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jq37 · 5 years

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Have you done breakdowns of the last few episodes yet? If not 👀

**spoilers for a new york wedding**

Prologue: I had a partially free day today (as in the day I started writing this which is now two days ago) so I decided to swing by Central Park and check out the Bethesda Fountain where I saw both a proposal and a man on a segway with a live snake around his neck so, yeah, New York is just Like That.

"Here's a possibly magic crown. Why don't we ask the butt stuff guy about that?"

The face Brennan makes when Emily says, "I used to do colonics at the salon," is great. Like, "We are two minutes into this ep, your sentence isn't even complete, and I already can't handle it."

So they get out of the sewers and Bethesda Fountain has been attacked (which is a shame just aesthetically because, having now seen it in person, it's a really pretty fountain). Em is devastated and explains that the fountain is like a Important magical symbol of good change and a source of divine purification magic.

Another side note about the fountain: There are these little cherub figures around it in additional to the Angel. I wonder if those are sentient too. Also-also, the promenade across from the fountain has these cool murals of the seasons. My point is, there's a lot of fodder for possible lore just in that small area of the park.

Misty finds ashes by the fountain (concerning) and wipes it on Kugrash's fur (rude).

I love that Emily thought Pete was pouring one out (one being one bag of cocaine).

"Sophie, your magic is that you're a wonderful person and you jump really good."

"The Bread Wedding"

Kudos to Brennan for all the wide range of crazy voices he had to do in this ep. Don Confetti. The Golem. Perry the Pigeon. That can't be easy on the throat.

Sophie is fully ready to fistfight Don Confetti over their last names which is wild for a lot of reasons we're not gonna get into.

So Brennan has everyone roll a Wis save and everyone did OK except I think Ricky. Brennan never explains why he had them roll that. Concerning. I'm wondering now if it was something that would have needed a nat 20 to save from it or something where the people who saved didn't realized they saved from it and the people who didn't are just ticking time bombs or sleeper agents or something else awful.

Pete is such a dangerous friend to be around when you're emotionally compromised. His solution to everything is drugs.

"It's an off-white!" --Misty upon being called out for wearing white to a wedding.

Brennan has Perry go on a wild 39 second monologue about relationships that Pete interrupts by stuffing drugs down his gullet--see again my previous bullet about Pete.

Sophie notices that a lot of the pixies recognize her which pm confirms her brother is In This which, to use the word of the day again, *Concerning*.

Emily having Sophie get really emotional but also struggling to keep the laughter out of her face is always super funny to watch.

So Pete finds a table of vampires. Brennan spends a couple of minutes describing them before he gets to it outright but it's pretty immediately clear they're vamps. Well, vamps plus a suspicious older guy and a girl (Melissa) who seems to be playing Renfield to the vamps. Getting high so they can drink her blood and get high. Pete brilliantly confirms this by getting the suspicious guy (Rob, as far as we know) to go off on Politics and then deep mind-reading the girl. That's one of the most clever RP things I've seen a player do. Pete also sees that Rob is hanging out with the vamps but he doesn't seem to be one.

Pete fails his wild magic check but nothing happened that we know of. A lot of stuff on the wild magic table is situational though (like the reincarnate spell from Bloodkeep with the potion Sohkbarr drank).

Rob implies he knows what happened with Pete's dad. Pete goes into a tailspin, as if he isn't constantly in one.

Everyone dancing so they can talk in public instead of just, like, having a sidebar. Just that entire sequence is peak comedy.

Ricky, the good boy, is dancing with his pigeon date while everyone else is mystery solving (or, in Soph's case, crying in a closet or something).

Rob is supposedly in finance. Last time there was a character involved in finance/banking in D20 it was the whole KVX fiasco in FH.

"Did I use up my favor? I could have had anything in the world."

Sophie upon seeing anything young woman in any kind of situation immediately springs into action, ready to drag them out by any means necessary. I love her.

Robert works at a hedge fund and Kug recognizes him. Brennan explains how he knows him in a very vague way which the rest of the table clocks instantly. Murph asks if Rob knows Gabriela. He does. Who the hell is Gabriela, Misty and I wonder.

Emily goes galaxy brain and theorizes that the bad guys are laundering souls which is equal parts bonkers and brilliant. The camera unhelpfully *doesn't* cut back to Brennan so I can attempt to read his DM poker face. I am reminded of Emily wondering if [redacted] was in the sword in a recent ep of Naddpod and Murph just deciding that they were on the spot because it was cooler than what he had planned. I know you can't win at DnD but I think Emily is winning at DnD.

I mentioned this in passing I think last recap, but Pete's magic is really interesting to me because Pete doesn't know what his character sheet looks like and he's not someone like Kingston or Ricky who's been doing their thing for a while and knows that they can do and what the things he can do are called. So Ally has to get a little creative about activating abilities (like True Strike in this ep) without being too meta, if that makes sense.

Kug knows Rob from a while ago (from the 80's he later says) but he doesn't seem to have aged. The group is thinking vampire, but he wasn't drinking blood in the memory Pete saw. Suspicious. Put a pin in that with everything else on my conspiracy board.

