30, Bug🪲 he/they, queer 🐌 things you can bring up to make me rabid (positive): Dragon age, Dungeon Meshi, Star Trek TNG, Hollow Knight, Disco Elysium, Ace Attorney, Titanfall 2
since this guy is all that has consumed my thoughts for the last who knows how many months, figured I might as well make a quick n dirty reference post
Pronouns: he/him
Age: 39 (turns 40 over the course of the game)
Sexuality: Gay, gay, homosexual, gay
Height: 5'10
Weight: Somewhere around 275lbs I think, he's a big boy
Hair/Eye color: Silver/gray (lol) and gray-green (depending on the lighting his eyes can look gray or bright green, but mostly its green-tinted gray)
Class: Rogue (but he isn't much of a fighter)
Faction: Antivan Crows (it's complicated)
Romance: Lucanis AND Spite >:3 (Emmrich also maybe, I don't know if I'm strong enough to juggle FOUR MEN in a relationship, that's a lot, but the Emmrookanis writers who do it are my heroes and give me life)
If you asked him his 'Real Name' he'd give you a tight smile and say, "That's a bit rude, don't you think?" Rook's 'Real Name' is complicated (because I can't let anything be simple) In an orphanage in Ferelden, they called the quiet little redhead Finn, but that wasn't his name. In a circus in Orlais, he wanted to blend in, so he told them his name was Benoit. But no one called him that. On a Tevinter slave ship, packed tight with bodies and chains, he shivered and prayed no one would notice him enough to call him anything. In House de Riva, too old to be a fledgling, and only adept at surviving whatever they put him through, he called himself Jackdaw, but a Crow that can hardly fight is hardly a Crow at all. So they called him Magpie: for his hair, already graying at a mere 25, his sticky fingers, and near constant chatter. When Varric finds him, middle aged, and thrown out of the only place he'd managed to carve out a home for himself, he gives him the nickname Rook. At first, he thinks it's a cruel joke. Another bird, not quiet what he was supposed to be, but as he travels with Varric, he starts to realize what it means, what Varric sees in him, and he wants to live up to that. So he is Rook. As far as discussion though, that is confusing and annoying LMAO, so I call him Silver. The accident that orphaned Silver left him fade-touched, not that he knows that. As far as he knows, bad luck has simply followed him all his life, and as an adult he has keenly honed his ear to that little voice in his head 'what's over there?' 'I wonder where that person is going?' 'this seems safe' that always led him into trouble, to the point where he can use his 'bad luck' like dowsing rods to find, ambushes, hidden treasure, important people, ect.
In game, when Varric introduces Rook as "an expert on trouble" I really latched onto that. I liked the idea of folding in game mechanics into his character, like the way Rook just kind of knows where to go for quests ect. Plus the way that Rook will 'nearly miss' jumps ALL THE TIME, so I made it part of him through his 'bad luck'. It's also a fun meta thing, if I want something to happen I can just blame that >:] I also really wanted a reason for Silver to be able to hear Spite, so being fade-touched already, plus Solas cracking his skull like an egg, I figure Silver can hear spirits in general at close distances. Not like he hasn't already gone through the ringer because of the ritual, now he's hearing voices. Sorry bud. (not really)
Appearance
Silver is on the upper end of average height and his build thickset, solid muscle under a layer of fat, completely by design. He is Much stronger and faster than he looks, so that people underestimate him, and so he can escape whatever sticky situation he ends up in. There’s also a bit of vanity that goes into it, but an ample chest and ass can be, and have been, plenty useful. Silver is pale but Covered in freckles and fair body hair, with very short gray hair, and a matching pointed beard and curled mustache. His blocky eyebrows rest over gray-green eyes that angle downward, giving him an almost drowsy appearance. (He also has really prominent bottom lashes that are one of my FAVORITE things about his design) All of this combined with his hooked nose and full lips make his heritage hard to pin down. Silver’s only tattoo is a geometric band around his throat of dwarven design, but he has plenty of scars. One on his upper lip, from when he was a child, faint ones around his wrists and ankles from the Tevinter slave ship, an acid burn across his hip from his first job with the Crows, and various scars on his arms and legs from narrow escapes. About half the time he goes around with an easy smile and relaxed posture, trying to slip under people’s guard and notice, and the other half of the time he has a tight, wide eyed grimace as he tries to wiggle out of whatever problem he’s stumbled into.
Personality
Silver has lived too many different lives, now the masks he wears feel more real than the man underneath. He is the Epitome of ‘humor as a defense mechanism’. The last person who really truly loved him unconditionally died saving his life, so he believes he must keep people at a casual distance for their sake as well as his own, but if someone were to really get to know him? To understand all that he is and want him still, platonically or romantically? “Devoted” wouldn’t cover the half of it. A stranger just meeting him would see a smooth talker with an easy smile, joker, flirt, kind of a little shit, who will startle people with flashes of real sincerity and concern for others. Usually this care and concern lands him neck deep in trouble, but eh, what can you do. Someone who has known him for a while would see a man who watches and listens more than he seems, observation being his primary key to survival. Silver will always try to talk his way out of a problem first, but less in a ‘pacifism, kindness, you’re better than this’ kind of way, and more of a ‘con man with his back to the wall and a pitchfork in his face’ kind of way.
