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[riverbanks]

It started because the writers of followers apparently always (or at least for DAO and DAI, not sure I've ever seen them for DA2) decide what their characters would be if they were food, and at least for DAI they teased people waiting for the release of follower names, pictures, etc. by naming 12 foods but (mostly) not saying who was what. Shortbread was one of them, and as far as I know this page was the first time it came up in connection to Cullen. BioFan later ran with it by using it in photomanips to welcome people to the thread.

 

(...) I've been itching to ask Brianne on twitter if that really was him. We didn't want to do it at the time because people were asking about the foods too much / reading too much into the ones they did discuss, and writers were getting annoyed.

 

Good catch, I didn't even remember the food game anymore! I do remember it took about five minutes for the writers to go from amused to annoyed with the millions of questions about it, though.

 

I think that line kind of has to be about Cullen though, because not only Cullen is the only one that Josie mentions in terms of sending gifts to, that specific line only triggers once you've gone through the whole back-and-forth about Cullen's birthday and Josie trying to find a gift that suits him. (that's part of the bug with script latency in the ambient banter, even if you don't hear it, the banters do trigger and "count" as triggered for the next one to fire, so you can miss all the previous parts and only hear the last section too if your scripts are really laggy)

 

In any case, shortbread cookies or butter toffees, either one is simple enough that they sound a lot more like Cullen than the fancy shiny gifts she tries to give him first, and Cullen stuffing his face with sweets like it's the best present ever is too good a mental image to pass.

[Owlfruit Potion]

Good catch, I didn't even remember the food game anymore! I do remember it took about five minutes for the writers to go from amused to annoyed with the millions of questions about it, though.

 

I think that line kind of has to be about Cullen though, because not only Cullen is the only one that Josie mentions in terms of sending gifts to, that specific line only triggers once you've gone through the whole back-and-forth about Cullen's birthday and Josie trying to find a gift that suits him. (that's part of the bug with script latency in the ambient banter, even if you don't hear it, the banters do trigger and "count" as triggered for the next one to fire, so you can miss all the previous parts and only hear the last section too if your scripts are really laggy)

 

In any case, shortbread cookies or butter toffees, either one is simple enough that they sound a lot more like Cullen than the fancy shiny gifts she tries to give him first, and Cullen stuffing his face with sweets like it's the best present ever is too good a mental image to pass.

Oh yeah, the line's definitely about him -- re: the jealousy joke [?] in Ariella's earlier post, BB also clarified to someone who asked on twitter that Josie is just kind and generous to her friends; I don't have the exact wording handy but it also confirmed that she was sending them to him. (I don't know if you remember the whole drama about Aidan Scanlan joking that Josie + Cullen were a thing--apparently when the game came out, that line made a few people think he hadn't been joking).

 

At any rate, I just meant whether shortbread really was his Follower Food or not. I am saving all my proper antecedent use and other qualities of clear writing for the paper I'm working late on, woOoOOoo!!

 

EDIT: And now I'm just sad Josephine's (or her assistants') toffee or shortbread recipe wasn't in WoT2.

[Ariella]

In any case, shortbread cookies or butter toffees, either one is simple enough that they sound a lot more like Cullen than the fancy shiny gifts she tries to give him first, and Cullen stuffing his face with sweets like it's the best present ever is too good a mental image to pass.

I was just thinking toffee because the whole Ferelden as quasi England, and the description 'butter and sugar' sounded to me more like a confection than anything baked.

This then led to a whole conversation on the art of candy making with my husband, who for some reason actually knows quite a bit about it...

Now I want a confectioner in VR! Or a quest with dueling candy makers... I'm a little sleep deprived.

[riverbanks]

I was just thinking toffee because the whole Ferelden as quasi England, and the description 'butter and sugar' sounded to me more like a confection than anything baked.

 

You know, I hadn't even considered toffees, but the more I think about it, the funnier it gets. Cullen hiding a thousand toffees on a drawer of his desk to munch on between reports, then starting to lock the drawer when his toffees start disappearing (Sera)... the Inquisitor catching him with a mouthful of toffee and Cullen coughing and trying to swallow the thing whole with zero dignity left... I love it.

