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fictionadventurer · 10 months

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@story-courty I can corroborate! Edwin Booth, elder brother of John Wilkes and the man considered possibly the greatest actor of the nineteenth century, saved Robert Todd Lincoln from falling from a train platform in Jersey City, New Jersey. We don't know the exact date of the incident, but it most likely occurred sometime in 1863 or 1864, when Robert was returning to Washington from Harvard, and Booth was going to Richmond with John T. Ford, owner of (believe it or not) Ford's Theater.

The Library of Congress website provides a link to the April 26, 1865 edition of the Cleveland Morning Leader that tells the story like this.

Not a month since, Mr. Edwin Booth was proceeding to Washington. At Trenton, there was a general scramble to reach the cars, which had started, leaving many behind in the refreshment saloon. Mr. Edwin Booth was preceded by a gentleman whose foot slipped as he was stepping upon the platform, and who would have fallen at once beneath the wheels had not Mr. Edwin Booth's arm sustained him. The gentleman remarked that he had had a narrow escape of his life, and was thankful to his preserver. It was Robert Lincoln, the son that that great, good man who now lies dead before our blistered eyes, and whose name we cannot mention without choking. In some way the incident came to the knowledge of Lieutenant General Grant, who at once wrote a civil letter to Mr. Edwin Booth, and said that if he could serve him at any time he would be glad to do so. Mr. Booth replied, playfully, that when he (Grant) was in Richmond, he would like to play for him there.

Robert Lincoln confirmed the story for the Century Magazine in 1909. (Possibly as part of nationwide centennial celebrations of Abraham Lincoln's birth).

The incident occurred while a group of passengers were late at night purchasing their sleeping car places from the conductor who stood on the station platform at the entrance of the car. The platform was about the height of the car floor, and there was of course a narrow space between the platform and the car body. There was some crowding, and I happened to be pressed by it against the car body while waiting my turn. In this situation the train began to move, and by the motion I was twisted off my feet, and had dropped somewhat, with feet downward, into the open space, and was personally helpless, when my coat collar was vigorously seized and I was quickly pulled up and out to a secure footing on the platform. Upon turning to thank my rescuer I saw it was Edwin Booth, whose face was of course well known to me, and I expressed my gratitude to him, and in doing so, called him by name.

Edwin Booth didn't know the name of the man he'd saved until 1865, when Adam Badeau, another officer on Grant's staff who Lincoln had told the story to, wrote him a letter about it. Booth was a staunch Unionist and admirer of Abraham Lincoln, and he'd been feuding with his younger brother for years because of his Confederate sympathies. The news of the assassination devastated him, and he later told a friend that one of the only things that got him through those dark months afterward was the knowledge that he'd saved Robert's life. People initially thought that the Booth name was too blackened for Edwin to continue his career in acting, but he made a triumphant return to the stage in 1866 for a performance of Hamlet that got rave reviews, and eventually opened his own theater and went on a worldwide tour.

I can't fail to mention that this is only one of the coincidences regarding presidential assassinations in Robert Todd Lincoln's life, because he is the only man to have been present at events surrounding three of the four assassinations of American presidents. He was present at his father's deathbed after the assassination (though he wasn't at the theater and always regretted it, because he would have been sitting at the back of the box between Booth and his father). In 1881, he served as Secretary of War under President James Garfield, and was with him at the train station when he was shot by a crazed office-seeker. Robert secured the services of the doctor who had cared for Abraham Lincoln--though, unfortunately, this doctor's overzealous methods, insistence on his own theories, and refusal to follow antiseptic practices caused the infection that actually killed Garfield more than two months later. In 1901, Robert Lincoln was working as president of the Pullman Palace Car Company when President William McKinley invited him to the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York where McKinley was making an appearance. At the same time Lincoln's train pulled in to the station, McKinley was shot by an assassin who'd joined the receiving line to meet him. Lincoln immediately went to the hospital to visit the injured McKinley, who died six days later.

Robert Lincoln was a major figure in the Republican Party whose name was often mentioned as a presidential candidate, but Robert never pursued the office, for what should be obvious reasons.

This blog from the U.S. National Archives sums up the situation well.

