Fanfic writer with a passion for exploring romantic relationships // Fandoms: Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect, and Dragon Age // Fandom: Dragon Age, Horizon Zero Dawn, Mass Effect
For @dadrunkwriting Friday. Read here on AO3 (~6500 words): tinyurl.com/fenhawke10
*******************
A heart was a fragile thing.
Fenris knew this better than most. He was, after all, an expert in the business of ripping hearts from his enemies’ ribs. A heart was just a beating ball of muscle: firm and fibrous but ultimately delicate, and infinitely prone to being crushed.
Over the past ten years, Fenris had torn out more hearts than he could count. If his experiences had taught him anything, it was this: that the heart was a fragile thing.
Perhaps this was why he’d always guarded his own heart so closely.
Not that he was particularly fearful for the safety of his organs; he was well-protected by armour and lyrium both, and skilled enough to deflect most attacks. He could admit that it didn’t hurt to have Hawke’s and Anders’s healing abilities on hand, either.
No, it wasn’t structural damage that he feared, but damage of a different sort altogether. And it was this fear that had made him shield his heart from Hawke for so damned long.
It took years for him to realize that the shield around his heart was unnecessary. For all her jokes and her teasing and her infernal magic, Hawke’s own heart was open and steadfast, and her strong and slender hands made the perfect vessel for holding that which he kept clutched so closely to his chest.
And so Fenris let down his guard. He’d dropped his shield and he’d opened himself to her. And that was when he’d finally seen the truth: that Hawke had held his heart all this time.
In retrospect, it was obvious. The rest of their group had always known it. If Fenris was being honest, he could admit that he had always known it too, though he’d shunted the truth aside for fear of the pain it would bring.
Now that he and Hawke were together, Fenris thought it was crystal clear: vulnerable and delicate though it was, his heart belonged to her, and he trusted her with it completely.
The only person who didn’t seem to know it was Hawke herself.
******************
Merrill was crying.
Fenris stared flatly at the back of her head as he and Varric followed Merrill and Hawke down the mountain. She brought this on herself, he thought. Consorting with demons, cutting her veins for power, assuming she was strong enough to master the forces that were clearly beyond her control… Merrill had no one to blame but herself, and Fenris had no sympathy to give.
Hawke, however, was clearly of the opposite opinion. Her arm was tight around Merrill’s shaking shoulders as they made their way to Sundermount’s base. “Let’s get you home,” Hawke said. “I’ll make you a strong cup of tea with honey. I won’t even burn the leaves this time.”
Merrill sobbed. “I wish it was yesterday,” she said. “I wish I could undo all of this!”
“Listen, Merrill, everyone fucks up now and again,” Hawke said gently. “That’s why life is so long, right? Lots of chances to do things better the next time.”
Merrill wiped her face on her arm. “She should have trusted me!” she cried. “Why couldn’t she have believed in me? If she’d helped me instead of trying to protect me…”
Fenris scowled. He’d just known this was how Merrill would interpret these events.
“Don’t say it, elf,” Varric muttered, but it was too late; the words were already leaving his tongue.
“Yes, blame the Keeper,” he snapped. “You’re the one making deals with demons and dabbling in dark magic, but of course she is at fault.”
In this tutorial we’ll teach you how to make a copy of your Tumblr blog onto WordPress.com to act as a backup, or maybe just to say ‘thank u, next’ to Verizon’s Tumblr.
The first two steps don’t need to be followed if you already use WordPress.com.
The plan for the 17th, when the adult content ban comes in, is to protest.
To do that, we are making as much noise either side of the 17th as possible, and using the site as normal.
On the 17th, dead silence.
People are saying log off but what they really mean is don’t open the site or the app.
But, on the 17th make as much noise as possible on every other platform. Tweet about it and post on facebook and instagram and everywhere else.
What this does is causes a massive dip in ad revenue for one single day. That does not make staff think ‘oh everyone’s gone let’s shut down.’ What it actually makes them think is ‘oh shit people aren’t happy and if people don’t keep using our site we’re out of money and out of jobs.’
A boycott reminds a company that the users (consumers) have the power to make their site (business) worthless with one single coordinated decision.
If you want to join in, here’s what to do:
Do:
Close all open instances of the app and site on all your devices before the 17th
Make posts before and after the 17th on tumblr and other platforms, talking about why this ban is bad
Make posts on other sites during the 17th. Flood the official tumblr staff twitter and facebook with your anger and your opinion
Come back on the 18th and check in
Don’t:
Delete the app from your phone (this doesn’t affect their revenue and since it’s off the store at the moment it’ll be hard to get back)
Delete your account. I mean you can if you want to, but if you keep your account and don’t use it you’re saying to staff that there’s still time to save it. If you delete it’s hard work to come back.
Open the app or website (including specific blogs)
Make any posts (turn down/off your queue and make sure nothing is scheduled)
Go quiet elsewhere. Make it clear that this is just about tumblr, not a mass move away from all social media.
Remember: the execs don’t care about anything but money. Shutting down the site means there’s $0 further income from it. That’s their last possible course of action. If we make it clear we’re not happy, they’ll have to do something or we can do more and more until it becomes too expensive.
Protests take commitment. They’re a defiant action against a business that is doing something wrong. They will try to scare you into not participating, because they’re scared. We hold all the power here, sometimes the execs just need to be reminded of that.
The Sharper Edge of Love: Romance, Sex, and Fanfic 