faderift | She robbed them of wealth

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She robbed them of wealth

WHO: Araceli Bonaventura and you!
WHAT: Catch-all for post-Mire; gambling in the tavern, Skyhold parkour 2: electric boogaloo, chilling in the gardens and wildcard available. Also dinner with Korrin Ataash
WHEN: Between returning from the Fallow Mire and folks departing to the darkspawn desert and red templar winter adventureland
WHERE: Skyhold; the Herald’s Rest, battlements, gardens or wherever if you wildcard it
NOTES: Feel free to have seen a wild Araceli roaming past (and possibly up and over) your windows or to have had a run-in with her fox. I’ll match your style/tense.

tavern; teaching cards and dice
If she’s going to have to learn new games of cards, the least she can do is make sure people can play a few hands of the games she grew up with or introduce them to liar’s dice. Liar’s dice is always so much more than just making coin or whatever you’re wagering after all; liar’s dice teaches you how to figure out a tell and how to cover your own with enough practice and how to tell the most bold-faced lies without a single person noticing if you’re good.

She’s more than happy to buy a drink for anyone who wants to play a hand or two. If you’re new she’ll go easy on you if you offer to explain how Wicked Grace works.

parkour;
The best thing about being back in Skyhold is actually having something to climb that won’t have her landing stagnant water that’s full of corpses ready to attack her. There’s always a little note tacked on a corner of the board in her elegant hand offering lessons and her name but it’s easier in small groups or one on one. Often you’ll need to track her down as she does her regular circuits of Skyhold, climbing up and down the walls either side of the fortress

gardens;
The gardens of Skyhold are larger than most gardens in Castileos, lacking the sea air but they’re more sheltered than most other places in Skyhold so she can some of the weak watery sun. After the Mire she needs it so she’s relocated from the library that was beginning to feel overcrowded with actual researchers, something she is absolutely not. Instead she’s working on something of a report, scowling at it most of the time and there are doodles in the margins, annoyed scribbles and half a paw print along the edge of one of the pages but it’s fine, it’s a draft, it’s perfectly fine.

Besides, it’s not even a report exactly, more of a guide, advice about how to actually get around and fight safely in conditions like the Mire.

Feel free to interrupt before she starts getting distracted with her little reference sketches.

wildcard;
Where else have you bumped into her? Or have you met a rather striking fox with streaks of red beneath his black fur and wondered who the hell keeps shouting ‘Lux’ as you stare down at said fox.

dinner with Korrin Ataash;
It took a lot of convincing to get the kitchen staff to allow her to cook. It helps that she had the coin to pay for it thanks to several profitable games of dice because it’s easy to spot a liar and far too many of the soldiers have honest faces here, the kind of men and women that’d be eaten alive in Castileos. She promised Korrin a meal she’d cooked herself and they absolutely deserve it after that hell.

She can’t make her favourite exactly. They don’t have quite as many fish but that’s obviously the problem with being stuck up a bloody mountain although there’s at least plenty of snow and ice to help keep it fresh. One of the helpers stays to explain the herbs she doesn’t recognise but all in all there’s plenty of fish stew served in bread bowls with rich tomato sauce with a healthy glug of good red wine through it.

When Korrin arrives according to the note Araceli left with her, there’s even a candle or two lit. Look, you gotta have ambience for this after she spent a whole day engaged in high stakes kitchen negotiations.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Korrin chuckles as she breaks off a piece of that break bowl to dunk into the stew. "Rowdy and probably drunk and damn reckless even when sober, and scaling battlements? A scary combination, that. At least it would keep the healers busy, if nothing else. A few of them could even be halfway decent protegees, if I'm remembering right. I make no promises, though."

Her smile softens after a moment to focus again on Araceli over the food. "If Emprise du Lion was anywhere close to the sea, I'd bring you a souvenir. As it is, all I have to offer are likely more ice and snow and rocks, and maybe not even a decent qunari heating pad by the time the place is done with me. Better take advantage of it before I go, hm?" It's not all suggestive, honest. Korrin's just as partial to cuddling as anything else in bed. "I'll be happy to see those tricks of yours, though."

"Well, that is one thing that will have to change - unless it's spontaneous scaling of the battlements, I don't hold with people doing such a thing drunk. There's reckless and there's idiotic. I won't have someone hurt on my watch if I can do my utmost to prevent it. I am, after all, a professional, and a woman such as me must live and die by her reputation, I am sure it will break hearts but better than than heads, no?" Have you ever tried doing it drunk? She's been doing it since the age of twelve but even so, it's terrifying after and sometimes during, because you can't judge your limits correctly and you take chances that might as well be diving into the gaping maw of a hungry shark.

