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

for Leliana

[lionheartedman]

To a casual observer, it probably doesn't make much sense. They rarely get along, would not be considered friends by any but the very loosest definition. Still, Cullen comes to see her when asked, turns up dutifully with a small package under his arm. No, they aren't friends. She doesn't agree with him, he finds her methods occasionally abhorrent, but he recognizes the need for her, as she must no doubt recognize the need for him. He can respect her professionally, be worried for her safety, and appreciate the things she gets done for their cause, without thinking of her as a pal.

He raps his knuckles sharply against the scarred wood of her propped open door to announce his presence. "How are you feeling?"

[fightingale]

Truthfully? She feels absent. Not in her mind but in her body, as though she is not entirely in control of her limbs. She grasps, but her hand does not feel as though it is gripping or holding, as though she is watching the actions of another.

Her form is thin, might on another be called frail even, but there is a vicious vein of determination in her that banishes the word. (Never mind the cane she has been brought, and strictly instructed to use. Poison is not glamorous, has left hollows in her cheeks and grey ropes of scars across her throat that are largely obscured by the high collar of her uniform.

"Cullen." Her voice does not sound as it used to, and may not for some time, if ever. It rasps, the unpleasant scrape of metal against coals. "I am much improved. Thank you."

The pause is-- not quite awkward. "How goes your work? I fear I am less abreast of matters than is proper."

Do let's ignore the near death, and the need to discuss the sentencing, and a good many other things.

[lionheartedman]

He's ignoring it, mostly because she is not well enough to be any part of it, and if she tries to get out of that bed right now, he will have one of his burlier new recruits come in and sit on her. "Work is work. It marches on, and we just try to keep up." He enters the room, pulls a chair up close to her bed, and sits down. He's already decided, they are now this close. Not particularly close, no, but this close. He deposits the small package on her lap. "These are for you." Inside the waxed canvas is a small pile of amber coloured drops, slightly sticky to the touch, and smelling strongly of herbs.

PUPPY!

[aceso]

Christine is sitting inside her healer's tent, making notes on her latest patient when she hears the sound of claws scrape against the side of the tent from the outside, nearly startling her out of her skin. She leaps to her feet, wondering what could be doing such a thing and leaves the tent, going around it to find a mabari puppy scratching at the tent with a roll of parchment in his mouth.

Clicking her tongue, Christine then makes a shooing motion with her hands.

"Go on! Get away! Shoo!"

[lionheartedman]

Puppy isn't sure what's happened. He's got the important thing. He's got it and his person needs it and he was even being chased for a bit there. Did he manage to outrun him? He hadn't meant to move quickly enough for that. Now he's well away from that stuffy office, and Cullen is nowhere to be found, and he's feeling lonely again. So he goes scratching at the flap of a tent with an interesting smell, trying to burrow his head underneath the pegged down canvas to see what it is. If he can get the attention of someone inside, maybe they'll call for his human, and he can get him out of the dark and into the fresh air for a while.

[aceso]

"No no no!" Christine just does not know how to handle this situation. While she may have no great love of dogs, some are tolerable if they're well behaved, like Seeker Reed's dog. But mabari just seem like intolerable beasts who only listen to their masters, and she doesn't know who this one belongs too. But she's not an evil person, and isn't about to try and hit an animal just for being annoying, so she's left with her shooing hand motions and her voice to try and get it to leave.

"Stop that! Go away!" She frowns at the roll of parchment he's carrying. It wouldn't surprise her one bit if he swiped it from someone's hand and took off. Mabari are nothing but trouble.

Late Night Bathing - With Wolf Pup.

[the_effect_she_has]

It had been a long day. A long, and muddy, and slightly bloody day, but Katniss had done it. She'd tracked that damned bear that had been terrifying the refugees and she never would have been able to do it without the wolf-pup loping along beside her. He had tracked the damned thing, and she put enough arrows in it to make it a damned pin cushion.

So now she had more bear leather, bear meat for the refugees, a good lesson in tracking for the Wolf Pup ... and they both needed a bath. So off they trudged to the bathhouse. The Pup sniffed at her leg then sneezed, and she gave him a wry look.

