The Hungry City (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
thehungrycity) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fan_flashworks2023-03-31 02:41 pm
thehungrycity) wrote in fan_flashworks2023-03-31 02:41 pm
Entry tags:
Dragon Age: Fanfic: Concordant Worlds
Title: Concordant worlds
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: G
Length: 1,000 words
Relationship: Fenris & Hawke
Content notes: No content warnings apply.
Author notes: Written for the ‘flow’ challenge in fan_flashworks. This is a very exploratory piece inspired by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of the same name. Takes places in Act 1 of DA2.
Summary: After having fought alone for so long, Fenris is surprised to find how well he fights alongside Hawke.
***
In the moments before battle, Fenris had learned to control his anticipation. As the enemies came into view and his heart began to race, he would restrict himself to the patterned breathing that had been beaten into him through his training. Rather than focus on the immediate and obvious threat, he would scan his surroundings, noting any entrances, potential combatants, or hiding places that could come into play. Then he would shift his focus to the feel of the stone beneath his feet, grounding himself as he consciously opened his vision to the peripheries.
And the battleground would expand before him.
At his most heightened state, Fenris felt like he was suspended within a web of possibilities. Laid out before his eyes was every angle by which he and his enemies could attack or retreat, strung out like festive string across the field of battle, coalescing in places where the fighting would likely be fiercest. And, like a drop of dew hanging from a spider’s web, time itself seemed suspended alongside him.
Fenris would wait… wait… wait… until he judged the moment ripe for action, and then he would explode into movement. He sliced his way through the invisible webs even as everyone else on the field seemed bound by them. Dancing from one possible path to another, his brands would flare to life, channelling his intent through Fade until it manifested in the swing of his sword through an enemy’s armour.
Sometimes Fenris deliberately sought out this world. It didn’t matter whether he fought with his sword or his fists, when there was too much information crowding in it was a relief to retreat to a world where everything he needed to know and act upon was laid out before his eyes. There were any number of fighting rings operating out of the Dock taverns, if you knew how and who to ask. This hobby netted Fenris some gold as well as some time outside of his own head.
But he had always been alone in this black-and-white world of possibility. Enemies and allies alike would dissolve into vectors of threat or assistance, no more and no less.
Until Hawke.
He had not sensed anything different about her when he had first seen her fight, beyond noting her above average level of skill. Her style was markedly different to his, but that was only to be expected.
He had not noticed when she had agreed to go after Danarius with him, either. Focused on the outcome of the upcoming fight, he had not managed to calm himself enough to enter that world. The battlefield had been a chaotic jumble of magic, swords, and demons.
No, it had been later, when Hawke had asked him to come along on one of her mercenary jobs. The job itself was trivial, and it had been a simple matter of habit to shift his focus when the battle seemed imminent.
Fenris had always assumed that the world he saw would be unchanging. No matter how many different enemies he had fought, or even the few allies he had fought alongside, it had always been the same. But that time, when he entered his black and white world of attack and retreat vectors, Hawke was a blazing golden presence, moving with ease through the sticky webs that seemed to slow everyone else.
Jolted back to the mundane world, Fenris stared at Hawke. He could see nothing different. She moved fast and struck effectively with her shortswords, but there was nothing particular unusual. It was only when he calmed his breathing and shifted his view again that he could see that she was taking advantage of the same webs of possibility that he saw, moving to complete some of the least probable attacks with devastating efficiency. He was still processing this when she turned towards him, and yelled out -
“Behind you!”
Fenris instantly turned on the balls of his feet, lifting his sword to parry the blow that had been descending upon him. Shedding the force along a diagonal vector, he smoothly reversed his swing, driving his sword through the flimsy armour with which the bandit had sought to protect his abdomen, disembowelling him with one move. Turning back to the main arena of the battle, Fenris could see that Hawke was tracing one of the webs towards another lightly armoured foe. Similar webs joined him with that same enemy, and he found himself drawn along that line. Engaging the enemy allowed Hawke to slip up behind him and drive her shortswords through his kidneys, brutally mincing them before ripping her swords out through his sides. As the enemy collapsed between them, Hawke had smiled at him.
Over time, he had become accustomed to the idea of sharing that private world with someone else. Looked forward to it, in fact. They fought well together, almost like they had trained together. With her golden light searing her presence into his consciousness, it was trivial to map out her intended path and the lines that intersected with those open to him. A simple step through the Fade and he could be there, taking the brunt of the enemy’s attacks while she applied her focused force with pinpoint precision.
After the battle was over, it would take a moment for that blazing light to fade from around her and she would greet his presence with a smile that provoked a blossoming warmth in his chest. He began to find himself longing to accompany her, hoping to catch another glimpse of that golden halo or bloodied smile. It became natural to fall into step at her left side, guarding her offhand as he opened his peripheral vision to monitor for threats. They worked so well together, it was a surprise that she felt the need to ask whether he would accompany her expedition to the Deep Roads. His acceptance was mere formality, an acknowledgement of whatever it was they shared between them and his desire to know more.
