#chillyrose

[scharoux]

Xaviera Surana

Thank you so so much to @chillyrose for being endlessly patient while I finished this portrait of her gorgeous OC! You are an absolute treasure 💛

[veridium]

Commission: “Apple Red”

Another one of this lovely round of commissions, @chillyrose enlisted me to write for her Heidi Lavellan and Cole! It was an additional lovely departure for me, since I rarely get the chance to write for Cole. I also got to learn about Heidi and took inspiration from their warmth toward each other. Thank you for commissioning me.

Enjoy the story!

--

The crisp autumn was, day-by-day, turning to a winter’s chill. Though the bite of the air was changing, the Inquisitor would take every opportunity to soak in the season’s lingering brightness before it was gone for the year. Admittedly, in mountains such as the Frostbacks, one did not see much of a weather variation. But what little change she could see in the skies or on the horizon’s peaks, she could see tenfold in the goods and deliveries that arrived at Skyhold day after day. 

That particular morning there were four wagons, two covered and two stocked with barrels. Likely oil, but it was funny to think it was the incredibly critical resupply of ale or wine. The covered carts held more colorful bounties: plums, pears, and other autumnal harvests ready to be put to delicious use. Heidi descended the stone stairs, at which point several crates of apples caught her eye first. She meandered, hand behind her back and grasping her opposite elbow, while the men were busy unloading. 

“Good morning, Your Worship,” she heard from one. She smiled instinctively, but her eyes remained enamored with the apples. The way they shined, waxed and deep. Another greeting, another nod of someone’s head. She kindly acknowledged them all as casually as possible. Eventually she halted. People probably thought she was out and about for austerity. Maybe she was, in her own way.

Soon after she stopped, she found she was not alone in her management.

“Morning,” said a much more familiar voice. Careful, but not timid. 

“Oh,” she blinked herself out of her fancying, and turned to her left. Cole stood by as she expected. He, too, looked out at the abundant goods.

“Good morning, Cole,” she replied. Her smile was more comfortable, this time. “Have you come around to see what the traders have brought in?”

“Yes. Two are happy to be off the road. Too many bumbling fruits that roll and spill. They are glad to be rid of them for a time.”

A gentle laugh. “I can see that.” 

Where once Cole’s insights had seemed abruptly incisive, they were now more like facets of him she wanted to more of. Yes, he often spoke of everyone but himself, but that didn’t mean he had nothing to share. In fact his observations shone a window into him that was likely truer than most.

“You like the look of the apples,” he observed, once again snapping her out of her spinning thoughts.

“I do! Yeah,” she answered with a brief chuckle. “I love the colors, not just theirs, but all of them.” 

Rather than answer, Cole approached the cart. Once there he reached quietly into one of the half-open crates and pulled out an apple so deeply red it looked like it had been painted so. 

“Red,” he described it, “red is not a good color for so many reasons.” He spoke as he turned around, holding it cupped in his hands. 

“No, I guess not.”

“You still like it. You wish they did not take the good colors and turn them bad. It isn’t fair, now you dream of it with fear rather than fondness.”

Heidi’s smile fell. The dream he spoke of wasn’t one she had last night, or even the night before that. She never just had one bad dream and her nightmares never showed just one face. A few nights ago the theme was a dark, endless hallway in the depths of a fortress. Once it was faces of menacing warhounds. And, between them both, there was one of red.

“You remember,” he observed. 

She blinked and returned his look with a grin. She rubbed her arm, just above her bent elbow. “Do you ever have favorite things that get ruined? Like a mysterious story, but someone gives away the ending or spoils the magic. Or a meal that is so good, but then someone admits there are mushrooms in it, and you hate mushrooms?”

“I do not hate mushrooms, though.”

“Oh, er, fine. Carrots.”

“Carrots? How are carrots bad? And how could one not see them?”

“Fine, then, what do you not like?” She walked up to the wagon and stood beside him. Even she could hear the crossness in her voice. Her mind spun and her arms crossed. It was then she realized how foolish she had been in her metaphor. 

“Agh,” she sighed, “you likely do not need food at all. Forgive me, I shouldn’t have assumed.”

They were wordless, side-by-side for a while. Skyhold buzzed and hummed around them as if they were frozen, statues around whom everyone else lived. In this state Heidi felt anything but lifeless, however; in fact, she felt more attuned to the act of being alive. He always ensured thus. Being frustrated seemed like a futile endeavor. His presence brought her as much comfort as his words brought agitation. 

“Inquisitor?” 

