RP: Aria (lavellanfadewalk) ((NSFW content further down))

[blackwall_fadewalk]

Skyhold. He was back in- but the sky…

Sometimes Sera had the absolute right of it. Fucking magic shite.

Blackwall sighed, choking up a tad on the bit of chair leg. There was the feeling of Darkspawn or other Wardens in the distance. Supposed to be someday he’d be able to tell the difference. Didn’t do him much good now.

The hold was empty. Not even wind to make the trees move. Like the air just before the storm broke. Unsettling.

He paced along the battlements one foot at a time. No one else around ‘less they were sneakier than him. Not like that was hard. His Warden armour made enough noise to cover a snowfleur’s approach. The next tower was the one the Inquisitor had refitted for the Mages. Couldn’t hurt to have a quick look. Some mageling may have hid in there and could tell him what in the Blighted Void was going on.

The west door opened with only a small creak.

Comments

[lavellanfadewalk]

Aria was breathing in deep, slow breaths, arms loosely around his waist. She was tense with the hug at first, but her muscles melted under the warm, soft pressure of his arms and she stepped closer. He was right, she didn't had to carry everything on her own. But most of the Inner Circle had disbanded, moving on with their lives and she definitely couldn't drag her clan to it. For the first time of her life, she felt lonely.

"Thank you." she murmured, the grip around his waist tightening for a split second before she pulled away; she didn't know a better way to show him how grateful she was for those simple words, but she meant it, with all her heart.

[blackwall_fadewalk]

He let his hands linger on her waist for a moment. Looked at her face carefully and made sure she was looking better before he pulled entirely away. “You’re welcome. Have to earn my keep somehow. Not a lot of heavy things need moving, so.” He shut his mouth at last. She doesn’t need your rambling old man. Thank the Maker his beard hid most of his blush.

He cleared his throat and gave Lavellan a gentle squeeze to her shoulder before he turned away to search out a good shield.

[lavellanfadewalk]

"I had no idea a Grey Warden should also provide emotional support to bystanders, in addition to, y'know, saving the world for the Blight and all." she chuckled, watching him browse through shields. His warmth lingered and left her with a good feeling.

"And so we're clear... Iron Bull won't know about that sword, this is on me."

[blackwall_fadewalk]

“You? A simple bystander? I don’t think I’ve ever known you to stand by when you could be doing something.” Blackwall snorted and dragged a pair of tower shields off of some smaller ones. Turned and gave her a bit of a stink eye when she mentioned the sword. “He’d better not. Would probably mug me for it if he knew what I have. You don’t forget anything, do you?”

He went back to the shields, pulling out an Obsidian one before putting it back. “But so far as I know, Grey Wardens don’t go ‘round hugging strangers who need it. Don’t think I could. But you’re. Well.” He stared into the pile of shields. Shuffled them a little. Looked like the Obsidian one might be the best unless there was something under…

“You deserve to be happy.”

[lavellanfadewalk]

"True... if I could simply be quiet and polite, I wouldn't have run into Corypheus murdering the Divine and nothing of this would've happen... well, at least for me, it seems." and she grinned "I asked Master Harritt to add an extra layer, of dawstone, to Bull's armor before he left with the Chargers. It looked like it was his name day. And yes, I have a perfect memory. The Well seems to help me too."

She shifted her weight from one leg to another, chuckling. "Me, happy? Perish the thought. I'm too old to believe this exists" her eyes kept staring her feet, though, the notion causing her to smile. She'd been happy with the Inquisition, despite death lurking on every corner of their journey. And she was happy with her accomplishments and how happy the common folk was. But that was simple. And complicated things were getting the best of her.

[blackwall_fadewalk]

He could imagine Bull’s face at that. Snickered to himself, but his face fell when he pulled the best shield out of the pile. “Maker have mercy.” Dawnstone. A particularly shiny piece. Even made in the Warden style. Right. Blackwall tossed it back and hauled out the Obsidian one.

“If you were quiet and polite we’d still have a great bloody Breach in the sky with an army of demons breathing down our necks and Corypheus still calling himself lord and master of us all.”

He rolled his eyes as he looked through the paperwork on the war table. “Too old. My arse, you’re too old. Out of everybody in this room you’re not the one who gets to be complaining about being too old.”

He found the requisitions list at last and skimmed over it until he found the sword. Wrote a note about being the one to take it. Found the shield and did the same. Replaced the list where he’d found it. Only then did he turn back to Lavellan. Go back to her.

