A Brand New Day
CONTENT:
Rating: Mature
Flavor: Just Goofing Around
Language: maybe
Violence: no
Nudity: no
Sex: implied
Other: none
Author's Notes:
This Book of Bannon & Zevran, will NOT be a whole written-out story. There are sections, and there are scenes. There are some sections where there's a general outline, but... no scenes. So parts will be bare and glossed over and summarized. Not like Book I, where I wrote out EVERYthing! (Okay, maybe not that battle at Avernus' tower...) So hopefully, it will NOT take another flipping DECADE! (9 years. it was only 9 years! ::breathes into a paper bag::)
In many speculations and discussions, it is postulated that the adventures covered in Dragon Age, including all travel, and tent time, etc, happen over the course of a year or two or more. In this story of B&Z, I postulate that Ferelden is a relatively small country, and the adventure takes place between spring and late autumn. Because, Plot Drama!
So, we are heading into winter time, and The Story begins... a few days or a week or so after the Final Battle and the Slaying of the Archdemon.
Props to all the "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" fans! Uh... I just picked this title at random... Really! Noooo foreshadowing here!
A Brand New Day
==#==
Warmth and softness enshrouded Bannon. Ease, comfort, the life of a king. Just drifting on the edge of sleep, only awake enough to be able to enjoy being asleep. He could stay like this forever. Or...
Warm breath feathered his neck. Soft lips nibbled the sensitive spot below his jaw. A sleepy sigh escaped him.
A moment later, he gasped ast Zevran's fingertips toyed with the ring in his left nipple. He even cracked his eyelids a bit.
"Ah ha, " the Antivan said. "At last, he stirs." He didn't stop what he was doing until Bannon's eyes were at least halfway open, and other parts of him were stirring as well. "Have I ever told you," Zevran murmured against his neck, "how much I love..." He raised his head to meet Bannon's eyes. "...this ring?" He smiled slowly.
"Have I ever told you," Bannon reciprocated, lifting a hand to brush the back of his knuckles over Zevran's tattoo, "how much... I love-"
A hammering came at the door. "Bannon? Bannon!" came Shianni's muffled voice. "Get up!"
"He is-!" Zevran started, before Bannon elbowed him in the ribs.
"Argh!" the thief growled as he did so.
"I have to tell you," Zevran said, nuzzling his neck again, "I am considering murdering your cousin."
"Bannon! Wake up, sleepyhead!"
"Shi! What!?" he yelled back. Zevran's hand snaked lower, between his legs.
"We want to get an early start! Are you coming?"
"I'm trying - AUWWUAGGABBA!"
"What?"
Bannon bit his lip and hissed at Zevran, "Stop that! Do you want to tip off Shianni?"
"No, I want to bump off Shianni." The assassin disappeared under the covers.
"Can you at least wait until after I wash up!?" Bannon yelled, trying to keep his voice from rising in uncontrolled pitch.
"Fine!" Shianni yelled back. "Breakfast will get cold! See if I save you any!"
"Urgh," Bannon said as he flopped back in the pillows. "This is why I hate morning sex."
Zevran lifted his head. "You don't want to?"
"Um..." He thought about it a moment. "Just a quickie?"
"As you wish, lover."
==#==
In camp, it was bad enough everyone knew what you were up to at night, but in the morning? When everyone was getting up and moving about? Much more awake? And then you had to get up, wash off, go out and greet them like nothing was going on.
Zevran always said he liked to start the day with a smile, but for Bannon, it was just too awkward. He'd thought they'd have more leisurely mornings, with thick walls and secure doors.
The boys had quickly washed up, dressed, and came to the kitchens. Shianni, as promised, had downed a whole plate of pancakes with blackberries. Alistair, however, had saved them the Grey Wardens' lion's share.
"There you are, cousin!" Shianni said cheerfully. "He tends to sleep through important events," she noted aside to Alistair. "If it weren't for me, he'd have slept through his own wedding!"
Bannon frowned at the reminder of that horrible day, but said nothing. If Shianni could gloss it over and joke about it, all the better.
She turned next to the Antivan, who had just sat down and had a slice of pancake halfway to his mouth - he knew better than to be slow around hungry Wardens. She poked him playfully on the arm. "You didn't even answer when I knocked on your door! You must sleep like a rock."
"On the contrary, my dear. Assassins have keen senses and lightning reflexes. You must never attempt to approach me while asleep," he pronounced direly, his eyes holding her gaze. "You could be seriously injured.
Shianni swallowed.
"But," Zevran continued, now with carefree cheerfulness. "The truth is, I was not in my room."
"No?"
Bannon and Alistair looked up.
"No. Indeed, I was already up and out about, finishing a morning trip to the market, after my vigorous dawn workout."
Alistair snorted. Bannon glared daggers at that bastard liar.
"Really?" Shianni's eyes went wide and... did her lashes just literally flutter?
"He's not that impressive," Bannon grumbled.
"Your cousin is jealous! In fact, I have it on good authority -" he shot Bannon a wink- "that I am 'incredible.'"
Bannon stabbed his stack of pancakes and berries in lieu of jabbing his fork into the Antivan's eye.
Alistair cleared his throat, then carried on as if nothing had happened. "So today we are heading out on our 'grand tour' of the country. Amaranthine this afternoon, Highever tomorrow."
"Ah, more parades," Zevran commented.
Alistair said, "Everyone wants to see the Hero of Ferelden."
"Heroes," Bannon corrected. "I just wish everyone could come. Most everyone," he amended, banishing the witch from his thoughts.
He'd done as she'd asked - all of it - then left her alone as she'd demanded. Though that was only because she'd vanished before Zevran could knife her... but she couldn't know that, could she? So there was no reason for her to come after him. You'll never see me again were her exact words.
Still, some nights, he lay awake with morbid thoughts of a raven crashing through the window, claws and beak poised to savage him.
He was always wary of crows, fearing to sight a yellow-eyed one. The plain ones were more important, he insisted. As for the Antivan Crows... well, he and Zevran were planning to deal with that.
The assassin was still going on about the parades. "And throngs of adoring women! Throwing themselves at you." He leered at Bannon.
Bannon leered right back. "Don't worry, I'll share."
Shianni tsked him and Zevran laughed. "Spare one for poor Alistair. Alistair," he turned to the knight, "have you decided what kind of woman you actually like?"
"Well, I don't know until I've tried them all at least three times, do I?"
Zevran blinked in shock. Bannon laughed at his discomfiture. That shut him up as good as any 'turnip' ever did.
Alistair blushed in Shianni's direction. "I'm sorry; I was just joking. I don't... think of women in that way."
Zevran pounced. "So you do like men?"
"No!"
"But you just confessed, you never think of women, not even when you-"
"Zevran!" Bannon cut him off. "Not at the breakfast table."
The Templar was already blushing furiously. "I meant, I think of women as people. Individuals. Not... some... thing! To-To do- you know with."
"You don't want to have sex with women?" Bannon asked, genuinely confused.
"That's not what I'm saying!"
"I understand," Shianni said. "Ignore these two idiots, Ser Alistair."
"Please, it's just Alistair."
"I... well..."
"We're going to be traveling together, we should be friends. Besides, "the knight looked at Bannon, then back to Shianni. "We're Grey Wardens. Bannon is like... he is a brother to me. So that makes us family, too."
Bannon didn't know what to say. He gave that pronouncement a respectful moment. Then he said, "Yeah, so treat him like you do me. Oh. And since he has years to catch up on, you should definitely bother and tease him a whole lot more than me."
"Hey!"
Shianni looked shyly at the human. "I don't know..."
"He's tough, he can take it."
Alistair frowned. "Actually, thinking about it... she can't be worse than you two. In fact-" he looked at Shianni- "let's create an alliance against them!"
She brightened. "All right!"
Bannon slapped his face while Zevran said, "Argh!"
Alistair grinned. "That's Alistair, swift on the uptake as usual."
==#==
Later, at the official Amaranthine celebration...
"Hello, Wardens. I'm Lissette. The Amaranthine Seamstress Guild was hoping you'd consider our services in supplying Warden uniforms."
"I'd be delighted to meet with you to discuss the matter," Bannon said, taking in the young woman's sleek gold hair, shining eyes, and lithe figure.
Alistair gave him a curious look. "What do you know about fashion?"
"I'll take my Antivan fashion advisor."
"You will?" Zevran asked, sounding less than eager.
"I will," Bannon replied pointedly. He turned his charm back on the young lady. "When can you meet with us?"
"You will not be disappointed!" Lissette gushed. She gave them directions to the local shop, and they set up a time to meet later that afternoon.
Once she was out of earshot, Zevran poked Bannon. "Why are we meeting with the very dull lace and doily society? It is no doubt full of old ladies."
