#hollyand

[catalystcrisis]

Regency Portrait of Merrill

For @hollyand-writes amazing fic, A Chance Engagement. Figured I’d use the DAdrawtober Day 13 prompt of ‘Dalish’ to paint a small portrait for a talented friend 💖 If you love Pride & Prejudice, you’ll love her RegencyAU!DA2 fic. She lured me onto the Merrill/Carver ship with her wonderfully written story and I have zero regrets.

Click for the companion portrait of Carver!

@dadrawtober prompts are here!

[dismalzelenka]

From the "Fun meta asks for writers" - 3 and one of your choice!

This is actually probably a scene I have planned in my original work that I've been struggling to figure out how to set up for a really long time.

The plot is about two mages from different places having to figure out how to work together despite wildly different philosophies and ethical codes, and eventually falling in love and being a sweet and gay power couple. Zephyr is a chaos mage hunter, and Tasha is a chaos mage. At the point in which they meet, Zephyr has crash landed in the middle of the desert and has zero wilderness training, and Tasha saves her life.

The scene I've had planned for almost nine years now is the one where something pulls them apart. Tasha is enticed by a powerful chaos mage who promises her a life where she doesn't have to hide her powers. Zephyr loves Tasha but isn't always supportive of the fact that chaos magic is a part of her. And despite Tasha's feelings for Zephyr, the fact that Zephyr can't accept 100% of her has left her feeling resentful.

In the scene, they bang and share a passionate kiss, and then Tasha drops the news that she's leaving. Zephyr suspects where she's going and calls her out on it, tells her she's weak and giving up for turning to someone for help who obviously doesn't have her best interests at heart and only wants to use her for her power. Tasha in turn calls Zephyr a coward who hides behind her status as a hunter to conceal the fact that she's terrified of magic she can't understand. Zephyr is terrified, but not of Tasha's magic; Tasha's just the first person she's ever dared to love, and the thought of losing her is so painful she ends up lashing out instead of just talking like a rational adult. She pushes Tasha's buttons to the point that Tasha gets too angry and loses control of her magic and it injures Zephyr. Horrified, Tasha says something like, "See? You could never be safe with a monster like me. It's better this way." She makes up some lie about how she never loved Zephyr anyway and she was only ever using her for her powers and skills, etc etc, and leaves.

However getting to this point in the story has left me yanking my hair out. But here it is, for posterity 😂

Comparing Anders to the sun. I do it constantly. I can't help it. He's golden and radiant, intense and full of fire, and if you aren't careful, he's also dangerous and can burn the hell out of you. I love all of these things about him, and it inevitably comes out in the way people who love him view him in my fics. Every time I catch myself doing it I'm like OOPS MY HAND SLIPPED and I do it anyway.

[sinsbymanka]

Mauve! Teal! Tangerine! Baby blue! Almond! <3

YOU MADE ME INTO TASTY SKITTLES.

I didn't realize more than one was an OPTION. Right back at you for ALL OF THESE.

[catalystcrisis]

Regency Portrait of Carver

For DAdrawtober Day 15 - Solas Carver. I really wanted to complete a companion piece to the Regency portrait I did of Merrill! This is for a talented friend, @hollyand-writes. She is writing a fantastic RegencyAU!DA2 Merrill/Carver fic inspired by Pride and Prejudice, titled A Chance Engagement. It’s a great read, and I highly recommend it <3

Solasmancers pls don’t come after me, I promise that I’m saving him for a different prompt.

@dadrawtober prompts are here! Please feel free to join in :)

[fandom-age]

text overlaid atop the dragon age logo that reads “If you’re a Merrill x Carver fan then look no further than @hollyand-writes’s work. Amazing and emotional. It’s wonderful to read work by someone who really understands the characters and their relationship.”