I’d really like to change that though because I miss the tumbler community and I miss writing my thoughts about games and books I play and read, which is what I initially started tumblr for like six years ago XD
As someone who is generally pretty quiet, and has been constantly interrupted and talked over my whole life, I just feel the need to express my genuine love for people who actually listen. People who give me time to talk and prompt me to continue if someone interrupts me. I love you. Please keep that up.
Azerbaijani painter writes Quran on transparent silk pages
Azerbaijani painter and decorative artist Tünzale Memmedzade has transcribed the Quran onto transparent silk pages. Memmedzade, a 33-year-old artist, used 50 meters of transparent black silk, and 1,500 milliliters of gold and silver inks in the project, which has taken three years to complete. (read more)
this just in: not only does @kallielef have the greatest ideas ever, she’s also kind enough to let me borrow them, and here’s the result: 5000 words, pre-relationship solavellan ‘whoops I didn’t know this spring was occupied, and how about that, we’re both completely naked’ fic
***
She’s
left her boots at camp, a gesture that probably feels more rebellious than it
is in truth, but she’s too tired to think beyond her own feelings, the day-long
trek made longer by the low toned bickering that had managed to turn
into a full-blown argument by the time they reached camp, and not a
moment too soon. And
that’s where she’d left them – tired of being called upon to be the middle man
in this as in any disagreement small and grand shat out of Thedas’ back end. Tired, period. Her patience had reached
its limit long before they’d covered the last rise beyond which they’d spotted
the Inquisition encampment, and so after a few, quick words with Harding, and being
handed a list of requisitions as long as her arm, Ellana had taken off,
shoeless and with a mind for only one thing – the promise of a certain hidden
spring and a few, uninterrupted hours to herself.
It’s the thought of it that drives her forward now, barefoot down the gently sloping landscape to weave between the trees, and feeling lighter of heart with every step. And even
though she doesn’t know this forest it’s almost like she does – like she knows
what will meet her around the bend, and the dappled light strewn across the
path is enough of a reminder of home
to make her forget, if only for a little while, that it’s not where she is. And
it’s with her light heart that she finds herself at a rocky outcrop,
surveying it for any signs of the grotto she knows lies beneath – accessible
through the deep, glassy pool at her feet, if Harding’s word is to be believed. But the implied privacy has a smile breaking out across her face, and it’s
with an eagerness she can’t quite explain that she sets about unbuckling her
vest and coat.
Hands
stilling at the fastenings of her breeches, and – feeling strangely bold with only the sky watching, and nothing but birdsong and the gently
swaying branches stirring the air – she sheds everything, smalls and all. And there’s a rare freedom
in being naked, Ellana thinks, giddy smile stretching wider – a complete lack of
confinement with her hair loose and wild and the breeze against her bare skin,
that makes her feel more alive than she has in months.
A
deep breath, filling her lungs until it hurts, and the water wraps around her
as she takes the plunge, a smooth dive that cuts like a knife through silk. And
her strokes are sure even though she has no idea where she’s going, but she
follows the contour of the underwater passage, the stones lit by a dim,
blue-green light emitting from the gem-like formations dotting the walls on all
sides, growing brighter as she spies what might be the surface overhead.
Of
course – looking up, she’s made aware of something else, something that’s
neither a rock nor a strange, underwater growth, and the realization of what it
is that she’s seeing strikes her a moment before she’s reached the top of the passage, through
a narrow opening that doesn’t give her much choice of where to emerge.
Head
breaking the surface of the water, her hair clinging to her face and obscuring her vision, and dragging in more air than strictly necessary through her mouth, three
things become glaringly apparent, staggeringly fast – the first being that
she’s without a single stitch of clothing; the second that she’s just resurfaced
between someone else’s equally naked
legs.
And
the third (and by far the worst realization, Mythal help her) being the identity of the owner of those legs.
Why is the Solas romance still ruining my life? Let’s consider some things, shall we?
The Solavellan romance has the least amount of interaction of all the romances.
The intimate details of the romance are left ambiguous and open for the player to interpret.
It’s the only romance where the lover leaves!
What else do we lack in Solavellan? We never get the option to start a romance with Solas! We never have the option to lock in a relationship with him!
As a result of this, there are no tender moments with stolen kisses on the battlements. There are no interludes of long walks with our lover. There are no cuddles on couches. And to make matters worse, you’re not locked into the Solavellan romance until he dumps you, breaks off your relationship, and walks away from you with no further explanation! Locked in! There is no running to Cullen for consolation. No burying your head in Blackwall’s chest and having him console you. Rebound relationships are not an option unless you ended it first.
Why? you ask between choking tears and ugly crying. Here’s my theory.
Because, until this moment, Solas was not committed.
You’ve shared kisses on balconies, you discussed pursuing a relationship, you’ve had fade tongue…but no actual commitment. He’s never given you the option to start that romance, to lock him in place. In Crestwood, after he tells you he’s been trying to think of a way to show you what you mean to him, Lavellan fumbles for the words to define their relationship.
Lavellan - That’s not necessary Solas, you’re my….*glances away, confused*
Solas - That is the question, is it not?
Even he concedes that there is no true definition for your relationship status. And he’s brought Lavellan to Crestwood to change that. He’s brought you here to advance to the next level of your relationship. We, as the player, never get the option to start the romance with Solas, to officially choose to be bonded to only him, like the other romances. Why?
Because Solas makes that choice.
Solas is the one who gets the option to choose to start the romance and to make it official. He is the one who gets to lock the two of you together in the relationship. He is the partner doing the wooing here so of course the choice is his to make because you’ve already expressed your interest in him again and again to get this far.
He chooses Lavellan. He locks them and himself together in the committed relationship. Then, he leaves and says he can’t do this.
But guess what? You’re not single. That means that neither is he. You are still locked in that romance. And so is he.
I think Solas realizes that if he truly loves Lavellan, and he does, he owes it to them to fix the world that he has broken. If he gives up himself, his duty, then he turns his back on his responsibilities and now Lavellan is one of his responsibilities and a much more compelling reason to right his wrongs. And because he loves them, and they love him, his enemies can hurt them and use them against him. That’s assuming that his mission to right his wrongs does not cost him his life and cause Lavellan further pain. So, he leaves.
People say he is an ass, selfish, arrogant, etc. He’s not perfect. But he’s willing to sacrifice his happiness in order to make the world a better place than how he left it and that’s a selfless act. You could argue that it is Lavellan’s love and Lavellan’s belief in him that give him the strength to walk away.
Solas, and the Solavellan romance, break my heart because he walks away from Lavellan even more in love now than he was when he called them vhenan for the first time.
Tht moment in the trespasser dlc when you hear solas’s voice talk to the viddasala before you see him is literally like the ultimate high bc u know it’s the first time lavellan’s heard it in 2 years like what is going through her head what is she thinking about
his voice probably is so familiar to her it must bring all her faded memories of them back clear as day
Tht is my fav moment bc I hate happiness
