#dread rook

Alright alright I'm back on my meme making bullshit

This is for the sequel (still a WIP!): Dread Rook: Taming the Blight

To my original Dread Rook tale which is completed 😍😍

I got permission from @foxxology to post this and tag them!! It's a family portrait in the Fade 😍

So as much as people like Solavellan (or whatever they call it) - I don't get why people don't like Solas x Rook. It's all there. It's perfect. The tension, the range, the enemies to lovers trope or hell, just the potential for so much writing to be involved. Like, okay... so okay... I go into my personal opinions about what makes each of their relationships different (just a few opinions not like power point presentation style or anything).

When I first played Inquisition, when it first came out, I naturally picked an elf and unknowingly romanced the bald dude. And Solas' romance is a good one. But it's only good because he leaves Lavellan. It's the first time that's happened to a player character in either DA or ME games. A legit breakup. With, at the time, no real reason! It wasn't until after the game, of course, that we were like "OMG!!!" But on the whole, there really wasn't a lot to their romance if you remember what actually happened in the game. But you have to ignore all the fan fiction and fan art that has been done in the decade since then. Just counting the game itself? Not a lot going on there. A couple of kisses, a couple of talks, and that's about it really.

And the whole time, he wasn't being who he really was. He was playing a part. He was Solas version soft-core, so to speak. Because while he may not have started calling himself the 'Dread Wolf', he very much is that person. Solas is prideful. He is a bit of an asshole. He is cold and calculating. The Solas we see in the memories in Veilguard was already turning into that person so the Solas that meets Lavellan is 100% already there. He uses her. The fact that he falls in love with her has very little to do with him using her, he can compartmentalize like that. As Cole says, it changes everything but it can't. But, point being, Lavellan never really got to know him. He always had a mask on. Was always so careful about what he said and how he said it as to not raise suspicion.

But with Rook? Oh, he's pissed. Gone is his careful way of speaking. Gone is his gentle tone and light smile. Rook gets Solas unfiltered. Solas without a mask. Solas the Dread-fucking-Wolf. There's still parts of him that are recognizable. But on the whole, he's more real. Because he's not worried about pretending to be something he's not. Rook knows what he is. Rook knows he's going to betray them, knows he's going to turn on them, is expecting it. (And Solas' manipulations are painfully transparent, with the exception of Varric). What he's worried about with Rook is keeping their blood-magic link in tact and molding them into someone the prison will accept (still not sure how that worked but w/e). But as far as when he talks to them? Sees them? Rook gets under his skin and he slips up and lets it show. He nearly misspeaks almost immediately and he does misspeak later. Rook does that to him. Because he's not keeping himself at arms length with them, he can't.

So the idea of Solas x Rook? Much more... real, as in 'keepin' it real', than Solavellan to me. Does that mean I have zero fics with Solas x Lavellan? Hell no. I have like at least half a dozen with different Lavellans x Solas. But! What it means is that the relationship between Rook and Solas is very intriguing and compelling and is definently fic-fuel. It means that I already have 2 separate fics WIP for them.

Chapter 1 || Ao3

Chapter Summary/Preview:

“Look, mortal,” Ghilan’nain crooned, gliding closer with a hand-held mirror gripped between her spindly fingers. 

A unique vallaslin had been burned into her flesh across her neck and shoulders, and only looking at the pattern could she tell that some of it extended to her chest as well. There was an angular direction of some of the design, more geometric than concentric as most vallaslin were, appearing as an almost three-dimensional overlapping pattern.

“You were so eager to take up the cause of Fen’Harel,” Elgar’nan said, walking closer to admire his handiwork. “I thought to gift you this vallaslin so all might recognize you for it. A Wolf’s Mantle — for taking on his mantle.” He smirked, a quiet chuckle hissed through his teeth at his own cleverness.

Blind rage consumed her, red bleeding into her vision. He had branded her. Not just an agent of Fen’Harel — which was truly laughable, given how all of this had started — but his servant. His slave.

Chapter 10: The Siege of Weisshaupt is out now. Rook may be starting to *Kylie Jenner voice* realise things. 

Rook: You want to fuck me so bad it makes you look stupid.

Solas: That is NOT whats going on here. You are the single most infuriating person in my life.

Rook: I know you are but what am I?

Solas: