#cullephine

[weatheredlaw]

do you ship cullen with a bunch of people? do you wanna come yell about it with folks who also ship cullen with a bunch of people? we are a collective of feral, like minded shippers and we want you. this 18+ server is for creating, sharing stories, and just chatting. come hang out with us! INVITE

[pinayelf-archive]

my hottest take on here is that I hc that josie and cullen find each other attractive

obviously when u romance either your quizzie is the one but I like to think that there was an attraction at one point

and if they're both unromanced they should Kiss

[kvella]

Declaration: Prompt #6 from @14daysdalovers ​

Finally got my act together to write something for this year’s 14 Days of DA Lovers ft. my babies, Josie and Culls. 

Read on Ao3

Bright Eyed

“I loved it.”

Josephine could have done more to conceal her delight at Cullen’s declaration, but the joy behind his eyes was something new, something wonderful and charming. And she’d brought it out of him.

“Truly?” She was doing a terrible job at masking her pleasure, mashing her lips together to temper the beaming smile that threatened to escape her. “You are not just saying that because you don’t want me to feel bad about wasting an hour and a half of your time?”

“No, I- I thought it was spectacular,” he said, glancing down at her. So tall, up there. How did he see her from his eyes? Could he tell how red her cheeks were in the darkness of the alleys of Val Royeaux?

“I’m very pleased you enjoyed it,” she said, quickening her steps and twirling around to walk backwards. Playfulness had been rare since joining the Inquisition. These feelings for him weren’t new, but they felt like a school girl infatuation. Something silly to entertain, yet all the more enjoyable because of it. “I’ll admit that I was not so certain, but I know how you love Mabari so I thought maybe it would be of interest to you.” 

“When they all jumped through the flaming hoops? That was unbelievable!” He chuckled, running a hand against the stone walls. “I mean, I still can’t stand those fluffy little rats Orlesians call dogs, but they know a great deal of tricks. Very trainable.”

She laughed to cover her nerves and spun around again to join in step with him. The back of his hand brushed hers, sending sparks up every finger. Or had it been an accident?

The cobblestones of the alley took a sharp turn, and they found themselves in near pitch blackness, at an overlook onto the silent waterway. 

“Oh dear, I’m so sorry,” she said, looking back where they came from. “I must have taken a wrong turn at some point. The auberge must be-”

His hand was so warm on her back that it stopped her cold. Even in the darkness, she could see his scarred, crooked, perfect smile.

“Look up.”

A gasp slipped from her as she followed the line of his pointing hand to a blanket of ethereal stars covering the marina. 

“Oh…it’s beautiful,” she sighed. She was quite taken with the stars for all of a half second before again her mind was back to Cullen, whose hand still rested squarely on her shoulder blade. Her breath came with a bit more difficulty than she’d prefer.

She chanced a glance up at him, only to find him already looking back. It could only have been by chance, though. 

“I hope this was an acceptable first…” she swallowed, trying to find the words that had so suddenly deserted her. “First…ah…”

“First,” he repeated, stone still beside her.

“Yes,” she said, staring into the inky water. “Ah, we’ve not spent much time alone together before and…”

“I know,” he said, removing his hand from her shoulder. There it is, she thought, trying not to allow her disappointment to show. “But I would. I-I’d like to. Spend more time. Together, that is.” 

Shocked, her words came out breathy and confused. “Y-you would?”

“Of course,” he said, taking another step towards her, if it was possible. They were already so close. And then he took her hand and she could have passed out. “I-I like you very much…Josie.” 

She hoped he couldn’t tell - or didn’t care - that her palms were sweating, or that her heart felt like it had stopped when he called her Josie.

“You do?” 

He laughed, self-effacing and suddenly shy, raking his free hand through his hair. “If you couldn’t even tell, I guess I’m not very good at this.”

“I…I don’t know what to say,” she giggled. This was all going…strangely well. He leaned down, finding his way towards her in the darkness. He was so close, she could kiss him. 

“Well…” he murmured. “I hope you’ll say you’d spend some more time with me tomorrow.”

“My day is yours,” she whispered. He was so close.

Kiss me, she thought. Kiss me. 

“Terrific,” he said with a smile, standing back up to his full height. “I look forward to it. Shall we?” 

Still holding her hand, he turned back towards the alley they came from and made to lead her back to the auberge. 

He wasn’t going to do it, she realized, with a newfound sense of impatience. Her request - demand, really - burst out of her unexpectedly. 

“You should kiss me.” 

He stopped in his tracks ahead of her, and she regretted her brazen words for all of a few seconds, before he took her face between his calloused, gentle hands and kissed her. 

It was a mighty kiss, potent like she’d imagine a love charm might make someone feel. And when they pulled apart, there his amber eyes were, bright with a rare exhilaration.

Tonight, tomorrow, hopefully mere moments from now, she’d find a way to make him look at her that way again and again and again.

[galleryalamalz]

[ s h o w  me that you’re  h u m a n ] - a playlist for josephine and cullen

[dani-dreams-bruja]

Ughh this doodle of mine is one of my favorites 😅😅 #cullephine #cullenrutherford #josephinemontilyet #dragonage #drawing #art #artist #digitalart

[weatheredlaw]

cullen/josephine server interest check

look there’s not enough of us so you should just dm me and we can make a group chat or something but hey who knows like or comment or reblog and let me know

[pinayelf-archive]

what makes you ship cullen/josie? i'm curious, i don't think i've ever seen that rarepair before!! :)

oh no anon you're gonna get me jssjdjjdkd

it's not really anything in game, its more of the potential of how I think they would be good together!

okay so I think they're very similar people on different sides of the coin. they're both duty bound and have set rules for themselves. they disagree on how to handle missions but at the same time are very cutthroat and passionate about the way to do it.

for cullen, josie is someone who could provide for him things he couldn't before - security, even some luxuries he couldn't have as a templar. and someone who will truly care about his well-being outside being a soldier.

for josie, cullen is someone who could really love her for who she is. someone who won't care about her title, who doesn't care about her family status. someone who can give her peace in a very loud world.

also them learning from each other? *chef's kiss*. josie learning not to trust nobility so easy, to see things from the common people's viewpoint. cullen learning that diplomacy IS valuable and that there is power in words.

the two of them finding solace in each other, making a promise they'll really try to rest this time instead of working through the night, them finding it extremely easy to be vulnerable towards each other, finding understanding despite having little in common. to realize their core values are indeed the same

to josie blackmailing all the orlesians who harassed cullen. cullen dueling otranto so his ~friend wouldn't have to be stuck in an arranged marriage

😭😭😭 just. so much. potential. and josie and cullen are my all time fave DA romances so!!!

[kvella]

Port in the Storm - Prologue  (Josephine x Cullen)

A mead fueled tryst brings the Inquisition’s Ambassador and Commander together one night, but responsibility and miscommunication keeps them apart. When they’re assigned to build a memorial for Haven, will they find their way through the chaos or say turn away from each other forever? 

Read on ao3

Prologue

Josephine and Cullen call a stalemate and have a mead-fueled encounter.

To find the Ambassador and the Commander at the Haven tavern was unusual, if not unheard of.

On this particular evening, the advisors had an unexpectedly light workload on their hands, the Herald being off in the Hinterlands to track down a potential Warden ally. Setting aside that they were what Josephine graciously liked to call “very different people” on a good day, she and Cullen had spent the better part of the afternoon bickering over the weathered maps of the war table. As the first dinner bell rang, Leliana excused herself, tired of the stubbornness and sniping and impatient to return to her work.

Embracing the rare opportunity for a free night, they declared a stalemate on the appropriate way to acquire resources  - “just for the evening,” she jested - and found themselves taking in the ambiance of the local pub. It must have been something about the candle light or the dulcet melody of the flute, but as the sky fell dark, their words grew unmistakably flirtatious . One glass led to another, led to one glass of sweet honeyed mead too many and a surprisingly handsy, stumbling stroll back to the Chantry.

It’s hard to say who initiated, who pulled whom behind the Chargers’ tent but suddenly they were intertwined with arms around necks and hips, mouths dancing across each other’s cheeks and lips and chins. They parted, chuckling at the absurdity of the moment and the warmth of the mead bright and high in their cheeks and the crisp, snowy air nipping at their skin.

Pulling open the heavy Chantry door, Cullen grabbed Josephine’s hand boldly, but the gentleness with which he whispered “Is this okay?” melted her heart. Breathlessly, she whispered “yes” and he led her down the hall, a half-step ahead of her. Both were exhilarated by the openness with which they cavorted, regardless of the scarcity of people around at this time of night. They practically scampered down the hall to the bedroom in the far back, a strange youthful giddiness between them, so unlike either’s usual demeanor.

Cullen went first, opening the door to the room and heading inside. As she stepped in, Josephine caught a glance of Vivienne’s narrowed eye down the hall, felt the distinctive sense of judgement dripping from her eyes, high, mighty, and filing this sight away for her personal chess game. Deciding to ignore the opinions of others for once in her life, she raised her chin defiantly and followed him inside. No one else was around the Chantry at the late hour, and their good spirits and libidinous energy bounced off the stone walls.

