faderift | [ OPEN ] Do you believe in magic?

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[ OPEN ] Do you believe in magic?

WHO: Jim Kirk & Anyone
WHAT: Catchall through Harvestmere (October)
WHEN: Timing (backdated, covering a span, etc.)
WHERE: Location
NOTES: Content warnings, OOC notes, links to other relevant posts, etc.

A - The Magic Man's Come and He's Here to Stay
The morning that changed it all had not begun like he'd expected, obviously. It had been rather embarrassing actually (not that he would be recounting that particular part of the story, especially when he would be apologizing for it for the rest of the month most likely). But ever since the change had happened, he began to make regular trips outside of the walls of Skyhold and out into the forests, away from the immediate eyes and ears of the general masses.

After all, he didn't need everyone looking in on him as he pointed his shard-embedded hand at a tree, waiting for something to happen. He felt terribly foolish, but he knew he had shot a beam from his shard - several times, in fact. Whatever was happening, it wasn't a fluke, and he had better learn to control it less it get away from him in a critical moment.

"On!" Pause. "Fire!" Another pause. "Damn it, do something!"

Pew!

"Please don't let that be my trigger phrase...."

B - Listen Up, I Never Say Anything Twice (Classes)
Currently, Kirk run three classes, all at varying times. It made for an interesting schedule, but it kept him busy, and he enjoyed it. All three classes were open to anyone who wished to join, which meant his classes often had mixed skill levels.

Mathematics had Kirk walking between the students, grouping them according to kill level and doing mini-sessions. With the smallest ones or those with no knowledge he focused on the basics, patiently pointing out how to handle the equations. The groups went up from there, and after a bit Kirk clapped his hands to get their attention.

"All right, who wants to play a game?"

--

Once math was over, he moved on to the sciences. His focus for right now was an understanding of the human body (he was not comfortable enough in the physiology of the other races to teach it), and overall health, along with natural science such as how weather worked. Really it varied, and every lesson could get easily derailed as students asked questions and he expanded.

"All right, all right - anything else before I move on?"

--

And of course there was self defense classes, focusing on hand-to-hand combat. Like his other classes, he paired skill level with skill level. Unlike his other two, he was far more strict here, walking between partners, critiquing and demonstrating.

"Come on, go at it for real!" he called. "This is practice for a real life situation, so better treat it like one!"

C - The Man About Town
When not practicing with his shard or teaching his classes, Kirk was running errands around Skyhold, acting as a sort of courier for businesses. It wasn't the best pay, but it saw him through the days. It meant he ran between businesses in the market and even around the medical tents.

He spent time at the stables as well, working on his horsemanship, or visiting with Boggie. He could often be seen talking to him and petting the bog unicorn, sometimes with his cats, Leonard and Nikita, in tow.

Of course he would make appearances at the tavern, happy to sit and enjoy an evening of music and song with drink in hand. Some nights he could convinced to sing of his strange, other-worldly songs too.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The stables held a large black horse that seemed to tower over other horses there. He was a beautiful creature who was calm until a man who had to be seven feet tall walked in. Then the animal seemed to almost vibrate with joy at the sight of his master which brought a hearty belly laugh from Iskandar.

"Yes, yes! I am here! You see me each day and yet you still are so thrilled to see me, my friend!" He was just walking towards the horse when he paused to let the two cats walk in front of him first. "Ah and it seems we have a pair of find feline warriors visiting today, Bucephalus!"

The beast was hard to miss, and Kirk had wondered who would both need and keep such a massive animal. In some respects, he was jealous because the horse was quite beautiful. The cats, however, were far less impressed. Upon being addressed, Leonard turned and meowed at Alexander, which no doubt in cat speak was something like 'we are the finest warriors', since cats had no concept of humility.

"You'll make them both impossible with compliments like that," Kirk chuckled behind Alexander, saddle and bridle balanced against his hip.

"Hm?" Seeing the young man now, he turned to face him with a large grin spread across his face. One could definitely say that he was a very friendly person right off the bat at least! Then again, that was the sort of thing Iskandar preferred anyway. "I see no problem with this. Cats are meant to be impossible. It is their lot in life, yes?"

He laughed then and nodded toward the saddle. "Are you going for a ride, my friend?"

Kirk nodded, setting the saddle and bridle on wooden supports for just that purpose. "Yeah, I thought I might head out for a circuit or two around Skyhold, give these guys a change of scenery for a bit."

He nodded at the cats, whom had jumped atop a nearby hay bale and settled together to watch the proceedings, nobles watching servants. How had Kirk gotten to that point in his life.