When Theodore Roosevelt assumed the Presidency, Lincoln wrote him. “I do not congratulate you for I have seen too much of the seamy side of the Presidential Robe to think of it as a desirable garment.” Later, he was invited to the White House as a figurehead of the Republican Party. He declined and swore he would never step foot in the White House again. “I am not going and they’d better not invite me,” he said, “because there is a certain fatality about presidential functions when I am present.”

#answered asks #history is awesome #presidential talk #story-courty #i knew this story before i started my lincoln deep dive this year #though it hadn't shown up in any of my reading yet #the only place it was mentioned was in the lincoln assassination episode of 'timeless'#where robert todd is a character and is given an ironic line about how his family owes a great debt to the booths #i'm glad to have had the chance to do a little digging and confirm the details

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missjoolee · 8 months

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And the word is...

Hands

Go.

Going! (thanks for the ask!) Since you sent one word, and it had many instances, you get three sentences because i make the rules here!

Hands

From my most recent fic that doesn't have a name

Hands catch her shoulders, preventing that sad reality from happening. "Are you sure about that, boss? I don't mind walking with you."

From the rooftop fic >_>

She sighs and slumps forward, resting her chin in her hands. "I guess we're stuck up here together then."

And lastly, from my Sea of Tranquility au part 2

He grabs his flannel from the back seat and hands it to Julie before he helps her into the passengers seat. A familiar ache flashes through him at the sight of her wearing his clothes.

(if you, or someone you know, would like to submit a word, I’ll answer with a sentence it appears in from a wip if it exists)

#story-courty #wip word ask game #<- use this tag to see previously submitted words #i will answer all asks #just not immediately #joolee attempts writing

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claire8216 · 8 months

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D, G, and K, please and thank you, Tater!!!

Hi friend!! Thanks for the ask!

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t. Ah so you want me to be controversial I see? 😂 I think...I gotta go for Daisy and Billy from Daisy Jones and the Six. And it's not that I don't ship them necessarily - in the book, I was all for them, like rooting for them from the beginning, I would forever love them above everyone else. But the show really made me fall in love with Camila, and I realized in the book I loved the fact that they never acted upon their feelings for so many reasons and that's what I found so beautiful about their relationship. So it's more of my moral compass not allowing me to fully ship them - in another life they'd probably be my OTP!

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it? SO many OTPs! I have one in almost every fandom I've been in. As for my first one...I think it was technically Percy and Annabeth from PJO. They're my OGs. Surprisingly though, I eventually got way more into Travis Stoll and Katie Gardner from PJO, and they eventually surpassed Percabeth haha. Which is crazy because they're not actually canon, but I got way more into that ship than I ever did Percabeth (although I still love them so much!)

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc? Answered here!

Send me fandom asks from this list!

#thanks for the ask!#my thoughts on daisy/billy are much more nuanced than this #but I didn't want to just keep rambling lol #so this is the very brief jist #djats #pjo #fandom asks #ask games #story-courty #claire answers

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riderunlove · 2 years

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1, 11, and 15 for Ho Ho Ho and Other Mysteries, ma'am!

Favorite scene or line from (fic name)?

Probably a tie between Julie's magic going totally haywire at the record company meeting and the wedding scene. The first because it was super fun and second because it flowed surprisingly well and felt very magical.

Post something from a current wip or concept

Shh this is still a WIP, even if it's been months. Have a snippet from Reality.

Once everyone was gone she floated back to the floor. She circled closer to Luke trying to rile him up, "You didn't think this through," she taunted.

"I got the civilians out of harm’s way." He returned.

She smirked, "Wanna know a secret?"

"They were never in danger. This was the distraction. All of those weapons are already destroyed. Do you know what that means?"

He swallowed nervously but didn't rise to the bait.

“It means you and I will be spending a lot of quality time together." She dropped the barrier and gently walked two fingers up his arm before wrapping her hand around his bicep, "It'll be fun."

She bent reality to make a doorway into her brownstone, "Now let's go,” she ordered, gently pushing him forward.

Any changes that you've noticed in your writing since you started?

I took a huge break between when I wrote Rogue One fic and when I started writing for JatP but I think maybe I'm better at pacing things than I used to be.

