3263 réponses à ce sujet

[jenncgf]

Hee hee! I like, Avilia!


Edited for ToP:




He is just so earnest here.  I just want to hug him!<3<3<3

Modifié par jenncgf, 10 septembre 2010 - 12:38 .

[Bruddajakka]

So I haven't written something in nearly ten years or so. So go easy. Apologize for typos etcGoing
with default Cousland's name because frankly I don't have one of my own, and I like it.

So I haven't written anything in nearly ten years so go easy on me. Apologize for any typos, and the like. Went with the default Cousland's name.


Elissa Cousland rubbed the back of her neck...or as everyone had made it clear lately Warden-Commander Elissa Cousland the Hero of Feraldan rubbed the back of her neck hell Alistair had partically hissed it at her the last time they'd spoken. Poor boy really wasn't taking the whole sparing Loghain, and making him marry Anora thing too well but
she'd gotten sick of babysitting him.

She was in the Vigil's throne room watching her newest recruit from across the room. In fact she was pretty much staring at him. Though to be specific she was staring at one particular part of him, and she let out a bit of a sigh as she thought to herself. He has his father's nose. Rendon Frakking Howe's nose, Natheniel Howe seemed to be a different man then his father at least when he wasn't glaring at her in anger, or shouting at her, though since she'd let him out of the dungeon after conscripting him, he'd mostly settled on glaring which reminded her a lot of Loghain but that was beside the point. Truth be told he looked enough like his father as it was without adding in that god awful looking nose.


Rendon had been known for that nose nearly as long as he'd been Arl, well he was also known for being a vicious little weasel of a man who would kiss the arse of any one who might be able to advance him, all the while scheming behind their back but he wasn't laughed at because of it. He'd been laughed at as a result of his nose though. Her Mother
had hated Rendon's nose, and she'd always been vocal about it. She had once told Elissa a story when she was a teenager after having a bit too much to drink with Lady Landra during dinner about how he'd once tried to convince her to join him in his tent when she was younger back before she had married Bryce during the rebellion, and she'd been unable to to hold back her laughter at the time promptly rejecting him. Well her language had been a bit more colorful due to her intoxication, and Elissa was fairly certain that was the first time she ever heard her Mother say the word bugger.


Her own opinion of it was more or less the same. Though if you looked at Nathaniel the right way he did look a lot like Loghain which was at least something, and he was built very nicely due to being an archer very sleek looking. She shivered to herself a bit thinking about the last time she'd seen Loghain before she'd left to take on the duties of Warden Commander at the Vigil which caused her to look even closer at the young man in front of her, tilting her head to the side she wondered if she could convince him to shave.

Modifié par Bruddajakka, 10 septembre 2010 - 04:16 .

[jenncgf]

Bruddajakka, I like it! Congrats on writing again!

[jenncgf]

Here's my prompt fill for Nose!

The Portrait


They were shopping in Amaranthine when she found the painting. “Maker's breath!” she exclaimed as she stopped short. “Look at that!” Hanging on the back of the stall was a family portrait. It depicted a couple, the woman seated while the man stood behind her. Surrounding the seated woman were three children, all of whom were about the same height. The thing that caught Elissa's attention the most was the man. He looked exactly like Nathaniel.

It took but a moment for her to talk to the merchant and purchase the painting. With his assurance that it would be delivered to the keep shortly, she continued on her way, still musing over the uncanny resemblance that she saw.

-0-0-0-

The painting arrived at the keep, as promised, the day after Elissa returned. She received the wrapped package and brought it to her and Nathaniel's room, where she knew he would be at this time of day. Sweeping into the room, she ignored his raised eyebrow and plunked the large, rectangular package on the bed.

“Look what I found in the market the other day!” she exclaimed as he moved to stand next to her. She tore the plain wrapper off the portrait and stepped back so that he could examine her purchase.

