Start to Denerim - Ianto and Jezarine

Ianto frowned as it was made rather clear that everyone, indeed, had heard him. Now, why exactly that was the most pressing matter on his mind- rather than, say, being taken by surprise by a complete stranger- he wasn't sure, but it was. Still, he'd get over it. It wasn't like it was that big of a deal... maybe.

"I do not talk in my sleep, thank you very much," was Ianto's retort to Nygozy's question. "Templars who talk in their sleep find themselves dragged into the hallway by the others." And, since he'd never been hauled off, he could assume that he didn't talk in his sleep. Sharing rooms like that could get annoying- snorers were barely tolerated, but sleep-talking was an outright crime punishable by the Maker himself.

"I'm fairly certain that death would be the only feasible option left for me, if I'd been naked as well, thanks," he quipped back at 'Royce', sending the man a deadpanned look before quickly looking away. The man had a rather infectious smile, and it was hard to appear annoyed at someone when you were smiling along with them.

When Nygozy finally turned her attention on him- and Jez, who'd come up near him just a little bit ago (which further caused him internal embarrassment as yet another person was added to the 'I heard Ianto talking to himself' list)- he was fairly relieved. First, having this new guy all over her (and, himself, actually), was a tad awkward, and he felt a rather strange feeling in his gut because of it. And, second, having something to do was good. It would take his mind of this, and hopefully allow his heart and nerves a moment of respite- both were still fluttering from the recent events.

Then, of course, Royce spoke again, and he scowled back at the man. "Dainty. Right. I'll show you dainty," he muttered darkly, but quickly reigned himself in. For some reason, he wasn't quite that irked at the red-haired man's quip, anyway. He turned to Jez right after that, and took a deep breath before putting a smile back on his face. "Right then. Fine. Why don't you and I be off, and find us that house, hm?" He asked the elf, noting the slightly uncertain look on her face. Geeze, poor girl. She needed a tad more confidence in her.

Everything was going so fast that Jezarine was very unsure of what to do. It looked like the man with Nygozy was going to stab the red head ... oh he looked good too. At least there were quite a few good looking men about and that made her tummy flutter.

Jezarine got closer to Ianto as she had no clue who else to go to. She listened to the others and looked at the man when he complained about talking out loud. Since the Dalish hadn't heard him talk out loud it came as a surprise to her.

When she looked back to the three, Nygozy already had Kai's hand in hers so she sighed with relief but when Royce called the two of them "dainty" she bristled, "Hey! Ianto killed quite a few Darkspawn and is not dainty!"

The healer couldn't look mad, especially not at another cute guy. The most she could do is pouty angry but it soon ended as Ianto said they should go, "Ok." She stuck her tongue out at Royce and turned away with Ianto

Ianto laughed as they walked on, amused at Jezarine's indignant defense of him. "Let it go, Jez," he said, clearly not bothered by it, if his amused smile was anything to go by. "Being angry doesn't exactly suit you," he said with a smirk, looking down at the elf from the corner of the eye. "No offense, but I've seen kittens that frighten me more than you. Not that that's a bad thing," he quickly amended, worried that she'd think he was insulting her, or making fun of her. "It's just good to know that I won't have to worry about suffering your wrath if I ever make you mad. I mean, I think that that Kai fellow has enough 'angry' for the entire camp. Did you see the way he looked at that Royce guy? Like he was going to rip his throat right out, then and there." He laughed as he rolled his eyes, wondering if he was rambling. Doing a double-check over his words, he decided that, yes, he was indeed rambling. So, he shut up.

The walk, after all (despite his own seeming incessant talking), was nice after all of that. The forest was quiet, and now, at least, he wasn't talking to himself. He stretched his arms over his head, the events of the day finally getting to him as tiredness set in, and he rested them behind his head, interlacing his fingers as his head tilted up slightly to look at the tops of the trees, and the bit of dark sky you could see past them. It really was very nice. He hoped he wasn't boring Jez when he stopped talking... well, girls liked things like this, didn't they? Quiet walks, scenic forests, and the like? Well, whatever.

Jezarine smiled and blushed as Ianto told her to let it go, looking down shyly realizing what she had done, defending him in her own way. She knew she wasn't good at being mad and that others found it either irritating or stupid but when he said she was like a kitten she had to laugh with him.

Her eyes lifted while she continued to chuckle, "I'm really bad at that, aren't I? Uhm ... am I not? I know I know. People usually call me down when I get upset because I'm just not good at it at all and they say I look stupid or something like that but," She rubbed the back of her neck, " You meant it was cute right? Or just weak?"

