#turlums

[hopewrought]

i adore @turlums so much

[postmortiem-a]

@turlums

[berthiindeath]

just popping in to tell you your new graphics are hot hot hot!

Eeee! Thank you, my darling! I wanted something a little softer and I managed to pull it off. I appreciate this so much. 🥹🥹🥹

[theharellan]

Does your muse love to flirt? What are some subtle signs they are flirting? What is your muse’s best pick up line?

@turlums

Solas does enjoy it. He falls somewhere on the aro/ace spectrum on this blog, so it isn't usually done with the intent to enter a relationship - emotional or physical. Flirting for him is considered wordplay and so he enjoys it like he enjoys most conversations entered in good faith.

His cues do differ depending on if it's casual or no.

Casual, non-committal flirting is heavy on flattery and spoken in a tone that is meant to fluster or excite. It is genuine observation, spoken smoothly. A classic example is the early Inquisitor!flirt where he compliments their class and, when prompted, will all but purr the response ("No. I am declaring it.").

This is why on this blog where Ian is his only romance, there is still opportunity for Solas to flirt with others, particularly before Ian and him are together. One example I've written was him flirting with a Circle mage in the long fic I'm writing with Joly:

“Your words soothe me, monsieur. I see how you charmed your way into the Inquisition’s good graces.” Beside [François], Bernadita rolls her eyes. Solas cannot help how his eyes crease. “It was no small feat,” he says, “and neither is what lies before us. Though I will rest easier knowing the work lies in your capable hands.” “Careful, young man.” François smiles, face lined with years Solas has experienced a hundredfold. “Or you will find out just what these hands are capable of.” (x)

It's just fun banter, an easy way to pass time or get to know someone.

More serious flirtation is ironically more difficult to spot, I think. This is going less off the game because the Solas romance is famously sparse: we get a couple of lines and then a kiss, and then a few more lines and a declaration of love. The in between stage is more left to the imagination to my recollection, although it has been a few years.

He becomes a little more esoteric, he will flirt by asking questions, prompting conversation. With Ian, he flirts on one occasion by asking about Ian's perception of the world and the beauty he sees within it. It isn't simply a way to pass time or simply excite, but to investigate. As I said, he is arospec and isn't inclined to easy romantic interest, so when it sparks he wants to better know the person in question (even knowing it would be better to let the matter rest).

It's a lot more intense and focused than the casual flirting, leaving the person in question with the distinct feeling they're the only thing that exists at that given moment. His gaze is more likely to be caught drifting down to their lips rather than remaining level with their eyes.

As for pick-up lines, he's far too proud to rely on one singular line. Again, going back to the Solavellan class-based line, I think the closest thing he has to a go-to would be an emphasis on his appreciation for their field of study or interests. As a former spirit turned physical being, he has a small fascination with how the mind and body work together in harmony, to interface with the world and make meaning out of what might otherwise be empty gestures; whether it's how one's focus interacts with the physicality of a spell or how their muscles are a physical manifestation of their personality.

Naturally, Ian gets his own version:

[Solas] seals his lips back over the stem of the pipe, and his eyes flutter closed on his inhale. The smoke waits, held close in his lungs, before he shapes it into an artful ring, as well. He breathes again before he turns back, seeking Ian’s gaze with his own as he says, “Healer, fiddler… they do you credit, your hands. I am looking forward to seeing what they will do next.” (x)

[coldjustness-archive]

In an alternate world, and Neve is the one locked inside of the fade regret prison, what does her prison look like? Does the prison look different to her eyes? Are there themes, objects, voices, etc. there that make it better suited for her and her regrets?

Neve's prison, at first, will look like shattered pieces of different buildings, but as they come closer together you will see that it's is different shattered remains of what is supposed to be Docktown. Let's describe this in a specific way.. Because the regret prison feels SO personal.. The walls the buildings tower high over your head but the more you try to see the top of them the bigger they get - the more you will feel small, irrelevant. You will feel a sense of knowing, of belonging, but in the worse kind because for every sense of the belonging it comes with disconnect, like with every step you take forward you are going somewhere but you just miss it. Whatever the word is for that feeling, like Solas had once said describing the journey home - it is now gone, and it leaves you feeling.. empty.

