onesparrow reblogged
Little herbalist spreadsheet!
Kate Maeng: The Inquisition’s Doctor
(Other People’s) OC Aesthetic
Kate Maeng is the Inquisition’s doctor as well as Ariadne’s best friend and lover. She cusses a lot and ends up napping whenever and wherever she has the chance to. Much to both Ari and Cullen’s dismay, she refuses to use any mount except for the old dapple gray charger that putters along at an incredibly slow pace.
Kate belongs to @faslaidir and is my favourite.
cleaning fluff
I wanted to write fluff over the weekend, and @faslaidir requested cleaning related fluff, and since today seems like a day in dire need of fluff I’ve decided to post it. Modern!Thedas AU with our OT3 Three Day Weekend because why not.
Ari/Kate/Cullen, PG-13. Sex is vaguely mentioned a few times.
Kate takes a moment to appreciate the sight of Ari in shorts, halfway under the sink, but is a bit confused by the bucket of cleaning supplies to her left. She came in none too quietly, but Ari still seems to be oblivious to her presence, humming along to whatever Tevinter music she has blasting in the living room. Kate drops her bag on the table, taking a step closer before making her presence known.
“…what the fuck are you doing?”
Ari curses loudly when she knocks her head against the bottom of the sink and crawls backwards out from under it, rubbing her head as she glowers up at Kate, standing above her with her arms crossed.
“I’m cleaning,” Ari says, holding up her rubber gloved hands, scrub brush held in one of them. “What else would I be doing under there?”
“You’re scrubbing the cupboard under the sink,” Kate says flatly, staring at her skeptically. “Why the fuck are you scrubbing the cupboard under the sink?”
Ari clambers up, grabbing the bucket in which she’d dumped everything that she had pulled out from the cupboard before sitting cross legged on the floor.
“Mia and Jamie are coming for dinner tomorrow,” she says by way of explanation, carefully arranging boxes of tools and cleaning supplies under the sink.
“I know, I’m coming too. And?” Kate says, pulling a chair off of the table so she can sit down on it.
“And their place is spotless,” Ari says, brandishing an electric drill at Kate. “They have two little ones and yet every time I’ve been there everything is sparkling. There’s not even any dust on the shelves!”
“Jamie is also a stay at home dad, and Mia has that bizarre military sense of neatness. You and Cullen both work full time,” she responds, trying to soothe her. “And I don’t understand how any of this led to you thinking that cleaning the cupboard under the kitchen sink was priority. Besides, they’re Cullen’s bloody siblings, shouldn’t he be the one cleaning?”
Ari sighs loudly, shoving a curl that’s escaped her bun back into place. She gets up, slamming the door shut in the process, and turns so she can lean against the sink.
“He’s the one who was so nervous about this whole thing. I had the cleaner come early this week, but apparently that wasn’t enough. He was halfway through bleaching every surface in the bathroom when he got called away for a work emergency. He made those anxious puppy eyes at me and promised me all sorts of things if I finished cleaning, so now I have his anxiety and cleaning duties,” she explains, snapping her gloves. “And Attis always went on anxiety fuelled cleaning sprees and I hired someone to help me out with it pretty much as soon as he moved out, so I have no idea what I’m doing. I mopped the kitchen though! That’s a good step, right?”
“…so you’ve spent your day off scrubbing the damn floor because Cullen has anxiety and offered you sexual favours,” Kate sums up, and rubs her face. “I can’t believe that out of anyone he could have asked, he picked the person who decided that the most suitable course of action was to let the bees living in the piano stay there.”
“Not evicting the piano bees was a mutual decision,” Ari countered, pulling off her gloves. “Now are you going to just sit there and watch me clean, or are you going to help?”
Kate pretended to think it through, giving Ari a chance to sit down on her lap, looping her arms around her neck.
“Please? They haven’t been here yet and you know how important it is to Cullen that they see that he’s in a good place,” she says, toying with the ends of Kate’s ponytail, “And apparently a good, stable place with needs spotless floors.”
“Your hands smell like rubber,” Kate responds, earning her a scowl from Ari. “Dammit. Fine, I’ll help clean. But only if you share those favours with me.”
Ari grins, giving Kate a quick kiss and a wicked smile.
“I’m sure that can be arranged,” she says as she hops off her lap and points to the hall closet. “There’s a vacuum in there. The rugs in the living room and the hall need vacuuming.”
“And you?”
“I have to get all the plants off of the porch piano and put them back into the bathroom now that the bleach smell has dissipated,” Ari says, gesturing to the porch. “And then sweep the porch. Want to trade?”
“Oh fuck no, you can go deal with the piano bees. I don’t think they like me,” Kate answered quickly, viciously shaking her head as she dragged the vacuum out of the closet.
“If Sera can pass out on top of the piano without any issues, they’re not going to hurt you for taking some plants down. Suit yourself though!” Ari shouted back as she headed onto the porch, returning moments later with a flower pot under each arm.
