faderift | [ OPEN ] I'm Floating in a Most Peculiar Way

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[ OPEN ] I'm Floating in a Most Peculiar Way

WHO: Jim Kirk & Anyone
WHAT: Catch-all for the month
WHEN: June/Justinian (after the Justice Ritual #4)
WHERE: Around Skyhold
NOTES: Possible language, probably kittens, wounds, probably demon-talk, shenanigans, maybe some other heavy subjects, possibly some amorous action, everything goes here

[ Class Is In Session - Math + Self-Defense ]
Hearing of a school going up, Kirk naturally offered himself up as a teacher - not least because it gave him something to do here other than be a pretty helper to Sam's forge and a jack-of-all trades laborer.

He taught all levels of math, and any new students who came to the class would be asked to complete an exam that had problems ranging from simple addition and subtraction all the way up to the higher maths such as Calculus to gauge their skill. From that, he did his best to improve upon their skills and further their understanding. A little hard with a range of people, but he did his best, and he was more than willing to answer questions both related to math and to other subjects as well.

When he was not teaching maths, he taught Self-Defense with hand-to-hand combat - or at least he started to once he was physically well enough given that the Ritual had done a number on him. He took to the training area for this class though, and new students were told to fight him as their practical exam. It's not meant to be a hard fight, more like just a quick assessment of their current skill. He welcomed everyone from children to adults, but as a fair notice - expect to walk away with some bruises.

[ Stables ]
If the Western Approach and going after Servis had taught him anything, it was that he really needed to learn to ride something. Being able to hike and run was all well and good, but travel would be much, much easier if he could ride astride something with a longer stride and a touch faster than himself. Motorcycles were a long way off in this world.

So Kirk was being taught to ride, mostly by Sam and on a horse used with permission, though if someone else offered correction to his form as he practiced he would accept it. At this point, everyone was more the expert than himself. At least, so far, he'd avoided falling - for which his ribs were grateful.

Sometimes, though, he could be found around there just enjoying some time with the animals, petting and murmuring to them (and maybe sneaking a carrot to a tiny pony named Bill).

[ The Tavern ]
Most nights Kirk can be found here - work is done, and where else is there to hang out at night in Skyhold (that doesn't make you look incredibly suspicious)? But he liked the crowds and the warmth and the music and the laughter. He could usually be found with a pint of beer in front of him, slowly acclimating to the stuff, and sometimes he would hang out at a table with a chess set in front of him, waiting for a challenger. Other times he had a deck of cards, willing to play Wicked Grace or teach the good folk of Thedas some poker.

And maybe, just maybe, if he'd had enough to drink and laughed enough - he could be convinced to sing a song from a far away land or tell a tale of the same.

[ The Gardens - Specifically at Night/Very Early Morning ]
Even having found a steady place to sleep and steady companion, Kirk's nights were not always quiet and dreamless. He tried his best not to bother Sam on those nights, when sleep would not come, or more accurately he did not wish to close his eyes and see what his mind might twist together when he was not paying attention.

So on those particular nights he would slip out of bed and head to the gardens, sometimes late and sometimes in the early gray before dawn. He walked the paths, breathing in the scent of flowers and the earth. Sometimes he would find a space to sit and fold his legs and rest the back of his hands atop his knees, attempt to meditate in the ways Spock had initially taught him - though more often than not he simply created a numbing tingle in his legs and frustration.

Company, no matter the hour, was always welcome.

[ Around Skyhold - Usually Morning + The Hot Springs ]
Part of Kirk's daily routine was to run and run a lot. He could easily be seen jogging around the perimeter of Skyhold, sometimes with a shirt and sometimes without. Afterwards he usually went to the hot springs to rinse himself off, and in the early days after the Fourth Ritual to clean his wounds as well.

[ The Library ]
Kirk could be found here on and off, mostly coming to return books he had taken for comfortable reading back in the loft with Sam, but now and then he could be seen sitting at a table, taking notes on papers or in a journal he had secured. He was taking more or less everything he read in historical accounts with a grain of salt, but it was still important, he thought, to read such accounts even as he asked others about them.

[ Wild card me! ]
Because there's probably tons of stuff I didn't cover.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"We could build our own beach, probably, with the amount of sand stuck on people," he chuckled. "That would actually be kind of fun. A beach in the mountains."

Korrin smirks at the idea, finding such a thought actually tempting as she remains immersed neck-deep in the waters. "I thought I'd be done with sand for a while, but that's not a terrible image. Araceli misses the sea something terrible; a crafted beach wouldn't be quite the same, but it would still help. And I doubt she's the only one who would benefit."

"Frankly I think everyone here could do with a place to just relax, soak up some sun, and not worry about stuff for a few hours," he waved his hand idly. "They're good places to have barbecues and you can play games and swim... It would be good for morale."

She nods, that smirk softening into a fond smile as memories surface. "You don't have to convince me, honest. I'd visit the beaches in Rivain every day I was there, in childhood and beyond. If it was possible to incorporate that into an Inquisition field trip, I totally would. But since that seems unlikely, we need something closer to us."

