Who: Gale Hawthorne, Leliana What: Introducing Bella Nutella and Schmooples the Nug When: Sometime this weekend too~ Where: Park Rating/Warnings: Low Status: Complete!
Schmooples liked mud.
Really, what did she expect with a subterraneal pig-bunny hybrid that didn’t quite have paws, but human-like digits instead? With the ground damp and out in an open area (AKA, the park), the ground was the first thing the little nug dove into and make no mistake, the cute and tasteful outfit Leliana sported had been dirtied up in a matter of minutes.
Sigh.
No worries, though - clothes were clothes and while Leliana often presented herself with an air of sophistication, she wasn’t the kind of lady scared of a little dirt. And Schmooples was happy, making the squeaky little noises and the snuffsnuff, so she had no qualms in sitting on the ground with her with a bundle of carrots.
Though Schmooples seemed awfully more interested in the worms unearthed. “Don’t forget to eat your vegetables too,” she cooed quietly, and the nug decided to completely disregard her and roll around in dirt and grass, happily squeaking. Good thing she opted to stay away from the general populace anyway, she didn’t want people being afraid of something as odd as her new pet from another world. People often rejected things they didn’t understand.
And here she was supposed to meet someone new (she’d already looked him up out of suspicion, to make sure he wasn’t anyone fishy), and now she realized their first impression of her was likely to be covered in mud.
How lovely.
Bella Nutella also loved mud, actually, and she could hardly contain her excitement at getting to make new friends today. Hence why she, on her leash, was dragging Gale along as if walking him instead of the other way around. The trip over, her tail was doing that helicopter blade thing, since car rides were another love of hers because it meant sticking her head out the window and drooling, face and tongue in the wind. But now, in the park, she was nearly peeing out of sheer joy.
Gale had supplies to clean up any excited shits too, naturally. He didn’t want to get fined or whatever.
Managing to control her bladder, she bounded over to where there was a furless friend digging around in the dirt, zeroing in on the action. “Tella,” Gale chuckled, because already the chocolate lab was eagerly sniffing at her new companion. Curious. “Hey, you must be Leliana. And...Schmooples?” He lifted an eyebrow, hoping he said the name right. As predicted, it sounded ridiculous. “I’m Gale.” In the light, his eyes nearly had a bit of blue to them, not so gunmetal grey; they swept over the woman in all her dirtied glory. Not like he minded. “Damn, I should have brought carrots or something.”
The beady little eyes of Schmooples the nug didn’t hone in on the addition of the furry four-legged creature as much as his her nose did, really. If memory served right, they had terrible eyesight and would follow their interestingly shaped little sniffers instead and after a series of nervous sounds, soft and fluffy, Schmooples seemed okay with Miss Bella Nutella. Maybe a little shy, but Leliana was there to soothe the timid underground beastbunny with comforting pets and loving strokes.
“And I should have brought treats,” she giggled, the French accent still ever present in her voice, caressing every word she spoke. Soon Schmooples became a bit more comfortable, and Leliana offered her hand for the chocolatey lab to take a whiff. Let the dog trust her first, before she bestowed showers of love. “Nice to meet you face to face, though I’m usually cleaner than this, I assure you.” After pushing a mess of red hair over her shoulders, she blinked up with a wry smile. “I did bring carrots, however, should you want to be friends with Schmooples. Perhaps we’ll trade little companions for a second?”
Friendly to a fault, Tella was the trusting sort anyway - she gave Leliana’s hand a sniff, and a lick, and then there went the tail again - helicopter blade of joy, as she tried to jump up and kiss her new friend. But Gale stopped her with a laugh, because not everyone wanted to be jumped by a dog. “You can have her for more than a second,” he joked. Truth was, he didn’t even want to fathom where he’d be without his support dog. She had really helped him during a rough time - man’s best friend, as they say. “And I’d love to be friends with Schmooples. I just feed her carrots? She’s still not going to bite my fingers off or anything?”
Did the nug even have teeth or was it all gums in there? Oh, well, he’d find out. He unclipped Tella’s leash so that love may be properly bestowed upon her, and the slobbering lab was very thrilled about this because she wanted to play. There were lots of things to play right now, and she wanted to play them all.
