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alifeasvivid · 1 year

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Abigail!? ❤️♠️

>.> I ain't writing a whole-ass novel in a tumblr ask LOL but I'll give you the kinda run-down:

Abigail's family is lower-middle class and Catholic (family a couple generations back has some Irish influence). They're extremely proud, she's the youngest of several children and the darling of her father's eye until she gets pregnant at 17 with Alistair and she refuses to marry the guy (he lied to her about wearing a condom, so she rightfully doesn't trust him) and her dad kicks her out, but her mom (who has somewhat more liberal attitudes and a lot of affection and sympathy for her daughter) helps her out in secret, gives her a little money when she can etc.

Abigail is really intelligent and she raises Alistair alone, works various service jobs (waitress, cleaning lady), and takes university classes at night. At 21/22, she gets a pretty good job as a nanny for an Irish family (who like that she's Catholic .... ""Catholic""... she's baptized and confirmed, that's good enough for them) and they don't mind if Alistair comes to work with her. Their oldest son is like 18--she cares for the younger children--and Abigail dates him in secret and voila! Ian. The family wants Abigail to marry their son, obviously, but neither of them wants that so Abigail tells them to fuck off and leaves.

She never quite settles down in any one particular job, mostly because she gets bored. Her education level doesn't give her access to the types of jobs that she might find interesting long-term. She's incredibly headstrong and independent and her bullshit detector is extra sensitive, yet she still winds up in less than good relationships, where she tends to leave if she gets bored or if the guy gets too serious about it, though some of them are just.... uh..... not nice, let's say.

And then she meets Oliver. At first he's very kind and respectful and even deferential toward Abigail. He seems to care about Alistair and Ian a great deal even though they aren't his children. She doesn't marry Oliver, but she does let him live in her house (an honor not bestowed upon any other of her exes). She's 26 when Dylan is born and everything actually seems to be going pretty well, but Oliver falls off the wagon, a wagon Abigail hadn't previously been aware he was even on. When he's drunk, he's mean and has a tendency to just fuck off for sometimes days at a time and when he's not drunk, he's melancholy and useless.

Abigail doesn't know she's pregnant when she kicks Oliver's ass to the curb and several months later, Arthur is born. Abigail kinda gives up on having relationships after that. They're not worth the trouble.

Despite the turmoil of her own life, she raises her sons very well, with the help of lots of friends. Alistair is your typical eldest child who takes on a lot of responsibility and is hyper-protective of his mum (may or may not have driven off a couple of her boyfriends with pranks and generally being a little terror). There are ten years between him and Arthur. Ian is creative and boisterous and loves music and manages to stay out of trouble that way. He's no less protective of his mum--they all are, really. Except for Dylan, all her sons are incredibly stubborn. Dylan is quiet, studious, and, ultimately, turns out to be asexual. Abigail is never quite sure how, but he becomes very interested in the Anglican church and asks Abigail to take him and continues going on his own when he's older.

As for Arthur, since both he and Abigail are youngest siblings, they have a very close bond. Abigail laments that she passed her terrible taste in men onto Arthur, though Arthur has a tendency to get his heart broken more than to break others' hearts. (Alistair and Ian "somehow" manage to find very lovely and wonderful wives >.> shocker.) Arthur is also rebellious and a pretty bad troublemaker in a way none of his brothers ever were and Abigail figures her luck had to run out at some point. She and Arthur fight a lot when he's younger, but due to her own experiences, she never kicks him out, nor threatens to, and she always makes sure he knows that she loves him and will not give up on him.

She's extremely proud of all of them and she would kill for them... a situation which might warrant that has presented itself once or twice, though she hasn't .... actually..... murdered anyone >.> but she has beat the ever-loving crap out of at least one of her exes, despite being all of 5'2".

When they're grown, she continues to job hop as she pleases, especially after all of them are grown and she doesn't have to support all of them. Alistair takes it upon himself to make sure many of her basic expenses are taken care of, despite how much he has to fight her about it. She has a very broad, though not particularly deep, social circle and her best friend is Arthur and vice versa, which is why it doesn't bother her when he moves back home. Her other three are settled: Alistair lives in Glasgow and is a barrister (oh god it rhymes), married to a lovely French lady named Marianne, they have three children: Isabelle, Manon, and Liam. Ian lives in Belfast with his wife, Holly (I chose that name as a reference none of you will get and I pity you LOL), and during the events of the fic, they've just had a baby girl. Dylan lives in a small village in Wales where he is a vicar. And Arthur >.> well.

Nowadays, Abigail dates, but very casually and has more fun with it, having learned so many things about life and herself. She also often prefers a quiet evening at home over most other things. She visits Alistair semi-regularly and will probably visit Ian more now that he has a kid and because Arthur might just need some *cough* privacy shhhh. She visits Dylan very regularly because he prefers routine, but not with remarkable frequency.

Similarly to Mrs. Bennet (although not nearly so hysterical about it), Abigail wants to see all her sons settled and happy and Arthur is the only one left in that respect, but he is so much like her: too smart for his own good and with bad taste in lovers. Unlike her, however, his heart is very soft (on the inside) and because of that she refuses to give her blessing to just anyone and with Arthur's history, someone with their criminal history would certainly be immediately out of the question >.>

Of course, Alfred F. Jones has never been formally charged with anything, soooooo perhaps she'll make an exception XD

>.> well it's almost a whole-ass novel LOLOLOL oops

#thief of spades au

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mandoalorian · 3 years

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I Believe In Love [Maxwell Lord x F!Reader] — Twelve: Family

Summary: When you find your calling to leave Themyscira, you venture out to the World of Man with intentions of helping and healing a very specific person’s relationship with his son. You’ve heard his voice before, but only in dreams. You’ve felt his pain and anguish and you’ve never been able to relate to anything more. But things don’t come easy for you, and they certainly don’t come easy for him either. [This series contains spoilers for WW84 and is my interpretation of what happens after the movie ends].

Warnings: THE FINAL CHAPTER! very emotional, new beginnings, bullying mention, poverty mention, abuse mention, allusions to pregnancy.

Word count: 3000>

REBLOGS APPRECIATED.

Masterlist

Previous - Chapter Twelve - Epilogue [coming soon!]

“I don’t know if I could do it,” Maxwell sighed, pacing around in anxious circles. He looked different, in his denim jeans and khaki-green cable knit sweater. It made a change from the oversized powersuits he once donned. Alistair was sat at the dining room table, colouring in, and Max was having a nervous breakdown about getting his haircut. “I’ve had the blonde in for so long.”

You smiled, running your fingers through his shaggy and unstyled hair. When it wasn’t perfectly coiffed, it was wavy and glossy, and smelled distinctly like the freshest green apples. “It’ll be okay. Think of it as washing away all the terrible things that went on in the past and starting anew. Like… turning over a new leaf.”

You made a very good point. Maxwell knew he had to suck it up and just do it. It would be okay. He didn’t have to be Max Lord anymore, and he didn’t have this television persona to live up to. His main focus now was just being a father, and that’s all that mattered. All he needed to be, was himself. Maxwell Lorenzano.

“Daddy look!” Alistair smiled, waving around the piece of paper he’d spent the morning drawing on. It was stained slightly from his breakfast, and crinkled in the corners for where he’d applied slightly too much pressure when colouring, but all-in-all, it was perfect. Maxwell took the artwork and looked closely at it. Another typical family portrait of you, Alistair and Max. But this time, Maxwell was doting brown hair, and it reminded him of his younger days when he was first starting out as a businessman. “This is how you’ll look when you come home from the salon!”

“Wow Alistair, I love it!” Maxwell praised, unable to contain his grin. He held the portrait to his face and showed it off. “What do you think?” he asked you. “Do you think I’ll look good with the brown hair?”

You giggled and nodded your head, before pressing the palm of your hand flat against Maxwell’s chest and brushing your lips against his. “You’ll look so handsome, I’m sure.”

“Ew!” Alistair cried, pulling the paper from his father’s hand as you kissed him softly on the lips. The curve of Max’s nose nudged against yours and he laughed at his son’s reaction.

“Alright,” you said, pointing your finger. “You better go. Don’t want to miss your appointment.”

Maxwell nodded and took a deep breath. “I’ll see you in a few hours.” he announced.

The second Maxwell left the house, your stomach began to twist. You’d been living at Lord manor for a month now but truthfully, it felt like a lifetime. It felt like you had always been there. You were adjusting to your new life pretty well, but this morning sickness that you had started to get was an unwelcome experience. Amazon’s never got ill, so this was brand new to you, and you weren’t enjoying it one bit.

You rubbed your stomach and took a sip of the glass of water that you’d been nursing. Sliding down to sit next to Alistair, you watched as he finished his drawing, adding a few final perfections. Once it was done, you hung it to the refrigerator and praised him for his hard work.

“Ali, why don’t you grab your shoes and we’ll have a walk down to the Smithsonian?” you smiled, grabbing your jacket that was hanging over the kitchen door.

“Ooh! Is there a new exhibition?” He enquired curiously, hopping onto his feet and fastening his shoe laces.

“I don’t think so,” you admitted sheepishly. “I have to go meet with some friends.”

Taking the bus was a new experience for both you and Alistair. Joe, Maxwell’s driver, would normally drive Alistair around to and from places. But not today. The bus was slightly smelly and the seats were sticky, but by the looks of it, Alistair was having the time of his life. He pointed out the window, grinning, and talked to you about all the different D.C. landmarks the both of you passed as you were driven into the city centre. He might have only been six years old, but that was six years of living in the world of man. You’d only been here for a month, and so Alistair could teach you a lot.

Driving past the park, Alistair gasped, and shuffled into your body. “That’s the park where we first met,” Alistair pointed. You narrowed your eyes as you took in the sight of tall green trees and shrubbery. He was right. “Do you remember that day? You were wearing an awesome superhero costume like something out of my comic books. And you wore a tiara, and I asked if you were a princess. And you scared my bullies away, and helped me look for dad.”

