#I think it's pretty obvious that I'm used to writing more formal pieces of work

[djkibrit]

During Which Months Did Persona 1 And 2 Duology Take Place?

It’s well known among fans of the series that the later entries take place during an entire school year, however the same can’t be said about the earlier games. The only confirmed information about the time frame that P1 and P2 occur is the year, but dialogue present in these entries and the characters’ birthdays allow us to stipulate a more precise date of when they took place.

Before starting, it’s important to be aware of how the school year in Japan is divided (I’m not Japanese and all the information I got is from the internet. So if you are more familiar with the system, feel free to correct me or to just talk more about it): The academic year in Japan starts from April and ends in March, having summer vacation in August (normally going from July 20 to August 31) and winter vacation in the end of December to the beginning of January (normally going from December 26 to around January 6).

-Obs: All of the dates that I have just mentioned are related to 2023/2024. I wasn’t able to find anything about it in 1996 or 1999. So take them with a grain of salt.

Persona 1:

List of the main cast birthdays + their ages:

April 09, 1979 - Yukino -  17

June 04, 1979 - Maki - 17

July 11, 1979 - Mark - 17

August 18, 1979 - Reiji - 17

September 21, 1979 - Eriko - 17

October 02, 1979 - Nanjo - 17

December 24, 1979 (it's a complete nonsense) - Protagonist IN THE MANGA - 17

January 01, 1980 - Brown - 16

March 03, 1980 - Ayase - 16

Analyzing the age of the characters, it can be assumed that the game takes place at the end of 1996 since Nanjo is already 17 when it occurs. However, the birthday date of the protagonist in manga, generates some inconsistencies: if taking this date into consideration, the game would take place between December 24, 1996 and December 26, 1996 - since, after that, the winter vacation starts. It could be hypothetically possible for the game to only last two days, however, considering that there are two routes and that most people believe that P1 happened during a whole week, I’m ignoring this date. With this, we can conclude that:

Persona 1 Probable Time Period: Between October 02, 1996 and December 26, 1996

Persona 2 Duology:

List of the main cast birthdays + their ages:

April 09, 1979 - Yukino - 20

February 14, 1982 - Jun - 17 

May 04, 1982 - Lisa - 17 

June 13, 1967 - Baofu - 32

July 04, 1976 - Maya - 23

July 27, 1981 - Tatsuya - 18 

September 21, 1979 - Eriko (P2:EP) - 20

October 02, 1979 - Nanjo (P2:EP) - 20

November 15, 1982 - Eikichi - 16 

November 30, 1974 - Ulala - 24

December 30, 1973 - Katsuya - 25

-Obs: If you want to know why I only used July 27, 1981 as Tatsuya’s birthday while ignoring August 21, 1981 (present in the SMT Wiki) as a possible date, there’s this post explaining it.

Let’s begin with Innocent Sin. Besides the age of cast, there’s another variable that needs to be taken into account: when the Grand Cross happened. In real life, this event occurred on August 18 1999 and, while, in Eternal Punishment, many NPCs mentioned that the Grand Cross had passed during the summer, we can’t be sure if it happened during this specific date due to one small thing: rumors becoming true. It could be very plausible that the Grand Cross in IS took place in a different time because it was influenced by rumors, while, in EP, the actual Grand Cross occurred as normal. That being said, I’m using August 18 1999 as the day that this event happened (only because I can’t even think of another date) since I don’t believe that the creators would change it.

Well, we found out the period of when the game ended so finding when it began should not be that difficult, right?... Oh, is August 18 during the summer vacation in Japan? And are there characters attending class both during the beginning as well the end of the game? Well… things just got a little bit more complicated. 

In front of this adversity, I have two prepositions. The first one depends on the assumption that the summer vacation in Japan used to happen during a different time frame in 1999 than the one we have now. With that, we can guess that the game starts around July 27, 1981 since Tatsuya would already be 18. On the other hand, the second one regards the vacation period of 1999 as the same one as the one of now. In this hypothesis, we can guess that the game began some time before July 20 as well that the Kasugayama School Festival happened on the last day of class. Personally, I’m putting the latter just because the former’s time frame is also included in it. With this, we can conclude that:

P2:IS Probable Time Period: Between July 12, 1999 and August 18, 1999

Finally, we can get into Eternal Punishment! After the many contradictions present in Innocent Sin’s time frame (Nyarly would be proud), discovering when EP takes place is going to be way easier and this is only possible due to the main cast’s birthdays along with their dialogue. 

