Vilz. Old lady obsessed with Dragon Age: The Veilguard
My Rook: Gemma de Riva
My Works: The Tale of an Antivan Canary (a spookanis story)
SerialsforBellara on AO3.
Banner art and profile pic by @kogarashi-art
Gemma. They may be best friends, he may be over a foot taller than her, but he immediately loses by underestimating her, and forgetting that she's a de Riva and poisoned that fist she just punched him with. (Not the face -- he's too pretty.) But she'll give him the antidote. Eventually.
Thanks to @kogarashi-art for the tag and the list of no surprises!
Mine also has no surprises. No offense to the characters on this list I don't know. Yet. And apologies to Anders, who I do intend to romance. Apparently Aveline is my Hawke's bestie.
Find the sorter here! When you're done, you can use the download button (next to the share button) to get the 10-up and the whole list as images.
The whole thing!
Come join me in this nightmare of choices if you want!!
Growth on this account is super slow. I'm still only at 210 followers. To help, I'll do a bust portrait giveaway whenever I reach 300 followers. When I reach 500 followers, I'll do a couples half-body portrait giveaway.
Here are examples of my portraits:
If you like my work, please reblog and if you're new to my art, consider following!
A four-chapter interlude between the Tale of the Antivan Canary and the sequel Crows in Nevarra where Gemma, Illario, Lucanis, and Bellara each get thrown into their own blender.
(I got one too. I am officially blended.)
On AO3 here. 13K words. Snippets below.
WIP Wednesday this week featured snippets from Chapter 1: Changes and Secrets (Gemma) and Chapter 2: The Shadow of Everything (Illario).
Here's a preview of Lucanis and Bellara.
Chapter 3: The Alternate Ending (Lucanis):
A dinner alone with Rook. As he was about to turn towards the markets, thinking of ingredients to buy, it happened again.
The sounds of Treviso faded. A couple walked through the bakery door beside him, laughing without noise. The blue skies turned into mottled shades of grey before pinpointing his vision to a match of stone. Sharp pain erupted in his chest and when he looked down, there was a gaping hole and a retreating tentacle.
“Why do you continue to think you survived?”
The voice was low, taunting, and unfamiliar. He remembered every timber of every voice of those that hurt him in the Ossuary. This was not one of them.
“This is the world you exist in. Not the other. There is no love or sunshine or flowers for you. Only the dry dirt of death.”
“Master Dellamorte! I am so glad I caught you.” He came back to his senses slower this time, but Spite was there, accepting a bakery parcel from Dima, the bakery’s owner with a nod of thanks.
“Meat pies for dinner and sweets for your lovely wife,” Dima said.
Finally finding his voice again, he said, “She will say you spoil her.”
“As she did for me reducing the rest for all the years of the occupation,” he declared and with a clap on his shoulder, departed back into the bakery.
“WHERE DID YOU GO?”
Still, he had no answer.
‘Did you hear the voice?’
“WHAT VOICE? WHO DARES?”
Chapter 4: Being Useful (Bellara):
They needed her too much. They needed her to use the archive spirit to help with research (people thought she was kidding when she said be rude to it). They needed her to understand the artifacts that now worked differently than when the gods were alive (really). They needed her to tell them why all their gods were gone and their history had been rewritten (these were the worst conversations). There was paperwork to complete, lectures to be rewritten, papers to edit, students to teach (not her because things were not that bad). Everything kept her rooted in place, surrounded by people all the time.
Everyone meant well. The work was important.
She just didn’t know how to be herself anymore.
From the look on Strife’s face, she knew what he had come to say. No, he couldn’t risk her on the fifth attempt at coming up with a very useful trip that would allow her to be away for a few days (did he even read her ideas anymore? Maybe he needed a questionnaire like the one that helped Rook). Rook had taught her a Crow Mask, so she put a bright smile on her face and nodded in all the right places while Strife destroyed another set of dreams at getting away and being able to breathe. He departed and she went back to the paper in front of her, feeling the corners of her mouth fall with the disappointment that bubbled within her and threatened to spill the gathering tears.
She could do this. She owed it to the Dalish and the Veil Jumpers, her heritage and her family. Be useful, her parents had taught her. She would find some way to manage. Right. Some way.