“Don’t spill dirt anywhere! I’m not vacuuming these damn carpets twice.”
Cullen shuts the door quietly behind him, toeing off his shoes and dropping his keys into the bowl by the door before stepping into the living room. Ari and Kate are napping on the sofa in a pile of blankets, a nature documentary about the Frostback Mountains playing quietly on the television in the background. Other than the pile of blankets, everything is immaculate. There are even coasters under their wine glasses. He’s smiling down at them fondly when Ari stirs, blinking awake. She smiles back at him, stretching her arms over her head.
“Hey Puppy,” she yawns, rubbing her eyes. “Emergency over? Did you bring food?”
“Of course,” he answers as Ari sits up, dislodging Kate from her shoulder so she can lean up for a kiss. “It’s the least I could do. Although when I asked for your help I certainly didn’t expect all this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this place look so clean.”
“It was important to you,” Ari says, running her thumb over his jaw, tone leaving no room for argument. “We were happy to help.”
“You should see the cupboard under the sink,” Kate grumbles into a pillow. “It’s fucking spotless.”
Ari rolls her eyes, untangling herself from the blankets so she can get up, stopping to drag Kate into a sitting position. “C’mon, we’re eating on the porch. No peanut sauce on the sofa.”
When Kate stumbles onto the porch a few minutes later, tucking loose strands of hair behind her ears, Cullen and Ari are already on the porch swing, takeout containers open on the table. She settles in on Cullen’s left side, feet tucked under her, and takes the box he offers to her. They eat in comfortable silence for a few moments, Ari gently rocking the swing forwards and back with one foot.
“You know they’re going to approve, right?” Kate says quietly, and Cullen gives her a soft smile.
“I think you two have guaranteed that,” he replies. “I didn’t know you could get floors to sparkle like that outside of ads.”
“And if they’re not happy with the sparkling floors, we’re charming as all fuck,” Kate says, brandishing a piece of chicken at the piano at the end of the porch. “Or you can distract them with the damn piano bees. Have you successfully taught them to read music yet?”
Cullen laughs, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “You are both undeniably charming as all fuck, and I am very thankful for you both.”
“We’ll remind you of that tomorrow when you’re stressing out over the fact that we’re both bloody useless in the kitchen and Mia and Jamie are arriving at any moment,” Kate mumbles into her noodles.
“I can chop things and you can be on salad duty,” Ari suggests.
“It is considerably more difficult to burn the kitchen down if you stay away from the stove,,” Cullen teases, and Ari jabs him with her chopsticks.
“That was one time, and was mostly Kate’s fault,” she protests. “She’s horribly distracting.”
“You certainly weren’t complaining at the time,” Kate says, lifting one eyebrow, “but I’ll be sure to keep all distractions confined to tomorrow morning.”
“Promises, promises,” Ari sighs, staring wistfully into the distance.
“…you’re both terrible,” Cullen grumbles, trying to suppress a smile.
“Yep,” Ari and Kate say in tandem, and his frown breaks into a grin as he laughs.
“If you’re distracted all morning, you’ll have no time to worry,” Ari adds, to which Kate hums an affirmative. “Besides, I believe we have some favours to cash in.”
“We? I distinctly remember offering only one of you favours in exchange for help,” Cullen protests.
“And Ari exchanged some of those favours for my help. Capitalism at it’s fucking finest.”
Cullen sighs dramatically. “Well, who am I to argue with capitalism? But no cashing in favours until the morning; I spent all day day fighting arguing with Cassandra. All I want to do is sleep.”
“Good, it feels like my arms are going to fall off. Who needs to go to the gym when you can just scrub things all day?” Ari agrees, getting up. Cullen is already cleaning up the takeout boxes when Kate makes it to her feet.
“Yes. First sleep. Favours later,” she mumbles, following Ari inside. “Best plan.”
Patio Pianos & Musical Bees
A quick drabble for @faslaidir, who I hope has a better day today. :) Based on this amazing video she sent me.
Modern AU, Kate/Ari with roommate Cullen. PG for people being in their underwear.
Finally, her shift is over. Kate sits down in the locker room, tempted to take a quick nap on the bench before heading home, but is distracted by her phone going off in her locker. She fishes it out, and finds a text from Ari; I’d know if I were allergic to bees by this point, right?
Kate looks up from her phone and straight at the wall, weighing her options. One, she ignores Ari’s cryptic text, goes home to sleep, and hope she doesn’t get a frantic call from Attis because it turns out that yes, she is allergic to bees afterall. Two, she goes to Ari’s place, gets her away from the bees, and goes to sleep. She really doesn’t want to have to go deal with bees after a fucking 18 hour shift, but she also hasn’t gone grocery shopping in over a week and Ari at the very least will make her a sandwich when she wakes up.
Kate sighs, rubs her face, and severely questions her life choices as she gathers up her things.