Awww, puppy! Leliana was evidently enthralled by Tella’s insistence of friendship, even allowed herself to be slobbered on quite happily with the drooly tongue. Helped with the mud anyway, and she used a clean part of her sleeve to dab her cheek clean. “She’s got very strong teeth,” she warned, finally rising to stand, brushing off twigs and grass from her patterned tights and flowy blouse. All this was going to the laundry later tonight, but it was well worth it. “But she doesn’t bite intentionally - just don’t keep your fingers to close to the parts of the carrot you know she will start chomping on first. Her eyesight is not the best.”
She handed the bundle of carrots over, fresh from the garden. “Go on.”
At least he was giving Schmooples a chance. A few people looked upon her in sheer horror, when the chubby thing was rather harmless and more afraid of them.
That seemed simple enough. So while Tella was twirling in happy circles, in exchange for the carrots, Gale handed Leliana the old ratty tennis ball that the exuberant pup expected someone to toss, anyone! She was dying here! “Pretty easy to entertain,” he said about his four-legged companion. “But definitely noted about the finger chomping.”
He’d never seen a creature like Schmooples before, but she’d traveled all this way to a whole other world, sort of, yanked from the Land of Dreams, so he was more than willing to give her a chance. “Hungry?” he asked the nug, and held out a carrot - the pointy end facing her, so she’d start chomping there. “You know, she’s actually kinda...cute. I guess hairless rabbits are a standard pet where you dream of?”
Aww, Gale was actually pretty good with Schmooples. The nug seemed friendly enough, especially after that strange little wiggle of white whiskers and the sniff it took of his offering, and then gave the carrot a hearty chomp. Must have liked it enough too, because Schmooples stood on hind legs and used those peculiar human-like fingers to help hold the carrot in place as she nibbled away. Like some kind of squirrel or hamster. Snuffsnuff.
“Somewhat, I suppose. They’re actually a common meat source for dwarves, if you could stomach a notion such as that.” Leliana tossed him a humored look, then focused on the attention demanding Bella Nutella. The ball was tossed at an impressive distance (she threw knives for self-defense), to help the puppy start spending all that energy. “Magic and demons and the medieval world - a very common theme, with what I dream. Makes for the items that come through interesting. Obviously.”
It was like a block of wood in a chipper, watching Schmooples work her way through the carrot, digesting it and turning the bits to sawdust with those teeth - she was steadily chomping upward, and when she got closer to Gale’s fingers he just let go so she could take over from there. Those weird hands were holding the snack well enough anyway. But he gave her a scratch behind the ears, unsure if she liked that sort of thing or not. It seemed to be a pleasant place to get a scratch for most, even humans, so it was a safe bet.
“Yeah, I can stomach most anything thanks to my own dreamworld,” he said wryly. “So no worries there. It’s not so much medieval or magical, more like...a dystopian future type of thing. Chunks of the United States fell off after the big war, and all that.”
Tella had gone to retrieve the ball, and Gale couldn’t help but notice the distance too. It took the dog a minute to get back but she had her prize in her mouth, happily dropping it for more fetch. “Nice arm, by the way.”
“I have a very demanding exercise regimen,” Leliana explained (hint: it involved murder), the look on her face impish with a dark edge, and she reached down to lovingly squish the dog’s cheeks and coo with a bit of babytalk before her arm extended for another tennis ball toss. It was a shame Schmooples - who enjoyed those ear scritches very much, thank you - wasn’t exactly the kind of pet to play ‘fetch’ with, but she was delighted to discover that she compensated that with cuddling when it struck her fancy, so. Good enough.
With the carrot devoured, Schmooples suddenly became a little more interested in Gale, nose digging into the sides of his shoes for a very prominent sniiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiff. “Every person who dreams has a role in the events that take place,” she said, side-eyeing. “What’s yours?”
“Yeah, you look like you’re in good shape,” Gale noted, wondering what the hell the demanding exercise regimen was - especially if it elicited an expression like that. He smirked, the jangle of Tella’s dog tags clanging as she lumbered off to get the ball again - no, it really didn’t take much to make her happy. Food, water, mud to roll around in. Balls or bones to gnaw on. A warm place to sleep? Must be nice being a chocolate lab.
He settled on the grass, letting Schmooples sniff him, and he couldn’t help but laugh a little. “A soldier’s feet aren’t the best,” he told the nug, who probably didn’t care. But he was wearing combat boots anyway, the broken in kind he couldn’t seem to part with. “My role in the dreams? I’m not sure. It’s still early but there’s all this simmering rage at the Capitol. For the oppression and the Hunger Games, for killing children from each District to set an example and tell us we wouldn’t stand a chance if we rebelled. But I’m hoping that changes, because I’d be on the front lines.”