"Well, we'd have to find some sort of river source - or a lake," he mused aloud, following the strain though he wasn't really all that serious about making a beach. "And we'd need to import the sand. I'm sure it could be done, though the merchants doing it would no doubt find it ridiculous. Need a few tons at the minimum, I suspect."

"There's a river in the valley, that would do. And I'm sure merchants have endured much sillier requests from Orlesian nobles. I heard one commissioned, a huge, living map of Thedas for his garden, complete with landmarks; I've never seen it, but I'd believe it." Never underestimate nobles and their weird desires, it's a bet you'd always lose. Not that Korrin seems to be taking this seriously either, but it's a fun diversion.

"That sounds both cool and like a gigantic waste of money at the same time," he mused. "When you say living do you mean, like, animated little sculptures or like they sculpted the plants to look like a topographic map of Thedas?" he pressed, distracted by the image he had constructed in his head. A topiary version could be very interesting, maybe with little paths made through it following rivers or major trade highways.

"Topographic, though I heard he was interested in commissioning a mage to animate it like you say. It's just like Orlesian nobles to spend so much on something so ridiculous." Half the jokes she knows involved Orlesian nobility doing something outlandish, and most of them are true. "I know of a woman who got a mage to enchant a garden full of those crystal graces flowers so that they would make chiming noises, but she got so tired of the noise that she just ended up setting fire to the whole damned thing. Talk about wasteful."

"Okay - so, what precisely is an Orlesian? Is it a country, or just a certain cultural group?" he inquired, because he had heard it multiple times now, but his studies were slowly progressing. There were a lot of cultures to get through when it came to Thedas, after all. He was still working on sorting out the different elf cultural groups in his head.

Korrin doesn't chide him, just calmly explains while she closes her eyes and sinks a little further into the water. "Orlesians are citizens of the Empire of Orlais. Everything you see west of Skyhold? That's Orlais, at least in the south. They're considered the cultural center of Thedas, since the Chantry's based there. And they aren't all bad, but the way they treat those who aren't rich and noble and human doesn't endear most of them to me. That and their stupid Grand Game, the war for influence between the noble houses. Everything ties into that; if we have another soiree for Orlesian dignitaries, you'll see what I mean."

He tried to imagine the map in his head, and he had been studying maps of late - those he could get his hands on, anyways. They all varied the tiniest bits between them, but between the variations one could figure out the truth of the lines. He snorted at the notion of them being considered a cultural center because the church was based there, though he believed it. Considering the power the Chantry had held, it made sense.

"They sound terribly boring and irritating," he murmured in way of reply. "I've never been one for complicated politics despite being a captain. I mean, how do you enjoy life when you're always wondering who's for and against you?"

Without opening her eyes, Korrin nods and points at him for emphasis. "Exactly. It's all needlessly complicated bullshit and they know it, but refuse to give it up. No wonder they're busy imploding with their civil war. If that didn't end up harming those who had nothing to do with it, I'd just say let them have at and destroy each other. But crap like that always has a way of spilling over, so I bet the Inquisition will have to get involved sooner or later. Like it or not, we could use Orlais' support and that'll mean picking a side."

He frowned a little at the mention of a civil war. He had heard some things about it, but couldn't get any concrete information other than the evidence of refugees continuing to come their way. Something should be done about it, but his training under the Prime Directive told him not to go sticking themselves into the middle of it.

"That'll be dangerous," he said after a moment. He wasn't part of the Inquisition, so he didn't have a say, not really, though if they moved out... he couldn't say he wouldn't go. He probably would, in fact. "If only we could make both sides come to the table and put a stop to it all. They're only hurting themselves the longer this goes on, after all." He sank further into the water, blowing bubbles briefly.

"Can we go back to talking about the beach?"

"You're not wrong, but they're selfish. Their own power comes above the greater good." It always does, for nobility. But Korrin nods, fine with moving on from that distasteful topic. She came here to relax, not to get her blood boiling.

"Should it have sand sculptures?"

"Why is that a question? Of course it should!" he grinned. "We could have a contest even - best sand sculpture wins a prize, and we keep them up. There has to be one castle at least. Every beach has at least one sand castle."

"If you make an aban-ataashi, a sea dragon, I'll vote for it." Korrin grins, less interested in sand castles than she is fierce sand dragons. She might give it a shot at making her own, though sand-sculpting isn't her forte.

"A sea-dragon, huh?" he mused, brushing his fingers through the water idly. "I'll give it my best shot, but since I've never seen one you'll have to give me some points for effort."

"I can show you pictures of it later, if the library has something on them. I haven't been there in a while since I realized most of it's just Chantry propaganda, but maybe Dorian forced in some better reading while I've been away."

"That would be nice. The library is... I've tried reading in it, but I more or less have to take everything in there with a giant handful of salt, I find."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ OPEN ] I'm Floating in a Most Peculiar Way

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