#helia tabris

[fadeling]

played some origins today and finally got to the part of the game where i let her wear the warden armour!! appreciate her.

[championofthefade]

For the DADWC, from the "Vulnerable Confessions" prompt list: I can't believe I never knew, for the pairing of your choice!

Happy Friday!!! | @dadrunkwriting

Using Lonan x Helia (who belongs to @fadeling) for this prompt! When I tell you I got excited to write this, I had to reference some bits of the groupchat where this formulated to write it.

Words: 603

The night had finally settled over camp, the fire crackling softly as Lonan made his way over to Helia. 

“Come with me.” He held out his hand, helping her to her feet. “I want to show you something.”

He had been planning it all day, from the moment Anneliese aired her frustrations to when the idle chatter among the other wardens finally died and were turning for the night. 

“Here.” He stopped in front of a tree some ways away from camp, far enough to see the fire still flickering against the moonlight. 

For a moment, he wanted to forget it. Forget everything and call it a night. But he knew if he were to back out now, now that they were alone and standing awkwardly there, he couldn’t bring himself to walk away.

“You have grown near and dear to me.” He cleared his throat, carving their names inside the heart he left in the tree earlier, an attempt to settle his nerves. “You and your strange ways.”

“I feel similar.” Helia spoke as he continued to cut into the tree, attempting to keep his hand steady. “There’s a whole world I have come to know, and without you, it would have remained a mystery to me. You’re someone I can rely on, hopefully for the rest of our lives.”

Lonan had to take a deep breath in, dusting off their names before taking a step back. “I am yours, if you would have me.”

“Of course, Lonan. As am I.”

He laughed, rubbing his brow. Now I understand Anneliese’s frustration.

Dropping the knife back into its place in his boot, Lonan turned away from the tree with a soft smile and a shake of his head. Stepping closer to Helia, he took her hands into his and ignored every fear he had before speaking.

“I mean to say that I am in love with you, you strange, strange creature.”

Her eyes widened, clearly surprised, and her mouth fell open a little as if to respond. No words followed, even as they stood there, holding hands in front of a tree with their names carved in an arrow heart.

“I never knew…”

Lonan let out a relieved chuckle, shaking his head. “I thought I had been obvious in my affections for you, Helia. The dagger, the halla… Now I know subtle gestures are not helpful.”

Helia pulled one of her hands away from him, covering her mouth and looking away from him. “I… Apologize for not being aware.”

Lonan chuckled again, moving his head in effort to get her to look at him. “No need to apologize, if I knew it would take this much effort, I would do it again just to see you smile.”

She gave him a small laugh, a small smile accompanying it that made his heart skip a beat in his chest. “I consider myself very lucky, then... I'd be foolish to mishandle this.”

He rested his forehead gently against her, keeping himself from running around in circles and shouting into the night. There was only one thing he could think of, and it was probably the most foolish thing to do. 

Lonan’s hands cupped Helia’s face, pulling back before smiling. “You can kick my ass later for this.”

He leaned in, kissing Helia softly. For a second there, he wondered if it were the right move, doubting for a second that this was something she wanted from him. Until she had began to kiss him back, relief easing his shoulders as he held her. 

When they parted, staring at each other for a moment, Lonan could’ve sworn he heard cheering somewhere near camp. 

“I don't think I feel the need to.” Helia whispered to him.

He couldn’t help himself and kissed her again.

[fadeling]

Helia whenever sten and morrigan are mad at her for wasting time helping someone tie their shoes instead of killing the archdemon

[fadeling]

my dragon age ocs but if they were slay the princess

helia - the wild

aniera - the cage

petra - the apotheosis maybe i have to think about it

[fadeling]

some canonical facts about helia

-brutalized her mother's attacker -purged an entire mansion of noble men "like dogs" -has had to kill bandits who wouldnt stand down -beheaded oghren's wife right in front of him -completes the odd contract job which may or may not result in the death of a few nobles or key players of her opposition -dont even get me started on the slavers in the alienage my god... that warehouse is never going to be any other color except red -made howe slice open his own throat -slaughtered ser cauthrien and her lackeys -executed loghain and made it very clear to his daughter that she'd deliver the same fate to her if she had to -tore someones throat out by her teeth at least once -opportunistically loots every corpse regardless of whose it is -doesnt consider herself to be a person who has killed anyone. ever

[fadeling]

talk about the au where he did it earlier… pleas

:happe: ily ghost

Ok so I don't remember to what extent I've talked about it on my blog but basically, helia's choice to survive through morrigan's ritual relies entirely on the landsmeet and the choices she made there. Especially in context to her relationship with alistair.

