#dirtharaxma

[felandaristhorns]

Jay: AU where-

Me: Sold, I'm invested.

[yelonelysouls]

something written about your OC in the two years between defeating Corypheus and the beginning of Trespasser and for Neirin

DA:I OC codex prompts

Keeper Sulahn,

Yes, I mean to return to the clan. Yes, soon. Quit nagging.

The Inquisitor herself is well, though the same cannot be said for her current paramour; the poor fool seems to have fallen ill after traipsing through the southern bogs. No amount of sitting at the campfire served to chase the chill from his bones, and fragile as these Circle-raised mages tend to be, I expect he’ll be dead in a week’s time.

Though with the power of the Inquisition and its resources behind it, the effort to see him returned to health may yet succeed - to say nothing of the dolt’s brother, a promising lad with none of his brother’s failings. Though his own skills follow my own (that is to say, of course, an inclination toward poisons over poultices), he is determined. So too is the Inquisitor herself. 

Perhaps I’ll light a candle to Sylaise. Do the same, if you’re inclined. The idiot may very well need all the help he can get. 

Send more vines of arbor blessing with your next letter. 

- F

[deathsreflection]

[send in ⭐ to touch my muse’s hair] Falon'Din's got to take care of dem curls. he's probably braiding them or something.

I didn’t reblog this meme, but Jay knows how I am about hair touches

The fingers in his hair are deft and delicate, weaving a semblance of order into the wildness of Dirthamen’s mane of raven curls. Dirthamen sits in a kind of trance, golden eyes half-lidded and sliding further shut with each passing moment, while Falon’Din works with the efficiency of many, many years’ practice: with his eyes closed, Dirthamen can very nearly imagine they’re children again, hiding in their secret meadow in the mountains...

It is a process that can, some days, take hours: it’s no easy task to tame Dirthamen’s hair, least of all in the intricate series of braids his twin favors. It makes his hair far easier to sleep in - fewer tangles, fewer unsalvageable knots - in addition to its beauty, making it immensely practical... not that practicality has anything to do with why Dirthamen enjoys the soothing motion of Falon’Din’s hands at work. His own fingers tingle with the shared sensation through their bond; his own mind slides into the comforting rhythm of braiding, one lock into another, one braid linking into the next. The cunning trick of braiding a raven’s feather in, loose enough to be plucked free, tight enough not to fall of its own accord. Small decorations, beautiful but unobtrusive.

Dirthamen falls well and truly asleep halfway through, nodding off while Falon’Din finishes braiding the lengths of his hair - no inconvenience, of course; Falon’Din is more than accustomed, now, to working while he sleeps.

Drowsily, he opens his eyes once more to find the task completed. Falon’Din stands before him, tipping his chin up with gentle fingers to admire his work... and Dirthamen gives him a sleepy smile, reaching up to touch the hand at his chin with his own fingertips, cool and light.

“I enjoy the way I look through your eyes, vhenan.”

[lathal-a]

👀 + "So..." Aradin asks casually. "How do you feel about the creators? Individually, I mean."

“I mean, they were all slave owners. So that’s shitty and they all get points against them for that. But honestly, it’s hard to say? I know a lot of stories about them, but at this point, I don’t know what to believe about any of them. Like, Mythal was always my favorite, yeah? And I thought that if any of them would be there to protect us, it’d be her. I thought she wasn’t doing that because she was sealed away in the fade, but she had taken a human form and was ignoring our plight this entire time.”

“So I don’t know what I think about them anymore. I don’t know enough to have an informed opinion anymore, I think.”

[deathsreflection]

20. what are your muse’s feelings towards the culture of romance and sexuality as it pertains to their identity? re: both him and the twin

sexuality & gender diversity headcanons.

So for those who aren’t aware because I cannot finish an info page to safe my life, Dirthamen and Falon’Din as we write them are not blood related, and though they call each other siblings/twins and are prepared to kill anyone who doesn’t respect that, their actual relationship is much closer to a QP. They (and Dirthamen in particular) consider themselves to be one entity in two bodies; two halves of one whole. They used a blood magic ritual to bind their minds when they were little more than children, and as such, their relationship is uniquely intimate, giving them both a window into how the other is thinking and feeling at any given moment.

What their relationship emphatically is not, however, is romantic or sexual.

In many verses, early in their relationship - before they make a name for themselves and their reputation grows - it’s not uncommon for people to assume they’re romantic partners, or at the very least childhood sweethearts. Taken alongside the fact that even later in life they’re well known to never take lovers or even concubines (and that Dirthamen broke off an arranged betrothal not long after meeting Falon’Din as a child) there is still speculation that their relationship is more romantic than they claim, though that speculation has grown far, far quieter with the passing of ages.