He paused, a look of shocked silence on his face. A moment later, he leaned over and picked up the portrait, tilting it at a better angle to see its entirety. “This … this is our family portrait from when I was a child.” He carefully traced over each of the figures in the portrait, pointing out who was who. “There's Mother, and Father, and myself, Thomas and Delilah. I assumed this had been lost years ago.” He gently laid the portrait back down on the bed and stepped back a moment before smiling ruefully. “I forgot how much I look like Father,” he remarked, almost too casually. “At least you'll know what I look like when I get older.” His face closed down a little, assuming a neutral expression, as he waited for her to respond.

Elissa looked at Nathaniel a moment, then back at the portrait. He's worried that he reminds me too much of Rendon. The realization made her eyes widen for just a moment. How do I make him understand that he hasn't reminded me of Rendon in months? She thought for a little bit longer, then an idea came to her. She quickly removed a painting that was already hanging on the wall and replaced it with Nathaniel's family portrait, then dragged a mirror over next to the portrait. It took a little longer to dig up the painting Rendon had gotten made of himself as an older man, but she triumphantly produced the small painting and hung it on the other side of the mirror. Nathaniel just watched her silently, a question in his eyes.

Now that things were set up to her satisfaction, she clasped Nathaniel's hand in hers and gently tugged him so that he could see himself in the mirror. “I don't think so.” She smiled at the incredulous look on his face. “Look.” She traced his face with her fingers. “I know that when he was just a little older than you are now,” she pointed at the family portrait with the hand that was not tracing Nathaniel's jaw, “that he looked very much like you do now, but look at the portrait when he got older. Do you see those lines on his face?”

Nathaniel looked at her, clearly confused. “Of course,” he said cautiously. He had no idea where she was going with this. This made Elissa smile.

“Bear with me a moment.” She traced his forehead, smoothing out the lines that creased whenever he raised his eyebrows. “These are deeper than when he was younger. You always raise your eyebrows when you're curious about something. He didn't ask very many questions, I gather.” Nathaniel nodded in confirmation, so she continued. She traced the space between his brows. “This is smooth. Look at your father. He spent so much time frowning that he had a permanent wrinkle here. You won't have that unless you suddenly become unhappy all the time.”

Next, Elissa moved to the outside corners of Nathaniel's eyes. “When you smile or you're tracking, these form,” she said as she traced the crow's feet that were starting to develop. “Your father hardly ever smiled.” Then she traced around Nathaniel's mouth, just barely skirting by his lips. “here, you have laugh lines. He doesn't. He frowned so much that by the end, his face had developed a permanent sneer. Your mouth turns up a little at the corners, because that's the way it's used to staying.”

Then she got to the last part she wanted to accentuate. “Your lips – see how full they are?” Nathaniel groaned unhappily; he hated to be reminded how full his mouth was. He thought it made him look too feminine, despite all reassurances to the contrary. Elissa smiled at the groan. “Your father always had his pressed together in disapproval. You don't.” Then she picked up the portrait of older Rendon off the wall and brought it to where Nathaniel was standing. “I predict that you will look completely different than your father as you get older. You're choosing to approach life differently than he did, and it will show in your face.” She added, trying to make it sound like an afterthought, “I like the way you look.”

Nathaniel's face had lost its neutral quality while Elissa was emphasizing all the differences between him and his father. By the end, he was smiling at her. She could tell by the look in his eyes that he understood what she was trying to say. He leaned forward and kissed her gently. When he drew back, he responded.

“There is one thing that will never look different than Father.” He traced the lines of the portrait in front of him. “I'll always have his nose.”

Elissa laughed, causing Nathaniel to smile. “Nobody's perfect,” she teased as she smiled at him again. She traced Nathaniel's nose before leaning up and kissing it right on the tip. “I don't mind that at all.”

[Bruddajakka]

Now if she could only convince him to shave. Good job.

[MelRedux]

@Avilia: LOL forever!...that was awesome.  I'm still giggling!

