor secretly wishes that she/I could have another life and in that other life I’d be Krem, racketing around the world doing weird, dangerous jobs with the Bull’s Chargers, knowing Iron Bull always had my back. 
Scout Harding: I just love her. She’s so good at her job, and it’s as if she’s constantly discovering this for herself. The more you get to know her, the more you see there is to know.  Every time she returns to Skyhold I make sure we have a few beers together. 
 16. Would you have any friends outside of the Inquisition?
Leliana would tell me off for using the raven network to send “Hey, what’s up, I heard this really funny joke yesterday” messages to my old college friends and work mates. As we roam around Thedas I keep bumping into people I’ve been on fieldwork projects with. They can’t believe I’m the Inquisitor. Even after I show them how I heal Rifts, they still don’t believe it. 
17. Who wouldn’t you get along with?
Dorian. He’d be perfectly nice to me but he’d privately think I was a bit boring. We wouldn’t have much in common.
Blackwall: I have huge respect for him, but he’s one of those men I find it really difficult to hold a conversation with. He seems better at shutting conversations down than opening them up. Later, of course, I find out why. We never get close. 
Solas: I don’t trust him and don’t feel relaxed around him. 
Leliana: I trust her but I don’t feel relaxed around her. Her work has corrupted her; her perceptions are skewed. Not every problem can be best solved by a knife in the dark. Being associated with her makes me feel a bit tainted. 
18. Who would you romance?
Cullen. If I were in this world, he’s the one I’d love. His competence is so sexy and his self-loathing is just adorable.  You know that if he promised to put up a set of kitchen shelves for you, he’d do it, and they’d be damn solid shelves too.  Also he’d make a great stepdad, he’d teach them fishing and fighting and guy stuff and keep them in line. 
19. Would you do pranks with Sera?
Oh yes. 
20. Would you sleep with the Iron Bull (casually if not romance)?
No. 
21. Would you keep Cole around?
Yes, if that’s what he wants, and it seems that he does. Life in the mortal world provides him with plenty of opportunities to use his special talents, which gives him enormous satisfaction, which makes him happy. Since I think people should be true to themselves, I’d have no trouble deciding that he should become more spirit. 
I’d selfishly want to keep him around because he’s so fascinating to talk to.
22. Can you play the game (politics)?
I can if I have to, but, like chess, it bores me. 
23. What would be on your tombstone in the fade (What are you afraid of)?
“She wasn’t up to it.”
24. Who would you recruit to seal the breach?
Mages. The breach was made by magic and needs to be sealed by magic. Mages have been the victims of an injustice. They need to see that the Inquisition values them and the skills they can bring to a shared enterprise. They need to know that the Inquisition doesn’t view them as forced labour or prisoners, but as allies. Cullen will bring the Templars round, or at least those who are worth having. 
25. Opinion on Mages versus Templars?
People have good reason to fear mages. Mages have good reason to be afraid for themselves. But locking people up for the crime of being who they were born to be, and giving people frontal lobotomies as a prophylaxis against demonic possession, isn’t the solution. Templars often enter the order for the best of motives, but they’re given absolute power over some fellow human beings, and power inevitably corrupts. 
If a solution to the mage problem is going to be found, the mages must come up with it themselves.  
26. Who would be put in charge of Orlais and why?
OMG I don’t care. I only care about ending this stupid civil war which is killing so many ordinary people who’d much rather get on with living their lives, and making Corypheus’ work easier for him. Celine. 
27. Would you sacrifice the Chargers?
No. 
28. Would you go after Blackwall?
Yes. Dude, I want answers. I’d keep him on in case I ever need someone to lead a suicide mission. He’d be up for that. 
29. Would you drink from the well?
No. The well is for elves. 
30. Where would you go if the Inquisition was disbanded?
Depends. If I have plenty of money I’ll probably retire to a country estate with Cullen and our mabari, where we will do whatever we bloody well like. Sometimes Iron Bull will call round to let us know a dragon’s been spotted and do we fancy a little expedition just to, you know, scout it out. And off we’ll go. 
31. How do you react to the egg telling you he is an elven god? 
I’d find it difficult to see him as anything other than an enemy - of humanity, of dwarves, of the Qunari, of most elves, and of the world to which we’ve just brought peace. I’d probably try to kill him. 
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skeletorific · 4 years
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DUUUUUUUDE I'd love to see your classpects for the boys, n compare them to my own personal hc!! I love godtier stuff, and imagining them in bright silly outfits is just👌
This was so fucking PEACEFUL to work on it was a delight to do so let’s do this. I’m doing extended zodiac signs too because i CAN. Also, putting this under a cut cause it got LONG
CLASSPECTING THE SKELEBROS
UT!Sans: True sign is Scormino, Sign of the Fatalist
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So, a point by point breakdown
-Cerulean: something that immediately woke me up to Sans as a Cerulean was the idea of a “mask for every occasion”. Sans is not one thing to all people. He flips between personas, adjusting it a little for each encounter. This isn’t because he’s manipulative per se, but because he genuinely thinks it’ll just make things easier for everyone
-Prospit: Prospit repression yo. Not to mention he’s more go with the flow than he is “fuck the system”.
-Doom: Rather than explain this connection, I’m just gonna paste the description for Doombound, since its practically a textbook description of Sans himself
Those bound to the aspect of Doom are fate’s chosen sufferers. It may not sound like an overly pleasant aspect to be aligned with, but it does come along with great wisdom and empathy. The Doom-bound understand that misery loves company, and they are ready and willing to provide said company. The Doom-bound won’t fix you; they aren’t healers. They are commiserators, aware that sometimes the only thing you can do for a person is let them know that they are not alone in their suffering. They are not the advice friend-they’re the friend you go to when you need to vent about a rough day at work. They are not necessarily noble martyrs, either-the Doom-bound can become quite irate about their lot. At their best they are wise, kind, and non-judgemental. At their worst, bitter, resentful, and fatalistic.
This is a summary of Genocide route Sans so succinct it could’ve been written about him intentionally. I did consider time for him, but ultimately Time is an aspect defined by a struggle. Sans does not struggle against the oncoming fate. He buys it a drink and hopes it leaves as little damage as possible in its wake.
As far as class goes, I classpect him as a Mage of Doom. One who understands or understands through their aspect, and no one understands the coming storm quite like Sans does. Mages are also traditionally understood as suffering as a result of their knowledge of their aspect whether too much or too little. In a sense, Sans’ relationship with the Anomaly encompasses both.
UT!Papyrus: True sign is Aquius, sign of the Whimsical
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-Violet: Violet signs are noted for their eccentricity and individuality. I have a harder time coming up with two adjectives more fitting than that for Papyrus. Additionally, they have a reputation for craving social interaction to the point of being clingy, which is also extremely fitting
-Prospit. Not much to add to this one beyond going with the flow and an aversion to going off the beaten path.
-Breath:The aspect of freedom, confidence, imagination, and fun. Something notable about Breath players is that they’re at their best when they let loose and be themselves. Papyrus can’t really be who he wants to be when he’s trying to play a role, of guard captain or human hunter. When he’s being authentic Papyrus though, he’s capable of inspiring hearts and minds.
I classpect Papyrus as a Sylph of Breath. Papyrus does both literal and metaphorical healing. If you get knocked out during your fight with him, he carries you back to his shed and nurses you back to health. Additionally, Papyrus reminds people that they are free to chase their dreams and their own potential. He tries to make the Player recall their better intentions. He pumps up Alphys, restoring her confidence that she’s lost over the years. He heals the relationship between the player and Undyne in order to liberate Undyne to be her more authentic self: a woman who just wants to help her people. Additionally, he is a key facet in liberating the Underground, restoring the sky to people who have been denied it for so long. 
UF!Sans: True sign is Tauriborn, sign of the Covetous
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-Bronze: Bronze just has that earthy quality I eat with a SPOON for Red. Additionally, they navigate that space between a genuine desire for stability and a tendency to stubbornly commit even when it hurts you. Additionally, there’s a hedonism associated with Bronze signs that feels very fitting.
-Derse: restless skepticism, a tendency to mistrust, and rebellion in the blood? Sounds like a skeleton who’s been living rent free in my head for long enough.
-Rage: There’s of course a very literal level to this. Red’s one of the angrier of the skelebros. Additionally, though, there’s a resentment of lies and false civilities. Red hates liars, hates convenient likes. He tends to play his own cards close to the chest, but resents it in other people. Additionally, there’s a burn it all down impulse that’s very present in him that resonates with this aspect.
I classpect Red as an Heir of Rage. I tend to understand Heir as one who is surrounded by their aspect, or surrounds other with their aspect. Red surrounds himself in a field of rage, and those who are the target of his wrath are too. Additionally, though, he inherits the positive aspects of wrath, the bullshit detector and the impulse towards seeking out the truth. Additionally heirs tend not to take a very intellectual approach to their aspect, because they don’t have to. They embody it unconsciously. 
UF!Papyrus: I kind of went over this but for the sake of coherency: True sign is Saginius
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-Indigos: in addition to having a rep for being the bastions of order, indigos tend to devote themselves entirely to their interest. They can be sociable, but have a tendency to not really consider other people’s emotions, leading to a lot of unintentional hurts. Edge has a cold abrasive personality at many points, but it’s rare that he intends to hurt the people closest to him. It just sort of happens to him.
-Prospit: Again, Edge doesn’t rebel. He works with the society cards he’s been dealt. His prospit associations are where he’s closest to his Tale self.
-Hope: Hope is the aspect, not just of optimism, but of order. Hope players have a very black and white approach to the world, and dedication to ideals that they see as higher than themselves. Both of these are to me very Edge qualities, even if he’s not the most sunshiney person. He has things he believes in strongly, and he doesn’t wave.
I classpect Edge as a Knight of Hope. He defends his aspect, defending his ideals and the things he chooses to dedicate himself, and defends with his aspect, using his internal compass as a bastion against doubt and misgivings. Additionally, Edge has an inherent lean towards protecting and working for others, even if at his most unhealthy point his ego can make him bossy.
US!Sans: Blue’s true sign is Arcer, sign of the Officer
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-Burgundy: Rust signs tend to be characterized by an unbending determination. Its not that they’re immune to the bad things in the world, its simply that they tend to roll with the punches and try to make things work regardless. Blue is quick to trust and overly excitable, but a loyal friend and an imaginative companion. All of these are Rust characteristics.
-Prospit: Again, unwavering optimism and a loyal temperament.
-Blood: Blood is the aspect of relationships and mutual support. Blue is an extremely social creature, prone to doing his best work via inspiration. He invests strongly in the people around him, and has a hard time giving up on others. Blood can also be the aspect of sinking ships. They tend to latch on to things and people other’s might consider to be “lost causes” and stubbornly refuse to leave them behind. I tend to characterize Blue with a low level of anxiety, constantly afraid that the people around him are going to leave him behind if he’s not good enough. Peak Blood player. 
