faderift | [Closed] Camping!

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[Closed] Camping!

WHO: Iskandar and Waver
WHAT: Iskandar and Waver go on a small camping trip just to gather some supplies together from the area around Skyhold.
WHEN: Early in the month
WHERE: Forests mostly. Probably.
NOTES: Probably just going to be really cute. And more than likely funny in places.

It had been Iskandar's idea for the two of them to go out. Not only for them to spend some time together to figure out how they were to manage things together but also because it could be a good way to get food and herbs and such. People could always use those. They could always use those. So he'd packed them up to go out and ride to a decent camping location where they set up with the tent he'd obtained for the two of them.

It was hardly fancy but it was easily large enough to house the two of them comfortably. The bed rolls were even decent enough to be used together or apart depending on whether or not they were cuddling. Really Iskandar saw no reason for them not to cuddle but one never could tell with Waver. Best to give him the option of space if he desired it.

Setting up the fire for them, he nodded to the pack by his horse. "That will have food we can eat for the night. The meat may be dried but it will fill us well and we can always soften it with broth if you like." He'd brought that too.

Really it was good to have some real alone time with the mage. They honestly did need to get to know each other again, after all. For Iskandar it had been but a couple of months but for Waver many years had passed. It was important for them both to find a path that worked out well.

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"Yeah, hang on, I'll get it," Waver said, shuffling over to the indicated pack.

As he rummaged, careful to shift things rather than remove them and fling them aside, Waver ruminated quietly on how strange this entire situation was. Never mind that they were camping in the cold for no particular reason. Food and herbs was an excuse to get away from everyone else.

He returned with the dried meat in his arms, before settling down. He was using his own bedroll as a temporary cushion for his ass, rather than sit on the ground or any nearby log.

"So," he said, stretching his legs out towards the fire so he can warm his feet. "How're you finding all this cold weather, given you mostly were used to deserts in your lifetime?"

Oh God he was talking about the weather. Waver gently tapped his forehead with the heel of his hand the moment the words came out of his mouth. "Ugh, ignore that. I don't even know where to start."

It wasn't nerves. It was just being unsure of what to say after so long.

Taking the meat, he started add it to some broth he had before putting it over the fire to heat up and soften. He was humming a little bit when the man spoke up. Looking over with a smile, he was actually ready to answer the question about the climate when Waver told him to ignore that. Which made him thing that was some odd social custom in the future. Maybe? There was still quite a bit about future customs he hadn't ever fully grasped and probably never would.

So instead, he laughed softly and actually poured some spiced wine into a cup which he handed over to Waver. "Drink. It is not heated but it will still help to warm you. Deserts are quite cool at night, after all. You learn that when traveling them."

He gave a wink before pouring himself some wine as well. After a large gulp of it, he sighed.

"So you know I brought you out here for more than just supplies then. I suppose that is no surprise. It is not as if I was attempting to be subtle about the fact."

Waver took the wine without question. Last time there had been alcohol around Iskandar, Waver had watched from the sidelines. Perhaps it was assigning too much meaning to the gesture, but having Iskandar pour for him still meant a lot. He took a sip, the alcohol burning his throat.

"You're King of Conquerors, not the King of Subtle," he said, the acid in his voice the playful kind, the tone he reserved only for people that knew when Waver was simply joking. "And while I'm assuming this is a catching-up camping trip, I want to make sure I've got the right of it."

"It is that. It is also so we might reform our relationship to find a measure of something that works well for us both. You especially have been through a great deal and deserve the chance to establish a balance that will feel good and right. Perhaps you are not my Master now but you are still one who swore yourself to me. We are friends and I treasure you as I have all who have been close to me."

He smiled at him warmly. He could have taken another sip of wine then but he chose not to. Instead he just gave a little stretch then looked up towards the skies.

"After all, I do have more freedom for many a thing these days. That can lead to many things and many feelings. It is important to find what will make us both happy and content."

Waver listened quietly, his hands wrapped around his mug but staying as still as the night air around them. He didn't disagree with anything Iskandar was saying in principle but it begged too many questions and counter points. All of the love in the world couldn't clamp down Waver's tendency to question and make sense of things.

"How do you establish a balance in a relationship that is, by definition, built off of hierarchy?" he said finally. "I swore myself to you, thus, you do hold some power over me. And I'm not asking to be snide, I'm assuming you've dealt with this problem before and have insight I don't."

He had friends, hadn't he? Hephaestion, Ptolemy, all of the generals. Waver knew his history.

"Because truth be told, I don't know where to start. I always thought the only way I'd see you again was through another Grail War, and those are roles we at least know how to navigate."

"It is simple. We begin by being people. Friends. A King is but a title. Friends make oaths to each other as well. Hephaestion was always a dear friend to me and that went beyond him being in my command. Is it so difficult for us to do the same? We worked well together when the relationship was based on you being my Master and I your Servant."