@Bruddajakka: Congrats on your first attempt in 10 years!!  I hope you keep practicing and keep contributing to the prompts!

@jenncgf:  That was so cute!

[jenncgf]

Brudda,

laugh! Yeah, I'm not a big fan of soul patches (aka dead rat under the lip), but hey. Thanks!



Mel,

Thanks!

[Bruddajakka]

Yeah that, and his nose are the only things that really make him look like Rendon. Without them he'd look more like Loghain, and he looks enough like him as it is.

[jenncgf]

I don't know. I see a strong family resemblance. Facial structure is similar, the eyes are similar, and the brow shape (although Rendon's eyebrows are a little bushier) is similar. I'm attributing some of the differences to what you'd see in characters aging over time.



Of course, with only a few choices for faces and the coloring similarities between Loghain and Nathaniel, I can completely see why a lot of people think Nathaniel looks like Loghain too.

[Bruddajakka]

I've kind of got the impression that in order to make Nate they took Rendon's model slide down the complexion slider changed his hair, and eyebrows then respecced him into an archer.

[MelRedux]

Bruddajakka wrote...

I've kind of got the impression that in order to make Nate they took Rendon's model slide down the complexion slider changed his hair, and eyebrows then respecced him into an archer.

Nah, Rendon has those creepy, beady little eyes that are really narrow-set.  And he has a narrow face.  Nathaniel's face is a lot...beefier?

[Sarah1281]

Okay, here's my entry:



Childhood Truths



It’s a little awkward to admit that his first memory of his father involved a great deal of terror on his part. Rendon Howe being who he was, this would surprise no one. What was a little more unexpected that it wasn’t any of his dark deeds or some hidden evil that a young Nathaniel could sense within his father but rather his appearance. Rendon was a stern-looking man and not particularly fond of children, even his own, and so that would have been enough to put anyone on guard. Where Thomas and Delilah were merely uncomfortable with him, Nathaniel was incredibly frightened…of his nose.



Of all the reasons that his father had given people to hate or fear him – or both – his nose would probably not have made the list. Still, as much as Nathaniel would refuse to admit to it today (even if Delilah had thought it was hilarious and felt the need to tell his fellow Wardens all about it when they had last been in Amaranthine), he could definitely remember it in the vague sort of half-remembered way young children do. When he’d accidentally let Thomas see his fear, his brother had spent weeks teasing him about it and threatening to tell their father all about it. For all that Nathaniel feared his father’s nose, he had never actually feared the man himself and so not wanting their father to know was more hoping to avoid looking foolish than worrying about any potential consequences.



Nearly nine years ago now he had been sent to the Free Marches for training. It was quite a distance away and he hadn’t really wanted to go. Thomas and Delilah had cried when he left but he wouldn’t break down in front of them. He was determined to be strong for them and to think of it as an adventure. It really did turn out to be one and he ended up becoming far stronger and more self-sufficient than he would have been had he stayed in Amaranthine like Thomas did. Thomas…Nathaniel did wonder sometimes how much truth there was to the rumors that still floated around about his recently deceased little brother. He was a drunkard, he cared for nothing but chasing skirts…Thomas was a child when he had last seen him, mischievous but sweet, and he had thought that Delilah didn’t even count as a girl because she wasn’t ‘icky’ like the others. How much of that had changed? How much of that was his father’s fault?



The nose of Rendon Howe was long and hooked and slightly crooked like it had been broken in the past in some story that Nathaniel was never going to get a chance to hear and secretly worried that he wouldn’t even want to. What were the odds that his father’s misdeeds had only started with the Couslands? Maybe when the crimes were smaller, he had been better at covering it up. Even with the Cousland massacre, nobody had really been able to definitively link him to their deaths until after his own. But he dwelled on that often enough. His father’s nose had reminded his childish self of a bird come to foretell death or to peck out his eyes or of an evil witch seeking to turn him into a frog. It really was fortunate that his father was the one with the nose instead of his mother – witches of the wild always being depicted as women – or he might never have agreed to go near her again. His mother had never been a pretty woman but she had never reminded him of a monster the way his father did. Chances are, she wasn’t one, either, although she’d never been the most maternal of creatures.