I classpect Blue as a Page of Blood. Like I said, Blue’s “Sans” tendencies come out in his interactions with others. Like most pages, he has a very shakey grasp of his aspect. He genuinely has the ability to make people feel cared for and comfortable. He even has great potential to inspire others to do better. However, he’s still in the process of learning how to command his aspect effectively, sometimes vacillating between overloading people with interaction and at other times barely confiding his emotions in even the people he should be close with. As this potential unlocks, though, there’s no ceiling to all he might achieve.
US!Papyrus: Stretch’s true sign is Gemza, sign of the Shrewd
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-Gold: Gold signs command intellectual prowess, quick wit, and reserved tendencies in a way Stretch has done his entire life. Something notable about goldbloods is they have a tendency to refuse to live up to their full potential. They find their niche and carve out their mark within it while letting the rest of their life functionally fade to the background as “unimportant”. Stretch is adept and knowledgeable in his areas of interest and finds it hard to give a shit about the rest. Despite this, he still hangs on to the goldblood’s usually innate likeability, albeit without much emotional vulnerability. 
-Derse: While Stretch isn’t exactly a rebel, Derse has an association with skepticism and a desire for rationality that inherently resonates with him. One thing that also stood out to me is a tendency to develop a very self-effacing sense of humor as a cover, which is a VERY Stretch quality. He doesn’t quite have the repression for Prospit, nor will he let himself be put into boxes that don’t suit him.
-Mind: Mind players (and Stretch) are defined by a certain sense of fluidity. They don’t really feel compelled to develop a strong sense of self, preferring instead to react organically to how they think is best and most logical to the moment. Stretch is a creative and quick thinker, which combines with a very nasty FOMO and an aversion to simplicity. Absolute Mind Player Core.
His classpect is tricky, but I feel Witch of Mind is the most fitting for him. Witches are often characterized by having a more lackadaisical relationship with their aspect. They understand it intimately enough to know how to break it when it suits them. In addition to reason and choice, Mind is also the aspect of systems and rules (think Terezi’s justice core). Stretch is a quick study about systems, but doesn’t necessarily adhere himself to them. Whether its a game he’s playing, a puzzle he’s solving, or a person he’s interacting with, sometimes the best thing in the world is to dig in and study until you find the point that breaks the whole thing open.
SF!Sans: Black’s true sign is Cancen, sign of the Translucent
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-Lime: Lime signs tends to be characterized by forceful and intense personalities, with intense emotions and a tendency to fixate on improvement. They can often be effective at inspiring people to follow their lead, but have difficult personalities to work with. All of this is extremely Black, with the proviso that I tend to characterize him as often needing to repress those intense emotions. He leans hard into his own anger, but often covers up his other extremes for the sake of their own safety. 
-Derse: while Black has learned to cooperate with the world around him, he’s never not going to be looking for ways to get around it. He’s often sardonic, and is usually extremely slow to trust those around him. He may put on a front of being the Queen’s man through and through, but there’s a lot of Irons in the fire that he doesn’t feel the need to make public.
-Heart: As I said, I tend to characterize Black as struggling against strong emotions that even he barely understands. He has a very distinct and strong personality, as well as intensive emotions. In moments of stress, he’s prone to intense self-reflection. Where did he go wrong, where can he improve. Additionally Heart players have an association with identity constructing, frequently diffusing their personality into a variety of splinter selves in a form of elaborate “roleplaying”, which to me clicks nicely with Black’s bossy and aggro Royal Guard posturing. 
Its because of this struggle against his own aspect that I classpect Black as a Rogue of Heart. Rogues often struggle to cope with their aspect, and may even begin to crave the opposite. Black at his core craves the rational thought and pure justice of the Mind aspect. However, the more they embrace their aspect, especially in service to others (being a passive class), the healthier they often end up being. If you’ve read my “Tyrant” fic, Black steals his and Rus’s performance of self to allow them the freedom to act and pass unnoticed by the guard. He represses his own emotions to give space to other people’s, and at his best can redistribute his own assurance with his purposes to the people around him, making him potentially an inspiring presence.
SF!Papyrus: Rus’ true sign is Capries, sign of the Bold
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-Purple: purples have a tendency to dedicate themselves to causes or people they care about and work until they are either stopped or made incapable or working more, much as Rus works for his brother’s well-being. Additional points of resonance were a macabre sense of humor, a tendency to withdraw when upset, a sense of fatalism, and a tendency to dig in his heels even if its against his own best interest. Plus….Clown Rus sexy what can I say.
-Derse: like his brother, Rus is inherently skeptical of easy outs. Like many Derse dreamers, he’s a problem solver, even if it comes at great personal cost. Rus’s Derseness is also exemplified in his tendency to develop strong bonds of loyalty to other people….without ever really allowing himself to be vulnerable with those people. He has the perspective that his emotions don’t truly matter.
-Time: Honestly kind of surprised it took me this long to make one of the Lazybones a time player, but I think making Rus it was the right choice. Time players are often defined by a sense of struggle. Time players are seemingly incapable of taking things lying down. Even if they won’t fight for themselves (and Rus rarely ever will) they often have an internal moral code that makes them unable to be a bystander. Rus is lazy, he’s a fatalist, he has a hard time taking care of himself. But he’s unable to stop himself from acting, especially when it involves someone he cares about. Additionally, Rus has associations with death in his judge role, which he takes extremely seriously.
I debated making Rus another knight, but ultimately I feel Seer of Time fits him better. All the Sans derivatives are prone to a sort of restless curiosity about the world around them, and in Homestuck terms I see that as a desire to in some way sync up with their aspects. A Seer is one who invites understanding. Rus seeks to reckon with both the cycle of life and death and the wide variety of timestreams that are causing havoc in his world. Unlike the mage, he has a hard time accepting what he understands: Seers are in many cases notorious for resenting the idea of someone else controlling them. Still, he’s practically unable to stop himself from exploring further, continuing to pick and pick at the scab of his reality no matter how much it hurts.
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irhinoceri · 3 years
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back on my bullshit....
have written 11k words of my new Dragon Age fic and am jealously guarding it. no posting this baby until it has some coherency to it.
but under is the outline of the worldstate and such (subject to complete overhaul and capricious whim of course)
it’s a Morristair fic. no dark ritual dubcon needed because they love each other. i’m so fucking corny.
it will be in a series for a worldstate where all the DAO wardens survive. Mahariel deals the killing blow to the archdemon and is upset because he craves the sweet release of death and doesn’t get it. Morristair don’t tell anyone else anything about what happened at the final battle, and are kind of like “don’t look at us or our perfectly normal son Kieran ever again” parents. You wanna get rekt just ask “so what’s the deal with your kid why is he like that?”
Morrigan, preparing a spell: “did you just”
Alistair, drawing his sword: “nice hand you got there, be a shame if someone... cut it off...”
The Inquisitor: “jeezus forget I said anything....”
Aeducan and Brosca are the terrible two from Orzammar who just happen to be accidental in-laws and they WILL figure out that Harrowmont poisoned Endrin, which will end their fighting over who to support for King.
Tabris and Zevran are Together Forever Finding Healing and Love in this Dark Time... further plot ideas to follow.
Cousland marries Anora on the stipulation that he does whatever he can to ensure Loghain is spared... which includes but is not limited to throwing himself in front of Alistair’s sword. Alistair would be more upset about this if it entailed conscripting Loghain but he will just be put in the dungeon to await judgement after the battle. By that time Alistair will be gone for other reasons (Morrigan) and other characters who especially hate Loghain (Tabris) won’t have much power to do anything about it because Cousland is King Now and Doesn’t Give a Fuck what the Wardens Think, and needs to keep his new wife happy so she doesn’t arrange a poisoning. Loghain will be conscripted though since Cousland doesn’t want Anora and Loghain to have united power over him, so Loghain gets sent to Amaranthine to participate in Awakening with the Wardens who don’t defect after the final battle to travel the world with their lovers. He’ll be one of the new recruits that gets the Joining from the Seneschal.
Cousland is not a Warden in this worldstate... he didn’t get recruited by Duncan but instead escaped Highever and followed Fergus with Elissa, whom he leaves at the Lothering Chantry with Sister Leliana. He’ll arrive at Ostagar after the battle and ending up saving some of the other wardens who weren’t at the beacon lighting tower and didn’t get saved by Flemeth (I’m thinking that will be Alistair and Mahariel because Mahariel wants to die so badly because of Tamlen and keeps getting saved by Flemeth and Morrigan, please stop). Honestly thinking of doing a Merrill/Mahariel da2 era ship for this series because who better to make someone want to live again than Merrill?
As for DAI era shenanigans, Loghain will come to Skyhold and find Alistair there and they’ll both by like “you fucker what are you doing here” and Alistair will be like “not following Morrigan around everywhere she goes, I’m not a kept boy, spoiler, I’m a kept MAN” and Loghain will be like “you lack honor” and they’ll start punching each other until the Inquisitor pulls them apart and says “I’ve got two Wardens for the price of one!” Spoiler, neither of them get left behind in the Fade because Marian “I love to die, Mama I’m coming home” Hawke will fling herself into the Nightmare demon screaming “you think you’re scarier than real life, bitch??” without asking permission from anyone, first.
In fact, there will be very little Asking of Permission and Deferring to the Player Character in this Fic because everyone thinks they are the Player Character and wants things done their way. The Wardens will have to vote on stuff a lot unless one or more of them just says fuck it and does something before anyone else can stop them.
Amell and Surana will represent the two sides of the Circle Mage coin. One hates the circle and has always wanted to escape and rebel, the other is The Very Picture of a Perfect Circle Mage and they will be friends but also not. Their relationship will be defined by the struggle between these two ideologies but they also super care about each other and are ride or die when it comes right down to it.
While there is a male Cousland, there is also a fem Cousland, they’re dun dun da The Cousland Twins, but she is not a fighter (think Sansa not Arya), and there’s a whole bunch of sibling angst there. Aedan leaves their parents to die because he had to protect his sister and he resents her for it. Elissa feels like a massive burden. Eventually Aedan will get it into his head that he can marry Elissa to Alistair and take the throne, using them as puppets and being the true power as their Chancellor. This plan is totally spoiled by the fact that Alistair and Elissa don’t take to each other at all and will not cooperate with Aedan’s matchmaking. Aedan will be very upset that Elissa prefers the company of Leliana and Alistair prefers the company of Morrigan, until he gives up on that idea and switches to negotiating a marriage for himself to Anora. Aedan Cousland is absolutely the character who thinks he’s in Game of Thrones while everyone else is constantly like.... Can We Not? Can we? Not? Please?
(Except for Aeducan and Brosca who are always in Game of Thrones mode and don’t know any other way. they were born in the dark, molded by it... omg is that a bird? is that a bird? Duncan is that a bird? what the fuck the sky is so big. fuck. fuck fuck fuck!)
(Also Anora will be smitten with Cousland because she’s never met someone so devoted to machinations who was actually on her side, before).
Anyway that’s my broad outline. I will probably come up with more ideas for DA2 and DAI era plots for the various wardens as I flesh them out. Right now the only really fleshed out characters are the Cousland twins and Morristair, because I’m a Cousland Warden aficionado and a Morristair shipper at heart. But I know that once I spend enough time writing these kids I’ll end up with a dozen unmanageable story ideas for all of them.
