Again, screenshots using for inspiration in writing this story! Just like last time, except with a dearth of Zevran… but even more Liz. And a little bit of Nate, because Nate is good-lookin’ too.
Approaching Vigil’s Keep with Mhairi. [Starfang doesn’t transfer over without a certain mod that I hadn’t installed at the time so using something else in this picture (also where is Cousland shield?)]
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh I’m done all the Dragon Age fanficccccc and now I don’t have to write anymorrrrrrre- Since I don’t have any urge to write DA2 fic, and I may not even play Inquisition, I’m all good : )
But omg how did this last chapter take so long
The last third of this chapter brought to you by Super Eurobeat!
Chapter 9
Dawn broke on a discouraging sight. Under a grey, overcast sky, Vigil’s Keep was encircled by darkspawn, though they couldn’t climb the cliffs of the mountain behind. Still, there was no way we were getting in to reinforce the defenders. Continue reading
Oh man, I’ve been looking forward to attacking Amaranthine for so long you don’t even know. Soundtracks include Doa and E.M.A., but not Counterattack Mankind because that’s for the next chapter. I went and watched more bits of walkthrough for dialogue and found that the logistics of this section of the game don’t make a whole lot of sense (I saved the Keep on my (so-far-only) playthrough so I hadn’t even seen what happens when you save the city, but I decided it made more sense for her to do this for this story). And a lot of things are made dramatic that I wonder would have been quite so dire to actual medieval people (LIKE SIEGES. Worrisome certainly but safer than open ground combat). >.>
I didn’t finish the entire story by midnight, but I will certainly be done tomorrow. It’s been a productive NaNoWriMo, even if I’d like to collapse for two or three days now. Final approximate wordcount of absolute fiction: 76,055
Chapter 8
She stood in the gateway, waiting impatiently for the tiny figures down the road to come closer. It seemed to take a very long time, and meanwhile, the chill late winter wind was nibbling at her fingers, her nose, her ears, even through the woolen gloves and hat she was wearing. Not fashionable for an acting-arlessa to be wearing a peasant’s hat and gloves, but she actually didn’t care, though she would have cared even less if they’d actually worked completely against the cold. She did not pace, though she was tempted to, instead maintaining a poise of motionless dignity. Continue reading
Taking advantage of my last exhausted writing momentum to plow through the rest of this story this month. Then I will be done all the Dragon Age fanfic and I won’t have to write any more! I hope! This chapter is not the greatest in particular but I just need to move on. I watched a walkthrough for some of the Kal’Hirol dialogue, but I cut down on The Lost’s monologue.
Chapter 7
As the year drew on towards midwinter, construction on the castle slowed. The walls were nearly finished, but there were still some towers that were definitely not. We were vulnerable while they remained so, but fortunately the darkspawn seemed less inclined to move about in the bitter cold, and then only attacking outlying farms and skirmishing with the army. Continue reading
Felt like drawing one of the scenes from Perfect Time 3, even though it’s been an exhausting week. Everything work-related has been accomplished successfully, which is good, and the Messiah concert was lovely. Working on WWADH but it’s slow going still. I have some ideas, I just need energy to hash them out. (And Akuliina’s calling because I played SWTOR today. I didn’t even play Akuliina.)
Difficult to research male Italian-specific Renaissance clothing? Yes Armida is in boy’s clothes. And Liz is in a dress. Hey, she’s worn dresses before. If she wasn’t wearing her sword, now THAT would be weird.
Ship was loosely traced over from a picture by Thari but I did a lazy job with it. I might fix it when I have more energy.
This is the chapter with all of the feels, and you know how I can tell? I made myself cry multiple times writing this chapter. I just have a thing for heartwrenching innocent kids, I think. It was like when I wrote the Canas/Nancy/Hugh thing back in Anima’s Seal, but worse because LizZev is much closer to my heart than Canas. D: (sorry, Canas, you’re still cool) And yes, it’s extremely self indulgent, but hey, I hardly ever kill off my characters, even though I should probably. Unfortunately, my own feels only work on me once. If I read it in a year I’ll probably cry again. Also also I seem to have inadvertently set up a parallel to Dishonoured 2 here in a way.