Then as the prison progresses, for Neve anyhow, going forward - or backward, because every step you take inside of the prison you seem to be walking away from something, but you don't know what. You just know you're trying to leave. It's a feeling that sinks into your gut next to the sense of being an impostor in your own home. The alley forces you to go down a staircase, a massive staircase into darkness - and there it leads you into an empty corridor. Massive - these are the catacombs that lead you deep beneath the city and at the end. Just before you can make due of where you are, a blast of magic hits you - well, not really it's just an illusion, but you react in the same way. Your arms come up as you try to cast a shield but nothing happens and instead a woman shouts. "You cannot stop this Neve Gallus!" Stands a woman, of deep red hair, dressed in Venatori wear - "You don't want want to stop this! You know that you and I are the same! We both want the same thing! A better Tevinter! A better Minrathous!"

You shout your defiance, you even try to cast at her because no! You are not the same! Only nothing come out of your hands - and now she throws her hands back and sends a massive wave of red at you - it's the only color that is in this gray hell. It looks like a wave of blood, pouring over and burying you and all you can do is throw your arms up and duck. And just as you brace yourself you hear Aelia laugh in your ear, "You thrive on Docktown's chaos."

But then open your eyes and she's gone, it's all gone, and you are standing in the middle of the Minrathous Wall of Light, but instead of a Statue of Andraste - there is a statue of Brom, and where usually there would be such life here, there is only one person and she has her back to you as she looks up at the statue. You know immediately, that it is Templar Rana Savas, and then there ish er voice - "I trusted you. HE trusted you." And now she turns, and there is such HATE in her expression. Hate that you've never thought you'd never see on her face, but you do not argue it, you do not question it, because you know you deserve it. "You couldn't just let it be, Neve. Could you? Now you've killed him, just like you've killed so many others who trusted you also. What will it be next? Who will be next? What will it take huh?" And she looks at you but you cannot answer, and instead her voice rings out to reflect that hate, "ANSWER ME! YOU OWE ME THAT MUCH!" You deserve it, you deserve that hate. So instead you turn your head away, down, in shame. And Rana scoffs, and with a single word she turns and leaves, "Coward." You say nothing, you deserve it. Her steps are loud as they echo in the distance, getting louder and louder.

Until finally there's a tug of your coat behind you, a single hand, that you barely have time to react to before the world turns dark again, and there's another tug on your other sleeve, loud groaning replaces the silence as another hand grabs you, shoulder, the back of your leg, tug on your prosthetic, and soon the groaning turns into screaming, shouting, a mess of words and yells, you hear fearful exclamations, shouting of your name, and terrible screaming, all of those hands begin to pull you in all directions - needing something, wanting something, and you want to follow each and every single one because you can help them. You can protect all of them, but you can't, you are just one person - and it's too much - and you nearly begin to rip yourself apart when suddenly there's a single voice, - you know this voice.

"Neve." A hand reaches for you.

You desperately take that hand, and you grasp onto it with such desperation and it drags you right out of the reach of the desperate. You look back at those reaching hands, those souls you want to help so bad, but cannot - you should be able to, you can do more- you can always do more. And then they speak again, "Eyes on me, Neve Gallus." And you look forward and suddenly you're back on your two feet. Face to face with the person who was always the voice of reason in chaos - this is where the romantic interest takes place - be it Rook, Lucanis, true Rana, ( Isabela - @fvrtvne ), there's an almost smile, but their eyes are sad. "You said that, remember?" or in what variation that is true to their character.

The question remains, will she ever get out? Because I don't think she will.

@turlums made a mistake and asked me about my most FAVORITE concept in the game. I may STILL go into detail later, we will have to see, because it could be personalized as per partner.

[connectedinthefade]

"I'm going to give the griffon treats and tell him he's a good boy."

