faderift | [Open] [I can move mountains, move mountains.. ]

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[Open] [I can move mountains, move mountains.. ]

WHO: Bethany Hawke and You
WHAT: Exploring the Inquisition
WHEN: The next few days of Wintermarch
WHERE: The garden, the tavern, the courtyard, the library.
NOTES: Content warnings, OOC notes, links to other relevant posts, etc.

The first thing Bethany did after arriving at Skyhold?

A bath. A beautiful, long hot bath where she soaked with nice soap and some sort of fancy oil and just ... cleansed herself from about a week's worth of sand and dirt. After that though, well.

Bethany used to be the sort of person who would keep to the edges to not be noticed. Kept herself hidden, to keep herself from being taken to a Circle. Her family went through such risks to keep her free - keeping her head down seemed to be a small sacrifice to make.

Now, nine years - almost ten! - years a Warden and she still observed quietly from the background. Yet now, she would step forward. Move more boldly, with more confidence and a great deal more poise. She also, as she had been apt to do even in her days in Kirkwall, stopped to help people.

So there you will find her, all around Skyhold, quietly soaking up everything, or chatting happily with someone as she helps them carry firewood or food out to the hungry troops training in the yard. The first thing you will know is that smile - dimples and bright, and completely unfeigned. Who knows, maybe it's just pointing at you.

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Fenris had finally woken up, after another late night drinking and gambling in the Tavern, hauling himself towards the bathhouses to make use of them. At least here he could keep clean, and made good use of the facilities.

He walked back towards his room, contemplating how he really needed to get out of Skyhold for a few days, to get away people and go and hit things once again when he stopped dead, seeing a vision from his past in front of him. Surely it couldn't be? Perhaps he was still drunker than he thought, and imagining things.

If you didn't think that Bethany bathed herself every day now that she had the opportunity? You were absolutely mad. After doing her morning exercises - Warden training was like clockwork after all - and breakfast - she would head down to the bathhouse to clean up and luxuriate in clean hot water and soap, oh glorious soap. She even replenished her supply of hair oil, scented with lavender like she preferred.

How she had missed Fenris at the bathhouses would be a mystery to her - how she had kept missing Fenris would be a mystery - but it wasn't until she was leaving her room and heading out to see what she could do in Skyhold at large that she turned and found green eyes fixed on her, with white hair falling over one eye in a rakish manner he never intended, lyrium tattoos along his neck and -

"Fenris." She whispered, before she moved across the courtyard and flung herself at him, hugging him tightly as she could.

Fenris was good at keeping out of the way when he had to be - otherwise he might end up being sent out on missions. The Western Approach had been bad enough, and the sand... never again.

It was Bethany. He'd always been fond of Bethany, who was one of the most genuine people that Fenris had ever had the pleasure to know. He would put up with a lot from her that he wouldn't take from anyone else - for instance, the hug that she suddenly gave him, and that he shyly returned. "What are you doing here, Bethany?" he asked after a moment, pulling away to look at her properly.

From someone who had just come from the Western Approach? Bethany would one hundred percent agree with this assessment There was only so much sand someone should have to take in their life.

For her part, beyond his initial anger at what she was, she had found Fenris a good man, and someone who had been so scarred by magic that all she could feel was sympathy. He had only been looking to help her, to protect her in his own way. That he always spoke highly of her control and temper? Meant the world to her. Earning Fenris's trust as a mage was no easy feat.

She looked at him, her smile dimming a little, "Grey Warden business - I can't say more right now, although I'm sure we'll be able to talk of it later. It's ... let's just say like all things going on? It's bad, Fenris. Really bad."

She took his hands and squeezed them, hard, before she gave him the once over, "All right - you have both ears, a mouth, the pretty eyes that Isabella wanted to pluck out, ten fingers and I am going to assume ten toes. Where are you going so I can monopolize you for an hour?"

His eyes narrowed at the thought. The Grey Wardens were a tricky bunch, and they had kept to themselves for the most part since they arrived here. With Bethany arriving, he could only wonder how much more trouble was on the horizon. "Do you need me to hurt anything?" That he could do, and do well.