Out of all the things she was expecting to see when she opened the front door, it was definitely not this. Cullen, who looks like he’s been awake for roughly ten minutes, is standing in the middle of the living room in his underwear, a sword in one hand and a shield in the other, loudly arguing with Ari, who is holding an armful of weapons. Kate drops her keys in the bowl, unnoticed by the pair, and wonders if she fell asleep on the bus again.
“How did this happen?!” Ari parrots back, shoving another sword at Cullen, “Oh you know, life is normal, I just wake up and have to move your many swords because there are bees coming out of the patio piano on which you store them!!”
Cullen looks affronted, and is about to protest when he gets a third sword shoved into his grip. He frowns down at it, forgetting whatever he was about to say.
“These swords and the shield is mine, but this one isn’t.”
Ari looks at the sword she’s just pushed into his hands, and Kate decides that she is not awake enough for whatever is happening and slowly makes her way around the edge of the room.
“Okay, that sword is mine and so are all the daggers that were taped to the bottom so I guess I have to take some fault here,” Kate notices that Ari does, in fact, have several daggers shoved down the sides of her shorts, and does not question how the pants are staying up and how Ari isn’t bleeding yet.
“Why did you have daggers taped to the bottom of the patio piano?!” Cullen asks, looking vaguely horrified. Kate shares his sentiment, but is fairly certain he can’t judge, considering he was storing swords on the top of it.
Ari ignores him, and continues speaking. Kate turns the corner, heading straight for the bathroom where she can take a hot shower and ignore whatever the fuck those two are shouting about. She doesn’t even want to start with the bees.
“This staff is also mine but I’m not taking credit for whatever the fuck this is,” she hears Ari say as she shuts the door.
She’s curled up in Ari’s bed, showered and moments from falling asleep, when the bed moves and Ari curls up around her.
“…bees?” Kate asks sleepily, vaguely wanting to know if she should be concerned about a swarm of them suddenly showing up.
“You know, just the piano bees. It’s not a big deal. We’re not worried about it,” Ari says. “We’ll teach them Chopin. What good is a piano full of actual bees if they don’t even know how to play?”
Kate cracks open an eye so she can glower at Ari. If she doesn’t get a sandwich when she wakes up, she’s going to be pissed.
“What the fuck kind of roommate did you even get?” Kate grumbles into her collarbone before she falls asleep, “Fucking swords and piano bees.”
onesparrow reblogged
Do you know what you've done? For Kate
Dear
My
Inquis
Ari,
Where I come from, letters are practically obsolete. You’ll only find them in stories now, or couples people who are trying to be really romantic with each other. Here, this is my only recourse for communication, and it feels daft to me, but I can’t tell you this to your face seem to figure out an alternative, so.
The first day I was cognitive enough to accept what was going on and where I was, I decided not to make any attachments. “Bad idea”, I thought, “you’ll just hurt yourself when you leave.” So, no friends. That was what I decided.
Obviously, that failed.
“Alright, you’ve got friends, and you’ll have to say goodbye, but it’s just like moving. It’s just how it works. You’ll be fine.”
But there’s fucking you
Do you know what you’ve done
I can’t pack up and just say goodbye to you
fuck you Ari
I’m not fine
I think I was trying to protect myself and it got a little selfish, because saying goodbye to you and everyone else is impossible. Or maybe it’s not, because I’m writing you a fucking letter.
Shit this is a goodbye letter
Is it a love letter?
Damn you, you fucking ginger
Dareth shiral, Ari, wherever it takes us.
~ Kate
The door to her quarters shut behind her, and Ari took a moment to slump against it, exhausted. She kicked off her boots immediately, her feet sore from days worth of travel. They’d driven their mounts hard and had ridden through the last night, but it had been worth it to arrive back a few days early. After over three weeks of cleaning up remaining fade rifts and bandits along the Storm Coast, they’d all been eager to return home and had been happy to push themselves to get there earlier, even if it meant going a day or two without sleep.
She was halfway through removing her armour when there was a knock on the door. Ari rubbed at her eyes, cursing softly under her breath and hoping that it wasn’t an emergency. All she wanted at this point was a bath and to sleep. Mostly the latter. She hadn’t slept for more than an a few hours in days.
“Enter!” she shouted, shrugging out of her blood encrusted paldrons and frowning at their state. She looked up to see one of Kate’s messengers shifting nervously at the top of the stairs.
“Yes? Is everything okay?”
The messenger rushed forward and pressed a folded piece of parchment into her hand. “Doctor Maeng asked that this be delivered to you when you returned.”
“Thank you,” Ari said, waving the messenger away, confused at why Kate would have a letter sent to her.
As soon as she started reading it her heart dropped, and her eyes darted across the crossed out lines, the curses against her and the confessions. She was down the stairs and out the door before she had time to process the last line. Panic gripped her as she ran down the next flight of stairs, rushing barefoot down the hallway on the second floor, heading for the window at the end of it.
Ari skidded to a stop at the end of the hall, flinging open the window and staring at the roof below. It was a bit further down than she had expected it, but it would be significantly faster than running through the main hall or through the courtyard. She shoved the letter into her pocket as she climbed onto the windowsill, ignored the guards calling after her, and jumped.
