#gamlen

Leandra and Bethany criticize Eadric for being a stupid patronizing, misogynist who thinks he can go it alone, without somebody to remind him to get his knives sharpened and the bloodstains out of his clothes every morning.

Bethany and Eadric get to close ranks about Leandra being overprotective and forgetting they've been running with a crime gang for a year, and commiserate over feeling like they have to downplay all the threats they face in Kirkwall to keep her happy.

Leandra and Gamlen get to close ranks when Eadric is dismissive of the fact that the Amell family was in fact prestigious and worth reclaiming, as they shout at him about how the city will open up to him with status and you can't kill/brutalize your way to stability.

Leandra and Eadric happily tag team in screaming at Gamlen for stealing all of their money and trading the family into indentured servitude for the sake of his gambling debts.

Bethany and Eadric get to join forces to browbeat Gamlen anytime he criticizes THEIR MOM for running away from Kirkwall, how dare he judge her when he's a lowlife fool. She gave up everything for family!

Bethany and Leandra get to join forces to judge and criticize Gamlen for his attitude towards Eadric, how dare you criticize him for trying too hard to fix the problems you created (even though five minutes ago, we were also annoyed at him for his high-handed attitude).

hawke (and varric)

fenris

anders

isabela

merrill

aveline

gamlen

@elfroot-and-laurels

TW: angsty angst for the most part, canon trauma of characters mentioned, violence

I could barely remember anything from before the Circle… Mother had gorgeous red hair though, I can remember that. And that she was scared or something… I can’t truly recall. The tower was my home for many years, its all I knew… I was rarely cold or alone, it was such a struggle to be alone. I managed to find a spot at some point but I grew too big to hide in it. I had to make due with the garden then… until that too was taken away from us. Jowan was my closest friend, listening to my questions, never answering, sometimes he didn’t know how to or simply didn’t have answers, but he at least never chastised me. I miss him… Its been hard on the roads with Duncan… I can only hope he has found a safe place away from the Templars…

I lean into Zevran’s side, staring at the stream numbly. Exhausted after fighting a high dragon, so many ‘spirits’ and dragonlings… We’re almost there… I sigh shakily, eyes drooping shut as I take a breath… relaxing as Zev holds me… my new found home…

I miss Zev… I miss Lamb… “Mouse…?” I choke out softly in a broken voice, trying to quiet the droned singing in my head…Don’t forget them. We need to push on… be brave…

I never grew attached to a place, knowing we wouldn’t be able to stay long. Lothering was probably the longest we stayed at a place. My little siblings were mostly my home, of course father and mum too. And my precious Lamb. But after losing Father… and then Bethany? Kirkwall felt colder than I did towards previous ‘homes’. Mum was bitter, maybe that’s why…? Carver was just himself, if with less bite sometimes and other times, much too sharp bite. Joining the mercs was probably a bad idea but… Gamlen at least got us in safe. Then Carver had to go with Grey Wardens in the Deep Roads and I just… Mum was so much colder and more bitter than before. Her childhood home didn’t feel better than Gamlen’s hovel. Sometimes I understand Uncle too well regarding Mum.

Then flirting grew into feelings regarding Isabella and Fenris. My heart bled for Fenris when he had killed the woman who made his life even more miserable when he was a slave and he had asked me, “What has magic touched that it did not ruin?” It cut me so deep, because magic touched me and Bethany and father, yet look where it got them, where it got me. And the lump in my throat was too big to croak out, that it did not ruin him at the very least… he turned and left before I could get past the lump… He felt like home to me. Isabela started feeling like home too… the playful banters and flirting… then we even had a tumble the one evening but she left, clearly scared of being emotionally attached… But I let her. Understanding her fear after that awful marriage, after her mother sold her… She wanted to be free… Who was I to force her to settle? Fenris did the same, having left after a night as well, terrified by returned memories and I was left with an aching heart for years… my home was in two people, two people who were scared of growing attached.

Portrait of a young Gamlen Amell. He really had the cards stacked against him.