Cullen's July catch-all

[lionheartedman]

WHO: Cullen, Puppy, and you
WHAT: working, bathing, walking, playing, traveling, politicing (ugh), wandering around Orlais feeling out of place
WHEN: spanning the month 1-15 in Skyhold, 16-20 traveling, 21-31 in Orlais
WHERE: various locations - the hot springs, Cullen's office, and walking the battlements and courtyards in Skyhold - the Inquisition foothold and anywhere someone convinces him to show his face in Orlais

NOTES: Since this log covers two very different locations, and because there are travel times associated with getting to and from these places, please make sure you tell me what day you want your thread on as well as where.

If none of the options provided work for you, you are free to come up with something on your own. I'm also willing to make custom starters, if asked. Just let me know.

Threadjacking is fine, negative CR is fine. Basically everything is fine.


HOT SPRINGS (Skyhold)
evening
Cullen tends to go bathing at odd hours. It's half practicality and half availability. In the middle of the night, scouts and messengers have stopped arriving, and he doesn't feel as guilty about taking time for himself. He's also less likely to run into anyone else, which is good for him for two reasons now. First, because it is nice to have a little slice of time with no expectations to rise to. Second, now that puppy is in his life, everywhere he goes he has (as Adelaide predicted) a little blue shadow. It seems a kindness to not expose bathers to the insistent demands of a young mabari wanting stimulation. It's also easier to bathe the dog with no one else around, and if Cullen is in the water, Puppy wants in the water.

Setting all that logical and responsible reasoning aside, he finds it easier to sleep after a hot bath. He's not sure why, but the days he doesn't have time to get down to the hot springs, the days his hygiene routine consists of a basin of hot water and a rag (though Puppy still goes splashing when Cullen is finished), there is no relaxation to accompany the fatigue when it settles in.

So it's the twilight hours that find him soaking his old bones, flicking water at Puppy as he runs eagerly around the edge of the pool, venturing into the shallows to bite at little bubbles and let Cullen rub soap into his short fur. The mabari has learned to be quiet, to keep from drawing attention, or disturbing the peace of anyone trying to sleep. That doesn't in any way lessen his desire for play. He paddles around in the warm water, chasing bars of soap and scrubbing stones and leaping from rock to rock playing a game of tag with the reflections cast and anyone who might break the stillness to join them.

daylight hours
Just because Cullen only bathes at night, that doesn't mean Puppy feels so confined. If his master will not pay attention to him, if he is too busy and Puppy feels unneeded, he's not above visiting the hot springs on his own. During the day, it's far noisier, and he doesn't feel the need to keep quiet. He'll find people, during the day, and people mean a chance to make a friend. He'll still chase the soap, and might eat it if it's natural and unscented.


OFFICE (Skyhold and Orlais both)

There are preparations to be seen to. He doesn't leave Skyhold often, and never for any extended length of time. Of course, just because he doesn't do it, doesn't mean he won't have to. Leliana is still ill, can't travel. He feels that Josephine if more than enough on her own in that city. She knows how to play their games, and Cullen does not. Even if he could learn, he would not want to.

Wherever he goes, there he is, and the paperwork follows. It always follows. He doesn't even get the rare pleasure of a bare desktop on his first day in Orlais. It's waiting for him, already piled high. He expects to be hunched over his work long into the night, and he also expects to be interrupted regularly. Life as usual.


TRAINING (Skyhold and Orlais both)

Just because it's a different sort of fight they're heading into, that doesn't mean his troops can shirk their training. Just because he will be away from a portion of them for a time, doesn't mean they get to slack. He will appoint someone he feels comfortable with to act in his stead while he is gone, keeping his troops in top shape, improving them as quickly and fully as possible. Those who travel to Orlais will not have an easier time of it. They are a representation of the Inquisition in a land that would rather not have them turn up and spoil the party. They will have to be themselves, but better. Through it all, daily training is a part of life now. When numbers are so small, they must be clever and skilled.


TRAVELING TO ORLAIS

The traveling is honestly not that bad. He's used to it. It's far nicer with Puppy, he must say. On horseback, the mabari marches along beside him. At times the little dog is puffed up with importance and the recognition that his person is the head person, and so he must be a hound worthy of such an important position. At other times, small distractions catch his attention and he is every inch the young puppy enamored with the entire world and eager to learn about it. When he gets tired, Cullen brings him up onto his horse, letting him curl in the crook of his arm and the tucked and secured cloth of his cape and chase nugs in his sleep.

When they stop to make camp, Puppy makes that time more tolerable, too. He is friendly with everyone in their group, doling out affection and encouragement around the fire, playing fetch and begging belly rubs, but always coming back to Cullen. It's not easy to sleep under the best of circumstances, and even worse on the road.


GENERAL ORLAIS

This is Cullen. He is in Orlais. He hates Orlais. Come make it better/worse for him. Or just watch him wander around hating his life. Your call.


PUPPY (this one works pretty much anywhere, and does not include Cullen)

A young mabari puppy appears! He has decided that the next slice of his life is going to include you. Deal with it.


Solace timeline

Comments

[lionheartedman]

He hadn't, no, but people don't ask that question unless there is a chance you should remember them. So he doesn't answer immediately. Instead, he takes another step forward at a bit of an angle, letting the firelight give him a better view of her face. A long time. A mage, a Warden, and a long time. "Maker's breath." Her name is right on the tip of his tongue. Sort of. He's always been better with faces, and when the years melt away from hers, he can see the fullness of baby fat and unkempt hair and a wide smile. "Essa? No. That's not it."