She hit the roof with a roll, but didn’t time it properly, absorbing too much of the fall on her ribs. She winced when she got up, clutching her side and wheezing for a moment before pulling herself up onto the battlements, the movement shooting pain through her ribs. Ari ignored it, heartbeat as she bolted down the battlements and into the hospital tower, ignoring the surprised shouts as she dodged nurses to make it to the stairs. She took them three at a time to get to the top and burst through the door at the top, sliding to a stop in Kate’s room.
She was breathing hard when she pulled the letter out of her pocket, panic rising high in her throat and her heart thundering in her ears as she held it out to a shocked looking Kate, clutching her side with her other hand.
“What the fuck does this mean?” Ari gasped, gritting her teeth against the pain and the panic. “What did I do wrong?”
#CARRIE I DID NOT SEE THIS COMING SO I HAD TO WRITE A RESPONSE#THIS HURTS#SO MUCH#ARI P MUCH STARTED SCREAMING AS SOON AS I STARTED READING#ari/kate#ariadne lavellan#kate maeng#da fic#da fic rec#my fic#also Damn you you fucking ginger#what a good line#dragon age#dragon age inquisition#da:i#video games#games#my writing#in other news ari can be an overdramatic little shit
“i feel like everyone’s miles away from me.” For Ari
Ari/Kate, set before the mages have been recruited.
After tossing and turning for hours, it was becoming abundantly clear that sleep wasn’t coming to her any time soon. With a sigh, Ari sat up, rubbing a hand over her face. She got up quietly, careful not to jostle Kate enough to wake her, but ended up kicking the nightstand and hissing loudly.
“Ari…?” Kate said, voice thick with sleep, and she winced. “The fuck was that?”
“Yeah, kicked the nightstand. Go back to sleep.”
Kate rolled over, and rubbed her eyes. “It’s still fucking dark out. Why are you awake?”
“Can’t sleep,” Ari said quietly, sitting down on the edge of the bed and brushing a loose lock of hair out of Kate’s face. “It’s nothing, just a lot of thoughts.”
Kate yawned and moved backwards, making space for her again. “Doesn’t sound like nothing if it’s keeping you up. Tell me about it. I’m awake anyways.”
She sighed and sat with her head in her hands until Kate poked her in the back, prompting her to lay back down. She got back under the blankets, curling up close to her and putting her head on her chest so she didn’t have to look her in the eye. They lay in silence for a few moments, Kate running her hand over her hair.
“It’s just that,” Ari said, hesitating, “Just sometimes-“
She stopped herself again, clenching her fists, frustrated, glad that Kate stayed silent as she sorted out her thoughts.
“I feel like everyone’s miles away from me,” she finally confessed into the darkness, voice barely above a whisper. “It feels like no one will let me near them, even when I try,” she let out a shaky breath, drawing shaky circles on Kate’s arm. “I’m just not used to being alone.”
“Well I’m right here,” she murmured. “And your companions seem to like you just fine.”
Ari laughed. “Cassandra just stopped glowering at me last week, Sera still thinks I’m ’too elfy’, and Dorian and I banter but haven’t had a proper conversation. I don’t think any of them would consider me a friend.”
“And what about the Commander? He seems to be fond of you.” Ari groaned in response, hiding her face.
“Each time I try to talk to him I seem to embarrass him horribly in the process,” she grumbled into Kate’s collarbone. “He probably thinks I’m teasing him.”
“Well, aren’t you?”
“…just sometimes. You’ve seen him when he blushes, it’s adorable. But I don’t mean to scare him off entirely!”
“And what about me? Hell, we’re naked together on a regular basis. I’d say we’re pretty bloody familiar with one another by this point.”
Ari crossed her arm across Kate’s chest so she could prop her chin up on it and make eye contact.
“We may be naked, but this is also the most personal conversation we’ve had outside of our doctors appointments, if not more so.” Ari pointed out and Kate laughed.
“You’ve got me there. But what about it? Would you like to be friends?” Kate wrinkled her nose after she asked the question. “Ugh, that makes it sound like we’re in fucking primary school.”
Ari laughed, mood lightened, and leaned up for a quick kiss. “As long as I still get to see you naked.”
“What, just see me naked? That’s not very exciting,” Kate said skeptically, which earned her a glare. “Alright, friends with benefits it is. Now go the fuck to sleep, you angsty bastard. We can talk at a more reasonable time. Like when it’s fucking light out.”
“So charming,” Ari laughed, settling back down.
“I’m a fucking delight. Now sleep.”
onesparrow reblogged
25 for Kate!
25: Their face when someone says “I love you” for the first time to them.
The moonlight dripped through the hole in his ceiling, thick and bright, collecting on the floor like snowdrifts in the corners of his room. He watched it from his bed for a long while, studying the way it moved across the walls as the seconds, the minutes, and the hours crawled by.