#answered asks #mere writes sometimes #story-courty

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not-close-to-straight · 2 years

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I’m gonna be screaming for a second, just be forewarned. THE HORSES!!! THE HORSES ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!!!! I LOVE HORSES AND THOSE HORSES ARE BEAUTIFUL!!! I WANT TO JUST RIDE AROUND A BEAUTIFUL COURTY SIDE ON ALL OF THESE HORSES!!! CAN I???? CAN I PLEASE!!!! The chapter was amazing!!! Tony meeting Val was just pure gold!!! And literally no one can meet Tony and not flirt with him!!! I love the Letters! TONY ANSWER YOUR HUSBAND BOY!!! It’s great to see him starting to show who he really is!!! 1/2

2/2 With people who accept him!! I also love how everyone can clock his feels but him!! And poor Steve!!!! If you only knew!!! Also may I suggest for Nat’s gossip column, “The Black Widow” hehehehehe!!!! Loved it!!! Also I love Tony I do and family is important! It is! ANSWER YOUR HUSBAND!!!! ANSWER HIS LETTERS!!! JUST SAY HI STEVE MISS YOU!

The horses are so pretty right?? I always spend way too much time looking up exactly which horse I want which character to ride. And some of them are established, like Nomad (Steve) always looks a certain way, Winter (Bucky) always looks a certain way but Tony's horse is always different so it was SO FUN to figure out what I wanted him to ride. A little strawberry roan seems perfect for Tony, I like keeping him in that correct color scheme of shades of red

As always, we adore the hell outta Valkyrie. She is so easily one of my favorite characters, I swear I almost use her a self-insert because like, I too would try and sleep with every single person in this story and also she looks like me (!!) which isn't something I get to say about very many characters so the fact that she's literally stunning and then an actual BAMF too makes so so happy.

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demieddie · 2 years

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writer asks!! 1, 15, 20 :)

courty!!!!! hi :)

1. what's the fic youre most proud of?

maybe one day i’ll know, by far. it’s a fic very near and dear to my heart and it came together really nicely, far better than i expected. even over half a year later, i’m still really proud of it and the way it’s written (when usually after a month, i can pinpoint what i would change about a fic. i wouldn’t change anything about this one).

15. How do you think your writing as improved over time?

so much lmao. like i keep my first ever ao3 fic up (a terrible stucky fic lmao) for this very reason. it’s not even the first fic i ever wrote (rip my abandoned ff .net account) but i like to think i’ve improved a ton, especially for someone who never planned to or ever wants to become an author. i’m a math person, i never claimed to be a literary person. but even in the past year that i’ve been consistently writing, i can see the differences so clearly.

20. What’s the greatest gift you’ve gotten from your writing?

you :) we never would have met if i never started (and restarted) writing. (but for a just-as-serious-but-less-sappy answer: more knowledge about myself. writing is being vulnerable with myself and it’s been quite the journey when i look at what i’ve discovered through writing)

send me writer asks :)

#andie.txt #fic talk #fic games #c

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preoccupied-educator · 2 years

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Gimme a 🎵, please and thank you!!!

Miss Murder - AFI When the empty sand just flowing through our empty skin Ever searching for what we were promised Reaching for the golden ring never let go They won't ever let us lay our filthy hands upon it I'm just a big fan of how this whole bit sounds in the song and it also kinda gives me LOTR vibes? ------- send me a 🎵 and I'll shuffle my music and tell you my favourite lyric(s)

#answered ask #music ask game #thanks for playing courty!#<3

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littlelovegod · 4 years

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there was a man in the town, the town where he didn't have to worry, the town built by black sand beach and under the clouds of a heaven unknowable. a man whose lines ran straight down his cheeks like tears, whose square marking on his chin peeked through a stark-white beard. the man who waited on the stone steps between stone pillars, whose palms had touched the blood of angels. he would speak to those who passed, and he would call out to the boy scurrying through town every evening. (1/?)

Would You Like To Know A Truth, Boy? the planet was young, and so was the child, and so he would turn his ear. No Story Has An Ending. Everything You Touch Is Another Tale. he would bring his shaky hands to the red sky, to the silver sun. No Good Story Has Just One Ending. When We Die, We Are More Then Our Dust. Watch The Sea, Boy--There Is No Death For It. It Is A Thousand Stories, Day After Day. That Is The Noble Creature. That Is Love. (2/3)

the man is gone. the steps are gone. the pillars are gone. the sand is gone, and the sea with it, and the red sky and the silver sun and the golden moon and the rain every winter that slicked the coppery ground. the planet is gone. but the truth lives on. (3/3)

oh, hello, lovely!

i actually, as sad as this makes me, like this answer very much! it could have been so, so much worse.

mostly, i just hope he knows how loved he is.

