[Closed] Some things you do just to see how bad they'll make you feel

[overharrowed]

WHO: Julius, Marisol, Nell, Vandelin
WHAT: Negotiation coffee breaks
WHEN: Scenes from the relatively early stages of phylactery negotiations
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: Starter threads below, warnings to be added if necessary

Comments

For Nell

[overharrowed]

Julius is glad he's here. (He tells himself so often enough that perhaps he should examine the impulse. He doesn't.) It's a lot to take on, but it's a step back toward the type of life he'd expected to lead before the rebellion. Reading people, manuvering without seeming to; it suits him better, in some ways, than poring over reports and research materials back in Kirkwall. Still... the days are long enough as it is, and they all need to find ways to unwind.

He's not looking for Nell, specifically, when he comes back to their quarters; he's mainly just looking for company, and of the people in Skyhold at the moment, his fellow mages seem the most likely to oblige him. And if no one happens to be in... he can work on the flask of mediocre wine he charmed one of the kitchen staff into giving him on his own, he supposes.

[galvanising]

Nell has her standard ways of unwinding, which thus far have involved disappearing late in the evenings after they have debriefed the day's efforts and prepared for the next's. She is resolutely optimistic and unwavering in her determination, and if that takes a toll it's not something she's been willing to let her fellow negotiators see.

So it may be a surprise when Julius catches her hunched over on the edge of her bunk, elbows on knees and head in her hands, fingertips dug in between her eyes. She straightens up quickly at the sound of the door opening, smoothing both hands over her hair. "Julius," she greets him evenly, without a hint of embarrassment. She lifts her chin in vague gesture, "Talked your way into the wine cellars?"

[overharrowed]

Julius does her the favor of pretending not to have noticed the attitude in which he surprised her. "Got it in one. Would you like to share in the spoils of my very minor diplomatic victory this evening?"

He comes to sit on the bunk opposite. "I wasn't able to charm any glassware to go with it, but I'm not above drinking from the flask if you're not." He's a bit looser like this than he is in the negotiating mode. It's easy to imagine him acquiring wine a similar way as an apprentice, less self-possessed but just as charming.