Cullen sighed, a noise that quickly turned into a frustrated growl, and he threw himself back against his pillow. He turned onto his side, searching for some comfort, but it felt too flat and lumpy. He tried his stomach, but he felt cramped and hot with half his face pushed into his pillow. Irritated and tense, he rolled onto his back and let out an angry huff towards the splintered rafters. His eyes burned, and his body was exhausted, and yet his mind refused to settle.
He made a feeble attempt at using his breathing exercises. Breathe in deep through the nose, let the stomach rise like a bowl filling with the air, hold it gently in place, then exhale… but he soon gave up as his mind wandered to other trivial matters. Really must fix the roof. Did I send the missive from Rylen to the clerk for copying? Need to stop by the smithy for a new sword. Wonder if she’ll have new models ready.
A noise startled him, a sound of jangling keys being tried in a lock. He listened intently, a soft laugh escaping him as he caught the muffled sounds of swearing. It was a few more moments before the sound of the door creaking open on its hinges floated up to him, quickly followed by the sound of someone thumping their way up the ladder to his room. A shadowy silhouette emerged through the hole in the floor, stretching out long arms above their head and letting out a cramped sigh.
“Oh hey,” Kate murmured, the scent of her black lotus soap filling the room. “Are you still up?” The moonlight caught in the edges of her dark hair and gleamed about the lines of her skin, tracing her outline in pearly light, all messy hair and rumpled clothes.
Cullen hummed softly in response. “Couldn’t sleep.”
“Oh yeah?” She said gently, crossing to the wardrobe and yanking out a nightshirt, stripping off her trousers and tunic and changing into the sleeping gown. “Dreams again?”
“No, just…can’t seem to settle.”
“Mmm. Sorry.” She slipped under the covers on the opposite side of the bed, lifting them a little and shaking them to let a quick, refreshing draft flow through. “Do you need anything?”
The question drew a laugh out of him. “No, no…you just got back from your shift. You must be exhausted.”
Kate rolled a little closer to him, then leaned forward and gave him a hesitant kiss in the darkness. She missed his lips, but her cool lips met his chin and brushed against his stubble. The touch was gentle and fond, and he closed his eyes briefly, breathing in her scent and luxuriating her in presence.
She missed his reaction in the darkness, and rolled over onto her other side, facing away from him. “Yeah and I…” she paused to yawn, then continued, “I have to go back in this afternoon so I’m going to try and sleep a little. You try too, okay? Goodnight.”
The bed felt softer with her weighing down the other side of it, the moonlight seemed less distracting when there was her rhythmic breathing to focus on. Cullen could feel his eyelids starting to close. Impulsively, he reached out and wrapped one arm around her, tucking her into the crook of his elbow, his fingers splaying out comfortably over her stomach. She offered no protest, only made a sleepy noise and wriggled back closer to him, the soft slope of her backside pressing into his abdomen.
It felt right. She felt right, lying there in his bed, tucked in within his grasp. His mind stilled, settling into a peaceful quiet, and his eyes closed.
Sleepily, he mumbled, “I love you.”
For a moment, she was still. Then she rolled over in his grasp to face him. Cullen opened his eyes slightly and saw her smiling faintly in the darkness, moonlight shining in her eyes. Her hand, warm and rough, stroked his cheek.
“Go to sleep, sweet thing,” she whispered, as she cuddled up close and pressed her forehead against his chest.
onesparrow reblogged
10 Kate
10: The way they look in the morning after a rough night
I stole Ari from @onesparrow because I love her and she needs to be in more fics.
Ari stirred, inhaling sharply through her nose as a noise roused her from her sleep. She blinked, squinting eyes that were still blurry with sleep around the room. The light was still dim and grey, too early for even the sun to have risen, much less so for Ari. Rationally, she trusted the security at Skyhold enough not to be immediately concerned, but she was still waking up, and someone was definitely rummaging through her closet.
Blearily, she hauled herself up into a seated position on the mattress and blinked at the person. “Who’s that? Sera? Is that you?”
“Oh, god, sorry.”
Ari blinked in surprise as she recognized the voice. “Kate?”
Kate leaned out of the closet and looked questioningly at Ari, her face screwed up in an exhausted scowl. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up, but I left my really comfy night shirt in here somewhere and I have had an absolute shithole of a night shift and I need it.”
Ari lowered her face into her hands, pressing her fingertips against her eyes in an effort to wake herself a little more. “Which one, the dark blue one?” she mumbled.
“No, the grey one. That…you’re apparently wearing.”
“Oh.” Ari fell back against her pillow and snuggled back into the blankets. “It was in my closet.”
The bed quivered, and there was a muffled thump as Kate threw herself down on the mattress next to Ari. “I hate people,” she announced, snatching the edge of one of Ari’s blankets and tugging it closer. “I hate people and I hate medicine and I fucking hate being awake.”
“Then shut up and go to sleep.”
“You stole my good night shirt!”
“You’re being a bitch.”
“Your fucking hand is glowing in my face.”