First of all, it’s been confirmed by the creator that EP occurred some months after the Grand Cross, more specifically, during the autumn 1999. With that, we can take a closer look into one dialogue said by Nanjo in Parabellum a bit before going into Mt. Iwato: “Ms. Amamo, he is still a minor. I do not feel it wise to bring him to this kind of establishment… NO, I’m not being tense!”. For those unaware, the drinking age in Japan is 20 years old. Based on that, Nanjo becoming tense could be interpreted as him being nervous since he’s just recently turned 20. With that, it’s possible to presume that the game takes place after Nanjo’s birthday.

Another series of dialogue to take into consideration are of Ulala’s. During the entirety of the game, she is always stressing out that she’s turning 25 soon which indicates that her birthday has still not passed. With this, we can conclude that:

P2:EP Probable Time Period: Between October 02, 1999 and November 30, 1999

And now, we can say that this analysis is finished! Remember that this is only a personal theory of mine, done only because I couldn’t find any posts exploring the subject. Feel free to discuss your own opinions on the matter and to correct any errors I’ve made.

#persona 1 #megami ibunroku persona #persona 2 #persona 2 innocent sin #persona 2 eternal punishment #persona series #can't believe that I just wrote my first big essay in my second language and that I'm posting something the internet after so many years #I think it's pretty obvious that I'm used to writing more formal pieces of work #and also what my favorite game in the series is #IS section got pretty big haha #man I love the original persona trilogy #my post

[wetcatspellcaster]

Hi! Sorry to bother you again, I'm the one who asked you a while ago if it was okay to ask for some tips on writing dialogue. Thank you so much for your availability and time 🙇‍♀️ I'm mostly curious about how you structure your dialogues and how you manage to build chemistry between the characters through banter. Do you follow a particular set of rules or does it just come natural to you? You write so many ideas and cool dialogues, how do you manage to come up with so many? In general, if you have any tips for a fledgling "writer", they are super welcome. No pressure, of course, I really don't want to intrude/steal your time. P.s. I forgot last time to tell you that I also really loved your AU fic, Party Favours. I was hooked from the first lines and I had so much fun reading it. It was a really comforting and entertaining read, like drinking a hot chocolate in winter. Honestly, thank you so much for gifting us with such a warm and funny story. 🥰☕

Hey! Thank you for being so nice about my writing and the strengths you think I have - I didn't know I had them, so it was interesting to see my work from someone else's perspective.

And also don't worry, it's not a bother to answer this question. Although I'm not sure how helpful I'll be as I have no formal training and that might mean my explanations aren't useful!!

I'll try to answer as best I can :)

I don't really have rules for chemistry, I'll be honest, but my favourite dynamic (as is fucking obvious from many a fic I've written) is overconfident flirt/straight-laced practical killjoy. Luckily for me... there are a lot of these in media (Howl/Sophie, Tamaki/Haruhi, certain flavours of Buffy/Spike, Jude/Cardan from The Cruel Prince, Labyrinth fanfiction, whatever was going on with Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries)! So I guess, if I was to give advice on that... I'd say if you really like a certain dynamic, go and look for examples of how they work elsewhere. Work out what it is about the pairing that makes your brain itch, or examine how these characteristic interactions play out, if there's any kind of formula to them - for instance, in Party Favours, the bit where Astarion is actively and overconfidently faking while talking to Threnn while Rose gets more and more flustered, was based partly on a fake relationship episode of Buffy lol. Like I didn't copy it word for word or anything, but it was an idea I saw elsewhere that I knew would be good for the pairing. .

