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WHO: Araceli, Morrigan, Asher and you
WHAT: Catch-all for Bloomingtide
WHEN: Bloomingtide (post-5th Bloomingtide for Araceli)
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: A proper catch-up for all three characters below with specific starters and some open headers, if you'd like something specific feel free to hit me up! If you'd like a backdated thing for Araceli or Morrigan, let me know and I'll sort that too, I know I've been gone for a fair bit sorry!
Araceli's threads will all be post 5th Bloomingtide when she gets back from her mission in Antiva!
For some ooc details on Morrigan things, please see here, a rookery post will go up shortly for research helpers!
Warnings for talk of violence, blood and language in Asher's threads.

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"Aw BooBear. You're so good t'me." Easy 'nuf to turn and press his lips to Asher's temple. Nevermind the sweat or the smell. It's still Asher. He's gonna come through. This wasn't gonna be the thing what killed him. Bigger and badder things have ried and he headbutted every last one of them into submission. He'll be fine.

He has to be.

"Ow." It didn't hurt how it should, none of the usual force in the blow. But he winces dramatically all the same, muttering for all that he doesn't let go. He's still got a hold of Asher cuz it helps him feel more solid. Helps him figure that things'll be fine. "Hey. I still got paid."

That's the important part, really. "Look I run cargo, you know that. Sometimes it's mail, sometimes it's drakolisks, sometimes it's goslings. Whatever people need moved, I move, so long as it pays. Now you wanna hear 'bout Kirkwall or not?"

Course he did. "So I get here, I deliver my goods, I pick up a few odd jobs. Put word out on these crystals that I do work for coin as I'm try'n to get a proper war horse. Sasha's fine but she's for herd'n stock, not riding into battle with demons. A skinny, sly look'n fella calls himself Twisted Fate says he got something he needs picked up in Kirkwall- and he'll pay. Pay pretty solid too. Gives me time to put a crew together and I know shit got bad with the Qunari there. I know it probably wasn't my smartest idea- but somth'n smelled off and I wanted someone I knew at my back. So I took Korrin, a little skinny bit of a city elf and a Dalish. Monty sails us up from the coast, you remember him? Massive mustache, homicidal wife what used t'be my wife but not really? That one."

Is it depressing that Asher's friends treat him with more warmth and honest affection than his own mother did in fifteen years of raising him? Asher will be Asher, and they know that, and he'll do the same thing again because he's a Reaver, and what can you expect from people that've gone and chugged the blood of a dragon?

"Right fine, tell me about Kirkwall or I'll have Bronson sit on you." Except that'd be a scarier threat if Asher actually owned the fat dog out of the two of them rather than the dog that's just one big walking scar but why have a mabari if you don't use it in gentle threats towards your friends? The worst Mal would get is being licked to death. "Don't think even a war horse is good for demons on account of it being a horse. Should get yourself one of those big nug things." No seriously, get a knuckled thunderer or a landhammer or whatever they're called, he's seen some of them and if Asher absolutely had to straddle something that wasn't a person, then that's the sort of thing he could get behind straddling.

"Oh, that wife?" A slow smile spreads over Asher's face because yes, definitely, he absolutely remembers. "I liked that wife, got to respect a passionate woman." Because yes, Asher would like that wife because sometimes you just like people and Asher has a reputation for violence that's well-deserved outside of when he knows he has to behave himself.

Taking a swig of ale he nods because it's getting good now. "Continue, I'm interested even if there's no oiled up Arishok in this one."

"Now that's just mean." He drawls, he drifts forward enough to snag his pint and take a drink, cuz that was a lotta talk'n and it does parch the throat. Also gives Asher a little more time to be all snuggled up. In public. See how much he was an ass? See how much he's try'n to make up for it? Downright shitty of him to get all twitchy 'bout the Reaver from the get go.

"I am not gonna ride a war nug. Drakolisk, maybe- but when you know what you're do'n and the horse is trained right? Ain't noth'n that's gonna hold you steadier in a fight." Somth'n quick and solid, somth'n that'll charge when he needs it to and get the fuck out when he's half dead and bleed'n. "She was certainly passionate 'bout kill'n me, my crew, and try'n t'steal my ship."

