This ended up longer than anticipated (~1700 words) so you can read on AO3 if you like =)
ALSO Many thanks to Draga who helped me all the way with this one <3
~~
“Do you think we could go swimming later?”
Hawke couldn’t come up with a single reason why they shouldn’t go swimming now. So she and Merrill found a small beach next to a cliff, stripped down, and enjoyed the afternoon sun in the gentle waves. Some musty old cave filled with bandits or whatever could wait. She had floating to do.
She had missed the summer of the previous year, down in the Deep Roads. Bethany probably didn’t get to go swimming now, and Hawke’s thoughts quickly grew morose. That wouldn’t do. She needed to think of something pleasant as she listened to the waves, her hair floating around her while she drifted.
Fenris was pleasant.
Well, frequently he wasn’t. A little cantankerous at times. Could stand to be nicer to Merrill. A bit sharp along the edges.
Hawke liked sharp. The network of scars on her hands were proof enough of that. Or the collection of daggers littering her home. Or the twelve or so knives she always had about her person. Except for right now, of course, while she was blessedly nude in the water's embrace.
The point was sharp worked for Hawke.
So to regain a pleasant frame of mind, she focused on Fenris, and her imagination delivered. If she quieted her breaths enough, eyes closed against the bright sun in the sky, she could almost hear his voice. It sounded like… velvet? No, velvet didn’t growl, probably. Velvet made of sandpaper? That was probably just called sandpaper, and it didn’t do him justice. He didn’t grate on her. No, it was like…. like the utter relief at finally scratching an itch she just couldn’t reach. He spoke, and she melted just the tiniest bit.
She could almost hear him calling her name now.
“Hawke!”
There it was again, though not exactly soothing. She could think of better things for him to say than just her shouting her name. Something about simple pleasures and wine, maybe. Flames, he could talk about blades for an hour and she'd probably enjoy it.
“Hawke!”
A shadow passing over her closed eyes was all the warning she got before she was yanked out of her floating position. She flailed against the strong arm holding her, but her head remained above water. Whoever had her—Fenris, she realized—was holding her tightly and swimming with her toward the shore.
She stopped struggling.
“What the absolute fuck?” she managed to get out, fear and surprise now replaced with embarrassment, confusion, and a growing awareness that she was completely naked and pressed up against his bare skin.
He kept swimming, seemingly unaware that her entire body was now blushing.
“Fenris!”
He slowed but didn’t let go of her. “I’m bringing you to shore.”
She wiggled in his grasp. “I can do it myself! Maker’s breath, what are you doing?”
He let her go, and she turned to him, treading water. Her confusion was reflected on his face. “You looked… you did not respond to my calls. I thought…” As he spoke, her eyes traveled over his bare shoulders and chest, his torso disappearing into the dark water. His eyes evidently made a similar trajectory, because he blurted out, “You’re naked” just as she said, “They really do go all the way down.”
“Pardon?” he asked, his cheeks a charming shade of red as he turned away from her. She noted the way he flexed the hand that had held her, opening and closing his fist, even as his face went stony and neutral. He was breathing hard. He must have swam at some speed to come to her aid. The redness in his cheeks was probably due more to exertion than any consideration for her body.
She held one arm across her chest, hoping he truly hadn’t heard her stupid comment. “Um. I wasn’t expecting company. Or a rescue.”
“What were you doing out there?”
“I was floating.”
Fenris pushed his hair out of his eyes, and Hawke realized it was the first time she’d ever seen his forehead. It was beautiful, like the rest of him, if also marred by lyrium. He caught her staring, their eyes locking for a moment before his flicked down once more and then raised to the heavens, his face turning just a shade redder.
Not entirely exertion, then. “Why are you even here?” she asked.
Fenris cleared his throat. “Varric said you needed assistance with some job. We came to meet you.”
“Varric’s here?”
She whipped around, but she didn’t see him on the shore. That didn’t mean he wasn’t somewhere, watching this. Laughing. Taking notes. Probably put Fenris up to this in the first place. You should go check on her, elf. She’s a weak swimmer. That ass.
“We should head back,” Fenris said, interrupting her many thoughts on how to repay him for this.