She had to nod about Kai, "He seems extremely protective of Nygozy. I didn't think they knew each other at all or that's what it looked like but he really took up on his job quick. Do you think he could have been jealous? I mean, you didn't act like that towards Royce and you were already flirting with Nygozy so it's strange that he'd act that defensive. Guarding is one thing but there was no other reason to act that way I think."

Rambling, she'd been rambling once more. Damn being shy and nervous around good looking guys. She shut up and kept close beside him figuring that if there were trouble that was the best spot to be. Not to mention she liked peeking at him from the sides of her eyes. It was peaceful and pleasant just to walk with him quietly but she noticed some herbs on a tree and stopped, getting out her little bodice knife to start harvesting them. For a moment her mind was on that even as a hawk sounded off in the sky somewhere.

Ianto laughed as he walked along with Jez, lowering a hand from resting behind his head to playfully ruffle her hair. "No, no. I meant it like it was cute. Not weak. I don't think the inability to be scary makes you weak. Just, well, not scary." He rolled his eyes at his own inability to say anything that made a modicum of sense, and lowered both of his hands, letting them rest in his pockets as they continued to walk, and he continued to listen.

He chuckled as she assessed the situation with Kai and Royce and such. "Well, of course I wouldn't act as jealous as that guy. I mean, sure, flirting harmlessly is one thing, but I'm hardly going to be possessive of a woman I've only just met. That is, she's nice and all, and I respect her and even owe her my life for saving Ferelden- and that's adding a lot of reasons for why I should like her- but I can't say I feel that way about her. I haven't..." he trailed off, looking ahead but not really seeing anything before him. "Felt that way for anyone in a long time," he concluded, stopping in his walk as he stood back and allowed Jez to collect the herbs that had caught her attention. He looked skyward when he heard a hawk's cry, but didn't see it for anything other than a stray bird passing by, and ignored it.

To rid the air of the bad mood he'd left it in, he quickly looked back down from watching the sky, and continued speaking "Of course, it was still interesting to see him react like that, when he, too, has only just met her. I wonder if it's going to go anywhere. That might be interesting to see develop," he started in a much lighter tone, banishing his more depressing thoughts to the back of his mind, where the aught to have been.

Jezarine chuckled sweetly as he mussed with her hair and shrugged. She knew she couldn't be scary but was glad that at least someone felt it was cute. There were more people who didn't like it than did so this was nice to hear and the feel of his hand in her hair was nice.

"In a long time?" She was curious about Ianto's past now. He certainly could get almost any woman he wanted, or man if he were interested and the other man was as well but for him to say that meant possible heart break and that made her feel sad, "You haven't let your defenses down in a long time then? I can't imagine a woman not being taken by you."

The words came out before she could stop them and she blushed, looking shyly at the plants she'd just harvested and listened to him a bit more then nodded, "It will be interesting to see it. I'm curious about the others as well and I want to get to know people." She looked back up at him with a slight smile.

Ianto blinked and looked over at Jez with a quizzical look. "On the contrary. I can't imagine any woman taking a liking to me. I've been told that most people would rather have a conversation with a mabari. I've always wondered if that was a sort of compliment or not, since I've always thought mabari are really intelligent. I guess I'll never really know." He shrugged, then looked back at Jez with a smile. "But hey, don't worry about it. My problems are my problems, and you don't have to worry yourself over them. I shouldn't have said anything. I didn't mean to bother you."

He looked up again as they began to continue walking, wishing he hadn't made that slip earlier. He didn't want to worry the elven girl. He just felt bad doing it, like kicking a puppy or spraying water on a kitten or something. At least she had moved on to his other comment, and the conversation began to take a nicer turn, for which he was glad.

He grinned as she made her own observation, and nodded. "Yeah. I think that'll be something to see. So many people. I feel like so much has happened, but when I think back, it's barely been a day, and I hardly know anyone. I keep having to put things into perspective, or else I feel like we're all already a big happy camp. Which, of course, I hope we'll turn out to be."

Jezarine listened to all Ianto had to say and was a bit confused by what he was saying. People didn't like to talk to him? She couldn't see why. He was polite and nice and ... well, of course completely cute. Her eyes took note of the ground then she glanced back up at him shyly then her shyness became nervousness, as it tended to when seeing a good looking man who was being nice to her. That was when she started to ramble almost as though she wasn't even breathing between words.

