and the light shall lead her safely; open;

[revocation]

Who| Cullen and You???
What| He is dealing with his now very public engagement to Adella, among other things.
Where| Around the Capitol and Tribute Tower! Feel free to bump into him wherever.
When| The days immediately following the interviews.
Warnings/Notes| None as of yet.

Theoretically, Cullen should be feeling a lot happier about recent events. After all, he did get engaged to the woman he loves. And it's not that he's not happy about it, it's simply that - he wishes it could've gone differently. Under better circumstances. In an easier context. As it is, it feels like a publicity stunt - a term he's only recently come to understand. A stunt designed to keep them both safe from the growing troubles the Capitol seems to be brewing, from the executions and the anger and the plotting bubbling just beneath the surface of all this bright, headache-inducing technology.

It's not that he doesn't want Adella to be his wife - he does, very much so. But he would've preferred to do it on his own terms, not the Capitol's, and now - as he walks the city streets - he finds himself inundated with the public reaction to it. Perfect strangers approaching him, offering congratulations and - other, less savory things. The sponsors he took on in order to pull it off have been using his likeness liberally and he feels like he's seeing his face everywhere now, when before he'd only ever seen it in a mirror.

He runs his errands quickly, and attempts to find escape back at the Tribute Tower, as best he can. He still spends hours every day in the gym, training, making sure he keeps in tip-top fighting shape. He can't let anything slip now, more than ever. And when the screens and the lights and even the noise of other tributes becomes too much, he finds escape on the roof, where it's usually a little quieter - and where he's set up a small shrine to Andraste. He prays there, reciting the familiar words of the Chant. And the light shall lead her safely through the paths of this world...

Comments

[allyorfoe]

It's on the roof that she goes to meet him, feeling a bit out of sorts. She's glad that Cullen's found this, found someone he wants to spend the rest of his life with. She's genuinely happy for him. But even as she approaches him, a nasty, bitter whisper in the back of her head tells her to try punting him right off the roof. Not that she does--It wouldn't work, anyway. She ignores the whispers. He's allowed to have this, he's allowed to be happy. Her own loss doesn't mean that no one else is allowed to gain.

That doesn't make it hurt less.

She stands a little off to the side at first, looking at the shrine. Alistair would have liked that. She wishes she could make something to add to it, but without the ability to have anything that could be construed as a weapon, it's limited. Maybe she could commission it. In the meantime, she plucks a flower from the flora growing on the roof, and kneels down, placing it on the shrine.

"And she will know no fear of death, for the Maker shall be her beacon and her shield, her foundation and her sword." She murmured somberly, before turning to look at Cullen. "...Congratulations, by the way."

[revocation]

Cullen turned at the sound of her voice, and he felt about as enthusiastic as she sounded. He was happy. He was.

Maker, he couldn't even write to his family, tell them about it.

"Thank you," he said carefully. "I wish the circumstances were better but - we take what moments of happiness we can."

[unlikelyherald]

Their official engagement announcement unsurprisingly made Adella busier than ever. Between trying to prepare for the encroaching Arena she also has wedding plans to make, venues to tour, dresses to try on, and about a thousand other things. Plus she has all of her Sponsor engagements to see through. As a result, she's seeing Cullen much less than she'd like to, which is more than a little frustrating. The point of getting engaged is to spend the rest of your life with someone, after all.

Once she's had enough of looking at lace patterns for one day and realizes it's been far too long since she saw her fiancé, she goes in search of him. She finds him at his little shrine on the roof, where she stands quietly while he finishes his recitation. Only when he's done does she speak.

"Do you think He can hear us here?"

[revocation]

Her voice relaxes him - and also worries him - in ways he cannot describe. It's a simple enough question she asks, and yet, he really doesn't have an answer for her. He stands, moving to light a candle at the foot of the little shrine.

"I'm not sure," he admits. "I do it as much for myself as for Him, anyway." The words themselves bring comfort, the familiarity of them, of the rituals. It's something from home he can grasp onto, hold tight.

[unlikelyherald]

"Fair enough," she says somewhat distantly, watching him move from where she stands. She doesn't want to intrude, she's got enough ingrained respect for people and their prayer habits to not hurry him.

"Comfort in the routine?"

[revocation]

"I suppose so," he says, turning once the candle is lit and offering her a faint smile. "And it's peaceful. Reciting the Chant helps me clear my mind."