“I’m waiting for you.” He frowned at her, and she clarified, “I can’t very well swim in front of you like this. You go first.”
“Right,” he said, clearing his throat again. “Sorry.”
He kept a slower pace this time, though his rhythm was smooth and his form was precise. She idly wondered when he had learned how to swim and who had taught him. Her own technique was haphazard, sometimes a sidestroke, sometimes a front stroke. Occasionally she liked to kick her legs like a frog. She was still sort of coming to grips with the fact that mere moments ago Fenris had held her naked body against him, albeit in a hold meant for a drowning person. She couldn’t have dreamed up that scenario if she’d tried, and Maker knew she had thought of many dumb scenarios that ended with her naked and his arms around her.
They were good arms, cutting through the water. They were attached to good shoulders, and frankly, given that he had gotten to see, well, everything, it probably wasn’t wrong for her to admire them as they headed for the shore. She so intently watched how the muscles in his back flexed with each stroke, she swam straight into a rock that jutted out of the water. Fenris glanced behind him at the noise, no doubt convinced now that she was a weak swimmer ready to drown at the nearest opportunity, and she waved.
Finally her feet found purchase on the sand. If she were being honest, it was possible she had been out in the sun too long and swam too far, because her muscles were feeling a bit like jelly. Maybe it was good Fenris came along when he did. She stayed hunkered down in the water as he walked ashore, the sun gleaming off his shoulders, his soaked breeches hugging his skin. His muscles certainly weren't jelly. He ran a hand through his hair and shook it out, and only when he turned to see her watching did she realize her mouth was hanging open. After a moment he grinned.
“The beach is yours,” he called, picking up his armor and walking off.
She stood up tentatively, fairly certain there were no prying eyes on her to steal what was left of her dignity but determined to look relaxed and confident in case there were. No one could shame her if she wasn’t ashamed. That’s what she told herself anyway, right up until she stepped on a sharp rock and her leg went out from underneath her. She landed on her hands with a surprised yowl.
There was a blue streak of light, and this time Fenris found her on her hands and knees, ass in the air. He held his sword in his hand, and for a moment she thought he might just take a swing at the rock that felled her. She sat back into the water, covering her chest with her arms again, and choked out, “I’m fine, Fenris, really, except for my pride, which has taken a beating.”
He glanced around once more for potential threats before his eyes landed and skittered right off of her. “Sorry,” he stammered, “I—”
“Maker’s breath,” she interrupted him, “If I die today, you will ensure it is from embarrassment and no outside threat.”
“I—” he tried again. And whether it was his pink cheeks or the way he pinched his nose, or maybe just the dehydration from the sun, Hawke started to laugh. Her shoulders shook even as she held her bosoms in her arms and gentle waves crashed against her bare behind.
Fenris cast a wary eye at her as she wiped a tear from her cheek. “Am I right in assuming that in addition to being unarmed on a coast full of smugglers and bandits, you are also dehydrated, sunburned, and suffering from overexertion?”
“N-no,” she stammered, another giggle threatening to escape her, “I’m also bleeding.” She gestured at the offending foot as the tide washed out, and Fenris shook his head.
“Wait here,” he commanded. And frankly, between all the options she had at that moment, it was the easiest. She was tired. Forget bandits. After this, she was taking a nap.
Fenris returned and handed her his shirt. She held it up, trying not to let the ocean get on it. “Do you want me to… put it on you?”
“It’s for you,” he growled.
“Oh.” That made sense. It was long enough that it covered her, the hem hitting her thighs.
“And that is why,” she told Varric much later that evening, sitting around a campfire and passing a flask of terrible whiskey, “I walked into camp wearing nothing but Fenris’s shirt. And I won’t have you making untoward assumptions.”
“That all makes sense to me,” Merrill said, and Varric snorted. “Well, the sun is stronger here than it was in Ferelden, and Hawke has been very red all night.”
Hawke nodded seriously and took another drink.
“Is this all true, elf?”
