twoforsurprise | One Short Day In Antiva City

One Short Day In Antiva City

Davrin might have forgotten Lucanis' offer about the tailor, but he had not. Not all of their excursions were for fighting demons or cultists or darkspawn, and eventually Rook was going treasure hunting on the Rivani coast with Taash and Harding. And just them. Quite adamant that only Taash and Harding were needed, in fact.

Andraste preserve them, Rook was apparently becoming interested in matchmaking.

It worked out, though. The timing. Lucanis ever so casually mentions that Davrin promised to assist him in some errands in Antiva and Rook is just so happy they're not at each other's throats that they're told to not take however long they need. Lucanis makes a mental note to pick up something nice for Rook when they're in Antiva City.

Ah, Antiva City. A less beautiful Treviso, Lucanis used to say. That was before the Ossuary, before the occupation, before the blight. Now it's hard to not see everything that's been lost. He doesn't insult Davrin by assuming the man can't keep up with the Crow routes along the rooftops and across ziplines, so much faster than the weaving crowded streets up the hill the city is built on overlooking the harbor the few times they need to duck down to street level.

"Should be right around - ah, there it is," Lucanis declares once they're half way up the hill, the financial district of the city settled between the Palace at the top and the harbor and all the wealth the shipping industry brings. This time when he drops down to the street level it is where they'll stay for the time being, heading to an understated store front with a simple hanging sign that looks like an embroidered rose carved into the wood of it.

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Darkspawn sleeping in his bed was not something he had considered, and the absurdity of it had him shaking his head and needing to stifle a laugh. He squeezed Davrin's hand.

"Good point. But if we arrive to a room draped in dust cloths and the bed stripped, you will have to help me carry the linens back to make it."

He wasn't worried about it being in any kind of mess, just... that he had been 'dead' for a year, and not home since. For all he knew his room had anything of import removed and the rest draped in dust clothes. He knew Irene's enclosure was now in Illario's room - they'd need to stop by there, he should see her, mentally plotted their path that would take them along that way - but the rest he was unsure about.

"... Thank you for agreeing to stay. I'm not sure I would have without it."

"There's still hope the gods will attack and we'll get called back."

He squeezed his hand back as well, slowing to a stop for a moment before they could fully get into the rush of finding and potentially resupplying a room. He raised the other to cup his cheek now they were, finally, alone (or so Davrin assumed, servants could be quieter than most assassins and in this house they probably were also assassins).

"You alright?"

Lucanis didn't doubt that there were eyes on them. That Caterina noticed the instant he was gone from the gathering and had her own little birds tracking their movements. He didn't care. Not right now. It was as close to privacy as one could really expect in the Dellamorte Estate when one was not safely behind a bolted door in a fully visible room. So he leaned in to that gentle touch to his cheek, tipsy enough to feel warm but not enough for the world to be spinning around him. Perfectly serviceable should he need to fight.

"Does this change anything for you?"

Alright, also warm enough to loosen his tongue somewhat. But Davrin had a habit of making Lucanis say things aloud that he would normally keep to himself.

"I don't know," he answered honestly as his thumb stroked that slightly-warmer than normal cheek. A little wine looked good on the man. Had to be an Antivian thing- or Davrin was just biased to like any way Lucanis happened to look.

"I want to say no, of course not. And it doesn't change how I feel about you. But I'm not sure I really get how much this changes you. Or how you can live your life. I'm not sure you know, for certain."

If being First Talon meant Lucanis spent the rest of his life locked away in gilded cage he wasn't willing to be pulled out of, Davrin didn't know where that left him- left them. What had his Grandmother been like before she took the title? Had she questioned the way she was raised, too, right up until it was time to pass it down to her own decedents? He wasn't a Crow, wasn't from Antiva. He didn't know how much a soul had to pay to take the title and hold it.

How much did one have to pay to take the title and hold it?

Five children, six grandchildren. That's what it had cost Caterina. But she had held the title.

Lucanis turned his face just enough to press a kiss to Davrin's palm, bringing his own hand up to cover Davrin's against his face. His eyebrows were furrowed, worried. Because Davrin was right. Entirely right. Lucanis had never wanted this. Having it - theoretically it meant a chance to change how things worked, but -- how would that work, realistically? If he tried? He didn't think Caterina was going to give up actual power so easily. He might have the title but he didn't doubt she'd still be running the show. Likely until she actually died, and even then Lucanis expected her to have plans in place to keep everything running to her whims for a few years after. That was the kind of person she was. Completely suited to this role.