“You have your own apartments! Go sleep there if you’re going to be rude!”
“You stole my shirt.”
“You left it.”
Kate wanted the last word, but the only sound that managed to find its way out was a disgruntled growl before her eyes closed and she dozed off. Ari huffed a breathy laugh and shifted around a few times, trying to find a comfortable position. After a few minutes, she cracked open an eye and glanced over to examine her surprise bed mate.
Kate’s mouth was open as she slept, her face uncomfortably squished into the pillow. Her hair was still thrown up in a messy ponytail and braids, but pieces of it were escaping from all directions and falling down to her face, only to be scattered every time she breathed. Dark bags hung under her eyelids, and there was a red scratch on her cheek.
Ari regarded the other woman for a few moments with a strange fondness. Impulsively, she reached out a hand and smoothed back the hair from Kate’s face, earning her a sleepy groan and nothing more. Ari bit back a grin.
“Good morning Madame Doctor,” she murmured sarcastically, rolling over and settling back to sleep for a few more hours.
#YOU ARE SO GOOD AT WRITING ARI I'M GONNA CRY#this is so cute and i love it#i've been thinking about this since i read it yesterday#their exchange is so spot on and sassy and they're so done#the glowing hand line omg#AND THE LAST TWO PARAGRAPHS#MY HEART#also yes a ship name#hahaha carrie carrie carrie what if we called them kari#it's either that or arte#i'm laughing#kate maeng#ariadne lavellan#other peoples oc's#da fic rec#da fic
onesparrow reblogged
Kate has to sacrifice something or someone in order to save the world. What is she forced to sacrifice? (Other than her greatest memory when she needs to restrict the outbreak. What is a sacrifice that would destroy her?)
“Give me a second!”
“Come on now, Katie,” the thing in the elvhen mirror coaxed mockingly. “Is this really the legacy you want to leave? You were offered the chance to save everyone, your patients, your friends, your lover, and you have to take a minute to decide whether it’s worth it?”
Kate breathed hard, a sharp pain of anxiety coagulating in her chest, her fingers shaking so hard it felt like throbbing. “You seem awfully eager to convince me that it’s a good trade,” she spat breathlessly. “No offense, but that gives me some pause.”
“It’s really very simple. You give me what I want, and I’ll give you what you want.”
“Ah yes, for three easy payments of my whole fucking physical independence, the world could be saved, come to Assholes in Magic Mirrors for all your discount needs.”
“There’s no need to be rude now. If that’s how you feel, I’ll happily rescind–”
“No.” She choked on a sob, but it sounded like a hiccup. A fucking pathetic hiccup. “God fucking damn you, no.”
If shadows in mirrors had faces, which they ought to but apparently don’t, this asshole would be leering at her with a triumphant grin. “I’ll give you a final few moments with yourself. Don’t worry. I’m sure your pretty Commander will be happy to look after you for however long you live.”
A scream burst from her throat. Wet, thick tears ran down her cheeks, snot poured from her nostrils, spittle flew from between her lips. She maintained enough control to keep the “no” off of her tongue, but every fiber of her being begged for another end, another choice.
Her last thoughts while in control of herself should have been of how much she loved her family, but all her mind was a wordless swirl of panic.
onesparrow reblogged
“You know, scars are fairly rare back on Earth.”
“Are they?” Ari commented rolling over and tracing a hand down the bare skin of Kate’s thigh. “And why is that? Are you all wrapped in fine silks and far too pampered to go outdoors?”
Kate hummed a laugh in the back of her throat. “No. But some of us are privileged enough that whatever cuts we do get are minimal at best and don’t leave scar tissue.”
Ari sat up slowly, shrugging the blanket back to expose more of her skin. A teasing light appeared in her eyes. “So are my scars…exotic to you? Would you care to explore?” She took Kate’s warm hands in hers and pressed them to her neck. “Tell me doctor. Where do you think I got this one?”
Kate shook her head with a grin, stroking her fingers over the jagged rise of scar tissue that marked Ari’s throat. “I’m a surgeon, not a forensic anthropologist. All I know is that this was caused by an edge that was thick and not very sharp.”
“Very good. I wanted Attis to cut my hair and his hands slipped.”
Kate started. “I’ve been letting him learn how to do sutures…”
“Relax. We were kids.” Ari smiled as Kate’s hand drifted down her body, exploring the scars that crisscrossed her skin. Kate’s fingers were rough to the touch but they skimmed over the surfaces of Ari’s skin with practiced deftness, until they reached Ari’s abdomen and hovered over the scar that lay there.
Ari gave a small smirk. “What about that one in particular is of interest to you?”
“A lot.” Kate replied, with a furrowed brow. “It’s very…the placement of it is one I recognize, but the main scar here is too thick for surgery. Knife, then? There has to be a story there.”
“There is.” Ari said slowly. “One day, maybe I’ll tell it. For now…tell me what you think of this.” She pressed her lips into Kate’s throat and traced the unblemished skin with the tip of her tongue.
onesparrow reblogged
Twenty: After smooshing Kate's cheeks, Cyrlen kisses her forehead.