#courtie......gh #baby court in particular makes me have emotions #he's just. i. agh #frankie tag #fave #ask answered

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story-courty · 2 years

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Would love to hear more about "If You'll Let Me"!!

If you'll let me is supposed to be kind of a double-whammy sequel to "Come Again Bright Days" and "Unpack Your Heart."

Flynn and Julie are having some serious crises about their new favorite boys, and they're trying to figure out exactly what the last fourteen hours mean for them.

The title actually came when I noticed that the three songs I wanted to use for the part 1, part 2, and part 3 aspect ALL used the phrase "if you'll let me," and I thought it was too good to pass up!

There's not a whole lot there yet, but I can give you a tiny snippet of it!

***

“Julie, it’s almost noon. If you’re not out of bed in the next six and a half seconds, I’m coming in there with ice water and an air horn!”

The only reason Flynn wasn’t dead right then was that Julie would miss her too much.

She rolled over and grabbed her phone, squinting at the time against the afternoon sun. There was no way it was already noon.

Then her stomach made a sound that should never come out of a human being. Yep, it was definitely noon.

She looked back down. A single notification sat unopened on her lock screen.

Message from: Luke Patterson.

Whoa. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen that name come across her phone. But here it was, and it did things to her heart she wasn’t sure how to interpret. She tapped it and saw four new messages. So, he was still a “one sentence at a time” texter. Nice to see some things never changed.

10:25 am Luke Patterson: Mornin, Julie. Last night was something else, huh? Just wanted to see if you’re okay. Let me know. Please.

She smiled and started to type a reply, but Flynn burst into her room, ice water and air horn held at the ready. “Oh, you’re up,” she said.

Wait. Did she sound disappointed?

“Yes, I’m up, thanks to you,” Julie said, pulling a pillow over her face with a moan. “Flynn, I have so much to tell you…”

“Trust me, Jules, what I have to say trumps it.”

Doubtful.

“I made out with Reggie last night.”

Oh.

“All night long.”

Oh.

“As in he’s still kind of passed out on the couch.”

OH!

#courty answers #claire8216 #juke #jukebox #jatp #come again bright days #scenic city serenade

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fictionadventurer · 2 years

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10, 14, and 19 for the writing ask game!

10. What’s something you’d like to explore in your writing but haven’t had the chance yet?

I'd like to try writing something in a more realistic setting someday, but the right story just hasn't shown up yet.

14. What’s a trope/type of situation you love playing around with in your writing?

I love having a main character who's forced to admit their flaws and move past them, but I also love main characters who realize they/the world are better/more capable/more worthy of love than they realize. Not quite a trope, but I always love a good fairy tale retelling. I like stories about characters who are comfortable in their relationship with each other, whether they're an established married couple or just good friends. And my most recent plot bunny reminded me that I love writing ridiculous, overly-dramatic, idealistic men who seem in control but are always slightly panicking underneath.

19. If you could have a wish related to your writing come true, what would it be? (And don’t use this question to put yourself down!)

To finish another story. Preferably one that gets to at least longish-novella length.

#adventures in writing #answered asks #ask games #story-courty

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camelotsheart · 2 years

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the concept of romantic love is literally so complicated because i don’t think there has ever been agreement as to what it entails, or if there ever was an agreement, it always falls short of ever explaining what romance is. things that commonly occur adjacent to romance such as sexual activities and partnerships (whether socially recognised as “marriage” or not) are not always a factor in defining something as love. and the expression of it in cultures around the world, as well as different eras of time, are markedly different.

in 12th and 13th century europe, infidelity - carried out by any gender - was considered a higher form of love, and love for one’s spouse was in fact looked down upon (at least in literature). as an ironic (albeit non-feminist) twist to modern amatonormativity, the love between two men in ancient greek society was deemed in higher regard than the love a man had for his wife. in some polyamoric societies, jealousy between partners is looked down upon. and before the 17th century, marriage had always been seen as more of an economic and/or social union than one of love.

that is not to say that the modern view of love and marriage is in any way wrong; there’s much to say about the improvements that have been made that allow people the freedom of choice to chose their partners, but the emphasis on marrying the person you love romantically (which stemmed as a reaction to more rigid societal norms of the past) has unfortunately translated to amatonormativity in modern times.

