many thanks to the amazing mods @datvcompanionweeks for putting Davrin Week together.
Day 2: Monster
Davrin wasn’t entirely sure what had possessed Rook to start writing to him while the other Warden traveled through Southern Thedas. Their last interaction involved bickering. Davrin felt he’d spent far more time arguing with Rook than having pleasant conversations.
When he’d told Emmrich that Rook was an insufferable pessimist, he hadn’t been lying. The other man always seemed to expect the worst to happen, and he had a habit of assuming the worst of the world. Rook seemed perfectly capable of accepting that individual people could be kind, friendly, or helpful, but when he seemed to believe that on the whole, most of society would either ignore you at best and might actively be out to hurt you at worst. The only people that seemed to be immune from Rook’s view on that were children.
The elven Warden wondered sometimes what had made the other Warden so cynical and bitter towards the world, because there was no other way he could describe the man’s attitude. Rook expected people to act like monsters. He’d told Davrin flat out that the most horrible monsters weren’t the kind that Davrin hunted, but those that existed in the shape of people, especially Rook’s fellow humans.
Davrin couldn’t disagree that some of the worst monsters he’d ever encountered were people shaped. Elgar’nan came to mind, as well as the Venatori like Aelia, and the First Warden who’d ordered the griffons to be blighted during the fourth Blight, but Davrin had met more people that were either simply indifferent or good than he’d met evil people.
Assan chirped, settling beside where Davrin sat on a log, Rook’s latest letter in hand. The Warden reached out and idly scratched the griffon behind the ears. “What do you think Rook’s got to say this time?” he asked.
Assan responded by nipping at the edge of the paper.
Davrin laughed, “I see.” He considered the scrawled ink on the page. The last two letters Rook had detailed his current location in the Free Marches and talked about the current state of things. He’d written about following up on people’s tips on where to find openings to the Deep Roads, and how people were trying to reclaim their homes or farmland from the Blight.
Honestly, the letters seemed to be the antithesis of the Warden Davrin had spent the past year working with to save the world. Who was this Rook that came across in these letters? Was there some side of Rook that he hadn’t seen?
He shook his head, remembering how the other Warden’s lips curled in contempt as he regarded some of the people they’d overheard on the dock outside the Cobbled Swan. One of the women had been talking to another about how she had an allowance and debated using it to help some of the residents of Dock Town, and another asking how that would actually help.
“People will talk about helping, but they never do,” Rook had declared. “It makes them feel better to talk about it without ever having to lift a finger and actually do something useful.”
Davrin had rolled his eyes at the human Warden. “Really, Rook? We’re here right now to help Neve. How can you say that people never help? People like Neve, like the Viper? They’re heroes. And we’re Wardens. Wardens literally exist to fight the blight, darkspawn, and to save people.”
Rook glanced scornfully at him, “Just because you help people, just because you save people and you act like a hero doesn’t mean you’re a good person, Davrin. Oh sure, you’re a good person, Neve is a good person, but people in general?” He;d given a dismissive shake of his head.
Creators, Rook drove Davrin crazy with his cynicism. He rubbed his forehead and turned his gaze back to the letter from Rook, wondering what revelations this one might contain.
Davrin,
I hope your search for a new site for the Grey Warden headquarters with Evka and Antoine is going well. It’ll be a lot of work, I’m sure, but it will be worth it. It will give the Wardens a place to call home. (this last line was scratched out but Davrin could still read it)
The Wardens couldn’t ask for better leadership right now than Evka and Antoine. She guided the Wardens through the fall of Weisshaupt, when First Warden Glastrum would have only led them to utter ruin.
People are rebuilding here in Starkhaven. I met Varric’s friend Aveline, the guard captain he wrote about in ‘Tales of the Champion.’ Viscountess Aveline Vallen is a formidable woman. She’s steady, just the kind of leadership the survivors from Kirkwall need right now. There’s been some talk of the Kirkwall survivors returning to Kirkwall to see what they can rebuild, but for now they remain in Starkhaven. Aveline told me with everything Kirkwall has been through, it might be better for many of the people to stay in Starkhaven and build new homes here, or to find somewhere new.
I wish you could have met Varric. He’s one of the few people I’ve ever really had faith in other than Evka and Antoine. He really believed he could stop Solas. Solas had been his friend, once, and he cared about saving that friend. And the bastard ended up killing him, maybe not completely intentionally, but he stabbed Varric when he tried to interfere with Solas’s ritual and it killed him.
Davrin frowned a little when he noticed there were tear stains on the paper. Had Rook been crying when he wrote this?
The Warden realized then that Rook had never told him much about the night of Solas’s ritual. He’d described the ritual itself very briefly, mentioned Solas had killed Varric when he’d interrupted the elf, and how Solas had ended up freeing the Evanuris, but he hadn’t talked about how Solas had killed Varric. In fact he’d never talked about his grief over losing the dwarf, even after he’d returned from the Fade Prison.
