Da2 so far gave me lots of feelings, mostly on passage of time, not gonna address all the companions rn, just a few from act 1 and the beginning of act 2, plus some random stuff
Having meeting Anders beforehand in Awakening and traveling with a flirty witted mage ( who still resentful about circles, templars, people's lack of empathy with the cause -as he should- but not hosting anything besides his own thoughts inside himself) really makes an impression on you upon meeting him again in Da2, he still there but less then more, but less. He seemed fragile, still a smart mouth and blunt (and a healer!), something like "if you have meeted me one year before I'd be more/I'd be myself/ I'll only hurt you now".
Justice works in extremes and amplify emotions, and there's too many injustices in the world and Kirkwall. Wynne had Faith with her and Cole was Compassion (on his own body), Justice does feels like a lot to handle, it feels like it sours quickly. Less than 4 years and he's at edge of Vengeance, is Vengeance.
Fenris was not that hard to have around as i thought he'd be, he have strong takes on magic/ mages who comes from a place of trauma and a physical place of extremes (Tevinter), he have a backstory, a baggage.
His and Isabela's banters and conversations are always a delight, him in the Fade was wild (and a mess, he's so very strong and the entire fight was a Lot). Parallels and sharp words who intended to hurt between him and Anders, between him and Merrill, him and Hawke. Apologies not being a foreign concept, not hurting any pride (ha). His song lingering inside my brain " Lady, beautiful of the sun, if you give to the others (freedom), should it not also be given to me?"
Carver, my beloved. This one became a bit personal due the older sibling bit. Carver is resentful and full of rivalry, anger with too many places to go, confrontational, to the point of picking templar sided opinions in the middle of conversations fully aware of his sibling "apostate" status. A young warrior between two older mage siblings, coping with the loss of a sister, of a father, of having to hold on Hawke for a while, "to walk on their shadow". I can't ever have any other feeling for him than "he's a younger brother and I'd do exactly what Hawke did to take care of him, try to talk all the time, let him have his anger and rage, get a house, weird/hard jobs to make sure he's properly taken care of and never have to go through any of this again."
His friendship being something hard to earn works just fine for my Hawke bc i do think he have things to sort out, and that's a thing that only himself can do, while maturing and making his own path.
(I'm also a fully support of 'he'd never join the templars out of spit without regretting at least a bit, his siblings are free mages, were raised like this, and despite his ongoing rivalry thing, that seems like a step too further into a territory of hurt.')
Hawke is a beautiful wreck of human being, mage, older sibling, trying their hardest to provide a home, money, security to their family. Odd jobs, odd friends. Friends, who would thought! On a city made of chains, a perfectly group of ragtags. Varric is a balm in the middle of it all, words coming from the stone who doesn't dream but sprouts the most beautiful stories.
The entire world happening inside a single city, Ketojan's amulet on Hawke's neck, "you are worth following" ringing in their ears as fire consumed him.
Pangs of hurt here and there, always aching. The trip to the Fade cut a bit deeper that it should, Aveline's "I'm less opposed to the Gallows/Circles now that I've seen what mages can do", Fenris' "what does magic touch that it doesn't spoil". Not a single 'how are you feeling?' in months. Words coming from a place of fear and judgement slapped at Hawke's face.
Nursing themself back to their feet bc things still happening, it's been 3 years! And there's more years to come, and letters to answer and problems to solve! Beautiful Hawke. Eventually the bird must land someday, but not right now.