Nathaniel had been out of the country for almost four years when he looked in the mirror one day and saw his father’s nose protruding out of his own face. It had startled him a little, to be honest. He hadn’t had his father’s nose when he was younger (although there were similarities given that they were related) and he highly doubted that he had went to bed one night with his normal nose and woken up the next morning with his father’s. This change must have been something that had occurred gradually over time and yet somehow he had failed to notice it until the transformation was complete. It was really a good thing he had long since grown past his childish fear or who knows how he would have reacted?



He had promptly placed the matter entirely out of his mind and went about the business of learning how to handle himself in battle, in court, wherever. It was only after he had seen Delilah again and she had brought up the old story of his childish fear that he had even remembered it. He had returned to Ferelden full of righteous fury and a thirst for vengeance, eager to strike down whoever had so defamed his family name and had stolen their lands. Instead, he had found a friend in the Warden-commander and a home of sorts at Vigil’s Keep. It was, strangely, far more of a home now than it had ever been when he had been a child and the land actually belonged to them.



He had also found that the hero he had long since believed his father to be was a lie. Whatever he may have done in the past, no matter how brave and noble he might have been during the rebellion, Nathaniel knew of no hero that would come into the home of his friends and slaughter them all. He knew of no hero that would suggest selling his own people into slavery. He knew of no hero that would kidnap and torture the sons of nobles for daring to seek the truth or Templars for merely carrying out their duty.



Delilah had said that he had always known the truth even if he’d never admit it. When Nathaniel was very young, he had seen a monster when he had looked at his father. He had been right.

[jenncgf]

Sarah, that was excellent! I like the humor in the beginning and how it gradually transforms to the truth in the story.

[MelRedux]

Very good Sarah!!

[Avilia]

@Brudda loved it. No shaving Nate though...

@Jenn - that was lovely. I could see Nate worrying about that.

@Sarah - you made me want to give Nate a hug. I love the final para where he acknowledges the truth.

[Avilia]

So, I wrote a prompt response over in the Anders thread. It wasn't a terribly cheery one and as a result of a short convo with another poster about it, asked myself the question, what happened when Anders found out?

Fellow Brooders you will not be surprised to find that somehow I went from "Anders has problems coping with this" to "my main protagonist canoodles with Nate." How the dickens did that happen?



Nathaniel approves +100

Edit - correct spelling optional.  Apparently.

Modifié par Avilia, 11 septembre 2010 - 04:07 .

[Mahumia]

(Note: apologies for bad drawing, but it was just a quick sketch)



Quit complaining about your nose, or I'll bite it off

[Avilia]

haha - I love it

[Addai]

I am going to submit something, I'm just slow! Work week sucks out my brain so I have to write on weekends. I'm also not reading the others til I'm done lest I chicken out by comparison. I know, I know, I'm overthinking.



I love that sketch!!

[jenncgf]

hehe, that's a fun sketch Mahumia

[Avilia]

Morning Nate:

[Addai]

Ok, here's mine.  Hope I didn't break any rules.  I'm really nervous about that, obviously.  LOL


Noses Worth Noticing

"You know, you have a really big nose."

The Commander of the Grey, an Orlesian Dalish woman named Tecla Adra, whirled and gave Nathaniel Howe a glare that could melt darkspawn flesh.  Nathaniel belatedly recalled that she was a mage, and that riling mages could have unhealthy side effects. Still, he was tickled pink to see such a rise out of her. It was not one of his nobler qualities, but when people annoyed him, he liked to push their buttons. The commander had been particularly withering in her upbraiding of him earlier that day, accusing him of breaking formation when all he had done was seek higher ground for a clearer shot, and he thought it time for a bit of payback.  If he could do so while teasing her about something that people had always teased him about, so much the better for the irony. Anyway, the elf was way too uptight for her own good.