“No,” he replied, stone-faced, and Hawke’s mouth dropped open. It stayed open as he continued in a dry, almost bored fashion, “When you arrived at my mansion this morning, Hawke and I had already planned a secret seaside meeting for our torrid love affair. Despite the midday sun and the knowledge that our friends were in close proximity, we decided to give in to our passion on the beach, and then failed to cover our tracks whatsoever. Our secret is out.”
Varric guffawed at that. “Okay, yeah, put that way, Hawke’s story is definitely what happened.”
you sent this prompt like months ago, so you probably don’t even remember what it was for anymore but I wrote a short thing for it now anyway!Daylily - coquetry
As he heard Hawke’s delighted gasp behind him, Fenris knew that he’d soon experience a tragedy. It was a very peculiar sound that maybe wouldn’t be as alarming if heard in a different environment. It might be tolerable to hear while entering the Amell Mansion and being welcomed by the smell of freshly baked bread. Or when Hawke decided to join a game of Wicked Grace even though she was objectively bad at it and unable to keep an impassive face.
However, they were currently in one of Kirkwall’s many abandoned warehouses. Granted, it had only become abandoned a few minutes ago, when they’d defeated the last of the bandits who’d decided it was a sound idea to take on the Champion of Kirkwall instead of running away.
And now… Hawke seemed to have found something here that elicited that sound from her, so it was not surprising that he was overcome with a sort of resigned exasperation. Fenris sighed, pinched his nose and then slowly turned around, expecting the worst. Not with a specific idea of what this ‘worst’ would look like, he’d seen too much to not know that there was an endless amount of ‘worsts’ in this city.
Hawke still managed to surprise him. As he met her eyes, ready to complain or reprimand, she was hiding most of her face behind a fan and fluttering her eyelashes at him. More of a rapid blinking but he got the general idea and the not-quite fluttering paired up pretty decently with the stained, possibly mouldy, falling apart fan.
“Hawke.”
“Mmmmh, well if it isn’t Serah Fenris! Ohohohohoho!”
The coquettish laugh that left Hawke’s mouth, sent a shudder down Fenris’ spine and he hoped that he’d never have to hear it again. The wise thing to do here would be to turn around and ignore her antics but he’d never claimed to be wise. He did throw a glance over his shoulder to make sure that Isabela and Merrill were occupied with looting bodies on the other side of the warehouse, before he decided to engage her.
The delight that lit up her eyes every time he indulged her in her ridiculousness, always made it worth to drop his ‘broody’ elf persona - a rare occurrence, never mind that Aveline claimed he was getting just as bad as Hawke, which was simply untrue and also impossible to achieve. If he happened to indulge her more and more often, so often even that one might say that it wasn’t so much him indulging her, as him enjoying the entire experience of being stupid, well…
“Serah Hawke, I didn’t expect to see you here.”
This time, her delighted gasp was entirely appropriate for the situation and he cherished it.
And the last giveaway prize goes to @aban-asaara! Thank you for introducing me to your awesome Kasra Adaar!!! I’m so in love with her, you have no idea lol She’s such a cool character, and I can’t wait to read more about her and Isabela, in your upcoming fic! Read some of Asaara’s great writing –> (Here!!) <–</b>
Look at the most recent 20 (or however many!) fanwork titles on your AO3 account and answer the questions below.
Acts of Service
A Tolerance for Pain
Bajur
Adding Shadows
Words of Affirmation
a pillar I am, upright
Twice the Thunder
Housed By Your Warmth
Work for Idle Hands
Rite of Movement
Woven Walls
Shun the Light
Early Retirement
It Looks Ugly, But It’s Clean
Tread Softly
Rum On the Fire
if I was born as a blackthorn tree
Absent with Leave
Unconventional Methods
If You Can Find It
You, Too
1. How many are you happy with?
Nominally, all of them.
2. How many are…not great?
I wish I’d come up with a better theme for the titles of the three spinoff stories from “Acts of Service”. But individually I still think they fit their respective stories.
3. How many did you scramble for at the last minute?
lololol so many. “Woven Walls” came out of the end of the story; I was sure I’d just use a Hozier line until then.
4. How many did you know before you started writing/creating, or near the beginning?
Acts of Service, Words of Affirmation, Twice the Thunder (thanks to @bisexualwinry), Shun the Light, Tread Softly, Rum on the Fire, Absent with Leave, You, Too.