but this isn’t about marriage - this is about romantic love, which is broader than partnership, having a child or sexual encounters. considering the patterns we see in animals that are similar to what we consider “love”, i assume that “love” as an emotion has existed since the start of human history, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s definition stayed constant. this is related to the distinction that is made between romantic and non-romantic (often referred to as ”platonic”) love.

if one were to be asked the difference between the two terms, a person might answer that it’s based on the difference of their wants from their partners. for example, romantic couples want to kiss on the mouth, while platonic ones are more likely to cuddle. however, as modern society is made aware and participates in relationship such as QPRs, FWBs and sex-repulsed asexual romantic couples, these definitions fall flat.

what is left is a very subjective definition: the distinction between romantic and non-romantic love is made by the person experiencing it

it’s interesting to note that the modern depiction of “romantic love” stemmed from medieval european poets who made poems depicting “courtly love”, of knights doing heroic noble deeds for the favour of ladies. they were influenced, in turn by the “courty love” that was present in the arab and islamic world (particularly in in al-andalus in the 9th-11th century), though it should also noted that the love described in these islamic literature often also pertain to “love of god” as seen in sufi circles, and love between fellow muslims, who consider themselves to be brothers and sisters in faith. while this european courtly love started out as entertainment for nobles, the idea of it began to spread in the high middle ages and “loving nobly” became something that was considered to be enriching, something that transcends the spiritual realm. romantic love began to be elevated.

therefore, it’s not surprising to me at all that some people do not relate to the concept of love. it’s something who’s definition is unclear and prone to change according to fluctuations in society’s values. while this fluctuation is more apparent in regards to romantic love, it’s also hard to differentiate between romantic and platonic love. in the end, what one thinks of “love” as a concept is subjective, and if a person can’t come to a conclusion of what exactly it is and decides to not accept it as a term, then subjectively, they are right.

#i'm sorry i've been hyperfixating on this for two days now i had to get it out #loveless #aromantic #romantic love #loveless aro #long post #love #just in general i guess?

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claire8216 · 1 year

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Let's do 31, 45, and 67!

31. You Don’T Go to Parties by 5 Seconds of Summer

I got the last five years running out my mouth Always stay too late, I should kick me out

45. All Too Well (10 min version) by Taylor Swift

(Would like to make it known that it should criminal to make me pick a favorite lyric from this song)

And there we are again when nobody had to know You kept me like a secret, but I kept you like an oath Sacred prayer and we'd swear To remember it all too well

67. Babe (Taylor’s Version) (From the Vault) by Taylor Swift

I break down every time you call We're a wreck, you're the wrecking ball

Send me number 1-101 and I’ll tell you my favorite lyric from the corresponding song on my Spotify Wrapped!

#I think it’s becoming apparent who my top 2 artists are haha #thanks for the ask!!#story-courty #spotify wrapped #claire answers

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1000generations · 3 years

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Thank you for the tag @little-lightning-lavellan and @rosella-writes!

This is from a story in which Fen'Asha Lavellan, in a desperate attempt to stop Solas from destroying Thedas as we know it, transports him to another world. Our world.

It's been a WIP for... 6 years. 😅 There is like... 200,000+ words of this self-indulgent nonsense. It needs so much reworking it's daunting. lol

This scene is from Solas and Fen'Asha exploring McDonald's...

Fen’Asha put her lips to the straw. She wanted to taste what he was tasting, wanted to partake in his world. She was bold enough to walk the Fade, confront dragons, defeat Corypheus. Plus, she was used to tea.

”Vhenan?” asked Solas, reaching out for Fen’Asha as she began coughing.

She shivered slightly, the coughs still plaguing her throat. The sweetness was shocking, as was the cold. “Shit.”

A woman from the table next to her shot her a glare.

“What is it?” asked Solas.

“It is so strange,” said Fen’Asha. “I have never had tea like this before…”

“Yes,” he said. “Most curious.”

She tinkered with her straw, raising it up and down in the lid of her cup and finding that it made an interestingly musical noise. She shook her head.

“Many things in this world are not as they seem,” said Solas. He dabbed a fry in Fen’Asha’s Sweet and Sour Sauce and pondered it.

“What do you mean?”

“Your tea is not tea,” said Solas. “The People’s Courtis not court.”

