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'Tis The Season...

...To Still Be In The Hinterlands

Maybe the Inquisition sent you, maybe you came seeking the Inquisition. Maybe you fell out of a rift into this world last week and are still just trying to find your feet. However it happened, early fall finds you in the Hinterlands. Tucked between Ferelden's massive Lake Calenhad and the icy Frostback Mountains, the Hinterlands are a hilly region covered in patchy forests and small farms trying to eke out a living between the boulders. Though somewhat remote, the area is rich with game and minerals and home to Redcliffe, a bustling town on a busy trade route.

Lately the Hinterlands have also been full of mages and templars and rifts, all threatening to turn once-peaceful countryside into a dangerous warzone. The Inquisition has set up several camps and sent personnel to try to restore order to the region, unwilling to let it slip into chaos. There's a lot to be done, some of it straightforward killing bad things, some of it weird and nebulous morale-building.

NOW WITH ADDED SNOW.

1. I CAN'T BEAR THE COLD

You have turned the wrong corner in the snow, forded the wrong stream in the snow, crested the wrong hill in the snow, entered the wrong cave in the snow. Maybe you are far from camp, in the snow. Maybe you are in camp, which is also snowy. Whatever has happened, wherever you are: you are being chased through the snow by bears. Did you throw a snowball at the bears? Are they huge and snow-dusted? Babies burrowing through the snow drifts and coming for your ankles? Fade-touched in addition to snow-touched? Controlled by cold mages who are hiding in the snow? Popping up out of the snow like a game of whack-a-mole? What are they chasing you away from in all of this snow? What are they chasing you into, other than more snow? What warm things do you plan to make out of their hide if you kill them in the snow? What do you think they'll craft out of your hide if they kill you in the snow? P.S. It's snowy.

2. GIVE ALL THE TOYS TO THE LITTLE RICH BOYS

Winter came. The villagers are freezing. Recruit Whittle totally saw this coming. Now he might have sent you haring (get it) across the countryside in search of supplies that apostates or bandits may have hidden in caves and crannies. He might have handed you some sticks and told you to build a fire. He might have eyed your nice coat with a contemptful gleam that suggested you'd better find some blankets if you didn't want to have your own clothing requisitioned. Nobody's freezing to death on his watch--except maybe you, if you're really bad at finding hidden caches. In the snow.

3. DON'T SHOOT ME SANTA

The sky is beginning to darken and white snow continues to fall, but you and the supply wagon you're protecting should make it to the little Hinterlands village before sunset. The wagon is laden with food, blankets, and other sundry supplies, and so it's important to stay sharp and alert as you make the trecherous journey. And for good reason: an arrow is fired from the tree line and topples an Inquisition soldier from his horse. Beset by bandits, will you manage to fight them back? Or do they overwhelm your troupe and you are forced to flee? Or, perhaps, you could attempt a negotiation, knowing they could be as hungry as the people you protect.

4. DOES THEDAS HAVE FIGGY PUDDING?

It is not only snowing, it's blizzarding, and the tavern in Redcliffe is the closest and warmest place to duck into to wait it out. Unfortunately, half of the Hinterlands had the same idea. The Gull & Lantern is so packed with thawing visitors that it's hard to walk from one side to the other, the owner has given up on telling these Fereldens they can't bring their dogs inside, and that lady in the corner is almost definitely someone you've tried to kill before, or vice versa. But there's a fire going, and the bartender seems to think that giving everyone half-price drinks might prevent a brawl instead of causing one, and there aren't any demons indoors, so it could be a lot worse.