“I remember.” you smiled, ruffling Alistair’s dark hair.

You remembered asking Alistair what his father looked like, and the only thing the boy could say was ‘strong, cool, and the best dad in the world’. Counting your lucky stars, you were so thankful you had found your forever family. You had come so far from that moment.

“Did you ever tell daddy… about those bullies in the park?” Alistair asked you hesitantly, his voice suddenly small and timid.

You pulled off him and looked him in the eyes. “No. Why?”

Alistair paused for a moment and glanced back out the window. “I was afraid he’d be disappointed in me.”

Your heart shattered in your chest. “Ali,” you said quietly, tears threatening to prick your eyes. “Your father could never, ever be disappointed in you. You know that, yes?”

Alistair nodded his head silently.

“He loves you so much,” you continued. “And the whole bullying thing… I think he’d understand better than anyone else.”

You remembered all the visions you had of Maxwell, even seeing him as a child at one point. You remembered him wearing rugged clothes that were too small for him and how he was picked on for his broken shoes.

“Really? You think so?” Alistair asked.

“I know so,” you confirmed, pressing a kiss into Alistair’s hair. “Those bullies will never amount to anything if they continue doing what they’re doing. But you are so much better than them. Stronger. Your power lies in your heart, and in the truth, and in love.”

Alistair smiled. “You’re a real hero, aren’t you?”

“We’re all heroes.”

————

Yourself, Maxwell and Alistair loved trips to the Smithsonian. Diana always organised special access for the three of you, to go after hours when the entire museum was empty. Alistair was admiring the fish in the aquarium, when you noticed Barbara and Diana, and waved them over.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you today.” Diana smiled.

“It was sort of an impulse thing,” you explained. “Uhm, actually, there’s something I want to talk to you about.”

You pulled Diana to one side and left Barbara with Alistair. “Remember how you said ‘I owe you one’, since I like… got your girlfriend to renounce her wish and kinda helped you save the world by destroying the second dreamstone?” you grinned, trying to hold back a laugh.

Diana rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “What are you plotting?”

“Max has been… worried, to say the least. We’re going to have to sell Black Gold and it’s a real shame because-- he worked so hard on it. We have some money and well, I haven’t exactly ran this by him yet but I was thinking about investing what we do have into the Smithsonian. Just like what Maxwell promised to do in the first place.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Diana sighed. “The gemology department is doing just fine.”

You shook your head, your smile only growing. “No Di, that’s not what I was getting at. How would you feel about… expanding the gemology department?”

“I’m not quite sure I follow…”

“I’ve heard Barbara talk about how there’s a lack of space to facilitate all the rocks and stones the Smithsonian keeps bringing in. She has a real fear that the entire paleontology department could be shut down and replaced with something else.” You sighed, running your fingers through your hair.

“That’s true…”

“So what if we use the Black Gold building as an extension for the Smithsonian, and have it specialise in all these fancy rocks and gems and stones. We could transport everything over and then we could utilize the leftover funds that Maxwell has, to keep all the palaeontologists and geologists employed. Hell, with a whole new building, we could even create more jobs for people. It would also mean that we wouldn’t have to fire Max’s old employees and-- Oh Di, I just know Max would love it. He really does have a passion for gemology. And his son, Ali… he has an interest too.”

“So I heard,” Diana rolled her eyes, but, to be frank, she liked what you were getting at. An expansion wouldn’t exactly be a bad thing… “It’s a big responsibility though, and it seems you haven’t even spoken to Maxwell about it. You would get funding from the Smithsonian as an institution, yes, but… it would still be Max’s business. Do you really think he could handle that? After what happened to his last business?”

“He’s smart,” you assured her. “And he’s a good businessman. He knows all these things I couldn’t even begin to comprehend. Last time he just got unlucky. But this, this could really be something great. We have the building, and the passion, and enough money to get started. Please Diana… I know you could make this happen. Please.”

Diana spent a moment pondering the possibilities before shrugging her shoulders in defeat. “Alright,” She sighed. “I’ll see what I can do.”

You grinned and squealed excitedly, wrapping your arms around your half sister and squeezing her tight. “Thank you Di!” She laughed and rubbed your back before you pulled off her. “Oh, and Di… there’s one more thing.”

Diana tilted her head and gazed at you with fresh bewilderment. Looking around the museum to make sure no one was around to hear what you had to say, you leaned into the Amazon and whispered a confession you’d been keeping to yourself for the past month.

————

Maxwell sat in the chair and frowned upon seeing his reflection in the mirror. “What can I do for you?” asked the stylist as she smacked her lips on a piece of gum. Max wasn’t sure if he could really bring himself to do this, until he remembered your words. This was ‘turning over a new leaf’-- a new start and fresh beginnings.

“Uh, a trim please,” Maxwell requested before taking a shaky exhale. It was now or never, he just had to take the leap. “No, that’s not everything,” he sighed. “Could you perhaps take the blonde… out of my hair?” The question left his lips with an air of unsurity. Could one even do that? Take the colour out of hair?

“You want the colour stripped?” she asked, folding her arms across her chest. Maxwell supposed that was one way of putting it.

“Yes, I do.” he confirmed.

The stylist processed Maxwell’s words for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. “As you wish.”

As the stylist wrapped Max’s shaggy golden locks into foil, he closed his eyes. He’d come so far since the whole dreamstone debacle. His whole life had been a rollercoaster of up and down events but now, finally, things were evening out for him -- in the best way possible. He’d fallen in love and secured his family and home. The only thing he was mildly worried about, was the issue with Black Gold. But he knew that he’d somehow figure it out, especially now that he had you by his side to help him.

He’d always seen himself as an independent man. He fought hard to be as successful. He escaped his hometown, his abusive father, he ran away from poverty and was discriminated against by upper class white businessmen who told him he could never amount to anything. He proved all of them wrong. Because now, he had everything he could ever want. He didn’t need stacks of money or material possessions when he had you and Alistair. Maybe he wasn’t as independent as he once thought he was. Maybe, just maybe, he liked the company of others. He liked having you and his son around.

In his fight for wealth and success, he’d lost everything that mattered the most. But most importantly, he had lost himself. Maxwell swore that he’d never let that happen again.

As the stylist removed the silver foil from his hair, Maxwell nervously anticipated the result. His once bottle blonde hair was now a chocolate brown colour, and it reminded him distinctly of his youth. Max couldn’t help but feel like he looked younger, and he wasn’t going to complain about that.

He just hoped you liked it as much as he did.

————

“I just don’t understand why mommy is taking so long,” Alistair grumbled as he and Barbara waited outside the ladies restroom. “And why did auntie Diana have to go into the toilet with her?”

Barbara stifled a laugh. “You’re inpatient, just like your dad.”

Impatience must’ve run in the family because you were sitting on the toilet seat, tapping your food as anxiety flooded your body. You didn’t expect to be this nervous. You’d wanted a child for so long -- in fact, your whole life to be exact. But now that there was a chance of it actually happening, you were beyond terrified. Maybe it was the fact Maxwell didn’t know about your symptoms, but you knew better than to feel alone. You were never going to be alone.

“How long left?” you asked Diana, who checked her wristwatch. It was an antique from the early 1900’s, something very special and something she kept very close to her heart.

“It should be ready now.” she told you, handing you the stick you had just peed on.

“I don’t want to look.” you squirmed, covering your face with your hands.

“Wow,” Diana hummed, her jaw parting slightly when she took in the results.

“Wh-- what is it?” you asked, nervously.

“You’re pregnant.”

————

When Maxwell came home, you were shocked to say the least. His brown hair was absolutely gorgeous, and it suited him better than you’d expected. The deep shade was identical to the colour in his sparkling eyes. Jokingly, he tossed his hair and you let out a laugh.

“I was right,” you giggled, running your fingers through his locks. “So handsome.”

“I love it daddy!” Alistair cheered.

“Thanks buddy,” Maxwell grinned. “I like it too.”

Taking a deep breath, you took Max’s hand and pulled him into the living room, shutting the door behind you. It was quiet in there -- the perfect place to tell Maxwell your news. It had been a nostalgic day, and even standing in the living room reminded you of the time Max first brought you home.

“Is everything alright?” he asked you, slightly concerned. But your warm smile soon eased him. You felt the need to wrap your arms around him and envelop him into a hug. Max had taken a big step today, and you were proud of him, but now it was your moment. It was now or never.

Harnessing every ounce of confidence within you, you took his hands and looked him in the eye. “Max, I’m pregnant.”

Max’s brown eyes widened and he was completely lost for words. “I-- you-- you’re--”

“Yes.” you smiled, taking his hands and placing them on your stomach.

His shocked expression turned into an elated grin as he processed the good news. “You’re really--”

“I am.” you confirmed.

You didn’t think you’d ever seen Maxwell so happy in your life. He wrapped his arms around you and held you so tight, like he was afraid to let you go. He swore in that moment he would never leave you, or his growing family, ever again.

This was it for him.

This was the start of Maxwell Lorenzano’s new life.

————

THE END.

————

Author’s Note: “I won’t cry” she says while sobbing into her Google Docs document. Thank you all for reading I Believe In Love. It’s a story I have wanted to share with you since I saw WW84 in the theatre, and I just can’t believe it’s finally over. This fic will always have a special place in my heart. The themes and plot points mean so much to me, but not only that, I’ve had the most amazing feedback on this fic and I will honestly cherish that for the rest of my life. I poured my heart and soul into writing I Believe In Love and it honestly one of my biggest comforts. I want you all to know that an epilogue is coming and if you have any requests for these characters I have created, feel free to send them my way. I adore my Amazon Goddess!Reader and I would absolutely love to continue their story at some point in the future. If you’ve followed me on this journey over the past four months, all I can really say is thank you. I love you so so much.

————

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felassan · 4 years

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If Morrigan taught Warden how to perform Dark Ritual, would it be possible for female Warden to get pregnant with their LI (even if it was another Warden)? Or is the Old God's soul nescessary to keep the baby alive and such Ritual wouldn't work in the end?