She nodded, letting go of her musical straw.

“Yet many things are real,” said Solas. “The news depicts real events, albeit with a unique point of view.”

“What do you mean?” she asked, picking up a fry.

“It appears that there is always something at the root of a viewpoint,” he said. “Some kind of interest. For the most part, this is translucent and I presume most anyone could see through the many smokescreens. And yet, I am not so sure.”

“They seem happy enough,” said Fen’Asha.

“They are being influenced,” said Solas. “To what degree they allow it is the question. It seems clear they are involved in their own manipulation to some degree, as this world does not behave in a way that would be considered sympathetic to its own survival. They ruin large swaths of their habitats, they commit horrendous crimes against one another for trivial reasons…”

“That does not sound unlike Thedas. The Blight…”

“A worthy example,” said Solas. “Many were not willing to see the Blight as a threat. Others preferred the comfort of their ignorance and concocted many alternatives to actual events. Just like here.”

She nodded.

“That is why it is important to remain vigilant,” said Solas. “With so much dishonesty, it can be easy to go astray. And it can be easy to want to go astray, especially if reality is painful.”

“I have never opted for what was comfortable,” said Fen’Asha. “Clearly.”

Solas nodded. “This is certainly true. Our path to here could not have been easy.”

“Nothing about this has been easy,” she said. “It has taken a great deal of time to come to peace with everything that happened. And even now, I’m not even close to being there.”

“You are uncertain about me?”

She nodded.

“There were – there are – reasons for my reluctance. I could not and cannot reveal the entirety of my plans because you would try to stop me," He paused, considering her. "I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

She sighed. “I am sitting here in a restaurant with you. You want to destroy Thedas, our world, and I’m sipping some silly drink like nothing’s wrong with that. We had sex, shared a bed. We make small-talk. We go for walks, make plans for a future like we’re some stupid couple. Nothing about this makes sense and no, Sloane, nothing about this has been easy. It won’t ever be easy, Sloane.”

Solas made a face as a small child shrieked nearby. He turned to see the culprit racing away through a set of glass doors with an enraged adult chasing behind in a yellow coat.

“And yet what can I do?” she continued. “I’m here in this strange land, like you keep saying. I’m here with you whether I like it or not.”

“I see,” said Solas.

“You hold out hope that you’re going to get back to Thedas to finish what you started,” she said. “I hold out hope that I’ll be able to stop you from doing that. I can’t pretend that’s not happening.”

“I appreciate you speaking plainly, Vhenan.”

“I’m glad,” she said. “Because I have questions.”

“I am sure you do.”

“Why me?” she said.

“I don’t understand what you mean,” he said.

“You are older than Arlathan?”

He sighed.

“And you are thousands of years old,” she said. “So why me? Why did you love me? My life is a flash for you, an inconsequential blip. You have lived so long. I have lived for mere minutes in contrast. I am…a fly.”

“That is a crude analogy,” he said.

“And you’re Fen’Harel. My god. Why would I think you would love me? Knowing everything…”

“I was never a god,” said Solas. “But that was what you wanted, what you expected. Your heart was always destined to break if it became entangled with mine.”

“So?”

“So I had already broken your heart once as Solas,” he said. “I had no desire to do so again.”

“But that is my burden, my pain. The choice is not yours.”

“My duty would always tear us apart, Fen’Asha,” he said. “It was because of me that you could not hold the gift of immortality. If there is a Maker in this world or the others, surely the Maker is laughing at me.”

“I think the Maker is laughing at both of us,” she said.

“At least as Fen’Harel, I could be near you,” he said.

“But you could have said…”

“We are moving in circles,” Solas said. “I tried to reduce my feelings. I knew what we had would only lead to lathbora viran, but you called for me and I answered. Like I always will.”

“You can’t keep…”

“I was selfish then. I am selfish now,” he said. “As Solas, as Fen’Harel, as Sloane.”

She sighed.

“I had hoped to assuage any temptation,” he said. “But reality crashed through. Our reality. When I learned of the Qunari plot at the Exalted Council, I had to act. And now, my mistakes must be rectified. There is no other way.”

“There always is another way,” she said.

“There should never have been a Veil. My life…much of it…seems to be a series of mistakes.”

“You would take so much to fix your error? You would insist the rest of us pay the price for your compensation?”

