#praeceptorem

“Mm. Give him a little credit. The dear commander’s got his HANDS full,  wouldn’t you agree?”

The ornate yoke around Dorian’s shoulders is a heavy thing, a ceremonial monstrosity of gold and gemstones and whispers of silk. The robes he wears are equally oppressive: an endless black, opaque, obscuring, draped over his body, wrapped over the lower half of his face. His eyes are rimmed in kohl and crushed garnets; his hands are weighed down with gauntlets that match the yoke, that make it difficult to lift his arms, that make it impossible to move without the clink of metal plates and the tinkling clack of ornamentation.

He catches sight of himself, briefly, in a mirror: between the headdress and the veil, he is unrecognisable, an anonymous figurehead cast in onyx and might.

Dorian’s grey eyes are the only visible human element, and they are half-obscured by the shadows cast by the gold plating that covers his forehead.

The yoke of the Archon is a heavy thing, and it is heavy with history, with symbolism, with hate.

Dorian inhales to steady himself. Someone passes him a staff--a snake, black as death, its eyes twin diamonds each the size of an almond--and he feels his gauntleted hand wrap around it numbly.

The Archon is a heavy thing.

The hall was thick with incense, with resin, with the smoke of thousands of black candles. Dorian wondered if his dizziness was due to the irony of this moment or the lack of air.

The Imperial Divine had droned on for what felt like aeons, his voice a rhythmic, monotonous backdrop to this surreal hellscape. But as abruptly as the blessing had begun, it had finally ended--a good four hours after its inception, if the candles were anything to go by.

“Bring forth the Archon’s Shield,” the Divine commanded, and Dorian arched a hidden eyebrow. What use did a mage have for--

Send one for party banter from: || ACCEPTING

Cullen: Do you ever miss Kirkwall?Orsino: Yes.Cullen: I wasn’t expecting that answer. Or any answer, to be honest.Orsino: I miss how it used to be.Cullen: You of all people should know it wasn’t anything to be missed.Orsino: At least my people were still alive.

Cullen: I’m starting to get the impression you don’t like me.Orsino: Only starting to?Cullen: It was a joke.

Orsino: If you’re the Inquisition’s military adviser, can I be its arcane adviser?Cullen: All due respect, no. There is no need of one.Orsino: Ah, but I meet the requirement! It’s a position I don’t deserve.

Cullen: Orsino, you should consider yourself a lucky man.Orsino: The only lucky person here is you. My life, it’s not luck. If it must be, then it’s bad luck. Cullen: You could be dead.Orsino: [short and bitter laugh]Orsino: This? This is no life. It never was.

Cullen: One of Leliana’s agents had told me that you hadn’t left your chambers for three days.Orsino: No need to. Didn’t want your templars breathing down my neck anyways. It’s unbearable. You should tell them to be less obvious.Cullen: My templars? Orsino. Believe me when I say I gave no orders for you to be harassed. I’m not turning the Inquisition into another Circle for you.Orsino: I don’t believe you. Cullen: Did you even talk to these ‘templars’? Did they talk to you? Orsino: I don’t believe you. Cullen: … I’ll see if Josephine can find someone for you to talk to.Orsino: About what? Why?Cullen: For your own sanity and well-being.

                    It wasn't odd to see Templars in and out of the Chantry at nearly all hours, so as late as it was it was fairly common. Still, Sebastian had noticed this particular one a number of times as of late, and wasn't quite sure he knew his name yet. 

“Heeeeeeey,” Hawke said, letting himself into Cullen’s tower--and what was he, a fucking princess now?--and sitting on the edge of his desk, because that stack of papers didn’t look as important as his ass. “So this is where you’ve been hiding.”

It was almost like Cullen wasn’t thrilled to see him, which, to be fair, was actually a little strange. They’d always been chummy back in Kirkwall; hell, Cullen had practically had to put on blinders to ignore an apostate solving all his problems, but what else was new?

ϟ random thoughts | not accepting

positivity !

i feel like i’m going to get struck by lightning since i’ve not yet properly written anything with you and i feel like we should already have eight thousand things because we made a blood pact while you slept and we are now brothers. blood magic ooOooo! 

anyway so like i’m fuckin’ trash for cullen and i’ve known this since the wee days of playing origins and i’d intentionally make get that templar’s ears red ( he is a fast boi tho u gotta be quick ) and i’ve not played much of origins but ? i do just ... adore him so much ?

and you’re such a fuckin’ good in this community it’s a blessing. i love our shitposting together and sailor moon and cosmic lattes will never be the same bc of you and that’s for the better and honestly thank u for being part of my rpc experience for da because it’s been mcfuckin’ worth it and 

we need to write soon bc you’re spectacular tbh. as a person, as a writer, as a shitposter and as one who has decided to take cullen into your arms and write him the beautiful way you do --- you say you’re satan, i say challenge accepted time to usurp your throne, buddy. always and forever, xoxo gossip anders.