The Disreputable Cowgirl Chapter 2: Camping Out, a dragon age fanfic

Author's Note: I will be working on a prologue, with the help of SnowHelm, to ensure that reading this story makes sense. For the ultimate reading pleaseure I strongly recommend reading, "Blight and Bliss".

Having been early afternoon when the two groups had parted ways there was ample time to still cover good ground before stopping for the night. Sunshine was grateful that Duncan had both allowed her to travel with him and was proving to be an excellent traveling companion. She had enough self-reflection to know that she found Duncan attractive, physically, and her mind was quickly catching up. Talking to him confirmed several things: this was indeed Ferelden, there was a Blight, Grace had to be from a different world, he smelled really good to her - in spite of, or because of, the fact that he was sweaty, hadn't bathed in several days and wore no deodorant. It was also enlightening: Loghain, Calin and Anora equaled bad. Eamon was dead, the sacred ashes having done nothing. Cullen was dead because of Zathrian. The Circle of Magi was spared the full brunt of Uldred's machinations. Also Grace was born from a union, so to speak, between Duncan and Flemeth. She chose not to dwell on the last bit too much. Most importantly Duncan still smelled good.

For his part Duncan wanted to continue walking off into the sunset with Sunshine. Talking to her was interesting and enlightening. She, like Grace, was from a different world but came here without the aid of Flemeth. She had been married to the love of her life, had three children of ages, when she left, of 5, 3 and 8 months. He decided not to dwell on the 'love of her life' bit too much, for reasons he chose not to examine. She was incredibly candid and he sensed that she hid a lot of secrets by exposing so many. She smelled divine. She was also very understanding, and asked questions about Grace that he wished he thought of but was afraid to know the answers. Her scary noise machines were even scarier once she fully described them and realized that he was indeed glad she was on his side, or their side, rather. She got downright frightful when he told her about Travis, and in spite of that, or maybe because of it, she smelled even better after she declared Travis 'Dead Man Walking'.

Of which neither was aware was the drama unfolding behind them. They only had eyes and ears for each other, this had half the group in awe, part in amusement, and for Oghren's part, a shrug. Gavarth and Danforth were taking surreptitious bets. Anders and Aedan were whispering about the possibilities this presented. Leliana and Zevran were discussing how experienced either of them were. Finally, Alistair and Grace were somehow feeling more in love with each other, budding romances tend to do that to the young. The upshot was that Danforth said that she would make him happy after a week, Gavarth said within two days. Anders and Aedan were hopeful that this would make the Commander less grouchy. Leliana and Zevran decided that Sunshine was vastly more experienced with love, but Duncan could hold his own. Alistair was just ridiculously happy and Grace was hesitantly happy.

As evening was drawing nearer Sunshine had successfully navigated them a little off course to a clearing where she had set up a base camp when she had first arrived. It still had a nice, large fire pit surrounded by stones and very little debris anywhere. She explained, once they had arrived, that she wasn't sure how long it would be before she found other people and had opted to make this spot her temporary home. In addition to being level, with lots of good tree coverage it had the added benefit of a river, not too far off, and a hot spring close by. She admitted to everyone that it had been a completely feminine decision on her part to camp closer to the hot spring, and she had no regrets. She had told Duncan, while they had been walking, that while she herself had no magic, you don't get landed in different universes without the benefit of some pretty nifty supplies. Some of those supplies did happen to be of the magic variety as she pulled, what she referred to as, her 'Mary Poppins' act, and took out a large bag from her considerably smaller satchel. The one down shot, she had said, was that the bag had no inherent ordering, and so it had taken some digging on her part to produce it. From the large bag she grabbed a large, green cloth and threw it in the air. It then unfolded into a rather large tent, she turned, very smug, and said, "just wait until you see the inside."

