da peeps reactions to chronic pain headcanons
This is a little self-indulgent, migraines specifically but can apply to other types of pain. @lavellanlove and I were discussing this, since both of us suffer from chronic migraines. Thank you for brain storming with me, hun! The other day I saw @littleblue-eyedbird post about having a migraine and I thought, thereâs more of us out there than we think. If you have a request, feel free to send me a message! <3Â
Please listen to Waiting Here by Jake Issac while youâre reading~
Cullen knows what itâs like. The lyrium makes his head pound and there are some days that sunlight makes the pressure behind his eyes pulse. Some days that the medicines just doesnât work and so he understands more than anyone else. Heâs a dear friend in those times when you feel so useless, like such a burden. When you are frustrated and weary, he doesnât offer much other than a ear to listen. He understands the well-meaning advice, he understands how minimizing it can be, and refrains from offering it. Instead, you share stories of when one presented at the wrong time and crack secret smiles across the room. Thumbs up for good, thumbs down for meh, two for itâs bad today.
Leliana finds all the stuff thatâs not exactly the⊠most accepted way of treatment but helps nonetheless. You visit her one day in the rookery and she passes it to you, chuckling softly when your eyes widen. You ask her how she obtained it, and she only gives vague half-answers, light teases. Donât worry about it. You try each one, and when something gives any relief at all, she makes sure thereâs an ample source of it. Perceptive as ever, sheâs the one during the War Table meetings to notice you are in pain first, despite how good you are at hiding it. Sheâll insist on dismissing the meeting immediately, and takes note of the pain.
Josephine bends over backwards and stays up late into the night in order to make sure you have as little work to do as possible. She reads every single piece of paper that comes through the door, and if you are required to deal with something, there is always a note summing up the contents of whatever it is, so that you donât need to strain your eyes more than necessary. When you are having a bad one, she arranges for food easy on the stomach, you donât even have to ask. There is a team of people to check on you that donât disturb your slumber, that keeps track of if youâre eating, that keeps notes on the duration, her meticulous nature extending to even this.
Vivienne is the one who recognizes it first. You notice her staring intensely at you, but you just cannot waste the energy. One day, you hear her mutter something to Solas, just so quietly somewhere behind you, Do you feel the change in their aura? and his soft hum in response. She stops wearing perfume. It is odd, to say the least. She showed it to you when you first met -it was her favorite- and when you ask, she dismissively waves, It was garbage anyhow. She knew it was a trigger before you did. There is a sharp edge to the words when you are denied something you like: My dear, if chocolate were an issue, you would not be finding any in the whole of Skyhold. Her expectations are set high, a scalding hiss when they are not met somewhere at the edge of your hearing. She guards your autonomy with a vice grip, and it makes you feel so damned thankful. There is a time where you are trapped in pain so seizing that it keeps you for days and she feels so, so helpless that she sets aside her fears and seeks out ColeâŠ
Dorian always has his nose in a book. Why does he carry so many, you wonder. Thereâs no reason to bring them out here, they are so precious and - do they need to send it back to the Arcanist? There are many mornings where his eyes are dark-rimmed and drooping, nights where you wake him to send him to his tent, having fell asleep before the fire. But when you get back to Skyhold there is a package. Carefully, it is packeted, tiny piles of dust, and he explains what to do. One in your morning tea, at first. Medicines from Tevinter, used to treat something else but, but possibly it is the same cause, manifesting in a different way. The effects are logged, carefully monitored, titrating very little at a time. After several tries, you are reduced to tears when you wake one morning without a even an ache, throwing yourself into his arms when you see him. Itâs not over, there are the triggers, but at least itâs progress. Finally, progress.
Solas gets teased a lot, but he doesnât seem to mind. The two of you are not an item, you blush and scowl, but the needling fades when everyone realizes what heâs doing. A hand settling lightly on your shoulder, a pass of fingers through your hair, tracing down the back of your neck, magic beneath them to soothe the pain. He somehow knows when youâre in pain before you even realize there are âtellsâ and he comes to you immediately in attempts to stop it before it intensifies. Healing, disguised as fleeting touches of affection. His lilting voice comes in almost whispered tones when he speaks to you, though not so soft that you must strain to hear. He teaches you to meditate, to calm your stress with gentle measured breaths, and is always there to listen to your trials. Not without your permission, he hangs at the edges of your mind while you sleep, dispelling nightmares before they can form. He conjures home for you, to be at peace.
Blackwall is insistent on resting. Measuring the time by the height of the sun, he doesnât let the gang go too many hours of travel before taking a break. He tries to remember the tells Vivienne points out with determination, he and Sera helping each other to not forget when things get rambunctious. It doesnât mean that you donât joke and play, but things get quieter. He throws himself in front of you more readily during battle when you show one of the signs, willing to take a blow for you to not be in pain for the next couple days. When you do have a bad pain day, heâs the one bringing water from the nearest source and for the sake of you, implores whichever mage is with you at the time to make it cold enough to help. He spends the day changing the towel over your forehead.