"Oh, Isabela is here too. She's given up trying to pluck them out, though she still enjoys trying to guess what color underthings you are wearing. And yes, ten toes still. I am unscathed. I was going back to my... room. Well, four walls and a bed. But we can find somewhere else if you want."

Bethany paused at that statement, before her smile warmed again and she squeezed Fenris's arm again. The fact that he threatened harm for her, and not against her? Showed just how much Fenris cared. "Not yet, but I'll keep you in mind."

Bethany's brightened again, before she looked around, "Now, if Aveline and Carver would just come around the corner -- we'd have the entire rag-tag bunch here. And has she ever managed to guess your under-things?" She grinned then, before she shook her head. "We're going to find food, that's what we're doing. I need a warm meal."

Yes. Fenris cared for Bethany. Don't spread it around, they will only use it against him. "You do that."

He glanced at her. "Well, apart from Anders. And Sebastian." Sebastian he sort of missed, he didn't mind the priest, although he found him a little tedious at times. Anders... well he detested the abomination. "Food..." He would forget about food at times. Still, he could manage to eat a hot meal, easily. "If we go to the kitchens, I'm sure we can find something."

She would never. His secret would go down to the grave with Bethany.

She sighed, softly, at Anders name, but flushed a little at Sebastian's name. "Yes ... aside from them." Ahem, again. She sighed before she arched an eyebrow over at Fenris. Then she let an amused sigh, before she stated wryly, "You haven't eaten at all today yet, have you?" Honestly, sometimes she wondered if Fenris brooded his way right past food. "That sounds delightful - which way?"

He knew he could trust Bethany.

He smirked at her reaction to Sebastian's name, but said nothing. "I... ate a little this morning." A biscuit that he'd found in his pack when clearing it out. "But the kitchens are this way." He pointed, and started walking.

What happened with Fenris's emotions, stayed with them.

She gave him a wry smile, before swatting his arm. Shush. "Good, now you're going to eat a lot more." She looked at him, her gaze thoughtful, "Where have you been, Fenris?"

Fenris being mothered. This would be worth seeing. "Travelling throughout the south, I've been mostly amusing myself chasing down slavers." A valiant effort, as far as he was concerned. "Then I came here to try and find out just what was going on."

Well, more like sister'd. After all, Aveline was everyone's mother, and little sister seemed to be the role Bethany was born to play here. She arched an eyebrow at him, before she tilted her head a little, "I would be surprised -- but that sounds exactly like you."

She nodded her head, "It's one of the reasons I came here, myself. To find out what is happening here." And why it wasn't happening at the Western Approach.

Sistered he could live with, even if he thought that Aveline would never mother him. "Well, someone has to stop the slavers," he pointed out, then grinned at her. "And it's fun to chase them down." There was no mercy from Fenris, not for slavers.

"I get the impression that they don't really a focus as to what they are supposed to be fighting yet, or doing." Too many missions all over the place, no real idea. It would take time, he guessed, but even so, it was frustrating.

Fenris, the fact that you and everyone else hasn't realized that Aveline's gone and mothered you all is a constant source of amusement to Bethany. But she won't ever say anything about that, either. "I suppose ... and I know no one better suited. I just hope you're careful. I don't like the thought of you taking them all on your own."

He was formidable, there was no doubt, but he was only one elf.

"Casting a wide net, to see what they've caught." She surmised. "The wider it is, the more chance of catching Corypheus with it."

Fenris would snort in amusement at the very thought of it. "Oh, I'm careful. They tend not to be, which makes my job far easier." And yes, he sees it as a job. Freeing slaves was always an immense source of satisfaction.

"I'm not so sure. There is a stench of desperation in the air. He seems to have all the cards, and you are not sure what it in his hand." Things were going to get worse before they got better - that much he knew.

Which might be a reason for her to tell him some day - Fenris needed to smile more. "Well, good. If there's anyone I hope is careless and walks right into a sword, it's slavers. Next to darkspawn, of course." She thinks about it, "If it wasn't horrible, I'd suggest letting the slavers run into darkspawn, so we could take care of the lot."

