[Open] No boom today. Boom tomorrow.

[justice_is_blond]

WHO: Anders and anyone! Or, well, almost anyone. Sorry, Fenris and Cullen...
WHAT: Anders arrives at Skyhold, takes a new fake name, and tries to get a measure of the Inquisition while keeping a low profile. Starting in prose, but will switch to brackets to match if that's preferred!
WHEN: Mid-haring
WHERE: All over Skyhold, choose your location?
NOTES: Warning for Anders? I can't think of any real ones atm, I'll update if that changes.

He's tired, but that's nothing new. The road's been long. It shows in the way he leans a little on his staff, a fairly generic-looking thing that's far from his old appreciation of things flashy, just as it shows in the state of his rather ragged-looking robes and the scruff of a beard that he doesn't exactly like. At least he's not dead on his feet - the company of a few refugees more than willing to bear the brunt of conversation on the way up had made the last couple of days more bearable than usual.

Now he's here, and the strain is back on his shoulders. Skyhold holds more than the usual level of danger but there's no getting around the fact that he has to at least visit this place. The Inquisition is likely to be a player in the future of mages, and Anders will not see the little bit of progress made be undone out of fear, or laziness, or naivete, or any other number of things that could cut down freedom for his people.

But that doesn't mean he knows how to go about working toward that, just yet. And that means he's slowly going around the fortress, gathering information by listening and asking simple, short questions. They have to be short. The second-to-last thing he can afford is to slip up and let Justice get too accusatory, which could lead to the last thing he can afford - to be recognized by someone who would turn him over to the 'authorities,' such as they are.

"Have you been with the inquisition long?" is one of the most frequent questions, along with a follow up if the answer is yes: "Do you think they treat mages well here?" It's not like he's hiding the staff, after all. But there are more simple questions mixed in as well, questions about the need for herbalists or healers, about where one might find a warm enough corner to sleep in, or where one can lose what few coppers they have over a game of cards. They're general. Careful. They have to be. He's no longer ready to die.

Comments

[noleechesneeded]

"The Inquisition doesn't lack for them," Simon answers, looking briefly over his shoulder at the healing tents that have been set up. "But I don't think a day will ever come where good healers aren't wanted. If anything, we always appreciate having an extra set of hands for when things get bad."

He had been on his way out when the raggedy looking mage stopped him, but Simon doesn't mind taking a moment to talk. He's only heading to the library to return a book, it can keep...though seeing as it's one of the few tomes they have on the Imperium, he's keeping it tucked out of sight. Not that there's anything useful to be found in it. More biased historical accounts, nothing about how magic differs or anything that would be of use to sorting out River's condition. In fact Simon doesn't seem like a mage at all, forgoing his robes and staff out of habit and instead looking like a mundane herbalist with his faintly stained fingers.

"There's room enough to have your own tent set up, have you spoken to the quartermaster yet?"

[justice_is_blond]

A place that doesn't lack for healers that isn't a Circle is a rarity. Anders wonders if the people have noticed, if they care that their chances of not dying from the most basic of injuries and illness have gone up. Probably not. They're probably all busy hiding away from mages and fearing them still. What the Templars have done is unforgivable... but not insurmountable.

Anders glances back at the tents as if he can figure out who the quartermaster is. He can't. It could be anyone there, or they might not even be among the people.

"I've not, yet. I've only just arrived and I'm starting to get my bearings." Looking back at the man in front of him, he realizes the guy's likely busy. There's no other reason to be holding something a little out of someone else's line of sight when Anders knows he hasn't been made, yet. The second he has, there will be Templars everywhere. But until then...

"Am I interrupting you? I can ask someone else, I'm certain."

[noleechesneeded]

It's not a crime to be seen with the book, but Simon worries what it will look like. Granted, no one here has really been all that interested in how he spent his time in Tevinter, but Simon's sure that's mostly because he doesn't go around talking about it. Still, so far the stranger has given him no reason to be nervous...he's just sticking to his usual overly cautious habits.

"Oh, no, it's no trouble," Simon is quick to say, tilting his head slightly. He doesn't want to be rude, and he was just heading to the library anyway. It will keep. The book in question is tucked under an arm as Simon offers the new arrival a modest bow.

"Welcome to Skyhold at any rate," he offers. "My name is Simon."

[justice_is_blond]

Never in his life has he been bowed to. Anders' eyebrows are attempting to climb into his hair after that, and the man gets a slightly confused pause as well. Is he supposed to semi-bow back? Hold out a hand? Stand here awkwardly?

He's taking the third option, unfortunately.

"I... right. Thank you, Simon." He blinks and gets the confusion back under control. The bow had to be some sort of greeting, because there's no way it's due to anything Anders is about. He holds out a hand in response, hoping he's not being offensive, but he isn't about to bow to anyone. "Detlef. I'm Detlef. Where are you going? May I join you?"

Long past are the days when he has any desire to follow someone into another series of adventures, but walking across a courtyard shouldn't be too complicated. Theoretically. Please let no Darkspawn suddenly burst forth from the ground for him thinking that...