Misty: Eyyyy Macarena!

Kug kisses the pigeon. Sure.

Misty/Siobhan also does a clever thing and suggests taking a selfie with the vamp table in the background to see who shows up. Only Melissa and Rob do, so they're not vamps for sure.

So they go back to Kingston's place and he, Pete, and Sophie cook for everyone which has basically nothing really to do with the plot but I think it was a nice character beat for them.

Kingston and Misty fought a mummy on Long Island back in the day. As you do. Sidenote, when I was in Central Park today (two days ago), I passed by a big-ass obelisk that apparently exists and that I am *certain* Brennan has lore for, even if it doesn't come up.

Misty, a very wealthy Broadway star: If you pay for the Metropolitan Museum, you're a Goddamn fool.

Sophie had not put together that Misty is a fairy before now and I was like ??? for a second but, actually, with the info she has, that's not necessarily the conclusion she would draw. She could just be a really short lady with magic. It's been that kind of week.

Kingston presses Kug on how he knows Rob and Kug reluctantly confesses that HE USED TO BE A GUY. Zac blindly guesses that he was a stockbroker which is ALSO CORRECT.

"movie horse breeder" is such a specific job to pull out of thin air.

Siobhan, making a choice: Let me tell you about my good friend, John Wilkes Booth.

Brennan's total break of composure when Zac/Ricky says, "I wasn't always a firefighter." Zac lowkey has the best comic timing of everyone on the squad. He's just really understated about it.

Anyway, there are levels to this. How long has Kug been a rat??? I feel like it must have been a while because of all the weird ass stuff that he does. Also, he excuses a lot of his behaviors due to being a rat considering he's actually a rat-MAN, emphasis on the man. The stock broker thing surprised me more considering that Kug is introduced doing some pretty altruistic, non-stockbroker-y things. Did Kug piss off a homeless witch and get Beauty and the Beast-ed? He never actually answered the question about how he knows Rob since everyone got sidetracked by the fact that he used to be a whole-ass HUMAN MAN. Did Rob curse him for less moral lesson reasons? What's going on here????

Esther and Ale have been researching. The grey baby is apparently named Nod, just like the place, and it (it specifically, not him or her) like the ruler of there.

There's this whole group bit Brennan, Ally, and Siobahn do about how you can take the L train really far and then catch a shuttle bus that can only be seen by the pure of heart to get to Nod and it's really funny but how funny would it be if they actually tried to do it in a dire moment and also Ricky could do it for sure send tweet.

Kingston is trying so-so hard to keep everyone on task all episode. Bless him.

Kug asks Esther about her mom, which surprises her. He says they used to be friends (Did *SHE* curse him????). Esther says she hasn't seen her in a long time, since she was 5 or 6. Of course, it's easy to want to connect this to the Gabriela he was asking about earlier but we'll see about that. I think I saw some people speculating that he's Esther's dad which I'm even more skeptical about considering what we learn later but wouldn't that be wild?

Ricky decides to shoot his shot with Esther. His brain is full of love, determination, civic responsibility, and absolutely nothing else, bless his golden retriever heart.

Brennan as Esther drops the best stealth joke (though, it has a very high likelihood of crossing from joke to plot point) in D20 so far with the Imperial Axiom/Sinatra's Law explanation. It was a full, "Wait. What? Oh!" Big gold star for Brennan for that one. I had to take a second and recover from that when I heard it the first time. Beyond the joke, it also seems like a likely hook for the eventual Big Bad of the campaign. First NY, then the world, you know?

The fact that the highways go against the grain of magic leylines of NY in this world is such a good detail and it makes a lot of sense intuitively.

Zac breaks Brennan again with the, "Traffic's really bad," comment.

Please let Ricky's big dumb puppy self win over Esther. "It's really hard for me." Riiiickyyyy.

So Kingston goes to see Willy, the Williamsburg golem about Lazarus from the Bible (New Testament). Aren't golems de facto Jewish? I think. I am correct. However, as much as Willy doesn't know about the New Testament, he *does* know about the Statue of Liberty which is convenient because--shoutout to the people who figured it out in advance--Lazarus is not Lazarus from the Bible. It's Emma Lazarus who wrote the poem on the Statue of Liberty. This of course means that I need to do a close read of that poem at some point but not today baby because I need more information before I start going full Pepe Silvia. Sidenote: What a great place for Kingston to be when figuring out that info. Close enough that Willy can just point out the statue. It's cinematic. Fantastic.

(Also, I made a post about the fact that Siobahn just knew Emma's name off the top of her head, but when it cut to the other side of the table, Emily's eyes got all big too).

Emily gets a nat20 which RUINS her plans because she runs into Isabella aka the woman her husband left her for. They have an adult Means Girls stand-off where Sophie finds out they're getting married (or at least having a ceremony bc Dale didn't send her divorce papers yet). Big ups to Emily for staying in character and ditching all the sleuthing she was going to do because there is no way Sophie would be stable enough for that to be her top priority at the moment (even though I really wanted her to do all that stuff!)

