faderift | Moving Day

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Moving Day

WHO: All the Wardens and whatever onlookers/helpers they may find.
WHAT: Moving Day
WHEN: Current-ish
WHERE: Skyhold and just outside Skyhold
NOTES: The Wardens are grounded. They have been told to camp outside Skyhold. So it's moving day.

It is a relatively flat and pretty utterly frozen piece of land outside Skyhold that the Wardens have found. Since there are only a couple dozen of them, they don't need a large space, at least. There's going to be a premium on slightly more elevated spots, so it's first come first serve. Some Wardens arrive with the sun and lay claim with canvas, stakes, ropes, and poles stacked up while they go back for heavier things. Digging into the frozen ground with the stakes is rough, especially for those who brought wooden stakes instead of iron. Some will be forced to wait until the sun softens things a bit. Some are chasing away the feeling of eviction by making themselves at home, starting fires in pits, or making light of their work through periodic bouts of horseplay. For example, one large longbowman with a wounded right arm, fed up with teasing for his inability to do heavy lifting, carries with his left arm a blond mage who hits him repeatedly with a pillow. Unperturbed, he continues on.

But when the tents are pitched and the sun is down, the cozy camp is a little less strange. People will gather around fires for warmth and companionship, knowing that after one sleep, this will start to feel like home.

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"Then when this is finished you will sit and I will give you a shave, yes? You are looking a touch stubbly." Most of the Wardens were. Alistair would have to be next- this is what happens when Zevran leaves him to his own devices for too long.

As he now must.

Zevran's next strike with the shovel was harder than need be, burying past the edge of the blade in the dirt. It made levering it out a strain- but better than turning that on Anders.

While not always the most observant, Anders is starting to wonder if something is wrong when the shovel is driven in that hard. Was it the glance at Settimo? It could be. As he doesn't have so many friends that he can simply hope for things to blow over, he needs to speak.

"I didn't mean anything by the look. And I can refrain from glancing again."

"It is not that." He muttered, the next drive downward much the same. "Leliana is not speaking to me. Morrigan has forbidden me Keiran. Alistair must spend his days out here."

Weighing the cost against his silence, now that it has come to pass? And finding the price a bit much. It itches in a way he hasn't had to endure in some time.

Anders looks down as the words sink in. He's cost Zevran dearly, and Zevran isn't the one who approached him first. The pressure had been put on when Anders sought lockpicking lessons.

This is what he does, over and over and over - hurt people when they try to be his friend or help him - and a weight settles in his stomach.

"I'm sorry." It's not enough. "If there's..." But there isn't anything he can do and he knows it even as the sentence starts. He exhales and steps back. "The ground is thawed in the next spot too. If you'd... If you'd like to not have to deal with me for a time, I understand. Or if there's something else you'd like."

"You did not make me hold my tongue, Anders." He did that all on his own. "...To be honest- I probably will not be sucking your cock anytime soon. But your presence in general is not overly aggravating."

The words are a relief, despite what his cock may think. Losing sex, even magnificent sex, is a low price to pay for not losing yet another friend. Anders nods, and he won't be rude enough to ask about him sucking Zevran's cock. The point isn't about sucking, it's about a break from sex. Anders nods.

"I'll miss your lips. And said tongue. But I'm glad of the implication that I get to still have your company and conversation." He takes a breath. "You're a friend, and I'm truly sorry for what that's cost you."

Kneeling, Anders resumes casting, moving the earth out of the way for where the second pole would go. It's about as efficient as a shovel, and far less sweat-inducing. Plus he likes showing that magic can be practical. Zevran's not afraid of it, no one in this camp is that sort of person, but the point is still the same.

He's prepared for Anders to push the point. Not that Anders is the type aside from being alive, human, and an occasional partner of Zevran's but the wariness is everpresent. That it is needless eases a knot in his chest he does not wish to look at too closely. "Yes, well."

He shrugs, going back to the task at hand. Holes for posts. Posts for walls. Anders does his work and Zevran finishes his hole, shoving the narrow point of the stripped log into place with a grunt. "It is not as though I expected to walk away without this costing something. Or that Alistair and I haven't spent time apart in the past."

There's a short pause as he weights his response. He could be serious and keep things solemn if Zevran needs this, but the elf sounds like he's trying not to dwell.

"You'll be welcome down here at any time, and it may give you more opportunities to tease him publicly. I'm assuming the rumors that the two of you are together are for the sake of flustering him? He strikes me as the sort to seek female companionship rather than male or either."

He looks at the other pole Settimo's prepared and frowns. It's not poorly done. It just looks heavy. Which, he'll grant, it needs to be. There will be a wall's weight on it. That doesn't mean he needs to enjoy moving it, and it really doesn't mean its movement will be anywhere near as smooth as the way Zevran moved his. Anders struggles a little before dropping it in, shaking his head as he casts to enclose the bottom of both poles in earth.

"And if you're ever seeking a new teasing target, Nate, Nathaniel, is a fantastic one."

