Garou_icon.gif Valentin_icon.gif

Scene Title Home
Synopsis Garou comes to Kirkwall, and reunites with Valentin, bringing Tytos with him.
Location The Circle of Magi
Date Solace 4 9:31 Dragon
Watch For Warning: Content of a sexual nature
Logger Valentin

Kirkwall had not agreed with Valentin. Not at all. His mouth had not done him any favors. His lack of self preservation is only making it worse. So it is that tonight he has gotten into an argument. Maybe he just wants the release of insulting a Templar who had been rough with him all day. Maybe he just doesn't realize what's coming out of his mouth. But it leads to a bloody nose, and Valentin laughing hysterically, even as the Templar pushes him to the ground. Muttering to the floor, Valentin shakes his head.

He'd only been here what… six hours? maybe less, and already Kirkwall does not agree with Garou. It's… look, the place is hideous, first of all. It's depressing for anyone. For an Olesian raised among the finest architecture in the modern world? It's offensive. Then there are the people. He's never seen a more dour, disappointing group of Templars in his life. The mages are too quiet, the whole place reeks of fear. The whole thing makes him sick - but that this is the place his mage has been abandoned in since winter… it makes him see red. The sharp clink of metal against ceramic makes a lot of heads turn when he walks through different rooms, but none of those belong to the man he's actually looking for. They… also might be looking at the cub he's toting around under one arm. That's definitely possible. But Rou isn't so much thinking about Stage Two until he can successfully enact Stage One. And Stage One requires finding Valentin. But there are sounds of an altercation down this hallway… somewhere. That's promising, right?

Promising, yeah, let's call it that. All manner of swears are sent down at the mage, as well as heavy, metal boots to rib cage and stomach. Valentin certainly doesn't enjoy this, and cries out in pain, but he continues to laugh. The whole thing just so very, very ridiculous to him. Tears sting his eyes at the white hot snapping of a rib, he can taste blood in the back of his throat from his nose, it's all just a mess, but it seems he's given up caring. His laughter does not seem to be helping. And as the pain makes his head spin, there is, at the edges of his perception, the sound of metal of ceramic from down the hall… Nope, must be hearing things. Must just be the ringing in his ears.

There is only so long one can spend fighting everyone who so much as looked at him sideways before the sounds of physical altercation become burned upon the mind. The cursing is also not uncommon in such instances, but those cries… that laugh. This is a voice he knows better than his own and the reality of the situation slams into Garou like a fist to the stomach. He begins to run and when he finds the right door he pauses only long enough to drop the cub before he is aiming his own boot for the small of this bastard's back. Thank the Maker he'd kept out of his own official gear. Plate would just slow him down right now. There is a sword at one hip and at least one visible dagger besides, but he doesn't go for them. Yet. He'd much rather get a knee between shoulders to hold him down, and a fistful of hair to yank his head up and back with, if he can.

Well, he certainly had not been expecting that. The Templar, caught completely unaware, looses his own balance, having been about to kick at Valentin again. He falls to the ground in a clanging of armor, turning to glare at whomever has kicked him over. More than a little surprised at what he finds. The commotion of this makes the mage laugh further, coughing as he chokes on blood and the pain in his chest. "Well, at least things are exciting around here." Valentin quips, pained and a little crazed.

The armor on his opponent makes things a little less straightforward, but Garou can improvise when he needs to. That sword is drawn after all, wielded with a deadly precision and leveled down at the sprawled out Templar's vulnerable throat. "When you abandon the tenets of your sacred duty, Templar," he snarls, low and rough and vicious without mercy. "You abandon the protection that comes with them." Valentin's quip - not at all helpful in this immediate moment - is summarily ignored. "Give me one good reason you don't deserve to die right here, you spineless pigfucker." Even his teeth are bared, the unholy picture of a baited Orlesian lion. "And you had best make it a good one or you will drown in your own blood before death takes you."

At first, the words just confuse the Templar. Then it clicks. "You're going to kill one of your own for one of them?" The other Templar spits, his hand coming up to knock the blade away and try to roll.

That voice. Valentin is completely shocked. It takes him a moment to even begins to process. But he's starting to pull himself up then, dizzy, his laughter having very much ceased.

"That is one of my own," Garou growls, flicking the tip of his blade up and out of the way. "They are our own. What did you think being a Templar meant?" Better to let the moron gain his feet again than to risk sending his sword skittering across the room. Valentin trying to rise is not missed and Garou hisses as he moves to place himself firmly between his mage and the man attacking. "Don't get up," he orders, though with significantly less growl in the tone. "You're safe now."

