[absolutely none of us chose this. i'm imagining some of you were walking to a good location with shadowheart but we just opened the door and got yeeted here 2 minutes before curfew.]
It's an hour long montage of following hawke around all of kirkwall while he digs through every broken barrel and trash can on every square city block and hoarding broken bits of jewelry, rusty shivs, and single boots and then selling them to traders for two copper each and then doing it all over again. ]
[memshares back walking back and forth from camp to a single druid trader with four loads of goblin scimitars and blood soaked helmets and using the money to buy dye to make all of her outfits more purple-y]
[memshares stripping minthara's body of her cool weapons and armor and then noticing the outfit she was wearing underneath is kind of a serve and taking that too to wear around camp later.]
He's not there to criticize my love life, he's there for us to pay him to come back to life if we die. And also... summon souls to fight for us? I was never clear on that part.
[i wish it was true because i love them but if you play too hard to get with lae'zel she gets mad and fucks wyll instead and then tells you about it in detail and i think that's probably more accurate to what happened here.]
Ha, very funny. I've never been married. Only the various curses and blessings of death has granted me such a boon.
I had am almost, but you know. Her career was going East Coast, mine going was West Coast, I had to be a chauvanist pig to drag my heels about following after her....
Ali is dressed in something other than a suit for once in his life, as he has chosen a t-shirt and jeans for the laborious task of weeding the flower bed. He could use his fire if he did it in small, contained blasts right at the weeds, but the neighbors are around and he would rather they didn't start asking questions. So, by hand it is.
"Whatcha doin'?"
Ali pauses in his work to glance up to a young boy, maybe 5 or 6. This boy has white hair and light green eyes, and yet despite looking nothing alike Ali smiles warmly at the boy.
"Weeding the flowers. Your papa normally handles it, but he's not feeling well today so I'm doing it."
The boy looks a little confused as he says, "Isn't fire faster?"
"Well yes, it would be," Ali says, speaking a bit quieter now so only the boy hears, "But we're trying to act like humans, remember?"
This seems to make sense to the boy, so he smiles widely and says in return, "And humans don't have magic!"
"Exactly. Now, do you want to help me here? Or would you like to keep playing?"
"Can I have the little shovel?"
Ali smiles a little and picks up the trowel, which he hands over to the boy, who is making grabbyhands for it. "Just fill in any holes you dig, okay?"
"'kay!" And then the boy takes the trowel and runs off to the backyard without another word.
This does not bother Ali in the slightest, and he just returns to his weeding. After about ten minutes though, he starts to hear some strange dragging noises, followed by a soft thump. This happens four times, with a few minutes of quiet in between, before Ali finally gets up to investigate. "Chance?"
He has to walk around the side of the house and towards the backyard before he finds his answer: four tall sunflowers are standing up against the wooden fence, facing the house. The boy- Chance- is now in the act of dragging the fifth over. Ali still seems unbothered by this, and in fact he just chuckles lightly. Leave it to Concord's kid to do things the hard way instead of asking for help. "Are the sunflowers ready for picking?"
Chance sounds a little out of breath as he speaks. "Yeah! Gonna put them right here. " With that, he tips up the fifth sunflower and plops it against the fence like the rest. Then he stands up, looking to Ali excitedly. "And I did no magic!"
Ali smiles warmly. "You did a good job too. Now we can cut off the heads and take them inside then-"
"Not yet!" Chance points to the window on the second floor, the one that goes to Ali and Concord's bedroom. "Now Papa can see!"
Oh, how Ali's heart melts when he hears those words. What a thoughtful child. So young, and he's already thinking of others. Ali just scoops up Chance in a hug, praising Chance while he giggles. "You're the most thoughtful person I know, my little sunflower. How about we go make your papa some lunch?"
Nothing? They just don't exist. The closest thing are the mages, but they're not strictly human as they can live for centuries.
Plus, Chance was 5. The goal there was to keep him from growing a forest in the backyard with his magic, not to teach the nuance of humans versus mages.
