#vanara lavellan

[qunaributts]

*slams fists on the table* I know there are 100 AUs on that list but more Pacific Rim AU please? Perhaps Nara and Elli's first kaiju battle? c:

Did I write five pages of Pacific Rim AU of our Dragon Age Inquisition AU? Psh. No. No. Definitely not.

“Keeper! Keeper please! Hahren!Mana, ma halani!” Vanara shook her Keeper gently by the shoulders. She stirredweakly, eyelids fluttering.

“Da’len… ir… ir abelas,” the Keepermurmured, trembling, struggling to rise. Light filtered through the red-tintedglass on the Aravel. The world outside shook with thundering footfalls. Thehustle of the Clan and the diminutive rumble of the moving Aravels were butraindrops of noise against the crashing thunder of a storm.

“Keeper, you must get up! You onlyneed to stand, I will support you in the Drift!” Vanara said frantically. “TheKaiju will be here before we can reach the caves! We must stall it to give theClan time to escape!” there were angry panicked tears in her eyes. “I cannotpilot the Lavellan alone!”

“Melava inan enansal…” the Keepermurmured, delirious. “Ir su aravel.. t-tu elvaral…” Vanara dropped her head into her hands, fingers twisting in to her hair as the Keeper continue to singthe elven song. The tears fell from her face with every footfall of theapproaching Kaiju.

“It… it’s okay Keeper,” Vanara saidweakly. “It’s alright. I can do this,” she said, trying to steel her resolve.She would have to pilot Lavellan on her own. It was a death sentence. “I can…”Vanara blinked, more tears falling from her eyes to make room for the spark ofhope. “Dareth shiral, Keeper,” Vanara said, squeezing her Keepers shoulders.She tucked her injured leader in tightly, and turned to exit the Aravel.

Vanara burst out of the Aravel andin to the light. She hit the ground running as the Aravel hummed along throughthe trees. All around her, the half dozen Aravels continued to flee toward themountain caverns. Elves rode Halla alongside the slow-moving caravan. Childrenwere scooped up on to the backs of the elegant creatures and spirited away, anattempt to reach the caves and safety.

“Ellinara!” Vanara shouted at thetop of her lungs. One of the Halla-riding warriors paused,

“First!” he called, “Where is theKeeper? You must pilot Lavellan! The Kaiju is fast approaching!”

“The Keeper cannot pilot,” Vanaraanswered, throat tight, “I must find Ellinara, where is she?!” The warrior froze, terror striking him inert. “Lethallin,I have a plan! Where is Ellinara!” Vanara shouted again. Her voice brought himback, and he glanced around.

“I saw her last near the back ofthe caravan—take my Halla, you will need it to reach Lavellan.”

“Dareth shiral,” Vanara said as hedismounted.

“Vanara,” he said as she swung into the saddle, “I—the Clan… we’re—“ he thought she intended to pilot Lavellanalone, she could see it in his face.

“I have a plan,” Vanara repeated,reining the Halla around, “I will see you again, get the Clan to the caverns!”And she was off.

Vanara rode the Halla to the backof the caravan of Aravels. Ellinara rode on top of one, staff crackling withenergy, eyes bright and alert. She called out as Vanara approached.

“Where is the Keeper?!”

“There’s no time! Ride with me!”Vanara shouted, leading her mount alongside the Aravel. Ellinara did nothesitate, and jumped nimbly from atop the vehicle to land behind her friend.She wrapped her arms around Vanara’s middle. Vanara dug her heels in to theHalla’s sides, spurring it toward the massive silhouette of Lavellan that couldbe seen through the trees.

“Where’s the Keeper?” Ellinarashouted over the howl of wind and ever-closer thunderclaps of the Kaiju’sfootsteps.

“I need you to pilot Lavellan withme!” Vanara shouted back, wasting no time. Ellinara was struck silent, andVanara could feel her grip tighten around her midsection.

“Nara, I—“ whatever she was aboutto say was lost in a massive roar. It shook the trees, scattered birds andwildlife to the wind like clouds of dust. Leaves fell all around in a whisperingshower, and distantly the tumble of rocks could be heard pouring down themountainside. Both of the dalish elves had a ringing that remained in theirears even after the roar subsided.