Coming up with ideas... again, idk how idiosyncratic my process is. I maladaptive daydream a lot, and I really like scripting arguments (see above about what dynamics in fiction work for me, lmfao). i just love to hallucinate bickering, apparently. If I have any lines of dialogue that occur to me in any situation, I tend to put them into my notes app on my phone, to revisit later. If I have a scene with a particular purpose, I might look through my dialogue on my phone and try to find a series of quotes that work. Other times the maladaptive daydream for a few days might be the scene, and I'll write down any notes on what I want to happen and let it percolate for a few days before I actually write it. Sometimes pieces of dialogue will come to me before the scene does - Astarion's speech in chapter 7 of pieces happened before any of the rest of the fic, and then I was like "fuck. well. now i've got to get myself there." Mostly, this seems to just be a result of having these people live in my head rent free, but I'm also pretty autistic and so I script conversations a lot in social interactions anyway. .

Dialogue. I think dialogue comes naturally to me (see above comment about autism) and as such, I don't really follow any strict rules, I'm afraid... but these are some things I do formally try to do-

If a person is talking at someone (again, see how much I fucking love writing people bickering), you need to make sure it's not just a wall of text. Adding in paragraph breaks, even if it's a monologue, is kind of essential (speaking as someone who did not do this in the beginning, and it shows, particularly when you're reading my earlier fic on mobile rather than desktop). Often I will break it up with a one sentence interjection, a false start from the other person trying to get a word in edgeways, or a stage direction. I had a problem with one pairing I wrote for where one of the characters just would never speak... I needed to engineer lines for him to say even if it was completely superfluous. Sometimes, now I look at my writing, I feel like these are obviously fake and unnecessary... but they help break up the text and give the reader pauses. So they must be helpful, even if they're kind of just... there. it makes the dialogue a dialogue, with two people involved and reacting to each other. -

Similarly, speeding stuff up can be useful when creating banter, to keep pace and avoid people monologuing at each other. The key ways I tend to speed stuff up is usually a) characters finishing each other's sentences (derogatory or affectionate), b) interrupting each other (you'll notice my repeated 'Astarion-' is often used to get Astarion to just talk quicker and at more length and in more detail until Rose loses her goddamn mind), c) quicker back and forth where you don't need dialogue tags or stage directions bc characteristic voices will make it clear who is speaking. -

I read everything aloud as I post. This is how I proofread. Reading aloud helps me find spelling errors/sentence errors, but it also means that I have to speak all my dialogue aloud to my own wall like a crazy person. If I'm speaking it aloud in a different way, like the phrasing changes subconsciously to what's more natural in my mouth, I will often edit the dialogue to reflect that. I speak it, to see how it is spoken. -

Second to the above point, if you have a character who's voice you struggle with, listen/watch clips of their voice. I do not think I can write Lae'zel (or Gale tbh, and I'm now writing a whole fic from his pov so I clearly hate myself). I watch back clips of them all the time, and then I go to my dialogue, and see if I can hear it in their voice. If I can, I keep it. -

...Be brave enough to tell jokes. I genuinely can't tell you how much I don't think I'm funny. Every joke I write in my fic, I have no idea if anyone else will enjoy it, or if it only makes me laugh. But I put it in there, for me. I'm lucky, bc now some people tell me they found a joke amusing, and I'll know it landed with someone else other than me. But you tell jokes with your friends, presumably, and you're playful with them. So allow your characters to joke with each other, even if you're scared that no one else will 'get it'. If no one else finds it funny, at least the characters are having fun! -

Anyway, those are my main 'tips', I don't know if any of them are helpful!!

My other one main piece of advice is... read. Seriously. Even if the media you want to write for isn't a literary novel, read other people's writing, and I do mean both fic and published books, because published books (if they're good) have an editor. I read a lot of books/webtoons/manga before I ever wrote a fic... like for 12 years or something. I was a big reader, and reading good writing is useful - it's inspiring, it's also just technically helpful. These writing tips might be useless, because lot of what I've done in my own writing I've learned through osmosis - just by reading a fuck tonne of books, good and bad. I'm not saying you have to read 60 books a year or w/e, but read like, a few good books!

(also, just write a bunch. I am only becoming a 'read' fic author on my 11th project??? basically??? so I've had a lot of practice at this point, and grown in confidence. The more things you finish, the more ambitious you get. I couldn't have conceived of Pieces when I was writing my first fanfic, bc I thought plot was my main weakness... now I'm writing an almost entirely original premise and that's bc I've learned a lot since I started writing!)