[anextravagantliar]

does your muse have any nighttime rituals? how do they handle sleepless nights, nightmares, etc? what side do they usually sleep on?

Oh hey! Thanks for this, Pluto!

Varric sleeps on his left side.

His sleeping habits are terrible. That really starts before DA2 as he is burning the candle at both ends as a spymaster and trying to assist his brother. It continues on as he makes friends with the Kirkwall Crew and proceeds to drink and play cards most of the nights he can with them. When that's done, he works and sleeps for what hours he can.

After the Chantry's destruction and the interrogation begins with Cassandra, he is not sleeping much due to his PTSD, which follows him into the Inquisition and is made worse by the Breach and then Haven and its aftermath. He doesn't dream, but I think dwarves can replay their memories in sleep, which would be a memory that haunts him - three things on fire. Me and my love of threes. I do think he dreams after the fade, and that depends on how long he was in contact with the fade - dreaming leaves him sick, and that is canonically backed up in the missing; I just make it worse.

He does dream after his encounter with Solas in the swerve verse, but that is more like blood magic, lucid dreaming, and now fates bound for the wrong reasons.

He deals with sleepless nights by writing!

[ingllvarchived]

What does love mean to your muse? How do they show their love, or what love languages best describe them?

oooh pluto ty i love these! <3

love is, above all, always being there for someone. as a kid abandoned to the crypts, abandonment was equated to a lack of love from as long as she can remember that it shapes her view of love, naturally. it's also part of why acts of service is so intwined in her love language - being useful makes it harder to be abandoned, though i don't think she consciously makes that connection or would articulate it that way. (it's also why being forsaken by the mourn watch hurts so much too - she comes to see them as family and they take her in, but even that is conditional.)

but i'm getting distracted, and ahead of myself.

first and foremost, it's being there and standing by the person. the commitment part she takes seriously. and that's another part of what it is, a choice. deliberate.

there are other things she thinks of as love: deep-rooted friendship, someone you can take off the stressors of the world with. or, at least, someone that helps ease the burden. someone that makes you want to be better than you are, to try and go that extra mile for, etc. but if she had to pick one it's the being there.

in terms of her love language, as said, acts of service is the main one. everything from little chores like tidying up for them to helping with problems all fall under this category. and while, as said, this isn't a conscious thing, part of this is the desire to be so deeply a part of their life that they will also be there with her no matter what. that fear of abandonment settled into her bones deeper than knows.

she also is a gift giver to some extent, although pre vg this was less of a thing due to her lack of funds and the fact that she seldom leaves the necropolis and certainly nevarra city. still, the idea of 'i saw something and thought of you' while out and about is sweet, and she tries to pick something up every so often, even for her friends, just because.

finally, yes, she can be very affectionate, but tends to eschew pda. part of this is down to the fact that she's had to claw for everything in life, so the idea of her drive or accomplishments being undermined because she's soft and gooey with someone rankles. plus, academia and being non-biased and objective is typically the thing to strive for, so again, being clearly not just invites having your opinions invalidated, which she hates. plus, then, there's the abandonment thing: if she annoys them too much, maybe they'll leave. so, she typically doesn't initiate affection, especially in public.

even so, it's easy enough to tell if you look. she smiles more, she's a little less sharp, she talks in longer sentences. just, more herself. she edits herself less in terms of expression, what she'll talk about, will be open to saying more of the dumb things that cross her mind, etc.

behind closed doors, she tends to be more affectionate, but this also depends on the partner and how receptive they are to it. again, can't be too annoying. at least, not for awhile. she's definitely measuring herself for a good while in the relationship. when she feels free and secure, though? she will let herself be insufferable, and just go and lay on her partner even if and when it's inconvenient.

most of the time, really, she's definitely more of an actions over words person. "if i loved you less, i might be able to talk about it more" is just a quote i love for and about her. words are hard when she doesn't have the vocabulary and being too affectionate or spending too much time might push the person away, so she's content to give and adjust based on what gets returned and reciprocated.