Chapter Text
Session 1-
After receiving numerous complaints from the bartenders at the Herald’s Rest regarding the numerous patrons who came by to just “talk” and receive “advice”, the Inquisition decided to hire a group of professionals who could help Skyhold residents deal with grief, relationships, depression, and other psychological issues.
Dr. Cloud, who specialized in relationship and communication skills, carefully made his way over to the seated couple. He noticed that the woman had a soft smile on her face while flipping through a small novel. Her hair was somewhat unkempt, as though she rushed to get ready and forgot to brush her hair. The man on the other hand, had an agitated scowl on his face and stared out the nearby window, his hair was perfectly in place. The Inquisitor and the Commander?
Ok, let’s see what’s going on here, “Hello, my name is Dr. Cloud. Mr. and Mrs. Rutherford?” The doctor smiled and extended his hand. Mrs. Rutherford smiled broadly and shook the doctor’s hand. Mr. Rutherford eyed the doctor warily and only extended his hand out of basic courtesy.
“Well it’s great to have the two of you here today. May you please follow me into my office?” The doctor opened the door and stepped aside to allow the couple entry. “You may sit down right there.” The doctor got settled behind his desk and pulled out a quill and parchment for notes. “So just to lay out a few ground rules, this is a safe place. Anything you share with me will be completely confidential. Please use I statements such as ‘I feel like’ or ‘I was upset because’. In addition, just one person should speak at a time.”
“What if one person,” Mr. Rutherford eyed his wife, “Wants to hog all of the talking time?”
The doctor smiled kindly, “Well, I’m here to help mitigate that.”
“Well, what if one person doesn’t speak much English and just grunts and sighs.” Mrs. Rutherford tilted her chin up at her husband.
“Again, I’m here to help the two of you communicate effectively with one another.” The doctor straightened his papers and cleared his throat. “Now, why are you two here? Who would care to start?”
Mr. Rutherford rubbed the back of his neck and raised an eyebrow at his wife, “I’m sure you’d like to go first. You did initiate this ridiculous meeting.”
“You’re right Mr. Rutherford. I do want to start first and I did initiate this meeting.” Mrs. Rutherford turned her attention back to the doctor seated before them, “Mr. Rutherford doesn’t-“
“Remember, ‘I feel’ statements are best received by the listener?” The doctor interjected.
“Right, ‘I feel’ like Mr. Rutherford isn’t supportive of my training habits and extracurricular activities.”
The doctor raised an eyebrow as he wrote his notes, “Ok please share what some of those activities are my Lady.”
“Well, for example, my friends and I like to train and have fun while doing so! He seems to get annoyed that I don’t want to train here in Skyhold.”
Ser Rutherford sat forward in his seat, “Are you going to tell him where you like to train, and what kind of dummies you like to use?”
Lady Rutherford rolled her eyes, “I don’t know why it bothers you that I go to the Follow Mire to train! The undead are simply live dummies. You should take your scouts there.”
The doctor sucked in a deep breath, that is a little strange, but he had to be neutral. “Ok, and how does this make you feel Mr. Rutherford?”
“I feel like it’s a waste of time. After a while, the undead no longer makes you stronger but they are still dangerous. I feel that it’ll be best to stay out of unnecessary danger.”
Mrs. Rutherford rolled her eyes, “Cullen simply doesn’t understand that it’s a wonderful middle ground between sparring with live people and the fake dummies he uses for his troops. And it’s fun making sure we don’t accidently hit one of those strong ass animals that end up trying to kill us! Besides, it’s not like I’m hunting dragons...”
“Anymore.” Cullen interjected.
“Whatever.”
The doctor looked up from his writing, “Ok, perhaps there is some middle ground here…Lady Rutherford, you want to train, but not with the fake dummies here at Skyhold. Ser Rutherford, you don't want your wife in unnecessary danger…” His eyes twinkled at the couple before him, “Do you have any suggestions?”
Mr. Rutherford rubbed his face in thought, “Perhaps, we could wake up a bit earlier than the troops and train together?”
Mrs. Rutherford considered the thought, “Maybe we can train together…just the two of us...I guess Bull can continue to train with the Chargers, Cassandra, and Blackwall…”
Mr. Rutherford noticed that his wife was chewing on her bottom lip as she often did when other thoughts were crossing her mind.
“Great! The two of you are doing well so far.” The doctor said, noting his clients shifting body language. “Let’s continue, how are the two of you doing in other areas, such as intimacy?”
“Good.”
“Bad.”
They answered in unison. The doctor raised an eyebrow, “Ok, there seems to be opposing ideas on what intimacy is or its perceived status. Let’s start with you Ser Rutherford.”
Cullen cleared his throat, “Well, I thought…wait, what do you mean by ‘bad’?!”
“Wait, wait, Ser Rutherford that may not be what she meant, I’d like for you to explain why you think things are going well.”
Slightly pissed off, he answered, “Well I assumed that everything was good: we fuck like every night, everywhere, and at whatever time. We also make love occasionally...”
Mrs. Rutherford, rolled her eyes, “This,” she waved her hand in her husband’s direction, “Is the problem. Josephine set up a romantic evening for the two of us to go to Orlais to see the opera and what did he do? He slept through the entire thing!”
“I wasn’t sleep; I probably passed out from the bloody nonsense I was hearing.”
The doctor nodded his head in understanding, “So, to you Ser Rutherford-“
“Cullen.”
“Ah hem, to Cullen, intimacy is sex. And to you my lady, intimacy is quality time?” Cullen shrugged his shoulders, his wife nodded in agreement.
“We do spend quality time together we play chess; we hang out with friends…” Cullen didn’t understand. Didn’t she know there’s a shitload of shit to take care of?
Mrs. Rutherford nodded her head in agreement, “Yes, we do those things, but I want us to go out sometimes and get away from Skyhold. I also want to not "fuck". I want us to make love more often.”
The doctor pursed his lips together in thought, “Perhaps there is somewhere special away from Skyhold that the two of you can visit together? A place that is quiet but intimate where the two of you can talk?”
They silently thought about it, “Hmm, Cullen we haven’t visited the lake in Denerim in a very long time…”
Cullen agreed, “You are right. Maybe we can go there a bit more often…maybe we can bring a few items to make things a bit more…comfortable.”
The doctor smiled approvingly. “Excellent you two. As a note, intimacy is much more than sex. I understand that you two are leading a group through a war, but do make time for the two of you to connect emotionally, socially, and in other ways besides...uh...rushed sexual stimulation." The doctor clasped his hands. "This ends our session for the day. Your assignment is to spend this week training together and take one day this month to visit your special lake, alone and with proper provision. When we meet again next month, I’d like an update.”
The couple nodded in agreement and thanked him.
Dr. Cloud stood up from behind his desk and extended his hand out to the couple before him. He watched as the couple exited the room. As they walked down the hallway, he noticed Cullen grab the Inquisitor’s bum and squeeze it affectionately. She giggled and exaggerated the sway of her hips as she walked in front of him, Cullen stared intently on said hips.
Dr. Cloud shook his head and sighed, “Yup, there’s no problem in that department apparently.”