“Hey.” He reached out his hand again. “Happiness is what you make of it. Doesn’t last forever. Just a good moment out of a lot of shite ones. You find ‘em, make ‘em stay for as long as you can. And then you hold the memories close to help you keep going.”

[lavellanfadewalk]

"Aw, c'mon! The dawnstone is perfect!"

Her nose wrinkled when she laughed, tossing her hands to the air when he stuck with the obsidian one, still watching him when he made notes for Cullen. "See, this place proves your whole 'the Breach would still be in the sky thing' wrong. Evelea, the healer who helped the Hero, is the Inquisitor in her reality. Chose the Templars even!" she clapped her hand over her thighs, now really outraged "Now... really, how old you think I am? Because when I say I'm too old for this shit, that's 'cause I really am."

Aria only shrugged at his little speech about happiness, motioning to the door. "Like I didn't know. Creators, I would dig an archdemon with my bare hands if I could have everyone together to save the world again. Poor Cole knows how close to my memories I've been." she sighed "I don't know... maybe I just need new ones."

[blackwall_fadewalk]

“Too old for this shite? Of course you are. Everyone is. Doesn’t mean you’re too old to be happy.” Blackwall poked her shoulder. “Just because in some other version of things someone else saved people a little differently doesn’t make your saving people mean less. Especially for those of us you saved.”

“As for all the rest, well.” He couldn’t really speak to that. Not an hour ago he’d been picking apart one of his fellow Wardens looking for things he could relate to their friends. He should’ve just taken her as she was. The loneliness made him reach for what wasn’t there. Not fair to his fellow Warden, cruel to himself. “I was gone a month and a half. Soppy as it is, kept expecting to see Bull glittering out the corner of my eye, or hear Varric start up with his ‘So, no shit, there I was.’”

He leaned away slightly. Ran his hand through his hair. “And every time I looked up to the front while we were travelling - every fucking time, mind you - and you weren’t there, well. I’d think that a bear dragged you off and somehow nobody’d noticed.” He had to laugh. Now it was over, it was a little funny.

“And I was furious. How could no one notice a great ruddy bear just up and snatching you out from under everyone’s noses? I’d stop and be looking around for a trail before I realized.” He snorted. “The other Warden’s got paranoid at first, thinking we were being tracked. After a while I think they figured I was just looking for places to water a tree. You don’t know how much fun it was, being thought of as the incontinent old recruit.”

You know she’ll never let this go. You’re embarrassing yourself, old man. But at least she’s smiling.

“We went our separate ways, but just means we have new stories when we see each other again. I’m sure you’ve been kept busy too. Though yours might be more complicated than mine.”

He leaned in and whispered in her ear. “And I’m not wearing more Dawnstone, even for you. Bull would be far too smug.”

[lavellanfadewalk]

Busy, yea.
She had been busy. Especially on making the voices in the Well behave and respect at least her few sleeping hours. Damn old Mythal hags, couldn't shut up for five seconds! Five. Fucking. Seconds. She cackled at his stories with the Wardens, a hint of a pit forming on her stomach; she had pushed him away, she had been responsible for snatching him for the Inquisition and she still worried. Well, of course he worried! They went through thick and thin together, something like that wouldn't simply just vanish. And the fact his breath was tickling her ear and making her stomach flutter only confirmed the theory.

"I'm sure we can reach an arrangement good for the both of us." she chuckled, a little smug.

[blackwall_fadewalk]

Blackwall pulled away so she could see his pointedly raised eyebrow. “Right. Don’t think I want to know what that means. Last time we ‘reached an arrangement,’ we were all prancing around the Storm Coast in Plaidweave. I’ll never get the memory out my head.” He and Varric hadn’t been too badly off. His plate and Varric’s leather covered most of it. But watching her and Bull trying to push each other into the Waking Sea in matching trousers was just. Blackwall couldn’t keep a straight face, even just thinking about it.

“Well. Anything else need doing?”

[lavellanfadewalk]

"You'll never forget about the plaidweave, Creators." she bit her lip to stiff a laugh "I said that was the best we had to do better equipments. Also with the bonus of making it easier for me to track all of us under that grey, stormy sky. And for the enemies. But well... it worked."

Aria left the war room, closing the door behind them. "Aside from finding that bloody arcanist, I was going to enjoy a rare moment of complete silence, 'cause I can't hear the Well here. But since you're here, maybe you're interested on joining me for a round of piss ale? That is something the Herald's Rest is never in shortage, not even in the Fade."

