Scripturient Erandir

Main Blog: @salmiakkivodka

A03: Erandir

Current Fandoms: Dragon Age, Baldur's Gate 3

What I'm Writing Right Now!

BG3

The Green Man and the Vampire - 24/?? Chapters Astarion/M!Tav A no-tadpole cozy fantasy AU about a hermit druid who stumbles upon a feral vampire spawn and adopts him like a stray cat.

I'd Give Up the Sun For You - 5/?? Chapters Astarion/M!Tav A game novelization alt version of The Green Man and the Vampire.

Dragon Age

In Omnibus Diis - 3/30 Chapters Lucanis/M!Rook Rook backstory and game novelization featuring professional bad decision maker Rori Mercar.

A Tree Falls in the Woods Gen, Davrin/M!Rook Various short fics about Aspen Woods: Ferelden blight survivor, Inquisition scout, Veilguard companion (or Rook sometimes). Also: Veilguard Companion AU with full quest line.

Completed Fics

Semper ad Meliora Fandom: Dragon Age: Inquisition Rating: M Pairing: Dorian/Lavellan (Idhren) Summary: Life story of Idhren Lavellan, from slave to magister's apprentice, Dalish First to Inquisitor, and beyond. Status: 33/33 Chapters, 230K + extras

Fandom: Dragon Age: The Veilguard Pairing: Lucanis Dellamorte/Rook Rating: M Summary: Flashback to when Rori entered his emo phase

The first time Rori was mistaken for a servant, he didn't even realize it was happening. He was thirteen, and it was a day exactly like hundreds before it. It was normal for him to accompany his mother on her weekly trip to the markets for everything the household needed. And to help carry some of her purchases. If he carried the majority of them now, that could be blamed on youthful exuberance. The regular teenage desire to be seen as strong and competent. That it freed up his mother's arms so she could better examine the items at merchant stalls and not ask for his input was merely a side effect. And when his arms began to grow tired, it was much easier to convince her to wrap up and head home.

They were supposed to be on their way home that day, except his mother was distracted by a perfumery on the edge of the market. The whole building reeked of flowers and incense. So strong Rori could smell it from the street, and he nearly gagged when they stepped inside. So when the shop's proprietor gave him a narrow, sideways glance and said, "Your boy can wait outside," he was more than happy for the excuse to leave and take up a seat on a stone bench across the street.

It was around that same time Rori began to notice other boys in a way he hadn't before. Like how the butcher's son had a single dimple on his left cheek that appeared when he smiled in greeting. His seat offered a decent view of that market stall, and while it was the wrong angle to watch that dimple appear, it was the perfect one to watch the older boy's arms flex under rolled-up sleeves as he went about the more physically demanding parts of the job. Rori knew he wasn't supposed to be looking at other boys like this. He should be watching the girl at the baker's stall when she fixed her hair, or something. But he thought there would be plenty of time for that in the future. Besides, he was just looking.

His mother emerged from the perfumery soon enough. Its stench clung to her clothes but was faint enough now to be pleasant as they resumed their walk back home unbothered.

Tagged by @stitchcasual Thanks!

I have like 4 WIPs at current (send help), so it was hard to pick what to post. But here's something from the next chapter of In Omnibus Diis, which is finished and being polished.

13-year-old Rori feeling a lot of 13-year-old angst and dealing with it in classic 13-year-old ways.

His hands itched to do something. His throat itched to scream or cry. At his mother, at the blacksmith, at anyone who would listen. Instead, he leveled his blunted training sword at the dummy and swung. The blade hit the rough burlap and glanced off. A sloppy blow. Scowling at himself, Rori adjusted his grip, his stance - back straight, arm steady, feet planted - and struck again. Better, but the satisfaction of a good performance was eclipsed by the frustration of its ineffectualness. He swung again, harder, but even a direct strike only dented the fabric. He wanted more than that. He shifted his grip again, holding the shortsword more like a dagger as he drove the point of it into the dummy with all of his might. Barely a snag. The frustration bubbled up to his throat and escaped in a yell as he drew back and then sent his foot into the dummy, his entire body weight behind it. The wooden support cracked, leaving the dummy standing at a slight angle. Rori kicked it again. The sound of splintering wood and the shock of the impact running up his leg set off a spark of morbid pleasure in his chest. If he could not make this thing bleed even its straw and sawdust innards - already a pale substitute for the real source of his pain - he could at least grind it into the dirt. So that's just what he did. Struck at it with sword and food and fist until the thing toppled over, and then continued until the worst of the rage bled out of his own body, leaving him panting, sweating, and looking at the less-than-satisfying results of his work. "I think you got him." So focused was he on his fury and pain that Rori hadn't even noticed someone else entering the yard. When he looked up, though, he was not surprised to find Valens there, leaning on the tall cane that had replaced his crutch in recent years. He assessed the scene before him with a practiced eye - the mauled training dummy, Rori covered in sweat and dust but not dressed for it - and then hobbled slowly over to lower himself to a bench in the shade of the house. "So, what did he do to deserve such a fate?"