With a steady breath her eyes fell on the damned apples again. They still looked beautiful. “I am sorry, Cole, I--”

“No need to be sorry.” He side-stepped closer to her but then held his arm out to the pile from which he took the apple. Restored on the top it looked like the King of all the rest. It did not shake, nor did the lot topple or stumble. Cole’s gentility ensured it. When his hand fell away, he joined them both behind his back. Heidi realized her piece meal grin had grown into a smile. 

“Red is a good color, Inquisitor,” he added. “Do not be afraid to love it. Love brings comfort where people feel as though the world could never favor them.”

Suddenly the air seemed even chillier than before, particularly against her cheeks and temples. She rolled her shoulder, her posture straightening up as the rush of spinning, splendid butterflies did what they do best in the pit of her stomach. Luckily for her though, if she never said anything, no one would know. He wouldn’t know. Oh, but wait. He could, and would. 

She pivoted on the heel of her boot so as to step away with new urgency. “Well, I--”

“There it is!” he interrupted, speaking nearly the same moment she did. Confused, Heidi stopped her retreat and faced him. He was looking at her pointedly, not directly in the eyes -- he rarely ever did that -- but just below. The bridge of her nose and cheeks.

“There is what?” she asked, letting out a light, brief chuckle. 

“The color,” he answered. “The red you call beautiful. It is on you, now. It is you.”

It is you. 

Nothing could prevent her from the degree to which the color he spoke of intensified in her complexion. She placed her hand against her left cheek to show practical modesty. With a shake of her head and kindly dismissive laugh, she backed away.

“Good day to you, Cole. Enjoy the rest of the...the colors,” she wished, noticing the twitch in his lip that could almost be a grin. She turned around to face her path back up the stairs. 

“Farewell, Inquisitor,” she heard behind her. For as much as she wished the encounter had gone better, or perhaps softer, she at least found more reason to be fond of the richness and sweetness of apple red. And with it, a paralleled love of the way shades it cast inside pristine blue eyes. 

[shannaraisles]

Don’t Let Go

A commission fic for @chillyrose​, who requested some soft fluff between her OC Heidi and Cole

Don’t Let Go

The dagger plunged toward Celene’s back.

As the Empress of Orlais fell, Heidi ran forward, too little, too late, and staggered to a halt as suddenly the ballroom was bathed in sickly green light. All around her, she saw rifts opening, demons pouring forth to fall upon the noble guests, ripping them to pieces as screams echoed through the halls of Halamshiral. She threw up her hand, willing the Anchor to life ... and watched as the Fade force sputtered to nothing. 

Dark pain spreading through her palm, up along the line of her forearm, as dull as lead and just as heavy, driving her to her knees as blood began to run along the ornate tiles of the palace ballroom. Failure piled in upon her as she heard a low, mocking laugh that spread ice through her veins, forcing her disbelieving eyes up to seek out its source.

There he stood, the abomination that was Corypheus, his hand wrapped still about the dagger that had taken the empress’ life.

“Pitiful mortal. How quick you are to fall when others raise you high.”

Others ... Her head turned sharply to the right, seeking those friends who had accompanied her tonight, hope rising for some kind of deliverance. Hope that died as she found what she sought. 

Leliana, impaled against the wall on a terror’s claws, blood seeping from her mouth, a hidden dagger clattering from her fingers. Josephine, her back split open to the spine, lying over the dismembered body of her little sister. Cullen, still standing when she saw him but cut down just as he turned to find her. Vivienne, encased in ice in the act of raising her hand to cast. Varric, tumbling headless down the steps, Bianca in pieces at his side. Blackwall, Iron Bull, Sera, Cassandra, Solas ... all dead or dying. There was no help to be found.

“They’re not dead.”

Her body jerked in shock, hearing that familiar voice in her mind. Cole ... where was he? How had he survived when so many others hadn’t? Was he safe? Had Corypheus found him?

“Shifting, twisting, darkness in darkness, but it’s all in your head. I can’t get in. You have to come out.”

“You can’t get in?”

Confused, Heidi frowned, looking around her with a more discerning gaze. The rifts were ... odd; not as she remembered them being. More ethereal, less real; the demons more vivid, more visceral than she knew they were. And Corypheus hadn’t been at Halamshiral. Florianne had been working on his behalf. 

“Help me,” she whispered, trying to find the edges that would let her escape this nightmarish place, and again, Cole’s voice, Cole’s presence, reached out to her. 

“Come to me. It isn’t far. They can’t hurt you.”

