Inigo Skyrim - Tumblr Posts
Lucien: Bro, I had a dream we fucked. Inigo: Bro, relax it was just a dream. Lucien: Huh, gay, I wouldn’t fuck you. Inigo: You wouldn’t? Lucien: I mean, unless you want to-
Freyja: You don't think I can fight because of my gender! Auri: I don't think you can fight because you're in a wedding dress. For what it's worth, I don't think Inigo can fight in that dress either. Inigo: Perhaps not. But I would make a radiant bride.
The Khajiit caught Taliesin in a furry trap after another adventure. Don't worry, Inigo has been washed recently and he doesn't have fleas now, so Taliesin is safe.
❂A translator was used.❂
Hug time! Sha loves her sunshine (and Nebarra) too much to ignore their tactile needs.
Inigo: A simple but strong hug between two best friends. Inigo is happy to share his fleas with Sha, and if her tail is not wagging like crazy, then their tails are intertwined with each other. A lot of love and strong tenderness.
Kaidan: He and Sha usually hug when Kaidan has a nightmare or can't sleep. Sha puts Kaiden's head on her shoulder, wraps her arms around his large figure and hums softly. Hugs are part of their emotional support as two people who have known each other since childhood.
Lucien: For Sha, Lucien is quite light, so she usually lifts him up and hugs him or they hug when they read. The hugs are not the strongest, but rather calm and friendly with mugs of tea and books in front of their eyes.
Taliesin: Sha knows about the horror of nightmares, especially because of her work in the Dark Brotherhood, and she understands perfectly well why Taliesin doesn't want to talk about it. So at night she silently approaches Taliesin, covers him with a bearskin, sits down next to him, hugs him and begins to purr. Comforting hugs in the silence of the night when no one bothers them.
Nebarra: If Sha wants to hug Nebarra, then she has to complete a whole quest! To buy wine, to drink wine to Nebarra, to promise to buy more wine, and short and fleeting hugs already follow, during which Nebarra grumbles like an old stump. Sha just gives Nebarra a quick hug, and he weakly slaps her on the shoulder, then they part ways. Grumbling hugs.
Khash: Sha gets on her lap and hugs Khash, especially when she talks about Marlok. Sha either just silently hugs Khash or talks cheerfully to her. Hugs of sisters!
❂A translator was used.❂
After two weeks of continuous adventures...
I think this has been done already but 🗿
inigo is laughing cuz he’s confused
Inigo the 7th time in a row that Ravenna gets the party lost: Ravenna, you may be the head of the group but I do not think you are the brains.
*smacks Inigo* this baby can fit so many fucking sweetrolls in him
Vampires Don’t Shiver
An in-depth headcanon about Skyrim Vampirism explained through a clip of dialogue I wrote between Ravenna and Kaidan while they waited for Inigo outside Langley’s hut. While egg gathering outside Langley's house, Ravenna and Kaidan were attacked by a wandering vampire, and Ravenna, afterwards, expresses great confusion about what the vampire was even doing so far up on a frigid mountain like that. Kaidan, who has spent his life believing vampires to be immune to the effects of cold weather, asks her to elaborate. Ravenna explains that vampires are, indeed, resistant to the cold, but not immune to it. "There's an important difference between our bodies and yours," she doesn't really notice the slip-up, but frankly neither does Kaidan, and if he does he assumes it's a hypothetical thing, "a human's body warms up when it moves, so you can stave off cold by moving or shivering. Vampires’ bodies don't warm up at all, and they don't shiver. In fact, vampires don't actually feel the cold, only the effect it has on them after prolonged exposure. Their blood will freeze inside their veins and they won't really notice until their muscles start getting frozen as well. Even then, usually the only indicator is that their joints and muscles become stiff and difficult to move because they need to thaw out. A vampire could feasibly become frozen up on a mountain like this and be stuck in limbo forever if no one found them and thawed them. A place like this is dangerous for a lone vampire to be hunting. The only thing that might motivate one to stay in an area like this is a highly populated location nearby that could provide them with a long-term source of blood. It would still be safer for them to settle in a den or something with other vampires though, rather than roughing it by themselves - and maybe that one wasn’t, so we should be watchful on the way back." Kaidan respects her knowledge. They find the last egg and she almost falls out of a tree getting it.