"You don't smell like a flower either, fuzzy. We'll bath, then we'll get some grub and fall into a sleeping coma." Maker knew she hadn't given herself anymore time for anything -

And then the wolf pup's ears perked up, and he ran ahead into the hot springs, letting out a yip of excitement, with Katniss staring behind him, slackjawed before she went to run in after him. "Hey! No, don't jump in anywhere! It's a bath, not a lake!"

The wolf pup, however, was far too interested in finding a new furry friend.

[lionheartedman]

Puppy was being quiet, yes, but not silent. He was currently playing tug-of-war with Cullen, a washcloth which was becoming increasingly ratty with each second between them. Quiet little growls were coming from deep in his barrel chest, and his claws scraped softly against the warm stones. He will not be dissuaded from his prize!

Except suddenly there is another animal in the area - not a dog, but close enough. He lets go of the cloth so abruptly that Cullen finds himself splashing back into the water, head knocking against the rock wall behind him, as the little blue fatty makes a straight shot for the wolf pup. "Gentle." It's the only word Cullen can get out, quiet but stern, before the two animals collide. Won't do to have Puppy leaving holes in other peoples' pets. Unless it's wild and violent, which Cullen will be able to tell in a moment, with plenty of time to give Puppy leave to defend himself.

[the_effect_she_has]

The Wolf Pup ran across the stones until he found the chamber with the Puppy and then yipped excitedly, dancing around the Puppy. He was bigger than the Mabari pup, but not by much, and he barked cheerfully as he took to sniffing the Puppy with interest. Coated in dirt, and a little bit of blood, all he seems to really be after is making a friend.

Really, the only danger seems to come from the grumbling female voice as it comes closer, "...going to find you and wring your fuzzy little neck if you've jumped in on someone ... " Katniss came in, just as caked as the Wolf Pup, grey eyes narrowing, "Ah-hah!"

Then she noticed the Puppy, and her aggravation melted into wry amusement, "Ah, so you found yourself a friend - and your friend belongs to .. "

Her gaze moves to the bath, then widens. Considerably. As does her rapid blush. "Oh. Ah. Uhm. Hello?"

Traveling to Orlais

[circleprodigy]

"I see you've made a new friend, Garahel. Hello, there." Seeing her grown mabari return with a younger pup brings out a soft smile from Inessa, who crouches so she can pet the excitable little thing. She forgets about taking a rest after setting up camp for now, nostalgia hitting her as she remembers when Garahel was this small. She slips a mabari crunch treat from her pack and breaks it in half, giving one to Garahel and one to his smaller friend. The Grey Warden mage will never not have a soft spot for mabari, but then she is Fereldan. Some things will never change.

"Who do you belong to, hm? You're no stray...."

[lionheartedman]

Definitely not a stray. Clearly well fed and clean and slowly becoming well trained. He has surmised that his person is in charge of all these people and animals. Which means they are sort of his, too, and he is endeavouring to learn them all. Beginning with the animals. Beginning, specifically, with the other dogs. He accepts the treat and, in line with his more recent training, sits at attention with it in his mouth, little stump of a wail wagging enthusiastically. He can be patient. See? He can be well behaved and wait until he's allowed to eat. He can totally do it. Though, if she doesn't give that permission soon, he will start whining plaintively. He's only a puppy, after all.

[circleprodigy]

Expecting the puppy to gobble it immediately, it's somewhat of a surprise to Inessa when he doesn't. Garahel's already inhaled his, of course. She laughs softly, patting his head.

"Go ahead! Eat it, it's your treat. Then you can show us who you chose, hm? I'm sure you have good taste."

office, skyhold.

[eviscerates]

Ruby has a select number of uses. Amongst her recent achievements lies becoming Adelaide's research assistant, which seems to be a nice kind of gloss to cover any number of things up and make them seem a little less ridiculous - bringer of food, bringer of herbs, filer of papers, all the glamorous stuff. Sometimes, however, it has also involved being an overly cheerful distraction to waylay those that would bother the Commander when he has more important things to be dealing with.

At least Adelaide had been blunt about what it was Ruby was being asked to do. She can't imagine it will have any impact at all on the fact that she's going to see Cullen with a ridiculous idea, however, given that she can hardly imagine Adelaide feeling the need to let Cullen know about every little thing she does.