More scritch-scratches were given to his new hairless friend. “What about you?”
Leliana joined him on the grass, then, legs spread and knees bent to allow Bella’s ecstatic return of ballballballIGOTTHEBALLthrowitagain behavior. Schmooples eventually went back to digging in a mudpit, it was her happy place. “Killing children,” she repeated, those bright blues of hers squinting. “If there weren’t stirrings of a rebellion, I’d highly question it.”
The thought didn’t sit well with Leliana, not a bit, as children shouldn’t be used to teach anyone a lesson. No one ever dreamed of anything pleasant, did they? No, that’d simply be much too easily. “I was first a bard. I sung stories during the day, assassinated during the night. My lover there betrayed me, and I found refuge in what could be equivalent to a church. Became a sister, then joined a group of oddballs to save the land from a draconic archdemon and a plague of beasts we call darkspawn. More killing, of course - there never seems a lack of that in some of these dreams. So I suppose old habits die hard.”
Some things eerily paralleled. Like a knife in her heart, twisting and turning, tipped in poison. Perhaps the Leliana there would continue to live a life that didn’t involve so much bloodshed after it was all over, maybe have a happily ever after with the Warden.
That’d be a nice ending, wouldn’t it?
Gale sat with his arms draped over his knees, mostly relaxed. His posture was usually so stiff and rigid, unyielding hard lines of his body practically giving off vibes that warned people not to get too close. A side effect of the army life, he guessed Of not really knowing how to let go, because it generally couldn’t be afforded. That was the moment where bombs went off, literally. “It was complicated,” he said about the potential for rebellion in Panem. “One District was already blown off the map for rebelling. Most of the other Districts were too poor, too weak. The ones that could actually stage a rebellion were the ones the Capitol coddled the most, so they were cozy with their oppressors. The Peacekeeping forces in District 2 were controlled by the Capitol. They have to serve twenty years without marriage or children.”
But he hoped that eventually things would change. For all of them - he’d be there in a heartbeat for it all. To fight on behalf of the people who starved and worked like slaves - from birth ‘til likely an early death; it wasn’t much of a life at all, serving the Capitol and only the Capitol.
Starting with bard and ending with assassin though? It was an interesting switch. “That much killing and fighting...it’s difficult.” He’d heeded the call to serve, but the life of a soldier still carried potential to find yourself in lots of dangerous situations; in a sense, Leliana was a soldier too. “You must have cared about your land a lot? To risk everything?”
Rebellions always lead to some kind of war, there wasn’t avoiding that. War brought change. Interesting dreamscape, for someone who was a soldier already - as if the parallels were practically intentional. As if they were meant to follow down a similar path than what their dream counterparts did. It sounded awfully poetic.
“Only way out of situations like ours is to kill or be killed, no?” Leliana’s smile was bittersweet. “There’s a rebellion in my horizon as well - so there will be plenty of deaths, both necessary and unnecessary. It’s always better to die on your feet than live on your knees. I will never be convinced otherwise. In the end, things will never be the same...and I suppose that is the reason to fight. To change it.”
Whenever Tella came back, Leliana laughed a bit awkwardly and scratched the puppy’s butt. “My apologies. I think I’ve been a little more philosophical than what I’m used to.” The Mage Rebellion was nearing, and they still hadn’t told Anders what he had done to start it. It was a drop of dread that spread through her stomach, tumbling and twisting into knots. They’d have to, eventually.
Kill or be killed. “Basically. It’s for something bigger than any of us, it’s for the betterment of the future, so we’d actually have one - and I’d say dying on my feet is a hell of a lot better than starving to death, playing by the Capitol’s rules,” he snorted. Gale leaned on his elbows, propped up in the grass - and of course Tella tried to slobber on him, coming over to plop her sweaty dog-breath body down on him to remind him that she was still there. Of course. Because like hell she didn’t get all of the attention.
But it made him laugh a little, as he patted her shiny brown coat. “Your situation sounds like a lot like mine,” he squinted thoughtfully, not minding the trek into philosophical territory. “I guess these types of things never really go away over time, do they? There’s always going to be something trying to take all the power and hold it, and always going to be unrest because nothing is ever fair even though it should be.”