Cassandra carries extra. Where she got them, you have no idea, but you are endlessly grateful. An herb for nausea, a cowl for the light, the extra cloths for the cold compresses. Food. You cannot simply eat anything thatâs around, see, and if you donât eat in time it can be a trigger. Sheâs always stocking up wherever she can. You try to give her the money for it, but it is only pushed away. Youâre the inquisitor. We must keep you healthy. You try to carry it yourself, but it is only pulled off your back and swung over her shoulders instead, a disgruntled sound to show her disapproval. The chef at Skyhold teaches her to make simple dishes that are okay and packed with protein. There isnât a âare you hungry?â question ever uttered, only the press of an apple, a sack of almonds, and a water skein into your hands at calculated intervals during the day.Â
The Iron Bull will suddenly show up and start massaging his fingers into the knots at the base of your neck. Or pick you up and set you on his shoulders. You wonder what exactly youâre doing that lets people know, at this point, but you arenât surprised anymore. He is a professional spy, after all. He repeatedly adjusts your posture, with a large hand between your shoulder blades. Laughter is tempered into a low rumble, a wide smile, and glittering eyes. He has a small log-book of when and why for every pain day out in the field. Once he realizes Josephine is doing the same in Skyhold, they pull their information to zero in further on your triggers. Aged cheese becomes scarce around the hold, in favor of freshly made cheeses made right in the keep.Â
Sera doesnât like being snapped at by Vivienne, but when you throw up from pain randomly while traveling, she begins to take it more seriously. She even refrains from fighting with Solas within earshot once she understands the stress it causes you to see your party members fighting. Acting as a scout for the team, she goes ahead to scope out potential threats, making sure to find ways for you to avoid them if you canât put forth the effort. When you have a bad day, she shoves a pile of herbs at Solas, making you smile. Putting aside some of her disdain for things that are âelfyâ, she has been collecting herbs so you donât need to. His quiet thanks is met with, Iâm not doing it for you, Iâm doing it for inky! and scoffs when he repeats his thanks despite it.
Varric finds that you love stories, but some days the pain is so great that your eyes blur. His reservoir of tales is never-ending, and he spends a great deal of time away from his own writing to tell them to you. And then, his manuscripts are brought upstairs, he sits beside the bed and says, Got a minute? The answer is yes, of course, because youâre laying in bed in pain but bored and unable to do anything. He reads them to you, asking for your opinion on each passage, relating to you the details of the future plot, and brainstorming possible outcomes for each. He never tells you if heâs going to use the suggestions or not, but it doesnât matter to you. Having something to do and someone to spend the time with is what you need.
Cole calls you out. Itâs exasperating, to say the least. After you found out about these tells, youâve started to attempt to stop them, hating people doting on you. Instead, Cole announces it to the entire group, asking for them to help, youâre in pain and you donât want to be a burden. No one scolds you, or is mad at you, and there are gentle smiles all around before you stop for the afternoon to rest. Cole sits beside you in your tent, smoothing the hair out of your eyes. It makes everyone happy to help, you are not a nuisance. You are a friend. You know it is his nature to heal the hurts, and decide to just allow it to be as it is. He cannot help in any other way, but the others can, the others do. It is this comfort that makes you smile. You cannot help your pain as much as Cole cannot help but need to fix it. He curls his hands in yours and waits with you, quiet except for the sound of your breathing.Â
Dagna and Harriet work together on your armor to make it more comfortable for your hurts. Things being snug and well-fitted is the key to avoid chafing and twisting, and Harriet works doubly hard to make sure things are just perfect. It is a bit strange to go in for âfittingsâ for armor, but he wonât allow you to have it until itâs to his standards. Dagna works on runes that go in new places. A rune on two blankets, one cold, one warm, to place wherever you need them. Cassandraâs cowl gets a gentle frost enchantment as well, making sure it is cool enough to soothe your head.
Mother Giselle means well. She really does, and you know it. She offers a lot of advice, she has something new every time you see her, but itâs always a bit⊠hmm⊠itâs well-meaning, you have to reassure yourself because it is a bit condensing at worse and assumptive at best. And then one day you see the garden, thereâs quite a bit of space reserved for the plants needed to make the medicine Dorian has found and it warms your heart a bit.
Lace moves all the camps so that they are in areas out of the heat, protected, safe. Initially, there are only a few camps, and she finds that you are needing to stop more often than that. No, that wonât do, she thinks, and doubles them. By time you reach a new location, there are single tents set up, a dozen of them, or more, so that youâll never have to go too far in order to have a place to rest.