Also, I'm looking forward to watching Sophie rip her to shreds when she inevitably turns out to be a succubus/demon/fiend/whatever. Honestly, she can just barfight her and I'd be satisfied.

So Misty goes home and finds a present waiting for her. It's a big ass mirror. Correction. It's a big ass mirror that Titania immediately uses to angry Skype her. Yikes.

It seems like her shoes of Titania are literally that, stolen from Titania (love that Titania was barefoot in her character art btw). I know they let her cast a certain spell in an earlier episode but I'm wondering why she stole them. Maybe they helped her cross over from Faerie (which happened ~400 years ago we ind out)?

Titania is pissed that Misty is stealing "glamour" that should be hers (via playing her in the new show). Glamour in the fairy sense is like a disguise. Glamour in the DnD sense is a fey-based bard option (which is the class I'm guessing Titania will be if they have to fight her). Curious to get a deeper explanation on that later.

Misty is able to cover back up the mirror but she breaks a hip in the process because of Titania's mojo and has to call Kingston. I already said this but I love their relationship.

(Sidenote, I meant to mention this earlier, but I think whiffs of the undead came up a couple of times in this ep which makes me wonder if the mummy situation Kingston mentioned is going to come back).

"Please, use any one of the guestrooms."

I FORGOT ABOUT KUG'S STUFF AT THE END

Ugh, this ep is an emotional roller coaster

"Wherever you are Rat Jesus, know that I love you. From Wally." What a good boy.

Everyone reacting to Murph's reaction to Wally before they Find Out is like, an experience. It's like that airpods meme.

OK, I'm not going to go through a whole play by play because nothing I could say would be better than watching the scene but I guess Murph/Bren decided in for a penny, in for a pound because we find out via a conversation between Wally and his businessman brother David that he is Kug's SON. HIS SON. S O N.

Wally is convinced that their dad wouldn't have just left them. David thinks Wally is being naive. I want to die.

Everyone around the table except maybe Ally is so visibly upset at this new information and Ally goes, "FUCK!" at the end so you know we all express emotions in different ways.

God, it's so sad! And I'm not gonna say, "I knew it!" because I didn't. I super didn't. But when Wally was introduced (man that scene hits differently now) I remember thinking, this is such an oddly specific NPC. Like, you know when you're playing a game and the stuff you can click is slightly better rendered and you can kind of tell what you should focus on and what's background art? That's how he felt.

Anyway, again, I'm sad. (GMYeah!.gif)

Watching *OVER* you Murph. OVER you. That's how you make it not creepy!

Meanwhile, Pete lets a bunch of bug monsters out of his dream into real New York City which, tbh, I'm not surprised. This seems like the kind of thing that would happen. Pete is exactly the worst kind of person to be the dream avatar in terms of being responsible.

I love that Siobhan is like, “I have a broken hip” as if all but one of them don’t have literal magic powers. That’s a very fixable problem compared to other stuff they’ve dealt with that day alone.

Anyway next time, a wasp centaur (thanks, I hate it) and a nat 20! See you then.

#dimension 20 #the unsleeping city #asks #a-salty-alto #there are for sure mistakes in this but I am on a whirlwind schedule rn #and I wanted to get this out before the next ep #so I wasn't too behind

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darlingrutherford · 5 years

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Once Upon a Time in Thedas Update!

Well, my brain isn’t letting me focus on much, but it did let me finish up this next chapter for my Cinderella!AU! For those who haven’t been following along but would like to, you can find chapter one on both Tumblr and Ao3

Super big thanks to those liking and sharing! Reblogs help boost visibility and are just all around awesome, so thank you if you do! <3

This chapter is pretty mild ratings wise. Enjoy! <3

Once Upon a Time in Thedas - a DA Cinderella!AU | Chapter 3 | Alistair Theirin/Lana Surana | Overall fic rated explicit for further out chapters

Three weeks had passed since Leliana had helped with Lana’s hurt finger. Things had been quiet for the most part, and Lana had enjoyed the calm as much as she could. As soon as the sun went down, once dinner was finished and the kitchen clean, Lana always went straight to bed. When she was younger her mother would check on her throughout the night and reprimand her if her candle burned too late, but at this stage of her life she had learned and they in turn had learned to trust her in that respect. Tonight had been the same as most nights, and though Lana's parents had long since gone to sleep, she found herself sitting on her bed, her hand cupped along the back of a candle to dim its projection as she quietly read one of the books her father had leant to her. It was old, one Lana had read until the pages had frayed at the edges over time. The book told the story of Andraste in a more fantastical manner than the Chant of Light, something meant to entertain children who needed more than cryptic prose and verses. Her mother had insisted that she had outgrown it, but it was one of the areas her father had indulged her. Lana loved the stories of Andraste, of the great battles she had fought on behalf of the Maker, the adventures she had experienced, down to the betrayal by her husband to Tevinter. It was quite morbid for a children's book perhaps, but Lana was fascinated by it.

