a) I'm really curious: how would Blue respond to Das? b) If you had to ship him with one of your OCs, who would it be? c) Who would be the one to always notice an onset of the phantom pain even when he's hiding it? d) Who'd be the one always telling him to do less of that blight magic nonsense? e) Who'd be his fellow coffee junkie?
A.) Blue Surana, whenever she gets back, would be pretty far gone with her taint sickness. I feel like she would see, and sense, how Blighted he is and feel a sort of kinship with him right away even if she doesn’t say it (she’s also lost the color in her eyes by then). Just more incentive for her to get back out there and hunt down that cure. Blue wouldn’t even question why he was at Vigil’s Keep. She trusts her team and if they’ve already welcomed him into their ranks then he’s one of them now and under Blue’s protection.
She’s been in correspondence with Avernus (he was required to send any notes on his findings to her and Alyss Amell who is also researching the Taint at Vigil’s Keep [the reason everyone gets monthly check ups]) and would be angry he kept his experiments on Das from her.
She’s an insomniac like he is and would likely spend many sunrises sharing tea (or whatever he’s having) with him after a particularly restless night. They share a love for birds too so those dawns would likely be spent in the messenger raven rookery (lol both of his “bosses” in the same room). Blue likes the way he talks but envies his energy (by Trespasser time frame she’s already using Arcane Warrior magic, which she previously just used for wielding heavy weapons and wearing heavy armor, near constantly for basic things like walking since she’s so fatigued and/or in pain all the time. This means she needs constant mana so she laces her tea and water with diluted lyrium and is constantly taking it).
B.) Dude that’s so hard. I’d love to ship with Das but I honestly don’t know who’d make the best couple. Depends what we wanna go for- like angsty, humorous, sweet, unhealthy? there’s just so many ways we can take this. And honestly half of them are already at least mildly crushing on him so he could literally choose as if he were in a Dating Sim xD Who do you think he would be interested in? You said Das is attracted to intelligence, wit, and kindness. I can’t think of one warden who embodies all these things individually…
For example, Isseya Mahariel is intelligent with a rather scathing wit, so I wouldn’t call her “kind” if I were to describe her in the fewest words possible…(she’s definitely soft and loving to her man, but for people who first meet her “kind” is not the first word that comes to mind). Alyss Amell and Cassian Cousland are both kind but while Alyss is smart (huge nerd), she’s not particularly witty, and while Cassian isn’t stupid, he is more charm and wit than intellect. Kieran Tabris is none of those things…but he’s good looking (lol and has other redeeming qualities). He would just take longer to build up than the others to lock in a serious romance if Das wanted to pursue one (if not, Kieran’s the only Warden down to be just “casual fck buddies”). A romance with Blue Surana would get pretty angsty since she’s definitely dying but they’d probably be able to understand each other despite being so different in personality so that might also be interesting.
C.) Alyss Amell has a trained field medic’s eye after 10 years of the majority of her teammates trying to “hide” their injuries/pain. It takes a couple months before she’s able to read Das’ eyes and body language the way she knows the other wardens’ but she learns it. Yevren’s notes were committed to memory and they helped. She’ll offer to do extra “routine check ups”, asking him out of earshot of the others, and will run healing magic through her fingers while massaging pressure points on his body, usually his temples or the palm of his remaining hand in between his thumb and pointer finger. She also treats him with ice magic since if she can’t make the mental pain go away she can at least numb the area. Alyss definitely made it a priority to acquire the ingredients on the list Das gave her. She keeps his pipe blend in stock but also works on alternative mixtures on her spare time for Das to take orally. She’s also always ready to whip up a sleep drought for him on bad nights.
D.) Everyone kind of has their own forms of morbid “nonsense” (Blue, Nora, and Kieran all took sips from Avernus’ Alchemical Concoction, Alyss is a blood mage, Kieran’s learned Reaver and Ronan’s learned Spirit Warrior Specializations by Inquisition) so though they wouldn’t particularly love it, no one would tell him outright to “use it less”.
Cassian Cousland is squeamish though so you’d see it on his face when he’s looking nauseous after a fight. But he’s too polite to say anything. Alyss Amell fusses like any medic of the team would (hypocrite!) because Das always looks more blighted after and she’s very worried. Ronan Aeducan will tell him to chill out from the creepiness from time to time and he’s only half joking, but no direct remarks. Blue Surana though, in the rare cases she’s there, will sense the taint affecting him right away and immediately order him to “Stop” if she sees him using it. She never uses her tainted “power of blood” anymore. The Blight is over; they’re not desperate anymore.
E.) Nora is an everything junkie. Nora Brosca and Cassian Cousland both love coffee but Cassian knows moderation. Nora’s on like 7 cups a day because she keeps building caffeine resistance.
