there ain't language for the things i've seen

[alankazam]

WHO: Alan + Kain, Medicine Seller, Thingol, Bruce, Jaime + OTA
WHAT: Gotta catch 'em all
WHEN: Post-Winter Palace
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: N/A

Starters in comments. If we agreed to do something and I missed you, just let me know on Plurk or Discord (oeste #8807). :)

If you'd like a specific starter, or if anything needs altering, please feel free to hit me up. If we have a Winter Palace Pt. II thread going, I'd like to finish those off first!

Comments

[arlathvhen]

"I don't blame Korrin for disliking them. They were a real danger to her for most of her life." Nowadays, it's debatable. They may become a threat again, but for now, the Inquisition has managed to effectively defang them.

And she is well aware that the Templars were in the wrong for what they did--it was never a question in her mind, something that stands out for a woman who has made a day job out of blaming herself for everything. But Alan is trying to comfort her, and the effort and sentiment is appreciated more than anything else. She ducks her eyes again, smiling softly.

"Thank you, Alan. I agree about the barracks, though." After a moment, she glances up at him, cocking her head to the side. "You could come stay with me--in the Warden Camp. In your own tent. I'm not--" After a few moments of (poor) attempts at trying to recover her already shaky grasp on dignity, she settles for vague hand gestures with a sigh. "I mean--you know what I mean. There's plenty of room for one more."

[alankazam]

"I suppose," Alan likes Korrin, respects her. But Korrin runs towards danger — and he prefers to only do that when the danger might be interesting. Until recently, templars haven’t qualified.

Still, he listens on the Council, he hears things. He remembers the fear on Morrigan’s face as the red stepped into the room, remembers his own heartbeat racing.

"I hadn’t seen any fighting before we went to the Palace." That’s a lie, of course, but the other time doesn't count. That wasn't combat. Only opportunity, only hunger. "They seemed dangerous to everyone."

It's an odd thing to revisit an apathy that's so well-entrenched. You can only do so much of it in a day. Maybe that’s why he shakes his head at her offer, however kind,

"I don’t own a tent." And he’s not ready to stake it so near to Wardens, if he did. "Perhaps when it’s warmer."

When it gets warmer, the tent won’t even matter. But he’s weathered too many Frostback winters to give up on the gift of a real roof. After a moment, he adds,

"Thank you, too." Not only for the offer — it's been... a long time. Since anyone listened.

[arlathvhen]

"I've been fighting my entire life." Maybe not her entire life, but there have always been fights. There have always been humans seeking to destroy their way of life, their freedom, put them in their place. She pauses for a moment, then because Alan has already been so open with her: "I was fifteen, the first time I killed someone." Her fingers lift to her eye, to the scar that marks it. "He was trying to kill my twin. No--" She pauses, staring at her hands. "He had his knife in my brother's mouth, digging it into the side. Killing may have come later, but--"

She stops, looking up with a startled expression. "Creators. That's--Um. I'm sorry for spilling that on you. That's...um. Well. It's nothing to worry over. It's settled." They are alive, and what Beleth had left of the man's body had been left for the animals. "You don't need to hear all that old nonsense. I just--um. Didn't want you to think I just...killed someone for no reason..."

It was time to change the subject. "You can share with Teren." Then a pause. "Please don't actually try that, I don't want to be responsible for happens to you." And she shoots him a small smile. It's a joke. Please don't think I'm a savage dalish murderer.

"It's no problem. That's what friends do." And another small smile, reaching over to pat his arm slightly. Maybe it's presumptuous, but. There are some things that bind people together, and running from crazy red templars and looting the royal palace is one of them.

[alankazam]

She's speaking, and then she's really speaking, the words a tumble, and his brows draw in.

"I wouldn't think that."

You know. Often, at least. At this point he's pretty sure that their definitions of good reasons don't precisely align. This is something of an exception.

There are things that you do, for the people that you love; or at least there are things that he's always wished to be able to do. He doesn't — doesn't like it at all, what she's done. But he knows what it is to have to do it, what happens if you don't.

He folds a hand atop hers. Friends, then. Yes, that might be,

That might be nice.

"Friends," He agrees. The pact is sealed.