"Maker, the Commander'll have a heyday with you." The other Templar says, rolling and then pulling himself to stand. "Good luck, new guy." This isn't worth it anymore. It was one thing when he was throwing kicks at a mouthy, blind mage, it was another having an argument, or fight,
with another Templar, much less armed. So he's moving to leave.

Too late, Valentin's already getting up, and he's really bad at doing what he's told. But his head is still ringing and his brow furrows. But hearing the other Templar start to retreat, he sighs, and winces. Now that the hysterics have stopped, he realizes how injured he is, and instinctively begins the process of healing his rib. "Rou?" Shocked. Completely shocked.

"A field day," Rou corrects automatically, sighing with all due dramatics. But the fool is leaving and so he simply shakes his head. "Heathens." He does not forgive wounds laid into Valentin, but there will be time enough for that particular Templar to have a tragic accident. He won't be separated from his mage again. "Yes, sweetheart?" he answers. "Don't suppose you know your friend's name, do you?" He'll figure it out soon enough either way. This is just to keep himself busy while Val heals himself so that afterward he can touch him properly without fear of causing further pain.

"Not the foggiest." Valentin says, shaking his head. It was easier to answer the question than it was to process that Rou is here. What? How? Why? Did it matter, any of those questions? Finally processing, fully, what is happening, his healing quickens. No gentleness with himself, just snapping bones back into place and knitting them, wincing and hissing. And as he finishes, he moves toward the sound of Garou, his hand reaches out, shaking, still shocked. "Gods, Rou, what are you doing here?" He says, though his voice is shaking and full of fondness, a bewildered fondness.

The snapping of bones and his lover's hisses of pain make Rou jump. "Valentin!" he chides. "Easy, sweetheart. Be easy on yourself. I'm not going anywhere." But that question prompts him to turn around and promptly duck back out into the hall where the cub in question is chewing on some hideously austere drapes. Upon his return, he can answer the question. Well. Sort of. "I brought you something." And he takes that shaking hand in his own and kisses it before carefully placing the squirmy, cuddly cub in both his lover's arms. "It's not dinner."

When in the world had Valentin ever been easy on himself? Never, the answer was never. Especially not when he has something better to do than avoid some inconvenient, self inflicted pain. "You - ?" Valentin starts, confused, but pleased beyond measure at feel of Rou's hand holding his own, of the lips against his skin. It's like daylight for the first time, and tears well in his eyes and then… Then there is fur. Squirming. Warmth. Never one to just let an animal fall, he's quick to take up the cub's weight, but then he pauses. "What?" So shocked. So confused. It's quickly followed by laughter, actual laughter, and that smile like breaks like dawn at those three words, so familiar. "No, it isn't."

Rou doesn't step back once the little beast is in Valentin's arms. He should - Maker knows he should after his idiocy surrounding his lover's departure - but the idea leaves him physically ill. So while Valentin has an armful of 'nette cub, Garou winds one arm around the mage's back - turning in to press a kiss to his temple. "I don't know the rules of this place yet, so he may stay with me if need be. But I thought you might like a friend."

"Rou…" Valentin says the name like a prayer, leaning into the hold of that arm and giving a quiet whimper at that kiss to his temple. "Thank you. And, yes, I do not think I would be allowed him. This place is… Rou, why are you here? You shouldn't have come here. It's… Rou if you try and protect me here, you're like to get us both killed."

You shouldn't have come here. "I - " It takes Rou a moment to regroup after that, to rationalize and to remind himself that probably wasn't meant the way it sounded. "I had a bit of a rude awakening," is his initial reply, rueful and soft. "It was either fight back or lay down and die and I - " he cuts himself off there, clearing his throat and steeling himself - tightening that arm around his mage. "I know it's not enlightened or rational or philosophical or any of what you… are, just by breathing, but Valentin, I don't want to live a life without you."

A little less shocked now, Valentin actively begins to pet the cub, fingers through warm fur, rather than simply holding him. There is absolutely no resistance to Garou's hold, though the mage takes a deep breath. "Oh, my sweet, beautiful Rou." He says, sounding touched, "That is as enlightened as anything that comes babbling from my mouth, and don't think otherwise for a moment." He turns his head to place a kiss to his Templar's cheek. Then, after a heartbeat, "Does he have a name?"