Hi Nonnie! The answer is under a cut for length and sensitivity purposes.

Huh, interesting question. Do you mean like instead of Morrigan performing it with the male Hero, Alistair or Loghain before the battle so that someone didn’t have to make the Ultimate Sacrifice, could the female Hero instead be the one to perform it with her (Scenario A)? Or do you mean like, in normal everyday circumstances where nobody’s life is at stake, could the female Hero perform it with their LI as a way of overcoming the effects of the Taint on fertility and so be able to have biological children together that way (Scenario B)?

Hard to say I think! The DR wasn’t totally explained and was left quite vague. We don’t really know all that much about it. It’s ancient and mysterious. A couple things:

The DR is old magic from before the Circles of Magi were ever created. Morrigan says some would call it blood magic. If it’s possible for Morrigan to teach others how to perform it, I’d guess that as it’s magic she would only be able to teach it to Amell and Surana. My first assumption would be that it’s not possible for mundanes to carry out the ritual, therefore the pool of which female Heroes would be capable of hypothetically performing the ritual with their non-Morrigan LI is limited.

The methodology of the ritual Morrigan learned from Flemeth. This causes me to wonder if only powerful mages would be able to carry it out. I also wonder about whether there’s some requirement that said mage is ‘special’ somehow, for lack of a better term, like would they need to have [x] trait or [y] background? Would they need to have been brought up as Morrigan was learning non-Circle magic arts from an ancient being, have had that training to have the ability? Would they need to be of Flemeth’s bloodline even? Kieran’s line “Mother is the inheritor, she who awaits the next age” I feel has several meanings. It’s about Morrigan’s general wish to come into possession of and preserve the magics and powers of old, and it’s about how Flemythal had intended to gift Morrigan her soul, had she been willing. It’s foreshadowing that Morrigan may one day drink from the Well and receive all that it entails, and it’s a vaaague asf allusion to the general future of Thedas (packaged with a meta ‘wink nudge, get it, AGE?’ card lol) as a whole in the same kinda vague manner that epic lines like “Change is coming to the world” and “The world fears the inevitable plummet into the abyss” are [~oohhh dramatic ominous noises~, y’know?]. It also brings to mind Morrigan’s DAO plot-arc of having been sent along with the Hero and Alistair in the first place in order to try to ‘inherit’ (poetic use of the word here) Urthemiel’s soul. The inheritor, “This is what I was meant to do”.. sounds a bit specific and predestined-ish. Could all mages who attempt the DR in Morrigan’s place manage to inherit the soul or successfully complete the rite, or are there some special requirements? This is unknown and purely just me speculating about all possibilities.

It was once written in that the female Hero (any female Hero) could be the one to perform the DR with Morrigan and the OGB would still be conceived. This was going to be possible via magic, but ultimately the writers scrapped this idea before the game shipped. So with reference to Scenario A, I don’t see why you couldn’t write/headcanon that the female Hero performed the DR with Morrigan and that as a result Morrigan became pregnant. It’s clearly something the writers were thinking about having be a thing once upon a time, and in this setting we have all kinds of powerful magics that we don’t question, so why not handwave this if you want to.

You could take into account Grey Warden fertility. The Taint decreases a Warden’s fertility and most can only conceive prior to the Joining. On occasion a Warden and a non-Warden can conceive, so you could have, for example, the female Hero and Zevran, say, settling down and having children in the usual manner after the Blight or whatever, albeit probably with some difficulty conceiving and it being a rare/notable thing if they managed to. The sooner they began the better their chances though, probably; Morrigan’s line about Riordan being unsuitable as a candidate because she needs a Warden who hasn’t been tainted for too long otherwise it wouldn’t work was said in reference to the DR, but from the sound of it it seems to imply that the longer a Warden has been tainted for, the lower their already low chances of conceiving are, and that after some timepoint it drops off completely and permanently and is no longer possible at all. Alistair is able to father Kieran about 1.5 years after going through the Joining, and Fiona was able to conceive Alistair with Maric about 1 year after being recruited, so we know it’s possible in the first 1.5 years at least.

Canonically as far as anyone [in-universe] knows, under normal circumstances two Grey Wardens can’t have children together naturally and it’s never happened. On this DG once wrote “just because it's never happened doesn't mean it never could, I suppose. There are always exceptions. [...] So if you involve some mysterious [magic McGuffin in the headcanons/fanfic of the player he was talking to in this exchange]... why not? [...] Unnaturally is an entirely different story.” It’s up to you whether you take on-board or discard this particular piece of canon that they can’t. I stick to it personally, but I can see why some Queen Cousland players, for example, would want their Heroes to be able to have biological children with Alistair and so opt to discard this or write around it.

Now, when a Warden does conceive a child with a non-Warden, the child doesn’t bear the Taint, like the Taint isn’t passed on. So the child of a Warden and a non-Warden conceived in regular non-DR circumstances isn’t in danger from getting or dying from the Taint or anything.

But, something about the way the DR works means that the resulting child would bear the Taint initially. The purpose of the DR was to make an embryonic beacon that the soul of the slain Archdemon would seek out. Some part of the DR ensures the Taint is passed on, because if the embryo wasn’t Tainted it wouldn’t be attractive to the soul and the soul wouldn’t go into it. However, Morrigan’s dialogue about how Kieran won’t be a darkspawn, how she seeks the soul free of the dark forces that corrupted it, and how the child as a result of the ritual will represent freedom for the soul and a chance for it to be reborn apart from the Taint implies that after the soul joins with the embryo, the Taint is cleansed from both. It’s the absorbing of the soul that cleanses the embryo of the Taint. And so, the presence of the Old God’s soul in the equation is necessary for the embryo of a Dark Ritual conception to be cleansed and born free of the Taint. With no Old God soul, you’d end up with a child which has the Taint and is therefore subject to what that can entail, like possible sickness or being linked to the darkspawn hivemind like a Warden or, presumably, eventually the ghoul-like corruption and premature death. I don’t know that any such embryo would even make it to term, really. So in Scenario B, I don’t think it would work like this unfortunately.

Hope this made sense, helped some and was a bit of food for thought. :)

(An aside: Lore discrepancy - Why can two Wardens not conceive together, but eventually after a Blight “Blighted animals will begin to breed again, giving birth to non-mutant [untainted] offspring”? That sounds like it’s saying a Blighted animal could breed with a Blighted animal successfully.)

#dragon age #bioware #Morrigan #queen of my heart #mj replies #video games #anonymous #alistair theirin #mj meta #fav warden #answering asks as I'm able :)#sgsajsosjd lmao some of this felt weird asf to write but the DR lends itself to that ><

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sotellmemoreaboutthat · 4 years

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Sooo, here are my babies! Some of them have more personality than others, but I love them all the same!! Also, they are in order of creation.

Name: Eliza, Lizz for short, Lizzie for friends

Department: Pure & Applied Sciences

LI: Raquel

Lizz is my main account, she is also the one that is probably the closest to my personality, she tries her best to be nice to everyone, but know how to impose herself when she feels something is not fair. She speaks fluent spanish since her family from her mother side is Mexican. She used to do cheerleading during middle school, but had to give up on it after a bad knee injury, so going to high school she choose to focus on her grades and she found a passion for math and physics, and seeing that she had potential, she thought it would be worth it to at least try to get a scholarship at the most prestigious school in the country, and that’s how she got into Arlington. She gets a bit nervous around Raquel, but flirts back as much as she can, slowly getting more confused whether is actually flirting or not.

Name: Matthias, Matt for short

Department: Fashion

LI: Tadashi

Matt was created while I was really into the Mean Girls musical, so I decided I would make them have a crush on Tadashi while being friends with Karolina. They are probably one of my characters with the best relationship with Karolina, they are genuinely worried with her and they are a little bit relieved that she doesn’t is that angry with them about their crush on Tadashi. They don’t have the best relationship with their parents and since they were able to get into Arlington but choose the Fashion department instead of the Business or Health, but they try their best to be proud of their kids. Arlington is somewhere they can be themselves, designing and creating pieces that they are passionate about. They are slowing getting out of their comfort zone and becoming friends with more people.

Name: Harry

Department: Performing Arts

LI: Tegan

Harry was created to be a counterpoint to Tegan, so I thought that the opposite of a introvert nerd was a extrovert arts kid (keep in mind, no i didn’t knew Tyler’s personality or department yet). Anyway, he is the kind of person that is effortlessly good at what he does if he sets his goal into doing something, but he is so nice that no one gets angry at him for it. Dancing is his passion, but he also knows how to play drums and sometimes helps the other performing arts students (like Shawn, my other Performing Arts oc) with their compositions. He is the tallest out of all the ocs, but he is still shorter than Tegan, but is not a huge difference (Idk how inches and foot work and I won’t even try at this point).

Name: Charlie

Department: Business Commerce & Politics

LI: Claire

Charlie came from my realization that I would actually be at the Business department and not the Science one based on what I want to do when I graduate. They are professional and reliable, but are not that great on social skills, they’re rather shy and were really grateful when they were invited by Claire to hang out with her and Raquel and it definitely helped for their crush slowly grow, they don’t really know how to deal with those feelings tho, they are just going with it and hoping for the best. After a rocky start their relationship, Tadashi and them got into a point where they are kind of friends, but really formal friends and until the whole Nakano scandal they weren’t really vulnerable to each other.

Name: Janet

Department: Fine Arts

LI: Neha

Janet was another person that was created as a counter to her LI, Neha is very organized and Janet is very chaotic and messy. She is from a small town and the Academy is very different from everything she knows, so she was really impressed at first by the diversity, she was not used to it, but she feels blessed she gets to have this opportunity to meet so many different people. She usually jokes about how the arts department is full of nice and fancy materials and she was used to make it work with cheap materials back at home. She usually have some trace of paint on her face or clothes (but she is trying to keep it clean because the uniform is way too expensive to have paint on) and her hands are always with some colorful pen marks. She is described as talented by people around her, but she’s been drawing since she was a small child and works really hard to get on the level of people are Arlington. She is a little bit scared of Karol, but she is always nice to her and is genuinely concerned about both her health and how her situation affect Neha. I don’t know when, I don’t know how, but someday Janet will give Neha an original design for a print.