Fandom: Dragon Age
Rating: G
Length: 1,000 words
Relationship: Fenris & Hawke
Content notes: No content warnings apply.
Author notes: Written for the ‘flow’ challenge in fan_flashworks. This is a very exploratory piece inspired by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of the same name. Takes places in Act 1 of DA2.
Summary: After having fought alone for so long, Fenris is surprised to find how well he fights alongside Hawke.
***
In the moments before battle, Fenris had learned to control his anticipation. As the enemies came into view and his heart began to race, he would restrict himself to the patterned breathing that had been beaten into him through his training. Rather than focus on the immediate and obvious threat, he would scan his surroundings, noting any entrances, potential combatants, or hiding places that could come into play. Then he would shift his focus to the feel of the stone beneath his feet, grounding himself as he consciously opened his vision to the peripheries.
And the battleground would expand before him.
At his most heightened state, Fenris felt like he was suspended within a web of possibilities. Laid out before his eyes was every angle by which he and his enemies could attack or retreat, strung out like festive string across the field of battle, coalescing in places where the fighting would likely be fiercest. And, like a drop of dew hanging from a spider’s web, time itself seemed suspended alongside him.
Fenris would wait… wait… wait… until he judged the moment ripe for action, and then he would explode into movement. He sliced his way through the invisible webs even as everyone else on the field seemed bound by them. Dancing from one possible path to another, his brands would flare to life, channelling his intent through Fade until it manifested in the swing of his sword through an enemy’s armour.
Sometimes Fenris deliberately sought out this world. It didn’t matter whether he fought with his sword or his fists, when there was too much information crowding in it was a relief to retreat to a world where everything he needed to know and act upon was laid out before his eyes. There were any number of fighting rings operating out of the Dock taverns, if you knew how and who to ask. This hobby netted Fenris some gold as well as some time outside of his own head.
But he had always been alone in this black-and-white world of possibility. Enemies and allies alike would dissolve into vectors of threat or assistance, no more and no less.
Until Hawke.
He had not sensed anything different about her when he had first seen her fight, beyond noting her above average level of skill. Her style was markedly different to his, but that was only to be expected.
He had not noticed when she had agreed to go after Danarius with him, either. Focused on the outcome of the upcoming fight, he had not managed to calm himself enough to enter that world. The battlefield had been a chaotic jumble of magic, swords, and demons.
No, it had been later, when Hawke had asked him to come along on one of her mercenary jobs. The job itself was trivial, and it had been a simple matter of habit to shift his focus when the battle seemed imminent.
Fenris had always assumed that the world he saw would be unchanging. No matter how many different enemies he had fought, or even the few allies he had fought alongside, it had always been the same. But that time, when he entered his black and white world of attack and retreat vectors, Hawke was a blazing golden presence, moving with ease through the sticky webs that seemed to slow everyone else.
Jolted back to the mundane world, Fenris stared at Hawke. He could see nothing different. She moved fast and struck effectively with her shortswords, but there was nothing particular unusual. It was only when he calmed his breathing and shifted his view again that he could see that she was taking advantage of the same webs of possibility that he saw, moving to complete some of the least probable attacks with devastating efficiency. He was still processing this when she turned towards him, and yelled out -
“Behind you!”
Fenris instantly turned on the balls of his feet, lifting his sword to parry the blow that had been descending upon him. Shedding the force along a diagonal vector, he smoothly reversed his swing, driving his sword through the flimsy armour with which the bandit had sought to protect his abdomen, disembowelling him with one move. Turning back to the main arena of the battle, Fenris could see that Hawke was tracing one of the webs towards another lightly armoured foe. Similar webs joined him with that same enemy, and he found himself drawn along that line. Engaging the enemy allowed Hawke to slip up behind him and drive her shortswords through his kidneys, brutally mincing them before ripping her swords out through his sides. As the enemy collapsed between them, Hawke had smiled at him.
Over time, he had become accustomed to the idea of sharing that private world with someone else. Looked forward to it, in fact. They fought well together, almost like they had trained together. With her golden light searing her presence into his consciousness, it was trivial to map out her intended path and the lines that intersected with those open to him. A simple step through the Fade and he could be there, taking the brunt of the enemy’s attacks while she applied her focused force with pinpoint precision.
After the battle was over, it would take a moment for that blazing light to fade from around her and she would greet his presence with a smile that provoked a blossoming warmth in his chest. He began to find himself longing to accompany her, hoping to catch another glimpse of that golden halo or bloodied smile. It became natural to fall into step at her left side, guarding her offhand as he opened his peripheral vision to monitor for threats. They worked so well together, it was a surprise that she felt the need to ask whether he would accompany her expedition to the Deep Roads. His acceptance was mere formality, an acknowledgement of whatever it was they shared between them and his desire to know more.