The male LIs (and a couple non-LIs) of Dragon Age wanted to get together to share their own Valentine’s Day messages with you all. With a little personal touch to start things off by Varric.

As always, all the writing credit for the Valentine’s goes to the ever brilliant and wonderful spicyshimmy!! Go give her a follow and tell her how amazing she is!

And all the voice impressions are done by lightgetsout

We hope you enjoy them and that you have a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Below is the script for each character’s message:

softly whispering happy dragontines day

Cold Hands, Warm Heart // 25,000 words, a stonelions & spicyshimmy collab

—

Cullen and Dorian’s friendship deepens. Cullen is a romantic. Dorian is literally cold. Cullen is no longer certain what he would consider surprising. Mages and Templars working in perfect cooperation, perhaps. Evil and corruption disappearing into the ground along with the blight, blood magic falling so far out of favor it ceased to be. A united Thedas: that would be a surprise.

okay. 

let me explain the situation regarding the callout post from the other day and hopefully, some of the animosity can be diffused from it

spicyshimmy and i have come to a truce regarding this issue, as i contacted them personally and politely regarding it. they were polite and courteous in kind and explained everything in full. it was a very grave situation, a very legitimate situation, and a terrible horrible situation of misunderstanding and they have agreed on this. but everything has been set right on my end of things. they have deleted the post that was in question, so i have been satisfied. 

i have heard from them that they are getting a shitton of anonymous hate from the fallout, and they are deeply upset about the situation. people. you know how much i despiseanon hate because it’s low and immature. if somehow you didn’t know this before, you do now. do not send anon hate. of any kind. to  anyone. anon is there for people who are shy or who want to be responded to publicly. anon is not for jerkasses. i do not support or condone this at all, and do not affiliate myself with those who do or have knowingly sicced other people to do it for them. cut it out. 

all i really give a shit about is that people (including myself) are properly attributed and we stand together on this, and to support each other as a community. this place needs to get a whole lot nicer tbh because honestly, it has gotten pretty repugnant to be around. it’s driving away people. all of this? anon hate? vagueposts (and i’ve had a few nasty ones thrown in my direction as well)? you all should be better than this, i know you can. start being nicer, start being encouraging. leave complimentary things in the tags. be appreciative of people’s contributions. (if the sunny fandom, who are kind people who love watching human scum on tv can do it, you can do it too!).

we both settled it like adults, and you should too. i admit, i was intimidated at first, but if you do have any concern, take it up with them (or me) off anon, and we can resolve it like grownups.

thank you, and i return you to your regularly scheduled programming 

i really appreciate this and i am extremely relieved that we were able to talk things through together and that you were able to come away feeling comfortable and satisfied. 

as techpocalypse says above, if anyone wants to talk to me, i am and have been and will continue to be 100% willing to do. 

i think it's super important to give people the benefit of the doubt initially and speak with them straight away before letting things fester or build up and explode, because we're all humans and we can be forgetful, make mistakes, not realize something's a meme, whatever it may be. it's important to me that i behave conscientiously in a way that does not hurt others and i'm really glad that techpocalypse and i were able to find a resolution together because i in no way wanted their discomfort or upset. 

callout culture can be extremely toxic and i think it's important to take the proper steps prior to calling shit out publicly. a lot less misery and anxiety will be engendered that way on all sides.

i agree 100% with everything that techpocalypse said above. well said and important stuff. 

Callout Post

Hey, so, this has been bothering me a lot lately, but spicyshimmy has been ripping off people’s posts.

It’s happened multiple times before and recently happened to me.

So I made this post January 5th

lo and behold, look who likes it not long after it’s posted (as it’s out of a total of 1365 notes)

alright, that’s cool. i like the post, too, right on!

BUT WAIT

a few days later I see this post that looks… wow… so similar to mine??

hmm, well, idk maybe not-

oh. okay.

and… funny… they’re both posted on the same day: january 7th

now I know you’re thinking:

"Sage, chill out. It’s just a text post on a silly website!!"