Cyrlen rapped his knuckles against the thick wooden door, kicking his foot against the floor as he settled in to wait. The door refused to budge, and he heard no noise from inside, so he tried again, knocking louder. Again, there was no reply.
He chuckled, imagining her face down on the rug, happily snoring away, or curled up in a chair with a cup of tea in one hand, so deeply engrossed in the drink that she failed to notice his pounding on the door. But she wasn’t getting away that easily. He had a free evening, there was an extraordinary pink sunset covering the horizon, and he had an overwhelming desire to share both of those things. With a burst of enthusiasm, he grabbed at the handle and threw the door open, swinging into the apartment with happy abandon.
“Kate?” He called, glancing around at the sparsely yet carefully decorated room for any sign of her. There was a blanket tossed haphazardly across the sofa, and two tea mugs lying discarded on the table, alongside a pile of neatly stacked papers. A vase of flowers cast a shadow from where it sat on the window sill, filling the room with the mild scent of dawn lotus. The fireplace was empty, though warm, and the kettle that hung above it was full of water, as though it were being kept there on reserve. A tin of cocoa sat on top of the mantle, the lid slightly open.
Cyrlen frowned pensively, wondering for a moment if perhaps she had decided to spend her evening elsewhere. But Cullen would not be finished with his meetings until well after 7, and she only visited the Herald’s Rest when everyone else went. That left one other place where she would spend her leisure time.
He crossed the room to the thin stairwell that lay nestled by the bedchamber. Taking the stairs two at a time, he made his way up to the roof of the tower. The door to the outside required a little shoving, but he managed to move it after a good strong push. It creaked nostalgically as it opened, and he was greeted with a face full of the evening breeze and the light of the sunset that peaked through the mountains, bathing the world in a juicy pink that breathed a quiet life into everything it touched. And there, stretched out on a velveteen blanket, one arm crossed over her eyes as she soaked up the sunset rays, was Kate, dark hair spilling out over the ground in a soft mass of waves.
Cyrlen hung in the doorway for a moment, considering his options as he watched her. Finally, no closer to making a decision, he called out softly, “Is this…a good time? Or would you prefer I came back later?”
She shifted, pulling her arm away from her face and rolling over to blink at him. “I’m like 99 percent sure you were going to yell at me about the sunset anyway, so now is fine.”
“You know me too well.”
“Please, you were never an enigma.” She slowly pulled herself upright and spread the blanket out a little more, inviting him to sit down as he approached. He did so, crossing his legs and resting his palms on his knees in a comfortable position. For a while, they sat there in silence, content to only breathe and watch the slowly fading light. Cyrlen was just starting to feel the chill of the wind beneath his skin and considering creating a warming spell for the two of them when Kate spoke.
“Looks a bit like ice lollies.”
Cyrlen scrunched up his face, searching for the word in his catalogue of memories she had shared with him. “Ice lollies are the…frozen juice treats, right?”
“Mhmmmm.”
“So, what here looks like ice lollies?”
“The mountain caps,” she replied, pointing at the snow covered peaks that were drenched in sun rays.
Cyrlen studied the scene in front of them, then turned to her, narrowing his eyes with a smirk. “You’re hungry, aren’t you?”
Kate growled goodnaturedly, and blew a hair out of her face with a short gust of air. “I can say something nice without it meaning that I’m hungry, you know.”
“Can you?” Cyrlen questioned dubiously, earning him a swift punch in the arm. “Ow.”
Kate snickered, then leaned back where she sat with a contented sigh. “Did you hear? Your Inquisition increased by three today. Yours truly delivered triplets via a successful cesarean.”
“It’s not my Inquisition, but I happily accept the babies.”
He bit back laughter, his face growing red as he tried to maintain a straight, neutral expression. Kate blinked at him, surprise emanating from her gaze as she waited expectantly, all while clearly trying very hard to pretend that she was not waiting expectantly for anything.
“I…yeah. They’re all a little small, none of them over 3 kilos…” she glanced over at him, and he nodded with interest, still holding his neutral expression in place. She smiled half-heartedly and kept talking. “I thought we would have more complications, and it didn’t go completely smoothly, but we handled everything really well…”
Cyrlen kept nodding. Kate’s words trailed off. She blinked out at the sunset, practically radiating confusion.
Cyrlen cracked, almost spitting out his laughter. “Kate! Kate, I’m just teasing!” He exclaimed, leaning in closer to her, then immediately leaning away as she turned on him with a glare, her hair flinging in all directions. “Seriously, Kate,” he said, holding up his hands in surrender, though he kept giggling. “I’m very proud of you. Surgery is hard enough but three babies? You never cease to amaze me. The Inquisition relies on you.”
She smiled rather smugly, crossing her arms against her chest. “Well…you’d better, I guess.” She snorted at herself. “But I really am happy to do it, and I’m glad you approve.”