Davrin remembered the horror in Neve’s expression when she realized that Rook had thought Varric had been alive the entire time, and hadn’t realized the dwarf had died the night of the ritual, all because Solas had used blood magic to mess with Rook’s mind. How much had it hurt the other Warden to realize his friend was dead, and that he had no time to mourn because the world still needed saving.
Davrin winced at the thought. Rook had been so utterly focused on their plan to retake Minrathous and the fight against Elgar’nan and his forces. Rook had buried himself in work to cover his grief. Within days of their victory over Elgar’nan, Rook had asked Evka and Antoine to accompany a few of the Wardens they were sending south to help Southern Thedas recover from the Blight.
On the heels of their victory, instead of taking time for himself and to grieve, Rook had immediately thrown himself into another form of work. Just thinking about it made Davrin’s heart ache.
He forced himself to finish reading the letter while he grappled with these thoughts.
I intend to use Starkhaven as a base of operations for the rest of the time I’m here in the South. I’ll likely travel within a few days of the city to help deal with darkspawn and help people in the countryside, but if anyone needs to get a hold of me, they can send a letter or messenger to Starkhaven. Bellara knows which Eluvian is closest. It’s within a few hours walk of the city, so not too far.
You know you can write back to me, right? I’d like to know how things are going for you all up north. Neve and Emmrich are already sending me letters regularly letting me know how they are doing. I wouldn’t mind if you did the same, alright?
In the meantime, you can plan what our next argument will be about.
Take care of yourself and give Assan treats and ear scritches for me.
Yves Thorne, Rook.
Rook wanted Davrin to write him back? He was asking Davrin to actually correspond with him? And he was actually being pleasant towards Davrin in his letters?
Had Rook been replaced by a demon or something? Maybe he should talk to Neve and Emmrich and ask that question.
Still…he found he wasn’t entirely against the idea of writing back to Rook.
After viewing @vishantikaffar's OC Drive post through their Modern Bag post, I was intrigued enough to see what Avire and Davrin would drive. And of course, I had to set the scene during a sunny day, to go with @datv-rook-roost's theme of 'Sun'. All while adding in some Davrin appreciation for Davrin Week.
So here's what a Modern Sunny Day is like for Avire & Davrin ☀️💛
☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛
☀️ Avire
Being born in April and mid-spring, and having a warm aura, Avire is more attuned to warm weather in the spring and summer. He has a more versatile wardrobe and likes wearing lighter clothing to feel the warm air outside. He also likes seeing the flowers bloom and the warm sunshine while he's outdoors.
Hyundai Santa Cruz 🛻
In his Modern AU, I figured Avire would drive this car, especially for his freelancing job. On workdays, he enjoys driving around and working up a sweat hauling through jobs on a sunny day. On days off, he likes spending time with Davrin and Assan, walking in the park and seeing the spring cherry blossoms, and eating ice cream in the back of his truck.
☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛
☀️Davrin
Davrin also likes the warmer weather in the spring and summer. He enjoys the warm breeze while he's outside with Assan. Sometimes he and Avire chuckle when Assan likes to chase after butterflies or scattered petals around him. Davrin's attire is more pastel-neutral, with light, rugged clothing, since he's active in nature.
Ford Bronco 🍁
In his Modern AU, Davrin works in the wilderness as a ranger, and has Assan by his side as well. So, he drives this car when moving around off-road terrain, with Assan riding in the backseat. Sometimes he rolls down the window or takes the roof off his car for Assan to feel the warm wind while he's driving.
☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛
☀️Together
Since Avire and Davrin live together in Modern AU, I'd figured they'd probably share a car as well for road trips and other everyday things. On sunny days in the spring, they like to go out together for a picnic or other activity in the park or forest, whether it's just the two of them or having Assan along. In the summer, the three like to take the car and go on long road/camping trips, or short trips to the beach and lake in the forest.
Subaru Outback 🏜
Again, Assan likes to stick his head out the window or sunroof to feel the breeze or bounce a bit to a song playing on the radio. Avire likes to play with Assan in the sand or water, while Davrin either watches them or gets buried by them in the sand. Both like to relax in the sun and help each other out with applying sunscreen, while rather being sunkissed than getting a tan or sunburn.
☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛☀️💛
(I may be a bit late for Davrin Week, but I just wanted to give my 2 cents. My bad if this seems all over the place.😶)
I'll also give some soft tags for only the "What does your OC drive?" posting: @redaresss, @apothe-cary, @amoaliquis, @wickedadaar, @zennihilation, @teamtakagi, @danananab, @shadowknight19kay, @booksncatsworld, @stormemes11, @i-creatied-au, @larknnightingale, @mushrooms-x-moss
I only have time for one artwork for @datvcompanionweeks’s Davrin week sadly, but I’m definitely having fun with it! Three guesses as to which prompt I picked XD
Davrin Week Finale as hosted by @datvcompanionweeks
I've had an idea in my head for this for months and decided to dust off my video editing program and put it together in the middle of the night.
The video is all recorded from my last playthrough. I found some of the audio worked okay with the song and some of it didn't. Where I felt it worked I left it. I had to work around some stuff because the videos were recorded for screenshot farming originally not video editing. Hope everyone likes it.
