i suck at introductions

current wips:

Fifty Sovereigns - Female Trevelyan & Varric Tethras The first story in the saga of Beatrice "Bee" Trevelyan. Takes place in 9:31 Dragon in Kirkwall. It's a loss of innocence/coming of age story.

9:31 Dragon

Bann Edmund Trevelyan sent his daughter to Kirkwall hoping she'd learn caution.

Beatrice Trevelyan had other ideas.

The Shape of a Lie - Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian An angsty and long Western AU set in a fake 1890s USA. Expect horses, gunfights, hunting, death, and graphic descriptions of violence.

Hired to infiltrate an outlaw gang, bounty hunter Garrus Vakarian soon discovers that some jobs are more complicated than they seem.

Ten thousand dollars is a hard offer to refuse.

And loyalty is a dangerous thing to gamble with.

series:

By Starlight and Sapphire - Mainly Shakarian, but it's on hiatus. Follows the story of Marika Shepard from 2174 and all the way to post-war. Currently in ME2 timeline. It respects canon events to a degree before taking a hard left turn toward AU-territory. Marika is "my" Shepard: infiltrator, Earthborn, War Hero, true neutral, pragmatic, and oddly romantic. A proper best friend dynamic with Garrus that grows into romance.

The Shakarian Works - Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian Features just one-shots of these two lovable idiots. More often than not, it's just smut.

The Turian Daddy Works - Female Shepard/Other Turians Lorik Qui'in, Castis Vakarian, Adrien Victus - the other very fuckable turians in our galaxy. More to be added.

The Pinky Swear - Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian Shepard and Garrus meet up a few years after the war to follow up on a pinky swear they made right before Ilos: if both are single by the age of thirty-five, they'd marry each other. This is fluff. I rarely do pure fluff but when I do I go fucking hard.

Breaking Regulations: The Vega Files - Female Shepard/James Vega Literally just a series for all my Shega stories. Currently just one here.

Hard in Hightown, Harder in Skyhold - Female Trevelyan/Cullen Rutherford All the short stories that will span Bee's life from 9:31 Dragon and beyond.

a few chosen samples:

An Eye for an Eye - Female Shepard/Castis Vakarian (aka the most fun I've ever had writing fanfic)

Jane Shepard gets the surprise of a lifetime when she catches Garrus cheating on her with Tali. While having her boyfriend and her best friend do that to her is painful, she soon finds comfort in someone unexpected.

And that comfort quickly turns into something else.

A Guide to Awkward Courtship - Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian (aka let's pretend to date to get my dad off my back)

Some turian parents like to have a hand in who their kids end up with. None of them can compete with Castis Vakarian's overbearing nature. Garrus has had enough of his father's constant nagging, but nothing has helped stop him.

Then, Shepard offers a solution that he finds himself wanting her help with.

how to flirt with your commander - Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian (aka CSS and HTML gave me a headache, but flowed once I got it right)

Garrus Vakarian never expected his human commander to start winking at him. Unsure if she’s flirting, mocking, or plotting an assassination, he does the only logical thing: logs onto Read-It, the galaxy’s favorite extranet forum, to ask strangers for advice.

This is a romcom told entirely through forum posts, edits, and comment chaos.

rule number one: why we don't eyeball it - Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian (aka Garrus is fucking smart and I'll be damned if you forget it)

“Can it wait for a bit? I’m right in the middle of some calibrations.” —Garrus Vakarian.

Shepard knows code. Crack security systems? Easy. Rewire field tech mid-firefight? Child’s play. Get into places she’s absolutely not supposed to be? Please. Walk into the forward batteries and try to understand equations, trajectory models, and Newton’s Laws of what the hell Is that?

No chance.

Pain. Throbbing, relentless pain.

Garrus squeezed his eyes shut, trying and failing to keep it at bay. Sunlight still shone through his eyelids, stabbing like a spear against his brain. He boiled under his duster, his face wet and dry at the same time. Something itched. He tried to move, but couldn’t.

Rope bit into his wrists when he flexed his fingers behind his back. A wooden pole—or was that a tree?—stood rigid against him, thick enough his weight couldn’t sway it. He was kneeling. Had he been kneeling like this all night?

“Good morning, sunshine.”

Garrus squinted at the man in front of him. He was considerably less dressed since last time—brown trousers, cream linen shirt open far enough Garrus could spot a strong chest and some hair, and suspenders keeping everything in place.

The Mexican. The big one.

“Sleep well?” he asked.

“Suppose so.” The words came out dry and Garrus winced. “Son of a bitch…”

“How’s your head?”