“‘Approve’,” Cyrlen mimicked with a snicker. “You just live for the applause.” He stretched out his hands and pressed them to her cheeks, smooshing the soft skin there teasingly as she laughed. He paused, suddenly, and looked intently into her eyes. “You know I’m proud of you, right?”
Kate nodded, as best as she could with his hands still resting on her face. “Yeah, and I’m proud of you.”
“I’m being serious, Kate.”
“Oh and I’m not?”
“Ugh, Creators, just shut up,” he exclaimed, darting forward and pressing a long kiss to her brow. “Now…” he said slowly, leaning back and lowering his hands from her cheeks. “I’m freezing, and you’re hungry. Shall we go see if we can find some hot soup?”
“As ever, oh mage, you have read my mind.”
Kate and Ari, "1. breaking the kiss to say something, staying so close that you’re murmuring into each other’s mouths"
It had been nearly a month since Ari had left for her fourth trip to the Hinterlands, and when she’d strolled into her cabin unharmed, Kate had had to carefully control her facial expression so that she didn’t look too eager to see her returned safely. There hadn’t been much smalltalk before they’d ended up against the wall, leisurely kissing. When Ari reaches up to cup her face, Kate gets distracted by the minty smell of elf root. She breaks away just far enough to speak, pleased when Ari followed after her for a moment.
“Your hands smell like elfroot,” Kate comments, close enough that their lips brush when she speaks. She feels more than hears Ari’s hummed agreement. “…were you personally responsible for the massive weekly shipments of elfroot I got over the past month?”
“It’s a possibility. What would happen if I was?” she asks, moving to kiss along Kate’s jaw.
“Weren’t you supposed to be clearing out bandits and rogue mages and templars in the Hinterlands?”
“I was; there are significantly less bandits there now. Also less bears.”
“And significantly less elfroot, judging by how much we got sent. You’ve yet to deny the fact that you didn’t personally pick all of that elfroot.”
Ari finally gives up trying to distract her with a final nip at Kate’s lips before leaning her head back against the wall, sighing and rolling her eyes dramatically.
“Yes, twas I who picked all the elfroot. Is that a problem?”
Kate stares at her, thinking of the massive pile of elfroot that was drying out in the sun behind her cabin when she responds. “Where did you find the time? I thought they had a whole set of scouts dedicated to that!”
“Nope, just me. Cassandra helped occasionally, but she mostly kept grumbling about how much time we were wasting. Sera kept picking weeds instead so I had her stop. Bull did the heavy lifting. But I did most of the collecting,” she shrugs, playing with the hair at the nape of Kate’s neck and resting their foreheads together. “Force of habit, I suppose.”
“I didn’t think there’d be a lot of opportunities to go herb collecting while guarding caravans,” Kate quips, which gets a short laugh out of Ari.
“No, before that. My mum was the clan healer, and we’d always have to go herb picking with her. I learned a lot about how to mix healing potions, which has always been useful,” she grins suddenly. “Besides, you can never have enough elfroot! It makes the best healing potions, I’ll have you know.”
“Oh, I know. You’ve mentioned it once or twice,” Kate replies, trying to hide her smile, and Ari tips her face up to kiss her again, making sure she forgets all about elfroot.
onesparrow reblogged
I was tagged by @ellstersmash and @quizzikemen , (thank you darlings), to do the OC wardrobe meme. I picked my Modern Girl In Thedas OC, who is not an Inquisitor but needs a lot of clothes anyway. There are captions with explanations for a few of the outfits if you click on the photos themselves.
Dr. Kate Maeng: Wardrobe
From left to right:
Lingerie // Nightclothes // Riding // Skyhold // Combat (medic wear) // Halamshiral // Post Corypheus // Trespasser // Post Trespasser
OC Wardrobe Meme
Rules: Always remember to post the rules.
1. Pick an OC and pick nine outfits from the list below, or add your own:
General: Lingerie, Underclothes, Nightclothes, Field, Riding, Travel, Combat, [Class] Outfit, Daily, Wedding
DA Various Location-Specific: Ostagar, Lothering, Redcliffe, Brecilian Forest, Orzammar, [Season] Kirkwall, Sundermount, Deep Roads, Hanged Man, [Season] Haven, Hinterlands, Val Royeaux, Skyhold Formal, Skyhold Casual, Skyhold Judgement, Winter Palace, Adamant, Well of Sorrows
DA Moments in Story: Pre-Joining, Post-Joining, The Landsmeet, Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Post-Kirkwall Chantry, Pre-Conclave, Post-Well of Sorrows, Trespasser, Post-Trespasser
2. Build outfits in Azalea’s Dress Up Dolls (Viking Woman) and when you finish each look, save it and add to a 9-grid image post. (make sure you include which outfit is which in the text below)
3. Tag nine people to do the same!
Tagging: @gruzinkerlady @onesparrow @queerdva @cully-wully-doodah @little-dina-saur @sadelvenmage @izzzle @zaevran