Inigo: Let us move on before something dead finds us :( Ravenna, nervously: YES THAT WOULD BE HORRIBLE I AGREE LETS GO
"Give me that," Kaidan hisses, snatching the map from Ravenna's fingers. "Wait, I almost-" "You almost got us there four times now. Divines, woman, how many times are you going to get us lost before you let someone else navigate?" a wee excerpt from the new Friendship is Magic team stuff I’ve been working on. Ravenna is still getting the party lost on the regular
Meeting the Stranger
They spend two days on Ravenna’s estate. Lucien does a lot of cooking when Ravenna doesn’t call on Viggo for it, and Inigo makes himself right at home at the archery perch. Ravenna joins him up there to practice her own aim with spells at one point, and they talk, Ravenna happily learns a bit about Inigo’s childhood, but insists there was nothing interesting enough to talk about happening during her own. Kaidan is as distant and broody as ever, but takes up in her library, helping himself to the wealth of historical and literary knowledge in her half-filled and two-thirds organized library. He does attempt to pick through her magic notes at one point, hoping to discover some horrifically evil magical studies or experiments she might be involved in, but ultimately the most vile thing he manages to make any sense of is a recipe that turns out to be for a lavender perfume she likes to wear. He’s torn at this point, between trusting the evidence he’s witnessed so far that she is just a genuinely good person, and his inherent distrust towards her for being a vampire - which is a predisposition he doubts he’ll ever be able to completely disregard. In the end though, he gives up wondering why he ever thought he’d find something amiss in the first place. Lucky he does before Ravenna corners him in the library, instead of after, but the conversation they have about a fictional hero’s epic she enjoys is surprisingly engaging, and Kaidan finds himself feeling oddly refreshed afterwards, accepting her offer to take it with him and read it on their travels.
When Lucien isn’t playing chess with Inigo, messing around in Ravenna’s kitchens and alchemy lab, and generally getting on Kaidan’s nerves - sometimes intentionally, sometimes not - he is training in magic with Ravenna. After their recent dragon encounter and subsequent chaos, Lucien has felt rather guilty for relying solely on the rest of the group to keep him safe - especially with the sudden increase in danger now that the dragons are back. He’s glad much of their training consists of poring over her old magic notes in the library, it’s far more to his liking than if they were to go out into her courtyard and swings swords at things for hours. Ravenna seems to need the refresher course too, Lucien notices as they go over her old notes -and when he says old, Lucien means old. All the pages, bindings, and faded ink remind him of the ancient and well-studied research materials he’d seen and read through at the libraries and colleges he’d been to in the Imperial City. In between the musty old books and hours of meditation, Ravenna and Lucien do some idle chatting. Lucien tells her about his family, she tells him that his parents sound like lovely people and tells him a little about her own doting mother and father. Inigo has been trying to get details about Lucien’s lover or lovers the last several days already, but it is Ravenna who finally manages to extract the information. Lucien reveals that his girlfriend is a poet back home in Cyrodiil, who sends him the loveliest letters. In exchange for the gossip, Ravenna regales him with tales about several previous lovers of her own, sharing misadventures of both romances and friend groups of the past. There’s certainly a pattern in terms of who Ravenna chooses for her partners, too, Lucien observes - between the tall, muscular nord who was her first love, the shorter, but built and cryptic dunmer spellsword she dated sometime after she first took to adventuring, and the burly orcish warrior who apparently set out to sweep her off her feet after she absolutely kicked his shit in during a one-on-one fight, Lucien cannot pass up the chance to tease her about how much she’s made her love life sound like a trashy romance novella. Then they get talking about actual romance novellas and find out they’re both complete suckers for them, so Ravenna picks one out from her collection for Lucien to read while they travel - at his own insistence. At one point Kaidan walks into the library while they’re discussing this shared guilty pleasure, only to turn on his heel, and immediately walk back out in disappointed silence.
