it takes strength to live this way

[qunari]

WHO: Iron Bull and OPEN
WHAT: General summary of events during the end of the month. Drinking, fighting, more drinking, maybe a little flirting.
WHEN: Mid-to-late Wintermarch
WHERE: All over the damn place. Mostly the tavern and sparring ring, though.
NOTES: n/a

He was starting to feel a little restless. By now, the boss would have taken them all out on some exploit or another, and even if he was glad to be at Skyhold again? Sitting idle could grate on the nerves a bit.

The best way to counter that seemed to be throwing down in the training ring just outside the tavern, taking on all comers as well as training those that seemed of a mind to ask. Cullen had most of his people following their own regime, but if they wanted a swing at something else? He wouldn’t refuse them. Not everyone fought like a templar.

The rest of the time, Bull made himself easy to find. Easy to avoid, too, if that was the preference of some. And he knew it was, from the glimpsed he’d gotten of the Vashoth inside the keep. But it was no hardship holding court inside the comfort of the tavern, indulging heavily in drinks and working his way down the menu of available meals and snacks.

It was business as usual, for the most part. Even if he did feel a little more restless than usual. Had to find a way to get out, hit something that really had it coming.

Or find someone to pass the evening with. That might help.

Comments

[fleurdesel]

"The usual." Her usual workload and then some, her usual sleeping habits and then some, the usual layers and lifts of stress, and then extra. It does have her holding herself stiff, more tense than is even comfortable for her to bear, but she shrugs through it.

Winces.

Shrugging was a poor choice, noted.

"I have a great deal of work that needs tending and most of it involves research or writing." Hence, desk hunching.

[qunari]

"I can tell. Looks like you could use a little wind-down time. Or someone to work those knots out. Pressure starts building there, base of the skull? Only going to cause more problems later. Posture'll be the least of your worries."

Woman like that was too used to taking care of everyone else, not paying nearly as much attention to herself. Which was a shame. Putting herself out of commission wouldn't do the people she was helping much good, in the long run.

[fleurdesel]

"Soaking in the hotsprings is not helping as much as it did before." It had at first- when she had less to mind and more time not only to soak but to put such things out of her mind. Now? Too much to do, too little time.

She reaches up to exactly where he mentioned- the base of her skull- and it is knotted and tender. Perhaps she should have taken better advantage of Vivienne's spa day- but the idea of foreign hands on her a the time had been more than she could stand.

Now?

Less so.

[qunari]

"I know a few techniques. Smooth those knots right out."

There's only an implication there if she wants there to be. He's careful about tone, phrasing, even the way he sits when it's offered, leaned back and giving her her space while still smiling at her in a way that could definitely count as flirting.

"Or you could opt for the healers, if you wanted. Got a few potions that make you go boneless like jelly. Taste like shit, though. Not nearly as much fun."

[fleurdesel]

She very carefully does not go pink- mainly by shoving the entire notion from something personal and flirtatious sideways into something medical.

Compartmentalization is on occasion a wonderful thing.

She does need help, she is not going to waste potions on her own self inflicted injuries nor is she about to use Compassion's power to mend what her own foolishness has wrought. Careful and considering, she murmurs. "...I have been told I ought to have more...fun."

[qunari]

"Mm. Can't argue with that."

Bull shrugs, carrying right along even when she fails to look at all thrilled about the prospect. Hey, if it just means helping her out, he's fine with that too. No need to make it weird if that would, in fact, make it weird.

"You just let me know when you've got a minute. I'm not heading out for a while."

[fleurdesel]

Not that she isn't pleased- or isn't thrilled...but she is out of practice and hadn't ever been terribly good at flirting that didn't involve some manner of academic debate or intellectual disagreement. His interest is warming and-

Well, there's the pink tinge to her cheeks. "I have time now, if you do as well."

[qunari]

Bull smiles, hums in agreement and nods faintly. "Alright. You have a preference for where? This sort of thing works best if you're somewhere you're comfortable."

And the goal is in fact to make sure that Adelaide is very, very comfortable. Of course, that means respecting her boundaries, keeping an eye on how she's feeling in one regard or the other. And when it comes down to it? Ladies really don't want an offer of a massage that comes coupled with expectations for more. It's just rude, really.

So he'll mind himself unless she gives inclination of wanting more. Simple as that.

[fleurdesel]

"At this time of day...The room ought to be empty." Roul minding the rest of her charges elsewhere or working with them in the healing tent- the only other place where she feels at ease if only for being mired in her vocation. "I share it with my charges but they ought to be otherwise occupied."

Late afternoon and early evening are when she gives them time to simply...be. To talk and play safely with other mages of their age- or even those that are not from the circles or magical families. Building roots as all growing things should.

[qunari]

"Then lead the way."

One hand gestures broadly in the direction of the door, before the chair scrapes and Bull rises to his feet. A few coins are left on the table for the waitress, a particularly plucky looking girl that he's been trying to figure out for a few days now.

Ah well. This might prove just as pleasant a way to spend the afternoon.

[fleurdesel]

And there is all that distracting muscle. She needs a moment- masked by slowly standing herself without wincing. Down is easier than up, after all, but she manages. At least the straight set of her shoulders can be seen as her being imperious rather than the fact that slumping causes her pain. "It is just inside the hold."

Tucked off to one side far from where the visiting nobility might keep their rooms. It honestly isn't meant for how many live there but as they are rarely all in attendance save for sleeping? It works out. Adelaide unlocks it and snorts a faint laugh as she holds the door open for Bull. "Apparently they saw fit to clean after lessons. I'll have to thank them."

The usual sprawl of books, scrolls, shoes, cloaks, and other personal effects have been stacked and tucked neatly along the wall- the crate Bull had helped open set up as a storage/seating area with roughly stitched cushions on top and braced along the wall. To the far end? An actual bed- modest but comfortable enough, and a desk overflowing with papers and books. Henri's mouse was even in it's little wooden cage, fast asleep.

[qunari]

Interesting set-up. Bull gives it a short glance around before nodding, smirking faintly at the little mouse in its cage. "Cute. Yours?" She didn't seem the type, but he'd been surprised before.

Everything else seems to match what he'd have expected. Piles of paperwork, books and scrolls, a little chunk of the tower resettled in another stone enclosure. You could take the mage out of the Circle...

Consequentially, he doesn't do a lot of poking around, even if there's the odd curious look at one thing or another. He's here for a reason, after all. "Don't suppose you have any oil? Might make it easier," he queries after a moment, lifting one hand and wiggling calloused fingers in her direction.

[fleurdesel]

"Henri's, my youngest student. I am more of a cat person." She does not mind dogs but cats are self sufficient enough to mind themselves and demanding enough that she can't forget to mind them should she become engrossed in research.

Oil, though- she frowns for a moment before moving to a shelf, fingers trailing along vials and bottles and jars she uses most often for poultices or salves. Someone's been putting things up in the wrong place, she mutters under her breath in Orlesian before she tracks down the bottle in question. "Here, will this suffice?"

Right. Oil for the skin. She considers her options for a moment before setting aside her concerns and unlacing her kirtle. Any hesitance is more on trying to find somewhere to fold it for the moment than any real trepidation.

[qunari]

"Yeah, that'll do just fine."

He stays at arm's length while she peels herself out of her layers, gaze sweeping over the multitude of things just lying out and about. Magical crap, most of it. Not much use to anyone save a mage, though he's less wary of magic now than he had once been. At least in theory.

But he's not offering this to a mage. He's offering a little comfort to a hard-working woman sorely in need of it. His gaze drops to the bottle, turning it over in his hands before uncorking it.

[fleurdesel]

Kirtle over the back of the one chair, chemise right after, both shaken out and folded out of habit more than anything else. With her hair pinned up high and down to her smalls the shining, puckered scar along her back and shoulder where the abomination- Lauren- caught her while covering for Cullen is more than visible. The skin's still tight but it isn't the cause for her tension.

Not the only cause.

She stretches out on her stomach on the bed, head tucked to one side to watch him curiously. Potions, poultices, magical crap, the odd arcane tome, and a myriad of essays on the nature of magic.

[qunari]

The oil empties out into his palms before being carefully set aside amidst the jumble of things lying around, hands rubbing together to warm the stuff before he even thinks of reaching for her. Cold oil is no one's friend.

But warm? Yeah. That first press of warm palms to the middle of her back ought to ease some of that tension, before he starts working his way up. A lot of tension knots back here around her shoulders and just below. Seems a good place to start.

"Orlesian Circles come with massage therapy? I might have guessed you'd had this done before," he rumbles, faintly amused.

