thecapitol | (no subject)

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(no subject)

Who| Cullen and Adella
What| Date night!
Where| A restaurant in the city
When| Shortly before the start of the arena.
Warnings/Notes| Uhh... dumb schmoopy idiots in love?

Cullen still isn't sure about these clothes. The trousers seem just a bit too tight, and no matter how many months he's here, he still doesn't like being without his armor. And every time he goes out in public, he gets all sorts of unwanted attention - stares, pointing, comments - once in a while someone even tries to grab his bottom.

Despite all that, however, Adella is here, and he wants to, well - do things for her. The sorts of things a man does for the woman he's seeing - gifts, dinner, a night on the town. Things they hadn't really had time for back home, because of their duties.

So this evening he's found a restaurant he thinks she might like - they serve things called "hamburgers", and also "milkshakes" which aren't things he'd ever seen back home, but which have turned out to be very tasty. And if there's one way to a woman's heart, it's food, right? ...Right.

Hopefully.

He waits for her in the lobby - the city is a little confusing, and they can walk together from the Tribute Centre.

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Adella's own stylists seemed to be much kinder, most of her outfits went from comfortable and sturdy pants and shirts to skirts and dresses the like of which she'd never worn. To meet Cullen tonight she's wearing something called a "sundress" a white dress dotted with blue flowers a great deal shorter than anything fashionable in Thedas. The trim barely touches her knees, although she does like the way the dress moves when she walks.

She steps out off the elevator into the lobby and seeks Cullen out, stepping up behind him and resting a hand on his shoulder.

"Ready to go?"

Edited 2015-05-25 19:24 (UTC)

It's not that he hasn't seen her bare legs before - of course he has. But only in, well, intimate situations. So if he flushes a little at the sight of her bare from knees to ankles, well.

He clears his throat faintly, and gives her a faint smile. "I am." He takes her arm, like the gentleman he is, and leads her outside. "You look - lovely."

And she does. The dress is light and airy, and clings nicely to her curves. Having her here is always a mixed blessing, but Adella is the most beautiful person in this world or any world, as far as Cullen is concerned.

She lets out a small laugh at his compliment, leaning her hip a little into his as they walked.

"Thank you. You look uncomfortable. Can't you ask your stylist to dress you in something you'd be happier with?" She'd found the District 12 stylists very reasonable people. Which was surprising, considering some of the Capitolites.

"The only thing I'd be happy with is my own clothes - my armor, especially, and they won't let me have it," Cullen points out with a sigh. "It's no matter. These are - adequate, for what they do, I guess. I just don't - like all the people staring and pointing."

There might be one or two now. He's trying not to notice that sort of thing. He'd much rather look at Adella, anyway.

"Just ignore them," she replies, squeezing his arm gently. "Although if it helps, I enjoy the view myself." Glancing up at him she gives him a smirk, absently sliding her hand along the fabric of his jacket arm, smoothing it out where she isn't gripping it.

"Well, I'd hope you would," Cullen points out with a faint smile. "I prefer your attention to anyone else's. Here, the place is right up this street."

He's okay with changing the subject - her comments tend to make him a little red around the ears, and they're out in public.

She knows she can embarrass him, and she notes the subject change, but she allows it. For now, at least. Nodding her head she smiles a little, glancing up at him.

"This is nice, you know. We never had much of a chance to get out when we were home."

"Yes," he agrees with a faint smile. "I suppose fighting a war does tend to - ah, make traditional courtship a bit impossible."

Not that he's any good at traditional courtship, anyway. At least with Adella, he knows she doesn't mind. He already has her affection, he now simply wants to put a smile on her face, if only for an hour or two.

"Not that either one of us would know the first thing about traditional courtship," Adella replies, the amused smile settling in as a permanent fixture on her face. Cullen is officially the longest relationship she's ever had, thanks to the general anxiety involved in getting too attached to one-another within the Circle.

"Well, I know about it in theory," Cullen points out, opening the door to the burger place for her with a faint smile. "Doesn't it usually involve flowers, love poems, that sort of thing?"

"Flowers I wouldn't mind, but perhaps skip the poetry?" she laughs, leading him into the restaurant and looking around, her eyebrows raising a little. The people milling about weren't really any different from anywhere else in the Capitol, although she does notice a few more children than she's previously seen.

"This is different from what I expected."

"Alright, no poetry," Cullen says with a laugh. "I'm not good with poetry, anyway."

He does rest a hand low on her back as he follows her in, though. A simple, but intimate gesture that he almost feels naughty for, even here.

"It's nothing like the places in Orlais - that I know of," he affirms. "Or the inns and taverns of Ferelden or the Free Marches."

"No, it really isn't," she affirms, looking around a little more as she stays fixed to his side. "Though that can be said for... most of the things here." As wondrous as some of the things were that she'd stumbled upon in the Capitol, she'd also just really been traveling Thedas for the first time. There was still so much she hadn't seen there.

And she missed it. She missed their friends, and not having to worry about their private lives being broadcast for the entire world to see.

"We will get back," he reassures her quietly. "I promise you that." One way or another.

But for now, they're stuck here, and they might as well find something they can enjoy about it, right? "Trust me, this food is rather remarkable."