Happy Rook Appreciation Week!! Know you've been writing a fun ongoing thing for Rook week already but if youre interested in another writing prompt:
Isadora and Gemma have to infiltrate a party together to eavesdrop for information. How do they do it and what are they wearing?
or....
It's Viago de Riva's birthday. What do Isadora and Gemma plan together for him?
Happy Rook Appreciation Week (we all make it last all year!!)
(sorry this took so long!)
I offer you:
Isadora and Gemma Infiltrate a Party
Viago de Riva glared at the third patron of his event that dared to think he would shake hands. Beside him, Teia jumped in, upping the sweetness in her voice and grasping both of the man’s hands between hers.
It was not an improvement.
“We need these alliances,” Teia hissed. “Try to frown slightly less.”
It was the kind of party he despised: held in his own home and because he needed something. In this case, the Crows needed something, mainly allies for the rumored and imminent invasion by the Antaam.
Resigned to his torment for the betterment of the Crows, once the receiving line was complete he walked the room, stopping to chat with those who deserved his time and nodding at those who did not.
On one side of the room were tables overflowing with food. Not his choice. Teia insisted. Crows moved to and from, back and forth, taking their lives in their hands with every bite.
A perfectly decorated, yellow frosted cupcake disappeared off the back of the table.
Even for Viago, that was an unusual event.
Someone caught his attention and began talking. Over the woman’s shoulder, he watched the food table.
As soon as no one was standing in front of the dessert table, a slice of tiramisu inched its way from the front of the table to the back where it dropped out of sight.
With a sigh and without an apology to his companion, he strolled purposefully toward the buffet, approaching the desserts from the side. There was no one in the walkway behind the table between the wall behind it. Crouching, he lifted the tablecloth.
Two sets of eyes stared at him: one green wide-eyed halla set and one crystal blue narrowed set. Both attached sets of mouths were covered in yellow cupcake frosting. A lecture grew in his chest until his eyes dropped again. The twelve-year-old girls were dressed in matching pink frilly nightgowns covered ruffles. The ruffles, covered in tiny hearts and smiling nugs. were so fluffy and so great in number that both girls looked three times their small sizes.
Teia had said she would handle reigning in Isadora and Gemma. The two girls had become fast friends. Too fast. These pink monstrosities had to be Teia’s fault, a way to make the girls instantly noticeable should they infiltrate the party. The fact they had made it under the table unseen was a feat that promised bright Crow futures for them both.
Just as he intended.
However, that wasn’t what stopped the lecture. Between the two girls, next to the plate of tiramisu, and among several other discarded plates and a pile of crumbs, was a wooden box with a set of vials.
It was one of his poison testing kits.
He would never admit to the burst of fondness and pride that exploded in his chest.
“Carry on,” he intoned and let the tablecloth fall to muffle the burst of relieved giggles. He headed back to the party, trying to suppress the smile that refused to fade.
Thank you for the tag, @kogarashi-art AND for the Photopea handholding. (I think I understand layers!!!) I stole your post layout too.
Templates by Halkuonn (@/arcandoria) are here
Gemma de Riva
Intro Card
You know Gemma! Spellblade Antivan Crow mage elf adopted by the Crows in Treviso who grew to be known as Viago's Canary. Infatuated with Lucanis (and unable to talk to him) and best friends with Illario (until she wasn't and now she is again). She's currently figuring out her actual origins.
Affiliations:
Did I have fun with the colors after Kogarashi taught me paint brushes? YES. Popsicles!
My Veilguard ends as family, so everyone gets the family and the close friend icon. Here's some yapping on my popsicles.
Lucanis: Gemma's respect turned to love and when they actually met again, turned to close friendship and then back to love. Lucanis's journey began with respect for Viago's Canary then friendship, then closer friendship, and finally love. (There might be a bit of crush in that popsicle.) Spite would have preferred this going faster.
Emmrich: There's love in this too, but a different kind. Emmrich saved Gemma as a child, so it's a paternal love that grows to respect and then close friendship as adults.
Lace: There's love here too -- sisterly love. Sure, Lace has a touch of distrust because Gemma wasn't very nice to her at the start but that quickly turned to respect while traveling and then besties forever with that sisterly love overlaying it all. Is she fallen? Gemma and Taash don't think so.
Davrin, Neve, and Taash: For all three of them, initial friendship was easy and respect came along with it. Neve has that one spot of distrust, but Gemma chose her home and close friendships prevailed.
