Marvel Comics, MCU, X-Men, Avengers. Currently living in the age of Cherik Renaissance 2024. Thank you Deadpool. Warning: Incoming Dragon Age obsession: Here we go again.
˗ˏˋ Happy New Year everyone ˎˊ˗
Honestly, sometimes I think 2024 is some kind of sarcasm. But anyway, I will continue to give you my illustrations because I love you all. Thank you for being with me and continuing to follow my art!
~You are my guiding stars~
A note for those who have trouble measuring butter with a spoon as I do: one cup I am sixteen tablespoons. Butter/margarine bricks are usually a half a cup, so just cut one eighth of that amount
These are really good! And yes, for the love of god, if you have it use white sugar and brown sugar, add just a pinch of salt, and as many chocolate chips as you darn well please. Great with icecream, whipped cream on top, or a tall glass of milk (keep in mind you gotta eat it with a spoon, you can’t dip it in milk)
I remember seeing you mention that you use ao3downloader to bulk download fics and I wanted to ask: does it keep filters too?
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It's a script. You put in a URL, and it grabs all the works it finds at that URL.
If the URL is a fandom tag, it grabs everything.
If the URL is a filtered search, it grabs things from the search.
If you give it your login (stored on your own computer since this is a script, not an app), you'll get all the archive-locked stuff.
If you have people muted and you're logged in, I think it respects that, but maybe it has a setting for that now? IDK. I haven't used it in a while, but I know work is ongoing because I shared my insane downloaded library a while back for testing purposes.
so. I wasn't very fond of the 1st meeting with my Inquisitor, Maxwell, bc it didn't really feel like him (& didn't sound it either, did they seriously slow the VA down to fit the lip-sync more?? still baffles me.)
BUT. this 2nd meeting??? has me absolutely SCREAMING I needed to analyze it. (buckle up this is a long post lads)
first off. this pensive look out the window while he's waiting. yes. YES. I bet you he's thinking about Solas right now. (him looking out the window again later when he calls Solas his "friend" confirms it. wishing you had dinner with him too? oh you pining, idealistic fool.....)
can I just say - I love the framing of this as a dinner for two. the core of this conversation is ALL ABOUT Rook's & Inquisitor's attitudes towards Solas (which in Maxwell's case is positive, vs. my Rook, who even though she chose more "agreeable options", is still very wary of Solas) - so having them be seated on opposites of the "topic of discussion" about whether Solas is genuine, while foiling each other? cinema.
Rook is, right out of the gate, trying to familiarize herself more with the Inquisitor. "You were a person before all this, right? Has this burden changed you much - too much?" ("Is that what will happen to me too?")
and then the game went right for my jugular with this line, HOLY HELL. "Feels like someone I haven't seen in a long time." HE WOULD SAY THAT. 100%. OUCH.
I know this is mainly about the title of "Inquisitor" erasing & replacing his previous sense of self (which UGHHH my heart!), but - in the context of Maxwell also growing disillusioned with his noble name bc his family withheld the information that he's half-elven almost his entire life? YEAH...adds to the pain.
OH YES. he absolutely would need to hear it from Rook herself. because there's the Solas he knew - the softly guiding, brashly challenging, solemnly sacrificing Solas....and because the whole damn entire South is on fire, Maxwell couldn't see it for himself. the slight intimacy of this request KILLS me - "I need to hear it from you."
and there it is - the crux of their debate.
Ambrosia, my Rook, who's seen all of Solas' facades by now (the rebel, the deceiver & mythal's creature), knows him saving her in Arlathan was NOT just out of the goodness of his heart. He has a plan to get out of fade prison - and needs Rook alive for that (for now).
But Maxwell has seen one side of Solas Rook hasn't - the one that wishes he was wrong. The one who secretly hopes for someone to stop him. And Maxwell clings to it, this fragment of his beloved/ friend, because it's ALL he has. He swore that he'd make him see reason - if his own heart can't believe in that, how could Solas?
this exchange killed me - because they're BOTH correct here!! and just. the fondness, familiarity AND grief in Maxwell's statement??? OUGHHHHH. shoot me.
I have a feeling Maxwell's not just speaking about Solas here, but also himself.....as Inquisitor. as Herald of Andraste. What does the blurb in the cc say - "Murderer, thief, herald, judge"? He's quite amassed his own barrage of titles - earned from enemies, followers & fractured history alike too....
(& he's looking out of the window again!! he's reminiscing!! the YEARNING. GUYSSS!)
love Rook's reaction here - she's just rolling her eyes at his rose-tinted-glasses view SKSKSKSKS
LOVE that it goes back to a wide-shot of the two here, bc he's throwing her skepticism back at her - "did you never try to reach out to a friend who you're at odds with? have you never believed in their good, despite all the wrong?"
OH, what's that? it's ROOK'S SASS WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!! love it. iconic. very in-character for her.
this turns Maxwell serious. makes him reinforce that he's NOT naive, despite his hopeful view. people have been hurt - have been killed (if you've finished the game you KNOW WHY this line hurts.) this is all on Solas' conscience, and he should be held responsible for it.
but it's on Maxwell's conscience too - another reason why he HAS to talk Solas down. because more people will be hurt. because if he doesn't move soon, there might be a point of no return for either, and then? then they're truly lost.
DJFHJSDSD I love Ambrosia's skeptical face here again - but in an effort to make his case for sympathy for Solas, Maxwell's DIRECTLY spelling out their parallels now!! His, Solas, AND Rooks - They're all bound by this!! Their titles, their fights against would-be-gods, their REGRETS IN LEADERSHIP!