Fandom: Dragon Age: Origins Characters: Aspen Woods Word Count: 1653 Rating: G CW: Death of a parent

-------

Denerim, 9:32 Dragon

They burned his mother's body under the Vhenadahl, alongside two others, on a day as grey and dreary as Aspen's mood. It was not the first such funeral he had attended in the past months. It was not even the first funeral for someone he'd known. The tree's trunk and branches were streaked with the soot of a dozen pyres, black stains and withered leaves where there had once been bright paint and fluttering banners and flowers in the summer.

Somewhere toward the edge of the gathered crowd, someone was sobbing loudly. Wrapped around their father's leg, Juniper sniffled and hiccupped and wiped her face on his pant leg as he petted her hair with one hand and bounced Birch in the other. The baby fussed, but he was used to the sting of smoke in his eyes and lungs. Maybe remembered it better than clean air and a full stomach. 

He wouldn't remember their mother at all when he was older, Aspen realized. 

The smoke stung his eyes, too. Choked his throat until it was hard to breathe, but Aspen had run out of tears weeks ago. After watching his bright, energetic mother, who used to laugh and sing and dance, waste away as the blight took her, it was almost a relief to see her suffering ended. He wondered if Dad felt the same way. But when he turned his face upward, his father's expression was unreadable. Walled off as it had been with increasing frequency these days. 

As though sensing his son's attention on him, Alden Woods turned to meet his gaze. And though the rest of his face was like stone, now Aspen saw the sadness behind his eyes. With the hand that had been on Juniper's head, he reached out to beckon his eldest child closer. "Come here."

8. What would they think about each other's love interests?

Because I obviously have a type (sad boys), my protags all have a type, too.

Rowan Tabris/Zevran Garrett Hawke/Fenris Idhren Lavellan/Dorian Rori Mercar/Lucanis

Everyone are Fenris fans obviously. Rori & Idhren can compare their lists of Magisters Who Need to Die and strategies for such, and Rowan loves a good assassination, just tell him where to show up.

Rowan is much more on the fence about Dorian & Lucanis. Dorian being nobility makes him inherently untrustworthy, and he's heard too many horror stories about crow training from Zevran to trust Lucanis. Would take a lot for him to warm up to either of them.

Rori thinks Dorian is kind of annoying, but would pick him for Archon over Mae (sorry Mae). He only knows about Zevran from Lucanis' crow horror stories, though, so would be very distrustful. And also think he's annoying.

Idhren grew up in Vyrantium, so obviously he's a big fan of Lucanis' work. Not so sure about the literal demon, though. He's had too many demons try to kill him to not be wary. I'm not sure he would like Zevran unless he actually got to know him. He doesn't like people who put on a false persona, and a lot of Zevran's flirting is that, but if he knew what that persona was hiding he would understand.

12. If their positions were exchanged, what would they actually have done differently? How would each of them have coped?

Idhren is the only one of these 4 idiots who could possibly have managed the Inquisition. As much as he hated the politics and bureaucracy, he has the head for it. Hawke and Rori can't even keep their own lives together, let alone an international organization, and Rowan cannot politic to save his life. Poor Josephine's job would have been so much harder with any of them.

I'm betting they have fun kicking Venatori ass together ^_^

How much does Rook know about the events and characters of previous games? Do/did they have any misconceptions about them?

Rori is aware of the events of DAO & DA2 in the sense that he learned about them as part of his history lessons. So he knows there was a blight, but that was all the way in Ferelden and he was little. And he knows the Tevinter version of what happened in Kirkwall, which probably makes the Qunari look a lot worse and Anders look a lot better. I'm sure he's surprised when he hears Varric's version and realizes how much propaganda is in the one he learned.

He knows a lot more about the Inquisition because he was both old enough to be socially aware and because of how much it effected Tevinter politics. But he probably heard so many conflicting reports and rumors that he wasn't sure what parts of it were true until meeting Varric and Harding. And then was shocked by how much of it ended up being true.

2. What does Rook think of your other protagonists?

Idhren & Rori first meet through the Shadow Dragons, though Rori doesn't know who he is at the time. So when they meet properly, Rori is understandably shocked that the random Dalish mage that helped on that one job was actually the Inquisitor all along.

While Inquisitor-Idhren is much more of a normal person than Rori expected, he is still kind of intimidating. (He's so put-together and competent compared to Rori's dumpster fire life) That combined with Rori's desperate quest for validation from pseudo-parental figures, it took him a while to relax enough to actually become friends. But once he did, yeah, they get on like a house on fire.

3. What do your other protagonists think of Rook?

Idhren's first impression of Rori is watching him stab an armed guard with a letter opener while undercover as a servant. Resourceful. Kind of a hot mess, but with potential. Kind of like Idhren used to be. He likes Rori right away and wants to see him succeed.