5. WILDCARD

Hunt game in the snow, kill demons in the snow, dig under the snow for herbs, track bandits through the snow, deal with someone charging extortionist coat prices now that it's snowing, fall off a deceptively tall rock into the snow, get lost circling the same hill ten times trying to find a way up to the weird glowing skull on a stick you can see is up there in the snow, climb trees or abandoned towers covered in snow, rummage around in empty homes to get out of the snow, run from a dragon in the snow, cry over how cute that fennec fox you just shot in the snow was, set up camp and chat around the fire because it's snowy and cold, knock yourself out (figuratively, or even literally if that's more your speed)-- the Hinterlands are your ~~Frostback Mountain~~ oyster, topped with snow.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm pretty sure that these blankets are at least properly insulated--

[Bruce stops talking when Tony piles his blanket onto the one he already has, and he stares up at the other man, doing his best not to make a face. It's not that he doesn't appreciate it -- its just... well. It's hard to explain.

He tries not to sigh as he speaks again, the exasperation only getting more evident.] I'll be fine with just my own blanket, Tony.

Have you tested all these blankets? I know I haven't.

[And here, Tony is just going flash him a bright, charming smile. He knows he's pushing all of Bruce's buttons, and he lives for it. It's better than Bruce treating so far into himself that he disappears.]

Great! So will I.

[And with that, he's under the blankets with him, pulling over his own bedroll so he's not on the hard flipping ground.]

Aaah yes. Much better.

[Bruce knows very well what Tony is doing, but even though he knows he doesn't understand. Then again, a lot of Tony is hard to understand - even moreso now, since there's no longer the impending threat of Tevinter extremists over their heads.

He shifts a little when Tony settles next to him, trying to put some professional space between them but doesn't quite succeed. It's hard when you don't really have that much space in the first place.]

I'm not entirely certain if I can agree with you on that. [Things, in his opinion, are certainly not 'much better'.]

Edited 2015-12-05 02:58 (UTC)

[Well, if Bruce doesn't understand then clearly Tony isn't being blatant enough.

So he curls himself in on the blankets, and he keeps himself almost but not quite touching Bruce.]

That's because you don't understand anything about hypothermia. Which is shocking, what with you being a healer and all.

[Is his blithe reply, as he slides close ... and then, flips over so his back is to Bruce's back.]

Good night!

[The tone in Tony's voice is all that Bruce needs to know that he's done something wrong - which is the last thing he wants. After all that he's seen, everything that's happened, to bring in that kind of hurt to his voice again--Bruce doesn't want that. He can't just hear that and then not do anything about it.

He slowly turns around, staring at Tony's back, hesitating for a moment before he slowly reaches out and cautiously places a hand on Tony's arm over the blanket.]

I--Tony. [God, why is this so hard? Everything with and about Tony is hard and Bruce knows its his own fault.] I didn't mean...

[Pause.]

I just... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to--It's nothing against you, okay?

[Well of course Tony was offended - he couldn't have made himself more open if he carved out his lyrium generator from his chest. But forcing Bruce never got him anywhere, so here they were. Curled up under the same blankets, free as birds, and about a million miles away from one another.

Weird, Tony had thought ... well, forget what he thought in that Tevinter prison. Clearly, he was deluding himself. He's really good at that.]

[... and then, there's the hand on his arm, and the quiet voice in the darkness. He cracks open one eye, and mouths to himself, 'Andraste's Tits!', before he twists around again to give Bruce a dubious look.]

Well Shit, Bruce. Don't feed me bullshit and tell me it's caviar.

Edited 2015-12-05 04:15 (UTC)

You know I don't--

[Bruce stops himself before he can say any beyond that and sucks in a breath. Everything was different now from where they had been last time. It wasn't just them against the world they had been trapped in like before. They were out of there, free--although really Bruce would never be free. Those six months were just another prison in another part of his already imprisoned life in the prison called himself.

He pulls his hand away and glances away from Tony, now ashamed to meet his gaze or to even look at him. He chews on his lip nervously, entirely unsure of what to say especially when he knows he should say something. But he doesn't know what he can say without it coming off as a lie.]

[...ah, Maker's Balls. Tony exhaled, slowly, before he leaned his head on his arm, so he could look at Bruce's profile intently. What was it about that stupidly handsome, quiet look that just made Tony want to be a better man? The kind of better man he wasn't entirely sure he could ever be?