This of course produced a blush on Duncan, which he felt silly about since she was clearly addressing everyone. It then went on to produce giggles and guffaws from the party, which of course made him blush further. He was pretty sure he couldn't get redder until Sunshine said, "oh, and I suppose he's the only curious one? Good, I only have room for one more on my magically comfortable bed, that vibrates during a waxing moon." Duncan was pretty sure that he was going to die on the spot and decided that Sunshine was a very wicked woman. He wasn't sure if he wanted to determine whether or not her bed truly vibrated or throttle her, maybe both, in either order. No, throttling second.

Sunshine laughed gaily when Danforth said something about life being unfair, which caused Grace to choke even harder on her laughter. Zevran looked up at the sky and said that Duncan was a lucky man as the moon was on its way to full. Gavarth was prodding Danforth's purse and telling him to give it up. Still laughing Sunshine went into her tent and came back with several really nice towels, very plush and soft looking, along with a bag of supplies. The rest of the party was setting up the camp with their tents and pulling out various other supplies. The sole exception being Duncan, who was very confused about what he should do. Was she serious? Did she intend for him to sleep with her? Did he want to? Well, of course he did, but should he? Was he being presumptuous if he didn't set up a tent? Would it send the wrong message if he did? What was the right message? Why was this so difficult?

Sunshine went up to him, leaned in to him, kissed him on the cheek and winked. "Duncan," she said in a low voice, "I was joking, the bed only vibrates on a new moon." She paused. "I think I would enjoy your company though, even if only to sleep. I don't want to make you uncomfortable and I can tell you're conflicted. Do what you think is best for your own peace of mind. Regardless of what you decide, my tent is open to you, and my bed is incredible, and big. I'm old enough to know that we could comfort each other" She left him at that and sought out Grace who was wrestling, alongside Alistair, with their tent. It was amusing to watch the former Prince and the former Modern Girl try and set it up with the ease the others had with the task. Sunshine decided that Alistair could swallow his pride and ask Aedan for some help and approached Grace.

"Hey Grace, I have lots of lovely toiletries, including a brand new package of deodorant. Why don't you join me for a bath? I have this lovely..." Before she could finish, Grace impulsively hugged her, surprising both of them, saying, "you had me at 'deodorant!'" Grace grabbed her bag of clean clothes and headed out with Sunshine to the hot springs, a bit away from camp. Sunshine laid out various containers of shampoo, conditioner, soap, shaving cream, razors and sponges. Grace was pretty sure that Sunshine was sent by someone good, and wasn't sure who had done the phenomenal deed to get her, but wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. Caught up in her gratitude to the Maker, or whomever, Grace forgot the fact that she wasn't used to communal bathing with strangers. This made her moderately surprised when she looked up to see Sunshine completely naked and slipping into the water. She had a number of tattoos, a couple of which seemed to glitter. She was grateful when Sunshine quietly understood her hesitance and turned her back until she heard Grace splash in.

"I have lots of questions, and I suppose you do too," Sunshine said. "I'm not sure where you're from, as Duncan was vague on that topic. So I'll break the ice. Hmmm, I came, originally from a place, with the unique name of Earth. Ring any bells?" At Grace's nod, she continued. "Your accent, unless new found, places you as some kind of British? Well, I'm sure you know my accent sounds some kind of American, unless you're from pre-Columbus Britain - no wait, that can't be right since you first thought it was a car backfiring. Okay, so I'm from the West Coast, moved throughout the country. Dreamed too hard one night, found myself somewhere else, and eventually ended up here." Grace was amused by the way Sunshine talked, it was sweet and convoluted but not inaccurate, she was surprised when Sunshine said, after a pause, "I don't suppose you've ever played video games?"

"Dragon Age?" Came Grace's reply. At Sunshine's nod, Grace sighed. "Well I know you talked to Duncan about a lot of things, what do you need filled in?"

"I don't know where to start, really. Hmmm, how about Loethering, did you find the Hawkes, are they real?"

"Sadly, I didn't think of it while I could have investigated, I was somewhat overwhelmed by everything."

"Eamon, asshole or good guy?"

"He was in no state to chat, so I have no idea, but it was Jowan who poisoned him."

