A bottle of white, a bottle of red

[fleurdesel]

WHO: Open to anyone that wants wine and warmth and a little company.
WHAT: Wine and no whining.
WHEN: After the mage meeting wraps up.
WHERE: Close to the healing tents, specifically the Orlesian section.
NOTES: There will be wine, drinking, unwinding, and nibbles.

The meeting had been stressful for just about everyone involved. Tempers had flared, opinions made known, a few rounds of confetti and arguing before some manner of accord. Whether it would last or however long it might? No one could truly say. In the interest of being quite done with the stress and headaches such debate brought on the Orlesian healing tents clearing out the potions, bandages, and poultices in favor of what cushions and braziers they had on hand for light and for heat. The space was open, warm, and inviting with an odd assortment of tin mugs or clay glasses set around flat side tables propped up with stones to keep them from wobbling and tipping the whole mass onto the ground. There are some dried fruits and hard cheeses, dried meat and hard crusted bread- whatever scraps they could scavenge or spare and a few bottles of wine or brandy. Across the entrance to the tents there was a sign:

Bring a bottle or food to share for entry.

Tacked below was a list of rules:

• Everyone is welcome, don't make a fuss
• Don't hog the wine
• Don't hog the food
• Don't fight or argue
• If you finish a bottle open a new one, don't recork it for someone else to find
• Clean up after yourselves

Comments

[el_tybs]

Teach 'us'. It's possible that Krem doesn't mean together, but it still warms him a bit to hear it said like that. "I'd like that."

For a moment he is silent, rubbing a thumb over Krem's hand in return, watching the crowd. "What are your thoughts on all this?"

[kremdelacreme]

"That's a really generalized question," Krem points out, though he has a feeling what Sam is referring to. But he, too, will go ahead and be vague. "I think it'll work out. It might take a while to get to that point, but it'll be good when it gets there."

[el_tybs]

He considers what Krem says, nodding a bit at it, but clearly not really comforted by it. "I hope so. There are a lot of different views in this that will require there to be a lot of compromises... and quite a few who don't seem like they will compromise on certain things. It's a good step though. We'll see how well it goes."

[kremdelacreme]

"Thus far, I think we're all pretty fortunate things have stayed as calm as they have. Could have been fiery hell unleashed and a small war breaking out here but it's all settling down, more or less. Not ideal by any means, but this is a good sort of equilibrium we're finding here."

Krem reaches his free hand up, nudging it against Sam's cheek to encourage him to look around, then pecking the corner of his lips. "Try not to stress yourself to death, alright?"

[el_tybs]

"I wouldn't exactly call it an equilibrium really..." he says, his lips pursing together in frustration. It's more of a separation honestly, which kept the peace to a point, but didn't exactly encourage anyone to work together.

Feeling the touch on his cheek, Sam raises a brow curiously, but allows himself to be directed. What was he supposed to be looking a-? Oh. For a moment he just blinks before a faint flush appears on his cheeks. "Well I guess I can't argue against that request."

[kremdelacreme]

Just because Sam couldn't see it, doesn't mean that it isn't happening. It's small, scattered instances now, but he's seen it, and it's a comfort. A glimpse of what sort of change they could bring about, sooner or later.

For the time being though, he just sat back without a word, raising his bottle to Sam. This is good. For now, he's content.

[el_tybs]

It's not that he doesn't see it. There is change, he's experienced it, but... it's not as settled as Krem probably believes. So long as it was 'us' and 'them' there were always going to be periods of calm and a flaring up.

But he's not here to talk about Templar/Mage issues, he's here to enjoy the evening. And he was enjoying himself rather well right now.

There's a moment of hesitation when Krem offers him the bottle, but eventually he takes it, giving a shrug and taking a taste of it. As per usual Sam just makes a face and licks his lips at the taste before handing it back. "When did you start drinking?"

[kremdelacreme]

"Not long after joining the Chargers actually. Couldn't drink in the army, could've given myself away any number of ways. Soon as I knew I was safe, Bull handed me a bottle of wine and told me it was all mine." Krem smirked some, taking another deep swallow then licking his lips. This is better than the too-strong shite he'd been handed back then, but at least he'd had time to gain a discerning palate for what would fuck him up best at what rate. This, he could down at a steady pace for a few more hours, before he would have to immediately sit down again if he stood up. He doesn't intend to get that drunk, though.

[el_tybs]

Sam raises his brows curiously at that. This is the second time Krem has mentioned his time in the Trevinter military, but this time he mentions something about being discovered? He's tempted to ask, but decides against it seeing as the man was purposely being vague about it. Another time, when they weren't trying to just enjoy themselves.

At the mention of Bull, Sam smiles, tilting his head a bit. He'd seen the Iron Bull back in Haven, but not so much here at Skyhold. "What's Bull like?"

