Trick Weekes: "I had Taash basically go through the DSM-5 listing symptoms in the scene after the Fangscorcher quest, but there are people who still think it's unclear or just a headcanon, so some folks are just never gonna get it, I guess." [source]
Taash seeks Rook out for some advice on how to win Harding's heart. They have a pretty good understanding how to go about it, but they want to make sure that they get it right. They also noticed that Rook seemed to be in a mood, so they were curious to know what had happened. They would have words with whoever put their friend in such a mood.
AO3
Taash kept an eye on what was going on around the lighthouse, and they noticed that Rook had returned to their base a little while ago. They wanted to ask her about how that was going because they wanted some advice. However, they could tell that their timing wasn’t the best when they caught Rook returning to her room. She looked a little irritated and downtrodden, but she didn’t look like she wanted to talk about it either.
But Rook was willing to talk to them about whatever they needed, even if she warned them that she wasn’t sure her advice was going to work. She followed Taash into their room before Taash closed the door. Rook sat down on a chair near the mirror, her posture rigid and forced.
“Did you want to talk about what happened?” Taash asked as they walked to the chair across from her. Rook frowned before she looked at the wall next to her as she crossed her arms.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Rook replied after a moment, clearly deciding whether she wanted to admit to anything. Taash huffed, shaking their head.
“It doesn’t take a genius to know that you’re upset,” Taash informed as Rook glowered at the floor for a moment.
“Maybe after we discuss what you wanted to talk about,” Rook exhaled, closing her eyes for a moment. She needed a second before discussing what she had just gone through. She took a deep breath and turned to Taash, putting on a brave face.
“I was hoping to get some more advice about Harding,” Taash informed as Rook nodded, taking a deep breath. “I want to show her that I’m serious. That this isn’t kashlok.”
“Kashlok?” Rook asked, her brows furrowed.
“Kashlok means... you’re just flirting. You tease, look, and maybe think about them casually,” they explained. Rook swallowed and dipped her head in understanding. “Taamlok is the alternative, though. That’s what I want to show her. Taamlok means that you are serious, and that you want to take her and taste her neck by the collarbone.”
“Oh,” Rook hummed conspiratorially, teasing the Qunari. Taash lifted their shoulders, unwilling to take their words back. “It sounds like you know what you’re doing and what you’re talking about. What advice do you need from me?”
“I don’t know how to woo her. She seems like the kind of person would want some romance. I have no idea how to give her that.”
“And you came to me for that?”
“Antivans are known for their romance, and Crows are usually taught in seduction techniques, aren’t they?”
Rook rubbed the back of her neck as she sighed. Taash wasn’t wrong exactly.
“Generally, yes, but I was spending time learning poisons instead of those famous seduction techniques,” Rook answered with a pained smile. “But I suppose I’m culturally Antivan. I was raised in the country, so I can give you Antivan date ideas. I would remind you that Lace is Fereldan, though. I think she’d be more impressed by beer and cheese than wine and chocolate.”
“See, you’re already giving good advice,” Taash mentioned. Rook smirked and nodded slightly. “You also have known her for a lot longer than I have, and I want to know more about her.”
“I suppose that’s a fair point,” Rook admitted. “Well, let me see. You know about her cheese adoration. She likes to camp out in the Hinterlands, but she also likes to go to other places as well. She has an extensive garden here because I think she keeps stealing plants from places we go. She makes weird concoctions for meals, but I don’t know your stance on her food making skills.”
“I know you’re not a fan,” Taash remarked as Rook grimaced, shaking her head.
“No, not really. I wouldn’t say I have a refined palate, but some of the combinations Lace has created are... creative,” she replied, trying to be diplomatic. Taash tried to hold back a smile. “Regardless, I know that she likes to cook and to experiment with flavors.”
“Not sure how that could become a gift or something.”
“Well, you could do a dinner date. Make dinner together. Go to dinner together. There are places in Minrathous, Treviso, and I think there’s a place in Lavendel if you wanted something a little smaller and quieter. I’m sure you could take her to the Hilt as well, if you didn’t mind all the Lords around you,” Rook offered before thinking for a moment. “You could also take her on a camping trip overnight somewhere. It seems that the gods are being quiet right now, so I think a day or two away would be alright.”