"I don't think talking to a mabari would be better. You are good at talking and I think you're interesting. Most people don't like talking to me because I tend to ramble and when I get going it is hard to stop or even breathe and I get even worse when I don't know people or think someone is really cute and sweet and stuff like that but lots of people say not to get me started because they just can't shut me up and they're usually not all that nice about it butI don't know why because I just get nervous and is that such a bad thing to be nervous I'm not sure if it is but others think so and I'd like to be able to talk ok but I don't think you're anything like that because you don't drive me crazy like they say I drive people crazy and I agree it will be interesting because this feels so different with these people almost like a family already even though I don't know anyone I guess sorta you but not quite but I'd like to get to know you more and everyone else more and I'm kinda scared because I'm not a fighter which probably makes this more difficult for others and oh oh my maybe I shouldn't be here with this group because you do fight and I could make it difficult when everyone's fighting because I'm no good at it even though I'm told I'm a really good healer, ok so they say I'm really talented at healing but that won't make up for if someone dies because of my fighting inadequacies and oh ... "

Ianto stared, eyes wide, as Jezarine flew into the longest and most air-deprived ramblings that he'd seen in his life. He stopped where he was walking to stare in something akin to awe as she kept on, seemingly without needing air. It was fascinating.

When she finally seemed to run out of steam, he couldn't help it. He started laughing. He was almost doubled over by the time she finally finished, and raised a hand to signal that he'd be okay in just a second. Need. Air.

He straightened up after a minute and wiped an amused tear away from his face, still half-catching his breath. "I'm sorry," he winded out. "I'm not laughing at you," he added, as hurried as he could while still gasping for air. He didn't want her to think that he was laughing at her because he thought she was stupid or something.

"That was fantastic. I've never seen someone go so long without breathing before! I'm sorry, I'm not even sure that I caught have of what you said, but man, that was impressive."

He winked at her, then stretched his arms up before he landed a heavy arm around her shoulders with a sigh. "Ah, Jez. C'mon, let's keep walking. The others will be there in no time if we keep taking so long. As for your rant to end all rants, from what I gathered, you just need a little bit more confidence in yourself. You know, that's rich, coming from me, but I think it's true. Maybe it's something we can work on together, hm?" He looked down at her, hoping that the friendly gesture wasn't unwelcome. Maybe girls didn't like having a guy's arm around their shoulder as much as another guy did. That would be bad, if she got mad at him because of that. He even made a move to casually remove his arm.

Ianto starting to break up was not so much surprising as it was expected. Others had laughed at her and did not understand her nervousness, reacting towards her negatively, but the way this man was laughing was different. She tilted her head to the side a bit and watched him carefully while waiting for the expected reaction of insults and teasing.

The expectations did not come to be.

He was impressed? How was he impressed? Most people found her rambling to be annoying or a reason to not have something to do with her yet Ianto was smiling at her, winked and now had his arm over her shoulders.

Jezarine put her arm around his waist and looked up at him in confusion. Before she knew it she kissed his cheek, blushing while she did so and looked up from under her eyelashes shyly, "Few people understand me or even try to. Thanks."

Ianto blinked, staring ahead, then slowly turned his head to look at Jez, and blinked again. Well, what was that kiss for? He'd only been telling the truth. He blinked once more, the surprise of it still not quite worn off, and he only half listened to what she said afterward. Well, maybe if she wasn't used to compliments, then it was understandable.

After what he guessed was probably a little too long of blinking and staring, he quickly turned back to facing forward and cleared his throat, nodding his head. "Yes, well, yeah. It's true, though, so you shouldn't thank me or anything. In any case," he said, moving his arm from her shoulder to point further into the forest. "Onwards. I'm pretty sure Nygozy will have our heads if she gets there before we do. That would be pretty lame, wouldn't it? Being late on our one errand?" He rolled his eyes thinking about it, but then, they'd been taking their time. He wouldn't be surprised if they were even the last ones there, which still wouldn't look all that good.

As he strode forward, something he'd said seemed to catch his attention, and he looked upwards in thought as he walked alongside Jez. "You know, I wonder why that was our only errand. I mean, sure, it was pretty important to warn the family and stuff, but I'm sure you and me could have done something a little more useful. What are we, errand boys?" He almost pouted thinking about it, but stopped himself. Ah well. Nothing o do about it except do it.

As Ianto looked at her in surprise Jezarine started to feel self-conscious figuring he must not have liked or wanted her to do that. She ducked her head, lifting her eyes to see where he was pointing, feeling sad and ashamed, "I'm sorry really I am. I didn't mean to do anything you would be offended by."

