#ziskposts

[volkoss]

A couple of things that I think are overlooked in discussions of Veilguard’s secret ending with regard to Loghain Mac Tir:

1) the fact that King Maric was lost as sea several years before the events of Origins, and Loghain nearly bankrupted the country through his search efforts (and yes, I know that per the comics Maric ultimately ended up imprisoned/killed in Seheron, but the motives of the people involved could always use more elucidating, and besides, Loghain doesn’t know that!)

2) Given how easily manipulated Loghain was by Arl Rendon Howe of all people, I don’t find it implausible that Loghain could be gently nudged in one direction or another from a great distance; I don’t think it makes him less nuanced or morally grey, just predictable.

[ziskandra]

me when the medicine I am taking to sedate me fucking sedates me

[volkoss]

Finally working on my Johanna fics again, this time on some childhood backstory of Emmrich and Johanna's first meeting and their subsequent burgeoning friendship. ...aaaand now making myself emo by building upon the headcanon I developed for Brilliant Things, wherein it's implied that Johanna's parents abandoned her at the Necropolis one day because they didn't think she'd be safe at a Circle. At the time, my thought process was more general (i.e., the Circles are awful), but in writing this, I realise her parents would have been thinking in more specific terms: that their strong-willed and belligerent daughter who refuses to let anyone soften her edges would straight up not survive a Circle. Like, it wouldn't be just a bad life; she'd be dead--Johanna has many skills, and while she might get to a point where she's capable of laying low, she's never going to be capable of reigning herself in.

And so Johanna's parents pulled the gambit of ... leaving her at the Necropolis, even though there was no guarantee they wouldn't just immediately turn her over to the templars or whomever to follow the proper processes. Because they wanted her to live.

And in true Hezenkoss fashion, the batshit gambit both failed and succeeded beyond everyone's wildest expectations.

[volkoss]

laughing at how despite my previous planning, instead of the volkoss sex pollen fic, my 69th dragon age work on ao3 ended up being the 'loghain having a breakdown at finally admitting maric is dead' fill i did for thedas weekend

[volkoss]

me: i'm going to get so much writing done today!

also me: spends like an hour reading about deponent verbs in latin

[volkoss]

as a writer, is there anything more powerful than the moment when you realise why you're obsessed with telling this story in particular? because goddamn

[volkoss]

After wrestling with Microsoft Word for most of last night and today, I have come to suspect that I have actually been attempting to write two Bellara & Johanna fics 🥴

And that the last planned instalment in the series is probably going to end up being a multichap 🥲

[volkoss]

restless at work today and thinking about how the way i wrote alec/ellen from mass effect: andromeda ended up directly influencing the way i write volkoss oops