Story Title: What Counts
Author: R2sMuse (r2s_muse on LJ/R2s Muse on FF.net)
Artist: vieralynn
Pairing(s): Fem!Hawke/Cullen
Rating: M
Warnings: Graphic Violence, heterosexual sex
Author’s Notes: Special thanks to my beta, meanieweenie, and to vieralynn for the lovely, lovely art! Also, many thanks to the DABB organizers for all their hard work!

Summary: Now a regular detainee at the Gallows, Marian Hawke’s arrests had become a strangely playful game with Knight-Captain Cullen. But the stakes of the game become real as Meredith tightens her grip on the city and tragedy strikes. Hawke’s unorthodox friendship with Cullen becomes their only hope for a peaceful resolution even as they are thrown onto opposite sides of the conflict at last.

Link to story @ AO3, by R2s Muse
Link to art #1, Link to art #2, Link to art #3, by vieralynn (art also embedded in story)

Excerpt:

“So,” Aveline started, her ginger brows drawn down in disapproval. “Is it Meredith or Cullen I need to speak to about this?”

“Don’t worry, Aveline. It’s over now.”

“But, it’s not, Hawke,” Aveline fumed. “It doesn’t matter if it was templar business. You’re not a mage… or a templar. Cullen has no jurisdiction over you.”

“Mmm, he can have jurisdiction over me any day,” Isabela chimed in.

“He wasn’t really arresting me, anyway. He just wanted to talk. To warn me about my bad behavior in crossing the templars.”

“Well, it certainly looked like arresting to me,” Aveline said. “Believe me, I’ve seen my fair share.”

“You know what this means don’t you, Hawke?” Isabela said with a speculative look in her eye. “Arresting you just to talk? For a templar, that’s like pulling your pigtails on the playground.”

Varric chuckled. “Makes sense. No niceties spared by these templars.”

Hawke snorted in disbelief and pushed back her short-cropped dark hair from where it always fell into her eyes. “Are you saying he threw me in his dungeon because he likes me?”

Isabela’s eyes lit up. “He actually put you in his dungeon? Already? Hmmm. Yes, I now fully stand behind my analogy.” Varric laughed, as usual providing the perfect encouragement for the pirate woman.

Hawke gave them a quelling stare, but both of their grins just grew. “Humph. Regardless, it seems I have to be a bit more circumspect in my dealings with templars.”

“Well, I could have told you that,” Aveline said drily.

Summary: Set after DA2, an innocent haircut turns into much more for the former Knight-Captain Cullen and his fearless leader. A short drabble for the BSN Cullen Forum “first kiss” prompt in honor of Page 500.

Cullen jumped when warm breath tickled his ear and long dark hair swept over his shoulder.

“Cullen, you’ve got to relax. Perhaps the time has come for you to start trusting me,” she said softly against his ear. Her lips brushed against him when she smiled and then she straightened, letting him breathe a little easier as she moved away.

Trust. That was of course easier said than done. He looked uneasily at the flash of razor sharp metal at the edge of his vision. He knew she was a master of the blade, but this was very different. It was much more up close and personal and required much greater control. Especially so close to his neck. And, primary arteries.

While she resumed her work, he glanced around him at the multitude of long, tangled curls littering the bank of the pond next to which he sat. With the fading sunlight picking out the reddish highlights in the twisted golden lengths, the discarded hair looked almost macabre, like she was cutting away the painful history that had led to his dramatically changed appearance.

If only it were so simple…

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