As Lana turned the page, she jumped as she heard a light tapping on her window. She waited, then it happened again. Maker, was a bird trying to get in? Perhaps an owl? She squinted as she scooted closer to the window, confusion spreading on her face as she saw the distinct outline of Sister Leliana's face. She had almost not recognized her, void of her usual Chantry dress wear and now in a deep purple dress. Quiet as she could, Lana opened her window.

“Sister?” Her voice was barely above a whisper, terrified of her parents hearing her. Sister Leliana waved her towards her with a mischievous smile on her face. Lana opened her mouth to speak, stopping as the Sister quickly moved away from the window and into the garden. Her heart pounding, Lana looked towards her door and listened intently. She hadn't heard a sound in the house for an hour, her parents having gone to bed when she had earlier. Quiet as a mouse, Lana took a leap of faith, putting out the candle and hopping out the window. Her bare feet hit the grass outside, cool dew making her shiver in her nightgown. Sister Leliana had stopped at the edge of the yard before turning around suddenly to face Lana.

“Would you like to go to the ball?”

Lana's mouth hung open. Of all the things to come out of the Sister's mouth, that had been the least of Lana's expectations.

“What?” She asked in disbelief.

“You heard me.” Leliana was grinning wildly, her eyes practically twinkling in the dark.

“I can't - I can't possibly… I'm in a nightgown, and my parents -”

“Were fast asleep when I peeked in their window,” Sister Leliana said. “Would you go? I can make sure you get home before they notice. We can leave at the stroke of midnight. And I've found the perfect dress for you.”

“Why are you doing this for me?” Lana asked in disbelief. She could feel a well of emotions building inside of her, of fear and excitement and everything in between. She looked back at her room, as if she would have been able to hear her parents stirring in their bed.

“Because you deserve a little fun for once in your life. As your assigned Sister, I am hereby demanding it,” Sister Leliana said. “You won't make me return the dress, will you?”

Lana had given in. She knew her punishment would be great if her parents ever found out, but the chance to see Denerim, to see the palace, and the people - it was all too tempting. Sister Leliana had led her to an outstretch of forest where she had hidden a small chest of goods behind the brush. From the chest the Sister had pulled a dress, deep blue in color with similarly colored lace that overlay the breast and flowed onto the off-the-shoulder sleeves. As Lana stared at the dress Leliana had placed in her arms, she watched as a pair of golden colored slippers were placed on top. The Sister had then promptly fussed about her, ensuring she got dressed in a timely manner beneath the light of the moon.

“Where did you get these?” Lana asked in awe. To any noble lord or lady, the dress would not have seemed anything special. It was simple, save for the cut of the dress and its pleats, not with any large petticoat of the sort she had seen in the drawings of children's books. Still, Lana was sure she had never worn anything so exquisite, and found herself unable to suppress the grin on her face as she twirled her hips back and forth to move the long skirt. Leliana laughed as she unbraided Lana's hair and fluffed it over to one side.

“A friend owed me a favor,” Leliana smiled knowingly. “Now, come on. We won't have much time if we take too long getting there.”

The two of them walked through the city on foot. As dark as it was, the streets were lit by lanterns that glowed onto the dirt. The closer they got to the palace, the more cobblestone was paved beneath their feet. Many shops near the marketplace were still open, “On account of the ball,” Leliana had explained. Lana became sidetracked many times by the various stores, peering in through the windows to see what goods they sold. There were shops selling dresses both plain and exquisite, shops with weapons and armory, ones with dried herbs that hung from the roofs and jars of concoctions she had never heard of. Leliana took her by the arm, delicately rerouting her down the path towards the palace.

There were so many people outside the palace, even more so inside. Lana was sure she had never seen so many people in one place before. Everyone was dressed impeccably. Women were dressed in their best gowns, covered in lace and pearls and feathers. There were a few in gold and silver masks, accompanied by men similarly outfitted. Many of the long hallways were open for the ball, but the main event was in the throne room. It had been outfitted for the ball, with great cuts of fabric draped from the ceiling in gold, white, and red to match the Fereldan banner. There was a small band of musicians at the top of the hall near the empty throne, and people dancing to the music in the center of the room. The sides of the hall had been lined with tables covered in various foods and drink, and servants walked around in matching outfits seeing to everyone's needs.

“This is… amazing.” Lana couldn't help but laugh with a smile on her face. In all her wildest dreams, she never could have imagined anything this grand.

“I want you to have fun tonight,” Leliana instructed, smiling brightly down at Lana. “Don't hold back. All right?”

“Okay,” Lana nodded, smiling ear to ear.

“Have you met Lady Casing yet? Her father is Lord Casing, of Calenhad. She rides horses in her spare time.” Eamon was talking, but at this point in the night, after three hours of people eagerly rambling at him and pining for his attention, Alistair found it difficult to focus. “Alistair, are you listening to me?”

“Yes, I met Lady Casing,” Alistair sighed. “She spent the entire time talking about her summer estate and how she hopes she can change things up once she's Queen.”

“Well, the Queen will have a certain amount of influence on the palace, it's true.”

“She wants to ensure she only has human ladies-in-waiting so as to cut down on the stealing.”

“There is an entire room of ladies for you to choose from, your Majesty. If not Lady Casing, how about… Lady Roberts? She's an avid player of chess, the youngest of three…”

Alistair looked around the room a bit lacklusterly as Eamon continued on. Every lady who had shown up had seemed the same as the last: rich, spoiled women who talked highly of themselves and their families only to raise their brows in confusion the moment Alistair tried to bring up anything not to do with wealth, land, or politics. At one point early on in the night, his mabari, Bryn, had snuck his way into the hall in search of a good scratch and a snack, easily crossing ten or so women from Alistair's list as they reacted in disgust. He tried to remind himself that there were three nights of this, but surely any woman interested would be there all three nights? If they were all there was to be, he had doubts of finding someone he could truly connect with at all. As he continued looking around - nodding periodically whenever Eamon's tone piqued as it did when he was asking a question - his eyes drifted over towards one of the tables against the wall, and his eyes stopped as he saw her, his heart fluttering. The woman stood near the table, her focus not on the food or anyone in particular, but on the dancing crowd further away.

“And, of course, you should meet Lady Ansling…”

Alistair nodded his head as if he were listening, but truth be told he could barely hear a thing. All his focus had moved onto this woman. Her fiery red hair lay about her face in a mess, quite contrary to the fancy updos of everyone else, as her eyes skated back and forth over the crowd. She seemed to be in as much awe as he felt, the kind of warm smile plastered across her face that he could feel from afar. She was beautiful. More beautiful than any woman he had laid eyes on that night. Eamon long forgotten, he left his spot in the corner and began walking towards the woman. He walked up beside her, pausing as he tried to find his brain which had conveniently decided to leave him the moment he neared her.

“Nice… Party, isn't it?” He started. He looked down at her, wondering after a moment if she hadn't realized that he had been speaking to her. He reached out and tapped her bare shoulder lightly. He grimaced as she jumped and saw the shock on her face. “Maker, I'm sorry. It's… Loud, I didn't know if you heard me.”

“Oh! I'm so sorry!” Lana said. The initial worry had faded from her face and was quickly replaced by a smile as she craned her neck up to look at him. Maker, but he must have been a foot taller than her if not more, she guessed. He was dressed quite nicely, in a smooth, brown doublet with a trim of darker brown, and a cotton white shirt with long sleeves underneath, though even his clothes were void of the fancy frill Lana had seen on the other lords there.

“Bit of a dusty old place, isn't it?” Alistair said. “I just came for the food, myself.”

“Oh?” Lana laughed, watching him as he took a small, bite-sized treat from a plate and popped it into his mouth. “Not for the dancing? I suppose they're all wanting to dance with the King, though. Probably smart to stick with the food. You might get thrown out if you're caught with the future queen.”

“Yes, that would be unfortunate,” he chuckled. Maker, but she didn't know who he was? Alistair instantly felt himself relax, feeling more at ease with someone who would have no preconceived expectations from him. That meant she wasn't a noble, then. All the nobles seemed to already know his face, though many others had still known him from the hand drawn posters that had made it around the city announcing the ball. “Should I leave you alone, then? So the King gets his turn. I wouldn't want to get thrown out if he has his eyes on you.”

“Oh, I don't think that'll be a problem,” she said. She flushed at his words, her hand tugging at strands of her hair nervously. “A… Friend brought me here, to enjoy it. I'm just taking it all in. I don't think he would be very interested in someone like me.”

“Why do you think that?” Maker, but even her modesty warmed his heart.

“Well, I'm not a noble, for starters.” Lana paused, her voice getting fairly quiet as she continued. “I'm a mage, as well.”

“Not exactly illegal, is it? Being a mage.”

“No, but mages are dangerous… I can't imagine it would be smart, making one Queen.”

“So I could dance with you without worry of royal retribution, then?” He teased.

“You want to… Really?” She seemed shocked at his seemingly innocent proposal, her face reddening by the moment. “Even though… I just told you that I'm a…?”

“I've met dangerous people who weren't mages,” Alistair said, shrugging casually. “I have no reason to fear you, do I? Miss…?”

“Lana,” she said, and for a moment she was sure her face would melt from the heat that rushed to it.

“Lana. Maker, your name is very…” Alistair cleared his throat, feeling heat of his own rush to his cheeks. “I'm Alistair.”

“You have the same name as the King?” Lana asked, laughing lightly at the coincidence.

“We're one in the same, he and I,” He chuckled. “Now…Shall we grace their grace’s presence on the dance floor?”

He bowed rather dramatically in front of her, grinning as she laughed at his presentation. He held out his hand for her, fairly certain he would hold the pose all night if needed. Lana bit her lip, looking around to see if she could find Leliana in the crowd to give her any sort of direction. When she couldn't locate her, Lana timidly placed her hand in his. Lana felt as if her heart would burst from sudden adrenaline as Alistair whisked her off to the dance floor in no time at all. Her heart pounded as he placed a hand lightly on her waist.

“I don't know how to dance,” she admitted sheepishly.

“That makes two of us. Just follow my lead,” Alistair said, giving her a quick wink. “Well, I've had a few lessons recently, but they were rather rushed and the teacher was pretty awful… Either that or I was so bored out of my mind I've forgotten it all.”

“Bored from dancing?” Lana repeated in disbelief. She looked down at their feet as Alistair began, trying to follow his motions.

“I suppose with the right partner, it's all right,” he said. He smiled as he watched her concentrate, each step carefully taken. “Don't think about it too much. You're doing great.”

“Just… Follow you, right?”

“Right.” Alistair felt his heart flutter as her eyes met his again. They were such a deep blue, like how he imagined the ocean at its deepest point. Red spread across her cheeks again the longer he stared at her, and he couldn't help the stupid grin that plastered on his face. “Are you enjoying the ball?”

“It's unlike anything I've ever seen,” Lana said. Her eyes darted around as they danced, trying to take in everything from the new angle. More people had gathered around the dancefloor than she had remembered a moment ago, some dancing, others watching. “I've never seen so many people… I feel like they're watching us.”

“Probably because you're such a good dancer.”

“What?” Her head snapped back to look at him with a smile. She felt as if every word he directed towards her was making her flush, and she wasn't wrong. He seemed so genuinely interested in her, it was almost alarming. At the same time, it felt… Incredibly nice.

“Putting them all to shame with your perfect moves.” He grinned as she laughed. “I bet you're secretly a bard or something, come to seduce the king and set the kingdom in turmoil.”

“That's it. You've found me out,” Lana snorted.

“I knew it,” Alistair scoffed. “That's all right. I'll keep your secret, if you keep mine.”

“Oh? What's that?”

“I'm here to do the same. Don't you laugh - I'm very seductive, I'll have you know!”

“Really? When's the last time you seduced an unsuspecting target?” She teased.

“Well… If you must know… Right now.”

“Me?”

“You said you're a mage, right? I figure... I seduce you, you use your magical ways to get me to the King’s chambers…”

“You think you're seducing me with a few steps to the side and back?” Lana laughed.

“Oh, I haven't shown you all my moves just yet.” Alistair let go of her waist before lifting her hand high above her head. He moved his hand in a tight circle, spinning her until the skirt of her dress lifted from the ground around her ankles. Lana let out a loud squeal in surprise as she was spun, the hall a blur to her as her eyes tried to focus on anything, but ultimately failed. When Alistair finally stopped spinning her, she tripped over her feet as she stumbled while the floor seemingly moved beneath her. Alistair quickly caught her, and the two of them laughed loudly as she clung to his arms for balance.

“I don't think we're behaving quite properly, judging on the face of Lord Pompous in the mask over there…” Alistair murmured quietly to her with an impish grin. Lana leaned back, her hands still gripping tightly into his arms, finding the man in the intricate silver mask wearing more frills than anyone else in the hall. He was sporting a scowl discernible even with the mask, clearly unapproving of their playfulness at such a serious event. Lana tried to hold down a laugh, but one look at Alistair and she lost it, the laugh bursting from her simultaneously with his.

Time eluded the two of them. Lana and Alistair spent what felt like mere moments to them dancing. They talked the entire time, and for that time Lana was the happiest she had ever felt. Here was the first person she had spoken to outside of her parents and the Chantry in more than ten years, and he had looked on her more favorable than any of them ever had, even knowing full well that she was a mage. He was so kind, wanting to know as much about her as possible. She knew it wouldn't last long, but Lana felt herself wishing for a way to make that night last forever. After more than an hour, Alistair had looked behind her and grimaced as he saw Teagan waving him over. He paused his feet, smiling at Lana in regret.

“Give me one moment, I'll be right back,” he pleaded. He brought her hand up to his mouth and placed a warm kiss on the back of her hand. Heat spread like wildfire from her fingers to her face at the touch of his lips. She felt frozen to the spot as he left her, floating in the clouds high above the palace. Then, the sound of a great clocktower began to ring the hour, and her heart sunk. Midnight. She wondered if there was time to tell him, and then she saw Sister Leliana near the arched doorway waving for her. She had to go. She looked around the room, unable to find Alistair on account of her short stature and the crowd that had gathered where he had gone. She bit down her disappointment, reminding herself that this was all a short lived dream after all, and ran towards the door.

When Alistair had finished speaking with Teagan, he found himself distraught. He scanned the hall with no luck, no sign of the red hair that was burned into his memory. She was nowhere to be found. He left to wander the halls looking for her in case she had gone to get some air, still coming up empty and wondering what he had said wrong. Eventually Eamon had found him, insisting that he return to the ball. Alistair reluctantly followed him back, praying to the Maker that she'd return the following night.

