#tierney lavellan

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@vir-ghilani replied to your post “1, 23, 44, 69 for Tierney?”

awwww this beeb. what's his favorite food?

He likes steamed clams and crab. He’s totally spoiled for it, too. He’s also fond of quail eggs, when they can get them.

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1, 23, 44, 69 for Tierney?

100 OC Asks

1. What do they smell like?

Salt from the ocean and a bit of ash from evenings spent around the fire listening to stories.

23. Do they collect anything?

Tierney was afraid of the water at first and it took quite a bit of coaxing from Mahvir to get him into the water the first time. When he did, he found he loved it. He loves diving in particular and although he’s not old enough to go diving for pearls with the rest of the clan, he likes collecting what he can. He keeps collections of seashells, sea glass, and strange odds and ends that he finds withing the shallows of the Marcher coastline.

44. Why might someone love them?

Tierney can be a bit reserved, but once you get to know him, you’ll find that he’s a very curious boy and he pays close attention when people are talking. He’s quiet and doesn’t always say much, but he can be deeply affectionate. He’s never quite grasped the Dalish norms about gift-giving--that is, that it’s only meant to be done rarely and with people to whom you are bonded--so he’s been known to craft little presents for the people he cares for. He sculpted a little jar out of river clay for Einin. She still has it. When he warmed to his adoptive fathers, he made them a doll out of twigs and dry grass. City elf kids had to learn to make their own toys. Crafting something for people he cares for is second nature.

69. Is there anything that they find really gross?

Milk. Tierney is lactose intolerant, so just about all dairy products make him sick, but he hates the taste of milk anyway. He doesn’t know how it’s the ~staple food~ of Dalish lifestyle. What is this gross, thick, white liquid? Get it away from him. He only ingests dairy products once a year, during a holiday honoring Ghilan’nain and halla, where he drinks a broth with just the tiniest amount of cream in it.

Lactose intolerance is rare in Dalish communities, so special accommodations had to be made for him. The upside is that he often gets to take the first serving of food to ensure that the non-dairy food isn’t gone before he has a chance to get to it.

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Codex Entry: Thieves in Starkhaven

Every city in the Marches deals with the Dalish. Every one of ‘em, even Tantervale and, yes, even our Starkhaven. Makes sense, once you think about it. They’re like nugs, overbreeding and getting in everywhere. Can’t stomp them out, so you got to make do. And being as they get into every nook and cranny in Thedas, they find some nice things every once in a while. And that’s how it happened. We had a clan that would come by every few years, settle down a good bit away from the city, and send up a handful of people to sell some pearls and trade for goods. That was what they do, the Lavellans, diving for pearls. Maker willing, they’ll drown out in that ocean.

Anyway, of course they always end up let in. The pearls from Rivain are expensive, I hear, even if they’re nicer. Trade with some elves, you can get them cheap. So this last time, they get let in and we have to put up with a few savages for a couple of weeks. Not much to be done about it, except watching them to make sure nothing goes missing and hoping maybe one will stop by the Chantry and find a bit of sense.

Well, the week goes by and nothing more interesting happens than a couple of elves out past curfew and needing tossed back into the alienage. The clan packs up, they leave, you think things are heading back to normal. Except the next day, I pass through the alienage on my patrol and I see this elf woman crying, going on about her boy and that’s when I realized. The Dalish steal kids sometimes, see, and this woman, she was too scared to tell me anything. They don’t always get it, that you’re just trying to help, and the ladies can be a bit simple when it comes to their children.

So once I realize that those knife-ears weren’t here to trade some pearls, I grab the first few guards I see and we head off toward where the Dalish camp used to be. Sure enough, we see three hallariders, and one of them’s got the kid right in his arms. Even from a distance, I could tell he was crying something terrible. And elves, they’re trouble, but you can’t let some kid be taken away to be brainwashed into worshipping demons.

They had a good start on us and they were going at a decent clip, but there was three of them and six of us and we thought all we had to do was close the gap. They’d have no choice but to yield and give us the boy. Maybe we couldn’t find the whole clan but we could make these three regret it, maybe throw them in jail if we had the mind.

But then they see us and that’s when it all goes to hell. The rider with the kid, he was one of the elves I had to chase back into the alienage. Had a shifty look and no respect for authority. He nearly stops, and mark my words, it wasn’t going to be to surrender. But his friends, they say something to him and he keeps going. The other two stay. One of them was this girl who came poking around city hall. She said she wanted to take a look at some records from the old Circle. The clerk was outraged, some elf like her asking to look at sealed Chantry records. I had to escort her out. I knew then what I know now, I would have gutted that damn witch.

She barely moves and suddenly there’s a sheet of ice right in front of us. Most of us pull up in time, but old Zachariah? He had been leading the charge and his horse slipped. They toppled right over. Zach cracked his skull open and hasn’t been right since. Had to put the horse down, on account of it breaking a leg. That wasn’t nothing, though. The rest of us start going around the ice, moving a bit slower just to be safe. That girl turns around and just leaves. You know, the last thing I heard from Casey was a good laugh, like he thought we had her running scared. He didn’t notice that the blond boy wasn’t moving. Caught an arrow in the throat that very next second.

One arrow after another, each person in front of me got taken out like we were lemmings. It was a damn dirty trick, making us turn like that, putting us all in a row so that boy could slaughter us. I got a good look at his face. Didn’t even blink. Treated us like we were animals.

I was the last one in the line. Managed to put my arm up. Got it nailed to my face. Still alive, though, me and old Zach. Can’t get a single sentence out of him that makes sense, but I know he remembers. That damn demon looked down at us and I saw him deciding we weren’t worth killing. He just turned around and rode away.

That’s how they see us. If you see a Dalish elf in your city, you chase them out if you value the lives of your citizens. They’ll take your children from you, they’ll slaughter the good people protecting you, and they’ll only ever see you as animals to be stepped on. –A tale told by Guard Captain Errol of Starkhaven