faderift | When my time comes around [OPEN]

WHO: Raylan Gibbs and YOU!
WHAT: open/catch-all for August and whatever the hell september is called
WHEN: mid-August through mid-Kingsway
WHERE: Skyhold
NOTES: see subject lines for warnings and closed starters, feel free to PM or PP if you want something closed. also feel free to be like I DO WHAT I WANT and just tag me with something random.

1.no grave can hold my body down
Raylan had borrowed a staff, while his was being repaired, and headed to the training grounds. It had occurred to him that it had been nearly a year since anyone had been making him practice, and given the current state of the world, he could grudgingly admit that he should probably not get too rusty on the ability to fight. He also had a plain staff, a nonmagical one, that he could use to practice the movements if the magical staff was too heavy or he couldn't control it. He had no idea where his strength was at, at the moment.

He could be found near the edge of things with the plain staff, magical staff leaned against a wall nearby. He wore a shirt and pants as usual, instead of announcing to all who passed by that he was a mage by his clothing. He spent awhile just flipping the staff around, casually and sloppily running himself through the movements to warm up and remind his muscles what they were doing. After some time of that he started hitting a dummy with it, and when he felt confident, started trying to burn up one of the fireproof dummies. He was still sloppy and obviously weak, but he was well-trained and the movements came naturally. He was pleased to note that his aim was as good as ever. He'd be sore for a couple of days, but once that went away, he'd be back again, so there was plenty of opportunity to catch him.

2.i'll crawl home to her
There was only so long a person, even a mage of twenty-five years' education, could read incredibly dull academic tomes on the Fade before one's eyes started to bleed. Thus, Raylan would be found up on a wall of Skyhold, visible from the courtyard, facing out to look at the camp. He didn't seem nervous about falling, perched on the edge of a wall in the middle of a windy mountain range. He was just sitting there and watching the various movements of people, letting the cold air wake him up. The incredible views of the mountains around them were clearing his head.

3.when my baby found me
Raylan's laboratory, such as it was, existed in the Skyhold dungeon. It had been a small storage room full of ruined lumber, and he'd cleared it out in exchange for getting to claim it. Fire had been involved. It was big enough for a desk, a chair, a bed, and Raylan, and that was just about it. The quartermaster kept him in candles and he borrowed books from the library (and mostly he even returned them). He holed up and kept to himself, except for late morning to mid afternoon every day. He was actually working, even though the door didn't necessarily give that impression.

Three pieces of parchment were stuck to it with paste, and each had been written on with ink and a finger, so the words could be read from far away:

INQUISITION RESEARCH
VERY IMPORTANT
GO AWAY

The first knock someone gave was likely to be met with a distracted shout along these lines, but at a second attempt, he might open the door, heaving a put-upon sigh as he did.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"If you mean to starve yourself, just say so," Avery responds to the shouting as she knocks a second time.

Despite what some may believe, she does not actually live in the kitchens. But she's still down there enough of the time to be vaguely aware when certain people aren't showing up for the typical mealtimes on a regular basis. Especially when they're faces she'd once seen down there begging for treats often enough to leave an impression.

"If not, would you just open up already?"

Raylan had the grace to look slightly abashed when he realized who it was and what she was holding. He cleared his throat.

"Sorry. Work. You know how it is." He gave her his best charming smile, knowing already, from his previous interactions with her, that it was almost certainly a lost cause. "Is that for me?" he asked.

"Wouldn't have to be if you just came to the dining hall like everybody else," she grumbles (because she can't just say, 'Yes it is,' like everybody else). Sorry, pal. Even if she wasn't already immune to the charms of men, Avery's personal raincloud seems thick enough to ward off the effects of even the shiniest of smiles.

She looks around at the place he's decided to call home, dubiously. "Should I put this somewhere or...?"

"No no, I'll take it," he said, taking the plate from her. He didn't need her setting it down somewhere and ruining some nots, or worse, a borrowed book. "I appreciate it," he said, nodding to her respectfully. He'd spent his adult life in a circle, but Raylan wasn't one of those noble assholes, he tried to keep on good terms with kitchen and other helpful staff.

I'm sure there's some level where that's appreciated, even if it's not super obvious at the moment? Avery isn't overly fond of nobles or mages, really, but not being an asshole when he easily could probably wins some points.

"Sure," is her simple response as she crosses her now-unburdened arms. "Just try not to make it a habit. If I was you, I'd be looking for any excuse I could find to get out of here for a bit. It's like another cell."

One with books in, so even greater torture. Sure, Avery learned her letters well enough to do her job, but tomes that size? It's giving her a headache just thinking about trying to work her way through that mess one syllable at a time.

Fortunately, Raylan was only one of those things -- 25 years in the circle hadn't changed that at heart, he was still a hick from the ass end of a Fereldan swmp.

"I like to be alone," he offered by way of explanation. "And I like to be able to make noise and feel like I won't disturb anyone." Not so much an issue now, in the book phase, but soon he'd start doing experiments.

Ah, yes, the other side of lowborn Fereldan life, quite different from Avery's own upbringing on the uglier city streets of Denerim. But still looked down on just the same by so many.

"You that loud of a reader?" she asks skeptically.

He knew she was immune to his charms, so Raylan looked down and made some effort to hide it as a smirk spread across his face. "No, not exactly," he said, wrangling himself into something less like a naughty schoolboy before he let himself look up again. To be fair, sex wasn't the only loud thing he did, and it wasn't always loud, but it was nice to have the freedom.

Ugh, next time try a little harder to be less of a sixteen year old boy, okay? She knows that look and rolls her eyes so hard. "Don't explain. I'm begging you."

Is there even room down here for that without knocking over a stack of books or something??

Well, you know. Sixteen-year-old boys can be ingenuitive about their teenage shenanigans, right?

"I won't," he promised, having controlled himself into a more normal smile. "I appreciate the food, and I promise to bring the dish back."

"You'd better." The statement is accompanied by one of those looks commonly seen on a very exasperated mother threatening a spanking.

She lets the 'or else' hang unsaid as she turns toward the door.

When my time comes around [OPEN]

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