“But how do I woo her?”
“Try wowing her instead. Show her Rivain or maybe show her something that you like instead. Does she know anything about you? Or anything that you like?”
“That’s a good point,” Taash hummed. “She knows that I like dragons and that I breathe fire.”
“As does the rest of the team,” Rook chuckled. “It’s like saying that you know that Lace is good at archery and has red hair.”
Taash frowned, realizing that Rook had a point. They weren’t elusive, but they hadn’t been the most forthcoming either.
“What about taking her on a treasure hunt? Like you would do with the Lords? You told me a little bit about that when you first got here. Maybe you could try taking her somewhere along the coast or by the cliffs,” she suggested as they hummed, thinking it could be a good idea. “But I would start smaller, though. Make sure that you are on the same page with Lace. Lace is a sweetheart, and I’m worried that she’ll think you are just being kind instead of being romantic.”
“You think she’ll be oblivious?”
“Absolutely, yes.”
“Alright,” they hummed, almost amused.
They weren’t exactly surprised after all. Lace was very perceptive, but there were parts of her that were almost ditzy, if Taash had to put a word to it. It wasn’t exactly the right word, but it was close enough.
“I think she would love to go anywhere with you, though. It seemed like you two were getting close, regardless,” Rook mentioned with a smirk. Taash glanced at her before sighing. That was more or less true. Taash had been asking Lace to accompany them on different excursions while Rook was in Lavendel, Minrathous, or Treviso. Essentially the places where neither them nor Lace needed to be.
“I do like to try and spend time with her,” Taash sighed, leaning back. “And I took your advice about getting her some Ferelden cheese. I don’t know when that shipment will come in, but the Lords were going to pick some up the next time they made the trip across the bay.”
“That’s great progress already,” Rook grinned, more relaxed than she had been when she sat down. “If you need help from me or anything, you let me know. I’m not sure what I can do, but I can try at least.”
“I will let you know,” Taash reassured before taking a deep breath. “I think maybe starting out with a picnic or something with the cheese would be good.”
“I think that is a perfect plan. Maybe along the cliffs or something in Rivain?”
“That could be good. We could also stay along the beach or even go to the mountains in the Anderfels or something. I know she’s been going to Kal-Sharok more often recently.”
“Ah, that’s a good idea as well,” Rook smirked with a nod. “Just talk to her, though. I bet she’ll have some great ideas as well.”
“That’s true,” Taash hummed before raising a brow at Rook. While that was the advice that they were looking for, they hadn’t forgotten the way Rook had entered the room. They also noticed the direction they came from when they entered the lighthouse. “Do you think Lucanis might have an idea?”
Rook’s demeanor changed only slightly as she shrugged, frowning slightly. Taash stared at her, noticing him that she was trying to act nonchalant about it. Taash never thought that they would see the two Crows fighting. They usually got on better than melon and ginger.
“You could ask, but I’m not sure the man has a romantic bone in his body,” Rook replied calmly. Taash hummed unconvincingly as Rook looked away. “He seems to be focused on the contract at hand, but Spite might have a helpful comment or two.”
“Spite?” Taash repeated in surprise. Rook lifted her shoulders, turning back to them. They exhaled before leaning towards Rook. “You think the spirit inside Lucanis is going to give me better advice on romance than the Antivan man himself?”
“I think you would be surprised,” Rook remarked before Taash nodded, doing their best not to laugh.
“Alright, so, are you going to tell me what happened between you and Lucanis, or are we going to dance around this subject?” Taash asked. Rook grimaced before groaning loudly, turning away.
“I misread our entire relationship,” Rook answered as calmly as she could. Taash waited to respond, unsure how to respond just yet. Rook tilted her head with irritation and embarrassment. “I think... I thought that he was flirting with me, and he... nearly... kissed me in the pantry... before he thought better about it and left his room. I retreated back here when you caught me.”
