#wintersflower

@wintersflower

Daisy frowned, looking back at Hodge.

“I don’t get into trouble.”

She didn’t. Or at the very least she tried not to. It wasn’t as if she wanted to get involved in things, but sometimes it was hard not to. She looked around Redcliffe for a moment, as if a problem would manifest itself in front of them, and then back to her companion. They were just here to resupply and then back out into the Hinterlands.

“If I do, you’ll help me won’t you?”

“Don’t you?” Leaning on his gnarled wooden staff, picking at the leather winding beneath his grip, Hodge raised an eyebrow at the Inquisitor. Wherever she went trouble followed. Or if she didn’t cause it, trouble seemed to precede her arrival in most every case he’d witnessed to this point. She sought it out-- seeing only a complication she could fix. Solving everyone’s problems was a noble goal, but it didn’t lead to peaceful missions to say the least.

But he didn’t intend his words to come across harshly. They were only here for a resupply before wandering back into the Hinterlands where their biggest source of trouble would come from nature itself.

send me   ‘ mistletoe ’  for my muse’s response to being underneath mistletoe with your muse.   specify whether it’s accidental or on purpose. // accepting!

When Iveani let her guard down, she had a bad habit of not paying enough attention to her surroundings. That was probably how she accidentally ended up under the mistletoe with the Inquisitor.

Daisy giggled, hand in front of her mouth. Her breathe was hot against it, the white puffs almost bouncing back inside her mouth. She gave Roger a bright smile.

She had always been an odd one. Daisy knew most people, especially those who grew up in warmer regions, dislike the snow and cold, but she had always found a sense of joy with it.

“I don’t get cold easily,” she explained, going with the most logical reason she liked winter. “It’s a side effect of using Winter magic. But I’ve always found it peaceful.” She stared out towards the snowing that was falling. Her voice got softer as she continued. “There’s a quietness to it, in the morning, when the snow is untouched and the sky is grey and no one’s around. It’s soothing.”

Daisy laughed again, this time nervous. “Don’t you think?”

Hodge’s hands were tucked firmly beneath his armpits, arms crossed tight across his chest as he ducked his chin into the threadbare scarf piled over his shoulders. How could she dance across the blinding white expanse? Winter was biting, and it was unforgiving. The cold was sharp, it could cut like any dagger-- if not as swiftly. It had never meant anything more to him than death. 

Well... Perhaps never was too strong a word.

An exuberant grin cut through her rosy cheeks, but she was quick to hide it behind her hands. Black hair caught the sun as she turned, framed by cold white light shimmering off the snow behind her. The light shining through her curls illuminated cool blue undertones in her hair. But her golden eyes warmed her face, like honey under the sun. She looked happy. She looked like she belonged.

Delicate white snowflakes settled in his tangled dark curls, bunching on his eyelashes even as he fought to blink them away. There was nothing beautiful about the way clumps of snow weighed down his boots as he trudged behind her. But perhaps she had a point. But the nervous edge in her voice had Hodge following her gaze toward the falling snow.

This was no blizzard, no howling wind nor shards of ice to pierce the sky. It was... gentle.

Quiet.

“... I think it’s beautiful. It’s comforting to know you’re the only one there... and sometimes lonely. Like you’re the only person in Thedas,” squinting against the glare, he retrieved a hand from the warmth of his armpit to shade his eyes. With a small smile, he turned his pale blue gaze back on Daisy.

Nonverbal Starters // Enthusiastically Accepting

“Oh, I’m no good at dancing, really,” Hodge shook his head, but his hand was already in hers. Protests fell on deaf ears as she swept him towards the dance floor like a brisk winter’s breeze.

All night he’d sat apart from the festivities. He couldn’t stand to sit in his tower while their cheery chatter drifted across the courtyard, but neither could he partake in their celebration. Conversation and music and cheering was loud and jubilant here, the excitement buzzed in his fingertips but wouldn’t quite reach his mouth to join them.

But now it was nearly empty, and the Inquisitor had made up her mind.

Moonlight shimmered outside the tavern windows, but past the fire dancing on the dirty glass he could hardly see it. Or perhaps the moon itself was starting it’s slow descent through the sky-- how late had it gotten? Most of the patrons had cleared out by now, Maryden plucked a slow waltz for those who remained but even she had taken to her seat.

Hesitantly, Hodge rested one hand on the small of Daisy’s back and the other in her palm, just as he’d been taught so many years ago. But his gaze was drawn to the floor. Wooden boards creaked beneath their feet with each step, dust spinning about their ankles and hanging in the air like stars.

“I can if you’d like,” Iveani said.

She’d been a hunter with her clan before she had joined the Inquisition, so she was used to dealing with animals. She tried to avoid bears when she could, especially in such a small group, but she and other members of her clan had dealt with them before.

Of course, bears in this area were really weird. They usually only bother people when either they’re being threatened or their cub is, or they’re hungry enough to take on something they know is capable of killing them. Everyone avoids them, so both occurrences were rare. But it seemed like they were attacking on sight these days… maybe bears just don’t like shemlen?

Iveani approached the den as quietly as she could. She was careful to try not to allow herself to be seen, because if it thought she was trying to invade the den, it could be seen as an attack. She peeked inside, and it didn’t look like the bear was moving.