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.

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Right.

(Okay, how does she explain television.) It's... like a play, except recorded so you can watch it any time you want.

(close enough) And Downton Abbey's a show about stuffy, shitty rich British people. My Mum watches it all the time.

Ah.

[He's not sure about the whole concept. He's not big on plays. Please just give him a book and a few hours where he doesn't have to worry about the damn world falling down around his ears.]

Well, I'm neither rich nor British. [But he's sure that Dorian would agree to the stuffy part.] I'm merely a boring military man where I'm from.

Right.

You just sound like one. (Which is what she had been getting at in the first place... keep up, Cullen. She fishes up another rock and gives it a skip, but it just goes straight under the water.)

Where are you from?

I believe I sound like a man who was born in a country called Ferelden.

[Although, he knows he has rather clear pronunciation over someone like, say, Sera.

But skipping rocks? He hasn't done that since he left Honneleath. He was the one who taught Branson, after all. He picks up his own rock and palms it a bit before letting it loose. It skips three times before finally falling into the water.]

It seems I'm rusty.

Never heard of it.

(Not unusual by this point; she doesn't look ruffled. When he skips his rock neatly across the water she frowns, and finds a third.)

How'd you do that?

I'm not surprised. There are only three people from my world here, after all.

[And no one has said "hey, you're a video game character" yet.]

I've been doing it since I was five years old. [He finds another rock, examines it for the correct shape, drops it and picks up a third that he skims a few times over the water's surface.] Show me how you throw it.

What world is that?

(Now that Alyssa stops to think about it, she's only met one other person who has been from Earth. That's a... disconcerting feeling. She watches him picking through the rocks.)

Non-stop? That's a bit much. (She's just being a shit. She finds a rock similar to hit, with a nice smooth edge and tries to copy the way he'd tossed it but it just goes straight into the water without a single skip. She frowns.)

I suck at this.

It is called Thedas.

[Well, most of it is.]

No, not nonstop, but once you gain a skill, it's hard to lose it completely.

[He is used to bigger shits in Hawke, Varric and Leliana. You're going to have to work harder, Alyssa.]

You've kept your wrist too straight. [He looks for another and hands her the rock.] The trick is not to throw with your arm or shoulder but with your wrist.

Thedas, (she echoes,) cool.

(Cullen you dummy, she was just joking. She watches him patiently as he searches for another rock, though she does roll her eyes while his attention is diverted.)

Okay. (She takes the rock he hands her, weighs it in her palm. This one is a lot smoother than the other ones she'd been using. She does a couple experimental throws without actually letting the rock go, trying to use her wrist, then lets it loose and: it does skip! Just once. But it's enough.)

[It's not a particularly funny joke, but he will let it slide as it's not exactly the important part.

He watches her examine and then test her technique. When she lets the rock go, it skims the water's surface once, but it's more than a decent attempt.]

Keep practicing and you'll actually get this down well. Just make sure to not anger the local fauna. There've been reports of people being attacked by vicious lizards.

Vicious lizards? (She repeats, snorting. It's pretty clear that she doesn't consider that a proper warning. She's already looking for another stone to skip, kicking some over with her shoe.)

If I see any, I promise I'll pretend to stomp on them and scare them off.

Lizards are not just the little things that scurry and you can kick. These happen to be twice my height and at least ten stone heavier. You would barely register as enough to pick their teeth with.

(She looks at him sharply as if in comparison, mulling that over in her mind.

She wants to call him out, call it all bullshit but... well, she's seen stranger things here. Perhaps massive fucking lizards isn't right off the table.)

... Okay, (she says, mollified.) I get it.

[It's good that she doesn't press him on it. He's not taken to hyperbole and she isn't that big either.]

Is there some reason that brought you here? This is a bit off the beaten path.

Just exploring. I'm supposed to be at school.

(Her blasé tone indicates, perhaps, how she feels about that!)

[He's not her keeper or parent or even someone she knows beyond this immediate conversation. However, he knows the joy of a good education and what it takes for those not born to money to earn one.]

Is there some reason you're not there? Is the education system here subpar?

(Who says things like 'subpar'. Alyssa rolls her eyes.)

I dunno, I haven't tried it.

I just don't know if I want to go.

[Cullen does, and if she wants to hear more pompous and over the top vocabulary, she should talk to Dorian. Honestly, a good education can do wonders.]

I don't think you'll truly know how you feel about it until you try it. Besides, an education can be obtained in other ways if you really want to learn things.

(She glares at the rocks, kicking a big one into the river.)

Adults always say shit like that. (She holds up both hands, making over-exaggerated air quotes,) 'you won't know if you like it until you try it!' Why do I have to try anything I don't want to do just in case it magically goes okay.

Because life isn't about doing what you want. It's about doing what you have to do and not hating it. So, learning to like things about, say going to school, such as the people there, can make obligations feel less like a chore.

However, I agree that being told that could probably be obnoxious, especially if the person doing the telling is some self-important, pompous arse with a permanent scowl.

[No, he's not talking about anyone she would know. It's not like he still holds a slight grudge against Irving and Greagoire about the events in Kinloch Hold.]

Why is it so unreasonable to only want to do things I want to do? Life's fucking short, isn't it?

(This is pointless. He's got his mind made up and he isn't about to listen. None of them ever listen, even when you've actually got a pretty good point.)

Sure. Though I wouldn't say you have a permanent scowl.

(Ha.)

It's unreasonable because doing what you want can impede on another person's liberties. Would you let a serial murder do whatever he wanted without any checks? Just because we don't have infinite time to do everything and anything we want doesn't mean we have carte blanche to go full out for anarchy.

But I do remember being a teenager and finding the rules of society extremely confining when I didn't get my way. So, you have the benefit of being in a place where the same rules don't seem to apply. I sort of envy you on that.

[He's been there. It's ugly.]

Yes, well, that's because someone told me that I needed to remove the stick from up my arse.

[He gives her a half-smile to let her know that he's not taking any of this seriously.]

(The comparison to a serial killer startles Alyssa visibly. She makes a weird, nervous jerk and tries to disguise it by kicking at the rocky shore again.)

Right. (Her voice is weird, kinda croaky. She clears her throat.) But I am talking about school though and not murder, you fucking weirdo.

(His little half smile doesn't do a lot to ease her tension. Hey, this sucks now.) Who told you that, every one you ever met?

[He's been called worse. Much, much worse, so try harder, kid.]

Yes, I was talking in extremes, but you also don't have anyone forcing you to go if you don't want to. And as I said before there are other ways to learn aside from attending a formal setting. The decision is ultimately up to you with how you proceed.

But there are responsibilities to doing what you want. That is what I was trying to tell you.

[But it's pointless to hammer that into the ground. He's not her guardian, nor does she strike him as the type to want one.]

Not everyone I've known.

[Mostly just Varric and Sera. And maybe Hawke.]

Yeah. I get it, alright? I never actually asked for your fucking opinion.

(She doesn't need to be preached to. This place still feels like something out of a dream to her, unreal, like she can do whatever she wants and it won't matter. In some ways it's exhilarating and in others, confusing. Like there's too much freedom, and she can't decide what to pour this extra time into.

She's edging away from him a little at a time, done with this conversation, done with his shitty metaphors for things.)

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happiertimes - 2018-04-25 06:52 (UTC) - Expand

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