[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]

One day, Cullen thinks, Alistair will stop measuring himself by absurd, only tangentially relevant standards and coming up short. If Cullen has anything to do with it, anyhow.

"They're easily countered." A small smirk. "Which is another reason to be able to hold a chessboard in your mind, so you can tell what he's done to it."

[bringspeopletogether]

Thoughtfully, Alistair says, "You could end a game of chess-by-mail if you simply wrote 'a bird made off with the board, terribly sorry,' couldn't you."

[howtoactfereldan]

"You could end it, but you'd forfeit."

[bringspeopletogether]

Cheerfully: "A much more interesting way to forfeit than writing 'I forfeit,' though."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen laughs, quiet, warm, fond. "Yes. It is."

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair beams. He kisses Cullen's temple -- soft, lingering -- and gives him one more squeeze.

Then he gently pulls away from the embrace, walking only a step or two away to kneel by the shoreline. Quite a few rocks dot the ground; he works his fingers under a likely-looking one to see if it's flat enough to skip.

[howtoactfereldan]

"...you're going to skip it at least seven times, aren't you," Cullen says, glum.

[bringspeopletogether]

"There's only one way to find out."

Alistair, by contrast, sounds quite cheerful. He straightens, winds up, and sends the stone winging along the lake.

Skip-plunk.





"...damn."

[howtoactfereldan]

Cullen pats his shoulder and very carefully does not laugh.

[bringspeopletogether]

Alistair's covered his mouth, struggling not to laugh himself.

"Well," he says eventually, as solemn as possible -- so not very -- "I'm sure Harding will be delighted to hear her record still stands."

He digs up another rock, offering it to Cullen.

[howtoactfereldan]

Who takes it, giving it a look-over before fitting his index finger along the edge and letting fly.

"Three," he says, watching it go. "Disappointing."

[bringspeopletogether]

"At this point -- "

Alistair fetches another rock.

" -- we may only beat Harding if we add our scores together."

On his next throw, he manages two skips before the stone sinks.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Improvement," Cullen says, pointing at the lake. "And addition would be fairer against Harding than Kieran. We could try it."

[bringspeopletogether]

"So we're up to..." Alistair squints in thought. "Six so far? Or should it be as many as we can get in a single turn each?"

He pulls up a likely looking rock -- which, unfortunately, looks flat on the surface but is as round as a sovereign underneath. He wrinkles his nose and tosses it in with another loud plunk before continuing the hunt.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Whatever allows us to win."

He says it cheerfully enough.

"Preferably by the largest margin."

[bringspeopletogether]

"Just imagine her face," he says, just as cheery, "when we loudly announce the thirty-six skips we pulled off. The stone traveled the whole width of the lake. Go find it on the opposite shoreline if you don't believe us."

Two more rocks, both appropriately flat; Alistair presses one of them into Cullen's palm.

[howtoactfereldan]

"She'd do it," Cullen says, fingering the rock, finding a good edge. "We'd have to take the opportunity to run away."

[bringspeopletogether]

"I'll tell her right before I leave for Stone-Bear Hold." He grins. "That'll buy us a bit of time, at least. And on the way I'll put a nice flat rock on the opposite shore."

[howtoactfereldan]

"...a foolproof strategy."

He leans against Alistair. "I've never wanted to ruin my reputation more."

[bringspeopletogether]

"What a terrible influence I've become on you," murmurs Alistair, warm. "I don't know how I sleep at night."

A beat.

"Well, no, I sleep quite comfortably. Partly because I use you for a pillow."

[howtoactfereldan]

"And steal the covers," Cullen reminds him.

[bringspeopletogether]

"And leave my poor pillow to languish in the cold on occasion, yes," he agrees with a small laugh, leaning against Cullen in kind.

[howtoactfereldan]

"Suffering in silence until it freezes to death." A quick grin. "Let's go in?"

[bringspeopletogether]

"Poor pillow." He kisses Cullen's cheek. "Yes, let's, before it gets any colder."

Alistair winds up to send his last rock winging over the lake: skip-skip-plunk.

"There." Satisfied. "Eight. Use your bragging rights wisely, Commander."

[howtoactfereldan]

"I always do."

He shifts the rock to his other hand and works his fingers through Alistair's. "Eight's very respectable."