[kremdelacreme]

A good thing that Sam has the forethought not to ask, as Krem isn't exactly in the mood to discuss any of that at the moment anyway.

The question makes Krem's face light up some. He doesn't admit it out loud, but he fucking adores his commander. Krem schools his expression, shrugging a shoulder. "Big. Qunari, never wears a shirt, even when we're out in the snow. Likes hitting things so hard they explode, drinks enough to destroy the insides of every man from here to Val Royeaux. Best commander I've ever had. Bad at jokes though."

[el_tybs]

Even if it was for a moment, Sam did see the excitement that crossed Krem's face, which in turn had him smiling a bit wider. Krem didn't say a whole lot, but it was descriptive that definitely gave him a sense of the kind of guy Bull was. Obviously he had to be good if he got that kind of respect and admiration from Krem.

"What kind of jokes are we talking about?"

[kremdelacreme]

"Terrible ones. Usually involving puns and him laughing too hard at them. I'm not telling them to you though, you can ask him yourself." Krem snorts at that. He's refuses to give Sam any ideas.

[el_tybs]

He's starting to like Bull more, and more. "Oh? Think I'll be meeting him any time soon?" Now he's curious to how bad these jokes or puns were. Guess he'll be finding out later than sooner.

[kremdelacreme]

"Give him time to settle in again, he'd probably be ecstatic to meet you." He wishes that was hyperbolic, but honestly, Bull would probably fucking love to meet someone that had so much of Krem's esteem already.

[el_tybs]

Ecstatic. Really? "You make that sound like I should be a bit worried once he spots me." He's never met someone who would be that excited to see him. Just what did he do?

[kremdelacreme]

Really. Sam will see when he meets Bull. "Not worried, no. Well, unless you've managed to utterly fuck up somewhere along the line before then, but I really doubt that'll be something to worry about." He nudges his arm against Sam's, hand squeezing down on the other man's briefly. "It's because of me," he explains quietly at the mild bewilderment on Sam's face. "I don't...well. Get close to people much."

[el_tybs]

Because of him- oh. That certainly gets Sam's eyes to widen a bit, and for a few moments he simply blinks at Krem, wrapping his mind around everything that he was admitting. He eventually does start smiling again, noting the way Krem had lowered his voice and the vote of confidence on him not fucking anything up. "Wait... you've been telling Bull about me?"

[kremdelacreme]

"Don't really have to outright tell him," Krem sighs, making a face as he kicks a bottle up and rests it atop his foot, a distraction so that he doesn't get embarrassed about telling Sam. "He's well too observant for anyone's good. Knows something's changed with me, figured out what it was. It was safer letting him know enough to keep him from worrying about how I was getting on."

[el_tybs]

"Does that mean he knows about me, or he just knows you're seeing someone?" he chuckles a bit trying to imagine the kind of conversations Krem and Bull had. It didn't sound like Bull was just a Commander to the man. "That doesn't make me any less nervous you know. Before you were going to just introduce me as someone interested in joining the Chargers.

"So... are you going to be introducing me as someone interested joining the Chargers, or...?"

[kremdelacreme]

"Well, yes. If you still are. Interested, I mean. He wouldn't turn you down unless you were utterly incapable and couldn't follow orders."

Pointedly not saying that he's already let Bull know that yeah, he may be having serious issues regarding Sam and the desire to kiss him a lot.

[el_tybs]

Ah, so Krem was staying quiet about the bit about their personal relationship. So did that mean he hadn't said anything about them? That was fine.

"I am. What are your thoughts on that?" Looking down at the bottle Krem is balancing so that Krem doesn't feel like he's being put on the spot, he gives the man's hand a squeeze back. He knows it's vague, wanting to know if Krem thinks he's capable since he would be under the Lieutenant's command, and how he felt about it on a personal level.

[kremdelacreme]

"Just so long as you can hold up your end and don't make us drag your arse out of the fire more often than necessary," Krem replies and returns that little squeeze. "You're a capable person, Sam. I don't think you'll have any troubles with us, just don't be stupid."

But he had a feeling that that wasn't all Sam was asking about. He sighed quietly, nudging his shoulder against the other's. "I really do think we'll be ok. It'll be interesting showing you what we get up to."

[el_tybs]

"I'll be sure to keep my ass free of fire, Lieutenant," he says with a small salute with his other hand, grinning stupidly at the vote of confidence Krem had for him.

The grin softens a bit, but no less content, leaning a bit more into the nudges. "Interesting how? Watching you beat someone else's ass that isn't mine? Probably."

[kremdelacreme]

"It's not all beating up other people," Krem argues, looking comically offended for a couple of seconds. "I'll have you know, it's also whoring and boozing and singing terribly."

[el_tybs]

The grin drops at that, eyes narrowing in confusion as he tries to figure out how serious Krem is being on that. "As in... you gets whores or you whore yourself out?"