faderift | OPEN: Cloudreach Event

OPEN: Cloudreach Event

WHO: Anyone at Skyhold
WHAT: Cloudreach showers bring weird shit.
WHEN: Cloudreach 15 onward
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: For information about the illness, its effects, and its cure, please make sure to also read the OOC Post.

This high in the mountains, snowstorms are to be expected. But this one is large and lingering, hanging over the valley and the fortress for days. In Skyhold, with its eternal spring, the snow becomes rain before it hits the ground, leaving inhabitants and visitors to wade through puddles and mud in the courtyards. In the valley, snow and ice accumulate under cloud cover—and worse, when the clouds finally thin, a whole winter's accumulation of snow begins to melt in the sunlight.

Within a day, the ground is sodden and mucky enough to give the survivors of the Fallow Mire (or Ferelden in general) unpleasant flashbacks, and those who live in tents are issued additional hastily-constructed wooden pallets to raise their floors above the mud. It is worse outside the fortress: streams and rivers have overflowed their banks, rapids run twice as fast as normal, and flash flooding has made even road travel treacherous.

On Cloudreach 17 a mudslide buries the pass into Skyhold from the west, and on the 19th a sheet of snow loosened from a mountainside collapses into the shadowed passage from the east. An Inquisition supply caravan is caught in the latter, scattering wagons and goods across the hillside and leaving a dozen people and horses in need of rescue and medical care.

Healers may find themselves stretched thin, as in addition to the usual rash of blisters and sniffles that come from days of rain and flooding, an illness begins to sweep through Skyhold's ranks from around the 16th onward. It's marked first by climbing fever, then by flashes at the edges of vision—green light and jagged formations that aren't there, beings of light and shadow gathering around people or clustering in corners—and distant voices, coherent for brief moments if you're quiet and still and not trying too hard to listen.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, turning to look up at him. He was glad the other did not actually get up out of the bed, happy to remain beneath the furs and blankets and soak up the other's presence.

It would keep him from having to talk about his own dream, or think about it. The further he could pull away from that the happier he would be. At least he was feeling somewhat better, which meant that his nap had managed to do some of the trick. Even so his head still felt fuzzy and his body tired. He was sure he could do with a few more hours, but he doubted he would return to sleep any time soon.

The bit of sleep wasn't enough, but at the same time he couldn't just fall back to sleep, not when Kirk was just as active as he was. Sam doesn't get out of bed, but he does shift so that he's sitting up against the headboard, letting the blankets pool in his lap so that he could cool off a bit.

"I've never had it before... it was no where I recognized. Foreign. There was screaming, explosions..." He trails off for a moment, rubbing at his eyes, before he continues, explaining about the pain but nothing from a wound, and being behind glass. Then darkness closing in.

Kirk went very still as Sam explained the dream. Of course he knew what dream he was talking about, because it was his own. He was not sure how Sam had seen it or experienced it, and he did not think Sam had done it on purpose. But it made his skin go cold for a second, a trickle of cold water splash down his spine.

It was not a subject he had wanted to broach with anyone here if he could help it. Given their view of certain things, the fact he had died and come back to life did not seem like a thing anyone would take well. He could very well be killed for it if the person who discovered that little fact was less than understanding or tolerant. He would hate for Sam to be that person, the first person whom he thought he could call a good friend here and been kind to him.

"That..." he started, wondering what to say, trying to gather his thoughts through the morning fugue. "That was my dream," he said at last.

The admittance has Sam stiffening, eyes becoming a bit wider as he turns to regard the man laying next to him. "Your dream?" Well that made sense of things a bit better, why he had seen people in similar outfits as Kirk's when they first met now that he thinks about it. It's still surprising though, he didn't have the ability to walk through dreams like he's heard some mages are capable of - very rare.

There's a long bout of silence before he hears Fortitude say something from where it is standing. It doesn't come closer and doesn't say much, but does remind Sam that Cole and others had mentioned about seeing dreams of others who were affected. "I suppose it's another side effect of the illness." He hadn't experienced it before now though considering he generally slept alone.

The illness caused others to see his dreams? He wasn't so sure that he liked that, but that was hardly anyone's fault either. Just another side-effect, but it didn't stop him from feeling slightly guilty that Sam had to see that. Experience it, even if the sensations were mere shadows of the reality.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," he said at last, looking away from him again. "I don't dream about it often, but I guess I've been so stressed lately..." He shrugged, letting out a long sigh as he pushed back his hair with one hand, bracing himself for something, though he couldn't say what.

"Don't be sorry. It's not like you can control it, and normally I wouldn't be able to. I'm sorry you experience that from time to time. It's..." He stops not really having the word for it with him mind still waking up a bit. "No one is without their nightmares."

He can only imagine how this feels for Kirk. For him this was strange, but not terribly so considering magic and just about everything else. Looking over to the other man, Sam can see how stiff Kirk has gotten about talking about it, how much more stressed he's become now that someone has seen his nightmare. Reaching over he gently puts a hand to Kirk's shoulder and gives it a comforting squeeze. "I'm well accustomed to dreams and nightmares. Mages don't get the relief to forget what they see."

