spicyshimmy:

teapirate:

(art) “Grey Wardens Special Reqruit Team: Ser Pounce-a-lot and Dog” — Anders’ kitty cat friend and the Warden’s Mabari war hound from Dragon Age: Awakening.

I’m working on that terribly dark and emo comic and needed a dose of adorable. And so…

Hello Tumblr, let me tell you about the cutest of silly head-canons!

“After the fall of the Architect and the official end of the Blight, the Fereldan Grey Wardens went back to business as usual while rebuilding Vigil’s Keep (once again) and the city of Amaranthine. The newly recruited mage, Anders, decided to move on and  was transferred northbound—possibly to follow in the steps of an old friend who had been moved from the Circle in Ferelden to  one in the Free Marches. Who knows.

During the slow travel north, Anders was forced to get rid of his beloved companion and cat, Ser Pounce-a-lot, as the other Wardens in his company claimed ‘it made him soft’. With protest, Ser Pounce-a-lot was left in the care of one Nathaniel Howe when he returned to Amaranthine. Once back at the Keep, Nathaniel’s duties took him elsewhere and Ser Pounce-a-lot was left with the Warden-Commander who once picked him off the street. The Commander was, after all, still tasked with rebuilding the keep and no longer allowed to travel that much.

The Hero of Ferelden managed his kitty-sitting duties for roughly three weeks, but by the time his official documents had been littered with inky paw prints for the eight time… he decided he was really more of a dog person indeed, and promptly promoted his trusty Mabari hound to First Cat Guardian. No eating or chasing the cat up in trees or the battlements was allowed (unless the cat was particularly naughty).

The dog, being a Mabari, of course took his duties quite seriously. If the Master willed it it would be done. However, keeping a cat safe among soldiers and darkspawn is not an easy task. And so, like a trained war hound is wont to do, Dog decided the cat needed discipline and education in survival under these circumstances.

After six months, the Warden-commander gave the cat an honourable mention membership into the Grey Wardens—just like his dog already was, and Ser Pounce-a-lot was thereafter often seen to accompany patrols along with Dog out in the Amaranthine countryside and in the deep roads below.

Of course, black and blotchy paw prints still occasionally ruined the Commander’s day… but then again the dog chewed on the furniture so what’s a few messed-up curtains and black paw prints in the long run?

It was like this, after the fateful clash of mages and templars in Kirkwall,  Anders (after the commander gave him a righteous scolding FAKING ONE’S DEATH IS REALLY RUDE WHEN PPLE WORRY YOU COULD HAVE ASKED FOR HELP YOU JACKASS I BET THE CAT CRIED ASDFGHXSDCFG) once again was reunited with his beloved pet—now a veteran soldier kitty.”

Bonus points of cute if Ser Pounce was wrongly identified as a male at the start, because small army of Grey Warden kitties raised by Mabari omg—Oh shut up! it’d be adorable.

Ah, right. The design idea of Pounce’s vest-thing with the ‘handle’ on it is so people and the dog can grab him if needed, kind of like doggie life jackets. Very handy, see?

my headcanon for pounce post-awakening used to be that delilah howe took the tabby in, and that there was a little extra feline help around the house when the baby was born; the cat and its young master went on adventure after adventure, each more unbelievable than the last, since pounce has always been such a special cat.

but cats live nine lives, after all. and now that i have two pounce headcanons, i might just need another seven. and if a mabari and a cat can be the best of friends—ferelden is a place of curious bedfellows, and stranger things have happened—then maybe there’s hope for the templars and the mages in the future, too. (i can just see varric penning a series of short works that parable the social and political climate of the day, drawing on these two fine pets as metaphor…)