Iskandar knew that he was King and the one for all to look up to and to follow. However, that didn't change the fact that they were people as well. Just as small as anyone else in the world. Their roles were what they chose to make of them.

"Do you wish to be my companion or do you wish to serve me?" Really there was no wrong answer here. One or the other or even both. However, he wanted to hear from Waver just what he wanted for himself.

"I--"

Waver had known what he wanted hours after Rider passed and the news of the Fuyuki fire was on TV. He wanted to be friends. But a decade of thinking about it versus the chance to articulate it, well, those were two different things. He tried to force the words out of his mouth, and for a few moments, they refused to emerges.

"The first one," he said. Saying the f-word was too much right now, for reasons Waver himself couldn't comprehend. "It's all I could think about for years."

"Then that is all that matters. We are friends now and always will be." He smiled warmly then lifted his cup as if to toast before tossing it back and finishing off the contents. Sighing, he went to pour himself some more. Really he was going to have to make sure to get more of this for it was simply delicious.

"We shall even be it until you feel you can use the word yourself," he promised before leaning over to see if Waver needed more wine in his cup as well.

Wave downed his cup at the same time as Rider did, and held it out automatically to be refilled. Of course he needed more wine, this was a discussion about feelings he hadn't been able to give voice to for ages. It was better to get everything out in one crying, ugly mess and then be done with it.

"Sad, isn't it?" he said dryly. "That I can't even use the word for what I want."

"Perhaps it is but not all can move as quickly as Iskandar, King of Conquerors. If we were all able to accomplish such things the world would truly be a very dull place to be in." He took another drink of his wine before actually shrugging with a sign. Certainly he could have cared about Waver being unable to use the word but he knew that his heart could say it and that he'd agreed to it despite the inability.

"Though in truth it could be that friendship does not fully describe the bond we share together so the word is too small and so the word that is true to us is too big to be spoken aloud yet," he offered instead.

"No, it probably exists in German or something." And that was a joke, as dry as it was said and as bad as it was. "I just don't have that level of vocabulary."

Iskandar was right, if Waver had to be honest with himself. Friendship, even intense friendship, didn't quite factor into the elements of that bond. Master-servant. Mentor. Potentially something romantic, who the fuck even knew on that front. He couldn't even think of a good comparison for what it was like, and Waver knew that meant he really was at a place beyond words.

"So throwing labels aside, I guess we should focus on navigation here," Waver said, trying to remain focused. "I mean. I can be a friend but I also need to be there if you've decided to conquer this world."

"I do but I will let you find the word in your own time." After all, he did speak every Earth language there was, dead or otherwise. He gave him quite the grin after that but clearly wanted Waver to find his own conclusion to this. It was necessary and not something he should decide for him or force him into.

"Conquer this world? Hmmm..." He stroked his chin and looked out past Waver to the world beyond. To the trees that surrounded them and perhaps beyond. It was true he couldn't see it but it almost seemed as if he could anyway with the way he considered it.

"Perhaps if I ever become human again. As it is, no amount of conquering would satisfy me for even now I am not fully tied down by mortal limits. Though I am more mortal now, in the end I am still a Spirit and have many advantages that grants me. A conquest built on this would bring me no pleasure and be nothing more than a mockery towards those I conquer. I will not be such a conqueror."

"Cryptic," Waver said with a snort. "Just tell me what the word is, it isn't like I have a dictionary on hand." That or there really wasn't a word, and that would just be one of so many things gone unremarked on. He was willing to let the thought go though, as it pales in comparison to the gravity of the rest of the conversation.

He leaned in as Rider gave his thoughts on conquest. Some things didn't change, but Waver found it a little strange. The Grail could grant true humanity, in theory. Here, that kind of incarnation was likely to be impossible. "Then what will you do? I don't know if it is possible to gain flesh and bone here the way you wanted to do with the grail." He paused, then added, "I guess traveling goes without saying."

The real reason Waver asked was, of course, was to make a decision about what he himself would do. Following Rider was the only option, but to know what he was getting into wasn't a bad thing to have knowledge of.

He shook his head to let him know that he wasn't going to answer that for him. It was something that Waver had to learn all on his own. This was his place that he had to find and it wasn't something that Iskandar could decide for him. He could just be there to support whatever conclusion that he ended up coming to.

"I fight to aid these lands. If this is where I am to be then I will come to make this a home. There is a wealth of things to learn here and perhaps I might become human here. One never knows. Whatever the case, this is the land that will be my home for now just as it is yours. If we embrace this world as our then we are not mere Rifters. We are people just as all those here and these people need our help. That is something I can do."

"Hm."