#asks #i hope this is helpful!!! #lovely words from lovely people #long posts #emma rambles #my writing #personal #honestly... a lot of my advice boils down to 'my brain does things i thought were normal until it took a therapist exactly 18 minutes- #-to diagnose me' #also the way all the formatting got lost is sending me

[lilredghost]

hiiiiiii 💖💓 18, 19, 27, 41, 64

🥰🥰 Thank you for the questions, friend!! From this ask game

18. Do you title your fics before, during, or after the writing process? How do you come up with titles?

I WISH I WAS BETTER AT TITLES. The title is always, 100%, the absolute LAST thing I come up with when I'm trying to post a fic. I'll literally tag everything first and then sit there for another 20 minutes trying to come up with a title. If anyone has tips please share 😭😭

19. What is the most-used tag on your ao3?

OK I'm gonna be honest, I don't have that many fics, so other than "Bottom Obi-Wan Kenobi," the other matching tags only occur 2x each. That's "Angst with a happy ending", "Obi-Wan Kenobi needs a hug", and "Unreliable narrator". And wow, I feel like that paints a pretty good picture of what my fics are like. That's my sugar, spice, and everything nice!

27. What is your most and least favorite part of writing?

This is a great question! I would say my most favorite part is the fact that I get to control everything. I've been writing for < 2 years, so it's still a pretty novel concept to me! I get to decide where the plot goes, yes, but also how certain decisions affect the characters, which pieces of canon to use or not use, which kinks to include, etc. It's a lot of pressure, but a great deal of the time I'm so pleased to be creating something that I want. My least favorite part is maybe my place in the community? I don't say this to throw shade or anything, but sometimes I feel like my "reader self" (who reads & comments, who interacts with other authors) is separate from my "writer self" (who ends up interacting with an entirely different set of people). It just exacerbates this weird sense of imposter syndrome I have from writing almost exclusively porn. My stuff doesn't feel like "real fics" which means I don't feel like a "real author", even though intellectually I know that that doesn't make any sense.

41. Do you tend to reread fics or are you a one-and-done kind of person?

Oh I absolutely reread fics. I will actually sometimes have a hard time picking up new fics because I know I can just reread the old ones! It helps when I talk to the author or see them posting about it more casually (rather than just seeing the formal post on ao3) because that little bit of human connection reminds me that I can trust the author to tell me a good story. Their excitement for their work sparks an excitement in me too!

64. Something you love to see in smut.

Hm… I could list plenty of kinks but those are pretty obvious from my ao3 I think. Something a little bit more nebulous is how much I love when one character is pinned in / down / against something. I just think it's soooo attractive. Being held in place by someone's body, someone's presence. Knowing that, yes, if you really wanted, you could move them, but you don't. You want to stay right here, with their gaze on you, with your body getting hot, with the little smirk that plays at their lip because they've definitely noticed your reaction, and whatever they're going to do next, you're at their mercy.

#ahh I cant stop thinking about it now #exposing myself as a sub haha #ask game #asks #anakincito #this was fun thank you!

[theycallmebecca]

Hey - congrats on the milestone! I love your writing. I'm so excited that we get to have MORE of it. Can I please get "My dog thinks you're cute too" with Steve Rogers please?

This story is number #20 of 25!!! I’m so closed to being finished with these drabbles and then it’s back to working on the Chris and Ellie series! Since Tumblr can sometimes be a brat about links, I will reblog this post with a link to the masterlist, prompt list and tags.

Title: Brooklyn

Pairing: Steve Rogers x reader

Rating: G

Warnings: n/a

Prompt #: 20 - “My dog thinks you’re cute, too.”

Disclaimer: This work of fiction is not to be reposted, used or translated without my permission.

Steve spotted the dog when he was running one morning, but thought nothing of it. There were houses within a few miles of the compound and he figured someone’s dog had just escaped, but would find its way home.

Then he saw the dog again, a couple days later. Coming to a stop, he called for the dog, but it disappeared into the bushes.