Helia never expected to fall in love during her life, ever, and her relationship with alistair as two wardens against the world makes her very happy. It's selfish and indulgent, but these are the nice things she fights for and is willing to die for. She considers her relationships as a part of her duty, if not as a warden than by her own moral code. When Wynne asks her what she'll do when it's a choice between alistair and the rest of the wardens, it seems obviously clear to her... but when it actually happens it suddenly doesn't feel so simple anymore.

Because when Alistair becomes a candidate, he doesn't push it away, he welcomes it as if it SHOULD be his responsibility. Him becoming king is pretty unthinkable to her, not because she thinks he'd be awful at it - no, truly she thinks he'd would do fine - but she hates nobility and she hates how it'll become an obstacle in their relationship. When she dared to imagine a future of being wardens until they die, this wasnt a part of it, and it doesn't seem very likely they'll get away with the politics of it all so easily. It's sort of a death knell. Their relationship won't get to be something serious decided only by them. And the worst part is that alistair specifically tells her that it's BECAUSE of her that he can make a decision like this, that he's willing to make the hard choices for the greater good, even at the sacrifice of his own happiness, because that strength of hers is what brought her to the wardens in the first place.

And the thing is, there ARE valid reasons for him being king. She doesn't like it but she can't deny that he offers a lot of stability to ferelden, and that him as king could be a net a good. At the very least she trusts him deeply, which is a lot better than the almost-zero trust she has for Anora. So she realizes she's at a point where she either keeps her and alistair's personal happinesses intact, or lets that fizzle away in service of more honourable goals.

Canonically, Helia chooses to keep alistair as a grey warden. She does it for herself, it's true, but she also does it for Alistair. She makes it very clear to him that she believes in him, she truly does, but she could never let him sacrifice himself in any way like that. It's why she considers the ritual an option, as long as he wants to live a life with her then she's willing to fight for that most of all. (Though feels really bad that it's kind of still at a sacrifice to his comfort... um... truth be told if she knew they were likely going to die before the landsmeet then she would've made him king by default but it's fine) This leads to alistair having a bit of a conflict about whether or not he's doing enough, which ultimately is what sends him to the fade during inquisition. But that's another story!

In this one, Helia admits that he's right. That their humanity should be almost entirely stomped out, and I think that actually depresses her quite deeply. She can't really balance how to be a person when she's so dedicated to being a tool now. Even though she'll convince alistair to continue their relationship as a mistress to him it's still kind of degrading and half-hearted. There's just a spark in her that isn't there any more, so when morrigan offers her a way out it's like... why should she feel like she wants to take it? She'll fulfill her duty to this world, end of story, it doesn't matter if she lives or dies anymore. She is content and there's no need to involve alistair. I can imagine morrigan (who helia is very very close with!) being understandably incredibly upset by this, and I think helia is too, but the preservation of something just. Simply doesn't matter anymore. :(

If I've ever made helia sound like the most emotionally mature person in thedas just remember she's like one bad breakup away from committing suicide in the most elaborate and dramatic way possible (ok to be fair it's less the idea of a breakup and more what it represents for her mentality going forward but these are still the facts ok)

Anyway. So imagine she goes through all that, even becomes excited for her battle with the archdemon, and of course doesn't bring alistair with her to the final battle. Ferelden will have him as a king while she's gone, she can be content with this. Now imagine he wisens up to what she's doing and jumps in to sacrifice himself INSTEAD and takes the kill for her. Again, it's only because of her that he can do this... why should it stop at deciding to be king? Really, she should've considered this.

Now all of that sacrifice just truly, truly was for nothing. It all could've been prevented but she made that mistake and she has to live with it too. Doesn't it suck. Isn't that just terrible

[fadeling]

wrote out drinking headcanons a bit ago so i thought i should post them here yay

helia tabris

she's not a heavyweight but she can definitely hold her drink. she's pretty good about not going overboard. she'll only let herself go beyond tipsy when shes feeling super safe otherwise she just simply won't do it. she's a little more bubbly, more affectionate which therefore means just. SO much teasing and mischief. and lying. she will lie a lot while drunk for literally no reason other than she thinks its funny. and she'd really hustle too like she could probably convince some people that there's buried treasure nearby. wont really remember doing that the next morning. also never gets hangovers

aniera hawke

definitely a heavyweight. she drinks a Lot but very rarely actually gets drunk? when she's got a buzz going she isn't really that much different, but she can be a bit looser. and salty. she's a lot easier to convince into doing fun activities (like playing cards or having conversations. and very rarely: a bar fight) but her being chattier kind of means she tends to complain more. when she drinks beyond that she's almost immediately down for the count though, which is ACTUALLY why she avoids getting drunk, because she WILL throw up and then needs to sleep for 14 hours. she won't even feel better after that. there's a sweet spot between tipsy and drunk though, which she only really does around fenris, where she accidentally gets too vulnerable and real but still has enough cognitive function to think she has to kill herself about it