She can't muster up much more than a noncommittal smile at Cullen's words. The more he says that, the more she wonders, honestly. She hoped they'd get home, but they don't have the resources here they had in Thedas. They're just one tiny group of people in a sea of others entirely content in their disgusting indulgences.

"That can be said for a lot of the food, here. So... do we sit?" She's having trouble figuring out how this place is run, exactly. It looks almost like a pub, although the lighting is too sharp.

"Actually, we're expected to go up to the counter there -" he points, to where a group of people are clustered around a counter with signs up above it, showing photos of meat between pieces of bread in various configurations.

"We choose what we want, and order it, then we take it to a table to eat."

"Ah, like Herald's Rest," she perks up a little at the familiarity of the situation, relieved to see that things aren't so dramatically different between this place and what they're accustomed to. Just that tiny bit of similar ground was oddly comforting.

"Anything you'd recommend, then? Clearly you've been here before."

"I tried one called a bacon cheeseburger," Cullen says, leading her to the counter. "It was good."

"Interesting. Alright, then." Adella smiles at the Avox at the counter, trying to be as kind in approach as possible. She knows the Avoxes are treated none too kindly, all too often here. They remind her of Tranquil, only the Avoxes clearly still retain their spirit.

"I'd like a bacon cheeseburger, please."

"I'll have the same," Cullen says - also polite, he would never be discourteous to an avox no matter how off-putting they can be - and adds, "and two orders of fries."

He pronounces the word carefully, as though to make sure he's got it right.

She looks sideways at Cullen, partly curious, trying to discern what it is he just ordered. Then something dawns on her and she glances up at the board over the Avox's head.

"We should get something to drink too, shouldn't we? What's a milkshake?" she frowns at that word for a moment, before seeing one she likes. "Oh it has a chocolate flavor! We'll get that too, please."

"And two chocolate milkshakes," Cullen amends with a little smile. Adella has a sweet tooth - she'll love this. He pulls out the little card that is used to pay for everything in this world, and very soon they have a slip of paper with a number on it. "Now, we find a table and wait," he says.

"I saw one in the corner when we came in, come on." She takes Cullen's hand without much preamble and heads in the direction of the table that looks out of the way, somewhere where they're less likely to be disturbed by Games fans.

Cullen, for his part, follows along with a faint smile on his lips - honestly, she just looks beautiful today. Everything else is a bonus. Just spending time with Adella, being in her presence, is all he could possibly want.

Adella slides into the booth, letting go of Cullen's hand long enough to situate herself. She looks around at the people around them, before looking back at Cullen.

"The people here almost look like normal families."

"I think most people in this world are normal," Cullen points out with a shrug. "Just... not the ones we have to deal with the most."

Which was true back in Thedas, too, as far as he's concerned. Nobility is almost a species unto itself.

"Anyone can come here, no matter their station, so long as they can pay," he adds.

She presses her lips thin as she considers the situation presented in this world, the similarities to their own. Letting out a little sigh she shakes her head, reaching out for Cullen's hand again.

"Thank you for bringing me here. Being in that tower too long reminds me of the Circle." Even if it's different on the surface, it's still a very pretty prison for people that the rest of the world has mixed feelings about.

Cullen gives her hand a squeeze. "Anything. You of all people deserve a break now and again. If there's ever anything you need or want, you only have to ask."

"Me of all people--" She looks a little exasperated, although her tone remains gentle- "Cullen, we're in the same situation here. Honestly you've been working harder than I have in some respects. You don't need to put me on a pedestal." She appreciates it, the way he treats her, who wouldn't be appreciative? But she also worries about what might happen when the rose-colored veil comes away from his eyes.

"I don't, you just seem tired lately," Cullen says with a shrug. "And I wanted to do something nice for you. Don't worry about me."

He gives her hand a squeeze.

"Oh," well she felt a little silly, lecturing him now. She gives him a small smile, squeezing his hand back. "I guess I have been. I don't know, this place... I never thought anywhere could be worse than the Circle, and then we ended up in Halamshiral. And I never thought it could be worse than there, but here we are."

"I know," he says, his face a mask of concern for her. He wishes he could do something more substantial to help, but they're both rather powerless in their current situation.

Just then, a waiter arrives with their food.

"But not everything about this place is so terrible," he points out, nudging her milkshake at her.

She gives him a slight smile before sliding the milkshake in front of her, frowning at it for a moment as she tries to figure out how to drink it when it looks very thick before trying the straw. As soon as she manages to get some of the shake in her mouth her eyes grow wide and she looks up at Cullen.

"Maker, that's good! Why don't we have these in Thedas?"

Ah, see, that's what he's been missing. Her smiles, her occasional moments of wonder. Even in this terrible place, it's good that she has even the smallest thing like that.

"I can't imagine. You'll have to invent it, when we return," he says, offering her a smile of his own.

She objectively finds this place wondrous on a regular basis. The people, however, are exhausting. If there were less having to talk to individuals who were unkind without even realizing how awful they were, she might like it a little more.

"I don't imagine it'd be too difficult. Though I haven't much by way of culinary skills, I could speak with the cooks in the kitchen..."

Cullen chuckles faintly. "It'd be a novelty, that's for sure. I'm glad you like it."

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