She looked over at him at that, her lips pressing together. Fenris always had his eyes open and knew more just by watching than anyone she knew, outside of Varric. "Well, then we'll have to bluff him back, won't we? Get in a few good hands."

He gave a low chuckle. "That is a fight I could get behind," he agreed. "As long as the slaves were out of the way, I'm sure I could learn to watch it." Slavers were the scum of the earth, after all. Any reason to get rid of them.

"We will," he agreed. There was nothing he liked more, but then he narrowed his eyes at Bethany. "Why are you here? There are a number of Wardens here, I've noticed." Providing he did keep his eyes open.

"I think that's a fight we can all get behind - and the slaves can stand over on the side with us until we slaughter the rest. Then we could give them all the slavers and darkspawn's possessions." A lovely little fantasy that -- based on mass slaughter of horrible monsters, but still.

She paused, but this? This she could share with Fenris. She trusted him. "... We're on the run, from Warden Commander Clarel. She's proposing a dangerous plan to rid the world of Blights forever, and we are those who disagreed. Alistair and a few others went to speak with Clarel personally - and were to be put on arrest until they escaped. The rest of us snuck out while Clarel was calling the alarm for Alistair and his cohorts."

He thought about it for a moment. "I'd like to see that fight," he admitted eventually.

Her words had him turning to her, looking at her carefully under that fringe of his. "I am guessing there is more to it than what you are saying." Because that did not sound like the whole story. "What about the rest of the Wardens? They are going along with her plan?"

Now that reaction? Made Bethany laugh.

A laugh that slipped away as she looked up at him, into the steady green eyes she knew all too well. "A great deal more. But unless you're about to become a Warden ... or will be coming with us to the Western Approach, there's not much I can say."

She frowned, as she looked to the ground. "They appear to be -- but now I am not so certain is of their own free will."

"I don't think I'd be wanted as a Warden." Nor would he actually want to do it. "Though a trip to the Western Approach... I was there once already." Which means he might be useful, certainly as far as information went.

"There is something going on, affecting all Wardens."

"Hmmm, I wouldn't say that. You're strong, you're smart, you know what it is to survive. However, I would strongly tell you to avoid it as a career path. The retirement path is absolutely ridiculous." Bethany stated, before she gave him a sharp look. "Have you? Then ... yes. I think we will pull you in, if you want to be pulled in."

Another pause, and a deep sigh as she put a hand on his arm, drawing him to stop. She looked grave, "We all began to hear the Calling, at the same time ... and with something like that? It means we would all succumb to the song and Blight soon enough." Madness, illness, which was why when you heard the Calling, all Wardens decided to end their time in the Deep Roads, fighting off the darkspawn. "With our deaths, imminent .... our leaders decided we needed to make that one last push."

"But it's a false calling - and as you well know - there is only one creatures that can do that." She said grimly.

"You know I will help." That was Fenris, ridiculously loyal to his friends. If Bethany needed his help, he would be there.

He stood watching her for a long time, before shaking his head in disgust. "Corypheus," he said with a snarl. There had been all the rumours that he had returned, and well, with Bethany here confirming it. "How did we fail to kill him? And what push did the leaders make? Or is that one of the Warden secrets you can't tell me?"

"I know you will." She smiled at him, giving his arm another squeeze. Just like she would be there for him.

She nodded her head solemnly, before she sighed and rubbed a hand across her face. "To tell you the truth, Fenris, I don't know the answer to any of those questions. I don't know how we killed them, and I don't know the specifics of the blood magic ritual. I just know we need to know more of Erimond, and just what he is capable of."

The simple words 'blood magic' produced a typical response from Fenris and he stiffened with anger, but calmed down. It wasn't Bethany, or anything she was involved with. His issues were far deep rooted. "Well, I think you have come to the right place. It would seen most people of import are arriving here at this Inquisition." And many others beside.

[Open] [I can move mountains, move mountains.. ]

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