“There are other things at stake,” said Solas. “It is not so simple. The lyrium. The Blight. It matters little now I am here.”

“Thank the Maker for small mercies.”

He looked at her and for a moment irritation seemed to flicker across his face. He amended it into a tentative grin, then looked away as his eyebrows lowered.

“I will always try to stop you,” she said.

“I know,” said Solas. “But Thedas must be left behind for the time being.”

She nodded.

“And my desire for you…”

“You will leave that behind, too,” she said.

“No,” he said. He reached across the table for her hands. “No.”

“It’s not a good idea,” she said.

“You have doubts?”

“Of course,” she said.

“Then I wish to rectify that,” he said.

“Do you have doubts about me?”

“Not for a moment.”

“You haven’t made this easy,” she said. “Little of this makes sense.” She looked at a fry.

“I know,” he said. “But love defies explanation.”

“My mother said it was a gift…”

“Yes,” said Solas. “A choice. The reasons I choose to love you are…I simply want to. As you wanted to love me at one time. It is desire.”

“Love is more than desire,” she said deliberately.

“But desire is at the core. You can remove the love from desire, but you cannot remove the desire from love.”

“You are wise, Sloane,” she said after a pause.

“Even wisdom has limits,” said Solas.

Fen’Asha agreed, sipped her iced tea. She was getting used to the awful sweetness, to the way the drink cut into the corners of her mouth and made her tongue feel rough.

“For all the desire I felt for you,” continued Solas, “I subjected you to cruelty because of my selfishness. I never should have persisted in my desires. I should have fled sooner.”

“That’s one thing you do not understand,” she said. “I wouldn’t have traded in any of my moments with you. Even the painful ones. Because they were moments with you.”

“You could’ve been with someone, grown old with someone, had a family…” he said.

“I do not share the same wishes,” said Fen’Asha. “My family was you. Sera. Dagna. The Inquisition.”

“You did not desire children?”

She shook her head.

“But Hightown…?”

“You saw me in Kirkwall?”

Solas nodded. “I saw you through the eyes of the children, saw your kindness at the orphanage. Saw your insurrection in the faces of the nobles as they cursed you for bringing such a place to Hightown in the first place.”

Fen’Asha felt a chill. She had used Varric’s gift to her in Kirkwall, a mansion in the grandiloquent neighbourhood of Hightown, as an orphanage for the disadvantaged. She’d hired staff and enticed the right nobles, but that didn’t mean everyone took to the idea well. She thought back to the children in Thedas, wondered how they were doing.

“Some of the children saw it as a palace, a fairytale unwinding beneath their feet,” continued Solas. “Others saw dark corners and sinister hallways, not yet able to shed the horrors of their pasts. But in all of them, you were beautiful, an angel, bright as the sun.”

“More members of my family.”

Solas smiled warmly. “You would make a wonderful mother.”

“In the minds of many,” she said. “But it is not my choice in this life.”

He looked down.

“I am happy, Solas,” she said. “I do not wish for the same things as others, that’s all. I don’t want to be pitied because I don’t desire a family of my own. I am a Red Jenny. I was the Inquisitor. I was…yours. I served my clan. For a young elf from nowhere, for a nomad…it has been an incredible life.”

“It has.”

“And you were a huge part of that,” said Fen’Asha. Her fries were cold. “You still are.”

“You may be but a shooting star in my universe, a fleeting moment,” said Solas. “But you have made a permanent impression.”

She warmed. She wanted to touch him, feel him near. She wanted to reach across the table, wanted to kiss him with the mothers and fathers and children of this Edmonton watching. She didn’t care where she was as long as she was with him. She knew he would be the end of her. She knew she would be the end of him. She knew it hardly mattered now. She knew it was a horrible idea.

“I will always cherish you, Vhenan,” said Solas. “I will always love you.”

She was in his arms on his side of the table. She was sitting on his lap and he was caressing her back. She was cradling his face under his hood, under his necessary subterfuge against the misunderstandings of this world. She was breathing as he touched her hair, felt through its tresses. She closed her eyes as she kissed him.

He held her tight.

“I love you, Vhenas,” she said. “Always. Anywhere.”

I have no one in particular to tag. But I love to see what people are working on in the fandom if they care to share. 😊

#Someday might actually put aside time to work on this fic properly idk #dragon age fanfiction WIP #wip wednesday #1000generations posts #maker only knows

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