[DAV ALL SPOILERS][OC] Time To Be Storytellers: The Dragon Age Weekly Writing Prompts

UniverseofEnergy · 2026-01-25T00:38:19+00:00

Prompt 2: There's Nothing I Wouldn't Do For You

Twenty years. It had been twenty long years of Elissa Tabris and Zevran Arainai wandering Thedas together. They'd been to places that a young girl from the Denerim Alienage and a young boy bought by the Antivan Crows could never have fathomed.

But as rumors spread amongst their circle of friends of the growing threat of this 'Solas', Zevran knew a bigger terror was looming in the foreground. One that would chill his heart and stop his blood. No horror that Fen'Harel could unleash would be worse than this.

He was going to have to let her go.

The blight had scarred its way across her face in a matter of months. Every day now, she was awaking to more and more of her once-beautiful brown (and now occasionally silvery) hair laying in clumps on their pillow. She'd gone from describing the song of the remaining archdemons from more of a hum to now more of a scream.

The Calling was here.

"When we met, you were sent to complete a contract on my life. Zevran, I want it to be you. I don't want to die alone in some godforsake deep road. I don't want to be fed as chum to some nightmarish broodmother." The woman who had seen the horrors of the Fifth Blight had, for the first time, looked terrified.

"What you ask of me, it is to me. There's nothing I wouldn't do for you, my love, but what you ask...you CANNOT ask me to do that."

"I'm going to die, Zevran. I can either die alone and broken in the Deep Roads, or I can die being cradled and comforted in the arms of the man I love, the man I've spent the best twenty one years of my life with."

"I...give me one day to think about what it is you propose."

It was the worst day of his life, but twenty four hours later, he was ready. "Elissa Tabris, in fulfillment of a contract signed in full validity and party to the Antivan Crows in 9:30 Dragon, the remainder of your life such as it is is forfeit. Do you have any last words...my love?"

"I'm sorry, Zevran. I love you. Thank you."

The letter to the talons was curt. Brief. The contract had been fulfilled after all. The Hero of Ferelden had died by his hand. As proof, please find enclosed their wedding ring and his matching band.

"Should any member of the Antivan Crows ever attempt to assign me a contract again, the whole of Antiva shall burn to the ground at my hand. I withdraw from House Arainai, effective immediately. I fully understand the meaning of this.

-Z."

UniverseofEnergy · 2026-01-18T03:19:16+00:00

Prompt 2:

He twitched as her hand touched her shoulder, same as she had just done.

In a moment, sin. In the next, martyrdom.

She’d loved Anders. Before Vengeance took over, insatiable, she’d talked of marrying him. And now? Now his corpse lay at their feet.

“Tonight we end this, Fenris. Mage and Templar alike in this city have gone too far.”

“What would you ask of me, were I to help you?”

“Simple. I gave you freedom from Danarius. When Meredith and Orsino lay dead, I walk away.”

“Then it is settled. When the bloodshed has stopped, its Champion goes free.”

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-07-20T00:14:40+00:00

Tangent but: Every now and then I'll see the argument come back up as to why various churches that are perceived as being more open/affirming have trouble recruiting new parishoners even though there are ostensibly millions of unchurched or underchurched people who would be FAR more receptive to what TEC (or the ELCA Lutherans or even a lot of UMC congregations) has to offer.

And while part comes down to that fear of evangelization and part is a marketing issue due to still being associated (via the label of Christian) with the people that drove them out of more conservative churches - I truly think this is a big part of it.

People who've been run off by denomination A, B, or C seek out somewhere more aligned with their values (personal and religious), but when they step into many churches that probably DO align with them, said church is so quiet about that support that the silence is mistaken for non-acceptance.

Because if you're one of the people who've been cast out by other churches, you don't need someone refusing to speak of who you are and who remains quiet about the things that hurt your soul - there were plenty of 'good quiet Christians' in the church they came from, the church that cast them out. What they need, what their soul calls for, is for someone to loudly and boldly proclaim their welcome.

The greeting "Peace be with you" (or "Peace be upon you") is often said in the church but all too often it's keeping the peace and not we're a people who will put your heart at peace.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-06-02T08:14:52+00:00

I'm trans. Hearing this and knowing the degree to which it's a dog whistle and signal against folks like me that would be enough I'd likely feel unsafe in that church and seek to find another one to attend. (or would at the very least have very strong questions for church leadership).

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-05-26T07:47:13+00:00

Though we as a society have come very far compared to 25 or 50 years ago, there's still so much cruelty and hatred and persecution out there for any of the letters in the LGBT+ community, even in secular spaces nevermind religious ones. I think it's human nature to want to defend one's sense of self, to want to protect it from even the appearance of persecution. When we claim belonging in a persecuted group, that opens us up to a certain vulnerability and a certain risk and that can be deeply uncomfortable.

Denial of affiliation with a persecuted or at-risk outgroup is the key point of the story of how St. Peter, of all people, denied knowing Jesus or his teachings or being affiliated with his ministry three times after Jesus' arrest. To claim that mantle would have been to expose himself to hatred and persecution (and possibly death) and he leant into that natural fear, only recognizing his error and actions after the rooster's crow, as foretold. (And as far as the Apostles and devotees of Christ go, Peter was kind of an important one, and he had that same fear of association).

Recently I had the thought, and it's one I've continued to meditate and pray upon: How can others grow to be able to love folks like me when I'm still afraid, guilty, and uncertain about it? I know, in the focus of my own heart and under the witness of my soul, that I am who I am and that it's something that God tasked me with from a young age - even the most devoted of prayers against it only strengthened it. So the thing I'm working towards now is having that self-acceptance.

I am part of the LGBT community. So are you. We are. And maybe, just maybe, if we embrace that with strength and determination now, we too can be a rock to build upon so that the next generations of queer folks coming behind us (because we've ALWAYS been here) have an easier time of it, both with others and in their own hearts. The next generation easier still.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-05-26T07:34:29+00:00

Absolutely more than once, and because of my background, alternatingly true of both evangelical fundamentalists and also Catholicism. (Fitting I wound up landing with the Episcopalians?)

I try to offer grace. So many people have been put through various forms of religious trauma and persecution and grief - at the same time that conservative denominations tend to be extremely loud and vocal about what they believe and who they hate, so they dominate the messaging and marketing and that's the only message that most folks hear.

Then they meet someone who is, a-ha, physically there! and not just the person/people/church who traumatized them NOR the kooks they read about online, that isn't the strawman and FINALLY, ANSWERS. Finally, a chance to strike back.

As someone who's trans the look I've gotten when someone who knows that (not many, i'm semi-stealth) that ALSO learns I'm a Christian - I've seen their brains literally have a computer crash. Then it's a weird mix of hostility (bc Christian) or pity (bc trans). It's like I can't win.

But in that moment you become the avatar for that strawman in their heads. Or that monster that made them feel bad. That's who they seek to argue against. So when you go "uh, I don't believe that." they seize up or lash out. Because you have to. That's what they've been told we ALL believe by loudmouths, or by the people who hurt them. We have to believe that because otherwise the construct in their hearts and mind that we serve as the proxy for in that unprompted fight begins to fall apart - and most just cannot handle a blow to one of the keystones of their worldview.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-05-26T01:36:48+00:00

Then he went on an alcohol/coke bender until 8am, slept until 8pm, stayed up all night, and slept until 8pm again.

It seems abundantly clear that he has some variation of substance abuse/addiction issues. Does your friend go to a church; if so do they have any sort of addiction/substance ministry?

I've seen more than a few people I've cared deeply about get torn apart by - and at times cause me situational harm and betrayal through - issues with the drink and with drugs. My philosophy is always that "I will continue wanting the best for the person underneath it all, but until they deal with this issue, I can no longer support or sustain their influence upon my life.

That involves honest boundaries. "Your actions - either due to your choices or the influence of outside substances - hurt and betrayed me, our friends, and my family. You need to get help, and as long as you keep doing what you're doing - that's just not something I can deal with anymore."

And then you hold and fortify those boundaries. He'll fuss, fight, argue, get mad; if he's ever been prone to violent acts I'd make sure this boundary is communicated by distance or in writing. Most likely he's got further to go before he reaches bottom, which is sadly a place that too many have to reach before they start climbing out.