Only when forced do you climb drunk, one slip and your head is split open like a melon, especially in Skyhold.

"If there are any pretty rocks, or better yet anything shiny, a little one will do. You will laugh for I live by the sea but I had bits and pieces of strange and interesting shells and rocks, different sorts of glass worn smooth, all of them on my windowsills and on dressers, wherever I left them, other bits and pieces too. For a thief, my own treasures are very simple, things that come from the heart." And then she's grinning, a particular roguish one. "I am happy to be taken advantage of, if it is you who is doing the taking and I can show you so many tricks your head will spin and you will forget your name. And I haven't forgotten about showing you my scar, which truly does require I whip it out, so to speak."

"I haven't forgotten that scar, either, and afterward I'd be delighted to see it...and any others you'd show me. I suppose it'd only be fair to show you those of mine that aren't on display at the moment." Korrin can't help but match that roguish grin with one of her own. Scars, birthmarks, she loves seeing everything that makes a body unique.

"Shiny, hm? I think I can manage that, though I won't say more for now. Some things ought to be a surprise." And it depends on where they go and what's available, but Korrin's been there before, if not in that exact area. She knows what to expect, and already has a few ideas given the curve of her lips. Between wine and stew and the enticing vision before her, Korrin's certain this is the best night she's had in a good while.

"No drunkenness, got it. I'll hammer that into their heads--literally, if need be. There is one potential student that might flourish with your help. His name is Kas and he's another Vashoth--young, though, more human in height. He's just made it as a scout and if he's not coddled, he'll respond well." Besides, she'd like two of her favorite people to meet, if they haven't already somehow.

"Perhaps I'm the only person here with such a scar," there are more rifters she needs to meet, that's true, but being hit by a ball of lead leaves a rather odd scar it's true, "and you are the only one who gets to see it. Unless those sharing my tent did and that hardly counts, we can make a game of it, scar for scar, story for story, stitch for stitch." Her smile is wicked and bright, leaving no doubt about the sort of stitch she's referring to.

"Perhaps I will get to escape Skyhold for a time to somewhere so I can welcome you back in a fitting manner." Probably a meal because after going somewhere that sounds as cold as Brunilda's country then a hot meal and mulled wine would be welcome no doubt but she wants to visit a small town perhaps. Do some shopping that doesn't rely on the merchants stationed up here.

She'll get herself a new corset too because there's no better way to welcome anyone back.

"Kas and I...have met," she says carefully, suddenly rather more interested in her meal than she should be, deciding to try Leandra's favoured diplomatic strategies when it comes to Vashoth matters. "I think he requires more time to be accustomed to the presence of a rifter such as I." There's the small matter of him calling her a demon after she let it slip through a moment of careless thinking and it annoys her that one small silly word can sting so but there it is. At least there's proof that he's young though, even if he's not far off a foot bigger than she is.

That careful tone and sudden focusing on her food don't escape Korrin's notice, of course, and she sighs, realizing how that first meeting must have gone. Vashedan. "He was rude, wasn't he. He's not a bad kid, but being treated with respect is still something new to him, as it doing the same to others. Time might help those manners sink in, but I can usually get him to listen to me." And she will, at a time when Araceli's not the center of her focus.

After a reassuring hand squeeze and smile, she tries to bring back Araceli's own, always a worthwhile endeavor. "You have yet to see Val Royeaux; we should change that. For all that I complain about Orlesians, they have a beautiful city, and their food is divine. Most of it. Some of it I think was made on a dare, and I can warn about those." Dark mushroom and anise in tiny cakes, really? Ew. "And that's my kind of storytelling. I have a feeling I'll have to pace myself or you'll get all my stories before long, and then what will I have to share, hm?"

"Well, startled I might say, but yes. The demon word might have been mentioned," she takes a sip of wine, managing a smile that doesn't pull as tight as the edges as it might because she's with Korrin. "He's young, young men are very prone to ill-advised bluster for too many years." There are more humans here than there are Korrin's people and she does understand how wary the natives must be when people have appeared like she has.

"The place with all the masks! I'd love to go, I miss being in a proper city where I can go to a shop and just buy something. I can buy clothes Korrin! Nice clothes!" She can buy a corset and show it off for you too once she finds a proper tailor. "There are some things we have to savour, like a favourite wine, a good book, a hot bath at the end of a terrible day. After all, we have plenty of time on our hands, there's no rush."

"Bluster or not, I'll take care of it. I want two of my favorite people in Skyhold to get along, if they can." Especially since she won't be there to look out for either of them for a while. Between Kas' youth and Araceli's homesickness, she worries more than she sometimes lets on verbally.

Araceli's enthusiasm about clothes brings out her smile again as she nods in full support of this plan. "And unlike me, I'm pretty sure you can get away without having them custom-made. If you want an audience to model for, I'm more than willing." Her eyes glint in good humor, then she laughs, remembering something. "There's even one 'store' where some strange owner has a mystery box for sale. That's it, just the one item in the entire place. He won't say what's in it, not unless you pay ten thousand for it. Orlesians...they're responsible for too many of my stories that I have to preface with 'I'm not making this up'."

One of her favourite people. Even if it's talk, it makes Araceli look up, almost shy for once but it's hard to not have a set place, to be adrift and hearing something like that helps, perhaps more than Korrin knows. "I'm sure my charm will win the day and if not, he did allow Lux to give him a paw and really, who can say no to an adorable fox that just wants a scratch behind the ears and a share of your dinner or whatever you might have on you?" No one, that's who, because he was a fat little thing after months at sea when he was delivered into Araceli's small hands.

"Oh I'm very vain with my clothes, I blame my mother, she was always so beautifully dressed and most coats are too long in the arms for a thief." It's not a concern for most people but her hands need to be free to allow her to work without fabric in the way. "With corsets, an opinion is always needed and it's far easier to lace it up with some help." She waggles her eyebrows because she knows how good she looks in a corset and she's already eagerly awaiting showing herself off in one. "I want an Orlesian mask too, just to have one. And we could always steal the box. Even to sneak a peek."

Look, rich people have really cool things she didn't always want to steal, like fancy private art collection and cabinets of curiousities.

"I could always be a 'scary qunari' just so you could have a look while he's distracted. Sometimes stereotypes are helpful. And I bet we could find a mask that's sea-themed for you, I've seen them with starfish or mermaid designs before." Though she never thought to ask where they were made, so they'll just have to find out on their own. Not that extra time with Araceli is ever a bad thing.

"You'd always have my help, Araceli, whether lacing them up, giving my opinion...or removing them." That teasing grin lingers for a moment, already enjoying this future trip. If only they had the time now. But sadly, it'll have to wait. That almost-shy look of a moment ago hasn't escaped her notice, either. "I don't say what I don't mean, you know. Skyhold is far better for your presence, especially to me."

"You don't have to be something unless you want to, I know there are times I play a part but I only enjoy it when I've chosen it, I wouldn't have you do something on my behalf when I know what it is to have people think of me as being something I'm not." That's the big downside at the palace, around nobility who see a girl rising higher than her station, who seeks pleasure where she will and swings her hips. There are ugly stories about that but there's always someone to defend her, to console her. "Do you think they would allow me to wander around with a bare-breasted mermaid waving from my face though, that is the question I would like answered, very much so." Starfish would be more tasteful, maybe tiny little shells or something like them, scalloped edges.

She'd need to sketch it, maybe send something to Korrin out in cold places if they were allowed to borrow one of the ravens for such a purpose.

"Unlacing is always more fun, provided you don't get tangled, that did happen once or twice, I was young, there was a lot of rum, some girls like corsets with ribbons so thin you barely see them." Some girls also get quite huffy when you cut them out of the corset so pretty much every bodice ripper ever has lied just so boldly she can't even be angry. "The things you say, the first one here to make me feel welcome, to make me feel truly wanted in your world."

"To be honest, I had no idea what to think when you and the others emerged from that rift. It was all pure shock, for a while. Even then, it was obvious you had nothing to do with demons...and the more I see of you, the more I like. I doubt that's going to change." That's not pure suggestiveness either, though Korrin won't mind if it is taken that way. She's honored that Araceli is taking the trouble to introduce a portion of her world, and can't help but want to learn all she can about it and the fascinating, gorgeous woman before her.

She quirks a smile, taking another sip of wine. "Oh, I think they'd allow you that. I've seen much more outrageous fashion choices, if not heard of them; 'titsicles' come to mind and yes, it's exactly as it sounds like." Orlesians are all a little insane, okay. She's not going to bother justifying their behavior or preferences. "Mermaids, starfish...or tiny pearls, all would suit you so well. Maybe I'll find one for you that has horns, and you can be the world's shortest -and most exquisite- qunari." Mostly joking on that last one, but that probably wouldn't be impossible to find.

