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

[qunari]

"Why is that?"

He doesn't understand much of magic, no more than he needs to. But the prospect of demons gives him the willies, there's no doubt about that. Something that can't be overpowered once it gets inside your head...and to think, there are mages that willingly partner with them.

Nope. Bad idea all around. Going to keep kneading away, working out the joints of her fingers, one by one.

[fleurdesel]

This subject is familiar enough that she can answer without thought, blinking at the curl of his hand around hers, the difference in texture, in size, in color. It's fascinating.

"Imagine a house with no windows with one thickly bolted door. For the average person that is not a mage- thus is their presence in the fade as they dream. Demons are aware but cannot enter easily." A familiar enough lecture, and her voice does slip into a cadence implying it is a lecture. An educator at work using allegory to explain something thoroughly abstract.

It is not the neatest metaphor nor the most precise, but it works well enough for breaking it down to layman's terms. "Mages have windows- some mages have smaller ones, some mages have larger ones- and is it not all the more tempting to break into a house and take what is inside if you can see what it is you will be taking? The door is still bolted- perhaps even all the more so than someone else- but they can see inside, they can plan how they will attempt to charm their way in. Or they can break a window."

She blinks, fingers curling against his. "Spirit healers live in glass houses with glass doors. We call Spirits to work with us, invite them to the porch but not inside. The glass is thicker, stronger than the average mage for our training but...demons see. They wander, wonder. They come up for a chat much like a neighbor. One can add windows or walls of glass if they so choose this path of study, but you cannot ever go back to a wooden house with the one window ever again."