"How about Morrigan? Why isn't she here?"

"She, umm, has already been taken over by Flemeth." Grace unconsciously conveyed her unhappiness with this.

"I'm sorry, Grace. Would she really have been your biological sister?"

"I think so, I didn't want to press Flemeth too hard and have to hear the grisly details." Grace tried to get back to nonchalance but Sunshine Jack isn't the Disreputable Urban Cowgirl for want of moxie.

"Grace, I feel like I need to know, Duncan said he didn't want to pry, but...how was your adoptive family to you?"

"Oh, you know," came her vague reply. "They were a family and loved me, I suppose." Sunshine could sense that she was shutting down from her and disliked it, so she splashed some water on Grace, and then winked when Grace sputtered from the water. She then got a face full of water in return and it was a brief war, which Grace won by cheating with magic and summoning a little rain on Sunshine.

"Well," Sunshine said after surrendering, "I guess Duncan was serious about magic." She grinned at Grace and began dragging herself out to lather her legs up with shaving cream. "So, what are your questions?"

Grace thought for a moment, "so what were you before you left...whatever excuse you used to indicate how you got here, before all that?"

Sunshine thought about her answer while shaving her legs, which fascinated Grace as she was still completely naked and in full view of Grace. She decided that her dad was a lucky man because Sunshine's legs were rather thick with hair, as were hers, and she thought she knew why Sunshine was shaving.

"You know, I don't want to get into the long version, but I was Math Professor at a college. I had a family, a great husband and three fabulous children. I suppose traveling to other worlds was always a fantasy of mine. Of all my fantasies to come true, I wonder why it was this one, and not the one where everyone treated life like it was a musical and burst out in song and dance numbers to convey life. I don't mean to imply that I wanted to be in Thedas, God knows I prefer plumbing, but I wanted to travel to other worlds. I suppose a lot of people do, I just dreamed too hard for it, I guess. At least that's how it was explained to me when it all first began. It's been awhile. I had actually forgotten about Dragon Age until I got here and met the soldiers from Rainsfere. I'm glad to say that I made the right call on that one."

"But the guns, how does a Maths Professor learn how to use a sniper rifle? That doesn't make sense," Grace said.

"Well, I seem to land myself in some war torn places. I didn't think to ask for magic, so I asked for guns. Pretty American of me, huh? The thought of using a sword, or swinging a mace? No thanks! I prefer distance. It does make it slightly harder to fight in a world like this, everyone wants to be all up in my business, and I want to be about fifty meters away and up high. See, I used the metric system! Aren't you proud?"

Grace laughed lightly, "very proud," she said. "On a more serious note, hurt my dad and I promise it will be painful." In spite of sounding serious, Sunshine smiled at her while rinsing her legs, playfully toeing some water about. "I mean it!" Which just made Sunshine smile wider.

"I like you, kid," Sunshine said, casting her voice to a scratchy whiskey baritone. "And I 'taint gonna break his heart. I'm too old for such shenanigans." In a more serious tone, "Grace, I'm not sure what's going to happen. I do know that I could develop something special with him, would you be alright with that? I know you're relationship with him is still new, I don't want to infringe on that in anyway...But he smells good, I know that sounds silly, but it's true. I just want...to be sweet with someone again."

Grace decided that she should really think fully before answering. She and Sunshine were getting out, toweling off, backs turned to each other, as she mulled it over. She thought about Alistair and Anders and Zevran. She thought about Leliana and Aedan. Danforth's words came back from earlier as well. Once they were both dressed, and Sunshine was brushing out her hair she finally replied, "I think it would be good for him, and I want him to have happiness. I don't know how this will all end, but make him happy, please."