Bellara: Gemma respected her from the start -- Bellara was friends first and then found the respect, but they both became very close and are likely the closest pair (Lucanis/Spite aside) post-game, even though Taash did fledge Jacobus's house. How much of this is due to Illario? Probably some - everyone is still trying to figure that out. (Including me.)
Come be in awe of my popsicles and play if you want! If I can do this (with a whole lot of help), you can do this do!
6. what's your go-to recipe when you want to make something that requires minimal effort?
14. what's a hobby you'd like to get into?
26. do you make a list before going to the grocery store or just wing it?
Thanks for the definitely de-aging asks. 😉
6. I don't cook well or often, so my go-to recipe is nachos. Chorizo, ground turkey (our preference) simmered with green chile sauce, and then spread over tortilla chips and topped with black beans and cheese (cheddar and habanero jack). Is it healthy? There are beans.
14. In the dream world in my head, I would love to have a garden with lots of fresh foods that would spur other hobbies like cooking and baking. In reality, I don't have the energy or the motivation and I'm ok with that. I have my creative outputs and I get outside to touch grass enough. ☺️.
26. Absolutely a list and I'm standing in each aisle checking it off to make sure I remember what's on the list. Otherwise, I go to the store for 3 things and leave with 1 of the things plus 3 bags of Cheetos, a package of berries, and some sort of bread product. And probably cake.
For the aging Tumblr asks (de-aging, right? We're getting younger?) numbers 12, 23, and 25 please!
Oh, of course we are :)
(asks here)
12. what's the biggest purchase you've ever made?
Definitely a house, with my amazing partner @robinatthewatersedge, those things are frickin' expensive! Other than that, the biggest purchase I've made is myself - transition healthcare, laser hair removal, name change paperwork, new wardrobe, it all adds up to a not insubstantial amount of money, but it's so, so worth it.
23. what's the coolest place you've visited?
Literally in terms of temperature probably the Ice Hotel in Sweden, north of the Arctic circle. That was amazing, especially seeing the Northern Lights dancing in the sky while stood on a frozen river! In terms of arsty, cultural, hipster cool, Bergen in Norway. I felt very uncool by comparison there XD
25. would you rather own a dishwasher or a laundry machine if you could only have one or the other?
Laundry machine (washing machine here in the UK) any day, and I don't have a dishwasher, usually I cook and my partner washes - it's a good deal, I get out of an annoying chore and they get delicious foods!
Those are the best things to spend lots of money on! YOU plus a place for you to put that new wardrobe! I love the thought of anywhere cold right now and I'm impressed at the cooking PLUS no dishwasher!
Thanks for the answers and a peek into the forever young River!!!
There also needs to be a button for “this is the 5000th time I’ve read your fic because I’m having a horrible day and this is the only thing in the world that always brings me happiness.”
Thanks for the tags @mushrooms-x-moss, @redaresss, @gatesofminrathous (you posted the chapter!!!), and @kogarashi-art -- so many wonderful things happening! (You too, @biowaredisasterbisexual!!)
I am working on a thing. I don't know what this thing is, exactly. Possibly it is an interlude between The Tale of An Antivan Canary and Crows in Nevarra to set the stage for what Gemma, Lucanis, and Illario are each dealing with. It seems too depressing to be Chapter 1. We'll see. Details - they exist to be figured out later.
Here's a bit of Gemma and a bit of Illario in a blender.
Gemma is attending a Viago lecture:
“One of the first actions a new Head of House must take is a House meeting.” Viago pointed at third chalkboard. “Start with Crows. The staff and support positions come next. The agenda must include….”
Viago’s agenda sounded like part budget meeting and part royal procession. Gemma had been in many House meetings. None of them had contained such a ridiculous agenda. Was Viago trying to set her up for embarrassment?
“Taash is in Fereldon,” Jacobus muttered. “I haven’t recruited anyone else yet. I’m a teenager. I have school.”
Jacobus returned to practicing sleeping with his eyes open. Gemma’s eyes glazed over and she turned her attention to the spirits and caught up on the latest Casino gossip until Viago rested his chalk and clapped his gloved hands.
“I have arranged this for you, Gemma,” Viago finished. “Your House will gather in the private dining room in an hour. We will continue the lesson after.”
Her last nerve snapped.