[circleprodigy]

Her lips twitch at that and she shakes her head. "Close? Sometimes my teachers called me 'Ness' or 'Nessa', though I usually preferred 'Inessa'." Tiny thing, big eyes, always asking questions. She had even asked the friendlier Templars about their abilities in her endless quest to know as much as possible. "It's been a while since Kinloch Hold, hasn't it? For me, too."

[lionheartedman]

"A lifetime," he agrees, weight in his voice that perhaps wasn't there a few moments ago. Still, the past is past. "I'm glad you got out all right." Many weren't that lucky, both Mages and Templars. Dark times. Still, something good has come from it all. Something not horrible, anyway. He has a place here, she has a place with the Wardens, and a fine mabari. Not to mention a patient one, as is evidenced when his own goes up on his back legs and tries to lick his new friend's face.

[circleprodigy]

A lifetime, indeed. Inessa nods solemnly, eyes shadowed as that horrific time is never that far from her mind. How can it be, when such evil had invaded her home? But her voice remains calm. She's had a lot of time to cope with what happened. "I'm glad you persevered as well. But if it hurts more than it helps to discuss such matters, we need not do so. I've found it has helped to focus on better times."

Garahel's fine with all the licking, though he returns the favor. His tongue is bigger, too, and he'll enthusiastically prove it. Puppy won't need a bath after this.

[lionheartedman]

Don't count out Puppy's ability to get himself filthy. He's a puppy. Never met a puddle he didn't like. This mutual bath is pretty awesome, though, and while his tongue might be smaller, he's also quicker with it. Quicker and just as enthusiastic. It's pretty adorable.

"We both lost quite a lot to those dark days. I try to think about what I still have." A place, a purpose, something that feels almost like a home. His siblings, his faith, and now his hound. The good things.

[circleprodigy]

"And you help him with that, don't you?" Inessa looks down and smiles at Puppy, not interfering with the bath but she'll pet him whenever Garahel stops his licking spree.

"And I agree. Focusing on what remains and what remains to be done is the only course left." If he's anything like herself, she suspects the nightmares are still present, but there isn't much to be done about that, is there? Except work and avoid sleep until the mabaris insist. "Garahel was a gift, after my Joining. He was no bigger than your pup is now. Watch out, they grow frighteningly fast."

[lionheartedman]

"He really does." It's strange to think that the little mabari is such a recent addition to his life. "I have been warned about the growth spurt. Apparently this one will be massive, even by breed standards. Bred for bulk." Not the wording that Adelaide had used, but the sentiment. If the paws are anything to go by, Cullen's in for a rough ride during the period after the upcoming growth spurt and before Puppy actually realizes just how large he's become.

[circleprodigy]

"Oh, dear." Yes, she's noticed the paws and can easily see that prediction coming true. "Even when he's much larger, he might still think and behave like a smaller one. It took some training -and bruises, on my part- for Garahel to realize that he couldn't leap onto my lap anymore." Small mage, large dog; yeah, it wouldn't end well. Garahel looks up and whines, repentant about that, honest.

[lionheartedman]

Cullen leans back, looks down his nose at her, mostly for the illusion of added height. "I think that might be a little more forgiving for me than it was for you. I'm surprised he didn't crush you." She's hardly the tiny slip of a girl she used to be, but she's still very petite. She could probably ride her mabari, if the desire ever strikes her. Somehow, he doesn't think Garahel will mind. He leans down, scratches behind one of those big ears. "Who's a good boy? Who's a good gigantic boy?"

[circleprodigy]

Inessa laughs as Garahel rumbles happily, very pleased with himself and tilting his head just so for Cullen to scratch the best spots. Not to leave the pup out, she'll crouch and give him some attention and petting. "If I wasn't wearing armor, he might have. He's faster than you'd think, for all that bulk. But he was also quick to move off, so I have to give him some credit."

[lionheartedman]

"They're so smart. I knew that, objectively. I just don't think I quite realized what that would mean for owning one." It's so much work. Rewarding and wonderful work, but so much work. Puppy has a mind of his own, distinct personality, and it's very clear that he views his relationship with Cullen as something closer to a partnership. Which is wonderful for giving Cullen a sense of belonging, and occasionally horrible for his workaholic tendencies.

[circleprodigy]

"It's a true commitment, no doubt. There's little you can hide from them, and their will is strong, for good or ill. But speaking from experience, it's usually for good. I don't regret bonding with Garahel, not for one day." Not even when he's snoring or threatening to take over the entire bedroll or giving her the most soulful, gut-wrenching look because she hasn't given him a treat yet.

[lionheartedman]

"I'm glad you had someone. After." Maybe it's too forward of him to say. They had hardly been friends, the age difference too great for that, but she'd been a sweet thing. He'd liked her. Thinking of that curious little girl during the Blight is horrible, but a little more bearable when he imagines a massive mabari at her side through it.

[circleprodigy]

"Perhaps a pack of wriggly mabari puppies would have done us all some good, afterward." Inessa quirks a wry smile, knowing that such adorableness wouldn't have cured all. Even so, it might have provided some comfort. Garahel seems to agree, looking at them both and letting out an encouraging wuff.

[lionheartedman]

It might have helped. It might have helped a whole lot. Cullen wonders if having Puppy in his life earlier might have made an important difference. Still, any difference is still a difference, a step on an alternate path. "I suppose we'll never know. I... have found peace with my life as it is now. It lets me accept the path that led here." Which is a line of thought perhaps a big unexpected for a soldier, but his life is anything but typical.