[ mages aren't human ... ? mages aren't human? mages aren't human ... !
sorry did you think anders was a sane or reasonable person who is willing to accept the different facts of different worlds at face value because no. he is an insane person. ]
Of course the mages are human! To call them anything else, to call them other, only allows the Chantry to further excuse their crimes. To brand us monster. If we are not human, they can maim our minds and put us to the sword like any other livestock, and those who stand on the outside will justify it as reasonable! They simply aren't human! What does it matter?!
How did anything I said relate at all to dragons?!
[ memshares this. You don't have to watch it its just Hawke fighting and killing a high dragon and it involves anders blasting magic to murder dozens and dozens of dragon babies. ]
[Hawke had told him about this, but honestly seeing it is a thousand times worse and triggers a memory of his own.
A memory of Ali, meeting his sister in a mountainside town. Of warning her that the cave she built her nest in is too close to a town.
Of his sister, Ria, telling him that the father of her eggs is already dead, and that she needs his help making sure they hatch safely.
Of a group of teenagers, looking for a place to go camping and stumbling across a nest of eggs and a protective dragon.
Of Ali trying to stop her, telling her they can move the eggs, but his words don't reach her and she flies out of the nest to go 'handle the problem'. Her instincts to protect her next being too strong to be overcome.
Of Ali trying to move the eggs as quickly as possible, but only being able to move one at a time due to their size, and he ends up only having time to move one before some adult humans come around and smash the rest of the eggs in the nest.
Of Ria struggling to fight back as humans damage her wings and knock her to the ground.
Of the way Ria cries out "Leave my babies alone!" in a language only Ali can understand.
Of how, in the end, Ali watches his own sister get decapitated. And how he can't even cry, because any emotion would make the humans notice that he's not human as well.
And finally, of how, decades later, Ali returned to that same town and found his sister's dead body stuffed and preserved in a museum about the glory of humans who protect the world from dragons.
He probably would have been fine without seeing Anders' memory, but now? Now he's trying to punch Anders in the face.]
[ well that comment makes him angry enough that his voice drops, and he starts fighting back for real in that Cat At The Vet way he had at Hawke's trial. ]
[like, what an unfortunate memory. she doesn't blame him for getting upset.]
For what it's worth, I think this is another thing that's different in his world. [she doesn't think he's out there killing sentient dragon babies.] But it can't have been pleasant to see.
...my daughter always knew I was actually her uncle by blood, but trying to explain the full truth to her when she was a teenager- while also trying to keep her from developing a deep-seated hatred of all humans- was challenging.
[Looks at how he's not the only dragon here. He decides not to doxx others.]
Yeah, dragons either live up in the mountains or live among humans in a human form. I got lucky, the only visible sign of my dragon heritage is my red eyes. Some dragons can't control their form well and have scales on their face or arms.
Huh...From the stories I've heard, making children with humans in this form just makes human children. And I really don't think there's any human who wants to copulate with a dragon in dragon form.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Oh no.
no subject
Maker's Breathe-- No one think anything! Don't look in any mirrors! Hands to yourselves.
no subject
no subject
Why!
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I know I'm irresistible but try to control yourself, Richie, we're in mixed company.
no subject
[Winks and blows him a kiss.]
no subject
no subject
Don't be a tease...
[Anyway elbows him]
I'll do my best to think positive. Just for you, Andy.
no subject
no subject
It's an hour long montage of following hawke around all of kirkwall while he digs through every broken barrel and trash can on every square city block and hoarding broken bits of jewelry, rusty shivs, and single boots and then selling them to traders for two copper each and then doing it all over again. ]
no subject
no subject
no subject
[hawke is right.]
no subject
[ hawke is right, actually. ]
It made sense when he wasn't nobility, but after ...
no subject
[memshares stripping minthara's body of her cool weapons and armor and then noticing the outfit she was wearing underneath is kind of a serve and taking that too to wear around camp later.]
no subject
no subject
no subject
Waste not, want not.
no subject
no subject
[that still doesn't explain why she needed to steal her outfit though]
no subject
no subject
[whats recycling. whats earth.]
