Maraas Shokra

[ataashihunter]

WHO: The Iron Bull
WHERE:Mostly the villages + some patrols
WHEN: Feb 17-25
OPEN TO: OTA
WARNINGS: No specific ones, mentions of booze, sex and fighting are standard Bull stuff.

---

Des and Bull had taken some time to find the right spot for their new brewery, but Des had been right, The inn in the North Village proved to be the best place for it. It was big enough that they could really get things going and provide an actual tavern atmosphere to the place. Now they were getting things set up there. A stockroom starting to be filled with the supplies Bull had already gotten, the kitchen filled with their equipment and one of the rooms commandeered for a fermenting room., keeping the temperature in there a little warmer than the rest of the place.


[For Des]
After they had gotten the stuff up there and squered away Bull stands in the middle of the kitchen and looks around. "Not a bad choice at all. I think we can make this into a really good place, a proper tavern. We just need to get brewing on a big scale for that." He grins at Des "You're down for helping me grow hops and barley in the summer? I don't want to rely on the gifts"


[For Thor (or Loki if he wants to be the one answering the door)]
After Bull's gotten settled and seen how the whole place functions he figures it might not be a bad idea to consolidate the brewing that is going on in the village. So he heads to Thor's house, knocking on the door. "You in there, Thor?"


[Patrols, OTA]
Not even a brand new brewery is going to stop Bull from preforming his duty as one of the guys leading patrol, so he shows up every day, bright and early. He even puts a note up in the South inn that people who want to join can meet up and get paired with someone else who does the patrol as well. There are a few routes he likes to take. Around each of the villages, checking on the fountain and the road between, and then also making sure they have plans for defense of the villages. You can pretty much always approach him with that.

[Inn, Lunchtime. Off Color, Feb 21-22 ]
When Bull wakes up the morning of the 21st he feels good, though slightly different. And like he is in the mood for something different. Maybe he should experiment some with the beer today. They had recently gotten new supplies. What if he changed up some of the ratios.

It wasn't until around lunch time, after the beer had been started that he realizes what has caused it. His band had changed color to violet. Damn. Once he sits down at the lunch table at the inn he looks around, trying to spot people with the same band color, once he spots them, he shows them his. "Got a surprise this morning."

Comments

[moderndayassassin]

"Oh cool, that's a fun crossover between vastly different worlds." But the comment about gauntlets made sense. "Do you also high five?" He puts up his hand palm forward for the extra hell yeah gesture, because they deserve it. Desmond grins at him, glancing around. "Yeah, that guy Mark also knows a shitton about plants. I mean, not as much as Alec, who is like ... an actual plant person." Desmond hasn't actively met the guy himself, but it's hard to miss a walking plant, and not ask questions about who he is.

"Are bartenders famously unpaid therapists in your world too? Telling them all their troubles over a pint?" Ah, memories.

[ataashihunter]

Bull high fives him back. "Some but not so much. Something about the fist bump that feels more... Hard to explain really, but it feels like a more fitting gesture on a battlefield."

Bull thinks about it for a moment and then nods. "I think I'll ask both. Doesn't hurt with more information."

He grins a little. "Some yeah, some barkeeps are the kind you tell everything to. Of course, that is what makes them excellent spies."

[moderndayassassin]

Desmond laughs. "No, I get it. Fist bump is more like you did something badass, high five is like a success between friends. Sort of. I'm just making it up. They're different!" He smiles warmly at Bull. It's been awhile since he felt like he had actual friends, not people trying to save the world, but people fun to hang out with and make beer or have a drink. His afterlife could be worse.

"I heard so much shit over the years. I would make a terrible spy. I know how to be a lot of things, spy included, but it doesn't come naturally." Which is funny, since it really should. He was literally born into becoming a killer and a spy, and ran away to a different path. "I think I have about five different tells whenever I lie."

[ataashihunter]

"Spying isn't always about lying though. It is about listening and watching. And then reporting back what you see. Or who comes to drink at your place, what they talk about, who they talk to. That sort of stuff. As for the lying part, a lot of that is just to let people make up their mind about you and then play into that. A lot of people think that because I am a big guy who goes around hitting things with an axe I must be stupid. Let them think that, then they talk more freely around me."

[moderndayassassin]

"It would take a really stupid person to look at you and think all you are is big and dumb. But I'm not surprised it happens." Bull has so much intelligence in his eyes and in his mannerisms. Desmond's known some dumb people in his time, he can tell the difference. "I got that sometimes too. A lot of people have these grand plans for their lives, and didn't think bartending was something you should just have a lifelong interest in being. So me saying I was content in my simple life made them think I was an idiot. Or lacked ambition."

And, well, fair, he did. It just didn't bother him. "The family business was murder and lies, being a bartender was much nicer and calmer." They'd talked a little about their shared past with violent cults, so there was that.

[ataashihunter]

Bull smiles. "Well, it helps that I am Qunari then. You see most Qunari only speak Qunlat and they don't want to speak common even if they understand it. And people have this idea that if you don't speak the common language of a place fluently you must be stupid. So I play into that."

He grins a little at the murder and lies. "Are you sure your family is not Ben-Hassrath?"

[moderndayassassin]

"Oh, yeah, that happens where I'm from too. A whole lot of if you're going to be here you must speak our language, or you're stupid and not trying hard enough." Desmond rolls his eyes. "I speak a few languages now, but no one who says that has any idea how hard it can be to think in one language and translate it to another, or multiple others." The only reason Desmond can speak other languages is through living in his ancestors' lives and it bleeding into him.

He smiles back. "Pretty sure, but they sound related at the least." He can't really look at his past with much niceness to speak of. He left for a reason. "They're very short sighted. Our war with the Templars mattered even more than saving the world." What a headache. "Here I am going we should just work together instead of still fighting, but noooo."

[ataashihunter]

"Yeah. Heck I am working on learning Arabic from Malik, it sounds smiliar to Qunlat, at least some of the same sounds." He smiles, not knowing about the connection between Des and Malik.

"But how can we work together with someone who sees the world differently than us? Right? That is at least the way the Qun sees it."

[moderndayassassin]

"Oh yeah, Malik. I know Arabic from Altair, it's very different from English, so that's a hard one to translate in my head. That's cool it sounds like Qunlat though, that must be comforting." He figures it must not be easy, standing out so starkly here for Bull, although he seems really chill about it. He's just a chill guy though.

He nods. "Yeah, I mean, that makes sense, and we have opposite priorities too, that's why our two factions have warred so long. I didn't think we should kiss and make up, but we were both trying to save the world. And we nearly failed because each of us thought we could do it better." Desmond sighs. "And I mean ... I died to make it happen, but I can't help thinking of the ways things might've been better if we could get over our shit. If our two groups didn't hate each other ...."

He takes a deep breath and lets it out, glancing over at him. "Can I maybe talk about something that's just between us? It's personal."

[ataashihunter]

Bull is used to standing out, a decade in the human lands have prepared him for that. But even so he wishes that there were more non-humans here.

But the moment Desmond ask to talk about something personal Bull drops the grin on his face and nods. "Yeah, of course."

[moderndayassassin]

He had the talk with Lucy about his plan to discuss some things with Bull, and she gave her blessings of a sort, so it made him a little less anxious. On the other hand, Desmond didn't like admitting to the worst thing in his life, especially not to a friend. It was a weird space to be in, but he made the choice to do this.

"Lucy ... we have a complicated relationship, one that we haven't really been able to talk about with anyone else because it's kind of messed up." But it meant they couldn't talk about important things. "We were both raised as assassins, but I ran away when I was sixteen. My father used her to infiltrate the enemy and then abandoned her there, and she turned to their side. They kidnapped me to get into my head, get the memories of my ancestors, it really fucked everything up in there." He pokes at his temple. "I have brain damage, it's a whole thing."

Wow okay this is hard to talk about but it's actually coming clearer than he expected. "She was tasked to pretend she was still an assassin, get me to trust her, to, well, love her even, and then when we found what we needed she was supposed to steal it. Or kill me. Or both. I'm not sure." Probably that. "I didn't know any of this until our version of a god possessed me, and she showed me. She showed me that Lucy's choice would lead to the destruction of the world, because only I could save everyone. She used my body to kill Lucy." He swallowed. "I fought her at first, but ... I gave up."

[ataashihunter]

Bull listens and takes it all in. It is a lot. It's one heck of a story, but given what he's seen with the Inquisitor and everything. When it is all over he nods slightly.

"How do you feel about that? Having been the instrument used to kill someone you cared for?" He knows how he feels about it, having had to kill his former teacher. But lovers would be something different.

He reaches out to place a hand on Des' shoulder. He is honoured that the guy trusts him enough to tell him this.