Nearby, the Legion dwarf Sigrun sat at the long communal dining table staring at them. The look on her face said "it was nice knowing you, Howe." The mage Anders sat a few chairs down trying to suppress laughter. A tense silence reigned while Nathaniel waited for the explosion he hoped would come; metaphorically speaking, of course. He was disappointed when Commander Adra simply turned, retrieved her meal, and took a seat across from Sigrun in silence.

Nathaniel pursed his lips and glanced after the woman. So she was as stubborn as he was. He had to give her some
grudging admiration for this. Her nose wasn't really that big, of course. If put to it, he would have called it strong. It was actually fitting on the commander's relatively tall, athletic frame. Not that he would ever admit he found her attractive, especially not when he was as angry with her as he was now. She wouldn't even give him the satisfaction of a good fight.

Sullenly Nate went to dish himself some stew and took a seat across from Anders, avoiding the mage's waggling eyebrows.

They all ate in silence for a time until Sigrun piped up. "You know, your nose is really big, Nathaniel. Really big."

"Do you have a point, Sigrun?" The jest wasn't nearly as effective when it was turned back on him, especially since it hadn't even had the effect on Commander Adra that he had hoped it would.

"No, no point." The silence resumed and then, after a few moments, Sigrun started again. "It's so big we could stand you on the Pilgrim's Path and use you to point the way to Denerim." The dwarf had an impish look on her face, something which Anders picked up immediately.

Grinning, the mage suggested, "You could put Dworkin's explosives up there and turn it into a cannon."

Sigrun giggled. "Or just have him blow snot on bandits! Isn't Grey Warden snot tainted? I bet it would work as a weapon." The two jesters were obviously just warming up.

Nathaniel's expression was hard. He had endured such taunts as a child, and having had to put up with a great deal of indignity since returning to Ferelden, his first impulse was to anger. It didn't help that he had asked for this beating. Dimly he also felt ashamed for having reduced himself to such a childish taunt in the first place. What would the commander think of him now?

He glanced at her and found that she was looking on in confusion. Nathaniel often thought that she seemed to be studying those around her, copying their mannerisms. She was not only an elf, not only Dalish, but Orlesian as well, and it was obvious she took her responsibilities seriously and was trying very hard to be proper in all her dealings. It was probably why she was so uptight. Now she appeared to be trying to figure out whether what was happening was okay or whether she should step in to stop it.  Their eyes met and held for a few moments, then Nathaniel smiled at her.

Anders and Sigrun were busy discussing whether the army might adopt the "Howe honker," a new type of war bugle modeled after Nathaniel's nose, and how much coin they might make off the invention. "Yes, yes, and when we're out in camp you can use it to hang your laundry on," Nate interrupted them wryly. He then turned back to Tecla and gave her a small wink. The elf pursed her lips angrily, but a moment later her expression softened a little and he thought he even saw a grin trying to break out.

For his own part, Nathaniel felt something in him dislodge. It took him a moment to realize what he was feeling. In Kirkwall he was used to soldiers taking the mickey out of each other for anything and everything. It could be brutal, but it was clean, honest mockery among comrades. After learning what his father had done, Nathaniel Howe had not expected to feel clean ever again. He had never thought he would feel part of anything, never fit in enough to get an honest beating about his big nose. He would apologize to the commander later, but Nate was suddenly very glad they both had noses worth noticing.

Modifié par Addai67, 11 septembre 2010 - 10:45 .

[Avilia]

I loved it Addai. Sigrun and Anders are brutal aren't they ;-) I liked the resolution when he realises its just comradely teasing and nothing mean.

[Addai]

Glad you liked it Avilia. And I finally went back and read the others- so fun! Well done everyone.

Modifié par Addai67, 12 septembre 2010 - 12:18 .

[MelRedux]

LOL...I love the "Howe Honker" reference. Good job addai!