Name: Krystian

Department: Athletics

LI: Alistair

Krys was created when I realized I really liked Al and that I wanted someone who could like, work out and be athletic with him (is this what athletic ppl do? idk, can’t relate). He is a short king, probably the shortest among my ocs, he plays volleyball as a libero (and yeah i decided that literally this week bcuz i rewatched haikyuu and it inspired me). Alistair makes him feel all kinds of things and he is so sweet and nice, I can imagine him and Lizz complaining together about how hot ppl from Athletics are. He doesn’t really like Karolina, he thinks she is rude and prejudiced and it took a little while form him and BIanchi (the other Athletics oc) because of that, he ends up warming up to her after the Nakano Scandal because she seems very genuine about her feelings for Tadashi and he can respect that.

Name: Angel

Department: Fashion

LI: Axel

(So... Here is when I start getting out of ideas and they may have less personality, sorry)

When I was thinking about Angel I was just like, pretty and fun, a little bit edgy. He is pretty in a kinda unconventional way, too feminine for most of the male models demand but he choose to remain authentic to himself (And also he will never be able to have a six pack and he accepted it). He probably heard about Axel before (I mean, he is a sensation, isn’t he?), but didn’t actively look for him, he consider himself a more indie kind of guy. In the process of falling for Axel he did question himself if he was not falling in love out of interest, but he soon got over it, because he couldn’t avoid the feelings that were growing.

Name: Bianchi

Department: Athletics

LI: Karolina

Bianchi was created using “jock” as the first thing that came to my mind about her. After a little research I figured Bianchi is actually a surname, not a first name, so I decided she doesn’t vibe with her first name and she decided she would like it better to be called by her last name. She is kinda cocky, she knows at what she is good at and is very confident. She works with Karolina because she won’t let her put her down without fighting back and she knows what she has to offer, Karol would eventually see her as a equal and Bianchi is very weak for pretty girls, she would probably also flirt a lot with Karol, just to piss her off a little bit. She hopes to become a professional swimmer, but she also does weightlifting as a hobby.

Name: Yuri

Department: Health Sciences & Biology

LI: Ellie

Yuri was created because I needed someone who was around the conversation about Arlignator to be into the Health Department to actually do the Arlignator and undertsand the reference. It’s hard for me to relate to her because I would never in my life go for a health area, so it’s hard for me to develop her. But, I did develop her family (cuz u know, i needed to be able to talk about her in someway amirught), so her father have a Japanese heritage and her mother have a Chinese one, her dad is not that in touch with his heritage because he was raised by his single white mother, and her mother’s family on the other side is very connected with the Chinese culture, and that’s why despite the Japanese name, Yuri speaks fluent Mandarin. Ellie is someone who takes her a little out of her comfort zone, and that works for her because she always wanted to be a little adventurous but never had any stimulation for it, and now she have it (with a little crush as a bonus).

Name: Shawn

Department: Performing Arts

LI: Tyler

Shawn was heavily influenced by AJR, which is a band I listened a lot when I started to play SE. He is a songwriter and a composer (no, i don’t know the difference, I’m sorry ppl who know music I’ve failed y’all) and he wants to make music that are more than love and sex and still have a kinda pop feeling about it. He is the most confident after Bianchi out of my ocs and he is very restless. Him a Tyler hit it off from the beginning since they have a similar sense of humor and sometimes he feels like he understands a little better all the love songs out there, and even promising himself he wouldn’t sing about love (a la Hayley Williams, but maybe one or two actually are actually created.

#sweet elite #se axel #se alistair #se tyler #se karolina #se claire #se raquel #se tadashi #se tegan #se neha #se ellie #this is the second time im writing this cuz I lost it the first time #i could go on about these children for hours #se scholar #i actually found the part i had already written but i was almost done rewriting so we're ignoring it #sorry about any mistakes english is not my first language

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emospritelet · 5 years

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After 3 years (and a 2-year hiatus after chapter 9) this is it. The final chapter.

Time to give these two idiots their Happy Ever After

AO3 link

The sky outside the bedroom window had turned midnight blue, the night fully upon them, and Belle sighed as she realised she would soon have to get up and go home. Their reunion had been everything she had hoped for: the first, frantic, desperate time followed by gentle kisses and whispered words and a second long, slow session of lovemaking. Gold had rolled onto his back and pulled her to his side as they relaxed together, and was now stroking his fingers over the curve of her hip, a gentle caress that tickled her skin. She snuggled closer, enjoying his warmth.

“So,” he said. “I presume you have no interest in sneaking around.”

“None whatsoever,” said Belle. “We’re together and I don’t care who knows it.”

He kissed her forehead, and she felt him smile against her skin.

“We should probably pretend a courtship of some sort, though,” he murmured. “Let them all get used to it.”

“Does that mean we get to go on dates and stare longingly at each other over cups of coffee and glasses of iced tea?”

“I might even throw in a cake or two, if you ask nicely.”

She giggled at that, and he kissed her again, lips soft and warm.

“In the meantime, I suppose I should go up to Boston and tell my family,” he added, and she raised her head a little.

“What will you tell them?”

“Some version of the truth,” he said. “They don’t know about my - about the life I had until recently, and I certainly don’t plan on telling them about our meeting in the Neverland Motel.”

“Good,” said Belle fervently.

“But I think I’ll have to tell them about how we knew one another,” he added. “They’ll find out anyway, it’s not as though it’ll be a secret in Storybrooke, is it?”

“How do you think they’ll react?”

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “Both Neal and Emma have been telling me for years that I should try to meet someone, so I’d like to think they’ll be pleased for me, but…”

He shrugged, and Belle nodded, nuzzling his chest.

“I guess it’s gonna seem weird to a lot of people,” she said, with a sigh.

“What are you going to tell your father?” he asked. Belle pulled a face.

“Well, I’m definitely not telling him how we really got together,” she said. “I think in these circumstances we can be excused a few white lies.”

“Agreed.”

“But I don’t want to lie to him completely, either,” she added, and Gold glanced at her.

“I’m open to ideas.”

Belle wriggled onto her side a little more, looking up at him.

“Okay, how about this?” she said. “We bumped into each other in Boston and got talking—”

“Which is true.”

“—and then we decided to get a cup of coffee, and we spent the whole afternoon chatting, and we realised we had a lot of things in common.”

“And then?”

“And then,” said Belle. “I saw you here. Maybe in the diner when you came in for a cup of coffee, and you asked me out to dinner.”

“How about I asked you out to brunch?” he suggested. “That sounds more appropriate for a first date.”

“Are you going to ask me to brunch?” she said, amused.

“Of course. I was thinking we could go to Granny’s. Maybe next Sunday.”

“Hmm.” Belle snuggled against him again. “Well, I guess that’s one way of being out and proud.”

“Can I kiss you in the diner?” he asked, and she raised her head, smirking at him.

“Oh, you’d better.” She kissed his chest. “Ruby’s gonna blow a fuse.”

“You can’t be serious.” Ruby stared at her, dark pigtails swinging, brown eyes wide with shock in the midst of the diner’s busy kitchen. “You have a date with your teacher?”

“He’s not my teacher,” said Belle patiently.

“Well, not anymore.”

Belle pulled a face, turning on her toes as one of the cooks shouted out an order.

“It’s not a big deal,” she said, grabbing a plate of eggs, bacon and hash browns and setting it on a tray with a side of pancakes. “I’m an adult, he’s an adult…”

“Oh, I know he’s an adult,” said Ruby, hands on hips. “I remember him teaching us English for years.”

Belle sighed again as she headed for the diner, shoving open the kitchen door with her foot.

“Could you bring the coffee?” she asked over her shoulder.

“He’s gotta be forty-five at least!” went on Ruby, following her. “Belle, seriously?”

“I like him,” she said obstinately. “He’s nice, and he’s clever, and he’s the only person I know who likes books as much as me. You keep telling me I should date more.”

“I was thinking maybe someone from college,” said Ruby, snatching up the coffee pot as she passed. “You know, a student. Not your teacher.”

“He’s not my teacher,” said Belle again.

She down the plate with a loud clunk in front of a startled Tom Clarke before clearing two empty tables, leaving Ruby pouring coffee. Belle wiped down the tables and hefted the tray of dirty dishes just as Ruby bounced up to her again, coffee sloshing in the pot she carried.

“Well okay, but how did this even happen?” she asked. “You haven’t seen him in two years, unless you count that time we bumped into him at a sex shop with what I was pretty sure was his boyfriend.”

“It wasn’t his boyfriend…”

“Did he tell you that?”

“Yes, actually,” said Belle impatiently, heading back to the kitchen.

“But tell me when he asked you out,” persisted Ruby. “How did it happen?”

Belle hesitated, not wanting to lie.

“I - I saw him in Boston a day or two later,” she said. “In a bookshop.”

“Of course,” said Ruby, in a very dry tone. “How come you never mentioned it?”

“Well, I wasn’t really sure what to think,” said Belle slowly. “We got talking about books, and we have so many that we both love, and it was so easy to talk to him, and one thing led to another—”

Ruby jumped in place, eyes wide and mouth open.

“You had sex?”

“We had a cup of coffee,” said Belle, in a flat tone, hoping she wouldn’t blush too hard. “We spent the whole afternoon just talking, and when we went our separate ways, I kind of thought that would be it. But - but I couldn’t stop thinking about him, and then I came back to Storybrooke, and I figured - well, I figured maybe he’d want to get another cup of coffee, or something. And - and I saw him when I was out grocery shopping, and I was gonna ask him for coffee, but before I could he asked me to brunch.”

“Beats getting drunk at The Rabbit Hole, which is the only offer I’ve had since getting back here,” said Ruby fairly. “Brunch, huh? At least it’ll be in a public place. I can throw something over him if he puts a finger out of line.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Oh my God!” Ruby slapped her arm playfully, mouth making a perfect ‘o’. “You want him to put a finger out of line! Maybe several fingers!”