That kiss to his cheek brings an actual flush of color to Garou's face, twisting in turn to capture his lover's mouth with his. He takes his time, slow and deep and besotted. He'll get to that question in a minute, promise. For now, he's got almost six months without kisses to make up for. When he finally pulls back, it isn't far at all. "I love you." It's easier to say than it ever has been - and he's not stupid enough to think its something he can admit to freely here, but in quiet stillness like this… it comes out almost without his consent. "And his name is Tytos."

Valentin purrs against that kiss, and between Garou's arm around him, the fact he has use of neither of his arms lest he wish to drop the cub, and the fact that he wants this there is no attempt to stop it. He accepts his lover's lips with a passion, and a tenderness that runs deep and a desperation as though there was some part of him afraid this would be the last time. When they eventually part he is breathless, but when those three words jump Garou's lips, Valentin is… Tears fall before he realizes they are coming. But they come along with a smile so bright it rivals the sun. "I love you too, Rou." The response comes without hesitation or question. It simply is. Angry though he had been, hurt and frightened, even, the love he has was indelible. The name has him nodding, and when the fluttering in his heart calms some, speaking quietly to the creature in his arms. "Hello, Tytos, it is very nice to meet you."

Those tears make Garou's heart feel like it's trying its damndest to leap out of his throat. At this point, his lover's propensity for tears in odd situations is not a surprise, but that hasn't ever stopped Rou from the initial moment of absolute panic. His free hand lifts to beloved face, brushing away tears and holding his jaw gently. It's been a very busy day for a very young cub; Tytos responds to the affectionate greeting with a great big yawn and a growling little grunt as he settles further into the arms that hold him. "What do you think, sweetheart? Will you keep us?"

Valentin leans lightly into the touch to his face, turning his face to press a kiss to Garou's palm. That great yawn from such a small beast makes Valentin laugh quietly, but he nods once as though acknowledging the sound truth of it having been a long day. Then, that question. Valentin pauses. For a moment, there is the thought to say no, to push Garou away like he was throwing rocks at a wild animal who had bonded to him to get it to return to its natural habitat. Not out of anger, but because here, from what he has seen of Kirkwall, it is Valentin's turn to be afraid. Not for himself, mind, but for his Templar, this man he professed to love. He can't take the thought of it, though. So instead, he answers, "Of course I will."

That hesitation isn't missed - Rou's had too many years with his mage not to pay attention to subtle cues - but it is drastically misinterpreted. His heart is rushing in his ears and in his throat all at once. He has to swallow hard before he even has a hope of speaking. "If you're not… sure, Valentin, it's alright." He isn't used to feeling like he's not on solid ground, but Garou cannot deny that he absolutely deserves it. "It took me longer than it should have to get my head on straight and we didn't… I know I probably didn't leave the best last impression, but I'll find a way to make up for it I promise." See Exhibit A: Very Large Cat.

"No, Rou, my love, I'm sure. That's not what I meant," Valentin starts, realizing his hesitation was noticed, "I'm just… Scared that you will get yourself hurt here. What you walked in on isn't the first time. The Knight Commander is… Rou, I started in Starkhaven and she scares me." He pauses then to nuzzle against Garou, "I'm yours. And while I was hurt, you being here is enough. I just don't want you to… Protect me like you do and have it get you hurt."

"This is the Circle, sweetheart, not the Wardens. There is no autonomy among Commanders." Rou's voice is soft and soothing, reassuring. "It is possible she does not know. If it is true that she does not care, I will write home - find a good Captain to enclose a statement with me. The Divine will not stand for abuse of her obedient flock." It is meant to be calming - and though he is mindful of the cub napping in his beloved's arms, Rou pulls him gently against his chest, safe and loved. "I will never stop protecting you, but we will not stand alone, either. Have no fear."

"Rou, you don't understand." Valentin says, "She wants us afraid." He pauses just long enough to be pulled into that hold, and he does relax some, "The other day I had requested leave to go to the Chantry, a Brother barely let the Templar escorting me enter. A lot of talk of the Order failing in their duty and… I don't know, the Knight brushed him off but it bothered him enough that he took it out on me later. There is something going on. This isn't like any other Circle I've been to."

"Then she needs to be replaced." Says Rou like it's just that simple. "It would kill me to see fear of me in your face. That is not what we are. You are our own. We exist to protect and we exist to serve. I exist to protect. I exist to serve." He presses his lips to Val's forehead and squeezes him just so. "Trust in me, Valentin. I will not fail you again."