And that's just cruel. Kill a man, sure. But take his ship? Not right. "Yeah, that wife. Yo-Saff-Bridge. Monty's been do'n better since we last run in with him, grew his moustache back. Started see'n a nice Vashoth woman that's a baker. Massive arms." Like woah, bro. "Thing is he's haul'n pickles. Pickled eggs, pickled veg, pickled pork trotters, salted cod. It is a briny ride and that didn't much help with them that weren't all that good with sea travel anyway. But seas weren't so bad, sky was wide and not fulla demons above me- felt right for a little while. At least till my hand would act up but- felt like how it should. We get across and sneak in through Darkdown which was plenty a'fun, lemme tell you. They don't like humans, they don't like Dalish, and they REALLY don't like Quanri. Jayne had to scare off more than a few idjits that wanted t'start shit. Korrin got called 'cow' coupla times. Mighta hadta hold her back from do'n something dumb. So we get to the alienage and we all stick tothe allies cuz- we do not belong in no alienage. Li'l miss City Elf goes in to get the goods, house is abandoned, seems all clear. The job is go'n smooth."

Asher knows full well Mal's luck with those kindsa things. Jobs never go smooth.

Only half an ass, if that, and besides, Asher was off making new friends. Upsetting Templars. Generally being Asher all over the place when he shows up unannounced in a place where folk aren't expecting him, and unlike Mal, Asher's reputation relies on him being loud and unpredictable, on letting people buy into that whole thing.

"They look like dragons people starved, I could snap one like a wishbone." Just you watch, he's gonna. He'll still stand by his point about how much a horse shits because someone has to clean that up and wow does Asher remind being a boy having to shovel that in all weathers, resenting the snorting beasts that seemed to produce more out of spite. "Look, I need fire in my women, and my men too don't get me wrong, but definitely the women. You need some passion, some ambition. Gotta be ballsy to try to take a ship. 'Sides, thought it was commandeering when it was a ship, isn't that the word for it? I read a book about that. Or that happened. The rest of the book was very different." The sort of book you read with one hand alone in a tent on lonely nights in the middle of nowhere going off to a job.

Now the news about Monty makes him laugh hard enough that he dislodges himself for a moment so he doesn't spray his drink everywhere, just about managing to keep it all down as he wipes a hand over his mouth. "You're shitting me, really? That man is living the dream down to the pig hoofs, even if I leave the squad behind I need to go and get under his feet, hit on his woman like I hit on Korrin's dad." Bronson relax, Asher will get you some of those at some point but for now they're in Mal's storyland. "Don't s'pose what happened helped in Darktown since it was bad enough when I was living there and I left before the Arishok finally lost it, someone was always going about muttering 'don't like Darktown, don't care' every time I went down there. Surprised you could hold Korrin back, don't know if I would've, she probably would've been hauling me off." Insults to his friends are red rags to a bull for Asher.

It's a very slow turn, same as the smile. The dangerous glittering smile right before Asher smashes a head into a table and kills a man. Fortunately it's Mal so he's just waiting for the story to get tasty. "Do I down this and settle in or do I wait and then down it for when fate shits all over your life?"

"You want her? You can have her." No, no he can't, cuz she'd try to kill him and Mal's not about to abide such nonsense in his life. Even if Asher might get a good ride outta her. "Comandeer'n is when a military or government authority takes the ship. Not a sneaky-bitch-thief."

Like Yo-Saff-Bridge.

"She'd break you like a twig, Asher. Shit- if you wanna visit? I'll take you myself. We can bring Korrin, it'll be great." Monty would probably even have a little bit of work for 'em if they asked real nice before Asher started in on his woman. It'd be hilarious to watch and even better to kick back and find things fall'n apart that weren't his fault for once. A really nice change of pace. "I reminded Korrin we had a job. She kept her head- better at it than you. I mighta sicked jayne on 'em on our way out anyway since we was runn'n."

Cuz shit didn't go smooth. At all. Ever. "Down that, settle in, I'll get you another."

Cuz it goes wrong in a bad way, Asher. Sky Lady's shitting britches does it go wrong.

What a shame Mal will only meet Asher's Avvar wife when Asher is dead and gone, even if she's not actually his wife now by the way things are measured, since Asher only managed a couple of knots in the length of a rope, but honestly Asher would really welcome a woman trying to kill him and not a husband, or brother, or lover, or father, or combination of the above. "Don't be rude about your wife, you're better than that. I'll put the bees in your bonnet for you, no need to supply them yourself."

He's a generous soul, is Asher.