[blackwall_fadewalk]

It had worked. Didn’t mean he ever had to admit it.

“Shite drinks during a calm moment with the best company? I could stand that.” He agreed, falling into place behind her again.

He kept his peace until they reached the tavern. He poured the drinks and brought them to her at the table. Let them both get a few sips in before he cleared his throat.

“You mentioned the Well.” He started, and then had no idea how to keep going.

[lavellanfadewalk]

Aria sat across from Blackwall, drinking half of her mug from the start. Being slightly boozy kept the voices shut, and old habits died hard.

"Yea... Mythal's old elven hags. Quite the audience." she chuckled, scratching the back of her neck "Completely shut since I arrived. The mark is quiet too." she glanced her left hand in a reflex, not a sign of any green glow "Which is pretty curious, if you consider we're inside the Fade. But then, if there is something me and the other mages agree is that this place isn't exactly the Fade."

[blackwall_fadewalk]

“Audience? Do they heckle you?” He asked, then snorted. “Sounds like the start of a riddle. ‘When is the Fade not the Fade?’ Always hated those kinds of jokes. Answer’s probably something about dreaming or the Veil. Void take me if I know what it is.”

[lavellanfadewalk]

Aria cackles at his question, almost spitting her ale, placing a hand over mouth just in time to avoid making a mess.

"Do they 'heckle' me? Do they?! Hah! My mother heckled me, the Keeper heckled me, and now it feels like I have a thousand of them talking at the same time about thousand different things and theories about any problem or stuff I was thinking about." she waved her hands, then rubbed her face and eyes "They're quiet most of the time, I'll give'em that, but they chose to talk in the worst times. But I'm learning to shut them, push them from the surface of my mind back to the hole they usually hide in." she took a sip of her ale "When the Fade is not the Fade... the hags probably know the answer to this question."

[blackwall_fadewalk]

“I thought that Well was supposed to be helpful. Sounds like just a ticket for a quick headache. Too bad you didn’t let the witch take it instead.” He shook his head and leaned back upright in his chair. He’d ducked when it had looked like Lavellan was about to spray.

He clicked his mug against hers and took a slug to catch up. “Does anything help drown them out? Or is it just more noise coming from outside your head as well as in?”

[lavellanfadewalk]

"Nah, apparently they don't deal well if the numb mind of a drunk person." she shrugged "The Well was helpful to cut the smug smile from Corypheus ugly face. And to find us that nice dragon willing to do dragony stuff against Corypheus' blighted beast so... I just need to adjust to it. Learn how to access and use their knowledge as I learned to access and use the Veil for my magic, when I was a kid."

Aria was leaned with her elbow over the table, jaw lazily resting over her fist.

"What about you? Ser Alistair said the Wardens are connected to the Darkspawn... I assume this must be slightly similar to my connection to the Well. Only without words, since all the blighters do is to screech, scream and other noises I never thought a living creature could make."

[blackwall_fadewalk]

“Well, I haven’t run into any Darkspawn since my Joining, so I couldn’t tell you.” Blackwall shrugged. He probably wasn’t allowed to tell her anything, now he thought of it. Grey Warden secrets and all. Not that he didn’t understand. The Joining was… well, it was a death sentence. Sometimes you died all at once and others it just took a while to catch you up. There was a reason the rumors about the Hero of Ferelden looking for a cure kept coming up. Cheating death was every Warden’s favorite pastime.

Blackwall tipped back his mug and finished off the second half in a few long gulps. “So if learning to shut the Well up is like learning magic, what is drunk magic like? Do you get magic impotence?” He gestured for her to hand over her mug as he got up for refills.

[lavellanfadewalk]

"Drunk magic is dangerous magic." then she add "More than usual. What is like wielding a sword in a fight when drunk? You can miss the target, hurt yourself, hurt people that has nothing to do with the quarry. Add a increased risk of possession and then you have a glimpse of what drunk magic is like."

Aria passed him the mug, straightening her back and placing her feet over the chair next to hers. She stretched her arms above her head, in a lazy and cat-like gesture, waiting for him to come back with more ale.

[blackwall_fadewalk]

He filled their mugs, then grabbed another pair and filled those as well. Brought all four back and slid a new one across to Lavellan with her original. “Bottoms up.” He clicked his first mug against hers and chugged the whole thing down.

He’d fought drunk a fair few times in his life. While he’d been in the army there had been days when he’d woke still well sauced from the night before. Training drills weren’t as hard to get through. Not compared to actual combat.

