alexis! (celebutante) wrote in valloic, @ 2021-06-17 11:33:00 |
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“Summer vacation” wasn’t really a thing that existed in Thedas. When Cullen was a child, summer meant more daylight, and therefore more time to churn butter, clean the chicken coop, harness druffalo bulls for ploughing (a job always assigned to the tallest child any given summer), pick blackberries, and help their neighbors cut hay. As an adult...well, demons didn’t take summer vacations, and therefore neither did Templars. The Commander of the Inquisition’s forces barely got time to take a break for dinner, much less a week or more of lounging about. At the Sanctuary, Cullen had been the primary glue holding the place together - no rest for the wicked, he used to say with a wry, tired smile, and got back to work. Vallo was accordingly a different world in more ways than one. It was literally a different world, yes, and also a completely different kind of world. For all its occasional troubles with rogue witches and deadly geese, for the most part Vallo was a place where one could expect to go to work in the morning, finish for the day after a reliable number of hours, and return home to one’s dogs and girlfriend without much in the way of injury. It was a place where one could rent a cottage at the shore for a few days and expect to enjoy the view of the ocean and come back to a home more or less exactly as one had left it. It was a place… ...with sunscreen. “You’re certain this isn’t magic?” Cullen asked for the second time, as Alexis smeared the stuff over the back of his shoulders. It sounded an awful lot like magic. Just put this delicious-smelling cream on your pale Fereldan skin and you’ll be able to spend hours under the sun without burning and blistering? That had to be magic. He was so cute, wasn’t he? Alexis let loose with one of those silver-bell laughs, just a small and fond one as she slathered her boyfriend with SPF 50 to protect his pale delicate skin - because turning red as a lobster wasn’t cool and neither was soaking up harmful effects of the sun’s rays. She planned to soak up plenty of Vitamin D, just not the bad stuff. “Totally not magic,” she confirmed, working her knuckles in on knotted muscle too, a bonus with sunscreen application - just because. Because Cullen was also tense a lot of the time - he worked hard and he deserved a little vacay. They both did, even if they couldn’t like - jet off to the Bahamas or the Hamptons or whatever. A quiet, quaint beach in Vallo would do - she was all for this place; there were some houses shaped like boats and a laid back kind of casual vibe, with plenty of gently windswept sand and waves that looked golden thanks to the low, slanted sunbeams at this time of day. “It’s just science, actually. People figured out that frying your skin was bad for you, who knew?” She was fashionable like usual, with plenty of layered necklaces and printed pants for a fun, beachy look when they weren’t actually on the beach - but for potential swimming she had on a floral bikini, a coverup stashed in her bag along with drinks and snacks and some trashy magazines. Always prepared, this one. “Did you get itchy sunburn back at home a lot?” “Every single year I spent in Kirkwall,” Cullen chuckled. “I was in heavy armor all the time there, so most of my skin was spared, but I’d always start the summer off with my face burned and the back of my neck blistering. It was miserable. I don’t know how the same sun that shone over Ferelden managed to be so much worse there, but it was.” Kirkwall, now several years in his past, was also the last time Cullen had call to walk on a beach. He’d been in the aforementioned heavy armor, cursing the sand and the salt he’d have to meticulously clean off to avoid rust, feeling like he was being cooked alive, overseeing a sweep of the coast at the outbreak of the Mage-Templar War. The beach, it turned out, was much more comfortable when not encased in metal or trying to manage a highly unstable and dangerous political situation and its associated violence. The breeze cooled things down, this sunscreen would prevent the tops of his ears from frying, the sand wasn’t getting in his boots because he wasn’t wearing any, and no one was trying to kill him. It was rather refreshing, really. Anything that involved blisters really did sound horrible - and Alexis knew what it was like, she’d been there. She’d gotten some bad sunburn in her day - now she knew enough about how to protect herself, and wasn’t just out there stupidly ‘tanning.’ “Maybe that part was like, close to the Thedosian equator or whatever,” she said, capping the sunscreen - but not before she did a little boop on Cullen’s nose to get that part, and also put some on her own face (this was oil-free, it wouldn’t clog pores). “The sun’s always worse there because the rays don’t have to travel as far.” It was science, or something. Or maybe whatever sun gods just had it out for Cullen’s neck. She got comfy on the beach blanket, angling herself so she could sunbathe accordingly. The breeze felt so nice and always smelled like seaweed but it was a good smell - fresh, clean, earthen. “Next time we come we should totally bring the pups. They’d get so tuckered out running around on a beach.” “And then they’d whine like we were ruining their lives when they required a bath afterward,” Cullen snorted. He was still smiling from Alexis booping his nose, though, even as he considered the logistics of getting the sand and salt off two large dogs, one of which was extremely fluffy. Without the fear of burning, and with such a pleasantly quiet stretch of beach before them, Cullen found he wasn’t too self-conscious about making himself comfortable on the waterproof beach chair despite technically being in public without a shirt. He’d brought a book down from the place they were staying, having no faith in his ability to bask in the sun without some occupation. It wasn’t a book for work, though - he’d been informed about the Trashy Beach Read and came prepared with a novel described as “high fantasy adventure and romance” that promised to demand very little in the way of intellectual investment while providing much in the way of entertaining plot. It was like, a rule to read something trashy on the beach - hence why Alexis had copies of the latest ‘celebrity’ (though celebrities in Vallo weren’t the ones she knew from her exploits at home, obviously - she wasn’t grabbing ‘bubble tea’ with Adam Levine here) gossip rags, fully prepared