It is worth noting that close platonic relationships are very much a thing in Elvhenan. Partnerships based on platonic intimacy, rather than romantic connections, are not uncommon. What sets the twins’ relationship apart is the degree of closeness and connection, even though the vast majority of people don’t know about their mental link. They use a unique personal pronoun that is a plural. They identify themselves as pieces of each other: Falon’Din’s Reflection, Dirthamen’s Shadow. They call themselves twin souls, matching pieces of a puzzle with two halves. Their specific relationship is unprecedented and no one successfully copies it: small wonder, then, that their peculiar closeness fuels unwarranted speculation.

The assumption that they might be lovers is something Dirthamen is aware frustrates and infuriates Falon’Din, when it doesn’t outright nauseate him. Dirthamen himself is unconcerned with the assumptions of others - he is aromantic and asexual (as is his twin), and has no interest in seeking out other partners, so it doesn’t especially bother him that others might presume he’s already in a relationship. It isn’t wholly inaccurate, after all; Falon’Din holds his heart, and always will. There are no verses where he’s ever truly put off or offended by the assumption, though there are a few where he’s mildly offended on Falon’Din’s behalf.

In Stolen Rebirth, the twins actually look like twins, and the issue doesn’t really come up - though it’s a verse where Dirthamen - as Erenan - is far more likely to be flirted with or propositioned, and he gets to be disgusted by the suggestion.

[deathsreflection]

@dirtharaxma liked the tiny starter call even though we already have threads but I love them. :|

What can I do to mend this?

In something approaching desperation, Dirthamen had finally done as he ought from the very beginning: asked Sulahn for advice. She, at least, seems to have no difficulty speaking with Samahl. But perhaps that shouldn’t come as a surprise: Sulahn has been Dirthamen’s voice for quite nearly their entire lives; of course she finds it easy to strike up a conversation with Falon’Din’s lifelong companion.

Dirthamen struggles to converse at all, let alone with someone so deeply, inextricably tied to his own soulmate. What becomes of his bond with Falon’Din if he should fail to suitably impress Samahl? He needs only to look at Mythal and Elgar’nan to know a fate-woven binding can turn swiftly and bitterly to hatred. How easily love can become poison - and Samahl has few reasons to flatter him. Dirthamen has thus far avoided giving them cause to speak ill of him, but if Falon’Din means to push them together, what if that should change?

And so he speaks to Sulahn, who gives him advice. He cannot shake the impression that she’s amused.

He approaches them quietly: the animals notice his approach first. “I...” He trails off, and lets the silence linger another second, then another, before making another attempt. “Sulahn advised me to ask you how you came to know Falon’Din.”

[deathsreflection]

meta on the twins' history with Sulahn

send me a topic to write a meta about my muse on

Sulahn is a central figure in Dirthamen’s life from early childhood: she was betrothed to him in infancy, in the hopes of binding her family’s clan under Mythal’s command. They were not necessarily close early on; neither of them resented the betrothal, necessarily, though even early in their relationship they knew they’d need to find a way out of it. Sulahn regarded Renan as something of a curiosity, more than a person in his own right - that is, until he found Athim, and began to blossom into someone with purpose. Suddenly he had a focus for his intensity, his observational skills, and perhaps most importantly, his affection. And Sulahn wasn’t jealous of Athim - quite the opposite, in fact. She was delighted to see the effect he had on Renan.

When the twins left their parents, Sulahn remained behind only for a short while before following in their wake, eager to see what they’d build on their own. The answer was an army of spies, with her at the head, under Dirthamen’s command. Though she stands more or less as an equal to Dirthamen prior to this, she has no qualms with becoming a pawn to him; she’s intrigued to know what the twins mean to accomplish, and being the spymaster’s spymaster places her in an enviable position.

Though she’s closer to Dirthamen because they work closely together, Sulahn nevertheless holds a deep well of fondness for Falon’Din, and regards him with a good deal more warmth than perhaps his cruelty and warmongering deserve. She, like Dirthamen, never forgets the child he once was, though she admittedly no longer knows that child is still at Falon’Din’s core. She sees what he has become, not the weaknesses and cracks inherent in the armor Dirthamen has helped him build.

[nighttimefriend]

“i can tell you will always be danger” from Solas, sure, why not.

Her face was blank as her mind processed the words he spoke. It wasn’t the words; It was who dictated them. The audacity that he had to call her a ‘danger,’ when the greatest danger to the world he created was him. 

It was hilarious in the most depressing ways. It caused the soldier to unwittingly let out a bark of laughter.

“Oh, that is funny!” Ny’Ari exclaimed through her laughter. The joyous lilt in her voice was not reflected in her eyes. Her face fell quickly after, the same deadpan expression she had started creeping back onto it.  “I do not want to hear that from you. I am not the danger.”