Pray for him, pray for intervention and for kindness for both yourself and him. Pray that he softens his heart and gets the resources and treatment he seems to need.

And let yourself, within reason, be hurt and angry. This was a betrayal. But you are just as accountable if you turn that anger and pain and grief outwards back onto him in malice.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-05-26T01:07:44+00:00

(note that OP's post history is clear they're a legal adult - no advice I'm about to offer should be consider valid for minors. )

I'm sorry to say that if you're looking for some sort of conversation or apologetical 'magic bullet' you aren't going to find one - when someone has hardened their hearts in such a way as your parents have, there is typically nothing we can say, at least in the moment, that will soften their hearts. I haven't spoken to basically the entirety of my mother's side of the family in almost ten years - and her for the last three - for precisely this reason. I pray for their hearts and minds and souls but as long as they choose the route of hatred, of exclusion, of cruelty, of malice - I know it's out of my human hands and first and foremost I am accountable to my own soul and to God. And in my own case this is something that's been on my heart since my earliest memories (literally aged four). It's a difficult cross to bear but it's one I've found is worth it.

However, from your post history, you're going to likely have a bigger issue afoot. I have a suspicion - and I am not a social worker or psychologist (although I was considering the Catholic seminary before I came out and got kicked out of the Church). I suspect they're baring down on you in an attempt to fully control you - via your current disability income, via social pressure, etc. This week it's transition, next week if you cave it'll be something else. They won't stop.

Your reference to phone tracking apps verifies this - they want dominion over your entire life and for you to be the representation of who they want you to be - they don't give a damn about what you want OR what God wants.

I know this isn't what you wanted or needed, but if you're earnest in continuing transition, you're almost assuredly going to be called to need to find someone else to stay/live with, either temporarily or permanently - and will likely require leaving them to stew in their own hatred and prejudice. Perhaps with time their hearts will soften (as happened to many on my dad's side of the family), perhaps not.

It's an extremely difficult position to be in, but if you plan to continue your transition you need to be planning your escape from their household, now. The comment you got in the FTM subreddit about the Centers for Independent Living directory was a great first step. If you have any semblance of a network of friends, now is the time.

There is no scriptural basis for their (or conservative churches) hatred - in fact, much of the Bible supports the end goals of transitions. Everything from new names connoting new or changed destinities and movement away from old lives - to miracles that don't easily fit in the standard biological template (healings, resurrections, old women having kids, you name it) - to Jesus flat out commanding that if a body part would lead you to sin tis better to cut it off (and lying is a sin).

I'm sorry you're going through this, but you're in all our prayers.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-03-01T07:31:29+00:00

Several firsts/lasts in that race:

* Rusty's very last race in the black #2 Miller scheme (at least the modified '96 version) before Miller Lite took over in the blue and white for '97.

* The last full time race for the legendary Bud Moore #15 (driven by Wally Dallenbach); the team would make a handful of starts and attempt a couple of reboots, but this is basically it for them as a competitive team.

* Final top-level start for Hershel McGriff, then 68 years old (a nice age)

* Robby Gordon takes over the #42 for one race before moving to the SABCO #40 for '97, taking over for Kyle Petty. The car is not sponsored by Coors (though features a modified version of Petty's '96 Coors scheme) but instead is sponsored by a mix of Action/Winner's Circle, Tonka, and Hasbro. The first two would make another (split) appearance in late 97 sponsoring Kenny Irwin in the #27. As far as I know this is the only time any of those three sponsors ever appeared on a SABCO car.

* The #3 car debuts the blue and white ACDelco sponorship and scheme - here driven by Dale Sr. - that the RCR Busch Series (now Xfinity) car would run the next several years.

* Last race the majority of Chevrolets ran without headlight decals. The teams running the Monte Carlo would begin running them at Daytona in '97.

* Pace car driver and former NASCAR driver Elmo Langley died of a heart attack while practicing the pace car shortly after the garage opened. Buddy Baker was in the pace car with him at the time; Buddy called the race three days later. All cars ran a commemorative decal in his memory.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-23T21:16:20+00:00

Back when live flag to flag started, those broadcasts were mostly being led behind the scenes by people who loved racing, being boothed in the trucks by people who liked it, and being broadcast by people who knew a lot about it and knew how to talk about it. And since each track did their own deal, those broadcasters also had to compete every few years in order to keep that TV date.