Kirk looked back to Alexander as he gathered the halter to take out his borrowed horse. "Company I can actually talk to would be welcome."

"Then I will gladly join you! Bucephalus will always enjoy a ride out." And the horse he was referring to was the massive black one that he now walked towards. The animal bumped into him with his nose which brought a laugh from the large man as he stepped in to get the saddle and bridle on him.

"I am Iskandar, by the way. Who might you be since we will be riding together?"

Far better to have exchanged names than to go through a conversation without knowing. Of course he could go either way but that often fell into the realm of him just being willing to talking almost anyone breathing.

"James Tiberius Kirk, but Jim does just fine," he smiled at the two of them before turning to get his own animal out - a large dappled creature that could very easily have been more draft than riding animal.

"The cats are Leonard and Nikita," he introduced them as he did a quick check of his horse, grunting as he pushed at its flank to get him to lift up a massive hoof.

"Come on, don't be like that," he muttered to the animal.

"Having trouble there, my friend?" It seemed Iskandar had such a partnership with his horse that he already had the animal out and waiting to be ridden. Patting his neck, he left him to go over to where Jim was, looking in to see what he was having problems with.

"Ah, have you greeted your horse before you went to see to it?"

Might as well ask, right? It wasn't like he saw what happened.

"He's just being lazy," he shook his head. "I was taught to check their hooves and legs before riding, to make sure there's nothing off. Last thing I want is for you to hurt yourself," he patted the large flank, the horse standing just taller than his six feet af the shoulder.

Not to mention this wasn't his personal horse, so the very last thing he wanted was to return an injured horse. Some day soon he would get his own, but for now he rode on the generosity of others.

"He looks fine. But I'm on to your belly bloating trick when I do the girth," he warned the dapple, who merely snorted and might very well have rolled his eyes.

That brought another laugh to the man. "Such a clever animal!"

Reaching in, he gave the beast a stroke to his nose before going back to his own and mounting him. Sitting there, he watched Jim continue with his checks and preparations, obviously aware that someone was still new to all of this. Spoilers...that someone wasn't Iskandar.

"How long have you been riding?"

"I've been here about six months or so, so probably around five months?" He thought aloud as he saddled up. That he could do quickly and efficiently, at least. He didn't care if he came across as inexperienced. To him, you should check your animal every time, the same as you would your ship before leaving port. Better safe than sorry.

"Never had to ride a horse before coming here," he shrugged, leaving off putting the bridle to gather the cats and slip them into their leather leash harnesses and set them up on the horse before finishing and mounting up himself.

"No? I suppose this is something I'm used to since I would ride my companion here or my chariot into many a battle. Though those days were many years ago on Earth now it seems." Enough for him to appear in history books anyway. Which he'd happily read about because he saw no reason to see what became of things after his death.

"Are you ready to ride out, my friend?" As the experienced one here, he obviously felt it better to go at the pace Jim set. Mostly to make sure that the young man was comfortable with things since he clearly didn't have the same relationship with his horse that Iskandar had with his own.

"You're from Earth?" Kirk asked, clicking his tongue and moving out, the cats balancing perfectly on the rump of the horse.

"That means you're a Rifter then," he said, but there's something like relief there, an instant comraderie. His own shard was wrapped and concealed by bandages on his hand that he always kept on in public, especially during the day.

"I am!" Without hesitation he lifted the hand with the shard. He was not one to hide anything he was and that included this new development. Far better to be open about it then show off who he really was in his opinion.

"Do you know of Earth then?" He'd meet a couple of people who did but he hadn't expected to meet another!

"I'm from it," he laughed and raised his hand, moving the bandages to flash the green of his shard. "American by birth if you want to get specific, year 2263."

"So far ahead!" Iskandar looked terribly impressed and delighted by that. "Let's see here, that would make me a little over two thousand five hundred years in your time! Quite a stretch of time from when I was conquering lands!"

Well, not was Kirk's turn to look impressed. Once upon a time he would have dismissed the notion of living quite so long outright, but who really knew in these other earth's, right? Hermoine's had magic, after all.

"Two thousand, five hundred years?" he said, running the calculations in his head. "So were around in Ancient Rome?" Assuming Rome was still ancient and hadn't managed to keep its hold on the world.

"Macedonia! I am Alexander the Great!" He grinned at him with such pride. He was so thrilled that someone had thought to add Great to his name. It really showed that his accomplishments were not lost to time.

"My time was before that Rome."

For a long, long moment, Kirk stared at the other man. There is that brief moment where he wants to protest, to claim that the other could not possibly be Alexander the Great, but then - why couldn't he be? Why couldn't he exist in another world with different rules? Oh sure, he was still having a bit of trouble with the age part, but if he could accept half the shit going on in this world, then why not what Alexander was saying?