She scanned the sparse room quickly, though she knew they were alone. To the left, Cassandra’s bed lay untouched. The Seeker had been away for weeks. A rather large tome sat on the table next to a candle that was burnt so low it may never light again. In the back, Josephine’s lived-in bed - made, but not fussily so, not when there are so many more important things to do than have a crisply folded sheet. Her lute sat dusty near her nightstand, an admittedly frivolous item to bring to a war, despite best intentions of putting her past as a bard towards morale and raised spirits. And on the right, Cullen’s bed, a Templar bed if she’d ever seen one. Regulation corners and all.

Cullen pulled her to him by the waist, kissed her hard, seemed to find a renewed sense of purpose in the privacy of their room. The fur of his mantle tickled against her neck. “Do you know,” he asked between fervent kisses, “I have thought about this every day since you moved into this room?”

A good, pious Chantry boy thinking about kissing her with all the passion of a sinner under this holy roof, every damn day. The thought made her knees weak. She moaned lightly against his lips. Filled with confidence, she walked him back against his bed, toppling him down atop the tautly pulled linens.

Desire rested deep in her belly, a sensation she hadn’t entertained for anyone in years. He fiddled with the satin buttons at her throat, jangling her heavy necklace back and forth against her collarbones. She leaned back, trying to give him space to work, fingers making waves through his carefully combed hair. Satisfied with the amount of flesh he’d exposed, he rose to her neck - the feeling of his smooth lips and stubble brushing against her throat was divine and she closed her eyes to savor it. Quickly, a brief flash in the theater of her mind: Vivienne and her haughty sideways glance. The Herald and Cassandra recruiting forces off in the Hinterlands. The bright emerald gashes tearing apart the sky.

A pang of panic struck her heart. Lifting her bejeweled hands to gently cup his face, she kissed him deeply, slowly. His stubble was rough against the pads of her fingers. She wanted to go further, wanted to be closer and closer, truly couldn’t believe she was about to say this until she felt the unfortunate words tumble out of her mouth like marbles.

“We should stop.”

He ceased instantly, removed his hands from her as if commanded by the Maker himself. “Okay.” His amber eyes were smoky, lips swollen and pink and thoroughly kissed. He was so beautiful that, for a brief moment, she reconsidered. "Why?" He asked, regaining composure.

She crawled off of him, settled on her knees at the foot of his bed. A cloud of disappointment floating around her hung head. He propped himself up on his elbows, catching his breath, and let his head roll back in thought, probably some frustration. She couldn’t fault him for that - her body ached for him, but her mind knew how these things tend to go. The mead was in her cheeks, hot and hazy, and his hands had mussed soft wisps of hair around her face, a golden halo illuminated by the fire.

Softly, carefully, she said, “It is not that I do not want this. In fact, I have thought of it...quite often. But…” She paused, dropped her voice to a whisper as if she was not certain that what she was about to say was a good choice. “I do not want just one night. And to become entangled right now with so much at stake...it is a fool’s errand, is it not?”

He sat up, eyes shut tight and brow furrowed in deliberation. She tried not to look at him, hope churning in her gut that he’d quell her fears or try to convince her otherwise or at least tell her he felt the same. Instead he responded, “You are right.”

It was quiet for a moment, only the crackling of the fire and the tension of disappointment to sooth them as they contemplated the many boundaries they had crossed together. Josephine felt a fire stirring in her veins. This man who rarely backs down, let alone to her, had simply caved to her concern without a single protestation.

She couldn’t help herself, and picked the fight anyway. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? When do you ever agree with me?” It came out sharper than intended, but she didn’t try to soften it with more words.

Abruptly, Cullen stood, walked over to the small table near the fireplace. The sound of water pouring into glasses was nearly ear-splitting in the silence of their choice.  “I don’t know how I am meant to share a bedroom with you when I know what you feel like against me, Josie,” he said remorsefully, offering her the glass. Eyes wide, she took it with bated breath. ”But I know that you’re right - were we to continue, I am certain I would have no choice but to stay entangled.”

He leaned back against the fireplace, casually, and sipped the water. She stared at him, a mad kind of anticipation in her eyes. The words hit her ears, white hot. They sounded to her like something of a promise.

________________________________________________________________

I’ve been working on this story since July this year and it’s been so fun! I know this is not the most popular couple (join me in rarepair hell), but I have a soft spot for the Ambassador/General opposites attract dynamic. This story is up to chapter 8 on ao3, but figured I’d post it on here too! I’ve been a Bioware/DA fan since the beginning, but I’m new to tumblr (how did I make it to 27 without having a tumblr??) and want to make friends lol  Hope you enjoy! :)