It seemed to take all her effort, but somehow Heidi gathered her will, forcing the blood and death from her mind. Darkness overtook her for just a moment, held at bay by the sense of Cole’s closeness ... and she opened her eyes to find that liquid blue gaze just inches from her own, bathed in moonlight.

“Cole.”

His name was little more than a ghost on her breath, an instant of calm before the storm hit, driving tears from her eyes as the terror of her dream took hold of her. She curled in on herself, but he was too close to let her close him out completely, pushing her knees down, stroking his hand over her shoulder, through her blonde curls, tracing a fingertip down the scar beneath her eye. 

“Dreams can’t hurt you,” he told her softly. “Not when I am here. I am always in your dreams when they turn bad.”

“I couldn’t wake up,” she whispered, shock lending a tremble to her voice even as she fought to restore a little of her own calm. 

“You came back,” he answered, still calm and soothing. “You came back to me. I was here, and you came back.”

“But what if I dream like that again?”

Cole’s gaze was clear and certain, the strangely comforting sense of confidence that hung about him somehow reaching out to envelop her as well. 

“I will stay,” he promised her faithfully. “Drifting, dreaming, demons dancing on the edge of darkness. Dreams don’t scare me. I’ll hold them back.”

She stared into his eyes, wondering how he had known she was suffering in nightmares when she had not. But she didn’t ask him, not when his hands were warm on her skin, soothing away the last of the pain and fear that had infused her when her moment of triumph had turned to the worst possible failure before her eyes. 

“He wants you to be afraid,” he said, quiet but certain, his fingers gentle on her cheek. “Corypheus fears what you are, what he made you. You hold the key to ending all his plans, his schemes. You hold the keystone to his great castle of chaos, and he does not control you.”

She sniffled a little, smiling at this mental imagery. 

“So all I need to do is pull away at the right moment, and everything he has comes crashing down?” she asked. 

Cole’s eyes held a hidden smile, one she was sure no one had ever seen but herself. A smile that belonged only to her, and only in these soft moments when they were completely alone together. She couldn’t put her finger on it, but Cole was the key to her own confidence, she was sure. Without him, she could have given in to those nightmares too many times already.

“Smiling on the inside,” he said, pointing out that he could feel her emotions, her pain. “Shining brightly, almost too bright to see. Like looking at the sun, but you don’t burn my eyes. I like it when you shine for me.”

She blushed, pretty color suffusing her pale cheeks for a moment in the moonlight, unwilling for this quiet stillness between them to end. Her hand unfolded, reaching to tangle her fingers with his. 

“Will you stay with me?”

He seemed surprised by the question, but answered with warmth, raising their joined hands until the tangle of fingers lay between them on the pillow. He squeezed gently, stroking his thumb over hers. 

“Don’t let go.”

[buttsonthebeach]

Hope’s Union

@chillyrose asked me to write for her warden Xaviera and Alistair, and I was so thrilled to do it! I do love me an Alistair romance, and I had never written one before. Thank you for trusting me with your characters again!

Pairing: Xaviera Surana x Alistair

Rating: Explicit for sexy times

*************

“Marry me.”

They were not the words Xaviera Surana had expected to come from Alistair’s lips the night before the Landsmeet. 

Xaviera always liked to believe the best of the future. She’d believed the best of her future through all those years in the Circle, even when faced with her Harrowing, which kept so many other young mages awake at night. She’d believed the best of the future after Ostagar, their flight through the Korcari Wilds. Through every danger that had beset them as they trekked through Ferelden, trying to keep the world from succumbing to darkness. And yet she’d only had allowed herself a few nights where she’d dared to dream of a future with rings on their fingers and children at their sides since Alistair gave her a rose, since they kissed, since they shared a bed. 

Even for the best of optimists, it was a future beset with trials. His royal blood and her elven blood. The Taint flowing through both of them, and the danger that surrounded them.

And yet here they were.

“Marry me,” Alistair said again, sinking down to one knee now. “Xaviera Surana, I don’t care what the fools here say or think or do. I’m not going to be king of Ferelden if it means I can’t have you at my side. And I know things after that are uncertain - Maker, I’m sure uncertain is an understatement - but I don’t care. I believe in us. I want this forever. I want nothing more than this. Please say something. This floor is very cold and it hurts my knee.”

Xaviera laughed, and cupped his handsome face, took in how it looked even more bronze in the light of the estate’s torches.

“Yes,” she said. “Yes, yes, yes, yes -”

She thought she would keep saying yes forever, entranced by the sound, by everything it represented, but Alistair surged up from his place on the floor, and carried her with him, crushing her against his warm broad body and kissing her full on the mouth.