The next morning, he grabbed a couple hot dogs from the kitchen and took them with him on his run, but he didn’t see the dog. The next day, however, he did.

“You want some food?” he called to the dog. He tore off a piece of the hot dog, that he’d kept in his fridge overnight, and tossed it towards where the dog was hiding.

It took several pieces of hot dog, but he finally got the brown and white dog out of the bushes.

“Who do you belong to, buddy?” he asked as he fed the dog another piece of meat. The dog wasn’t wearing a collar, but it was obvious he was used to people. Taking the piece of roped he’d brought along, Steve made a loop big enough for the dog’s head and was pleasantly surprised when the dog let him put it around his neck. “You know I’m trying to help you, don’t you?”

Based on the dog’s gentle disposition, Steve picked the dog and laughed when it licked his face. “Let’s go find your owners,” he told the dog.

Two hours later, Steve was back at the compound with the dog, now christened Brooklyn, on a proper leash. The vet he’d taken her to, hadn’t been able to find a microchip and hadn’t been able to match her up with any missing dog reports. When Steve had learned that the dog would go to the pound, he made the decision to take her home with him. No man, or dog, deserved to spend their life locked up.

It was only meant to be a temporary situation, but after three weeks with no one reporting a missing dog that matched Brooklyn’s description, Steve had to make a decision. He hadn’t planned on getting attached to the dog, but she really hadn’t given him a choice either. She’d become his shadow and had become something of a mascot around the compound.

——

Moving to the Avengers Compound for work had been a blessing and a curse. It had been the opportunity of a lifetime for you careerwise, but you’d had to give up a lot. Including leaving your two dogs with your parents back home. You went back to visit them as often as you could, but it was a five hour drive both ways, so you didn’t get to do it very often.

The first day you met Brooklyn, you thought you’d been hearing things. But then the brown and white dog rounded the corner and came into the office you shared with four other people. She came to see each of you, but seemed to sense that you needed a little extra attention.

You slid onto the ground and she practically crawled into your lap. You laughed and petted her, softly praising her. You were so lost in the experience that you didn’t realize that Steve had come into the room until he spoke.

“I was wondering where she’d wandered off to,” Steve said.

Looking up, you saw that he was smiling down at the two of you. You’d been formerly introduced to Steve Rogers when you’d interviewed, but it hadn’t been until a couple weeks ago, when you’d met Brooklyn, that you’d met him in a less formal setting.

Steve held out his hand and you accepted it, after Brooklyn had gone to her master’s side. He helped you up with ease and you thanked him.

“You had to leave your two dogs behind, right?” Steve asked.

You nodded your head, while masking your surprise that he remembered that fact.

He glanced down at Brooklyn before saying, “Until a few months ago, I wouldn’t have understood that connection, but now that I do. If you ever need to spend some time with Brooklyn, my door is open.”

“Really?” you asked.

He nodded his head.

“Thank you, I’ll keep that in mind,” you told him.

——

Steve didn’t think you’d take him up on the offer and then one stormy night, there was a soft knock on the door of his apartment. When he opened the door, he found you standing there in sweats.

“Do you mind if I come in and cuddle with Brooklyn?” you asked. “My dogs hate storms and I didn’t realize how much comfort I got from comforting them.”

“Absolutely,” Steve replied, stepping aside to let you into his apartment.

Brooklyn was sitting on the sofa and he could hear her tail thumping excitedly as you made your way to her. You nestled yourself into the corner seat and Brooklyn all but crawled into your lap.

That was the first night the two of you spent in the privacy of his apartment. It eventually led to you joining them for walks and other outings as well. Brooklyn served as the common thread between the two of you, but eventually the two of you found yourselves becoming it friends.

Then one day, about six months after that stormy night, Steve realized that he had feelings for you. Feelings that went beyond friendship. He wasn’t sure how to broach the subject with you, but the advice he got from his friends didn’t seem right and he decided to trust his gut.

The moment finally came when the two of you were on a walk with Brooklyn and it started to rain. Laughing, you guys found protection under a large tree, to wait out the rain.

“I like you,” he blurted out.

“I like you, too,” you replied, biting your lower lip.