#alistair theirin #suranistair #dragon age #cinderella!au #once upon a time in thedas #lana surana #my ocs #my work #fanfiction

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emperor-lover · 7 years

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Hey I love your scenarios. Can I please request a guanlin college au? Thank you!!

Thank you for loving my writing!! ❤❤ Sorry this took so long, i’m in the midst of all my final assignments and midterms at uni right now, but here you go!! It’s a bit more friendship with a hint of potential future relationship so maybe i’ll do a part 2 sometime later on if you’d like? Enjoy!

Kuanlin college!AU (that kinda wasnt a college au, idk i got a bit sidetracked by basketball lmao) ALSO HAPPY BDAY KUANLIN BBY HOPE UR SWEET SIXTEENTH IS LOVELY LIKE U KIDDO

he’s well known around campus as THE international student

like a guy who appeared from a manga/manhwa, he has godly features and proportions

just a very perfect looking human

He’s also the guy that still seems to be having a growth spurt because you swear he’s taller than he was a month ago

Has a keen interest in languages, so he’s doing a double degree in Korean and English

People’s first impression of him are always that he’s this really cool guy

He has this signature outfit of a bomber jacket and ripped jeans

and sunglasses

Everyone’s eyes are always drawn to him immediately

“he looks like a celebrity!”

as soon as he took off his sunglasses and sat down, he gave everyone this cute gummy smile and introduced himself

Despite his fashionable attire, he’s rather introverted and sticks to the same group of friends

The first time you met was in class at the start of your first year

you were running late because you had gotten lost because there had been a mistake in the timetable

you had made it in the correct building but it was seriously like a maze

and there was like 2 minutes left until the lecture would start but you were still so lost

1 minute to go and you were about to give up

when Kuanlin strolls past you leisurely

He’s about to turn the corner when he glances back at you

“um…”

you glanced over at the sound of his voice

“…if you’re looking for the lecture room for korean, it’s over this way…”

You thanked him in relief and followed him around 2 more corners before making it to a seat just in time for the lecture begin

After the lecture was over you spotted him leaving and you had rushed over to him

“Hey, thank you so much for showing me where this room was, you’re a life saver!”

He had looked away and you saw a slight pink flush light up his cheeks

“Happy to help.”

Your resolution when you were beginning college was to make lots of new friends so you decided, hey why not start now

“I’m Y/N by the way, it’s nice to meet you!”

As you introduced yourself, the two of you walked in step with each other

Turns out you do almost all the same papers as he does

The two of you end up just having this sort of silent seating plan

Like it randomly started one day and since then the two of you have always sat next to each other

Round mid semester exam time, the two of you would study together in the library

You’d take turns buying each other coffees

Kuanlin has remembered your coffee order in one go, much to your surprise

He gives off a very innocent vibe despite his mature appearance

He also tends to be very focused, and will always keep his emotions in check

Unlike you, because during exam time, u were streeeeesssed out

A complete contrast to Kuanlin’s very calm soul

The only times he breaks free from the calm is when he finds something funny

Like he’ll break out into this cute breathy laughter that’s super adorable

Because he’s an international student, he struggled to settle in at first at college

but after joining a few clubs and being introduced and meeting lots of nice people, Kuanlin really thrives in the college life

There is this really prestigious basketball team at your college - “Wanna One” and every semester they participate in a tournament against other college teams

Wanna One’s biggest rival is a team called “Mnet” (lol mnet, what a punny bball team name)

It’s such an intense competition as the winning club gets a huge benefit

like helping funding for national and overseas tournaments, helping paying off college tuition fees, getting more exposure to professional basketball scouters etc

It’s tough though because Mnet is a team that tends to play dirty and will try to dramatise anything so the other team will get fouled (can y’all tell im having way too much fun with this)

A few of your friends, and friends of friends are in Wanna One

So you went to the tournament to cheer them on

You noticed from the crowd that there’s a new but familiar face in the team

The arrival of the new maknae, the hidden ace, Lai Kuanlin

No one outside of W1, as well as yourself had ever seen him play basketball before

so everyone’s a bit worried because the stakes on the game are so high

but those worries were all put to rest as soon as Kuanlin stepped on the court

The star shooter of the match, he didn’t miss a single hoop and ended up being the player who raked in the most points helping W1 claim victory

After the game, you, Wanna One and all their friends went to a karaoke place to celebrate

You were sandwiched between Daehwi and Jisung who were singing their hearts out to some girl group songs

Everyone’s laughing and having a good time

But then you noticed Kuanlin surrounded by all these girls/new found admirers

And although he looked slightly flattered by the situation he also looked very uncomfortable due to the sudden attention on him

You weren’t too sure if you should intervene or not, and just as you decided you were going to say something, Jisung shoved the microphone into your face forcing you to sing with them

After many more songs, you decided this would be a good time to go outside to get some fresh air and a break from all the ruckus

“Y/N? what are you doing out here?”

Kuanlin was sitting on a bench outside the karaoke place

“I thought I’d take a break from the noise, it was getting stuffy in there…what about you, you’re the star of the night, you should be in there celebrating with the others!”