petra adaar

okay she's a party girl and BIG so i think she can drink many people under the table without feeling much which means she has good tolerance but i chalk that up to luck more than i do tolerance. the thing is though, is that she WILL drink beyond her limit. the most likely to accidentally get alcohol poisoning in the right setting. she's not that irresponsible but it could happen. anyway yeah like i said she's a party girl so she's definitely #fun. probably likes to wrestle. she's also competitive. loud. thinks it's awesome. bull's drink still killed her tho and when she gets to that point she's more the woozy "are muy tjeeth still in my muoth" drunk and she doesnt have long left in this world after that. hangovers are fine. kind of mid

[fadeling]

helia week ✨ 05

day one | day two | day three | day four

🌻 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 🌻

21. Did the Warden romance anyone from their group? If so, what attracted them to their partner?

Alistair, of course, which i've already more than alluded to a few times and i already accidentally answered the second question in the previous post. i'll just talk about their romance in general here

despite both having warm and intimate feelings for each other, it took awhile for their relationship to begin in any capacity. this is because helia is a little bit stupid when it comes to realizing her own attractions and romantic feelings, and is even less aware of when that attention is directed towards her. she just didnt really think about it, assuming that the hope she'll get to spend the rest of her time as a warden with him is Totally Platonic and that there's no deeper feelings to analyze there. just utterly clueless.

Alistair was the more emotionally aware one. at least he has the capacity to know and acknowledge when he feels something for someone. i think he's utterly fascinated by helia, never has he known someone so poised and yet so. weird. i think he wants to study her. how could he not want to fuck her. there's a nervousness too, she seems better than him and considering her lack of flirtations he might just be an asshole for presenting his feelings

funnily enough, it's actually helia who encourages him into sharing his attraction for her. he calls her beautiful and then retracts it, then even asks what she'd think if he really did call her that. and so she says she'd love to have an answer but she can't know until he commits to it. which like fair enough, so he does!

the rose conversation happens ( jsyk redcliffe is one of the last things i do before the landsmeet arc) and helia reciprocates deeply. it's extremely kind and fuck, of course she feels the same way? however. and im not bullshitting you. she is COMPLETELY unaware that this conversation is romantic in any way. and he doesn't know she doesnt know. so imagine her surprise when later on, during another romantically charged conversation, he kisses her. helia is completely fucking blindsided its awesome

... which he realized after and oh my god he can't believe it! this woman can read an assassin out of a throne room, how can she have not figured it out by now ? it's very very funny. it's very cute and he's super lucky she said that it's fine because she liked it.

another fave moment is that i usually do things in a way where after his personal quest i get the sex cutscene, and then immediately after THAT one i get the post-hardened "i think from now on im going to do whatever i want that makes me feel happy" like um. yeah man. i can tell. <3

22. Which gifts would raise the Warden's approval, if they were a companion?

These questions are always really hard for me to answer umm. She’s not a very picky person but she appreciates things she can use more than appreciates aesthetic. if you give her expensive jewellery she'll end up selling it unless you clarify extreme sentimentality, for example. she doesn't want for very much.

i can imagine that she's interested in books. of all kinds. geography, history, biography, even magical tomes, she hungers for Lore. she'll even enjoy a random tattered journal you found in a well. i think she also enjoys candles.

also it's cliche but she fucking loooves blades and weapons, not just because shes a sicko but because she's also a geek about the craft. she appreciates a well-designed weapon, and enjoys clever add-ons. She actually perked up when she heard her betrothed has ties to blacksmithing. I think its a special interest of hers :) if you gave her starmetal to craft starfang with it would change her life

23. If Dog is in the party, what did the Warden name him and why?

Bloodkin because he also drank darkspawn blood, lived, experienced ostagar, and then lived from that too. just like her and alistair did. ^_^ there's a deep companionship found in the events that brought them all together and helia finds that deeply important. He's A Part Of Them. he's called bloody for short btw

24. Did the Warden complete the companions quests?

yeah, i very rarely ever have a character who will skip out on optional questlines and companions because I simply Just Dont Want To so my rpg protags will sometimes have through-line similarities. but in different flavours i do still try and think about it.

im pretty sure i said before that helia considers her relationships to be a part of her duty, so going out of her way to do extra things for her comrades, i mean... how could she not?

25. Did the Warden focus more on their objective or did they do side quests?

She likes helping people and stealing from nobles. And delivering justice. so hell yes