“Marry me,” he said again, breathlessly.

“No,” she said, laughing.

“Too late, you already said yes.”

“Then stop asking!”

“What should I do with my mouth instead, my lady?”

How far they’d already come from their shy blushing, their stammering, their awkward jokes. How confident Alistair was now, carrying her to her bed, pushing her nightclothes aside, planting kisses all over her cheeks and neck and breasts and belly and thighs and finally between them, where she wanted him most. How easy it was to sink into him, to let go, to let him wind her higher and higher and higher, to not care at all who heard her as he did so. Xaviera had hoped and hoped, all her life, no matter what was happening, even when hoping was hard, when it seemed like there would never be any reward. And here he was - tall and handsome and funny and perfect and hers and she was over the edge now, falling apart, shaking against him.

When she opened her eyes again, Alistair was above her, looking down at her, smiling.

“Marry me,” he said again, quietly now.

“Yes,” she replied, just as quietly, welcoming him in. 

The words felt unbreakable now, binding as metal bands. There would be a ceremony later, of course, but Xaviera felt instinctively that this was the moment she would look back on for the rest of her life as the moment they were truly wed. the two of them in the candlelight, asking and answering with every touch, every kiss, every sigh. United in their hope forever, no matter what came next.

[royal-babey]

7,23,42,44? ^.^

7. Best Friends?

This is hard to answer because I have a lot of people I consider best friends but who may not consider me a best friend, and then some may get mad I didn’t mention them if I forgot or didn’t realise they considered me one!!! I overthink things a lot can you tell? “^^ but just know that in general that if we talk frequently or have known each other for a long time and talk, then I consider you a close friend ^^ you too Chilly!!! :D

23. Favorite song?

I have a lot! :0 but currently it’s Karliene’s version of Gentleman Jack ^^

42. Are you okay?

Aha “^^

44. Selfie?

Sure “^^ might delete it later though

Pay closer attention to the dog than me akfbsbdbd filters save my life

[tk-duveraun]

I think you're really cool, I love seeing you on my timeline and you're very popular in the dragon age fandom which makes me kinda afraid to talk to you. ^.^;;

kdjhfkdjsnfs!!???

Thank you??

I... Guess I am??? It doesn’t feel that way a lot. My giveaway having so few notes has been rough. Thankfully, I know I’m amazing and my writing is amazing and something like that can’t keep me down long because I’m great and fucking hilarious, but thank you. This was really nice to get.

But I promise I don’t bite. You can always hit me up!

Tell me how you perceive me!

[red-wardens]

Lilith Hawke

I won @chillyrose‘s giveaway and decided to use it to request her awesome and improved art skills to draw @dickeybbqpit ‘s newest OC, Lilith Hawke :) Merry Christmas, dude! Thanks again to Chilly for another job wonderfully done!! 

[thespireghost]

A Moment Respite

The Emerald Grave

Warmth wraps around him they are content, compliant and cuddly. The little nugs do not want to harm anyone and only desire to be themselves. It is envious Cole thinks as he sits under the tree. A dagger flashing with the speed and agility of someone unaware of his own natural grace. Slices of Apple, and slices of cheese, things he took from one of the Venatori they had killed here. They didn't need it anymore. The nugs though look upon him with love, and affection. They sense, the deepest self. The compassion within him. He is most himself when he is not dipping into the darkness to kill.

He is what Cole would have wanted to be.

Still his eyes linger on his friends, those who do not demand change. They look out for him. Kid on the lips of the dwarf with unreal friends inside his head, The Iron Bull with all his strength and hidden insecurities but those make him stronger still. Eyes travel from the companions to her. He can't hear her as well. She is bright like the sun, he has to squint to sense her yet, she tugs gently at the fade and it is apart of her it is like home. There are mixed feelings, and mixed thoughts from her. She looks and pretends she doesn't. It is curious to Cole, but he still hasn't found the words to address that, to explain or experience the emotions he both understands and is in awe of.

A nudge to his hand brings him from his thoughts, was he staring ? Did she see, notice or know ? He shakes his head and shares another piece of cheese with the little nugs, he doesn't eat but he enjoys the company.  Emberium seems to grow here in splashs of bright against the green, like she is bright against the green of the fade. He moves like a ghost, a shadow to where she is. There are no question, or words not at first, there is only the tall young man who is suddenly in her presence.  

A simple gift offered to her in earnest, the flower that reminds him of her in the moment. “Do you like it ?”

@chillyrose