Inhale; exhale. She knocks on the door frame, standing respectfully outside of it despite the door being open. "Commander Rutherford, I was hoping to steal a moment of your time, if you're not caught up in anything right now."

She's been on a war council, she knows there's never a good time, exactly, so much as slightly less chaotic times.

[lionheartedman]

Adelaide lets Cullen know about almost nothing she does. Some day, it might pose a problem. Right now, he just has a little more time for himself. It's a huge relief.

At the knock, he glances up from the spread of reports on his desk, looking at the progression of the goings on and deciding on his next move. "I fear I may be caught up in everything for the rest of my life." Still, he stands, placing his hands at the small of his back and leaning into a stretch. "What can I help you with, Miss?"

[eviscerates]

Her smile is sympathetic. "I know the feeling," she replies, good humour and sympathy tangled together. "Lucas," is tacked on the end as she steps into his office properly, but maintains a respectful distance.

"Ruby Lucas. I'm one of Councilor LeBlanc's research aides, but I was actually hoping to tell you about a sort of... Morale boosting, team building thing she and I have been working on."

A crimson cloak hangs from her shoulders, and for once she's glad they're indoors so she doesn't need to contend with the flowers that have taken to trailing behind her wherever she walks. There's whimsical, and then there's just... Ridiculous.

training | orlais

[ichaer]

All things considered, Ciri was not so excited to be back in Orlais after she had rode across the damn country and then back again. Thankfully, it is easier to find needed distraction since their arrival. Plenty of folks are willing to share meals or stories and there is more time to train too. Back at Skyhold, she did not mingle much with the Inquisition soldiers or attended in of their training. She tended to keep to the Warden camp or train alone but now with boredom treating to overtake her, she cannot help but curiously watch their training.

She certainly did not expect to join in but it is hard to ignore a soldier, young and a little unsure, left without a partner after the others had paired off. He stood back, looking like a lost puppy so she cannot help leaping down from her perch and offering to spar with him. He looks surprised at first, looking down to her armor and then stammering out a cautious mutter of how he could not bother her since he was still a novice.

Waving off concerns, she shrugs and draws her sword. She needs practice too, especially formal training and it is not like she wants to hunt down any of the other Wardens currently. Besides, it is not like she's had much in the way of formal training either.

It seems to ease some of his fears, falling in line and raising his shield and sword. She wields a sword herself but the Warden moves more like a rouge, delivering fast strikes meant to exploit the weaknesses of tougher and bigger foes. Despite his worries, the young man holds up well and Ciri finds herself having to chance her normal methods of attack more than once. At one point, he stabs his sword forward and forcing her to parry just as he bashes his shield upwards toward her body. She has to push out of the parry, using the momentum into twisting herself out of danger. Her dodge clearly throws the soldier off and he stumbles forward, falling to ground. It allows Ciri ample room to reach out with her sword and tap his stomach lightly, smiling fondly.

"You lied to me because your footwork isn't as bad as you seem to think. You almost got me with when you distracted me with the sword, I'm sure I would have been a goner if that shield bash had hit me." She says, grinning and offering him a hand. "Keep it up and you'll be doing some real damage in no time."

[lionheartedman]

Cullen joined the training late, after the troops had paired off, and caught the tail end of the conversation with Ciri. He would have given the boy personal instruction, but this is far more interesting. So he watches, hanging back, deciding not to critique everyone in real time, but to observe. He finds his gaze drawn to the unlikely pair more than once. When the boy falls, he calls for a break in the training, hoping she won't run off while he reassigns everyone, matching several pairs of lesser experienced recruits with a more senior soldier.

Fighting off two men is a different sort of challenge, and it helps the newer ones begin to trust one another, learn how to work jointly in a fight. The way he splits the troops, no one is left behind. Groups of three and groups of two are instructed to make use of the entire space, be aware not only of their own opponents, but of everyone else who might trip them up unintentionally.