Her mind jumped to what he said about them possibly being late and her eyes went wide while she took in a deep breath, "Oh no. I made us stop for these herbs and we're probably late because of that. Oh no oh no. You'll get in trouble for my stupidity. It's all my fault if they are there before we are. I shouldn't have stopped but these plants ... oh I really messed it up. Nygozy isn't going to want a ditz like me in the group."

Jezarine thought about their chore and shrugged,

"Well ... to be honest I think she just wanted less people to deal with while that little assassin was ready to gut that sexy guy." She gasped, "Oh but you're sexy too! Both of you are too sexy by far and I'm digging myself a hole again aren't I?"

Ianto laughed ones more as Jezarine went on, his feeling bad about her looking distressed effortlessly melting away as he smiled. She asked if she was digging herself deeper, and his grin widened, and he held up his thumb and forefinger in a 'just a little bit' motion. Then he laughed, and clapped her on the back.

"Come on, Jez. Relax. If we hurry, you won't be late. Plus, there's no way Nygozy's getting rid of you after all of this." He gave her a reassuring smile, hoping that she'd feel better from him staring earlier, then turned around to walk backwards, facing the elf as they continued on.

He placed his arms behind his head as he watched her walk in front of him. Or... behind him, however the case may be. "You know, with how you ramble sometimes. Do you know why you do it? I mean, is there a reason, or just have you always done it?" It was a strange question, but, perhaps in a vein similar to Jez's, when something popped into his head, it was likely that he'd end up saying it. Of course, he knew why he did it. Maybe she had a reason, too, and then maybe he could help her work on 'fixing' it. He didn't worry too much on walking very quickly. They'd been walking a while, and would have been close enough that walking at an average to fast pace would be fine.

Jezarine blushed enough that the flower tatoos on her face turned from a yellowish brown to a dark pink as he made the motion that she was digging herself in just a little bit. Then Ianto turned and walked backwards amusing her with his playful antics. She chuckled, her dark eyes lighting up with mirth and she almost skipped along after him as his cheery attitude was so infectious.

"I guess not, eh?" She smirked then shrugged, "It's usually when I get nervous or when I'm around good looking guys I'm attra ... I think are nice."

Once again she blushed and looked down shyly then took a deep breath, "The more nervous I am the worse it gets. Sometimes it is when I have so much information that I feel I have to get it out of my head before my brain swallows it up. Or something like that. Definitely if I have lots to tell or if it is exciting, important or really needed. That's the worst because if it is important then I am even more nervous."

Ianto watched Jez practically skip after him with a smile. "You know, I used to know a Templar who did the exact same thing. We all used to make fun of him so much for it. It was like, whenever he had to make a report to the Knight-Commander, he'd get so tongue tied that someone else would have to do it for him. And the funny thing was, he could talk for hours about anything, to anyone else. Finally we had enough of it, and decided that he should only turn in written reports." Ianto laughed, grinning widely. "Except the poor sod couldn't write, either, so we ended up having to do that for him, too."

It was strange. He usually didn't remember his Templar days with much affection, but whenever he thought about his Templar brothers, well... those thoughts were almost always good. He'd never regret leaving- not after what had happened- but he had to remember that it wasn't all bad, wasn't a completely wasted life.

The thought sent him off on another thought, and he smiled again at that. "And man, you should have seen the first time I had to make an official report. I tell you, right into the middle of it, I started off on a tangent on how much I liked the Commander's boots. He thought I was such a prick- some kid coming in from a rich family just because they didn't want me. Well, he was mostly right. Still, he was a good guy, the Commander. Scary as hell, but a lot like your own dad, once he got used to you." Of course, Jez probably didn't have anything good to say about Templars- she was a mage, and an elven one at that (though Templars were remarkably un-racist- any mage was bad, didn't matter if it was human or elf)- and he figured she probably wouldn't appreciate his musings, but once he started on them, he found he couldn't really stop.

Jezarine laughed at what Ianto was saying, completely amused with his stories. She knew of Templars but had not met them in such a way as to really fear them herself as she had been kept within the confines of her clan. There were many tales of how Templars reacted towards mages, especially the blood mages, but she could not feel worried about it around Ianto. He did not seem to have any hatred of mages and his stories made her rather amused.

"Oh reports I can do! Well, written anyway. Speaking is hard in front of quite a few people unless I know them. You should have seen me trying to talk to the King. That was scary but he just chuckled and patted me on the head."