“No, I mean I -”

“I know what you mean, Steve,” you said, placing your hand on his arm. “And I mean it the same way.”

“Really?” he asked.

You nodded your head.

“Can I kiss you?” he asked.

“Please,” you said with a giggle.

His first kiss was gentle and brief. But you wrapped your arm around his neck before he could pull away. The second kiss was a bit longer, but still brief. Not by choice, however, but because Brooklyn was trying to shove herself between the two of you.

Looking down at the dog, it was evident that she was happy with the new developments.

“I know I think you’re cute,” Steve said. “But I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say my dog thinks you’re cute, too.”

“I find you two cute, too,” you replied as you reached down and rubbed Brooklyn’s head.

#Anonymous #theycallmebecca #beccaheartschrisevans #theycallmebeccawrites #1k celebration prompt fest #becca writes drabbles #steve rogers #steve rogers fanfic #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x reader #steve rogers x you #steve rogers x y/n #reader insert #captain america #captain america fanfic #captain america fanfiction #captain america x reader #captain america x you #captain america x y/n #steve rogers fan fiction #captain america fan fiction

[kevins-hortatory-hub]

cover page

i organized this page via tags - just pages that keep similar pieces of content together. so when i link a general category, it will be to the tag page, which will have the several relevant posts. quick inventory:

cover page (you are here!)

adapted/revised project 2 (can be found here)

project 3 (can be found here) (just the documents are here)

some writing artifacts (can be found here)

you can also just look at the sum of all of these things, in the reverse order i posted them, which will all be on the page that i linked as my submission if you scroll enough.

we find ourselves on tumblr because this is probably my primary social media platform, and i'm quite acclimated to its usage. i also just knew of it being able to host audio, embed images, etc. i could also create this page without having to register anything or think too hard. naturally, as we are in the online realm, i use my online voice.

an obvious theme across this content is music making, and particularly trying to pull apart and make cases as to where it is that the appeal of music lives. i also hope to exhibit general wonder and awe with respect to the richnesses of communication in music - you can notice two ends of a spectrum here, between the review of joanna newsom's incredibly verbose music and the intractable sound of liz fraser's voice.

the material from project 2 is revised to make better use of a rich text editing format. specifically, on tumblr, there is the ability to place inline images (quite easily, even) that i would hope make the review feel more sectional and digestible rather than a stack of text. it also felt particularly appropriate, as i usually post music reviews to my tumblr page (my other one) and i suppose i had forgotten to do that for this review - i think the blog-post feeling of tumblr is the most suitable for my review writing style, compared to the published feeling offered by rateyourmusic.

the material from project 3 is hosted here, and i would say a simple yet fundamental reason for that is that it's so annoying to host an audio file almost anywhere, and with tumblr i can just give you a link that has an mp3 file with no problems. additionally, the post that contains the audio file is able to have a labeling of the song and artist titles, as well as a cover photo. i thought it was an interesting paradigm. it sort of legitimized the thing for me - up until that moment of "publishing" it, it had felt like a near-scrap project. i also just enjoy the way that the block quote looks on tumblr, which was good for the phonetic transcription.

moreover, the fact of a song-plus-music-video just feels like a classic thing to be included in a portfolio. maybe some day down the line i'll have a proper website that has music and/or visual media embedded in it.

my work this semester fits in a long-stretching narrative as to my ability to complete artistic works. the only thing that was fully and truly unlike anything i had done before was the singing-outside-and-videoing-myself aspect of the project 3 video, but multiple times i impressed myself at the fact of a timely completion of a project (which is a rich thing to say for project 3 and this porfolio, sure, but i also feel that i shot pretty high as far as the ambition of it). we discuss the ability for different genre forms to interact with the rhetorical strength for an audience, but something critical here is that the formal existence and presentation of my projects sold them to me, myself as something valuable and worth completing. things like that fact of publishing the cocteau twins cover and giving it a name and title will be useful for me to think about in the future as i attempt to get more similar projects out into the world.

similarly, i'll keep thinking about the formality or informality, as well as design nuances, with regards to other creative projects, with respect to taking inventory of a rich communication that exists in my head and trying to express the shape of it in a familiar way.

thank you for reading !