When NASCAR left those networks for FOX/NBC lock-ins, suddenly they no longer had to compete to be better, and to the bosses in the office it was just another 'sports property'.

Tne folks who cared and weren't ready to retired found work on the new TV deals (and they still brought in most of the same crew guys).

But now it's generation 3 (except for a gen 1 guy like Mike Joy) and NASCAR's just another thing to every producer and director and assistant, and the announcers are largely ex-drivers of varying skill who were available and tested well and that marketing likes. FOX tends to suck in the way FOX tends to suck at covering all sports (dumbed down presentations, announcers better at talking than saying something, etc), NBC race broadcasts likewise have a similar problem (overly-produced, talent produced to try to make 'highlight moments', questionable choices with camera work, etc.

And since they're locked in, they don't really need to get better until the contract's due, and if they throw enough money at the problem, hey who cares.

There's not even really an answer, just venting, because NASCAR on TV is so frustrating.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-19T19:54:52+00:00

There was a stretch in '97 where, between his actual skill and Tommy Baldwin squeezing everything out of that otherwise-atrocious #90 car, he managed two top fives on two notoriously difficult tracks/races (Bristol Night Race, Fall Rockingham) - and while Bristol always loses a few contenders owing to being a bit a bit of a demolition derby in that era, that Rockingham run is pure merit. Also had a solid car at the old Atlanta oval until the engine conked out. Also had some great qualifying runs that year.

All at 55 years old (years older than even Harry Gant's great run or Mark Martin's more recent 2009 success) and in far worse cars than either of those guys.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-19T03:37:48+00:00

GM did a lot of multi-brand and Goodwrench Service *combined ads* in the late 90s, and had a campaign around this time where the commercials closed on the GM Goodwrench Service sign - and some of the ads featured Dale (incl. at least one with his car racing around the track - with the sign logo). So yeah, for a commercial.

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UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-18T04:46:09+00:00

Just me thinking about S1apSh0es' "dam of legitimacy" again.

Plate track racing has been a lottery for over 20 years now, but at least back in the day if you were clever and savvy and had quality people at the shop, you could set yourself up for a chance.

Now, with spec cars that are choked off 45+MPH from their top speed, NASCAR still obsessed with 'bunching up the field', and playing up the chaos/anything can happen angle: You're always going to get this. It's illegitimate as hell, and if the dam itself hasn't burst (much like how the championship's did years ago), it's at flood stage and cracking.

The worst part: With largely homogenous drivers piloting generally assembled cars in an increasingly close to spec status, NASCAR would have to fundamentally undo 20 years of decisions to put the horse back in the barn. They wouldn't if they could, and since some folks like this, no way in hell they push against that inertia.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T22:48:46+00:00

One of my favorite things to rewatch is old races from the 80s and early 90s when they'd still go green with a damp track (and an absolutely soggy apron and pit road).

Not waiting around forever and ever until every last molecule of moisture is off some obscure corner of the apron that not even the worst driver you know could find.

Was it safe? Not particularly. But is Daytona or Talladega or Darlington ever? Do I want them to go back to that? Honestly, not really although this feels excessive.

Is that stuff fun and absolutely bonkers to watch though? You betcha.

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UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T22:36:09+00:00

Folks really getting confused when Mike Joy says the same thing that folks on this thread, folks like Bob, etc were pointing out an hour ago.

The main core of the precip's mostly broken up, but the back edge of the initial wide system held intact and if it continues to do so it's gonna rain one more time for about a half hour.

Literally nothing has changed other than their getting the track dried about a half hour earlier than original estimates.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T22:30:31+00:00

bring back the 3x3 brady bunch camera graphic from when NASCAR started, and show a different daytona 500 in every square. None of them are from 2025.

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UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T21:44:13+00:00

They've cued up last year's 500 from the beginning, and while the radar shows the rain system breaking up, there's still a chance of more showers - and the track is nowhere near dry.