“Wait, you think that Lucanis was, what, humoring you or something?” Taash asked with a mote of confusion in their voice. Rook grimaced, unsure how to answer that.
“I think Spite might have been confusing him. He would talk about Spite hanging around me a lot, and I think Spite’s interest me influenced his actions, maybe,” Rook offered before shaking her head. “Which was why I also said that I wasn’t sure if my advice would be the best. I suppose we’ll see where it goes. I do hope it works out for you and Lace, though.”
“I bet your advice will work out just fine,” Taash reassured with a nod. They stood up before helping Rook to her feet as well. “Although, I’ve been meaning to head over to Rivain, and Lace said that she wouldn’t be able to go with me.”
“You want me to come?” Rook guessed, tilting her head to the side.
“It’s nothing huge. The Lords caught wind of a dragon that might need hunting, and they sent a letter. Figured I’d head over to the Hilt and see what’s going on, and it sounds like you could use a drink or two,” Taash mentioned as Rook stared at them for a moment. They had gotten used to that stare over the weeks. It wasn’t exactly blank, but she wasn’t plotting either. She was planning outcomes, essentially. Taash had asked her a week or two ago.
“Yeah, alright. It would be good to get out of the lighthouse for a bit,” Rook agreed with a smile before looking up at them. “This would be a great opportunity to take our scout, though.”
“Yeah, well, Lace is in Arlathan with Neve, working on her stone magic, so you’re stuck with me now,” Taash informed, shifting their weight to one foot. They would prefer a quieter place to take Lace than the Hilt, and probably somewhere where Taash didn’t know everyone there. This was also likely to be more of a work outing than a recreational one. Rook held up her hands with a chuckle and nodded.
“Sounds good to me,” Rook replied before mentioning that she would change into something lighter for the climate they were heading to.
Taash watched her leave before walking out of the lighthouse and into the courtyard.
They found Lucanis pretty quickly in the dining hall next to the coffee maker, not really reacting to their entrance. They shook their head, wondering what was going through his.
“Lucanis,” Taash called out, this time causing him to look up. “What are you doing?”
“Making coffee?” he replied as if the answer wasn’t obvious. Taash was about to throw him across the room.
“I just talked to Rook,” they clarified, and he glanced away with a guilty expression. They folded their arms, not sure where to start this conversation. “I thought you were going to follow through with her. Like we talked about. I didn’t think you were going to do it so quickly, but still. What happened?”
“Rook deserves more than a possessed man,” he answered bitterly before wincing. Taash rolled their eyes, knowing that Spite was shouting at him as well.
“And Rook doesn’t get a say in what she wants?” Taash argued as Lucanis clenched his jaw. They exhaled, shaking their head. “Well, she’s pretty pissed, so I’m going to take her to Rivain and maybe hunt a dragon.”
“That might help,” Lucanis offered before Taash cuffed him over the ears. It wasn’t a strong blow, but it still caught him more off guard than he would ever admit.
“You keep trying to prove that you and Rook are kashlok, and you are only kidding yourself, you fucking idiot,” Taash scolded as Lucanis scowled at them. “Your feelings are taamlok, and you have a closing window to admit that before you lose her.”
“I’m not sure what those words mean, Taash,” Lucanis reminded before earning a glare from them.
“From using the context from the conversation we are having right now, I’m guessing you know what I’m talking about. We have talked about how you have felt about Rook before,” they countered before the Crow grimaced. He couldn’t argue that he knew what they were referring to. “Are you really going to let Rook just go like that?”
“I already made a fool of myself,” Lucanis remarked with a sigh.
“She thinks that you were only being influenced by Spite.”
“What?”
“She thinks that all of your feelings for her were drawn from Spite. Apparently, you’ve only told her how Spite feels, so she thinks that you feel nothing more than friendly comradery for her and Spite was the one who initiated the kiss,” Taash explained as Lucanis’s jaw dropped before he recovered.