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blarfkey · 4 years
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director’s cut, director’s choice of ⭐️Dear Fen’Harel⭐️? (Though generally speaking, I’m intensely curious as to how you develop characters because everyone you write is so brilliantly layered)
So um, this exploded. And I apologize. I am very much a character-driven writer versus a plot-driver writer. Also, how I develop characters is not a process I think about, it just happens, so this is also me finding out for myself how my own brain works, haha. If you want the full fucking three page essay this turned into, there’s more under the cut.
If not, and I don’t blame you, TLDR: I break a canon character down to their parts based on what I see in-game, I look at how their personal quest affects them, and I try to find a modern day equivalent to that. Each character has an issue they need to get past and I create situations to challenge those issues. And Ellana was created to be a foil for Solas and I dumped all my negative traits into her because neither she nor I can afford therapy so this is our best bet.
First of all, developing characters in fanfic is different than OC characters because I have a pre-set personality to work with rather than making someone from scratch. So for this, Ellana’s development is different from the rest of the cast.
For fanfic characters, obviously I look at the source material and see how they’ve reacted to certain situations and what they have canonically expressed about themselves in both deed and word. Honestly, I pay more attention to what they have DONE versus what they have SAID because a lot of characters tend to fool themselves into thinking they’re one way when they’re not (here’s looking at you, Solas).
Because DF is a modern AU, I take what I have seen in Canon (which is a lot because Bioware is very good at giving so much material to work with having all those different dialogue trees) and I apply it to the Modern Day. Some characters fit very easily – Dorian was made for Academia. Krem seems a more modern character anyway with how he constantly roasts Iron Bull. Josephine’s prowess in DA:I translates very easily to political science. Varric kind of has a modern writer’s career anyway.
Some are not easy – Solas is actually super hard for me to write in DF than he is in Thick as Thieves because so much of his characterization, his world views, his prejudices, are rooted in the fact that he is an ancient being out of time – which is impossible to have in this AU. I have crafted a sort of back story for him that might explain some things later, but it’s flimsy at best, haha.
So I’ve had to really look at what Solas is like in Inquisition when he’s pretending to be a “normal” hedge mage hermit from nowhere and how he behaves in his romance and extract from that. Solas is a nerd, he’s socially awkward from self-imposed isolation, he constantly struggles with what he wants and what is the morally correct thing to do and the temptation to be loved usually wins out over his convictions until the last second when he gets his common sense back and ruins everything.
It helps that in both DA and DF Solas is keeping a massive, massive secret from the Inquisitor about his identity that will shift the power balance between the two, so I’ve used that to guide me when I’m unsure. He still feels off to me, but it’s whatever at this point, lol. I did my best.
Once I’ve boiled a character down to their usual traits, I figure out how I’m going to have them grow throughout the fic and use their growth to help Ellana’s growth. I try to pull from their personal quests as much as I can, when I can get it to fit.
Some people, like Iron Bull, are static because they’ve already gone through their journey and have reached acceptance. I didn’t really know how to work his Leaving the Qun story line in the modern day, since it is tied so closely with war and potentially killing the Chargers, so by the time Ellana meets him, he has already left the Qun and made his peace with it. I use his static nature to help guide Ellana when she’s conflicted about her identity.
Some people, like Josephine, have personal quests that don’t fit with a modern era but I want to show them grow anyway, so I create something else for them. Right now, Josephine is mired in family drama and trying to figure out how to balance shouldering the weight of her responsibilities to her family with being her own person. That I drew from my own personal experience with being the only sane person in my family with their shit together, haha.
Or Cassandra, who is definitely NOT going to be Divine here, lol. So instead she gets to struggle with her art and how she can express herself in a way that leaves her vulnerable to scrutiny and yet can be so freeing.
Some people, like Krem, get a character arc that I think should have been explored but never was. Krem being trans is something that’s mentioned and talked about a little and never explored. I mean, he’s not a main character, so I get it. And I liked that Being Trans wasn’t his entire character. But there was no way to put him in the modern AU without his trans identity impacting some of his story and growth, even if he had already made his peace with it.
Now, I will say this upfront: I am not trans, and I haven’t had the opportunity to be close friends with a trans person, but I have done a lot of research on what trans people have said about their own experiences, and combined this with other research I’ve done over the years with other minorities and tried to put together what could be lingering insecurities for him and how he could overcome them.
I’m  definitely not saying that I’ve done this perfectly and I’m always open to any trans reader who would give me correction, but being trans was not an aspect of Krem’s character that I wanted to ignore just because I wasn’t familiar with it.
I will say that his romance with Josephine was Not Planned. It just kinda happened and I happily ran with it, haha.
Varric’s arc with Bianca is just wishful thinking because I hate her so so much and Bioware just dropped that bomb in Varric’s lap and then just lets him keep holding on to it and it’s bullshit.
The other character journeys are just ways to explore vulnerability in them that I didn’t think got enough attention in the game or I think they could realistically have even if it wasn’t in canon. Like Dorian dealing with his father. Now, in the game, Halward doesn’t have a disease and he dies unexpectedly. But I wanted Dorian to have a realistic reason why he would reach other to his estranged father in this AU and a ticking countdown to an inevitable death seemed right.
Now we get to see Dorian really struggle with this new-found connection with his father that he always wanted to have and now it’s temporary and heartbreak is inevitable and is it still worth it to him? I think Dorian has similar feelings in Trespasser when he found out his father was murdered because he still invested himself to rebuild a lost connection, only to lose it so soon after.
Zevran’s past with the Crows is also something that I really wanted to explore because in the game he is sad for a hot second and then moves on with the Warden and his newfound goal of destroying the entire Crow organization. So I wanted to see Zevran struggle with his inner worth, the fact that he can’t hide forever and his past puts his loved ones in danger, the fact that he can even HAVE loved ones and how it scares the shit out of him.  I wanted to have a character who puts on such a good front about not giving a shit about anything to hide how very deeply afraid he is. We are going to see more of this also before the story is over, lol.
Now, Ellana. Like all original characters, Ellana has a lot my personal experiences tied in her. But I originally created Ellana to fill a need for a type of character that I wanted to see with Solas and don’t really get to. I mean, I have not scourged the corners of the internet to find it so I’m sure there are other characters like her, but I haven’t found very many.
I see a lot of very beautiful, very delicate and feminine, very kind and gentle Disney Princess kind of Lavellans. I see a LOT of them. And I don’t hate that necessarily. I mean, Josephine is all of those things and more and I adore her and I sort of crack ship her with Solas anyway, in the secret recesses of my heart. And I love seeing a female character who is the epitome of a “weak” female use those “weak” traits to succeed.
But I am also not very beautiful, I am NOT delicate at all, I’m not gentle. I am not anywhere close to a Disney Princess or a Josephine. And it was disheartening to see Solas romance all these Ocs that were nothing like me after a while because it kind of gave me the message that someone like Solas, a character that I admire and def have a fictional crush on, would never want someone who looks like me or acts like me. That even with unlimited freedom in creating a romantic counterpart for him, I saw so much of what society already reinforces as an ideal that I will never match up to. It doesn’t help that Bioware’s body diversity for elves ranges is nonexistent.
So I made Ellana for me. Not because I want to hate on other Ocs or prove that mine is superior, but so that I would have something that I connected to. And I wanted to explore a dynamic with Solas that I didn’t get to see very often.
So when I first imagined Ellana, I wanted her to be strong and tall and muscular and powerful in a way that makes a lot of unenlightened men uncomfortable. I wanted somebody used to manual labor and dirt and the outdoors and solving problems with their fists and just totally unrefined because I wanted her to be the complete opposite of Solas. (So like Cassandra but in elf form, haha).
I did not want her to be soft or conventionally attractive at all. Ellana doesn’t shun femininity, because I don’t think femininity is inherently wrong, but she is uncomfortable with it and she doesn’t indulge in it.
(Just FYI I am NOT built like Ellana at all either, haha. This is the wish fulfillment part of the OC. I greatly resemble the dwarves, which is why I love them so much.)
But I also needed her to have a reason to leave home, and to have some points of commonality with Solas, so I made her a nerd. A jocky nerd who is insatiably curious and stubbornly independent. And then because I wanted Ellana to feel like a real person instead just a wish fulfillment fantasy, I needed her to grow. So I gave her all my complicated anger issues, my bluntness, my struggles with homesickness, the way I compartmentalize negative events in my life so I don’t have to deal with them just so they can bite me in the ass later, my experiences of going from a lifestyle where all my needs were met and I was oblivious to how great I had it to living with serious poverty for the first time.
And then I devised situations with her life and the other characters where Ellana has to confront these issues and learn to accept them and either move past them or learn to control them. Sometime she gains wisdom and imparts it to people like Sera or Dorian when their struggles come up. And her biggest challenge has yet to arrive, so she’s still cooking, so to speak. Ellana still has a long way to go before she really reaches maturity.
As far as her relationship with Solas goes, I wanted her to challenge him and give him a total upheaval everything he thought he knew about his own culture and his own self. And I wanted him to do the same for her. And then when all the pieces are done falling, they have grown into two people who can handle being together.
So that’s basically it. If there is any character in particular you want to know more about or why I made certain decisions, always feel free to ask!
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fallen029 · 4 years
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Open
"How did you get it?"
"Get what?"
"Your scar."
Mirajane stared at Laxus with the same disappointment he'd stared at so many other women, in moments like this, just like this, where they were at their closest, their most intimate, and he began to have ideas and feelings and thoughts and desires for something more, something concrete, something real, but then they'd brush their finger over his most cliché part, the zigzag that laid across his eye, and question him about it. Ponder. Wonder. Ask. Blatantly. Because they thought they could. Because they were in a relationship, or at least something close, they were close and that meant that they could discuss the sorts of things that one discusses when they're close, but they weren't close.
Someone close to you, who felt so deeply for you, everything beneath the surface and in-between the crevices, would never ask something like that. Because they would know. Without ever lingering on it, ever questioning it, they would just know. Be well aware. Without knowing the truth, they would know better than to ask. Something so personal and tragic and...and…
And he thought they were different.
Because they were different.
She was different, than every other woman that thought that because they could bring him to his knees that he should just surrender every hidden part of himself. He was different, with her, than the closed off, distant and expectant, so expectant and rigid, man that he was with every other woman.
If she'd asked him, if she'd really asked him, straight up and honestly, about how he found himself with a lightning bolt scarring his flesh, he would tell her straight up. Not get huffy or defensive. Not give some bullshit, bogus lie about how he'd done it himself, or had it done, maybe, with the help of Freed and Bickslow, to make himself look cool. No. He'd have told her the truth. Not withdrawn or been ashamed. Been angry or defensive.
Mirajane was different to him, than every other woman before, and he loved her, he truly, honestly loved something, someone, for once, and it was so real and raw and it hadn't really been that long, but he'd never felt this way, not really, not even when he'd thought that this was the exact thing that he was feeling, all those times before, but this time was so different and real and special and she was it. He knew she was it.