"Were you not looking? Do you not have eyes?" the Denerim elf countered. "She was hot. If you want me to go meet all those women by myself..."
"No, no. I will go, just to watch how you handle all those eager grannies."
==#==
Zevran had to eat his words; Bannon was right, and while there was one matronly seamstress, the rest were young women. The buxom redhead, Angelique, took a shine to Zevran while Bannon worked on Lissette.
"What I'm thinking," Bannon said, "is really something simple, like a tabard. Because we have knights in heavy armor, archers in leather, and mages. So in the field, we need to cover a lot of sizes."
"Don't forget the dwarves," Zevran chimed in.
"Dwarves, elves, humans, even maybe an occasional qunari."
"What are the qunari like?" Angelique asked. "Are they really huge?"
Zevran grinned, but instead of a quip, he said, "They are tall, indeed, but very dull."
"Yeah," Bannon added. "I think Sten said all of five words during our whole excursion."
"And four of them were-"
"'No.'" both elves deadpanned. The girls tittered.
Zevran said, "For dress uniforms, something more dashing."
"The dress uniform and the field uniform should be grey, with white griffons prominently displayed," Bannon added, using a bit of charcoal to sketch the idea on a scrap of paper.
"Why can't they be something dashing, like black?"
"It's tradition. Grey Wardens on white griffins."
"Bah."
"Then there's the Grey Warden auxiliary."
"Auxiliary?" Lissette queried.
"Yes. Only Alistair and I are actually Grey Wardens. Zevran and the others travelled and fought with us - and are just as important," Bannon added. "But not true Wardens, initiated into the Order."
Angelique's attention on Zevran waned as she turned eager green eyes on Bannon.
"We can wear black," the Antivan said, trying to recover his highly-desirable image.
"I was thinking, 'brown.'"
"Ugh! Not that horrible brown! Mud and dirt."
"No, not that," Bannon corrected. "I was thinking of... like what was that orange tunic you had on at the celebration?"
"Oh, russet?" said the matron. She got up and bustled back with some cloth swatches.
"Hmm. The sort of bronze?" Zevran fingered the cloth. "That is a nice colour."
"You looked quite handsome in it."
"So I did!" The Antivan grinned.
Angelique didn't seem swayed, but there were others he could choose from. He charmed them all equally.
The designs were settled, but Bannon didn't finalize the deal just yet. He had other prospects to consider. Maybe? If other guilds wanted the Grey Warden business, he could drive the prices down.
Besides, how much of a budget did the Grey Wardens have? Did they have any? Who was going to support them? Would they disband now that the Blight was over? He wouldn't know anything until he and Alistair met with actual officers of the Order. A worry for another day.
He had more important concerns. Blonde or redhead? Svelte or buxom? He still wasn't sure about large breasts, but maybe he should give them a try.
"So," Zevran said, sidling up to him as they waited outside the guild hall. "Pondering Lissette or Angelique? Perhaps both?"
"Hmmm..." With his Grey Warden stamina, that might work.
"Perhaps you'd like to share."
"There's plenty of leftovers for you to choose from," Bannon told the greedy assassin.
"No, I mean share. In a threesome. Or perhaps a foursome."
Bannon's brows went up. Just when he thought Antivans couldn't get any kinkier... "I don't know... I don't think so."
"No? Why not? To share sex with your lover is truly a pleasureable experience." Zevran tilted his head. "Do you not want your lovely ladies to see you with a man?"
Bannon flushed. No, he did not want anybody to see that! But, if they had two women... He frowned. What if Zevran was better than he was? What if just worrying about that made him mess up? "Look, I just don't... think I could do that."
"Why not? You are quite handy with the ladies, so I have gathered."
"Yes, but... not with... like... an audience. Or... other people."
"You are just shy! But I can teach you, guide you." He waggled his brows.
"No, Zev. That would not help. Look, I just don't think that is something I could ever do. All right?"
The assassin nodded, disappointment clear on his face. "I shall respect your wishes, mi amore'. I always will."
Bannon nodded. "Maybe I can get Angelique turned your way." He winked.
"I have every faith in your prowess!"
==X==
End Notes:
"Stop that! Do you want to tip off Shianni?"
"No, I want to bump off Shianni."
-5000 Bloodsong points if you know what cartoon this exchange is swiped is from!? ;D
"Why are we meeting with the very dull lace and doily society? It is no doubt full of old ladies."
-10,000 Bloodsong points if you know what cartoon THAT is from. Cuz I'm not sure I remember... OH! Right ;)