Solas words to the Inquisitor in Trespasser about "A title that all but replaces your name" & "A name that inspires your friends and strikes fear into your enemies - not unlike Inquisitor, I suppose" ring back here, and doesn't it remind you of something?
Solas, to Rook: "What will they call you when this is over?"
They're caught in a web, these three, and Maxwell SEES IT!!
HMMMMM the ambiguity here!! I KNOW this is primarily meant to be read as "they (the Evanuris) made us do this", but what if it's sub-textually about Solas as well? "Our enemy [is] making us do this" - "we're not like Solas, and don't consider this world a mistake"? I'm probably reaching, but it feels like there's something deeper behind that statement....
(also: looking out the window, AGAIN!! I swear this is intentional)
I'm loving Rook's wit here - but this is not just wisecrack to be a smartass, NO. Rook is hurt by what Solas did to Varric - and that's why they bring this up!! Varric was their mentor in a way, and now thanks to Solas, Varric was out of the picture!
"Don't become what you hate" - a simple moral Varric knows well from experience. Bartrand. Anders. Solas.
Perhaps said by Varric when Rook struggled with the weight of their actions - "don't let regrets stew, kid, or else you might become the people you hate" - taken to heart by Rook.
And now Rook's throwing her frustration & grief at the Inquisitor's feet! WHY should Solas be saved, if this is all his fault?
because he grieves too. what he's lost, what he's thrown away.
OF COURSE the Inquisitor counters with another of Varric's sayings. He knew him too!! Loved him just as well, took his lessons to heart just the same....And he recognizes they're all trapped by the same thing - GRIEF. REGRET.
VARRIC IS HAUNTING THE NARRATIVE SO BAD Y'ALL. Can you see why I'm losing my mind over this conversation???
well then, Maxwell. ARE you trapped by what you've lost?? Is Solas????
(yes. a thousand times YES, on both accounts. They're never getting out of the graves they dug themselves into.)
I have nothing witty to say about this one, just....HE MISSES HIS FRIENDS!!! he misses the Inquisition & the good things they accomplished together!! URGHHHHHHH MY HEARTTT 😭
(Also: Rook going straight into protector-mode here is VERY precious. like: that's their team!! their family! and Maxwell's quick to reassure them he's just nostalgic. oughhh you sentimental man....)
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Whatever my gripes with this game's writing, this scene right here?? this is REALLY GOOD. from both a personal character perspective & a general writing perspective.
(I cannot speak for Inkys who wish to stop Solas, though. And I know that I got lucky that what the Inquisitor says here matches my OC. Same goes for my Rook.)
ANYWAY.
tl;dr of this extremely long post- I'm insane about these three and their dynamics with each other!! and the way the cinematography sometimes even subtly illustrates it?? YEAHH BOIIIIIIIII.
Hope you enjoyed my long, insane rambling. I need to draw these goobers, and stat.
I still REALLY wish Maxwell could have had the dialogue of someone who romanced Solas (and the choice that is in that discussion....ikyk) but alas :( maybe there'll be a mod someday.......
I love Solas so much and I rotate him in my head constantly but something that’s always especially amusing to me when it comes to him is that I can’t even call him a liar, unless we consider lie by omission. He’s actually ridiculously honest when he does talk, he just doesn’t do the talking about things that matter often.
Re-exploring Solas in retrospect with all the new content in mind is seeing all the little things he does say but we the player and we the inquisitor don’t have the knowledge yet to understand. I feel like the peak of his honesty aside from the final romance scene and bits we learn from Cole in base DA:I game is Halamshiral where he pretty directly says he prefers to let people make what they will of him as it allows him to do his thing and come unnoticed.
Commission for @enterthedreams of Solas and their OC Thenera giving power couple vibes! Please read their fanfic ‘God Touched’ where it features them. I’m such a fan of their work. 🥹✨
@anotheramazedperson‘s lovely DA4 Fenris comic is back with both Gideon Emery and Gareth David Loyd, extra elf voices and “ost gone wrong” by @flowersofsakura. I added more camera pans, a little thunder effect, and a certain echo. Special thanks to @calwyne and @flowersofsakura for voice commissions and getting me the files. I’ll put the Twitter link in the notes.
Hey, friends. I know I've been really struggling to look towards the future with any kind of hope, so here are some little things I've been trying to do every day that might help you, too.
Accept that your productivity might look weird right now. Don't expect yourself to act as if nothing is wrong.
Make art. I try to write something every day, even if I don't really feel like it, and I've found that once I get into it, I'm grateful I did.
Do something to plan for the future. Doesn't have to be big. Even getting some ice cream you know future you will thank you for counts.
Eat. Even if you're not hungry. I keep skipping meals because I don't feel like eating, and then I force myself to make something and realize I was absolutely starving.
Clean up one thing in your space. If doing all the dishes and sweeping the floors and putting away laundry all feel too overwhelming, try just doing one of those things.
Lean on your online and offline communities. I live in a county that voted trump by a margin of eighty percent. My world feels scary and hostile right now, and it's my communities that are helping me feel hopeful.
Try to find one thing that feels normal. One thing that feels safe and normal and helps you feel a bit more grounded. My local grocery store just got their shipment of chocolate oranges in for the season. That's my thing.
Try to find one thing to look forward to, no matter how small. My thing is checking my ao3 inbox for comments on my fics.
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