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Just think of happy memories only. Good times in your life. Do you have those?
no subject
Maybe Wis'adel has happy memories.
no subject
we're in for such a bad time ]
no subject
[I HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE STORY READER IN THIS CON LINE THOUGH SO HOLD ON.]
no subject
if you want the followup it's here, just scroll down a little to w and kal'tsit.]
no subject
Not particularly.
no subject
[ your life is SO sad, rat boy. ]
no subject
I know you have happy memories... why don't we concentrate on yours?
no subject
[Since we can never fucking leave it for good]
no subject
no subject
no subject
I still do not see how that was any of his business.
no subject
That corpse just called you single.
no subject
no subject
Why, exactly, does it care so much anyway?
no subject
He is rather friendly, though. If you do have to pay him to bring someone back to life, he pretends not to notice if you pickpocket him after.
no subject
I can't believe the nerve on that zombie.
no subject
no subject
Or was it your love life he was trying to resurrect?
no subject
no subject
At least you're making friends!
no subject
[memshares this, 9:53 to 11:07, tav is not there.]
no subject
Oh. I have friends like that too.
no subject
Once she stopped being so annoying about trying to kill me for the artefact all the time, we got along just fine.
no subject
Oh. I didn't. I hated him forever.
no subject
But you didn't kill each other. A success story.
no subject
Why couldn't he be dead too ...
no subject
she pats him soothingly]
Maybe he's just in hell?
no subject
If there is a Maker, he will be.
no subject
Jesus.
no subject
She wanted to duel me for it at dawn. I'm decent enough in a fight, but I'm not a brawler.
[she was only trying to kill her in the dead of night so she wouldn't be killed in broad daylight the next morning.]
no subject
[Somewhat uncertain now...]
And how did it finish?
no subject
[she didn't murder lae'zel. sigh. so boring.]
I'd say we're actually friendly enough now. Although she is still one of the most frustrating people I've ever known.
[memshares making out with lae'zel at the tiefling party, no this is a joke, or is it...]
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
I see. [HM.] Well. Sometimes friendship's more fun with a little friction. Just maybe not the physical kind.
[unless???]
no subject
[whether or not it happened the vibe is definitely like that.]
no subject
[Takes her hand, deadly serious.]
Shadowheart, can I be your friend?
no subject
Are you asking me to attempt to cut your throat in the night?
no subject
no subject
Well, it might not be so bad. We could all somehow spontaneously go blind for this night only.
[Hopeful thinking.]
no subject
[just offering!]
no subject
no subject
Richie puts his face in his hand.]
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
My... such valor.
no subject
[Beverly never had dokis for him once.]
no subject
[almost cold, working that hard to be smooth.]
no subject
no subject
[this is so unfair she's aware of one ex-wife. and one ex-husband, mizu.]
no subject
I had am almost, but you know. Her career was going East Coast, mine going was West Coast, I had to be a chauvanist pig to drag my heels about following after her....
[He shrugs. In another life, canon-chan.]
no subject
Ah, yes, the classic tale.
no subject
cw: giant spider, boobs. just so many boobs. please understand there are too many boobs. ]
Aauuugh!
no subject
[here cw for a nasty spider guy with so many eyes]
no subject
no subject
[since when is it a competition!!!!]
no subject
[ its a competition and hes WINNING. ]
no subject
Man, come on!
no subject
Ali is dressed in something other than a suit for once in his life, as he has chosen a t-shirt and jeans for the laborious task of weeding the flower bed. He could use his fire if he did it in small, contained blasts right at the weeds, but the neighbors are around and he would rather they didn't start asking questions. So, by hand it is.
"Whatcha doin'?"
Ali pauses in his work to glance up to a young boy, maybe 5 or 6. This boy has white hair and light green eyes, and yet despite looking nothing alike Ali smiles warmly at the boy.