[fleurdesel]

"A hands on application to magic is unconventional." She says, having a hands on approach to her healing and magics in general. Staffs are an excellent extension of focus but she'd honestly rather handle the power herself. More control that way. Under his hands her back are knotted tight along the spine- just as he said.

Too many nights hunched over a desk.

"Anything that involved mages in various states of undress around one another was either strictly chaperoned by the templars- or not permitted. You can imagine how relaxing this might be with a templar hovering in the far corner, glaring, one hand on their sword all the while." Not terribly relaxing at all. Far from the moment now- there's a slight hiss as he digs into something giving under that first press before she sighs into her arms.

[qunari]

Oof. That's a sizable knot there. Bull frowns, turning the edge of his thumb into the spot and circling the hardened muscle. Back and forth, working slowly into surrendering.

"Wouldn't be off-putting for some. But you don't really strike me as an exhibitionist." Even if she is clearly comfortable in her own skin, or just comfortable with him. Some degree of one and the other combined, likely.

The heel of his palm turned to rub along either side of her spine, rolling along the curve of her back, as Adelaide starts to unwind a fraction at a time.

[fleurdesel]

"When it comes to magic and research? Perhaps. Anything more intimate? Not quite." Comfortable as she used to be- as she can be in her own skin that level of vulnerability and trust isn't something easily given over to just anyone- let alone a glowering templar. There is also that dull, quiet part of her that held whatever she could twist out of her partners selfishly but-

That hasn't been relevant for the better part of two years. Everyone too stressed, too afraid, too tense. Adelaide hisses softly under the press of Bull's hands, knots slowly winding down into nothing.

[qunari]

"Still don't get how they think locking up a bunch of healthy, attractive people in a tower isn't going to result in someone finding a way around that shit." Bull snorts, somewhat amused before shaking his head, fingers kneading a path back up her spine to the nape of her neck.

"People need contact. Affection. Doesn't have to be sex, necessarily, but it's not something people live without. Not without going a little screwy. You ever meet a sane hermit before?"

[fleurdesel]

"Some, the younger ones, would look the other way. They had their own trysts, same as the rest of us, but the older, the more pious? Would guard our virtue as though we were their own daughters." A great deal of her tension is settled right there, the space between her shoulders, the tendons at the base of her skull.

"Affection was permitted- if not something of a requirement with how close our quarters were as apprentices. We would use the excuse of 'it's cold' to huddle in the same bed when it was never a question of temperature."

[qunari]

Bull chuckles quietly at that. He can picture it well enough in his head, though it's a little harder to imagine her as some spritely young apprentice wriggling under someone else's sheets. Not to say she hasn't. Just harder to imagine.

One joint in her neck after another, he works his way up and down again. The movement is always measured, careful, considering the strength in those hands.

"It's a hard life. Anyone who manages to live it well has my respect."

[fleurdesel]

"Not as hard as all that. We are protected and others are protected from our mistakes- or at least we were until suddenly we weren't." It had been quite sudden to her but...the fear and disquiet thinking of that is difficult to reach when his hand is untangling every knotted fiber of her.

Little by little, she melts, voice drifting deeper, warmer. Losing the clipped edges. "You are one of the few that see it thus. Most prefer we remain there."

[qunari]

"And what is it you want?"

He knows what comes when mages are free to do as they like. It's all well and good until someone decides blood magic or demon-binding is the way to go, and then it's chaos for everyone. He's seen mages rule, knows what comes of it.

But she deserves her dreams. Here, this is a chance for her to unwind. Unburden. And he's yet to turn down an opportunity to know someone's opinions, as he ekes out those most stubborn of knots still holding fast.

[fleurdesel]

She stills for a moment despite the slow press of his hands, the easy warmth of his voice. Frowns, faintly, against her arms as she tilts her head for something only she could hear. No discordance. Nothing other than the familiar wash of Compassion idling in the background. To be safe she visibly pinches her own wrist. It hurts but that means little even in the fade- but she is awake.

This is Bull...even if it would be a very different tack than what most demons take with her.

"The impossible, honestly. People to stop killing one another over differences of opinion. Failing that? Somewhere we might learn safely without fear of death or possession or tranquility being forced upon us for failure. A means to prevent possession, a way to, perhaps, even remove someone's magic without removing their soul if they so wished." To be brought into this as a child and have to face such a thing- were there an option when she was young to not, to give it away and live normally? She would have taken it. "While I am wishing for the impossible a few hours more in the day so I might complete my work would be wonderful."