Once when I was in undergrad, someone described something as “problematic” in class and our professor was like, “That’s cool, but ‘problematic’ doesn’t really mean anything. It means that the thing you’re describing has a problem, and in and of itself that’s not bad. Art, especially, should always have problems, or else it’s not interesting and not art, either. It sounds like you’re trying to say that this is bad, but you don’t want to say ‘bad.’ Is that right?”
So from then on whenever one of us called something problematic, he would make us talk it out until we could name the “bad” thing we were hinting at. In this particular class, 7/10 it was some type of oppression, and the remainder was like, “I’m uncomfortable because this is very new/confusing/pushing boundaries that made me feel safe.”
Once we stopped calling things “problematic” and stopping at that, class got way more interesting and... we all had to say, like, “that’s racist” or “that’s misogynistic” or “ew capitalism gross” out loud, which a lot of us had never done in a classroom before. Or we had to be like, “Uhhh... I’m not sure what’s so bad?” and confront our own beliefs and that was maybe even more useful.
Anyway. Whenever I see the word problematic, I can’t help but think of this professor being like, “Good starting point, now let’s get specific.” I think when we have to commit to saying “that’s ___” it requires a lot more careful thought about the truth and impact and complexities of whatever we’re claiming. Sometimes there really is some bullshit afoot, and also sometimes it’s art, and it should be full of problems, because that’s what art is.
I once saw an article put it this way: often "this is problematic" is used to shut down discussion of a thing, by casting a sweeping but vague judgement. But really if used at all it should start a discussion about what the problem is.
You've gotta have good biodiversity in your reasons for not killing yourself. Rotate them out like crops when the yield gets low and the soil poor. We're mixing our metaphors. Whatever helps it stick.
You like warm blankets. You like the sound of birdsong. You have a pet that needs taking care of. You have someone to outlive. You have a loved one. You think death would be boring. It's coming for you anyway. Death is patient. When was the last time you had cake? Your favourite musician is going on tour. Or maybe just a halfway decent band at your local bar. You've never seen an elephant. Isn't it amazing that the sky is blue? Aging is a gift not afforded to most. Don't let the bastard grind you down. You can't mend any suffering in the world with your death. You want to see if you can grow herbs on your windowsill. Killing yourself seems like so much effort. What does tiramisu taste like? You're trying to be curious. You're angry and spiteful. What you want more than to die is to rest. This sandwich is so good you don't want to die. Not so long as there are plums to eat and somebody, anybody who gives enough of a damn to haul them to you. A stranger on the internet is holding their hand out and asking.
Like two years ago I ran into a salamander biologist in the woods who complimented my ability to 'walk quietly in the forest while causing minimal disturbance to the leaf litter.' Still goes to my head.
This year I participated in the Emmcanis Minibang, and had the absolute Delight to work with @elefluff on her fic How Deep the Blade Cuts! A dark and messy The Magnus Archives crossover!
This was a Big project for me, the longest I’ve ever spent on a something like this, and the first time I’ve done something I would call a full Illustration! also the first time drawing gore of the comfort character and it was SO FUN I learned so much working on this, and Elefluff was so helpful and encouraging the whole time!
Find her on Bluesky @elefxxk.bluesky.social
click through for some detail shots
My fav details were on the flowers and those got pretty covered up so!
the flowers are based on a real plant! monotropa uniflora, a parasitic plant that looks truly creepy, I love it!
also it is not lost on me that for the emmCANIS event, I did not end up drawing Lucanis 🤣 LOOK LISTEN— THIS SCENE INSPIRED ME OK?
thank you so much @mourningcoffeediscord for hosting the event!
FLY is a story about a boy who gets a second chance. Help his story take flight June 9th 11am EST on Kickstarter. Thank you for being the wind beneath my wings I hope this story lifts the world to a brighter place.
A coming of age story about Black kids who finally have power to fight back against systems designed against them.
Further context: Durham city council (Reform UK) cut funding and support for Pride. The Durham Miner's Association and other trade unions raised enough money for Durham Pride 2026 to go ahead - a direct call back to when Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money for mining communities when Margaret Thatcher seized union funding during the miner strikes of 1984-85.
At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.
Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association, said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community […] They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.”
it’s a shame more vampire media doesn’t pull from vampire bat behavior because they’re such sweeties. they can only survive their incredibly specialized diet because bats will share blood with colony members that didn’t find a meal! there’s evidence that suggests the donors sometimes initiate this behavior themselves by approaching hungry bats! the colonies are mostly harems of females with a few males but they’ve been observed letting unrelated males in when it gets cold so they can all stay warm! cute little social critters!