He didn't think it was the kind of person he was. He preferred to act. A target and a knife was all he needed and he would figure the rest out.

"I don't want to lose you."

It would be one thing if they both tired of the chase, if it reached a conclusion that had them both satisfied but ready to walk away from... losing the one thing it felt like he'd chosen for himself, though...

"Hey, that's not- listen."

He made sure he had eye contact before he kept going, letting go of Lucanis' other hand to instinctively bring his up to rest on the back of his neck. Like an anchor, Lucanis' pulse so close to his finger tips, keeping Davrin here and now instead of wandering off into potential dark endings.

"I'm a Warden. I know how things end for me. But how this goes, between us, there's nothing set in stone. Maybe you hand the title off. Maybe you're the greatest First Talon the nation's ever seen. Maybe you get a taste for stabbing the Blight and come be the First First Talon Warden. Whatever happens, we're not going to figure that out tonight. I just want to know you're okay."

Lucanis' eyes met Davrin's when urged to, the warm steady hand at his neck the perfect anchor to keep him from slipping away to terrible what-ifs. Letting him feel steady, feel safe in spite of everything.

'First First Talon Warden' got a startled laugh from him, but even that sounded a little too sad, too desperate a sound. He closed his eyes for a brief moment to breathe, to lean in and press his foreahead to Davrin's.

"... A small part of me had been hoping that when we found Caterina she'd say this was some elaborate plan to double-cross the Venatori that her and Illario were working on together."

It was a stupid hope. No way it could have been true. But it was that small childish part of him that still wanted things. He felt foolish for even saying it aloud, voice barely above a whisper to keep it from the ears of anyone but Davrin.

He stayed with their foreheads pressed, confident now in the answer to his original question: no, Lucanis was not alright. Far from it. He hadn't really expected him to be, but it was good to have actual confirmation instead of denial and insistence that coffee and stabbing someone would fix it all.

"He's your brother. Of course you did."

Davrin's voice is slightly louder without him meaning it. While he knew there were probably people skulking about, he didn't have the training or instinct to keep a voice from carrying in what were- in his opinion- absurdly large and echoing rooms. He winced just a little at the striking difference between the sound of them, but didn't move in inch to pull away. It was up to Lucanis to actually call the shots on that even as he offered:

"Let's find that room, hm?"

It was honestly rather charming that Davrin didn't really know how to be properly quiet in a space like this. Lucanis expected he'd be equally helpless if they really had to rough it in a forest and hoped Davrin would feel the same.

"I want to check on Irene first. Viago is going to take her until I'm back in Treviso, but... I want to see that she's okay. The room is on the way to mine."

He pressed a quick kiss to Davrin's cheek before stepping back finally to lead the way through the spacious and terribly empty estate. Certain parts might have been familiar, though- an archway here, a window there, a hallway leading off - spaces brought in to the prison in Lucanis' mind and merged haphazardly with the Ossuary, when Davrin had to save him from himself.

Three floors up, down a hallway with a window at the end letting that red-tinted moonlight spill in - shadows made by a massive blight tendril in the distance shifting like branches in the wind.

"This way."

It had taken him the better part of a month to not get lost around Weisshaupt when he'd first arrived. He was slightly more optimistic about this manor, if Lucanis decided to spend more time here once the world was saved. Or even if not for Crow business, it would be a good spot for a Warden base to get a foothold against the Blight. A week or so and he'd be fine. Probably.

For now he let Lucanis tug him along, trying to mark major landmarks (which was the problem, outside had so many more) like paintings or distinctive windows as they went. That he knew he'd seen some of them in another setting stirred some deja vu, but wasn't helping with the mental mapping.

"We're going to his room?"

He tried to keep his voice neutral, but there was still some concern there. A place like that...given Illario hadn't done the best work at covering his tracks, there could easily be more little bits of hurt for Lucanis to find laying around on what had already been an emotionally trying night.

"It's not trapped, if that's what you're worried about
Even he wouldn't be so callous to the staff."

That's what Lucanis assumes that note of concern is for. The room isn't even locked, which has Lucanis sighing before pushing the door open.

It's spacious - the whole of the kitchen including the pantry at the lighthouse could easily fit in there. Yet it's strangely empty, too. What you'd need in a bedroom is there, of course - nice bed, wardrobe, a rack for weapons, a vanity - but the only thing that looks like a personal touch is the enclosure for what must be Irene, positioned in such a way to get plenty of sunlight through the window when it's daytime.