“Feels like someone hit me with a rifle.”

“That’s because someone hit you with a rifle.”

Garrus glared at the Mexican. An amused chuckle met him in return.

1: off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?

I'm still on Fifty Sovereigns, so Bee is still very 19. She's the youngest Trevelyan and since the Trevelyans are an affluent house in Ostwick with close ties to the Chantry, I'm sure Bee has had a rather sheltered upbringing. Her father didn't hand her off to the Chantry because he had other plans (political marriage).

I made Bee a very 19-year-old girl who wants to experience the world and prove she belongs somewhere other than at a man's side. She's naive, full of wonder, and has enough of her teenage boldness left in her to travel the continent alone. We see this a lot in Fifty Sovereigns. She - gives a beggar a Sovereign and doesn't understand why every person in the Docks gives her A Look™️ afterward. - loses track of where she's going because ✨architecture✨. - gets too offended when the cunty templar implies she shouldn't be wandering around alone. - counts her money in full view of everyone right in the middle of the street. - hears "Deep Roads expedition" and thinks "oh, how fun!"

Already this says a lot, right? But then she's also interested in people, wants to know them, she does have some advantages from being a Trevelyan, like listening to her father talk circles around others in court. She does have some skills that allow her to impress and weasel her way into this Deep Roads expedition.

As for connections, her friendship with Varric and eventual romance with Cullen are the two most important connections in her story.

2: adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?

I'll be honest. I haven't read a ton of Dragon Age fics. I'm currently reading @chalkituptofate and @frankiesoup's amazing stories, and buzzing in @capnmarvl's ear a mosquito to post more Cullavellan, so I have no basis to compare.

From other fics I've read, most seem centered around canon timelines or beyond where Trevelyan, other!Inquisitor is older and experienced.

So I guess no? But then I've also got a very weird premise, so I get it.

3: throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?

I feel like it's natural to compare her to Varric. They're both adventurous people, but in different ways. Besides, their love lives are pretty similar when you think about it.

I don't think Varric necessarily seeks out danger, but he still ends up right in the middle of it, somehow. He writes books. He's seen some shit and will see even more. He has a complicated relationship with Bianca. Bee doesn't seek out danger either, but she wants to experience the real world and prove she can be more than someone's wife. She will have a complicated relationship with Cullen in due time.

I think Varric sees a young, sheltered noble who he immediately feels responsible for once she loudly announces she has enough money to buy herself into a Deep Roads expedition in The Hanged Man. He doesn't actually want her to join, but he also doesn't wanna be the bad man, so he wants Hawke to tell her no. Since he doesn't... Well. Now she's Varric's problem.

Bee sees a dwarf being snarky to Hawke and immediately thinks "friend?". They talk for hours, laugh, and by the end of the night, he's definitely a friend. She manages to talk her way into a meeting with Hawke and then proves herself worthy. In addition to that, she's realized people really care about money. Fifty Sovereigns (hey, that's the title of the fic!) means more rations, more medicine, more anything they might need.

As an outsider, it's easy to point out one of the biggest difference between them: their age. Varric is canonically 30 in 9:31 Dragon. Eleven years Bee's senior, he's definitely experienced more of life. We don't know how old Trevelyan is canonically, but I put her at 19 in Fifty Sovereigns. You have one person learning to adult and another knowing more about how adulting works.

Bee also doesn't know who Varric is or what reputation he has when she meets him. She sees a snarky man, a sexy crossbow, and confidence she thinks is all natural when it might just be a little cultivated to survive. Varric is good at shouldering people's baggage and she doesn't know that. One thinks adventure is something you choose, and the other thinks adventure is something that chooses you before you can back off and pray for mercy.

4: how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))

"Oh, honey. I love you and I'll happily talk for hours, but I give it two days before you get shanked in an alley and robbed. ❤️"

I think I feel like I'd have to keep her safe from the world. Older sister kind of thing. But I'd like her. She's not dumb. She just hasn't experienced much beyond Ostwick.

5: ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?

I want her innocence and naivety smashed. I want her yelled at. I want her doubting herself. I want her hurt because of her own actions.

...I promise I'm okay. 😂 It's all in the name of ✨character growth✨.

6: weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?

I'm most interested in - Cullen and Bee (duh 🤪) - Varric and Bee - Dorian and Bee - Cole and everyone

7: do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.)

Nah, not really. Bee's just... Bee. A young woman finding herself and growing up a bit too fast. There's nothing niche about that.