[Tishina]

You know, I hadn't even considered toffees, but the more I think about it, the funnier it gets. Cullen hiding a thousand toffees on a drawer of his desk to munch on between reports, then starting to lock the drawer when his toffees start disappearing (Sera)... the Inquisitor catching him with a mouthful of toffee and Cullen coughing and trying to swallow the thing whole with zero dignity left... I love it.

Now you need to write that...

[R2s Muse]

It started because the writers of followers apparently always (or at least for DAO and DAI, not sure I've ever seen them for DA2) decide what their characters would be if they were food, and at least for DAI they teased people waiting for the release of follower names, pictures, etc. by naming 12* foods but (mostly) not saying who was what. Shortbread was one of them, and as far as I know this page was the first time it came up in connection to Cullen.** BioFan later ran with it by using it in photomanips to welcome people to the thread.

 

I think dialogue probably would have been finalized by then, but it's a small enough line that I guess it could have happened as a last-minute edit. I wouldn't bet on it myself, but that's partially because I like the idea of Josie's gift being butter toffee better. The lack of flour has always bothered me if she's talking about shortbread.

 

I've been itching to ask Brianne on twitter if that really was him. We didn't want to do it at the time because people were asking about the foods too much / reading too much into the ones they did discuss, and writers were getting annoyed. (In retrospect, I bet the meatballs or wax fruit were Blackwall, and no one would have wanted to know that early.) Still seems like the best one to me, though the strawberry parfait has potential too. (Actually, in retrospect... that or the bananas foster has to have been Josie. Doubling down on the shortbread guess.)

 

* Or something in that neighborhood, anyway; it was 10 at first, and I think it ended up 12+ eventually. But it might have been just companions; I think I remember Patrick saying IB was both the rump roast and the chili dog.

** In connection to Cullen and the Writers' Pit Food Meme, anyway. There's at least one older fanfic where he likes it.

 

Sorry for all the edits! I keep remembering things and coming back to this while my code is compiling.

Um, yeah, let's just say... we didn't start that, but some folks ran with it into the ground and then some. 

[R2s Muse]

Who even knows how the Cullen + shortbread cookies stuff got started anymore, but it's one of those things that's too coincidental to be a coincidence, that an ancient little inside joke in Cullen's fandom would end up becoming canon once he got a bit more personal writing.

I think there are a number of coincidences about things that showed up in game that we've talked about in this thread. The shortbread thing, however, is not one of them, since that started with the devs themselves, which I'm sure they now regret. I know I do ...

[Ariella]

You know, I hadn't even considered toffees, but the more I think about it, the funnier it gets. Cullen hiding a thousand toffees on a drawer of his desk to munch on between reports, then starting to lock the drawer when his toffees start disappearing (Sera)... the Inquisitor catching him with a mouthful of toffee and Cullen coughing and trying to swallow the thing whole with zero dignity left... I love it.

How about Cullen on a sugar rush...

This could become a guilty pleasure equal to Cassandra's books!

[Owlfruit Potion]

Um, yeah, let's just say... we didn't start that, but some folks ran with it into the ground and then some. 

Yeah, without getting into how I felt about that or any other thread meme that's happened since I've been here or before, I guess what I was trying to get at is that it came from the writers' food teasing but we still don't even know if that one was actually him. I know the nascent Blackwall fandom was also on the shortbread train to the point of making fanart. (I did end up giving in to curiosity and asking just now which food he was, with as much "this is totally silly but in case you happen to remember" as I could fit into the twitter format, but I don't really expect a response.)

 

As for inspiration from the thread in general... I don't know. Personally, if I were writing a pre-existing video game character I'd stay far away from any sort of fanfiction or fan discussion because of this kind of thing (which I want to say I originally read on a link from Gaider's tumblr or twitter?): http://cleolinda.liv...thread=47394171 .

[R2s Muse]

 

As for inspiration from the thread in general... I don't know. Personally, if I were writing a pre-existing video game character I'd stay far away from any sort of fanfiction or fan discussion because of this kind of thing (which I want to say I originally read on a link from Gaider's tumblr or twitter?): http://cleolinda.liv...thread=47394171 .

Yeah, sure, Gaider doesn't read fanfic, but we know the devs have lurked in our thread.

[riverbanks]

Now you need to write that...

 

You know if I wrote that I would somehow manage to make it sad instead of funny, though. Suddenly the toffees are lyrium! The sugar is nightmares! Sera was a demon!! Long-running sentences that make no sense! AAaAaaaaaangst!!!

[Tishina]

You know if I wrote that I would somehow manage to make it sad instead of funny, though. Suddenly the toffees are lyrium! The sugar is nightmares! Sera was a demon!! Long-running sentences that make no sense! AAaAaaaaaangst!!!

Nah, you can write humor, I know you can. Though you could add just a touch of bittersweetness to it - butter toffees were his mother's favorite and his father used to make/buy them for her or something like that.

[Vanalia]

I think there are a number of coincidences about things that showed up in game that we've talked about in this thread. The shortbread thing, however, is not one of them, since that started with the devs themselves, which I'm sure they now regret. I know I do ...

Why do you regret?

 

 

Oh and about the birthday banter I didn't get Cullen's lines, just Josie's, so I had only one side of the dialogue when I get the Cullen/messenger banter it's only if I go straight and quickly to his office once I teleport back to Skyhold, or if I saved just near his office and enter directly just after loading. But it doesn't work all the time.

[R2s Muse]

So for fun new Cullen fanart, :fans self:

 

http://ynorka.tumblr...eres-a-low-tide

 

NSFW just so you know.

[R2s Muse]

 

Oh and about the birthday banter I didn't get Cullen's lines, just Josie's, so I had only one side of the dialogue when I get the Cullen/messenger banter it's only if I go straight and wuickly to his office once I teleport back to Skyhold, or if I saved just near his office and enter directly just after loading. But it doesn't work all the time.

Yeah, still seems to be rather occasional in how it the messenger banter fires. I find now I can never NOT stop when I see a messenger talking to someone tho, just in case I get new elusive banter that I've never heard. 

[Vanalia]

This is a reference to the Gallows in DA2. The Kirkwall Circle was built upon an ancient prison where slaves and criminals would be hanged, thus it was called The Gallows. Cole is sort of saying that even though the almost ten years he spent on that Circle had such a huge impact on his life, Cullen isn't tied to that experience forever. He wasn't "hanged" there, as in, he doesn't have to keep tying his future to his past forever, he can still walk away from all that and move on with his life.

 

There's another another ambient banter from Cole to Cullen about Uldred too, that says more or less the same; he doesn't have to keep dwelling on what happened in the Fereldan Circle all those years ago either, it marked him but it doesn't have to destroy him.

Thanks for the explanation, yes I thought there was a link with DA2, even if I didn't remember everything that happened (replaying the game right now, and finishing DA:I at the same time)

[Ariella]

Yeah, sure, Gaider doesn't read fanfic, but we know the devs have lurked in our thread.

He might not read it but he wrote this F!Revan/Carth thing in response to the complaint that they didn't get an on screen kiss...

Now I wish I had the damned link, because it was really cute.

Re: jealousy

I figured Josie was just being Josie, but it's the jealous catty part of me. Well, at least it's not an ex sending him stuff.

[Vanalia]

He might not read it but he wrote this F!Revan/Carth thing in response to the complaint that they didn't get an on screen kiss...

Now I wish I had the damned link, because it was really cute.

Re: jealousy

I figured Josie was just being Josie, but it's the jealous catty part of me. Well, at least it's not an ex sending him stuff.

I never saw that as a romantic gift, I think she is just trying to be kind with everyone. She knows Cullen is working hard and never takes time to enjoy himself so I guess she wanted to do a little something for him, as a friend. Because she knew it was his birthday and maybe she thought it was sad to see him work alone in his office the day of his birthday, with no one thinking about it.

 

Poor Cullen it would be cool if the Inquisitor could offer something to him as a birthday present, or wish him happy birthday as a dialogue option

[Tishina]

Josephine just strikes me as the sort of person to have a calendar with everyone's birthdays and such marked on them and always remembers gifts for everyone. Besides wanting to get Cullen a coat, then settling for whatever confection involved butter and sugar, she sends Scout Harding flowers and some of her notes about the construction crews that are nailed up around Skyhold suggest she worries about everyone right down to them. So I put her gift(s) to Cullen in that category - the trained noble who genuinely takes care of "her" people, and completely in character. She may also be worrying about Cullen's lyrium withdrawal, and this is her way of supporting him.