It could take up a good third of the pantry, full of lush green plants, water, and so many places to hide. Lucanis crosses the space to get to it, tugging Davrin along with him, one of the floorboards squeaking under Davrin's boots.

"Ah, you can meet her."

The super venomous snake.

"It's not what I expected," he confessed as he followed after Lucanis.

Illario was flamboyant. This was closer to what he'd expect a guest room to look like than one for that personality. He glanced around curiously as he walked, taking it in. Maybe Illario had never considered it home to begin with. But that would make his whole grab for power make even less sense to Davrin, why fight for something that didn't fit you? But why Illario had done anything was the grand question, wasn't it. Davrin certainly wouldn't solve it on his own, even if he had a care to do so.

He shook the line of thought off and focused on Irene. He was a Warden. More than that, he was a professional monster hunter. He wasn't frightened of a snake. But he knew better than to go poking at an animal that didn't know him. He'd wait for Lucanis do make the introductions.

"SUre. I have a suspicion she'll be the friendliest member of your family."

Maybe it was the wine, or the sad fact of how normalized this was for him, but Lucanis needed a moment to understand how any of this was not what Davrin expected of Illario.

"Ah. ... Caterina has... opinions about sentimentality for things."

He explained carefully as he approached the enclosure, looking around it to see if he could spot where the Seheron Taipan was hiding before rooting around blindly and risking startling her. He was in luck, she smelled him, and still recognized him. That made his heart lurch a little bit to see her puppy-like face peek cautiously out of a patch of greenery, tongue tasting the air.

"Anything he values is hidden - or elsewhere. Ah, there you are my beautiful girl. I missed you."

The snake enclosure could not fit under the floorboards, however. She was also Lucanis', and a practical thing rather than pure sentimentality -- even if it was obvious the way he spoke to her she was far more than a source of poison for him.

He opened one of the doors on the enclosure to reach a hand in, holding it out patiently for her to approach in her own time. Her scales were the glittering black of gemstones, and she had a slight pudge of a recent meal still visible in her middle. A few more shy tastes of the air and she was approaching the hand to slither around Lucanis' offered wrist.

Davrin had to nearly literally bit his tongue this time. Lucanis had just been reunited with Caterina. Now was not the time to start another argument on the woman. But it was still pointlessly cruel, in his eyes. To have all this space and be forbidden to make it ones own- a constant stranger in ones own home. He'd grown up much the same when it came to keepsakes, but that was because his clan was always on the move. If everyone gathered every knickknack they wanted the halla wouldn't be able to move the aravel, and it would be wrong to pick and choose who got to have items and who didn't. But this?

"Maybe you can change that rule."

He cast another long look around the nearly sterile room. It was sad. That's all he could come up with. There was a sadness that hung in the air, in all the empty spaces where signs of Illario should have been.

By the time he was done reflecting, Lucanis had the snake wrapping itself around his wrist- a sentiment Davrin could understand, wrapping around Lucanis was a difficult temptation to ignore. Another reason he was sure he and the snake would get along better than he and anyone else in this household. He hovered a little behind the pair, letting the two deadly creatures say hello before interrupting.

Lucanis brought the snake around his wrist up to his face, pressing a gentle little kiss to her scaled body as she made herself quite comfortible around his wrist.

He'd like to change things, to keep another Illario from happening. To keep anyone else from feeling like that was the only option left for them. Maybe once blighted gods were defeated, that would seem like a much easier task to face.

"Would you like to meet Davrin, sweet girl? You will like him, I think. Here we go..."

He closed the small distance between the two of them, standing close to Davrin now, his wrist brought near Davrin's hand. He didn't think he needed to warn Davrin against sudden starling movements. Irene uncoiled a little bit from Lucanis, just enough so he could scent the air right next to Davrin, almost touching the elf with her tongue as she seemed to decide what to think of him. Lucanis remained relaxed, and so did she, soon enough moving to very carefully investigate his hand. It helped that Lucanis had Davrin's scent on him, and Davrin had Lucanis'.

Davrin was slightly concerned the scent of griffon on him- a predator to pretty much everything as far as he knew- might have a negative effect. But he supposed Lucanis had a pretty heavy dose of Assan on him at this point, too. He slowly moved his hand to rest on Lucanis', making a gapless bridge the snake could cross over if she pleased. With, of course, the side benefit of putting them back in contact.

"Hello, ma'am. I've heard a lot about you."

What a coincidental side benefit. Lucanis enjoyed it too, feeling the warmth off of Davrin where they were touching. Irene continued to move slowly and carefully, but even if her exploration was shy she seemed perfectly happy to do them, inching across their joined hands to investigate Davrin's wrist as she had previously been wrapped around Lucanis'.

