#frankenmouseforever

[renlyslittlerose]

frankenmouseforever replied to your post:Trying to find gender neutral love songs for a...

The Book of Love is gender neutral and I cry every time I hear it xD

I was JUST contemplating putting ‘In Your Eyes’ on there, so I see we are of the same wavelength 

[shadoedseptmbr]

20 Aeryn and Sebastian

Things you were never meant to hear:

The night is quiet, the room is cool, the bed is soft and the sheets fresh but sleep is eluding him.  

Aeryn is curled up, her hand tucked under her cheek and her breathing deep so Sebastian moves slowly and quietly and rolls to his feet.  Padding across the floor to the window he stares into the dark garden beneath him.  The moon casts streaks of light across the turf and up the wall, catching the pale silver stalks of lavender just beginning to blossom.  

Closing his eyes, he imagines the soft scent of them, just a little biting.  Clean, crisp and cold.  The main ingredient in the incense they’d used in Kirkwall.  He’d spent days in the cellar, learning to roll out the charcoal and clay and mix the oils.  Simple, repetitive.  Easy to lose oneself, in repetition, in the eternal duty of the Chant.  

Bowing his head, he calls up a verse.  Murmuring under his breath, low enough not to wake her, he skips from Transfigurations to Exhaltations and back to Trials, ever a refuge of the sleepless.

“...in the empty space, where our hearts hunger for the forgotten face...”

Startled, Sebastian turns back to the bed.  Aeryn has shifted slightly, her lips barely parted, her eyes still closed.  But the words are still whispering.

He’s never heard her speak a word of the Chant.  It’s almost like seeing her stripped suddenly naked, as though he should cover his ears.  Outside, a dog bursts into barking, her brow twitches and the flow of words stops.  He’s almost grateful.  Maker forgive him.

His cheeks are wet as he slides back into bed, as she curls into him and he clings to her warmth and grace. 

[shadoedseptmbr]

frankenmouseforever reblogged your post I’m hesitant to do this but I had some... and added:

@shadoedseptmbr Sometimes I suspect that the hate for Sebastian seen in fandom comes from people who have been badly...

I am aware, and very sympathetic, to the folks who have been badly treated by religion and have a reaction towards any religious character they come across, especially when the fictional religion is as controversial and damaging as Andrastianism in Thedas.  I’m aware, because I’ve been there.  Leliana struck me very badly when I first played DAO for that same reason. And that, since Sebastian is the only romanceable character who is gender gated in DA2, he can also affront LGBTA players.  I don’t mind people not liking him, and I certainly don’t deny that the way he’s written makes him rather wooden headed about his own privilege.  It’s coming into positive places with their incessant “I don’t see how any one can stand him” and mocking pain, that gets me on my edges after a while.  There was a series of nonsense that I kept getting flashes of on my dash and I felt I had to say something.

Thank you for saying such lovely things about my stories! I’m so glad you’ve enjoyed them!

[inquisitorjowan]

Re: Headcanons. The reason Jowan was looking into blood magic at all was because he was trying to find a way to use it to heal, as he wasn't strong enough to do more than close minor injuries (e.g., papercuts).

“A lot of people ignore the minor uses for blood magic!”

[shadoedseptmbr]

To Be Expected left me sobbing. Especially that last paragraph. It really hit close to home for me personally. Just that old stories didn't have endings. That it wouldn't be forever. His years were running short. And he was still grateful.

That was actually one of the first things I wrote after into DA and starting to write again, and it didn’t really fit with the first things I posted.  I realized about halfway through Shelter that this was the Alistair who belonged in that ‘verse, that Aeryn and Sebastian needed Alistair and Lyna and Alistair and Dierdre as a foil...and a caution.  And I couldn’t let my Lyna be forgotten.

It’s so wrong that I want to say thank you for telling me it made you cry...To Be Expected doesn’t get a lot of love though and I love it so much, THANK YOU

[unsoundedcomic]

Re: Marriage brands: Does each couple share a quasi-unique brand or are they fairly standardized in terms of the elements used? Heck, do husband and wife share visually identical brands, or is it a more personal thing?

Brands can look like dang near anything, but you generally see the same religious motifs depending on the religion of the couple. Duane and Leysa both have lions with roses in their manes, for instance, which is pretty common among Ssaelit. The Quigleys' brands are talked about briefly in Orphans, with Quigley's mayfly being a somewhat cheeky choice. But they can match or not match, be very religiously inspired, nationally inspired, caste-inspired, or be a dickbutt, if you really wanted. How unique they are is going to depend on how creative the couple is. Some couples in our world design their own rings and write their own vows. But most, not so much.

[unsoundedcomic]

Perhaps an odd question, but what does Duane sound like? Not in terms of "which actor" but in terms of "does he sound like everyone else?" I mean, I assume he doesn't sound the same as he did when he was alive, given he's using a pymaric, but does the pymaric help him closely mimic normal human vocal patterns or can folks tell there's something a bit off?

He sounds very scratchy and gruff, with a completely different voice than he had in life. He essentially had to rebuild his lungs and voicebox from nothing. He's pretty proud of them, but they can dry out and start cutting in and out sometimes, particularly in the morning, when he's gone all night with them dry and unspelled, and towards the end of the day, when his concentration starts to falter and he grows "tired."

He also has to remember to breathe, haha. It's difficult to show in a comic, but he frequently opens his mouth to speak and nothing comes out because he has no air in his lungs. If you knew what you were about and you watched Duane for a while, you'd soon be able to determine he's not only using a pymaric to speak, but there's something really, really off about it.

[unsoundedcomic]

So Ssaelism views procreation as one of the systems devised by the Gods to humiliate/degrade humanity. I would imagine that results in some pretty interesting taboos/traditions regarding sex/sexuality. Is there anything you can (or would be willing to) share about those taboos?

Hmm. Not being the kinkiest person around, I can't say it is a topic to which I have devoted excessive portions of my brain.

Probably the weirdest thing Ssaelit do is very fastidiously groom their nether regions. Hygiene and tidiness are pretty important to them but Ssael even gave specific advice on the best ways to trim one's pubes. Back when there was an actual Ssaelit population outside Alderode, it was common for Gefendur knights to identify prisoners as heathens by examining them pantsless. The Ssaelit would always have daintily trimmed genitals while a Twins-fearing Geffie was all bush, baby.

Anyway, it's adhered to more often than you'd think since most people bathe in municipal bath houses. No one wants to have their bedraggled crotch commented upon.

Now you know.