He heaved a sigh. “Sorry I asked. Should learn to just keep my mouth shut.” Idiot. Think you’re doing the right thing, but just fouling it up. As usual. Quiet down, old man. Just drink your drink. Not much other use for you.

Aw, shite. Was he already at this part of the evening? Usually took him longer than this.

[lavellanfadewalk]

Aria chugged the whole ale, keeping up with Blackwall. Probably better to nurse her next mug if she wished to keep things slightly coherent.

"Sorry for what? Pfft, c'mon. There aren't bad questions, only bad answers. Or so Keeper Deshanna told me, anyway." she grinned, no signs of being bothered by the conversation or the questions at all "I've been a mage my whole life, I know the risks, I know how to avoid it. There is nothing uncomfortable about it too. Unless you're a Templar freaking out. But you're not a Templar and doesn't seem to be freaking out, so..." she smiled "It's good to talk to you Blackwall. Bull is always freaking out about magic and spirits, ugh, tiresome." she shook her head, chuckling.

[blackwall_fadewalk]

“Oh? She heckle you about that, then? Would it be a bad time to mention that your Barriers always gave me the willies?” He smiled to show he was teasing. Though he hadn’t always been fine about magic, at least he’d never had to deal with Bull’s levels of discomfort. “I don’t mind talking about it. Magic and shite, as Sera would say. Just don’t understand it. So I end up asking fool questions and then Dorian or Solas or Madame de Fer or someone looks down their nose at me.”

He rolled his eyes with feeling. “Least you never did that. You tease, but you don’t make a man feel like a child for not knowing a thing.” Blackwall stretched his legs out under the table. Slouched down in his chair a smidge. Pulled his second mug over to the edge of the table.

“Shame of it is, I know you’d answer if I had a question for you. But damned if I can think of one now.” And not like she’d want to know anything about what he did. Swords and shields, woodcarving and angles. Not much use to an Inquisitor. Not much use to anyone.

[lavellanfadewalk]

"Dalish mages are very different from Circle mages, or Solas, since he doesn't fit in any group. A Keeper is a mage trained to serve the clan, their kin, to keep alive our culture and our history. We can't mock people over things they don't know, otherwise they won't come after us for guidance. Deshanna taught us it so we could look after the other mages, keep them safe for themselves and for everyone else, through knowledge. We never had any problems with abominations, so I guess her methods were good."

And she took another sip of ale, staring Blackwall in silence for a few seconds, clearly thinking about something. "I have a question for you. More like a stupid request. Very stupid." she warned, before going on "See, elves don't have beards, they simply don't grow any. May I... touch your beard? It's so... beautiful. I promise I won't pull it." Okay, now she was blushing and making stupid requests. Damn ale.

[blackwall_fadewalk]

He can’t help the smile. But he won’t laugh. She’d take it wrong. But that might be the most adorable thing she’d ever said to him. Blackwall wasn’t stone hearted enough not to be flattered and a little charmed.

So he got up and moved his drink out of the way. Leaned halfway across the table and braced his elbows against it so he’s close enough for her to reach. But wait. He held up a finger and leaned back a little, finger combing through his beard to make sure it’s sat right. Resettled the streaks of grey around his mouth into order. Made sure the two points were even at the ends. Then, just to be a prat, he fiddled with his sideburns so she’d have to wait a little longer.

He resettled back on his elbows, arms folded together and out of her way. “Alright then. And you can pull it a little, if you like. Make sure it’s properly grown and not a fake.” His smile faltered. Bit of a loaded word that. Well done old man.

[lavellanfadewalk]

Aria clapped her hands together, joyful, sitting properly on her chair before standing up, almost unable to wait until he was done with his combing. She sits in the table edge then, reaching for his beard with both hands; her fingers runs through the strands for some time, feeling its touch, far rougher than the touch of hair, but surprisingly fluffy too. She smiles, without noticing she's doing it, her light blue eyes huge with fascination.

"I must say... this is a dream coming true. Since I first saw you in the Hinterlands, I've been thinking about it. 'How must it feel like?'... and the color! How come this is almost perfectly symmetric!?"

She was referring to the gray strands, focusing on it now. Thing is, while focusing on his beard, she lost track of how she was invading his personal space, so close she would feel the warmth of his body if she wasn't totally focused on something else. Her thumbs reaches for the beard line close to his cheekbones, pads feeling the texture there.