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.

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"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.

"Even more reason to horrify all of them in this Val Royeaux, because I can imagine the talk there would be if they couldn't hire you back in Castileos and oh they would want to hire you, if only to lord it over someone else that would then want to hire you in return. That's why being a thief is good - you strike out on your own, loose friendships and taking almost anything you want from rich rude people." Only never sentimental things, something you get good at knowing, things that might be worth a lot in coin but she has her own little lockbox after all. Things dear to her heart that she just holds sometimes, like the dice from her father that she keeps in a special pouch sewn inside her coat pocket.

It's easy to press her face into Korrin's hand, a hand probably as large as her whole skull, about to speak but then Korrin is close and she's leaning in too, eyes falling shut. Her fingertips are rough from a life spent climbing and maintaing weapons, fiddling with locks and working around ships but they're gentle when she reaches out to stroke Korrin's cheek before cupping her face. The table is in the way given the height difference but she doesn't care that it's digging into her side, mouth opening under Korrin's easily because she's missed this, she hasn't kissed anyone in so long since she's been here and Korrin gives her that same rush in her veins as the ones she loves so dearly back home.

They would want her to be happy, and right now, she most certainly is.

Korrin can't complain about rough fingertips, not when her own are callused from days of either training for combat or the event itself. If anything, Araceli's touch sets her nerves alight, responding to that passion with plenty of her own. But yes, that table is definitely in the way, something she should have thought about before her desire got the better of her. Oh, well. It's something that can easily be remedied.

The thought of moving away from those lips is unappealing, but Korrin forces herself to break that kiss just long enough to move around the annoying obstacle between them both. She can't take the small, slender form of Araceli into her arms fast enough, eager to pick up where they left off without anything in the way.

As loathe as she is to break the kiss, nowhere in Skyhold stays private and empty for long unless you take certain measures. Others will come for shelter and quiet, to tidy up and she pulls back but cups Korrin's face in both hands, thumbs just about tracing over her cheekbones. Flushed, and more than a little breathless, she steals another kiss instead of speaking because she wants to, because she can but she remembers what Korrin said to her before.

"We should go make sure whomever you bunk with must sleep on the floor," she murmurs, kissing the corner of Korrin's mouth. "Leave the dishes for someone else, dessert isn't for public consumption." That's a terrible line and she'd feel bad but Korrin can take it as a testament to her skill, to have Araceli fumbling and falling back on things she last said as a teenager.

It may be a terrible line, but it still gets Korrin to laugh rather than groan. At the moment, absolutely everything is wonderful. How can it not be, when Araceli is so warm and close and those lips are so very enticing? But she does have a point and it would be a shame to lose themselves now only to be interrupted. She draws in a shaky breath at that kiss, in a pleasant daze but snapping out of it a moment later.

"All the more reason to leave hastily, then." And Korrin isn't one to waste any time, taking hold of Araceli's hand after lifting it to press a kiss to the fingertips. The closer they are to that door, the more she won't be able to resist scooping Araceli up into her arms. (With the utmost care, of course. Araceli is precious and will always be treated as such.)

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