Plus, if he really was Alexander the Great... god, the things he must know, must have seen and done, the sheer knowledge lost to the ages. His mouth actually gapes for a full minute before -

"Holy shit."

Throwing his head back, he let out the loudest of belly laughs. That was such a glorious reaction! Iskandar loved it and reached over from his horse to clap Jim on the shoulder. Obviously the young man had heard of him so there was no need to cover that aspect. Now it was just time to move onto appreciating the moment together. After all, this was a man who adored when people had heard of him and knew of his history.

"Indeed! It is I! Always an honor to meet one who is familiar with me!"

Another clap and then he had his hand moving to pat his horse on the neck. "And this is Bucephalus, the same horse that I rode on in many a battle."

The great booming laugh shook him out of his shock - or maybe it was the slap to his shoulder. He rocked on his horse, the cats watching the proceedings with great interest that swiftly turned to boredom when they realized nothing unpleasant was going to happen to their owner.

"Familiar, yeah," he laughed, having some good grace to blush for being so star struck. "I've ready a lot of books about you - at least, your incarnation in my world, especially ones on your military tactic. And yes, all of them are sure to mention Bucephalus. He's almost as famous as you."

"I should hope so. He was a valuable asset and dear friend." He gave his horse another pat on the neck. They'd been through so much together and he'd been saddened when his friend had died. To know that he would move through the afterlife to join him after Iskandar had died as well was moving. Companions even after death...

"Are you an admirer of mine and my tactics then, my friend?" Iskandar looked rather thrilled with that. Someone familiar with his name but also a fan of his? How could he not be pleased by that?

Edited 2016-10-19 07:22 (UTC)

Suddenly Kirk found himself blushing for one of the few times in his life. Not got embarassment, but for the sudden rush of meeting someone so, well, legendary. He practically vibrated with enthusiasm, bursting with questions. Even if he did harbor a few doubts about the other being the real Alexander, why not simply enjoy the fact he just might be? More impossible things had happened, and he was familiar enough with time travel to know it wasn't quite impossible (minus the age business).

"Yes, very much," he nodded. "I've always been intrigued by how you bucked traditional military methods and adapted to your situation, no matter your enemy. And the way you governed those places you conquered I thought was quite forward thinking, in leaving local governments in place for the most part."

He had thoughts about the whole conquering thing, but it was a past issue that neither of them could do much about, and didn't take away from Iskandar's accomplishments.

"True conquest is when you obtain victory without destroying and conquer without humiliation. Those people had the rights to their lands even as I made them my own. Besides, I liked to see their cultures."

He laughed then and pointed to himself. "That is why I am Iskandar now. This is the last name I took on after my last conquest. I wanted to build a kingdom where the people could look toward their ruler as someone who embodied their hearts and who walked among them even as he stood above them. For a King must be one to exemplify all that is good and evil so that they might be inspired to achieve greater things."

There was a pride in his voice that spoke volumes. Yes it was true he was proud of himself. However, that pride was something he extended to his people as well. He was proud to have fought with them, to have led them, to have talked with them and laughed with them and cried with them.

"As for my methods, I see no reason why one should do things traditionally or perfectly. Is it not more satisfying when great results are achieved using poor methods?"

It felt truly surreal, speaking to such a monumental figure as Alexander the Great about his achievements in the Roman era. Even if he wasn't quite whom he said he was, for the moment he was to star struck to really care. Why not believe in something just that amazing for a few minutes? Plus it was hard not to get drawn in to the others apparent pride, familiar with the feeling any time he spoke of his own ship, of the accomplishments of himself and his crew. Thousands of years removed, and he could find common ground with this man.

"Well, I wouldn't use poor methods, per say," he chuckled. "Just because you think outside the box from the standard doesn't make it a poor method, just untried. But that's the problem with standard, you know? There are so few situations that one can consider truly "standard". Better to adjust to the situation than stick to a losing method just because that's what done, right?"

"Exactly! Besides, the thing that no standard strategy will ever recall is that there are people involved. Individuals on both sides."

Iskandar knew that a single person could change the course of a battle. One wouldn't believe it to be so but that was where they were wrong. That was the beauty of a person in his eyes. They could seem so small an insignificant in the midst of chaos but they could turn a tide the way no one else could.

"I prefer to be unexpected. To adjust to the flow of a the scene before me. If something will not work then there is little point in continuing to try it when another method could succeed in that moment."

C - Stables

Re: C - Stables

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