5. How many are quotes from songs or poems?
LOLOLOL the question my friends is how many are from Hozier songs? the answer is EIGHT. Four others are sourced from non-Hozier songs. and “Tread Softly” is from Yeats.
6. How many are other quotes?
“You, Too” is a play on the “You either” line in Pacific Rim: Uprising that heralded the blessed polyamorous moment that inspired the fic, but I don’t know that that counts.
7. Which best reflects the plot of the story/content of the fanwork?
how long do we have here
honestly on review, I often do the thing where the snippet of lyric I quote is meant to invoke the context of the line, which is more directly tied to the story, hence “Adding Shadows" (to the walls of the cave) for an action scene set in a cave, or (it’s a wonderful life) “If You Can Find It” for a Hansen-Pentecost blended family trying to scrape by on a planet that’s trying to kill them. I am not subtle.
out of the handful that aren’t quotes, “Acts of Service” is like... the whole fic. Right there. Again, I am not subtle.
8. Which best reflects the theme of the story?
I mean, “Acts of Service” again. tbh I try to match these to a mood when I can’t match the theme per se. “Woven Walls” has the lyricism I was going for and the suggestion of people putting up whatever flimsy barriers they can to protect themselves from vulnerability. “Unconventional Methods” for a bunch of misfit benders trying to train Avatar Chirrut to take down the Fire Lord when nothing they’ve learned is really applicable. “Tread Softly” for Hawke and Fenris tenderly nurturing a future for each other, oh no I’m crying about it again
9. Which best reflects the character voice of the story/pov of the fanwork?
basically all the Cara stories. particularly “A Tolerance for Pain,” “Work for Idle Hands,” and “Housed By Your Warmth”. and “It Looks Ugly, But It’s Clean” features a very bitter, grim, and goal-oriented Hawke.
10. Which is your favourite title?
I thought this would be really difficult, but I just love “Woven Walls” so fucking much
Ok, i had to go look up love languages because although I hear them talked about a lot, I don’t know exactly what they are
I’m gonna go with Acts Of Service, because she feels like she can mostly show her love to others by doing things for them, or at least offering to do things for them. One of the most romantic things she ever did for Merrill was to go get the Arulin’holm for her from the Keeper. Because she was actively doing something to support Merrill’s goal of restoring the Eluvian, which normally Hawke can’t really do much about because she is no mage.
Thank you lovely! I already did 10 so I’m substituting with 1.
4. Do you think your style has changed over time? How so?
1. What made you start writing fanfic?
4. Yes, it has definitely changed. I have learned about structure, about character voices, frankly I probably doubled my vocabulary from when I started. My writing has become more precise, I’m more conscious of what effect I want to achieve and how to do that. As I said before, I used to write by just setting up a camera in a scene and writing down what happened, now I’m working more on emotions I want to convey while also making the scene interesting to see.
1. I discovered fanfiction after playing Mass Effect. I romanced Garrus and somehow ended up on ff.net and read Sense and Flexibility by @roarkshop. I was amazed at what was possible with fanfic. Afterwards I read pretty much every shakarian story on ff.net, I think back then it was about 5500. And at some point, I thought “I’m sure I can write bad porn like everyone else” and that’s what I did. I recommend this approach, it works well.
Hi! Just wanted to say thank you for all the tidbits you've been sharing about Blue Wraith. :) Have the writers said anything about whether it can be read as a standalone? I haven't kept up with the comics but was considering reading this one since Fenris is my fave, but their mention of a larger story arc gave me pause. Sorry if this has been asked before!
hi there :) you’re welcome! I figure not everyone is a member of unofficial BSN and not everybody wants to go there either, which is fine, so here we are! (same goes for Twitter.) and no not to worry, it hasn’t been asked of me before. I stuck this answer under a cut because the length ran away with me.