“Same as you, the craziness was getting to me”

You gave a light pat on the back, “Things wont be that normal for you anymore, you’re practically a celebrity!”

Kuanlin had just hmm-ed in response, getting lost in his thoughts again

After that day, you didn’t see Kuanlin as often anymore, which surprised you

it was weird and out of character of him to not have him showing up to classes

and there was always one empty seat next to you, which made your heart ache a bit?

you felt sad that you hadn’t been able to see him at all recently, and he had been extremely slow in replying to any of your messages

Turns out this applied to all your friends in W1 too

You found out eventually that they were preparing for the big national tournament in the coming month, so they were too exhausted to go to class

Videos were popping up on snapchat and facebook of them practising late into the night/morning

sometimes only getting 1 hour of sleep every night, maybe less

you were so shocked, your friends were being overworked like crazy by their coaches, but they just kept smiling and saying that they’re happy

Your birthday comes round, and you decided that you were just going to have a small gathering because all your friends were busy

You sat in the dorm corridor with a small group of your close friends

As you blew out the candles to your cake, you couldn’t help feel upset that none of the boys had been able to make it, or even respond to your invitation

You knew that they’re incredibly busy, so you’re annoyed at yourself for blaming them

You forced a smile onto your face and thanked your friends who had showed up, and after digging into the cake, you all retreated back into your rooms

The clock on your desk ticks away, and as it hits 11.59pm, you sigh

For some reason you had wished that at least Kuanlin could’ve turned up for your birthday

You had stopped denying that you missed him dearly

you missed his voice and his laugh

and his friendship

you also missed that warm fuzzy feeling in your stomach whenever he smiled at you

A few tears roll down your cheek and you wipe them away angrily

Why are you getting so worked up over a boy?

A boy who is just a friend

Just a friend who bought you multiple coffees

and took notes for you in class that week when you were sick

and accompanied you on late night walks to McDonalds

A sharp knock on your door echoes through your room

Looking at the clock, it’s 3am, and you realise you fell asleep

who tf would be knocking at 3am tho

It’s saturday night, so you’re scared it’s some drunk person causing a scene so you stay in your room

Another knock, but this time a voice rings clearly with it

“Y/N? Are you awake?”

You go over to the door, and after a bit of hesitation you open it

Kuanlin is standing there, holding a present and looking apologetic

“Surprise! Happy Birthday Y/N!”

“You’re three hours late.” you turn your back on him and return to your room with him following behind

“Oh cmon, dont be like that, haven’t you missed me?? Me and the guys are sorry that we couldn’t make it earlier…”

silence

“Y/N? did you hear me?”

He turned on the light and looked at your face clearly

“oh…Y/N, are you crying??”

You shake your head angrily but there’s no denying the tears running down your face

Kuanlin is so concerned, and pulls you into a hug

“Hey, hey, hey it’s alright, what’s made you so upset?”

You hug him back, clinging to him, your anger evaporating at the close proximity

instead your heart is now pounding at an insane speed and you can feel the cheeks starting to heat up

“I just…I’ve just really missed you, you idiot”

you try to disengage yourself from the hug and hide your face but Kuanlin just wipes away your tears gently with his thumbs before pulling you closer and patting your hair

“I missed you too Y/N, a lot.”

He pulls away slightly and hands you the present

“The basketball season is drawing to a close, so we get to go on a break for a few weeks, I just thought I’d come let you know in person and give you this at the same time.”

His face is tinged with pink and he scratches the back of his neck in embarrassment.

After unwrapping it you see it’s a beautifully and intricately designed necklace

You marvel over it as it sits delicately in the palm of your hand

He’s still nervously looking at you trying to assess your reaction

“UH…if you don’t like it, there’s an exchange card in the gift box, so if you don’t want it you can change it to something nicer at the shop just in case you -”

“Kuanlin, it’s beautiful, i really love it”

“YOU DO?”

this boy had spent hours at that shop trying to find that freaking necklace

and every single member of W1 had seen it and reassured him that you’d like it

but he was still nervous af the poor kid

He took a deep breath to try calm himself down as he took the necklace from your hand and signalled for you to turn round

you did and he gently pushed your hair to the side

his fingertips brushed your neck as he put the necklace on you and you couldn’t help but shiver

Suddenly his arms wrapped round your waist and you were enveloped by his warm body

“Y/N…Happy belated Birthday.”

After Kuanlin left that night, you lay in bed replaying the scene over and over in your head

Something about your relationship with him was different now, but in a good way

Playing with the necklace still hanging round your neck, you smiled to yourself

Who knows how things will go from here, but right now all you can think about is the next time you’ll see Kuanlin and how much you liked being in his embrace

huhuhu i always struggle to end my AUs and they turn out extra mushy, im sorry! I’m going to try really hard to do at least one update a week, but because my final exams are coming up real quick I can’t promise anything! Remember, if you’ve sent in a request, I will put them up on my masterlist as soon as I’ve seen them, so you can check if I’ve received them/if i’m working on them there! Once again, thanks for reading!! xo

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