“Ruby…”

“Don’t deny it, I can always tell when you’re thirsty for someone, you do that smirk thing.”

“I do not!” snapped Belle. “It’s just he’s - he’s interesting, and he’s kind, and I really want to go on this date with him.”

“I guess he’s kinda hot with that new haircut,” said Ruby thoughtfully. “Are you gonna sleep with him?”

“Oh my God, Ruby!”

“Come on, I’m asking the important questions here!” said Ruby, grinning. “I’ve never seen the guy date, that’s all. How many years do you think it’s been since he had sex? He could be terrible!”

“We’re having brunch!” said Belle, blushing furiously.

“Yeah, but if it goes really well…”

“I’m not about to jump him in the middle of the diner!” snapped Belle. “Let’s just - see how this date goes, okay?”

“Okay, but take some condoms, just in case.”

“Yes, Mom,” sighed Belle, and Ruby grinned.

“What does your Dad say?”

Belle pulled a face.

“Okay, I haven’t actually told him yet,” she admitted. “I thought you should be the first to know.”

“I bet he blows a fuse!”

“Who?” Moe appeared to be listening with half an ear, one eye on the sports news as he munched on potato wedges and mayonnaise.

“Alistair Gold,” said Belle, waiting for him to make the connection. Moe’s brow wrinkled.

“Gold… Oh, is he related to your old teacher?”

“No.” Belle hesitated. “He - he is my old teacher.”

Moe stopped chewing, brows lowering, and turned his head slowly to face her. Belle shifted from one foot to the other a little nervously.

“Come again?” said Moe.

“We kind of got talking in Boston one time,” said Belle hurriedly. “And - and we got a cup of coffee and talked some more, and we really got along well, and - and so when I got back here, and I saw him, he - he asked me to brunch.”

Moe licked mayonnaise from his thumb, his face reddening.

“But - but he has to be my age!” he blustered.

“So?”

“So?” He got to his feet. “So? What the hell is he doing asking out a girl of twenty?”

“I’m not a girl!” snapped Belle. “I’m an adult! I’m a full-grown woman!”

“Barely!” countered Moe, glaring at her. “The man’s a pervert! He’s been teaching you bloody English for years, and he has the bloody nerve to ask you on a dinner date?”

“It’s brunch!” said Belle defensively.

“Yeah, and that’s another thing, who the hell goes for bloody brunch?” snorted Moe. “Is it just because he can’t buy you a bloody drink for another year!”

“Yeah, well, not everyone needs alcohol to enjoy themselves!”

“Don’t you take that tone with me, my girl!”

“I’m not!” Belle ran her hands over her face in frustration. “Look, I really like him, okay?”

“What can you two possibly have in common?”

“Lots of things!” she said hotly. “Books, and - and Shakespeare, and music, and - and food! What, you think that because he’s older he can’t hold a conversation with someone younger?”

“Oh no, I’m sure he gets plenty of practice at that,” said Moe sarcastically. “At school!”

“He’s not my teacher!”

“Not anymore!”

Belle growled in frustration as Ruby’s words were repeated with a little more venom.

“Dad, just - look, don’t worry so much, okay?” she said. “He’s been a perfect gentleman—”

“Well of course he has!”

“He’s nice. He’s kind—”

“He’s fifty if he’s a day.”

“I don’t care about that!”

“You will in ten years’ time when you’re caring for him twenty-four-seven.”

“Oh, don’t be so dramatic…”

Moe sighed, shaking his head and seeming to calm himself a little.

“I just worry about you, love,” he said gently. “You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. College, your career...”

“One brunch date isn’t going to change that,” said Belle, matching his tone. “I know you care about me, but it’s my life. Just - just let me make my own choices, okay?”

There was silence for a moment, and Moe sighed again.

“I wish your mother was here,” he said gloomily. “Maybe she’d know what to say.”

“She’d tell you to let me live my life,” said Belle, and he shrugged, as though he knew it was true, but didn’t want to admit it.

“I don’t trust him,” he said.

“Well, maybe you’ll grow to trust him,” said Belle gently. “And if not - at least trust my judgement. You always said I had a sense about people, right?”

Moe grunted acknowledgement, and Belle nodded.

“I’m right about him,” she said. “He’s a good man. I know it. He won’t hurt me.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Trust me.”

Moe grumbled something, pulling a face, but eventually gave a reluctant nod.

“Alright,” he said. “Just - don’t try to make it work to spite me, okay?”

Belle smiled, stepping forward to kiss his cheek.

“I’d never do that.”

It was a warm evening, and Gold parked up outside Neal and Emma’s small house in the Boston suburbs, resting his hands on the wheel for a moment and taking a breath. The street was quiet, a few children cycling along and shouting to each other, the drone of insects and the scent of sun-baked asphalt drifting in through the open window. Gold glanced across at the little house with its neat fenced garden. Neal and Emma had moved there just before Christmas the previous year, with his help. Getting the deposit together was one of the reasons he had continued to work after Neal had qualified. Well, that and putting aside money for Henry’s education. He suspected that there might be a brother or sister on the way soon, and so he had started squirrelling away money for them, too.

He got out of the car, locking the door and tugging the cuffs of his shirt straight before heading up the path. It was approaching seven in the evening, but he could still feel the heat of the sun on the back of his neck as it slid towards the horizon. He knocked on the door, and Neal opened it with a wide smile, his eyes crinkling.

“Hey, Dad,” he said. “Right on time, I just put Henry to bed. Drink?”

“A glass of wine would be lovely.”

“Think I’ll join you.”

Neal let him in, closing the door behind them and showing him to the lounge before heading to the kitchen. Gold bounced on his toes anxiously, glancing around the room without seeing anything.

“Where’s Emma?” he asked, hearing the clinking sound of glasses.

“She’ll be back soon,” called Neal. “I asked her to pick up some dinner, so I hope you don’t mind Chinese. It’s tough to get a home-cooked meal organised some nights.”

“Of course not.” Gold paced the room, nervous. “If you’d said something, I could have brought dinner myself. I don’t mind cooking.”

“Nah, it’s cool.” Neal reappeared with two glasses of red wine in his hands. “And don’t start thinking we eat crap all the time. It’s only Fridays that are a nightmare. Just the way our shifts work at the moment.”

“Well, if you ever need my help, I’m only a phone call away.”

“A phone call and a four-hour drive,” said Neal, amused. “Don’t worry so much, Pops. One Chinese takeout a week isn’t gonna kill us. Trust me, I’m a doctor. Here.”

He held out a glass, and Gold took it with a nod of thanks, taking a seat on the couch. Neal sat next to him, relaxing back against the cushions with a sigh of relief.

“How’s work?” asked Gold, aware that he was procrastinating, and not caring too much. Neal eyed him flatly.

“Work’s great,” he said. “So why don’t you tell me what’s on your mind? Don’t think I’m not glad to see you, but Storybrooke isn’t exactly a short drive down the road. I know you didn’t just come over here midweek to eat dinner with us.”

“Right.” Gold began turning the glass between his fingers, watching the red wine ripple and swirl. “Right.”

“Dad,” said Neal. “Come on, the suspense is killing me.”

Gold took a deep breath.

“Okay,” he said. “Okay. Well - uh - the thing is… The thing is, I’ve met someone.”

“Right,” said Neal lightly. “Well, that’s great!”

“Yes.” Gold set down his glass to stop his restless hands fidgeting. “Yes, it is. It’s just - well - the thing is—”

Neal held up a hand.

“Dad, before you say anything,” he said. “I just want you to know that - that I love you, and - and I support you, okay? And you can tell me anything.”

“O - kay,” said Gold, wondering where this was coming from. “That - that’s good of you, son, thank you. I love you too.”

“I know you’ve been alone since the divorce,” Neal went on. “And that was years ago. A long time to be alone. And - and I don’t want you to be lonely, okay? I want you to be happy.”

“Yes, well…”

“So if you’ve found a special person to share your life with, then I’m really happy for you.”

Gold blinked.

“Well, I have,” he said. “At least - I suppose in a sense it’s early days, but - well, we’re dating properly now. We kind of had a - a thing a little while back, but we decided it was best to break up. Turns out that was just putting off the inevitable. We couldn’t stay away from each other.”

“When you know, you know, I guess,” said Neal.

“Yes, that’s it exactly,” said Gold eagerly. “Like you and Emma, right?”

“Love at first insult, for us,” said Neal with a grin. “So come on, tell me more.”

“I…” Gold hesitated, unsure which piece of information he should impart first.

“Is this special person here in Boston?” asked Neal. “Are they - are they maybe somewhat younger than you?”

“Ye-es…” Gold felt his brow crinkle. “Have you been spying on me?”

“No, of course not!”

“Anyway, the age thing isn’t the issue,” said Gold. “Well not - not really. At least not for us. I’m well aware some people will have a problem with it, but frankly I don’t give a flying fuck...”

“Right,” said Neal, looking puzzled. “Go on.”

“The issue,” said Gold, and took a deep breath. “The issue is that she was my student.”

Neal blinked. “‘She’?”

“Her name is Belle,” Gold went on. “Belle French.”

Neal’s eyes widened.

“Holy crap, Dad, you’re sleeping with a student?” he demanded. “Have you lost your mind?”

“Ex-student,” corrected Gold, frowning. “She’s now in college. And what happened to ‘I love and support you’?”

“I thought you were gonna tell me you were gay!”

“I - what?” Gold ran a bewildered hand through his hair. “Where did you get that from?”

Neal threw up his arms, wine sloshing in his glass.

“I dunno, the suits, the hair, the fact that you’re really looking after yourself, the fact that I saw you the other week with a hot young guy draping himself over you…”

“Ah.” Gold nodded. “Jefferson. Neal, I’m not gay. Jefferson is - well, he’s bisexual - but he’s just a friend.”