“Elli—“ Vanara started, voice raw,ready to convince Ellinara of what needed to be done.

“I’m with you,” Ellinara said,cutting her off suddenly. Vanara nodded her head, jaw tight, and pulled theHalla to a sliding halt at the base of Lavellan. Both elves leapt from thebeast before it was fully stopped. Vanara climbed her way to the top of theJaeger with practiced ease. Her hands and feet found purchase on battle scarsin the metal hide as well as welded rungs placed to aid ascent. Ellinarafollowed a little more slowly, and was pulled in to the cockpit by Vanara asanother ear-shattering roar filled the air.

“The Keeper’s suit is there,”Vanara said, dashing around the chest cavity of Lavellan, flipping switches.Ellinara started to throw on the pilot’s suit with reckless abandon. The Keeperwas shorter than she, with narrower shoulders, but it fit well enough. WhenEllinara slid the helmet over her head she turned to see Vanara taking herplace in the Jaeger. The two exchanged a glance and then Ellinara followedsuit.

The locks on her feet clicked in toplace, and the stabilizing arms that hung above them found their mating slotsin the shoulder and back armor. A comm link crackled to life a moment later andVanara’s voice filled Ellinara’s headset.

“Drift initiating in ten seconds,”she said as the HUD flickered to life. “Nine… eight… seven…” Ellinara closedher eyes, took a deep breath, and let Vanara’s countdown wash slowly throughher.

              Six.

              Theworld shook. The Kaiju was close now.

              Five.

              Theirfirst move ought to be away from the Clan.

              Four.

              Ellinarafelt something tickle at the back of her mind, a familiar presence. She reachedfor it.

              Three.

              Vanaracalmed her mind, seeking that quiet ease that the Keeper somehow found soeasily. The more passive she was, the easier it would be to accept Ellinara’sconsciousness alongside her own.

              Two.

              It hadbeen so long since they had Drifted together. Years in fact. Not since thosenights stolen away by foolish children linking their minds in the Drift. Kidsdreaming of piloting a Jaeger. Of fighting Kaiju or other Jaegers fromcountries who weren’t keen on allowing the Dalish on their lands. Recklessyouth dreaming of glory and never once thinking of the fear and desperationinspired by an actual battle. Now here they were, hearts hammering madly inbrittle bone cages, ready to live the dream.

              One.

              Ellinaragasped—or maybe Vanara did? Or perhaps both of them gasped at once? Drifting ina Jaeger was different from Drifting outside of one. The Lavellan augmentedtheir senses with its own systems. Weapons. Sensors. Damage reports. Reactorreadings. Coolant levels. Vanara calmly accepted each of these things withpracticed ease and Ellinara struggled to keep up. Lavellan was new and foreignto her. It felt like Drifting with a stranger, a big metal wall that separatedher from the familiarity of her friend.

              “Elli!”Vanara’s voice snapped Ellinara back in to focus. “I’m here, I know all ofthis. You know all of this. Take abreath, we can do—“

              Lavellanwas struck suddenly in the back. The Jaeger pitched forward. Vanarainstinctively moved with the blow, shifting to catch them so they wouldn’t fallstraight on to the ground. Ellinara followed suit sluggishly as they went downto one knee. She still felt disconnected, stuck in a body that wasn’t her own.

              “It’salright!” Vanara shouted. “Ellinara, it’s alright! Look for me! Look for us!” Us. Look for us. Vanara’s grinningface, young and joyful and yet unmarked by Vallaslin. Ellinara rolling hereyes, reluctant smile curling the edges of her lips. Vanara with a fire spelldancing for the first time in her fingertips. Ellinara looking on, eyesglittering with more pride than even the Keeper. They were both here. She knew…this. And suddenly something clicked.Something shifted in to place and they weren’t separate people anymore.Knowledge and feeling and emotion swarmed together and then settled andEllinara and Vanara existed together as a combined force.

              Proximityalarms rang in the seconds it took for Ellinara to find her focus with Vanara,and together they threw Lavellan to the side. Ellinara could feel Vanara’sinstincts as her own, and thrust her arm outward to strike as they dodged awayfrom the Kaiju’s second assault. Her attack yielded results, and they felt theblow rattle their arm with a satisfying jerk. The Kaiju stumbled back, allowingthem the chance to get to their feet and assess the situation.

