Imogen wanted to grab her. To push those thoughts that plagued her mind away. To silence the voice that told Laudna otherwise. The heartfelt confession was still ringing in Imogen’s ears.

Gripping Laudna’s hands tighter, she didn’t want this good thing in her life to slip away. “Laudna, I can speak for myself, and I know what I want. I want all of you, now. Here.”

Laudna felt herself stammering for a response. What could she say to that? Could she handle holding two hearts? “Imogen..it’s not that simple, it’s not—.” The mage held their hands only tighter. “Don’t worry about what others have said, what they tore you down with. It’s what you want. What do you want?”

There was so many things Laudna wanted to say. But it just seemed a lot to take in at the moment. “It’s just not—that simple right now…I do love you Imogen, but what if—?” Imogen leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek.

I have an inkling that you’d be right about slowly getting them on his side! By the time the kids found out what happened between Silco and Vander in the past, they might have become indoctrinated to the point that they’d automatically side with Silco. Especially if Vi was encouraged in her whole “if you’re not with me, you’re against me” sentiment toward Vander’s reluctance to fight back. We know her siblings look up to her, and if Vi changed her mind, it wouldn’t take long for the others to follow suit. Even if they were slow to warm to Silco’s promises, Sevika would likely be very present and vocal in reminding them that Vander was acting out of weakness, so eventually yeah, they might just eventually not care about the whole Freeing Dad thing.

As a completely superficial side-note with ZERO actual analysis, I love the idea that Silco would take pride in Vi’s self-assuredness as a revolutionary. Like if he’s present when she breaks into her own rants about how Piltover sucks, he’s just rapidly blinking tears away like that’s my awful scrappy delinquent girl.

But also he’s fostered co-dependency between five kids instead of just one, so post-timeskip he has a pack of grown ass adults living in the Drop basement who refuse to leave home, and while they’re the best bodyguards he could ask for, they’re also a massive drain on resources and never gets a moment to himself.

Varric can spot a breakdown a mile away. He has a knack for these type of things. It’s important to pay attention to things going on around you and not just so you have the advantage or the upper hand.

Besides, Varric has seen this before. He remembers the times Hawke couldn’t take anymore and was finally pushed over the edge. Lucky for Hawke they had good friends like him to help stop them from falling off the cliff. Not that Varric was one to scratch his own beard-- if he had one, that is.

Aaaaaagh killing me softly...

Talk about a life sentence of guilt and shame. I’m going to pick an age.

5 yo smoltor would be such a sweet, inquisitive bean. 5 yo’s are also exceptionally perceptive of emotions and the dispositions of people around them and absorb every tidbit they say without filtering anything. 

“Allura, do you think my father was a bad guy?”

“Well, yes he did very bad things.”

“Then was your father also a bad guy?”

“No! Of course not! My father...”

“But weren’t they friends?”

“Yes, but that was a very long time ago.”

“Then my father wasn’t always bad.”

“I... I don’t know. I didn’t know him back then.”

“Cowan said he became evil. It was the quintessence that made him bad. He wasn’t always bad.”