to sit back and relax with something that was mindless. She was glad Cullen was open to the idea of letting his brain atrophy for at least an hour- and not reading something way serious. Alexis slipped her sunglasses on, leaning back in her chair and beginning to do some page flipping. Hopefully there were cute perfume ads in Vallo magazines too - and samples. “This is nice,” she sighed. “And you’ve been working hard. I mean, so have I - but I just hired good management for the Apothecary so I’m glad about that. Plus she’s going to help me with speed dating too.” Setting it up, not participating - neither of them needed to participate in that. “I’m happy you’ll have proper help there again,” Cullen said - he knew Alexis loved the Apothecary, but she also had a day job to maintain, and she needed someone who could handle the day-to-day of the shop. It was too much for any one person to manage while still keeping hold of their mental health. Not that Cullen had always done that well at balancing his work and the rest of his life, but he was considerably better at it than he used to be. The Commander probably wouldn’t have found even an hour for reading garbage and lying around in the sunshine like a lazy wyvern, but Cullen could see the benefits. He could certainly see the benefits for Alexis - it was much easier to see when someone else was working too hard than when he was doing it himself. “When are you planning to launch your next speed-dating event?” “July, I think,” Alexis replied, reaching over and doing the cheesy couples hand-holding thing. Because she was cheesy and wanted to lie here in her beach chair and hold hands with her boyfriend, who was super shirtless and super hot. And she didn’t believe she could be blamed for that. “We talked about doing a theme too, so like, super fancy. Maybe a masquerade or something.” Of course, people would probably know who the other person was - just because it was always really obvious, but. The whole theme idea was cool and it brought about an aura of mystery and extra fun to the whole thing, so. Alexis was on board. “I just want people to have a nice night, you know? They seemed to like it last time. And there’s new people who want to hook up, sooooo....why not.” That was basically her whole mantra about it - hook up, why not? Hooking up had never particularly been interesting to Cullen. He wasn’t sure if it was a result of past trauma or just a difference in the way he was built, but he couldn’t remember ever really wanting sex with someone he didn’t know and care for and trust. He understood that it was different for most people, though, and while he might have a reputation for being stern and judgmental about a number of topics, sex had never really been one of them. There was nothing wrong with a bit of fun. If other people were made happy by going home with someone they’d known for less than half an hour, good for them. “The masquerade would make things interesting,” Cullen remarked, turning his hand to thread his fingers with Alexis’s. He wasn’t a great one for dramatic public displays, but something like this was nice. “I suppose it makes people focus on what the person across the table is saying, rather than merely noticing a pretty face.” “And there are lots of pretty faces,” she laughed, flashing a grin. That was just one of those things about Vallo - kind of was like LA or something, except with less fake boobs and noses (not that Alexis judged about those things either, people could do with their bodies whatever they pleased). “We’ll work it out though, me and the store’s brand new manager. It’ll be fun. I won’t ask you to go or anything - maybe help set up?” She attempted to look alluring and sweet at the same time, sunglasses sliding down her nose, all beach posey with golden curls - crowds were iffy for Cullen, he didn’t like them much, so staying for the whole thing wasn’t required. But depending on where the speed dating event was held she’d definitely need some assistance getting everything in order. “I’ll happily help with setting up before and cleaning up afterward,” Cullen assured her. He liked to be useful, and the truest way he knew to show love was by doing things for people, but he really wasn’t good in a crowd. One of the things he’d liked most about Alexis from the start was that she perfectly understood that he had limits on how social he could be before needing a break and never seemed to mind it. He was about to say more when he caught sight of her over-the-glasses expression and laughed. “While I’ll never object to you looking at me like that, it’s truly not necessary. I’ll assist in any way you ask regardless.” Her jade puppy dog eyes morphed into a crinkly-eyed smile, and Alexis knocked her magazine over when she leaned in and wiggled her way onto Cullen’s chair so she could attack him with a smooooch. This also included draping bronzed limbs over him like she was content to be an octopus for the time being. “Best boyfriend,” she decided. “Because you added the cleaning up part.” That was sure to be gross and not fun, no matter how you sliced it - and while maybe they could find someone or multiple someone’s to magic everything away, that usually wasn’t the go-to for a vanilla mundane like Alexis. She was magic in other ways. Like beach day, event planning ways. “I love you, hot stuff - “ And then, another boop, a finger bopped Cullen’s nose before she shimmed on back to her own chair. “I love you too,” Cullen replied, still grinning like a fool from the pure joy of having this woman in his life and occasionally in his beach chair. She absolutely was magical, as far as he was concerned - he’d never imagined having a relationship this comfortable and easy and exciting at the same time. Meeting her was like going to a grand ball and living a fairytale instead of standing around uncomfortably surrounded by clueless rich Orlesians for hours. He picked up his book and nodded toward it. “Do you mind if I carry on finding out if the warrior prince and the warlock survive their fall into the cave?” Alexis laughed again, fishing for her magazine. “No, hot stuff, you dive right back into the warrior and warlock thing,” she insisted. “Let me know what happens.” And in return, she’d also let Cullen know about the latest celebrity gossip in Vallo - which television stars were getting it on, who claimed to be vegan but was spotted chowing down in a burger joint, all sorts of juicy tidbits. It wasn’t like home but it was still pretty awesome - and right now? She didn’t want to change anything. |