"It was strange to actually see it happening in the Mire when we were all there, just thinking 'that happened to me, and that is how it happened' when it's so fast and you don't even know what's happening. I can only hope we all had such rescuers as I had the pleasure to have." But really, watching it didn't quite answer any of her questions, it was more that Korrin had been patient after, when she'd been jumping from topic to topic, confused and shivering in a way that, upon reflection, had very little to do with the snow. She'd tried to do the same for the newcomer she'd had time to really speak with, it only seemed fair and right to do so after all.

Her bark of laughter is loud and unexpected and she tries to speak for a good minute only to keep giggling until she's fanning her face with her hands. "Titsicles! Incredible. We could find pearls for you too and delicate little scallop shells the same shade but pink and shiny on the inside on long strands, so we can match and be the envy of everyone else who wishes to be one or to have one of us."

Titsicles do have a way of derailing conversations, though Korrin can't be sorry when she gets to hear Araceli laugh. Her response is a grin, at least until she gives in and laughs with her. Because it is absolutely as ridiculous as it is true. "Sadly, I don't think it's in fashion anymore or it'd be one more reason to head to Val Royeaux as quickly as possible."

Managing to calm herself after a moment to think over the image Araceli provides, she smiles warmly. "You'd want to match? Well, how could I say no to that? Masks aren't usually my thing, but I would be partial to an exception. Pearls and shells sound lovely, as it is."

She grows thoughtful after another couple of bites, comfortably leaning back now. "I'm glad you were there, and not just for my sake. Your company is something I'll always treasure, but I think it helped them to speak with someone who's been through the same thing. I can tell them all about Thedas, but that's a perspective I can't share. And it's an important one."

Still giggling and carefully wiping at her face so she doesn't smudge her eyeliner, she fans a hand and hiccups as she tries catching her breath. "Oh Korrin, titsicles, I vow that I shall find some because how could I not now. I will make a mission, only for you."

And she means that because while she usually wouldn't want to be laughed at over how she's dressed, the entire concept of a titsicle is so funny that she can't help it and she might even dance around just to make the whole thing better or worse, depending on what they actually look like. It's that Brunilda would only be able to stare in muted horror that has the last few laughs falling out of her until at last she's fully able to focus on the conversation.

"I have a corset, a gift from someone very dear to me, and it's covered in pearls - it was made to fit, it has tiny buttons and not laces because the stitching might get damaged tightening it. If I had that with me then I could figure out how to make you match that too, it would be a challenge to find the right tailor, to be sure but if we're turning heads, why not go all the way?" Plus there's the thought of Korrin in a corset that has her eyes darkening even more because she's become very used to seeing all her loved ones in corsets at least once and Korrin more than has the figure for it.

Most of her meal is done by now, proof that yes, she is a very small but also bottomless pit of a lady, and as she's reaching for the knife to help cut the bowl apart, she nods along. "Maybe some of us could set up something, rifters to rifters should it happen again, how it was for us, the important things we learned. I think mine was mostly the politics of a situation but captain's daughter, you need to pick up the mood of a place quickly. I was very careful to pass on your advice about dragons too, that seemed like a very serious thing to do in the event one might get eaten."

The idea of rifters gathering to help out their own, and they do share a common bond despite being from anywhere, greatly appeals to Korrin and she nods encouragingly to this idea. "I'm sure you would be vital to an effort like that; you're observant and quick to adapt, and those are traits rifters need to have passed on to them. Plus, your natural charm will get them to listen." Who wouldn't want to give Araceli a chance, when she's so insightful and willing to aid? Fools, that's who. Hopefully there wouldn't be too many of those.

Korrin pauses to thoughtfully consider the other idea Araceli's put forth, more frivolous but enticing all the same. "I've never worn a corset. It's not exactly favored mercenary gear, after all. But if anyone can persuade me into one, it's you. It would be well worth it, to see you in matching one, I admit. I'm not sure I'd be able to pay attention to anything else."

Except titsicles, because now that's bound to be a perpetual source of amusement. She smirks just thinking about it. "Truly an epic mission, Araceli. I'll do whatever I can to assist your noble endeavor."