"You've seen me. You've more than seen me, I've taken on bigger challenges than that. Not every Tal-Vashoth in Kirkwall wanted to stick a sword in you like that." There's a suggestive eyebrow raise because well, Asher is Asher, the Boneflayers were horrified but also kind of intrigued that he came swaggering out the next day. Asher's more likely to offend with his table manners and putting his dirty boots somewhere than anything else he might do, and well he can always bring some supplies from the Holdings as a pre-emptive 'sorry for being me' gift. No one says no to free eggs.

Turning his head, Asher takes a breath and without breaking eye contact for even a fraction of a second, makes a show of downing the entire pint in one go. In contrast to that, he sets the empty tankard down quietly, nodding.

"I'm ready, continue, I'm quivering with anticipation."

"You ain't seen this woman. I'd put money on her be'n bigger than that Iron Bull fellah." Which is- holy shit- some kinda impossible but she had arms like-

Mal didn't have words for 'em, so he gestures vaguely- not to the chest where most 'large women' get described, but his bicep. A woman that could lift a cow one handed. That kinda woman. Right up Asher's alley, honestly. Then Asher's showing off and there's liable to be more than one fella or lady that's intrigued by this trick- but Mal's seen it enough to snort a soft laugh, roll his eyes, and wait. "So this shy li'l city elf goes in, grabs the box we're supposed to get, slips back out. And there's foutu Venatori wait'n for her. She's a little slip of a thing, no weapons, all big eyes and pointy ears and skittish as all get out and she only went in know'n we were cover'n her. She tried to talk her way out of it. They weren't hav'n it. Whatever was in that case? They wanted, wanted bad, and violence was 'bout to ensue. So- I sick jayne on 'em, Korrin and I swing in and pull a Val Chevine- I think you were off on another job for that one or watin'n as backup for if we needed shit to get real wrecked-"

Korrin goes high with magic, Mal goes in low with the spear, Jane goes for the groin. Nasty business be'n zapped, stabbed, and bit- but it does clear a room. "Our Dalish is an archer so we got the Val Chevine plus arrows, get the skinny girl covered and clear before she gets hurt and then we're scrapp'n with Vint mages that aren't actually Venatori, just dressed like it, in the middle of the shitting alienage."

"We sparred together." The way Asher says that is the way a woman might talk about the love of her life, or at least her first, down to the misty-eyed look that has nothing to do with the amount of ale in him in his condition. What a magical day. It was amazing Asher had enough blood left to think honestly, because well he'll always look back at that with fondness.

He does have to interrupt with an eyebrow raise because city elf and no weapons? That doesn't sound quite right to him. "You sure she was a city elf? Every single one I've met might not look like they've got a weapon but they do, might be a tiny ugly thing they've scraped together and hidden but Melisende's from Halamshiral, and Liadan grew up in that alienage before the Coterie took her. They've told me plenty. Val Chevin...yeah, Nasir tagged along, the rest of us waited." Not that Nasir did anything but who else was going to signal for Asher to get everyone else moving to come in and help?

"That alienage has seen a lot of nasty shit," Asher says with a heavy sigh, dragging a hand through his hair as best he can because he remembers the gangs, the stories, having to head down there for work more than once and because Liadan's mother still lived there. "Even if it's not Venatori, the last thing they need are more mages in Kirkwall causing a mess, surprised there weren't demons clawing their way out. There weren't, were there? Because that'd be just like you without me to bail you out."

"Not even a shiv. Nothing. I tried giv'n her a dagger but she went green- says she's a healer, not much one for violence. I couldn't tell ya more than that as she kept to herself for the most part, real shy." Gave him all the more reason to try to mind her, try to keep her safe. The usual Mal business of trying to protect the little guy.

Of course the Val Chevin didn't work, too tight a space to make, too little time. "No demons, just idjits that thought dress'n up like people what summon them regularly was a great idea. THEN Li'l River Bug- the weird girl I told you 'bout, the one with the big eyes and can do freaky things? Slips in the mix and trips a coupla of them or somth'n? I couldn't rightly see but I'd told her to stick to the ship and a'course she didn't listen. The guard gets called in the middle of it and well. You know me and The Guard Captain don't rightly see eye to eye on the whole 'lets NOT arrest Captain Reynolds for this bullshit' thing and I didn't wanna have another argument. Korrin goes high, I go low, arrows go like arrows go. We make a coupla crispy pincushions, get the girl, get the package, get gone before the guard swings in. Monty's already prepped to sail out cuz he figured we'd be sprint'n for the shore cuz...he knows me and my luck."

Mal settles back with another pint, waving one over for Asher. "So we're back on pickle ship and back out soon as we can blink. We come back. I have words with the fella what paid me on 'why the fuck were here fake Venatori waiting for me', I get paid. I don't get arrested. Though... Guard captain's here NOW so that might still happen."

"Hasn't she heard the phrase 'a dagger for the dying'?" That's not even Asher being Asher, that's a genuine sort of query here but then it's the sort of thing that might be on a man's mind when he's probably asked his crew if they remember that because he thinks he did ask. He just doesn't want to confirm it because well, some things you don't talk about. "What was her name? Because I can think of someone but I know better than making assumptions that every elf looks alike the way pretty much everyone else does."

It's just one of those things that boggles Asher's mind. He can lump groups together like Templars because they decided to be that way, and most Orlesians because they choose to keep playing the Game to keep the wheels spinning, same with Grey Wardens, or Chantry folk. If someone's made a choice then it's fair to tar them with the same brush. If they haven't, if it's what happens to them? Well Asher's an arsehole but he's not that sort of person.

"Like those spellbinder fucks, we ran into the stragglers coming up on the Holdings before I came to Skyhold the first time, and really, River? River was there?" Something about River through no fault of her own never sits right with Asher and he's never spent any time with her, because Mal's stories are enough, more than enough. "You're going to owe Monty when you're all cosied up to the Maker's bosom and I'm off with the Lady of the Skies mate, never liked that Guard Captain though, had a few nights in the cells but well, piss poor bars hinges and you know how clumsy I can be. You know if she starts shit you don't even need to say a word right?"

Ain't nobody messing with his motherfucking clique. Lots of high places here. Asher's used to them. Kirkwall guard captains not so much.

"Kalliain? Katya? K-somth'n or other. She kinda mumbled it. Didn't much wanna ask her t'speak up, kinda looked like she'd keel over and die if Jayne farted." Course he's not all that surprised. He's a big ole human, she's a skinny little elf raised where big human men do real bad things t'little skinny elves if they think they can get away with it. Boils the blood, that- but he can' fix everything.

Little jobs, little things- that he manages.

"Snuck on the ship, didn't stay put when I told her to, snuck into the fight t'get the girl out so for that I'm grateful but if she got herself hurt her brother woulda turned me inta a frog." And he don't much care for the taste 'a flies, Asher. Not even a little. "Awww. I knew you loved me honey-bear."

Mal hooks a companionable arm around Asher's shoulder, tugging him in to press a messy kiss to his shaven temple.

"Not the one I'm thinking of, I know Eirlys, delivered supplies to her alienage in Gwaren on the way to that fucking shambles of a job." He still doesn't really know what to do with the fact that she seemed so surprised that he did it, that he threw in extras and didn't charge because Asher's a simple man of his word for all the noise and reputation. He doesn't need much and he has plenty, and honestly it sort of tickles him to use the coin nobles pay him to make sure elves somewhere have plenty of food and drink, medical supplies, and warm bedding.

"Shit he's not here is he?" Mal. Mal you need to stop with some of the company you keep okay. For Asher's sanity. He's got two Carta dwarves and Amalia with more chill. "You're the only one that gets to call me a bear, y'know that."

And if Mal is giving kisses then it's only fair that Asher ruffles his hair and grabs him to rub his beard on him. Been a while since he marked his turf. (And well there's a mouth in all that beard. There is a kiss to the temple because hey Asher is a businessman too.)

"Nah. He and his sister slipped back out not long ago." Something about someone from their past catch'n up- he'll worry about the girl. And maybe a little about the mage, but he knows when pretty means trouble and that kid certainly means plenty a both. Girl, now...

River'd kinda hooked in deep like one of his Crew, he screws his face up a little at the thought of her wandering about on her lonesome. Well. Lonesomeish.

"Cuz I'm special-" Words trail off into muffled laughter, it's been awhile since he's gotten a beard rub and it's a little like getting mauled by a friendly badger. At least he don't smell too much like khaddis at the moment. Mal takes it in stride, reaching up to comb his hair back down once all's said and done. "You're like a cat, y'know that?"

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