#cover page

[thereluctantinquisitor]

But what did Dorian steal? Was it something from his parents? I just get the feeling that it was something from his parents' house. Childhood mementos? I'm dying of curiosity!

Well well! Nonny, you’re not wrong… (also @opal-bee and @kurosmind, in case you still happen to be curious)

Pavellan, approx 1200 words. Continuation of “Against All Odds” 

Varlen let the door click shut behind him, the light he hadturned on flickering a few times before finally buzzing to life on the ceiling.This day has been ridiculous, hethought, turning his key in the lock then checking the doorknob. And I am clearly out of my mind.

“This is ah… quite a place you have here.” The man who had carjackedhim, Dorian, was peering suspiciously at Varlen’s coffee table, no doubtattempting to identify if the marks on it were features of the wood or just an eclectic array of stains. Varlen turned and felt his face grow hot. They’d talked a lot more asthey’d drove around the city, and Varlen had (probably unwisely) invited him back to hisplace for a bit. Something didn’t add up about Dorian, sure, but he didn’t really strike Varlen as dangerous. It was obvious he wasn’tcarrying any weapons on him. Just that satchel and an impressive mustache.

“Yeah,” Varlen said, his voice apologetic as he moved overto the couch. He sat down on it with a rushing sigh, then winced as a piece offoam burst out from the cushion and wandered across the floor. “I um… wasn’texpecting company, so…”

Dorian turned and arched an eyebrow. “That would have madeall the difference, I suppose?”

Despite his embarrassment, Varlen couldn’t help but laugh at the truth behind the comment. “No,probably not.” He paused, then gestured to one of the chairs. “You can sitdown, if you want. They may lookdiseased, but there’s nothing living in them.” I don’t think…

“Well, consider my standards met,” Doriandrawled, but sat regardless. He leaned back, sighing. The satchel remained nestled safely inhis lap. Varlen eyed it quietly for a moment, and his curiosity got the betterof him.

“So… can I ask what’s in the bag?”

Dorian’s grey eyes flashed, flicking towards him, and for asecond Varlen thought he’d made him angry. However, the moment passed, andDorian relaxed again, sighing and sinking further into the decrepit chair. “Isuppose,” he said airily, waving a hand lethargically before letting it flop back into hislap. “It’s the least I can do, after all, given the miraculous rescue youperformed.”

“Not willingly,”Varlen pointed out, then grinned, “but hey, I’ll take it.”

With a light snort, Dorian sat quietly or a moment,fingertips toying with the clasp of the bag. Then, almost reluctantly, heopened it and pulled out its contents. Varlen tensed, not sure what to expect.

He certainly hadn’t expected a book.

“Yes, scandalous, isit not?” Dorian said, taking note of Varlen’s bemused expression. “All thattrouble… for this.”

“I mean… I…” Varlen gave up trying to justify it and justshook his head. “Why? Is it like… afirst edition or something? Is it super rare? Worth thousands?”

“Not at all.” Dorian’s gaze had fallen to the leather cover,and a soft smile drifted across his face as he gently eased it open with a satisfying creak. “Just… well,sentimental drivel, I suppose. It was given to me by a good friend. One I miss rather terribly, as I recently discovered. Hence the heist.”

“Wait,” Varlen said, raising a hand, face scrunched into adeep, bewildered expression. “So you mean to tell me you broke into someone’s house… for a book.” He pointed. “That book.”

“Yes.”

Varlen had nothing to say to that. He just raised hiseyebrows in disbelief and shook his head. “That’s… well, whoever it was from, they musthave meant a lot to you.”

“He was… a good friend. A good man, really.” Dorian spoke slowly, his voice growing distant as hebrushed his fingertips across the back of the cover. “A better one than I willever be, at least. Not that such a thing would take much, mind you.”

By the tone of Dorian’s voice alone, Varlen could tell thiswas a difficult thing for him to share. He watched as the dark-haired man swallowedtightly, pursed his lips, then blinked a few times, as if forcing somethingback. Holding something in.

“What was his name?” Varlen asked eventually. Gently. “Did he writethat?”