“Oh.” Neal took a drink. “Well. Okay, so tell me about this ex-student. How ex are we talking?”

Gold shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “She’s twenty.”

“I don’t believe this…” Neal let his head drop before looking up again. “Please tell me this relationship didn’t start until she left school.”

Gold hesitated.

“I can’t do that.”

“Dammit, Dad!” He set down his glass, pushing to his feet. “Do you have any idea how much trouble you could have gotten in? Or how much of an abuse of power that was?”

“I’m well aware, thank you!” snapped Gold, getting up to face him. “It only happened a couple of - okay, four times. It happened four times, that’s all. And - and it was after she turned eighteen.”

“That doesn’t make it okay!”

“I know!” Gold threw up his hands and let them fall. “Look, I’m not proud of it. Far from it. But I put a stop to it, and I didn’t see her for two years. We ended it, because it wasn’t right.”

“Oh, you think?”

“I couldn’t continue to see her when I was her teacher, despite how I felt about her,” he went on. “And - and she couldn’t handle what I had to do. It was for the best that we broke up. But then we happened to meet, quite by chance, and - and now we’re together.”

“What you had to do?” Neal was frowning. “What do you mean?”

“What?” Gold felt his face go blank, panic making his heart pound. “Nothing - I meant - I meant we both knew we couldn’t be together. Not then. But - but I’m no longer her teacher, and she has her own life, and seeing her again out of the blue was - it was—”

He ran a hand over his face with a sigh.

“Look, I don’t know if I can explain it,” he said. “But it’s like you said - when you know, you know. She’s the one. I love her.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this…”

“Neal, my private life is my own affair,” said Gold sharply. “We’re both adults, and I don’t question you about yours.”

There was the sound of the front door opening and closing, and Emma stuck her head around the lounge door, blonde hair swinging as she grinned at them.

“I’m back, and I brought dinner,” she announced, but then the grin fell from her face, her expression growing wary. “Not interrupting anything, am I?”

“No honey, come on in,” said Neal dryly. “Dad was just telling me how he’s started dating a twenty-year-old.”

“Really?” Emma shook out her hair, staring at Gold. “Wow, Pops, way to go, you silver fox!”

She held up a hand for a high-five, and Gold groaned.

“Are you kidding me?” said Neal flatly, and Emma shrugged.

“Come on, it’s not like he’s the first guy to date a woman half his age,” she said. “What’s her name?”

“Her name’s Belle,” said Gold, smiling slightly. “Belle French. She’s - wonderful.”

“I’m sure she’s great,” said Neal. “And I can’t wait to meet her, I just - this all seems kind of sudden, that’s all.”

“Your dad doesn’t have to tell you everything he gets up to after dark,” said Emma. “So what if he’s getting his rocks off three times a night?”

She winked at Gold, grinning widely, and Neal winced.

“Emma, please don’t.”

“Yes, please don’t,” added Gold, in a dry tone, and Emma shrugged.

“Fine, let’s all pretend this relationship is purely platonic,” she said. “Tell me about the lovely Belle French. What does she do?”

“She’s studying English at Boston University,” said Gold. “We share a love of Shakespeare. She wants to teach at elementary school.”

Emma turned to Neal, raising her arms and letting them slap against her sides.

“See? Lots in common,” she said. “Give your dad a break, you keep saying he should meet someone. He’s been alone for years. Working his butt off to put you through med school.”

“I know that!” protested Neal. “It’s just - it’s weird!”

“Don’t be such a wiener!”

“It’s alright,” said Gold hastily. “I realise this is all quite sudden, and - and honestly I’m still getting used to it myself.”

Neal sighed heavily.

“No, it’s fine,” he said, giving Gold a look to convey more meaning to the statement. “Like I said before, if you’ve met someone special, then I’m happy for you.”

“Thank you,” he said. “I - I hope I can make her as happy as she’s made me.”

Emma whistled.

“Really looking forward to meeting this woman,” she said. “Why don’t you bring her to Boston the weekend after next? I could swap shifts with someone, we could have dinner.”

She nudged Neal, who flinched a little, but nodded.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I’d - I’d really like to meet her.”

Gold smiled, a feeling of relief spreading through him. It would be alright. They would all be alright.

“That sounds perfect,” he said. “I’ll cook.”

“Better and better,” said Emma, and Neal grinned and kissed her cheek.

Sunday morning was warm and bright, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue, and Gold had been up since six, tidying the house to burn off the excess energy that the prospect of a date with Belle had produced. The two of them were due to meet in the park at ten-thirty before heading to Granny’s, and he had showered and shaved and dressed in dark jeans and a white cotton shirt, open at the neck. He wore a waistcoat over the top of it to dress it up a little, and leather ankle boots. Nerves had made him restless, and he must have checked his reflection a dozen times before telling himself firmly to get the hell out of the door.

Given the beautiful weather, he decided to walk into town, the sun warm on his shoulders and a pair of dark glasses cutting the glare. He walked slowly, nodding to townsfolk he passed on the street and wondering how they would react when they saw him out with Moe French’s daughter. Moe himself had glared at him from across the street two days earlier, so he knew that Belle had told her father about their date. Moe hadn’t shouted or tried to punch him yet, though, so perhaps glaring would be as far as it went.

He crossed the street into the park, and headed down over the dry grass to where the small lake was, its rippled surface glittering in the sunlight. Clumps of rushes grew at its edges, and ducks quacked and dipped their heads below the surface. He smiled slightly, allowing himself a brief, indulgent dream of the future, in which he and Belle might picnic in the park, side by side on a thick rug while two small children played nearby. It made a pretty picture in his mind, but he shook his head, telling himself firmly to take things one step at a time. The buzz of his phone in his jeans pocket provided a useful distraction.

“Oh my God, you are never gonna believe this!” Jefferson’s words were tumbling over themselves before Gold could even issue a greeting. “You kept the suits, right? You’re gonna need one.”

Gold sighed, rolling his eyes.

“Jefferson, I’m not coming back to work…”

“No no, I’m not asking you to break out the black bag of fun again,” said Jefferson impatiently. “I’m talking about the wedding of the year!”

Gold blinked.

“I thought you and Graham were getting married next year.”

“Not us!” Jefferson growled under his breath. “God, it all happened so fast. Astrid and Leroy! We went out for drinks the other night, and he had one or five too many, and he told her she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen, and the most beautiful person he’d ever known, and that he was completely in love with her!”

“About time,” said Gold, with feeling. “What did Astrid say?”

“She said ‘well, in that case, maybe you should marry me’,” said Jefferson. “And he kind of looked like he’d been punched in the face with a baby unicorn, so she kissed him, and that, my friend, was that.”

Gold grinned.

“Really? They’re getting married?”

“September sixth,” said Jefferson. “Guess they’re making up for all that lost time. Everyone’s going - not sure about Hook, he was mumbling something about family commitments - but the rest of us are all going. You’ll need a plus one.”

Gold glanced up, a wide smile breaking across his face as he saw Belle walking towards him across the grass. Her dark curls were shining in the sunlight, bouncing around her shoulders, the white dress she wore fluttering in the summer breeze. She looked like an angel, and his breath caught in his throat, as he felt his heart swell with love for her.

“I have a plus one,” he managed. “Look, I - I have to go, I’ll call you later. Tell Leroy and Astrid congratulations.”

“Oh my God, who’s your plus one?”

“Bye, Jefferson.”

“But—”

He hung off, cutting off Jefferson’s excited squawk, and slipped the phone into his pocket just as Belle bounced up to him with a beautiful grin on her face.

“Hey,” she said, and rose up on her toes.

“Hey.” He kissed her gently, then stepped back and offered her his arm. “I believe we have an appointment.”

She beamed, sinking back onto her heels and linking her arm through his.

“I believe we do,” she said, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Ready to cause a delicious scandal amongst the good people of Storybrooke?" he asked. Belle smirked.

"Ready and willing," she said, and pouted at him. “Take me to brunch.”

He smiled back, catching and holding her gaze, feeling love for her bloom within him, making his heart thump and his skin tingle. He patted her hand, setting off at a leisurely stroll towards the diner, the heat of the morning sun on his skin and the scent of grass in his nose. For a moment, he let himself feel the pure joy of it all, a sleepy small town on a beautiful summer day, strolling arm-in-arm with the woman he loved. It was a new start, a new life. It was going to be perfect.

#fic: neverland #rumbelle fic #my fic #escort!gold verse #rumbelle

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Michael After Midnight: Dragon Age II

Dragon Age is a series very near and dear to my heart; ever since playing Origins back when I was in college, I have been inspired by the stories, characters, and lore. Hell, Origins alone is a huge inspiration to my writing, and why wouldn’t it be? It has great locations, deep lore, a core main party without a single weak link with each and every party member you have being unique and entertaining in their own right, and an epic story with all sorts of twists and turns. And it only has two really shitty segments in the whole game! It’s truly a great first entry in a series.

But despite my love for it, I put off playing the sequel for most of the decade, only playing it for the first time this year. And why is that? Because… the critics said it was bad… yes, unfortunately in my younger years I took what critics said without any grains of salt. Dragon Age II was not very popular back around the time it came out, mostly because of its radical departure from the style of the first game, with more hack-and-slash-esque combat, a much more simple and self-contained story, and a cast of characters far more divisive than the first time around. It’s only over time that people have started to give it the respect it deserves, but much like fellow fantasy series The Legend of Zelda it comes at the cost of the current game being bashed.

So how is this red headed stepchild of a sequel, anyway? Did the critics have a point, or is this really an underrated gem? Well, I’m happy to report that this is indeed a fun and fantastic game, and I heavily regret being kept apart from the lovely Merril for so long due to poor critical reception, but there are a lot of problems too. For everything it does really well, it kind of shits the bed in other areas, and a lot of that can be contributed to a rushed development cycle that got this game churned out just over a year after the first one, leading to things like all items lacking the detailed descriptions they would get in the first game, which doesn’t sound like much, but then you get an item called something like “Uncle Horky’s Spanking Rod” as a magic staff and there’s no explanation as to why it’s called that and you have to imagine up some ludicrous backstory for it.

