[sandbox]

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair surprises himself: he adapts to the Basin a lot quicker than he expected.

The camps feel -- snug, he decides. In a good way. Trees overhead, a limited number of egress points, a vantage point so high it puts every night by the ladder to shame: they're not the stone walls of Skyhold, but maybe they're the next best thing. After an initial restless night or two, he sleeps soundly.

(Knowing he's surrounded by lots of people with sharp, pointy weapons? Also helpful.)

Joining the patrol rotations seems like a decent next step. No point in being in the field, especially after all that training with Bull, if he's just going to twiddle his thumbs all day.

Comments

[howtoactfereldan]

"It's... out of the ordinary." He kisses the corner of Alistair's mouth. "Nice, though."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Mm."

He cradles the back of Cullen's neck; starts running his thumb along the line of Cullen's jaw, slow, a bit absentminded. Alistair's smile is still more lopsided than not.

"I just like knowing you're around." Quiet. "That I can come here, after patrol, and you're here too."

[howtoactfereldan]

"I... still don't understand." Cullen's eyes are closed. "But note I'm not complaining."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Good." A thread of self-deprecating laughter winds through the word. "Not sure I can explain it better."

Another light kiss; another small laugh.

"I can't figure out what to say. Maker, the world really might be ending."

[howtoactfereldan]

"It was already ending before this."

He rubs the small of Alistair's back. "And yet you seemed to have no problems with words before."

[bringspeopletogether]

Except when he's had a bad enough day that he can't get his thoughts to cohere properly.

(But today wasn't a bad day. Not by any stretch.)

"I was about to say, 'maybe I'm just rendered speechless by your presence,'" says Alistair, thoughtfully, "but...no. The exact opposite, most of the time."

[howtoactfereldan]

"I noticed."

[bringspeopletogether]

He dissolves into snickering.

"Really? And I thought I hid it so well -- "

[howtoactfereldan]

"By definition -- " Cullen taps his back once or twice. "A great deal of talking isn't something one can hide."

[bringspeopletogether]

"What if it's very quiet talking?"

Over the course of that sentence, the volume of Alistair's voice drops lower and lower.

"Like this. Just...very. Quiet. Talking." He's almost to a whisper. "All the time."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen pulls back so he can give Alistair a very dubious look.

"You realize I can hear you."

[bringspeopletogether]

You can? Alistair mouths, affecting a shocked look. Oh no.

[howtoactfereldan]

"What's that? I should go back to my reports, you say?" He makes as though to pull away. "If you insist -- "

[bringspeopletogether]

"Don't you dare."

Laughing, as he catches Cullen by the arm and pulls him close again.

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen probably shouldn't be enjoying this half as much as he is.

(It's probably a good thing he doesn't realize that his face gives it all away.)

"Tyrant." With affection. "Fine. What will you have of me, then?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Your company," says Alistair, warm. "As always. If you need to take that walk around camp, I think most of this -- "

He runs his hands up Cullen's back.

" -- is out of my system for now; I'll behave myself. Or if you'd rather call it an early night..."

[howtoactfereldan]

"...then it will somehow find its way back in?" Laughing, quietly. "You know, when I ask that question, I'm generally hoping for something more specific."

[bringspeopletogether]

The lopsided quirk to Alistair's smile returns. Light, "I thought we established that words aren't working particularly well for me at the moment."

[howtoactfereldan]

A good-natured wince. "And I've no idea what that's like. Obviously."

Technically he doesn't need to do rounds, or finish those reports.

"Let's rest, then. And avoid words."

[bringspeopletogether]

His smile steadies. Alistair nods; his hands slip down to take both of Cullen's, and he sneaks one more kiss before making his way to their bedrolls.

...Not that they have particularly far to go. It's a cozy tent, made cozier by the desk in the middle of it.

(Maybe Alistair will figure out what to say after some time in the quiet. Figure out what brought this on, as Cullen put it, even after a decent enough day.)

[howtoactfereldan]

Once down, Cullen stretches all the way to his toes before turning on his side to hook an arm around Alistair's middle.

It's comforting to hear the sounds of the camp outside, slightly muffled as they are. Voices, footsteps, metal on metal. Fires, crackling. And, farther away, birds.

(Like Haven, in the early days.)

He presses an idle kiss to the back of Alistair's neck and sighs, content.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair smiles, faintly. He settles a hand over Cullen's. Soon enough, he winds their fingers together for a little extra security.

He even manages to stay quiet for a good five minutes.







"It's not as if things went badly today," he murmurs, when the thought circles around one time too many. Like if he gives voice to it, it'll run off like a dog spying an open gate.

[howtoactfereldan]

No louder:

"It sounds as though things went well, even."

[bringspeopletogether]

"They did." He closes his eyes. "As well as you could expect, I guess."

A beat.

Quieter: "I hesitated, though. I -- " He blows out a breath. "Right, I'll call it what it was -- I was scared. Of a damn spider. Not for long, but...long enough."

[howtoactfereldan]

"This is going to sound as though I'm not taking this seriously, and I want to reassure you that I am."

Thoughtful.

"It speaks well of your self-preservation to be scared of a spider. They're quite large. And more venomous than most, according to everything I've read."