Perhaps it was his own self-importance, the arrogance and swagger he had, to think that just because he felt this way, just because he'd fallen so hopelessly and madly in love, that without a doubt, of course, Mirajane had found herself feeling the same. That of course, to her, their summer romance while the S-Class jobs weren't rolling in and he was taking a break, while she was finding more time off work as Kinana desired more hours, wasn't going to bloom into something more, but rather die off, fade away, with the long days, like a fling should, like all summer flings should. Because oh, they were the same, of course they were the same, but at the same time, they were so different because he was in love, he knew he was in love, he could tell he was in love, truly in love, but she was not.
Was she?
The way she withdrew then, from him, as he traced a finger across the faded, old, but still prominent scar she had right beneath her left breast, long and crooked, but hidden typically from the world, even with her typical skimpiest of outfits or swimwear, it lay just so perfectly, but prominently, to Laxus, who spent so much of his time with his head buried there now. And he'd traced it before, both with the tips of his fingers and the point of his tongue, but now as he did it with the edge of his fingernail and spoke those words, so softly, that he'd so often heard spoken to him.
Mirajane shifted back from him, a certain look crossing over his previously content expression, and he had to wonder how he'd fucked it up, so quickly, so easily, so obviously, as the moment shattered and he fell away from her as well, both silent now with their own realizations about the other, spawning from a simple question.
Laxus would have told Mirajane anything he wanted. He thought that he did tell her everything she wanted. He'd opened up, in this short expanse of days where it felt much longer than the multitude of years they'd known one another, however sparingly, for the majority of their teenage years and all of their adulthood. He knew so much about her, learned so much about her, from this some odd thirty, sixty days, whatever it was, it didn't matter, all that mattered was how special they were, how important, those days, these days, but if this was fleeting, if she didn't feel that way, if she didn't hope the same as him, that the summer never ended, then…
Then…
"I'm sorry."
"Dragon-"
"No, I shouldn't have ask-"
"It's not that."
Mirajane found that she couldn't look at him. That she didn't want to. Then. He was getting out of bed then, following her silence, and she felt like she should do something, to stop this from happening, but at the same time, she wasn't the one who'd spurred it on.
Was she?
No.
No.
He'd done this, by questioning her, asking her that, and she hadn't mean to draw away, visibly recoil at his words, but it just took her back a bit, his question. In a way she wasn't expecting. It wasn't exactly something she was asked about frequently. If at all. Mira found most everyone had scars, in some way or another, especially given the line of work they were in. And considering so many of the men she did find interest in were also mages, working far more than she did in those days, most of their bodies were speckled and marred by an assortment, some even in awkward places.
But Laxus' was different. She'd give him that. If she knew his hangup about it, then she would surrender that nugget to him, yes, of course, because his was so prominent, so much a part of who he was, brought together his whole facial structure, really.
Plus, well, she knew Laxus fancied himself as different. From the rest of them. His pain and trauma, baggage and backstory were intricate to him in a way the rest of them didn't understand. Laxus lived for his pain and his anguish. The remembrance. He liked to pretend that it was in his past, where it belonged, like the rest of them were forced to do away with their own, but unlike the rest of them, Fairy Tail wasn't an escape, a gateway away from the tragic years that brought them as wayward youths to the guild's sanctuary. It was a constant reminder of all he'd gone through, the enigma that brought about so much strife to his family. Fairy Tail was the Dreyars, but also destroyed the Dreyars.
Even if everything had worked out, when she was young, in her village, she imagined she'd still have left eventually, would have had to, to get away from what it had meant, what she'd felt, all the scenery to remind her, constantly, of when she lost her parents, her childhood, and her freedom. She'd want to be somewhere new, carving a path, separate from the things that had drug her down, even if it wasn't to her absolute degradation, somewhere where she wasn't remind constantly of what she'd lost. Who she'd lost.
Mirajane loved Fairy Tail because all her early memories tied to it involved discovering her magic, battling it out with Erza, watching her younger brother and sister, both ravaged by the world, come out of their shells again, find friends again, discover happiness again.
Laxus' memories, as he'd told her before, in moments like this, where he felt his most open, consisted of all the people he'd known, not just his parents, but all of the people, the past members, who eitehr died out there, on jobs, or just went away, disappeared, gone of to live fulfilling lives separate from the only thing that he could ever imagine being; a Fairy Tail wizard.
A mage.
A fairy.
Laxus lived with his trauma, his past, shoved in his face every single time he walked through the wrought iron gates and into the hall, the one that had changed so many damn times, but still felt the same, no matter it's grown or shrinkage, as the air inside consisted of the exact same presence it always did, all the way back to when he was just a little kid.
The scar cut across his eye was much the same. Plain for everyone to see. But hidden in the fact that he'd never tell, he couldn't tell, anyone anything about it. Refused.
With the power of transformation magic, Mirajane could hide just about any blemish or marking on her body that she wished. And she didn't mostly, usually. It was a nominal amount of magic, it was almost second nature to her. She didn't know what it was not to hide away parts of herself. Not face them. Not force others to do the same.
But it was different. Overnight. Frequent, overnights, which she found herself dealing with then, with Laxus, as they'd lay in bed together, so openly and freely, and she warned him the first time, she let it all down, her magic and guard, but he only laughed and made some passing remark about how silly she was. Feminine. Girly. Womanly. Something like that. Equally dismissive. To be so concerned about appearance.
She laughed too, because it did sound silly, didn't it? All of it? To care about something like that? And it was so hot, that summer, the summer that they were together nearly every night, falling into his bed together, alone in his apartment instead of crammed and hammed up with her siblings back home, that Mira found it best not to wear anything, nothing at all if she could help it, and it felt so freeing for it to occur to the two of them, at the same time, the same thought, without a word spoken between them.
When the guise fell, when the ruse faded her flesh didn't look so pure and white, but nothing about the two of them ever was and Laxus seemed happy and content, in his own way, his unspoken way, for them to be like this together. Open. Unabashed.
Laxus didn't want the summer to end, but Mirajane did. She wanted it to shift to the colder months, where they had to cuddle up together and wait out the heat once more. He didn't want things to change, but she couldn't wait until they did, until they changed into something even more solid and real.
"Seriously, just drop it. I shouldn't have-"
"It's okay, Laxus. Really. I-"
"You don't have to tell me-"
"I know why you asked."
Of course she did.
Of course she did.
Because of all the random assortments of scars she had, from all the battles she'd fought, won and lost, this one was the oddest, wasn't it? All alone? In it's age? It looked far fresher, because it was, than any other she had. In a strange place. He was curious because he brushed against it so frequently, because she talked of her life so frequently, but never mentioned this not yet faded, not truly, still raised somewhat, rough patch of skin. Even without her magic, the others were all at least somewhat hard to notice, as they blended with age, but this one was different.
Why was everything about the two of them so different?
This was hidden because she chose to hide it, she was able to hide it, with or without her magic, and it was separate, from everything, and she knew he'd question it, eventually, he seemed to run his fingers, tongue, everything across it so frequently, and this was just a game of averages, between the two of them. Trying to out play the other. How much could be given up in exchange for silence on the rest?
He meant no disrespect, hadn't considered the possibility of such a negative reaction, but as he sat there then, on the edge of the bed, feet rooted in the floor, he wasn't pushing up, getting away, like he'd seemed to desire the second he realized the err in his delving. Instead, he just sat there, head turned just slightly in the darkness of his bedroom, staring over at her with something of interest, maybe, or perhaps just hopeful acceptance once more. Whether she told him the truth or not, expelled all of her secrets and thoughts and feelings and emotions regarding the scarred flesh no longer mattered; he just wanted her to pull him back down on the bed and banish any fears over misdeed.
But when she reached for him, to pull him back down, into the bed once more, it wasn't to rectify his mistake, but rather to sigh, deeply as they rested their foreheads against one another's, the silence different now, but still hinged on something.
"I just," Mira whispered softly as he bowed his head then, her lips brushing over his golden locks instead, "don't like to talk about it. Think about it."
"That's okay," Laxus assured her, burying his head into her, wishing he could go back to how he was before, when he wasn't absolutely terrified of the thought that she didn't want him, or wouldn't want him any longer, once the summer began its descent. "Really. We-"
"It was...recently, is all." She thread some fingers into his hair then, blinking some as she thought. "And not in...battle or training or anything, so I just..."
He wasn't ready again, so soon, but that was fine because that wasn't what she wanted and when she pushed him back, shoved him really, suddenly, so he was staring up at her, Laxus only blinked sleepily.
Reaching down, Mira traced a finger over the zagging line that scarred his face, made him look so mean, so evil, so much like her Satan Soul take over, but different, because he wore this every single day. Not as a mask, but as a part of himself.
They were so different.
His eyelid fluttered shut, instinctively, void of intention, while the other stayed wide open, watching as she applied pressure, just a bit, while gliding down the lightning bolt-esque marking over his eyes, feeling it, truly, for the first time.
"Who gave you yours?" she asked softly and he didn't even think about it, didn't reflect, just answered honestly.
"Ivan," he replied dryly, but honestly and Mirajane nodded her head slightly as she removed her finger from his cheek.
"I was dating a...jerk, a few months before you first asked me out." She shrugged some, glancing away from him then. "From another guild. It was...different, than how it is, with you and me. And we kind of… He just wasn't someone I should have been with. He had his own stuff going on-"
"Do I," Laxus asked her softly then, his voided gaze turning harder then, "know him?"
"No," she whispered, but she nodded her head, just a bit, and he glared. Then, sighing, she added, "It doesn't matter."
He wanted to argue, she could tell, but relented some as he remarked, "Why did he...cut you?"
It felt blunt, put like that, and Mirajane looked away as she remarked, "He didn't. Not really. We were...fighting, and his magic… It's stupid. His magic just caught me because I wasn't going to, you know, transform on him or anything. I just...and he…he underestimated me. Most men do."
Reaching out, he sat up some as he caught her chin, just slightly, in his palm, forcing her to meet his eyes. They were on even ground again. Finally.
"I don't," Laxus whispered to which she smiled, weakly, distantly, just really.
"I know," she agreed as he fell back then. "Dragon."
They were shifting again, together now, as she slowly fell back into bed as well, and they were together again, settling once more for the night. In the morning, she had to get down to the hall and he'd promised to train with the Thunder Legion, so they needed their sleep, they needed far more than they were typically allotted, but at the same time, in that moment, he didn't want it.
At all.
But she did.
At least somewhat.
"Why do things have to change?" he muttered as his eyes felt heavy and this was all just a dream, almost, kind of, it felt like, but Mia's lips felt warm against his cheek as well as her breath, reminding him that it was all real, all too real.
It felt like a weird thing to say, a very weird thing to say, honestly, but somehow, someway, because they really were connected, maybe, unspoken, but known, and Mirajane understood perfectly.
"Because if they don't," she answered with a yawn, falling back into her side of the bed then as he blinked at her some more, determination the only thing winning out against sleep in the battle to keep his eyes either open or closed, "then they can never get any better."
"Can't get any worse," he reminded, but she only shrugged.