Awwww, furbabies! Or...furbaby and furless baby, but Schmooples was still worthy of love. Tella’s obvious adoration for her owner yearned Leliana to pull the nug closer - and she retaliated a bit, with her squirming and maybe a sound of rebellion that was similar to an oink! But eventually the pig-bunny settled, and Leliana cradled her into her arms. “Love me, Schmooples.”
Anyway, back to the discussion of dreams doused in war and politics… “Unfortunately, no, it doesn’t go away as quick as one would like. But as unhappy and difficult as things might be, I feel as if I owe it to myself to stay - and see it through the end.” A hand went to rub her pet’s belly, and Schmooples finally settled into kicking her foot in contentment and the tiny squeaks. “I do not think we will ever be the same, after these dreams are all over - and I am trying to be a little more open to change. Maybe it is for the best.”
The sight of Leliana cuddling a pig-bunny beast who obviously did not want to be cuddled right then actually earned the appearance of Gale’s teeth in a smile that he didn’t usually break into - mostly because it had the potential to crack his face, the muscles were so underused. “That thing’s a rebel all on her own,” he said, though it was difficult to resist the allure of a good belly rub. Bella Nutella often settled down with the promise of one too.
He didn’t think he’d be the same after dreaming of Panem either. Already it was so bleak, desolate, coated with ash and the promise of nothing but a dead end job mining coal. He would age out of being eligible for the Hunger Games the next year, but with Katniss being shipped off to fight, who knew what would happen. Obviously she made it - he was sure Peeta would have told him otherwise - but after all that sorrow, desperation, and the weight of the world on his shoulders? No. Gale wouldn’t be the same.
“At least you’re open to the change. There’s no point in running from it. Maybe in some ways we’ll even change for the better.” And then Tella, who wanted in on the cuddling action, nosed her way in, trying to sneak some snuggles from Leliana too - with her literal wet nose and her furry head and floppy ears. “...okay, now I’m officially jealous,” Gale sighed.
Well, Leliana couldn’t deny the loveliness that was Bella Nutella and a chance for cuddles, could she? Not like any of them were clean, she had plenty of mud on her from Schmooples’ tumble, so she didn’t shy away in the slightest when the chocolate lab squirmed her way in. An arm went over the dog and she hugged Tella against her side, planting a kiss against her maw.
“You should be,” she smirked. “I might end up taking her home after all this. Though I suppose if you will miss her that much, I could take you home, too. I promise three meals a day.” But really, cuddles from both of them - Leliana was in absolute heaven, but after excitement and squirming from both parties (Schmooples became fickle and was maybe having enough of these shenanigans), she toppled over with her back pressed the ground and a face full of slobber.
And mud.
“That was actually very pleasant.”
“Yeah? It looked pleasant. I mean, people pay good money for those kinds of mud masks, right?” Gale offered, trying to look on the bright side. “Tella.” He, in fond exasperation, shifted so that he leaned over on his knees to yoink the dog back away from completely smothering Leliana with a loving, slobbery tongue. “And I’m not as good at cuddling as these two. But I don’t know, maybe with three meals a day exceptions could be made.”
He really wasn’t a cuddler at all. It was like snuggling up to an electric fence. But it wasn’t as if he received many offers anyway.
There goes the puppy slobber! Leliana was disappointed but it gave her a chance to wipe her face clean, thank you, and Schmooples settled comfortably next to her instead, belly up in the air and nose sniffing at whatever scents the breeze carried. That and she’d have easier access to roll into the mud, the silly thing.
“Not good at cuddling, hm?” Now that was nonsense she didn’t buy, especially with the look of skepticism sent his way. Blasphemous. Leliana pushed herself up by her elbows, hair a tousled mess in the way of bright blue eyes. “That surely needs to be remedied. I’d have offered you to join, but I was not sure if you minded a little bit of dirtiness.”
In reference to the mud, mostly, but maybe there was a bit of euphemism snuck in there. Teehee.
Not a cuddler (well, maybe that was a little blasphemous) or a blusher, but Gale at least clucked his tongue, looking vaguely amused and entertained. It flickered there in grey eyes that were a chip off the ol’ tombstone. “I don’t mind,” he smirked. “Though doesn’t dirtiness lead to cuddling, rather than the other way around?”
Schmooples on her back, she definitely seemed content there. Tella did too, though she finally settled too, lying in the grass, and gnawing on her tennis ball. That was good enough for the pup, and Gale assumed she wouldn’t mind if he gave the hairless wonder the belly rubs she seemed to be asking for, so he reached over and obliged since she was all nice and exposed and everything.
“I’m not sure how it’s supposed to go. Been in the grasslands for too long.” Or the desert.
And here she thought he’d shy away and be bashful, what a surprise. He certainly didn’t seem the type to joke along with that sort of thing (and Leliana’s humor was a little odd sometimes), but there he was, and she was both amused and impressed.
Now wonder he was wound up tight, a bottle with a cork ready to pop at any given moment. Seems like it’d been awhile, hmmmm?
“I will make note of that,” she quipped, offering him a nose-crinkled smile. “But cuddling can very well be a prelude to the dirtiness.” Some liked to toss the the nonsense and go straight to the filth, and there was nothing wrong with that. But even stringless, Leliana at least liked some snuggling afterwards. It gave the illusion of something deeper than a hard fuck, and sometimes an illusion was all she needed to get through certain things. Sex was therapeutic, it’s a silly notion to think otherwise.
Schmooples was absolutely loving the belly rub, leg kicking in the air from sheer mirth. Little hands even made that cute ‘pawing’ motion animals did. “But do not stay in the grasslands for too long. Sometimes a little mess will make you feel monumentally better.”
Sex advice through word play.
What a lovely afternoon in the park.
Okay, the pawing motion from Schmooples was actually kind of cute too. She looked like a miniature, less furry version of Tella when she was on the receiving end - maybe uglier and less...drooly? “I don’t know if I need any messes,” Gale stated, lifting an eyebrow. No, he distinctly </i>avoided</i> that kind of thing. If they were alluding to sex, he’d been there and done that - but it was mostly just because it was human nature, whatever, he didn’t go trolling to get laid and it usually made him fidgety when he got hit on.
In fact, considering how shitty he was at dealing with being propositioned, he’d rather just avoid it all together. Then again, it had been awhile and he was wound pretty tightly. Plus, he wasn’t sure if he noticed how lonely he was yet, far too closed off and protective of himself to really be bothered. Settling back into civilian life had taken the forefront.
“Aren’t messes difficult to clean up?” he asked, watching the redhead carefully.
Leliana loved this game.
Alluding to things with carefully veiled words, anyway - though typically it was tied with business. There was a deep fondness of talking circles around the politicians she dealt with, the targets she would personally handle, she looked so sweet that most of the time they never caught that subtle undercurrent of I’m going to kill you and hang you by the balls. And the darkest parts of Leliana found a little enjoyment of the surprise that filled their eyes, the horrors of their reality.
But this was shadowed sex talk at a park with someone she spoke to on the internet. Very chuckle-worthy, she thought. “With the right person the only kind of mess is the fun kind,” Leliana hinted, mud-free fingers reaching to tilt his head up. A light touch, nothing too invasive. “And sometimes it is just what you need.”
She knew about the loneliness, and that was how she coped. It didn’t mean she never cared for those she slept with. Bela, Zee, Logan - all prime examples of friends she made after bedding them, and they were close and dear. But it was simply that, friendship with benefits. Something more for Leliana would be messier. Compromise her entire work.
It destroyed her and Marjolaine. It would destroy the next attempt at something serious. Lesson learned, especially after the literal knife to the back - the scar was still there. Faded, but present like the weight of a fresh wound.
“I’m afraid I must take my leave, though. Otherwise I do not think I’ll ever be able to wash the mud off.” Especially what was already encrusted in her hair, but a small price to pay to obtain cuddles from two of the cutest things in this park. “If I have not scared you,” she smirked, standing. “Keep in touch. I would love to see Tella again. And I think Schmooples has taken a liking.”
He didn’t shy away from the touch, even if inwardly Gale kind of seized a bit. That was typical reaction with most people, though the redhead with the hairless pig-bunny for a pet and the slightest French accent like she was macarons and cafe au lait (she said she dreamed about assassinating people, he didn’t buy it) probably wasn’t most people.
“We’ll see,” was all he said, about all that mess talk. Maybe it was something he needed. Maybe not. Maybe he just shouldn’t question it. “‘Course I’ll keep in touch,” he promised, standing up as well, and reaching for the leash so he could clip it back on his nearly-exhausted dog.
That, at least, was a given. “I think Tella’s taken a liking too.”
Or him, but oh well. Strategy came as easy as breathing to someone like Gale, and you didn’t win a game by showing your hand right at the start, now did you?