This playthrough was the canon playthrough for my Series A Life After on AO3. LINK
The song is from the 90's Jann Arden "I Would Die for You" I don't own the content.
Tagging some folks who I think might want to see this :P
Thank you to the amazing mods @datvcompanionweeks for organizing Davrin Week.
Day 4: Vir Tanadhal (The way of Three Trees)
Davrin’s steps carried him swiftly through the forest, bow in hand as he ran. Bellara and Neve were only a few steps behind him,smiles of joy on their faces as the three of them ran after the griffons.
The griffons had been split into four different groups of three to four and at least one Warden and one Veil Jumper accompanied them through the forest while they hunted in different directions for wild game. Davrin knew Antoine, Irelin, Lace, and Taash were somewhere south of here with a group of four griffons, while Strife, Evka, and Emmrich had gone west with three, and Amylia, Greta, and Lucanis were somewhere to the east with the three remaining griffons.
Assan and two of his sisters flew low through the trees, maneuvering brilliantly through the leaves and making twists and turns that astounded even Davrin, and he’d been around the griffons the longest of anyone.
The griffons had caught the scent of a herd of elk earlier and tracked them now through the forested landscape. Davrin was thankful for how intelligent the griffons were, since they were going after elk and not halla. The elk were larger than halla and would provide better meals. He’d heard something from Antoine earlier about possibly hunting deep stalkers as well. In a forest as large as Arlathan, the griffons had options.
In the meantime, Davrin, Bellara, and Neve would hunt smaller game like pheasants, as well as taking the time to dig for some of the wild edible plants around the forest since not everyone in the hunting parties, like Emmrich, ate meat. Bellara had mentioned there were a number of mushrooms and root plants you could find here.
From the corner of his eye he saw Bellara bringing her bow up, and a moment later a magical arrow went flying through the air, striking something further ahead. He narrowed his eyes, realizing she’d struck a pheasant that had tried to make a break from the cover of the forest floor.
“Good shot, Bel!” Neve congratulated the Dalish mage.
“Thank you,” Bellara replied with a faint blush. “I happened to just catch sight of it as it began to rise.”
“Good aim,” Davrin added his own congratulations. “I didn’t see it.”
“That’s because you’ve got eyes on griffons,” Neve teased him lightly.
He glanced at her, noting that her veins were slowly fading from black to gray with each passing day as she recovered from being blighted by Elgar’nan.
“Do you blame me?” Davrin chuckled.
“No, given that training them is a part of your job,” Neve replied.
They all heard the sound of something large falling further into the trees and exchanged a glance before hurrying after. Within minutes they found three very satisfied griffons in various positions around two fallen elk. Davrin approached first, examining the elk and noted that both of them were bucks.
“Good eyes,” he congratulated the griffons. They’d gone specifically for bucks and not female elk or the babies.
“They’re both bucks?” Neve guessed as she and Bellara caught up with Davrin.
The Warden nodded, “Yes, just like we’ve taught them.”
“Sort of like the Vir Tanadhal,” Bellara remarked, impressed.
“The Vir Tanadhal?” Neve cocked her head, “What’s that?”
“The Way of Three Trees,” Davrin explained. “It’s three parts, the Vir Assan, the Vir Bor’assan, and the Vir Ahahlen.”
“Assan means arrow, right?” Neve asked, glancing at the griffon who chirped happily at hearing his name. The detective chuckled and walked over to scratch the griffon under the chin. “Yes, Assan, I said your name. You did so well, boy.”
Assan chirped happily again, while his sisters gave questioning chirps, and looked almost longingly at Neve as she scratched Assan. It made Bellara laugh, and the elven mage moved to scratch one of Assan’s sisters. Davrin snorted when the remaining sister looked beseechingly at him and went to scratch her under the chin and behind the ears.
“So, the Vir Assan, the Vir Bor’assan, and the Vir Ahahlen,” Neve pronounced the Dalish words character. “I know Assan means arrow. What does the rest mean?”
“Vir Assan is just that, the Wat of the Arrow: be swift and silent, strike true, and do not waver,” Davrin advised her. “Vir Bor’assan is the Way of the Bow: as the sapling bends, so must you; in yielding, find resilience; in pliancy, find strength. Finally Vir Adahlen, the Way of the Forest: receive the gifts of the hunt with mindfulness. Uncle Eldrin taught me that.”
“Your Uncle is wise,” Neve noted. “All of that is good advice, both for living in the forest, and elsewhere.”
“Rook said something similar,” Davrin remarked, thinking back to when he explained the Vir Tanadhal to the human Warden.
Neve gave Davrin a long, assessing glance. “You miss him.”
Davrin snorted. “Miss Rook? You must be joking. All he and I did was argue when we weren’t working.”
“But you worked well together, when you were working,” Bellara pointed out thoughtfully.
Davrin shook his head. “Rook and I may be good as comrades at arms, but miss him? Maybe just his good aim and his bow.”
“Mmhmm, keep telling yourself that,” Neve murmured.
Davrin just gave her a disbelieving look and shook his head.
