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⚔Tainted Blood Masterpost⚔

— a Rookanis WIP

►Find it on [AO3]◄

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Sometimes the smallest choices can change everything. Varric’s decision to hire a blood mage to stop Solas was one of them.

This is the story of a Rook who isn’t quite what anyone expected. Morally gray and socially awkward, she has little interest in making friends. Enter an Antivan Crow, suspicious of her from the start, and suddenly her plans begin to unravel, threatening more than just her secrecy.

This is also the story of Lucanis Dellamorte, an assassin turned abomination, the last thing he wants is to work alongside the very kind of mage he once hunted. Enter his personal bane, who’s somehow the most tolerant person he’s ever known, and now he isn’t so sure if he should trust his instincts or his morals.

“You know,” she said, voice low as she raised her hand to gently brush the ridge of the dagger. “I don’t normally use other people's blood in my spells, but I do use my own. So if you’re ever going to try and kill me—” her fingers drifted to skim the blade’s edge, just shy of drawing blood, and Lucanis pulled back with a grunt. “—make sure to do it in one clean move. Or otherwise, without blood involved.”

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#tainted blood #fic masterpost #my wip fic #my fic #lucanis x rook #rook x lucanis #rookanis #rookanis fic #rookanis fanfiction #dragon age the veilguard

I swear I find new things to freak out about (in a good way) every time I reread your fic.

🤣 Maybe I should reread it myself to see if inspiration strikes me to finally finish Chapter 32. I’m having a hard time reconciling What I hoped it would be vs. What it actually is :,) I’m kinda disappointed in myself. But, oh, well. Sorry for the drama lol

"Working with a team felt as strange to her as a crow walking on the ground to keep a rabbit company."

I was rereading your fic again (yes, again) and I just–

Was this foreshadowing?!

Was this foreshadowing about Rook's identity?!

If so, that is brilliant! It is both incredibly subtle but also kinda alludes to Rook's... complicated feelings towards herself, her identity, and her past. Even if it was not intentional, it still works super well! It is simply just a good line, no matter which way you look at it.

This is why I can and do reread your fic so often (no, I am not addicted to this fic, I can stop rereading anytime I want that is a lie, I am very much addicted to this fic)! You have clearly put thought and care and intention into writing it! I hope you believe me when I tell you that the thought and care and intention shows in your writing and it is all very much appreciated by this humble internet stranger.

It wasn’t intended as foreshadowing. I wish I could say it was! 😂 But thank you for believing I’m that clever.

I only meant it to be a little nod to her surname, and a bit of an insight into how she views everyone else. She feels like the team is too good for her, like innocent “rabbits”. But she also doesn’t see herself as a predator, since I could’ve used the “wolf and rabbit” metaphor instead (following Solas calling her a lone wolf). She sees herself as an outsider, but… she doesn’t realize that crows are actually social animals. She just needed to find other crows ;)

"'The half-breed bitch?' taunted Zara, and everyone except Rook bristled."

I want you to know I am kind of obsessed with how this little bit implies that Emmrich and Illario were both upset on Rook's behalf.

I love the idea of Emmrich getting protective over his future daughter! (I ship Emmrich and Arethas; getting to see that relationship slowly develop in the background of the story is something I have grown fond of while reading and rereading your fic)

I love the idea of Illario wanting to help undo/stop some of what he set in motion, not just to cover his own trail but for the sake of one of the few people he might dare to truly consider a friend. (I also imagine that carrying out the contract that followed might have given him both a bit of catharsis and perhaps a bit of vindictive satisfaction)

Hahaha yes, those two got protective there.

Now if only Rook realized that Emmrich is stepfather material, she'd ship them too 😂 But as it is, she's never seen Arethas in a relationship, so she doesn't even register that as an option. She doesn't know that Arethas has had some dalliances throughout the years (obviously), but he’s never brought anyone home, so to speak, because he didn't trust anyone enough around Rook’s secrets.

Illario’s feelings towards Rook and her situation are very convoluted. He does consider her a friend, but most of all, he sees himself in her. He actually feels closer to her than she does to him (because he investigated her for months), so Rook’s easy acceptance of him hits harder than if she were just a friendly acquaintance. And having the chance to actually right his wrongs regarding Rook does feel cathartic for him. Not only is he on the path to redeeming himself, but he’s also helping someone he believes is cut from the same cloth as he is.

Hi! Hello! Greetings!

I was rereading your fic again (your fic still has me in a chokehold—don't send help for I will not accept it, I am exactly where I want to be 😊) and I just wanted to let you know that I caught what you did with the spider lilies!

She was named after her father's favorite flower! No wonder she has some complicated feelings about her being called Lily! Sorry about all the exclamation points, but I love it when writers weave in details like that for the reader to piece together.

Yuup! Another good catch! 👏👏👏 I also chose spider lilies because of their association with death and the afterlife, since it fit Rook’s ties with the spirits.