Also for those of you wondering when I’ll ever finish WWADH a.k.a. the Awakening fic, since it takes place before this one… Soon? I’ve been trying, I’m still stuck on writing Kal’Hirol. I’d like to do that one next and finish it with November, and then I can start on Akuliina with December and finish all that by the New Year? Maybe? Tbh guys I’m flagging; this week has also been extremely busy (emergency last-minute Messiah performances tonight and Saturday! Whoo! also I took my car in to get the brakes repaired/replaced and found out there are more things wrong with it. Typical.) and I would like a break; I’m quite tired, not just of creating, but in general. Maybe clear some of those games out of my to-do list (and try not to write fanfics about any of them).
Part 3
He woke to the change in Liz’s breathing beside him. The room was still pitch black, in the depths of the lengthening fall night. It was raining gently outside. Though he listened, he couldn’t hear if Armida had stirred in her room beside, so it wasn’t that which had awakened her. Continue reading
Vaguely annoyed because yesterday afternoon, before work, I had some pretty great scenes for this, and when I got back from work, I was too tired to remember them in detail and I still don’t know if the ones I eventually hashed out are as good as they were when I first imagined them. Typical. (But Morristair alert heheh)
Steam sales are evil, you guys.
EDIT: remembered that Elra exists, plopped her in a bit.
Part 2
Life as the Consort of the Grandmaster of the Crows was not terrible, as it turned out, and two years later she was still alive and living in Antiva with her beloved. She’d taken to wearing local fashions, feminine but as practical as she could find, but she refused to style her hair in the Antivan way, or to wear loads of glitzy jewellry, and Zevran laughed and said that was all right. Continue reading
Title of this fic comes from this song, which has the name Elizabeth in it. And it has lots of passion in it, and the words interpret pretty well.
Warning: sex, again, because Liz and Zev can’t keep their hands off each other : P
Different warning: I haven’t played DAI, and I still haven’t finished DA2, so this may have very little relation to the Dragon Age official canon as it now stands. However, I don’t really care too much, as I may never get around to playing DAI. I’ll definitely finish DA2 someday, but DAI is yet another big long singleplayer game and I already have a lot of those.
Part 1
Antiva City was the strangest, most exotic city she’d ever been to. Considering she’d been outside of Ferelden exactly never, this was hardly surprising. She’d been expecting things to be different from home, but… not this different. The climate was hot, humid, and her clothes clung to her skin under her ironbark armour. The sun was brighter, the sky bluer, the sea in the harbour milder. The crowds were more brightly dressed, dazzling and shimmering before her eyes; the buildings whiter and taller and festooned with greenery, wide arches letting the wind blow through the hot city. Continue reading
I’m… done? Story came to about 33000 words. Not perfect, messy ending, but hopefully some entertainment was derived from it. And yes I know very little about trials or legal procedures so big thanks to Elwin for answering my dumb questions, and for encouraging me to also make things up because hey fiction.
I always thought that “three-chord symphony crashes into space” was “dream-coloured symphony” and I kind of still like those words better. XD But this is one of my favourite Dire Straits songs; it’s so evocative. The meaning of the words really does fit the original place I was going to put it, around chapter 3, but the tone is really nice for a credits song. Besides, she’s still going to be looking for him… she’ll still see him everywhere, without even trying. <3
Next story is probably going to be Voltron Shiro trash-fic!
Chapter 11: Iron Hand Continue reading
I almost didn’t write this chapter. I didn’t know what to do with it, how it could be dramatic, especially when it’s placed as the climax of the story. But I wrote it anyway. And it’s long, and a lot of it summarizes the rest of the story. Couple of good bits, though.
It was also difficult to write because of certain political events and social feedback last week. I could get more into that, but it would be pointless navel-gazing so no.
ALSO it is late, not because of socio-political drama, but because I’ve been playing too much SW:TOR. My Warrior Akuliina is steadily harassing Quinn into admitting he likes her, but when it came to the love confession cutscene, I hit the wrong button and Fraps didn’t record it. So I had to start a new Akuliina on a different server, because I need that cutscene in my library. So… late chapter. (But hey, did you know it takes about 15 minutes to get through Nar Shaddaa if you only hit the story missions and skip through the dialogue at top speed?)
Chapter 10: Heavy Fuel Continue reading