Dorian let out a surprisingly watery laugh. “What? This? Heaven’s no. This… was his father’swork, actually. One of his first publications. I… apprenticed under him for atime.” He smiled to himself, then gently closed the book. “Felix kept me sane,you know. He would sneak me food when I forgot to eat. Force me to go outsideand breathe the fresh air, if thereeven is such a thing. I… the first year I spent working with his father, hegave me this for my birthday. Blessed fool even signed the cover like some sort ofpseudo-celebrity. His idea of a joke, I think…”

Dorian trailed off, and Varlen said nothing, feeling asurprising pang of empathy for the man sitting in his battered old chair,curved over that leather-bound book. However, eventually, Varlen found anotherquestion begging to be asked.

“So… why did you have to steal it?”

“Well, I couldn’t just askfor it,” Dorian began blithely, then hesitated, a dark expression suddenly liningthe corners of his mouth and eyes. “My parents had it. It was sent to them,apparently. Had I requested it, they would have likely destroyed it purely to spiteme.”

Varlen cringed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on hisknees. “So you had to steal it.”

“Yes.” Dorian sighed, reaching up to rub at his eyes. “Ratherunfortunate situation, I’m afraid. They had upgraded their security measures since I last lived in that cursed house. But… I do apologise for dragging you into all of this. I imaginedriving terrified through the inner city then harbouring a criminal wasn’t quite how you planned on spendingyour evening.”

Varlen forced a chuckle, still feeling bad on behalf of hisnew houseguest. “Yeah well… it’s not so bad. I’m not murdered in a ditch, so I have that going for me.”

He glanced across to catch Dorian arching his eyebrow at him. “You… haverather low standards, Varlen. You know that, yes?”

“Yeah, well, I mean…” Varlen gestured around the crampedspace, every object in it trapped in some sorry state of disrepair. “That shouldbe pretty obvious by now.”

Dorian laughed at that, leaning back, the sound rolling easilyfrom his chest. It was the first genuinely relaxed thing he’d done that entireevening. Perhaps, tucked away in such a small, nondescript apartment, he feltsafe from the repercussions of his crime. Perhaps he was right to feel thatway. This would probably be the last place anyone thought to look for him.

With that thought in mind, Varlen suddenly spoke. “You can stay the night here, if you want.” Dorian, whose eyes had actually drifted closed for a moment, snappedopen to look at him, as though shocked. Varlen felt his cheeks grow hot and hecleared his throat. “I uh… have a spare bed. Well it’s not a bed exactly, more a blow-up mattress, but youcan use it if you’d feel better here then… at your place… y’know, if your parents suspect…”

Nailed it, Varlenthought bitterly as he trailed off, cringing and burying his face in his hands, pretending to rub his eyes. Yep. Smoothest talkerin the city right here. I should give lessons. Start a class. Write a book. Lecture at a unive—

“You… are a very kind person, Varlen.” Doriansaid suddenly, startling Varlen out of his despair. He paused, regarding Varlen with those quartz-grey eyes, then smiled,causing Varlen’s cheeks flush yet again. “I would be rather foolish to turn downsuch a generous offer, given the circumstances.”

Varlen blinked for a moment, stunned that Dorian hadactually agreed. “Wait, so… you will?Stay, I mean.”

“If you will have me, yes.”

In a rush, Varlen launched to his feet, suddenly strangelypanicked. What am I meant to do? I don’tthink anyone’s ever stayed the night at this dump of a place before! Where’s thatmattress… shit, I can’t remember… wait… maybe…

“I… ah…” Varlen paused, forcing himself to stop, then took a deep, calming breath. Significantlymore composed, he cleared his throat pointedly and turned to meet Dorian’squizzical stare. “May I offer you a beverage.”

Dorian let out a surprised laugh at the sudden formality,then relaxed into a smile as Varlen’s composure broke and he grinned back stupidly. 

“Please.”

#dragon age fanfiction #dai #pavellan #dorian pavus #varlen lavellan #reluctant writes #reluctant replies #kurosmind #opal-bee #dorlen #meet ugly au #(continued... ;D) #welcome to varlen's shitty modern AU apartment everyone <3 #Anonymous