While she didn’t understand the old magic clinging to her, she knew it liked to intensify negative emotions. It didn’t just poke her this time.
It stabbed.
“How dare you?” she shouted, jumping to her feet.
Viago ducked her thrown knife.
“How could you undermine me like that? I have sat here all day patiently listening to you ramble about nug poop because I respect you! Where is mine in return? Why did you arrange that? When did you arrange that? It’s going to look like House de Riva is making a hostile takeover of House Dellamorte or that I need my father to do everything for me! I fucking saved the world!”
She's still having a better time than Illario:
(below the cut for possible torture trigger warnings)
Why his cousin had decided to tell him this story tonight, he didn’t know, but it silenced the Voice. When Gemma awoke and realized no one had taken her to bed, she grumbled him out of the apartment and for a while, in the guest suite they offered and he claimed, the solitude was kind to him.
Until he closed his eyes.
Every night he was pulled back into the same place.
The room was small, the ceilings low. Dark stone walls, scratched and crumbling. Harsh lights. Gravel and dirt floors, cold under his feet. Stifling hot air that didn’t move. Tables of horrifying implements. From behind the barred wooden door came screams.
Stretched out face down on the table in front of him was Lucanis. His hands were chained above his head and his ankles to the edges of the table. Naked and starved, his ribs stuck out from his sides in stark relief. His head was a mass of shaggy, matted hair.
“Doesn’t he look delicious, all weak and vulnerable? Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted?”
The voice he wished he would never hear again.
Ok, Lucanis isn't having a good time either, but things will be different for him in his blender. 🙃
#18: How does Hawke feel about Cullen? Do they like him?
Cullen is complicated.
On the one hand: templar. That's already dicey just by itself for the refugee apostate mage. He's clearly Meredith's right-hand man. He's got Opinions™ when it comes to mages. He probably wouldn't even bat an eye at having to haul her in to the Gallows, but he might feel bad about it.
On the other hand, he's a fellow transplant from Ferelden. He does seem to care about his charges, even if he's also extremely wary around them. He's just barely this side of reasonable enough to talk to. He actually kind of sort of listens to Hawke when she talks, even if he doesn't approve of her opinions on mages. He maybe Meredith's right hand but definitely in the "doesn't know what the left hand's doing" kind of way (as in the woman is keeping him out of the loop on some things).
Also he's far too cute for his own good.
Aelinn spends the better part of her time in Kirkwall trying to befriend Cullen, and maybe sway his thinking. He probably thinks of her as something like a barnacle.
In another life, they might have been pretty good friends.
(In an alternate universe, they might have gotten together as a rebound from Hawke's relationship with Fenris.)
In the end, at least, she'll happily consider him an ally, and he won't begrudge her that.
For the questions for Hawke, #17, 24, and #26 please! Maybe I just got to this part in Act 2!!
Thanks for sending me asks for Hawke! 💙
#17: Does Hawke like the Arishok?
Hawke...respects the Arishok. She respects that he's a powerful person, that he's clearly skilled in combat, and that when she's in his camp she's functionally at his mercy. She also respects that he offers safe haven to downtrodden people who want to convert, but at the same time, she doesn't like his disdain for Kirkwall or the rest of its people. Since she's predominantly diplomatic, she still tries to keep the peace—and even ends up earning his respect in turn—but it doesn't stop her from challenging him when he attacks her city, and fighting him when he won't reason (and she refuses to give up Isabela; see below).
#24: Is Bartrand dead or alive? Did Hawke let Varric keep the red lyrium?
Bartrand is dead. Hawke let Varric put him out of his misery, and Varric admitted afterward that it doesn't make him feel any better. Hawke definitely didn't let Varric keep the red lyrium, since it seemed dangerous and she didn't want him to end up like his brother. They set it on fire with her using magic to make sure it was completely destroyed.
#26: How did Hawke feel about learning the truth of Isabela's artifact? Did they feel betrayed or did they understand her?
Hawke was definitely hurt. I have the timing of things in my fic plans such that Hawke hooks up with (and then breaks up with) Fenris, which is the first emotional blow, followed by the murder of her mother as an awful second. Her emotional state is fragile, and she is more than ready to write off Isabela when Isabela leaves with the Tome.
But then Isabela returns. Hurt as she is, Hawke is ready to latch onto any semblance of hope, and finds it within her to defend Isabela when the Arishok demands the pirate in addition to the tome. Betrayal is what others do, not Hawke.
