An important foreword from the author:
UGH GOD, LATE TO THE PARTY, I KNOW.
Anyway, hi everyone. It's been awhile, I know; I'm a horrible procrastinator, but unlike every other time I've sworn I was going to update regularly, THIS TIME WILL BE DIFFERENT, I SWEAR!
A little personal update: I got Dragon Age 2 about a month ago (hello, bandwagon) and have played it like a crazy woman ever since (which wasn't the smartest thing, since I got Dragon Age: Origins right after and played that…so then I had to import all of that and play through it again…you know how it goes). I really loved the intricate story and the whole shebang of DA II, including all the amazing characters and back stories and subplots and such.
More than anything, though, I loved Anders; there's something about his struggle, the amazing, horrific, tragic figure that he is, that made a romance with him almost freaking intoxicating. Unlike the other romances, Anders' is one that has a very deep crisis, and his background and relationships are so full to the brim with emotion and betrayal that I seriously could not not go after him.
And for that, I have decided to write a story dedicated to him and his rogue lover and my male Hawke, Aaro.
I'm planning on updating every week to two weeks, unless I say otherwise. I'm not sure how long this story will go, but I have it planned for nine chapters so far. At most, I'll be updating up until the release of Dragon Age 3 (Maker permitting), so I hope to keep you all entertained with wonderful, angsty, magical FEELS until then.
There…is a small possibility that this will be moved to an M rating. I haven't decided yet if I want to detail sexual themes that might occur in the future; that said, there will be sexual themes implied throughout this tale, as well as kissing and the odd groping (oh Lawdy). If you haven't caught it already, this is a story about a homosexual romance between my male Hawke and Anders. If you're naïve or ignorant to such ideas, I would suggest you not take the risk in reading further than the next two paragraphs.
With all of my warnings having been said, I would also like to point out the time which my story begins. The Son of Famine starts in Act 2, after Bethany has been lost (in this story, she's taken to the Circle) and before the in-game quest, All That Remains. It will extend past the end of the in-game quest The Last Straw, and will more than likely continue until the beginning of Dragon Age 3, how everBioware decides to tie that into DA2. If you are looking for a walkthrough, you will not find it here; I will only skim over quests if I mention them in this story at all, and will only go into detail if it pertains to the story. Aaro will experience a flashback at least once per chapter, showing his choices and some of the ways the other characters change him, so the large segments of italicized text are memories of his past. I'm going for the general themes of 'love conquers all' and 'anyone can be forgiven' in this tale, so expect a lot of mother-truckin' FEELS to go on between all of the characters.
Besides all that, I hope you enjoy my tale of love, loss, and forgiveness. Enjoy with kisses!
~ RforRebel
P.S: I listened to one main song through most of these chapters, a song that I feel really captures the essence of Aaro and Anders' relationship; 'Drumming Song' by Florence + The Machine is my Aarders theme song, so if you'd like to look it up, I highly recommend it. Besides that, I'll also mention any other songs I listened to for specific chapters at the end with my end-of-chapter notes. C:
P.P.S: A few notes about my Hawke, so you can get a feel for his character going into this:
He's very nice and diplomatic, though it comes off a bit…rough; given his specialty, he's prone to pulling out the roguish charm when it suits him.
His name is pronounced like you were saying "arrow"; spelled like 'Aaro', it means "mountain of strength".
He likes to drink. A lot.
He loves his sister to an almost unhealthily degree.
He can be best described as looking like a manly, male version of Isabela. I'm not kidding. In-game, it's almost creepy; the only unique difference is that he has orange tattoos decorating his face.
Suffice to say, Aaro is pretty chummy with Isabela and Fenris, respectively. Varric and Aveline are like family to Hawke, and while he and Merril are close, they're rather strained on the whole 'blood magic' thing.)