              For thefirst time, Ellinara and Vanara looked upon their opponent. It stood just astall as them with six legs. It walked upon four, with two smaller forearmsequipped with scythe-like talons. Its head was sunken in to its neck andadorned with massive plates that stuck out at odd angles. The plates would makeit difficult to hit the creature’s eyes unless a pinpoint blow could be madewith extreme accuracy. For a moment Ellinara could not tell if the beast had amouth, though she knew it must because of the roars it created. Vanara’sperception revealed a craggy line along the front of the beast’s face thattrailed down the length of its throat on both sides. Ellinara realized that itsmouth extended almost down to its first set of forearms. Its back was ridgedwith spines that trailed down to a tail that stopped short at a white-scarredstump. They were not the first Jaeger to fight this Kaiju. Further evidence ofbattle could be seen along slightly damaged armor plates, but the missing tailseemed to be the only serious injury. The previous combatant had failed to killthis Kaiju, and Ellinara didn’t have the faintest clue of how to even begin atsuch a task let alone succeed in it.

              Vanara,again, filled in the gaps. A distant memory came to mind—oddly removed from theimmediate scenes that dotted their minds. This one didn’t belong to Vanara, oreven their Keeper. Ellinara realized that the memory was from a different clanentirely, and had been shared with Vanara from another Clan Pilot. Arlathan. Vanara must’ve drifted withother Keepers and Firsts, sharing experiences and knowledge. Someone else hadfought a Kaiju with similar plating, had overcome it by twisting their bladeunderneath one of its massive arms.

              “There will be chinks in the armor, we onlyhave to find them,” Vanara said. Or rather, she thought it and Ellinara perceivedthe gist of her words. She could also feel the tremor in her heart. Vanara wasn’taccustomed to taking the lead, but adrenaline and determination kept her fearat bay. “Tail stump will be vulnerable.Don’t get caught in front of its mouth. Attack from the sides.”

              Together,Ellinara and Vanara skirted to the left around the Kaiju. With a thought and agesture, Vanara lifted her hand a spike slid down the length of Lavellan’sforearm and locked in to place like a dagger. The Kaiju moved to interceptthem, quick for a creature of such enormous size, and reached out with itsgrasping talons. Ellinara was still learning, still a little slow to react.Lavellan suffered a blow as claws raked down its side. Warning lights flashedon the HUD, Ellinara’s side prickled sympathetically as she struggled to catchher breath.

              Vanarastruck a counter as the Kaiju swung its head after its arms. Her blade glancedoff the plates on its head, missing the eye she aimed for. Its mout parted,only slightly, to reveal rows of razor teeth ready to bite down on Lavellan’sarm. Vanara pulled back, Lavellan dashed to the side again. Ellinara lunged,digging her fingers between two plates of armor. The Kaiju immediately thrashed,and Ellinara lost her grip as Lavellan was thrown back.

              Togetherthey caught their balance as the Kaiju turned toward them. It dropped itsgaping maw to show off rows and rows of teeth that curved backwards. A deeprumble started in its throat, and Lavellan lumbered to the side only just intime to escape being directly in front of a massive concussive roar. Trees wereflattened in the face of such force, and the plates of the Lavellan hummed withvibration.

              Theymoved forward again, quicker this time. Ellinara was finding her feet. Theymade it to the Kaiju’s side. Again Ellinara took hold of the beast. This timeVanara drove her blade in to the exposed hide underneath its foreleg. The Kaijushrieked, recoiled, threw them back, but did not stagger. It dripped glowingblue blood on to the earth below, sizzling as it did.

              “Ar tu na’linemma mi!” Vanara shouted, and Ellinara could not help but get caught up in herbattle rage. It was not fatal, but they had struck a blow. The beast couldbleed. Anything that bled could be killed.

