riverviewlogs | Merry Month of March

Entry tags:

Merry Month of March

who: Cullen Rutherford and You?
what: March Catch-all
when: The month of March
where: The Wall, the city, miscellaneous
warnings: Nothing so much

Cullen is a creature of habit. He works as a member of the Perimeter Guard because it is something he's used to doing. He's even gone for a more specialized team because he doesn't do well with just waiting around for things to happen. A part of him needs to be out on the front lines again, after so long of waiting back in Skyhold on Thedas.

He goes from the barracks to his patrol area to the barracks most days. (After one very embarrassing digression into the part of the town that is holding most of the strange celebration that he'd rather not discuss, he takes extra care when traveling through the city.)

He makes a few digressions from his pattern, of course. He's promised to meet a certain young lady for drinks at the Quarantine Bar and Grille.

There is the day where decides to explore the inner city as a day off and wanders into the Sampremi celebration, pulled in by all the sounds and colors of the raves. (He'd rather not talk about that, but feel free to find him there.)

After that, he stays away from that particular part of the city and spends more time searching other parts. Shopping happens, of course, but he does end up at the beachy shores of the river a few times, face drawn and pensive each time.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Cullen would have never made it as long as he has if he was unobservant. Especially around pretty women. He's not. And the fact of the matter is that he's actually getting used to being the only person who lives in the barracks. It's a strange, but interesting feeling. Partially like being in Skyhold and the barracks in the Gallows at the same time.

It invokes sensations he'd rather not discuss with anyone.

But he has seen this particular woman from time to time while heading out and returning from his scheduled patrols. When she speaks, he merely looks over at her with a mildly amused expression. In a way, he's reminded of Cole since she's not bothering to use any of the actual furniture in the common room.

"I'm learning my way around the Quarantine, if that's what you're asking."

"More or less." Not that she'd really been asking much of anything but the response lets her gauge how to proceed from here and she's certainly not of a mind to generate friction where it doesn't have to exist.

Besides. It's a struggle she understands all too well.

"Though I think to learn the whole place, it'll take a little longer. Certainly longer than I've been here." Which isn't very long at all, but even with her best efforts she knows it's going to take time. Especially given the distractions of the festival underway at the moment.

It's not as if he's anti-social, but he's not very...outgoing. Cullen would prefer a life of duty and quiet dedication that he was promised by the Order. A life he hasn't really had in a long, long time. He's not sure that his life here will be like that either, but it's closer than he has any right to expect.

"I'm not certain that this world can be fully understood. Just the architecture alone is a dizzying array of mishmashed styles that a man could get a headache just trying to pick out the differences."

"Is that really so surprising? I mean, if this is a dumping ground for the people who don't belong anywhere else, I wouldn't expect it to be anything but."

Not that she's disagreeing with him, exactly. The mix of styles definitely makes getting accustomed to the place more difficult than she'd like. But she also can kind of see how something like that would happen.

"Then again, I guess how much what we understand matters depends on how desperate we are to get back to where we were. Or not. Can't say I don't see the appeal of settling in and playing nicely."

Looking at the skyline is sometimes like that first drought of lyrium after a while of being away from it, dizzying and overwhelming followed by a low-cool buzz that leaves ones blood thrumming. It's disconcerting, to say the least. He's not sure if he hates it or not yet. Or if he'll ever know.

"The best and worst trait of people I've found is that they can acclimate to anything." And while adaptability was good, sometimes it covered a multitude of sins. "I suppose only time will tell if I find the idea of settling in palatable."

Since they're in the common room, he sees fit to remove his cloak, revealing that he's actually wearing a common white button down underneath the familiar leather and cloth. He's not quite ready for what he's seen Dorian and the other men in the Quarantine wearing, but it's less formal than his day-to-day wear in Skyhold.

"I've seen you here before, but I don't believe you're part of the Perimeter Guard, are you?"

"That's true. Can't grow if we can't adapt, right?" And sometimes adapting led to things that perhaps shouldn't be. But Shalimar would still take that over not progressing at all.

She stretches a little as he removes his cloak, allowing him that moment's discretion even as she can't help the wry smile at his question. To be expected, when she hasn't yet adapted to wearing the uniform either - for now, she's sticking to what she feels comfortable working and potentially fighting in.

"I am, but not part of the regular guard. And I haven't been here all that long, yet. Figured I'd take some time to get used to the people I'm working with given that Quarantine were nice enough to give me a job I know how to do." She pauses then, before adding, "Probably not as used to military as you seem to be though."