“She surely doesn’t-”
“I’m not making up words, Lucanis. I’m not misinterpreting what she said. I am relaying what she told me,” Taash informed plainly, making sure that Lucanis could not twist the truth in any other way that somehow suited him better. He swallowed before he took a deep breath. “I’m not sure how you are going to fix that, but you will need to.”
“Maybe it’s for the best, though,” he replied, rubbing his temple. Taash stared at him before shaking their head.
“Fine,” Taash answered, turning on their heel. Lucanis watched as they left, hearing the demon next to him shout obscenities continuously as he grabbed his coffee.
Taash walked over to the Warden’s quarters, making what they would definitely consider a bad decision. Most would definitely tell them that this was a terrible plan, but Davrin and Taash had also made a contingency plan in case something like this occurred. Lucanis was becoming unbearable in certain situations, and Neve nearly tossed him out the Lamplighter’s window when he went with her and Rook to meet the Threads’ boss.
Apparently, Damas made a few too many flirtatious remarks towards Rook according to Neve, and Lucanis nearly stepped in. Neve wouldn’t elaborate, and Rook wouldn’t talk about it. She hadn’t noticed, or at least, that’s what Rook claimed.
Regardless, it led to a conversation where Taash bluntly gave a pep talk to Lucanis to talk to Rook about his feelings. Which apparently backfired so beautifully that now they were going to Plan B.
“Davrin,” Taash announced as they knocked on their door. They could hear Assan squawking inside the door before it opened to show the Warden and the griffon.
“Ah, Taash. What can I help you with?” Davrin wondered, having an inkling on why they would be at his door.
“Lucanis tried and failed. Spectacularly. I’m taking Rook with me to the Hilt for a dragon hunting thing for the Lords,” Taash mentioned as the Warden slowly nodded. “He’s wondering if it’s better if Rook moves on without him.”
“After he nearly ruined the deal with the Threads?” Davrin replied dubiously. Taash dipped their head in affirmation. “Alright, I’m guessing you want to go to our back up plan?”
“I think we’re at that point now,” Taash nodded. “Otherwise, we’re going to have to deal with Lucanis ruining other allyships.”
“You really think he will push it that far?”
“Rook is attractive, and she does not know she is flirting half the time. God forbid any of the faction leaders actually flirt back while he’s there.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll talk to Rook when you both get back. I’m not going to openly flirt with her if it makes her uncomfortable,” Davrin reminded as Taash nodded, relaxing. “I’m not going to reveal our entire plan, even though I think we should, at least to Rook, but I won’t.”
“I’ll set you up while we’re gone,” Taash offered with a wink. “Remember. Kashlok. Not Taamlok.”
“Yep. Got it,” Davrin replied, not having any idea what either of those meant. Taash had told him what those two words had meant a few days ago, but he hadn’t remembered well enough to be able to retain the information. “You should get going before Rook comes to look for you.”
“Right,” Taash nodded, turning to head towards the eluvian room.
Davrin watched as they left before glancing over at the dining hall. The Warden wondered if the Crow was sulking or seething after the chat with Taash. He hoped that Lucanis was just thinking about what Taash had said instead, thinking about how he was going to get rook back. Assan chirped up at him, and Davrin ran his fingers through the feathers on his head.
How he found himself in the middle of this, he wasn’t sure. Still, it should be interesting. As long as Lucanis didn’t end up stabbing him. It did make him grateful that he hadn’t fallen for anyone at the lighthouse, though. For now, he was a blissful bachelor with an overgrown birdcat.
Death: What part of Rook do they need to kill to become the best version of themselves? —
Ivy’s obsession with the past in name of nostalgia…. some of their memories of their clan and others are so misconstrued that its not full truths but they cling to it since its all they got 😔
The Empress: What does family mean for Rook? —
All I could think of were words and felt possessed to draw them out with the companions that stood out most for Ivy in terms of character.
I have apparently locked myself out of the Lucanis romance 😭 and I need a boo for my LoF Rook. She’s got the purple Hawke vibe, with a dash of Isabela. 🏴☠️
Please help me decide, I’ve only romanced Lucanis ☕️ 🐦⬛
4. Do your Rook and their partner share the same faction? If so, does that affect their relationship at all? If not, what is your Rook's opinion of their partner's faction? What is the partner's opinion of Rook's faction?