iirc, not directly or exactly, but some stuff can be reasonably inferred imo. these writers also wrote the preceding comics, Knight Errant and Deception. the character Vaea is introduced and established/characterized in those comics, and she is said to have a big role in Blue Wraith. in addition, the whole cast of characters the BWraith writers have been building thus far in their work in the DA universe are in the BWraith story, so if you were looking for recommendations of which specific comics to brush up on (without an unhelpful “all of them” response), those would be the ones I’d recommend, particularly since the work by this specific writing team is very good imo. if you’d prefer a more limited ‘homework’ list, I’d go with just Deception, because not only does it directly precede BWraith storywise, if the writers were to write a further comic after BWraith, it’s Deception that would be gathered together with the 2 in the form of a library edition.
or if you’d prefer an extended, more “bells and whistles” homework list, I’d stick Magekiller in there as an optional addition. it’s by different writers but it’s here we are introduced to Marius, and he is set to appear in a smaller role (compared to Vaea) in BWraith. Marius is a former slave, specifically a perrepatae (a slave trained to kill mages). we see perrepatae being discussed by Fenris and a Dalish elf in this BWraith excerpt here, along with Magister Nenealeus, who is the one who made Marius a magekiller. so Magekiller might be nice to have under your belt as well for that extra bit of added layer to the context of and background info involved in BWraith. (the other DA comics like Silent Grove etc, in the context of the Fenris comic you can safely ignore btw)
if you don’t wish to read or purchase the preceding comics, the plot summaries of them on the DA Wiki are quite good. if it’s money that is the limiting factor, as opposed to time or lack of interest, I’ve read that they’re reasonably priced on Comixology (Knight Errant, Deception - all issues for each gathered together, Magekiller is also on there), and fair bit cheaper there compared to other sources such as Amazon.
some context on the writers’ mention of the larger story arc: they were specifically asked by users what the “big picture” for these comic characters eventually will be, hence the specific mention of the larger story arc. they’ve never discussed an ongoing series, instead describing it as “So we are, in some ways, working on a series of miniseries length stories.”
obviously it goes without saying that without reading Blue Wraith first I can’t know for sure, but imo as a Fenris fan you definitely could read it standalone without reading the preceding comics, because your main interest is in Fenris, what he’s been up to since DA2 and what’s going on for him now. here he is meeting a new cast of characters and doing Things according to Fenris’ agenda (as we’ve heard from the writers). Knight Errant for example was originally pitched as a standalone, just written with a hook for future stories, so it’s clearly possible to enjoy them individually. however, I’d def recommend reading at least Knight Errant and Deception first, and Magekiller also if you can be bothered, because they provide background info, context and character introductions for all these new faces, as well as contain hints and more broader strokes re: the story beats for where we are now (the overarching story-connecting plot threads that tie field agents of the Inquisition into red lyrium, existing big name characters, their going to Tevinter and their mission there, etc). you’ll have a better understanding of BWraith as well as (imo) a better enjoyment of it, if you read the others first.
hope this makes sense and helps. :) lmk if u have any further questions.
I’m so delighted that I got an ask from you! Thank you <3
1) What made you start writing fanfic?
I’m a musical theatre actress. Most of my life is performing (singing, acting, dancing) which I LOVE. But, I needed a creative outlet outside of work. Simultaneously, I fell in love with the stories in video games. First, Divinity Original Sin 2 then the Dragon Age series. I had a few WIPS for DOS2, but it wasn’t until Dragon Age Inquisition that I wanted to write a novelization of one of my play-throughs. I guess Solavellan hell was good for something lol. Then I discovered Dragon Age 2 and Origins. And it was all game over from there. As of now, I have three projects I’m settled on: Vestige (DAO), Divinity (DOS2), and Emblem (Fe3h).
11) What kind of relationships are you most interested in writing?
I’m mostly interested in exploring romantic relationships between characters because I’m a closet romantic. I think I especially love that dynamic in a medieval fantasy setting. I love the adventure and how it brings people together. My favorite match ups would be: enemies/rivals to lovers (Ezra and Fane- DOS2), best friends to lovers (Bayleth and Dimitri-Fe3h and Sol and Alistair-DAO), love at first sight (Fenris and Ara-DA2), soulmates (all my OTPS). I also love anti-heros and my group of misfit assholes. I’m a big fan of found family, best-friends before anyone else.