"Ah, she likes you, I knew it. Charmer."

Lucanis glanced away from her to smile up at Davrin.

"She shares her father's excellent taste."

He'd stand and let the snake go where it wished, watching without even a hint of tension, let alone fear. It didn't even have everything to do with the monster hunter in him. It was trust, pure trust in the man besides him. Davrin had full faith that, should the snake bite, Lucanis wouldn't let him die.

"You sure you don't want to bring her to the Lighthouse? Manfred would be a fun obstacle course for her."

"Ah, you make it tempting..."

That was a sweet thought, Irene exploring the skeletal servant. Manfred seemed careful enough that Lucanis didn't think he would let her be harmed? There was always worry, though, especially when she could so easily accidentally harm if she was startled. He did keep anti-venom for her always near her habitat, though, and she had only ever bitten one person by accident.

Funny enough, it had been Viago.

"I suppose she might not find the Fade as unsettling as others."

Davrin's relaxed body language, the way he smelled like Lucanis, with Lucanis right there also clearly relaxed and calm had her brave indeed, looped around Davrin's wist with a bit of her tail still touching Lucanis'. She was a relatively small thing, for being so potent - about as long as Lucanis' fingertip to elbow, and with a little wiggling back and forth made herself very comfortable there.

"Assan loves it. Maybe animals are closer to their dreams than us."

He kept his arm still, letting her settle. Only moving, slowly, so he and Lucanis were shoulder to shoulder, close enough he could lean the side of his head against the other mans. Feeling somewhat like he was passing the only important test as to whether he was allowed to keep courting Lucanis or not.

"Or she'd summon a spirit army and destroy us all."

It was a sense of peace that Lucanis was fast coming to associate with the mere presence of Davrin, leaned slightly against him, he brought his free hand up to gently pet Irene's scaled head as she seemed perfectly content to take the rest of her post-meal nap right there on Davrin's wrist.

"If she summoned a spirit army, it would be to feed her, first."

So they would have a little warning.

"I have a smaller enclosure for her to stay in when this one needs cleaning... maybe I will see how she fairs for a day or two in the Lighthouse before bringing the whole thing over."

Or maybe the Lighthouse would simply make one as needed. It didn't function on normal rules of reality. But this way if it was too startling for her or anyone was upset by having her there, it would be easy enough to bring her back. Lucanis had to admit, now that he'd seen her again and saw she had not forgotten him, he missed her a great deal.

He nodded, letting the moment hold for now. It was terribly domestic, talking about moving pets and introductions to them, and it was a welcome break from the madness that was both the gods and Lucanis' new title.

"Maybe even find a room not a kitchen pantry for her?"

Not for Lucanis, of course. Nothing like that. For her, that Lucanis could happen to also share. And maybe pick up some personal items of his own beyond a coffee set and hard wood cot.

Lucanis did wonder what Assan would make of her. He was a predator - moreover, cats and falcons both predators of snakes specifically - but he was also something more than just an animal. He displayed an intelligence far beyond even the bred-to-be-too-smart dogs that came out of Ferelden.

He raised an eyebrow at the suggestion of a different room for her. Of course he'd need to be with her to keep an eye on her, so he'd have to go with...

"Do you have a suggestion of a space?"

He tried to keep the question light and casual, chickening out at the last minute from asking if Davrin was volunteering.

"I can think of a few places."

The height of bravery, the both of them. They stayed in the living Fade, if Lucanis wanted a room to appear specifically for his snake the Lighthouse would provide. Or if Davrin wanted a room to accommodate two for the long term, that too would be simple enough- somehow. He wasn't sure how it worked, exactly. If he'd need to speak to the Keeper or if it would simply accommodate based on will. His room had simply appeared last time. Maybe Bellara would know.

"But we should see if you snore in a soft bed before making any plans."

Two men who fearlessly handled the possibility of death every day. It was the living part that was frightening. Lucanis scoffed.

"If anyone snores, it's clearly going to be you. Like a bear."

The familiar ground of prodding, teasing. Lucanis smiled.

"I'll put her back in her enclosure - before she gets annoyed about being moved from her new favorite napping spot. Come here, darling."

That last part was to the snake, ever so gently pulling away from Davrin and urging her to uncoil from him. There was a brief moment showered she curled tighter around his wrist instead, but aside from that small display of petulance she allowed Lucanis to unwind her and return her to the safety of her miniature jungle, slipping back into the cover of the greenery.

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