"Sometimes," she told him simply, "it's worth the risk."
And after finding this to be true, following his question that brought about the entire interaction, it was hard for him to do anything other than agree.
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quirkycoterie · 4 years
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❤ : What are some role-plays that you have done/are doing that you particularly enjoy and wish to share with your followers?
Kai…. you has done me wrong. I have been lost for hours in old RP. Every time I think of one I want to share with y’all, I end up reading more and more only to find that the pieces are longer than I remember and then think maybe I shouldn’t chunk those massive bits into an answer. So… I think I’m going to go with some summary tidbits from the things.
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In a past life, Aliiza was much closer to death from her shipwreck, and while wearing a bigger scar on the outside, she had decided maybe she needed friends. Mind you, she was still great at pushing people away and screwing things up…. but she also learned to be chatty and playful and sometimes vulnerable, especially with the man who somehow became her husband. She got gussied up in fancy dresses and high heels, was often a team player, let people help her with a phobia of water, and lived in a beautiful room, surrounded by keepsakes she gathered. She had a lot of really great interactions and while I sometimes miss how far she’d gone, I also love getting to play her now and seeing how she’s developing without those same influences.
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I am a sucker for her and Alex. Totally. Completely. Every time I go back to the start of their relationship, I giggle. Sometimes I get a bit teary. He avoided saying “I love you” in that order but still had to use the word love itself in like 3 different ways for her to get what he was saying because if he didn’t say it the way he was scared to… he obviously couldn’t mean it that way. Both so certain they were unlovable. Him, disappointed because she didn’t seem to want to say it back. Her, confused because she didn’t think he was saying it. They are idiots and I love laughing with @cadrenebula behind the scenes over our precious, awkward, stupid, accidental OTP.  I also love watching her call him on his bullshit when it’s clear to her. I enjoy when she makes him share and grow by refusing to be afraid of the things he thinks are so terrible about himself.
OMG this got long… other character bits below the cut.
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These two… Aqua was a “better” person in her past life. Qatun was a one shot I was bored and wanted to wear my pretty lingerie in front of people and her name was Ocelot. lol It’s fun getting to really break them out of their former roles and explore their potential. I love getting into telling fortunes (both fake and real) on Aqua and will be forever grateful to @eviloblivion for helping me find inspiration for her. I don’t manage to play Qatun often, but I very much enjoy seeing how she treats each character she meets, from being friendly out of boredom and playful sadism, to downright manipulative or mean.
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Cashmere has always been one of my favorite characters to play. She’s fun and sometimes unpredictable and I can work her into almost any situation so she’s flexible in more ways than one. ^_~ In her past life, I absolutely loved her dynamic with the other 3 characters she regularly interacted with. They were mages who awakened to their powers via pretty much… dying. In fact, suspecting she was a mage who hadn’t awakened yet, they tried several things to “help”… including attempting to hit her over the head with a baseball bat. They however, hated vampires for being undead and thereby outside the life cycle. So she spent half her time teasing them about how they weren’t any different than the vampires. When she did finally come into her powers during a fight with a minotaur (that existence surprised her more than vampires), she was more powerful than any one of them. That got super fun. She’s got snark that… I don’t even know where it comes from. It’s not mine.
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Like Sana, these characters are originals, no past lives. (Chrysalis is a recycled name but she’s not a reincarnation.)  My favorite RPies from all of them have come in building them with my RP partners. 
Tsume would be only half the character he is without his brother @wkiba-ffxiv, even if Kai does let me write more of their history. I love the brainstorming and the bits and pieces we throw at each other as we RP. It feels wonderfully natural.
Chrys, well, she’d be lost without @zollo-ffxiv and @cadrenebula. She’s only got it together due to the support of her bestie (again, Kai spoils me with our creations) and her cousin, Keaira (my girl Dest also gives me so much of her time and energy, across more than just these characters even). We’ll see how much shine we can dim on all of them together I’m sure…. LOL
I was ready to toss Kuri away. She was boring and plain and while I loved her look, I wasn’t sure what to do with the original concept I had when I made her trying to be nice to someone else that it turned out I didn’t want around. Then @of-the-growing-horde took my ranting and crying about it, and catapulted one of their new creations us…. and suddenly, I had a starting line for real depth and interest. Now… I get to challenge myself by writing someone who constantly tries to see the best in everyone, including her very, very messed up bestie. She turns the other cheek. Gives the benefit of the doubt. Slaps an understanding smile on… and tells herself and you that it’s going to be just fine… and damn some days that is hard to play, but I looooooove every piece of RP I write with her.
Really… if I didn’t mention you here and we RP, I love that shit too! I don’t write outside of RP creations. I may write solo pieces at times, but I don’t sit and do novels or stories otherwise. My RP partners really make this worthwhile for me and you all rock. You’re my favorite part of RP and I want to read yours, too!
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kiwi-xeet · 5 years
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Alright Bioware fandom, we need to have a LONG serious chat about the Bioware DOOM bullshit...
... because this is getting ridiculous. Bioware might be dropped by EA someday, but they also might NOT be dropped by EA. We literally have no way of knowing what will happen. We don’t have enough inside information to predict what will happen.
I’m not about to ignore EA’s bad track record. They dropped Visceral like a box of rocks, right? I am not saying it isn’t possible for Bioware to be canned as well. It IS POSSIBLE. You should all be cautious and not get your hopes too high because you never know when a studio is tied to a AAA company (especially EA), but that doesn’t mean immediate doom. Someone in the industry correct me if I’m wrong, but under AAA companies, studios die all of the time. Regardless, the fandoms opinion may influence more than they know, and when people constantly go into the rant of “EA is Palpatine and Bioware will turn into an EA sith machine. Bioware is pushing political agenda. Bioware’s new live shit is all because of EA.” And then spew these posts on Youtube, tumblr or reddit without any forethought towards the consequences, it just kind of makes what we fear... so much more likely to kill what we love, right? Can you see that logic? Stop allowing our uninformed outrage to turn our fears into reality. Bioware has been known to interact with fans far more than other studios. But not just that, Bioware fans can be very polarized and since the Bioware dev community is so accommodating, I worry about that. Do you think the above worries adds to or diminishes the odds of another Mass Effect or Dragon Age being made? IMO, the biggest and most important thing keeping Bioware creators inspired is the support of its passionate fans who have gobbled up their games like candy. So please stop trying to destroy what you love, but don’t stop giving them your opinions and honest critiques. To youtubers and other game reviewers, please be honest about your reviews but don’t bash a franchise for clicks, instead criticize them for the shit they can improve on. Be honest about the faults but don’t do it in a way that sways a viewer to love or hate the title based on outrage, instead point out the good and the bad and let people decide on their own. Your opinions hold significant weight in the gaming community. I’m not saying we should ignore the terrible state Anthem was ‘released’ in. Seriously, tell Bioware and EA that their incomplete mess was unacceptable, because I agree. EA won’t care because $$$money$$$$, but at least the creative part of the team can see what they did wrong and improve upon it. They worked hard and I can tell they love their work. They are passionate about it, and for good reason. Bioware fans and Bioware devs have both felt the pain of EA forcing an amazing title out before it was ready. DA2 anyone? We don’t need to sit here yelling at Bioware devs for the shit they’ve already agonized over. We need to clearly state our problems by saying “I didn’t pay for this, instead this is what I was promised. I love your game but this is what I want instead. This is what I expected and you didn’t deliver, here is where you can improve. And also, I can wait but this is what we need in the future.” So that EA understands fans hate their rushed releases and devs have feedback that actually helps US, as consumers. I’m not clearing Bioware of all blame, but they have been known for listening to fans and fans go with the attack route first. I.e. Mass Effect 3 ending drama. We can’t jump to conclusions about Bioware’s future, because we aren’t directly involved. I'm just a fan but, even if Anthem does poorly, which it honestly... it has already done poorly, according to metacritic. If my opinion matters to you, I think it’ll be a while until we see Bioware’s demise regardless, but that is just my pleb prediction. It has been confirmed that EA already sunk money into Dragon Age 4, so if anything we still have that. Casey Hudson has confirmed they haven’t forgotten about Mass Effect either. Sure... Bioware could close down tomorrow, and if it did... I honestly wouldn’t be able to properly convey how devastated I would feel if that happened, but we aren’t there yet. And if it did close down, that isn’t Bioware’s fault. And if it did close down, who knows, maybe they’ll pick back up and be even better and rise up apart from EA. Trust me, I worry about it too... more often than I want to admit. It’s actually pathetic how obsessed I am with Mass Effect and Dragon Age. If either franchise was destroyed forever, I would be rendered emotionally useless  as far as gaming goes (and that isn’t an exaggeration), but the reality is that... I am just a fan, so all I can do is put hope and trust in the creators who have carried me along the way with what I can only call brilliance. If the franchise died I’ll still remember the times I sobbed. I sobbed when Mordin walked into that tower despite Shepards protests and then recited his song until the end, when legion made the ultimate sacrifice due to Shepards actions and Tali accepted it and mourned a race she once hated, or when Morrigan told my Warden that she was the only female friend Morrigan ever had, or when Fenris warmed up to a mage(friend or romance Hawke) and Hawke helped him through his trauma, or when Dorian (in a romance) was flirtatious but over time realized he could finally be loved without frivolous expectations, or with Solas where he lost all hope in the physical world and you could give him something to hope for outside of his narrow perspective (friend or romance), or Zevran, where you could have killed him but you finally gave him a purpose beyond veiled slavery and now he has a true friend, Varric, who was always a jokester but found his way to a better family that wasn’t blood related, but everything he ever wanted was Hawke and their friendship could never be broken. Edi and Joker, who both survived the war and symbolized what hope could mean in a time of adversity and diversity. Aveline, who felt her fate was tied to your survival at first, but in time Hawke became her only and most trusted family. Trust me, I have emotional investment in what we could lose. Regardless of what happens I do sense that the people at Bioware are invested as we are. Imo, that is the most important aspect.
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bhaalble · 5 years
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Alistair: A Defense, a Critique
I PROMISED AN ESSAY
I DELIVER AN ESSAY.
So here we go. What’s up Ferelden, its him, ya boi
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So, let’s start off by clearly delineating some things that Alistair is, and more importantly, what he is not.
I think there’s a tendency with Alistair critical posts to treat the worst possible version of Alistair as the “real him”, which is more than a little unfair. Unhardened, kinda bitchy Alistair is a part of him, yes, but its a part of him that only arises when your Warden is continually a dick to him, and I think it’s fair to say that none of us are the best versions of ourselves when we’re constantly being treated like shit or ignored. Furthermore, this isn’t really something we do when we talk about the other characters. Zevran straight up tries to murder you if you don’t have his approval ratings high enough and somehow most people don’t see Zevran as inherently a backstabbing little shit.
So, let’s run down the list of common accusations and overturn them
Alistair is not stupid. He’s just…not. Morrigan jokes, yes, but Morrigan tends to see everyone as an idiot for not sharing her worldview, including your Warden. The one who jokes about Alistair being stupid more often than anyone is Alistair, but as we see time and time again, he’s rarely the most trustworthy source for his real complications.