She giggled as he told of his own misadventure and cheerfully patted his arm, "I think we're all like that with first reports. It's really scary no matter what you are! Well, I guess unless you are a Qunari then the report would probably be something like, 'We found it and attacked and it died.' The rest of us actually have to speak more than that."

Then she noticed the cottage up ahead and became excited, "Oh there it is! Uh ... you promise to tell me more after we see Nygozy and do our jobs? I never heard much about Templars from someone who knows of them so well. Well ... I haven't really been near Templars but if they're all like you then I can't see how people fear them."

Jezarine started off towards the cottage, glancing back at him to see what he would say. Of course he wouldn't want to chat with her more but she figured it was a nice time they had going there anyway.

Ianto turned so that he was walking forward again as Jez eagerly ran past him, the cottage now in sight. It was good to finally be there. It had been a really long day. He picked up his pace a little so that he didn't lose Jez in her excitement, but it was still a steadier pace than her's. Who would have thought that he'd ever be the calmer one in a pair of people? The thought put a smile on his face.

When Jez looked back to speak to him, he nodded absently, his mind already set in images of food, and maybe a bath. Bath, not so important, but food...

"Well, maybe not all Templars are like me then, hm?" He teased, sending her a joking smile. "Then again, how do you know I'm not some vicious mage-hunter. Huh, now, did you ever think of that? I practically eat mages for breakfast." He couldn't stop his laughter at the absurdity of that statement, even coming from him. "Well, I'd be happy to tell you all about life in the Circle after we get rested up. I have to warn you, though. I could keep you for hours. I've been known to prattle on."

Ianto's joking about being a mage eater made Jezarine laugh as well. She slowed down to laugh with him as it seemed rather absurd. There was still a chance that he was just pretending to be a pleasant Templar but his eyes lit up with the joking unlike most people who lied.

She smirked at the comment about prattling on, "Oh? And that would bother me how? You kind of forgot that I prattle very well too. We can prattle together and amuse ourselves having a prattle party."

As they got closer to the building Jezarine noticed the fire and drinkers and stopped to look at them, "Oh. That man ... Royce." All of a sudden she felt unsure as it seemed that Ianto had been attracted to Royce just the same as she had been but figured it might be interesting to talk with both, if they did. Right now they had things to do though.

"Well, I suppose we should tell Nygozy we're here."

Ianto was glad that Jez had laughed with him. She's almost seemed disappointed to see the farm house, but now was looking in better spirits, and the Templar was glad that he could help with it. He chuckled when she continued on to chastise him about saying that he prattled, and outright laughed at her declaration of having a prattle party.

"Well, Jez, your useful use of alliteration has won me over. A prattle party sounds like a great idea. We can bore each other to death together." He chuckled again, then blinked, noticing as her face too a more thoughtful look as she looked to the side of the farmhouse.

he turned his head to see what she was looking at, and then noticed Royce and a dwarf he didn't recognize sitting by a fire, looking to be drinking. He tilted his head slightly, watching them for a few moments, wondering what the mage had seen to cause her change in emotion. When she pointed out Royce specifically, he stared hard at the man, but he appeared just as he had earlier in the evening.

"Yeah, I'm sure that's him. That red hair is hard to miss. We could grab a drink with them after reporting to Nygozy, if you'd like. Maybe we can all prattle together." He smiled, glancing mischeviously towards the camp-fire before looking back at Jez. "How muh money would you bet to see me drink a dwarf under the table, hm?"

"Boring each other to death sounds like a great idea!"

It did at that! It wasn't often that she found other people who would enjoy just yammering for the sake of doing so. This was turning out to be a pretty good experience even if she'd been worried at the start. There was likely to be many more times that she would be concerned but as far as it went she was sure that being around this group would be good for her. Most especially because she now had someone she could prattle party with.

"You can out drink a Dwarf?" Jezarine looked at him in astonishment, "I would love to see that. Well let's get this done with so we can get to drinking and prattling then."

She walked into the doorway to see Lithawen lying against her horse and Sinjan sitting across from her working on a salad,

"Oh hello. I ..." She blinked, "Someone is hurt. This way ..."

With that the healer was off and looking into a room at Drake, Calliara and Marcus, "Oh my. I am late. I'm so sorry."

Jezarine went into the room and knelt beside the bed, taking Drake's free hand and starting to cast a healing spell, her whole attention on the wounded man for now. She'd heard Ianto's footsteps but was now in a healing trance.

((Jezarine has run through - https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/dragon-rest-f8/campground-farm-house-t69-15.htm and right into https://dragonageafter.forumotion.com/dragon-rest-f8/campground-resting-t72.htm#737))