Some of the fun and games end when they leave the estate, but not all. On the way out to Riverwood, they collectively do a crossword puzzle in a brain teaser book Lucien brought along, which they score by who can solve the most answers. All four of them almost tie, but Lucien wins by two points, leaving Ravenna in particular feeling miserably out of touch as she belatedly realizes she should have known both those answers. Lucien and Inigo run out of songs to sing at some point and when Ravenna gets bored she decides to get out some ridiculous book she brought along and start reading it aloud. Kaidan is pretty sure she has this book, not because it is a good book, but specifically because it is so horrible that it’s funny. It’s an awful novel about an edgy young woman attending the mage’s guild in Cyrodiil, and it’s so stupid, badly written, grammatically incorrect and riddled with spelling errors that Kaidan takes Ravenna’s hands in his and claps the book shut for her, nearly begging that she stop reading just so he doesn’t have to hear her purposely mispronounce another word. This ultimately starts an argument with Inigo - who, despite wholeheartedly agreeing that the story is horrible in every possible way - complains that he had become invested in the wizardess’s story. However, after they realize they made a wrong turn and have to backtrack an annoying distance everyone agrees that someone else should read the silly book next time they have a need for mindless roadside entertainment so Ravenna can properly navigate.
They finally reach Riverwood as the break of day nears, and if their mysterious friend wasn’t already at the Sleeping Giant, they would have ended up there anyway to rest while the skies were light. They go in, they ask for the attic room, and as the quartet crowds into the tiny room they were assigned, Lucien shuts the door behind them, and everyone begins searching the room for clues. They're all asking questions right now that aren't getting answered, but why someone took the horn and took off isn't one of them. That is obvious; someone wants something. Whoever took the horn wants something and thinks they can get it from the newly announced Dragonborn. Evidently, someone familiar with the Greybeards and their habits, too. The door opens, and the innkeeper toddles in, with answers on offer. Delphine is her name, and she passes the horn, not to Ravenna, but to Lucien instead. "So you're the Dragonborn I've heard so much about," she says with a sly grin and a glint in her eye like she's got it all figured out. All around the room, eyes dart, as an awkward tension rises. "It's, uhm. It's not me, actually," Lucien finally says, slowly. Delphine frowns. "Who is it then? Don't tell me it's him," she looks pointedly at Kaidan, who shakes his head, and looks down to Ravenna where she is sitting primly on the edge of the bed. A brief look of surprise shutters over Delphine's face before she finally just says "Huh, didn't expect that. Follow me." And so they do, although none of them can imagine how Delphine thinks she looks leading them all into her bedroom like it's not the most obvious thing in the fucking world. Inigo shuts the door behind them, and Delphine opens up her wardrobe's false back panel, leading them into a tiny secret basement. How charming.
With all the cards lining up on the table and the turnout looking like the start of a bad theatre orgy, Ravenna, Inigo, Lucien, and Kaidan gather around Delphine's conspiratorial little table, where Delphine grills Ravenna non-stop, grating her down like a block of eidar cheese and talking a big game without giving Ravenna any tangible reason to take her seriously. Delphine demands Ravenna's respect, but outright refuses her any in return, but she isn’t expecting it when Ravenna turns the tables on her.
“We remember what most don’t, that the Dragonborn is the ultimate dragonslayer. You’re the only one who can kill a dragon permanently by devouring it’s soul. Can you do it? Can you devour a dragon’s soul?”
“Yes,” Ravenna answers, “I don’t think I could possibly confuse what happens to me when dragons die with anything else, in fact. Hey, you wouldn’t happen to be working with the Blades then, would you?”
“What? No, I - how could you possibly know that?” Delphine sputters, caught off-guard.
“There aren’t a great many organizations out there dedicated to dragonslaying, that I know of. You’ve also got one of their swords there in the corner, just laying out. Had you thought I just wouldn’t notice?” Ravena indicates the weapon, something bearing a vague resemblance to Kaidan’s own sword.
“I-” Delphine starts, but Ravenna interrupts.
“Why did you feel the need to keep it from me that you’re a Blades member? Especially if you thought I was the Dragonborn,” she points out.
“I needed to make sure you weren’t a Thalmor plant,” Delphine snaps.
“Why are you even worried about the Thalmor?” Ravenna asks. Delphine briefly seems surprised that Ravenna is asking such a question, but not long enough to stop her from using the opportunity to recapture control over the conversation, using Ravenna’s ignorance to get things back where she wants them.
It takes her a minute, but eventually Delphine stops fucking around long enough to actually tell them what she wants, which turns out to be seeing Ravenna fight a dragon in person, because for some reason, the approval of the Greybeards - masters of the Thu’um and teachers of every known Dragonborn in Tamriel ever - isn’t sufficient for her. So they go meet Delphine in Kynesgrove, and take their sweet ass time doing it. They camp out again a few times on the way, and Ravenna vengefully entertains the idea of stopping on the way to visit the hot springs before ultimately dismissing the idea, if only for the looming threat of a dragon attack potentially on the horizon regardless of Delphine's nonsense. It is only after Ravenna has unwillingly performed her miraculous dragon soul-eating feat for the second time ever that Delphine stops talking down to her constantly.
“So you really are Dragonborn,” Delphine says, letting some of her genuine excitement show briefly before reeling herself back in, “I owe you some answers don’t I?”
“I’d certainly say so. Start with the Blades, what happened to you?” Ravenna asks, “Last I remember, the Blades were still a powerful faction in Tamriel, even if they were still awaiting another Dragonborn.”
“We were. But not powerful enough to bring down the Thalmor. Before the Great War, the Blades helped the Empire against the Thalmor. Our Grandmaster at the time thought they were the greatest threat to Tamriel. Back then, that was true, maybe it still is. So, we fought them in the shadows all across Tamriel, thinking we were more than a match for them. We were wrong.”
“Hold on. What great war?”
“The Thalmor started a war with the Empire almost thirty years ago now. Where’ve you been, girl?” As Delphine says this, Ravenna’s allies do some eye-contact exchanging behind her, as they all wonder about the same thing. Where has Ravenna been, during all this?
“Out of the country,” Ravenna answers vaguely. Technically not a lie either, she was in Solstheim, which is technically part of Morrowind, in a crypt, asleep. Her torpor had lasted about 30 years this time, so she’s rather out of the loop.
“Right,” Delphine agrees suspiciously.
“Moving on,” Ravenna expertly changes the topic, “What do you know about the dragons returning?”
“Not a damn thing, I was just as surprised as you to see that big black dragon here.”
“I recognized that dragon, the one we saw fleeing Helgen. Wasn’t that the same one?” Ravenna turns to her party.
“Far as I could tell,” Lucien agrees.
“Sure seemed that way,” Kaidan supplies.
“You have seen that one before?” Inigo exclaims.
“It was the one who attacked Helgen, I think while there was some sort of congregation of Imperial forces there,” Ravenna contextualizes.
“Interesting. Same dragon. Damnit, we’re blundering around in the dark here! We need to figure out who’s behind it all,” Delphine gripes.
“And how do you propose we do that?” Ravenna asks her pointedly.
“The first thing we need to do is figure out who is behind the dragons. The Thalmor are our best lead, if they’re not involved, they’ll know who is,” Delphine answers.
“What makes you think the Thalmor are bringing dragons back?”
“Nothing solid. Yet. But my gut tells me it can’t be anybody else. The Empire had captured Ulfric, the war was basically over. Then a dragon attacks, Ulfric escapes, and the war is back on. Now the dragons are attacking everywhere, indiscriminately. Skyrim is weakened, the Empire is weakened. Who else gains from that but the Thalmor?”