"Weeding the flowers. Your papa normally handles it, but he's not feeling well today so I'm doing it."
The boy looks a little confused as he says, "Isn't fire faster?"
"Well yes, it would be," Ali says, speaking a bit quieter now so only the boy hears, "But we're trying to act like humans, remember?"
This seems to make sense to the boy, so he smiles widely and says in return, "And humans don't have magic!"
"Exactly. Now, do you want to help me here? Or would you like to keep playing?"
"Can I have the little shovel?"
Ali smiles a little and picks up the trowel, which he hands over to the boy, who is making grabbyhands for it. "Just fill in any holes you dig, okay?"
"'kay!" And then the boy takes the trowel and runs off to the backyard without another word.
This does not bother Ali in the slightest, and he just returns to his weeding. After about ten minutes though, he starts to hear some strange dragging noises, followed by a soft thump. This happens four times, with a few minutes of quiet in between, before Ali finally gets up to investigate. "Chance?"
He has to walk around the side of the house and towards the backyard before he finds his answer: four tall sunflowers are standing up against the wooden fence, facing the house. The boy- Chance- is now in the act of dragging the fifth over. Ali still seems unbothered by this, and in fact he just chuckles lightly. Leave it to Concord's kid to do things the hard way instead of asking for help. "Are the sunflowers ready for picking?"
Chance sounds a little out of breath as he speaks. "Yeah! Gonna put them right here. " With that, he tips up the fifth sunflower and plops it against the fence like the rest. Then he stands up, looking to Ali excitedly. "And I did no magic!"
Ali smiles warmly. "You did a good job too. Now we can cut off the heads and take them inside then-"
"Not yet!" Chance points to the window on the second floor, the one that goes to Ali and Concord's bedroom. "Now Papa can see!"
Oh, how Ali's heart melts when he hears those words. What a thoughtful child. So young, and he's already thinking of others. Ali just scoops up Chance in a hug, praising Chance while he giggles. "You're the most thoughtful person I know, my little sunflower. How about we go make your papa some lunch?"
"'kay!"
no subject
anders is FROWNING. ]
Humans have magic.
no subject
no subject
no subject
Plus, Chance was 5. The goal there was to keep him from growing a forest in the backyard with his magic, not to teach the nuance of humans versus mages.
no subject
sorry did you think anders was a sane or reasonable person who is willing to accept the different facts of different worlds at face value because no. he is an insane person. ]
Of course the mages are human! To call them anything else, to call them other, only allows the Chantry to further excuse their crimes. To brand us monster. If we are not human, they can maim our minds and put us to the sword like any other livestock, and those who stand on the outside will justify it as reasonable! They simply aren't human! What does it matter?!
[ if he could be glowing right now. he would. ]
no subject
His world is just different, you lunatic. Also, sorry, did you just say non-humans are livestock?
no subject
LOUDLY: ]
I wasn't talking about the elves!
no subject
no subject
[ I have elf friends!]
They imprison them in the Circle the same as anyone else!
no subject
but also she's just busting his chops. she's not even an elf she's a half-elf.]
Next time don't be so quick to act like not being "human" is such an insult.
no subject
no subject
Watching this slapfight ensue. To Shadowheart:]
Are we really letting this happen in a narrow maze full of glass?
no subject
1/2
2/2
So I guess that means dragons are livestock in your worldview?
[He should not be enabling this argument, and yet.]
no subject
How did anything I said relate at all to dragons?!
[ memshares this. You don't have to watch it its just Hawke fighting and killing a high dragon and it involves anders blasting magic to murder dozens and dozens of dragon babies. ]
no subject
A memory of Ali, meeting his sister in a mountainside town. Of warning her that the cave she built her nest in is too close to a town.
Of his sister, Ria, telling him that the father of her eggs is already dead, and that she needs his help making sure they hatch safely.
Of a group of teenagers, looking for a place to go camping and stumbling across a nest of eggs and a protective dragon.