Alistair may not be a scholar and can make some pretty boneheaded statements, yes, but he’s hardly alone in that department for the DA:O crew. His retorts show some real wit behind them at points. He can demonstrate great social awareness (e.g. catching on to the fact that the Grand Cleric sending him, an ex-templar, to interact with the Circle Mages was definitely an intentional slight). Furthermore, I’d like to point out that he managed to catch on to the Chantry’s bullshit all on his own, before he racked up dozens of counts of mage abuse (*cough* CULLEN *cough*). He still shows some effects of the templar’s training, (especially in his treatment of Jowan and Morrigan) but I’d argue that this is hardly a surprise. He’s been subjected to it 24/7 since he was a child. But he’s aware, and based on the other templars we meet throughout the game that on its own shows some serious introspection and critical thinking.
Alistair is not selfish. While he has his moments, I don’t think that’s really who he is, deep down. Take, for instance, his forgiveness of Arl Eamon. He hasn’t seen Eamon for years. The expected arc would be that he waits for Eamon to wake up, gets an apology, and then forgives him. But based on how he talks about him when you enter Redcliffe, its clear that he’s already forgiven Eamon, and is honestly more than a little ashamed of his behavior. Frankly, this is more selfless than even I would be: imagine being twelve, having lived your life as a street urchin because your adoptive father simply won’t treat you any different than he treats his paid employees, only to be sent away from the only home you’ve ever known because your presence embarrasses his wife. Frankly, I think Alistair would be justified in resenting Eamon for it, but it’s clear that he doesn’t. He calls him a good man from beginning to end.
Furthermore, I think what the Guardian says to Alistair is telling. He doesn’t just feel sad that Duncan is gone. He feels guilty. He, deep down, genuinely believes it should have been him. He wishes he could throw himself on the sword to save his mentor. Then there’s the ritual to consider. It takes some convincing (because of course it does) but with little fuss, Alistair will sleep with a woman he genuinely dislikes (which hoo boy does this make a consent conversation more than a little shaky) to conceive a child that he will never get to see. He, a bastard child cast away from his father, is essentially doing the same thing. All to ensure that he won’t risk his friends dying. Even an unhardened King Alistair casting off a non-human non-noble Warden, while it of course hurts, to me shows a sense of latent responsibility. He genuinely loves and cares about your HoF, but he has the sense that this matters more. That even though he never wanted this burden, he has to carry it as best he can.
What Alistair is is immature.
I want to draw a fine distinction here because I think we tend to use immature interchangeably with “selfish” and “stupid”, so it can sound like I’m contradicting myself. So, to explain myself: I use “immature” in the sense of a symptom, rather than a personality.
For an example of “immature as a personality”, look no further than Tony Stark in like, the first half hour of Iron Man (arguably Tony in the rest of the movies too but ashfagdkh follow me here)
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Early Tony Stark is very much someone who is irrepressibly immature. He is capable of being an adult, but he chooses not to be, valuing his own desires above pretty much everyone else’s. He acts out simply because he knows no one will stop him, chases the shiniest, biggest toys he can get, and throws a fit when he doesn’t get his way. He treats other people’s time and needs with a flippant attitude, generally behaving like they are literally side characters who only matter so long as they help him get what he wants.
This isn’t to say there isn’t a reason Tony is the way he is (his relationship with his father being a big contributor), but what is important is that Tony is fully capable of being otherwise, knows it, and chooses not to. He revels in his shamelessness, believing that his immaturity is a sign of his intelligence. Everyone else acts like an adult because they have to, but Tony acts like a child because he is smart enough and rich enough to get away with it. Call it a sort of Capitalist Peter Pan syndrome.
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By contrast, Alistair strikes me as immature as a symptom. First off, his age is important to factor in here. Alistair is 20 (my age, which is trippy as fuck). He is barely done being a teenager by the time you meet him.
There are further factors that have stunted Alistair’s emotional maturity, even for the average 20-year-old. He jokes about having been raised by Mabari, but its very clear there weren’t a lot of adult influences in his life at a young age. He mentions Isolde ensured that the castle wasn’t home to him long before he was sent to the Chantry. Imagine being under ten and feeling like you were unwanted by a person who has the power to make your life miserable in every imaginable way.
Then, once he was moved to the Chantry….well, if the Circle is any indication, the Chantry doesn’t exactly know how to accommodate children. Alistair made life a merry hell for the priests but it’s clear he wasn’t treated very well by them. Then straight into templar training. All of this while barely interacting with the outside world and shunned by his peers for his status as a bastard. Kids need to engage with other people in order to grow up effectively. With that in mind, it’s frankly stunning that Alistair has as much care for other people as he does.
The observation of Alistair’s immaturity is exactly groundbreaking either. Think about his dream in the Fade. We see Alistair at his most honest and vulnerable, fully convinced of the illusion. And it seems his greatest dream is to have the family he never got as a child, via his sister. Alistair behaves childlike to the point of parody in this dream. He pleads like a child and tries to entice the Warden to stay by begging his mom sister to make a special meal, his favorite. Hell, the whole “hardening” subplot is basically about the Warden forcing Alistair to let go of the childhood he never got to have and moving forward into adulthood.
His immaturity doesn’t just express itself in the obvious childlike behavior, however. Even though we tend to forget that Alistair is a junior member of the Wardens and is barely more experienced than the HoF in terms of actually fighting darkspawn, I think we can all agree that tossing the decisions on someone who’s barely past their Joining probably isn’t great behavior. Pretty much every comment he makes, about mages, blood magic, elves, even women, also read as the words of a man who simply does not have the world experience yet to really know how to engage with people who aren’t like him. It doesn’t mean these comments don’t….yanno, suck, but there is rarely any real malice behind them. Despite the hardships in Alistair’s life (of which there have been many, I grant), he has still been on the receiving end of certain privileges by virtue of being a man and being human non-mage, and it is clear he is still unlearning the prejudice inherent in that. His youth doesn’t excuse how hurtful or ignorant his comments can be, but its the unfortunate truth that, especially for those of us who grow up relatively privileged, being mindful of the Other is a learning process.
However, the main reason I view this immaturity as a symptom more than a personality is that I think Alistair has a genuine desire to grow past this. He acknowledges that he complains a lot, with an additional note that “and you haven’t been having an easy time of it either”. If you push back on his comments (or at least when the game gives you the chance to), he’ll usually apologize for it. And as I said, the hardening storyline to me indicates that Alistair is more than ready to grow up. He’s just still learning how to do it.
None of this, by the way, means that you have to love Alistair. Its more than easy to be annoyed by him, especially for a non-human and/or non-noble character. In the interest of full disclosure, it took me romancing Alistair to move past simply tolerating him. But I think its time for all of us to stop pretending Alistair is something he isn’t. He isn’t really a side character as much as he is a deuteragonist. More than any other companion (except, arguably, Morrigan), Alistair has a character arc that acts in response to your own characters. He grows and changes over the course of the narrative in a way that parallels how the story treats him, and if you create an Alistair that behaves like an asshole, well, you might want to take a look at how you’ve been treating him
to
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ever-fics · 5 years
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Insomnia Sollavellan.
It wasn’t the first time people had seen her flinch when people called her knife ear.
It wasn’t uncommon that when complimented she’d look down just not believing a word expecting complete manipulation.
She had walked this road many times Get comfortable with new people, watch them become distant and in the end they either die or betray you.
This was her reality Lavellan trusted the keeper before Deshana who died.... She knew how things went. She almost died because she was stupid enough to befriend a human. Who constantly berated the Dalish. Yet promised that they would never hurt her. A human who had said it was ok to be different and elvish yet questioned why elves were better at magic and could do whatever they wanted. A human who told Ellana whose name in elvish means she could do anything and made her believe she could do nothing. Then the human betrayed her by trying to sell her to slavers who had tried to catch her for years.
However Des saved her warned her. Ever since then...Lavellan had been weary of humans so naturally being sent to some big Human peacekeeping summit just seemed like torture.
Ellana has planned to stay in the background to hide but then she heard a noise from a nearby building and BOOM!
You’re the herald of andraste. More human bullshit.
Quiet frankly she just wanted to go home. She wasn’t safe with the eyes of the world on her especially since the eyes of the world were on a Dalish elf. Somebody who’s traditions relied heavily on honor and respect. Not monitary gain and capitalism.
Wether she believed in The maker (which she was Dalish she didn’t.) or the Evanuris (which if they did exist have done jack shit to help the elves so who knows if she believes in them either.) It didn’t matter she was now seen as something to be worshiped an object some sort of figure. When all she wanted was to go back home and be seen by her clan, her friends. Maybe they didn’t always get along especially not on humans but Clan Lavellan looked out for each other it was safe.
Haven though nice wasn’t as safe it wasn’t Clan Lavellan.
What didn’t help is this was her second day here, it’s the middle of the night ,and this bed was a bed. Ellana didn’t have beds like this she had cots or... nice comfortable trees. Which to many doesn’t seem comfortable but grass is soft it adjusts to you’re body hay is itchy and doesn’t. Also human pillows were not preferable to bags stuffed with clothes or blankets the Dalish used. Yes the bag was lumpy she could adjust lumpy. Human pillows were yet again unadjustable.
So Lana took the thickest blanket and her lumpy bag and tried to sleep in the chantry hall. Which was quiet frankly it’s floor was too stiff. So she walked through to the tavern which was comfortable enough yet boisterous.
Stupid! Sleeping outside wasn’t an option even the Dalish didn’t sleep outside in the snow.
So she sat outside of the bar weighing her options. 2am what’s still open? Where is it not weird to try and sleep?
She took out paper from her bag and a pen and started furiously jotting down options.
Apothecarys? (No the guy is an ass and would definitely not help an elf.)
A tree too much snow and I would fall to my death.
Under the deck near the lake... too much snow. I would catch hypothermia if not frostbite.
And all these options suck.
“Insomnia?” A voice questioned startling Lavellan.
“HOLY SHIT!” She jumped
“sorry...you just kinda ...came out of no where.... well not no where thats a falacy...Solas is it?”Ellana explained.
“Last I checked.Are you always this easily startled?” Solas questioned.
“Quite contrary actually. Usually only spiders startle me. Small ,fast,vicious ... bad combo ,and I know they are a nessesity to the environment I have tried that line of reasoning. Somehow passed down stories of the horror of spider bites wins. Something awfully terrifying about watching you’re arm turn black and then boom you died.” Ellana answered.
“Perhaps it’s only terrifying if you think of it?” Solas offered.
“Perhaps... You had asked if I was an Insomniac?
I guess.... It’s hard for me to tell though I’m a bit used to it. Wake up stare and windows ponder anything ,and everything. The fact they have me on thier human bed is not helping...” Ellana explained.
“Aren’t you a mage?you shouldn’t have trouble accessing the fade.” Solas questioned.
“I’m a mage yes. But accessing the fade isn’t the issue I can do that fine once I actually get to sleep.... I just can’t... sleep or sleep access one area of the fade wake up repeat.” Ellana explained.
“You said you ponder things what sorts of things do you ponder?” Solas questioned.
“Oh ok! Things I like! Umm... Ok so get this of magic is created by frequency manipulation. Fire being created by quickening the speed of molecules etc. why isn’t magic considered a science and why then would the humans chantry a place invested in the sciences of Brother Genitivi and the like condem mages when science is magic.
Or... this one really bothers me. Ok so dwarves can’t dream or supposedly “can’t” access the fade. What about Varric I’ve read his stories they’re intricate so what about daydreaming. Why can’t dwarves train themselves to access magic and the fade through something like daydreaming....
It really bothers me.
Then there’s just the facts both are just myths taught by humans probably to make other races conform... Shit! This is like what I told Des. If all the Dalish know of our history is given to us by humans predominantly how do we know it’s true? Then when I go do research it’s all stop sneaking into Library’s Lana! I mean at least I fact check and don’t just go oh yay humans who love to burn us! I don’t know I love my Clan and being Dalish ,and our traditions I just think our history belongs to all of us. And we need to stop taking shit from humans.”
Lana finished rambling.
“So you can’t sleep ,because you yourself ask a plethora of questions? Curiosity is an admirable trait as it is the desire to learn. A trait I agree with you more Dalish should possess....”Solas started
“I’m cutting you off right there I never said Dalish don’t have a desire to learn... we simply have flaws in our willingness to challenge established beliefs. The same way city elves don’t challenge oppressor established alianages because a system is in place that makes it nearly impossible to get equity.” Ellana explained.
“Equity not equality?” Solas questioned.
“Equity,Equallity assumes everyone starts off with equal yet again. It says that you should judge a fish and a monkey both by thier ability to climb trees when they start off with the same resources. Forgetting the fish needs water and had no forearms in which to climb.” Ellana defended her answer.
“If you could as Herald of Andraste...” Solas started.
“Please don’t call me that I don’t believe in Andraste Hell who the Fuck knows if I believe in the Evanuris. Considering the state of the elves. My friends call me Lana.” She chuckled.
“Ok Lana How would you change things if you had the power to?” Solas questioned.
“A nice thought but irrelevant as I in this scenario am almost certainly the fish.” Lana answered.
“Moonstone,Warm milk.” Solas said.
“Excuse me?” Ellana answered confused.
“It’ll help you sleep moonstone has magical properties and warm milk contains triptophine.” Solas explained.
“Oh uh... thanks.”Lana smirked.
Before watching Solas leave and deciding a rowdy bar may just be the best place to try and sleep.
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bosspigeon · 5 years
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How is Grief's relationship with the companions and advisors? Does he hate any of them? Is he particularly close to any of them?
i think he gets along very well with Sera, Varric, and Bull especially, and Sera thinks it’s a personal challenge to make him laugh and calls him dumb nicknames that he finds very endearing. she reminds him of friends he grew up with in the alienage, and he sort of treats her like a very rowdy little sibling. it’s impossible for him to dislike Varric, and they commiserate a lot over the bullshit they’ve been dragged into against their will. and even before he and Bull get romantically involved, they get along really well, just based on how friendly and open Bull is. i think he does get close with some of the other companions, too, but these three are the ones he can really let down his guard around.
he likes Cassandra, i think, because she’s very forceful and no-nonsense and dependable, but her insistence in calling him the Herald of Andraste really grates on him. not to mention the whole “is there not room in your pantheon for another god???” but otherwise, they get along well enough. they are both very headstrong people, though, so they butt heads a lot.
he and Dorian snark and insult each other basically constantly, but when asked they both readily assert that they’re very close friends, and they have a habit of staying up late and comparing notes on different magical theories and practices they were taught growing up.
Blackwall is... complicated. i think Grief wants to like him, but he has a very finely honed Bullshit sense, and since Grief is a fundamentally honest person, he does not like being lied to in any way. i think he’s a lot more comfortable with Blackwall once the truth comes out, and he has time to cool down. afterwards, they kind of hang together quietly and don’t really talk, just existing in the same space. like cats.
he and Vivienne get along...... like, so well it’s actually a little scary. like they do sometimes argue about the Circle, because he never grew up in one, but i think he’d be fascinated by the idea of formal college of mages, without the looming threat of Templars. he’s fascinated by the Game, while he doesn’t quite understand it, and watching someone play it so skillfully is sort of awe-inspiring. i think he does often get frustrated with her habit of not saying what she means, and she gets frustrated (but doesn’t show it) with his inability to be duplicitous in any sense of the word.
he doesn’t really like Solas very much. a huge part of Grief’s identity revolves around his father’s Dalish heritage, as well as his own upbringing in the alienage, so the way Solas talks about elves really grinds his gears. especially the dalish, because he’s very protective of his father’s memory, and hearing anyone insult him, especially in a way that implies his stupidity, is a sure-fire way to get Grief’s dander up.
as for advisors, i think Josephine is his favorite. she’s impossible not to love, and the way she treats him and his culture as something to be respected and learned about rather than a novelty or something silly and childish is a breath of fresh air when constantly dealing with people who treat him as something foreign and alien, or entirely backwards. they do occasionally argue about how to deal with particularly stubborn diplomats or dignitaries, because Grief thinks the whole political maneuvering thing is annoying, and wishes he could just tell asshole nobles to fuck off and be done with it. a lot of meetings are Grief trying very hard not to blurt out something rude while Josie does all the actual talking.
it’s sort of the same with Leliana, because he’s a very straightforward person that wants to deal with problems directly, but he does admire her ruthless efficiency and is sort of in awe of her skill with manipulating the odds in the Inquisition’s favor. it’s inspiring and terrifying and he’s very glad she’s on their side, and tells her so often.
he can hardly stand to be in the same room with Cullen for longer than, like, twenty minutes, and the only thing they really agree on is how to deal with insufferable dignitaries and stuffed shirts. every time Cullen starts in on mages and templars, Grief mostly just tunes out to avoid jumping across the war table and starting an all-out brawl.
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danwritestuff · 6 years
Text
Tagged by @sorbriquette​ and putting it in my so-called writing blog cuz i keep anything related to writing here
1. How did you begin writing? Uhhmm, I’ve always been a daydreamer and it was my Coping Mechanism(tm). So naturally, I’ve always wanted to write about weird shits I think about. Most of the time, though, I end up just imagining things and never get to writing it. I wasn’t really good at writing in my own language (Korean) and then I’ve gotten into writing in English (my second language) and found out I write BETTER in English lmao. 
2. What was your first writing project? Tell us a little about it. I started writing when I was around 13 or so. Never really got to write a full story and it was in Korean (I hate writing in Korean). I began RPing in tumblr since late 2012/early 2013 which is when I got into writing in English. I did wrote a short novel for a class in 2014 and I wrote a long fanfic in 2013 or something. Also wrote a screenplay once. 
Not going into details because I am ashamed. I try not to think about my past writings.
3. What is your preferred medium for writing first drafts? MS Words. I just like formatting and spelling everything correct too much.
4. What rituals or habits do you have around writing?  Um, I have a weird habit of writing a word ‘d’ and deleting it repeatedly when I’m not sure what to write. I make weird facial expressions too.
5. We all have a “type”– of character, plot, theme– what is yours?  Plot-wise, most of my stories involve a theme of ‘HUMANS ARE DUMB BUT THEY ARE ALSO AMAZING’ which has to do with my perpetual disdain for the humanity at the same time my self-contradicting love for humane shits. I love stories that involve... humans choosing something absolutely stupid that makes no sense, just because they are human. 
As for characters, I try to write everyone as different as possible. Not sure if I’m successful at that. Though my favorites are either: dumbass characters who are well-meaning and goodhearted but at the same time morally ambiguous, one of those idiots who are like a ray of sunshine but will also fuck you up if you hurt someone they love; or ‘average’ or ‘mediocre’ characters (like, skills or power-wise) surrounded by extraordinary people. 
6. Introduce us to one (or more!) of your OC’s.  I have a problem of writing too many characters but here goes the main characters in a series I’m trying (and failing) to write: 
- Rafael: My dumbass son (kind of jobless) who eloped with his fiance from his home, a secluded temple where he spend all of his life in. Proper and polite to a fault. Oblivious to human malice and sometimes dumb because this is the first time in his life in the civilization. Incredibly lucky, though he doesn’t notice it. Has a voice like an angel but doesn’t like to sing. He refuses to carry any type of weaponry but doesn’t mind beating the shit out of assholes because “God gave us fists so that we can punch bad people.”  - Emmy: Technically not my OC cuz my friend @kyaarin​ created her but she lets me write her. A young Mage/engineer who wants to be successful. Grew up on streets taking care of orphans like her so she is like a big sister to everyone. Friendly and gets along with everyone except assholes to whom she can be a bit vicious. Energetic and kind of hotheaded. Smart and logical most of the time but when she is pissed she just goes off and does something stupid without thinking of the consequences.  - Terra: Technically not my OC (by @kyaarin​) 2. An assassin/spy who is also like a private detective. Was from a rich family but she left her family to be free. Got into troubles on her own so she got into being a hit woman. She is either your best friend or your worst enemy. Quiet and observant. Doesn’t like to act before knowing EVERYTHING about what she is getting herself into. Doesn’t care how long it takes to get what she wants, or what price she would pay for that. Is out to revenge her friend ultimately.  - Lance: A Knight (basically a magehunter in this world) who hates magic. He kills mages because he believes that would make the world a better place. So definitely a shithead which is inexcusable. He KNOWS that he is a mass murderer and there will be CONSEQUENCES but at the same time he believes it’s necessary to do what he does. Snarky asshole. Dogged workaholic and reckless, mostly because Knights in this world are sorta OP. Also financially unstable af because he gets sued a lot. 
7. What’s your favorite genre to read?  Ummm, I like fantasy and sci-fi but I also just like regular fictions. I have a really specific taste in books and it’s hard to find those. 
8. Your favorite genre to write? Anything fantasy or sci-fi. I really like world building.
9. How do you conduct your authorial research? Google is your friend. I might have spent way too much time on that because I am obsessive. 
10. What does your editing (gasp) process look like? Mm... I rewrite 1834931041 times while my first draft (which is a horrible habit and I write really slow thanks to that). I reread to check and then I get it to friends and get feedbacks by chapters.
11. What are your favorite tropes? Mm.. Idk I really like characters being asked to hand in their weapons several times because they have so many hidden weapons. Also love non-human characters (like robots or AI or something else) beginning to understand or becoming humans?
12. Show off your writing space. I don’t have one ‘cause my life is a mess.
13. What is the most useful piece of writing advice you’ve ever used? “Sit your ass down and just write.”
I mean, it all comes down to writing constantly and regularly I believe, which I struggle with (because I work better with deadlines). But I think that is as good as it gets with writing advice. Like? Everyone writes differently and there ain’t one formula for that? Step off of your high horse and throw your ‘don’t use this kind of expression/phrase/structure’ over a cliff.
14. What is the least useful piece of writing advice you’ve ever ignored? Any advice that has to do with fancy “alternative” vocabulary.