"Certainly, but not everything that people acclimate to is for the good." Like living in fear of people who are different. Cullen's lived that life for too long and he's not about to put up with unwarranted bigotry in a new place if he can help it.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with his clothes. And as he doesn't really see any good of the uniform yet, he hasn't been too anxious to switch out to something he's comfortable moving and fighting in without any problems.

"I'm not sure of anyone's skills just yet. Although, I did have a peculiar interview with Shepherd to join the Rescue and Reconnaissance team."

Edited (wrong word) 2018-03-26 07:35 (UTC)

"You're not wrong. Guess it depends on what kind of people they are." She knew only too well that once people found their idea of normal, they were very reluctant at best towards anything that challenged it. Tiresome, for those who didn't fit in those neat little boxes but she'd found that learning to handle that kind of thing well was a kind of adaptability too.

She nodded a little in understanding at his comment about not knowing people's skills. "That's partly why I'm trying to spend a good amount of time around here. The more I know about the people I'm working with, the better. So if there's anything you're curious about, I can't really say no to you asking."

If she's expecting information on everyone else, after all, she's hardly about to deny what's relevant to them in return.

"That is true of everything, I've found. The type of person in question will determine the overall outcome in situations."

However, it seems as if this new world is at least friendlier than his own to those who cannot control the things they're born into. Dorian, at least, appears to have settled in nicely. Which is more than Cullen can say for his friend's arrival in Thedas. (At least there are less people to spit at his friend.)

"I can ask all the questions I'd like, but that doesn't mean I get legitimate answers. Besides, I always find it's better to see exactly what skills another person possesses by actually watching them use them."

Her grin grows just a little wider at his response. "Also why I'm spending so much time here. People don't get more honest than when they're in the middle of a fight, even if they're only training around here."

Of course, people still hold back when training - she does, while gauging how much her sparring partner can take - but that's still more than words alone can convey.

She drops down from her low perch, then, stretching out the aches born of sitting for a while as she looks across at him. "Then again, skills are only part of a person. A big part, perhaps, but personality's more than what someone can do." Willingness to do so being a big other part of things; all the skill in the world doesn't matter to Shalimar if the holder isn't much for making use of them as part of a team.

Cullen's been training greenhorn recruits. He's been holding back for over a year now. Otherwise, they'd all been too bloody and bruised to actually fight when it counts.

"And what have you found in your stay around here?"

"So far, so good. Not sure I'd know who volunteered and who was assigned, but whatever the case the recruiter's got a good eye."

Of course, she hasn't spoken to everyone yet; probably hasn't even seen everyone yet. And even if things were a little rougher, she's not sure what else she'd do for work if she did turn this job down. But that doesn't mean she's not glad for the environment she's gleaned so far.

She pauses, then, lips curved to a playful smile. "Or maybe they just figure this is a good way to keep some of us out of trouble."

"I don't know that it matters if one has volunteered or was assigned and agreed to work for the Guard. We're here, after all." He isn't much of a sharer. He never really has been. However, sharing something that isn't really personal isn't difficult either. "I was assigned, but I can find no fault."

It works for him. What else can he do after so long with the Templar Order and the Inquisition?

"You mean keeping us busy as opposed to letting us run around with nothing to do? I'm sure that's part of it."

"Maybe you're right. Maybe it doesn't. They do give us the option to say no, after all."

She's not sure how many people would take that option, thrust into a whole new world with nothing to their name. But it's certainly an option that's there, which would go some way to suggesting that anyone who wouldn't have been as easy a fit as the recruiters first thought would be weeded out at that stage.

Still doesn't stop the curiosity, while she has little better to occupy her time.

"Well it would make sense. Some people get bored easily, after all, and for some people that usually means trouble's not far behind." Heck, she can't even promise that she wouldn't find her way into trouble were it not for being given something to focus her energies on.

"And then there are some that would find something, anything, to occupy their time that was productive of some kind."

Guess which sort of person Cullen is?

"Besides, it's been my experience that one needn't look too far to find trouble if they're destined to have it. I once knew a man so determined to do good that it didn't matter. He was just a magnet for anything and everything that could turn sideways."

"Can't say I'm not familiar with that."

Not so much for herself but because she's seen how hard Adam has fought to try to make up for his part in the situations New Mutants found themselves in these days. Certainly she has him to thank for her caring about doing good at all in the first place.

"Then again, I guess that's part of doing good in the first place. If it was easy, it wouldn't be so exceptional." Mostly because more people would be doing it in the first place, so there'd be less need for the few to burden themselves.