"I don't know which parent to tell you to thank; the captain who taught me how to get along and strive to find common ground or the courtesan who taught me reading people and how to put on the right face. Probably both and one would laugh and the other would laugh but sigh first. Life often gives you no choice but to play with the hand that is dealt to you, it's why you cheat and keep the ace up your sleeve." It's why children born of Brides and Sons are said to be so lucky, because the sea is on their side from the start and maybe that's helped her here somehow, a thought she'd truly like to believe because she's done far better than she might have.

"What, you can't be stylish and deadly at the same time? Are those the rules of mercenary folk? You work hard to earn your coin, you must treat yourself to fine and beautiful things and then they will return to you twice over. I will say, I am around eyeline with your already magnificent bust, imagining it in a corset...you would have to repeat things. Several times."

Of course she has manners but if they were alone and one thing lead to another, well would it be such a terrible thing to ask Korrin to keep repeating herself as she deftly undid laces?

Korrin opens her mount to protest her stylishness -hey, that armor was custom-made- but she stops and smirks at that last part. "...well. Now I have to do it, just to see your reaction. I suppose that's a fair price to pay for effectively distracting you. You can very easily bring out the same in me, you know." Araceli's gorgeous in whatever she's wearing but anything to accentuate those attributes would nothing but awed staring from Korrin for a while.

"They're both good life-lessons, I'd give them that. And cheating, hm? I approve. Life is usually unfair, it might as well be unfair in our favor once in a while." Especially in Thedas, where it's difficult for anyone not a human noble to catch a break. "Something tells me it'd be dangerous to bet against you in Wicked Grace, though. I'd lose that corset too quickly."

She's not denying that Korrin looks good in that armour but nothing ever manages to match a corset. "Perhaps that's my cunning plan; to seduce the Inquisition and then reveal myself to be the very worst sort of thing fallen through the rift set to swindle and rob you all blind." Only with Korrin could she make that sort of joke, laughing so hard by the end that her nose scrunches up. After being called a demon by Kas, it's only here and now that she can pretty much joke about such a thing.

"Being a thief and a fence is dangerous work," being a guard is equally as dangerous, if not more, "and honestly I learned how to cheat at cards before I learned the rules so that the cheating would come more naturally. Oh don't joke about Wicked Grace yet, I get confused by the things on the cards and I don't think the hands I call mean the right thing, I only play that against the obvious folk right now." And for the rest, she just sits and watches to figure it out because she refuses to be embarrassed over a game of cards.

"I'd offer to teach you, but to be honest there are far better people -Varric or Zevran- for that. And with your talent, I'm sure you'll be one of them in due time." Korrin can't help but admire Araceli's ability to adapt and think on her feet, a trait which would have served her well if she'd shared the mercenary life with the Vashoth mage. No doubt it will be useful in times to come, though Korrin will be there to help in those rare times when Araceli's skill and luck aren't enough.

That joke is met with a wide grin, as by now Korrin's utterly unable to see her not-Antivan companion with any of the suspicion others might still possess. Araceli's many things, all of them delightful, but no demon. "Your cunning plan could use some work, you know. Starting with me gains you little, when I have no rank or influence to speak of, at all. I'm a simple mercenary wherever I am, and I like it that way. True freedom."

"I have yet to meet this master author yet but at least I know the sort of honour I would be afforded with Zevran, and he'd know how honest I was being." Meaning that he'd probably be able to figure out from her tells when she was sincerely stuck and not merely pretending because it'd be the opposite to her usual strategy of being here. Bobbing along with her head just above the water and asking questions when she could had served her well enough when her pride wasn't on the line and if she hadn't been spotted falling out of the rift, she might have been able to pretend that everything was enough as it was, acting like an Antivan away at sea for a long time.

Only a silly idea sometimes, usually when she was rather harshly reminded of just how different it all was here.

Finishing her wine, she grins and shakes her head. "See, I have it all planned out. I make you a wealthy woman with greater influence than one would ever suspect as I charm you utterly and completely. Then we use that influence to gain everything we could possibly desire because for some, freedom is simply just a matter of coin no matter what they do or say."

"A Vashoth with influence? Maker, the very thought. You'd know the world is coming to an end, then." Korrin snorts, then drains more of her wine. "Influence also means playing by their rules and politics seems so chaffing. It's all I can do to attend those Council meetings, and that's with the promise of drinks afterward."

Okay, so maybe she has some influence somewhere, but still. With influence come obligations and doing anything other than what she pleases is anathema to Korrin. It's bad enough that she promised to help Adelaide and Pel. But she reins in her issues with that in light of her very charming company.