"It's horrible," he said for him, looking back up at him once more.

With a sigh he heaved himself up so he was leaning back against the head board too, close enough to Sam that their thighs touched. He was grateful for Sam's touch and his understanding, though his brows crinkled in concern at Sam's words. His lips turned down at the corners, fingers moving to brush across his forearm.

"What do you mean?" he asked him.

Seems he had managed to change the subject just a bit, drawing Kirk's thoughts away from the dream even for a moment. Kirk's lips turn down, but Sam's turn up just a bit, closing his eyes as he tries to relax a bit in their sitting positions.

"Here in Thedas when we sleep our spirits connect to the Fade, where our dreams and nightmares come from. For those who do not have magic, they dream, and once they wake up they forget most, if not all, of what they've seen during that time. Mages are always connected to the Fade, so when we sleep we see don't dream quite the same. We are more aware - whatever happens there we remember upon waking."

Ah, the Fade again. He still wasn't sure if he really believed in it, or if it was like with Hermoine - a concept of energy they simply had different names for. In some sense, it sounded like a collective consciousness, except people obviously dreamed separate dreams and in a more heightened awareness of it if what Sam said was true. And he has no reason to doubt Sam. Frankly it was more than his mind wanted to ponder so early and on such poor sleep. No headaches this morning thank you.

"That must make the dirty ones more fun, huh?" He grinned and teased the other man, waggling his brows as he bit his lip coquettishly. Maybe even a suggestive rub of naked shoulders.

There's a pause of silence after the question, Sam's brows furrowing a bit as he doesn't quite catch it right away, but after turning his head a bit it and seeing the look Kirk is giving him it suddenly seems to click. He's rather thankful that it's decently dark in the room, even with the fires in the forges below, since he knows his face is heating up. The rub of his shoulder against him has Sam clearing his throat behind a hand and taking a long inhale. "Yeah... I guess so." Course desire demons didn't quite make them always enjoyable, but he's not about to bring that up.

"You guess so?" Kirk repeated with a chortle, reaching up to brush a flushed cheek with the back of his hand.

"Come on, Sam. I'm not a priest - you can tell me," he nudged him again with a warm laugh. "Maybe if you do it'll help us both have good dreams when we get back to sleep, hmm?" His blue eyes glinted in the dark, head turned so that his lips could almost brush Sam's ear as he spoke.

The hand against his cheek has Sam blinking, more so the mention of a 'priest'. Clearly that must be something else in Kirk's world considering here they were always women and Kirk was certainly not a woman. He's just about to give the other man an amused shove at his pestering, though his hand doesn't get much farther than touching his forearm when he feels Kirk lean in.

He certainly catches onto that suggestion, his eyes widening a bit more and feeling his face heat up even more. The breath on his ear certainly has a shiver running down his spine. "How do you plan on 'helping'?" He... has some idea on what Kirk is suggesting, but just to be clear.

Well, that would be news to Kirk - the priest thing. Amusing since religion in his world had spent a very long time keep women out of those particular positions of power.

He could feel the other shiver with the way he was leaning into him, lips turning up in a seductive little smile. A low hum escaped him, making his chest vibrate as he took his time considering his next words. All the signals suggested Sam was interested, but there were times he wasn't sure. Well, no harm in the asking, and Sam hadn't pulled away from him yet. Frankly, a good roll in the hay might be just what he (and Sam) needed.

"Well, it would involve needing to take our pants off," he murmured. "Underwear too. I don't think those particular dreams had a lot of clothing involved, did they?" Or maybe they did and Sam had a kink, which would be good to know. Either way he turned his hand, brushing his fingers down the defined curve of Sam's arm. His head dipped, lips brushing Sam's shoulder, waiting now to see what he would do - pull back or ask for more?

All of a sudden he felt a bit hypersensitive, noting each of Kirk's movements and exactly where he was leaning or pressing. The press of lips, a slide of fingers - the hair on his arms stand on end at the unexpected touches. It isn't something he's had a lot of, and when he did it was very little and fleeting.

"Perhaps at the beginning..." he admits, thinking more along the lines of when things were just kisses and brushes of fingers. There was certainly a lack of any later on, but... his mind really there, more on Kirk's touches at the moment. There is a moment he's quiet, considering, wetting his lips.

"I'm not very... experienced with that," he admits again, quietly this time as he tilts his head a little towards Kirk.

He waits in the dark, feeling the way Sam moves against his touches, the catches of breath. He's not sure if he's pressed to far, though he suspected Sam didn't mind such attention from males. When he did not move away his suspicions were confirmed and he felt his heart speed up in excitement.

"That's okay," he murmured, brushing his fingers across his chest and up so he could cup his jaw. His thumb slid across the coarse hairs, tilting him up ever so gently.

"It actually makes you sexier," he purred before pressing his lips to Sam's, gentle but firm. He wanted Sam to want this, but he didn't want to scare him off even still. Cautiously he brushed his tongue over Sam's lip, leaning in just a fraction more.

[Continued here.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

OPEN: Cloudreach Event

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject