Veilguarding - an open post for DAV AU shenanigans

[smartass_captain]

It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Masterpost for Dragon Age Veilguard AU overflow + psls

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[smartass_captain]

Illario knows he's worn yet because despite what would be clear worry and concern and seventeen million questions about how he's feeling or what hurts all Jim does is mumble and continue to curl up on the blanket Illario has left him in a bundle for him to snuggle with the Antivan's absence. The day before, Jim was a force of nature. Today he is spent.

He continues sleeping without fighting Illario in the least.

"We can talk about...all of this. Once you and Jim get a chance to catch up." Evka says kindly while Illario works on preparing the coffee. He's even fussier about it than Antoine gets when they get access to the good stuff. It's endearing. Cute. And telling that even more than his gnawing stomach the Antivan is much more concerned with Jim. Maybe it wasn't so out of place for Jim to have been so out of sorts the day before.

New. Definitely new, for their friend. But it's something of a relief that the (former) Crow has pulled through the night.

The couple goes back to preparing a hearty breakfast for them while Illario returns to the cot. Jim has curled up protectively around the bundle of blanket but doesn't appear to have risen any in Illario's absence.

[the_other_dellamorte]

"Once Jim is awake and fed. Then we can talk about anything." Illario promises her, and he is earnest in that. He needed to check on Jim, make sure he was safe and well and warm. He is hungry, yes, but he's been hungry before. He can manage being hungry for a while longer as long as his love is alright.

He knows, in a distant way, that their relationship is probably painfully obvious to everyone that has helped them. But rather than be concerned about that he's simply glad no one has forced them apart. Jim was allowed to stay at his side. If he had passed, and Jim had been forced to be away from him, Illario is certain he would come back as some sort of avenging spirit.

But he didn't pass. Jim is still where he left him, curled up so beautifully that Illario's heart swells in his chest. He pauses for a moment just to smile at the sleeping Marcher, and then slides back to settle with him on the cot. The coffees are set down of the stone floor, and Illario wiggles under the blankets woth him.

"Bello amore, beautiful beloved, do you want some coffee? I made it fresh." He murmurs, voice gentle. If Jim is sleeping too deeply to stir, then Illario won't force him. He deserves to rest. He needs to rest.

[smartass_captain]

As soon as Illario's back. A warm body that feels and smells right. Jim abandons the blanket bundle to snake those archer's arm's around Illario's chest instead. He buries his face into the Antivan's shoulder. Mumbles something nonsensical and very nearly just drifts right back off, but the murmur has him sitting up again, bleary eyed and squinting against the light.

"..'m Up..." Wait. Jim jolts upright. "You??? Made coffee? You're alright!"

[the_other_dellamorte]

If he had drifted back to sleep Illario wouldn't have complained. He wpuld have wrapped his arms around Jim and probably gone back to sleep as well, and they'd just have to drink the coffee cold. But as it is Jim seems to jump awake with no small amount of joy and Illario laughs, full of affection.

"Amore, I would make coffee for you even if my legs came off." He promises, before he leans in to steal a kiss. "But I am... alright. I think? Whole. Alive. With you so I suppose better than simply alright."

[smartass_captain]

"Shhh, shh sh. That's not what I'm talking 'bout." Both of Jim's hands come up to cup Illario's cheeks and hold him close for that kiss. When they part he tips his head to press their foreheads together. "You're alive. You made it...Bello I never wanted anyone to suffer the way I did." Already tears are welling up in Jim's eyes. He's glad they were able to get Illario here so quickly.

Jim pulls back just enough to turn the rogue's arm over to where they cut the shirt away to look at the healing cut that had infected him in the first place. His bottom lip trembles.

"Avrei dovuto proteggerti...."

[the_other_dellamorte]

"Mi hai protetto, vita moi," Illario says softly. "Me and the little one. That's all that matters."

He lets Jim study his arm despite the urge to pull back and hide the proof that he'd turned to blood magic again, that when the going got tough, he chose an easy way out instead of using his brain or his Crow training. He takes a deeper breath, steadying, and keeps his head tipped to Jim's, trying to take as much comfort as possible from Jim's presence.


"I didn't suffer like you did. I had the man I love watching over me. I'm not saying it did not hurt, but I wasn't alone. I was with you. Anything is bearable when I am with you." He offers, his own hands reaching up and gently touching Jim's jaw, the scruff of a day or more without shaving, the hair that stands in every direction. They probably both look terrible.

[smartass_captain]

"I...suppose by now I've cried out in my sleep enough times." Jim admits. He nudges against Illario's cheek again. "Bello I was so afraid. I don't even know if Harding or Neve found the girl's parents. I left her with them to come take you here." Guilty. In the moment he didn't care about the girl. Not really.

No. That is self cruelty. He trusted Neve and Lace to take care of her. But he was more concerned with Illario than what to do with her in the immediate. That much is true.

"The good news is it shouldn't give you pain like that again." Another nuzzle and Jim kisses at the corner of the Antivan's mouth. "You're. Well. Mostly immune to the taint now."

[the_other_dellamorte]

"I trust them." Illario says, although his heart hurts for the child having to go through that and then be passed from stranger to stranger. But... "I think she's in good hands. Neve will track down her family as fast as anyone can and Harding is from there too- she'll be a comfort."

The bambina will be alright. Illario is certain of it. Right now the man wrapped up in blankets with him needs comfort too. So he smiles against that little kiss and pulls away only for as long as it takes him to grab the tin mugs of coffee.

"Immmune to the taint but still weak to the smile and blue eyes of Marcher Wardens." He laments with a smile, and warms his fingers against the sides of his mug.

"I owe you my life again. This must be... the third time." Illario says softly between them. "I'm going to start getting the impression you like me."

[smartass_captain]

"Yeah well. That's a pretty niche weakness. Not sure we make anything to account for it."

He accepts his own cup of coffee with a small smile. Jim pulls the Antivan close up against him where they sit for a moment. Illario is alive. Illario...is a Warden now. Just like Jim. What will Lucanis say? What will Caterina? Teia and Viago? Jim's stomach clenches a little. He'll protect Illario from any and all of them if that's what it takes.

"Start? Bello, I should think that would be obvious long before now." He lifts his coffee to sip slowly at. "Don't worry. You'll have plenty of time to return the favor if it worries you. This job's got no shortage of risks."

[the_other_dellamorte]

"Maybe not, but in truth I think it gives me strength rather than detracts from me." Illario says softly, letting that fond look soften his features, the smile playing on his lips making that dimple show again.

He settles against Jim readily, sipping coffee like this is any other morning they wake up together, enjoying the warmth of the other man against him. He can feel Jim thinking, contemplating trying to prepare for whatever it is that comes next. Illario has changed the dynamic of the operation and that means Jim has to rethink.

"Warden or Crow, I was always going to protect you- with every skill, every blade, every breath that I have. That hasn't changed, bello amore. Nothing will ever change that." He says, words soft and quiet in the still room, a dedication just for Jim's ears.

[smartass_captain]

As though them getting to wake up together is common at all. But perhaps it will be, now. Illario is a Warden, and that means he's beholden no longer to Caterina and the Crows, surely. Jim doesn't have to send him back to be under house arrest any longer. Illario Dellamorte is getting his second chance. A clean slate. Jim will do whatever it takes to guarantee the other's safety.

"Mm. I know that now." Trusts Illario with his life, even if Illario doesn't trust himself. "You wouldn't have spearheaded the help in Ferelden if you weren't dedicated to helping me." To keeping Jim from spreading himself even thinner trying to cover the South of Thedas too.

"Something smells good...Other than th'coffee I mean. Am I going crazy or did someone find fresh rations out here?"

[the_other_dellamorte]

Illario could stay on that narrow bed, sipping rapidly cooling coffee for... well, forever. He doesn't need anything more than Jim to be happy, he realises, He doesn't want anything more than Jim by his side. But he has a new purpose now, and a new future that he has to face. Beyond the room he can sense, somehow, the figures of Evka and Antoine - he doesn't hear them, can't see them, but something inside him senses something in them. If he stops, closes his eyes, he can sense Jim too, and beyond these two rooms, there's others.

Ah. The taint. Rather than find that unsettling, the Crow part of him thinks how useful.

"I wanted them to have coffee that wasn't made from acorns." He counters with a soft laugh and uncurls himself slowly from the bed, the sheets, and reluctantly, from Jim. "I don't know what the supplies are like. Maybe?"

But so saying, he is on his feet and he offers his hand to Jim, knotting their fingers together. "Let's go find out together, shall we?"

[smartass_captain]

Jim doesn't know how that hand extended to him makes his whole face soften into something so smitten and relieved for just a moment. He takes it eagerly and they leave the quiet sanctuary of the back room by the ELuvian.

By now, Antoine and Evka have a proper spread all plated up for them, mostly Illario truth be told. And Jim's smile tempers a little. He'll need to make sure to send better supplies to Lavendel so this isn't such a special occasion. The other Wardens deserve hot meals like this. Maybe he'll ask Neve. Find someone in Docktown looking for work...He gets poked between his brows where they've started to furrow and blinks. Antione 'tsks' at him.

"You worry so much these days, mon amie. Sit. Enjoy. Then we will plan, non?"

"Oh, uh." Jim glances between the three of them and nods a little. "Right. Let's eat."

[the_other_dellamorte]

Illario doesn't sit, not yet, feeling a little off-kilter for being upright again and, more importantly, that people have done this for him. He vaguely remembers the party thrown when his engagement was announced, and there was more food than the innumerable guests could have eaten. It had been expected then- now he feels very sheepish.

"You should not have gone to the trouble-" he begins, but Evka cuts him off.

"You lived. We celebrate that. We won't feed you like this tomorrow, so don't get used to it."

Illario looks from her to Jim, feeling a little out of his depth, but with manners enough to slip into his seat as Evka and Antoine have already, making sure Jim does the same.

"I stay here, then? Rather than go back with Jim?"

[smartass_captain]

"There is usually a ceremony and then a bit of a celebration afterwards, you see. For the Joining." Antoine explains. They have at least made enough that everyone here is eating well even if Illario has the most food on his plate. "In your case, well. Désolé. There was not time to do ze former, so consider this the latter."

"Eat." Jim murmurs to Illario. "You'll want all of that and probably my toast too, no matter how hungry you Think you are."

His hands remain clutched around the mostly cooled coffee for a moment or two. Simply taking in this quiet, friendly breakfast. With three of the people he trusts most in this world. You survived. Evka's right. Jim nods to himself. They need to take the wins where they can. Illario survived and now he's free of the Crows and his wasting sickness.

Evka and Antoine look to Jim here. There's some expectation in the glance that settles heavily in Jim's gut. He wants to say no. To insist Illario comes back with him. But he doesn't have the time or the means to give Illario the basics of Warden training at the Lighthouse. Here, in Lavendel? Where darkspawn are cropping up on the regular and more than likely there are several wardens in need of a rotation off the front lines?

"For now." Jim agrees as he picks up his fork to nibble at a bit of sausage. "It's best if you learn what this new life is going to be like." He doesn't sound super eager about it though.

"Ze mirror is right back there, non? He is but a jaunt away, Jim. And we expect him to be drug away on 'assignment' as needed."