Sunshine smiled and indicated for her to turn around and she began brushing Grace's hair for her. She began humming a little tune that sounded somewhat familiar, as if Grace had heard it before in passing. Sunshine pulled out some nice smelling product and began massaging Grace's scalp, it was incredible. Grace made a brief mental note to tell Leliana about all these great, girly things as she was sure she would be appreciative. As she was finishing up she said to Grace, "honey, I want you to do something for me? I promise I'll do my best to always make your father blush with happiness. And this is not in exchange for that, I'm too selfish, I think, to make him happy just for you. I want you to try and let love in. I know you love, but I mean with Duncan. Neither of you got to develop your relationship with each other, in a natural way. Give it the good 'ol college try, huh?"

Grace nodded in reply and they collected their belongings and headed back to camp. Sunshine was thrilled to notice that Duncan was in her tent when she returned. He had removed his armor and was sitting on the edge of the bed. He looked up, smiled shyly, and said, "I had to take just a peek, everyone else did before I could, I saw the bed..." He gestured to the room, "it's magnificent in here, and the bed...I, I think I shall go bathe." He began to get his bag when Sunshine put her hand on his arm, stalling him.

"Hold on," she said with a shy smile. After a little rummaging she pulled out a bar of soap, handing it to him, "it's sandalwood scented, so you won't smell all girly. And here," she said giving him a clean towel, "this is better than that scrap of cloth you have. And Duncan, I long you here." She met his eyes, they both blushed, in anticipation. Duncan nodded, still unsure of how to respond to her in the best way and headed out.

Sunshine, who was full of useful cooking items and spices, was helping Leliana prepare their dinner. Leliana had gone hunting and came back with some fresh meat, wild mushrooms and some edible roots. She confided, while the men were off bathing, aside from Aedan, that she was going to take a bath with Aedan after dinner. She also inquired about the lovely products Grace had told her about and Sunshine was more than happy to comply and loan them to her. "Do you really shave your legs?" Leliana asked.

"Yes, although it's an awful habit to start. So if the men and women here are none the wiser, don't start," Sunshine said, with a laugh in her voice. "If I wasn't so conditioned to believe that it was a necessary prelude to seduction I wouldn't bother."

"Aha! So you admit it! You plan on seducing our dear Duncan." Leliana said, while looking very pleased. "Good, he needs some warmth, of the womanly variety, no?" Leliana was even more pleased that she received an answer by way of blush from Sunshine. It bode well for Duncan that Sunshine would blush at the thought of being the womanly warmth. Leliana was very pleased indeed.

Sunshine grinned, aware that she was blushing, no sense in hiding it. And went about creating a culinary masterpiece for everyone. She did make Aedan and Leliana skin and clean the meat as she didn't know how herself, and had to ask for advice on roasting rabbit, much to their amusement. They did agree that she seemed to know what she was doing otherwise. By the time everyone had returned Sunshine had managed to have set up a long cloth with plates, full serving dishes, breads with lots of small pots of butter and jams, along with a few bottles of wine. The men were all staring, more than a little dumbfounded, at her ability to produce so much. She was happy with the rarebit she made, even if she thought it was too gamey for her general preference, and was more than thrilled that she was able to feed people. It made her feel less useless, there was only so much sniper work in a place like this, at least she had her cooking skills and a large tent, with a big enough bed...she made herself blush.

Danforth and Gavarth made themselves moderately useful by cleaning up and putting away the extra dishes and utensils in a large basket that Sunshine indicated was their home. Sunshine went into her tent while the others were gathering around the campfire and came back with an instrument in hand. She opened the case and Grace vaguely recognized that it was a banjo - cowgirl, banjo - of course. Sunshine sat herself down on high stump and began to tune the instrument. "So what'll it be folks? Fast and furious, or slow and sweet?" Sunshine looked around at her companions. At the majority, or at least the loudest of them, calling for fast she broke into 'Soldier's Joy'. "Ya'll can clap along if you want." Which led to some hearty noise making with their hands. When the song died down she said, "let me sing you a traditional song from the South, called 'Buck-Eyed Rabbit', and please join in the chorus."

I wanted sugar very much
I went to sugar town
Climbed up in that sugar tree
And shook that sugar down