[closed] date night date night

[keeperofmagi]

WHO: Nerva and Twisted Fate
WHAT: Going on a stupid date where she's going to try to teach him how to swim
WHEN: After Zevran returns from Antiva
WHERE: A little ways down the mountain from skyhold, at a glacial late
NOTES: THIS IS GOING TO BE SAPPY AS SHIT you have been warned

She had been planning it for days, meticulously, and had gone over and over it in advance. The hardest part was the memorization, but that... at least she could just read it. The first thing was a note - given to one of the Tranquil, and brought by them to Fate, which said that he should bring some light supplies for an afternoon outside of the castle, a warm coat, and come meet her at the end of the bridge.

She was already waiting there, sitting astride a horse. The notable thing was that she wasn't wearing her armour - even though she was still wearing her sword - and her shield was not to be seen. She felt almost naked without them, but that was half the point. Instead, she was wearing a good linen tunic, a deep navy, with carefully embroidered edges in a thread nearly the same colour. Her hair was half down - the sides tied up behind her ears, but the rest of it curling down her back.

This is a date, the outfit said, you had best not forget it.

It would help, perhaps, if she wasn't staring off into the mountains as if they had personally killed her family, but that was just how her face tended to set when she was thinking to herself.

Her face shifted as soon as she heard Fate approaching, the hard lines softening as she turned the horse.

"You received my note?"

Comments

[wickedchase]

Frankly, he'd have preferred a different means of receiving the note; the Tranquil are a little disconcerting, but he understands the intent and doesn't dwell too long on the matter. Instead, he focuses that she is, specifically, asking him to go with her to a place. Perhaps this is the elusive swimming lesson they'd been putting off, but more importantly it is time well spent with Nerva.

So, he approaches, wearing the coat that Korrin had thoughtfully given him, made out of dragon hide and sufficiently warm. He takes a moment to look over Nerva; despite her hard gaze, which he's used to not misinterpreting too badly now, she has clear intent of a carefully plotted romantic getaway.

Twisted Fate greatly approves, smiling.

"No, I just sort of wandered over here on my own. What note?" he says jovially. "You look lovely, Nerva."

[keeperofmagi]

She doesn't get the joke immediately, a concerned look crossing her face. "You didn't-- Did Hadrian not find you, he's usually exceedingly --" But then she saw the look on his face and looked a little sheepish, smiling. "Ah. You're joking. Thank you. You look - you look as you always do."

That didn't quite come out as she meant, so she added, with a small, helpless smile: "Incredibly handsome."

She shifted a little further forward on the horse, patting the saddle behind her.

"It's too far by foot, so I borrowed a horse. I hope you do not mind riding tandem."

[wickedchase]

A soft laugh escapes him as he approaches closer. "I am. The note was well received, madame." He offers a sharper grin. "And if I stop looking incredibly handsome, do let me know. I'll be quite concerned on that day."

He pulls himself onto the horse, shifting close to place his arms around her waist, sneaking in a delicate kiss to her cheek. "Not at all. An excuse to be close to you, really. Plus I'm terrible at steering horses."

[keeperofmagi]

"I doubt you could manage not to," She said, settling in once he was seated, his arms warm around her waist.

"I am not the best rider in Orlais, by any stretch of the imagination, but I have yet to be thrown off." She gently kicked the horse in its side with her heel, clicking her tongue.

She made the pace fast enough that they were both safe, but it was a little too difficult to talk and ride at the same time. The horse cantering down the mountain path, then veering off the main road onto a small side path, down into the trees. The snow was gone, at this time of year, and the trees were full and tall, the pines swaying in the wind as the horses' hooves thumped their slightly off beat rythym. She finally slowed, though nothing in the immediate vicinity seemed to warrant it, with a gently 'woah' to the horse.

"I found this place a couple weeks ago," She told him, as she led the horse around a bend, the trees slowly giving way, and there, between the mountains, lay a pristine lake. It may as well have been a mirror for the sky.

[wickedchase]

"Terribly sweet of you to say. But I should think you're right." If anything, Fate is always confident of his appearance.

And many other things, but definitely his appearance.

"Better than me. I've not really gotten along with any mount to speak of," he muses.

That aside, the ride is quiet; Nerva has to concentrate, and he's content to be close with her as he is. Though she can't see, he wears a small smile, more humbled than usual rather than his smug, sure self.

Then he sees the lake. He knows why they're here, and he's known why, but regardless he still tenses up slightly.

"You've done extensive looking, I see."

[keeperofmagi]

She doesn't need to look back at him - he's close enough behind her that she can feel him tense. She doesn't care. Or rather - she cares too much. In this particular instance, his feelings come a distant second to his safety.

She slid down off the horse first, holding out her arms if he wanted an easier way down.

"I told you I would." And she really wasn't about to give up for this search. "You'll enjoy yourself. I promise."