              Lavellansprung forward again, had to dodge back to avoid a taloned swipe, rushed to theright this time. Ellinara found her weapon, a hooked blade that fell from herwrist. Easy to get it stuck. Be careful!Vanara’s warning rang in Ellinara’s mind. She wondered briefly why Vanara didn’tuse the more dangerous weapon, and then realized that she was in the Keeper’sspot. The Keeper, with decades of experience, would have wielded the hook. Herstomach lurched, but together she and Vanara steeled themselves. Vanara swipedat the scarred stump on the Kaiju’s rear as they circled around it. Her attachcarved in to thick, hard flesh, but drew very little blood. The beast shriekedagain, kicking out with its hind legs. Lavellan was caught square in the chestand sent flying.

              Beforethey could recover from the jarring landing, the Kaiju appeared on top of them,front legs crashing down on their chest, taloned forearms scraping loudlyagainst metal armor. The Kaiju loomed over them, opening its jaws again. Fearand instinct drove the pair onward as that feral rumble began above them.Vanara swung her blade, and though it carved hafts in to the Kaiju’s legs, thecreature did not flinch. She could not reach anything else. The Kaiju’s headwas too far above them. Ellinara swung her hook upward. The first blow bouncedoff of armored plates. The second one stuck between them for almost a moment.As the rumbling began to reach a crescendo, Ellinara thrust her hook up onelast time. Triumph bloomed in her chest as the wicked curve of the hook sunk into the small glowing blue eye above her. It burst with a shower of fluid. TheKaiju’s roar faltered.

              Down. At Vanara’s request, Ellinarayanked back, pulling the Kaiju’s head toward them. Vanara lifted her blade,striking between the rows of teeth and in to the soft roof of the Kaiju’smouth. The Kaiju choked, rattled out one last breath, and then collapsed in toa twitching pile on top of Lavellan.

              Vanaraand Ellinara, still high on adrenaline and the need for action, dislodgedthemselves from the Kaiju as soon as it fell. For good measure, once they werefree, Vanara poised her blade over the remaining eye and pierced it as deeplyas she could. The Kaiju stopped twitching after that. Vanara and Ellinara stoodover the dead beast and observed their bloody victory.

              For asecond all was silent and still. And then elation and triumph burst upon themboth simultaneously. Lavellan raised both fists to the air as Vanara andEllinara shouted their victory, raising their arms and fighting the urge toskip.

              “Mahalam! Vir bellanaris din’an heem!” Vanara turned to look at Ellinara, “Elli!Holy shit!” she shouted at full volume. Ellinara laughed, tears streaming downher face.

              “Holyshit!” she agreed.

[qunaributts]

wardencommander-amell answered your question “Hello friends, I have a little down time. Any of you have some quick...”

Yo write your and Bene's Lavellan's as drift partners for the first time.

Cait you’re the sweetest peach and I love you. And I don’t think it will come as any surprise that Bene and I have actually talked about what their first Drift would be like. (Definitely sneaking off to link, but not while hooked up to the Clan Jaeger because they’re headstrong and reckless but not entirely idiotic.)

Thick burlap fabric and filtered sunlight. A makeshift cot and an IV drip attached to the main post of the tent. Separated from the Aravels, quiet, lonely, distant. Sickness in the air like smoke or fog. She is crouched low by his side, tiny face pressed against his coarse and calloused hands. She is so young, cheeks not yet inked by the marks of Mythal—decorated with tears instead. There is so much confusion, so much fear. Ar lath ma, tel’gilas! A plea made in vain. She is helpless, so desperate, young hands clinging so tightly as if they can keep him from the Beyond. Dareth shiral, da’len he says, and draws his last breath before embarking on a journey of his own.

“Ellinara!” Vanara is screaming at her friend, but her words cannot reach her through the muted veil of the Drift. Ellinara can dimly feel Vanara’s panic and determination, but it is an afterthought in the back of her mind. “Ellinara focus! Lethallan! We must—” Ellinara blinks, looks up, makes eye contact with Vanara for a split second, and then the scene lurches.

Shouting. Voices scream through the air alongside the clash of steel. She crouches in the underbrush, vision blurred by tears. Her hands grip the branches in front of her, small hands white-knuckled as she watches the fighting from her hiding spot. She is too small, too weak to help. Her brother wages war a short ways off, trying desperately to keep the slavers from finding his baby sister. The sharp metallic tang of blood fills her mouth and nose as she bites her lip to keep from screaming when a shield strikes his temple and he collapses. The rage is potent, but the fear is paralyzing. There is nothing to be done. Nothing to be done. Hide da’len! Hide and do not come out for anything! I won’t let them find you! He had promised they wouldn’t find her. And they didn’t. But they took him instead.

