Some dialogue from the game mixed in with original. Feel free to leave some requests for scenes/characters in a review. Cheers!
Really Need to Work On Names, and Clothes
"Pst!" Melusine watched Vivienne pause in her steps and look around, but when she didn't see anyone, she continued. "Vivienne!" Melusine hissed at her friend, finally getting the mage's attention. "Could you come here, please?"
Vivienne came around the corner of the building and stared at Melusine. She was now bipedal with paws, though she still had her wings and tail, and her head was still a bit oblong with sharp teeth. Her scales were mostly gone, replaced by regular skin and hair, and in general, she looked like a lab experiment gone wrong.
"What is it?" Vivienne was talented at sounding curious while looking bored at the same time.
"Do you think you could find me a robe or craft one for me?" Melusine looked around to make sure no one was looking before she pulled her wings away from the front of her body. Her breasts were nearly fully formed again, as was her pubic hair, and Melusine had no intention of walking around Skyhold like this. She was still so oddly shaped she couldn't wear regular clothes, and she figured if anyone could come through in a pinch regarding clothes, it would be Vivienne.
Vivienne looked away, "Oh darling, please cover yourself. I don't think I'll be able to wash that dastardly image from my mind for days."
"Gee, Vivienne, that's a lovely thing to say." Melusine quickly covered herself again. "So can you help? I asked Dorian, but I made the mistake of revealing myself before making the request, and the poor man nearly vomited as he ran away."
"I empathize. But I'll see what I can do. Stay out of sight, for everyone's sake, until I find you." Vivienne went back around the corner, leaving Melusine to her own devices.
She'd woken up like this and, aside from Dorian, had been lucky to evade detection mostly. Only a few templars or some of Bull's Chargers had caught glimpses of her as she left her quarters in search of help. Melusine was quick to retreat and content to wait. When there was a knock on her door some minutes later, however, it wasn't Vivienne.
"Cullen," Melusine pressed herself against the back of the door, thankful that it blocked his view, "what are you doing here?"
Cullen's eyes narrowed, "I wanted to talk to you. But, if this is a bad time, perhaps I can try again later."
He started to turn away, but Melusine called him back, against her better judgment. This was the first time he'd reached out to her since her transformation. Of her advisors, Leliana had been the first to approach her, asking questions about her abilities for comparison's sake in strategic uses in the future. Josephine had eventually played twenty questions with her same as the others. Only Cullen had kept away, and it was saying something when even Solas approached her before he did.
"I'm sorry, Cullen, please come in." Melusine let go of the door, then immediately retreated into the shadowiest corner and drew her wings around her torso. Cullen shut the door after he came in and eyed her stance with curiosity, "I'm at an odd point in my transition. Your presence startled me is all. Vivienne is in the process of retrieving garments for me to wear."
"Garments?" Cullen's eyebrows rose.
Melusine chuckled, "Well, most women don't run around bare-chested and pantsless around here from what I can tell. Though Bull is an advocate of no pants Tuesday."
"Oh." Cullen's eyes widened, and a blush touched his cheeks. "Oh. My apologies, Herald. I didn't mean to intrude."
"Cullen," Melusine's voice stopped him from turning and opening the door, "you came all the way here at this hour of the morning to talk to me about something in private. I think proprietary discomfort can be ignored in favor of getting whatever it is on your chest, off."
"You're right."
Cullen paced to the window closest to her door and looked through the frosted glass. Melusine left him to his thoughts. He had an odd way of going from silence to a lot of talking in seconds. She just needed to keep him from running away.
"I feel I owe you an apology for the way I have treated you." Cullen kept his eyes outside, but his voice was clear for Melusine to hear. "I'm not unaware of the fact that the others have all made their peace with your true nature. All of them except me that is."
Melusine smiled, "Well, you're not the last. Although your efforts kept the rest of the Inquisition from abandoning us and killing me, I doubt most are keen on having someone like me around here. So, your discomfort is not unnatural in this instance."
"If I hadn't known you better before your transformation, I would agree with you. However, we shared things." Cullen turned around with an expression of frustration and shame. "You listened without judgment as I burdened you with a dark memory of my past. I've never felt close enough with someone to do that before I met you. And I rewarded your candor with distrust and suspicion. My behavior has been dishonorable towards you, and I hope you can forgive me."
Melusine wanted to walk forward and hug up, but she stayed where she was. The poor man looked miserable and still conflicted. It was apparent he yet didn't know what to think of her abilities and form, but it was equally evident that he wasn't about to let himself off the hook.
"Thank you, Cullen. I forgive you, and I thank you for the apology. For what it's worth," they both heard the knock at the door, "I still consider you to be one of my closest friends here."
Cullen nodded before getting the door. Vivienne looked between the two of them before thrusting a package toward Melusine.
"I'll leave you two alone." Cullen left before Melusine had to uncover herself to accept the package awkwardly. "I believe Cassandra would like to speak to you in the courtyard when you are finished here."
Vivienne watched Cullen retreat then glanced at Melusine, "I don't intend on seeing that again." She dropped the package on the table by the door. "I'll see you in the courtyard when you're more tastefully attired."
Melusine rolled her eyes at the mage's hasty retreat as well. The outfit resembled Qunari fashion, with a turquoise chest wrapping and matching loose-fitting trousers. Vivienne had gone through the added effort of making sure there was a hole in the pants through which Melusine could shove her tail and still look appropriate. This outfit would reveal her midriff, but there was no avoiding it if she was to maintain some semblance of decency.
She nearly wrapped herself into a knot before finally succeeding with the clothing, and opened her door sometime later. She saw her advisors standing with Cassandra not too far away. Cassandra was the first to notice her, and a small smile touched her lips. When the others looked, Melusine only had eyes for Cullen. Even at this distance, she saw his eyes widen as his gaze traveled up and down her body. The heated interest lasted only a moment before Cullen, and the other advisors turned away and left Cassandra to wait for Melusine alone.
As Melusine drew closer, Cassandra pointed toward yet another caravan coming across the bridge into the courtyard, "They arrive daily from every settlement in the region. Skyhold is becoming a pilgrimage." She turned and led Melusine further into the fortress and up a series of stairs. "If word has reached these people, it will have reached the Elder One. We have the walls and numbers to put up a fight here, but this threat is far beyond the war we anticipated."
"But we now know what drew Corypheus to us. Or well, to me. He came for the anchor, and now it's useless to him, so he wants me dead. " Melusine waved her left wing, revealing the glowing green mark.
Cassandra smiled and continued to lead Melusine further onward and upward into the fortress, "The anchor has power, but it's not why you're still standing here. Your decisions let us heal the sky. Your determination brought us out of Haven. You are the creature's rival because of what you did. And we know it. All of us." They made it to a landing that overlooked the courtyard they'd been in just moments before. Melusine saw Leliana standing there holding a magnificent looking sword. "The Inquisition requires a leader. The one who has already been leading it." Cassandra's smile grew as she pointed toward the sword then back to Melusine. "You."
"I must be having some hearing problems." Melusine glanced back down into the courtyard and saw that several people were beginning to draw closer as if sensing something grand was about to happen. "You trust a Taninoui as head of the Inquisition? Someone who isn't even from Thedas?" She looked in confusion between Leliana's smiling eyes and Cassandra's determined ones. "Who can resemble a dragon?"
"You're more than just all that, Melusine. I cannot pretend no one will object, but times are changing. Perhaps this is what the Maker intended." Cassandra nodded toward the courtyard, and again Melusine looked at the people down there. Her companions. Cullen. "There would be no Inquisition without you. How it will serve Thedas, how you will lead: that must be yours to decide."
Melusine took the time to study each of her companions, and all the more so, Cullen. It was Cullen's expression of determination and acceptance that motivated Melusine to turn towards Leliana and take the sword. Thankfully it wasn't more burdensome than it looked, and, with time, she figured she could learn how to wield it.
"We'll defeat Corypheus, together." Melusine reached out and grasped Cassandra's shoulder, then looked to Leliana and nodded. "No one will stand over anyone else," Melusine let go of Cassandra and turned to face the courtyard, adding, "unless they happen to be taller, or on a high wall." She heard Leliana snort behind her at the same time she heard Cassandra sigh.
Still in the mood for pomp and circumstance, Cassandra moved to stand beside Melusine and shouted into the courtyard, "Have the people been told?"
"They have," Josephine grinned as she stepped forward, "and soon the world."
Cassandra gave a somber nod. Melusine nearly laughed when she made eye contact with Sera and saw the elf go cross-eyed.
"Commander," Cassandra addressed Cullen this time, "will they follow?"
"Inquisition, will you follow?" A series of cheers, far more than Melusine expected, echoed off the stone walls. "Will you fight?" Even more cheers. "Will we triumph?" Slightly fewer cheers than before but still a goodly amount. "For your leader, your Herald, your Inquisitor." Cullen unsheathed his sword, equally in love with ceremonies as Cassandra, and made quite the display as he thrust it into the air.
Melusine really needed to talk to these people about perhaps changing her title. The mental images that came to her mind with Inquisition and Inquisitor were far from inspiring. Once another round of cheers and congratulations went around, well, Sera made fun of her, but that was good enough, Melusine joined her war council in the mess that was the Great Hall. It would take quite a while to get it cleaned up, but Melusine knew within a matter of days she'd need something to do to keep her occupied and away from doing stupid stuff.
"So, this is where it begins?" Cullen's voice almost echoed in the vast empty space.
"It began in that courtyard." Leliana retorted. "This is where we turn that promise into action."
"Couldn't agree more." Melusine came to a stop just shy of what looked to be a throne.
Josephine's tablet rattled as she stepped over a few old wooden chairs, "But what do we do? We know nothing about Corypheus except that he wanted your mark."
"True, I ignored a lot of what he said that could've been more helpful to us, but he did make it clear he wanted to restore Tevinter." Melusine wasn't going to add that she didn't even know what that meant in this world.
"Tevinter is not the Imperium of a thousand years ago." Josephine frowned. "What Corypheus 'yearns' to restore no longer exists."
Cullen nodded as he bent down and rummaged through a pile of papers, "And from that fact, I get the feeling we're dealing with extremists and not the vanguard to a full-scale invasion.
"We need more information, that's for certain." It was weird feeling a draft move against the naked skin of her midriff, but Melusine did her best to ignore it. "Just get me our next target. Tell me if I attack it in human or Taninoui form, and we move forward."
Someone clearing their throat from the great hall entrance had them all looking up. Varric walked toward them with a confident smile on his face. "I know someone who can help with that."
"Why didn't you say so before?" Leliana glared at him, clearly unimpressed with his intrusion and his timing.
Varric shrugged, "Everyone acting so inspirational jogged my memory. So, I sent a message to an old friend. She's crossed paths with Corypheus before and may know more about what he's doing." He looked between Melusine's advisors before nodding to Melusine. "She can help."
"If this is who I think it is, Varric," Josephine shook her head, "Cassandra is going to kill you."
"What can I say? I like to live dangerously."