#skullypettibone

[juniper-and-dragonthorn]

12 and/or 14 for the writers asks?

hi skully thanks for asking! :D

writer questions here

12. a trope you’re really into right now

I answered forced proximity on a previous ask, but another is like less specifically trope-y (at least idk if it has an official trope name) but a perennial fave is silent communication/understanding between characters? Like when they understand and/or know each other so well they can figure out what the other is thinking and they just get it with a look or something else as small and they’re doing a lot of silent communication while surrounded by other people. Loooove that. Loving reading it. Love writing it. Doesn’t have to be romantic in context, but it’s fun when it’s two people who just know and bounce off each other well.

14. where do you get your inspiration?

Anywhere! Everywhere! Literature, music, films, just observing people around me. When I was in drama school, a professor said that we ought to be sponges in the world, soaking up everything it has to offer because it will often change how we think and feel and how we’re able to relate back to the world. It’s a sentiment that really resonated with me so I’ve just been striving to be a Sponge(tm) since rofl but occasionally inspiration just seizes me by the throat without me doing anything 🤷‍♀️

Most recently it was this line from “The Second Coming” by W. B. Yeats wrt to Solas and the Inquisitor in DAI:

“Turning and turning in the widening gyre / The falcon cannot hear the falconer;”

Imagine minding your own business, listening to a lecture, and getting hit with a fic idea for game you’ve only just started smh. Idk what I’m doing there (if I will do anything there) but I did spend the rest of that lecture thinking about it.

tl;dr be a sponge :)

[catsi]

Yo your chip post... I relate too well. I ate a bag of Herr’s kettle cooked salt and vinegar (they’re Extra Cronchy) and licked clean both sides of the chips to get all of it.. my tongue went numb for a week i couldn’t taste anything. I’d do it again given half a chance

i’m slowly starting to come to understand that people who lick salt and vinegar chips until they bleed/their skin sloughs off are a very specific and very powerful subset of people

[flowersforthemachines]

I wanna hear about Ghilasara and Bellara's first...anything really!

Thank you for the ask!

Their relationship starts on sort of a weird foot where Ghilasara sees Bellara less like her own person, and more like some sort of manifestation of a lot of what-ifs about her own life. Like what if Ghilasara was Dalish. What if she was raised in a clan and learnt magic from a Keeper instead of being confined to a tower. What if she could explore her culture and more unconventional magic without restraints. What then.

The first time she really, actually sees Bellara as more than that ideal is during the conversation about Cyrian. Hearing Bellara speak about her feelings so openly pushes Ghilasara into the realisation that Bellara is her own person with her own past and regrets. And the sincerity of it also makes her want to be a part of Bellara's future. She can't change the past, but she can try to protect Bellara from whatever dares to hurt her again.

And things just kind of snowball from there :)

[flowersforthemachines]

Your trademark to me is grey warden bellara. One of my strongest comrades of the Bellara fan club

YES she's my favourite headcanon!! SO excited to share my Grey Warden Bellara fic for Bellara week, if I convert at least 1 (one) more person to my vision, I'll die a happy woman

[flowersforthemachines]

4 and 28 for the writer asks?

thank you Skully <3

writer asks

4. a story idea you haven’t written yet

There are So Many Of Them. I have at least 10 fic ideas at the moment [just for Dragon Age. around 20 for persona, I think?], and well. Tragically, none of them are written as of yet.

One of the ones I'm the most excited about is the re-write of the Rookanis lock-in scene accounting for Ghilasara's girlfailure tendencies and the fact that she accidentally lied to Lucanis about liking coffee when she's neutral about it at best. But he made her coffee and the Nevarran torte thinking it'd be to her taste. And she realises that she either comes clean about this now or has to carry the secret to her grave. I just think they deserve to be stupid and awkward about their important romantic moments ok.

28. your least favorite part of the writing process

Summaries. Man I fucking hate summaries. I wish I could just beam the essence of the fic into people's heads instead of having to pick out the one quote to illustrate its deal and also try to condense the plot into a few coherent, but intriguing sentences that catch the reader's attention without revealing too much. Hell on Earth.

[flowersforthemachines]

HAPPY HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!

THANKS SKULLY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[flowersforthemachines]

2,5, and 7 :D

hihi Skully!!!!!

Artist and Fic Writer EOY Asks

2. A piece you're proud of and why

I've answered #2 two times already (here and here), but thankfully I'm proud of a lot of things I've done and therefore keep replying this infinitely 😎

I really like this casual outfit I made for Ghilasara :)

(do NOT look at her horribly misshapen finger in the second pic it's entirely irrelevant to the conversation)

This was the first time I did mesh editing for DAVG and that was one hell of a first modeling project, it must be said 💀 It also clips like hell still. But I've tamed mesh import and asset duplicating, and it looks nice if you don't look at it too hard, I think it counts for something!!!

5. A scene you enjoyed creating

Does the entirety of Flow State count? Technically, it *is* just one scene...

I just really loved writing Bellara and Ghilasara kiss ok!!! Was kind of worried about how I could make it happen, but once I settled on a premise and the exact lead-up to the kiss, the writing went very smoothly.

7. Comfort character to create for

Everyone's suffering comforts me 🥰 But I'd say I like writing for Bellara the most since her POV is so distinct from everyone else's, and I love having a clear vision of how someone is thinking/speaking.

[juniper-and-dragonthorn]

english breakfast!!

aye aye 🫡 thanks for asking!!

cozy tea asks here | answered: oolong, chai & matcha, pu-erh

English Breakfast: What is your OC’s morning routine?

I won’t go so far as to say Selora is a morning person, but she has always been the type to wake up and be decently alert even before coffee. One of the first things she does, and has always done ever since she was a kid, is wash her face (usually just water, preferably cold) because she can’t stand that grimy feeling for too long before getting agitated about it. The usual ablutions to follow. If she’s eating breakfast, barring interference from well-intentioned others, it’s going to solely consist of some sort of fruit—anything extra must be small enough and durable enough to go in her pockets.

When she primarily lived in Salle, she’d either sit in the windows of the flat and people watch or she’d go get a coffee in the central piazza and heckle the old folks playing draughts or cards (these people were the closest she had to friends outside of Viago, especially after she was no longer a fledgling) if she didn’t have work to do. After she relocated to Treviso just before the start of the occupation, and right after the early days if she wasn’t on a mission, she’d take her breakfast up to the rooftops and usually find a spot where she could watch the Antaam.

In the Lighthouse, she probably ate more consistently because the others were also eating breakfast so it wasn’t, like, as awkward to hang around even if she wasn’t eating much. Sometimes she’d still go off by herself when she wanted to take the morning to think. Other times, she’d exercise with Lucanis. Once they started spending their nights together, it got more difficult to sneak away without being noticed so she just…stopped doing it.

Back in Treviso after Veilguard, her routines didn’t change much except to include another person. In that sense, it really just depends on what they have going on as to whether they sit down and have a casual breakfast or if either of them are running out the door. They do usually give each other an idea about what their plans are, which occasionally strikes her as being odd, because no one’s ever…cared…before. Anyhoo, I still think she gets a feeling~ every so often and disappears for a morning, but this is considered v normal for her to do and not something to worry about (after, like, the first time freaks someone out). Sometimes she’s gotta go sit in the sun like a plant and photosynthesize for breakfast, ykwim?