“I suppose you make a good case for the Thalmor - who is Ulfric again?” Ravenna is really not caught up on things.
“Ulfric Stormcloak, Jarl of Windhelm and leader of the Stormcloak rebellion. He and his men are rebelling against the Empire over the outlaw of Talos wordship imposed by the White-Gold concordat that ended the Great War between the Thalmor and the Empire,” Delphine looks increasingly irate at having to catch Ravenna up.
“Why in Nirn would the Empire agree to outlawing Talos worship?” Ravenna asks, “Tiber Septim was their god and emperor first.”
“The Blades weren’t the only ones losing out against the Thalmor, girl. The Empire couldn’t defeat or sustain a war against the Thalmor, so they’ve made a peace with them instead, but tensions are still high and it will surely be short-lived. Another war with the Thalmor is just on the horizon once the Empire has the manpower and resources.”
“I see. And the Stormcloak fellow thinks going to war with the Empire’s occupation of Skyrim now, right before another war with the Thalmor is about to break out, is the best thing he can do for his country-”
“We aren’t here to discuss politics, girl.” Delphine cuts Ravenna off irately.
“My name is Ravenna, do not call me girl,” Ravenna snaps back with equal vigor.
“You will speak to me with respect, if you want me to help you investigate this,” Delphine raises her voice at Ravenna, and for a second the vampire looks like she’s about to drain her next victim.
”You are the rudest person I have ever met,” Inigo seethes from behind Ravenna before she can decide whether or not she's going to literally sink her teeth into Delphine.
"I-" Delphine starts, but this time Lucien cuts her off.
"You nothing, Inigo is right. Stop hazing Ravenna and lets just get back to it. There are bigger issues to be worrying about."
"You have no-" she starts, but is finally shut down a third time, by Kaidan.
"Shut the fuck up, Delphine," the very large and very annoyed man orders. Delphine, finally, shuts the fuck up.
"Just tell me how you plan to investigate this," Ravenna says, bringing things back into focus. Delphine takes a deep breath, and answers.
“If we could get into the Thalmor Embassy... its their center of operations in Skyrim. Problem is, that place is locked up tighter than a miser’s purse. They could teach me a few things about paranoia.”
“How do you propose we do that, then?”
“I’m not sure yet, but I have a few ideas. I’ll need some time to pull things together. Meet me back in Riverwood in a few days, and keep an eye on the sky, this is only going to get worse.”
The College of Winterhold
"So, just to recap, dragon necromancers are a thing now. Am I the only one who finds that highly, highly concerning?" Lucien asks the table as the four of them conspire over drinks at the Braidwood inn.
“It spells trouble,” Inigo agrees.
“Feels like there’s something that we’re still missing. I hope Delphine’s planning skills are better than her manners. Sneaking into the Thalmor Embassy won’t be an easy task,” Kaidan sets down his mug of ale. Ravenna doesn't chime in, and the other members of her party have silently agreed to let her be, under the impression that she must still be cooling off after the near-argument with Delphine.
Ravenna is here at the Braidwood, in body, but mentally she is trapped back in the moment that black dragon locked eyes with her. The terror of being seen by something so ancient and unknowable - being known by it - Ravenna hadn’t had time to process in the moment, but now, black wings and red eyes are all she can think about. It's terrifying - not just because that dragon knows her, but because she knows it as well. Bone-deep and as surely as she knows herself, unavoidable as the sun will rise. Its name is right on the tip of her tongue. In the midst of her contemplation, the conversations of her allies have been muddled into background noise, and she fails to notice when two of them have already departed to their rooms for the night. Kaidan is rousing her from her internal thoughts later into the day than she should be awake.
“Are you well?” he asks, sounding legitimately concerned, “Did Delphine’s hazing upset you that much?”
“She was annoying, but no. It's the dragon, the black one. When it was speaking to me in the dragon language, it said something. "Ruvaakkiir." I don't know exactly what it meant, but the way he said it - it felt like that dragon was calling me by name."