[noleechesneeded]

Detlef's awkwardness is contagious, Simon shifting uncomfortably as it takes the other looks at him like he's growing horns. Bowing is one of those habits his parents managed to drum into him before he joined the Circle and it's one he hasn't shaken no matter how many odd looks it gets him. Sometimes it's taken well, but not this time it seems. He's very nearly ready to ask if he offended somehow when, thank the Maker, Detlef recovers and returns the introduction.

Right, handshakes. That's probably more accepted for everyone outside of Orlais and the Imperium...

"'Pleasure to meet you," he says with a soft breath, reaching to take the offered hand now that the uncomfortable moment has passed. "And of course, I was just heading to the library."

Hopefully Detlef hasn't been yet. It shouldn't be all that thrilling...though it's embarrassingly easy to get lost in Skyhold when one is new.

[justice_is_blond]

"Excellent. I've not seen it yet. ...Though I hear there are two?" He falls into step next to Simon once the shake is done and they head for the library. The place is huge. Sure, it's not as windy as Kinloch hold had been, all of the circles and twists and turns, but it's far larger and there are several more staircases. Thankfully Templar boots always make the same amount of sound, which means he's had warning enough to be cautious so far.

"There aren't a great many places with two libraries that I know of. Unless the division is because one room is small." Circles have plenty of libraries, in his experience, but he really hadn't cared to spend time in any of them. He'd had other priorities. Now? Now he'll take all the reading he can get.

[noleechesneeded]

Simon's stride falters for a moment, gaze ahead as he has to pause and think. He thinks he's been all over Skyhold--mostly looking for River--but apparently he's wrong as he doesn't remember finding a second library. It might explain how she's able to hide so well when she has a mind to, however.

"It's...it's possible," Simon says, looking a bit sheepishly over his shoulder at Detlef. "Though if it exists I haven't found it yet. We can certainly try, if you'd like...now that you mention it I'd like to track it down. There might be something there that I haven't been able to find in the atrium's library."

But first, of course, Simon will actually show Detlef the library he's familiar with as promised. It isn't far, just across the courtyard and up into the atrium.

[justice_is_blond]

"I'm not certain it's real. I've a... There's a Dalish girl with a habit of getting lost who told me there were two. I'd suggest it's possible she simply found the same one twice, but she'd yet to find a library at all when I ran into her."

Woman, really, not a girl, but it can be hard to remember that around Merrill. She's young, naive, and foolish. The perfect mark for a demon, really. But that's not what he needs to be thinking about right now. Instead, he's trying to keep an eye out without seemingly looking around as they cross the courtyard. Skyhold is, by far, the most stressful place he's ever been.

"Whether a second exists or not, I'll be glad to see the atrium library. Is there something you're researching?" The chance of there being a way to separate from a spirit in one of the books in Skyhold is nearly nonexistent, but he can try searching anyway. They're not doing any good to each other.

[noleechesneeded]

Simon hesitated for an unfortunate moment, but he'd already learned that keeping River's condition a secret wasn't as imperative as he'd thought it might be. It was also impossible in the long run. Everyone who met the girl quickly sussed out that something was wrong. He'd even been chastised by a templar for it once, that had been a fun day.

"...I'm trying to make an exact diagnosis," he finally said, tilting his head and gesturing for Detlef to join him as he started walking back towards the atrium. "And from there, hopefully a treatment. The trouble is it's like nothing I've seen before or even been taught about, and no one else in the tents I've spoken with have heard of it either."

Though putting his head together with Adelaide's has been useful, it had yet to provide Simon with a better solution than sedatives for when River was having a particularly bad day.

"So to be honest with you I'm not very hopeful at this point," he added with a frown. Not that it would stop him from looking, of course.

[justice_is_blond]

He frowned as well, looking over at the man.

"I'm assuming you've already worked with Adelaide? Or another Spirit Healer? Would you mind running symptoms past me?" The pause said Simon might not be willing to be open about it, but Anders can offer help nonetheless.

"I'll not be offended if it's something you don't wish to discuss, especially if you've approached Adelaide. She's very skilled, and there's no guarantee I'd bring enough knowledge from my wanderings to cause any difference in the matter." Or his wanderings might mean he's run into something, somewhere. There wasn't any telling until and unless Simon spoke.

[noleechesneeded]

"Adelaide and I meet very regularly, and we are still working on the problem, yes," Simon said with a slow nod. Still, another opinion could help. Detlef had said 'another' spirit healer, implying that he was one as well. If his life had gone differently, perhaps Simon could have made a partnership with a spirit of his own. It certainly would have been more use now than the magic he'd learned up north. Yet Simon didn't have the time for regrets.

"It isn't that I don't think you could offer anything new, Detlef," Simon added, pausing as they reached the door to the atrium. So many already knew who Simon's 'patient' was. Was there really any point in keeping it to himself anymore? Well, aside from his own peace of mind. "...the patient is my sister. It makes things a touch more difficult."

He opened the door for the other man.