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"Captain, I need you."

Striding into Adelaide's "office" with all the confidence of someone who probably spends too much time barging into this particular slice of library, Ruby seems prepared to head somewhere. Her red hood is nowhere to be seen, but she has a small pack hanging from her back.

She holds out her hand, expectant and hopeful rather than demanding. Assertive she might be, entirely lacking in manners she is not, although this is certainly not quite a match to everyone in the world's idea of manners. "Let's go. We have places to be and re-writing those notes can wait."

There is a tension in Adelaide's shoulders, in all of her that concerns Ruby, and while there's a lot she can't do, this at least she can attempt. Ways to help, to put people at ease, to drag them out of their offices.

"Mm?" Adelaide peers up from her notes, blinking her focus from 'paper that is almost too close' to 'someone standing on the other side of the desk.' "Red?"

Who else would it be, no one else calls her Captain, and no one else is quite so casually and comfortably entitled to her time. Yet she cannot find herself overly bothered by this, simply setting down her pen and sitting up with a grimace and cracking of her spine. Too much time hunched over the desk. She might be due asking a massage of Bull again. "Where is it we are going?"

She has not yet taken Red's hand but that she's set down the pen? Shows it is inevitable.

"That's a surprise."

Her smile is gentle, albeit slightly concerned. "You need to get out of here for a while and I found somewhere awesome, so."

Ruby shrugs a little, resting her weight against the corner of the desk. "Think of it as a health break."

"Really." That...inspires more confidence than it probably should. She glances at the papers yet to be managed on her desk, the notes for Cullen that can probably wait another hour or so.

"...One hour. Then I must get back to work, yes?" One hour should be more than enough for whatever it is Ruby has in mind.

"I won't try to make you stay more than an hour," Ruby promises, "but you can decide if an hour is long enough when we get there. Deal?"

She has faith in the power of spectacular views and also food, what can she say?

"...Deal." She offers her hand, now, placing it in Ruby's. "I hope there is not much walking involved."

Her leg is, as ever, something of a problem. And would be for a few months more.

"Not for you."

That Adelaide takes her hand delights her, and once she's standing Ruby links their arms so she can make the journey down stairs easier on Adelaide, a silent offer to take her weight.

"I might until we're out of the library to Wolf out, though, if that's okay."

"Ah." One of those trips. It would be a lie to say she doesn't find riding the wolf a little liberating- different from having to pay attention as she would with a horse. Red knows how to handle herself- all she needs to do? Is hold on.

It seems bearable.

"I do not know that you would be able to fit on the stairs as a wolf."

A huff, amused. "Careful, you might hurt my feelings." And then, "but I bet people'd clear the path pretty fast."

Conspiratorial, leant in and murmured against Adelaide's ear before Ruby grins at her. "That'd make for an interesting day, huh?"

"All muscle, Red. I do not think I've ever seen a chubby wolf." And Red's Wolf self is the furthest thing from, she's come to know.

That she can be so casual and comfortable about it now is something to wonder at another time. "There'd be no end to the scandal, I should think."

"Which isn't really fair," and her smile gets a teasing, wicked sort of edge as they reach the stairs. "It's not your fault you're Orlesian."

Adelaide snorts a soft laugh. "There is nothing wrong with my being Orlesian, nor any with your being a wolf. Merely in our being the same in places where some might deem inappropriate. Like the stairs. Or Ferelden."

"Maybe when you're in the staircase you could try being Antivan instead, or something."

She hops down a step ahead, offering a steadying arm. "Someone spilled oil on it," she offers by way of explanation. She knows all. It, at least, she can smell all.

"Have you eaten at all?"

"I don't have the flair for it." Antivans are, after all, terribly flamboyant and theatrical. She cannot quite manage that.

Hopping takes a bit of work- and even then she swears under her breath as her foot skids, leading her to stumble into Ruby. "Merde- remind me to have someone clean this."

A beat.

"I had...toast this morning?"

"Oh, woah." Just quietly, hands falling to Adelaide's waist to steady her, gaze dropping to check how she's standing, if she's limping more, mouth quirked with concern. "You okay? I can--" What can she do? "-- Would carrying you be an overreaction?" Probably.

And, fondly exasperated, "Figures. I packed food already."

"I am fine, Red. Truly. I can walk the rest of the way down." Maybe. Mostly. "...Can you even lift me?"

Ruby is stronger than the average woman, this she knows but- it is difficult to wrap her mind around being carried by someone only a little taller than her.

"Okay." Though she tilts her head a little, a good natured sort of look. "Is the Pope a Catholic?"

"...is the who, what?" She does not know your strange, foreign sayings Red.

"Riiight."

Huh, the smile becomes self-deprecating. "Is... the Divine Andrastian?"

Hopeful, uncertain. "Maybe that one gets lost in translation."

"Ah- a rhetorical, obvious statement that is to be universally understood as so." A beat. "You truly think you can carry me?"

Oh thank God.

"O ye of little faith." Lightly said, Ruby offers a wry smile. "I'll show you, if you want. You can be technically certain."

"It does bear testing, this theory." And there are quite a few stairs left. With a faint sigh of resignation, Adelaide shifts her weight. "How do you want me?"

"Just as you are is fine." Ruby just checks the pack on her back, sets a hand at the small of Adelaide's back as warning, and with a great deal of care - and ease - scoops her into a bridal carry. She could easily be carrying nothing at all.

"Is this okay?" Just checking before she starts walking. "I could give you a piggyback ride, if you prefer."

"...This seems slightly unfair." That she does not even need to loop an arm around Ruby's shoulders. That she can simply lift without so much as a grunt of effort. While not massive Adelaide is not insubstantial and being carried like this-

It makes her feel almost delicate.

"This allows more dignity." A beat. "And I shall be on your back as a wolf long enough."

"I'm struggling to imagine you without dignity, honestly," Ruby offers with a breath of amusement as she starts walking down the stairs.

"If it's any consolation, I also get really, really hungry. It's a problem." It's especially a problem when trying to operate on limited rations, and when you don't want to hunt away all the animals other people might need to supplement their own food.

Although, this way, they can make it down the stairs considerably faster.

( closed ) Adelaide 2: The Orlesian Empire Strikes Back.

This time it's PERSONAL

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time for unfortunate riding misunderstandings

so many oh lord

GOOD

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