[ action | open ] all my friends are heathens, take it slow

[inquisitor_lavellan]

( OOC: Takes place after the cure. )

Scenario 01 - Attleton - from green palm to green thumb

This was either a home improvement store, or a gardening shop. Either way, Alleyana had figured out what the shopping carts were for and pulled one along behind her with her singular hand, zeroing in on the area that sold pots. She'd need... hm... eight. Eight of the biggest ones she could find. And soil to fill them. And a way to make a small trellis for a few of them that would be growing vines...

Lost in these thoughts, Alley barely even paid attention to the way the locals looked at her, stomping through their store in full armor like she was, with a huge shield on her back and a bar for a left arm. Attleton locals just weren't used to such a sight, though if anyone stared for too long she lifted her head to look back, automatically on guard.

Scenario 02 - Genessia City - bloody days ahead

Alleyana cursed colorfully in elvhen, kneeling down beside a pond in one of Genessia's larger parks. There was a good deal of blood on her, and she started scooping up water in her singular, gauntlet-encased hand to rinse it off her armor, and finally her face. Her face was... well, it kept producing more blood. She probed at the gash on her forehead with armored fingers, her upper lip curling in a sneer as blood kept trying to drip into her eye. It would need stitches, she thought. Great. It wasn't worth expending an elfroot potion on, not while her supply was limited. Perhaps Cole would be able to stitch it for her...

Drip, drip.

"Fenedhis lasa!" she snapped, taking another palm full of water and splashing it on the gash to rinse out the newest drippings. It was a losing battle, and she knew it.

Scenario 03 - Genessia City [ locked to housemates: Merrill, Cole ] - down time

The Inquisitor emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam. She was dressed down, for once, presently in a blue tanktop with the words 'shit happens' on it and a pair of bright red cotton pajama pants. Three necklaces were draped from her neck, usually hidden beneath her armor or the clothing she wore beneath it. One was a large key, one was a crystal orb, and one was a blackened jaw-bone on two leather cords. The gaudy thing meant to mark her as 'real' was in the bathroom along with her usual armor and clothing, which was drying over the bath-tub. Once she'd been done scrubbing herself down, she'd done the same for her gear before draining the tub.

Her hair was down, with a towel draped over her shoulders and down her back attempting to keep the long mass of brown and grey from soaking her anew from behind. It was a lot longer than it looked like it ought to be when it was all braided and bound up, and having it down softened some of the hardness of her appearance, even soaked as it was.

The stump of her left arm was exposed, the dragonbone bar still attached where it threaded straight into the bone. The skin around it was gnarled and scarred, with traces of those scars going up and over her elbow and bicep like lightning bolts captured in flesh. And there was something... wrong, about her bare right hand. There were scars from puncture wounds -- nails -- and burns and... just a general wrongness to the shape.

Alleyana plopped down into one of the armchairs of the living room, shutting her eyes for a moment and waiting for the weakness the hot water had instilled in her to pass.

Comments

3

[hugs_for_nugs]

The second she'd closed her eyes, Cole had perched himself on the arm of the couch, looking over at her. He lived with her, had traveled with her for years, and still rarely saw her this dressed down. He eyed the scars on both her hand and stump, frowning faintly at the memory of the injuries. Words alone wouldn't help the pain left behind.

He stayed silent for now, not wanting to interrupt her momentary peace.

[inquisitor_lavellan]

No indeed, Alleyana had rarely gone without full armor even in Skyhold. She was much... smaller, without it. Not frail, but... smaller. Even the formal uniform she'd sometimes had to wear hadn't left her so tiny.

The warrior re-opened her eyes, not surprised to see Cole there. She'd had years to get used to his ways, after all.

"Hello, Cole," she greeted, "they have hot water here that just pours out of the spigot." No need for lighting fires or carrying buckets! "And it drains away without making a mess. Isn't that something?"

[hugs_for_nugs]

"Really?" Cole sounded amazed, like she'd just told him that it was raining chocolate instead of just telling him about convenient hot water. It sure had to be nice. Not that he bathed very often, but it made her happy. That was the important part.

"I like your hair..." He said once the surprise wore off. He'd seen it down plenty, of course, but it was still a rare sight. And, well, he did like it! Up or down.

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"Even with all the grey in it?" Alley asked, slightly amused. It was about half grey, these days. A dark grey like unpolished steel. There had only been a few streaks of it when they'd met years ago.

Solas had probably been right to walk away, all his plans aside. He was an immortal, and she was decidedly not.

[hugs_for_nugs]

"I like the grey," Cole answered as he hopped down from the couch and moved behind her too get a better look at at her hair. He did like the grey. It was grey like her armor and it made her hair more interesting, as far as he was concerned.

"Do you not like it?"

[inquisitor_lavellan]

Alley leaned forward in the armchair to let him get his better look. Half of it tried to cling to the back of the stuffed chair, having made the padding quite damp.

"Whatever vanity I may have had once has long since been beaten out of me," Alleyana said it bluntly, looking down at her stump and hand. "I don't mind it. I keep it long because my mother liked it long, and it makes for good helmet padding."

[hugs_for_nugs]

Cole scooped a hand under her hair, detaching it from the back of the chair. He'd helped rebraid it several times, there was nothing awkward about touching it to him. He'd watched more and more grey appear, but he liked it. Grey was just as nice as brown.

"People think mean things about my face too, now they can remember it." Cole didn't sound bothered, he didn't really cared.

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"They've never done so aloud around me," Alleyana frowned. "Assholes."

[hugs_for_nugs]

Cole started braiding a small portion of her hair, intending to smooth it back out when he was done. He just found this fun.

"It's not bad. I wish people would be nice about my hat instead." Priorities.

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"I like your hat," Alley glanced back and up, wondering what he was doing that was tugging at a small bit of her hair. "It's very... you." It was hard to imagine the spirit with anything else on his head, honestly. "What are you doing?"

[hugs_for_nugs]

Cole beamed. He was very glad she liked his hat. No one had ever convinced him to get rid of the hat or try something else. This was his hat.

"Oh, I'm braiding your hair. A bit of it. For fun. Is that alright?" One of the three clumps was pure grey, it made the braid even prettier, he thought.

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"For fun?" Alley repeated, befuddled for a moment. She always hated asking for help with it, thinking of it only as the painful chore she'd attempted so many times when she'd still had both -- barely-functional -- hands. The Inquisitor knew Cole liked helping, because... helping. But it was... fun?

[hugs_for_nugs]

"Yes, it looks very nice like this." Her hair was plenty long enough for Cole to show her how he'd braided that small portion. "I can't do that if I braid all of it, but it's nice like that. It's always nice, though. It's just fun to try that."

It was her and it was helping and it looked nice, what wasn't fun about it?

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"Knock yourself out, then," Alleyana was still a bit boggled at the concept. "You want me to sit on something that doesn't have a back?"

[hugs_for_nugs]

"If it's more comfortable for you?" Cole was having fun either way. "Should I braid all of it? It's still damp... Is it okay to braid it while it's damp?"

How did hair work, anyways?

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"It braids better when it's damp," Alleyana got up slowly, so Cole would either drop the braid or have time to follow. She sat back down on one of the ottomans that had come with the apartment and its armchairs and couch and other things.

"I had no idea you found this fun. Maybe I should take it down more often?" Usually the Inquisitor left her hair up until it turned into a frayed fuzzball of a mess before she even considered taking it down.

[hugs_for_nugs]

"I'd like that..." Cole said, voice happy and airy. He sat, awkwardly, on the chair behind the ottoman, and took the braid again. First things first, he had to undo the small braid he did. He was very careful to not pull too hard on her scalp.

"It gets unpleasant if you leave it too long does it not? I could help you with it more." It was hard to convince the spirit to not help whenever given the chance. He did have the sense to not go so far to mess with her hair when he knew it wasn't welcome.

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"It does get unpleasant," Alleyana agreed, with a small sigh. The fuzziness aside, the constant pressure on her scalp started to hurt after a while. "If you're sure you like it, then we'll do this more often. It's always... awkward to need help doing something other people can handle easily."

[hugs_for_nugs]

"I wouldn't say I like it if I did not..." Cole combed his fingers through her hair, holding the clump he was trying to ease a knot out of a few inches above the offending tangle. It hurt if he didn't. He'd learned how to reduce the pain when he helped her as fast as he could.

"You don't want to need help. I know. I like to help. I like you. I can always help you."

[inquisitor_lavellan]

It would be redundant to call Compassion kind, so Alley didn't. She thought it, though.

"Thank you," she said instead, and lifted her bare right hand to touch one of his behind her head. That, was a big deal.

[hugs_for_nugs]

And Cole knew it was. He smiled, warm and pleased. She had many reasons to trust few, even him, but she showed him trust like this. How could he be anything but loyal to her? Her anger drew rage demons like flies to honey but she showed such kindness under it. His Inquisitor, and he couldn't be happier than to follow her, even now.

"Thank you," he said, in response to her gesture. He finished working out the tangle and moved to the next clump to smooth it out.

3

[followthetwine]

Merrill had been out and about for most of the day, exploring. Or rather, getting a little lost and winding up in weird places chasing after various wildlife and stray pets.

Today she lost track of time in that cute little garden park in Genessia: cloud watching, dipping her toes in the water, picking flowers...

So it was no surprise that when she entered back into the apartment with dirty feet (though covered again with sandals) and a handful of flowers in hand. Except she wasn't expecting to see Alleyana so...dressed down. She rarely even saw Hawke like that and she had known Hawke for much longer.

"Oops, sorry." She gave a small laugh, patting down her hair. "Didn't mean to intrude on any down time like..." She looked down at herself and brushed off a little dirt with her free hand. "Well, like this. Since you deserve some time to yourself, after all."

[inquisitor_lavellan]

Alley's eyes re-opened when Merrill entered the apartment. "It's fine," she said, "if I cared, I'd be in my room and not out here."

The Inquisitor was much... smaller, without her ever-present armor. But she was still formidable, and knew it, and wasn't concerned. A predator at rest was still a predator.

That tank-top showed off as many scars on her muscular arms and shoulders as there were on her face. Armor hadn't been a luxury she'd always had, after all.

"What did you get up to, today?"

[followthetwine]

"That's true." Merrill nodded and walked further into the apartment and began a hunt for some kind of vase or tall cup. The apartment sorely needed some color and freshness, in her opinion. Well, so long as it didn't end up looking like her home in the alienage. "But I also figured you just got tired and stayed there before you could. I know I would with how much you work."

And that was meant as a compliment. And a little self-deprecating humor toward herself about her lack of work. Or smaller workload. "As for myself, just a little of this and a little of that. I found my way through the city much better this time!"

[inquisitor_lavellan]

"It's nothing compared to what I'm used to," Alleyana shrugged the compliment off, "mercenary work on this world is mostly just babysitting. It's dull. I haven't even broken anyone's kneecaps in weeks."

Alley watched Merrill scrounge around for... something. The apartment had come furnished; the Inquisitor hadn't changed much about it and wasn't attached to its look one way or another. "That's good, getting lost too much in a city is dangerous, even for a mage."