Now the garden has lilacs, which Arethas planted because they’re her favorite flowers 🙂

And it’s also because of her complicated feelings about her name that she finds it so funny when Varric gives her the nickname “Rook”, not minding one bit that he’s mocking her family name.

"Lmao. I think you have better theories than I do 😂"

I'm torn between being incredibly flattered by that and wanting to remind you that I'm going feral over YOUR writing and YOUR ideas. 😂 I doubt I've come up with anything better than what you have in mind (I've already dismissed a few of mine as having not made sense), but—on the off chance one of them inspires you—you're welcome to steal any of the theories I've sent you. I doubt you'll have to or want to, since you have craft such an awesome fic so far! Just imagine me being a little cheerleader in the background.

Hahaha thank you so much! ♥️

I do have everything planned already, it’s just that I’m having trouble getting out of my writing slump. I don’t really like how I’ve structured the ending, so I’m torn between giving up and just accepting it as it is, or trying to redo it in a better way. The final battle is a mess 🥲 Too many things happening at once.

"Wait, is there a transcript of that podcast? I haven’t listened to it because I have the attention span of a goldfish for that kind of thing, but if there’s a transcript I might be able to skim through it."

I haven't played the games because health bars make me so unreasonably anxious it prevents me from having fun with it and I refuse to use YouTube since it dystopia-ed itself, so (among other things) I've been combing through wikis like it's my job to find whatever leads I can for information. I went to the Vows & Vengeance section on a wiki and found each episode's transcript at the bottom of the page.

You haven’t played DAV? And you still like reading fanfics about it? That’s curious! Especially since you’re writing a fanfic about it. How do you manage to keep track of everything that happens? I had to replay it myself while taking notes to write TB. I can’t imagine doing it without firsthand experience.

Have you thought about modding it? You could add some skill and armor mods so you’re practically invincible. That way it’d be like playing a cozy game where you only have to explore and read the dialogue.

"Lmao pineapples? That’s so random hahahaha I kinda want to know now why pineapples are relevant in your fanfic 😂 Did you finish it?"

Not finished yet. The pineapple thing is probably not important to anyone other than me, but I am just unable to keep myself from overthinking and overanalyzing things. It was to see if the Veilguard would think to give them to my Rook when she is high from the gingerwort tea (because I also did research about what people believe helps with a bad high—may my search history rest in peace—to figure out what they might think would help) and who, if anyone, on the team would even know what pineapple is or how to prepare one to be eaten. The answers I came up with are:

Pineapples exist in Thedas.

Pineapples are available in both Revain (they are part of a Codex entry on the menu of The Hilt) and Tevinter (or at least in Minrathous, since Neve says that you can get pineapple anywhere there).

I concluded that both Taash and Neve are familiar with the fruit, that pineapples may not be available in Nevarra (since Emmrich didn't know what they were by name, sight, or taste and had to ask Neve), and I decided that Lucanis MIGHT have encountered pineapples at some point (due to his work in Tevinter, his fondness for preparing food, and Treviso's status as a merchant city between Revain and Tevinter) but that Bellara, Davrin, and Harding probably haven't.

I didn’t know pineapples were supposed to help with a high lmao. That’s the first time I’ve heard that 😂 I guess you learn something new every day.

Is that bit about Emmrich not knowing about pineapples in the game? I really don’t remember any conversation about that.

Okay, I've been rereading your fic (again) in an attempt to keep myself from going feral with more and more theories on what will happen next with your Rook (I seriously cannot overstate how much of a chokehold your story and your Rook have over me; I literally woke from a dead sleep wondering if Rook was going to learn blight magic and use that to go scorched earth on Elgar'nan) and I am curious if you think Neve would have punched the First Warden in your version.

Lmao. I think you have better theories than I do 😂

And nope, I don’t think Neve would’ve punched the First Warden at Weisshaupt. She seems too pragmatic for that. She barely argues with the Knight-Commander during the Smuggled Relic Case when she realizes there’s no point, so I don’t think she’s hot-headed enough to punch someone. There’s also the fact that I don’t think the First Warden would’ve reacted as negatively to Neve, since she doesn’t have a reputation as a troublemaker like Rook does.