"You didn't fail me, Rou." Valentin says, smiling a little at the kiss to his forehead. "But I do not think it will be that simple. I think one of Knight Captains here would have done it already if she had the men to back her. There's no getting straight answers around here. Even if you report it, it will be your word against how many others?"

"Simple? No. But such things are not impossible." And Rou is interspersing words with kisses over brow and temple and cheekbone and nose. "Those who mean well often lack the skill and experience to navigate Order politics." It's a trail that leads him once more to his lover's perfect mouth, starved of Valentin as he has been. "I possess both," he continues, pulling only just far enough away to murmur against his lover's lips. "I will never wield the power I was born to, but I am done hiding from what is still mine. I will be wherever you are." He breaks out into a bright grin while still that close. "You are stuck with me, now. And as I am also not going to stop protecting you, we'll just have to set about making that a less hazardous occupation, no?"

Well, what in the world was he supposed to do when Garou was going to be so affectionate? All he can do is smile and laugh, despite the serious topic. He returns the kiss to his lips tenderly, as though Garou were the most beautiful thing in all the world. What is he supposed to say to words like that, murmured so close? To that smile he can feel? There's nothing, though he is still frightened, there is no way he can bring himself to try and stop this light, this hope and brightness and assuredness from a man he had for so long seen deny himself from fear. He couldn't do it, though it could be the death of them both, Valentin would rather die than quell this light. "Please promise me you'll be careful." It's the only thing he can say, the thing he can ask for without talking him down, an assertion of care, as well.

This, right here - this faith and devotion from the best man he's ever known - this is all Garou needs. This man is the air, the light he has been missing and just at this moment he feels as though one raised from the dead. "I am not my father," he answers - quiet and yet solemn. "I swear never to gamble with your happiness, Valentin. I will always find my way back to you." It's a promise that he seals with another kiss, soft and slow and somehow reverent. When they finally part, he reaches up one hand to tuck a few curls behind one ear. "I have not had a chance yet to explore the Circle." Valentin had been his first priority after having brought his letter of transfer to the Commander's office clerk. "Would you show me?"

It was one thing to lose Garou to distance, it was another, the thought of losing him to death. It scares him, deeply, undeniably, but if Garou has found something to fight for, he's not going to try and take it from him. So he will make due with promises that he knows Garou means but that part of him, some frightened, small part of him, doesn't know if his lover will be capable of keeping. He would just have to trust, and hope. He returns the kiss offered him, lips parting as easily as ever. "Yes, of course, though I'm not entirely familiar myself, yet." Valentin says. Turning his attention down to the cat in his arms, he smiles. "Tytos, my dear, as adorable as your napping is, I need my arms." He says softly as he lifts the cub to nuzzle behind one of his ears, hoping the movement would wake the creature, he takes a step backward then, to lower the cub to the floor, letting him find his feet before ceasing to hold some of his weight.

There are grumpy and disgruntled sounds coming from the cat on the floor. One day that'll be a mighty roar; for now he just sounds like an aggravated frog crossed with a baby bear. Laughing, Rou bends and scoops Tytos from the floor, settling the aggrieved creature on his left
shoulder (where the cub looks enough at ease to have spent some time there) and extends his right hand to rest, warm and solid against the small of Valentin's back. "Then it will be a proper adventure." He is here, Valentin is here, he is still loved, Valentin is still safe. It is a blissful high to ride and Rou cannot seem to stop smiling.

Valentin laughs, realizing Garou has picked the cub up. "Teach him to do that now, you'll regret it when he's the size of a mabari." He chides, though there is no real bite behind it. Valentin reaches back to take hold of that hand upon his back, lacing his fingers with the Templar's instead as he leads out of the room. "What is it you want to see first?"

"I'm stronger than I look," Rou teases back, putting his expression into his voice the way he's taught himself to do around Valentin - playful and just a dash of flirtatious innuendo. When his hand is taken, however, instead of left to sit safely, his grin might actually split his face. He lifts that hand to his lips once and then leaves their joined hands to rest between them as they walk. "Hmm… Surprise me." The little cub makes a surprisingly good parrot.

"Not like I would know." Valentin quips through a grin full of cheek. "So I suppose I will take your word for it." Laughing easily, he leads a little way down the hall from the spare room they'd been in. "Careful," Valentin says, smirking, "Give me that kind of freedom and we'll just be making our way down to my room and you will see precisely none of the Circle."

"Take my word for it, he says…" Rou can't laugh for muttering and can't mutter for laughing. He follows Valentin's lead, but that quip just adds a streak of wickedness to grin and tone. "Oh, woe is me - how could I survive seeing only the Circle's most important room?" He steps closer and lowers his voice to something more like a purr - though it never loses its playfulness. "Especially since you've managed to acquire some gaps in your memory."

Valentin purrs back, smiling like an absolute idiot. "Well, if you're not complaining…" He says, low and dark. And he turns a corner he's at least moderately familiar with. Yes, it seems he is very serious. He'll probably show him the rest of the Circle later. Probably.

When Valentin's voice gets low and dark like that, it never fails to spool heat down into the pit of Rou's stomach. But it's that smile that makes his heart skip beats. "Complaining? Valentin, my love, when have I ever complained about another opportunity to make you scream for your gods?"

Of all the benefits that had come with him finally swallowing his pride and going through the motions necessary to become an Enchanter, the private room was, by far, the greatest of them. At least, in his opinion. A shiver runs down his spine at those words, starting a fire in him
that only his lover's touch could quell, as they always did. And yet, there was a small dampening to it. It was subtle, but there, how he didn't just turn into a panting, flushing mess despite their time apart. Though his heart quickens, his reaction is, for Valentin, subdued. Because, private room or not, Valentin dare not call for his gods here, in his own time or at the encouragement of the machinations of his lover. "That is true enough." He says, managing to keep the subtle fear from his tone, "I have missed you." That second sentence said upon a pleased sigh.

He cannot pinpoint the source - whether its cause is anger or sadness or fear, whether it lies in something he said or didn't say - but that Valentin's reaction is subdued Rou is painfully aware. He follows his lover down into the passageways and rooms he leads them to, a sharp eye out for anything that might start another of Valentin's infamous scuffles with gravity. Not that he calls them out - he has far more respect for Val's pride even than it seems sometimes the mage himself has - but catching him sometimes requires preemptive action. "As have I, Valentin. Very much."

With some luck, the hallways here are actually kept fairly clear. They're a bit harder to navigate, with Kirkwall architecture being so fond of columns and alcoves, but he's managed to learn it at least a little. It's more feeling about a place than he's had to do in a long time, but the frustration of it is, for the most part, counterbalanced by the small joy of learning something new, even if it's just the layout of a new Circle. Never the less, there are certainly a couple moments of Valentin misjudging the space between columns, or the nearness of a potted plant, and Rou's willingness to catch him makes him smile. Eventually, though, through all of trouble of a blind man leading about his lover through a place he only knows a little, he does find the right hallway. Counting doorframes, he eventually stops at a door, feels at the handle, and then shakes his head, moving down one further. Again, he checks the handle, and then opens the door. On inspection, a small piece of thread has been tied around the handle, a physical marker that was otherwise inoffensive and easy to miss.

"Clever boy," Rou croons, his grin obvious in his tone as he follows Valentin through the open door - fingertips lingering on the contrast between thread and metal. There's a perfunctory visual scan of his surroundings (it's habit in an unfamiliar room) but the bulk of his attention is always on the mage. He closes the distance between them, scooping Tytos from his shoulder to explore his new surroundings before Rou moves to press himself up against Valentin's back. The hand he holds is squeezed and then released, both arms moving to wrap around his lover's middle while he breathes in the soft curls at the nape of his neck.

"Always." Valentin says with his trademark humility, laughing lightly. His own room is a simple thing. They don't exactly give the best the rooms to Enchanters who are known for breaking the noses of Knight Lieutenants. But it'll serve, and he's not, honestly, fussed. Purring, Valentin leans back into that hold. For all that his reaction out in the hall had been subdued, this is not. Feeling Garou's breath on his neck sends a shiver down his spine, makes his knees go weak, and he intakes breath sharply, biting his own lip. "Rou…" It's breathed on an sigh sweet with arousal, his hand reaching back to lace into his Templar's hair.

It's soothing, coming down from their mutual high tending to each other. It warms Garou from somewhere deep inside and he nuzzles into the marks he's left all over Valentin's neck and shoulders. "Love you," he murmurs, a little giddy with the freedom to admit it. Gently, he lowers
them both to their sides, quick to wrap Valentin in both arms just as soon as he is able.

Valentin smiles at that nuzzle, though he can feel the dull ache of the bruises. He doesn't care. The ones his robes don't cover, he'll be rid of, but the others, they will remain. Pulled down to lay, Valentin settles down with a small shimmy not unlike a cat laying down to bed. "Love you too." Replied languidly through purrs and closing eyes, his hand wrapping around Garou's forearm fondly.

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