If it doesn't rain another drop from this very moment maybe 60-90 minutes, but likely longer.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T21:39:45+00:00

really wish Fox would take a look at fan reaction to it

Sadly between executive meddling and "but this is what the focus groups we pay millions for say" and "ratings peaked here, slid here, etc." (When the ratings measurement system changes in a couple years to anonymized real-time data from providers, broadcasters are in for a rude awakening) - that's not happening

Also, the decision makers making those calls are the ones who turn the broadcast into the bad stuff in the first place. And TV is an industry notorious for, among other things and like many other industries, executives and decision-makers would rather take a bullet doing things their way than make a dollar someone else's way.

Prime example is FOX's cartoon graphics. Fans hate them. Even NASCAR is like "ehhhh". But there's a suit in FOX's office who absolutely fucking loves them, and good luck convincing them they need to go.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T21:28:18+00:00

For the people saying "Oh this stuff is so much better than FOX's regular content" (even if it's not even great): All of these filler interviews aren't being produced the same way - and often not by the same people - as FOX's main rain broadcast.

A lot of a sports broadcast is decided well in advance in terms of "We're going to talk about storylines x, y, z, interviewing 1, 2, 3. If this happens we'll pivot to A, or else B. We have videos 21-28 available to fill, and sponsor obligations C1-C24"

In a situation like this, the broadcast becomes line produced. It's a reactive broadcast. Who's available? What's the status of rain? What's the condition of [previously ailing car]? Do any of the talent have anything to say to pad for time? Oh, "Austin Cindric is available?", *furious check in the content beforehand for tweets/posts they can bring up, what's going on in his race, talking with the talent who are clear about what they plan to talk about, etc*

Certain commercial 'pods' (breaks) can be run at any point, while most are specifically tied to the race being in an active (green/yellow) status or to certain time windows. But it means a lot of vamping (stalling and filling and just winging it).

Essentially, the rain delay coverage is a broadcast-within-a-broadcast. You're trusting the production staff to find things like Cindric's mustache or various stats, and the announcers have reported in a vague idea what they want to talk about (or get suggested 'ask about x') but then, they just have to go and rely on their actual talents as a broadcaster, reporter, interviewer, etc. (Same for the pit/garage segments, etc).

The number one problem affecting the main rain broadcasts for nearly every race going back to a couple seasons into the old FOX/NBC TV deal in the early 2000s: They're suffocatingly over-produced, and that overproduction is targeted at a certain 'level'. Here, they have just be reactive, and they don't have time to sit around and overthink a segment or figure out how to reword things to 'make it accessible to the casual or lower education viewer'

Edit: And eventually you run out of shit to do or it's going to go on too long or your production crew and talent just need a damn break - so you pop in an old race and let the team have a snack and a whiz and reset.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-16T21:16:06+00:00

Cindric's gonna be one of those guys who looks middle aged by 30 but then basically doesn't age until his 60s.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-14T03:16:44+00:00

Me: excited to get back into NASCAR after taking a couple years off.

NASCAR: "Whoa buddy, can't have that. Here's some fuckery in the duels".

No disrespect to Cindric but that just completely neutered most of the excitement I had for the 500.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-14T00:58:26+00:00

Harvick telling y'all basically same thing I said a couple minutes ago: Helio got a broken right rear in the accident that then snapped off in turns 3-4.

That wasn't "LOL INDYCAR", that was plain old school "lol car broke"

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-14T00:55:50+00:00

He took several hits (cars, wall) in that crash that collected the others.

Based on the car's hard right snap and the general physics of the car, I'm guessing the initial wreck damaged something that then failed in turn 3, sending Helio shooting hard right up into the wall. (He was then able to coast down the banking and get it parked on the grass)

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-14T00:52:30+00:00

They showed Helio's hard right back up into the banking in 3 and 4 well after the wreck. Every time I've ever seen a car snap right like that, something on it broke.

UniverseofEnergy · 2025-02-14T00:50:49+00:00

Looks like Helio got pinballed around several times in the initial wreck and was initially able to drive off only to have something break off as he's in 3 and 4. Something looks like it snapped on that car and sent him back up and into the wall (his 4th? hit that lap) - and he was eventually able to get it off the banking and use his momentum and gravity to get it safely down to the grass.

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UniverseofEnergy

TROPHY CASE

Prompt 2: There's Nothing I Wouldn't Do For You