One of my first ideas was actually to have Lucanis be the one to punch him, but I ended up discarding it in favor of just skimming over the quest. I really hate writing action scenes, as I’ve complained before 😂 Which is one of the reasons I’m so stuck on the ending. That final battle is kicking my ass 🙃

"But there’s also another one when Rook says that she knew Lucanis would catch her. It’s a reference to what she tells him in Chapter 14 when he sleeps in her room 🙂"

I caught that one, too! I just forgot to mention it because I was too busy going insane over everything else around it, but that was also an emotional equivalent of twisting the knife (compliment). It has the same energy as someone who is clearly not okay trying to assure someone else that they're okay, but the angst here is even worse (compliment) because it's like she is sharing an inside joke and a callback to a moment of support and vulnerability between them but the present is a painful and horrific moment and there isn't anything that either of them can do and it all HURTS SO GOOD!!! 😭

I wasn't really sure anyone would catch it, since it’s been a while since I wrote that chapter. I probably would’ve had a hard time catching something like that in someone else's fanfic unless I read it all in one go, because my memory sucks, so good eye!! 👏🏻👏🏻 🤗

"Tbh, so far I haven’t really delved into any of the more complex lore, so you can pretty much guess what’s going to happen 😅"

What do you mean you don't delve into the lore? I think you do, and I'm saying this as someone who unironically spent a week chasing down leads for the exist and availability of pineapples in Thedas (all for a line or two in my own fic that I don't even know if I'll ever post). I will not tolerate this slander against yourself!

Also, no, I absolutely CANNOT guess what you are going to do! I've literally been thinking about this nonstop; I feel like that gif of Neve in front of the murder board.

Does Solas help (or "help") in some way out of guilt (he did apparently purify/purge the taint from the lyrium dagger so it's not entirely impossible, especially since I doubt he would have wanted to go about killing every single one of his allies who caught it)? Is the Caretaker able to help purify/purge the taint from something or do they know of how Solas did it with the lyrium dagger?

Could blood magic be used to isolate and purge the tainted blood (pun not intended– wait, was the title foreshadowing?!)? In the transcript of episode 7 for Vows & Vengeance, Emmrich seems able to use a combination of necromancy and exsanguination to purge an otherwise incurable poison from someone's blood.

Oh, I hope she doesn't have to go through the Joining! 😰 The bad dreams, the pain caused by the Evanuris' blight, the looming presence of the Calling... She might be morally grey but I just want her to be able to live peacefully after all of this—even if she still chooses to get involved in things the poor girl deserves to have the option. I have gotten so attached to your Rook and it's making me feel insane (complement); I totally understand why her "totally not her dad" is willing to go scorched earth for her.

Lmao pineapples? That’s so random hahahaha I kinda want to know now why pineapples are relevant in your fanfic 😂 Did you finish it?

I don’t judge you, because I spent a long time researching the bathroom situation in Thedas, before I decided, “Fuck it. Magic” 😂 But I did make sure pools existed in Ancient Rome before mentioning that Rook has one at her manor, since Tevinter is supposed to be inspired by the Roman and Byzantine Empires.

However, I haven’t really delved deeply into DA lore. It’s not like I go into detail about the history, culture, or even events from the previous games. I mostly just mention stuff in passing. It’s intentional, though. Besides the fact that I barely remember the first two games, I wanted TB to be a light read, so my research is mostly focused on keeping things consistent with canon, but not going too deeply into it. In fact, I didn’t even want to write more than 100k… that has clearly gone well 🙃

Wait, is there a transcript of that podcast? I haven’t listened to it because I have the attention span of a goldfish for that kind of thing, but if there’s a transcript I might be able to skim through it.

And I'm really happy you like my Rook 🥰 I feel like a proud mom when someone likes my OCs 🤣

"I couldn't resist making Arethas a Papa Bear who adopts any strays that come his way"

Arethas is really out here like 'Anyone going to adopt that?' and then doesn't wait for an answer. If you have an objection, then keep it to yourself because he can and will ruin or end your life for their sakes. These are his traumatized and poorly-socialized children, thank you very much. (Once he and Emmrich finally get together and thus Manfred becomes his son, the skeleton is going to probably end up being the most well adjusted out of all four of them)

Oh, yes, he will definitely kill (and has lol) for those he cares about. Remember the house staff? I never explicitly stated it because it’s told from Rook’s POV, and she wants to keep that under wraps, but… yup.

Isn’t it funny that Manfred is kinda going to be Rook’s stepbrother? He’ll totally be the more normal one 🤣🤣

I did not see your latest plot twists coming! Oh, my goodness! And that call-back to the Ossuary rescue was epic! I'm crossing my fingers that Rook doesn't end up blighted (maybe that's stupid of me, but I am clinging to my possibly delusional hopes that her gear is enchanted to prevent the spread of blight or that killing the Evanuris somehow neutralizes the blight in someone or that someone from DA:O has discovered the cure to blight so that it doesn't slowly and inevitably cause you to waste away in mind and body or just something).

I am only comforted because of your tags. I'm clamoring up the walls of my enclosure and will be trying to inject this fic into my veins to tide me over until you grace us with the rest of this story.