Like... it’s not about which words you use to decorate your sentence. It’s about the content. I find the best sentences convey strong emotions or meanings and that doesn’t always have to do with which words are used. Write as you feel and if what you feel is “that asshole of a man said some bullshits” then go with it.
15. Your writing beverage/snack of choice? Coffee? Though I feel like I work better when my needs are deprived. 
16. How do you compile your ideas? Writing blogs, some memos. I have a huge Google document that has world building information in it. I think it’s about 40 pages long and I’m not even done.
17. What are your controversial opinions ™ on the craft of writing? I’m not sure if I have a controversial opinion on writing... Maybe “you can’t separate real worlds or yourself from the fictions”? Wherever and whenever your story takes place in, it is written by you, so it is bound to reflect YOUR world view. You are the storyteller, so you can’t just say “It’s just a story”. It’s not. You are writing what you want to write about and if it’s problematic, then you gotta do some reality check.
Tagging: @eva-writes @darklingsea @rjwrites @proserpinewrites @wiscowrites @ashlaaaywrites @viirgowrites and anyone who wants to do this 
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thenugking · 6 years
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Would you ever be interested in talking about your Marquises of Serault?
Of course, I love my de Seraults!! I am sorry it took me so long to get round to posting this, I suck at the writing thing. Technically only Arnauld, my scholar is Marquis, and my huntress, Roselle, is his sister but I’ve done a playthrough of Last Court with her as Marquis too.
Arnauld and Roselle are twins and both developed magic when they were ten, within a week of each other. Their mother looked at her options, sighed, and hired an apostate to teach them magic secretly because welp, at least Serault is full of apostates. The tutor is the Plainspoken Seneschal, because of course Arnauld wants to keep the person who advised him most as a child on as his adviser. Other than their parents and the tutor, the only person who knows is the Cheery Baron, because their mother told him almost immediately. He dislikes magic a lot and would never acknowledge to either of them that he knows, but he’s never going to betray his best friend’s children over this. I just really like the idea that Serault is full of mages though, since we already know it’s full of magic.
Anyway, Arnauld, being the Scholar, is a nerd. He grows up spending his time inside as much as he can and searches out his great grandfather’s books on magic and studies them excitedly. He’s the Responsible Sibling, and it’s clear growing up that he’s the one their mother will choose to be Marquis after her. Which doesn’t stop him being a sarcastic little shit a lot of the time. Roselle meanwhile, spends her childhood begging their mother and the Cheery Baron to let her go hunting with them, and when not watched closely, regularly attempts to run off to play in the Applewoods. They both enjoy learning magic. Roselle will wait until Arnauld has found and perfected a new spell and then copy what he’s doing, finding it easier and a lot less time consuming than reading about herself. Arnauld is incredibly bitter that she can become as good as he is really quickly, when it’s him who put all the work in. They squabble constantly, but they’re best friends who forever have each other’s backs.
Their mother dies when they’re 20, leaving Arnauld as her heir. She arranges for Roselle to be married to His Dour Lordship, the Marquis of Alyons, so her son has a new alliance to start him off. Roselle, who is very much the Rebellious Princess trope at this point is Not Thrilled. But she goes through with her arranged marriage and she grudgingly helps her husband to govern, and she discovers that in a marquisate that isn’t ignored and avoided by the rest of Orlais, there’s a lot more playing of the Game. And the Game is fun. Hunting remains her real passion, but the Game isn’t too different. You hunt your prey carefully and subtly, and if you’re doing it well they won’t notice until it’s too late, and then you strike and destroy them. Roselle becomes an expert and ruthless player and settles in happily to ruling Alyons with His Dour Lordship, sometimes helping him in the Game and sometimes working against him for her own benefit.
Arnauld, meanwhile, has Serault to rule, and he loves his marquisate but it is kind of the most disastrous place in all Thedas, and ruling Serault, you can never get a fucking break. He becomes more and more of a snarky little shit as time goes on and gives up on acting like a Proper orlesian noble. It’s not like that’ll get him anywhere anyway when Serault’s as despised as it is, and he’d rather help his people. In game, he tends to have high freedom and low dignity. Which he’s happy with, because his people are happy. Even if he’d like them to stop being such ungrateful bastards most of the time.
Roselle visits Serault with His Dour Lordship mid-game, by which point Arnauld and Roselle don’t see each other often, and have almost given up writing to each other. Roselle’s changed a lot since she lived in Serault, and Arnauld feels like he doesn’t know her anymore. He would never have expected his rebellious sister to be lecturing him on how to better play the Game. She helps him take down the wyvern to cure the Acerbic Dowager, and mocks him for his failure at hunting and it’s almost like the old days again, but the rest of the time, their relationship is a little strained. After locking His Dour Lordship in his dungeons, Arnauld asks Roselle how much she knew about her husband’s plot. She just smiles at him and tells him she’s glad at how he’s improving at the Game.
In the game, Arnauld has the Smiling Guildmistress as his adviser, the Wayward Bard as his lover, the Dashing Outlaw as his accomplice and the Silent Hunter as his bodyguard. Storywise, I’m not sure about the Silent Hunter, I just can’t find anything to do with him, and Arnauld doesn’t seem to connect with him at all? Possibly the Dashing Outlaw does some bodyguarding stuff too, and then I guess the Wayward Bard likes jumping in front of knives for Arnauld. Like I really enjoy the “someone tries to assassinate you and the Bard jumps in front of you, and then complains that he doesn’t want to be healed because scars make him look rakish” card. And it comes up so often that I feel like the Bard just employs people to pretend to stab Arnauld, so he can save him and look dashing and heroic. And then Arnauld patrons like five scholars who got thrown out of the University of Orlais to make him jealous. They flirt in fun ways.
The Dashing Outlaw is a close friend of both Arnauld and Roselle. Her outlaw-ing sometimes takes her all the way to Alyons, and during the start of Roselle’s time there, when she often runs away to the woods, she confides in the Outlaw a lot. Neither of the twins are entirely sure how the Outlaw first discovered they’re apostates, but she knows and she’s cool with it, and that means she’s one of the very few people they can actually talk to about it. Arnauld also tells the Bard, after they start dating, which looking back when not slightly tipsy he realises was not the Best idea, but the Bard thinks it’s sexy, so it all worked out.
The Outlaw was Arnauld’s accomplice a while before the start of the game and he started sleeping with the Bard either shortly before or after the start. Until finding out about the Divine though, Arnauld was happy with the Plainspoken Seneschal as his adviser. He only went looking for a “better” one during the stress of trying to get Serault sorted out ready for the Divine’s visit, but never wanted to actually get rid of his Seneschal. It does create a rift between the two of them for a while though. (When I played Roselle as Marquis, she took the Acerbic Dowager as her adviser, the Elegant Abbess as her lover, the Purveyor of Teas as her accomplice and the Dashing Outlaw as her bodyguard.)
Anyway, apart from replacing his seneschal as his adviser, Arnauld starts becoming more willing to play the Game. When the Divine arrives, he happily puts on the ridiculously impractical and uncomfortable glass mask that he wants to roll his eyes at, and he overlooks his morals about blackmail being unacceptable to play every secret he’s gathered for everything it’s worth. After the ceremony is over and Serault’s reputation is restored again, Arnauld sits by himself and takes off his mask and cries because he hates what he’s become. And it doesn’t help that he’s incredibly lonely after dumping and exiling his boyfriend.
Arnauld was Not Happy about the Wayward Bard cheating on him with the serving girl. Their relationship was Definitely Just Casual, Haha, No Feelings Here, but as time went on, it started getting more serious and it got harder for them both to ignore the feelings that Totally weren’t there. I see the Bard’s cheating as him getting scared, and not feeling good enough, and wanting to show that he wasn’t good enough. Which Arnauld kind of got, but he was mad and hurt. He dropped everything to go riding into the forest to rescue the Bard and cut his way through the maze to him, injuries be damned, but afterwards he yelled that he never cared anyway, it was just a bit of fun, but he’s angry at the Bard for risking his reputation like this, and the Bard yells back asking when Arnauld’s ever cared about his reputation and things escalate, and Arnauld ends up exiling the Bard from Serault. Later, the Dashing Outlaw turns up to see if Arnauld’s okay and he insists, with his make up ruined by tears and half way through his sixth glass of wine that he’s fine. She doesn’t exactly buy it.
I have a continuing plot after the end of the game, which I don’t want to get too into detail with because with, but might maybe one day write a fic about. Maybe. Anyway, the main plot points of it are:
Arnauld spends a bunch of time angsting about What Has He Become, and missing the Bard a lot, and getting close to giving up everything he’s got for Serault.
The Anchoress, who Arnauld of course invited back to live with him, gets caught doing magic, and Arnauld magics to protect her, in front of a massive audience, so, welp, there’s everything lost, but a part of him feels free now.
The Dashing Outlaw helps him escape the wrath of a whole bunch of nobles and disguises him as just an Ordinary Citizen who no one will notice.
While no one’s really ruling Serault and everything is a disaster, His Dour Lordship is freed from the dungeons. He is later killed by an apostate. Roselle, of course, had absolutely nothing to do with it, and is totally cut up about inheriting her husband’s marquisate and getting to rule it.
Meanwhile, the Chantry is in a shambles after the Breach opened up and the templar order really aren’t sure what to do with their lives. When they hear about the massive amount of apostacy and bullshit going on in Serault, a group of templars upset about not being able to slaughter mages as often anymore perk up and declare an exalted march on serault. (It’s not a Proper exalted march, since there’s no divine and their authorisation is “well this one grand cleric Somewhere said it was okay”, but they’re able to stir up a lot of people against Serault so it’s definitely a big Threat.)
The Bard spies on their plans and then comes back to Serault to warn Arnauld about what’s happening
Arnauld convinces his people to let him lead a fight against the exalted march and makes a speech about magic being good and serault being perfect however much the world is always against them and all that good shit
The Horned Knight and his people turn up to help fight because he and Arnauld can put all differences aside for the good of Serault
Except they’re still really outnumbered and even if they win, so many people will die oh no
Arnauld and the Bard talk stuff out and kiss since welp, they’re facing almost certain death now.
And then Alyons’ army turns up to help because fuck the Game, as if Roselle is going to let her home be destroyed or her brother be murdered.
Arnauld and Roselle talk, and Roselle apologises for how distant she’s been in the past few years. She’s glad of how she changed, but her heart will always lie here. And then the twins do magic. Half of Serault does magic. A very small number of the Alyons army do magic too. They win.
Arnauld announces that the rest of the world can fuck off, Serault is staying here, and it’s staying full of apostates, and if you’re going to ignore and hate us all again, so what? Serault’s not selling out to you.
(There’s a maybe-plot where Arnauld gives up being Marquis, because the Elusive Iconoclast wasn’t wrong, there is no reason being noble-born means he should get to rule, and Arnauld’s desperation to hang onto being In Charge because he Knows Best is a definite character flaw, but idk quite where to go with that, so we will See.)
Also, I have a Thing where Roselle and Arnauld always take off their masks when doing magic. They spend their whole lives pretending to be people they’re not, and they’re only their real selves when maskless.
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