"I actually did not start those. They simply happened and I have yet to correct anyone on the point. He shares a bed with me. Most take it to mean we share more than a bed. I think Gavin, one of the elves, assumes we are in love." Which is laughable, actually. Alistair is just as Anders says- he prefers the company of women.

They work better as they are, unfathomable as it might seem.

"Though it does make him blush so. And he is quite amusing when he blushes. Not as readily as he once did during the blight, but all the same." Alistair was an adorable twenty something. "Mm...I do not know how well that might go considering I helped kill his father. Nothing personal but. Jonas."

He raises an eyebrow at that, but he's smiling faintly.

"Never let me take advice on anything from Gavin, in that case. I prefer it to come from people slightly more observant."

And then the smile fades.

"Ah. I didn't realize that was your hand as well. I was... detained... when Rendon Howe died. And then I never asked Nate about it. I... hm." Anders considers the poles and the topic at hand. "He has no fondness for his father, and I've not heard him express any sort of opinion of you. If he harbored ill feelings, I think I'd know. But perhaps observe him first around the camp and see how he reacts. As to why - he does blush prettily, but it's rare, and he's gotten accustomed to my teasing. It doesn't work as well anymore."

"He is a special little elf, is Gavin." That is why Zevran likes him quite so much.

"Ah, well. If he found it in himself to forgive Jonas that- likely he will not think anything of me, though I must thank the man for having hired me to kill the wardens. My life would have been quite different otherwise. So I owe Nathaniel a kiss or two for that if nothing else." A beat and he tilts his head, considering. "Or, perhaps, when I am not quite so cranky we might tease him by kissing one another- if he is one to be moved by the appearance of others touching."

"Now I need to meet him." Anders pauses and frowns. "Depending on his view of... matters. Like me. Should I wait a few weeks? Hope for opportunity to save his life?"

Being Detlef had been easier. He could simply talk with people and not wonder if they were fantasizing about driving a knife between his ribs. It wasn't something he deserved, that freedom, but it had been nice while it lasted.

"And I'm not certain as to whether or not he'd be moved. I'm open to trying it, of course, but I think there's a fair chance he'd glance over, roll his eyes, and move on with his day. I'd a very different reputation when we knew each other originally." There's a beat, and his smile returns, even growing on what he'd had earlier.

"Apparently Jonas needed to keep a flirtatious blond around at all times, and after you there was nowhere to go but down. Maybe the reason we've not heard from him in some time is because he's now found himself an entire group of flirty blonds and has absolutely no reason to leave his bedroom."

It's been over a decade with exposure to an archdemon. Chances are far more likely Jonas has gone to his actual calling... but Anders isn't about to give voice to that thought.

"If that is all he ever needed he has it in spades in his wife. Or. So I think. Anora is...a singularly terrifying woman." The longer Jonas was away, the weaker her hold on the throne might become. Not for a lack of ability, connection, or skill; but Fereldan would want a king, would want an heir, would want a full royal family. Not a queen alone, no matter how marvelously competent.

"You missed the operative word." He's never met Anora, but he's heard of the woman thanks to Jonas. "Flirty. There is, so far as I am aware, nothing flirty about Anora. Which is not to say that she's flawed, a powerful, intelligent woman is very attractive. But if he's looking for flirts, he'll not find one at home."

"You have never met the woman, nor a Mac Tir. Threats of conquest and immanent violence are flirting." She was a strange and scary woman, but not one that was without her charms. "He has a peculiar taste, does Jonas. Perhaps something so unyielding is what suits him best."

He considers this before conceding the point with a small smile. "Have you met Velanna yet? I'd enjoy knowing how she compares. Her threats can be flirting. Though sometimes they're most certainly not."

Which had never dissuaded him. If he stopped flirting with everyone who threatened his life, he'd get laid as rarely as Vael.

"There's no way to make the next step magically easy, is there."

"I have heard of her but not yet met her. Is she truly as lovely as they say?" Anders will offer an honest opinion, this much Zevran knows to be true.

Posts set Zevran leans back to peer a the tops, frowning. "Unless you can lift the beams for the roof with your magic? No. It will take lifting and ropes."

"In a fight there are few you'd want on your side more. She's relentless, covers the area with a skill that's enviable, can use the surrounding nature in a way that I've never seen any other Dalish do." There's a beat and he gives Zevran a half- shrug. "On the other hand, until she gets to know you, she's equally relentless with being harsh. Especially if you're not Dalish. It takes a lot of time to get through that... But it's worth it. You'll always know where you stand, always know where she stands, and if you're a friend, that's at your back."

He pauses again, and this time grins for just a moment. "At your back, with a long list of the ways you've been an idiot this time. You might like her." 'I do' goes unspoken. He's pretty sure that much is obvious. Having Nate and Velanna here was one of the brightest things about Skyhold.

Not as bright? The fact that he's not got the precision to do the heavy lifting with magic. Anders looks up and sighs. "I'm not sure the Inquisition has a mage with a force magic focus. That's what we'd need, unfortunately. So ropes it is." They're nearby, at least, and he grabs two coils so he can give one to Zevran. "I could use some direction; I've notdone this before."

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Moving Day

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