Of course, she's still in pain and reckless because of it, so when Fenris suggest single combat to play on the Arishok's sense of honor, Hawke accepts, even if it's dangerous for her, and is just lucky she survives. But her defense of Isabela cements Isabela as more than loyal enough when it matters in the third act.
Part of In Shadow, We're All Grey: my Aydenne de Riva series
Aydenne travels to Ferelden for the wedding of a friend. He thinks he’s just taking a +1, but the truth is he’s never traveled anywhere without the weight of past baggage at his heels. Old wounds and old loves collide on the other side of the eluvian, and the occasion, with all its free time and familiar faces, has a way of forcing him to see what he’s been avoiding.
What should have been a simple celebration becomes a landslide of jealousy, longing, and unfinished business.
Not every installment of this series is a romance, and I've certainly never gone in for love triangles before, so this is new for me, but I had a very clear idea of what I wanted to do here! It's also moving the plot forward, because what would I be if not a slut to the plot haha.
Things to note: this is gonna be angsty. Aydenne is FUCKED UP about Illario (who's kindof a dick in this story but he does have reasons). Zalan is down bad. Illario is sleeping with Zevran. Viago is gonna Viago.
I don't have an exact posting cadence but I'll probably share another set of chapters later this week. It's not going to be a long event/fic, I just started posting it in sections to push myself toward the finish line.
Check out a snippet from chapters 1 and below:
Chapter 1:
Viago’s study was exactly as ever, orderly, clean, and faintly scented with ink and something corrosive. One detail stood out: the vase that usually held fresh flowers was empty and had been placed on the highest cabinet in the back corner, as though it had been exiled.
Ah. He and Teia were off again.
Which meant the conversation ahead would be prickly, but not personal. A small, irrelevant part of him hoped otherwise before he tamped it down. Viago never welcomed personal conversation, but didn’t even allow the hint of personal when things weren’t going well; time had only made him more tight-lipped about certain things.
Aydenne turned as Viago entered. The First Talon had removed his leather apron and replaced his poison‑making gloves with a thin black pair that offered both dexterity and plausible deniability.
Viago shut the door behind him with a soft click, then paused a fraction too long as he adjusted the layering of sleeve and glove. Aydenne caught the hesitation and felt his stomach tighten. Viago seated himself, eyes on his desk. “I understand you’ll be traveling to Ferelden soon,” he opened, steepling his fingers in front of his face.
“You were invited, too?”
“We—I was, yes.”
Definitely off with Teia.
“Are you going to attend? The eluvian web will make travel simple.”
Viago exhaled through his nose. “There are several critical priorities at the moment, but I believe I will be able to attend.”
Chapter 2:
“Viago was in a bad mood when I visited.”
“Oh, yeah. I heard him and Teia broke up again. Did he say something about it?”
“I… no? I think he was telling me he was tired of me being sad about…you know who… and he might have suggested that it interferes with my work.”
Not everyone in Houses de Riva and Dellamorte knew how steadfastly Aydenne cared for Illario, but enough were aware of it and for those there was no question: it had never once interfered with Aydenne’s work. He’d concealed his feelings from Caterina herself, which was no small feat. If in the tumultuous relationship they’d sustained up to this point caused Aydenne untold mental anguish, he kept it to himself most of the time, hiding his pain like a housecat disappearing to lick its wounds.
Zalan’s silence lasted up the stairs and into the family wing of the home, a weighted, deliberate quiet that made Aydenne wish he’d kept his mouth shut. He tried to match Zalan’s calm, to breathe evenly, but his pulse kept stuttering. When Zalan finally asked his question, his voice was light; a sure sign he was holding something back.
“What exactly did Viago say that made you think that?” They’d arrived at a guest suite Aydenne insisted Zalan consider his home away from home, though House de Riva’s Treviso headquarters weren’t far.
Aydenne winced. “It’s not important.”
divider by strangergraphics from this post
Tagging friendos for visibility! @blackwall-my-tiny-husband @chaosherald @gatesofminrathous @cimmanombagel @marbled-polecat @sorrygoldfish @ladyofcrowsandcoffee @serialsforbellara @davrinsleftpectoral @mushrooms-x-moss @serensama no reading requested if you're busy but I'm super excited about this angsty baby!