So yeah, it softened his ire. Especially since, hey, he knew exactly what Bruce was going to say, so he said it for him.]

...I know you don't lie to me. Not unless it's going save my life. Or at least, if you believe it's going to save my life. But you telling me that you don't want to be with me is not going to kill me, Bruce.

[He scratched his head.] ... It will be extremely painful and I will probably drink my way through the poor whiskey selection at the Rest, but it won't kill me. I won't break if you tell me the truth about us.

[Tony's words there, as well meaning as they are, doesn't exactly reassure Bruce as much as it should. He's seen how low Tony can get when things go south. It's not exactly a sight he ever wants to see again, and no matter how many times Tony says he can handle himself, Bruce knows very well how its not the case half the time.

Maybe he's being too cautious, but Bruce doesn't want to be the cause of anything that happens to Tony. He doesn't know if he can actually handle it.]

...I don't know what you want me to say. [He admits, eventually, because Tony at least deserves that much.]

[... right, he was going to get another flat look there. He wasn't speaking Tevene, here. Pretty sure he was just being as clear as day that he wanted them to be a Thing, that he thought Bruce wanted a Thing but now he did not and should just say so, Andraste's Holy Knickers...

Wait, wait.

Dark eyes peered into dark ones in the, well, relative darkness.] ...You really don't know, do you? You don't want to say no, but you can't say yes.

[Bruce blinks when Tony leans in closer to him, and the words only catch him off guard, making him even more confused than before.]

I... [He starts, and the conflict is clear on his face, the discomfort evident.] I just don't want to cause any friction between us.

[Tony smirks in the dark, because this? This he can work with. So he leans in close, close enough to Bruce that there was no mistaking how close he was going to get. Close enough to kiss, and he just says quietly.]

Well that's too bad. Because friction would feel very, very good.

[He smiles, his mustache brushing against Bruce's mouth, before he leans back and rolls over again. He does glance over his shoulder.]

You realize though, the more you fight it, the harder you're going to fall?

[Bruce doesn't know what to expect and is totally taken off guard when Tony suddenly moves in so close. Their faces are only inches apart from each other, and Bruce can see every detail of his face, from his eyelashes to the shape of his nose, the curve of his jaw--

He feels Tony's facial hair brushing against his lips and the sensation is strange, and Bruce still struggles to digest it all when Tony leans away from him and puts space between them once more. Unconsciously Bruce lets out a breath he wasn't even aware that he had been holding in.

The words make him frown a little, somewhat perplexed by them, but he doesn't say anything because he still doesn't know how to respond. Instead he pulls his blanket up and tucks himself back onto his bedroll, just trying to--well, process everything.]

[Tony can hear that blanket pulling up there, Bruce, and he hums to himself while he keeps talking. This? This is familiar. Sitting in the dark, letting himself talk himself to sleep while Bruce just listened. Of course then it was all magical theory and what you could do with what - just babble he had to let out as he waited for the pain to subside.]

[He did, however, note that exhaled breath.]

So honestly, why did they send us out here anyways? It's cold as the Maker's balls. They had to know we weren't going to find anything during a snow storm. Awww, are they matchmaking us? 'Leave them out in a tent in the middle of winter, let's see if they snuggle'? That's sweet. I'll get them a fruit basket. I will insist on being the big spoon though.

I just think that they didn't expect the snow to come so fast so quickly.

[And he's sure the Inquisition has much better things to do than--what Tony is suggesting.

Still, despite everything, having Tony around is... comforting. It's always reassuring to have somebody familiar - doubly so when he doesn't need to be as secretive as with other people.]

I find that hard to believe, with as many storm mages as we got hanging around ... but hey. Even the best make mistakes. Maker knows, I've made enough to fill a book.