“Vanara!” it was Ellinara’s turn to reach out for her companion, hands grasping her shoulders to shake them. “It’s the Drift! It’s just the Drift! We have to leave! We have to—“

Daylight. Simultaneously Ellinara and Vanara wake, sitting bolt upright and panting with exertion. For a few long minutes they sit and they shake and they draw ragged breaths. It is a long while before their hearts slow to a normal pace. It is longer still before they have the courage to look one another in the eye. They had gotten lost so quickly in the Drift, neither of them had quite anticipated the strength of its pull.

Vanara jumps when Ellinara’s hands brush against her skin to remove the needle from the crook of her arm. She casts a dazed look over the ancient machine that sits between them. It is a small innocuous thing, held together by ingenuity and magic, and tethered to the both of them via two thin cords and needles. The technology and spellwork required to establish a Drift is Elvhen in origin, but equally dangerous and unforgiving to everyone—perhaps especially so toward young foolish Firsts dreaming of one day piloting a Jaeger.

“That was—“

“—stupid—“

“—so stupid. We should—“

“—have definitely known better, and—“

“—we can never tell the Keeper.” Ellinara and Vanara exchanged a fearful and startled glances, neither of them feeling exactly whole. Yet both of them felt something… more. In a single, sudden heartbeat the fear and apprehension of the experience passed. Exhilarated and hopeful grins broke on their faces like suns over the horizon. No matter how desperate, how fearful they had been in those memories, there had been a few seconds inbetween of—something. In the instant before waking up, they had been a team. A single united force breaking away from the Drift. Together they had been something… amazing. The sum of their strengths, their enthusiasm, their desires.

“We’re doing that again, right?” Vanara asked, bright eyed and eager.

“Creators, yes.”

[qunaributts]

DRIFT COMPATIBLE AU FOR NARA AND ELLI THO.

Vanara stared at the ceiling, dazed, head spinning ever so slightly. Distantly the match bell rung in her ears. Beads of sweat rolled down her temples and made her clothes stick to her skin. Vanara rolled slowly on to her side, and then pushed herself to her knees, still trying to ceatch her breath.

She had lost two out of three matches, but the last match had stretched on for what felt like ages. Minutes had ticked by with the leisure of hours until finally Vanara had been knocked from her feet.

“Holy shit,” she panted, pushing off of her knees to stand. “Holy shit, Elli that was--” Vanara stopped when she looked up only to glimpse Ellinara’s back as she walked briskly from the sparring room. “Woah! Elli!” Vanara darted after her, shoulder hitting the doorframe as she passed beneath it. “Elli wait! That was amazing!”

Ellinara’s shoulders stiffened as she walked, but she didn’t turn around to face Vanara. “It wasn’t that--”

“No, no, you felt that, right?” Vanara asked, finally catching up to Ellinara and stopping her with a hand on her shoulder. “You had to have felt that!” Ellinara’s jaw was tight, expression uncertain when Vanara turned her around.

“It was nothing.”

“Fucking hell! If that was nothing then I’m a round-eared Orlesian bureaucrat! Ellinara, we’re Drift Compatible.” Ellinara could not hide the flash of emotion from her eyes, but she quickly composed a mask of reserved indifference.

“The Keeper will never allow it. I’ve been gone for four years, I’m not officially part of the Clan anymore. I can’t just show up and--”

“Fuck the Keeper,” Vanara said emphatically, clasping her hands behind Ellinara’s neck so that she could press heir foreheads together. “Ellinara Lavellan, pilot the Inquisitor with me.”

[qunaributts]

18. Stupidest plan SO IN: Nara + Elli

“...so that’s when you--you jump on the ha-a-a-alla, and they’ll be so distracted by you that I can... uh,” Vanara paused, brow furrowing. She lost her train of thought, clearly unable to recall the entire purpose of her elaborate design.

“Here,” Ellinara said, offering her a bottle of Dalish Spice Wine. Vanara swiped at it, missing the first time and grabbing the bottle by the neck the second. She took a swig of it and then squinted at the air as if the words she was searching for might appear there.

“AH!” she exclaimed, gesturing with the bottle excitedly so that some wine sloshed on to her hand. “Thatsss when I grab the staff.”

Ellinara, clearly less intoxicated than her companion, shifted to take her seriously by the shoulders.

“Let me get this straight,” she said. “You want me to ride a halla, bare-chested, straight through the middle of camp while singing at the top of my lungs all so that you can take the Keeper’s staff and spell it so that the next time she uses it, her hair stands on end?”

Vanara nodded her head enthusiastically with a broad smile and a perky ‘mmhmm!’. Ellinara forcefully pulled the wine bottle out of Vanara’s hands and took a very long drink. She paused to catch her breath, held up a stalling finger when Vanara moved to speak, and then put the bottle to her lips again. 

“Elli--” Ellinara made a shooing gesture and finished her last gulp. She wiped her mouth on the back of her arm, coughed, eyes watering, and took a breath to speak.

“That’s the stupidest plan I have ever heard.”

“So... you’re in?” Vanara asked. Ellinara laughed and grasped Vanara’s forearm enthusiastically.

“Oh, I’m so in.”

[qunaributts]

♖:Having their hair washed by the other Vanara + Ellinara

Vanara looked positivelyferal. The last few days had been harrowing for Clan Lavellan, bandits had beenharassing them almost nonstop and there had been little time to mind personalhygiene. Her tight braids were frayed and caked with blood and dirt. She, andeveryone else in the tightly knitted group of elves, smelled like sweat andfatigue.

They had traveled through the night, stopping only mid-morningfor food and rest. With luck they had put the danger literally and figurativelybehind them, but everyone was still quiet and tightly wound. Enough so thatwhen a gentle hand was placed on Vanara’s shoulder, she jumped and magic camecrackling to life at her fingertips.

“Atisha, lethallan,” Ellinara murmured.Vanara grimaced, forcibly shaking the spell from her fingertips. The magicalresidue clung to her aura and left her mouth tasting like metal.

“Ir abelas,” she grated. Ellinara just squeezed her shoulder.

“Ma isala hamin.”

“We all do,” Vanara answered wearily, and noted for the firsttime that Ellinara was balancing a small basin of water against her hip. A barof soap and soft sponge were clenched in her hand. Vanara raised a brow,question unvoiced but still obvious.

“For you,” Ellinara clarified. Vanara smiled regretfully,

“No time for a bath, Elli.We’re moving on soon.” Ellinara tch’ed andgestured for Vanara to sit as she lowered the basin to the ground.

“Not a bath, lethallan. Just for your hair. It looks completelysolid, for all of the blood and dirt in it.” Vanara rolled her eyes, but knelton the ground with Ellinara anyway.

“The more frightening I look, the better. If the shems see ablood-crusted savage, they are more likely to turn and run,” but she did notmove to stop Ellinara when her deft fingers caught the end of her braid andstarted to unwrap the cord that held it in place. 

“Alright Fen’Harel,” Ellinara scoffed, “Let’s not get dramatic.I will leave the rest of you properly dirty and ‘savage’.” Vanara laughed, astrange sound, cracked from disuse over the recent week, but nonetheless agentle and welcome noise of mirth. Vanara winced at the pull and crackle of herhair as it was slowly unwound. 

“Ma serannas,” she said quietly as Ellinara combed through thetangled locks. Water and soap trickled down her neck and dripped from wet strandsof hair as Ellinara worked the blood and dirt away. She paused occasionally topull out a twig or leaf, and flick it at Vanara playfully. Ellinara braided thehair anew while it was still damp, knowing full well that her friend neverliked to leave it down.

Vanara turned to face Ellinara, feeling better rested than shehad all week, and more whole. They shared a smile, and Vanara reached up topull a crumpled leaf out of Ellinara’s hair.

“Your turn.”

____

Notes:

Atisha, lethallan: Peace,dear one. A request to be calm.

Ir abelas: Iam sorry.

Ma isala hamin: Youneed rest.

Ma serannas: Mythanks.