They don't, Lydia is a Lord of Fortune and Lucanis is an Antivan Crow! I think Lydia is pretty neutral on the Crows, less negative than one might expect. Her problems with the faction are less with the fact that they kill people for money and more with the fact that the Crows are trapped in the organization (especially after hearing stories about Zevran from Isabela). I don't think Lucanis really knew a whole lot about the Lords before meeting Lydia, besides that they were "those treasure hunters out east." When he does meet her and learns more about the Lords, I think he's taken aback how anything gets done with such (comparatively) loose organizational structure.
I think that their factions put them in a unique position to understand the more morally dubious aspects of the other, and I actually think they both find the other's faction quietly attractive. Lydia, born into slavery, looks at the Crow's ability to kill whoever they want (including Tevinter slave owners in Lucanis's case) so long as there's a contract on them, and goes: "That's hot." And in Lucanis's case, I think he finds a group of people with as much freedom to do basically anything they want (so long as they don't let the Rivaini nobles know about it) as the Lords to be very romantic and he's low-key envious
18. When all is said and done, where would they like to retire together? Is marriage in the cards for them? Children? Pets?
So, kind of related to the previous question, but I think Lydia's opinion of the Crows really deteriorates over the story (she likes teia, viago, and lucanis, and the rest can basically fuck off) due to the aforementioned aspect of the Crows being trapped in the organization, and so post-game I think it becomes a big mission for her to try to extract him from the Crows as much as possible (and as much as he's willing - she doesn't tell him what to do and she understands how important his family is to him)
So a lot of what happens afterwards is, I think, colored by this. I do see them getting married (and both being very very sappy about it <3) but they live at the Lighthouse, not Villa Dellamorte. I do like the idea of Lucanis eventually denying the position of First Talon and passing it to Teia, since I think the Crows would be so weakened by the Battle of Minrathous that they basically couldn't stop him, and then he and Lydia live in the Lighthouse (maybe they even start taking down Tevinter slave owners together a la The Blue Wraith, an idea that's coming to me as I write it 👀)
As for pets and children, I don't think Lydia is interested in having kids (much to Lucanis's relief and Caterina's chagrin), but I do headcanon that she gets him a pet baby wyvern after the events of the story, who maybe accompanies them and assists with aforementioned slave owner takedowns >:)
Questions for your Rook and their partner: Ask Game
If we’re going by just the traditional definition of ‘people related to him by blood’, it means ‘people who exist solely to make his life worse/harder and also his mother’. Nowadays, it’s come to mean ‘people who feel like home’. Silver comes to mind first, of course, as he’s been Rexus’s soft place to land for pretty much as long as they’ve known each other, but it kind of extended to the entire Ivory Oasis staff while he was living and working as a guard there. The place was founded by former courtesans with a penchant for taking in strays on the ideal that it be an oasis for its patrons and courtesans/staff alike. Everyone there supported, took care of, and looked out for each other, there was a lot of love in that place and it was…nice. That was how family was supposed to be. The Lighthouse crew would all eventually get there, but Harding was the first since she was there from the beginning and frankly made that year away from Minrathous with Varric (they got along but Rexus could never quite shake the feeling that Varric really, really wanted him to be Hawke, or at least a more idealized and heroic version of Hawke) more bearable.
The Hierophant: Is Rook religious? How do they feel about the religious organizations that impact their life the most?
He’s religious in the way a kid who was raised Catholic but abandoned the church as soon as no one was forcing them to go anymore is religious. He knows what to do and what to say and when to do and say them, but it’s all muscle memory and conditioned responses. He’s pretty irreverent and disrespectful towards the Chantry and its followers but in the way someone with the knowledge to twist around and pick apart what they preach and believe is irreverent and disrespectful. He does believe in the Maker, but mostly as someone to blame for his shitty life growing up or anything else he doesn’t want to admit is his fault and can’t blame on anyone else, and because it doesn’t really mean anything if you blaspheme nothing.