"If anyone could make that happen, though, it'd be you. I'm probably sealing my own fate with this, but I have this feeling that you could get me to do just about anything. It's very difficult to resist you and your abundant charms. I'm left defenseless before them."

"What next, a commoner guarding a queen?" She takes a sip of her wine quickly, but not quite so fast as to completely hide her smirk, pleased as she is with her silly joke. "Politics can be just as dangerous as any fight; say the wrong thing in the wrong company and you find yourself without finances and almost begging for the knife that slips between your ribs. There's a strange satisfaction, so I am told, in utterly destroying a person and well, not everyone attends in person. There are delegates you can send, or other eyes and ears to come back and whisper to you in the dark."

Here Araceli is cut off from a world she'd learned to navigate quickly and with surprising ease, but still she listens and researches, flirts shamelessly and gathers information over games of chance. She's been at audiences with the highest nobility from her own country and others, but equally she's been the shadow whispering in her queen's ear after a long night, still smelling of smoke and cheap rum. It makes for a very pretty picture.

"They say that children like me, the daughter of a Bride and a Son are born lucky," she practically purrs, leaning forward so her curls spill from behind her ears, knowing that it always makes her look like she just appeared from beneath the waves. "I would protest my innocence but I am a thief and a scoundrel, one that takes great delight in disarming her foes however she can and I must confess that the thought of you defenseless before me is a very enticing one, the kind that keeps a girl warm all these cold and lonely nights."

Araceli's joke is met with a thoughtful shrug, never having heard of such a thing, but it still seems more plausible than her own scenario. "Stranger things could happen. Don't tell Orlais, though. I bet they'd faint if their royalty was guarded by anything but the bluest of blue bloods. Chevaliers are one and all noble...in rank if not virtue."

She doesn't have the personal experience to say that with the venom that an Orlesian elf doubtless would, though she's heard some stories. In her eyes, anything else would likely be an improvement. The poor elves and peasants deserve a break, if nothing else.

Araceli leaning forward means that Korrin can no longer resist, and she reaches over to run her fingers through those luxuriant curls. They're far more eye-catching than her own white strands that she eyes up or braids in order to keep out of the way. "It needn't be only a thought that keeps you warm. I happen to adore scoundrels, you know...."

It’s funnier when the joke is about you, honest. “Most nobles are like that in my experience, unfortunately it seems to start very young then there’s a time where mixing with the commoner and having her sneak in through the window is exciting then it’s back to us being dirty secrets. The few that aren’t like that are few and far-between. Even the ones only very recently raised to nobility get like that very fast, as if they can erase everything that came before, as though it’s shameful.”

Araceli would never be anything but what she is, no matter how much they paid her and here is strangely proof that she must come across as what she is because if they all think she’s a typical Antivan at first, then a year mixing in such company hasn’t changed who she is.

Holding herself still because she’s had her hair snagged before, she’s pleased but not surprised that Korrin is gentle with her curls. Maybe it’s the same sort of principle with the horns and it makes her wonder how Korrin looks with her own hair down, how soft it would feel between her fingers, if it would be fine and smooth as silk. “I could still be offended, to be called a scoundrel when I’ve behaved very nobly since my arrival here; my thefts are small and things easily missed, my gambling wins not as substantial as they could be out of respect for the Inquisition, if not the poker faces of its soldiers,” she teases, composing her face into the appropriate look of pearl-clutching outrage until it cracks when she laughs. “But if you truly adore a scoundrel such as I, I think actions speak far louder than words.”

"I guess it's the same everywhere, when it comes to those who make their wealth off the backs of others. The Valo-Kas has worked for our fair share of paying nobles and those who treated us as people rather than props were definitely the exception rather than the rule. Especially in Orlais or close to Tevinter. You have to take what you can get, of course, but it does get tiring."

Those glorious curls deserve to be treated only with the utmost care; she would never think to tug or yank on something so treasured. As for her own, the Vashoth woman gives it barely any thought other than to keep it back, but for Araceli it would be easy to talk her out of that. At least while they're alone, and Korrin has no intention of leaving her side any time soon.

She slowly moves her hand away from Araceli's curls, not wanting to mess up such perfection. When that outraged expression crackes, Korrin laughs along with her. "Very nobly, indeed. You're too generous to us all, especially me. And you have an excellent point. I should remedy that." Leaning in -and down, accommodating the much smaller human- Korrin teases no longer, at least verbally, her lips -still tasting of wine- brushing against Araceli's own.

She robbed them of wealth

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