Waver wasn't sure how he felt about that. He wasn't quite a fan of Thedas' approach to magic, although the problems it had were merciful different than the Association's. The idea of being here without certain modern joys, like his video games, did little to endear him, but there was no artifice of being El-Melloi II here. No Reines either. He was worried about Gray, of course, but.

Rider.

He finished his next up of wine, before extending it out again fora refill. "Helping the entire world is a hell of a task though." It was the only thing he could think to comment on.

Refilling the cup, he laughed. When they both had plenty of wine to drink, he set the bottle down then jabbed a thumb at himself. Proudly. Then again, did he ever do anything without pride? One had to wonder about that given his nature.

"Precisely why I am up to the task, would you not agree? Who better than the King of Conquerors to march forward with these people against the terrors it faces?"

Someone was full of himself. For good reason, of course, but that wasn't the point.

There it was. There was the attitude Waver expected, and the part of him that loved analysis couldn't slow his stupid mouth.

"And if they happen to remember this kindness and support and return it to you in the future, then all the better, hm?"

He had been around magi for too long. That was the kind of thing any mage would do.

"Well that is always very nice and it would certainly make things easier should I find a way to become human!"

He laughed like that was all no big deal. In the end he was still a conqueror and it was simply in his nature to want to continue that. One of his greatest fears was the day when all his conquests would come to an end. That would be the day that he knew his heart would be truly gripped with emptiness and sorrow.

"Of course that is but a side benefit and certainly not my first thought when I considered all of this."

That response was confirmation to Waver. He needed to get out of the paranoid mindset - he had drifted too far from Rider's example in that respect. But with the man there and present, maybe that would help. He couldn't say, but he did stare down at the ground for a moment, as if chiding himself.

"What was your first thought?"

"That any man willing to make this their home should be one willing to defend it and save it from darkness."

What sort of man would be willing to make this place their home, no matter how potentially temporary it might be, and then not defend it? This place clearly needed that and he was not going to stand by and let it fall apart. Not when he had the power to help the people here to do something.

"Even if I were to leave tomorrow, I can say I have done something to help the people here."

"--I don't think any mage from home would ever even have that thought."

Waver wasn't sure what other way he could say that those words meant that Rider was still the greatest, most noble man he had ever encountered. But then again, did he have to? Waver didn't doubt that the man already knew.

"I do wonder what on Earth I could possibly do though, if I take a cue from such a statement."

"Well, you look for something. There is plenty to do here. Sometimes even just studying the cultures here can be enough. One never knows what clues history will hold when it comes to saving a future."

And with how good the boy had been at studying things, he could only imagine how great he would be with it now that he was an adult. Probably more so since he was a teacher these days. That fact still impressed him so thoroughly... What pride he felt over what Waver had grown into.

"Your desire to help is a solid beginning though."

"I mean, what else is there for me to do?" Waver said, exhausted. The question had been on his mind lately, and it had sent him back to the feeling of the world being so big and him being so small, and so scared, and unsure of what to do. His younger self had gone into red hot rage at those feelings and those around him, demanding respect, and acting big to hide every vulnerability.

Iskandar had seen all of that though, and so Waver had no problem letting him see the same traits now. He didn't quite crumple up, but he didn't have to. He was sure that his slumped shoulders and tone were all that were needed.

"It isn't like I can go safely into this world yet without understanding it and the danger I might put myself in. Magi here are despised in some creative ways I could have never anticipated, and I know nothing of how to survive this place - either physically or politically." And Waver knew that he had survived the world of Clock Towers by luck and politics. "So it has to be studying and re-learning everything, or else I'm even more of a spoiled, mooching brat than I was as a teenager."

That he was whining wasn't lost on Waver either. "I'm sure I sound like him now. It isn't becoming to be so angry at the world being pulled out from under you and reuniting with someone you'd thought you'd never see again, but part of me is somewhat annoyed in spite of everything."

As he listened to him, he smiled around his cup. Waver was whining just like he used to and he decided to wait until he realized it. That turned out to happen rather quickly but he still let him get that off of his chest before he said anything else at all.

"If you have irritation then you have the energy to study things to find out where your strengths reside. This is what I did with every land that I conquered and this is what I have been doing since I have arrived. I have gone out and talked to people, read the books in the library, found out how people feel on various topics here. These lands may not be ours but that doesn't mean we can't learn about them. As of right now we are both in areas where we lack knowledge in many areas. So, we remove that disadvantage by learning. By asking questions."

He gave him a warm smile. "Perhaps many will not wish to talk due to us being Rifters but plenty will."

"It is true enough that not everyone likes when someone plays Socrates, I suppose." Every version of why gets old after a while. Waver paused, then placed his cup down on the ground. This was enough alcohol for now.

"But the need for literal strength here too is something that I genuinely don't know where to start with." He was, after all, a noodle with zero skills in the realm of exercising. "Unless you think I can walk without being armed."

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