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“Delphine said she needed some time to plan, what do we want to do while we wait?” Ravenna asks at the breakfast table the next evening.
“That is a good question,” Inigo says, “We should certainly consider our options.”
“Well, I don’t know about the two of you -” Lucien says as he hurries to their table late - and carrying many notebooks and loose pages, “But I could use a break from dragon-chasing for the moment. Preferably to catch up on my research before we get put into any more serious life-threatening situations.”
“In that case, why don’t we trek out to Winterhold and see the college? I’ve actually never been there myself,” Ravenna suggests.
“Yes, why not?” Inigo agrees, “You two would benefit from studying among other skilled wizards.”
“I can’t say I care for the idea,” Kaidan scowls, "Getting involved with those mages."
"Why is that? Do you have some sort of issue with magic?" Ravenna asks.
"Magic users, aye," Kaidan replies without hesitation, "Have you seen what haagravens do to their captives? Or how a warlock can capture a man's soul inside a stone when they kill him?"
"Kaidan, magic can be used to do all sorts of good too," Ravenna counters, "It can heal the wounded and cure the sick, create light in the dark or guide the lost back to their course. It isn't any more good or evil than a sword in the wrong man's hands. Besides, aren't you at least curious to see the inside?"
Ravenna asks him that last question with a playful smirk and a twinkle in her eye even though he’s being a bit of an ass about the subject, and honestly he’s grateful for her good graces. He can think of many people who would take far less kindly to being told how much he hates the thing they’ve dedicated themselves to than she has. That, and he remembers the last time he heard her talk like this, back in Falkreath’s great cemetery. He doesn’t want to own it now any more than he did then, but he knows there is truth to what she says.
“I still think the College is hoarding all manner of knowledge and secrets from across Skyrim - but I can’t say I’d mind a look at their archives,” he relents, giving in to the warm teal-blue of her eyes even though he knows the color is an illusion. He can’t say he dislikes the way they light up at her little victory in the end, either.
They take a carriage out to Winterhold, since the weather is too harsh to make the journey on foot. Inigo, Lucien, and Ravenna squish together on the bench and read their silly book some more, leaving Kaidan alone and sad on the opposite bench. They even get the carriage driver in on it after their snickering and chatting peaks his interest. Winterhold, when they arrive, looks every bit the felled giant it is, but the college still towers proud over the otherwise ruined city.
After the comically unofficial entrance exam and a tour of the campus they tuck themselves away again at the Frozen Hearth, sleeping while the sun is up and joining the other students in the Hall of Elements for the night classes instead. Professor Tolfdir starts them off tame with ward spells Ravenna has been familiar with for almost 200 years now before having everyone prep their things to journey out to the ruins of Saarthal. Kaidan takes the time to rib Ravenna over these classes despite being at least as excited as Lucien to see those ruins as they make their way out and she and Inigo whistle silly tunes back and forth in the echoey Hall of Elements before they properly leave.
The journey to Saarthal is frigid, Kaidan has to walk close to Ravenna the whole way there to keep the snowstorm from pushing her over, and it is a relief when they finally enter the ruin. Ravenna is instructed by Tolfdir to assist the college enchanter, and Lucien tails her eagerly so not to miss out on anything they might learn. Of course, it doesn’t take much time before things begin to go awry, as the two of them are suddenly trapped after pulling an amulet off the wall. This issue is not solved until Ravenna puts on the amulet, which reveals another portion of the ruins. Tolfdir seems unbothered by this, and leads her and her allies further into the ruins - seeming to completely abandon his cautious attitude from earlier. Team Dragonborn has an entire eye-contact discussion about this before they ultimately follow him.
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A strange density fills the room when they walk in, which freezes the motion of Ravenna’s companions, but not Ravenna. It is followed by a flash that manifests into a man. He announces his affiliation with the Psyjic Order right away, knowing she is familiar. Ravenna remembers in fact, when the news of the Isle of Artaeum’s second disappearance began to sweep Tamriel. This Psyjic sorcerer tells her that something has been set into motion, which she will not be able to stop.
A good stretch of dangerous ruins later, she finds out exactly what kind of web they’ve gotten tangled into. The …Orb is unlike anything any of them have ever seen. It hums lowly and the air around it is electric, so alive it feels like the slightest touch of magic might set the whole room sparking. Professor Tolfdir decides to stay there with it, sending the rest of them back to the college, and on their way out, they approach another word wall. Ravenna hears it before she ever sees it, an ancient chant whispered to her ears only. The dizziness isn’t as harsh this time, but she still feels disoriented afterwards, and it doesn’t play nicely with the incoming fatigue that all of them are getting a taste of right about now.
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After they make their report to the Archmage, they rest at the inn, eat, bathe, et cetera. Another eventful day has Inigo and Lucien both retiring early, and Ravenna should be doing the same, but does not. Instead she bothers Kaidan, prying into his history a little for the first time since they’ve met.
Kaidan reluctantly reveals that he is in Skyrim to discover more about his heritage. Ravenna is surprised to learn that he doesn’t even know his own race, though she supposes if she had noticed it before now, she’d be curious about it too. She is not, however, surprised to learn that he was raised as a Nord. Certainly explains his disposition against magic, to some extent.
“Why didn’t you mention this to anyone while we’ve been travelling?” Ravenna asks, “We could have been helping you all this time.”
“I didn’t - Couldn’t -” Kaidan doesn’t let himself fumble for words for long, despite how bad he knows this is going to sound, “Look, I might’ve mentioned it sooner if the situation had been different. But getting accustomed to this whole ‘trusting-a-vampire’“ thing hasn’t been an easy adjustment for me, alright?”
Kaidan had leaned closer to Ravenna to whisper when he said the V-word and when he pulls back away she just blinks at him with those big, teal blue eyes. She takes a moment to respond.
“Was that … it?” She asks him, sounding unexpectedly unbothered.
“I mean, yeah,” he says it like a question, “Didn’t expect you to be so casual about it.”
“I’m used to the social consequences of my condition,” Ravenna says, leaning her head down on the table, “People are always distant towards me once they find out. Inigo and Lucien are the first people in many long years to be so comfortable with me even after knowing. I’m endlessly grateful for them.”
Every time Kaidan speaks to Ravenna, she seems more and more human to him. He’s not sure yet if he finds that relieving, or distressing. She clasps one of his hands on the table and promises they’ll help him figure out his origin along their travels, assuring Inigo and Lucien’s aid as much as her own, before trailing off to bed and leaving him alone with his thoughts.
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The next morning, Kaidan’s rude awakening is to something warm and furry hitting him in the face. For a moment he forgets that they are not camping, and fears that the fur is Inigo's and he's somehow wound up cozying into the stupid little cuddle pile his other companions form when they sleep in Ravenna's cramped tent. As he comes back to his senses though he remembers that they are staying at the inn. He pulls the mass of fur away from his face and realizes it is actually a large fur cloak. He also realizes Ravenna and Lucien are in his room, snickering at him.
"What is this?" Kaidan asks.
"It's a cloak," Lucien sasses, "Obviously."
"An expensive one at that, feel," Ravenna adds excitedly. Kaidan does, he runs his thumbs over the fluff in his grip and feels that, yes, the fur is thick and soft, the lining is insulating. It's nicer than anything he could afford on his own or make for himself.
"Okay, I see that. Why?" He tries again.
"Because it's cold out," Ravenna retorts, "Winterhold has no carriage service, remember? We'll have to walk back to Whiterun for those books, so I got each of us one. Lucien helped me pick yours out." Kaidan immediately checks the cloak for whatever practical joke Lucian hid in here.
"Oh, don't look at it like that, I haven't done anything -"
"Mhm, sure you haven't," Kaidan interrupts Lucien, pulling a large slug out from inside the hood of the cloak and throwing it at him.