faderift | [ OPEN ] Are You Lost In the World Like Me?

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[ OPEN ] Are You Lost In the World Like Me?

WHO: Kirk + YOU
WHAT: Catch-all for the rest of Firstfall - open prompts + a few closed
WHEN: From Firstfall 20 onwards
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: Sheningans, flirting, cursing, sexiness, silly things,

A - Library
It had been some time since he had had the time to really explore the library, what with parties, earning coin, going out on a few missions, and learning to control the power in his shard. The library had simply felt out of reach, or at the least been on the bottom of places for him to be at.

But now he was making some effort to be there, and more often than not he could be seen with a mixture of books about history and about magical theory. He's even found a notebook to take notes in. That does not stop him from letting out frustrated breaths from time to time though. Or perhaps a lot, especially when working with the magic books.

B - The Stables
Over the course of the past six months or so, Kirk has come to enjoy the stables. There was something relaxing about being around the animals and practicing his horsemanship. He could canter with little issue now and sit nicely, though he was not going to call himself an expert (and to be fair he had been riding one of the more mild-mannered horses).

Of course he tended to spend quite a bit of time with Boggy, stroking and talking with the bog unicorn. He would even sit beside his paddock and read to him, as if the creature could understand, but if nothing else he thought it was nice for the other to hear the cadence of a friendly voice. He had even bought some tinctures to rub into the skin around his face to help protect him from the sun and keep from getting dried out. He had no idea if that was a real concern or not for the bog unicorn, but no taking chances, right?

C - The Battlements: Late Night
Some nights Kirk didn't want to sleep, or perhaps couldn't. Either way, it tended to lead him towards the battlements. He liked to go up and walk on them, to find a quiet place on the wall to wrap a blanket around himself and look up at the sky when it wasn't overcast. He smiled as his eyes traced his made-up constellations, recited their made up stories in his head. Sometimes his arm raised up to trace a new path, or maybe it was to send a prayer out into the endless dark sea.

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Natasha finds Kirk while he's rubbing one of those special lotions into the animal's face, and while part of her wants to walk right past, another part of her just can't. "Does that actually do anything for..." She bends slightly at the waist, giving the creature a perfunctory once over. "Him?"

Him. Her. Did the dead really care? Well, maybe they did, but Kirk had always gone with "him" so far, and Boggy had never shown discomfort at the pronoun, so "him" it was.

"I'm not really sure. I'm not exactly sure he can feel pain at all," he shrugged. "Maybe he just likes all the petting, but either way I don't see how it can do any harm."

In all fairness, Natasha did not look that closely during her once over. But she was pretty sure she saw-- well, she's also going to be thinking of the horse corpse as a boy, to put it politely. "No, I suppose not." This was just one of those things, wasn't it? That desperate need for meaningful attachment that had people looking for it everywhere like it held some key to a deeper understanding of life itself instead of recognizing it for the burden it was.

Still, she wasn't supposed to think that way now that she was part of a team, and it wouldn't do her any good here. So she just managed a small smile, like she found the whole thing charming. "What's his name?" Because if Kirk was rubbing cream into the thing's face, he'd definitely named it.

Attachment? Maybe that was it. Honestly, he just felt sad for the poor thing. He couldn't say, again, if the creature had feelings such as loneliness or had the need to be in a herd like the horse it had once been. It was impossible to tell, and yet he thought Boggy was, on some level. The only one of his kind here (and yes, Kirk knew there were other Rifters, but none from his particular world). So, yes he had attached himself to to the bog unicorn out of some strange sense of empathy.

"Boggy," Kirk declared, working the cream up behind his jaw, the bog unicorn grunting and stretching it's neck, clearly enjoying the impromptu massage.

"Boggy," Natasha repeated slowly. The desire to roll her eye was so strong, that denying it almost hurt. Almost. She just smiled even brighter. "That's... cute." Cute was appropriate, right? Sure. She took a few more steps into the stables, out of the direct sunlight and into the cooler shadows. "How long have you had him?"