[Tony rolled over on his back, trying to will away sleep as long as he could. Colliding with the Fade these days just ended up being way too weird. He was used to the demons trying to tempt him, and him just laughing in their faces. They had nothing to offer him that he couldn't get for himself if he wanted it.

But now ... they ran from him. What kind of monster was he now, anyways?]

After all, they don't know you're a mage yet.

[Bruce listens to Tony's words silently, his own thoughts brewing at the back of his mind. He knows, vaguely, the problems that Tony is suffering through now - it was impossible to not know, given all the time they had to spend in each other's company back in that prison. Back then all they really had was one another and things were--well. It's strange how freedom could make things so entirely different.

He exhaled once more and curled up tighter in his blankets at the next part of Tony's words, unconsciously trying to make himself smaller.]

They're going to find out eventually. [He says, voice soft and quiet and almost inaudible if it wasn't for the fact that Tony was so close to him.] There's no way I can hide it from them forever.

[Tony twisted his head, as Bruce burrowed himself further into the blankets. He'd seen the other man do this more than once - trying to make himself smaller. Make himself less of a target, don't look at me, don't pay attention to me.

Bruce's lips thinned more, in fear, and Tony couldn't not say something. Not when he could see the other man literally closing in on himself.]

You know I'm not going to let them hurt you. And I'm not going to let you hurt yourself, again.

[Deep inside, Bruce does feel a sense of warmth from Tony's words, no matter how he knows he shouldn't feel that way. Everything about himself was terrible and cruel and Tony shouldn't believe him or trust him at all. He didn't deserve any of it.]

I'll be fine. [He forces the words out no matter how he felt, not wanting Tony to get involved in his mess.] Don't concern yourself with me.

Who says you get to decide whether or I can be concerned about you? Pretty sure I can feel however I like, Bruce.

[Is Tony's firm reply.] And if I want to worry about you, I am going to worry about you. You're my friend ... probably one of my best friends now. You don't like yourself, fine. I like you plenty and I am not going to let some templar hurt you.

--you have better things to concern yourself with.

[He wants Tony to realize that, to know that. There are so many people more worth it than him. Tony shouldn't try this hard when Bruce knows better than anybody else that all that effort won't be worth it in the end.]

I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of the tiny, tiny violin that is crying, just for you.

[Tony's voice holds a bit of iron there.] You are not a thing. You are a person. You are my person,, and I'll be worried about you until the day I die. That's what you get for saving my life and treating me like I mattered.

You matter. To me. Deal With It.

[There's no denying how nice to feels, to hear that, and to know that Tony means it all--but at the same time there's the guilt clawing at him again. Bruce can't help but think that Tony is a little bit biased, considering how Bruce did save his life and they did spend six months stuck together against their will. Stuff like that tends to warp people's perception and Bruce... he can't be sure if Tony is saying all this because of that. He knows he should tell the truth of everything to Tony, but the fact is that Bruce can't bring himself to do so.

So instead what he does is to let out another loud breath and curl himself tighter in his sheets.]

Place that concern on somebody else who needs to more. I'll be alright.

[That's all he will let himself say.]

[Tony snorts softly, looking up to the ceiling of the tent. He could repeat it a million times more, and probably would again. But Tony was not going to change his mind, so at this point ... it was a battle of wills.

He'd put even gold on his will, any day of the week.]

You know ... you have always been a horrible liar. You have so many tells it's ridiculous.

[There are many things that Bruce can say to that, and he knows that Tony knows - rather, he's guessing that Tony is betting on him to actually say something in response so that Tony can push this conversation to where he wants it to go.

But no--Bruce isn't in the mood for this. He isn't here to have some heart to heart to Tony. They're simply here on behalf of the Inquisition, nothing more. There will never be anything more than that.

Rather than giving Tony the satisfaction of having a response, instead Bruce just stays silent and unmoving on his bedroll, hoping that the silence is enough for Tony to get the message. No more talking. This discussion is over.]

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