When he's done, he looks around for Ciri.

office

[amygdalae]

Normally Bruce would be asking a runner to bring these papers up, but normally Bruce also wasn't revealed to be a mage that had been masquerading as a surgeon all this time. Things were settling down now, but it was undeniable that his relationship with others had changed as a result of it - Adelaide, as a prime example, as well as his patients... and even the other soldiers of the Inquisition. Where normally most were willing to help him, now...

Or maybe he was just unlucky. Most other soldiers were pretty okay with mages.

Either way, there was no turning back now; Bruce steels himself at the door, running through a manta in his mind. Just go in, give the papers, and leave before he can say anything. Nothing to it. Commander Rutherford was a just and reasonable man, but he was also a former Templar, and some bad experiences were just hard to shake off entirely.

Still, he had to do this. Sucking in a deep breath, Bruce places a hand against the door and pushes it open. Time to get this over with.

[lionheartedman]

Well, this is... something he was going to have to deal with eventually, really. He knew for a fact that several men weren't willing to deal with him any more, and he can't order them to. Well, obviously he can, but he won't. These are men whose place in life is already shaky and uncertain enough. He can't, in good conscience, force them to continue working closely with someone who'd been deceiving them. He doesn't feel great about the prospect, either.

He snaps the book in his hand closed and replaces it on the shelf. "Your report?" What other reason could he possibly have for visiting after all this time?

Orlais

[fleurdesel]

"And I am telling you if we hide here for half an hour they will stop looking for us." Runners? Messengers? No. Gawking gentry and nobles that are ever so curious about the Inquisition and have a multitude of questions for it's Commander. As long as it may have been since Adelaide last wandered the streets of a city such as this she knew a quiet discreet cafe when she saw one. A little time for a cup of coffee as they waited for the crowd on the other side of the frosted glass to disperse is not so difficult a thing to manage.

[lionheartedman]

"And I am telling you, that's not the point. I'm not doubting that we can wait it out in here. My problem is with the hiding in general." Not that he's going to argue with her. When a server begins to show them to a table near the window, Cullen shakes his head and instead makes his way to one further in the back. He would love to be invisible right about now, but this will have to do.

As soon as they are seated, and trying not to sound too much like a petulant child, Cullen pinches the bridge of his nose. "I hate Orlais."

Baths - Evening - PUPPY

[universal_charm]

The baths were always just the thing after a workout, especially his late evening ones, when they were more about working up a sweat and exhausting his body than anything else. That, and he didn't want to go back to the room he shared with Sam smelling like he had rutted around in mud with pigs. Roommate etiquette was paramount when living in such close quarters, and he plain just liked being and feeling clean.

There was something different tonight though. Mostly in the fact there is a puppy suddenly at his feet, wriggling about and clearly looking to play. He blinked several times, at first thinking Anders might be in here, but then shaking that thought away. Anders was a cat person, so he wouldn't have a dog in the bath.

"Where did you come from then?" he asked of the pup, bending to offer his hand and scratch at him, not noticing Cullen. But then, a puppy was much more interesting than another man in a bath.

[lionheartedman]

"Ferelden, originally." Cullen didn't mind being ignored. It was dark, and he was submerged up to his chin. He needed this right now, and honestly, anyone to take Puppy's attention for a little while was, as guilty as he felt for thinking it, very welcome. He loved his dog, but his dog was also incredibly exhausting.

Training

[qunari]

Bull has his own men to see to, as far as training goes, but he keeps an eye on how Cullen's doing with the troops. He's got their loyalty, and with that comes the ability to withstand disciplined training. They'll do more, go farther, because of who leads them. There's no mistaking that.

Bull hasn't been on the field himself for a while, quietly recovering from a nasty wound incurred in the Fade, but he's back before Cullen makes the journey to Orlais, watching the drills as he works out on his own against a training dummy in the back. Spent too long in bed to want to do anything but hit something, feel that strain in his arms again.

[lionheartedman]

The Iron Bull is not a friend or a subordinate. He is not an official member of the Inquisition, and so Cullen has had no reason to be informed of his condition, or his general well being. He has noticed the absence, though. He takes note of the return. In all fairness, it is nearly impossible to not notice him. With the recruits well into their paces, Cullen hands the session over briefly to one of his more senior men, and makes his way over to the training dummy. "It's been a while since I last saw you here."