That’s fine. That’s what you think. But I actually consider myself a pretty creative person and I take pride in my jokes and creativity, and to see someone who I admittedly admired up until now like one of my posts (something that made me happy! :D) and then turn around and make posts almost identical and get more notes than me (wow… not so happy anymore) actually hurts a lot! It feels like a betrayal and I’m honestly extremely uncomfortable with it.

I’ve seen this happen before, too, where spicyshimmy has liked someone else’s post and then made one almost exactly like it that gets more notes. I’ve seen it on two occasions but there are 5 other people who have experienced this and likely more who haven’t spoken out about it. 

Sorry. But I’m calling this out because I’m not into it. It’s a damn shame that people can get away with such a thing in this fandom because they’re well known and beloved. 

I would think that if I’ve ever done such a thing (which would be on accident and might be a result of my incessant forgetfulness!!! because I wouldn’t ever do this on purpose!!!) and got called out, I would immediately apologize and delete said post. But, unfortunately, I have yet to see spicyshimmy apologize to the people who called them out and remove the posts and admit that they did this.

Not. Into. It.

hi just wanted to add my experience here as well

here was a post i made on dec. 20th 

spicyshimmy liked it 

and a v similar post that they made the next day

i made a frustrated text post about it when shimmy’s showed up on my dash but i didn’t want to make a big stink abt it at the time. 

i was attempting to message everyone here to discuss things with them privately because that seemed a better way to have that kind of a discussion, if only so that i could be talking to people specifically, and not in general, but it wasn't working and ask space is limited so here goes this instead

until this post, no one who felt they were directly affected by this came to me. had they done so, i would have attempted to have this conversation and explain myself/do whatever was possible to ease the upset.

i take plagiarism really really seriously, as i'm someone who has been on the opposite end of it multiple times in the past. i know what a terrible and sickening feeling it is to feel as though your work has been taken and i would never, ever wish that on anybody else, much less be someone who would cause that feeling in another. 

to disgustednoise, i had seen variations on the character: *exists* me: thank you post in numerous fandoms. (i will gladly find and provide examples if you wish! i just want to reply to this sooner rather than later!) i had honestly believed it to be a meme. if this belief was erroneous on my part, then i am truly sorry. i thought it was a joke meme that could be spread as memes are--with variations on it that differed vis-a-vis characters and fandoms. but again, if this was erroneous, then i am sorry, and i will gladly delete the post. is it not a more general meme? 

to queercyberpunk, i liked multiple posts about cullen after the revelation that he had at first been intended to be a bisexual love interest. many people have been stating the queer rogues and straight chantry folk posts for years now. i wanted to make my own post on it because i felt it was an important thing for me, as someone who has struggled with understanding their own sexuality and representations thereof in media, to try to put into words. you put it into words better than i did. i sincerely hope you didn't get the number of hate messages i received for having made the post based on its content. again, it's truly a point that i know others have made time and time again, for years, and far better than i did in that post. your post was one of them. i was attempting to work out my own thoughts on that matter, but as above, the last thing i want is to make anyone experience discomfort in any way? 

to techapocalypse, i will post the screencaps i took of when i was contacted not by you but by w-arden, who i take it is a friend, though i never received follow-up from them or any messages from you.

to jeanmarcstroud, i attempted to send you an ask, not anonymously, but it did not work. i will say again what i said there:

hi there! i was only just made aware of the post that is going around. so i wanted to say that i saw your post about david gaider lowering you into your grave. i also saw, sometime before that, another post about project partners in college lowering someone into their grave to disappoint them one last time. i had assumed that this was a meme and turned it to one that i thought suitable and funny with shepard. however, it upsets me horribly to think that this has upset you. [1/2]

it was not something that i copied from you but rather something that i truly at the time believed to be a meme due to multiple fandom and non fandom variations on that structure, and thought it would be humorous to do a version of it with shepard. does this make sense? the last thing that i want, however, is for anyone to feel upset or uncomfortable due to my actions, so let me know what i can do beyond this explanation. [2/2]

again, if there is more that i can discuss with people separately, one on one, please feel free to message me. the only persons with whom i spoke about this because they came to me were w-arden, the entirety of whose conversation i have shown above, and @antillles, who posted on an anon community with caps of our conversation but never continued to engage with me. that is it. those are the only people i have received contact from and both conversations ended with my responses. 

