Interestingly Thura did get added to the game for the orc heritage questline. They should honestly do stuff with her tbh, she is full do gooder, but also just a very young orcish meathead who is a badass. I feel like she'd be perfect for the "everyone is paragon only now" style of game they're going for now and still be fun.
Part of the charm of stormrage to me is Thura and Tyrande are the same character lol, it's just one is in night elf priestess packaging and one is in orc warrior packaging. I don't know that this is an intentional dichotomy as it's not explicitly stated by an author who seems to be outright offended by the idea of "show don't tell"... but whatever, doesn't make it not true
Here's my gift to you for the @masseffectholidaycheer : your OC John and his lover Kaidan being in a Dual Mood, I experimented with brushes and I really hope you like the result (I wanted to draw a combo of them both, but sadly couldn't find the time :( ).
I hope you like your boys, and I wish you a great beginning of 2023 full of space adventures and wonder!! ✨
And thanks once more to the great Harbinger of our Doom for organizing this massive (and festive) event! 🎄
I was selected as @sheyshen's gift giver for holiday harbringer this year. So hopefully my gift is something you like :) it is below the cut here.
@sheyshen I hope you like this gift :)
A Multicoloured Sky
(A fanfic poem: Kaidan to Shepard.)
The storms might come to hurt you,
The rain might fall sometimes,
At the end of the day my darling,
You will be safe here with me.
Even if the universe conspires against us again,
And enemies surround us on all sides,
There is nothing to fear as we remain,
Together in the pocket of time
The storm will pass, as all things do,
And together we will walk the sunrise,
And as we gain our strength,
We will be under multicoloured skies.
Lyrishadow.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
I've finished the next prize! This one is for @sheyshen based off of the below HDJ:
Alistair has an essence made out of the roses he grows for his sweetheart so they can take the smell of their garden with them when they travel.
No trigger warnings in this one!
“It still isn’t right,” Alistair exclaimed after inhaling a deep lungful of the newest batch of essence.
“Majesty, if you could describe to me how it isn’t right so that I might correct it?” The alchemist was clearly frustrated and doing his best to keep his composure with the monarch.
“It doesn’t smell like her roses,” he said lamely after a moment.
“How, majesty?” the alchemist bit out between clenched teeth. “It was distilled from the roses you supplied.” The Orlesian’s accent was growing stronger with his ire, making him difficult to understand.
“I don’t know! If I did I would tell you!” Alistair was just as frustrated. “I’ll think about it and get back to you later.”
“Very well, majesty. We shall met yet again at another date.” He was already packing up his things despite not being formally dismissed. Not that Alistair stood on such formalities anyway.
He kept staring distractedly at the small vial of rose essence as he walked back to the suite he shared with his lovers. When he walked in, he glanced at Nathaniel, reading by the window.
“How’d it turn out?” he asked casually, setting the book on his lap.
“It still isn’t right!” Alistair said in frustration, shoving the vial into Nate’s hands.
Pulling out the stopper, Nathaniel gave it an experimental sniff. His face relaxed at the pleasant smell, having expected something vile given the king’s reaction.
“And what’s wrong with it?” Nathaniel asked the question innocently enough, though Alistair reacted as if he’d been intensely questioned for hours.
“It doesn’t smell right! It doesn’t smell like her roses!”
“I would argue that it smells exactly like them,” Nate argued, “but I think I know what your problem is.”
“My problem?” Alistair asked, surprised. He stepped aside when Nate got up and walked to the bed.
“You’re mixing up the smell of her flowers with the smell of her.” He put a small drop of the oil on his finger and then brushed it on one of Rana’s pillows. He threw it at the openly confused Alistair.
Curiously, he brought it to his face and inhaled deeply. His eyes widened and snapped back to Nathaniel. “It’s perfect!” he exclaimed with the excitement of a child receiving a much anticipated present. He distractedly took back the vial that Nate held out.
Closing his eyes, he pressed his face back into his lover’s pillow for another deep breath that triggered so many pleasant, loving and steamy memories.
“Are you going to give it to her now? Finally?” Nate asked, sitting back in his chair to watch this odd, childish man that he adored for just those traits.
“Give what to me now? And what are you doing with my pillow, Star?” Rana’s voice mildly surprised Nathaniel, but completely startled Alistair.
With a yelp, he tossed the pillow onto the bed and hid the vial behind his back. At least, that’s what he’d intended to do. Instead, he’d tossed the vial and hid the pillow, unsuccessfully, behind him. When he heard Nate snort he realized what he’d done and dropped the pillow completely to snatch up the vial of rose oil from the bed.
His cheeks were bright red and he was silently kicking himself. “It was supposed to be a surprise for when you travelled next,” he started to explain.
“My original question still remains. What is it?” Rana’s amused smile only made him blush harder. He could even feel his ears growing hot.
Alistair cleared his throat and held out the vial. She took it, carefully pulling out the stopper and bringing it to her nose. “Rose oil? It smells beautiful!”
“Not just any rose oil,” Nate cut in.
Rana lifted her green eyes to Alistair again, just as bright as her smile. “Is that so?”
“I had it made from your rose. I mean, obviously not that rose. But the bush I got your rose from. Well, not that exact bush. That’s probably long gone. Well, maybe it was?” He rubbed the back of his neck as he rambled. “I suppose it could have surv-”
“What he is trying to tell you,” Nate cut in, tugging on Rana’s hand until she sat on his lap, “is that two years ago he went all the way to Lothering to bring you back a special rose bush. He couldn’t harvest from it the first year it bloomed because it was too fragile from transplanting. Last year, he started bringing in apothecaries, alchemists and essence manufacturers from all over Thedas. Care to tell her what happened to all of them?”
Alistair was hoping he would just catch fire already. Their rooms had turned into his own personal sauna. “They all left.”
“Why?”
“Because I told them that what they made wasn’t good enough for you,” he admitted sheepishly.
“How many?” Howe continued to prompt.
There was a pregnant pause. “Seventeen. From four different countries.” He grimaced, expecting either laughter or chastisement. Finally, he finished in a whisper; “Not including the five I dismissed from Ferelden.”
When he was met with nothing but silence, he looked up at Rana and was surprised by the tears sparkling in her eyes. He was so consumed by that sight, he completely missed the smug smile on Nate’s face. “My dear, sweet love. You did all of that for me? So that I could be reminded of you when I was gone, as if I could forget?”
Alistair shrugged, feeling rather exposed despite being in the room with the only two people in the world he trusted without question. (Two people who had, in fact, seen him naked on multiple occasions in the last few days alone.) “I would do anything for you,” he said emphatically.
She surged up from Nathaniel’s lap and ran to him. Throwing herself into his arms, he wrapped her up in them and held her tight against his body. Rana clutched the vial tightly, keeping the precious gift safe.
“Thank you,” she murmured into his ear. He chuckled and squeezed her tightly in response.
“I…I just have one more question,” she whispered as Alistair nuzzled her cheek. He gave her a soft hum of acknowledgment to continue. “What in the Maker’s name were you doing with my pillow?”