Needless to say, there's a lot on his mind, these days.

[allyorfoe]

"That's all we can do." She replied, and she understood, she did. Maybe not his exact circumstance, but. It was hard to be happy about these kinds of things in the Capitol. But you had to take what you could get, anyway. Try to ignore all the nonsense. Speaking of which.

"Black Tom is getting married to Molotov, too. I'm telling you, because the Capitol is going to try to compare the weddings. Try to make you compete." She watched Panem Nightly, even if she was pretty sure that Cullen didn't. "The best thing that you can do is not even try. I don't think I have to tell you, you don't seem like the kind of guy who needs a lot of flash and pizzazz. But you're going to have people trying to compare the weddings. And I mean--A bigger wedding, more fancy shit, most people watching, more sponsors. But that's not worth it."

She's pretty sure Cullen knows all of this, but she wants to let Cullen know that other people are on his level, because he's going to be having people in powerful positions trying to pressure him. And she's got some ideas on how to make sure that there's some buzz generated, some money made, without compromising the values. "But weddings cost money. Food costs money. Living costs money. So, here is what you should do." She turns to him, face intent. "You spin it as your wedding being super exclusive. Only the best of the best. Set up your wedding in a small, private venue. Decorate, do whatever you want. Invite your friends. But then, what you do, is that you leave a couple of spaces. Maybe five? You do a kind of a...lottery for them. People buy tickets for a chance to get invited to the most exclusive wedding of the year. You take photos. You get a really fucking good photographer, and you take pictures of everything. Then you auction the pictures to the highest paying magazine. Talk to your escort, they'll take care of everything."

She pauses, watching Cullen, trying to get an idea of what he's thinking. This isn't planning a battle, but it's not dissimilar. And she knows that this is a heaping pile of bullshit, one that Cullen doesn't care for. Tabris hates it, too, but she knows how important it is. "You get the wedding that you want, but you'll make enough money to pay for the wedding, for the dress, for all of that stuff, and the honeymoon afterwards."

[revocation]

The sudden speech from Tabris takes Cullen aback, just a little. Not only does he not expect it from her, but frankly, he hasn't even put that much thought into it yet. He had a vague plan of - yes, getting more sponsors to pay for things, or something, but really - he's never been as good at political maneuvering as he is at troop movements and siege engine calibration.

But he does have a tactician's mind, and he can tell that her idea is a sound one. More than that, it's something that would actually work for him, so he doesn't dismiss it out of hand, as he might from anyone else. It is, in fact, a very good idea, both in terms of playing by the rules of this place while still allowing him something of what he'd want - a small, private wedding that's just for them.

"I - that's -" He blinks, a little uncertain of how to respond. "That's a good idea," he finally says. "Obviously, I'll have to discuss things with Adella. It's as much her wedding as mine." And, frankly, she has veto power over everything. She may very well have her own ideas.

"You know you'll be invited," he adds, quietly. "You've been - a good friend. I'll understand if you don't wish to come, but there it is."

Because he can - he does - understand why she might not want to be there.

[unlikelyherald]

"I understand that," she replies, smiling a little and shrugging a shoulder. "You're lucky in that. Most of my mind clearing activities I either can't do here or they can't be practiced with clothes on." Her smile goes a little wry at the end before she sighs and shakes her head. "I was never very good at losing myself in the Chant. My parents would be very disappointed."

Not that they weren't already but, semantics.

[revocation]

Cullen chuckles faintly, pulling her into a loose embrace and pressing a kiss to her temple. "Everyone has their ways. Nothing wrong with it. Well, as long as it doesn't involve property damage, I suppose."

[unlikelyherald]

Adella laughs at that, sliding her arms around his waist and leaning into his kiss.

"But property damage is my second favorite stress relief!"

[revocation]

"Mm, don't I know it," he says with a smile. "But it usually works out well for you, in the long run."

[unlikelyherald]

"Almost always," she replies a little cheekily, before shifting so she can press a kiss to his lips. Letting out a sigh, she tightens her arms around his waist a little, her eyes drifting over his face.

"I realize we saw each other this morning, but it feels like it's been forever since we had time to ourselves."

[revocation]

He brushes his thumb along her cheekbone lightly. "I agree. We haven't been getting much privacy lately, even by the standards of this place. I may have underestimated just how annoying this engagement would be, and that has nothing to do with you."