when it comes to writing, i would never knowingly copy or plagiarize anyone. if i believed something to be a meme, as in my explanations above, but was misunderstanding the nature of meme culture and how memes evolve, then seriously, i AM sorry, and i will do whatever i can do to make it right. that would require being spoken to, though, and if you want to talk to me about it further, please do. if not, that is your prerogative to do so. there are, i am certain, people who are determined to think the worst of me, and i'll do my best to make peace with that. 

but again, as i said in an above reply, i wouldn't be able to live with myself if i was the sort of person who would "take" someone else's intellectual property over tumblr text posts. i really wouldn't. i will certainly be more circumspect about what i post in the future. something that i believed was fun, silly meme stuffs on the internet, would hardly be so if it was upsetting others. 

An injury sustained during a ceremonial hunt reveals that the new chieftain has an inexplicable, horribly unnatural anatomy. There is no one to demand answers of, with Spock’s father recently deceased and mother unknown. The tribe casts him out fearfully, condemning Spock to the desert. 

An uncountable number of days later he wakes from a fever dream to see a strange new moon in the sky. The moon is studded by smaller, brighter lights, and most surreal of all, appears to be moving ever closer. Perhaps I am finally dying, Spock thinks before the blazing light whites out his vision…

what if Iron Bull decided to start raising dragons instead of just killing them?

It begins with the runt. Bull thought it might be missing an eye, but it was only a neighboring wound--so discovered only after it returned to Skyhold smuggled in vis-a-vis Bull's pants. 

Thing is, Krem says, it's not the strangest thing the Boss has brought back with him. 

The trouble starts when they realize they have to name her. 

"Barkspawn's popular for pets," Cullen says. "But, well. Likely inappropriate."

"Crow Killer," Dorian suggests. "Murder-of-Ravens!" He wants to set her loose in the library tower, the Chargers suspect. 

"Menace to the cause," Cassandra says. Turns out, it's not an idea for a name and she isn't playing along. 

"Well, shit," Varric says. Not a name idea, either--just a general remark on the state of things. 

They catch Solas with her in the courtyard, bent low, as though in deep conversation with her, sunlight gleaming equally bright off her scales and his head. He won't speak about the incident when questioned.

"Can we train it to steal pants, d'you think?" Sera asks. 

Cole tells them all a charming, if disjointed, story about what she was feeling the day her mother was slaughtered. "Just think of a name for her, kid," Bull tells him. 

Vivienne threatens, if vaguely, to leave the Inquisition if it isn't fashioned with a proper harness and leash. 

"Archie," Blackwall says. "Short for Archdemon." He really doesn't understand much about Grey Wardening, but he fashions the tyke a chew toy out of wood that serves admirably. 

"The Iron Dragon," Bull decides, and though Krem rolls his eyes, somehow, the name sticks. 

It always does, when the Iron Bull's behind it. 

the prettiest hands in the inquisition, probably

Dorian supposes he likes his hands. 

The way his fingers curl around a staff or leaf through the pages of an arcane text, or untangle a particularly stubborn knot. The way his fingers can be graceful and clever and strong, and they way they look with rings on them--rings he's chosen; rings that say a little glint and glimmer about him in the right light.

It isn't pleasant when they're cold--and when was the last time they were warm?

(Under the Tevinter sun, in a place between seasons. Or when his hands were smaller, fitted palm against his father's palm, asking the question all children ask of the shapes they see before them, the shapes they assume they're meant to grow into.

Will I fit?)

The way his fingers close around nothing at all.

The way they open again, knowing there's more to be held than nothing. 

somebody… stop me, please.

It's a pre-reform Spock Prime that crosses into an alternate universe where Jim Kirk is young and brash and desperately lonely, desperately in need of a guiding hand. 

When he sees Spock's long hair and the earring, he bursts into raw laughter. 

Spock very nearly smiles.

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