#*here

i went ahead with my plan to have alistair do the duel (in which case alistair immediately kills him)

i considered sparing loghain a lot while i was playing ivar, because ivar too was recruited at his lowest point in order to find redemption with the grey wardens. he then recruited sten on those same grounds. so shouldn’t he do the same for loghain? but i feel like... i feel like the point of ivar is that when it comes down to it, when it gets complicated, he’s not the warden that duncan was. he’s not capable of those hard grey warden choices and bold moves. he makes compromises, he takes easier options, he lets things slide for the people he personally cares about. i tend to limit him and not let him pull off anything extraordinary, kind of in opposition to my usual tendency to overpower my ocs a bit and make them extremely socially and politically capable of getting the Best Ending. i think ivar is more endearing and easier to empathise with because he never gets a clear uncontested win, he just kind of scrapes by. the point is that he’s not cut out for this; the accident of his birth simply gave him advantages in becoming an exemplary fighter & a reasonably charismatic speaker. otherwise—personally, intellectually, morally—he is not special. Just Some Guy

Sometimes though, the chapter lyrics and the summary are meant to be me/the narrator mocking the character directly.

"Wow, Noah! I didn't know you had it in you!" Chris exclaimed with a laugh.

"What are you talking about, McLean?" Noah asked with a frown.

Chris shook his head in fondness. Noah would always be Noah, even after being flirted with while being recorded for a reality show. He really didn't think that punk boy that showed up with that, basically a mob, group of other punks from the club Duncan had been performing at was Noah's type.

"I mean, it looks like you just got yourself a punk boyfriend, dude! What, was our resident delinquent not up to your standards or tastes?"

Duncan yelled in offense at that, which made Chris smirk.

Noah, of course, rolled his eyes at Chris. "Are you deaf Old Man? Ezra was just interested in my thoughts on my book since he's read it before."

The once noisy space was absolutely silent at Noah's words.

And as though he didn't notice the silence (he didn't), Noah continued, "Plus, he acknowledged we wouldn't have a lot of time to go too in depth in our comparative analyses because of the show and he was intrigued by my view on the last chapter when I get to it so we exchanged numbers."

Silence.

Finally, Noah noticed it and looked up to everyone staring at him like he was stupid, or they just looked plain shocked. "What?"

Slowly, Chris approached Noah and put a hand on his shoulder, "Kid....that dude was hella flirting with you. Like...hella. The book was an excuse to talk to you."

"What? No, it wasn't." Noah said, though he didn't sound as sure as he usually did.

"Yeah, no. Chris is right, Noah. That guy was really hitting on you. He chose the book as an excuse because otherwise, you would have made him cry for even approaching you. He probably noticed that and thought the best way to get your attention was to ask what you were reading." Courtney stated.

Poor Noah just looked so lost. "But what about...?"

"Woah! Noah! That means Ezra is like the sixth boy to hit on you using books as an opening and the sixth to get your number from it. Haha, wild!" Izzy laughed from her perch on Owen's shoulders. Despite them not dating anymore, they were still touchy-feely friends.

"Excuse me!?" Chris was fine with the one dude but six. SIX. Who do these boys think they are???

"HOW!?" Heather yelled. She wasn't the only one who looked like they were thinking that, but she was the one to voice it.

"SIX!? WHEN?" Everyone turned to who shouted that, and it ended up being Alejandro, who also looked surprised at his shout.

"Well, there was that one in Egypt who was staying at the same hotel as us, and Izzy wanted to swim! So I dragged Noah, Eva, and Owen with. Then there was the cutie in Japan when Owen wanted to go to that karaoke restaurant, and Noah didn't like our duet, so he went outside. Oh, oh! Then! There was the American in New York who -" Izzy's rant was cut off by Noah somehow climbing up Owen to silence Izzy but putting a hand over her mouth.

His face was noticeable red, and he looked so distressed.

"Holy shit..." Duncan whispered before he started cackling. Everyone just watched as the punk laughed and laughed till there were tears in his eyes. "Who knew the loser had it in him!"

"Dude....six guys is..." Gwen looked like she was trying to hold back her own laughter. She failed and also started laughing. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Noah, it's just... dude! You have no game! None! How?"

"Hey!"

"No 'hey', man, you know it's true." Chris finally said despite the fact he would definitely be asking Izzy just who those boys were later.

"OHEMGEE!" Everyone startled when Sierra, who had been abnormally silent till then. It had scared Izzy and Noah so bad that they both fell off Owen's shoulders. "This is like so many animes I've watched! Noah! You have a harem! I can't believe I get to see one happen, IRL!!"

Chris had never seen Noah go from so flustered to pale in seconds flat before, but there was a first time for everything. The aforementioned boy quickly scrambled off the floor, huffing and puffing before pointing at Sierra dramatically, "You will not make that a thing! It's not even a thing! I don't have a harem!"

"My little buddy is so popular!" Owen squealed.

"Owen!" Noah screeched betrayed.

"You...are very popular amigo..." Alejandro chuckled, but even to Chris, it sounded forced.

Well... this is not what Chris had intended to happen, not that he knew what would happen by teasing Noah about the punk boy, but still. "So, are you going to message them all once the show is over?" He had to know.

Heather was still just standing there with her mouth agape while Courtney was yelling at Gwen and Duncan to get a grip. Cody looked like he wanted to comfort Noah, who was sandwiched between Izzy, Eva, and Owen, but he currently had Sierra gripping his arm and talking his ear off about the harem trope.

Alejandro, though, Alejandro looked shocked beyond words but also very angry. Chris would say the guy looked more jealous, but no way was he going to voice that.

Tyler looked confused but supportive.

Poor Noah looked like he wanted the floor to swallow him whole. Like a bomb going off, the boy pulled away from his friends and seemed to explode. "HOW CAN I MESSAGE THEM ALL IF THEY ALL WERE SUPPOSEDLY INTO ME?"

"WHAT KIND OF PERSON WOULD THAT MAKE ME?" Okay, this was a bigger reaction than Chris had anticipated. "I CAN'T JUST MESSAGE THEM ALL?? WOULDN'T THAT BE ME LEADING THEM ON? I DON'T WANT TO LEAD ANY OF THEM ON! THEY WERE NICE! BUT I THOUGHT THEY JUST WANTED TO DISCUSS BOOKS! THAT'S WHAT I'M GOOD AT! WHAT IF THEY- WHAT IF-"

It was when Noah started hyperventilating that they realized just how distressed Noah actually was about this. That's what it took to get Gwen and Duncan to stop laughing.

It snapped several people into action. Namely Gwen, Courtney, Heather and Eva who rushed to calm Noah down and the rest who awkwardly watched.