1: off the top of your head: notes for characterization? what are the most essential traits of this character to you (personality traits, important connections/dynamics, voice)?

When I made him, I was aiming for an all around good guy and a model turian (in terms of the Hierarchy). Selfless, loyal, hardworking, competitive... and then I added a lot of good traits to make him really approachable and sweet.

He's a guy who could've been one of those "promoted by nepotism" cases, but his father has enough brain cells to beat into his mind that the opposite was true from the start--he'd have to work ten times harder to prove himself because of who his father is.

He's often the voice of reason. The... fuck, what's the word? Mediator? I'm sure it's mediator. And he'll answer Marika's endless questions about turian culture and turn the questions around on her regarding human culture.

2: adjacently—do you think fandom does the above traits justice? why or why not?

Hmmm... yes and no.

I was really disappointed you had Tali act like an encyclopedia for the quarians in ME1 and then Garrus just... "you obviously know everything about turians, so why should I tell you". It wasn't until ME3 and the whole Menae/Tarquin thing you actually learned something interesting about turians. Well, fighting and fucking to blow off steam did happen in ME2, but that wasn't what I wanted. 😅

As for good guys, there are some of them in canon, sure. But Vitorius is really uncomplicated in a way that's rare, I feel. Garrus might be the closest I can get, but even he has his own shit to deal with.

3: throw this character at any other character of your choice to bounce off each other as outsider pov to each other— regardless of timeline or logistics (crossovers allowed if you're interesting about it). why this combination? what insights would they have on each other?

Fuck it, let's do Chakwas. They're both doctors and highly decorated soldiers. Makes sense to me.

Obviously, there's an age gap here and I'm sure Chakwas has more professional experience than Vitorius. What's interesting about them is that both of them care about Marika. Differently, of course. Both have that professional "we need to keep her alive" concern, but then you see concern beyond that.

In canon, Chakwas cares about Shepard beyond what I'd call professional concern. They get drunk together, talk shit, and hell, the doctor even adds some admiring comments here and there that I think make it clear. In and of itself, that isn't problematic. But I get some vibes HR would narrow their eyes at a little. Calling it motherly is a huge stretch, though Marika does call her Doctor Mom for fun.

In my canon, Vitorius is head over heels in love with Marika. That already crosses a couple boundaries and I'm sure HR would run at FTL speed to hold a seminar about fraternization rules and why they exist.

What they can both hide behind, I guess, is that Shepard is the most important person on the ship whether she likes it or not. She's a Spectre, she's an N7, she has the visions of the beacon in her head, she's physically fucked up after Cerberus--it's only natural it's in their interest to keep her alive.

Honestly, Mordin might be the most level doctor out of all of them. I see him as an empathetic guy, sure, but not at all biased.

4: how do you think you would react to this character in real life and vice versa? would you prefer be a million miles out of range, be amicable classmates, or fall desperately in love? (bonus: arrange a hypothetical date between yourself and this character. getting silly with it is encouraged (fakedate them! escape a dinner date through a bathroom window!))

"OMG TURIANS ARE REAL???"

No, but seriously, I'd love to have him as my doctor. He'd be so patient, dry, kind. I'd be the Doctor Michel to his Garrus which is funny because my name is... never mind.

I'd 100% see the doctor more regularly if he was my doctor. Not because I'd be in love or anything, but I'd 100% have a crush.

No bonus. I'm already beat from bad sleep and have other things to write. x)

5: ideal flavor of rotating for this character? crack them open and dissect them— do you want them tormented, pining, or being loved + comforted? do you have any specific scenarios you like to think about?

...historically, I guess I love crushing his dreams well before they could happen. x)

My ideal setup is in Into the Abyss because it combines a few things that makes me foam at the mouth like a rabid dog: - Characters lying to themselves. - Doomed love. - Angst. - Turning the tables and making an offer at the end that will test Vitorius' values and the hypocratic oath he made really, really fucking hard.

6: weave a web of dynamics through the cast for this character: which dynamics are you most interested in? both canonically and through extrapolation/speculation— which dynamics are the richest to you, and why?

Saren and Vitorius in Into the Abyss. I won't say why because *plot*.

7: do you have particular niche takes on this character? defend those takes. (openly controversial takes are permitted, but also: hyper-specific headcanons which you believe in and no one else has considered enough to disagree with yet. pick a hill to die on.

That week he had alone with Garrus... 😏

In another world, I think it turned into this pining story where Garrus didn't want to settle down and Vitorius yearned for him so fucking hard it hurt.

Which is why he kept saying yes to hooking up.

Why distancing himself never really worked for him.