Left Unfinished, Sebastian/F!Hawke (Dragon Age 2)

[lady_boromir]

Title: Left Unfinished
Fandom: Dragon Age 2
Rating: PG-13
Characters: F!Hawke, Varric, Sebastian
Pairing: F!Hawke/Sebastian
Word Count: 739
Summary: Not every story gets a happy ending. Per her final request, Varric tells Hawke about one that does.
Warnings: Involves character death and general angst. Set post-game, but no real spoilers.

Comments

[lywinis]

Dragon Age 2 is bloody depressing and lends itself so well to angst. Shedding a tear for this one, I come to reread it for inspiration sometimes. :)

I'm a sucker for unrequited romance, and I have no idea why.

[lady_boromir]

Wow! Thank you! *blush* I'm glad you like it so much! And I agree completely, DA2 is just such a dark game, practically prompts all the angst. I'm much the same way, too, those unrequited romances lure me in every time!

Also, I just noticed you're the author who wrote "The Blue-Eyed Monster"! That is my favorite piece of DA2 fic that I've read so far! So phenomenally well done! I may have to check out your other Sebastian works now . . .

[lywinis]

I loved the game, but going through without spoilers while romancing Anders just about killed me. Good lord. Still, the writing that's been spilling from the internet is phenomenal. I love it when people come together to mess with lore and interpret it in different ways.

It's seriously freaking me out how many people have read it. (My last fic got maybe 20 views, and so the explosion of people going 'Oh, wow, you're the person who wrote this!' is a little startling.) I'm glad you liked it!

Also, your icon. Holy wow, I want it. *grabby hands* May I?

[lady_boromir]

I romanced Anders the first time, too, completely unawares as to how it would turn out. Very heartbreaking! Oh, yes, the creativity that DA2 has inspired and continues to is just incredible! It's such a delightful environment to write in, very supportive and inspiring. It is interesting to see everyone's point of view on the events and lore, I agree!

Fandom is a small world, I guess! xD I'm more of a fic writer than reader, personally, but yours was just too well-written to pass up.

Oh, please do! =D I've been working on a batch of Seb icons for a while now, but there's so few screencaps of him! *fistshake*

[lywinis]

I just clapped my hands and went 'awwww' when he gave the dog that jaunty little bow. He's so damn adorable, and I'm so stuck on Seb it's not even funny. Which is weird, because I don't see a lot of him. I never found a chance to use him outside his personal quests, so a lot of the personality I give him is injected from what I think he should be like. =/ I feel kinda bad about that, sometimes.

But yay, thank you! I'll give you proper credit!

[lady_boromir]

That cutscene was too adorable! It's moments like those that made me love him. I used him in my party as my archer quite a bit -- even though Varric fits the role just as well -- mostly because I love that accent of his. xD

I've been working on a separate fic post-game about Sebastian from his perspective, so I know what you mean about injecting more personality into him. I wouldn't worry! I find I like fandom!Sebastian more than in-game!Seb anyhow, because he's more rounded and filled out, if that makes sense. The way I see it, it's just getting to understand his character better, at length. =)

[lywinis]

I'm probably going to have to replay the game at one point and use him. He's a good character, just not terribly well rounded. Hepler said we've not seen the last of him, so that's awesome, at least. (Wish I could be more excited about her writing, but she's grating at best. :| )

[lady_boromir]

Whoa, really?! That's fantastic news! I eat up Sebastian scenes, I eat them up! ;) Plus, with the possible ending with Seb, I can see him logically coming up in DLC. *nod* But I'm with you on Hepler's writing, she destroyed Anders character, imho. I preferred Gaider's version of him, personally. Who knows, maybe she'll improve in upcoming installments. *crosses fingers*

[lywinis]

She just confirmed in the Sebastian thread on the BSN. To be perfectly honest, I think she grates on me because of what she said about hating video games and wishing there were a fast-forward button for combat. That seems to be such a horrible thing to say when it pays your bills and puts food on your table. It's hypocritical, and I can't really take her seriously because of it.

[lady_boromir]

Huh! I hadn't heard that, but it does seem odd coming from a writer who writes for video games. *shakes head*

[lywinis]

Yeah, she said it in an official interview. Way to go, good PR there, good job. *facepalm* Ah, here it is:

>Q: What is your least favorite thing about working in the industry?

>A: Playing the games. This is probably a terrible thing to admit, but it has definitely been the single most difficult thing for me. I came into the job out of a love of writing, not a love of playing games... I'm really terrible at so many things which most games use incessantly -- I have awful hand-eye coordination, I don't like tactics, I don't like fighting, I don't like keeping track of inventory, and I can't read a game map to save my life.

>Q: If you could tell developers of games to make sure to put one thing in games to appeal to a broader audience which includes women, what would that one thing be?

>A: A fast-forward button. Games almost always include a way to "button through" dialogue without paying attention, because they understand that some players don't enjoy listening to dialogue and they don't want to stop their fun. Yet they persist in

[solan_t]

And, see? I can totally sympathize with her. Loves me that Casual setting.

[lywinis]

I can sympathize, yes, but it doesn't mean that she should be saying these things when she works for a gaming company and it's providing her money to pay her rent and food on her table.

There's a time and place for personal opinions, and this time wasn't it, really. Not when the game was so close to release and everyone was watching that PR nightmare like, well, a hawk. If you'll pardon the pun. If you don't like video games, why work for a gaming company? You can make decent money writing elsewhere, and there are jobs available. Other jobs might even offer you a chance to write and get your own stuff published on the side.

I'd be surprised if she didn't get reprimanded for it.

[solan_t]

But, you see, it's because of people like her (and me) that we HAVE the Casual setting. It will even say it's for people that are more interested in the story. If the gaming industry was peopled entirely by the combat fanatics... I probably wouldn't be playing the games, because they would be 'too hard'. I doubt she got repimanded: she's a writer and she's all about the story. They hire other people to be all about the combat. Now if those people said something like that, I would expect repercussions. And seriously wonder at their career choices, of course.