[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]

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.

[howtoactfereldan]

If what Alistair was going for was making Cullen choke and spill what's left on himself, it's a great option!

He starts coughing; at some point it turns into hoarse laughter.

[bringspeopletogether]

Damn. No delicious pilfered beer for Alistair.

His tankard hits the stairs with a thump as he dissolves into snickering, one forearm pressed over his eyes. "I'll," he manages, "I'll get you another one -- "

[howtoactfereldan]

He'll clean his armor later, as he always does; right now there's no sense in fussing.

So Cullen flumps back on the landing behind them to stare at the rafters while he laughs. And coughs.

"You'd drink it all before you got here."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Not unless I get two of them." Cheerful, as he peers down into his tankard. "I'm nearly done with that one anyway. It'll be perfect."

(Aside from the fact that Alistair's half-drunk already, but never mind that.)

[howtoactfereldan]

"If Cabot will give you whatever it is he gave me," Cullen says to the ceiling. "I didn't ask for it. He just... pulled it."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Worth a try." He heaves himself to his feet, taking half a moment to steady himself. "I'll be back. Don't disappear on me."

Alistair navigates over to the stairs and begins his descent.

[howtoactfereldan]

"That would require that I move." Absent.

Not drunk. (Probably.) Just... tired.

[bringspeopletogether]

That gets another snort of laughter before Alistair disappears from view.

The tavern's growing more crowded by the hour; there are enough people milling around the bar that when he asks for two mugs of whatever Cullen just had -- putting on his best puppy-dog face in the hope Cabot might be swayed -- all he gets is a studious blank look. Damn.

The bartender's a reasonable fellow, though. "Something else strong that doesn't taste like drinking your own death?" asks Alistair, hopefully, and while that gets a snort and a you're the one who asked for that piss earlier, Cabot pulls out a bottle filled with sweet-smelling amber liquor.

"...Any chance I could relieve you of the whole bottle?"

"Nope," says Cabot, and splashes a measure of liquor into two glasses -- two large glasses, to his credit -- before sliding them across the bar to Alistair.

A sigh. "I'd say you're a cruel man," says Alistair, retrieving the drinks, "but I know you'd never serve me again."

Cabot smirks. "Damn right."

Alistair is just drunk enough that going upstairs, without a free hand to brace on the rail, takes rather longer than going downstairs. Luckily, he manages it without a drop spilled.

[howtoactfereldan]

That's the thing: when you're the one in charge of making sure everybody in Skyhold doesn't get exploded or whatever by Corypheus today or tomorrow and preferably the next day, and when Cabot, being an intelligent fellow, has some idea of why he doesn't see you in his tavern very often -- you drink free, and from the top shelf. (The metaphorical one.)

Everybody else must rely on their charm.

Cullen, meanwhile, is upstairs, still staring at the ceiling. He hasn't moved, except to clasp his hands over his chest. This is perhaps unfortunately corpse-like? But it's comfortable, so... you know.

[bringspeopletogether]

It does mean Alistair hesitates an extra moment, just long enough to see the rise and fall of Cullen's chest, before joining him back on the landing.

"No luck with the beer," he sighs. "Sorry. Got this instead."

He sets one of the glasses next to Cullen's head. The other one goes to the side, for now, as Alistair retrieves his tankard to gulp down the rest of his first drink.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen blinks at the ceiling. "What is it?"

(He didn't actually want another drink. But if it's there, he might as well. Once he feels like sitting up.)

[bringspeopletogether]

"Not sure." Alistair exchanges the tankard for his own glass and takes another whiff of the liquor. "Some kind of brandy, I think."

He ventures a sip, then scoots back to lean against the wall.

"Tastes better than mine and, I assume, a little worse than yours."

[howtoactfereldan]

"Remember," peaceably, "mine was terrible and you didn't want any."

[bringspeopletogether]

In revelatory tones: "That's right. Well, this absolutely tastes better than yours, then. Fortunate for all of us I didn't get any more."

He peers down at Cullen -- who, he's finally noticed, has not made a move toward the proffered drink.

"You all right?"

[howtoactfereldan]

"It's all part of my genius strategy. If anyone looks up here, they'll see you. I, however, will be obscured from immediate sight."




"Also it's comfortable."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair snickers. "If you'd like, I can fetch you a blanket and drape it over you. Nothing to see here, just a spare bolt of fabric. That's breathing."

He drinks.

"And when you're sick of that you can use it as a pillow and be even more comfortable."

[howtoactfereldan]

Grumbling, Cullen sits up, reaches for his glass.

"Have it your way. If anything awful happens while I'm drunk, it's your fault."

[bringspeopletogether]

"What?" he protests. "I was offering to hide you better! If you don't want the drink, give it here -- "

He beckons for Cullen's glass.