The lack of flavor text is a minor gripe, though, compared to the obnoxiously repetitive environments of dungeons. Reusing and flipping dungeons around and reusing assets would be one thing, but here they literally just take a map, flip it a bit with no changes to the details of the level, and just block off doors that lead to areas they don’t want you going. The worst part is on your mini map you can see the blocked pathways you likely saw ten minutes ago in another dungeon, which just makes a lot of the missions feel bland and samey. It also doesn’t help that enemy types are rather paltry, so you’ll be fighting a lot of the same mooks in the same maps over and over as you grind for items, gold, and EXP.

And then there are some of the characters. The worst of the bunch are sadly two characters who are returning from the first game and its expansion Awakening – Anders and Isabela. Isabela is arguably worse, because she honestly seems rather fun and nice at first, if overly and aggressively flirty, but as the story goes on, it’s revealed that she is actually the cause behind some of the biggest issues in the first few acts, which she neglects to tell you until it is far too late and unless you decided to maximize your friendship with her, she will run off and never return to your party. I can’t deny that this completely soured me to her, and at the end of the quanari invasion of Kirkwall I was only upset I couldn’t find her in act three and kick her ass for what she did.

Then there is Anders. Poor, poor Anders. In Awakening, he was one of the most funny and charming characters, a nice little substitute for Alistair that I actually ended up liking for than the Weenie King of Ferelden. Here though? Anders can not go one fucking conversation without bringing up how oppressed mages are and how much the templars suck and blah blah blah. The worst part is I do agree with him, but he’s just so whiny and obnoxious about it I left him behind all the time, dooming my party to having no healer even as I fought high dragons, blood mages, and Corypheus. It was worth it to not hear Anders bitching about templars and insulting Merril and Fenris. Oh, and Anders nukes the chantry and sets off a civil war. Isabela may be a nasty bitch, but Anders definitely comes out looking like a huge cunt by the game’s end.

The entire endgame is kind of an utter mess too, seeing as no matter whose side you join you end up fighting the same two bosses, with one of them just not making any sense whatsoever. And then the game just sort of ends on a very unsatisfying cliffhanger. And as much as I just complained, all of this stings because really, the rest of the game is quite good, and the story is fun if scaled back from the epic tale of Origins.

Let’s get the obvious best part out of the way: Varric. Varric is literally the best part of the entire Dragon Age franchise. He’s a snarky, wisecracking surface dwarf with no beard who writes best-selling novels, constantly has his shirt open to show off his magnificent chest hair, and has a crossbow named Bianca that he is uncomfortably attached to. He is one of the greatest characters ever created, and there was not one single moment I left him out of my party, because he is a blast to have around, and what’s more, if there’s ever a situation where the dialogue wheel pops up and you can let him talk… you’ve won. This guy can talk his way out of any situation. There’s nothing bad you can say about Varric, and he is in fact the only companion in the game I can wholeheartedly stand behind as a paragon of great writing.

I love the other characters, don’t get me wrong, but they have their issues. Aveline and Fenris in particular, with Aveline being a bit too by-the-books at times to the point where she exacerbates the quanari conflict by demanding that elves who killed a guard who raped one of their own be turned over to her after they converted to the Qun. This is all despite her knowing full well that the poor elf girl would have otherwise gotten no justice seeing as how city elves in this setting are second class citizens at best. Still, she has a rather adorkable romance questline where you hook her up with one of the guards, and she’s not a bad person, just a touch misguided at times.

That last sentence can also apply to Fenris, but on a grander scale. He’s a cool, edgy, brooding elf who absolutely fucking hates magic with every fiber of his being. He is the Anti-Anders, though he’s far less annoying about it, and it’s hard to really blame him for being bitter seeing as he was a sex slave for an evil wizard for most of his life and then just had misfortune after misfortune piled on him. I really hated how mean he was to Merril, but otherwise I warmed to him and befriended him.

And that brings us to a very special girl, Merril. Merril is an adorable, klutzy, scatterbrained blood mage elf who is hated by her people due to the lengths she is going to repair an ancient artifact to bring a piece of her people’s heritage back. While she can be a bit arrogant and stubborn about the whole thing, it’s mostly due to how no one around her seems to believe in and support her; naturally, I believed in and supported her, and while things still managed to go south, she seemed at least to learn a little bit. Overall I found her to be an absolute sweetheart, and she never left my party, much like Varric; frankly, I was going in expecting not to like her and was going to romance Fenris instead, but as it turns out Merril won my heart immediately and my Hawke went lesbian this playthrough.

On that note, as much as I like how Merril, Fenris, Isabela, and Anders can be wooed by either gender in principle, I do kind of feel making everyone bisexual with no rhyme or reason kind of cheapens things. It’s weird for me, a bisexual myself, to be saying that, but it just feels off to be able to get together with everyone, with everyone being Schrodinger’s Bisexual until a romance is initiated. It’s nowhere near as bad as Skyrim, but I just feel it kinda cheapens the romance options. I prefer Origins and Inquisition in that regard, where you don’t have all the options but you do have some unique choices. But, hey, at the end of the day I’m hardly complaining that my Lady Hawke got to polish Merril’s Eluvian, if you know what I mean.

Aside from the characters, I think the game’s real strength lies in its story, which is fitting since the entire game is framed as a story being told by no less a storyteller than our pal Varric. It has a three act structure, with each act detailing a different year in Hawke’s rise to become the Champion of the city of Kirkwall, which is a crime-ridden wretched hive of scum and villainy. The first act mainly has Hawke making a name for themselves, living in the slums with their uncle, doing dirty work to try and get back a little prestige, and recruiting all of their allies, with the act culminating with a trip to the Deep Roads, every DA fan’s favorite location. It’s a nice setup for a lot of twists and turns later in the story, and choices you make in certain dialogue options or quests actually can change what sort of quests you get later. Then again, this is Bioware, so this sort of “action have consequences” gameplay is expected.

Act two deals with just how Hawke becomes the Champion. Rich from the expedition into the Deep Roads, Hawke gets to do all sorts of fun things, such as track down a serial killer who ends up murdering their mom, being stabbed in the back by one of their friends, accidentally inciting a race war that nearly burns down the city, and having to duel the warrior leader of the qunari to the death in combat. Yeah, act two really piles it on to Hawke, but it does tie into the game’s themes of how no matter the level of success, great actions will also come with great consequences, even actions meant to better one’s lot in life, which also resonate in the personal quests of characters like Merril and Fenris, who despite ultimately achieving their goals in the third act feel hollow, lost, and even broken by the end, and that’s not even getting into what Anders does. However the conflict with the qunari is resolved, Hawke is declared the Champion, and things seem ok.

But then comes act three, and boy do things go wrong. Knight-Commander Meredith has gone cuckoo for Coco Puffs and conflict between templars and mages seems inevitable; this act is basically wrapping up hanging plot threads and companion quests until Anders finally nukes the chantry and all hell breaks loose, leading to the final battle. The ending here isn’t particularly happy, with Hawke ultimately ending up a fugitive in the epilogue, and things can get even worse if you make poor choices in Inquisition, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Here’s the thing: everything I just said? It could be entirely different from my playthrough depending on the choices you make. Sure, some things are inevitable, like Anders committing terrorist acts, Hawke’s mother dying, and Meredith going absolutely bonkers and making you fight statues, but depending on how you play, maybe you’ll like/romance Isabela, maybe you’ll resolve things with the Arishok differently, maybe you’ll side with the templars… the story ends the same but there are so many ways to make your story different. Throw in some great lore, some fun DLC that reveals some shocking truths about the lore, and the fun albeit simplified combat, and you’ve got a game here that has a lot of replay value if only to see where all the plot threads can lead.

I definitely think this is a good game, even a great one. It has its share of problems, but so did Origins, and frankly I’d sooner put up with the backstabbing pirate hooker and the pissy mage terrorist again then go through the fucking Fade and Deep Roads one more time. If you liked the first one, definitely give this a shot; you may end up liking or disliking some of the stuff I dislike and like. That’s the fun of these Bioware games, different aspects are going to appeal to different people. The question is, do I find it better than Origins?

In some respects, yes; I much prefer the simpler combat here, and I like the more down-to-earth story in this one, but at the same time Origins just had stronger characters overall and I’m a sucker for “save the world” fantasy tales. While Origins infamously had some real mind-numbing slogs in the form of the Fade sequence and the Deep Roads, while those environments were tedious at least they weren’t boring. But on the other hand… Origins didn’t have Varric.

It’s really a tossup, frankly, and I love both games a lot. I think each of them has their place and each of them brings something interesting to the table for the series. It’s one you really need to play for yourself to get a good grasp on; don’t be like me and put it off for nearly ten years, give it a go right after your done with the first game and see how you feel. Your experience is going to be a lot different than mine, that’s for sure.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #video game review #Dragon Age #Dragon Age II #Bioware

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hamingo · 6 years

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21 & 28 for Jaydin, 43 & 48 for Neira, and 34 & 36 for Anise!!

Ooh all three of them! Thank you so much!!! :D

Jaydin

21. Do they have a temper? Are they patient? What are they like when they do lose their temper?He definitely doesn’t have a temper, but it’s not so much that he’s super patient and never gets angry as it is that his whole life was spent in a place where getting angry can get you killed, and so he really suppresses that particular emotion. He is very patient with people who don’t know how to do things and are trying their best though because he’s like that himself. When he does get angry, it’s this mixture of yelling and crying and not being able to form words and having no idea how to healthily deal with it.