Yup, I had that call-back planned from the beginning, that’s why it’s in the summary 😂 But there’s also another one when Rook says that she knew Lucanis would catch her. It’s a reference to what she tells him in Chapter 14 when he sleeps in her room 🙂

And well, there are several options, like you said— A) enchanted gear, B) there’s a solution, like becoming a Grey Warden, or whatever Fiona did (I haven’t read those books), C) Ghilan’nain doesn’t spread the Blight like a darkspawn, since she actually controls it, or D) the author pulls out a deus ex machina, and Rook doesn’t get Blighted because she’s the MC and you don’t get Blighted in the game no matter how many darkspawn attack you.

Tbh, so far I haven’t really delved into any of the more complex lore, so you can pretty much guess what’s going to happen 😅

[Chapter 29] - Endless Devotion

→ AO3 [HERE]

→ Masterpost [HERE]

Snippet:

#not happy with this one #lucanis x rook #rook x lucanis #rookanis #rookanis fanfiction #dragon age the veilguard #dragon age veilguard #lucanis dellamorte #tainted blood

I am painfully sick right now and seeing that you updated your fic honestly was the highlight of my week. Thank you 🥲

Aww, so sorry to hear that :( It’s not the most uplifting chapter, but I hope it helped distract you a little, and that you feel better soon! Sending some strength your way (੭ ˊ^ˋ)੭ ✨ and here’s a pretty Lucanis for a lil’ extra push! ♥️🫂

[Chapter 28] - As the Sun Sets

→ AO3 [HERE]

→ Masterpost [HERE]

Snippet:

“I've changed, too,” the spirit said. “I’m Spite now. But I wasn't before. And you weren't Rook. I forgot for a while, but then I remembered. Names blur when the essence is twisted.” She looked at him sadly. “I'm sorry you had to go through that.” Her change of identity couldn’t be compared to the change in his very being that Spite had suffered through. Twisted from his purpose, thrown into a body of mortal flesh that didn’t even belong to him. Zara’s death had been too quick for what she deserved. However, Spite shook his head. “Don't be. I have you,” he said, so naturally, so effortlessly. Rook envied how easy it was for spirits to simply speak what was on their mind without fear. “You’ve always been my favorite.” She swallowed, feeling slightly overwhelmed by his affection. “Don’t let Lucanis hear that. He might get jealous,” she joked, incapable of processing such sentimental matters in any other way. Spite wrinkled his nose in displeasure. Then he closed his eyes, and when he looked back up again, the glowing purple had been replaced by warm brown. “Did I hear that right?” Lucanis asked, an eyebrow raised. Rook opened her mouth, dumbstruck, then closed it again and pouted. “Spite!” she complained. Lucanis’ lips twitched in amusement. “Should I be jealous, then?” he taunted. “What? N-no! That's not—” “I'm kidding,” he said, his gaze soft as he brought her hand to his lips to kiss her knuckles. “Can't blame Spite for feeling that way when you're quite irresistible. He and I have that in common. You're my favorite too.” Rook averted her eyes, fighting off a blush. Sometimes Lucanis was too charming for her own good. She cleared her throat. “I'm sorry we woke you up. You should be resting for tomorrow.” “As should you. You’re sleeping less these days to read to him,” he said. “Come. Spite can survive a night without you.” Lucanis tugged her down under the covers, barely giving her time to set the parchments on her side table before he wrapped her in his arms. She settled against his chest, breathing in the warm smell that characterized him. “Are you sure he can? I’m his favorite, after all,” she replied, the amusement curving her lips now that the embarrassment had faded. “He can fight me for it if he disagrees.” “I'm not sure you should be giving him ideas.” Lucanis snorted. “Probably not. But I'll live.” “If he gives you too much trouble…” “He won't. He always listens to you,” Lucanis said. “We always listen to you.” And she felt so undeserving of that, that if she thought too much about it, her instinct to flee would kick in. So she didn't.

#lucanis x rook #rook x lucanis #rookanis #rookanis fanfiction #lucanis dellamorte #dragon age the veilguard #tainted blood

I don't know how you managed to make the other Crows discovering Lucanis is possessed to be equal parts a hilarious moment and an "oh, ****" moment. Also, because of the way it happened, I like to imagine that means Lucanis is getting used to working with Spite to the point where it's just normal for him. If I may ask, how did you come to the decision that Spite was initially kept a secret from the other Crows?

Yup! I've tried to show a progression in Lucanis’ trust toward Spite, without the obvious deal he makes with him in the game during Inner Demons (since in my version of that quest he doesn't make one). He still has a bit to go, but working with Spite does come naturally to him by now, especially when fighting next to Rook ;)

About why I decided it was a secret… It’s because in the game, afaik, it wasn’t clear when or why the other Crows found out about it, and here Illario isn't using that information to turn everyone against Lucanis either, so I thought it made sense for the Crows not to know. Lucanis hasn't told anyone, Illario hasn't either, and they're being secretive about everything that happened with Zara. It's the consequence of changing Bloodbath, Inner Demons, and skipping A Murder of Crows altogether 😂

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