[R2s Muse]

He might not read it but he wrote this F!Revan/Carth thing in response to the complaint that they didn't get an on screen kiss...

Now I wish I had the damned link, because it was really cute.

LOL That's awesome!

 

Yeah, he has (rightly) expressed concern about the potential for stealing ideas (or being accused of such) if he read fanfic (besides some of the more incendiary comments he's made about fanfic in general). But nevertheless, he was pretty closely connected to the DA community, collaborated on some 'fanfic' himself with aimo, has been inspired by the fan design for qunari!Isabela for the comics, and has commented on other things, like the awesome Zevran goes with Warden to the Calling story on tumblr. It's a pretty symbiotic relationship even if they wouldn't put something in *just* because the fans demanded it. It's been pretty clear from the start that Cullen's development over the years bears fan influence. Like DG himself has said specifically in the context of Cullen, they would rather use a character that people love or hate than a character no one cares about.

[Owlfruit Potion]

Well, that one's settled (not that I'm proposing a return to the Official [Snack / Euphemism / Airline / Bank] of the Cullen Thread framework or anything, just so I can stop wondering if it was actually one of the other ones)!

Owlfruit Potion
@bbattye Totally silly question but it just came up again in the Cullen thread: Now that spoilers / overinterpretation are less of a

concern, would you be willing to share which (if any) of the Follower Foods y'all were teasing us with last winter was Cullen?

(Also, I understand that this might not be *exactly* the kind of thing one might still have committed to memory over a year later.)
Brianne Battye
@owlfruitpotion haha ah yes. I believe he was shortbread...
 
As for the Carth/Revan fic: the only copy still around that I know of is here http://www.rpgcodex....id-gaider.2950/, but anyone who wants to read it might want to copy and paste it to a text file and do a find-replace on “ / †--> " and ’ --> ' before trying, lest you go blind. o_O I loved KotOR and would probably have played Mass Effect anyway, but that fic more than anything was probably what made me want to play every game BioWare had ever made (and DA in particular, given Gaider being head writer)--the fact that one of their writers would take some of his free time to do that.
 
RE: dropping by the thread, I know it was more common in the past and I think a few writers still stopped by occasionally even by the time I got here, but I meant more if I were directly in charge of a character I'd probably avoid their thread.

[stop_him]

So for fun new Cullen fanart, :fans self:

 

http://ynorka.tumblr...eres-a-low-tide

 

NSFW just so you know.

Oh, very nice!

[sagefic]

Josephine just strikes me as the sort of person to have a calendar with everyone's birthdays and such marked on them and always remembers gifts for everyone. Besides wanting to get Cullen a coat, then settling for whatever confection involved butter and sugar, she sends Scout Harding flowers and some of her notes about the construction crews that are nailed up around Skyhold suggest she worries about everyone right down to them. So I put her gift(s) to Cullen in that category - the trained noble who genuinely takes care of "her" people, and completely in character. She may also be worrying about Cullen's lyrium withdrawal, and this is her way of supporting him.

 

^ Yes, this is what I thought when I heard she'd sent Cullen cookies/toffee. There's some dialog where she's trying to get him a birthday gift and the messenger is hinting that what Josie wants to give him is something Cullen won't ever use. Can't recall it now.

[Ariella]

^ Yes, this is what I thought when I heard she'd sent Cullen cookies/toffee. There's some dialog where she's trying to get him a birthday gift and the messenger is hinting that what Josie wants to give him is something Cullen won't ever use. Can't recall it now.

There's a bit about how Josie thinks Cullen doesn't need to be wearing armor all the time, and suggests a tailored coat from Val Royeaux. The messenger tells her: he'd very much appreciate it, Lady Ambassador.

Josie: that means he wouldn't like it.

[Vanalia]

But he must be tired to wear that armor all the time, that must be heavy. Maybe he doesn't like fancy clothes, but something more simple? he would maybe wear a simple cotton shirt