"I didn't come up with the name," he said, leaning his weight against his outdoor pen to reach as far as he could down the bog unicorn's neck.

He glanced back at her as he stepped back to scoop up a bit more of the ointment.

"And he's not mine, not really. He was here before I came. Samouel Gareth said the creature took a liking to him out in the bogs and followed him home, and he's been here ever since. I just took a liking to him and give him a bit of company," he moved back up and the bog unicorn shifted so he was more parallel to the fence and Kirk could rub along the flank of his neck.

"Samouel. I don't know him. Friend of yours, I take it. And he named him?" She comes a little closer, since neither Kirk nor the ex-horse seem to mind. Animals tend to be surprisingly calm around her. Not all, but most. Perhaps something about the inner calm. Not the same as peace, but if she can't always tell the difference, then maybe they can't, either.

"Friend would be right. He's a mage," he supplied, if that could help her place him at all, but it was equally possible she might not. It was a big Inquisition after all. Boggy, for his part, did not seem to mind either, but his reactions weren't the best judge of animal character given his status. After all, what did he have to fear with a rusted sort running through his skull (hence his status as a bog unicorn).

"Boggy doesn't seem to mind it, and I don't think something rougher would suit him," Kirk smiled, patting his neck gently.

He pushed off from the fence and smacked his hands to clear them of the last of the cream, grabbing a towel to finish the job. "Name's Jim Kirk, by the way," he nodded to the red haired woman with an easy smile.

"Natasha. Nice to meet you." She didn't comment on the glow in his palm. She was fairly certain that the Rifters must have that particular exchange in 90% of their first conversation with people. It must get tedious. Besides, what information could really be gleaned that way? Plenty about their worlds, but probably very little that was useful, considering that every one of them was entirely cut off from the familiar and forced to make do in Thedas. All in the same boat now.

She had to admit, Boggy looked softer, and even a bit happier. As happy as something could look when it had lost all nuance of facial expression. Maybe it was the way the lack of lips gave him a sort of permanent smile. Probably a good idea to not say that out loud. "Did you work with horses where you come from?"

It was only visible, for the moment, because he had been working with the ointment. A pile of bandage wrappings lay next to the ointment, and he picked them up to wrap his hand where his shard lay embedded, effectively hiding it. It was a habit now, more than anything, a touch of caution especially when he went to work down in the refugee camp. No one outright assaulted Rifters, but tensions ran high and the better to avoid that if he could.

Kirk snorted and shook his head. "Horses are pleasure animals in my world, or used by those who want to keep to old ways for their own reasons. Before coming here, I'd never even ridden a horse, much less worked with one."

"Ah. You come from a world with those... cars?" Natasha got the feeling she'd really enjoy seeing one of those. She was, of course, imagining something far more grand and extraordinary looking than most people actually had in their day to day lives. Still, even if she got a good look at a Ford Fiesta, anything that gave you reliable and exact progress relevant to fuel intake and didn't create piles of manure? Pretty damn great.

"Yes, one of those worlds, though in mine we have more than just cars."

But no need to go into that right away. Even if he did try and explain Starships he wasn't sure that she would believe him. Most people did not, which was the only reason he ever felt comfortable talking about them and not actually breaking the Prime Directive. Practically everything he said was taken as a fancy and not a fact, and what was the harm in putting a bit of dreaming into a world that could do with some nice ones for a change?

"Needless to say I never spent much time arounds horses until now."

"I think that many people in your position can come up with quite the list of things they've never done before coming here. At least you seem to have taken to it well. That's something."

Cars were astonishing enough, and what she imagined when she thought of them was so far from reality that she might as well have been on another planet. Oh, wait.

Still, the starship would be slightly easier for her to believe, as it happened. There was something about the night sky that made her think of the sea already. So, not as much of a leap as it might be for some.

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[ OPEN ] Are You Lost In the World Like Me?

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