Of Ali trying to stop her, telling her they can move the eggs, but his words don't reach her and she flies out of the nest to go 'handle the problem'. Her instincts to protect her next being too strong to be overcome.
Of Ali trying to move the eggs as quickly as possible, but only being able to move one at a time due to their size, and he ends up only having time to move one before some adult humans come around and smash the rest of the eggs in the nest.
Of Ria struggling to fight back as humans damage her wings and knock her to the ground.
Of the way Ria cries out "Leave my babies alone!" in a language only Ali can understand.
Of how, in the end, Ali watches his own sister get decapitated. And how he can't even cry, because any emotion would make the humans notice that he's not human as well.
And finally, of how, decades later, Ali returned to that same town and found his sister's dead body stuffed and preserved in a museum about the glory of humans who protect the world from dragons.
He probably would have been fine without seeing Anders' memory, but now? Now he's trying to punch Anders in the face.]
no subject
anyway he's not Justice-ing out and hes a mage so yeah? he just gets punched in the face? IT HURTS? ]
Quit it!
[ he has no staff, so just. trying to slap fight him off. ]
no subject
no subject
But at least after that punch he'll turn to slap fighting in return.]
How dare you kill children like that?!
no subject
I didn't start the fight! They were attacking the Bone Pit!
no subject
Well you sure ended it! Do you kill other kinds of children too?!
no subject
You will not accuse me of injustice!
no subject
Stop. Not tonight.
no subject
no subject
[no hard feelings, beat the shit out of him any other night and it's all good.]
no subject
[Yeah. A brawl on a Thursday night isn't going to look good no matter what.]
I was going to tell him that mages are respected for their wisdom and capabilities in my world, but...
no subject
Honestly, he'll find some way to be offended by that, too. I wouldn't worry.
no subject
[He runs a hand through his hair and sighs.]
Apologies. I don't normally lose control like that.
no subject
[like, what an unfortunate memory. she doesn't blame him for getting upset.]
For what it's worth, I think this is another thing that's different in his world. [she doesn't think he's out there killing sentient dragon babies.] But it can't have been pleasant to see.
no subject
...my daughter always knew I was actually her uncle by blood, but trying to explain the full truth to her when she was a teenager- while also trying to keep her from developing a deep-seated hatred of all humans- was challenging.
no subject
no subject
[he has twink strength she can just. hold him.]
no subject
no subject
I'm fine, stop suggesting hitting me on a Thursday night!
no subject
no subject
no subject
Not always.
no subject
godmaker! ]Of course we do! I'm a mage, you little idiot!
no subject
[Q.E.D. Checkmate Mage!]
no subject
I agree with you, humans don't have magic.
no subject
DIE. ]
no subject
You know, Chance is an adult now, but he's still just as kind and thoughtful.
[Ali is so proud. Both of his kids are the best.]
no subject
Well, it's a very sweet memory. Is it rude if I ask what you are, if not human?
[unlike some weirdos she doesn't just assume everyone is a human but he seems to have such human-y ears.]
no subject
Ah, well. Chance and his father Concord are unicorns, and my daughter Ava and myself are...dragons.
[He seems a bit hesitant to answer but what's the worse than can happen right?]
The kids call both of us dad but that's the biological relationships at least.
no subject
[since some do have the ability to appear human where she's from, too.]
no subject
Yeah, dragons either live up in the mountains or live among humans in a human form. I got lucky, the only visible sign of my dragon heritage is my red eyes. Some dragons can't control their form well and have scales on their face or arms.
no subject
...Aren't those just dragonborn? Hardly the same thing?
[that's racist...]
no subject
no subject
[human sized.]
no subject
no subject
There are fantasy novels that would beg to differ...
no subject
Fantasy novels are fantasy! It's not happening in real life.
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
Wow... family... a loving dad... not single one in the whole damn canon.]
no subject
no subject
[she'll say it out loud fuck it]
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
[That's not a thing.]
no subject
[this shape...]
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject