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

"Yeah, that's more or less accurate. Just flying in space, between stars is all," he smiled to give Sam credit for the analogy, and since it worked he saw no need to correct him further with technical terms.

At the mention of size he almost did burst out laughing. He shook his head, placing his piece back from where he had taken it up and moving his own in turn.

"Oh no, much, much bigger. My ship holds about four hundred people as part of the crew," he explained to him. "If you want an actual dimension, it's roughly a half-mile long from tip to tail. That's roughly seven hundred and twenty-three meters or two thousand, three hundred eighty feet."

You could probably give him all the technical terms as you wanted, Kirk, and it probably wouldn't help very much. When things were put very simply it was easy to understand, not because Sam couldn't grasp complex ideas, but because quantum physics were just not a thing here - yet.

As per any time that one of them explained something outrageous to each other, Sam gave Kirk that certain look of disbelief. "It's... bigger than a dragon..." he repeats. Dragons were damn big, and for the ship to be bigger than that- It sounded like it was bigger than Skyhold. "How in the world do you fly something like that?"

No, not quite yet. It was probably a good thing he was not running a science class.

He laughed softly and nodded. "Yeah, a lot bigger," he agreed, pausing as he considered how to explain the mechanics of warp drives and nuclear cores, among many other things. He had barely managed to explain machines, so that seemed out of the question. "Well, I guess in a way you could call it magic. We have special materials we can combine that produce a lot of energy, which powers the ship," he explained. "Think of it like the wind pushing along a boat, except we make the wind instead of having to wait on it."

That worked as an analogy, right? He hoped it did, because he was running out of analogy ideas here.

It probably wouldn't be terrible. Except you had to accept the whole magic thing, Kirk. It's an actual force here.

Well not sure how alike magic that was, but the analogy does make sense. Sam knows for Kirk to actually explain how it worked there would be even more questions. Just saying it like that- "Moving your ship how you want to. I think any ships here would be jealous of having such capabilities." A moment. "Seriously? Bigger than a dragon?" He's still having a hard time getting over that.

He would, eventually. He believes that Sam and every other mage is doing something, he just isn't sure if he wants to call it magic. He has been, for lack of another term, but he believes it is the manipulation of energies rather than anything mystical as the term implies inside his head.

He laughed when the other repeated the question of scale, taking a drink before answering. "My ship essentially functions as a small city unto itself. We have multiple levels, can produce portions of our food, we have recreational and training areas, places to eat, everyone has a room - though lower officers have to share with a roommate. It's essentially Skyhold, just as a ship."

That would be interesting if Kirk could explain it. Course he'd have to figure out the Fade, all the spirits, and the different branches of magic to do so.

"Skyhold as a sky." The look on Sam's face when he tries to think of that - a huge chunk of mountain with everyone on it, just floating around in the sky to get to different locations. That would be... actually that would be pretty damn useful really. "And you're just a captain? Even with... commanding a small city state?"

Don't crush his scientific dreams, Sam. Let him hold onto it here, like a security blanket.

"The captain is the highest rank on the ship," he explained. "Just like on a sea vessel. One ship is part of a fleet, and I have superior officers over me who oversee the whole of the Fleet. But they generally stay near HQ or travel on very particular missions versus captains like me who travel in a much wider range."

Hey, he isn't denying that your science happens - there's gravity right? Just that magic doesn't necessarily work as you want it to. It makes sense.

Sam sighs at that explanation, leaning back and sinking into his seat. "Your ship is practically a moving city, and it's only a part of a fleet?" Just like sea vessels, he says. Sam can see the similarities, but that is just on a much more massive scale. "And you command that many people?" That was on the same scale as any of their advisors.

It doesn't, and that's the frustrating part. He doesn't like when he cannot make sense of things, Sam!

He laughed softly, the game momentarily forgotten in favor of explaining his reality. "That's right. Think of it like a navy, just in the stars." He motioned upwards as he took another drink. "Yeah, I do. When I was dropped in here, we were heading out into uncharted space - new territory. We were being sent out on a five year mission to explore the universe, see what lay beyond the known borders of the Federation."

It didn't make sense because you couldn't see a clear way magic was possible?

"A five year mission?" That was pretty long - they had the kind of supplies to take care of everyone on the ship for that long? Even here in Skyhold there was no way to survive five years without supplies being brought in.

"You were brought here just as your ship and crew were heading out? Is there someone there to take command?"

Clearly an argument for real words.

He nodded. "Yes, my First Officer - Spock. He's..." he paused, trying to think on how to relate what a Vulcan was. "He's not human - he's another species, a Vulcan. His ears are pointed, somewhat like an elf's, but his people eschew emotions and embrace rational thought based solely on logic. He'll do right by the crew, I trust him."

More than likely. Probably not for tonight though.

"Spock?" That was an interesting name, as was what he was called. A Vulcan? Someone who has ears like an elf, but they're not elves. "So they'll continue the mission even without you there?" Wouldn't they try looking for Kirk first? At least for a little bit?

"I'm sure they would look for me. I know they would. But it's been months. At some point... at some point they might not have the option of searching for me anymore," he admitted, a note of resignation in his voice. "I've probably been declared MIA at the least - missing in action. But I like to think that every new planet they find, maybe they're looking for me, or that the science division and Scotty are working on a way to find me via the thing I fell through."

At the mention of how much time has passed, Sam looks at Kirk a bit sadly. Had it already been that long already? As much as he enjoys Kirk being here, with him, he can imagine that being away from home, or at least what Kirk was used to, was hard. That he can relate to, though it had only been a stone wall, not a rift.

"And we have people here trying to learn how you came through. See if it would allow you to get back."

It wasn't all that bad, really. He did miss home, sure, but he was making good friends here. When the time came, when they found the path home, he knew he would go, but it would be with a heavier heart than he had first imagined. Leaving, he thought, was going to be difficult.

"I know. One day I'll get home. Probably not tomorrow, but someday," he tipped one of his pieces back and forth and looked up at Sam, smiling softly. "In the meantime, I have this pretty awesome roommate, which is making things much easier."

"Someday," he agrees, his own fingers playing with a piece on his side of the board. He knew the Rifters would go, this wasn't their home after all, but it would be sad to see some of them go. Until then though they desperately needed their help with the rifts.

Pretty awesome? The compliment has the mage smiling a bit to himself before looking up from the board. "Oh? What makes this roommate so great?"

"Well, for one, he gave me a bed when I really needed it," he smiled at him. "And he has this really great smile. And he's really good in a forge. Oh, and at getting zippers down." He tossed a wink at Sam from over the top of his tankard.

He's already smiling, but at the compliments - especially on his smile - he looks down at the board and tries not to smile any wider than he's already doing. And failing at doing so.

"Zippers, huh? I hear those are easy to undo."

"Yeah, but this roommate - he has a certain flair to it I appreciate," he shifted his chair to sit close to him around the table.

"Oh? You're going to have to elaborate on this flair you talk about. Exactly what does he do?" No longer playing footsie, huh, Kirk?

"It's kind of hard to describe," he bit his lip around a smile. "It's the sort of thing you have to experience - the way he pushes them down, making them purr almost."

That damn lip bite. "Sounds interesting. Guess I'll never get to experience it though. After all I don't have anything with a zipper."

"Well, I mean, you could take a go on mine, if you wanted to," he continued to bite his lip, holding back his laughter over the conversation, leaning to butt their shoulders together.

Sam grins at the way Kirk's face scrunches a bit at trying not to laugh, brows raising at the suggestion. "Well that doesn't quite help with me experiencing that, unless you mean I borrow your pants."

He glanced at the other up and down, thinking about the firm body beneath. He knew it by wrote now, had an excellent understanding of its dimensions. "I think you could fit - the pants anyways," he smirked.

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