[sandbox]

[bringspeopletogether]

Herald's Rest gets as crowded as any respectable small-town tavern come nightfall. Considering Skyhold's a village unto itself nowadays, that's no surprise.

Maryden's holding her usual court over near the fire, her song weaving in and out of the noise: voices, laughter, shouts, clattering. Bull's there, towering over half the crowd even while seated, deep in enthusiastic conversation with Krem, but the rest of the Chargers don't seem to be anywhere near. When Alistair stands still, he's pretty sure he can hear about five different languages in a ten-foot radius.

He's nothing strange or remarkable in here. It's...nice.

And there's alcohol. Even nicer.

Comments

[bringspeopletogether]

"To be fair," Alistair allows, "I never actually saw Morrigan turn anyone into a frog. She saved all the..." A vague wave of his hand. "Shape-changing stuff for herself. Did you know mages who get really good at that can turn into an entire swarm of bees? How does that even work? Are they all just a bunch of tiny Morrigans, or is there, I don't know...one Morrigan-bee controlling the rest of them?"

Clearly, these deep thoughts require more alcohol. Alistair avails himself of it.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Ask Sera," Cullen says finally.

Mostly because he thinks it would be funny, and also Alistair probably wouldn't tell her Cullen told him to ask.

"She's the bee expert."

[bringspeopletogether]

The laugh Alistair lets out is more fully formed this time.

"Maker, now I'm imagining Sera trying to trap Morrigan in a jar. Wouldn't that end horribly for everyone."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Unless it worked," Cullen says, straight-faced.

[bringspeopletogether]

"She's probably just turn into a bronto and smash her way out. Then rampage through the entire fortress. Tables upended, elves trampled, fires everywhere..." He sighs, mournful. "Just awful."

[howtoactfereldan]

"And how'd you get so knowledgeable about magic all of a sudden?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Not knowledgable of magic."

Alistair raises a finger.

"Just knowledgable of Morrigan's temperament and drawing wild conclusions from there."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Maybe you and Varric ought to collaborate," he mutters.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair wrinkles his nose. "Please let him never write about the Fifth Blight," he says, and takes another gulp from his tankard. "I'll pay him not to do it. With...something. I'll find something."

[howtoactfereldan]

"I believe in you," Cullen says, solemn.

[bringspeopletogether]

Another huff of laughter, before Alistair descends back into quiet contemplation of his drink.







"I saw them in the Fade a few times." His forehead wrinkles. "I think it was only a few times. And it wasn't really them, of course. But..."

[howtoactfereldan]

Well. That's new.

Cullen waits, careful, to see if he'll continue.

[bringspeopletogether]

"Kieran I would've expected. Not Morrigan. But part and parcel, I suppose."

He drinks.

"Same as when everyone else from the Blight was there. Younger. 'No, it's fine, just a bad dream, Alistair. Sure, we haven't beaten the archdemon yet, but we're all here. Everything else is fine.'"

A shrug, largely untroubled; he looks to Cullen. "I'm pretty sure you said the same thing once or twice. Big crowd, everyone from Skyhold. You must've been in there somewhere. 'Everything's fine.'"

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen's gone a mottled pink and white -- like he can't decide whether to be alarmed or embarrassed.

"I -- "

What do you even say to that?

"Huh."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair's gone back to staring down at his drink, thoughtful.




"I know you're real." Quiet. "I'm pretty sure you are."

It...might be a reassurance? Maybe? He knows Cullen's said everything's fine a lot since they got back to Skyhold -- it's important, abruptly very important in Alistair's mind, that Cullen understands he hasn't been saying the wrong thing.

[howtoactfereldan]

Well. This conversation suddenly devolved into a creepy ruined temple full of traps.

Tentative -- and he's stiffened, considerably -- he says, "Is there... anything I can do that would -- remove that doubt?"

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair shrugs again.

"Honestly," and a small, crooked smile reemerges, "that dressing-down you gave me after the incident with Varius did a pretty good job. If it hadn't been you, I bet I would've gotten a lot of 'no, no, it's all right, Warden Varius is fine, no harm done, here, have this magnificent cheese wheel I've hidden in my coat.'"

He rubs the back of his head.

More to himself: "...I shouldn't've asked for something this strong. Oh well."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen huffs, amused despite himself. "At least that episode served some good purpose, then."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair's smile grows. (It doesn't straighten out.) "Even if you didn't have a cheese wheel."

[howtoactfereldan]

"My coat won't fit one," Cullen says, with a straight face.

[bringspeopletogether]

"I don't know," says Alistair, gesturing to his neck, "maybe in the fuzzy bit."

Beat. He makes a face.

"Except then the cheese'd be covered in fur. Disgusting."

Alistair punctuates that by draining more of his drink.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen takes this opportunity to lean hard and with great prejudice against Alistair so the furry bits inveigle their way into his ears, and also the general vicinity of his drink.

[bringspeopletogether]

"Agh -- !"

Alistair tries to lean away, batting the fur out of his face -- at least, until he leans far enough that he has to grab hold of the stair for better balance. "I'm stealing your drink," he declares. "I'm stealing all of it."

[howtoactfereldan]

"You won't get that chance," Cullen declaims with great gravitas, and -- for lack of a more dignified term -- starts chugging.

[bringspeopletogether]

If Alistair tackles him, it's going to end with both drinks spilled. A better option is Alistair keeping his tankard out of reach and trying to hook his arm around Cullen's to pull the mug away, right?

Right. Completely flawless plan.