28. What is their biggest fear? What in general scares them? How do they act when they’re scared? Jaydin’s biggest fear changes throughout the series. At first, during the origin sequence, it’s losing all of his friends (since up to that point, Deyrion (a friend’s warden) hated him, Neria had been tranquillized, Anders had escaped, and then Jowan was wanting to as well, leaving him all alone in the circle). Then he becomes a warden and his biggest fear the knowledge that there’s no way he and Alistair can handle this all by themselves. After the blight, it’s that people will hate him because of the methods he used (blood magic oooh) to end the blight in the first place and turn against him and his friends because of it. Finally, after everything, it ends up the same way it started, fearing that he’ll lose Neria again, and Leliana somehow too, that he’ll never see Morrigan and Kieran again, and that he’ll somehow lose everything he worked so hard to get.

Neria

43. Are they religious? What do they think of religion? What do they think of religious people? What do they think of non-religious people?Her relationship with religion is complicated. She wants to believe in the Maker and the Chantry but has found it pretty difficult, especially after she’s brought back from being tranquil and learned of all the lies they told and terrible things they did. She’s certainly happy for people who have found peace in their religion, and desperately wants it herself, but just can’t. She’s settled for believing in the Maker and Andraste, but not really in the Chantry itself, at least not until Leliana reforms it.

48. Do they enjoy any parties? If so what kind? Do they organise the party or just turn up? How do they act? What if they didn’t want to go but were dragged along by a friend? Post-Inquisition she would attend loads of parties, being the wife of the divine, but she wouldn’t go unless she was with Leliana, Jaydin, or (preferably) both. The grandeur and chaoticness of it all can be difficult for her to handle with her post-tranquil mood swings and it can quickly become overwhelming for her, so she needs a friend around to take her out if it comes to that.

Anise

34. What is their body type? How tall are they? Do they like their body?Anise is 4’10” and built like a twig (that is thin, tiny breasts, no hips, no curve whatsoever) ((hey wow kinda like me)). She’s kinda of indifferent about her body because it’s something she can’t change so why be upset about it, although her small stature makes it easy for her to sneak places, so she is thankful for that

36. What are they good at? What hobbies do they like? Can they sing?She’s good at cooking, sneaking, stabbing, trash talking, and in general being a little shit. She actually can sing really well, it’s how she and Leliana bonded and eventually became friends :D

#thanks for asking!!#jaydin #neria #anise

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impossible-rat-babies · 7 years

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#30dayDAchallenge

Day 18: Courtship.

Buckle up because Luke has a load of feelings about their characters.

Darva Lavellan:

I made a playlist of their OTP songs: X

Romanced Dorian of course. I knew I was gonna romance him even before I played the game. It was probably one of my big motivations for playing the game in the first place. (This might also be vaguely messy due to my own weird feelings of romance and such.)

I could have an entire thirty day meme dedicated to the two of them and their relationship and it wouldn’t be enough.

I think Darva had no clue the mess he was getting himself into when they first walked into the Redcliffe Chantry. I think he was confused by the sender of the message rather than the contents of it. Of course he knew he was in danger just from the whole vibe of Alexius and the whole messy time rifts going around. But I think he thought of Dorian as a bit of a tit at first; like he’s a bit pompous, but not like an ass like Solas. But, he did have valuable information to give them a hand. They wouldn’t have been able to get the mages or be saved from that nasty future without Dorian’s help. Darva has a lot of respect for him, especially after getting to know him better and why he’s in the south and with the Inquisition.

He has the courage to leave everything behind and try to make his homeland better because it needs to change. He loves it so much that he can’t let it fall apart or fall to the Venatori or Corypheus. Darva thinks that’s some serious ass shit and god he has some respect for that.

But also he’s like really attracted to him at the same time. Like just listening to him talk in Haven and on their journeys, it’s like: “I’m really, really attracted to him holy shit.”

But like he doesn’t want to be presumptuous since he doesn’t know and doesn’t want to be that person. But, I think he still casually flirts. Like a compliment here, a little something here. He can’t let himself get all doe-eyed though. He’s got a lot of insecurities and gross feelings about himself that he knows Dorian won’t want. Plus, all the duty stuff.

Which is only compounded by him being named Inquisitor and he’s suddenly in charge of everything in name. He’s got this reputation to live up to despite that he hates it. Still, he finds himself slipping up and not being entirely rejected.

Like, oh spending long hours in the library talking and joking back and forth isn’t a bad thing. The quiet talks, pressed back to back while taking watch at camp late at night. Familiar touches like: I’m touching your back to let you know i’m walking behind you (maybe my hand lingers too long), or a reassuring squeeze of the shoulder (and I’m slow to pull my hand away).

He’s never outright rejected and he even swears it’s gently reciprocated. It’s stumbling and he swears there isn’t something there, but he knows there is something there. Still, he can’t be too presumptuous and assuming.

Then Last Resort of Good Men happens and that’s a whole lotta reassurance and he’s not assuming and like there could be something between them.

Then panic sets in and Darva withdraws into a pile of insecurity and bad self esteem. It could be perfect and like holy shit good stuff, but he’s this big important figure for everyone; like a holy figure. But that all pales in comparison to his own shitty opinion of himself and his body. Like he won’t be what he wants like the people Darva loved before.

Then it’s Here Lies the Abyss and all the bad thoughts that he’d forgotten come racing back with the Nightmare and it crushes his already piss poor self esteem even more. But Dorian is there, asking him if he’s alright and of course he isn’t, but the thought counts. He can’t make the bad thoughts go away, but he can be there for him to try and make him feel better.

(Their relationship gets more physical after a trip to some mysterious elvhen ruins where the two of them get stuck in some cave after magic trips over the magic in the ruins and it goes haywire. Aka Luke is a sucker for the troupe of getting stuck in a small closet like space together.)

It’s not a really committed thing until Darva gets Dorian his amulet back. He didn’t have to get it for him, but he didn’t have to help him so much when things get all stressful. They don’t have to do these things for each other, but they do because that’s what caring for someone is like and Darva thinks maybe that’s what love is.

I think he falls in love slowly with a lot of stumbling along the way. (It’s a lot of stumbling and failing on both their parts). It’s a lot of maybe this is what love is, or maybe that’s what this feeling is. Like wanting to keep him safe at any cost is what love is like. He knew he loved him long before he actually said it.

I don’t think he really has a moment where he just realizes all of a sudden that he’s in love with Dorian. It’s just a collection of moments.

He says it not long after the ball in Halamshiral in his quarters one morning. He didn’t really mean to, it just happened.

(And ofc it’s reciprocated and Darva just cries because he’s been given something so utterly wonderful and it’s one of the things that has actually gone right in his life and he loves it so much.)

Their relationship has it bumps and it’s difficult points, but they stay together. Even with the two years between the death of Corypheus and the Exalted Council when they don’t have much contact beyond letters. God, even after the Council when everything is utterly awful; they still hold tightly to each other. If no one else is going to have their backs, they’ll take care of each other.

Eth Tabris:

(I told myself I wouldn’t freaking fall for freaking Alistair, but holy shit I fell hard.)

I made an OTP playlist for them too: X

I think it’s a bit of accidental catching feelings that won’t go away and fucking shit i love this fucking dork holy hell for Eth. I think it starts more as a friendship and a kinship that neither feel with anyone else. Like they’re the youngest in the group, the only two Grey Wardens and the rest of them look to the two of them for direction.

They also have a similar sense of humor and she’s willing to go along with his sense of redirecting via humor until he actually wants to talk about what’s bothering him a lot.

With the whole Goldanna mess, she’s like:

“I don’t get family being shitty to family and that was a big ole loss for her. But I know a few things about finding a family and you got one with us. We’re all messy n stuff, but we’re here for you. I’m here for you n shit. You need a shoulder to cry on or you need someone’s ass kicked? I got you.”

I think it takes her a while to recognize that some of the things she says and the feelings she has are romantic. Like Morrigan is all like: “You’ve been smiling for hours since you talked to him and it’s sickeningly romantic.” “Wait, it’s romantic?” “Disgustingly romantic.” And then her brain just short circuits because HOLY Fuck. (On account of her being demiromantic and demisexual.) It hits her all of a sudden and it’s like when you forget something obviously staring you in the face.

I think that’s kinda when she knows she’s in love and HOLY SHIT. It’s all good until the Landsmeet stuff and the throne is questionable. She doesn’t want to lose him to the throne; she can’t protect him herself if he’s not with her. Plus, she figures Anora has been ruling the country for this long and the last thing Ferelden needs right now is a drastic change of leadership. So it’s partially selfishness and politics.

It’s all good until Riordan drops the ball on them that one of them will have to die to kill the Archdemon. And without much thinking she’s volunteering herself. She can make that sacrifice to keep everyone safe, including keeping her love safe. It’s not like she feels that her affections are worthless in the face of duty. She’s willing to sacrifice everything to ensure their safety.

She says no to Morrigan’s deal. It feels like cheating to her; she can sacrifice herself to solve the issue without dragging an unborn life into the mess. She sees a clear solution to the problem and she isn’t hearing anything from Morrigan to divert from that path.

I think he knows what she’s going to do when she leaves him at the gates. He knows what she’s going to do and he can only watch her leave without him. She knows if she brought him, he would take that blow for her and she can’t have that. She can lose him, but she can’t lose him. (No one said her logic was particularly strong when things were going to shit.)

She knows their love would’ve lasted if she hadn’t given herself up. They would’ve spent what time they had together and it would’ve been good. She leaves her wedding ring with Arl Eamon the night before the battle to give to Alistair when it’s all over. It’s something of a symbol of the promise they would’ve given to each other.

With Awakening AU, she’s a disaster. She won’t talk about what happened that day. She doesn’t tell any stories, she refuses to talk about. She won’t talk about Alistair at all. It’s too painful for her to even think about.

Even in Inquisition, she won’t talk about it much at all. Ten years and she only briefly talks about what happened and her relationship. It’s a very sore subject. She’s with the Inquisition rather than looking for a cure for the Blight is because what would’ve made it worthwhile died with the Fifth Blight. She sees no reason to find one and if that’s selfish, she doesn’t care. She’s had enough.

#30daydachallenge #dai #dao #oc tag #Eth Tabris #darva lavellan #otp: if you love me let me go (don't let go)#otp: we're different but somehow the same

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