Cullen knows all about trying to make up for past mistakes. All too well.

"Oh, I never said that it wasn't easy. He did a lot of good, but a lot of ill followed in the wake of his good intentions. Like most people with the charisma to inspire a groups of ordinary people, not everyone that listened to and followed him shared his particular view of how things should be."

Cullen would never blame Hawke for what happened in Kirkwall with Anders. He saved it for himself for not taking the mage in long before then. He'd heard the rumors.

"Besides, those who harm others because it's easy generally have nothing to contribute but pain anyway, I've found back home."

"Figures. Bigger a group gets, the harder it is to make sure everyone's dancing to the same beat."

She'd wondered, sometimes, if that was why Adam had kept the core group of Mutant X so small. Bad enough to have to deal with rogue New Mutants while already suffering poor publicity without certain individuals making it worse.

"Though I'm not sure that's quite fair. Some people hurt others just for the fun of it but others? If that's all they've known, can't really say I blame them for lashing out."

Not to mention those who received such poor reaction to their mutancy that Shalimar couldn't really be surprised when they turned into the monsters they were expected to be anyway. But she wasn't quite sure how far she wanted to go into that here just yet.

"That's the funny thing. Hawke never had a very large group. He just had the ability to be at the worst place at the worst possible time, every time. And since he happened to have rather polarizing friends, chaos followed in his wake."

Cullen shakes his head at her remark, feeling oddly comfortable with the fact that he's found someone he can talk to about relatively important things to him without alienating them. Or actually caring if he does. He has tried for years to keep his temper in check over the hardest years of his life with the Inquisition. Here, he doesn't have to do that.

"Bad history or not, there is no excuse for abusing others, especially if they are defenseless."

"Well, they do say people are judged by the company they keep. Doesn't have to be a big group if enough of the people in it are trouble magnets." Whether it's the team that draws the trouble for Adam or vice versa, in their case, tends to shift on a week by week basis but it's familiar enough that Shalimar can get some understanding of the sort of company Cullen may have kept.

In a world like this, it's an understanding she's making the most of.

Whether she notices what this means to Cullen or not, Shalimar isn't particularly bothered by the discussion. She's shrugged off a lot worse over the years and she's grown up from her worst days quite considerably, enough that she doesn't even disagree with him here.

"You're right, it doesn't excuse them. Wrong is wrong, even if the reasons behind it are understandable. But that doesn't mean that someone doing wrong can't be changed with the right influence."

"You are not wrong about the company one keeps being a defining quality to others. While I understood that Hawke and his friends meant to do good, it made my own job harder. A job that is a bit like this, actually."

Not quite, but close enough.

"And I would like to think that I am proof that you can change, no matter what you've done or how old you are."

Since, you know, he's changed his point of view on mages, the church, most organizations of Thedas and quite a few people over the years.

"Ah. Well, being on opposite sides of a conflict does tend to make things complicated." And it sheds a little more light on his comments, not to mention a better idea for Shalimar of why exactly he'd been assigned this job. Not that she'd expected him to not be experienced, given what she's observed, but every little bit of information helps in figuring people out.

As to the rest, it explains a lot of his outlook - she knows full well that change is a process, and not everyone manages it at the same rate.

"Well, that's good. I imagine that's going to come in useful in a place like this." Being able to adapt to change and to what passes for normal here, given the mix of cultures that show up here.

Cullen got this job because he's only ever wanted to help people since he was a small child and has been training to do so since he was thirteen. He simply has no idea what he would do with himself if he couldn't do a job like this anymore.

Go mad, more than likely.

"Yes, so far, I've found that being open for things to be different helps. Although, I suppose I've gotten used to not really having a say in the matter. It's just not the end of the world as I know it right now."

"That's true. These things have a way of existing whether we care for them or not."

If she's a little bitter, it's because she's definitely been on the receiving end of that attitude; then again, she could assign the same bias to Genomex and be no less guilty of scorning them so even if it's not quite the same level, she can't say she's entirely innocent either.

"Still, adaptability is never a bad thing. I mean, there are probably worse places we could have suddenly ended up." And heck, at least they haven't been chucked out of city walls with no fanfare. Being allowed somewhere to live by itself makes things that much easier.

"I suppose you mean like out in the wilds or a deserted planet with no water and poison spitting lizards? It's true. We could've wanted to leave wherever we were before and come right into a dragon's lair."

He gives her faint smile.

"That's definitely a way out."

Re: Barracks

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject