goethbeforethefall: (Default)
Solas ([personal profile] goethbeforethefall) wrote2025-01-01 04:41 pm

Inbox // IC Communication

This is the Inbox/IC Communication post for [community profile] caldera





This is the In-Character Inbox for Solas.
Please reply below, and he will respond in due time.
arlathvhen: (05)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-06 07:07 am (UTC)(link)
[ She listens, as she has always listened to him, with a quiet, attentive interest. No, it does feel different now. It's hard to compare it when she's cuddled so warmly against him. And his voice is so solemn.

She stills as he speaks, a sudden feeling like ice in her veins as the story is revealed to her. Not from his revelation, but because she already knows. And he does not know that she knows. With a lurch in her heart, she is certain that she can't share how she was told. To tell Solas about the regrets that Rook saw-- that she had helped collect the regrets. She could not bare it. Cowardly, for he would surely find out from Rook eventually. But she is not brave enough to hurt him.

Still, she can't feign the surprise. Instead, she pulls away enough to get a better look at him (and press another kiss to his cheek).
]

You could not stand Varric trying to turn Cole away from his nature as a spirit. To turn him mortal. You thought it cruel.

I find this Benevolence cruel to do the same to you.

[ She does not bother to hide the genuine dislike from her voice. Mythal. She had stolen so much from Lavellan's beloved. She should've had some words with that sliver when she dared to show her face. ]

Wisdom fits you far better. Is that what you would prefer being called? Dirthara?
Edited 2025-01-06 14:38 (UTC)
arlathvhen: (03)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-07 02:40 am (UTC)(link)
[ She had not thought about it at the time. Not as much as she should have. Didn't understand why it seemed so personal to him. Maybe something to do with his spirit friends? She had simply felt a connection to Cole's struggle: the pressure to change who you were, how you'd been made, to fit better with those around you. She had, simply, hoped that they could both remain who they were.

Cole had managed it. She wasn't sure she had.
]

People don't understand. They don't understand spirits, or what it's like for them. I didn't. Even now, I doubt I do, fully.

[ She might have gone on about how the Dalish viewed all spirits as suspect, granting them autonomy, but with the inherent danger an autonomous being could be. And they could be very dangerous.

She's spared from the admittance by Solas disparaging the Dalish for her. Her nose wrinkles, she huffs, and is only saved from a truly devastating pout by Solas' next words. Her face smoothes then, thoughtful. She tests it out on her tongue. Likes how the word feels on it.
] I wish more people saw you as Sileil than Solas. I wish they could see you. But until then, I will hold the name close. [ Her own, private word. It makes her heart swell, and she adjusts so she can touch his face, leaning on him for support. ] You are so beautiful.
arlathvhen: (06)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-07 11:22 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Only the kiss saves him from getting groused at, a small huff all he gets as the kiss is returned. ] And I will be there with you, Solas. For as long as you would have me, you will not be alone. [ Not that it will save him from getting grumbled at. ]

Oh--[ She's eager to accept, but the look on his face makes something click in her mind. Without a Fade, will they even dream? For a man who spent so much time wandering the Fade in his sleep, facing something like that must be. Difficult. Well, she can't fix that, but at least she can comfort, as best as she can. So she presses light, fluttering kisses over his face. ] I would love that, Sileal. Do not worry, if you cannot visit my dreams, I will simply visit yours. [ Not a promise she can actually keep. But it makes her feel better. ]
arlathvhen: (Default)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-08 09:59 pm (UTC)(link)
I thought I saw you, sometimes. [ Haunting her, almost. Never close enough for her to confirm it wasn't a mere errant spirit, a black wolf between the trees of the Fade. ] Though-- I was afraid I was imagining it. It brought...some comfort, to know you were still out there, and that you still wanted to see me.

[ She knew he loved her, those long years. God of lies or not, he was a lousy liar when it came to her. But sometimes, after long, lonely days--it was difficult to not let her worries overtake her. That something had happened, or that he no longer wished for her company.

His arms are an assurance that this is not the case, pulling her in as they lay down. It's a wonderful feeling, his heat radiating from behind her, his arms around her. If she could just pause time, and luxuriate in this singular moment. The kiss is returned, Lavellan radiating her own happiness in turn, in the simplicity of this, in the culmination of getting all that she had patiently waited for.
]

And I will stay here, by your side. There is nowhere else I'd rather be.
arlathvhen: (02)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-11 09:02 am (UTC)(link)
[ Lavellan is silent for a long moment, then another, letting her silence stretch as she muses over all his words. She knows that he does not entirely believe her, and she wonders if she is the villain here, to pull him in to her, knowing that he's not entirely ready. That he has not fully let go of all that he held so tightly in Thedas.

But if she is, then she will take whatever punishment falls on her head for it, for she knows she could not part herself from him. If he acts within that prerogative, if he tries to make another play against the people here, or the Veilguard--

Well. She's made a promise to him. His fate will be hers, wherever the dice fall. She sighs softly, pressing a hand against his.
] It is what is is, Vhenan. [ And what more can she really say? She can neither condemn nor agree. She understands, but she had to stop him. Will have to stop him, from his viewpoint. ]

I have no more questions, for now. It's late, and we have all the time in the world to learn more from each other. And it's been...a very long day. [ She'd started the day planning to kill a god and save another. Unsure if Solas would listen. If he would accept her back by his side--And here she was, nestled up against him. In a strange land, with strange jailers, but she was with her beloved, and she was happy. ]
Edited 2025-01-13 03:56 (UTC)
arlathvhen: (10)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-13 09:29 pm (UTC)(link)
[ In her dream, she sees the wolf again. It is not uncommon, though how she acts depends on the night. Sometimes she ignores him, bitterness rising in her throat. Sometimes she calls, begs, cries. Tonight is one of the nights that she chases. As usual, he runs. But this time, there is something different. She feels renewed, strengthened, and with the sound of hooves stamping, suddenly she begins to catch up. Then she realizes-- those are her hooves, brilliant white against the dark of the forest, racing towards him, and she reaches out--

Then she awakes with a sudden, miserable jolt. Her first reaction is to groan, and grab for the blankets. She'll beg whichever servant was sent to wake her for another few minutes, unless the need is dire--But then she hears Beleth, her true name, not the name of her clan that others insist on using like their shemlen surnames. There are few who dare wear it on their lips, and none are servants. Her eyes open then, and she sees Solas. That is when everything rushes back, and if she were not someone accustomed to having to wake up and greet some Situation or another, she might have had to sink back to her pillow and take it all in. But that can wait.

For now, she analyzes his situation. He's slept for the first time, without the Fade, and now he's undone in a way she has never seen before from him. Her first thought is that he's had his first nightmare. A cruel introduction to the world of uncontrolled dreams, but he certainly has had enough waking nightmares for them to haunt his sleep.

She rises to her knees, and throws her arms around him, bringing him against her. Small kisses are pressed into his face, wherever she can reach, as her voice calls gently. Soothingly.
] It's okay. It's okay, vhenan. I'm here. You're safe.
arlathvhen: (Default)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-15 02:00 am (UTC)(link)
[ She continues to hold on to him, making soothing noises as he moves, grabbing her, holding to her. There's a small twinge of guilt--it's comforting, in a strange way, that it is her, that gets to see him this vulnerable. That she gets to be the one comforting him. Another glimpse into her beloved that is for her alone. ]

Sileal. I am here. It is alright.

[ She closes her eyes as their foreheads touch, and starts taking deep, loud breaths. Steady breaths. She counts, in, then counts, out. Slowly. Trying to provide some way for Solas to calm. It's fine. She's here. Breath with her. ]

On the contrary. A child's first nightmare can be horrific, and they have only a few years of life for a nightmare to build off of. You have been through so much, my love. You have been done cruelly by the world, and for so long. Of course your nightmare is that much worse. You are allowed to be upset by it.
arlathvhen: (02)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-15 09:23 am (UTC)(link)
[ She doesn't speak for a few moments, keeping her arm wrapped around him, continuing the breathing. And trying to think of what to say. That's normal, is her first inclination, but it's hardly normal to him. It would do little to comfort him. She is almost frustrated by her own inability to truly wrap her head around how it must feel for him. She isn't even a mage, can't begin to truly grasp his connection to the Fade. Save, possibly, for the anchor. But that was less a connection and more of a tool that she wielded, no different than her bow. ]

Yes, that happens. Sometimes, it is a gift to not remember. Especially the bad dreams. It helps the terror abate faster, if you can't remember what caused it. Focus on what you do know. [ She presses a kiss to his forehead. ] You are here, and I am with you. You are safe. The nightmares will pass, and life will continue.

[ Is it the right thing to say? She's usually better at this. She can empathize, sympathize, she can see their point of view and tell them what needs to be heard. She can tell this wholly upsets Solas, and she aches to soothe him. At the least, she can offer her presence and her love. What she has always offered him. ]
arlathvhen: (Default)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-16 09:30 am (UTC)(link)
[ There's a barely discernible twitch when he echoes her words back to, with tone that indicated he did not agree with her assessment of it. But now is not the time to be annoyed. He doesn't mean anything by it. It might be hard for him to understand, that some nightmares can haunt you long past when you wake, and to be rid of the memory of them is to loosen the hold of the fear. Maybe he will see her wisdom, in time.

But then she hears a noise, like something--no, someone, and she jolts. Training kicks in, her arm clutching Solas protectively, other arm going to the knife hidden--

But there is no other arm, and there is no other knife. Damn it all. She starts to get up, to find some way to seek out the intruder and deal with them, when Solas gasps, pulling Lavellan's attention back to him. Had he been attacked? Had some magic that she couldn't defend against been done to her beloved?

And then Solas pulls away from her, and Lavellan, still lost as to what has transpired without her understanding, goes to follow him. But then--is he praying? No, he's--
]

Vhenan...your magic.

[ Her arm, that had been moving to brace Solas, terrified that he'd been attacked, now grips his shoulder as he leans against her. Relief for both the return of his magic, as well as the knowledge that they weren't being attacked by some mysterious interloper, makes her sag into the bed. Maybe he'd avoided having to understand nightmares, after all. She presses a kiss to his head. ]

I'm so glad. Are you alright?
arlathvhen: (03)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-18 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
It is okay to not be alright, vhenan. You've been through a great deal. And you don't have to pretend in front of me. You know that, right? [ Her hand goes to his cheek, hand gentle, even as her eyes are firm. ] You are allowed to feel, and you are allowed to show that in front of me. I will not think less of you. You are the one I have bonded myself to, Sileal, and it would take more than your grief to break that bond.

[ She smiles, then, though it is...more sad than happy. ]

I hope that one day, you can tell me that without it sounding like an apology. [ It does wear on a person, to have their love be seen as a tragedy that should have been avoided. ] I'm glad that you have found your way to the Fade again, but I think that we should go back to sleep. We should be rested for tomorrow.

[ She releases him, and takes a moment to glance at the bags of the strange currency they had collected. A boon for a boon. She ought to be grateful. For whatever mercies the leaders here inflict upon their laborers. She does not feel grateful. Instead, she turns, and lays back down. In this moment, what she is grateful for is that she can't control her dreams -- she does not think they would be very kind. ]
arlathvhen: (Default)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-18 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
[ His touch melts her rising irritation at the injustice of their (and her specific) situation -- it doesn't solve it, of course, but his hands against her are a balm on frayed nerves, and she leans into his warmth. She's not...particularly sure why he seems so distressed, but she likes the offer he makes. ]

You want to walk in my dream, vhenan? I would like that. I want to spend as much time with you as possible, even in the Fade. [ That's what he meant, right? She recalls him visiting her dream at the beginning of their relationship. His turn away, her reach, and then suddenly he was grabbing her and their mouths were pressed together, heated and--

Ah.

She wrenches herself away from those thoughts. Solas has a question, and it wouldn't do to have her head in...other places.
]

Of course, I'll answer whatever you wish to know.
arlathvhen: (Default)

[personal profile] arlathvhen 2025-01-19 09:28 pm (UTC)(link)
[ Well. She turns to face Solas, for this is a serious topic, and sits back up. ]

I swore to you that I would walk besides you, wherever that path leads. I told you that I would be by your side through whatever transpires. That our love will endure, through all trials. I know that you do not remember when I said that I would follow you into the Fade, but I trust that I have made my feelings clear, regardless.

I know that we don't have a Keeper on hand, nor would one, likely, agree to aid us in our declaration. [ What with everything with her, and everything with him. ] But one is not necessary. And I have already declared my intention to the only person that needs to hear it. [ That's you btw. ]

I do not see how it could be anything other than a bond. How I could be anything but bonded to you. Still--If you do not like the phrasing, then I will refrain. I would not ask of you to share my feelings on the matter.

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